As winter approaches people are asking how to get more heat out of those very old hot water radiators. A few tips.
Bleed the air out anytime they don't feel hot enough. This will usually be only one or two that have problems while the rest are hot. If they all are cold you may need to check the ...
Water-source heat pumps work the same as any other heat pump in principle, but instead of having a radiator sitting outdoors, a pump pulls water out of some underground water source or lake, runs it through a radiator inside your basement, and dumps it into a second well in the ground or back int...
For various reasons, hot water heating systems can accumulate pockets of air in the top of the radiators. When there is too much air, the water doesn't flow any more and the heat slows down and stops. For that reason most people have to "bleed" the radiators regularly: open a little valve in the ...
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 ...
It may surprise you, but more accidents happen in the shower when the shower suddenly goes cold, than when it suddenly goes hot. It seems that we just jump higher. But neither shock is agreeable, or safe.
That's why all new plumbing installations require something called a "Pressure Balancing va...
Oil spills in water can be a real problem -- ranging from oil in your swimming pool, to around a boat dock or serious spills from commercial vessels. Old techniques try to contain the oil, but wave action can sabatoge that. Dispersents have proved to cause more problems than they solve. New te...
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 ...
Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:
Category: Roofing Product: Plastic Cement / cold applied Roof Patch
Temperature Limitations: Varies by product: Use above -5 C (+23 F) to above freezing
Rain Limitations: Varies by product: dry to underw...
Yes Wendy, just as you can paint over any other painted walls.
You can paint with an oil based paint directly over the lead based paint (which will certainly be an oil based paint).
If you want to use a latex over it, then you must first use a "super adherent primer", made by most of the paint ...
The reality is that there is not just one good way to install windows, but there are certain principles that must be taken care of with any installation to prevent cold air or water leakage later.
Basically a window installation must shed most of the water with the siding, what does get through ...
