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

How spray foam can fight climate change and help companies achieve their energy goals.

The BlackStar Companies, LLC announced the launch of a new business division called BlackStar SIPs. BlackStar SIPs is the company’s latest entry into sustainable, cost-efficient and high-performance construction solutions for residential, commercial and government clients.

Every day in the United States, more than 10,000 workers are injured on the job with 14 of those injuries resulting in death. While the sheer number of those injuries is staggering, the financial impact to employers is crippling.

Portable power drills are some of the most useful tools in the construction industry, but without taking the proper safety precautions they can quickly become some of the most dangerous.

Regardless of the amount of safety training and precautions you take as a company, at some point in time an accident will happen. When that accident does occur, do your employees know the proper way to react?

News flash for those of us in the Northern climates—winter is coming. The cold weather will bring a host of problems: equipment will be strained, men become cold and frustrated, daylight hours will dramatically shorten; but construction schedules will keep on moving along. One trade dramatically affected by cold weather is fireproofing.

Loading docks generally aren’t known for their stylishness, but a new such structure at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is breaking with that tradition. The addition of glass curtainwall and a protective overhang clad in copper-toned metal tiles create a real visual pop in the middle of the airport’s runway area.

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

Construction official says “desperate” proposal won’t address root causes of higher fuel prices but will blow a huge hole in the federal highway trust fund and undermine efforts to fix infrastructure.

During a time where there is a need for affordable housing, Westlake Royal Building Products, one of North America’s largest manufacturers and distributors of exterior and interior building products, celebrated its 300th home built in partnership with Habitat for Humanity - MidOhio, an organization that aims to build homes, empower families and develop communities. On Thursday, Sept. 15, the keys to a three-bedroom, two-bath single family home were turned over to a partner family in Columbus. For this home, Westlake Royal donated 20 squares of siding, including Exterior Portfolio Vinyl Siding and Portsmouth Shake & Shingles Siding, as well as Royal Shutters, Mounts and Vents accessories - marking its 300th siding donation to Habitat MidOhio over the last 20 years.

Westlake Royal Building Products announced that it has acquired Palight Trimboard from its long-standing partner Palram Americas. Through the acquisition of Palight Trimboard product lines, Westlake Royal will expand its portfolio of brands offered under Westlake Royal Trim & Mouldings Solutions, which provides the finishing touch for the interior and exterior of a home.

One product that can help save time and money and reduce waste

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.

Tamlyn received the prestigious “Best Family-Owned Business” award from the Houston Business Journal.

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.

Save time with Plastic Components’ non-rusting continuous insulation trims. They improve job quality and deliver a better finish.

I recently had the opportunity to visit Ft. McMurray, which is located about 300 miles north of Edmonton, in Northern Alberta, Canada. It’s not the northern most point on the road but you can see it from there. The area is a phenomenon because it contains the largest known cash of petroleum in the world. You didn’t know that? Well, neither did I until recently. The amount of oil sand in Alberta is enough-at their current rate of consumption-to provide Canada all of the petroleum it would need for the next 475 years. It’s enough oil to meet the needs of the entire planet for the next 15 years.

Sometimes the limits of what EIFS can do get pushed too far, and problems ensue. Usually these misguided uses of EIFS are well intentioned, and are due to a lack of understanding of the properties of EIFS.

Since the early 1980s the percentage of the construction industry that has been dominated by unionized companies has decreased, that is until the last few years. Something has changed. Unions offer training programs, a ready supply of skilled labor, and a level playing field of wages and established fringe benefits.

I recently had the opportunity to revisit Chicago, the home of one of my personal heroes, Byron Dalton. To most in the industry today, the name Dalton has little or no significance. But to some of us older die-hard plastering fanatics, Dalton could be considered the American patriarch of the plastering trade.

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.

Plastering being one of the oldest of occupations, or as I am fond of calling it, the second “oldest profession” is represented in the United States and Canada by the Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ International Association, which was chartered in 1864 and is the oldest of all the active building trades unions in North America.

“Some men must follow, and some command, though all are made of clay” ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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! 

Reinforcement products used to renovate a tarnished gem of a movie theater. 

Transparent, fire-rated glass walls are an aesthetic and functional way to provide structure and safety while preserving the view.

Seattle-based Soltner Group Architects is a long established and well-respected firm.

No doubt readers will recognize this month’s W&C Architect Profile of the Month Chris Dixon. He has been one of the magazine’s contributing editor’s now for several years with his column Straight Green.

Advances in chemistry make more sustainable building envelopes.

For 73 years, KHS Architects has encouraged a culture “that reveres both invention and customer focus.”

 Over the past 15 years, building information modeling has developed into the undeniable future of the architecture and design industry.  

This year’s Northwest Wall and Ceiling Bureau’s Annual Convention and Trade Show named the 2012 Outstanding Projects of the Year. The event, held May 10-12 in Scottsdale, Ariz., named several of its members from Canada and the U.S. The following are the winners:

The Northwest Wall and Ceiling Bureau announced the winners of its annual Outstanding Project of the Year Awards.

With a track record of 40-plus years in national multifamily leadership, the architecture firm, The Architectural Team, Inc., recently announced three key milestones for the firm's projects.

Founded in 1965, LPA Inc., is known as one of the largest integrated design firms in California. With extensive experience in public and private architecture, LPA designs a diversity of facilities that span from K-12 schools, colleges and universities, to civic, corporate, religious and retail establishments.

With six decades under its belt, RTKL Associates has transitioned from being founded in a small basement office in Annapolis, Maryland to opening 12 offices worldwide including places such as London, Beijing and Dubai. 

Sixthriver Architects is a full service architecture firm and the largest corporate interiors firm in Austin, TX. 

Working on an elaborate ceiling structure of the world’s tallest building in Dubai is no easy task, but get an insider’s personal experience on how it was accomplished in the upcoming Walls & Ceilings January feature “The Burj Khalifa Ceiling.”

As the Principal-in-Charge for Cuningham Group developments in the United States and abroad, including numerous Urban Entertainment Centers in the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Korea..

Principal Matthew J. Bell was elected to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows, and is W&C's Architect of the Month for February.

Meet Travis Lucy, an Associate at McKinney York Architects.

Architect, Dan Wells, builds children's home in Cambodia.

Vision, innovation, and dedication, are all hallmarks of Detroit, Michigan-based firm BEI Architect & Engineers. 

Amy Nicole Swift, LEED-AP, is an architect, writer and artist living-working-advocating in the city of Detroit.

W&C Architect interviewed an architect that takes a non-traditional approach to architecture.

Each month W&C interviews a new architect to hear their perspective.