Renovation & Design

Renovation & Design

Divert coffee grounds from sink drain to garden

Question: Do you think it’s safe to pour coffee grounds into the kitchen sink? Wyatt

Answer: Some professionals say it is OK to dump coffee grounds down the drain if you run enough water to flush them completely out of the plumbing system. However, it takes a lot of water in most houses to rinse them down that far. Chances are you will eventually need to call in a professional plumber to unclog your pipes. A better idea is to add coffee grounds to your potting soil, compost or garden, as plants love coffee grounds.

Question: I heard if you eat a potato sprout, it is poisonous. Is this true or an old wives’ tale? O.J.

Answer: It is true that potato sprouts are poisonous, but a person would need to eat many sprouts to be negatively affected by them. Cut sprouts off before cooking.

Spud advice

• Freeze potatoes. Cut them to the preferred size. Blanch and drain. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and freeze potatoes in a single layer. Store in an airtight container for up to six months.

• Freeze leftover mashed potatoes or add them to soups or stews.

Question: I inherited a leather couch. Unfortunately, the owners had a few cats. How can I cover up the scratches? Leonard

Answer: Scratches become less noticeable if shoe polish is colour-matched and applied to leather. However, be aware that shoe polish might transfer to fabrics if guests sit on the area that repair. Your best bet is to purchase a leather touch-up kit. Make sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions for using the kit to achieve the best results.

Question: What should I use to remove the backing of carpet that is stuck on my tile floor? Brent

Answer: Pour hot water onto the foam. Let the water soak for 10 minutes. Scrape with a long-handled ice scraper and remove all the foam.

Question: I recently learned it’s is important to clean a toilet tank. What is the easiest process? Rhonda

Answer: It’s one of those “crappy” jobs that helps maintain the unit. Turn the water off at the base. Flush the toilet to empty the tank. Wipe the inside with a clean rag.

Feedback from Manitobans

Regarding cinnamon buns: I am not a baker, but my goal is to seek out shortcuts to make it look like I put a lot of effort into my cooking and baking. To make cinnamon buns, I buy biscuit dough and unroll it. Then I spread it with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Roll it up like a jelly roll. Cut it into two-inch slices, and bake. Camilla

Top tips

• Any cloth material that has chewing gum stuck to it can be placed in the freezer. After about an hour, the gum should break off easily.

• If you run out of sour cream, blend cottage cheese as a substitute.

• To speed up the drying process of a damp load of laundry, add a large, dry bath towel to the dryer.

Note: Every user assumes all risks of injury or damage resulting from the implementation of any suggestions in this column. Test all products on an inconspicuous area first.

Have a great suggestion or tip? Please send an email to: info@reena.ca. Reena Nerbas is a popular motivational presenter for large and small groups; check out her website: reena.ca.

Reena Nerbas
January 15

Renovation & Design

Popping sounds and odour likely mean microwave is toast

Question: I am hoping that you might have a solution for getting rid of burnt popcorn smell in a microwave. I have tried lemon juice, vinegar, baking soda, and even microwaving meat with a barbeque sauce. If I leave lemon juice and water in it with the door open, it almost disappears. But as soon as I microwave even lemon juice in water, the smoke smell predominates. This smell came while heating up a “bed buddy” which contains grain for use on my sore joints. I have used this item for years heating as the directions say in the microwave on high for three minutes, with never any problem. I am not sure what happened this time, but I heard a pop, and when I got to the microwave, smoke and a terrible smell was coming from the oven. — Kelly

Answer: In order to offer the safest advice available to us, I turned to a microwave manufacturer. I want to share a quote that I took from the General Electric website: “The popping noise is electrical or mechanical in sound, and GE recommends contacting service. If the arcing burned a hole through the cavity wall, the damage is non-repairable. You can continue to safely use the microwave if the hole is equal to or smaller than the hole size that you see on the door screen and additional arcing is not occurring during the cooking cycle. If the hole is larger than this, it is recommended that the microwave be replaced.” Sounds like the smell is coming from the microwave mechanics which is why the odour returns even after the box of the microwave is treated, safety is definitely an issue.

Question: I have an old silver bracelet. It is very tarnished, almost completely black. Is there a way that I can clean it without taking it to a jeweller? Ravneet

Answer: The following tip is unbelievably easy, quick, amazingly effective, and cheap. Line the inside of any small container with crumpled aluminum foil. Pour fairly hot water into the container and sprinkle a generous amount of salt. Place the necklace in the water, on the foil, and within seconds the silver will return to its original shiny colour.

Question: Over the Christmas holiday, my grandchildren drew me a beautiful picture of my garden. The problem is that they used crayon and drew the picture on the wall! Any suggestions for cleaning away the art? Helga

Answer: If you are sure that you want to erase the masterpiece, use baking soda and a dampened, abrasive scrubby green pad, to wash away the flowered creation.

Amazing tips from Alma

When baking cinnamon rolls, use a tin foil pan. Grease the bottom generously with margarine or butter followed by a good sprinkling of brown sugar and cinnamon. Remove from oven when baked and invert immediately. The tin foil pan keeps the sugar from scorching, which so often happens with cinnamon rolls.

If you don’t have a dishwasher, put the lids back on pots and pans immediately after emptying the contents. Residue will not dry on, making cleanup easier.

If you have a freezer running part way empty, freeze water in clean plastic jugs to fill up the space. Once frozen, they require very little hydro and should the power go off, they act as an icebox to keep things frozen. Also, they’re a source of water should there be a disruption in the plumbing.

Note: Every user assumes all risks of injury or damage resulting from the implementation of any suggestions in this column. Test all products on an inconspicuous area first.

If you have a great suggestion or tip please send an email. Reena Nerbas is a popular motivational presenter for large and small groups; check out her website: reena.ca.

info@reena.ca

Reena Nerbas
January 8

Renovation & Design

Installing backup generator may be a wise choice

Question: I have seen back-up generators installed, on shows like This Old House, for hurricane prone areas, and see company advertisements here. In our climate, and with weather extremes, is this a concern here and what might the steps be to determine critical draw, and therefore appropriate size of a unit for a winter event?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, James.

Answer: Installation of back-up generators in homes may be a very good idea, in case of a temporary power outage. This is largely dependent on where you live and how prone your home is to weather or disaster related events.

Putting in a temporary electrical generator is quite a common feature in many areas of the world, due to the possibility of a breakdown in supply from the local electric utility. These gasoline or diesel fueled units are typically set up to provide a minimum amount of electrical current to the property, to power only essential components. In colder climates like ours running power to the furnace, in many cases just to run the blower and electronics, may be critical in the frigid winters. This will ensure that enough heat can be constantly circulated to prevent frozen water pipes and for the safety of the occupants. This may be even more essential for snowbirds, who vacate their homes for warmer climates, in the coldest months of the year. If the power supply fails in that situation, with nobody in the home to notice, frozen pipes and fixtures is almost a certainty. That will not only do damage to the plumbing system, but could cause a catastrophic flood should the swollen, damaged pipes thaw before the homeowner’s return.

One main consideration for spending the time and money on installation of an emergency generator is the likelihood of power outages due to extreme weather events. These events are definitely becoming more of a serious threat in many areas, due to climate change. In the last decade, we have witnessed unprecedented weather-related disasters all around the world. Just this past year we have seen drought-related wild fires, followed by record rains and flooding in British Columbia and the west coast of the United States. Also, severe summer-like storms with deadly tornados, in December, in parts of the middle and southern portions of the U.S. All of these temporary events have caused some form or power utility outage and ultimately major property damage, even loss of lives. Back-up generators may not have helped in some of these cases, but could have prevented major property damage in many other situations.

Another major factor to weigh in your decision is the reliability of the current utility in your area. If your home is in a rural or semi-rural area, away from a large urban centre, the chances of temporary power outages are greater. Also, the chances for quick repairs to damaged power lines and other utility components after a major failure is much more unlikely. If you are often away from your home for large portions of the day, or for several days at a time, the requirement for a back-up system is higher. In our area, the public utility, Manitoba Hydro, is very reliable and typically quite quick in repairing any damaged infrastructure.

One reason for the reliability of our system is the fact that more than half of our total Provincial population lives in and around Winnipeg. This allows for an excellent concentration of major Hydro resources within an hour of the majority of homes. So, when a damaging summer thunderstorm occurs, repair personnel and equipment can be quickly deployed to limit any power outages. The downside to this is that remote areas, especially in the northern half of the Province, may have proportionately limited resources should a major problem occur. For this reason, the majority of the homes with emergency power generation systems are often in smaller towns and rural areas more prone to prolonged, weather-related power shortages.

In our area, which is essentially a prehistoric lake bottom topography, we are highly prone to spring flooding. What effects climate change will have on the frequency of these floods is unknown, but larger, more frequent occurrences are not out of the question. Because of this, flood protection for our largest urban centres, and some smaller communities, has been enhanced in the last couple of decades. Regardless, in the last major “Flood of the Century” two of the critical shortages were generators and water pumps. Flooded, rural property owners who had enough of these systems, along with properly built dyke systems, were most of the ones who saves their homes from catastrophe. So, if your home is not located in a flood-protected community, or is in an area prone to spring issues, more the reason to install the back-up power generation system.

Determining the size and type of generator required for your home and property should be left up to professionals, trained to evaluate and install such a system. Many licensed electrical contractors, especially those working in smaller communities, should be able to answer those questions. They should also be hired to do the actual work, to ensure it will work properly during an emergency event, and to make sure it is safe. Proper permits will be required, followed by inspection by the municipality or Hydro, to double-check that your new safety back-up generator is installed by the book and ready when needed.

Installation of a good back-up generator for use in electrical utility power outages, especially during weather-related events, is a wise choice depending on where you live. If your home is in an area known for frequent flooding, severe summer storms, or far from urban infrastructure, the investment in a professionally installed system may be well worth the cost.

Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and a Registered Home Inspector (RHI)(cahpi.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

Ari Marantz
January 8

Renovation & Design

Wander the world in your garden

There are many different elements to consider when planning a landscape design: mass, form, line, texture, colour, and value. Design principles include unity, balance, proportion, rhythm, repetition, contrast, and simplicity. Everywhere Keith Lemkey travels, he gains fresh inspiration and key insights on how all these components work and play together.

Lemkey, who has forty years of design experience, owns Lemkey Landscape Design, an award-winning design-build firm. Lemkey has traveled throughout North America and visited many parts of Europe — France, England, Scotland, Portugal, Monaco, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, and Spain. He seeks out as many gardens as he can whenever he travels. Many of the famous gardens he visits offer different perspectives that leave an indelible image in his mind and ignites his creativity.

When clients who spent their childhoods or part of their working careers living abroad want to evoke their memories or recollections of a certain place in their landscape design, Lemkey draws on his observations and experiences.

For Winnipeg clients who own a vineyard in Tuscany, Lemkey created a Tuscan-style front courtyard and brought the feel of a small piazza to a front yard that was almost all concrete at the entrance. In another project, he created an expansive, curved sweep of hydrangea shrubs bordering lush, green grass for East St. Paul clients that was inspired by gardens in Victoria, B.C., a place they love to visit.

"The front yard is where I like to make a statement," says Lemkey. "But I don’t want to make it a statement that’s screaming at everybody. I want it to be a statement of elegance and class. The front yard — regardless of its size — is the first impression that everyone sees. It should be a warm and inviting sort of interaction so that when people walk by, it’s something they notice and remember."

I think I have more pictures of doorways than I have of my children. - Keith Lemkey

Lemkey is drawn to doorways. "I think I have more pictures of doorways than I have of my children," he says. "Doorways are an introduction. In many parts of England, for example, where houses are attached side by side, the front yard might be only six feet from the sidewalk. One memorable doorway that brought me to a complete stop was painted a very striking dark blue with a gloss finish. Holly was growing on the outer wall, framing the door on both sides. It was so unique and outstanding that it immediately caught my eye."

Lemkey is struck by the beauty and harmonious balance that is found in a well-designed landscape as well as by the impact of architectural features – intricately designed wrought iron gates, for example, that he saw while visiting Stratford-upon-Avon in its Old Town. Or the lines of long rows of trees that direct the movement of the eye to a focal point in the far distance or the dappled light and shadow beneath a vine covered archway at Kew Gardens.

Last fall, Lemkey and his wife visited Kew Gardens for the first time with their daughter who lives in Barnes, a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in southwest London where Kew is located. "Kew is impressive, impeccable," he says. The Great Broad Walk Borders features impressive symmetry and over 60,000 plants in the formal gardens on both sides of the centre pathway which stretches 25 to 30 feet wide. "I can only imagine what the scene must look like during the summer," says Lemkey. "Brilliant layout."

Lemkey also visited The Hive, a 17-metre-tall mesh-framed structure in the shape of a honeycomb that is in the centre of a wildflower meadow. It provides visitors with a unique, immersive experience: an accelerometer picks up vibrations from the activity of bees that live in Kew Gardens. One thousand LED lights gl ow according to their vibrations. "Just fascinating," says Lemkey. "But it’s there to create awareness of the importance of bees."

The grass displays at Kew include about 550 species. "Near the Princess of Wales Conservatory there is an area with a huge display of pampas grass — standing six to eight feet tall or more. Massive banks of pampas grass are planted in drifts so the impact of the display with its textured plumes is just so immense, it’s really quite breathtaking," says Lemkey. Shorter varieties of different types of grasses border the display. Initially, from a design perspective, Lemkey says he felt almost a measure of disappointment because it would be so difficult to try and replicate the density, texture, and mass of the tactile display. Pampas grass can only be grown as an annual in our cold climate and would never achieve the same scale.

Scale, which is the relative size of one component of a landscape compared to another, often gets missed in most people’s landscapes, says Lemkey, because we try to have too much variety in our landscapes. "I would rather simplify things. Whenever I look at something that I find really appealing, it’s usually the simplicity of the design that attracts me the most. The design needs to flow into or connect with everything else that’s around it. It’s that interaction from one type of plant or one type of texture, structure or size, mass, density — that sense of flow — which has a soothing element."

Many people, for example, want to replicate what they see in the English Garden at Assiniboine Park, says Lemkey. "The size of the English Garden and the mass (of the plantings) and how the textures flow from one to the other, all of it plays well. But if you are trying to scale it down, miniaturize it into somebody’s yard, it doesn’t work. You can’t make something that is big, small, and have the same visual effect. When you go to places like Kew Gardens, Versailles, Busch Gardens, Montreal Botanical Garden, or Butchart Gardens, you are looking at layers upon layers of plantings which create that sense of vista."

Attempting to replicate the beautiful layers of plantings, for example, at Montreal Botanical Garden, just would not be practical in a small urban garden. So how could you scale it down? "The best way to do that is through simplicity," says Lemkey. "Keep things calmer or more relaxed to the eye." The size of every component in the landscape should be in proportion to its surroundings, says Lemkey. Emulate the textures, colours, and shapes that play so well with one another and that you admire but on a smaller scale. "Those are some of the subtleties that are key to achieving balance."

Those are some of the subtleties that are key to achieving balance. - Keith Lemkey

"A change I’ve noticed over the last 10 years," says Lemkey, "is that most people are no longer waiting until April to plan their landscaping projects. More people are planning their projects during the winter. I think as people travel more, and watch travel shows, they are becoming more aware of the design possibilities. Wherever they travel, they bring ideas and inspiration back home."

A great garden, says Lemkey, is a reflection of a lifestyle influenced by personal experiences, travel, art, culture, and history.

colleenizacharias@gmail.com

(newsletterPrompt)

Colleen Zacharias
January 8

Renovation & Design

Understanding homes that go BANG in the night

Question:

We had vinyl siding installed on our house, approximately five years ago. Since that time, we have experienced a loud banging in a particular area of the back of the house. It seems to become louder during the winter months and the colder it is, the louder the banging is. There is a deck attached to the house and there is also an electrical outlet near where the banging seems to come from. Do you have any suggestions what may be causing this?

Thank you.

Bill Pearcey, Portage la Prairie.

Answer: Mysterious banging noises, particularly in the evening and during the winter, are simply due to expansion and contraction of various building components. They may appear to signal some issue to be dealt with, but are normal for older homes and nothing to be concerned about.

One of the most unusual questions I frequently receive may exactly mirror the one you have recently sent. Strange, loud, noises in the night, often emanating from the upper floor of the home. These have been described as banging, crashing, popping, but all are quite audible and brief. When investigating the cause of an issue like this, I always look for two main things. Has anything changed in the home, recently, like a significant renovation? Secondly, I look for commonalities with other situations I have observed in other buildings, over the years.

To satisfy my first question, you have stated that you had vinyl siding installed on your home a few years ago. While this is a fairly extensive renovation, the impact on the home would certainly depend on the method used by the contractor. Did they completely remove the old siding or stucco? If so, did they add a layer of insulation to the exterior of the house before strapping and nailing on the new siding? We will explore these two questions, as they may be somewhat of a clue to why the noises are only happening now, as opposed to in the past.

If they simply installed wood strapping to the older siding or stucco on your home, and built out the window and door frames to accommodate the added thickness of the new vinyl siding, then there should be minimal disruption to the actual building enclosure. In that situation, there may be no correlation between the new noises and the renovation. But, if they removed all the siding, especially if it was older, cement-based stucco, then the situation is completely different.

Removing older stucco is very labour-intensive and typically involves extensive hammering on the surface to break it up into smaller, more manageable sections. The stucco is secured to strong wire mesh, which is nailed or stapled into the exterior wall sheathing, beneath. Once the stucco is fairly damaged and the wire partially exposed, smaller, lighter sections can be pried off the old sheathing. The wire can then be cut in various locations to allow easier removal of smaller sections of material. That method is much safer than trying to remove the entire stucco assembly in larger sections, which would be very heavy and a safety hazard if it fell on any workers. This process takes a fair amount of time and may cause some damage and looseness to the exterior wall sheathing beneath. Removing older wood siding may be easier, but will also require use of pry bars and hammers to pull it and the old nails off the substrate, which can have similar effects on the outside walls.

In the simplest of upgrades, the new vinyl siding would be loosely nailed to the sheathing over top of the existing building paper. As long as the building paper was not damaged during removal of the older siding, it could be reused. If it is not in satisfactory condition, new building paper or Housewrap should be added before installation of the vinyl planks. If the thickness of the new vinyl is roughly the same as the old material, installation may be as easy as nailing it directly to the older plywood or solid wood planks. In that case, it would be very important to inspect the older sheathing and re-secure any sections that have become loose from the wall studs, beneath. Alternatively, thin wood strapping could be nailed over top of the sheathing, preferably directly through to the studs, to allow a well-secured nailing surface for the new vinyl.

If the older sheathing was inadvertently loosened during removal of the original siding, and not properly re-fastened, it may provide an answer for which building materials are noisily expanding and contracting during the daytime to nighttime temperature swings, especially on a sunny winter day. The sun heating up the exterior wall during the daytime may cause significant expansion, while rapid temperature drop after the sun goes down can facilitate sudden shrinkage of the sheathing, strapping, and especially metal fasteners. This quick contraction can cause different materials to move slightly against other, suddenly, releasing built up pressure and creating the loud noises you are hearing.

This newer phenomenon may also be happening if you added rigid insulation to the exterior walls prior to the siding. That common practice would certainly have made the house more comfortable and energy efficient, but may also have affected the temperature of the entire wall cavity. While that was a wise choice, it may have inadvertently changed the thermal dynamics of the wall assembly, allowing some components to be more affected by the outside temperature swings than previously.

Loud noises, normally heard in the winter evening or nighttime, may seem like a problem but are simply due to extreme temperature changes after the sun sets. This may have been caused by some aspect of your siding upgrade, but tying to do anything to fix it it should be unnecessary for this common nuisance.

Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and a Registered Home Inspector (RHI)(cahpi.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

Ari Marantz
December 31