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Insulating a Pole Barn
In its most basic form, a pole barn is a fairly simple agricultural building or storage structure with widely spaced posts rather than studs for framing. Back in the 1930s,…
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A New Congress and New Hope for Flood Insurance Reform
The 116th Congress, divided between a Democrat-controlled House and a Republican-controlled Senate, will more than likely continue to be driven by party rivalry, but reforming the broken National Flood Insurance…
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21-Story Mass Timber Building Proposed in Milwaukee
In Milwaukee, a city panel has given preliminary approval to plans for a 21-story apartment building whose upper floors would be built with mass timber components instead of steel. The…
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Urban Flooding: A Problem That’s Getting Worse
Extreme flooding events were in the news during much of 2018, from January’s heavy rains in Southern California to Hurricanes Florence and Michael in September and October. When many of…
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Pretty Good House 2.0
You may already know about the Pretty Good House concept, the result of a question that moderator Dan Kolbert asked back in 2011, partly as a joke, at the long-running…
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Nation’s Top Green College Plans a New Green Building
The school ranked by The Princeton Review as the number one green college in the U.S. has announced plans for a new campus center that will be built to the…
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Should a Roof Have a Rainscreen?
A vented rainscreen is an increasingly common exterior detail on exterior walls. Instead of attaching siding directly to the sheathing, builders add an air space behind the siding, which helps…
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A Production Home Builder Aims for Net Zero
Meritage Homes is the eighth largest new home builder in the country. With headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona, Meritage is now building homes in nine states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia,…
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Why the Offshore Wind Industry Is About to Take Off
There are only five wind turbines operating in U.S. waters today. But that will likely soon change, partly because of states with ambitious offshore wind targets. Off the Massachusetts coastline,…
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Nitrate Taints Drinking Water of Millions, Study Finds
Drinking water for more than 5 million Americans contains nitrate levels that may be high enough to increase the risk of cancer and birth defects, a study published earlier this…
