Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Question:My landlord told me in a letter that they were planning to remodel my kitchen and bath and that I would have to vacate for two weeks while the work is done.My family cant afford a hotel, and we dont have family in the area that can put us up for two weeks.Can my landlord force us to move out while the remodeling work is done?

Answer: The landlords right to enter once the unit has been turned over to you is very limited, under California Civil Code section 1954.

The landlordcan enter to (1) do repairs that are necessary or requested by you, (2) in emergencies, (3) if they believe thatthe unit is abandoned, (4) to show the property to prospective buyers and (5) with a court order. In every other circumstance, you control access to the unit. It follows that the landlord may not tell you to vacate simply to accommodate his or herremodeling plans.

The landlordcan ask, however, and you may agree if you can negotiateterms and conditions that make the inconvenience worthwhile. At the very least the landlordshould offer to refund the rent for the days you have to vacate the apartment.

If the landlordcannot persuade you to cooperate, the landlordwould have to wait until the end of your tenancy under a lease before doing this work.

But if you are a month-to-month tenant and live in a unit not covered by a rent-control law,the landlordmay simply terminate your tenancy with a 30- or 60-day termination notice to proceed with the work.So if you like the apartmentand want to stay, it is probably in your interest to try to work something out with the landlord.

In Los Angeles, rent-control ordinances apply to most multi-unit living quartersbuilt byOct. 1, 1978, including apartments, condos, residential hotels, mobile homes and lots containing more than one single-family home.

For tenants of those rental units, landlords must pay temporary relocation costs if a major repair or remodel is planned. The tenants must continue paying rent and canbe evicted for refusing to allow access for repairs or improvements.

Under all of these circumstances, the best path forward would be to ask to sit down with the landlord to understand his or herwishes, to discuss the impact on you and your family, and to agree on a plan that honors everyones needs. If the notice you received was in written form, make a written response indicating that the landlords request is problematic for you, but that you are willing to sit down with the landlord and discuss the situation.

If your conversation with your landlord doesnt go well,you may check to see if there are community mediation services in your area and ask for their help with this conversation. Many programs are free or very low cost and provide an excellent alternative to escalating in court.

Current is fair housing director for Project Sentinel, a Bay Area nonprofit. For more information, Project Sentinel at , visit or your attorney or local housing agency.

See the article here:
When the landlord wants to remodel but the tenant doesn't want to leave, who wins? - Spring Hill Insider

(WSIL) -- Lutheran Social Services of Illinois needs your help. The number of foster children in care far outweighs the number of foster families available.

"We have a list of foster homes that we go through calling for placements, and then once we run out of homes on our list, we move to other agencies," explains child welfare specialist Brandi Campbell.

Amanda Isaac is a licensed foster parent with the agency. She says her phone will sometimes ring two to three times a week.

"I am a specialized home, there's not a lot of specialized homes, they're called "spec homes." Itake children that have special needs, and we take care of those needs, whatever those needs look like," says Isaac.

Isaac says that being a foster parent is no easy task, but she does it for the kids.

"Sometimes it is hard to deal with the emotional side of things.It is hard as a foster parent to watch what these kids go through, because a lot of times it's the kids that's hurt, that you see them hurt."

Campbell says a foster parent needs to provide a stable, secure home for the child as well aswork with caseworkers, counselors, or any therapists involved in the case. While the process might seem overwhelming, the agency is ready to walk foster parents through every step.

"Fostering is for some people, and fostering is not for some people.I wouldn't change it for the world," adds Isaac.

If you're interested in learning more about being a foster parent, call Lutheran Social Services at 888-322-5774 or email CCS@LSSI.org to talk to a resource officer. The agency also offers orientation meetings for prospective parents.

To qualify to be a foster parent, Lutheran Social Services says you:

See the rest here:

Foster families needed in southern Illinois - WSIL-TV 3 Southern Illinois - WSIL TV

12 Dec 2019, 16:35

In 2000s Britain, the regeneration projects in the North West were some of the biggest weve attempted, with single-phase masterplanning of former industrial sites being done on an enormous scale; in Salford Quays for example, or the development of the shopping centre, Liverpool One, writes Jon Wright of Purcell.

The North West is powerfully visible as a place where some of these things happened first or are happening better than anywhere else in the country, with a tremendous sense of both a dynamic future and a very dynamic past, both ahead of them and behind them.

The Irwell Riverside project is a series of factory-built houses located in Salford, on the banks of the River Irwell. The buildings are effectively a brand-new concept for mass housing that could continue to be wheeled out. Irwell Riverside was designed by ShedKM for Urban Splash with a starkly modern aesthetic white, black, flashes of primary colour on a riverside cleverly exploiting a modular redesign for repeating townhouses.

Although the buildings were factory made and delivered to site fully-finished, they have a modernity and permanence about them. We probably negatively associate pre-fabrication with the provision of low-cost houses following the war, but its characteristic of good architecture: to challenge conventions and recycle fundamentally good ideas.

It reminded me of some of the Homes fit for Heroes prefab architecture, and how smart that scheme was, particularly in the North West where terraced housing i.e. workers housing, was a particularly prevalent vernacular. The Irwell Riverside project reimagines this vernacular and aligns three things: factory finishing, high design spec and quality.

The development reflects the North Wests dynamic past and future. The terraced house is a British phenomenon that began with the townhouses of London built after the Great Fire. This typology has been reimagined by ShedKM to include notions of individuality and compositional repetition, linking the North Wests industrial past with evolution towards a new future.

The North West is an interesting lens to look through. British architecture has moved from a fairly paternalistic view of placemaking, to the argument which arose in the 1980s and 90s about the relationship between public and private space within the public realm. Developments previously were either purely commercial or purely residential, as seen in schemes like Canary Wharf in London, and didnt respond to the historic environment. This is not Las Vegas in the 1950s; wherever you build there is a history, a heritage, it doesnt matter if you can see it or not.

The North West defined the yardstick by which large-scale regeneration of former industrial landscapes, fringes and urban environments were redeveloped; where heritage, placemaking, masterplanning and new architecture came together. The Irwell Riverside project is an interesting reflection on the value of terrace housing and how attractive modular repetition can be if you get it right, and is particularly interesting considering 10 years ago the Government was proposing the Pathfinder Scheme, to basically knock it all down.

The value of terrace housing is in its economy and in its importance as a framework for community.

Link:

Best of the North West | Irwell Riverside, Salford - Place North West

I rerun this article most Decembers. The early snow we got two feet at my house means I should run it again!

I have a fairly long driveway next to an open field, and at least once every winter, snow drifts across it to the point where things get dicey without all-wheel drive.

For two decades, I have talked about setting up a snow fence to keep out the drifts, but Ive never gotten around to it. Which, I recently learned, is a good thing, because I would have done it exactly wrong.

One consolation: Many people do it exactly wrong.

I see it a lot. People dont understand how a snow fence works, said Robert Haehnel, a research mechanical engineer at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, an Army Corps of Engineers facility that studies anything that freezes. (Known as CRREL, it gets my vote for Most Interesting Place in N.H. That You Didnt Know About.)

For years, one of my neighbors had . . . that orange snow fence and posts, they put it right next to their driveway, perpendicular to the wind. And every year when the wind started blowing, the entire hillside would be deposited on their driveway, he said. They finally gave up.

So what did they do wrong? At my request, Haehnel walked me through years of research on snow fences, much of it done by a man named Ronald Tabler who wrote the fields bible:Controlling Blowing and Drifting Snow with Snow Fences and Road Design.

The manual is used by most states, including New Hampshire, to guide placement of snow fences. If you want more details you can easily find it online, all 307 pages of it.

So heres the most surprising thing: Snow fences dont stop drifts by blocking the snow thats blowing right along the ground, as I had envisioned. They stop drifts by disrupting the aerodynamics of the wind passing overhead, slowing it down so it can no longer carry all the flakes it had picked up.

What this means is that snow doesnt pile up behind a fence, it drops out of the sky in front of the fence that is, on the downwind side. So if you place the fence next to your driveway, as I planned, youre guiding more snow to fall right down onto the driveway.

Its like a snowdrift multiplier!

Tabler even developed a rule of thumb for placing fences. Take the height of the fence and multiply it by 35, and that is the distance you need between the fence and the thing you want to protect, to ensure all the snow will fall out of the air before the wind gets to the target.

For a standard 4-foot snow fence, that equals a distance of 140 feet away. Holy Toledo thats a long way.

If youve ever seen a snow fence sitting forlornly in the middle of a field, now you know why.

But wait, theres more. Tabler found that snow fences need a certain porosity holes to keep snow from piling up and knocking it over and should have a gap at the bottom equal to 10 percent of the height (about 5 inches for that standard 4-foot fence).

Why the gap? It directs some of the wind under the fence and scours away snow that might build up in front of the fence. This matters because the height of the fence above snow determines how well it disrupts wind passing overhead so if snow builds up in front, your fence becomes effectively shorter and works less well.

Make sure the bottom doesnt get buried over time. If it starts out a 4-foot fence and you get a foot of snow, now its a 3-feet fence. . . . Every time it gets buried, its less effective, Haehnel said.

Some places, notably Japan, build large snow fences with gaps designed to scour snow off roads when there isnt room to place the fences at the right distance. This works well, Haehnel said, but has the side effect of increasing the speed of the wind to the point that it can be dangerous for vehicles.

Snow fences can also be used to collect rather than deflect snow, Haehnel said. An example is setting snow fences upwind of a cattle pond, so you deposit all the snow there. When it melts, youve got a water supply for your cattle.

So there you have it: A boring, overlooked aspect of life in wintertime is actually complicated, counterintuitive and interesting.

Ill take solace in that the next time my car gets stuck in the driveway.

Read the original here:
That snow fence - you probably did it wrong. - Concord Monitor

GLASSBORO Rowan University will continue its campus conversation about mental health services at Monday night's Student Government Association meeting after 10 deaths among students, faculty and staff this semester.

A meeting began on Thursday night following a student's fall from one of the Glassboro school's parking garages. The student survived, and authorities have not said whether the student jumped or fell accidentally.

Students and others in the Rowan communityhave been making and continue to make several claims on social media: That the school hasn't been honest about how many suicides have taken place, that it hasn't communicated with students when deaths occur, and that it hasn't done enough to provide mental health services.

Some students spoke of months-long waiting lists for care through Rowan's wellness center though the school says this semester, it stepped up staffing levels to minimize any delays, acknowledging waits plagued it in past years.

Rowan spokesman Joe Cardona on Monday reiterated to New Jersey 101.5 that there were three student suicides this semester, but 10 deaths of students or faculty members overall. Hesaid the school aims to honor the wishes of family members when determining how much detail to release about an individual's death, and follows privacy laws and regulations guiding the release of information.

The installation of a temporary fence on the top levels of the parking garages by its owner was accelerated by the Thursday fall, Rowan spokesman Joe Cardona told New Jersey 101.5 on Monday.Cordona said that the fence installation was a response to a student suicide in 2018. One of the students to commit suicide this semester just a few weeks ago also did so by falling from the garage, he said.

He additionally said 24-hour patrols would monitor the garage until more permanent barriers could be put in place.

"Then these two incidents happened in the last two weeks so they put up temporary stuff now and later on will put up more permanent fencing later," Cordona said.

The student in who fell Thursday continues to recover, but Cordona said the family asked additional information not be released.

About 100 students gathered on Friday night for a candlelight vigil to remember the students who took their own lives.

Monday night's meeting begins at 7 p.m. in Chamberlain Student Center Eynon Ballroom.

More from WOBM News:

See more here:
After suicides, Rowan puts fences at garage where students fell and died - wobm.com

December 13, 2019 - By Ingrid Angelini, (UC Master Gardener of Mariposa County) - Is your New Years Resolution to do something to improve your health? You may want to consider the health benefits of gardening.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that gardening raises self-esteem, improves cardiovascular health, reduces stress and anxiety, promotes better sleep, increases hand strength, can foster relationships and sets the stage for future health.

Cardiovascular benefits are derived from moving around as the garden is maintained. Calories are thus burned, and an active lifestyle reduces the incidence of obesity, high blood pressure, osteoporosis and stroke.

Michigan State University, in cooperation with its university extension program, points out the benefits of reduced risk of colon cancer and premature death and notes that exercising both the arms and legs helps to prevent afflictions such as coronary disease. Strength in the hands and fingers is promoted by the digging, planting and pulling involved in gardening.

Intense physical activity is well known to foster deep sleep, but even light physical activity while gardening can lead to a better nights rest.

It was found that gardening can reduce the level of Cortisol, the stress hormone. By being outdoors we inhale Mycobacterium vaccae, a healthy bacterium which resides in soil and can increase serotonin levels, thereby reducing anxiety. Furthermore, self-esteem stems (no pun intended) from actually planting, tending and harvesting the plants, thereby offering a feeling of accomplishment.

While gardening alone can increase the aforementioned qualities of life and health, gardening with friends and family fosters bonds, and spreads well-being among participants. When children play in the dirt at an early age, there is a link to a reduction in future health problems, including allergies and autoimmune disorders.

The National Institutes of Health found one study revealing that daily gardening can reduce the risk of dementia by 36%. Evidence exists that growing plants actually enhances brain function. In addition, Cornell University researchers found that even growing an indoor plant can boost attention and improve ones mood.

Growing food leads to better eating and nutrition. Consuming your home-grown fruits and vegetables supports your physical and mental health by providing the antioxidants, vitamins and other nutrients needed for a healthy body and brain.

Exposure to sunshine, the major source of vitamin D, strengthens the bones and immune system. Of course, avoid the peak hours between 10:00 A.M. and 2:00 P.M., particularly in summer, and be sure to use sunscreen and sunglasses.

Gardening sharpens the mind, strengthens the body and soothes the soul.

UC Master Gardeners of Mariposa County are located at 5009 Fairgrounds Rd., Mariposa.

The U.C. Master Gardener Helpline is staffed;Thursdays from 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Serving Mariposa County, including Greeley Hill, Coulterville and Lake Don PedroPlease contact the helpline, or leave a message by phone at: (209) 966-7078By email (send photos and questions for researched answers) to:mgmariposa@ucdavis.edu

For further gardening information and event announcements, please visit:UCMG website:cemariposa.ucanr.edu/Master_GardenerFollow us on Facebook at:Facebook.com/mariposamastergardeners

Master Gardener Office Location:UC Cooperative Extension Office,5009 Fairgrounds RoadMariposa, CA 95338

Phone: (209) 966-2417Email:mgmariposa@ucdavis.eduWebsite:cemariposa.ucanr.edu/Master_Gardener

Read the original:
Over the Garden Fence - The Health Benefits of Gardening - Sierra Sun Times

A new ground-based radar built to detect and track tens of thousands of objects in space has entered a trial period, the Air Forces Space and Missile Systems Center announced Dec. 10.

The move puts the system one step closer to being officially accepted by the Air Force for regular use.

Located on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Space Fence will use advanced solid-state S-band radar technology to track objects smaller than 10 centimeters in low and medium earth orbit. With that increased capability, the new system will be able to closely follow space objects, maneuvers, launches and more.

With multiple mega-constellations in development, the need for systems that can effectively provide this level of space situational awareness is paramount. According to NASA, more than 17.6 million pounds of material are already in orbit, and the number of satellites and debris in space is only expected to grow in the near future, increasing the likelihood of collisions that could result in even more debris and increased danger to active satellites.

Lockheed Martin is the primary contractor on Space Fence and was awarded a $914 million contract for the project in 2014.

Space Fence will revolutionize the way we track and classify objects that threaten both manned and unmanned military and commercial space assets critical to our national defense and economy, said Rob Smith, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martins Radar and Sensor Systems in a statement. The Air Force Space Surveillance Network currently tracks about 25,000 objects. When Space Fence comes online, the catalog will experience significant growth and when fully operational, Space Fence will be the worlds largest and most advanced radar system, providing unprecedented space situational awareness.

Early testing has already demonstrated the systems advanced capabilities. During a March experiment, the Space Fence was able to pick up the orbital debris from an Indian anti-satellite test and plot out their next crossing times.

The Air Force anticipates declaring operational acceptance of the new system following the trial period.

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to more accurately represent Space Fences capabilities.

Go here to see the original:
A new radar to track space objects is almost ready - C4ISRNet

When I was planning my first Christmas dinner after my arrival over here in 2010, I found to my surprise that there are obviously just two options promoted by supermarkets all over the country you either have turkey, or you have ham. Not like back home where different regions have different traditions. Theres Christmas goose and Christmas carp, Christmas sauerbraten, Christmas fondue, and Christmas raclette. My family used to enjoy a beef roast that was threaded with bacon strips. My new family seems to belong to the turkey fraction with a lot of leeway as to how it is prepared.

Thanksgiving dinner in the Bacon family is definitely a turkey meal. As it was only my husband and I that very first Thanksgiving we celebrated together in our first home in Steilacoom, we made a turkey roll. I cannot remember where my husband bought it. It even came with a package of gravy (much to my distrust, as I prefer to make my gravies from scratch, as you know by now). But it was admittedly very delightful, and we cut down on the sides no stuffing, no pumpkin pie, no sweet potato casserole. Just beans, gravy, and mashers. Then came the Christmas parties on base more turkey meals. And the Steilacoom Historical Museum Associations Annual Dinner more turkey. By Christmas, I was turkeyed out and decided, Id go beef. Not the incredibly work-intense larded beef-roast my mother used to make, but something similar.

Of course, when we have guests, I always play it way more traditionally with turkey meals. Cranberry sauce (which I love) and bread stuffing (which I hate) will sit on the table as expected. I make a mean bean casserole these days. And my very own dressing of apples, onions, chestnuts, thyme, sage, rosemary, salt, and pepper comes as another side. But after that one meal, Im stuck with the rest of the turkey. And there were years when I didnt think that funny. Remember all these turkey meals elsewhere

These days, I see it as a challenge to come up with as many turkey dishes as possible that dont spell left-overs. For one, I make my own bone broth from the turkey carcass. Part of it goes into the gravy. Part of it is frozen to become the basis of a delicious turkey soup with carrots, leeks, and celery. I make turkey ragout fin, i. e. a tarragon white wine sauce with fine veggies (traditionally it would be with white asparagus and mushrooms but not everybody likes these, so carrots will do). Or I create an Asian style curry. Or a spicy turkey and rice salad with pineapple. By the time Im through with four or five recipes, the turkey is also gone. And Christmas is about to arrive and no turkey for us! Definitely not!

My husband likes anything duck. So, I have made canard lorange or duck breast with a Garam Masal sauce; I have made filets mignons and German roulade, too, to please my palate for beef. Anything but turkey, and my husband plays along.

Well, this year found me with a new Thanksgiving challenge, as we were just by ourselves and didnt want too much food on the table. The turkey rolls we once got have long vanished, and the turkey roasts that we used to get instead have sorely deteriorated in quality. Last years contained so much nasty fat and wrapped-in skin that never got crisp that I decided to create a turkey roll of my very own this year. I found a recipe that calls for garlic, sage, and rosemary, mashed up to a paste with olive oil. I added some thyme, salt, and pepper. I had ordered a fresh turkey breast (as expensive as an entire turkey elsewhere but well worth it for the freshness and flavor). And the left-overs are just another meal or two. Plus what I froze. But thats still not as much as an entire turkey. So, here we go another turkey season in the rolling. And what I formerly feared has become somewhat fun and a tradition.

Did I say we havent made up our minds as to what our Christmas Day dinner will be this year? We are still debating what we are going to have. But we agree over one thing: surely not turkey. Something that doesnt render left-overs. Just a nice one-time festive Christmas dinner.

Related

See the original post:
Across the Fence: Turkey Days - The Suburban Times

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - It's a development planned to help women in need. However, some folks fighting against new neighbors will have to wait a little bit longer for the answer.

It's a proposed development for single mothers in the north part of the metro near the Oklahoma CityEdmond line. After an hours-long meeting Thursday afternoon, the Planning Commission delayed their vote.

Community members on both sides of the argument presented to the commission why their opinion was best for the community.

Members with the nonprofit charity Beautiful Restoration agreed to amend some of their plans, but residents living in the Rush Brook community say that's not enough.

A big crowd showed up for the fight over tiny homes. The issue at stake, a 16-acre development to temporarily house single mothers while they work to get back on their feet. But people living near the Danforth and Western property complained about the type of clientele who might be staying at those homes, worrying it will decrease their property value.

That is what Rush Brook is. It is a dynamite neighborhood. Everybody is sweet to everybody, everybody helps, everybody takes care of everybody. It is wonderful. This is destroying our neighborhood, said one person.

The meeting became a back and forth between the applicants attorney and concerned neighbors.

Officials with Beautiful Restoration agreed to not host any outdoor events at the former Governor's Mansion on property, downsizing retail space and moving the intended parking lot away from the already existing homes.

But neighbors in the North Oklahoma CityEdmond area say they still don't support it.

I think undeniably there is better ways we could be using this property if we took away everything they proposed and just had the tiny homes left. I don't see how that is best use, and I don`t see how we are going to come to an agreeance on anything else. I think the property in itself, better tax dollars is better spent in other ways, said another neighbor.

The planning commission fought back, saying it is not their responsibility to decide who can or cannot live somewhere. They voted to hear another round of arguments early into the new year.

I am sorry. I get it. We understand the concern about property values. We understand the concern about safety. We get it. I promise we get it. But we don`t need to talk about the occupants anymore, it is not something we need to talk about, said the Planning Commission chairman.

This meeting will continue January 23. The planning commission will decide then if they plan to present it to the City Council for a final vote.

View post:
Decision for proposed tiny home development will have to wait a little longer - KFOR Oklahoma City

The median home price in Sonoma County is $660,000 according to the latest Press Democrat housing report compiled by staff writer Martin Espinoza and Compass real estate agent Rick Laws. That is more than double the median listed price for homes across the nation. According to Zillow, homes listed on its site average around $285,000 while they sell for $48,000 less than the asking price on average.

With the possibility of floods and fires in our future, some Sonoma County residents are pondering relocation.

In other cities across the nation, $285,000 can buy you a whole lot more house. In the Charlotte, North Carolina, suburb of Gastonia, you can buy a recently remodeled historic four-bedroom, three-bathroom home for $274,900.

205 W 5th Ave, Gastonia, NC. Property listed by Jenna Calhoun/ My Townhome, mytownhome.com, 207-807-0083.

In the Amador County town of Pioneer, $265,000 buys you an immaculate two-bedroom home in the woods near some of Californias best trails for hiking.

27568 Cedar Court, Pioneer, CA. Property listed by Brenda Cannon/Coldwell Banker, coldwellbanker.com, 209-304-2473.

If you are willing to shell out a few more bucks, for $499,900 can buy you a historic farm in Astoria, Oregon with 1920s Craftsman, several outbuildings and 1.65 fertile acres.

40232 Hunt Ln, Astoria, OR. Property listed by Christy Chaloux Coulombe/ Windermere, christycoulombe.com, 503-724-2400.

What does the U.S. median home price buy in Sonoma County you may ask?

Click through our gallery above to see homes priced at or slightly above* the national average.

*With only a couple move-in-ready properties listed under the median, we expanded our list to $315,000 to offer a more robust sample.

The rest is here:
What you can buy for just over the national median home price in Sonoma County? - Santa Rosa Press Democrat