Weatherization work in attics is never easy. Attics are often cramped, hot, dark, and dirty places. It takes a special kind of person to do this work and not many are capable of doing it and doing it well. And yet the data compiled by...
The snow melted and the timber frame crew jumped to work. The entire frame was hand cut off site by Hardwick Post and Beam. The crew worked quickly and raised the frame in less than a week. Here the first of four bents, or sections...
We are in the design phase of constructing our first Zero Net Energy capable home. In our last new home construction project our goals were more modest: we wanted to meet the unofficial standard for a super-insulated home as defined by the Building Science Corporation; and we...
The Greenberg Residence project is nearing completion. Most of the remaining work will be completed by Laurel. As I noted in an earlier post (Nov. 2013), our performance goal for this job was to design and build an affordable house that would meet the Mass...
Wes, one of our lead carpenters, has had a summer window cleaning business on the side for many years. He has a stable of happy, loyal customers, a stable that is getting larger every year. Until this summer, Wes has scheduled his window cleaning jobs...
It is 9 AM Saturday morning April 19, and I am preparing for the arrival of 5 friends who have eagerly agreed to travel to the wilds of Cummington, Ma. to spend the day doing physical labor on my under-construction house. All week the weather...
Slipping then digging, digging then slipping, my valiant little Prius struggled up the steep drive. I reached the top and climbed out on to foreboding, icy ground. I felt like Armstrong stepping on the moon. Cummington is a mere forty minutes from my home and...
We are building a cutting-edge, super-insulated house. But the nature of its construction, at least in the area of framing, is not all that different from any other house; it just has an extra set of walls inside the exterior walls to make for a...
