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More stories about Backfill

  • Hillside Elevators

    Waterfront property never goes out of style, and everyone likes a spectacular building site perched on high ground.

  • Weatherization Crews Go for Gold

    Weatherizing older homes is hard, isolating, and often thankless work.

  • Custom Tile by Number

    When artist-renovator Doug Hopkins arrived at the kitchen and bath phase of his first remodeling project, he decided to make his own decorative tiles for the showers, baths, kitchen counters, and wood-stove surrounds.

  • Geothermal Sources: The Blessing and the Curse

    Free underground heat

  • Staining Steel Garage Doors to Look Like Wood

    As the owners of a San Clemente, Calif., specialty painting company called Rags 2 Rich's, husband-and-wife team Rich Howe and Cindy Miller do a wide range of faux-finish work, including convincing renderings of masonry, plaster, and marble.

  • Snake-Infested Idaho House

    It was a story to gladden the heart of an editor or blogger facing a slow news day: The nice-looking little house had been marked down from $175,000 to $109,200 because it was infested with ... snakes.

  • The Screw: A Long Look Back

    A long look back at the humble screw.

  • Backfill

    Builder Ted Kellogg convinced his bride-to-be that a brand-new covered bridge over the rocky stream behind his farmhouse would make a perfect spot for their summer nuptials.

  • Super-Insulated Tank for Heating Fluid Storage

    Wouldn't it be nice to store excess heat generated by solar panels and biomass boilers in summer for heating during the winter? Here's a stab at a tank designed for the purpose.

  • Ah, Summer

    Forget the 5,000-square-foot beach house just out of sight in the photos.