MCA of Chicago is moving its headquarters to a new “green” building in the Chicago suburbs, complete with a state-of-art training facility.
PM editors were invited to tour the building, which is still under construction, to see the application of
Icynene, a foam insulation that will give the building envelope a tight seal.
While the shell of the building was already built, MCA of Chicago is finishing the building with as many green options as it can, including a light-reflective roof, water-conserving fixtures (mostly donated by Sloan Valve Co.), a high-efficiency heating system and energy-saving lighting.
“Our trade is going to have to take the lead in the green building and LEED movement,”
Steve Lamb, executive vice president of MCA Chicago, told us. “We’re plumbing and heating contractors; this is what we do.”
He said the group is spending about 5 percent more than it expected to, but the payback from the energy savings should more than compensate.
Dan Bulley, senior vice president, has a mechanical engineering background. He’s always been interested in environmentally friendly technologies, so he jumped at the chance to incorporate some of them into the new MCA Chicago building.
He said the payback for some of the technologies may take a few years, but the Icynene insulation payback will be instant, in the form of lower heating and cooling bills.
Both Steve and Dan said the one thing that surprised them was all the choices they had for different eco-friendly products. There were a few things they weren’t able to use because of budget constraints, but Dan is hoping that, once they start saving money on heating and cooling bills, they’ll be able to incorporate a few more “green” systems.
MCA Chicago is vying for LEED Gold status from the U.S. Green Building Council.
How Icynene Is Installed
According to its Web site, there are two different ways to install Icynene insulation — spray it onto any open surface and studded wall, or pour it into an existing wall cavity when renovating. An Icynene trained, licensed dealer is used in both cases.
With any open surface, Icynene insulation can be sprayed once electrical and plumbing services are in place. It then expands to 100 times its initial volume in seconds, permanently adhering to the surfaces of the surrounding building materials and sealing all gaps.
For retrofitting existing walls, a slower expanding formulation of Icynene is used during renovations. The material is simply injected into small holes drilled into plaster or gypsum walls, or from the outside of the wall.
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