The HTRC

The Homeowners & Trades Resource Center

Common Sense Building: Don’t just jump on the bandwagon

Contractors rightfully get a bad rap sometimes for not wanting to change or embrace new technologies. “I have been doing it this way for years & never had an issue.” Some that do embrace change have learned the hard way that it is best to tread carefully after being bitten by some new product that […]

Safety Sunday: Disaster Supply Checklist

In case of a natural disaster the government has long stated you should have an emergency disaster supply kit. The kit is supposed to be able to tide you over for 72 hours which by then help should have hopefully arrived. In some cases you may not be able to stay where you are at […]

Alabama Energy Code Updates: 38 days & counting

Yesterday, I attended the Alabama Energy Code Training program put on by the Home Builders Association of Alabama for two primary reasons; to see if there were any changes (this state is great at putting information out – not), and how the “code officials” & affected agencies were handling & interrupting it. This class was […]

Help rescue my project…

Sometimes it’s a DIY project that has gone wrong, has left you stumped, or your spouse is going, it’s taking too long. Sometimes you might be stuck with a dishonest contractor that has bailed, or appears to be in over his head. Shoot sometimes you might be looking at something & going that just doesn’t […]

Safety Sunday: Job Site Safety Setup Checklist

Another day & another job site; while no one plans on anything bad happening, stuff does happen occasionally. In most cases “lives saved” are generally credited to quick thinking, fast response, & good training. Some that have been injured just shake their heads at such a fluke event happening, count their blessings as it could […]

Common Sense Building: The Cool Roof Concept

When one starts talking about roofs you will quickly run into a whole bunch of jargon; hot roof’s, cool roof’s, vented, unvented, green, flat, hybrid & the list goes on & on & on. Needless to say this can & does cause quite a bit of confusion especially when regional differences in naming conventions pop […]

Turning a stump into a flower planter

Below is a picture of what was left of one of our favorite trees that we had pretty much babied for 5 years. While we considered ripping it out of the ground with a bull dozer or grinding the stump down, neither option seemed right so we decided to let it live another life. In […]

Preventative Home Maintenance – Why?

Home maintenance is one of those things that is so easy to forget because so many tasks only need to be done once in a while or just a few times a year. Some items are easily put off as time can be scarce & shoot everything looks good still, doesn’t it? Well, just like […]

BS4D: The case of the Sweating Toilet

Ok, we know the toilet really isn’t sweating over the burial at sea of one aforementioned Barbie doll, performed with full military honors by none other than one little Timmy… so why is it sweating? The short answer is it’s not; it simply is the water in the air (humidity) condensing on a cold surface […]