Posted August 10, 2024
By GRANT BROMLEY
A family of 12, like the Roberts family, learns and grows together, weathering every storm that life presents through faith and love.
Still, they'll need a house with siding that can withstand all sorts of weather.
Thanks to a donation from LP Building Solutions, the Roberts' future home, which is being developed by Habitat For Humanity of Cleveland, will have siding, provided free of charge.
To demonstrate how to install its SmartSide siding, which is made from engineered wood, representatives of LP Building Solutions were on hand on Thursday, Aug. 8, with Habitat core volunteers and sub-contractors getting used to working with this material.
Taking a break in the shade from working on the siding installation, the Cleveland Daily Banner spoke with John Abell, territory sales manager with LP Building Solutions; Diego Garzon, technical sales representative with LP Building Solutions; and Jerry Chandler, outside sales with Tindell's Inc., about the donation to the Cleveland affiliate of Habitat.
Habitat's construction director, David Cowan, was also on hand.
"We wanted to do what's right, and that's one thing LP does is really reach out to the community," Abell said of the donated siding. "It's called 'Building a Better World,' and that's one of our mottos."
While this is the first time LP has worked with the Habitat affiliate in Cleveland, they have worked with Habitat in other communities and were glad to teach Cowan and the volunteers on the best practices for installing engineered wood siding.
Stating that LP only uses aspen wood for its siding, Abell said, "When we use that aspen, we use 99% of a log. We're very efficient at what we do, but we don't just take the log and cut it down and make siding — it goes through a treatment process called SmartGuard process where it's treated with … zinc borate, which inhibits the rot, moisture and fungal decay cycle. Then it's treated with MDI resins, and then it's treated with wax."
He added, "When we put that board together, it's impervious to the weather."
For Habitat, the donation of this siding is a significant gain for a house of this size, coming in at 1,865 square feet of livable space.
Chiming in, Cowan said, "Habitat's motto here is 'simple, decent, affordable,' which is not to be confused with 'cheap' … [The Roberts house] is the largest house our Habitat affiliate has ever built, and that put us way out of our wheelhouse, as far as cost is concerned."
Continuing, he said when he called LP about their need, they said they "were glad to help," with Cowan stating, "As a builder, I prefer a wood product over vinyl siding or plastic — it's so much cleaner and is a nicer product."
For Habitat, attempting to do this installation solely with volunteers will help to keep the cost down for the homeowners.
"We try to do most everything in-house with volunteers because that helps with the cost of construction," Cowan said. "Everything that we spend, that money has to transfer over to the mortgage and the homeowner. Obviously, they want to get in their house as fast as they can, but we have a duty to keep working and keep the cost low."
Thinking big picture, Cowan added, "I want to point out that there are a lot of people in this town and around that talk about affordable housing and building affordable housing … but there are very few of those people that actually do something about it — LP stepped up."
While they continue working on the house, the Roberts family is checking in frequently on the progress being made.
At the Women Build on May 3, very little of the home was up. During that build cycle, Brian told the Banner that's where he and his family got in a considerable amount of their required "sweat equity."
Now, the house is taking shape, and it even has a front door.
While a move-in date has not yet been set, Brian said, "The only day we're holding onto is Sept. 28, which is when we're supposed to have friends and family over to paint."
Concluding his remarks, he said, "We're super excited."
