If you’ve ever built a gingerbread house, you know that walls crack, icing flakes, and roofs sag — if they don’t collapse altogether. And once you’ve got your gingerbread house up, you’ve got to maintain and protect it against sticky humidity and sticky fingers. In the spirit of the holidays, we recently talked with a handful of chefs who spend at least a couple of months each year constructing gingerbread houses — even cities — for private and corporate clients. Here are t

Icicles hanging along the eaves of your house may look beautiful, but they spell trouble. That's because the same conditions that allow icicles to form—snow-covered roofs and freezing weather—also lead to ice dams: thick ridges of solid ice that build up along the eaves. Dams can tear off gutters, loosen shingles, and cause water to back up and pour into your house. When that happens, the results aren't pretty: peeling paint, warped floors, stained and sagging ceilings. Not t