Renovation & Design
Renovation & Design
Break down colours with these bright tips
BEFORE CHOOSING colours for a room, spend time collecting a variety of colour combination samples: fabric swatches, buttons, business cards, wallpaper, and paint samples. Save them on an idea, bulletin board. When you decide to head to the paint store you will have samples to take with you from the research that you completed.
- Consider using the 60-30-10 colour design rule. 60 per cent is the main colour, 30 per cent is the additional colour and 10 per cent is the accent colour.
- Use a colour wheel before choosing paint or wallpaper. Analogous paint colours, those beside each other on the wheel are compatible. Complementary colours, ones directly opposite to each other on the wheel create bold accents.
- Black can be seen as depressing if overused, but has always been fashionable and is linked with night, mystery and classiness.
- Some designers suggest every room should include one black highlight as the focal point. One black accent wall, for example, in a room can create added interest, become a backdrop for a precious art piece and redirect attention away from unpleasant features in a room, such as old flooring.
- Purple is associated with creativity, intelligent solutions, wisdom, inspiration, nobility and mystery.
- If you are looking for an elegant background to display, crystal, consider a rich purple paint accent wall. Use purple in combination with either white, green, brown, black or orange.
- Blue calms and does not cause negative emotions. A bold blue is one of the best colours to attract attention. Lighter blues evoke feelings of peace, tranquility, depth, wisdom and silence.
- When looking for a solid colour to paint an entire room, blue is a great choice, and light blue is calming and therefore it is often used for offices and waiting rooms.
- Green can provide healing and relaxing effects and is associated with life, nature, harmony, naturalness and kindness.
- Green is timeless and elegant, and easily incorporated into a room, with the use of carefully placed plants, a grouping of herbs or even photos of nature. The combination of white and light green feels fresh and clean.
- Yellow is sociable. A room painted bright yellow helps to absorb new ideas and gets creative juices flowing.
- Red stimulates people to make decisions and commit rash actions. An overabundance of red may cause irritation and aggression. Red evokes passion, life, will, struggle, activity and fire.
- — Using a red and black combination will elicit an impactful statement to any room. When choosing to paint red, begin with a pink primer and use high quality paint, for a smoother, even coverage.
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 at: info@reena.ca. Reena Nerbas is a popular motivational presenter for large and small groups; check out her website: reena.ca.
Renovation & Design
Repairing garage floor likely not worth the effort
Question: I read an article online you wrote regarding water seepage into a garage. This exactly covers my questions regarding how to fix the problem. In my case with a garage older than 50 years, that is not feasible. It sounds like my problem is the same as yours, if you still have the same garage.
My garage is well built and recently re-stuccoed. Apart from the periodic seepage, which I can live with, the floor itself has several parts where the concrete has broken and could certainly look better. Is it possible to have the floor covered with one of those new rubber type coatings I hear about now? Is this out of the question considering the seepage will continue? I hesitate to try to engage someone to do this if it is really the wrong thing to do. I would be most grateful for any advice you can give me.
Sincerely, Mrs. Ann Kozlowski
Answer: Putting a topping coat on and older garage floor that is poor condition may not be worth the expense, because it may not last. Covering the floor with removable composite panels or sheathing may be a better choice, as either could be easily removed to allow for repairs or replacement of the concrete, or due to the seasonal seepage you experience.
Improving the condition of a deteriorated concrete garage floor slab may ultimately require complete removal and pouring of a new slab. While this may not be feasible in an older garage like yours, putting a costly rubberized coating on the damaged floor is also not a great option.
The integrity and durability of most coatings applied to the surface of a concrete slab, inside or out of a building, will largely depend on the condition of the concrete to be covered. If the surface has moderate to large cracks, surface spalling, or uneven sections, the coating will be subject to deterioration in those locations. While it may adhere well to the smoother sections of the floor, it will certainly not fare as well on the bad areas. So, after a few seasons of settlement and driving over by vehicles and yard equipment, it may not look much better than before installation. It may prevent some further deterioration to the better sections, but will not likely improve the overall floor.
Any time coatings are applied to the surface of any older materials, they should be free of any oil, dirt, loose debris, or other factors that will prevent proper adhesion. It is unlikely that your older concrete slab will be able to achieve this standard, so will not be applied according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. While these instructions are often given to prevent claims being made against any warranties, they still may be a valid warning for consumers. In other words, the new coating will only be as good as the substrate it is applied to.
The best option for dealing with your garage floor would be to temporarily jack up and support the garage, jack hammer the old concrete, and pour a new reinforced slab. This would not only give you the best quality surface for your vehicle and tools, it would allow leveling of the old garage walls and doors. Of course, this may not be economically feasible if the structure is not in good enough condition to lift and re-secure. Also, if the roofing is in need of upgrades, the vehicle door falling of the track or rotting, and the passage door and windows damaged, it may not be worth saving. In that case, using the existing garage until a new one is in the budget may be a better choice.
If you do decide to continue with your older structure, installing a different type of covering over the cracked concrete floor may be a better solution. I have seen several of these products during pre-purchase inspections. They range from large, rolled-out sheets of synthetic rubber to small, interlocking squares of webbed composite material. The rolled sheathing may be more difficult to handle due to the size and weight, but will likely give the best surface to resist moisture from seepage and melted snow from vehicles. It should be the easiest to clean, but may be more expensive than other modular options. The interlocking squares will be easier to transport and install but will not do much for the moisture intrusion issue. However, since they have webbed surfaces, they will allow water that leaks in to dry more quickly than solid-surface floor coverings.
The main thing to ensure when buying any type of floor covering for your garage is that it is designed to withstand any vehicle traffic it is subjected too. It should be specifically marketed to be used in garages, otherwise it may be easily damaged when parked upon. Also, if it not able to adapt to our +30C and -30C seasonal temperature variations, then leave it at the supplier.
The final item to address is preparation of the older floor slab prior to installation of any surface coverings. Since it may have different heights on either side of cracks, also known as deflection, or depressions and holes, these should be minimized before going further. Concrete patching material or floor levelling compounds are readily available at home centres and masonry suppliers and should be used to minimize the uneven concrete surface. While these will be temporary measures, not designed to permanently fix the surface flaws, they may require periodic repairs. Having a removable surface on the floor will also allow this to be more easily accomplished.
Coating the surface or an older garage floor with any type of permanent rubberized material will not be a wise use of renovation dollars, especially with seasonal water leakage involved. Installation of a good quality, removable composite layer will not only stand up much better, it will allow for temporary removal due to spring seepage, or for periodic repairs to the old concrete slab.
Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and the past 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
Clean your iPhone screen with rubbing alcohol
Question: What is the best way to remove the smudges on my iPhone? Cristinna
Answer: According to the Apple website: you can use 70 per cent rubbing alcohol along with a soft cloth to clean your phone, but avoid getting moisture into any openings. Do not use bleach, and do not submerge the phone in any products.
Question: Whenever I boil a head of cauliflower, it becomes very soggy and falls apart while eating. What am I doing wrong? James
Answer: Avoid overcooking the cauliflower, as this will cause the florets to fall apart. Place the cauliflower into water, core down and bring to a boil. If cooking the whole head, cook for 20-25 minutes. Cook until the vegetable is tender-crisp. Place in a strainer for a few minutes so that the water drains well.
Question: How often should a person wash their hair? My mom says once a week, but my dad says once every two weeks. Keely
Answer: The answer depends on the type of hair you are dealing with. Some people wash their hair everyday, but unless you have oily hair, most experts agree that hair should be washed one or two times per week. Washing too often uses quite a bit of water and products, not to mention it may dry out your hair.
Question: Instructions on sheets say wash in cold water, but I have read that sheets should be washed in hot water to get rid of dust mites, etc. What do you think? Thanks, Kelly
Answer: It really depends on the textile composition of the sheets. The recommendation for microfibre and cotton blend sets is warm water, and the recommendation for 100 per cent cotton is hot water. When in doubt, your safest bet is to heed the instructions on the care label, but to be honest, (and I will probably get in trouble for admitting this) I wash all sheets with hot water — as they just feel cleaner.
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 at: info@reena.ca. Reena Nerbas is a popular motivational presenter for large and small groups; check out her website: reena.ca.
Renovation & Design
Fixing sections a viable option in water damaged area
Question: We are in the midst of converting our wood burning fireplace to gas. We have hired Alsip’s to do the work. Last week, when they removed the metal chimney and took the cap off the exterior chase, they discovered significant water damage and rot to one corner of the interior framing and sheathing. It was to the point that the stucco scratch coat was visible. Obviously, the fireplace work could not continue without first fixing the problem.
We have had two quotes to get the work done. One entails a complete removal and replacement of the chase. The other is for the work to be done from inside the chase by cutting out and replacing the damaged framing, sheathing, flashing, and water proofing on the roof but leaving the existing stucco in place. The sheathing would be secured to the stucco scratch coat using PL400 adhesive. The company proposing to use this method is a chimney contractor and has been in business for 30 years. They claim to have successfully used this method many times. The cost of a total removal is more than double that of the rebuild. I would be interested in getting your thoughts.
Many thanks,
Brian Telfer
Answer: It is almost always better to completely replace all the components in the building enclosure when repairing moisture damage, but may be acceptable to do a partial repair in cases like yours. As long as better design, materials and workmanship are employed than in the original configuration, a less costly repair may work.
Any time serious, visible rot is found in the exterior walls of a home the first item to address is why it occurred. If it is simply due to the building materials exceeding their normal life expectancy, or lack of maintenance, then solving the problem may be accomplished by removing and replacing the rotten components. In a partially hidden situation like your wood and stucco chimney chase, you should first look closer at why this happened before deciding on the details of remediation.
Since the new fireplace installers found the damage only when they removed the chimney cap, it is probable that water that caused the problem was leaking into the chase from an outside source. Depending on where the damage occurred, near the top or the bottom, may help determine where the point of intrusion was. If the damage is near the top, it is likely that rain and melting snow leaked through the cap, or the seal between the metal chimney and the cap. This may be the easiest to repair and will require construction of a new cap that will prevent a reoccurrence either by better design, materials, or sealing. If the new gas fireplace directly vents out the back of the chase, as is quite common, replacing the cap with a solid version may be the answer.
If the damage to the stucco-covered box is slightly below the roof, the offending water may be leaking in due to poor or damaged flashings, roofing, or eavestroughs that are not well installed in that area. This may be the most difficult scenario to diagnose and fix with a partial repair, as access from the inside is limited and the location difficult to access due to height. If that is the situation, a more thorough dismantling and repair may be warranted. That way, the roof flashings could be completely replaced and the roofing repaired or upgraded to prevent future water intrusion into the new chase.
If the rotten framing and sheathing is near the bottom of the mostly hollow chimney chase, then partial repair from the inside makes the most sense. Access may be much easier though the cavity left behind after the old wood-burning fireplace has been removed. It is also much more likely that the moisture damage is caused either by rain and snow accumulation near the bottom of the enclosure, and/or excessive condensation from the heat of the old fireplace. Either way, cutting out and replacing only the damaged wooden components may be worthwhile.
The feasibility of a partial chimney chase repair will largely depend on the condition and strength of the existing stucco. Especially with older cement-based stucco, it is fairly common to see serious rot develop in the framing and sheathing behind, without much visible deterioration to the siding. This is often due to the strength of the various layers held together by the stucco wire behind. The wire acts to reinforce the stucco, especially the concrete-like scratch coat. Since the inside of the scratch coat is visible it should be much easier to assess whether it will withstand both the rigours of the repair and future stress factors.
If you determine that the stucco is in overall good condition, with little signs of deterioration, fixing only the damaged sections on the chase interior may be a reasonable option. This will be possible only if better materials are chosen for the repair than initially used. Especially if the rot was found near the bottom of the chase, using pressure treated framing and plywood for the repair is critical. Because the damage may be due to rain running down the outside of the chase, snow accumulation against the wall, or proximity to grade, using moisture-resistant wood products will prevent a reoccurrence of the same issue. In that scenario, even if the issues that caused the initial rotting are not totally alleviated, the better building materials should prevent a return of the damage.
Spending extra money to achieve a better-quality repair to moisture damage in a home is the better option, but may not always be necessary. As long as the root of the problem is determined, and moisture-resistant materials are employed for the upgrade, it may be an acceptable, lower-cost alternative to complete chimney chase replacement.
Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and the past 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
