When there is morning frost or light snow on a roof, you can learn a lot about a heat losses from the house and how to eliminate ice dams and icicles.
What causes problems
Melting the bottom of a snow pack or melting off all snow at the crown of the roof sends water down under the snow to ...
Sealing air drafts, both inside warm air escaping out and outside cold air sneaking in, is one of the most important things you can do to your house. It will both save you heating dollars and protect the structure of your house. This animation gives you a quick and visual overview of the task at ...
The smoke test described in the previous answer should be used to verify the presence of typical leaks and discover those peculiar to your own house. Before sealing, read the section on Ventilation to avoid any future condensation problems.
The leaks high in the house are not necessarily the lar...
Caulking joints on the outside of the house will not save you energy and will not stop cold air drafts. That is because almost all sidings are vented specifically to allow the wind behind the siding to help keep the wall dry. If you do not have a modern sealed house-wrap all around your house und...
Hello Jon
I am the chairman of a church committee with the task of raising money, and doing the admin. for the restoration at St Andrew United.
My concern now is the proper procedure to fully insulate the Church. I am alright with the Attic as well as the crawl space, however I am pondering the...
We caught a consumer in the hardware store and he was asking about the leaking roof on his new addition in the Beaches area of Toronto. Often in that area, a back porch is converted into living space with what we call a "compact roof" -- a roof/ceiling assembly that is about one foot thick with i...
Shrink to fit winter windows are really great draft stoppers and energy savers for old windows and patio doors.
Plastic has almost no R-value
Since plastic and glass have no real R-value, the dead air space created between the plastic and the window is as good as can be created with another ...
John in Kleinburg, Ontario asked if he should remove insulation from around his pot lights. Actually it is necessary to take the question much further.
HEAT FROM TRADITIONAL POT LIGHTS
Pot lights, or recessed lighting fixtures as they are properly called, do create a lot of heat and it is tr...
One viewer wanted to get rid of her centre room chandelier in favour of floor standing lamps. So just how do you cover that hole in the ceiling?
First remove all the electrical connections and cap off each wire with a cap or wire connector. If two or three wires are already tied together, keep ...
We all know that electrical boxes are the often the source of cold air drafts. They are equally the route by which warm moist air escapes from our houses. In fact, the National Research Council of Canada has calculated that up to 30 litres of water can pass through a single electrical box in one ...
