The Greenstone Home Reference mark: a square quarry tile carrying the letters G R.

Greenstone Home Reference

Working notes on repairing, insulating and upgrading older masonry houses.

What are you trying to fix?

Browse all topics

Topics in this reference

Insulation & Air Sealing

How heat and air actually leave an older house, and what changes inside a wall or roof once you slow them down.

Windows & Doors

Openings leak far more per square metre than the walls around them, and most of that is repairable without replacement.

Heating & Ventilation

Two separate jobs that share the same rooms: getting heat where you want it, and moving moist air out before it condenses.

Plumbing & Water

Knowing what you can isolate, and what changes when you reduce flow at the fixture rather than at the main.

Masonry & Exterior

The rule that governs almost every masonry repair: the material you can replace must be the one that fails first.

Millwork & Finishes

Repairing and matching original timber detail, and the order of operations that keeps a repair from becoming a replacement.

Questions asked most often

  1. Why is one room always colder than the rest?Heating & Ventilation
  2. Can I insulate a solid brick wall without trapping damp?Insulation & Air Sealing
  3. Is my old sash window worth repairing?Windows & Doors
  4. Why does my radiator only get warm at the top?Heating & Ventilation
  5. What is the safe order for stripping painted trim?Millwork & Finishes
  6. Why does new mortar crack the brick around it?Masonry & Exterior
  7. Where is the water actually coming from?Masonry & Exterior
  8. Does a bathroom fan need a duct to outside?Heating & Ventilation
  9. How do I measure a moulding I want to match?Millwork & Finishes
  10. Which shutoff valve controls which fixture?Plumbing & Water

Work from the symptom

Each branch leads to the note that explains the check. All three paths are listed on the troubleshooting index.

Most recently worked on

Repointing mortar and why hardness mattersMasonry & Exterior last worked on 2015-06-02
Reading a shutoff valve layoutPlumbing & Water last worked on 2015-05-14
Diagnosing damp in a basement wallMasonry & Exterior last worked on 2015-04-21
Why radiators heat unevenlyHeating & Ventilation last worked on 2015-04-06
Low-flow fixtures and water pressurePlumbing & Water last worked on 2015-03-30
Where air leaks hide in an old houseInsulation & Air Sealing last worked on 2015-03-11
Ventilation for kitchens and bathsHeating & Ventilation last worked on 2015-02-27
Insulating a brick wall from the insideInsulation & Air Sealing last worked on 2015-02-02

Dates are the day the note was last worked on. The full list is on the article index.

Reference sheet archive

Standard dimensional and material sheets kept alongside the articles.
SheetWhat it coversUnits
Nominal lumber sizesNominal call-outs against actual surfaced dimensionsinches
Fastener and pilot sizesCommon wood screw gauges with their usual pilot and clearance holesinches
Insulation material guideMaterial classes by form, usual position and limiting factorno units - descriptive

Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.

All three sheets are listed on the reference index.