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The Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) unveiled its new Leo Burnett Canada designed logo and new website during a special online launch.

The logo shows the Ontario Association of Architects as a place to bridge communities. The central circle, which doubles as an O for Ontario, is representative of the community and inclusivity of the membership, the outer pieces framing this circle are representative of the architects space, and create two Asa nod to Association and the two member types: architects and architectural technologists (Lic.Tech.OAA).

The predominant brand colours are black and white for their contrast and clarity of information, along with an array of greys. Accessibility was key for the primary typeface, Akkurata grotesque sans-serif typeface created by Swiss designer Laurenz Brunner and released through the Lineto type foundry.

We are thrilled to have worked in partnership with the OAA to develop a timeless new identityan identity that ultimately distilled down to fundamental shapes representing space and community, says Lisa Greenberg, CCO of Leo Burnett Canada. Its an identity that can last a lifetime, just like structures and buildings.

The OAA also released a new website and design experience in collaboration with Enginess.io and Sputnik Design Partners. The organization re-envisioned its decade-old site to meet accessibility standards, provide clear information for both members and the public, improve transparency, and offer responsive design for tablets and phones.

We know our website is our digital headquarters. Its a space that is used by members to access an important body of knowledge as well as to build community, and its a place for the public to find information or gain a better understanding of this profession, its role, and the uniquely trained and skilled individuals who are part of it, says OAA President and architect, Kathleen Kurtin.

It has been an incredible journey and an extremely rewarding experience working together with the OAA in the creation of their new website, says Sputniks owner, David Sacha. Sputniks mission was to create an online presence that would better reflect the current vision and offerings of the OAA, while still delivering all the tools needed to support and engage the architectural community in Ontario. The result is one of collaboration and ingenuity that saw several creative disciplines working together to craft and engineer an artistic, engaging, and forward-thinking website.

Enginess Director of Digital Strategy, Simone Abel, calls the new website an impressive showpiece of a content- and user-first approach to digital experience design.

The new website comprises two separate, but connected, domains for public and member audiences. The OAAs mission of protecting and serving the public interest is made explicitly clear, allowing users to quickly learn about the architecture profession and the OAAs regulatory role, or gain more information about illegal practice, complaints and discipline processes, or registrar investigations.

Members of the public can find out how to become an Architect or Licensed Technologist OAA, with the website showing the paths to licensure for students and interns within Ontario, as well as for those currently studying or practising outside the province. The website also includes a directory that allows the public to search through the membership and those who hold status with the OAA.

The OAA Website offers access to the Practice Advisory Knowledge Basea digital library of resources, articles, tools, documents, and publications, searchable through key words, filters, and tags.

The site also includes updated information related to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with portals for resources related to carbon stability and sustainable design, as well as a database of the OAAs government relations outreach.

Link:
Ontario Association of Architects Launches New Logo and Website - Canadian Architect

(Credit: Unsplash)

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration ofThe European Stingwith theWorld Economic Forum.

Author: Gayle Markovitz, Editor, World Economic Forum

Racist statues are falling. In the past weeks since the killing of an unarmed African American man by a Minnesota police officer, the global rage at racial injustice and inequality has been visceral.

A number of statues and monuments to past heroes have been defaced, beheaded, drowned and dismembered. These are important acts. They highlight the relationship between symbols and ideas and epitomize the human need for ritual and meaning through memory, recollection and fantasy.

They also expose the uncomfortable fact that history is constructed and traditionally, there were winners and losers. These acts of revulsion signify a rejection of this binary understanding of the past. People are tired of myths and singular heroes and seek complex truths in new symbols that dont ignore the losers or the forgotten underbelly of history.

This is why cities, towns, museums and those responsible for designing infrastructure and public space need to rethink how we memorialize the past and develop new approaches to past mistakes that give current and future generations the means to move forward.

Here, David Adjaye lead designer of the Smithsonian Museums National Museum for African American History and Culture in Washington DC and architect of Londons forthcoming Holocaust Memorial explains why monuments need not be permanent and why we need to be ruthless with the truth to enable fractured communities to heal.

There is something very hopeful about the fact that this generation is saying, wait a minute. Thats not what we thought history was about. Its time to move on.

David Adjaye, Architect

Whats the significance of symbols, statues or memorials?

Adjaye: Theres a direct relationship between symbols and systems. We ignore the power of symbols and disregard the power of past symbols at our peril. Symbols construct our sense of ourselves and our beliefs. And what were now seeing is a disgust with the construction of monuments and narratives that glorified people and things that we thought were about a great history, only to find out that the underbelly of that history is steeped in horror, violence and blood.

Its also healthy for the system and for the city to continue to reconstruct and rethink these things. Monuments are not forever. They take us through transitions. The statues that are falling reference a mythical sense of time, which exists only in fantasy. The danger is that when these myths are made physical, they can project permanently into future generations, but the truth inevitably emerges into plain sight. And thats what were seeing now: you cant hide these things.

Does the rejection of racist statues in cities across the world mean that there is progress?

Adjaye: The rituals of cities and the rituals of spaces give meaning to our lives this is why monuments are so important. They capture memory and recollection, and they tell stories. But there is now a disregard for the power of singular monuments and an embrace of multiple stories including those that may have been lost. Were entering an age where there is a distinct departure from the god complex.

The spatial experience of being in the world is so rich that as designers, artists and architects, we have to make the city relevant and offer people a collective understanding of complex issues and challenges. These singular statues have become irrelevant because they tell only one story: stories that are often part of a fiction. This is deeply problematic for contemporary life in terms of trying to steer a course towards the world that we all want to live in. The projects that Ive been doing work against this kind of memory of the image as opposed to memory of the act.

Memory can also change. The idea of signs and monuments that are fragments within an unfolding story is interesting. These are important touchstones to teach people about values and morals. Theres nothing better than a society admitting mistakes. Nobodys perfect.

We need to establish new ways of being in cities and communities within a very complex and interdependent global world this is one of the struggles that as architects were trying to work through.

How do you design a contemporary memorial?

Adjaye: Its critical that the responsibility of the monument is not done with a sense of a fantasy. For me, its a cold analysis of past events and I use that information to show what went wrong. Theres no emotion.

In building the National Museum of African American History and Culture, it inadvertently also became a monument. The story had simply been held back for so long that just making a building didnt seem enough. It was about delivering a narrative and a formal message of the building as a device to talk about our moral compass.

It is now used as the backdrop for many of the anti-racist protests. So immediate histories are unfolding as the building evolves to convey new stories as well as old. For me, this is the ultimate success of a monument. It should enable a community to move forward by creating a historical marker, a social reference point and a generational moral compass.

What about systemic racism inherent in the design of cities?

Adjaye: The construction of racism in the construction of cities is seen all the time Johannesburg is probably the epitome. We know about Johannesburg because of the Apartheid story, but the architecture of segregation can be found in any society where theres been a dislocation between those who have and those who have not (either through marginalization, through skin colour or any other difference).

Infrastructure which seems apparently benign and of benefit to everyone has been used as a tool of separation to create communities of dependency and communities that are just on the edge of collapse.

So racism is not just a human hate issue. Its been deployed through every mechanism of how we construct and make our physical environments. Statues are just one of these mechanisms.

There were inherent mistakes made by generations, which fundamentally blocked the access and the opportunity of many people. Its incumbent on architects now to find fresh ways to bridge or create new relationships.

Whats the World Economic Forum doing about diversity, equity and inclusion?

The COVID-19 pandemic and recent social and political unrest have created a profound sense of urgency for companies to actively work to tackle racial injustice and inequality. In response, the Forums Platform for Shaping the Future of the New Economy and Society has established a high-level community of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers. The community will develop a vision, strategies and tools to proactively embed equity into the post-pandemic recovery and shape long-term inclusive change in our economies and societies.

As businesses emerge from the COVID-19 crisis, they have a unique opportunity to ensure that equity, inclusion and justice define the new normal and tackle exclusion, bias and discrimination related to race, gender, ability, sexual orientation and all other forms of human diversity. It is increasingly clear that new workplace technologies and practices can be leveraged to significantly improve diversity, equity and inclusion outcomes.

The World Economic Forum has developed a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Toolkit, to outline the practical opportunities that this new technology represents for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, while describing the challenges that come with it.

The toolkit explores how technology can help reduce bias from recruitment processes, diversify talent pools and benchmark diversity and inclusion across organisations. The toolkit also cites research that suggests well-managed diverse teams significantly outperform homogenous ones over time, across profitability, innovation, decision-making and employee engagement.

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Toolkit is available here.

The past few months have seen an extraordinary shift in context and mood. The consequences of our actions are more questioned and the interconnectedness of everything is more apparent. With the internet were able to see the cataclysmic effects of all these things upon each other. So we suddenly share a collective consciousness through the medium.

Its forcing a global awareness in a way thats never happened before in the history of civilization. It will impact the way in which we make cities, how we legislate, how we make things, how we use materials, how we use resources. Something that was meant to be about separation, can suddenly become a tool of continuity within this changed context. Cities are always changing and symbols and signs are being re-appropriated.

There is something very hopeful about the fact that this generation is saying, wait a minute. Thats not what we thought history was about. Its time to move on.

Read the rest here:
This architect explains why racist statues are no longer relevant and describes how to replace them - The European Sting

The Bryson DeChambeau Show heads to the Motor City for this weeks Rocket Mortgage Classic. Its a new event for the PGA Tour star, but its played on a golf course designed by one of the games old masters. Not that DeChambeau seems too worried.

At his pre-tournament press conference at Detroit Golf Club, the bulked-up Bryson was asked about the Donald Ross track. Here was his response:

I think theres a lot of bunkers that are around like 290, so hopefully Ill be able to clear those and take those out of play, DeChambeau said. So, sorry, Mr. Rossbut it is what it is.

Hey, at least he called him Mr. Ross before obliterating his golf course. And its nothing personal. DeChambeau has been overpowering all PGA Tour venues since putting on some 40 pounds.

DeChambeau currently leads the PGA Tour in driving distance and hes second in strokes gained/off-the-tee. And hes not just driving for show as evidenced by him being a combined 46 under par in the three events since the season re-started earlier this month.

So again, its nothing personal, Mr. Ross, but hazards that are only 290 yards away arent even on Brysons radar anymore. And its a big reason why hes the overwhelming favorite to win this week.

View original post here:
Bryson DeChambeau is now trolling all-time great golf architects because of his length off the tee - Golf Digest

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This week, I give this platform to Christian Vasquez, the current President of UAP124, who writes about how its time for Filipino architects to come out of the shadows and claim their place in the regional design industry.

Dubais population of design and construction professionals is massively organic and quite competitive.

With the citys fast-paced development and the uniquely ambitious real estate market, being an architect in Dubai can be quite challenging; continuous investment in self-development is a necessity to keep up with this progressive notion.

Consequently, belonging to a community that promotes professional growth is an additive to keep up with the current and future trends within the industry.

The Global Filipino Architects community works to support the vast design talent that exists in the region and offer them a springboard from which to achieve greater success and career satisfaction.

A recent survey of the design industry found that almost three quarters of designers are from the West. But the Filipino architects community here believes it doesnt have to be this way.

Why does diversity matter? Aside from the ethical reasons too obvious to outline, inclusivity is also good for business. Diverse teams mean new approaches, new markets and wider perspective that allows for creative and out-of-the-box problem solving.

With more than 2,000 members of the United Architects of the Philippines in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE), this organisation continues to upskill its members with a series of programs focused on the progression of Filipino architects. UAP124 upholds the highest educational and professional standards and in doing so, not only does the organisation promote their home-grown talent, but also empowers the design community as a whole.

As the current president of UAP 124, I always call each individual to action and move forward in seeking professional growth and global competitiveness.

Platforms such as the UAP Awards were established to support our objectives. Last Year, the UAP Dubai Chapter hosted the UAP Dubai Awards at the Palazzo Versace. Across nine categories, the awards honoured Filipino designers, architects, projects and design-oriented companies employing Filipino architects. The winners were selected by a reputable international jury composed of top architects in the practice.

To be honest, Filipinos architects undergo extremely rigorous training back home. After a five-year bachelors programme in architecture, they need an additional two years of diversified industry experience before they can take the state board examination that will ultimately award them the title of Architect or Ar. The course and the standards of education are at par with leading architecture schools around the world.

Working in Dubai for almost a decade, I know Filipino designers contribution to the regional industry is monumental. They are recipient, adaptive and incredibly creative with the highest level of competency, reliability and dedication, but maybe a bit too humble. Here in Dubai, you need a voice to be heard. You need guts to get to the top.

Its about time we Filipinos change the way we think in order to shape our future outside the Philippines not only on the design stage, but in any profession or walk of life.

To become more valued and relevant in the Middle East, it is important that we elevate public awareness of our contribution to the industry, whilst protecting the profession and work towards sharing our knowledge, expertise and opinion with the wider community.

The timing is perfect. As the world marches towards greater and universal acceptance, equality and empathy, we have a global movement to inspire Filipino architects to work shoulder to shoulder with peers and colleagues from around the world and build a better tomorrow for all people.

Read more from the original source:
Design Diary: Giving voice to Filipino architects in the Middle East - Gulf News

On June 25, The Architects Newspaper officially launched Facades+ Online, the first digital version of our decades-old national conference series. The full-day event was split between a morning of keynotes and panels and concluded with a series of manufacturer-led workshops diving into the application possibilities and production complexities of sealants, glazing, and sintered stone.

COOKFOX Architects partner Pam Campbell kicked off the conference with her keynote address Restorative Environmental Design: Facades and the Human-Nature Relationship. The presentation focused on the firms body of work incorporating greenscaping and other natural elements within their facade and structural systems. Two panels followed the keynote; the first Achieving COTE: Facade Design and Energy Modeling at the Amherst Science Center included Payette principal and building science director Andrea Love, Payette senior associate Jeffrey Abramson, and Integral Group managing principal Bungane Mehlomakulu. The second, Thermal Bridging: Detailing Problems and Their Solutions, brought together Studio NYL founding principal Chris OHara and facade design director Will Babbington, and Sasaki associate principal and director of technical resources Bradford J. Prestbo. Each panel, an hour in length, incorporated a comprehensive presentation on the subject matter, a moderated discussion, and a robust audience Q & A.

Representatives from Tremco, Agnora, Cosentino, and Vitro Architectural Glass led hour-long workshops during the afternoon; ranging from Poking Holes in Your Air Barrier System, to Understanding Low-E Coatings.

ANwill announce further themed online Facades+ conference as the summer progresses. Currently scheduled for July 30 is Facades+ Online: Enclosure Innovations in the Midwest, which is co-chaired by Populous and will feature speakers from BNIM, Dake | Wells Architecture, Gensler, Hufft, The Matter Factory, and Walter P Moore.

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The Architect's Newspaper shifts to online programming with Facades+: Design a High-Performance Facade - The Architect's Newspaper

O'Sullivan Skoufoglou Architects has created ash-lined living spaces with expansive windows inside a gardener's home in Lewisham, southeast London.

Grove Park is an end-of-terrace house that was originally built back in the 1980s.

The wood-lined rooms that O'Sullivan Skoufoglou Architects has created are on the home's ground floor, which was extended by incorporating a small garage that was on site.

"The previous ground floor was in real need of repair, with both doors and windows, and the internal cellular, low-ceilinged, cramped and dark layout in bad shape," studio co-founder Amalia Skoufoglou told Dezeen.

Inside, there's a kitchen, a dining area that faces the street and a lounge which has been orientated towards the garden and the wild woodland that lies beyond.

This was done at the request of the client who, being a keen gardener, wanted living spaces to have a close visual connection with the outdoors.

The ceiling is supported by a full-length ash flitch beam a type of beam typically used in the construction of timber structures, which comprises a central steel plate sandwiched between two wooden panels.

Shorter ash struts extend perpendicularly from the central beam to form a series of rectangular openings.

These have been filled with ash wood panels that were prefabricated off-site, along with the window frames and doors.

"The interior spaces during the summer are surrounded by heavy foliaged trees and cast dark shadows on the interiors," explained Skoufoglou.

"Both maple and ash were considered at the outset for their light appearance and veining. Ash won out in the end because the external timber panelling and doors were made in Lithuania and ash is more readily available."

Ash-veneered plywood has then been used to craft the storage cabinetry in the kitchen and the central breakfast island.

Countertops and the splashback running behind the stove are made from creamy Shivakashi granite. The flooring throughout Grove Park is polished concrete, which was cast in-situ.

To reveal another perspective of the garden and bring in additional natural light, a huge picture window has been created in the wall opposite the kitchen.

It has a deep-set frame where a comfy seating nook has been built in.

Another picture window features in the ash-lined front wall of the lounge area, which is dressed with a tan-leather sofa and simple spherical pendant lights.

Large panels of glazing have also been inset in the door.

The project additionally saw the studio create a large master bedroom on the first floor of Grove Park house. It has its own en-suite, which has been finished with a freestanding tub and soft-beige tiling.

A stepped terrace has also been built in the back garden, made from red bricks to match the facade of the house.

O'Sullivan Skoufoglou Architects was founded in 2016 by Jody O'Sullivan and Amalia Skoufoglou.

The studio often uses wood in its work. Three years ago it created an extension for a home in northwest London, which featured oak louvres protruding from its front window. In 2018, it also decked out a skincare store in the English town of Stamford with ash and cane wood.

Photography is by Stle Eriksen.

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Grove Park is a wood-lined house by O'Sullivan Skoufoglou Architects - Dezeen

From converted caves to underground pools, here are seven hotels and houses on the Greek island of Santorinidesigned by local studio Kapsimalis Architects.

Saint Hotel, Odi

Stepping down towards the sea from the cliffs of the village of Odi, Saint Hotel features terraced patios with bright blue pools and white walls.

In total the hotel contains 16 rooms that occupy converted barns and cellars or have been dug straight into the cliffside. The suites open out onto private terraces separated by bright white walls, which havepools and loungers with views out over one of Santorini's volcanic bays.

Find out more about Saint Hotel

Holiday House in Fira, Fira

Kapsimalis Architects renovated this holiday home in Fira, adding two roof terraces that each have a plunge pool.

A further sunken pool in the basement sits under a vaulted white ceiling, visible through an arched window behind one of the home's beds.

Find out more about Holiday House in Fira

House in Pyrgos, Pyrgos

Informed by the machinery used to quarry pumice out of the volcanic soil of Santorini, House in Pyrgos rises like a fortress or a rocky outcrop from the landscape.

"All pieces of the architectural history of the island are subtly combined and embedded in this monolithic structure," said Kapsimalis Architects.

Find out more about House in Pyrgos

Two Holiday Residences in Fira, Fira

The underground caves of an old house in Fira were converted into a duo of holiday homes by the architecture studio.

A walled courtyard and an old donkey barn form part of the complex, which now has a series of pools in the sun or under a shady arch carved into a staircase.

Find out more about Two Holiday Residences in Fira

Summer Residence, Imerovigli

The studio turned an old cave house with an underground warehouse and bakehouse into a summer home with terraces that feature swimming pools in three different shapes.

"The main idea was to maintain the existing traditional architectural forms of the exterior, and to show up the diversity and the values of their interior spaces," said the studio.

Find out more about Summer Residence

Summer House on the Mountain, Profitis Ilias

The studio designed four holiday apartments in a two-storey building that nestle into the side of the Profitis Ilias mountain, close to the highest point of Santorini.

The building's white volumes were chose to echo the island's traditional architecture, while rocks excavated from the site were used to build the block's retaining walls.

Find out more about Summer House on the Mountain

Summer House in Santorini, Messaria

Sitting on a sloping plot outside the village, this house formed of stacked white cubes has views of the sea and a garden where the occupants to grow their own vegetables.

"The form is a synthesis of cubistic white volumes, as a contemporary translation of the traditional cubistic architecture found in the villages of Santorini with a clear influence from Modernism," explained the architecture studio.

Find out more about Summer House in Santorini

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Seven Santorini island retreats by Kapsimalis Architects - Dezeen

ResearchAndMarkets.com published a new article on the construction industry "Impact of COVID-19 on Drywall and Insulation"

Housing completions fell by 7.3% between April 2020 and May 2020 and declined by 9.3% in May 2020 versus May 2019. The specialty trade contracting industry gained 325,300 jobs between April 2020 and May 2020 however industry employment was down 6.4% in May 2020 compared to May 2019. Demand for drywall is predicted to increase as the housing market recovers from COVID-19. Gypsum prices rose by 1.5% in May 2020 after a decline of 1.3% in April 2020. Prices are down 8.3% from the most recent peak in March 2018.

The shutdown of non essential construction left many construction projects unfinished. Since drywall and insulation installations typically occur towards the end of the project, in many cases this work was not completed. This created the risk of material degradation as well as water damage for partially built structures. Some contractors are concerned that there could be a decline in construction spending once projects started earlier in the year are completed. This is because developers may be more cautious until the economy has fully recovered.

To see the full article and a list of related reports on the market, visit "Impact of COVID-19 on Drywall and Insulation"

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

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Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200703005204/en/

Contacts

ResearchAndMarkets.comLaura Wood, Senior Press Managerpress@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

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Impact of COVID-19 on Drywall and Insulation - The Shutdown of Non Essential Construction Left Many Construction Projects Unfinished -...

OCONOMOWOC The citys newest senior living facility, Evin at Oconomowoc, 1101 Silver Lake St., is on track to be completed by October after breaking ground last summer.

The 80-room development being built by Matter Development in partnership with Koru Health is fully enclosed with the exterior shell being installed on the building, said Matter Development CEO Aaron Matter.

Matter said things are going well at the project with the inside being defined and laid out, but not having the drywall installed as of yet.

Ultimately the next step on the interior is ... theyre installing all the plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems including the HVAC systems in the building, Matter said.

The HVAC system Evin at Oconomowoc is installing is a special system that helps keep the residents stay safe, Matter said. The system is hospital grade and is the same one being used at facilities around the country, Matter said.

We recognize that there are big issues related to resident safety that were experiencing right now in the world, especially for seniors, Matter said. So the system we're installing in the building has been shown to be effective against removing the coronavirus from the air. Its something that I think will give people a lot of peace of mind for going above and beyond on that.

In a press release, Matter said Evin at Oconomowocs innovation for keeping their residents safe extends to touchable surfaces as well, with installing keyless locks, a video-capable entrance system for visitors so residents can see who is visiting them and commercial laundry machines for higher levels of sanitation.

The release states while Evin is prioritizing its residents through innovative practices, it is also thinking about the families and residents lifestyle.

President of Koru Health Andy Lange said Evin is creating a personal safety visitor lounge with a separate exterior entrance, and special considerations that allow the most opportunities possible for safe visiting by families and friends if there is a future flare up.

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Evin at Oconomowoc on track to finish by October - Greater Milwaukee Today

Dear Ken: I have an old patio, and I need to give it a facelift. Should I patch it? Repour or replace it? Pete

Answer: Most of these attached concrete patios end up settling, cracking or both. Theyre ugly and in many cases let water drain toward the house. Its quite expensive to tear out and replace them since the old and the new concrete are heavy and difficult to get through the backyard around landscaping and fences. And so-called cosmetic coatings usually dont last as long as youd like (and theyre expensive, too!).

A better idea is to cover up these old white elephants with a brand-new surface to wit: a new deck. Leave the old patio right where it is and use it, instead, as a huge footer to hold up the new surface. This is really one of the easiest framing jobs youll ever encounter, so lets get started.

We simply build an underlying framework of treated lumber (the green stuff) to hold up the new deck boards. You can use say, treated 2-by-8s for your floor joists and space them 16 inches or 24 inches apart, depending on the span. The lumber yard can help you figure out size and spacing of the supports.

But heres the slick part: After you set out the floor joists in rows, you simply install 2x4 legs of the same treated lumber every 3 feet or so, sticking right down to the old patio. Mark each leg in its place, and theyll cut off at whatever angle the patio surface has settled to. Attach it all together with the same screws youll use for the decking. Youll be amazed at how strong the whole thing will be with these vertical legs underneath.

Now the decking. There are at least three choices here. Sorted by price, lowest to high: pressure-treated Southern yellow pine, redwood or plastic composite. The first two, of course, require periodic stripping and restaining while plastic is essentially maintenance-free.

For the redwood or pine, the decking looks best-proportioned with 2x6 boards, screwed to the under frame with zinc-coated (gold or silver) 3-inch screws. Space them ever-so-slightly apart (the thickness of a nickel is OK), and, when theyre dry, theyll be just the right distance apart.

Wait a month or so (longer during these monsoons) to finish the boards. Choose a linseed oil-based product, like Super Deck, Behr or Cabots. If you prefer water-based, Olympic Ultimate, six-year, works well.

The plastic decking systems usually require special screws and some even come with hidden plastic clips that give a uniform appearance without the intrusion of fasteners.

Dear Ken: I have an attic fan that which seems to run all the time. Whats going on? Alan

Answer: If it never goes off even at night then it probably needs a service call. Ill assume that the thermostat on the fan is preset around 105 degrees. Im sure that your overnight attic temperature gets below that.

So you probably need some more attic ventilation. Proper circulation up there relies on bottom-to-top movement of air. So, the most likely culprit is those little soffit vents, up behind the gutters. Shine a light into them and see if theyre covered over with insulation. If so, remove it.

One way to keep track of this is to install a sensor for a remote-reading thermostat in the attic. That way you can correlate the temperature with the on-and-off operation of the fan.

Dear Ken: One of my electric circuits always seems to be going out. What should I do? Ed

Answer: It sounds like either an overload youre running too many things on the circuit or a weak circuit breaker. If youre comfortable around the breaker box, you can switch the offending one temporarily with another. If the new breaker stays on, then the original breaker is probably failing. They do age and sometimes just wear out. On the other hand, if the circuit keeps going out, it could be overloaded; remember that anything that produces heat draws lots of current.

Dear Ken: My dishwasher doesnt fill up with enough water. Whats going on? Rachel

Answer: Check the float its a dome-shaped device that sits in the bottom of the dishwasher tub and senses when the right amount of water has entered. If it doesnt move up and down freely, service it or replace. Also, the inlet pipe and/or valve may be clogged. Youll have to remove the front panel, disconnect the pipe and run water into a bucket to test it.

While youre in there, clean the drain filter in the bottom of the dishwasher and unscrew the spray arm and clean out the holes.

Dear Ken: I have a drywall crack in the living room ceiling of my 1963 house. How can I make it quit cracking and patch it? Dawn

Answer: If theres more than one layer of roofing on your house, added load from snow may be overstressing the rafter system. Generally, straight cracks (along a drywall seam) are less worrisome than random ones. Otherwise, spackling and the spray-texture-in-a-can is the only solution.

If it keeps coming back, one answer is to apply a decorative board to the ceiling to look like an intentional decorative or structural element.

Dear Ken: Ive got a sump pump pit in the basement with no pump, but it has some water in it that smells. What should I do? Sam

Answer: The smell can be ameliorated with a capful of Clorox in the water. If youre going on long vacations this summer, you might want to install a sump pump into the pit and run its pipe outdoors. But I must tell you that, if you only have some water in it after all this rain, youve lucked out!

Ken Moon is a home inspector in the Pikes Peak region. His radio show airs at 4 pm Saturdays on KRDO, FM 105.5 and AM 1240. Visit http://www.aroundthehouse.com

Excerpt from:
Around the House: Cover up cracked patio with a new deck - Colorado Springs Gazette