PBS’s The House Doctor comes to Steamboat to speak on energy efficiency

AUGUST 20, 2013 BY ANDY

The City of Steamboat Springs is excited to host Bob Yapp of Preservation Resources, Inc 

Wednesday, September 4th  

Bob has been involved in the restoration and rehabilitation of over 150 historic properties, many of them award winning.  Bob’s media career began in 1980s with a weekly column in the Des Moines Register as The House Doctor. He began a syndicated radio show also called The House Doctor. In 1996 Bob began production of the national, weekly PBS program,About Your House with Bob Yapp. Currently, Bob and his wife Pat are developing, producing and hosting a new weekly, public radio program for national distribution called, About Your House with Bob & Pat Yapp. In September 2002 Bob partnered with the Kentucky Heritage Council and the Pine Mountain Settlement School to found a hands-on training school.

Bob will hold free sessions on Wednesday September 4^th

(All times include presentation and Q & A)

 Energy Efficiency for Old Houses & Buildings

5:00pm – 7:00pm

1289 Lincoln Avenue, Bud Werner Memorial Library, Library Hall

Just because it is shiny and new does not mean it will work in your old house or building.  Bob will discuss the design of old houses and what retro-fits for energy efficiency actually work as well as paybacks.  Insulation, air flow, weather stripping, windows, geo thermal, solar and wind are all topics in this discussion.

About Bob: 

Bob Yapp planted the seed that began his involvement in historic preservation when he was a youngster working side by side with his dad in his woodworking shop. Then, as a teenager, progressed to helping his Dad with the renovation of their family’s Craftsman Era home in Des Moines, Iowa. From the beginning, Bob has dedicated his career to community planning, historic preservation, central city revitalization and woodworking. In the mid-1970s he spent several years as an apprentice to a German furniture
and cabinetmaker. Soon afterward, he opened a business designing and building custom furniture and also bought his first house–a craftsman bungalow–to renovate. Since that time Bob has been involved in the restoration and rehabilitation of over 150 historic properties, many of them award winning. He usually has multiple ground-up restorations/renovations going on at any given time and has restored & weatherized over 6,000 historic windows.

In the 1980s he continued to restore homes and build furniture for clients from California to Chicago. His efforts in neighborhood revitalization of historic areas in the Midwest are renowned. Bob has been a historic property Realtor, owned a home inspection business and in 1991 was appointed the Housing Director for The Rock Island Economic Growth Corporation in Rock Island, Illinois. At Rock Island High School he started and taught a new voc-tech program to give students hands-on-experience in rehabbing historic homes. Bob, his wife Pat and their dogs George & Gracie live in Hannibal, Missouri. Their 1859 home is a brick Italianate located it the Central Park, National Historic District and is the headquarters for Bob’s school, The Belvedere School for Hands-On Preservation.

Bob’s media career began in 1980s with a weekly column in the Des Moines Register as The House Doctor. He has written and co-written many woodworking and preservation articles in national magazines including; Meredith Publishing’s Wood Magazine and Renovation Style Magazine. Currently Bob writes and self-syndicates a monthly feature story on historic house restoration.

Soon after the Register column premiered he began a syndicated radio show also called The House Doctor. In 1996 Bob began production of the national, weekly PBS program, About Your House with Bob Yapp. Bob was executive producer, writer and host for this National Trust for Historic Preservation sponsored, 52 show series.
Currently, Bob and his wife Pat are developing, producing and hosting a new weekly, public radio program for national distribution called, About Your House with Bob & Pat Yapp. Bob also has a blog at his website, www.aboutyourhouse.org.

Since leaving PBS Bob has dedicated himself to preservation education. In September 2002 Bob partnered with the Kentucky Heritage Council and the Pine Mountain Settlement School to found a hands-on training school to teach practical, cost effective restoration methodology. He has helped establish and taught at numerous preservation trades programs around the country in high schools and colleges. In addition to operating and teaching at The Belvedere School for Hands-On Preservation in Hannibal, he founded and teaches The Historic Preservation Trades Program for at-risk students at Hannibal High School.

Bob is the president of Preservation Resources, Inc. and travels America as a historic preservation and planning consultant. He gives keynote speeches, conducts seminars and hands-on workshops on just about any subject having to do with preservation, housing and community. In 2006, 2009 & 2010 Bob was a member of the Design Panel for the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington D.C. Bob’s first book, About Your House, was published by Bay Books in December 1997. He is finishing up his second book and hopes it will be in the bookstores by the end of 2013.