Aug 152011
 

Madison Cougars help a local family out around the house

Flag of Madison, Wisconsin

LINDEN–When Tammy Camden and her husband bought this house in 2008, they had big plans for the place: “With the intentions of redoing it, gutting it, had all these great really wonderful plans,” she said. “Well, it’s now 2011and you can see we’re still not living in the house.”

That’s because every time they thought they’d be able to start working on it, another of life’s roadblocks would materialize in their way.

For starters, her husband needed back surgery. “You pretty much aren’t going to be lifting and hauling and hammering so that put everything on hold,” she said.

Camden then had her own accident that resulted in broken bones and led to Fibromyalgia. Plus, her autistic son also hit a rough patch. “It’s been one…roadblock after another,” she said.

But thanks to a band of helpers from a Madison football team, serious work is now being done on the house. “It’s anything and everything. The Inside is totally gutted so it needs electrical, drywall, right now they’re putting in flooring,” described Andre Green, the owner and one of the coaches of the Cougars football team.

Green and Camden work together, so when she told him about the house he volunteered to bring some of the team out to help.

For Camden’s part, she says she’s very thankful the helpers volunteered to give up part of their weekend and make the trek out to Linden. “I still have hope that sometime in 2011 I may actually live in this house,” she said.

Green’s hoping to bring another group back on September 11th to continue working on the house. If you’d like to volunteer, he recommends checking out the Cougars’ website and sending him a note via the ‘Contact us’ section.
Cougars website: http://madisoncougarsfootball.com/contact/

 Posted by at 1:29 pm
Aug 152011
 

ELGIN — They have built a house. They’ve put up walls. They’ve installed electricity, windows and plumbing. They’ve removed and replaced subflooring, and they have hung cabinetry.

They’ve logged more than 3,000 hours on home improvement projects around the Elgin area since they began their efforts four years ago.

And one Saturday morning earlier this month, the Workforce team from Elgin’s First Baptist Church moved furniture from one bedroom to another.

“This is something simple, but something they couldn’t do on their own,” said team member Dave Towner of Carpentersville.

The mission of Workforce is “to serve Christ by providing free home improvement labor to those in need,” according to David Pohlmeier of Elgin, one of the leaders of the ministry.

The team does that twice a month, sending teams of volunteers to complete home improvement jobs across the Fox Valley. Those jobs can be as simple as painting or raking leaves, or they can be as skilled as plumbing or roofing.

In just the past two years, the team of about 35 men has completed jobs at more than 50 homes — charging homeowners only for the materials to do the work, according to Pohlmeier. First Baptist sometimes can help cover the cost of materials, and Workforce provides the labor and the tools.

The ministry leader said the church does this simply because it’s a way “to go out and share God’s love by the work we do for people.”

And because it has people who can, he added.

Advice to volunteering

When one of the men in the church helped build a home in St. Charles several years ago, Pohlmeier said, “We started talking with a bunch of guys at church, and realized we had a bunch of skilled tradesmen in our church who could do a lot of good for the community.”

And “If you can swing a hammer, you can be part of Workforce,” he said.

In addition to the licensed plumbers and electricians on the team, several volunteers otherwise spend their weeks sitting behind a computer, according to Pohlmeier. And another 20-plus women at First Baptist have volunteered to make lunch for the team on Saturdays, he said.

Word about the team spread at church — and even at Home Depot, where strangers approached Workforce members asking for home improvement advice and they offered to do the work, according to Pohlmeier.

One man approached the ministry last year to ask if its members could help him paint the roof of his mobile home — a relatively small task, the ministry leader said. Several weeks later, the man contacted Workforce again because he’d been evicted from the home, which had been condemned by the city of Elgin.

Fifteen men volunteered more than 300 hours — every Saturday for eight straight weeks — and $1,200 to bring the home up to the minimum living standards so the man could return. They cleaned, removed garbage, replaced furniture, painted, removed and replaced the subfloor, and tiled several rooms, Pohlmeier said.

In 2009, a woman contacted Workforce after a note, some money and a brochure for the ministry were left on her door. Her house had been vandalized and bricks thrown through her windows, according to Pohlmeier.

The ministry didn’t just replace the broken windows. Members also spent 150 hours installing a sink, doing plumbing work and realigning the doors in her house. Herb’s Glass and Mirror in Elgin donated the windows for the job, and First Baptist also helped her organize her finances and set a budget.

In 2008, 12 volunteers from the ministry spent 200 hours and $500 tiling, grouting, cleaning, plumbing, painting, refinishing and hanging cabinetry to make an Elgin apartment livable for a refugee family from Myanmar that the church had sponsored.

Rewarding work

On a recent Saturday, seven men wearing navy blue T-shirts emblazoned with the white Workforce logo worked five different jobs around the Elgin area. It was a typical turnout for the volunteers, according to Pohlmeier.

They had worked before at Tracy Harrelson’s mobile home in Elgin. Harrelson is disabled and lives with her caregiver and a menagerie of pets in the two-bedroom home.

Inside her home, Towner and fellow volunteer Greg Dusek of Hampshire navigated through a maze of bedroom furniture, a large wire rabbit hutch and several dog crates temporarily transferred to the combination kitchen and living room. The two worked to switch out the furniture in the bedrooms.

Outside, John Birkholz’s shirt was smudged with fresh caulk, the result of the Elgin man’s first project of the day — caulking one of Harrelson’s bay windows.

Birkholz has been the team’s administrator for the past year and has created the documentation to streamline its efforts as requests for help have increased. His minivan, parked outside Harrelson’s home, was filled not only with ladders, tools and equipment, but also with detailed log books for each Workforce project,

Harrelson said she likes having the Workforce team help, and the team agreed.

“I just like helping people and seeing how they genuinely appreciate what we do,” Birkholz said.

And Towner said doing the work is “very rewarding — just seeing the smile on people’s faces when you’re finished.”

Correspondent Rita Hoover contributed to this report.

 Posted by at 1:27 pm
Aug 152011
 

HARRSIBURG – Attorney General Linda Kelly urged consumers to be watchful for door-to-door home improvement contractors offering roofing, paving and other services.

Kelly said that during the warmer months of spring and summer the Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection sees an increase in “traveling contractor” complaints from consumers across Pennsylvania.

All Pennsylvania homeowners considering home repair or improvement projects should understand their rights and carefully review information about the state’s Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, which went into effect in July 2009.

The law requires written contracts for all projects over $500, including specific information about the total price for a project, a state-date and end-date, details about the materials being used and an explanation of a consumer’s three-day right to cancel a contract. The law also requires contractors to register with the Attorney General’s Office and carry a minimum level of insurance.

Tips to avoid traveling contractor scams

. Be wary of contractors who approach you with unsolicited offers or stories of “just being in the neighborhood.”
. Do not feel pressured by “special offers” or deals on “left over” materials.
. Be cautious of contractors with out-of-state license plates.
. Get multiple estimates for home improvement projects.
. Get references for recent work and check those references (ask other consumers if they were happy with the work that was performed, if there were any problems and if they would hire that contractor again.)
. Research businesses carefully before signing any contract.
. Do not conduct business with an unlicensed/unregistered contractor.
. Never pay in cash. Cash only contractors should raise a red flag to consumers.
. Pay in full only when the job is complete and you are satisfied.
. For larger projects, costing $5,000 or more, state law requires that contractors not charge more than 1/3 the cost of the project as a down payment.

All home improvement contractors operating in Pennsylvania are required to provide consumers with their registration number, which must be included in all contracts, estimates and advertisements. Consumers can verify a contractor’s registration by using the “Home Improvement Consumer Information” button, located on the front page of the Attorney General’s website, at www.attorneygeneral.gov, or by calling 1-888-520-6680.

 Posted by at 1:25 pm
Aug 082011
 
A living room

comfort becomes an important point in designing a family room. Therefore, you must pay attention to harmony between the selection of furniture and its layout.

Family room (living room) are identical as a place to gather with family and those closest. But more than that, the family room is the center of various activities, especially for people in urban areas.

It lies in the middle of occupancy, making this room has a vital position in the house. Not surprisingly, the various activities of family members can be done here. Ranging from children’s playroom, reading area, where children’s learning and his friends, even a place to entertain guests from among the closest.

Because it is a regional gathering of many people, then to design this room must be made as comfortable as possible. The first thing that must be understood is when building a family room not only put a sofa and coffee table (coffee table). More than that, you must think in advance what your goals are to make the family room. See the breadth of the room, what you want to put in there and make the pattern of the floor plan (floor plan).

Think, too, like whether room design with formal or informal? What color do you want? Do you want to put a TV in there? Do you want to put a certain object? Plan is also where the main seating will be placed and also think about the view to other areas of the house to be seen, whether the direction of the park area, kitchen, or other rooms.

“Determine also how much seating area that will be made in the family room,” said Kelly Hoppen, an interior designer from the UK was quoted as saying by The Independent.

When designing, he added, use geometry to design the layout size of the space. You do this by looking at space in a linear manner so that the visible lines of the room.

“Inside my head, I saw three dimensional graphics space and I immediately put everything into it. I like ‘run’ from one axis to the axis of lain.Di where placement of windows and how they relate to the fireplace, doors, and other features? It gives you the initial steps of spatial working on, “Kelly said.

Kelly advise you to maximize natural lighting. This is the most important part in a living room. Keep windows open as possible. No need to use a curtain for your window will close.

Cloth cover is generally used to cover the windows during the day and be safe while at night so that strangers can not see into the house. Take advantage of natural light with thin curtains, soft light that filters but still provide privacy.

“I never use blinds in the living room. However, if the family room was made more formal, then I think the use of curtains is the right choice, “he added.

Curtains can be replaced along with your mood or the corresponding seasons. Simple with an iron curtain hanger options are understated, elegant and does not reduce the “value” of a fabric, and too strong to give the impression of a room. Family room can be made attractive by creating a large open area, but still intimate with the placement of furniture in the three zones.

First, sitting areas designed for socializing, comfortable area to relax in front of the fireplace, and the last reading area that is placed at the other end of the room. Selection of wall color can be free, whether a bright color or just black and white combination.

You can specify a color that can make a greater impression of space by decorating colors that reflect the same intensity or using a theme. To color the room should be decorated with bright colors, like bright yellow or orange, the color matching.

If you want a softer look, can also wear bright green color. Painting the walls with dark colors or older will make the walls look as though narrow and move closer to you.

“Glamor is ‘material’ in the main living room of my own, where the monochromatic palette of calm perfection has created a vision of photography,” says Kelly.

Color”meets my goal to make my living room looks amazing, like shades of black and white, “he continued.

Beautify room with wall decorations, such as antique paintings. Placement of artwork is an essential element and very personal. In the selection of materials for floor space, select the enduring not only the trend alone. Because the floor will last a long lasting and reduce turnover costs.

Floors of wood is an apt choice. And the use of rug on wood floor look more contemporary than that on the floor just carpet. lighting  should be minimal as it can create a better image.

Kelly said, you must spend a lot of time choosing the lamp in the living room. You have to think about how your living room will look beautiful, whether in day or night.

A well lit room will always have a magnet and the like “welcome” you even furniture or simple decorative. However, the room did not fit with the lighting will look less attractive.

“The better room if you can have variations and control the lighting. An important part of the design and decoration of the inside and outside of a room is a lighting will provide the structure, spirit, and its own energy, “he said.

Family room can also be integrated with other room through the design openplan equally effective if the room is made separately. For example with room for lounging, reading and relaxing, or a place to party at night with friends. Combine a variety of textures in the accessories in the room.

 Posted by at 1:27 pm