Fiber Cement Siding Environmental Impact

Each of today s most popular siding options for new home construction engineered wood fiber cement stucco metal and vinyl siding has its own unique environmental impact.

Fiber cement siding environmental impact.

Impact damage resistance was compared by impacting each type of siding with rocks which could be thrown from a lawn mower and. These epds provide a life cycle assessment manufacturing process details and information on the use of any dangerous materials. With fiber cement siding you get natural materials without the unfriendly ecology impact. In addition average vinyl siding is only 19 of average fiber cement s ozone depletion impact and only 21 of fiber cement s global warming impact.

Fiber cement emits less off gasses during manufacturing than other forms of siding. The general make up of the material is cement sand and cellulose strong yet essentially natural. Fiber cement fiber cement is often proclaimed the green alternative to vinyl is made up of sand cement and wood pulp. A comprehensive analysis of the environmental impact of our high density fiber cement panels can be made from cembrit s epds in accordance with en 15804 on the sustainability of construction works.

And while wood siding has the natural part down the environmental damage caused by cutting down old growth forests has been tremendous. Traditional stucco should be considered as an alternative for residences that require extremely low maintenance alternatives. Hardie board is the most commonly used fiber cement siding in the u s but there are other manufacturers that are beginning to make a name for themselves. During the manufacturing process fiber cement emits fewer dioxins as well as there is no release of dangerous fumes when on fire as opposed to its close cousin vinyl siding which emits pcbs when burned up.

Fiber cement is not energy efficient. Certainteed when it was making the product only used wood fiber that was harvested from commercial forests. When exposed to flame it does not emit health threatening fumes as opposed to vinyl siding. A third party life cycle assessment shows the overall environmental impact of fiber cement to be worse than real cedar siding stucco vinyl siding and insulated vinyl siding particularly in areas of global warming potential and water intake.

The manufacturer of fiber cement has a lot of impact on the environmental impact of production. The impact category with the most favorable performance for both forms of vinyl siding is the non carcinogenic category where impacts are only 1 of those for fiber cement.