March 2015 - Page 402 of 605 - Home Builder Developer, Interior Renovation and Design Home Builder Developer, Interior Renovation and Design

Chesterfield, MO (PRWEB) March 10, 2015

In February 2015, Gundaker Construction and Restoration Group finished a major roofing project in St. Albans, MO. Featuring storm damage, a labor-intensive roofing material, and the complicated process of navigating a successful insurance claim, the project perfectly exemplifies Gundaker Construction and Restoration Groups strengths as a company.

In recent years, the insurance claims process has earned a bad reputation due to fraudulent activity by construction, roofing, and repair companies. Rather than winding up with leaky roofs and other low-quality work, insurance companies and homeowners are now focusing on finding the right company for the job. Such was the case in the St. Albans project: after a hailstorm ruined the roof of a cedar-shingled home, PURE, a New York-based insurance agency, called Gundaker Construction and Restoration Group in to assess the damages. Originally, another business had been recommended to the homeowners, but the claims process revealed that their quote was much too high. As PUREs only preferred roofing company in Missouri, Gundaker Construction and Restoration Group was brought in to assess the situation.

The project featured some challenges from the start: the home is roughly 10,000 square feet and covered by a cedar shingle roof, the majority of which was ruined by the storm. Cedar shingle installments are highly labor intensive, requiring each shingle to be laid individually and nailed down.

It is a very intricate process, whereas regular shingles are put on relatively quickly, said Mike Kossman, the Managing Partner of Gundaker Construction and Restoration Group. This type of shingle is the equivalent of assembling a giant puzzle on top of a roof.

Additionally, the wood must be treated and resealed every five to seven years, depending on environmental conditions, or it will turn gray, attract bugs, and begin absorbing water. However, the roofing material features an attractive, craftsmen-like look that many homeowners love.

Over the course of eight days, Gundaker Construction and Restoration Group ripped up the damaged shingles and replaced them with new cedar shingles. Normally, a project of this size would have taken three weeks, but the company had doubled their construction crew for the job. The project was completed in the third week of February, but Gundaker Construction and Restoration Group is far from done with the house: the company is responsible for the long-term maintenance of the roof, with a five-year workmanship warranty and a 40-year manufacturers warranty on the materials.

So far, we've had good feedback from the client, said Kossman.

Gundaker Construction and Restoration Group recommends that homeowners who are going through a similar situation choose a roofing company carefully. The company says they should look for a name that has been around for a while and has experience dealing with the roofing type in question; while Gundaker Construction and Restoration Group has only been in operation for two years, Kossman has been in the industry for around 12 years. Moreover, he started the company with his business partner, Patrick Devers, under the promise to do quality work at a reasonable price.

There's a lot of price-gouging out there, and we recommend homeowners steer clear of companies that aren't familiar with different roof types, Kossman said. If your contractor isn't experienced, then it will be a headache for both homeowners and insurance companies alike.

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Gundaker Construction and Restoration Group Completes Major Roofing Project in St. Albans, MO

Addition of Solar Signals Mainstream Adoption of the Renewable Energy Source in B.C.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Feb. 17, 2015) - Penfolds Roofing, one of B.C.'s most established and well-respected roofing companies, is adding solar installation to its list of services amid soaring demand for the renewable energy source across B.C.

Penfolds is offering solar power alongside its traditional roofing options now that the price of the technology has dropped, making it more accessible to average homeowners. A growing number of home and business owners in B.C. are requesting solar installations from Penfolds to help conserve energy and save money over the long term, especially as utilities costs continue to rise, says company president Ken Mayhew.

"Solar has gone mainstream in B.C., including in more sun-challenged Lower Mainland, because of its ability to generate electricity from the sun for owners' consumption with excess electricity going back to BC Hydro," says Mayhew. "We're pleased to be able to provide solar installations as part of our high-quality, professional roofing services."

Known as "net-metering" BC Hydro enables solar systems to provide electricity first for owners' consumption with any excess electricity from the solar system getting sent back to BC Hydro at the same electricity rate as BC Hydro charges.

Mayhew was encouraged to add solar installation to the business by his son Shaun Mayhew, sales and marketing manager at Penfolds. Both have been monitoring the explosion of solar installations throughout the world with the U.S. and Canada keeping up the pace. Penfolds is in the unique position of being a leader in the residential roofing market and by adding solar installations to its services, will enable a homeowner to add this solar power to their home without impeding their roof warranty.

Mayhew says a typical 4 KW system for an average home costs about $16,000. The average home will save approximately 40% of their annual electrical consumption and will create "savings" of about $60,000 over the 30-year solar lifecycle assuming electricity rates rise at about five per cent per year, as they have been in recent years.

"Solar panels insulate the homeowner's exposure to rate increases in the future," says Mayhew.

Penfolds uses satellite imagery to estimate a roof's solar potential, including benefits and cost. Customers can have their solar system installed, connected and inspected within four weeks. Penfolds solar systems also come with a roofing-protection guarantee.

About Penfold's Roofing:

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Penfolds Roofing Adds Solar Power to Its Product Line Up

Edward Snowden will be making an appearance in Portland well, sort of.

The Portland Oregon Womens Film Festival will be held this week, and organizers announced a few additions (after the Tribunes story on the festival), including Citizenfour, the real-life thriller made when filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald encountered whistleblower Snowden in Hong Kong as Snowden handed over classified documents providing evidence of mass invasion of privacy by the National Security Agency.

Itll screen at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 14, at the Hollywood Theatre, 4122 N.E. Sandy Blvd., site of POWFest, March 12 through 15 (powfest.com).

Poitras had been working on a movie about surveillance for two years when Snowden contacted her, using the name Citizenfour in January 2013; Snowden admired Poitras, who had long been the target of government surveillance and refused to be intimidated.

The other POWFest addition is a bit different I Believe in Unicorns, a debut film by Leah Meyerhoff and a story about troubled young love in a stunning and complex landscape. Itll be shown at 9 p.m. Saturday, March 14.

The Great Love Debate

The national tour will stop in Portland, as 100 eligible bachelors and 100 dynamic women will be seated opposite of one another to dish, dissect, discuss and debate the question, Why am I still single?

It happens at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 18, at Imago Theatre, 17 S.E. Eighth Ave. Tickets are $40 per person and available at eventbrite.com. For info: http://www.GreatLoveDebate.com.

August Wilson winners

The August Wilson Monologue Project produced three winners recently, and theyll be competing in the national competition, May 2 through 5 in New York City. They are Hailey Kilgore of Clackamas High, Quinci Freeman-Lytle of Grant and Isaiah Sims of Putnam, each of them proving to be the best in delivering stories from the late, great playwright Wilson.

Original post:
Bits & Pieces: Snowden and Poitras

by Mark Walton on March 10, 2015

What a difference a frame rate makes. Say what you will about just how much people actually notice frame rate and resolution, but for games that value split-second timing, those extra 30 frames are essential. It's partly why I spent more time with the hack 'n' slash classic DmC: Devil May Cry on PC than with its slower console counterparts, the sharper visuals and general feeling of superiority being a nice added bonus. So here we are, two years on, and console owners can finally get a taste of that sweet 60fps action, courtesy of the Definitive Edition--and it's a fantastic thing. DmC is fiercely creative, and with its new features in tow, so much better than before.

Oddly, it's the story that's surpassed expectations here (excluding the still dire effort in the included Vergil's Downfall DLC)--not because it was ever bad, but it was always overshadowed by the stellar combat. Playing through it again, though, it's amazing to see just how ambitious and, at times, rather clever, it is. Let's not forget that, as a series, Devil May Cry didn't exactly set the world on fire with its schlocky tales of adolescent fantasy. But with DmC, Ninja Theory crafted a story with depth, (mostly) believable characters, and an ambitious assault on commercialism and modern media. The game's savage satirization of organisations like Fox News with the demonic Bob Barbas' Raptor News Network and Coca-Cola with the bile-infested and thoroughly deadly soft drink Virility is a great touch.

Small plot holes and a few heavy-handed moments of satire aside, DmC's story does a great job of crafting a foreboding atmosphere to back up its balls-to-the-wall action, especially when coupled with the excellent voice acting and effortless dialogue. The demon king Mundus and his mistress Lilith are particular highlights, their ruthless, profanity-filled crusade to enslave humankind being a hackneyed, yet effective way of adding a compelling goal to your hack 'n' slash antics.

DmC throws you from one action set piece to the next at a breakneck pace, only giving you time to stop and think during its tedious (but thankfully short-lived) platforming sections. But even in those sections and through its crumbling blood-red cityscapes, cavernous tunnels lined with a viscous green ooze and searing neon discos, it's hard to ignore DmC's stylistic triumphs. Its colorful, oversaturated look is not only visually stunning in its new 1080p guise but also strangely prescient of the direction that later Xbox One and PlayStation 4 games would take.

While it's hindsight that has made DmC's story more impressive, the already excellent combat has improved by a significant overhaul. Naturally, the move from 30 to 60 frames per second makes for a smoother, more responsive experience. With Dante's trifecta of light, medium, and heavy weapon types in tow, as well as guns for ranged shots, spectacular combos fly off the fingers with less effort than before. That's not to say that things are easier this time around: you still need to put in the effort in practice mode, carefully studying the command list, in order to graduate from simple button mashing. But it's worthwhile, and before long, staccato stabbing motions are replaced with elegant swipes, dodges, and uppercuts that chain together for near-endless combos in the air and on the ground.

60fps is only part of the story. One of the best additions is the optional turbo mode (a nod to Capcom's flagship franchise Street Fighter), which boosts game speed by a substantial 20 percent. It's not for the faint-hearted, but the additional speed makes for some furious and thoroughly enjoyable combat. There's also the optional Hardcore mode--which can be activated on any difficulty level--that rebalances the game. Some of the changes include a tweaked style system that quickly deteriorates, increased enemy damage, adjusted parry and evade windows, and a shorter devil trigger. The differences aren't drastic enough to be immediately noticeable, but soon, levels that might not have tested you in the past become far more difficult to beat. Annoyingly, if you've played through the game before on an older console and have already unlocked the harder difficulty levels, you can't transfer your save and skip, and youll have to play through the easier ones again.

Serious masochists can opt to turn on the Must Style modifier, which makes it so that you can't damage enemies until you've achieved an S or higher style ranking by pulling off sweet combos. Stack all the modes and modifiers together (Must Style, Hardcore, and Turbo Mode), then whack the game on the new Gods Must Die difficulty setting where enemies deal 2.5x damage and no items are allowed, and the game turns into a challenge worthy of even the most skilled of hack 'n' slash players. There's also the new Vergil's Bloody Palace mode, which eschews the easier difficulty levels of Dante's Bloody Palace and gives you 60 levels of hardcore arena battles. Veteran Devil May Cry fans can even choose to use manual lock-on throughout, which is a nice touch. Frankly, that level of challenge goes far beyond my own manual dexterity with a controller, even after buying new combos and weapon upgrades, but at least now, no one can cry foul about DmC not being as challenging as its predecessors.

Otherwise, DmC remains largely unchanged, which is no bad thing. The enemies remain neatly animated, drooling and sputtering with a grizzly black ooze as they wander through each level. Their varying attacks mean that you can't just sit back and hammer buttons to win. Some enemies have shields that can only be broken with a heavy weapon, while others need the gentler touch of a fast-paced scythe. Deformed cherubs that fling down explosive bombs are perhaps the most irritating of all of the enemies, but they're integral to maintaining the balance of combat. They also give you a good excuse to yank them down to Earth with a whip of your chain before sending them back to hell with a mighty swing of your axe.

Time has been kind to DmC's boss battles, too. They're still formulaic, making you learn a boss's repetitive movements in order to land an attack, but they're seriously impressive--both visually and narratively. An early encounter with the squishy succubus is a treat--not because of the basic platforming required to defeat her but because of her incredibly foul-mouthed tirades and involuntary neon vomiting. Then there's the battle against a holographic Bob Barbas, a fight that sees you transported to the heart of the Raptor News Network and directly into its live news reports, complete with the requisite TV commentary and helicopter shots. DmC's keen sense of style overcomes much of the boss battles' shortcomings, adding to the heady atmosphere of its brightly coloured world.