Vinyl Siding Brands

Don't know the Canadian brands that well unfortunately or their stand outs.

Be sure to look at air infiltration ratings along with thermal and structural numbers.

A relatively new concern for extremely well insulated homes is that the exterior surface of the sheathing is getting cold enough to cause condensation. Vinyl siding is basically open to the air and if not installed over strapping may allow the condensation to form but not provide enough drying. I can't speak from experience, but do understand the cold surfaces that result from super insulated walls.

Sorry, no experience with those brands.

Bud

My bad...I was reading vinyl windows...not siding.

As far as vinyl siding goes, a rigid foam equip siding should help slightly with the thermal bridging aspect of things and add ever so slightly to the R-Value of the wall (where the siding hangs tight to the wall).

Air infiltration is as it pertains to windows so disregard.

The foam in the siding will also help with expansion/contraction and board stiffness.

Almost all the sidings are based on EPS foams so there are no perm issues that were experienced by the polyurethane foams.

I have the Alside Prodigy siding that uses a foam backer on it, to help insulate. When it gets put together, it becomes one monolithic wall, so that it helps insulate and not allow air infiltration, since the channel to connect the sections is shaped like an "S". It gives you at least a R-5.

When we got hit with that really cold cold spell in January here in Central IL. My furnace ran at 66 to keep up with the demand for a couple of days, but after a couple of hours, it shut down. Normally it ran for two times a day, since the house holds in the heated and cooled air better now.

We only kept our heat at 66. Any warmer and you could sit around with just a T-Shirt on, if it got set to 67 or 68.

More research; http://fourseasonsroofingandsiding.com/Energy_Saving_Myth_Vinyl_Siding.htm

http://www.inspectorsjournal.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4223

Save extra, and leave some in the sun (on a wall) to match others when it breaks; http://www.ehow.com/about_5004183_long-will-vinyl-siding-last.html

Insulating value vs. extra stiffness with foam; https://www2.buildinggreen.com/blogs/insulated-vinyl-siding-worth-extra-cost

Gary

Great links.

Interesting that the research shows the insulated siding dried out as well as the hollow back siding. I would not have guess that.

R-2 to R-2.7 is nothing to sneeze at when it comes to R-Value improvement in the total walls structure either.