Thomas Martinez

Or maybe you’re looking at a big space…a living area once divided by a wall…or a garage you’d like to open up. And when you … Read more

There’s nothing more frustrating than spending three hours sanding a dining table. You mix the finish carefully and apply what appears to be a perfect … Read more

The point of calculating lag screw weight is to understand exactly what you’re purchasing: how heavy is it? Will I be able to lift this? … Read more

When purchasing drywall for a small room you need to factor in cuts. Mathematically, it seems as though number of sheets required would be clear … Read more

The footprint dimension (the flat rectangle of a house) is what you may estimate your square footage by. The roof area actualy gets larger with … Read more

Homeowners guess the square footage of their drywall and buy in sheets. That approach almost always end with leftover material or a frantic trip to … Read more

Many times when you think about replacing your roof, you envision an area problem. You go out with a tape measure and measure footprint, thinking … Read more

Here’s the thing about building: There’s a problem you have when you’re in the middle of an empty room staring at some drywall tape and … Read more

A roof does more than keep the elements out (rain) and keep things up (snow and shingles). It also holds any equipment you have on … Read more

Why did you choose that? Probably because it looks solid. That’s an easy size to understand. It’s one you’re used to seeing in framing. It … Read more

The calculator (above) handles math so we don’t have to guess at any conversions or coefficients; just input your roof size and how high you … Read more

The Gambrel Roof, For all of its structural integrity, the gable roof doesn’t provide much overhead space… Not enough for a house, anyhow. The gambrel … Read more

There’s quiet confidence in a single slope roof. Simple as that old shed roof, but how high does that pitch has to go so the … Read more

At some point during each of your roof framing projects, the abstractions of math turn into cold hard cash. Here’s how it plays out: You’re … Read more