The Journal of Light Construction articles from May 2003

The Journal of Light Construction archives from May 2003

Nails as brick ties? (Letters).
May 1, 2003... To the Editor: In the article "Water-Managed Wall Systems" (3/03), the brick veneer cavity wall detail lacks an important component to ensure proper drainage through weep holes in the bottom course of brick. The product called Mortar Net...

Questions brick ties. (Letters).
May 1, 2003... To the Editor: Thanks for the great article by Joe Lstiburek ("Water-Managed Wall Systems," 3/03). I wondered, though, why the brick veneer wall was illustrated with nails as wall ties. Wall ties give lateral support to a thin masonry wall...

Rainscreen siding details. (Letters).
May 1, 2003... To the Editor: I read Joseph Lstiburek's "Water-Managed Wall Systems" with great interest. His comment that today's #15 and #30 felts do not perform as the old-style asphalt-impregnated felts did is a condemnation of the constant search...

What to do with Vermiculite Insulation. (Letters).
May 1, 2003... To the Editor: After reading your article "Vermiculite Insulation: Asbestos Threat?" (In the News, 3/03), I looked at a job renovating an attic and noticed that the previous builder had used vermiculite insulation. I was wondering what...

Safety first, please. (Letters).
May 1, 2003... To the Editor: How many times do we safety-conscious contractors need to write in to tell you that you have a hazard on your front cover (3/03)? Safety glasses on the saw stand, not on his face! And tell me he is not making a cut with his...

Bathroom design by magic. (Letters).
May 1, 2003... To the Editor: In the article "When a Double Vanity Just Won't Fit" (Kitchen & Bath, 3/03), you solve a vanity problem in the way we all wish we could, by bending the laws of physics. Look closely at the two vanity drawings on page 109 and...

Post haste. (Letters).
May 1, 2003... To the Editor: Regarding "Fitting Post to Stone, Teriyaki Style" (Backfill, 3/03), were I the building inspector or owner's representative, I'd reject this work. There is no provision to adequately resist vertical lift due to frost heave...

Jamsill misidentified. (Letters).
May 1, 2003... To the Editor: I read Joe Lstiburek's article ("Water-Managed Wall Systems," 3/03) with great interest. His expertise on water intrusion in the building industry is very evident. I was taken aback, however, when I saw a picture of my...

Swelling of OSB roof panels. (Letters).
May 1, 2003... To the Editor: The writer who has trouble with OSB swelling (Q&A, 4/03) failed to mention whether he spaces the OSB as per manufacturer recommendations. It has been our experience that when the recommended 1/8-inch space is left at all...

Wood dust listed as cancer cause: Fine hardwood dust may cause rare nasal cancers, but risk is low. (In The News).
May 1, 2003... The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Toxicology Program has listed wood dust as a known cause of cancer in its Tenth Report on Carcinogens, released in December 2002. The U.S. lags behind international listings: The...

EPA phase II stormwater rules get off to stumbling start. (In The News).(United States Environmental Protection Agency)
May 1, 2003... Under 1987 changes to the federal Clean Water Act, contractors who expose more than five acres of soil have long been subject to Phase I of the Environmental Protection Agency's Nonpoint Pollution Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES...

Testing septic alternatives. (In The News).(Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Where conventional septic tanks and leach fields fall short, new technology can sometimes do the trick. Sand filters, biofilters, and other active systems can produce effluent as clean as a modern sewage treatment facility can and may overcome...

New Mexico lawmakers are considering a bill to take away zoning powers. (OffCuts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... New Mexico lawmakers are considering a bill to take away zoning powers from Albuquerque, Las Cruces, and Santa Fe for the five-mile belts that surround the three cities, according to a report in the Albuquerque Journal. The cities now share...

Wood I-joist market share may be peaking. (OffCuts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Wood I-joist market share may be peaking, said a report in the March 7 Random Lengths newsletter. I-joist production grew in 2002 at 6.0%, less than the 6.8% increase in single-family home starts. The engineered members seem to have barely...

A construction defects bill in the Colorado legislature. (OffCuts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... A construction defects bill in the Colorado legislature is creating sharp controversy, according to press reports. A provision that requires homeowners to give builders a chance to remedy problems has been accepted, but lawmakers are struggling...

The Atlanta Home Builders Association is suing the city over slow permit service. (OffCuts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The Atlanta Home Builders Association is suing the city over slow permit service, according to a report in the Atlanta Business Chronicle. The Association says that Atlanta has collected permit fees without providing permits within a reasonable...

Tearing down a half million barracks, army looks to salvage wood. (In The News).
May 1, 2003... Between 1938 and 1944, the U.S. army built close to 500,000 "temporary" wooden barracks to house the millions of men who were mobilized to fight World War II. Fifty years later, most of those "T buildings" are still standing on army posts...

New incentives spark solar electric resurgence. (In The News).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The photovoltaic industry took a dive when energy tax credits were revoked after the Carter administration left office in 1980. But in the wake of electric utility deregulation, incentives are back in a new form. In many instances, small...

Developers in Arizona are upset about a federal plan to set aside 1.2 million acres as critical habitat for the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl. (OffCuts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Developers in Arizona are upset about a federal plan to set aside 1.2 million acres as critical habitat for the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, reports the Associated Press. The Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the owl as an endangered...

Fort Wayne's 2003 Parade of Homes has been cancelled this year after only one builder signed up. (OffCuts).(Indiana)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Fort Wayne's 2003 Parade of Homes has been cancelled this year after only one builder signed up to build a house for the event, according to the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. HBA director Maurine Holle told the paper that builders were being more...

The governments of Dallas and Fort Worth are pressing their legislators to allow the cities to regulate where modular housing can be located. (OffCuts).(Texas)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The governments of Dallas and Fort Worth are pressing their legislators to allow the cities to regulate where modular housing can be located. Cities can already restrict HUD-code "trailer home" siting through zoning, but factory-built houses...

The Newark Star-Ledger says New Jersey governor James McGreevey has asked lawmakers to give towns the right to levy impact fees. (OffCuts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The Newark Star-Ledger says New Jersey governor James McGreevey has asked lawmakers to give towns the right to levy impact fees. Under the proposal, towns would also be allowed to require "transfer of development rights," a scheme under which...

A top Florida insurer has stopped issuing new workers' comp policies. (OffCuts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... A top Florida insurer has stopped issuing new workers' comp policies and is not renewing policies that expire, according to the Miami Herald. The Hartford made the move days after a 21% rate hike was rejected by state regulators. Builders...

New tax laws are turning some people into "serial home buyers,". (OffCuts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... New tax laws are turning some people into "serial home buyers," according to the New York Times. Changes in the IRS code that made capital gains on sale of a primary residence tax-free after two years in the home have motivated some homeowners...

Extractive bleeding on cedar siding. (Q&A).
May 1, 2003... Q. I recently installed 20,000 square feet of 1/2x4-inch cedar siding, rough side out, on a project in Connecticut. The exterior wall construction was 6-inch metal steel studs sheathed with 5/8-inch exterior plywood and covered with building...

Controlling costs with design-build. (Business).
May 1, 2003... Sooner or later, any contractor-architect relationship risks foundering on the shores of pricing. It's inevitable. What the architect wants the project to cost and what the contractor fears it will cost occasionally cannot be reconciled. This...

When a promise becomes a warranty. (Legal).
May 1, 2003... Express warranties are written or verbal promises the builder makes about the outcome of his work. For example, the contractor might promise that a roof will last 15 years, that a home office will be wired for modern technology, or that a lawn...

Framing an octagonal roof: bell-shaped rafters call for full-scale layout.
May 1, 2003... Last summer, contractor Scott Babcock asked me to flame an eight-sided, bell-curve cupola roof as part of a large home he was building. Given a choice, I'll take roof flaming over any other project, and a roof like this one doesn't come along...

Smarter site work with geosynthetics: use these versatile materials to reduce erosion, improve drainage, and boost the bearing capacity of the soil.
May 1, 2003... Excavation and site work are an important cost category on many construction jobs. Early in the job, they're also a major unknown--you can never be absolutely sure what's down there until you start digging. Those underground unknowns can...

Become an award-winning builder: winning awards takes time and effort, but it's a great way to add marketing muscle and boost company morale.
May 1, 2003... If you read trade magazines and other publications geared to builders, you already know that there are all kinds of local, regional, and national awards programs for excellence in building and remodeling. On the surface, these might seem like...

Working with flexible trim: bendable polyester moldings make difficult radius trim jobs more affordable.
May 1, 2003... As a finish carpentry subcontractor, I've been thrown a lot of curves lately by the builders in my area. Curved walls, turret entries, and oval hallway soffits are becoming the norm. A few years ago, our crew might have used flexible baseboard...

Fixed-base routers: with precision height adjustment and variable-speed soft-start control, the new fixed-base models will make you wonder why you ever wanted a plunge router. (Tool Test).
May 1, 2003... Until recently, new plunge routers came out every year, but fixed-base models seemed frozen in time. Most tool companies made fixed-base routers, but there wasn't much innovation because Porter-Cable completely dominated the market. As a...

High-tech office in a truck.
May 1, 2003... Our company has been in business in the mid-peninsula region of the San Francisco Bay area for 20 years. Our primary focus is on high-end kitchen and bath remodeling, but we've also recently begun installing home theaters for our high-end...

Share and share alike: setting up a file server. (Computers).
May 1, 2003... Computers are cheaper than ever, which means contractors can afford one for each hand, some for their employees, and a couple of spares. That's the good news. The bad news is that multiple computers equal multiple Excedrin headaches when it...

Finding a home for the microwave. (Kitchen & bath).
May 1, 2003... You don't have to be a certified kitchen designer to notice that the microwave oven is typically treated like a leftover part. Ridiculous, because microwaves have long since grown from toaster-oven size to that of whole-turkey zappers. Unless...

High-strength underlayment. (Products).
May 1, 2003... With compressive strength from 6,000 to 8,000 psi, USG's Proflow Gypsum-Based Floor Underlayment is suitable for commercial and other heavy-duty, high-traffic applications. The self-leveling product can be stamped or decoratively finished or...

Low-slope roof solution. (Products).
May 1, 2003... Suitable as a finish roofing, LeakBarrier Mineral-Surface Cap Sheet is a peel-and-stick membrane for low-slope residential and commercial applications. The fiberglass-reinforced membrane is coated with ceramic granules for UV resistance and...

Router tables. (Products).
May 1, 2003... Promising to make job-site routing easier and safer, the Wolfcraft Model 540 Bench-Top Router Table features a 570-square-inch work surface and a heavy-duty aluminum top. According to the maker, the table can accommodate most routers without an...

New roof nailer. (Products).
May 1, 2003... With 20% more power than its predecessor, the Paslode R175-C Roof Nailer drives fasteners from 7/8 to 13/4 inches. Weighing in at less than 6 pounds, the new nailer sports a rubber-covered, contoured handle, a two-finger trigger, and an...

Easy rainscreen. (Products).
May 1, 2003... After attending a seminar on providing a drainage plane and an air space behind wood siding, I decided to try the technique on our next project--a 4,000-square-foot ranch sided with cedar shingles and channel-rustic lap siding. I started...

Better knuckle buster. (Products).
May 1, 2003... Tubing cutters are among the simplest of tools. A sharpened wheel is rotated around the. tubing until it cuts through. Close quarters require a mini cutter, a tiny version of the same tool. The tradeoff is an uncomfortably small knob for...

Frozen pipe protection. (Products).
May 1, 2003... Frozen pipes spell disaster for builders and homeowners alike. The FreezeAlarm alerts homeowners when the indoor temperature in an unoccupied home drops below 45[degrees]F. The alarm automatically dials up to three programmed telephone numbers...

Coping mechanism. (Products).
May 1, 2003... Coffered ceilings and other cope-intensive details can be made faster and more accurately with a new purpose-built tool. The Copemaster works something like a key-duplicating machine: It uses a perfectly coped piece of molding to reproduce...

Little level. (Products).
May 1, 2003... If your torpedo level isn't quite big enough and your 2-footer is a little too big, Empire's 1-foot Magnetic Level should be just right. The extruded aluminum flame has a full-length magnet on one side and a V-grooved edge on the other. Durable...

Instant hand rail. (Products).
May 1, 2003... These days, many building products arrive on the job site ready to install, but perhaps the most astonishing is the preassembled Wonderail Handrail System. The 34-inch-high rail system is shipped completely factory-assembled, including red oak...

Wet floor fix. (Products).
May 1, 2003... Most flooring manufacturers won't recommend installing their products on a concrete surface with a moisture vapor transmission (MVT) rate in excess of three pounds over 1,000 square feet in a 24-hour period. Dex-O-Tex Vapor Shield from...

Drywall productivity pack. (Products).
May 1, 2003... The special features of the Score N' Snap tool combo make it the ultimate for hanging drywall. The kit includes a 25-foot tape and a utility knife. The tape's slotted hook guides a utility knife blade, increasing safety and accuracy when making...

Low-VOC construction adhesive. (Products).
May 1, 2003... Solvent-based construction adhesives have advantages over water-based adhesives, but the VOC (volatile organic compound) content makes them less environmentally friendly. Many builders prefer the greater working temperature range and faster...

Protection plan. (Products).
May 1, 2003... Struggling to manage a large set of plans on the job site can quickly lead to dogears, stains, and, worst of all, missing pages. Transport and protect your plans with the Easi Carrier from Easi File, a manufacturer of blueprint storage cabinets...

Window to the world. (Products).
May 1, 2003... Increasingly popular on high-end homes, French casement windows have no frame or mull post separating the two sash, allowing an unobstructed view. Lincoln Windows offers Wood French Casements in six aluminum cladding colors or primed wood....

Long-life light. (Products).
May 1, 2003... At only 5 inches and a little over 2 ounces, the Mini-Flash LED Pocket Flashlight is perfect for a glove compartment or toolbelt. The little light will last 82 hours on a new set of N-cell batteries, and the three impact-resistant LED bulbs...

New Bosch sliding compound-miter saw. (Toolbox).
May 1, 2003... As a custom stair builder, I value the versatility, capacity, and precision of a sliding compound-miter saw. Recently, I had a chance to check out Bosch's Model 4412 Sliding Compound-Miter Saw (877/267-2499, www.boschtools.com). This new saw...

Slipcover stairs. (backfill).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... I'm a custom stair builder. When possible, I prefer to build a staircase in my shop, then take it to the site in one piece and install it right over the site-built rough stringers that are already in place. The rough stringers are cut by...