All About Home Construction

About All About Home Construction

Hosted by local general contractor Randy Blake and Terry Gunnell-Beck, this show focuses on home construction, remodeling, and housing. It caters to those interested in building in the Appalachian Mountains, particularly in Watauga, Avery, and Ashe counties, but many listeners across NC and the USA enjoy our topics. Whether you're an experienced builder or simply curious, this podcast offers valuable insights and engaging discussions. Dive into various topics related to home construction, building, remodeling, and housing. Your House Will Thank You.

Publisher

Terry Gunnell-Beck and Randy Blake

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

6 Mar 2021

Latest episode

10 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

211 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   10 Oct 2026

   Home Storm Damage: What to Do Before Insurance Approval

   What should you do when a storm damages your home and you're waiting for the insurance adjuster? Knowing how to protect your property, document the damage, and make temporary repairs can help prevent a bad situation from getting worse. On this episode of All About Home Construction, Terry Connell Beck and Randy Blake discuss five common weather-related home disasters and what homeowners should do next. We cover: Frozen and Burst Pipes: How to stop the water, limit damage, and handle repairs. Trees Falling on Houses: What to do when a fallen tree damages your roof or home. Wind and Tornado Roof Damage: Temporary protection and what needs to be repaired properly. Basement and Crawl Space Flooding: How to address water intrusion, drainage problems, and moisture damage. Landslides, Mudslides, and Erosion: What homeowners should know about unstable slopes, retaining walls, and foundation damage. We'll explain practical emergency fixes, what to photograph and document before the insurance adjuster arrives, and how permanent repairs should address the underlying problem—not just the visible damage. Remember: Safety comes first. Take reasonable steps to prevent additional damage, keep receipts, and document everything you can safely photograph. Contact your insurance company promptly, and coordinate non-emergency repairs with them when possible. Don't delay urgent work needed to protect people or prevent further damage. Whether you're dealing with storm damage now or preparing for the next severe weather event, this episode offers practical information to help you protect your home and make informed repair decisions. Listen to All About Home Construction for useful advice, building knowledge, and answers to real-world home construction questions. If you find this episode helpful, follow the show on Spotify, leave us a rating, and share it with a homeowner who could use the information. Have a home construction question? Send it to us, and it could be featured on a future episode!

2. 

   3 Oct 2026

   Sawmills: From the Old Days to Modern Lumber Production

   How did we go from men cutting logs by hand to modern sawmills using lasers, computers and high-speed bandmills? In this episode of All About Home Construction, Terry Connell Beck and Randy Blake take a look at the history and evolution of sawmills. We talk about the early water-powered mills, the arrival of steam power, circular saws, portable sawmills and the development of modern bandmills. Then we step inside the modern lumber industry and look at how today's commercial sawmills use scanners, lasers and computer-controlled equipment to determine the best way to cut each individual log. We also explain double-headed bandmills, thin-kerf blades, lumber recovery and what happens to the parts of the tree that don't become boards. From small mountain sawmills to today's highly automated lumber mills, this is the story of how technology changed the way we turn trees into the lumber used to build our homes. All About Home Construction brings you history, building knowledge and practical information about the materials, methods and people behind the homes we build. Listen, follow the show, and send us your questions throughout the week.

3. 

   26 Sept 2026

   How Timber Was Logged Before Trucks and Modern Machines

   How did loggers get massive trees out of the mountains before logging trucks, chainsaws, and modern equipment? In this episode of All About Home Construction, we go back through the history of American logging and timber harvesting — from the 1600s through the 20th century. We look at how loggers used axes, crosscut saws, oxen, horses, rivers, and eventually steam-powered equipment to move timber. You'll hear about log drives, splash dams, log chutes, water flumes, logging railroads, steam donkeys, big wheels, tractors, chainsaws, and the machines that transformed the logging industry. We'll especially look at how technology changed logging during the 1800s, when getting timber out of America's forests began shifting from human and animal power toward mechanized logging. If you've ever wondered how the huge forests of America were harvested before modern logging equipment, this episode takes you into the woods to find out. All About Home Construction — history, technology, and the stories behind how we build. 🎙️ Listen to All About Home Construction every Saturday morning at 8 AM on WATA, Boone, and find us wherever you get your podcasts.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

7 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 53 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

73

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

82

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