Yup—just drill a hole, add a piece of copper wire and drive the screw home

A Mashup of traditional architecture, modern technology, and good old gravity

 

A snowball effect of physics vs. physical structures: water carries salt to the surface of masonry, which crystallizes and can blow apart its masonry host.

Good amortization doesn't always involve using a building forever—sometimes, it means recapturing the space when the building corrodes

 

Just because they call it mud doesn’t mean it behaves like dirt and water

Jack Ellis is a brick layer. His work starts at 8 in the morning. Jack is working on the third floor, so he climbs the—what appears to be homemade—ladder up to get on the scaffolding.

Drill, Drive, DONE—Finally a concrete anchor that works

The iconic brick layer’s trowel had found a new use. 

"In order to maximize the buildable area on the infill lot, we had to go fairly deep and do some extensive shoring."

—Dan Whitmore of Hammer & Hand 

Scouting photos for an upcoming video shoot covering moment frame, walls, foundation, and rim joists.

Long rods, a BIG drill, oversize washers, and an enormous wrench unbuckle a badly bowed wall. Notice the lack of 'excavator' on the list?

Direct the heat toward the feet

Letting the brick dry evenly is the key for old masonry walls that want to leak less energy

Adding brick to the outside of a house complicates insulating outside a slab. So Insulate inside.

The demo digs deep into the house to repair the rubble foundation and rework the workflow

An affordable insulated slab foundation suitable for climate zones 4, 5, and 6

You can't stop heat flow, but you can keep your floor from becoming a big ol' heat sink

Can't get your bricklayers to answer the phone? Call SAM (Semi-Automated Mason)