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Found 126 results for the keyword ‘Problems’

  • How do you balance a ceiling fan so it won't wobble?

    Oh how many times has the wobbling ceiling fan driven you crazy. Sometimes it is acceptable on one speed but not another. Sometimes it just click, click, clicks so badly that you can't get to sleep. Fixing it is easy, but not fast. There are a large number of things that could be wrong so work yo...
  • Oil Spill response

    Oil spills in water can be a real problem -- ranging from oil in your swimming pool, to around a boat dock or serious spills from commercial vessels.  Old techniques try to contain the oil, but wave action can sabatoge that.  Dispersents have proved to cause more problems than they solve.  New te...
  • Lloyds of London bails out of the cell phone health debate

      “The purpose of the exclusion is to exclude cover for illnesses caused by continuous long-term non-ionising radiation exposure i.e. through mobile phone usage." CFC Underwriting LTD, London.    Radio Show on Lloyds EMF exclusion CJAD 17 April 2015 - 30 min. 2010 Lloyds compares EMF to asbe...
  • Protecting shower tiles from hand held shower scratches

    When mysterious problems arise in a house the task is to track down the cause – and sometimes encapsulate it.   I built a beautiful new tiled shower, only to discover a hole starting to develop in one tile a few months later!  When I inspected carefully, there was nothing that touched the ...
  • CONFUSION: SHOULD VENT DUCTS GO THROUGH THE CEILING?

    Many government or crown corporation publications are afraid to ask too much of homeowners both in terms of work and comprehension. They prefer that homeowners do things half-way rather than not at all. When compromises seem to work some of the time, these publications (and many contractors) are ...
  • Can I paint over lead based painted walls?

    Yes Wendy, just as you can paint over any other painted walls. You can paint with an oil based paint directly over the lead based paint (which will certainly be an oil based paint). If you want to use a latex over it, then you must first use a "super adherent primer", made by most of the paint ...
  • Important precautions for installing large tiles

    The world of tiles is changing rapidly.  Twenty years ago we generally had a range of tile sizes from 1 ft x 1 ft down to tiny mosaic tiles.  This made tiling relatively simple because slight changes in the flatness of the surface could be adjusted for at the next grout line.  In fact that is...
  • Why do floors spring like a trampoline - and how to stop it?

    Floors spring or vibrate when they are not rigid enough for the distance they have to span between their supports. You can always put another post in the basement under the center of the area giving you problems. That solves the problems easily on the top, but often creates an unwanted obstruc...
  • Copper versus PEX plumbing pipes.

    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...
  • Retaining Walls and Frost

    Hi Jon,  I have a driveway retaining wall that continues to be pushed by the ground, even though it is backed by gravel and drained to "nothing under the driveway" except crushed gravel. I realize proper drainage affects this somewhat, however would prefer not to cut open my driveway, sidewalk a...