More money going into UH mansion

For the second time in as many years, taxpayers money is going to renovate what was designated as the UH Presidents residence.

A long list of repairs is underway at College Hill.

It includes a new roof, windows and gutters, along with the installation of solar panel. solar water heaters andsiding as well as plumbing and electrical work.

The base contract is $680,000 butthe amountcould exceed that if there are unforeseen problems.

But it wasn't too long ago that the university had crews working on the porte cochere, the back lanai and the guest cottage.

Two years ago UH spent close to a half a million on repairing termite damage.

The work included repairs on the main house and in an adjacent cottage.

Crews replaced the wood floors in the dining and living rooms, as well as a few doors They also had to shore up the lanai floor.

That was on top of more than a million dollars of construction that was spentunder Evan Dobelle, the president at the time when he lived in the home,

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Construction at College Hill Mansion puts events on hold

Published: 9/29/2012 3:38 PM | Last update: 9/29/2012 11:22 PM

That business, Mark Borecky Construction, 1001 N. Main, Suite C, is the Hutchinson / Reno County Chamber of Commerce September Small Business of the Month.

In "serious need of a job," however, he was offered a position by Ricky Blackburn, the father of a friend of his girlfriend, to help hang house siding in northern Kansas and southern Nebraska for $5 an hour.

"I stayed with Ricky a few years and in 1993 broke out on my own," Borecky said, starting his own siding and window installation business.

At one point he had three siding crews working for him around the area.

That business put him in regular touch with Darren Cook, a wholesale siding supplier who decided he wanted to get out of that business and invited Borecky to join him in building houses.

"The first two we built for ourselves" on lots next to each other, Borecky said, and from which he "learned a fair amount" about homebuilding.

"One of the biggest helps to me was Dave Childs," Borecky said. "He was the city building inspector at the time, and later went on to do his own heating and air and electrical business. He was my eyes and ears. I was extremely blessed by that for sure."

After selling those houses, they bought some in-fill lots on Amanda Street and built some more, Borecky said. After about 2 1/2 years, Cook split off on his own "to build more upscale houses," Borecky said.

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Building one man's success

Novi Fieldstone Plus adds a new design option to a popular line of exterior of artificial rock siding panels.

Deer Park, NY (PRWEB) September 25, 2012

Genuine fieldstone is literally that stone used in its natural shape, traditionally collected from the surface of fields when theyre cleared for planting. Our Novi Plus version provides the same fantastic look and texture of traditional fieldstone at a fraction of the cost and without harming the environment, said Steve Barron, president of Faux Panels.

Because of real fieldstones origins, its often been associated with rural areas, creating a distinctive architectural look. Now thanks to Novi Fieldstone Plus, anyone can create that authentic look quickly and easily, without the high cost.

Made from strong polypropylene, these artificial rock siding panels will last a long time while still looking great. Whereas genuine stone can chip, erode and dust, Novi Fieldstone Plus easily weathers routine wear and tear, harsh temperatures, wind, rain, ice and snow. Thanks to its nearly zero UV degradation, it wont fade with time.

Easy Installation, Great Look

Novi artificial rock siding panels interlock, so installation is easy. Home owners using a contractor will spend less in labor costs. People who prefer to do it as a DIY project can get professional looking results. Either way, its a lot cheaper than hiring a stone mason.

Novi Fieldstone Plus comes in three color options that mimic natural fieldstone. Misty Beige features a warm, sun-baked light tan. Shadow Gray is a neutral shade that evokes New England farmhouses. Smoke White is a paler option reminiscent of Maryland fieldstone, yet looks great everywhere.

While Novi Fieldstone Plus is primary used for exterior renovations, depending upon the local building codes in a given area, it can be used indoors, too. Just check the fire rating rules for your area.

Adding a fieldstone design option with the new Novi Plus texture and its easy interlocking design gives customers a great new look with classic convenience, said Barron.

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FauxPanels.com Introduces Novi Fieldstone Plus Siding Panels

Relief from the heat is in sight for the elderly residents of the Mary Slaughter Apartments. The Lycoming County Housing Authority will install central air conditioning in the building, but the project will not be completed until later this summer.

The authority on Thursday agreed to award contracts for air conditioning for the building, at 124 Brandon Place, but it probably will not be installed until mid-August, said David A. Frederick, authority director of modernization and development.

A contract was awarded to Spencer Mechanical Inc., of Williamsport, which submitted a low bid of $188,000, Frederick said.

The company also was awarded a contract to convert the building's boiler system from oil to natural gas. The company bid $10,600 for that work.

Many of the residents of the 27-unit building have air conditioning.

According to Frederick, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees and funds public housing, states that apartments that have only one window cannot have an air-conditioning unit in that window.

That is because the units block an exit that could be needed in the event of a fire, Frederick said. Units also could block emergency responders attempting to rescue a trapped resident.

Eight apartments in the building have only one window, Authority Executive Director MariLyn Severson said.

Residents were told when the authority took ownership of the building last summer that air-conditioning units could not be placed in single-window apartments, she said.

However, during an inspection of the building this spring by a HUD engineer, an air conditioner was seen in a single-window apartment. The engineer said it had to be taken out, Severson said.

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Sweating it out

If you're not yet giving much thought to how much energy your new house is going to use, and how much it's going to waste, then it's time you started.

It should be one of your top priorities if for no other reason than your own pocketbook.

Energy used for heating and cooling homes is going to continue to get more expensive and as we've seen recently, world politics can quickly and dramatically affect your access to cheap energy.

Saving energy isnt just about saving money. It's also an important part of good design.

A Little History

This isn't the first energy crunch we've had. In the 1970's, when I was a college student studying Environmental Design, world events conspired to create an American energy crisis. It was an interesting time to study architecture, because the buildings we designed were required to respond to the environment by using natural energy sources as much as possible.

The homes we created used technology and inventive design to give them form. We designed solar homes, earth-sheltered homes, thermal-mass homes, and other types in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. They collected heat from the sun and the ground and held it inside as long as possible. They blocked excessive solar radiation with deep overhangs and shading devices, and they were very carefully oriented to the angle of the sun and prevailing winds.

Sure they looked a little weird (some were downright ugly) but we designed homes that stayed warm in the winter and cool in the summer and used almost no energy at all.

But then in the 1980's energy got cheap again, and everybody forgot about low-energy homes.

Zzzzzzz.

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Energy Efficiency Designs

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Friends like Megan and James Levesque have played a big part in helping first-time homeowner Joey Cresta complete renovations.Joey Cresta photo

Friends have the uncanny ability to pick you up right at the moment when you most feel like staying down.

I've recently been discouraged by the slow rate of progress we're making on our home renovations. Our 1930 New Englander has proven to be a challenging first-ever renovation for this novice homeowner. Particularly, I'm upset that the process of installing our cabinets and countertops has taken so long.

Our cabinets have been in at least two weeks, but just a few days ago, we ordered our countertops. It will be a couple of weeks, at the very least, before they arrive. Even worse, our walls aren't square, and I dread that the countertops as we've measured them won't work out. I'm even bracing for the installation to be much more of a process than one might expect. That's been the way everything has gone thus far.

That was our situation on one recent weekend. It was mid-morning, and I was sitting around, not expecting to do much work around the house. At that point, I was feeling like things were pretty hopeless and why bother exerting effort when the cabinets are going to continue sitting there, taunting me in their half-finished state.

My friend James Levesque had different plans. He has been a work horse on this project. He works for a construction company and has a knack for everything from hanging and taping drywall to installing doors and windows. Our home would be nothing without him.

As such, I often feel guilty about asking him to help. Weekends are precious for everyone and he's done so much for us already. So has his wife, Megan. So, on this particular morning, I hadn't even thought about bothering him. I figured it would be a good opportunity to take a weekend off and unwind after so much hard work.

Then I got a text from James, totally out of the blue.

"Morning, big cat, what's on the agenda today? Meg's workin' so I'm free if you need any help," he wrote.

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Friends with construction skills: priceless

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Anderson Windows and Doors The manufacturer has partnered with Honeywell on VeriLock, a system that allows security alarms to alert homeowners if their windows or doors are unlocked. Once only available on its Eagle brand, the technology is now being expanded to the companys new E Series. http://www.andersenwindows.com.

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Boral Roofing The companys new Class 4 hail-rated Storm Series roofingcan withstand sequential 2-inch ice ball impacts at speeds up to 104 feet per second. Its the only U.S.-made concrete roof product with such a rating, the company says. http://www.boralroof.com.

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10 New and Cool Products from PCBC 2012

Southampton Village residents will have to wait at least two more weeks to find out if a new cellphone tower will be allowed to be installed in the historic First Presbyterian Church of Southampton clock tower on the corner of South Main Street and Meeting House Lane in the village.

During a public hearing at a Board of Architectural Review and Historic Preservation meeting on Wednesday, representatives of MetroPCS, trustees of the church, and concerned citizens shared their opinions about the possibility of introducing the cell tower into the 169-year-old church.

ARB members said they did not have enough information to make a decision on the application and ultimately adjourned the public hearing to July 11 in order to review newly submitted material.

The application, which was submitted in May and was the second application by MetroPCS to install an array in the church tower, proposes four antennas to be installed 59 feet above ground level, inside of the tower where the clock faces are. Some of the existing wood siding around the clock faces on the exterior of the building would need to be replaced by fiberglass reinforced polymer (FRP), which would look like the existing wood but would allow cellular waves to be easily transmitted through it. An additional antenna would be mounted to the inside face of a turret at the very top of the tower. The clock mechanism would not be affected.

The existing, historic siding would be removed, wrapped and placed in crates in the churchs basement storage area.

According to Keith Brown of Brown & Altman LLP., which represents MetroPCS, the area of disturbance would be less than 1 percent of the church exterior and there would be no change in appearance at all.

A representative from Stealth Concealment Solutions, which would provide and install the FRP material, produced a sample of the new siding and said that while it would look exactly like the existing wood siding, it would weather differently and perhaps show a slight difference in color over time. He said passersby could not likely tell the difference with their naked eye.

Nonetheless, representatives of the church said the building would continue to be regularly painted and maintained as it has since it was built.

According to church trustee Gerald Adams, the upkeep and maintenance of the church has depended on church membership for financial support. He said that in the 1950s, the churchs membership was approximately 900 people, and now in 2012, it stands at about 400.

The church building is the same, but the membership is less than half of what it was, he said. The fact is, an older church requires more maintenance and more funds with less members contributing.

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No Decision Made On Presbyterian Church Cell Tower Application

SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST The historic Buck Rock Lookout will undergo a major renovation this summer, the Sequoia National Forest announced.

Originally constructed in 1923, the lookout has not seen any significant enhancements since the 1970s. Located in the Giant Sequoia National Monument, Buck Rock is staffed annually for wildfire detection and is open to the public during the fire season.

Renovation of Buck Rock will include the rehabilitation of the interior and exterior siding, installation of new cabinets, refurbishing the window frames and trim, weather-proofing the cab, replacing the catwalk fencing, upgrading the electrical system, and replacing a section of the 1942-era stairway.

Wherever possible, the original materials used in the construction of Buck Rock will be refurbished and utilized in the renovation; otherwise, in-kind period appropriate materials will be used to reflect the 1920s era.

Located in the Big Meadows area in the cooler elevation of 8,500 feet, Buck Rock Lookout is a popular destination for people from all over the world. Perched 300 feet above the ground on a granite dome, visitors have grand views of the High Sierra featuring the Great Western Divide, Kings Canyon and surrounding beauty. Eagles, falcons and other birds of prey are often spotted soaring the skies around the lookout. After many years of being shuttered, Buck Rock reopened in 2000.

According to the Buck Rock Foundation website, access to the top is via a series of stair flights (consisting of 172 steps) suspended from the side of the rock.

The current lookout building was constructed in 1923 and is historically significant as a representation of the earliest 4-A style live-in cabs of which there are only three in existence in the world today.

Prior to the current building, an open platform was situated on the top of the rock, which a patrol unit would climb onto to scan for smokes using only binoculars, a compass, and a map. Spotting a smoke, he would quickly descend, hop on his horse and chase down the fire. In 1914, a telephone was installed and a phone line between Pinehurst and Buck Rock was carried by mules and restrung at the beginning of each season.

Originally, only long slim tree trunks with boards nailed across for steps led to the top. A series of ladders for climbing to the lookout came next, and finally in 1942, a stairway built by Frank Fowler and crew was added to ease the climb. By the 1980s, electricity replaced gas and wood as a source of energy, and today the lookout enjoys many of the modern conveniences of most homes.

Legend has it that if you look at the rock from a certain angle, you can see the profile of an Indian warrior, thus the name Buck Rock. Native Americans referred to the rock as Finger Rock.

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Buck Rock Lookout to get needed face lift

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PETER PEREIRA/The Standard-Times Jeff Martin of Stevens Home Improvement, installs new vinyl siding at a home in Fairhaven recently.

An increase in energy audit requests by local homeowners is not translating into a corresponding boost in energy-related home improvement jobs, say local contractors, a fact many find frustrating.

It's not that business is not good, said Steven Alves, owner of Stevens Home Improvement in Fairhaven. The past year has brought back some of his pre-recession busy-ness, Alves said, and allowed him to once again say no to jobs that are located too far away.

But he's still finding that jobs using energy efficient equipment are an afterthought for many homeowners.

"In our company, we push energy efficiency a lot. We're always talking about upgrading attic insulation or getting windows triple pane instead of double pane," said Alves. "But overall there hasn't been a big push. It's just sort of been let me fix up the house, I'm going to be staying here; we're not selling.'"

For example, Alves said, last week his company was finishing up a vinyl siding job that will also boost insulation for a Sconticut Neck home. But the insulation piece of the job came only after Stevens raised energy issues and offered the homeowner specific suggestions.

"It's not the primary reason (for the call); it's secondary," noted Alves. "It only happened when we asked, 'Do you realize you can also get vinyl siding insulated?'"

Carol Fisher, a builder/designer and owner of Center Caf in New Bedford's South End agreed with Alves. Fisher designed her eco-friendly caf using energy efficient products and believes strongly in the benefits of doing that.

Even so, she said, "I think contractors are still finding it hard to get traction around energy upgrades."

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Green energy business is tepid, contractors say