Category Archives: Construction

Optimizing Your Outdoor Living Environment

Park. Architecture, exterior.

Photo from Dreamstime

 

(NewsUSA) – For many homeowners, the backyard is not at the forefront of their home-design plans. But procrastination can be an advantage when it comes to outdoor living. By the time many people consider the backyard, they have developed a strong sense of their own décor personality.

Most consumers’ design styles can be classified as traditionalist, bohemian, modern, eclectic, rustic or industrial, according to Belgard, a company dedicated to outdoor living design and elements for patio spaces and beyond.

Fortunately, there are backyard design plans to suit any taste, as well as any budget. Some design elements that might have particular appeal to different décor personalities include:

*For the traditionalist:

Classic comfort. What is the primary purpose of a patio? A place for sitting and relaxing. Attractive, sturdy pavers in appealing patterns provide easy walking and an artistic base for conversation nooks of tables, chairs, planters, and picnic tables.

*For the bohemian:

Fire pit. Fire pits are an easy way to promote cozy gathering for all ages. And everyone can appreciate freedom from bugs; wood fires can help hold mosquitoes at bay.

*For the modernist:

Multiple levels. Homeowners seeking a modern look can consider a range of options for walkways and pavers that might include steps and slopes to wind through a terraced garden.

*For the eclectic:

Water features. But not just for swimming. Homeowners can show off an eclectic backyard style with a fountain, fish pond, or other water feature that makes a splash.

*For the rustic:

Eating out. 

Cooking outdoors can reach a new level, as advanced outdoor kitchen units allow guests to help with meal preparation or just chat with the host/chef while enjoying the outdoor setting.

*For the industrial:

Unique lighting is a way to make a statement and set a mood in an outdoor setting. Some ways to get creative with light include not only hardscape lighting and illuminated planters, but short-term elements such as lighting fixtures that highlight cool metals and metallics for a more urban, industrial vibe.

Belgard, part of Oldcastle Architectural, was established in 1995 and remains a respected source of durable, classic, stylish outdoor-living products and a resource for design ideas to help homeowners take on backyard design with confidence.

Visit www.Belgard.com for more ideas on optimizing your outdoor living environment.

 

5 Deck Makeover Projects Under $300

httpv://youtu.be/zBWuHbRWgpc
By: John Riha

Published: July 2, 2012

Want to upgrade your deck but watching your budget? Here are 5 easy deck makeover ideas, many well under $300.

You won’t have to plug them in or wire anything, either. Their solar-charged batteries are renewed every day, and the lights are built to withstand all kinds of weather.
Types and cost:

  • Paper lanterns (made from synthetic, weatherproof nylon; $20-$30) are made for hanging and come in all sorts of fun shapes, sizes, and colors.
  • Carriage lights can be fixed on top of a pillar or railing newel post. $45-$150.
  • Solar illuminated replicas of old-fashioned mason jars can be set on any flat surface, about $35.
  • Rope lights have small LED bulbs inside a flexible cord. A 25-foot-long rope with solar charger and stand is $25.

2. Install a stone landing at the foot of your deck stairs

3. Put up a privacy screen
4. Paint a faux floor rug on your decking
5. Wash and refinish your wood decking


2. Install a stone landing at the foot of your deck stairs

Dress up the transition from your deck to your yard with a little hardscaping — a stone landing at the bottom of your deck stairs. Stones are a natural compliment to wood decks, and they’ll help prevent mud from forming where there’s heavy foot traffic.

Cost: Flagstone is priced by the pound; you’ll spend $60-$100 for enough stone for a 3-by-4-foot landing.

How-to: Techniques for installing a landing are the same as putting in a patio, although you’ll have to temporarily support your existing stairway while you work around — and under — it.

What else: You should be able to add a landing in less than a day. It’ll get done faster if you hire a pro, but it’ll cost you another $150-$200 in labor.
3. Put up a privacy screen
Whether you’re relaxing alone au naturel or entertaining friends, a little home privacy is always welcome. You can add some vertical supports and fill in a variety of cool screening materials that are as nice for your neighbors to look at as they are for you.

Types and costs:

  • Bamboo fencing comes in a 6-by-16-foot roll for $20-$25.
  • Lattice panels are either wood or plastic, $15-$30 for a 4-by-8-foot panel.
  • Grow climbing plants on a trellis ($20-$100) to create a living privacy screen. Plant climbing vines in tall containers ($40-$120) to raise them above the deck surface and give them a head start filling in your screen.
  • Outdoor fabric resists moisture and fading; $12-$120 per yard. You’ll pay another $20 to have a seamstress cut and hem a 3-by-5-foot panel.

How-to: Your privacy screen should integrate with your deck; make the framework using the same basic materials as your deck railing and structure.
What else: Make sure to position your privacy screen where you’ll get maximum benefit. Sit on your deck and check your lines of sight.

4. Paint a faux floor rug on your decking

httpv://youtu.be/e2JDw09zr2c

Punch up a boring old deck with a faux rug. This is a fairly low-cost project with a big wow factor, and one you can share making with your (well-behaved) kids. It works best on a newly cleaned deck (see below.)

Cost: Most of your cost will be deck stain or paint in various colors. Because you won’t be using that much stain per color, you can buy quarts. Figure $15-$20 per quart.

How-to: Figure out a size, sketch out the design on your decking, and then all you have to do is paint or stain between the lines. You can use painter’s tape as a guide, but a little leakage is likely on a wood decking surface.

5. Wash and refinish your wood decking

httpv://youtu.be/FqrR37PvqHE

The ultimate deck makeover is none other than a good cleaning. Applying a coat of deck sealant afterwards ensures your wood decking looks great and will last for decades.

Cost: There are many brands of deck cleaning and brightening solutions. Some require the deck to be wet; others need the decking to be dry. Some are harmful to plants and you’ll have to use plastic sheeting to protect your landscaping. Consult the instructions carefully.

You’ll pay $15-$25 per gallon, enough to clean 300 sq. ft. of decking.

How-to: Scrubbing with a good cleaning solution and rinsing with a garden hose is more foolproof than scouring your decking with a power washer that may damage the surface of the wood.

Looking for a Building and Design Contractor?

Call John J. O’Dell
O’Dell Construction
Quality Building since 1971

(530) 263-1091
Email Quality Building & Design
State Contractors License 261854

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What’s the Color of Your Front Door Say About You?

Photo Credit: Paint Quality Institute
Photo Credit: Paint Quality Institute

The front door of a home can be an attention-getting feature on the home’s exterior, beckoning potential buyers inside.

“Like a necktie, which is the focal point of an outfit, the front door is the focal point of the home,” says Debbie Zimmer, color expert at the Paint Quality Institute. “The color there sends a strong message.”

So what message could the color on the front door of your listings be conveying? Color psychologists suggest that the color of the front door can make a powerful statement about the home or the owner. Here’s what they say the different front door hues can mean, according to the Paint Quality Institute:

  • Blue: Conveys a place of refuge or retreat
  • Green: Projects health, tranquility, and harmony
  • Black: Projects strength, power, and authority
  • Red: Conveys passion, energy, and excitement
  • Brown: Offers a natural look that can convey warmth, stability, and reliability

Source: On November 19, 2012, in Design Psychology, by Melissa Tracey

 

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

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NID System Improvements Coming to Cascade Shores, Nevada County

NID System Improvements Coming to Cascade Shores taken May 2012 taken with my cell phone Samsung Galaxy Note
NID System Improvements Coming to Cascade Shores taken May 2012 taken with my cell phone Samsung Galaxy Note

Residents of Cascade Shores east of Nevada City will be getting a larger, more reliable public water system, under actions taken Wednesday (May 23) by the Nevada Irrigation District Board of Directors.

The board voted to purchase 4400 feet of new eight-inch pipeline to replace deteriorating and undersized 4-inch and 6-inch main lines installed in the 1960s and 1970s by the developer of Cascade Shores. The new pipe will be purchased from low bidder Groeniger & Co. for $129,800.

The system improvement is planned along Cascade Loop, Cascade Drive and Artic Close and also includes nine new fire hydrants. NID maintenance crews are slated to begin installing the new pipeline in June.

The overall project is budgeted at $350,000 and is part of a systematic program to upgrade aging water infrastructure in four Nevada County residential communities developed in the 1960s and 1970s. An initial project was completed in Alta Sierra last year, an upgrade is now being completed in Lake of the Pines and an improvement at Lake Wildwood is planned for 2013.

Directors also awarded a $732,600 contract to T&S Construction, Inc. of Sacramento for construction of a new transmission main line along Highway 49 in North Auburn.

The water project will provide for more water and fire flow along the Highway 49 corridor from Locksley Lane to Quartz Drive. Work is expected to begin in June and be completed before winter.

Source: NID press release

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

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Building a Straw Bale House

httpv://youtu.be/XgbORHvveTY

 

Straw bales are a high  insulation value, low-embodied-energy, natural building material made from an agricultural waste product. For many, they are locally available and affordable. Straw is easy to work with for people new to construction as they are flexible and can be very forgiving.
Curves add beauty to a straw bale house

 

Straw bale homes can also be beautiful. They often have graceful, elegant curves, delightful window seats, and can have exciting sculpture and mosaics integrated into the plaster. When building your house by hand it is easy to incorporate elements of beauty.Source: Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage

 

 

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

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Can’t Afford a Big Home, How About a Tiny House?

As Americans downsize in the aftermath of a colossal real estate bust, at least one tiny corner of the housing market appears to be thriving. To save money or simplify their lives, a small but growing number of Americans are buying or building homes that could fit inside many people’s living rooms, according to entrepreneurs in the small house industry.

Some put these wheeled homes in their backyards to use as offices, studios or extra bedrooms. Others use them as mobile vacation homes they can park in the woods. But the most intrepid of the tiny house owners live in them full-time, paring down their possessions and often living off the grid.

“It’s very un-American in the sense that living small means consuming less,” said Jay Shafer, 46, co-founder of the Small House Society, sitting on the porch of his wooden cabin in California wine country. “Living in a small like this really entails knowing what you need to be happy and getting rid of everything else.”

Read more: at the Sacramento Bee

For all your real estate and construction needs
John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker
General Contractor
DRE# 00669941

Buying a Home, Beware When Home Lacks Permit

How about this house, think it was built with a permit?  :-)
How about this house, think it was built with a permit? :-)

By Paul Bianchina

It’s an all too common situation. You find a perfect home for sale in an ideal neighborhood. It’s been beautifully remodeled, and it has everything you’ve been searching for. Even the price is right. Something tells you it might be too good to be true, but you put in an offer anyway, and it’s accepted.

You start doing all the paperwork, and sure enough you discover the catch that you always somehow suspected was there. The sellers did all of that remodeling work without any building permits.

So now you’re faced with a dilemma. You really want this house. The sellers insist that all the work was done by licensed contractors, and that they have full documentation and photographs of all the work as it was being done.

The sellers also tell you that they’re willing to allow any type of inspection on the home that you’d like — except for one by the city.

They explain that they had a bad experience with a building inspector on a previous home, or that they have an ongoing feud with the city over their water bill, or they’re protesting the fact that the city hasn’t fixed the pothole on Main Street yet, or some other reason that they refuse to become involved with the local municipality.

Continue reading Buying a Home, Beware When Home Lacks Permit

A Glass House on the Range

On the outskirts of a tiny agricultural town , Joseph, Oregon, where hay bales and tractors are the usual roadside attractions, sits a 1,440-square-foot glass box.

Three sides of the house are transparent, made from triple-paned glass, leaving the living area, kitchen and bedroom visible. The fourth wall is clad in cedar siding to protect against the wind in the winter. The glass walls, which climb to 16 feet in some places, overlook the 80 acres of farmland the house sits on, plus vistas of field, sky and mountain.

The couple screened four other architects before choosing Jim Olson of Olson Kundig Architects in Seattle, whose firm had designed several of the homes they had clipped from magazines over the years. “It’s not every day that someone comes in wanting something so small,” says Mr. Olson, whose residential projects usually range from 4,000 square feet to 15,000 square feet. “But I think there’s a certain luxury to be able to live in a minimal space surrounded by this incredible amount of nature.” The design and construction of the house and a nearby barn, used for guest and garage space, cost about $1 million.

A 78.5-acre parcel of land nearby, with a three-bedroom house, barn and other buildings, is listed for $1.5 million, according to Real Estate Associates.

“Everybody said, ‘How can you build a glass house out where it really gets cold in the wintertime?’,” says Ms. MartzEmerson. “Well, it’s warm and cozy inside.” Monthly utilities for the home run around $35.

Walls of glass are challenging for a meticulous couple who remove their shoes before entering the house. The couple have the glass professionally cleaned once or twice a year (the exterior takes about 10 hours), and regularly clean a few panes during their visits.

Read the rest of the story in the   Wall Street Journal

It Pays to Build Green

green building

By Tina Perinotto

Here comes more proof that green buildings make sense – dollars and sense in fact. This time a study by the University of San Diego and CB Richard Ellis Group, found that tenants in green buildings experience increased productivity and fewer sick days, and that green buildings have lower vacancy and higher rental rates.

On the financial front in terms of rents and sales values, that’s exactly what Nils Kok, a professor at the University of Berkley, California and at Maastricht University in The Netherlands, found and presented to the Australian Property Institute and Australian Direct Property Investment Association, with his study, Doing Well By Doing Good. Energy efficient buildings were worth 17 to 18 per cent more than inefficient building and they earned 6 per cent more in effective rents, he said. [See our report http://www.thefifthestate.com.au/archives/7633]

Now preliminary findings from the latest report, Do Green Buildings Make Dollars and Sense? overseen by Dr Norm Miller, academic director and professor at the University of San Diego’s Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate, in collaboration with CBRE’s national director of sustainability, Dave Pogue, and Ray Wong, CBRE’s director of Americas research, has found that green buildings are more productive.

According to the research, which will be published later this year, green buildings are more productive on two measures:

The average number of tenant sick days and the self-reported productivity change. “Respondents reported an average of 2.88 fewer sick days in their current green office versus their previous non-green office, and about 55 per cent of respondents indicated that employee productivity had improved,” the report said.

This equated to a net impact of nearly $53.82 a sq m [$5.00 a sq ft] occupied, and the increase in productivity translated into a net impact of about $215.28 a sq m [$20 a sq ft] occupied, based on the average tenant salary, an office space of 23.23 square metres [250 square feet] per worker and 250 workdays a year.

“The study additionally showed that green buildings have 3.5 per cent lower vacancy rates and 13 per cent higher rental rates than the market,” CBRE’s Dave Pogue said.

“The results of this project are beginning to demonstrate the very real and positive impact of sustainable buildings for both our owners and tenant occupants. We have been seeking ways to make an empirical case for the economic benefits of sustainable practices and the results of this study exceeded our expectations,” he continued.

Mr Pogue said the research involved a survey of 154 buildings under CBRE’s management, totalling more than 5.35 million sq m of (51.6 million sq ft) and housing 3000 tenants in 10 markets across the US.

“The study defined a green building as those with LEED certification at any level or those that bear the EPA ENERGY STAR ® label. All of the ENERGY STAR ® buildings in the survey group had been awarded that label since 2008. Most of the buildings included in the research had also adopted other sustainable practices like recycling, green cleaning and water conservation.”

Dr Miller said: “This is an exciting time for the commercial real estate industry where great values and great investment upgrade opportunities coexist.  This window won’t last forever.

“We have now confirmed in this and other studies that green features and energy savings pays off.  Tenants care about healthy energy efficient buildings. We also know that green leases and managing to a new and higher standard will soon become the norm. Commercial real estate players have no choice but to learn how to be better in a sustainable way. We know the economics of green will drive the market, not altruism or concern about global warming,”

The  report also said:

  • 18 per of tenants are willing to pay more for green space
  • 61 per cent of tenants believe healthy indoor environments positively impact staff retention
  • 70 per cent believe it impacts positively on client image
  • 71 per cent felt that green lease provisions are increasingly important
  • Each additional point of ENERGY STAR ® rating saved 0.8-1.0 per cent in electricity
  • Separate metering yielded a 21 per cent energy savings, more than any other factor.

These findings are generally consistent with other research on this topic, which has determined buildings with the ENERGY STAR ® label, LEED certification or other identified sustainable programs generally perform better.

The Fifth Estate – sustainable property news

I’m Building a Barn, Part 4

barn-construction

October 28

I building a barn for clients whom I built their home in 2002, than a workshop last year and now they have decided to build a barn. We lost a lot of time last week because of the rains.  We finished putting the roofing on today, finished the rough plumbing and actually screwed in a lot of the interior walls which are plywood.  It takes a little more time to use screws in set of nails, but if the client in the future wants to remove some of the walls or put blocking in, it will make it easier for them.

barnc1

Today we get inspection for the framing, rough plumbing and hold-downs. Hold downs are so to speak, anchors into the foundation with brackets that attach to the framing. We should be close to finishing next week, and actually, the clients are putting hay in the barn this Friday.  They can do that and not be in our way at this stage of the barn building.

Let me know if you have any building needs……