This week the Fine Homebuilding editors discuss winter condensation, straw-bale homes, punky floor joists, rental-property remodels and more.

The Fine Homebuilding staff gives their best advice for improving leaky board-and-batten walls, buying old houses, keeping HVAC systems within conditioned space, and safely venting gas appliances.

The Fine Homebuilding editors contemplate listener questions about cladding choices, sheathing layout, and wall-framing techniques.

The Fine Homebuilding editors debate the pros and cons of stemwalls, monolithic slabs, and pole barns to help a listener design a new outbuilding

A listener asks the Fine Homebuilding editors for advice on how to get her MIA carpenter to come back and complete her shed project.

When a listener asks what measures he should take to keep cellulose from falling through his exhaust fan when insulating and air-sealing his attic, the Fine Homebuilding editors wonder if he should get rid of the fan altogether.

After answering the question "Where has Justin been?", the Fine Homebuilding editors dig into several cases of what happens when wood gets wet.

The pitfalls of old house wiring, rotting retaining walls, and poorly installed shingle siding

A priest from Florida asks the Fine Homebuilding editors for advice on how to repair his heavily damaged church so that it can better weather the next big coastal storm.

Removing a corroded anode, more talk about wet basements, recommendations for clear wood finishes, and deciding whether or not wood-burning fireplaces are safe in today’s homes.