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EAST BROOKFIELD — When Scott Norrie walks around Howe Lumber’s bright design showroom or vast lumberyard, he nearly always spots a customer he knows. Most often, Mr. Norrie, co-owner of the 53-year-old family lumber business, sees contractors who make regular pickups. Sometimes, it’s a local homeowner needing tools for an emergency project. And on occasion, he said, a customer will buy a new kitchen to replace the old one purchased from Howe decades earlier. “It’s important for us to maintain those long-term relationships,” Mr. Norrie said during an interview at the West Main Street showroom. Those loyal customers have helped...

Every garage owner knows the luxury of their extra storage space— at least until it becomes full. They soon learn how quickly that luxury can become a burden. Garage clutter isn’t something that happens overnight. It builds slowly, right under your nose until before you know it, you begin to lose track of where things are or what you even own. If you’ve come to realize that your garage is more of a place to stash stuff then park your car, why not consider a makeover? This could mean anything from a good cleaning out, followed by reorganizing the area...

There’s a lot you can do this summer to save energy.  The same insulation and weather-stripping that saved energy during the winter months will show you benefits during the summer as well. Even so, there are a few things you can still do during the hot weather that can help. Don’t Overwork Your ACYour air conditioner has enough work to do. If you’ve already chosen the most efficient air conditioner you could find and even made sure it’s the right size for your living space, there’s still more you can do to help improve its efficiency. •    During the daytime,...

Building a deck from scratch is one of the toughest DIY projects one can take on. Think about it..it’s just some wood and a bunch of screws right? Thinking to yourself, you firmly believe this is something you can confidently do yourself and I believe in you. We have all been on at least one and thought, ‘yea I can do this.’ Building any deck is a difficult project many people successfully complete. Follow this article for an overview of where to start when building a deck from scratch. Decks are like complex math problems as you’re sure to experience...

On a jobsite in Kingsville, Texas, in August 2013, a worker was mixing gypsum concrete in preparation for gypcrete installation on an apartment building. It’s not a particularly taxing job, but he was doing it in direct sunlight. “He wasn’t training or doing anything that involved a lot of lifting or climbing,” says Holly Webster, director of administration at Texas-based KWA Construction, which served as the general contractor on the job. (KWA would not release further information on either the worker or subcontractor.) The man, in his 20s, had just transferred from New Mexico, and he wasn’t used to the...