Rick from New Brunswick is having problems with his wood stove backdrafting and he wants to know if it will help to box in the chimney on the outside of the house. Backdrafting or difficult starting with wood burning appliances is often a problem and there are several entries in this database ...
One of our viewers has removed a stove and has an unused chimney going up the outside of the house. The top has been capped off, what to do with the bottom?
It is important to close off unused chimneys, whether they are metal or masonry, because if you don't carefully cap off the top, the rain ...
The smoke test described in the previous answer should be used to verify the presence of typical leaks and discover those peculiar to your own house. Before sealing, read the section on Ventilation to avoid any future condensation problems.
The leaks high in the house are not necessarily the lar...
Henry e-mailed about the fact that he discovered that when they re-shingled his roof a couple of years ago (before he bought it), there were no flashings at all put on around the chimney. He wanted to know how to do a good job, with the least damage to existing shingles as possible.
Actually it ...
John in Mississauga, Ontario has paint flaking off of his crown molding, and it seems to be related to snow on his roof.
As we ran through the details, it turns out that the problem spot is right below a brick chimney that is poorly flashed where the roof meets it. He has put asphalt roof patch ...
Wood heating appliances get hot -- that's why we use them -- but they also burn down houses. They are only safe if you install them safely.
-- Let's start with the fascinating process of how wood burns;
-- and now let's see how that process can happen inside your walls or floors near woo...
More and more people are asking for powerful kitchen range hoods or bathroom exhaust fans. The logic appears simple, increase the power of the exhaust fan and get rid of pollutants quicker. In more and more modern homes which have been weather-stripped and sealed against cold air leaks and heat l...
A viewer from Quebec starts the ball rolling on a discussion of maximizing the efficiency of your chimney's draw.
Starting with a small hot fire is always an aid. We need to warm up the chimney before it can draw properly. Chimneys built totally inside the heated part of the house always work be...
One morning the oil furnace and boiler companies woke up to discover they were the Canadian bad guys -- everybody was condemning oil burning heating and the government was even paying people to scrap them. The oil furnace and boiler companies had to admit that they had been pretty contented and l...
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...
