Up until the mid-1800s, building a home was a laborious task requiring many hands, heavy lifting and carpentry skills that were becoming less and less common. Then there was the industrial revolution, when "balloon framing" was introduced. This paradigm shift in the industry of home building saw framing constructed of two-by-four "sticks," held together with nails. Although regarded with skepticism by some, this easily-assembled method -- made possible, as Michael Pollan suggests in A Place... read more ›