New Construction Square Foot Costs

By Todd Fratzel on Home Improvement Cost Savings, House Plans

Every day someone asks me what is the average square foot cost for new home construction. Or they ask can you build me a house for $150 a square foot. The answer is, it depends! Trying to set a standard square foot cost for new home construction is like trying to say there is a…

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Radiant Barrier Insulation

By Todd Fratzel on Air Conditioning, Insulation

Attic Radian Barrier Radiant barrier sheathing called TechShield Radiant Barried by LP is an exciting new product. I stumbled upon this product today doing some research and I thought it was a great idea. Next to windows the roofs on our homes are a huge source of energy loss. Whether you’re trying to keep out…

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High Efficiency Gas Fireplace

By Todd Fratzel on Air Conditioning, Interior Decorating

Installing a high efficiency gas fireplace is a great way to add supplemental heat and an attractive aesthetic feature to your home. Vented gas fireplaces can operate up to 90% efficient, meaning for every dollar of gas you buy 90% of it will end up as heat in your home. Vented gas fireplaces use 100%…

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More On Winter Window Condensation

By Todd Fratzel on Windows

I’ve written about window condensation and ice a couple of times, Winter Window Condensation Problems and Winter Window Condensation. In both segments I wrote about how new energy efficient windows are also prone to these problems. I’ve received many questions about window condensation so I thought I’d review the basic problems that cause this winter…

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Save Heating Costs – Use Window Treatments

By Todd Fratzel on Energy Conservation, Home Improvement Cost Savings

Window Treatments Save Heating Costs The weather here in NH this week is COLD! It feels like January right now and the cold temperatures have me thinking about ways to save money on my energy bills. The windows in your home are probably the weakest link in the thermal envelope. By using window treatments properly…

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Snow Blower Maintenance

By Todd Fratzel on Maintanence

Last year I bought a Craftsman 10HP Snow Thrower. Tomorrow’s weather forecast is for 6″ to 18″ of snow. So today I decided to do some maintenance in preparation for the years first snow storm. Each season you should get your snow blower out prior to the first snow fall and make sure it’s in…

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Disneyland Architecture

By Todd Fratzel on Design

This week while on vacation my family spent two days at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. My 2 year old son was in heaven and my feet wanted to fall off! Anyway, the point of this post was my amazement at the architecture in the new Toon Town part of the park. Yesterday while my son…

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Design-Build – Part I

By Todd Fratzel on Design

Over the next few months I’m going to be posting information about a topic that interests me both personally and professionally; Design-build. Design-build is a construction project delivery system where the design and construction aspects are contracted for with a single entity known as the design-builder or design-build contractor. This approach is quite different compared…

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