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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
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Attic Insulation guide
Insulating an attic is the highest-value envelope job in most American houses, and the Department of Energy's Building America guidance says so directly: the attic is the first place a contractor should insulate, and…
14 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Basement Insulation guide
A basement wall is the one part of an American house that is cold on one side, wet on the other and made of a material that passes water vapor for its whole life.
12 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Spray Foam Insulation guide
Spray polyurethane foam insulates and air seals in one pass, which is why it wins on complicated geometry where batts cannot be made to fit.
11 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Blown-In Insulation guide
Blown-in insulation covers two jobs that share a machine and nothing else. Loose-fill poured or blown onto an open horizontal surface settles under its own weight and is measured in depth.
11 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Soundproofing guide
Soundproofing is one of the few home improvements with a published, testable target, which makes it much easier to judge than the marketing suggests.
11 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Air Sealing guide
Air sealing is the work of closing the unintended openings that let conditioned air out of a house and outdoor air in.
12 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Energy Audits guide
A home energy audit, sometimes sold as a home energy assessment, is a diagnostic visit rather than an inspection.
10 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Weatherization guide
Weatherization is the package rather than any single measure: the combination of air sealing, insulation, duct work, and health and safety repairs that brings an existing house up to a usable standard of comfort and…
11 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Home Elevators & Lifts guide
Before anything else about home elevators: there is a gap inside many of them that has killed children. The Consumer Product Safety Commission describes the hazard plainly, warning that young children can become…
10 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Accessibility Equipment guide
Accessibility equipment is the hardware that makes a house usable without rebuilding it: stair lifts, vertical and inclined platform lifts, ramps, grab bars, transfer poles, ceiling track hoists, powered door openers,…
11 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Central Vacuum guide
A central vacuum puts the motor and the dirt somewhere other than the room you are cleaning. A power unit in the basement, garage or utility room is connected by rigid tubing running inside walls and floors to inlet…
10 min readSeptember 21, 2026 - Guide
Water Features guide
Backyard water covers a wide range: a wall-mounted bubbler on a patio, a formal fountain in a courtyard, a pondless waterfall that disappears into a gravel reservoir, a koi pond deep enough to overwinter fish.
10 min readSeptember 21, 2026
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