Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Thanks in part to allocations of funds from Boone City Council, there are several big happenings slated for Ericson Public Library, from roof replacement to a tuck point and painting project.

The librarys boiler and chiller replacement is among the citys many Capital Improvement Projects for the next fiscal year, which city staff expects to get funded by a $3.1 million bond proposal it will put out to bid possibly in late June.

Council approved $203,000 for the librarys three boilers and a chiller with two compressors, which were installed in 1991. Very little maintenance was done from 2000 to 2008 and the equipment has been failing during the last five years. Instead of making continual repairs, council decided to save money and allocate the $203,000 for new equipment.

Theyve all kind of outlived their life expectancy, library director Jamie Williams said. Well get a newer system for better efficiency.

Another highlight for the library is councils approval of carrying over the Local Option Sales Tax funds, totaling $18,000, for a tuck point and painting project for the building.

The original plan was to paint the first floor stairwell coming in, but there was a lot of chipping paint, Williams said. And also paint the first floor and the second floor. There has been no painting since the remodel in 1995. But there were issues with the chipping and it would require a lot of plaster repair.

It was discovered that moisture was getting in through the buildings brickwork, Williams said, which is the obvious reason for first doing tuck point work before painting. The majority of the tuck point work needs to be done near the main entrance, the windows above it and near the Ericson Public Library sign, Williams said.

Im waiting to hear back on tuck point estimates, she said. A lot of contractors have come and looked at it.

Williams said she hopes the tuck point work can be done in April so the painting and plaster repair can be done in June or July.

The first priority is getting the stairwell painting done, she said, then proceed to painting the first floor.

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Big doings slated for Ericson Public Library

LAS VEGAS, -- LEDs are advancing lighting options, both in design and functionality, yet consumers are looking for more. They look for high-quality lighting, durability, safety and attractive aesthetics. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) require these same properties in materials to meet consumer needs. Bayer MaterialScience LLC offers OEMs a broad range of polycarbonate sheet materials for their lighting needs.

Bayer is further expanding its broad range of polycarbonate sheet products for lighting applications, launching two material grades at Strategies in Light 2015.

Makrolon() DX-NR polycarbonate sheet provides high optical performance, balancing light diffusion and transmission. Its outstanding outdoor weathering performance, enabled by co-extruded, UV-resistance technology, makes it ideal for exterior applications. OEMs using Makrolon() DX-NR polycarbonate sheet for lenses are able to achieve enhanced aesthetics thanks to the material's non-glossy and non-reflective appearance.

Also debuting at Strategies in Light is Makrolon() Lumen XT LC0 polycarbonate sheet. Joining the extensive Makrolon() Lumen XT polycarbonate product line, this new grade further expands the diffusion level options, and enables lighting designers to create even more energy-efficient lighting fixtures. This high-performance material has achieved a UL 94 V-2 flammability rating. Additionally, Makrolon() Lumen XT polycarbonate sheet resists high temperatures while providing outstanding, uniform LED light diffusion and minimizing hot spots while maximizing light transmission.

"The addition of these two polycarbonate sheet products to our lighting portfolio gives lighting designers and OEMs even more flexibility to achieve successful lighting designs," says Dr. Ted Trautman, director of technology - polycarbonate sheet products, North America, Bayer MaterialScience LLC.

For more information about polycarbonate sheet for lighting applications, visit Bayer booth #1123 during Strategies in Light.

About Bayer MaterialScience LLC: Bayer MaterialScience LLC is one of the leading producers of high-performance plastics in North America and is part of the global Bayer MaterialScience business with approximately 14,300 employees at 30 production sites around the world and 2013 sales of 11.2 billion euros. Bayer MaterialScience, a Bayer Group company, manufactures high-tech polymer materials and develops innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, electrical and electronics, construction, medical, and sports and leisure industries. Sustainability is central to Bayer MaterialScience LLC's business and is based around the key areas of innovation, product stewardship, social responsibility and respect for the environment.

Contact: Cindy Race, Phone: 413-528-7812 Email: cindy.race@bayer.com General media inquiries can be directed to 412-777-5200.

For more information about Bayer MaterialScience LLC Makrolon() polycarbonate sheet products, call 1-800-628-5084 or visit http://www.sheffieldplastics.com.

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Polycarbonate Sheet targets lighting OEMs.

WATERFORD A Home and Commerce Show will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 7, at Waterford High School, 100 Field Drive.

The show will feature more than 100 business vendors specializing in a variety of home improvement areas including baths, garage doors, landscaping and windows. Personal care exhibits feature acupuncture, chiropractic and wellness exhibits, as well as financial planning, insurance and real estate.

Spotlight presenters and their showcases: Skyline Landscape Design will showcase a front yard landscape makeover, 1-1:15 p.m.; Budget Blinds will display custom blinds, shades, shutters and draperies, 2-2:15 p.m.

Raffles will be held during the day with prizes including a landscape makeover, blinds, curtains and other window coverings, and free in-home consultations. A childrens area will be available with free face painting until 3 p.m. Breakfast and lunch concessions will be available at the food court.

Admission is $3, with $1 off with a nonperishable food item. There is no charge for ages 17 and younger.

The raffle will benefit Absolutely Waterford and the Waterford Area of Commerce. For more information, call 262-534-5911 or go to http://www.waterford-wi.org.

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Home and Commerce Show in Waterford Saturday

"I often lay on that bench looking up into the tree, past the trunk and up into the branches. It was particularly fine at night with the stars above the trees." Georgia O'Keeffe

With its signature rich mahogany-colored smooth bark and intricate branching, our native manzanita is one of the loveliest residents of our local chaparral, and can also look beautiful in the home landscape.

An early performer, the blooming season is happening now, with delicate white and pink lanterns hanging profusely from the the first branch to the last.

Manzanita is the common name for the genus Arctostaphylos in the family Ericaceae. There are more than 40 species of all sizes in California, not to mention all the cultivars, subspecies and hybrids. Manzanita species grow from two inches in some of the sandy coastal areas, to large shrubs and small trees further inland. They are evergreen, keeping their tough small leaves in shades of green and grey all year round.

Winter blossoms give way to spring fruit: tiny hanging red apples, giving them their Spanish name of manzanita or little apple." Native Americans ate them both raw and dried, often pounding them into a flour.

Today, the strong, dense wood is highly prized for wood-fired grills, and the graceful branches are often used as decorative centerpieces. The flowers are also a critical winter nectar source for Annas Hummingbird, our year-round Central Coast resident.

Manzanitas have evolved and adapted over thousands of years to thrive in our specific California plant communities: all but three species are found only in California.

Several local endemics include A. purissima from Lompoc and Refugio manzanita (Arctostaphylos refugioensis) growing in the Santa Ynez Mountains. Eleven different species can be found growing in the Los Padres National Forest, but sadly, many others are at risk of extinction due to habitat loss.

Many manzanitas, such as the greenleaf (Arctostaphylos patula), common in areas of heavy snow at higher elevations, vertically orient their leaves, exposing only the edges to the sun. Since plants undergo transpiration (losing moisture through evaporation), they can limit stress by growing vertical leaves. Some manzanitas actually track the sun, shifting their leaf angles throughout the day to stay parallel to the sun.

Manzanitas, like most native plants, are very versatile and can be used to replace non-natives in the water-wise home landscape. Low-growing and spreading varieties like Carmel Sur' are excellent for ground covers and slopes, and the shrub-sized Howard McMinn can create a beautiful hedge when planted in rows. Not only do they add privacy, but also supply cover for quail, flowers for native pollinators, and berries for small mammals in a wildlife garden. Most need very little water once established, and some dont even need drip irrigation.

Originally posted here:
Garden Roots: Manzanita dreaming

There is no court imposed imperative for Brian ODonnell and his wife Mary Patricia to leave their home at Gorse Hill, Vico Road in Killiney, the Land League has said. Photograph: Cyril Byrne/ The Irish Times.

John Martin, of the Land League, at the entrance to Gorse Hill, the home of the ODonnell family, at the Vico Road. Photograph: Eric Luke / The Irish Times.

A file picture of solicitor Brian O Donnell with his wife Mary Patricia. Photograph: Cyril Byrne/The Irish Times

The High Court has summarily dismissed an application for an injunction by the ODonnell family to halt the repossession of their home in Killiney.

The receiver involved in the repossession proceedings is also threatening to seek a trespass order against Brian ODonnell and his wife Mary Patricia.

Trespassing orders will be served via email and will be affixed to the gates of Gorse Hill, on Vico Rd the court was told.

The application for a trespass order will be heard on Thursday.

News of the court decision was greeted with solemnity by members of the Land League who have been blockading the ODonnell home in Killiney for the last two days.

Mr Martin said he had phoned his colleagues inside the gate, and went into the property to consult on the ODonnell familys wishes, following the unsuccessful application.

Mr Martin has previously said Mr ODonnell would be available to the media after the High Court action.

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Land League still standing guard at ODonnell home in Killiney

DC15-087 March 3, 2015

With more than 90 million wi-fi devices sold in the UK last year, the rapid demand for wi-fi access continues to grow 1and tablets and wi-fi devices are becoming more commonplace in UK homes. Customers want to get online all around the home, including bedrooms and even in the bathroom.

However, wi-fi dead spots are a common issue causing huge frustration to consumers. BTs latest range of connectivity products makes it easy for customers to overcome this problem and get wi-fi coverage all around their home, and even into the garden.

From the new Mini Wi-Fi Home Hotspot 500 Kit, to the 11ac Dual-Band Wi-Fi Extender 1200, the range of products allows users to connect Smart TVs, games consoles, laptops, smartphones and tablets to the internet and enjoy content on demand all around the home.

Erik Raphael, Director BT Devices and BT Wi-Fi, said: In 2014 there was a growth of 17 per cent in the number of wi-fi devices sold in the UK. With the growth in fibre, customers are using their broadband more and more around the home to stream content, browse the web and play games.

Customers want to access wi-fi in every room of their house. We are continually looking to push the boundaries of new technology to give customers access to the best possible connection and fastest speeds, which is why we have launched the new 11ac Wi-Fi Extender and the Mini Wi-Fi Home Hotspot.

We are also planning on expanding our range of wired broadband extenders in the very near future. We will be doubling the speed of our existing broadband extenders by launching a 1000Mbps powerline. This will again bring the very latest in technology into consumers homes.

The new mini Wi-Fi Home Hotspot uses powerline technology to enable customers to get a new wi-fi signal in any room of the house that has a power socket. It doesnt require linking to an existing wi-fi signal so the hotspot is ideal for getting wi-fi to rooms further away from the main router and houses with thick walls.

An alternative for solving wi-fi issues is the new 11ac Wi-Fi Extender 1200, which boosts the wi-fi signal further round the house improving your wi-fi, making it perfect for using tablets and smartphones in different rooms. This is a single plug that is placed at the edge of the wi-fi routers range in order to boost the signal. This new model comes with 11ac wi-fi, the latest and best wi-fi technology available, ensuring minimal interference and maximum speed, perfect if you have super-fast fibre broadband.

These new wi-fi connectivity products follow on from the launch of BTs first range in September 2013. In a rapidly developing market place BT is striving to make the latest technology available to customers to give them the best possible connection

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BT Press Releases

easy home security video
here i show you how to monitor your house when your not there for free!! ... well you need to buy a cam but after that its FREE!!!!!

By: Anthony Foster

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easy home security video - Video

Chat with the Experts Podcast: Home Security (Part 3)
On this segment of Chat with the Experts, Kiel Hauck talks with Armando Perez about alarming problems in the home security industry. Subscribe to the podcast...

By: Angie #39;s List

Excerpt from:
Chat with the Experts Podcast: Home Security (Part 3) - Video

AT&T's Digital Life and Drive platforms are joining forces so you can tap into your home security and automation set up straight from your car.

Inside the AT&T Drive Studio. AT&T

Today at Mobile World Congress, AT&T announced that its Digital Life and Drive platforms now work together.

Digital Life is a dealer-installed, fee-based home security and automation service that provides live monitoring as well as remote access on Android and iOS devices and computers. You have the option to choose from a handful of packages for customization, but you can also opt for a whole-home solution since the available hardware ranges from security cameras and door and window sensors to garage door openers, thermostats and smoke detectors.

AT&T's Drive initiative has locked down partnerships with Audi, BMW, GM, Ford, Tesla, Nissan, Volvo and Subaru. Its goal is to explore opportunities to inject AT&T tech into the connected feature offerings of these brands.

With this new partnership, Digital Life subscribers (with a compatible car) will be able to access the app on their vehicle's control panel or via voice control so they can check in on what's happening at home without having to grab their phone. Theoretically, then, you should be able to tell your car to open the garage door, rather than fishing around for your controller or the AT&T Digital Life app.

This sort of third-party integration is appearing on the smart-home scene with increasing frequency. Consider the Works with Nest initiative and its partnership with Mercedes-Benz. When you and your Benz are closing in on home, you can program it to trigger your Nest Learning Thermostat to switch to Home mode.

Given the sluggish smartphone market, AT&T has been working to secure new integrations and this Digital Life/Drive partnership puts that effort on full display. AT&T said that it added 800,000 wireless cars in the fourth quarter of 2014 and has plans to lasso roughly half of new US cars in 2015 and over 10 million by the close of 2017.

AT&T's Drive Studio is located in Atlanta, but you can check out an interactive demo of this new partnership in action here at Mobile World Congress 2015 in the Innovation City at stand 3A31. Be sure to check out the rest of CNET's MWC 2015 coverage.

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Now you can access AT&T's home security service from your car

It seems that everyone from home security leader ADT to the broadband and cable providers like Time Warner want a piece of the smart home. The logic goes that these companies already have existing relationships with millions of customers and importantly, have hardware in the home. Why not just layer on additional services like home energy management, lighting and thermostat controls and security?

Well apparently theyre not the only enterprise player with similar logic. In December, US Cellular announced its new home automation and security service called OnLook. Whats interesting about US Cellulars move is that it doesnt have existing home infrastructure. Rather,the company has the ability to move data over cellular networks and relationships with mobile phone customers.

Weve seen other cellular providers begin to get interested in IoT and the smarthome. Last fall, Spains Telefonica rolled out a modular IoT platform called Thinking Things. Its not quite a smart home system as much as something an early adopter would savorstackable blocks with sensors for temperature, humidity, and ambient light that can move globally with Telefonicas cellular network.

So whats at play here for the cellular providers? At a basic level, no one wants to be a dumb pipe and the cell providers dream of selling services atop their networks refuses to die (Remember Verizon VCast?). So if US Cellular can figure out a way to build services on its network, theyd love to do that.

But more realistically, companies like US Cellular, and AT&T, which has its own cellular and WiFi powered smart home offering Digital Life, look at their existing customer base and wonder if theres an opportunity to sell to that group, particularly because of US Cellulars strong understanding of mobile. Most of these systems from cellular and telco providers are semi-closed systems that have been engineered to be pretty resilient and stable, even if the closed systems is irritating in that it walls off integration with third party devices.

I wrote recently about how ADT and Life360 are trying to leverage Life360s existing relationship with millions of families through Life360s mobile location sharing app. ADT wants access to those families in order to use Life360s mobile app to provide a better user experience not just for its security services but for additional connected home services.

Similarly, US Cellular is in a position to try and leverage its relationship with mobile customers and its access to mobile broadband to roll out its own smart home service. The service itself includes a home control panel along with door/window sensors, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide sensors, a smart thermostat, a motion sensor and lamp/appliance modules for connected lighting/appliance control. The packages range from $99 to $199 a month and require two year contracts.

To my mind, these are still very pricy packages. AT&Ts Digital Life starts at $40 a month but gets progressively more expensive as you add and install more devices. For someone already paying $50-$100 per month in cell service, doubling that monthly bill seems like a hard sell. I think that gets even more true when you consider that smart home platforms from the likes of SmartThings, Lowes Iris or even Nests burgeoning platform only have hardware costs right now and arguably allow for an open ecosystem of better connected devices.

That said, the likes of Digital Life and OnLook are unlikely to be selling to the individual. Rather theyre targeting the family thats concerned about safety and energy savings. And most importantly, the family that sees the appeal in a one stop solution thats been tested and where all the devices work seamlessly together.

Will consumers trade their favorite devices for one ecosystem that works well even if the monthly cost is a bit high? Its early days in the smart home but we may just see families favor these one stop solutions from cell and telco providers while individuals go for their favorite point applications and build their own ecosystem. Im sure US Cellular would be more than happy just to get a chunk of any smart home family market that comes to fruition.

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Everyone wants a piece of the smart home