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Light Gauge Metal Stud Framing

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Planning and Best Practices

The light gauge metal stud framing phase of a project significantly impacts several other trades. It is no secret that good planning and practices will achieve higher production rates and a level of quality that meets the project's specifications. Planning and layout should be the responsibility of the project foreman; however, everyone should be involved with preparing the work flow. While actual layout is underway, other production items should also be thought through.

Tile Flooring 101: Types of Tile Flooring

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Tile flooring is manufactured from a variety of materials such as clay, stone, metal, terrazzo, and quartz. Each type of tile flooring has its own defining characteristics. Generally speaking, the two most commonly used types of tile flooring are ceramic and natural stone.

How to Build a Wood Privacy Fence

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In 1914, Robert Frost wrote, in his poem Mending Wall, "Good fences make good neighbors." You may choose to build a privacy fence on your property for any number of reasons: to increase safety, privacy or security; enclose pets or children; eliminate sight lines beyond your property; or simply to enhance your home's curb appeal. Once you gain an understanding of the materials required as well as layout and installation techniques, building a wood privacy fence is a job many do-it-yourselfers can accomplish.

How to Install a Tileable Shower Base

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Basic tiling skills can be very useful in many home improvement projects, but some tiling projects can prove daunting for even experienced DIY'ers. Installing tile for a custom shower is one of those projects. That has often meant leaving the job of custom showers to the pros – until now. Now there are new preformed bases on the market that allow a “do-it-yourselfer” with basic tile skills and tools to install a custom shower. Join our host, Jeff Wilson, for a tutorial on installing a tileable shower basin in a custom bathroom.

Guardrails: Design Criteria, Building Codes, & Installation

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Designing and Installing a Safe System
Almost every commercial and public building, whether it is an office building, sports arena, place of worship, or school building, contains a guardrail system. Guardrail systems are installed to provide safety and protection for the building occupants and are placed at or near the outer edges, of flights of stairs, ramps, landings, platforms, balconies and accessible areas of roofs. They will also be found at the perimeter edge of any opening or accessible surface, such as an open­ing for a stairway, or at a location where operating conditions require limited access to a designated area in order to guard against accidental falls.

How Feasible Is It to Remodel Your Attic?

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Remodeling your attic can not only give you much needed space for your family right now, but it adds to the future resale value of your home. So how difficult is it to turn your attic into an extra room?

Converting your unfinished attic into usable space is one way to increase the size of your home. From recreational spaces to bedrooms, the possibilities are nearly endless for an attic remodel. Before you start drawing up the plans, you should review the following things to make sure the project makes sense.

Top Green Roof Designs

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Green roofs mitigate urban heat island effect, control stormwater run-off, reduce sound reflection and transmission, and lower heating and cooling costs, as well as sustain local wildlife. They also look really, really cool.

Instead of discussing the benefits of green roofs, we are celebrating the visual appeal of these sustainable works of architecture from around the world. Included are BIG’s 8 House and TED Cube Building; Renzo Piano’s California Academy of Sciences; the Nanyang Technological University School of Art, Design, and Media; Vector Architects’ Green Technology Showroom; the OUTrial House by Robert Konieczny of KWK Promes; and Zaha Hadid’s Dongdaemun Design Park and Plaza.

Paint vs. Primer

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Understand product basics: what a primer is, what functions it serves, and how the marketing hype underserves the consumer.

The latest trend in the paint industry is "paint and primer in one," and it has proven to be quite the controversy. Technically, the only newness about it is the hyper-marketing aspect. The phrase "self-priming" has been a line item on some paint labels for decades. Indeed, some products are formulated for application directly over bare substrates, such as floor enamels and some concrete products. Given the variety of products available in the wider market of general, non-specific paint finishes, it is impossible to say which ones employ precisely which technologies. However, it is possible to understand product basics: what a primer is, what functions it serves, and how the marketing hype underserves the consumer.

Slabs for Colder Climates, Part 1: The How and Why of Frost-Protected Shallow Foundations

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As energy savings and the conservation of resources increasingly drive decision-making for homebuilders, frost-protected shallow footings offer a good method for constructing slab-on-grade foundations.

As a builder constructing townhouses, commercial buildings, and the occasional slab-on-grade (SOG) house in frigid Nebraska, I always thought it silly to dig footings half as deep as a full basement when the point of SOG construction was to spend less on foundations. A basement seemed the better value, to me, given that only token cost savings came with a slab ... until one year, while attending the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) International Builders' Show, I heard a lecture on a new (at least for me) approach to constructing slabs in northern climates that did not require footings to extend below the frost line. I immediately perked up and listened closely; it sounded like a good cost-saving measure.

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