Decoding DemocracyBaltimore Bridge CollapseMillion BazillionI've Always Wondered ...

Loading...

0:00
0% played
Stories Tagged as

Building materials

Why does furniture fall apart so easily?

by Kai Ryssdal and Richard Cunningham
Sep 27, 2023
Furniture used to last a lifetime. Now, not so much. But how did we get here?
"A great place to buy long-lasting furniture is a vintage furniture store, right? The proof is in the pudding that it's well made because it's lasting long enough for you to be able to purchase it right now," said Washington Post reporter Rachel Kurzius.
jozzeppe/Getty Images
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

What if the next big crop we grow is for building materials?

by John Laurenson
Jun 20, 2022
In the Netherlands, a bridge is made of flax fiber ... the same flax that produces seeds for cereal.
This 15-meter bridge in the Dutch town of Almere was made using flax fiber.
John Laurenson
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

Facing shortages of construction materials and labor, builders try to be flexible

by Samantha Fields
Aug 2, 2021
Often that means negotiating what gets done when.
Everything from worker shortage to material prices have forced builders to adapt.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

The quest for a more fire-resistant home

by Amy Scott
Dec 28, 2018
Protective materials are out there, and they don't have to cost more.
John and Lynn Stasz hired architect Mark Gerwing, right, to design their new house after the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire near Boulder, Colorado.
Amy Scott/Marketplace
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE

Spike in demand for building materials helped drive overall retail sales in May

by Reema Khrais
Jun 14, 2018
New numbers out Thursday show that Americans spent a lot of their paychecks on retail last month. U.S. retail sales were strong in May, rising about eight-tenths of a percent from a month earlier.  That may sound small, but it’s the biggest one-month jump since last November. Among the merchants that got a lot of […]
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE