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Hardwood floors are always in fashion. It's no wonder -- they are both handsome and functional. What's more, long-lasting hardwood is uncomplicated to repair and has the kind of good looks that only improve with age. To get your wood floor installation off to the right start, follow these 6 tips.

1. Choose Where to Install Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood flooring brings a touch of coziness and class to your living room, dining room, bedroom, study, den, and man (or woman) cave. Folks who are in love with the look of real wood may also want to put these floors in the kitchen or bathroom. While this is possible, it's tricky: the wood must be sealed around its perimeter and protected with a special finish that is highly water-resistant, but will also allow it to breathe. Only install hardwood floors above grade -- that is, no more than 3 inches below the level of the ground to avoid an overly damp environment.

2. Know the Types of Wood Flooring Materials

Solid wood flooring is available as strips (the commonest kind, which comes in only 3 set widths but variable thicknesses), planks (in a variety of widths, but just 2 set thicknesses), and parquet (wooden slats are held together to form a geometric pattern). It may be sold unfinished or prefinished. Look for a lifetime warranty. Because topnotch results require expertise to achieve, solid wood floors should be installed only by a licensed flooring contractor. Engineered wood flooring (as opposed to laminate, which contains no real wood) comes in the form of planks, made from several thin sheets of wood which have been laminated together.

3. Choose an Installation Method

Compare installation methods based on the type of wood you will be using. Nail down is suitable for installing solid wood, either strips or planks, onto a wood subfloor. Staple down is similar to nail down, with the difference that it uses a pneumatic staple gun. Glue down is the method of choice for parquet or engineered flooring. Floating means the installation of wood flooring, usually of the engineered variety, on top of a layer of padding.

4. Pick the Best Time to Install

If you are building a new home or doing major remodeling, be sure to leave the installation of your hardwood floor until the construction is almost done. Processes such as plumbing or cement work, which involve the use of water, put the flooring at risk.

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6 tips to make hardwood floor installation a success

After devoting most of her working life to a rewarding but modestly paying career in child care, Darlene Bakes was understandably worried about her retirement.

Bakes, 62, hit the financial peak of her career six years ago, when she became the full-time director of the Parent-Child Center at Shoreline Community College. She currently makes $56,788 a year.

She doesnt have a deep investment portfolio loaded with securities and properties. Instead, her wealth is almost entirely in her Seattle house, built in 1928, and retirement-savings accounts from work.

When could she retire? How could she do it?

I was thinking about it a lot, Bakes said.

At that point, she volunteered for a free money makeover by a member of the Puget Sound Chapter of the Financial Planning Association. Bakes was contacted by Carlos Lopez, an Eastside private-wealth manager with Kansas-based Creative Planning.

Lopez examined Bakes goals and finances, and much to her surprise declared her financially independent, which means she has the resources to support herself throughout retirement.

For Bakes, working is no longer a necessity, but a choice.

How did she do it? Lopez said Bakes built a solid nest egg by controlling her expenses, taking full advantage of retirement-saving plans at work and saving money whenever possible.

She saved diligently, despite her circumstances, Lopez said.

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Thrifty habits put retirement in reach for child-care worker

The renovation project for the indoor stadium, which had been in a limbo for almost a decade, was first mooted around the time of a visit by then Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, M.S. Gill, in 2010.

The subsequent delay in the works had been owing to shortage of funds, said an official from the Public Works Department, which had undertaken the work. The renovation project consists of three main components lighting as per international standards, providing air conditioning and civil components, he said.

Of this, the lighting component has been completed, while the piping work for the air conditioning is on. The civil component includes changing of tiles and flooring in the toilet blocks.

With the work in two toilet blocks having been completed, work on fixtures in the remaining two blocks at the rear of the stadium is under way. There was some small damage during cyclone Thane in 2011. The renovation project has cost around Rs 5.5 crore and all pending work is expected to be completed by May .

P. Karunakaran, secretary, Puducherry Table Tennis Association, has expressed satisfaction over the renovation, saying that the government had managed to get the logistics readied in time for the tournament.

We were officially given the stadium only on the morning of the commencement of the event, he said.

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Renovation of indoor stadium likely to be over by May

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Grey Goo - Humans: Architects of Destiny Trailer
Learn the history and strengths of the Human class in Redux! Games RTS title for PC.

By: IGN

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Grey Goo - Humans: Architects of Destiny Trailer - Video

We Architects Feat. Jerry Stamp - Half A World (Official Audio)
Suscrbete al canal oficial de Clipper #39;s Sounds / Subscribe to Clipper #39;s Sounds Official channel http://bit.ly/ClippersYT Escchalo / Listen Deezer: http://b...

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We Architects Feat. Jerry Stamp - Half A World (Official Audio) - Video

Game Cafe Plays - Pier Solar and the Great Architects
Taking a look at Pier Solar for the Wii U. An interesting RPG looking forward to spending more time in it. Let me know what you think in the comments.

By: Jay Flemming

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Game Cafe Plays - Pier Solar and the Great Architects - Video

Amenta Emma Architects, Hartford, Stamford, recession

HARTFORD After recessions, architects are like crocuses.

When developers, governments or nonprofits hire architects, it's what they call a leading economic indicator those contracts will result in workers in hard hats with paychecks many months or a year down the road.

Since any recession, no matter what its cause, leads to a pull back in new construction, months of sustained growth in architecture firms' billings is a concrete sign of business optimism and investment.

Bob Emma, one of the two founders of Amenta Emma Architects, said clients with vision start talking about projects two or three years ahead of when they think they can afford to build, and those conversations were happening as early as 2011 and 2012.

But Connecticut's past that now, he said. "All clients are suddenly asking: 'Can you be in the ground by June?' They recognize the market's back."

Emma said, "Everything looks very rosy for, let's say, two years."

About 30 percent of the firm's work is new buildings though roughly half of its revenue comes from these larger jobs and the rest is either interior design or additions. They are looking to hire two architectural designers with two to 10 years' experience now. Often, they find those candidates at other second-tier cities around the country, but sometimes they recruit a professional from Boston who is tired of big-city costs.

Amenta Emma has 36 employees, with eight of them in a Stamford satellite office established four years ago.

That office came about almost by accident. The firm had been doing a lobby redesign in Bridgeport, and a real estate broker suggested to the partners they should open an office in Stamford. He said the larger architecture firms in that region didn't treat these kinds of jobs as if they were important, Emma said. The Stamford office has grown from two to eight employees in four years.

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Amenta Emma Says Construction Growing Healthily

A Portland architecture firm is opening a Silicon Valley office, hoping to take advantage of the footholds it's already found there.

SERA Architects has been doing Silicon Valley work for clients including Stanford and Google for five years, spokesman Kip Richardson said. Some have said they would have more work for the firm if they had a full-time presence in the Bay Area.

"Now, there's a lot of work in Portland," Richardson said. "Were looking at the long-term and trying to build a more resilient company. Having more geographic diversity is part of that."

The 110 person firm also sees an opportunity to "export" the experience of designing in Portland to Silicon Valley, where Richardson said there's a move to urbanize and address issues around housing and transportation that have cropped up as the tech companies have grown.

Principal Clark Brockman will lead the office, which is expected to grow to three to six employees this year.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com 503-294-5034 @enjus

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Portland's SERA Architects to open Silicon Valley outpost