Archives: Structure

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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Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficient Windows

By Todd Fratzel on Windows

Federal Tax Credits – Stimulus Funds The latest round of Federal Stimulus Money has created federal tax credits for home owners that install energy efficient windows. So if you plan on replacing some windows while you renovate an existing home there is a nice Federal Tax Credit worth up to $1,500 for energy efficient windows…

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DC Rowhouse | Guest Blogger

By Todd Fratzel on Remodeling

Occasionally I read a home improvement related blog and want to share the site with my readers. So I’ve decided to start publishing a few guest blog posts. Most of these posts will likely be written as an introduction to the blog. If these are successful then I’ll make them a regular part of the…

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Brick Facade Over Metal Stud Framing

By Todd Fratzel on Masonry

Brick Facade & Metal Studs Brick facades and metal stud framing are becoming increasingly popular in commercial and residential construction. This type of construction is popular for several reasons including speed, cost and performance. I’ve written several posts recently documenting the metal stud framing, Densglass Exterior Sheathing and the Masonry Flashing Details. In this post…

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Preparing Metal Stud Walls For Masonry

By Todd Fratzel on Framing, Insulation

Metal Stud Walls & Masonry Recently I wrote an article, Metal Studs with Densglass Sheating and Foam Board Insulation, which showed how we framed an exterior wall with metal studs then applied Densglass Exterior Sheathing followed by a layer of foam board insulation. This was all in preparation for a final layer of exterior masonry…

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Mold Growing On North Facing Deck

By Todd Fratzel on Decks & Porches

Deck Mold Growth Our new home has maintenance free siding, trim, windows and doors. However, we decided to “splurge” a bit on the decks so we installed beautiful Cambara decking (Cambara or Erbina uncinatum is a beautiful hardwood with straight clear grains similar to mahogany). In fact we installed the Cambara on the farmers porch…

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