If you have traveled to Europe or South America, you may have noticed that when you order water or soft drinks at a restaurant, the liquid comes at room temperature and without ice. Many folks around the world find iced drinks an unnecessary nuisance – with those cold cubes nipping at warm lips. Because Europeans …
Our wood construction traditions came from England. Where English carpenters were right at home building houses framed with studs set at about 16-inches on center for walls with wood lath and plaster. The lath was made from riven slats, deftly pealed with a hand ax off logs about 32-inches long. This was the length a …
The traditional gambrel (or Dutch) barn roof comes from northern Europe and prevails in places like Wisconsin and Minnesota with a heavy northern European heritage. Many immigrants to these states came from milk producing regions with specialized knowledge of cheese making. Early on, these cheesemakers separated curds from whey and considered the latter a waste …
Loggers that I have met tell me of the importance moon cycles have to the durability and strength of wood products. Timbers felled during a waning moon produce inferior lumber with a diminished resistance to insects and degraded structural strength. Artisanal woodsmen decry commercial logging that disregards natural cycles, harvesting on timber a business rather …
Double-pane windows have a hermetically sealed airspace between two sheets of glass, the gap provides the insulation. If the seal between windowpanes breaks, moisture can get between the glass sheets and cause fogging. However, the engineered, hermetic seal traps more than gasses between the panes, it traps the ambient air pressure as well. Sort of …