for Cold Climate Housing and much more

Found 61 results for the keyword ‘House’

  • Automatic bleeders for radiators

    For various reasons, hot water heating systems can accumulate pockets of air in the top of the radiators. When there is too much air, the water doesn't flow any more and the heat slows down and stops. For that reason most people have to "bleed" the radiators regularly: open a little valve in the ...
  • Making an X-Ray of your roof

    When there is morning frost or light snow on a roof, you can learn a lot about a heat losses from the house and how to eliminate ice dams and icicles.    What causes problems  Melting the bottom of a snow pack or melting off all snow at the crown of the roof sends water down under the snow to ...
  • Back Lit street numbers & the best night light I have ever found

    Being able to read house numbers at night is quite a hit a miss thing.  This is not only frustrating when you are trying to visit someone, but could be life threatening when an emergency vehicle is looking for a particular house address.    Lighting everything except the number By the good gra...
  • Just how do you install windows properly?

    The reality is that there is not just one good way to install windows, but there are certain principles that must be taken care of with any installation to prevent cold air or water leakage later. Basically a window installation must shed most of the water with the siding, what does get through ...
  • Frost Protected Shallow Foundations -- and water pipes

    Frost Protected Shallow Foundations The foundation for a house is generally poured below the soil grade level so that the footing itself is well below the frost depth for any given region and soil type.  This protects the house from frost heaving caused by expanding soils beneath the foundation....
  • Fire Safety & Installing Wood Burning Appliances

    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...
  • Attaching a deck to a house

    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...
  • Hiring a Home Inspector

    Is there real value to having a generalist come in and perform a complete home inspection? Yes! I wrote this entry in 2007, and in 2016 I added this note from my Newsletter: “There is a brand new CSA standard for home inspections -- an industry that has been plagued by inconsistency and the abs...
  • Where should basement furnace ducts be placed?

    Doug from Manilla, Ontario checked this site for basement heating systems: "I read the section? on cold air returns in the basement, however I could not find anything on where hot air vents should be placed. Do they need to be at the floor level or at the ceiling level?" In the house above the f...
  • How to move heat from a stove to other rooms.

    Jon in Winchester, Ontario has a free standing natural gas stove and wants to get that heat distributed to the rest of the house.  First, what not to do Do not try to put a grill in a return air duct of a forced air heating system over the stove as you see in the photo, especially forbidden fo...