The Journal of Light Construction articles from March 2003

The Journal of Light Construction archives from March 2003

More mold mania ahead. (Letters).
March 1, 2003... To the Editor: The story "Mold Mania" (In the News, 1/03) is strange and disturbing. One item that the article failed to point out, however, was the underlying cause for the water damage in the claimant's home. Was it a construction...

Old school lives on. (Letters).
March 1, 2003... To the Editor: I'm writing regarding the article "Metal Roofing Options" (1/03). In 1988, I installed Imperial Rib 38-inch-wide by 36-foot-long Galvalume roof panels on my own home. At the time, I explained to a company engineer that,...

Your tax dollars at work. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2003... To the Editor: I read with interest your article "Trouble-Free Foundations for Expansive Soils" (11/02). I'd like to tell your readers that the Engineering Properties and Universal Classifications of Soils is available free to virtually...

Strength of adhesive in laminated rafters. (Letters).
March 1, 2003... To the Editor: The strength of the built-up rafters described in the article "Cutting Barrel-Vault Rafters" (12/02) depends to some extent on the bond of the "construction adhesive" used between the 2x12 core and the plywood joint scabs....

Another crown jig. (Letters).
March 1, 2003... To the Editor: Eric Wachsman is right in his observations about drywall flatness at intersections (Letters, 12/02). His block will give an accurate mark. The gauge I use places the molding perfectly and shows where compromise is...

Floppy-disk cameras. (Letters).
March 1, 2003... To the Editor: Joe Stoddard's article on digital cameras (Computers, 1/03) doesn't mention floppy-disk storage cameras like the Sony Mavicas. Sure, floppies are "old" technology, but they're cheap, you can get them anywhere, and the...

Vermiculite insulation: asbestos threat? Limited EPA response sows doubt, debate. (In The News).(W.R. Grace Co.)(United States Environmental Protection Agency)
March 1, 2003... Vermiculite is a naturally occurring mineral, similar to mica, that can be "puffed" by heat to yield a low-density particulate material that has a variety of uses in industry, horticulture, and construction. It was once a popular loose-fill...

Court decision okays PEX in California. (In The News).(cross-linked polyethylene pipes)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... For years, residential plumbers in California have grappled with confusing code requirements that permit PEX water-supply plumbing in some municipalities but not others. But plumbers can now use the flexible plumbing statewide, thanks to a...

California to restrict wood-burning fireplaces. (In The News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Residents of California's Central Valley who enjoy a cheery wood fire will have to accept gas logs instead, if a proposed ban on most wood-burning fireplaces and stoves is approved as expected in April of this year. Because the bowl-like San...

Karpenters in Kilts, a Denver-area residential construction company, has drawn local fame. (Off Cuts).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Karpenters in Kilts, a Denver-area residential construction company, has drawn local fame for its on-the-job dress code. According to an article in People magazine, kilt-wearing owner Mark Ross--whose parents were born in Scotland--does not...

A Cincinnati building permit application makes 473 stops along the road to final approval. (Off Cuts).(Cincinnati, Ohio)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... A Cincinnati building permit application makes 473 stops along the road to final approval, according to a consultant hired to find ways to cut red tape and encourage development in the city. Builders have complained that seeing a permit through...

Increased cell phone use has led to more highway accidents. (Off Cuts).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Increased cell phone use has led to more highway accidents, a recent study has found, but the value people place on the convenience of drive-time calling roughly equals the accidents' cost. Drawing on existing research on cell phone use and...

I see ... a tall, dark, and handsome panel. (Off Cuts).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... I see... a tall, dark, and handsome panel. Until now, used tea leaves have been of interest mostly to fortune tellers, but that may soon change. According to Tokyo's Nikkei Weekly, a Japanese manufacturer of green tea drinks, Ito En Ltd., has...

A house in 3 1/2 hours. (In The News).
March 1, 2003... There's quick, there's really quick, and then there's blink-and-you-missed-it quick. The Shelby County, Ala., Habitat for Humanity chapter burst into that last category in December when they broke the world speed record for house construction....

Some union construction workers in northwest Ohio will begin carrying scannable ID cards attesting that they are drug free. (Off Cuts).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Some union construction workers in northwest Ohio will begin carrying scannable ID cards attesting that they are drug free. Under a program sponsored by the Northwest Ohio Great Lakes Construction Alliance, which becomes mandatory on June 1,...

OSHA had a great year in 2002. (Off Cuts).(United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... OSHA had a great year in 2002, according to a recent agency press release. During the 2002 fiscal year, which ended on September 30, the agency inspected 37,493 workplaces in the United States, exceeding its target for the year by more than...

Divorce is bad for the environment. (Off Cuts).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Divorce is bad for the environment, according to a recent study in the journal Nature. The authors of the study found that a worldwide trend toward smaller households means that new housing units are being built at a rate exceeding population...

R-20 and translucent: here comes aerogel. (In The News).(Kalwall Corp.)(Cabot Corp.)
March 1, 2003... Imagine an R-20 wall or ceiling that lets in sunlight. Kalwall Inc. has developed a sandwich panel made with two layers of tough plastic glazing material around an insulating core of Nanogel, a proprietary granular version of the lightweight...

Rebuilding rotted windows. (Q&A).
March 1, 2003... Q. As a handyman, one of the problems I see most often is rotted wood trim on windows and doors (for example, brick moldings, sills, and the bottoms of side jambs). Moldings are not usually a difficult fix, but repairing or replacing wood...

Detailing your scope-of-work. (Business).
March 1, 2003... Sorry, but that's not in my bid." What contractor doesn't cringe upon hearing those words from a sub? Picture yourself driving to the site to meet your new plumbing contractor, who's due to start the underground rough-in for the spec home...

Liability insurance and indemnification. (Legal).
March 1, 2003... A contractor recently approached me with the following question: "My liability insurance company says I must have indemnification or hold-harmless clauses in all of my contracts with my customers and my subs. What's the deal with that?" ...

Water-managed wall systems: show water to the exit with a well-detailed drainage plane and flashings. (Cover Story).
March 1, 2003... In the top photo in Figure 1, next page, I'm conducting a sophisticated engineering test on the rain holdout characteristics of a cladding material. I'm spraying the brick veneer wall of a garage with a garden hose. I have a wager going with...

14.4-volt cordless drill-drivers: Brute strength and extended run-times are crowd pleasers, but don't overlook the importance of light clutch settings for fine work.
March 1, 2003... For this article, I tested ten professional-grade tools from nine different manufacturers: Bosch, DeWalt, Hilti, Hitachi, Makita, Metabo, Milwaukee, Panasonic, and Porter-Cable. I chose to focus on the 14.4-volt tools because they're a...

Getting contractor discounts: understanding dealer margins and market opportunities will help you negotiate the lowest material prices.
March 1, 2003... Builders consider discounts to be the most highly valued service offered by material suppliers. Talk to any builder and it's price-price-price that drives the sale. Dealers hate that attitude. They consider building a home a complicated...

Relining old chimneys: using an inflatable form and poured cementitious liner restores old chimneys to better than new.
March 1, 2003... As a sweep and masonry chimney relining contractor in eastern North Carolina, I'm constantly amazed at the misconceptions people have about older chimneys. Many people imagine that they're impervious masonry structures that don't require any...

Tiling over a laminate countertop: make sure the plastic laminate is firmly bedded to the substrate and use a compatible thinset adhesive and an uncoupling membrane.
March 1, 2003... Not every kitchen remodel requires a pull-and-replace approach, especially if the existing cabinets are in good shape. Where that's the case, a nice-looking tile job can be a cost-effective way to dress things up. In the project described here,...

The business of building green: for a builder who understands the ground rules, working for environment-conscious customers can be a profitable market niche.
March 1, 2003... Although the term "green building" is relatively new, I've been an environmentally conscious builder since the mid 1970s, when I started a business building solar greenhouses and sunrooms in eastern Rhode Island. My original one-man enterprise...

When a double vanity just won't fit. (Kitchen & Bath).
March 1, 2003... The National Kitchen & Bath Association's (NKBA's) Bathroom Planning Guidelines provide practical dimensional requirements for every fixture used in the bathroom, along with the floor space required around fixtures and vanities. Of the 41...

Bed rest. (Products).
March 1, 2003... If unloading your debris-laden pickup with gloves and a shovel isn't your idea of a good time, the Load Hog might be the labor saver you've been looking for. The Load Hog mounts invisibly under the bed and converts a standard full-size pickup...

Versatile blade. (Products).
March 1, 2003... While the possibility of a tool that cuts through concrete and steel with the same blade might seem too good to be true, the Power Twister Diamond Blade is designed to do just that, with ease and efficiency. According to the manufacturer, the...

Long-lasting chalk. (Products).
March 1, 2003... If your chalk is fading fast, a new heavy-duty formula promises to stick around three times longer than the typical lumberyard variety. Available in 2.5-pound ($14.50) and 8-ounce ($3.20) bottles, Super Chalk comes in black, red, and blue, and...

Door and window foam. (Products).
March 1, 2003... Expanding foam effectively air-seals windows and doors but can easily get out of hand, sealing the unit shut by bowing the jamb. Great Stuff Pro Window & Door Foam's low-pressure formula is specifically designed for sealing around windows and...

Better deck. (Products).
March 1, 2003... Hidden-fastener decks may be all the rage, but installing the fasteners definitely adds time to the job. The Correct-Ty, coupled with a new fiber-composite, groove-and-groove CorrectDeck decking board achieves a fastener-flee deck without...

Affordable stilts. (Products).
March 1, 2003... The biggest obstacle preventing most builders from buying a pair of stilts hasn't been learning to walk all over again but the prohibitive price on most professional-quality products. With a street price of around $250, Warner's new Hi-Stride...

Watch your back. (Products).
March 1, 2003... Backing into a homeowner's Mercedes doesn't do much for customer relations; your insurance company probably wouldn't be pleased, either. Microwave technology now exists to prevent such a mishap, by alerting a driver to any approaching obstacle....

Smooth drywall finish. (Products).
March 1, 2003... It usually takes a skim coat of joint compound to achieve the smoothest drywall finish, but a recently introduced spray-on product approaches the same level of finish in a shorter time. Tuff-Hide, a high-build spray-on primer, provides a...

Mold-resistant drywall. (Products).
March 1, 2003... It's not surprising that mold loves drywall; the paper facing provides a nutritious and easily digestible food source. According to the manufacturer, DensArmor gypsum panels are faced with an inorganic fiberglass mat that won't support the...

Curve-hugging wall angle. (Products).
March 1, 2003... Support columns and curved walls make installing a dropped ceiling a lot tougher. It's especially difficult to apply conventional straight wall angle to those curves. However, Flex-Grid Angle goes around the curves without notching, piecing, or...

Ladder lockdown. (Products).
March 1, 2003... It doesn't matter whether it's gravity or a thief, losing a ladder off your truck's rack can be a real downer. The Hook-Um Dano ladder lock prevents equipment loss to either cause and installs in seconds without tools, according to the maker....

Better moldings. (Products).
March 1, 2003... Moldings have been going through a period of compromise for the last 100 years. Shrinking profiles and "value engineering" have resulted in modern moldings that don't measure up to the originals. But a "new" line of classic profiles promises to...

Premium patio doors. (Products).
March 1, 2003... If a 6-foot patio door doesn't quite measure up to your client's taste, maybe an entire folding glass wall would be more appealing. Using high-quality adjustable European hardware, Opening Glass Walls are offered in both in-swing and out-swing...

Luminescent level. (Products).
March 1, 2003... Torpedo levels are standard equipment for hvac techs, electricians, and plumbers and also work well for carpentry tasks like installing accessories and leveling shelves. For the low-light situations that mechanical trades are often faced with,...

New 12-inch compound miter saw from Ridgid. (Toolbox).(Product/Service Evaluation)
March 1, 2003... Working as a trim carpenter, finishing custom single-family homes and luxury condominiums in Stowe, Vt., I give my sliding compound miter saw a daily workout. The finish work I do includes elaborate trim and custom cabinetry, so the ability to...

Fitting post to stone, teriyaki style. (Backfill).
March 1, 2003... On a recent project, my crew and I incorporated a number of traditional Japanese building features, including a series of turned, structural cedar posts bearing on natural fieldstone footings. The posts support a wide roof overhang, which sheds...