Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

A fatal fire at a boarding house near 22nd and M Streets in late December 2014 prompted questions about Omaha building code.

Video: 7 CAN HELP: Make sure window replacement maintains life-saving feature

As the investigation into what sparked the fire continues, the city's chief building inspector is going public -- warning residents about a often-overlooked part of the code that's in place to help people escape a house or apartment: Egress windows.

"They're one part of what saves lives," said Jay Davis, permits and inspections superintendent for the City of Omaha. "You're looking at the front door, you're looking at egress windows and most importantly, you're looking at smoke detectors to alert you to get out of these egress windows."

READ THE CITY CODE ABOUT EGRESS WINDOWS

What is an egress window? It's a window required in every sleeping room of a residential property. Per city code, an egress window must provide an opening no smaller than 5.7 square feet. The window serves a dual purpose -- letting occupants escape outside and giving firefighters an alternate entrance to the building.

The problem, according to Davis: Some contractors --unbeknownst to homeowners --are cutting corners during windowreplacement jobs, and substituting an egress window with a smaller window.

Davis says it happens with alarming frequency, especially when contractors use pocket windows on replacement jobs.

"They take [the original window] out and they put [the pocket window in] this opening, decreasing the size that was originally there," Davis explained.

That's not to say contractors can't properly install pocket windows following the city code for egress -- it just takes more care.

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Make sure window replacement maintains life-saving feature

Lanham, Maryland (PRWEB) February 25, 2015

Thompson Creek Window Company, the mid-Atlantics leading home improvement replacement products company, today announced it has been honored with the SmartCEO Future 50 award. Washington D.C.s SmartCEO profiles the 50 awarded companies, which represent the areas fastest growing companies based on a combined three-year growth rate of revenue and employees. The 2015 Future 50 winners collectively generate $3.5 billion in annual revenue and employ 13,000 individuals in the Greater Washington area.

The companies we honored this year are growing in spite of the economic hardships we have all been facing. These companies are investing in themselves, investing in their people and rising above the rest. They deserve to be recognized and celebrated because they are moving the economy and the region forward, says Jaime Nespor-Zawmon, president of SmartCEO Events. We are proud to recognize them for their achievements and growth.

We are proud to be a recipient of this award. Our goal is, and always will be 100% total customer satisfaction. Our growth is a result of the business we generate from our satisfied customers and the great feedback they are giving to their friends and neighbors about our company. Winning another SmartCEO Award validates we are succeeding in our mission of making our customers House Proud, said Rick Wuest, president of Thompson Creek Window Company.

For more information on the Future 50 winners, visit http://www.smartceo.com/smartceo-magazine to view the digital edition of the January/February 2015 issue.

About Thompson Creek Window Company The Thompson Creek Window Company is a privately owned and family-operated manufacturer and installer of energy-efficient home improvement replacement products. Founded in 1980, Thompson Creek Window Company began as a manufacturer of energy-efficient, maintenance-free vinyl windows. Since that time, Thompson Creek Window Company has evolved into one of the leading specialty home improvement contracting companies in the nation. The companys product mix includes replacement windows and doors, vinyl siding and a clog-free gutter system. Thompson Creek Window Company is headquartered in Lanham, MD with an 80,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Landover, MD.

About SmartCEO SmartCEOs mission is to educate and inspire the business community through its award winning magazine, connections at C-level events and access to valuable online resources. SmartCEOs integrated media platforms reach decision makers in the Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, metropolitan areas.

About the Future 50 Awards The Future 50 Awards program is the largest and most highly anticipated SmartCEO awards program of the year. This program recognizes 50 fast-growth, mid-sized companies in the region, five large Blue Chip companies and five small Emerging Growth companies. These companies represent the future of the regions economy and embody the entrepreneurial spirit critical for leadership and success. The winners, chosen based on a three-year average of employee and revenue growth, are listed alphabetically, not ranked. The winners are profiled in the January/February issue of SmartCEO magazine and celebrated at an awards reception in January.

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Thompson Creek Windows Reviews as a SmartCEO's 2015 Future 50 Winner

StatePoint

You shouldnt judge a book by its cover, but you can judge a home by its exterior. Making your home the envy of the neighborhood starts with boosting its curb appeal.

From general maintenance to home upgrades, here are three ideas to refresh your homes look:

Update Windows

Replacing your windows with beautifully designed products will give your home a great first impression, not to mention reduce your energy bills and increase your homes value.

After a window replacement, taking care of your new window is just as important. Wash windows every few months so they always look as good as the day they were installed.

Avoid scratching the surface of the glass, or frame, by utilizing non-abrasive agents. Water and a soft cloth is usually all you need to clean windows thoroughly, but a mild cleaner may also be helpful.

Choose Sleek Siding

If you are looking to boost your homes energy efficiency and attain a new look for your exterior, replacing your siding is a great investment that can achieve both of these goals. Just be sure you get a superior product to avoid maintenance down the line. For example, vinyl siding is an ideal product because of its low maintenance and longevity. No matter what color siding you opt for, you can make your entire homes exterior pop by choosing a distinct trim color.

Use a complimentary onlinedesign center, like the one on the Window World website, to help visualize color options for windows, siding and doors.

Link:
Make your home the envy of the neighborhood

Salt Lake City - Utah (PRWEB) February 24, 2015

LINQ Home, a maker of energy-saving home automation products, today announced the launch of a Kickstarter Campaign to improve Heating and Cooling through smart vents.

LINQ is providing households with unprecedented control over HVAC systems. By sensing the temperature in each room and adjusting dampers on every vent, LINQs system enables room-by-room temperature control. The system routes air to the rooms that need it, and not to those that dont. Air flow data processed through algorithms, opens and closes the vents and prevents strain on the furnace or AC unit. Rooms reach their set points faster, run times of HVAC equipment are reduced, and the increased efficiency translates to money savings and consistent comfort.

I couldnt believe the temperature variances between the rooms in my home, said Jason Griggs, founder and CTO of LINQ Home. When I first started testing our Smart Vent system there was a 12 degree difference between rooms. The variance resulted in seemingly endless thermostat wars.

LINQ Smart Vents have all the perks of a zoning system, at less than half the price, and with none of the inconvenience of construction. The simple-to-install, retrofittable system saves users up to 50% on monthly heating and cooling costs.

This technology is such a no-brainer, said Doug Wells, a homeowner and LINQ Home Beta tester, every room in my home is the temperature I want it to be at. I dont waste any time fiddling with vents or worrying about my thermostat.

LINQ Home has 40 days to reach the Kickstarter funding goal of $30,000. The smart vent systems run from $299 to $1,900. Every system includes smart vents and a brain. The brain communicates with the vents, the internet, and most open API smart thermostats. With the funds raised, LINQ will begin commercial production of their patent pending smart vents.

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Contribute to the Kickstarter at http://linqhome.com/kickstarter

About LINQ Home LINQ Home is an innovative, energy-saving home automation company. LINQ Home technologies stress comfort, consistency and control. More information on the company can be found on Twitter or Facebook.

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LINQ Home Launches Energy-saving Smart Vent Crowdfunding Campaign

A little museum has been telling a big story about Tucsons roots, urban renewal and the oldest Mexican-American barrio in Arizona.

But no more. La Pilita Museum now is closed after 15 years.

Founders and directors Joan Daniels and Carol Cribbet-Bell are packing up the memories housed at the 1940s building at 420 S. Main Ave. in downtown Tucson.

Grants became more competitive in the economic downturn. Then grants started to dry up altogether and little cultural house museums such as ours began to suffer, Cribbet-Bell said.

Sometimes she and Daniels didnt take paychecks as they tried to raise money to keep the museum going.

About 6,000 tourists visited each year, and the museum had a membership of about 125. After a year of discussions with La Pilita Foundations Board of Directors, the museum officially closed Feb.1.

When Daniels and Cribbet-Bell took on the building as a community service project for Carrillo school children, it had been vacant for about a decade.

It had no roof, no plumbing, no heating or cooling, and there was food in the refrigerator from 10 years before, Cribbet-Bell said. It was pretty daunting.

Through a series of grants, the two former teachers renovated the property and started a museum and a free after-school program. It grew into a nonprofit association.

For several years, third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students learned about the neighborhoods place in Tucson history, collected oral histories, gave tours of the museum and operated the gift shop.

Excerpt from:
Museum that displayed Tucson's lost barrio history closes

When the Hines development company unveiled plans for anew office building in the North Loop section of Minneapolislast November, they received the requisite amount of coverage, even a write-up in the Wall Street Journal.

But given the frequency of construction announcements in the midst of downtown's boomlet, the significance of what its builders call T3 got a bit lost. Too bad, because if the seven-story, 210,000 square foot office building is completed, it will not only be one of just a handful of tall buildings in the world made primarily of woodit will be the first such building in the United States.

Pretty bold for a buildingbeing advanced without a tenant.During a presentation on T3 (forTimber, Technology and Transit) before the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission earlier this month, Hines director of development, Robert Pfefferle, said the company is still talking to prospective clients about occupying the building. There wouldn't seem to be a shortage of interest: the site for T3 is surface parking behind the Dock Street Flats at 333 Washington Avenue N., a trapezoidal parcel that abuts the I-94 ramps from 3rd Street N. and the Cedar Lake Trail.There is a suburban-to-urban migration that is happening on a national basis and the North Loop is an attractor for these knowledge workers, tech workers, Pfefferle said.

Beyond the name that tries to connect with younger workers and entrepreneurs, beyond the modern graphics, T3's novel building materials have the potential to make it an it building both regionally and nationally.Perhaps that is why Houston-based Hines is willing to take a chance on what is an intriguing but still uncertain technology.

Pfefferle fended off a request to talk further about the project until spring, and lead architect Michael Green of Vancouver didnt respond to calls and emails. But he has done plenty of talking in the past, especially about his ideas regarding wood, as both a building technology and a response to climate change.

Indeed, the proposed design isnt simply a concrete and steel building with lots of wood trim and accents. It is fundamentally different a building made of wood. And those who are expecting a 21st century version of the structures that remain dominant in the Warehouse District will be disappointed or surprised. Those massive, old-growth timbers used a 100 years ago (think the interior of Butler Square) arent much available anymore. Instead, the material to be used in T3 is modern, what architect Green calls new-technology wood or Mass Timber construction.

This building is very unique, Green told the commission. It is the first large-scale office building built of timber in America. It is part of a revitalization of century old ideas of how to build buildings. At a TED talk in 2013, Green spoke about of the magic of wood: Ive never seen anyone walk into one of my buildings and hug a steel or concrete column. But Ive actually seen that happen in wood buildings.

2013 TED Talk of Michael Green discussing why we should build wooden skyscrapers.

Noteverything in the building will be made of wood; the foundation and first story will be concrete and steel. But both the elevator core and the floor plates are assembled from solid columns and panels of engineered lumber. The panels vary in size but can be made as large as eight feet by 64 feet and as thick as a few inches up to 16 inches. Built elsewhere and trucked to building sites, the panels can be assembled more quickly than traditional steel and concrete buildings. One description of the process is familiar to anyone who has assembled IKEA furniture: Flatpack.

Ultimately these are very large, very dense solid panels of wood, Green wrote in his manifesto, The Case for Tall Wood Buildings. [PDF] Cross Laminated Timber is made from laminated layers of milled lumber set at 90 degree angles, Laminated Strand Lumber is made from a matrix of thin wood chips and Laminated Veneer Lumber is made from thin laminations of wood, similar to plywood but on a much larger scale, Green noted.

Link:
Minneapolis' office building of the future will be made of, uh, wood?

The 1.1-million-square-foot 609 Main spec tower is part of an 18-million-square-foot office pipeline in Houston.

LOS ANGELESThat apartment construction is going through a boom period is not news. And CBRE reported last week that the development pipeline for industrial is quite full at 140 million square feet. Office development, by contrast, has been limited to a handful of markets since the downturn: notably Houston, where more than 18 million square feet are in the works; and Manhattan, which the New York Post reported Tuesday will see at least 9.5 million square feet of new, as-yet unleased space hit the market by 2018and even more if a proposed office tower near Grand Central Terminal comes off the drawing board.

That status quo appears to be changing. In its outlook report for the office sector for 2015, Kroll Bond Rating Agency reported recently that the amount of rentable building area is now the highest since just before the capital markets crisis of 2008. Higher demand and improving fundamentals have contributed to an increase in construction activity, according to KBRA.

In its Annual Strategy Outlook report, Principal Global Investors reports that office is at the beginning of a new construction cycle, but not necessarily one that will result in excessive supply. The dearth of capital during the depths of the last recession coupled with the precipitous declines in both prices and office rents has kept the construction pipeline largely dormant. However, says Des Moines-based Principal, the capital spigot for office construction is beginning to reopen as rents and pricing recover.

There are limits on how far that spigot will open, of course. Principals report notes that non-recourse construction financing remains unavailable, while some banks are unwilling to finance speculative office construction at all, even with recourse provisions and meaningful equity. Even so, several markets have begun to see pipelines come to life, and the firm says this year will see the most significant additions to office stock of this cycle to date. While completions rates nationally remain well below historical trend, a few markets are expected to see supply equal or exceed historical trend in over the next two years.

Exactly how much space is under construction depends in part on the source. KBRA puts the tally at 73.8 million square feet across its KPrime markets at the end of the fourth quarter of 2014. CBRE puts a higher number on it: 88.7 million square feet under construction at years end, up from 83.6 million at the end of Q3, with 20 of the markets CBRE tracks reporting activity at 2% or more of standing inventory.

A particularly notable trend is a revival of multi-tenant construction. CBRE says that in Q4, 8.8 million square feet of such space came on line, nearly 60% more than the 5.5 million square feet of new multi-tenant supply added in Q3 and a 7.8% year-over-year increase. The firm says Q3s total was more evenly split between downtown and suburban markets, with 3.8 million square feet delivered in CBDs and 5.0 million square feet completed in the suburbs.

Although annual multi-tenant completions reached their highest level since 2010 last year, the total of 22.3 million square feet remains less than half the historical average, according to CBRE. However, the concentration of multi-tenant deliveries in only a few markets indicates that the strongest metros have fully recovered to a standard supply cycle. Five marketsHouston, New York City, Dallas/Fort Worth, Washington, DC and San Franciscoeach saw more than one million square feet of multi-tenant office space delivered in 2014. That being said, CBRE notes that Q4s increase in overall office development was driven entirely by single-tenant construction.

Even so, CBRE says, Construction activity has broadened across markets as it has risen, keeping constructions share of existing office market inventory relatively manageable in most markets. As a case in point, DTZs Q4 Office Trends Report puts the tally of space under construction at 103.8 million square feet across the 80 markets it tracks. Of those 80 markets, just 13 had no space in the pipeline as the quarter ended.

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Office Pipeline Fills Up Across US

Potter County Judge Nancy Tanner campaigned for office in 2014 with a pledge to implement a new vision for the county.

She's gone big.

Tanner, who took office in January, is considering a three-pronged strategy for repairing and replacing some of the county's criminal justice infrastructure. It's going to take some time, lots of study and a serious dose of patience to see the project to fruition, she cautioned.

The payoff would result in the construction of a new District Courts Building, which currently sits across Fillmore Street from the renovated County Courthouse. It's a building that former County Judge Arthur Ware whom Tanner succeeded refers to derisively as The Grain Elevator.

But to get to that point, Tanner believes some other things have to happen first. She's mapping out a sequence and a strategy for getting there.

We need to get the sheriff a new administration building, Tanner said in an interview at her courthouse office. Sheriff Brian Thomas's department occupies about 24,000 square feet at 608 South Pierce Street. The first thing we need to do is build him an admin building next to the county jail, Tanner said.

Once that's done, the county would tear down the old administration building, leaving a vacant lot already owned by the county.

The next step in the sequence is to build a new mental health office and provide some space for female jail inmates who currently are housed in the jail, according to Tanner, who said she would prefer to have the females housed away from the male inmates. We could use that as an intake center for incoming inmates, she said.

Tanner said she would like to see a mental health court set up to process individuals with mental or emotional disorders. She noted that a large percentage of jail inmates are diagnosed with some form of mental illness. Tanner said she's talked already with 181st District Judge John Boardand 47th District Judge Dan Schaapabout the possibility and that they've expressed interest in such a court.

The property is at Fifth Avenue and Bowie Street, which the county also owns already, she said.

Continue reading here:
Potter County judge ponders big 'vision'

By Chris Mays

cmays@reformer.com @CMaysReformer on Twitter

WILMINGTON >> Construction and other development-related activities have the Hermitage Club in hot water.

According to a lawsuit filed by the Vermont Attorney General's Office, the group allegedly performed construction activities without land use permits; failed to comply with existing permit conditions; performed construction activities without a stormwater permit; discharged into state waters without a permit; constructed a building without a wastewater and potable water supply permit; altered a dam without authorization; and disturbed a significant wetland without approval.

The group owns and operates a private ski resort at Haystack Mountain as well as a nearby golf course and inn.

"Defendants engaged in extensive construction and development activities at the property without necessary state approvals," the document stated.

The state claimed Hermitage Club was told a stormwater construction permit was needed in 2011 when seven single family homes were being constructed and snowmobile paths were being relocated and created. Bridges to cross streams were also constructed while trees were cut and clear.

"Hermitage Inn obtained the Low Risk permits after-the-fact for these," the lawsuit stated. "In the fall of 2012, Hermitage Inn removed additional trees and vegetation. The tree cutting ... took place within a Class 2 forested wetland and buffer zone of an unnamed tributary to Cold Brook."

Between 2011 and 2014, the state claimed portions of construction projects connected with the ski resort were done without state permits which address environmental and other concerns. The state said a permit regarding a wind turbine's construction and electrical work in October 2012 was obtained in September 2013. Other "unauthorized work" involved excavating for a beginner slope, construction of a summit building, construction of a snowmaking line and construction of a ski lift.

During a November 2012 site visit, District Environmental Commission Stormwater Analyst Kevin Burke said he observed unauthorized soil and earth disturbance associated with construction near the beginner slope and ski lifts. He also noted a failure to mark construction limits and set up required fencing.

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Hermitage Club charged with permit violations

Google Biz Listing for Kitchen Dealers -- Part 1
Active New Hampshire kitchen dealer show how to add 10 to 20 more kitchen remodels to your business every 12 months.

By: Gary Stevens

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Google Biz Listing for Kitchen Dealers -- Part 1 - Video