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Found 96 results for the search ‘Basement walls’

• Article

  CAN WOOD-BURNING SYSTEMS BE MODERNIZED?

  Open fireplaces are not heating systems. They have traditionally been built on an outer wall, creating sealing problems for air barriers and wasting lots of heat through the back of the chimney. Fireplaces should always be built on the inside walls -- if you build one at all. The problem w...
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  Where is the best place to put a bathroom exhaust fan?

  Paul from Prince Edward Island needs an exhaust fan in his bathroom and wants to know where is the best place to put it.If you go up through the roof, you will be unable to totally avoid condensation in the top of the duct that can come back into the bathroom. I would prefer to avoid going throu...
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  Protecting your house from termites.

  Termites and carpenter ants are the two most destructive insects for homes constructed with wood. Termites eat the wood in a home while carpenter ants simply burrow living quarters in the structure.   Both remain connected to colonies outside the house and it is this necessary traveling between y...
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  All kinds of water flow problems.

  Several viewers are complaining about low water pressure in old houses. Old steel pipe tends to collect corrosion and calcium on the walls, enough to slowly choke off the flow of water. A look at the graphic shows what happens to water flow compared to a clean new 1/2 inch pipe. When it becomes r...
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  Crawl Space Moisture Barriers

  Hi Jon and Crew... I am in the process of putting down vapour barrier in my crawl space (what a chore). Two questions: 1) Should I bring in sand or similar material to level out the dirt floor? It has heaves due to natural pitch of the land of up to three feet in various areas. I am thinking that...
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  OVERVIEW: Window Replacement

  When it is time to replace your windows you will hear a lot of confusing and even contradictory things from contractors, salesmen and even friends. If you just look up Windows in this database you might be overwhelmed -- so here are the links to the most useful entries specifically related to pla...
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  Overview: To HRV-ERV or not to HRV-ERV

  I am always amazed at house construction where so often things are half built or more while people are running around beginning to think about "extras" that should never be though of as "extras" but as part of the essential system. So time for one of my lectures -- (you asked for it).Heating is o...
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  Why are there cracks that come and go in my ceiling?

    Chris from Clarenville, Newfoundland has a mysterious crack in his ceiling that you can see in the photo. It comes and goes with the seasons and nothing appears to be able to keep it closed. Why he asks. Many houses today are constructed with pre-fabricated "trusses" for the ceiling joists an...
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  Infra-Red Thermography -- heat X-Rays of your home

  There are several non-destructive ways that we can see what is going on inside the walls, ceilings and roofs of our homes. Simply watching the melting patterns of a light snow on the roof will tell you where you have insulation and where you have heat losses. In the first photo this was an unheat...
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  WHAT IS THE NEUTRAL PLANE?

  (Also called the neutral pressure point or the zero pressure point.)Cold air will generally sneak in (infiltrate) at the bottom of the house and warm air will leak out (exfiltrate) at the top of the house. This is called the "stack effect" caused by the rising effect of warm air. In between ...
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  DOORS

  Doors are large openings in the wall which fall somewhere between windows and walls as far as the heat losses go. You can lose as much heat through a door leading to an unheated garage or basement as you can through the front door.It is now common to buy insulated metal or fiberglass doors th...
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  How to stabilize a floor made out of only 2x4's.

  Pat has an 80 year old house and the previous owner built an addition onto it. The floor is tiled and when Pat looked underneath the floor to find out why it was so bouncy, she discovered (see the photo) that the floor joists were 2x4's turned flat! That's not a floor, that's a trampoline, and on...
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  Combo mechanical systems - AIMS

  Over the years we have worked on perfecting each piece of our house. We have gotten the walls and windows pretty good, and have a lot of good mechanical devices as well, but several years ago Natural Resources Canada decided to help several manufacturers to get together and see if they could not...
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  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 ...
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  Weather Restrictions: Masonry based weather proofing coatings (parging)

  Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:   Category: Masonry     Product: Masonry based weatherproofing coatings Temperature Limitations: Use above +7 C (+45 F) Rain Limitations: No rain until hardened -- about 8 hours Wind Limitations:  High wind c...
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  WHERE CAN I BUY A QUALITY HYDROXYL AIR PURIFIER IN CANADA?

  Residential sized units that I can recommend are now available for Canada direct from the factory in Florida. My research and experience have convinced me that using hydroxyl to clear the air of VOCs, kill mould, neutralize mould spores and more is the safest and most efficient way to make livin...