Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Plastics News China
  • Rubber & Plastics News
logo-pn-color
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • End Markets
    • FYI Charts
    • LSR World
    • Multimedia
    • NPE2021
    • K Show
    • Special Reports
    • Top materials of injection molders
      Recycled PET use by product category
      US PET, flexible packaging desintations
      Global fluropolymers additives market: CAGR
    • NPE exhibitors question handling of deposits for canceled trade show
      Exhibitors back NPE cancellation: ‘We couldn't take that risk'
      NPE2021 canceled as in-person event
      NPE reviews its options as pandemic prompts exhibitor to exit
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • What Keeps You Up At Night
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Videos
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • CEO Issue
    • Best Places to Work
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • Heavy Metal
    • One Good Resin
    • BRICS and Plastics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Perspective: Making the best of working from home
      Nypro's Gordon Lankton left the plastics industry a better place
      Recognizing Plastek Industries for all-around excellence
      Let's look forward, rather than back, to mark COVID anniversary
    • Kickstart: Plastics ready to take flight on Mars
      Kickstart: Let's hear it for leftovers
      Kickstart: Big data, big bowls and consumer packaging
      Kickstart: A vexing vaccination question
    • Heavy Metal: Coronavirus edition, plus the work of working from home
      Don't put off succession planning
      What's a good gift for your cobot? Batteries?
      Here's some big ideas to mull over the holidays
    • PE resin trends highlighted in Shell report
      Dow's Lowry honored by World Economic Forum for sustainability work
      Africa impacts new colors from Ampacet
      Plaskolite marches into madness with its own online bracket
    • Climate debate in Washington increasingly includes plastic
      There was no choice but canceling NPE still a big deal
      The business case for producer responsibility
      Think divided government stalls plastics legislation? Think again
    • Want prices? Introducing historical resin pricing, now available in a downloadable form
      A new annual ranking: Top processor gains
      Thermoformers: Would you believe a 12 percent gain?
      Just how big is thermoforming in North America?
    • Working from home: Rugrats edition
      Nypro's Gordon Lankton left the plastics industry a better place
      Let's look forward, rather than back, to mark COVID anniversary
      Virtual pitfalls derail exhibits for builders' trade show
    • PEX pipe maker Uponor donates $30,000 for Texas storm relief
      Virtual pitfalls derail exhibits for builders' trade show
      PPI puts $200 bounty on exhumed HDPE conduit
      Raise the roof: Housing starts hit a 12-year high
    • Perspective: Making the best of working from home
      Perspective: The Materials Wars: Is plastic actually better?
      Perspective: Plastics manufacturers — a surprising contribution to sustainability
      Plastics industry business owners: Listen to your future workforce
    • Mailbag: Additional fees for electric vehicles ‘unfortunate'
      Mailbag: Where's the plastics industry's response to critics?
      Mailbag: Manufacturers struggling to follow COVID-19 safety rules
      Modernizing recycling infrastructure will benefit businesses as well as the environment
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
    • Maintenance can ensure efficient blender operation
      Dosing: Perfect for adding color
      Blending vs dosing: What you need to know
      Going low or high: Comparing volume
    • Colors and custom compounds
      In the laboratory: Compounding solutions
      Recycling content: Resins going ‘green’
      Compounding: Glass and other fillers
    • Dryer maintenance: Don’t err with air
      Dryers: Options for a shop’s process
      Dryer installation: Going central?
      Resins: Hygroscopic or non-hygroscopic
    • Electric injection molding presses: Efficiency is key
      Hydraulic injection molding machines
      Proper maintenance can prevent downtime
      Hybrid injection molding machines
    • Purging Hot runners: Open or closed methods
      Purging extrusion machinery
      Purging extrusion blow molding machines
      Purging: Chemical, abrasive and non-abrasive
    • Controls, special applications boost production, profitability
      Robot maintenance key for smooth operation
      High-speed robots: A rapid way to increase efficiency
      Robots: Every shape and size
    • Maintenance: Key for efficiency
      Shredders: Plastic in pieces
      Safety first for size reduction
      Granulators: The right fit
    • Video: Structural foam molding
      Structural foam molding: Flexibility for processors
    • Mold inventory: How many molds does a shop have?
      Molds: Innovation
      Mold changeover: Saving time and money
      How molds work
    • Labor: Apprenticeships may provide answer
      Internships: Solving the skills gap in-house
      College training, programs
      Lean Six Sigma: Transforming business operation
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Ask the Expert
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
    • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Polymer Points Live - April 2021
      Polymer Points Live - February 2021
      Polymer Points Live - January 2021
      Polymer Points Live - December 2020
    • Plastics in Healthcare 2020
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Plastics in Healthcare
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Data Store
  • Directory
  • More+
    • Classifieds
    • Digital Edition
    • Newsletters
    • Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Sponsored By Bandera
      Bandera US was born for the North American market
      Sponsored By Ensign Equipment
      Filling systems customized for any process or budget need
      KraussMaffei
      Sponsored By KraussMaffei
      KraussMaffei retools in US with investment from parent ownership
      Sponsored By Mitsubishi
      Innovative new technology from Mitsubishi Engineering-Plastics Corporation helps reduce emission footprints
    • KraussMaffei
      Sponsored By KraussMaffei
      KraussMaffei Retools in US with investment from Parent Ownership
    • Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Tailored maintenance for injection molding machines and robots
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Improve maintenance efficiency with e-connect.monitor
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Maximum precision for lowest shot weights
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Even more cost effectiveness for small precision parts
    • Shell Polymer
      Sponsored By Shell Polymers
      Food and beverage trends impacting the polymer industry
      Sponsored By Conexiom
      Use Sales Order Automation to free up time for CSRs to focus on customers, not manual entry
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
February 12, 2015 01:00 AM

Foam insulation business is evolving

Catherine Kavanaugh
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    CertainTeed
    Certainteed has been making improvements to its open-cell spray foam insulation brand CertaSpray.

    LAS VEGAS — Lapolla Industries Inc., a Houston-based manufacturer of spray polyurethane foam (SPF), is ahead of schedule on its pledge to lower use of harmful hydroflourocarbons (HFCs) in its entire product line by the end of the year.

    “We're already there,” Lapolla CEO Doug Kramer said on the floor of the International Builders' Show on Jan. 20. “Others are making commitments for 2020-22 and we've already commercialized technology that's bringing value to the environment and consumers.”

    Lapolla uses a liquid blowing agent developed by Honeywell International Inc. called Solstice to make its low-HFC closed-cell foam insulation. HFCs are potent greenhouses gases that contribute to climate change and by some estimates do 10,000 times the ozone damage of carbon monoxide.

    Manufacturers of foam for walls, attics, roofs and crawl spaces made a big effort to put a spotlight on their innovations at IBS as the trend toward improving a building's energy efficiency with eco-friendly products gains traction.

    Former “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” TV host Ty Pennington spent a couple hours at the Lapolla booth. Part of a hallway wall at The New American Home was covered in clear plastic instead of dry wall to show how the open-cell foam made by Bayer MaterialScience LLC fills every nook and cranny. “HouseCalls” TV host Ron Hazelton made an appearance for CertainTeed, which brought a new open-cell SPF with fire-protective qualities. And, Dow Building Solutions, which was pushing a foam board, had demonstrations and speakers backing its claim that it is the only manufacturer that can help a builder do everything to achieve a zero-energy ready home,

    Agent of change

    Lapolla and Honeywell also are private-sector partners of a White House effort to limit greenhouse gases.

    “We took Honeywell's blowing agent technology, reformulated around that, and created a good, strong, stable foam system,” Kramer said. “We're the first ones in the world to accomplish this.”

    The blowing agent allows the SPF insulation to expand and it is said to improve the foam's performance. This next-generation agent is non-flammable, isn't a volatile organic compound, and it contributes to the foam's insulating properties, which improve a building's energy efficiency, Kramer said. The Environmental Protection Agency approved the agent for its Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP).

    Honeywell says in a news release that it partnered with Lapolla to launch the use of Solstice in foam wall systems because the building product manufacturer has a global reach and rapport with commercial and residential architects, builders and renovators.

    Kramer said Lapolla reaped some other benefits, too. He pointed to Lapolla's Foam-Lok 2000-4G (the latter part of the product name refers to fourth generation). Lapolla says it has a 10 percent better R-value, which has been tested and proven, an 8 to 10 percent improved yield, and a zero value when it comes to ozone-depleting properties (ODP).

    When he talks about the green benefits of curbing the proliferation of HFCs, Kramer also gets into number assigned to the blowing agent's global-warming potential (GWP), which measures how much heat a substance can trap in the atmosphere. In a rating where lower is better, Solstice gets a 1 compared to 725 to 1,030 for other agents.

    “It's a significant change,” Kramer said.

    Left exposed

    CertainTeed's new open-cell SPF insulation — called CertaSpray X — is designed for use in attics and crawl spaces, where its built-in, fire-protective coating is supposed to be left exposed.

    For other similar products, the installers have to go back a day or two later to spray on an ignition barrier, spokesman Ryan Heath said.

    “CertaSpray X provides one-step protection, which helps builders stay on time and on budget” he added. “It cures to a mocha color so building inspectors know it doesn't need to have the extra barrier over it.”

    The foam feels like an egg carton as opposed to a closed-cell foam, which is more rigid.

    “There may be a few other manufacturers that have it but it's a newer product,” Heath said. “It hits the market in March.”

    Got it all

    Dow employees also extol the virtues of foams to seal a building envelope. The company makes closed-cell foam, a hybrid foam for windows and doors, and a low-pressure spray foam that it says has the same qualities as a high-pressure drum foam but doesn't need expensive large rigs for installation.

    Paired up with other Dow products, the company offers thermal, air and moisture protection as well as a source of power generation with its solar shingles. Dow says its full product portfolio is unique in terms of having it all to build a net-zero energy house, which roughly creates the same amount of energy than it uses annually.

    “No one else in the industry has this top-to-bottom offering,” Tim Lacey, business director for Dow Building Solutions-Americas. “That's how we can say no other manufacturer can help a builder achieve zero-energy ready homes. It's the combination of our solar shingles and all the solutions we have for the envelope of the home.”

    Dow bills its product line as an “outperformance system” and a couple recommendations related to it stray from common building practices. Instead of using 2-by-6 studs for the wall framing, Dow research scientist Brian Lieburn recommends using 2-by-4 studs. Then, after the OSB board goes up, he says it should be protected with a minimum of an inch of foam sheathing instead of a house wrap.

    Foam board has several benefits over house wraps, he added, starting with a layer of insulation for the entire home.

    “House wraps alone provide no insulation,” Lieburn said. “Dow Styrofoam sheathing is also a tested water-resistive barrier with code approval designed to keep water out. House wraps aren't required to do assembly testing to meet the code.”

    And, then there's the foam's ability to block air leaks.

    “That can account for as much as 30 to 40 percent of the en energy loss in the typical home,” Lieburn said.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    logo-pn-color
    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber & Plastics News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Plastics News China
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • What Keeps You Up At Night
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
        • Polymer Points Live
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • FYI Charts
        • Current FYI
      • LSR World
      • Multimedia
        • Videos
        • Galleries
        • Podcasts
      • NPE2021
      • K Show
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Best Places to Work
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • Heavy Metal
      • One Good Resin
      • BRICS and Plastics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Plastics in Healthcare
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Ask the Expert
      • Polymer Points Live
      • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
      • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
      • Plastics in Healthcare Library
      • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Data Store
    • Directory
    • More+
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified
      • Digital Edition
      • Newsletters
      • Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Processor of the Year submissions