Home repair: Water softener choices confuse reader

Q. We are in the process of purchasing a home that has its water supplied from a well. The current water softener, which uses salt, is not operational and needs to be replaced.

I know there are other types of water softeners available that do not require salt, but I don’t know much about them. We were wondering if you could provide any information on the advantages or disadvantages of salt vs. saltless softeners?

A. Instead of a sodium chloride water softener, you can have a potassium chloride system installed, which is better for plants. There are also saltless descalers, which work by altering the calcium ions so they won’t stick to your fixtures.

If you are concerned about the consumption of salt through your drinking and cooking water, a reverse osmosis system can be installed at the kitchen faucet to remove the sodium or potassium chloride from the water, while letting the water come from the treatment tank at all other points of use.

Your best bet is to have your water analyzed by a specialist. Kinetico dealers offer free water analysis. Find the nearest one at www.kinetico.com.

Q. I have a storage space under the front porch. It is beside a finished room in the basement with a door leading into it. The problem is that whether the door is open or closed, the metal decking sweats and becomes completely covered with water when it gets cold. I have tried running a dehumidifier, but it still gets wet. The previous owners had it insulated, but the insulation was soaked and smelling bad, so I took it out. It also smells like mildew if the door is kept shut.

I would like to use this space for storage if there is a way to stop the sweating problem. Is there something that can be put on it to stop the condensation?

A. The photo you sent shows a ribbed metal deck supporting what I assume is a concrete porch. Concrete gets very cold and is a good conductor, thus the heavy condensation.

If the deck were flat instead of ribbed, you could glue rigid insulation to the decking. But I am afraid that condensation will be inevitable with the type of ribbed deck you have, as it will be very difficult to prevent air from contacting the metal surfaces that aren’t in contact with the rigid insulation.

My best suggestion is to have the deck sprayed with closed-cell polyurethane insulation when it is completely dry — an expensive solution.

An alternative is to fill all the corrugations with canned foam (it will take a lot of cans), remove the excess and glue XPS rigid foam insulation to the bottom of the ribs. Do not use foam with an aluminum face as the film will peel and the insulation fall off. This alternative might work, but it also will be costly and is not as sure a solution as the sprayed foam.

Q. Last fall we had a new roof put on our house. The contractor had a drip edge made so the water would not come in behind the gutter. Now when it rains and the snow melts, I notice the water is coming in behind the drip edge. Can you tell me what he did wrong? I would appreciate an answer because you give good advice.

A. It sounds as if whoever put on the roof installed the drip edge over instead of under the roofing felt that is put on the sheathing before the shingles are applied. Or perhaps he or she did not put on any felt at all and installed the shingles directly over the sheathing.

Even then, the leakage you describe should occur only when melting snow is backing up behind an ice dam, not when it rains or when snow melts on ice-free eaves.

Something else is wrong, like a missing starter course or improper alignment of the bottom courses of the shingles.

Since it looks as if your contractor is less than competent, have another contractor or roofer take a look at the problem. Be sure to choose experienced people.

Q. I already have a gas log, but I’m thinking about installing a gas insert that would be more efficient in distributing heat. How costly would this transition be, and is it worth the investment?

A. I assume your gas log is in an open fireplace. Some gas inserts are quite efficient and produce a considerable amount of heat.

The only way to know the cost of switching is to get several estimates from local chimney and fireplace shops. If you are counting on the insert to provide a major part of the heat for the space, the cost may be worth it, but if it is only an incidental source of heat, it may take many years to recoup the cost.

Q. We are looking to replace our storm-damaged dimensional shingle roof this spring and are considering metal and laminated shingles. A metal roofing company we contacted said it would install its material on top of the old shingles. Is this the best approach, or is it just for the convenience of the installers? What are your thoughts on metal vs. fiberglass/asphalt?

A. Metal shingles can be installed over one layer of asphalt shingles. This method saves the removal and disposal of the old shingles, as well as landfill space.

Metal shingles reduce the cost of air-conditioning because of their high reflectivity. But this is a minor consideration if the attic is super-insulated, because the insulation is already doing the job.

Metal shingles are more expensive to install than asphalt/fiberglass shingles. But if you consider the longevity of metal shingles over that of asphalt/fiberglass shingles — which have a history of not living up to their claimed warranty, which often is meaningless anyway — they are the better choice in the long run. This is particularly so if you plan to stay in your house a long time. In addition, prospective buyers in some areas value metal shingles.

It’s important when considering a metal shingle roof to make sure the installers are experienced.

Q. We live in a very old, hand-hewn log house that was updated internally about 40 years ago. There are oak hardwood floors throughout of variable widths. Our problem is that these floors are starting to come loose from the subfloors in places. Do you know of any procedure to tighten the boards back down without tearing up the floors first? As far as I can tell, the subfloors are solid and still tight.

Also, can we use soda ash to get mold off our roof without harming the asphalt-based shingles?

A. You can easily tighten the oak floor to the subfloor by using O’Berry Enterprises’ 3233 Floor Squeak Eliminator Kit With Screws, available at Home Depot, Amazon and some hardware stores. It works on hardwood, resilient and carpeted floors. You can see several videos of how it’s done at www.123itsdone.com. The kit’s special screws break off below the surface of the floor, and the holes they leave can easily be filled.

Soda ash — sodium carbonate — is combined with oxygen peroxide to become sodium percarbonate and is used to clean many surfaces, including roofs. Sodium percarbonate returns to sodium carbonate when the oxygen molecules are released. Soda ash is alkaline and is added in small quantities to meet federal transportation regulations.

Several sodium percarbonate products are available. The one I have tried and like very much is OXY-Boost, manufactured by Pacific Sands and distributed and sold by www.ecogeeks.com. The company makes a number of oxygen-based cleaning products that are very effective for cleaning decks, roofs, laundry and other things around the house.

Q. Our problem is blistering of the paint on the plaster crown molding above the fireplace. The chimney is on the exterior with plaster on masonry on the inside wall. It is on the northeast side of the house and gets little sunlight. The roof slopes toward the chimney. We burn logs in the fireplace only a few times a year, so I doubt if heat from a fire is causing this.

We bought our 50-year-old brick ranch in 1996. The previous owner replaced a slate roof with shingles in 1995. There is no overhang. We replaced the gutters because the old ones no longer collected runoff.

We insulated the attic with fiberglass batting, leaving an air gap of 4 inches around the outer edge. We also had shredded paper blown in to all the exterior walls. When we noticed the crown molding deteriorating, we replaced the shingles and flashing around the chimney, changed the cricket and added an ice dam. The roofer found carpenter ants, so moisture must have been getting in.

The problem continued, so we sealed the chimney and added a flue liner to pick up the gas water heater. When looking at the fireplace, the liner is on the left, which has more damage than the right. The wall is also bulging and cracking. The chimney is capped off. The gas furnace and gas dryer vent directly outside.

Do you think filling the space around the flue pipe with vermiculite would solve the problem? I’m thinking this has something to do with the new roof, the insulation, or the addition of central air conditioning. The crown molding was in perfect condition when we bought the house.

A. I am not sure what you mean by “added an ice dam.” Ice dams form at the eaves when snow melts from the bottom of the roof’s snowpack (because the temperature of the attic is above freezing) and freezes as it reaches the cold edge of the roof. Subsequent melting snow is trapped behind the ice dam, and leakage will occur inside the house unless special measures are taken.

The first thing that comes to mind is leakage around the chimney flashing or because of porous bricks or a cracked chimney cap. You had the chimney bricks sealed and replaced the shingles and the cricket, which should have stopped the problem unless the repairs were not properly made.

When you say the chimney is capped off, you must mean that the new liner for the gas water heater has a cap. Since you are using the fireplace to burn logs, that flue is obviously not capped off.

If the gas water heater was vented into an unlined chimney, the moisture in the gases may have saturated the bricks, and, since the plaster is applied directly to the bricks, it could have suffered some damage. But if this was the cause, it should have stopped once a metal liner was installed. But I also wonder why the water heater was not vented to the outside through a wall as are the furnace and the dryer.

Too bad perlite was not poured around the liner when it was installed. You could have it done now, although I doubt that this is the cure.

If your air conditioning is gas-fired, the moisture in the gases is vented through the wall, so this should not be of concern. If your air-conditioning system is electric, as most are, it would also have no bearing on the problem.

I lean more toward the roof flashing around the chimney.

Ÿ 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 email at henridemarne@gmavt.net. His book, “About the House,” is available at www.upperaccess.com and in bookstores.

© 2012, United Feature Syndicate Inc.