Why is Virgin Vinyl Better and Don't They all Claim to Use

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steelersfan
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Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 9:26 am

Why is Virgin Vinyl Better and Don't They all Claim to Use

#1 Post by steelersfan »

:?:

XSleeper
Posts: 80
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:57 pm

#2 Post by XSleeper »

In all honesty, I've only heard this discussed a few times at window dealer meetings. To me, it's kind of a non-factor because there are only a handfull of vinyl extruders in the nation, and those extruders make a lot of products that go to a lot of different manufacturers, so who can really say that one window has more "virgin vinyl" than another one, when it's entirely possible that both manufacturers got their lineal from the exact same extruder. (that's my take on it anyway.)

Virgin vinyl (higher percentage of vinyl rosin powders, I think) is supposed to be stronger, more flexible, less prone to breakage, and is used on certain parts of the window that need to have the highest expansion and contraction qualities. Other parts of the window frame need to be rigid, and flexibility is not desirable. (a lift handle, for example). So some vinyl extrusions contain a higher percentage of reground vinyl. The only drawback to this is that these parts can be more brittle. Most windows contain a combination of both types of vinyl. I don't think any company publishes the facts on how much of their window is virgin vinyl, as a percentage for example.

I'm not sure that I understand it completely, and in all truthfullness, I don't care to. Perhaps someone else can shed more light on this and maybe then I'll understand why I should be concerned about it.

FenEx
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Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2005 3:43 pm
Location: Illinois

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#3 Post by FenEx »

Virgin vinyl is just what the name implies... it's never been used before. Recycled vinyl products use reground vinyl that has already been extruded atleast once before. If a product is 100% virgin vinyl it has no regrind in the mix.

steelersfan
Posts: 41
Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 9:26 am

#4 Post by steelersfan »

Fenex,
I had heard that the definition of 'virgin vinyl' was that it only had to be 70 percent pure vinyl. Didn't know that you could 'kinda' be a virgin :)

Is the low gloss attribute of Schuco windows have to do with the purity of the vinyl or is it something else added to the formula?

The low gloss of the Schuco just blew me away. It looked just like painted wood.

FenEx
Posts: 353
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2005 3:43 pm
Location: Illinois

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#5 Post by FenEx »

There you are talking about products that can call themselves virgin vinyl by percentage majority vs. those that can claim 100% virgin vinyl. With the Schucos, I imagine it's a combination of the quality of the vinyl itself, the satin finish of the extrusions and the soft linen white color vs. the shiny appliance white plastic look of many others in the industry.

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