All siding gets dirty, but cedar siding, often used in humid parts of the country, has more of a tendency than other siding to support the growth of mould and mildew. Unless it is really bad, cleaning is basically done in the same manner as for aluminium or vinyl siding, with much the same produ...
Chris & Dorie from Richmond Hill, Ontario write: "Last summer we moved into our new home. About a month ago, I discovered that the mysterious switch in our front hall operates the fan in our second floor bathroom?! Is this a fire code regulation? Why did they not try to "hide" the switch i...
Frank from Oshawa Ontario has problems with cleaning mould off the grout in the bathroom and dirt off the grout in the foyer.Soaked in dirt and stain in the foyer could be bleached out. If that doesn't work you will have to use a grout knife to remove some and re-grout. Remember to always dig...
Gerry, one of the Home Improvement Guys on CFUN radio in Vancouver joined me in working on a solution for Ramona's slimy green BC deck which you can see in the photo.Here is the Home Improvement Guys' BC mix for removing outdoor slime:FALL CLEANING FORMULA (also known as Spring Cleaning Formula...
Lorraine from Elliot Lake, Ontario has mould growing out from the joint between the wall and the ceiling in her bedroom. This is a common problem caused by the fact that most houses are built with two pieces of wood on the top of the wall called a ?double header?, with no insulation at this spot...
A viewer in Edmonton sent us some pretty nasty photos of mould under her sink. Two plumbers told her that the moisture was not coming from the plumbing.I saw two things on her photos. First, mould was building up around the cold water pipe, meaning that there was humidity under the sink that...
Anne painted her bathroom with latex paint and then started to get mould and mildew where she never had any before. She is wondering what she did wrong?
Mould is caused by the prolonged presence of condensation. Condensation is caused by a combination of high humidity and low temperatures. If yo...
Ken in Sault St.Marie wants to paint his bedroom but has mildew on the outside corners.
Anywhere where there is wood and no insulation in the walls, like where studs and other framing go right through the wall, we have a thermal bridge that cools the drywall more than where there is insulation. ...
SPELLING
First, a simple spelling problem. Is it 'mold' or 'mould'. According to the dictionaries, the two are equivalent, with 'mould' being primarily a British variation. But mold is active and dynamic, and dictionaries are slow in comparison. According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Co...
(updated Sept 2012)
Since the early 80's Urea-Formaldehyde Foam Insulation (UFFI) was banned in Canada and the US. The Canadian ban is still in place while it is now legal again to sell Urea-Formaldehyde based foam in the US and Europe. Whether it ever was or still is actually a health problem ...
