Life of a Commercial Signmaker, Vehicle Wrapping in Toronto

In December 2015 we drove to the north quarter of Toronto and took a long walk around Sign Source Solution.  This sign making business is becoming famous for their skill at wrapping automobiles in custom printed and specially cut vinyl.  The vehicle wraps photos on Sign Source Solution website shows a dozen different wraps on all manner of different vehicles, compact cars, to Cadillacs, SUVs and delivery vans, truck tractors and trailers.

Leading The Evolving Science of Vehicle Wrapping

Writing commercial slogans on transportation vehicles is not new. The practice can be traced back to the street vendors in London England in the early 1800s, (as no doubt ‘hawkers’ in every large city in the world have painted their names or wares on ‘hackney carts’ for time eternal). It was especially popular in the American west when covered wagons advertised gospel shows, patent medicines, hair tonics, circus acts, and later on Wild West Shows. Cartage companies in particular have always painted marketing messages on their carriages.

Probably the first mass media adoption of vehicular advertising happened on railroad cars promoting Five Roses flour, T. Eaton’s catalog (here in Canada) and their rival Sears in the US at the dawn of 20th century.

Wrap advertising on automobiles or ‘vehicle wraps’ is a wholly new advertising medium that came into being almost one hundred years later in 1993 when taxi cabs in Berlin were wrapped in vinyl to protect their original paint and resale value.  That’s because in the mid 1990s film vinyl became a viable competitor to paint of all kinds. This new material made it possible to print large scale graphics using digital printers called electrostatic printers. The next revolution came with the first production vinyl film-cutters, capable of fast printing, mass production, and never-before-seen detail.

Vehicle Wrapping Is Possible Because of the Discovery of Vinyl

Fuel Ghoul described the science of vehicle wrapping and contributions made by Waldo Semon that led to the deployment on the material on cars one hundred years later.

Chemist and inventor, Waldo Semon, found a way to plasticize pure polyvinyl chloride (PVC) — a synthetic polymer discovered by German chemist Eugen Baumann in 1872. In pure form, PVC was brittle and difficult to process. First attempts at using the plastic in commercial applications failed as a result. In 1926, Semon invented the vinyl still used today

The reason the vinyl wraps are becoming so popular today is because this medium works; vehicle wrapping is estimated to have the cheapest cost per impression over a five to ten year period than any other medium including the internet. With just a little imagination and the right creative services provider, many local businesses could easily integrate vehicle-wraps into their marketing mix. This tactic works well for neighbourhood bars, restaurants and cafes, beauty salons and specialty retail shops such as florists, clothiers and pet groomers.

Raymi Toronto was at Sign Source Solution and learned about wrapping cars with Avi Barak and got a good look at the entire operation.  She wrote a paragraph about vehicle wrapping on her Minx blog too.

Wrapping cars in printed vinyl is only a few decades old.

The first vehicle wrap in the entire world was thought to have been created for Pepsi soft drink company in 1993. It was used to wrap a bus promoting its Crystal Pepsi product. It wasn’t long before bus wrap advertising was everywhere and the new form of vehicle graphics trickled down to smaller businesses and consumers.

SMOJoe detailed new age wraps made with printed, and cut vinyl, backed with an impermanent adhesive. Impermanent because you have to get the vinyl off the smooth metal surface of the car at some point in the vehicle’s lifespan. Printing on vinyl in high resolution and in any color is far superior to painting cars with chemical paints. Vinyl wraps, if applied correctly, are durable, weatherproof, don’t peel, and are easily removed.

Vehicle wraps have become successful as a form of advertising because they work. Just look at these vehicle wrap advertising statistics and you’ll understand why.

The wrap design for Storia PR was well received entirely because of the book – the logo and brand elements could certainly be improved.

Shannon Tebb from Shanny in the City wrote about a vehicle wrap on a Mini Cooper, and described how the marketing would work in her business. She positioned the pink and white car as a potential reward that her matchmaking and party planning business might someday achieve.

Sarafino Olive Oil website administrator at blogged a vehicle wrap design for their delivery van in their earth tone brand colours with logo and slogan. This is a bigger project than a car and uses twice as much or more material. Its important to remember that bigger vehicles also require more design time. The price for this vehicle wrap was about $2500 and that includes everything but the design which was gifted to the company for free.

Claire Matthews the owner of Yoga Truly in Grimsby blogged about how her free vehicle wrap could help her marketing as she expands her Yoga school business to Port Colborne with the understanding that she would be driving for at least an hour everyday; this could be an easy way to turn that negative ‘waste of time’ into a positive advertising and marketing exercise. She also blogged about how she would have to consistently be a good driver and not cause as any offenses that could make negative brand impressions, or worse…

Deb Lewis considered getting the vinyl vehicle wrap because she reasoned that the bright pattern would increase branding and expose her to more opportunities. The art would also increase morale among the droves of volunteers she frequently deploys at events especially outdoor events in the summer.

Since the beginning of time, small business owners have been seeking ways to stretch their marketing dollars and out-perform their competitors. Vehicle wraps work all year long, three hundred and sixty five days per year, for five to ten years, making the actual amortized investment manageable for most small businesses—a few dollars per day,

The whole story can be glimpsed in one picture on the Vehicle Wrapping Mash-Up Expression on the New Hive. A primary issue associated with wrap advertising is the reduction in the ease of visual interpretation of the advertisement and you can see this designer has the magic touch.

Matthew Robert White, Pop-Up Retail for Valentines – Black Roses

I know exactly how Matthew Robert White makes the Black Roses he sells in his Pop Up Retail Outlets on Roncesvalles High Park and in that rinky dink farmer’s market on Sorauren Ave at Wabash Ave in Toronto, because I showed him how to do it.

At the Sorauren Farmer’s Market, there is a local beekeeper selling a wax rose standing beside Matthew Robert White holding his bitumen covered black rose, which you cannot really see that clearly against his dark jacket, but i believe the picture expands if you click it. The wax rose is perfect crafty valentine and will be a hot item in Matt’s store.

The secret to popup retail is hosting timely events that resonate with some distinct part of society at a particular time of the year.  Valentines Day is a great opportunity for sell all different types of roses and chocolates and romantic gifts. But this article is about people making different types of roses,including dried roses and even copper metal roses which are great variations on a theme that might not be as relevant to society another other day of the year. Popup retail is huge trend now as the events can double as internet attractions and travel coupon destinations.

I wrote about how I made Black Roses for Valentines on Smart Canucks and this left this piece on D.I.Y bitumen covered roses on Medium last week by photographing and comprehensively documenting a visit to their their tarpots which are known in the industry as ‘tar boilers’, but which are in fact filled with 500 degree bitumen. Dave the flat roofer at the ToughRoof flat roofing job site in Toronto gave me lots of good information and was very accommodating and even   delved even deeper in the science of the operation on this post on Fuel Ghoul which is my chemical science theme Typepad blog.

Roofing tar may contain coal tar but is mostly petroleum bitumen especially with Canada being blessed with the tar sands in Alberta. This material is certainly a by product of that refining process.

Roofing tar is solid at room temperature. It gets delivered to the job as a black solid block that when heated to 500 degrees becomes an oily liquid used on flat roofs to fix leaks. It is made from coal tar and petroleum byproducts. Coal tar is a deep brown or black residue, which is made during coal production process. Coal tar must be refined and processed to meet standards for roofing use.

ToughRoof seals, bonds or repair areas on the roof that damaged or are slowly deteriorating. Newer formulations of roofing tar are asbestos free, but may contain solvents, surface adherents, plastics and mineral fillers/fibers. Coal tar roof cement is applied by trowel, while other types of roofing tars are applied like paint or caulk.

Most roofing tar formulas are black in color, but some manufacturers have also created versions in lighter colors like silver and white. Some brands of roofing tar can be painted when dry to match the roof’s original color scheme. Roofing tar can be removed by using a tar remover, but removers may cause damage to certain roofing surfaces.

The black rose is certainly beautiful and has inspired both pop-up holiday retailers and copy cats

Local Basement Waterproofing Contractor also makes Valentines Day Rose

Bill Korenowsky of Royal Waterproofing is a basement waterproofing contractor in Toronto who also made up some custom treated roses for Valentines Day, but its probably not something Matthew would deign to sell in his fashionable pop-up stores.

Bill Korenowsky with Waterproof Rose

Bill dipped roses in Bakor Aqua-Bloc® 770-06 which is a one component elastomeric waterproofing compound designed to replace conventional hot mop felt ply and/or pre-formed sheeting systems. It is applied in a single application, which cures through solvent evaporation to provide a heavy-duty, seamless,  rubber-like impervious membrane. This is a liquid applied waterproof product that is good for year round use.

Dipping red roses in waterproofing compound with Bill Korenowski of Royal Waterproofing in Toronto.

Excellent for use on concrete, masonry foundation walls, parking decks, planters and reflective pools its not that great for flowers.  Contractors use with Yellow Jacket reinforcing fabric to treat cracks and joints but the mixture is too stiff to penetrate the plant’s crevices. Heavy bodied trowel grade coating this stuff probably does a wonderful job on cement to provide seamless rubberized asphalt membrane, but it’s terrible for roses.

In the language of flowers, black roses signify death, or supreme hatred, but a perfectly preserved red rose could symbolize a perpetual romance, and a supernaturally strong enduring love that defies nature.

Waterproofed roses might be considered kitschy or artificial but such a product would satisfy a gift givers desire for originality and quality messaging. The idea of preserving the flower’s beauty in a transparent or beautifully coloured body cast is universally appealing to retailers and romantics.

 

 

The Barrie Dentist with X-ray Eyes

Superman is the best known fictional hero with “x-ray vision”. This skill lets him see what’s behind brick walls, and in the trunks of cars and transport trailer trucks, so he doesn’t have to break down doors and disrupt other people’s lives everywhere he goes on his missions to save planet Earth and humans in distress.

But there are other types of enhanced vision abilities that other superheroes have… For example have you ever heard of Chemo Vision? That’s the ability to see pheromone output.  Gamma Vision is the ability to see gamma radiation. Emotion Vision is the ability to read auras, and is actually a common skill among psychics, mystics and seers. This vision upgrade lets folks see the emotional well being of others.  Energy Vision is the ability to see hidden and or unused power sources. .. and so on.

Barrie dentist has cameras that let her see cavities and cancer.

Inspired by superheroes, Barrie dentist at Big Bay Point Dentistry has purchased some very advanced scientific gadgets that give her super powers – she has enhanced optical  equipment which allows her to look close at her patient’s teeth and go on a hunt for cavities and cancerous lesions. A mouth ulcer is the loss or erosion of part of the delicate tissue that lines the inside of the mouth (mucous membrane). Some causes can include certain prescription drugs, and infectious diseases such as herpes or thrush.

In most cases, mouth ulcers are harmless and resolve by themselves in a few days without the need for medical treatment. Aphthous ulcers are recurring ulcers found in mouth tissue with no known cause that affect one in five people on Earth.

Interoral Cameras Show Clients’ Dental Caries

The CS 1500 Intraoral Camera generates remarkably sharp images and has a great depth of field.  The CS 1500 Camera is an all-in-one solution for dental digital photography stills and videos.  From full arch to macro views, the camera delivers consistently clear, high-resolution images that can be easily shared with patients.

The mechanism makes crisp visuals that help dentists explain treatment options because they can actually show the problems and perfectly describe the solutions.  This particular camera’s advanced sensor and lens can easily view even the smallest cracks, caries and lesions.

Dentist uses Velscope to look for cancer.

The Velscope was recently developed by LED Dental and is marketed today an oral cancer-screening device. It does not diagnose cancer, but is an adjunct to the oral examination.  That’s why its called an adjunctive device, It is, by all accounts, a fantastic non-invasive screening device.

Holding onto the pistol grip like a magnifying glass, the dentist shines a safe blue light into the patient’s mouth. Today this device is cordless and lightweight, making it exceptionally portable, but earlier models were much heavier, bulkier, and much more expensive.

How does VELscope Work?

When viewed through the VELscope’s patented filters, healthy tissue fluoresces green. Suspicious tissue, oral abnormalities that may be oral cancer, has a different fluorescence signature, and will appear as dark, irregularly shaped patches. If a suspicious lesion is detected, the hygienist will normally have the dentist view it using the VELscope as well. In some cases, questioning the patient may reveal that he or she burned her mouth eating hot food.  However if the lesion cannot be explained, the dentist will normally ask the patient to return for a follow-up screening in two or three weeks. If the condition has not improved, the dentist will usually perform a surgical biopsy or refer the patient to a specialist.

The VELscope is a discovery device, not a diagnostic device. Only a surgical biopsy can provide an accurate diagnosis of a lesion. In some cases the diagnosis will be cancer, pre-cancer or dysplasia, but more often some other type of oral disease will be diagnosed. Examples include lichen planus and bacterial, viral and fungal infections. While these conditions are clearly much less serious than cancer, they are conditions that need to be discovered and treated.

One person in North American dies every hour of every day from oral cancer related illness, and many of those who survive the disease are forced to deal with lengthy, painful treatment and permanent disfigurement. The main problem is that oral cancer is typically discovered in late stages, when the five-year survival rate is only around 30%.

Using Velscope the Dentist Can find other anomalies besides cancer. Cleared by the FDA, and approved by Health Canada, and the World Health Organization, the VELscope is the world’s most widely used adjunctive device for the discovery of,

• Viral, fungal and bacterial infections
• Inflammation from a variety of causes (lichen planus and lichenoid reactions, allergy to amalgam fillings, etc.)
• Squamous papillomas;
• Salivary gland tumors;
• Cancer and pre-cancer;
• Other oral mucosal conditions…

Detecting oral abnormalities early leads to more treatment options, potentially less invasive or radical treatments and better patient outcomes.  Read about this Barrie dentist on Yelp and search for other dental clinics in Barrie that have this or other super devices. Post by Robert Campbell on Oct 18, 2014

Smojoe SEO Show at Chalkers Pub 17 June 2014

A really great Smojoe SEO Show was held at Chalkers Pub in Toronto on Tuesday the 17th June 2014 at 7pm as thirty people braved extreme thunderstorm alert, and severe weather to attend the inspirational web marketing event. They gathered in the dining area at the south end of the restaurant complex to soak up as much knowledge as possible for the $10 entry fee charged by Leeann Jenson the administrator of a popular Life After 40 Single Meetup Group. I joked that this evening was SEO for Singles with websites and that wasn’t far from the truth; the one complaint I got was that there wasn’t enough networking time!

Without any interruptions, not waiting on weather or late arriving attendees, the Smojoe SEO Show was performed live by myself Rob Campbell starting at 715pm. The ‘show’ starts by me explaining what we have to do today to get page one presence, and why and how we do it. Then, after a tiny break, I go around looking at everyone’s websites and we all together set about figuring out how we can help these attendees and their struggle for subject matter relevance and higher rankings.  Its quite fascinating if I don’t say so myself… and its starting to get some big name business attention from Bay St consultants and business growth authors and business marketing gurus of all stripes. Who doesn’t want to be first on Google for something. Neville Pokroy brought his business growth book along to this show and he gave away six signed copies to people brave enough to share their site’s meta data, and suffer the scrutiny of the crowd on stage at the front of the room.

Inside this SEO workshop attendees find new ways to help each other.  Everyone in the crowd becomes a little bit more SEO savvy and certainly more social media friendly as they quickly become aware of how to increase their reach and authority.  Glenda MacDonald live blogged SMOJoe SEO MeetUp 17June2014; she did a terrific job communicating the entire ordeal, blow by blow, with original pictures, on her blog.

The best part of the night was when people won prizes!  Dr Archer, Toronto Dentist at Archer Dental donated twenty travel toothbrush kits and mini toothpaste tubes which I gave away to people who asked intelligent questions and did the social media exercises to benefit other attendees’ websites and blogs.

Some of the sponsors attended the event in person and they brought products to give away to anyone who would help them get along, and link to them and say kind words so they can get more recognition by earning higher rankings on Google; just showing up with something in your hands to give away at the SMOJoe SEO show makes you more important in this life.

Here is Angelo Tramonti from Sarafino Olive Oil who offered up these exotic liquids as a grand prize for live bloggers – Glenda MacDonald won!

We could have improved the impact by setting and tweeting a certain hashtag, and I could have passed around a paper blog resource sheet for people to write down their blog URLs and Twitter handles, and these are good ideas for next time

Overall, I think everyone had a great time at this unique event, and Leeann has already asked when I’ll be available to do it again.

Red FLag Deals Thread about #GrowthHackTO which hosted the first ever SMOJoe SEO Show

The SMOJoe SEO Show was at Growth Hacking TO Meet-Up happened on Weds April 23rd at 243 College St. It started at 7pm and wrapped up at 10:30 pm. It was solid infotainment
http://www.meetup.com/Growth-Hacking…nts/174390812/
This was a free Meet Up event and perfect for people who wanted to learn SEO rudiments so they could properly marvel at the most advanced new technology – it was fashioned for beginners and veterans alike, so both could come away with tips and new techniques for growth hacking to gain more users.
Someone was going to win a coffee maker courtesy of Vigorate Digital ecommerce software which really is a growth hacking tool chest filled with custom digital marketing solutions, pin code loyalty programs, online auction software, and easy to install photo contests templates etc . Growth hackers want more users.

Cristian Contreras is the face of Growth Hacking in Toronto.

What is Growth Hacking?
A marketing practice with an absolute focus on growth – the discipline encourages marketers to use advanced methods, tools, and best practices to grow user base or data, content or customer reach. Growth hackers often use resources that weren’t available in the traditional marketing repertoire a few years ago, and very often they made these tools themselves. The quintessential growth hacker is the coder who writes script to collect content and customers from larger more unwieldy corporate websites – ie like how Airbnb fed on Craigslist.

The second part of the show is a live diagnostic and content publishing festival whereby people in the room win prizes from an office coffee solutions company that is sponsoring the event. Don’t miss this unique educational evening – it will be like nothing you’ve seen before or likely to ever see again – stay tuned here for updates on how it evolves and what happens and why .

Every participant who is willing to play along, tweet, blog and do Facebook updates right there in the room is eligible to win bags of free coffee, and somebody is going home with a brand new office coffeemaker.

Follow #GrowthHackTO and Rob Campbell is @roberrific on Twitter. Last edited by Arob; Apr 16th, 2014 at 11:43 AM.

People are talking on Twitter and adding voices to the discussion about Growth Hacking on Smart Canucks and we’re expecting some contributions to this beautiful post about GrowthHackTO on Free Ads Planet.

Then after weeks of planning IT WAS SUDDENLY HAPPENING..
Toronto is Awesome ran this picture on Sunday April 20th,

There are still quite a few seats left and even if you don’t reserve a spot or get ticket you should just come anyway because you’ll probably get in – some of the people registered have already said they cant come in the comments at the side of the Meet-Up page . .

UPDATE – The event was a big success. Jane Wang won the charity choice SEO spot in a heated race between eight contenders!  She volunteered her domain and won the crowd’s sympathy.

Edwin Frondozo

https://twitter.com/drgnmeme/status/459148906295615488/photo/1

After Jane won, we all took a whack of pictures and then endeavoured to use them in our homemade media; at this point we all went to work optimizing her health apps domain and her intriguing game Health Challenger. Its cool. She’s helping people get healthy and that’s a great cause.

You can read more in a terrific blog post about it courtesy of Dan Wood, http://seohowto.ca/2014/04/seo-growth-hacking-session/ and he wrote that while sitting in his chair in the audience . Dan’s a real smart guy. and Cristian Contreras wrote here,
http://growthhackingtoronto.ca/seowinnerhealthapps/

Cristian was blogging at the front of the class in front of the audience, who were dropping off more and more every minute . aha  ah well live blogging isn’t the most exciting thing to watch at ten pm.  I dont take it personal. The audience dropped from fifty to less than twenty souls watching in the second half of the show – it was exciting for me. Maybe this should be a daytime event. A weekend workshop.

The grand finale, the draw for the office coffee maker – the ticket was pulled from the popcorn ceramic bowl by Jane Wang.

Smojoe – Rob Campbell holds the Bowl for Jane Wang who picks David Woogan, to win the coffee maker . .

Dan Wood sitting in the audience did a tremendous courtesy by listing the process and order of things necessary to achieve page one rankings. He writes, “…in a simple form these are the steps:

1. Choose a keyword that will have a valuable return for your website (or your client).
2. Take original photos and host them on trusted websites (Flickr, WordPress)
3. Devise creative, interesting stories that relate to your product/service in some way and get this article published in the best, biggest, most trusted magazine or newspaper or other publication that you can
4. Bookmark this article on social bookmarking sites and social media
5. Write secondary articles and publish those on other sites. Use the same photos from their original source
6. Bookmark and interlink those with the original article.

What he left out was the secret ingredients that I don’t tell anyone. Dan went on the record how I compared my modern day existence to a 14th century troubadour who goes from tavern to tavern and sings about heroes and highwaymen who pay him to make their exploits more well known , so they are feared , respected and paid tribute or presented with big opportunities. Its the same today online – the more famous and important you are in a particular  category and have earned links in articles, blogs and forums etc, the more likely your URL will show up on pg1 in searches done by needy townspeople.  So a modern SEO practitioner is a digital troubadour.

It was a night to remember.

As indicated in the title, this was basically me republishing the media with minor tweaks from a backbone thread on Red Flag Deals, 

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/free-growth-hacking-meet-up-weds-april-23rd-7pm-uoft-campus-toronto-1471973/

Assembling New Maid of the Mist Tour Boat in Niagara Falls Canada.

Without too much fanfare, Hornblower Canada’s new Maid of the Mist tour boat arrived at the Niagara chasm in mid January 2014. It came in pieces. The vessel was shipped here by truck and had to be assembled on shore. This is the latest and most state- of -the- art example of a prefabricated water vessel that can be built on site and thereby eliminate more expensive sailing and towing expenses. Plus the spectacle of building such a large vessel on shore in the shadow of a frozen waterfall in the background has perhaps added to the news bubble surrounding the birth of this new local tour company.

The Niagara Region enjoys approx 14 million tourists per year and that makes this area one of Canada’s busiest tourist destination wherein there is a single tourist attraction commanding the public’s attention.

Assembling the new Maid of the Mist Tour Boat in Niagara Falls Canada. The prefabricated hull and pilot house and various other nautical bits arrived by trucks which were unloaded in January in the Niagara River chasm, beside the frozen water system, in the middle of the first polar vortex of 2014.

In the photo above you can see the men wrestling to get the pilot house locked into place. They are following a plan set by the boat’s manufacturer and followed by the foreman who came up from the factory to oversee the assembly. The Pilot house component of the craft would be very sensitive as its where the Captain of the ship and the river pilot sit and navigate the craft.  As this vessel is far more technically sophisticated than previous boats, one can only assume that this metal pilot house box will be stuffed full of sensitive electronics and other nautical instrumentation.

Fishfinder Sonar for Smartphones Amazes Anglers at Hunting and Fishing Shows

Its official. The FishHunter portable sonar fish finder which uses Bluetooth wireless technology to broadcast its own submarine survey straight to your smartphone is finally available for sale on the internet.  Get one delivered for $229, plus tax and shipping, and that’s a bargain price considering a lot of smart people spent thousands of hours making this rig work…  Read more about the science behind the sonar chips in FishHunter on Fuel Ghoul.

Its a little known fact that fishermen don’t actually use fishfinders to find fish, they use sonar to study lake bottoms or riverbeds looking for suitable structure preferred by the species of fish they hope to catch. More advanced anglers select hard-to-hook game fish and go looking for the underwater terrain they know these creatures habituate.

Fishhunter becomes their whistling eyes (and ears) under the water. Ever wondered what lies below the muddy reflections of your favourite fishing hole?  Now you can find out as you survey the lands below the surface of the lake and that makes fishing even more interesting, if perhaps a little less relaxing…

FishHunter comes complete with the industry’s best fishing app that has an onboard Fish Species Database which details the preferred living conditions of over 150 different types of fish alongside bait suggestions and tips for catching them.

One thing I’m definitely going to pay more attention to is the Moon Cycles app that charts nine different phases of the moon, dates to show proper times for Solunar Fishing. This is a very interesting theory that’s almost 100 years old now and hasn’t been disproved yet – the logic states that when there’s a full moon you’ll catch more fish. I’ve always wanted to test that theory, and now this app makes it real easy.  Next time I’m catching lots of fish I intend to check the moon phases and see if its a new moon or a full moon.

Got Maps? FishHunter is an interactive Fishing Atlas. Users can harness GPS systems to pinpoint their catches on marine maps loaded with memory and social sharing features, as they log details for their own continuous improvement.  Also be sure and check out the FishHunter photo contests for exclusive access to great prizes and emerging community events.

These portable sonar devices for smartphones will change the sport of fishing!

Here are pictures of the sonar in action at the Outdoorsmens’ trade show in Denver Colorado

The device was warmly received by the primarily American audience of hunters and anglers, and a great many units were sold here… but in general the media has been slow to cover this cool innovation.

One story that introduces Fish Hunter sonar for smartphone is on Tumblr, and from a popular Son of a Beekeeper who uses some of the same pics as this post. Also there’s a lovely article on Quazen about FishHunter sonar for smartphones, and how they’re sure to make fishing more of a spectator sport.  That piece postulates that this portable sonar device will be the hottest toy at the cottage in 2014, and I wouldn’t doubt what its true. The set-up sure stopped a lot of people at this recent trade show.

Do you live in Ontario? You can add your two cents to this discussion about portable fish finders on Ontario Outdoor Magazine.

Or you can register and join in this discussion about FishHunter sonar fishfinders on Fishing Fury forums.

Spinrite, Perfect Knit, Supplies for Knitting, Buy Yarn in Listowel Ontario

Thanks to internet shopping nobody has to drive seventy two miles west to Listowel Ontario when you can buy knitting supplies online but if you do happen to find yourself in the Queens Bush region of Ontario you could travel and shop at the Spinrite Factory Outlet Store which has all manner of coloured wool including button and bows and zippers and satin linings and hundreds of paper pattern books and thousands of balls of yarn for sale.  Here’s a nifty Urban Exploration discussion forum post offering a secret glimpse inside the Spinrite wool mill in Listowel Ontario.

Listowel locals have been dying wool for half a century or more. Look here at the Victorian Era wool dying machines that occupied the buildings in the late 1800s.

Read about John Binning the Founding Father of Listowel Ontario on Dumpdiggers; he’s outlined along with mills on the Maitland river and the settlers of the Queens Bush.

Spray foam guys insulate upscale Toronto

What is it like to be a spray foam guy?  There is a good story on Bizcovering magazine with an inside look at life as a spray foam insulation guy in Toronto and the piece used some pictures seen below.  This is Tim, a spray tech, who is also the truck driver and generator operator.  He’s on site to meet me first thing in the morning, opening up the back of the company truck and getting ready to help his teammate, the prime applicator. The prime is the rock star spray foam applicator who has had lots of training in the fine art of insulating residential houses with polyurethane rigid foam insulation. The pictures below shows Rob Campbell’s ride along on Oct 22nd to document a Toronto spray foam insulation company at work insulating a new home construction in a posh Forest Hill neighbourhood.

Spray foam insulation is an excellent albeit more expensive choice for home insulation.  The cost is minimum $3 per square foot of wall and roof, and the price varies depending on whether its open cell or closed cell foam being installed. Spray foam comes in two varieties, open-cell and closed-cell composition, and both types have different properties which make them good for one thing or another.. i might explain. Of the two options, closed-cell foam is the better insulator. Once cured, it also becomes a vapor retarder (because the tiny cells are closed moisture cannot enter the foam). but its disadvantage is price and weight.  Its heavy and expensive and sometimes you dont need that much insulation , and sometimes its too much and open cell is better.  Open cell foam has open bubbles Open-cell foam has a lower R-value, and acts as more of an air temperature and acoustic barrier; open cell foam is not an effective vapor barrier. Open cell foam is lighter, less dense and cheaper (because less material is used as it expands larger) and is applied as interior wall home insulation in places where moisture isn’t a variable.

Below Montana Mike puts on a full has-mat suit with respiratory system, boots and gloves, helmet and visor. Its intense.

Like any good chemical reaction there are some rather noxious chemicals produced as a bi-product of spray foam reaction between Isocyanates and the Walltite resin, both components are prepared by BASF and detailed on Fuel Ghoul blog about spray foam insulation in Toronto which outlines the process by which a Graco H40 component proportioner heats and pumps both liquids to the sprayer unit whereupon they combine at the nozzle tip of the gun.

The two substances must be hot when they combine to create the best chemical effect, and to make the best R-value rigid foam insulation. In the photo below, the tech tweaks a Graco H-40 Hydraulic Series Plural Component Reactor‘s front panel , adjusting temperature on the 12.0 kW heater in the machine. From residential foam insulation projects to high-volume commercial projects, Graco brand proportioners are a mainstay in the mobile spray foam industry. This rig alone, not including the truck and generator could cost about thirty five thousand dollars and comes with fifty foot of hose, and ten feet of heated whip and a Fusion AP  spray gun applicator.

Spray foam insulation is a bit of phenomenon especially here in Canada partly due to celebrity endorsements the home renovation TV shows that have propelled spokespeople to fame and fortune. These TV personalities have made deals with spray foam insulation manufacturers to endorse the product as being green and environmentally responsible, energy efficient, and 100 % cost effective – all of which is true.

All the same, spray foam insulation has been in the news lately and the people and processes have been called into question by a CBC Marketplace TV news doc that shows ‘how spray foam can go very wrong’ by examining the unlivable homes of unhappy customers.

The History Spray Foam Insulation

What we know today as rigid foam insulation was invented in the 1950s by the German scientist Otto Bayer. He was trying to come up with something to replace rubber tires. He was eventually quite successful, but polyurethane wasn’t used to make wheels until the 1970s . Today the wheels under the folding metal steps of modern escalators are made of polyurethane, as are skateboard wheels.

Polyurethane has been around for about sixty years now – it has history stretching back to Germans scientists who pioneered many synthetics before World War II.  They were searching for synthetic textiles, rubber and silk. Twelve years after the war ended, in 1957 Otto Bayer and a German research team made advances with alkyd resins when they modified them with diisocyanates for the first time and made coatings and the first ever rigid foam products.  Today, anyone that has ever taken high school shop class, or refinished furniture, or stained a deck knows something about urethane wood finishes and the hard substance created when it hardens on the brush.

Here is the crew starting work insulating the basement of a new home in Forest Hill.  They start at the bottom of the building doing the exterior wall ‘headers’. The team takes over the job site for a few hours each day and they often work lunches and late into the evening to be there when the other contractors are absent.  These guys are very careful not to expose any other tradespeople to the noxious gasses often created during the spray foam application process (I had to wear a breathing mask, visor and cover-alls as I followed the applicator around the basement).

Spray Foam in Toronto

Fuel Ghoul reports that the Canadian Urethane Foam Contractors Association (CUFCA) estimates that spray foam insulation was installed in approx 350,000 homes in Canada last year, a number that has been growing by 33 percent every year over the last decade. Part of the product’s appeal is that, when properly installed, spray foam insulation can reduce heating and cooling costs by up to fifty (50) per cent, according to the Canadian Urethane Foam Contractors Association (CUFCA) and so this really is advanced chemistry at work.

Snow Removal Service Uses Beetroot Juice as Natural Deicer

Dan Shephard operates a successful snow removal service in Durham region and is testing the water (literally) after trying a new natural deicer made from beetroot juice.

Geomelt is made here in Ontario.

Featured in a popular Bizcovering article, Snow Removal Service Uses Beetroot Juice as Natural Deicer, Dan was again chronicled in Fuel Ghoul blog about the green snow removal solution simply because he agreed to help test the beetroot snow melt product.

Rock salt depositories – rock salt is very toxic substance and is harmful to the ecology of many sensitive freshwater systems. Any reduction in the use of this compound to keep highways safe for drivers is a step in the right direction for the environment.

When red beet juice is added to rock salt water it lowers the mixture’s freezing temperature which keeps the cement wet on cold  weather days when the rest of the landscape is frozen solid. By making the salt more effective, contractors can use less.

Dan is among the few professionals selected by researchers to help advance the science by conducting real-world testing as a professional contractor. The GeoMelt product is being tried all across Canada and the US in several climates and ‘test counties’.

Drivers who live in test counties  where highway maintenance crews spray the beet juice compound on the roads should experience fewer delays behind snow plows and salt trucks.  Ideally, the deicer will be so effective that snow plows wont make second runs.

Beetroot Juice is a Powerful Natural Deicer for Concrete Sidewalks, and Asphalt Roads

Applying a NaCl salt brine and beetroot mixture to paved surfaces will make them safer by melting slippery snow and ice, but the spring runoff should also be much safer for the environment.  Water quality tests will be performed by public and private agencies all winter and spring 2014.

How Does it Work? After a parking lot or street has been treated with beetroot juice and salt mixture, further precipitation should melt on contact with the ‘wet’ surface because the beetroot juice and salt doesnt freeze. .The frozen water particles are excited by the beet juice (and NaCl)  on an Atomic level, and do not freeze solid into ice.    Dan Shephard has committed The Snowmen to trying the beet juice deicer in the upcoming winter season,

Post by Robert Campbell on Aug 31, 2013