Aging magnesium rod may be causing foul water smell

Q. We have a vacation home that goes unused at various times of the year. When unoccupied, we leave the water in the pipes but turn off the electric hot water heater. We have experienced a strong, unpleasant smell from the water after returning to the house after it has been unused for a month or more. It seems to be present when we run the hot water faucet. Apparently, the water sitting in the hot water heater tank becomes stagnant after a period of time. The smell disappears after we run the hot water for a long period of time. Is there any way to eliminate this odor, or should we drain the tank when we are going to be away for any more than a few weeks? A. It sounds as if the sacrificial anode, also known as the magnesium rod, is deteriorating. The rod is there to protect the inside of the tank from the corrosion that would shorten its life. Over time, the rod is eaten by the acidity in the water (water with a low pH), and the stagnant water in tanks begins to reek. In houses that are lived in on a daily basis, there is usually no time for such an odor to develop until the rod is eaten up, as the water in the tank is constantly being used and replenished, but this becomes a problem with vacation homes.You can have a plumber remove it permanently, which will solve the odor problem but also shorten the life of the tank. Or you can have it replaced with a new rod that will eventually suffer the same fate.Another way to resolve the odor problem is to have a plumber, who knows about this fix, install a special nipple and shut-off valve on the hot water feed at the top of the tank in order to pour hydrogen peroxide into the tank, using a funnel. When you arrive at your vacation home, shut off the cold water supply, draw about a gallon of hot water by opening the drain cock at the base of the tank, open the new shut-off valve and pour two pints of hydrogen peroxide in the tank. Reverse the procedure and give the hydrogen peroxide time to clear the smell out.Our stair rail banister (the one that goes up halfway with balusters) has come loose from its attachment to the drywall. We have a standard developer's house built around 1970. Currently, the drywall is mostly intact, with a little scraping where a nail has rubbed horizontally. I am at a loss for how to reattach this or whom I should call. Would the repair necessitate removing the drywall?A. Any experienced carpenter should be able to reattach the railing to the drywall. If you do not know of one, ask family members, friends and neighbors. Someone you know is likely to have had work done by a good mechanic.I am redecorating my bathroom and have a faux-marble vanity top. Is there a way to refinish it? I don't want to replace it, due to the expense.A. You didn't say why you need to refinish it. Is it damaged in any way? That type of finish can't be sanded successfully, as what you see is only a surface coating. Any work done may deface it. If there is no surface damage and you only want to change its appearance, you may paint it with an epoxy paint. If it has lost its sheen, you can apply Gel-Gloss to it.Thank you for your article on Pella windows. During the fall of 2007, we had Pella windows installed in our home. We chose the Pella Architect Series model. They are all-natural wood on the inside to match the natural woodwork of our home and are white-vinyl clad over aluminum on the exterior. Our house is about 45 years old. At the same time, we also had two Pella fiberglass doors and all-glass storm doors installed. In your article, you mentioned that Pella windows had trouble with "a history of major rot" issues. Do you remember what time frame this was? And what type of window your article concerned? Since the windows and doors were installed, we have been very happy with the results, of making our home more comfortable and helping to lower our heating bills.A. Pella had serious rot problems some 20 years ago and was involved in two local cases where the bottom of all doors and windows rotted because the metal cladding was not properly sealed to the glass. Water penetration rotted the interior wood cores. At the time, Pella absolutely denied responsibility and refused to make good. One case was finally settled after Pella faced litigation, following several months of acrid communication between the customers and the company. I don't know if the other one ever was settled. Following the mention of these cases in my column, quite a number of readers reported similar problems. I was contacted by an official from Pella who assured me that they would stand behind their products, and to have any complaints referred to her. I understand that Pella has improved their products, and I have not heard of any problems since.I have a 43-year-old concrete driveway that is showing wear from rock salt and calcium chloride. I inquired at the big box store about recoating with products they carry. I did not feel comfortable with the advice I received when I asked questions like: How long can recoating last, and how often would I need to recoat? I also need to know how good the product is or which is the best on the market. Any suggestions?A. There are some good patching materials, but how extensive is the damage and how big is your driveway? It may be less expensive, and you may end up with a better-looking job, to have a thin layer of topcoat asphalt laid over the concrete. If the damage is not too extensive, one of the better repair products is ThoroCrete. Sakrete also makes patching mixes, such as Top 'N Bond. If there is room to have a new concrete cap poured over the present concrete, that's also an option, but it will need to be a minimum of two inches to withstand the traffic.We live in a 9-year-old house that has a partial basement plus a crawl space. The crawl-space floor is finished with a skim coat. We noticed recently that there is a thin crack in the skim coat that goes nearly the length of the crawl space and shows the soil beneath. How important is it to repair this crack, and how is it done? Is it an "easy" fix that we can do? What kind of person would we hire to do the work?A. If the thin crack allows you to see soil beneath the concrete cap, it must be larger than a shrinkage crack, and it may have been caused by settlement of the soil, which may not have been hard-packed. If the crack is 3/8-inch or less, you can seal it with polyurethane caulking. If it is wider, you can try to repair it with ThoroCrete, but the crack may recur. The skim coat may have been poured in an attempt to control soil moisture, but it is not very effective, as even thicker concrete is vapor permeable. If you are not using the crawl space for storage, the simplest fix is to lay a sheet of 6-mil plastic over the entire floor.You had many errors or misleading information in a recent reply and I believe you should re-answer the letter. First, most houses do not have the capability of having a recirculating system without an expensive retrofit: removing walls to access pipes and install the return, and insulating the pipes to reduce heat loss. Running the tank water heater 24/7 will drastically increase their electric or gas bill. Yes, if your faucet is 100 feet from any water heater you will have a delay in receiving hot water, but most of us do not have mansions. A centrally located unit and a tankless system can be installed almost anywhere. Twenty feet or less from the point of use, and the hot water arrives in a few seconds. But the big advantage of the tankless units is three, five or 10 people in a row can get a hot bath without waiting for the water heater to recover. And since hot water is only used in spurts (morning showers, dinner dishes, etc.), you are not using energy 24/7. And like a tankless unit, every conventional tank heater cannot support several people bathing at once with a dishwasher and clothes washer running at the same time. Water pressure will be low. I have used an electric tankless unit for my whole house since I built it 25 years ago and just replaced the original unit two years ago with a more efficient unit and have never run out of hot water! Please do the right thing and correct your reply; it was very deceiving.A. I don't know what prompted your comments, but it sounds as if you didn't read the question and my answer carefully. I did not suggest that anyone who wants instant hot water go through the expense of having it retrofitted by tearing down walls to install a return line and insulate pipes, etc. I have mentioned in the past that in new construction, this is an option, but that there are pumps available, such as the Laing Autocirc, for existing houses. I have such a pump, and it is working out very well. The pump does not work 24/7 as you claim. It has a timer that can be set to any period. Moreover, the pump does not work constantly during the selected-use cycles, it works intermittently as the water cools in the pipes. We have had it for a couple of years and have not experienced the increase in the cost of electricity you claim will occur, but we have enjoyed the convenience of instant hot water at all faucets. Before the installation of the Laing Autocirc, we wasted water and energy to heat all the cold water that entered the water heater to replace the cold water in the pipes that needed to be flushed before we got hot water. You are ignoring the fact that most houses already have their water heater in the basement and that the various fixtures are often scattered throughout the house. So the choice to have the water heater set in a central location is not available. For a tankless water heater to accommodate the up to 10 people taking a bath in succession and the other water usages you mention, requires a very large and expensive unit, similar to those commonly used in Europe. And the volume of water is not as strong as it can be with a regular tank in order for the tankless heater to heat the water to the desired temperature. A regular tank can support several usages if properly sized; I don't know where you get your information. If a tankless has worked for you, it's fine, but it is not the panacea you make it out to be. I have heard from several readers who had one installed and do not like it. For your information, water pressure is the wrong term to use. The pressure is delivered by the municipal utility or a pressure tank, and is set. The volume of water you get at each faucet is determined by how wide the faucet is opened and by the tankless heater's ability to heat the water to the desired temperature.bull; 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.#169; 2009, United Feature Syndicate Inc.