Found 47 results for the keyword ‘Brick’

• Avoiding common errors with paving stones & Asphalt driveways

  It is frustrating when walkway or driveway paving stones heave with frost, or drop with erosion. If properly built, this doesn't happen. Actually what I have written here about paving stones applies to asphalt driveways as well.   A GOOD COMPACT SUBSTRATE IS ESSENTIAL IN A COLD CLIMATE You nee...

• Removing climbing vines from walls.

  An ivy covered wall John from Mississauga, Ontario writes: "We recently bought a house that was half covered in ivy. We didn't like it and we were told to cut the roots and let the ivy die and then just tear it down from the walls. We cut the roots and let the ivy die but we noticed all these li...

• Chimney inspection check list.

  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...

• Basement walls -- Moisture & Vapour Barriers

  Do I need to place a vapour barrier against the brick wall, then insulation and then another vapour barrier over that?  The wall does not leak and is fully underground.  Barbara THE VAPOUR BARRIER The vapour barrier is more properly called a vapour retarder. It is designed to stop moisture in t...

• Aging brick mortar.

  Petra from Mississauga Ontario has small pocket holes in her brick mortar that is only a few years old. These are not the weep holes that she knows should be there, but just little holes probably caused by air pockets during construction. How to fill them? The easiest way to deal with very small...

• How to install a flashing at the bottom of an existing brick wall

  Homeowners hear a lot of strange suggestions when it comes to repairing a flashing at the bottom of a brick wall, or installing one where it had not been installed.  Actually it is a bit difficult to find reliable guidance in this endeavour as most industry brick information is intended for indus...

• How do you stop mice from coming into the house?

    Susan from Calgary, Alberta has mice that just keep coming into her house. She knows where they get in and would like to block the entrance. She wonders if the foam in a can would stop them.               No. They will eat right through it. But if you mix the foam in a can, or caul...