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We're having a home built with an encapsulated crawl space. I was reading through the building codes and it says the unvented crawl space requires a vent (see attached). We are already installing a radon mitigation system and a dehumidifier down there. Can anyone see a good reason mechanical...

I've got a decent, 25+ year old Craftsman wrench set, model 44127. This was given to me by my late Dad and it has some sentimental value. The case for this set is a blow molded case with two molded latches that are "hinged" by flexing the plastic that connects the latch to the case. Stupid but...

Please forgive me if this has been covered before, I didn't have much success searching. We are building a new house and shop that are about 60 feet apart. The 320A Electrical service will have one meter for both buildings, main service in house and subpanel in shop. Both buildings will share...

Maybe this is in a FAQ but I couldn't find it. In WA with NEC 2017 codes in effect, are UL Damp fixtures required in a garage? Or will indoor dry rated fixtures be sufficient? Thanks!

Building a new house and looking for opinions. With the heat pump we can get a standard electronic air filter or the American Standard Accuclean Air Filtration System. We both have allergies so we'd opt for one of these over a standard media filter. If the Accuclean is really better than the...

I'm looking for a set of regular hand held screwdrivers, maybe 10-12 drivers of assorted lengths of phillips and slotted. Just high quality regular screwdrivers, maybe 4-8 inches long, in a nice case (not brittle plastic) or a roll up pouch. Looked online and haven't found anything like that of...

There appear to be foam pieces coming out of the ridge vent on our roof (picture below). I'm not sure how the ridge vents on steel are configured. Is the purpose of these foam pieces to keep creatures out of the vent? Or is there generally some wire mesh behind them? Also, if I shove them back...

Anyone here familiar with upholstery of sofas? We've got two leather sofas that are holding up well to the pets on the top side, however the cat and dog both keep tearing up the fabric underliner underneath it. I thought about replacing it with standard liner material and then covering that...

I've been looking for an alternative to the LiftMaster 8500 jack shaft opener. Turns out Linear has jackshaft openers in their commercial line. https://www.linearproaccess.com/garage-door-openers/commercial-garage-door-openers/ Anyone have any experience with these? Do these commercial...

We are looking at some stone veneer products for a house and shop. The ones we've looked at, Cultured Stone and Eldorado Stone, both require a 2" gap above a concrete slab. This makes them look strange when wrapped around the bottom of support posts. It makes 'em look they the posts are floating...

I googled this briefly and didn't find an answer. We're planning a new house. To reduce noise we'd like to have the outdoor condensing unit located at the end of the three car garage, about 45 feet away from the air handler. Is that feasible? What is the downside? Thanks!

We're planning a new house build and need a conventional ducted heat pump, preferably with separate upstairs and downstairs zones. Online brand reviews are terrible. All the major brands, like Trane, American Standard, Carrier, Rheem, etc., are being slammed with horrifying reliability...

I'm Shopping HVAC systems for this shop. Was planning to use a conventional heat pump but all the talk about mini-splits has me curious. What type of mini-split would be good for this shop layout? Would two smaller units work better? Looking for fairly even heating and cooling and I was thinking...

Our front entry door uses those stupid round drive in latch collars. A few weeks ago the boy opened the front door and it took a 6 inch splinter out of the strike plate side. Unfortunately he didn't say anything and he threw out the splintered wood so there is no hope to gluing it back together...

I'm getting quotes for roofing, both steel and architectural asphalt shingles. Is there a BEST brand of premium architectural shingle or are they all pretty much the same? Any brands to avoid? The new roofing will be exposed to lots of northwest rain and high winds that gust to 60-70mph a...

We're building a new house and are looking for a steel roof. I ran across some real nice looking steel shingles and am wondering if anyone here has any experience with this company (Kassel & Irons) or the KasselShake products. Thanks in advance. Here's a link...

I just turned 60 and having a dedicated shop has always been a dream. At some point age will take its toll and I'll have to sell the new house and shop we are now building. The discussion about how little value a shop adds to a homes resale value got me thinking. My plan is to build the shop to...

We are building a new custom house and shop. I'm looking for pros and cons of having the shop attached to the house. A detached shop will help isolate noise and fumes from the living spaces but if its separated from the living spaces by a normal garage that may not matter. It would be helpful...

We have a 24 foot vaulted ceiling with 16 recessed lights in our great room. Changing those things is a pain in the ****, especially because they are not close to the walls so I can't just lean an extension ladder against the wall and reach them. I bought an "Ungar Pro" aluminum extendable pole...

Building a new shop, here is my first shot at a floorplan. It's 44x34 with a 44x8 covered area on the rear for storage of equipment. Will go with 12' ceiling. Planning on using Saber cabinets and stainless workbench tops for general work, and will build a welding bench. Looking for input, is...