Ask the Experts

How to keep a rarely-used flue from wasting energy and making your home drafty and uncomfortable.

A historic-preservation expert suggests possible purposes for an intentional gap between interior courses of brick.

Covering old siding may be the simplest way to deal with toxic paint–plus it could be an opportunity to add exterior insulation.

Our resident energy nerd suggests that a lack of air-sealing and insulation may be the cause of condensation around air ducts in a cathedral ceiling.

You'll need to install an appropriate roofing underlayment over the sheathing.

A homeowner wonders why local contractors say he needs to skim coat the entire wall, instead of just taping and sanding the joints, to get his wall smooth.

After adding new sections of baseboard to a heating system, how to you bleed air from the boiler?

I live in the rainy Pacific Northwest, and I recently noticed what looks like mold on the cedar boards of my cathedral ceiling. It appears to be between a couple…

Find out what type of flashing you can install between new concrete steps and existing siding or sheathing to prevent rot and other water damage.

Architect and energy-efficiency expert Steve Baczek explains the performance and installation differences between blown-in mineral wool and dense-pack cellulose insulation.