Q&A / 

Patio Deck Sizing Secrets Are you planning a new deck or patio soon? There’s a very good chance you’re going to make it too small. I know this based on the thousands of complaints I’ve received over the years from homeowners just like you. Most people don’t have the ability to look at a plan […]

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Best Stair Layout - It's All About Human Stride You probably give little thought to why the stairs in your home are built the way they are. I’m talking about how high you need to lift your foot to get up to the next step and how deep the flat tread is when your foot […]

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Install New Outlet and Switch - It's Easy Electrical Phone Coaching HELP: If you need a voice or video coaching call to help you install an electrical outlet or switch, you can talk to Ask the Builder founder Tim Carter. CLICK HERE NOW to get help. Are you aware how expensive it is to hire […]

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Building Code Tips - Code Officials Should Consider Doing More to Help Homeowners I’m helping my son on the weekends finish the basement in his 3-year-old house. He’s adding 1,300 square feet of finished living space. We met with the local building inspector a few days ago. Dawn gave us the thumbs up on the […]

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Best Exterior Nails and Screws are Double Hot-Dipped Galvanized or Stainless Steel I was blessed by God to learn my craft of building and remodeling in Cincinnati, Ohio. The first few years of my career had me working on houses that were close to 100 years old. I have no recollection of seeing rusty roofing […]

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House Settlement Debunked - Lumber Shrinkage Often, the Culprit Roy subscribes to my free newsletter and reached out to me about a month ago for one of my phone consult calls. He needed help engineering a drainage system around his house to stop water from infiltrating his basement. I offer a house-drainage design service. I […]

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Nail Guns Save Time & Money - Use Them Wisely Are you a serious DIYr? If so, you know that the quality and type of tools you use will not only determine when the project gets done, but they’ll also play a major part in quality level of the job. In my opinion, one of […]

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Concrete Deck and House Piers - Think of Your Legs Mother Nature is so smart. She taught us to build strong buildings, decks, docks, etc. Just look at your own body, for goodness sake. Your legs and feet do the same thing that concrete piers do in the construction world. Your legs are vertical columns […]

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How to Avoid Arguments With Contractors How many times have you hired contractors in your life? My guess is quite a few. If you had to rate each experience much like you might a meal how many 5-star ratings would you have doled out? While I’m not a betting man, I’d say fewer than five […]

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