If you have traveled to Europe or South America, you may have noticed that when you order water or soft drinks at a restaurant, the liquid comes at room temperature and without ice. Many folks around the world find iced
Our wood construction traditions came from England. Where English carpenters were right at home building houses framed with studs set at about 16-inches on center for walls with wood lath and plaster. The lath was made from riven slats, deftly
The traditional gambrel (or Dutch) barn roof comes from northern Europe and prevails in places like Wisconsin and Minnesota with a heavy northern European heritage. Many immigrants to these states came from milk producing regions with specialized knowledge of cheese
Loggers that I have met tell me of the importance moon cycles have to the durability and strength of wood products. Timbers felled during a waning moon produce inferior lumber with a diminished resistance to insects and degraded structural strength.
Double-pane windows have a hermetically sealed airspace between two sheets of glass, the gap provides the insulation. If the seal between windowpanes breaks, moisture can get between the glass sheets and cause fogging. However, the engineered, hermetic seal traps more
Reading in the Economist last month, I ran across the surprising fact that over the previous 100 years the United States consumed a whopping 4.4 gigatons of cement. Meanwhile, during the three years between 2011-2013, China consumed 6.4 gigatons of