for Cold Climate Housing and much more

Found 141 results for the keyword ‘Safety’

    Table Saw Basics

    Table Saw Basics

  • OVERVIEW: About cleaning up Mould.

    The whole question of mould started as a simple nuisance in home maintenance but with experience and research has become a major element of creating and maintaining a healthy house. Of course, whenever research develops over time, recommendations change and things can get quite confusing.   IT...
  • Making slippery surfaces not slippery

    One of the most common places for accidents to happen in the home is in the bathroom. You are not dressed to be protected, and there is both water and slippery surfaces. Bathtub mats and anti-slip decals do make life safer, but much more difficult to keep the tub clean.   SLIP PROOF ETCHING WIT...
  • Eco-Ice Grip -- Treated wood chips for slippery ice

    This is one amazing product.  Softwood wood chips with just the right mix of magnesium chloride to help the chips to melt into and stick on the ice - making the safest icy walkway I ever walked on.  This is a Swiss invention and Canadian distribution is finally underway.  See comments at the end...
  • What do you put in a basic beginner homeowner's toolkit?

    If you are just talking about keeping the house from falling down around your head, and a few minor adjustments or additions here and there, but no real renovations -- the tool kit is rather simple. A multiple head screwdriver. A pair of pliers. A pair of clamping pliers. A light hammer. A g...
  • Getting Generator Electricity into the Home

    During the infamous Eastern ice storm of 1998, people went running out and bought every generator available and set them up to power something in the house during the extended black-out. Many of those efforts created great problems for the utility because homeowners were often feeding electricity...
  • Ozone Generators to clean up air quality problems -- good or bad?

    If you listen to the sales people, this is a hot debate. If you talk to Health Canada, this is a settled issue. Isabelle Sauve from Health Canada was as clear as the warnings issued by her department (January 1999) -- devices designed specifically to produce ozone may be dangerous to your health ...
  • Aluminum to Copper electrical connectors

    THE WIRE WORKS, THE CONNECTIONS ARE THE PROBLEM Aluminum wire does a good job of conducting electricity (although you do have to use one size larger wire than copper for the same electrical load) and can do the same job for less money. So for a short while it was used in houses for regular wirin...
  • Rainscreen Detailing and the Canadian Building Code

    I have reproduced below an article from the construction professional publication Solplan Review November 2008 because it was such a good article on this complicated subject.  In 2023, Solplan Review is no longer in publication.  For an animation on what is a rainscreen, follow this link.   But...
  • Speciality soles and shoes -- protecting against slipping and crushing

    We can't walk on water, but we do try to walk on ice   When I first wrote this article in 2009, speciality work stores were about the only place you could buy of any these shoe spikes outside of the Internet.  In 2020 if you live where there is ice on the ground, you can find them in renovati...