Siding insulation can enhance the performance of any new siding by increasing its energy efficiency, providing effective moisture management and making your home quieter on the inside, just to name a few benefits. The process by which the siding insulation is manufactured will determine the overall quality of the product, how well it will perform on the home and how its creation impacts the environment.

Siding insulation from Progressive Foam is made of expanded polystyrene (EPS), and is manufactured under strict conditions to ensure that every piece of insulation performs as promised:

1.) Mixing Raw Material

The raw material used in our siding insulation is expandable polystyrene bead that looks like very fine, white sand. The bead is mixed with additives such as our systemic insecticide, PREVENTOL?TM EPS, which helps to protect the finished product from termites. Color dyes may also be added to the bead to help identify different products.

2.) Pre Expansion

The raw bead mixture enters the pre-expander, where steam is applied at a very precise flow and pressure. Pentane gas inside the bead begins to boil from the heat of the steam, causing the bead to expand. State-of-the-art machinery is used to carefully monitor the speed of expansion and ensure the best quality beads are produced.

3.) Molding the Product

Once the pre-expanded beads have a chance to dry for up to 36 hours, the next step is molding the material into shapes. There are two types of molding, block molding and shape molding:

With shape molding, the expanded material is loaded into a machine like a jello mold. It is then heated with steam until it expands and fills the mold cavity, creating a finished insulation board. This method requires more energy to create the boards but also creates no scrap in the process.

With block molding, the expanded bead is blown into a rectangular chamber and hit with steam to form the shape of a block. The blocks can be anywhere from 10′ to 18′ tall and weigh between 120 to 350 pounds.

Once the blocks have an opportunity to dry out, they are then cut into their final shape using a computer numerical control (CNC) machine with hot wires that are heated with electricity. The wire moves through the block to ?cut a pattern, creating the finished piece and setting aside the scrap.

4.) Lamination

After the insulation is formed into the finished piece, some products then go through an additional step of lamination, where the insulation is adhered directly to the siding panel during manufacturing. This process combines the siding and insulation into one piece, creating products such as insulated vinyl siding and insulated steel siding.

5.) Recycling

The scrap insulation material from wire cutting and our other manufacturing processes is sent to a separate machine where it is formed into other building materials. This allows us to consume all of our scrap and send minimal amounts of material to the landfill.

For more information about Progressive Foam, visit our webpage at?https://progressivefoam.com/about-us.

All across the nation we’re experiencing one of the hottest recorded summers, with excessive droughts, irreparable damage to crops and more. With the dog days of summer now upon us, you may find yourself spending more time inside to beat the heat. If you are spending more time indoors, you may be curious to learn that there are steps you can take to make the inside of your home even more comfortable. One option is adding rigid insulation to the exterior wall of your home, which can provide 3 major comfort-boosting benefits:

1.) More comfortable indoor temperatures (and lower energy bills!)

Have you found yourself adjusting the thermostat a few degrees to save a little energy, only to find you and your family lost a little physical comfort? With the addition of rigid insulation to the outside of your home?you are likely to keep your thermostat a little warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer, without increasing your energy bill.

In the summer, exterior insulation works like a beverage koozie. It protects your drink from the hot temperatures, helping to keep it cooler, longer.

In the winter, exterior insulation?works like a comfortable fleece-lined windbreaker. It keeps your body heat inside the jacket, while providing protection from the cold outside air.

2.) Reduced warm and cold spots

Have you ever touched the sunny side of your home’s exterior on a summer afternoon? It’s not uncommon for the outside of your home to reach temperatures as high as 190??under these conditions, and this heat can transfer through the?walls of your home to the inside living space. This can create warmer spots in your home, despite having the air conditioning on. You can reduce warm and cold spots by adding exterior insulation to your home, wrapping it in an energy-conserving blanket of insulation.

3.) Dampened sounds from outside your home

Physical comfort isn’t the only benefit of adding more insulation to your home. Have you considered that your home could be quieter on the inside if you add a layer of insulation to the exterior??Adding a layer of insulation to the exterior of your house provides a quieter experience inside by dampening exterior noises from sources such as a barking dog, the neighbor’s lawnmower, a busy roadway and more.

Here is a great video of a couple that chose insulated siding
as their exterior insulation product and their opinion of the results:

 

If you’re building a new home or buying new siding for an existing one, it’s important to know the different siding options available to you today. Choosing which siding is right for you is a matter of personal preference- how do you want the home to look, what can you afford, how much maintenance are you willing to do? These are all important factors to consider when selecting the siding for your home. Let’s look at four different types of siding options available today: wood siding, fiber cement siding, vinyl siding and steel siding.

Wood Siding

Wood has been the choice for construction since man has sharpened stones. The supply has been abundant and easy to shape and install. Because of this, wood is considered by some to be the most natural-looking siding- other siding types actually try to replicate the look of traditional wood siding. Some neighborhoods and historic areas require wood siding in order to preserve the original look and charm of their communities.

With all the beauty of wood also comes a large amount of maintenance. When not properly cared for, wood can become susceptible to mold, mildew, insect damage and deterioration. Be prepared for routine painting, staining or even replacing damaged panels in order to maintain the beautiful appearance of traditional wood siding.

Fiber Cement

Fiber cement siding was originally developed in Europe in the early 1900’s, but in recent years has become increasingly popular in the United States. Made from a mixture of cement, sand and cellulose fibers, fiber cement is known for its wood-like appearance, solid feel and fire performance. Fiber cement is increasingly becoming accepted as an alternative for traditional wood siding.

Although some manufacturers offer pre-primed or pre-painted options, fiber cement still requires routine maintenance to protect its appearance. This can include painting or staining and caulking the seams in the siding. Fiber cement typically has a more expensive installed cost than other siding options, such as vinyl.

Vinyl Siding

Vinyl siding was initially introduced in the 1950’s, and has grown to become the number one siding choice in America, owning about 40% of the market. Vinyl is most notably known for its low maintenance, ease of installation and low cost. In fact, vinyl has the lowest installed cost (including materials and labor) of any exterior cladding*.

Some concerns related to vinyl siding is its ability to stand up to elements such as impact and extreme heat. Improvements in technology and extrusion techniques in recent years have helped to improve the quality of vinyl siding. One of the most notable improvements was the invention of insulated vinyl siding in the 1990’s, which features insulation that is adhered to the siding during manufacturing. The addition of insulation helps to increase the durability of vinyl siding, allow for wider profiles and darker colors because of the support it provides to the siding, and of course, increase energy efficiency.

Steel Siding

Introduced to the market in the 1950’s, steel siding is popularly known for its exceptional strength, rigidity and fire performance.?Steel siding is a low maintenance option, requiring only period cleaning. In 2010 an insulated steel siding option was introduced. Similar to insulated vinyl siding, insulated steel touts even higher impact resistance as well as energy savings.

As with the other siding options outlined above, steel siding has some characteristics to take into consideration. Although it will not rot, flake, crack or chip, steel can dent if faced with a severe enough impact, and can be more expensive than other options.

Of course, this wouldn’t be The Siding Insulation Blog without a mention of siding insulation. Whether you choose one of these siding options for your home or something else, it’s always a good idea to add siding insulation under new siding. Make sure you’re aware of your options to add insulation to your home at the same time that new siding is installed.

*R.S. Means 2011 Residential Cost Data.

 

 

Beach City, Ohio-Progressive Foam Technologies, Inc. today announced it is celebrating its 20th anniversary as an innovative manufacturer of siding insulation products. Progressive Foam was founded in April of 1992 and has grown from a handful of people to more than 100 employees with $22 million in annual sales. Located in Beach City, Ohio, the company is dedicated to providing innovative siding insulation systems to make homes comfortable and energy-efficient.

Co-founder and President Patrick Culpepper began Progressive Foam by borrowing $200,000 from two friends on a handshake. The first facility was a small pole building located just south of New Philadelphia, Ohio, where they manufactured insulation for use behind vinyl siding. Twenty years later, Progressive Foam now operates out of an 111,000 square foot facility on 10 acres in Beach City, Ohio, and has its products installed on over half a million homes in the United States and Canada. The company recently expanded its product offerings to include siding insulation for use behind any type of siding material, including fiber cement, composite wood, steel, brick and cultured stone.

Culpepper attributes the lasting success of Progressive Foam to the dedication of its employees. ?It’s all about the people you put in the building. If you employ good people, and provide the environment and tools that they need, good things will happen.? This combination has proved successful for Progressive Foam, made evident by the fact that the majority of their employees have been with the company for five years or more.

Culpepper adds that continual improvement is another cornerstone for Progressive Foam. ?As a company committed to product innovation, we are proud to say that we currently hold 13 U.S. and Canadian patents, five of which have issued in the last 12 months, and have six patents pending for future products.? Some of these future products are currently being manufactured at their Beach City facility for release later this year.

About Progressive Foam
Progressive Foam Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Beach City, Ohio, is a siding insulation company dedicated to providing innovative products that make homes comfortable and energy efficient. They manufacture siding insulation from expanded polystyrene foam (EPS), which serves as a thermal bridge reducer while increasing energy efficiency, reducing air infiltration and providing moisture management. For more information, visit www.progressivefoam.com.

 

Buying new siding for your home, whether you are remodeling or building, is a big decision that requires you to make a number of choices. For instance, you will have to decide what contractor to choose, what siding product is right for your home, what color you want it to be, what the trim will look like, and more. As you walk through all of your options, one mistake you should never make is to pass up this great opportunity to add insulation to the outside walls of your home.

It will never be easier or more affordable to insulate the exterior of your home than when you have new siding installed. While you’re making the investment in your home, why ?not invest a little more to lower your utility bills every month for as long as the siding is on your home? You may have some questions about why you should ?add siding insulation to ?your new siding. Below are some answers to a few of those questions:

Q: Why do I need insulation on the outside of my home?

A: Exterior insulation helps to break your home’s thermal bridge, an energy leak in the walls?that you might not even know is there. Check out this house as an example. Thermal imaging helps reveal where heat is escaping from this house (yellow, orange and red indicates warmth while blue and green is cooler). As you can see, the yellow lines are revealing this hidden energy leak. Heat from inside the home is bypassing the pink insulation in the wall cavities and escaping to the cool outdoors across the wooden studs and other framing members in the wall. This is what building scientists call thermal bridging.

Q: How dramatic is the heat loss due to thermal bridging?

A: The studs and wooden framing members that causes thermal bridging account for 25% of your wall surface. This means that if you took all of the studs in your home and pushed them together, it would be like having one entire wall of your home with no insulation at all!

Q: If I break the thermal bridge with exterior insulation, how much will it reduce my energy bills?

 

A: As you can see from this after picture, the home from before has now broken the thermal bridge with exterior insulation. The big energy leaks are eliminated, which helps to reduce the homeowner’s utility bills. Every home is different, which makes it hard to estimate how much you will save on your utility bills every month by installing exterior insulation under your new siding. The amount you save will vary based on your location, your home and the products you choose. We suggest having a certified energy rater perform an energy evaluation on your home to give you an accurate representation of how much you can expect to save.

Q: Are there additional benefits of adding insulation, beyond energy savings?

A: There are plenty of other benefits to adding exterior insulation under your new siding. Rigid siding insulation will help to level out the wall surface, enhancing the appearance of your new siding. Some siding insulation products provide protection against moisture damage and pest infestation. In addition, there are other siding insulation products contoured to fit the unique profile of the siding you choose. This helps to provide more support to the siding panel, allowing for wider, flatter profiles in some cases as well as enhanced durability.

When you’re ready to have new siding installed on your home, don’t miss the opportunity to easily add insulation to the exterior of your home. You will enhance the performance and energy efficiency of your siding for now and years to come!

 

Vinyl siding is currently the number one exterior cladding across the United States and Canada, with many people choosing it for their homes due to its affordability, design versatility, durability and low maintenance. But have you ever wondered how vinyl siding compares to other siding options when it comes to it’s impact on health and the environment?

In the past, it was difficult for homeowners to determine what effects different products had on the environment or the health of their families. Luckily, today there are many forms of analysis that can determine the true impacts that products have.?One of these tests is a Life Cycle Assessment, or LCA. An LCA identifies the impacts of a product over its lifespan, including extraction and processing of raw materials, manufacturing, transportation & distribution, use, reuse, maintenance, recycling and final disposal.

We commissioned Sustainable Solutions Corporation to run an LCA on insulated vinyl siding. Two charts from that LCA (shown below) display the low overall environmental impact of vinyl siding in comparison to other siding options, and its low ?potential of contribution to cancer and other health impacts.?To develop these charts, over 200 chemical were assessed. These health impacts are general, based on emissions from the various life cycle stages. As you can see, vinyl siding ranks very closely with natural cedar siding and out performs other options like brick and stucco.

Overall Environmental Impact

For measuring the potential contribution to cancer, the Toxic Equivalency Potential for each chemical is determined and is displayed in terms of benzene equivalents.

 

 

 

For the full results of the LCA, click here.?Below are some additional environmental & health facts from the Vinyl Siding Institute (VSI) further proves the findings of this LCA:

• “Even though the production of vinyl siding and other vinyl products has grown considerably during the past 20 years, the level of dioxin released to the environment has decreased by nearly 90 percent over the same time period.

• “Vinyl siding production is responsible for the emission of significantly lower levels of?toxic chemicals, including mercury and silver, than other cladding options. In addition, per the ASTM D3679 standard, vinyl siding certified through the VSI Vinyl Siding Product Certification Program must be free of lead.”

 

 

 

All of these graphs and tables were produced using BEES Online and additional data can be obtained by going to?http://ws680.nist.gov/Bees/.

 

Building science has come a long way in recent years. We are learning more every day about how to make homes more energy-efficient while still keeping them affordable. This is even more important to homeowners today than it was in the past because the cost to heat, cool and run a home continues to increase. Many homeowners are at the mercy of factors beyond their control, such as the price of oil per barrel or the cost of electricity. But there are some things that can be controlled, such as reducing our own consumption, which in turn can help reduce energy bills.

You may already know that your home needs some energy-efficient upgrades, or you may think that you have a pretty efficient home already. Either way, it is important to know how your home stacks up to the modern energy-efficiency standards set by the best and brightest in the building science community. One way to do this is to check out the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and see how your home compares.

The IECC serves as a major regulatory tool for energy-efficient construction and helps guide builders to construct residential and commercial structures that effectively conserve energy. A new code is published every three years, with the most recent code published in January 2012. If you want to compare the energy-efficiency of your existing home to that of new homes being built to code today, the 2012 IECC is a great reference tool.

How does the 2012 IECC say that homes should be built today,
and how does your home compare?

If you didn’t build your own home, you might not know the exact way that it was constructed or how that measures up to the 2012 IECC. To give you a general reference point, we’ve outlined the typical construction methods used for two average homes in climate zone 5, built in 1964 and 2010.

As you can see, even an average home built as recently as 2010 is already lacking the proper insulation values to stand up to modern standards. Depending on where and when your home was built and what enhancements have been made, your results could be better or worse than the numbers listed here.

Regardless of how your home compares to the 2012 IECC, you can rest assured that future versions of the building codes are only going to keep pushing for greater energy efficiency. This can be an important consideration to keep in mind when making upgrades or remodeling decisions for your home. Many products available today offer additional energy efficiency above what traditional products did, so be sure to explore all your options to ensure you are making the most informed decision.

 

For more information on the characteristics of the modeled1964 and 2010 homes?listed above, click here.

A recent study conducted by Newport Ventures shows that installing new insulated vinyl siding and a weather resistive barrier on existing homes reduces air infiltration by 12% on average. Reduced air infiltration can contribute to increasing a residential structure’s energy efficiency.

While the insulating properties of insulated vinyl siding are becoming increasingly recognized in new construction, less is known about the effect the product can have when used in retrofit situations. To learn more about the performance benefits of insulated vinyl siding in residential remodeling, the Vinyl Siding Institute commissioned Newport Ventures, a research firm from Schenectady, NY, to conduct a study on four different homes in climate zones 4 & 5.

The four chosen homes, located in Colorado, Indiana, Maryland and New York had to meet a myriad of requirements in order to provide an accurate representation of air infiltration and energy efficiency rates.? Some of the home specifications are listed in the cart below:

For each home, three air tightness tests were performed: the 1^st was done before the remodel began, the 2^nd after the siding had been removed and the weather resistive barrier was installed, and the 3^rd after the insulated vinyl siding was installed.

The results of the third air infiltration test showed an average of 12% air tightness improvement across all four homes. Both the weather resistive barrier and the insulated vinyl siding improved the air tightness of the home.

Newport Ventures is still evaluating the impact that insulated vinyl siding has on heating energy use. A final report will be released pending the collection of two years of utility data after insulated vinyl siding was installed.

Click here to view the full interim report.

When people are considering making improvements to their home, one of the most important questions they ask is ?How much will it cost?? This also tends to be one of the most difficult questions to answer, primarily because each home is unique and every homeowner’s preferences are different.

When it comes to siding insulation, there are many factors that can influence how much it will cost, including but not limited to:

• where you live (will influence shipping and availability)
• the design of your home
• the specific product or trim details you choose
• the contractor that will be installing the product
• the time frame you want the job completed in, etc.

Keeping all these variables in mind, we recommend that you have a qualified contractor come out to your home to provide accurate pricing for the project you’re thinking of starting. He or she will take accurate measurements of your home, assess your unique situation and generate an accurate price based on your needs. (If you would like to be contacted by a qualified contractor for a quote, please enter your information here or call Progressive Foam at 330-756-3351.)

However, we understand that it may be important to have a ballpark idea of job cost before a contractor comes to your home. That’s why we refer to Remodeling Magazine’s annual Cost vs. Value report to provide one reference point for price. The report shows that the additional cost of installing new foam backed vinyl siding (vinyl siding with siding insulation laminated to the back during the manufacturing process) is approximately $2,545 more than traditional vinyl siding, or adds about 22% additional cost.

Because siding insulation is an energy saving product that will reduce your utility bills as long as it is on your home, you may be interested in seeing how much money you can expect to save with the product. We recommend that you have a certified Energy Rater perform an energy audit on your home before your siding insulation is installed with new siding to give you a more accurate idea of your estimated energy savings.

In addition, your new siding insulation could also qualify for a tax credit or rebate due to its energy saving properties. These incentives are sometimes provided by the federal, state and local government, and even the utility companies themselves! We encourage you to visit www.dsireusa.org to find out more informationa bout the potential savings in your state!