Maximizing Energy & Style: Exploring the Benefits of Insulated Siding

What if you could combine beautiful looks with added energy efficiency for your home? Insulated siding is an easy way to do just that. Just as it sounds, insulated vinyl siding has a foam-insulation backing that can help enhance both the appearance and the thermal insulation value of your home, helping to more effectively regulate heating and cooling indoors, creating a more comfortable living environment, and increasing your home’s resale value and curb appeal.

What’s Unique About Insulated Vinyl Siding?

The insulation board on the back of CraneBoard® Solid Core Siding® from Westlake Royal Building Products™ is 1 1/8” inch thick, and it packs quite a benefit punch for homeowners.

High-End Aesthetics

You can notice the difference from the curb—because the insulation backing provides for a more robust, stiff panel, CraneBoard comes in wide, architecturally correct 6-inch and 7-inch panels for a truly authentic cedar look and in 12-foot and 16-foot lengths for fewer seams. The rigid panel helps straighten walls for a clean, smooth finished look.

Along with the wider profiles, it’s also available in Quad 4.5-inch Dutchlap and Board & Batten styles to meet any design aesthetic.

Improved Thermal Performance

Insulated vinyl siding wraps the home’s exterior in a layer of continuous insulation, helping to reduce what’s called “thermal bridging,” when heat and energy escape the house through the pathway of the house framing, which, unlike a wall cavity, is not insulated. By collectively covering those framing studs with foam insulation, insulated vinyl siding helps dramatically reduce heat loss. Not only does this increase your home’s energy efficiency by helping to regulate temperatures through heat transfer between walls, it can lead to lower heating and cooling costs throughout the year and a more consistent, comfortable living environment. (Say goodbye to chilly drafts in the winter and hello to a cooler interior in the summer.)

You can see how this works in this side-by-side comparison using a thermal imaging camera. On the left is a house without insulated vinyl siding. The yellow area shows how heat transfers through the studs. On the right is the same house with CraneBoard siding. CraneBoard, shown in blue, cuts down on the energy you lose through the studs of your home’s walls, offering

significantly more insulating power than fiber cement, wood, engineered wood or brick.

Noise Reduction

Insulated siding also helps reduce the transmission of external noise, offering a more peaceful, quiet interior to your home.

Moisture Management

Mold, mildew and rot can damage the structure of a home over time and pose potential health risks. However, insulated siding offers an extra layer of protection against moisture infiltrating your home. In fact, CraneBoardSiding is the only insulated siding with the Smart Track™ system with moisture management ridges, which helps water that may be behind your siding due to wind-driven rain or through vapor coming through the wall assembly to escape and not cause mold and mildew.

Durability

Remodeling Magazine estimated that siding replacement projects offer an average return-on-investment of approximately 65-75% in its 2024 Cost vs. Value report.

Insulated siding can better resist warping, fading and cracking, offering you less maintenance over time and longer-lasting curb appeal. Overlay beautiful landscaping with clean, well-maintained siding that boasts efficiency benefits, and modern fixtures, and it can make a home more desirable, potentially increasing its resale value to prospective buyers.

Color That Lasts

Along with the added value the insulation brings, CraneBoard offers a range of additional benefits that contribute to longevity in form and function.

Unlike wood, engineered wood and fiber cement, CraneBoard siding doesn’t require periodic caulking or repainting. It features Chromatix® technology color protection to help effortlessly maintain your original look. In fact, the use of Chromatix technology enables Westlake Royal to warranty fade to as low as 4 Hunter Units (a common measure of color difference).

So whether you’re seeking the richness of Lighthouse Red, the brilliant blue of Indigo or the cozy appeal of Greystone, you can count on color that lasts, siding that is easy to maintain, curb appeal that endures—and the added power of insulation.