Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

(BPT) - As homeowners begin to dream up plans to update their kitchens and bathrooms, they can spend hours searching for inspiration on the web or one of the many home renovation television shows. Theres no shortage of beautiful ideas and designs out there, but before you make any decision, you should start with the crucial question: What is it I really want?

A recent study conducted by the home design website Houzz found that the two things homeowners want most for their bathroom are style and ease of cleaning. In effect, people want their bathrooms to exhibit both function and design.

Of course, there are the conventional bathroom remodel options, such as a new faucet, countertop or shower fixture, all of which can be stunning and transform not just your bathroom but your house. But the most commonly used bathroom component is often the most overlooked: the toilet.

Eighty-three percent of Americans claim theres something they want to improve upon with their toilets, according to a survey by Kohler. The question is what.

This statistic should give homeowners pause and invite them to think beyond the conventional bathroom remodeling ideas and re-imagine the possibilities.

Comfort, hygiene and style

Travelers returning from Italy, Spain, Argentina and Japan often rave about the unexpected luxury of using a bidet. While popular in many other countries, bidets are only just now catching on in the United States, moving from high-end luxury bathrooms and hospitals (where theyre used for their superior hygiene) into household bathrooms across America.

As the leading manufacturer of modern bidets, Kohler has been working to incorporate the trifecta of comfort, hygiene and style into their intelligent toilets.

Built directly into an ergonomically shaped toilet seat, a stainless-steel bidet wand offers adjustable water temperature, pressure, position and shape, along with pulsating and oscillating functions to maximize the comfort of the experience.

But thats not all. To better introduce Americans to the international phenomenon of bidets, Kohlers intelligent toilets feature a heated seat, warm air dryer and added sanitary features such as hands-free flushing and a deodorizing seat.

A redefined bathroom

Equipped with smart technology that allows a person to fully customize their experience, such ultra-modern bidets may change how Americans go to the bathroom but only if the look is right.

Consumers are not willing to sacrifice design for functionality; they want it all. For anyone who has used or seen a Veil Intelligent Toilet, its evident that the same exacting standards it brings to cleanliness and hygiene go into its crisp, clean look.

A recent survey by Kohler suggests 33 percent of homeowners would be excited to upgrade their toilets. With this latest generation of toilets and bidets, its likely that more people will want to redefine their bathroom with these stunning new options.

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Rethinking bathroom design - Yankton Daily Press

The recently built Villa Della Costa feels like a private island set high above Santa Barbaras Gaviota Coast. With vaulted ceilings and oversized windows, the sprawling single-story house takes in the surrounding landscape from every perspective. The ranch-style modern Mediterranean shares its 106-acre perch with a helipad, a guest house and a pool cabana.

Address: 14200 Calle Real, Goleta 93117

Price: $35 million

Architect: Jock Sewall

Builder: Shane Mahan of Kitchell Custom Homes

Interiors: Mark Weaver of Mark Weaver & Associates Inc.

Landscaping: Stacey Faussett

Built: 2014

Lot size: 106 acres

House size: Five bedrooms, eight full bathrooms, three powder rooms

Features: Library/study, den, family room, home theater, antique wood-beam ceilings, walnut floors, custom lighting, four interior fireplaces, staff quarters, basement, radiant-floor heating, stone decks, fountain, outdoor fireplace, swimming pool, spa, circular gated driveway, drought-tolerant landscaping

About the area: The median sale price for single-family homes in the 93117 ZIP Code in May was $797,000 based on seven sales, according to CoreLogic. That was a 2.9% increase compared with the same month the previous year.

Agents: Joyce Rey of Coldwell Banker, (310) 285-7529, and Randy Solakian of Montecito Estates, (805) 565-2208

To submit a candidate for Home of the Day, send high-resolution color photos via Dropbox.com, permission from the photographer to publish the images and a description of the house to lauren.beale2@latimes.com.

Follow Lauren Beale on Twitter @laurenebeale.

See more Homes of the Day:

Contemporary living on a ridge in Baldwin Hills

E.P. Janes cottage stands the test of time in Altadena

Newly built contemporary rises along the waterfront of Las Flores Beach

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On top of the world villa overlooks the Gaviota Coast - Los Angeles Times

Ubisoft and ESL are partnering for one of the largest For Honor international tournaments ever created since the game's release in February.

The For Honor Hero Series will pit the best For Honor players around the world against one another to find out which player is the best on the battlefield.

For Honor is a hack and slash fighting game where players strategically take down their opponents by targeting specific areas of the body. The game uses a unique system that puts players in total control of their characters weapon movements in an attempt to try and vanquish all enemies who stand in their way.

At ESL we are committed to growing the esports landscape and F or Honors competitive ecosystem has been something we've all been looking forward to, said Sean Charles, VP of Publisher and Developer Relations, ESL. With the For Honor Hero Series and the addition of ranked mode, there is a lot in store for future For Honor players.

ESL plans to host weekly competitions one-on-one from July 8 across all platforms in Europe and the United States. ESL say it's committed to supporting the series well beyond the first year and will take community and participant feedback into account for any future events.

Players earn points based on their rankings in weekly tournaments. Those that have earned the most points by the end of the weekly tournaments will be invited to the live event in Burbank, California on Aug. 12 for a shot at winning a part of the $10,000 prize pool.

ESL plans to broadcast the finals on the For Honor official Twitch channel and Ubisoft's YouTube channel , as well as other livestream services such as Facebook Live. The company has no plans to livestream any of the weekly tournaments at this time, however.

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For Honor is getting an international tournament with a $10000 prize pool - Dot Esports

If the area of your BASEMENT is 700-1,200 sq. ft. you would need a budget of about $4,700 $12,650. The package would include installation of 1/2 ceiling board, installation of 1/2 regular drywall on walls and bulkheads, installation of 1/2 water resistant drywall in the bathroom, installation of 1/2 densshield in bathroom tiled areas, installation of metal corner bids, taping and sending of new drywall, smooth ceiling, ready for primer. Labour materials and delivery included.

If the area of your HOUSE is 1,200-3,500 sq.ft. you would need a budget of about $6,800 $36,200 The package would include installation of 1/2 ceiling board, installation of 1/2 regular drywall on walls and bulkheads, installation of 1/2 water resistant drywall in the bathrooms, installation of 1/2 densshield in bathrooms tiled areas, installation of metal corner bids, taping and sending of new drywall, smooth ceiling, ready for primer. Labour materials and delivery included.

How we price the drywall installation? There are several methods we use when we have to price the drywall job. Preliminary quote on drywall boarding can be issued over a telephone based on the square footage of the area that needs drywall installation. As drywall contractors we need to know the total area of drywall board for the rough quote. We usually ask over the phone total floor area and clarify if the area is an open concept or divided on section/rooms. Than we ask about ceiling height. The formula for open concept area on drywall installation total square footage is floor area square footage multiplied by 3.5 , for the area with rooms: floor area sq footage multiplied by 4. For example, if we required to install drywall in the house that has 5000 sq foot of the floor area with 8 ceiling height and open concept, than amount of the drywall board that we will have to install will be roughly 50003.5=17500 sq ft. Than we multiply the total square footage of the drywall board by the price per square foot. Of course it works the best if the drywalled area doesnt have custom features like multiple custom shaped skylights, cathedral ceilings in rooms and unusually shaped entrances, amount of corner beads also play role in the drywall installation pricing. In the case of custom situation it will be the best to arrange for a visit of our certified professional drywall estimator to get more accurate quote. To find out more you can always contact or call us at 647 866 0201 and we will be happy to help you with your drywall installation price .

Today I want to talk about our Drywall Taping Prices and teach you how to calculate the exact cost for your home project.

If you apply this simple formula, you will quickly and accurately calculate the right price for your drywall taping project.

Follow these steps:

[square feet on floor area] X [4 (four) to get the sq.ft of ceiling(regular height 8) and walls of entire area] X [price per sq.ft.] = [total price for labour drywall taping, mudding and sanding]

click for more information about Drywall Taping Prices

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Prices | Drywall Installation and Taping Services Toronto ...

DrywallTaping.caprovides residential and commercial drywall installation, drywall taping, mudding, plastering and sanding services in Toronto and all over the Greater Toronto Area.

If you are a home owner or a contractor that needs boarding, taping and plastering work, whether if it is a basement, a house or a commercial property give us a call or email us with your inquiry. We are committed to providing our clients with excellent quality workmanship and reliable services at competitive prices. We WSIB insured and carry up to $5.000.000 liability insurance.

Our clients

Drywall Taping Toronto performs drywall installation and drywall taping services in various types of projects; finishing of entire basements, full residential houses and apartments, commercial sites such as hotels, schools, office buildings, condominiums, rehabilitation centers, full plazas, dancing studios, supermarkets and more. Each and every one of our team member is a highly qualified professional who dedicated over 10years working in the field of drywall installation and drywall taping. As a leader in the Greater Toronto Area for top quality drywall installation and taping services,

As a Drywall Contractor with many years of experience John T. G.(the owner) have a thorough knowledge of drywall installation process. Taping is a trade where in order to deliver excellent quality, a taper needs to be an artist. And having said that, we only hire such artists tapers who only specialize in taping and mudding. Soundproofing is another area of our specialization as well as plastering over the drywall. Every drywall taper that works for us knows how to install drywall and soundproof drywall in the process of basement and house renovation. Our target niche is drywall installation and taping of custom homes in Toronto. We have established business relations with an array of drywall contractors as well as custom home builders and home owners. Just call us and we will help you with any matter related to drywall.

Drywall Contractor Toronto 416-639-9972 John T. G Owner at DrywallTaping.ca

Drywall Installation Toronto,Drywall Taping Toronto, Drywall Mudding Toronto, Drywall Sanding Toronto, Gypsum Installation Toronto, Soundproofing Toronto, Drywall Boarding Toronto, Basement Drywall Toronto, Blueboard Drywall Toronto, Fire rated drywallToronto, Cement board Toronto, Drywall Contractor Toronto, Drywall Framing Toronto, Drywall Insulation Toronto, Taping Contractor, Drywall, Drywall Cost Installation

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Drywall Contractor Toronto 416-639-9972

Sabo said the exterior of the building at 1211 N. University Drive is complete, electrical installation is finished, and plumbing will be done within the next two days. A new rooftop patio deck is set to be finished in a week or two, he added.

The Bison Turf passed inspections for electrical and heating in late June, said Bruce Taralson, Fargo inspections administrator. Plumbing will be inspected once completed, and a framing inspection for the structure will take place after that.

"Once this has all passed, they can start on the interior," Taralson said,

Sabo said inside the building, crews need to add drywall, lay down flooring and install all appliances. Sabo expects this will put the reopening of the Bison Turf off for several more weeks.

"I'm hoping for the end of July, but it'll probably be August," he said.

When Sabo's building permit was approved in January, he hoped to open for business as early as the end of March. In late March, he expected a May reopening.

Sabo said complying with the city of Fargo building codes, such as adding larger water pipes and a sprinkler system, took longer than he expected.

Once finished, the inside of the Bison Turf will be familiar for returning customers. All of the booths, tables and other furniture that were saved from the flames will be returned. Sabo said a lot of his original staff will also return.

He plans to hire more staff to help with the increase in customers he expects from added seating and a second bar on the rooftop patio.

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Bison Turf in final stages of reconstruction, owner expects August ... - West Fargo Pioneer

We are the only retaining wall steel sales company that are also professional retaining wall builders! We are also the cheapest supplier in the region of steel posts that are not left exposed to rust by cutting or drilling without requisite galvanic protection. Saving a few dollars on steel, for walls that need replacing in 10 years, is not good economics! We guarantee high quality, 100% corrosion resistant steel posts.

We add value with our advice on:

We can even perform part or all of your construction if you need. Getting your steel posts in accurately before the concrete sets is crucial and mistakes are very expensive.

As professional retaining wall builders, weve learned how to source the best materials for the job. For example, our steel posts are galvanized to these Australian Standards:

AS 1627.1Preparation and pre-treatmentof surfaces Removal of oil,grease and relatedcontamination. AS 1627.4 Preparation and pre-treatmentof surfaces Abrasive blastcleaning of steel. AS 1627.5 Preparation and pre-treatmentof surfaces Pickling AS 2309 Durability of galvanized andelectrogalvanized zinc coatingsfor the protection of steel instructural applications AS/NZS 2312 Guide to the protection ofstructural steel againstatmospheric corrosion by theuse of protective coatings AS 4312 Atmospheric corrosivity zonesin Australia AS/NZS 4680 Hot-dip galvanized (zinc)coatings on fabricatedferrous articles

Our company Melbourne Retaining Walls has specialized in design and construction of retaining walls for several years in the Melbourne and Geelong suburbs hence weve done a lot of sourcing to find the best quality and value steel post materials to build our retaining walls.

As we specialise in H-Posts and buy in bulk to make our construction more efficient, we are now able to offer retaining wall steel posts at very competitive prices to others.

We can also help you design the wall so youll know what posts are needed and we can cut to length, weld, bolt, galvanize and deliver to your site. We can advise on construction or even help out with construction if you need.

Click here for our products and cheap prices: http://melbourneretainingwallsteel.com.au/retaining-wall-steel-products/

Call Brett Abbott on 042 588 7202 or email him at BrettAbbott@yahoo.com.au with any inquiries into our retaining wall steel post products. We deliver throughout Melbourne and Geelong.

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Melbourne Retaining Wall Steel Call Brett on 042 588 ...

Improvements planned at Leclaire Park

Cody King cking@edwpub.net

Photo: Bill Tucker Intelligencer

Leclaire Park will be getting a retaining wall installed in the coming weeks.

Leclaire Park will be getting a retaining wall installed in the coming weeks.

Retaining wall, new sidewalk considered

Leclaire Lake is going to get a significant upgrade in the coming weeks.

As discussed at last weeks Administrative and Community Services Committee meeting, Public Works recommended the approval to award Keller Construction, Inc. the base bid amount of $124,124.33 for the installation of a retaining wall and replacement of the sidewalk.

The wall will be along the east side of the lake, parallel to Madison Avenue and will also include the removal and replacement of the sidewalk, removal and reinstallation of a concrete fence and removal and replacement of the storm sewer.

Alderman Will Krause said this park improvement is definitely necessary to improve the site.

Its got to get fixed and its going to be a park improvement, visually to the area. Aesthetically, I think it will also help cut down on our moss issue that we have on that side for numerous years now, Krause said.

The Leclaire Lake project includes a base bid of 325 feet of retaining wall installation and an alternate bid, which includes 421 feet.

The retaining wall, along with the other park improvements, will improve pedestrian mobility and safety along Madison Avenue and around the park as a whole.

City Engineer Ryan Zwijack said if approved by City Council, prior to the installation, the lake will need to be lowered to accommodate the contractors.

The lake will be slightly lowered to a level of five to six feet. They have a range at which they have to keep it so the contractors dont pump it all out and kill all the fish. They have to keep it within a certain range, Zwijack said.

The project received a total of three bids, with the base bid amounts ranging from $124,124.33 from Keller Construction, Inc., $139,240.41 from RCS Construction, Inc. and $143,259.60 from Stutz Excavating, Inc. The engineers estimate for the base bid was $150,000.

Following approval from Council, Director of Public Works Eric Williams said contractors are hoping to have the project completed before the school year starts.

By the time, if Council approves and contracts are executed, the (time) blocks I believe will be 30 to 45 days, Williams said. I know they were trying to get it done before school starts.

As discussion came to a close, aldermen Will Krause, Art Risavy and SJ Morrison took a vote.

Krause made the motion, seconded by Risavy.

The motion was subsequently approved at Wednesday's Council meeting.

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Retaining wall, new sidewalk considered - The Edwardsville Intelligencer

A Terre Haute man was injured when he was thrown from his vehicle after it rolled over a retaining wall Sunday evening.

Danny Corbett, 73, was taken to an area hospital for non-life threatening injuries, police chief John Plasse said.

The incident occurred about 7 p.m. at Sycamore Manor assisted living complex. Corbett told police he had stopped his vehicle and got out to pick up something he had dropped. Corbett said he thought he had put the vehicle in park, but it began to roll forward so he tried to get back inside to stop it. He was halfway inside the vehicle as it drove off the ledge and crashed below, throwing him to the ground. The retaining wall is about 6 feet high.

The vehicle continued for several feet before rolling to a stop.

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Man injured after vehicle rolls over retaining wall | News | tribstar.com - Terre Haute Tribune Star

Mike and I are kicking around whether or not there is a good alternative refrigerant for R-22 in A/C service ??

ICOR Nu22-B came up - is there any info you learned folk can pass on?

Past use, oil change info, capacity loss / gain etc. would be appreciated - or is is a buch of ' snake oil ' ?? Perhaps this discussion has already gone around the bases ??

Thanking you in advance - - - - -

Superheat and subcooling tell it all !

"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers it can bribe the public with the public's own money. - Alexis de Toqueville, 1835

What I always found ironic about the phase out is in the end its because these refrigerants are said to deplete the ozone. Global warming accelerates the ozone depletion process, refrigerants have a GWP number as well, global warming potential. R-410A, the R-22 replacement has a higher GWP than R22 but R22 has a 0.034 ODP while R-410A is "approximately" zero. I guess I don't understand how one is better than the other. The largest global warming source, coal fired utilities, are unregulated when it comest to CO2.

God Bless the USA

We recently had a very bad experience with NU-22 on a 100Ton Trane split system. The unit has 8 compressors and a few of them were being replaced; reason(s) for failure is unknown. The technician who replaced compressors and was charging the system was under the assumption the NU-22 refrigerant was a drop-in, so he was just adding refrigerant to clear the sightglass. That would be a mistake in any case, adding refrigerant without measuring superheat and subcooling. Anyway, the new compressors failed, locked-up, oil was washed out. To make a very long story short, more new compressors were installed, but R-22 was put back in the unit, and those compressors are still working. Is NU-22 or NU-22B a drop-in refrigerant? I don't think so. Is NU-22B an acceptable replacement? I don't know, but I am convinced that great care should be taken to get before and after measurements, particularly superheat. The PT chart for NU-22 and NU-22B suggests that the TXV would need to have spring pressure increased when the conversion is done.

We're awl pawthetic and kweepy and can't get giwrls. That's why we fight wobots.

Copper wouldn't hold those pressures, either.

God Bless the USA

I'm just wondering what everone elses lessons were when r12 went out. Mine was a little stress for the first 1.5 years or so then I played around with two of the drop in replacements and settled on Hot Shot.

I even had a guy try to sell me a new jug of R12 and turned him down cause Hot Shot has so far taken care of all the R12 needs I've had.

Point is, for me, the R12 thing became a non-thing very quickly once I found a suitable replacement.

"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers it can bribe the public with the public's own money. - Alexis de Toqueville, 1835

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R-22 Refrigerant ' replacements - HVAC-Talk: Heating, Air ...