Adding Insulation and Air Leak Sealing

By Robert Robillard

Image: beforeyouinsualte.com Insulation and Air Leaks Adding insulation in your attic can drastically help reduce your heating and cooling bills each month.Lack of attic insulation and air leaks are usually the biggest offender for heat loss in a home. The photo below shows ice dams on the upper main house and no ice dams on…

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Modifying A Bookcase For A Flat Screen TV

By Robert Robillard

Built In Bookcase Modification: It seems these days folks are designing whole rooms around flat screen TVs.  The problem arises when you have an existing room and you try to incorporate the flat screen TV.   Modifying a bookcase for a flat screen TV seems to be in demand. This was just the case for a client of mine.…

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Gas Fireplace Retrofit

By Robert Robillard

Gas fireplace Insert Today we removed the gas insert and dismantled a few steel studs in order to slide some 2×4 nailers between them to provide a future nailing surface for a Gas fireplace and Mantle. The photo below shows vertical and horizontal solid blocking was also added to accommodate nailing for the new mantel. …

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Do I Need A Building Permit

By Robert Robillard

Image: parks.ci.lubbock.tx.us Building Permit Considerations A frequent question often asked is “should I get a building permit?” Building codes have been established by most cities and towns and can vary considerably from one jurisdiction to another. A building permit is a document issued by a city or town building department to insure changes to structures…

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Building a Firewood Shed

By Robert Robillard

Steps On Building A Wood Storage Shed:   Keeping firewood dry is critical to a successful fire. There is nothing worse than wanting a warm fire in your fireplace or wood stove and finding out that your firewood is wet or damp. What’s even worse is having to shovel a foot of snow off a…

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Repair A Cracked Masonry Wall With Helical Reinforcing Rods

By Robert Robillard

Masonry Wall Repair Dear Concord Carpenter, I have to repair this cracked wall and have never done this before, so I’m asking for your guidance. I am looking for your comments & suggestions for an appropriate fix without completely rebuilding the stairs & retaining wall. How would you approach this repair? Would you excavate the crack…

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Installing door weather stripping

By Robert Robillard

  How To Fix That Leaky Door! Recently I have been to two customers houses to look at “leaky” exterior doors. One of these clients actually thought and was prepared to replace the door at a cost of $3200.00. Turned out that both of these doors needed new weather seals installed. Installing Door Weather Stripping…

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Planning A Remodel

By Robert Robillard

Remodeling Tips to Avoid Problems Planning a remodel is often not taken seriously. Old houses are notorious for often having obsolete systems and failing, sometimes unsafe structural components, lacking insulation or energy efficient system. To the trained eye an old house renovation is an opportunity to restore old life to a home but to others…

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