With today's energy costs, it's impossible to justify installing only basic thermostats in a new home. Modern thermostats not only decrease energy consumption, but they can also increase the comfort in the home all year long.

There's nothing like a cold bathroom floor to wake you up first thing in the morning. Most of us simply accept cold, uncomfortable tile floors as a necessary evil, and we buy slippers and carpets to compensate. The best practice not only for warming floors but also for heating the entire room is radiant under-tile heating.

Natural gas is commonly used in homes as an energy source. And like any energy source, it must be used correctly to be efficient and safe.

Most sportsmen (and sportswomen) will agree—a bad day fishing is STILL better than a good day at work. But fishing for cables to wire a home office can be a bad day for any homeowner.

For some it may be something as simple as remote or automatic control of a few lights. For others, security may be the central application. Still others may choose to install advanced controllers or use voice recognition. As a very basic definition, we tend to refer to home automation as anything that gives you remote or automatic control of things around the home.

Decisions that are made while framing the house can affect the new homeowners in unexpected ways. For instance, how you frame an exterior corner will affect how well the house is insulated -- and that can affect moisture and mold.

Builders can lose a lot of sleep worrying about gaining a competitive edge while constantly improving the quality and durability of the homes they build. But luckily, there are new techniques like OVE -- and specifically stack framing -- that can help builders get a full night's rest.

It's a problem that can find its way into any new home, and it accounts for an estimated 14,000 deaths each year. Odorless, tasteless, and radioactive, radon gas is an issue to be taken seriously by both builders and homeowners.

 A joist is the structural skeleton of the floor. Without joists there would be no floor. Framers commonly install solid sawn floor joists. However, new technologies have led to a new joist, one with an open metal web system.

The framing for most homes is wood. The problem is that wood is not a very good insulator. So we use what are called "ladder panels" when we attach interior walls to exterior walls. This allows us to better insulate the home and use less wood during the framing process.

Showers, tubs, and fireplaces are all areas of the home especially susceptible to uncomfortable drafts. Trying to resolve a complaint after construction can be costly and difficult.

The construction of crawlspaces has gone through an evolution of building science that turns the conventional practice on its head. Venting a crawlspace can actually do more harm than good. It can compromise the durability of the house and create a health hazard for the occupants.

Acoustic wall framing is the "best practice" for reducing unwanted noises from traveling through the walls of a house, from both inside and out.

Proper backfilling of the foundation is one of the first steps in good residential construction. The method used can have long-lasting consequences on the life of a new home. This is especially true when considering basement-type foundations. Improper backfill has the potential of creating structural failures within the foundation. Good planning can help to avoid these costly failures.

Good drainage is important to ensure your home and basement stay dry. As ground water rises or excess rain comes down, a french drain will take the water away from the foundation.

A common misconception is that heat always rises. Heat is in constant motion, moving from warmer areas to colder areas until an overall equal temperature is established. To manage the movement of heat within a home, builders and homeowners are constantly looking for areas around the home to beef-up insulation.