Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

That led Craig Folkedahl, Thief River Falls, Minn., to write of his experiences.

In the past, I have torn down several houses when the owners were planning to build new, Craig wrote.

In the walls, I have found many different types of material that was used as insulation.

The house I grew up in had only a sheet of tar paper between the studs for insulation. My sisters house had chicken feathers and straw. My wifes uncles had cord wood stacked between the studs.

I remodeled a house previously owned by a gentleman who owned a lumber mill. That house was built with full-dimension two-by-fours stacked flat from the foundation to the roof with an approximate 2-inch space, and then another wall stacked flat from foundation to roof. A very heavy house.

We used a chainsaw to cut window and door openings.

Another house I tore down, Craig wrote, had rolled-up newspapers in the walls. The first owner was a doctor in the town. He built the house, so there was no connection to the local newspaper. He had also put several rolls of newspaper in the eaves of the house. A small amount of straw was in the attic.

ARCHIVE: Read more of Bob Lind's Neighbors columns

Now lets go back to the original column about the old house in Fargo. A Neighbors reader said it was on 21st Street South, but no house number was given.

Kathy Faeth, Fargo, would like to know the specific address. Shes curious because, she writes, My family lived on 21st Street and my dad (Bob Faeth) worked for The Forum until he died.

Several of the guys from the composing room lived on that street.

Since Neighbors doesnt have that address, its asking if you can help Kathy out.

If you have an item of interest for this column, mail it to Neighbors, The Forum, Box 2020, Fargo, ND 58107, fax it to 701-241-5487 or email blind@forumcomm.com.

Read more:
Why was old newspaper used as insulation in this Fargo house? - INFORUM

Bleach is great for killing mold on nonporous surfaces such as grout and tile, concrete, or linoleum. However, it is ineffective for killing mold on porous surfaces such as wood or drywall because bleach cannot penetrate beyond the top layer of these materials, leaving the mold roots intact. It may temporarily look cleaner as the bleach will clean the surface, but the mold will soon return.

The Badger likes to use chlorinated bleach for tile, grout, and non-porous substances, but otherwise, prefers one of the alternative solutions listed below. This is because bleach is extremely caustic and can cause rust on metals, heavy vapors in the air (make sure the area is well ventilated), and can damage skin. If you do choose to use bleach, be sure to wear gloves, and use the instructions below.

To clean mold with chlorinated bleach:

Lastly, never mix bleach with Ammonia as it will create poison gas and YOU WILL DIE.

See the rest here:
Mold Removal Products and DIY Cleaning Solutions

Melissa Godoy with family dog Roman, a French bulldog and dachshund mix, at their off-post rental home in Olympia, Nov. 18, 2019. Godoy's family, including their dog, experienced health issues at their previous home. (Lindsey Wasson for Crosscut)

Advocate and military spouse Leigh Tuttle points at that decision as a possible turning point. My worry is that through the contracting process, the Army essentially sold their soul to the devil for 50 years, she said.

Tuttle recently relocated to the Tacoma area when her husband transferred to JBLM, but she moved her family into off-base civilian housing after she had similar problems with mold and health problems while living at a previous military installation. She has testified before Congress and regularly takes to social media to speak out on housing and other issues impacting military families. She said its not just about the health of individuals at stake, but potentially severe impacts on military readiness.

JBLM is a hub for special operations, and we are still a nation at war. Soldiers who are deployed to theater should never have to worry about their loved ones living in a hotel room for weeks on end due to the negligence of privatized housing, said Tuttle.The Army needs to take a strong and meaningful stance against these companies that are harming our soldiers and families, and to prove they do care and to rebuild a sense of community.

In January 2019, Godoy still had bronchitis. By that time military leadership had gotten more involved. During a visit by leaders from her husbands unit, housing maintenance personnel were present, and Godoy asked them to look for mold. A maintenance specialist checked the crawl space, came back and reported that there was an improperly installed shower drain. It wasfixed the same day. Godoy asked him if he saw mold, and he told her he hadnt looked and to call housing if she had other concerns.

She did. Godoy went directly to the housing manager and complained that the staff had dismissed and ignored concerns about mold, despite repeated documented instances of water buildup from bad plumbing. She said the manager insisted again that there was no mold and told Godoy to talk to a doctor instead of housing personnel about her symptoms.

By summer she and her children were still sick. My doctor was really concerned about my toddler, she said. Doctors asked her if she had mold in her house, telling her that could potentially explain the symptoms. I told them I dont know.Housing says theres not, Godoy told Crosscut.

Godoy said she was rapidly losing weight, up to 5 pounds a month. She found herself in the emergency room and urgent care several times. She got tested for cancer and the test came back negative. We couldnt find an explanation for why I was losing so much weight and why I couldnt eat anything, said Godoy. It really scared my husband and me because I would cry every day, thinking to myself, Why am I so sick? How can I go from this CrossFit, boxing athlete to this withering away woman?

In July she asked maintenance to come to her house again. They told her they found nothing. I just decided to look for myself, Godoy said. She grabbed a flathead screwdriver and hammer and began to peel off wood paneling in the bathroom near the shower. She quickly found grayish shading in the wall. She said that when she turned over the wood panel in her hand there was black fuzzy spotty stuff all on the inside of it. I found it, I found out why me and my family are so ...sick.

She continued pulling off panels, finding more mold. Same thing, black stuff, all inside of it, she said. She then noticed a piece of tile at the base of the shower that was abnormally white. They had painted over it, she said. It looked like mildew was coming through the paint. She decided to pry that loose too, and said she found black, wet fuzz inside. It was covered in toxic mold, she said.

She called LMH and recorded the walkthrough on her phone. She demanded to know how they could miss the mold for months even as she specifically asked them about it. They put us in a hotel within the hour, she said. She posted video and people began reaching out. Godoy started a Facebook group called Lincoln Military Housing Toxic Homes JBLM. It soon grew to over 1,000 members. She began to receive messages from other families reaching out to her with reports of breathing problems, rashes and other issues. Some asked her to look through their houses asshe had her own.

She started doing walkthroughs with families and pulling up boards. She said that within just the first week she found mold in 26 houses. [We] found really high levels of toxic mold in their houses, she said. They began posting videos and sharing resources on how to find mold. Other families began tearing out panels and tiles to look for mold. They also reached out to local TV stations.

Follow this link:
Military families are getting sick from mold in their homes. Now they're suing - Crosscut

FAIRFIELD, CT Work to remove arsenic from the Jennings Elementary School playscapes starts this weekend, Superintendent Mike Cummings said Friday afternoon in an email to parents.

The arsenic, which leached into the soil from treated wood timbers surrounding the playscapes, was found when officials in August ordered contamination testing of all school district fields and playscapes not already identified for tests after contaminants uncovered at a park were connected to the misuse of town fill. The elevated arsenic at Jennings is otherwise unrelated to the fill pile controversy, which involves the contamination of public sites across town and multiple felony charges against two former Fairfield employees and a contractor.

"Many thanks to the Jennings community for their patience during this process," Cummings said in the email. "It took too long."

Crews from ACV Enviro will be on site Saturday and Sunday to remove the contaminated soil and timbers, according to the email. Town environmental consultant Tighe & Bond will be present as well to monitor the dust. Residents are asked to stay away from the school over the weekend.

The remediation at Jennings will involve about 250 tons of soil, Cummings told school board members at a meeting Thursday.

"It's, like, railroad cars full of soil," he said. "... It's an extensive project."

The ground under the removed soil will need additional testing to confirm all the contaminated material is gone, the email said. The tests will take place Monday, with results anticipated Tuesday. If the tests show there is no more contamination, crews will put down new clean soil and wood chips. The work will require students to stay inside, but the playscapes will be ready for use by Thanksgiving.

Should tests find more remediation is needed, work will continue Thanksgiving weekend and the completion date will be pushed back, according to the email.

"Continued testing is part of the remediation process," school board Chairman Christine Vitale said at the Thursday meeting.

Also Thursday, Cummings updated the board on another situation requiring testing and remediation the discovery of mold at Fairfield Ludlowe High School. Pressure leaks from a steam pipe may have contributed to mold in the floor, he said. The mold appears contained to one room in the staff office area, Cummings said after the meeting, noting licensed environmental professional Woodard & Curran as well as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have been involved in responding to the issue.

The office is vacated, with all visible mold removed, according to Cummings, who said the district will ensure testing is conducted to determine if there is any lingering mold. Headmaster Greg Hatzis also sent an email to the Ludlowe community clarifying the situation in response to "conjecture," Cummings said.

Remediation plans are still pending for the former McKinley Elementary School playground and a walkway at Mill Hill Elementary School, he said.

Since August, at least 66 areas in Fairfield have been tested for contamination amid concerns about misuse of fill. The vast majority have been deemed safe, but some sites were found to contain asbestos and other contaminants.

Fairfield had accrued roughly $609,000 in costs connected to environmental consulting, remediation and additional expenses for sites other than the town fill pile, as of a Board of Finance meeting in late October. Another approximately $406,000 was projected to be spent on similar services at the time of the meeting.

For more information about contamination testing and remediation, visit fpsct.net/fieldsor http://www.fairfieldct.org/filluseissues.

See the original post:
Remediation At Jennings Elementary School Starts This Weekend - Fairfield, CT Patch

WEST TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - The West Vigo Elementary School building will reopen to students and staff on Wednesday, but some classrooms impacted by mold will remain off limits.

Vigo County School Corporation Communications Director, Bill Riley, says crews are continuing to deal with the mold issue at the school. He says the entire school was tested and the issue is isolated to three rooms, which tested 'slightly out of above the industry standard' foraspergillus/penicillium.

The rooms that tested positive are receiving new flooring, new ceiling tiles, new point, and new air filters. The school corporation also rented air scrubbers to clean and circulate the air.

In a release late last Friday, the school corporation noted, "The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry notes that all air indoors and outdoors contains fungal spores, and that aspergillus/penicillium is not the same as stachybotrys chartarum, the black mold that has most been associated with the toxic effects of fungal exposure."

School officials are looking into the possible source of the mold.There will be more testing before allowing students back in the affected classrooms. Another week or two may pass before that can happen.

A handful of students and staff reported coughing and eye irritation last Thursday afternoon, prompting an evacuation. As a precaution, students were sent to Consolidated Elementary on Friday, and again on Monday.Tuesday, Vigo County schools are not in session as educators attend the 'Red for Ed Action Day' in Indianapolis.

Visit link:
School building to reopen this week, some classrooms remain off limits as mold is handled - WTHITV.com

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Advances in Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling. Woodhead Publishing Series in Civil and Structural Engineering" book from Elsevier Science and Technology has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Advances in Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling: Management, Processing and Environmental Assessment is divided over three parts. Part One focuses on the management of construction and demolition waste, including estimation of quantities and the use of BIM and GIS tools. Part Two reviews the processing of recycled aggregates, along with the performance of concrete mixtures using different types of recycled aggregates. Part Three looks at the environmental assessment of non-hazardous waste.

This book will be a standard reference for civil engineers, structural engineers, architects and academic researchers working in the field of construction and demolition waste.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction to the recycling of construction and demolition waste

PART I MANAGING CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION WASTE

2. Estimation of construction and demolition waste

3. An economic analysis of the processing technologies in CDW recycling platforms

4. Management of demolition waste

5. Management of end-of-life gypsum in a circular economy

6. The Effects of Data Collection method and monitoring of workers' behavior on the generation of demolition waste Koutamanis

7. Building information modeling for construction and demolition waste minimizatio

8. Identifying areas under potential risk of illegal construction and demolition waste dumping using GIS tools.

PART II PROCESSING, AND APPLICATIONS OF RECYCLED AGGREGATES FROM CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION WASTE

9. Influence of the pretreatment of recycled aggregates

10. Recycled aggregates (RAs) for roads

11. Recycled aggregates (RAs) for asphalt materials

12. Self-compacting concrete with recycled aggregates

13. The suitability of concrete using recycled aggregates (RAs) for high-performance concrete

14. Influence of curing conditions on recycled aggregate concrete

15. Long term performance of recycled aggregate concrete (adiado)

16. Performance of concrete based on recycled brick aggregate

17. Recycled Household Ceramic Waste in Eco-efficient Cement: A case study

18. Self-healing concrete with recycled aggregates

19. Use of construction and demolition waste (CDW) for alkali-activated or geopolymer concrete

PART III ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AFFECTING RECYCLED AGGREGATES FROM CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION WASTE

20. Detection of asbestos in CDW

21. Leaching performance of recycled aggregates

22. Life cycle assessment of non-hazardous Construction and Demolition Waste

23. Radioactivity of construction and demolition waste

24. A environmental assessment model of construction waste reduction management

25. LCA of masonry blocks with recycled aggregates 26. Use of LCA and LCC for decision between downcycling versus recycling of construction and demolition waste

Authors

For more information about this book visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/whqi4b

Go here to read the rest:
2020 Advances in Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling: Woodhead Publishing Series in Civil and Structural Engineering - ResearchAndMarkets.com...

Detroit The City Council's rejection of the Duggan administration's request to add a $250 million bond proposal to the March ballot will stand.

The City Clerk's Office on Monday confirmed that none of the panel's nine members had filed a motion to have the vote reconsidered by the 4 p.m. deadline. The council turned down the proposal by a 6-3 vote last Tuesday after weeks of contentious debate and a packed town hall meeting that drew upwards of 500 residents, activists, clergy and lawmakers.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan speaks to the media last week after the Detroit City Council rejected a proposal, 6-3, to put a $250 million bond before city voters in the spring.(Photo: David Guralnick, The Detroit News)

The council's vote came soon after Detroit's auditor general released a critical report of city-administered demolition work that cited unreliable data, a lack of transparency and documentation and other failures.

Duggan has said herespected the council's decision and intended to meet with each member to discuss alternatives to the original measure that met opposition over its timing and a lack of details over how the city-funded program will operate going forward and who will oversee it, among other concerns.

Duggan and council members have not counted out the prospect of a proposal to put a bond initiative before voters in November 2020.

The mayor's effort to come up with additional funding for demolition comes as some $265 million in federal Hardest Hit dollars wind down. Duggan has touted that the30-year bond would have wiped out the city's remaining 19,000 blighted houses by 2025.

Under its debt-cutting bankruptcy plan, the city gets $50 million each year for blight, $30 million of which is earmarked for residential demolition.

cferretti@detroitnews.com

Read or Share this story: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2019/11/25/detroit-councils-rejection-duggans-250-m-demo-bond-plan-stand/4301535002/

See more here:
Detroit council's rejection of Duggan's $250M demolition bond plan to stand - The Detroit News

Crews removing the final piece of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. (Jon Jussero, KIRO 7)

After months of work, the demolition of the Alaskan Way Viaduct has finally come to an end.

Crews finished clearing the final pieces of the viaduct late Thursday morning, for what the Washington State Department of Transportation labeled a giant recycling project.

To that end, concrete from the demolition was reused to fill the Battery Street Tunnel. In total, roughly 240 million pounds of concrete was recycled, as well as 15 million pounds of steel rebar.

Nothing about this job was easy, Secretary of Transportation Roger Millar said in a news release. The demolition project was a remarkable accomplishment as the viaduct stood perilously close to buildings and utilities and a critical rail corridor.

Crews have been working since February to dismantle the structure thats stood along Seattles waterfront since the 1950s.

If youre looking to get a piece of the action, youre in luck WSDOT is giving out concrete pieces of the viaduct free of charge.

You can get your piece of the viaduct at the Waterfront Spaceon the corner of Western Avenue and Union Street, any time between Wednesday and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. The space is currently a showcase for Seattles reimagined waterfront, run by Friends of the Waterfront Seattle.

In the days ahead, the waterfront along Alaskan Waywill be completely overhauledto include a 20-acre park and public space, a promenade and bike path, an overlook walk, a seawall, and more.

Construction has already begun on two-way bus lanes on Columbia Street to connect transit between 3rd Avenue and SR 99 south of downtown.

Continued here:
Its official: Alaskan Way Viaduct demolition is finally over - MyNorthwest.com

By

Seattle Times staff reporter

Now that Alaskan Way Viaduct demolition is ending, the state is offering fragments of the 66-year-old structure to the public.

The free ruins are available at Friends of Waterfront Seattle, 1400 Western Ave., Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.Most pieces are smaller than a baseball, spokeswoman Laura Newborn said.

When viaduct removal started last winter, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) wouldnt offer pieces, but recently decided to do so. WSDOT received more than 100 requests.

Only four columns remain, on a slope north of Victor Steinbrueck Park, after crews removed crossbeams Tuesday.

Most rubble from the 122,000-ton roadway has been pulverized and poured into the defunct Battery Street Tunnel. The remainder will become fill next to its south portal or be sent to other Northwest projects.

A new Highway 99 tunnel opened Feb. 4 to replace the viaduct.

Meanwhile, other crews are mobilizing to build the Alaskan Way boulevard, with wide waterfront sidewalks, two parklike lids and a bike lane by 2024. Road widths will vary from nine lanes at Colman Dock to four lanes near Olympic Sculpture Park.

A four-lane bridge will link surface Alaskan Way uphill to Elliott Avenue in Belltown.

Here is the original post:
Viaduct demolition is about done. Heres how to get a free piece of the old highway - Seattle Times

Pieces of the Hanover Mall are going to school and nonprofit groups across the region as the shopping center prepares for demolition early in 2020. The mall will be replaced with a new mixed-use development named Hanover Crossing.

Were trying to keep things out of the landfill and put them to good use, said Lisa Berardinelli, who is responsible for the donation program.

She said shelves, archways, and holiday decorations from the mall are going down the road to the Cardinal Cushing Centers, a school for people with disabilities. Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton also will get materials, as will Central Middle School in Quincy, which asked for props for a theater production, she said.

South Shore Hospital is getting a pushcart, which will be used as a small shop for employees, she said, and the Hanover Visiting Nurse Association is getting racks and display units.

The plan is to donate as much of the buildings furnishings as possible, she said.

Ive been here 23 years and part of my job was to keep the mall full, so to be emptying it is kind of sad, Berardinelli said. But Im so excited about the transformation that is coming.

PREP Property Group of Ohio, which bought the mall in 2016, has said that Hanover Crossing will include 600,000 square feet of commercial space and four separate apartment buildings with 297 units. The developer said tenants will include Market Basket grocery, Showcase Cinemas, a bowling alley, and several restaurants.

Johanna Seltz can be reached at seltzjohanna@gmail.com.

Read the original here:
Hanover Mall donates furnishings ahead of demolition - The Boston Globe