Here's a squeaky clean fix for noisy floors

Q. I saw your question-and-answer recently about securing a squeaky floor with different screw products. I have the Squeeeeek No More screws, but our upstairs bedroom is fully carpeted. With the worst noise near the doorway, I have no idea how to find the joists.

A. Several readers have asked me to explain how to find the floor joists so they can use the Squeeeeek No More screws. Floor joists run perpendicular to hardwood floorboards, although I have seen some aberrations where they ran parallel. If you cannot find an electronic stud finder that works on floors, you'll have to find them the old-fashioned way. A skilled carpenter will use a hammer to locate the floor joists by sound. You may want to remove the shoe mold parallel to the hardwood floors on both opposite walls in each room with squeaky floors (the shoe mold is the small molding at the joint of the floor and the baseboard).

Use the smallest bit you have that can protrude a minimum of 2 inches from the drill's chuck. For 4-inch-thick exterior walls, measure approximately 12 inches from the exterior wall that is perpendicular to the run of the hardwood floor; that should be about where the first free joist is (for 6-inch exterior walls, measure 10 inches). At that point, drill a hole where the shoe mold was. If you hit empty space after you have drilled approximately 11/2 inches deep, you have not found the joist. Drill another hole about 1/2 inch to either side until your drill bit hits solid wood all the way through. Continue drilling about 1/4 inch to each side of the good hole until you hit empty space again. This will help you locate both sides of the joist. Put a small nail in the hole at the center of the joist. Do the same for the opposite wall. Run a string between the two nails. Joists are usually 16 inches on center, so the others should be easy to locate. In newer construction, floor joists may be 24 inches on center, especially if the floor is built with I-joists. So adjust as needed.

Since your floor is carpeted, you may have to pull a corner of the carpet up to see if you have hardwood floor beneath to guide you. If there is only a plywood subfloor, the grain of the plywood should run across the floor joists. If you pull up enough of the carpet to see the nailing pattern on the plywood, it will show you the first joist.

Q. I also live in a townhouse and have the same problem as the person who had the squeaky floors. I will try Squeeeeek No More, but can you e-mail me the information you have on how to locate the squeak?

A. If you want to locate the squeak, walk on the floor slowly until you hear the sound. Mark the spot with whatever is handy. If you want to locate the joists, refer to the previous answer.

Squeeeeek No More's Web site is very good and easy to work through. It tells you where you can buy the screws and there is a video demonstration that clearly illustrates how easy it is to use the screws through carpeting.

Q. I have compiled my problems in four packets with accompanying photos for easier control.

• Patio: It is 11 years old and mostly in the sun. There is tree shade on part of it in the afternoon. This shaded area has the most mold or fungus.

• Tuck-pointing: Repair to cracks and loose mortar were done by a contractor that was recommended by my neighbors. I should have checked the work more closely, but my neighbors thought highly of this contractor (no longer in business), so I paid him. Later, when the mortar was dry, I discovered the poor workmanship. I have tried to scrape out the high spots and clean up the mess on the bricks, but it does not remove well.

• Laundry room floor: The floor is 22 years old. It is generally in good shape except for the formation of a hard lime-like formation between the tiles. Most is near the washer and dryer. This deposit is quite hard and does not scrape out easily. Lime Out does not work.

• Downspouts: Slow runoff and freezing. The porch is enclosed. Each year, the downspout freezes and backs up into the gutter, and I have loads of ice. I do have electric roof cables in the gutter and downspout, but timing them is critical or the gutter and downspout freeze. When re-roofing, I had the larger downspout installed. It helped some. Would angling the downspout to remove the 90-degree turns help?

A. Wash the patio with a solution made of equal parts fresh Clorox bleach and water. Do not rinse, but be careful not to use so much that it will run off and kill vegetation on the patio's edge. A safer solution to use is one made with sodium per carbonate, a very effective biodegradable cleaner. One brand is Oxy-Boost, marketed by Eco Geeks, ecogeeks.com, (866) 699-2667. Follow the directions carefully.

• It isn't difficult to remove the mortar smears left by the sloppy contractor, but it requires the use of muriatic acid under controlled conditions. This is a job best done by an experienced mason. He or she can also redo the bad tuck-pointing. When selecting a mason, beware of your well-meaning friends' recommendations. Instead, ask a masonry-supply house for recommendations.

• As for the ice problem in the gutters and downspout of your porch, my guess is that the porch is heated, but its roof is poorly insulated. If this is the case, the simplest remedy would be to insulate the roof. This can be done in several ways, but I would need to know about the ceiling finish, etc., to advise you.

• Your laundry room floor has been subjected to moisture absorption for quite some time. It suffers mainly from a fungus that has discolored the tiles and for which the only solution is replacement. This fungus grows from water that has seeped between the tile joints, soaked the body of the tiles and never dried. Has your washing machine been leaking undetected?

Q. I have moss or mold growing on my roof. I have trimmed trees to let in more air and light to the roof. There are still green gobs growing. What can I do to remove it and keep it away?

A. Have a contractor, or someone with experience walking on a roof, install Shingle Shield under the top full course of shingles. You can get Shingle Shield strips at shingleshield.com, (800) 942-3004. Rain will leach its zinc ions, which will eventually kill the moss and prevent its recurrence - but it will take a long time. Shingle Shield also controls lichen and algae. If the growth is moss (dark-colored fuzzy balls) and not lichen (light green flowerlike growth), it can be removed gently with a broom.

Q. Our town's municipal office is housed in a one-room schoolhouse. The renovation was done in the early 1980s. Along the north and west sides are enormous side-by-side windows that meet in the corner and are about half the length of each side. All but one of these has been painted shut. These may be the original sashes; the glass is very old. Metal storm windows were installed years ago and these cannot be opened from the outside. The office is very stuffy as there is no cross-ventilation, and the windows are filthy. What's the best way to get the windows open and operable from the inside? Our funds are limited, so spending a lot of money on a contractor in this time of economic hardship is not an option.

A. You can buy a tool specially made for that purpose in hardware or paint stores. It is made of steel and has a very thin blade that's shaped like a serrated pear on a handle. You wiggle it through the stuck paint joints, moving it as you break the paint film. A fun job for any volunteers you can talk into it.

Q. Two years ago, I had the installation of commercial type gutters along with the vinyl siding. The gutters do not overflow. The need to clean out the gutters of what little is found is now infrequent. Thank you.

A small number of small dot-like black spots exist on a portion of the vinyl siding of my house over an area about 30 feet (long) by 5 feet from the concrete surface. This may have been the result of cleaning out the nozzle (with it pointing down) of an aerosol can. I believe this condition occurred sometime in late fall of last year. Although the use of a soft scrub or a Brillo pad is specified by the literature that came along with the siding, should I first try Murphy Oil Soap or Fantastik with a soft rag to remove these spots?

A. First, there should be no need to clean the commercial gutters. Heavy rain should eventually clean them out enough, and the large commercial downspouts can handle the amount of debris without clogging.

I doubt that cleaning the nozzle could have caused the blacks spots on your siding over such a large area, unless the wind was blowing hard. The black spots should have shown up immediately. Did the aerosol can contain black paint? If not, the black spots are unlikely to be from cleaning the nozzle. You can easily find out if they are remnants of paint by touching the spots with a clean, white cloth dipped in a paint remover. Make sure to ask the paint store to sell you a paint remover that will not harm the vinyl siding. Use rubber gloves.

Is the concrete a walk against the house wall without any space for plantings? Or are there some plantings - flower beds or shrubs - either between the wall and the concrete or on the outside of the concrete? If so, are they mulched? Are the black spots slightly raised or flat against the vinyl siding? If they are raised, like little pimples, they may be what is called artillery fungus from decomposing organic mulch, and they are impossible to remove. The fungus explodes in the spring or fall and can be propelled 20-plus feet in the air. The only way to prevent it is to put new organic mulch over the old every year, remove the old mulch or replace it with rubber mulch, available in garden-supply stores.

• Henri de Marne 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.

© 2009, United Feature Syndicate Inc.