The demand for wall panel equipment after World War II was unprecedented, even to this day. Industrialization was in the air, and factory-built wall panels became the gateway, even before roof trusses. Most of the action was in the affordable housing sector, driven by the mobile home, modular,...

Over the last couple of articles, I’ve spent some time discussing improvements that would improve both the energy efficiency and the ability of the truss system to withstand extreme weather conditions. If you’ve read those articles, you will know that I think it is ridiculous that we...

An attic truss with 7 feet room height – should it be designed for 20 psf (pounds per square foot), 30 psf, or 40 psf room live load? Per International Residential Code (IRC) Table R301.5, the minimum uniformly distributed live load for uninhabitable attics with limited storage is 20...

Driven by the dire shortage of housing entering the 1950s, Levittown sparked a fervor for homes to be built like cars on assembly lines. Fortunately, there was a crop of returning veterans ready to oblige, whether by building whole houses or just parts of houses. William Levett delved into...

Prefabricated wall panels made their first big impact under a government program in World War II. In 1942, the federal government began contracting with 50 existing prefab housing plants to deliver dwellings for 42,000 wartime workers. Since this work was highly repetitive and required rapid...

As I write this, I am sitting inside a warm office in Northern Ontario, looking out the window at near blizzard conditions, with heavy snow falling and –35° wind chill. Although it is very unpleasant outside, this isn’t necessarily unusual weather for this location, but what is...

In this final article about building our home, let’s talk about money and scheduling. We wanted our dream home to have the highest quality we could afford, built on time, without overspending. Here’s how we did it. Budgeting, tracking expenses, and cost accounting are in my DNA....

As we approach the finish line of our construction journey, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the progress we’ve made and the final touches that will bring our home to life. We’re thrilled to share the latest updates on our project, which has been a labor of love every step...

As construction moves forward, the focus shifts from the exterior to the interior, making it harder to track progress from the outside. However, there’s still important work ahead. Tasks like leveling the surrounding area and ensuring proper grading away from the house are crucial....

We are in month seven and have managed to maintain the schedule, give or take a week. At this stage, I am spending a lot of time walking the site, crawling around the attic, down in the crawlspace, and everywhere else, looking at work and asking questions. In addition, I am watching the schedule...