Ben Shoop
An Urban Company, Seattle
No matter how comfortable they are with high-tech appliances and gadgets, most custom clients want their home A/V equipment to stay behind the scenes. That’s why Seattle builder Ben Shoop likes welded-steel TV lifts from Auton to stow the tube out of sight when not in use. “They’re straightforward and easy to install,” he says. In addition to custom automated TV lifts, the company also makes plasma lifts, ceiling flip-downs, drop-downs, and a host of other motorized systems.
For dealing with Rain City’s notorious wet weather, Shoop employs a variety of products. He likes BHS Wood Filler from Bondo, a company better known for its auto-body products. “It’s super-smooth and hard, and is easy to sand. It definitely stands up to the weather,” he says. Another product he and his crew trust to handle Seattle’s rainy climate is Blueskin TWF, a self-adhesive, through-wall flashing membrane from Bakor. “It’s totally waterproof,” Shoop says. He cuts it with scissors for a custom fit. And Drylock masonry waterproofers by United Gilsonite Laboratories help him keep concrete walls impervious to moisture. — Meghan Drueding
Bondo Home Solutions. 888.442.6636. www.bondo.com.
Bakor. 800.523.0268. www.bakor.com.
United Gilsonite Laboratories. 800.845.5227. www.ugl.com.
Jake Goldberg
Goldberg General Contracting, Chicago
Custom builder Jake Goldberg works with some of Chicago’s foremost Modernist architects, so he has a good vantage point from which to spot design trends. One he is tracking is in siding materials. “We’re doing a lot of exterior panel systems,” Goldberg says. “It seems like more and more architects are specifying rainscreen-type systems,” which combine a waterproof wall wrap with an open-joint siding panel. Goldberg likes a composite panel called Parklex. Produced in Finland, the material consists of a wood veneer, coated with acrylic resin and a UV-resistant finish, laminated to a core of resin-bonded cellulose fibers. Available in a variety of shades, “It looks like a wood panel, but it’s completely impervious to water.”
To stop water at the drainage plane, Goldberg uses a breathable membrane from VaproShield. “It’s basically a housewrap,” he says. But with a vapor permeability rating of 50 perms, “it allows the wall cavity to breathe much better.” In addition, he says, “It’s self-sealing.” At less than $2,000 more than conventional housewrap for an average house, he says, “It’s a good upgrade.” — Bruce D. Snider
Parklex. 310.393.9991. www.fcpcusa.com.
Paul Filice
DMC Construction, Pacific Grove, Calif.
Paul Filice, manager of the luxury home division at DMC Construction in Northern California, often builds Spanish Colonial and Monterey-style houses. He keeps an eye out for beautiful, durable roof tiles that will maintain his projects’ historic appearances—and products from Redland Clay Tile win his seal of approval. “They have a very good look for a lot of the houses we do,” he says. Redland mines its own clay and fire-flashes its tiles through a kiln process, creating beautiful and natural color variations.
Filice also favors Heat & Glo fireplace inserts—“they have a lot of versatility”—as well as Toto’s line of low-water-use toilets, which help him meet environmental guidelines in a stylish manner. As an avid cook himself, he enjoys ranges from Wolf. “I’m in the kitchen all the time, so the range is very important to me,” he adds. —M.D.
Heat & Glo. 888.427.3973. www.heatnglo.com.
Toto USA. 888.295.8134. www.totousa.com.
Wolf. 800.332.9513. www.wolfappliance.com.
