As with most trades, when a tradesperson lays a brick, it looks so easy, and when you (or I ) try it, it doesn't work so easily. So I went to the trades training section of George Brown College in Toronto, Ontario to pick up some of those little tricks that make it all so easy.First trick I l...
Do not fill the space between brick siding and the sheathing.
First, this space is outside the sheathing and does not cause condensation, as does an air space inside the wall. (A small space between ordinary siding and the exterior insulation or between ordinary siding and sheathing is also perm...
Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:
Category: Masonry Product: Brick Mortar
Temperature Limitations: Use above + 5 C (+40 F)
Rain Limitations: No standing water or wash out prior to setting
Wind Limitations: Protect mortar if wind will d...
Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:
Category: Masonry Product: Latex mortar patch mix in a tube
Temperature Limitations: Use above +4 C (+40 F) and below +38 C (+100 F)
Rain Limitations: No rain for 12 hours
Wind Limitations: n/a
Humidi...
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...
Hilda has a century-old house and is repointing the bricks. She wants to know if it is wise to seal the wall with Silicone to prevent water from getting in.
The answer is -- no.
Brick is designed to shed water, absorbing a bit, but drying out quickly as soon as the rain stops. In addition the a...
Wood heating appliances get hot -- that's why we use them -- but they also burn down houses. They are only safe if you install them safely.
-- Let's start with the fascinating process of how wood burns;
-- and now let's see how that process can happen inside your walls or floors near woo...
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...
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...
Angela from cyberspace (you really have to tell me where you are from when you write in, it helps me to know things about your climate, even about your soil) wants to seal her driveway but needs to fill up the cracks first. How to do it?
If we are talking about interlocking bricks, start by fill...
