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Beginning on Monday, Park Street will be reduced to one travel lane to accommodate a $1 million retaining wall repair project expected to last around 12 weeks.

Vehicular traffic will be allowed to travel in the direction of downtown during the project, but access to Park Street will be from Center Street only and not from Exchange or State streets, the city of Bangors Engineering Department said Thursday in a news release.

The partial closure of Park Street is needed to allow for repairs to the 405-foot long Park Street hill retaining wall located directly behind City Hall.

The retaining wall was built about a century ago and hasnt been repaired since 1978, according to a 2015 evaluation of the wall done by the Bangor-based consultants FGS/CMT Inc., City Engineer John Theriault said in June.

While Theriault said at the time that the wall was not on the verge of collapse, it is showing breaking, cracking and tilting as well as extensive weather wear. Without repair, he said, the wall could become unstable and give way, putting part of the street at risk of collapse.

A team comprising Sargent Corporation, CES and Geostabilization International will be performing the repairs, which are likely to take about 12 weeks. Motorists are urged to drive safely within the work zone and observe all signage.

Businesses along Park Street will remain open throughout the project and on street parking will continue to be available along Park Street, city officials said.

Additionally, access to Bangor City Hall by the handicapped entrance will remain available throughout the project. Handicapped and mobility challenged parking will be available in the upper lot immediately adjacent to city hall.

City staff will provide updates throughout the project through the citys website, Facebook page and Twitter accounts and government access cable television channel.

The public can receive traffic alerts by subscribing to the Citys email notification services at http://www.bangormaine.gov/subscribe.

Any questions or concerns regarding this project should be directed to City Engineer John Theriault at 992-4249 or via email at john.theriault@bangormaine.gov.

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Park Street to be one-way travel during 12-week retaining wall ... - Bangor Daily News

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Does your yard contain slopes, dips, and inclines? Then you likely have a retaining wall somewhere on your property. Used everywhere from highway construction to landscaping, retaining walls hold back earth that would otherwise erode or collapse. Homeowners often rely on retaining walls to keep soil steady in elevated yard features, but they can also use the manmade structures when planting tiered gardens on a sloped area of yard, controlling erosion on an incline, or creating an elevated sitting spot. If youre thinking about constructing a retaining wall, heres all you need to know about the supportive structures.

Retaining walls have a wide variety of uses around the yard, all of which involve keeping earth from spilling off a steep slope. Theyre indispensable in the creation of sunken patios, walkout basements, and any other hardscape with an abrupt separation of ground elevation. Youll also find retaining walls in parks and public gardens, where they act as retainers for plants, statues, and decorative landscaping elements.

Retaining walls are often constructed with concrete, stone,or bricks. But, if youre looking to undertake a do-it-yourself job, retaining wall blocks (available at most home improvement stores) are your best bet. These blocks cost between $1.25 and $4 per block, depending on their size and texture, and they feature locking flanges that attach each row of blocks together. A small retaining wall less than three feet in height will cost an average of $5 to $8 per square foot, if you build it yourself.Larger retaining walls, which are not DIY-friendly, are pricier due to the labor costs involved. A natural stone or brick retaining wall laid by a mason can cost upwards of $20 per square foot, and a poured concrete retaining wall will set you back $13 to $18 per square foot. The contractor may also charge more for labor and materials if he has to pour a deep frost footing (explained below) or remove tree roots that are in the way of the footing.

If youre planning to build a retaining wall, check with your local building authority beforehand. Retaining walls can alter water flow and affect your neighbors, so you may need to obtain either a zoning permit or a building permit. Local building codes and ordinances vary between communities, so dont skip this step. Youll also want to call DigSafe (811) to have representatives from local utility companies come out and check whether any buried electrical lines will be in the way.

Photo: istockphoto.com

If youre planning to construct a retaining wall, consider the following factors regarding support, foundation, backfill, and drainage.

SupportWhen building a retaining wall, landscapers often slope them slightly toward the earth theyre containing. This design, known as step-back construction, creates a sturdy wall structure that pushes back against the lateral pressure of the soil behind it. Step-back wallscan be built by anyone with a strong back and basic construction knowledge, as long as they have blocks designed for retaining wall assembly.

Some types of retaining walls require additional structural support to keep them from toppling over. This includes vertical walls that dont slope toward the contained earth, as well as walls higher than three feet. Depending on the height of the wall and the pressure of the earth behind it, the extra supports could be in the form of buried footings, steel reinforcement, cantilevered design, or tie-backs that extend deep into the earth behind the wall and connect to buried anchors called dead men. You could also add extra strength with a gravity wall, which is so wide that its weight serves as a buttress against the pressure of the soil behind it. This type of wall isnt common, however,because it requires an extensive amount of stone or concrete for construction.

FoundationA trench filled with gravel provides a suitable foundation base for a short, step-back retaining wall withthree-five courses (each layer of blocks is called a course). A buried structural footing is usually required for larger retaining walls. To create this, a landscaperpours concrete below frost level (the depth to which the ground will freeze during the winter). Footings poured too shallow are prone to shifting and moving if moisture in the soil freezes and heaves. Since frost levels vary from one region to the next, contact your local building authority to determine the details before building a large retaining wall.

Backfill The space directly behind a newly constructed retaining wall should be filled with gravel or sandnot dirt. Dirt absorbs water and swells when saturated, which will put unwanted pressure on the back of the wall. Meanwhile, gravel and sand dont swell or retain water, so the wall will be subjected to less pressure. This decreases the risk of cracks and damage.

Drainage DetailsStackable retaining block walls with gravel or sand backfills dont typically have drainage issues, since water seeps down through the backfill and drains out between the individual blocks. But if you have a solid retaining wall, such as a concrete basement wall, provisions must be made to drain away the water (or it might collect behind the wall and cause cracking). Many landscapers choose to install drainage tile, which carries groundwater to outlets where it can drain away harmlessly.

Photo: istockphoto.com

When building a retaining wall, follow this advice for betterconstruction and solid support.

Choose material you can work with easily. If you dont have experience in structural support, wall blocks are your best bet. Theyre also widely available at most home centers.To keep the bottom row of blocks from pushing outward, bury the lowest section of a retaining wall. The general rule of thumb is to bury about one-eighth of the height of the wall. For example, if your wall will be three feet (36 inches) tall, the first course of blocks should start five inches below soil level. The gravel base should start three inches below this.For best results, make sure the first course of blocks is perfectly level. If its unbalanced, your entire finished wall will also be off-kilter.

All of the Outdoor Design and DIY Tips from BobVila.comWith fair weather having arrived finally, its time to turn your home improvement efforts to the backyard and your deck, porch, or patiothe parts of the home built specifically to enjoy the extra hours of sunlight. Guided by these practical pointers and inspiring ideas, you can introduce beauty, comfort, and utility to your backyard and outdoor living areas, making them as inviting and enjoyable as your home interiors.

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All You Need to Know About Retaining Walls - BobVila.com

Water cascasdes off a retaining wall onto Freeway 59 in Texas in video captured on Facebook Live by Mikael Goteman. (Aug. 27)

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Virtual Waterfall on Texas Freeway - Olean Times Herald

Tyler Mendez and Josh Myers had never met each other until someone vandalized a retaining wall.

On Friday, a social media post showing a vandalized wall at Oakridge Apartments, 1205 Angelique St., circulated on Facebook. On two walls, a racial slur and KKK were spray-painted. Mendez, who was playing video games when he saw the post, sprung into action.

I dont like seeing that. I dont like my son seeing that, Mendez said. Hes only 4 and it just spreads hate.

School busses drove by as the two men scrubbed at the wall. They brought their own tools for the cleanup.

He had the same idea as me and we just started scrubbing away, Mendez said about Myers.

Mendez lives by Central High School, and Myers lives in the Bartlett Park area. Myers said if everyone did their part, it would make an impact on the community.

I think it sends a message to the community that were not going to tolerate it, Myers said. Its inexcusable.

Mendez and Myers said that the recent fiery election has little to do with crimes like this and that such hateful sentiment existed before 2016. They both blamed the mainstream media for helping spread hate but stressed the importance of people working together to better their community.

Obviously we live in times where its kind of heated, so I think its just as important for us to scrub it off as it is for whoever felt like they needed to put it on here, Myers said.

Everybodys got to do their part and work together, Mendez said.

While the two men were there scrubbing the message away, maintenance workers with Oakridge Apartments took over with a tray of paint and some rollers. The apartment complexs manager said police were notified but didnt comment further on the incident.

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Two strangers scrub hateful graffiti from wall - News-Press Now

Stickers have replaced what was once a series of controversial tile mosaics that looked similar to the Confederate flag in a Times Square subway station.

The tile work, which bordered the upper part of a wall at the 40th Street-Seventh Avenue entrance to the 1, 2 and 3 trains, originally depicted a mostly blue X bordered by white over a red background.

The MTA would not confirm it was behind the stickers that now cover the tiles or when they were modified, but PIX 11 reported it was done over the weekend by MTA workers.

Although the MTA insisted the tile mosaics were not Confederate flags and actually a nod to Times Squares nickname, the Crossroads of the World, the agency said last week that it would change the tiles in order to avoid any future misunderstandings.

These are not Confederate flags, it is a design based on geometric forms that represent the Crossroads of the World and to avoid absolutely any confusion we will modify them to make that absolutely crystal clear, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said in an emailed statement on Aug. 18.

The decision to change the tiles was announced just days after violence broke out at the white supremacist rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12.

Backlash over the rally led to the removal of several Confederate memorials in New York City and around the country. Mayor Bill de Blasio also announced a 90-day review of all controversial statues and memorials on city property.

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Subway tiles that looked like Confederate flags in Times Square covered with stickers - amNY

For Petaluma pastor Tom Freitas, the 24-hour flight to Kenya, several-hour van ride to the small village near the Tanzania boarder and week-long stay in a small hut was nothing new. He has made this journey almost annually since 1999.

What made this trip different was the nature of the work he did on the ground. Freitas, the assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel in Petaluma, and five other members of the congregation spent part of this summer building a church in the village of Kehancha, Kenya, and building friendships among the villagers.

People there eek out a subsistence living. A lot of people live in one-room huts, Freitas said. The work itself was very labor-intensive. Unlike construction here, it is all manpower.

The crew of six men from Petalumas Calvary Chapel Freitas, Michael Belfor, Ebin Koenig, Tim Tillman, Art Adams and Ryan Lee were invited by a Kenyan pastor who became affiliated with the church through Freitas ministry work in the east African country. He was looking for volunteers to help reconstruct the village house of worship.

In Kenya, sometimes a structure doesnt last very long, Freitas said. His church was a mud and stick building. He decided he wanted to build a more permanent structure that wouldnt get degraded over time. Wed never done anything like a construction project before.

Besides Freitas, the five other men on the trip had never visited Africa before, but they had a life changing experience learning about a new culture, eating different foods and making friends.

Tillman, a tile contractor, said he had never considered a trip this far from home. But, he said, it was a life changing experience.

Once we got there, it was pretty amazing, he said. It was a real eye-opener.

The men spent their days pouring concrete, bending rebar and moving loads of bricks to make the frame for the villages new church. At one point, they ran out of the wood they were using to make frames, and, without any lumber stores, the local men went into the forest to cut down some more wood, Tillman said.

It was quite different from the way we do things, he said. Made you go back 40, 50 years. It was amazing.

Tillman said he plans to go back to help lay tile in the church sometime in the future.

At night, the group hung out with the Kenyan pastor and his family and were hosted at dinner parties.

The trip in late June coincided with the run up to Kenyas presidential election this month, and Freitas said they saw signs of the campaign throughout the country.

There was some tension, he said. People get inflamed easily.

The closely contested poll, won by incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta, was proceeded by several days of riots, though nothing close to the post-election violence that Kenya experienced after the 2007 presidential election that killed 1,500 people and displaced thousands more.

Despite Kenyas potential for political violence, Freitas said the country on the whole is stable. He said the potential instability has not kept him from traveling to and working there for nearly 20 years, and he plans to return again next year.

On the way back to the capital, Nairobi, the group from Petaluma stopped off at one of Kenyas famed wild game parks, the Maasai Mara. There they spotted most of the countrys characteristic animals, including elephants, lions, leopards, buffaloes and rhinos, and were treated to the spectacle of a million wildebeest migrating across the Serengeti plains.

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Petaluma church group visits Kenya on work trip - Petaluma Argus Courier

Tech Review: The Tile line of Bluetooth trackers has evolved to include new form factors and extended range and features.

Im a fan of the Tile line of Bluetooth trackers.

Tiles are small, battery-powered Bluetooth trackers that you can slip into a wallet or computer bag or attach to your keychain to help you find them when they get separated from you.

The original Tile was not as streamlined as todays models, but it worked well. Today, Tile has evolved to include several new form factors, but they all work the same way.

You download the Tile app to your smartphone or tablet and add the individual Tiles to the app. Then you attach the Tile to whatever it is you dont want to lose.

If you do lose track of the item, you can call up the Tile app on your phone get some help finding it. If the Tile is within Bluetooth range, youll be able to make the Tile play a ringtone so you can locate it. This is what usually happens when Ive misplaced my keys inside my house.

But what happens if the keys are lost away from home, or left on the counter at the bank? What happens if you are not conveniently within Bluetooth range?

Your phone cant signal a Tile that it cant connect to via Bluetooth, but it can start a lost Tile search. If you tag your Tile as lost in the app, the Tile servers will add it to a database of lost Tiles that is broadcast to everyone who uses the Tile app.

If anyone with the app on their phone comes within range of your lost Tile, their app will tell the Tile servers where your tile was discovered. The users wont know they are helping locate your lost tile, as the locating of lost Tiles is not transparent to the user community.

You will receive a message from your Tile app telling you where your lost Tile is located. Its up to you to go track it down and retrieve it.

The original Tile didnt have a very wide range for Bluetooth communications, but it would work pretty well.

If you had a big house and needed to locate your keys, you might have to walk around to different parts of the house before the Bluetooth connection was made so you could hear the ringtone.

Newer versions of the Tile, called the Tile Mate ($25) and Tile Slim ($30) added a button that could be used to locate the connected smartphone, so if you had your Tile, but misplaced your phone, the Tile can make a ringtone on the phone, even if the phone is on silent mode.

The Tile Mate has a hole so you can attach it to your key chain or computer bag. The Tile Slim is thin like a credit card, and it can be easily slipped in a wallet or purse.

The latest models called the Tile Pro, have really upped the ante.

The Pro models come in gray (called the Sport) or white and gold (called the Style). The Tile Pro costs $35 or two for $60.

The Pro models have a range of up to 200 feet, which is much better than the previous models. The Pros are also the only Tiles that are waterproof, and their speakers can play a ringtone that is twice as loud as older Tiles.

The Tile Pro Sport is 1.57 inches square and weighs just half an ounce.

Tiles are pretty inexpensive, but I need to explain how their life cycle works.

The Tiles do not have a user-replaceable battery. They are sealed. To make the Tiles the small size they are, the batteries only last for a year before you have to replace the Tile, which is called reTiling.

When your Tile expires, you send it back to the company, and you can replace it with a new Tile at a discount.

For instance, my Tile Slim in my wallet is due to expire in eight days. When I launch the Tile app, Im given a button to press to start the reTile process.

When you reTile, you get a discount of between 28 and 40 percent, so to replace the Tile Slim with a new one would cost $21 (instead of $30).

I realize some people will be turned off by this model of planned expiration, but its really just a subscription model that includes new hardware every year.

There are other brands of Bluetooth locator. Some have replaceable batteries and crowdsourced locating like Tile.

I guess the choice comes down to quality, Bluetooth range, additional features and the tracking of lost devices, which would depend on the number of users walking around with the app.

Ive been happy using Tile for a few years now, and the upgrade to the Tile Pro brings some useful additions. Being able to find it from longer distances and hear it with a louder speaker are just what I wanted.

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Tend to misplace your keys? Tile Pro can help you track them down - The Seattle Times

ONTARIO Further work on the Plaza Inn Restaurant and the Saint Alphonsus Health Plaza in Ontario is at a standstill, awaiting the results of an air quality test which will be an indication on how clean the facility is.

Jason Jungling, assistant manager, said he thought the test would start Monday with the results known at the end of the week. It will take five days to conduct the test with no one going in or out of the building.

At this time, a reopening of the Plaza Inn is not expected until at least Oct. 1. Jungling said, That is tentative.

Those waiting for the Health Plaza to reopen, will need to wait a bit longer as Ken Hart, president of Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Ontario, expects to reopen sometime mid-October.

The restaurant and health facility, formerly the location of the Park Center, was flooded about a month ago, after an 8-inch underground pipe broke. Water ran for an estimated five to six hours, Jungling said in a phone interview.

After further investigation, Hart said the rupture occurred underground after a 2-inch hole appeared in the water main that supplied water to the fire sprinkler system. The hole in the pipe appeared to have been caused by age it was not from construction or otherwise related, Hart said.

The rupture happened underground which is why we got mud and silt in the building, he added.

National disaster team Belfor Property Restoration, responded to the flooding of the building and has remained on scene as they work to prepare the building for the reopenings.

As of now, the main concern is the air quality.

We have to make sure to terminally clean the building, Hart said.

That includes determining there is no mold from the water that poured into the two facilities.

Inside the restaurant, crews have sectioned off areas so if there is a zone that does not come back clean, the whole restaurant does not have to be re-cleaned, Jungling said.

However, the facility as a whole must be deemed clean for any restoration work to continue, he added.

Up until now, work in the restaurant has included removing all the carpet, tile and sheetrock up to 2-feet up from the floor, Jungling said. There are plans to install the same pattern of carpet that was installed in 2016.

Theyre planning on opening our building first, he said, before the Health Plaza. The main focus is getting our operation up and running.

In the meantime, Plaza Inn employees are being paid, Jungling said, noting the restaurants insurance covers employee wages for 60 days.

Much of the same work performed inside the restaurant is true with the Health Plaza, where carpet, equipment and sheetrock has been removed. All of the equipment is in the process of being analyzed to determine if it will be brought back to the facility, Hart said.

Much like the building itself, Hart said the equipment also has to be determined terminally clean.

As a health-care facility, our standards are really high, he said.

Once the building is determined safe after the mold spore analysis, the Health Plaza will have the green light to begin construction of the building.

Of the cost of damage, Hart said its a lot and wont have final numbers until everything is completed.

Picking up the tab for the damage caused to the building by the flooding is Saint Alphonsus, Hart said.

We are the landlord, so we take care of the building, he said.

However, equipment inside the Plaza Inn restaurant is exempted from their tab.

Most services provided by the health facility have transferred to Saint Alphonsus Health Plaza Fruitland with the exception of cardiac rehabilitation those services were moved to Nampa. All of the staff has also relocated to Fruitland, with some extended hours at the office, Hart said.

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Update on plazas - Ontario Argus Observer

Eight weeks ago, The Sunroom opened in Clintonville at 3337 N. High St. Owned and operated by Suzanne Riska and Chloe Crites, the eco-conscious boutique houses a wide variety of goods from womens clothes, to candles, to handmade jewelry, to macram planters.

Both Riska and Crites have backgrounds in retail, having worked for bigger companies. Bothered by the lack of transparency about where the goods came from, they teamed up to launch an open, honest company that is completely upfront about where they get their goods. Apart from one line from a small company in France, all of their clothes are made in the U.S. Everything in their store is ethically made, and Riska and Crites are ready and eager to tell their customers about it. In addition to their clothes, The Sunroom also carries Stockholm shoes, One Six Five jewelry, and fair-trade home goods from the U.S., Mexico, Guatemala, India, and Morocco.

Riska and Crites acknowledge their clothes are not fast fashion and are therefore priced a little higher than one might find on a clearance rack at a chain retailer. Their clothes are handmade by designers and are more sustainable and durable. Riska and Crites strive to stay true to why they opened The Sunroom to offer ethically made goods. Within that goal, theyre retail inclusive, meaning they do not cater to a specific body type. Instead of being a Big & Tall or Plus or Petite store, The Sunroom offers all shapes and sizes of clothing.

The store is a welcomed addition to their Clintonville location. They have hosted and participated in a number of workshops, such as how to make a macram planter, and are looking forward to hosting a variety of other workshops. Riska and Crites hope to someday have a bigger space that will allow them more room for workshops, as well as offer the opportunity to expand their clothes into mens and childrens.

More information can be found at thesunroom.co.

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Shop Talk: The Sunroom - columbusunderground

A tasty salad of tender pea shoots. Handfuls of fragrant herbs for the stew. Snack vegetables for lunch boxes.

Keeping a fresh supply of greens and herbs on hand can be challenging as the growing season winds down, or if you don't have a garden. But now you can plop a planter anywhere in your house, set a few timers, and in about 10 days you'll be nibbling greens like a contented rabbit.

There are a variety of indoor grow gardens on the market that come with everything you need: planter, planting medium, seeds, fertilizer and a high-intensity grow light. Smart tech and remote controls adjust lighting and moisture levels, so even if your thumb's not the greenest, you can still find success.

Linnea and Tarren Wolfe of Vancouver, British Columbia, decided to design a home grower after watching their kids gobble up sunflower and pea-shoot microgreens "like potato chips."

Their Urban Cultivator looks like a wine refrigerator. It comes as a free-standing unit, topped with a butcher block, or it can be installed under the counter and hooked up like a dishwasher. The company offers an extensive seed selection, but anything from your local garden center will grow. (urbancultivator.net)

The indoor garden trend is part of an expanding movement, says New York landscape architect Janice Parker.

"The technology of these kits simplifies hydroponic gardening at its best, and makes it available to all," she says. You don't need a yard, or favorable weather.

"What a pleasure to have fresh herbs, flowers and vegetables, and experience a connection to nature no matter where you are," Parker says.

She thinks these kits shouldn't just be relegated to the kitchen.

"I'd put them anywhere -- dining room tables and coffee tables come to mind. Or in 'dead' spaces that have no light or interest," she says.

Miracle Gro's line of Aerogarden indoor planters includes the Sprout, which is about the size of a coffee maker and suitable for herbs, as well as a larger model in which you could grow just about anything. Pre-packaged seed pods of lettuces, cherry tomatoes, herb blends and petunias come ready to pop in the planter. An LCD control panel helps adjust lighting and watering needs. (bit.ly/2xdKHZE )

Click & Grow's planter is compact. It has room for three plants, and an integrated LED light pole and special lightweight soil are included. The planter comes in white, gray or beige. There's a walnut wood case available for the herb model. (clickandgrow.com)

LA Farms' vertical garden would make a vibrant addition to a sunny kitchen or sunroom. A circulating pump brings a soothing burble of water up and through the tower-shaped planter.

So what to grow in it, if you're a novice?

"Leafy greens such as arugula, kale and butter lettuce, and herbs such as parsley, cilantro, thyme and oregano prove to be easiest for indoor growing," says LA Farms' founder, Wendy Goodman, of Los Angeles.

HomeStyle on 08/26/2017

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Bringing a garden inside the kitchen - NWAOnline