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Found 111 results for the keyword ‘Tip’

  • Making a corkscrew out of a deck screw.

    Finished that deck and want to celebrate with a glass of wine? (I do come from Quebec.) But you forgot your cork screw?  Just drive in a deck screw, it has wide threads that grip well. Then use the ears of your hammer to create the "T" of a regular cork screw. Thanks for the tip Shawn.
  • Getting hinges and latches adjusted to fit

    ENTRANCE DOOR HORIZONTAL ADJUSTMENTS Entrance doors often warp from season to season and are hard to close in the winter and rattle in the summer.  This requires moving the strike plate horizontally -- but the good fit changes from season to season.  Don't adjust it at all -- but rather follow...
  • Tips for working with Epoxy Tile Grout

    Epoxy is the most water resistant of all grouts and is probably one of the most durable, making it a good grout for a ceramic tile kitchen counter top where you will be scrubbing it clean all the time. But there are some tips for working with it. It comes as a kit with three pouches: the A and B...
  • Tip -- Clearing the flow through the toilet seat rim.

    The swirl doesn't come out too evenly from under the rim of the toilet seat so the cleansing action is not working as it should.   You may have calcium build up in the holes that direct these little jets of water. Simply put a mirror in the toilet so you can see under the rim, and poke a co...
  • Conceptual design tricks before starting your project

      For a project like building a deck, you will want to go as far as you can with realistic graphics before laying the foundation or building the structure because many people around you will certainly want changes as soon as they begin to visulize the deck itself. There are a lot of simple ...
  • Applying tile adhesive correctly

    I recently spent some time at the Terrazzo, Tile and Marble Association training centre in Toronto and learned some very basic but surprising things, like just how to apply tile mastic and why it makes a difference.   Using a notched trowel gives you a measured quantity of mastic or thinset m...
  • Ductwork that moves air best

      The best way for air to move through a duct is to have a straight duct with a smooth inside wall and a round form will have the smallest surface area to cause the air to slow down. That straight smooth round duct is what is considered the benchmark for good ducting. Everything else is measure...
  • Cutting oval holes in a sloped roof for round pipes

      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...
  • How to clean aluminium and vinyl siding.

    A viewer caught our TV cameras in a renovation centre and asked about cleaning aluminum siding. An interesting fact about siding is that white aluminum siding and to some extent white vinyl siding both tend to "chalk". If you run your hand over it, you get a bit of a chalk like deposit on your h...
  • Hiding Cracks You Cannot Close

      Truss uplift causes cracks between the wall and the ceiling that open and close every year and you cannot plaster or caulk them shut.  For details on the cause and solutions to this problem follow this link. If you cannot do the major work required to prevent this crack from opening, or you j...