I love following this story, notably because I’ve been doing the same thing to my own home for the last several years. And I think remodeling existing homes is about a million times greener than building new ones. Anyway, my house is older and of a different construction type (terra cotta block) than Jeff’s, but we’re dealing with a lot of the same things, including rotting wood as shown here.

I like that we get to see the guts of the house–this is where the action is. And nice detail is explained here:

This image also illustrates how sheathing (the outer layer of a building’s framework) was applied in the 1940s and why buildings from that era are so drafty. As you can see, these 1×6 boards were applied on a diagonal, leaving a decent-sized gap between each board. This allows air to infiltrate the building envelope, letting your conditioned air out and unconditioned air in. This is part of the reason your house feels drafty and dry in the wintertime (cold, dry outdoor air seeping in and your humidity and heat seeping out) and uncomfortably sticky and warm in the summertime (dry, cool, air-conditioned air seeping out and hot, humid outdoor air seeping in).

I want to add to this caption though because I think there’s a lot going on in this little photo.

First, the caption is correct as it relates to air movement, but kind of misses the mark with regard to how houses were built back then. Buildings from the 1940s aren’t drafty because they have 1-by sheathing. They’re drafty because they don’t have any insulation. What’s more, those diagonal sheathing boards (Trivia: anyone know why they were installed that way?) weren’t installed with gaps. When the carpenters nailed them off, those boards were butted together. However, they were probably green (More trivia: who knows what “green” used to mean?). As they dried, they shrunk. That’s where the gaps come from. It’s secondary that air leaks through them.

Generally speaking plywood and house-wrap are a more impervious system to air movement (but not temperature). The plywood creates a barrier with fewer gaps that wind can push through. House wrap holds water out to a degree but lets air pass, enabling the house to breath–very, very important.

Looking forward to the next chapter in the project.

Mark Clement is host of MyFititUpLife and the tool and how-to ace for DIYNetwork.

I have a long and very involved rant on roofs and how they’re a completely over-looked and undervalued design element of a home improvement project (whether that’s a new house or a remodel or a roof replacement.) There are lots if tentacles on this hydra, so lets grab hold of the Cool Roof tentacle and take it for a ride. There’s more to come.

DaVinci Roofscapes Eco-Blend tiles being installed on a Homes For Our Troops project.

OK, roofs are often heat sinks. They absorb heat from the sun (solar gain), making it harder for the home to stay cool. That hot area above a home’s occupied space is called a “heat island.” In other words, a hot roof and/or attic space is sort of akin to the broiler in your oven, adding heat to your house from the top down, increasing the energy needed to cool it. Decrease the amount of heat building up in your roof system and decrease the energy required to cool it, right?

DaVinci’s RoofScapes’ new EcoBlend tiles can save 7-15% of total cooling costs while still looking great and being among the most durable shingles on the market. How? Color.

EcoBlend tiles in Weathered Gray and Castle Gray—which can be ordered for any DaVinci RoofScapes product—meet the Cool Roof Rating Council’s criteria for a cool roof, one which reflects sunlight away from the home making the actual surface of the roof and the interior space cooler. What’s more, Cool Roof requirements meet or exceed initial ENERGY STAR requirements and qualify for LEED’s Heat Island Effect points.

Cool, durable, beautiful…nice combination.

Mark Clement is co-host of MyFixItUpLife and tool expert for DIYNetwork.com. 

So I am the only one beside himself with frustration over the newer, lighter and forever tangled, snagged or wrapped around my foot gun hoses? Fifty feet of frustration.

Most of the majors are selling them so I can’t even throw one company under the bus. Stretched out they barely lay flat. But you can’t coil them worth a darn either. Tell me I’m not alone.

Mark Clement is host of MyFixitUpLife and the tool and how-to ace for DIYNetwork.

So unless you live under a rock you’ve heard the buzz, the world is going to end: Denzel Washington’s Book of Eli, Cormack McCarthy’s The Road show us fictitious future-scapes. A little more down to earth, of course, we have the recession. However, if you change you business model like George Welhalf, well, things might just start looking up. Check this out from Philadelphia Magazine:

As long as the world keeps ending, business will be good for George Welhaf Jr. His company, Green Eye Technology in Feasterville, PA sells high-end underground shelters to customers who think they might eventually need to live — in style — beneath the Earth’s surface for as long as five years. These aren’t your father’s bomb shelters: The fiberglass modules run from $150,000 for a modest family unit up to many millions for fancier models. For one client in West Virginia, Green Eye buried a dome 60 feet in diameter and two stories high, containing a 25-seat movie theater, office space, and tunnels to kitchen and bedroom space for 25 people.

“We customized that installation, because our client didn’t actually need living space for 25. They only needed room for a husband, a wife and a dog,” says Welhaf, 60, who switched to underground shelters about five years ago, as his old business — building high-end homes (he was in Plasterers’ Union Local 8 for about 20 years) — grew stagnant.

Welhaf counts it as a good career move. “We’ve done work for music industry executives and stars, for sports figures — really, really well-known people,” he says. Of course, he won’t name names. “We don’t even keep the records of our clients in the building. They’re at my lawyer’s because of confidentiality.” One client, Welhaf says, went so far as to fly the whole installation crew from the U.S. to Australia so as not to tip off any fellow Aussies. Others get creative in camouflaging the entrances to their subterranean lairs. “One fellow set it up like a little cemetery,” Welhaf recalls. The trapdoor? A remote-control hatch hidden among prop tombstones.

So, um, what do these people know that we don’t? “I pretty much try to stay away from asking why. I try not to build on their concerns,” Welhaf says. “By the time someone calls, the level of concern is there. I don’t need to convince anybody.” Green Eye advertises in upscale magazines like the duPont Registry and Robb Report, but the best marketing, he says, is done for him — “CNN, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, with all this Armageddon stuff, Nostradamus.”

In the end, though (so to speak), Welhaf is an optimist, a survivalist only when it comes to his business, which he runs with his two sons. “I don’t live every day worrying,” he says. “It’s hard to build a business that you hope will have a long-term future if you think the world is going to end in 2012.”

Mark Clement is host of MyFixitUpLife and the tool and how-to ace for DIYNetwork.

We all know what the answer to this question is supposed to be: an unqualified, “Why yes. I love safety glasses and wear them all the time.”

Of course, reality is a little trickier. Many find safety glasses an unqualified pain in the butt. They get covered with dust, they slip off, whatever.

What’s your view?

Mark Clement is host of MyFixitUpLife and the tool and how-to ace for DIYNetwork.

The battle line between worm drive and sidewinder circ saws is usually cut by the Mississippi River with worm drives being a West-Of preference and sidewinders being a East Of go to.The reason for this has more to do with the history of how the tools were marketed and sold way back when.

I’m and East Coast guy and have used both. And since we all have one or the other, which is your go-to. And why?

Mark Clement is host of MyFixitUpLife and the tool and how-to ace for DIYNetwork.

There’s a business phrase I’ve heard kicked around the bar after work: If it doesn’t make money it costs money. And I’m in business to make money.

A website costs money. It costs money to create it (don’t even bother, by the way, unless you’re going to do a good one), it costs money to run it, and it costs money to update it.

But does it make money for you? Do you get that extra deck–or ALL your decks–because of it? Does it help you sell jobs? Does it give prospective clients a way to check you out before they call you? Do you track the hits and where they come from? Has it paid for the camera you use to take the awesome photos that make your awesome site awesome?

Or, does your phone ring because your name gets passed through the original “web,” one called the grapevine?

Mark Clement is host of MyFixitUpLife and the tool and how-to ace for DIYNetwork.

I hate to say it, but in doing estimates over the years, I’ve become something of a profiler.

As much as I want to give everybody a chance, the other edge of that sword is: stereotypes exist for a reason–often because they’re grounded in truth. Now, I’m not talking about racial/ethnic stuff. I’m talking about the way certain people comport themselves that indirectly give me information about how our business is going to go. because once I have an idea of who I’m dealing with I can use that information to help strike a balance that works for both parties.

So, whenever I hear someone utter the phrase: “Can you sharpen your pencil?” I know I’m dealing with a cheapskate.

Whenever someone says: “I’m ready to start yesterday” then I cant get them on the phone the next day (or week) to confirm information for the proposal, I know I’m being lied to and that they’re almost surely taking other bids.

What one-liners that give you the heebie-jeebies?

Mark Clement is host of MyFixitUpLife and the tool and how-to ace for DIYNetwork.

One thing about being in the business of homes is that you need to not only know how to build things, but how to read people–and quickly. It’s sort of like playing poker…you look for “tells” that indicate the kind of relationship you’re likely to have with the customer. And, maybe more importantly, whether the client is a match for your services.

The best clients I’ve ever had are really involved up front–they know the colors, styles, general sizes of things–and I can tweak or add/subtract to what they’ve already thought hard about. The worst clients, on the other hand, are the opposite. Their “tell” is how little they pay attention and how poorly they communicate.

For example, when I’ve scheduled a time to meet with a customer and during the meeting they’re chasing their dog, answering their phone, talking to the neighbor–all while I’m trying to rough-in a $50,000 project–I can see the light glimmering from the freight train coming down the tunnel.

I get that people are busy. I am too. That’s why we schedule these things and I don’t just randomly come over. If a homeowner doesn’t have the time or respect to be present during that time–remember, this their home, not mine–the usual outcome from such behavior is bad for everyone, but mostly for the contractor:

~ You have to write several bids and still maybe not get the work.

~ You risk losing the job to another contractor the homeowner shared different information with which renders your bid incomplete and obsolete.

~ Assuming you get the job, the customer–once they see it coming together–will find a reason to complain and start holding back the money. And the reason for this is because they were paying attention in the first place…they didn’t contribute during the design meeting, they didn’t read your bid before they signed it, the thought you said something else.

Far and away, these are the minority of my customers, but they exist and they’re trouble. Sometimes they should just be fired so you can focus on the customers who can focus on the work.

What can you tell me?

Mark Clement is host of MyFixitUpLife and the tool and how-to ace for DIYNetwork.

So I actually built a deck once where the homeowner told me he sourced the posts from his local utility. It looked it: they were creosote soaked logs…you know…telephone poles. Big, bad, and boss. I loved working with them.

He told me he got them for free, that in fact his local utility was happy to see them go. I was sure happy to use them. While they were massively heavy, they created a distinct look.

Recently I bid a deck project that was pretty high off the ground and because an under-deck drainage system is in play to create a dry area beneath the deck, I started thinking that your basic 6×6 might be upgraded here to create a cool design.

Turns out a web search for free Southern Pine, Cedar, or Fir was a strike-out. However, it did turn up a couple of companies that preserve pilings, however, and its not your local lumber yard. I would also check with Southern Pine Council or the Western Red Cedar Lumber Association directly to see what they know. So whether you’re building a beach house, seawall, retaining wall, or looking to pack some punch under a tall deck, think big.

Mark Clement is host of MyFixitUpLife and the tool and how-to ace for DIYNetwork.