Toronto Yard and Garden

A pressure washer is an essential tool for outdoor cleaning work. It's a very satisfying feeling to point a pressure washing "gun" in the direction of an offensive spot and clear it off. I don't know why that's the case, but it's very calming. The focus of the present article is to provide some information about pressure washer applications on outdoor wood (decking, fences) and stone (pavers, slabs, concrete). Wood is something that you should be gentle with when pressure was

I've done a few repairs on my own laptop and more recently, have attempted some work on my phone. I've completed a fan replacement for one client successfully. As I've started learning about these repairs, I've discovered/re-affirmed a few things for myself. YouTube is a godsend. Technical manuals are difficult to read, but YouTube videos are often helpful even if they don't pertain to the exact items I'm dealing with. Publically available troubleshooting manuals that are spe

I began really learning how to work on a car when I owned a Volvo xc90. I thought that I had diagnosed a clogged or incorrectly operating throttle actuator and set about replacing it. I had never done any work on a car prior to that, and I was excited to slowly remove one pipe after another bent over my trunk. Months went by and I made tiny eforts every few days to get a little deeper into the car. It didn't end well. Ultimately, I couldn't access the part I needed, nowhere c

I don't have much carpentry experience, so I'm writing this blog to share some of the things I've learned using different saws (reciprocating saw, a circular saw, an oscillating saw, a table saw, a chainsaw). Dangers of using corded tools: Electrical cords get in the way of everything and this isn't a great thing to have when you're working. I've found this to be particularly terrifying in the case of an oscillating saw. Keep the cord secured and away from whatever you're cut

This blog post is about some important skillsets for cooking food quickly and well. 1) safe chopping technique: chopping is done best with a large knife, and with your fingers and thumbs tucked in, so that the blade makes contact with your knuckles rather than your fingers. As you get faster with chopping, this technique keeps you from removing your fingers accidentally. 2) always moving: don't wait for food to finish cooking. As one thing is going, start working on something

This post is a "off the top of my head" list of tips to improve the chances of a successful and painless moving experience (for both clients and moving service providers). 1) Don't save money on boxes. Buy new boxes, buy Home Depot boxes. Old, used boxes like to fall apart, and it's better to spend a few bucks more on these rather than spend extra time repacking boxes that fall apart while being carried 2) Don't procrastinate the organizing part of the move. De-cluttering and

Introduction The p95 respirator or “painting respirator” is recommended for “relief against nuisance levels of organic vapors. Nuisance level organic vapor refers to concentrations not exceeding… exposure limits” [1]. The purpose of this article is to discuss their application in the painting context. Usage Fitting instructions are similar to those of an N95 and apply a similar fit test: “To check fit, place both hands completely over the respirator and inhale sharply (Fig.

Introduction N95 respirators “are examples of personal protective equipment that are used to protect the wearer from particles or from liquid contaminating the face” [1]. Also, “Most N95 respirators are manufactured for use in construction and other industrial type jobs that expose workers to dust and small particles. They are regulated by the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) in the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), whic

Introduction The Safety Data Sheet or SDS is, to people like myself, the only reliable way to determine a paint product’s safety information (paint advertising isn't reliable) . As I was doing research for Parts one , two , three , and four of an article series designed to make a determination about safe paints, I found a discrepancy amongst SDSs that I’d like to share in this post. The purpose of this will be to focus attention on deceptive advertising. Most of the work here

Introduction When it comes to deciding on a paint, one common consideration is health. Part 1 introduced the concept of paint safety; Part 2 reviewed a paint product from Behr, and Part 3 reviewed a Glidden product in terms of health impacts. I found that both had potential carcinogens. In this blog post (part 4), I will now consider a commonly advertised “safe” paint from ECOS. This blog will compare all three paints in terms of health impacts and then I’ll make a final c

Introduction When it comes to deciding on a paint, one common consideration is health. Part 2 looked at the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for one paint from a popular paint brand - Behr. This blog post will deal with a review of a paint brand from another popular competitor - Glidden. I will consider important elements of the SDS for a Glidden paint product and then make some comparisons to Behr. In part 4, I will be comparing both Behr and Glidden paint products to a marketed “hea

When it comes to determining which paint you should use, the only tool that I’m familiar with is the Safety Data Sheet (SDS). Can we trust SDSs? Well, they are made available on the same websites that paint-selling companies use to sell their products, so one would expect a conflict of interest. Nonetheless, the information that they provide can be analyzed and used to draw certain conclusions. For this analysis, I’ll be reviewing one paint from Behr. In Part 3 & Part 4 , I’

The purpose of this two-part blog post is to try to answer the question, "is it possible to find a safe paint to paint my home with?" At this point, it's fairly well known that lead is a toxic compound with various links to poor health outcomes. Gamboa et al (2022) writes that "exposure to lead-based paint in homes constructed prior to 1978 poses multiple hazards to children, usually via inhalation of lead dust, ingestion of lead paint chips, or both." Lead was a common paint

Soil quality is a common problem in landscapes. So, for this blog article, I've decided to give my thoughts on the following article "https://plantura.garden/uk/gardening-tips/soil/how-to-improve-soil-quality" which describes ways in which people can improve the quality of their soil. 1) "Adding hummus" --> potting soils and composts are sold at pretty much every garden center. My belief about them is that they rot and decompose quickly, creating a poor planting medium. Howe

p100 respirators are (in my opinion) an essential tool for any painter. Sanding activity can sometimes produce large amounts of dust, which is toxic to breathe. Pressure-treated decking may contain arsenic (https://www.finegardening.com/article/does-pressure-treated-wood-belong-in-your-garden#:~:text=In%20the%20pressure%2Dtreating%20process,carried%20deep%20into%20the%20wood), which you probably don't want to be breathing while you sand the deck before staining. Sanding dryw

Ok, so if you own/rent your home and you want to overseed your lawn, you're going to have to do the standard stuff - rake the dead thatch off, mow the lawn, blow any debris clear. Then you're going to lay a little bit of soil (quarter inch, half inch, whatever, just enough to give the seeds a little bed to grow in. Soil should be basically the most expensive, nutritious, clear of debris soil you can buy for your little seed babies. Then, I haven't done this, but I've told a l

The plants in your garden beds may not be growing for a variety of reasons. This blog post is aimed at providing some common explanations as to why your plants may not be thriving as much as you'd like them to be: Buried objects, chemical damage, inappropriate watering, inappropriate sunlight, wrong cultivar, wrong plant for wrong climate zone, wrong soil structure, low soil fertility, pH, soil compaction. Fungi, bacteria, disease, pests, vicinity to other plants, It can be

Tetanus and Gardening Safety One hazard that gardeners may hear about (and some may tragically experience) is tetanus. If you search the internet you may find articles like this one, which says that tetanus claims the lives of over a million people worldwide annually ( http://www.rose.org/rose-care-articles/tetanus-the-silent-killer/ ). Tetanus is doubtlessly a horrifying disease. Caused by the bacteria C. Tetani, tetanus enters the body through open wounds releasing a neurot

Introduction Glyphosate herbicide toxicity is an interesting topic for many people since it is a main ingredient found in herbicides that are used worldwide like Roundup. The purpose of this article is to share information regarding glyphosate and glyphosate products and their impacts on human and animal health. Table of Contents The Glyphosate Issue Is Glyphosate Harmful to Humans? Is Glyphosate Safe? European Commission Report Findings The Glyphosate Issue Glyphosate is a u