You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Featuring: Around the House<br />
“In Sod We Trust”<br />
Air Conditioning<br />
From $1995. 00<br />
Fully Installed<br />
Furnaces• Air Cleaners<br />
Humidifiers<br />
SALES • SERVICE • INSTALLATION<br />
Newmarket 905-235-HEAT (4328)<br />
TOLL FREE 1-866-635-1896<br />
30 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Bulletin</strong> | MAY <strong>2010</strong><br />
Do-It-Yourself<br />
Questions & Answers<br />
Source: www.readersdigest.ca<br />
Cleaning Siding<br />
When I try cleaning the siding on my house, I always end up with ghostlike<br />
dirty streaks running vertically up the outside wall. What am I doing wrong?<br />
You are cleaning from the top down! While that appears to be the logical thing<br />
to do, the soapy dirt that flows down over the still-dirty wall below tends to<br />
create streaks. Always clean exterior walls from the bottom up. Work on the<br />
shaded side of the house and move fast enough to keep the whole area you are<br />
working on completely wet until you have reached the eaves at the top. Dirty<br />
water flowing over the clean surface below won't have streaks, and keeping<br />
the wall wet until it is all clean and rinsed keeps any dirt<br />
from drying on the surface before reaching the ground.<br />
Concrete Floors<br />
I plan to install a bathroom and wood flooring in my<br />
unfinished basement. <strong>The</strong> concrete floor that is there<br />
now is very uneven. What should I do to even the<br />
concrete floor before installing the hardwood floor?<br />
Shimming up a wooden subfloor can take out some<br />
valuable headroom. <strong>The</strong>re are two things to consider<br />
here: the degree of unevenness of the concrete floor and<br />
the height of the basement itself. If the degree of<br />
unevenness is 2.5 cm (1 in.) or less, the best solution is<br />
to use self-leveling concrete. It is much thinner than<br />
regular concrete and its slippery texture can be easily<br />
trowelled out to a featheredge, where regular concrete<br />
has to be spread thick across the entire floor. Selfleveling<br />
concrete can be applied thickly where<br />
necessary, but more importantly, a very thin layer will<br />
hold. This way the entire floor can be coated with new<br />
concrete without losing too much headroom. Once the<br />
self-leveling concrete is cured, plywood can be glued<br />
and/or screwed into the concrete with or without foam<br />
insulation. Over that you can install hardwood floors,<br />
vinyl, or carpeting.
Change language