The role of polyisocyanurate insulation in high-performance systems.

Knauf has been awarded a $3.28 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to improve its Life Cycle Assessments and Environmental Product Declarations. The grant will allow Knauf to provide accurate and reliable information, helping industry professionals make informed, eco-friendly choices and contribute to a more sustainable built environment.

Insulation is one of the best ways to reduce home energy costs, with a national opportunity to save 15 to 45 percent on costs, according to ICF’s Insulation Opportunity Study. With the unprecedented heat making energy costs increasingly unaffordable for all Americans, but particularly low-income Americans, this cannot be overstated.

Barricade Building Products announced that its products will now be available at all Building Products Inc. locations throughout the Midwest. The expansion allows customers in the region to easily access Barricade’s comprehensive range of high-quality building materials, ensuring their projects are safeguarded from the ground up.

Imagine training employees with a virtual reality, audio-visual headset that puts them on the job, inside a realistic house, with saws buzzing, hammers tapping and birds chirping. That is the concept behind an industry-leading virtual reality training program sponsored by Owens Corning.

Barricade Building Products announced its partnership with BIMsmith, which will enable architects, engineers and designers to access Barricade’s extensive product information and seamlessly integrate it into their projects.

Offsite construction methods like prefabrication, modularization, preassembly and offsite multi-trade fabrication have been around for decades.

Prefab construction is here, and it’s happening. The combination of a severe labor shortage and extreme shortfalls in housing supply is driving a renewed interest in prefabricated construction as a more cost-efficient alternative to traditional building.

I’ve been using natural cements and natural hydraulic limes in the traditional plastering craft for many years. However, I never had the opportunity to visit a quarry where the unique limestones used to produce them are mined.

The insulated concrete forms industry has built its reputation on key benefits: energy efficiency, ease of construction, comfort, and disaster resilience.

The city of Sandy, Utah, is on the rise. 

Chaney Enterprises, a ready-mix concrete, aggregates, custom blends, and related construction supplies provider, announced its customer, Eastern Bay Management Corporation completed the first multi-story, multi-use commercial insulated concrete form (ICF) building on the Eastern Shore in Maryland.

Without question, the building and construction industry has been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. Approximately 1.1 million construction jobs were eliminated in the first two months of the pandemic prior to the industry’s designation as “essential.” While the industry has recouped nearly 80 percent of its workforce since then, companies will need to hire another 1 million workers over the next two years to meet the country’s insatiable demand for new home construction and improvement.

One of the most prominent offsite construction award programs, the Building Excellence Awards showcase the projects that best demonstrate the design flexibility, long-lasting energy performance and resiliency of SIPs.

The Structural Insulated Panel Association announced the winners of its annual Building Excellence Awards, an off-site construction awards program that recognizes outstanding residential and commercial projects.

A K-12 school in rural Alaska, a zero-energy-ready timber-frame home, low-income housing with a high-performance shell...the winners of this year’s Building Excellence Awards are a strong testament to the benefits of SIP construction.

The BlackStar Companies, LLC announced the launch of a new business division called BlackStar SIPs. BlackStar SIPs is the company’s latest entry into sustainable, cost-efficient and high-performance construction solutions for residential, commercial and government clients.

For the past few years here at Walls & Ceilings magazine, we’ve been considering the fundamentals of traditional plasters.

Lime plaster has a notable place in the history of art, architecture and design throughout the world, from the Egyptian pyramids to the Italian Renaissance frescos.

Wichita’s Advanced Learning Library in Kansas is the city’s newest and largest public library, replacing the old downtown branch.

For years, metal cornerbead was the industry standard and it still remains a reliable choice today. 

Fernando Sanchez expands his long career with L&W to become manager of the Colorado Springs, Colo., branch.

AD member Action Gypsum Supply adds sixth branch location in two years.

During a time where there is a need for affordable housing, Westlake Royal Building Products, one of North America’s largest manufacturers and distributors of exterior and interior building products, celebrated its 300th home built in partnership with Habitat for Humanity - MidOhio, an organization that aims to build homes, empower families and develop communities. On Thursday, Sept. 15, the keys to a three-bedroom, two-bath single family home were turned over to a partner family in Columbus. For this home, Westlake Royal donated 20 squares of siding, including Exterior Portfolio Vinyl Siding and Portsmouth Shake & Shingles Siding, as well as Royal Shutters, Mounts and Vents accessories - marking its 300th siding donation to Habitat MidOhio over the last 20 years.

Novo Building Products is pleased to announce the opening of a new Empire Moulding and Millwork distribution facility in Amherst, New Hampshire. Strategically located 60 miles north of Boston, the new 217,000-square-foot facility services 750 independent lumberyards, specialty millwork shops, stair manufacturers, door fabricators, ProDealers and home centers across New England.

Westlake Royal Building Products announced that it has acquired Palight Trimboard from its long-standing partner Palram Americas. Through the acquisition of Palight Trimboard product lines, Westlake Royal will expand its portfolio of brands offered under Westlake Royal Trim & Mouldings Solutions, which provides the finishing touch for the interior and exterior of a home.

Westlake Royal Building Products announced three partnerships that will distribute Versetta Stone (Lumbermen’s Inc., Mid-Am Building Supply and Wausau Supply Company). These partnerships will expand the Versetta Stone footprint in the Midwest as well as the East Coast.

One product that can help save time and money and reduce waste

Westlake Royal Building Products has partnered with Operation Tiny Home to build and dedicate a custom-built tiny home to a Lummi Nation U.S. Veteran facing housing instability.

Westlake Royal Building Products has been named 2022 Vendor of the Year by Carter Lumber, one of the nation’s top building materials retailers. Despite industry shifts and challenges, the partnership has remained strong, allowing both companies to continue meeting the needs of customers.

Tamlyn received the prestigious “Best Family-Owned Business” award from the Houston Business Journal.

Westlake Royal Building Products, Inc. announced Sept. 7 that Palight Trimboard is now Skytrim, a sophisticated line of PVC trim options.

Plastic Components now offers individual brochures for its PVC Trims and Accessories product lines, which include stucco/plaster, stone veneer, drywall, Direct Applied Systems, Exterior Insulated Finish Systems and fiber cement board trims.

Westlake Royal Building Products announced Nov. 28 expanded partnerships with U.S. LUMBER and Amerhart, which are both Specialty Building Products brands, that will encompass multiple products and locations. U.S. LUMBER and Amerhart are leading distributors of building materials.

Ideal for EIFS and direct-applied, 2209MESH Corner Bead combines Plastic Components’ reliable PVC corner bead with fire- and alkaline-resistant, 4.5-ounce fiberglass mesh for a time-saving alternative to wrapping corners by hand with multiple pieces of mesh.

Created in the 1960s by the Lyndon B. Johnson administration as part of the “War on Poverty,” 40 years later, Job Corps continues to enjoy strong bi-partisan support in Congress. It continues its mission to help young men and women fulfill their life’s potential, and it may just be part of your solution to meeting the demand for skilled labor in today’s transitional labor market

I was 14 years old and the tool I held uncomfortably in my hand had long ago been relegated to the bottom of a pick-up truck tool box; the dark and dusty graveyard where old trowels with rusted blades and popped rivets go to die. You see plasterers very rarely throw away their old trowels; they just put them out to pasture. A quality built trowel will serve its purpose for many years, even decades if cared for properly.

Online Blogs, Chat Rooms, and Community Forums; these cyber communities have become the modern version of the neighborhood bar, the office water cooler, and the campus coffee shop...

Have you ever been to an industry trade show? I usually attend several each year; the INTEX Expo, World of Concrete, and this year I had the opportunity to attend the Remodeling Show sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders at the Convention Center in Baltimore. You can always tell when a trade show is in town. Local restaurants and hotels are filled with small groups wearing matching shirts.

Dimitris Spiliadis’ great-grandfather once owned a hotel in Constantinople, which was lost when the Turks invaded the magnificent and historic city (now known as Istanbul).

No doubt readers will recognize this month’s W&C Architect Profile of the Month Chris Dixon. He has been one of the magazine’s contributing editor’s now for several years with his column Straight Green.

Advances in chemistry make more sustainable building envelopes.

For 73 years, KHS Architects has encouraged a culture “that reveres both invention and customer focus.”

 Over the past 15 years, building information modeling has developed into the undeniable future of the architecture and design industry.  

This year’s Northwest Wall and Ceiling Bureau’s Annual Convention and Trade Show named the 2012 Outstanding Projects of the Year. The event, held May 10-12 in Scottsdale, Ariz., named several of its members from Canada and the U.S. The following are the winners:

The Northwest Wall and Ceiling Bureau announced the winners of its annual Outstanding Project of the Year Awards.

A high-profile green building project meets high standards for indoor air quality.

When the oldest public housing development in the U.S. took a turn for the worst, a project team put it back on its feet and then some.

With a track record of 40-plus years in national multifamily leadership, the architecture firm, The Architectural Team, Inc., recently announced three key milestones for the firm's projects.