CLOSE UP Video Interviews

Pete Golascewski and a workmate from David Brothers Landscape Services brothers were about to clean off a lower wall of a house and patch and seal it after excavating a 3 foot deep trench alongside it. Water had been coming into the house. An engineer suggested the project to stop the infiltration. The trench will be filled with a clay soil which is less penetrable than the naturally existing soil. The soil will be put down in layers, sloping away from the house. The work crew will also install new window wells. Golascewski says these jobs have become ever more frequent in recent years because of very heavy rain falls. He doesn’t profess to be a scientist but nevertheless believes the heavy rainfalls contributing to the burgeoning demand for this type of landscape construction work can be attributed to climate change. Watch video interview of landscaper describing basement waterproofing construction job here.

Ken Roberts of Kilian's Hardware Store gives a hands-on demonstration of the various snow shovels the store has leaning outside the store. There are ergonomic ones, some with bends in the handle, and another with a straight handle and an extra handle-mounted grip. Wide curved ones for clearing large areas of light snow. A narrower feed shovel type for digging out deeper snows without breaking your back. Steel edged blades for strength. Hard plastics and aluminum for lightness. Car shovels and, most useful of all kid-sized shovels. If you get the kids to shovel, you're halfway done, Roberts jokes. Watch demonstration here.