AUGUST 30, 1998
TOPIC: FROM FDR TO TQM // THE HOME OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM
GUEST: ROY DIEZ, ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER AND DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL
PROFESSIONAL BUILDER MAGAZINE
Elaine: We have seven television sets, yet I am the person who doesn’t watch TV…television impacts the way people build and remodel…guest is Roy Diez…done a survey…Roy: compiling list was enjoyable, surprising, but also frustrating…we were celebrating our 60th year as a magazine…came up with sixty most influential people, products, and events…solicited information from readers…did homework…for every one of the sixty that made the list, there were three or four that didn't make the list…trying to narrow it down was frustrating…most important…housing’s golden age…#1 foundation of our magazine…FDRs New Deal, FHA made homeownership affordable…FNMA expanded credit…market base…WWII, the baby boom, Housing Act of 1949…national goal of a decent home for every American…boom of housing created…Levittown…drywall was invented in the 1950’s…Highway Act of 1956…air conditioning sent us into suburbia and the Sunbelt…Elaine: I was thinking about Jack Bloodgood…you mention Levittown and we have Bowie…is housing better, is it worse…Roy: Much better, you have people like Jim Rouse In Columbia now tells us we can build production houses, but we can also build communities for those houses…right now major boom in Neotraditional…going back to the concept of early 20’s and 30’s…making homes in the context of their community…streets where people interact, porches, concept of community…Elaine: getting back to our roots I guess…what’s our home become?…Roy: homes are becoming more casual; formal rooms are disappearing…spending more time at home…raising families…entertaining…Elaine: I am on the old end of the baby boomers…my dad brought home a car that took us out of the area…today we hate cars; we hate traffic…impact a car had…before that my mother and I were trapped…we could take a ride to the city…Roy: the car took us out of the city and now there’s a trend of moving back into the city…Chicago, Dallas, Washington…development within cities…Elaine: Is some of that being caused by the "stop the growth?"…Roy: Some of it is being caused by that…a lot is nostalgia…in our latest issue we call it "Go Back to the Old Neighborhood"…resemble old neighborhoods, Grandma’s house…look and feel of the old neighborhood…I think people want homes that will retain value over a long time…timeless…Elaine: There’s a way of a home looking older without you even realizing it…as you live in a home, and then go to a new home you see how your home has aged, even if you’ve maintained it…
Roy: Elaine, you didn't ask me choices of influence in the modern era…baby boomers…70’s apartments for swingers…entry level houses…move-up houses for more affluent baby boomers…empty nesters…move-down houses.
Charlie: I didn’t think you had to invent drywall…I thought it’s always been there!
Roy: Charlie was talking about how housing will look in the future…in the last month or so opened the House of the New Milliennium…information gathered from builders…turned that information to a few architectural teams and the winning design was the Bloodgood team founded by Jack Bloodgood who will be your guest next week…wonderful design…Cambridge Homes…largest in Chicago, built the home…exterior is future proof…wraparound porches…interior caters to the aging baby boomer…attached/detached in-law suite…fun spaces; high tech; computers throughout…high tech kitchen…no living room… Charlie: cathedral ceilings?…Roy: actually gotten away from cathedral ceilings to raised flat ceilings…coffered ceilings, recessed lighting…Elaine: standard height?…Roy: eight foot plates for the most part…Elaine: you surveyed 6000 builders in the Chicago area?…People like what the Chicago builders say is the future such as giving up a living room or a three-car garage?…Roy: garages at the back of the house…Elaine: walk directly into the house from there?…Roy: Yes, but the third is the optional in-law suite and you actually have to walk there from the outside…
Charlie: Friend has built an historic house, a "connected house" in New England; the house itself is connected to a smaller house and that’s connected to a wee smaller house; and then there’s a big barn on the end of it…any of that going on?…Roy: Yes…historic replications…historic regional designs…back to the future…traditional design very strong…out West they’re going all the way back to European based design…Elaine: How about the size of the home?…Roy: increasing, but the interior division is changing dramatically; emphasis on informal space…formal space shrinking…major emphasis on kitchen/family room combination…command center…dramatic statement kitchens…Elaine: sign of how our families are nowadays…informal…keeping your eye on children…being with guests…space neat and tidy…how is the master bedroom changing?…Roy: master bath changing…sitting area…escape…work, watch TV, have privacy not only from the rest of the family but even from spouse…Charlie: Elaine, there’s room for one of your TVs!…Elaine: hate to have a lot of that in my bedroom…home office?…Roy: 16 million Americans now work part time in their home…starting to see his and hers home offices!
Roy: Our survey showed high technology was expected in the house…one builder suggested a media deprivation area…sunporch…Elaine: How many kids are addicted to the computer?
CALLER: DARRIN (ELLICOTT CITY)…MOST OF WHAT I SEE ARE TWO STORY; IS THERE A FUTURE FOR RANCHERS? Roy: Definitely…maybe not in the market you’re looking in, but in the Midwest or West…we are seeing more master downs because of the aging population…Elaine: I think what Darrin’s talking about is the one level brick structure…steep staircase to the basement…Roy: In the East builders have moved away from that because of the land costs…ranchers tend to spread out more than the two story…you will see more with a master bedroom on the first floor giving the advantage of a rancher…Elaine: different visual…
Elaine: When I think of a remodel…the future…I’ll wait and see…computer made such changes…where are we going?…Roy: heard of the electronic cottage for 15 years…spend two days in the office even if they work from home…electronic cottage for those who live and work full time out of their home; Montana…Elaine: In a short amount of time, price of computers has come down…Roy: electronic cottage would change the way we build…to build in rural areas we’d become more reliant on components or manufactured housing…Elaine: how sophisticated do I have to be…not a computer genius!…Charlie: second homes…do people have home up in the hills?…Roy: In Florida people have second homes that are bigger than the primary home; people who lived nine months in the East and three in Florida now find themselves three months in the East and nine months in Florida because they find they can run their business from Florida…indication that they can spend twelve months…Elaine: no reason not to communicate; cellphone…beeper…computer…modem…where’s that private time?…Roy: Another thing we haven’t touched on is building resource-efficiently…
CALLER: NANCY (ARLINGTON)…BOUGHT VERY SMALL CONDO…CAN GET PERMISSION TO MAKE REASONABLE CHANGES…HAVE ALWAYS LOVED SCREENED PORCHES MORE THAN ANYTHING…HAVE SMALL PATIO…FEASIBLE TO CONVERT PATIO TO SCREENED IN PORCH?…Roy: easy project…consult a professional…cost about $1500…roof over patio?…NANCY: NO…IN FRONT AS OPPSED TO THE BACK…NOTHING OVER IT…WHERE I LIVE IS ABOUT TO BECOME A DESIGNATED HISTORICAL COMMUNITY…WILL STILL BE ABLE TO MAKE CHANGES…Roy: In an historic district…get permit…approval from landmark commission…approval by building department…consider a packaged greenhouse kit…picture a greenhouse off the side of the house, screened in summer, in winter useable as well…more expensive, $3-5000.
CALLER: KATHY (DAMASCUS)…WHY ARE THE VERY EXPENSIVE HOUSES I SEE ARE BEING BUILT WITH PARTICLEBOARD?…Roy: You may call it particleboard, but oriented strandboard or engineered wood products are good…trying to be more resource efficient…particleboard is every bit as stable…preserve old forest growth…basically same as plywood…KATHY: LOOKS LIKE GLUED SAWDUST…Roy: uses lesser wood product and fibers in a resin mix…every bit as good, sometimes better, for example, wood I-joists, which has oriented strandboard between two 2 X 4s, instead of
2 X 12 rafters…can be made more accurately and we cut down fewer trees to make that product…Elaine: is it pressured?…Roy: it’s pressure treated and formed with resins…wood fibers make a dimensionally stable product that they can accurately form…better…Elaine: also wrap it in something…Roy: yes…do make materials and sprays to prevent outgassing…Elaine: do most builders do that?…Roy: trend now…healthy housing is a big discussion…use products and techniques that prevent outgassing and growth of bacteria in ducts, for example…from chemicals…sealers…Charlie: when you say "outgassing" you mean leaking from the material?…Roy: over a long period of time…
CALLER: STEVE (CROFTON)…READY TO START CONSTRUCTION...USING CONCRETE MAX TRACK SYSTEM AND GEOTHERMAL...EXTERIOR OF THE HOUSE WILL BE ALL CONCRETE ALL THE WAY TO THE ROOF...POURED CONCRETE…CAN’T FIND ANYONE TO TELL ME THE DOWNFALLS OF IT…COST IS ABOUT 10% MORE…HEATING SYSTEM WOULD BE 50% LESS THAN ON A STICKBUILT…Roy: more expensive…moisture not a problem…soundproofing better…Elaine: how do you minimize cracking?…I’m learning right along with you…Roy: hairline cracks are a natural phenomenon…seal them…Elaine: our home has geothermal…taking water through the ground…two pumps…STEVE: IN THIS AREA THEY RECOMMEND A CLOSED SYSTEM...LIKE THE RADIATOR OF A CAR...Elaine: very efficient!
Elaine: How can people reach you?…Roy: 847-390-2105 Chicago…www.probuilder.com…
Say "hello" to Jack Bloodgood …founder of plan services…made design concepts available to all levels…