A Pacific Northwest building company specializing in high-performance designs has released the second edition of its Best Practices Manual, updating techniques covered in the first manual and adding new material on a variety of topics.

Like the first manual, Hammer & Hand’s second edition is offered as a free download on its website under a Creative Commons license.

The manual is a compilation of standard construction procedures used by Hammer & Hand carpenters in the field. But, the company tells employees in an overview, “this manual is a guide, not gospel.”

“You will routinely encounter realities in the field that do not match ‘laboratory conditions,’ ” it adds, “and [you] will need to adapt accordingly.”

The first edition described the company’s approach to installing windows and doors with fluid-applied flashing, building ventilated rain screens, and basement and crawlspace construction, among other topics. This new edition refines some of those details, and adds sections on roof and wall assemblies. In all, there are 213 step-by-step illustrations.

“We developed the manual in response to needs from our carpenters in the field,” Dan Whitmore, a Hammer & Hand Certified Passive-House Consultant and Best Practices Manual author said in a news release. “We chose to publish it as a way of doing our part to help advance building praxis. The feedback from colleagues has been amazing and has helped strengthen this new edition.”