A while back Glidden Paints had begun marketing Ceramic InsulCoat paint in Canada, claiming R-24 insulation values for a coat of paint. Does this new high tech paint really provide the equivalent of an R-24 insulation value to your Canadian home?No! In Canada, even the best reflective paint wil...
OK, you have finished painting. Do you throw the brushes and rollers away? Or do you clean them.Of course if you bought really cheap ones, you could just thrown them away. However, not only are you being rather wasteful from an ecological point of view, you probably had a real hard time painti...
Rust is actually the oxidization of metal and we usually want to either remove the rust from the metal itself, or remove stains that the rust left in rugs and other materials.There are a wide variety of cleaners on the market for cleaning off rust, some of which are very toxic and often remove mu...
Josie asks: "I am considering getting my ducts professionally cleaned. Can you tell me if it will reduce the dust in my home and whether there are any other benefits to having this done?"This question comes back every year, and although there is still hot debate on the subject, it appears to me ...
When paint gets onto concrete by accident, or as graffiti, it is difficult to remove because the concrete is so porous that the paint soaks down in.We decided to test a few different removers.Bio-Wash Masonry Strip works very well at removing oil, latex, and spray enamel paints.De-Greaser from St...
Most paint removal or building cleaning is either done with harsh solvents or harsh blasted granules like sand. The solvents are not good for the environment, and the sand can remove important outer layers on materials like brick.We visited a cleaning/stripping company in Toronto, Ontario called...
In Canada, other than on the lower mainland of British Columbia and on Sable Island, it is impossible to maintain a comfortable level of humidity in the house and not have frost on single-pane windows most of the winter.Using two panes of glass allows the inner pane to be warmer than the outer on...
Many of you have certainly heard of the beautiful Butchart Gardens in Victoria B.C. As you can imagine, when I visit a place like that I want to see more than just the flowers. So, David Clarke gave me a tour of the hidden side of the gardens: where their water comes from. What may surprise yo...
Before you try to paint the walls, you must properly prepare the wall and the most important step in that is probably to properly clean the walls of all the grease and smoke and dust that they collect over the years.Regular detergent tends to leave a soapy residue, even after careful rinsing, and...
