Wow!  Jimmy Buffet would be proud to know that his music would inspire such a successful Grand Opening Buffet Bash!  Enjoy the slideshow and the music.  

The months of hard work are nearly over.  Transforming a 66,000 sq. ft foundry into a beautiful 2800 sq ft show room and huge warehouse to store our building products inside, is nearly completed.

See what Fred Bailey, Petoskey store manager, has to say about our history and Grand Opening on Thursday, July 29.   History and Grand Opening

It is a Buffet Bash that will be from 10:00 am – 3:00 pm.  Cheeseburger in Paradise burgers will be available as well as opportunities to see demos from several manufacturers like Certainteed, Quality Edge, Simonton, Stanley/Bostitch, Owens Corning and Windsor.

We’ll see you on Thursday.

In our designer society, homes are getting major design changes by adding the simplicity of trim boards around windows and doors.  A vanilla exterior becomes transformed by the architectural detail of a trim package that can include color, texture and dimension.

With this addition comes a simple question.  What type of trim board should I use – cedar, composite, cellular pvc or primed wood?  Here are a few of the characteristics of these different products.

Cedar is what everyone is trying to catch as it is the texture most imitated.  It is easy to work with but requires the most maintenance as it attract insects, woodpeckers and it requires staining every few years.

Composites, like Miratec, provide a cedar finish with an amazing look and feel along with a paper and wood fiber mixture for the center of the board.  It is inexpensive and provides a 10 year warranty on finish and the actual board.  The downside is that the pulp needs to be carefully protected from the elements.

Cellular PVC has become extremely popular as it can withstand the abuse of wet weather and it requires no maintenance.  It’s natural color is white and never has to be painted.  It does expand and contract and requires a heat reflective paint if any color besides white is applied.

Armor Coat has created a system that allows a person to go natural while enjoying the full benefits of a tight grained white wood.  It’s patented priming system gives it a 20 year warranty against  peeling, cracking or splitting.  This also is the most economical system available.

Eikenhout has all of these available and can explain in much more details the best application practices for each trim board.  So go ahead and plan a major face lift for your tired house that begins with trim boards.  You’ll be surprised at the transformation.

We anticipated it, dreamed about it and now it is flying by – SUMMER!  What an amazing time to travel together with family, spend weekends together and hang out at the cottage. You blink and a summer of history flies by.  Here is what I mean.

In 2009 both of my children got married and no longer live in Michigan.  Dan finished his Masters Degree in Architecture while his wife has two years left in that program.  Ball State and Indiana see them much more than we do.

My daughter Anna and her husband Marc moved to Wisconsin after graduating from Northwood University where she is developing some marketing programs for an innovative veterinarian business and he is working in sales.

The days of laughing around the dinner table, random discussions during Whitecap games, hanging out on the deck and Canadian fishing trips have become family memories that I treasure even more as the kids have begun their own journeys together.

For twelve straight years until 2006, we took a Canadian Walleye trip in August.  So after a 4 year hiatus, I talked my dad into one more fishing trip.  He will be 79.  He is like a kid in a candy shop.  We fish, laugh, tell the same exaggerated stories and enjoy every moment of being together.

And the moral of my reminiscing?  Don’t get so trapped in the game of surviving and success that we don’t enjoy the trip of life that is blurring by. Make time for your family, give your parents a call, tell someone that you love them and don’t blink.  It will soon be gone.

What a great weekend we had to celebrate the 4th of July in Michigan.  Our thanks and prayers continue to go out to our servicemen and their families for the sacrifices they make so that we can enjoy our many freedoms.

Michigan has a pretty bruised image right now.  The national media continually shows Detroit decimated and deserted where shattered glass and burned out houses are depicted as the norm.  We have the highest unemployment in the country, and have been riding an economic tsunami for 6 years.

What they fail to picture is the vast resources of our state.  Remember 1965 – 1967 when the license plates read “Water Winter Wonderland?”  The barrage of negativity cannot nullify the amazing and diverse recreational experiences that Michigan offers.  In Michigan you can experience beaches, boating, mountain biking, fishing, hiking, camping, kayaking and more in some of the most beautiful forests and waterways in the country.  Take your family and take your camera.

The national media also fails to reflect the resilience, talent and work ethic of Michigan workers.  Eikenhout, which is a Michigan company, believes in this state and continues to invest in our local communities.  We recently purchased a 66,000 sq ft. abandoned foundry in Petoskey, and have completely remodeled it along with a large new show room.  This is to better serve our customers.  The dust settled and we moved in on June 25th while the Grand Opening will be July 29.

Eikenhout is striving to stay lean and efficient while working to be your best equipped partner.  When you work with Eikenhout your dollars stay in Michigan, get invested in Michigan and produce jobs in Michigan.  To all of you we call “our customers,” we say thank you for your loyalty.  To those of you who have not yet worked with us, we ask you to give us a try and let us team together to rebuild Michigan and its reputation.

Now go enjoy our great state.

You run into Eikenhout and pick up a few items for your job.  You get your paperwork and immediately put it on your dash, under the empty pop can, while making a mental note to add this to your job file.  A few days later a bill comes in the mail from Eikenhout and you wonder what that was for.

This mental looping process happens everyday and at Eikenhout we want to give you a solution to help make it stop.  You will see immediate results when you utilize Eikenhout’s email invoicing system.  Here is how it works.

You stop to pick up your materials at Eikenhout and within 24 hours you are sent an email with your invoice.  Speedy and streamlined.  Keep and file it on your computer.  It stays organized and it will not add to the paperwork piles precariously balancing in your office.  At the end of the month you will receive your monthly statement in an email that can easily be filed in your monthly folder. Organized, efficient and much more profitable.

Click here to print out the required form.  This could be your last sheet of paper from Eikenhout.

The temperature was 87 degrees and humid when the hot air gun began welding GAF’s Everguard TPO in Eikenhout’s air conditioned classroom.  The coffee was fresh, the donuts were plentiful and the room was warming up.  Throughout our seven locations, classes have been held which have informed and inspired our customers with the latest opportunities.  Those have been fun.

Eikenhout has also made a commitment to provide lead renovator classes so contractors can be certified according to the EPA’s newest law.  So far we have had about 250 people go through the lead classes.  It looks like we will be hosting many more of these to provide for lead certification for anyone wanting to work on a house older than 1978.

Another change in the law has been with the builder’s licenses. Individuals who were licensed prior to January 1, 2009 are required to have 3 hours of continuing competency.  As a commitment to our customers, we will be offering morning classes that will cost a minimal fee paid to an authorized trainer.  This will get a contractor their three hours of credit, a good cup of coffee and your favorite donut at Eikenhout.

We know these regulations are more than a nuisance, but we are firm in our resolve to have the most informed customer base in our state.  We’ll see you in a classroom soon.  

Since the first caveman started barbecuing over the open fire, man has been looking for a way to create a stain free and fade free deck.  History has tried wood, treated lumber, composites and vinyl but nothing has worked until this latest evolution, Certainteed’s  Evernew PT.

Their unprecedented 20 year warranty against staining and fading is based on two elements, the strength of a solid core and the resilience of an encapsulated surface.

First they blend the perfect composite mix designed to offer strength, durability and rigidity.  The deck will feel like the strength of nature’s strongest woods.

Secondly they encapsulate it with PermTech technology by Fiberon which provides a resistant surface material.  You won’t have to worry about grilling or hosting the entire neighborhood as this deck surface  fights against stains, fading and mold.  It will look as good when you retire as it does today.

If you would like to experience what man has been searching for since time began, you can stop by our showroom and see a real sample of the fade free colors.  If only the caveman could see the exciting tropical colors and exotic hardwood tones that are available.

Did you know that the average American eats 46 slices or approximately 23 pounds of pizza each year?  The USA has 25,375 cities, towns or municipalities, but over 70,000 pizzerias.  Do you think it is all of those $5 pizzas being purchased that makes this a 30 billion dollar industry?

One of our owners, Greg Schierbeek, is so consumed with the quality of a good wood fired pizza that he is building his own pizza oven in his backyard.  The construction started last year but then took a reprieve for most of the winter.  You can read about one of his setbacks while he was anticipating the days before more spring construction.

So to celebrate pizza and the construction of his own oven, we have created a May contest.  Whoever can guess how much his oven and the base weigh will be rewarded with a pizza night out for them and their family at their favorite pizza parlor.  You have 70,000 pizzerias to choose from. You have until  May 31 to see who can get closest to the actual weight.  Pictures will be added during construction so check back weekly.  Leave your comment following this article.  The completed oven picture is what he expects his to look like once he is finished.

So what will it be thick crust or thin, meat or veggies?  Did you know that women are more than twice as likely to order vegetable toppings while men predominately want meat toppings?

Lead is a versatile product that for years has enhanced the durability of paint, the octane of gasoline, the burn time of candle wicks and and even the tonal quality  in pipe organs. Its natural qualities make it a valuable addition to many products while its toxicity has made it dangerous and a product that is being phased out.

The automobile industry took a 25 year phase out to eliminate leaded gasoline.  Children, who are most at risk, have experienced a 70% reduction of lead in their blood since lead was removed from gasoline.

The next significant lead paint arena is homes older than 1978.  That was the year residential paint was officially banned from containing any lead.  The EPA created a law on April 22, 2008 that went into effect this month.  It says that any contractor who disturbs paint on a home older than 1978 must utilize lead-safe work practices or be faced with a huge fine of  up to $32,500 per incident.

Eikenhout has been and will be offering an 8 hour EPA required classes for its contractors taught by certified trainers that explain the dangers of lead, the details of lead-safe work practices and the documentation that is required as of Thursday, April 22, 2010.  This is a major step for contractors who must know the law, take an 8 hour class and send the EPA a check for $300 so their company can continue working on remodeling older homes.

Homeowners must know that these certified renovator contractors are doing what is required by the law.  These lead-safe work practices will insure that homeowners and especially children can be safe during their renovations.  These extra precautions, mandated by the EPA, will also cost the homeowners an additional 5-25% for their remodeling project.

At Eikenhout we want our contractors to know the law and will continue to provide the necessary information to keep them informed.  Here is a link to the Renovate Right pamphlet that all home owners living in pre-1978 homes will receive.  The law is here to stay, but changes are being discussed each month in this new law.  For the latest information you can go to the EPA website and keep your company protected and your family safe.