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Your
Business
BUILDING
BUSINESS TIPS • SALES/MARKETING • REMODELING • SUSTAINABILITY • OCTOBER, 2012 • PAGE 12
HBA
News
HOME BUILDING
HBA
PDX
.
ORG
By Rick Bostrom,
Tremco Barrier Solutions
BIZ TIPS
As a better than average warm
and sunny Northwest summer
draws to it’s inexorable conclu-
sion and the faint scent of fall
starts to pervade the air I’m re-
minded of an engineering lecture
frommy college days. A professor
told us about a strange and for-
bidding planet covered by cor-
rosive seas and an atmosphere
that deposited destructive com-
pounds as it penetrated every
surface. Given long enough,
nothing could withstand this
two-pronged attack. He chal-
lenged us to come up with struc-
tures that would not just allow
habitation of this unfriendly
world but would do so comfort-
ably! As an avid young science
fiction fan I had a perfect mental
picture of this hostile alien world
right up until he revealed he was
talking about … Earth.
Fast-forward thirty years to to-
day and I’m still working on the
same problem. Building technol-
ogy and our understanding of
the building envelope are mov-
ing forward in leaps and bounds
but uncontrolled water and air
are still formidable foes. the best
opportunity to control these de-
structive forces is by Managing
Your Flows:
1) Moisture Flows
must be
controlled and directed to elimi-
nate contact with building ele-
ments that can be damaged or
destroyed and to enhance the
comfort of the occupant.
2) Energy Flows
must be con-
trolled and directed to increase
the comfort of the occupant and
enhance the durability and value
of the structure.
I spent the first 25 years of my
professional career focused on
Structural Flows and the structur-
al design process is well defined
and understood. Structural loads
flow through unbroken paths of
appropriately designed building
elements until they can safely be
delivered to stable bearings in
the earth. Simple, right? In com-
parison there is a lot of misinfor-
mation concerning Moisture and
Energy Flows leading to some
flawed decisions in the building
process. Knowing the right an-
swers to questions like “How tight
is too tight?,” “How does moisture
get into and out of my walls?,”
Flu Season
Protecting your employees
health during flu season is
just good business
—See page 14
HPC 2013 Planning
Join us for breakfast
and help set the tone
for 2013. the HPc
wants YOUr input!
—See page 15
See BIZ TIPS / page 14
Managing
your flows
By Jon Bell
For the Home Builders
Foundation
When it comes to paint compa-
nies here in Portland, two names
should spring right to mind: the
Miller Paint co. and rodda Paint.
Both companies have deep
rose city roots — Miller was
founded here in 1890, rodda
in 1932 — and both have long
viewed the other as a primary
competitor.
But since 2006, Miller and
rodda have set down their com-
petitive brushes every fall and
come together for a common
cause that both can get behind:
the Home Builders Foundation’s
Painting a Better tomorrow pro-
gram.
“We have a mutual respectful
relationship between us,” said
AdamHavens, a commercial sales
representative who has been
working for rodda for more than
25 years. “Don’t get me wrong,
we’re still competitors, but for a
project like this, we’re more than
happy to work together. Our
goals are exactly the same.”
those goals are what Painting
a Better tomorrow is all about.
Started in 2006, the program is
a single-day push by volunteer
teams to spruce up nonprofit
homeless shelters and service
provider facilities in the greater
Portland area. Miller and rodda
donate about 100 gallons of
paint for the effort each year, and
volunteers from the companies,
the HBA, the foundation and the
industry in general turn out to
help.
“It’s great to see
competitors join-
ing together for a
great cause,” said
Ken cowdery, ex-
ecutive director
of the HBF. “Paint-
ing a Better to-
morrow brightens
the lives of shelter
res ident s and
demonstrates the commitment
HBA has to our community.”
In addition to painting, volun-
teers often take on minor land-
scaping and repair projects as
well.
“We were on board right away,”
said tim Doolittle, a regional
sales manager at Miller Paint and
board member of the HBF. “From
the very first time we did it, it’s
been great. We really see the
benefit of giving back.”
According to the HBF, over the
past five years Painting a Better
tomorrow has helped revitalize
facilities for more than 40 non-
profit agencies in the Portland
area. Havens, who helps deter-
mine which facilities are best
suited for the program each year,
said the all-volunteer effort usu-
ally tackles anywhere from six to
nine projects annually.
Las t year ’s
she l t e r s i n -
cluded: raphael
House of Port-
land; facilities
at the Portland
rescue Mission;
the Volunteers
o f
Ame r i c a
Mar i e Smi th
center ; Janus
Youth Program’s
clackamas House for Girls and
cordero House; catholic chari-
ties’ Kateri Park; and Jean’s Place,
a 55-bed women’s shelter that is
part of transition Projects.
Every year, more nonprofits
apply to be considered for the
Painting a Better tomorrow pro-
gram than there are resources
and volunteers. As a result, the
program selects projects that
are relatively straightforward,
primarily interior and that can be
accomplished by small teams of
volunteers in anywhere from four
to eight hours.
“they need to have pretty rea-
sonable expectations and realize
this is a volunteer crew,” Havens
said. “these are homeowners
and people who work at banks
and insurance companies. they
don’t have access to a scissor lift
or a boom lift.”
What they do have, however,
is the ability to easily add some
new life to what might often be
rather a rather drab environment.
“Paint can make a big differ-
ence in just a short amount of
time,” Doolittle said. “It can make
the whole place look and feel so
much better.”
“It’s really a chance to bring joy
to the residents of the facility,”
Havens added. “It’s fun to see the
smiles on their faces.”
this year’s Painting a Better
tomorrow event will be held on
Saturday, Nov. 10. In addition to
the two paint companies, spon-
sors include the HBA, the Amy
roloff charity Foundation and
Bank of the West.
For more information or to vol-
unteer for this year’s event, contact
Brenda Ketah, executive coordina-
tor for the HBF, at 503-603-4521 or
brendak@hbapdx.org.
Paint rivals and others unite through the
Painting a Better Tomorrow program
The Home Builders Foundation’s annual homeless shelter spruce-up happens Nov. 10
Spread The Word
Spread The Word
For more information about how you can join a team and get involved with the drive,
contact Nicole at nicoleb@hbapdx.org or 503-684-1880.
Quadruple your Spikes during
the Fall Membership Drive!
Our next membership drive is October 11-
November 16. this one is the big one, folks. If
you recruit a new member during the drive,
you get double spikes for the first two, and
quadruple spikes for 11 or greater new mem-
bers.
Fifty of the top recruiters get two extra
tickets to the NAHB Spike Party at the
2013 International Builders Show
!
Don’t miss the party of the year – go out
and get yourself some new HBA members!