Charles in Toronto, Ontario has a damaged metal door which had been broken into. He wants to know how to straighten out the metal and repaint the door.That's actually an easy question. Simply go to an auto supply store and check out what they have in the body shop section. Flatten the problem ...
We think of anything covered with fibreglass as being almost invincible, yet whether it is a fibreglass boat or a deck, this mixture of glass fibres and epoxy resins has one unrelenting enemy: UV rays from the sun.In the photo you see what a fibreglass skin looks like when put over wood, in a ma...
When you tear the surface of drywall, those fuzzy little hairs just keep coming through coat after coat of paint. The reason is that each time you sand it, they simply lie down and stand back up when they get wet with more paint.The way to cure it from the start is to put a coat of shellac over ...
When you're thinking about changing the windows in a house, you need to make one fundamental choice: whether to slide the new window into the old window frame (the first photo), or whether to remove the old window right down to the structure of the house (the second photo) and replace the whole t...
Most flat top roofs are made up of layers of asphalt, roofing paper, asphalt, roofing paper, asphalt, roofing paper, and then gravel. Although most leaks are caused by damaged or poor flashings, the built up membrane itself can get old and worn.The gravel serves to keep the UV rays of the sun aw...
Sheila writes from Ottawa : Hi there. I will try to make this as easy as I can however, it may not be.I purchased a brand new home from a very reputable builder in 1999 and took possession in December of that same year. December led into January and towards the end of January I began to experienc...
There is a lot of debate about whether to put a vapour retarder (vapour barrier) on an insulated wall behind shower tiles. The code has not historically been specifically clear on this so we get lots of different interpretations. What the code does say clearly is that we should not have two vap...
A comment from a reader:"I notice in your section on self leveling concrete that you mention about needing to let the water out before putting anything on top of the new compound. (Self Leveling Concrete) This is a common misconception about concrete, in fact the water does not leave, it becomes ...
The most common shower curtains sold are made of vinyl with very inadequate reinforcing around the hole used to hook it to the curtain rod. The result is that rather quickly the vinyl stretches and breaks through. Now this process accelerates when you have a wife like mine who scrubs the curtai...
Ed writes from Ajax, Ontario : All 3 walls of my bathroom shower stall are finished with 4" ceramic tiles and are in good shape. When I had to remove one of them, I discovered that the drywall was behind it was so wet that I had to put a fan on it over night to dry it out before I could glue...
