National Lumber's Blog

Our seminar, Navigating the Road to Green Building, drew a full house

National Lumber is a Certified Green Dealer, an FSC Certified lumberyard, and an EPA Lead-Safe certified firm. Through our Professional Remodelers Organization (PRO Force) program we provide various training seminars to our members and customers.

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 was National Lumber’s first ever green building seminar, Navigating the Road to Green Building. The keynote speaker was Peter Yost, Technical Director of Green Building Advisor, who gave a riveting presentation on how green building, building science, quality, and durability all go hand-in-hand. The image below was just one example given by Peter Yost of how ignoring building science results in failed structures. Peter explained how the various elements combined to cause this failure.

Rotted roof in the Northeast, caused by ignoring building science

Next, construction law attorney Andrea Goldman discussed legal issues of green construction and how to protect yourself from the additional risks involved with proper contracts. She also touched on the new EPA lead law.

After a scrumptious dinner buffet feast, the seminar continued with Daniel Glickman of Sustainable Construction Services. He covered how to schedule and run green certified jobs through programs such as NAHB Green, LEED, and Energy Star. Daniel also discussed the importance of controlling your subcontractors. Some attendees expressed the difficulty of obtaining cooperation for the new requirements, such as documentation that must be completed and that waste must be properly sorted. Daniel said that compliance for these green programs can be attained by tying results to the subcontractors’ payment. Once everyone gets used to the new way of doing things, it will become standard.

Afterward, Greg Krantz of Massachusetts New Homes with ENERGY STAR® (www.energystarhomes.com) exhaustively covered the existing programs, rebates and incentives, as well as looking at the future of homes and energy codes.

National Lumber hopes to hold more of these seminar events in the future at minimal cost to contractors. Through these seminars you will be able to have the information you need to serve your customers better and apply building science principles for the long-term quality results that will bring your business continual referrals and repeat business.

To learn about National Lumber’s upcoming events, visit www.national-lumber.com/events