Composite house wrap formed of low density polyethylene foam with evacuated closed cells and having tortuous paths of thermal conductivity

A house wrap for a building comprises:

• A reinforcing layer providing a drainage plane for the house wrap and configured to face the outside of the building;
• A barrier layer including a breathable barrier film bonded to the first layer;
• and
• A third non-woven coupling layer;
• and
• at least one insulating layer, including a perforated low density polyethylene foam layer, having evacuated closed cells forming a tortuous thermal conductive path along the cell walls through the foam layer, and wherein the total thickness of the house wrap is less than 175 mils and wherein the house wrap has an insulating R-Value of at least 6 and wherein at least 90% of the primary blowing agent is dissipated from cells within the expanded low density polyethylene, forming evacuated closed-cell low density polyethylene sheets.

A process of forming a housing wrap comprising the steps of:

• providing a mixture, including low density polyethylene pellets and an effective amount of glycerides as a degassing agent;
• adding a primary blowing agent to the mixture in an amount about 20-40% of the low density polyethylene by weight, wherein the primary blowing agent is comprising one of liquid propane, liquid butane, and combinations thereof, and gasifying the blowing agent to expand the low density polyethylene;
• forming the expanded low density polyethylene into sheets,
• curing the expanded low density polyethylene at a temperature between 20° C. to 30° C. until 80% of the primary blowing agent is dissipated from the cells within the expanded low density polyethylene, forming evacuated closed-cell low density polyethylene sheets;
• coupling at least one expanded low density polyethylene, forming evacuated closed-cell low density polyethylene sheet to a barrier layer, including a breathable barrier film;
• and
• bonding the barrier layer to a drainage plane for the house wrap which is configured to face the outside of the building.