District awaits state approval to install lock
July 17, 2007
Louise Perrillioux
July 19, 2007
William Marmande Jr.’s insulation business is going strong.
Marmande’s company, Duralite Quarters, sells sprayed polyurethane foam insulation for walls and roofs, and roof coatings, out of its Security Boulevard office in Houma off La. 311 near St. Charles Street.
He also sells reflective foil and natural cotton insulation.
The insulation “creates a much more energy-efficient structure and improves the energy-efficiency of the building,” he said.
In recent months, Duralite has provided wall and roofing insulation for Louis Mohana Furniture in Bourg, Redfish Rental in Houma, oilfield-products manufacturer T 3 Energy, Trico Marine Services in Houma and Morrison Terrebonne Lumber Center in Houma.
Duralite also has done a large amount of roof insulation work for Tonti Management, the large New Orleans-area landowner.
Marmande entered the insulation business through installing panels on portable buildings used by the oil industry in Louisiana.
The Houma native started Duralite Quarters in Schriever seven years ago, manufacturing portable homes, mostly for the oil industry, and selling and installing insulation.
In fact, the name Duralite (durable and light) comes from the portable-building construction side of his company.
Duralite still manufactures portable homes, but the polyurethane wall and roof insulation, and the roof coatings, sales components make up the bulk of the company’s business.
Marmande moved his company to the Security Blvd. location two years ago.
Duralite sells a foam insulation created by BASF, the German chemical and plastics company that manufactures polyurethane products.
The foam is sprayed onto a wall, then it expands and hardens to form the insulation.
The same basic substance can be sprayed exteriorly to make a high-density roofing foam which can resist water and support foot traffic.
The foam-roofing insulation is long-lasting, and can have its life extended up to 15 years by applying a coating sold by Duralite.
“We clean the roof, spray the foam on the roof, and then put the coating on the foam,” Marmande said.
The coating is produced by the Mobile, Ala.-based roof-coating manufacturer American WeatherStar.
“It’s a reflective coating,” Marmande said. “It’s good for wind protection, structural stability and energy savings. There are multiple benefits for the application.”
The coating comes with a 10-year warranty.
“Over 95 percent of roofs are coatable,” he said. “There are very few roofs we cannot coat.”
Marmande said Duralite uses the same roofing system found on top of the Superdome.
Duralite customers can purchase Astro-Foil reflective insulation as well.
Astro-Foil is two layers of aluminum foil surrounding polyethylene air bubbles. The product works like other types of insulation, repelling air and moisture.
Duralite also sells a cotton insulation product called Insulcot, which, surprisingly, is made of recycled blue jeans.
“The green people are all over it, but it’s a small part of my business,” Marmande said.
The company employs eight workers to install the insulation, though much of the labor is subcontracted.
Marmande has been involved in the construction business for 20 years.
His family came to the Houma area in the 1830s, where they flourished in the sugar-cane industry.
Marmande’s grandfather was a Terrebonne Parish police juror, and state legislator. His father works as a physician at Chabert Medical Center.
With his father and grandfather making careers out of medicine and politics, Marmande’s nose for business seems to have derived from a different source.
His uncle owns M & L Industries, the business, industrial and farm equipment supplier that has four offices in south Louisiana, including Houma.
William Marmande Jr., owner of Duralite Quarters in Houma, first started the company in Shriever seven years ago. The company manufactured portable homes, mostly for the oil industry and sold and installed insulation. Today, it’s the latter that accounts for the bulk of his business. * Staff photo by MIKE BROSSETTE
