The Sneezy Builder Blog

CLIMBING 94 FLOORS TO THE TOP, TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF LUNG DISEASE

Scott Rubin (Five Star Property Solutions, Inc.) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:53:35 -0600

Making the commitment to be a Health Champion and do the "HUSTLE UP THE HANCOCK" on February 22, 2009. wasn't an easy decision. It took the gentle "dare" of a cardiac nurse and Niki Bartosiak, the Senior Special Events Manager for the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago to challenge my "passion" for helping people who suffer with allergy related lung disease.

November 3^rd 8 AM signup started and 37 minutes later, signup closed and thousands of stair climbers were registered for the 1643 stair climb in the John Hancock Building, to fight lung disease through research, advocacy and education. I, unfortunately was not one of them.

Though my girlfriend...a cardiac nurse, had already signed up and wait listed me, I wasn't going without her. It was her idea to climb. I emailed Niki Bartosiak for a little help... I told her "I build Allergen Reduced Homes in the Chicagoland area and therefore had a "passion for the lungs" could you squeeze me in?" Her response, "if you're so passionate about the cause, why don't you commit to raising $1000 and sign up as a "Health Champion?" Ouch!

The thought of raising $1000 made me break out in a sweat for about 10 minutes. I emailed her back that if my girlfriend could climb with me I would do it. It was a go! The outpour sweat passed as I was signing up online. It asked for my fundraising goal... suddenly $1000 seemed insignificant to me. As a Developer and builder I am used to raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for my Allergen Reduced Homes projects, but somehow this seemed different. I knew what was in it for an investor...PROFIT! What was in it for the Sponsor? It hit me and I will tell you that later.

I needed to find some number that would excite and challenge me. I had blogged several months ago about how much a lung transplant costs...$350,000. I couldn't imagine raising $350,000 but with some help, I could raise 10 percent of that. That's it I thought, $35,000...10% of the cost of a lung transplant!

Winded was how I felt climbing the first 5 flights in my building! Training needs to start immediately. LOL! Wait till you find out who my trainer is...

Click on the link below to visit my fundraising page and help me reach my personal goal by making an online donation today.
http://my.imisfriendraising.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=27396

Thank you for your support as I challenge myself not only in participating in the Hustle Up the Hancock but also by raising money for this very worthwhile cause. You will be helping lungs everywhere...possibly your own.

Should you need to reach me regarding sponsorship opportunities...I am looking for them, please contact me at: scott@allergenreducedhomes.com. I am also looking for other ways to spread the word among the internet community. You can also help me by getting additional exposure and re-blogging this post.

Thank you and remember...

Breathe Clean,

Scott

NATURAL GAS IS GREEN!

Scott Rubin (Five Star Property Solutions, Inc.) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:56:17 -0500

I have gratefully sold the last of my Allergen Reduced Homes inventory for now and until the market improves, I have decided to put my energy into something recession proof... saving people on their gas and electric bills. I actually bought my own energy business! Here are some things you probably don't know...

Did you know that electric prices are based on the cost of natural gas? Natural gas is much cleaner, with less carbon emissions than coal, so electric companies are converting many coal fired plants over to natural gas fired plants.

Natural gas companies have figured out a way to turn natural gas into a liquid (LNG) so it now can be put into tanks and shipped to the highest bidder... often China and other countries. Global demand for this liquid gold that can be re-converted back into a gas has caused it to go from a regional form of energy to a world wide source.

Many municipalities are buying vehicles and busses that run on natural gas. Many other uses for natural gas are in the works.

Like oil, the days of cheap natural gas are over. I decided I can still make a difference for people promoting clean sources of energy while saving them up to 20% on their energy bills.

Since I started in January, my company has grown to 35 consultants and over 55 customers in Texas, New York, Illinois and Ohio in January 2009. A realtor in New York got me involved with Ambit Energy. I'm happy she did. With the way the market has been, it has added some short term and monthly residual income to a very unprofitable and slow period for this "Sneezy Builder" (see "The Sneezy Builder blog).

You can find out why I'm so excited about my Ambit Energy business by going to www.ResidualsForLife.com . You can sign up to save as a customer if you live in Texas, New York, and Illinois. Or become a consultant and sign yourself up as a customer and build your own energy business like me, if you know people in Texas, New York, Illinois and Ohio.

Lets face it... The housing market isn't going to turn around anytime soon. With high unemployment and high energy costs...the timing is perfect!

Breathe Clean,

Scott

4 YEAR OLD MAKES DECISION TO BUY $740,000 HOME!

Scott Rubin (Five Star Property Solutions, Inc.) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 16:27:21 -0500

MY buyer told me that his 4 year old daughter had walked through about 20 houses and the little girl was not able to last for more than 15 minutes before her asthma would start and her allergies would kick in. It brought back many of my own memories. As a child though, I had no relief, no refuge. Remembering my youth and suffering,and that I had no place to go to escape all that I was allergic to, I could only smile as he was telling me that his daughter had spent hours in my recently completed "Garden of Eden" property in Chicago's Lincoln Square area, without any allergic reactions.

THIS had only been my second Allergen Reduced House. It was even more allergen reduced then its predessor "The Jewel of Edgewater." Just hearing that this little 4 year old girl had no allergic reactions meant more to me than anything I could remember experiencing... other than the birth of my own son over 18 years ago. How I used to worry that he would inherit all those allergies and that horrendous asthma that limited me so much growing up.

AS a child, even laughing posed a serious problem for me often resulting in me wheezing and gasping for my breath. As a builder in this market, you know I am happy when I sell a house, but not nearly as happy as I am to know I am making a difference in the life of a little girl.

Breathe Clean,

Scott

Click the web address to see our Allergen Reduced Homes in Chicago's Lincoln Square http://www.allergenreducedhomes.com/

WE’LL WE”RE MOVIN ON UP…TO THE EAST SIDE…

Scott Rubin (Five Star Property Solutions, Inc.) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:38:28 -0500

I just got back from 5 weeks of packing, moving and unpacking myself and my son. Moving has to be one of the most stressful things in life. My son and I had been living in a beautiful 3 bedroom home in Highland Park. When he turned 18, he decided to go to school in Desoto Illinois to a college near Southern Illinois University in Carbondale Illinois.

Suddenly, living alone in a 3 bedroom house with a cat, surrounded by married people with small children didn't seem to fit anymore. I realized a lifestyle change was in order. I had heard of this luxury apartment complex about 30 minutes away in Wheeling called Woodland Creek.

After touring the property....I was sold. It could have been the 3 pools, the fitness center, the Jacuzzi, sauna, tennis court or maybe the racquetball court. The big selling point for me was that it was a very diverse community built around this beautiful lake. It has beautiful trees everywhere and nice friendly people and beautiful women too.

I'm settled in now. It's almost perfect. No, not because it's on the east side. It's actually on the west side (compared to Highland Park). It is de-luxe, but it is not quite in the sky. I am on the main floor of a 4 story complex. After moving in, I spent an hour searching for the recycling bins. Lo and behold....there isn't any! After driving around with garbage to be recycled, for a week, in my car, I have been going through some sort of a recycling withdrawal... The DT"S. I am lost. The only place that recycling is going on now is in my mind every time I must throw things away and on my computer in the recycling bin.

It is difficult living a lifestyle that I don't totally believe in...a disposable lifestyle. Perhaps that is why I had such a hard time downsizing. I am seeing to it that most of what I chose not to move goes to good homes and gets a new lease on life. I will be looking for recycling solutions in the days to come.

Click the web address to see our Allergen Reduced Homes in Chicago's Lincoln Square http://www.allergenreducedhomes.com/

Breathe Clean,

Scott

WHY DUSTMITES CAN’T SEE

Scott Rubin (Five Star Property Solutions, Inc.) — Fri, 30 May 2008 13:04:34 -0500

As a developer of Allergen Reduced Homes, I've had to study the enemy pretty closely. To me there are many enemies of us allergy sufferers. Among them are mold, pollen, chemicals, smoke, and dust mites. They are behind only pollen as the world's second greatest cause of allergies. Today, because I want to enjoy my lunch at the Daily Bar and Grill in Chicago's Lincoln Square, I will tell you about my enemy #1...The Dust Mite.

When I say world, I do mean world too. We in the mighty USA are not the only ones who suffer from allergies. In fact there even are European dust mites! They are known as Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus. Considering they have no eyes, my first question is how do they board planes to travel to Europe and other parts of the world? Do the North American dust mites Dermatophagoides farinae travel also? Right now you're all saying "good questions". You are probably thinking "how do they get through security?" Do they have Seeing Eye dogs?

I am in the process of writing a book on the causes, effects and solutions to allergens so I have been learning a lot about these hairy little creatures. For example, they are most closely related to a tick or a spider and are about 250 microns in size. We can see them only through a magniscope. If we could see them, because they have no eyes, we could easily hide from them. Unfortunately for us, there won't be any hiding from them. With eight hairy legs, they may be running at a good clip but since we can't feel them I couldn't tell you just how fast. They don't bite (phew). With no antenna and a mouth part in front, they are content dining all day dining on our dead skin.

If you could see them you would see them lounging around on our couches, carpet, curtains, pillows, beds and other fabrics. They sound pretty lazy to me. You'll even find them in the car hitching a ride. A typical mattress could have between 100,000 to 10 million dust mites in it. If these things ever took over the world and figured out a way to breed microscopic "Seeing Eye" dogs I believe we would have a lot more to worry about then just the allergies they cause.

I am looking for ways Allergies have effected your life for possible inclusion in my new book.

Next time we will talk about how to put dust mites in their place in your house. Check out my Allergen Reduced Lincoln Square home just completed at http://www.allergenreducedhomes.com/ Till next time...

Breathe Clean,

Scott

LIKE OIL...WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF CLEAN AIR

Scott Rubin (Five Star Property Solutions, Inc.) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:45:37 -0500

Tonight, I'm dining at Panera Bread. It's like a Starbucks but focused more on Bread, food and pastries with great coffee that you can get in a ceramic mug. For a fast food establishment, they seem to want you to relax and hang out. They serve their food in ceramic bowls and plates. They seem to have the same element of people frequenting Panera Bread as the "Bucks"... people like myself who think this is their office. I'm sitting next to 2 other "laptop warriors" looking for a hopefully distraction-free environment. Imagine how environmentally responsible Starbucks would be if they gave mugs to inside patrons.

I'm not an alarmist. As a developer, I focus on what is important. I think "green" is great. I choose to build to make a difference in the lives of the people who buy my homes. I am just not into the flavor of the day. I am not a band wagon jumper. I read an article in The Chicago Sun-times today and it was all about the dramatic rise in asthma in the Chicago area. It is even more prevalent among minorities who live in certain areas of the city.

We need to crank up the pressure on our politicians to raise the air quality standards for our country as well as take diplomatic measures to get countries like China and India to reduce their emissions now.When it comes to air, what goes around comes around...we will be breathing that air eventually. As you found out in my last blog...replacement lungs aren't cheap! The cost is astronomical. Medicine to treat lung disorders is exorbitant.

I am currently finishing a project in Chicago's Lincoln Square. I am using state of the art ultraviolet systems which kill mold, pollens, and bactaria on my dual zoned high efficiency power vented furnaces and a ventilation system that will pull the stagnant and dirty air in the house, out and replace it with fresh outdoor air 7-10 times a day.

My only concern is what do we do when the air outside is so dirty we don't want to breath it or bring it in our homes. It seems that their ought to be a priority plan as to what is in the country and worlds best interest. Being a long time sufferer with allergies and chronic asthma, I'll take breathing as my number one priority. If you had to choose would you chose making building materials the "green" priority that it seems to have become or would you choose clean air? While you still can...

Breathe Clean,

Scott

Click the web address to see our Allergen Reduced Homes in Chicago's Edgewater and Lincoln Square http://www.allergenreducedhomes.com/

COST OF A NEW LUNG...$350,000!

Scott Rubin (Five Star Property Solutions, Inc.) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:26:16 -0500

I held her in my arms as she gasped for her last breaths...though she was unconscious, I particularly identified with her struggle to take those breaths. Nothing is more upsetting than watching someone gasping for their breath...but I new it was her time. She was my feline friend for 19 years.

What do I know about breathing anyway? I'm a developer of Allergen Reduced Homes. In my early teens my allergies to dust, mold, grass, trees and pollen brought on my Asthma. My Dad, also an asthmatic, nearly died because he was so oxygen deprived that he failed to take off the cap as he puffed on his inhaler, inhaling the cap. Lack of air can do that to a person. Our judgment becomes impaired. We can't think clearly.

I am almost finished with my latest Allergen Reduced Home in an area of Chicago called Lincoln Square. Since our government is rather slow at passing legislation that would help improve the air we breathe, I have taken on my own mission of making air quality one of the main focuses of my homes. Sadly, the air in our homes is often 3-5 times more polluted than the air outside...says the Environmental Protection Agency.

I was at my Uncle Jerry's bedside before he passed and noticed his breathing getting erratic. He also was unconscious. I knew it wouldn't be long. He died that evening. When life takes away someone you love you realize all the lost opportunities you will miss. All the things you took for granted. My Uncle was an awesome man. I wished I had told him that.

Life can take away something you had. Ray Charles had vision until he was 6 years old. Stevie Wonder lost his sense of taste after a 1973 car accident. Beethoven eventually lost his hearing. Those that once had and suddenly lost have a better appreciation of what it was that they lost. A set of good healthy lungs are like that. We now live in a world that has become increasingly more polluted. We have learned how to adapt. We developed air purifiers. We filter this. We filter that. We have to periodically change the filters or they don't perform well and lose their ability to filter. They cost anywhere from about $1 to $150 and come with a warrantee.

Our lungs are our bodies filter. We have 2 of them. Have you ever tried changing one of those things? There is a long waiting list. They cost about $350,000...and offer no warrantee. One gentleman commented on one of my blogs that he didn't take breathing for granted. Let me know if you think about the air quality in your home or an area in your home. Is it a concern for your clients? I want to be a part of the solution. I just wonder if enough people realize how big the problem is and what is at stake. Kids and elderly are most susceptible to poor air quality in the home but all of us start out as kids and end up elderly. Let me hear what you think.

Click the web address to See our home that is currently available in Chicago's Edgewater and Lincoln Square area http://www.allergenreducedhomes.com/

Breath Clean,

Scott

HOW GREEN IS THY GARDEN?

Scott Rubin (Five Star Property Solutions, Inc.) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 13:19:29 -0600

HOW GREEN IS THY GARDEN?

I am sitting here in a McDonalds near my Edgewater property in this great city of Chicago. I started thinking about this new concept of rooftop "ECO" gardens that the city is starting to put up on the top of buildings. My first thought was why? After digging a little, I found that it is because we have paved ourselves into a corner so to speak. We have paved so much that the storm water systems can't handle the rains. The water that should be feeding our plants gets forced into our water systems and sometimes sending water and sewage into rivers, streams and other waterways we depend on for drinking water.

One of my major focuses as a developer has been on "GREEN AIR". I install ventilation system and Hepa systems in my properties. As for plants, I knew that plants help take greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere and help produce oxygen. I use plants in staging...though I don't think plastic plants do much for the air. There is a guy in Door County Wisconsin named Al Johnson. I met him on a cruise many years ago. He has a Swedish Pancake house named after him. The whole A framed roof is covered with grass and he's got goats walking around eating grass during the day. His restaurant is probably over 30 years old.

I once read that McDonalds owns more real estate than the Catholic Church. They have well over 31,000 locations worldwide. I am not about to start incorporating these rooftop garden paridises into my single-family homes yet. I say leave that to the McDonalds, Wendys, Burger Kings, Taco Bells, Wall Marts and Targets of the world. That would be a good start. I'll just keep buying their burgers, burritos and made in China everything because I can't seem to find anything made here.

I just got up to throw all this nifty packaging in the garbage. When was the last time you walked into one of these places and saw garbage cans that said "Paper", "Plastic", and "Aluminum"? I better not start... Tune in again...

Breathe Clean,

Scott

Click the web address to see our Allergen Reduced Homes in Chicago's Edgewater and Lincoln Square http://www.allergenreducedhomes.com/

LIVING IN A CHEMICAL WORLD...what manufacturers don't want you to know

Scott Rubin (Five Star Property Solutions, Inc.) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 19:13:09 -0600

LIVING IN A CHEMICAL WORLD...what manufacturers don't want you to know...

Breathing...we all do it. Yet most of us just assume that the air we breathe is good. Though if we are lucky and have normal brain functions the act of taking a breath is automatic and not a choice. What we breathe in our homes is a choice we can make. Though there are many natural and non-chemical ways to clean your home, manufacturers can't make any real money selling it.

Take vinegar for example. What can't you clean with vinegar? Harmless and edible, vinegar de-scales, de-calcifies and cleans lots o' stuff. It's inexpensive too. It's so inexpensive that manufacturers need to devise comparable products that have all sorts of chemicals that we can't pronounce in them so they can charge more. They have warnings on the containers that say the vapors are hazardess if inhaled or the product is dangerous if it comes in contact with skin. Some of them will say, "use with proper ventilation".

I remember years ago spraying some insecticide that said, "use adequate ventilation" on it in one of the rooms in my house. It may have been Raid...I didn't feel like opening a window so I held my breath and sprayed the area where I spotted some ants and ran out of the room to get another mouthful of clean air. I returned later in the room and the odor had dissipated somewhat. Where did it go? I never thought about that. Sound familiar?

When I turned 21, some buddies of mine went to stay at a condo my family had in Clearwater Beach Florida. We were celebrating turning 21. We all got so burnt from the sun. Our condo neighbor said we should bath in vinegar to take away the pain. My buddies Pat and Wayne did. I declined because of the smell of the vinegar. The vinegar took away their pain and they swear by the stuff! It's magical!

We do have choices regarding what we want to breathe in our homes, just like we have choices about the food we eat. Running away from the poisonous vapors we are spraying in our homes ...the very same solutions that would poison us and most likely kill us if we drank them is not prolonging our lives or helping our respiratory functions.

If we did some digging into the health risks of the chemicals we spray in our homes daily we would be changing our habits...using ventilation systems like the one I use in my properties. I use the EZ Breathe ventilation system, which expels the bad air along with chemicals, mold and other allergens 6-10 times per day. You can contact me if you are interested in the EZ Breathe Ventilation system.

Living with Asthma most of my life...I don't take breathing for granted. Don't wait to develop respiratory issues to make changes in the chemicals you use and how you ventilate your home. Happy and Healthy New Year to you.

Click the web address to see our Allergen Reduced Homes in Chicago's Edgewater and Lincoln Square http://www.allergenreducedhomes.com/

Breathe Clean,

Scott

THE ITCHY TRUTH ABOUT TODAYS HOMES

Scott Rubin (Five Star Property Solutions, Inc.) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:32:19 -0600

THE ITCHY TRUTH ABOUT TODAYS HOMES

One of my earlier homes that I had lived in was a home in Highland Park, Illinois. Unlike the homes that we build, every time I walked in, my nose started running and I'd start sneezing. I couldn't imagine what that was all about. Strangely enough, I never made the connection. My eyes would itch and water. This was far better then when I was growing up with childhood allergies.

Compared to the allergies and asthma that I had when I kid, I thought this was small in comparison. At 5 years old, I was sure that I was the only kindergartener carrying a handkerchief around in their pocket. I sneezed constantly! So here I am, many years later and grown up. I was taking allergy meds everyday, getting my allergy shots. Things were under control... right?

One day I noticed all this dust coming out of the heating and air conditioning vents. It was encrusted on vents as well. That was the first time I realized that my heating unit was circulating dust in my home.

Enter the "duct cleaning man". Well, they got someone to do everything these days. This guy took all the vent covers off and cleaned them, next he used a truck mount vacuum with attachments to pull out all the dirt, dust and debris loaded in my ductwork. Then he sprayed something in there to encapsulate the small stuff he was unable to pull out. He showed me the amount that he pulled out of my ducts. It looked like the wagon full of lard that Oprah Winfrey brought out to show how much weight she lost.

That house was from the 1950's and much of what was in there was construction debris and the yearly build up of dust. He said if you think that's bad, wait till you hear the rest of the story....Happy Holidays. I'll be back after the holidays...check back later.

Click the web address to see our Allergen Reduced Homes in Chicago's Edgewater and Lincoln Square www.AllergenReducedHomes.com

Breathe Clean,

Scott

Home Buyer’s Can Now Breath Easy… I Build Healthy Homes

Scott Rubin (Five Star Property Solutions, Inc.) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:10:24 -0600

Home Buyer's Can Now Breath Easy... I Build Healthy Homes

I'm a 46 year old developer and this is my very first blog here on Active Rain. I am excited to share with you the why and how I build what I call "healthy homes"... or more specifically, homes that are allergen reduced.

How did I get start building "healthy homes"? Well it started back, when I was 4 years old, my parents used to put me to bed with mittens on so I wouldn't "scratch myself to death". Why? Because, unfortunately I had allergic eczema. I was allergic to dust, mold, grass, trees, pollen... as a kid it seemed like I was allergic to EVERYTHING. Unfortunately in homes then, and surprisingly now, the homes we live in trap and bombard us with to dust and mold everyday.

Because I lived in a typical unhealthy house, I had a rash over most of my body and when I would go outside and play, mothers would run out to get their children to bring them inside because they were afraid their children would get what I had. In the mornings, I remember my Mom had to put a warm washcloth over my eyelids to help them open, as they would seal up over night. My allergies were so severe that my parents tell me they used my picture in a medical book.

Fortunately for me times have changed. But because of the past I became committed to make a difference for others in the future. I am proud to say I am starting a movement to spare other children (and adults) who still go through the suffering I went through. For all these reasons and more I started the nation's first Allergen Reduced Homes concept. There actually is much to share and say about building healthy homes in Chicagoland. I look forward to telling you more in the future.

Click the web address to See our home that is currently available in Chicago's Edgewater area www.AllergenReducedHomes.com

Breathe Clean,

Scott