Words: Tiffany Coppock at Owens Corning, Dan Kamys at MCAA
Editor’s Note: Dan Kamys, Editorial Director at MCAA, recently had the chance to sit down and talk with Tiffany Coppock with the MCAA’s new Strategic Partner, Owens Corning. Part one of this interview can be found here, and part two can be found here.
Dan Kamys: Hey it’s Dan Kamys with the MCAA back with another part of my conversation with Tiffany Coppock who works for our Strategic Partner, Owens Corning. Here we are continuing our conversation on FOAMGLAS Perinsul SIB, an easy to use thermal bridging solution with some great applications within the masonry industry.
Tiffany Coppock: Thanks, Dan. Excited to talk about Perinsul.
D.K.: So, this is a relatively new product in North America. It has been supported in other parts of the globe before, correct?
T.C.: Absolutely,this product really took off in Europe, so you will also see a lot of European design using cellular glass and particularly this Perinsul product. It has a sister product in Europe for those applications in Europe and I think one of the reasons why we saw that take off had more to do with combustibility and a propensity for more masonry construction. So we’re really excited to bring this back, if you will, to the United States. It really never left, but we really tried to create some more resources for our designers here in the U.S. today. So you will see American sizing for masonry, your Perinsul is going to be designed for that, and you’ll see American testing to aid with designing and making sure that you’re proving compliance.
D.K.: The biggest issue that we consistently hear from our members and the industry as a whole is workforce development and labor shortages within the industry, so whether it be from automation or robotics you’re seeing a lot of emphasis on efficiency. It’s interesting to take the approach of viewing the products that are being installed as potential benefits to efficiency on a job site. Do these products require any specialized training for the workforce?
T.C.: Well, I will say that we do have installation instructions and we have a guide and if there really was some training needed, we’d love to work with MCAA for that, to provide those resources but by and large, it’s a very easy product to work with. It’s actually laid in the same order as the rest of the masonry veneer so it’s that first course and you’re basically going to put down that mortar and start to lay that course of Perinsul where you would normally put the brick, and then continue on with your mortar and additional masonry above. Super easy, lightweight, small unitized material that is actually dimensioned to match with the masonry you’re working with so hopefully this will make life easier instead of harder for the labor force as far as installation goes and certainly it’s going to be a lot less effort than trying to introduce additional amounts of insulation at other locations to overcome this thermal bridge.
D.K.: And Owens Corning, our new strategic partner, is there to help if there are any questions.
T.C.: Absolutely, we can be right there on the job site with you to help with installation training. We also have resources online that are available 24 hours a day, installation instructions; if you need some late-night reading, we have that available. And, of course, you can always call us at 1(800)-GET-PINK or gettech@owenscorning.com is also an additional resource so a lot of support to make sure that they have everything they need to confidently install this product.
D.K.: Tiffany, thank you so much for talking with us on behalf of Owens Corning, our new strategic partner.
T.C.: Thanks so much, Dan.