WEST WARWICK, RI – A fast-drying adhesive and base coat were the keys to an Outsulation® RMD application featured on ABC’s “Extreme Makeover, Home Edition.”

 

As if the hyper-aggressive construction schedule of the “Extreme Makeover, Home Edition” television program was not enough, a series of cold, wet December days contributed to the inherent challenge of installing more than 2,500 square feet of an Outsulation RMD system in less than 48 hours.

 

“To say that the installation was a challenge would be to understate matters considerably,” offered Dryvit Field Service Manager Al Zabbo, who oversaw the Outsulation RMD installation on the Girard family home in Voluntown, CT. The home was featured on an “Extreme Makeover, Home Edition” episode that aired on Feb. 8, 2009, on ABC. “Not only was the experience very rewarding for us at Dryvit to participate in that project, but the conditions really demonstrated the unique advantages that Dryvit’s Rapidry DM 35-50 and 50-75 products offer in accelerating drying times that allow you to work much faster and more efficiently in colder temperatures.”

 

Because the Rapidry product significantly reduces curing times in colder climate conditions, the product allows contractors to complete two installation steps – either insulation board installation and rasping or base coat and finish application – in a single work day, when proper tenting and heating are used. The result is a significantly faster installation of the overall Outsulation system. The benefit was put to the test in the “Extreme Makeover, Home Edition” project in Connecticut.

 

An unexpectedly cold early December frost – with wind chills in the single degrees – met the team Zabbo assembled when they arrived at the job site at 3 a.m. on the first day. Not even several delays, and the addition of a cold, driving rain later in the construction, did anything to diminish the enthusiasm of the Dryvit applicators or the speed of the application. “The tenting and heating held up well under these ‘extreme’ conditions, and we got the job done,” said Zabbo.

 

“Normally, there is a lot of tension on a job site, especially when multiple trades are working at the same time. In this case we had between 300 and 400 people of every trade you can imagine working all at the same time. It was the biggest job site I have worked on in my life, and I was amazed how well everyone got along and worked together. It is a real tribute to the guys who volunteered and underscores how special it was for so many people to have an opportunity to rally around this family.”

 

Dryvit’s donation of the Outsulation RMD system was the third time in the past two years that the company has donated materials for a home featured in the ABC television program.