Providence Business News

"R.I. building expo pushes ‘green’ reuse concepts"

Posted Dec. 10, 2007
Education

PBN Staff Writer

With about 10 students gathered around him, Robert Cagnetta, founder of Heritage Restoration Inc., held a counterweight that hangs inside the framing of historic double-hung, sash windows.

“This,” he said, raising the metal ballast, “isn’t going to break.”

That durability is one of the reasons why Cagnetta advocates renovation of historic windows instead of replacement.

A new, spring-loaded plastic window might last 25 years, but renovating an older window – after it’s been used for 50, 150 or even 250 years – is usually a better investment, he said. It will likely last longer and, with a little work, it can have comparable heat-retention ratings.

And throwing away a window is wasteful, a concept contractors or homeowners interested in historic renovation and “green” design might find interesting. Cagnetta, however, was speaking to high school students at the R.I. Green Building Expo.

About 60 students at the expo got hands-on experience with environmentally friendly HVAC systems, foundations created from insulation-filled concrete, leak-proof skylights and drywall construction.

William Charron, a senior from Woonsocket High School, got a hands-on look at energy-efficient techniques for installing and sealing skylights.

Using roof-flashing tape, metal flashing, underlayment and shingles, Charron fitted a skylight into a mock roof. The green design is in the materials used and in the household’s energy reduction once the skylight is in place, he said.

Joe Gonsalves, a senior at Smithfield High School planning to study engineering, was helping Charron.

For Gonsalves, learning about green building material will help him with whichever career path he chooses. “I’m not particularly interested [in green building], but with engineering you need to know this type of stuff,” he said.

The expo, held Dec. 4, was designed to “fill in the gaps” for the next generation of contractors, said Paul Wolff, director of education with Building Events Solutions, the Expo’s North Kingstown-based organizer.

“There’s a huge deficit in the construction sector right now. The average person in the building trades is in their 40s, which is unbelievable,” he said. “And these schools, I think, are in a unique position to impact the entire market if they’re up to date with emerging technology.”

At the day-long event, held at Cranston’s Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, keynote speaker Kevin Ireton, editor of Taunton, Mass.’s Fine Homebuilding magazine, told student and teachers that there needs to be a drastic change in renovation and new-construction practices.

“A lot of the problems are the result of uninformed consumers,” he said. “Generally speaking, people know more about the car that they buy, their stereo, TV or CDs, than they do about their houses.”

That’s why contractors need to be well-versed in new techniques, like the ones presented at the expo, he said. “These are the people who are actually going to be doing the work – that’s important because most of the green-building talk is going on at the idea level,” he said while surveying the morning workshops. “The people who are on the job site are the people who are making – or not making, destroying – the green houses.”

By starting early, when builders don’t have well-defined skill sets, it’s easier to increase sustainable-practices awareness. That’s why Trish Kern, director of marketing for SoundSense LLC, a Long Island, N.Y., acoustics consultant and designer, said the interaction with future builders was key.

“If you try to talk with a contractor – one that’s been working for 30 years – and you say LEED to them, they just don’t want to hear it,” she said, citing the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification. •