Contact cement is a uniquely useful adhesive. It will adhere to most all surfaces and hence is often the in-between for sticking two different materials together.
It comes in two basic varieties, solvent based and water based, the later often being called "green" or "solvent free". Although thes...
Bathroom and kitchen fans are rated to move a certain volume of air, but do they actually move what they say they move? A study done in 1990 by CMHC says "rarely". In fact, on the average, measured volumes were 44% of rated flow for bathroom fans and 38% of rated flow for kitchen fans. The primar...
Joanne writes from Bois de Silion in Quebec. She has twice cleaned all the paint off an indoor metal railing, repainted with a primer and a finish coat, and both times, chunks flake off -- sometimes exposing the metal, sometimes exposing the primer. She is not a novice at painting and can't figur...
Every year the snow and ice slipping down from one of our viewers roofs does great damage to their rain gutters. How to stop it?
POSITION THE RAIN GUTTER RIGHT
The rain gutter should be installed a bit lower down so it is not directly in the path of the sliding snow, and the metal roof shoul...
Tools change so fast that is even hard for me to keep up with them. I think it is all a conspiracy to keep us buying new tools long before the old ones wear out. Of course I have to admit that my shop is rather over stocked as I am constantly receiving samples to try out, so I rarely manage to we...
The best way for air to move through a duct is to have a straight duct with a smooth inside wall and a round form will have the smallest surface area to cause the air to slow down. That straight smooth round duct is what is considered the benchmark for good ducting.
Everything else is measure...
You can easily find Silver, Copper, Brass and Stainless Steel cleaners in stores across the country.
You should clean with soft cloths, but if it is a real dirty outdoor mailbox, you may want to use a nylon scrubbing cloth to help out. Just be careful, it makes more scratches than you think, and...
A viewer from Aurora, Ontario has a small pin hole leak in a copper pipe in the wall and wants to know if there is any way to fix it without having to tear the whole wall open and replace the pipe.
There exists an epoxy wrap called "Pow-R-Wrap". You simply turn off the water to relieve the press...
Our camera caught Burns at the hardware store -- he is going to redo his roof and wanted to know what is the best material to use to re-roof.
That that's a wide open question. And of course, there are a lot of "good" materials.
Start by deciding on the "look" you want, then check that against y...
Drum Cymbal noises --> Furnace Ducting
Gina in Saskatoon is complaining about drum cymbal-like crashes that happen every time her furnace goes on. This is common when you have smooth flat ductwork. The heat and pressure of the air can cause the large flat surface of sheet metal to flex eithe...
