The work goes faster if you use a laser, install anchor straps instead of anchor bolts, and measure as little as possible.
Salt-finished concrete
When you can't support brick veneer on a masonry foundation, code allows you to use steel angles bolted to the framing - with strict limitations.
Masonry techniques aren't hard to learn and can be valuable on small jobs
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Q: The proposed location for my client's new detached garage is right on top of a buried service-entrance cable. The electric meter is mounted on a pedestal about 100 feet from the house, and a conduit runs to the house through the area where the garage —
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Piling Costs ~ Coastal Plans Source ~ Trade Knowledge
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Building on Ledge - Erosion of Light-Commercial Property
Faced with an unprecedented coastal reconstruction need post-Katrina, the mitigation arm of the Federal Emergency Management Agency has released FEMA 550, Recommended Residential Construction for the Gulf Coast: Building on Strong and Safe Foundations. This must-have document for coastal building...
A year after Katrina: voices and impressions from a region rethinking how to build
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Q. A subcontractor glued down 4 1/2-inch-wide plank engineered flooring on a concrete slab-on-grade using flooring adhesive applied with a V-notch trowel. But the instructions on the bucket indicated that a 1/4-inch square notched trowel should have been
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Q. Are Bubble-Wrap R-Value Claims Accurate? Am I the only one confused by the claims of manufacturers of foil-covered bubble wrap and foil-covered flexible thin plastic foam? Apparently, if one is to believe the advertising, a 3/8-inch-thick roll of foil-
Regardless of what the flood maps say today, the statistics show that flood zones will likely change during the service life of a home, making flooding an often inevitable consequence of coastal living. The answer, says building scientist Joseph Lstiburek, is to use drainable, dryable assemblies...
Sealed Crawlspaces in Flood Zones
Instead of subcontracting the work, invest in a few masonry tools and put your own crew to work building your basements.
A good job addresses the building's weakest link - where the foundation attaches to the first floor.
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Q. Passive Solar Flooring Instead of tile, my clients want to install a wood-finish floor over the insulated concrete slab of a planned passive solar addition. They've also asked us to install tubing in the slab to give them the option of radiantly heating the space. But won't wood flooring have a...
Termite Defenses for Slab-on-Grade Foundations - Making Sense of Air Barriers
Seaside Surge Solutions
Skip the exterior excavation and waterproofing -- an interior perimeter drainage system can work just as well.
Insulated swimming pool