Click for larger image.

Anyone who has ever sweat-soldered copper pipes at close quarters in a wooden house knows the challenge of this job as the torch flame dances around the fitting, glancing off an old floor joist and some wood smoke fills the air.

Will this solder ever melt?

I don’t take chances when it comes to soldering in a wooden building. I keep an extinguisher on hand and, even more importantly, I don’t let the flame get anywhere near anything flammable by creating a blast shield for my work area.

As shown in the accompanying drawing:

• I use a pair of brackets to support an old cookie sheet that serves as my blast shield when I’m working overhead.
  
  
• The cookie sheet shields the ceiling, the brackets protect the joists and the solder can melt whenever it wants without me worrying about how long it takes.

— John Carroll, Durham, N.C.

Tips & Techniques provided by Fine Homebuilding.
©2010 The Taunton Press

To contact Fine Homebuilding, e-mail Christina Glennon.

Get NAHB BuilderBooks 2010 Virtual Publications Catalog Online

The NAHB 2010 Publications Catalog from NAHB BuilderBooks is available online.

Presented in a virtual format as part of the NAHB BuilderBooks effort to go green and streamline delivery, the catalog includes publications and products to help building industry professionals ramp up for a successful year as the industry and the economy begin to recover.

The materials in the catalog, written by industry leaders in various fields of residential construction, feature publications and products about accounting, estimating, business management, green building, sales and marketing, safety, construction codes, 50+ housing, multifamily housing, construction management remodeling and more.

Some of the newest publications in the catalog include “Social Media for Home Builders,” the “National Green Building Standard Commentary” and “Paper Trail: Systems and Forms for a Well-Run Remodeling Company, Second Edition.”

To view the virtual catalog, click here.