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Newsletter November, 2008
"The Old House Experts" |
Greetings!
It's been a wild couple of months for the U.S. economy. I won't soon forget watching the stock market drop precipitously as the bailout bill was going down to defeat in Congress. Consumer confidence is down dramatically. It's no secret that the housing market is in free fall. New construction has dramatically slowed down across the country. House values continue to fall, although Boston is one of only two markets in the nation bucking this trend (a gold star if you knew that the other is Cleveland). Hopefully, some of the uncertainty and anxiety will be reduced now that the presidential election is over.
So how is the renovation market looking? Well, in a word: mixed. The lower end of the market is very quiet. But the higher end seems to be quite strong. Indeed, our sales are higher this year than last year, and we' are predicting our best year ever in 2009, based upon the work we currently have booked.
With that said, though, we're always happy to discuss your projects. So, you ask, what types of projects are we looking for? Obviously, our expertise is with historic properties: renovations, additions, etc. We are also interested in interesting, detail-rich, new construction. Whilw most of our work is residential, we also enjoy working on churches and other instituitional projects.
We frequently have an opportunity to bring design professionals into our projects, so if you're an architect or designer interested in collaborating, please give us a shout!
Regards,
Mark Landry
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It's "flue" season
This time of year we get a lot of calls from people concerned with the condition of their chimneys and fireplaces.
Fortunately, we have the ideal treatment for old chimneys. It's a product called Thermocrete. Thermocrete is a sprayed on flue lining material. It makes chimneys much safer by sealing cracks and small holes. We're the dealer for eastern Massachusetts, so if you have an old chimney and you're not sure of its condition, please let us know. Our first step would be to do a video inspection of your flues. If they are in tough shape, we'll provide a quote for doing the Thermocrete work.
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Another exciting chimney product that we are using these days is called Isokern. This is a fantastic modular system for fireplace and chimney construction. The system consists of interlocking pieces made from volcanic stone. With Isokern, fireplaces and chimneys construction is simple and fast. Isokern is also a zero clearance product, which greatly simplifies retrofitting a chimney into an old house, such as the one shown below, that we installed in a Victorian house in Newton. The fireplace can be finished with any type of brick, tile, or stone. This product is ideal for old houses but is great for new construction as well. 
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Upcoming Talks
Mark will be speaking about restoring historic homes at the Needham Historical Society on Sunday, Nov. 9th at 2:00 PM. All are welcome.
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Old houses going green...
In our first 17 years in business, only a handful of our clients asked us
about using renewable energy systems. But in just the past three
months, two of our clients have decided to have us provide geothermal
heating and cooling systems. We are also going to be installing photovoltaics and solar hot water systems on these two jobs, as well as another project.
Why
the change? There is no doubt that the sudden increase in energy
prices this year has made a lot of people nervous about the future cost of
heating, cooling, hot water and electricity. The more recent decline
in the price of oil has calmed these fears to a certain degree, but for
clients with the capital to invest in renewable energy systems, it is an
easy decision.
Our geothermal consultants tell us that our
clients will have a 7-10 year payback period on their systems. After
that, their homes will be heated and cooled for the cost of the
electricity to run the equipment (pumps, heatpumps, blowers, etc).
Similarly, our solar consultants are also forecasting attractive
payback periods for solar electricity and hot water.
Another
enticing factor is the tax credits available for solar and geothermal.
In fact, one unexpected benefit of the bailout bill passed by Congress
recently was that it increased and extended these tax credits.
We've
always stressed energy efficiency in our renovations and renovations.
For example, we've been using spray foam insulations such as Icynene
since 1997 because I have long felt that typical batt insulation is an
extremely poor solution. It's exciting now to have our clients asking
for even more ways to reduce their energy consumption.
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One of our largest projects these days is the renovation of a spectacular Mansard house in Brookline. We're also converting a carriage house on this property into a residence. We're pleased to be working with Gary Wolf Architects on this project. This is one of the jobs mentioned above that will be getting geothermal and solar systems. We expect to be on this site for the next 12 months.
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 We're well into the renovation of a beautiful 3-story Federal period home in Milton. We're at the tail end of 4 months of extensve structural repairs and will soon be starting the installation of new mechanical systems, a new kitchen, five new bathrooms, and complete redecoration.
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We're about to start another project
in Milton. This one involves interior renovations of a Shingle Style house on which we carried out an exterior
renovation several years ago. This time around, we'll be gutting and renovating the third floor and the kitchen.
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This week we'll be starting an addition on a 1930's house in the town of Marshfield designed by Frank Shirley Architects. This is our second project with Frank's firm and we look forward to working with him.
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And finally (for now) we're wrapping up a renovation in Newton. Several years ago we renovated the kitchen here. Now, we have renovated the third floor and the second floor master suite. We're proud to point out that this is one of three "repeat" projects we've done this year for past clients. Nothing makes us happier than having the confidence of our clients.
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Thank you for reading this newsletter. As you can probably tell, we love old houses and we love working on them! Please let us know if we can help you on your next project.
All the best,
Mark Landry
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