Jeffrey M. Syken is a consulting estimator in private practice. He is a lecturer on the subject of trade estimating, as well as the author of a book on the subject entitled "Principles of Trade Estimating" available from Bni Building News.
In 2003, CMI, a Chicago-based building products company, won the Innovative Technology Award at the Anaheim Woodworking Fair, held in Anaheim, Calif., for their “Next Generation” product Extira, an exterior-grade treated wood composite panel.
In November 2005, Dow BioProducts Division of Dow Products Canada announced it would stop producing its popular Woodstalk straw-based composite panel. This announcement came as a great surprise and shock to many architects, specifiers and end-users as well as those familiar with the product in the green building movement’s hierarchy.
In November 2004, the GreenSpec Directory – publishers of the environmental newsletter EBN (Environmental Building News) – announced the Top 10 green building products of 2004. Winner of one of these awards was a product from CertainTeed Corp.: the Membrain Smart Vapor Barrier.
Last month, in Part One, we began a discussion about gypsum recycling coming to America. We saw how a Danish company, Gypsum Recycling International (GRI), has revolutionized the gypsum recycling industry and how, in Europe, the European Union has mandated stricter landfill regulations making gypsum recycling much more practical and economical than in the past.
Back in January 2002, there appeared in this column a two-part article entitled “Drywall Déjà Vu.” The first part talked about the impact of waste gypsum board; fully 1 percent of the entire solid waste stream and the problems encountered when gypsum is dumped in landfills. The second part discussed the first company to successfully recycle waste gypsum board from both the manufacturing (mill waste) and installation (on-site virgin gypsum board) processes.
This month, we’ll conclude the year and our series all about
sheathing. In past installments of this series, we looked at the purpose,
environmental aspects and types of sheathing products including...
For the last three installments in this continuing series (parts four through six), we discussed gypsum-based sheathing. Prior to that, we discussed wood-based sheathing and the uses, purpose and environmental characteristics of sheathing materials. This month, we'll take a look at cement-based sheathing.
In the last two parts of this on-going series all about sheathing, we've been discussing gypsum-based sheathing products. In part four, we discussed the two basic types of surface reinforced gypsum sheathing: paper-faced and glass-mat faced. We also discussed the newest entry into the gypsum-based sheathing category: gypsum/cellulose.
This month, we'll continue this on-going series all about sheathing with an in-depth look at USG's gypsum/cellulose sheathing product: Fiberock Aqua-Tough Sheathing; the first gypsum/cellulose sheathing product.