In North America, EIFS is
pretty much a single type of design, namely expanded polystyrene insulation
adhesively attached to the supporting wall, and a thin, synthetic, two-layer,
glass fiber mesh-reinforced coating system.
It’s always interesting to write a column two months in advance of when it actually hits the street. As this column is being composed, it’s about 25 degrees Fahrenheit outside in the Washington D.C. suburbs, and the snow that fell six days ago is a frozen mass. Not much liquid moisture outside for the past two weeks. It’s been cold.
Sometimes it is difficult to avoid a quick knee jerk reaction. Everyone has the tendency to make that gut reaction without thinking things through or act out to please some immediate emotional response from a support group.
The recent devastating
earthquake in Haiti has focused attention on many things about that country,
including politics, economics, its history and culture, and many other poignant
topics, not the least of which is the safety and design of buildings there.
The California Building Standards Commission has been working on a green building code since 2007, culminating with a primarily voluntary set of standards for nonresidential occupancies adopted in July of 2008.
Networking has become a buzzword to describe making business contacts in a social setting. I tend to use the term “schmoozing.” Call it what you will, it’s one of the most cost-effective ways of drumming up business-no small consideration in these hard times.
The earthquake on January 12 in Haiti should make us all pause and be grateful for many things: The country we live in, the kindness and generosity of people to help those in true need and, believe it or not, the pesky rules and regulations we have to follow here in the United States.
When EIFS first appeared in
the U.S. market, designers and contractors didn’t know what to make of it and
were reluctant to specify it, thinking it was flimsy and cheap. Little did they
know that EIFS would quickly become a mainstay in the wall cladding business.
In those early days, EIFS had to be sold. Then the oil embargo in the ’70s sent
designers and owners scurrying to find more energy-efficient walls, and EIFS
quickly became popular.
Ask any building facility manager what the number one complaint is among building occupants and they will tell you that people are either too hot or too cold. Both LEED and Green Globes offer points for designing buildings that
Everyone has heard the slogan, “The customer is always right.” And everyone who runs a business knows that it’s not true. Customers are often wrong. They complain about silly things, about things that are their own fault, about the
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