When your wallpaper is glossy or very heavy, the steam or chemical strippers that you use to release the glue, can't get to the glue very well. The trick is to score the paper before using these things and there are several tools on the market for scoring wallpaper. The one I like most is calle...
The most common shower curtains sold are made of vinyl with very inadequate reinforcing around the hole used to hook it to the curtain rod. The result is that rather quickly the vinyl stretches and breaks through. Now this process accelerates when you have a wife like mine who scrubs the curtai...
Letter: I have a ceramic shower, that is leaking, I do not know how it was built or what is underneath.In the last week +- have noticed about an ounce or 2 of water in the garage,I have a small openeing in the ceiling directly under due to the drain pipe, the drain pipe and feed lines are dry. Bu...
Ed writes from Ajax, Ontario : All 3 walls of my bathroom shower stall are finished with 4" ceramic tiles and are in good shape. When I had to remove one of them, I discovered that the drywall was behind it was so wet that I had to put a fan on it over night to dry it out before I could glue...
In Canada, other than on the lower mainland of British Columbia and on Sable Island, it is impossible to maintain a comfortable level of humidity in the house and not have frost on single-pane windows most of the winter.Using two panes of glass allows the inner pane to be warmer than the outer on...
When a lath-and-plaster wall has loose plaster, you shouldn't just put more plaster over it, because the base is no longer solid it will quickly crack again. Either remove the loose plaster, or secure it down.One way is with special "plaster washers". These are light curved washers made out of ...
Gary from Hamilton, Ontario writes :I know that brick veneer homes have vent holes in the lower rows to allow air to equalize the pressure and help keep water out. We have just bought a 50 year old solid brick (two layers of brick) house. I notice there are no vent holes and it doesn't appear t...
Here is a great tip from one of our viewers. To remove that light bulb from the tight halogen fixtures where there is no room for your fingers, simply wad up a piece of duct tape with the sticky side out. That will grip the bulb for unscrewing.You could even tape that wad to the end of a broom ...
Viewers sent in a series of questions about their appliances, so I located a very interesting resource written by a busy appliance repairman in Calgary, Alberta. John MacKenzie writes in detail why it is that so many appliances die premature deaths.Ken from London, Ontario has grease stains on h...
One of the greatest difficulties we encounter when trying to fix an old appliance is where can you find the part. Hardware stores, even the massive box stores, rarely have much more than the very standard stuff like stove top burners and a selection of springs and fasteners that you hope might m...
