Go for the brush over spray when painting stone hearth

Q. The wood stove hearth we have in our lower level is flagstone. My wife wants to brighten things up down there by painting the flagstone white. I am wondering how best to do that. Right now, I am thinking of removing the stove, vacuuming off all the stone as well as using a bristle brush to clean it with soap and water, spraying a primer and then finishing by spraying a good-quality latex paint on the stone and mortar.

Let me know your thoughts if I should be doing or using something different. There is no moisture or mold problem, and it is purely an aesthetic thing.

A. If the soap and water treatment does not fully clean the stones, you may want to try a solution made with TSP-PF or Super Washing Soda to clean the stones. Rinse well after setting old towels around the perimeter to contain the rinsing water.

Then I suggest you prime the stones with B-I-N, preferably applied by brush, and follow this with a top- quality latex paint of your choice.

Q. I'm not writing to disagree with your advice in a recent column, but I am curious: As long as the air is circulating, what difference does it make whether a ceiling fan pushes it down or draws it up? Heat always rises, thus it will not stay on the floor anyway. The opposite is true with cold.

The point is that you've got to get that air circulating with the fan, and it doesn't matter a bit whether the warmer air under the fan blades and nearer to the ceiling is driven down to the floor and then to the walls and back up to the ceiling where the fan blades will again catch it and drive it down again, or whether the colder air under the fan blades and nearer to the floor is drawn up, where it will displace the warmer air toward the walls and force it to the floor where it will move into the vacuum created by the rising colder air.

If you took a vertical thin slice of the air movement, it would look like two doughnuts. In one, the air is moving counterclockwise, and in the other, it's moving clockwise. The important thing is that the air is moving. The only difference is in the initial air temperature difference, which will mix together and disappear almost immediately.

A. Thank you for your comments. First, heat does not rise; warm air is what rises. Heat radiates in all directions. In the winter, if the ceiling fan pushed the air downward, we would feel a draft, which we would not welcome.

If the fan pulls the air upward, the warm air washes down the walls, reducing the risk of condensation on the windows. It mixes the warm air with the colder air found near the floor, and the mix is drawn back up. With this system, we do not feel the draft, and are more comfortable.

In the summer, in non-air-conditioned houses, we welcome the draft that a downward-blowing fan creates, just as we welcome the use of any fan to help cool us down.

In full-house air-conditioned homes, the winter setup is best for the same reasons as during the winter.

But, feel free to run your ceiling fan whichever way you prefer.

Q. I just purchased a house that has stained oak trim, paneling and doors throughout. Is it possible to either change the color stain or to at least paint the trim white? How would I go about it? Also, which products do you recommend for each process?

A. Painting is the easier option. The best way to handle this is to slightly roughen the surfaces with sandpaper. Wipe all surfaces with a tack cloth to remove all loose material.

Prime all areas to be painted with B-I-N or an equivalent product, such as Bulls Eye 1-2-3. Paint with a top-quality latex.

Q. We're having problems with an old porcelain bathtub. We have hard water and have tried removing calcium deposits from hardware with Lime-Away.

We removed most of the calcium, but now we have very noticeable black stains on the porcelain. I have tried cleaning it with Clorox Clean-Up. It cleans beautifully, but four to six hours later the stains are back. Is there any hope for this tub without replacing the whole thing?

A. Try removing the stains with ZUD. You should be able to find it in hardware and paint stores. You may also check out your supermarket. Follow the directions on the container carefully; ZUD contains oxalic acid, a strong chemical. Be sure to wear protective clothing to cover your skin.

Q. I enjoy your column and have acquired much useful information over many years.

My problem is with one interior basement wall. I've sent a few photos that may help you understand it.

Our home is built on a slope. The east facing basement wall is entirely below grade, while the west is entirely above grade. The north and south walls are part below and part aboveground. The footprint of the house is rectangular with the shorter sides on the north and south. The walls are poured concrete, completed in 1939. However, some time after that, but before we moved in 1984, a one-car garage was added to the north side of the home. It too has a poured foundation.

The problem is with the north basement wall of the original house - paint is peeling and the concrete is slowly crumbling and powdery. I suspect there is moisture trapped in the soil under the garage because that wall is the only one that exhibits a problem, and even on that wall there is no deterioration on the portion that extends westerly, beyond the garage foundation.

I do not see any structural problems, and given the pace of deterioration (writing you has been on my to-do list for many years), there probably won't be any for several decades. But I would like to deal with the appearance at least. (I applied the paint that is now peeling back in the late 1980s.)

One last bit of info: We keep the basement at 58 to 60 degrees in the winter; there is baseboard heat on the west wall; there are three large double-hung windows with storms on the west, and the basement is very dry in winter, though in summer we do run a dehumidifier. There is no standing water at any time. Also, there are no rain gutters on the house, but with a dry basement, I don't think we need them.

A. I think you're right in diagnosing the problem as coming from the garage backfill. But what is unusual is that the problem is still with you in spite of the fact that the garage was built more than 31 years ago. Any soil used for the backfill should have dried by now. It sounds as if there is a constant source of moisture that keeps the soil wet.

Take a look around to see if the grading on the east wall, where the garage door is, is allowing rain to penetrate under the garage floor, which I assume is concrete.

Also check to make sure the garage floor is properly slanted to the outside and that no water or melting snow from your car drains toward the original north wall from where it soaks into the soil below.

Adding a gutter and downspout on this east wall may be worth looking into, as long as the downspout can be discharged in such a way as not to add to the problem.

Q. I am contemplating a new standing seam metal roof for a 57-year-old house. We are concerned about condensation in the house from the metal roof. We have spaced boards as the roof sheathing. Should this be covered with plywood for a more stable base for the standing seam metal roof? Please advise as to our best options.

A. Yes, you should have plywood installed over the spaced strapping. Otherwise, the standing metal roof will telegraph the spaced boards as it is affected by the sun and temperature changes.

An ice-and-water protective membrane should be applied on the bare plywood on all eaves, covering at least 2 feet above the intersection of the exterior walls with the roof. So if you have wide overhangs, you may need more than one strip of the membrane.

The membrane should also be applied in all valleys and roof penetrations. The rest of the plywood should be covered with one of the new underlayment felts available.

These steps should ensure that condensation under the metal will not affect the roof structure.

Q. I read your columns every week and find them very educational. I want to replace my water softener with a salt-free system. Do you have any information on what's available? Will a descaler do the same job, and if so, where could I buy one?

A. Salt-free systems are not water softeners. They do not remove the minerals that cause water hardness. They are water conditioners, also known as descalers, that do have some useful properties other than softening hard water. They may be helpful in reducing lime deposits and in preventing them from accumulating in plumbing fixtures and pipes.

The satisfactory performance of salt-free water conditioners depends on the composition of your water, which is a regional condition.

So the choice depends on what your water problem is. The best way to go is to have a water specialist test your water and advise. You may want to contact a Kinetico dealer. Kinetico has water-softening equipment that uses less salt and no electricity.

• Henri de Marne was a remodeling contractor in Washington, D.C., for many years, and is now a consultant. His book, "About the House," is available at www.upperaccess.com. His website is www.henridemarne.com. Email questions to henridemarne@gmavt.net, or mail First Aid for the Ailing House, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

© 2015, United Feature Syndicate Inc.