Laying out one large piece of sheet flooring to fit into a room that is not square is not always easy. I like to first find the wall that is the straightest, or the one that will be the most visible if there is a pattern on the flooring that will look crooked against an odd angled wall. Tha...
First use a hot air gun, or hair dryer, to warm the problem part of the tile.
Then carefully lift it slightly beyond the original problem.
Now, clean off the floor and the tile from the years of dust that has accumulated under this slightly curled tile.
Put contact cement under the corner.
Pu...
Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:
Category: Adhesives Product: Interior Carpet & Sheet Vinyl Adhesive Latex
Temperature Limitations: Floor and adhesive must be above +18 C (+65 F) prior to application.
Rain Limitations: Indoor produc...
Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:
Category: Finishes Product: Oil or Alkyd Resin Paint
Temperature Limitations: Use above +10 C (+50 F) and below +32 C (+90 F)
Rain Limitations: No rain for 24 hours
Wind Limitations: Don't paint in hig...
I went to the store and bought a box of really nifty 100 percent recycled vinyl interlocking floor tiles, the kind that stand up above a concrete floor and let the water drain through and under. I needed them to keep boxes off of a basement floor where there was occasional moisture -- and I ended...
Bill from Paradise, Newfoundland writes: "I need to settle a bet between a buddy and myself. When you put in a vinyl window should a drip cap always be used? My buddy never uses one, and claims water never gets in under the window."
Well Bill, you win. Yes you should always put a flashing over t...
The old days of stacking structure
In the old days, before we had specialized hardware like joist hangers, we would always create beams, or low lying ledger boards and place the joists on top of them with some kind of toe-nail attachment.
The arrival of joist hangers
When joist hangers came in...
A viewer on my HGTV program asked: "Does the type of siding make a difference in attracting Cluster flies?"
I always wanted to learn more about those flies that cluster on the side of houses (usually in the country) and mass in the windows in the early spring and late summer. They are larger ...
When Heritage Window Restoration becomes
an energy efficient & cost effective
alternative to new windows
Most of us who have worked in older neighbourhoods have at one time or another thought about or dabbled in restoring old building components rather than ripping out and installing new...
A viewer caught our TV cameras in a renovation centre and asked about cleaning aluminum siding.
An interesting fact about siding is that white aluminum siding and to some extent white vinyl siding both tend to "chalk". If you run your hand over it, you get a bit of a chalk like deposit on your h...
