DEAR TIM: I’m getting ready to build a large room addition that needs a beam to support the floor joists. I’ve been told that a wood beam will work, but I’ve always seen steel I-beams in other houses.

Q: My house plan calls for steel beams that will support the floor joists and even parts of a brick wall. Can I substitute wood beams for steel? Is a steel I-beam hard to handle on the job site? Do ...

Many renovated buildings replace wood and masonry structural elements with steel. The replacement of heavy wooden roof and floor joists with the lighter steel open-web bar-truss joists is a common ...

Q: We are planning a new home. What do you think about post and beam houses? We like how they look, but we are concerned about energy efficiency. Are there different building methods for these houses?

Chris Susman’s dream stands unfinished, surrounded by mounds of damp red clay in the Darlington woods. They’ve just started putting the cedar siding on, so it’s finally starting to look like a house, ...

My big goal for this year is to rebuild my house (foundations upto and including the roof). But I'm having some trouble due to space constraints of my plot and really insane building regs (e.g. doors ...