Helayna from Toronto, Ontario wrote that a few of her hardwood floorboards simply bend down when you step on them in one area. She is afraid that at some point they might just break through. The ceiling below is finished, so she can't check it out from below. She had a contractor who sugge...
Robert from Winnipeg Manitoba asks about the safety of walking around in his attic.First let's be sure not to fall into the room below. If you were to remove all the insulation, you would see the drywall or plaster of the ceiling below, nothing more. It is held in place by the ceiling joists,...
Larry Gullins of G & G Electronics in Whitby, Ontario builds home theatres so we sought him out for some design recommendations.Locate the screen in the centre of a wall at the longest point in the room, not on the short side -- you need depth for the best effect. The best room shape is re...
A couple of years ago we went to Canada's primary earthquake zone, Vancouver, and saw a lot of details about how hot water tanks and just about everything else in the house can and should be tied down to avoid damage during an earthquake. This time we went to near-by Victoria to see how to st...
The depth of the fence posts into the ground must be at least one foot below the frost level for your region. As well, one third of the total length of the post should be in the ground. This means that in mild regions the posts will be well below frost simply because of their length. In regions w...
This article deals with a block wall above grade. For a below grade block wall see Basement Perimeter Drainage and Leaking Foundations.
Bryan is faced with a totally un-insulated cinder block wall with 1x2 strapping and a plaster covering. He is thinking about stripping it back to the block...
David from Tracadi, New Brunswick wants to tear a wall down in his basement and wants to know if it is load bearing or not. He says it runs perpendicular to the floor joists.
If a wall runs parallel to the floor joists, chances are that it is not load bearing, as it is only holding up one floor ...
At one time or another every renovator, professional or weekend warrior, has tried to determine what might happen if they remove or make a big hole in a wall – is it holding something up? This is not always easy to determine but you can get some help from this article.
Getting this right is imp...
The world of tiles is changing rapidly.
Twenty years ago we generally had a range of tile sizes from 1 ft x 1 ft down to tiny mosaic tiles. This made tiling relatively simple because slight changes in the flatness of the surface could be adjusted for at the next grout line. In fact that is...
