But deck disasters do happen. And with loads of decks reaching the end of their useful lifespan -- and spotty building codes for decks--there could be more of them.

According to the National Deck and Railing Association -- www.Nadra.org -- between 2000 and 2006, there have been:

• at least 30 deck collapse-related deaths reported.
• more than 75 percent of people on a deck are injured or killed when it collapses.
• There are 40 million decks in the U.S. that are over 20 years old. At a conservative 1 percent, that means 40,000 decks are currently in need of repair or replacement. Taking that estimate to 10 percent brings the total number of unsafe decks to 4 million.

It is also estimated that many deck collapses -- if not the majority of them -- go unreported because permits were never pulled to build the deck in the first place and the homeowner or builder wants to avoid notice.

The danger is in the details -- or lack thereof: There's no redundancy in most deck structural design. Everything else in residential framing has redundancy -- walls have interlocking double top plates, sheathing and shear panels, and hold-downs for example.

Oh, and they're not outdoors.

We bolt decks to the house's siding -- penetrating the building envelope and allowing water and snow access to the home's framing -- then stick the joists way out on posts and beams. Then it rains. And snows. You get the idea.

In a pursuit of well-built, safe decks NADRA has deemed May National Deck Safety Month and is a good resource for homeowners and deck builders.

What's your deal with deck-building? Do you have a best practice for ledger connections? Post sizing? Does your local code give you the guidance you need to build decks that last? Is your deck falling off your house?

Post a comment. I want to know.

Before. I built out a bedroom with no storage. Ironically, it was full of stuff that needed to be stored -- while I built new storage. (That sound is my hair falling out in a single clump.)

Solution: a temporary--but bomb-proof--rolling storage rack made from 2x6s. When I dis-assembled it, I re-used the 2-by. Sweet.

After. This is the proverbial pièce de résistance. I used stock to create blow-out customized built-ins Thomasville Cabinets. Now the room is brimming with storage -- and it looks awesome!

So to my question: We need more site solutions. Can you share yours with Pro readers? Help us make life on site easier!

Peace...

In my years fixing houses, I've found building is more than nailing two pieces of wood together and collecting a check. It's about aspiring and making a connection.

It doesn't so much matter what you build; it matters that you build. Whether it's planting a garden or growing a great family or getting an education, endeavoring with intention opens a gateway to a different plane, helping us be better stewards of our daily lives.

Turning nothing into something -- or turning something broken into something beautiful -- tangibly connects us to … something. You might call it God, while other traditions may feel it as energy, Plato's Forms or Mojo. Whatever its name is, I can feel aspiration become action when I use my tools and know-how to change a vision into a reality. This excites me, and I'm not so concerned about naming what I'm connected to, but that I'm connected at all.

I've seen this connection arc between the work-a-day electrodes of daily life and the Ether. I worked with a volunteer group whose job was to prepare houses for renovation. And by "prepare," I mean "gut."

None in my specific group had much carpentry experience, but everyone had intention. They did what I believe all good carpenters -- and people -- aspire to do: leave a place better than they found it.

With yellow wrecking bars and blunt-force trauma, smiles and kind words, they ripped down ceilings, scraped tile and hauled mountains of trash for at least one man who couldn't do it himself. In so engaging themselves, I believe they did nothing less than help shore up the main beam of ethics and nobility.

But not every day is a big trip to an extreme place. Every day -- whoever you are -- is ... everyday.

Because there are so many days, they're the days that matter. They're the mass of life. They're the time spent with family, co-workers and friends, days that often promise scant novelty. Still they're moving with a lifetime's momentum of importance, and I'm reminded of what my family strives to build at home (including our home by the way -- the land of the eternal home improvement dust cloud!).

In building a life with my fiancée Theresa and daughter, I strive to create something with purpose that enriches our existence. But life is a team sport; I'm daily humbled and happy Theresa stands with me, often leading our way.

We're not summiting Everest or kayaking the Colorado. No, our blueprint calls for us to live each day kindly and well; to connect to that place out there that pulls us up from our routine, nudging us to be better and happier, reminding us to live good lives.

I believe that building is a search for what's best in us -- a search where we can find that which we seek.

Nevertheless, they touch every aspect of my life every day. Despite the story I tell at parties that I'm fabulously wealthy (would you like to visit my island some time?), I need to manage dollars. Who doesn't?

Now, I'm hardly complaining about that increase, because I'm a capitalist. I'm just thinking. And the reality is when I bought subsequent homes, I bought them with a salary that didn't grow as sharply as home values.

So some English-major math shows that while housing prices doubled -- and kept climbing -- many salaries didn't keep pace. I know many of my friends' or colleagues' didn't. And I've heard the corporate mantra that raises need to be guarded while company profits blast off (and corporate officers regale their staffs with summering in their second homes) enough times that I want to barf. So is it any wonder things are "slowing"?

Seriously, my mom taught me a long time ago that you can't borrow more than you can pay back. I also know that life is more complicated than that, except that sometimes it isn't. And I also know the Nobel committee isn't going to be calling me about my thoughts on game theory.

So I leave it to you: What's your take? Is it pure greed that has driven prices too high? What corrected them? Or is the correction correct? Or is this Capitalism working just like it's supposed to?

I could tell right away the exact meaning: the doors closed tightly, the motor purred, the car cornered with grace, yadda, yadda, yadda.

So when I find something that's tight, I like to talk about it, if only for the chance to use the word.

And there's one more thing: when I logged on to Simonton's website to hyperlink this blog, I found a contest where you can win a watercraft! Check it out.

If you win, will you give me a ride?

Here are a couple other tight things that have landed on my desk that I'm excited to put to work for upcoming reviews on HGTVPro.com:

LS Starrett's contractor-borne 5-in-1 ProSite Protractor. This is an upgraded model of the already indispensable original. And the upgrades look smart — everything from determining angles for cutting crown flat to finding roof pitches — all laser-etched into the tight aluminum tool body.

Field and Stream Brush Pants. These cotton pants have a Cordura-like overlay from thigh to ankle. I'm putting them on my jobsites now, so I can't say anything about them yet other than they look and feel, yes, tight. And I can't find the website for the life of me. What I can tell you is that I bought them at Dick's Sporting Goods for about 30 bucks — an awesome price for jobsite-tough pants.

And the final tight product is more loose and groovy, than anything. Give this mellow fellow a listen. Let me know what you think.

What are you working with — from tools to windows to trucks to computer gadgets — that you'd describe as tight? Let us know. In the meantime, I'll be listening to the Tighten Up and tightening up some loose ends.

It's probably some combination of the three, which is usually the case with big picture life-stuff. But whatever the source code, big trucks rock.

Last time, I ranted about quality issues in my Nissan Frontier. But this time I want to focus on power, utility -- and our planet. At the end of the day it's hard to argue we don't need all three.

Clearly we need our planet to be healthy — and we need to do what we can about it; at least it'd be nice if we did. (We actually don't need to do anything except suffer the consequences, if you think about it!) However, I believe that being efficient wherever we can is just smart stewardship.

You don't waste money in your business; why waste the planet's resources? And I believe our small efforts can change the world, but not alone. Industry needs to lead the way. We can only dump so many soup cans, beer bottles, newspapers and jobsite refuse into their respective bins before we're spending more time collating crap than making money -- which our kids need for college, to succeed in the world they inherit from us!

The book Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage by Heather Rogers makes a great case for this and describes how this mojo is more prevalent in tightly-packed, resource-poor Europe than in U.S.A. It's a poignant case.

I want it all -- a fuel-efficient, powerhouse big rig that fits me and my tools. I believe that is possible in the 21st Century -- and people surely smarter than me seem to, as well. (Check out www.calstart.org/programs/htuf.

I also believe in the heavy-iron that got us to the information age. I believe we can do it better. I also believe we can do it faster than we are.

What do you believe? Do we need to watch gasoline consumption and emissions to protect the earth from global warming? Have you tried any of the new hybrid trucks (although they are few and far between)? Would you consider a hybrid the next time you buy a truck? Let me know. I'm interested in finding out what other contractors think.

And who makes a windshield wiper that works? I bought NAPA's Model 60-1842. "I have 'em on my truck," the salesman said. Since he lives at the foot of Okemo Mountain, where I was skiing, I believed him. But they streak. They make almost as much noise rubbing the windshield raw as my truck's always-audible fan motor does inside. Combined with the near-deafening road noise — I'm going mad!

I wish I'd bought a bigger truck for the comfort and space. And — I hate to say this — gas mileage be damned.

So what are you drivin' and why? What works? What stinks?

If you can suggest wiper blades that work, I'll love you forever. If Nissan would give me a Titan to review, I'd love them forever, too (assuming it's a good truck; it looks promising). In the meantime, it's go-time.

I just hope I can see where I'm driving and that I'm not all the way bleepin' crazy when I get there.

…not a single home or neighborhood I've mentioned was built by a big builder. And it shows.

I took a 7-mile run around a budding big-builder community recently. En route -- and the route was over old farms being converted to housing to serve a spiking population -- I saw names one might expect: Toll Brothers, KHOV, Pulte, and others.

• The farmers planed the landscape clean. Can't blame Hovanian for that, but the landscape it got replaced with was agony. I've seen fewer burms in indoor moto-cross.

• It was at least 2 miles in any direction before there was a business. It made me think the fuel crisis/gas prices aren't OPEC's doing; it's that you need to take your Ford Expedition on safari to get a bag of *&^% chips.

• It's also the place to move if you like monochrome housing styles. Holy cloning Batman!

• This is the place to move if you like monochrome vinyl. Vinyl siding can be nice -- "can be" being the operative phrase.

• I heard a resident of one such new neighborhood remarking he needs replacement windows. Replacement windows! Are you *&^% kidding?!

The list, I'm afraid, goes on.

So I spoke to a friend of mine about it. Let's call him Yoda, because both he's short and a master builder. I suggested that "builders don't build what people don't buy."

He replied: "Or do people buy what's there because there's little choice?"

And those are my questions for you. We all have different needs, which I'd rather respect than judge. Big production builders' business model yields a few more dollars than mine, so they might be on to something. Or is the "something" they're on to over-selling the under-built?

You buyin' what I'm sellin'?

Between building projects, I travel around the country to give demonstrations and talk about home improvement (wowing audiences with flare and panache too. And if you believe that … ).

The travel site I used made an error booking my ticket. Actually, I made one error, then called to fix it (which it seemed like I did); then they made another error leading to the proverbial comedy of such.

Now, if you call the Western Red Cedar Lumber Association, you get someone on the phone who can help and get you to other people who can help you more. There's a customer-service point man there, if you will (I hope you will.) Then at Lowe's, there were about nine levels of managers who each approached customers, asking them how they could help. Besides Lowe's great return policy (I'll have to move a mountain to "return" my voided plane ticket to Expedia), there were layers of people at Lowe's empowered to help.

Even in my tiny company, if someone has a problem, I'm not there to pinch pennies. I'm there to serve, so I can count dollars. Providing good service is how a service economy makes money, and we're in one, my bruthas. Saying "There's no way we can help," then dropping you on hold for ten *!&$#@ minutes isn't helping. It's avoiding the issue.

And just like I'm taking Expedia to task, so will people hammer your good name if you hang a door that doesn't quite shut and demand a check. If you don't pass an inspection because you don't know the rules, you should never bill your customer for your failure. Cripes, even if you show up late all the time, you might not hear it, but the people who might hire you (now won't) will hear it. Just like you learned how Expedia raked me over the coals.

Think about it: Penny-wise or pound-foolish?

Have you had a similar customer-service nightmare? Or an exceptionally good experience with a company? Let me know about it. I could use a little encouragement. Or at least some sympathy.

I'm behind that.

You can call me a pinko tree-hugger if you want, but efficiency beats waste every trip of the train. And prices for green products are coming down as manufacturers sense demand and factories come on-line.

But that's the 30,000-foot view delivering a nationwide perspective. It doesn't get us behind the wheel of your truck nor our boots in the mud of your sites.

What's the hue of your day-to-day? Do sticks and batts still gain the day? Does your work require -- or benefit from -- greener products and techniques? Are you weaving in and upgrading greener products as you go? Have you made a wholesale change? Let me know.

I've made friends and repeat clients in these situations. I've been sandbagged once or twice, but on balance, it's worked out.

Am I the only one this happens to? How do you handle it? Do you have a waiver? Do you pass on the job? Or is sweat equity part of your customer service?

Trusses can be big-time problem solvers -- and they solve more than the problem of installing cut-up roofs with inexperienced labor (which they do, by the way.) Trusses definitely shine in single story additions and structures like garages. They span farther than sawn lumber, enabling you to eliminate intermediate framing.

Trusses also bring the manufacturer's engineering capacity, nice for permitting and inspections. And a timber-framed hybrid-ed into conventional framing means form and function in one package.

So what's the deal on your builds? Are you the all-truss-all-the-time channel? If you're super-custom-man, will a truss ever see one of your sites? Is it a bit of both?

And where do you get them? National manufacturer? Regional supplier? Lumber yard?

Good truss drawings:

trulinetruss

hearthstonegeorgia

So, in party parlance, how ya doin'?

To refine the query just a hair...

What can we do for you? What do you need to know more about? What's keeping you up at night?

Our goal is to pipeline relevant information that helps you build better, solve home building/remodeling/home improvement dilemmas, and blacken up the hue of your bottom line. So let us have it. Whether what you have is a question or an answer, we want to know.

So thanks for inviting me to your party. I'm passionate about building and improving homes the best way we can. To share your ideas is a pleasure and privilege.

All the majors make one or more (see links below) and at various price points and battery chemistries, which I like because not everyone is a millionaire like me (read: yeah right).

They aren't great drilling holes over 1/2-3/4 inch diameter, but up to that they save me from chasing another tool around.

Compared with cordless drills they're pricey--especially Lithium Ion tools.

So what interests me is this: Performance is awesome, but so is money. Do you damn the price torpedoes and buy the tool for increased production? Or do you work with what you have because ... well ... it works (an eminently valid reason, by the way)?

Bosch Tools
DeWalt
Hilti
Hitachi
Milwaukee Electric Tool
Makita USA
Panasonic
Ridgid

If you're running crews or bringing a new guy on, getting the work to keep them busy is likely top of mind. But while ours is a service industry, we must build a product that performs. And that means mechanics, carpenters, apprentices and journeymen that learn.

I'm not sure you need a formal program to teach people, but I am positive you need to explain things to apprentices. And NAHB and NARI/a> have great programs that can fast track young carpenters etc. (Of course, they're not free.)