A Cool Treat for a Hot Day

The Tillamook Ice Cream Truck visited the HELP Team today and set up their ice cream cart in our parking lot for a couple hours. All customers and passersby, plus the HELP office staff, were treated to free ice cream treats..

The two wonderful Tillamook ice cream wranglers, Christy and Shelby, told us a few tales of life on the Ice Cream Trail and made all of us ice cream fanatics happy today!

THREE CHEERS FOR TILLAMOOK ICE CREAM!

The H.E.L.P. Team has seen a significant uptick in the number of Seismic Retrofits. Clean Energy Works now can incorporate seismic strengthening into projects as a home safety and health measure. H.E.L.P. will plan your project using the City of Portland Building Development published guidelines for prescriptive seismic strengthening. We employ recommended processes, plus recommended hold-downs, anchor bolts, etc., as detailed in the guidelines. We’ll draw the plans, acquire the permit and schedule the final inspection.

Benefits to Seismic Strengthening

Your home will be:

• Safer to live in
• Easier to sell
• Easier to insure

HOLD-DOWN PLATES BOLT THE SILL AND FOUNDATION TOGETHER

Sunshine Division Before

Sunshine Division was feeling the cold… and the heat in the summer. Established by then-mayor of Portland George Baker and citizen volunteers in 1923, the Sunshine Division provides food, clothing and assistance to Portlanders in need. The charity first found a home on the second floor of the East Precinct station at SE 7th & Alder. In 1938 it moved into a recently vacated police precinct station at 38 NE Russell Street, then to their current location at 687 N. Thompson St. in 1975. The warehouse was constructed in 1929 and so were the very large, multiple-section windows.

Sunshine Division After

Renee LaC​h​ance, owner and construction manager of Sustainable Adaptations LLC, linked up with Milgard Windows & Doors and H.E.L.P Group Inc., to organize replacement of 36 windows. Thanks to Milgard’s generous window donation and H.E.L.P.’s special low-cost installation, the Sunshine Division warehouse now has new double pane vinyl “Montecito” windows at UF .30-or-better. H.E.L.P’s expert installation team repaired sills and replaced framing where necessary, and now the building’s exterior sports 36 high-performing windows with a new, clean look. What do you think of these gorgeous before-and-after pictures?

Beautiful Milgard Moving Glass Wall Systems. In Stacked, Bi-Fold, or Pocket styles. Not your average patio doors.

A seamless transition from inside to outside. A very beautiful window on the world.

The H.E.L.P. Team Masters a Window Installation

When you have your windows replaced by our team, you get:
EXPERT ADVICE:  windows that meet your requirements for performance and design
LEAD-SAFE WORK:  proscribed containment methodology
AN EXPERIENCED TEAM:  certified Master Installers by American Architectural Manufacturers Association
THOROUGH CLEAN-UP:  we take pride in leaving a clean and neat job site
LIFETIME WARRANTY:  all Milgard windows carry a Lifetime Warranty

Well, anyway, Parker went to Austria. He and his wife Caitlin took a trip to Vienna and Austria’s wine country. Here he is in his HELP shirt, looking like he misses the window business a little!

Check out the great photo – some of the pioneers of the early environmental movement. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring had sold 500,000 by 1970 and did much to raise public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and public health.

Many Oregonians will remember the days before Oregon’s Bottle Bill passed in 1971. Oregon had already set up a voluntary bottle return system that kids in the 1950s and 1960s depended on for pocket money. Returned beer cans paid a penny each, and soda bottles and cans netted out three cents apiece. At the time, bottles and cans accounted for 40% of the litter on Oregon’s roadsides, so it wasn’t hard for sharp-eyed kids to make three or four dollars a week that way!

Since then, 10 states plus Guam have emulated Oregon and have similar bottle return laws in place.

Oregon, always a leader in environmental and energy usage concerns, continues to lead by example with Home Performance testing, retrofits, state tax credits and programs that encourage and assist homeowners in improving their home’s energy consumption and comfort!

1. Which of these measures saves the most energy?

a)   CFL bulbs

b)   A water heater blanket

c)   Wool carpeting

d)   Insulation

2. Which is the most important factor to consider when selecting insulation for your home?

a)  Thickness of the insulation

b)   R-value of the insulation

c)   Material of the insulation

d)   Method of installing the insulation

3. In an incandescent light bulb, what percentage of the electricity consumed actually results in light?

a)  75 – 85%

b)  50 – 60%

c)  10 – 15%

d)  25 – 35%

4. What is the best way to add insulation to existing walls?

a)  Add new siding

b)  Remove drywall and add insulation

c)  Drill holes, blow insulation, plug holes

d)  Add insulation rolls, then add another layer of drywall

5. In a typical house, how much heat is lost due to leaks, holes, and poorly connected       air ducts?

a)  5%

b)  15%

c)  10%

d)  20%

HOW MANY DID YOU GET RIGHT?

Nerds rejoice – yep, it’s Pi Day again. 3.14.  Next year will be even more pi-like: 3.14.15. The best day to be a math geek, ever. There’s just something about this day that really does run in a circle. It’s pi day, pies are round, Albert Einstein liked pies, and it’s his birthday.