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RAiNA COO Laverne Dalgleish to Present at Conference

The Rainscreen Association in North America announced that Laverne Dalgleish, COO of RAiNA and executive director of the ABAA, will be presenting on water-resistive barriers, the last line of defense, at the RAiNA Conference in Chicago on Nov. 7.




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RAiNA Unveils New Awards Celebrating Design and Technical Excellence in Rainscreens

The Rainscreen Association in North America announced the launch of the RAiNA Awards, an annual program celebrating outstanding achievements in rainscreen design, innovation and construction. The awards aim to recognize projects that exemplify the highest standards of excellence, technical performance, sustainability and aesthetic design in rainscreen systems across North America.




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SOPREMA USA Unveils New Headquarters in Wadsworth, Ohio

SOPREMA celebrated the grand opening of its new state-of-the-art headquarters in Wadsworth, Ohio, in September. The event brought together key stakeholders to mark a significant milestone in the company’s commitment to sustainability, innovation and growth in the United States.




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Technoform North America Celebrates its 20th Anniversary

Technoform celebrates 20 years of providing high-performance insulating glass, fenestration and cladding systems in North America. Technoform’s associates and products help residential, commercial and institutional building envelopes to balance energy efficiency with occupant health and comfort while enhancing structural integrity, durability and aesthetics.




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Gypsum Association Revises Text in GA-216

After receiving negative reports from contractors, the GA committee revised previous text that used incorrect language when describing studs.




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Developing an Industry Standard for Scrap Board Recycling

The Gypsum Association and its member companies are committed to sustainability, and now, our industry is embracing another opportunity to contribute to a greener world.




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New Gypsum Association Website Goes Live

In late June, the Gypsum Association took its website to the next level with a complete redesign that offers—among other things—more robust search functionality, new content, and both video tutorials and video FAQs.




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Susan Hines: New GA Website Goes Live

In late June, the Gypsum Association took its website to the next level with a complete redesign that offers—among other things—more robust search functionality, new content, and both video tutorials and video FAQs.




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Global Pandemic of COVID-19

I want to first thank all the great guests we have had on Walls & Ceilings’ videos with our Publisher Jill Bloom. 




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Pivot to Video

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH GA’s VIDEO MAKER.




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Glass Mat Gypsum Sheathing in Residential Construction: A High-Performance, Code-Compliant Alternative to Traditional Materials

Glass mat gypsum sheathing is common for commercial uses but rarer in residential construction




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Gear Up for This Year’s TLPCA Annual Convention

The Texas Lathing & Plastering Contractors Association’s Annual Convention and Trade Show will be held on June 11-13. Its 72nd Annual Convention will be at the Hotel Galvez in Galveston, Texas.




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Portland Cement Association Elects 2024 Board of Directors Chair and Vice Chair

The Portland Cement Association, which represents America’s cement manufacturers, announced new leadership for its Board of Directors after holding elections on Dec. 4 at its last meeting of 2023.




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Cement Producers Strive to Mitigate Carbon Footprint, Driving Digitalization Investing

Cement production and processes emit over 5 percent of all carbon dioxide emitted by human activity. Reducing that environmental impact is a high priority among cement producers. Cement producers are now publishing their Environmental, Social and Governance credentials concerning energy use in their operations, greenhouse gas emissions and water usage.




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Understanding Plaster Finishes for Decorative Painters

The New York artisan returns with a new feature regarding intricate/ornate finishes for interior plaster.




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ACI Foundation’s 2024 Technology Forum Drives Collaboration and Innovation

The ACI Foundation’s Concrete Innovation Council gathered in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to discuss technology and innovation at the 2024 Technology Forum. The event took place May 14-16 at the Hilton Santa Fe Historic Plaza.




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Registration Now Open for Fall ACI Concrete Convention in Philadelphia

The American Concrete Institute is excited to host the ACI Concrete Convention on Nov. 3-6 in Philadelphia. Known as the world’s gathering place for advancing concrete, the convention will take place at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown.




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PCA Presents Energy and Environment, Safety Innovation and Chairman’s Awards

The Portland Cement Association, representing America’s cement manufacturers, announced the winners of its Energy and Environment, Chairman’s Safety and Safety Innovation Awards at its 2024 Cement Fly-In in Washington, D.C.




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Carpenters Continue to Push the Envelope in Training

The CIT fund has an interesting initiative for a building envelope program.




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O’Shaughnessy Ventures Invests in Furno Materials, Aiming to Decarbonize Cement

O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC, a family office that invests in ambitious seed and pre-seed startups, announced Feb. 2 that it has invested in Furno Materials Inc.




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Decorative Plasters Market Study

How prevalent are decorative plasters in the United States?




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What to Know About Code Changes for Masonry Veneer

Big changes are coming to adhered masonry veneer codes with the 2022 updates to TMS 402 and 602, soon to be adopted in the 2024 building codes. The revisions introduce two design approaches — prescriptive and engineered — giving more flexibility to architects and engineers.




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ICAA Convention and Trade Show

The ICAA Convention & Trade Show is your one-stop-shop to learn, network and discover the latest insulation industry products and services from the best in the business.




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3E Estimator Makes Calculating Savings Easy

A new tool that leverages the capabilities of NAIMA’s 3E Plus pipe insulation thickness calculator for commercial and industrial facilities is now available. Within just a few minutes, the 3E Estimator can give users a ballpark estimate of the energy and emissions savings from adding insulation to the piping in an industrial facility.




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CPI Survey Unveils Positive Polyurethane Production Across North America

The Center for the Polyurethanes Industry announced on Sept. 9 the results of a two-year survey on the polyurethanes industry in the United States, Canada and Mexico.




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Elevating Building Performance

The role of polyisocyanurate insulation in high-performance systems.




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Knauf Insulation Wins EPA Grant to Advance Product Transparency and Sustainability

Knauf has been awarded a $3.28 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to improve its Life Cycle Assessments and Environmental Product Declarations. The grant will allow Knauf to provide accurate and reliable information, helping industry professionals make informed, eco-friendly choices and contribute to a more sustainable built environment.




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Barricade Building Products Expands Availability to All BPI Locations in the Midwest

Barricade Building Products announced that its products will now be available at all Building Products Inc. locations throughout the Midwest. The expansion allows customers in the region to easily access Barricade’s comprehensive range of high-quality building materials, ensuring their projects are safeguarded from the ground up.




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Owens Corning Spearheads Virtual Reality Training, Taking Employees Inside the Job

Imagine training employees with a virtual reality, audio-visual headset that puts them on the job, inside a realistic house, with saws buzzing, hammers tapping and birds chirping. That is the concept behind an industry-leading virtual reality training program sponsored by Owens Corning.




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Pictures from the 2024 ICAA Convention




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Unlock Industry Insights: Purchase CPI’s 2023 End-Use Market Survey Today

The Center for the Polyurethanes Industry announced Oct. 2 that The 2023 End-Use Market Survey on the Polyurethanes Industry in the United States, Canada and Mexico is now available for purchase from the ACC store.




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Improving Resilience in Severe Environments

Fiber cement siding is less susceptible to common environmental threats (such as fire, heat or moisture) than traditional wood cladding.




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A Welcome Disruption: How Prefab Construction Savings could Transform the Industry White Paper

Prefab construction is here, and it’s happening. The combination of a severe labor shortage and extreme shortfalls in housing supply is driving a renewed interest in prefabricated construction as a more cost-efficient alternative to traditional building.




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Hybrid Solutions: High Savings

The city of Sandy, Utah, is on the rise. 




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Western Specialty Contractors Provides Safety Tips to Protect Construction Workers in Summer Heat

Summer is a great time for construction work, but a brutal time for construction workers. Excessive heat and sun exposure pose significant dangers, such as sunburn, dehydration, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Every year, construction workers become ill on the job and some even lose their lives due to heat exposure.




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Innovative Insulation Solutions for an Energy-Efficient Home

Ways to decrease your home’s energy output and save you money.




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GMS Expands Product Offerings in Florida and Announces Further Platform Expansion Activity

Florida acquisition expands complementary product offering in Southwest Florida; four new greenfield locations expand presence in key markets.




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Empire Moulding and Millwork Opens New Distribution Center to Service the New England Market

Novo Building Products is pleased to announce the opening of a new Empire Moulding and Millwork distribution facility in Amherst, New Hampshire. Strategically located 60 miles north of Boston, the new 217,000-square-foot facility services 750 independent lumberyards, specialty millwork shops, stair manufacturers, door fabricators, ProDealers and home centers across New England.




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Westlake Royal Building Products Selected as Carter Lumber’s 2022 Vendor of the Year

Westlake Royal Building Products has been named 2022 Vendor of the Year by Carter Lumber, one of the nation’s top building materials retailers. Despite industry shifts and challenges, the partnership has remained strong, allowing both companies to continue meeting the needs of customers.




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Westlake Royal Building Products Rebrands Palight Trimboard to Skytrim PVC Line

Westlake Royal Building Products, Inc. announced Sept. 7 that Palight Trimboard is now Skytrim, a sophisticated line of PVC trim options.




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New Product Line Brochures Now Available from Plastic Components

Plastic Components now offers individual brochures for its PVC Trims and Accessories product lines, which include stucco/plaster, stone veneer, drywall, Direct Applied Systems, Exterior Insulated Finish Systems and fiber cement board trims.




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Improve Corner Quality and Save on Labor and Materials

Ideal for EIFS and direct-applied, 2209MESH Corner Bead combines Plastic Components’ reliable PVC corner bead with fire- and alkaline-resistant, 4.5-ounce fiberglass mesh for a time-saving alternative to wrapping corners by hand with multiple pieces of mesh.




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Trowel Talk: Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Online Blogs, Chat Rooms, and Community Forums; these cyber communities have become the modern version of the neighborhood bar, the office water cooler, and the campus coffee shop...




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Trowel Talk: Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends

Have you ever been to an industry trade show? I usually attend several each year; the INTEX Expo, World of Concrete, and this year I had the opportunity to attend the Remodeling Show sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders at the Convention Center in Baltimore. You can always tell when a trade show is in town. Local restaurants and hotels are filled with small groups wearing matching shirts.




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Trowel Talk: Nashville Skyline

I stood along the rail of an upper tier at the Nashville Convention Center, home of the 2009 AWCI Convention and Intex Expo trade show. I watched two middle-aged men approaching each other on opposing escalators, one going up, the other going down.




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Trowel Talk: How Important Is Customer Service?

I know that it has been a while since I was a small remodeling contractor, but has the state of the art really fallen this far?




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Trowel Talk: Developing Master Craftsmen

As the director of a national training program for plasterers, I help develop and implement training criteria and curriculum materials for young people just entering the trade. So, nothing gives me greater pleasure than to witness young men and women, who’ve got a few years under their belt, excelling at the craft-especially in a down economy! 




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Trowel Talk: The Black ("Green") Olive

Dimitris Spiliadis’ great-grandfather once owned a hotel in Constantinople, which was lost when the Turks invaded the magnificent and historic city (now known as Istanbul).




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Chemistry: A Major Driver of Building Performance

Advances in chemistry make more sustainable building envelopes.




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Continuous Insulation or is it Convoluted Insulation?

 If you have not heard about continuous insulation, then you must have been on the moon the last year.