Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: USA Insulation has opened a foam insulation plant in Cleveland, Ohio to meet increased demand for its products. The location was chosen because the injection foam franchise has its headquarters in the town.

"With over 50,000 homes insulated to date, our brand is now recognised as one of the premier residential retrofit insulation companies in America," said Patrick Pitrone, president of USA Insulation Franchise Corporation. "USA Insulation's proprietary injection foam has been used in the sidewalls of new and existing homes for over 30 years and boasts some of the highest R-ratings in the insulation industry."

UK: Kingspan Insulation will launch four low lambda insulation products for floors, walls and soffits on 1 August 2016.

Kingspan Kooltherm K103 Floorboard, K110 and K110 PLUS Soffit Board and K118 Insulated Plasterboard feature a fibre-free insulation core, enabling them to achieve a thermal conductivity of 0.018W/m.K. The launch of the new products follows the release earlier in 2016 of Kingspan Kooltherm K106 and K108 Cavity Board.

All Kooltherm, Therma and KoolDuct insulation products and cavity closers manufactured at Kingspan Insulation’s facilities in Pembridge and Selby are certified to BES 6001 (Framework Standard for the Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products) ‘Excellent’.

US: The National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Better Business Bureau has recommended that Applegate Insulation discontinue certain claims for the company’s cellulose insulation products. However, it found the company could support its ‘R-value per inch’ claims. NAD is an investigative unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation in North America.

The questionable claims included; “Some studies have shown boron might lower the risk of some cancers and is a chemical commonly found in vegetables such as almonds, apples … and pears, according to BoraxPioneer.” NAD also challenged; “The fire retardant additives used to manufacture Applegate are non-toxic. One of the additives, boric acid, is six times less toxic to humans than table salt!”

The North American Insulation Manufacturers Association (NAIMA) objected to comparative performance claims made by Applegate’s advertising that cellulose insulation provides superior energy savings over fibreglass insulation, resulting in consumers having significantly reduced heating and cooling bills. Applegate maintained that it has a reasonable basis for its energy savings claims based on the findings of three studies.

Following its review of the advertising and advertiser’s evidence, NAD determined that one of the reasonable messages conveyed by comparative performance claims which specifically reference ‘studies’ is that consumers will actually experience the same energy savings as reported in these studies. In this case, NAD found the advertiser’s evidence insufficient to support the challenged comparative performance claims and recommended the advertiser discontinue some of its claims.

NAD determined Applegate provided a reasonable basis for its ‘R-value per inch claims,’ noting that the evidence in the record supports a finding that Applegate’s cellulose insulation meets the exception to the Federal Trace Commission’s R-value rule and therefore, Applegate is not prohibited by that rule from making ‘R-value per inch’ claims.

In a statement Applegate said that it would take the NAD’s recommendations into account for current and future advertising materials.

Austria: Isobasalt, a subsidiary of Austrotherm, plants to build a mineral wool plant at Grosswilfersdorf. The plant is scheduled to start operation in the second quarter of 2017 and the plant will have a production capacity of 250,000t/yr. The unit is expected to create 50 jobs.

UAE: Kingspan Insulation has started manufacturing its PalDuct Hydro System product, panels with a polyisocyanurate (PIR) insulation core faced with aluminium foil, at its plant in Dubai. The company has changed its manufacturing process by installing a pentane tank at the plant to make the product, according to Gulf Construction. The panels have a density of 48 - 50kg/m³ and in a thickness of either 20mm and 30mm. A company spokesman said that the product can be specified by engineers for projects required to comply with local regulations such as a Estidama in Abdu Dhabi.