The HTRC – Page 22 – The Homeowners & Trades Resource Center

We have moved…

It is official, The HTRC has moved completely over to TheHTRC.com and hopefully in short order we will have everything worked out and can start really working more on the appearance and layout. In order to keep receiving email notifications of new articles please click: https://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TheHTRC&loc=en_US Our RSS feed is now: https://thehtrc.com/feed No worries if […]

RESNET opens up the Registry & a how-to

Since 2012 all certified RESNET HERS Raters that have rated and issued a confirmed HERS Index Score on a house, have had their houses and information entered into a National Registry. Since that process started though no one had access to the data but that is starting to change. For example, as part of the “greening of the […]

First Look – Upcoming codes & changes coming in 2015

How does that saying go – forewarned is forearmed? While your local maybe years away from adopting the latest versions of the IRC & IECC knowing in advance what is coming down the pike… Ready for this, there are other changes coming that are likely to impact you no matter what your jurisdiction does. As […]

Creating a Raised Garden Bed – Part Deux

In an earlier post, we created a simple raised garden bed from 2×12’s – ahh but what happens if you want taller than that. While we have done some with 6×6’s around 3′ tall the costs for those now is astronomical. In this case we simply went with 4×6’s which was about half the cost. […]

Home Retrofits – Lessons Learned

Late April & early May for me was filled up by conferences that included ACI National & a regional EEBA conference on Houses that Work. One of the sessions I attended at ACI was a shared presentation based on using ductless heat pumps (DHP) in cold climates & the 1000 home challenge. While this may […]

Why you might want to consider an Artificial Lawn

Artificial grass… ooh that can conjure up some pretty strong thoughts and opinions from many that have seen or even used those products in the past. Ahh but the winds of change are blowing and so have the products. This week we have Millie Rainer who offers up her thoughts on “Why It Is Time […]

Wacky Weds: From foam to fiberglass to cellulose?

No matter the product, it all comes down to the installer… Amazingly this was captured in a fully completed brand new million plus dollar house and easily visible. As mentioned, it doesn’t matter what the product is (foam, fiberglass or in this case cellulose) it doesn’t help if it is not installed properly or you […]

Wacky Weds: Why do we always say grade 3 for fiberglass insulation?

One item that always seems to floor builders & even homeowners is that if we can’t verify how well insulation was installed, we mark it down as grade 3 (worse grading we can give). Why do we do that – well here is one example from my own house when I opened up an exterior wall… Hmmm, […]

Wacky Weds: Always Check those Flue Pipes

In case you think we are kidding that a professional should check your heating system each year… Inside view of the damage condensation does (from when it wasn’t blocked) For all my friends sold on CAZ testing – I got to ask, just how long does that “your house & naturally drafted appliances are all good” valid for? This house passed […]

Wacky Weds: Clearance 11′ & Oh…

Can you say oops? To top it off this isn’t on the entrance side but rather on the exit side of this motel… As a bonus, most people never get to see how they run electric under the streets – when visiting Kansas City they had a huge section of the roadway open showing us […]