Truog Construction

Truog Construction...30 Years Later

otruog@truogconstruction.com — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:43:00 GMT

Life is a journey and often the destination is not as important as the journey itself. I grew up in Kansas City and I am thrilled to live here now. My journey has taken me to Vermont, Russia, Washington, DC, Ukraine, Chicago, Pennsylvania and finally back home. In 2006 I started Truog Construction and found myself following in the footsteps of my grandfather who built homes with a company called Truog Construction a generation ago, and my father who is an architect. It took me many years and many miles to discover my passion. I love working with homeowners who want to create the space that they want in their homes. I look forward to working with you.

Below, please take a few minutes to look through the Customer Case Studies I have compiled. These should give you a good idea about how I work and what Truog Construction is all about.

Earth Day and Lead-Based Paint (LBP)

otruog@truogconstruction.com — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 20:36:00 GMT

Earth Day and Lead Based Paint (LBP)

I am assuming that it was not a coincidence that the EPA chose Earth Day as the enforcement date for their new Renovation, Repair and Painting rule for contractors who disturb LBP. The rule is an effort by the EPA to reduce lead poisoning in children which is caused by their exposure to paint that could be 80 or 90 years old. While the new work rules will range from a nuisance to very expensive depending on the project I do support their implementation.

The new EPA rule and Earth Day got me thinking about two different things. First, what is going to be the impact on our landfills of all of the plastic needed to implement the new work rules? Second, what products are we putting into homes today that are going to poison children 90 years from now?

All of the work rules that the EPA outlined involve plastic and other disposable items. And since those items become contaminated during the work with LBP, they must be thrown away after one use. So, when I come do work in a house, I must put plastic up at the doorway of the room I am working in, I must cover the carpet in that room with plastic, I must wrap all of the material that I remove in plastic and I must put plastic on the floor marking my path out of the house. All of that plastic must be thick and it must be thrown away at the end of each project. We also are encouraged to wear disposable overalls, booties, respirators and gloves. When we clean up we must use disposable wipes and Swiffer pads.

Think about all of that plastic. Now think about every remodeling project in your city, your state and the country. It will take someone smarter than me, but I think the EPA needs to develop some guidelines for how to recycle all of that plastic, or else we are going to fill our landfills that much faster. This comes as municipalities across the country are trying to reduce the quantity of recyclable materials that end up in landfills.

I know a lot about remodeling, but I will be the first to admit that I know comparatively little about the products that I install in people’s homes. Sure, I know how they perform, and how they look and sometimes I even know where they come from. But do I know the lifespan of that product? Do I know what happens to it as it degrades over time? No, I don’t. None of us do. I also don’t know what someone would do with those materials when the future occupants want to remodel in the future. Where does the metal in a can light come from? What is in the carpet, the paint, the tile, the grout, the floor finishing materials, the plumbing fixtures?

So, what can I do about these two worries of mine. First, I will contact the EPA and ask them how we can recycle all of this plastic that we are going to produce. Second, I am going to make a greater effort to understand the lifecycle of the products that I install. Maybe we can develop a manual that gets installed inside of the walls of our projects that tells future contractors what all this material is and how to dispose of it.

Fresh start...

otruog@truogconstruction.com — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:27:00 GMT

This is from my "cobbler's kids" files. I overuse this saying, "the cobbler's kids never have shoes" to refer to the fact that my house is always the last one to get the attention that it deserves.

I am currently in the process of stripping the wallpaper off of our bedroom walls. If you think wallpaper is great, then more power to you. If you think putting two layers of wallpaper on a wall, ok, I guess. Once you get to that third layer I start to question your sanity. By the time you have decided to paint over the top of all 3 layers of wallpaper...well let's just say I have some choice words for you.

After several years in our house we discovered that the paint was flaking off of the master bedroom walls because the previous owners decided to hide the wallpaper by painting over it. So, I am the poor sap that gets to scrape 50 years of accumulated layers off.

When I think about how to attack various aspects of any remodeling project, I try to think of that poor sap 5 or 50 years from now. Will he be able to undo what I have done easily? Or will he be shaking his head and cursing my name? Starting fresh and making sure we aren't just hiding a ticking time bomb is really important.

It's the little things

otruog@truogconstruction.com — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:03:00 GMT

Bad Construction People say things like:

It’ll look good from my house!

That’s good enough for me (even if it’s not…)

Good Construction People say things like:

You gotta think like water when building the outside of a house.

This might be overkill but we should do it anyway to be safe.

Which kind of person caused this problem that we found recently. We tore a deck off to replace it and found a problem. Corners are really important on a house. They tend to hold a lot of things up and this house was losing its corner support rapidly. A wide opening was allowed right at the corner of this house, below a downspout and at the bottom of some solid stairs that carry a lot of water when it rains. They might just as well have installed a hose into the corner of the house and left it running. If the original deck framer had simply brought the siding all the way below the top of the foundation wall, primed and painted it and then installed a small spacer between the deck boards and the siding, then this problem would never have happened. Instead, he said, “It’ll look good from my house!” He saved himself 5 minutes of work and cost the homeowner much more than the original 5 minutes would have cost.

This is why I use professionals in every trade. They know what they are doing and they take the time to do it correctly.

Customer Review of Truog Construction

otruog@truogconstruction.com — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:20:00 GMT

I received this note from a recent customer regarding a kitchen/bath update.

"Truog Construction is an excellent company and I would highly recommend them. Mr. Truog was very professional and handled everything. He is an excellent problem solver and communicated often about the project. He was very easy to work with and dealing with all of the aspects and issues associated with doing a remodel in a high rise condominium building. He was excellent at dealing with the building staff and was very considerate of the other residents and the condo rules. This company did an exceptional job and I am very satisfied and pleased with the outcome. I will hire this company for future remodeling needs. " - Kathryn Taylor

Thank you very much Kathryn. I really appreciate you taking the time to write a review for me!