Other Recent Blog Posts

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  What’s the Difference: Joint Sealing with Teflon Tape and Pipe Dope

  Teflon 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…

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  What’s the Difference: Vapor Barriers and Vapor Retarders?

  You 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…

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  Kickout Flashing: How to Flash Troublesome Roof-to-Wall Intersections

  I 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…

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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…

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  Three Designs for PEX Plumbing Systems

  The pros and cons of trunk-and-branch, home-run manifold, and submanifold systems

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  What’s the Difference: Wood stains

  To get good finishing results, you need to understand the two main types of wood stain available and the way they perform

• Making the most of loan modifications

  We’ve done a fair amount of ranting about the importance of foreclosure prevention, but also realize we’ve neglected an aspect of the process that is critical to its success: modifying…

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  What’s the Difference: Paintable Caulk

  Does price matter, or is a latex caulk by any other name still the same?

• Great Moments: An Evening with the Ambassador

  BY EVERETTE M. HILL Forty-three years ago, I left college with a diploma in my hand and a plan in my mind. I would marry my college sweetheart, who was…

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  What’s the Difference: Floor-finish applicators

  The time you spent on your hardwood floors will be in vain if you don't choose the right finish applicator