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Arlington Heights is one of the larger suburban cities in the Chicago area with 75,000 residents spread over 16 square miles. Like other towns in the area, such as Des Plaines and Mount Prospect, Arlington Heights developed as a farm community that supplied the growing Chicago area with produce.
What a difference a year makes. 2012 brought an early omen for Chicago with 80-degree days in March and when summer officially rolled around the area was baking in extreme heat. Electric bills soared, lawns turned brown and rain was a rare commodity. I had a few
When there is structural damage to a home’s foundation it’s a pretty big deal. Depending on the nature and extent of the damage, the potential for further harm to the home can be devastating and very few homeowners allow the problem to continue without
The village of Kenilworth, although the smallest of the communities that make up Chicago’s North Shore, makes its presence felt in other ways. Forbes magazine called Kenilworth “the most exclusive neighborhood in the Midwest,” and it ranks high nationally for the affluence of its
Highland Park, IL, is one of the more picturesque towns on Chicago’s North Shore, combining well-preserved architecture with a stunning setting on bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan. The area’s natural beauty inspired its original European settlers to carefully plan the town, originally intended as both
Everybody has their areas of expertise. Lawyers know law, teachers know education, plumbers know plumbing. Often, when things go wrong that are outside of a person’s area of knowledge, they seem catastrophic and mysterious to the point of being unsolvable.
Home maintenance often
When a home’s foundation has been damaged due to shrinking of the soil that supports it, the effects of the damage are seen throughout the home. Floors are out of level, walls are out of plumb, windows and doors stick and cracks appear in interior drywall
Mount Prospect, IL is a thriving community in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Its 54,000 residents, many of whom work locally in the insurance and manufacturing industries, send their children to some of the best schools in the area and enjoy life in a town with a successful and
Glencoe, IL is a small, beautiful residential suburb on Chicago’s North Shore. Its lakefront setting is home to fewer than 9,000 residents who enjoy the town’s proximity to forest preserve land, the Skokie Lagoons and both public and private golf courses.
Glencoe is
On the home page of our website, it asks “Leakin’ Got You Freakin’?” OK, it’s a little flip, I know, but, aside from being exactly the way I talk, it also summarizes pretty accurately the reaction most homeowners have when they discover
We’ve all heard the stories about how hard it is for contractors to work in the city of Chicago. There’s all the rules, the building codes, the inspectors, the permits. Oh, boy, the permits! Makes you wonder how anything gets
The history of Glenview, IL has a lot to do with planned communities. In fact, the village got its start as a planned community called The Park, established by a religious group from the New Church (Swedenborgian) whose members were among the first European settlers.
Elmhurst, IL, is a mid-sized city in the Chicago suburbs with a population of 44,000; it shares a common history with most of the municipalities surrounding Chicago. Once home to the Potawatomi, the area now known as Elmhurst was first settled by Europeans in the 1830&rsquo
When a foundation wall is damaged by settling or by lateral pressure from swollen soil it places the entire foundation at risk. Whether the foundation wall is poured concrete that has cracked and begun to rotate inward or concrete block or other masonry that is bowed or bulging
It’s pretty common for first-time visitors to Niles who are cruising down Touhy Avenue to do a double-take when they spot a landmark they had expected to be far, far away. The Leaning Tower of Niles, a half-scale replica of its more famous
Deerfield, IL is a town with a bit of a split personality. The village is home to a number of corporate headquarters, including Walgreen’s, Baxter International and Takeda Pharmaceuticals, among others. It’s also a desirable bedroom suburb with a variety
In the basement waterproofing business, drain tile is one of the most useful and versatile tools available to solve basement water problems. It can be installed inside or outside the foundation (or both), can be done during new construction or after the house has been standing for decades
The residential real estate market in Chicago has begun to bounce back and people are once again listing homes for sale and eager buyers are traipsing from house to house in search of their dream home.
A key player in this residential real
The Orland Park area was originally settled by English immigrants, followed by Luxembourgers and Germans, including the Hostert family whose original log cabin is still preserved in the village today. The “father” of Orland Park, John Humphrey, was part of the second generation
Des Plaines, IL is known these days as the “City of Destiny” and for its proximity to O’Hare International Airport and for its much-debated gambling casino. Back in the 1940s and ‘50s, however, Des Plaines was the “City of Roses” and
Basements are supposed to be dry so they can safely be used as storage, work or living space. When a basement has water seepage not only is its use compromised but the resulting dampness and mold growth can affect the health of the home&rsquo
There are two basic types of foundation damage.
The more severe, a dropping or sinking foundation, causes major damage to the foundation and the home it supports. Repairing a sinking foundation requires that the foundation and the house be underpinned and raised back
Morton Grove was originally part of the tribal lands of the Potawatomi, much like the neighboring village of Skokie and the nearby Chicago neighborhood of Sauganash. Settlement by Europeans began in the 1830’s and the area, now a bustling suburb, was mostly rural and
If the intentions of the original developer of the area now known as Palos Heights had been carried out, the city’s 12,000 residents would today be engaged in small-scale farming. Originally a large tract of farmland along Harlem Avenue, Palos Heights was first developed
Spring 2013 will be noted in weather history for two characteristics: It’s been unusually chilly and unusually wet. Most Chicagoans shrug it off as some sort of karmic balance for Spring 2012 when it was atypically warm and dry.
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