Roger's Home Journal

Roger's Home Journal
In Defense Of Your Territory

A recent news story told of a property boundary dispute involving a fence and deck project invading the territory of a neighbor. The headline screamed about a non-amicable response including the early morning use of a chainsaw.

Roger's Home Journal
Fenestration debate heats up!

Window shape brings on a surprisingly humorous debate.

Roger's Home Journal
Lifestyles of the Poor and Anonymous

A simple life, with less stuff, could be more filled with happiness. At the recent Renters Summit, participants exchanged dozens of good ideas for affordable ways of living in the city. Experiments are already under way, but more need to be tried.

Roger's Home Journal
Freeze-Dried Home Repair

We've entered that dangerous time of the year when people decide to get things done around the house. Emergency medical centers become crowded with home repair enthusiasts who've just learned how not to handle power tools and extension ladders. Perhaps we

Roger's Home Journal
The Meaning of Life on a Boat

Please excuse me for straying from the usually landlocked realm of home improvement topics. I'm compelled to put my oar in the water on the live-aboard boat issue.

Roger's Home Journal
The Heartbreak of Soil Liquefaction

Our neighbor, Jerry, experienced the heartbreak of soil liquefaction while attempting a home improvement project. His basement had been the inspiration for a popular book and movie entitled A River Runs Through It.

Roger's Home Journal
Find Your Safe Angle Of Repose

The steepness of a hillside isn't the only factor that determines its stability. Different types of soil, sand, and clay have characteristics that affect what is called the safe angle of repose.

Roger's Home Journal
Revealing Your Deepest Secrets of Home Improvement

A few blocks away there were ivy covered and dilapidated mansions which everyone knew were occupied by magicians or witches, but neighbors had no reason to suspect that our plain looking residence included false walls, secret passages, and cleverly concea

Roger's Home Journal
Miracle Building Product Ends Strife, Halts Global Warming!

From the title of this you can guess that I'm an optimist. Like Toad (of Toad Hall), I become quite enthusiastic about new discoveries. A few years ago I fell in love with bamboo.

Roger's Home Journal
Tips from a Former Protest Leader

People can find enormous enjoyment in wresting power from an established authority. One of the easiest ways to do this is to join a mob. Defiance entails little risk and requires almost no courage when you arrange for a large number of like-minded people

Roger's Home Journal
Brave New World Of Populist Home Improvement

I'm inspired to invent some sort of populist movement. People will surely admire a heroic, underdog effort, even if my basic idea is idiotic. If I can just find a scheme that captures the imagination of an excitable electorate, they might sign petitions,

Roger's Home Journal
Roofless in Seattle - A History of Getting Wet

There are many stories in this moldy city about people who embrace the sensation of being soaking wet. Our local seafood hero, Ivar Haglund, used to sing a ballad about a fellow who was perfectly content to sit on the beach through endless days of rain. T

Roger's Home Journal
Rebuilding the Building Department

The scenes of earthquake devastation in Turkey, Greece and now Taiwan are a stark reminder of why we need building codes, plan review and careful inspections.

Roger's Home Journal
Lessons from the Satsop Earthquake

Radio and television stations had a golden opportunity to provide useful and accurate information about this event, and about what to do before, during, and after a natural disaster. Most of them flunked this test of our emergency broadcasting system.

Roger's Home Journal
Millennium Advice: Save this Paper for Emergency Use!

They say that people who live in cardboard houses shouldn't play with matches. I'm lucky to be part of a culture where this sort of wisdom is carefully passed down to each younger generation.

Roger's Home Journal
Home Repair Education: Away Go Troubles Down the Drain!

At Eckstein Junior High School I enrolled in Wood Shop, where I had the opportunity to shape a piece of wood while it spun on a lathe. The flaw in my technique was revealed when the gouge dug into the wood and my project exploded all over the shop.

Roger's Home Journal
The Joy of Decks On The High Seas

My family and neighbors have wondered at my long hours of soaking in our outdoor bathtub, sitting at the picnic table, or standing before the smoke and flame of the barbecue grill. This has been a necessary part of many years of research, leading at last

Roger's Home Journal
Excuse Me While I Kiss The Sky

It seems that Paul Allen and I are in the same groove: appreciating Jimi Hendrix, exciting architecture, and exhibitions that encourage people to do something, instead of passively staring at someone else's work.

Roger's Home Journal
Salt Air Flavors Seattle Home Improvements

I'm just back from Odyssey, the Maritime Discovery Center, and can't wait to tell you how the experience has transformed my home improvement fantasies.

Roger's Home Journal
Learn How to Do Earthquake Retrofitting

People and structures in our region face real danger from inevitable earthquakes. It's as though a timer on a very large bomb has been set, but we don't know when it will go off.