Juan Loy was sitting in his living room between Gilmer and Big Sandy when he first smelled the smoke.

It was a Thursday in early May, about a month before the 17-year-old Gladewater High School senior was set to graduate, but in that moment, his only thoughts were getting his family out of the house and calling for help.

It was on a Thursday. I missed (school) that day and the next day to start cleaning up and get as much as we could out as soon as we could. Then all weekend I spent cleaning up, Juan said.

Faulty wiring in the attic was blamed for the fire, which worked its way across much of the home before firefighters could extinguish the blaze. What the flames didnt get became waterlogged.

Juan was at home with his father, mother, brothers daughter, sister and sisters family at the time of the blaze.

Juans mother had the presence of mind to grab his cap, gown and graduation invitations before evacuating the home.

It means a lot more now because I can still graduate, Juan said.

Juan, a Gladewater ISD every-man, has played sports, participates in the band and finished seventh in his class.

It took him the first several years of high school, but Juan finally left the basketball and track teams and focused on tennis, while playing brass instruments for the band.

A lifelong Bear, Juan began with the district as a student at Broadway Elementary School.

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Gladewater grad overcomes after home catches fire

The average fixed line home broadband download speed for the largest eight ISPs in the United Kingdom held stable at 21.7Mbps (up from 21.32Mbps in April 2014) and Internet uploads were similarly unchanged at 5.04Mbps. As usual Virgin Media and BT remain the fastest national providers. A new chart that tracks the monthly changes has also been added.

The following summary is based on data gathered using Ooklas universal Speedtest.net service and we then calculate the overall average speeds from only the major national UK ISPs listed below rather than Ooklas overall total (i.e. Ooklas overall figures would be too skewed by business ISPs, niche providers and mobile operators).

Generally speaking May has been a fairly quiet month with no major changes to report; although Zen Internet has snuck into the top 3 after just about managing to unseat PlusNet. Otherwise Virgin continues to be the fastest national broadband ISP for download speeds on 49.36Mbps, with BT coming a distant second at 25.52Mbps (largely due to the high number of slower ADSL2+ users).

Top 8 Big UK ISPs Average Download Speed (Megabits per second) 1. Virgin Media 49.26Mbps 2. BT 25.52Mbps 3. Zen Internet 22.58Mbps 4. PlusNet 21.30Mbps 5. Eclipse Internet 14.99Mbps 6. Sky Broadband 13.46Mbps 7. TalkTalk 13.44Mbps 8. EE 13.05Mbps

Top 8 Big UK ISPs Average Upload Speed 1. BT 7.58Mbps 2. Zen Internet 6.80Mbps 3. PlusNet 6.50Mbps 4. Virgin Media 5.56Mbps 5. Eclipse Internet 4.30Mbps 6. Sky Broadband 3.97Mbps 7. EE (Orange) 3.19Mbps 8. TalkTalk 2.44Mbps

Some readers have also requested that ISPreview.co.uk keep track of individual ISP performance and in response weve included a semi-interactive chart at the bottom that will be used to keep tabs on the listed ISPs, albeit only in terms of downstream performance (uploads change at a far slower rate).

At this stage weve only been doing it since March 2014 and so you wont notice much movement, although the start of Virgin Medias latest double speed upgrade is clearly evident. Take note that the chart will only display if your web browser has enabled JavaScript (most do this by default) and mobile browsers may also need to use Desktop mode to see it.

As usual its important to take average speeds like these with a big pinch of salt. Every home is different and performance can be affected by all sorts of issues, many of which are beyond the ISPs ability to control (e.g. slow wifi or poor home wiring), thus we do not consider the above data to be a reliable barometer for individual users but it can help to highlight general changes in the market.

On top of that its known that Ooklas data attempts to reflect the fastest sustainable throughput performance by dropping a sizeable chunk of the slowest tests and a smaller slice of the fastest results for each ISP, which has its merits but also skews the results a bit. Similarly speedtesting services are rarely perfect, although this is usually more of an issue for ultrafast connections of 100Mbps+ (uncommon).

Read more:
The UK Top 8 Fastest Major Home Broadband ISPs for May 2014

By Jason Gibbs

jgibbs@lcsun-news.com @fjgwriter on Twitter

LAS CRUCES >> It's about more than pounding nails and pulling electrical wire, although there was plenty of both going on at the Las Cruces Home Builders Association's Anniversary House Friday.

The work is a labor of love intended to give back to the Southern New Mexico community.

Construction on the philanthropical project, underway at 3677 Santa Sabina Ave. in the Metro Verde South development on the East Mesa, is on target for a July finish, said LCHBA Executive Officer Steve Chavira. Dubbed the Anniversary House, the home is being constructed to mark the 55th anniversary of the association. John Moscato of Sierra Note Land Holding along with partners Royal Jones and Dean Rigg sold the lot to LCHBA for a significantly discounted price. Kimball Hakes, president of Hakes Brothers Brothers builders approached Moscato to begin the project.

Contractors and LCHBA members are donating or deeply discounting much of the necessary time, labor and material to bring the home's construction cost in as low as possible.

The goal? Have a market-ready home for sale in August, with proceeds going to Las Cruces charities.

And, it looks like that goal is in sight.

A student crew of electrical engineers from the Independent Electrical Contractors group spent Friday installing electrical wiring throughout the house.

"The build-out is gong very well," Chavira said Friday. "It's going up fast and it's a good-quality home being built."

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LCHBA Anniversary Home on schedule for August sale

SAN ANTONIO A San Antonio boarding home operator has ignored repeated requests by the city to clean up her facility, which for the past year has been in violation of a host of health and safety codes, according to a lawsuit filed by San Antonio.

The home at 1123 Pasadena has been the site of accumulated trash, unsanitary living conditions, faulty wiring, unsafe food preparation, and a rat and insect infestation, the city alleges.

A judge could order the closure of the home operated by Doreen Silva, who also runs two other boarding homes in San Antonio, both of which are also in violation of codes, according to the city.

Silva has also failed, according to the city, to install a sprinkler system, part of an ordinance passed two years ago to make boarding homes safer for residents, most of whom are people with mental or physical disabilities. Silva was not available for comment.

Since the ordinance passed, 28 homes have voluntarily closed rather than comply with the new law. The city has shut down another six, stating they posed immediate danger to residents.

Read more about the controversy over boarding homes at ExpressNews.com or in Saturday's edition of the Express-News.

mstoeltje@express-news.net

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City seeks to close boarding home

It took Sicily Kolbeck, of Georgia, a year and a half of labor and $10,000 to build the 128-square-foot bungalow with a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom Sicily lost her father, Dane Kolbeck, in a car accident a month after construction began She plans to take her tiny dwelling to Baltimore when the family move there in the summer

By Snejana Farberov

Published: 13:42 EST, 27 May 2014 | Updated: 05:36 EST, 28 May 2014

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Building a house from scratch, even a tiny one, is not for the faint of heart, but 14-year-old Sicily Kolbeck has proven she has what it takes to see her passion project through against overwhelming odds.

Kolbeck, from Marietta, Georgia, started work on her diminutive dwelling, lovingly dubbed La Petite Maison, when she was 12.

At the time, the girl was searching for an outside-the-box idea for a school project when she stumbled upon a sizable online community of DIY builders specializing in downsized homes.

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Read the original:
Home sweet home! Girl, 14, builds herself a tiny $10,000 house as tribute to her late father

By James Coney

Published: 19:02 EST, 27 May 2014 | Updated: 03:18 EST, 28 May 2014

No one who bought a Victorian home would expect it to be totally perfect.

The property has, after all, been lived in. The wiring may be shot, the paintwork peeling, brickwork crumbling and windows draughty.

But if you buy a newly built home you would reasonably expect it to be in pristine condition particularly if youve just splashed out a quarter of a million quid on it.

Problems: If you buy a newly built home at Oxley Woods (pictured) you would reasonably expect it to be in pristine condition

So to find that nails are sticking through the floor, timbers are damp, the garden is a bog and windows leak is understandably devastating.

Even doors that jam and plug sockets that dont work can be a genuine annoyance.

There is a house-building boom in Britain just now, boosted by government schemes such as Help to Buy. Its much needed because we have a chronic shortage of properties.

View post:
JAMES CONEY: Newly built homes should be in pristine condition

SOUTH GLENS FALLS, N.Y. -- One of the two boys injured in a freak bounce house accident has left the hospital and is home continuing to recuperate from multiple broken bones.

The boys, ages 5 and 6, were hurt when they fell about 20 feet from the lightweight inflatable structure that was lifted into the air by a strong gust of wind.

The 5-year-old who landed on a parked car suffered serious head injuries, while the 6-year-old fell on pavement and two broken arms and a broken jaw. Both boys were airlifted to Albany Medical Center Hospital.

"Having kids of your own, its tough to see things like that," said Ross Loffler, a South Glens Falls firefighter who responded to the scene on the afternoon of May 12.

At their families request, the boys names havent been released.

However, the 6-year-old came home late last week and the 5-year-old is no longer in a coma, Harrison Avenue Elementary School Principal Joseph Palmer said Tuesday. The boys are in kindergarten at the school.

Both of the 6-year-olds arms are in a cast and his mouth has been wired because of the broken jaw. The wiring is expected to come off soon, Palmer said.

"Hes able to eat and talk," the principal said. "Hes a terrific little boy."

Palmer said it would be up to the boys family to decide if the 6-year-old returns to school before summer vacation begins next month.

A benefit car wash for both boys will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at South Glens Falls Fire Department Station 2 on Route 197. Another fundraiser is planned for Mr. Bills Restaurant on Route 9 on June 22. This event will include raffles and live music and a portion of restaurant proceeds will go to the families.

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Boy hurt in bounce house mishap now home

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. (PRWEB) May 27, 2014

Gold Medal Service, an award-winning heating, cooling, plumbing, electrical, drain cleaning, and waterproofing service company servicing all of New Jersey, is encouraging area homeowners to check the wiring in their homes during Electrical Safety Month in May.

Each year, the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) sponsors Electrical Safety Month as part of its yearlong efforts to educate homeowners about electrical hazards around the house. The organization has a special Electrical Safety Illustrated magazine available for homeowners to learn how to best protect their families and homes from electrical hazards.

Electrical hazards can be, at best, inconvenient, and at worst, deadly, but theyre also largely preventable. Its vital to be aware of any potential problems around your home and to correct them if you identify any, said Mike Agugliaro, co-founder of Gold Medal Service. Our expert electricians can inspect wiring, outlets, appliances, and other electrical devices around your home and make sure youre protected from power surges, electrical fires, and lightning damage.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, as many as 47,700 home fires each year are connected to electrical failures or malfunctions, causing $1.4 billion in property damage, 418 deaths, and 1,570 injuries.

The ESFIs Electrical Safety Illustrated resource outlines how homeowners can implement the National Electrical Code, a nationwide benchmark for safe electrical design, installation, and inspection. Gold Medal Service experts can help homeowners install everything they need to meet the benchmark, including:

For more information on Electrical Safety Month, visit http://www.esfi.org. For more information about Gold Medal Service, call 800-576-GOLD or visit http://www.goldmedalservice.com.

About Gold Medal Service Gold Medal Service, rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau, was founded in New Jersey in 1994 with just two employees. Their vision was to provide homeowners with a reliable and trustworthy home service company customers could count on to fix just about anything that could go wrong in a home. Since then Gold Medal has grown to include more than 120 employees and technicians solving plumbing, heating, cooling, electric, drain, waterproofing, and sewer issues for homeowners across the state of New Jersey. Gold Medal Service is an Angies List Super Service Award recipient. For more information, call 800-576-GOLD or visit http://www.goldmedalservice.com.

For additional information, contact: Heather Ripley, Ripley PR hripley(at)ripleypr(dot)com 865-977-1973

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View original post here:
Check for Home Hazards during Electrical Safety Month

In 1902, Davenport lumber magnate Lorenzo Schricker built a large yellow brick home on a bluff overlooking Davenport for his daughter Selma.

The Georgian-Federal-Revival-style home wasdesigned by the noted architectural firm of Clausen and Burrows, and it featured a large, semicircular portico and over-sized dormers.

Selma lived in the home at 1430 Clay St. until she died there in September 1931 at the age of 50. She never married and is buried with her sister and half-brother in the first mausoleum built in Davenport's Oakdale Cemetery.

After she died, the home was acquired by the Diocese of Davenport, and four bishops lived in the home over the years. The last resident was Bishop Emeritus William Franklin, who moved out in the mid-1990s.

The home wassoldin 1996 and then again in November 2000 toMark and Judy Westrom.

Over the course of several years, the Westroms did a lot of work, including the replacement of all 39 windows and battling back from a roof fire in November 2010.

For their efforts, they arereceiving a preservation award from the Scott County Historical Society.

The Westroms say the house appears to have undergone various renovations through the years, and in some areasthe original configuration or use is unclear.

The original drawingsare no longer in the archive of SGGM Architects & Interior Designers, the successor to Clausen and Burrows.

Happily, though, original woodwork, stained glass and other architectural elements were preserved, "and we believe the overall flavor of the house remains intact," Judy Westrom said.

The rest is here:
Saluting Selma's house

3 hours ago May. 23, 2014 - 12:59 PM PDT

While there is a ton of excitement around the connected home, its still very much a distant proposition for the mainstream consumer. I believe that by next year a majority of consumers will have one or more connected device in their homes, although I suspect it will be a single-use device like a connected thermostat or lights.

So this week, when I stopped by the OReilly Solid conference to check out the connected devices I kept my eyes peeled for the latest innovations aimed at the home. A few I had already covered, such as the Birdi air quality monitoring system that is expected in October or the Zuli bluetooth plugs that offer presence detection, which should also ship in the fall time frame (there are a lot of fall ship dates, yall.)

The founders of Birdi and their connected air quality monitor.

But I also ran into three new startups that were worth a second look. The first, Xandem, is currently making a presence sensor that uses wireless signals to understand where in the house a person is. Its currently sold commercially as a more accurate motion detector (it works in the dark, when an infrared motion detector can be fooled). But Dustin Maas, the CTO and I discussed how it might be used for detecting presence in the home for people who arent currently carrying or wearing a bluetooth device. One challenge will be interference from other networks, Maas, says it works with Wi-Fi, but running four or five different networks might make it a bit less effective. I like it because it helps solve the problem of detecting kids or other people in the house that arent carrying smart phones or Bluetooth devices.

Xandems CTO Dustin Maas (left) and CEO Joey Wilson (right) showing of their sensing technology.

For others who want to ditch their smart phones, but dont mind wearing a Bluetooth enabled bracelet, Playtabase has built a system of a bracelet and receivers that you can plug into your lamps, TVs or other appliances and then use the bracelet as a gesture-based controller. So wave your arm and twist your wrist to turn things on, adjust volume or even start and stop video playback. The system is called Reemo, and the wearable is designed to work as both a home controlling device and a mouse worn on the wrist. This is to entice you to wear it all the time. The device should be available in the fall and should cost about $200 for a wristband and three receivers.

Also in the home space, were a set of six sensors and a hub that cost $299 but are pretty good deal when compared to the cost of buying those sensors individually. The Wally systems point of differentiation is that the sensors will last for 10 years on one coin cell battery and that instead of using a radio for communications, they actually gain their power efficiencies by instead sending their information via the electrical wiring system in your home. The sensors use a radio to reach the homes wiring, and then transmit the information to the hub, which is plugged into the wall. The software then lets you set thresholds for moisture and temperature so you can get alerts when something is amiss.

A Wally sensor that will last 10 years on one battery.

Continued here:
3 startups with a new twist on the smart home