In general terms a rain screen is a sustainable design system that keeps rain (and other elements) away from the building envelope of a structure. By moving the siding material away from the building envelope (weather tight outside area of structure behind the rain screen siding), a gap is formed between the envelope and the siding creating a "rain screen". Of course rain is not the only element a rain screen protects the structure from, a properly designed and built rain screen system will shield the building envelope from snow, sleet and more.
In a rain screen system the gap between the building envelope and the exterior siding also provides a passive insulation cavity that helps save energy. When it is hot outside, this buffer zone behind the rain screen allows the hot air outside to cool off, shielding the interior of the home or structure from the thermal impact. Likewise, in colder climates or when there is cooler weather in any climate, this air space behind the rain screen provides the same buffer zone to prevent the transmission of heat gain or loss which creates a more energy efficient design.
What is thermal bridging in a rain screen? Thermal conductivity is the ability of materials to 
transmit heat or cold. When materials are connected to or touch one another a thermal bridge is created. Typically, the less material that touches another material, the less transfer of heat or cold. With regards to rain screen systems, the less material contact (thermal bridging) , the less transfer of heat or cold.
With a typical wood siding system there is full contact of the wood siding to the building envelope. This allows the direct transmission of heat throughout 100% of the surface area. In a rain screen system using furring strips, the furring strips become a thermal bridge. The furring strips come in contact with roughly 16% or more of the surface area of the building envelope, creating a rain screen design which has 16% or greater thermal bridging.
The Climate-Shield™ Rain Screen System uses no furring strips. The surface area of the Climate-Shield rain screen clip that connects the wood siding to the building envelope is less than 3 square inches. This creates a rain screen system that has minimal thermal bridging. The Climate-Shield™ Rain Screen Clip allows design professionals a rain screen design option to reduce thermal bridging to less than 1% of the surface area of the building envelope.
Additionally the removal of the furring strip from the design creates:
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significant labor savings
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material cost savings
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better air flow behind the rain screen
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better evaporation behind the rain screen
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a healthier system by eliminating potential mold and mildew problems
Rain Screen Wood Siding Systems
More information about Understanding Rain Screen Siding.
Rain Screen Wood Siding Architectural Specifications
Download the FREE comprehensive whitepaper titled, "The Ultimate Guide to Building Green with Rain Screen Wood Siding".
The Climate-Shield™ Rain Screen Wood Siding System is making its US debut at the Build Boston Trade Show and Conference at the Seaport World Trade Center on November 16th, 17th and 18th. This year's Build Boston event promises to be very exciting and will feature a wide variety of green building products including the Climate-Shield Rain Screen System. Click here for more information about this year's Build Boston Trade Show and Conference.
The Climate-Shield™ Rain Screen Wood Siding System received an exceptional amount of interest from architects, designers, engineers and green building professionals when it was unveiled last month at Greenbuild 2011 in Toronto.
This rain screen system is very unique because it completely eliminates the need for furring strips. From a sustainable design viewpoint, the Climate-Shield™ Rain Screen Siding System is a quantum leap over traditional siding systems and a vast improvement over other rain screen wood siding applications.
The design of the Climate-Shield™ Rain Screen Clip is the heart of the rain screen system. The elimination of the furring strip allows the system to be installed more quickly, with a consistent spacing of siding from the building envelope. Cost savings on your project of up to 25% are now possible with the Climate-Shield™ rain screen system.
Additionally, there is a clear flow of air in the rain screen cavity allowing rapid dissipation of moisture. And without furring strips as a food source for mold, mildew and fungi, the Climate-Shield™ Rain Screen Siding System is a healthier and more enduring sustainable design option for architects and builders. Please stop by and visit us at Booth #332 at Build Boston.
Click here for FREE Tickets to Build Boston 2011.
More information about Rain Screen Siding.
If you are hungry for knowledge about rain screen siding systems, please click on the link below to download the FREE whitepaper titled, "The Ultimate Guide to Building Green with Rain Screen Siding"
Garapa Decking is an all-natural high density hardwood decking material. Garapa is harvested using low impact sustainable yield forestry practices making Garapa decking an eco-friendly decking material option. Garapa decking is a soft honey blonde toned hardwood decking material which will darken slightly to a golden brown with exposure to sunlight. This material may be left to weather naturally to a silvery gray patina or may be oiled to enrich its natural coloration.
Don't let the soft fine grained appearance of Garapa fool you; Garapa decking is harder than oak. Garapa decking is a high density hardwood decking material with strength and beauty. Garapa decking has a fiber bending strength of 12,900 psi. That means that you would have to apply 12,900 pounds of pressure per square inch to break a Garapa decking board. Garapa decking is nearly twice as strong as Cedar decking material. Learn more about Garapa decking.
From a hardness testing standpoint Garapa decking has a Janka Hardness Rating of 1,630 lbs. Garapa decking is four times harder than cedar decking. This explains why Garapa decking is so resistant to scratching, denting and abrasions. Compare Garapa decking to other wood decking species.
Garapa decking is an extremly affordable decking material choice. Garapa decking outperforms synthetic composite decking and plastic decking materials and is priced lower than most composite decking materials. Mataverde Premium Garapa Decking also carries a 25 year limited warranty against insects and decay. Compare Garapa decking to synthetic decking.
For a comprehensive guide to help you select the decking material that is right for you, please click below to download the FREE whitepaper titled, "The Ultimate Guide to Selecting the Right Decking Material".
Cumaru Decking is quickly becoming a highly sought after species of decking material. With its rich reddish brown tones and exotic graining and variation, Cumaru Decking is becoming the material of choice for many decks and outdoor structures. With its long lasting natural characteristics yet affordable pricing, Cumaru Decking is gaining momentum as a popular premium high density hardwood decking material option.
How strong and hard is Cumaru Decking? Is Cumaru decking as strong as Ipe decking?
Ipe decking is generally regarded as the ultimate standard to which all other decking materials are compared. Cumaru Decking is also one of the hardest and strongest decking materials on earth. Cumaru decking is a high density hardwood that is nearly as hard and strong as Ipe decking. While both Ipe hardwood and Cumaru hardwood species are so dense they will actually sink in water, Cumaru Decking is slightly more dense than Ipe Decking!
From a strength standpoint, Cumaru decking has an amazingly high fiber bending strength of 22,400 psi. That means that it would take 22,400 pounds per square inch of pressure to break a cumaru decking board! Cumaru decking is 96% as strong as Ipe decking (23,600 psi)
When looking at material hardness, you will find that Cumaru decking has an incredible Janka Hardness rating of 3,340 lbs. The Janka hardness test is a measure of how many pounds of pressure that it will take to press a .444" steel ball half of its diameter into a board. This test reveals that Cumaru decking is 91% as hard as Ipe decking (3,680 lb. Janka rating).
Cumaru decking has many natural characteristics that make it a great choice for a backyard deck, dock, pool deck, bridge, pier, boardwalk and more.
Cumaru Decking (Mataverde Premium Hardwood Decking)
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25 year warranty against insects and decay
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Cumaru decking is very resistant to scratches and abrasion
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Splinter resistance makes Cumaru decking a safe decking material for bare feet
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Sustainabe harvesting makes Cumaru Decking an eco-friendly decking material
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Affordable pricing
More information about Cumaru Decking and Cumaru Lumber
Learn more about Cumaru Decking and other Cumaru Projects
See how Cumaru decking compares to other Wood decking species
Learn how Cumaru Decking compares to Composite decking an Plastic decking materials.
If you want to learn all that you can about what decking species is right for you, please download the FREE whitepaper, "The Ultimate Guide to Selecting the Right Decking Material".
EcoHome Magazine has selected the Climate-Shield™ Rain Screen Wood Siding System as one of the most interesting product innovations introduced at the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in Toronto in October.
Here's what EcoHome Magazine had to say about the Climate-Shield™ Rain Screen Wood Siding System:
The Climate-Shield [Rain Screen Wood Siding] System provides architects and builders with the flexibility to install rain screen siding horizontally, vertically, or even diagonally. No furring strips are needed because the [rain screen] system’s clips provide the proper spacing off the side wall and can be screwed directly into suitable exterior sheathing. Ipe, cumaru, and garapa [siding] woods are available.
Click here to see all the winning products selected by EcoHome Magazine.
Climate-Shield™'s patented aluminum outside corner is available in a wide variety of powder coated exterior finishes to broaden the architect's design palette (Climate-Shield outside corner shown on left with FSC Cumaru rain screen hardwood siding.)
Ipe siding, Cumaru siding, Garapa siding and Machiche siding are all available FSC certified for your rain screen siding project. With its patented rain screen clip design, there is nothing like the Climate-Shield rain screen siding system available on the market today.
With the abundance of glass, metal and concrete structures being utilized to design commercial structures, architects and designers are turning toward these long lasting sustainable hardwoods for a rain screen siding material to soften the appearance of their designs and provide a natural element for a harmonious balance.
More information about Climate-Shield™ Rain Screen Wood Siding System
Understanding Rainscreen Wood Siding
Rain Screen Siding Architectural Specifications
To learn more about rain screen wood siding options, dowwnload the FREE comprehensive whitepaper titled, "The Ultimate Guide to Building Green with Rain Screen Wood Siding".
The Greenbuild Expo in Toronto was an energizing and exciting event. If you were there, then you know first hand how big the show was and how many interesting new products were displayed. If you missed Greenbuild, please allow me to fill you in on a few highlights. Members of the design and construction communities were out in force and were well represented by their colleagues. Over 1,000 suppliers exhibited the latest sustainable products and technology on the market.
While we received a lot of interest in our Climate-Shield Rain Screen Wood Siding system, one of the hardwood species that drew a surprisingly high amount of attention (in our opinion) at the Greenbuild Expo was Cumaru decking and Cumaru rain screen siding. We thought that more design and construction professionals were aware of the advantages that Cumaru lumber and Cumaru decking offer the design community. The Greenbuild Expo served as an excellent starting point to get the good news out about Cumaru hardwood.
Architects and design professionals were intrigued by the extremely high density and strength
characteristics of Cumaru hardwood lumber. Cumaru decking and Cumaru lumber are nearly as hard and strong as Ipe decking and Ipe lumber. Cumaru decking, Cumaru siding and Cumaru lumber actually exhibit a slightly higher density than Ipe hardwood.
Green builders were excited about the reddish brown coloration and exotic graining appearance of Cumaru decking and Cumaru rain screen siding. Both design and green construction professionals were also impressed with the affordability of Cumaru decking, Cumaru siding and Cumaru lumber. While Cumaru decking and Cumaru siding have many characteristics similar to Ipe decking and ipe siding, one area where Cumaru is the clear cut winner is the initial pricing. Cumaru decking and Cumaru siding are available with FSC Certification and other sustainable methods.
For more information about Cumaru Decking and Cumaru Lumber, CLICK HERE.
To download a FREE whitepaper titled "The Ultimate Guide to Building Green with Sustainable Decking", CLICK HERE.
To learn more about using Cumaru and other sustainable hardwood species in rain screen siding applications, download "The Ultimate Guide to Building Green with Rain Screen Wood Siding" by CLICKING HERE.
Mataverde 100% Pure FSC Machiche Decking made its debut at the Greenbuild 2011 Expo in Toronto. Machiche decking (pronounced "mah-CHEE-chay") offers architects, designers and specifiers a 100% Pure FSC sustainable exterior high density hardwood option that is both beautiful and budget friendly. Machiche is a rich chocolate brown color and has a similar appearance to Ipe decking and Ipe lumber.
Machiche hardwood may be incorporated into many sustainable design projects including usage as Machiche decking, Machiche siding, Machiche outdoor furniture including benches and tables. The fact that Machiche decking and Machiche lumber are 100% Pure FSC allows design and construction professional to earn LEED credits on applicable projects.
We received lots of positive feedback at the Greenbuild Expo from architects and specifiers. The general concensus from the design and constructiuon community was that Machiche decking and Machiche lumber can help earn LEED credits, is beautiful, looks a lot like Ipe and will work within most project budgets.
100% Pure FSC Machiche decking and Machiche lumber are an affordable alternative to Ipe decking and Ipe lumber where appropriate. Machiche decking is priced less than non-FSC Ipe decking and Ipe lumber.
Mataverde 100% Pure FSC Machiche decking and Machiche siding are currently available on the West Coast of the US. For additional information about this versatile hardwood decking and hardwood siding species, CLICK HERE.
To download a FREE whitepaper titled "The Ultimate Guide to Building Green with Sustainable Decking", CLICK HERE.
To learn more about using Machiche and other sustainable hardwood species in siding applications, download "The Ultimate Guide to Building Green with Rain Screen Wood Siding" by CLICKING HERE.
Toronto, Ontario. The Greenbuild 2011 Expo in Toronto was a rousing success. Over 1,000 exhibitors displayed 'green" products and sustainable methods and materials for construction. The Climate-Shield Rain Screen Clip and Siding System received an exceptional amount of interest from architects, engineers and building professionals who are committed to sustainable design and construction. We learned as much from the design professionals as they did from us.
Here are a few comments we found very enlightening:
"This rain screen system has a minimal amount of thermal bridging compared to other systems" - LEED Architect
"Without installing furring strips, I can save 20% to 40% on labor costs." - Green Builder
"I like that there is unimpeded air flow behind the rain screen siding." - Green Architect
"We didn't know there was a rain screen system like this available." - Green Products Manufacturer
"I am very impressed with the technology behind this [rain screen system]" - Green Products Distributor
Overall, the Greenbuild Expo was a very exciting and cutting edge event. The quality of the exhibitors and the interest level of the sustainable design professionals is noteworthy. We hope to see you at the Greenbuild Expo next year in San Francisco!
Click here for more information about the Climate-Shield Rain Screen Siding System.
For a FREE copy of the whitepaper titled "The Ultimate Guide to Building Green with Rain Screen Siding" click on the link below: