Shopping Tips: New Hampshire Construction Contractors

Shopping for a New Hampshire construction contractor? Here are a few tips to help you choose one you'll be happy with.

• Experience. Construction seems to be the business everyone wants to be in right now, and its popularity has attracted some people who are new to the field. It's a good idea to keep this in mind when looking for a contractor for your project. Ask questions like "How many years have
  
  you been doing this? Have you done any work in the area that I can look at? Can you give me some references?"
• Understanding and Communication. There's nothing worse than coming home to find your addition going in on the wrong side of the house. Of course, this is an extreme example, but you'll want to make sure you and your contractor are on the same page.
• Honesty. Obviously, you'd have to be a mind reader to know for sure whether a contractor is being honest. But you can watch for red flags, such as inconsistencies and stories that don't check out.
• Control. You'll want to make sure that the contractor you're hiring is actually going to do the work, or at least be fully in control of it. You don't want to go through the trouble of finding an experienced, honest contractor who understands your needs, only to have the actual work done by someone else. 

Building projects can be stressful, but if you follow these four pointers, you'll have a little bit less to worry about.

Thanks,

NewHampshire Construction

The Real Deal on New Hampshire Construction Contractor Licenses

Lately, we've been asked a few times if we're licensed, so it looks like it's time to set the record straight:

The State of New Hampshire does not require (or offer) licensing for building contractors. The only construction-related contractors who need licenses in New Hampshire are electricians, plumbers and asbestos abatement contractors.

So beware of advertisers who say they hold licenses that don't actually exist. Yup, we've seen them!

Thanks,

NewHampshire Construction

Commonly Confused Construction Terms

When you're ready to start a building project, whether you're going to hire a contractor or do it
yourself, communication is key. Knowing what to call everything can help you avoid expensive misunderstandings with contractors and suppliers. Here are a few commonly confused or misused construction terms and their meanings:

Joist/Stud: A joist is one of a set of beams that support a floor, deck, or other horizontal surface. A stud is one of a set of posts that make up the frame of a wall. The difference: joists are horizontal and studs are vertical.

Board/Plank: The difference between a board and a plank is thickness. Put simply, if it's at least an inch and a half thick, it's a plank; if it's thinner than that, it's a board.

Cement/Concrete: Cement is heat-treated limestone. Mix it with water and gravel, and you've got concrete. You can't build anything out of cement alone. It's a powerful binding agent when activated by water, but it needs something to bind. That's where the gravel comes in.

Beam/Post: These are both strong structural elements designed to support a lot of weight. The difference is that beams are horizontal and posts are vertical.

Truss: A truss is a sub-structure built to support weight without the need for a lot of posts or load-bearing walls. Trusses are often used to support roofs in buildings where a lot of open floorspace is desired. Don't confuse it with trust.

Soffit/Fascia: If you stand under the overhang of a typical New Hampshire roof and look up, you'll see a sort of outdoor ceiling called a soffit. Now, step away from the house and look for a trim board running along the roofline. That's the fascia, also called fascia board.

Tread/Riser/Stringer: These are all parts of a set of stairs. The treads are the part you probably notice the most, because you walk on them. The risers are the vertical boards that go between the treads. Not all stairs have risers. The stringers are the diagonal planks that form the main structure of the stairs.

Rafter/Purlin: Both these terms refer to the beams that form the structure of a roof. The difference is which direction they run. On a gable (peaked) roof, rafters run from the ridge (peak) to the eaves (bottom of roof/top of wall), whereas purlins run parallel to the short walls of the house. Purlins are not used in traditional-style modern houses, but are usually found in post-and-beam construction.

Sheathing/Siding: Sheathing is attached directly to the wall studs. In modern houses, it's usually made of OSB. In older houses, it may be plywood or even pine boards. Over the sheathing goes the housewrap (Tyvek is a popular brand), and over that goes the siding. The siding is the exterior finish of the house.

Baseboard/Baseboard heater: A baseboard is a piece of trim that runs along the bottom of a wall next to the floor. It's usually made of wood, but in commercial buildings, there's a popular type of baseboard called cove base, which is made of rubber or vinyl. A baseboard heater is a heater, usually electric, designed to be installed just in front of a baseboard.

Banister/Baluster: A banister is a stair rail, and balusters are closely-spaced supports that hold up a railing. A related word: balustrade, a railing with its supporting balusters.

Screw/Bolt: A screw is used by itself, but a bolt is used with a nut.

Cut/rip: Again, the difference is which direction it's going. Cutting goes across the grain of the wood, while ripping goes along the grain.

Did we miss any? Add to the list! What word confusions have gotten you in trouble?

Thanks,

New Hampshire Construction 

Buying Construction Materials? Inspect Before You Buy

It seems obvious that if you buy your construction materials from the same stores that supply professional contractors, you should be able to count on getting high-quality, professional-grade products. Unfortunately, that's not the way it works.

The pros are used to it. When we drive into the lumberyard to pick up a load of two-by-fours, we know that part of the job will be checking them for bad splits, bows, warps, knots and damage. And the same goes for everything else we buy. So if you're buying materials for a project of your own, check everything over before you leave the store.

An example:

A customer recently picked up a screen door from one of the big box stores, but when we went to install it, we realized we were going to have to take it back to the store.

Notice how there's a lot more of the bottom board showing on the right than there is on the left. Something's not right here.

Turn the door around, and we find the problem: a screw missed its target, splintering part of the frame...

...and forcing the main panel out of place.

Most stores will let you return defective products, but of course it's a lot quicker and easier not to buy them in the first place.

Thanks,

New Hampshire Construction

Renovating New Hampshire Soffits

What do your soffits look like? Are they working properly? What are soffits, anyway? Most New Hampshire houses have soffits, and if they're not working properly, that could lead to problems.

What are soffits?

On most New Hampshire houses, if you stand under the overhang of a pitched roof and look up, you'll be looking at the soffit.

How do they work? What are they supposed to do?

Soffits serve two important roles in a house. First, they block the roof off from mice, squirrels, and other creatures who may want to build their nests in there and ruin your insulation. Second, they work in combination with ridge vents to allow airflow through the roof. Without sufficient airflow, condensation is likely to collect in your roof. That could lead to mildew, mold, dripping, rotting, and possibly even ceiling collapse.

The old way

Older soffits were often made of plywood or even boards, with metal vents installed at regular intervals.

The new way

Today, soffits are usually made of perforated vinyl. They don't need to be painted, and installation is less labor-intensive because they don't need custom holes cut for the vents.

Renovating soffits

In many cases, new soffits can be installed without fully removing the old ones. In this example from a recent job, we're removing the old vents and installing the new perforated vinyl soffits over (literally, under) the old wooden ones.

Thanks,

New Hampshire Construction

How Adding a Three-Season Porch Could Save You Money in the Long Run

Three-season porches make a whole lot of sense. They add living space for a minimum of expense.

They give you a place to enjoy the fresh air in summer without being baked by the sun or eaten by mosquitoes or horseflies. And they let you have a semi-outdoor living experience far sooner in the spring and later in the fall than you could get otherwise. But did you know they can also reduce your winter heating bills?

A good three-season porch typically has easy-to-operate, screened windows on three sides, with the original exterior wall of the house making the fourth wall. The floor and roof are tightly built, so that when the windows are closed, there are no drafts.

Here are two ways a three-season porch can save heating fuel:

Passive Solar Heat

Direct sunlight coming through plain glass (glass that's not tinted or treated with a reflective coating) can provide a surprising amount of heat. If the angle of the sun's rays is too steep to come directly, and it reflects off snow or ice in your yard first, that works, too.

To take advantage of the passive solar potential of your three-season porch, follow these tips:

• Locate it where the winter sun will hit the windows. Usually, this means the south side of your house.
• Make sure there are no evergreen trees in the way that will shade the windows in the winter.

To keep your porch cooler in the summer:

• Give it a roof with a large overhang. The sun is closer to the horizon in the winter, so a large overhang will let winter sunshine will in but keep midday summer sunshine out.
• Locate any kiddie pools and other shiny objects where they won't reflect the sun's rays onto the windows.
• Don't cut down deciduous trees (trees that shed their leaves in the fall), unless they are endangering the house in some way. Deciduous trees are nature's air conditioners. They keep your house cool in summer, and actually clean the air while they're at it!

Airlock

When you think of airlocks, you probably think of submarines, or maybe even spaceships. But airlocks are important in our houses, too. When you open your door on a winter day and go outside, a lot of warm air goes with you. But it doesn't have to. Old-time New Englanders never used to use a single door in the winter, because it wasted heat. You need to trap the air when you go in and out of your house, so the heat isn't sucked outside, and a three-season porch is a good way to do that. Other options are mudrooms and enclosed breezeways.

To use your three-season porch as an airlock in the winter, always close one door tightly before you open the other one. Teach your children to make sure the last person has come through the first door and shut it tightly before anyone opens the second door. Once they get the hang of it, it should start to come naturally.

Could your house benefit from a three-season porch?

Thanks,

New Hampshire Construction

Home Maintenance - New Hampshire Homeowner Tips

The weather is heating up. Just a few weeks ago, there was snow on the ground, and today we're all in shorts - or wishing we could be. With the ice dams and giant icicles of last winter a very recent memory, now we're looking summer in the face. Here are a few quick tips for helping your home or business building make the transition:

• Inspect the roof. A tough winter like we just had can really do a number on a house, if it wasn't built for the climate and kept in great condition. And, unfortunately, most houses and other buildings in New Hampshire weren't built for the climate. Go figure. Check the roof for leaks and missing or damaged shingles.
• Open and close all the doors and windows. If they bind or stick (and they didn't last summer), that could be a sign of structural damage.

• Look for any cracks or gaps around the edges of windows and doors, cracked paint on your interior walls, and screws poking out from the walls. Again, any of these could be a sign of structural damage.
• Check the foundation. Again, you're looking for cracks.
• Assess your insulation. Adequate insulation will do three things for you, even in the summer: save you money, keep you more comfortable, and help your house handle temperature changes with less stress.

If you find any damage, or anything you're not sure about, don't just sit on it. Make sure you know what you're doing, or find someone who does, and take care of the problem as soon as reasonably possible. Damage only gets worse the longer you wait.

Thanks,

New Hampshire Construction