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Doesn't plastic degrade over decades, especially when exposed to sunlight? That could be why not. We have traditions in material selection because nobody want

Doesn't plastic degrade over decades, especially when exposed to sunlight? That could be why not. We have traditions in material selection because nobody wants to have to rebuild their building after a decade because some "new, innovative" material didn't age well.

CharlieDigital 2y ago
Only the exterior cladding of a house is really exposed to UV and even there, there is no shortage of vinyl siding or latex polymer paints (over cementeous boards) which have been UV stabilized. Azek[0] and Trex[1] have been popular due to their low maintenance and insect resistance. We're seeing some polymers and polymer impregnated products starting to be used heavily now in construction. Huber's Zip system[2] is one example. Makes perfect sense. It seems like there are other applications where it would be a boon to use plastics. I'm just surprised that we don't see higher adoption of plastics (again, not necessarily structural, but even as cladding or plastic impregnated) in the core structural elements that are often susceptible to water or insect damage. [0] https://azekexteriors.com/products/trim https://azekexteriors.com/products/trim [1] https://www.trex.com/ https://www.trex.com/ [2] https://www.huberwood.com/zip-system/wall-sheathing https://www.huberwood.com/zip-system/wall-sheathing