Houzz Tour: Modern Plays Nice in a Historic Houston Neighborhood.
Modern Plays Nice in a Historic Houston Neighborhood | Armonk Homes
Leave a reply
Tag Archives: Armonk NY Homes for Sale
Efficiency Dos and Don’ts From an Energy Nerd | Armonk Real Estate
Although I used to be a builder, I now work as a reporter for an energy-efficiency newsletter. Joining the tribe of energy nerds has altered my perspective, making me single-minded and opinionated. Watching new-home builders in action, I can often be heard to mutter, “Why do they always build it that way?”
Of course, I realize that many of the builders I grumble about are actually familiar with energy-efficient construction techniques — they just can’t convince their clients that energy efficiency is worth the extra investment. Most builders are accustomed to juggling several balls at once: They need to satisfy their clients, keep the local building inspector happy, and make a profit. Sometimes, however, a builder gets lucky and lands a client who insists on a high-performance home and is willing to pay for it. To help you get ready for that day, here’s a list of dos and don’ts from an energy nerd’s perspective — starting with the don’ts.
Don’t Design a Complicated Roof For those who espouse the principle “form follows function,” the ideal roof is a simple gable over an unheated attic, much like the roof on the house we all drew in kindergarten. Unfortunately, designers these days are fond of complicated roofs — ones with enough valleys, dormers, and intersecting planes to make the home look from a distance like an entire Tuscan village.
Such roofs are difficult to insulate without resorting to spray polyurethane foam. Though spray foam is effective, it’s also expensive. In most cases, simple roofs are easier to insulate, easier to ventilate, and far less prone to ice dams than complicated roofs. Don’t Install a Hydronic Snow-Melt System Snow can be removed from a driveway with a shovel, a snow-blower, or a plow.
It can also be removed by burning great quantities of fuel to heat water circulating through buried pipes. In rare cases — for example, at the home of a handicapped client — a hydronic snow-melt system makes sense. In most homes, however, such systems are uncalled for.
In 60 years, when global climate change has made snow rare, history books will explain to our grand-children how hydronic snow-melt systems used to work. Our descendants will shake their heads, astonished that their ancestors burned fossil fuels so wantonly.
Don’t Build a Poorly Insulated Slab In a hot climate, an uninsulated slab in contact with cool soil can lower cooling costs. In a cold climate, though, slabs should be well-insulated. Some cold-climate builders, having learned that heat rises, install thick attic insulation while leaving their slabs uninsulated. But heat actually moves from warm to cold in all directions. While it’s true that in winter the soil beneath a slab is warmer than the outside air, a slab can still lose a significant amount of heat. In cold climates, a basement slab should be insulated with at least 2 inches of extruded polystyrene (XPS) under the entire slab. In different climates sheer curtains are very useful for control air accordingly. Due to the loose weave in sheer fabrics curtains offer little heat insulation. Sheer fabric for clothing offers very little in the way of warmth for the wearer, and for this reason is commonly worn in hot weather. It offers relatively low sun protection. Click here SmartSheer.com for more information.
For a slab-on-grade home in a cold climate, specify 3 or 4 inches of XPS under the entire slab, with additional vertical foam at the slab’s perimeter. Foil-faced bubble pack (R-1.3) is no substitute for adequate insulation; under a slab, it’s virtually useless.
http://www.jlconline.com/energy-efficiency/efficiency-dos-and-don-ts-from-an-energy-nerd.asp
Armonk Supervisor’s Update | Armonk Real Estate
Dear Neighbors
Road Repaving Update
We are nearing the end of our Town-wide road repaving program for this year. We have followed our Pavement Management Study findings completing approximately 10 miles of work this season. Pothole and patch jobs are handled separately by our Town Highway Department.
This week we should be finishing Banksville Road, Round Hill Road and Shippen Road. That will only leave Palmer Avenue and Castle Heights in North White Plains to be finished. Our 2014 repaving program will be again based on the findings of our Pavement Management Study
Halloween Parade on Main Street
Last year due to Hurricane Sandy we saved Halloween by hosting an impromptu event on Main Street. It was such a success that many people asked if we could do it again this year. With the cooperation of our wonderful Town Police, the Byram Hills Pre-school Association and our enthusiastic store owners, I am happy to announce that we will be holding a Halloween Parade on Main Street, Thursday, October 31, 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Come and show off your costumes. Some stores will be welcoming our little ghosts and goblins with treats. The participating store owners will have flyers in their establishments and several are planning special events for the parents. Cider and donuts will also be available at the Hergenhan Recreation Center between 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm. At 4:00 pm our police will transition over to School Street to handle traffic control for our traditional neighborhood Halloween event.
Sincerely,
Supervisor Howard Arden
Pour a #Concrete Floor | #Armonk Real Estate
Concrete floors are a major component of many buildings, from homes and garages to shops and sheds. Pouring a polished concrete floor is hard work, and it takes skill, strength and tools. You may wish to have this job done by the best concrete contractors Yakima WA, but you can do it yourself. The tools can be rented at many rental places, and the skills are not very difficult to learn. If you’re undecided as to whether to do it yourself or have the job done by a professional, the following steps on pouring both a slab or in-foundation floor illustrate the basics and may help you decide.Well many of experts female also gives their opinion about concrete sealers,you can check her latest blog.
A concrete slab on which a building is erected is a fairly simple concrete pour, but it takes more work in creating the forms needed to hold the concrete. A pour within a foundation requires little in the way of forming, but in some cases can be a bit more difficult to pour, especially on larger projects. Regardless of the type of pour, or whether you do it yourself or have the job done, the first step is to check with local building codes and regulations, and acquire any permits needed.
The first step is to lay out the slab, making sure it is square. Batter boards and strings are used to establish the building perimeter.
Creating a Slab
First step is to lay out the slab. Take your time with this step and make sure you get it right. Lay out the slab incorrectly, and the building can be a nightmare. The slab must be square. Mark the outline of the building with stakes at each approximate corner. Drive a nail into the top of the stake and, using a tape measure, measure diagonally from stake to stake. The measurements must be equal. Move the stakes in or out to create equal diagonal measurements.
Another method is to place string lines on the nails to mark a rectangular perimeter. Measure and mark 3 feet on one string and 4 feet on the adjoining line. The distance between these two marks should be 5 feet. Again, move in or out as needed.
After the corners are determined and the building laid out square, batter boards are used to create a permanent perimeter mark at all corners. These will stay in place until the forms for the slab have been constructed. Two-by-4 stakes are driven solidly in place and boards nailed to their outer edges. The batter board tops should be level with each other. A string line and string level or laser level can be used to make sure all boards are level with each other. Once the boards are established, a string line is run for all sides of the slab. A plumb bob is used on the intersection of the strings to position their crossing points, or the building corners, directly over the nails on the original stakes.
Mark the outline of the slab with lime, following the string lines. Then dig up the area and remove sod and debris. The area is normally recessed slightly, but the top of the slab must be well above ground level or fill level. In many instances the slab is raised and soil filled in around it to create a slope to drain rainwater away from the slab. In some instances local codes may require a footing be poured before the slab. In other cases, a “stiffener” method may be used, digging a deeper area below the frost line around the perimeter of the slab
– See more at: http://extremehowto.com/pour-a-concrete-floor/#sthash.VRZgeUKm.dpuf
Sophisticated Modern in East Hampton for $4.5M | Armonk NY Homes
This gorgeous house is brand-new, just completed by high-end builder Chris Vila (yes, Bob’s son). Pretty much any amenity you could want has been included. Low-E walls of glass: check. Kitchen with high end appliances, right within reach of an outdoor grilling station and herb garden: yep. Six bedrooms, all ensuite: affirmative. Wine cellar: absotively! Outdoor living room with fireplace: indeed. Double-edged saline infinity pool: you have to ask? All this on 2.08 acres. · Modern Retreat With Village Convenience [Saunders]
Housing affordability dips to a four-year low | Armonk NY Homes
According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, the average mortgage payment on a median-priced home in August as a share of median income was 16%. Furthermore, housing affordability hit a four-year low during the month after the market experienced gains in home prices in the spring and higher interest rates over the course of the summer.
While the data released earlier this week show affordability has been dented, homes are still more affordable than any time between 1989 and late 2008, according to the NAR’s figures.
At prevailing interest rates in August, the mortgage payment on the median priced home stood at $851, or around 16% of the median U.S. income. By contrast, the equivalent mortgage payment one year earlier, at $683, accounted for 13.3% of the median income.
Source: WSJ
Analyst forecasts a 20% drop in home prices | Armonk NY Homes
Mark Hanson, a Menlo Park, Calif., real estate analyst, blogger and founder of consultancy firm Hanson Advisers, may be the only bear left in the housing market, predicting a decline of 20% in housing prices in the next 12 months.
Hanson says private-equity firms caused about 50 percent of the price appreciation in cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas, and generally overpaid by 10 percent to 20 percent, according to his calculations.
With gains of more than 35 percent since the crash for properties in Las Vegas, Phoenix and other of the hardest-hit regions, these vultures will begin to lose interest, he figures.
However, he does not stand completely alone.
Less bearish real estate experts such as Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow and a Hanson fan, also see signs of froth.
“There’s a strong distinction between a normal slowdown and the wheels coming off the housing recovery,” says Humphries. “That’s where I depart from Mark’s take.”
Source: Bloomberg
Social media mistakes you may be making | Armonk NY Realtor
I’m pretty well known for making mistakes. It’s kind of a known trait of mine. Just this weekend I walked into a door because I didn’t open it properly first.
When it comes to social media, though, I try hard to learn from mistakes since they’re all saved for me to reflect on. Plus, I research and write about social media enough to have access to stats that make it easier to pick up and rectify these kind of mistakes.
The funny thing about some of the mistakes I looked at for this post is that the advice to avoid them is counterintuitive—sometimes even controversial. As we’ve seen before, though, counterintuitive advice is sometimes the best kind.
1. Losing out on traffic – Post the same thing multiple times
This is something that can be pretty controversial – a lot of people discourage re-posting links to the same content more than once. A good example of the controversy and why some tweeters continue to do it is Guy Kawasaki’s experience.
Guy is a big proponent of repeating your tweets, and has faced a lot of flack for it. After all, it doesn’t really make sense to send out the same thing multiple times… or does it?
Guy makes a good point that his followers probably aren’t reading his tweets at every moment of the day.
I repeat my tweets because I don’t assume that all my followers are reading me 24 x 7 x 365.
For Guy’s tweets that link to posts on his site, Holy Kaw, he repeats these four times, eight hours apart:
I picked eight hours because this means that even if the first tweet goes out at the worst times for traffic, one of the repeats will hit the best times… For example, a first tweet at 3:00 am Pacific then hits 11:00 am Pacific and 7:00 pm Pacific.
Guy also notes that he would lose out on traffic if he didn’t repeat his tweets, which is something we’ve examined before when looking at the best time to tweet:
I’ve examined the click-through patterns on repeat tweets, and each one gets about the same amount of traffic. If I tweeted stories only once, I would lose 75% of the traffic that I could get.
Here’s a typical example of the traffic from one of Guy’s tweets:
First post: 739 clicks
Second post: 718 clicks
Third post: 565 clicks
If I follow common wisdom, I would have tweeted it once and lost 1,200 clicks—that’s the bottom line.
This is something we do at Buffer as well. We use different headlines to test which one gets the best clicks for a particular post, and then we repeat the best one using Buffer to reach different timezones with the same content.
Kerry Kennedy’s Lawyer Reportedly Trying To Move Trial From Armonk | Armonk Homes
Lawyers on both sides of Bedford resident Kerry Kennedy’s impaired driving trial are apparently looking beyond the North Castle Courthouse in Armonk for a bigger space, according to a report by the Associated Press via the Wall Street Journal.
Defense attorney Gerald Lefcourt has reportedly said that Armonk’s 60-seat courtroom won’t be able to hold the expected numbers of reporters, interested residents and a jury for Kennedy’s trial, the report said.
Other venues are being scouted, although no trial date has been set, according to the AP.
Kennedy was arrested in July 2012 after she swerved her Lexus into a tractor-trailer on Interstate 684 in Armonk. She was charged with driving under the influence of an unknown substance, for which she pleaded not guilty, saying she accidently took a sleeping pill.
She tried to have her case dismissed this past May but was denied.
Kennedy is the daughter of Sen. Robert Kennedy and the niece of President John F. Kennedy. She is also the ex-wife of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
http://mtkisco.dailyvoice.com/news/kerry-kennedys-lawyer-reportedly-trying-move-trial-armonk
Armonk Update fromTown of North Castle Supervisor Howard Arden | Armonk Real Estate
North Castle Residents:
Many of us came to North Castle because of its natural beauty and wonderful recreational opportunities. Together with our excellent schools, top-notch, well maintained recreational facilities and open space are key drivers in enhancing our quality of life and increasing our property values. But in order to provide these critical benefits, they need to be constantly nurtured and maintained.
As an avid outdoorsman, conservationist and former chairman of the North Castle Open Space Committee, I am extremely pleased to announce the far-reaching improvements we have made to our parks, recreation facilities and programs which were presented at the September 25th Town Board meeting. Importantly, we have accomplished these improvements without any new borrowing or tax increases. In fact we have doubled the budget for park and recreation improvements by finding cost savings and revenues from a variety of areas. Here is the exciting list of advancements:
Sports Field Management Program
We reinstituted a regular and systematic turf management program which will help keep our fields in much better condition for our parent coaches and kids to play on.
Playing Field Expansion
I am aware that our town does not have enough fields for all of our wonderful sports. The cost of turf fields is prohibitive. Recently I identified two neglected, Town-owned land parcels suitable for this purpose. We are currently evaluating the costs, and we should be able to create new athletic fields without any tax increase.
Winkler Park Renovation
Winkler Park was deeded to North Castle over 25 years ago. Since that time. little or no improvements had been made. It was time for a serious refresh. We cleared overgrowth, resurfaced the tennis and basketball courts, refurbished the parking lot, entrance sign and gazebo. We also repaired the play structure making it safety compliant. We even added a fishing dock courtesy of an aspiring Eagle Scout in town. Winkler Park is now reopened and residents in that neighborhood have a lovely spot to bring their families. The pond is chock full of fish so bring your kids because it should be a gratifying first fishing experience! Please practice catch and release so all our families can enjoy the action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7aEVrk9ICc
Community Park at IBM
We successfully re-negotiated the operating license with Armonk Indoor Sports Center to include a $1,000,000 fee increase over the life of the contract, along with an agreement to renovate the existing parking lot. We hope to use this windfall money to renovate the building at Community Park. When renovated we will use it for the Art Show and our Town camps.
Town Camps
Increased 2013 camp enrollment from improved marketing efforts resulted in our highest profit in the last 8 years. Beyond providing our kids with a great summer camp experience, we were able to hire 9 more local teens and college students than in 2012…a terrific summer job opportunity for our young residents. Watch for online registration for summer 2014!
Wampus Park South
Using federal FEMA funds from Hurricane Sandy, we cleared the swath of land near the entrance to town on Maple Ave. We recently put out to bid the work to transform the rest of the park to a lawn and event space. The work includes clearing the remaining trees and brush, building a rip-rap wall alongside the brook, and planting ornamental trees and wild flowers along the bank. Soon, it will be another lovely park for residents to enjoy.
Paddle Tennis Courts at Community Park
The renovation of these courts was approved at the last Town Board meeting. Once the courts have been renovated, I plan on having an opening paddle clinic. We will be inviting local teaching pros and nationally ranked players. I will keep you informed of the date.
Bike Path
Phase I is underway for a multi-phase, much-requested bike path which will stretch the entire length of North Castle. Recreation subdivision and other fees are expected to be used to complete this exciting project which will benefit residents of all ages!
I would like to thank Recreation Supervisor Matt Trainor, Don Brandes and all the Rec Department staff for their great work. Special thanks to Town Councilman John Cronin who worked closely with the Rec department and Board members Joseph DiMauro (Chairman), Susan Lichten, Anthony Milone, Dan Zenkel, George Alvarez, Frank Benish, Vito Errico and new volunteer Pat McCarthy to make our goals a reality.
It is important to me to give North Castle residents the quality of life you moved here for: wonderful parks, better services and a community we can all be proud of. Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.
Sincerely,
Howard Arden