Heather asked: "I have a 75 year old brick semi. I've noticed that on one of the pillars there's white powder. I'm wondering what it is and how to prevent it?"I assume that her pillars are on her front porch. We took some brick and soaked it in salt water. When it dried, the salt was all over...
Kim from Mississauga, Ontario has strange spots and streaks all over her ceramic floor, and they seem to be getting worse the more she cleans them.We consulted with a ceramic tile manufacturer to see what might be happening and I was rather surprised to learn that many ordinary cleaners can actua...
No flooring company recommends any kind of wooden floor in a bathroom, and even fewer (fewer than no?) who would recommend it in a basement bathroom where you might not only have water constantly spilling from the top but maybe moisture coming up from the floor.You want to do it anyway? OK, here...
Sharon in Toronto has a small tear in her kitchen vinyl floor, that none of the kids own up to. How to repair it?A pro will use a special "seamer" that matches the brand of floor for the right chemicals. For a good DIY patch, use transparent silicone.Cut it a little more if necessary to clean ...
One way is with a product called Screw Grab. It is a gritty liquid that just fills in the slot and gives the screwdriver a chance to get a hold. It doesn't always work, but is a lot easier than drilling the screw out, so it is worth the first try.You can buy Screw Grab from Lee Valley Tools
Dry rot is actually a fungal growth that destroys the cell structure of wood. In order to grow it requires moisture, oxygen, and warmth. Once started it will not grow in the winter, but it will survive and continue to grow during whatever periods of time provide its three necessary conditio...
False. Vapour barriers do help to protect the walls from moisture accumulation, but the help they provide is almost insignificant compared to that provided by air barriers. Moisture gets into walls and attics by two paths: air exfiltration through cracks and vapour diffusion through the wa...
Styrofoam (which is actually a Dow Chemical brand name of extruded polystyrene) is a fairly good vapour barrier. It will not cause problems in the Canadian climate if you put on at least 1-1/2 inch thick and preferably in 2 ft. x 8 ft sheets applied horizontally. This actually permits some ...
A basement is subject to three strong pressures.Settling is caused by the weight of the house pushing down on the footings and further compacting the soil underneath. This causes no great problem if everything settles together. However, settling can cause foundation and upper wall cracks whe...
There are two basic mechanisms which can cause a basement to move because of freezing temperatures -- ice-block formation and ad-freezing.Frost heaving: a form of ice-block formation occurs when moist soil lies under the foundation footings and the frost line or freezing-point penetration reac...
