An unlikely hero broke up a home break-in.

The man who lives at the home was not there at the time, but his loyal dog was keeping an eye on things.

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Now 44-year-old Shane Swanson is charged with burglary and criminal mischief.

The burglary took place in the middle of the day. The resident of the house was at work and Dino was working too; he was on security duty.

Dino is an 8-year-old Lab/beagle mix who loves to play. But he also knows when to get serious.

"If you come around and act like you got some sense he won't do nothing to you. He'll play, he'll lick you, but if you act like you're sneaky or trying to do something he knows is not right, I don't know if he'll bite you, but he'll bark like hell at you," said the homeowner's brother Jesse Brown.

Police said Swanson broke into a house on S. Floyd Street Tuesday afternoon.

Police believe Swanson ripped aluminum siding off a vent to get inside the attic.

Dino was home alone and showed the burglar who's boss.

Originally posted here:
Burglary suspect arrested after falling through ceiling

(BPT) - More and more homeowners are embarking upon home improvement projects, spending nearly $200 billion a year on home renovations, according to the National Association of Home Builders. If youre looking to make some home improvements without breaking the bank, spend smartly and invest time and money now into the projects that will pay back later.

Curb appeal

When it comes to first impressions, house hunters first notice curb appeal, or lack thereof. In fact, according to the National Association of Realtors, curb appeal is important to 71 percent of homebuyers. So beautify the outdoor space to attract possible buyers by focusing on small exterior improvements thatll pay off big like planting seasonal shrubs, painting the front door, refreshing a rusty mailbox or replacing old porch lighting with updated fixtures. These minor details will make a major and lasting statement. At the very least, you should clean the yard of any debris, trim trees and spread mulch in planting beds.

Take outdoor renovations to the next level by transforming the look of your home completely with a fresh coat of paint. Be mindful of your homes location when selecting paint colors. Bold or bright colors might be the norm in Florida but wouldnt look right in a region like the Pacific Northwest where neutral earth tones are popular.

You can also increase the value of your home by giving your siding material an overhaul. Remodeling magazine suggests replacing aluminum and vinyl siding with a durable fiber-cement mixture, which will recoup about 88 percent of its cost upon resale. It resists fire, rotting, moisture and termites - all potential hazards that could otherwise end up costing thousands.

Let your insurance agent know whenever you complete a renovation project to make sure any new upgrades to your home are properly covered under your existing policy. If not, your agent can work with you to make sure you get the coverage you need, says Erie Insurance Vice President and Product Manager Joe Vahey. In addition, some home improvement upgrades may entitle you to discounts, especially if renovations make the home safer or more secure. For example, Erie Insurance offers discounts for installing smoke alarms or a central station alarm. Erie also provides a discount for installing sprinkler systems in your home.

Bed, bath and beyond

As house hunters head indoors, there are a few things that are likely to increase a sale. Most tend to look at kitchens and baths first. Experts recommend timeless fixtures instead of trendy ones since they hold their own over time and appeal to buyers who favor both contemporary and classic looks. Dont waste your money on fancy fixtures and features they rarely make or break a sale.

Most people seem to think that a huge kitchen overhaul is necessary to snag interested buyers. However, Remodeling Magazine reports that youll actually recoup 8.5 percent more of the costs of a minor kitchen renovation compared to a major kitchen renovation. So instead of redoing the kitchen completely, accomplish a few minor DIY kitchen updates like changing out faucets and lighting fixtures, painting cabinets, adding new hardware to drawers and cabinets, and replacing old appliances with newer (and often more energy-efficient) models.

Experts also say that adding an attic bedroom and finishing the basement are two of the largest renovations that give you the best return on your investment, allowing you to recoup more than 84 percent and nearly 78 percent of the cost, respectively.

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Home improvements that make your home more valuable

Jennifer Rios/San Angelo Standard-Times Firefighters douse a structure fire at the 3800 block of Lake Drive in northwest San Angelo Tuesday afternoon.

Photo by Jennifer Rios

Jennifer Rios/Standard-Times Firefighters use Ladder 1 to attack a north San Angelo fire from above. Flames still burned beneath the roofing material despite that effort. Shot/Archived:05.06.14

Photo by Jennifer Rios

Jennifer Rios/Standard-Times A San Angelo firefighter adjusts a water hose on Ladder 1 while the crew fought a fire in the 3800 block of Lake Drive. Shot/Archived:05.06.14

Photo by Jennifer Rios

Jennifer Rios/Standard-Times San Angelo firefighters remove bunker gear and rehydrate after responding to a fire in the 3800 block of Lake Drive. Shot/Archived:05.06.14

Photo by Jennifer Rios

Jennifer Rios/Standard-Times San Angelo firefighters switched out crews to give responders a chance to cool down and hydrate during a Tuesday morning fire in north San Angelo. Shot/Archived:05.06.14

SAN ANGELO, Texas Nobody was injured in a northwest San Angelo fire that destroyed a home and took firefighters hours to extinguish.

Read this article:
Fire destroys vacant north-side home

As part of our recent market analysis, we mentioned Remodeling Magazines Cost vs. Value report for 2013-2014. The top five national remodeling projects with the highest return on investment for this year are a new front door, a wood deck addition, adding an attic bedroom, garage door replacement and a minor kitchen remodel.

While these projects have a somewhat limited scope individually and are often part of a bigger remodeling project, each has the potential not only to add to the value of the home but also to enhance the experience of living in the home. In the next few columns, we will explore each project in greater detail. This week, lets talk about the front door.

If you have ever browsed the exterior door section of the home improvement stores, you will see there are a lot of options for front doors. This is just a sliver of the market. There are thousands of options with various styles, materials and colors.

To top it off and make the choice even more difficult, there are even more hardware options for door handles. Basically, there are a lot of great front doors and a lot of great houses, but they dont all go together. Choosing a door that doesnt work with your house diminishes the design of both. For example, if you install a lovely Craftsman door in a 1970s rambler, you will see a clash of styles. There is nothing wrong with either the door or the house, but the combination spoils them both.

Therefore, knowing and understanding the style of your house is crucial. Is your home traditional or modern? Is it a fairytale Tudor revival, classic craftsman bungalow, charming Cape Cod or California ranch? These are the common house styles in the Salt Lake valley and you see them often.

You may find that your home wasnt designed in one clear, distinct style. If that is the case, it most likely has elements of several different styles and you will need to decide which is predominant. Once you have determined the predominant style of your home, the next decision is whether to revive and enhance the door or change it into something else.

A front door will really set the tone and theme for your entire exterior style. Here is where we will say (as we do every week!) that you need to look at the big picture and PLAN AHEAD. Every upgrade or home improvement should reflect the dream the master plan for your house. It does not make sense to buy a new front door no matter how beautiful it is if it does not match your current or future house style.

There are three general approaches to selecting a front door that works with your house: You can do it yourself and research home styles and architectural styles on your own, you can trust the door salespeople to lead you in the right direction (but note these folks know a lot more about doors than residential architectural styles) or you can hire an independent residential architect or design professional.

Not only is the style of the door a consideration for this project, but the material the door is made out of must also be selected. Wood doors are beautiful works of art, but you must be willing to accept the consequences of the material. Wood is always moving expanding and contracting hour by hour depending on the temperature, sunlight and humidity it is experiencing. This volatility can lead to swelling, shrinking and even splitting. Of course, if your hearts desire is a beautifully stained door, wood is your obvious choice.

If you prefer a more stable material, fiberglass may be just the thing. These doors are manufactured to look as much like wood as possible, often featuring a simulated wood grain. However, if you think of a painted door made out of real wood, it has been planed and sanded to a smooth finish before it is painted. Go easy on the fake wood grain options.

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Renovation Solutions: Tips to selecting a new front door

Firefighters, home owner urge people to fireproof homes

By Emilee Eagar

April 24th, 2014 @ 10:16pm

MILLCREEK As Kirk Willey sifted through the blackened remains of his home, he searched for documents, pictures, film or anything else he can find.

Days after his home burned to the ground on April 16, officials said the fire that started at the back of the home is still under investigation.

But Willey believes he knows how it started.

"That oil we were using to finish the decks with, extremely flammable," he said.

Willey believes the rags used in the home improvement project spontaneously combusted.

From 2007 to 2011, U.S. municipal fire departments responded to about 160,910 fires each year that started after flammable or combustible liquids ignited, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

"I think there's a message here that needs to get out," Willey said.

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Firefighters, home owner urge people to fireproof homes

NEW YORK -- The Lego Movie this winter reawakened many people to the colorful plastic bricks they hadnt thought about since childhood. But a raft of people inside and outside the Danish company have been clued in to its pleasures for years, as a new movie gleefully and sometimes astonishingly documents.

The film, "Beyond the Brick," which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival several days ago, is a playful if decidedly soft-lensed look at all things Lego. Directed by Daniel Junge and Kief Davidson and narrated by Jason Bateman, Brick looks at the subculture of Lego or perhaps, given how dominant it appears to have become, the culture of Lego.

As Brick demonstrates, hundreds of thousands of fans build and tinker in their homes, then commune over the Internet or at regular Brick Cons gatherings of like-minded souls who obsess over pieces and creations the way superhero fans immerse themselves in Comic-Con.

PHOTOS: Tribeca Film Festival 2014 | Scene

I was surprised most by at how Lego brings people together, said Davidson in an interview, which included Junge. When we first set out to make the movie, it seemed like something people do on their own. But it really is a way for people to connect.

Known for more serious fare (Junge won an Oscar for his doc Saving Face while Davidson was nominated for "Open Heart"), the filmmakers started this project after looking into a film on just one Lego convention before realizing there was a larger story to tell. They also, like many of its potential viewers, have been reconnecting to the colorful bricks via the young people in their lives.

They eventually reached out to the company, which, in the spirit that also had them open up to Hollywood with its first-ever feature, was willing to cooperate.

The directors' examination of the quirky company can be somewhat light. The movie does cover Lego Group's rough period -- foundering in the 1990s as it scaled back the building aspects of its product and had yet to discover wide-scale licensing deals but mostly emphasizes the creativity and open-sourced attitude that has made it the second-biggest toymaker in the world, with the company sometimes employing designs of its fans and even hiring a few. (The filmmakers, who hope the movie can strike a theatrical-release deal, said Lego gave them autonomy and had only minor factual notes after seeing a rough cut for the first time last month.)

VIDEO: Tribeca Film Festival 2014 trailers

But its the Lego devotees who form the movies spine: the AFOLs (Adult Fans of Lego) and others who obsess and build. (Lest one think its a geeks-only pursuit, the filmmakers also show some unlikely devotees, including Dwight Howard of the NBA's Houston Rockets.)

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Tribeca 2014: In 'Beyond the Brick,' Lego as cultural juggernaut

DEQ survey says city's accessory units have found a home

There arent a lot of grannies living in Portland granny flats.

And there arent a lot of mother-in-laws living in local mother-in-law suites, either.

But thats just fine with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, which recently completed the first comprehensive survey of accessory dwelling units, as they are officially known.

ADUs, as they are commonly called, are essentially small second homes built on lots with existing homes under certain conditions. Construction is exploding in Portland since the City Council waived development fees for them in 2010.

Despite the conventional wisdom that ADUs are being built for relatives, including aging ones, the DEQ survey found that only 17 percent of the people living in them in Portland are related to the owners. The majority 57 percent were strangers when they moved in.

Whats more, most ADUs 52 percent were built primarily to generate extra income from rent.

And thats all right, says Jordan Palmeri, a DEQ employee who works to reduce the environmentally harmful effects of homes by increasing their efficiency. According to Palmeri, research shows that the greatest benefits result from building small. The smaller the home, the fewer natural resources are consumed by its construction and the fewer greenhouse gases it emits.

Smaller homes have significant environmental benefits compared to other green building strategies. Building small is a very green thing to do, says Palmeri.

More than anything, Palmeri is impressed by the surveys finding that 79 percent of ADUs in Portland are occupied year-round. According to Palmeri, when the City Council first considered encouraging the construction of ADUs, some people worried they would end up being used as garages, workshops or entertainment rooms.

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This ain't granny's house anymore

JASPER, Ind.

Aremodeling project that turned into a rediscovery an Indiana couple foundlove letters dating back toWorld War I tucked away in theirattic.

"While renovating their house in Jasper, the couple found the letters in their attic insulation. The letters were written by a soldier preparing to fight in World War I."(ViaWISH)

The contractor Phil Mathies, hired to begin work upstairs, had pulled the letters out of the couple's attic while he rewired the room.WFIEreports the letters peeked Phil, his wife, and his sister's interest and, of course, they started reading them.

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"ClementBerger he had a sweetheart, Mary Borho, and he was writing her letters ... how he felt about her and he wanted to be with her."

Phil and his sister Barbara decided they had to find Clements' relatives. Since he was from Jasper, there was a small chance some of his family could still be living there.

The couple published some of the letters in their local paper. One read,"... you are closer than ever to me, for every day, I long for you more and more. Well darling its no use to write you of this for this is what I want and its you and you only and that thought will remain with me till the last."(ViaThe Herald)

And that small chance soon became a reality.Sisters Mary McCune and Nancy Teder are the soldier's nieces. They still live in Jasper and were extremely surprised to see the letters published in the paper.

"It was just an amazing find ... Those letters really convey what he lived in his life and how he felt about our aunt Mary."(Via WFIE)

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Couple finds love letters from WWI in attic

JASPER Love letters from a World War I soldier to his sweetheart have been found stuffed in the attic wall of a southern Indiana home.

An electrician pulled the yellowed letters from inside insulation while doing remodeling work in the Jasper home of Phil Mathies.

The letters dated July 1918 were from Clement Berger to his future wife, Mary Borho, while he was in training before being sent to Europe in World War I.

Phil Mathies' sister, Barbara Schrader, said Berger's letters showed how much he wanted to be home.

"It's just how he felt about her, and he wanted to be with her. But he knew he had his service to do," Schrader told WFIE-TV.

They were able to track down relatives of the couple who still live in Jasper, about 50 miles northeast of Evansville.

No one knows why the letters were hidden in the attic wall, but Nancy Teder said she was fascinated by the discovery of her uncle's writings.

"Those letters really convey what he lived in his life, and how he felt about our Aunt Mary," Teder said.

Mary and Clement married in 1920 and his letters are being given to their grandchildren for safekeeping.

"We have to thank Barb and Phil for taking care of them the way they did," Teder said. "It was just an amazing find."

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World War I love letters found in southern Indiana attic

JASPER, Ind. - Love letters from a World War I soldier to his sweetheart have been found stuffed in the attic wall of a southern Indiana home.

An electrician pulled the yellowed letters from inside insulation while doing remodeling work in the Jasper home of Phil Mathies.

The letters dated July 1918 were from Clement Berger to his future wife, Mary Borho, while he was in training before being sent to Europe in World War I.

Phil Mathies' sister, Barbara Schrader, said Berger's letters showed how much he wanted to be home.

"It's just how he felt about her, and he wanted to be with her. But he knew he had his service to do," Schrader told WFIE-TV .

They were able to track down relatives of the couple who still live in Jasper, about 50 miles northeast of Evansville.

No one knows why the letters were hidden in the attic wall, but Nancy Teder said she was fascinated by the discovery of her uncle's writings.

"Those letters really convey what he lived in his life, and how he felt about our Aunt Mary," Teder said.

Mary and Clement married in 1920 -- and his letters are being given to their grandchildren for safekeeping.

"We have to thank Barb and Phil for taking care of them the way they did," Teder said. "It was just an amazing find."

Here is the original post:
WWI love letters found in southern Indiana attic