Too darn hot? Keep cool and save

As the mercury soars, your air conditioner will be working overtime to keep the house comfortably cool. Dave Walton of Direct Energy offers these helpful tips to save money on your summer energy costs: 1. Keep the outdoor air conditioner clear . . .

Posted: 2013-07-06

Heat and cool crawl space to keep it dry

Question: I have a sunroom with a crawl space below, attached to our 15-year-old home.The cement stub-walls of the crawl space have foam insulation above grade and the underside of the floor has also been sprayed.During the winter, the sunroom . . .

Posted: 2016-08-20

MIKE HOLMES: Keep your cool with good R-value

I've been getting a few emails lately from homeowners asking about R-value. What is it? What does it mean? How much do I need? How much is too much? How much is too little? I'm going to try to clear . . .

Posted: 2012-04-14

MIKE HOLMES: Five steps to boosting your home's value

Homeowners frequently ask me what they should do to make their homes more valuable. To me, making a home valuable means making it work for the family; making it durable so it lasts; and making it more energy efficient so the . . .

Posted: 2014-05-10

Foam insulation best bet to seal unused chimney

Question: What’s the best type of insulation for stuffing a chimney pipe that is being decommissioned? I’ll put a foam cap on the top and bottom, too, but just wondering what I should use to stuff in the pipe . . .

Posted: 2023-06-24

MIKE HOLMES: Being afraid of the attic can be very costly

What's in your attic? Usually when I have to stick my head up through an attic hatch to inspect the space, I feel a sense of dread. It's like I'm in a horror movie and there are monsters in the . . .

Posted: 2009-10-11

MIKE HOLMES: Make precaution a big part of your tool kit

May is Building Safety Month, which reminds us why we do things right; why we have building code, why we need permits and why we have organizations dedicated to protecting our safety, such as ESFI Canada (Electrical Safety Foundation International . . .

Posted: 2014-05-17

Proper ventilation required to keep attic high and dry

Questions: We moved into a bungalow with a low-sloping roof four years ago. Last winter, and this winter, we started having problems with the amount of snow on our two bathroom rooftop vents, and one oven rooftop vent. Last . . .

Posted: 2023-01-14

Bathrooms redux

You don't have to take a bath to update your WC

The smallest room in the house can cost big bucks to renovate: $40, 000 or even $50, 000 isn't beyond the pale for a new, high-end bathroom. But it doesn't have to be that way, according to the experts. By knowing . . .

Posted: 2011-02-19

Modern fasteners the fix for decorative shelf brackets

QUESTION: My brother-in-law has a situation with one of his decorative house brackets. At the front of his house, built in 1930, he has three of these decorative brackets. Upon these he attached a top piece of wood to act . . .

Posted: 2020-07-18