Michael writes from St. Lazare, Quebec : We recently found a nasty surprise with our new house. The land has a high water table and as a result we have sump pump in the basement. The plumbing for this pump was hidden in the walls and ceiling of the basement. When our inspector inspected the home,...
Often in constructing a house, the sequence of putting up walls, applying outside sheathing and installing insulation batts can leave the outside corner as a hollow spot with no insulation. The carpentry work was done and the hollow corner closed and hidden before the guys with the fiberglass eve...
Low flow toilets: do they work? do they not work? This is an ongoing very interesting debate. This history of the evolution was first written in 2001. For the latest updates on this story and current data on toilets that do work, click here.
The average Canadian household uses between 7 hundred...
Bathroom and kitchen fans are rated to move a certain volume of air, but do they actually move what they say they move? A study done in 1990 by CMHC says "rarely". In fact, on the average, measured volumes were 44% of rated flow for bathroom fans and 38% of rated flow for kitchen fans. The primar...
Yes it happens -- but Why?
Two viewers have strange problems with their electrical outlets. One has had bright green oily ooze coming out of an electrical outlet on and off for the last two years. Changing the outlet didn't stop it. Another has green deposits at the outlet every time she uses he...
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...
Joanne writes from Bois de Silion in Quebec. She has twice cleaned all the paint off an indoor metal railing, repainted with a primer and a finish coat, and both times, chunks flake off -- sometimes exposing the metal, sometimes exposing the primer. She is not a novice at painting and can't figur...
Barbara in Montreal had water damage in her bay window area as wind driven rain always found it's way in. Contractor repair bids ranged from $1,200 for a patch to $4,000 for a new roof. A study of the detail where the added-on bay window joined the very edge of the roof showed a flashing flaw tha...
Certain parts of Canada, particularly in the Winnipeg region, have a traditional construction technique that presents serious challenges when you want to insulate a basement -- the ends of the joists are actually embedded in the concrete foundation wall. Chris, from Winnipeg, asked for some f...
It is rather surprising to me how little information there is available on sump pumps and more specifically on sump pump pits.
We find two basic kinds installed in homes.
One is just a water collection box where perimeter drains flow and a pump then lifts the water up and away from the house.
...
