"A few years ago a contractor installed ceiling grills typically used on the floor for forced air heating in the ceilings of my bathroom and living room. The grills are connected with a "Y" insulated conduit in the attic leading to a 20 liter pail connected to a turbine vent installed on the ...
Do not fill the space between brick siding and the sheathing.
First, this space is outside the sheathing and does not cause condensation, as does an air space inside the wall. (A small space between ordinary siding and the exterior insulation or between ordinary siding and sheathing is also perm...
Draw air off the floor, not off the ceiling
The basement is different than the rest of the house because the floor is colder, attracting more moisture, and the cold air falls and is trapped on the floor as well. So the first step is to plan for the exhaust fan to draw the air off the floor of th...
The field of energy efficient heating systems is advancing rapidly and constantly and I cannot evaluate all the new products here. Remember that it usually takes a company a couple of years to work the bugs out of new products. And some companies try so hard just for novelty that... for example i...
When you use a hole saw, it is often very difficult to get the plug out of the saw cup when you are done. More and more manufacturers have provided slots on the side of the hole saw to allow you to jam a screwdriver in and pry the plug out. But this is often not so easy. (By the way, the larger t...
Air-change ventilation systems exist that take stale air out and bring fresh air in so as to not rely on cold air drafts for the entry of fresh air to the house. They are simply a box with two fans. In a few of the warm spots of Canada these are legitimate systems on their own. In most of Canada ...
Hello Jon,
I have a cathedral ceiling with a shingled roof. If I insulate the roof air tight, will the shingles lift and curl as they do on poorly ventilated roofs?
The other thought is leaving an 1 1/2 inch space between the roof deck and the insulation and installing a ridge vent, which give...
When there is morning frost or light snow on a roof, you can learn a lot about a heat losses from the house and how to eliminate ice dams and icicles.
What causes problems
Melting the bottom of a snow pack or melting off all snow at the crown of the roof sends water down under the snow to ...
After 30 years of installing Heat Recovery Ventilators (HRV) we are now asked to choose between an HRV and an ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilator). What is an ERV and does it really work in Canada?
Early Development
Both HRVs and ERVs were developed together in the early 80s with the promise that ...
Oh how many times has the wobbling ceiling fan driven you crazy. Sometimes it is acceptable on one speed but not another. Sometimes it just click, click, clicks so badly that you can't get to sleep. Fixing it is easy, but not fast. There are a large number of things that could be wrong so work yo...
