Dow Uses Building Science to Help Make Custom, Pre-fab Home Energy Efficient on TV Series This Old House

Midland, MI - October 02, 2008

Photo Credit: Copyright 2008 Benson Woodworking Co. Inc./Socius Design

Dow Building Solutions collaborates with custom homebuilder, Bensonwood, to create one New England family's dream home by combining old world craftsmanship with modern day building science.  Custom-designed to have all the charm of an 18th century colonial barn – but none of the dampness and leaky drafts – the Weston, Massachusetts home is the focus of this season’s PBS home improvement series, This Old House. 

Unlike most projects featured on This Old House, the new timberframe home was prefabricated at Bensonwood’s Walpole, New Hampshire, facilities, miles away from the project site. Using a highly-efficient systems approach (designed in part with the help of Dow consultants), Bensonwood builds walls with windows and pre-fitted plumbing fixtures inside the shop – rain or shine.  By building different sections of the home simultaneously, in multiple shops, rather than in sequence, components for the nearly 3,800 sq.-ft. house could be built faster and then assembled on site.

The This Old House Weston project premieres on PBS Thursday, October 2, at 8pm EST (check local listings). Tune in to watch the home come to life over the course of 16 episodes.  Throughout the season, viewers will see how Bensonwood uses Dow insulation and weatherization solutions to keep this barn-inspired home warm and dry in the winter, cool and comfortable in the summer, and energy-efficient all year long:

• Energy-efficient, comfortable interior blanketed by 2" and thicker STYROFOAM™ Brand Insulation products in the basement, walls and roof.  Above-grade walls achieved a thermal protection rating of R-34, well above the required R-19 in Massachusetts. Joints between building components were sealed with gaskets and insulated with FROTH-PAK™ Foam Sealant Kits.
• Draft- and moisture-free windows and doors tightly sealed with WEATHERMATE™ Weather Barrier Solutions and GREAT STUFF™ Window & Door Insulating Foam Sealant, filling corner gaps no larger than a pinhole.
• Filled gaps around plumbing and electrical penetrations with GREAT STUFF™ FireBlock Insulating Foam Sealant.

About Dow Building Solutions

Dow Building Solutions has a 60-year legacy of providing energy saving solutions to the global commercial and residential construction industry, which began with the launch of its flagship STYROFOAM™ extruded polystyrene (XPS) insulation, one of the most recognized brands of insulation in the world. A market-facing business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, Dow Building Solutions offers unsurpassed expertise to help builders, designers, architects and homeowners reduce energy costs and protect against wind, rain and moisture, while contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

About Dow

For Editorial Information:

Jan McKinnon
The Dow Chemical Company
(519) 339-5028

Marissa Peterson
Gibbs & Soell, Inc.
(212) 697-2600
mpeterson@gibbs-soell.com