(updated Sept 2012)
Since the early 80's Urea-Formaldehyde Foam Insulation (UFFI) was banned in Canada and the US. The Canadian ban is still in place while it is now legal again to sell Urea-Formaldehyde based foam in the US and Europe. Whether it ever was or still is actually a health problem ...
One viewer has a cold, probably uninsulated, wall in his shower, and the mould grows rapidly on the grout. What to do?
He is right when he suggested that the best idea would be to tear down the wall and insulate it properly, and while renovating, make sure you have a functioning bathroom fan to ...
Karen from Kingston, Ontario writes: "We have a washing machine on the second floor and have noticed the water from previous cycles does not always seem to drain completely away, as evidenced by a smell of grey water when the machine begins it's next cycle. Our upstairs plumbing is well vented wi...
Every spring basements get flooded with water and I get flooded with letters about basements turned into swimming pools. Although there is a lot of information on this site about the problem, let me summarize and link it together. For solutions, see PREPARING FOR A FLOOD
The spring thaw is the...
MOLDABLE PLASTIC -- RESUABLE
Utile Plast is a great British product that I stumbled upon -- plastic granules that you put into very hot water - they soften - then you mold them into anything you want. You can shove the soft plastic into a nut and when cool you have a plastic bolt -- or form t...
Victor from Stoney Creek, Ontario writes: "My house is a 3 level back split and is 3 years old. The furnace is natural gas. I am having problems with condensation and mould on my thermal windows! The window manufacturer said that there is too much humidity and that thermal windows always get cond...
This article is about stopping water outside the house, then if necessary, controlling the situation as your basement floods. For some very interesting water alarms, covering both plumbing and overland water,see Stopping Plumbing Floods.
SANDBAGGING
The first line of defense is sandbaggin...
For years we have talked about protecting the sill plate of basement walls from moisture rising up from the concrete. This could be water in the concrete from plumbing spills, or even from under the slab from a high-water table. The old standard ways to protect that bottom piece of wood on t...
Do I need to place a vapour barrier against the brick wall, then insulation and then another vapour barrier over that? The wall does not leak and is fully underground. Barbara
THE VAPOUR BARRIER
The vapour barrier is more properly called a vapour retarder. It is designed to stop moisture in t...
I just received (October 2014) an alert from Healthy Building News about additives in many building products that are supposed to kill microbes and make the house healthier. These things are called “Antimicrobials”. A couple of the best known trade names are Microban and BioFresh.
Little disi...
