The HTRC

The Homeowners & Trades Resource Center

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Common Sense Building: A new series for On the Grid & Off-Grid houses

As many of you may recall, back in May we decided to take a break from the “off the grid” series & decided to look at “common sense” methods for designing & building new homes. We decided to go this route as it doesn’t matter if a house is on the grid, or off the […]

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 […]

Tools of the Trade – Estimating with XactWare

There are many tools contractors use in their business & many challenges they face. One of the biggest challenges for many is accurately estimating a project with many looking for a perfect solution or magic bullet. While I will be the first to say there is no magic bullet or perfect solution one of my […]

BS4D: Pascals & Pressure

The pascal aka “Pa” is simply a unit used to measure pressure on a manometer. In this context, pressure (p) is the measurement of force acting on a unit area with respect to (WRT) another. One example is when we are testing an HVAC’s system ductwork; we pressurize the entire system to 25 pascals with […]

Safety Sunday: End of the Day Job Site Safety Checklist

One of the most dangerous times on a job site is when it starts getting close to quitting time as everyone is hurrying to get things wrapped, cleaned, & packed up so they can call it a day. One of the ways I like to minimize this issue is by constantly cleaning throughout the day […]

Ventilation Strategies for Renovating & Retrofitting Work

When one is renovating their homes, one has to deal with a simple fact of life – dust is going to get kicked up. The issue doesn’t simply stop with dust though, as asbestos, mold, lead, animal droppings and other items might also be involved. To top that off one also has all the fumes […]

BS4D: The HERS Index & Score

HERS or the Home Energy Rating System is the industries benchmarking tool for modeling a home’s energy use. The system is comprised of two parts; an index and a score. The index is linear with two static points; a “0” equates to a net-zero home (one that produces as much electricity as it uses) while […]