Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

2014 Addison County Field Days Demolition Derby 4 Cylinder Heat 2
2nd heat of the four cylinders.

By: Uncle Cam

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2014 Addison County Field Days Demolition Derby 4 Cylinder Heat 2 - Video

Walls of the former Talawanda High School building started tumbling down Tuesday morning and by late afternoon, there was a long pile of rubble along what had been the front of the building.

Two senior classes have finished their high school careers in the new building since the old one was last used, but demolition of that building drew a steady stream of residents throughout the day with cameras or phones in hand to capture a photo.

One of those early arrivals with phone in hand was Talawanda district treasurer Mike Davis.

Seeing demolition of the former high school building, Davis watched with mixed feelings. A member of Talawandas class of 1973, it was his high school, but as district treasurer and chief financial officer, it meant money into the district coffers to help pay for construction of a new Kramer Elementary.

When you think about it, this is worth $2.3 million to the taxpayers, Davis said pointing to the demolition work underway. We got $1.2 million for the site and Miami is doing this. That would be another $1.1 million saved by the district.

Before the demolition work began, the former high school building served one more useful purpose as the Oxford Fire Department used its abandoned hallways for training.

Firefighters from Oxford and Milford Twp. used the building for seven sessions to practice things such as forcing doors open, cutting through doors, and setting up hoses inside a large building.

The greatest part of it is that we got to do stuff we usually dont get to do, Oxford Fire Chief John Detherage said. Its like fighting any fire on Miami University property, with large, sprawling buildings, hose logistics and making sure everybody is out safely.

At one session, he said they practiced cutting a hole in the roof, which would be for ventilation of smoke in a fire. Another session saw firefighters cutting a large hole in a heavy door at the loading dock to the old vocational agriculture area.

The Oxford chief said they have been getting more calls in recent years to assist the Milford Twp. department and also calling Milford Twp. for help. Members of that department joined in the training at the former high school for a couple of the sessions.

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Demolition of school a training opportunity for Oxford firefighters

Driver sentenced to 30 years for wrong-way crash Driver sentenced to 30 years for wrong-way crash

Updated: Thursday, August 14 2014 8:00 AM EDT2014-08-14 12:00:30 GMT

A central Missouri man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for wrong-way, drunken driving crash that killed a woman in Cole County.

A central Missouri man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for wrong-way, drunken driving crash that killed a woman in Cole County.

Updated: Thursday, August 14 2014 6:43 AM EDT2014-08-14 10:43:39 GMT

A new report says Missouri's unemployment rate held steady in July while the state gained more than 13,000 jobs.

A new report says Missouri's unemployment rate held steady in July while the state gained more than 13,000 jobs.

Updated: Thursday, August 14 2014 6:42 AM EDT2014-08-14 10:42:48 GMT

Small businesses are gaining a new path to become involved in federally funded transportation projects in Kentucky.

Small businesses are gaining a new path to become involved in federally funded transportation projects in Kentucky.

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Demolition continues on Old Ledbetter Bridge

The demolition of the former Eastern Independent Telecommunications (EIT) building is not the beginning of an immediate new development, but a way to cut costs, a representative of its owner said Wednesday.

A high-hoe continued working on the demolition of the Henry Street building following the issuing of a demolition permit by city hall earlier this year.

The site, owned by Russian-American businessman Alexander Iliassov, was once intended to house a condominium tower. However, city planning director Maureen Pascoe Merkley said there are no planning applications for any other work besides the demolition.

The building was deemed to be such that they wish to remove it, said Pascoe Merkley.

Jim Paul, whose building firm is representing Iliassov on the demolition project, was also unaware of any other plans.

I dont know what his long-term intention is, said Paul.

For now, the only objective is to remove the vacant building and clear the lot, for economic reasons.

Its just the cost of heating ... and maintaining the building, added Paul.

Iliassov planned to demolish the building at some point anyway, he added.

The building right now probably would hamper anything for the future.

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Former foundry fades

Tearing down old military properties to pave way for redevelopment

With the new home for Canadian Forces Station St. Johns now open, more than a dozen vacant buildings in the Pleasantville area are waiting to be demolished

The former Canadian Forces Station Building in Pleasantville is scheduled to be demolished. Photo by Rhonda Hayward/The Telegram

According to the Crown agency responsible for those properties, that job will start before the end of this year, paving the way for more development in the area.

Were taking steps to implement some demolition, said Roger Martin, the acting general manager for real estate in Ontario and the Atlantic region for Canada Lands Company (CLC).

The 35,000-square-metre Surgeon Lieutenant-Commander W. Anthony Paddon Building cost $156 million to build and design. Personnel that previously occupied 18 buildings in Pleasantville sharing space in the new building. According to Martin, the last few people moved into the building at the end of July.

Before demolition takes places, CLC needs to scan the properties for potential environmental hazards to ensure that information is included when the work goes to tender.

We have preparation work to do, as all demolition has to have the substances (inside) to the buildings evaluated so that they can be property removed and disposed of during demolition, said Martin.

CLC expects demolition work will go to tender in the fall.

Were proposing to have demolition commencing before the end of the year, and as all construction work is, its somewhat weather dependent, so well have to see how far along we get.

Continued here:
Pleasantville demolition to start in fall

Published on August 13, 2014

NEW GLASGOW The Martime Building demolition will begin this month, starting with hazardous materials removal scheduled to last for six weeks.

Maritime Building

Following the abatement program, the downtown New Glasgow building will start to come down, beginning in October after Thanksgiving.

The process is expected to last until early November, before Remembrance Day.

The primary objective of the demolition process will be to demolish the building and clean up the site. This will be done in a manner that will protect the workers at the site, protect the public and also, importantly, to reduce interruption to business to the extent possible, given the scope of the project, explains New Glasgows Town Engineer Earl MacKenzie in a release from the town. Access to businesses will be maintained as well as access for emergency vehicles at all times.

Senior Consultant at Campbell Comeau Engineering, Marcel Deveau, provided a technical information briefing for the Provost Street business community at a public session held in the Town Hall on July 25.

Deveau spoke on the safety measures to be put in place, including a protective hoarding that will go over the sidewalk on the east side of the building and adjacent to the rail line on the west side of the building.

There will be both daytime and nighttime traffic control plans, he said.

From 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, the plan will allow for traffic flow to be maintained.

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Maritime Building demolition to start soon

THERE IT GOES. THIS MORNING, WE SAW THE FIRST VISUAL SIGNS OF THE DOWNTOWN PLAZA DEMOLITION MAKING WAY FOR THE NEW ARENA. THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE RIGHT NOW. A LOT OF WORK STILL UNDER WAY. AND A LOT OF WORK AHEAD. ALL OF THIS WORD HAS A LOT OF FOLKS DOWNTOWN SAYING THE DREAM OF THE NEW ARENA FINALLY SEEMS REAL. LET'S GIVE YOU A LOOK AT IT FROM THE GROUND. THIS BUILDING, THE SOUTH END OF DOWNTOWN PALMA, IT LOOKS ENTIRELY DIFFERENT FROM THIS TIME YESTERDAY. SOME PEOPLE MADE A SPECIAL TRIP DOWNTOWN TO WATCH THIS GO ON TODAY. THEY SAID THERE WERE TIMES OVER THE YEARS THAT HE DID NOT THINK THIS DAY WOULD EVER COME. PIECE BY PIECE, WALLS CAME DOWN. THE LOW, A PILE OF DEBRIS THAT USED TO BE ASKED BELOW -- BELOW , A PILE OF DEBRIS THAT USED TO BE THE WALLS. NOW PEOPLE HERE ARE SEEING CONCRETE RESULTS. CREWS STARTED DEMOLISHING WALLS ON THE INSIDE THAT COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO. BUT THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WORK LIKE THIS IS VISIBLE TO THE PUBLIC. THEY TOOK A TRAIN FROM ORANGE VEIL JUST TO SEE IT. I WANTED TO SHOW HER THE DEMOLITION, WHAT WAS THERE. AND THEN WE WILL COME BACK. THE BEFORE AND AFTER? , THE BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER. LONG-OVERDUE AND FANTASTIC, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE IT IS RELATED TO KEEPING THE KINGS AND HAVING A MORE CENTRAL PART OF THE COMMUNITY. TRAFFIC ON L STREET WAS EERILY AFFECTED TODAY. THERE ARE NO -- WAS BARELY AFFECTED TODAY. THERE ARE NO DETOURS. THE SACRAMENTO KINGS WERE ODDLY SILENT TODAY ABOUT THE SIDE OF THEIR NEW ARENA. A TEAM SPOKESMAN DECLINED TO SPEAK ON CAMERA ABOUT THE DEMOLITION. SOME PEOPLE TELL US THEY HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT THE USE OF WATER DURING THE DEMOLITION. ALL THE PEOPLE GETTING A LOOK AT ALL OF THIS FROM THEIR DOWNTOWN OFFICE BUILDINGS, HERE IS AN EVEN BETTER VIEW FROM DAVID ALLEN WHO IS UP ABOVE US IN LIVECOPTER3. HOW DOES THIS LOOK DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU SAW THIS MORNING? VASTLY DIFFERENT. FROM BOBCATS ON THE ROOF TO DRAINS AND -- CRANES AND WRECKING BALLS ON THE GROUND. THE WHOLE SOUTHERN SIDE AND ALL OF THE WESTERN SIDE NOW ARE PRETTY MUCH GONE. THOSE WERE SOLID WALLS THIS MORNING. YOU CAN SEE WHERE IT HAS BEEN PEELED AWAY. A LITTLE BIT LIKE A 90 AND, IF YOU WILL. -- LIKE AN ONION, IF YOU WILL. A LOT OF PROGRESS BEING MADE REALLY FAST. I GET TO SEE THIS EVERYDAY. IT IS A GREAT VANTAGE POINT.

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First phase of demolition at Downtown Plaza site begins

"Deserted Rooms" by Kristina Siegel and Jorg Schnier

"Bruise" (acrylic, 2014) by Alicia Malik

Lots of mortality imagery in the current Buffalo Arts Studio exhibit, featuring an installation by the artist team of Kristina Siegel and Jrg Schnier, and paintings by Alicia Malik.

The installation is called Deserted Rooms and consists of a gallery space and accoutrements in severe white to off-white. White plaster walls on three sides, the fourth wall a kind of diaphanous white scrim curtain with doorway cutouts, and mid-room two garments or outfits, one female, the other ostensibly male, constructed of the same or similar white gauzy fabric, hanging on white hangers, suspended from the ceiling, the female garment a kind of credible nightdress of simple design, the less crediblein such flimsy material and delicate constructionmale outfit, a sort of suit jacket and pants. One other suspended item, a representation of a window, in similar see-through fabric, of similar sewn manufacture. And as room dcor, on the plaster walls, a half dozen or so photographs of modernistic architecture fragments as abstract artwall and ceiling planes and angles of intersection, and what looks like the railing of a pristine modern staircase or balconyagain in whites and off-whites. Puritan modern.

While in the slight air current throughout the gallery from ceiling fans, the hanging items sway gently back and forth, to and fro, ghostly animating the installation. The work as a whole is reminiscent of a famous painting by Andrew Wyeththe centerpiece painting of an Andrew Wyeth exhibit now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.of an open window looking out onto a farm field crossed by tire tracks, a line of dark woods on a rise in the distance, and most prominently in the picture, filmy delicate lace curtains blown inward, into the room, on a gust of breeze through the window. The painting is called Wind from the Sea, and it is also a piece about mortality, I think. About the presence of whats no longer present.

Whereas the paintings by Alicia Malik are reminiscent of nothing I know of. Each painting presents a sole subject matter single dead insectflying or crawling variety, housefly, honey bee, mayfly, or beetledepicted relatively small on a relatively large canvas, the remainder of the canvas offering a subdued painterly background to the focal matter dead bug.

What to make of this work? Its about death, of course, of insects, but also of humans, surely, because weartist and audience alikeare humans, and invariably self-referential. So about likenesses and possible differences between the insect mortality situation and our own. Likenesses such as the complete and inexorable finality of demise. Differences such as that humans have traditionally had recourse to palliativesreal or imaginedto the inexorable finality. Religious beliefs about continuance in some way. Secular schemes of continuance via the faculty of memory somehow. The idea of legacy.

But also just about insects, living or dead. The pictorial style is realistic, though not field guide realistic. But we get to glimpseand in a small way appreciatethe incredible fragility and complexity of the insect mechanism. The wing of a housefly, constructed like a cathedral stained glass window, thinning to translucence in light islands amid dark support structure ridges, like the lead bead network around the stained glass in the window.

And also just about painting. The artist Robert Bechtle painted suburban tract houses, with attached garage, and late model Detroit car in the driveway. That is, painted pictures of tract houses, with attached garage, and car in the driveway. Remarkably uninteresting subject matter, it seemed to some observers. Asked why he chose such subject matter, he responded that the subject of painting is painting, only that, to be a painter, you need to find something to paint.

The Alicia Malik and Kristina Siegel and Jrg Schnier exhibit continues through September 13, with extended hours on Fri (8/22) until 8pm.

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In the White Room

Installation art: See it now, or don't see it at all. Beckett Fest: options for your Beckett fix. The library pops up. Bike In for free films.

Editor's Note: Were posting our Weekend List recommendations onGoJotter.com, as well as here on Crosscut.You can also follow Crosscut's Weekend List at GoJotter.com/crosscut.

* Denotes events that are $15 or less

CASCADE: Installation by Ian McMahon *

If youre reading this and you havent yet seen this site-specific work well, youve only got a few more days before it is magnificently destroyed. Two theater curtains made out of plaster have taken hold of the gallery, a pair of architectural sentinels extending floor to ceiling that you can examine ever so closely, every crinkle and fold. Ian McMahons sculptures address the notion of time and permanence both of art and of space. The show closes Friday then, two days later, one of the curtains will come crashing down. The demolition event is open to Suyama Space Friends; in other words, make a donation to the gallery and witness something special. How special? Take a look at a previous demolition below.

A Momentary event with a Sculpture: Bringing down the curtain Phone Clip from Ian McMahon on Vimeo.

If you go:CASCADE: Installation by Ian McMahon,Suyama Space, (Free). F.D.

Life=Play: An Evening of Short Works and Rarities by Samuel Beckett

Seattle Shakespeare Company and Theater Puget Sound along with 15 let me say that again 15! organizations are celebrating the Irish multi-hyphenated Samuel Beckett playwright-novelist-theater director-poet over the next three months. Which means you can get your Beckett fix in myriad ways: radio plays, poetry readings, even European clown movement. The Seattle Beckett Fest kicks off with Life=Play: An Evening of Short Works and Rarities, which features some of my very favorite thespians (Carol Roscoe, Ray Tagavilla and Rachel Delmar). You can keep tabs on the entire festival by goinghere.

If you go:Life=Play: An Evening of Short Works and Rarities by Samuel Beckett,West of Lenin Theatre, through Aug. 24 ($20). The Seattle Beckett Fest continues at various venues in Seattle through November.F.D.

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The Weekend List: The arts and culture guide to Seattle's good life

AKRON, Ohio -- Ken Merunski has seen home construction mistakes that make him shudder.

He's seen floor joists notched to a dangerous extent to make room for plumbing. He's seen bearing walls that don't align with support beams. He's seen joists butted against ceiling beams instead of overlapping to handle the weight of the roof.

"You'd think the building inspectors would catch it," he said, "and quite often they don't."

Merunski is an architect who sometimes testifies as an expert witness in lawsuits involving residential construction. Between that work and visits to construction sites related to his own architectural practice, he's seen faulty construction that can result in leaks, wall cracks and worse.

Sometimes the builder and the inspector just aren't up to date on requirements for the way materials should be installed, he said. Sometimes they don't know enough about structural engineering to recognize a problem in the making. Sometimes, he said, the builders are taking shortcuts to save money.

That's why Merunski, who owns M.E. Architecture in Seven Hills, Ohio, counsels homeowners to stay vigilant when their homes are being built.

Here are his recommendations.

Show up daily

You've probably already heard the advice that you should visit your home's construction site every day the workers are there. But Merunski takes that recommendation a step further.

Take pictures, he advises. Lots of pictures.

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Potential problems; Be watchful in home construction process