NEW Love That New House Smell?
Today’s new-home construction materials contain an excessive amount of chemicals that evaporate and off-gas into Volatile Organic Compounds. Kitchen and bathroom cabinets, moulding and paneling, drywall, flooring and roofing materials are manufactured using toxic chemicals such as Urea-Formaldehyde and phenolic resins. Paints, stains and sealants are used extensively in just about every room in the house, and contain VOCs that can cause serious health effects. A newly-constructed house will have a significant amount of VOCs in the air because the rate of off-gassing for VOCs is highest initially.
from Eric Martin on Upworld

NEW Housing: Density and Desire
Density — the number of units per acre on a proposed site plan — is at the heart of the developer’s mantra: More density, more profit. Meanwhile, environmentalists and many planners preach high density as the promise for a better future. The compression of families is an attempt to curb sprawl and reduce transportation energy consumption. For these reasons, many Green programs demand a minimum density to qualify for certification.
from New Geography

NEW Title of Architect/Engineer Used by Technogeeks
A community member writes: "As a licensed architect, it's frustrating and publicly confusing to see the term architect/engineer used to describe computer-hardware/software positions. It's time to reclaim our titles, which we all worked very hard to achieve and to maintain."
from McGraw-Hill Construction Community

What Builders Should Know about Google Maps
If you are in the home building or real estate arena, you may need some help attracting clients to your properties. The good news is Google has added "home for sale" search features to Google Maps.
from Building Systems Blog

How Are You Preparing for the Fire Sprinkler Mandate?
Given the fact that the International Code Council (ICC) voted in November to keep the language related to mandatory fire sprinklers installed in all new one- and two-family homes in the next edition of the International Residential Code (IRC), I wonder how builders are preparing for the change. After all, sprinklers will be mandatory in new buildings beginning on January 1, 2011.
The Product Guy

Lumber Market May Point to Strength in Housing
One of the surprising bright spots in global commodity markets over the past few weeks has been lumber, a commodity that you would think would be in agony, given the sad state of the U.S. home market. Instead, raw lumber prices are up more than 25% this year, according to Jon Markman of Markman Capital Insight.
from NP Financial Post

Engineers without Borders—US Students Are Safe in Haiti
Students from the University of Wisconsin Engineers Without Borders-UW chapter posted a blog saying the quake was barely a tremor at the location where they have been working on a hydro-electric power generation project.
from Engineers without Borders—University of Wisconsin

When Granny Comes Marching Home Again... Multi-Generational Housing
The driveway tells the story. The traditional two-story 2,200 square foot suburban home has a two-car attached garage. Today’s multi-generational families fill the garage, the driveway and often also occupy the curb in front of the home. The economic crisis that is transforming America is also changing the way we live. The outcome will change the way America views its housing needs for the balance of the 21st Century.
from New Geography

New Advances in Concrete Technology
There have been a number of advances in new concrete technology in the past ten years. There have been advancements made in almost all areas of concrete production including materials, recycling, mixture proportioning, durability, and environmental quality. However, many of these innovations have not been adopted by the concrete industry or concrete users / buyers. There is always some resistance to change and it is usually based on cost considerations and lack of familiarity with the new technology.
from Great Possibilities Weblog

Will Fire Sprinkler Code Requirement Reduce Property Losses?
What will a new code requiring fire sprinklers in new one- and two-family dwellings and townhomes mean for insurers, builders and consumers? We explore the issue.
from Disaster Safety Blog

The Pros and Cons of Deconstruction
Have you ever considered that the old kitchen cabinets you are removing could be used by someone else? While it might seem to be easier to demolish everything, reusing materials is environmentally friendly and reduces your waste removal costs. Plus, there can be other surprising economic benefits. Here is some more really great remodeling information for contractors and homeowners alike.
from National Lumber's Blog

Housing Permits Up 30 Percent Over April 2009; Will Builders Stifle Recovery?
I'm starting to hear the phrase, "pent-up demand" a lot from various investors, real-estate professionals and builders. I started thinking a bit more about this and what's in store for this spring in the housing industry, and more specifically in the new construction industry.
from Bigger Pockets Blog

Some Guidelines for Building ADA Accessible Curb Ramps
As a part of the ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities, there are certain specifications and requirements that curbs and ramps must meet in order to meet code standards. Below, I discuss the different elements of these standards and the specs that they must meet.
from Let's Blog Construction

The Best Industry in the United States
You may not believe it, but the facts will show our business is unmatched. It offers participants long-term tangible benefits. However, many people will argue that point. Let me show you the many virtues our industry has. You be the judge.
from Construction Contractor's Digest

It's Hot, It's Dry, and It's Almost Summer
For many parts of the United States, conditions are already "primed" for a bad wildfire season. Depending on where you live, the term "wildfire" can have many connotations, especially for residents of the southern California hills and other wester U.S. states that regularly see devastating fires every year. So why am I writing this stuff in a fire safety blog? Because of a factor that's increasingly exposing people and their property to the devastation that can be unleashed by an uncontrollable wildfire: the wildland urban interface (WUI).
from Fire Safety Protection Pro

Staying Green Keeps in the Black
With the ClimateGate scandal and the fiery Copenhagen Climate Conference threatening to cause some building and design professionals to reassess their commitment to the green movement, sustainable commercial and industrial construction just might be facing its most daunting challenge yet. Or is it? The primary reason to stay green is that sustainable construction methods just make good clean "carbon neutral" sense. It's the world's buildings that are responsible for burning half its energy supplies—supplies that one day are going to run out. Which is why despite arguments over climate change, investment in sustainable building strategies does not seem to be slowing.
from CR4 Building Design Blog

What is the True Cost of Going Green?
This past week Elisa Wood of Renewableenergyworld.com wrote a very interesting blog piece focusing on the state of the commercial real estate market and the perceived costs and benefits of green buildings. Ms. Wood focused on what she calls the "ghosts" of green building, the perceived costs of green expenditures which in reality do not actually turn out to be true her post is based on a recent report released by Ceres.
from Green Building & Environmental Trends