Thursday, September 2, 2010

Coal Fly Ash EPA Ruling Controversy

The EPA continues to delay their decision on whether coal fly ash should be classified as a hazardous material. We use an agricultural limestone (ag-lime) mixture for leveling which does not include any coal fly ash. There are varied opinions on the fly ash topic and if you search the web, you will get differing perspectives relative to the dangers presented by coal fly ash. The 60 Minutes segment below addressed the 100 billion gallon coal fly ash disaster in Kingston, TN, in 2008 which is one major contributing factor in coal fly ash being reviewed by and possibly reclassified as hazardous by the EPA. The EPA's decision remains open to public contribution and discussion and is due to be formally decided later this year. More information can be viewed http://www.epa.gov/.

Monday, August 30, 2010

WOW! What a great benefit event for our friend Ed Warren!!!

It has been a busy summer, and also a sad summer... One of the worst things about this year is that our very good friend, Ed Warren, has inoperable brain cancer. We have been part of the fundraising committee since its' inception and the benefit was held yesterday at the Polish Falcons in Depew (right down the street from Ed's house). Months worth of work resulted in a resounding success!!! Thanks to all the individuals and companies who have helped to support Ed's benefit by donating auction items, baskets and money. Although the event is over, donations will continue to be thankfully accepted through Paypal at http://www.edwarrencancerfund.com/ and at any Lake Shore Savings Bank branch.

Monday, July 26, 2010

We Love Our Customers!!!

What a lovely card we received from Sharon in Cheektowaga! It is always nice when we get such supportive and positive feedback from a customer. Our great thanks to Sharon whose thoughtfulness is much appreciated. She was a fantastic customer!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Home Improvement Council Golf Event


The Home Improvement Council Golf Event which was this past Monday, July 19th, at Arrowhead Golf Resort in Akron, NY. Some of us played golf while others helped work a closest to the pin event, sold tickets for a 50/50 raffle and helped keep the golfers hydrated. There are some great people in the council and it was fun to see them!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Wow! Earthquake in WNY!

A 5.0 magnitude earthquake struck in Canada and I felt it here in Buffalo!

I have been in a few earthquakes in my lifetime and as soon as I felt the distinct swaying while sitting in my office, I thought, "I know what this is!" It took me about an hour to find anything online about it and the first place I looked was the USGS website (it's all there now, of course!).

The funny thing is that I addressed this exact topic in my post on May 23rd. In that post I discussed how long concrete leveling will last and I said:

"So, A-1 Concrete Leveling has been around almost 30 years but could concrete leveling last 30 years? Sure, in an ideal situation. But, then, a new pour wouldn't sink if it existed in ideal conditions and no one would need us! The fact is that the ground moves. There are a variety of factors which affect the sub-surface support of a slab and every situation is different.

According to the USGS earthquake website (www.earthquake.usgs.gov), as of today, there have already been almost 7,000 earthquakes worldwide in 2010 with almost 2200 of them occurring in the US; while that may not affect us on a daily basis, it is having a constant effect deep below the surface."


Little did I know that it would be affecting us just one month later!!!

The USGS reports that the two most damaging earthquakes Western Quebec had previously experienced were a 6.1 in 1935 and a 6.2 in 1732.

Click this post title to view the details of the quake at www.usgs.gov (be sure to check out the info on different tabs as it is really fascinating!).

Another Great Video from The A-1 Akron Franchise!

Click on the title of this post to view another great commercial video from Rob Keith in Akron, Ohio. You may remember from one of my previous posts that Rob is the franchisee of the original A-1 Concrete Leveling location which is near Peninsula, OH, where Grover Miller, the inventor of our equipment lives. This one shows the before and after of a driveway upper apron. Our thanks to Rob for posting this and others on YouTube. Enjoy!