Best Practices Guide to Residential Building Construction - Steven Bliss
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The best practices in residential building construction, tips, tricks, procedures which make the difference between an average or even a problem building
and a good building which works well and is a pleasure to occupy, are collected and described in Steve Bliss's book which is reviewed and described
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Book review by Daniel Friedman - Bernie Campbalik used to make a sucking noise through his teeth when he saw
one of us do something sloppy on the jobsite or in his carpentry class. Bernie knew
a lot about good construction practices, and he regularly pointed out that the
foul-ups were often in the details. Mistakes or omissions led to trouble down
the road. We were to avoid such goofs by recognizing them and fixing them on
the job. But beyond that sucking noise that we heard a bit more than we wanted
to, we remember Bernie's description of his own first days working as a
carpenter's assistant.
"The foreman would choose an 18'
2x10, after eying several for straightness, cup, and bow. Then he would
disappear around the corner of the building where we were working. He'd return
in a few minutes with a pattern rafter and would hand it to me. 'Here, ...'
he'd growl as he handed it over, 'dig into that pile over there and cut us 23
more like these.'"
The foreman didn't want Bernie to know how to layout a birds' mouth cut or
plumb cut. That little extra knowledge was what he figured was his edge, the
data that assured his job as site foreman.
And that has been a problem in construction. While most people who build do
so out of a real love of the work, there is a tradition of "not
sharing" the how-to details that make the difference between "good
enough" and "good work." Unlike his foreman, Bernie actually
wanted us to know how to do it right. Not because he particularly liked us, but
because he loved the work and wanted that to be right.
Steve Bliss, with a combination
of real-world on-the-job construction experience and a long career as a writer
and editor for the Journal of Light Construction , Progressive
Builder, and Solar Age has written a new book, Best Practices Guide to Residential
Construction, Materials, Finishes, and Details, which is full of
details and product choices that make the difference between "good
enough" and "good work" - the stuff that all of us who build or
have built homes wish we'd known sooner.
Best Practices has a simple organization. It’s easy to find
details can help the success of your construction project. Here are a few
examples:
Exterior finish: a rain
screen wall using Cor-A-Vent or folded insect screen at the bottom of a
clapboard siding wall can keep out insects and still permit drainage. Text
is accompanied by a photo suggesting installing siding over furring over
the building sheathing. It's a small detail, one of many, that addresses
trapped moisture in buildings - a common source of insect damage, rot, or
the current enviro-scare topics. Beyond concepts, such as "rain
screen," Bliss addresses sheathing wraps (house wrap), flashing
membranes, wall flashing, and specific details regarding the installation
of common exterior sheathings such as wood siding, wood shingles and
shakes, vinyl siding, wood and composite trim. To go past theory and good
ideas, the chapter also lists product suppliers and their websites or contact
information. A product resource list is offered at the end of each
chapter.
Roofing: Bliss's eaves
details for metal roofing, such as remembering to include the rubber
closure strip and to cap it with butyl tape address one of many omissions
that at our building inspections we find have led to wind-blown rain or wind
damage to the roofing. It's a small detail that makes a big difference.
Bliss includes details for the common roofing materials and systems such
as asphalt shingles, clay, concrete, composite tile, metal roofing,
low-slope roofing, and of course he addresses the vexsome specialty of
roof ventilation.
Windows and Doors: This
huge topic is compressed to window types, materials and construction,
energy efficiency, skylights, exterior doors. Picking an example almost at
random, we came across the warning to avoid storing vinyl windows in a
container, such as a trailer, or leaning them against a wall, "... as
they can permanently deform." It was just this condition that we came
across recently at a property, and while we saw the defect, we was at a loss
to explain how it happened.
Decks and Porches: This
chapter takes a look at framing and decking material choices, fasteners,
construction details, and the notorious problem of rooftop decks, as well
as covered/screened porches and deck finishes. After seeing a few
terrifying deck collapses, both during and after construction (luckily not
at our job sites), we was happy to see Mr. Bliss's details about fastenings
and connections, especially at post to beam and post to pier points. Bliss
also offers some simple details for creation of and sealing at a deck to
house-wall gap, one of the most-common leak and rot points we find on
buildings where these details are omitted. Excerpts & adaptations from this chapter can be read online at DECK & PORCH CONSTRUCTION, courtesy of J. Wiley & Sons & Steven Bliss.
Interior Finish:
Drywall, various flooring types (wood, vinyl, the currently-popular
laminate, carpets), trim, doors, stairs, sound, lighting are surveyed for
the Achilles heel and remedy, and Steve includes his recommendations among
these choices. Environmentally concerned clients will appreciate having
some alternatives to vinyl and carpeting and plastic laminates, such as
the cork flooring described in this chapter.
Kitchen and Bath: this chapter spends time on design basics - an
area that counts for kitchens and baths as anyone who's lived with a
thoughtless layout can testify. The author offers helpful tables of
materials choices (such as flooring) with cost, suitability for radiant
heat, pros, cons, and recommendations for each.
Indoor Air quality: It
will be interesting to builders to review Bliss's perspective on IAQ, as
this topic is much in the public eye, or we should say lung and mind. We like that the author stops at a succinct outline of the possible concerns
and moves to some clear, basic advice about an overall strategy (about problem
particles or gases: "keep it out, vent it out, dilute it, filter it
out"), and goes on to offer some opinions about the various methods
people are using to improve residential indoor air quality. Excerpts & adaptations from this chapter can be read online at INDOOR AIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT GUIDE, courtesy of J. Wiley & Sons & Steven Bliss.
This is a
rather large topic to tackle in a single chapter, so don't look for an
encyclopedic review here. But of use are Bliss's whole-house ventilation
strategies and his table comparing the pros, cons, controls, cost, and his
recommendations for various ventilation methods.
As the author points out,
(in our words not his), even the most brilliant and expensive design isn't
worth much if it's not used by the building occupants. He suggests
"More important than the precise number of cubic feet per minute,
however, is a well-designed system that is quite, reliable, and
low-maintenance, ensuring it will actually be used." Precisely.
Combine the real-world philosophy just stated, with a table of the
characteristics, appropriateness of use, and cost of venting alternatives,
and you have some good design details that can make a difference in the
health and quality of life of the occupants of the home.
I like this book and we recommend it. We 'm lucky - we didn't have
to pay for it. Mr. Bliss sent us a review copy, probably knowing that we hold
him in high regard, but probably also slightly worried by knowing that we won't
pull any punches on a review. The book is well worth having, and it makes a
good dent in the "secret pattern rafter layout" problem we mentioned
above, by passing on many "best practice" details for residential
construction. \
To collect and pass on all of them would produce more pages than
the Harvard Classics, and more books than Google has indexed (so far). The
length of this book, 308 pages including a useful index, gives space for a
well-worth-having collection of helpful details beyond the usual arm-waving
that pollutes most professions and contaminates ours too. The book's strengths
are the perspective and choice of details selected by a writer who has spent a
lifetime of hands-on building, writing about, and finally editing about good
construction practices.
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Steven Bliss served as editorial director and co-publisher of The Journal of Light Construction for 16 years and previously as building technology editor for Progressive Builder and Solar Age magazines. He worked in the building trades as a carpenter and design/build contractor for more than ten years and holds a masters degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Excerpts from his recent book, Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction, Wiley (November 18, 2005) ISBN-10: 0471648361, ISBN-13: 978-0471648369, appear throughout this website, with permission and courtesy of Wiley & Sons. Best Practices Guide is available from the publisher, J. Wiley & Sons, and also at Amazon.com.
Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair
Our recommended books about building design, inspection, and repair, and about indoor environment testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore.
Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction, by Steven Bliss. John Wiley & Sons, 2006. ISBN-10: 0471648361, ISBN-13: 978-0471648369, Hardcover: 320 pages, available from Wiley.com and also at Amazon.com.
Manual for the Inspection of Residential Wood Decks and Balconies, by Cheryl Anderson, Frank Woeste (Forest Products Society), & Joseph Loferski, October 2003, ISBN-13: 978-1892529343, $39.00 at Amazon.com or at the InspectAPediaBookstore
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