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.

Foam Board Insulation R Values

By Todd Fratzel on Insulation

Foam Board Insulation Types I’ve written several posts about how to insulation basement walls in which I promote the use of foam board insulation as the first line of defense against moisture and mold. Because of this I often get questions about which type of foam board insulation to use and what R values these…

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iPhone DIY Concrete Application

By Todd Fratzel on Foundations

iPhone Concrete Application Recently I was asked to help out with some Imperial volume conversions for a cool new iPhone Application, DIY Concrete,  that helps the user with calculating volume and pricing of concrete. If you own an iPhone and you work with concrete either professionally or with DIY projects then you’ll want to check…

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Diamond Polishing Concrete Slabs

By Todd Fratzel on Foundations

Polished Commercial Building Slabs We are completing a 36,000 sq. ft. commercial building for a client and on of the exciting new construction techniques that we’re using is diamond polishing of the slab. Traditionally a large building like this would have the slab coated with an epoxy finish to protect the slab from liquid spills…

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DIY Fruit Fly Trap

By Todd Fratzel on Maintanence

Fruit Flies It seems our house has been overrun with fruit flies this fall with all the garden vegetables fruit in the house. So we built a DIY fruit fly trap to try and reduce the “herd”. My wife read about making a fruit fly trap from a water bottle so we gave it a…

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DIY PEX Plumbing

By Todd Fratzel on Plumbing

Do-It-Yourself PEX Plumbing PEX is cross-linked polyethylene tubing used for both domestic water supply tubing and hot water heating systems. As you can see in this photo our new home was built with PEX tubing for all the hot and cold domestic water supply lines throughout the house. PEX water lines offer many benefits compared…

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WORX GT WG151.1 18-Volt Cordless Electric Lithium-Ion String Trimmer

By Todd Fratzel on Power Tools

WORX Cordless String Trimmer Lithium-Ion cordless tools have changed the tool industry drastically. Longer lasting more powerful batteries results in more cordless tool options. This has resulted in some great new tools like the WORX GT WG151.1 18-Volt Cordless Electric Lithium-Ion String Trimmer/Edger WIth One Battery. String Trimmer Features The new WORX string trimmer /…

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Home Depot 1 Year Tree Guarantee

By Todd Fratzel on Trees & Plants

Home Depot Tree Guarantee Last month I wrote a post on How To Plant Trees which was sponsored by the folks at The Home Depot. I explained in that article that The Home Depot has a great 1 year guarantee on plants and trees. Well wouldn’t you know that two of the trees I recently…

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Black & Decker 12V Cordless Drill Review

By Todd Fratzel on Product Reviews

Smart Select Technology Black & Decker has a new line of cordless tools that use the SmartSelect Technology. Black & Decker is helping take the guess work out of setting the proper drill speed for optimum performance. This is an especially useful feature for many DIY home improvement folks and homeowners. SmartSelect Technology Features: Select…

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