When two apartments share the same heat source and only have one thermometer, someone is always unhappy. If the thermostat is upstairs, the downstairs people are too cold, and if the thermostat is downstairs, the upsatirs people have to open the windows, to keep from getting cooked although thos...
Greg Costelloe from Costelloe & Company in Concord, Ontario, is one of those innovative fireplace experts that I love to talk to. In the first photo, he is showing me a standard direct vent gas fireplace insert. This is the kind of unit that you can build a fake fireplace around, or you can...
Brenda from Port Hardy, B.C. says that her wood burning insert smells of soot when it is not in use.The problem is obviously one of air coming down the chimney. Either the exhaust fans in the house are drawing air when there is no fire to maintain an upward draft, or the wind is twisted around on...
Rick is having trouble with the smoke detector near his kitchen going off too often and he wants to turn down its sensitivity. You can't do that Rick, but the real problem is that you probably have the wrong alarm installed near the kitchen. There are three types of fire alarms.The most sensiti...
Mario from Vancouver, B.C. writes: "I want to make a cabinet in the wall of the bathroom and the best area is between the vent stack and the furnace exhaust. They are separated by a piece of drywall inside the wall. Can I remove the drywall in order to make more space?"Mario sent a photo of a h...
There are a number of appliances around the house that have user or trade adjustable temperatures and it is not always simple to get them right.Hot Water HeatersMost Hot Water heaters for domestic hot water are factory set to 66deg C. ( 150F ). This is actually hot enough to scald someone so legi...
Christmas trees can present safety problems both by drying out too quickly and by falling over.Take a saw and make a fresh cut on the bottom just before installing the tree, just like cutting the bottom of flowers to let water in. Your tree stand should hold water or the new "water crystals", wh...
Although many insulating materials are fire resistant, most of the plastic-type foam products, be they injected as foam or installed in rigid sheets are flammable and must be covered with fire protective materials when they are inside the house exposed to a living space. 12 mm (1/2 in.) drywall ...
