Home show features modern technology

Green is the new black - or at least an ever-increasingly popular trend at the 55th annual West Branch Susquehanna Home Builders show at Lycoming College Recreation Center.

Ray Venema, owner and president of Susquehanna Builders, Cogan Station, is a certified green builder. He's no stranger to the home show, as he's come since 1999 and is past president, and is on the board of the National Association of Home Builders.

What's new this year is the Timber Block log homes, which Venema calls "revolutionary" for their insulation qualities.

RASHELLE CAREY/Sun-Gazette Ray Venema, right, owner and president of Susquehanna Builders, shows off his new Timer Block construction to a home show visitor.

"You can save up to 60 percent on energy versus a traditional log home," Venema said. The R-30 insulation exceeds all new and proposed state building codes for insulation. It also uses 60 percent less wood than standard logs, and there's no post-construction log cracking or "checking" as the wood has a much lower moisture content.

Cork flooring also is becoming more popular, Venema said, and it's made by peeling bark off trees - which regenerates - and turned into flooring.

Venema began working with the Timber Block because of the declining economic market; while he still specializes in custom homes, it broadens the options. Plus, while the natural gas companies have offered employment around the area, Venema said that left a big hole in the labor market.

"Labor supply in Pennsylvania is drying up because (the laborers) are going to the gas companies," he said.

That means there's more reliance on factories to produce exterior walls, Venema said - which offers some positives, such as speeding up construction time, saving customers money and better wood quality as it's built in a controlled climate versus out in the elements.

However, father-son duo Greg and Kayle Sickler, of Sylvania, are keeping the laborer tradition alive, hand-cutting and assembling all their timber frames for Greg Sickler's business, Settlement Post & Beam. It takes about five weeks to hand-cut timber for a 2,200-square-foot home, for example, and a week to assemble and build. All are pre-assembled to ensure correct fit.

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Home show features modern technology