Hosts: Tom Kraeutler & Leslie Segrete
(NOTE: Timestamps below correspond to the running time of the downloadable audio file of this show. Text represents a professional transcriptionist’s understanding of what was said. No guarantee of accuracy is expressed or implied. ‘Ph’ in parentheses indicates the phonetic or best guess of the actual spoken word.)
BEGIN HOUR 1 TEXT:
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TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles. This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: And we are coming to you live from the International Builders Show in Orlando, Florida. Hundreds of thousands of pros from all over the world have converged here and we’ve been sort of taking it all in. It’s a really amazing experience. Now, this event is not open to the public but Leslie and I are fortunate enough to be your eyes and ears to bring you all the excitement of what’s new in the building industry.
LESLIE: Yeah and it’s really exciting. There’s some really cool new stuff to see including the amazing homes here in the show village, which is where we are broadcasting from; right here on the front porch of the high-tech home today and it’s courtesy of our friends at Owens Corning and it’s got everything you think of when you think super high-tech and we’re going to have all the juicy details for you in just a few minutes.
TOM: What a pleasure to be broadcasting from a porch. (chuckles)
LESLIE: Yeah, except it’s freezing. (Tom laughs) Who knew Florida would be so icy cold?
TOM: Well, also ahead this hour find out how to enhance your home’s curb appeal by playing up the design elements of your roof and you’ll learn more about a question we often get asked on this show and that’s radiant floor heating.
LESLIE: Keep your tootsies warm.
TOM: Let’s talk about heat today because it’s a chilly day here (Leslie chuckles) in Orlando, Florida.
And we want to give a huge thank you to our friends at Owens Corning who have made this very special Money Pit broadcast possible today.
LESLIE: Alright, well let’s get started right into the hearty juice of the matter. We’ve got our first guest, James ‘Skeeter’ Seekford who is the builder of the high-tech home that we are broadcasting from right now and he is a 24-year veteran in the modular housing business, which we get a lot of questions about, and is the vice president builder sales for Nationwide Custom Homes.
TOM: For the past four years Skeeter has headed up the Nationwide’s participation in the professional builders show village project.
Skeeter, welcome to the program.
SKEETER: Thank you so very much. It’s such an honor to be here.
TOM: And I’ve got to tell you this is an amazing accomplishment. We should explain for our audience that we are actually in the parking lot of the Orlando Convention Center …
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Of the Convention Center.
TOM: … and, Skeeter, you have actually constructed an entire house right here and you’re a part of, actually, a set of three houses …
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) When can I move in? (Leslie chuckles)
TOM: … that are going up right in the parking lot.
SKEETER: (overlapping voices) Ready to move in now.
TOM: It’s a really amazing house and you call this the high-tech home.
SKEETER: That’s correct.
TOM: Alright, so what’s high-tech about it?
SKEETER: Well, we’ve got a lot of neat features in the home starting from the wiring system; smart wiring system. The entire house is centrally wired to be controlled by a master computer and touch screens.
LESLIE: Oh, interesting. Does that include lighting or just sort of entertainment features?
SKEETER: Both. There’s two different representations here. We have it both in lighting and – which is by light touch – and all the system is controlled through a central database and you can set your lights up for dimming at night for the children going to bed or vacation lights to come on and off for security reasons and just energy control. (INAUDIBLE) controlled entertainment and information throughout the house also.
TOM: So it’s sort of one central brain for the entire house.
SKEETER: Absolutely.
TOM: That is very, very cool.
LESLIE: That’s very high-tech. Now is that something – I mean this is a brand, spanking new home so obviously it was easy to put all of these systems in. But if you’re an existing homeowner and this idea sounds cool, is that something that can be sort of retrofitted to an existing home?
SKEETER: I think it can. Sure, a little bit more challenges in remodeling but certainly it can be retrofitted. Absolutely.
TOM: Now do you think, moving into the future, that we’re going to see these types of systems become more standardized in homes across the country? (INAUDIBLE)
SKEETER: Yes, yes. I think the young people growing up today, the home buyers today, are very much into technology.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
SKEETER: Much more so than my generation (Leslie chuckles) and they’re expecting it. They don’t want anything less.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) The flattest this; the biggest that; the highest-powered this thing.
SKEETER: Absolutely, yep.
TOM: So the consumer will demand and the builder will deliver.
SKEETER: Absolutely. We have to.
TOM: Let’s talk about some of the other elements. You have some – besides the smart wiring you’ve got an insulation system here that’s very unique called Quiet Zone. Talk to me about that.
SKEETER: Absolutely. We’ve enclosed our home theatre room in Quiet Zone insulation and that provides additional soundproofing so, you know, the kids can be in enjoying a good movie with surround sound and it doesn’t affect the rest of the home.
LESLIE: And is that on all six walls; floor, ceiling …
SKEETER: Yes.
LESLIE: … all surfaces?
SKEETER: Completely.
TOM: And that’s an Owens Corning product.
SKEETER: That is. Yes, they were a great group to work with.
TOM: What about the windows and the doors. Is there anything special, unusual about the (INAUDIBLE) components?
SKEETER: (overlapping voices) Well, we’ve – this is our second year working with Pella and they are just tremendous people to work with; great products; higher energy-efficient windows; very, very decorative designs; some innovative screening that goes in it. It’s really pretty neat.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Mm-hmm. It’s really super see-through which is very nice.
SKEETER: (overlapping voices) It is. Yeah, absolutely.
LESLIE: Now I understand some of the siding features – in addition to the Owens Corning cultured stone there’s a new siding material that’s almost a composite but super high-tech.
SKEETER: First time it’s been introduced to the public. So this is the total introduction of microposite siding.
TOM: Microposite.
SKEETER: Microposite. We’ve had the opportunity to work with the guys this past week and they’ve installed all the siding here and it’s fantastic. We’re just so thrilled to have it on our home. Looking forward to it being introduced to the public later this year. Great siding.
LESLIE: Fantastic.
SKEETER: It’s gorgeous stuff. I mean it looks just like wood. It’s got a finish on it.
LESLIE: And it finished lovely.
SKEETER: Easy to work with. Super.
TOM: Does it come prefinished?
LESLIE: Is it prefinished or did you all paint that?
SKEETER: Well, they prefinished it for the show but we painted it a little bit here also.
TOM: Yeah?
LESLIE: How about maintenance? Any sort of need to repaint after a certain amount of time or do find that the product just holds the paint a lot better?
SKEETER: Our anticipation is it’s going to hold the paint very well but …
LESLIE: Well it’s brand new. (chuckles)
SKEETER: … you know, any time you paint something you’re going to have to paint it sometime.
TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. We are broadcasting from the International Builders Show today in Orlando, Florida. We’re talking to James Skeeter Seekford who is the builder of the high-tech home. And I understand that you also have a gourmet kitchen, so just because this home is high-tech you have not cut back on the luxury at all.
SKEETER: Oh, no, not at all. We’ve got some unique features in the kitchen this year with Electrolux appliances. We have a 48-inch dual fuel gourmet, high-tech range that is just gorgeous to look at. It just makes you want to go in and start cooking.
LESLIE: Do you think it’s intimidating to a potential homeowner that the kitchen is so high-tech or does it make them sort of aspire to be a chef of their dreams?
SKEETER: I think it makes them aspire to be a chef of their dreams. So many people watch cooking shows today and they’re just excited about it and it’s just a great opportunity to go in it and entertain. It’s a tremendous entertainment center now.
LESLIE: Or as Jackie Gleason would say, ‘Chef of the future.’ (Tom and Leslie laughs)
SKEETER: There you go.
TOM: James Skeeter Seekford, thanks so much for having us here on the porch of the high-tech home. It’s a real pleasure to be able to see the technology …
LESLIE: You did a great job.
TOM: …that you put in this place. It’s beautiful. And you were telling us before that this entire house is going to be disassembled and moved off of this parking lot as soon as this trade show closes?
SKEETER: We have three days and we’ll have her down and moved off.
TOM: Wow, amazing.
LESLIE: (chuckling) I bet it’s kind of cathartic. You feel really good, after everything you put into it, to just make it go away. (Tom and Skeeter chuckle)
SKEETER: And it’s kind of sad to see it come down, but it’s been a great experience and we’re very fortunate to work with the professional builder and to work with you guys. It’s just a tremendous experience.
TOM: Well, it’s our pleasure to be here.
LESLIE: Yeah, seriously.
TOM: Skeeter, thanks so much for stopping by The Money Pit.
SKEETER: Thank you.
LESLIE: Thank you. Stay warm.
Alright, you’re listening to the Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com and we are coming to you direct from the 2008 International Builders Show.
TOM: Well, up next, your roof is always there and you rarely even give it a second thought. But here’s something you don’t often think of. When it comes to curb appeal your roof actually makes up half of what you see. So why not play that up? Up next, we’re going to talk about some design elements to dress up your roof.
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ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is brought to you by Therma-Tru, the nation’s leading manufacturer of fiberglass entry and patio door systems. Choose the brand more building professionals prefer. And add up to $24,000 to the perceived value of your home. For more information, visit ThermaTru.com.
TOM: Welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: And we are broadcasting a special edition of The Money Pit Radio Show today from the International Builders Show in Orlando, Florida.
LESLIE: Yeah, it is super huge. Everything is giant here. (Tom chuckles) It’s nearly a million square feet of show floor highlighting the latest and greatest and newest innovations in home construction and since it’s not open to the public – sorry (Tom laughs) – you’re going to have to experience it through us.
TOM: Well we’re broadcasting from a very special house called the high-tech house built smack dab in the middle of what is known as Showville. It’s formerly known as the parking lot – the west parking lot of the Orlando Convention Center. (Leslie laughs) It’s really amazing they put this entire house up here from floorboards to shingles. The technology behind this home is amazing and one of the fantastic companies that help build this home is right here with us now. It’s Owens Corning. Joining us to talk about some of the innovative products they’ve contributed to this product is Sue Burkett, the marketing manager for roofing.
Welcome, Sue.
SUE: Good morning.
TOM: Thanks so much for having us.
LESLIE: Now Sue, I know we keep talking about curb appeal and curb appeal being so important in, you know, especially this real estate market. But as a homeowner – you know, but when I think curb appeal I usually picture doors and paint and fencing, plantings but not the roof and you guys say that a roof really can boost a home’s curb appeal.
SUE: Absolutely. If you think about how much space a roof takes up in the face of a house.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
SUE: It can be 40 to 50 percent of what you see from the street. And it’s this big, blank canvas that you can really do something fun with; something really special with. So what we’re showing here is a series of diamonds. They’re very elegant. It’s just this really small splash of color that makes it look really different from the street.
LESLIE: Do you find it’s the homeowners or the builders that are sort of coming up with these savvy, installation techniques or ideas that are sort of driving this new decorative trend in roofing, I guess?
SUE: I think it’s the consumer is asking for more. I mean I think they want their house to reflect more of their personality and instead of looking at just a big, brown roof they want just the littlest touches of whimsy or something that really reflects who they are.
TOM: Now, besides looking very, very attractive, this particular roof is incredibly durable and something that folks anywhere that face, you know, issues of hurricanes and tornados and things …
LESLIE: Weather, winds.
TOM: … weather, winds; this particular design of roof can really take – did I understand this correctly? – 130 miles per hour?
SUE: Absolutely.
TOM: That’s amazing.
SUE: This is our duration premium shingle. It’s a new shingle for us. It has a technology called SureNail and that SureNail technology allows the wind warranty to go up to 130-mile-an-hour winds.
LESLIE: That’s pretty amazing because so many people don’t understand, you know, that it’s the shingles that fail and then the underlayment and so it’s important, especially in this region of the country where we are – in Florida – to have a really high-tech, high-durable roofing product.
SUE: Absolutely. That should be the first thing that you look for in a shingle is its durability. I mean when you think about the importance of a roof and what it protects inside of your house –
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
SUE: – all your furniture, all your heirlooms; everything that your family has is in that house – so the number one thing is a durable, high-performing shingle but that doesn’t mean you have to give up aesthetics.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
SUE: Your roof can also be beautiful and that’s what we’re trying to show here at this show village house.
TOM: We’re talking to Sue Burkett. She’s a market manager for roofing for Owens Corning. They’ve built the roof on this home and, Sue, I see, in some of the notes that we were given about this product, that this particular type of roof is something that – actually it’s what’s old is new again. It was originally a design that was common on the east coast in the 19th century.
SUE: Right. If you think about designs on a roof, think about a Victorian house.
TOM and LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
SUE: You know, with real slate. There are little florets or little designs. Think about homesteads, farms and on the barns there’s a family crest or there’s the year that the homestead was established. So putting something on the roof; a design on the roof, is really not a new idea but it’s gone out of favor and we feel that we should bring that back.
TOM: And I’ve got to tell you before I got on the radio I spent 20 years as a home inspector and this diamond pattern, whenever we saw these roofs they seemed to last so much longer than the other types of patterned roofs; the tab shingle.
LESLIE: Is it the overlay process or …?
TOM: Just that it seems to lock together so much better and it’s just a super, super durable roof.
SUE: Well, the duration series shingles – there are two in that series – are very durable and the design really – the installer doesn’t have to do anything different to put these on. That’s the beauty of it. It’s the same material, so the same durability they get with the basic shingle they get with the diamond or with whatever the pattern is.
TOM: That’s fantastic.
Sue Burkett from Owens Corning, great product. Thanks so much for filling us in about it.
SUE: Thank you. Appreciate it.
LESLIE: Thanks very much.
Alright, we’ve got another guest jumping in here with us this morning.
TOM: That’s right, another very important part of any home is, of course, the structure and the manufacturers that make some of those components are getting smarter and smarter about how they do just that, including ways to engineer water resistance right into components like the sheathing.
LESLIE: Yeah, and with us to talk about just that is Jeff Key. He’s a marketing communications manager for Georgia-Pacific.
Jeff, welcome to The Money Pit.
Now, you guys have a new sheathing that actually has a preapplied weather barrier. That seems to be like a huge timesaver and a major benefit to the consumer. Why don’t you talk a bit about that?
JEFF: Right, it is – the typical wall sheathing installation and house wrap installation a framing crew will come in and put up the wall sheathing and then there can be a lag time of several days up to even three to four weeks before a separate crew comes back in and installs the house wrap. So obviously, you know, Leslie’s very familiar …
LESLIE: You’re compromising all of these materials.
TOM: Right.
JEFF: Yes.
TOM: All that time it’s exposed.
JEFF: Yeah, wood and water just don’t mix. (Tom laughs)
LESLIE: No.
JEFF: You know, it’s not a good thing so you kind of …
TOM: It gets ugly. (laughs)
JEFF: Right. You try to – you can’t completely prevent water from getting on wood in an outdoor construction setting but we just do the best we can. So what we are actually introducing at the show – it’s a brand new product for us – is an OSB sheathing with a preapplied, weather-resistant barrier.
TOM: So it really buys you a little bit more time …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: … as you’re constructing the house and ensures that it will be structurally stable …
JEFF: Right.
TOM: … throughout the entire process.
JEFF: Exactly, and …
TOM: Because so many times I’ve seen when – because, you know, scheduling changes and you get hit with bad weather, you get sides of the house that just get exposed. I’ve seen builders have to go in and then tear off sheathing …
JEFF: Right, right.
LESLIE: Yeah, just because it totally warped.
TOM: … because it just warped and you didn’t want to put siding over warped sheathing.
JEFF: Right. Plus, from a builder’s perspective, you don’t have to wait for a separate crew to come in to install the house wrap and you don’t have to deal with a separate subcontractor. Your framers install it just like regular wall sheathing.
LESLIE: Cuts the same, everything?
JEFF: Yeah, cuts the same.
LESLIE: Don’t have to treat the edge as you put a fresh edge on something?
JEFF: No treated edges.
LESLIE: Interesting.
JEFF: It’s just like an OSB wall sheathing.
LESLIE: And I think one of the big trends we’ve been seeing throughout the entire show is, you know, obviously saving the builder a lot of time and energy; keeping his labor cost down; keeping his installation cost down …
JEFF: Right.
LESLIE: … so that, you know, with the market the way it is they can keep building more homes.
JEFF: Exactly. And for the homeowner you get that piece of mind that you’ve got that weather protection and we also offer a seam tape. If you leave the seams open there’s a chance for air intrusion and you lose some energy efficiency. So also during the installation process we have what’s called a polybutylene tape …
TOM: Right.
JEFF: … to tape the seams to increase the energy efficiency of the home.
LESLIE: Does it seem to boost the r value in any way with this type of sheathing or is it just …
TOM: Less air infiltration?
JEFF: It’s just less air infiltration. Mm-hmm.
TOM: Right.
LESLIE: That’s great.
TOM: Now, you also have some engineered lumber …
JEFF: Right.
TOM: … that’s been used in homes for a long time but you’ve got a new product that’s called the XJ85.
JEFF: Right. (Leslie chuckles)
TOM: Sounds like a rocket car.
JEFF: Right. (laughs)
TOM: Let’s talk a bit about engineered lumber because I think that sometimes consumers are skittish about the fact that – you know, just want to see a lot of wood.
JEFF: Right, right.
TOM: But engineered lumber really is just what it says. It’s …
LESLIE: Especially if we’re using it as a joist.
TOM: Right, it’s designed to use actually less wood, therefore it’s less resource intensive …
JEFF: Mm-hmm.
TOM: … yet it still delivers the performance. So talk to me about that.
JEFF: Absolutely. An I-joist – which, for the people at home, that’s what your subfloor or your plywood or OSB …
TOM: It looks like a steel I-beam …
JEFF: Right.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: … but made out of wood.
JEFF: Exactly.
TOM: Right.
JEFF: Yeah. It’s much more resource-efficient. It uses 40 to 50 percent less wood fiber than, say, a 2×10 joist does and there were a lot of perceptions early on. It’s like, ‘How can that thing hold up my floor?’ But it’s a highly engineered product and it’s been time tested. I mean it’s been around for about 20 years.
LESLIE: Now because it’s engineered, are you able to get longer spans than you might from traditional wood?
JEFF: Yes. Yes, absolutely.
TOM: One thing that I’ve noticed that’s different that we actually get calls on and complaints on from time to time is …
LESLIE: The bounce?
TOM: Well, the bounce. That’s right. That sometimes because it is a long span; that although it’s not unsafe, in terms of – it’s more flexible.
JEFF: Right, right.
TOM: Now, how do you protect against that flexibility? Do you use traditional bridging?
JEFF: Yes, yes.
TOM: You do?
JEFF: You can use that. And all of it depends on the builders; their preference as far as the spacing of the joist, how solid he wants the floor to be. But you can space wood I-joists a little further apart and get the same type of performance as a 2×10. But the product we’re introducing here – the XJ85 – actually comes with precut holes.
TOM: OK.
JEFF: And what this allows you to do is the mechanicals, your wiring, your plumbing …
LESLIE: Oh, interesting.
TOM: Which is great because you don’t have to worry about the plumber coming in and cutting the beam in half or something like that.
JEFF: (overlapping voices) Exactly, exactly. So you don’t have a problem …
TOM: Kind of punch it out?
JEFF: No, it’s not a punch-out. It’s actually precut when it shows up and it’s one of the most innovative …
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) They have big labels on them; ‘Look here’? (chuckles)
JEFF: Yeah, it’s one of the most innovative wood products I’ve seen and I’ve been in the business for a while. So …
TOM: Jeff Key from Georgia-Pacific. Thanks so much for stopping by The Money Pit.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Great, thank you.
JEFF: (overlapping voices) Thanks for having me. OK.
TOM: You are tuned to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show broadcasting from the International Builders Show in Orlando, Florida. Thanks to the folks at Owens Corning the big trend we’re noticing here has been going green.
LESLIE: That’s right. Coming up on the program we’re going to talk about two ways you can go green right now.
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ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is being brought to you by Owens Corning, a world leader in building materials and composite solutions. Learn more at OwensCorning.com. Now, here are Tom and Leslie.
TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: And we are coming to you from Show Village here at the 2008 International Builders Show in Orlando, Florida today.
LESLIE: That’s right. There are thousands of products under one roof, which is something pretty darn amazing to see and overwhelming, I have to add. And this is really an inside industry event that, unfortunately, you can’t take part in. But we are here to be your eyes and ears.
TOM: That’s right, so let’s get to it. Our next guest began a career of construction at 10 years old by getting trapped in an excavated basement on a new home site.
LESLIE: Oh! (laughs)
TOM: Well, since then he says he’s become a bit savvier about construction, which means I guess you can always find yourself – find your way out a hole these days.
PAUL: Well usually. (Tom and Leslie laugh) My mother doesn’t have to come and rescue me anymore.
LESLIE: But that was always the best. I remember being a kid and there was a new home going up on the block.
TOM: Right.
LESLIE: It’s like you would totally go to the excavated site. But alright, Paul’s been with us many times before on the show and after swinging a hammer for many years he now directs the editorial vision for the Reed Residential Group with comprises professional builder, professional remodeler, custom builder, housing giants and the HousingZone.com network of websites and from his position he’s got a great bird’s eye view of residential construction and joins us to share his perspective.
Welcome, Paul Deffenbaugh. Hello.
PAUL: Well, thank you very much for having me.
TOM: Well, Paul, it’s been a rocky year for the building industry …
PAUL: Yes, we have …
LESLIE: Yeah.
TOM: … so let’s talk about the elephant in the room right up.
PAUL: Well, we have faced our challenges this year and the home builders are struggling. You know? Everybody’s struggling …
LESLIE: Everybody is.
PAUL: … a little bit right now and the interesting thing about it is you come to walk around the show floor and it’s amazing how positive people are.
TOM: Yes.
PAUL: They’re engaged. They’re locked in. They’re trying to find solutions and it’s really surprising.
TOM: Well, I think you know a market like this certainly thins out the herd, so to speak. So the folks that are here are the real professionals, are the real cream of the crop and we’re really talking about some really interesting trends. Now, considering the state of the industry, do you think that there’s a real benefit in terms of this being a great opportunity to buy a house because prices are down; interest rates are lower?
PAUL: Yeah, this is a really good time to buy a house. The interest rates are down.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) It’s sad for the seller.
PAUL: Yeah, it’s tough to sell a house so most of the people who are buying are moving from a rental unit to a home unit.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
PAUL: But it’s tough to sell a house but it’s a good, good time to buy a house. The prices are right. The interest rates are right. And you know, you have to live somewhere.
LESLIE: True.
PAUL: Why not make that decision at the right time?
LESLIE: When it’s really good for the buyer themselves. Now what about new builds? Are we seeing just new advances and new trends in construction technology or are things sort of the same old?
PAUL: You know, one of my favorite saying is when somebody says ‘You know, they don’t build them like they used to’ I go ‘Thank God.’ (Leslie chuckles)
TOM: Yeah, exactly. (chuckles)
PAUL: You know? Because homes built today are so much better than they used to be built. You look at these houses we have here at the professional builder show village. The modular houses are fabulous, they’re tight, they’re efficient, they’re easily made into green homes. And we recently did a best in American living award program and our home of the year – this is a design contest –
TOM: Right.
PAUL: – our home of the year was a modular home.
TOM: Was a modular home.
PAUL: Yeah, that’s absolutely spectacular.
LESLIE: Which is interesting.
TOM: And you know sometimes on the radio show we get questions from people that ask is a modular home really built as home and I say …
LESLIE: Better.
TOM: … it’s built better.
PAUL: It’s built better.
TOM: Because think about it. You can control all the conditions under which the home can be constructed and you don’t have to worry about weather or …
LESLIE: And the time constraints.
TOM: … or how tired the crew is that day or anything of that nature. It’s basically factory controlled.
PAUL: It is. It’s factory controlled and, you know, the other thing that comes about it, people always thought of modular homes as having low sloped roofs, looking a little bit like maybe a trailer or something and you could walk around here and you’d see high design, beautiful homes and just anything you can get on the market modular can do now.
LESLIE: How does the price sort of translate from a traditionally built home to a modular home? Are you paying more because of the technology and the advances in how it’s built?
PAUL: It all works out about the same in the long end. I think you might have some savings on the modular side. But a lot of that also depends on the land you’re building on and there are so many other variables.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: Right. Now, we also have a green home that’s constructed here in Show Village. Have we finally gotten to the point with green that consumers are demanding it enough and the builders are really prepared to deliver?
PAUL: Well, you know I think – let me take the second one first. I think the builders are prepared to deliver. A lot of the requirements for home building now are already green requirements.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
PAUL: All the caulking and the tightness of the envelope and all that stuff is – supports the green agenda.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) So that’s as far as energy efficiency.
PAUL: Energy efficiency, indoor air quality, all of that stuff. So now we’re starting to look at the sustainability of products and the sustainability of the building style over time and the builders can do that now. We’ve been able to do that for 15, 20 years and if there’s consumer demand for it they’ll go for it. It’s generally a little bit more expensive to go green homes so there has to be a value, a payback there.
TOM: Right.
PAUL: And that’s the big stumbling block right now. Builders have to find a way to make a profit building it …
TOM: Mm-hmm.
PAUL: … and the homeowners have to find a real value for having a green home.
TOM: Well, you know, there’s certainly a great return on investment as well as having, you know, a better impact on the environment.
PAUL: I think so but, you know, I don’t think anybody’s made a lot of money by trying to do the right thing …
LESLIE: No. (Tom and Leslie chuckling)
PAUL: … just because – out of good will.
TOM: But we’re trying. (chuckles)
PAUL: (overlapping voices) Yeah, we are trying and …
LESLIE: I mean I think it’s driven by wallet-saving initiative …
PAUL: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
TOM: Right.
LESLIE: … but hey, it all comes around.
TOM: Paul Deffenbaugh, editor of Professional Builder magazine. Thanks so much for being with us today.
PAUL: Thank you guys for having me. Appreciate it.
LESLIE: Alright, well we’ve noticed an increasing number of listeners who want to know about radiant floor heating. Our calls are up on the subject. And it really is a trend that is gaining supreme popularity. Up next, everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask about radiant heat from an expert in the field.
(theme song)
ANNOUNCER: This portion of The Money Pit is brought to you by Ryobi, manufacturer of professional feature power tools and accessories with an affordable price for the do-it-yourselfer. Ryobi power tools. Pro features, affordable price. Available exclusively at The Home Depot. Now, here are Tom and Leslie.
TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: Broadcasting a very special edition of the program today from Orlando, Florida and the International Builders Show. Leslie and I have been checking out thousands of products; over a million square feet and I’ll tell you I had quite a workout.
LESLIE: Your dogs are barking? (laughs)
TOM: I had quite a workout yesterday. That’s right. So we’re here to tell you about some of the best of the best and one of the trends that we’ve noticed both here at the builders show and among our listeners – you – is an increasing interest in warm tootsies; radiant floor heating.
LESLIE: Yes. (chuckling) Something I wish we had right now. You know, it’s a great option for homeowners but you might not know where to even start with your research on the subject of radiant heat. And our listeners have lots of questions and we’ve got an expert here to day to sort it all out and help you guys get the answers you’re looking for. We’ve got Dale Stroud from Uponor.
Welcome.
DALE: Good morning. Thank you.
LESLIE: Thank you so much for joining us. We do get a lot of calls specifically about the installation process, the different types of radiant flooring available on the market. how do you sort of sort out what’s the best for your situation and, really, what are the limits as to where you can put it and how?
DALE: Actually, you can put it throughout the house. There’s two types of radiant floor heating: water based and electric.
LESLIE: OK.
TOM: OK.
DALE: We make water based, where there’s warm water circulating …
LESLIE: OK.
DALE: … below the floor. And you could install that in the slab; in the concrete itself. You can install it above the floor – below the floor in service but above the subfloor or you can install it within the floor itself.
LESLIE: And that can go underneath any type of flooring?
DALE: Yes, carpeting, wood, tile.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Tile?
DALE: Anything. Yes.
LESLIE: Now what happens if you’re setting it in concrete and, God forbid, there’s a need for a repair at some point, how much of a disaster is that?
DALE: Well, the tubing that’s in the floor is a continuous loop. There’s no connections or fittings in the concrete itself.
TOM and LESLIE: OK.
DALE: It’s a continuous loop and it really – it should never …
TOM: And the tubing is also PEX. It’s cross-linked polyethylene, correct?
DALE: That’s correct.
LESLIE: So it’s extra durable.
TOM: And that’s really durable stuff …
DALE: Very durable.
TOM: … and I’ve seen that demonstrated. I mean you can’t kill that stuff.
DALE: No, it’s very durable.
TOM: You can heat it; you can bend it and it’s got what we call memory so it always sort of snaps back …
DALE: That’s right.
TOM: … and comes back exactly where it was.
LESLIE: Now is this something that you tie in your radiant floor heating to the rest of the home’s thermostat heating system or do you always keep it on a separate control?
DALE: You can do it either way. You can control it separately or, nowadays, companies like ourselves have come up with new control systems that tie the radiant floor heating in with the ventilation and the air conditioning and the filtration systems.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Mm-hmm. Is there a benefit over one way over the other?
DALE: No, it’s really for the homeowner convenience and simplifying the entire control process so you don’t have to set different controls for different systems.
LESLIE: Is it ever a do-it-yourself project?
DALE: It could be but I wouldn’t recommend it. (Tom and Leslie laugh)
LESLIE: Because we get a lot of calls from folks who are saying ‘No, I want to try it myself.’
TOM: (overlapping voices) Yeah, they do want to do it themselves.
DALE: I think like most HVAC systems, it’s really better for the professional installer to make sure you get it the way you need it and want it …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
DALE: … and you’ll be pleased with the results.
LESLIE: Are there certain rooms where you find that it’s more beneficial to install – like I would love to have it in the bathroom.
DALE: That’s probably one of the more common places to put it is under hard flooring surface such as tile, stone and so forth; also in basements …
TOM: Yeah.
DALE: … which in this part of the country you don’t see many but up in the north where I come from most homes have basements and putting it in a basement, if you’re looking at the first option when building a house or remodeling a house, that’s a very common place to install it.
TOM: Now Dale, can you retrofit with this?
LESLIE: Yeah.
DALE: You can. You can.
TOM: Yeah.
DALE: There’s ways, by putting it – for example, if it’s a major retrofit; if you have access to the joist bays, you can put it below the flooring surface in the joist space.
TOM: And it’s still raise up.
DALE: It’ll still – it’ll radiate – you can insulate below it or you can actually – there’s ways you can install it above an existing floor surface.
TOM: Yeah, I’ve seen that. Like sort of in a track system.
DALE: Exactly.
TOM: Right. Excellent. Dale Stroud …
LESLIE: Interesting, but then you’re losing some height to that room, correct?
TOM: Yeah, just a little bit, right?
DALE: A little bit.
TOM: Exactly. Dale Stroud from Uponor. Thanks so much …
DALE: Thank you very much.
TOM: … for stopping by The Money Pit.
LESLIE: I mean it really does sound like such a wonderful concept and our listeners – you guys out there – have been asking for it. So it’s nice to know that you can supplement your heating, keep your tootsies warm and really deliver some wonderful extra heating to the home situation and keep your energy bills down.
TOM: You know another way to cut heating costs is to make sure your home is not the victim of cold air infiltration.
LESLIE: Yeah, and you can keep out the cold with an energy-efficient front entry and they look darn good as well. We’ve got Sarah Tice with us here to talk about Therma-Tru’s exterior door systems.
Welcome.
SARAH: Hello, how are you guys doing?
LESLIE: Great.
TOM: You know, the exterior door is something that we think of as being very functional. But the truth is it’s really great for performance of the home and it really adds to the curb appeal of the home.
SARAH: Absolutely. Yeah, in fact today we’re focusing on green. I know it’s a hot topic here …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
SARAH: … today at the builders show and we’re trying to figure out what green means.
TOM: Yes.
SARAH: But there’s certainly …
LESLIE: Everybody is. (laughs)
SARAH: Yes, yes. So once you figure out, please let me know. But there’s certainly some inherent properties about fiberglass that make it green or environmentally friendly; first of all, energy efficiency.
TOM and LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
SARAH: Therma-Tru doors offer five times the insulating properties of a wood door. It’s also very durable. Many of our door sales come with lifetime warranties and we also use recyclable (INAUDIBLE).
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) And you’re never going to (INAUDIBLE) last a lifetime. (Tom chuckles)
SARAH: No. No, no matter what you do.
TOM: That’s right. Yeah.
LESLIE: As much as you want to pretend.
TOM: Well, you can get tired of it. But then it’s OK to change it for that reason, you know? (Leslie chuckles)
SARAH: Absolutely.
TOM: Now you guys are also celebrating a very, very special anniversary.
SARAH: Absolutely.
TOM: It’s the …
SARAH: It’s hard to believe it. Fiberglass doors have been around 25 years.
LESLIE: Really?
TOM: Unbelievable.
SARAH: Therma-Tru pioneered the category and it just – people don’t know about it probably because it looks so close to wood.
LESLIE: Plus it’s amazing.
TOM: And what’s amazing to me is that it does look so close to wood and I have seen your doors up close and personal and I don’t know if you remember this but a few years ago you had a group of us see your factory.
SARAH: Mm-hmm.
TOM: And I remember all of the editors – now these are experts in the field – staring at this door and almost felt like they had to scratch it to try to figure out which was the wood door and which was the fiberglass door because the technology was so amazing there really is no need to have the wood anymore.
SARAH: Exactly.
LESLIE: Now I know you’re dealing with superb energy efficiency when you’re dealing with a fiberglass door. What about durability – you know, specifically for where we are in the country you’re dealing with extreme weather I mean across the entire country but, you know, because of what’s going on with our weather system you really need to be concerned about the durability of the door; you know, instance of break-in; the glass. How do these doors sort of stand up to that?
SARAH: You’re talking about security?
LESLIE: Security …
SARAH: Sure.
LESLIE: … weather resistance as far as, you know, perhaps things puncturing through.
SARAH: Right. Well actually, Therma-Tru pioneered Tru-Defense …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
SARAH: … which we introduced last year and that guards against air and water infiltration. It also comes with impact-graded glass.
TOM: Right.
SARAH: And we also offer a multi-point lock which engages the door jamb at multiple points.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
SARAH: So it withstands up to 450 pounds of forced entry.
TOM: And that is actually pretty cool, the multipoint lock, because it’s almost like – I always think of it as being like a bank vault door. (Leslie chuckles)
SARAH: Yeah, yeah.
TOM: Where the pins shoot out the top and the bottom and then really lock it in place.
SARAH: Absolutely.
LESLIE: And they’re beautiful doors. Now, are they using – I mean from a green standpoint I know fiberglass as far as energy efficiency. What about the use of recycled products? How are they manufactured to sort of really be sustainable in that fact?
SARAH: We use recycled bottles, plastic bottles, wood chips and diapers and the composite wood rails.
LESLIE: Diapers?
TOM: Really?!
SARAH: Yes, diapers.
LESLIE: How crazy!
TOM: Really?! (laughs)
LESLIE: That’s really crazy.
SARAH: You can recycle so many things these days and it’s great because it’s better for the environment.
LESLIE: Well, I have a baby on the way so let me know where to send the (INAUDIBLE).
TOM: Save your diapers. (laughs)
SARAH: Alright, alright.
LESLIE: I’ll start, you know, adding to my bank account. (everybody laughs)
TOM: Very, very funny. Sarah Tice from Therma-Tru, thanks so much for stopping by The Money Pit.
SARAH: Thanks for having me.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Thank you.
TOM: What a great day here in Orlando, Florida. We are broadcasting from the 2008 International Builders Show; over a million square feet of very cool home improvement products and we’re going to turn next to one of our pals in the industry. Tom Silva …
LESLIE: Alright, looking forward to it.
TOM: … from This Old House joins us right after this.
(theme song)
ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is being brought to you by Owens Corning, a world leader in building materials and composite solutions. Learn more at OwensCorning.com. Now, here are Tom and Leslie.
TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: And if you are a do-it-yourselfer you have no doubt heard of This Old House. It’s the very first makeover TV show; probably the first ever true reality show.
LESLIE: That’s right and This Old House laid the groundwork for home improvement TV. I thank you very much for my job. (everybody laughs) And this show is still going strong today. We’ve got Tom Silva, my inspiration and the show’s general contractor.
Welcome.
TOM SILVA: Welcome, thank you guys. It’s nice to be here. Nice to be here.
TOM: Well, it’s great to have you and you guys have had a real busy year yourselves. I understand you’re working on a prefab house now?
TOM SILVA: Next year. We’re going to be doing a prefab house. We’re going to build a posted beam, panelized building and it’s going to be state of the art, lot of green, super insulation. We’re going to build it in a factory up in New Hampshire and we’re going to truck it down to Massachusetts and we’re going to put it on a foundation. After we take the house that’s on our existing foundation we’re going to have to remove that foundation; put the new foundation in.
TOM: Mm-hmm.
TOM SILVA: And we’re going to take the house that’s there and we’re going to donate it to some charity.
LESLIE: Oh, fantastic.
TOM SILVA: Yeah, you cannot …
TOM: But if it’s a prefabricated house why do they still need you? (Tom and Leslie laugh)
TOM SILVA: Well, because they’re going to take it apart and I have to put it back together. So it’s prefab but then becomes panelized.
TOM: (laughing) OK.
TOM SILVA: So they’re going to put the pieces together; take the pieces apart.
LESLIE: Are you assisting in the build in the factory setting?
TOM SILVA: We’re all going to be there; do some of the building. I’m going to handle all the site work and then all of the incidental work, which is basically siding, roofing …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM SILVA: … window trim and all that kind of stuff on site; interior tile work. So it’s not really a prefab where you get it onsite and everything’s complete.
TOM and LESLIE: Right.
TOM SILVA: It’s more of a panelized system …
TOM: Right.
TOM SILVA: … where a lot of the integrated systems inside are in – the wiring and a lot of the plumbing – but all the connections have to be made; the toilets have to be set; that kind of stuff.
TOM: You know, actually, I – some of the first homes I’ve ever constructed were panelized homes and they used to come on a truck.
TOM SILVA: Yep.
TOM: And it was a very unique truck because the cab of the truck would like turn into a crane …
TOM SILVA: Yeah.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: … and lift them off the truck and then you drop them on and people would say, ‘Well how can that house be built as well as one as one that’s stick built,’ but if it’s in a factory you’re controlling all of those conditions.
TOM SILVA: You control the environment. You don’t have to worry about expansion and contraction. You don’t have to worry about rainy days. The other thing is when you build a house, a good house that’s built in a factory, it’s built differently because they have to build it to be able to handle the road conditions. So there’s a lot of adhesives that wouldn’t be used in the fields; like the wall construction is adhesive along with the subfloors and even, in some cases, the roof panels are.
TOM: Right.
LESLIE: That’s right. We got a question on the show not so long ago about a young lady who was looking at a modular prefab home and she was saying that the drywall was glued in place …
TOM SILVA: Yes.
LESLIE: … and you know, what was the technology behind this adhesive.
TOM: Now, so there’s no fasteners when you build …
TOM SILVA: They still fasten it but they – with adhesive, when you’re installing like a drywall on a wall …
TOM: Right.
TOM SILVA: … when we install adhesive on a wall – because we used to do a lot of work for the government and MIT and stuff like that and they used to do all these tests – and we used to string it. So we’d stick it to the wet glue, pull it back, count to 10 and the strings of the glue …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: Right.
TOM SILVA: … would let it dry and then you push it back on and it would set up quicker but it’d also be stronger. So by gluing it to the wall and gluing the sheathing to the exterior you’ve got a monolithic wall that can handle the bumps and bruises of the highway …
TOM: Right.
TOM SILVA: … but think what it does to the wind load …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM SILVA: … under windy conditions. You’ve got a real stiff wall that doesn’t vibrate under windy conditions. So it’s a great way to build, absolutely.
TOM: We’re talking to Tom Silva, the general contractor for This Old House.
Tom, before we let you go, folks out there that maybe are doing some remodeling projects on their own and they need to find a good general contractor – are you available? (Leslie chuckles)
TOM SILVA: I’m available.
TOM: (INAUDIBLE)
TOM SILVA: I’m out about two-and-a-half years but I’m available. (Tom and Leslie laugh)
TOM: Yeah, you gotta wait. But seriously, a couple of tips to help find a good pro?
TOM SILVA: You know, depending on the type of project that you’re going to do. There’s renovation projects, remodeling projects and custom home building. I mean you want to buy – you want to find someone that specializes in their field.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM SILVA: And word of mouth is very important. You know, ask somebody.
TOM: Excellent.
TOM SILVA: Once you’ve found somebody and they give a couple of references don’t forget to follow up on their references.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Check those references.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Check them out.
TOM SILVA: Yeah.
TOM: Tom Silva from This Old House, thanks so much for stopping by The Money Pit broadcasting from the 2008 International Builders Show in Orlando, Florida.
LESLIE: That’s right. We want to send out a special thank you again to our friends at Owens Corning who made this broadcast possible. Learn all about their great products at OwensCorning.com.
TOM: And for more information on this show and the many new product innovations we’ve learned about today go to MoneyPit.com.
I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself …
LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone.
(theme song)
END HOUR 1 TEXT
(Copyright 2008 Squeaky Door Productions, Inc. No portion of this transcript or audio file may be reproduced in any format without the express written permission of Squeaky Door Productions, Inc.)
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