Michele in Hamilton, Ontario needs to repaint her cinder block walls on the outside of the basement. But a close look at a photo that she sent us showed a lot of deep holes or pock marks in the blocks.
Not only the paint was peeling off, but the block itself was breaking off.
This is a sign o...
Butcher blocks are either not finished at all, or are finished with oil.
There exist special 'Salad Bowl' oils that work well for butcher blocks, in that they are totally non-toxic, but they can be difficult to locate.
Probably the easiest finish is mineral oil from the drug store. The key is t...
Scratches on furniture can often be camouflaged by any of a number of simple techniques, especially if the scratch follows somewhat the grain of the wood.
WIPE-ON POLY
When there is no stain on the wood, so the finish is actually the natural colour of the wood, simply putting a bit more fini...
Joanne writes from Bois de Silion in Quebec. She has twice cleaned all the paint off an indoor metal railing, repainted with a primer and a finish coat, and both times, chunks flake off -- sometimes exposing the metal, sometimes exposing the primer. She is not a novice at painting and can't figur...
DUST PROTECTION - TEMPORARY DOOR OR ARCH CLOSURE
Often when we are working on home improvements, we need temporary fixes. One that many of us use is that plastic shrinkable window cover for stopping winter drafts.
One plastic covering that is less well known is a construction doorway. Th...
When Heritage Window Restoration becomes
an energy efficient & cost effective
alternative to new windows
Most of us who have worked in older neighbourhoods have at one time or another thought about or dabbled in restoring old building components rather than ripping out and installing new...
"How can I paint my concrete floor when there's white powder on it?"
White powder is salt deposits called efflorescence that is there because high quantities of moisture are migrating through the floor. You need to solve the water problem first or no paint will stick. So find out why there is wa...
Kyle from Fort Erie, Ontario, has a vapour barrier question. "We have a house, 80-90 years old, with no insulation in the attic. The house is a 1-1/2 story building with sloped ceilings on the second floor to the outside walls. Our ceilings are plaster. Can we lay insulation in the attic without ...
We caught a viewer in the hardware store who asked if they could paint ceramic tiles.
Yes, now it is possible.
First take the gloss off of the tiles with sandpaper. This is not easy to do and is best done with a belt sander. The paint companies will tell you that it is not necessa...
"Decor" paints are the deep rich colours that are often used for decorative trims or accent walls. But home painters are constantly complaining to me that they can't get the right colour at home, or that it requires three and four coats to cover the old wall.
To understand what is wrong and h...
