It looked like a super-sized Home Depot–only bigger, much bigger. Every product that goes into the construction of new homes was displayed. From doors to decks, from drills to drywall, from stoves to showers, from stairs to sunrooms.
This mammoth monument to housing construction was a centerpiece at the National Association of Home Builders convention last month in Las Vegas.
Largest of its kind in the world, the exhibition showcased the products of 1,600 companies in a record-breaking 1.6 million square feet of space. Products and services in 200 categories of the home construction industry were displayed at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Some were new products that will appear in the homes of the near future. Others will turn up gradually.
One of the new products introduced was the IMPASSE Termite Blocker by Syngenta, Greenboro, N.C.
“Eighty percent of termites come up through foundation cracks and along pipes in the foundation,” said Ed DeMask, spokesman for Syngenta.
The blocker, a sleeve made of construction grade plastic, fits around electrical conduit and plumbing pipes. The sleeve has a termiticide inside and is installed before the concrete is poured.
Want your house to have a Greek or Roman look? One Chicago area firm exhibiting at the show was Royal Corinthian Inc., which makes columns to dress up your front porch.
The polymer stone columns—made from marble dust and resin and other fillers–are load-bearing but weigh half as much as concrete or stone, according to Jason Buziecki of Royal Corinthian, which has a factory in West Chicago and a showroom in Oakbrook Terrace.
Buzievki said that the columns can be painted. They are mostly installed in high-end custom homes, and in condos and apartments.
Buoyed by several years of stellar sales in residential housing, a record number of makers of building products and services ranging from A & H Windows to Zurn Pex Plumbing and Radiant Heating Systems set up shop at the Las Vegas show.
The size and scope of the gathering–and its location–meant a number of companies turned to a bit of show biz razzle-dazzle to attract traffic and attention.
There were truck giveaways, hammering contests, celebrity chef cooking demonstrations, acrobats and the opportunity to clamber on the back of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle with a pretty young woman for those who would stop at a company’s space or take its literature.
A sampling of what attendees saw:
But can they do back flips? Appliances that have more than one function, whether it was the freezer designed especially for the garage at Sears, Roebuck or the two-in-one appliances at LG Electronics.
The two-compartment Kenmore K2 looks like a traditional refrigerator but with the cooling compartments reversed–the large compartment on the bottom is the freezer and the smaller top compartment can be a refrigerator. Flip a switch and the refrigerator compartment also becomes a freezer.
Solving the problem of where to put the television in the kitchen, LG installed a cable-ready 1312-inch television screen and AM/FM radio on the front of a refrigerator. The TV is on the right door of the side-by-side unit. The company also showed a combination one-liter coffeemaker and 1.2-cubic-foot microwave oven.
– Designer names entering the fray. Architect Michael Graves, who has designed housewares and other household products for Target Corp., has teamed up with Delta Faucet to design faucets for kitchen and bath with some accessory items such as a wall mounted bud vase and a votive candle holder.
Not all the names that suppliers think will appeal to home buyers and builders are designers. ODL Inc., a Zeeland, Mich.-based maker of decorative door glass is talking with Waterford Crystal in an effort to bring that name to decorative glass doors.
– Seeking authentic–and low maintenance. Speakers at the convention said repeatedly that home buyers are buying traditional designs. At the same time, they want very little maintenance. It is a combination not always possible.
Garage door makers, who have sold a practical and utilitarian product for years, are introducing more elegant designs especially as garages are getting larger and the doors are more prominent. Dixon, Ill.-based Raynor showed a new custom-made wood door collection called American Rivers with details inspired by the carriage doors of a century ago.
The makers of low maintenance synthetic decking also are sensitive to the desire for an authentic look. Westech showed a slip-resistent embossed wood grained surface for its vinyl product. Tendura, made from polypropylene, added a battleship gray color to simulate weathering of its porch plank product.
– Finding new wrinkles. Established brands including Corian solid surfaces and KitchenAid are venturing into some new territory. Corian unveiled a “Bas Relief” collection to give some texture to backsplashes and bath walls. In five different patterns including an approximation of a honeycomb and a surface like weathered ice, the designs are in a limited number of colors, mostly neutrals, except for Pompeii Red in a wavy pattern called Flow.
KitchenAid introduced its first washer and dryer combination as part of a move into rooms beyond the kitchen. Called Ensemble, the combination front-loading washer and dryer are Energy Star-rated for water and energy efficiency.
– Working to save resources. You have to give credit for the boldness of the image, even if the topic . . . well . . .isn’t one discussed in polite company at the dinner table.
In a picture for Kohler Co., maker of kitchen and bath fixtures, four seriously large men in Green Bay Packer football shirts sit side by side, chomping a deli sandwich that looks about a mile long.
The point of the picture? To convey the “exceptional flushing power” of the new Kohler Cimarron toilet, a low-flow fixture that the company says will sweep waste away in only one flush, a problem since the advent of water-saving fixtures 10 years ago.
American Standard has introduced a new model called Champion which also promises only one flush is necessary to save homeowners water and frustration.
Also displayed were products from Omniflx, which makes prefabricated drywall systems. Some of these were installed in the new Soldier Field.
“Several thousand feet of prefabricated drywall assemblies were used in the skybox area of Soldier Field,” said Ron Huskey, commercial sales manager for Omniflx, based in Lemont.
On the residential side, the drywall can be used to create tray ceilings.
“It’s easy to put up and there are no cracks or nail pops. The cost would be about 10 percent less for the total of materials and labor,” he said.
Savings in energy bills and space are offered by Eemax Tankless Water Heaters, based in Oxford, Conn.
The size of a residential unit is 1-foot-by-1-foot-by-3-inches, according to Chris Anderson of Eemax.
“A regular water heater runs all day, but ours ramps up in 8 seconds and run only when hot water is needed. No tank is involved. Water runs through chambers with heating elements,” Anderson said.
He said the unit runs about $600, but offers energy savings of 30 percent to 50 percent over a conventional water heater.
Cleaning leaves out of gutters is one of those unpleasant jobs that is necessary once a year. LEAFAWAY, one of the firms exhibiting at the show, offers a leaf and debris gutter protection system.
“In the last six or seven years, more people have wanted their houses to be maintenance free. The don’t want to crawl up on their roofs to clean the gutters,” said David Hedman, national sales manager for LEAFAWAY, based in Fargo, N.D.
He explained that his product replaces existing gutters with an aluminum gutter with a cover on top so leaves blow away. Hedman said his firm plans to look for a dealer in the Chicago area.
Sunrooms increase living space and bring in natural light. Metals USA Building Products touted its aluminum sunroom at the builders show with a full-size model.
Headquartered in Plano, Tex., Metals USA points out that aluminum sunrooms are not subject to rot, mold or insect infestation. The parts for construction are precut and shipped from various locations across the country.
The use of wood in homes may decline with the introduction of products that look like wood but have other materials as well. One of them is Shingleside by James Hardie Siding Products, based in Mission Viejo, Calif. It says its fiber-cement shingles appear to be authentic cedar shingles, but will not crack, rot or buckle and resist damage caused by extended exposure to moisture, humidity and termites.
In response to cases of identity theft, Energy Technology Laboratories of Modesto, Calif., developed the Secure Logic Secure Mail Vault. Slightly larger than a regular mailbox, it is constructed of 14-gauge stainless steel and is opened with an electronic keypad. Priced at $349, it is available in black or white, according to Gina Guthrie, marketing manager.
