Water specialist can treat iron issues
Q. I have well water that is quite hard, but I also have a water softener. Nevertheless, I have a lot of mineral deposits in the toilets, around the drain in the sinks, etc. Much of the deposit is white, but some is blue - and occasionally in the toilet, the deposit is rusty colored. I've tried many compounds and lots of elbow grease, to no avail. Do you have any possible solution?
A. You have two separate problems. The white deposits indicate that your softener isn't taking care of the calcium problem and permitting it to work through. You also must have oxidized iron that travels through the softener. A water specialist should be consulted to fix both of these problems by adjusting your softener. The bluish staining indicates a low pH - strongly acid water that is eating your copper pipes. To raise the pH to a neutral 7, which would protect your copper pipes, you need a neutralizer or soda-injection system. Again, a water specialist can take care of that.
Q. I have lived in my house 25 of its 37 years. I've had the outside of the house painted twice during that time with what I believe was a vinyl-based paint. But I cannot attest to what the prior owners used. The paint is now starting to peel off down to the bare shakes. A contractor told me that this is due to the underlying paint being oil-based and that all the outside walls need to be stripped to the bare wood, or the peeling will begin again in the future. I obviously need to repaint the house but need to know what procedure to use.
A. If you have had the house painted only twice in 25 years, the paint job was a good one. Paint can start peeling for a variety of reasons. Since it is peeling down to the bare shakes, it's time to remove it all. You may want to try pressure washing; it may remove most of the paint. Any paint that survives the washing need not be removed. You should prime the shakes with an oil-based primer. The contractor was wrong; oil-based primers are best to use on raw wood, followed by a quality latex finish coat. The top latex paints are not vinyl-acrylic; they are 100-percent acrylic copolymer latex.
Q. Could you please tell me a way to rid carpenter ants from my kitchen without using chemicals. If so, I would be truly grateful.
A. If they are carpenter ants, they may have built a nest in moist wood somewhere, and you should find out where in order to correct the problem. They may be attracted to your dishwasher and come in to feast on any grease from food. Several ants per day for many days may mean that there is a colony in the house, but one ant once in a while may not. The best way I know of to get rid of them is to have a pest-management professional sprinkle ant bait around the outside of your house. I have a family-owned, independent PMP treat my house every spring as a preventive measure. I know this does not answer your "no chemical" request, but it's the best I can do.
Q. My laundry-room pipes freeze in very cold temperatures. The side of my laundry tub borders the outside wall of my house. The water pipes are not directly on the outside wall, but I need to keep them dripping overnight in frigid temperatures. The wall vent for my dryer is below the laundry tub. I have installed a plastic bypass device to let the warm dryer air vent into the house. I push a towel into this to keep the cold air out in winter when the dryer is not in use and also wrap the venting pipe with a towel. It is quite a makeshift setup. The problem is that I want to head to a warmer climate for the winter months and don't want to keep the water dripping for that long a time. How can it be fixed, and whom do I contact? A contractor and/or plumber? I don't know what kind of insulation - if any - I have on that outside wall. Thank you for your help.
A. If your pipes are inside the room - as opposed to being in the outside wall - it sounds as if there is no insulation in your laundry-room walls and that the location of the dryer vent is letting in too much cold air despite your efforts. You should call your utility supplier to find out whether they do energy audits or find out which contractor they would recommend (they may have a list of certified contractors.) Once it is determined that you need insulation in the walls, these certified contractors are usually qualified to do the job.
Q. What's wrong with builders of retirement communities? Saving costs, no doubt. Our tiled guest bathroom is on an outside wall. The only grab bar is the soap dish, hardly adequate even for our grown children. Obviously, friends who visit will not be able to use that bath/shower. It's even difficult to use only the bath and exit safely. I tried it while wearing sneakers and rolling over the side. We don't trust the bars that purport to hold 250 pounds with only their vacuum system attaching them. People have grabbed our shower curtain, but the rod falls since it's held only by tension springs. We think, for safety, we'd better have two bars or ask elderly guests (like everyone here) to use our shower. Our next visitor has had a hip replacement. We own a stud finder and don't trust its reliability through tile. If we drill without finding studs, we will need very costly renovations. Any ideas?
A. Your safest bet is to have the maintenance people install grab bars screwed through the tiles. If they do not perform this type of work, call an experienced contractor.
Q. We have a deck that is 24-by-10 feet, and we are thinking of covering it with an indoor/outdoor carpet. Would that be a good idea?
A. It would be a bad idea, as the wood would never dry. Even pressure-treated wood would be affected by this scenario.
Q. Our house was built in 1992 and is clad with GP T-111 siding on 2-by-6 inch studs filled with R-19 batt insulation. We are considering covering the T-111 with cementitious siding and would like your recommendation on the type of vapor barrier/wrap to apply to the T-111 before the siding. In addition, is the introduction of -inch rigid insulation over the T-111 plus a vapor barrier before the cementitious siding a cost-effective and reasonable approach for energy efficiency?
A. You are asking for serious problems if you install a vapor barrier on the outside of the wall insulation. Only in hot climates - where air-conditioning is the prevalent use of energy - should a vapor retarder be installed on the outside of walls. Instead of using -inch rigid insulation, consider 1-inch extruded polystyrene (XPS); it is worthwhile in the long run. Then, install either Delta-Dry by Cosella Dorken or Home Slicker Plus Typar by Benjamin Obdyke to create a drain plane behind the siding. Any moisture coming from either outside around the siding (it always does) or through the exterior walls will drain harmlessly. This is the only way to build to avoid problems. I just checked on a Delta Dry installation on a house being remodeled, and it is very impressive. You will have to use nails that are long enough to penetrate the T-111 and go into the studs a minimum of 1 inch.
Q. I was hoping you could give me the name of a product that I could use to clean the bathtub/shower buildup due to hard-water residue. Is there a "magic" cleaner out there to alleviate all the scrubbing I have been doing?
A. I have used Kaboom with great success. Be sure that you read the label before buying it, as it cannot be used on certain surfaces. You should be able to find Kaboom in a hardware store.
Q. We have a 50-year-old ranch with cinderblock basement walls leaking in several places. Without exception, every basement-wall repair company has the same approach: dig down around the perimeter exterior wall about 3 feet, install a new French drain and then install some sort of collection system where the interior floor and wall meet. In other words, let the walls continue to leak and deteriorate. Am I missing something here? It seems that the most sensible way to fix the problem is to dig down and replace the old, original French drain, make repairs to the exterior wall where needed and perhaps seal and insulate like is done on new construction.
A. The first thing you should do is to make sure the grade around your house slopes away from the foundation. Flat or negative grade is responsible for 99 percent of basement and crawl-space leakage. If this does not solve the problem, you may want to consider having a collection system installed on the inside perimeter of the basement walls, leading to a sump pump. I am not clear as to where the contractors you spoke with are planning to dig down the 3 feet. Is it around the inside perimeter of the basement or outside? If inside, 3 feet is overkill to install an interior drainage system, but if it is outside, 3 feet will not solve the problem unless the footings are only 3 feet deep, as the drainage system needs to be installed next to the footing of the house.
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 in bookstores and at www.upperaccess.com. Write to him in care of the Daily Herald, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006 or via e-mail at henridemarne@gmavt.net.
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