The HTRC

The Homeowners & Trades Resource Center

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Create your own kids growth wall ruler

Growing up you would generally see a wall or piece of trim where my friends parents were keeping track of their kids heights. The catch – hmm what happens when they sell the home or it is time to paint? For a generic piece of trim, no problem as it can be easily replaced – […]

Wacky Weds: On no they didn’t…

There aren’t to many things that will surprise me, but I also know I haven’t seen it all either – with that imagine my surprise as I pop my head into the attic and see this… Well now that is an interesting flue… Yep, believe it or not someone took an oil drum (in this […]

Wacky Weds: Cellulose Insulation part deux

What is it with newspapers & duct work… or in this case hydronic heating lines? No folks this does not qualify as proper insulation & does very little to help & even if it did, you really should insulate the whole line.

Wacky Weds – Foam Gun Oops

Ever wonder why they say if you are not going to use a can of foam for over 30 days you should remove it & clean the gun – well it isn’t because of the foam gun… In this case the seal inside the can would not seal all the way when it came off and […]

Pumpkin Pancakes & Keeping Apples Fresh Year Round

Fall is definitely in the air, as one can tell with all the Christmas stuff going up in the stores (shoot, I remember when it went up just a day or two before Thanksgiving). One of the nice things about this season besides the cooler weather is the apples are being harvested along with pumpkins, hay rides […]

Remodeling Show 2015

This year the Remodeling & Deck Expo returns to Chicago – this time they moved up the street about a mile to the Navy Pier. Another change, well you now also get to add JLC to the title which I will get to below. The name of this ship was aptly fitting for the early […]

#KBTribeChat: Saving Water – a precious resource

Every Wednesday at 2PM ET, I try my best to catch #KBTribeChat on Twitter where many of the industries best & brightest designers, manufacturers & contractors get together and take on a topic. This weeks is “Saving Water – a precious resource.” Unfortunately I will be missing this weeks chat, but as I feel this is such an important […]

FAQ: Soffit Venting

I am air-sealing & insulating my attic trying to help prevent ice dams which included adding baffles in each bay. Well while looking outside I see that I only have one vented panel every 4′. Do I need to change out / use ventilated soffits outside only? Hmm, how about the eaves, would it hurt to use ventilated […]