Carolyn in Montreal wants to insulate her garage so that she can heat it but it is so narrow that there is no room to do anything on the inside. Can she insulate on the outside?As you can see in the graphic, you can easily put foam insulation of just about any thickness right on the block wall. ...
Dennis in Calgary, Alberta convinced me to come visit his attic which he was about to add ventilation to, but he had never been up in the attic.This was a very interesting attic, and an interesting home. The cellulose insulation was matted down a bit and had a very strange grid pattern in the to...
No. Sorry about that Ken from Oakville, Ontario.If the garage is unheated, insulating the door will not make the room any warmer. Insulation does not make heat it just helps to hold it in. Good weather-stripping on that door may help a little, simply because cold air drafts can wipe the unders...
Kathy writes: "My electrical box is located in the "finished" half of my basement, however it is attached to the bare cement block wall and has a particle board cupboard built over it. I am getting cold air from the wall and presumably moisture as well. How do I insulate this cupboard and since...
Lee from Portugal Cove, Newfoundland is trying to warm up his floor without warming up his basement. "The floor above the basement is plywood covered with hardwood or vinyl flooring. It is very cold during winter and our 10 month old spends most of his days crawling around on a cold floor. Wil...
Wood is not as good an insulation material as is any of the products we call thermal insulation: fiberglass, Styrofoam etc. Yet up to 24% of our walls are wood all the way through. Metal framing is even less resistant to heat loss than is wood. Typically the insulation is placed in-between the...
Russ in Bomanville Ontario sent us in a video which showed a steel beam right across the center of his garage ceiling. The beam supports the brick on the bedroom wall above. He wants to insulate the ceiling to make a workshop, but leave the beam exposed so he can use it to lift heavy things...
Seaweed in the Maritimes and Sawdust in the rest of Canada were common insulation materials in the old days. If they are still light and fluffy, they are still insulating your home, although not the best of insulating materials. That is why we often just add new insulation right over the to...
Peter from Toronto wanted to know about installing a linen closet against an outside wall. The major concern expressed by Jon was the moisture issue, as the closet is in a bathroom.The bathroom must have an exhaust fan to reduce the moisture accumulation.The outside wall of the closet should ha...
Ken in cold Saskatoon is worried that adding insulation to his attic will cause problems. The key is to insure that he has good ventilation coming in through the soffits and going out higher up on the roof.In this segment we showed how to go into the attic to see if daylight was visible around t...
