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Coastal Contractor July 2008

July 2008

Features

Practical Green for Coastal Homes
by Mike Guertin Clayton DeKorne
As green building grabs the attention of otherwise cautious home buyers, so does the potential for "greenwashing" — the efforts of overzealous marketers to label anything and everything "green." Selectively focusing on one feature while ignoring others, or intentionally misleading buyers about the green credentials of a product or process only threatens to diminish the concept of green building as a whole. Custom home builder Mike Guertin and editor Clayton DeKorne compile a "green" checklist to help you understand green building on two levels — the big picture and the more fine-grained details of implementation — so you can avoid the pitfalls and build green right.
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Raised Floors for the Low Country
by Ted Cushman
Elevated floors on pier foundations are mandated in V zones and recommended in coastal A zones. But the moisture and energy details can be a head-scratcher. Whether a builder places the floor system on pier supports or on a perimeter stemwall, he has to face interrelated problems of air sealing, insulation, and moisture protection that are neither easy nor cheap to solve. Ted Cushman looks at the issues and latest research and recommendations.
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Trouble-Free Paint Performance
by Nigel Costolloe
As a custom painting contractor in the Boston market, Nigel Costolloe has spent a good part of his lifetime studying the way paint works. Paint problems, he says, most commonly point back to the way the house was built, the substrates prepped, or how the paint was applied, rather than to the paint itself. In most cases, it's what the carpenters do, before the painters even show up at the site, that make all the difference to the endurance of the coating.
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Departments

Letters
Copper Flashing on ACQ ~ How Small Is Small?
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Breakline: In Green We Trust
In Green We Trust ~ Prudent Pruning
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Soundings
Wind Performance of Metal Roofing
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Products
Pocket Primer ~ New Trim Styles ~ Synthetic Stone Backer ~ Easy-Nailing Bead Board ~ Rugged Efficiency ~ Wind-Resistant Synthetic ~ Amped-Up Sawzall
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