A special video camera can reveal condition of air ducts

Q. I read your column in the Daily Herald. My house was built over the winter of 1962-'63 in Northwest suburban Chicago. I have air ducts embedded in the concrete slab in my lower level. In all those years I have never noticed water or dirt in those ducts. However, because I don't get much heat from the air ducts under the sliding doors to the patio, which are furthest from the furnace, I was thinking of having the air ducts professionally cleaned and then sealed with that Aeroseal I read about in your column.

Now I am wondering if that is a good or bad idea. Please advise.

A. It seems doubtful that your air ducts embedded in the concrete slab would lose pressure through air leaks unless the concrete has cracked around them.

You may want to have an HVAC contractor with a video camera examine the ducts to see if there is any dirt or water in them. If your HVAC contractor does not perform this service, a duct-cleaning specialist is the person to call. The camera may also reveal cracks, if there are any. He or she will hopefully be honest enough to tell you that you do not need duct cleaning or air sealing if that is the case.

Your system may simply need balancing by an HVAC contractor to increase the airflow to the patio doors, or the installation of a special booster fan in the duct to these doors to increase it.

Q. I have two bathrooms that share a common wall with the two toilets directly opposite the common wall. I recently installed a Kohler Cimarron toilet. This has presented an interesting problem: When the Cimarron toilet is flushed, the water level on the other 1.6-gallon toilet goes down by an inch or more. After several flushes, the water level is at the trap height.

This was never an issue before. The plumbing below the bathrooms shows that there is a "T" connection for the two toilets. The soil pipe then reduces in diameter and "T's" again for the two sinks, then continues up to vent out the roof. I initially thought there might be a venting issue, so I removed one of the sink traps, but the problem was exactly the same.

I also considered re-piping the soil pipe to eliminate the "T" and put a few feet between the drains using "Y" piping. However, since I have all copper soil pipes, it would be a considerable task for me to do. Any suggestions?

A. The Kohler Cimarron is a very low flush model. If installed back to back to another toilet, as yours is, it must be plumbed with a "Y." The problem you are experiencing is because of the "T" connection.

Q. I have discovered that my attic is full of green mold and I do not have proper ventilation. My neighbor showed me a column in the Daily Herald in which you speak on the subject. I really do not know where to begin to fix the issues and who to trust. I am in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago. Any help you can give is much appreciated.

A. Mold in an attic does not necessarily mean that it is solely caused by lack of ventilation. It is more likely to mean that there are one or more sources of excessive moisture. These sources can be bathroom and kitchen fans, or a dryer vent, discharging into the attic; an uninsulated and unweatherstripped access panel or stairway to the attic; moisture from the heated space convecting into the attic through cracks in room finishes, around ceiling fixtures and fans, etc.

To find out where the excessive moisture is coming from, consider having an energy audit performed on your house. Your state or utility provider may either offer such a service or steer you to someone who does. The audit should point out the areas that need to be corrected to solve the problem.

Once the source or sources of moisture have been eliminated, the mold is likely to die, especially under the heat of the summer. You may also spray the mold with Wet & Forget Indoors, www.wetandforget.com.

But if you are concerned about potential health hazards, you can have the mold tested. If you want the mold removed, it can be done by specialists in remediation. Again, your local government or the energy auditor may be able to provide you with names.

Q. Your info on cleaning a cedar deck requires a bath with equal parts of Oxy-Boost and Deck & Patio cleaner. I have the Oxy-Boost and the deck cleaner, but the deck cleaner I have is in a bottle that is a liquid and is dispensed by a hose. Is there a cleaner that will be a powder that will mix with the Oxy instead?

A. My recommendation is to use a mixture of equal parts Oxy-Boost and Deck & Patio Cleaner powders by EcoGeeks dissolved in hot water. I am not aware that EcoGeeks' Deck & Patio Cleaner comes in liquid form; you must either have a different brand or the powder may have already been mixed with water.

The sodium per carbonate in Oxy-Boost and Deck & Patio cleaner, once mixed in hot water, has a very short life and the solution needs to be used within a couple hours to be as effective as possible. So it is important to mix only as much solution as can be used in that time. You can buy both Oxy-Boost and Deck & Patio Cleaner at www.ecogeeks.com.

Q. We recently purchased a condo that has pre-finished oak wood floors throughout most of the unit. Can you recommend the best way to clean them? Will products like Bona, Swiffer, etc., or a steam cleaning, be a problem because of the micro grooves that are not sealed as in a finished, on-site floor?

A. You can wipe the floors with a Swiffer pad after a slight misting with water. It will pick up any dust on the wood. You can also wipe the floor with what is considered the best floor cleaner: Bona. Do not use steam on a wood floor.

Q. The windows in my brother's 15-year-old house are rotting. They were made by ROW. He got a quote to replace them with Andersen windows. Is that a good choice?

A. It's a very good choice. Andersen Windows makes high-quality windows and it is one of the leaders in the industry.

Follow-up on Andersen Windows: I received an important reply from a representative of Andersen windows, which should be of great help to the reader who originally asked me for suggestions about what to do with her old, failing Andersen windows.

Here is the comment from Andersen Windows, with some light editing:

"I am following up on your column this weekend when you had a reader ask you about Andersen Windows that were deteriorating. She had asked about replacing the windows and you brought up Marvin Integrity. ...

"The way I see it, your customer has two choices, both of which will be a lot less expensive than replacing all her windows.

"First, we still have replacement parts for all those windows, so if the frames are still in good shape, she can get new sash to replace the old, and she can get the new sash with low-E glass at a huge savings and less mess than total replacement.

"The second option she has is to use what we call our Narroline Conversion kits, which work with those double-hung windows. Again, as long as the frames are still in good shape (which they typically are because of the way we clad that unit), the sash and jamb liners are removed, and new jamb liners and sash are installed, which will give her the ability to tilt the sash for cleaning and give her a tightfitting new unit with low-E glass. The replacement process takes about 30 minutes if you do not know how to do it - 20 if you do!

"Window service in the past was handled by the window manufacturers themselves, even though most manufacturers sell their product through independent retailers. This has changed with most companies due to the amount of units sold today and the number of units still in use throughout the country.

"We, like Marvin and others, have some factory representatives, but a lot of our service is completed by our independent window retailers or independent contractors. We pay them to complete service and even incent them to get service done in a timely fashion. If they get average service jobs done in less than 72 hours, we pay them at a higher rate.

"I am sorry you and your readers had problems, and I sure hope that if there was dissatisfaction that they called up to our service line to express their dissatisfaction because that is the only way we find out if one of our customers is not servicing the product the way we expect them to." - James Sullivan, CGP, business development representative, Andersen Windows Inc.

From De Marne: I appreciate the update. Not only is this helpful to the earlier reader, who I hope will see this before making a final decision, but it will be helpful to many people who still have serviceable Andersen windows. I installed many Andersen windows in my work, including on my house, and had very good luck with them, including when I needed some servicing.

• Henri de Marne was a remodeling contractor in Washington, D.C., for many years, and is now a consultant. His book, "About the House," is available at www.upperaccess.com and in bookstores. His website is www.henridemarne.com. Readers can send questions to Henri de Marne's email address at henridemarne@gmavt.net.

© 2014, United Feature Syndicate Inc.