Sav-A-Lot Siding

Vinyl Fact Sheet from the Vinyl Siding Institute

Each year, the Vinyl Siding Institute fields questions about the properties, performance and environmental impact of vinyl products. To address these questions, the following facts are adapted, with their permission, from the Vinyl Institute’s publication, Vinyl: A Little Guide to the Big Questions, 2007.

Energy Efficiency Vinyl is the most energy-efficient major plastic. It is largely derived from salt – an abundant and inexpensive resource. Vinyl products consume less energy, generate fewer emissions and save more energy than many competitive products.

Durability Vinyl is the most widely used plastic for building and construction. Because it’s strong and resistant to moisture and abrasion, vinyl is ideal for siding, windows, roofing, fencing and decking. Vinyl will not rot or corrode like many other materials and does not need cleaning with harsh chemicals or painting.

Excellent Fire Performance (Also see VSI’s publication Siding with Safety.) Vinyl’s chemical makeup makes it inherently flame resistant. Rigid vinyl building products are slow to ignite, their flame spread is slow and they cease to burn after the flame source is removed. The products of vinyl combustion are no more hazardous than those produced by burning many other common materials, both natural and synthetic. Vinyl is one of few materials that meet the stringent National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) requirements for insulating electrical and data transmission cables, including in plenum applications.

Recyclability Virtually all scrap, trim and off-spec material from the vinyl production process is recycled. This means that 99% of all manufactured vinyl is made into products – not sent to landfills. About 18 million pounds of post-consumer vinyl are also recycled annually. A tremendous amount of post-consumer material is not available because it is still in service as siding, pipe and other products that last decades.

Landfilling Vinyl products are extremely resistant to the corrosive conditions found in landfills and will not break down or degrade under them. In fact, vinyl is often used to make landfill liners and caps because it is inert and stable.

Since it debuted decades ago, vinyl has been an important part of life. Always changing with the times to become more efficient and safe, vinyl has proven itself time and again to be a responsible and relevant material. Its benefits have been confirmed by a lifetime of usage, testing and research, and no doubt these

benefits will continue to be seen in the years ahead.

Many experts agree that to truly understand a product’s environmental impact, its entire life cycle should be

evaluated. This is known as life cycle assessment (LCA). Environmental effects associated with a product’s

manufacture can be counterbalanced over time by a long, beneficial, lowimpact life. For example, emissions

associated with vinyl window production are far outweighed by decades of energy-saving benefits.

• Vinyl products perform favorably in terms of energy efficiency, thermal-insulating value, low contribution to greenhouse gases, low maintenance and product durability.

• Recent life cycle studies show the health and environmental impacts of vinyl building products are comparable to or less than the impacts of most alternatives.

For More Information or  Questions About Vinyl Siding, Windows, Screens and Gutters contact us at www.SavALotSiding.com or give us a call at 719-322-3041 | 719-362-6736