News and Press

CertainTeed Helps Form Solid Foundation for Wisconsin Family Home in Upcoming Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (November 16, 2006) -- CertainTeed Corporation has helped to form a solid foundation for one family in Dundee, Wisconsin, by donating its unique Form-A-Drain(R) product for a home construction project that will be featured on the November 19th episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on ABC. Form-A-Drain was used in the dream home built for the Koepke Family in late September of this year.

Well-known for their community work in Dundee, the Koepke Family of six lost their husband and dad, Matt, on August 21, 2006 to metastic melanoma before they had a chance to fix up their home, which was built by Matt’s grandfather. The home had exposed electrical wires and insulation, a leaking roof, an attic overrun with bats, and several broken windows. As desperately as he wanted, Koepke was unable to get everything done and fixed in the house for his family prior to his passing.

Thanks, however, to ABC, local builder Monarch Homes, thousands of volunteers and hundreds of subcontractors, the Koepke’s dream home is now a reality.

CertainTeed was among those pleased to donate materials for use in the new home. The company provided Form-A-Drain, its patented three-in-one concrete footing form system that forms a complete loop around a building’s foundation and serves as an effective groundwater drainage system and sub-slab perimeter radon reduction system. After installation, Form-A-Drain collects groundwater through multiple side vents and transports it to a sump pit or a drainage pipe going to the outside. Harmful radon gas is also collected and safely evacuated through a separate vent pipe.

“Thanks in part to using CertainTeed’s Form-A-Drain product on this construction project, we were able to complete the foundation in half the time it usually takes,” says Larry Gruber, Chief Operating Officer of Monarch Homes and General Contractor for building project. “Knowing the product safely evacuates radon gas is an added security that we are pleased to give the Koepke Family.”

Form-A-Drain’s polyvinyl chloride lineal sections are used instead of more traditional wood or aluminum footing forms, and remain in place after the concrete is poured. According to Rose Lee, Vice President of the Pipe & Plastics Group and General Manager of the Pipe and Form-A-Drain businesses, this enabled the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition crew to cut costs and labor hours. “When using traditional footing forms, contractors must return to the jobsite to strip the forms from the footing and then clean them for reuse. Form-A-Drain is engineered to stay in place, which was a tremendous advantage considering the time constraints the crew was under for this fast-pace and truly worthwhile project.”

Coello & Associates, a CertainTeed Form-A-Drain customer for more than 10 years and one of the largest concrete contractors in Southeastern Wisconsin, recommended the product to the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition builders because of its efficiency and easy adaptation to the concrete foundation.

“CertainTeed’s Form-A-Drain is a perfect complement to our strong foundations,” says Michael Coello, general manager of Coello & Associates. “The efficient installation and advanced performance make Form-A-Drain the cost-effective solution to providing our customers with a superior drainage system.”

About CertainTeed Corporation

Through innovation and creative product design, CertainTeed Corporation has helped shape the building products industry for more than 100 years. Founded in 1904 as General Roofing Company, the firm made its slogan "Quality Made Certain, Satisfaction Guaranteed," which quickly inspired the name CertainTeed. Today, CertainTeed is a leading North American manufacturer of residential and commercial roofing; vinyl and fiber cement siding; vinyl and composite fence, railing and decking; vinyl windows; residential, commercial and mechanical insulation; PVC pipe; foundations; and access covers.

Headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, CertainTeed is a Saint-Gobain company with approximately 7,000 employees and 40 manufacturing facilities throughout the United States. In 2005 CertainTeed had sales of $2.8 billion.

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For more information contact:
Michael B. Loughery, CertainTeed

Communications Manager
(610) 341-7328
mike.b.loughery@saint-gobain.com
www.certainteed.com/pressroom

Carrie Bishop
carrie@millerbrooks.com

Miller Brooks, Inc.
11712 N. Michigan Road
Zionsville, IN 46077

P: 317.873.8100
F: 317.873.8110

 

More Information

Michael B. Loughery
Communications Manager
(610) 341-7328