Many years ago when I was active in my cabinet shop I had a place where I could purchase Stainless Steel Wool. This was the best stuff for finishing off oak between coats of finish because if little pieces got caught in the pores of the wood and I failed to get them out, they would not eventuall...
We spent some time talking with Brian Rand of Custom Cupola and Steeple in Oakville, Ontario about the re-emergence of copper as a building material in residential finish work and decorative pieces. They can build about anything, inside or outside the house, in copper.Like the copper "onion dome...
If you connect copper plumbing pipes directly to galvanized plumbing pipes, or even let a copper pipe touch a galvanized heating duct, you will get an electrolytic reaction between these two metals. The reaction is accelerated if the pipe is hot, so this is worse with hot water lines than cold o...
It is amazing what can be made out of copper, and perhaps even more amazing to discover that still today there exist coppersmiths, plying their trade with many of the same tools used hundreds of years ago. We think of copper today as fancy hoods over kitchen ranges or even copper roofs, particul...
Copper is a trusted and proven piping for residential water systems. For years people have been interested in one form or another of more flexible plastic or mixed metal/plastic pipes that could be snaked through a house with fewer joints and easier installation. Unfortunately there have been m...
Yes it happens -- but Why?
Two viewers have strange problems with their electrical outlets. One has had bright green oily ooze coming out of an electrical outlet on and off for the last two years. Changing the outlet didn't stop it. Another has green deposits at the outlet every time she uses he...
THE WIRE WORKS, THE CONNECTIONS ARE THE PROBLEM
Aluminum wire does a good job of conducting electricity (although you do have to use one size larger wire than copper for the same electrical load) and can do the same job for less money. So for a short while it was used in houses for regular wirin...
A viewer from Aurora, Ontario has a small pin hole leak in a copper pipe in the wall and wants to know if there is any way to fix it without having to tear the whole wall open and replace the pipe.
There exists an epoxy wrap called "Pow-R-Wrap". You simply turn off the water to relieve the press...
Have we really moved to a new generation of Pressure Treated Wood?
With the introduction of MicroPro treated wood to the Canadian market in the spring of 2013, some are saying that we have a game change in exteriour wood and building decks. It has taken several years to get this technology adap...
Rick writes: I HAVE BEEN TO YOUR WEB SITE BUT STILL HAVE SOME QUESTIONS ON THIS TOPIC. HERE GOES: FIRST, IF THE OVERHEATING OCCURS, WHY DOESN'T THE CIRCUIT TRIP? AN ELECTRICIAN TOLD ME THAT IF I HAD A SWITCH PANEL VERSUS FUSES, THAT THIS WOULD PROTECT ME!
Both fuses and circuit breakers (neither...
