carpentry-school / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

After completing a design workshop for high performance wall systems, teachers at the New Frontiers School Board in Ormstown, QC have settled on a building envelope that will outperform houses built to code by a factor of almost 3. The school will be releasing videos following the progress of this first of its kind pro...

Adhesives and sealants: Modern homes have a lot more caulking and adhesives than older homes. Adhesives are liberally applied to many surfaces for ease and speed of job completion, as well as to prevent squeaking between flooring and joists, for example. Functionally speaking, caulking is used to prevent moisture and a...

Pallet Beds - cool but potentially dangerous! We've all seen these rustic shabby-chic pallet wood beds & headboards on social media - these days it seems we can't get enough of being creatively frugal and independent - but while certain pallets are a great source of rustic wood with character for repurposing, other...

  How to cool a home without AC While it's true that no matter where you live, be it urban, suburban or rural, the hottest days and nights of summer may have you dreaming of coolers climates. However, those living in dense urban areas will feel it the most, where ambient temperatures can be 5 to 9 degrees Celcius highe...

Insects & Rodents, how to show them the door... Below is a list of some of the more common rodents and insects that invade homes, and some ideas on how to rid yourself of the offending guests. We would certainly advocate for the most humane and non-toxic solutions first, but we have included other options if the hi...

Definitely one of the coolest pioneers of the Tiny House Movement in BC Canada, the Hemloft Treehouse is made entirely from free and recycled materials. After 2 months of filling his home with thousands of dollars worth of recycled materials donated through Craigslist, Joel Allen finally had all he would need to build ...