Jim and Nancy Unruh closed on a new house just before Christmas vacation.

Both teachers at Carthage Middle School, they spent much of their Christmas holidays removing carpet, tearing into walls and starting remodeling projects.

Last week, during spring break, they finished moving and had Easter dinner Saturday with their family in the new house.

The Unruhs raised their family in a large, two-story house on west Main Street in Carthage. They moved across town to a one story brick home on Madison. The home was solid, but had not been lived in for several years and needed to be updated.

Major changes were made with the kitchen and surrounding area, and with bathrooms.

I knew I wanted the open concept kitchen and family area, Nancy said. Walls that formed the kitchen, dining room and a sitting room were knocked down and the area is left open for TV, dining and cooking.

We always congregate in the kitchen. I like having a window in the kitchen, she said. Im really excited about the kitchen. I love to cook and entertain.

The open area allows for windows on both sides of the space, a large picture window by the dining area, and sliding doors to the patio on the opposite side.

Nancy kept the same cabinets in the kitchen, but repainted them white.

They were good cabinets, I just didnt like the color, Nancy said. She added a new base cabinet and a large floor to ceiling pantry cupboard that matched her updated cabinets. She chose stainless steel appliances and a gas stove.

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Putting their touch on a new home, with help from friends

Bill OConnor was the guy who installed his own car stereo in high school and the kid whom teachers asked to set up the sound system.

Today, he gets to tinker, patch, design and install gadgets for a living, but the technology is more high-end as his employees at Constellation Home Electronics design, install and manage smart-home technology, from a $7,000 TV and streaming router to a whole-house system that can surpass $100,000.

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Constellation Home Electronics specializes in the high-tech home

Your home, sweet home, might be trying to kill you. Here are four silent killers that could be lurking in your home.

Poison Gases

Its a problem that affects nearly 1 in 15 homes in the U.S. and is the second leading cause of lung cancer. Potentially deadly radon is a colorless, orderless gas that seeps up from the soil through cracks in the foundation when naturally occurring uranium decays. Modern homes are well insulated from the elements, which allows the gas to build up to potentially toxic levels. A radon alarm, which costs as little as $15, should be installed in the home, particularly in basements where radon is more likely to pool. Elevated radon levels are a pretty easy fix. Contact a contractor to seal up cracks in the foundation and install a ventilation system to prevent the gas from building up.

Radon isnt the only potentially deadly gas you need to worry about. Carbon monoxide occurs when burning fossil fuels, which means a CO leak can be caused by a malfunctioning heating system, a poorly ventilated barbecue or a gas-powered generator. Carbon monoxide causes more than 400 deaths each year in the U.S., and is responsible for 20,000 emergency room visits. As with radon, a simple alarm can warn you when dangerous levels of carbon monoxide start to build up in the home, and many states have started requiring these alarms to be installed alongside smoke detectors. If you alarm sounds, dont panic. Open your windows to provide ventilation, leave the home and call 911.

Garden Plants

A garden can be an idyllic green space, but it can also contain hidden dangers, particularly for curious pets and children. Unbeknownst to many gardeners, many common garden plants can be extremely toxic and even downright deadly. Castor bean plants are a common favorite with gardeners, but the plants bean contain enough of the toxin ricin to kill a small child. Water hemlock one of the most deadly plants around is a very common weed, which can easily be mistaken for edible plants such as wild carrots or water cress. Curious cats love to attack plants, but a few bites of a common lily can be enough to kill your beloved pet. If you have pets or children, double-check before planting to make sure youre not growing anything thats potentially harmful.

Old Wiring

Old home have their charms but they also harbor many dangers behind their antique walls. Knob-and-tube wiring was a common electrical setup in the late 19th and early 20th century that featured rubber and cloth insulation around the wiring. Over the years, the insulation becomes dry and brittle, exposing the bare wires a problem that is commonly seen in crawl spaces, basements or other places where the wires are out in the open. If your home was built before the 1940s, you might consider getting it checked for this old style of wiring. While an upgrade will be expensive, its a lot better than losing your house to an electrical fire.

Open Water

Backyard pools are a wonderful way to spend a sun-baked summers day, but they are also a leading cause of death for small children. Parents with small children should install a child-proof fence and gate around the pool and children should never be allowed to use the pool unsupervised. Assuming that the shallow depths make them safe for unattended play, many parents overlook the danger posed by small wading pools. But any amount of water could prove deadly for children, particularly those under the age of five. If you have a portable pool, make sure you monitor the kids while it is in use and drain it when the kids are finished playing.

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4 deadly home dangers

They say theres no such thing as a free lunch. But on Marco Island, there might just be a free vacation home.

Thats what Jim and Lara Hicks are soon to discover after participating in a new show on cable network Home & Garden Television.

Vacation House for Free, which launched earlier this year, aims to help homeowners find and renovate a home that can then be used as their own vacation property and also to generate additional income as a rental, ideally enough to pay the mortgage on it.

The Hickses live in Ohio but had rented seasonally near Marco in the past. Jim Hicks said they wanted to visit the area again, but also wanted to find a home that complemented their lifestyle a place they could let friends use, and which would be a good fit for their family of four children.

They also wanted to act mindfully. Jim Hicks is the founder of a Thirst Relief International, a nonprofit that explores long-term, sustainable clean water solutions around the world. He and Lara also work with DoTerra essential oils. Jim Hicks describes himself and his wife as frugal people who are very conscious of the needs around the world.

It wasnt long before the Hickses found a home on Marco Island that would fit their needs, but was also in want of some updating.

We found this awesome place that needed a complete renovation, Jim Hicks recalled of his Island home.

While Jim and Lara dreamed about how to make the renovation a reality with their home-buying budget, their oldest son 12-year-old Ashton got online and started doing some research. Ashton found the HGTV Vacation House For Free online casting call and encouraged them to complete it.

At first, the Hickses dismissed it, but when they read the fine print, they realized the house they hoped to renovate was a great fit for the show. The concept of Vacation House for Free is to take a fixer-upper in a tropical United States destination and work with local renovation experts as well as the HGTV team to improve the property so it becomes not just a vacation home but also a income-generating rental.

We said, man, thats exactly how we want to do it, Jim Hicks said.

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HGTV selects Island home for new remodeling show

BOSSIER CITY, LA (KSLA) -

A Bossier City family learned the hard way what it's like to deal with a bogus home rental after losing more than $1,000 in a property nightmare.

Husband and wife Jack and Wendy Harvill said a South Bossier City home they looked into renting ended up being a bogus deal.

"It was just nuts! You would have never figured in a million years it would have been a scam," said Jack Harvill.

It all started when the couple began a search to find a place to live for their 19-year-old son and his friend.

"Basically it was going to be hard to rent a home due to their age, so he was going to have to have mom and dad's help," Harvill said.

The couple turned to Craigslist, a classified ad website, and that's when they found what they thought was a perfect home in South Bossier City. The ad claimed rent was only $700 a month, utilities included.

"The home looked really nice, totally updated, recently remodeled," Harvill said.

The woman who claimed to be renting out the house wouldn't let them see the inside of it, but told them to look through the windows to check it out.

"It wasn't clicking to me that anything was wrong," Harvill said.

Original post:
Bossier City family falls victim to bogus Craigslist home rental ad

More than 30 firefighters battled a mobile home fire late Tuesday night attempting to keep the blazing inferno from setting adjacent structures on fire in the 500 block of Moffat Boulevard.

A man and woman living in the mobile home got out of the structure safely without any injuries. The mobile home was in a park located just south of the Manteca High School baseball diamond.

Manteca Fire Battalion Chief Kyle Shipherd said the first of multiple 911 calls came in at 9:45 p.m. He noted visibility was near zero at the fire scene with heavy black smoke and flames coming from the side of the structure. He said strong winds were fanning the blaze that threatened to jump to other nearby residences. The smoke was blown downward and stayed near the ground, he said.

The fire was knocked down and brought under control after some 30 minutes with the help of the mutual aid agencies, he added. Once the fire was out, crews remained on the scene for three hours performing salvage and overhaul operations, he said.

Shipherd estimated the loss to the structure at $80,000 with another $25,000 loss reflected in personal property contents of the mobile home. Preliminary reports as to the cause of the fire pointed to electrical wiring under the floor of the bathroom.

Manteca firefighters were aided by Ripon Consolidated Fire District, Lathrop-Manteca Fire District, Manteca District Ambulance and the Manteca Police Department.

Originally posted here:
Blaze destroys mobile home near MHS field

PITTSFIELD -- Two men were held overnight after being charged with breaking into a vacant home and stealing copper pipes and wires.

Jarrod Stanton, 35, of East Street, and Steven Winters, 31, of Hawthorne Avenue, were arrested by Pittsfield police on Monday afternoon after police received a report of two men walking in the vicinity of West Union and John streets with copper wire in hand and a backpack.

When police went to the abandoned home the two had allegedly been seen leaving, authorities discovered the entire building "in disarray," according to the police report. Copper pipes and wiring from every outlet, electrical box and faucet were missing, according to police.

Police located the two men, based on a matching description, at a local scrap yard. Police interviewed Winters, who had a 12-inch pry bar on him, along with a screwdriver, flashlight and a dirty hat. Winters told police he was waiting for his friend at the scrap yard.

Stanton was stopped by police after leaving the scrap yard. He allegedly told police that he had just sold copper wire that he picked up at a previous job for $22.

Stanton and Winters were both arraigned in Central Berkshire District Court on Monday in front of Judge Fredric Rutberg. They pleaded not guilty to charges of breaking and entering into a building, larceny, and possession of burglary tools. Rutberg set bail at $250 on the charges pending a future court date.

To reach Nathan Mayberg: nmayberg@berkshireeagle.com, or (413) 496-6243.

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Two charged with stealing copper from vacant Pittsfield home

HOUSTON -

A southwest Houston family is desperate for help after thieves ransacked one of their homes and started stealing some of the surveillance cameras they installed as a deterrent.

The couple owns two neighboring homes on Bellaire Boulevard near Highway 59; one home is used for storage.

"You think they're paying attention, they know when you're home and when you're not, how long you'll be gone?" asked Local 2's Robert Arnold.

"Right," said Nai Wu Lin.

"I got to work," said Dr. Chai Chin Lin.

In the home the family uses for storage thieves knocked a hole in the ceiling and ripped out the air conditioner, trying to get at copper wiring.

The family says the thieves even took the change left in their children's piggy banks. Windows were smashed and piles of trash were seen everywhere throughout the home. The thieves also appeared to take their time judging by the empty beer cans and cigarette packs found by the family.

"My husband is not a smoker, I'm not a smoker," said Lin.

The family installed surveillance cameras, but the couple said the thieves have started stealing the cameras. The couple showed Local 2 one piece of video where what appears to be a man's shadow is seen under the camera as it starts moving back and forth before the feed cuts off and the screen goes black.

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Thieves reportedly target Houston family

SINGAPORE - More bees had been buzzing around Mr Gabriel Wong's home recently, but he was unfazed until his wife stepped on one in their home on Tuesday.

The incident prompted the F&B manager to investigate and he found a large beehive within the walls of his home, Lianhe Wanbao reported yesterday.

Armed with a camera with a powerful zoom lens, Mr Wong, 46, traced the bees to the air-conditioner vents outside his block of flats in Redhill.

To his surprise, the bees were flying into his air-con unit on the eighth floor - and not coming out.

He called pest control, which used pesticide and chemicals to kill the bees.

What they did not expect was the size of the swarm.

The next day, when they prised open the air-con compressor, they found a mound of dead bees and seven large honeycombs behind a wooden panel that was very near to Mr Wong's daughter's bed.

He told Wanbao that he had tried to save the bees, asking two pest control companies whether it was possible to move the hive. Both companies advised him to exterminate the bees.

Mr Wong also wrote to Stomp about the incident: "After the February drought, the rain came in March.

"All of a sudden, there is a sudden abundance of flowers blooming everywhere in our neighbourhood and the bees found themselves surrounded with a great surplus of food supply.

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That buzzing may not be a faulty air-con

(BPT) - After a winter of frigid temperatures and record snowfalls, the nation now faces the spring thaw and long, rainy months. Flood season is officially here is your home ready for it?

Floods are the most common natural disaster in the United States. Over the past five years, the average flood insurance claim was more than $35,000, according to FEMA.gov. If you or someone you know has ever experienced a flood, you know that cleanup can require a massive effort.

The best defense against flooding is a proactive approach. Consider these flood tips to prepare your home and family for flood season:

1. Get a shop vac

Every home that is susceptible to water and moisture should have a reliable shop vac. This type of vacuum sucks up water quickly and efficiently. Keep in mind, flood cleanup must be done quickly within the first 48 hours to avoid mold growth and extensive property damage.

2. Test your sump pump

Take the time now to test your sump pump. Simply lift the float on the side of the pump and listen for the pump to turn on; that noise indicates your pump is working correctly. Next, install a water alarm that will let you know if water is accumulating in your basement. An alarm like AdvanTEXT from WAYNE Pumps sends text messages to up to three people in the event of power outages or high water levels. If you are away from home or even out of town, you can take immediate action to protect your property, rather than unknowingly coming home to a flooded basement. Visit http://www.waynepumps.com/preventflooding for more information.

3. Seal cracks

Seal the cracks in the basement floor and foundation to prevent water seepage when the water table gets too high. Similarly, if you have concrete walls, be sure to seal those cracks as well. This is a simple DIY task that can be done using a variety of affordable sealant materials available at home improvement stores.

4. Prepare and protect

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5 simple tips to prepare your home for flood season