From Toxic Materials to Healing Spaces: Jeff Halsted on Building Healthy Homes with Halsted Homes

Quinton Comino (00:10.066) Hey Jeff. I'm doing well man, thanks for dropping on. Jeff Halsted II (00:11.223) Hey, how you doing? Man, my pleasure. Glad to finally connect. It's been quite the struggle getting connected together. Quinton Comino (00:16.445) I'm glad. Quinton Comino (00:22.684) And for whatever reason, sometimes that happens. don't even have a good explanation for it. It just kind of happens. It's just life. And now here we are, Thanksgiving week and made it happen. So thank you. Thank you for jumping on. You're outside of Grand Rapids, right? Jeff Halsted II (00:29.184) That's right. Jeff Halsted II (00:34.811) Finally. Jeff Halsted II (00:40.172) Yep, just north of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Quinton Comino (00:42.674) Yeah, so I'm in Cocoa Beach, Florida, but I'm from Northern Indiana and very familiar. yeah, it's nice. Well, I don't know what it is right now. 70s. Jeff Halsted II (00:47.434) Okay, so you're probably in a lot more trouble I am right now. Jeff Halsted II (00:55.795) yeah, yeah, it's 45. It's 45 and raining here with five days of snow coming on up. Quinton Comino (00:58.068) 82. Quinton Comino (01:05.06) No thanks man, I'm over that stuff. Over that. I was so tired of it. Cold, gray skies, gloomy attitudes. Nope. Not anymore. Jeff Halsted II (01:06.924) Ha Jeff Halsted II (01:15.227) I was just on a roof before we met up. Quinton Comino (01:19.444) Thanks for climbing down, I looked on your website and through your Facebook and Instagram, and it looks like you do a bunch of remodeling. You just about build the house. Jeff Halsted II (01:22.284) Yeah, my pleasure. Jeff Halsted II (01:31.011) Yep. Yeah, we can build your house from top to bottom. Quinton Comino (01:37.78) Really? Do you do actual new construction? you just okay. I didn't note. Jeff Halsted II (01:42.016) Yes, primarily renovations right now and moving towards new builds as we really lock into our niche. Renovations in residential and commercial. So, yeah. Quinton Comino (01:48.595) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (01:53.82) Yes. Quinton Comino (01:58.164) Okay. That's good. And it's Halstead Homes. Okay. Halstead. I want to make sure that I get that right. Well, great. So Jeff, what I typically do, this is, you know, 15, 20, 25, 30 minutes. Kind of just kind of depends. If you have a hard stop, if you need it back on the roof, let me know. And I can, I can make sure. I can't imagine you're rushing to get up there again, but yeah, yeah, yeah. So the purpose of this podcast, Home Nation. Jeff Halsted II (02:14.584) for sure. Jeff Halsted II (02:18.542) That's my guys to hold their own. Quinton Comino (02:26.478) My parents own the company and I kind of run things and there's a lot of people to our website every day, over 10,000. And we put this podcast on there. And regardless of who listens to it or not, it doesn't really matter because this is positive sort of content in Google's eyes, you could say, particularly in the age of AI, it's super important to have human generated content. And that's what this is. And it does well also because people do listen and people are on the website where they can browse and we'll put the transcript up there. Jeff Halsted II (02:44.226) For sure. Quinton Comino (02:56.036) and you can also put it on your socials. So there are lots of ways that people can, see this and we have everyone from homeowners to contractors to developers, investors, you know, builders, all sorts of different people on our website. and so this gets in front of them. So it just does really well. I have some questions I'll ask you. I'll do an intro separately from this. So don't worry about that. I'll take care of it. And, when we do the outro, we'll say goodbye, but just hang on. after and we'll chat a little bit and then we'll actually end. Typically how I like to start is say, hey, Jeff, let us know who you are, Jeff Halstead with Halstead Homes. Let us know where you're located and what it is that you guys do. And then I'll have some questions to follow up. Does that all sound good to you? No questions? OK, great. Jeff Halsted II (03:43.118) for sure. Jeff Halsted II (03:46.456) Sounds good. I don't think so. If I do, I might ask you in the middle of it. We'll find out. Quinton Comino (03:52.564) That's fine. Yeah, we can edit things too. So don't worry about it. If you're like, ah, can I mess it up? Like, that's fine. Or if the connection goes out for a little bit, which, you know, occasionally happens, just hang tight. We'll restart the conversation. The worst part is trying to remember where you left off. Cause my train of thought, if it's two seconds behind me, it's forever in the past. Jeff Halsted II (04:06.274) Mm. Mm-hmm. I feel that. I feel that. Yup. Quinton Comino (04:12.276) So anyway, man, let us know who you are and what it is that Hosted Homes does. Jeff Halsted II (04:18.498) Yeah, my name is Jeff Halstead. I'm the owner and lead contractor at Halstead Homes. We're based out of West Michigan, Grand Rapids, and we do residential and commercial renovations as well as new builds, primarily in the healthy home sector. Quinton Comino (04:32.244) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (04:36.926) healthy home. Jeff Halsted II (04:38.336) Yes, so I did a deep dive down a rabbit hole that I've not been able to come quite back from in studying the building materials that are used in general everyday construction. So looking at looking at fiberglass insulation and spray foam insulation, stuff like that, and even XPS and EPS insulation as well. Quinton Comino (04:46.996) Hmm. Quinton Comino (04:52.073) Yeah. Quinton Comino (05:04.062) Mm-hmm. Jeff Halsted II (05:04.202) you find there's adhesives and flame retardants, there's VOCs that off gas, and those things don't stop off gassing once they're installed. They stay off gassing for the rest of their life. much like asbestos, we didn't see diseases related to asbestos until down the road. We're looking into building material alternatives and supplying that to our homeowners and to our Quinton Comino (05:10.162) Yeah. Quinton Comino (05:14.569) Yeah. Quinton Comino (05:23.558) I see. Yeah, yeah. Jeff Halsted II (05:33.646) to our other contractors that we're working with. Stuff like wool, which is, there's no VOCs, it's naturally mold resistant. It naturally regulates the humidity levels in your home. And it's sustainable. Same thing with cork insulation, same thing with hemp insulation. They all have their benefits and whatnot, but you know, I'm big on being outdoors. I'm big on hunting. I love outdoors and... Quinton Comino (05:38.729) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (05:45.577) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (05:51.25) Okay. Okay. Quinton Comino (06:00.233) Mm-hmm. Jeff Halsted II (06:03.212) you know, if the trees naturally filter the air and the ecosystem that's out there naturally provides a sustainable solution for our benefit, then the houses that we build ought to do the same thing rather than, you know, they call it cabin fever in the winter, but really it's just breathing in additional VOCs because you're more sealed off and not outside as often. So. Quinton Comino (06:07.113) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (06:11.017) Yeah. Yeah. Quinton Comino (06:27.732) That's very interesting. So I haven't heard this term healthy home sector. that a term or is that something you've coined just Jeff Halsted II (06:35.342) That's a good question. I don't think that it's actually a term yet. I don't know if it will be or if it is, it might be coined something else. That's kind of the term that we've given it because that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to make an ecosystem in a house that naturally regulates humidity, naturally filters the air and doesn't off-gas any harmful additives into the air that you're breathing. Quinton Comino (06:43.347) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (06:47.668) Yeah, yeah, okay. Quinton Comino (07:05.972) So what made you do a deep dive into this then? Jeff Halsted II (07:09.87) so I the the primary reason is my my wife has always Promoted a healthy lifestyle, right? I am i'm significantly more healthy as a result of my wife than I was when I was in college and I You know, I think any married man can say that they're probably healthier outside of college with with their wife not but you know looking at natural Quinton Comino (07:31.902) Yeah, yeah. Jeff Halsted II (07:38.942) natural remedies for a common cold that's not going to hurt you at all. You know, there's lots of things that nature gives us that are actually good for us and help us and promote the human body to function the way it's meant to function, rather than manufactured things that aren't necessarily meant to help, but more to mitigate the symptomatic issues. Quinton Comino (07:40.713) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (07:44.649) Yeah. Quinton Comino (07:50.867) Mm-hmm. Jeff Halsted II (08:06.806) And as a result, know, we're looking, she's looking at what we put in our bodies as a family. And I'm very thankful for that because it allows for us to have five healthy children. I'm very thankful for my kids as well. And it has definitely increased my level of energy, but what, not just what we're putting in our bodies, like food, but what are we surrounding our bodies with? And the air quality is actually a really big, Quinton Comino (08:07.411) Okay. Quinton Comino (08:12.626) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (08:24.382) Yeah. Quinton Comino (08:32.392) Mm-hmm. Jeff Halsted II (08:35.586) proponent of how our brains function and operate. So there's lots of cases where mold causes significant problems with mental health. There's lots of cases where off gassing can cause people to have headaches or they'll get a new flat roof section done and they'll be smelling some residue and it causes a headache and stuff like that. Okay. Quinton Comino (08:38.846) Okay. Quinton Comino (08:48.275) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (08:55.22) Mm-hmm. Jeff Halsted II (09:03.746) So we know that the air quality surrounding us and the building materials that we're using do have a direct implication on how our body operates and functions. So that's really why I did that deep dive is because we had a mold issue that came up and it caused some health issues for a friend of mine. But I also had health issues growing up. I was an asthmatic growing up because the house that we lived in had black mold. Quinton Comino (09:04.009) Hmm. Quinton Comino (09:10.311) Yeah. Yeah. Quinton Comino (09:16.82) Let's see. Quinton Comino (09:26.12) Yeah. Jeff Halsted II (09:33.402) and we didn't know it until years down the road. And then once we moved away from that environment, the symptoms eventually went away and gradually got better. Quinton Comino (09:39.316) Mmm. Quinton Comino (09:46.79) I see. Well, that's very interesting. I know someone who she reckons that she went into labor early because of the mold that was in her house because of the AC filtration system was just, it was not up date and it was pretty, it was undersized through the house and all sorts of things. And so once they replaced that, her next pregnancy was fine. So that's, saw. Jeff Halsted II (10:13.966) It's interesting because my sister and I actually both almost died when we were born and spent a considerable amount of time in the NICU and it was in a house that had mold issues. And again, we live a very healthy life now and our children haven't had any complications because we live in a mold-free environment. Now to say that that's the only cause would Quinton Comino (10:16.52) Yeah, go ahead. Quinton Comino (10:23.796) Mm. Quinton Comino (10:31.476) Hmm. Quinton Comino (10:40.468) Mm. Jeff Halsted II (10:44.29) probably be foolish and not considering any other variables. However, it is a consistent variable that regularly shows up and it gives us enough cause for concern to actually look at what we're building with and the materials that we're using in the building process. Quinton Comino (10:47.718) Yeah. Quinton Comino (11:03.336) Yeah. So tell me what materials are the biggest culprit of being unhealthy and what is it that is the culprit? it mold? Is this off gassing? What do you mean when you say off gassing? Can you just fill me in on that? Jeff Halsted II (11:17.026) Yeah. Yeah. So it depends on what area of building you're looking at. So like plastics and composites always have some level of off gassing and they also don't have they don't have a sustainable process. They're not found in nature and able to be replicated on demand at global scale without having a net negative impact carbon footprint on the earth. Right. Quinton Comino (11:29.876) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (11:37.554) Yeah. Quinton Comino (11:45.971) Yes. Jeff Halsted II (11:47.404) But you do have some companies, you do have some companies that are running composite decking and stuff like that off of recycled plastics. I can get behind that because we do have to utilize the plastics that are already in production, but just been thrown away. We do need a way to reutilize them and actually use them in a good and meaningful way. But, know, I'll stick with I'll stick with wall cavity. Quinton Comino (12:00.712) Yeah. Quinton Comino (12:06.6) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (12:11.198) Mm-hmm. Jeff Halsted II (12:16.36) and wall covering for now. Because that's primarily what I'm focused on right now because you know the wall covering that's what you're touching. Whether it's drywall or paint or what we really like and have fallen in love with is limestone plaster or lime plaster because lime plaster is waterproof but vapor permeable. So it lets water out and it lets it breathe out so you don't have mold growth but it won't let it come in. Quinton Comino (12:19.828) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (12:27.816) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (12:32.584) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (12:39.88) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (12:44.05) Hmm Jeff Halsted II (12:45.806) which is really cool. And because lime is naturally more acidic, it's anti-fungal, it's anti-mold, it's anti-bacterial. And so it's cleaning the air and absorbing CO2 as it is resting in your house. Which is just super cool. Yeah. Quinton Comino (12:53.394) Yeah. Quinton Comino (12:58.771) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I never heard of that. Yeah, it's like a slam dunk. Okay, keep going. I want to hear more. Jeff Halsted II (13:11.054) And that's been a building material that's been used for centuries. Historically, limestone plaster and lime plaster were very popular materials to be used. you have some efficiencies of Portland cement that allow for Portland cement to be made cheaper. And as a result, the market's going to go in that direction. However, we also have to consider the long-term implications. Quinton Comino (13:17.555) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (13:23.016) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (13:29.854) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Quinton Comino (13:36.702) Yeah. Quinton Comino (13:40.2) Yeah. Jeff Halsted II (13:41.066) these things that we talk about, the upfront cost might be a little bit more, but the long-term cost really is less because long-term you're healthier and these products tend to last longer too. You know the compaction ratio, well it doesn't compact as fast, it doesn't it doesn't break down as fast. So off-gassing, sorry I'm gonna hop around a little bit, but off-gassing to answer Quinton Comino (13:46.525) Yeah. Quinton Comino (13:57.906) Yeah. Quinton Comino (14:01.842) Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Quinton Comino (14:09.064) Just fine, go for it. Jeff Halsted II (14:10.444) Yeah, to answer your question, it's these volatile organic compounds that are found in these materials, like fiberglass insulation, like spray foam insulation, like XPF insulation. And they're additives to act as binders, essentially, or to act as flame retardants. But some of the ones that we see, we see acetone, see formaldehyde, we see phenol. Quinton Comino (14:17.833) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (14:26.846) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (14:37.908) Mm-hmm. Jeff Halsted II (14:38.786) We see strine, we see resin, we see ammonia. All of these are found in fiberglass insulation. And they continue to off gas, which means they continue to leak out into the air during the course of their life. Now, most people know formaldehyde is not good for you. It is a pretty common thing. Most people know that acetone is not good for you or ammonia is not great for you. Quinton Comino (14:43.059) Hmm. Quinton Comino (14:47.347) Wow. Quinton Comino (14:53.364) Hmm. Yeah. Quinton Comino (15:02.173) Yes. Jeff Halsted II (15:08.94) And you have a lot of these different VOCs, volatile organic compounds that are found in these materials that are not found in wool. Matter of fact, for instance, wool, our partner, we're a supplier and reseller for them now, but our supplier sources all of their wool from sheep in New Zealand. Super cool. Yeah, lots of them there. Quinton Comino (15:17.844) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (15:32.168) Yeah, well, makes sense. A lot of them there. Jeff Halsted II (15:37.196) But wool actually regulates moisture as well, just like plaster. And so it doesn't allow for mold to grow as well. And it doesn't have any VOCs. But as a matter of fact, actually in scientific studies has been known to absorb those VOCs and lock them in so they aren't released into the air that you breathe. it's kind of like your own air filter. Quinton Comino (15:42.678) huh. Quinton Comino (15:47.38) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (16:00.18) Yeah, I've heard about this actually. Jeff Halsted II (16:04.662) in every single wall cavity of your house. So, yeah, and then, you know, like with drywall, right? I recently learned that you have to look at what plant the drywall comes from. If it comes from a plant, use pre-consumed recycled materials versus post-consumer recycled materials. You want post-consumer recycled materials because pre-consumer Quinton Comino (16:08.008) Mm-hmm. Wow. Quinton Comino (16:21.395) Okay. Quinton Comino (16:33.46) Hmm. Jeff Halsted II (16:34.328) cycle materials, you have a higher amount of what they call SED gypsum, which essentially they get their gypsum by scraping the gypsum byproduct from the gas in the flu of a coal plant. Quinton Comino (16:37.81) Yeah. Quinton Comino (16:51.866) Okay. Yeah. Jeff Halsted II (16:52.846) So it's the stuff that's going through the flu of the coal plant. And they use that to create the gypsum. It's a synthetic gypsum. And that has considerable higher levels of mercury production and mercury entering into the environment through that production process. Quinton Comino (16:57.192) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (17:11.816) wow. Jeff Halsted II (17:13.26) It's just, it's stuff that people don't typically take the time to think about because, you know, you look at your wall and my wall is my wall. Quinton Comino (17:21.68) Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's it. I don't think about it much more than that. Jeff Halsted II (17:25.782) Right. It looks the same. It's beautiful. And you know, we'll still do, I mean, we still install drywall. We still paint. We still install LVP flooring. It's just when we have this educational conversation with the consumer, you know, we want them to be educated on the decisions that they're making so that they actually are able to take ownership of some of these decisions. You know, now that I know I can make an educated decision. Whether or not you're Quinton Comino (17:36.67) Yeah. Quinton Comino (17:48.18) and Quinton Comino (17:52.988) Yeah. Yeah. Jeff Halsted II (17:55.266) going to go with one option or the other, you at least have the opportunity to. And most people aren't even afforded the opportunity to know because the contractor just wants to get a job done. Quinton Comino (17:59.931) Yes. Quinton Comino (18:07.998) Yeah. Yeah, that's amazing. then what happens when you, like in general, you educate someone on this. So, hey, just FYI, here's what we have. We can tell you more if you're interested. Yeah, I'm interested. Tell me more. Okay. Do customers go with this or do they say, nah, you know, I don't see the value in it. How does that go? Jeff Halsted II (18:29.548) Yeah, so the majority of the time they're actually incredibly surprised, one, that a contractor would take the time to educate and put all the options out on the table. But, you know, the stuff that they never even realized, they're also floored about just how much goes into building materials that we don't think about. But most of time after the education process is done, it's not a very difficult sell. Quinton Comino (18:37.812) Pretty, yeah, pretty true. Quinton Comino (18:51.996) Yeah. Jeff Halsted II (18:58.958) And I use the term sell loosely there because it's not like a bait and switch or I'm trying to make more money here. It's really a, you know, can we invest in sustainable products? Can we invest in your health? And is it worth it to you? And, you know, there's a lot of people, especially in Michigan, that have struggled with mold enough or seen the effects of mold enough to be willing to make that investment. Quinton Comino (19:12.382) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Jeff Halsted II (19:28.454) And I would say that the majority of our leads now are on the higher end. And so I don't know what it would look like for typical standard construction. don't know if somebody would be willing to move forward in that way. Quinton Comino (19:28.628) Mm. Quinton Comino (19:38.289) Yeah. Quinton Comino (19:46.632) Yeah. Quinton Comino (19:52.776) Yeah. Jeff Halsted II (19:54.414) I do know with regards to commercial, there's some things that you just can't offer with commercial. For instance, know, there's, we focus primarily on schools and churches. So we've worked with school districts, we've worked with universities and we've worked with churches. And that's the extent of our commercial work. But, you know, some of them require spray foam insulation with a fire retardant because it's a commercial space. And so we can't necessarily offer Quinton Comino (20:07.732) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (20:11.635) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (20:21.234) Hmm. Yeah. Jeff Halsted II (20:24.114) a different alternative that's still naturally flame retardant, you know, requirements are requirements for commercial spaces. Quinton Comino (20:33.615) Okay, could you, do you build houses as well, yes? Or it's something that you are, how much of your, is the goal to move into that direction? Jeff Halsted II (20:46.188) The goal is to move completely into that direction where that's all we're doing. That's really where our heart is at. That's what we want to do is we want to renovate and build clean, healthy homes for people. Quinton Comino (20:48.884) Yeah. Quinton Comino (21:00.21) Yeah. So is there a market? I would think there is. again, it's going to be the higher end of the market probably because affordable is affordable for a reason. You're cutting. I don't want to say cutting corners, like it's a trade off. But so I would think it'd be the higher end market that would be interested in a healthy home, you could say. But there's got to be a market for that. Like that's a very, like you said, it's an easy sell. Like, hey, check this out. This is what we built. Boom, boom, boom. It's got wool. It's got the lion plaster. It's got this on the roof, dah, dah, dah. Long term, this is the best that you're going to get. I feel like that would be an easy sell. Jeff Halsted II (21:38.638) That's exactly. Yeah. And you know, it's, I think a lot of it is just a lack of education. Um, because there's, there's not much education out there. can't get wool insulation at Lowe's or Home Depot. Um, I mean, you go to Lowe's or Depot, you get spray foam, you get XPS and you get, um, you get fiberglass. Like that's what's there. That's what's offered. And so it is an educational process that eventually leads to adoption. Quinton Comino (21:51.624) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Quinton Comino (21:59.836) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Jeff Halsted II (22:07.476) And, you know, given the higher eco-friendly requirements that you see over in California, the West Coast right now kind of has a lot more money invested in the game of energy efficient, carbon footprint negative and natural products. know, some builder friends of mine always have a common saying that everything causes cancer in the state of California. Quinton Comino (22:19.433) Yeah. Jeff Halsted II (22:36.974) But as soon as you get out of California, no big deal. But it's true because the standard, California kind of sets the standard for that, which, you know, whatever it is what it is. But the Midwest, hasn't been a topic of education. I think West Michigan is one of the prime areas to kind of launch this trajectory because West Michigan, Quinton Comino (22:40.306) Yeah, yeah. Quinton Comino (22:48.06) Yeah. Yeah. Quinton Comino (22:57.492) Yeah. Jeff Halsted II (23:05.422) tends to be a little bit more affluent. they also, know, West Michigan really does care about their health. And it's a growing concern, especially in West Michigan proper, that we live a healthier lifestyle. You know, you don't necessarily see that all throughout the state yet, and you don't see that all throughout the Midwest yet, but there's little pockets of places that Quinton Comino (23:21.716) Mm. Yeah. Quinton Comino (23:31.72) Mm-mm. Jeff Halsted II (23:34.466) The level of education regarding health and nature and how we, know, it all works together. And I think, you know, that's a gift from God. And I'm a believer in Christ and that, you know, we were created and he made this for us and we ought to use it well. We ought to be good stewards. Quinton Comino (23:40.745) Yeah. Quinton Comino (23:54.386) Mm-hmm. Yeah, we should be able to live in that creation. Jeff Halsted II (24:00.684) Yeah, if we're called to be good stewards, then we should look at what we're using both for our bodies and around us as well. Quinton Comino (24:07.61) Mm hmm. So, all right. I would think though, the, reason people aren't doing it is not because they disagree with any of those statements and that, you know, we're supposed to be able to exist in this environment. It's not like, like, it's not like the trees are trying to kill us. Like, or the, there's an issue with the, with the wool from sheep. Like those are positive things. And the way that the environment exists is, like it's, it exists together and it's symbiotic and we. Jeff Halsted II (24:24.652) Right. Quinton Comino (24:37.232) exist in that as well. I don't think anyone would disagree with that sort of stuff, but it seems like California is so influential in what they do and they're kind of at the forefront of this. Well, why? Because there's a lot of money in California. So people can afford to be healthy. If you're poor, you can't afford it. I just got to eat what I can eat. It doesn't matter if it comes from the gas station or if it comes from an organic farm. I got to get food on the table. I need a house to live in. It doesn't matter what it's built with. I need a roof over my head. So you love it or hate it. I'm not advocating. I'm simply making the point that it seems like the reason that California is influenced there is because people can afford it because there's a lot of money there. And that's unfortunate. is there, do you have to be wealthy to be able to afford some of this? Jeff Halsted II (25:36.15) No, and that's the beautiful thing. You know, I think if you were to go back a few years, the answer would be undoubtedly yes. But I really do think that, you know, costs are coming down. We have as technology grows, the connection points that we have across the world are significant. And so the technology that's being, you know, how do we how do we harvest cork? Quinton Comino (25:43.368) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (25:54.356) Mm-hmm. Jeff Halsted II (26:03.99) well without damaging the tree so that it regrows its bark and then can be harvested and you're cutting down on the rate to return to market for that tree. And you're also writing a healthy sustainable environment because you're not killing the tree. You know, how do you do that? Well, this is how. Now, Quinton Comino (26:07.956) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (26:16.627) Yeah. Quinton Comino (26:20.596) Mm-hmm. Jeff Halsted II (26:27.53) The other thing is I don't know that it inherently has to be expensive like it is in California because California tends to have a lot more hoops and loops to jump through with construction. The construction game in California right now is just insane in my opinion. So even something as simple as getting permits and approvals for things. Quinton Comino (26:38.77) Yeah. Yep. Yep. Quinton Comino (26:44.424) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (26:50.586) Yeah, this is regulation for regulation's sake, it feels like. Jeff Halsted II (26:53.802) Exactly. And so I think the majority of the cost of construction that you see there is largely because of administrative legal insurance paperwork, stuff like that. And so being able to take the concept of the healthy environmental push and bringing it into an area where, you know, there's still safeguards, right? We still pull permits. We still do good work. It's still inspected by a local inspector. But the the Quinton Comino (27:00.83) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (27:17.908) Mm. Jeff Halsted II (27:23.032) political and administrative and insurance game crap that we see in California is not near the same in Michigan. And as a result, we can lower our costs. And again, it doesn't have to be building a home with all of the bells and whistles, right? If I were to be walking through a house with somebody and we're talking about, what's some of the most important things we can do? Quinton Comino (27:25.553) Yeah. Yeah. Quinton Comino (27:32.36) I get it. Yeah. Quinton Comino (27:42.43) Correct, yeah. Quinton Comino (27:52.628) Mm-hmm. Jeff Halsted II (27:52.822) Okay, well, let's pick those top three and the top three longest lasting ones that will provide the most benefit to you. And let's move forward with those because at the end of the day, you're still in a healthier environment than you were. And that's the end goal, right? You may not be, I probably can't afford right now to build my own house and to the specs that I want it. Mind you, I do have my kids. So, right. Quinton Comino (27:55.454) Yeah, yeah. Quinton Comino (28:05.96) Yes. Yeah. Quinton Comino (28:18.662) Yeah. Yeah. Big house and you probably want all of it. Jeff Halsted II (28:22.146) The more kids you have, the bigger the house. But, you know, there's still affordable options. you know, when you're looking at limestone plaster and lime plaster versus drywall, OK, maybe drywall is the right option for you because limestone plaster is too expensive. But we can go, we can go pre-consumer, post-consumer content. Quinton Comino (28:32.68) Yeah. Quinton Comino (28:47.294) Mm-hmm. Jeff Halsted II (28:51.822) recycled content versus post-consumer recycled content. We can alter what type of drywall you get. Why? Because we know, not everybody knows, but if you do enough research, you know what factories in the United States produce with pre-consumer recycled content versus post-consumer recycled content. And you can make your determination as to whether or not that's important for you. Quinton Comino (28:54.291) Yeah. Quinton Comino (29:00.308) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (29:11.182) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (29:19.038) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jeff Halsted II (29:20.706) You know, as with anything, it's not doing a pendulum swing from far right to far left or far left to far right. It's finding that health medium where we are providing people healthy, sustainable options that are within their budget. Quinton Comino (29:29.332) Correct, yeah. Quinton Comino (29:36.346) Mm-hmm. So I imagine, I'm curious, and I imagine those listening will be, take your average house that you go through. What are the changes that you most commonly see and that would have the biggest impact just for the typical person who lives in a typical American house? Jeff Halsted II (29:56.174) I think if you're looking at what would be the biggest change, I would say what you fill your wall cavities with is probably going to be one of the primary things that I would focus on. I were to choose one thing when it comes to building material, that's the one thing that I would change. It allows for so much air filtration. Quinton Comino (30:15.72) Mm-hmm. Okay. Quinton Comino (30:25.405) Yeah. Jeff Halsted II (30:25.726) take place because every house breathes, right? It doesn't matter how airtight the house is, it doesn't matter how loose the house is, every house breathes. Which is a good thing. If it didn't, you'd be in a lot worse shape. But if it's going to breathe, it's passing through these wall cavities all the time. Quinton Comino (30:29.684) Sure. Quinton Comino (30:34.44) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (30:38.962) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (30:44.871) Mm-hmm. Jeff Halsted II (30:46.926) What are we putting in those wall cavities? And what are they putting out into your air? You know, that's a huge deal. And I think that if I were to say this one thing is probably the most important thing to look at and make sure you get right, I think you should. Because there's some places in Europe right now where they've essentially banned spray foam insulation. Quinton Comino (30:49.64) Yeah. Quinton Comino (30:53.598) Yeah. Quinton Comino (31:02.291) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (31:09.97) Mm-hmm. Jeff Halsted II (31:15.704) Right? Like you can't, you can't do it because it does lead to a higher level of mold and the off gassing and formaldehyde and acetone and all those volatile organic compounds that are coming into your air are so prevalent. It's spray foam insulation is so bad for you. And some insurers over in Europe will not insure a house if it has spray foam insulation in it and you have to scrape it out. Quinton Comino (31:16.091) Wow. Quinton Comino (31:35.591) Mm. Jeff Halsted II (31:44.78) before they'll insure the house. Quinton Comino (31:47.282) Wow. I had no idea. Wow. so that's, so, all right. So if someone wants to learn more about this, well, I do things, you will get to, you know, if they want to get in touch with you, how to do it. But I'm, I'm curious because aside from talking to you, I never heard about this in my life. So, and it's not like, you know, not like everybody can just call you and say, Hey, Jeff, tell me some more about this. what. Jeff Halsted II (32:05.112) Okay, fair. Jeff Halsted II (32:12.184) sure. Quinton Comino (32:14.388) What would you recommend if someone was thinking, okay, I want to know more. What are these specific gases? What do they cause? What are the different types of mold? What happens about that? What's the exposure, long-term exposure risk versus short-term? Is there any resource that you found to be particularly useful or was like, hey, do your own research. You're going to find the right answers. Jeff Halsted II (32:29.784) For sure. Jeff Halsted II (32:38.006) That's a great question. you know, there's a lot of material online that you can look through. Granted, as with anything online, make sure it's verifiable. Right. There's a lot of people that will just say whatever they want to say online about everything. Right. And, you know, I'm not saying that Quinton Comino (32:56.797) Yeah. Jeff Halsted II (33:01.672) all of the, it's not without cons either on all of these different alternatives that we're talking about here. But you know, there's something healthy. There's something like Healthy Materials Lab. You could, you could go there and do some research. You could go to an habitablefuture.org and they'd have stuff there that you can look into. But there's, there's scientific studies that you can find online. I would encourage anybody who's interested to Quinton Comino (33:08.146) Yeah, nothing's perfect. Quinton Comino (33:14.429) Mm-hmm. Quinton Comino (33:18.995) Okay. Jeff Halsted II (33:30.488) to do their own research, but we're in the middle of renovating our website right now to be able to include some of those resources and have some of that content as well as the opportunity to purchase some of those supplies as well if you want to move towards this more healthy option. Quinton Comino (33:38.046) Yeah. Quinton Comino (33:51.88) Yeah, no, I'm very interested in that. And so then if anyone's listening and says, I'm going to do a renovation and I really want to be health conscious or I'm looking at building a home and I want to be health conscious and I'm in the Michigan area, how would it be best for them to get in touch with you? Jeff Halsted II (34:09.42) Yeah, you can go to www.holsteadhomes.com and there's a contact form there and if you fill it out, we can get in contact with you. Right now, if you fill out that contact form, our entire team will see it, including me, and I can reach directly right out to you. Yeah. Quinton Comino (34:28.968) That's awesome. That's really good. Well, thank you, Jeff. This is totally new and I will be heading habitablefutures.org. Healthy, what was the other one? Healthy Futures. excuse me, Invitable Futures. Okay. Yeah. Jeff Halsted II (34:37.294) know, future, habitable future. So lose the ass content, yeah. And then you have a healthy materials lab. Quinton Comino (34:48.648) healthy materials lab. Thank you. I'll be heading to those cause I'm very curious and I'm thinking like, well, shoot, what's in my house that I needed? That I, know, I want to be aware of this stuff now. Cause I'm, cause I mean, cause it's a real thing. Like I know someone who, as soon as they had that AC fixed the next pregnancy, no worries. And, and the baby came really early on the other one. and, there was, there were, you know, health, you know, sort of complications. And as soon as that was fixed, no worries. So. Jeff Halsted II (34:58.881) Yeah. Jeff Halsted II (35:06.958) That's exactly right. Quinton Comino (35:19.442) Just so, you have your own personal experience as well, you know, with mold and then leaving that and seeing things change. yeah, and it's just the cost of, I don't know, you can call it greed, you can call it affordability, you can call it whatever, but there's a trade off for going cheap. know, there's a trade off. Jeff Halsted II (35:38.208) Always. Always. And with most things that the trade-off for going cheap provides, most of the time, if we take the long-term mentality, it's not actually cheaper. And that's not just with regards to building materials. That's across the board in life. When you trade something for a cheap substitute, long-term, it's not better. Quinton Comino (35:55.422) threat. Quinton Comino (35:58.908) Yeah. Quinton Comino (36:04.52) Yeah, cheap is expensive. It is absolutely the case. Yeah. Well, thank you, Jeff. I really appreciate your time today. I appreciate you coming down. You mentioned that you were up on roof before this doing some of the work yourself. So I'm glad you're able to come down and get out of some of the cold for a little bit and join me today. Thank you so much. Yes. Take care. Jeff Halsted II (36:07.714) Yes. Jeff Halsted II (36:14.562) Yeah, thank you. Jeff Halsted II (36:20.425) Yep. Jeff Halsted II (36:26.402) That's right. It was a pleasure. Thank you very much. Yep, you too. Quinton Comino (36:34.74) So great, great Jeff. You're natural man. You are, you're absolutely natural. Very, very easy to get, very easy to talk to. And I love the concept. I'm thinking about like, what should we title this? Because, know, healthy homes, like, hmm, you know, how do we do that? All right. Is your home killing you? know, literally, literally. So. Jeff Halsted II (36:39.96) Thank you. Jeff Halsted II (36:58.156) I mean. Quinton Comino (37:01.298) So I am super, super interested in doing some research because I just built a home and it was, it's, it's ICF. So it's all concrete. Jeff Halsted II (37:06.669) Really. Jeff Halsted II (37:10.19) ICF is one of the better alternatives to go to. Quinton Comino (37:14.74) Yeah. So I'm like, right. Well, at least I'm, I think I'm thinking I'm on the right track, but I got to research. don't know. Maybe I messed up with drywall. I don't know. So I'll find out. Uh, but I don't know. I don't know. Home Depot plant. I don't know. I got to look it up actually. Jeff Halsted II (37:18.594) That's right. Yep. What plane did it come from? That's what you got to think. Jeff Halsted II (37:30.542) You know, that's the crazy thing is you can go to Home Depot and on the same stack, on the same stack, once from one manufacturing plant and the other ones from another. And it just, you got to take the time to filter out which ones you don't want and which ones you do. It's crazy. Quinton Comino (37:43.037) Yeah. Quinton Comino (37:46.962) Yeah. That's so crazy. do see where they're, does it say where it's manufactured from? Yeah, it probably does and all the weird stamps they have on it. It's like something on there. that people like Jeff know. I don't. I got no idea. That's so cool, man. Well, thank you. I hope that you have a great Thanksgiving and I hope that the weather turns out a little better, but it's nice. The snow is nice. Michigan is beautiful. I love the state. I feel like if it was warm, it would be like California. Jeff Halsted II (37:57.868) That's right. Jeff Halsted II (38:12.066) Mm-hmm. Yeah, well, during the summer, is the most beautiful place you can possibly be. Yeah. And we're right by, we're right by the lake shore. mean, we got like a half an hour drive to the lake. Quinton Comino (38:21.214) Totally. It totally is such a beautiful state. Yep. You're not far from Grand Haven, right? Yeah. So it's really nice. Yeah. That is so awesome. I miss Lake Michigan. I would go to the Moran Dunes all the time. We'd go to Grand Haven now and then. You know, they offer spearfishing in Lake Michigan. You can do that now. Jeff Halsted II (38:29.932) Not at all. No, love Grand Haven. We actually have a boat there. At a Marina. Jeff Halsted II (38:42.689) You can't beat it. Can't be. Jeff Halsted II (38:49.132) Yeah, that's crazy. Quinton Comino (38:50.29) Which is crazy. If they do salmon, if they open it up for salmon, I will go up there and do a charter or just jump in the water. That would just be nuts. Yeah? Jeff Halsted II (38:58.422) Yes. Yes. Jeff Halsted II (39:03.758) Yeah, we hit the same one hard this year. It was pretty fun. was a good, yep. We loved, we love fishing. So, I mean, fishing and hunting, you know. Quinton Comino (39:09.812) Yeah. Oh, yeah. I know. I'm like, I'm kind of surprised you're on right now instead of out trying to go get some deer. It's it's not right. This is like time of year right now. Exactly. I don't know. I don't know what you're doing, Jeff. Yeah. All right. Well, look, let me, I'll let you get back to it so you can get to hunt tomorrow. We'll get this thing posted and we'll, send it to you when it's done. It takes a couple of weeks. We got the editing to do and we have other ones. Jeff Halsted II (39:16.916) I know. This is what, this is what, yeah. It's time to go. Well, tomorrow, tomorrow. Today, I have a roof to do. Quinton Comino (39:39.378) have you but really appreciate your time man. Thank you so much. Jeff Halsted II (39:41.911) Awesome. Yeah, my pleasure. Thank you very much. Peace. Quinton Comino (39:44.168) Yep, take care, Jeff.