Here s another great tip from BobVila.com. Giving your pet a place of his own to take shelter from wind, rain and sun is a noble pursuit. Building a doghouse has long been a favorite do-it-yourself weekend project. Doghouses now come in all shapes and sizes, from cedar chalets to foam igloos. Whether you re building a pre-fab air-conditioned palace or designing a practical, no-frills model, make sure the house fits the dog. First, measure your dog. Her length, plus 3 or 4 inches, should be the length and width of the doghouse. Her standing height, plus 3 or 4 inches, should determine the interior height. And the doorway should be wide and high enough for her shoulders. While it s a departure from the Snoopy look, setting the door off-center will provide better shelter. A hinged or removable roof, window or wall panel allows for cross-ventilation in hot weather and easier cleaning. Build the floor frame of your doghouse from pressure-treated lumber to resist rot and set the corners on concrete blocks or stones to keep it above grade. You may even want to build the house on skids so you can move it if you need to. Doghouses are a great opportunity to recycle scrap materials such as 2x4-inch wall framing, plywood and a few roofing shingles. Design a good roof overhang on all sides and extend it even further over the entrance to shed rain and provide shade. The siting of your doghouse is as important as its construction. If you don t mean it to be a feature of the yard, tuck it behind some bushes or around the side of the house. Choose a shady, level spot away from any streams or badly drained areas. Keep the doghouse away from the fence as well so it doesn t become an escape route. Orient the doghouse with the door facing away from prevailing winds and bright lights at night so your dog can rest comfortably. And help him keep clean by providing mulch, gravel or pavers around his new digs. Find out more at BobVila.com: the ultimate home improvement web site! 2008 BobVila.com

Bob and developer John Druley walk through a home under construction by Qualker Homes in Falmouth, Massachusetts. This standard design is used for both the market-priced and affordable homes. The overall dimensions of the house are 26 feet by 36 feet. A center-door entry leads to 13-by-18-foot living room on one side and a 16-by-13-foot master bedroom on the other. The back of the house has a 13-by-18-foot kitchen with a back door and a window onto the backyard, a half-bath and laundry, and an entry to the master bedroom with full bath, tub-shower combination, double-bowl sink, and linen closet. The upstairs has two bedrooms with operable skylights and a full bath. This three-bedroom, two-and-one-half bath Cape will be lotteried as an affordable home to eligible families who make between $29,000 and $65,000 per year, and who qualify for a traditional mortgage. The home is stick-built with traditional 2X4 framing, oriented strand board (OSB) exterior sheathing, low-e glass, tilt-in vinyl windows, and gas heat. Bob and Druley point out that an affordable home must be affordable to operate and heat as well as being affordable to purchase.

When insulating typical 2x4 wall construction an R factor of R11 or R13 is used. To comply with Energy Star requirements, use an R15. This is the highest r value you can have in a 2x4 wall. The higher rating is achieved by adding more fiberglass to the blanket, allowing it to trap more cold air.

Bob is joined by Mikde Hobson of Westchester Insulation as the crew prepares one of the Mashpee houses for insulation installation. Hobson explains that this is a patented insulation system that uses special fabric stapled and drawn tight across any cavity that needs to be insulated. The crew works with pneumatic staplers to get the fabric in place across all the walls and the joists of the cathedral ceiling. The fabric is not intended as a moisture barrier of any kind and is just there to hold the insulation in place and prevent it from settling. Hobson shows Bob the white fiberglass that will be blown into the cavities. It is white because it is a virgin product, completely free of treatments, binders, or chemicals. Certainteed and Johns Manville both produce fiberglass insulation that is suitable for the Blow-In-Blanket installation. Once all cavities have been enclosed, the insulation contractor cuts a slit in the fabric and inserts a hose through which the fiberglass is blown. The cavity is filled to a density of two pounds per cubic foot which is visible to the eye by a slight bulge in the fabric. At this density, an R-value of 15 is achieved in two-by-four cavities like walls. In attics and ceiling cavities that are two-by-six, an R-value of 38 can be achieved. This insulation is inert and will not support moisture, mold, animals, or insects. It also serves as a sound insulator and can be blown in around drain lines, in interior partitions, and around tubs and showers. Blo-In-Blanket insulation is suitable for new construction or retrofit applications where it is blown in through the sheathing from the outside or through interior drywall to fill wall cavities. Blow-In-Blanket insulation costs about 50 to 60 percent more to install than traditional batt insulation, but offers such energy efficiency that it pays for itself within two to four years.

Bob takes a tour of the American Plywood Association testing facilities with Tom Williamson, the Executive Vice President of Engineered Wood Systems. Tom explains the various wood tests to Bob. First is the gluelam tester that tests the large beam with two load heads that apply up to two hundred fifty thousand pounds of pressure to the beam. The beam breaks at thirty-two thousand pounds of load. Next, Tom shows Bob the cyclic shearwall test which pushes an OSB wall and framing system back and forth to simulate an earthquake and measures the amount of load the can be applied to it. Tom then leads Bob to the panel flexure test, which determines the bending stiffness and strength of an OSB panel. Another test simulates a plywood window shutter by shooting a two by four into it with an air cannon. Finally Tom shows Bob the buckling wall test that exposes a plywood sidewall to three weeks of continuous rain and then measures how much it has buckled and moved. After three weeks, the wall has moved less than one tenth of an inch.

Checking your work for level or plumb is crucial; here's how to select and use the right tool for the job. I recommend using a fiberglass level. It'll absorb shock well and won't bend or get knocked out of calibration. Two-foot levels are the most commonly used, but to check for level over a longer distance, move up to a four footer, or you can attach a two-by-four with equal spacers to make a straightedge.

Carpenter Paul Anderson joins Bob to hang the Wellborn corner cabinets in the kitchen. The cabinets have some interesting features such as the tambour which can be used to store countertop appliances when they are not in use. The cabinets have already been trimmed out and the holes pre-drilled. Paul places two-by-four jacks underneath each cabinet for support while he screws them in place. Once the cabinets are hung, crown molding can be installed.

Bob meets up with general contractor Ron Gan to discuss the progress on the project. The plaster has been taken off the load bearing wall to reveal the studs. The wall eventually will be removed to create a large open living and dining space. Down the hall an old hutch has been removed so the bathroom wall can be bumped out. Inside the bathroom Bob points out the old cast iron piping, which will be reused. He shows us how furring had been added in front of the two-by-four to create depth for the plumbing. Inside the former kitchen, Gan explains how the space will be combined with the back porch to create a large master bedroom. The wall will be taken out and replaced by a steel beam. The old hot water radiators will be replaced by cast iron baseboard heat. Where a tiny bedroom and pantry once were, a long galley kitchen and breakfast room will be created. Bob points out an archway that was added in the 1930s, which will be removed. The old wiring is still in good shape and will be saved while the receptacles will be replaced by new grounded outlets. Ron explains that the next step is to start shoring up the wall so it can be removed and replaced by a man-made engineered wood beam.

Bob is at PGT Industries in Venice, Florida, for a visit with Dave Olmstead, the code compliance officer for PGT Industries, makers of impact resistant windows. Olmstead explains how windows are a fundamental element in storm-ready buildings because they keep the envelope closed to damaging wind entry. If wind enters a home during a high wind event, it increases the pressure inside like air in a balloon. The air has to find a way out and typically pops off the roof, causing catastropic building failure. Olmstead then shows Bob the impact resistance test that is performed on windows to determine the level of protection they offer and whether they perform up to code. The first window is made of regular annealed glass. It is not tempered, heated, or coated in any way. The second window is made of tempered safety glass. The third is of impact-resistant, laminated glass. Olmstead runs the cannon test, where a two by four is fired from a pneumatic cannon at 50 feet per second or 34 miles per hour, simulating the force of 110 mile per hour winds. The annealed glass breaks and falls from the frame. The tempered glass shatters within the frame but leaves a hole where the board entered, allowing wind to penetrate the structure. The laminated glass shatters but is held in place. It does not perforate so the home is protected from wind entry. Impact-resistant window glass is safety laminated on site at PGT. They cut glass to the appropriate size, cutting two panes, then cut buticite to fit between them. The glass sandwich is then baked with the laminate between in a heat and pressure oven for four hours. Once it is cooled, it is ready to be assembled into a window.

House four of the Elmwood project. Replacing ceiling with a metal ceiling and Medallion cabinets install.