Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Attic Renovations and Headroom

Attics that have highly steep roof pitches, e.g. a 12/12 pitch, are ideally suited for creating attic living space. However, even with steep roof pitches, there is less living space that can be carved out of the attic then most homeowners realize.

Another key element that needs to be evaluated when undertaking an attic renovation project is how the attic is framed. For example, what type of ceiling joists were used in the framing? Ceiling joists of the lower level are effectively the floor joists of your attic area. Frequently attic ceiling joists are inadequate for supporting the weight of a living space. Consequently larger sized lumber may need to be sistered, or married, to the existing ceiling/floor joists. If the existing ceiling joists are inadequate you will inevitably wind up with cracked lower level ceilings.

Attic framing also frequently has cross braces and collar ties running throughout them. You may need to meet with an architect or your local building inspector to see what you can do to replace these structural supports in a way to create a larger unobstructed living space.

Read more:
Attic Renovation | Planning Attic Renovation

Related Content ReGreen when You Remodel

Green remodeling guidelines presents 10 case studies plus dozens of strategies for making your home ...

On the brink of settling into her new home, environmental journalist Simran Sethi shares some tidbit...

Figure out if your attic is ready for upward mobility with an attic renovation.

Attics are special. Most of us who grew up in houses with attics tend to retain a fondness for the space. For children, the attic is a place of mystery and intriguea little scary but just close enough for comfort to the familiar bedrooms below. Even 20 or 30 years later, the attic probably keeps some of its allure, at least for the romantics among us.

That fondness can take on new dimensions when a family starts having serious growing pains. Under the pitch of the roof, you could close in a bedroomsmall, but fine for a youngsterand add desperately needed living space.

Attic conversion is an appealing fantasy. The roof and basic framework for a new room are already in place, so it should be less costly and easier to finish an attic than to add a wing to the house. Yet these advantages can prove to be restrictions unless the original builder planned for later conversion of the attic.

Just to name a few obvious concerns, the attic's floor may not be structurally up to its new job, there may not be enough headroom, and there's probably no electrical service. In most cases, you can overcome these and other deficiencies. The question you need to answer is whether it might be easier (and less expensive) to add to the ground floor instead.

To make that decision, you have to do a fairly detailed attic survey and carefully analyze the problems you might run into.

First, outfit yourself with a 25 foot tape measure and a flashlight, and head for the attic. As you clamber about, step only on the edges of the boards that stick up. The ceiling joists, as they're called, will support your weight easily, but the material between them is the top of the ceiling below. One false step, and you may drop in unexpectedly on your family and friends.

Read the rest here:
Attic Renovation - Green Homes - MOTHER EARTH NEWS

Real Estate Press Releases Wednesday December 18, 2013 16:43

Bangkok--18 Dec--MARKETING INTEGRATION

Amidst the fast growing competitiveness of medical centers in Thailand and ASEAN countries, Interface is offering ideal flooring options to hospitals, clinics, and wellness centers. Interface, the worlds largest carpet tile manufacturer, is known for its ranges of ground breaking innovations and environmental responsibility. Carpet tiles with special antimicrobial protective coating enhance easy maintenance, safety, and desirable ambience to any premise, even those that require maximum hygiene.

For years, hard floor has been perceived as the only option for healthcare interior. But with Intersept and Protekt technology used in all Interface modular carpets, cleaning and maintenance are very simple. Interfaces patented Intersept coating technology prevents bacteria, fungi, mildew and bad odors while Protekt coating simplifies dirt and stain cleaning process. The strong and resilient materials used in these carpets make them durable despite heavy traffic and regular cleaning. At the same time, it improves comfort and well-being of patients and healthcare personnel, cushions falls, reduces noises, and speeds patient recovery.

In Thailand, we have installed Interface carpet tiles in many leading hospitals including Bumrungrad, Vejthani, Chulalongkorn, Ramathibodi, and several braches of Bangkok hospitals. Our large design selection allows them to break free from cold soulless feeling of hard flooring without compromising on hygiene. Said Luckana Ngamapichon, Interfaces Business Manager for Thailand and Indochina. Although majority of the installations are in corridors, patient rooms, clinics and waiting areas, we hope to cover more areas in the future. In some countries, Interface carpets are installed even in neonatal units.

Another advantage of Interface carpet tiles is the glue-less installation which leaves the interior air fresh and healthy during and after the installation. Our breakthrough TacTilesTM adhesive innovation makes installation and maintenance very quick and easy. Once a carpet tile is damaged, selective replacement can easily be accomplished by in-house staff. Luckana explained.

With its production base and design center in Thailand, Interface carpet tiles can be tailored to meet any interior design specification in a short turn-around time. We currently have hundreds of popular and unique designs in both squares and plank forms, yet we still offer an option to tailor patterns and colors to match specific design theme. In other words, we have a flooring solution for every space. Added Luckana. All Interface modular carpets come with 15 years warrantee, and designers are free to move the carpets around to create new patterns at any time without causing disruption to the business. Its a great solution for investor, patients, and healthcare personnel. Luckana concluded.

Amidst the fast growing competitiveness of medical centers in Thailand and ASEAN countries, Interface is offering ideal flooring options to hospitals, clinics, and wellness centers. Interface, the worlds largest carpet tile manufacturer, is known...

Goodrich Global is proud to present to you the BEST of LUXE 2013.BEST of LUXE 2013 (2 of 2): Champagne Gold Collection CHAMPAGNE GOLD: Romantic Glamour | Presented in romantic colours of gold and pink, accentuated by textures and inspired by designs in...

Tulip Group has confirmed that their latest luxury property Centara Grand Residence has now received official EIA approval (Environmental Impact Assessment) and that construction has now begun. The world class luxury property will consist of three towers...

Originally posted here:
Interface Offers Flooring Options to Healthcare Sector

Margulies Perruzzi Architects Holiday Video 2013
Everyone here is a kid at heart.

By: Margulies Perruzzi

More:
Margulies Perruzzi Architects Holiday Video 2013 - Video

Austin-Based Architects Design and Build Better With Box
Andersson-Wise Architects is a fantastic example of how small organizations everywhere are using Box to speed up production, share their vision and work more...

By: box

The rest is here:
Austin-Based Architects Design and Build Better With Box - Video

Four firms present ideas in design competition for Whitefish city hall, parking structure

A partial rendering from one of the four proposed new Whitefish City Hall designs. | Image courtesy of MMW Architects

In 2011, the council established the steering committee to help usher the divisive project to fruition. The project was approved only after a months-long process during which council members clashed over fundamental differences about whether using a full city block in downtown Whitefish is an appropriate use of the property.

The $11.5 million project passed after Whitefish Mayor John Muhlfeld cast a tie-breaking vote in favor of building at the current city hall location.

The committee includes Muhlfeld, a city council member, city staff, a licensed architect, members of the public and representatives from the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce and the Heart of Whitefish downtown support group.

These presentations are very early concepts and are just one part of the selection process for an architect for City Hall, City Manager Chuck Stearns said. The final design might not look anything like any of these presentations and there will be public involvement in the design process.

Last year, the city rolled out conceptual drawings about what the facility could look like, but the final design choice will determine where the entrances to city hall and the parking structure will be set. The number of parking spots will range from 190 to 265 depending on the layout; a study showed the need for 200 additional downtown parking spaces during periods of high demand and congestion in the downtown area.

A new City Hall building has been in the cards for Whitefish since 1987 when it was identified as a priority in an urban renewal plan. In 2005, a downtown master plan also specified the need for a new facility.

Whitefish city employees are spread out across several locations and the existing building is outmoded, according to the downtown master plan. The city looked at remodeling the existing building, but it wasnt logistical or financially feasible due to structural deficiencies.

More information is available at the city of Whitefish website at http://www.whitefish.govoffice.com. Project-specific information can be found by clicking on Committees, Boards and Commissions and selecting Future City Hall Ad Hoc Steering Committee.

Read more from the original source:
Architects Contend for Whitefish City Hall Project

The #1 Provider of Commercial Real Estate Information in the U.S. and U.K.

Gain access to the most comprehensive database of independently researched information available including properties for sale, property for lease, verified comparable sales transactions, and tenant information. Discover the numerous ways our services can revolutionize the way you do business.

CoStar Group, Inc., is the number one provider of commercial real estate research and information services for property investors and sales professionals in the United States and United Kingdom covering more than 59 billion square feet of commercial property, including over 7 billion square feet of space for lease. Take advantage of our diverse suite of products and services, tailored to serve the needs of commercial real estate companies and individuals who work with all property types within the field, including office, retail, industrial, commercial land, multi-family, mixed-use properties, and hospitality.

With robust and customizable reporting tools, coupled with our sales and service consultants, CoStar helps you become a vital source of commercial real estate property intelligence for your clients. Join brokers, investors, tenants, property managers, landlords and appraisers who use our commercial property listings and research services to make better-informed decisions every day.

Furthermore, CoStar provides information and data on the following subjects:

Discover the wealth of knowledge available through CoStar, the number one provider of commercial real estate information. Whether you are looking for valuable commercial property sales, for-lease listings or analytic market research to better serve your clients, call 877-726-7827 or consult our contact list.

See more here:
CoStar | # 1 Commercial Real Estate Information Company

This list of largest buildings in the world ranks buildings from around the world by footprint on the ground, usable space (volume) and floor space (area). The term "building" used by this list refers to single structures that are suitable for continuous human occupancy. There are a few exceptions which include factories and warehouses.

This list ranks the buildings throughout the world with the largest usable space sorted by volume.

This list ranks the buildings throughout the world with the largest footprint on the ground.

This list ranks the top 44 buildings throughout the world with the largest amount of floor area. Upon its opening in October 2008, Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport at 1.185 million m (12.76 million sq ft) of floor space surpassed the former leader, the Aalsmeer Flower Auction (990,000 m, or 10.6 million sq ft).

This list of special categories includes a variety of buildings which are the largest of their type.

[10][11]

(Persian: , mojtama'e Khalij-e Fars)

Read more from the original source:
List of largest buildings in the world - Wikipedia, the free ...

GLASGOW T.J. Health Pavilion got the attention of a national trade magazine for its conversion of a vacant big box retail space into an outpatient services center of T.J. Samson Community Hospital.

The article noting the pavilion and other facilities that are using alternative methods, such as modular, prefabricated construction, and vacant space for outpatient services was one of a group of reports titled Trends in Health Care 2013 in Health Facilities Managements December edition. The reports are also online at hfmmagazine.com.

Jeff Ferenc, senior editor of Health Facilities Management, summarizes the pavilion project in four paragraphs of his report, Doing more with less, which also features a half-page photo of the main lobby of T.J. Pavilion and an exterior image a few pages later. More than half a dozen graphics illustrate construction and other statistics related to the overall report.

Other photos are from facilities in Marion, Va., and New York City.

Ferenc calls the pavilion a success story with regard to its usage of a vacant building.

T.J. Samson Community Hospital, Glasgow, needed to consolidate its physician groups and relieve parking congestion on its main campus, so it built the multipurpose facility a few miles away from the hospital, he writes.

He continues with the fact that the previous retail space was gutted and redesigned.

The result is a contemporary-looking, highly visible, energy-efficient health care facility with a geothermal HVAC system that merges clinical space with community use, Ferenc writes, paraphrasing Paul Edwards with Stengel Hill Architecture in Louisville, which designed the facility, and he adds that Edwards estimates the hospital saved about $5 million and four months construction time by building there.

Were extremely proud of the facility, and its great that we were honored int his article. said Bart Logsdon, hospital marketing liason and spokesperson. We were extremely pleased that we could turn a building that had been vacant for years into a thriving entity. The tenants in the adjacent spaces have continuously thanked us for revitalizing the center.

T.J. Health Pavilion got the attention of a national trade magazine for its conversion of a vacant big box retail space into an outpatient services center of T.J. Samson Community Hospital.

Read more:
Pavilion recognized in trade magazine

Topics: big white furniture, sammut bulow, top of town ipswich

IT HASN'T taken too long for someone to breathe new life into an old Ipswich business.

The site of the once iconic Big White Furniture building is set for a major overhaul over the next six months, with Ipswich accounting business Sammut Bulow planning big things for the Top of Town location.

Sammut Bulow partner Martin Sammut said $7 million would be spent transforming about 4800sq m of space into a multi-storey retail and office precinct, incorporating his accounting business, in addition to cafes, shops and other offices.

"Ipswich is definitely booming and these types of developments will only help the city in terms of providing better quality space in which to do business," Mr Sammut said.

Curious CBD shoppers and residents may have noticed a building at the rear of the old Big White's shop being demolished over the last week.

That demolition work will make way for the construction of a two-storey retail and office block, including about 800sq m of shops and offices downstairs and a similar amount of space upstairs.

The design also features courtyards and walkways to Brisbane and Limestone Sts.

The new construction will connect with the existing Brisbane St shopfront, which will be preserved and renovated to accommodate more retail space.

Sammut Bulow has already renovated the old White's house to make more office space - that was after the 93-year-old family furniture business finally succumbed to the changing economic times at the beginning of 2012.

Read this article:
Old Big White site ready for retail redevelopment