from Scripps Howard News Service
Every year, the National Association of Homebuilders sponsors The Builders Show, the largest exhibition of home-building products in the world. Many manufacturers find it a perfect showcase to introduce new products for the upcoming building season.
Jim Fredrick, who serves on the board of directors of the Anchorage Home Builders Association, reported some of these trends from a recent show:
- Changes and developments in the structural products used to build homes often are hidden behind walls, floors and ceilings of new or remodeled homes. That doesn't make them any less significant, however.
- Changes in the wood supply available from national and private forests have accelerated development of engineered wood and other alternative products as substitutes for solid wood products that have been used in the past to make up the structural skeleton of new homes and additions.
- Engineered I-joists, laminated beams and headers are not new products, but they are becoming the standard framing members, replacing solid-sawn joists and timber headers. Not only do these products use less and lower-quality wood, but the consistent size and tendency not to shrink or crack results in flatter, quieter floors and walls without drywall cracks over doors and windows.
- Along the same lines, use of expanded polystyrene foam for concrete forming/foundation insulation and rolled steel members for studs, joists and other framing members is ever-increasing.
- Other alternative materials include siding that is now made from composite wood strands and other materials. Fiber cement also is being used to make roofing products that mimic wood shakes and shingles. An added bonus-- the roofing is fire- and insect-proof and much more durable.
- Decking boards are being made from recycled plastic milk bottles mixed with waste wood from sawmill operations, as well as from vinyl and fiberglass. Windows in new construction, almost all made of solid wood 10 years ago, now are nearly all made from extruded vinyl, which is lower maintenance and won't split, crack or rot.
- Closed-cell urethane moldings, and moldings made from wood fiber mixed with resins, have replaced more expensive solid pine and fir moldings in applications where the moldings are being painted, with excellent results, and at a lower cost. These changes are partly due to increased cost of the quality wood needed for their manufacture, and partly due to consumer demand for products that last longer and require less maintenance.
Inside the home, technology in the form of the microprocessor is showing up more. Home appliances have been incorporating the computer chip in controls for years, but lighting systems, moisture sensor controls for skylights, humidistats in bath-vent fans and home security systems, to name just a few, are being automated now in ways that were never conceived a few years ago.
New homes and additions are being wired, not only for electricity, but also for cable and satellite video, sound systems, home theater and networked home computer systems. These systems can be managed with old-fashioned room switches as well as remotely, either from a central control or from a unit in your car; so lights, sound or other systems can be turned on as you turn into the driveway.
Although it's not available yet, a taste of the future came at this year's show in the form of a home lighting system that didn't have any light bulbs in it.
This system has one central light source, which could be located in a basement or crawl space. The light is distributed to rooms and fixtures throughout the home by fiber-optic cables that run in the floors and walls, terminating at each point where light is needed--with this system, you'll never change another light bulb.
Homes in the future may have a traditional look, but will likely be at but will likely be at least partially built with nontraditional materials, like recycled plastic.
