Maintenance / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

...maintenance and repairs Stucco is a relatively low-maintenance exterior finish, but it's not entirely maintenance-free. A regular visual inspection is your best defense against major problems. Look for cracks, water stains, and areas where the stucco may be bubbling or flaking. Addressing these issues early can prevent...

...Maintenance and longevity Now we get to the big downside of cedar shakes and shingles, as this is by no means a low-maintenance choice of roof coverings. On one end of the scale in that respect is metal roofing, which is very low-maintenance compared to asphalt shingles, and cedar roof coverings are a good candidate to...

Introduction to wooden prefab kit homes Prefab housing is gaining a lot of attention in the news and in the construction industry due to the greater speed of construction, quality and affordability it offers compared to site-built homes.  There are prefab homes made with a variety of materials, here we will focus on th...

...Maintenance: minimal effort, maximum light Sun tunnels are largely maintenance-free, designed for fit-it-and-forget-it performance, especially in climates with some rain. How to clean sun tunnels?: The exterior dome is typically designed to be self-cleaning with rain. The interior diffuser generally only needs a ligh...

...maintenance strategy. To use drain cleaners effectively, whatever scoop-sized amount is recommended by the brand should be mixed with warm water (not hot), then poured into your sink (or toilet) and left overnight to work. Longer is better to give it more time to work its magic. Granted, they do take longer to work tha...

What is the best caulking tool?  The first and most costly mistake made for any first-timers doing a DIY home caulking job is buying the wrong tool. There are two kinds of caulking guns, the ones that work well and the ones that don’t. Want to guess which are the cheapest? And the most frustrating to use? And guess whi...

In North America, about 90% of pitched roofs are covered with asphalt roofing shingles. This petroleum-based product is incredibly popular for roof replacements: studies show that 81% of shingles sold go toward replacing old roofs. Chances are, if you’re redoing your roof you are probably looking at asphalt roofing shi...

So what is dry rot? Dry rot - two words that can send shivers down the spine of homeowners in the know, is basically a type of fungus or mushroom. Depending where in the world a home is located, the precise type of fungus can vary, but more of that later. The reason why dry rot has become so feared by homeowners over t...

...maintenance than a modern gas condensation furnace. Do heat pumps need a backup heat source? Heat pumps are highly efficient heating and cooling systems that can provide both heating and cooling for your home. However, whether or not a heat pump needs a backup heat source depends on multiple factors, including the clim...

Why fix a leaky toilet flapper? Another of the jobs that sat on my Honey-Do-List for quite a while longer than I care to admit has been to fix the leaking toilet flapper in the bathroom at the cabin - made worse by us being off grid and only having a relatively small amount of water available in our outside rainwater c...

Why fix leaky faucets? One of the jobs that sat on my honey-do-list for quite a while longer than I care to admit has been to fix the leaky and dripping older-style faucet in the bathroom at the cabin - made worse by us being off grid and only having a finite amount of rainwater available in our outside catchment tank....