22
March
2011
|
19:00 PM
America/New_York

New CertainTeed Microsite Provides Sustainable Foundation Design Solutions for Architects, Builders and Design Professionals

(Valley Forge, Pa.) – Through an informative new microsite, www.certainteedfoundations.com, CertainTeed Corporation is offering a new resource for the building and design community detailing their sustainable foundation systems solutions. The site takes a systems-based approach with best practices for insulating foundations, basement waterproofing, foundation drainage and achieving indoor air quality.

“Foundations are the last frontier of sustainable home design to be tackled, and there is currently a void in information available to building and design professionals on how to design a foundation that is both thermally efficient and effective at draining away groundwater,” says Mark DaSilva, marketing manager for the CertainTeed Foundations Group. “The site provides educational resources and shows how our products work together as a system to deliver safer and more comfortable living spaces. This is also an excellent way for us to deliver new product and assembly design information to builders and architects on an ongoing basis.”

The new site provides building science background, educational courses and online tutorials that demonstrate how to use CertainTeed products to effectively form, insulate and waterproof foundations. For example, an effective basement design solution would consist of the Form-A-Drain™ foundation footing system, Platon® air gap waterproofing membrane, and T-Roc™ basement insulation and finishing system. A slab on-grade foundation, however, would call for the use of the EnergyEdge™ system to form, insulate and protect the slab edge all in one step.

In addition to ample graphics and tips, the new site provides a white paper and continuing education unit (CEU) course. It also allows architects and builders to schedule a foundation design seminar in their offices with a CertainTeed representative, in which attendees can receive CEU credits. CertainTeed is already receiving positive response to the new site.

“As an architect and product specifications author, I appreciate how CertainTeed is reaching out to the building and design community to teach new and better ways to design a home’s foundation,” says Steven Gnau, RA, LEED AP, principal of Noonmark Architects in Yardley, Pa. “CertainTeed’s foundations products improve the economics of the construction process, as they are quick and easy to install and handle multiple functions once in place. CertainTeed’s new site is a great resource for builders and architects who are looking for better, more sustainable solutions for foundation design.”

For more information on foundation design solutions, go to www.certainteedfoundations.com or www.certainteed.com.


About CertainTeed

Through the responsible development of innovative and sustainable building products, CertainTeed has helped shape the building products industry for more than 100 years. Founded in 1904 as General Roofing Manufacturing Company, the firm's slogan "Quality Made Certain, Satisfaction Guaranteed," quickly inspired the name CertainTeed. Today, CertainTeed® is North America’s leading brand of exterior and interior building products, including roofing, siding, fence, decking, railing, trim, foundations, pipe, insulation, gypsum, ceilings and access covers.

A subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, the world’s largest building products company, CertainTeed and its affiliates have more than 6,000 employees and more than 65 manufacturing facilities throughout the United States and Canada. In 2009 and 2010, CertainTeed, which is headquartered in Valley Forge, Pa., was named ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a national award that recognizes environmentally responsible corporations. The group had total sales of approximately $3 billion in 2010. www.certainteed.com.

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