Green Construction & Critical Thinking

It’s hard to be a good Critical Thinker these days. The sheer volume of information we are presented with on any one topic is overwhelming. It is, in fact, the very thing that keeps the word “overwhelming” in business.

Every single source you can find and person you speak with will add another straw to the camel’s back that is your personal hard-drive. At some point, even the strongest of researchers, will succumb to the process and choose between the lesser of two evils.

Consider a new approach: Get whatever information you can wrap your brain around and get to know it. Find a good middle ground. Then check both extreme ends of the spectrum and make an imaginary center.

Then back away from all your carefully gathered information and think about those things that make the biggest impact at any given time. Consider the exploitation spurred by new economies and global markets. Decide if it matters to you that your product was hatched and corn-fed on American soil. Figure out what it is that matters to you.

With any luck, you’ll find that what matters to you is in the best interests of local markets and free trade. You will find that you are, indeed, a fan of quality products made by workers who are paid a fair wage and provided with good working conditions

I believe, if you have just a minute to think about it, that you will find you are a Critical Thinker. It’s kind-of liberating to do the right things for the right reasons. The true, long-term price of a dollar saved today is probably much greater than coming in under budget. Think about it.

Old Dogs and New Tricks

We recently ran into a builder from Texas and fell deep into a critical conversation about our Rainscreen Clips. He had come upon our enterprise by virtue of locating some Deck Clips that we also produce and sell.

When we offered to include a sample of our Rainscreen Clip system, he had no idea what we were talking about and got pretty excited when we explained the engineering behind it. He said that he's been working in the construction industry for more than a couple years and he's always been a big fan of the installation of furring strips behind the exterior cladding on his buildings.

This exchange has spurred hours of conversation about what just happens organically. What happens when people are left to their own resources and ability to be clever? The Norwegians who created this whole Rainscreen design were not working with architects and project managers, they just knew what they needed and devised a plan to get it.

All this talk has yielded an easily digested theory: Critical thought isn't dead, it's just been resting. It's been thriving in many ways and places. And, fortunately for us, now it is wide awake and coffeed up. The stars are aligning in such a way that these practices that are beautiful, sustainable, economical and easily re-purposed are bursting like spring flowers.

There are Old Dogs down in Texas who have been using what we're calling "New Tricks" simply because they are most often the best idea.

What better way to do the right thing for the right reason.

Rainscreens & Norweigan Wood

The rainscreen principal was born of intuition, centuries ago, in Norway. There was no science behind it – the Norwegian climate dictated the rainscreen as the mother of invention. Norway is the place where rainscreen cladding had its birth.
Norwegian builders, probably through trial and error, found a way to utilize drained and back-ventilated cladding with joints that were both closed and open. The first buildings to have this type of cladding were large barns. This is why they called it "the open-jointed barn technique." The timber cladding had closed joints with opening at the top and at the bottom of the timber to allow for water drainage, and also for the evaporation of any rain moisture that managed to penetrate inside.
The terms "rainscreen principle" and "open rainscreen" were first used in 1963 by the National Research Council of Canada. Research continued through the 1960s and 1970s with refinements being made principally in Canada and in Europe. Water is a necessity of life. But in buildings, mismanaged water allowed to penetrate exterior walls is a pernicious problem for architects, occupants, and owners. It can wreak havoc on finishes and structural components, and adversely impact a building’s market value.
Rain screens shed most of the rain and manage the rest, preventing moisture intrusion and the resulting premature decay in homes. Rather than attacking the symptoms of moisture intrusion, rain screens tackle the source-the forces that drive water into the building shell. By neutralizing these forces, rain screens can withstand extreme environments. They appear to be effective in any climate and handle any weather condition short of a disaster. Rain screens effectively "drain the rain."
They control powerful building wetting forces-gravity, capillary action, and wind pressure differences The exterior cladding deters surface raindrop momentum. It is typically porous with several air bypasses. An airspace separates the cladding from the support wall. The airspace decouples most of the cladding from the support wall, thereby reducing splash and capillary moisture transfer. Large, protected openings (e.g., vents, or weep holes) positioned at the top and bottom of the wall promote convective airflow, allowing moisture to quickly drain or evaporate from the air cavity.
The exterior face of the support wall is protected with a drainage layer to further prevent any moisture that bypasses both cladding and air cavity. The airtight nature of the rainscreen (i.e., sealed assembly) buffers the remaining differential air pressure force. Moisture within a simple rain screen can be drawn into the inner wall if the forces acting on it remain high due to storm or climate. It is a simple, forgiving system with built-in, multilayered redundancy, and It has integrated drainage and ventilation that accelerates cavity moisture removal.
The Rainscreen Clip System ™ is vital in areas where meteorological forces require guaranteed protection against the elements. The Rainscreen Clip System ™ is the only product available today that allows for easy installation, unprecedented longevity, solid integrity and one of the most handsome exterior cladding available.

Rainscreen projects we like...

Here are a few projects that we may or may not have been involved in, but The Rainscreen clip was created by Jim Guffey of Wood Haven Inc. to install Rainscreen siding and soffits with out face screwing the beautiful expensive woods we use to create the longest lasting wood cladding system available.

The Clip...
We can make just about any profile you want for your project, and when we send it out, anyone can install it.



Here is a project in Kansas City...the Applebee's support center by BNIM
Very cool project- even if we hadn't been involved...It was incredible how easily the Rainscreen went up- even after 30 feet, it was still straight. That solidified the system's practicality for us, and the contractors loved it, because the client was happy, and it went up more quickly that anticipated.
This the Applebees Rainscreen using FSC Cumaru and the first extensive use of the Rainscreen Clip. For pricing, woodtypes, profiles and technical inquires, Call us at 1-800-545-8884, or email us at Rainscreenclip@gmail.com.