One of my favorite aspects
of the EIFS consulting business is working with new products and markets. There
seems to be an unending stream of innovations in the EIFS business, including
the proverbial next-generation EIFS design and challenging new markets.
Hiring new employees is not something many of you had to concern yourselves with for the last couple of years. Most of you have been busier with the nasty task of laying off people for whom there was not enough work.
Both LEED and Green Globes
address building material greenness with regard to where products are
fabricated and where the raw ingredients for these products originated.
Construction has changed. Today, we have building scientists, LEED experts, envelope consultants and next will be energy consultants. There are consultants for everything and if you think it will get easier for you in the future, I seriously doubt it.
Gypsum
board systems can either be non-rated or rated for fire, sound, or shear
resistance. The joint tolerances in gypsum board systems rated for fire, sound,
or shear resistance need to be tighter than the joint tolerances in non-rated
systems. In total, higher levels of expected performance require higher levels
of precision in construction.
If
you spend any time working with specifiers, end-users, designers and
contractors who are involved with EIFS, you’ll find out right away that the
environmental friendliness (“eco-friendliness”) of EIFS is a hot topic.
Building design and construction is complex, time consuming, and expensive. Buildings require a huge amount of materials and resources to create, and gobs of energy to operate. Complexity, time, and expense have steadily increased over the decades.
I may not be David Letterman but I have a Top 10 list of my own. Top Ten you ask? After 13 years of site inspections for building owners, architects and contractors, I kept seeing the same mistakes again and again.
In spite of being battered and nearly stamped out by the anemic economy, the green building movement has not only hung around, but spawned some exciting, promising developments.
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