The “Green Meanies” in the office have made an edict that we shall not use vinyl based products on our projects. I would like to send them a list of products that contain vinyl in order to emphasis to them that this is an unrealist policy.
Here are the vinyl products that I can think of: VCT, vinyl wallcovering, PVC pipe, PVC coated electrical wires, PVC roofing, and vinyl windows.
What else have I missed?
Thanks!
If you punch in vinyl on the 4specs search engine you get 47 hits.
How about crash rails/bumper rails, floor mats, vinyl sliding doors, signage, expansion joints, gypsum board and plaster accessories, window blinds, vinyl fencing and coated chain link fencing.
Without waiting for my 'puter to finish searching, how about waterstops, airborne contaminate controls, tarpaulins, erosion control mats, site furnishings, ACT, some cublicles and cubicle curtains - including toilet compartments, moldings and claddings, soffit vents, cork inserts for casework, architectural precast connectors…just to name a few through division 6, anyway.
Continued… vinyl esters are a fundamental building block for everything from food containers to medical products to office chairs, carpeting. Coatings advances rely on vinyl chemistry. Your people should have access to an organic chemist before making edicts.
AND loading dock seals, bumpers, shelters; flashings; glazing splines; sliding glass door tracks; bonding agent for plaster/lath; carpet edge strips; FRP trims; WallTalkers (visual display product); shower curtains…
I did a search for the word “vinyl” in our specs and got this list:
VCT
Vinyl windows
Sheet vinyl
PVC pipe
PVC coated electrical wires
PVC single ply roofing
vinyl wall covering
vinyl wall base
PVC coated chain link fencing
PVC waterstops
vinyl foam tape
PVC edge banding for casework
polyvinyl acetate PVA primers
Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) coil coating (Kynar)
polyvinyl innerlayer for laminated glass
vinyl door sweeps
vinyl glazing strips
vinyl weatherstripping
pvc sound sealant tape
vinyl exterior trim
vinyl corner bead
PVC stretched membrane ceiling
rigid vinyl retention clips for stretched ceiling and stretched wall panels
vinyl vented gym base
vinyl carpet reducer strips
polyvinyl urea adhesive
vinyl plastic corner guards
vinyl signage letters
vinyl shower curtain
vinyl covered wall padding
vinyl backed walk off mats
pvc coated fiberglass shade cloth
vinyl coated bleacher curtain closures
pvc bleacher seats
It looks like we are going to have a very limited palette of materials to work with! We will probably just have to build adobe buildings with dirt floors and straw roofs. Hey that stuff is organic as it comes!
So do these people also wear all cotton, silk, or wool clothes and 100 percent leather shoes. Do they also only use pencils for writing their edicts? But wait a minute!!! Pencils contain lead. They must use sticks and clay mixed with water to write anything, right?
ooooh, 100% leather shoes - call PETA and tell them about that, then there will be no time to hassle you with dumb complaints.
(((do these guys live in houses with ‘plastic’ shutters on them? Or how many vinyl components in the houses in which they live - tell them to clean their own house first.)))
William
As us architect types know, with a little imagination, and a rich client, anything is possible! There are all kinds of alternatives to vinyl, and I’ll be happy to adjust either the project budget (including my fee) or project scope to accomodate such a request.
I imagine the folks at Davids office are reacting to some of the recent reporting regarding PVC on the Healthy Building Network at www.healthybuilding.net. For the alternative viewpoint, www.aboutbluevinyl.org.
John.
David,
I suspect that your “green meanies” may have read the healthcare IAQ article in Dec 2003 issue of Construction Specifier magazine, in which author “touches-on” PVC in bldg materials (among other materials) and to which in response, there is a “letter to editor” in March 2004 issue of same magazine.
I was given the following website: http://www.greenpeace.org.au/pvc/
BTW, cotton is one of the most heavily pesicide sprayed crops. Leather tanning is a nasty industry. Pencils contain graphite not lead. Fig leaves make unconfortable and provocative garments.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for a more sustainable world and for eliminating toxins. I would also like to stamp out war, poverty, disease, greed, sorrow, pain, gluttony, prejudice, famine, injuries, fear, death, etc.
Cotton is also a primarily genetically engineered crop. And where in the upper mid-west would I be likely to find a fig leaf anyway?
If we sent you a few, would you wear them?
Define “few”; indicate size of each leaf. I get to choose where and when and for how long.
David: I know there is a downside to every item or “natural” product that’s out there. I think I heard that you can even get cancer from peanut butter. Everyone needs to weigh the pros and cons and make the choice of what is right for themselves.
Lynn: If you are in the upper midwest, I would sure hope that you could find some insulated fig leaves to wear because it would be too dang cold to just wear the “plain” ones. Especially right now!
Great! I used to live on PB & J sandwiches. Everyone I know was raised on peanut butter. I’ll start shopping for coffins…non pvc materials of course.
I’ve said this before on another post. The best thing for the environment is not to build at all…but then we would be out of a job.
I’m just really tired of the knee jerk reaction of people who blindly follow the party line without really thinking things through.
Some time ago, there was a treatise circulating on the perils of water. It explained how deadly it is, how it can poison a body, destroy property, and just generally wreak havoc. And of course, this is true. But we also need water to exist (we probably don’t need vinyl to exist in the same way as we need water, but as we can see above, it is pervasive in our society/culture/technology).
My point is similar to David’s and Tracy’s. Before we make decisions, we need to analyze the situation carefully. What are the ramifications and alternatives? Then and only then, can we make informed, intelligent decisions.
I have analyzed the situation: it’s too darn cold for fig leaves. I’ll take long silk underwear, fully lined wool pants, a long-sleeve turtle-neck wool sweater and a down-filled coat instead. Oh yeah, and water-proofed leather boots. (I’ve covered bugs, mammals and birds, right?)
But when it comes down to it, if the “powers to be” dictate wearing of fig leaves…uninsulated…you do it…otherwise you’d be out of a job…long before we stop building. We need to better educate those “powers to be” by banning their “knee-jerk” edicts and first insisting on thorough analysis/investigation/research of the cost/benefits, etc. That way we can hopefully avoid frostbitten extremities that fig leaves can’t protect!
Must be a Male Anonymous!
Can’t assume that anymore!!
Times have really changed.