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...
We caught a viewer in the hardware store who asked if they could paint ceramic tiles.
Yes, now it is possible.
First take the gloss off of the tiles with sandpaper. This is not easy to do and is best done with a belt sander. The paint companies will tell you that it is not necessa...
Evert from Brownsburg, Quebec has the problem of a sewer odour in his bathroom but isn't sure where it is coming from and whether or not he needs to change his toilet.
It can in fact be difficult to localize the source of sewage odours and hence which fixture or drain is guilty.
One technique ...
When plumbing pipes and chimneys have to go through sloped roofs, they are always cut fairly large just to make sure that the pipe will pass through. The problem is that a 3 inch round pipe needs an oval hole in a sloped roof. There is an easy trick for drawing out the hole.
Hold the p...
How do you get enough space above the wall and below the roof for both massive insulation and ventilation? One way in new construction, or even in the rebuilding of a roof, is what we call a Raised Heel Truss. This design forces the overhang of the house further out from the house, but does gi...
In all too many new houses, there is a seasonal problem where in the winter the ceiling actually lifts itself right off the wall in the centre of the house, and then settles down after the heating season. Even in some older houses this goes on every year.
What causes this crack?
Avoiding...
"Decor" paints are the deep rich colours that are often used for decorative trims or accent walls. But home painters are constantly complaining to me that they can't get the right colour at home, or that it requires three and four coats to cover the old wall.
To understand what is wrong and h...
More and more people have domestic power washers, allowing them to quickly clean all kinds of things around the house. Of course one of the first things we want to use it for is to clean off the siding on the house. CAUTION -- you all know that you need to be careful not to damage wood or spra...
Truss uplift causes cracks between the wall and the ceiling that open and close every year and you cannot plaster or caulk them shut. For details on the cause and solutions to this problem follow this link.
If you cannot do the major work required to prevent this crack from opening, or you j...
It is frustrating when walkway or driveway paving stones heave with frost, or drop with erosion. If properly built, this doesn't happen. Actually what I have written here about paving stones applies to asphalt driveways as well.
A GOOD COMPACT SUBSTRATE IS ESSENTIAL IN A COLD CLIMATE
You nee...
