Surviving the Big Freeze 2019 (1-7-2019)       No time for philosophizing, opinionating or joking around. This is serious. Chicago and a large part of the Midwest will experience freezing low temperatures in the coming days not seen in several years. Here are some tips that may make getting through the next week a lot easier.These tips […]

What should be included in your plans? BlueprintsNo matter how much we preach the benefit of a well written contract, many people still make the mistake of signing one that doesn’t clearly call out what they are getting. Once the project starts and a dispute arises, most people will turn to the architect for guidance. […]

HERS and Mine, What’s HERS going to cost you?You may not know much about it now but HERS ratings are here and are not going away. Home Energy Rating Score. They have been built into the 2015 IECC. Now, how and when it will affect you will may vary on when the code is adopted […]

As much as we don’t want to admit it, winter is on its way. The good news is that you don’t need a long list of to-do’s to get your home ready for the cold weather. We picked out five essential home-prep tasks that will save money and time, and included an estimated time for […]

Roof Venting My tip of the week this week is about roof venting. Sure we talk about it all the time but, we never get technical enough for you to fully understand what needs to get done. Roof venting is important; it gets the heat out in the summer and moisture in the winter. This […]

This is an email we got from listener George about the venting of a 90+ furnace , (Edited for length) Ron, The show ended last week with you suggesting taking the 90% furnace intake outside. I agree with most all the reasons you gave and mirror the points I made some time ago calling into […]

Siding, roofing and concrete problems were the questions of the day. Let’s start with the siding. All types of siding are fine when installed properly. With the properly installed drainage plane no water damage can occur even if the siding was to fall off. Some siding may require a rough or crinkled surface type of […]