There are over 2000 window manufacturers in Canada, and with all that competition, each one wants to make homeowners, renovators, and builders believe that their windows are easier to install than the other brand. This has led to a lot of very poorly built windows that are often difficult to ins...
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,...
To my mind old fashioned hardwood floors are far more trouble than they are worth, especially now that we have better and better Engineered Floors available. An engineered floor is not a cheap plastic laminate on masonite floating floor. It is a very stable, usually pre-finished, real massive h...
Mike from Kingston, Ontario writes: "Why do all of my counter tops come away from the exterior walls in the winter time? The caulking between the drywall and the back splash stretches, and in some cases tears -- sometimes as much as 3/16". Our house is 14 years old, all brick two story, faces w...
-- Oil base, resin base and polyvinyl acetate caulking do not hold up. There are far too many better caulkings available to waste time and money with these old formulations.-- Latex based caulking is inexpensive, can be painted and has medium durability. It is acceptable for baseboards and caul...
Stairs squeak when something is loose and the wood rubs either against another piece of wood or rubs on a nail.You can often feel the movement by putting your finger on the stair joints while someone walks on it. (Be careful not to pinch your finger.)If the movement is where the tread and the ri...
Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:
Category: Masonry Product: Brick Mortar
Temperature Limitations: Use above + 5 C (+40 F)
Rain Limitations: No standing water or wash out prior to setting
Wind Limitations: Protect mortar if wind will d...
Holly in Wasi Lake, Ontario wants to know why her 1x10 pine tongue-and-groove floors are shrinking and leaving such large cracks.
If you look at traditional hardwood floors you will notice that each board is rather narrow. In fact it is difficult to locate hardwood floors that are wider than 4 i...
The world of tiles is changing rapidly.
Twenty years ago we generally had a range of tile sizes from 1 ft x 1 ft down to tiny mosaic tiles. This made tiling relatively simple because slight changes in the flatness of the surface could be adjusted for at the next grout line. In fact that is...
Barry from Calgary, Alberta writes: "I have a problem with cracking grout on an aboveground installation. I suspect the cause is excessive deflection of the floor joists. I'm wondering if there's any additive that can be added to the grout that will prevent this from happening again when I re-gro...
