Special Edition of THIS OLD HOUSE® Features Jersey Shore Recovery

America’s most trusted home improvement experts focus on NJ restorations and highlight best practices for coastal building

Months after Superstorm Sandy devastated shorelines on the East Coast, affected homeowners are still determining how to rebuild in a landscape of provisional FEMA regulations, delayed building permits and continued weather risks. During the anniversary month of Sandy, PBS’ Emmy® Award-winning home improvement series THIS OLD HOUSE® will premiere a special eight-episode series on October 3, 2013 focusing on three sets of homeowners rebuilding in Bay Head, Point Pleasant and Manasquan, New Jersey. Along with a multitude of side stories, THIS OLD HOUSE experts Norm Abram , Richard Trethewey , Roger Cook and host Kevin O’Connor will report on individual communities’ restoration efforts in the heart of New Jersey’s worst storm damage, and what the future holds for building along the coast.

“Our JERSEY SHORE special edition is not only timely but critical for those in need of insight for recovery,” says Michael Burton , executive producer for THIS OLD HOUSE television. “Just months after the devastation, THIS OLD HOUSE is arriving at the scene to offer 35 years of expertise in restoration and do our part to restore the Shore.”

THIS OLD HOUSE: JERSEY SHORE restoration projects will include an 1880s Shore Cottage in Bay Head, a 1950s Colonial inPoint Pleasant, and a prefabricated new house in Manasquan. Side stories will also feature Mantoloking, Long Beach Island,Ocean Grove and other local rebuilding projects along the beach and the bay.

“I was born and raised in New Jersey,” says host Kevin O’Connor. “So this one hits home for me. The locals here can’t imagine aNew Jersey without a vibrant Shore, so it is not a matter of ‘if’ they will rebuild but ‘how.’ We hope to highlight best practices that will resonate in other coastal communities around the country.”

Abram, Trethewey, Cook and O’Connor will take viewers to the wild frontier of mold remediation, breakaway walls, house raising, and state-of-the-art pile driving. They will consult environmental experts, government officials, engineers, local builders and determined homeowners from all walks of life, to present a realistic and heartfelt portrait of a region struggling to rebuild smarter, better, and stronger, one house at a time.

“Throughout the country, extreme weather is clearly on the rise,” says senior series producer, Deborah Hood . “And while you can’t hold back Mother Nature, you can design and build houses and communities in a way that helps to save lives when the next storm comes. We’ll follow the progress from the front lines as these special communities struggle to come back.”

Featuring eight brand-new episodes, THIS OLD HOUSE: JERSEY SHORE will premiere nationally on PBS on October 3, 2013(check www.thisoldhouse.com/tvschedule or your local listings) at the start of the series’ 34^th national season. Viewers will be able to watch full new THIS OLD HOUSE episodes Sundays at 7 p.m. after each show premieres atwww.thisoldhouse.com/watchTOH.

In the months leading up to premiere, visitors to www.thisoldhouse.com can access exclusive behind-the-scenes videos from the New Jersey projects and other locations along the shore. And, for the first time ever, host Kevin O’Connor will be blogging atoldhousemyhouse.thisoldhouse.com. Special features, such as a photo gallery, project overviews, products and services information, and a webcam will be available on www.thisoldhouse.com. Viewers can become fans of THIS OLD HOUSE onFacebook or follow the show on Twitter.

THIS OLD HOUSE is produced by THIS OLD HOUSE Productions, Inc., for THIS OLD HOUSE Ventures, Inc., and is presented on PBS by WGBH Boston.  Vice President of Television Operations is Michael Burton .  Senior series producer is Deborah Hood.  Series creator is Russell Morash . THIS OLD HOUSE is the No. 1 multimedia home enthusiast brand, offering trusted information and expert advice through award-winning television, a highly regarded magazine and an information-driven Web site. THIS OLD HOUSE Ventures, Inc., is a business of Time Inc., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner.

WGBH Boston is America’s preeminent public broadcasting producer—PBS’s leading source of content for television and the Web (prime-time, children’s, and lifestyle programs) and a major supplier of programs heard nationally on public radio and online. For more information, visit www.wgbh.org.

WGBH MEDIA CONTACTS: Marivel Valdes 617-300-5398  marivel_valdes@wgbh.org  Jessica Neligon 617-300-5361 jessica_neligon@wgbh.org

SOURCE THIS OLD HOUSE

DEVASTATED: God Bless the Jersey Shore

Mantoloking, NJ

It’s worse than I expected. I saw all the news reports about Super Storm Sandy on TV, of course, and talked with friends and family about their experiences. But that didn’t prepare me for what I’m seeing. Actually standing amid the ruin is an entirely different experience than seeing it on the news.

One of my first stops today is Mantoloking, N.J. a place considered by many to be “ground zero” for the storm. I walk along the coastline, with its pristine white Jersey sand and fresh tracks from the heavy equipment used to groom the beach. But right next to the perfect beaches of my childhood are huge piles of debris. No, wait — that’s wrong. The debris isn’t next to the beach, it ison top of it. There is no “land” here; it’s all beach. It’s all sand, broken up in places by asphalt or stones or wooden decks, but under that, it’s just more sand. And the piles aren’t debris – they are entire houses, or what’s left of them. You know it’s a house because, well, what else could it be? You can see the roof, the doors, the wires, and the furniture. But it’s all mixed up and tangled. It’s deeply unsettling.

Jersey pride is on display everywhere.

And it’s everywhere. House after house destroyed, piled up like yard waste after a spring cleanup. The houses that aren’t completely shredded are tilting or cracked, in some unnatural state. And they are all deserted, even the ones that appear intact. If they didn’t fall down or get washed away they took on water. They’re uninhabitable. Where are the people?

Source is an article by Kevin O’Connor at www.oldhousemyhouse.thisoldhouse.com

www.brunebuilt.com

Rebuilding Mantoloking

Rebuilding Mantoloking is underway with difficulties arising from submerged debris in the area.

On the surface, things look calm and placid. Just beneath the waterline, however, it’s a different story.

Cars and sunken boats. Patio furniture. Pieces of docks. Entire houses. A grandfather clock, deposited in a marsh a mile from solid land. Hot tubs. Tons of sand. All displaced by Superstorm Sandy.

“We did a cleanup three weeks ago. Then when we went back the other day, you could still see junk coming up in the wash,” said Paul Harris, president of the New Jersey Beach Buggy Association, which helps take care of beaches on which the group goes surf fishing. “They go and clean it again, and two days later, you have the same thing again. There’s nothing you can do about it; you can’t vacuum the ocean.”

Coastal areas of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut are racing to remove untold tons of debris from waters hardest hit by the Oct. 29 storm before the summer swimming and boating seasons begin – two of the main reasons people flock there each year and the underpinning of the region’s multibillion-dollar tourist industry.

The sunken debris presents an urgent safety issue. Swimmers could cut themselves on submerged junk, step on one of thousands of boardwalk nails ripped loose, or suffer neck or spinal injuries diving into solid objects. Boats could hit debris, pitching their occupants overboard, or in severe cases, sinking.

The cleanup won’t be easy, fast or cheap.

“The amount of debris that needs to be removed is mind-boggling,” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said, ticking off the statistics in his state: 1,400 vessels sunk, broken loose or destroyed during the storm. In just one shore town alone, Mantoloking, 58 buildings were washed into Barnegat Bay, along with eight vehicles, and a staggering amount of sand carried from the ocean beaches into the bay.

“Everything you can imagine is sitting in our waterways,” he said.

Barnegat Bay is likely to have some no-go zones in place for at least part of the spring and summer as cleanup work progresses. “Big Al” Wutkowski, a locally famous striped-bass fisherman who volunteers as the Barnegat Bay Guardian for the American Littoral Society environmental group, is worried about what still lurks beneath the waves.

“When people start putting their boats back in the water in April, I know they’re going to start hitting stuff,” he said. “It’s impossible not to hit stuff. It’s also a lot shallower in places now. A lot of the lagoons are filled in with sand. People can’t get their boats in or out.”

Florida-based contractor AshBritt Environmental removed 42 boats from New Jersey waterways in recent weeks. Others were corralled by the State Police, or by private salvage companies acting on behalf of owners.

Property owners are not being held financially responsible for debris that washed or blew off their property into waterways unless they hire a private company to retrieve a boat they plan to repair and keep, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The state, which issue contracts last week for the water cleanup work, plans to seek full reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of $60 billion in Sandy relief approved by Congress.

Much of the work will involve cranes atop barges that pluck the largest debris from the bottom. Divers could be used for smaller pieces. Once that’s done, many waterways will need to be dredged, with the sand placed back on beaches.

The private owners of an amusement pier that collapsed in Seaside Heights, N.J., pitching the Jet Star roller coaster into the ocean, are working with insurers to devise a plan to dismantle the ride and get it out of the ocean.

Seaside Heights also plans to send teams of divers to scour the ocean bottom in popular swimming areas before letting people back into the water, fearing parts of the wooden pier, metal pieces from boardwalk rides and other debris still linger in the ocean. Cars from the pier’s amusement rides were found on beaches as far as 8 miles away in the days after the storm.

The Polar Bear Plunge, in which swimmers briefly dash into and out of the frigid surf to raise money for charity, was moved this year from Seaside Heights to Long Branch, a beach 24 miles to the north where hidden debris wasn’t a concern.

New York and Connecticut face similar problems.

“We have everything from floating oil barrels, gasoline tanks, household hazardous waste products, buckets, tires, bathtubs, you name it,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment on Long Island.

“We’re concerned not only about pollution, but boater safety,” she said. “Come the spring, this stuff is going to be submerged partially or totally, but the boats are going to have some very serious issues.”

Rob Weltner, president of Operation Splash, said the Freeport, N.Y., volunteer group has spent the past 20 years collecting 1 million pounds of debris, mostly from waterways on the south shore of Long Island.

“Twenty years is out the window,” he said. “Gone, gone. Sandy hit us right at the time when we would normally be putting the finishing touches on our cleanups. Every place I look I go, ‘Oh, my God, not again, man. We just had that place looking beautiful and it’s going to take us another 10 or 15 years to get it back looking decent again.”

Among the items found by the group since Sandy are hot tubs, floating docks, damaged boats, barbecue grills, patio furniture, umbrellas, hundreds of trash cans and the grandfather clock.

Crews in Hempstead, N.Y., have removed 379 tons of debris from waterways since Sandy hit. Neighboring Babylon has retrieved 50 tons, including two tool sheds fully intact, with tools still inside, and 24 destroyed boats.

Fairfield, Conn., needs to remove debris left in marshlands by the storm, including bicycles, picnic tables and backyard furniture, said First Selectman Michael Tetreau. The town is waiting to use special equipment from the state to remove the debris without harming the marshes.

Fairfield also saw significant beach erosion and needs to dredge its harbor and marina because sand was pushed into the waterways. Tetreau doubts the work will be done before Memorial Day, and said there may be limits on boat traffic.

In Brick, N.J., the lagoon on which Mayor Stephan Acropolis lives is filled with junk, including the front door and part of a wall from one of three houses that burned during the storm. Also in the lagoon are a kids’ picnic table, a 50-gallon plastic barrel holding who-knows-what, and two docks from homes two blocks away.

Acropolis is counting on the state to quickly remove the marine debris to prevent even deeper economic losses from the storm.

“Someone goes out crabbing; they buy gas for the boat, maybe they have to rent the boat in the first place. They buy bait, they buy lunch,” Acropolis said. “It’s a big economic impact. People live here because they want to be on the water, out on a boat. If we don’t get this cleaned up, we’re going to have a problem.”

The above portion of this article was written by WAYNE PARRY - Associated Press

Resource information for Rebuilding Mantoloking

CONSTRUCTION GUIDELINES FOR HOMES DAMAGED BY SANDY

At last we have reached the point where we can begin the rebuilding process. Please read on to see how you should proceed given your specific circumstances.

The Flood Plain Officer for the Borough of Mantoloking has issued a list of all homes in the Borough determined to have sustained damage less than 50% of the pre-Sandy assessed value of the home.  Please see that list here: Properties with Damage of Less than 50% (as of 1/31/13)

If your home is less than 50% damaged, please click here to obtain important information about how to proceed with the repairs necessary to remediate the damage caused by Sandy.  If you are on the 50% damaged list and you believe that your home is more than 50% damaged, you can send your justification in writing to the Borough Flood Plain Officer at:

Hatch Mott MacDonald
3 Paragon Way
Freehold NJ 07728

Attn: Borough of Mantoloking Flood Plain Officer

The Flood Plain Officer is still reviewing homes that have the potential to be declared more than 50% damaged.  Please click here for important information on that process.

EASEMENTS AND REPLENISHMENT

The Army Corps of Engineers and the State DEP have reviewed the new easement and have released it for execution.  Please see the new easement here: MantolokingEasement1_29_13

We hope that the easement is clearer in terms of the exact area where the westward toe of the dune will intersect with ocean front property.  Bob has put together a chart which shows where the westward toe of the dune will intersect and which also shows the immense size and protection the new dune/beach system will offer.  Please see the Dune Chart and where the Easement line falls for the length of the town:  01-29-13 MANTOLOKING EASEMENT LINE RCM

Bob will also put together a presentation for the Council Meeting on the 6^ththat will give an overview of the changes.  We have also included a letter from the Army Corp’s Chief of Real Estate that clarifies the questions of perpetuity and other potential “uses” of the easement.  It is a very useful document.  Please see the letter here: 1-30-2013 Letter to Mayor Regarding Easement

Hard copies of the easement are being sent out this week to every oceanfront owner.  When filling out the easement, please list the Block and both Lots (the buildable lot as well as the lot east of the dune reference line). You can find your Block and both Lots in the easement chart mentioned above (The Block is the number in the circle, the Lot # is attached to your property and the ocean side lot is the same as your street side lot, but followed by a .01).

At the risk of waiting for US postal service to deliver the easement, it would be appreciated if the Oceanfront owner(s) print the easement from the website on LEGAL sized paper, sign it in front of a registered notary (Out of State notaries are acceptable) and send it immediately back to the Borough.

If you are going to send it via FedEx, DHL, etc., please send to:

The Borough of Mantoloking

340 Drum Point Road

Brick Township, NJ 08723

If you are going to send it via US Postal Service, please send to:

The Borough of Mantoloking

P.O. Box 4391 Brick, New Jersey 08723

If you can, please also send us an email (replenishment@mantoloking.org) and let us know your intention on whether or not you are planning on signing the easement or, better yet, scan a copy and send it to us electronically.

We hope to get all of the easements collected as soon as possible and take advantage of funding that has specifically been set aside to fund replenishment projects.

Thank you all for your patience with this process.  We will do all that we can to make this project happen once we have the easements in hand.  The very existence of our community depends on it.

Main Number: 732-475-6983
Construction Department: 732-475-7261
Municipal Court: 732-475-7398
Fax: 732-475-7601

Physical Address
340 Drum Point Road (Yogi Plaza)
2nd Floor
Brick, New Jersey

PLEASE DO NOT SEND MAIL TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. SEND ONLY FED EX, UPS, ETC.

Temporary Mailing Address
Borough of Mantoloking
P.O. Box 4391
Brick, New Jersey 08723

Borough of Mantoloking Website: http://www.mantoloking.org

For the latest local news and resources check here:  BRUNEbuilt Builder Blog

Brunebuilt Construction is here to help. For more information on how to move forward with construction services, please contact us and we’ll be happy to assist you at (732) 701-7885 and for emergencies call our mobile number at (732) 581-8268.

Come In And Visit Our Main Office At 549 Rt. 35 North, Normandy Beach, N.J. 08739

Our crew works seamlessly to provide a turn-key capability for delivering projects anywhere along the Jersey Shore including Normandy Beach, Mantoloking, Bay Head, Pt. Pleasant Beach, Pt. Pleasant Boro, Brielle, Manasquan, Lavallette, Chadwick Beach, Ocean Beach,Ortley Beach, Seaside Heights, Seaside Park, Toms River Township, Brick Township, Wall Township

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