But as we learn more, the manuals expand. Along with neglect, water and moisture are the primary enemies of buildings. These two primers will communicate basic information about water and moisture as they relate to wood and building components, and will discuss the fundamentals of houses and occupant health. Most of the information in the manual is practical, but some is more compelling. For instance, we use a tremendous amount of salvaged materials.
People love to know where the parts of their house came from.
The history of these materials and the stories behind them excite the imagination. On one house we built recently, the exterior detailing, screened porch, deck railings and outdoor-shower enclosure were made of salvaged cypress that came from dismantled beer tanks at the Narragansett Brewery in Rhode Island. Give that information to the homeowners, and suddenly there's a new life to the building. The owners now understand why their screened door smells like beer. The house, its owners and its past all become more intimately connected to one another by the knowledge of the origin of its materials.