Columbus, Ohio-based Exterior Portfolio, a siding products manufacturer, turned in revenues of about $100 million during 2010 and an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $10.5 million. The company markets siding and accessories under the CraneBoard, Portsmouth Shake, Solid Core Siding, and Architectural Essentials brands.

Georgia Gulf is an Atlanta-based manufacturer of chemicals as well as vinyl-based construction products, which are marketed under the Royal Group brand. Georgia Gulf’s vinyl products include window and door profiles, moldings, siding, pipe fittings, deck products, and rail and fence products. –Brendan Rimetz

This article originally appeared on ProSales Online.

“[Vinyl] offers easy maintenance, the lowest installed cost, and versatility that can suit any architectural style,” said Jery Huntley, president of the VSI, in a statement. Huntley credits vinyl’s rise to manufacturers’ growing number of colors, profiles, and architectural styles.

In 2009, vinyl took the lead in the $500,000 to $749,000 price range with a 29% market share, followed by stucco (including EIFS), which dropped nine points to 22%. In the same price category, brick’s market share remained the same at 23%, fiber cement rose from 15% to 18%, while wood, stone, and aluminum siding all remained at less than 5% of market share.

Vinyl’s overall market share was 34% last year, according to census data, and it continues to be the dominant cladding on new houses sold from $125,000 to $300,000. In addition, it shares the top spot with stucco in the $300,000 to $500,000 price range and gained two points to move up to 29% in homes sold between $250,000 and $299,999.

Among the other interesting cladding trends: Stucco doubled to 12% as the cladding of choice for single-family homes less than $500,000; however, it dropped five points to 23% in the $250,000 to $299,999 range.  In addition, fiber-cement siding’s share fell from 11% to 6% for single-family homes $750,000 and above; in that same price category, brick’s popularity slumped seven points to 22% market share while wood siding picked up eight points to reach 21%.  –Evelyn Royer

“The new product offerings are designed to enable independent dealers in Wolf’s 19-state service area to differentiate themselves from competitors and to offer value-oriented products of superior quality,” Wolf said in a statement.

Today’s announcement comes a week after Wolf announced it will establish a new distribution center in Massachusetts or Connecticut for the New England market, will move its Allentown, Pa., operation to a larger facility in York, Pa., and will create a cross-dock and customer service center in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley to serve customers in New Jersey and New York. Earlier this year, Wolf opened distribution facilities in High Point, N.C., and Florence, S.C., and it opened a major distribution center in the Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceville, Ga., in 2009. Next up for expansion will be the Midwest, company officials say.

Wolf began distributing CEVN (pronounced “seven”) in New England and New York State starting last year. It calls the product “the market’s first dual-sided, dual-colored cellular PVC deck board.” CEVN is owned by New Jersey’s CEVN Corp. and produced under license by Taiwan’s Inteplast Group. “CEVN’s cutting-edge technology is a true breakthrough for everyone in the building and remodeling business,” Wolf president Craig Danielson said last year in a news release announcing the start of distribution.

Wolf will be CEVN’s exclusive supplier, the distributor said today. “In addition,” it added in the same paragraph of its news release, “over the next six months, the company will introduce Wolf Decking and Wolf Railing, proprietary new PVC products combining the latest technology with outstanding value.”

Wolf already sells its own lines of trimboards and mouldings as well as composite products from Tamko.

The company said it based its decision to sever ties with Azek and go with both CEVN and its own house brands on discussions with dealer customers. “Wolf’s ability to increase the reliability of the supply chain will offer dealers improved lead times, faster turns on inventory and the potential for greater profitability,” it said.

Founded in 1843, Wolf describes itself as a nearly $200 million operation that is America’s biggest supplier of kitchen cabinets. It owned a large number of lumberyards as well as its distribution arm before selling the yards a few years ago.

This article was originally posted on ProSales Online.

Entry Doors Discontinued

Speonk Lumber in Speonk, N.Y., reported that issues with Honduras-based manufacturing and transportation systems lead to the closing of the entry door line, and Marvin confirmed the discontinuation.

Long-time Marvin customer David Roberts, president of Roberts Architects, Evanston, Ill., says he’s saddened by the discontinuation. “We’ve used a lot of they’re entry doors, which were really terrific,” he says. He’s still determining which other entry door brand is best to use for his upscale projects.

The change came so abruptly that Roberts had quotes from his Marvin dealers on an entry door project, and his client was in the midst of product selection. “One of my suppliers called and said, ‘I know we have a quote out to you, but we aren’t going to be able to do that project,’” Roberts recalls. “He told me the line was being discontinued immediately.”

Roberts’ supplier told him that outstanding warranties on entry door products would continue to be honored by the manufacturer.

New Siding Line Launched

Without the entry doors business, Marvin will be able to shift some of its focus to its newest venture, Apex siding. The new siding line will use the same pultruded fiberglass as Marvin’s Infinity and Integrity windows.

So far, Apex has launched only to select markets, including Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Star Tribunereported in May that, “unlike fiberglass siding panels produced by other companies, mostly for farm buildings, Marvin said Apex is the first fiberglass siding that can be installed on a house in overlapping boards that look like traditional siding.” The article also stated the products would be geared toward the “upper tier of the building supply market.”

Additional news about Apex siding, including photos and product information, is expected to be released within the next month.

Lauren Hunter is associate editor of Remodeling magazine. Victoria Markovitz contributed to this article. She is associate editor of ProSales magazine.

The Harris Interactive survey tallied the opinions of 1,683 U.S. adult homeowners. It asked the consumers to identify what, if anything, they like best about brick homes. Brick’s appearance topped the list (71%), followed by brick’s low maintenance characteristics (68%), and the cladding’s fire resistance (49%). Resale value, sustainability, and energy efficiency each were mentioned by 45% of those surveyed.

For more information on the survey, click here.–Victoria Markovitz

A rebound in homebuilding will propel the siding market, the Cleveland-based industry market research firm said. Vinyl siding, which currently has 40% of the market, will continue to lead the way even though fiber cement and stucco will see larger percentage gains. But wood, the No. 2 siding choice, will fall behind fiber cement and stucco to a fourth-place tie with brick.

Vinyl siding demand will rise 6.3% per year between 2009 and 2014 to reach 40 million squares, Freedonia said. Wood will climb just 2% annually to 10.4 million squares, fiber cement will jump by 9.5% per year to 11.8 million squares, stucco will climb 9.3% annually to 10.6 million squares, and brick will enjoy 14.9% annual growth to the equivalent of 10.4 million squares. All other siding types combined will rise 3.2% annually to 18.3 million squares.

“Fiber cement siding demand will be promoted by its durability and ability to be made into siding that resembles more expensive materials, such as wood or brick,” Freedonia said. “Stucco siding demand will be derived from its low cost, ease of installation, durability and minimal maintenance requirements. Homeowners will continue to desire brick siding due to its aesthetic properties, durability and fire resistance.

“Vinyl siding’s popularity will continue to be supported by its low cost, ease of installation and durability,” the company added, while wood siding demand “has been negatively affected by concerns about its durability and resistance to degradation caused by exposure to the elements. These issues will continue to affect demand going forward.”

Freedonia sells a full copy of its report for $4,900.

This article originally appeared on PROSALES Online.

This winning design from Héctor Alejandro Módica de Caso and Lourdes Ivonne Del Río Suárez of Mexico included four houses with eight suites for dignitaries, all attached to a central courtyard with common space on the main level, conference rooms underneath, and a green roof atop vaulted brick ceilings. The suite shown here combines sleeping and living areas, while the kitchen and bath are cordoned off. Dual orientation provides for natural illumination, with a private patio on one end and a sweeping view of the forest at the other.

Potomac Valley Brick, a masonry supplier in the Mid-Atlantic region, recently announced the winners of its first international sustainable architecture competition, which was designed to showcase brick in sustainable designs.

The “Brick-Stainable” competition, which received 95 entries from 17 countries, challenged entrants to design a guest house for international dignitaries visiting the Nation’s Capital. The designers were to “explore the potential of brick construction in the creation of an energy-efficient building and … to maximize the physical characteristics of this construction in the creation of integrated design solutions.”

The winners, honored in a ceremony at the National Building Museum in Washington Jan. 27, comprised:
TECHNICAL DESIGN
Flora Bougiatioti, Maria Eftychi, Aimilios Michael (Cyprus)

Kenfield Griffith (United States)

Rizal Muslimin (United States)

WHOLE BUILDING DESIGN
Arindam Bose, Minali Singh (Qatar)

Héctor Alejandro Módica de Caso, Lourdes Ivonne Del Río Suárez (Mexico)

Eric Haskins, Gary Vincent (United States)

For more information on the competition and the entry process for next year’s contest, visit www.brick-stainable.com.

More than 70% of Americans, and more than half of all homeowners, express a preference for house siding. And a new survey of more than 2,000 people across the country finds that brick is still favored over other types of siding, especially in the South and Midwest.

Harris Interactive polled 2,073 people over the age of 18 during October 12-14, of whom 69% said they are homeowners. It conducted the online survey, released on Friday, on behalf of the supplier Boral Bricks.

More than three quarters of the homeowners polled prefer one type of siding versus another. And among that subgroup, 59.3% prefer brick, versus 37.1% favoring vinyl siding, 18.5% who prefer stucco, and 13.7% who lean towards fiber cement. Another 8% of homeowners prefer other types of siding not identified in the survey, and 14% have no preference.

The heaviest concentration of homeowners polled by Harris who prefer brick reside in the South (43%), and—perhaps not surprisingly—is 55 years or older (41.5%). The survey also found that 54% of homeowners who prefer brick are college graduates, and half earn more than $75,000 per year.

The Harris poll in some respects corroborates recent Census Bureau data on exterior siding, which found that brick represented between 16% and 21% of the exterior wall materials used on single-family houses built in the years 1999 to 2007. Census data also show, however, that brick has been ceding market share to “other” types of siding that include fiber cement, cinder block and stone. This selection of “other” siding types collectively accounted for 25% of the secondary exterior wall materials used on homes built in 2007.

Census found the Midwest to be the region of the county where brick has been used most prevalently in new-home construction, and by a fairly wide margin over other regions. The Midwest shows up prominently as a brick-preferring market in the Harris poll. The Harris data also reveals that brick is basically neck-and-neck with vinyl among homeowners in the West with a siding preference, and is far outpaced by vinyl in the Northeast.

That being said, Boral’s president Bob Kepford sees evidence in the survey that brick “is still the overwhelming choice” for homeowners with siding preferences. He also suggests that brick’s continued popularity jives with more owners and buyers who are looking for maintenance-free sustainability in their homes.

John Caulfield is senior editor for BUILDER magazine.

A prototype of Hardie's Reveal Panel.

Manufacturer James Hardie has officially entered the commercial and multifamily market with the introduction of  Hardie Reveal Panel, a contemporary-style fiber-cement panel that is 40% thicker than residential fiber-cement, the maker says, providing for a deeper reveal.

The company says the material is an alternative to more-expensive imported panels and offers faster installation compared to EIFS and stucco. Its smooth surface allows architects to utilize fiber-cement without having a residential wood-grain look. As part of the company’s HardieZone System, the material is engineered for the unique climate of its region.

Reveal Panels are backed by a 30-year limited warranty. They come primed and ready for paint; in 2010, they also will be available pre-finished with ColorPlus Technology in as many as 26 different colors, the firm states. –Victoria Markovitz

Due for release in 2010 are a notched fascia board and a notched rake/soffit board that can integrate with the company’s Stealth beadboard.

Also under development is a nail hole filler specifically designed for its system, and the company is testing a new inorganic filler that may cut its products’ thermal expansion and contraction by 30 percent.

Beyond just products, the firm stressed its value-added services for dealers, particularly helpful during the down market. For example, dealers and distributors can order products in a “mixed nuts” unit, a factory-packaged board of cellular PVC that can be cut into different standard widths. This saves companies money, because they can buy small quantities of each size, but at a unit price. Additionally, Versatex cuts- and prices-to-length; offers lead times of less than a week; and allows buyers to order less-than-truckload quantities.–Victoria Markovitz