When two apartments share the same heat source and only have one thermometer, someone is always unhappy. If the thermostat is upstairs, the downstairs people are too cold, and if the thermostat is downstairs, the upsatirs people have to open the windows, to keep from getting cooked although thos...
Nellie has inherited an old chest from her grandmother and it is charged with moth ball smells. How to get rid of that smell since Nellie doesn't have any more woollens that need protecting?The answer is bicarbonate of soda, and lots of it.This common power actually changes the pH of different o...
Putting harsh drain chemicals or bleaches into a garborator is not a good idea because of all the metal, rubber and plastic parts. You might damage something. If it is really smelly it probably has some food stuff stuck in corners that just don't flush out.Here is where enzyme cleaners come to ...
George from Edmonton, Alberta has a way of slowing down the evaporation of water from any drain that is rarely used, and hence put off the appearance of sewer odours in that room. He simply pours a thin layer of oil over the top of the water in the drain. Any oil will work, but mineral oil will...
Ron from Guelph, Ontario writes: "My wife and I moved into a newly built home in June 2001. There is an orange plastic cap on top of our vent stack. The builder says that the plumber needed this cap on so he can pressure-check the system, but that it is to be removed following the test. He sa...
Tom in Newfoundland has problems of oil smells when the wind blows a certain direction.As you can see in his photo, the chimney is low for his own roof, and then overshadowed by the roof of the larger house -- causing the wind to blow right down the chimney. The rule of thumb is that if you m...
Joan from Windsor, Ontario has one of those large square floor drains with a heavy metal grate over it that are so common Ontario eastward. There are under slab pipes that come in and out of this collection box. The concept was designed as a drainage system for an empty storage space called...
Typical of many older homes, two of our listners have large metal grates in the floor of the basement, covering a drain collection box. This box tends to stay wet, grow strange things and smell bad. That was acceptable when the basement was no more than a storage space, but when it is conve...
Terry from Winnipeg, Manitoba has a bad smell coming out of his sink garbage disposal unit that he can't get rid of.Don't try to kill the smell with bleach. That will kill the smell, but it will also kill your graburator because the bleach will eat at any rubber or fiber washers. Look for an ...
Sally from Toronto, Ontario has a problem with the neighbours that live below her in a triplex. She doesn't like their cooking odours and they just fill her apartment.There are two things that can be done to temper the smells from the apartment below. First, caulk or foam up all the cracks b...
