OUR BLOG
OUR BLOG
Check out what’s happening with Myers Constructs as well as the latest news and trends in home renovation.
Holidays, Home Construction and False Alarms
At our home, we are renovating the master bedroom bathroom suite. Demolition and roughing in were completed on Friday, just before the long July 4th weekend. My weekend project task was to varnish the new, solid-core birch doors. I'd prepped for the final coating to be applied on Monday morning, so they would be dry for work to resume on Tuesday. We're not sure whether is was the CO from left over varnish fumes, in combination with lighting the cooktop to make morning coffee, or a puff of dust that may have blown over the CO sensor, but something triggered our smoke/CO detector alarm. This is a very exciting thing to happen at 7 AM on a vacation day morning when you are relaxing in bed with your coffee! We deactivated the alarm after it went off, but we missed the incoming phone call from the alarm service. So our[...]
New Space for Outdoor Enthusiasts: Adventure Rooms
Do you love spending time in the great outdoors? Are you more likely to hit the trails than the malls on the weekends? If so, then you probably understand the logistical challenges that come along with your favorite hobbies: trying to store gear such as bikes, helmets, skis, poles, golf clubs, kayaks, surfboards, fishing poles, and so on. Lacking a better option, most people tend to force these items into closets, front porches, and already overstuffed garages -- creating stress and chaos in their homes in the process. A fun and logical solution? Create an "adventure room" that is dedicated to your enjoyment of these activities. This can be done in any underutilized area of your home that has easy access to the outside: a large mudroom, basement storage area, or a double garage that can be partitioned off for this use. And the finished space can offer more than[...]
Time for a Home Checkup!
Just like you need to go to the dentist for regular routine maintenance, your home needs ongoing T.L.C. to keep it looking and feeling well. And just like delaying medical checkups, if you put it off these maintenance checks, your house will surely suffer for it in the long run. We have been in business a long time, and we find that some folks simply don’t know where to get started with their routine maintenance plan. Luckily, we do! We offer the following programs to keep your home healthy, energy-efficient and in good order between larger projects. And we work with you to establish a schedule for prioritizing these tasks. Base-Line Maintenance Every home requires annual base-line maintenance. This includes everything from cleaning gutters and touching up varnish, paint and caulking, to power cleaning and oiling decks. We can also fix minor items like sticky door locks and broken[...]
Saving Old Doors
These doors were first hung on this fine center city row house when Abraham Lincoln was president! The wonderful old masonry in front has been stuccoed over unfortunately, probably in the 1980's. Now the city's Historic Bureau sees to it that historical details on older homes are preserved. That is why these home owners have hired our company to help repair their masonry, windows and these doors. Chris has removed this pair of doors to our shop for carpentry repair. In the mean time while they get "some lovin" from Chris, he has installed this pre hung door and plywood wall. Stay tuned for the big reveal when these fine old doors and the rest of the project are complete, probably by end of June.
Why Lead Safety Matters
Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its first fine against a contractor in violation of the agency's Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) lead-safety regulations. Read the article here. The penalty for this contractor, based in Rockland, Maine, may run upwards of $150,000, according to some estimates. Acting on an anonymous tip, the EPA concluded that the contractor failed to follow lead-safe work practices during the renovation of an 1852 multi-unit residential property where six children lived. The allegations include failure to do all of the following: train employees in RRP practices post warning signs in the work area cover the ground in the work area with plastic sheeting to collect lead paint debris contain waste to prevent the release of dust and debris prohibit use of machines that remove lead-based paint through high speed operation without HEPA exhaust controls and establish and maintain records necessary to demonstrate compliance[...]
The Man Cave Evolves
On a recent trip to a local design center, we met with an audio visual pro in a room that in the 1990s would have been called a "man cave." My, how times have changed. This AV pro said that fully 50% of his buyers are women now, and the man cave has evolved accordingly. This shift in buying population came with the economic downturn over the past three years, when family budgets for non-essentials were steadily shrinking. Now, discretionary spending decisions are made by both people in a couple, and the women want a say in what this traditional "man space" looks like. Here are some of the features of these kinder, gentler, family spaces: No more macho black leather recliners with mega screens and surround-sound giant speakers on view. Now, these rooms are multi-functioning family rooms with discrete and hide-away sound and visual systems. Screens roll up[...]
What a Difference a Door Can Make
Many times, a small change to a home can make a huge improvement. In the case of this city home on a very old alley-sized street, we changed a whole lot of what is inside. But from the street, all you can see is the change we made to the front door. The “before” photo shows that it used to have a solid slab door with bland and broken knobs and locks. This was not an original door. There was nothing nice or welcoming about it. It also leaked horribly. The “after” photo shows the pre-hung walnut door and new brass hardware we installed. It’s not an expensive door, by any means. We also installed some puck lighting at the top of the jamb at the transom window. Now, when guests visit or the homeowners come home, they are greeted by a warm, well-lit, shiny new door that says[...]
Notes from 2011 KBIS – Las Vegas
I was chatting with some folks while waiting in line at the 2011 Kitchen & Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas, and was asked why I came all the way from Philadelphia for this event. Without hesitation, I said it was because it's a unique opportunity to meet directly with the representatives of products that we already know and specify, find out what’s new, get to know their product lines better, and see the products in action. It’s also a chance to find and vet out new vendors, or even find out if we want to re-introduce some products that we have not used in a while. And it's also a chance to see who is coming to the table with sustainable solutions and see if their definition gels with our approach. See who is meeting the challenge of meshing GOOD DESIGN and FUNCTION, especially in the area of[...]
Thanks to Remodeling Magazine …
... for featuring Myers Constructs in a recent article about video marketing. Article here.
Personalization: Every Home Tells a Story
When we work with homeowners in the design phase of a home improvement project, we ask about them about how they live their lives and how they use their rooms. We inquire about their hobbies and the attributes of a home that are really important to them, and we actively listen to their answers. We do this because we want their homes to tell a special story about their lives, interests, and personalities. We then help them prioritize their product and design decisions based on what they have told us. This is, after all, the project they’ve saved for and dreamed about for years. The right choices to tell a homeowner’s story never lie in builder-grade solutions or cookie-cutter renovations that look just like their neighbors’ homes. This photo shows a recent kitchen renovation we did for a couple in Center City. In our initial discussions for this replica[...]
