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  Expert Session: Designing Homes for Optimal Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ)

  Watch this online seminar to learn how to design HVAC systems for optimal occupant health and comfort.

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  Podcast 285: Waterproofing Curbless Showers, Adding Storage to Trusses, and Electrical Permits for DIY Projects

  Rob, Kiley, and Patrick hear from listeners about sweating pipes and spray foam before taking questions about waterproofing a bathroom with a curbless shower, getting permits for DIY electrical work, and properly detailing decks.

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  Podcast 286: PRO TALK With Doug Horgan

  In this Pro-Talk podcast, Patrick talks with Doug Horgan, Vice President of Best Practices for BOWA, a design-build remodeling firm in the Washington, D.C. area.

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  Paints and Stains

  Your project is nearing completion, and now you have to decide how you will protect it.

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  Home and Barn: A Natural Build

  The team at New Frameworks employs building materials and methods meant to keep the carbon footprint of this country home in check.

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  Warmly Modern

  A straightforward kitchen remodel checks off every box on the clients' wish list.

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  Changes to the Building Codes

  Code expert Glenn Mathewson explains how changes are made to the International Residential Code, with a chart detailing the code-development process.

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  How to Install Cable Rail on Stairs

  Laying out, installing, and tensioning cable for a deck staircase railing takes a little more planning than a horizontal railing, but the process is basically the same.

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  To Vent or Not to Vent?

  I recently purchased a 1930s-era home that has a low-pitch hip roof over an enclosed porch that has been opened up to the living space. The roof is unvented and,…

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  Easy Shingle Cutting With a Pneumatic Cutter

  Hand-held pneumatic roofing cutters make fast, easy work of what is typically a frustrating, knuckle-scraping job.

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  How to Make Acute Cuts With a Miter Saw

  One way to cut an angle beyond the capability of your compound miter saw is to use a 90-degree jig. Here’s how to make one.

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Other Recent Blog Posts

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  Podcast 286: PRO TALK With Doug Horgan

  In this Pro-Talk podcast, Patrick talks with Doug Horgan, Vice President of Best Practices for BOWA, a design-build remodeling firm in the Washington, D.C. area.

• 

  Artistry Meets Engineering

  Learn how the timber-frame artisans at Settlement Post & Beam lay out, cut, and install a custom hammer beam truss for a covered porch.

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  Podcast 285: Waterproofing Curbless Showers, Adding Storage to Trusses, and Electrical Permits for DIY Projects

  Rob, Kiley, and Patrick hear from listeners about sweating pipes and spray foam before taking questions about waterproofing a bathroom with a curbless shower, getting permits for DIY electrical work, and properly detailing decks.

• 

  Raising the Roof

  A new gable scissor-truss roof creates more functional living space for this former attic.

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  Third-Floor Deck Framing

  The team on the 2020 FHB House upgrades floor framing to support a heavier load.

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  Podcast 284: PRO TALK With Ross MacPherson

  In this Pro-Talk podcast, Patrick talks with Ross MacPherson about transitioning from a job as a builder and HERS rater to manager of an air-sealing business.

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  Podcast 283: Tread Returns, Weird Vinyl, and Log Homes

  Kiley, Rob, and Patrick hear from listeners about well pumps, snowy soffits, and favorite carpentry apps, before taking questions about stair-tread returns, vinyl siding, and log homes.

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  Sponsored Content

  Framer Series™ Lumber . . . A Very Fine Pine

  By: Art Lewis, P.E. Ever spent time sorting a stack of 2x10’s that are ‘straight enough’ to frame your project?  And after that, you end up with a disappointingly large…

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  Podcast 282: PRO TALK With Jim Collins

  Patrick talks to Jim Collins, a landscape architect and project manager with the city of Hamilton, Ontario.

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  Podcast 281: Cooling Hot Roofs, Material Shortages, and Blower Doors

  Colin, Matt and Patrick hear from listeners about the durability of building tapes and doing without PT lumber, before taking questions on venting roofs in hot places, finding contractors in Covid times, and absent airtightness tests.