Intermountain Healthcare issued a reminder than carbon monoxide poisoning is possible any time of the year.

Earlier this month, two people were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning. One patient was exposed while running a gasoline-powered concrete saw in his basement without proper ventilation, according to Intermountain Healthcare.

Basically anything that burns, anything that is powered by gas source, can put out enough carbon monoxide to overcome the individual quite rapidly, said Dr. Marc Robbins, Hyperbaric Medicine, Utah Valley Regional Hospital.

Carbon monoxide symptoms are similar to the flu and include headache, nausea, and dizziness

Be sure there is proper ventilation when working with gas-powered tools used in home remodeling projects. Do not use gas-powered generators, stoves or lamps inside a tent when camping. When boating, be sure to stay away from the exhaust and that the system is not blocked.

In 2011, Utah Valley Regionals Hyperbaric Medicine Center saw 11 patients for emergency treatment; five poisoned from emissions from being towed behind a boat on Utah Lake and six poisoned by placing gasoline-powered equipment too close to a living area.

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Intermountain Healthcare warns of carbon monoxide dangers

WATERLOO, Iowa --- The Waterloo City Hall lobby will become a construction zone this summer.

City Council members voted 4-2 Monday to approve a $97,800 contract with Prairie Construction Services Inc. of Waterloo to remodel the City Clerk's Office. Councilmen David Jones and Bob Greenwood voted against the project, citing concerns that Prairie was the only bidder.

City Clerk Suzy Schares said the project is expected to start in the middle of July and run through August. It will force the public counter --- the place people apply for licenses and pay parking tickets, among other business --- to be relocated temporarily to the basement.

Work involves moving the current counter farther into the large lobby area to create more space. The counter will be narrower, and additional walls would be erected for security.

"Human Resources will also have a separate access so people won't have to go through the clerk's office to get there," Schares said.

The City Attorney's Office, formerly located in the City Clerk's Office area, has been relocated already to the Mayor's Office. Most of the Human Resources activity has been moved into the clerk's office from the Carnegie Annex, a separate building across Mulberry and West Fifth streets from City Hall.

Schares was given the responsibility of overseeing Human Resources when Mayor Buck Clark laid off the former director, Bob Stringer, in January.

While the project will meet the needs of the Human Resources duties, it also creates more space for filing cabinets.

"We have kind of hit our maximum capacity for storage as far as files go," Schares said.

In other business Monday, council members unanimously approved:

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Waterloo Council OKs clerk's office remodeling

Students making music and art will soon have a space to call their own at Saint Michael School.

School administration said the schools basement will be remodeled into a dedicated art and tutoring space called the Fine Art Center as early as next fall.

Upon completion, the space will offer two classrooms for art and music lesions and three smaller conference rooms for tutoring sessions and after-school club meetings. Up to 50 students in total will be downstairs at any one time.

Before the creation of the floor, school Principal Susan Gosselin said art and music classes would take place where the school could find space for them, whether area empty classrooms or cafeterias.

The kids (currently) just use whatever space we have, she said. Turns out were able to build downstairs. Now there will be permanence.

Before repurposing the space, the schools basement was used for storing excess furniture, broken technology and miscellaneous donations.

Elliott Jacobowitz, a music teacher, said hed look forward to setting up a set classroom space and able to keep notes on guitar chords on the board for extended periods.

Not being in a classroom makes it difficult to learn, he said. (The students) really feel a difference.

The new classrooms will feature computer smartboards, expansive corkboards for hanging up art and computers for the teachers.

The project is expected to cost about $500,000 for a full remodeling. The schools parents, alumni and private donors have raised $420,000 since starting a fundraiser last fall.

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St. Michael School to expand art space

Written by Patricia Gay Thursday, 14 June 2012 00:00

Although La Roue Elayne at Cobb's Mill Inn is the town's newest hot spot, things got a little too hot early Monday morning when a small fire started in the basement.

The Weston Volunteer Fire Department responded quickly to an alarm at 2:43 a.m. on Monday, June 11, and found a pile of rags on top of a dryer in the basement had caught on fire. The fire was quickly extinguished and did not spread. Smoke in the basement and lower level of the restaurant was blown away by fans and the restaurant reopened in the afternoon in time for a luncheon.

It appeared the fire was caused from the spontaneous combustion of greasy rags that were lying on top of a clothes dryer. The dryer was not running at the time of the fire.

Weston Fire Chief John Pokorny, who is also the town's fire marshal, said the fire's cause is still under investigation; however, it appears it was accidental.

Mr. Pokorny said he has seen instances of spontaneous combustion, where a material ignites without the application of external heat or flame. He said fires caused by spontaneous combustion are not uncommon at places that use massage oil and towels, or linseed oil and rags.

"A fire can be caused from cloths that have oil on them, are heated, and then left in a clump," he said.

When the call came in from the restaurant's alarm company at 2:43 a.m., Mr. Pokorny was the first on the scene, arriving just six minutes later.

Domenic Cocchia, the general manager of La Roue Elayne, credited the alarm system and fast action by the fire department for preventing the fire from spreading.

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La Roue Elayne at Cobb’s Mill Inn: Alarm thwarts fire in basement

Let's say the EPA has finished its work cleaning up the asbestos contamination from the vermiculite mine and has left town. You need to put a new building on your property, but you know that the basement will go below the level that was excavated and you may find more vermiculite down there. What do you do?

Questions like this one will be discussed at a forum co-sponsored by the CAG (Community Advisory Group) and TAG (Technical Advisory Group ) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 12, at the Flathead Valley Community College Lincoln County campus. A representative from the EPA will give a brief overview, representatives from Lincoln County will present the main focus and the MDEQ will be present to answer questions. Practical, legal, medical and other consideration about what happens in a post-EPA world will be the focus of the meeting.

When the EPA finishes its work at a site, it leaves in place a system to answer questions about vermiculite, such as: how to handle it, how to protect ourselves and what new people moving in should know. Before deciding on these procedures, they need to hear from county officials, the city council, the county health board and ordinary citizens about what needs to be included.

Some of the possible responses might be an excavation ordinance explaining the process to follow, who to call, how to handle asbestos contamination encountered during an excavation or home remodeling project. Permit requirements for a new business that wants to use an old site may be developed. A discussion will take place on how neighbors can respond to someone who has not allowed the EPA to clean up his property, especially if the property is to be sold. Guidelines will be developed by the county health board to cover exposure from vermiculite found after the EPA has gone.

The EPA will fund someone to help develop the proposals and list the resources that will be available. They also return no less than every five years to see how the process has been working and to make any necessary adjustments.

Persons attending the meeting will be invited to ask questions and to help identify other discussion topics.

Although it will be several years before the EPA is ready to leave, it's not too early to think about a post-EPA world and how we will be affected. The forum will be a beginning to the process and interested persons are encouraged to attend.

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EPA officials to answer question during CAG, TAG meeting Tuesday

INDIANAPOLIS, June 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Unique Home Solutions, a leading home remodeler in Indianapolis, has been awarded a 2012 Guildmaster Award for exceptional customer satisfaction. GuildQuality, an independent customer satisfaction surveying company, has powered the Guildmaster Awards since 2005 to celebrate service excellence in the building, remodeling, contracting, and real estate professions.

Unique Home Solutions was one of the nearly 200 home builders, remodelers, developers and contractors throughout North America recognized for their superlative performance by GuildQuality. When Unique Home Solutions applied for a Guildmaster Award, they verified that they had provided GuildQuality with a complete and unabridged customer list. In addition, Unique Home Solutions achieved a recommendation rate of greater than 90% from their clients surveyed through GuildQuality.

"We are honored to have been awarded the GuildMaster Award. The reason it means so much to us is because it was solely based on our customer's feedback. We strive to not only give our customers a quality product, but a lifetime of quality workmanship and quality customer service. Winning this award means we are meeting these expectations, and we will use this award as motivation to continue providing our customers with the service they deserve," said Bob Dillon, President of Unique Home Solutions.

For more on the 2012 Guildmaster Award winners and qualifications, visit http://www.guildquality.com/guildmaster/.

About Unique Home Solutions

Unique Home Solutions is Central Indiana's largest home remodeling company specializing in interior and exterior remodeling. As an employee owned and operated company, Unique is proud to have served over 25,000 satisfied customers in our 29 years in business. Unique provides Indiana homeowners with custom designed energy efficient solutions for the home, from the top of the roof to the basement floor. For more information on Unique Home Solutions, products or services visit http://www.UniqueHomeSolutions.org

About GuildQuality

GuildQuality's community of quality includes the best remodelers, homebuilders, developers, and home services contractors in the United States and Canada. By using GuildQuality's independent surveying, members collect objective feedback from their customers and use that feedback in their pursuit of continuous improvement in the quality of their service.

Contact: Lindsey Richardt 317-337-9300 lrichardt@uniquehomesolutions.org

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Unique Home Solutions Recognized among the Nation's Best in the Building Industry for their Commitment to Customer ...

The renovation of Waylands University Center calculated at $4.9 million is the lions share of $5.5 million in building permits issued by the City of Plainview in May.

But its not the only commercial construction now under way.

The University Center renovations include an updated cafeteria, giving students easier access to food and drink stations. The long table seating will be replaced by more intimate round tables to better simulate a dining experience. While changing the seating structure will remove some seats, the cafeteria will increase the number of operating hours throughout the day, allowing more flexibility in eating times for students.

Other changes to the University Center will include the remodeling of the student lounge area. Petes Place, located in the basement, will reopen as a coffee shop, serving Starbucks products to students.

The area also will house a grill and a stage area with lighting and sound systems. The south portion of the basement will be turned into offices for student activities and student government.

The courtyard area will be remodeled, and actions will be taken to control the bird population in the outdoor area.

To accommodate the project, the University Bookstore has been moved into McDonald Hall. Other offices from the now-closed University Center have been relocated throughout the campus.

Two commercial remodeling permits for $140,000 and $125,000, respectively, were issued for 3220 Olton Road in the Village Shopping Center.

While no formal announcement has been made, officials with both shopping center owner R-K-R and Ramsowers Furniture acknowledged last week that a national sporting goods chain has signed a lease to locate there.

According to the citys report on building permits, that chain is Big 5 Sporting Goods. The company, along with R-K-R, were issued the construction permits with Randall Roberts Construction listed as contractor.

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University Center renovations boost city building permit totals

Time was, and not all that long ago, that putting money into your house before putting it on the market paid off at resale.

But the "sluggish housing market continues to push down remodeling return on investment," Sal Alfano writes in the most recent cost vs. value report issued by Remodeling magazine, with the overall average cost-to-value ratio dropping to 57.7 percent from its peak in 2005 of 86.7 percent.

Even though the cost of remodeling itself has continued to fall, that is effectively counteracted by a drop in resale values, Alfano writes.

Bottom line: There is no guarantee that any improvement will boost the sale price of a house, especially in a real estate market in which even multiple offers typically result only in an amount near or slightly above asking price.

Yes, doing the necessary improvements to a house will help it compete. If two houses are for sale on the same street for the same price and one has a new roof while the other needs one, it's not hard to figure out which might sell first. But might is the operative word in an era when little about the real estate market is a certainty.

New roof or not, a house's list price must be appropriate for the market to attract buyers who likely will not only expect leak-free conditions, but also a furnace and air-conditioning that work properly.

Market observers say some sellers are still demanding prices well above what's appropriate, in an effort to turn their improvements into more cash. That, they say, is an attitude that keeps many listings sitting idle, some for a year or more.

Not to mention that it assumes the sellers' idea of improvement is in sync with the opinions of the buyers they wish to impress.

Harris Gross of Engineers for Home Inspection in Cherry Hill gets to see the results of homeowners' misguided assumptions about what it will take to sell.

Assumption: Your house has just one bathroom, and you need at least another half-bath (also known as a powder room) for buyers to even consider you.

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Home Economics: Recouping costs at resale is iffy, at best

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va., June 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sun Design Remodeling Specialists, Inc. of Fairfax County, Va. has won two national remodeling industry awards for the creativity, professionalism and overall excellence of its projects and exceptional customer satisfaction.

Sun Design has won a national Chrysalis Award for a residential basement project in Fairfax County. Chrysalis Awards honor the finest remodeling projects in the country. Some 81 remodeling companies from across the United States were named winners. Winning projects were selected from 420 entries judged on overall design, creative use of space and materials and the degree to which the project enhanced the original structure.

Sun Design has also won The 2012 Guildmaster Award (with Distinction) which is given based on a lengthy track record of exceptional customer satisfaction. The awarding organization surveys recent actual customers of homebuilders, remodelers, real estate developers, and home services contractors across the country and makes awards based on specific testimonials provided by those customers.

This has been one of most spectacular periods in Sun Design's 24-year history. Earlier this month, the company announced it had its best sales month ever in March 2012. Sales were more than $1.8 million, beating its last record of $1.6 million in June 2007. The company won a national CotY Award as a "Contractor of the Year" from the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI), in April of this year, for a dramatic remodeling project in Fairfax, VA.

Sun Design President Bob Gallagher, said, "This is really an exciting time for all of us at Sun Design. We're beating records, winning the hearts of our clients and growing the organization to exceed the expectations of each and every client."

About Sun Design

Sun Design, celebrating its 24th year, has been the recipient of dozens of industry awards. Each year, Sun Design shows off its work during a series of home tours and other special events. For more information, visit the "Events" page at http://www.sundesigninc.com or call 703-425-5588. Sun Design is located at 5795 B Burke Centre Parkway, Burke, VA 22015.

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Sun Design Remodeling Specialists of Fairfax County Wins Two Major Industry Awards

The Better Business Bureau says a Bismarck-Mandan contractor using the BBB logo is not a member of the organization and has received a failing rating from the business information organization.

JK Customs has a BBB logo on a trailer and on its website but is not actually a BBB member, a news release said..

The companys misuse of our logo is compounded by the fact they have the lowest rating we assign, Dana Badgerow, president and CEO of the BBB, said in a release. Our hope is they will correct the misleading advertising issue and work with us to resolve the concerns of their customers.

The BBB also has given JK Customs, owned by Jason Kust, a failing grade due to consumer complaints. According to the release, JK Customs had been accredited by the BBB from 2009 to November 2011, when their accreditation was revoked due to an unanswered complaint. Two complaints have been lodged with the BBB about JK Customs without an answer from the company.

The voicemail for the telephone number for JK Customs was full and could not accept new messages, and no one answered at a phone number listed in court documents for Kust. No one answered at the door of the address listed with the North Dakota Secretary of States Office for JK Customs on Thursday afternoon.

The unanswered customer complaints filed with the BBB involve situations where down payments were made and work did not proceed as planned. The information in the BBB complaints mirrors cases in which customers brought Kust to small claims court and won.

In one case, a man was awarded $2,635 after Kust did not return a down payment on a basement remodeling project when the man decided to cancel the project. In another case, a couple was awarded $3,050 after putting a down payment to have Kust build a staircase and he never showed up to do the job.

In another case still pending in small claims court, Kust is accused of never starting a bathroom remodeling job that a man put $2,000 down on. The plaintiff in that case wrote that Kust did return $500.

In February, the BBBs Advertising Review department challenged JK Customs use of the BBB logo, which misleads consumers into believing the company is accredited by the Better Business Bureau, the release from the organization said. The company failed to respond within the six-week timeframe provided and the violation was closed as Major, further lowering the companys rating. The matter has now been turned over to the Council of Better Business Bureaus, where further action may be taken to ensure the company discontinues use of the BBB trademark, a release from the organization said.

Dan Hendrickson, a spokesman for the BBB of Minnesota and North Dakota, said the Council of Better Business Bureaus could take legal action against JK Customs for the misuse of the logo.

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Better Business Bureau says local contractor is not a member