Allan Britnell

George Gouldburn, author of the Mystery Tool column, passed away on June 13, 2012. In this profile from 2007, he shares his love antique tools.—Eds. "This part would make the tongue and this would make the groove," explains...

Reliable and skilled contractors are worth their weight in gold, especially considering the billions of dollars Canadians drop annually on home renovations. According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., Canadians spend...

Ignorance may be bliss, but a water-saturated shower stall can leave you all wet. If moisture penetrates the grout below the stall's tiles, you'll eventually see mildew in the shower or, worse still, water damage on the ceiling...

When Sabah Mirza and her husband, Asim Rashid, decided to put a nanny suite in the basement of their west-end Toronto house, they figured they'd done their homework. After four contractors gave estimates for installing a bedroom...

Standing hunched over in the basement, watching as a plumber replaced a cracked and corroded sewer drain with a length of ABS and a pair of couplers, I kept thinking, I could have done that myself. After he handed me a bill in...

Whales have a thick layer of blubber to keep them from freezing in the cold depths of the ocean. Polar bears have blubber plus hollow hairs that trap air and help keep them warm. Heck, you probably have love handles helping to...

The Palmer family of North Vancouver, B.C., have set the bar pretty high for future Canadian Home Workshop Dream Deck Contest winners. After devouring countless deck-building books and magazine articles, mulling through ideas...

Quick fix is a relative term. Installing a tile backsplash is actually a weekend-long job. The first day is spent on layout and tiling. Twenty-four hours later, apply the grout, sponge off the excess; apply grout sealer and you're...

We're never really happy, are we? Whether you're a first-time homeowner or an empty nester with grand plans for the kids' vacated rooms, chances are you have got a list of projects in mind to make your house your dream home....

Face it, we're not getting any younger. In fact, there are about four million Canadians aged 65 or older. In another 20 years, that number is projected to be almost double. Along with the wisdom of experience and the free time of...