330 Homes Summer 2021

w e l c o m e

by COLIN BAKER

a s u p p l e m e n t t o A k r o n L i f e m a g a z i n e

COOL FINISH Finally tackling long-needed projects feels great.

Pub l i she r COL I N BAKER cbaker@bakermediagroup.com Cr ea t i ve D i r e c t o r WI LL I AM L . TECKMYER I I I wteckmyer@bakermediagroup.com Mana g i ng Ed i t o r KELLY PETRYSZYN kpet ryszyn@bakermediagroup.com As s i s t an t Ed i t o r ALEXANDRA SOBCZAK asobczak@bakermediagroup.com Gr aph i c De s i gne r TYLAR SUTTON tsut ton@bakermediagroup.com

M y house was built in 1931. I love the charm and solid con struction that comes with houses built during that time. But there have been some setbacks, like the lack of central air conditioning. The previ ous homeowners said they never needed air conditioning because the house stayed cool. I should have taken into consideration that they were from the South. The first year we lived there, it was miserably hot. The problem with an older home like mine is that there is no ductwork. We have a boiler and use steam for heat. Most mod ern air conditioning units are retrofitted to your furnace and use the exist ing ductwork. A neighbor of ours who has a similar house said that they use large window units on each floor, and that works for them. That seemed like an easy, temporary fix. And it did work for a while. This year we decided to install air conditioning in our whole home. It was quite an undertaking. It seemed like the company had every truck they owned parked in front of our house each day. Contractors were com ing in and out all the time. My wife currently works

from home and is on live videos most of the day. Sometimes the sawing and pounding were so loud she could not hear. I realize that happens in construc tion projects. I have a good friend who is a contractor, and he told me that home owners are happy when you first come, but you can sense quickly when the homeowner wants you to wrap up and leave. Luckily, we never got to that point because they were on schedule. There were a few little prob lems, but the issues were fixed, and I am overall happy with the service. Of course, immediately after we had it installed there was a stretch of several weeks of temper atures in the 40s and 50s when we didn’t need it. Despite the challenges, the project was worth it. I hope you get inspired by the local dream homes, remodels, shops and land scaping projects featured in this issue of 330 Homes and take on a project of your own. It’s never fun to have your house torn to pieces or deal with cleaning up sawdust, but as I sit in the cool air this summer, I doubt I will remember the hassle of the construction.

Con t r i bu t i ng Wr i t e r s V I NCE GUERR I ER I LYNNE THOMPSON

Pho t og r aphe r TYLAR SUTTON

Sa l e s BUNNY LACEY STEVE TYSON BEN D I COLA ROBERTO ALMENAR sales@bakermediagroup.com

C i r cu l a t i on circulat ion@bakermediagroup.com 330-253-0056, ext . 104

Ed i t o r i a l I n t e r ns WYATT LOY MORGAN MCGRATH

Pho t og r aphy I n t e r n RYANNE LOCKER

summer 2021 | volume 3 | issue 2

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