The principle behind wildlife exclusion products is pretty straightforward. Any good wildlife exclusion device needs to meet two criteria:
- It needs to keep animals out of the building it’s installed on
- It must still allow the vent or opening it covers to circulate properly
For critters, this is easy enough. Even with small animals like mice or bats, the mesh of nearly any wildlife exclusion product will be plenty large enough to promote ventilation while also locking out the wildlife itself. This becomes much more difficult, however, with insects.
How do you make a wildlife exclusion product that keeps out animals and bugs alike while making sure vents can still vent properly?
At HY-C, we’ve been tackling exclusion and venting solutions like this since 1947. And to solve the insect issue, we came up with an all-new product feature: InsectArmor.
In this guide, we’ll explain what InsectArmor is and how it works. We’ll cover the products it’s compatible with, the sizes of those products, their manufacturer’s advertised retail prices, and more.
Whether you’re a homeowner, a technician, or a distributor, by the time you’re finished here, you’ll understand exactly what InsectArmor is and how you can use it to your benefit.
What is InsectArmor?
To be clear: InsectArmor isn’t a product. It’s a feature added to already-existing products.
Over the years, we’ve experienced success with our line of foundation vent covers and soffit vent covers. These covers have been used on homes across the country for years, keeping out everything from squirrels and birds to raccoons and bats. Insects, however, could still fit through the ¼” mesh.
In order to solve this problem, we added a 1.6 mm metal mesh to the covers called InsectArmor. Like the larger diamond-shaped mesh, this ultra-tight mesh screen promotes proper ventilation while also locking out bees, wasps, stink bugs, cicadas, and more bugs.
To simplify the installation process, we also added a foam strip with an adhesive backing to exclusion screens utilizing InsectArmor. This sticky strip serves two purposes:
- It lets installers stick the screen to the installation location, making it easier to bolt into place
- The squishy foam contours to rough, uneven materials, providing a seal around the edge that locks out bugs
Which Products Utilize InsectArmor?
We added the InsectArmor mesh to four of our existing exclusion screens:
- The 10” x 18” Foundation Vent Screens
- The 12” x 19” Foundation Vent Screens
- The 4” x 16” Soffit Vent Screens
- The 8” x 16” Soffit Vent Screens
Each of these four screens is available in black, white, and gray. The InsectArmor itself is held in place within the folded hem around the edge of the screen to ensure it doesn’t come loose.
One notable omission to the lineup is our 4” x 50” foundation screen. There is currently not a model with these dimensions available with InsectArmor, due simply to the fact that there’s far less demand for this screen size in general.
We develop new products based on customer feedback, though, so if there is ever a need for InsectArmor on this screen in the future, we’ll do what we can to accommodate that need.
How Is InsectArmor Different Than Traditional Insect Exclusion Screens?
Most other vent covers are built similarly to our InsectArmor covers. They both have animal exclusion and insect exclusion in mind, and they’re both made with a combination of metal and bug mesh. The biggest difference, though, lies in the actual materials used.
Other vent covers use a combination of aluminum and plastic bug mesh. These materials look like they’ll work well, but they don’t perform well in practice.
Aluminum is a soft metal. It’s notorious for being very easy for wildlife to chew through. The same wildlife can easily rip open the plastic of nylon bug mesh, leaving the vent vulnerable to virtually any critter or pest.
HY-GUARD EXCLUSION’S foundation and soffit vent covers with InsectArmor, however, are made from galvanized steel and a metal bug mesh. Nuisance wildlife can’t chew through the steel frame and diamond mesh of these screens, and the metal bug mesh is much sturdier than its plastic counterparts.
This of course means that HY-GUARD EXCLUSION foundation and soffit vent covers cost more than other similar products made from less solid materials. But it will stand up much better to meddling from nuisance wildlife and insects alike.
How Much Do Products with InsectArmor Cost?
In this section, we’ll cover manufacturer’s suggested retail prices (MSRPs) for each of these products — the price a homeowner can roughly expect to pay at a retail store. If you’re a dealer, distributor, or technician buying in bulk, your pricing will vary (reach out to our sales team to learn more about your pricing structure).
The following table compares wildlife exclusion screens of similar sizes both with and without InsectArmor:
|
Product |
Size |
With InsectArmor - MSRP |
Without InsectArmor - MSRP |
|
Foundation Vent Screen |
10" x 18" |
$47.69 |
$38.09 |
|
Foundation Vent Screen |
12" x 19" |
$57.59 |
$46.09 |
|
Soffit Vent Screen |
4" x 16" |
$35.39 |
$28.29 |
|
Soffit Vent Screen |
8" x 16" |
$44.99 |
$33.50 |
The screens with InsectArmor cost a bit more than those without it. This is because they utilize additional materials and require a lengthier, more complex manufacturing process. But for homeowners, distributors, and technicians alike, both screens offer plenty of possibilities.
How Can You Start Using InsectArmor?
If you’re a homeowner, the existence of foundation vent covers and soffit vent covers with and without InsectArmor offers you the opportunity to customize and optimize your home’s exclusion profile.
If you’re mostly concerned with critters but don’t expect insect problems, you can opt for covers without InsectArmor (and save a bit of money while you’re at it). If you want to pay a bit extra for maximum coverage against all pests, you have that choice, too. Just be sure to hire a wildlife control operator to install the products.
If you’re a dealer or distributor, these products give you the opportunity to expand your offering. Whether you stock screens without InsectArmor, with InsectArmor, or both, you’ll have the opportunity to offer a spectrum of pest and wildlife exclusion solutions from which your customers (and their customers) can choose.
Finally, if you’re a wildlife control operator, offering both styles of screen to your customers lets you provide a choice: a standard option that costs a little less, or a premium option that costs more but does more, too.
If you’re a homeowner, use the HY-C product locator to find HY-GUARD EXCLUSION soffit and foundation vent covers (both with and without InsectArmor) online or at a store near you.
If you’re a current or prospective sales partner, be sure to get in touch with our sales team. They’ll be happy to work with you so you can start offering screens with InsectArmor to your customers.
