Building Through Weather Challenges On Sunset Avenue
The team at Tulum Homes has been scaling up their business, transitioning from residential construction to now include multifamily buildings. As they prepared for their first multifamily project—a three-unit townhouse on Sunset Avenue in Dallas, TX—they knew they needed to keep budgets and timelines in check while staying true to their commitment to quality.
A Trusted Recommendation to Try a Trusted Brand
Looking for building products that would work for the Sunset Avenue project, brothers and Tulum Homes co-founders Jose and Belen Gomez turned to their rep at The Home Depot, Jorge Vallejo. Knowing the Tulum team strongly prefers an integrated, weather-resistive barrier (WRB) sheathing system over house wrap, Jorge recommended ForceField® Weather Barrier System.
Quality goes a lot into how we choose our products. We always try to recommend WRB sheathing instead of [house wrap]. Customers can always decide what they want to use, but we try to coach them and educate them on why it’s better.”
‒Belen Gomez, Co-Founder and Project Manager, Tulum Homes
Jose and Belen had been using a competitor’s integrated WRB sheathing system, but noticed how well other Georgia-Pacific Building Products performed on commercial jobsites. They began to trust the brand’s reputation for providing high-quality materials, which encouraged them to try ForceField® Weather Barrier System on their next project. Not only did the system have a competitive price point, but it was readily available and included an exceptional warranty.
Time Saving with a Simple, Straightforward System
The crew started construction right away, applying ForceField® Weather Barrier System to the project’s walls and certain sections of the roof, specifically for added protection to the mechanical rooms of the structure. They quickly saw how easy it was to install—and how this meant their crew was noticeably more efficient.
They appreciated that ForceField® Panels are lightweight and straightforward, with directions that even show the nailing pattern, which meant anyone who had experience working with OSB could quickly pick up on how to install them. Once the panels were up, the crew treated the seams with ForceField® Premium Tape. And when the crew needed additional tape, one of Georgia-Pacific’s field sales reps, Mat Bevan, personally drove more product to the jobsite to support Tulum’s success and keep the project rolling.
Because the streamlined components of this integrated WRB system help against air and water intrusion, the Sunset Avenue multifamily structure dried-in faster, even with rain and fluctuating temperatures in the forecast.
“If I were to wrap this building, it would take [multiple] days and about four people because it’s a tall building. Just putting up this panel and putting up tape—tape is simple and easy on the seam—I would save about four days using this material versus the wrap. [With] ForceField® Weather Barrier System, you could do it in one day.”
‒Jose Gomez, Co-Founder, Tulum Homes
Brand Consistency has the Building Envelope Under Warranty
Opting for materials under the same brand, Jose and Belen chose Georgia-Pacific’s DensGlass® Sheathing and DensGlass® Shaftliner for greater fire resistance along the structure’s southern wall. They also used DensDefy® Liquid Flashing and ForceField® Premium Tape, two of Georgia-Pacific’s AAMA-certified flashing solutions, to help protect rough openings.
As construction continued, Jose and Belen appreciated the wide selection of building products, their easy installation, their high performance and that they’re all covered under Georgia-Pacific warranties. So appreciated were these advantages that the brothers look forward to using ForceField® Weather Barrier System on future projects. “I definitely will use it again,” says Jose. “I’m going to use it on my second [building], and that’s another big project.”
“I like to be consistent with the brand that I use on my multifamilies, so if there’s another product that Georgia-Pacific has, I’m going to use it. It’s a one-stop solution. It’s also about warranties. If I use your product, I want to stick to your product because I want to make sure [our clients are protected].”
‒Jose Gomez, Co-Founder, Tulum Homes