Watch the Video on Green Concrete (National Concrete Masonry Assn.)
HOST: One of the themes of the International Builders' Show and just about anything having to do with building right now has to do with green. (REP: Uh-huh.) Now, you're with the National Concrete Masonry Association. What are you guys doing to help us get a little greener in building?
REP: You know, concrete block is a locally produced product. There are plants all over the United States and Canada.
[NONINTERVIEW DIALOGUE AND FOOTAGE]
HOST: The theme of this year's builder's show and basically anything to do with building right now is green. And you're with the National Concrete Masonry association. What are you guys doing to help us builders get a little greener?
REP: Very good. Good question. The concrete block business in the US and in Canada is a locally produced product. (HOST: Uh-huh.) And so the plants are usually within fifty, sixty, seventy miles of where the product is used. (HOST: Yeah.) So it eliminates a lot of fuel usage. It eliminates a lot of you know, instead of having to bring products across the country, we make it locally. It's also made with products that are inert -- You know, limestone. It's made with sand, local sands and aggregates and cement that are produced locally.
So it's a locally produced product, and also we're using a lot of recycled materials. We can use post-consumer recyclable materials to make concrete blocks -- things like fly ash. (HOST: Right.) We can use post-industrial products which are things that have been used to build bridges or buildings or whatever and then we go and crush that and reuse it and make product out of it. So it's probably one of the most-green products available to build with for those -- for those reasons.
HOST: And we can't build without it. [LAUGHS]
REP: It's hard. Yeah, it's hard -- hard to build without it.
HOST: Concrete has also been mentioned with indoor air quality. (REP: Uh-huh.) Can you expand on that just a little bit?
REP: Oh, yes. When you use concrete block, you eliminate or pretty much eliminate mold. (HOST: Right.) To create mold, you need hard surfaces that the mold can grow on, and concrete block is an air -- air product that air moves through. (HOST: Air will move through it.) So you don't get the mold. You don't have the problems with mold buildup with concrete block that you do with a lot of other products.
HOST: Okay. With green building, also one of the main things is durability. (REP: Uh-huh.) And I'm thinking about durability, I'm thinking about concrete, concrete hubs and their strength and -- Hurricane Katrina comes into mind. (REP: Uh-huh.) Can you tell us a little bit about the strength of your product and how it's helping us, especially some of the homes that we have built in the coastal areas.
REP: Right. Well, I happen to be personally involved on the Gulf Coast, (HOST: Great.) and we have plants on the Gulf Coast, and we are working with the international building code (HOST: Okay.) which is the new code. (HOST: The new code everybody seems to be having to go to.) Right. And it pretty well has the windloads and those built in, so the processes are a little tougher to build without using concrete block.
And it's a good product. It's a good program. Sustainability and the use of the product. I mean there's not much else stronger or tougher than a concrete block. It's filled with concrete. We can give folks four-hour firewalls. (HOST: Right.) We can give a four-hour firewall with just a UL concrete block.
So it's a great product. It's a great process, and being segmental, it has some flexibility, too. You can build about anything you want to out of concrete block. And the producers in our industry have all gotten a little better over the past ten years or so with sizes and shapes to give a little more flexibility (HOST: Right.) for different things that people might want to build.
HOST: Are there any new products or sizes or shapes coming off the line that we should know about?
REP: Yeah, there are. There are some things that are -- And probably in the last four or five years, it's a half-high block that looks -- It looks like a large brake, but it is actually single width, and it is self-supporting. So it's not build a wall and then put a brick veneer on the exterior. It's actually a through-the-wall brick. (HOST: Oh, nice.) And so it gives the aesthetics, particularly in the South, in the east that people are looking for with brick, but with a lot less cost because it's just one application. And it looks -- looks very good, and it's being very successful.
HOST: Okay, and the new product, is it on your website?
REP: You can go to NCMA.org (HOST: Okay.) and the website's available and they have just a tremendous amount -- (HOST: Just talk to our local suppliers. They should have -- ) Any of the local -- Most of the local suppliers have their own websites. But if you go on NCMA.org, you can look up these things or you can call NCMA -- (HOST: Okay.) And they're in Herndon, Virginia, near Washington. (HOST: Yeah. Right.) And do you want me to give you the phone number?
HOST: If you've got it memorized. [LAUGHS]
REP: It's 704-703-1900. And you can call the NCMA and talk to the staff, and they'll be happy to direct you to the local concrete masonry producer.
HOST: Well, thanks for joining us (REP: Uh, thank you.) at this year's builders' show. We really appreciate it.
REP: Well, thanks for inviting me. [END]
Watch the Video on Green Concrete (National Concrete Masonry Assn.)
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