Henry e-mailed about the fact that he discovered that when they re-shingled his roof a couple of years ago (before he bought it), there were no flashings at all put on around the chimney. He wanted to know how to do a good job, with the least damage to existing shingles as possible.
Actually it ...
John in Mississauga, Ontario has paint flaking off of his crown molding, and it seems to be related to snow on his roof.
As we ran through the details, it turns out that the problem spot is right below a brick chimney that is poorly flashed where the roof meets it. He has put asphalt roof patch ...
Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:
Category: Roofing Product: Plastic Cement / cold applied Roof Patch
Temperature Limitations: Varies by product: Use above -5 C (+23 F) to above freezing
Rain Limitations: Varies by product: dry to underw...
The reality is that there is not just one good way to install windows, but there are certain principles that must be taken care of with any installation to prevent cold air or water leakage later.
Basically a window installation must shed most of the water with the siding, what does get through ...
Bill from Paradise, Newfoundland writes: "I need to settle a bet between a buddy and myself. When you put in a vinyl window should a drip cap always be used? My buddy never uses one, and claims water never gets in under the window."
Well Bill, you win. Yes you should always put a flashing over t...
The old days of stacking structure
In the old days, before we had specialized hardware like joist hangers, we would always create beams, or low lying ledger boards and place the joists on top of them with some kind of toe-nail attachment.
The arrival of joist hangers
When joist hangers came in...
Barbara in Montreal had water damage in her bay window area as wind driven rain always found it's way in. Contractor repair bids ranged from $1,200 for a patch to $4,000 for a new roof. A study of the detail where the added-on bay window joined the very edge of the roof showed a flashing flaw tha...
A caller from Ontario has a leak that keep's coming in through the wall despite the efforts of two contractors.
It is often very difficult to find the place where water gets into the wall, when it is not something obvious like a crack in the caulking around a window. You need to make a careful i...
From top to bottom:
1- Check the spark arrestor or rain cover, whichever you have on your chimney. Its most important function may in fact be to keep animals and birds out of your chimney.
2- The liner needs to be in good shape. Check the part that is visible from above, and occasionally have a...
Skylights are basically windows that are not vertical, but usually closer to horizontal as they sit on top of the roof. Most are fixed but some open a bit for summer ventilation. There also exist roof windows which are basically skylights that open wide and are much more common in Europe where ...
