Air & Water Barriers

A Building Envelope Made For The Coast

May 13, 2024

Coastal elements are simply brutal on buildings. Wind-driven rain, salt in the air, humidity, drastic thermal swings. Structures built in coastal regions are exposed to a lot. 

Luckily for the owners of this high-end residence in Wrightsville Beach, N.C., their building envelope was protected with the complete R-Guard system. That included Joint & Seam Filler, FastFlash, and Cat 5 Rain Screen.  

Sendero Verde Tower A used R-Guard products applied by King Contracting - photo by John Young

Air & Water Barriers

The best system you can get for an airtight envelope

There's a reason this system is called the "Cadillac."   Fills in seams, openings and pinholes in the sheathing.  Flashes rough openings of doors and windows. Available in roller-grade and gun-grade versions. Rolls or sprays onto the field of the wall as a primary barrier.  Interior air sealant around windows and[…]

photo copyright King Contracting

Air & Water Barriers

The deal-maker of New York City

Meet the contractor who has exploded into the NYC masonry scene. Growing up in New Jersey, Brett Steinberg, owner of King Contracting, had "the best life," he says. "I had two of everything." That all changed for Steinberg at age 14, when his Father unfortunately passed away. While grieving the[…]

Concrete floor in warehouse. photo used with permission from Shutterstock

Concrete Flooring

Type 1L cement is everywhere – here’s what you need to know about it

Learn why it's so popular, how it's made and what product is best suited to densify it.   The materials we use to build are constantly changing with evolving technologies, availability of source ingredients, regulatory activities, architectural trends, and other factors. The construction industry is still learning about a relative[…]

An in-progress photo shows the contrast between before and after. Photo courtesy Pressure Washing Systems

Hard Surface Care

Room above board

How Pressure Washing Systems found its niche by doing things the right way When Pressure Washing Systems was first established in Chicago in 1989, they were in the business of cleaning… just about anything. "As a small business without a lot of business experience, we would clean whatever," says Bill[…]

Daniel Levy built this Passive House-certified structure with Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.

Air & Water Barriers

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete: One Passive House builder’s perspective

Daniel Levy acknowledges the adoption of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) is lagging in the U.S. But that's not stopping him from using it to build Passive House-certified homes. Years ago, Levy taught woodworking technology at the University of Maryland and calls himself a "teacher at heart," but he's also a[…]