In her letter she expresses, “Top praise goes to your installer… who is truly an artist in the work that he does. Not only does he know his craft and know it well, he is extremely meticulous about his work and did not leave till the job was done correctly… his conscientious work ethic did not go unnoticed and he should be commended. I now have a front door that I am proud of.” Lorie

We are so happy that we have another satisfied customer; thanks Lorie for your letter!

Window World Cares

 A portion of the more than half a million dollars donated to Window World Cares came through the sale of charity tickets for a replica of the Richard Petty Series SuperBird powered by Window World and an auction that included items donated by Michael Andretti, John Andretti, Andretti Autosports, Paul Teutul, Sr., Orange County Choppers, Kathy Ireland and jewelry designer Anne Forkan.

 “Each year, the Window World Family Reunion not only gives us the opportunity to celebrate the amazing people that work for our company, but to gather together and support important causes that are close to Window World,” said Dana Deem, president of Window World. “The tremendous outpouring of support from those within our company this year even outshined the remarkable contributions we gathered last year,” he stated.

Rain and damaging Hail hit the Twin Cities area on May 10th .  A tornado warning was issued and baseball sized hail were reported in St Louis Park.,  Mille Lacs, Elk River and Minneapolis..   Spotters reported a tornado near  St. Michael, MN.  Funnel clouds were also reported in and around the Hopkins, MN area as well.  Terry Derosier owner of Window World reminds home owners that out of state storm damage roofers and siders will be trying to gain their business.  Derosier encourages home owners to use local Twin Cities storm damage contractors that will be around to warranty their repairs.  Check your contractor out with the local Better Business Bureau to check their rating.  Home consultants from Window World are available for free storm damage inspections.

Do you have hail damage on your home? You may have damage and not even know it.

Click here for more information on identifying storm damage.

Large Hail

Click here to Register for this Sweepstakes

Window World Twin Cities employees and family members in the St Jude "Give Thanks Walk."

Window World Twin Cities participated in the annual St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital “Give Thanks Walk” this past Saturday November 20th.  The Twin Cities team raised over $2500 for St. Jude through customers, friends and corporate donations.   More than 688 St. Jude supporters in the Minneapolis/St. Paul community joined together to participate in the Give thanks. Walk. and raised more than $71,000 for the children of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  Terry Derosier owner of Window World Twin Cities was the top individual fundraiser.  The money is to help St. Jude fight childhood cancer.

“Working with Kathy and the talented team at kathy ireland Worldwide® is an incredible opportunity for the Window Word family,” said Blair Ingle, president, Window World. “Kathy’s hands-on approach and intuitive ability to design successful home solutions is rare. We’re thrilled to bring Kathy’s eye for design to our customers.”

Under the new brand, kathy ireland Home® by Window World, customers at Window World’s more than 200 locations will be able to customize their replacement windows with a line of Kathy Ireland-designed window colors and grids.

“Joining the great team at Window World is an exciting moment in our journey. This extraordinary company has a laser-like focus on bringing beautiful windows to customers and building great opportunities to the Licensees that make Window World the leader in this industry. As an ambassador for the firm, it is an honor to work with great leaders who share our values. We are truly thrilled that our customers will now be able to find kathy ireland Home® by Window World among these beautiful collections. Philanthropy, vision, integrity and a genuine commitment to design excellence are all practiced by Tammy Whitworth and Blair Ingle and the incredible management team at Window World,” said Kathy.

kathy ireland Worldwide® and Window World products have both earned the Good Housekeeping Seal for consumer excellence.

For more information about the partnership and product offerings, please visit:
•  facebook.com/windowworld
•  facebook.com/pages/kathy-ireland-Worldwide
•  twitter.com/KathyIreland

About Window World
Window World Inc., headquartered in North Wilkesboro, N.C., is America’s largest replacement window company with offices in more than 200 cities nationwide. Founded in 1995, the company consistently delivers value to homeowners by combining quality products with excellent service at low prices. Window World sells and installs more than one million high-quality residential replacement windows annually. Additionally, through its charitable foundation Window World Cares, the Window World family provides funding for commendable community causes. In 2009, Window World Cares was named a corporate partner of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

About kathy ireland Worldwide®
kathy ireland Worldwide® (kiWW®) is the design and marketing firm founded in 1993 by CEO and Chief Designer, Kathy Ireland. The mission statement of kiWW® is

“…finding solutions for families, especially busy moms.“™

kiWW® turns to design experts in many areas, kiWW® Brand Solutions include ACafe by Chef Andre which addresses cooking and entertaining and Jardin J du J by Nicholas Walker, which celebrates the garden’s of the world and brings the outdoors in.

Forbes.com names Kathy Ireland one of the 20 Best-Branded Women on Twitter. Forbes Magazine reports that kathy ireland Worldwide® (kiWW®) is a “design empire which grosses over 1.4 billion dollars annually in retail sales.” 2010 License Global Magazine names kathy ireland Worldwide #28 most powerfully licensed brand globally.

kathy ireland Worldwide® products include furniture, flooring, lighting and accessories, window treatments, home office and entertainment, leather and microfiber, infant, youth and adult top of bed, bedding, candles, hand-painted fine porcelain, decorative shelving, jewelry, apparel, fresh-cut flowers, skin-care for men and women, wall coverings, ceiling fans, mattresses, totes, hand bags, travel bags, frames, wall decor, clocks, Design It Yourself jewelry and crafting supplies, kitchen and bath cabinetry, infant furniture, Ready to Assemble (RTA), decorative shelving, fine jewelry, wigs and hair extensions, real estate, vacation events, wedding program licenses, music and film licenses, publishing and greeting cards. Kathy is the author of six books: Powerful Inspirations: Eight Lessons that Will Change Your Life, Real Solutions for Busy Moms: Your Guide To Success and Sanity, Real Solutions for Busy Moms Devotional: 52-God Inspired Messages for Your Heart and children’s books: What Do Mommies Do?, An Angel Called Hope and Mona’s Favorite Words.

kiWW® maintains offices and design studios in Los Angeles, Rancho Mirage, and Santa Barbara, CA, Hawaii and Israel. Additional information is available at kathyireland.com.

Contacts

• Blair Ingle, Window World, Inc., 336-667-2100, info@windowworld.com
• Kelly Hydeck, Fleishman-Hillard for Window World, 419-297-9900, kelly.hydeck@fleishman.com
• Stephen Roseberry, kathy ireland Worldwide®, 310-557-2700 ext. 110, sroseberry@sterlingwinters.com
• Danielle Owens, Guttman and Associates, 310-246-4600, danielle@guttmanpr.com

On April 22nd, this year, the EPA’s Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule (RRP) became law. For individuals who are not familiar with this rule, it is the culmination of nearly twenty years of labor the EPA put into remedying lead poisoning in children. Although contact with lead is also harmful to grown ups, research has shown that kids younger than 6 or carried by women that are pregnant are highly susceptible to birth defects or learning disabilities.

As a result, the Environmental Protection Agency required landlords, realators as well as contractors to distribute a lead warning pamphlet to tenants, house buyers, or owners of homes built pre-1978 for some time now. Environmental as well as child advocacy groups, to alleviate lead poisoning and contact with lead, continually pressured the EPA to move forward with measures to get rid of lead dangers. On June 23 of 08 the EPA released a final guideline under their authority from the Poisonous Substances Manage Act to address paint dangers created by renovation, repair, and painting activities that disrupt lead-based paint with a focus on homes as well as kid occupied facilities.

So exactly what does this mean to homeowners and property owners who wish to upgrade their homes and properties and for the installers that carry out these types of renovations?

First, the rule affects any kind of compensated renovator that works in any pre-1978 housing or child-occupied facility, such as –

•    Renovation contractors
•    Maintenance workers within multi-family property
•    Painters along with other trades such as plumbers, flooring contractors, heating system & air conditioning installers and much more

Essentially, any service provider receiving payment to do work in any of these properties that disturbs six square feet (two x three) associated with interior surface or 20 square feet (4 by 5) associated with outside area has to be certified or face a fine up up to $37,500 per incident. It has been estimated that about 50% of the homes constructed pre-1978 has lead containing paint. That’s a lot of homes which will be affected by the rule.

Exactly what does this imply with regard to property owners? Property owners ought to realize that it is important to verify that the contractor they are thinking about employing who may be disturbing any kind of painted surface, is actually certified as per the RRP. The EPA has written clear guidelines on safety, containment, clean-up, as well as documentation that trained certified installers must closely follow.

Hiring a non-certified service provider may put your family or even neighbors at risk by allowing lead dust in to your house or even surrounding neighbors property. Subjecting neighbors to lead dust by hiring a non-certified contractor opens the door wide open to a liability lawsuit against you, the property owner.

Depending on the type of project, homeowners ought to anticipate costs for protective steps as well as barriers, pre and post lead paint tests, clean-up along with HEAP filter vacuums as well as wipe down products, protective clothes for workers entering and leaving the job area, disposal, and administrative costs related to notification pamphlets, area documentation, as well as report management required by the EPA.

Installers needed to find training companies within their markets and obtain their field staff and company certification. As of the effective date, any contractor carrying out work on any pre-1978 home is in violation of the guideline and could receive large fines. The EPA has certified numerous trainers across the country to provide training for accreditation. The firm needs certification from the EPA ($300) and individual workers need certification, this may cost as much as $550 to $700 for certification training.

You must realize that if the contractor is working on multiple projects which fall under the rule, each task must have a certified renovator on-site.  This means when the house where the contractor is replacing windows was built in 1968 as well as the home he or she is residing had been built in 1973 and each possess lead paint, a certified renovator must be on site for each. Installers have modified their estimates to include the costs which are associated with compliance to the rule.

Examples of these expenses would include:

•    Rolls of poly and tape
•    Zip doors and walls
•    Protective booties
•    Protective suits and head gear
•    HEPA vacuums
•    HEPA filter replacements
•    Wiping items recommended by training companies
•    Lead test kits
•    Signs, pamphlets, forms, record books, etc.
•    Heavy duty garbage bags
•    Heating vent covers
•    Additional labor for the set up of safety materials, cleanup and tear down
•    Additional liability insurance costs

Additional supplies and work may be required depending on the project. Some other issues contractors are going to have to overcome include the education of field staff, other trades, suppliers, and their own customers on lead safe work practices.

We, at Window World MN, are committed to following the rule as written to keep both our workers and customers as safe as possible.  The management team, the sales staff, the production department and at least one person on each install crew have been trained and are now EPA Certified Renovators.  We are continually working at seeking ways to complete the work according to EPA established protocal at the lowest price possible.

We continue to strive to give our customers “Simply the Best for Less”.

This means that all work on pre-1978 homes with lead based paint will have to be done under the  RRP guidelines.  The cost to do work under these guidelines is higher than similar work being done on a home without lead being present.

The following was copied off the EPA website:

Lead in the News

EPA Press Announcements:

April 2010

• April 23, 2010 — EPA is announcing several new actions to prevent lead paint poisoning. Almost a million children have elevated blood lead levels as a result of exposure to lead hazards, which can lead to lower intelligence, learning disabilities, and behavior issues. In addition, adults exposed to lead hazards can suffer from high blood pressure, headaches, and memory loss. Children under six years old are most at risk.

EPA announced three actions:

• A final rule to apply lead-safe work practices (PDF) (66 pp, 465KB) to all pre-1978 homes, effectively closing an exemption that was created in 2008. The rule will become effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

For the other two actions and more complete information you can go directly to the EPA website.

If you live in a pre-1978 home where lead is present and the home is not child occupied, you may want to do your renovations now instead of later.  By waiting more than 60 days your costs to renovate (new windows, painting, new siding) will be higher than they are now.  Keep in mind that the work has to be completed with in the next 60 days to avoid the added costs.  There is a lead time on most renovation work, for example custom replacement windows can take 5 to 6 weeks or more to complete from the date of the contract.

With the lead times this means that you need to act in the next week or two to avoid the extra expenses.