Feb 21 2008 6:05AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
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Just to recap: This week I'm posting the "Alternate Influentials," to go with our February cover story. (Read my first blog about it here. Read about the first Alternate here, the second here and No. 3 here.)

In 1947, Robert Crane founded Crane Plastics and in 1957, Crane Plastics perfected the world's first extrusion die system to produce a solid vinyl exterior siding. For years, Crane produced siding for other companies including CertainTeed and Alside before introducing its own brand in 1976.

After the introduction of vinyl siding, America's homes would never look the same. Some people would say this, along with aluminum siding, was a disaster of monumental proportions. (There's an old Woody Allen movie where he's in hell and meets a guy who says he's there because he invented aluminum siding.) On the other hand, it's given us a great, low-maintenance alternative for those who can't afford finishes like brick or stone.

Whatever your opinion on the product, there's no doubt that vinyl siding is a huge part of the industry today. Thousands of companies do nothing but install it and it's a key component of many affordable remodels.

Why he didn't make the list: He made it all the way to the final cut. In the end, he got bumped mostly because we didn't want only one product guy on the list and we couldn't come up with any other category that so changed the industry and could be represented by a single person or group. Of the alternate five I'm writing about this week, he was the closest to making it.