Two months ago something happened to Idaho that nobody's talking about enough... A Boise Democrat's interim committee wrote a bunch of "housing affordability" bills. Developers shaped the recommendations, and Republicans carried the water. And your local zoning? Gone. I voted no on all of it. HB 800: now manufactured homes can go on any single-family lot statewide. Your city doesn't get a say (unless you've got an HOA, which is the only thing they left standing). SB 1352 is the one that should scare you. Cities over 10,000 can't require lot sizes bigger than 1,500 square feet. So now they can fo 12 units per acre, mandated by the state. And it passed the House 36-34. Two votes decided the future of your neighborhood. Flew through the Senate. SB 1354: says ADUs can now be forced into every community and HOAs are stripped of the ability to block them (SB 1353 would've crammed duplexes in too but that one died in the House). You know what none of these bills do? Not a single one stops institutional investors from buying entire subdivisions and converting them to rentals. California money is flooding our market and pricing Idaho kids out of homeownership and nobody addressed it. Nobody even tried to hold anyone accountable for the actual "affordability" problem. They called it "housing affordability" but it's just developer welfare. The interim committee that produced this whole package? Run by Sen. Ali Rabe, a Democrat. Guess who was at the table writing the recommendations. Developers. And Republican legislators delivered it for them. Governor Little told the press in 2023 he opposed the state overriding local zoning and said it wasn't his approach. Then he signed every bill a few months ago anyways and never explained what changed. Oh and Idaho isn't alone... Over a dozen states ran the same play this year. Montana. Colorado. Virginia. Georgia. Read the bills side by side the framing is almost copy-paste (i.e. National leftist playbook). So, this session the Idaho legislature decided Boise Democrats and developers know better than your mayor and your planning commission. And exactly NONE of these bills will make housing affordable. But they will make a lot of people RICH!

My brother started his own pest control company after leaving Orkin. 30-40% of his revenue now is crawlspace encapsulation. 60% margins on them. Large (4,000 sq ft + ones takes roughly 1.5-2 days to complete). $15-$20K for a large one. Slaps a $200-$300 annual renewal on it to go back once per year to check the dehumidifier, tighten any loose poly, make sure everything looks tight, etc. This was a moisture reading in some floor joists and sub floor in a recent crawlspace he did.

Chinking: The Small Detail That Can Make or Break a Log Cabin’s Warmth A log cabin can have thick, beautiful logs, but the logs alone do not make the building airtight. Between every course of logs is a joint. If those joints are left poorly sealed, cold air can move through the wall, warm indoor air can escape, and moisture can find its way into the structure. That’s why good chinking matters so much. Chinking seals the spaces between the logs, helping create a continuous barrier against drafts and moisture. In winter, this can make a noticeable difference in how well the cabin holds its heat. The logs provide the structure. The chinking helps keep the wall tight.

Call 811 before you dig

Tree bark is secretly eating methane. Scientists discovered that the world’s forests absorb 25–50 million tons of atmospheric methane every year through their bark. Trees just got 7–12% better for the climate than we thought. Nature’s been quietly saving us this whole time.

as soon as I saw the white paint, I knew it was over

Some of your bricklayers will watch this and try to convince you it is witchcraft.