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How to Make Basic PEX Connections
8 commentsLearn the basics of how to connect PEX to copper and existing metal pipe as well as how to make PEX to PEX connections to create a branch line or add a valve.
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Is Your Heating System an Energy Beast?
Here’s how to spot the signs and boost the efficiency of your furnace, boiler, or heat pump. I'll also answer some commonly asked questions about each system.
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Contest Rules -- Before and After Home Remodels
6 commentsHave you put an avocado-green, 1970s kitchen out of its misery, or transformed a flamingo pink bathroom from ick to slick? If so, we want to see details of your quality kitchen and bath remodels.
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What's the Difference: Joint Sealing with Teflon Tape and Pipe Dope
2 commentsTeflon tape and pipe dope are used to fill voids between male and female threads to make joints leakproof and to prevent metal parts from rusting together. People often use pipe dope on top of Teflon tape, but some manufacturers say there is no benefit to that usage. So, when should you use one over the other? What's the difference?
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What's the Difference: Vapor Barriers and Vapor Retarders?
2 commentsYou don’t have to be a building-science expert to know that trapped moisture is bad for houses. To help slow moisture diffusion through roof, wall, and floor assemblies, many experts—and in some parts of the country, building codes—demand the use of vapor retarders. Across the building industry, however, the term vapor barrier is commonly used in place of vapor retarder. This misuse raises the question of whether the two terms categorize the same products and whether those products have the same performance traits.
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What's the Difference: Paper, Plastic, and Welded-Wire Collated Nails?
5 commentsA pro/con comparison of paper, plastic, and welded wire collated nails.
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Kickout Flashing: How to Flash Troublesome Roof-to-Wall Intersections
10 commentsI use redundant layers of flashing integrated into the housewrap to keep water from getting behind exterior cladding; a kickout flashing directs water into the gutter. The process might seem overcomplicated at first, but the minor expense in time is much better than having to tackle rot repairs down the road.
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Making the Most of Basement Rooms
When a basement is finished with as much care and detail as the house above, the message is that the space is an equal part of the home, not subordinate to it.
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Caught in the Crosshairs
My husband and I planned to remodel our house, so we hired a surveyor to verify our property lines. But, minutes after he set up his theodolite, grumbling neighbors surrounded him, pelting the poor man with questions. The last time I'd seen a crowd this large on my street, the house on the corner had 20-ft. flames shooting from its roof.
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The Latest Help For Homeowners Isn't a Government Program, It's a Book
Fernando Pagés Ruiz reviews the new book "Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets," by Barry LePatner.
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How to Paint Fiber-Cement Siding
Painter Jim Lacey shares some tips for caulking and painting fiber-cement siding. read more
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Fine Homebuilding is the largest and most trusted residential construction magazine around. Every issue has the information you need to build better, all written by the “guys who swing the hammers.” In Fine Homebuilding, these experienced pros show you what they’ve learned, and on these pages, you can read the current and past issues.
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