Exterior Trim Installed on New Homes and Community Church

For the Usea family of Westwego, La., the old adage that "lightning never strikes twice in the same place" couldn't be farther from the truth. When Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana in August 2005, it severely damaged Brad and Laura Usea's home, and it completely destroyed the home of Brad's mother, leaving her and his two brothers homeless.

Although everyone was able to find refuge in Brad and Laura's battered home, less than two years later tornados struck the town causing even more devastation to the house. Despite the family's dire circumstances, Brad and his brother Chad, who are volunteer firefighters, continued to help rebuild their community and even rescued neighbors trapped in their homes following the latest natural disaster.

Fortunately, in early March 2008, the extended family got a knock on their door that would soon change their lives forever – they were selected by ABC-TV's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to receive not one, but three brand new homes. The two-hour, season finale airs on Sunday, May 18, and also features the construction of a new community church to replace one lost to Katrina.

Deltec Homes, the nation's leading producer of wind-resistant structures, and a team of builders from across the country descended on the town to construct approximately 7,000 sq. ft. of new structures within seven days. To help with this effort, CMI donated more than 200 pieces of MiraTEC Treated Exterior Composite Trim through Diamond Hill Plywood, a wholesale distributor of building material and construction products serving customers in the Southeast U.S.

MiraTEC Ideal for Unique Application

Homes built by Deltec are circular structures (multi-sided buildings called polygons) that involve pre-fabrication at the company's production facility in Asheville, N.C., and field assembly on site. MiraTEC trim proved to be an ideal product for the dual applications.

According to Joe Schlenk, director of sales and marketing, Deltec Homes, "We used MiraTEC trim for all the window and door trim as well as all corners, because it's such a stable, consistent product that lends itself well to our plant production and field applications."

All windows were trimmed on dozens of pre-fabricated panels that were shipped to the jobsite. On location, MiraTEC also was used as door trim and installed on all corners – more than 30 corners overall for both the church and living quarters.

"MiraTEC is extremely user-friendly. It is always straight and always the right dimension, making it very easy to work with in the plant and in the field," he said. "We've been using MiraTEC for at least three years, and we've found it is superior to all other products we've used, including wood and fiber cement trim. It's a better alternative for our customers and our manufacturing process."

Also, while exterior trim is a key component to the overall design of any home, for Deltec it is even more important. "Our corners are very distinct points on all Deltec homes – they are a focal point – and MiraTEC gives us clean, crisp lines that simply look great," Schlenk noted.

Durability Key to Green Rating

As the lead builder for the week-long project in Katrina-ravaged greater New Orleans, Deltec sought to provide not only hurricane-resistant structures, but ones that could also be constructed to strict green building standards.

To that end, the Deltec structures earned a LEED-certified Platinum rating, which is the highest level of green certification granted by the U.S. Green Building Council. There are currently only about 25 homes in the country with this designation.

"MiraTEC trim helped us achieve LEED Platinum status because of its stability, durability and the fact that it is resistant to moisture, rot and termites," explained Schlenk. "Durability is a very important aspect of green building certification, and MiraTEC gets high marks as an environmentally friendly product that offers long-term performance. It has a low impact on the environment and allowed us to keep more wood waste out of landfills."

Lending Support

Bob Merrill, president and CEO of CMI, said, "Participating in another project for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is an honor that we take great pride in. We welcomed the opportunity to partner with Diamond Hill Plywood and Deltec Homes for such a deserving cause."

"MiraTEC fits right in with our corporate philosophy to use the very best materials that translate to a good value for our customers," Schlenk added.

In business since 1968, Deltec Homes has never lost a home to high winds. Deltec manufactures the structural components for their homes in Asheville and ships them all over the world where they are assembled and finished by local labor.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which has won back-to-back Emmy Awards as Best Reality Program (non-competitive), is in its 5th season on ABC. The program is produced by Endemol USA, a division of Endemol Holding. Denise Cramsey is the executive producer; and David Goldberg is the president of Endemol USA.

Read about other Extreme Makeover projects involving MiraTEC