Test for moisture before installing engineered flooring
Q. I live in a condominium whose ground floor is on a concrete pad. The front of the condo is about three feet below grade. The land slopes down, so the main part of the floor is aboveground. I now have wall-to-wall carpeting over a pad, directly on the concrete. The floor is damp, especially in the summer. I'm almost sure that there is no water vapor on the concrete slab.
I am interested in replacing the carpet with engineered flooring. Should a water vapor be applied under the flooring?
A. The simplest way to determine if an engineered floor can be installed on the concrete slab is to have a flooring contractor test it for moisture. They do this by drilling a small hole in the concrete and inserting a probe. If it turns out that moisture is coming through the concrete by capillary attraction, they will install a vapor barrier prior to the installation of the flooring.
You can also check for moisture yourself by pulling the carpeting off and taping two-foot-square pieces of plastic to the slab with duct tape to seal all the edges. If you see beads of water on the underside of the plastic within a couple of days, you have too much moisture working through the slab.
Q. We have a nine-room brick house. Eight of the rooms are two stories high, and there's a full attic. The TV room is one story with an attic. The main attic over the two-story section has a two-foot-by-two-foot opening on the sidewalls at each end of the attic. The attic over the one-story TV room has a similar opening at one end. Should I seal or close these openings in the winter to reduce heating costs? Or will that cause problems, such as condensation?
A. I assume that these openings have panels closing them off. If not, they should, and they should be weatherstripped. It is best to cut pieces of two-inch-thick rigid insulation to fit in the openings. You can either set them tightly against some molding in the openings or glue them to the back of the panels — whichever is most appropriate. Then, although it is unlikely, check the attics periodically to make sure that no condensation occurs.
Q. I recently installed a ventless, natural-gas heater in my single-car garage. It works great; however, the 18-year-old wooden garage door is sweating with the arrival of cold weather. After researching it, I am sure I can insulate the door myself, but would appreciate your professional input on how you would perform this task. I read your column every week and want to say thanks for all the expert advice you provide.
A. First, please know that heating a garage in cold climates, where snow and ice are cleared with salt, can result in accelerated rusting of the cars parked inside. It is best to keep garages below the freezing point to slow the salt's action on metal. Using an unvented heater in a confined space will generate a considerable amount of moisture — hence the condensation on the garage door — but it is also a life-threatening risk, as are all such appliances that emit carbon monoxide.
You haven't told me whether your door is a segmented overhead door or one that is hinged and opens like a regular door. An overhead door may be difficult to insulate as an afterthought because of the way it folds as it is raised, and the workings of the tracks. The added weight may also cause problems in its operation. These doors sold in cold climates usually come insulated. To insulate a hinged door, you can screw one-inch-thick rigid-insulation pieces to the inside of each of the door panels. You'll have to use washers with the screws. Be sure to check the local ordinances regarding exposed rigid insulation in garages.
Q. What is the likelihood the window and door moldings in our house (built in 1975) contain lead? Do you have any information on someone we could contact to test the molding for lead? I'm thinking of someone to whom we could mail a sample for testing.
A. The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on its proposed lead-in-paint regulations published in the Federal Register on Aug. 10, 1976. So paints formulated prior to 1976 may contain levels of lead that are a risk to young children. You can buy lead-detection kits in hardware and paint stores, or you can send a sample to environmental labs. Your Yellow Pages should have listings under “Environmental & Ecological Services & Products” or similar. There are ways to mitigate lead-painted wood trim without having to remove the paint or replace the moldings.
Q. You may have addressed this problem before, but how can I remove the thick green moss that has formed and is clinging to the outdoor carpet covering my front-porch steps?
A. Try washing it off with Oxy-Boost from Natural Choices. The product to use is the Exterior PROx Nontoxic Deck & Patio Cleaner (1509 Rapids Dr., Racine, WI 53404, 877-492-8123, www.ecogeeks.com). They also have a number of other natural cleaning products that I have found to work well.
Q. We appreciate both your time and your expert analysis. We are intrigued by your suggestion regarding the use of room-size, air-to-air heat exchangers or a whole-house air-to-air heat exchanger. We have never heard of these. How do they work? Are they simply large fans? Where can we find out more about them? Where can they be purchased? Again, thanks for the help.
A. If none of the suggestions I have made to lower the relative humidity (RH) in the house, since changing from an old furnace to a new, high-efficiency one, are applicable, heat exchangers may be the answer. Room-size air-to-air heat exchangers are installed high through a wall in areas most affected by the RH — bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms, etc. Whole-house air-to-air heat exchangers are usually installed in basements and use a duct system to circulate the air throughout the house. HVAC contractors are the people to contact, but not all of them are experienced in the installation of these systems. Check around.
Q. Our house was built around 1985 in a development of 364 homes. Each year, we hear more groans and pops with the seasonal changes of weather, and each year, we notice a few more nail pops by the doors and windows in the wallboard as well as separations (cracks) in some places. One approach I've heard is to place a board flat against the area where the pop protrudes and carefully pound the area flat. Another approach is to dig the nail out and replace it with a wallboard screw, mud the hole, and touch up the paint. The first approach is temporary and the latter a bit more work, which may require repainting the whole room.
We've repaired separations between the wall where the house faces south and the vaulted ceiling many times, but the repairs last only one season until the expansion or contraction begins. I am hoping you have a better, more permanent suggestion to repair these cracks and pops.
A. If the drywall was installed with nails, the better solution is to replace the popped nails with screws and repair and paint the walls. To repair the seam separations, try fiberglass tape, if you haven't already used it. If it is feasible to do so aesthetically, installing a molding is one way to control seasonal movement where walls and ceilings meet. Such movement is usually due to trusses changing shape in the late fall and again in late winter/early spring.
Q. I have four bathroom exhaust fans and one in my kitchen for venting the range hood/microwave outside. On breezy days, a lot of cold air enters the house. The second floor is freezing on windy days. Two of the fans exhaust through soffit vents, and the rest have what look like dryer vents on the side of the house. I had an HVAC company out to look at them. It recommended vents made by Broan, which mount on the roof. The fan manufacturer said that I only need to add a second baffle somewhere along the line. What do you suggest?
A. You haven't said where you live. In cold climates, I would not recommend venting any fans through the roof, as condensation in the ducts runs back down and can rust the fan and stain the ceilings. Venting bathroom or kitchen fans through a soffit is wrong. Soffits are intake ports for attic ventilation, so when the wind blows, the air intake is accelerated and that may be why the second floor is freezing. These fan terminations should be changed to go through gable walls. The ducts should be kept as low as possible, with a slight slope to the outside, and be buried in insulation to reduce the amount of condensation in them. It is best to use rigid schedule 20 bell-end drainpipe instead of the flimsy flexible, accordion-like vinyl so often used. The bell ends should be toward the fan. Set R-13 fiberglass batts snugly next to and on top of the pipe. Metal ducting is also acceptable. If the dryer-like wall jacks are vinyl with several flaps, consider replacing them with hooded aluminum or plastic jacks with a built-in baffle. If you can find aluminum jacks with a spring-loaded flap, install those. The second flap the fan manufacturer recommended should be on the fan exhaust; you may want to check that your fans have such a baffle.
These problems are common, which is why I developed a different system in the late 1970s that garnered me both federal and state awards for energy conservation. Instead of venting fans upward, I started venting them downward through the band joists of basements or crawlspaces, using the laws of physics to my advantage. The natural stack effect occurring in all houses forced the flaps of the jacks shut, whereas when the venting is done upward, the stack effect causes the flaps to open up, leading to constant energy loss. This is not practical to change in existing conditions, so you will have to deal with the other suggested fixes.
Q. My home is a 40-year-old redbrick ranch. The mortar joints need to be re-pointed. I have asked many people how I can get the mortar I use to look like the existing mortar. Lowe's tells me that there is nothing in its store that can accomplish this. Dyes won't work, so could you tell me what will?
A. It is difficult to match mortar, even from day to day while the house is being built. You haven't said what your mortar looks like now. Mortar can be darkened with the application of boiled linseed oil. Sometimes, a little dirt can be mixed with the oil. If the mortar is dark, a little lampblack can be added to the mix. It's an art that experienced masons are familiar with. Unfortunately, you may have to experiment and live with the results.
If the re-pointing job is extensive (most of the joints need doing), the alternative is to grind the existing mortar out enough to apply the new mortar to all of them. If only a few joints need grinding, I suggest using a Dremel or Rotozip tool.
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 e-mail at henridemarne@gmavt.net.
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