A Scott County fire investigator said old wiring caused a house fire on Bourbon Street in Georgetown early Wednesday morning. Georgetown firefighters said the fire started around 3:30 a.m. in the wall in the attic portion of the two-apartment dwelling. Charles Masterson lived in the apartment on the top floor. He said his home is a total loss. "I'm just grateful my son wasn't here," said Masterson. Masterson said his power went out around 7 p.m., a few hours after his space heater had been plugged in. He said he called the landlord and went to stay with his mother, brother, sister and others in the apartment downstairs. "At 3:30 this morning my sister's boyfriend was yelling at me to get up. I went outside and there was smoke everywhere. There was smoke on the ceiling," said Masterson. The firefighters told the ten people living at the residence they could no longer stay there. They are all staying with Masterson's grandmother temporarily.

Read more here:
Fire Investigators Say Old Wiring Caused Georgetown Fire

By John D. Taylor

With heating season thrust upon us by the latest polar vortex, and the holidays just around the corner, now is a good time to be thinking about fire safety in the home.

How long do you think you might have in the event of a fire to get out of your home? And what would you do, how would your family react in the event of a fire?

According to American Red Cross spokesperson Anne Marie Borrego, research shows most people believe they have about five minutes to escape a fire in the home. However, the real figure is only two minutes, a scant 120 seconds, especially in modern constructions. Along with this, the Red Cross is urging families to have a fire escape plan, and to practice this escape plan, Borrego said.

Crosby Fire Chief Travis Running agrees.

I thought it was three minutes, he said, but with new construction, it could be two.

Running said he has seen examples of this with how older homes burn vs. newer homes: Newer homes go up in flames much more quickly than older homes, he said.

Running has seen studies where in older homes, with older furnishings, the amount of time people had to escape a fire was about 12 minutes. In newer homes, that time shrinks down to two or three minutes at most, he said.

New homes with new furnishings burn 10 times faster than older homes with older furnishings, he said. New products are like a big torch.

Running believes construction techniques and materials are to blame: Modern furniture, for example, is often made with pressboard which is glued together to form a solid board, then sheathed with a veneer of wood or other materials, glued to the board. This furniture has more adhesives, which causes furnishings to burn faster, and produce noxious fumes, Running said.

See the rest here:
Home safety on fire chief’s mind

Heather Hach has sold her home in Hancock Park for $2.675 million.

Called Villa di Serenita, the Mediterranean/Spanish-style house retains its 1928 charm but includes such modern updates as solar-powered electrical and wiring for electric vehicles. Details include vaulted beamed ceilings, colorful tile stair risers and hardwood floors.

The two-story house is entered through a flagstone courtyard with a fountain. Within the 3,604 square feet of living space are a two-story foyer, a den/office, a library, four bedrooms and four bathrooms.

French doors open to a swimming pool and a spa in the backyard.

Hach wrote the screenplays for Freaky Friday (2003) and What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012) and the libretto for the 2007 musical Legally Blonde. She also appeared on the MTV series Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods.

The writer paid $2.899 million for the property in 2007, public records show.

Frank Bruno of Keller Williams was the listing agent. Darla Sue Gilmartin of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties represented the buyer.

Twitter: @LATHotProperty

More:
Libbretist Heather Hach closes the book Hancock Park house

Home internet, wired or wireless? Thats a big question now days with more folks working from home. With a lot of newer homes being built today having the house pre wired for Ethernet connections is a common practice. In older homes wireless seems to be the way to go, especially with faster speed wireless routers. But, what happens when you live in an older home and your wireless signal wont reach all of your desired computing locations? TP-Link has a solution, the AV600 Gigabyte Powerline Adapter starter kit.

Note: Images can be clicked to view a larger size.

While this networking method is not new, the listed data transfer speeds for uploads and downloads are, up to 600Mps. The AV600 sent to me to review is a starter kit containing a sending unit and one receiver. Basically what this system does is turn your home wiring into a data conduit by using the sending unit to send data and the receiving unit to (you guessed it) receive the data. The sending unit is paired with the receiving units so in theory you could run multiple lines throughout your house.

The packages contains the following:

Has the following features listed on the TP Link website:

And the following hardware specs as listed on the TP-Link website:

View post:
TP-Link AV600 Gigabit Powerline Adapter Starter Kit review

VIEW GALLERY

It may look 450 years old, but this Tudor house is the result of one 21st century couple's hard work and dedication.

Ray and Michele Blundell spent two and a half years building their Elizabethan style home from scratch - complete with 16th century timber work, low ceilings and tiled roof.

The couple bought the house in 1998 and set about teaching themselves plumbing, electrical wiring and medieval carpentry in order to create their dream home.

As a result, the value of the property has spiked to more than 600,000, the Blundells having spent 110,000 after buying it for just 90,000.

Ray said the couple had both come out of divorces and had no money when they decided to take on the project while living in a static caravan on site near Lichfield in Staffordshire.

Wed never done anything like this before. We wanted to do as much of the work ourselves as we could. We ordered the timber frame from a company in Hereford and three builders helped to put up the twenty-ton oak skeletal frame. They also helped us with a few other jobs including the insulation.

But we did everything else; put the roof on, made and laid the floorboards, made the doors, did all the electrics and installed the under-floor heating. We did everything really added the 69 year-old retired Sales Director.

Initially the bank had refused to give them any money, seeing the oak in the yard and not believing a house would come of it, said Ray.

But when someone from the bank returned three weeks later, he was "gobsmacked" to see the frame had been assembled.

See the article here:
Couple build amazing new Tudor home from scratch - learning Elizabethan carpentry, roofing and plumbing

UPDATE @ 6:30 p.m.: Fire crews rescued a dog from the home in the 3900 block of Middlehurst Lane the resident found burning when she returned from work about 5 p.m., Dayton District Chief James Rose said.

She and her dog will have to find a temporary residence because the fire, which started in the attic of the single-story home, is going to be a near total loss, Rose said.

He said an preliminary investigation shows the probable cause as overloaded or faulty wiring.

There was a smoke alarm in the home but the battery in it was dead, Rose said.

Had the fire happened late at night or overnight, he said, we couldve had a totally different situation here. It all turned out well, were glad for that. But we cant stress enough the value of keeping your smoke detector with a fresh battery in it.

It truly is the best ten-dollar life insurance policy youre going to find, Rose said.

He estimated the damage to the structure and contents at $15,000 to $20,000.

FIRST REPORT

Crews are on the scene of a house fire on Middlehurst Lane.

Were told all of the occupants are out of the single-story home.

See the rest here:
Dayton house fire displaces woman, her dog

LEE COUNTY, Fla. -The FBI said fraudulent advertisements for vacation and rental properties are costing people roughly $92.5 million each year.

Valerie Henry and her family live in France. This summer, they booked a vacation to stay at a waterfront home in Cape Coral. Weeks before the vacation was planned, Henry realized the rental home she had booked on a website called http://www.ProVacationFinder.com was bogus.

"I sent [wired] the payment Wednesday, but then Monday I realized maybe there's something not honest," Henry said with the help of a translator. "Tuesday my friends went to the bank to ask cancellation...It was too late."

Henry explained she had contacted the so-called property owner through the website. She received an email telling her to wire $3,000 to a bank in London. After wiring that money, she never received a confirmation. She tried to contact the owner, but did not have a phone number.

"We thought we were not going to go on vacation and that was that."

However, Henry had already bought the plane tickets for her family, so they started searching for a new rental home. While searching online, she came across the same pictures of the Cape Coral home she had already booked, but this time the property owner's name and number was listed. So, she called the owner, Peter Gillert.

"My first thought was 'Oh my God' somebody uses our property's pictures on the internet for fraudulent purposes, which is not acceptable," Gillert said. "I really wanted to help this family because they have set aside their money for their vacation. They have paid the money and now the money is lost and they will probably not get it back again."

Gillert knew the posting Henry booked on was fake because his home was already booked the week she needed. Nonetheless, he tried to help her find a legitimate posting. In the meantime, Gillert contacted Cape Coral police and Call for Action. WINK News had Gillert contact IC3, the Internet Crime Complaint Center, a division of the FBI that investigates online scams.

"Unfortunately my impression is they are helpless in this aspect," Gillert said.

WINK News Call for Action talked to Special Agent Dave Couvertier with the FBI. He said IC3 has seen an increase in rental scams in the Southwest Florida area.

Read the original here:
FBI warns of rental scams on the rise in Southwest Florida

Ray and Michele Blundell built their Elizabethan-style home in Lichfield, Staffordshire entirely from scratch Both had come out of divorces when they embarked on the ambitious project in 1998, buying a third-of-an-acre plot The couple spent 90,000 on the land and spent next two-and-a-half years living in a static caravan on the site They taught themselves key building skills and spent 110,000 on building costs as their dream home took shape The home, which includes an oak frame, low ceilings and a spectacular garden, is now worth more than 600,000

By Harry Mount for the Daily Mail

Published: 18:20 EST, 12 November 2014 | Updated: 03:33 EST, 13 November 2014

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Walk past Ray and Michele Blundells home near Lichfield in Staffordshire, and you might think you had stepped back 450 years.

It is in the classic, half-timbered, Elizabethan style - built on an oak frame, with an ancient tiled roof, and the first floor teetering over the ground floor.

In fact, the cottage is only 14 years old. Whats more, the Blundells built the whole thing from scratch, teaching themselves plumbing, electrical wiring and medieval carpentry into the bargain.

Oh, and they also carved a majestic garden out of a dreary third-of-an-acre plot, which had only three plum trees and a lawn when they bought it. And all for only 200,000.

Read this article:
Lichfield couple who built their own Tudor home for 200k

By Scott Baker

Published Nov 11, 2014 at 2:50 pm (Updated Nov 11, 2014)

NEWTON While it is true that HT Install NJ, based out of Newton, is the number one Google result returned for search term New Jersey TV mounting, the company does much more than just hang televisions.

We are first and foremost a professional home theater installation company, says HT Install NJ owner Dave Cammarato. Not a company that does home theater work on the side.

With more than 10 years of experience in the industry, Cammarato and each of his employees are experts in their field.

We know the proper wiring and correct setup for every piece of equipment we install, Cammarato adds. We also follow up every job with post installation support to make sure the customer stays satisfied.

The company has received five-star reviews across all online platforms.

We recently had a room added to our home and Dave installed a TV and surround sound, all completely wireless. The work was done professionally and very neatly, one Google+ reviewer says. We had previously gotten a quote from one of the big box stores, and Dave's price came in at less than half the price!

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Stone installation HT Install NJ is the only fully insured home theater installation company in the area with a master stoneworker on their payroll.

Originally posted here:
Newton business offers home theater installation

New gadgets

A growing number of companies are rolling out home automation products that tap into new capabilities of Bluetooth, giving them the potential to be cheaper and easier to set up and use than previous home-automation gadgets. Among the new gadgets

A touch-activated door lock. The deadbolt lock, from industry stalwart Kwikset, unlocks at the tap of a finger when it detects a Bluetooth signal coming from an owner's phone. Users can also configure it to recognize visitors' phones, such as those of a housekeeper or a nanny.

A smart home kit. Designed by Archos, a French company best known for its low-cost electronics devices, the kit includes a collection of security and automation products such as cameras, weather monitors and controllable wall plugs that all communicate with a specialized tablet over Bluetooth.

A remote-controlled light bulb. Designed by startup company Oort, the bulb allows users to turn it on or off or change its color using an app on a smartphone or tablet. It works similarly to Philips Hue light bulb, but for less than half the cost. And unlike the Hue, it doesn't require an extra device to communicate with it using your phone.

A wireless light switch. Designed by Avi-on, a startup company, the device allows users to place a new light switch wherever they'd like, without having to carve a new hole in their wall or extend their wiring. The switch, which is set to debut next spring, uses Bluetooth to send signals to power plugs and light bulbs that can turn the lights on or off or even dim them.

A remote-controlled wall plug. To be released early next year by San Francisco startup Zuli, the plug will allow users to dim their lights or turn on an appliance like a crock pot with their smartphones.

Follow this link:
Wolverton: Smart-home products powered by Bluetooth