From The Detroit News | By Ken Calverley and Chuck Breidenstein DETROIT, March 5, 2026 ~ The term “Smart House” has been used for several decades. It has been interpreted to mean everything from an intuitive home that “learns” and adapts to the lifestyle of its occupants to an energy-efficient home that monitors systems and appliances for maximum safety and use.
From The Detroit News | By Ken Calverley and Chuck Breidenstein DETROIT, Feb. 26, 2026 ~ Americans love their windows, and they are all the same, right? Not. While we do, indeed, love having large panes of glass on the exterior walls of our homes that bring in the sunshine and help us to engage the outdoors in every kind of weather, there is a huge difference between the units themselves and the installation companies.
From The Detroit News | By Ken Calverley and Chuck Breidenstein DETROIT, Feb. 19, 2026 ~ We are getting a lot of flyers in the mail selling discounted “furnace checks” that are intended to examine the appliance and keep it running in the cold weather. One concern expressed by consumers is that a company is only trying to get into your home to attempt to sell you a new furnace, and in some cases that may be true.
From The Detroit News | By Ken Calverley and Chuck Breidenstein DETROIT, Feb. 12, 2026 Taxes, root canals and hiring strange contractors. What do they all have in common? Several things. They are inevitable, they are part of everyone’s life, they are stressful, and they don’t have to be as bad as our imaginations make them out to be.
From The Detroit News | By Ken Calverley and Chuck Breidenstein DETROIT, Feb. 5, 2026 ~ Taxes, root canals and hiring strange contractors. What do they all have in common? Several things. They are inevitable, they are part of everyone’s life, they are stressful, and they don’t have to be as bad as our imaginations make them out to be.
From The Detroit News | By Ken Calverley and Chuck Breidenstein DETROIT, Feb. 2, 2026 ~ A listener recently emailed us with the question, “Can you please tell us how to avoid pipes freezing inside the house?” As extreme cold settles in across our beautiful state of Michigan, the risk of pipes freezing becomes a pressing concern for commercial properties and homeowners.
From The Detroit News | By Ken Calverley and Chuck Breidenstein DETROIT, Jan. 22, 2026 ~ It is the most widely used man-made product in the world, used in everything from the Hoover Dam to the tallest building in the world, the Burj Kalif, in Dubai. Reinforced concrete has been utilized for a couple of hundred years, but the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world has capped the Pantheon in Rome for more than 2,000 years.
From The Detroit News | By Ken Calverley and Chuck Breidenstein DETROIT, Jan. 15, 2026 ~ Yes, we know that winter officially began just a couple of weeks ago, but the good news is that the days are getting longer and spring will be right around the corner. Now is the time to dream of your spring and summer home projects and begin to explore what the industry has to offer.
From The Detroit News | By Ken Calverley and Chuck Breidenstein DETROIT, Jan. 8, 2026 ~ The Midwest is rather unique with regard to house construction. Our homes evolved with a built-in storage area for canned fruits and vegetables as we created space inside the foundation walls below the main floor frame.
From The Detroit News | By Ken Calverley and Chuck Breidenstein DETROIT, Dec. 25, 2026 ~ What’s that dark stain on the ceiling? Look up. Do you see what appears to be soot on the drywall? How about if you look carefully at the point where exterior walls meet the ceiling? What you are seeing is a place in the house where there is rapid heat loss from the interior.