Browsing: DIY & How-To

Health Canada says mice can squeeze through a crack the size of a dime, so mouse-proofing a Canadian home means sealing every exterior opening at least that big, packing steel wool or copper mesh around pipes before caulking, then removing the food, water and nesting material that draw rodents in. Traps come second, set at right angles to the wall and baited but unset for three to four days first. Poison is a last resort: Health Canada says baits should never be the only method of control. Never sweep or vacuum dry droppings, soak them in one part bleach to nine parts water instead, because the deer mouse is Canada’s most common carrier of hantavirus.

Transport Canada says every vehicle should carry a winter emergency kit from roughly October to April. At minimum it holds a first aid kit, a shovel, traction material such as sand or cat litter, booster cables, windshield washer fluid, an ice scraper, a flashlight, warm layers and blankets, non-perishable food and water, and road flares or a reflective vest. CAA advises against using road salt as an abrasive because it can rust the vehicle, and recommends a crank-type flashlight since batteries fail in extreme cold.

Natural Resources Canada calls air leakage control the single most important retrofit activity for a house, ahead of new windows or a new furnace. Windows, doors and skylights account for up to 35 per cent of a home’s total heat loss, and most of that escapes around frames, sashes and thresholds rather than through the glass. Find the leaks with burning incense sticks on a cold, windy day with the exhaust fans running, after shutting off any fuel-fired heaters, then caulk the joints that do not move and weatherstrip the ones that do.

Divide spring and early-summer blooming perennials in fall, and get every division back in the ground at least four to six weeks before the soil freezes: roughly late September across the Prairies and northern Ontario and Quebec, early to mid-October in southern Ontario, the Lower Mainland and much of Atlantic Canada. Most perennials need dividing every three to five years. Hosta, peony, Siberian iris, Oriental poppy and coralbells are good fall candidates. Asters and chrysanthemums should wait until spring, and false indigo should not be divided at all.

Heating season is starting and Ontario’s expanded CO alarm rules are now in force. Here’s how to test your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms properly.

Plant garlic four to six weeks before your soil freezes. A step-by-step guide to timing, seed selection, spacing, depth and mulch for Canadian gardens.

Freeze your garden harvest the right way: wash, blanch, cool, and pack vegetables so they stay fresh, flavourful, and safe to eat all winter.

Tulip bulbs go into the ground this fall for spring blooms. Here’s when to plant by region across Canada, how deep, and how to outsmart squirrels.

Nine steps to close a swimming pool for the Canadian winter, from balancing chemistry to blowing out the lines, before the first hard frost hits.

Nighttime temperatures are already dipping across much of Canada — here’s how to move houseplants indoors before frost without bringing pests with them.