If you haven’t driven out to Oyster lately, make a point to swing by there this week. An artist from Atlanta has transformed the old clam plant, scheduled for demolition. See their press release below.

              Crew of Artists from Atlanta, GA Paint Mural on Entirety of Defunct Building in Oyster, VA

           In May a group of Atlanta based artists caught word of a shipwrecked vessel resting atop Cedar Island just off the coast of Wachapreague Virginia. The plan had been to do an extensive mural wrapping the ship and to document the process with video, but due to sudden change in ownership the plan to paint was put on hold. With an abundance of materials, time off work, and an assembled crew, rather than packing up and heading home the group enlisted the help of the community to help find a new project. Thanks to members in neighboring towns the group found opportunity to paint the derelict H Allen Smith Clam Processing Plant.  The crew met with Eyre Baldwin and Oyster residents, they procured the location and with the help of a boom-lift began work. The crew works from morning to evening. The project is scheduled to be completed between August 12 and the 15th.

 * Artists will continue to work until completion. estimated to be August 12th-15th.

* Artists, Assistant, Photography Director and Curator are available for interviews.

 *If you would like more information about this project or to schedule and appointment for filming or interviews, please contact either contact listed above. Thank you.

 Alex Brewer          Head Artist

Candice House       Director of Photography

Taylor Means         Curator

Stuart Golley         Artist Assistant

Eve Nettles           Artist Assistant

Tags: Community

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Nope, not a new technique for hauling materials to the roof… this is a great program that Jim supports through his involvement on the CHKD Child Abuse Center’s Board of Directors. Thought you would be interested too.

The Buddy Brigade is a group of Therapy Dogs used at the Child Abuse Center at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters. Therapy dogs are used in by forensic interviewers to help alleviate the anxiety and fear abused children feel during the interview process. Dogs are trained and complete a very stringent 10 step test established by the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen Department that includes behavior like accepting a friendly stranger, sitting politely for petting to reacting to distractions and supervised separation. An additional test of “Say Hello” has been established by Therapy Dogs International, Inc. that ensures a dogs willingness to visit a person or make themselves available for petting.

For example, an 8 year old boy named Mark that had been sexually abused by his father was being interviewed and the individual therapist was not able to establish a relationship with the boy. After several weeks with no progress, the therapist decided to introduce a Therapy Dog into the sessions to see if the Mark would open up and relax. Keeper, a golden retriever, joined the sessions and Mark quickly established a bond the therapist had been unable to develop.

Over the course of just a few sessions, Mark began to talk about his family situation and his feelings. The therapist asked Mark if he could tell his “secrets” to Keeper. Mark laid next to Keeper, lifted his ear and proceeded to tell the dog about the abuse. When finished, Mark asked the therapist if Keeper would be scared by what he had told him. That gave the therapist the opportunity to discuss being scared about feelings in general with Mark. When Mark returned to therapy the following week, he asked if Keeper had experienced any bad dreams as a result of hearing the “secrets”. This gave the therapist an opportunity to discuss the bad dreams Mark was having. In the end, the introduction of the Therapy Dog enabled Mark to become comfortable expressing his feelings with the therapist and begin to deal with his abuse.

For more information about Therapy Dogs, visit www.tdi-dog.org

Tags: CHKD, Community, Dogs

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Thanks to everyone who braved the heat to attend the annual picnic!  We had a new location this year in Bay Creek’s Bayside Village. That gave the kids, and a few of their parents, a chance to cool off in the surf!  The rest of us stuck to the shade of the tent and the cool summer refreshments. 

This is an annual event that gives us a chance to catch up with ALL of our past and present clients. That list is growing! It’s nice to see how everyone’s lives have progressed after settling in to their new homes.

Here are a few photos!

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Great article (if we do say so ourselves) in the ESN today all about green building, advanced building science, and techniques that make homes more energy efficient.

http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20100519/ESN01/5190361/-1/ESN

The Rayfield’s home is a great example of 21st century materials and techniques NOT dictating style or aesthetics. Their charming 18th century style home was fully certified by EarthCraft, Virginia. It is quiet, comfortable, and efficient to operate… quite different from the experience one might have had in the 1700’s. 

Between the EarthCraft program and the EnergyStar program, we did several tests that evaluated the efficiency of the home. A blower door test shows that if all the tiny pin size gaps or cracks in the whole 3000+ sq. ft. house were added up, the area would be less than 1 sq. ft.  That efficiency comes from the combination of advanced building practices and materials, such as: ICF- integrated concrete forms for the main structure, geothermal heating/cooling system, spray foam insulation on the gables and roof, efficient windows and doors, an ERV ventilation system, tankless water heaters, and EnergyStar appliances. Overall, the house is 40% more efficient than the ’standard’ home of the same size.

When you treat the house as a system rather than a set of individual parts, you end up with a better product. It’s a quiet, comfortable space which is relatively free from dust and bugs. The air quality is high and both water and electricity are well-managed. Utility bills are no longer a dreaded monthly event.

Add a wind turbine out in the field and the house could be off-the-grid… just like they were back in the 1700’s!

White ICF concrete-filled walls are clearly visible during construction

Tags: Green, ICF, Press

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We’re kicking off our 2010 Campaign for Better Beginnings! You may remember this effort from past years… we’re collecting items that give kids entering the foster care system a better start to a bad situation that is out of their control.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Over 3 million children each year are reported for child abuse.  Over 500,000 children are in the foster care system here in the United States – with the majority of them over the age of 4 years old.
• Children in foster care leave behind their neighborhoods, schools, and belongings.  Many feel anxious, uncertain, and helpless in controlling their lives.  Many feel angry, rejected, and pained by separation.  Peers often tease children about being in foster care, reinforcing perceptions that they are somehow different.
• Physical abuse represents 22% of confirmed cases, sexual abuse 8%, neglect 54%, emotional maltreatment 4% and other forms of maltreatment 12%.

Our focus has expanded this year. Donations will support both Northampton County’s Social Services and the CHKD Child Abuse Center.  

 WHEN:  All donations will be accepted through June 1 (Tuesday)

 WHERE:    In Cape Charles-

• Schneider Development Office
• Rayfield’s Pharmacy

 In Virginia Beach and Norfolk-

• Schneider Development Office
• Call for pick up!  Chris Schwab  757.339.9706  chris@schneiderdev.com

 WHAT: Contribution Suggestions-

• Personal hygiene totes for teenagers (Items may be placed in a tote or backpack)  such as: Bath Soap, Shampoo, Toothpaste, Toothbrush, Hair Brush, Combs, deodorant, suntan lotion
• Dorm Bags (Items may be placed in a small overnight bag) such as: Set of Twin Sheets, Twin Sized Blanket, small mirror
• Gift Cards (may be used to purchase additional supplies as needed) from: Target, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, CVS
• Monetary Donation- If you choose to make a monetary donation, please make the checks payable to either Northampton County Social Services or CHKD – Child Abuse Center
• Items to be used at CHKD Child Abuse Center during/after therapy- Boxes of crayons, Cartons of bubbles, finger paints, drawing tablets OR Items for teenagers after medical exams- School supplies, blank journals, backpacks, music CDs

 Thank you for your continued support!

Tags: BetterBeginnings, Community

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Glorious weather once again for our Topping Off Party tradition! We celebrated reaching the top of the Bradley’s new home last Saturday with friends and family.

We’d like to wish the Bradley Family all the best of health and happiness in their new home.

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“But wait!”, you say. The year has just begun? Why are we “Topping Off?”  It’s a party… and we’re hoping to have a few more this year!

A “Topping Off” dates back to old European tradition celebrating the first milestone of construction on a building, bridge, or other large structure– reaching the top of the framing. This tradition, common in countries such as Germany and England, migrated to America with European craftsman.

To commemorate this milestone, the final piece of iron was hoisted into place along with a small evergreen tree. In America, it is common to also see an American flag attached to a piece of wood. The wood, usually painted white, was signed by the ironworkers and visiting dignitaries.

For some the evergreen tree symbolizes that the job went up without a loss of life, while for others it’s a good luck charm for the future occupants. Today the custom of “topping off” is still commonly practiced in Germany during the construction of residential homes.

Schneider Development celebrates the completed framing of the Birdsong home in Cape Charles. We extend our best wishes to Warren & Penny – It is our hope that the evergreen branch brings their family good luck in their new home and years of fond memories and family traditions!

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We measure time in many ways… the sun overhead, the clock, the rumble in your stomach.

There are events that mark longer periods of time too, of course, and emphasize progress or accomplishment or endurance. The foundation morphs into a roof line. The 5-gallon shrub grows to block the window. Schneider Development sweatshirts appear around town in a new color…

WHAT?

Have you spotted the dark green ones yet? That’s the newest color to hit the streets. It’s the somewhat-annual changing of the guard… green replaces royal blue. Blue replaced burnt orange. Orange replaced heathered grey. Grey replaced the oldest and most prestigious* color… RED.  (and then there are the t-shirts… but that’s a summer story.)

Have you seen one? Let us know!

* the meaning of “prestigious” may be open to interpretation by this author

Tags: Spotted!

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Here’s a snap of one of our current projects… notice anything different?  It’s BLUE!

In our wet and humid environment on the Chesapeake Bay, mold is a concern of many homeowners.  It is everpresent and will bloom on walls if the humidity and temperature are right. Dehumidifiers and ventilation are a common defense, but for the more insidious situations this funny blue wood is a great new product.  It’s becoming quite common in areas of the far south with more extreme weather conditions such as Galvaston, TX but you’ll begin to see it more often in this region too.

BLUWOOD has a proprietary factory applied, two-part coating technology. First, what they call an “Infusion-Film” is applied to form a “water-repellent semi vapor permeable film interlocking with the wood fibers to provide controlled topical and subsurface moisture absorption.”  This will also discourage mold growth on the surface.  Second, the wood is coated with a fungicide and insecticide that protects it from rot fungi and wood ingesting insects, including termites.

From the BLUWOOD site:  “Today’s standard building code requirements only specify a very small amount of lumber used in the home to be treated against rot fungi and wood ingesting insects. BLUWOOD provides the proactive homebuilder and homebuyer (when constructing a home) the ability to have all of the above ground wood framing components protected against the damaging effects of rot fungi and wood ingesting insects; mold fungus growth; as well as limiting uncontrolled moisture absorption.”

So in this case, “the Blues” make us Happy!

Read more about BLUWOOD on their FAQ page.

Tags: Bluwood, Products

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Last week we held our annual Sub Breakfast. That’s a time when we lure all of our subcontractors and suppliers into the same room with the promise of food. OK, yes, we do eat together, but afterwards we have a great discussion on the lessons of the last year, the promise of the next, and how we can all work as a team more efficiently.

There is invariably a moment when someone makes a suggestion and the response is “Duh! Why haven’t we done that before?”  These are the gems of the morning and make taking time out to get together worth it.  

Annual Sub and Supplier Breakfast

There was a moment this year that I looked out across the room while Jim was talking through his vision for the year and thought, “Wow, there’s a whole house here. There’s the bathroom mirror. There’s the plumbing and there’s the roof.  There’s the carpet and the geothermal. And they’re great at their jobs!”  It was a cool moment. We don’t often see the ‘whole’ represented at once since they aren’t ever active on site all together, but each person is a critical part of the finished product.

Every year, Jim acknowledges a subcontractor and a supplier who have consistently delivered high-quality work, go beyond the average requirements, and communicate very well by presenting them with the “Diamond Pride” award. The 2009 winners were:

Diamond Pride Subcontractor of the Year 2009 — Air Masters (Roy and Terry Hadley) AND Tidewater Insulators (Jeff Beals)  We had a tie this year. Both of these subs consistently deliver the goods. We appreciate your work and your attitude!

Diamond Pride Supplier of the Year 2009 – Superior Marble & Stone (Mary Thompson) Great product, great expertise and so easy to work with!

Thanks to everyone who participated this year. It was a great discussion and we’re looking forward to trying out some of our new ideas!

Tags: Diamond Pride

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