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CONTRACTORS GUIDE FALL 2020 | A DAILY RECORD PUBLICATION
U.S. existing-home sales surged in July by most on record .............................. p7 Q&A: Is it a bad idea to buy a foreclosed home from the bank? ....................... p9 Meet the secret weapon for fighting the pandemic: Interior architects ................ p10 From sight-unseen offers to masked tours, COVID-19 upends homebuying .......... p12 Detroit native buying homes in childhood neighborhood — and bringing them back to life .................................................................. p14 How to tell if your ventilation is OK........................................................... p16
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U.S. existing-home sales surged in July by most on record By Maeve Sheehey Bloomberg News U.S. sales of previously owned homes surged by the most on record in July as lower mortgage rates continued to power a residential real estate market that’s proving a key source of strength for the economic recovery. Closing transactions increased 24.7% from the prior month to a 5.86 million annualized rate, the strongest pace since the end of 2006 and reflecting broad gains across the U.S., according to National Association of Realtors data issued Friday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 5.41 million rate. Prices jumped
8.5% from a year earlier, on an unadjusted basis, to the highest on record. “The housing market is past the recovery phase and is now in a booming stage,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said on a call with reporters. “Certainly, record-low mortgage rates are bringing more buyers into the market.” Cheaper borrowing costs, pent-up demand and greater interest in suburban markets following the pandemicrelated shutdowns earlier in the year are so far generating plenty of momentum in housing. At the same time, lean inventory, higher asking prices, and the coronavirus itself represent hurdles to further outsize gains. “With the sizable shift
in remote work, current homeowners are looking for larger homes and this will lead to a secondary level of demand even into 2021,” Yun said in a statement. There were 1.5 million existing homes for sale last month, down 21.1% from July 2019, the 14th straight yearover-year decline. It was the leanest supply for any July on record. The number of houses for sale would last 3.1 months at the current sales pace. Anything below five months is seen as a tight market. Median Price In July, properties remained on the market for an average of 22 days, the shortest timespan on record. The median home price increased to an all-time high
of $304,100 last month and compared with $280,400 a year earlier. Purchases of previously owned single-family homes rose 23.9% and sales of condominiums increased nearly 32%, according to the NAR data. Existing-home sales increased in all four U.S. regions in July, including a 30.5% rise in the West and a 19.4% advance in the South, the largest U.S. region. Purchases climbed 27.5% in the Midwest and 30.6% in the Northeast. Previously owned home sales account for roughly 90% of U.S. tractions and are calculated when a contract closes. 2020 FALL CONTRACTORS GUIDE | 7
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Q&A: Is it a bad idea to buy a foreclosed home from the bank? By Gary M. Singer Sun Sentinel
Q: We are looking at a home in a great neighborhood
but are nervous because the house was foreclosed by the bank, who is now selling it. Is this a bad idea? — Jackie
A:
Foreclosed homes sold by lender’s “REO” or real estate owned department can be bought at a favorable price, but there can be some downsides. The same can be said for foreclosed homes bought by real estate investors on the courthouse steps. If you take these potential issues into account, you could end up paying an excellent price for your new digs. REO purchase contracts are very one-sided, so be sure to review the terms carefully. It would help if you also considered that your seller never lived in the home and might not have even visited it in person. Combine this with the fact that most people do not spend much time and money taking care of a house they are about to lose to foreclosure and that it might have
been empty for an extended period, and you need to be extra diligent. It is crucial that you thoroughly inspect the condition of the home both with a general inspector and follow up with specialists for any concerns noted in the report. You should also have a land survey done and check with the municipality to make sure that there are no code violations or permitting issues. Talk to the neighbors to see if they know about any problems with the property. If the seller made repairs, be sure to carefully check them to ensure that they are not just covering up more extensive issues. If you notice anything that does not make sense to you, whether in the contract, with the city, or the condition of the home, get an experienced professional look into it to make sure that what you are buying suits your needs. Gary M. Singer is a Florida attorney and board-certified as an expert in real estate law by the Florida Bar. He practices real estate, business litigation and contract law from his office in Sunrise, Fla. He is the chairman of the Real Estate Section of the Broward County Bar Association and is a cohost of the weekly radio show Legal News and Review. He frequently consults on general real estate matters and trends in Florida with various companies across the nation. Send him questions online at www.sunsentinel.com/askpro or follow him on Twitter @GarySingerLaw.
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Meet the secret weapon for fighting the pandemic: Interior architects By Blair Kamin Chicago Tribune Almost exactly 40 years ago, I got my first job in architecture: Not as an underpaid draftsman for some Pritzker Prize-winning architect or as an editorial assistant at a glossy design magazine, but as a lowly office clerk for an interiors and architecture firm in San Francisco. One of my duties was to feed drawings into the blueprint machine. Noxious fumes would emanate from the machine, making my nose wrinkle. After copies of the blueprints came out, I would roll them up and deliver them, on foot, to nearby offices. Such was the state of architectural technology, circa 1980. 10
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Yet my grunt work at the firm Whisler-Patri, and a later gig doing public relations for another San Francisco design firm, taught me a lesson that’s taking on fresh relevance as landlords and tenants scramble to remake offices in response to the coronavirus pandemic: Interior architecture matters. What is interior architecture? In the world of office building design, it means taking blocks of raw interior space and planning the layout and design of everything from corridors and conference rooms to desks and stairs that connect floors. Architects tend to get the credit (or the blame) for building exteriors, but interior architects have enormous influence on whether an office feels capacious
or crowded, mind-opening or meanspirited. Now, COVID-19 has turned their world upside down. Densely packed clusters of desks, once touted as enhancing opportunities for collaboration, are viewed as potential spots for the virus to spread. The same goes for other common spaces, like conference rooms, kitchens and “bleacher stairs” where office workers gather. With millions of people working from home and many companies saying that remote work is here to stay, landlords are under intense pressure to retrofit, redesign and re-imagine their office properties. Otherwise, they’re going to lose tenants.
It’s a variation of the theme that has school officials separating desks to promote social-distancing in districts where students are returning for in-person education. As a result, The Wall Street Journal reported last week, building managers and interior architects are thinking beyond obvious safety measures like plexiglass shields and social distancing circles stuck on the floor. With coronavirus concerns putting a premium on the touchless experience, security turnstiles may be programmed to automatically direct elevators to an office worker’s floor. Companies may stagger work hours, ensuring that office floors are less than half full. As the Tribune’s Ryan Ori has revealed, air-handling
equipment is being modified to kill germs that spread the virus. On the design side, companies with big interior architecture practices, like San Francisco-based Gensler, which has a large office in Chicago, are sketching flexible solutions that could work during and after the pandemic. One example: workstation clusters that can be reconfigured so people don’t face each other, lessening the possibility that an uncovered cough will spread germs. In the future, experts speculate, office workers may do individual “focused” tasks at home while offices become flexible spaces mainly used for meetings. Such a move could dramatically lessen overall office building demand, hurting property
values and landlords’ bottom lines. But at this point, absent a vaccine that could eliminate the coronavirus threat, no one really knows what the office of the future is going to look like. What is clear is that minor design changes are sure to greet you if and when you return to the office. More broadly, there is likely to be a new emphasis onhealth and wellness, just as a new emphasis on security followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Interior architects will be the ones shaping these changes. And their work won’t just be a matter of dollars and cents. It could be the difference between life and death. 2020 FALL CONTRACTORS GUIDE
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From sight-unseen offers to masked tours, COVID-19 upends homebuying By Jeff Ostrowki Bankrate.com John and Kristin Untisz move to a different military base every three years or so, a nomadic lifestyle that led them to establish a rule about their whirlwind relocations: They’d never buy a home sight-unseen. Then the coronavirus pandemic erupted, and the couple broke their own rule. This summer, they closed on a Mississippi home even though they hadn’t set foot inside. The 2020 homebuying season has forced Americans to rethink how they approach the housing market. Shawn and Jill Craven cajoled their 1-year-old daughter to don a facemask while they toured homes for sale. Shane and Karina Thompson met with the builder of their Florida home by FaceTime rather than in person. In normal times, buying a home is stressful and emotionally draining. It’s the biggest purchase most consumers make. During a public health crisis accompanied by a global recession, the stakes seem even higher. Home prices have continued rising in recent months, although some housing economists expect that trend to reverse. And a shortage of homes for sale means many buyers are competing with other shoppers, setting the stage for bidding wars that can bring in dozens of competing offers. As COVID-19 spreads, another new trend has emerged: Casual tours of open houses are a thing of the past. If home shoppers mask up to tour properties, they’re probably ready to buy. “Buyers are serious,” says Debi Jensen, owner of Century 21 All Professional in Port St. Lucie, Florida. “There are no tire-kickers.”
A MILITARY MOVE — AND A LEAP OF FAITH
John Untisz works as an Air Force physician, a job that requires him to move his family every few years. After buying houses in the Florida Panhandle and Texas, John and his wife, Kristin, established a ground rule. “We always said we would never buy a
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house without seeing it,” Kristin says. The coronavirus had different plans. The Untiszes committed in early March to a new house at a D.R. Horton development in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, near John’s new posting at Keesler Air Force Base. At the time, the lot was bare dirt, and there was no model home identical to the floor plan they chose. Soon after they signed the contract in Mississippi and returned home to San Antonio, Texas, the coronavirus pandemic intensified, and the couple was unable to visit Mississippi to check on the progress of the house. Instead, they relied on their Realtor, Ashley Endris of Century 21 J. Carter & Co. in Gulfport, to keep them posted. Endris sent photos and occasionally hosted FaceTime tours of the building site. “We put a lot of faith and trust in her to be our advocate,” Kristin says. Despite the growing uncertainty around the pandemic, John’s reassignment was still on, so the couple put their house in San Antonio on the market in late March. The property hit the multiple listing service a day after the city of San Antonio issued a stay-at-home order. Kristin worried the pandemic would sabotage the sale. Instead, a full-price offer arrived in just a few days.
FROM THE LENDER, HIGHER HURDLES
With one major hurdle out of the way, the Untiszes faced another challenge. “We were told by our mortgage company numerous times that, because of the pandemic, they needed additional paperwork,” Kristin says. Their lender constantly asked for income verification. The deal closed in late June, when the couple paid about $250,000 for a four-bedroom house in the South Pointe development. The Untisz family — John, Kristin, 10-year-old Kylie and 8-year-old JJ — finally saw the place in person in early July. But the pandemic would deliver a few more surprises. The family needed a fence to keep their Labradoodle, Gunner, from running away or
falling prey to the alligator that lives nearby. But they learned that the pandemic had interrupted the supply of fence materials. “It’s weird what COVID has been affecting,” Kristin says. “You wouldn’t expect it would prevent you from building a fence.” The fence is up now, but gutter contractors also have been challenged by the pandemic, and, a few weeks after moving in, the Untiszes were waiting for rain spouts to be installed. During one downpour, she worried about damage to her new yard. Aside from enduring a Gulf Coast rainy season with no gutters, Kristin says, the move has been a smooth one. “It worked out in our favor,” she says.
TODDLER + FACE MASK = ‘NIGHTMARE’
The Cravens also hoped to buy a home they haven’t seen in person, and their shopping experience involves many moving parts — and the new reality that, in this seller’s market, it’s much easier to sell a home than to buy one. The family of recently moved from Wichita, Kansas, to Port St. Lucie, Florida, for Shawn’s new job. The Cravens thought about buying a home from afar, but the couple didn’t feel comfortable making such a big commitment to a place they hadn’t visited. “We almost didn’t go, but we really wanted to see the neighborhoods, and see the city where we would be living,” Jill says. “The pandemic did make flights pretty cheap, which was a plus.” In early July, Jill and Shawn boarded a plane with the youngest of their six children for a house-hunting trip. They toured 18 homes in two days, and they encountered COVID-related trepidation from sellers and listing agents. “People were worried because we were from out of town,” Jill says. “We had just been in an airport.” When they toured empty properties, the Cravens wondered if they should wear masks or take them off. In cases where the listing agent was at the home, they wore masks — and struggled to get Evaline to tolerate her face covering. “It was kind of a nightmare getting her to
keep it on,” Jill says. The Cravens resorted to flattery: The red mask featured white polka dots, and Jill told her daughter the covering was pretty.
CLOSING A SALE AND A PURCHASE REQUIRES ‘JUGGLING ACT’
After 18 tours, the Cravens made an offer on a house they hadn’t seen in person. The couple quickly found a buyer for their Wichita home. They sold that property by word of mouth, without officially putting it on the market, and they did the deal without an agent. The couple needed that sale to close before they could consummate the purchase in Port St. Lucie. Adding to the drama, the seller in Florida continued to market the home after accepting the Cravens’ $250,000 offer. The couple wrote a right of first refusal into their purchase contract, so they hoped to land that house if a rival emerged. But, Jill acknowledged, “We could lose it.” The sale of their Wichita house closed on schedule. But their purchase hit a speed bump: The house appraised for $15,000 below the contract price. The seller was unwilling to cut the price, so the family continued shopping. As they were driving from Kansas to Florida — two adults,
six kids and a dog in two vehicles — the Cravens made another offer on another house that was accepted. “It was pretty dramatic,” Jill says. Alas, the timing was less than perfect. Jill lined up a 16-day rental in their new hometown, but they’ll still have a couple weeks before their purchase closes, so they’re looking for another AirBnb or several hotel rooms. “It’s a juggling act,” she says.
FIRST-TIME BUYERS IN FLORIDA
Shane and Karina Thompson are moving ahead with their first home purchase. Both in their 20s, the couple work in the insurance industry, and they’ve stayed employed through the pandemic. The Thompsons have worked from home since mid-March. In late April, they signed a contract on a house in Westlake, Florida. The newly built home is in a Minto Communities neighborhood. When they shopped for the property, the Thompsons wore masks and gloves and submitted to temperature checks. They repeated the drill when it came time to pick color schemes and kitchen options. “You really look forward to that time when you’re going to be picking out all of
the things,” Karina says. Anticipation gave way to disappointment. The coronavirus pandemic turned a subsequent meeting with the builder into a FaceTime video session. The Thompsons are staying with family about 25 minutes from their new house, and they visit once a week or so to check on the progress of construction.
HOW HOMEBUYERS PERSEVERED THROUGH PANDEMIC
“That’s kind of like our break. We’re working from home all day, every day, so it’s nice to be able to go out there,” Karina says. The couple have no children yet, but they chose a five-bedroom house priced at about $450,000. “We decided to go for our forever home,” Karina says. Some housing economists predict home prices could dip as the coronavirus recession reverberates throughout the economy. But Shane is taking the uncertainty in stride — and looking at the bright side of historically low mortgage rates. “To me, it seemed like the perfect situation, with lower interest rates,” Shane says. “I feel like the housing industry is still doing pretty well now, and I hope we’ve learned from our mistakes in 2008.”
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Detroit native buying homes in childhood neighborhood — and bringing them back to life By Chanel Stitt Detroit Free Press DETROIT — Several abandoned homes. A large street flood. Trash covering the ground. Overgrown grass and weeds. An almost completely deserted neighborhood. This is what Detroit contractor Alonzo Ramon, who goes by his rapper stage name King Yadee, saw when he returned to see the neighborhood where he grew up. The area, located off Seven Mile Road at Archdale and Vassar, was a disaster. Yadee immediately wanted to fix it. So he put his music career aside to begin doing what seemed like the impossible: buy up his entire childhood neighborhood and bring it back to life. His brother encouraged him to go to school to learn how to accomplish it all. 14
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“He was like, ‘Go back to school and get your license,’ “ said Yadee. “ ‘If you want to buy the hood, let’s buy the hood. That was 2018.’ “ And so far, it’s working. The company has been able to purchase three abandoned homes on Archdale with two more homes on the block owned by investors. It has been working to renovate them for about a year. When Yadee first entered the abandoned homes, the homes were completely trashed and had been vacant since 2010. He and his team began knocking down the walls to see what the structures looked like and immediately started the renovation. The well-connected team calls each other brother and sister, with two being Yadee’s actual siblings. Each person was brought on to the crew because of their passion for fixing the neighborhood,
where almost all of them grew up. Yadee has invested his own money to pay and train his crew. He also receives a surplus of volunteers. “We don’t clock in,” Yadee said. “We don’t clock out. We don’t ask people for nothing. We don’t ask for no handouts and we definitely don’t wait for nobody to do nothing for us. I’m building my community, my school and my culture.” This passion for fixing started when Yadee was young. He and his siblings lost both of their parents when they were very young. His aunt and uncle took the kids in and bought their Archdale Street home. After a while, they decided to leave the area. Then the 2008 financial crisis hit Detroit, and that’s when Yadee says the neighborhood started to go downhill. He says that contractors and the city of Detroit hadn’t come to fix the
neighborhood, so he felt it was up to the people to create a change. “Through my music and street career, I have influence over like 50 people,” said Yadee. “So I was like, ‘come help me do this.’ “ And people did come to help. About 30 people helped with the first house, which is near completion and will be used as a contractor training school. A rotating crew of about 10 people come on a regular basis, including his brother, Aaron Stallworth, who quit his professional chef career in Colorado to come work on homes full time. Yadee went back to school to learn building code. He took four months to prepare for the Michigan Residential Builders Exam, which he passed. He put his rap career to the side, and Th3 Block Development started bidding on the Archdale Street homes to purchase from the Detroit Land Bank Authority. What’s special about his team is that there are young people involved. With Yadee and his team being positive influences in the area, the neighborhood
kids started to see them as parental figures. The kids now volunteer with Th3 Block Development and they are trained to do renovations. Jacques Stafford of Th3 Block Development grew up in the neighborhood and now helps to mentor the youths. He says that it’s their responsibility to teach them what they didn’t know when they were young. He has plans to buy a house, as well. Yadee also wanted to involve women in his home renovation company. There are now three working for Th3 Block Development, including Lisa Johnson, who wanted to contribute to helping the young. “I got into it because I thought it was hard before,” said Johnson. “It started off with painting. Once I got on board with Yadee, he showed me how to tile floors and drywall. It’s not as hard as it seems at all, especially when you have a team. You benefit from it.” The company has no loans or grants. Yadee and his employees put their money together to begin purchasing the block. Yadee also has a production and
clothing company called Stash House, which encourages kids to not sell drugs, join gangs or do negative things in the community. This company also contributes to Th3 Block Development’s funding. “These houses are going to be full of families, life and hope,” Yadee said. “We’re going to have gardens and play areas. We’re going to have a school. Every block I go to is going to have a school and a office where people can contact us and come out here and learn with us.” Th3 Block Development is currently filming its own home renovation TV show, which will be available through two streaming platforms. It also plans to pitch its ideas to DIY, HGTV or Revolt TV. “My TV show is going to be more of the fight of the lack of knowledge, the lack of trade and the lack of resources that we have,” Yadee said. To contribute to buying back Archdale Street, Th3 Block Development accepts donations to its Cash App and PayPal accounts. 2020 FALL CONTRACTORS GUIDE
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How to tell if your ventilation is OK By Tom Avril The Philadelphia Inquirer PHILADELPHIA — Once an hour, sometimes more, employees at Weavers Way Co-op grocery stores diligently wipe disinfectant on all “high-touch” surfaces: the checkout counters, the banisters, the plastic nozzles that dispense gourmet granola. At Whole Foods Market, workers sanitize even more often, wiping the credit-card readers between every customer. “Deep cleaning” is the coronavirus catchphrase of the moment as more retailers, schools, and offices increase their indoor operations. And in at least one case, the goal seems to be deep and long-lasting: Witness American Airlines’ plan to use a cleaning spray that is said to keep surfaces virus-free for seven days. There is nothing wrong with good hygiene, and for goodness’ sake keep washing your hands, especially as COVID-19 is joined in the coming 16
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months by the flu. But as more indoor spaces prepare to reopen this fall, infectious-disease experts say we don’t need to be quite so fanatical about cleaning surfaces — at least not to the extent that it distracts from the main route of transmitting the coronavirus: through the air. That means continuing to stick with methods that work. Wear masks. Practice social distancing — an effective safeguard against larger virusladen droplets that fall to the ground within a few feet. And when going indoors — given that smaller viral particles can remain aloft — consider the ventilation. At the Weavers Way location in Mount Airy, for example, it may help that the red-brick-and-stucco structure, built in 1925, still has some of its drafty original windows, said facilities manager Steve Hebden. “We can smell on the second floor when a neighbor has some good barbecue going,” he said. The science of air flow is complex —
more below on how to tell if an indoor space is adequately ventilated. But first, a reminder that it can be hard to tell how an individual person was infected with the virus. Despite evidence that the virus can live on surfaces for days, there are few, if any, confirmed reports of people getting COVID-19 from touching a germy object, said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. One patient in Germany may have picked up the virus from touching a salt shaker, for example, and then presumably rubbing his eyes or nose. But other than that report, in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, there is little else in the medical literature. That doesn’t mean surface transmission of COVID-19 can’t happen. It almost certainly does, given our knowledge of other viruses, said Gregory A. Poland, a vaccine researcher at the Mayo Clinic. But short of a controlled laboratory experiment in which scientists expose
people to a virus on purpose, such things can be difficult to tease out. Epidemiologists are left to trace how people were exposed after the fact — a challenge with a virus that’s often spread by people who do not realize they are infected, said Adalja, a spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “Imagine two people are on the couch talking, and they’re also eating cookies off the same coffee table,” he said. Say one of them is infected, and the other gets sick a few days later. What is to blame, the talking or the cookie tray? Nevertheless, the primary route through which the coronavirus spreads, say Adalja, Poland, and other infectious-disease experts, is the air. That leaves two primary options for when indoors, said Michael S. Waring, a Drexel University professor of civil, architectural, and environmental engineering. Bring in fresh air, filter the air already in the room, or both. Here are the basics for keeping spaces well ventilated: Office buildings tend to have those boxy rooftop units to heat and cool indoor spaces while also adding air from outside, as indicated by what HVAC stands for: heating, ventilation and air conditioning. Dampers can be opened to admit varying degrees of fresh air into the system. But in extreme hot or cold temperatures, it costs more to condition the outside air to a livable temperature, and there is a limit to how much fresh air some HVAC systems can handle, Waring said. A high-quality system will refresh the air in a space multiple times an hour, though the ideal rate depends on the size of the room and how many people are in it. Commercial HVAC units generally are equipped with filters, rated with a system called MERV: minimum efficiency reporting value. Look for one
with a rating of MERV-13, Waring said. That means it is designed to remove 90% of particles that measure one micron — a millionth of a meter — or more. Higher-rated filters are available, but they require more powerful fans to push the air through. And just as important as the filter’s efficiency is how well it fits, Waring said. Gaps and leaks defeat the purpose. In buildings without HVAC units, another option for removing viruses from the air is a standalone air-cleaning device equipped with a HEPA filter, Waring said. Some air-handling systems tout the use of ultraviolet light, which is known to kill viruses. But be aware of its limitations, said Joshua Santarpia, an associate professor of pathology and microbiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Do not expect it to help much in air that is moving through ductwork. UV light takes tens of seconds to inactivate a virus, and the air in an HVAC system is moving faster than that. “You don’t really get enough time,” he said. UV light might be useful, on the other hand, if the goal is to prevent microbial growth on a specific surface of an HVAC system, such as a cooling coil, he said. Other fancy add-ons may do more harm than good, said Waring, director of Drexel’s architectural engineering program. For example, some standalone air cleaners emit ozone, which can irritate breathing. “There’s a big market out there right now,” he said. “I think a bunch of people are trying to make some money.” In older buildings without HVAC units, including many schools in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, opening windows is a common-sense alternative. Cross-ventilation works best: opening windows on opposite sides of
the room. For improved flow, place an outward-facing box fan in one window and an inward-facing fan in the other. But opening windows is not a workable solution on a hot day in mid-September, or an ice-cold one in January. Many school districts, including Eastern Regional in Camden County, have cited a lack of adequate ventilation as a reason they are starting the year with remote instruction. Harvard public health experts provide more school-specific airquality tips at schools.forhealth.org. At the Weavers Way grocery in Mount Airy, the air-handling system does not admit outside air, though the doors are often open and there is that benefit of the drafty windows. The co-op’s Chestnut Hill and Ambler locations, on the other hand, do have advanced HVAC units. In all three stores, COVID-19 cases among employees have been low, said general manager Jon Roesser. Since the beginning of the pandemic, just four of the co-op’s 250 staffers have become infected — at least two of whom think they caught the virus outside the store, he said. All have recovered. He attributed the success to a variety of precautions. One is reduced occupancy — just 12 people at a time are allowed in Mount Airy, 20 in Chestnut Hill, and up to 50 in Ambler. Another is a requirement to wear masks. Disposable gloves are provided for customers who wish. And the cleaning? Roesser figures it can’t hurt. “It probably doesn’t matter whether you disinfect every hour, or every couple hours,” he said. “It makes people feel good.” 2020 FALL CONTRACTORS GUIDE
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Brand Name Products, Lowest Price Guarantee 505 N. Pearl St Ellensburg, Washington 98926 509-925-3101 18
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2033793
Sears Hometown
QUALITY, SERVICE & SELECTION! PROUDLY SERVING KITTITAS COUNTY SINCE 1940
We Have the LARGEST Selection of Timbers in Central Washington Quality Douglas Fir Lumber•Pressure Treated Lumber•Cedar•Engineered Wood Products • Doors & Windows •Metal Roofing Hardi-Plank•LP Siding•Insulation•Drywall•Hand & Power Tools•Decking & Railing•Paint & Paint Sundries
1791 Vantage Hwy, Ellensburg•509.962.4000 Open Every Day!•www.knudsonlumber.com
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You Dream It, We Can Build It!
1729253
locally owned & operated serving Kittitas County With High Quality Construction for over 30 years!
CustomBuILt: Built:Homes, Homes,Hay Haystorage, storage,Riding RidingArenas, Arenas,Horse HorseBarns, Barns, Commercial Commercial Buildings, Buildings, Roofing, Roofing, Concrete Work, Exacavation, Excavation, site Custom siteWork Work&&more... more... Office: 509.925.2015 • ScOtt: 509.929.0012 • cOdy: 509.929.2008 • 7820 Hwy 97, Ellensburg, WA • mcintoshpolebldgs@fairpoint.net CODY: 509.929.2008 • 7820 Hwy 97, Ellensburg, WA • cody@mcintoshpb.com
2020 FALL CONTRACTORS GUIDE
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Sound Advice: The bigger the house, the bigger the generator By Don Lindich Tribune News Service
Q.
I have questions about home backup power. Are manual transfer switches available in a range of maximum power to be transferred? Also, do they make automatic transfer switches that operate when no one is home during a power failure, and if available what is the price range? — D.M., Naperville, Illinois
A.
Many brands and types of transfer switches and generators are available, covering a wide variety of power and price ranges. The system I described in print is not automatic. When the power goes out I flip the manual transfer switch, wheel out my Q6500 inverter generator, start it up and connect it to the outside inlet box with a single 240 volt/30 amp connection. Clean power is then sent over my home’s electrical wiring to the circuits I select on the transfer switch. Typically I have power in every room but the garage, and if I need to use the garage door opener I turn off a bedroom circuit and turn on the garage circuit. The gas furnace has power to provide heat in the winter, but I do not have the central air conditioner connected as it would require a bigger generator. An automatic transfer switch won’t do you any good with a portable generator like mine. The system you want is a backup (also called standby) generator, which usually ships with a prewired indoor automatic transfer switch. The backup generator is connected to the natural gas line 20
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(or a large propane tank if your home does not have natural gas) and the automatic transfer switch wired to the electrical panel. The switch constantly monitors the system and if power from the grid is interrupted, the switch activates and starts the generator. Power is typically restored within 60 seconds, and when utility power is flowing again the switch will disconnect and turn off the generator. The bigger the house and the more circuits you want to connect, the bigger the generator and more elaborate the transfer switch required. Connecting appliances with high current and wattage requirements such as central air conditioners and electric ranges requires upsizing the generator as well. Because the generator is intended for emergency purposes, most homeowners choose one with enough power to cover enough rooms and appliances to stay comfortable, and if they have an electric range they just rely on the microwave. These essential circuits are the ones connected to the automatic transfer switch. If you want to power every room of a large home including central AC and every appliance imaginable you can do it, but you will have to dig deeper into your wallet to buy a big enough generator for the job. A home backup generator with transfer switch starts at around $2,000 plus installation, and can run into the tens of thousands of dollars for a very large home with all the circuits running. Installed prices typically start around $4,000. You will definitely want to get proposals from several different dealers before deciding. You should also check with local authorities regarding codes and permits. A good dealer will take care of this for you as part of their service. If building a new home you can make it part of your construction plan. (I would!)
Remember to call 811 before even the simple jobs like: • Installing ground rods or concrete stakes • Building a fence or deck • Installing real estate sign or mailbox callbeforeyoudig.org 2033134
you need to create your dream home. From dining room sets to bedroom furniture, our knowledgeable staff and in-house interior designer are available to help you complete your home.
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From washers & dryers to complete kitchen appliances we muc more are much than a furniture store. Let us complete your home with the friendly and reliable help from our appliance department.
AppliAnces
stAtements
(509) 925-1475
512 N. Pearl Street • Ellensburg, WA www.shawsfurnitureandappliance.com
Mon-Fri • 8:30am - 5pm Saturday • 9:30am to 5pm
1988121
Furniture
We have everything
Finally, A Reliable Handyman Efficient + Flawless + Professional = A Handy Guy
Here’s what we can do for you: • Fine woodworking • Custom carpentry • Door repair, replacement • Interior and exterior cosmetic repairs • Shower and tub repair/ replacement • Siding and window repair/replacement • Molding and trim installation and repair • Drywall repair • Cabinet and counter refinishing
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We provide help for injured workers and their employers, offering specialized case management that deals with everything from overseeing medical treatment to processing the inevitable paperwork that comes with L&I claims.
CDL exams work injuries
Injured workers? Focus on projects, not paperwork.
mask fit testing fit-for-duty exams bloodborne exposures pre-employment exams immunization & drug screening respirator clearance evaluations CAOHC certified hearing exams
KVH Workplace Health KV 702 E. Mountain View Suite 2, Ellensburg 509.933.8830 | 844.217.8029 Mon-Fri drop-in services 7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
kvhealthcare.org
Kittitas Valley Healthcare
