Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

It's almost painful to shell out hard-earned money for some home projects. Unlike adding a new deck or remodeling the kitchen, replacing a sump pump is hardly cause for a party.

But that's precisely the kind of job you need to invest in occasionally, if you want to keep your home in good shape.

Bowing to that reality, and hoping to inspire homeowners to plan any necessary maintenance they've been putting off, we compiled a list of dull but important home improvement projects:

10. Gutter cleaning: This involves ladders and getting your hands (and everything else) dirty with leaves and other gunk. It's unpleasant, especially if you do it yourself, but you'll have a bigger and more costly problem to deal with if clogged gutters and downspouts cause water damage outside and inside your home. Of course, you can always decide to hire a reputable gutter cleaner or handyman for the job.

9. Window installation: Replacement windows can set you back thousands of dollars and even though they make your home more comfortable, reduce energy usage and are easier to clean than old-style windows, it's likely the neighbors will look right through your efforts.

8. Foundation repair: Who wouldn't rather spend money on new furniture instead of on a fix for fissures or cracks in basement walls? But ignoring wall cracks, separations and crumbling concrete won't sit well if you want your home's basement, crawl space or slab to properly support your house.

7. Removing mold: Mold can cause serious respiratory problems. Make sure to hire a reputable company to inspect for mold and to remove it. Don't just paint over mold.

6. Toilet repair: Resist the temptation to close the lid on those icky issues. If a plunger won't take care of a clog, or you're unable to take care of a perpetually running toilet yourself, contact a reputable plumber.

5. Insulation: It's easy for the insides of your attic and walls to be out of sight, out of mind. But it's important to invest in insulation if you want to be comfortable at home and wise about your energy spending.

4. Sump pump: Failing to maintain your sump pump and backup battery could lead to many more dollars eventually draining from your bank account.

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Don't put off home projects

A major section of the Waldron Street reconstruction, begun last July, should be completed by next Friday.

All that remains to be done, according to an update from the citys Engineering Department, is new asphalt paving of the outer lanes of 17th Avenue at Waldron, adding lane markings on Waldron, on the repaved portions of south hospital drive and on 17th and some final grading, erosion control maintenance and grass seeding.

The $1.1 million project involved reconfiguring Waldron between 17th and 23rd Avenues into three lanes with a center turn lane. About 2,000 vehicles a day make left turns off Waldron into various businesses, including Hutchinson Regional Medical Center, the Hutchinson Clinic and the Dialysis Center. A new road base was built, along with new curbs and gutters and an 8-foot-wide sidewalk on the east side of Waldron. A right turn lane from westbound 17th Avenue onto Waldron also was added.

The construction was done in several phases to maintain access to the medical facilities throughout the work.

This past week construction workers finished milling and paving Waldron from the south hospital drive to 17th as well as the center lanes of 17th between Waldron and K-61. They also installed a railing along the Waldron walkway over a drainage ditch just south of 23rd and completed electrical work at 17th.

On Friday, the only portion of Waldron still closed was between the south hospital drive and the entrance to the Dialysis Center.

According to the update by Senior Civil Engineer Michael Kramer, the outer lanes of 17th, which were milled this week, should be repaved on Monday. Pavement markings are scheduled to be added on Wednesday and all of Waldron is expected to be open to through traffic by the end of the week.

Design work for the final phase of the reconstruction of Waldron between 23rd and 30th Avenues has been completed, and work to relocate utility lines is underway. The city will solicit bids on the street construction in December, and that work is expected to begin during the 2015 construction season.

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Waldron street work should be finished by June 13

Maybe your first sighting of a sod webworm invasion is moths flitting about through your landscape. What are they doing and are they affecting the grass, shrubs or even your cloths? These brown dingy moths could give the cat something to chase and may set a few new residents in a bit of a tizzy but for most gardeners they are a well-known start of the summer lawn pest season. By the way, they do not affect shrubs or clothing.

Actually the arrival of sod webworm moths appears early this year. They are more likely Fourth of July arrivals but they are already here. You might blame it on the warm winter. Maybe they did not die back to South Florida as they normally do or maybe they just over wintered here.

First signs of these insects are the moth stages that move about in the yard in the late afternoon. They can be numerous and are about impossible to catch without a butterfly net. They flit about laying eggs that could produce the grass feeding larvae we call webworms. I say they could, because many eggs and young larvae are consumed by natural controls of bugs and spiders living in your lawn. So, you may never see the webworms or their damage.

Only when you notice the grass starting to disappear might you become a bit concerned sod webworms are at work. Now here is some good news. They like to feed in crabgrass the most. Just think they might only eat the crabgrass and leave the St. Augustine alone. Well that is wishful thinking.

If you do have sod webworms feeding, dont get too nervous. The voracious larvae seldom kill an otherwise healthy lawn. Still, most gardeners do not like to see their grass chewed down to nubbins. If you have sod webworms feeding, some natural controls are available as Dipel or spinosad containing insecticides found at local garden centers. Where needed many other good insecticides are ready to use too. Just follow the label for the product you choose. One treatment should be all you need.

Sod webworms are easy to control. There is no reason to let them mow down your lawn.

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Sod Webworms Are Back In Town

Freddy G - "Feng Shui" ft Spitboxer - GorillaTainment
Freddy G - "Feng Shui" ft Spitboxer - GorillaTainment (Promo) off his upcoming EP coming soon . http://www.reverbnation.com/freddyg860 http://www.thisiszitro.com http://www.rever...

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Freddy G - "Feng Shui" ft Spitboxer - GorillaTainment - Video

Feng Shui. What #39;s the deal with it? Why do it?
Feng Shui is something that I #39;m really into. It is our space telling us what our beliefs are in a way. Our environments are reflections of who we are and wha...

By: The Intuitive Actress

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Feng Shui. What's the deal with it? Why do it? - Video

hide captionAbout 40 miles east of Los Angeles, houses in the new College Park subdivision are designed to have good feng shui.

About 40 miles east of Los Angeles, houses in the new College Park subdivision are designed to have good feng shui.

If you leave Los Angeles, Calif., on Interstate 10 and head east for about 40 miles, you'll run into a quintessentially suburban phenomenon: the opening of a subdivision.

hide captionIn a house with good feng shui, the staircase leads away from the front door so the energy doesn't rush out before it can do good for the house.

At one such development called College Park in Chino, Calif., the lawns are bright green, the D.J. is spinning classic rock and a lot of the conversations are in Mandarin. Among those looking for a house is Eddie Yung. He lives in China now, but he's moving to California.

The number of Chinese buying homes in the U.S. has more than doubled since 2007, with most of those sales in Southern California. Some are buying for investment purposes prices are positively cheap compared to the market in Beijing or Shanghai and others are planning to start a life in the states.

Marketing to those Chinese buyers has meant learning about what customers want in a house's design, says Mark Torres, a division president for Lennar Homes, the company that's building the subdivision.

"We consider feng shui elements in all our designs," Torres says. "Everything from the water-fire elements and making sure that we don't have those types of conflicts [and] designing the entry of the homes to keep all that positive energy in the home."

Just a few miles from College Park is the town of Chino Hills, which Lisa Dutton calls home. But her house has feng shui problems. It's had issues since she bought it from a Chinese seller 15 years ago.

"As he was moving out, he told us the reason he was moving was the house didn't have good chi," Dutton says. "We had no idea what chi was! Had no idea whatsoever. So, we bought the house."

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To Sell A House In California, It Might Need Good Feng Shui

Luna flat over fences
Luna, 2000 welsh cross 14 #39;2 #39; #39; dappled bay mare.

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Luna flat & over fences - Video

Hunger Games: Fences by Paramore
I made this music video for phoenix comicon and I won!!!

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Hunger Games: Fences by Paramore - Video

The rock fences that line Paris Pike are rife with historical significance. Some of the rock fences date to the 19th century, when Irish immigrants found work building the enclosures for plantation owners in the Bluegrass region who wanted to emulate the beauty of English country estates.

The state went to a lot of effort to preserve, move and protect the fences as part of a nearly $7.5 million-per-mile Paris Pike renovation that was designed to blend into, rather than consume, the landscape. At $93 million, the Paris Pike makeover was one of the most expensive road projects of its time and kind when it opened in 2003.

Eleven years later, significant chunks of the fences have crumbled, and there isn't money set aside for repairs.

Henry Alexander said he has noticed increasing portions of the historic rock wall fences deteriorating in recent months.

"It's kind of bad in spots," said Alexander, retired general manager of Sterling Stud Farm in Lexington and past chairman of the Paris Pike Corridor Commission. "I don't know whether somebody hit them or if it's the weather. Some of the old fences in the median in the middle are getting in rough shape."

The freeze-thaw cycle of winter and automobile impacts are likely culprits, said Natasha Lacy, public information officer for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. The state is responsible for repairing the fences in the median of the 12.5-mile route between Paris and Lexington.

Those median rock fences previously were on the road frontage of farms on either side of the road. If the fences couldn't be avoided during the renovation, they were dismantled and reconstructed, said Phil Logsdon, assistant director of Environmental Analysis for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and former environmental coordinator for the Paris Pike project. About 2 miles of fences were rebuilt, he said.

Most of the rock fences affected during the widening were in Fayette County near Elmendorf and Normandy farms, Logsdon said.

Alexander said Millennium Farm and other property on the western side of the project also were affected.

Horse farm owners are much quicker at performing needed repairs to their rock fences, which line either side of Paris Pike, Alexander said.

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Historic fences saved in remodeling of Paris Pike are crumbling

GAMES bosses have confirmed that controversial security fences in Glagsow's East End will stay up until at least August.

And there will be no financial compensation for residents in Dalmarnock who say they have put up with "five years of hell."

The Evening Times can also reveal similar fences have been erected at Hampden Park and Celtic Park, and will be installed at other venues including the lawn bowls centre at Kelvingrove and Cathkin Braes mountain biking track.

Paul Main, Chief Superintendent in charge of community engagement for the Games, said the need for the fencing will become clearer as the event start date nears, when it will become a "transport mall" for athletes and deliveries.

Mr Main said: "I think when people start visiting this venue, as well as others including for the lawn bowls, badminton and squash, they will see the same thing.

"There is no difference to the fence in Springfield Road and the fences at any other venues - Cathkin Braes, the Royal Commonwealth pool in Edinburgh, for example.

"The difference is that it's up so early because it's one of the first venues to become live. It's also in such close proximity to well-established residential communities.

"As the Games progress it could be they realise it's not just them, it will be happening across the city."

Speaking to the Evening Times, Paul Zealey, head of legacy and engagement on the Commonwealth Games organising committee, said he recognises there have been "isolated cases" where residents were not given adequate communication.

Mr Zealey said letters were issued to members of the community informing them of the work due to take place and what the impact would be for them.

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The Commonwealth Games