Insulated or Insulating Concrete Forms (ICFs) give you all the benefits that have made concrete popular over the years. Concrete forms offer the same wind and fire resistance, but also offer an additional built in layers of foam insulation. Homes built with insulated concrete forms offer homeowners greater energy efficiency and less noise pollution from [...]

With more than half of all American households owning a dog or a cat, the pet care and accessory industry is booming. Pet ownership is one of the great joys of life, but owning a pet comes with its own fair share of challenges as well. One of those challenges is taking the pet out [...]

You may have heard the term ‘Energy Star’ or seen the labels on various appliances, but what is the Energy Star program? The Energy Star program is a voluntary labeling program sponsored by the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. The Energy Star label helps businesses and consumers easily identify highly efficient products, [...]

Kermit the Frog said it best; it isn’t easy being green. Neither is living green, but you can make the effort to help save our environment for future generations! With all the buzz and confusion over green homes, organic homes, chemical free homes, recycling, energy efficiency, and green decor, it can be a daunting task [...]

Any structure, whether a house, a garage, or workshop, is only as secure as the foundation on which it rests! Building a foundation is not usually considered a do it yourself project, but it can be done with a little advice from your contractor or a friend who has experience. But, if you plan ahead [...]

Woven bamboo blinds and ‘Matchstick’ shades originate from a long tradition in Japanese window coverings. Bamboo has been used widely since ancient times as an interior design element in many Asian countries. It is environmentally friendly and can be harvested within two years of planting without killing the plant, providing a plentiful supply. Modern technology [...]

No holiday get together is ever complete without displaying the right floral decorations. The Christmas season is perfect for using fresh greenery and flowers to brighten your home. To put the finishing touches on your home for the holidays with fresh flowers, try thinking outside of the vase and using this rule of thumb; if [...]

An increasing number of houses are being built with foam board, also known as rigid foam, core panels these days. They attract many people because of their high insulation value and the ease and speed in construction. Foam board wall panels can be used in homes, or in garages. In my last home, we used [...]

Well, we passed our final inspection on Friday, October 6th! This means that the El Dorado County Building Department is finished with us, and that I should be expecting a tax re-assessment soon. It does not, however, mean that T.B. is finished. He is still completing the exterior trim, and has a few odds and [...]

It’s been three months since my last update to this site. My sincere apologies to anyone who has been faithfully checking the site for current information! Why so long? Well, I’ve been kept pretty busy, between the house, the business, and the challenges of life in a tiny trailer. A lot has been done in [...]

The house now has a roof! Or at least part of a roof, anyway. It’s changing the feel of the project dramatically. T.B. and Don spent most of last week finishing infrastructure, installing hip rafters, and straightening walls, and then put up the first roof panel last Friday, August 20. The roof panels are supported [...]

Saturday the 14th my friend Ray and I went to the Bay Area to see what we could salvage from some homes that are being demolished. You can get some idea of how it works from the Whole House Building Supply web page. The sales that weekend were an "estate" home in Atherton and a [...]

Two weeks after setting the first wall in place, we’ve finished all the exterior walls and the key interior walls. Next week we’ll start putting the roof panels in place. My friend Tom came over to see the house on Tuesday the 11th, and boy were we glad to see him! We needed to set [...]

Thursday we just bathed the slab regularly and cleaned up all the junk on the edges. Then Friday we got to start playing with those structural panels mentioned in the July 26 notes. We started on wall J, which is the west wall. Three windows, no doors, so it should be simple. The panels are [...]

This was a day to remember. T.B. and Don and the concrete crew arrived at 6 a.m. The pumping truck and the first concrete truck arrived at 7. The early start is imperative in the July heat, since the hotter the temperature the faster the concrete sets. Starting early gives the crew a little more [...]