The custom homes we are building in Gateway Village, Texas, are wrapped in color pvc foam board. While our eyes may see red, we’re thinking green. The boards are the latest in green building materials, and when we build homes with them, you save money on your build cost (keep reading to find out how), and end up with a more energy efficient home. Together, that means more green in your wallet AND a greener planet.

The red panels we use in building custom homes are calledcolor pvc foam boards. Our good friends at BASF and StarRFoam partner to create the foam board, and the product, called StarRGuard is distributed locally by Denison area business, Main Street Lumber.

When installed on the outside of a home, color pvc foam boards provide a continuous thermal barrier around the house as opposed to conventional insulation that is installed between the studs. When conventional wall cavity insulation is ONLY installed in a new build, a home loses or gains heat through the wood framing members, decreasing your home’s energy efficiency and driving up your energy costs.

We build homes in North Texas by combining both types of insulation. When used together, there are two additional benefits.

Improving build costs. The insulated foam board allows us to reach our desired R-value within a smaller wall cavity. We can use 2x4 studs as opposed to 2x6 studs. This lessens your overall build cost.

A more structurally sound framing system. The combination of the closed cell foam, the studs and the foam board combined create a much more structurally sound framing system, perhaps even more so than conventional framing.

Unlike other rigid insulation products, StarRguard Plus does not suffer from a degrading R-value. It maintains a stable R-value over the life of the product, which is backed by a ten year structural and performance warranty if combined with the BASF closed cell foam product sprayed in the wall cavities. An engineered set of framing plans is required for the warranty to be valid.

We use both types of insulation AND a stamped engineering set of framing plans (in partnership with ELD Engineering) on our new construction homes in Gateway Village which means along with the keys, the new homeowners will receive a warranty on insulation structure and performance with their home.

Have we sold you on the benefits of using color pvc foam board in new home construction? If so, next time you drive by an new build, and see it wrapped in color pvc foam boards, you’ll be thinking “green”, too.