Seashore Construction Corp

Feb 10

When Is It Worth Remodeling Your Home For A Higher Sale? —BusinessInsider.com

“In general, kitchens and baths still sell a house, though maybe to a slightly lesser degree than when the market was stronger. Buyers seem to be more interested in “the deal,” and if they have to do some work themselves, they seem to be amenable to that,” says Atlanta-based ReMax Realtor Bill Golden.

Yet in some locations, buyers are demanding turn-key purchases more than ever.

Tracie Golding, an agent with Stribling & Associates in New York’s Manhattan borough, says buyers are using low interest rates and high inventory levels to hold out for fully renovated apartments. Buyers would rather move into a mint-condition space they can finance than spend out-of-pocket to renovate, she says.

Space and flow are the keys to home buying decisions and should drive remodeling choices, too. “The basic size, layout, and location of kitchens and baths are still of utmost importance to buyers,” says Golden. “In other words, it may be OK if they need updating, but a tiny kitchen or bath, or one that’s poorly located in the home, are still big turnoffs for most buyers.”

Sal Alfano, editorial director at Remodeling magazine, which publishes the annual Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report, agrees. His research finds that in the current housing economy, homeowners are getting more bang for their buck on space changes within the existing footprint of their house, rather than with new additions. For instance, upgrading from a 1-bathroom to a 2-bath home in a neighborhood that’s flush with 2-bath dwellings is money well spent and likely necessary to compete against comparable listings, he says. Basement renovations, especially if they include an extra bedroom or an office, also bring value.

Resale homes also have to compete with newly built properties, which impacts remodeling return-on-investment.

“Some features that in the past were standard are not as important to many buyers today. For example, about half of our buyers don’t really care about having an indoor fireplace or a formal living room that they will rarely use,” says David Greminger, division president

Jun 29

UPDATE 06-28-2011

Hello everyone. Everything is moving along very smoothly now and we at Seashore Construction Corp would like to thank you for cooperating with us so well during this project. 

Buildings #28, #29, & #32 are now complete and we are currently working on Building #30. Next week will be Building #31 - weather permitting. 

Thanks again and have a great 4th of July weeekend! 

Oct 01

Painting roofs white promoted as way to fight global warming

NEW YORK (AP) — Herb Van Gent points his infrared gun at a square of still unpainted gray shingle and clicks the trigger. He gets an immediate temperature reading: 143 degrees and rising. Then he aims it 5 feet away to a square of roof I have just painted: 98 degrees and decreasing.

He smiles.

“A 45-degree difference and we’re only on the first coat,” he says. That means it also will be cooler inside the building, he says, saving energy.

Its 11 a.m. and we are on the roof of a New York retirement home, rolling out a thick, shiny white paint. Van Gent is one of a volunteer group that has come up here to paint the roof as part of a city-sponsored “cool roof” program.

The idea of painting roofs white is catching on across the country; Energy Secretary Steven Chu has said it could contribute to the fight against global warming.

“Cool roofs are one of the quickest and lowest-cost ways we can reduce our global carbon emissions and begin the hard work of slowing climate change,” said Chu in July, while announcing that Department of Energy buildings would be painted white wherever possible.

While white roofs keep homes cool in summer by letting less heat in, they have little impact on winter heating bills, according to the Cool Roof Rating Council, a non-profit group created in 1998 to research and implement the technology. That’s generally because the sun is less intense in winter, the group said, and less important as a heat source. The roofs do not let any more heat escape than other roofs, it said.

In Arizona, cool roofs are mandatory for state and state-funded buildings, while Philadelphia has an ambitious green energy plan that put cool roofs at its center.

In New York, with Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s blessing, the Department of Buildings and other public and private groups have vowed to paint 1 million square feet of roof on city-sponsored community buildings. Organizers have advertised on Craigslist for volunteers, promising that the painting is rewarding and fun.

I decided to give it a try.

There were half a dozen volunteers on the roof that day from Wayne, N.J.-based GAF Materials, which supplied the reflective white paint. Among them was technical specialist Steve Hecht, who showed me how to spread the paint.

“This should bring the temperature down 50 or 60 degrees,” Hecht said as I rolled a coat onto one small part of the roof.

Proponents say the idea is as sound for private homes as it is for big, residential apartment buildings. The Cool Roof Council provides information on materials and resources at its website, Coolroofs.org.

Philadelphia recently held a “cool roofs for free” competition, and a block of row houses won.

“The biggest difference is definitely when we wake up in the morning,” said Terry Jack, who organized her block’s winning entry. “I noticed the difference the very next morning after they painted the roof. It was a good 15 degrees cooler inside; it was much more livable.”

Workers are painting the roofs on both sides of her street with reflective white paint, and also insulating the houses. City officials hope to show that a white roof will reduce the amount of air conditioning used, saving energy and reducing electricity bills.

According to former California energy commissioner Arthur Rosenfeld, an average, 1,000-square-foot roof painted white can save 10 tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of emissions from one car for about 2 years. On a national scale, turning roofs cool could eliminate 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide, roughly the same as taking 20 million cars off the road for 20 years, according to Rosenfeld, who carried out his experiments with Hashem Akbari at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in California.

So far, many cities have been limited in their response. New York’s 1 million square feet of white roofs is a “very, very, very, conservative target,” said Akbari, who advised the city on its NYC Cool Roofs project.

“When you consider that a large box store or mall can have a roof of 200,000 square feet, the entire New York program is the equivalent of painting five of those stores,” he said.

But Akbari stressed it’s not just about white paint.

“Certainly, the white color helps, especially if it’s special reflective paint, but ultimately we want to see people using cool roof material when they have to change their roofs,” he said. “There are a whole range of materials that can reflect the heat.”

Sophisticated white roofing material can lie underneath a roof’s visible surface, he said, reflecting the sun’s heat while allowing a wider choice of colors on the surface.

“Definitely, aesthetics has held back the cool roof movement until now, but that is changing. You have a longer lasting roof without having to look bad,” said Akbari.

According to the Department of Energy, there are no federal tax credits for roof coatings, but there is a tax credit for using cool materials when replacing a roof.

—-USA Today