Service

• Builder's Guide to Common Code Violations (Subscriber content)

  A former builder, now a code official, reports on the violations he sees again and again, and how to avoid them.

   

• Panic Bar Primer (Subscriber content)

  Today’s panic bars are relatively easy to install, and can give residential contractors a foot in the door when it comes to commercial work.

   

• Focus on Energy: Rx for Leaky Outlets (Subscriber content)

   

• The Basic Masonry Chimney (Subscriber content)

  Safety first is the chimney builder’s prime rule. An expert mason tells how to detail a masonry chimney that will meet both code and budget.

   

• Eight-Penny News

   

• Eight-Penny News

   

• Getting Power to the Site (Subscriber content)

  Whether you have an electrician make up a temporary pole, rent one, or make a deal with a neighbor, safety should be a primary concern. Here’s one contractor’s approach.

   

• Quick Response Sprinklers (Subscriber content)

  Sprinkler contractors describe how fast-acting heads and plastic piping are revolutionizing fire protection in light-frame buildings.

   

• Kitchen & Bath: Home and the Restaurant Range (Subscriber content)

   

• Lightning Protection Primer (Subscriber content)

  Home electronics and other changes in construction are expanding the market for lightning protection. A leading expert explains basic system layout.

   

• Model Code Primer (Subscriber content)

  Understanding the politics of code development can help you cope better with their effects, and maybe play a role in improving them.

   

• Miscellany

   

• Wood Fire Doors: Meeting the Codes (Subscriber content)

  Commercial doors and assemblies must meet a complex set of criteria—described in this excerpt from the Architectural Woodwork Institute’s Fire Code Summary.

   

• Fire Safety & Historic Preservation (Subscriber content)

  Two experts discuss how to balance the goals of preservation with the need for fire safety.

   

• Letters

   

• Coping With Commercial Codes (Subscriber content)

  Newcomers to commercial will face a host of new agencies and regulations. Familiarity with the rules will ease the transition.

   

• Fighting Fire With Good Design (Subscriber content)

  Fire codes, fire cuts, fire walls, fire stops, draft stops, and almost everything else you ought to know about building safe houses.

   

• How to Remodel Around Electrical Systems (Subscriber content)

  A master electrician advises you on how to do your work without accidentally damaging his.

   

• The Chimney Safety/Heat-Loss Dilemma (Subscriber content)

  By Charlie Page. How do you seal and insulate around a chimney flue? The codes conflict and the experts disagree on how to handle this critical detail.

   

• David Moran's test article 11/17/09