THE DEAL I made a deal with the singing nuns of St. Michaels convent in Spokane Washington :
If they would teach me how to sing, I would teach them how to repair their convent.
My only dissapointment in this large project with HGTV Canada was that they never promoted the show well and the...
Pneumatic tools are amongst the most indestructible power tools you can buy - and yet we manage to kill them. So I took a trip to a few repair shops to find out what can possibly be done to maim, cripple and kill pneumatic construction site tools.
Let's start with the killers: dirty or moist air...
There exist special little tile grout knives, which are really just a blade with carbide dust on the edge. They are efficient at cutting out old grout between tiles.
There is a special a power grout remover as one of the accessory blades that comes with the FEIN MultiMaster. Unlike a circular ...
If any one thing distinguishes Canadian home improvement from American home improvement, it is the Robertson (square socket) screw. In this segment, we took a look at the history of this famous Canadian invention and visited their head office and warehousing operation in Milton, Ontario. Wikipedi...
Adding water to concrete or masonry will definitely make it flow better and make it easier to work with, which is why just about everybody does it. At the same time you have all heard that this will weaken the final product and increase shrinkage, but just about everybody does it anyway. If the d...
Chalk lines are used to draw straight lines across large surfaces from about 2 feet to over 20 feet. But it is not always easy to see the line, especially if you are working in the sun, or your saw has a dusting action that blows the chalk away.
Phil from Ottawa sent in the chalkline tip t...
David from Victoria, British Columbia is a safety officer in his workplace. Last year he saw me putting penetrating oil on a rusted nut and then heating it with a propane torch to break it loose. Bad stuff he says. Heating oils like that can be very bad for your health, as was the case of a custo...
For extensive videos on working with steel studs, follow this link to the Learning Curve.
John from Barry, Ontario was asking about using steel studs for a basement renovation. As you might expect, there are pros and cons for any building material.
Steel studs are often less expensive than wood...
When you need to stand a ladder on uneven ground, you always have to mess around to get something sturdy under the feet. Now there is an incredible invention from British Columbia that attaches to the bottom of any ladder.
Place it on uneven ground. Step on one of the two release levers and the ...
Oscillating Tools