Sustainability

Let the Bidding Begin…

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Do you have children who attend The Shipley School, William Penn Charter School or Friends Select School? If so, don’t miss the Myers Constructs auction item at your school’s upcoming annual fundraising event! The winning bidder will receive our “A New Life for Your Space, A Better Life for You” Home Energy Savings Kit and Design Consultation.

Includes:

Handsome reusable tote bag — A large, heavy-duty organic cotton canvas tote in black bottom/natural top with our logo embroidered in red

Certificate for 1-hr. design consultation and 4 hrs. skilled installation labor – One of our fabulous crew members will come to your home for a morning (4 hours) of skiled upgrades and repairs. During this time, we can help you get started on implementing the accompanying energy savings kit.

– Caulk and caulk gun
– Weatherstripping kit
– Sample of compact fluorescent light bulbs
– Work gloves
– Lightweight tool belt
– Bottle of wine to enjoy when your upgrades are complete!

(Approximate retail value – $500)

Penn Charter’s Annual FUNd Party will be held on March 11, 2011.
Friends Select’s Night at the Museum will be on March 19, 2011.
The Shipley Round-Up Western Casino, BBQ & Auction will be held on April 8, 2011.

Oh Baby, It’s Cold Outside

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With temps hovering in the 30s all week — and it’s not even officially winter yet! — you may be noticing drafty windows and inefficiencies in your heating system. If your home needs to be more tightly buttoned up this season to stay cozy, give us a call. We can help you choose the right products and suppliers. Act quickly if you want to take advantage of tax rebates ending on 12/31/10.

Image: Emery Way

Older Homes – More Energy Efficient Than You Think

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Older homes tend to get a bad rap for being energy inefficient. The truth is, many older homes have built-in energy-efficient systems that a homeowner should learn to use and, if possible, enhance. Here are some fake rolex examples of what I mean:

A stone or brick home with thick walls will retain heat in the winter and cool in the summer by way of its mass. Often, the older home will also have small windows on the third floor or attic. These are meant not only to allow light into the house, but also to allow hot air out in summer. Opening these small windows creates negative pressure inside the house, which then draws cool air from the basement. This is natural cooling at work. That’s because a basement’s mean temperature is between 60 and 70 degrees in summer. Utilizing this cooling air convection, combined with the thermal mass of the brick or stone home, means many of these homes can go several days at a time during a heat wave and not require any artificial air conditioning or cooling.

Since it’s heating season, we should also focus on some “passive” methods for making and keeping an older home warm.

Sash locks — These are the small closures on your double-hung windows you turn to lock them shut. You probably think they are for security, but they are really there to push the two sashes tightly into the sash frame and also to pull the sashes tightly together. This small piece of hardware makes your older wooden windows much more efficient by creating a tighter seal. Many older double-hung windows have not been properly maintained over the decades. The top sash might be stuck with paint, or the sash frame may be “out of square.” Other common problems are weights and chains that have failed. All of these problems can be fixed with some TLC and good carpentry. Happy to help; just give us a call.

So Much Nicer than Vinyl Siding

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I snapped these lovely examples of wooden siding in the Finger Lakes of NY this summer. You can’t get these beautiful shadowlines in vinyl siding. Even in simple white paint schemes, these home exteriors are very attractive and a delight on the eyes.

The siding you see here is well over 100 years old, still looking beautiful!

1960’s Ranch Update

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We recently did a project for a couple with two young children who were looking to downsize from their old, Victorian Chestnut Hill home. They wanted to move to a home that was located in a great public school system and had lower maintenance costs than their old house. But they knew they would miss many of the comforts of their large, old home. So they called our designers in to help come up with a plan that would bring more comfort and style to their serviceable but not very stylish 1960s “new” ranch home.

At the top of the agenda for this couple was a proper master bedroom suite. The existing master bathroom had a small bathroom with a shower, but not much style. The bedroom was not very private from the rest of the bedrooms on the floor, and there was a serious shortage of closet space. In general, the old finishes were very plain and worn out.

Our team claimed the small neighboring room, which was probably originally a nursery or study, to be part of the new, larger master suite space. By putting the new bathroom here, we were able to use the old bathroom space and part of the hall as a walk-in, his-and-hers closet space.

This left the couple a nicely sized bedroom space with room for some family heirloom furnishings, a king-sized bed with night stands, and a spare “off-season” storage closet.

Overall, their new master bedroom suite now has a light, open feeling, even though the footprint is not especially large. This is because our design team planned for the use of each square foot of these rooms, so the spaces “fit” and are very logical.

Special Reasons to Think Windows and Doors!

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Winter is right around the corner … now is the time to think windows! In addition to energy tax credits that are currently in place, you can save up to $550 with a mail-in Live Smart Rebate when you replace your old windows or patio doors with select Weather Shield® products with Zo-e-shield® glazing before 12/31/10. And, when you purchase a window-replacement project worth at least $10,000 from Myers Constructs (choose from select brands available), you’ll receive a complimentary home BPI energy-efficiency audit (value: $500). This test will identify areas within your home that may be causing you to spend more than you need to on your monthly utility bills.

Call us at 215.438.6696 for details on how to qualify for these exciting offers.

Wants vs. Needs: A Look at Prioritizing Home Renovations

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Our clients, Robin and James,* have lived in their large, 90-year-old stone single home for 20+ years. They are now in their 40s, and have raised two active boys. James runs daily in the neighboring wooded parkland. The kids are active in hockey, tennis, and do well in school. In fact, they are preparing to head off to college in the next few years. The college fund is paid up, and it’s time for Robin and James to plan ahead for their own needs and enjoyment.

Part of that planning includes renovating their home to maintain or enhance its value. It’s a very well built, handsome home so they want to renovate carefully.

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A New Life for Their Space, A Better Life for Them

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John and Judy* live in a three-story row home. They both commute to their city office jobs on bicycles. They bought their home when it was just the two of them. Now they have two children and a dog.

When their kids aren’t studying after grade-school classes, they are on their bicycles, playing ball or walking the dogs. All of this activity means this family now has a lot to store away in their compact, urban home. It’s a happy clutter, but this couple still wanted ideas about how to get it more organized, so books, bicycles, toys, sports equipment wouldn’t be laying around the small foyer area any more.

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