POLYSTEEL COMFORTS & QUALITY
 
PolySteel Forms enable you to give your customers the most structurally secure and energy efficient home that money can buy! The comfort and quality of PolySteel attract buyers who are more quality conscious. These buyers are typically interested in other quality upgrades which offer you additional profit areas.

Quality Benefits that Attract Buyers to PolySteel
 
Energy Savings
 
We guarantee, in writing, PolySteel homeowners will save at least 33% on energy costs over 2x6 wood frame construction with R-19 insulation! But, depending on the region, the actual savings are more likely to be 50 - 80%!
 
  • PolySteel walls are more energy efficient than an R-40 insulated 2x12 wood frame wall.
  • PolySteel walls provide a thermal mass of 56 lbs per square foot with the 6-inch forms and 76 pounds per square foot with the 8-inch forms.
  • The tongue and groove design of PolySteel Forms minimizes heat loss through insulation joints.
  • PolySteel walls minimize outside air infiltration, leaks, and drafts.
 
The R-Value of PolySteel
 
Walls made of PolySteel perform, on average, like a wood frame wall constructed for R-40 insulation. This is because the Total Effective R-Value performance of PolySteel consists of three factors:
 
  • The R-Value of the expanded polystyrene
  • The thermal mass of the concrete
  • The enormous reduction in air leakage.
 
As a result, PolySteel walls actually perform as high as R-50, or more in some areas of the country!
 
Lower Maintenance Costs
 
The three most common causes of exterior wall maintenance are termites, rotting, and painting. PolySteel homes are highly resistant to rotting and termites. Even homeowners in heavily termite infested areas of the country can now enjoy the advantages of PolySteel above and below grade with the recent introduction of PolySteel with Perform Guard termite-resistant technology. And the steel attach points of your PolySteel walls will securely hold any exterior you choose, including low maintenance brick, stucco, and stone.
Comfortable, Quiet Environment
 
The superior insulation provided by PolySteel walls creates a clean, quiet environment with comfortable, uniform temperatures throughout your home.
 
  • PolySteel walls create a sound barrier that virtually eliminates outside noises.
  • PolySteel structures provide much warmer floors and a more uniform temperature throughout the interior of your home.
  • PolySteel Forms minimize mildew and the damp smells of normal basements.
  • PolySteel walls minimize dust and pollen infiltration, reducing allergies and keeping furniture cleaner longer.
 
Many of our customers and product dealers have asked us to explain the reasons for the unusually high level of comfort they have experienced in homes and offices built with our PolySteel® Forms. There are several factors that contribute to this special feeling.
 
 
First and foremost is the overall effect of massive concrete walls encapsulated within high-density expanded polystyrene insulation. The human body is a heat-generating machine, which continuously gives off heat. The ASHRAE Handbook (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers) states that, even when people are sedentary and inactive, they give off about 340 BTUs of heat per hour. Although the air absorbs a small amount of this body heat, the majority of the heat radiates outward until a solid mass is encountered.
 
If the amount of mass is small, such as a wood-frame wall, the heat rapidly moves through to the other side. If the wall is insulated, the heat moves through more slowly. If the mass is large and cold, such as in a cold, uninsulated concrete wall, the body heat will be immediately absorbed. By allowing this radiant heat to escape through the structure, all of these wall types will have the effect of "drawing" heat away from your body, making you feel chilly and uncomfortable.
 
In a PolySteel wall, the heat being emitted by the warm, massive, insulated concrete wall offsets the body heat loss. This balance creates a stabilizing effect on the interior environment, leaving you with an unequaled sense of comfort and well being.
 
 
The second factor related to comfort is the temperature difference between the floor and ceiling. The ASHRAE Handbook states: "A person may feel thermally neutral for the body as a whole, but might not be comfortable if one part of the body is warm and another cold" (Page 8.20). In buildings constructed of conventional materials, the temperature difference between the floor and ceiling will range from 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. By comparison, the temperature difference from floor to ceiling in a PolySteel building is typically less than 2 degrees Fahrenheit.
 
 
A reduction in reactions to respiratory allergies is the third comfort factor in a PolySteel structure. The effects of hay fever, asthma and other airborne allergies can be greatly alleviated as a direct result of the reduced leakage of outside air, which brings in dust, pollens and other pollutants. Tests have shown that the infiltration and leakage into a PolySteel building is one fourth (1/4) that of conventional walls. In fact, the reduced air leakage of a PolySteel home or office, used in conjunction with properly installed fresh air exchangers and electrostatic air filters, can result in the best possible living environment available for respiratory allergy sufferers.

 
 
The fourth element contributing to the unequaled comfort of a PolySteel home is quietness. The combination of massive concrete encapsulated within high density expanded polystyrene provides a superior barrier to the sounds and noises of the outside environment. This creates a cocoon of peacefulness in which to live and work.
 
 
Other factors which contribute to the high degree of comfort within PolySteel walls are; the elimination of air drafts, so common in wood or steel frame houses; the feeling of physical security resulting from being surrounded by impenetrable steel-reinforced concrete walls, and , finally, the peace of mind that comes from knowing that you are living or working in the most energy efficient and environmentally favorable home or office available. All of these elements combine to create a unique sense of comfort and well being in a PolySteel building that is unlike any other feeling you will experience in a man-made structure.