Alabama Lead Paint Rules and Regulations; Where will this story end? Healthwise, lead based paint poisoning in humans causes irreversible brain damage and other physiological harm. The federal government has been campaigning and promulgating new rules and regulations to better protect the public against accidental lead poisoning for years. At the moment, the Evironmental Protection Agency has established an threshold enforement point in all pre-1978 homes and multi-family dwellings. My first inteligible indoctrination into the subject was during an education and certification campaign the Home Builder's Association sponsored to become certified as a Lead Paint Renovator before the enforcement of the new EPA protocals for Lead Paint handling became enforceable 2010. I attended an 8 hour course at the Alabama Home Builders Association's state headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama in April, 2010. Subsequent to the classroom training conducted by Accelerated Risk Management, the State of Alabama Department of Public Health, in conjunction with The University of Alabama Safe State Environmental Programs, has "opted in" to become an automomous enforcement agency specifically oriented towards lead paint protocal (regulatory requirements) in all pre-1978 homes and multi-family dwellings. The new state agency requires all trades involved in such environments to become officially trained and registered with Alabama's Renovator Contractor Certification. I recently attended the EPA Region 4 Lead Based paint Rules and Regulations Symposium on August 24, 2011, at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, and had the pleasure to meet the authors of Rules of State Board of Health Bureau of Environmental Services, Division of Community Environmental Protection, Chaper 420-3-29, Renovation Contractor Certification, at the event. In attendance, was Ms. Andrea N. Lippett, Community Outreach Specialist, Lead Based Paint Program, and Sal Grey, Alabama Lead Certification Program Director. The panel's major goal for this forum was to make one final campaign to educate the construction trades (from painter to general contractor) that our governmental agencies were taking the health risks and enforecement of the new protocals deadly serious, and that the next campaign would focus on consumer/homeowner awareness. There were possibly some unattentional unorthodox messages conveyed during the forum that left me feeling uneasy about what the future would be like in the stricter regulatory environment. Some of which were solicitations of compliant (maybe) individuals reporting others that may not be compliant, threats of paperwork audits, and unannounced inspections. To me, the protocals are pretty simple. A professional renovator simply needs to attend the required training, register with the state, identify pre-1978 environments, apprise the owner/occupant of the process of handling positively tested lead paint presence, submit the pre-construction notification to the state, maintain and manage the construction area per the safe handling procedures, decontaminate the site, and maintain records for a minimum of 3 years. What happened subsequent to the meeting at the Botanical Gardens has left a number of professional remodeling and decorating contractors in a mild state of shock. I need to put some context to what I mean by a professional contractor and I will procede with my story. My impression of a typical professional contractor is one that is a licensed and insured individual/business, maintains general liability and worker's compensation insurance, is a member of their respective professional trade organization for continuing education and mentoring, applies and attains all appropriate building or remodeling permits, and strives to maintain a safe work environment and is courteous to others. Subsequent to the meeting at the Botanical Gardens, while apprising all of our subs about the new rules and how we were going to have to tighten up all of our operations, one sub told me about another painting and decorating contractor that had been visited by numerous health department and enforcement officers. The site visit seemed to be consistant to, and confirmed, what was conveyed to us at the Botanical Gardens. Little did I know what was coming my way only a day or two later. At about 10:00 AM, last Monday, I recieved a phone call from two of my assistants that a Lead Paint Enforcement Officer was on site on a project that we are punching out on and that there were a couple of things which we needed to address to come back into compliance. I immediately dropped what I was doing and met with the Environmental Supervisor on site for a few minutes. While my conversation with the Environmental Supervisor was pleasant and informative, the source of his attention to our jobsite was disturbing. Undoudtedly, someone had submitted a list of about 8-10 local remodeler's names, addresses, and photos of our jobsites in the old section of Mountain Brook, AL to the Health Department and that he was following up on the complaints. Customarily, a complaint comes from a neighbor when a dumpster becomes too full, or if our carpenters are disturbing them late in the afternoons. This wasn't a complaint. It was a flagrant display of someone (the guy that took pictures and turned the list in) that doesn't have anything better to do, to be lightly. This was like dropping a bomb on me, and I do wonder where this story will end. While the professional contractor serves his client's needs, tries to assemble a viable workforce in an unstable economy, pays taxes, fees, insurance, tries to navigate through unclear immigration laws, tries to maintain an OSHA compliant jobsite, is threatened by theft and vandalism, now becomes a target of discriminatory and vindictive reporting. Several of my peers were somewhat relieved to several waivers to the pre-1978 Lead Based Paint protocals that made the whole process a little more practical. These waivers allowed us to forego a number of reporting procedures when our jobsites were unoccupied, or even when the owner's consciously opted out of the process as a whole. At present, these waivers have been revoked, or were never approved, and it is, what it is. In my opinion, The EPA Region 4 Lead Based Paint Rules and Regulations Symposium on August 24, 2011, and subsequent site visit have been informative, and if a professioanal contractor is to remain a viable operator, they need to get on board and take the high road. The silver lining to it all will be producing a healthier environment for our workers and the owner/occupant; I just hope that our government officials are fair to the professionals that are attempting to be compliant, and not create anymore of a "police state" than is necessary.

In early 2009, while I was thumbing through Green Builder Magazine just before leaving the office, I stumbled upon an advertisement for homesforourtroops.org, a 501C, Non-profit orgnization which builds specially adapted homes for severely diasbled Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans. The ad sparked deeply buried personal emotions of mine from my experiences in Desert Storm as an Marine Armor Officer, in   2nd Tank Battalion, 2d Marine Division, out of Camp Lejeune, NC., and my early departure from service when I was transferred to the "Permantly Disabled-Retired List" as a newly mented Major. I never, ever expected how a saying that, "I once complained of not having new shoes until I met a man without any feet" often recited by one of my former Gunnery Sergeants would ring in my ears almost 20 years later during my journey as a volunteer contractor for Homes For our Troops.

After absorbing the advertisement for Homes For Our Troops, I phoned one of my mentors, Gary Palmer, to find out if he thought Birmingham's leaders could get behind one of the Homes For Our Troops projects. Since I am authoring this blog, I will take license by describing Gary as a great Christian, American, Southern Gentleman. Gary is the President of the Alabama Policy Institute (API), a non-profit conservative think tank which protects Alabama's Christian-Family oriented values (Grossly understated). Gary reminded me that a former colleague of his at API, Bart Fletcher was a senior officer at the Greater Birmingham Area Home Builder's Association, and would certainly be clued into these sort of projects. It proved to be a small world because I had once flown both Gary and Bart on a trip that was sponsored by yet another great gentleman, Robert "Bo" F. Stanford, President of American Printing Co., Birmingham, AL.

It turns out that Bart Fletcher had already been working with Ryanne Noss, the wife of U.S. Army Ranger Staff Sergeant Scot Noss, in her quest for suitable housing for she and Scot in the aftermath of a horrific event while Scot was serving in Afghanistan. After listening to Bart's account of the Noss' journey, I knew that I was all in. Right there, at that moment, I committed myself to see that Scot and RyAnne had a friend in Birmingham. I have a wonderful wife, beautiful children, a good career; however, I had not felt the intense emotional commitment that I felt that afternoon, since 2d Tanks launched forward into the oil field abyss in Desert Storm. When I told Bart that I was all in, he simply said, "God Is Good". I would soon learn just how much.

Bart was attacking RyAnne's house hunting from a few different angles, one of which was as a POC for Homes For Our Troops. Homes For Our Troops, as described above, was founded by Mr. John Gonzalves, and is headquartered in Taunton, Mass. Their official website is at www.homesforourtroops.org. At this stage, Bart introduced me to the Homes For Our Troops project manager, Mike Duckett, which had been working with RyAnne. Mike handles about a dozen projects at any given time, and was understandably scrutinizing of my abilities to handle one of his projects. I promised him that I could not possibly build a specially adapted home on my own, but that I was surrounded by a great number of patriotic citizens that wouldn't allow me to screw things up. I suspect being backed up by Bart, Gary, Bo, and others, Mike decided to pull the trigger, and destiny was set. Ray Building Company was going to lead the Noss project.

Early in the project's life, I recruited Lamar Moore to help us with the dirt work, Bart Carr to help us with the engineering, Arch Trulock to help with architectural oversight, and Nancy Cox and Reb Baker for Design and Quality Control. Our build team, complemented with the Gardendale, AL equivelant to the Unsinkable Molly Brown, Christina Leigh Brooks, and U.S. Army Sergeant Noah Galloway, a double amputee veteran from the Iraq War, set forth on a public relations blitz and final design work for the future Noss Residence. Witnessing the sincere generosity and commitment of everyone that we came into contact with was almost overwhelming. The Southern Living, Green, Specially Adapted house design was the first of it's kind to be involved in by myself and many others. Some of our subcontractor leaders included Patrick Leonard (Plumbing Professionals), Mark Anderson (Advanced Electrric Co.), Bama Painting, Blake Sanders (Aero Mechanical), Joe Harvel Framing, Alabama Power Co., Automated Fire Systems, Betsy Bloodworth Hayes (Blackjack Gardens-Landscape Design Division), Tommy Trimm (Trimm Landscaping), Joe Howle (Vulcan Materials). Other contributors included Accu-Blinds, Attic Insulation Co., Nelson Glass Co., David Harrison (NeedCo.), Joe Little (Stone Concepts), Mike Luther (Allsouth Appliance),Angie Little and Jesse (Don's Carpet One), Cheri Davis and Michelle Blackwell (Crossville Tile Co.), Brett Bartlett (Hannah Tile and Marble), Bobby Tolleson (Tolleson Masonry), Dunkin Donuts, Sheriton Hotels, Sunshine Supply, Michael Tortomase (Sentry Plumbing), Brent Chapple and Tebra Davis (V&W Supply), Fergusan Supply, Paul Earle (Colonial Properties), The Overhead Door Company of Birmingham, Steve Bate (Bate Elevator), Steve Horton (HD Innovations), Drainright Guttering, Ron Luvell (Alabama Concrete Finishes), Alabama Mailbox Company, USA Concrete, Kirkpatrick Cement, Sherman Concrete, Carl Jones (CPK Concrete), and Mayer Electric Co.

Being situated in the Trussville, AL inspection jurisdiction, we outreached to Mayor Melton's office for support, and were in turn, practically adopted by every city official. Make no mistake about it, we had to do our home work, and meet all building codes, but everyone at the City of Trussville, were extremely cooperative. Building Inspector's Dan Sergeant and Ron Smith were very professional and taught us alot about Building Code, without being condescinding in any way whatsoever. In many respects, our relationship was more as teacher-pupil. It was obvious that we all had a commn goal; to get the job done!

Another element to our build team were the various patriotic supporters. These individuals and groups represent the heart of our core beliefs of God and Country. I do want to call out as many as possible:

Paul Marrs, Frank and Ann May, Navy Sea Cadets of Trussville, Janet Stewart, Betsy Stewart, Irondale Baptist Church, Carpenters For Christ, Marvin's Supply of Trussville, Bill Morrison,  and Sunblet Rentals.

Our project took many turns as we battled weather, terrain, economic strains, and design adjustments, but by the grace of god, Birmingham paid due repsect to Scot and RyAnne, and rose to the occassion. As we turned over the keys to RyAnne on the Key Awarding Ceremony, there were certain ironies to the conscience; however, with open eyes and clarity of mind, I witnessed more good than evil on that day, and my old Gunny's  saying, " I once  complained of not having new shoes until I met a man without any feet," hit me in the stomach like a ton of bricks. The basic truth of the matter is that somewhere out there, there is someone worse off, or less fortunate than yourself that needs your help. The Alabama Homes For Our Troops Coordinator, Larry Gill, most appropriately said that Homes For Our Troops is ready to begin its second 100 homes, but that he wished that he didn't have to build another. Well Larry, we don't either, but we will!

Thank you Homes For Our Troops, my wife Marguerite, Bart, Gary, Bo, all of the volunteers and participants, and most importantly, God Bless America and Staff Sergeant Scot and RyAnne Noss.

There is an enormity of information available on window selections for both new construction and remodeling. I could cut this article short by referring everyone to www.nfrc.org, and call it a day; however, I have some local experience in the subject matter, and could possibly save another homeowner some time, energy, "energy", and $$$.

Why discuss window selection so pointedly? Well, according to most statistics, windows account for approximately 25% of a home's energy/carbon footprint due to air infiltration, inadequate thermal insulation, and ultra-violet rays. As such a vital component of the home's overall energy footprint, the window product is naturally supported by the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC), and is so widely a published subject that a Google search is mind boggling.

The window industry has evolved to a point where most window production and supply is geographical in nature. In most scenarios, the average consumer doesn't have to sift through products oriented towards extreme cooling climates (Key West, Florida) or to the hottest of warming climates (Bangor, Maine) to arrive at a suitable product for their neighborhood. There are, however, many specialty features still available to every climate. Some of these specialty features include the typical safety, or tempered glass, hurricane wind-force glass which can withstand wind blown projectiles, super-insulated glass, and UV protected products that protect interior furnishings, just to name a few.

As our window technology has dramatically evolved with improvements such as green, super insulated, super storm resistant strength glazing and synthetic frames through market competition and industry "watch dogs," the local installation market has unfortunately not been so rosy. It seems that everywhere you turn, there is a new expert window installation company either advertising in the Yellow Pages, or taping a flier to our mailboxes. I am embarrassed to admit it but I have personally had to reject several of these "experts" from my jobs for butchering the installation of brand new window units. Coming to think about it, other than voiding the manufacturers warranty by faulty installation (i.e. lack of flashing, not adequately shimming, improper use of foam insulation, improper fastening, etc.) and possibly having to take remedial actions, it's kind of an installation free-for-all. Recently, a competitor of mine contracted a whole house window replacement on one of my neighbor’s home and I was naturally curious on their quality of workmanship throughout the project. In a matter of hours, their two man crew had removed and installed nearly 12 double hung window units. Upon close inspection, I noticed that none of the window jambs (rough framing) had been protected by window tape and there were no signs of any other weather stripping or flashing. I questioned the owner of the company about their practices and he said that, "his foreman told him that flashing the new windows was too hard because they couldn't get behind the siding," or words to that affect. That comment, coming from a locally, well established remodeling business absolutely blew my mind!

In construction, as well as in many other industries, time is money. The principal works like this: the more windows that you install the more money that you make. Simple yes, but it can backfire on everyone without acknowledging the inherent dangers of slapping in a new, high tech, super insulated window by an unsupervised and untrained crew. Homeowner's should approach their window replacement project with vigilance and take the time to hash out every detail with their chosen professional installer. I am going to list a few items that may assist some homeowners in their upcoming window replacement project:

•    Speak to several suppliers (custom shops to "big box") and learn about the various products available.
•    Interview several installers and learn about their practices, references, warranties, and rates (everyone should know the difference between a neighborhood hack and a trained, well groomed, licensed and insured operator). Insurance is crucial... and as mentioned above, without adequate supervision and quality control, a contractor's pedigree is worthless.
•    Develop a relationship with your supplier and always have a written contract with your installer.
•    Make sure that there is a plan for prep, waste removal, corrective framing and flashing, installation, trim work, painting, and clean up.
•    If your local municipality doesn't inspect the window installation (few if any do), then who is, and how will you be apprised? This is an awkward issue, but once the window is covered by trim material, you have to assume that the unit was replaced correctly. A simple walk through by the homeowner and supervisor could be beneficial.
•    Establish a scheduled inspection by the installer several months out to ensure that the new windows are operating correctly, and that all seals and trim joints have maintained their integrity.
•    If you have the time, check out the NFRC website above for a comprehensive layout on the subject.

Good Luck!

The Power of Green-

My personal "green roots" came from my upbringing by my Grandfather, who was the son of a Montevallo, Alabama dairy farmer, and my Dad, who was an ardent conservationist/environmentalist and locally popular Boy Scout Master of many years. When I was in Junior High School, my favorite poem was "Trees", by Alfred Joyce Kilmer, and my best friend nearly killed (figuratively) me and a few of my friends by his fascination of hiking through the Joyce Kilmer National Forest each year. Nothing against the park, but it never failed that whenever we travelled up to the Smokies the weather always, always ruled. At any rate, something clicked back then that may or may have been associated with the mid 1800's environmentalism-philosophical movement, the lifetime conservationist achievements of Theodore Roosevelt, or even the author of Silent Spring, Rachel Carson's, or the Sierra Club's heroic activism in the more contemporary "green" movements. The sense is still with me, wherever it originated. It resonates with many of my friends too, as they battle ever-increasing utility costs and desire to leave their children and grandchildren a better environment than was left to them. Today, the modern banner to this nearly two hundred year eco-friendly "ism" is popularly referred to as "going green". It's cool, trendy, energy efficient, and in some cases, can provide tax incentives to active participants.

As a licensed builder, coupled by trying to keep up with the times and survive the downturn, I have been school-trained in green design-build techniques, devour trade shows and magazines marketing the newest eco-friendly and sustainable design products, and run my projects in as a environmentally friendly manner as is practicable. I have recently joined forces with Arch Trulock, who is a licensed Architect in Birmingham, Alabama by creating an eco-friendly design-build partnership. Our partnership is being called Alabama Green Design Works, LLC, and it's infant homepage is at algreendesignworks.com. For the moment, visitors can follow a useful link back to our repsective homepages at either Trulockarchitecture.com, or raybuildingcomany.com. Arch and I have very basic similarities with each other, which have been mentioned above. We are both professional's in our trades, we are environmentally conscientious, and we both seriously want to make a positive impact in our community by incorporating green building technologies and increased awareness on sustainable building practices. The new relationship is refreshing in that we can both benefit from our respective strengths in both design and build, and have a deeper sense of accomplishment as we help our clients and the environment at the same time.  

As Arch and I continue to develope our own website at www.algreendesignworks.com without infringing on other "green" organizations previous hard work and copyright protections, anyone that is looking for similar information along our intended path should visit www.greendesignbuild.net. It really is a one-stop "green" website that features practical solutions ranging from do-it-yourself energy saving tips, to full-blown systems overhaul. If you really have a lot of time on your hands you can visit UC Berkeley's website at www.lib.berkeley.edu for an endless catalog, or library of just about any pertinent environmental resource in publication. Another relatively new acronym that is flying around out there is LEED, or LEED Certified. To become LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environemental Design) Certified, the professional designer, or builder, has to particiapte in a standardized training regimen and satisfactorily pass the appropriate end of course exam. The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) is an governing agency of the LEED Certification Program, and is responsible for the promulgation of standards and policies, as well as continued education on sustainable design and other eco-friendly issues in the construction industry. Please see www.usgbc.org for more information on the LEED program.

Please call or right to either Arch or me for more design-build information.

Be Responsible.....Be Informed.....Be Involved!