Fine Homebuilding Magazine

America’s trusted resource for residential building, remodeling, and home improvement. Convenient digital delivery includes unique bonus features and enhancements: linkable and searchable content, techniques videos, slide shows, tutorials, new products, digital tools, and more.

OutOfPrint • BUILDING BEYOND THE MAGAZINE’S PAGES

Fine Homebuilding Magazine

Contributors • THE VOICES OF EXPERIENCE

Letters • READER FEEDBACK

Tips&Techniques

Codes for crawlspaces

Tools&Gear • NEW AND NOTEWORTHY PRODUCTS

Crafting a Copper Roof • Hand-formed standing-seam panels give a bay window a little bling

DEPENDABLE AND LONG LASTING

Lessons From Zone 8 • A high-performance contractor shares the challenges of building in the cold Alaskan climate

5 CONSIDERATIONS FOR COLD-CLIMATE BUILDING • Like the indigenous Alaskans, who adapted to an extreme environment, today’s cold-climate builders must do the same. Whether it’s the available materials and technologies, demographics, or clients’ tastes and lifestyle preferences, we need to stay flexible, identify and analyze changes, check our processes and plans, and refine our strategies as we go.

The Advantages of Cellular PVC Siding • This material is durable, waterproof, and ideal for places where the weather is hard on a home’s exterior

A Low-Carbon, All-Electric Build • Integrating cross-laminated timber, wood-fiber insulation, panelized construction, and a solar-tile roof for Passive House performance

Katrin Klingenberg • This architect and engineer developed a Passive House standard for the United States

Trimming Stairs • Utility stairs are transformed into a squeak-free finished staircase with straightforward carpentry and easy-to-source parts

START WITH THE SKIRTBOARDS • The skirtboards are made from ¾-in. MDF, which is dimensionally stable and routs cleanly. I cut dadoes in the skirtboards that accept the treads and hide their ends. To make up the total length of these stairs, two skirt sections are needed. I find it easier to connect the top one after the bottom one has been fastened to the wall. Biscuits keep the two pieces aligned at the splice.

FIT AND FASTEN TREADS AND RISERS • Treads and risers are installed from the bottom to the top, which allows you to glue and nail each riser to the back edge of the tread below it. This stair has white oak treads with risers ripped from cabinet-grade pine plywood, which is more stable and less expensive than solid wood.

HOUSES BY DESIGN • ARCHITECTURAL CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

SPEC • NEW AND NOTABLE PRODUCTS

Ask the EXPERTS • YOUR QUESTIONS // PRO ANSWERS

Rethinking “kids these days”

KeepCraftAlive • CELEBRATING PASSION FOR BUILDING