Building material selection leads to healthier homes

A green home is not necessarily a healthy home and a healthy home is not necessarily a green home.

Tom Molidor, president of Molidor Custom Builders Inc. of Clarendon Hills, built the Chicago area's first healthy home in 1995 and received lots of publicity for it. He even received an award from his peers.

"I built it because after building a new home for my own family, my very active and healthy wife started experiencing a dry cough and feeling uncomfortable much of the time," Molidor said.

It turned out that Nancy Molidor suffers from multiple chemical sensibilities and her cough was a reaction to outgassing from cabinets that were largely made of particle board.

Interestingly, green builders make liberal use of particle board as a way to save trees, Molidor explained.

The Molidors ended up replacing their cabinets with solid wood cabinets, and that got Molidor thinking about building a totally healthy home for people like his wife.

The home he built contained emission-free cabinets, specially sealed hardwood floors, blown-in cellulose insulation, an air purifying system, a whole house water purification system and myriad other healthy details.

Built in Western Springs, the home earned Molidor a Crystal Key Award for innovation and creativity from the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago.

"I spent months talking to people in places like Vermont, Colorado and Canada about ways I could avoid products that would outgas," Molidor said. "No one here was doing that kind of thing back then."

For instance, when a foundation is poured, concrete forms are oiled before the pouring so that they can be easily removed. And some of that oil seeps into the foundation and later outgases, Molidor said. That would bother sensitive people, so he searched for an alternative to a petroleum-based oil.

"Someone I talked to suggested I use olive oil," he said, "but I ended up finding a water-based product that worked."

He also avoided using carpeting, which is notorious for outgassing, instead using hardwood floors finished with a water-based sealant.

"The aim with a healthy home is to smell absolutely nothing when you walk into that new home," Molidor explained.

Since 1995, Molidor said, he has incorporated certain elements of that healthy home into the custom and spec homes he has built, but has not yet had anyone ask for a completely healthy home. But based on his experiences, the LaGrange native said he now includes blown-in cellulose insulation in every home he builds.

His dream home: A very simple 2,500-square-foot or less home with lots of windows on a lake in Austin, Texas, or in Wisconsin. Molidor said it would be maintenance free with solar or geothermal heating, incredible insulation and would even use gray water technology to recycle water from washers, showers and bathroom sinks to reduce freshwater consumption.

His favorite new home amenities: Intelligent appliances, like ranges and refrigerators, as well as geothermal heating and cooling systems and solar panels.

His background: Molidor graduated from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota with a degree in advertising and immediately went to work for a Chicago advertising agency. Shortly thereafter he and a friend purchased a two-flat in LaGrange Park because they had always heard that it was better to purchase than to rent. They lived in one part and rented out the other half while they fixed it up. Soon afterward they turned around and sold it, making a profit that was larger than a year's salary at the ad agency.

"That got me to thinking maybe I should switch fields," Molidor said.

He purchased, rehabbed and sold several more homes in the West suburbs over the next two years while continuing to keep his day job until 1987, when Molidor left the agency and started his own custom home building company.

Today Molidor builds between three and four custom homes per year and completes five or six major additions or remodels. He currently has three custom built-to-order homes under construction - two in Clarendon Hills and one in Wilmette. Including land, the average price of a Molidor home ranges from $800,000 to $2 million.

The details: The majority of homes Molidor builds are the result of teardowns. He said that he rarely finds an empty lot to build upon.

"I am actually very busy right now," he said. "I have three homes under construction and several more lined up. A lot of my clients are tearing down their existing homes because they like the neighborhood and that way they don't have an existing house to sell in this market."

In addition to building new homes and doing additions and major remodel projects, Molidor owns a property maintenance company called Upkeepers. This handyman service takes care of clients all over the Chicago area from I-80 north to the Wisconsin border and handles a range of services, including HVAC, plumbing, pool and lawn maintenance.

"We take care of everything the homeowner needs and they are always dealing with a professional who shows up on time and follows through on what he promises," Molidor said. "I have a handyman who does most of the work after I have estimated it. But if he runs into something he can't handle, I can draw in one of my subcontractors to do the work."

His philosophy: "Keep it simple."

"Too many times builders make the building process too overwhelming for people and they freak out and decide to buy an existing home instead. I do a lot of hand-holding because people need that.

"I tell people that the comfort level they feel with their builder is key. If the guy they feel comfortable with has a number that is higher than another guy, ask why. He should be able to explain."

Average buyer: Most of Molidor's buyers are area families. The buyers are usually professional people like engineers, attorneys, traders and managers between the ages of 35 and 55.

Best part of being a builder: "I really enjoy sales and running the show. I enjoy the whole journey through a project."

Biggest changes he has seen in the business: "The permitting process, especially in unincorporated Cook County, is very time-consuming now."

And everywhere things have become much more restrictive, he said. Some towns require indoor fire suppression systems. Engineering drawings are required for water retention, tree preservation and much more.

"I cannot fathom what the guys doing whole subdivisions are going through. They tell me that the permitting takes a minimum of two years now."