It's around the house.
Andrew PaceIn this episode we've got one of my favorite interviews we just did with my buddy Andrew Pace, green building expert.
Andrew PaceAnd this is gonna be a lot of fun.
Andrew PaceBut here's the thing, it can't all fit into the radio show cause it was over an hour.
Andrew PaceSo make sure you hit our premium membership over there where you can catch the whole thing commercial free and ten days free for that.
Andrew PaceSo head over to aroundthehouseonline.com and sign up there.
Andrew PaceThis is an interview you don't wanna miss.
Andrew PaceAnd we even talk whiskey around the house shows brought to you by pyramid heating and cooling serving in Oregon, the Portland metro area and Bend, Oregon.
Andrew PaceThey are your one stop shop for heating and cooling and indoor air quality.
Andrew PaceHead to pyramidheating.com Oregon CCB 59382.
Andrew PaceWhen it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to.
EricKnow, but we've got you covered.
Andrew PaceThis is around the house.
Andrew PaceWelcome to the round the house show, the next generation of home improvement brought to you my friends over at monument grills.
Andrew PaceTo find out more, head to monumentgrills.com.
Andrew Paceand we have a fabulous show today.
Andrew PaceOne of my good buddies that every time he comes on here, we get off on sidetracks.
Andrew PaceWe have a lot of fun talking about everything, healthy home and maybe a little whiskey, even if we can slide that into the conversation.
Andrew PaceAndrew Pace, Andy Pace, my friend, welcome back to around the house.
EricThank you, Eric.
EricI'll tell you what, I've been looking forward to this conversation since I found out about it again because, yeah, you and I always get into these great conversations.
EricA little bit of some side tangents that are always enjoyable.
EricBut this is fantastic.
EricGreat, great to see you again.
Andrew PaceAh, great to have you on here.
Andrew PaceIt's been way too long.
Andrew PaceLet's talk about you for a minute.
Andrew PaceFor all the new people out there, you've got the green design center.
Andrew PaceYou are one of my probably two people that I reach out to and I'm like, okay, I got to figure a healthy solution out here.
Andrew PaceAnd usually get my emails or LinkedIn messages going, what do we do about this?
Andrew PaceAnd it's always something strange.
EricYeah, thats actually my career has been made on answering those tough questions quickly.
EricI work with people all around the world who have allergies, asthma, chemical sensitivities, mold sensitivities, pretty much anybody who has an immune system disorder that doesnt allow them to live in the current state of our home buildings.
EricAnd so anything that could cause a reaction to for somebody would be chemical, off gassing, mold, bacteria, you name it.
EricSo I help folks remodel, design and build healthy homes.
Andrew PaceAnd there are so many, I'm going to use this because it's politically incorrect and I don't care because that's my style.
Andrew PaceBut there are so many old wives tales out there of how to deal with things that are completely the wrong answers, only answer to do stuff.
Andrew PaceAnd it's shocking where people are like, oh, go do this.
Andrew PaceAnd it's like, what are you talking about making that worse?
Andrew PaceLike that?
EricIts funny you mentioned this right away because the hot topic lately has been if your house has a lot of chemicals coming from the building materials, what you should do is do whats called a bakeout where you heat up the house and that excites all the chemicals and the materials and it allows them to off gas faster.
EricAnd ill tell you folks, thats the absolute worst thing you want to do in your house because yes, you will get more chemical release, but you also get new chemical compounds being formed that wouldn't be there unless you heated it up to that temperature.
EricNot to mention this is only effective if you do this at 100 degrees for two weeks straight.
EricAnd by that time, you have now voided every warranty for every building material you use.
Andrew PaceSo that's good on the list, right?
EricExactly.
EricExactly.
Andrew PaceAnd the funny thing is, is maybe all of those plastics in your house that finally the oils on the outside have finally off gassed and they're slowed down, you are hitting the control alt delete restart on those as well.
Andrew PaceRight?
EricCommon sense says that for sure.
EricWe know that a lot of building materials that are used, let's say materials that finish or cure on site, paints, stains, adhesives, caulking materials, those can off gas anywhere from about two and a half to four and a half years after they reach a full cure.
EricOther materials like plywood and plastics, the off gassing never really is fully complete, but the majority of it will release within those first few years.
EricIf you now expose it to this new temperature that its not supposed to be at, it can then start the process all over again.
EricSo, yeah, I hear that all the time from customers.
EricI think there was an article written about 25 years ago by a scientist named Hal Levin, wrote this article on how you can do a bakeout, but then he came back out with an article right afterwards saying, but don't do it because you can't do this effectively in a home without causing a whole host of problems.
EricSo don't even try, Evan.
Andrew PaceI think the only thing you might do is kill some bedbugs, and that's probably.
EricYou might do that.
EricYeah.
EricIt'll certainly increase your energy costs for a while.
EricIt just.
EricIt's a bad idea, Evan.
Andrew PaceOh, man.
Andrew PaceI can.
Andrew PaceI just.
Andrew PaceI'm thinking of the.
Andrew PaceThe different systems in your house that are gonna go sideways with that, and that's just not good.
Andrew PaceNot good at all.
Andrew PaceBut it's the same thing about.
Andrew PaceOn social media posts out there, people just going, oh, yeah, just take that bleach and wipe down all the mold, and you'll be good to go.
Andrew PaceAnd you can cover it right up and go right over the top of it.
Andrew PaceAnd I'm just like, I don't care what you're using, guys.
Andrew PaceLet's just put the bleach away.
Andrew PaceI don't really have a good cause for bleach to be used.
Andrew PaceThere's so many better products out there, even if it's on a hard surface.
EricRight.
EricI think that we get to the situation where, because somebody does something for a living, they can call themselves an expert.
EricI hear this all the time.
EricTo your point, contractor says, oh, yeah, just bleach the wood.
EricIt'll be fine.
EricI've been doing this for 30 years.
EricI've never had a problem.
Andrew PaceThat's my favorite line.
EricOkay.
EricMy response always is, I've been golfing for 30 years, and I'm still absolutely horrible.
EricJust because you do something doesn't make you an expert at it.
EricJust because somebody gives you money for something you do does not make you an expert.
EricThere are so many of these old, as you say, wives tales that people just assume work, otherwise they wouldn't be still saying this.
EricThere are so many of these issues that keep on getting perpetuated, and these ideas, they do not work.
EricThey cause bigger problems.
EricBleach especially makes mold worse.
EricSo do never bleach mold, Joe.
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceAnd what's bad is there's some.
Andrew PaceI think there's even some EPA documentation out there saying, oh, it works good on.
Andrew PaceOn non porous surfaces.
Andrew PaceBut I'm like, why make it worse?
Andrew PaceMaybe it does kill some of it.
Andrew PaceThere's, like I said, so many better products, and I just wish the government would take that page down, because it's misinformation in my mind.
EricIt's just information in today's consumers.
EricAnd this is not to rip on anybody in particular, but generally speaking, people skim information.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricSo you download this sheet on how to get rid of mold.
EricOh, it says, I can use bleach.
EricOkay.
EricI can use bleach.
EricIt says you can use bleach on non porous surfaces.
EricYou didn't read that next line.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricAnd so I would rather err on the side of safe, and let's just not talk about it at all.
EricLet's talk about what works in everything, and you don't have to worry about it, Evan.
EricYeah.
Andrew PaceAnd there's so many good preventative measures out there.
Andrew PaceStuff that you got me lined up with out there in the past with.
Andrew PaceWith stuff is.
Andrew PaceIs okay.
Andrew PaceYou got the problem fixed, but you're still going to coat something over the top of it.
Andrew PaceDon't run down, and get the hardware store primer that says it's good for mold.
Andrew PaceGo get something like call well or something.
Andrew PaceAnd I got that from you.
EricYes.
EricYeah.
EricAnd that the Callwell product has been an absolute lifesaver.
EricThe.
EricThe true method of remediating a mold situation without going down into a deep rabbit hole here.
EricBut the true method is to.
EricThey open up the wall.
EricThey do containment.
EricThey open up the walls.
EricYou're vacuuming, you're scraping, you're sanding, you're cleaning.
EricThen when it's dry, you encapsulate, you put a coating on so that this situation can happen again.
EricCall well is a little bit different.
EricCall well.
EricAfter you encapsulate and you vacuum to get rid of the loose material, you literally paint two coats over the moldy wood, and that's it.
EricYou're done.
EricIt saves 75% of the labor.
EricAnd the way it does, it's not by using some toxic science, scientific, noxious chemical.
EricIt uses lime.
EricIt uses calcium hydroxide, natural mineral.
EricAnd it raises the ph of the surface so high that it kills mold on contact, and it stays active for a minimum of five years, which is unlike anything on the market.
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PacePH is science.
Andrew PaceAnd when it gets to point where it's gonna not.
Andrew PaceNothing's gonna grow on it, you've created something without off gassing and sending in your healthy air off into the.
Andrew PaceInto the stratosphere with bad contaminants.
EricAnd we've got.
EricWe've literally have hundreds and hundreds of years of.
EricOf experience using lime.
EricFarmers use lime lime wash the barns to get rid of the mold.
EricVillages throughout Europe since the plague have been using lime on their.
EricOn their homes to essentially stop the spread of.
EricOf disease.
EricSo we know it works.
EricSo that.
EricAnother old wives tale, if it's not broke, don't fix it.
EricI believe that one.
EricThis works.
EricIt's a natural material that works.
EricLet's just stick with that.
Andrew PaceIts basic science.
Andrew PaceLets go ahead and use it.
Andrew PaceIts something we learned in fifth grade.
Andrew PaceAnd it works.
Andrew PaceIts so smart.
Andrew PaceAnd I think topically, because its not been a bad hurricane season for most, but weve had a lot of storms on the east coast and across the south that have been really hitting people that maybe have been in homes for five years that have never had to deal with water intrusion issues, whether its in a first floor, a crawl space, or a basement.
Andrew PaceAnd these are some really good tried and true ways to deal with it because so many people, I see it on social media, hey, I had 18 inches of water in my basement and it's finished.
Andrew PaceSo I'm going to take the drywall out and put new drywall on.
Andrew PaceAm I good?
Andrew PaceAnd it's just like, you're not dealing with this correctly.
Andrew PaceAnd it's, it's one of the things that we see here in the Pacific Northwest because we have a lot of basements and crawl spaces.
Andrew PaceHouse flippers go in and take an unfinished basement that's been unfinished for 30 years because of water intrusion issues.
Andrew PaceAnd they go in there and say, cool, let's go add another thousand square feet to the house.
Andrew PaceThey finish it off incorrectly, and people move in and eight to ten weeks are going, why am I coughing?
Andrew PaceWhy am I not feeling well?
EricRight.
Andrew PaceAnd then you go down and start peeling back some drywall and see, wow, white on this side, black on this side, and it starts to get to be a hot mess.
EricIt comes down to that we just talked about before, this is the way we've always done it.
EricSo let's just continue to do it this way and everything will be just fine.
EricWhichever side of the coin somebody is on about climate, the climates, the fact of the matter is we realize that weather patterns are changing.
EricAnd then areas of the country that used to get a lot of rain may get less, may get more.
EricAnd this has a cyclical as well.
EricWe see this every ten to 15 years.
EricI know here in my state here in Wisconsin, about every ten to 15 years, we get these summers of absolutely torrential rainfalls.
EricAnd then a summer like now, which we haven't had rain for two weeks, it's just, it's, this is what happens.
EricBut it's always safe to err on the side of, let's protect from the moisture because at some point in the hundred year existence of this home, moisture is going to be an issue.
EricSo why wouldn't you protect against it?
Andrew PaceEvan?
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceSo simple.
Andrew PaceAnd the science is out there.
Andrew PaceThe materials are out there to do this correctly.
Andrew PaceAnd I just like to see people doing it right because depending on the location as there are some crazy rules for basements and stuff across the country.
Andrew PaceWhat is that in Colorado where they get frosty and they've got to have an adjustable floor by six inches on the.
Andrew PaceThere's a lot of weird things that happen that all of our friends down in Florida and California are going, what are you talking about?
EricRight?
Andrew PaceReally?
Andrew PaceThere's not one rule that fits everything, but there is one rule for controlling moisture, making sure that that is a dry space down there and not growing mold.
EricPreston and then you throw into this whole equation the fact that in every state you have a different set of building codes, energy codes.
EricYou bring up Boulder, Colorado.
EricIm working with a customer in Boulder right now, a large contractor, and the things he has to do just to meet the energy codes, literally causing health issues for his customers because there's the unintended consequence of trying to do the right thing.
EricAnd this is what we're in right now, in the middle of code officials around the country trying to make our homes more energy efficient.
EricI understand that everybody loves energy efficiency.
EricOur bottom line, our wallets love energy efficiency.
EricHowever, if it's happening in a way that's making the occupants less healthy, let's reevaluate what we're doing.
EricAnd so why would we use spray foam throughout the entire house if we know spray foam is problematic for a majority of people who have asthma and then others who just don't like chemical off gassing.
EricAnd so let's look at these things and say what makes sense, not for necessarily just the environment, but for us who live within the environment.
EricWe should be working this together.
Andrew PaceYeah, it's almost backwards right now.
Andrew PaceIt's like the energy efficiency right now is graded higher on the scale of building officials than the health of the human living inside the house by like four to one.
Andrew PaceAnd then people like, you have to go back and go, okay, we have this mess that was created, that was building code was followed in this construction process.
Andrew PaceBut how do we go back in and get fresh air?
Andrew PaceHow do we get this stuff cleaned up?
Andrew PaceHow do we make this happen?
Andrew PaceAnd that's a tough battle.
EricIt's 100% avoidable.
EricAnd when you ask the code officials if we can do something different because we're dealing with health of the occupant issues, they'll say, yep, sorry, it won't meet the code.
EricSo there are builders now that I work with around the country.
EricAnd I won't name names, but they're looking at this.
EricThey're saying, we're going to submit based upon the codes, but we're going to build what we know works.
EricWhat we know was healthier.
EricAnd you got to be careful with that because you don't, certainly don't want them to cheapen up the process to pad their own pockets.
EricBut they're the ones who have to deal with the angry homeowner when they come back and say, listen, everybody in the house is getting sick.
EricWe're not getting enough fresh air.
EricThe material that are supposedly eco friendly are all off gassing toxins.
EricAnd then now it's the builder's fault.
EricWhy did you put us in this situation?
EricSo the builders are trying to nip that in the bud and say, here's a better way to do things.
EricMost importantly, I want to give you a home that is aesthetically pleasing, meets the budget, it's going to last a very, very long time and is healthy for you and your family.
Andrew PaceYeah, amen.
Andrew PaceAnd that's one of those things.
Andrew PaceAnd it's one thing that whenever I've been teaching seminars as far as home tech and healthy home stuff that I do, and I haven't done as many over the last years.
Andrew PaceCause I've been doing the media thing like this.
Andrew PaceBut I always brought up a thing.
Andrew PaceWhen you're dealing with contractors and you're building new homes, you should be doing air testing before and after.
Andrew PaceBefore you hand it over to your consumer, to that end customer so they know where you left it.
Andrew PaceSo there's a baseline.
Andrew PaceAnd quite frankly, if you start seeing some bad air results, you go, oh, what product is causing this?
Andrew PaceBecause when misses Smith comes in with her cheap wayfarer couch or whatever that came from, wherever that's all filled up and off gassing for the next two years, it's not on you, it's on them.
Andrew PaceAnd you can help.
Andrew PaceYou have at least a baseline to protect yourself, at least when the house was handed over.
EricIt's one of those things where some of the builders we work with will say, if what we don't know can't hurt us.
EricAnd the more you want to know, the more you need to know.
EricAnd then it opens up a whole Pandora's box of issues.
EricSometimes it does.
EricBut I'll tell you, if there was a way, and there is a way, using different methods of error testing, to actually do it at certain steps of the construction process, to say, at this point, we're good to go from this point back, everything that we've done is good.
EricAnd now we know between this checkpoint and this checkpoint, something has caused this massive raise in the VOC levels in the house or the formaldehyde levels.
EricWe can then look back through the construction schedule and the materials to say, it must have been one of these two or three things.
EricAnd then those are obviously things we'll avoid on the next job, of course.
EricBut I've been involved in houses throughout the country where I get brought into somewhat remediate the chemical issues in the home.
EricAnd, well, look at these air tests.
EricA house thats just been completed before the family moves in is testing out between seven and 15,000 grams per liter of vocs.
EricWow.
EricAnd these are supposedly homes that are built to green built standards.
EricSo people say, how can that be?
EricUnderstand that all these greenbuilt standards are predicated on the EPA requirements for vocs.
EricVocs, or volatile organic compounds, are chemicals that can contribute to outdoor air pollution.
EricThis is the definition of what a VoC is?
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricInside of a home, there's not enough nitrogen uv to create low level smog.
EricSo you look at vocs and say some are dangerous.
EricYes, some are dangerous for humans.
EricA lot of them are completely harmless.
EricBut if you use materials that might be considered zero VoC to meet the regulations, it doesn't mean that there's zero toxin there.
EricThere are over 92,000 chemicals used in the production of building materials and home goods.
EricOut of that, a couple thousand of them are considered vocs.
EricThe rest of them are either not regulated as vocs because they don't contribute to outdoor air pollution, or they're not volatile organic compounds at all.
EricThey're other things.
EricAnd so I don't understand why we just, why do we strive to do low VoC when if I peel the skin off of an orange for breakfast, I've just released 850 grams per liter of vocs.
EricIt's not going to poison me, it's not going to hurt me.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricIt's nourishment.
EricSo we need to stop chasing these numbers and actually look at the details, how these materials are made, how our houses are built.
EricSo we're not relying on some esoteric score to tell us thumbs up or thumb down.
Andrew PaceYeah, I was doing some research the other day and I saw that there are eleven.
Andrew PaceI think it's current.
Andrew PaceIt's within a year or so current, which is always hard when you're doing research.
Andrew PaceBut it looks like there's eleven states in the US that don't have statewide building codes.
Andrew PaceAnd so they're more city or, or county or township or whatever.
Andrew PaceAnd that's part of the problem, too.
Andrew PaceLike, I got a buddy being, having a house built down outside of Phoenix, Arizona, and I've been watching this thing get built, and I've been, just because he lives up in the Pacific Northwest my way, and I'm watching this thing get built and I'm like, are you kidding me?
Andrew PaceWe couldn't do that.
Andrew PaceSo great example.
Andrew PaceThe house has been open air outside in Phoenix, and for the last four weeks, they've had this crazy windstorms and stuff that's been going on down there.
Andrew PaceThere's no windows or doors in it, but they've already got the drywall and it's textured but not primed.
Andrew PaceIt's just been sitting there soaking in whatever.
EricYeah.
EricOh, boy, that is, oh, that's scary.
EricAnd I know people say, yeah, but Arizona, it's a dry climate, folks.
EricMold exists everywhere.
EricIt doesn't have to be just in the Pacific Northwest or, or in Atlanta, Georgia.
EricMold is everywhere.
EricAnd so once it gets onto a surface like plaster or an acrylic based texture or what have you, that becomes a food source, and eventually that mold will come back and itll come back very, very strongly.
EricIts interesting because, yeah, there are a lot of locations that dont have building codes, and then theres the other, on the flip side of the coin, theres a lot of locations that have building codes, but they dont have code officials to actually enforce them.
EricSo its like, what good is having them?
EricAnd we all know building code is basically the bare minimum.
Andrew PaceAbsolutely.
EricThat's what you need to hit just to get your permit and to make sure you can get a certificate of occupancy that you built to those standards.
EricIt's the bare minimum.
EricAnd if there's nobody there to actually do any inspections, then why even have them?
Andrew PaceYeah, it's been interesting.
Andrew PaceI've been working on a few projects around here.
Andrew PaceI'm not going to say what part of the state where it's at.
Andrew PaceAnd, and I did helping out some friends and my brother and knocking stuff out and inspector walks in and goes, looks around, looks good, and heads out.
Andrew PaceAnd I'm like, you didn't even walk in the room that I went.
Andrew PaceI'm following the rule of the lock.
Andrew PaceAnd that's the thing with building codes, right?
Andrew PaceYou're like on section this, it says this, but four paragraphs later in my instance, it actually goes against that.
Andrew PaceSo you have two rules.
Andrew PaceWhich one are you going to use.
Andrew PaceAnd this is international building code and it's like absolute insanity.
Andrew PaceSo it's hard to navigate.
Andrew PaceBut we sent, we had to literally ask five or six questions because we're below the right permits on this.
Andrew PaceAnd the building department had to come back and say, let me get with the rest of the people in the office because I don't actually know that answer.
EricSo you are probably one of the few people who wants to ask those questions because you want to know for sure.
EricThere's a lot of the people in the industry would not want to ask the question because it's like calling the IR's instead asking them about your taxes.
EricI don't want to open up that Pandora's box.
EricAnd so if nobody, hey, if it's not mentioned, if it's not notated, I guess we're good.
EricMove on.
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceThese were all just conflicts within code where you're like, ah, that says that.
Andrew PaceBut that says the other thing.
Andrew PaceWhich one is it?
EricYeah, yeah.
EricAnd then look at an existing home when you're going to be buying an existing home and hiring a home inspector.
EricI've had two situations now just in the last couple of weeks where people have come to me saying, we hired a home inspector when we bought this monumental dream home.
EricAnd within a year of moving in, everybody got sick.
EricI have one in particular where her kids developed these very rare neurological issues because of mold exposure.
EricAnd it's all because the inspection never, never dug deep enough to figure out if there's a mold problem in the place.
EricLike the Carolinas, where mold is prevalent.
EricBut also they're building methods.
EricAbsolutely stink.
EricAnd sorry to my South Carolina friends.
EricYou need things like vapor control barriers, people.
EricJust because you don't do it doesn't mean that it's the right thing.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricSo in any event, I think that we could avoid all of this if we just had a way to educate the professionals themselves so they know what to look for.
Andrew PaceYeah, yeah.
Andrew PaceSuch a great call because it's crazy.
Andrew PaceLike great example out at a project I've been working on, my brother, out on the Oregon coast out here, building code said okay, its an old fifties house we went through and we removed most of the material that was moldy because it had literally had water leaks for 20 years inside of it.
Andrew PaceIt was known as the Blue Tarp House in there.
Andrew PaceAnd so we went through and probably reframed 50% of that just to start over in that.
Andrew PaceBut going through it, when we put stuff back in, we did vapor barriers in the right spot.
Andrew PaceWe put in a rockwool insulation in the walls when we reinstallated just to do stuff that was going to be as durable as we could moving forward, we used five, eight drywall inside instead of half inch.
EricNice.
Andrew PaceHere's the thing, and this is one of the things that I've noticed with new drywall, for instance, and this is the light drywall that we're seeing.
Andrew PaceIf you talk to firefighters and people that are out there testing this stuff, this new lightweight drywall drops down on a fire about ten minutes earlier than it ever did because they've aerated the drywall mixture so the screws don't hold.
Andrew PaceSo technically, the fire departments are saying, hey, when you're putting up drywall on a ceiling, you should either be using glues and adhesive or twice the amount of screws.
EricWow.
Andrew PaceJust to keep the ceiling up there.
EricSo.
EricAnd this is the problem that exists.
EricHow does that information get disseminated to the trades and then make it into a set of plans and have to be dealt with by the code officials?
EricBecause we also see the same thing with TGI choice.
EricAnd firefighters will tell you, I don't want to enter a home that's fully engulfed if we know it's TGI because it's going to collapse.
Andrew PaceSame with trusses.
Andrew PaceTrusses where you have the metal plates.
Andrew PaceFive minutes of flame contact on those plates, and they go curl, curl, curl.
Andrew PaceAnd then you've got all these sticks there and you see these now in new construction where they actually built those truss joists for four systems.
Andrew PaceAnd I've talked to a few firefighters here on this show where they walked into a room.
Andrew PaceThey're walking to a room and they could see that the carpet was holding up and it was the tax strip that had still held on the outside, but the center had floored.
Andrew PaceSo they were basically going to walk into a room that was a trampoline, that the tax strip was still holding the carpet, but that had actually fallen in.
Andrew PaceWow.
Andrew PaceAnd so, and the crazy thing is, and again, this comes down to building code, that if those trust manufacturers put two screws in those joints, holding them together, you wouldn't have that issue.
Andrew PaceIt would still hold together during that time.
Andrew PaceBut that would be such a simple code thing.
Andrew PaceAnd take a trust manufacturer an extra two minutes of trust and put those in there.
Andrew PaceBut it just doesn't happen.
EricDoesn't happen.
EricAnd this always makes me think about the way homes used to be built.
EricRight.
EricWith.
EricWith full cut dimensional lumber.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricAnd why these homes, some of these homes still exist today is because of how well they are built with such good materials.
EricYeah, they had to deal with, with lead and asbestos and so forth, and we know how to deal with that now.
EricThe methods of how they did things and the materials that they used last so much longer than what we have now.
Andrew PaceI think part of it was the homes were insulated, they could breathe, they could dry out.
Andrew PaceWe weren't trapping everything in.
Andrew PaceI think that's where we started to go sideways.
Andrew PaceIf I was going to make a guess on this, and I'm not a scientist by any means, but it seems like as soon as we started throwing up tar paper in places and plastic on the inside, and before we put the drywall up and started making all these mold sandwiches, trying to be more efficient, thats when these house things tended to go sideways.
EricYeah.
EricWhen I give presentations on this subject, I always talk about how the industry really changed vastly in the early seventies with the OPEC oil embargo, and it caused commercial buildings and residential builders to start tightening up spaces to save energy because energy costs were so high in the early seventies.
EricIn the eighties, we had that mentality of keeping things nice and tight.
EricBut then was the explosion in synthetics and plastics.
Andrew PaceYep.
EricAnd so through the eighties.
EricSo side note, if you're gonna be buying an existing home, I would avoid homes built in the eighties.
Andrew PaceYep.
EricThat's just, that's a general thought.
EricYeah, there are exceptions, but that's generally speaking, and that's because at that point it was like a science fair.
EricLike what are we gonna do to make this home better performing and using all these new, exciting plastic materials?
EricThey don't breathe, they bend in the wind, they bend with temperature, sway.
EricThey don't have the same characteristics of what we've known for hundreds of years.
EricAnd then in the nineties and two thousands, with the energy codes really starting to push builders into getting rid of every leak in the home whatsoever.
EricNow we have these toxic boxes that we've built that the, that stale air can't get out, and you wonder why people were getting sick.
EricSo now finally, we're to the point where the healthy home is starting to take off as a talking point now nationally, because I think we are learning from those mistakes.
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceSo I got a question for you here, and this is a great one, and I have my opinions, but I'm curious to ask the expert here, what do you think about OSB versus plywood, for instance?
EricBoy oh boy, I know it's right.
Andrew PaceIt's like one.
Andrew PaceIs it right?
EricSo OSB.
EricIf you're just looking at regular OSB, not like zip wall systems.
EricRight.
EricFor sheathing.
EricBut if you're just looking at traditional OSB, the big downside to it is that because there's so many exposed edges of the wood and there's a lot of adhesive used to, when they apply this back or push this back together again after shredding it, that there's much more of a chance, especially of the edges of moisture getting in and swelling.
EricAnd then it turns into a, a structural issue, it turns into a mold issue.
EricAnd then you use a CDX plywood in lieu of that.
EricAnd that eliminates a lot of that problem.
EricBut then its double the cost.
EricAnd so then I look at it and say something like a zip wall system, which has that WRB built in, that green coating thats built in, which if thats done correctly with the tapes and so forth, is probably double the cost of OSB as well.
EricBut in any of these situations, this is just one part of the, of the entire system.
EricIt's one component.
EricSo one.
Andrew PaceIt's one, it's one cup of water in the lake.
EricRight, right.
EricExactly.
EricAnd so what you do on the outside of that, on the inside of that, this is where it makes a difference.
EricIf you have an air gap or rain screen between the sheathing and your siding, that's going to eliminate 95% to 99% of the moisture wicking from condensation and wind driven rain.
Andrew PaceSo then it doesn't matter what you have back there in the sense of water damage, because you've now stopped it and you've given a path for the water to go.
EricEvan.
EricExactly.
EricAnd then also keep in mind then, from a chemical standpoint, whether it's OSB or plywood, they still have to use adhesives to push them all together to glue it together.
EricThese adhesives that are being used now for moisture resistance exterior grade use are not urea formaldehyde based, urea formaldehyde base adhesives can only be used interior because they're not moisture resistant.
EricFor moisture resistant OSB and plywood, they use what's called phenyl formaldehyde or phenolic resin.
EricAnd this resin is about 200 times less likely to ever become airborne.
EricMatter of fact, in the 30 years of, in this business and testing materials, I have never had a phenolic resin based panel ever off gas formaldehyde.
Andrew PaceNice.
EricSo I recommend it all the time.
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceSo great example I just made for my around the house northwest tv show.
Andrew PaceI just made outdoor, for my outdoor kitchen, I made countertops out of paper stone.
EricNice.
EricLove that stuff.
Andrew PaceIt's awesome.
EricIt's great.
EricAnd that is.
EricThat's the original phenolic based panel materials.
EricThis is, if you remember, if those of us who are old enough remember bakelite from way back in the day.
EricBakelite.
EricThese for handles for pots, too.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricAnd then, like, what's on top of the electrical poles, the wires wrapped around.
EricYeah.
EricSo basically it's layers of paper soaked in a phenolic resin.
EricAnd this is what is done now for paper, stone and rich light and all these other companies that make wonderful products.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricIt's completely inert.
EricIt's incredibly dense, very durable.
EricYou can cut directly on it.
EricAnd while you might scratch the surface a bit, that could be renewed.
EricNo big deal.
Andrew PaceYep.
EricBut it won't dull your expensive knives.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricSo it's a great product.
Andrew PaceAnd I can use it outside.
Andrew PaceIt's heat rated, so I can use it up to, I think it's heat rated up to like 375 degrees.
Andrew PaceSo if I put it next to a barbecue or next to my outdoor pizza oven, I'm not ruining it.
Andrew PaceIt's just so good.
Andrew PaceAnd I can cut it like wood so I don't have to have a fabricator do it, which I think is the other part.
Andrew PaceAnd the thing I liked about Paperstone is the stuff I got was FSC certified.
Andrew PaceSo it's clean.
EricIt's clean.
EricAnd I've used that material for exterior cladding.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricCommercial buildings.
EricIt's unbelievable.
EricI got a piece outside my office window that is a cutoff from one of our jobs.
EricIt's been there for, I think, twelve years in the rain, in the snow.
EricI'm in Wisconsin, but 20 below zero in the winter and 100 in the summer.
EricIt hasn't changed at all.
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceIf you want it to look really good, throw some of that spray wax on it.
Andrew PaceWax wax on it.
Andrew PaceAnd man, it looks like it's brand new.
Andrew PaceDay one again.
EricExactly.
EricYeah.
EricBeautiful material.
Andrew PaceYeah, it's great.
Andrew PaceIt's great.
Andrew PaceSo what do you think now?
Andrew PaceHeres my question for you.
Andrew PaceHow do we deal with this today and were getting so much new information as far as healthy air inside our homes?
Andrew PaceI think people woke up about indoor air quality a little bit when they were home during the COVID years here and people started paying attention.
Andrew PaceBut it seems to be a little bit of the Wild West.
Andrew PaceI put an air scrubber in my house.
Andrew PaceI'm not going to say the brand name because I'm going to say something bad about it, but what I don't like about it is when my wife is going to go bake, I have to go turn it off and unplug it because it will actually kill the yeast and her dough will not rise.
EricEvan, that's wild.
Andrew PaceSo I'm like, wait a minute.
Andrew PaceAnd it's giving.
Andrew PaceIt's one of the hydroxyl type systems.
Andrew PaceRight.
Andrew PaceBut I'm like, health wise for me, I'm like, wait a minute.
Andrew PaceHow healthy is that for me?
Andrew PaceIf that yeast thats sitting there in a bowl on the countertop, we just did wont rise.
Andrew PaceAnd if I take it outside right away and put it outside on the outdoor kitchen counter and its the same temp, it does great.
EricEvan, again, this is like the unintended consequence of trying to do the right thing.
EricWere trying to make our indoor air quality cleaner, but theres no, I should say theres very few ways right now that we can filter what we want to filter.
EricIt's like an ro system for water, right?
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricA reverse osmosis system for water.
EricTakes everything out of the water.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricIt doesn't just take the bad stuff, but it takes the good stuff out, too.
EricAnd I think like these, these hydroxyl type cleaning systems, they sanitize so well.
EricThen it sanitizes out the good yeast.
EricYeah, I can definitely see that.
EricAnd I think that this is where having a good, healthy home consultant in the project to say, to ask those questions, it's like having a good interior designer, to me, I love working with really good interior designers because they ask the questions that an architect won't answer or ask or a contractor doesn't necessarily ask.
EricThey ask, how do you live in your house?
EricSo if you told me, we like to bake bread, okay, I can't use an air purification system that's going to kill off all the good yeast as well.
EricSo, yeah, it's, it's.
EricBut we're learning this as we go.
EricAnd you're right, it's the.
EricBecause of COVID healthy home topics are now top of mind.
EricYeah, I think that it was a big awakening.
EricOur homes can be the cause of a lot of our problems.
EricNot Covid, but all these other things that are happening that.
EricAnd also in the last five to ten years, there has been so much research coming out about our.
EricAbout genetics and about how there are, there's about 25% of the population that has the genetic predisposition to have mold sensitivity.
EricAnd mold sensitivity is what leads to chemical sensitivity and electromagnetic sensitivities this is all just coming out in the last few years, I think were on the tip of the iceberg.
Andrew PaceEvan.
Andrew PaceAbsolutely.
Andrew PaceI can walk into a house and being an interior designer, kitchen and bath designer for 30 years, I could walk into a house because of my mold allergies.
Andrew PaceI can walk in and go, wheres your mold problem?
Andrew PaceYeah, I can.
Andrew PaceI am like the canary in the coal mine.
Andrew PaceI can walk in and go, you got a problem in here?
Andrew PaceLet's not talk about the kitchen.
Andrew PaceWhat's rotting?
Andrew PaceI smell mold.
Andrew PaceWhere is it?
EricYou're the human mold dog, right?
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceI can get it in 5 seconds.
Andrew PaceLiterally.
Andrew PaceI just do that.
Andrew PaceAnd so when I was out looking at homes to buy.
Andrew PaceIt's bad.
Andrew PaceI can walk in and go, nope, don't want to deal with it.
Andrew PaceDon't like the house that well to even go farther.
Andrew PaceWe're out.
EricNo.
Andrew PaceWhat do you mean?
EricSo it's interesting, you, you probably are then in that 25% where you have, um, mold sensitivity.
EricBut you probably also have a very good immune system where it doesn't necessarily affect you quickly.
Andrew PaceYeah, but I I'm noticing more great example and this is something sawdust.
Andrew PaceIf I'm out cutting hemp for lumber all day working on a project and I get it all around my collar and stuff, my neck is all red from broken out.
Andrew PaceSo I'm noticing different sensitivities now at age 53 that I didn't have before.
EricYeah.
Andrew PaceBecause I've exposed myself to that enough.
Andrew PaceRight.
EricSo that's it.
EricAnd somebody becomes sensitive to these things usually by long term exposure.
EricA little small exposure, but long term or it's a massive exposure.
EricYou walk into a house where they just sprayed pesticides or you've been exposed to something at work or whatever the case was, even something like a massive health issue like major surgery or a car accident or childbirth, it can change the body chemistry.
EricSo these things can actually change how your immune system responds.
EricAnd so yeah, at 53 myself, Im finding that I am now sensitive to things that I never thought would be a problem.
EricAnd Im in this business, Im surrounded by healthy materials all the time.
EricAnd maybe thats one of the reasons why.
EricCause I'm not inundated myself with the garbage all the time.
EricThat when I do come in contact with the real lousy materials, it instantly hits me.
Andrew PaceIt's wild.
Andrew PaceIt's wild.
Andrew PaceAnd it's just one of those things.
Andrew PaceYou go, oh, okay, I'm seeing this and it's getting interesting too.
Andrew PaceWe have so many things going on and there's so many things out there that you can solve too, like how many moldy bathrooms are there out there?
Andrew PaceBut at the same point, you can go in and these days and put in one of the good bathroom systems behind the tile.
Andrew PaceThat's going to do a much better job of preventing it with less errors.
Andrew PaceTraditionally, there's shower drying systems.
Andrew PaceYou don't have to have a wet, moldy shower when you're in there.
Andrew PaceThere's so many different things out there that are solutions to these problems.
Andrew PaceBut we really have to, when we're designing these spaces, really work with that and try to figure out the best solution for everybody.
EricYeah, I think that's the, that's the biggest thing is, is making sure that we're planning for this.
EricLike I said earlier, just assume there's going to be a moisture issue at some point.
EricSo let's plan for that.
EricAnd we know we can't avoid moisture in a shower.
EricThis is what a shower is.
EricSo how do we, how do we get rid of that moisture properly so it doesn't become a problem down the road?
EricHow do we get rid of the moisture between the, in the cavity walls of our homes so it doesn't sit there and then, and cause a festering mold problem?
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricSo we know it's going to get in there.
EricLet's just understand that and agree to that.
EricNow.
EricHow do we get rid of that?
EricHow do we alleviate that as a problem and we don't have to worry about it down the road?
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceAnd how do you put instead of insulation, maybe, maybe not doing spray foam, maybe doing, you know, a rockwool or something else like that that's going to be much more resistant and maybe not going to sag down if it gets moist.
EricYeah, exactly.
Eric100%.
Andrew PaceThat's the cool stuff.
Andrew PaceSo what are you seeing in technology now?
Andrew PaceI know we're running a little bit out of time here before we talk some whiskey, but I wanted to see where do you see science going right now?
Andrew PaceWe see a lot of air sensors now in people's homes where they're all of a sudden looking at PM 2.5.
Andrew PaceI can look over, I've got one of the bro newtone ones in my living room that I look over and go, huh, I wonder why that's yellow.
Andrew PaceSo it's trying to figure stuff out, but it's, you're always learning with this stuff.
Andrew PaceBut where do you see science going right now?
Andrew PaceBecause there's been a lot of different materials out there.
Andrew PaceLook what happened to lumber liquidators ten years ago with their urea formaldehyde problem.
Andrew PaceAnd now where they're at today, we're seeing a lot of things changing out there with people's eyes getting opened up to building materials.
EricSo for the longest time, we saw a lot happening with, like, smart home technology.
EricAnd now we're finding that there's a marriage between smart home technology and health.
EricSo all these air quality testers that you can install into your system that it basically just pops up on your, on your cell phone to say there's a problem at home.
EricInformation is always powerful, information is always needed.
EricBut its how you interpret that information.
EricI do see that it causes a lot of anxiety, a lot of stress, when people see that their PM 2.5 level is up, but they fail to remember that maybe a window is open and somebody was burning leaves down the road.
EricAnd so I will be honest with you.
Eric50% of most of my consulting calls deals with stress control and understanding that the stress reactions that we get from all the potential toxins and so forth can actually cause the exact same adrenaline release and the exact same symptoms as if you were being inundated with a chemical with mold.
EricSo there's a lot of stress relief happening in these calls technology.
EricI think right now, 95% of what I read in the trade publications, what I see at the trade shows, deals with health of the occupants in one way or another.
EricAnd I think this is where we have a chance for a complete paradigm shift in our industry to now start building and remodeling truly healthy homes, not just because we're trying to do our best to save the environment, but because we have to exist here in this environment.
EricWhat good is saving the environment if we're still poisoning out of the human occupants?
EricAnd I think we're finally starting to get that as an industry.
EricI've never been more excited.
EricI've been in this business for over 30 years.
EricI have never been more excited to be in it than I am right now.
Andrew PaceThat's awesome.
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceThere's three things I've been screaming from the rooftops on home tech for inside the homes.
Andrew PaceOne is I want an erv system that's measuring the incoming air quality and comparing it to the indoor air quality.
EricYes.
Andrew PaceAnd if the outdoor air quality is worse, he shut her down for me.
Andrew PaceHow hard is this?
Andrew PaceIt's not simple.
Andrew PaceSimple, you know, go.
Andrew PaceNow's not the time to run that.
Andrew PaceYeah, can't be that hard.
Andrew PaceI've been screaming for that one for like, three years now, because for me, it's in it.
Andrew PaceIt's for everybody out there.
Andrew PaceBut for me, when we have western wildfire smoke, I tell people, hey, go turn that unit off for a couple of days, but make sure you set an appointment on your calendar when you're going to be home to remind you to turn it back on again.
EricRight.
EricExactly right.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricWe have a technology, folks.
EricWe have the technology to do this, so let's just get her done.
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceThe second one is, I want, when you turn a cooktop on in the kitchen, I want it to automatically turn on the vent fan to the setting of the cooktop down below.
EricMm hmm.
EricSo you're speaking my language, Eric, because people always ask me about the differences, that we can talk about this between gas and electric cooktops, but I tell them that no matter what you end up doing, the process should be, when you go walk into the kitchen to start preparing a meal, the first thing you do is turn on the range hood.
EricThen you start mixing your ingredients.
EricThen you turn on the range because you have to start creating this current.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricIf you only turn it on because you smell or see smoke, it's too late.
EricToo late.
Andrew PaceAnd then the other thing.
Andrew PaceI've said this, and I've said this to now four different appliance manufacturers.
Andrew PaceI said, you got all the smart stuff.
Andrew PaceWhy don't you have a temperature sensor that's in the hood that automatically turns off the cooktop when it gets too high?
Andrew PaceHow hard is that?
EricOh, that's a smart one.
EricI love that.
Andrew PaceRight.
EricAnd it's so simple.
EricIt's so simple.
EricLike, this is like 20 years ago, I was trying to convince H vac contractors to tie in with the ERV, tie in the range hood, the bathroom fans, and even windows.
EricYou can put sensors on the windows.
EricIf any of that triggers the ERV, then makes up the air properly.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricIt's very simple to do.
EricBut it's like, people look at me like I have three heads.
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceI've said this to some major companies, and they look at me like, oh, that's interesting.
Andrew PaceI'm like, but you're going to, you're going to put out on the market a rice cooker that gives me tomorrow's weather.
Andrew PaceBut you can do this.
Andrew PaceI don't care.
Andrew PaceYeah, it's just, it's.
Andrew PaceThat's the crazy stuff.
Andrew PaceAnd it's so simple to do.
Andrew PaceAnd hopefully we'll get there and you guys out there listening, I'm talking about you that I've been talking about.
EricYes.
EricPlease listen to this show.
EricAnd make these changes.
Andrew PaceIt's so simple.
Andrew PaceIt's so simple.
Andrew PaceAnd the other thing I want to talk, before we get into whiskey, talk here for a minute, is I want to talk about just.
Andrew PaceWe didn't touch on it, but just measuring your humidity in your home and making sure that you've got that under control, that can be one of the biggest problems, even if you've got healthy materials inside.
EricYeah, boy, that's.
EricThat's definitely something that we preach.
EricRaising the humidity in a house not only causes us to be in a situation where mold growth is going to be more prevalent, anything above 50% to 55%, but we've also found that it drastically increases the amount of chemical off gas.
EricSo when moisture enters into a surface and then eventually evaporates back out, it's going to carry with it the chemical footprint of where it was.
EricSo we have tested numerous homes over the years where people complain of high vocs or high formaldehyde.
EricAnd then we look at the, at the humidistat, we go, it's 62% relative humidity in here.
EricWhat I want you to do is close the windows.
EricWe talked about this before.
EricIf it's worse outside than inside, right.
EricThey have the windows open the middle of summer to try to get fresh air, but all the humidity is coming in.
EricSo close the windows, turn on the air, turn on a de hue.
EricI'm going to come back in two weeks.
EricI'm going to test the home again.
EricI'm going to test the specific surfaces again.
EricWe've done this, and every single time, all that off gassing goes down more than 50%.
EricSo this makes an enormous difference in your indoor air quality.
Andrew PaceAnd, guys, don't go try to deal with your basement humidity issue, please.
Andrew PaceWith a little target dehumidifier, please don't just go get.
Andrew PaceI don't care if it's one of the main brands, there's no commercial here for this, but get a built in unit that actually has a drain line that goes where it's supposed to go to meet code in your area, and get the humidity out of the space, and it'll save you money in the long run, because you're not going to have to go buy six of those things and you'll be throwing them away.
EricEvery two years, 100%.
EricAnd if you.
EricIf you have it in a basement that was never designed to be a livable space, but you're trying to treat it as a.
EricAs a family room, understand that that basement is probably not waterproof the same way that a new home would be knowing that it's a livable space.
EricSo you might be fighting Mother Nature throughout those humid months, but it is what it is.
EricYou just got to deal with it.
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceLook at the older homes that we see in certain parts of the area in the twenties, thirties, and up to early forties, where there were significant concrete problems that maybe they weren't washing the sand, or there was just these mixture problems that they had.
Andrew PaceWhere I can go into Portland here, and I can take the key from my vehicle and lightly scratch and not hurt the brass key, but scratch through and literally go through the entire foundation because enough moisture has come through that has taken just enough lime out of the mix.
Andrew PaceRight.
Andrew PaceAnd calcium and everything else that you have literally compacted sand.
Andrew PaceEvan.
Andrew PaceWow.
EricThat's amazing.
EricYeah.
Andrew PaceAnd so the.
Andrew PaceThe.
Andrew PaceThat thing, they don't build them like they used to.
Andrew PaceDoesn't always apply in that situation.
EricBut that is true.
EricThat is true.
Andrew PaceAll right, man, we got to talk whiskey here real quick, because.
Andrew PaceAnd then we're going to talk about how to find you and all that stuff.
Andrew PaceBut let's talk about your whiskey career here, because you have some other massive gifts here besides healthy homes.
EricIve always been somebody who loves to research, and I love learning new things.
EricAnd many years ago, I had a friend of mine who got me into scotch whiskey, and I always liked it, but I didnt really know much about it, and I started learning about it, and I just went head first.
EricWhen I do something, I guess I dont do it just.
EricBut I really dug deep.
EricI ended up traveling to Scotland, became a certified scotch whiskey.
EricI spent time in Kentucky, became a bourbon executive steward.
EricI really love it's chemistry to me, it's.
EricAnd it just so happens it's something that I enjoy to.
EricTo consume and to taste.
EricAnd so I actually spent a lot of my free time when I'm not healthy, helping people with healthy homes, conducting whiskey tasting events, and teaching people all the fine points of whiskey.
EricSo it's been a lot of fun.
EricThis is what I just did.
EricI did a tasting event just a couple of weeks ago.
Andrew PaceOkay.
EricFor a good customer of mine who has hired me several times for parties, this time I did anything aged in oak.
EricOh, we did scotch, bourbon, rum, armagnac, and then port wine.
EricOh.
EricAnd it was phenomenal.
EricI was a little afraid about all these different flavor profiles, but the fact is that every one of them tastes like they've been in oak because they have, and everybody there absolutely enjoyed it.
Andrew PaceOh, that is amazing.
Andrew PaceThat is amazing.
Andrew PaceThat is cool.
Andrew PaceHadn't thought about that, but, yeah, because that oak gives you that commonality between all those.
EricExactly right.
EricAnd we even did a 35 year old balsamic vinegar be.
EricAnd as a in between palate cleanser after the rum.
EricBecause the rum, folks, it was good.
EricBut it really.
Andrew PaceSomething here to just to try to change something.
EricYes.
EricYeah.
EricAnd I had a lot of people in the group who weren't necessarily whiskey drinkers, and so when I brought out the balsamic vinegar, they're like, yeah, finally something.
EricBut 35 years in oak, and again, you definitely taste the yolk.
EricYou taste those tannins, the, the vanilla, the cinnamon, the, that that particular profile from oak, it's just amazing how they all work together.
Andrew PaceOh, that is wonderful.
Andrew PaceYeah, that's, that's, that's so smart.
Andrew PaceAnd I like that.
Andrew PaceIt's like, wait a minute.
Andrew PaceNow you got me thinking on that.
Andrew PaceSo what's your favorite, and, uh, let's say, what's.
Andrew PaceWhat's your favorite thing that you're tasting right now out there, whether it's scotch whiskey or whatever?
EricSo, actually, my favorite right now is because of this tasting event, I had to do a lot of research.
EricI'm using the air quotes right now.
Andrew PaceResearch, which is basically research this afternoon.
EricSo sit at home with my, like, Glen Caron glass and, uh, fill it up a few times.
EricSo, Armagnac, which is cognac, it's essentially brandy from a very specific region in France.
EricI have fallen in love with armagnacs, because, again, if you love the big, bold flavors of wood in a spirit, most armagnacs are going to be 20, 30, 40 years old.
EricEven though it's made from distilled wine, essentially, because it's in oak for so long, it starts to impart this flavor of a highly sherried scotch whiskey.
EricSo, if you like McCallan, for instance, which I love.
EricIf you love McAllen, you will absolutely love armagnacs.
EricOh, yeah.
EricOkay.
EricI'm gold on those right now.
Andrew PaceIt was so funny.
Andrew PaceSo a couple of cognac stories real quick.
Andrew PaceFirst time I really got to sit down and pay attention to cognac.
Andrew PaceI was in Chicago for one of the builder shows when they did the builder shows in Chicago back then.
Andrew PaceAnd we went over to buddy guys, blues legends placed in there.
Andrew PaceEnded up sitting in there on a Wednesday after our dinners with a buddy.
Andrew PaceEnded up sharing the table with Buddy guy.
Andrew PaceWow.
Andrew PaceAnd he was buying Cognac all night.
Andrew PaceAnd when buddy guy hands you a glass of cognac, you say, thank you, buddy.
Andrew PaceOr Mister Guy.
Andrew PaceAnd you drink it.
Andrew PaceAnd I'm like, yes.
Andrew PaceOh, this is pretty good.
EricThis is not bad, right?
Andrew PaceAlso, having a rock and roll hall of Fame guitar player sitting next to you handing you drinks, also a nice thing.
Andrew PaceBut I was like, oh, okay.
Andrew PaceAnd then I was.
Andrew PaceThis was about nine years ago.
Andrew PaceI was up in Vancouver, BC, visiting a flooring company up there.
Andrew PaceThey were giving me an architectural tour.
Andrew PaceWe were doing some stuff with them up there, which is totally fun.
Andrew PaceAnd what was that?
Andrew PaceIt was the rare cast cognac.
Andrew PaceIs that the Louis XIII?
EricOh, yeah, yep.
Andrew PaceAnd the rare cask with the whole.
EricThat hold that crystal vase and the.
Andrew PaceWood box and all that.
Andrew PaceAnd I'm sitting at the bar waiting for restaurant reservations.
Andrew PaceCause there was a bunch of us, and this guy gets up on the ladder with white gloves and pulls two crystal glasses down and starts flaming the glass with a match.
Andrew PaceAnd I'm like, hey, we're on something here that I've not seen before.
Andrew PaceSo.
Andrew PaceBut I had to ask the bartender, I'm like, what do you got going?
Andrew PaceHe goes, oh, I'm pulling this out, and I google it up, and I'm like, oh, that's a $50,000 bottle back then.
EricYeah, it's quite amazing.
Andrew PaceAm I going to spend money on that?
Andrew PaceBut it was cool to see him serving up to two glasses for a guy.
EricYeah, sure.
EricWhen I win the lottery, I might try that.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricAnd I'll probably find out that it's probably just as good as the $100 bottle that I just had.
EricIt's the experience.
EricIt's the fact that you can live the rest of your life going, I had a $50,000 cognac.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricAnd I can say, and I'm not bragging here, but I've had a $40,000 scotch whiskey that I got to try at the Belveni when I was there many years ago.
EricAnd it is remarkable.
EricAbsolutely remarkable.
EricIf I didn't have a hookup, I probably wouldn't have tried it.
Andrew PaceSure.
EricNo, because I can't afford it.
EricBut it was a special thing, and I was able to try it, and it is.
EricI don't know, it's something about.
EricIt's like you said you were having a glass of cognac.
EricBuddy guy, he probably could have given you a glass of ten w 40.
EricYou would have loved it.
Andrew PaceAbsolutely.
EricSo here I am at the belfeni with the distiller, the head distiller.
EricI'm drinking a $40,000 whiskey.
EricYeah, I felt pretty good about it, and it could have been anything, but it was tasty.
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceAnd to your point, he could have been handing me an old style beer and I'd have gone, sweet.
EricThis is great.
EricBest beer I've ever had, ever.
Andrew PaceAdds.
Andrew PaceIt's so much of that.
Andrew PaceAs far as that goes.
Andrew PaceWhat are you liking in the.
Andrew PaceJust in the.
Andrew PaceIn the whiskeys out?
Andrew PaceIs there a drinker that you're in right now that's just a regular, something like a guy like me would drink versus royalty.
EricYeah.
EricSo a couple things.
EricSo we have.
EricWe have a really good bourbon distillery here in Wisconsin called Jay Henry.
Andrew PaceOkay.
EricJay Henry, I believe, makes the absolute best in the midwest.
EricI can't.
EricI can't say of all of Indiana, because of MGP, that produces 50% of the bourbon for the country.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricBut when it comes to craft distillation, they do it right, and they do it with this rare old red corn that they brought back for.
EricFor this.
EricTheir bourbon is something special.
EricAnd I'm not necessarily.
EricI'm not a bourbon drinker.
EricIf I'm going to sit down and have a whiskey, it's going to be a scotch.
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceI'm a bourbon guy more than I am a scotch guy, so I'm the opposite.
EricYep.
EricSo you're going to.
EricYou would love the Jay Henry.
Andrew PaceOkay.
EricAbsolutely.
EricFell in love with that a couple of years ago.
EricThey did a five year old cognac cask.
EricOh.
EricAnd so I like the cognac cask whiskeys because that means they're using a type of wood called french limousine oak and.
EricFrench limousine.
EricYep.
EricAnd it imparts this really interesting creaminess to the spirit.
Andrew PaceYeah.
EricSo I'm a sucker for anything aged in french oak.
Andrew PaceYeah, absolutely.
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceThat's good.
Andrew PaceThat's good.
Andrew PaceThere's that.
Andrew PaceThere's a really cheap whiskey out there that's selling across the country that.
Andrew PaceThat I'm laughing about because I know the history on it, and it's so funny and it's big out there.
Andrew PaceIt's that redneck Riviera, the bigger stuff.
EricYep, yep.
Andrew PaceFor the price point, I'd rather have that than old crow, in my opinion.
Andrew PaceI think it tastes better, but.
Andrew PaceAnd it's really inexpensive.
Andrew PaceBut here's the funny story, is that was invented here in Portland, Oregon.
Andrew PaceAnd what's funny is that there's a guy that I met at the radio station eight years ago.
Andrew PaceHe had this double barrel stone whiskey that he was doing here with that same distiller.
Andrew PaceAnd the more I talked to him, the more things got a little sketchy and things all of a sudden he just disappeared.
Andrew PaceSo I dont know what the whole story was, but he changed his name off Facebook and everywhere else and just went into hiding down south someplace.
Andrew PaceNot sure what happened.
Andrew PaceIm sure people were owed money if I was to guess.
Andrew PaceBut whatever happened, happened.
Andrew PaceIm speculating.
EricPreston.
EricOne of my favorite whiskeys is actually not from Portland, but up in Seattle, the Westland distillery.
EricSo here's what I'm a huge fan of.
EricTheir stuff.
Andrew PaceTheir stuff is spectacular.
EricYes it is.
Andrew PaceA year or two later that stuff comes out from the same distiller.
Andrew PaceIt is the exact same recipe.
Andrew PaceWild because I still had a bottle and did a side by side taste test and I had my wife doing it.
Andrew PaceI'm like, same exact whiskey.
Andrew PaceSo if you'd have played his cards right, he'd have had that thing going off.
Andrew PaceAnd after liquor stores across the country.
EricLike those guys do, I'll tell you this, I did a tasting event a couple of times in the last few years where we do a blind, blind tasting.
EricWe'll do, and I'll do usually very, very small pours because we're not drinking to get snackered here, we're drinking for the experience.
EricAnd so I'll do five different pairs, very small steps of five different pairs.
EricAnd one of them is always a really inexpensive bourbon up against a poor man's papi.
EricA well or twelve.
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceStill great.
Andrew PaceYeah, it's great.
EricEvery single time I've done this, everybody's always chosen the cheap bourbon.
Andrew PaceIt's the caramel ness, it's the taste, it's just easy drinking.
Andrew PaceRight?
EricYeah.
EricAnd so the one that always scores the highest is Jim beam black.
Andrew PaceOh, interesting.
EricYeah.
EricWhich is amazing.
EricIt's what, $20 a bottle?
Andrew PaceYeah, there's a, that I drink out of Texas that's just my little, my personal house whiskey at home and it's a TX out of Texas.
EricOh, okay.
EricI've not had that one.
EricI've had the balconies quite a bit.
Andrew PaceEvan.
Andrew PaceYeah, but TX is, it's just caramelly easy drinking.
Andrew PaceJust, just have something that's tasty that you could just drop over a drink it need or drop it over one of the big rocks and just a sipper that's enjoyable.
Andrew PaceAnd for $25 for the bottle, you don't care.
EricRight, right.
EricAnd if friends come over and they block.
Andrew PaceRight.
EricYeah.
Andrew PaceIt's not in the cabinet that nobody knows about with the other stuff like my, like my cuban embargo, Havana club rum and some of that stuff that I may or may not have in that cabin.
EricAh, yeah, yeah.
EricNo, I think that there's a lot of good ones out there.
EricHonestly, when I do these events, I try to pour, like, two or three that are hard to find.
EricAlmost impossible find.
EricMight be expensive.
EricAnd then I'm going to pour a couple that you can go down to the liquor store and get, but you never would because there's a thousand bottles and you don't know what to pick.
Andrew PaceYeah.
Andrew PaceAmen.
EricSo I did one last year where out of all of the ones that we poured, and there were ones anywhere from $15 a bottle up to $400 a bottle.
EricEverybody chose a $15 bottle.
Andrew PaceYep.
EricIt was mellow corn.
Andrew PaceWow.
Eric$15 a bottle.
EricIt's corn whiskey.
EricIt's yellow.
EricIt is.
EricBut I'll tell you wouldn't want.
EricNo, it's smooth as silk.
EricIt's.
EricIt's a great dessert whiskey, if you're into dessert whiskey.
EricYep.
Andrew PaceThat makes sense.
Andrew PaceSo, Andy, we're running out of time here.
Andrew PaceYou and I could do this, like, for the next 6 hours, which would be like this big Joe Rogan double fest thing, which we're not going to do today, but we're going to do it again here soon.
Andrew PaceBut how do people track you down?
Andrew PaceBecause the green building is such a thing.
Andrew PaceThat should be a normal thing out there.
Andrew PaceAnd for people remodeling, there are people that are building homes.
Andrew PaceThey need to know how to track you down for this kind of stuff because you're such an amazing resource nationwide for people.
EricOh, thank you.
EricBest way to find me is our website, thegreendesigncenter.com dot.
EricFrom that, you'll find links to not only the products that I've curated over the years to be the healthiest of the healthy, but also links to consulting to.
EricI do a podcast called non toxic environments, slowly trying to figure out YouTube and get videos up on YouTube so that's linked on there.
EricAnd then I also have a private, what's called a circle community, which is made up of customers and clients that are truly trying to find answers to how do I make this aspect of my home healthier?
EricWhat do I do in this situation?
EricIt's not like social media where somebody can come on and basically blast you for whatever opinion you have.
EricThis is actually people helping people, and I absolutely love it.
EricI do that as a free service for all my followers.
Andrew PaceNice, man.
Andrew PaceI appreciate it, buddy.
Andrew PaceThanks for taking the time today, Mandy.
Andrew PaceIt's been way too long and I'll have to do this again soon because I think we just scratched the surface on this today.
EricExactly.
EricThanks.
EricI appreciate it, Eric.
EricAll right.
Andrew PaceAll right, guys, go back and make sure you listen to this one again because there's a lot of information here for you.
Andrew PaceI'm Eric G.
Andrew PaceAnd you've been listening to around the house.
Andrew PaceThat was a fast part.
EricGood work.
EricThat was fun.
Andrew PaceSomewhere unseen and undiscovered anywhere beyond the me love is a love song let's be lovers.
EricWe're all over the radio.
Andrew PaceTake mine down.
EricYou with you?
Andrew PaceRal.