Mike from Kingston, Ontario writes: "Why do all of my counter tops come away from the exterior walls in the winter time? The caulking between the drywall and the back splash stretches, and in some cases tears -- sometimes as much as 3/16". Our house is 14 years old, all brick two story, faces w...
I received several letters from people having great trouble trying to get vinyl wallpaper borders to stick and stay put.It is actually quite easy. The trick is to understand that regular wall paper adhesive will not stick to the top surface of vinyl wallpaper, so vinyl borders over vinyl paper m...
When you want to put a lighting sconce on a wall, there is always the question of how to get the electrical wires to that location. Often it is possible to carry wires up from an electrical outlet, or down from the attic -- now how to hide them.If you are working on the surface, as you are oblig...
Andrew is restoring Toronto's Old City Hall, resetting, repairing even replacing some of those old sculptured blocks that sit high up on the wall.One of his challenges is making mortor that will act and look like the original stuff. One way that he accomplishes that goal is to grind up whatever ...
Gaye has discovered that there is no insulation in the walls of his century old home. Is this normal?Actually it is rare to have no insulation at all even in these old houses, although what insulation they do have may appear a bit strange.Often in central Canada you will find sawdust in the atti...
Judy has a pretty messy basement wall and has had several expensive estimates for fixing it.It almost looks like a mould or a fungus growing out of it, starting at a definite line quite high up on the wall.When I looked through the window I could see that the white stuff was starting about a foot...
Wagish from Brampton, Ontario is worried about the ongoing construction of his new home as they have not put a wooden sheathing on the outside of the house. He asks: "Is the insulation value and strength of the wall compromised by not using the chipboard?".First things first. "Chipboard" should...
Tim from Timmins, Ontario has a 2x4 constructed home with wood chips for insulation in the walls. He wants to know if he can leave it there and insulate over the wall on the inside or should he tear it all out?Wood chips do insulate but only at about R-1.4 per inch. Fibreglass is 3.5 per inch a...
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...
