Ralph from Red Deer Alberta sees the shadows of every 2x4 and every nail on the inside of the house not long after painting. I don't think he really wanted to hear that we call this "ghosting".\012\012Actually it is caused by thermal bridging; cold following the studs through the insulation and ...
Darlene from Charlottetown, PEI wants to put an old 33 foot travel trailer out by the ocean and live in it, but it isn't very warm. How can she winterize this old rig?It was interesting to research the evolution of mobile homes in Canada.From the 70's to the 80's, they almost doubled their amoun...
Gaye has discovered that there is no insulation in the walls of his century old home. Is this normal?Actually it is rare to have no insulation at all even in these old houses, although what insulation they do have may appear a bit strange.Often in central Canada you will find sawdust in the atti...
Wagish from Brampton, Ontario is worried about the ongoing construction of his new home as they have not put a wooden sheathing on the outside of the house. He asks: "Is the insulation value and strength of the wall compromised by not using the chipboard?".First things first. "Chipboard" should...
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...
For the health controversy on Zonolite, click here. Vermiculite produced after 1990 has no asbestos in it. Because of the bad reputation it got with Zonolite it is not generally sold as insulation, although it is an excellent insulation with good fire resistance and easy pourability. You can fi...
Joe and Joan from St. Thomas Ontario wrote: "Our kitchen has a 2 foot crawl space underneath. We hired a contractor to insulate the floor with pink insulation. He used plastic to hold it up. The kitchen was still not warm enough so we nailed up Styrofoam over the plastic. The following year ...
One of our viewers lives in an apartment over a noisy basement suite and wants to know what are their options to blocking the noise.Soundproofing is never a perfect thing and although each possible action can have an important effect, the sum of all the actions together can be less than you expec...
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) does not recommend the use of any blown-in insulating material inside "enclosed vertical cavities" (that's a fancy way of saying "walls that are not open"). They feel that techniques of installation and verification during installation are not good ...
Boris lives in a 45 year old bungalow that has no insulation at all. It has a brick outside, an air space, a concrete block wall for structure inside and then drywall. Is it possible to blow foam into the space between the brick and the block?NO. As long as the brick is the weather shield for ...
