Ventilation in a Canadian attic does very little to remove moisture when the temperature in the attic is below freezing. During that time, the moisture is in the form of Ice and the passing air simply won't remove it -- whether you have passive vents or power vents. When things warm up, if the ...
Click here for the BP Class Action Suit relating to failing organic based asphalt shingles. Asphalt shingles should be able to take a lot of heat and cold, over and over again. So why do some suddenly curl up, asks Craig from Point-Claire, Quebec?Cold climate shinglesProbably the first thing to u...
Ice Dams are a serious problem throughout Canada, although it varies from year to year as to which region gets hit. Here we visited one of the solution companies who work to seal up the primary cause of ice dams, the warm air leaks into the attic. For more background on the problem check out th...
When the screw driver end of the screw is stripped, and you can't get a hold of the head with a pair of Vise-Grips, then you need to resort to some destructive removal. The goal is to remove the dead screw, without damaging the material around it.Create a SlotYou can often use a hack saw, or a Dr...
One viewer was asking why the bricks on his commercial building were falling apart on the bottom of the wall. In the photo you can see another viewer's problem from last year where her bricks fell all apart after pouring a concrete porch right up to the brick level. In her case, the concrete sl...
Dave seems to do as much work on his car as his house. He suggested for a real solid patch in drywall, use auto body putty, that epoxy mix that you use to fill a hole in a car body.Dave, I can't go along with this one. This stuff is expensive, hard to apply because it is so plastic like and tak...
Ted has plaster falling off of his concrete condo kitchen ceilings. Apparently it is related to moisture, so it would be a good idea to see if there is a leak from above, or a lot of excess moisture in the kitchen itself. Exhaust fans may solve the problem.Sometimes you just can't solve the pro...
David has one of those showers with an openable sliding window right inside the shower. It is kind of nice having a window in a shower, if you have an open field and no neighbours. If you have neighbours, you will certainly have a curtain on the window, or frosted glass. In any event, take a g...
John in Aurora, Ontario has to delay work on his basement renovation and wants to know how he can store 10 sheets of drywall without having it warp.Good question, because especially if there is much moisture in that basement stacked drywall can take on some permanent curves. If you simply sit it...
When something like passing trains or heavy traffic keep cracking plaster, or wallpaper corners in a house, you will not succeed in stopping the movement, but you can hide it.Cut the wallpaper neatly in the stressed corner.Nail molding into the corner, but attached only to one side. The other si...
