<p>A lot of good carpenters and most DIY&#8217;ers don&#8217;t think about this question very much, but when building decks and outdoor construction projects using treated wood, they should! The article at the following link is a good guide, (click the image below):</p>

<p>The granite stone walls with beaded grapevine joinery, also know by some as toothpaste joints, are probably the most common single style of retaining wall in Capitol Hill.  Interestingly, some sources say they are not original to many of the houses and were in fact added in the 1920s. As a contractor and craftsman, I [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Take a look at the map from the Office of Planning.  This is helpful info to have when making decisions on the rules around remodeling. Capitol Hill Historic District Map</p>

<p>I found a test that I like online for testing your knowledge on carpentry tools.  There are a few obscure questions and answers, but I got most of them right the first time! <a href="http://basicversity.com/quiz/carpentry-hand-tools" rel="nofollow">http://basicversity.com/quiz/carpentry-hand-tools</a></p>

<p>When designing and installing a fence for your yard, there are a lot of options. Iron fences are common in the front yards here in Capitol Hill. However, in the backyards, privacy fences are much more common. The following images include options for wood fences, but options are not limited to the ones presented here. In [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Home Systems Replacement Schedule</p>

<p>The checklist at the following link is one of the better generic, one size fits all, checklists and schedules for home maintenance inspections:   Click to access 20140216-1515-%20Example%20Home%20Maintenance%20Checklist%20-%20UM.PDF</p>

<p>DIY versus Pro&#8230;? I recently came upon a blog that featured an article comparing and contrasting the benefits versus costs of handling a job in a DIY versus Pro approach.  See the flow chart below.  This is a great way of looking at this process.  I often encourage my customers and clients to try to [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Every day in the construction business we see situations where preventative action could be taken to make a part of the house or building last longer. In other words, by doing a little fix up now, it could potentially save money in the future. Obviously, not all the opportunities out there to renovate or make [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Today, one of my customers told me about his Wardman, and I wondered to myself what a Wardman was. Then I looked it up online and I realized that I live in a Wardman too. Interestingly, as it turns out, the Wardman row home is one of the most common home styles in DC. Then [&hellip;]</p>

<p>When excavating below an existing footing, it is important to take provisions to prevent undermining the footing. Here in the city, this type of scenario occurs commonly when excavating for new additions next to existing structures. Class C &amp; D soils are very common in DC. In soil types like this, an existing footing has [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The Rear Ell A lot of the homes in our Capitol Hill neighborhood have a rear ell.  I have been interested in the rear ells for a long time. For one, I thought, initially, that the ells were all built as part of making an addition without underpinning the neighbor&#8217;s building, where the neighbor had [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design I thought this was a really interesting article.  A lot of my neighbors, friends and customers have reasonable security concerns.  In addition, although our neighborhood has improved considerably over the past few years, there are still areas and elements of high crime in our neighborhood. This article includes ideas for [&hellip;]</p>

<p>In this video, we show to we pour back the slab in a basement where the original concrete was broken up to install a bathtub and relocate a laundry room. We used a screed, a magnesium float, and a pool trowel to finish the concrete.</p>

<p>In the video below, our founder Gary Sr. shows us how to cut ceramic tile on a wet saw. WARNING: you may want to lower the volume before watching this video.  The wet saw cuts at a very loud and high pitch. To Gary Sr.&#8217;s right side of the ceramic tile, you can see the [&hellip;]</p>

<p>In this video, we show the beginning of a handrail restoration project in the historic district of Capitol Hill, DC. In the second and third videos, we show how we connected a flat end of the handrail to the round column at the corner of the front porch. In the fourth and final video, you can [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Restoration of historic handrails is an important part of our work here in Capitol Hill. Stair and handrail components like the ones we restored in this project are some of the beautiful architectural characteristics that make Capitol Hill unique. The steel railings on this project had been replaced since the original construction; however, when they [&hellip;]</p>

<p>This past spring, we changed a lot of hose bibbs that froze and broke over the past winter. This upcoming spring, we would like to see that fewer of our customers start the new season with hose bibbs that froze and broke over the winter. &nbsp; To prevent hose bibbs from breaking, if they are [&hellip;]</p>

<p>From Wikipedia: A smart lock is an electromechanical lock which is designed to perform locking and unlocking operations on a door when it receives such instructions from an authorized device using a wireless protocol and a cryptographic key to execute the authorization process. It also monitors access and sends alerts for the different events it monitors and some other critical events related [&hellip;]</p>

<p>As the autumn set in and the leaves began to change colors and fall, I realized that the busy summer had flown by without my even starting on a hobby project that I have been thinking about since last winter. I grabbed the camera and took a long walk around the neighborhood. I took pictures [&hellip;]</p>