CLARITY OF MEMORY

60 minutes & Life's Hourglass-

After a lazy afternoon of football & a Saturday saying my goodbyes to an elderly aunt with terminal cancer; either God, simple fate, or some crazy circumstance prompted me to surf over to 60 minutes. Leslie Stahl was interviewing & testing (5) Memory Savants (The Gift of Endless Memory) that each had a gift for remembering virtually every detail of their life with near perfect clarity. Strangely enough, my Saturday was spent listening to numerous stories offered by my aunt & Grandfather whereupon I found adolescent omnipotence raising its head. By that, I mean that I considered myself too young, bored, or too good to pay serious attention to portions of their stories. How often have we all found this behavior jumping up when it shouldn't? I dare say it is a common occurrence and one that we should forgo to change, especially as it relates to our businesses.

As I watched the TV and recalled my day with my ailing aunt I realized the fault in my behavior and thankfully was able to clearly remember it. Am I that way all the time? No, absolutely not however, what if I remembered every detail of every day that I lived without choice in the matter? Would I conduct my relationships differently? And how would I view my past thus far? The answers for me are fairly clear. I would NOT hold many of my own conversations & relationships in high regard.

At what point in our lives does the memory of what we do, have done, and will do become more important than the immediate moment at hand? For me, and I'm in my 40's, it has been only recently that I've truly paid attention. For others, maybe it is younger or worse, even older. However in business, friendship, and family the importance of realizing that we are not omnipotent and that our Hourglass of Life has a finite number of sand crystals should be an epiphany.

Look at yourself and scrutinize: your business, your marketing plan, your sales pitches, the relationships that you have, and those that you aspire to attain and think about how you would remember your actions if a clear & distinct memory of these events was a given. Throughout the 60 Minutes article, I asked myself how these Savant's lives were affected by this gift when finally Leslie Stahl asked my question and received this profound answer: "I live every day knowing that I will remember it in near perfect detail which forces me to live each day as well as I can." A simple and overused phrase until you consider clarity of memory.

May 2011 be the Year of Clarity for the Spray Foam Industry.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
Joe
International Mobile Equipment

Gooseneck Twin Unit-Assured Insulating

GOOSENECK DELIVERY!

Picked this unit up on November 8 (see Gooseneck PhotoStream posted earlier), started on it a couple days later. I’m en route to Texas right now to deliver. We crammed a lot of equipment into a very compact space-PICTURES OF THE COMPLETE UNIT COMING SOON-and there were some unexpected headaches:

• a rather large leak in the trailer roof!!! Discovered it after a couple days of rain AND after the finishes were in place. A tough discovery late in the game and we had to literally re caulk the entire roof. Haulmark claimed that insulating the trailer with closed cell foam nullified the warranty. And they say you’ll NOT discover a leak with closed cell.
• a HUGE problem getting a rotary screw compressor. VENDORS, if you don’t have it-DON’T TELL PEOPLE YOU DO!!! A big thanks to Scott (?) @ Sullivan Pelatek for saving the day and sending a fantastic rotary screw unit. We WILL BE ordering more.
• a small Large leak at the reactor in one of the recirculation lines on reactor (1) on D-Day! HUGE mess but the guys caught it quick and cleaned it up.
• then, another fitting not completely tightened along one of the Graco Air lines in the Hoses was discovered. Easily remedied & NO mess. We like those problems
• next, on D-Day, the fuel filter on the generator was BARELY hand tight from the factory and it leaked and made another mess.

Regardless of the issues, and we see them with every unit, we are very proud and excited about this unit, it was IME’s first Double (my 5th) and considering the Thanksgiving Holiday, the guys pulled off a nice build in a very short period of time considering the detail required for a unit of this nature:
Thanks to Jason, Darryl, and Daniel for putting a lot of heart into this unit! Looking forward to more.

Our ONLINE Store

http://www.imefusion.com/store/

FOAM WEEK TV - Spray Foam News - October 29, 2010

When all else fails....

When all else fails...Read the directions!

Being a long time elite member of the "Directionally Challenged-Read as a Last Resort Club" has it moments of pride of course but more often than not, membership has a tendency to humble one with great frequency. During a recent rig build out, the crew was loading the trailer with the miscellaneous goodies included with the sale and getting the system prepped for the wet-down when BAM, an E99 Error code reared its ugly head. A communication error, which for our staff, had never occurred however this one had us stumped. After several hours of narrowing down where this problem was with guidance from Graco's Repair Manual, we still could not find the issue. At the point where the towel was about to be thrown, we looked deeper into the proportioner and found a loose plug dangling behind a gizmo that didn't have a home. Low and behold, that was it. Now, as embarrassed as we all were for having not looked there first, we did come away with one rather profound experience. Graco's repair manual was a fantastic aid & resource to our staff during this endeavor, even for one of the new guys!

I remember some point in elementary or middle school whereupon the teacher instructed our class to describe in writing how to construct a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. An easy "A" was our immediate thought but she threw us a curve the next day by having us "construct" our sandwiches according to our descriptive masterpieces. The memory of peanut butter & jelly smeared into my hands and all over my desk still resonates whenever I'm attempting to describe a method or repair to one of my customers.The objective of this entry is to complement the writers of Graco's numerous repair manuals foremost. They are extremely well written, exceptional even, and all new applicators should go to the manuals first, then contact your supplier. Being a member of the before mentioned Directionally Challenged Club is a point of pride with me and my staff however when one has a resource that is as well written and easy to follow as Graco's repair manuals, the membership guidelines must take a back seat.

Graco-I'd love to see your descriptive masterpiece on how to construct a PB&J!

"Walls that Work" JM AIA Seminar

I just attended an AIA Certified "Walls that Work" seminar where Neal Ganser, founder of Corbond, was the speaker. If one has the opportunity, I highly suggest attending this conference. Corbond is now owned by Johns Manville and from our perspective their entry into the spray foam market is good for the industry.

Let me explain briefly; JM is a very conservative company owned by Berkshire Hathaway which makes it a very big target for the "ambulance chasing" community of litigators therefore they put enormous effort into insuring that a product is ready for market & most importantly, that the data for said product is accurate. This philosophy is one that will bode well for our industry and one that I hope will take hold.

The seminar goes into the science or better said, the ignored lessons of building science, and is very easy to understand, even to one new to the industry. For more information regarding the next venue please contact:

Joyce Maxin
Corbond Corporation a Johns Manville Company
Tel. 888-949-9089
Fax 406-586-4584
maxinj@jm.com

The point:
Insulation, or the process of insulating, and the "supplemental components & materials" of construction are perpetually changing. More often than not, the addition of a new and exciting product will gather significant interest and growth in sales BEFORE accurate "causes and effects" can be determined. Sadly, the construction industry often fails to learn from mistakes made in the past when implementing new products.

The process of insulating, as you already know, affects the climate of a home and when planning additional insulation, one must pay particularly close attention to their geographic location, their climate zone, their building materials, their HVAC, and the multiple condensation points or, the addition of insulation may merely become a pit stop to a much larger repair.

The "Walls that Work" seminar dives head first into the physics of construction and the resulting effects of over or under applying insulation relative to the supplemental components that make up a home. Please make the time to attend-it'll be well worth the 4 or so hours and I'm confident he'll be somewhere close to you soon.

Spray Foam Insulation and Roofing - Contractors, Suppliers, Equipment and Information - SprayFoam.com

Spray Foam Insulation and Roofing - Contractors, Suppliers, Equipment and Information - SprayFoam.com

A week of training

The first of two April trainings took place last week in Easley & IME proudly walked a couple of new companies through safety, sales, and application training. I'd like to wish the guys at SHP & ARP the best of luck and remind them that IME is here to support you.

Thanks for entrusting us with your business.

"If you always do what you've always done you'll always get what you've always gotten"

A fact possibly, and it's TOUGH out their so it's something to consider. With pricing on products & services more competitive than ever, it's a feast for the bottom feeders or dollar swappers right now. The key to success in the "catfish market" is to shop & compare.

As an example, I recently heard that there were areas in South Florida that if your pricing for R19 in OC was more than 1.25/sq.ft.-you weren't getting the job. CRAZY -yes, but is it possible? Strangely enough, it is possible. You just need to consider doing something that you may have never done.

To explain, we'll let "the chemistry" speak again.
If a customer calls you looking for open cell foam:

*What yield are you getting out of your current product? 14,000 bft? 15,000bft?
*What price are you paying for your current product? $2,000.00/set or More?
*How much is that product costing your company per inch? 0.12/inch? 0.15/inch?
*Do you know what the aged R-Value of your OC product is? 3.6? 3.8? Or higher?

Any of the above that relate to a products chemistry can affect;

* The number of SETS required to complete a job-
* The cost per inch of the product you're spraying-
* How many inches of your product required to meet the desired R-Value-
* And most important, your ability to GET the job.

As an example, if the product you're currently spraying has a yield of 14,000 board feet per set, costs you 2,300/set delivered with tax, and has an R-Value of 3.6/inch; in order to apply an R19 for your customer you must apply 5.5 inches, or 6.5 inches to allow for trimming @ a cost of 1.04 per square foot just for material. Expensive? Maybe not in the past but if you need to compete with 1.25/sq.ft. installed-ABSOLUTELY.

So, let's do something you haven't done-consider another product. Shop & compare and expect variations dependent on the job. PRICE THE JOB, NOT THE SQUARE FOOTAGE! For the sake of my argument, let's look at another product (a very real product): a product yielding 14,000 board feet per set that costs you $2,400/set delivered with tax that has an R-Value of 4.2/inch. On the surface, its more expensive but: an R19 in this product requires 4.5 inches costing you 0.17/inch OR 0.77 per square foot with less clean-up, almost zero waste, and little or no trimming. Now-is 1.25 per square foot achievable? The answer is yes and there are other comparisons.

In closing-
DOING SOMETHING THAT YOU HAVE NEVER DONE MAY GET YOU SOMETHING YOU'VE NEVER GOTTEN!

Technical Data Sheets

I've uploaded several of the TDS Sheets that you'll find a need for in your daily activities. Please let me know if I need to upload new sheets or new manufacturers.

Fusion AP Parts List

We compiled a list of Fusion AP parts for quick reference.
Call today for your order. Much of the highlighted items are in stock for quick delivery and if you're in the southeast get ready, a "milk run" salesman is in the works.

SprayFoam.com - Promotional Offers

SprayFoam.com - Promotional Offers

"Hot Roof Help"

Unvented attics and shingle warranties
Some manufacturers' warranties may remain applicable
by Mark S. Graham


With the adoption of the International Residential Code, 2006 Edition, which contains specific provisions permitting the use of unvented, conditioned attic assemblies, such attic assemblies have been growing in popularity throughout the U.S.

However, one common criticism of such assemblies is that they may result in increased roof surface temperatures that can prematurely deteriorate roof coverings, particularly bitumen-based roof coverings. Also, in some instances, manufacturers' warranties limit or exclude coverage of attic assemblies over roof deck substrates that are not properly vented.

Surface temperatures

In most instances, the use of unvented, conditioned attic assemblies results in increased roof surface temperatures when compared with temperatures of conventionally vented attic assemblies. However, it is important to keep the small temperature increases attributed to unvented, conditioned attic assemblies in perspective.

For example, the differences between roof surface temperatures in the southern and northern regions of the U.S. are significantly greater than the surface temperature differences between unvented, conditioned attic assemblies and conventionally vented attic assemblies.

Similarly, the roof surface temperature difference between a roof system's southern, sun-exposed slope and northern, shaded slope is about the same or greater than the surface temperature difference between unvented, conditioned attic assemblies and conventionally vented attic assemblies.

Although some roofing professionals acknowledge differences in roof system performance and life span between the southern and northern regions of the U.S. or on the southern slope versus the northern slope of a given roof system, asphalt shingle manufacturers do not vary their warranty provisions based on these differences. Therefore, the question is whether warranty exclusions for unvented, conditioned attic assemblies are technically justified.

Warranties

NRCA reviewed some asphalt shingle manufacturers' warranties for specific provisions or exclusions addressing unvented, conditioned attic assemblies. NRCA also conducted follow-up discussions with manufacturers' technical and/or warranty service departments to confirm its findings.

Based on its research, NRCA found CertainTeed Corp., Valley Forge, Pa.; GAF-Elk, Wayne, N.J.; IKO, Wilmington, Del.; Malarkey Roofing Products, Portland, Ore.; and Pabco Roofing Products, Tacoma, Wash., provide warranty coverage for unvented, conditioned attic assemblies with certain limitations. NRCA found the limitations differ somewhat among manufacturers and sometimes among a manufacturer's products and warranties.

Closing thoughts

Use of unvented, conditioned attic assemblies is particularly logical in hot, humid climates where buildings' air-conditioning equipment often is placed in attics.

But some asphalt shingle manufacturers specifically exclude such assemblies from their warranty coverage while other manufacturers include them in their warranties with certain limitations. It is important to realize manufacturers are free to base and structure their warranties on factors of their own choosing and manufacturers' warranty requirements and language sometimes change.

If you are involved with or considering roofing projects using asphalt shingles on unvented, conditioned attic assemblies, I encourage you to contact the asphalt shingle manufacturer being considered regarding its warranty coverage and limitations or exclusions applicable to unvented, conditioned attic assemblies.

Mark S. Graham is NRCA's associate executive director of technical services.

Source:

Spray Foam Insulation and Roofing - Contractors, Suppliers, Equipment and Information - SprayFoam.com

Spray Foam Insulation and Roofing - Contractors, Suppliers, Equipment and Information - SprayFoam.com