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Home improvement guides
Practical, reviewed advice for planning repairs and projects, choosing the right pro and knowing what to ask before you hire.
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497 guides
- Guide
Emergency Roof Repair guide
Emergency roof work is a holding action. A tree limb has gone through the deck, a windstorm has stripped shingles off one slope, or water is running down an interior wall at nine at night, and the job in front of you is…
13 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Asphalt Shingle Roofing guide
Asphalt shingles are the default covering on American houses, and the most useful thing a homeowner can learn before buying one is that shingle lines from the same manufacturer are not equivalent.
12 min readSeptember 14, 2026 - Guide
Metal Roofing guide
Metal roofing in America is principally a nineteenth-century phenomenon, as the National Park Service puts it in its guidance on historic roofs.
10 min readSeptember 14, 2026 - Guide
Flat Roofing guide
A flat roof is never quite flat. EPA defines a low-sloped roof as essentially flat with only enough incline to provide drainage, usually no more than 2 inches of vertical rise over 12 inches of horizontal run, a 2:12…
11 min readSeptember 14, 2026 - Guide
Cedar Roofing guide
A cedar roof is a set of small wooden boards arranged to shed water and then dry out again, and everything about how long it lasts follows from that second half.
13 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Slate Roofing guide
Slate is the longest-lived roofing material on American houses and the one most often thrown away early. The National Park Service describes it as one of the most aesthetically pleasing and durable of all roofing…
13 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Roof Inspection guide
Four different things get called a roof inspection in the United States, and confusing them costs homeowners money.
13 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Roof Maintenance guide
Roof maintenance is the least glamorous money a homeowner spends and the only money that reliably buys years. It is not one job but a short list of small ones on a schedule: keeping the surface and the drainage clear,…
12 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Skylights guide
A skylight is the one opening in a house that has to be a window and a roof at the same time, which is why the work splits between two skills: the energy performance of the unit, and the flashing that ties it into the…
11 min readSeptember 14, 2026 - Guide
Gutter Installation guide
Gutters are the least glamorous part of the exterior and the one with the widest blast radius when they are wrong.
10 min readSeptember 14, 2026 - Guide
Gutter Repair guide
Most gutter problems are not gutter problems. A run that overflows at one corner, sags in the middle, drips at a seam or pulls away from the house is usually reporting a fault in the slope, the hangers, the outlet, or…
12 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Soffit & Fascia guide
The soffit is the underside of the roof overhang and the fascia is the board that closes off the ends of the rafters at the edge, and together they do four jobs that have nothing to do with appearance.
13 min readSeptember 21, 2026
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