Special "mortar chisels" fit perfectly between the bricks, allowing you to get rid of loose or poor mortar without disturbing the brick. Whenever you are going to add mortar to existing brickwork, you must make sure that the layer of new mortar will go as deep as it is wide. That is because it ...
-- Take care of air barriers, ventilation and vapour barriers before insulating. Check out these three topics in the Search Tab above.-- Don't block the eave vents with insulation.-- Do cover the top of the outside wall.-- Don't put plastic foam on top of porous insulations (batts, loose fill) a...
While visiting a viewer's basement we discovered two very dangerous things. She had mentioned that she had a heating duct that was disconnected. As we doug out the boxes and hanging coats that were in the way, we discovered a burn mark across a plastic coat cover as well as a burn right into the ...
So what is a barometric damper? That is the strange swinging plate you find somewhere between your oil furnace or boiler and the chimney. Its function is to allow just the right amount of air into the flue pipe as the gasses go by to let the chimney perform its best.What goes wrong with a barom...
Pham from Hamilton asked why he sees air returns on the ceiling sometimes and on the floor in other houses, and what effect this placement has on air quality in the house.If you are in the far north, or in the Southern US, the answer is simple. In an air conditioning climate the return duct goes...
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...
One of our viewers caught our cameras in the renovation centre and asked a really good question. He has a sealed combustion gas fire place insert and has been told that both the fresh air coming in and the exhaust gasses going out have to go all the way up the chimney and out. He wanted to know...
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...
John in Thunder Bay has moved his gas burning fireplace from the centre of the house and he is moving it to the side of the basement and wants to run it up the outside of the house. He was asking if there could be any problem with downdrafting by doing this. The answer is that this is the worst...
Daniel in Ottawa has a lot of trouble getting the fire started without smoke in the house.Chimneys on the outside of the house always have more problems than chimneys that run up inside the warm part of the house. There may not be enough air available for the draft to start, which can be demo...
