Jim from London, Ontario is wondering what temperature he should leave his thermostat while he migrates south for the winter. The short answer is 55 degrees F, or about 12 degrees C.
That should keep the pipes from freezing, keep the humidity under control, keep the furniture from going through ...
Often furnace heating and air conditioning duct work is run though an attic and then back down into the house. Personally I think that this is a really bad idea unless there is absolutely no alternative route. Why?
First, most duct work is not sealed where it goes through the ceiling, so a lot o...
Individuals who invent things always have trouble getting them to market. Even when they are good products they may not get enough marketing traction to make it really worthwhile. There are many products that I have fallen in love with that have simply fallen away with time. I have used my Sla...
Over the years I have seen and tested a large number of gadgets designed to get rid of toilet odours, from double walled ceramic toilets that had an exhaust pipe to the outdoors, to exhaust ducts that fitted under the tank and various carbon filters situated under the seat. Finally an New Zealand...
I like to look at history and tell stories, but if you are not the type that likes to read a lot and all you want is to control your water flow – jump down to the best plumbing flow control systems to date: my experience with AquaTrip (from Australia and no longer available in Canada) and the ne...
The shape of the tip of the bristles is critical for a good job.
Cheap brushes are cut off square as in the second photo, which makes them easier to manufacturer.
But they don't do nearly as good a job of carrying paint or laying it down as a brush with a tapered end and spl...
(This is a real good example of a living history. I wrote the first part of this entry in 2001. With a book you would have to wait for the next edition for developments. With a bulletin board you would have to read a lot of old entries. What I love about my web site is that I can change, adapt an...
The whole question of mould started as a simple nuisance in home maintenance but with experience and research has become a major element of creating and maintaining a healthy house. Of course, whenever research develops over time, recommendations change and things can get quite confusing.
IT...
They took the lead out...
Several years ago, throughout North America lead was removed from the solder used for making joints in copper pipes intended for carrying drinking water, just as before that we had removed lead from paint. Lead based solder is still available in stores for other tasks, ...
There are three key steps to making leak proof copper pipe joints.
Clean off both the inside of the elbow and the outside of the pipe with steel wool or a special cleaner tool.
Apply a soldering flux to both cleaned surfaces. The cleaning gets rid of contaminates and oxidation o...
