Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Q: Hi Ed, My hot water heater is in the garage and my main living area is on the second floor. It takes at least two to three minutes before I can get hot water out of my shower head.

Not only is this frustrating, all the cold water going down the drain is being wasted! A friend told me special pump systems are available to help with this issue, can you please tell me more about these systems?

Deb, Rhode Island

A: When dealing with any hot water issues, I recommend calling a local licensed master plumber to check out your plumbing system for proper operation and repair options.

What I can tell you is that waiting for hot water is a very common issue when the hot water heater is a long distance from the plumbing fixture.

The reason for this is that all the cooler water sitting in the pipes needs to be purged from the system before the hot water reaches the fixture. If you have a lot of water that needs to be purged out, as you said, the wait can be stressful and wasteful.

To help get the hot water faster to your plumbing fixtures, your plumber may install a residential hot water recirculating system. Basically, a recirculating pump is installed with a timer and a special mixing valve that moves hot water around your plumbing system at preset intervals. This way when you turn on a fixture like your shower, hot water should already be closer to the fixture to cut down the wait time.

Bottom line: Installing a residential hot water recirculating system can really "pump up" your water savings.

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Wasting water while waiting for a hot shower

Calabasas, California (PRWEB) May 30, 2014

For the Swim Team at Viewpoint High School in Calabasas, California, being called a swim cult is considered a badge of honor. Allison Hoops, a junior at Viewpoint High School, told local newspaper The Acorn the football team, the soccer team, the cheer squadtheyre all jealous of us. Theres a family atmosphere. Everyone wants the best for you. They truly care. Were one big family. We all support each other.

That overwhelming sense of community may be the Viewpoint Patriots secret weapon, responsible for the teams winning history; the boys team just won its 10th straight league championship, and the girls took their 8th in a row. Clearly, the competition pool at Viewpoint High is a place where champions are made.

Take a walk across the Schools sprawling campus, past the fragrant rose gardens, there is another pool. This pool is used by students of Viewpoints Primary and Lower School, where swimming is a regular part of the physical education program, as well as a component of its summer programs. This is where many of the championship-winning Patriots first learned how to swim.

On top of an adjacent building, out of sight of the many swimmers, parents, and faculty below, solar panels 72 of them to be exact are now hard at work heating the pools water, thanks to an ambitious solar contractor and a new state-wide rebate program that paid for nearly all of the systems cost. The solar panels, manufactured by Aquatherm Industries of Lakewood, New Jersey, were installed by Catersolar of Woodland Hills. Installation was completed on April 21 and, having passed its final inspections on May 9, became the first commercial pool solar heating system in southern California to qualify for a rebate under the California Solar Initiative (CSI) Thermal Program.

Established through the Solar Water Heating & Efficiency Act in 2007, the CSI-Thermal Program was started with the purpose of promoting solar thermal (heating & cooling) technologies in the state of California. The program receives funding through the ratepayers of several major state utility providers, including PG&E, SCE, SoCal Gas and SDG&E, and is regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). By providing rebates based on displaced usage of natural gas, electricity, and propane, Program Administrators hoped to reach their goal of 200,000 systems installed by 2017.

Though the solar industry in the U.S. is no stranger to incentives, pool heating applications have traditionally been excluded from receiving such subsidies. Having a heated swimming pool in your backyard is generally viewed as a luxury, not a necessity says Molly Friar, Sales & Marketing Manager for Aquatherm. Such was initially the case for the CSI-Thermal Program, until Program Administrators, looking for a way to increase participation in the Program, found their answer in commercial pool heating.

There are over 40,000 commercial pools in the state of California at places like schools, hotels, gyms, and homeowners associations the majority of which are heated, says Dave Sizelove, President of Aquatherm Industries. Facilities often have no choice but to continuously heat these pools, which uses an incredible amount of energy.

According to EPA estimates, the combined heating load of all commercial pools in California produces annual CO2 emissions equivalent to 436,310 passenger vehicles driven a total of 4,934,224 miles. That makes commercial pools a great candidate for solar heating, says Sizelove.

Over the past 40 years, the residential market for solar pool heating in California has seen steady growth. However, high upfront costs have resulted in a less successful market penetration in the commercial sector. Once solar is installed, Friar says, a facility can cut up to 100% of its pool heating costs, paying for itself in just a few short years. By reducing upfront costs through a rebate or other incentive, it becomes much more economically feasible for a facility to add a solar pool heating system.

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Solar Pool Heater Installed at Viewpoint School in Calabasas; First Commercial Pool in Southern California to Qualify ...

The water bureau started draining the 144 million gallon Cobbs Hill Reservoir in preparations of repairing the structure. The reservoir was built in 1909.

Water service to Rochester water customers will not be affected by the construction. Work includes concrete and crack repairs and fountain maintenance. Crews are also working on the Upper Gate House portico floor, pipe gallery, screening wells and walls. The project costs $3 million.

This is one of the city's three reservoirs that draw water from Canadice and Hemlock Lakes.

"Water flows through here everyday into the city," said Bob Morrison, Director of Bureau of Water City in Rochester. "It's one the most important things any water bureau can do and that is preventative maintenance to its system to keep reservoirs, piping and tanks running. That is the most important thing we do in our capital programs."

Work on the reservoir will continue through the next several months. The reservoir is expected to be refilled in December. Cobbs Hill Park will remain open during renovations.

Rochester was voted "Best Tasting Drinking Water in NYS" at the Water Works Annual Convention earlier this month.

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Cobbs Hill Reservoir Being Drained

It's not uncommon to see cyclists risking their lives in heavy Poplar Avenue traffic to access Overton Park since, currently, there is no paved pathway along the south side of the park.

But that will change by late 2015 or early 2016. Plans for a paved pathway that would encircle most of the park were on display last night at one of two Overton Park Conservancy meetings to address the need for improved walkways and park entrances.

Ritchie Smith & Associates presented plans to install a five to eight foot walkway that would begin at Tucker and Poplar, head east down Poplar, and wrap around the Old Forest along East Parkway. The pathway would veer into the Old Forest near the new bike gate, and it would connect with the paved forest loop. But near the East Parkway/North Parkway corner, pedestrians would have the option of continuing on the existing loop or taking a new path that hugs the edge of North Parkway and heads west. Currently, there are no sidewalks along North Parkway through the park, but a well-worn foot path in the dirt proves that many runners and walkers use that route anyway.

Also planned is a new paved path circling the greensward. It would connect with the path around Rainbow Lake and extend out around the greensward in a loop. At the meeting last night, architect Ritchie Smith told those attending that when the zoo parking situation is resolved, the greensward "can be one of the first improvements" they'll make.

"We think people would love a path around the greensward, because we know more and more people are using the park for walking and jogging," said Overton Park Conservancy director Tina Sullivan. "A loop around the greensward would provide more space and more greenery for people to see as they walk around."

Improved access points are also planned for several park entrances. Currently, pedestrians and cyclists entering the park from Cooper and Poplar are greeted with a standard MATA bus stop and green space. But a new stone balustrade and some benches will mark that entrance, and a small paved "gathering area" will be added. It will connect with the new paved perimeter path.

"Maybe we can add a new bus shelter to replace that standard MATA shelter with its unsightly advertisements," Smith said.

A pedestrian path is planned the Tucker and Poplar entrance as well since, right now, park users must compete with cars and enter the park through the roadway. Better crosswalks will be added at Poplar and East Parkway, and steps or a ramp will lead park users up the hill into the park. At East Parkway and North Parkway, a 10-foot shared use path will connect with the existing Old Forest loop. And a better crossing is planned for pedestrians entering the park from Rhodes College across North Parkway.

"We already have funding for the Poplar/Cooper connection, so we'll see movement on that early next year," Sullivan said. "The perimeter trail will be done in late 2015 or early 2016, and we have funding for that as well."

The Overton Park Conservancy is hosting another public meeting on Saturday, May 31st at 10 a.m. in the Playhouse on the Square Cafe.

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New Pedestrian Pathways Planned for Overton Park

The full, traditionally planted borders and the grounds in front of the largely Edwardian manor house have always been a focus of attention, together with jaw-dropping views of its farmland and the South Downs beyond. This is where most of the audience, resplendent in evening finery, take their smart picnics during the prolonged interval. New gardens in a more "modern" style were created around the new theatre and associated buildings, and have succeeded miraculously in masking their newness so that they manage not to look at ill at ease. Glyndebourne's gardens are renowned, and big "names" have been involved in their creation Mary Keen and Christopher Lloyd for example. But as John Hoyland neatly puts it, there comes a point in the life of most grand gardens when a kick up the backside is needed, and five years or so ago it was decided that the time had come.

Since 2004, the festival's organisation has been overseen by Gus Christie, grandson of John, who lives at Glyndebourne with his young family (in evidence on occasions when staff forget to move the goalposts from the picnic lawn). It is, therefore, Gus who signs off John's plans for the garden, and bit by bit, border by border, a beautiful, subtly coloured and renovated garden has emerged, with work, of course, still in progress.

The garden has a highly concentrated "season": from mid-May to the end of August, from early afternoon each day, it must simply look perfect. Every edge must be trimmed, every plant groomed, every donated bench must be in its expected position. Criticism is not unknown from among the many opera-goers, and from the members and other benefactors who between them fund everything, and who feel they deserve their money's worth.

ACT I: THE GARDEN

The scene was set for me by a glimpse of the "opera factory", the cavernous area backstage complete with strains of a distant soprano doing her stuff. This put the scale of the vast, hivelike operation that employs 600 people into perspective. Then, from the covered galleries where opera-goers congregate before performances, and where they can picnic on wet evenings, we looked down on the leafy, almost subtropical gardens below (packed with echiums and drama of all sorts, some of it tender: this was clearly the destination of the banana barrow).

Designed to be viewed from above as well as below, with steps that form a grand, theatrical entrance, this area now has grass replacing the previously gravelled, terraced "pools" between the banks of dramatic foliage, which enhances the still, coolness of it all.

From here we strolled along a wide, newly paved path flanked by big borders in front of the house. Here evergreens past their sell-by date have been either removed or ruthlessly pared back; box balls have been threaded informally through immaculate perennial planting. Subtly veiling the rural views are huge, dramatic stands of foxtail lilies, just ready for blast-off. We crossed the wide lawn, separated from sheep pasture by a ha-ha, to look at the re-created crescent border planted in an Edwardian style, with massed cool-coloured perennials and roses, the whole scene backed by a yew hedge separating it from an enclosed lawn ("No opera-goers allowed: croquet for the orchestra in the interval," I was told). There are special "places to be" everywhere in a garden that reeks of romance and drama with massed lavenders, roses (including the new 'Glyndebourne' rose, bred by Harkness), big-border perennials and a modish lacing-through of annual must-haves, such as Agrostemma githago 'Ocean Pearl' and Orlaya grandiflora.

ACT II: THE WILDERNESS

By clearing the site of an old boathouse, a favourite picnic spot has been created. It makes a stage from which John and I surveyed the first of three lakes (only one of these is clearly visible, a gentle wilderness engulfing the rest for now) and the meadows around it, studded here and there with late crimson tulips ('Kingsblood'), and the sheep and lambs on emerald pastures beyond. The whole thing was the epitome of peace and calm. John would like to pinch a bit more pasture from the sheep in order to widen the swaths of meadow-and-mown-walkways, since it is around here, he assured me, that the most secluded picnic areas are found.

BACKSTAGE

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Glyndebourne gardens: 'They must, simply, look perfect'

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You'll have less shade along Monsarrat Avenue soon. More banyan trees are falling victim to an invasive plant pest.

Click here to watch Nana Ohkawa's story.

City officials say combating the pest is an uphill battle.

These Benjamin Banyan trees have withstood a lot in their 50 years fronting Kapiolani Regional Park, but they couldn't stand up to the Lobate Lac Scale. It's a one-centimeter pest that's proven to be too much.

Residents noticed the trees slowly dying.

"I could tell something was wrong because they don't have any leaves on them. It's sad," said Waikiki resident Wanda Gardner.

"Hopefully they replace them with similar trees because they give a lot of shade," said Jose Lopez, a Waikiki resident.

When arborists spotted the infection three months ago they tried to save them with a pesticide.

"It's injected in the base of the tree. The tree uptakes it into the branches and causes the Lobate Lac Scale to sometimes recede," said Chris Dacus of the Department of Parks and Recreation.

But, the treatment failed.

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Tree pest leads to removal of many Waikiki banyan trees

From studying tree rings to creating intricate computer models, scientists are trying to understand why flames behave the way they do.

Ecologist Don Falk points out a fire scar on a fallen tree stump. (Brian L. Frank)

In a stand of ponderosa pine trees high in the Santa Catalina Mountains overlooking Tucson, Arizona, forest-and-fire ecologist Don Falk squatted with me next to a 100-foot-tall tree born a decade or two before American independence. At the base of the trunk, the tree's thick cinnamon-colored bark gave way to a shallow opening a foot wide and two feet high that looked like a series of successively smaller triangles. Falk ran his hand along the charred edges of the opening and explained what we were looking at: a window into the forest's past, and fire's role in shaping it.

Falk studies fire-scarred trees to understand how frequent, severe, and widespread fires have been in an area, and how those patterns have shifted over the centurieswhich is also a key to understanding why some fires are bigger, more unpredictable, and more destructive these days, How do you know anything on Earth has changed? he asks. You have to be able to compare it to how things were in the past. This is how we know the history.

Fire on the Mountain: Making Sense of the Yarnell Disaster

Long before the Mexican-American War, when this land still belonged to Mexico, a fire swept up this mountain slope. Short flames wrapped around the tree and curled like an eddy in a stream, lingering on the back side, where accumulated leaves and pine needles caught fire. The flames stayed long enough to penetrate the bark and killed a portion of the cambium, which produces new cells. The tree slowly healed itself, pushing edges of new growth onto the dead area, year after year. But the scar remained. The next fire that came through left another scar, and the next fire another. If we examined a cross-section of the tree, we could use the rings to figure out the exact year of each fire.

Falk works down in the valley at the University of Arizona's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, which occupies a gleaming new four-story glass-and-metal cube and holds 2 million wood specimens from around the world, the largest archive of its kind. The lab's founder, an astronomer named Andrew Ellicott Douglass, created a new discipline called dendrochronology: the analysis of tree rings to interpret and date past events. He used rings to date ancient Aztec and Pueblo ruins in the southwest by studying trees used in their construction, and he found that trees in the region grow more in wet years than in dry years, a first step in our understanding of climate change.

Falk, his face tanned by long days in the field, walked with me through the pines. He stopped at a large ponderosa-pine stump, two feet across, cut smooth by a chainsaw. To understand wildfire today, everything we've done to try to control it, and the problems those efforts have wrought, this was a good place to start. He brushed fallen pine needles from the stump and offered a quick reading of the tree's fire history: Born in the mid-1700s, it shows scarring from fires every decade or two, the rings curled like breaking waves around the wound. But something curious happens after the marks from an early-1900s fire: the scars stop. The tree rings continue out toward the edge, for decades, slowly healing that last fire wound, until the tree died several years ago.

The Mysterious Science of Fire

Where did the fires go? Grazing animals consumed some of the fuels that would have carried fire. Then, a century ago, we embarked on a campaign to banish fires from forests, with a goal of extinguishing them soon after they started. But that wasn't such a good thing for the forest. When fires don't come through regularly, fuels accumulate. A couple of centuries ago, forests like this one in the southwest might have had a few dozen trees per acre, widely spaced, with an open, savannah-like floor. Today an acre might be crowded with thousands of mostly smaller trees. When fires do burn, they're more destructive, often killing the big trees along with the small.

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How to Read the Mind of a Wildfire