Just a few math answers to common renovation questions.How far should steps go up (rise) and how wide should steps be (run)? The rise should not be less than 4 inches or you will stumble on it, nor more than 9 inches or it becomes a ladder. Then within those limits, the rise times the run should...
Scissors have the flat side where they two blades rub, then a cutting bevel followed by a relief bevel. So how do you sharpen them? Get the flat side flatStart by using a stone to remove any nicks that stick past the flat side. Just put the stone on the flat and grind until the entire side is ...
Where the teeth come out of the wood, you can get splinters. The faster the cut, the larger the teeth, the more perpendicular to the surface and the duller the teeth, the more splinters you will get.For a hand saw, the splinters are on the bottom of the wood. For a portable circular saw, the sp...
Reg Ellis, a student from the Woodworking Centre of Ontario, rightly took me to task for being a bit sloppy when I talked about saw tooth configrations in a recent Deck article. Then it occured to us at Home Builder that it might be a good idea to elaborate on saw teeth, given that most site wor...
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) does not recommend the use of any blown-in insulating material inside "enclosed vertical cavities" (that's a fancy way of saying "walls that are not open"). They feel that techniques of installation and verification during installation are not good ...
-- Oil base, resin base and polyvinyl acetate caulking do not hold up. There are far too many better caulkings available to waste time and money with these old formulations.-- Latex based caulking is inexpensive, can be painted and has medium durability. It is acceptable for baseboards and caul...
Two of the problems you may encounter when trying to drill holes in ceramic tiles are getting the hole started and using large bits to cut.Often the masonry bits for ceramic tiles will wander around the smooth surface before they start to penetrate, making your hole in the wrong place. Start wit...
Cutting ceramic tiles in half is relatively easy to do. Cutting a half inch off the edge of a tile is much more difficult.Al from Chilliwack, BC shared his tile cutting jig with us. Clamp two boards together with spacers the thickness of the tile to be cut. Score the tile. Slide the tile into...
Boris lives in a 45 year old bungalow that has no insulation at all. It has a brick outside, an air space, a concrete block wall for structure inside and then drywall. Is it possible to blow foam into the space between the brick and the block?NO. As long as the brick is the weather shield for ...
When you toenail a board, it tends to move over away from its designated mark, whether your toe is in place to stop it or not.Try putting your board on it's mark.Place a prybar on the other side of the board as shown in the photo and give it a good whack.The second photo shows how the ears will b...
