About the author

Todd Fratzel

I'm full time builder for a large construction company in New Hampshire. I run their design-build division that specializes in custom homes, commercial design-build projects and sub-divisions. I'm also a licensed civil and structural engineer with extensive experience in civil and structural design and home construction. My hope is that I can share my experience in the home construction, home improvement and home renovation profession with other builders and home owners. I'm also the Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Tool Box Buzz. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, suggestions or you'd like to inquire about advertising on this site.

Today’s Green Construction Blog

By Todd Fratzel on Green Building

I’d like to announce a new blog that I’ve started, Today’s Green Construction. This green construction blog will focus on this exciting area of the construction industry. Almost every project we work on today has some component that’s considered green or sustainable design. There is no doubt that the green construction movement is quickly gaining…

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$20,000 Home Landscape Makeover

By Todd Fratzel on Landscaping

Tonight I was reading one of the gardening magazines we receive and I spotted another giveaway I wanted to share with you. Go visit Forever & Ever Hydrangea and enter their landscaping giveaway. You don’t have to buy anything to enter and all entries must be submitted by September 3, 2008. I know we could…

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How To Install Pocket Doors

By Todd Fratzel on Doors

Installing Pocket Doors Installing a pocket door isn’t very complicated. Pocket doors offer a great design solution for tight spaces that don’t have sufficient room for the door to swing open. Pocket doors also free up wall space where a door might otherwise swing open. We see the use of pocket doors more and more…

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Panasonic EY6432GQKW 15.6-Volt NiMH 1/2-Inch Cordless Drill/Driver Kit

By Todd Fratzel on Power Tools

Panasonic 1/2 Inch Cordless Drill The Panasonic EY6432GQKW 15.6-Volt NiMH 1/2-Inch Cordless Drill/Driver Kit is a really great cordless drill kit. We recently bought one of these drills for the crew at work and I’ve heard nothing but compliments. The Panasonic Cordless Drill Kit features: 15.6-volt Ni-MH 1/2-inch cordless drill/driver kit with keyless chuck Compact…

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What Size is Your Carbon Footprint?

By Todd Fratzel on Green Building

Lately I’ve been talking about solar power, alternative energy and figuring out how on earth we’re going to get away from oil. I thought it would be fun to use one of the free carbon footprint calculators to see what our household carbon footprint is. Obviously these are very approximate measures but it’s an easy…

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Connecting A Gutter Downspout to Foundation Drain

By Todd Fratzel on Landscaping

Gutter Drains – Connecting To Foundation Drains Rain gutters are one of the best defenses for protecting your home from water damage. However, the volume of water they collect can be very large and that water has to be dealt with properly or the gutters will only push the problem somewhere else. In this article…

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Our Home’s Energy Use Benchmark

By Todd Fratzel on Energy Conservation

Today I was doing some research on how much fuel we used to heat our home last year so that we can use that information to analyze the solar hot water design. We used 1,054 gallons of propane to cook, make domestic hot water and heat our home last year. I was curious if that…

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Ladder Safety

By Todd Fratzel on Power Tools, Safety

I drove by a house yesterday with some guys painting and it reminded me of how many people do unsafe things with ladders. I’m sure you’ve all seen this photo of the guy changing a light bulb using some scary scaffolding and a pickup truck. And I’m also sure that most of you have probably…

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