Creating adequate separation between materials is critical to mitigating cracks (and worse) along cementitious surfaces BY JOHN KOENIG Builders can eliminate a lot of first-year warranty calls and latent defects by paying closer attention to seemingly minor details. A case in point is where different exterior finish materials and other products meet one another, such as stucco cladding at the...
July 2021
While eave overhangs are typically built as part of the main roof framing, installing them as separate pieces offers better air-sealing opportunities. By Jess Chaloux It can be tough to get a good tight seal around rafter tails and other tricky spots when installing a water-resistive barrier (WRB) and air barrier, but on the 2020 Fine Homebuilding House, the build team used some...
By Keith Liston The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way we live in a matter of months. With less time out in the world, we have realized the ways that our homes now need to change, too. Tiny apartments clustered around communal laundry mats and all-inclusive workout rooms must reassess safety in a new age of social distancing. Event spaces once created for public gatherings and...
By Ana Durrani Home trends come and go, but social distancing and staying at home have ushered in a new way of life—and some of those changes have spurred home trends that are likely to stick around well past the COVID-19 era. “The idea of what is necessary is changing,” says Camille Thomas, a real estate matchmaker and lifestyle expert in Jackson Hole, WY. “The home has...
Bill Lewis Special to The Tennessean Remember going to the grocery last spring and finding empty shelves where the bathroom tissue was supposed to be? Stores unexpectedly rationed sales because COVID-19 disrupted the supply chain. The toilet paper shortage of 2020, like everything else about the pandemic, is having an effect on home designs as they change to keep up with the way we live today....