Window technique involves air, not gas

Q. I communicated with you roughly a year ago regarding the Andersen collapsed-glass problem. I saw in the newspaper that you addressed the same problem with another homeowner. You stated that after the hole is drilled, a gas is injected into the space between the panes of glass. Is this the "official" Andersen-approved procedure? I ask because the techs who fixed my problem did not inject anything. They simply allowed air to be drawn between the panes. I've always wondered about this because in the manufacturing process, they use an inert gas, I assume for the purpose of improved e-performance. If air is OK for the repair, why not for the initial manufacture?

Via e-mail

A. Only air is allowed back in. It would be too complicated to have gas inserted. The reason gas is used in the factory is because it is more efficient -- but impractical to use in the field. However, this field procedure cures the collapsed-glass problem and increases the energy efficiency of the window.

Q. I read your column in our Daily Herald here in Palatine, Ill., every Sunday. As far as I can recall, I have never seen you address a vinyl-tile repair question. I installed an Armstrong Glazecraft vinyl-tile floor a number of years ago, and there is an area of 2 inches where something scraped the "skin" off the Glazecraft tile. There is a Vinyl Floor & Tile Repair Kit that I've seen on the Internet. Have you ever used this kit? If you have a good method of repair for this "skinned" tile, I welcome your advice. The Internet link that shows this product is tinyurl.com/35qo2j.

Palatine

A. The product sounds interesting, but I have had no experience with it. If you want to be the guinea pig, please let me know how it works out. From the descriptions listed on the Web page you provided, it does not sound easy to use.

Q. My daughter purchased a home that was built around 1940. It has two chimneys, but neither is in use. One chimney runs from the basement through the kitchen and the upstairs bathroom to the roof. The house has radiator heat, so there is a "furnace" of some type near the basement part of the chimney. I don't know if this chimney is needed to vent the furnace.

The interior walls are plaster, and we painted the kitchen and bathroom when she bought the house in 2003. The plaster on the chimney that is in the bathroom started peeling and cracking and is a big mess. The wall is just crumbling apart, and the same thing is happening in the kitchen. Do you have any ideas why this is happening and what we could do to stop it? Do you think it would be possible to just entirely eliminate this chimney? It just takes up space as far as I can see. The roof is slate, so it would be difficult to fix this if the chimney was removed. But nothing with this house has been easy.

Pittsburgh, Pa.

A. One chimney is venting the gases from the boiler, and it must not be removed or altered without a check from the fire department. The only way your daughter could stop using this chimney for the boiler is to have the old boiler replaced with a new, efficient one that is vented through a wall. I gather that the other chimney is in another location.

Is it used for a fireplace on the main floor? Or is it venting the gases from a separate gas- or oil-fired water heater located elsewhere in the basement? It should be easy to look at both of them and figure out what they are used for. If you can't tell, ask a representative from your utility provider, a masonry or general contractor or an experienced friend to check it out. It is possible that the previous owners had the plaster on the chimney repaired before putting the house on the market, as it does not make sense for the plaster damage to suddenly appear, unless there is a new problem with the chimney flashing at the roofline or the chimney masonry. You need to have an experienced roofer or a masonry contractor check the flashing and the condition of the chimney cap and mortar joints. They may need repairs. If the boiler is replaced, and this chimney is no longer needed, it can be taken down at a considerable expense, and the roof can be patched by a slater.

Q. We are in a 4-year-old, developer-built house. The framing is 2-by-4-foot studs at 16 inches on-center with fiberglass batting and Styrofoam sheathing. The vinyl siding has faded enough that the manufacturer has agreed to replace it at no cost to us. We have reason to question how well the Styrofoam sheathing was installed: We watched other houses in our neighborhood being built after we moved in, and there are serious voids, gaps and holes in the sheathing on most of the houses. We have no reason to believe ours was done with any more care or skill.

Should we have the house wrapped when the contractor installs the new siding? It would be over the Styrofoam sheathing and under the new vinyl siding. We wonder if that would help reduce air infiltration. Or would it be a waste of time and money? Instead of wrapping, would it make sense to have joints and other defects in the sheathing taped? We have also wondered if we should consider having plywood installed over the Styrofoam before the new vinyl is installed. We are pretty sure that would create problems with window and doorframes unless it was very thin. We would appreciate your thoughts.

South Burlington, Vt.

A. It's a shame that there are still sloppy builders around. Your best scenario is to fill any voids found in the Styrofoam rigid insulation with canned polyurethane, like Polycell or Great Stuff. A small squirt at each void is all it would take. When the foam has cured -- the next day -- it can be trimmed with a sharp knife. Once this is done, it may be wise, considering the appalling construction of your house, to cover the Styrofoam with one of the housewraps on the market. It will help eliminate air infiltration. I would not recommend adding plywood.

Q. We have a 20-year-old Weil-McLain boiler that is running at 80-percent efficiency. Our house is 36 years old and is a two-story with 2,100 square feet of living space. We have replaced the windows with Marvin wood thermopane. We replaced the siding five years ago with vinyl but did not have the rigid insulation as you recommend -- only the Tyvek. We are considering a Baxi Luna Boiler for heating only, as we installed a storage tank three or four years ago. We are also considering a Buderus boiler. What are your recommendations on this?

Via e-mail

A. It would make no sense replacing an 80-percent efficient boiler with one that would cost you $4,000 to $5,000 to gain only the 6-percent efficiency a standard boiler would provide. You would never recover the capital cost. The only reason for doing so is if the present boiler leaks and is expensive to repair.

You must have natural gas, and considering a condensing boiler that achieves 95- to 99-percent efficiency. (Buderus condensing boilers are only for natural gas, whereas Baxi Luna Boilers can use propane gas as well.) Condensing boilers are the only boilers that attain such high efficiency, but they come at a price. Both Baxi Luna and Buderus make wall-hung boilers. Buderus is a cast-iron boiler with a long-standing track record, while Baxi Luna has a stainless-steel heat exchanger.

Q. Our sump pump makes several irritating "thumps" as it finishes emptying that can be heard all the way on the second story. We had a plumber look at it while he was in the house, and it made one "thump." He determined that it was backflowing while emptying, which he repaired.

However, since he left, it now makes three to four of these aggravating noises. I assume that it must be vibrating on something. Any suggestions?

Via e-mail

A. The thumping you hear is likely caused by the sudden shutting off of the pump, which causes the column of water in the pipe to settle harshly on the check valve. I don't know of a way to stop it.

Q. I have a question for you regarding snow on house roofs. Why is it that snow remains on the roof of some houses and not on others? Specifically, I am wondering why snow does not remain very long on my house roof but remains on the garage roof. I have an attached garage that is heated; the interior walls and ceiling are finished with drywall. The walls are insulated, as is the ceiling. There is no insulation on the roof rafters.

Lake Villa, Ill.

A. Snow can remain on some roofs because of their reduced exposure to the elements and because their attics are very well insulated. Ventilation can be a factor as well. In areas of strong wind, it is not unusual to see one side of the roof with little or no snow while the opposite side has a very heavy snow cover. A roof plane facing south will also lose its snow cover faster, particularly as the sun gets stronger in late February and March. The snow may be melting faster on your house roof because your attic may not have enough insulation or there is considerable convection of warm, moist air from the living quarters below. In these cases, you should have ice dams at the roof's eaves -- not a good thing to have. Your garage roof keeps its snow cover because the temperature in the garage is lower than the temperature in the house. It can also be that the house roof is more exposed to the wind than the garage roof.

© 2008, United Feature Syndicate, Inc.