Looking for a great, low cost way to upgrade the look of your home?  CR Construction has the answer for you, shutters.  That is right, we can improve your home’s curb appeal and have your neighbors talking in no time!  Whether replacing old worn out shutters, or installing them for the first time, we can meet your shutters needs, and most times, without even painting!  The new shutters are available in many colors, with one sure to compliment your home perfectly.  So give us a call at 661-877-1499 to schedule your free estimate. Or visit our website at www.carlreese.com to learn more about us.

CR Construction installed these shutters, a perfect match, no painting necessary!

Carl Reese Construction Santa Clarita, CA
Certified NACHI© Home Inspector • EnergyStar© Partner • Certified Mold Remediation & Testing • Certified Thermographer • Energy Consultant • Licensed General Contractor #B878946

Carl Reese Construction (ENERGY STAR PARTNER) works hard to save you money, but here is an easy way, The Gas Company. Yes, save money with the new 2009 rebate plan from the Socal Gas company on qualifing purchases and upgrades to your home. The Gas Company has a few rebate programs you can take advantage of. The first one is the Instant Rebate, this plan takes the work out of rebates by offering the rebate savings in-store, at the time of purchase.  Just purchase a qualifing ENERGY STAR clothes washers, ENERGY STAR dishwashers,  or ENERGY STAR natural gas water heater and pick up the rebate coupon at the participating retailer and use at the time of purchase to save now.  Visit http://www.socalgas.com/residential/savemoney/ for more information.

Other great rebates are available for ENERGY STAR clothes washers, ENERGY STAR dishwashers, ENERGY STAR natural gas water heaters, ENERGY STAR central natural gas furances, attic and wall insulation and tankless water heaters.  Visit http://www.socalgas.com/residential/savemoney/ for more information. Please keep Carl Reese Construction in mind for all your energy savings repairs, and call us today at 661-877-1499 to schedule the installation on your new rebate qualifiying appliances!

Carl Reese Construction Santa Clarita, CA
Certified NACHI© Home Inspector • EnergyStar© Partner • Certified Mold Remediation & Testing • Certified Thermographer • Energy Consultant • Licensed General Contractor #B878946

Santa Clarita’s Best Painters know the secrets to painting…do you?    After working in the area for 14 years, Carl Reese Construction (www.carlreese.com) has picked up on few of these secrets, and would like to pass them on to you.  So your thinking of tackling a painting project yourself?   Well here is some advice for when you are walking the paint asile at your local home store.  There are may places to shop here in the Santa Clarita area, and stores like Home Depot and Lowes carry a wide range of painting tools, and when faced with these choices, it is easy to take the cheap route and chose the least expensive painting tools.  But to make your painting experience fast and easy, cheap is not the way to go.  The Santa Clarita shoppers I bump into at Home Depot aren’t clear on the different tools available. And so I find myself helping these shoppers pick the best bang for their buck.  Hopefully this website help more individuals to choose wisely in the paint aisle.  The key here is choose the pro-supplies, you will spend a little more money now to save a lot of time and headaches later.  The first thing that is clear, is that the majority of people don’t like painting, but the proper tools it can make painting much easier.   Let’s start with a brush….The pros use ” Purdy”  a brush.  You will spend good money for one, but it will save you headaches.   Trust me, if you clean it and take care of it, it should last a homeowner a lifetime.   These brushes cost a little more for good reason, they paint better.  Purdy brushes tend to drip less, the bristles hold together better (you have less stubborn bristles painting things you don’t want to paint), they hold more paint which means less dipping action and more applying.  Same goes for paint rollers, go with the Purdy brand.  Skip the plastic paint trays they are messy and don’t work well, instead pick up a painter screen and a 5 gallon bucket.  These screens hang inside a 5 gallon bucket and leave more paint on the roller.  Paint trays just seam to push the paint around, without picking up much paint.    Again more paint on the roller means less dipping action and more applying it to the wall (which is the whole point).  This system puts more paint on the wall and less spilled out of a tray.  Purchasing higher qualities painting tools will help to quicken the painting process and helps to avoid alot of the headaches involved. Check out our online store www.carlreese.com.

Carl Reese Construction Santa Clarita, CA
Certified NACHI© Home Inspector • EnergyStar© Partner • Certified Mold Remediation & Testing • Certified Thermographer • Energy Consultant • Licensed General Contractor #B878946

To obtain an application for the Automatic Water Softener Rebate Program, please click the link below. Be sure to complete the application, and sign it prior to mailing. Incomplete applications cannot be processed. The application can be mailed or faxed to (562) 908-4224.

• Rebate Application Form (PDF) (DOC)

Take the Rebate and Run: Up to $2,000 for your Automatic Water Softener

The Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District (Sanitation District) offers an automatic water softener rebate program. If you have an automatic water softener, you can get a rebate for the reasonable value of the unit—from $206 up to $2,000—and free removal by a pre-selected licensed plumber.

Applying for the rebate is simple:

1. Submit the one page rebate application to the Sanitation District (forms can be obtained by clicking on the Rebate Application Form link above).

2. After receiving your authorization to proceed, which will identify your rebate amount, schedule an appointment with a plumber on the list that accompanies the letter.

3. Watch the mail for your check.

As you may be aware, automatic water softeners release a salty waste into the sewer system. Though the wastewater is thoroughly treated before discharge into the Santa Clara River, the treatment process does not remove salt. The salty waste may be harmful to downstream aquatic life and/or agriculture.

If all automatic water softeners are not removed, the Sanitation District will be forced to build an advanced treatment process to take the equivalent salt loading out of the water. These treatment costs have been estimated to be $74 million.

In 2003, the Sanitation District banned the installation of all new automatic water softeners, but four percent of homes in the Valley still own one. This rebate program responds to citizen concerns about losing the capital investment in their softener by reimbursing the reasonable value of the unit based on age, purchase price and model retail rates. The rebate program provides reimbursement for 75 percent of the reasonable value of the automatic water softener.

To qualify for the Automatic Water Softener Rebate Program, the automatic water softener, the kind to which you add rock salt or potassium chloride, must be owned by the rebate program applicant(rentals are not eligible). Portable exchange tanks, which are rental units where the softening tank is exchanged periodically by a service provider for a new softening tank, are legal to use and are not eligible for a rebate. The automatic water softener must be installed in a residential unit (house, multiplex, condominium, apartment, or mobile home) that is served by the Sanitation District. Residences outside of the Sanitation District or served by septic tanks are not eligible. If the residence has more than one automatic water softener, all must be removed to qualify for this rebate program. The program is limited to one rebate per site address (location where the automatic water softener is installed).

As a condition of the Automatic Water Softener Rebate Program, a Sanitation District’s representative is authorized to visit the residence to verify that the automatic water softener is installed prior to removal.

If you would like to dispose of the salt or potassium chloride yourself, it must be disposed of as household hazardous waste. Residents of the City of Santa Clarita may call Curbside Incorporated at (800) 449-7587 or (800) HHW-PKUP to schedule a free household hazardous waste pickup. Residents of unincorporated Los Angeles County may dispose of salt for free at the Saugus Water Reclamation Plant at 26200 Springbrook Avenue in Santa Clarita. At the Saugus Water Reclamation Plant, salt is collected at the Liquid Waste Disposal Station. Enter the station by driving through the railroad crossing located opposite Saugus Suzuki at 26081 Bouquet Canyon Road in Saugus. The station is open Monday through Saturday from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and is closed Sunday and major holidays.

All residents may also dispose of salt for free at the annual Santa Clarita Household Hazardous Waste Collection Events and at the East San Fernando Valley S.A.F.E. Collection Center. The East San Fernando Valley S.A.F.E. Center is located at 11025 Randall Street in Sun Valley and is open Saturday, Sunday, and Monday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. except on major holidays.

If you have additional questions, please call 877-CUT-SALT.

Here are the results of the measure voted on Nov 4th 2008 to remove exsisting Salt based water softners.  So now if you have one in your house , even if you were grandfathered in before…you must remove it.

Measure S Removal of Residential “Salt-Based” Water Softeners — Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District (Ordinance - Majority Approval Required)
Pass: 55,502 / 64.02% Yes votes …… 31,192 / 35.98% No votes

Toxic waste disposal for Santa Clarita Residents is avaliable almost year round.

Santa Clarita real estate agents and residents ask me from time to time  ”Where can I get rid of this old paint?”.   Often when people are moving, they realize they have a ton of old paint.   As you may know, you can’t throw it in the trash.  This old paint is consider toxic waste.  Here in Santa Clarita Valley we have the “Toxic Round up” twice a year. But what if you missed it?

Santa Clarita’s #1 Contractor has the answer below.

Keep harmful substances out of the environment with the annual Household Hazardous Waste (HHD) Pick up program. City households may receive free door-to-door collections of anitfreeze, car batteries, latex  and oil based paints, motor oil and filters.  Households have one free pickup every 12 months.  For a FREE collection of these items contact Curbside Inc. at (800) HHW-PKUP  or (800-449-7587)

BULKY ITEMS 

Effective  April  17,  2006,  all  City of  Santa Clarita  households, who have  trash service,  are entitled to four bulky item pickups per year with a maximum of three items per pickup at no charge. Please provide  Waste Management/Blue  Barrel  Disposal  with at least 48 hours notice in order to have the items picked  up on your regular collection day. Waste Management  can be reached at (661) 259-2398.

City residents may also drop­off unlimited bulky items at Waste Management’s facility located at  25772 Springbrook Road, Monday through Friday,  from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at no charge.

“Bulky Items” means solid waste that cannot and/or would not typically be accommodated within a trash, recycling or greenwaste cart: furniture (including chairs, sofas, mattresses, and rugs); appliances  (including refrigerators  –  with or without Freon and with the doors removed, ranges, washers, dryers,  water heaters, water softeners  –  with salt removel if applicable, dishwashers, plumbing, small household appliances, and other similar items commonly know as “white goods”; electronic equipment (including  stereos, televisions, computers, monitors, cellular phones, VCRs, microwaves, and other similar items commonly known as “brown goods” and  “e­waste”); residential wastes (including wood waste, tree branches, scrapwood, limited debris from building remodeling, rocks, sod and earth, in the aggregate not exceeding one cubic yard per collection); clothing; and tires. Bulky items do not include car bodies, construction and demolition debris or items requiring more than two persons to remove.