#buildingwithintegrity

Muharram Mubarak from BuildEX

As we welcome the Islamic New Year, BuildEX extends its heartfelt wishes for a peaceful and blessed Muharram.

May this sacred occasion inspire reflection, strengthen faith, and bring harmony, prosperity, and new beginnings to you and your loved ones.

Just as every strong structure is built on a solid foundation, may the year ahead be built on values of integrity, trust, and unity.

My last few blogs laid the groundwork for efficiently utilizing alternative energies and creating home and landscape design that meld with ecosystems. But let’s step back for a bit; let’s talk about getting back to basics…the simple, practical, consistent steps in renovating or building your new home. It’s not only about skill and product choice, it’s also about integrity. 

Ours is a family business and I’ve found that what works in my family carries over really nicely to my business. My wife, Sally and I raised our children using basic building blocks – eat well, sleep well, treat others with respect, and follow through on that which has been asked of you.  We instilled in them the importance of morals and honest employment, and embracing the discipline of hard work. Of course, we’ve also encouraged them to have some fun along the way. Thom Woglom Construction utilizes the same code of excellence: nothing worth having comes easily. 

Strategic planning

My favorite client plans for a project. If the market doesn’t offer you the opportunity to sell right now, maybe you are getting ready for when the market is right. You might be interested in adding extra living space.  Do you need to make room for elder family members or younger ones who are coming home after college? Or, are you looking to build your dream home?

All of these projects can be successful if, together, we have a solid plan in place. At the beginning, it’s about communication, scheduling, and planning. There will be lots of talk later about the professionals that will be hired, the products that will work best, the applications and approvals that are needed, ordering supplies and dealing with any weather surprises. Even after the last nail is in place and the walls are painted, we’ll recommend a tailored maintenance plan because this is a priority too.   

An Envelope Design

Our success is a combination of years of studying and understanding building science.  We take the time and energy for plotting the building envelope – the combination of design and engineering that allows for outside elements, foundation and the exterior shell working together to create an interior that is a comfortable and affordable place to live – for a long time.

Over the years, we’ve learned about products that we know work well. We choose the ones that fit in your ‘envelope’.  Our selection process looks to length of service and durability but we also want the manufacturer who has been open to questions and challenges.  Trust me – we’ve put them through the gauntlet!  We don’t choose what’s on sale or what’s cheapest – although we often benefit from better pricing (and we pass that along to our customer) – for us it’s about choosing the product that works for your project. Our confidence is built by the warranties that are offered as well.  And you can be sure that we’ve learned about the product, we know how to install it, and we will be back when/if there’s a need for a repair and can take advantage of that warranty.

Professional Integrity

I’ve also dedicated a lot of energy over the years getting to know the professionals in my industry.  Just as I’ve researched a variety of products that I know will work well for your project, I’ve also built a rapport with contractors who I will bring to the party.  As your general contractor, my job is multi-faceted. Apart from keeping to the budget, time schedule and intricacies of the job, I need to make sure it all gets done well.  The professionals I hire have been vetted for their commitment to those same goals.  I don’t work well with folks who don’t have the same integrity as me.

Ovid Serrano of Serrano Roofing is one of those professionals…he’s going to be the topic of my next blog.  I look forward to sharing his experiences and wisdom with you.  Once you’ve read it, you’ll understand why we work together so well.

For now, I’ll sign off with some food for thought…

Having completed the interior of The Villa at Beaver Grade and getting the exterior concrete poured, we eagerly await spring so we can do the landscaping.

Many people have asked us about “that big milk carton” in our yard. Let me explain. That big white thing is called a cistern, which we will install in the ground before we landscape. We will drain all our rain leaders from our roof downspouts into that tank. We will then use that to water our garden, shrubbery and yard.

Cisterns were very popular in centuries past, before the time of public water. People, animals and plants need water the most during dry times, so people used cisterns to save water during rainy seasons in order to use that water during dry seasons.

While Moon Township has excellent water, it does cost money. We will be able to use rain water for watering, and in times of emergency, we will have water for drinking if need be.

Waiting For Spring! Stay tuned.

I have heard this phrase said since I was a kid. As an adult, business owner and builder, it translates essentially as, “it’s one thing to say you believe in a product and another thing to actually spend your money on it.”

For years I have extolled the virtues of EIFS, (Exterior Insulated Finish’s System) or in other word, synthetic stucco. EIFS became popular in Germany in the post WWII period. The half ruined buildings were rebuilt with chipped bricks from neighboring buildings. 

Since the bricks did not match, they needed to be covered. Masonry stucco was not new to Europe, but the drawback to masonry buildings are that they provide very little insulation. This is where the foam insulation proves so very helpful.

A layer of foam is applied over a used brick structure and then synthetic stucco is troweled on top of the foam, creating a water-tight insulated covering that can be used to create a myriad of different architectural styles. 

Stucco can be used to create a Tudor manor house, a quoined formal French château, an arched Spanish villa, and yes, a Tuscan ranch. EIFS got into a lot of trouble in the US because it was applied over wood structures. While the EIFS seldom failed, windows, doors, and wood trim often did. Once the moisture got into houses, it could not get out.  A ton of homes rotted from the inside out. Most of the damage was caused in the Carolinas, where boom times in the 1990’s created a perfect storm; a product requiring great care and knowledge when applying, being applied by untrained crews working in a frantic pace to keep up with an unrealistic schedule.

For years I told clients that the product was not the problem, the application was, especially since EIFS industry developed a new waterproofing system membrane as an added precaution. Some building inspectors allow the EIFS foam to be mechanically attached over Tyvek Stucco Wrap but I have always believed, as does Moon Township’s building inspector, that two layers of paper are required. 

I tell the framer to install the Tyvek paper as if he is providing the only waterproofing and I tell the EIFS installer (or synthetic stone installer, which Is a similar products with similar dangers) that they need to apply their Tyvek paper as if they are applying the only waterproofing system. 

 After the paper, foam sheets are screwed onto the wall.

The screws are set into the foam so the foam can be scraped smooth and level. Then the dimpled holes are filled. 

 and the entire wall is brown coated.

I know the coating is actually grey, but we call it brown coating because the type of tradesmen that applies stucco used to apply plaster, which has a first coat that is actually brown. (I just wanted to clarify because, having grandchildren, when you call grey brown, you get corrected.)

The key to avoiding failures in an EIFS application is that the seams between the stucco and the windows and doors need to also be waterproofed. The most important thing is that the gap be as wide as a finger,

 which allows a wide caulk joint. This is the biggest challenge with all the EIFS contractors I have worked with over the years. They left small gaps and the smeared the caulk over the crack, not into it.

Once the brown coat is on and the gaps created, the finish is troweled on.

 I initially selected a color that was tan, matching some of the stone but Deby and a couple of friends told me that it would look better if the stucco was darker and stood out from the stone.  So we selected a darker color……………………..and had a moment of panic when the first finish coat was applied.

 Deby said our house looked like a pumpkin. 

I was concerned at first as well, but then we decided to give it the chance it deserved. Once the plastic was removed from the stone, we loved it! 

It is certainly not dull, and in fact I say that it is a happy house. I love it, Deby loves it and we have gone ahead with the rest of the exterior painting.

It truly is becoming a Tuscan country villa.

Well, technically, Russian speaking Vladimir and Valarie are from Belarus, a former republic in the USSR which is now independent. Vladimir and Valerie are recent immigrants from Minsk which is the capital of Belarus. Their skill is only matched by their desire to do work correctly.

I have heard of problems with water infiltration into stone but these guys were very diligent to do all the flashing correctly. They were clean and their joints are admittedly much neater than the ones I did on our fireplace and the interior arch this winter. 

If people ask me the difference, I will have to have an excuse, I mean reason, why my joints are not as neat…can anyone help me out with a plausible reason?

I am very proud to have immigrants work on our house since they are legal, insured and pay taxes. They work for Ystone, a company owned by another Belarusian immigrant, Yury Horbach. The stone is Dutch Quality brand, supplied by P. F. Cook in Cranberry.

When we use cultured stone, it is a challenge to make it look like natural stone. One of the ways we do this is to use natural sandstone for the mantels, caps and pier caps. Another way to make the stone look natural is to apply applications on the house that make sense, and to use mass when natural stone would have had mass.

We were very careful to make the front porch arches very thick, as they would be if constructed of natural stone. On a personal note, one late addition to the plans was the little arch on the side of the porch. This arch was created for my oldest grandchild, Nadia, to sit in when she visits and waits for me to arrive home. My other grandchildren, well, I will make some curved steps to the porch for them. We will pour the steps and have pictures of them soon (although not soon enough for Deby!)

Back to Vladimir and Valerie, as a student of history, I had to ask them if they had relatives with remembrances of WWII. Given the horrific casualty rates of the Russian people in that war, they did not have a lot of relatives who had experiences that they could relay to them. But Vladimir did note that one of his aunts lived in Kursk, a few hundred miles to the south east of Minsk. Kursk was the site of the largest tank battle in the history of the world in the summer of 1943. The Germans were trying to regain the offensive that they had lost the previous winter in Stalingrad. Vladimir related that she said the skies were filled with planes from both sides and the tank battles were enormous and thunderous. It was a brutal defeat for the Germans and they never launched a major offensive attack again until The Battle of the Bulge, which is when my father went to the front in late 1944.

Thanks for following, more to come! 

Deby and I initially disagreed with the selection of flooring for our foyer. She wanted a formal, off-white marble tile and I wanted something less formal. I was able to convince her that our home is more like a Tuscan farm cottage, not a Tuscan palace. During this decision process we were waiting to be seated at a local Italian restaurant and took note that the bar floor was made of red clay tile and we were inspired to use that style in our home.

Since that sort of tile is often used outdoors, using it in the entry would give the foyer a transitory feel going from the exterior into the home, especially since we have a stone arch around that doorway. Deby and I completed the floor over a weekend and enjoyed the work. The tile is so hard and thick it can only be cut with a saw. Deby operated the saw and was a great “cut man” for me!

My desire to use red tile was not simply from an interior decor viewpoint; it was personal as well. I had a great uncle Bob who emigrated from Dundee Scotland with my grandfather, David. Bob was a carpenter and David was an electrician. David built a home for his family in the Beechview section of Pittsburgh in the late ‘20’s from a kit he purchased from Sears and Roebucks. They provided everything but the masonry and delivered it in sections as needed.

Uncle Bob did everything with the exception of the plaster and drywall. Unfortunately, he lost the home during the Great Depression. He told me later that if he had done the brickwork by himself, the mortgage would have been low enough for him to keep the home.

Later in the ‘50’s, Uncle Bob built a home with my Grandfather’s help in North Sewickley Township. That home had a red tile entry floor and I loved the earthy feel of it. It made the home feel warm, welcoming and organic which is what I want our home to feel like.

Those ancestors are not the only ones in my lineage who built homes. My great, great, grandfather Jacob Boehmer emigrated from Germany in 1880. My daughter Lindsay still has the trunk that he used to bring his family’s possessions over in. 

Over the next decade or so he and his sons built 6 houses for their large families on Mt. Troy Rd in Reserve Twp. The first house stayed in my family until 1999. Myself, my wife and my children have many awesome memories in that house and of our relatives who lived there.

When I was 8 years old I helped my grandfather put up an exterior pipe rail on the side of the house. When we were done, I went inside and my Aunt Lou fed me and I went to sleep. My grandfather reminded me later that the job is not done until the cleanup is complete, a valuable lesson.

While none of my ancestors started their own homebuilding companies, building is in my blood. My mother was an art major and my dad graduated from Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Melon) as a civil engineer. I have often said that I am not as creative as my mother, and not as smart in math as my dad, so I blended their strengths and became a custom homebuilder.

Back to the present, since we did use the red tile flooring in the foyer, I am concerned that I might have to paint the white paint in the foyer a darker, earthier color. What do you think? Any suggestions?

While not being an extreme “greenie,” I do believe that we are to be stewards of the earth. The best way we can be good stewards is to build energy efficient homes. 

Every one of the homes I have built has exceeded energy codes at the time it was built. We became official Energy Star early on in the process and we are always careful to preserve trees when we can and try very hard never to waste topsoil. I figure that if it takes God so long to produce topsoil why should we waste it? 

Another aspect of being environmentally friendly is to recycle when we can. During the process of the renovation we made three trips to the metal recycling center. 

We also re-used some lumber from the original home so we could really see that we are living, not in a new home, but in a home that has been renovated. We therefore “harvested” hardwood and trim and made sure we used it when we could. Some of the trim in the lower level game room and does not match the rest of the home. I want it that way. This home has been a great home for some very fine people over the years and we want to celebrate that.

One other note on recycling wood. Old wood, particularly trim that we harvest from homes we renovate from the turn of the century (that means at the beginning of the 20th century for all you Millennials who think that the Beatles are part of ancient history), is much better than wood trim we get today. The “old growth” wood is much more dense and much more stable. Jon Houston, our field expert, and a much more knowledgeable person with respect to wood, has pointed out to me how many more growth rings are in a piece of old growth wood compared to new. Wood flooring is the same, although oak is still oak.

Picking the lights was Deby's thang!!! And boy did she pick some very nice pendant lights from Cardello Lighting. Although a bit pricy, Deby assures me that these lights will make the entire home “pop” when we walk in and will make a bit of an eclectic statement. 

Knowing that Deby wanted a specific look with the granite tops, we chose a builder’s grade cabinet, but a very well built one from Wellborn Cabinets from one of our local designers, Larry Lucci. I told her we had to keep that selection in budget if she wanted her granite choice!

   Her counter top selection, which I do love, is white with black veining and just enough tan tones to tie into the Tuscan Cottage feel and to blend with the fireplace stone.

   I suggested to Deby that although the house certainly has a relaxed feeling, it can look like she had the kitchen installed by a designer from Florence, who brought a more sophisticated urban look to the kitchen with granite counter tops in a Carrera marble mode.  

Stay tuned,