Mike has an attic full of loose-fill insulation and needs to renew his ceiling. But he doesn't dare take the old drywall down because of all that insulation. So how do you put new drywall over the old?
First locate the ceiling joists by the nailing pattern, and mark the ends of the joists on the...
We caught a consumer in the hardware store and he was asking about the leaking roof on his new addition in the Beaches area of Toronto. Often in that area, a back porch is converted into living space with what we call a "compact roof" -- a roof/ceiling assembly that is about one foot thick with i...
CUTTING FIBERGLASS STRAIGHT AND SQUARE
It is always easier to cut fiberglass batt insulation if you compress it down as flat as possible. That way you can get through in one pass. Using a piece of plywood gives you a straight edge at the same time.
There is a special devic...
Yes but no. (I thought you'd like that one.)
Aluminum reflectors will turn back RADIATION heat losses into the house, and in fact help to limit heat losses. However, they will only work if there is at least a half-inch air space in front of the reflective surface and the surface remains clean an...
Michael writes from St. Lazare, Quebec : We recently found a nasty surprise with our new house. The land has a high water table and as a result we have sump pump in the basement. The plumbing for this pump was hidden in the walls and ceiling of the basement. When our inspector inspected the home,...
Often in constructing a house, the sequence of putting up walls, applying outside sheathing and installing insulation batts can leave the outside corner as a hollow spot with no insulation. The carpentry work was done and the hollow corner closed and hidden before the guys with the fiberglass eve...
Contact cement is a uniquely useful adhesive. It will adhere to most all surfaces and hence is often the in-between for sticking two different materials together.
It comes in two basic varieties, solvent based and water based, the later often being called "green" or "solvent free". Although thes...
This article deals with walls below grade, foundation walls. For insulating above grade cinder block walls see How do you Insulate a Brick and Block construction as well as Insulating an Above Grade Block Wall from the Inside.
The best way to prevent water from leaking into the basement is not ...
Walls often have air spaces hidden somewhere between the siding on the outside and the drywall on the inside. Some are accidental -- some on purpose, even code required -- some served a purpose at one time in history but because of the evolution of construction, are no longer useful -- some a...
Fiberglass batts, mineral wool batts and all kinds of rigid foam boards are commonly used to insulate basements both inside and outside.
One of the critical rules when insulating basements on the inside is that there must be no air space between the insulation and the wall. (see no air space beh...
