Q:I read your article on diagonal bracing and was hoping you would clarify your instructions so I can explain them to my contractor. I, too, have lath-and-plaster walls with many cracks. My house is ...

Q. I’m facing some building projects. One’s a tall deck, another is framing a garden shed, and then I need to help a friend with a room addition. I’m wondering about diagonal bracing. I don’t ...

Question: Yesterday I stopped by my new house that’s under construction. I go there at the end of each day to take photos. I saw a strange board nailed across the wall studs that surely is a mistake.

I’m facing some building projects. One’s a tall deck, another is framing a garden shed, and then I need to help a friend with a room addition. I’m wondering about diagonal bracing. I don’t understand ...

A few weeks ago, we answered a question from a reader with a 1920s home in the El Cerrito flatlands. Like virtually all houses of this vintage, it has lath-and-plaster walls. It seems the high water ...

Q: The attic in our 4-year-old house creaks, and when it’s windy we hear cracking noises as well. The sounds are loud, waking us up. The builder sent a fellow to add 2-by-4s to some of the trusses. It ...

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