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Choosing Windows Made Paneless

Of all the products that must be selected when building a home or adding a room to your existing home, your choice of windows will arguably have one of the most profound and lasting effects in the level of satisfaction you experience from your new home or addition. Material, style, features, energy efficiency and brand name are all factors that must be considered while choosing the best options to meet your needs. Amazingly, as important as these decisions are, it is not uncommon to discover that the client has given very little thought to such an integral part of their [...]

Blueprint Requiem

Since the mid 1800’s some type of the blueprint has been used to guide builders of all sorts to construct mechanisms and structures large and small. With its iconic white on blue or blue on white appearance, the blueprint has been an instrumental part of American history. From the monuments of Washington D.C. to the Golden Gate Bridge, it’s indisputable that these fetes of construction could not have been accomplished without the blueprint. Having learned at an early age how to read them, and later on how to produce them, blueprints have been a ubiquitous part of my life. It [...]

A Helpful Lift with Garage Doors

By placing them on the sides of our homes or even in the rear off of an alley, they are hidden by any means possible by home designers. There is nothing that provides such an important function in our homes, yet is treated as an obstacle to good design, than is the lowly garage door. According to a newspaper article I recently read, in the nascent years of the automobile, garages were set apart from the home because this new machinery had the undesirable tendency to catch fire. No need to burn the house down along with the car and [...]

Keeping You in Hot Water

You awaken from a good night’s sleep and having retrieved your cup of coffee, the morning routine leads you to the bath room where you prepare for a nice hot shower. This is done without a thought given to one of the vital pieces of equipment in your home you rely on daily; the water heater. When planning one’s new custom home or remodeling project, the conversation with your builder should eventually include what options are available in water heaters. Although not as glamorous as deciding what color of cabinetry you want or the design of your stairway balustrade, deciding [...]

Exterior Decking Product Selections

Deciding on the size and shape of your new exterior deck is only the beginning of the choices that must be made that will significantly impact the appearance and performance of this outdoor feature. There are numerous materials from which to choose and each of the materials have benefits and drawbacks that must be considered in the decision making process. Listed below are some of the more popular choices with a short synopsis of each. Pressure Treated Pine For many years, the most common material used in the construction of a new deck is pressure treated pine. This is simply [...]