HOST: Green Builders is something that's a little unusual. You guys build what? Entire communities that are green and also Energy-Star certified? (REP: Yes.) Tell us a little bit more about that.
REP: Well, we're headquartered out of Austin, Texas, where we're one of the country's first and largest developers of large-scale green communities and houses. We develop and build the four tenets of green, which are green materials, green methods, and extremely energy-efficient, extremely water-efficient results in much healthier, efficient home.
HOST: Alright, and you guys are like me. I guess you've been certified by Energy Star and you're starting to use a lot of their certified products in your homes also?
REP: OH, yeah. In Austin, there's also an Energy-Star-rated program where they have up to five stars. And every home we've built today is a five-star Energy home.
HOST: Yeah, and I've noticed, like my suppliers originally do Energy-Star selection by those big companies was a little limited (REP: Right.), and I'm starting to see we're getting bigger and bigger selections of Energy-Star-certified fans and lights and stuff like that, and I've really enjoyed that.
REP: Yeah, we welcome that, too.
HOST: What do you find -- ? For me, I do find it is a cost increase with going green.
REP: Well, that's the knock on green. But the actual knock on green is not that. If you -- If you look at your monthly payments, your total cost of living in that home, the way we build our green homes, there's a cost savings from the day you move in. We do a cost-benefit analysis on every product we put in a home. (HOST: Uh-huh.) The way we insulate and save money through the insulation, it actually pays off from the day you buy the home. So, your monthly payment with principal, interests, taxes, insurance, and utilities, put that U at the end of it, (HOST: Right) -- Ours, when you totally the total cost in there from Day One, we're saving money.
HOST: Yeah, and you know what I'm finding out, I mean, is the cost it's taking me to go green, I'm finding my customers are willing to pay a little bit more if they know on the backend they're going to have lower utility bills, better-insulated house, a more-durable house. Are you finding that also?
REP: Oh, yeah -- and a much-healthier home, too.
HOST: And a much -- Indoor air quality's a big part of green.
REP: Right. What's it worth to you not to be sick three or four times a year or if you have a child with allergies or something like that that have the pollens and the outdoor air pollution stay on the outside and your conditioned air stay on the inside?
HOST: I think green's kind of being -- It's evolving a little bit, and being accepted in different regions at different paces. You're in Austin. Are you getting a good response to the green building?
REP: Oh, yeah. Austin is the home of the Energy-Star program. (HOST: Okay.) Austin Energy's had it around since the late Eighties, early Nineties. It's also home of Whole Foods. So we have a great core group of people in Austin that would be very interested in green, as well as organic in Whole Foods and that kind of stuff.
HOST: Well, great. Well, I think one day -- I don't know what day, but green will just be the way everybody builds.
REP: Oh, yeah. We welcome that.
HOST: Thank you very much for coming by.
REP: Thank you. [END]
BENJAMIN OBDYKE REPRESENTATIVE INTERVIEW
HOST: Ya'll got green? You got any green?
REP: Yeah, I mean really, everything that we do helps to build a little more sustainable, helps to preserve the building materials around it really.
HOST: Sustainable, durable -- Perfect.
[NONINTERVIEW DIALOGUE AND FOOTAGE]
HOST: Benjamin Obdyke, welcome to the builders' show. I love your products. We've got a couple here. Just tell us a little bit about your company and what you guys do.
REP: Sure, Scott. Basically, we're a hundred-and-forty-year-old building-products company that really has a history of innovation for the builder and contractor. Company started in 1868, and really Benjamin Obdyke, the person, invented the first corrugated downspout for roof-drainage systems. (HOST: Oh, wow.) So that was his claim to fame. (HOST: Uh-huh.) And really, we've been innovating products ever since then to really help manage moisture and thermal issues on the residential-building envelope. Really to help builders build better.
HOST: Yeah. And so your main objectives or problems are moisture and --
REP: Really to preserve or help manage moisture (HOST: Manage moisture -- ) and also to make the building more energy-efficient.
HOST: And now you have a couple of things here--window and door foam. (REP: Yes.) So important. Green or not green? Cause these are some of the things that are overlooked sometimes if you go and buy a window and it's not sealed up correctly (REP: Sure.) you can feel wind coming in. Now, tell us a little bit more about this.
REP: This is a new product we just introduced this year called Gap Guard. (HOST: Uh-huh.) And really, it's a closed-cell, low-pressure-foam sealant that will expand within the window, but without bowing the window frame. That's what's important about the low pressure. (HOST: Right. So, it's a flexible foam. Okay.) Exactly. But then the closed cell is important because it gives better insulating value than an open-celled foam, and also won't allow moisture to get through. So, really it provides an air and moisture barrier all the way around the window.
HOST: Ah, very, very, very nice. Okay. Now, let's look at some of these other products you have.
REP: Sure. Sure. This is also another new product for us this year. This is a synthetic-roofing underlingment. (HOST: Okay.) So uh as opposed to traditional roofing felt -- (HOST: Instead of the felt, we can use this.) Right. Exactly. So, it's got a nonslip surface on it. It's actually much stronger than roofing felt, so it won't tear. (HOST: It's a lot thinner, too, than near the roof you get it all over everything.) Sure. Sure. It gets kind of messy.
And actually it's much-more lightweight (HOST: Okay.) even though it gives a great of protection to the roof, it's much-more lightweight. So, it's easier for the builder or contractor to install. It goes down a lot faster. It's a lighter roll. It's much more lightweight. Ah the other thing that it does is you can leave this out on the roof for up to six months without covering it with roofing materials. (HOST: Wow!) So, it helps to dry the building in much-more quickly.
HOST: Well, I mean, I'm feeling it, and you know felt usually rips and stuff. When you put buttons in, (REP: Exactly.) you get a good wind; it's all over the place. (REP: Right.) So you're saying I just button this down? (REP: Yep.) Can I use staples?
REP: Actually, it's used with like a buttoncap staple. (HOST: Okay.) So a capnail or capstaple.
HOST: Perfect. Six months.
REP: Six months. (HOST: [LAUGHS] Okay.) So you don't have to worry about -- (HOST: Some guys look at me when I'm a little slow getting the roof on.) Exactly. And again, and it helps you to dry it in. You don't have to wait for those shingles to be delivered to go ahead and put the felt on and dry in the roof. Here you can put this on; shingles can be delivered anytime within six months, and the building's dried in.
HOST: I really like that. Really like it. Okay, what else do we have here?
REP: These are a couple of products. These are essentially what I would call rolled rainscreen products. (HOST: Okay.) And the rainscreen principle is really to provide an airgap behind the cladding in a residential wall, and really to provide drainage for moisture and also ventilation drying for anything that wouldn't necessarily drain right out. So the principle really started with woodfurring strips behind cladding.
And what we've done here it introduce some technology that allows that rainscreen to be applied on a roll. (HOST: Right.) So it goes on much-more quickly, provides a continuous airspace behind the cladding versus the fur strips every eighteen inches on stud locations. There's still a lot of wall that is covered and still a lot of areas where moisture can be trapped.
HOST: I've noticed in industry -- in industry over the last couple of years, it's getting more and more important to put something behind the cladding. (REP: Absolutely.) To let things drain. To let air get in there. No rot. So as far as green building, (REP: Uh-huh.) what I'm looking at in a lot of your products are going to help me -- Insulate better, (REP: Yep.) it's going to allow my cladding to be on the house longer, (REP: Absolutely.) so a lot more durable and more sustainable.
REP: Absolutely. And that's really what we're trying to do is really to try to provide products that'll help the builder or contractor build a better house really.
HOST: Great. Well, thanks. I love your new products.
REP: Great. Terrific. Thank you very much, Scott. [END]
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