Blog

Foam Board Fire in New York City On December 14th a NYU Langone Medical Center roof caught fire.  As reported on dnainfo by Ben Fractenberg and Aidan Gardiner: Workers were cutting metal when a spark flew onto a roofing insulation material called "rigid board" and caught fire on the seventh floor of 560 First Ave. near East 30th Street, … read more

Vapor Venting An Unvented Roof In Praise of Belts and Suspenders "Classic Ridge Rot" documented by the Building Science Corporation in Alaska Planes can fly safely with one engine. And you can keep your pants up with just a belt. But if you're looking to be protected from fools, then adding suspenders to the belt might be what set … read more

Waterbury VT Municipal Complex uses INTELLO Plus for Foam-Free Enclosure Moisture Control INTELLO Plus from foundation to roof: all interior walls and ceilings of this building include Pro Clima's airtight smart vapor retarder to ensure that the enclosure maintains high performance for the next 100 years. Note the best practice use o … read more

The 8 Golden Rules for Foam-Free Unvented Asphalt Shingled Roofs When insulating a wood roof structure, 475's goal, as always, is to build in the most healthy, structurally sound and ecologically friendly way – thereby achieving truly high performance.  This means we generally try to avoid using foam above or below the roof deck (see ou … read more

JLC Reports on Success of Foam-Free Unvented Flat Roof Assembly 475 enables more robust assemblies that are less toxic. Such was the case with the Whitchurch home in northern Vermont - working with the owners and their dedicated Passive House team at Montpelier Construction. The walls were a variation on the I-Joist outrigger configuration w … read more

Make Better Choices: Toward A Less Toxic World Greenpeace Pyramid of Plastics. Nature is toxic enough - it would seem sensible that we try to limit the amount of toxicity industry contributes.  Almost nothing is completely good.  But in the building industry as with much of modern life there are a dizzying array of invented chemical … read more