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.

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?

Dear Jim: I saw magnificent post and beam houses in Europe, many of them hundreds of years old. I plan to build a home and I was wondering if this construction method is still used? Is it energy ...

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 ...