Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 2010
THE JACKSON HERALD
PAGE 3A
Program discusses restoration, common house issues
BY KATIE HUSTON
RESTORATION AND ener
gy efficiency were the topics of
discussion at a program held at
the Jefferson Public Library on
Thursday.
The program, ‘Old is the new
Green,’ was organized by the
Crawford W. Long Museum
along with the library.
The guest speaker for the event
was David Daniel, of Bona Fide,
LLC., a construction, renova
tion and roofing company out
of Athens.
Bona Fide has been in charge
of most of the recent renova
tions being done at the CWL
Museum.
The company wears many
hats, but Daniel said that it spe
cializes in historic preservation
- something he calls big picture
green. Green, to Daniel, is more
than just a buzzword
“Historic preservation is inher
ently green,” Daniel said. “Just
because obviously if you’re not
tearing something down to build
something new, you’re saving a
lot of resources.”
Locally, Jackson Countians
are familiar with several historic
districts including: Braselton,
Commerce Commercial, Holder
Plantation, Jefferson, Maysville,
Oak Avenue, Shields-Ethridge
Farm, Talmo and Williamson-
Maley-Tumer Farm.
Daniel said that historic pres
ervation is something that makes
sense, but so does energy effi
ciency. He went on to say that’s
it’s important to contribute to an
environment both practically and
aesthetically.
“The challenge when it comes
to historic properties is you got
to figure out the way to balance
both the aesthetics of the house
and increasing efficiency.”
Common structural problems
with houses include foundations
and footing, floor framing, wall
systems and roof systems.
When brick structures tend to
gradually collapse, it’s usually a
result of the mortar in between
OLD IS THE
NEW GREEN
A joint program was host
ed by The Crawford W.
Long Museum and the
Jefferson Public Library
exploring the idea of
energy efficiency and his
toric preservation. Shown
above is David Daniel of
Bona Fide, LLC, a con
struction, renovation and
roofing company out of
Athens, who spoke at the
program.
Photo by Katie Huston
bricks decaying.
An even worse problem is
spalding - when the face of a
brick falls off. It’s commonly
caused by pressure washing at
too high of a level. There’s a
glaze placed on bricks when they
are fired and the pressure wash
ing forces the glaze off. Water
seeps inside and due to weather,
freezes and melts over and over
again, finally destroying the
brick.
“Eventually, it falls apart,”
Daniel said. “And there’s really
nothing that can be done about
it.”
He said he doesn’t recom
mend any products that exist
now to combat the problem, and
that the only solution is to tear
the bricks out. That, and to avoid
the issue by pressure washing at
a lower level.
Daniel said that the biggest
problem most often encountered
structurally is rotting in the floor
system. He said that it causes a
sort of domino effect.
“If your floor system starts
settling, your floor is settling,”
Daniel said. “If your floor is set
tling, your wall is settling, and if
your wall is settling, your roof is
settling.”
Although it can be a big deal if
left unattended. Daniel said that
it’s not extremely difficult to fix.
Further rotting issues extend to
wall supports.
“You can get rot in wall studs
if your exterior veneer has gone
bad and you’re getting a lot of
water intrusion,” Daniel said.
“But most of the time it’s from
the floor.”
Roof issues can be caused by
numerous issues and are also
common problems faced by
homeowners. A particular prob
lem is the waving that is often
seen on a roof surface when it
should be flat.
“The cause of that could be
that a rafter has moved,” Daniel
said. “It could be that the wall
has moved. It could be that the
floor system moved. It could be,
you know, that you’ve got rot all
the way down to the sill.”
He went on to discuss com
mon exterior problems including
veneer, trim, window and door
issues.
Daniel said that wood siding
gets a bad name, but that if kept
painted, a homeowner will really
benefit from wood siding.
It depends on where a house
is climate-wise, but Daniel said
that keeping a house painted
every two to three years is a
good idea.
“If you don’t, it’s easier to
repaint in two years than to wait
five years and scrape off the bad
stuff,” he said. “So it’s really bet
ter, you know, to come in while
the paint is still holding ... than
it is to wait.”
As far as trim going bad,
Daniel said that simply buying
trim that isn’t cheap would be a
simple fix for the long ran.
For windows, the glazing on
the glass often goes bad, how
ever when painting, most paint
ers will fix the issue.
When it’s the sash of a window
that rots, it presents a larger prob
lem and there’s little to be done.
Window sashes form frames to
hold windowpanes in place.
Similar problems happen to
doors.
“Most of the time, the prob
lems you encounter with doors
are that the trim around them
has rotted,” Daniel said. “And
as soon as that starts happening,
the door starts hanging funny. It
won’t close right or it’s sitting too
low or, you know, something’s
going wrong with it, and then,
you know, being who we are, we
just keep using it and pulling it
and slamming it and pushing it
and tugging at it until we abso
lutely have to fix it. By the time
we get to it, we’ve tom it up.”
Interior problems often include
flooring, wall and ceiling crack
ing, plumbing problems and
electrical problems.
Wavy floors are typically a
result of a structural problem
and not the framing itself.
Homeowners with older houses
may see gapped flooring, which
often simply is a result of the
flooring being so old.
Plumbing problems usu
ally come from lack of volume
resulting from rusting issues.
The solution is to tear out the
pipe and replace it.
Daniel said that overall, the
idea behind energy efficient
homes is making the house as
tight as possible. He said that
it’s important to eliminate any
air coming into a house that the
homeowner doesn’t control.
“You got to breathe,” he said.
“So you got to have air coming
into the house, but you can filter
it. The idea is to make it as effi
cient as you can.”
For more information on Bona
Fide, contact Daniel at 706-548-
2754 or visit www.bonafide-
constuction.com.
New industries locating in county, chamber announces
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
A COMPANY that dis
tributes flooring is relocat
ing from Gwinnett County to
the Braselton TechCenter, the
Jackson County Area Chamber
of Commerce announced last
Friday.
President Shane Short said
TranSouth Logistics will occu
py 190,000 square feet in the
back half of the YearOne build
ing, located off Ga. Hwy. 53,
and will provide approximately
50 jobs.
The company distributes
Armstrong Flooring and Bruce
Hardwood Flooring.
“They haven’t officially
made an announcement, but
it’s a done deal,” Short said.
Meanwhile, Jefferson city
manager John Ward confirmed
that Systemax, an electronics
distributor, will begin the oper
ation of a distribution call cen
ter and retail center at the Hog
Mountain Road site being mar
keted by Cousins Property. The
company’s decision to locate in
Jefferson had been previously
announced, but the name was
not made public.
“We cannot confirm that,”
said Short, noting that the
chamber “has a confidentiality
agreement” with an electronics
firm locating in Jefferson.
According toWard, Systemax
will use approximately 480,000
square feet and hire more than
400 workers. He attributed the
company’s decision to locate in
Jefferson to the long-planned
improvements under way by
Jefferson and Jackson County
on the Hog Mountain Road as
part of the county’s economic
development road program.
“I think it was a key factor in
them seeing the commitment
of the community to providing
the kind of road infrastructure
for these types of job-creating
facilities,” Ward said.
The project was in the road
plan before Systemax arrived,
Ward pointed out. It has been
expedited, however, because of
the company’s decision. Hog
Mountain Road is now closed
for the construction of the
improvements.
Meanwhile, Short said,
Jackson County got three new
projects during April.
“We’re still seeing projects
that come in through develop
ers and state project manag
ers,” he observed.
This year, the chamber
has intensified its courting of
project managers and others
who could bring new com
panies into the county. On
June 8, Short said, the cham
ber’s Alliance for Economic
Development will conduct a
bus tour of industrial sites for
project managers, 87 of whom
have been invited.
The event will begin in
Commerce, stop at Jefferson
and wind down in Braselton.
The Alliance is also plan
ning a “business after hours”
for commercial real estate bro
kers.
“We just want to be on the
top of the list when a project
comes up,” Short explained.
In a related matter, Short
announced that the Joint
Development Authority of
Northeast Georgia, which
includes Jackson, Clarke,
Madison, Oconee and
Oglethorpe counties, will host
the annual Georgia European
Union Summit, an event usu
ally held in Macon.
“We are seeing significant
interest from time to time of
European countries interested
in locating in the area,” said
Short.
The event, which includes
a “first-class dinner,” will cost
about $20,000 to put on, but
Short said the authority may be
able to get some state help to
pay for it.
Maysville DDA has two
volunteer seats to fill
BY KATIE HUSTON
THE MAYSVILLE Down
town Development Authority
(DDA) is looking to get seri
ous about improvements to
the town after being recon
stituted last June. However,
there are still some internal
organization to sort out.
The DDA still needs to fill
two vacant seats. To operate
legally and eventually be eli
gible for funds, the authority
needs seven members and
currently has five. Members
are appointed by the city
council and are not compen
sated.
In addition, the DDA
also needs to be designat
ed as a Better Hometown
Community for funding.
“The way we are function
ing right now is hardly above
a community club,” DDA
member Marilyn Sherry said.
“And that’s not the purpose
of a DDA.”
Mayor Jerry Baker said
that the DDA consists of
volunteers and it’s difficult
obtaining them.
The purpose of DDAs in
communities is to revital
ize and redevelop the city’s
central business district and
usually consists of a mix of
business owners, citizens and
town officials.
A major job the DDA
wants to take on is historic
preservation in Maysville.
At its May meeting, the
Maysville City Council
approved an ordinance for
a historic district. With the
ordinance in place, the city
will have the right to develop
a set of design guidelines.
It’s also imperative that the
ordinance is in place in order
to receive government fund
ing.
The existence of the ordi
nance does not necessarily
mean there must be a Historic
Preservation Committee,
which the council is cur
rently accepting applications
for. The council or the DDA
could become qualified to do
the job.
“If we set up a whole new
committee, we’ve got to send
those people to train,” Baker
said. “So you’re looking at
an extra expense, plus you’ve
got a committee right here
that can do that, or the coun
cil can do that, so my sugges
tion is (the council) support
the DDA.”
The DDA is also involved
with the plan to lay bricks
that were purchased by citi
zens in memory of someone
along the Main Street area.
The project has been ongoing
since the previous DDA, but
should be coming to fruition
in the coming months.
The DDA expressed con
cern that so few bricks
were purchased by citizens
because it was unclear what
would be done with them.
The Authority is hoping that
with a clearer plan at this
point, more citizens may pur
chase more bricks.
The aim is to have all
the completed bricks to the
architect by mid-July so the
laying may begin.
BOE continued from page 1A
system; but right now, it’s probably in the best interest for our
girls,” he said.
At the earlier meeting at which Hawley wasn’t hired,
Wilbanks said she generally opposed hiring retired teachers
as part-time employees and believes the system should make
room for younger teachers. She also opposed the “double
dipping” of paying retired employees who are drawing their
state retirement benefits.
While he supported Hawley this week, Cronic said he
doesn’t fully support hiring some people at part-time status,
although it can sometimes be valuable for the school system,
he said.
Hawley has coached for a number of years in Gwinnett
County, including state championship teams and students who
later played in the NBA, Cronic said. He is the lead player
development instructor for basketball at the Suwanee Sports
Academy where some of the JCCHS girls train.
“Of all of the coaches we probably could have gone out and
found, John is probably one of the best high school basketball
coaches there is,” Cronic said.
There are no plans by the board to revisit the part-time status
of the other two educators that the board voted against hiring
for part-time employment on May 10 — Chris Edwards at
East Jackson Comprehensive High School and Judy Beatty at
JCCHS.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business Tuesday night, the BOE:
•approved an early release program to allow additional
time for parent conferences in kindergarten through eighth
grade. The early release days will be held on Wednesday and
Thursday, Nov. 10-11, and Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 8-9.
On the early release days, elementary students will end class at
12:30 p.m. and middle school students will end at 11:30 a.m.
The early release days will not apply to the high schools.
•approved the district’s five-year facility plan, which is
required to be submitted to the state department of education
for review as soon as possible.
Jackson County now certified as ‘Work Ready’
HOWARD LEDFORD,
director of instruction at Lanier
Technical College, can relax
now.
“We did it,” Ledford told
the board of directors of the
Jackson County Area Chamber
of Commerce last Friday.
“We’re over the top. We’re a
certified work ready commu
nity. We’ll be hearing from the
governor soon.”
Ledford chaired the cham
ber’s effort to become certified
Work Ready under a program
by that same name designed
to give communities an edge
in attracting industry under the
assumption that the program
guarantees a reliable work
force.
To achieve certification as
a county, Jackson County had
to have 683 people certified by
taking a series of exams that
covered reading ability, math
skills and work ethic, but also
had specific requirements in
six different areas of labor or
employment. The last area ful
filled was “government,” which
includes employees of govern-
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ment and school systems, and
elected officials.
When it was all done,
Jackson County had 1,453 cer
tified workers, more than twice
the number needed.
“I’m really relieved,” Ledford
said.
Voters and Citizens Wanted
No pay. A commitment to restoring frugal and
thrifty government is essential. As we are
successful, Taxes will decrease, Education will
improve, Agriculture will excel, Business will
prosper. Go to the polls on July 20. Remember
those who made voting possible on Memorial
Day.
VOTE
Doug Bower:
Enough is Enough
Republican Candidate:
Georgia State Senate District 47
706-742-7246
dougbower.enoughisenough@yahoo.com
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