Marvin

Whether you are itching for a full renovation or just looking to spruce up your home a bit, the International Builders Show (IBS) is the place to start. With hundreds of vendors ranging from well known paint brands to door hardware theres a lot to see and be inspired by. These are our picks for the newest innovations for your next home upgrade.

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1Indoor-Outdoor Countertops

We all dream of truly extending our homes into the outdoors with materials that mimic what we love indoors. The new Outdoor Collection by Caesarstone is weather-resistant, bringing the company's durable, non-porous, high quality quartz to any outdoor environment. The company tested the material extensively in a variety of conditions including harsh sunlight, high heat and temperature fluctuations to ensure color and integrity of the material stayed intact. The flexibility of quartz makes it perfect for all al fresco entertaining spaces from rooftops to outdoor kitchens.

2Window Nook

Open floor plans have taken over the conversation when it comes to home design, but we are also craving cozy spaces to recenter ourselves. The new Marvin Skycove is a fully constructed (i.e it shows up ready to be installed, not pieced together on site), projecting glass structure thats essentially a new take on a bay window. Whats significantly different here is the box-like shape and open glass on top that allows for full panoramic views. It also comfortably fits an adult on its integrated benchmeaning reading time can easily morph into nap time.

3Designer Paint

Everyone knows one of the easiest makeovers a coat or two of paint to instantly change the personality of a space. Launching in April 2020, Sherwin Williams's new Emerald Designer Edition Interior Latex paint is their most premium paint product to date with the smoothest and most uniform finish (meaning, the color you choose will be the only color you see on the wallno peek through colors from past paint jobs). The new collection will comprise 200 hues in five designer collections, including the brightest whites yet.

4Wetroom DIY

If youre a true DIY-er then youll be jumping for joy for the newest innovation from WilsonartWetwall. This easy-to-install tongue and groove panel system allows for quick installation in wet spaces no grout necessary. The styles available mimic natural wood and large marble slabs and the panels can be used in spaces with excessive moisture, including bathrooms, laundry rooms, and mudrooms. Theyll be available this spring at Lowes.

5Automatic Pass Through

Andersen Windows & Doors recently upgraded its window passthrough with an automatic feature. A keypad inside the house allows you to open, shut, or pause the window without having to use any elbow grease. The result is an easy way to entertain from the inside out for any alfresco occasion.

6Smart Lock

Tired of seeing the keypad on your front door and longing for the olden days of that thing called a key? The Emtek EMPowered SMART Lock Upgrade uses a variety of integrated featuresincluding voice command and remote accessto provide a sleek door pull full of technology. This key OR keyless entry gives the whole family piece of mind knowing they'll always be able to get in the door.

7Indestructible Floors

If you're looking for a flooring solution that's no fuss, you'll become quickly obsessed with Lumber Liquidators AquaSeal 24 line. The collection has the look of hardwood floors with the durability of laminate flooring and extra water protection. The easy to install flooring has a smart locking system that prevents liquids from going through the plans, giving you up to 24 hours to clean up any accidents or spills. Another bonus: the material is resistant to scratches and gouges made by boisterous family and petsso you can really have that dance party!

8Modern Redo

Lovers of modern homes rejoice! The Royal Building Products Cedar Renditions line is the look of beautiful cedar with none of the maintenance associated with it. This moisture-proof material is easy to install in a variety of outdoor applications and comes in eight finishes.

9Built-in Wireless Charging

Available in four finishes, the Legrand Radiant Wireless Charger holds and charges Qi-enabled smartphones in a clear cradle. The multifunctional unit additionally offers a USB port and 2 standard AC receptacles so you can manage all of your home's needs.

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Best of IBS: New DIY and Renovation Products for 2020 - HouseBeautiful.com

With three key projects under the spotlight, we hear more about Spantherm the innovative insulated precast concrete ground-floor system that is being adopted by a growing number of housebuilders and developers

Spantherm is an insulated precast concrete ground flooring system. By producing high performance insulated structural concrete units offsite, Creagh has redefined the speed of installing a fully insulated ground-floor. This is the next generation of structural flooring systems, designed as the efficient alternative to labour-intensive beam and block installations.

Spantherm thermally efficient flooring has been utilised at a housing development in Warmington, Peterborough. The new development is being built by NRI Civils, who choose Spantherm as it is designed specifically for use at ground-floor level in residential and small-medium sized commercial projects. They opted for the work to be completed by Creaghs expert fitting team, requiring no labour from them and saving them time onsite.

Adam Moody, contracts manager for NRI Civils, said: We chose Spantherm because one of the things that we are looking for as a business is to improve efficiencies, reduce costs, reduce labour and time onsite and when youve got a difficult site, where youre struggling for storage, thats exactly where Spantherm is perfect.

Housebuilders are increasingly exploring the opportunities for new ideas to reduce labour onsite and boost efficiency in the build and it makes sense that they start with the ground-floor. Spantherm is installed in just minutes not days.

The initial appeal of Spantherms insulated precast concrete is clear, as a typical floor on a detached house or a pair of semi-detached homes is fitted onsite in less than two hours. Once in place and grouted, the floor achieves its full structural capability within 72 hours; however, building activity can commence on perimeter walls within 24 hours.

The team have been absolutely fantastic with the support we get, adds Adam.

Anything that we need to discuss with them, they are always on hand, so we have a great relationship. We will definitely be using Spantherm again to help our optimum goal of achieving better efficiency and reducing costs and labour times.

Spantherm has also been used to great effect at a housing development in North Muskham, Nottinghamshire, where a new homes development is being built by Geda Construction. With no additional site works or laying out required, a typical 90m floor can be installed in just 90 minutes and provides level base without camber for timber frame or block construction.

Installation is not affected by adverse weather conditions and secondary screeds with extended drying times are not required. Spantherm is designed to reduce cold bridging at wall/floor junctions making an important contribution to Part L performance. Spantherm is available in three performance options designed to boost your buildings performance within SA and can achieve U-value as low as 0.11W/m2K. It is also a fabric first solution, integrating structural concrete with expanded polystyrene insulation. The tightly butted units lock in the thermal performance efficiently across the slab.

Geda used Spantherm to push the project along as its one operation that just makes it so much quicker and easier to facilitate onsite, said Shaun Wormall, site manager for Geda.

We are impressed on the installation of the slabs and the time that it saves us onsite. From a site management point of view, its been really good, Creagh has been very responsive and the production timescales and installation has been quick and painless. We would definitely use Spantherm again, brilliant product, well-managed and well-run.

Spantherm is also being utilised at a new housing development in Stapleford, Nottingham, and the developer is delighted with the results.

Malcolm Flinn, director of Stapleford Oaks, states: I chose Spantherm because its labour saving, has made life easier for me, and its quick, efficient and clean.

An increasing number of builders in Great Britain are switching from traditional beam and block builds as its significantly reducing labour onsite.Using Spanthermincreases productivity and enhances health and safety onsite. It minimises waste and vehicle movements are reduced, all contributing to overall environmentalbenefits.

I would use Spantherm again because the block and beam method takes so many more men and machines onsite, and takes a lot longer to lay. It also leaves a lot of work for the bricklayers to do at floor level. With Spantherm we are in and building off it almost straight away stated Malcolm.

For more information visit: http://www.creaghconcrete.co.uk or email: SpanthermGB@CreaghConcrete.com

You can watch the NRI Civils, Geda Construction & Stapleford Homes testimonial videos at: http://www.creaghconcrete.co.uk/products/spantherm

Creagh

Tel: +44 (0) 1636 552 212

spanthermGB@creaghconcrete.com

http://www.creaghconcrete.co.uk

Twitter: @creaghconcrete

Please note: this is a commercial profile.

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Hassle-free insulated precast concrete flooring - Planning, BIM & Construction Today

New Mexico State Universitys department of art has installed a Parent Nursing Pod on the first floor ofDevasthaliHall.

The Parent Nursing Pod, distributed by the Vermont based companyMamava, is an air-conditioned space with two bench-like seats and a pull-out table. There is also a set of outlets. The pod arrived atDevasthaliearlier this month before the spring semester startedand was constructed in the building.

According to the Facilities Sustainability ManagerAllison Jenks, the pod cost roughly $18,000. While there are three designated nursing rooms on campus, located in Gerald Thomas Hall, Zuhl Library and the Business Complex, Jenks said having the pods on campus as well is really important because lactating mothers cannot schedule specific times to nurse.

The pod is temporarily inDevasthalias a supplementary program to the New Mexico State University Art Museums opening exhibitLabor: Motherhood In Art In 2020that will open on Feb.28.

The concept of [the pod] being here is integrated into the whole of what were trying to do with this exhibition, which is to show that through institutional education of why its important to understand the labor of artists and mothers in this society and in this world, Marisa Sage,director of the University Art Museum said.

Once the exhibit has concluded its run in the museum on May 28, the pod will be moved from its current residence inDevasthalito a more permanent location in the Corbett Center Student Union.

Located right inside the main entrance ofDevasthaliHall and the University Art Museum, one can gain access to the pod with theMamavaapp that will unlock the pod viaBluetooth or with a keycode. A physical key is also available at the front desk of the department of art office directly down the hall from the pod.

Sage said while the art department was writing grants forLabor: Motherhood In Art In 2020,the idea of the nursing pod was written into the grants. However, not enough funding was provided to cover the pod. During a conversation withUniversity ArchitectHeather Watenpaugh, Watenpaugh had expressed that plans were already being made for such a pod to be put in Corbett Center.

I think I told Heather [Watenpaugh] about the exhibition, and that we were hoping to get a lactation pod and or a nursing room. She told us Oh, thats really interesting, were working on this project right now to try out one of theseMamavapods and its going to go to Corbett, she said.

Sage proceeded to tell Watenpaugh that she found the idea to be amazing,and that while the grant funding was unable to cover a pod of their own, Sage was able to write moving fees in order to move the pod from Corbett Center toDevasthaliHall for the run of the exhibition.

We can go forward, like potentially we could fundraise so that we could get our own nursing parent room inDevasthaliHall, Sage stated.

The Parent Nursing Pod is available for use from 8a.m.to 5p.m.Monday through Friday, and from 10a.m.to 4p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Excerpt from:
Parent nursing station installed in Devasthali Hall - The Round Up

Selfie Museum founders Igor Benchak, left and Alex Kurylin,pose for a portraits inside their new spacein Post Alley. (Matt M. McKnight/Crosscut)

Even though it's called Selfie Museum, it's designed for people taking all kinds of pictures, hopefully of each other, interacting, says Benchaks business partner Alex Kurylin (who once operated a chain of escape rooms in cities including Seattle).

With this concept, the Denver-based duo jumps on the bandwagon of a new generation of profitable and popular Instagram factories.

In the saccharine Museum of Ice Cream in New York and San Francisco, visitors can dip themselves into a swimming pool of rainbow sprinkles. At the Color Factory in Houston, large blinking letters on a sign spell out You Are Magic. Wine-tasting meets selfie-making and a lot of pale pink backdrops in Manhattan'sRos Wine Mansion, while in The Museum of Pizza in Brooklyn, you can strike a pose amidst gooey drops of cheese. And at Candytopia in Philadelphia, the ball pit is filled with marshmallows. You get the picture. And the picture is the whole point.

The Selfie Museum doesnt beat around the bush when it comes to its core theme. Even the bathrooms double as a backdrop. In the restrooms everything is Pepto-Bismolpink, from the roses on the walls to the wig on the makeup table, not to mention the walls and the table themselves. It looks very good in pictures, Kurylin says. No matter what you wear, if you have pink backdrop, you'll look good.

People bring suitcases with different clothes so they can change for a different installation, Kurylin explains. They have different outfits, dresses. This would be a changing room, but theres also a lot of photo opportunities.

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Welcome to Seattle's new Selfie Museum, where you are the masterpiece - Crosscut

MIAMI BEACH To say that the art in David and Isabela Grutmans home bombards the senses is an understatement. Over the last 15 years, Mr. Grutman, 45, a restaurateur and club owner, has amassed a sizable collection of head-turning pieces. Many are sculptures, but paintings, street art and installations in bold colors also figure in it.

Ive always really been into emerging art, but now that Im older, I also like to buy artists that are more established, said Mr. Grutman, who owns Papi Steak and LIV in Miami Beach and Swan (with Pharrell Williams) in Miami. But I never buy works for investment purposes. They have to resonate with me. Mr. Grutman said he connected with art from the 1980s and 90s, when he grew up.

He and his wife, Isabela Grutman, 27, a model, own works by several Miami-based artists including Dante Dentoni, an Argentine artist known for his Lego installations.

The couple have pieces by the Portuguese street artist Vhils, including a floor-to-ceiling plastic foam statue in their family room, and work by Kehinde Wiley, the Nigerian-American portrait painter acclaimed for his portrait of Barack Obama, now in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington.

Mr. Grutman discussed collecting at the couples home, a Miami Beach bi-level where they live with their two children, Kaia, 2, and Vida, 9 months, as well as two dogs and two cats.

These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

When did your love of art start?

Art has appealed to me for a long time because Im a creative guy, but Miamis Wynwood Arts District inspired me to start buying my own works. I was going there more than 10 years ago before there was much development in the neighborhood and thought the arts movement happening there was really cool. It made me want to a build a collection I loved.

I became so obsessed with Wynwood that I proposed to Isabela there, and we got married inside Wynwood Walls [an outdoor gallery featuring international graffiti artists].

Where do you find your art?

Luckily, I live in Miami where Art Basel happens and discover tons of artists there who I have become friendly with. Many of them come over when theyre in town for the fair.

Your living room has more than a dozen art pieces in different mediums. Does one stand out?

Probably the canvas by Kobra. Hes a Brazilian street artist now painting on canvases, and I happened to get one of his early canvas works. I love the Amazonian influences and colors in it. Isabela, being Brazilian, has definitely gotten me more interested in Brazilian artists.

When you find artists you like, do you buy multiple works?

For sure. We have lots by Peter Tunney, the godfather of the street art movement in Miami. I love the colors he picks, the phrases he uses and how he puts it all together. I love the phrase Do what you love, and I told him to use it in a piece for me. He did, and its now probably my favorite artwork in our family room.

Tell me about the Lego installations in your living room and kitchen.

Theyre by Dante Dentoni, who is from Miami and getting national attention now. His work uses tons of color, and he likes Legos as a medium. I have a Lego installation of LIV [one of his clubs] and a bunch inspired by popular culture when I was growing up including the piece with Hulk Hogan and the one with N.W.A.s Straight Outta Compton album cover. Legos are fun you want to play with them.

Alex Yanes is another Miami installation artist that youre a fan of.

Yes. He sculpted the giant robot that surrounds the video game console thats the cornerstone of our kitchen and built the pink wood elephant hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the staircase. Its whimsical, and, like many of his works, has a retro feel.

Do you collect photography?

We own photos by Terry ONeill: pictures of Steve Martin, Raquel Welch and Michael Caine. I am taken with the way he captures talent whether hes shooting them in character or in real life.

Has your taste changed since youve had children?

I used to buy more explicit art, but now I dont. Its more kosher, the kind of stuff Id want them to appreciate.

Originally posted here:
Where Street Art Comes Indoors and Legos Climb the Walls - The New York Times

Construction has topped out on Maverick, a two-building,210-foot-tall residential project at 215 West 28th StreetinChelsea. Located between Seventh Avenue and Eighth Avenue, the 20-story development is designed by DXA Architectsand being developed byHAP Investments, and consists of abutting buildings spanning over 300,000 square feet. The structurally identical reinforced concrete superstructures are addressed as 215-219 West 28th Street and 221-229 West 28th Street.

Photos taken across the street from Maverick are courtesy of Optimist Consulting. The orthodox, repetitive stack of rectangular floor plates made the vertical progress very swift.

215 West 28th Street, photo courtesy of Optimist Consulting

215 West 28th Street, photo courtesy of Optimist Consulting

215 West 28th Street, photo courtesy of Optimist Consulting

215 West 28th Street, photo courtesy of Optimist Consulting

Installation has yet to begin on the black and white curtain walls, though the metal clips to hold the faade panels are in place. Each building address will be composed of a singular color from top to bottom, and both properties will maintain the same envelope design for each window panel. Currently, a few of the upper floors are still being protected and shored up with concrete formwork and supports.

The development contains 112 rental units and 87 condominiums, and amenities include a fitness center and spa, a rooftop deck, and bicycle storage. Both buildings will also feature 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. From the roof, residents will get views of Hudson Yards to the west and the Empire State Building to the east. Lower Manhattan can be seen to the south, as well as the Jersey City skyline. The top floors clear the roof heights of the surrounding buildings below West 28th Street, allowing for more daylight exposure for the entire southern profile. Maverick is right by the entrance to the 1 train at the 28th Street station, while Pennsylvania Station is only six streets to the north.

A formal completion date for Maverick has not been announced, but sometime by the end of 2020 or the first half of 2021 is very likely.

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Construction Tops Out on Maverick at 215 West 28th Street in Chelsea - New York YIMBY

The title of Darren Baders new Whitney Museum installation, Fruits, Vegetables; Fruit and Vegetable Salad is fully self-explanatory. Through February 17, a vibrant array of producea bushy bulb of fennel, exotic elongated grapes, and morewill sit on 40 individual plinths across the museums eighth floor. Four times a week, per the artists instructions, theyll be harvested, chopped, and handed out as tiny salads with a side of olive oil, sea salt, and black pepper.

The museum acquired the work in 2015, purchasing a certificate of authenticity with instructions for installation. The work consists of fruits and vegetables totaling any even number between twelve and infinity, it read, not specifying the exact types but emphasizing the importance of variety. The point, according to Whitney senior curatorial assistant Christie Mitchell, is to highlight the inherent formal qualities of the titular itemsin Baders words, natures impeccable sculpture.

They do look so beautiful and kind of uncanny when theyre on these pedestals in the gallery, Mitchell says. For the five-week duration of the show, she and a team of art handlers will thoughtfully source the produce from Chelsea Market and FreshDirect themselves. Eating the work, Mitchell adds, creates a transformative, alchemical moment.

Online, however, where commentary about ridiculing the gullible viewer and eating the worst salad of my life abounds, skeptics pose an important question: Are we just being trolled?

Historically, fruits, vegetables and other edibles have been the favorite subject of still-life painters, colorful symbols of bounty and wealth. But actual food as sculpture, the lovechild between the still life and the readymade, is so often a particularly obnoxious product: conceptual art that plays out as a practical jokeor the other way around.

The prankster associations with food art run deep.And O.P. (Original Prankster) Piero Manzoni consecrated 70 hard-boiled eggs with his thumbprint in his 1960 piece, Consumption of Dynamic Art by the Art-devouring Public, then fed them to viewers in a quasi-communion ritual, another farce on the alleged sanctity of art. (He too used the word alchemical when describing his cans of Artists Shit, where are exactly what they said they were.

Adriana Lara, Installation (Banana Peel) (2008) at the New Museum Triennial. Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.

A decade ago, Adriana Lara deployed the banana peel as the ultimate sight gag on the floor of the New Museum triennial: She instructed that a security guard would eat one banana every day then randomly toss the skin, violating the immaculate gallery space with literal (and to detractors, conceptual) garbage. When collectors would buy images of bundled hot dogs and padlocked Taco Bell tacos from Brad Troemels Etsy, he would mail them the actual sculpturesmoldy or dripping with greaserather than the photographs.

Fairgoers take pictures of Maurizio Cattelans Comedian, for sale from Perrotin at Art Basel Miami Beach. Photo by Sarah Cascone.

But its Maurizio Cattelans Comedian that still stings in the collective memory. Depending on whom you asked, it was either a brilliant gesture or the nadir of artistic privilege: a banana duct-taped to a piece of art fair drywall, yours to recreate at home for the arbitrary price of $120,000. As the previous decade drew to a close, Comedian left us with questions about the art markets place in the latest of late-stage capitalism, our own pretentiousness, and whether these questions would count as the works true substance. As Comedians image subsumed the mainstream news cycle, the artist had achieved a true feat: for at least a full week, he held our attention captive, and with seemingly little effort.

Decades before Baders salad, Fluxus artist Alison Knowles served her own. Her performance piece Make a Salad debuted at the ICA London in 1962 as a kind of participatory concert30 people eating her dressed vegetables to a musical arrangement. Whenever you eat a salad, you are performing the piece, Knowles has said, presumably including Baders, too. The work has been scaled up and restaged to feed thousands: at the Tate in 2009, on the High Line for Earth Day 2012, and at Art Basel in 2016.

Alison Knowles, Make a Salad at the Highline in New York. Courtesy of the High Line.

These aforementioned works that are eaten or thrown away have no permanent physical bodythey exist as documentation, sometimes an image, sometimes instructions referred to as an event score. In conceptual art, its the thought that counts, according to critic Lucy Lippard, who literally wrote the book on dematerialization in 1973. She described a new groundswell of works in which [t]he idea is paramount and the material form is secondary, lightweight, ephemeral, cheap and/or dematerializedor edible. She also envisioned immateriality as an escape route from art-world commodity status, unable to foresee the kinds of prices a certificate could pull.

Roelof Louws Soul City (Pyramid of Oranges) (1967). Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.

Lippard wrote of the late Roelof Louw, whose in 1967 Soul City (Pyramid of Oranges), holds another clear precedent for Baders Fruits, Vegetables. In its original iteration, Louw had stacked almost 6,000 oranges into the shape of a pyramid, inviting viewers to take an orange and eat it, and to consider questions of viewer participation and the impermanence of form. Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art exhibitions manager Lauren Best, who exhibited Soul City in 2014, recalls all of the extremely cool visitors who have taken their orange from the bottom, sending the entire pyramid rolling across the museum floor. That is the interesting point of the piece, she assures. Its the patron who alters the form of the sculpture.

When the Tate acquired Soul City in 2014, the press balked at its 30,000 price tag. A Daily Mail article headlined Is this the craziest art installation yet? worked out the price to about 5 per orange, which is wholly inaccurate. On top of the 30,000, the museum also shoulders the cost of buying the oranges themselves. Over its four-month exhibition, SMoCA estimates it went through about 15,000.

The hazards of fresh products in a gallery setting have been well documented. Fuzzy fruits are bound to appear towards the bottom of Louws pile of oranges. And Lee Buls Majestic Splendor, an installation of sequined dead fish in plastic bags, has been pulled from exhibitions not once, but twice: first due to a refrigeration failure in 1997 that filled MoMA with an unbearable stench, then again at the Hayward Gallery in 2018, this time when its chemical antiseptic treatment spontaneously burst into flames.

Yoko Ono, Apple (1966). Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art.

Art destined to perish, however, does nicely lend itself to institutional critique: foods propensity to rot is also a potent vehicle for political allegory and existential quandaries. The replaceable ton of bananas in Paulo Nazareths 2011 Banana Market/Art Market evoke sentiments of labor and resource exploitation in Latin America. Yoko Onos 1966 Applean apple left to decay on a pedestalis a symbol of mortality. (John Lennon actually took a bite, later remembering, I didnt have much knowledge about avant garde or underground art, but the humor got me straight away.) And the 2,755 oily bologna slices pegged to Pope.Ls Claim (Whitney Version) initially smelled at the opening of the 2017 Whitney Biennial, but the odor reportedly improved as they cureda pun that refers to both the maturation of preserved meat and the act of healing.

Installation view of William Pope.L, Claim (Whitney Version) (2017). Image: Ben Davis.

Baders Fruits, Vegetables isnt a candidate for a long term collection display, Mitchell says, given the constant trips to Chelsea Market required to keep it fresh. Its also most definitely a troll. Works like this prod us for a reaction, towards the outer limits of what well accept as artespecially the volatile, ephemeral work that ripens, wilts, spoils, and disappears. There can be an exceptional visual, conceptual, and aesthetic merit to so many things in the world, the artist has said, including pineapples, fennel, and exotic elongated grapes. The resulting salad is a very polarizing joke. And if you dont like it, you dont have to eat it.

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A Brief History of Perishable Art: How Darren Baders Divisive Fruit Salad at the Whitney Fits Into a Ripe Tradition - artnet News

Megan Murray felt happy when she bought her condo in Kensington. She loved the walkable, up-and-coming neighborhood and was proud she could afford a $320,000 new construction home with high-end finishes.

She wasnt too worried, at first, that the neighbor in the condo next door said there had been flooding in her building before she moved in. Or that puddles somehow kept appearing in her basement-level living room and bedrooms when it rained. She figured that her warranty from Streamline, the company that had sold her the condo, would cover any repairs.

Streamline, which bills itself as the biggest home builder in Philadelphia, tried a few different fixes, but the water kept reappearing whenever it rained, Murray said. Workers sent by the company sealed a window with epoxy, fixed the exterior flashing, and cut grooves into the window well, she said.

They came out seven different times, tried multiple things, never got it right, never fixed it, said Murray, who closed on the condo in 2017.

Things went from bad to much worse in August 2018. A rainstorm hit, and dirty black water bubbled up out of her shower and toilet, covering her floors a few inches deep. The sewer water stained the walls, damaged the floor, and ruined furniture worth thousands of dollars.

She discovered that Streamline had declined to spend about $300 to put in a backflow preventer, a device that keeps sewer water from backing up into home plumbing. Installing one now would cost thousands of dollars.

In addition, workers who removed a section of stained drywall exposed a 6-foot-long crack across the foundation. Finally, she understood the cause of her mysterious puddles. Every time it rained, water was pouring out, Murray said. The cement was actually crumbling, so you could fit your whole hand in there in some of the places.

But by the time she discovered the crack, her one-year warranty had expired. Streamline refused to fix the foundation. The sewer backups too were not the companys issue, they said. City regulations had not required installation of a backflow preventer, company officials told Murray. The brand-new Streamline condo had turned into a source of misery.

Everything they do is to cut corners, she said. They were out to make money just as fast as they could, as quick as they could, and didnt care about what would happen.

Murrays woes echo the experiences of more than 20 Streamline buyers around Philadelphia who have defects in their homes, most of them related to water infiltration. In interviews and lawsuits, the residents describe water-stained ceilings, moldy walls, bursting pipes, leaky roofs and windows, inadequate stucco, and various other construction flaws that plague homes marketed to them as low-maintenance new construction.

Philadelphias Department of Licenses and Inspections has received complaints from Streamline homeowners and is investigating several Streamline projects for possible code violations, a spokeswoman said. The state Attorney Generals Office has also received a complaint about the company, a spokesman said. Details of the complaints were not available.

Homeowners allege in lawsuits, online forums and in conversation that Streamline doesnt reliably or sufficiently respond to warranty claims. The company refuses to address hidden defects that only become evident after warranties expire, even those caused by shoddy construction, homeowners say.

The companys sale agreements also often include arbitration clauses that make it difficult for buyers to recover repair costs and damages through the courts.

You had families, successful doctors, people just starting out, teachers, people that are just excited about the layout of the house and the granite countertops. The last thing theyre thinking about: Is there water inside the walls? said Jennifer Horn, a construction attorney who represents several Streamline buyers. The Streamline houses are young houses that are literally rotting from the inside out.

Philadelphians may know Streamline from extensive media coverage of the 2018 stabbing death of co-founder Sean Schellenger in Rittenhouse Square. The company itself was in the news last year for destabilizing the historic Edward Corner building on Delaware Avenue, which led Licenses & Inspections Commissioner David Perri to sue Streamline and call its renovation efforts incompetent. Neighbors have also criticized the company for a planned development that will displace a Vietnamese shopping mall in South Philadelphia and for proposing a large apartment building next to Edward Corner that some say would be too imposing for the neighborhood.

Streamline acknowledged receiving a list of questions from PlanPhilly but declined to comment.

Schellenger and his business partner Mike Stillwell founded the company in 2008. Schellenger served as the CEO and Streamlines public face, while Stillwell became COO, overseeing construction and other divisions. The young company earned notice from Philadelphia Business Journal in 2013 as the fastest-growing privately owned firm in the city. By 2017, Streamline was marketing itself as a booming business building more than 250 homes a year. Today, it describes itself as the largest residential developer within Philadelphia, with plans to expand nationally.

In interviews before his death, Schellenger touted Streamline as more than just another local home builder. He said the company was more efficient because it handled the whole development process, from buying and demolishing a property to constructing new houses and marketing them. Streamline also sometimes serves as a general contractor, building condos and single-family homes for other property owners.

The company calls itself tech-enabled, because prospective buyers can view floor plans and interior finish options using virtual-reality goggles. It claims to work in the public interest, with the goal of turning blighted land into equal opportunity housing that will revitalize our urban communities, eradicate crime, and improve economic circumstances. To give back to impoverished neighborhoods Streamline targeted for redevelopment, Schellenger started a charity called Helping Hands that holds Easter Egg hunts and gives out Thanksgiving turkeys in Point Breeze and Kensington.

But as it ramped up its housing production, the firm also began accumulating complaints about its construction practices, both from neighbors of its projects and buyers of its homes.

In 2014, Streamline workers at a project on North 19th Street allegedly damaged a neighboring property, resulting in a $30,000 arbitration decision for a neighbor, according to court records. A resident of Bouvier Street sued for $50,000 over damage from Streamline construction next door, and a homeowner on North 20th Street sued for $10,000. Both eventually settled their cases.

Josh and Melissa Stolle bought their Streamline house on North Leithgow Street in Kensington in 2015. They planned to raise their two young children there. The Stolles thought purchasing new construction meant fewer worries about upkeep, but they soon began noticing roof leaks, which Streamline unsuccessfully tried to fix, the couple said.

Black and green mold appeared on the bathroom and closet ceilings, in the master bedroom and a childs bedroom, in a hallway, and on the roof, according to their subsequent lawsuit. Clothing was destroyed, insects infested the house, and the hardwood floors swelled with moisture and exploded, the Stolles said, according to court filings.

When mold grows to cover an area larger than one square foot, it releases proteins into the air that can create allergies when inhaled, said physician Marilyn Howarth, an occupational medicine expert at the University of Pennsylvanias Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology. It can be addressed only by drying out affected areas and cleaning or removing moldy materials, which can be extremely costly, Howarth said.

It is a problem that is quite prevalent in Philadelphias poor neighborhoods, but it can happen anywhere and does happen in office settings as well as affluent neighborhoods if people dont recognize the need to immediately dry poor substrates like carpets or walls, Howarth said.

An inspector hired by the Stolles found that their home was rife with construction defects and code violations that were causing structural damage and massive infiltration, their lawsuit says. The building envelope was totally inadequate, with flashings that sent water into the walls instead of away from it, stucco thinner than required by building codes, and a lack of openings to let moisture out at the bottom of stucco walls, the inspection found. Water was running down inside the walls, rotting out the wood and insulation.

Streamline had taken out the permits to build the house and marketed it to the Stolles. But in court filings, the company has denied responsibility and tried to shift liability for the construction flaws to a roofer and two other companies. Under Pennsylvania law, developers and general contractors may require subcontractors to assume responsibility for any damage to a project, even if its not their fault. State legislators have proposed a ban on such requirements.

The Stolles learned that the same defects affected a neighbor, who is also suing, and several other Streamline homes. The volume of complaints indicates that Streamline was knowingly building defective homes, the couple argue; they allege the developer acted in a concertedly deceptive fashion over time, engaging in significant, but non-apparent, fraudulent cost-cutting measures.

Builders who construct multiple homes with the same defects face risk of prosecution. The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General in 2016 sued Plymouth Meeting-based David Cutler Group, which calls itself the largest privately owned residential builder in the Delaware Valley. Prosecutors from the offices Bureau of Consumer Protection contended that the company did not comply with building codes and accepted industry practices on installation of stucco, weather barriers, and flashings, resulting in water infiltration and significant damage. The builder, renamed Hudson Palmer Homes, declared bankruptcy in 2018.

If you have knowledge of a repeated defect in the construction of your homes, thats negligence, said Rob Lunny, a home inspector and water intrusion expert based in Bucks County. Its part of what got David Cutler. You cant tell them you didnt know you were putting only two layers of stucco on. You were supposed to put three, you put on two, on thousands and thousands of homes, because you wanted to beat the time and everything else.

Homeowners who encounter construction flaws can have a hard time getting help, whether from Streamline, local government, or the courts.

The company has an online system to report warranty issues, and Streamline staffers will often arrange for repairs, but sometimes they refuse or tell homeowners to fix the problem on their own, owners say. Mark Swisher, a former Streamline construction manager, said he still gets calls from homeowners who are within the warranty period but struggle to get the company to respond.

I tell them exactly what to say, and Streamlines like, No, we wont do it. They constantly fight them on it, he said. The developer is understaffed, Swisher said, and doesnt have the guys that have the necessary background to be doing the actual work.

Swisher worked on Streamline projects in South Philadelphia from March 2017 to December 2018. He said the company dismissed him after he argued with a supervisor over the management of subcontractors and the phasing of construction projects.

While one-year warranties are common in new construction, attorney Jennifer Horn argues that they are worthless when construction defects occur and can even be used by builders to try to avoid responsibility for breaking the law.

When I say to you, Im going to build you a great home, and you give me $800,000, youre trusting that its going to be done correctly with quality construction, Horn said. What were dealing with is not a breach of warranty issue. It instead really is a violation of Pennsylvanias Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law.

Even if warranty limitations can be disregarded or overcome, suing a builder can be a lengthy, expensive, and uncertain process, due to attorneys fees, arbitration clauses, and arguments over who bears responsibility, among other challenges. Murray said she called a dozen lawyers, every one of whom said she had no chance of prevailing in a lawsuit against Streamline.

Murrays neighbor Ashley Scott, who lives in an adjoining condo, said she has an attorney and plenty of evidence but hasnt yet moved forward with a lawsuit. Since she bought her condo in 2017, shes fixed an improperly sealed pipe inside a wall, pushed Streamline to upgrade an unreliable sump pump system, and, like Murray, coped with sewer water covering her floors during heavy storms.

Every time I see rain in the forecast, Im afraid to go to the bathroom at night because Im worried theres going to be backflow, Scott said. After seeing water come up through your shower and your toilet, you cant get that out of your head.

After a big sewer backup, Murray pleaded and argued with Streamline staffers, posted angry screeds against the company on Facebook, and attended meetings of local zoning committees, looking for someone who could help her get the builder to act. She said she emailed City Council and never heard back. Councilmember Maria Quinones-Sanchez, whose district includes Murrays home, declined to comment, as did Council President Darrell Clarke.

Swisher did not work on Murrays house, but he said Streamlines standard building practices make basement leaks like hers more likely. The company does not always properly waterproof the outside of new foundations, and when the concrete naturally settles, moisture can widen tiny cracks and lead to persistent leaks, he said.

You have to put on tar, and then youve got to put a waterproof membrane on the foundation. Thats how it should be done. Theyre not doing that, to save money. But its not the right way to do it, Swisher said. All you need is a hairline fracture in concrete for water to start penetrating through. Its definitely an issue that they have.

Murray finally happened to meet Annie Moss, president of the Olde Kensington Neighborhood Association, and told her about the flooding. Developers often need the support of neighborhood groups to get zoning variances. After Moss called Streamline about Murrays problem, the company began the first of several unsuccessful attempts to patch the crack, Murray said.

Last March, about a year and a half after she first saw water on her floors, workers hired by Streamline finally cut out and repoured part of her foundation, she said. The leaks stopped.

As for the sewer backup problem, she resolved that through a taxpayer-supported program. In December, the Philadelphia Water Department put in a backflow preventer through its Basement Protection Program, sparing Murray and her condo association that expense.

Murray and Scott are among several homeowners who describe themselves as scarred and disillusioned by the experience of buying a Streamline condo and dealing with the company.

Another is first-time homebuyer Kinsey Gates, who fell in lovewith Streamlines floor plan for the Northern Liberties condo she closed on in 2016. But the place was plagued with leaks: Rain gutters inside the walls clogged and burst, and a poorly installed sewer ejection system broke and dripped sewage through the ceiling light openings, Gates said. Streamline fixed one gutter but then refused to pay for repairs to another.

The issue you reached out about recently, out of warranty, is separate from the original issue. It is a completely separate pipe/area of the house, Alexandra DeLawrence, a warranty service coordinator for Streamline, wrote in an email. We will not be addressing this, due to your expired warranty.

Gates and her husband also had worrying natural-gas leaks and ended up spending $2,000 to redo incorrectly installed piping. She feels fortunate not to have had the roof leaks and mold other Streamline buyers are dealing with, but shes taken to warning others who may be enticed by advertisements for the companys latest developments.

A lot of my friends, theyre buying houses, she said. I can tell you immediately based on a picture of a place if its a Streamline house because they use the same exact finishes that they used three years ago. I say, Do not buy that house. I promise you its not worth it.

The homeowners identified by PlanPhilly represent a small sample of the many families across southeastern Pennsylvania who struggle with an epidemic of water infiltration in new homes. Streamline isnt the only builder confronting lawsuits.

Currently, we have actions against Toll Brothers, Pulte, David Cutler Group, NVR, and of course Streamline, as well as others, Horn said.

More than 650 homeowners in the Philadelphia region who bought new homes in the last two decades have suffered serious water damage that required tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs, according to a 2018 Inquirer investigation. Those homes were built by 27 different companies, Streamline among them.

A renewed enthusiasm for urban living and Philadelphias 10-year tax abatement on new construction have contributed to a building boom in the city, especially since the end of the recession. But many builders are unaware of state and local building codes, which describe how elements such as cladding, house wrap, and stucco must be installed or applied to keep water out of a new house, Horn said.

When she deposes builders for lawsuits, she often finds they dont know the rules, dont have architectural or engineering oversight on job sites, and dont properly monitor the subcontractors who do much of the actual construction, she said.

We have this incredible market where theres an amazing demand for homes because people, rightfully so, want to live in Center City. So we have builders who are looking to maximize their profits, and at the time theyre building, theyre giving little or no attention to the building code, and theyre constructing homes that fail to meet even the minimum standards set forth by the building code, Horn said.

Lunny, the home inspector, said the extent of shoddy home construction in central Philadelphia is unbelievable and it seems to be getting worse rather than better.

At the root of it are builders and subcontractors who rush jobs and cut corners to save money, along with building codes that specify only general, minimal requirements and an overwhelmed Department of Licenses and Inspections, he said.

L&I must, must, have better inspections down there, Lunny said. I get it, things are happening fast. The city is looking for tax money, the builders are looking to make money, millennials and consumers have money to spend. But youve got to slow things down. This is too important.

L&I Commissioner Perri is aware of the problem and said he is developing legislation that would require inspection of building envelopes by specially trained third-party inspectors during construction of single-family homes. L&I expects the bill will be introduced in City Councils spring session.

As difficult as it can be to sue a builder, the potential for lawsuits can make companies take more care in waterproofing their projects. But Horn said people buying new construction need to make sure their sales agreements dont include arbitration clauses that weaken their access to legal recourse.

She advises prospective buyers to have an attorney vet their sales agreements for arbitration provisions or other limitations, which is much less expensive than having to pay for a private arbitrator later. Arbitration decisions also often go against homeowners and can be difficult to appeal. If a builder insists on including an arbitration clause, that may indicate the company is unwilling to stand behind the quality of its work, Horn said.

If a builders saying, I want you to be committed to an expensive, secret procedure that is highly favorable to the builder and not to the homeowner, that sends a major, major signal to a family, she said.

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Rotting from the inside: Fast-growing Philly developer accused of defective building - WHYY

For the first time in history Wednesday, Maryland residents were able to watch a video live-stream of the House of Delegates engaged in substantive debate on a pending legislation.

It happened without warning, when Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) decided to activate the half-dozen small, robotic cameras that were installed around the chamber late last year.

She was making good on a commitment made by her predecessor, the late Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel), to launch a pilot program to provide live, gavel-to-gavel coverage of the House.

While the House had already live-streamed portions of three floor sessions this year, Wednesdays broadcast was the first to feature a lengthy and substantive debate.

For decades, legislative leaders opted to keep the drapes in Annapolis drawn, even as cameras became commonplace elsewhere.

But when two lawmakers Dels. Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore and Harford) and David Moon (D-Montgomery) introduced legislation requiring that cameras be installed in the House chamber, Busch adopted their push for openness.

The U.S. House of Representatives allowed C-SPAN cameras to provide coverage of the chamber in 1980, and the U.S. Senate followed several years later. Most local governments air their meetings on cable and online, as does the Board of Public Works.

The Maryland General Assembly has long been the outlier. (The legislature does air bill hearings in committee but not votes, where the action often is.)

Day 1

People who tuned into the chambers first-ever floor debate Wednesday got quite a show.

For most of the 99-minute House of Delegates session, lawmakers engaged in a lengthy, passionate debate over House Bill 4, a measure offered by a group of Democrats to restrict the transfer to rifles and shotguns to people who are prohibited by law from owning a handgun.

The floor of the Maryland House of Delegates during debate on House Bill 4 on Wednesday. Screenshot.

House Judiciary Chair Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City) debates an amendment on the floor of the House of Delegates on Wednesday. Screenshot.

House Minority Leader Nicholaus R. Kipke (R-Anne Arundel) debates an amendment to House Bill 4. Screenshot.

The House of Delegates rostrum was briefly empty Wednesday after a parliamentary challenge to a ruling by Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) on a proposed Republican amendment. Screenshot.

The unofficial vote tally on an amendment is broadcast from the House of Delegates. Screenshot.

Not surprisingly, Republican amendments to the bill were defeated and arguments against the bill appeared to go unheeded. All pretty routine stuff in a legislature in which Democrats have the numbers to work their will whenever they choose.

But things got interesting, and tempers flared, when GOP leaders objected to a technique used to try to amend the measure. That led to a ruling from the House parliamentarian and eventually a challenge to the ruling of the chair, a dramatic and rarely used maneuver.

It was tense and unusually watchable, if youre into that sort of thing. (The video is now available online.)

The House livestream is produced by a crew from Maryland Public Television, under contract to the legislatures Department of Information Services.

MPT installed unmanned cameras around the chamber before the session started. They are controlled by a crew that sits in a newly-constructed glass booth high above the House floor.

With 141 members, any one of them could pop up to speak at any moment, a live webcast poses a significant challenge.

Not only does the director have to find the person speaking and cut to them as quickly as possible, they must determine who is speaking and find the appropriate chyron to identify the lawmaker.

The MPT crew did a very good job on their maiden voyage.

Although there were a few awkward instances when it took time to cut to the person speaking, overall the production was crisp, and the video and audio quality were respectable.

The video stream was inset in a graphic that listed the House agenda for the day, giving viewers the opportunity not only to read the bill being debated but also to read amendments as they came up, a very user-friendly feature.

An adjustment period?

The Houses contract with MPT allows for 30 days of coverage this legislative session.

Although local TV news cameras have been allowed on the House and Senate floor for decades, they typically only show up for high-profile bills.

Gavel-to-gavel coverage is altogether different, and there will likely be a period of adjustment.

On Wednesday, viewers could see that some legislators were paying attention to the debate, while others were working on their laptops or talking on cell phones.

At one point during the gun debate, a House staffer appeared dubious of an argument being made by a lawmaker.

In an interview, Szeliga said she is proud of her role in bringing cameras to the floor, and she expressed confidence that viewers will see that the tone of Marylands legislature is much less acrimonious than Congress is. She expects little in the way of grandstanding.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Luke H. Clippinger (D-Baltimore) wasted no time taking advantage of the new technology, posting a clip of himself speaking on the floor to Twitter.

Dont fall for the smoke & mirrors, he wrote. Marylanders want background checks. #HB4.

By 10 p.m. Wednesday, the clip had been viewed more than 1,700 times.

There was a light moment on Wednesday when Del. Carl Anderton Jr. (R-Wicomico) rose at the start of the session to deliver the opening prayer. He was wearing an eye-catching purple plaid jacket, purple patterned shirt and purple striped tie.

In an interview, Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) applauded the House for its decision to televise select floor sessions, and he said he intends to bring cameras to the floor of his chamber next year.

Danielle E. Gaines contributed to this report.

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Live From Annapolis, it's the House of Delegates! - Josh Kurtz

Bloomfield High School students share experiences on service trip

BLOOMFIELD Sometimes, you have to journey really far away to understand what you have in your own backyard, according to Bloomfield school counselor and adviser Felice Prindle.

More than 20 students in Bloomfields High Schools International Baccalaureate Creativity, Activity and Service program are back from a service trip to the Dominican Republic, funded in part through community events and fundraisers and taken in December and early January.

And they have had the chance to reflect on what some are calling a visit that has changed them and how they look at life back home.

The students helped poor sugar cane workers in what are known as bateyes, which are settlements and homes for people originally from Haiti who face discrimination and other hardships in their new country. The Bloomfield students traveled to the same area of the country as other Bloomfield students did in 2017.

This project is like taking a journey and recognizing a community and an entire group of people that have been marginalized and forgotten, said Prindle, who organized this and previous service trips.

The students, through the Monte Cocoa Housing Initiative, helped install floors in homes and build latrines for the community. They also worked to improve access to running water as well as serving as teachers for children ranging from as young as 3 to those older than they are.

And the Bloomfield visitors also proved to be apt students as well.

For Marissa Giglia, her definition of wealth changed, particularly traveling from what she calls a largely materialistic society here to find something she and the others who accompanied her on the trip didnt expect to find.

Yes, the workers would go into the sugar cane fields everyday, some working from 3 a.m. to 8 p.m., cutting down sugar cane with a machete, row by row, all day long. All that for $2.50 every two weeks, with much of the money going toward clean water.

Yet, everyone was smiling. The people danced a lot. They came up and hugged these complete strangers from Bloomfield, playing baseball or musical chairs with them and doing their hair.

They treated them like family.

I thought, how rich they are in happiness and family, Marissa said. It was really upsetting to see that they had to live this way and they didnt have a choice to live any better way. But they made the best out of their situation, and I guess that was the most amazing part about the trip.

Upon returning from the service trip, many of the students found a renewed sense of purpose in volunteer work they already had been doing.

Take Christian Reyes, who works with the elderly as he strives to someday become a pediatric nurse. Like his traveling companions, he learned how valuable a smile, conversation, companionship and friendship can be to someone, no matter the language barrier.

And he tries to do the same back home.

Its not my job, its my duty to help, Christian said.

Lauren Bell works with one elementary school student twice a week. She realizes the importance of the connections shes made go beyond simply helping the one student but to the entire class.

In the bateyes, she and other students helped install floors and latrines. But being there for the peoplewas just as important, she discovered.

For me, my presence is service, in a way. Being there for them and not necessary to give them something, she said. For me, that classroom is my version of the kids in the Dominican Republic.

Kailee Lewis paid heed to the lessons taught by the Bloomfield students who traveled to this same community two years ago and to Prindle, who encouraged the students to have no regrets when it was time to leave.

If that meant allowing the kids to hug her and shake her hand, she let them. And yes, allowing them to do her hair.

Two little girls wrote her notes, wrapped in bows and a scrunchie. Translated, one of the notes read, I love you, friend. A little boy wrote in Kailees journal, You gave me my heart.

I know Ill never forget that, Kailee said.

Students, who are preparing to share details of the service trip with the Bloomfield Board of Education on Feb. 5, also have been talking with younger students about their experiences.

Were creating a generation who wants to go and serve as well, Lauren said.

The students go not to travel but to serve, Prindle said. And when they return home, they still want to serve and this group is no exception.

Im really proud of them, Prindle said.

In looking back, Marissa said many would think there are so many differences, but instead, the Bloomfield and Dominican Republic kids learned they are very much the same.

I think that was one of the coolest parts, seeing how we find joy in a lot of the same things, Marissa said.

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From the Dominican Republic, with love and memories - MPNnow.com