WHY SURGE PROTECTION?
Today's homes and offices are full of electronics. Appliances, TV's, VCR's, fax machines, computers, etc. Most electronics today use some type of microprocessor device. These devices are vulnerable to fast moving high energy disturbances known as 'surges'. For instance a li...
When we are building new structures, we need to think about avoiding future rot problems. When we are renovating or repairing existing structures we are often faced with dealing with existing rot problems.
In new construction we need to understand that all wood preservative systems are not equal...
When mysterious problems arise in a house the task is to track down the cause – and sometimes encapsulate it.
I built a beautiful new tiled shower, only to discover a hole starting to develop in one tile a few months later! When I inspected carefully, there was nothing that touched the ...
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 ...
One viewer wants to protect his parents from flying golf balls because they live alongside a golf course. They have already lost more than one window.
They probably have three choices:
-- subsidize lessons for the golfers,
-- build a barrier in front of their windows, or
-- put 'security film...
Air Entrainment
When ordinary concrete gets wet and then freezes, the ice crystals can cause surface chipping, or even more serious fracturing. All outdoor concrete in Canada, even by code, should be what we call air entrained. This means that there are microscopic air bubbles in the concrete ...
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 ...
Probably one of the best ways to learn about good and bad building techniques is to work on the renovation or restoration side of the construction picture. Here is where you see the results of everything done before, especially when the results are a failed system. In the world of ceramic, stone ...
Should you have a contract or not for every renovation? According to David Foster, author of the pamphlet Get It In Writing, except for the simplest of maintenance tasks, you need a contract, and for a lot of reasons that you may have never thought of.
If you would like to read the other two par...
Walls often have air spaces hidden somewhere between the siding on the outside and the drywall on the inside. Some are accidental -- some on purpose, even code required -- some served a purpose at one time in history but because of the evolution of construction, are no longer useful -- some a...
