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Brick & Masonry, Cleaning, Home Improvement Library
White Stuff on Brick is Efflorescence Q: What is the white stuff developing on the bricks of my home?A: What you are experiencing is efflorescence. Efflorescence is a white crystalline or powdery, often fluffy/fuzzy deposit on the surface of masonry materials like...
Cleaning, Home Improvement Library
I suggest using a deck cleaner and use it during or after a good or long rainfall. A deck cleaner will do a little better job than Simple Green but the soaking from the prolonged rain is the real help. Soaking, like soaking stains in laundry detergent, will help much...
Flooring, General Construction & Repairs, Home Improvement Library
A: Personally I prefer to have the tile installed before the cabinets when possible. Reasons:1. This method is safer for the cabinets, less chance of damage or scratches on the cabinets from moving tile around.2. Makes for a clean transition from the tile to cabinets,...
Decks, Home Improvement Library
I will start with the material differences. Trex is a brand of composite of reclaimed and recycled wood (like sawdust and pallets) and plastic (like grocery bags) fibers. Azek is a brand of 100% man made material of cellular polyvinyl chloride (PVC). We have not used...
Home Improvement Library, Insulation
We are not believers in this method of insulation. It has been done for decades in various forms (it began as a foil-like material) and always delivers poor results. You will get far better performance from a blown cellulose material and doing an energy audit to...
Drywall, Home Improvement Library
Sagging ceiling drywall is usually caused by using 1/2” thick drywall that is too thin for the 24” spacing typical in most roof truss installations. Our Mosby Building Arts standard for roof trusses that are framed 24” on-center is to use 5/8” thick drywall or 5/8”...
Home Improvement Library, Insulation
I highly suspect that the substantial humidity created with your unvented gas fireplace log may be contributing to the problem. Your marks on the walls & ceiling are partially caused by moisture condensation at these slightly less insulated points in your building...
Home Improvement Library, Water & Moisture, Windows
I agree the soil is saturated and water is rising from below into the window wells. The gravel drainage in the bottom of the window wells will not work because it depends on the soil absorption below – which is counter to the “saturated soil”...
Home Improvement Library, Plumbing
I suspect your water heater and nice shower valves are functioning correctly. It is possible that you just don’t have enough hot water capacity for the high-flow shower head and valves, even with a 50 gallon water heater. Please follow me through this thought...
Electrical, Home Improvement Library
Electric wires and outlets are sized and rated by wattage and load delivered to the plugged in appliance. I suspect several things that may affect your hot electric outlets. First, use a space heater sized small enough to operate safeley where it is plugged in to the...
Basements, Flooring, Home Improvement Library
Your basement floor slopes because of the drain that handles runoff from your furnace, spills, flash flooding, etc. If there is another drain in the basement to handle this, then you can flatten the floors in the livable space with a floor leveler. Floor leveling...
Concrete, Home Improvement Library
Curing happens unevenly in concrete, with parts of the concrete losing or curing faster than others. This leaves different color or darker patches in it. The good news is the bad news: the sealer wisely applied to your concrete also holds in the moisture for a longer...
CAPS, Home Improvement Library
CAPS is a national certified training test for design and installation of universal features in homes. Universal design are buzz words for making a home or space easy to live in and use regardless of physical capabilities. CAPS – which is the acronym for...
Cleaning, Home Improvement Library, HVAC
I suggest you decide according to how dirty the ductwork interior appears, how fast your filters fill with dust, or how dirty your house is from a dust standpoint. I suggest that a relatively clean house, as your sounds, have the ductwork cleaned about every 5 years....
Home Improvement Library, Plumbing
Q: Why are my cold water pipes sweating?A: Your cold water pipes are a classic, summer humidity occurrence. Fear not, a minor issue when corrected! The cold pipes are sweating, or condensing the moisture out of the very “wet” air in the basement. This is just like a...
