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Found 43 results for the keyword(s) ‘Drainage’

  • Article

    Avoiding common errors with paving stones & Asphalt driveways

    It is frustrating when walkway or driveway paving stones heave with frost, or drop with erosion. If properly built, this doesn't happen. Actually what I have written here about paving stones applies to asphalt driveways as well.   A GOOD COMPACT SUBSTRATE IS ESSENTIAL IN A COLD CLIMATE You nee...
  • Article

    How do you clean a toilet stack?

    Al wants to know how to clean out a vent stack. Most people never clean out their vent stack -- it just doesn't need it. However some people do get birds nests in there, or clogs that for some reason are difficult to reach through the regular plumbing branches. You can run a plumbing snake into...
  • Article

    Venting the plumbing in an island sink

    Putting a sink in an island in the middle of the kitchen presents some plumbing challenges.  Generally the venting for a sink goes upward in the wall while the drain water flows downward towards the floor – but in an island, going up is not an option.  To have a large sink that drains properly y...
  • Article

    What makes a good sump pump pit?

    It is rather surprising to me how little information there is available on sump pumps and more specifically on sump pump pits.  We find two basic kinds installed in homes. One is just a water collection box where perimeter drains flow and a pump then lifts the water up and away from the house. ...
  • Article

    Installing full sized windows in a basement

    Whether you are building new or renovating, you can have incredible full sized windows in a basement. A standard window well is designed to hold the soil back to allow for a window that goes a few inches below grade. But if you were to radically extend the idea of the window well you can actually...
  • Article

    Weather Restrictions: Epoxy -- "Wet-Bond"

    Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:   Category: Adhesives     Product: Epoxy - Wet-Bond Temperature Limitations: Above +10 C (+50 F) -- although a special product called "Cold-Bond" will work at -6 C (+21 F) Rain Limitations: Can be applied in r...
  • Article

    Trench drains for drainage in the yard and around the house.

    Simon from Surrey, BC has an absolutely flat backyard and the kids have to wear boots just to walk across the grass.   If it is perfectly flat you will have to do some landscaping, although not too much. In fact you could pull back the grass and simply put some soil under the grass to change th...
  • Article

    Raising the Driveway Slab

    Lokesh from Newmaket has a problem with his concrete driveway not being level. It actually flows water into the house. If you don't want to dig it all up and start over (which sometimes is the cheapest solution), you can actually raise the concrete slab to level it or even slope it away from the ...
  • Article

    Air Spaces in Walls -- Myth and Science -- Overview

      Walls often have air spaces hidden somewhere between the siding on the outside and the drywall on the inside.  Some are accidental -- some on purpose, even code required -- some served a purpose at one time in history but because of the evolution of construction, are no longer useful -- some a...
  • Article

    Basement Perimeter Drainage and Leaking Foundations

    This article deals with walls below grade, foundation walls.  For insulating above grade cinder block walls see How do you Insulate a Brick and Block construction as well as Insulating an Above Grade Block Wall from the Inside. The best way to prevent water from leaking into the basement is not ...
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