Life & Work with Angel Romero Jr. of Dodge City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Angel Romero Jr.

Hi Angel, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Growing up in Dodge City, I studied and graduated from Dodge City High School. I skipped out on college to attempt to start a stucco crew, but my parents divorced shortly after. Still wanting to continue my construction career, my mother and I formed RAAX Dryvitt LLC to continue our stucco business and include Hemp building materials. I have worked with my family company Romero Stucco LLC since I was 15 yrs old and helped my family by being the interpreter for them and the local contractors. When I was 23, I studied in Ketchum, Idaho, with the good people at Hempitecture, and they took me through the hands-on process of working with Hemp and carbon-neutral building materials. The rest is history; my mother and I co-run the business providing health homes to Kansas that are mold-resistant, pest resistant, fire-resistant, and built out of Hemp.

We all face challenges, but would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road was a bumpy one along the way, with a lot of setbacks and negativity. When building with Hemp, I was mocked and ridiculed by the older local contractors. They didn’t fully understand the historical preservation that Hemp could help with and thought I wanted to build with weed(marijuana). Once I could correctly display my product and help educate the benefits of hempcrete and hemp insulation, however, everything else became easy. Everyone in Dodge City wants to build with Hemp, from the city manager to the city inspectors.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in earth-building materials that help benefit carbon-neutral and flame-resistant homes. Hempcrete can be used for interior and exterior insulation with bast fibers that help create an on structure around your existing house. The hempcrete dries into petrified wood and becomes limestone over time. It is the only natural building material that is living and continues to get stronger as the years go on. Super beneficial with a thermal envelope to allow it to bring a new meaning to weatherization for residential homes. I am most impressed with the fire rating and r-value of the insulation, never sparking into a flame under heat and creating an r-value up to r-28, and being able to replace other construction materials such as plywood, drywall, Sheetrock, etc.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love the number of brick-and-mortar historic buildings the city offers. However, they are all run down and not structural. With the addition of hempcrete, each of these buildings can be brought back to life and given a grander life expectancy to be used for homeless shelters or low-income apartments!

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raaxstucgocrete?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angel-romero-jr-675707111 

Image Credits
Kansas State University Architecture, Golden Eagle Marketing, Ana Carbajal Photography