This is a sensitive and confusing subject for many people but in light of ramped-up immigration enforcement and random raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, we must address this issue.
What
should a person do when his files are bulging to the breaking point, and he’s
too harried to organize his thoughts?
I think the thing to do is dispose with narrative and compose a lazy man’s
article like this one.
Here are some business tips I’ve collected over the years. Some no doubt apply
to your business.
This
column was originally run in October 2004 when home-owners were fixing up older
homes in hopes of flipping them for a handsome profit. Now that the housing
market is experiencing a correction in much of the country, more homeowners are
staying put and sprucing up their homes with the intent of upgrading without
having to sell in a soft market.
East of Seattle, beyond Lake Washington is the city of Bellevue, fast becoming the land of Microsoft. Building inspectors in this fast growing, software and coffee drinking city are on the cutting edge of enforcing the most stringent interpretation of building codes. It may be the caffeine but what we are seeing is a trend towards a very strict or onerous interpretation of the code throughout the U.S.
When
times are good, people become complacent. Riding in gas guzzling land-yachts
and dwelling in cavernous McMansions tends to dull the senses and lulls people
into a false sense of security. The scale that was once used to measure the
distance between wants and needs became dangerously off-kilter.
I was 14 years old and the tool I held uncomfortably in my hand had long ago been relegated to the bottom of a pick-up truck tool box; the dark and dusty graveyard where old trowels with rusted blades and popped rivets go to die. You see plasterers very rarely throw away their old trowels; they just put them out to pasture. A quality built trowel will serve its purpose for many years, even decades if cared for properly.
It is an unwritten rule among green building enthusiasts that no building can truly be sustainable without also being durable. Most readily agree with this basic principle, intuitive and straightforward as it seems but defining building durability has proven to be very challenging for the drafters of green building rating systems.
In cold climate areas it is normal to put a vapor barrier on the warm side of the wall so that the humid interior air cannot get into the wall and condense during the winter. But you may not be aware that this vapor flow can also occur in the opposite direction, namely humid summer outdoor air may allow vapor to move toward the interior, causing moisture build-up in the wall.
I
receive letters to the editor on a regular basis, some complimentary, some not.
In the first half of this year, EIFS and stucco were attacked by self-serving
groups, and fortunately the industry responded with its own “letter to the
editor.”
by MarkFowler
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