South Coast Shingle Blog

Courtesy of: www.edcmag.com

There are all kinds of envy in this town. There’s money envy against those who have more, often obscenely more, of the stuff than you do. There’s apartment envy, which often correlates closely with money envy. There’s career envy, relationship envy, school envy; indeed, New York has devised an almost infinite variety of ways to feel insecure about oneself. 

But there’s another form of envy that is frequently overlooked and that may be just as potent, especially in a metropolis where sunlight is at a premium and it’s easy to forget that one remains part of the natural world. I’m speaking of roof envy: the jealous feelings aroused toward those who own, or at least have access to, outdoor spaces where they can sunbathe, barbecue or simply enjoy vistas larger than those framing their neighbors’ apartments.

Part of the allure, the mystique, of roofs is that they offer a modicum of privacy. You can do pretty much anything you please up there—and I suspect people do—and no one on the street below will be any the wiser. The only thing you have to worry about are those looking down from even higher roofs, or others who also have keys to the space.

But being a “small D” democrat, I’m happy to report that the veil of privacy surrounding penthouse living is finally being lifted in a new book titled “Up On the Roof” (Princeton Architectural Press). If you’ve ever wondered who has the most splendid roof in New York (though I realize that’s a subjective judgment), the most lushly planted, the prettiest pool, etc., your curiosity may be appeased thanks to photojournalist Alex MacLean, the book’s author, who has documented seemingly every roof worth shooting in the city.

Indeed, when his publicist and I were deciding how and where I’d interview the photographer, she suggested a helicopter ride. As much as I love helicopters, I declined for several reasons, including that it’s hard to conduct an interview in a helicopter, and because hovering in midair feels unnatural to me and brings on intimations of mortality.

So we decided instead to meet on a scenic roof with great views—that on the Standard East Village hotel. What I didn’t realize until I met Mr. MacLean and got a look at the book was that the reason his publicist suggested a chopper is because that’s how he shot the book, over the course of approximately 25 hours hanging over the city.

“I started to realize there was so much going on with the rooftops that had implications for the city, making the city more livable,” he explained of the project. The idea came to him while he was doing aerial studies of Brooklyn Bridge Park for Michael Van Valkenburgh, its landscape designer. He said he couldn’t help but notice how the city’s rooftops were evolving.

Some of the boom in roof culture has to do with the money certain segments of the population have accumulated in recent years. “The wealth made a big difference,” acknowledged Mr. MacLean. Combine that with growing environmental consciousness, or at least the urge to tan, and you’ve got rooftop terraces, and even pools, popping up all over the place.

Such elaborate sky gardens were once limited primarily to the Upper East and West sides. And based on Mr. MacLean’s aerial reconnaissance of spectacular penthouse gardens, such as at 855 and 1125 Fifth Ave., they still boast the skyline’s most mature trees. But with the gentrification and subsequent zillionaireification of neighborhoods such as SoHo and TriBeCa, on warm spring and summer nights there’s almost as much action up under the stars as on the street below.

The images shot from above of the High Line—a rooftop of sorts—are especially dramatic, reminiscent of the way the Mara River snakes through the arid Serengeti, lush green against the surrounding bleached landscape. Except that in this case the wildebeest, zebra and giraffe are replaced by people out for an afternoon stroll and the pale hues of the Masai Mara by the budding luxury condos of Chelsea.

Another development in recent years is that of the de rigueur pool, restaurant or at least expansive outdoor terrace space with bar and chaises atop the new breed of boutique luxury hotel or upscale condo. Mr. MacLean ably documents this phenomenon at residences such as 55-77 Bethune St. in the West Village, where there appeared to be a financial services industry cocktail party under way as Mr. MacLean flew over. There’s also an engaging image of the rooftop bar at the Ravel Hotel in Long Island City, where, based on the sparse crowd, long shadows and two female servers in little black dresses chatting idly, the evening cocktail hour is just getting going.

There’s also an aerial view of the pool at Soho House that helps to answer the question of how many angels you can get on the head of a pin, or at least fashion models cheek by jowl at a scene swimming pool on a sweltering summer day.

Perhaps my favorite image in that chapter, rather too solemnly titled “Collective Use,” concerns the crowded roof of the Standard New York hotel in the meatpacking district. If you look closely at the faces of the guests wedged onto the terrace, you can see they’re all watching the helicopter—”You sit with the door open; you’re strapped in,” the photographer explained of his modus operandi—and don’t appear especially enthused that they’re being buzzed. One gentleman expresses his displeasure in ways unmistakable even from the air.

“I’m looking at it on the computer,” Mr. MacLean recalled, of examining the image after he returned to Earth. “I felt bad that I’m annoying someone to the point where he’s giving me the finger.”

Mr. MacLean didn’t have the unforgettable luck I once did while working at NBC years ago. Looking down from 30 Rock, I spotted Rockettes sunbathing on the roof of Radio City. He has, however, captured several images of sunbathers, one of whom looks more appropriately dressed for a beach in the south of France than 23rd Street, where pedestrians are crossing with the light below.

There’s also a section devoted to “green” roofs, both literally and figuratively, those planted to reduce New York’s “heat-island” effect and storm-water runoff. After leaving the Standard East Village we visited Cook+Fox Architects, at 641 Avenue of the Americas. The firm’s drought-resistant sedum-planted roof is featured in the book.

“It’s funny,” Mr. MacLean said as we got out of a cab and he examined the handsome 1902 building where Cook+Fox is located. “I don’t recognize it. I’m clueless from the street.”

Courtesy of: www.online.wsj.com

GAF Materials Corp., Wayne, N.J., has just announced a new sweepstakes running through May 31 for roofing contractors, builders and remodelers who are fans of GAF Materials’ Facebook page. The winner will receive a GAF Lifetime Roofing System, including Lifetime Shingles of up to 30 squares.

Contractors, builders and remodelers who have clicked the “Like” button on GAF Materials’ Facebook page at www.facebook.com/gafroofing can select the Promotions tab and complete an online form to submit their entries. One winner will win up to 30 squares of GAF’s Timberline® HD™ Lifetime Shingles, along with a selection of roofing components that can be chosen from a list of qualifying items, including Ridge Caps, Roof Deck Protection, Leak Barriers, Cobra® Attic Ventilation and Starter Strips.

A winner will be selected on or about May 31, and the winner will be notified via phone and e-mail.

Learn more at www.facebook.com

MONEY Magazine) — It’s hard to imagine a less enjoyable way to blow $5,000 to $15,000 (or more) than putting on a new roof. 

You’ll see your yard saturated with shingle bits and nails (probably leading to a flat tire or two) and have to deal with roofers, some of whom deserve the trade’s bad reputation.

Still, it’s a key job that can jack up your home’s curb appeal, and the process doesn’t have to be a nightmare.

Leaks can be repaired. Missing shingles can be replaced.

Look up at your roof through binoculars. Only if you see widespread breaking, curling, cracking, or mossy shingles — or areas where the granules have worn away — do you need to spring for a new one, says Jim Kirby of the National Roofing Contractors Association.

Get bids from three roofers, to compare not just prices but also their attitude and approach.

Then hire someone who is willing to: (1) get a building permit, (2) remove only as much roofing each day as he can reinstall by the end of that day, (3) lay protective plywood over decks and patios, and tarps over walls, the lawn, shrubs, and unfinished areas, and (4) clean the job site every night.

He should also install vents at the roof’s peak and under the eaves — and agree to specify all that in the contract.

Questions about home repairs? Send them to The Help Desk.

Ask whether he’ll be using a subcontractor, in which case you need references, proof of liability, and workers’ comp insurance from both the main man and the sub.

If you have two or more layers of old roofing, building codes require you to strip them off — adding $1,000 to $3,000 and creating a huge mess.

But as long as you’re not selling soon, removing a single existing layer is still a good idea, says Palatine, Ill., roofer Andy Nyberg. That will add $500 to $2,000 to the bill but allow the roofer to repair decking and worn flashing (the metal seals between the roof and adjacent surfaces).

In a cold climate he can install a rubber membrane called ice and water shield, which prevents leaks when the gutters freeze up.

No need to spend $50,000 or more for slate or wood shingles, but do get the best asphalt on the market.

You’ll pay $1,500 to $2,000 extra for “50 year” vs. “25 year” shingles. (The warranties are toothless, but the longer the term, the longer they’ll last.)

And ask for architectural shingles. They cost a few hundred more than standard ones, but their varied coloring and thickness add sophistication and beauty to any building.

Courtesy of: cnn.com

FILE - In this Dec. 16, 1987 file photo, the battleship USS Iowa fires its 16-inch guns during duty in the Persian Gulf. The 887-foot long ship that once carried President Franklin Roosevelt to a World War II summit to meet with Churchill and Stalin is coming to life once again for what is most likely her final voyage this month to become a floating museum in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

By ERIC RISBERG | Associated Press – Sat, May 12, 2012

Courtesy of: yahoonews.com

Courtesy of: courier-journal.com

HOLMDEL, N.J. — Jay Nuzzi, a New Jersey state trooper, had put off installing solar panels on his home here for years, deterred by the $70,000 it could cost. Then on a trip to Home Depot, he stumbled across a booth for Roof Diagnostics, which offered him a solar system at a price he couldn’t refuse: free.

Mr. Nuzzi had to sign a 20-year contract to buy electricity generated by the roof panels, which he would not own. But the rates were well below what he was paying to the local utility. “It’s no cost to the homeowner — how do you turn it down?” Mr. Nuzzi said on a recent overcast morning as a crew attached 41 shiny black modules to his roof. “It was a no-brainer.”

Similar deals are being struck with tens of thousands of homeowners and businesses across the country. Installers, often working through big-box chains like Home Depot or Lowe’s, are taking advantage of hefty tax breaks, creative financing techniques and a glut of cheap, Chinese-made panels to make solar power accessible to the mass market for the first time. The number of residential and commercial installations more than doubled over the last two years to 213,957, according to Greentech Media, a research firm.

Major players in the installation business, like SolarCity, Sunrun and Sungevity, are thriving even as the other side of the industry — solar module makers — has been squeezed to the breaking point by fierce competition from Chinese manufacturers. In a case to be decided later this month, a coalition of solar manufacturers has asked the United States government to impose steep duties on the imports, arguing that the Chinese companies are violating international trade rules.

“You hear a lot of the gloom and doom about the industry and, you know, ‘The manufacturers are losing jobs, they’re shutting down,’ but if you look at where the actual money is in these systems and where the jobs are, it’s really in the installation,” said Lynn Jurich, Sunrun’s president.

Big corporations like Google, U.S. Bancorp, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch see the potential for steady profits in rooftop solar projects and have been supplying the capital to help cover the upfront costs, which typically run $30,000 or more for a single-family home. The investors say they believe the returns, generally 7 to 13 percent, are relatively safe because the solar providers generally sign up only homeowners and businesses with solid credit. In addition, installers say that people tend to pay their electric bills even when facing other financial problems.

“We have customers that are foreclosed,” said Lyndon Rive, chief executive of SolarCity, one of the largest installers. “They’re still paying their electric bill so they still pay us.”

The company has raised more than $1.4 billion to finance its projects and is so confident in its future that it is planning an initial public offering of its stock. The company has declined to comment on the stock offering.

Industry executives even predict that solar leases could one day be bundled and sold as securities like mortgages and other loans.

Some analysts caution that despite all the activity, the sector still faces hurdles, like the high costs of bringing in new customers and getting financing. “It’s not clear to me that anyone yet has cracked the code of scaling the business massively,” said Dickon Pinner, co-author of a recent McKinsey report on the industry.

Solar customers can finance their systems in a variety of ways. Businesses often purchase them outright so that they can reap the savings and take advantage of tax incentives and depreciation.

But homeowners are increasingly choosing to avoid the upfront costs. In California, the country’s largest market, more than 70 percent of residential customers putting in solar this year have opted to sign a lease or power purchase agreement with someone else owning the systems, according to PV Solar Report.

The structure of the deals varies by company and state, but the overall approach is generally the same: Customers agree to pay a fixed monthly charge or rate for all the solar power produced, and the companies that finance the systems pay for the installation and take the value of any tax breaks or renewable energy credits for which the customer would ordinarily be eligible. Some companies concentrate on financing and use local contractors for sales and installation, while others do everything themselves. Through such arrangements, industry executives say, customers can lower their power bills, escape the uncertainty of fluctuating energy costs, and avoid the complex bureaucracy of federal and local credits, rebates, grants and tax breaks.

However, the approach does not work everywhere. Thus far, installation companies have been most active in states where the price of electricity from the utility is high and there are robust incentives, like California, Hawaii and much of the Northeast.

And the transactions are not without risks for both sides. If the systems do not produce the promised electricity, the agreements often require the companies to reimburse customers for what they have to buy from their utility instead. Customers are committed to a long-term contract, raising complications if they sell the house or want to get out of the deal.

Another concern is the trade case, brought by a group of manufacturers who say they cannot compete against Chinese companies able to cut their prices below their costs because of unfair subsidies from their government. The Chinese companies aim to monopolize the market and then raise prices, American manufacturers say.

“The game is simply rigged, plain and on its face,” said Ben Santarris, a spokesman for SolarWorld Industries America, which originally filed the trade complaint and makes panels in Oregon.

The Commerce Department has already imposed modest tariffs on Chinese-made silicon cells based on a preliminary finding of improper subsidies. On May 17, the department is scheduled to announce its determination of whether the Chinese companies engaged in dumping, or selling products below fair value, which could lead to steeper duties.

Those on the installation side of the business say that cheap imports benefit consumers, and they have urged the government not to penalize the Chinese manufacturers.

For now, those cheap panels are helping to keep business brisk for installers large and small across the country.

“We have our suppliers calling and dropping their prices on a daily basis to move inventory. That works in our favor,” said Heshy Katz, president of Green Power Developers, an installer in New Jersey. “We can offer our clients an installation at 30, 40 percent less than two years ago.”

Roof Diagnostics hired almost 50 new employees in March and April, said Kelcy Pegler Jr., who started the solar division at his father’s New Jersey-based company about four years ago and has expanded to Massachusetts and New York.

“We turned a roofing company that did solar into a solar company that does roofing in support of solar,” he said. “We’re really a solar company now.”

Courtesy of: nytimes.com

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 10, 2012                                                                                           CONTACT: Brook Taylor /  (916) 712-9397

Governor Brown Declares May ‘California Small Business Month’

SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. today issued an official proclamation declaring the month of May as ‘California Small Business Month.’

“This month, we reaffirm our commitment to helping California’s small businesses thrive and prosper. The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, along with key agencies of state government, works to facilitate economic growth through collaboration with small businesses,” said Governor Brown in his proclamation. “Supporting small-scale private-sector job creators is among our most promising strategies to enhance California’s human capital, expand job opportunities and increase our competitive advantage in the global marketplace.”

The proclamation recognizes the significant economic impact of California’s 3.4 million small businesses which account for 99 percent of all California firms and employ more than 52 percent of the state’s workforce.

As part of Small Business Month, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) will participate in a number of small business events around the state. These events are designed to connect small business owners with the resources and tools they need to succeed as well as to recognize their role in California’s recovery.  GO-Biz’s regional partners at the Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) will also host a series of free small business events and seminars in every region of the state.

For information on upcoming events, visit the GO-Biz: Calendar of Events

For small business seminars and resources in your area, visit: California SBDC Network

For the complete text of the proclamation, visit the Governor’s website: http://gov.ca.gov

The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) serves as California’s single point of contact for economic development and job creation efforts. GO-Biz offers a range of services to business owners including: attraction, retention and expansion services, site selection, permit streamlining, clearing of regulatory hurdles, small business assistance, international trade development, assistance with state government, and much more. For more information visit, www.business.ca.gov

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A Message to our Customers:

We realize that times are tough and profit margins slim for all of you.  We understand because we are affected just as you are.  We know there are many “so called deals” out there on materials; many that seem too good to be true.  Anyone can throw out a low number on a leading item only to pick up the loss by raising prices on other related items that are generally not shopped.  So, all things considered, these “so called deals” don’t turn out to be what they’re portrayed to be.  We choose not to resort to those tactics.  We have always strived to offer the very best in products and service while remaining competitive day in, and day out.  We simply do what we say we’ll do, when we say we’ll do it, and for the price we said we’d do it for.  No gimmicks, no BS!  We know that success comes from building strong, mutually beneficial relationships with customers and suppliers alike.  We’ve done that for over 65 years, and will remain committed to that principle for another 65 years!  We thank you for your support, and remind you that we invite your suggestions on how we might improve our organization in order to serve you better.

On behalf of the Entire Staff of South Coast Shingle Company

For the full 3d video, click here.

Courtesy of: www.espn.com

AEG released a 3D architectural “fly-thru,” including animations of Farmers Field, the remodeled Los Angeles Convention Center, a redeveloped Gilbert Lindsay Plaza and new adjacent parking structures on Tuesday.

The Los Angeles Convention Center footage depicts the new convention center hall spaces, including a new lobby above Pico Boulevard, pre-function space, and what will be the largest multi-purpose ballroom in Los Angeles, using the L.A. Auto Show as a case study. Additional rendered spaces include over one million square feet of contiguous convention center space and integrated meeting spaces in Farmers Field.

The community experience segment shows the redesigned Gilbert Lindsey Plaza during a variety of events including a farmers market, winter carnival, and various entertainment events.

The final game day segment of the video depict the new 15,000-person tailgate along Chick Hearn Way and the Nokia Plaza with a full fly-thru of Farmers Field during an NFL game as well as pointing towards the opportunity to host Super Bowls, Final Fours and Winter Classics.

“Today’s new look into Farmers Field, the Convention Center and surrounding public spaces shows the latest examples of the creativity and functionality that our architects, designers and other consultants are providing throughout the on-going development process,” said Ted Tanner, Executive Vice President, Development, AEG. “With last month’s release of our draft Environmental Impact Report and the continued work being done by our architects, we continue to make progress on the development of design drawings.”

Last month AEG delivered its long-awaited environmental impact report to City Hall for Farmers Field. The 10,000-page report, which took 18 months to complete at a cost of $27 million, is one of the final steps toward beginning construction on the $1.4 billion project.

The EIR will be subject to public comment for 45 days after it is released and if city officials approve the EIR and the project, there will then be a 30-day window for legal challenges, which will be resolved within 175 days. If everything goes according to plan, Farmers Field would be in position to begin construction by March 2013 if an NFL team decides to relocate to Downtown Los Angeles. If construction began by March 2013, the earliest the stadium would be open is September 2017. In the meantime, the NFL team that relocates to Los Angeles would play in either the L.A. Coliseum or the Rose Bowl.