WE NEED HELP with a number of problems left over from a new addition,” the homeowner told me over the phone. “It’s a slab on grade radiantly heated room that overheats, and it takes forever for us to get hot water in the master bathroom.”... more info»

Questions regarding the often elegant, cast-iron behemoths we love so much are as perennial as water hammer and squirting air vents. So, I thought I'd put some straight answers together for you in one convenient place. Here goes... more info»

If you ask a dozen people what the proper operating pressure for a steam system is, you'll probably get a dozen different answers. Most folks just follow "what they were taught" without giving much thought to the results. You see most steam systems run at ridiculously high pressures... more info»

About eight blocks from my house in Baltimore, there is a large two-family house with an equally large hot-water heating system that originally circulated by gravity. The original boiler, a Spencer #2-5 magazine-feed coal boiler installed in 1925, is still in service. It is rated 1600 square feet EDR... more info»

You DONT need to know the fine points of bookkeeping and accounting. Your accountant needs to know them and your bookkeeper needs to know them. Your computerized accounting system will probably handle all the double-entry stuff just fine... more info»

We need to be united in the common goal of combating complacency regarding potable water pollution. Infants absorb lead at up to 10 times the rate as adults do. The home I grew up in had acidic water and I remember following the plumber on numerous occasions as he went about repairing the pinhole leaks caused by the ... more info»