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The Tracewater Homes Podcast brings you inside the world of modern homebuilding, market trends, and the partnerships shaping the future of residential construction. Known for their innovative steel-frame homes, Tracewater dives into what today’s buyers want, how the industry is evolving, and the experts who help bring every project to life. Whether you’re a homeowner, agent, or builder, this podcast delivers insights, inspiration, and behind-the-scenes conversations from the front lines of construction.
Hey everybody and welcome back to another episode of the Tracewater Homes Podcast. I am Brent and I'm joined today by Matt, also of Tracewater Homes, and today we've got a special guest joining us, Brett of LP Corporation. So we've got Brett and Brent today.
Not confusing at all. Yeah, no, we'll try to keep that straight. Brett's going to be sharing with us some of the benefits of LP products and why we use those products in all of our Tracewater Homes.
So I guess, Brett, if you wouldn't mind starting us off and just telling us a little bit about some of like the siding and the structural products that you offer that we use. So thank you guys for letting us be here. Thank you, Tracewater.
Oh yeah, thanks for being here. I mean, it's so humbling just to get to talk about LP every day. So I've been with LP two years, going on my third year, like we talked about earlier, but just been in this business forever and I'm a gigantic LP fan.
Like I sound like a homer by the way, but gigantic LP fan. So within that, you know, the siding aspect of it, because we're helping people build their biggest purchase, probably, that they're going to make in their lifetime. As far as this purchase of a house and what goes in it.
So we can protect the outside with the cladding that we offer, all value-added products. So we have lap siding, different sizes in that. We have shakes, which are very cool.
Look, you can get them staggered or straight. And then we have board and batten, which you never see in the South, right? See it on every house, right? So we've got all the sizes that you need in that and all the batten strips and all the trim. So from a cladding aspect, if you look at a house, we can cover everything on the outside of the house with our siding.
Yeah. And the great thing about that, where he's talking about those three different products and we have elevations in our trace water plans that use all of those. Right.
So, you know, if you're leaning toward that coastal board and batten, we've got the LP board and batten siding, or we have a lap siding elevation. So we can use all of that in our homes. Shake siding.
Yeah. Yeah. We use it all.
Customer's options. So we can do it prime and let somebody else paint it. Or we have a pre-finished product called Expert Finish.
Great add on to a project. Yep. Absolutely.
And we love all of the products. And I mean, like I said, we offer the full array. So if you wouldn't mind, tell us a little bit about the benefits to our homeowners when using LP SmartSide versus some of the competitive products in the market.
So, you know, not everybody sells on a warranty, but you feel like you've got to talk about that, especially. Absolutely. Yeah.
For sure. This Forever Home, the comfort of knowing that there's a 50-year structural warranty that LP stands behind on their product is amazing. Yeah.
And that's huge. Yeah, go ahead. No, I was going to say that's huge.
Right. And to add to that, we call what is 550 warranty. So the first five years, if whatever reason something happens and we have ownership in it, the first five years of that product gets like a parts and labor, we're going to take care of every piece of that.
Taking it off, disposing of it, bringing it back. If it's got to be painted, we're in on that. So the first five-year coverage is pretty unique.
And I believe also in comparison to one of your biggest competitors out there, y'all will also do that warranty based on a piece, not an entire like side of the house. I think they'll come out and look and say, well, not more than, you know, 50% or whatever their metric is of the product is damaged. So we won't replace it.
But you guys will do individual pieces, right? Just piece by piece. Yeah. Like you're talking about, if we go to that wall and say, okay, this piece is messed up or it's a warranty issue.
This whole wall is not out or this whole house is not out. Let's worry about this piece. Let's get it fixed.
Get it back. Get it right. And let's move on.
Which is huge. Nobody wants to hear, oh, well, we're not going to cover that because there's not enough problem. You know, like that's not a great customer service experience.
It's like saying, you know, only one cylinder of your eight cylinder engine blew up. You still have seven. Yeah, we're not going to cover that.
So yeah, that is huge. The warranty that you guys offer is amazing. And Matt, I guess if you wouldn't mind talking about some of the reasons that we chose to use LP product from a protection standpoint, you know, on the homes that we build.
Yeah. I mean, it's that for one thing, it's the durability of the product. I mean, again, I'm a huge proponent of LP and I have been for, I would say about 20 years, probably that we've been using that product in different markets and absolutely love it.
Won't use anything else. The protection piece is huge because even from install standpoint, you know, the guys are carrying 16 foot pieces of siding around the job site by themselves. Right.
And they're cutting it with a normal saw. Sure. And you talk about protection there.
They're not having to wear special, you know, breathing apparatuses or anything like that to protect their lungs. Well, so there's a lot there, but then you get into the house itself and the durability is, I mean, it's off the charts. And we have, we even have a display that we have set up.
And I think you've seen that where we've got sledgehammers and we, you know, we allow people to take the sledgehammers with a piece of fiber cement. Yeah. And a piece of, and a piece of LP.
And we've been using the same piece of LP smart side the entire time. And we have to keep swapping out the fiber cement siding as it just explodes. And I think we'll probably play with that here in a little bit.
Oh, nice. We'll have to get that out. Yeah.
From the shell case side, you're dead right. Cause they could carry it. It's so much lighter than other pieces in the market, especially the fiber cement realm.
It's so much, and so much easier to cut. Doesn't break in half when they pick it up. Right.
There's all of that. But then the one other thing I'd like to say about why we use it, it looks so good. It does.
Like when you put paint on it, it looks beautiful. Right. And it stays looking that way.
You know, we actually have it on our own home and we're three years into the finish on it. And the paint still looks great on it. It doesn't start to peel and fade.
It's chalky. Yes, exactly. We talked about textures before, but cedar texture versus brush smooth.
Brush smooth is my favorite because it's got those brush lines in it. But yeah, the cedar texture is great. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, for sure. And for those that don't know, you mentioned a few of the benefits from an install standpoint. Would you mind breaking that down in comparison to fiber cement siding, which is probably the most common product aside from LP that's used in this market.
Why is it so much easier to carry around the job site and stuff for the layperson that has no idea what you're talking about when you say those things? Yeah, well, I mean, if you take a long piece of fiber cement siding and try to pick it up in the middle, one person, you're going to pick that up and it's going to snap in half. It's just the way it is. And additionally, you're putting it on the wall.
And if your air gun is set a little bit too high, it's punching the nails through and breaking it. So there are a lot of things with the install piece that become challenging on that, that using LP SmartSide completely eliminates. So you have one guy carrying this piece around.
Like I said, the cutting thing, they can cut it with normal saw blades. They're not having to use special fiber cement blades. They're not having to wear a dust mask because they're not breathing cement dust as they're putting it.
There are so many reasons to use the product. Exactly. And from a protection standpoint, maybe Brett, you can elaborate a little bit more on some of the protection in terms of wind resistance, termite protection, hail protection, all those sorts of things.
So if you flip the LP SmartSide over, so we get a lot of questions about what it's made of, right? So you flip it over, it looks like OSB. For the most part, it does. So OSB is made from pine, as you guys know.
Orange is made from aspen tree. So it looks different. It acts different.
It's a different wood element. But within that process of how we make it, just visualize this gigantic dryer that's tumbling all of our material, all these chips of wood. So in that, we're adding an MDI resin, which think Gorilla Glue, just make it relatable.
And that's what bowling balls are made out of. It goes into that. So it's a really hard surface.
Hydrophobic wax, so just, again, make it relative. Think of rain eggs. So if we were to flip a board over and pour water on those strands, that water would just beat up.
And then it's got zinc borate in it. So that's fungal decay, rodents. I mean, the termite part where they don't hear anything, so they're not going to hit that wood.
There's nothing going to penetrate that board. And with those three additives to it, and then our paper overlay just makes for an outstanding board for the homeowner. Yeah, absolutely.
Actually, hey, Noah, can I ask you to go grab a prop for me? Leaned up over there, there are two 2x4s that are rotten, and then a small piece of siding. If you could bring those over. Brett, I just want to get your reaction to this.
Yeah, so we inadvertently did a test of LP SmartSide. We had two lots side by side, and we completed one house. And the other lot was wooded.
And laying back in the trees were a 2x4 left over from construction and a piece of LP SmartSide side by side. And as we cleared the lot for the next house, we were clearing debris out. And this is what it looked like after 18 months.
So this 2x4 from the camera, I mean, it's just completely rotten for all those that are watching. The termites just destroyed it. And this piece of LP SmartSide, it's a little bit dirty from sitting in the dirt for so long.
But you brush it off, and I mean, it looks like a brand new product. I'd put it on a house. Yeah, it's crazy.
Such a great visual right there. We have a lot of lumberyards that just take a bucket of water and put our siding into and let it sit. They'll mark the date, let it sit.
People are so amazed. You can pull it out, let it dry, put it on the wall without any issues whatsoever. That's going to be our next experiment.
A lot of sales guys, I tell them all, just throw it in the back of your truck. Just let the elements beat on it while you're going around. Hand it to the guy, show him.
I mean, it's such a unique product. Yeah, and I think that visual is such a huge testament to your product. And we do get that question a lot because we use steel framing, and we'll talk about that more in another segment.
But we advertise that as being a solution to the massive termite problem that we have here on the coast. And so I've had the question before. OK, so you use steel framing, but you use a wood-based siding product.
How does that help the termites? And there's the answer right there. Yeah, I would be taking that anywhere. Can I get that and take it with me? Yeah, absolutely.
We'll have to make one for you. And that way you can take it on your sales road. We'll go with that.
Yeah, there you go. Well, we'll throw some out on an empty lot in 18 months from now. Yeah, I'll swing by and pick it up.
Well, cool. So we've talked a lot about the siding. And so I know 200 mile an hour wind resistance, which is huge in an area that is prone to hurricanes.
Yeah. And even North Mississippi, where I'm from, the tornadoes are very active, 200 mile per hour wind, inch and a half size hail. So yeah, we're protecting that investment that you've made in that home.
Absolutely. And that's part of the reason, too. We're not just a coastal builder.
We build inland as well. And we want something that's going to withstand, like you said, tornadoes. Or I mean, if you look at some of the storms that came through last year and how far inland those hurricanes still had hurricane force winds.
And so if you're not protected from that, because maybe the code didn't require it because you weren't close enough to the water, guess what? You've got a lot of damage you're dealing with. Yeah. And the inch and a half size hail, I mean, you look at fiber cement siding and the bottom of people's homes with fiber cement siding is all chipped and broken from rocks that their lawnmower threw and things like that.
It's very brittle. And so when you think about the damage that inch and a half hail would do to fiber cement, having that level of peace of mind and protection is huge. It is, for sure.
Yeah. Yeah. I would agree.
You got to love those forward-thinking customers that realize that. Makes your job easier, right? Yes. You're going to protect that forever home.
Absolutely. With the best product. Yeah.
Well, and that's actually, that brings up a really good point because that's one of the things we talk about with our clients is don't just look at the initial investment on your home because it's not only about that. It's also about your overall cost of ownership. And that maintenance piece long-term can add significantly to the total cost of owning that home.
Right. It's like the conversation we were having earlier about vehicles. You buy a vehicle that needs low maintenance versus one that you've got to fix and repair daily.
Right. And we talked about that. You might have a problem.
Trying to sell expert finish or a pre-finished model, right? So you don't have to paint this again, right? It doesn't have to be painted because it's got a 15 year, no chalk, no fade warranty on it. You know, none of us bought a prime car. We all bought a factory painted car.
So we got a factory painted siding that can go on the wall. Gives you a great warranty with nothing you have to do. Yeah.
Yeah. That's huge. And even the prime product that we use, like Matt mentioned earlier, when it's painted, I mean, you said you're three years in and it still looks brand new.
You pressure wash it and it looks great. Whereas you drive around this area and a lot of the fiber cement homes I mentioned before too, that they look like chalky. They just doesn't appear as well.
Chalky. You know, that fiber cement product is water-based. So as that water starts to evaporate out of that product, then you're going to get some of that discoloration just going to happen.
You know? Yep, absolutely. And you mentioned, you know, people taking LP SmartSide and putting it in water. And that's another thing that, I mean, how many times have we remodeled and pulled fiber cement off? And the opposite effect has occurred.
So water leached out of the fiber cement, but then in our human climate, it soaked it back up again. Right. And the fiber cement swells and it's thicker than it was when it was installed.
You can literally sometimes just crumble it, you know, as it comes off the house. So I have a really cool story. So one of my customers in Jackson, Mississippi, he was entertaining a new customer that was looking at LP SmartSide.
They happened to be unloading a truck of LP SmartSide on their gravel parking lot. They had put some LP SmartSide down to cover up some holes so the tow motor could go over and unload. He went over and back.
I think it was 11 times unloading material. Never broke the board as it's sitting in mud and water. And they pulled it out and showed it to the guy.
And he was like, Hey, that's what I want. Right there. That's awesome.
Again, you know, the proof right there. Once you see how great it really is, it's hard to go back. And we get people all the time that'll be looking at a home that we have completed and they'll be putting their hand on the wall and they know that it looks different.
And they know that it looks really nice, but they don't understand why. Yeah. And so it raises questions like, What is this? You know what? It looks so good.
So during the building process, do they get to pick, have a pick in the siding at all? Or are you kind of leading them in our direction? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's always your direction. They do get to pick from three different elevations that we offer right now.
And so we've got a traditional elevation, which is primarily lap siding with shake in the gables. That old traditional look, you know, it's just as tried and true and, you know, still looks great to this day. And then we've got our coastal, which is obviously really popular in this area, where it's panel siding with batten strips, you know, the board and batten.
And then we offer a more modern look where we use the panel siding. But instead of doing board and batten, we frame each panel. And so you've got these big four by 10 panels, you know, all across the front of the house.
So it's a neat look. It's catching on. Do you ever mix lap sizes? Do y'all ever do that? We don't.
No, no. I've seen that a couple of times. That's a really cool look.
It's got to be the right. Yeah. And that's definitely more on the custom side of the world.
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, yeah. A little more sand scratching with that.
But yeah. Yeah. And that's not to say that we won't.
I mean, we're always looking at adding more options and innovating and what we have to offer for our clients. And we talked about it earlier. We didn't talk about it on this, but the Nickel Gap.
Are y'all using that product at all? Again, we have not. So it's relatively new. And I've seen it and it looks really, really cool.
And I love the fact that you can use it vertically. And so we'll probably end up incorporating that into something. Something more amazing, right? Because it's 16 foot long too.
And again, cedar smooth and in our pre-finished colors as well. But the way that fits together, it gives that natural Nickel Gap look, but just an amazing, and it's thicker. So it's a nice look.
Well, I would imagine we'll end up finding a use for that on the plans that we'll end up incorporating it. Yeah, absolutely. Because again, we're such a firm believer in the LP SmartSight product.
I have no doubt. All right. Yeah.
So let's talk a little bit about some of the other products that you guys offer. So we also use your structural products, sheathing and subfloor. So I guess let's start with WeatherLogic.
Yeah. Can you tell us some of the benefits of WeatherLogic? So again, we're a company, so we just continue to evolve. And WeatherLogic is that next phase, right? So we've got a WRBO board, a weather barrier board, fully encapsulates your house with the tape and the board in different sizes.
Just adds so much value to keep the water that's neat, or the vapor that needs to be in your house out, or in the vapor that doesn't need to be in, out. So we're trying to give you the maximum so we can reduce what your air condition is doing on the inside. So it's just a unique product for sure.
We really like the product too, and especially because when we finish sheathing a house, it's all of a sudden Tracewater Blue for us. Yeah. Absolutely.
Yeah. We love that WeatherLogic comes in that nice blue color. LP Blue and Tracewater Blue.
It's a great combination. And for those that are watching and don't know what we're talking about, so WeatherLogic is the wall and roof sheathing that goes on the house. So it goes underneath the siding or the roofing material.
And as Brett said, it comes with tape that seals up all the seams. And this is essentially also OSB, right? But it's coated with this beautiful Tracewater and LP Blue on the outside. It's already got house wrap already.
Right. Exactly. So it's already coated with your water barrier.
And so once we tape it up, we don't need to add any additional type of water protection to this home. Absolutely. And so it saves a step for us instead of putting plywood or OSB and then house wrapping it.
It also provides a greater layer of protection. It does. And you don't have to get to it right away.
Like you didn't tear off houses. If you go in through subdivisions now, not you guys subdivision, but other subdivisions where house wrap is peeling off the walls because it's just not built to stick around. This is already pre-done, ready to go, taped up.
Yeah, absolutely. You can drive through a subdivision where the house wrap is flapping in the wind, coming off the house. And with WeatherLogic, we have been able to progress in our construction process before we even have finished siding or a roof on the home because it is now watertight.
And so we can move on with electrical, plumbing, HVAC, things like that while we're waiting for siding or roofing. And so we don't have to take those extra steps and delay our construction. Yeah, it looks great.
Well, and I mean, the advantage too of having that whole envelope sealed up sooner, especially in a climate like this. I mean, we're sitting here right now on a sunny day, but it's been like four weeks of rain almost every day. And when you can get that envelope sealed up sooner, you're keeping that moisture out of the structure of the house.
And so, you know, you're not generating all this humidity in the house that then has to be pulled back out as the house is finished. So, you know, less movement and things like that. Yeah, absolutely.
So, Top Notch 350 is the subfloor that we use. Great product. We love it.
You know, it's super sound, you know, structurally sound, solid product. Are you using adhesive too on the joints? Yes. So the foam adhesive has been a game changer.
Right, yeah, it's got a squeak guarantee. Yeah, it is huge. No squeak guarantee.
Actually, if you want to maybe talk about what that is or what the adhesive is first. Long as you're using those two components together, then we'll have a warranty, no squeak guarantee for the life of the products. Yeah.
Why would you not go the extra step, right? It's just a foam you spray out and then these fans and lay the board on top of it and you're good to go, right? Yeah. And again, just like the siding, I mean, the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. We have a house right now that is in the drywall phase.
And so we, you know, finished framing not too terribly long ago. And we've got Top Notch with the foam adhesive. And you walk through that house and the floors don't make a sound.
I mean, there's no movement, no squeaks. And so that's huge because, I mean, I think everybody can relate to living in a house where you walk up the stairs and, you know, there's that one spot where you always step, you know. You step over, step back.
Exactly. Yeah. You know, to avoid that area.
Or maybe parents like it because their kids can't sneak out. I don't know. Maybe they're going to be mad that we're using the foam adhesive.
The stairs are too quiet now. So not to the legacy stage yet? Or you're looking at the legacy? Yeah. So I'm aware of legacy.
We haven't used it yet. Um, but we've, we've been really happy with Top Notch. It's done a great job for us.
Yeah, absolutely. It's just that another step up, right? It's pre-sanded already. So if you're putting flooring down upstairs, it's ready to go already.
You got a great covered until it's covered warranty. If you're using WeatherLogic already, it doesn't really matter. But if you're doing something else, then it's a great product.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So one other really cool thing about LP Corp, just across the board with all of your products that I'd like to touch on a little bit because it is one thing that at Trace Water Homes, we, we like to pride ourselves on, is the fact that y'all build your product in a really green way, right? Sustainable forestry initiative and stuff like that.
So can you elaborate on some of that for us? So, um, going back to the Aspen tree, which is a renewable resource. So we cut down one of those and a few, four to five more grow in its place. And we use nine, I think it's 99, we'll just call it 99.3% of that tree goes into the manufacturing of our products.
So when it comes in and the bark is chipped off, we're heating the plant that's used by the leftovers for that. I mean, every possible way that we can use that board is using the production of our board. Yeah, that's, that's awesome.
That's huge. See guys, if you've never been on a plant tour, we got to get you to do that. Yeah, absolutely.
The board come in, you're on like a two hour tour. And by the time you're leaving, that board's coming out the other end. It's just such a neat process.
And there's constantly, I mean, chips on the floor, they're sweeping up to put back into something to heat or whatever. Yeah, it's just reusing every bit of it. That's awesome.
Have you been on a plant tour? I have not, no. We're going to need to make that happen. We definitely need to do that.
We'll drive up to Minnesota and make it happen. There we go. Yeah, we can go visit.
Two harbors, I believe. Two harbors, that's right. Yeah, very cool.
They do a great job with the tour. You learn a lot about our product. Get to see, like I said, actual pieces come out, whether it's trim or siding, whatever, actually get to see it.
Yeah, I was actually blessed to spend a lot of time vacationing up there as a child. My grandparents lived up there. Oh, cool.
Very cool. Pretty neat area. Yeah.
Well, cool. Is there anything else that you'd like to touch on? Or Brett, anything else that we didn't get to that you'd like to share about LP? I think we talked about the products, right? Our siding products and structural products. Warranties, we went through that.
Ease of installation, we covered that too. So I think we hit on most of it. Thank you guys for using our product and being such a proponent for it.
Absolutely, and thank you. That won't change. You know, it's one of the tried and true things that we know we don't have to keep looking for something better because we found the best.
That's awesome. And the cool thing is that you guys are continually innovating too, which is something else that we really enjoy, which is why you mentioned some of the newer products, and I said we don't use them yet. Yet being the key word, that's not to say that we won't incorporate those at some point.
They can come in for you guys for sure in a different way. Yeah. Yeah, there's some cool products coming down the pipe.
Yeah, that's awesome. Well, thank you again so much for joining us today. It was a pleasure, and I think everybody learned a lot about LP and the reasons that we use your product and how it can be beneficial to them as a home buyer.
Because at the end of the day, that's what really matters is, you know, what value do they get as a buyer? And I think we explained a lot of value that they can get from your products, and so that's huge. I think we did, and if we missed something, lpcorp.com, you can see everything you need to see about it. Absolutely, and for those of you watching, check out tracewaterhomesfl.com under our Featured Building Products tab.
We have LP featured on our website with a link to their website, so you can get more information and learn all about LP. And also, you can get more information about the homes we build and how you can have your own home with LP SmartSide. Absolutely.
Well, thank you, Brett. Thank you, guys. I appreciate it.
Hey, everybody. As I mentioned in this most recent episode on LP SmartSide, that later on, we're going to go play with a LP demonstration to show the difference between LP's product and the competition. So I've got Noah here with me.
He's one of our film guys, actually. He so graciously was voluntold for this project. So Noah, if you wouldn't mind, here I've got fiber cement siding, which is what's typically used in this area on new construction homes.
And then over here, we've got LP SmartSide. If you want to come around the back and take a look, just to make sure that I'm not playing any tricks on you or anything like that. It looks the same.
It's set up the same on the back. It's just the siding product. There's nothing behind it to help support it or anything like that.
And so now we're going to go ahead and hit it with these sludge hammers just to demonstrate the durability of LP SmartSide. So go ahead and lift these hammers up as high as you want. You can put some force behind it when you let it back down.
You know, let it fall or throw it, whatever you want to do. As much as you want, man. I'll let you do your thing.
Now, if you go around the backside and you see it already cracked just from one hit. Oh my gosh, look at that crack. All right.
Now do the same thing with the LP. Look at that. No crack.
Nothing. Go ahead and give this one a few more hits. Let's see how long it takes for you to completely break through it.
LP, don't crack. Well, you're getting there. Now you've got a hammer dent in the front and a pretty good bow in the back.
That's two strikes. Two strikes and you're out. Yeah, well, three and you're out.
Give it one more and see what happens. Now you're all the way through it. Go ahead and give LP two more, just so we're making sure that we stay consistent.
And there you have it, folks. No crack. Same amount of hits.
It's clapper cement, completely destroyed. LP, smart side. And for the nerds at home, I am using the same amount of force.
It may not look like it, but I actually am. Like, I was actually trying to break this one and I didn't. All right.
Well, there you have it. Thank you so much, Noah. I appreciate you helping us out with this demonstration.
And again, for more information on LP smart side and all of our other building products, visit tracewaterhomesfl.com, feature building products tab. Thanks, guys.