Engineered wood flooring is an alternative to solid hardwood flooring made entirely out of real wood. It’s currently the most popular type of flooring in the world. North America is the only area left where traditional, solid wood floors still outnumber engineered floors, but engineered wood flooring is quickly catching up, with the rate of […]
Read More
An “energy-efficient” mortgage (EEM) is a mortgage that factors in a homeowner’s or home buyer’s efforts to conserve energy. These loans allow borrowers to reduce their utility bills by financing the cost of incorporating energy-efficient features, such as certain lighting and window options, into a new or existing home. An energy audit is required to […]
Read More
Cisterns are tanks that store water for a variety of purposes, such as irrigation, fire suppression and drinking. Uses Potable water may be stored in cisterns for such purposes as drinking, bathing and dishwashing. Treated water may arrive from public water sources or filtered from rainwater in a catchment system. Non-potable water can be stored […]
Read More
Manufactured homes no longer have to be the simple, rectangular, boxy trailer homes of the past. Depending on the size of your home site, you can choose from single-section or multi-section designs. Homes range in size from 900 to 2,500 square feet and can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Here are some […]
Read More
This article seeks to clarify some elementary electrical terms and concepts that are sometimes confused. Basic Electrical Measurement Units Voltage, measured in volts (V), is the measure of potential energy per unit of charge. Using a “water-in-pipes” analogy, voltage in the electrical system is similar to water pressure in a plumbing system. High “pressure” or […]
Read More
How Steel Corrodes Reinforcing steel bar (rebar) exposed to air oxidizes or rusts through the conversion of the iron in the steel to iron oxide or iron carbonate due to the CO2 in the atmosphere. The oxide formed is a loose material that has a greater volume than the original iron — about 17 times […]
Read More
One of the largest tax breaks for owners of investment property comes in the form of depreciation, or the loss in value of a property over time due to physical deterioration. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) allows owners to take a tax loss every year based on this depreciation over the useful life of […]
Read More
Defective cribs, especially hand-me-down and homemade models, can pose serious hazards to young children, including strangulation, entrapment and overheating. Government manufacturing standards set in 1973 have greatly improved crib safety, yet defective cribs continue to be responsible for the highest child injury rates of any nursery item. In fact, approximately 50 infants each year are […]
Read More
Condensation, also called sweating, forms on building materials when the temperature drops below the dew point, which is the temperature at which droplets of water vapor are forced so closely together that they coalesce into liquid water. Because of their characteristic thermal conductivity, components made of metal are usually the first places where condensation will […]
Read More
Earthquakes are a serious threat to life and property not just in California, but in many parts of the United States. Areas of the country that are less prone to seismic activity typically have less stringent building codes that govern earthquake preparedness. Catastrophic earthquakes are rare, but even minor ones can cause substantial damage to […]
Read More
