Keep Dogs Warm

A visitor to AsktheBuilder who'd rather remain anonymous and who lives in sunny, but sometimes cool, Phoenix, AZ, has two dogs he wants to be warm at night. Here's what he sent: "I need to keep my two dogs warm at night without heating the whole house.  Help! Even here in Phoenix, it gets cold in […]

How to Lower Your Heating Bills

Each year, I see tip lists in newspapers, magazines, and now online, about how to lower heating costs. Usually the information in the lists is the same year in and year out. Most of the tips are great, but one thing is always missing from them. I'm going to share that with you at the […]

Shingle Granule Loss

DEAR TIM: In the past year my asphalt shingle roof seems like it has really started to go bad. I see large areas of my shingles that have no granules. You can see the fiberglass fibers in the mat. The disturbing part is my roof is only 14 years old and the shingles came with […]

The Dancing Traffic Light

The concept that's captivating the pedestrians is not new. It's the same reason young children sit motionless in front of TVs watching shows or cartoons. The MOVEMENT of the figure is causing the brain of the pedestrians to do a hard reset as it continues to do RANDOM dancing motions. Your brain does everything it […]

Roof Valley Leaks Ice Dams

Jim Fiste is getting ready to reroof his home in Cedarburg, WI. Let him fill you in with the details: "I have a roof valley that is formed by two intersecting cathedral ceilings. Both ceilings have ridge vents and 2' vented overhangs.  However the portion of the valley above the overhang only has venting at the ridge […]