Thomas Martinez

Floor Joists People tend to view them as a load-bearing element (and they certainly are). What you really want to avoid is a saggy floor. … Read more

Patio projects gets most weekend warriors excited; until they realize how large it all need to be. Sure, they imagine look of stone at night … Read more

Before you pictured your patio, I bet you thought about what was under there, the dirt! What we can’t see is rock foundation needed for … Read more

If you’ve ever bought too many bags of cement, then you know what happens… You’re stuck holding all this gray stuff in buckets and bags … Read more

Then you measure out the room and discover the studs is too far apart to frame as you had intended for a floor. Two by … Read more

It’s easy to begin building a chicken coop. Or so it seems…until you look up. That’s when geometry of the roof slaps you. Pitch matters, … Read more

It’s easy enough to plug the numbers into the calculator at the top of the page. But knowing how it works will help you avoid … Read more

Know that your house is sitting atop dirt, not concrete. Concrete spread the load across ground without crushing it. Get the foundation wrong and you’re … Read more

Two thousand square feet doesn’t seem like much, but every inch of thickness add nearly two cubic yards of material. Most DIYers who plan a … Read more

Staggering your boards distributes the stress of the butt joints so that no single weak point runs parallel to another. Running your seams directly opposite … Read more

First, know how tension works in terms of geometry. If your chain link fence sags, it’s typically because of improper spacing, not that something went … Read more

Concrete withstands compression, not so much tension. Because ground moves around and the walls sink, concrete need steel in its footings or else they’ll rip … Read more

Most people underestimate how much steel actualy goes into a concrete slab until they is standing in their driveway with a half-empty truck bed and … Read more