Gary from Toronto has a 75 year old door with copper V strip weather-stripping that doesn't stop much wind any more. What to do?Wooden outside doors tend to warp a bit with changes in the weather and with any direct sunlight on them, so you will probably find that the south facing door will warp...
Ed and Sharon in Manitoba just bought an old house in Manitoba and it is very cold, there doesn't seem to be any insulation in the walls at all. They have been told that it was double brick construction with plaster on the inside. Well friends, it was probably built by someone from Toronto who ...
No! Large-blade ceiling fans, even the simplest and least expensive models, will do no more than equalize the air temperature in a room (making it feel warmer for the same amount o furnace work) and slightly lower the temperature on the ceiling (which means less heat loss through the ceiling). ...
We all invent things in our heads: "I which I had a gadget that would?." Then every once in a while we discover that someone has invented it.I live in Montreal. Winter is cold in Montreal and we are familiar with outdoor electrical outlets all over to keep our cars running. I always wanted an...
"I HAVE RECENTLY RECEIVED A BROCHURE CONCERNING A SUPPOSED NEW KIND OF HEATING WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO BE CHEAPER AND MORE EFFECIENT...CAN YOU GIVE YOUR ASSESSMENT OF THIS PRODUCT AND THE PROS AND CONS ?" -- Grant, MontrealThere is currently a marketing blitz from the company Echotherm Canada, sell...
The EcoEnergy program of homeowner grants to help retrofit homes has been brought back to life by the federal government in late September of 2011 -- part of the EcoAction initiative. I love this program and the hard workers at NRCan have done a great job of organizing it, explaining it and ma...
Peggy is moving from Calgary to Vancouver and in her new province she says she can't locate the SuperSpacer windows that she loved in Calgary. That brings up the whole question of what are different window spacers, and why some are available in some areas of the country and not others.Thermal pa...
Over the years we have worked on perfecting each piece of our house. We have gotten the walls and windows pretty good, and have a lot of good mechanical devices as well, but several years ago Natural Resources Canada decided to help several manufacturers to get together and see if they could not...
Tim from Timmins, Ontario has a 2x4 constructed home with wood chips for insulation in the walls. He wants to know if he can leave it there and insulate over the wall on the inside or should he tear it all out?Wood chips do insulate but only at about R-1.4 per inch. Fibreglass is 3.5 per inch a...
