Mila from Ottawa, Ontario writes: "We are buying a new home and have a choice of 2" x 10" solid wood kiln-dried joists or "Trust Joists" (JLE) Pre-engineered floor system. If you were buying a house for yourself -- which would you choose?"I just love it when people try to nail me down like that,...
You have probably seen this gadget called Squeeek-No-More in the store or at home show demos and wondered if it actually works. It does, under certain conditions.
The idea is to drive a screw into the floor, perhaps right through the rug, have the threads hold in both the floor joist and in the ...
Stacey from St. Martins, New Brunswick, writes: "I have a house that is 150 years old and have just recently refinished the softwood plank floors. They have quite a few cracks and I am wondering what to fill them with. Some are as big as an inch in width due to shrinkage. The planks are direct...
Ricky from Brampton, Ontario asks: "Is it better to put a pre-finished hardwood floor on OSB or on plywood? My sub-floor is OSB and they say I would have to lay 1/8" plywood on top of it. Would nailing or stapling determine the type of sub-floor?"First of all Ricky, let's look at the photo abov...
No flooring company recommends any kind of wooden floor in a bathroom, and even fewer (fewer than no?) who would recommend it in a basement bathroom where you might not only have water constantly spilling from the top but maybe moisture coming up from the floor.You want to do it anyway? OK, here...
Dale asks about hardwood floors over concrete.If the concrete floor is above grade, like is common in a new condo, no problem.If the concrete is in a basement, below grade, then you have potential serious moisture problems, and hardwood really doesn't like excessive moisture.Generally it is not r...
For years we have talked about protecting the sill plate of basement walls from moisture rising up from the concrete. This could be water in the concrete from plumbing spills, or even from under the slab from a high-water table. The old standard ways to protect that bottom piece of wood on t...
A squeaky ceramic floor is a particularly difficult problem because you really cannot fix it from the top down, and if you don't fix it, it will eventually break the grout if not the floor tiles because of the movement of the floor.
Squeaking is caused by something rubbing, often the floor board...
Kim from Victoria, B.C. pulled up a carpet and discovered that the concrete floor slab was not level with the door sill. What to do? Use Self Levelling concrete.
This is an easy to find but very special type of concrete that will say 'Self-Levelling' right on the bag. It is designed to flow like...
