The sun's energy is free. It's collecting it that costs money.
There are two different ways of collecting solar energy; actively and passively.
Active solar heating systems collect the sun's heat and transport it into the house where it is used to heat water or living space. Usually there is a...
Many utilities are buried just underground on residential properties.
--- Water supply pipes
--- Water drain pipes
--- Gas pipes
--- Electrical supplies
--- Telephone, TV and Web Cables
--- And sometimes even more as neighborhoods move more and more away from overhead wires.
Some of the...
Robert from Oakville, Ontario wrote: I live in a town house and only have two basement windows. Last year I cut out the wall on one of the windows and took out the 32" X 15" window and replaced it with a 32" X 24" window. It worked great. So this year I decided to enlarge the back window before f...
I have had several letters recently about bad smells and even flies coming up out of basement floor drains and sump pump pits. One viewer was quoted hundreds of dollars to break up the entire basement and replace all the sewer lines.
The real problem is usually that the trap under the floor has ...
Every few years I need to update this "innovations" entry as things just keep getting better. Not all "gadgets" to save water work, and not all toilets actually flush clean. For details on the comparative performance of low flow toilets that do work, check out the MaP rating system, which is be...
I am sure that I have done a TV show on this product, but for the life of me I cannot find it and people keep asking. There is a special category of re-finishing product, often called 'furniture re-finisher' (not furniture or paint stripper) but variations are made by several different manufactur...
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...
Building codes require that a heating system be able to just barely maintain a comfortable house during the coldest day of the year. Hence the size of the heating system depends not only on the size of the house but on where it is located and how well it is winterized (sealed and insulated). The ...
Adding water to concrete or masonry will definitely make it flow better and make it easier to work with, which is why just about everybody does it. At the same time you have all heard that this will weaken the final product and increase shrinkage, but just about everybody does it anyway. If the d...
