for Cold Climate Housing and much more

Keyword Search

Search Again

Found 49 results for the keyword(s) ‘Ice Dams’

  • Article

    Drip Edge, Ice & Water shield and roofing paper

    Tim wrote in asking if he should use roofing paper on his roof in addition to Ice and Water shield. Well Tim, there are not a lot of hard and fast rules in roofing but there are some guidelines and some little things that definitely make a better more problem free roof. First, on the front edge...
  • Article

    How do I keep a shallow Sump drain from freezing outdoors?

    Michael writes from St. Lazare, Quebec : We recently found a nasty surprise with our new house. The land has a high water table and as a result we have sump pump in the basement. The plumbing for this pump was hidden in the walls and ceiling of the basement. When our inspector inspected the home,...
  • Article

    A window that is warmer than the insulated wall

    I have always said that as far as the cold getting into your house is concerned, a window is always the coldest part of a wall. But no longer. A company called Prelco from Riviere-du-loup, Quebec has produced a window called Prel-Therm that actually plugs into your electrical system. That's right...
  • Article

    Retaining Walls and Frost

    Hi Jon,  I have a driveway retaining wall that continues to be pushed by the ground, even though it is backed by gravel and drained to "nothing under the driveway" except crushed gravel. I realize proper drainage affects this somewhat, however would prefer not to cut open my driveway, sidewalk a...
  • 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

    Improving a wood chimney to stop backdrafting

      Rick from New Brunswick is having problems with his wood stove backdrafting and he wants to know if it will help to box in the chimney on the outside of the house. Backdrafting or difficult starting with wood burning appliances is often a problem and there are several entries in this database ...
  • Article

    Weather Restrictions: Elastomeric Sheet Membranes for Roofing

    Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:   Category: Roofing     Product: Elastomeric Sheet Membranes Temperature Limitations: Material and workmen are most flexible above +10 C (+50 F)  -- emergency repairs can be made down to -10 C (+14 F) Rain Lim...
  • Article

    Overview: Soil and the Spring Thaw

    You have all seen highway signs indicating the period of spring thaw and reduced truck loads throughout the northern US and all of Canada -- or walked across grass that is just beginning to thaw from the winter making deep footprints or tire marks that would never sink like that during a stro...
  • Article

    Non-Slip steps & patios in tough weather

    The famous outdoor second story steps in downtown Montreal, an area they call Balconville because of all the open balconies with stairways, presents a real safety problem in those icy Montreal winters. The most common anti-slip treatment is to install a jute runner, commonly called Tapis CoC...
  • Article

    Extending the life of ice scrapers

    If there is one tool that everyone living in Northern United States, Canada and mountainous regions has it's an ice scraper for your car's windshield. And if there is one thing we all have in common, it's the fact that long before the end of the winter, it no longer scrapes well. So just like w...