Bill Leys Presents Seminar at JLC Live in Providence RI

The room filling up before the start. 

Our seminar is scheduled and ready to start!

Over 30 east coast contractors from New Jersey, Maine, Rhode Island, Massachusetts New Hampshire and New York filled the room at the Rhode Island Convention Center on Thursday March 20 to hear me present a 3 hour seminar on Best Construction Practices in Building and Waterproofing Decks.

Attendees learned about the various Division Seven Pedestrian Traffic Coatings available, their differences, pro's and con's and how to select the proper system for the job at hand.

The Powerpoint based seminar also reviewed construction methods for building a decks framing and substrates for tile and pedestrian coatings.

Several editors from Hanley Wood's JLC magazine also sat in on the presentation.

The presentation at JLC coincided nicely with the publication of the new issue of JLC, which featured our new article on deck drains and scuppers.

I received a nice round of applause  at the end of the session. I thank the attendees and JLC Live staff, especially Julie Clifford and Olivia Espinosa for having me at JLC in Providence! I hope to see you at JLC in Portland again next year.

Contact us for scheduling a seminar on building and waterproofing decks. Custom seminars based on the audience-architects, builders, homeowner association managers and more are available. Call Bill at 805-801-2380

LIFE PAINT LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE!

Bookmark it folks, www.lifedeck.biz was just launched today!

Lifedeck.biz is the website for all of Life Deck related materials, decking, coatings, epoxy, concrete...

Please note, www.lifedeck.com is a website owned by the same people as own Westcoat Specialty Coating systems. There is no connection between lifedeck.biz and lifedeck.com.

Congrats to Life paint on their new website! Tell them you found out at DeckExpert.com!

Life Paint Announces Training/Educational Event

Life Paint, the manufacturer's of Life Deck waterproof coatings for decks, epoxy for flooring and paint and coatings will hold a training seminar/educational demonstration on Thursday September 16th at their manufacturing facility in Santa Fe Springs.

Look for a flyer to be uploaded with more information in the next couple days...

see www.lifepaint.com for further information.

Life Paint Presents Training/Demo at Miners Hardware in Atascadero Thursday June 3rd

Miners Ace Hardware and Life Paint, the manufacturer's of Life Deck branded decking, epoxy and concrete coatings, will present a "How To" Demo on Thursday morning starting at 1030 am and going until 1230.

Maury Jessner, sales rep for Life Paint, will be doing the demonstration.

This is a good demo for DIY'ers and pro's alike to see how decking and epoxy products are applied.

Come on down and meet Central Coast Waterproofing too, an authorized installer of Life Deck products manufactured by Life Paint.  We will be there showing off our Blastrac shot blaster and helping Maury out with the show.  See our site at  www.centralcoastwaterproofing.com for pictures and info on our company.

Quest Building Products Announces Spring/Early Summer Training Classes

Passing it on from Quest Building Products, eductaional seminars on Life Deck, shot blasting, concrete grinding, floor polishing and more!

Training Class Schedule

Upcoming Training Classes:

  Anaheim:

May 19^th 10am – 12pm 

Introduction to Polishing: Observe demonstrations on equipment, diamond selection, chemicals, and maintenance. Learn what you must know before you start the job,what to expect and how to solve any problem thrown your way.

 June 2 ^nd 10am – 12pm  

Decorative Seamless Floor Systems: Epoxy decorative paint chips, Lava Flow, Metallics, SpectraQuartz. Learn these decorative techniques that are sure to amaze any customer that comes your way.

June16^th 10am – 12pm  

Back To Basics – Surface Preparation:  Learn or review basic surface preparation such as: grinding, shot blasting, scraping, scarifying, how to repair cracks, etc. You will also learn how to use Vaporgauge, a calcium chloride concrete moisture test kit. Special bonus topic: Electrical

July 21^st 10am – 2pm 

Life Deck: Waterproofing, Concrete Overlays with Acrylic Stain, Penetrating Stains, Waterproof roof coatings

 San Diego:

May 26-27 9am – 5pm 

Diamatic Polishing Certification Class: Ultra-Flor® Diamatic Management Services (DMS), an expert in concrete polishing, specification and training, backed by over 15 years of experience in retail, industrial and commercial floor markets, is introducing ULTRA-FLOR! Employing the latest in lithium technologies in a system specifically designed to impart chemical, abrasion and stain resistance to concrete floors, ULTRA-FLOR produces an extremely hardened, dust-proofed, reflective surface. You can achieve a high quality and decorative “green” floor that is long lasting, very durable and low-maintenance with DMS and ULTRA-FLOR.

REGISTER TODAY! 

*Classes are $40 is registered two days in advance, and $50 after. You will receive $50 store credit the day of the class. Register Early, space is limited. Call (714) 738-6640 or email: Brittany@questbuilding.com. For San Diego call (858) 586-0864

QUEST BUILDING PRODUCTS Becomes Life Deck Distributor

The supply house company Quest Building Products on N Patt St in Anaheim just became the newest distributor of Life Deck waterproofing, epoxies and floor finishes, manufactured by LIFE PAINT Company, one of our sponsors of our website.

If you are looking for Life Deck product, I suggest that you see Dennis, Dave or Neil at Quest for advice and guidance by actual hands on applicators who have been on their hands and knees in the field putting materials down. They know the tips and tricks that will help make your project a success!

Quest is open from ( I think) 6 am to 4 pm Monday through Friday. Call them at 714-738-6640 to check their hours and then head on down...

LIFE DECK by LIFE PAINT COMPANY JOINS US AS AN ADVERTISER & SPONSOR!

Just in this morning; Life Paint Company, the manufacturer of LIFE DECK decking, coatings and flooring systems, has become the final sponsor of DeckExpert.com, formerly known as Waterproofdeckcoatingadvice.com. As of now, the five exclusive spots are all spoken for and no other manufacturer advertising will be accepted, in order to protect the value of limited competition advertising.

Life Decks Project Manager, David Sibbrel contacted us today with the news.

We are very happy to have Life Paint on board with us, they are a hard working company with the desire to do it right and provide quality products.

Life Paint has been in business since 1963, and the same partners are together today, with the next generation of family members working for the company as well, poised to carry Life Paint into the future.

Look for Life Paint's logo to the right side and be sure to visit their website. In the next day or two we'll have their logo up at our website at deckexpert.com.

Welcome aboard to Life Deck!

LIFE PAINT SETS "HOW TO" CLINIC/LIVE DEMO DATE FOR MARCH

Get your appetite ready for the upcoming "How To" Clinic/Live Demo being held Thursday March 19th from 10am to 2pm and learn all about Life Paint's Life Deck systems-the AL Deck system, MA Coat fiberglass system and their Stamped Concrete and Texture Crete systems.

I went last year and they ahd these guys come in to cook up some Taco's...man oh man, they were good! Worth the drive to Santa Fe Springs alone...

Click on our headline to read Life Paint's website on these systems, click on the pic to enlarge it and read the flyer

LIFE PAINT SAYS Thanks for finding one of our sample boards...

I gave Life Paint a spank for their AL sample board I spotted at Miners Ace Hardware a few weeks ago using language that ICC specifically forbids using...here's their reply after they read my blog...and a picture of their corrected header...

when their sales guy comes up to get the board and replace it, they should take me to lunch, hint hint...sure would be nice to have that board as a souvenir, hint hint

Good to know that I'm being read out there!

Thank you Bill for finding one of the boards that went out with that printing. A few were released before the error was caught. We had the headers for those boards adjusted immediately when the error was found and we've been looking for the boards (one which you have found) to replace them. I tried to attach a picture of the corrected board to you in this post. If it did not attach I can email you a picture of the corrected header. Thank you, Life Paint

Is Life Paint in Violation of ICC-ES's Rules for Use of an Evaluation Report?

ICC_ES issues evaluation reports, they do not "approve" a product for any use whatsoever...that's what a Building Official is for, to determine if a product is suitable for the job it's going on.

ICC-ES evaluates a product and the test data it is provided from accredited labs that have performed the required testing protocols that must be done. Therefore, ICC-ES has written specific rules about the use of their reports, what claims a manufacturer can make regarding a report it may hold and the wording that can be used.

From ICC-ES' Rules of Procedure for Evaluation Reports under 13.4. "It is the report holders responsibility to not misrepresent the evaluation report in any way, and to secure ICC-ES approval in advance whenever there is a question about the use of the ICC-ES name and/or ICC-ES evaluation report. Report holders are expressly prohibited from using in advertising, promotional and informational materials, such language as "ICC-ES Approved", ICC-ES certified etc.

So imagine my surprise when I was down at Miners Ace Hardware and saw the new Life Paint/Life Deck AL system on a very nice display board along with their FM system and Texture Crete...can you spot the apparent violation?

tsk, tsk

Life Paint's Decking & Decorative Seminar Draws a Crowd

Having seen at my local Miners Ace Hardware a flyer for Life Paints Life Deck decking and decorative finishes seminar, I made the effort to be there this morning at 10 am. Showing up a few minutes late, the parking was full on the lot and street for a block or more.

Arriving at the registration tent/table, I saw the sign in list and my eyes widened. There were a lot of names signed in, 2-3 pages at least...
Going to the demo area, there they were, over 80 attendees, watching Life Paint's masters show us the methods used to do decorative stamping, texture overlays, epoxy and decking/waterproofing.

I'm amazed because they got everyone to pay $25.00 to attend, including me! It must be the lunch they put on, because the line was long for the taco's that were being put together by 2 chef's as fast as they could go! My eyes said 4 tacos, and I ate them, but 3 would have done just fine.

I met a few people at Life Paint, re-aquainted myself again with Joe Devlin, met Ron Sibbrel and Bill Coleman and Maury Jessner. It was a great day all in all, cut short because i had somewhere else to be at 1:3o.

Life Paint Announces Training Class, Scheduled for July 24, 2008

Click our headline to go to Life Paint's contact page for more info;

Life Paint announced the date of their "HOW TO" Clinic and Live Demo of their line of deck coating and concrete coating products to be Thursday July 24, 2008 at their plant at 12927 Sunshine Ave in Santa Fe Springs CA.

The 4 systems that will be discussed and demo'd will be the Texture-Crete System with Acrylic Stain, The AL metal lath cementious system for plywood decks, the MACoat System, for concrete decks and their Epoxy System for interior concrete floors/garages.

Sign up today for this event; pre-paid admission is only $25.00, but you'll pay $50 at the door if you just show up. RSVP to Leonard Moraga by 7 18 08, tell him you saw the information here at our blog!

Many Deck Coating Manufacturer's Still Need to Re-test and Upgrade their ICC reports

ICC-ES.org's website is a great provider of information. One item they provide free of charge to the public for their education and edification, is access to the thousands of reports on file with them regarding the fitness of a particular product for an construction application.

Much like Underwriter's Laboratory, where you wouldn't buy a product for your house like a lamp or tv that wasn't tested and approved by UL, you probably don't want to buy a building product that hasn't been approved by one of the industries trusted stalwarts, ICC.

Of the eighteen listed approved products on ICC's website for Division 7 Traffic Coatings, only 11 carry the new "ESR" tag before their report number.

Evaluation Service Reports supersedes the older "Legacy" report that a fair percentage of products are still living off of. These reports will need to be updated and converted to the new ESR reports if the manufacturer's of these products want to put the product onto new construction in the future as new code requirements must be met.

The new ESR report holders products all meet the new 2006 International Building and International Residence Code's. California has adopted a new code recently too, in 2007.

We advise that you be careful on putting down products that aren't converted or updated to the ESR reports. Substantial testing (and costs) are performed on the products to test them against the new code requirements. Click the headline to go to ICC's site for a full list of products with the "ESR" tags vs. those beginning with "ER". Installers need to be very careful, as do inspectors and architects and builders in what goes down on their buildings meets the intended fire codes.

Manufacturer's such as Mer-Kote's Weather deck and Shurdeck, AVM's Elasto fiber deck 100 Roof and Walking Deck system, Life Paint's AL system, and Excellent Coatings are the bigger companies/products awaiting an updated report. One should check with them directly to find out the staus of any new reports they may be expecting. See the list of manufacturer's at our website at
for contact information.

Although the new ESR reports do meet IRC and IBC, their are restrictions on the products in certain instances, so be careful to review each product under consideration. For example, both Pli-Dek and Hill Brothers products have wind resistance ratings that are much higher than others such as Westcoat's ALX system, which is restricted to buildings 40' in height in certain wind zones up to 80 mph (mostly the coastal areas). Desert Crete on the other hasnd is approved for wind up to 100 mph on buildings 60 feet in height in Exposure B zones.

I advise a careful review of each product to ensure it meets the original intended use and specifications. Consultation with experts is always advised, manufacturer's want to sell product, so one needs to be careful when cultivating their advice and opinions.