DOME KITS.inf - advanced materials

Checking your home's insulating system is one of the fastest and most cost- efficient ways to use a whole-house approach to reduce energy waste and maximize your energy dollars. A good insulating system includes a combination of products and construction techniques that provide a home with thermal performance protect it against air infiltration, and control moisture. You can increase the comfort of your home while reducing your heating and cooling needs by up to 30% by investing just a few hundred dollars in proper insulation and weatherization products.

Adequately insulated homes save money for homeowner's every month. It helps us conserve vital energy resources for our children and for the future. Energy-efficient houses help the environment through lower rates of air pollution emissions from plant and on-site combustion of fuels for heating, air-conditioning and ventilation.

Spray-on Insulation

Polyurethane foam has the highest R-value of any code approved, closed cell insulation. This seamless building envelope seals your home to protect from air and moisture infiltration and pest. Foam expands to fill cracks, and expands around windows, sills and door frames. Polyurethane has superior adhesion with high compressive strength helping to add greater shear quality and structural integrity to your building.

Concrete filled Foam Block

One of the best house construction methods is foam block concrete walls. These houses are not only super energy efficient, but they are extremely strong. The heavy insulation and concrete mass inside the walls block outdoor noise. With the concrete core and tight sealing foam blocks, the homes are very airtight. These homes look like any other. Your architect will actually have more styling flexibility due to the strength. Interior and exterior walls can be finished with drywall, paneling, and siding, brick or stucco.

These are large, often four-foot-long, hollow foam blocks. They are usually made of polystyrene insulating foam like a cooler. Once the blocks are stacked up to create the wall, concrete is pumped in the top to fill the hollow block cavities. You can expect your utility bills to be about half those of a code stick-built house. This results from the high insulation level and the efficiency benefits of the high thermal mass of the concrete. The overall building cost is only about three to five percent more than a lumber stick-built house.

Hardie Paneling and Siding

Your home should be as dependable as it is beautiful. That's why our siding offers the best of what vinyl and wood have to offer. James Hardie gives you lower maintenance over the life of your home, but it doesn’t sacrifice the charm, beauty and character of natural wood. James Hardie siding won't rot or crack. It also resists damage from rain, hail and flying debris. It can even be installed to resist hurricane-force winds. And offers pre-finished siding in a variety of attractive colors with up to a 15-year finish warranty. Perhaps the ultimate peace of mind comes from the fact that James Hardie siding products are fire resistant, with a limited transferable product warranty for up to 50 years

Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems (EIFS) are multi-layered exterior wall systems that are used on both commercial buildings and homes. They provide superior energy efficiency and offer much greater design flexibility than other cladding products.

Developed in Europe in the 1950s, EIFS were introduced in the U.S. almost 30 years ago. They were first used on commercial buildings, and later, on homes. Today, EIFS account for nearly 30% of the U.S. commercial exterior wall market. EIFS typically consist of the following components:

Insulation board, made of polystyrene or polyisocyanurate foam, which is secured to the exterior wall surface with a specially formulated adhesive and/or mechanical attachment.

A durable, water-resistant base coat, which is applied on top of the insulation and reinforced with fiber glass mesh for added strength.

An attractive and durable finish coat — typically using acrylic co-polymer technology —, which is both colorfast and crack-resistant.

By insulating outside the structure, EIFS reduce air infiltration, stabilize the interior environment and reduce energy consumption.

EIFS can reduce air infiltration by as much as 55% compared to standard brick or wood construction. What's more, EIFS add to the "R-value" of a home or building.

The rich appearance of EIFS bears a resemblance to stucco or stone, but the systems are far more versatile than these and other materials. Not only do EIFS come in virtually limitless colors and a wide variety of textures, but they also can be fashioned into virtually any shape or design.

Unlike wood, stucco and other siding materials, EIFS rarely need painting. Most EIFS systems are specially formulated with 100% acrylic binder, which gives EIFS superior resistance to fading, chalking and yellowing. As a result, the systems tend to maintain their original appearance over time. And since the color is integral to the finish coat, even if the surface is scratched, the same color appears beneath the abrasion.

The systems are designed to be very flexible, which makes them highly crack resistant. When walls expand or contract due to rising or falling temperatures, EIFS are resilient enough to "absorb" building movement and thus avoid the unsightly cracking problems that are so common with stucco, concrete and brick exteriors.

EIFS are among the most water-resistant exterior surfaces you can put on a house.

Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems (EIFS)

Extra roofing protection for vulnerable areas. Use for valleys, eaves, flashings, hips, ridges and rakes, and around dormers and skylights.

Self-adhesive backing seals to the deck.

SBS-modified asphalt coating helps seal around nails for a watertight finish.

Can be used in new construction or in reroofing requiring a complete tear-off.

Helps extend the life of your roof.

Provides extra protection under any type of roofing: tile, wood shake, asphalt, slate or metal.

Fiberglass mat is stronger and provides better tear resistance than saturated felt.

Easy to install - even for do-it-yourselfers.

Skid resistant surface for better traction and safer application.

Modified Bitumen Roll Roofing