" Home maintenance is always an issue for homeowners and 1 of the biggest impacts on home maintenance of course is painting. In this energy wise home, we're gonna to be using a special paint on the inside of the home and the outside. With me today is Tom Alsop, president of Liquid Ceramic. So tell me why the ceramic paint is better than any other type of paint, will you Tom?"

" Well Steve, there is a number of reasons that we're high-performance architectural coating. Our product is on 10 to 12 mm thick, dry film thickness so compare that to most paints. They go on 3 or 4 mm thick. We're looking at a pretty strong difference, about 3 times the thickness of a a dry painting, but mostly, we last 3 to 5 times longer than most paints because of it."

" Is the interior paint different than the exterior?"

" It varies somewhat. There is not as much in the way of elastomeric in the product itself. The outside is very elastomeric. It will bridge small cracks and will cover this to the extent that you will never know if they were there to begin with."

" Now, tell me what is the chemical makeup of the paint?"

" Well, liquid ceramic is an acrylic-based product. It washes with hot and cold water in terms of just clean up and so forth, but the formula contains 28 to 32 performance products, and it's---- 1 of primary functions of the product is the ceramic. It's loaded with ceramic microspheres, ceramic particulate, ceramic strands, and what that does is provides what has been tested as a thermal barrier to some extent. Somewhat difficult to measure, but we have compared it to our 24 bedding, and graphs of the 2 has come out very, very similar to each other. We don't sell it as an insulation product. It's basically a long-term, durable, high-performance coating."

" And what is it about the mechanical bond of the ceramic and the paint. what does it give you?"

" Well, what it gives you again, is longevity. We've got 1 of the highest abrasion resistance products out there. We've also got a 6H hardness rating, which is about 3 times harder than a hardwood floor, so it's not likely to be scratched and the colors, it accept colors real well. So if something happens to scratch it from the outside, let's say, a branch or something scrapes the outside of the house, or whatever, it's not likely to show the scratch. And if it does show a scratch, it's not gonna change the color back to the substrate because again, it's a 10 to 12 mm thick coating on here."

" Now how long will this product last from the outside of a home compared to a standard paint job with a typical 100% acrylic paint?"

" Well, as you know, most of homeowners coat their homes probably every 3 to 5 years. There is a lot of concern that there's a lot of painters having to redo things, which of course, keeps painters happy and so forth, but from our standpoint, when our dealers apply it to the outside of a residential exterior, we guarantee it for lifetime. So it's as long as the person lives in the home, and it's backed up by an association called The Liquid Ceramic Dealers Association, which in case, the dealer happens to go out of business, the association backs up the warranty."

" And on the inside, when you get fingerprints and things like that on, does it clean up pretty easily?"

" Absolutely. Again, because of its high-abrasion resistance, it's very durable from a cleanup. It's very smudge resistant, cleans up very well, and works real well for the entire home."

" What about on application? Do you roll it, brush it, spray it?"

" The beauty of our product is it can be put on by rolling, brushing, spraying, or whatever. Typically, when we apply it to the outside of a home, we will prime if necessary, but apply 2 coats of liquid ceramic on top of that or the existing substrate, coating what's on there with 2 coats of liquid ceramic, and it's typically put over a 3000-feet as a spray unit."

" In terms of breathability, you know, moisture is a big problem at homes, and if you get moisture build up inside of the wall cavity, it needs to get out. When you put this product over Stucco and other siding materials, does it allow moisture to get out of a structure?"

" Absolutely. Moisture is a big concern in certain parts of the country. 1 of the things that very attractive with our product is it's got 1 of the highest perm rating in this industry. It's got a 20 perm rating, which means that water cannot penetrate our product although water vapor can escape from the building or the substrate in cases where water is locked in there."

" And water vapor is smaller molecules and water droplets."

" Absolutely. Absolutely."

" So it has a pretty good barrier. It doesn't allow the water to get in?"

" Absolutely. In fact, we've had some great examples of this product, its water barrier capability wind-driven rain. In fact, on our website, theliquidceramic.com, there are plenty of technical tests that have been done regarding the product, and the wind-driven rain is 1 of them, so it holds up to very high standards."

" And how does the product adhere to stucco. Stucco is a fairly porous material. Is this something that goes on from a sticker, is it harder than wanting to soak in?"

" Well, it adheres very well. We, again, the product, because of its perm rate loves stucco. We are ideal for Stucco because Stucco is 1 of those products you really want to be able to breathe. If you put a product on there that essentially encapsulates the water behind the wall, you're gonna have problems in years to come, so again, we're a perfect product for stucco. "

" Well, Tom, how long has this product been around?"

" The product itself has been around for about 40 years. We have 1 building in particular, the Harbor Center in Vancouver, British Columbia that the product was put on there in 1977. In fact, Neil Armstrong dedicated the Harbor Center in 77, and the entire top portion of that building was coated by our product and it's still not in need of a repaint. The product comes out of Vancouver, British Columbia. It's a great testing area for any kind of coating because they have hot summers, they have cold winters, they have salt spray, they've got some moisture up there, and a number of buildings up here have had this product on there for 25 and 30 years."

" What is the source of ceramic? Ceramic microspheres. The microspheres that's in our product is an interesting story. When coal is burnt, there's a residual ash that's left over, and this residual ash is shipped off in rail carts to processing plants that essentially cleanse it and filter it, and scrub it, and what's left over after things are rinsed away are zillions of microspheres that are essentially hollowed ceramic bubbles that have been superheated and contain carbon dioxide, so what happens when you put this product in or the ceramic microspheres in a coating such as ours, it not only adds some bulk to the coating itself, but actually acts like a zillion thermos bubbles coating the side of a house or a building."

" Well, great information. I look forward to seeing it on a house, Tom."

" We'll look toward to putting it there."

" Thanks for being here."

" Thank you, Steve."