The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Research Center has begun a long-term project that it hopes will lead to better built and longer lasting homes, made with better quality products that homeowners don't have to spend so much time and money on to maintain.

The research project hopes to overcome what the center sees as a growing problem in America: That homeowners are doing a lousy job of basic maintenance on their homes; and home construction materials keep ending up in multi-billion lawsuits either because they are faulty products or because they are installed incorrectly.

The long-term goal of the project is to increase the durability of today's homes while at the same time reducing the cost of maintenance by 50 percent. It hopes to come up with a voluntary rating system that looks at products like roofing shingles and evaluates them on the basis of expense vs. life expectancy.

"We believe that most homeowners do not take good care of their homes," said project specialist Ross Heitzmann. "Commercial buildings last because they have routine maintenance performed by professionals.

"But the private homeowner doesn't do anything until his house starts falling apart or looks ugly. People at least should get out every year or two and look around their house. They should look for cracks that need to be sealed up or rotted wood.

"But most people don't do that. They'll change the oil in their car, but they won't do anything for their homes."

The Research Center project is being undertaken by a consortium of materials manufacturers and the National Association of Home Builders, along with some government research participation and some private research groups. Looking at variety of things -- roofing shingles, exterior paints, caulking, siding, windows and other components that go into a house -- the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing hopes to come with product rating systems that are geographically sensitive, price conscious and homeowner manageable.

It is hoped that research results will be provided to manufacturers to help them improve their products.

"A roof should last 25 to 30 years," said Heitzmann. "If it only last 15 years, there has to be a reason why. There is no reason a wood frame house shouldn't last 100 to 150 years. Why don't they?"

Heitzmann also said part of PATH's purpose is to avoid the disaster of thinks like synthetic stucco and fire-retardant treated plywood -- both products that were introduced with great fanfare and then fell into controversy when they spawned unexpected problems and multi-billion dollar lawsuits. In both cases there were sharp exchanges about whether the products were faulty or whether builders just hadn't installed them properly.

He said he hoped the fact-finding role of the PATH groups would be completed within a year and that work could begin on setting standards for materials.

Among other PATH goals are to find ways to reduce energy consumption in the home by 30 percent in the next 10 years and reduce health risks by 10 percent.

Published: June 29, 1999

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