OUR BLOG
OUR BLOG
Check out what’s happening with Myers Constructs as well as the latest news and trends in home renovation.
Another Lucky Hoodie Recipient!
Here's a Myers hoodie winner from a recent giveaway on MomsLikeMe.com!
We are Looking for Home Owner Thoughts on Issues
We want to address issues that matter to our readers. Please give us some feedback on the following questions, or feel free suggest other ideas to us. 1. What's the one thing you would change about your home, if you could? 2. What's the biggest energy-saving change you've made in your home during the past year? 3. What one home product/appliance could you not survive without? etc. Thanks very much!
Red Oak Flooring at Lowest Prices of the Decade!
Just off the phone with my flooring pro who gave me some news to get excited about! There is so much red oak in clear/select (the best) on the market that prices are very low! In fact the cost of these top shelf red oak floors installed and refinished are the same as the price of many lower quality pre finished flooring products. If you have been putting off new flooring for your home, now is the time to buy it.
Who Wouldn’t Want to Use This?
Whatever happened to water fountains? Look at these beauties! You would feel like royalty using these. I did when I happened upon them at the Parkway Administration Building, a beautiful, LEED-certified building on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. These are a perfect example of how great design and craftsmanship make life better, even on the seemingly mundane level of getting a drink of water, which we all take for granted in the U.S. Bottled water is very wasteful. It costs more than gasoline. It puts millions of pounds of plastic into the landfills and the Pacific Gyre, where it kills animals. And plastic containers have also been linked to cancer in humans. Businesses and other non-domestic buildings should bring back water fountains! Make them beautiful, and people will use them.
More “Behind the Walls” Stuff : The Artistry of Our Subs!
On this project we are reworking a master bedroom bathroom suite. The old bathroom in this case was only about twenty years old. But inexpensive materials had been used in that DIY or low skilled contractor project. Here I am showing some snaps I took of the fine work our skilled subs are doing to help make the new master bathroom a high quality, long lasting project. You can see all the water lines and drains which will be under the subfloor are in place. Theses are for the new shower, toilet, sink, and tub. All the drains are required by the township to be pressure tested prior to closing the floor, to insure there are no leaks. The old plumbing vent through the roof has been cut and the stub through the roof is strapped into place for safety. We don't want a 30 pound piece of[...]
The Proof Is in the Pudding: Design-Build Model Really Makes a Difference
A lot of people are starting to hear the term “design-build” when planning their home renovations. The problem is, they may not understand how this model works or what its advantages are. Let’s take a look. In our style of design build – what we call “design to build” – the customer provides the vision for design development by telling us their dreams, wishes and budget, and then we take those criteria, create a design, and then build it to the approved specifications. […]
Myers Constructs Joins Philadelphia’s Neighborhood Stabilization Effort
Go Here to Learn More.
Alarming Electrical Hazards Hidden in DIY Home Renos
We are working on a "new" home built in the 1960's. Its a 2 story ranch in decent shape for its age. The homeowners who just bought the house, asked us to come in for a lot of projects all over. In particular, we are focusing on a great paint job, refreshing hardwood floors, tweak an existing kitchen, rework a laundry powder room, and a gut remodel of the master bedroom suite. While working in the kitchen it was discovered that the electrical wiring in the kitchen was really dangerous. It was a surprise that no fires had been started. Many hidden splices were found and illegal junction boxes. You should know that junction boxes must be accessable, and covered to be legal. There were not enough lines to the various outlets either. Our electricians corrected all these problems. But encountering them set a tone for us. We were going[...]
Investing in Energy Upgrades? Spend Your $$ Wisely
We recently caught up with one of our HVAC pros. He's a very nice and knowledgeable guy who works for a large HVAC company, whose name I won't mention here. He let us know they have been installing a lot of geothermal HVAC systems and had just completed one for a house in Mt. Airy, a town on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Let me provide a little backstory on this. Typically, geothermal is done for houses with yards since the geothermal heat/cool collectors are placed in drilled holes in the ground, or under a lot of soil, or in ponds. In other words, you need access to soil or groundwater to make use of the system. That's because these systems use the constant heat/cold differential of the earth, or a pool of water, to condition the air in your home. This particular home is about 1,500 sf --[...]
Myers Constructs Eyeing B Corp. Status
Last week, Tamara and Diane attended a B Corp workshop at Wharton Small Business Development Center. The next step is taking their online audit/survey to see where our company falls at this time. Once we see where we stand, and make any necessary adjustments, we'll apply for B Corp status. We want to do this because it's a quantifiable third-party assessment of the good, sustainable business practices we employ. It means we treat employees, subs and customers well! It also means we are integrated into a U.S.-based (and soon to be worldwide) B Corp community that supports other B Corp businesses. Find out more about it at bcorporation.net.
