Whether your dwelling is a 1946 Airstream trailer behind a meat-packing plant, or a 12,000 square foot mansion on ten acres in the Hamptons, it’s your home-sweet-home, and you want to keep it safe and secure. One of the biggest threats to this safe haven comes from fire; according to the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association), more than 1,000 home structure fires are reported on an average day. This translates to 42 fires every hour, or one reported home fire every 85 seconds. In a recent five-year study period, home fires killed an average of seven people per day. The NFPA also found that almost all homes have at least one smoke alarm, but almost two-thirds of home fire deaths in 2006-2010 resulted from fires in homes in which no smoke alarm was present or at least one was present but none operated. [click to continue…]
Safety
The woodworking universe is populated by a diverse group of people. It includes traditional project-builders like my father-in-law, who cobbled together many a fine masterpiece in his time, including barrister’s bookcases, cradles, end tables and lamp bases. Toward the other end of the spectrum is the realm of those who are far less traditional, either in the methods they employ, in their finished products, or both, and includes some practitioners of the craft whose techniques you definitely do NOT want to emulate. [click to continue…]
I’ve done a lot of framing in my life, but nothing gets my juices flowing like a good truss set. To me, it’s kind of like drinking a case of Five Hour Energy drinks, a hot date with a super model, and shooting a machine gun from the back of a drag car all at the same time. I’m super excited, nervous and scared to death that my heart is going to explode out of my chest. But unless you’re an adrenaline junky like me, a truss set can be a dangerous Tim Burton-esque nightmare that could potentially kill you. Whether you’re a seasoned framing pro or you’re a truss building newbie, you’ll be sure to benefit from these tips for a safe and secure truss set. [click to continue…]
For some of us around the country, mega-storm Sandy is thankfully a distant memory. And while my family and I escaped the brunt of it, many people were not so lucky. It was the topic of conversation during Thanksgiving Dinner at my wife’s family home in New Jersey. Luckily for them, they too were on the alee side of the storm and only got hit with lots of rain and mild flooding. But not all the family got off so easy. [click to continue…]
We have a small piece of farm property south of Lake Erie, in an area designated by the professional weather-guessers to be within the “persistent snow band.” Anyone living in such an area is intimately acquainted with the sight of snowplows, snow blowers, show shovels, salt trucks, rusted vehicles as a result of the salt trucks, and, oh yeah…snow. [click to continue…]
