Category Exteriors

Buying a Front Entry Door for an Ontario House: Fibreglass, Steel or Wood, the Energy Numbers, and the Details That Keep the Cold Out

Buying Front Entry Doors

For most Ontario houses the answer is a fibreglass door: it does not dent, rust or rot, takes stain or paint, carries a foam core with a whole-door U-value around 0.9 to 1.3 W/m2K, and lasts the life of the house. Steel is the budget choice, strong and well insulated but it dents and can rust at a s

House Paint 101: Why a $90 Gallon Beats a $30 Gallon, Which Sheen Goes Where, and Exterior Paint That Survives an Ontario Winter

House Paint 101

Paint is pigment, binder and solvent. Cheap latex uses clay and chalk fillers and a vinyl-acrylic binder; good paint uses titanium dioxide and 100 percent acrylic, which is why it covers in fewer coats, scrubs clean and holds colour. For a new house: a quality primer on fresh drywall, then two coats