Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Each year, thousands of Arizona residents email or call Rosie Romeros radio show with questions about everything from preventing fires in their chimneys to getting rid of tree roots invading their sewer system. His goal is to provide answers that suit the specific lifestyle wherever someone lives in Arizona.

Q: We are planning to build a 2,366 square-foot home in a new home community located in Green Valley. Is it worth paying $3,000 to use two-by-sixes in outer wall construction instead of two-by-fours?

A: Yes, it is desirable to build the exterior wall using 2x6 studs. That extra dimension will hopefully allow for about a 30 percent increase in thickness for the batts of insulation that the builder installs in exterior walls as a result. While 2x4 construction is perfectly acceptable from a structural standpoint, those smaller studs will only allow for a 3.5-inch thickness in insulation. On the other hand, the 2x6s will accommodate a 5.5-inch thickness.

That increase in insulation may or may not reward you with an equivalent decrease in your heating and cooling utility bills. However, it most definitely will save more money than if you used the thinner insulating material.

Of course, lots of factors enter into calculating energy savings, including the number, size and quality of your windows; the efficiency rating of your heating and cooling equipment; ductwork design and installation; the attic insulation (be sure to opt for a minimum of R38 there); the geographic orientation of your home; the number of recessed light fixtures (each one of them puts a big hole in your ceiling allowing conditioned air to escape into the attic); and the size, number and quality of exterior doors as well as their weather stripping.

Q: We have a smoke detector that is driving us crazy. It started chirping and we put in a new battery, but it kept on chirping. Whats going on?

A: You might try another replacement battery. Perhaps the one you used is old or defective. But its also possible that your smoke detector has worn out due to its age. Most detectors need to be replaced every 10 years.

Q: Last summer around the Fourth of July, I had some Bermuda sod laid in my front yard. Then, in winter, I over-seeded the lawn with rye grass. But unfortunately, the rye ended up dying out because I had a broken water line. So now that spring is coming, I want to get my Bermuda to come back. How and when do I do that?

A: First thing to do is fix that water line so you dont have trouble again. Then as the weather warms up, its going to be pretty easy to tell if the Bermuda is coming back because it will start greening up a little bit. At that point, its time to start watering, and youll be able to get the grass going pretty quickly. Keep watering throughout the spring. Whenever it starts to get a little dry outside, you should water again. And of course, water regularly in the summer.

Q: I bought my wife five miniature roses in pots in January. Now, of course, the flowers are all gone, but can I transplant these minis into a pot to put outside on the patio? And how do I do it?

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Is Two-by-Six Construction Worth the Extra Expense?

Council, president discuss rec. fees town hall

Posted: Friday, March 13, 2015 11:55 pm

$2.5M St. John playground facelift approved By Richard Meek LObservateur L'Observateur |

LAPLACE Youngsters in St. John the Baptist Parish might soon be playing on shiny new equipment while adults watch from a sparkling gazebo as part of a $2.5 million project scheduled to bring major improvements to all parish playgrounds.

Parish Council members approved the administrations request this week to go out for bids on the project, which will include such amenities as gazebos, sidewalks, learning walls, picnic tables and fitness stations, depending on the facility. According to project plans, low spots will also be filled in, some soccer fields refurbished, basketball courts rebuilt and restrooms constructed.

It is a comprehensive plan that includes improvements at all facilities, Parish President Natalie Robottom said, adding the original plan was amended based on input from residents and stakeholders.

Unresolved, however, is what youngsters will be paying to participate in sports at some of the refurbished facilities. Councilman Larry Snyder had requested Robottom meet with some Council members to discuss lowering of the fees, which some believe are too high and discourage participation.

Robottom said fees are $45 per child per sport and include the cost of insurance, jerseys and caps.

She added in 2014 the total amount collected in basketball fees was $5,800 and $5,700 for baseball.

Our focus should be on the affordability of kids being able to participate, Snyder said.

Continued here:
$2.5M St. John playground facelift approved

A company in the Tidewood East Industrial Park in Hometown has won an innovation award from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Highwood USA LLC has won the award for entrepreneurial achievement as the company that best exemplifies the quintessential entrepreneurial spirit a combination of ingenuity, hard work and innovation that has resulted in the creation of a successful and growing business venture.

The company is a manufacturer of extruded-plastic synthetic-wood products that are used for outdoor furniture and hot tubs/spas, as well as in exterior lumber applications such as decks, fencing, gazebos and garden sheds.

Highwood proactively and continuously innovates its processes, introduces new products, and identifies and develops untapped niches in the marketplace, Ben Franklin officials said.

The company also uses unique combinations of materials and manufacturing processes to produce state-of-the-art synthetic wood products, according to Ben Franklin.

Highwood has expanded its facility twice to keep pace with growth and John Quarmley, its president, said the 23,000 square feet being added to the plant now will mean more jobs.

We are adding an accountant, and six process and manufacturing engineers, Quarmley said. We are also looking for woodworkers and a human resources manager. We will be adding about 12 employees to the 70 we have now.

Highwood started in 2003 with seven employees in 27,000 square feet. Additions in 2008 and 2012 brought the building to its present 73,000 square feet.

With the latest addition, we have maxed out the property we are on, Quarmley said. We bought seven acres next to us for future expansions.

Ben Franklin Technology Partners also said the company actively invests in its employees through training and development, in support of its high-performance work team management philosophy.

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Hometown firm earns awardfrom technology partnership

How to Feng Shui for Success Pt2
http://www.deborah-kagan.com Deborah Kagan shares how to use Feng Shui for your success in life.

By: Deborah Kagan

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How to Feng Shui for Success Pt2 - Video

Feng Shui Diva : Does Your Home Have Bad Feng Shui?
Does your home have bad feng shui? When you have bad feng shui, your life feels "out of balance" for no apparent reason. Often people who moved to a new home...

By: Feng Shui Diva

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Feng Shui Diva : Does Your Home Have Bad Feng Shui? - Video

Gravesite Dictated by Feng Shui | Who Do You Think You Are?
When Julie Chen visits her great-grandfather #39;s gravesite and notices the beautiful view it commands, a historian explains that gravesites were dictated by feng shui and meant to promote harmony...

By: TLC

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Gravesite Dictated by Feng Shui | Who Do You Think You Are? - Video

Bhavishyavani: Daily Horoscopes and Numerology | 14th March, 2015 - India TV
Watch BHAVISHYAVANI with Acharya Indu Prakash, who tells your daily horoscope, numerological fortune, alphabetical fortune and gives tips on vaastu shastra and feng-shui along with astrological...

By: IndiaTV

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Bhavishyavani: Daily Horoscopes and Numerology | 14th March, 2015 - India TV - Video

Feng shui is not a meditation practice, a religion or a New Age cult. Its a practice of arranging your environment so that energy or chi flows gently and smoothly through your home or business environment.

Based on a Chinese concept of energy developed over 4,000 years ago, feng shui principles can be used in designing and decorating your home so that it is in harmony with your own tastes and the energy that flows through your home.

Even inanimate objects have energy, according to feng shui principles. Feng shui helps guide that energy and lets it flow freely through your home to create harmony.

If you like to avoid clutter while enjoying the beauty of some of your favorite personal items, youre already using feng shui principles and may not even know it.

Using these principles can be as complex as using a compass to determine the exact center of your home or as simple as cleaning a closet to open up the flow of energy in a room.

Begin by carefully considering what you bring into your home, how you arrange your rooms and how you maintain your space, according to Real Simple magazine.

In your living room...

Feng shui principles encourage a sofa to be placed against a solid wall farthest away from the entry, with a clear view of the door. Leave a few inches between the sofa and the wall.

If your space doesnt have a proper wall, you can use the floating sofa concept, as long as you put a console behind it with tall sturdy lamps. Add a mirror opposite the sofa so you can see behind you. The idea is that you feel protected in your living room space.

The biggest mistake in living room furniture placement is an awkward seating plan thats not conducive to conversation. Each seat needs a surface on which to rest a beverage or book, to make the space more welcoming.

Original post:
Harmonize your home using Feng Shui (Pronounced: FUNG-SH-WAY)

Peche island Windsor Ontario, by Don @ Pro-Gate Fences.
Winter time with progate fence over Peche Island.

By: Progate

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Peche island Windsor Ontario, by Don @ Pro-Gate Fences. - Video

To his credit, this remains a time when Pat Riley continues with his cross-country due diligence, fanning out around the nation along with his staff to scout college tournaments.

Because even if his picks don't come in the lottery or the first-round, or the draft at all, he at least recognizes that there has to be youth in the pipeline.

But there also is a candor to his impatient approach: NBA success at a championship level comes from ready-to-win talent, from men, not kid stuff.

So he continues to pay through the draft for the 2010 moves that delivered LeBron James, Chris Bosh and two championships to the Miami Heat. And just over a month ago, he dealt two other potential lottery picks for the win-now promise of Goran Dragic, even without an accompanying free-agency promise from Dragic.

To some, it is the height of hubris, if not recklessness, to discount the very process that, under practically any definition, has allowed Riley to transport his championship legacy to South Florida.

Because if the Heat were not historically bad in 2002-03, there would not have been Dwyane Wade in the 2003 lottery.

And without Dwyane Wade, there would not have been confetti in 2006, '12 and '13.

But that also was back before NBA free agency became so transformative.

Before LeBron left from there for here, and then went back there again. Before clearing cap space became a way to create hope for the future without the accompanying pain of total tanking.

With their 2015 draft pick in danger of being forwarded to the Philadelphia 76ers this June, possibly in a lottery position, with it only protected through the first 10 selections, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was asked this past week about weighing tanking advantages.

Read more from the original source:
Ira Winderman: March Madness? Riley cool to the notion