For quick no support gluing of things to walls, including heavy things like face bricks and drywall LePage has come out with a special high tack no slip adhesive in a self propellant tube -- it is called Power Grab.
Is there such a thing as a 'breathable shingle' that removes the need for attic ventilation? No -- that is bull. All asphalt shingles have some vapour permeability and hence will let some moisture out -- which we call breathable. But that in no way removes the need for Attic Ventilation.
What are the energy savings priorities in a cold old house -- windows or wall insulation? Start with air leakage, particularly around window and door frames. Then add insulation where there is none or very little, starting with walls that have few openings -- there is simply more wall to insulate. You may even ignore south facing poorly insulated walls because they are mostly windows and doors anyway and the sun helps out on that side of the house. Then look at really bad windows. That is energy conservation on a tight budget.
A 'trap seal primer' in the basement is constantly leaking water. This is a device that occasionally squirts a little water into the basement floor drain to keep it from drying out and smelling bad. It may not be leaking at all, but just doing what it is supposed to be doing, squirting water into the drain every time a washing machine shuts off its water (the shock in the line causes the squirt at the trap seal primer). So if it is not connected to the floor drain, it will appear to be leaking. If it is in fact leaking, it is probably cheaper to replace than to fix. Check out Dranjer for a dry seal on a basement floor drain that could eliminate the need for the plumbing primer.
Can you convert a propane fireplace to a wood burning fireplace? Probably not because the chimney's are totally different sizes and the wood burning appliance requires a larger chimney that the one attached to the propane appliance. We can often go the other way, from a large chimney to a smaller liner inside, but we can't force more air into a smaller chimney.
Special footing forms for pillars. One called Big Foot just supports a Sono tube but controls the concrete flow to make a proper footing. One called The Footing Tube (foottube.com) has a tapered form that helps to avoid ice grabbing the pillar. One form or another of these are now showing up in renovation centres.
For one viewer who had mould on his walls, I recommended getting the Clean Air Guide, that is a free booklet from CMHC.ca.