The HTRC

The Homeowners & Trades Resource Center

Bathroom Blogfest: Still Climbing Out with Cancer

This week we are participating in the 7th annual, week-long, “Still Climbing Out” Bathroom Blogfest. This year (which is our first) we will be joining numerous bloggers from across the U.S., Canada, Dubai, and the U.K. who have signed up to participate. It does appear that there are actually two topics this year, customer experience […]

Filed Under: Remodeling & Renovations Tagged With: Blog Off, Ceramic Tile, KBTribeChat, Radiant Heat(ing) October 31, 2012 By SLS

Common Sense Building: Making Sense of Radiant Heat (FAQ)

We originally started this series on Radiant Heat with an article entitled “Don’t just jump on the bandwagon” & followed it up by a guest post from Todd Vendituoli on his installation of an under the slab system & the benefits of a Radiant Hydronic System. As promised we are into our third article on […]

Filed Under: Common Sense Building, FAQ's, Acronym’s, & Terminology Tagged With: CSB, Radiant Heat(ing) October 26, 2012 By SLS

BS4D: NFRC Labels (Windows, Doors, Skylights)

The NFRC or National Fenestration Rating Council basically tests & labels glass products used on buildings like doors, windows, and skylights. The label will include who the manufacturer is, a brief description of the product, and the official ratings for one or more of performance characteristics for that product. The NFRC’s also has an online […]

Filed Under: FAQ's, Acronym’s, & Terminology Tagged With: BS4D, Radiant Heat(ing) September 12, 2012 By SLS

Common Sense Building: Radiant Hydronic Heating

Heating ones house via radiant heat has been around for over 5000 years & is generally credited to the Koreans with their “ondol” system and is still in use today. The genius of this system & the later “hypocaust” systems developed by the Romans is that one heated one’s whole house from under the floor […]

Filed Under: Common Sense Building Tagged With: CSB, Guest Article's, Radiant Heat(ing) August 30, 2012 By SLS

BS4D: Radiant Barriers

A Radiant Barrier (RB) is a product designed to only block radiant heat transfer from happening and is rated based on its reflectivity & emissivity values per ASTM C 1313. In order to qualify as a Radiant Barrier it must have a reflectivity rating of .9 or more (the higher the better). A radiant barrier […]

Filed Under: FAQ's, Acronym’s, & Terminology Tagged With: BS4D, Radiant Heat(ing) July 17, 2012 By SLS

BS4D: Heat & Transfer Methods

Heat is energy and refers only to the transfer of this energy between or through items and not the stored energy of the item (aka its temperature). While this difference might appear to be subtle, it is very important to understand the distinction between the two, & how this transfer takes place. One other important […]

Filed Under: FAQ's, Acronym’s, & Terminology Tagged With: BS4D, Radiant Heat(ing) July 11, 2012 By SLS

Featured Posts

February – Winter Maintenance Checklist

Ahhh February, we are now in the second full month of winter and many people in the northern states and elsewhere are starting to feel run down from a lack ...

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Getting ready for Spring: Your deck & grill

Hopefully, this last snow storm was it for spring (really?) meaning most of us can start getting ready to grill and get back to enjoying the great outdoors. Needless to ...

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Taxes, Record Keeping, & Clearing the Clutter

Taxes, Record Keeping, & Clearing the Clutter

Oh no, it’s April 16th and taxes were due… are due on the 18th? In reality, my taxes were actually filed back in February, but if this were any other ...

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FAQ: Should I close my crawl space vents during winter?

FAQ: Should I close my crawl space vents during winter?

In short the answer is generally yes, they should be closed up during the winter months. If you follow our Monthly Maintenance Schedule, we recommend the month of October as ...

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FAQ: Do I need to change my HVAC filter monthly?

FAQ: Do I need to change my HVAC filter monthly?

If you follow our Monthly Maintenance Program, the first item we have listed is "Change out your HVAC filter." This has brought up a few questions, namely: Do I need ...

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FAQ: Exterior HVAC units - Should I cover my unit, or... fall & wintertime questions

When it comes to the exterior HVAC unit most people wonder about hiding them and reducing the amount of noise. We delved into that topic in our Spring & Summer ...

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FAQ: Ceiling fan direction - summer & winter

One of the biggest questions out there is which direction should my fan be running and how can I tell. You look at the switch and realize it isn't any ...

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