Rough Construction 2016 by Espress Labs Inc.

INSIDE ROUGH CONSTRUCTION 2016 Trends in Concrete “Insights”

Insulation

Millwork

Building Materials

Weather Protection

Adhesives

Roofing

Siding

Power Tools

What’s Inside? Castle Building Centres Group Ltd. is a Canadian member-owned, Lumber, Building Materials and Hardware buying group representing over 300 member locations across Canada. Visit castle.ca to find a Castle location in your area.

Editorial Director Castle Castle Building Centres Group Ltd. Jennifer Mercieca Publisher - JAD Media Group Inc. Dan Alexander Managing Editor Teresa Christine Art Director Aram Stamboulian Contributors Teresa Christine Lawrence Cummer

Building Materials

Siding

Roofing

Windows

Insulation

Power Tools

Editor’s Note Starting from the Bottom

Trends in Concrete Concrete has always maintained a solid foundation.

Advertising Inquiries Jennifer Mercieca Director of Communications Castle Building Centres Group Ltd. 905-564-3307 jmercieca@castle.ca Material Contact Susan Brook Vendor Marketing Coordinator Castle Building Centres Group Ltd. 905-564-3307 sbrook@castle.ca Published and designed exclusively for Castle Building Centres Group Ltd. by JAD Media Group Inc.

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The annual supplement of Rough Construction is the perfect opportunity to focus on the cornerstone of any structure – its foundation. This issue offers you a snapshot of some of the many innovative products available at your local Castle Building Centres location. You will also find insight and information on Building A Better Envelope in today’s construction industry including a look at concrete trends for 2016. We hope you enjoy Rough Construction!

Contributors Lawrence Cummer Lawrence Cummer is a freelance writer with 20 years of experience writing for trade periodicals, business and communications agencies. He is former senior writer and editor of the technology trade publications Network World Canada and Communications & Networking Journal, respectively. As well, he has been a senior contributor to a wide variety of publications. Lawrence has been a frequent writer for Castle Building Centres’ Contractor Advantage since 2009, as well as its IDEAS and Rough Construction publications. Lawrence currently follows a broad range of business topics, including information technology, telecommunications, security, entrepreneurship, occupational safety, and home construction and general contracting. He can be reached at lawrence.cummer@hotmail.com.

Insights

Where Have All the Tradespeople Gone? The bigger question is: where are all the tradespeople going to come from? In Canada we may see a shortfall of one million workers by 2020 due primarily to an aging population and declining birth rates. As Baby Boomers gear up for retirement, there simply aren’t enough of the next generation to fill those vacant jobs. Would you believe me if I told you that employers have identified Skilled Trades as the number one most difficult job to fill today in Canada? Engineers are number six on that list. The same is true in the U.S.

Politicians would have you believe that we are on the path toward a “knowledge economy.” That may be true, but don’t let that confuse the issue at hand: trade skills are in demand now, and will be even more so in the next decade. Some 40% of new jobs in this country in the coming years will be in skilled trades and technology—twice the ratio held in 1998, according to Skills Canada. The average age of a tradesperson in Canada was 40 in 2007, four years older than it was in 1987. It’s even older in a few specific fields, with the average age of

welders at 56, and framers and finishers being in their 50s on average. Although retirement is coming later for many, it’s easy to see where this trend is heading. Colleges, trades associations and government have for over a decade tried to right the course and drive greater interest in skilled trades; however, as a community we need to nip a few misconceptions in the bud. The long term health of our industry requires that we do more. Studies have shown that while young people are often open to careers in the skilled trades, they are ROUGH CONSTRUCTION 2016

dissuaded by parents, educators and friends who perpetuate the stigma associated with such jobs. According to a recent Canadian Apprenticeship Forum and Skills Canada poll conducted by Ipsos-Reid: • • • •

42% of Canadian youth claim they are unlikely to consider a career in the skilled trades 67% of youth and 55% of adults would choose university as the first post-secondary option 26% of youth said they would consider a career in the trades 60% of youth said their parents have not encouraged them to consider a career in trades

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• 71% of youth said guidance counsellors have not encouraged them to consider a profession in skilled trades

when hit hard by recession, trade employment has grown slightly faster than non-trades, according to Statistics Canada.

We need to break the bad habits many have developed of devaluing the trades, apprenticeships and college educations. Let’s start by looking at (and correcting) a few myths and misconceptions about careers in the skilled trades:

Myth #2

Myth #1 There are more opportunities for university-educated workers – the very skill shortage being discussed shows how false this is. In fact since the ’90s, even

You make more money with university experience – a few select university-schooled professionals—such as doctors and lawyers—can boast the earnings on which this myth is based. The truth, however, is that studies suggest tradespeople across Canada generally earn salaries of around 6% more than the national average of all careers. (And that includes the country’s doctors.) In addition to earning more than average, training

Insights

in skilled trades (often paid apprenticeship) means that most workers aren’t saddled by student debt.

INSIGHTS

Myth #3 Smart kids go to university – this is one of the biggest myths to continue to be perpetuated. Think of the advanced techniques and high technology that have become a part of a tradesperson’s toolbox. Successful tradesmen and tradeswomen require a solid grounding in math, analytical skills, literacy, the ability to solve complex problems, understand and analyze countless situations. Many tradespeople have some post-secondary education. Provincial requirements, in fact, set standards that make post-secondary education more common in some fields (like plumbing) than that of the general population.

With Ken Jenkins

Myth #4 The trades are for men – While it’s not a myth that most workers in the skilled trades are currently men (97% in 2007), this assertion that the trades are for men is patently false. It is no different than the past biases against women in science and technology fields. It exists, but we need to do everything we can to eliminate it. This kind of old-school thinking obviously can’t help us get ahead in the years to come. Here’s my challenge to you; when you are sitting with your sons and daughters, ask them if they’ve ever considered a career in the trades? If they haven’t, they should. A good personal friend of mine in the construction trades industry recently commented to me about this subject. “The skilled trades people of tomorrow will earn the doctor’s salaries of today.” The opportunity for entrepreneurial-minded individuals in the trades segment over the next few decades is staggering. I’m betting in the near future that’s where the money’s going to be. Insights

Ken Jenkins Ken Jenkins is the President of Castle Building Centres Group Ltd. and has over 20 years of experience within the Lumber, Building Materials and Hardware industry. Insights is a regular Blog written by Ken sharing his insights with small business entrepreneurs to help them become more entrepreneurial, more independent, and more successful. Subscribe to Insights: insights.castle.ca

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Photo courtesy of Fox Blocks

Trends in Concrete Written by Lawrence Cummer

Concrete has always maintained a solid foundation of use in home building and repair, but it may be becoming even more useful for contractors, renovators and builders thanks to steady improvements, homeowner trends and, of course, ever-more-strict building codes around energy. While Portland cement is nearly two centuries old today (the patent was filed in 1824), cement itself in one form or another is as old as civilization itself. Still, its uses and application continue to evolve. In particular, one of concrete’s most fundamental benefits is starting to appeal even more to builders with an eye on environmental sustainability: namely, a remarkably long service life.

Built for sustainability For many, particularly consumers and homeowners, the words concrete and environmental sustainability in the same sentence seems counterintuitive. The material definitely gets a bad rap, mainly because cement is energy intense to create; however, lifecycle analysis paints a different picture. According to the Cement Association of Canada (CAC), the production concrete (which itself consists of about 10 to 15% cement) results in 0.13 tonnes of CO2 emissions per tonne of concrete, less than almost all other building materials, which makes it “the sustainable construction material of choice.”

Some of that is from work already put in by the industry to reduce its environmental footprint. Over the past four decades, the cement industry has reduced its CO2 signature by approximately 40%, according to Rick McGrath, director codes and standards at CAC. In addition, concrete’s high thermal mass—its ability to absorb and store heat—plays an advantageous role in achieving greater energy efficiency. Studies have also found that the end of life and decommissioning of concrete represents less than 0.5% of the energy used on the project itself. It’s all part of the shift away from measuring environmental impact focusing purely on the initial embodied energy of materials—the energy consumed creating the building such as extraction, processing and manufacture, transportation and assembly—and the full “cradle-tograve” lifecycle of a structure.

ICF interest The energy savings from concrete starts to look even better when used alongside insulating concrete forms (ICFs). “When you build a structure with insulated concrete forms, because you’re encasing it in concrete, your energy savings are going to be greater than 35% for heating and

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cooling,” says Ron Funk, Canadian division sales manager for Fox Blocks Insulating Concrete Form Wall Systems. “I found that with my own home, which I built a number of years ago, the savings were actually greater than 50%. That helps impact the environment in a positive way.” It’s no surprise then that ICFs have seen increased acceptance in recent years both for above- and below-grade use. Funk attributes this to the need to meet ever-stricter energy codes and their expectation of greater air-tightness. ICFs are formwork blocks or panels, usually made of polystyrene foam, that lock together to reinforce concrete floors, interior or exterior walls

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and even roofs. They often likened to giant Lego blocks that are filled with concrete and usually include a rigid thermal insulation. On the market, since the ’60s, ICF use in North America has only really caught on over the last decade or so. One reason, suggests Funk, is the change in the early ’90s to use a plastic tie or web for strength and to better handle the weight of concrete. Another, he adds, was the later development of concrete design mixes focused on ICFs that offer greater “flowability,” through the use of smaller aggregates and sometimes the addition of plasticizers or superplasticizers in the mix.

Photos courtesy of Fox Blocks

Photo courtesy of Fox Blocks

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Home improvements Pont-Rouge, Que.-based manufacturer of bagged construction products Sable Marco has seen the sales of its general use cement double from 2014 to 2015, and it’s looking like it will have the same traction in 2016, according to its sales director Christopher Carbonneau. Pre-mixed concrete and masonry cement are also up, but to a lessor degree. Carbonneau says increased home improvements and repairs may be a contributor for this explosion in interest, but he also points to his company’s growing reputation for quality. More than ever, thanks to a confluence of factors like HGTVtype programing, the Internet, real estate costs and the Canadian dollar, homeowners are looking to invest in renovation projects to add value (and use) to their homes. Concrete naturally plays a major role in a number of these projects, notes Lindsay Veinotte, product marketing strategist at Shaw Resources in Hardwoodlands, N.S. “A lot of home improvement television programing has taken off, and the same thing has happened with social media channels,” Veinotte says. This year elaborate deck building seems to be “very huge,” she notes, and those decks, of course, require concrete for footings and foundation. From decks to fences to fire-pits to fountains, there seems to be no shortage of need for concrete in building homeowners’ dream yards in particular. Here again concrete’s quality to last makes a big difference, notes her colleague Scott Smith, operations manager. “Any concrete product, if it’s properly designed and properly mixed, it’s like a wine: it keeps getting better with age.” Certainly every material has its advocates, but Smith points to the permanency of cement structures in Europe that have stood the test of time for centuries, as well as reiterating the environmental benefits of thermal mass and the fact that concrete is normally locally sourced. He compares this to a North American bias toward natural resources (read: wood) and more transitory construction. “With most other building materials, eventually time will catch up with them.”

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SIDE NOTE

Innovation in the Bag Changes in the concrete industry may seem to take place slowly, especially with the rate of innovation found in other industries. Still, chemists at manufacturers continue to develop new mixes, such as the replacement (or partial replacement) of fly-ash for Portland cement, or additives that improve fluidity and flow, or pre-mixed concrete that offers a degree of auto-leveling. Chemists must often balance aspects of their mix when trying to introduce a new quality, suggests Helmut Medina, vice president of research and development (R&D) at Sable Marco, which produces over 60 different bagged products including cement and pre-mixed concrete, as well as alternative products. For example, when designing a pre-mixed concrete or alternative that flows better, it must be ensured that larger particles don’t all settle on the bottom and weaken the final structure. “It’s very challenging,” Media notes. In some cases, Sable Marco uses its chemistry know-how to develop alternatives that produce cement-like capabilities but make better sense

in particular instances, such as its bagged polymeric sand. For example, in applications like the mortar between walkway pavings, polymeric sand has displaced cement in recent years, since it better handles the freeze-thaw of Canadian winters, comes in more colours and is easier to repair. Other times a bit of more outside-the-box innovation is needed. In 2014, Sable Marco developed its Mortier dèapprentissage (Apprentice Mortar), which is being used by trades schools in Quebec, including ÉMOICQ in Quebec City, École Professionnelle de Saint-Hyacinthe, and the Centre de formation professionnelle Qualitech in Trois-Rivières. This cement product’s strength is its weakness. Future masons can build projects that can be easily broken apart at the end of a semester and recycled. It’s revolutionary, says Medina, because it also doesn’t include any harmful silica, making it ideal for use indoors. “It reduces the bricks thrown away by the schools. It’s cleaner and it’s safer,” he says. “We’re selling it by the truck loads.”

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