Home & GardenHome Improvement
-
HOME & GARDEN
-
Sections
-
Browse by day posted:Browse by week posted:
-
E-mail us: Send home and garden tips and ideas.
- HOME IMPROVEMENT
-
Home improvement blog from
Henri de Marne -
Latest posts
• Furniture's cedar scent unwelcome on clothes 2:07 p.m. ET
• Musty basement fix is question of choice 5:33 p.m. ET
- JUST IN
-
What will keep a Florida room warm?
by Henri De Marne/United Features
Wednesday December 24, 2008, 1:44 PM
Q: I am trying to determine the most efficient and cost-effective way to heat our Florida room. We replaced the louvered, crank-out windows with double-pane, high-efficiency windows. A few of these windows are casements to provide ventilation. The dimensions are approximately 30 feet long by 12 feet wide with 8-foot ceilings. (It is unlikely the wood ceiling has insulation; above it, the roof goes to the outside). It is attached to our house on the north and west sides. These walls are block covered with stucco. The south side of the room, which overlooks a lake, has approximately 2 feet of stucco-covered block as a base and four 6-foot-long-by-4-foot high windows. There are casements on each end and picture windows in the middle. The north side also has 2-foot block/stucco base with two approximately 4-foot-by-4-foot casement windows with a door in between.
The floor is concrete slab with slate. The Florida room will be replacing our family room, as we'll need to convert our family room into a bedroom. Our home is heated with oil. We use propane for cooking and clothes drying. It was suggested that we do not use oil heat, as we'll keep the temperature low when not in use. Does this make sense to you? I could easily run a propane line or dedicated electrical line to supply heat if necessary. It was also suggested that I look into Hydro-Sil (a silicone-filled baseboard heating system that uses electricity as its power source). I contacted the manufacturer and was told that it would cost approximately $52 per month to heat the room (assuming outside temperature is 0 F and we keep the room at 70 F, 24 hours a day). The cost is $800 for materials, excluding electrical. Are you familiar with this product? Propane is the last option.
-- Oak Ridge
Post a comment | View comments (0)
How to safely remove spots on wood siding
by Henri di Marne/United Features
Wednesday December 31, 2008, 1:43 PM
Q: We have a house on Lake Champlain in Vermont, built with plantation mahogany wood clapboard siding in 1995. We have noticed areas on the exterior walls (mostly north facing or shaded) developing black spots and discoloration, which we presume to be mildew or mold. The house was stained about four or five years ago with a Cabot semi-transparent product. Except for these spots, it seems to be in very good shape with color and coverage. What is the best way to remove these spots in an environmentally safe fashion? Do you recommend a chlorine-bleach solution? I have read about "oxygen bleach" (sodium percarbonate, I believe) and wondered about your opinion.
-- Swanton, Vt.
A: Sodium percarbonate is an excellent choice for cleaning siding and decks. It is harmless as it breaks down into natural sodium ash or borax after the oxygen is released. Oxi-Boost, marketed by Natural Choices (866-699-2667), is an ultra-concentrated form of sodium percarbonate, as is Shout Oxy Power, marketed by SC Johnson. Oxiclean by Orange Glo International, (800-781-7529), or Clorox Oxygen Action by the Clorox Corp. are concentrated oxygen bleaches, and less effective.
Carpenter ants may be to blame for hole in wall
by Henri de Marne/United Features Syndicate
Wednesday December 17, 2008, 1:21 PM
Q. We recently noticed a small hole that had been bored through the Sheetrock and into the framing inside our house. There was a little sawdust on the chair rail below it, mixed in with the plaster dust. The hole is about 3/16 of an inch in diameter. What kind of insect would do this? It occurred in late October and we live in a wooded area of Vermont. What, if any, corrective measures should we take beyond just plastering the hole?
-- via e-mail
A. The insects could be carpenter ants. If you see any activity in the spring -- the ants may have gone underground for the winter -- try to catch a specimen and take it to the entomology department of your state university's extension service or to a pest-management professional for identification. Either one should be able to advise you on control measures. Meanwhile, leave the hole open so you can catch a culprit and monitor the situation.
Continue reading "Carpenter ants may be to blame for hole in wall" »Waterproof coating is safe for concrete walls
by Henri DeMarne/United Features
Wednesday December 10, 2008, 5:41 PM
Q. Answering a waterproofing-basement question, you wrote, "If the walls are made of poured concrete, you may want to try to waterproof them with one of the coatings available in hardware and building supply stores." I would appreciate some additional information regarding your response, since this is the first time I have seen you recommend waterproofing a basement. Our home was built in 1929, with a poured-concrete foundation. As you recommend, we addressed the grading and the gutters. This has greatly decreased the amount of white powder buildup on the basement walls. We did not use waterproofing because we thought this would cause more problems. After reading your recent article, we want to know if waterproofing on the inside basement walls is okay for a poured foundation, even one as old as ours. If so, is there a particular product that you recommend?
-- Nutley
A. If I recall correctly, my suggestion to waterproof poured concrete walls was in answer to a mysterious water problem in a small bump-out workshop. It is generally safe to apply a waterproof or decorative coating on poured concrete foundations since they cannot store water, whereas hollow concrete or cinder blocks can and will if waterproofing is done from inside. Water stored within the cores can wreak havoc within the living quarters above. If your poured concrete foundation is in good shape -- clean and not suffering from dusting -- it should be safe to apply any waterproofing coating, but do you need it? If the goal is to make it prettier, use a cementitious paint or waterproofing compound that will not be affected by any moisture coming through the walls, as paint will, since concrete is somewhat porous. There are a number of good products on the market such as Super Thoroseal.
Furniture's cedar scent unwelcome on clothes
by Henri de Marne/United Features
Wednesday December 03, 2008, 2:07 PM
Q. I inherited a beautiful set of mahogany bedroom furniture from my grandmother several years ago. Two pieces, the chest of drawers and the vanity, are cedarized. Although the set is almost 70 years old, the cedar scent is overwhelmingly strong. Anything I keep in there must be washed multiple times before I can wear it, or I smell like mothballs. If I put scented drawer liner paper in the furniture to diminish the cedar smell, am I damaging the wood? If lining the drawers with scented paper is not a good idea, what else can I do to get rid of the mothball smell?
I realize the purpose of cedarizing the wood had good intentions and it does keep the moths away, but if I wear the clothes that I keep in there, the smell keeps people away. Help, please.
-- via e-mail
A. They don't make furniture like that anymore. Most newer cedarized furniture loses its scent in a few years. Try lining the drawer bottoms with regular shelf-lining paper; it is better than scented paper that would disguise the cedar scent with another one. If that works, your problem is solved. If it does not work, you may want to try applying a coat of shellac on one drawer side at a time until you have achieved a tolerable level that preserves the moth-proofing quality of the cedar.
Continue reading "Furniture's cedar scent unwelcome on clothes" »How to eliminate 'spider poop' on siding
by Henri de Marne/United Features
Wednesday November 26, 2008, 12:34 PM
Q. We have just purchased a small cottage on Lake Champlain in South Alburgh. The house is only four years old, but the siding is badly stained with spider poop and other bug carcasses. Is it safe to pressure-wash siding? What should I use for a detergent? I'm told that I should spray with something like Malathion three or four times a year to prevent bug staining. Do you agree or have other suggestions?
-- Waitsfield, Vt.
A. You haven't told me what type of siding is on the cottage; it can make a difference in whether or not it is safe to pressure-wash it. Is there organic mulch at the base of the cottage? It may explain the "spider poop." If pressure-washing is safe, a good solution to use is a mix of fresh Clorox bleach and TSPPF as a detergent. This should remove any mildew, mold and other pollutants, but it is unlikely to remove what you call spider poop, etc. This will probably require hand scrubbing. But if what I suspect is artillery fungus, it will not come off vinyl or aluminum siding, and removing it from wood siding may damage it. I am not qualified to recommend pesticides; you should consult a pest-management professional.
Q. We insulated the garage and I wondered if it would be possible to allocate some space in it for use as a root cellar to store vegetables, etc., during a Vermont winter. If so, how would it need to be constructed?
-- Essex Junction, Vt.
