Pham from Hamilton asked why he sees air returns on the ceiling sometimes and on the floor in other houses, and what effect this placement has on air quality in the house.If you are in the far north, or in the Southern US, the answer is simple. In an air conditioning climate the return duct goes...
When you have a new home built for you, just before you take possession, you will spend a couple of hours walking around the house with the builder and a notebook. This is a critically important part of buying a home because this is where you check for all the errors and omissions. If you do th...
Nancy from Welland, Ontario has had a terrible saga with her electrical appliances literally blowing up. We have been writing to each other for some while now trying to find the elusive problem. Read it through, you may learn about how to hunt down problems, and learn a bit about electrical sys...
I get a lot of questions about choosing and applying a finish to a hardwood floor.First understand that there is no one right answer -- there are a lot of products that each has certain advantages over the others and you need to select the properties that are the most important to you. There are...
All too often people buy products or services to lower their heating or air conditioning bills that are not the best investments. They may be good products and good services, but they may not the real priority or the best payback for that particular house. But of course any salesman will tel...
If you recognize the photo above as the heat exchanger in an old boiler as seen through a small mirror with a flashlight, you are probably a home inspector. More and more home owners and home buyers are seeking the services of a professional home inspector and the business of inspecting home...
"A few years ago a contractor installed ceiling grills typically used on the floor for forced air heating in the ceilings of my bathroom and living room. The grills are connected with a "Y" insulated conduit in the attic leading to a 20 liter pail connected to a turbine vent installed on the ...
This article deals with a block wall above grade. For a below grade block wall see Basement Perimeter Drainage and Leaking Foundations.
Bryan is faced with a totally un-insulated cinder block wall with 1x2 strapping and a plaster covering. He is thinking about stripping it back to the block...
As winter approaches people are asking how to get more heat out of those very old hot water radiators. A few tips.
Bleed the air out anytime they don't feel hot enough. This will usually be only one or two that have problems while the rest are hot. If they all are cold you may need to check the ...
The field of energy efficient heating systems is advancing rapidly and constantly and I cannot evaluate all the new products here. Remember that it usually takes a company a couple of years to work the bugs out of new products. And some companies try so hard just for novelty that... for example i...
