Are you looking for a contractor that you can trust? Look no further. 25 years of pleased and satisfied clients will recommend us. We are committed to your positive design, building and remodeling experience.
otbeam@sbcglobal.net
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You can estimate your own remodeling project using our Website "Remodeling Calculator"!
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More photos and words of building wisdom at Lisa's Building Blog:
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We recommend Joey Brite of The Color Effect for all your color consulting needs.
Go to: The Color Effect
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2011 could be a year full of possibilities. We at On The Beam will be choosing our best possibilities and turning them into realities. In other words: It's a new year and time to set new, healthy and happy goals. Happy goal-setting to you.
Steve and Lisa Schliff
General Contractor, Owners
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 Redwood outswing gate at the front entry of a home in the Oakland Hills
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The Radon Scare: Facts and Myths
As if we didn't have enough to worry about, now radon is a factor in our health and homes. But what is it, how did it get under your house, and what's the risk?
For you to have radon in your home, there must be uranium in the rocks and soil beneath your house. Radon is the breakdown of that uranium, and the large alpha molecules that penetrate into your living space affect human beings through inhalation. Whatever the statistics tell us, we don't want any of that stuff in our air at all.
There are three standard tests, all equally effective at detecting radon. Although real estate transactions do not require testing for radon in a home, if there was a test done, the results must be revealed to the buyer.
Fortunately, getting rid of radon is relatively easy. Mitigation relies on two primary approaches: depressurization under the basement or first floor slab, or dilution. This can run into the thousands of dollars for existing homes, but in new homes, installing a passive or active system that depressurizes the slab is only about $350.
For more information, go to EPA/Radon.
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Kitchen remodel in Oakland. Architect and photographer: Steve Hinderberger
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Take This Energy-Loss Quiz
1. The amount of heating and cooling energy that is
typically lost in a house is between:
a. 5 and 10 %
b. 15 and 18%
c. 25 and 30%
2. One of the biggest escape locations for heat and
cooling in your house is:
a. the chimney flue
b. the attic
c. the front door
Answers: #1 is c and #2 is b. Sealing up air leaks in your attic, basement, windows and doors is valuable as it saves a significant amount on your energy bill. Sealing materials are easy to acquire and inexpensive, and the time required to seal air leaks is small: a matter of hours.
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Deluxe tub with granite slab ledge, decorative tile surround and Grohe polished chrome fixtures
Save Water: Shower With A Flow Restrictor
New standards for showerheads demand that they be not only water-conserving, but user-satisfactory. The earlier showerheads generated weak, uneven or otherwise unpleasant sprays, but now the fixtures must pass a 'spray pattern criteria' test to earn a WaterSense label from the EPA.
A consumer test report by the EPA was thumbs down on a single, central jet or a ring of spray with an empty spot in the middle. Also evaluated for approval: how well the water flows at different pressures, and how effective the flow is for rinsing soap and shampoo. WaterSense set the maximum water pressure at 80 psi to avoid needle-like sprays.
Thirty gallons of water disappear down the shower drain every day in the average household, according to the EPA, which is why the group added showerheads to its labeling program in early March of 2010. As with existing WaterSense standards for faucets and toilets, qualified showerheads must not exceed a maximum flow rate (2 gallons per minute, 0.5 gpm below the federal standard).
Curious about WaterSense? Go to: WaterSense.
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ON THE BEAM REMODELING
855 MARINA BAY PARKWAY, SUITE 28
RICHMOND, CA 94804
Visit us in the beautiful Richmond Marina!
Contact us for your remodeling needs at:
(510) 412-9964
or otbeam@sbcglobal.net
Taking care of homes in the Bay Area for 25 years.
We are proud members of NARI
(National Association of the Remodeling Industry)
since 1996
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