Water begins to seep into basement floor vents

Q. My house has a separate basement furnace that sits above a pit with gravel in it because the duct work is in the cement floor. All air vents are in the floor. There is water in this pit under the furnace and in one of the floor vents.

There are two sump pump pits in basement of the house, which was built in 1995. I've never had any problem with water in basement. There is a pond on lot next door a few yards away, which has never been an issue. We were once told our ground has a lot of clay, so water cannot soak down. Any thoughts on getting rid of water and keeping it away?

A. If the water is a permanent feature and not an erratic event, and the sump pumps are working 24/7, are of the proper capacity and still not taking care of disposing of the water, I wonder if the pond next door has developed a leak.

How is the pond fed? Has its level dropped since you have had the leakage?

The clay may be preventing absorption of any leakage and leading the water down to your basement.

Consider having an hydrologist check this out and, if my guess is not the cause, determine what is and offer a remedy.

Q. We have a pellet stove in our basement (works good because heat rises and supplements our heating system). The pellet stove is 5 years old and has served us well. Our main problem seems to be because of hopper design. When the hopper gets low on pellets, remaining pellets form a "V" and fail to feed the fire, shutting down the stove. I have tried everything under the sun, and then some, to remedy this problem, with virtually zero success.

We are using softwood (pine) pellets and the pitch residue builds up over time, causing the shutdown. I have cleaned out the hopper, getting it as close to baby smooth as possible. I've tried different waxes, baby powder (cornstarch), Pam cooking spray with no solution to the problem. To "vibrate" the hopper would be impractical as well as very noisy. Have you any suggestions?

A. Sorry, but I am not the right person to answer your question. There are so many pellet stove designs that I think you need to have a stove specialist from the store where you bought the pellet stove help you with this problem. It may be a simple fix.

Q. Do I need the "water backup" rider on my homeowners insurance if I have a mound system and no basement?

A. Normally a sewer backup in a basement-less house would manifest itself in the lowest fixture on the ground floor: a tub or shower drain.

With a mound system, effluent is pumped into it by a sewer ejector pump, which has an alarm system in case of a problem. It sounds to me as if you should be OK, but I suggest you consult with a licensed plumber to be absolutely sure.

Q. I live in Vermont and my north-facing roof line has a ton of icicles, as you can see in the pictures. This happened after we had that crazy thaw and frost. I'm wondering if there is something wrong with my 10-year-old roof. The snow stays on it and does not melt in spots. My house is an A frame with no attic and lots of insulation.

You've helped me before with a woodpecker problem and I'm hoping you can help me this time.

A. I am somewhat puzzled; the photos you sent do not appear to show an A-frame roof. The house in the distance looks more like an A-frame house and is not the one showing icicles.

You haven't mentioned if the south-facing roof still has snow on it. My guess is that the south-facing roof is clear because the icicles I see on the north side look like typical icicles occurring on unheated buildings, such as garages and barns. If there was still snow on the south-facing roof, you should see the same small and regularly sized icicles.

These icicles form when the sun is strong enough and/or the ambient temperatures high enough to cause melting of the surface of the snow, as opposed to snow melting from the bottom of the snow cover caused by heat loss from a building.

This makes sense because you are telling me that the snow stays on the roof and that you have a lot of insulation. These icicles do not indicate a problem with your roof.

Comments from several readers: Sharp-eyed readers have offered other solutions to the problem a reader wrote about with her garage door and automatic opener that did not function as it should when the sun hit one of the sensors. Here are a couple of the suggestions I received.

"Reading your Q&A section in March 9 Daily Herald, I have the solution as suggested by the Chamberlain opener installation instructions. One eye is the transmitter and the other is the receiver. What appears to be happening here is that the sun is interfering with the receiver eye. So simply move the receiving eye to the other side of the garage door. In other words, simply swap the two positions. By the way, my door also faces south."

A. It is also possible for the transmitter to be so affected by the sun, but it is less likely, and in some cases, the wiring may also need to be changed. Great suggestion! Transmitters have a certain forgiveness, emitting a conical signal instead of a laser one. So it's a job that can be done by a handy homeowner.

Here is another ingenious way to handle the problem:

"I enjoy your column. There was a letter Sunday where the writer's garage door wouldn't close because of the sun interfering with the sensor. I had this problem first thing in the morning as I left for work (my house faces east) and found a cheap and easy solution. I took a toilet paper tube and slid it onto the sensor. It happened to perfectly fit, and allowed the sensor to still 'see' the other sensor, while shielding the sensor from the sun coming at it from an angle. Very easy, and there was an endless supply of replacements when the tube wore out. Just thought I'd share."

What a simple and clever solution! Thank you all for helping out and providing more solutions.

• Henri de Marne, a former remodeling contractor turned columnist and consultant, is the author of "About the House with Henri de Marne" (Upper Access Publishing). He continues to take questions from readers for this column and his website, www.henridemarne.com. Email questions to aboutthehouse@gmavt.net.