By John Burton
LITTLE SILVER –For T.J. Shaheen and his family-owned and operated Builders’ General Supply Company, Super Storm Sandy made one thing clear: Things had to change with building supplies to give homeowners some additional protection.
And it has, he said.
“The technology is out there,” Shaheen said and his business has begun a partnership to make these defensive building supplies available to area construction contractors.
Builders’ General, at its 15 Sycamore Ave., Little Silver location, as well as its sites in Edison, Freehold and Toms River, now has partnered with Eco Building Products, selling that company’s treated lumber and other supplies to allow for defensive building and rebuilding.
Eco, along with coloring its lumber in a distinctive red, has developed a treatment for the Douglas fir wood it uses, making the material “resistant to fire, rot, insects and mold,” said Frank Dicopoulos, a technical representative for Eco.
Steve Conboy, Eco’s chief executive officer, was a union carpenter from Brooklyn, N.Y., and said he moved to California for the housing boom where he worked framing houses. He established Eco about seven or eight years after he got “involved with people who were smarter than me,” to come up with the means of treating the wood.
“When you handle that much lumber and you see the problems that can develop when wood gets nailed into the building,” Conboy said, he knew there had to be a better way.
According to Dicopoulos, all six sides of the wood are treated with a proprietary technology that encapsulates the wood, making it a safer alternative than traditional pressure-treated lumber, with less of the toxins that can result from pressure treatment.
“We’re trying to embrace the fact that we have to raise the bar when it comes to these climate change storms,” giving property owners a fighting chance to have their homes and business survive, Conboy said, “and we have to build more defensively.”
That is something that struck home for Shaheen and his business. Since Sandy struck the region two years ago, “a good 50 percent” of the 83-year-old family owned and operated business has been dedicated to working on rebuilding, according to Shaheen. “We’re probably looking at a lifetime of rebuilding because of the storm” in the communities Builders’ General services, he suspected.
Given that “major kind of wakeup call,” “people need to know about this” as a means of protecting their homes and businesses, Shaheen added.
That also resonated with Dicopoulos, a Monmouth Beach resident who saw his home, “pretty much like everyone on my street,” was severely damaged by the Sandy. “I didn’t know anything about building materials at the time,” he acknowledged. “But I learned pretty quickly.”
Along with the specially treated lumber, Eco produces a variety of products intended to offer similar protection. Among the products is a spray used during the building process that will add an additional layer of sealant. And that, Shaheen said, means, “We can make your house literally float like a boat.”
Along with benefiting the homeowner, this would provide additional fire safety for first responders, Dicopoulos said.
“If we can give these guys a few more moments to find someone who is unconscious in a building,” offered Conboy, “that’s what I hope it does.”
“I think this is the biggest thing to come along in the building industry in a long time,” Shaheen offered.
Another product, a spray retardant for Christmas trees, will be demonstrated on Nov. 15 at either the Little Silver or Monmouth Beach fire departments, as firefighters see the difference between a treated and untreated tree as they try to ignite them, Dicopoulos said.
The event and sale of the spray at Builders’ General will be used as a fundraiser for homeless New Jersey veterans, Dicopoulos said.
Eco’s lumber has been used in about 1,000 projects, mostly on the west coast, according to Conboy.
