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Found 92 results for the keyword(s) ‘Concrete’

• Article

  Peeling paint on a foundation wall.

  Michele in Hamilton, Ontario needs to repaint her cinder block walls on the outside of the basement. But a close look at a photo that she sent us showed a lot of deep holes or pock marks in the blocks. Not only the paint was peeling off, but the block itself was breaking off.  This is a sign o...
• Article

  Attaching a deck to a house

  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...
• Article

  Important precautions for installing large tiles

  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...
• Article

  Pro: Air Entrained Concrete

  Concrete, outdoors in the Canadian climate, has a particularly difficult time surviving. Walkways, patios, driveways and the like must have as much as 4 to 6 inches of gravel as a drainage base to minimize the effects of shifting from frost movement in the soil. Drainage around these areas has to...
• Article

  Protecting wood from moisture in concrete

  Concrete will allow water or water vapour to move through it quite easily, so any wood in contact with concrete must either be pressure treated wood, or you should have a plastic separator between the wood and the concrete. A simple slip of polyethylene plastic is all it takes to prevent rot at t...
• Article

  Modern Lime Wash for the Heritage look.

  Lime was the primary ingredient in most stains in the old days -- it was called a 'lime wash'. It can be used to stain all porous materials including masonry, concrete, and stucco without causing any of the moisture problems that modern finishes may cause. Given the need to use traditional mater...
• Article

  Weather Restrictions: Elastomeric Liquid Waterproofing Coatings

  Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:   Category: Concrete     Product: Elastomeric Liquid Waterproofing Coatings Temperature Limitations: Use above +10 C (+50 F)  and below +32 C (+90 F) Rain Limitations: No rain for 24 hours Wind Limitations:  ...
• Article

  Weather Restrictions: Bituminous foundation moisture control coating

  Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:   Category: Concrete     Product: Bituminous foundation moisture control coating Temperature Limitations: Water based products must be used above freezing -- Solvent based materials minimum -17 C (+1 F) Rain L...
• Article

  Weather Restrictions: Concrete - site mixed or delivered.

  Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:   Category: Concrete     Product: All site mixed or delivered concrete Temperature Limitations: Use above +2 C (+35 F) Rain Limitations: No rain until surface is firm -- several hours Wind Limitations:  n/a ...
• Article

  Weather Restrictions: Crystalline growth waterproofing products

  Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:   Category: Concrete     Product: Crystalline growth waterproofing products Temperature Limitations: Use above +2 C (+35 F)  and below +21 C (+70 F) Rain Limitations: No rain until material is firm -- about 2 ...