News

Summer in Long Island Wine Country

Forget summer in The Hamptons and soak up the rays in the lesser known, but equally stunning Long Island Wine Country. Long Island’s North Fork is referred to by some locals as the “Sister to the Hamptons.”

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Flames Away

St. Louis Group (SLG) is a leading supplier of brominated, chlorinated, and phosphorus flame retardants. Launching in 2010, by SLG’s president Dago Hornedo along with Rhonda Burgess, and Mindy Newton, SLG is now celebrating 12 years in business. Currently, SLG is also expanding into polyol and other polyurethane (PU) additives.

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Geotechnical Foam for Concrete Lifting Saves an Old Tree

Once-upon-a tree, the people in the quaint town of Winder, Georgia, noticed their pavements were sinking. There was also an old tree growing next to one of the pavements that was destroying part of the sidewalk. People of the town hated to cut it down, but was there a solution?

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The True Cost of Foam

We are in a very strange industry. We buy sets or pounds, which are packed as gallons of liquid, then we process it on the jobsite to make board-feet of finished foam. Most spray foam contractors don’t list the board feet on the sales estimate, instead they call out the net thickness after trim. This is all based on a requirement to install insulation with specific R-Values in the wall, floor, and ceiling.

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Going to the Zoo

In the past, zoos were considered mere entertainment for people to observe animals they may not have had the pleasure of ever seeing in the wild. However, today most zoos recognize that the animal’s welfare is paramount and their living environment at the zoo should replicate their natural habitat as closely as possible. This includes both the aesthetics within a zoo’s enclosures, as well as comfort for all the animals.

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Using Undocumented SPF Products

SPF materials have been in short supply during the past several months. Because of this supply challenge, many SPF contractors may be installing whatever products are available. In today’s market this may be considered a necessity, but using unfamiliar products is a risky proposition – especially if these products are not properly qualified for construction use.

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Spray Foam in a Chicken Trailer Keeps Chicks Chirpy

For more than 40 years, Smithway Inc. has been hauling chicks—literally. The Fairview, NC-based company offers trailers and truck bodies used to transport chickens for commercial use. It has curtain-sided trailers, plus teams with Great Dane Trailers to produce chick trailers that are completely self-contained, ranging from 24 feet to 53 feet long. The air-conditioned and heated units are powered by diesel generators with an emergency backup generator as standard equipment.

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Keeping Your Cool

PPE may sometimes intensify the effects of heat; however, it may also be employed to help fight it. OSHA agrees with this sentiment and states that the use of circulating air is “The most highly effective, as well as the most complicated, personal cooling system.” For example, PPE supplied air respirators, direct compressed air throughout the body and help increase both evaporative and convective cooling.

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Lowering the Global Footprint

A growing number of builders and homeowners are concerned about climate change and want to reduce the impacts of their buildings and homes on the Earth. The good news is that as an industry working with an exceptional, proven product, we are in a unique position to help. Spray foam is an earth-friendly material that helps to minimize building emissions and the climate change resulting from them.

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Efficiency Techniques

What is efficiency? This term gets used a lot, especially when it comes to the subject of increasing your bottom line, but what does it really mean as a spray foam contractor and why does it matter? A lot of talk around efficiency in our industry centers on the energy savings that spray foam provides to the consumer, but for contractor’s, efficiency is the ability to deliver their services in a cost-effective way while maintaining quality.

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The Visible Spectrum

Could infrared imagery be proven to be part of the solution to help homes achieve energy efficiency through the application of SPF?

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