Gutter guards are unlikely to prevent, or cause, ice dams
Q. Happy to read your thoughts on gutter guards in my local newspaper. It is timely since this year, following recent major surgery, I was prepared to stop cleaning them myself and get one system or another installed. I had always held back in previous years due to my fear of ice damming. Also, clogs from other sources than leaves - twigs, spring leaf buds, twirly birds, etc.
We live in a heavily wooded area of northwestern Hunterdon County, N.J. On average, I clean my gutters 20 to 30 times a year. It sounds extreme, but I do it safely from the ground by vacuuming the contents (when dry) with a powerful wet/dry Shop-Vac attached to sections of light schedule PVC pipe with an elbow at the cleaning end, the kind used for central-vac systems. This has worked extremely well for 18 years, but now I will hire a service for the foreseeable future. Do you feel that ice damming could potentially rear its ugly head because of gutter guards? Every year we get a freak rain event during the cold months, typically when there are several inches of thick snow or ice covering the entire roof.
A. I hope you are recovering well, and you have my best wishes. You must hold the world record for gutter cleaning, and with such an innovative gutter-cleaning system, you should be in the Guinness Book on both counts.
Ice dams form when melting snow - or rain on a roof covered with snow - reaches cold eaves. This happens whether or not there are gutters or gutter guards of one kind or another.
Some gutter-guard manufacturers claim that their gutter guard will prevent ice dams, but I find it difficult to put any stock in these claims because the guards do not change the dynamics of ice-dam formation. Most gutter guards are quite expensive, running between $1,500 and $3,500 for an average house; you can pay for a lot of gutter cleanings for that amount of money if you cut down on their frequency.
If you are concerned about debris accumulating in the gutters and clogging the downspouts, one option is to have commercial downspouts attached to your gutters. Commercial downspouts should never clog and are 3-inch by 4-inch instead of 2-inch by 3-inch for residential downspouts. Some installers will tell you that it can't be done, but that is because they don't want to bother. You can also opt for commercial gutters that are 6 inches instead of 5 inches. However, if you decide to have gutter guards installed, there are several choices worth investigating: The Bottle Brush is one of the least expensive and simplest to install; visit their Web site gutterbrush.com. Another choice is a foam-type filler; gutterfiller.com. The question I have with all of these is what happens when they freeze up? They could aggravate the ice-damming problem.
Another system worth considering - entirely different and not a gutter guard - and only if the grade around your house slopes away from the foundation, is the Rain Handler, a series of horizontal Venetian-like blinds that sprays water away from the building; check their Web site: rainhandler.com. I have had very good luck with it on several houses. It will not collect any debris and can stand the weight of sizable icicles.
Have you had problems with ice damming in the past? If so, you are likely to continue having these problems, gutter guard or not. The best insurance against ice damming is a roof with the following criteria: a very well-insulated and ventilated roof, if it is insulated with cellulose or fiberglass; a roof insulated with closed-cell polyurethane and no need for ventilation; or a cold roof.
Q. I hope you can help me with this problem. I inherited a beautiful set of mahogany bedroom furniture from my grandmother several years ago. The furniture was made during the war and two pieces, the chest of drawers and the vanity, are cedarized. Although the set is almost 70 years old, the cedar scent is overwhelmingly strong. Anything I keep in there must be washed multiple times before I can wear it, or I smell like mothballs. If I put scented drawer liner paper in the furniture to diminish the cedar smell am I damaging the wood? If lining the drawers with scented paper is not a good idea, what else can I do to get rid of the mothball smell?
I realize the purpose of cedarizing the wood had good intentions, and it does keep the moths away, but if I wear the clothes that I keep in there the smell keeps people away.
A. They don't make furniture like that anymore! Most newer cedarized furniture loses its scent in a few years. Try lining the drawer bottoms with regular shelf-lining paper; it is better than scented paper that would disguise the cedar scent with another one - much like air-fresheners used in bathrooms. If that works, your problem is solved, but you might want to keep one drawer unlined to give you the option of wearing heavily cedar-scented clothes when you are about to be with people you would want to chase away. If it does not work, you may want to try applying a coat of shellac on one drawer side at a time until you have achieved a tolerable level that preserves the mothproofing quality of the cedar.
Q. We live in a 14-year-old contemporary colonial that has a dry unfinished basement. We recently purchased a "bucketless" dehumidifier that has a hose through which the water is pumped out. Since we have no drain or sink in the basement, we are looking at running the hose through the window (which the unit is also designed for). It can pump up to 10 vertical feet. We chose this model because we questioned whether we could keep up with emptying a traditional unit.
The current model is designed only to operate above 40 degrees. So I have a few questions. Opening the window for the hose is going to require us to close off the open section of the window. Will we be able to adequately close out excess moisture? And what about not running it in the winter? Can the basement withstand the humidity during the winter months without problems?
A. You haven't said what type of windows you have in the basement. Many unfinished basements have hopper windows. If this is the case, you can lift the sash out and replace it with either plywood or an acrylic panel through which a hole is drilled for the hose. If you have sliding sashes, you can either remove one of the sashes or slide it enough to insert a panel for the hose. You'll probably have to get some sealing material to put between the sashes at their meeting stiles - the type that is used with window air-conditioners. Dehumidifiers are not very effective in colder temperatures, so it is best not to use it in the winter. Assuming that your heating appliance is in the basement, it provides enough heat to keep relative humidity under control.
Q. I am seeking direction on a "sewer gas" smell that our one daughter tells us about as soon as she comes into the house. Presently, I have three sewer outlets in my basement that I try to pour water into when I remember to do so. One outlet is in the garage, one is in a shower that I built many years ago. The third is in the basement area that has the washer and dryer. Personally, I don't smell the "gas." But last week our one son-in-law was here for several days and he likes to shower in the basement, as I do. On the second day of his visit he noticed the smell, too. Any suggestions for an item I could buy to remove this smell - or any combination of things I could mix on my own to control it? The house was built for us back in 1959.
A. A sewer smell can come from an empty floor drain, and since it is smelled inside the house, it is unlikely to be caused by the one in the garage. So we are left with the one in the shower and the one in the laundry room. Since your son-in-law smelled it after using the basement shower, it rules this one out. We are left with the floor drain in the laundry room. Have you neglected to pour water in it for a while? Try pouring a mixture of equal parts water and bleach in it and see if that helps.
Another possible source of the smell is a toilet seal. You haven't mentioned a toilet in the basement. But if there is one, its wax seal may need to be replaced, which is best done with a new type of seal like the Fluidmaster 7500 Wax-Free Toilet Bowl Gasket Kit. Hardware stores sell them.
Sewer smells emanating from failing toilet seals are more prevalent in winter as the stack effect in houses draws them out to contribute to the replacement of air lost by exfiltration through upper-floor windows, etc. It is also possible that the standpipe for the clothes washer is not properly plumbed and does not have a trap.
Q. I read your article in the Daily Herald and thought I'd ask you about a problem I have with the caulk in my shower/tub enclosure. I had a shower/bathtub covering installed over my existing tub about five years ago. The caulking around the shelves that were glued to the walls of the enclosure has yellowed, and I cannot find a cleaner that will clean it. I called the installer and was told to try mineral spirits, which did nothing. I also tried lacquer thinner, CLR and a variety of other cleaners and nothing has worked. Any suggestions short of removing and replacing the caulk?
A. Try the Clorox Bleach Pen. If the yellowing is due to a form of mold, it should help. If it doesn't, and the caulking can be painted, ask a paint or hardware store for a white-paint pen.
• Henri de Marne's column appears Sundays. He was a remodeling contractor in Washington, D.C., for many years, and is now a consultant. 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.
© 2008, United Feature Syndicate Inc.