A new polypropylene shingle has become available in the United States and Canada in March that has unique characteristics. Lite-Shake siding, a polypropylene siding shingle that looks like wood, was more than three years in the development stage.
Inventor William J. Hoofe III and partners produce Lite-Shake siding through their joint venture called Lite Building Products Inc. Custom injection molder Pro Corp. of Florence, Mass., molds shingles in brown, gray and white.
Lite-Shake's patented, self-aligning, interlocking system allows the panels to be staggered to look like cedar shakes.
One row of eight shakes, in a variety of widths, form each panel.
Tabs at the bottom of the panels interlock into slots at any point along the top, holding the panels in place.
Pro Corp. designed and built the mold, which it patterned from cedar shakes, to get the wood fiber detail.
Two divisions of the Jannock Vinyl Group, a conglomerate of five vinyl siding manufacturers, have been selected as the ex-clusive distributors of Lite-Shake.
Don Lefkowitz, vice president of sales and marketing for Heartland Building Products in Memphis, Tenn., one of the distributors, said the panels have received tremendous acceptance.
Because of demand, a second mold is being planned to increase production.