I've never been a big fan of composite decking, for a variety of reasons that I'll get into later, but I've always been particularly against using composite decking on older houses. I mean, you wouldn't build an addition onto a 100-year old stone cabin and clad it aluminum siding, right? But to my eye, composite decks on older homes was roughly equivalent to that. Still, I recently had cause to rethink my ...

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On June 26 the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill which, depending on which side you listen to, will either usher in an era of nirvana or drive the economy off a cliff and send all non-government jobs overseas. If enacted, the bill would regulate--and reduce--carbon emissions in this countrty for the first time, with a stated goal of a 17-percent reduction in emissions over the next decade ...

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Following my sophomore year of college I,  returned home to discover that my dad had treated himself to a really...cool...toy. It was a 1961 Corvette. Dad had briefly owned a '58 'Vette in college--until his roommate totaled it--and I think he bought this one as a way to even things out. (Well, maybe not, but that sounds a whole lot better than making an obvious reference to the onset of ...

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