I’m a big fan of cedar shakes shingles. There is something cool about a building product that is just a piece of wood that shaved off a tree and nailed to your house. They aren’t square or perfectly uniform which means they tend to give your home a splash of creativity. Often a dormer on [...] Read More

Old decks are often a concern if they weren’t built very well to begin with.  The homeowner for this project just bought this house and was afraid to let people onto the deck.  It tended to sway a little and give you “sea legs”, so let’s “Secure the Deck!” [I hope you're enjoying my nautical [...] Read More

One thing I love about living in “The South” are the porches.  Not only do they add a welcoming feeling to a home, but they add outdoor living space protected from the rain.  My summer house project in Inglewood had an old back porch that was about to fall down.  I got to build a [...] Read More

After installing the patio door (see this post) I got to add a couple porch lights to this East Nashville home. Adding wiring in an older home like this has a tendency to be a nightmare at times, because the wires are inaccessible and the walls are plaster. I didn’t run into these problems on [...] Read More

If you’ll remember from earlier in the week, when I was first introduced to this lovely porch it was sagging considerably. Further inspection showed that it was built without an all-important ridge beam and now the decorative brackets were supporting the weight, for now… The cure for this was to completely remove the porch and [...] Read More