Construction Maison

In January 2015, a massive fire in Edgewater, N.J., demonstrated that buildings with sprinkler systems are not always protected against fire. The blaze destroyed 240 residential apartments and displaced 500 people from the Edgewater Avalon apartment building . The fire began when a maintenance worker’s plumbing torch accidentally ignited wooden wall studs , and flames quickly spread throughout the structure. Fifteen minutes passed before workers called the fire department . In that time, the fire spread throughout combustible void spaces (between walls and floors) and soon engulfed the building. Emergency personnel from 35 different cities and towns ultimately responded to the incident. Thankfully, there were no fatalities. Immediately after the blaze, people asked why the fire was so devastating. The building had sprinklers, after all. Shouldn’t the sprinkler system have extinguished the fire? To make matters worse , this building had already burned down 15 years prior during i...

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - Officials at Harris County Emergency Management are watching the radar and monitoring updates on Harvey as they come in from the National Weather Service . Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said they're expecting flooding in the area. The county is expecting a major rain event , meaning we'll likely see steady rain that hangs around. Emmett said Harvey is expected to sit on our area until Monday, which means flooding is likely. Officials anticipate 12-15 inches of rain in Harris County. Emmett said the weather we've had of late proves helpful as we gear up for Harvey. "There's good news in that we haven't had any rain in a while, so the reservoirs are empty. The watersheds are all in good shape, but if we get that amount of rain, over a very sustained period of time, then we're on the Gulf Coast and people are going to experience flooding," Emmett said. The Harris County Flood Control District said crews are working to make sure...

Jennifer Johnson was freezing cold and so was her 5-month-old baby. It was January, and the heat in her apartment wouldn 't go above 60. When the wind blew outside, her drapes fluttered inside . She called the maintenance department at Lakecrest Park Apartments in Roosevelt Park . The man who answered was rude, then crude, then hung up on her. Desperate and shivering, Johnson called the police. The result? Inspectors were called who issued citations, city leaders changed the ordinance to allow stricter enforcement of building codes and the apartment complex's East Coast owners became "cooperative" with city officials . And what about the apartment's management and maintenance department she dealt with? All fired. It's unusual for officials of any city to move so quickly to step into a tenant-landlord dispute. But with only a few large apartment complexes in the one-square-mile city, inspectors and leaders decided change was needed fast. A lease nightmar...

Whitney and Luke Bowerman dream of building cottages on one of the few larger lots remaining in Olympia’s Eastside neighborhood. They want to leave the existing trees on the Fairview Street Southeast lot , and reflect the character of the neighborhood in their design. The cottages would join a new, three-bedroom house also designed to fit the area. But the city of Olympia has made it expensive to build cottages, the Bowermans said. They estimate that city fees alone will run $30,000 to $40,000 per cottage. And the cottages will be just between 500 and 800 square feet. “The impact fees for a 500-square-foot cottage are almost the same as for a single-family home,” Whitney Bowerman said. “But you can’t rent them for as much,” Luke Bowerman said. If changes aren’t made to reduce the costs, the Bowermans said, they might have to abandon the cottage idea and build a more traditional subdivision. Out of respect for the neighborhood, they don’t want to do that. Meanwhile, Olympia is poised...

Samantha Madison ROME — The apartment complex slated to be built at the site of the former Dewitt Clinton School is getting larger. Rome's Common Council conducted a workshop with DePaul Properties last week, where representatives told them that they have expanded the project to include more units because of public feedback. The new plan is to have 80 apartments of new housing with a 66- unit apartment building and 14 townhomes. There will be 60 one-bedroom apartments and 20 two-bedroom units. Of those, 70 units are adaptable, which will be able to support those with mobility issues. The original plan was to have 60 units with 56 one-bedroom apartments and four two-bedroom apartments. Dewitt Clinton Apartments took another step forward at the Rome Common Council meeting last week, where after a public hearing where no one spoke, the council approved a zoning change. The vote changed the property to be a residential planned development district , which is considered an...

House Speaker Richard Corcoran has created a special committee to determine whether freshman Miami state Rep . Daisy Baez should be sanctioned for potentially violating a state law that requires her to reside in her district. The Miami Herald reported in May that it appeared that Baez, a Democrat, does not reside in House District 114 that she represents but instead lives in a Coral Gables house about half a mile away. Florida requires lawmakers to live and vote in the districts they represent by Election Day. Baez said Thursday through a spokesperson that the house is listed for sale and she continues to live in an apartment in the district. “I look forward to resolving this matter, and I remain focused on the issues that matter to Florida families — improving our schools, making healthcare more affordable and improving our public transportation,” she said in a statement. According to Zillow, the real estate website , Baez’s 1,548-square- foot Coral Gables home with a pool was li...

"); } if ($(imageDivId).length == 0) { $("#wrapper").after(contentText); } })(jQuery); BREMERTON, Wash. - Crystal Turner stood in the kitchen of her cramped apartment and stared at the cracks in the fake wood flooring beneath her feet. Surrounding her was the home she'd made for herself and her two sons in the past year, since they moved out of her Toyota Camry and into Admiral Manor, a low- rent apartment complex in west Bremerton . There was the single bedroom with two kids' beds on the floor. The living room she'd decorated with signs that said "Hope" and "Love." A dingy bathroom with a leaking toilet that had never been fixed. In this undated photo, Matthew Daigneault pushes his son Aden as he plays outside on the swings of his rental home in West Bremerton , Wash. (Larry Steagall/Kitsap Sun via AP) © 2017 Cox Media Group . Admiral Manor wasn 't the place Turner, a recovering addict, wanted to raise her boys. It was the place...