Ross Ott, who has a neat bungalow house in Rockford, IL, hates his aluminum siding. "I have a 1924 bungalow that has aluminum siding over the original siding. I hate it, and now it has hail damage and I need to figure out what I'm going to do with it. My desire is to remove Read More »
Rachael Maloney, who has a nice home in Cedar City, UT, has a perplexing problem with a downspout drain pipe. Let her tell you about it: "We have a downspout drain pipe that runs across our front sidewalk. The problem I have is that the sidewalk is right up against the foundation of our garage. The Read More »
Preventing Mold Growth in Basements DEAR TIM: Our full size divided basement has mold growing on the west side of the wall, as well as the south side on the other end of the basement. The basement has two sump pumps, one on each side of the basement. The basement does not leak water. We've Read More »
Janis Hatch is building a new home in Lafayette, CO. She thinks she's got a problem with her new foundation. "We are building a home with a national builder. The foundation was poured last week. When the forms were removed there was a pie shaped gap about 15 inches long (vertical) at what will be Read More »
Gina Zuk, is trying to make her house look better. But she's not getting good advice from her siding contractor. "I have a contractor that says I don't need the house wrap if I am putting on the solid core vinyl siding made by Crane. I think it should have the house wrap as even if Read More »
Shona, who lives in Herfordshire, England, had to get rid of her builder who was not dealing with the mold on her walls. "I have excessive mold on plastered brick walls. I have removed most of the detached molding plasterwork back to the brick to find crumbling mortar and damp brick. I'm in a rented Read More »
Dave Keith is working on his home in Syracuse, NY. It's an old one! "I need to know about footers for LALLY COLUMNS. I am fixing an 1870's house, two story, water damage. I will be adding many jack post/lally columns to level up floors and shorten floor joist runs(some 18 foot). Do the footers Read More »
Quick Column Summary: Problems with new house construction Correcting an off-center window Wood-burning stove exhaust stack not properly installed Checking to see if the contractor is on the run DEAR TIM: I'm having a house built and I've got some problems. It's still in the rough stage with just the rough framing pretty much complete Read More »
Chad Ewald, who lives in Stillwater, MN - a place mentioned in Roger Stelljes' Deadly Stillwater book, has paint pigment stains on his brick. Great read by the way! Here's what Chad sent me: "How do I remove paint from brick? The white medallion elements on my home appear to have bled white paint onto the brick Read More »
Louise Sargent, who lives in Gilford, NH just a few miles from my house, has a problem with peeling paint from her drywall. "Dear Tim, I read your video about priming drywall before painting for even absorption of paint. Is curing drywall the same as using a primer? A few flakes of paint are loosening Read More »
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