FOAM BACKED SIDING PANEL

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a siding member for covering an exterior of a structure. The siding member comprises a siding panel having a nail hem and a rear face, wherein the rear face is generally shaped to provide a receptacle capable of retaining a liquid material. In addition, the siding member includes an extension located at an upper edge of the siding panel and a channel located at a lower edge of the siding panel. The channel is of a shape and size to receive the extension of an adjacent panel. A stiffening material is poured or sprayed into the receptacle generally filling the receptacle.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The siding panel disclosed herein is directed to the use of sprayed or poured on material applied to the thermoplastic panel backside to enhance the rigidity, reduce heat distortion and to reduce the thermal expansion/contraction of the panel.

BACKGROUND

Siding panels serve a two-fold objective of protecting a structure from damaging elements such as sunlight, moisture, hail and strong winds as well as providing an aesthetically appealing external appearance to the structure. The siding must protect the structure from blisteringly hot sunlight that can induce thermal expansion and unattractive buckling of the siding. Panel siding must also minimize the infiltration of moisture from heavy wind-blown rains and should moisture find its way behind the siding an exit route must be available to avoid the growth of mold and to prevent the rotting of any cellulosic structural elements such as plywood siding and structural framing or the oxidation of ferrous support members.

In addition to the capacity to withstand thermal loading, hail impacts and provide for moisture penetration, well designed and installed exterior siding must be capable of withstanding high wind loadings. Siding panels that allow wind to gain access to the back surface, or the surface adjacent to the building structure, can experience tremendous loads capable of literally peeling the siding from the building. Consequently, the ability to seal both the upper and lower edges of the siding panel against panel courses above and below is critical to protecting the panels from the effects of strong wind loads.

Fire resistant siding is more important than ever, especially in areas prone to wild fires such as in Colorado, Arizona and California. One of the best ways to protect a home against fire damage is to use Class-A fire rated siding. Using Class-A, fire rated products reduce risk to the home owners and potentially reduces insurance coverage costs.

Numerous siding panel designs exist in the market place; however, most are either lacking in some functional aspect or are prohibitively expensive, difficult to install or require extensive training and costly tools for proper installation. Moreover, thermoplastic siding panels that are darker in color tend to be more adversely impacted with warpage due to temperature increases. The consequence of such involved training and the acquisition of expensive tools is that these costs must ultimately be passed onto the consumer for the installer to experience a profit from her labors.

SUMMARY

The siding panel disclosed herein includes a cured resin stiffening material backing that enhances the rigidity of the thermoplastic panel and protects the structure to which the siding panel is applied from damaging elements such as sunlight, moisture, hail and strong winds as well as providing an aesthetically appealing external appearance to the structure. The panel with resin stiffening material backing is highly resistant to thermal expansion since the resin covers essentially the entire back surface of the panel and therefore avoids the formation of any areas of the siding member that are uncovered by the stiffening material that could result in differences in thermal expansion of the siding member under heat load. In a preferred embodiment the siding panel comprises a resin foam applied to the backside of a thermoplastic panel the union of which produces a siding panel with highly desirable weatherable and physical parameters including resistance to deformation from impacts by hail and other projectiles.

The disclosed siding panel comprises a panel with a front face and a back face along with a top edge and a bottom edge. As is typical with siding panels, the upper panel course engages with the panel course below and the following discussion details the utilization of multiple courses of panels interlocking with one another on the side of a building. The panel disclosed herein significantly lessens the potential for damage to the siding posed by wind, hail, impacts from objects, rain, sun and complex installation procedures with a simple design that requires only minimal training and no sophisticated tools to properly install.

It is an object of the siding member disclosed herein to bond, without an adhesive, a resin based foamed component to the rear surface of a siding panel wherein the fabricated panel exhibits enhanced structural rigidity and is thermally stable even under the most extreme solar heat loads.

It is another object of the siding member disclosed herein to provide an exterior siding member that is lightweight and easy to install with nominal training.

It is another object of the siding member disclosed herein to provide an exterior siding member that is tough, durable and capable of withstanding impacts from, for example, large diameter hail.

It is another object of the siding member disclosed herein to provide an exterior siding member that is weatherable and does not require painting or caulking maintenance.

It is another object of the siding member disclosed herein to limit panel warpage due to increased temperature and in particular for thermoplastic panels that are darker in color.

Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the disclosed subject matter will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components. The contents of this summary section are provided only as a simplified introduction to the disclosure, and are not intended to be used to limit the scope of the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of an embodiment of a plurality of siding members in process of attachment to a structure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view, along line 2-2 of FIG. 1 of an embodiment of a siding member as disclosed herein;

FIG. 3 illustrates a rear elevation view of an embodiment of a siding member as disclosed herein;

FIG. 4 illustrates rear elevation view of an embodiment of a siding member with an X-patterned rain screen as disclosed herein;

FIG. 4A illustrates a side elevation view of an embodiment of the siding member detailed in FIG. 4;

FIG. 5 illustrates a rear elevation view of an embodiment of a siding member with a vertically oriented rain screen as disclosed herein;

FIG. 5A illustrates a side elevation view of an embodiment of the siding member detailed in FIG. 5;

FIG. 6 illustrates a rear elevation view of an embodiment of a siding member with a dimpled rain screen as disclosed herein;

FIG. 6A illustrates a side elevation view of an embodiment of the siding member detailed in FIG. 6;

FIG. 7 illustrates a rear elevation view of an embodiment of a siding member with a slanted rain screen as disclosed herein;

FIG. 7A illustrates a side elevation view of the embodiment of the siding member detailed in FIG. 7;

FIG. 8 illustrates the placement of a reinforcing mat adjacent the backside of the panel prior to filling with stiffening material;

FIG. 9 illustrates the placement of a reinforcing mat atop the uncured stiffening material prior to the commencement of the curing process;

FIG. 10 illustrates the siding member with uncured stiffening material at the curing station prior to a closure of a platen; and

FIG. 11 illustrates the siding member at the curing station with the platen in position over the stiffening material for purposes of curing the stiffening material.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is of various exemplary embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the present disclosure in any way. Rather, the following description is intended to provide a convenient illustration for implementing various embodiments including the best mode. As will become apparent, various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described in these embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Disclosed herein and as shown at FIG. 1 is a perspective view of several siding panels in preparation for attachment to a structure. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 along sectional line 2-2 of a siding member 10 for covering an exterior of a structure 12. The siding member 10 includes a thermoplastic siding panel 14 having a nail hem 16 and a rear face 18, wherein the rear face 18 and other features of the panel form a receptacle 19 configured to retain a stiffening material sprayed or poured therein. The siding member 10 further utilizes a locking feature 20 located on the top edge 22 of the siding panel 14 and a mating feature 24 on the bottom edge 26 of the siding panel 14.

The locking feature 20 comprises an extension 28 located at the top edge 22. The front face 32 of the extension 28 is co-extensive with the front face 34 of the siding panel 14 and projects upwardly in the range from about ¼ inch to 1 inch leaving a longitudinally extending channel 35 between the back face 36 of the extension 28 and the front face 38 of the nail hem 16.

The bottom edge 26 of the panel 14 is complementary to the top edge 22 as will be discussed in greater detail below. A channel 42 is formed into the bottom edge 26 that includes a first downward projection 44, the front edge 46 of the first downward projection 44 is co-extensive with the front face 34 of the siding panel 14. The back face 48 of the downward projection 44 forms one side of the channel 42 and a second side 49 of the channel 42 is formed from a second downward projection 50 near the rear face 70 of the filled resin 60. The depth of the channel 42 is consistent with the height of the extension 28 located at the top edge 22 such that when a siding course is positioned above a lower course the extension 28 of the lower course is received into the channel 42 of the lower course creating a connection between the two panels that is resistant to water penetration and is also structurally rigid.

FIG. 2 also reveals that residing behind the siding panel 14 is a cured resin 60 that, among other attributes, structurally enhances the stiffness of the panel 14. The resin 60 in an uncured state 60A is sprayed, or poured, onto the back surface 18 of the siding panel 14 into the receptacle 19 and with placement within a mold, the resin 60A expands to cover the entire back surface 18, filling the receptacle 19 as well as the extensions 28, 44 enhancing the structural rigidity of the panel 14 thereby improving its ability to resist damage caused by excess heat during transport, and installation when mounted to the building. Additionally, as a supplemental benefit, the fully cured resin 60 reduces the rate of thermal transfer through the siding member 10 and reduces the potential for warpage due to temperature increases associated with solar radiation, particularly for darker color panels.

All the areas previously described, to include the extension 28, the first downward projection 44 and the second downward projection 50 are all filled with cured resin 60 thereby enhancing the structural stiffness of the siding member 10. This complete coverage of the back surface 18 of the siding panel 14 is critical to maintain the heat distortion resistance of siding member 10. If any of the back surface 18 is uncovered by the cured resin 60 uneven expansion of the front face 34 can occur. If uneven expansion of the front face 34 occurs then an oil-canning effect can result that significantly and adversely impacts the appearance of the panel 14.

The cured resin 60 employed for strengthening the panel 14 is preferably polyurethane; however, other resins such as polyisocyanurate, polyethylene, polypropylene, latex, melamine, expended polystyrene and syntactic foams (resin plus microspheres) are also contemplated by this disclosure. Polyurethanes are preferred for the stiffening material held in the receptacle 19 due to the polymer's versatility and safety. These polymers can be formulated to be either rigid or flexible and are typically produced from an admixture of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, at least one polyol, water and/or a blowing agent, a catalyst and surfactants.

Amendments to the polyurethane stiffening material can include fiberglass, calcium carbonate, talc, aluminum trihydrate and graphite, among other materials, each of which is known to add specific desirable properties. The stiffening material as disclosed herein is also resistant to mold growth and termite damage. The thermoplastic siding panel 14 itself is preferably fabricated with a mineral content that is greater than 15% by mass.

The siding panel fabricated with the preferred stiffening material results is a finished product that satisfies the Underwriter's Laboratories test method for evaluation of prepared roof covering materials known as UL 2218 Standard for Impact Resistance of Prepared Roof Covering Materials. UL Standard 2218 evaluates the effect of impact from steel balls at locations on the siding selected to be most vulnerable, such as (but not limited to) edges, corners, unsupported sections and joints. The foamed panel disclosed herein earned a class 4 rating because the foamed siding panel did not crack or tear when hit twice in the same spot by a 2-inch diameter steel ball dropped from a height of twenty feet.

FIG. 3 illustrates a rear surface elevation view of the siding member 10 and details the rear surface of the nail hem 16 with slots 17 for placement of fasteners (not shown) to secure the siding member to a structure. FIG. 3 illustrates the exposed surface 70 of the cured resin 60 as well as the extension feature 50 that is used with other extension features and channel features to engage the siding member to siding members above and below.

As seen in FIGS. 4-7, preferred embodiments of the siding member 10 includes at least one, and preferably several, stand-off rain screens 62. The rain screen 62 is an outwardly extending, protrusion 64 molded into the surface 70 of the cured resin 60 that extends outwardly either continuously or intermittently from the top edge 22 to the bottom edge 26 of the siding member 10. The protrusion 64 as seen in FIG. 4, may be in the form of a X-rib 66 that extends outwardly from the siding member 10 toward the building structure 12, preferably in the range of about 1.25 mm to 25 mm in height, providing space for moisture that seeps behind the siding members 10 to transit from the upper courses to ground level. Providing moisture with a gap between the surface 70 of the resin 60 lessens, and preferably prevents, the formation of mold between the siding member 10 and the structure to which the siding member is attached.

FIG. 5 provides an alternative embodiment of the rain screen 62 with vertically oriented protrusions 68 extending outwardly from the back surface 70. FIG. 6 reveals another embodiment of the rain screen 62 that includes individual circular protrusions 72 that are intermittently spaced about the back surface 70 of the panel to lift the panel back face 70 off the building surface. A fourth embodiment, as seen in FIG. 7, utilizes a rain screen 62 that employs canted protrusions 74. FIGS. 4-7 are simply representative of the many configurations of rain screens 62 that may be employed to allow moisture to move from elevation to near ground level between the panel and the building structure. Numerous other configurations are contemplated and these identified embodiments should not be construed as limiting.

An exemplary siding member 10 as disclosed herein has a distortion temperature as measured by ASTM D3679 that is greater than 165° F., a flame spread index of approximately 20 as determined by ASTM E84 and a smoke development level that is roughly 400 as determined by ASTM E84. In addition, the disclosed siding member achieved a Maximum Sustained Negative Pressure rating of 45 psf as determined by ASTM D5206 and a coefficient of linear thermal expansion that is roughly 25-30×(10⁻⁶/° K) as determined by ASTM E228. The flexural load of the disclosed siding member 10 is in the range of 150 N to 350 N as determined by ASTM D790 and the thickness of the vinyl siding panel 14 is preferably less than about 0.060 inches.

Another key term used to describe the attributes of the siding member disclosed herein is the “isocyanate index.” The term isocyanate index is widely used in the polyurethane foam industry and is defined as a measure of the stochiometric balance between the equivalent weights of the isocyanate materials on the one side and the water and polyol equivalent weights on the other side. An index of 100 indicate that both equivalents are equal or balanced. The siding member disclosed herein utilizes an over-indexed (greater than one hundred) stiffening material, preferably polyurethane, with an isocyanate index of less than 150 but greater than one hundred yielding a rigid backing. This over-indexing contributes to increased dimensional stability and consistency of other properties. Indexes below one hundred for foams and elastomers yield improvements in ductility and flexibility.

As the siding members gain more panel height, also known in the industry as “exposure” or “reveal,” the panels are more likely to experience warpage, principally seen in the longitudinal extent, as the ambient temperature increases. This propensity to undergo warping once the panel temperatures exceeds about 110° F. is especially problematic as the panel exposure exceeds five inches. Panels that have greater than five inches of exposure are experiencing greater sales and efforts to reduce or eliminate warpage are therefore accelerating.

As disclosed herein, panels with increased exposure require stiffening material applied to their back surfaces to resist the warpage caused by increased temperature. The siding member disclosed herein must also have the stiffening material uniformly applied across the back surface of the siding panel, with no gaps or voids in the coverage of the stiffening material. To reduce the potential for warpage, the stiffening material must fully occupy, for example, the volumes of the upward and downward facing extensions 28, 44, 50 of the siding panel 14.

As seen in FIG. 8, prior to pouring or spraying the resin based stiffening material 60A into the receptacle 19 of the panel 14, a reinforcement mat 76 may optionally be laid atop the rear face 18 of the siding panel 14. Also, as seen in FIG. 9, as an optional further enhancement of the stiffening material 60A a reinforcement mat 78 may be laid atop the stiffening material 60A prior to curing of the stiffening material. The reinforcement mats 76, 78 may optionally be comprised of, for example, woven fiberglass, non-woven fiberglass or non-glass fibers. This recitation of specific reinforcement mat materials should not be considered limiting as to the options available under this disclosure.

The pouring or spraying of the stiffening material into the receptacle 19 is performed using equipment that is well known in the industry and therefore is not detailed further in this disclosure. Additionally, no adhesive material is preliminarily applied to the rear face 18 of the panel 14 prior to the insertion of the reinforcement mat 76, should one be employed. Moreover, an adhesive material is also not utilized if a reinforcement mat 76 is not utilized and the stiffening material 60A is poured or sprayed directly upon the rear face 18. The poured or sprayed stiffening material 60A bonds directly to the rear face 18 and all thermoplastic panel 14 surfaces that the stiffening material contacts without the need to apply any adhesive material to the surfaces of the panel 14.

In fabricating the disclosed siding member 10, the uncured resin 60A after being poured or sprayed into the receptacle area 19 of the siding panel 14, the siding member 10 with or without the incorporation of reinforcement mats 76, 78 is moved to a curing station 80 as seen in FIG. 10. At the curing station 80 the uncured resin 60A is covered, as shown in FIG. 11, with a curing member 82 that could include, for example, any of a platen, a plate 84 or a belt. The curing member 82 evenly applies a pressure of preferably between 4 and 25 psi to the surface 70 of the resin 60A while maintaining a temperature above 130° F. for a period in the range of about 3 to 10 minutes.

Once the curing process is completed the curing surface 82 is withdrawn from the cured resin 60. The curing surface 82 can be incorporated with mold release or a release film, such as Teflon, PTFE, PE and/or PP to help facilitate the separation of curing surface 82 from siding panel. The curing member 82 also facilitates the formation of the rain screen features 62 that extend outwardly from the back surface of the siding material and extend between the top edge 22 and the lower edge 26 of the siding member 10 to facilitate drainage of moisture when the siding member 10 is mounted to the exterior of the structure.

The curing surface 82 utilizes embossing features 88 capable of forming the rain screen features 62 on the rear face 70 of the siding material such that the rain screen feature 62 extends between the upper edge and the lower edge of the siding member. Once the resin is fully cured and bonded to the interior surface of the siding panel 14 the finished panel is ready for installation onto the exterior of a structure.

Having shown and described various embodiments of the present invention, further adaptations of the methods and systems described herein may be accomplished by appropriate modifications by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention. Several of such potential modifications have been mentioned, and others will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For instance, the examples, embodiments, geometries, materials, dimensions, ratios, steps, and the like discussed above are illustrative and are not required. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should be considered in terms of the following claims and is understood not to be limited to the details of structure and operation shown and described in the specification and drawings. Moreover, the order of the components detailed in the system may be modified without limiting the scope of the disclosure.

Claims

1. A siding member for covering an exterior of a structure, the siding member comprising: a panel having an upper edge, a lower edge, a nail hem, a front face and a rear face, wherein the rear face is generally shaped to provide a receptacle capable of retaining a liquid material;a first extension with a volume and a first channel located at the upper edge of the siding panel;a second extension with a volume and a second channel located at the lower edge of the siding panel, wherein the first extension and first channel are configured for cooperative engagement with the second extension and second channel of a superjacent siding member; anda resin based stiffening material filling the receptacle wherein the resin based stiffening material forms a back surface that faces the exterior of the structure when the siding member is installed thereon.

2. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein the span between the panel upper edge and the lower edge is greater than 5 inches.

3. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein the resin based stiffening material occupies the volumes of the first and second extensions.

4. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein the resin is comprised of an admixture of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, at least one polyol, water and/or a blowing agent, a catalyst and surfactants.

5. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein the distortion temperature as measured by ASTM D3679 is greater than 165° F.

6. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein the flame spread index is roughly 20 as determined by ASTM E84.

7. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein the smoke development level is roughly 400 as determined by ASTM E84.

8. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein the Maximum Sustained Negative Pressure is roughly 45 lbs/ft2 as determined by ASTM D5206.

9. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein the coefficient of linear thermal expansion is in the range of about 25-30×10−6/° K as determined by ASTM E228.

10. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein the maximum flexural load is in the range of from about 150 N to 350 N as determined by ASTM D790.

11. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein the panel is comprised of a thermoplastic less than about 0.060 inches in thickness.

12. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein the mineral content of the panel is greater than 15% by mass.

13. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein at least one stand-off rain screen feature extends outwardly from the back surface of the stiffening material and extends continuously between the upper edge and the lower edge of the panel.

14. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein at least one stand-off rain screen feature extends outwardly from the back surface of the stiffening material between the upper edge and lower edge of the panel.

15. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein the resin based stiffening material is comprised of a cured polyurethane.

16. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 15, wherein the stiffening material further comprises at least one of fiberglass, calcium carbonate, talc, aluminum trihydrate and graphite.

17. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 15, wherein the cured polyurethane decreases the coefficient of linear thermal expansion of the siding member as compared to a siding member without cured polyurethane.

18. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 15, wherein the cured polyurethane enhances the flame resistance of the siding member.

19. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein the siding member satisfies the Class IV Underwriters Laboratories Standard for Impact Resistance of Prepared Roof Covering Materials.

20. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein the stiffening material is at least one of poured and sprayed into the receptacle.

21. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein a reinforcement mat is laid atop the stiffening material prior to curing of the stiffening material.

22. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein a reinforcement mat is laid atop the rear face of the siding panel prior to filling the receptacle with the resin based stiffening material.

23. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 22, wherein the mat is comprised of woven fiberglass.

24. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 22, wherein the mat is comprised of non-woven fiberglass.

25. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 22, wherein the mat is comprised of non-glass fibers.

26. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein the stiffening material is resistant to mold growth.

27. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 1, wherein the stiffening material is resistant to termite damage.

28. A siding member for covering an exterior of a structure, the siding member comprising: a thermoplastic siding panel having an upper edge, a lower edge, a nail hem, a front face and a rear face, wherein the rear face is generally shaped to provide a receptacle capable of retaining a liquid material;a first extension and a first channel located at an upper edge of the siding member;a second extension and a second channel located at a lower edge of the siding member, wherein the first extension and first channel are configured for cooperative engagement with the second extension and second channel of a superjacent siding member; anda resin based stiffening material filling the receptacle wherein the resin based stiffening material has an index of less than 150 and the resin based stiffening material is cured in position under pressure with a heated curing surface.

29. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 28, wherein the curing surface is selected from the group consisting of a platen, a rigid panel, a belt and a plate.

30. A siding member for covering an exterior of a structure, the siding member comprising: a thermoplastic siding panel having a nail hem and a rear face, wherein the rear face is generally shaped to provide a receptacle capable of retaining a liquid material;a first extension and a first channel located at an upper edge of the siding panel;a second extension and a second channel located at a lower edge of the siding panel, wherein the first extension and first channel are configured for cooperative engagement with the second extension and second channel of a superjacent siding member;a resin based stiffening material filling the receptacle wherein the stiffening material has an index of less than about 150 and a curing member applies pressure in the range of about 4-25 psi at a temperature of about 150° F. to the resin based stiffening material forming a back surface of the siding member; andat least one stand-off rain screen feature extending outwardly from the back surface of the stiffening material between the upper edge and the lower edge of the siding panel to facilitate drainage of moisture when the siding member is attached to the exterior of the structure.

31. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 30, wherein the curing member remains in position atop the stiffening material in the range of about 1 to 10 minutes.

32. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 31, wherein the curing member remains in position atop the stiffening material in the range of about 3 to 5 minutes.

33. The siding member for covering the exterior of the structure of claim 30, wherein siding members of a darker color fabricated with the resin based stiffening material experience a reduced potential for warpage due to heat build-up as compared to panels without the stiffening material.