Amazon Forms Newsletter>February 2006 In This Issue   Grid-WALL™ Stacking Jig   Grid-WALL™ Used in GOLD LEED Award Winning EMS Station   Sept. 2006 TV Appearance: Designing Spaces   Cost Comparison: Grid-WALL/Wood Framing/CMU Blocks   The Buzz & Karen Park Hacienda, Casa Del Parque Grid-WALL™ Stacking Jig Stacking Grid-WALL blocks properly may sound easy and look easy but there is somewhat of a learning curve. In order to make the process as simple and effective as possible a stacking jig was designed so that a laborer with no experience could stack a row of blocks perfectly straight and plumb. Build two stacking jigs out of the straightest lumber you can find or use red iron. The jig should be the plate height of your structures’ walls and at least ten feet long. Building two jigs will keep the weight down and allow movement to other locations much easier. Two jigs placed at 90 degrees are necessary to stack perfect corners. Placing two jigs together in a straight line will allow stacking the entire height of the wall as well as placing 20’ sticks of rebar on the cells as the walls are stacked. Care must be taken to make absolutely certain that each block is butted up against the frame. Shim as needed. Suppose a block is ¼” away from the jig and isn’t shimmed properly. This area will become a depression in the wall and if stucco is used to cover the block, more stucco will be necessary to fill the depression. Consequently, the supervisor should look carefully at each row to insure the blocks are properly placed and then glue that entire row of blocks and allow the glue to dry before additional stacking. Grid-WALL Used in GOLD LEED Award Winning EMS Station At the time of this writing only seven (7) structures have been awarded the prestigious LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) award. There are several levels of LEED with the highest being the Gold LEED. This is the only Gold LEED structure in Texas at this date! We at Amazon Forms are extremely excited to be the first manufacturer in Texas to have a Gold LEED building. Look at www.ci.austin.tx.us/greenbuilder/mcs_mun_fsems.htm for additional information. Contractors typically look only at the cost of the walls when making comparisons between Grid-Wall™ and other wall systems. Cost of the wall systems does not tell the whole story. Grid-Wall™ is a premium wall system and it may cost slightly more initially. The superior insulating properties of the Grid-Wall™ wall system will allow you to reduce the tonnage and thus the cost of your Heating, Ventilation And Cooling (HVAC) system enough to possibly offset the cost of the Premium Grid-Wall™ wall system. The Grid-Wall™ wall system pays you back every month that you live in it. A structure built with Grid-Wall™ is usually eligible for a lower mortgage rate (up to ¾%), lower insurance premiums (up to 30% less), and lower HVAC costs (up to 70%). So a Grid-Wall™ wall system provides the homeowner with a lower cost of ownership by several hundred dollars per month. So build with the wall system that gives you a monthly return on your single largest investment. (1) CMU’s have an energy value of R-3, 2 x 4 wooden walls are R-13, and 2 x 6 walls are R-23. Aerated concrete will have a slightly higher R value than CMU’s. CMU’s and aerated concrete are extremely labor intensive requiring a more expensive mason (than Grid-WALL™) to install the blocks and will generally take twice as long to install as Grid-WALL™. (2) 2x6 framed walls are more energy efficient and you may be able to reduce your HVAC tonnage whereas there is no other savings for the other three materials. (3) None of these building materials may qualify for the lower mortgage rate available for energy efficient structures. * Data taken from Permanent Building Magazine – July 2001 and 2005 R> S> Means, an independent estimator of building materials and market costs   Sept. 2006 TV Appearance: Designing Spaces Tune Your TV to “Designing Spaces” and See A Grid-WALL™ House Being Erected Amazon Forms is proud to announce that Grid-WALL™ will be shown to 80 million households in September of 2006. The structures selected to be televised will be unique and will illustrate all the benefits of a Grid-WALL™ structure. The video will continue to be shown the following twelve months on numerous channels   Grid-WALL Structure Could Cost LESS THAN A 2 x 4 Framed House or Low Cost CMU Blocks to Live In Consumers and Contractors typically look only at the cost of walls when making comparisons between Grid-WALL™ and other wall systems and this is a huge mistake. Reducing HVAC tonnage up to 40% for a 3000 square foot Grid-WALL house can help to offset the additional cost of a premium wall system like Grid-WALL. Reduce costs further by reducing the mortgage rate up to .75% for an energy efficient structure. Furthermore, reduce energy costs up to 70%. Reduce insurance premiums up to 30%. When you look at the cost of ownership of a Grid-WALL™ house, it may cost you $200-$300 per month less to live in it than a conventional wood frame home.   The Buzz & Karen Park Hacienda, Casa Del Parque One of the several haciendas being built in the Hill Country Grid-wall is Casa Del Parque. The Mexican style architecture has predominantly arched doorways throughout the house. All outer corners were rasped to give a rounded shape traditional in hacienda structures. Rounding the wall requires no extra expense for hardware as in traditional building. Simply wrap a 2 x 4 with wire lathe and sand the corner to the desired shape. More pictures of this home are available in the gallery.