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The Detroit Free Press
Published January 16, 2005

TOUGHER THAN A HURRICANE: Preformed concrete walls stand up to Florida's 4-storm year

BY DAN SHINE, FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER

This isn't a story about a guy who used a product and liked it so much he bought the company.

But it's close.

About six years ago Oscar Stefanutti was building a new home in Bloomfield Township. The design called for a walkout basement, but Stefanutti didn't want the leaky concrete blocks or a poured concrete wall that was susceptible to cracking. Instead, he was looking for sturdy walls that would maintain the dryness and warmth of a livable space.

Eventually, he found a company that sold premade, insulated, concrete-formed walls and he used them for his basement. His experience prompted him to think about the instant wall business. He liked the concept but thought his years as an auto industry supplier could help him improve on it. That is, he'd emphasize exacting standards, high-volume, repetitive manufacturing and cost efficiency.

Three years ago, Stefanutti founded Efficient Wall Systems. His son, Paul, and son-in-law John Willwerth run it in Oakland County, but not for the Michigan housing market. Instead, E-Wall, as it's called, is making a name for itself hundreds of miles away in Sarasota, Fla.

The company's recent fame and success are due, in part, to Charley, Jeanne, Ivan and Frances. Those aren't the names of E-Wall employees - those are the four hurricanes that swept through Florida last year and damaged thousands of homes but not those built using the E-Wall system.

"The last hurricane season was awful for people but it highlighted the potential of our product," says Paul Stefanutti, 40. "It passed over several of our houses and the owners didn't lose a shingle."

Two of those homeowners were Bob and Sherry Stevens, who moved from St. Louis into their Port Charlotte home eight days before Hurricane Charley came calling. They had never heard of Efficient Wall Systems of Florida -- though their builder touted it -- and they didn't demand it be part of the new home that was nearly complete when they bought it.

"Fortunately the very day we came to look at it, the builder was there and you could tell he took a lot of pride in his construction and in the walls," Sherry Stevens said.

Even now, several months after the hurricanes, Bob Stevens is a bit reluctant to talk too much about how his home fared for fear that it will seem like he's gloating. Homes in their neighborhood had roof damage, mostly. The Stevenses rode out Charley inside their home, while only the windows rattled.

"I hate to talk about it because there was - there still is - a lot of destruction and we didn't even lose a shingle," he said.

But he has had to talk about it a lot as neighbors and, later, the news media stopped by to find out how the home's construction allowed it withstand such strong winds. Recently, the couple saw a house nearby being built using E-Walls, so now they know how the process goes.

"A friend who is familiar with construction said it's like a fortress," Sherry Stevens said.

E-Walls are built in the Sarasota factory and trucked to the construction site. They come in various-sized panels, and are numbered and lifted into place by a crane. Once the walls are braced, horizontal steel reinforcement bars are placed inside the walls. Then the walls are filled with concrete. Truss straps are set into the concrete, too.

"From the roof to the foundation, all of it is tied down," Stefanutti says.

Different panel sizes can be used, but they're always custom built to each job, allowing for door and window locations. Some panels are as big as 10 feet wide by 14 feet high, and the company once built a 23-foot-high garage for a client with a motor home. Although basements are not constructed in the sandy soil of Florida, the E-Walls can be used in basement construction in other locales.

Standing up to the wind

After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the State of Florida enacted new building codes that required new homes to be able to withstand high winds and hurricane-blown projectiles.

E-Wall has been tested in winds up to 250 m.p.h., 100 m.p.h. more than Florida regulations require for homes built on the coast. That wind speed regulation decreases the farther a home is built from the shoreline. Homes built with concrete blocks typically can withstand winds of 135-140 m.p.h.

State regulations also require that homes pass a penetration test in which a 2-by-4 board is fired at it at 37.5 m.p.h. The Efficient Wall System has passed the test at 100 m.p.h.

Because of the tight fit where the foundation meets the walls, the concrete and the insulation, there are no moist, warm places where mold can grow. And insects such as termites and cockroaches (Florida tourism folks prefer the more palatable name "Palmetto bug") are kept out. The 4-inch-thick walls provide excellent soundproofing, and because they're insulated already, heating and cooling costs are reduced.

Florida leads the nation in new home construction, but despite the building boom and E-Wall's track record during the four hurricanes, the company is finding it tough to gain a toehold in the market. Using Efficient Wall Systems is a bit more expensive; it adds about 2 percent to the cost of the home -- about $4,000 on a $200,000 home.

"The market in Florida is pretty tough," Stefanutti says. "Builders are selling everything they build, so there's no incentive for them."

Good publicity

Grosse Pointe native Herman Guevara, a University of Michigan grad who once worked for the Masco Corp., is Efficient Wall Systems' point person in the Sunshine State. The company, located in Sarasota, has customers from the Tampa-St. Petersberg area south along the Gulf Coast to the Naples-Ft. Myers area.

The company's success during the hurricanes generated positive news coverage as TV stations and newspapers from around the state wrote and aired stories about how E-Wall's homes fared. Even a Connecticut newspaper - home to many snowbirds who might have hurricane-ravaged winter homes -- wrote about E-Wall.

All of the publicity has helped the company sell its product.

"We're able to make that argument now to people building a home or rebuilding a home," Stefanutti says. "Now people are concerned. We talk to them and tell them we can build them a house that is much more likely to provide you safe shelter. That argument sells."

Does the company make that argument to the builder as something to be sold in turn to buyers? Or does it go directly to prospective home buyers and tell them this is something they should want for their own home?

"It's a combination of both," Stefanutti says. "We have a program where we will put it in a model home to show how it works."

Allan Berg of Imagine Builders in Bonita Springs, Fla., near Naples, used E-Wall for a shopping center and two houses so far. Plans for using it on a third home are under way.

He says the shortage of concrete blocks and the subsequent increase in prices forced many builders to look for alternatives.

"Some builders have a problem with the cost" of E-Wall, Berg says, "but I like it. I can stand up a house in one day."

"People don't realize what they're getting," he says. "On block homes I'll use a foil paper wrap that has a 5.4 rating."

E-Wall's insulation rating is R-14. How quiet the home will be is evident once the walls are put up, Berg says.

"The windows aren't even in but you can tell the difference," he says. "It's a better product."

Other markets

Stefanutti sees potential markets in other areas that are hit with hurricanes, such as the Carolinas, tornado-prone areas and Mexico City and other places that have frequent earthquakes. The company expects to offer franchises at some point.

The use of prefabricated walls could aid rebuilding efforts in areas the tsunami struck and in Iraq, Steffanutti says.

The construction of a typical block house would take three or four days with a crew of a dozen workers. Using E-Wall, only four or five people could do the job in the same amount of time.

"With prefab housing you can build houses relatively quickly with a lot less labor," Stefanutti says. "All you need is concrete."

One place where E-Wall is unlikely to appear is in the company's home state of Michigan. People are accustomed to concrete block basements and 2-by-4 construction above ground.

"We're used to cracks and moisture in basements," Stefanutti says. "Ask a homeowner to spend a little more money on the basement and they'll think you're nuts. In general, that money is spent in other places like appliances or flooring, not the basement."

Copyright © 2005 Detroit Free Press Inc.

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