Keep mechanical equipment within the envelope to improve the quality of houses and homes

The most effective (and easiest) time to detail the air barrier is during the framing stage. If it isn't specified during design, ain't no way the framers are gonna get it right.

A collection of details that make sense for most framers to incorporate into their SOP—based on feedback from framers who do it a lot.

Six tips for clean and accurate decking cuts

18 Videos, articles, and animations showing you how to get through Section 1 of the Energy Star Thermal Bypass Checklist. It is about the continuity between various components of the air barrier system and the thermal envelope.

 

The non-structural requirements are pretty simple for guard rails: if there's a fall hazard, make a guard, and keep it such that it will actually stop people from falling.

 

Framing a roof with I-joists over the existing roof makes a ton of room for insulation and offers a short lesson in vapor movement through assemblies

Screwing I-joists to the outside of a wall—really—makes a lot more room for insulation on a deep energy retrofit in NW Connecticut

 

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

A film on the many aspects of woodworking that go into building things with wood—including a pre-robot look at technology displacing workers

You get paid for what you do and what you know. Turns out, the more you know, the more you can do.

 

A tight air barrier is the best way to build an energy-efficient house. Outside the sheathing are many chances to make it better.

It is time to think about the fact that many carpentry jobs may be automated—soon

A Chinese TV show that never made it on the air—until there was a YouTube.

Tips on engineered wood layout, framing, cantilevers, blocking, web stiffeners, cutting, knockouts, duct runs, rim boards, and beams.

When air sealing a house, begin with the biggest holes and work toward the small ones

A carpenter's take on less wood in walls

 

A flexible drill bit you can knock together in your shop