Renovation & Design
Renovation & Design
Ground rules for your garage makeover
In many homes, the garage is a no man's land -- a place where tools, sports equipment and holiday decorations take over and cars no longer fit.
Do you need to transform your garage into a usable space your car will be able to call home again? Here are some tips from Andy Millette of Ottawa Garage Makeovers.
Use the walls: A garage has more wall space than floor space. To maximize it, Millette recommends a slat wall -- a plastic panel that bolts to the wall and contains slats you can attach baskets or hooks to -- to get shovels, rakes, hoses and even bicycles up off the ground. Baskets attached to the wall can store basketballs or bike helmets, while hooks can store gardening tools.
Use your ceiling: The ceiling can be transformed into an effective storage space for light goods such as seasonal decor that are put away for most of the year.
Millette advises against using the garage ceiling for everyday items. "You don't want to be climbing up there all the time," he says.
Create custom storage: Custom cabinetry may be the solution to store large items, as well as for tucking hazardous chemicals out of the reach of young children.
Focus on the floor: Re-doing the floor "suddenly takes the garage from a dingy, dirty storage space to a space that you're interested in spending time in and keeping organized," says Millette, who argues updating the floor is the best thing homeowners can do to transform their garage. Garage Makeovers offers a high-quality, commercial-grade floor coating called Polyaspartic Polyurea.
"It automatically changes the owner's perspective of the garage."
Plan your space: Organize items close to where you are most likely to use them, placing garden tools near your yard access, cleaning or painting supplies near the door entering the house and sports or camping equipment near the car to allow for easy loading and unloading.
--Postmedia Network Inc. 2014
Renovation & Design
Sizing up your siding options
If your home needs new siding, start planning now.
Siding or cladding protects your home from the elements -- especially precipitation -- making it less vulnerable to mould, rot and all their related issues.
When it comes to materials, the three leading contenders are usually aluminum, vinyl and fibre cement board.
In the past, siding was made from wood and it was called clapboard, which is just painted wood cladding, and it's still around today. But wood requires maintenance, and clapboard needed to be painted every couple years. Even stained wood siding needs restaining.
Some wood siding products come with a 50-year warranty against decay, or a 15-year warranty on the stain, like Maibec. I've used Maibec on a lot of projects and so far I like what I see. But these are superior products that not every homeowner can afford.
So people started looking for an alternative to clapboard to save time on maintenance and money. That led us straight into the age of the aluminum siding, which became popular because it was basically maintenance-free, durable, and cheaper than wood. It was also textured to look like clapboard, so homeowners weren't shocked by it.
But aluminum dents and scratches, and the finishing fades. Homeowners wanted a product that wasn't just maintenance-free but looked a little more sophisticated, too.
Enter vinyl, which is now one of the most popular exterior siding materials. It's usually installed above a brick veneer around the base of a house, helping to keep costs down. You don't want vinyl siding near the ground -- it's more likely to crack and develop mould.
But even above ground, vinyl siding can become brittle and crack, exposing the sheathing below to moisture -- strike one. After all, it's a plastic product, which brings me to strikes two and three: it's not environmentally-friendly and it's a fire hazard.
If you have two homes six feet away from each other and both have vinyl siding, if a fire broke out, all it would take is five minutes for the flames to spread from one house to the other. And once vinyl starts to burn it is very toxic.
Then there's fibre cement board. It's made to look like wood and it's just as expensive, sometimes more, but it's made from a mixture of cement, sand and cellulose fibres.
The great thing about fibre cement board is that it won't crack, burn or rot; it will last for years and is really good at protecting your home against water and extreme climates. But there are a couple of drawbacks.
It's expensive, and difficult to work with, cut and install -- you must hire a pro with plenty of experience working with and installing it, which could cost you more in labour.
Plus, when cutting fibre cement board the area needs to be well-ventilated and you must wear a respirator.
No matter what type of siding you choose, installation is key to its durability and performance. I've seen jobs done with the best siding products money can buy, but poor installation led to rot and mould everywhere. Also, a siding warranty can be voided if the product is improperly installed.
The right installation usually means installing weather-resistant house or building wrap over the sheathing, below your exterior cladding -- vapour permeable on the exterior walls, so moisture can escape, and impermeable around windows and door jams so moisture can't reach the structure below.
Vertical strapping is added on top of the sheathing. This allows for air movement, so any water that gets in behind the cladding can evaporate. The last step is the exterior siding.
The right products help make your home better and healthier, but you also have to hire the right professionals to install them so they stand the test of time. It's all part of making it right.
Watch Mike Holmes on Holmes Makes It Right on HGTV. For more information visit makeitright.ca.
Renovation & Design
Battle mould by eliminating moisture
Question:
I am wondering if you could help me out with directions on how to deal with mould under my cottage. I use the cottage year round. My cottage is built on four foot piers around the exterior and a few interior supports. The cottage is on a small hill and on some rock and soil, so the dirt in the crawl space is always damp. Over the last few years, I have poured a small footing around the exterior of the cottage. This helps to keep out the critters and winterizes the space. I framed up a knee-wall to the underside of the floor joists, which was then insulated with spray foam. I also put in a few vents for the summer and a baseboard heater.
The mould in the sealed space is so bad this year I need to remove it or spray it immediately. The uneven, dirt floor is always wet and I need help with controlling the mould. The moist dirt will always be there, due to the hill on which the cottage is built and the grade, which is sloping behind the cottage to the cottage wall.
Is poly on the dirt a good idea, or an HRV to control the air in the crawl space, should I turn on the heat all year or add more vents?
Help! Jim Bathe
Answer:
You have sent me a perfect inquiry for the subject of my annual cottage crawl-space article. This is one of the most common questions I receive, but yours has the twist of the mould buildup due to this issue. You appear to have taken the proper steps with the enclosure of your crawl space, but there a couple of omissions that will surely lead to excess moisture and mould growth.
By now, almost every homeowner knows excessive mould growth in confined spaces is due to an excess of moisture. Controlling or minimizing water in your enclosed crawl space is the key to preventing the mould, as you are obviously aware. While it appears you have done a proper job of enclosing the area beneath your cottage, and using excellent insulation on the inside of the knee-wall, you forgot about the dirt floor. Whether your place is on a hill, or a flat grade, excess moisture can be drawn out of the soil beneath the building if you heat the crawl space in the winter. The soil contains moisture and heating the air in the totally enclosed space will draw the moisture into that area. The summer vents are also an excellent idea, but the real problem likely occurs during the heating season, when those are closed.
You are absolutely correct that installation of polyethylene sheathing over the entire dirt floor will help prevent this moisture being drawn into the crawl space. To be effective, this sheathing should be at least six-millimetre poly, cover the entire floor and footing and be caulked around all protrusions and sealed to the insulated knee-walls. This is more easily accomplished before foaming, but should still be possible with a little extra effort. Once installed and sealed, putting a few centimeters of sand over the poly will keep it on the soil and prevent damage when it is walked on. While this step may help with a substantial amount of the moisture in this area, it may not be enough.
Because your crawl space is situated on a hill, as you have noted, water will often seep into the soil underneath, no matter what you do. Because of this, you will have to take extra steps in proper water management outside the building. Do you have complete eavestroughs and downspouts on the building? Are they draining to downspouts on the low side of the structure, only? Are the downspout extensions channelling the water far enough away from the cottage to prevent seepage into the crawl space? Addressing all of these issues successfully will certainly help with the amount of moisture entering the soil under your cottage. Finally, building the soil up near the middle of the high side and gradually grading it away to the corners may also help divert excess water around the crawl space, rather than inside.
If you already have these items in place and in good working order, and still get so much water under the building that mould growth is troublesome, mechanical systems may also be required to dry out the space. The simplest thing to install may be a sump pit and pump. Before installing the poly over the dirt floor, digging a hole and installing a perforated plastic sump, with properly plumbed pump, may help get rid of excessive ground water. To aid in the collection of this water, installing perforated weeping tile both outside the high side of the crawl space, and radiating out from the pit underneath the cottage would be a good idea. While the weeping tile may be difficult to install at this stage, it may be the ultimate answer if the sump pit and pump, combined with the poly, don't do the trick.
Maintaining a dry crawl space is difficult enough on a well-drained, flat prairie lot, but can be very tricky on sloped property like yours. Installation of a proper layer of poly over the floor and proper water management outside the building may be enough to accomplish this task, but installation of a sump pit, pump, and weeping tiles may be a final solution if the other measures fall short.
Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and the President of the Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors - Manitoba (cahpi.mb.ca). Questions can be emailed to the address below. Ari can be reached at (204) 291-5358 or check out his website at trainedeye.ca.
trainedeye@iname.com
Renovation & Design
Mini cakes and mint chip ice cream
QUESTION - I read your solutions weekly and use many of your answers. Now that I have a granddaughter with a modern Easy Bake Oven, I would like to know if there are homemade recipes we can use. The commercial ones are very expensive. Thank you! Jean, Winnipeg
ANSWER - Easy Bake Oven Chocolate Cake Mix: Stir together six teaspoons flour, one quarter tsp. baking powder, one tsp. cocoa, one quarter or less salt and four tsp. sugar. Add six tsp. milk and three quarter tsp. shortening. Pour into greased pans and bake according to instructions on the oven box. White Cake Mix: Follow same ingredients but substitute cocoa with two drops vanilla. Makes one cake.
QUESTION - My family has an unusually high variety of allergies but we all have one thing in common: we love ice cream. We don't have an ice cream maker but would appreciate so much if you could give me a delicious recipe for chocolate chip mint ice cream? I would list our allergies but it would take too long; however, we are not allergic to dairy products. Thanks, Meghan (Portage la Prairie, MB)
ANSWER - Homemade ice cream without a machine requires a bit of time to make because you need to stir it a few times during the freezing process, but like you implied, when you make it yourself you have a better idea of what is going into your body. Ice Cream Directions: Into a tall metal bowl mix: two cups heavy cream and two cups two per cent milk, one cup sugar, one quarter tsp. salt, one tsp. vanilla extract, one tsp. peppermint extract and four drops green food coloring.
Place mixture in the fridge for one hour and then into the freezer for 40 minutes. Remove and mix with an electric mixer until smooth. Doing this will break up the ice crystals that have begun to form. Freeze for 40 minutes. Remove from freezer and stir in 1 cup mini chocolate chips. Mix using an electric mixer. Freeze again for 40 minutes then beat with an electric mixer. Pour into a plastic container and seal with a lid. The more you beat and freeze, the smoother the ice cream. If you use an ice cream maker, this project takes about 20 minutes and the ice cream is really smooth. Final freezing time varies from freezer to freezer.
Feedback from a reader who cares:
Dear Reena,
I always try to find time to read your articles. That being said several years ago, you mentioned Whitcomb L. Judson as being the inventor of the zipper which confused me as I have always been told that it was a Canadian (via Sweden) that was given credit.
Judson did, according to some sources invent what he called a clasp locker but did not use the word zipper in his application. Gideon Sundback used the word zipper in his patent of 1917 and as a result was given a patent using that name/description. I have not been able to find a working relationship between Judson and Sundback but there is that possibility.
I only knew about a Canadian connection when I read a book by Ralph Nader titled Canada First -- including Pablum, health care, telephone and of course the zipper. Love your articles, keep them coming. Robert
Fabulous Tips of the Week:
White shoe polish won't smear if you spray the shoe with hair spray after it is dry.
To keep your small extension cords from getting tangled, insert them into an empty toilet paper roll to store.
I enjoy your questions and tips -- keep them coming. Missed a column? Can't remember a solution? Need a Corporate Presenter on the topic: Harness the Power of Words? Check out my website Reena.ca.
Renovation & Design
Alkyd semi-transparent stain best for deck
Question:
As soon as the weather allows, we will be preparing to refinish our front-porch deck, starting with a good sanding. We have asked several paint distributors what to use on our deck. Two years ago, we sanded and finished our back deck with a white stain. The deck faces south, so it bears the brunt of all of our beautiful sunshine in the summer. It has not held up as we would have hoped. Our covered porch faces north and we want the deck floor to be grey in colour with white risers. Do you recommend a stain, porch paint or something else entirely?
Looking forward to your reply.
Paul and Wendy MacNair
Answer:
Finishing horizontal decks and porches can be a challenge, due to the constant human traffic that wears away on surface finishes. Choosing a product that will last more than a year or two can be difficult, but your situation may be helped by the location and design of your porch.
Applying a finish to an older wood deck or porch is always a tricky situation because there are numerous products out there making many different claims. My own experience is the boasts of years of durability in any finish to be applied to an exterior horizontal surface are all to be taken with a grain of salt. Having said that, using products with less solids and suggest a more "natural" look to the wood may be the better choice. That is because they normally cover up less of the wood grain and don't have as much material to stick to the bottom of the many shoes that will tread upon the surface. The drawback with these finishes is they may not give you your desired look, unless applied to a newly installed wood deck.
The most commonly used finish for deck surfaces is likely an alkyd semi-transparent stain. This is often chosen because it combines the good absorptive properties of an oil-based stain, with the light tint of a semi-transparent finish. These stains often contain an added preservative, which may help prevent rot in the wood even after the colour fades. They will also contain ultraviolet (UV) protection, which is normally better the heavier the tint component. So, I would recommend looking for a product that has all these qualities and enough of a grey colour to satisfy your aesthetic desires.
Too many times, homeowners opt for finishes that will cover all of the imperfections of older wood by choosing a solid colour stain. This is a bad decision, as the extra materials in the solid finish will only wear faster from numerous feet and be more noticeable in the highest traffic areas. That type of finish may be quite suitable for vertical surfaces such as fences, but will not work on most decks. Also, opting for a latex-based finish may seem like a better idea from an environmental and easy cleanup standpoint, but it will not penetrate deep enough to provide good protection from moisture damage. Because that type of finish mainly sits on the surface of the wood, it will also wear off in no time flat. For those same reasons, choosing a paint finish, rather than a stain, will accelerate the deteriorated look of the entire surface.
The main benefit your front porch has over the rear deck is not the direction it faces, but the fact it is covered. The roof covering over this area will help prolong the life of any finish you choose for two reasons. First, the overhang of the roof will keep the majority of precipitation from directly falling on the decking. While not the most destructive force to the finish itself, heavy rains, snow and ice can penetrate the wood and cause the finish to peel, flake, or simply lose its adherence. As the wood ages, and rot begins to take hold, keeping a nice-looking finish becomes even more difficult. Sanding or pressure washing the surface of the old wood is a good idea, to allow damaged wood on the surface to be removed, ensuring better adhesion of the new stain.
The second major benefit of the roof over your porch is prevention of UV rays from damaging the finish. The strong UV rays in direct sunlight may be the most severe variable in the deterioration of flat decking. This strong light source can cause untreated wood to quickly grey in colour, while drying out any moisture within the wood. The excessive drying can allow the wood to check or crack, opening the surface and allowing penetration of damaging water, moss and insects. Having a covering on the porch should prevent the majority of the sun's damaging UV rays from creating that problem. It will help prevent the finish from deteriorating, while preventing damage to the underlying wood surface.
While your question is a very common and excellent one that is posed to anyone working at a home centre or paint store on a daily basis, you have one benefit over most other individuals. The north-facing direction of your porch, combined with the roof covering, will minimize two of the three most problematic items for decks, UV from the sun and precipitation. The third variable of foot traffic cannot be avoided, no matter what direction your deck faces, but still must be taken into consideration. For that reason, using a high-quality alkyd semi-transparent stain finish should be your best bet. Exterior stains are an item where spending more should ensure you get a better quality, longer lasting product, so don't bother looking at the bargain brands when shopping.
Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and the President of the Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors -- Manitoba (www.cahpi.mb.ca). Questions can be emailed to the address below. Ari can be reached at 204-291-5358 or check out his website at www.trainedeye.ca.
trainedeye@iname.com
