Home Improvement Workshops

From 2003 to 2005, Allen Neighborhood Center offered a series of workshops on home improvement. With each of the workshops listed below, we will make available the PowerPoint presentations, brief video and audio clips, and various written material from the workshops.

 

2003

 

Session 1:

What Do You Have? What Do You Want?

Discover valuable and practical ideas on how to recreate and enhance our home's porch, windows, color schemes, and landscaping.

January 25th, 2003

by Susan Cantlon, Dave Muylle, and Gary Novak

 

 

Session 2:

Maximizing Your Home's Usable Space

Explore the possibilities that lie in your basement, attic and log and develop inspired approaches to creating or redesigning bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms, and laundries in the unused spaces in your home.

February 22, 2003

by Mary Swanson

 

 

Session 3:

21st Century Additions in a 20th Century Home

Create a plan that fits with your lot size and floor for adding kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, or laundry facilities to your home.

March 22, 2003

by Robert Morris

 

 

Session 4:

Workshop: Embarking on Your Home Improvement Project

We currently do not have any media from this particular workshop, however, Participants brought pictures of their home and ideas about the kinds of improvement they wanted to make to discuss, one-on-one, with talented and highly-regarded architects, design specialists, and builders, at no cost. While the participants were here, they learned how to apply for a building permit within the city and filled out a home improvement loan application with local banks. Most of our participants walked out the door well on their way to creating the house that they wanted from the house that they had.

April 26th, 2003

 

 

2004

 

Session 1:

Old House Analysis: A Systematic One

Learn to determine the condition of a house, what it needs to become a "good" house, and what needs to become the house you really want. Establish a basis for either house-hunting or home-improvement planning.

January 24th, 2004

by Robert Morris

 

 

Session 2:

Old Homes & Michigan Weather

Falling Temperatures = rising engery costs. Learning about insulation, ventilation, infiltration & weatherization will save you money! Session concludes with a tour of Urban Options.

February 21st, 2004

by Douglas Black

 

 

Session 3:

Basements: Keeping Them Dry

How and why does your basement get wet? Learn about what you can do on the inside and outside of your home to protect your basement from water damage.

March 20th, 2004

by Kerry Gray and Dr. Mohammad Najafi

 

 

Session 4:

Picture Perfect Porches

Learn more about the unique character of Eastside porches, their design materials, restoration and maintenance. Session concludes with a tour of several fine Eastside porches.

April 24, 2004

by Dave Muylle

 

 

2005

Session 1:

Water, Water Everywhere

Learn how to manage water in and around your house before it becomes a hazard. Property improvements, DEQ requirements, the scale of new additions, and other water-usage problem solving issues are addressed.

January 29th, 2005

by Sue Stachowiak, David Irons, and Tom Acpenny