Have you been trying to find environmentally safe and sustainable building materials for your project? In March 2014, the Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR) group held a Better Envelope Solutions Showcase in San Francisco to help you find some of these materials. Their goal was to exhibit insulation and weatherization materials and products that provide superior performance without sacrificing environmental and human health. They spent a great deal of time vetting the products and vendors that participated in the show.
Besides product exhibits, there were several presentations including one by Alex Wilson of Building Green and another one by Tom Lent of Healthy Building Network. Wilson stressed the importance of choosing the proper insulating materials. While insulation is touted as an energy saving measure, some materials may be associated with hazardous constituents in the materials themselves, during manufacturing or installation. Sometimes they do more harm than good. Lent talked about some specific hazardous ingredients used with various insulating materials and described the related environment and health risks.
Here are some interesting healthy and high performing products/materials.
- Applegate Cellulose & Cotton Insulation – The cellulose and cotton insulation materials are made from up to 85% recycled content, reuse scraps, use less energy to manufacture. Cotton batts are easy to cut or tear to install.
- Bonded Logic Cotton Insulation – The UltraTouch product maintains an 80% post-consumer recycled content. It’s perforated and easy to tear to fit studs.
- Aspen Aerogels Insulation – The product provides the highest R-value per inch compared to other insulation materials for maximum energy efficiency in walls, floors, roofs, framing, and windows. They are thin and can be quickly installed.
- KPS Wool Insulation – KPS Sheep Wool Insulation is made from natural fiber. It does not emit formaldehyde. Wool insulation is sustainable, renewable, a good sound absorber and easy to install.
- Roxul Mineral Wool – Stone wool insulation products that come in semi-rigid batt and loose-fill for use in walls, attics, ceiling and floor frames.
- Advanced Insolutions – A fibrous insulation embedded with aerogel that is manufactured in the United States. It is flexible, hydrophobic, breathable, fireproof, mold and mildew resistant and has high R-value per inch.
- Thermacork Cork Insulation – Insulation cork is a 100% natural, renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable product made from the outer bark of oak trees. Naturally binded by steam-heated, causing the cork to expand.
- Cascadia Windows & Doors – Triple-pane fiberglass windows and doors.
- Marvin Windows – Some of their products are made from FSC wood windows. They also make fiberglass windows.
- M Sora Windows – High performance triple glaze windows.
- Santa Cruz Millwork – Custom windows and doors using FSC wood.
- BamCore – is a stud-less hollow wall framing system using bamboo panels as the core composite of each panel.
- Huber Engineered Wood – Manufactures building sheaths, radiant barriers and other wall and roof panels.
- BarkHouse Bark Siding – Bark shingles for interior and exterior which are maintenance free.
- Prosoco Weather Barrier – The air and water-resistive barrier is a fluid applied, waterproofing and air barrier membrane.
- SIGA Tapes and Weather Barriers – SIGA makes high performance tapes, sealants and membranes designed to protect the building envelope from air, vapor, and moisture leakage, free of VOCs, urea-formaldehyde, solvents or resins.
- Vaproshield Weather Barriers – Breathable membrane for roofs and walls.
- California Straw Building Association – A trade association fostering building homes with straws and plaster.
- Watershed Materials – Watershed Block is a versatile masonry unit made of locally sourced earth and recycled aggregates.
