Q. When my kitchen chairs started falling apart, my nephew carefully glued them together. It took just a month for them to fall apart again. What kind of glue would work in a case like this? My nephew thought that he could drive thin screws through each joint to keep it from coming apart. Would that work?
GERT KNOWLES, Quincy
A. There are some remarkable new glues on the market, including Gorilla Glue and its rival Rhino Glue. These glues will hold, but the glue is not the problem. The spindles are simply too loose in their sockets to hold properly. I suggest your nephew use an epoxy glue, which has an advantage of filling in gaps when the spindles are too loose.
The idea of driving a screw into the joint is good, but here is another good one. Add a bit of material to the hole so the spindle will hold better. There is a small item sold in hardware stores; it is a series of small aluminum strips that look like a cheese grater; fold one over the end of a spindle and the joint will be tight. Be sure to glue it, too.
Q. My white cedar fence looks pretty good after several years. Someone suggested I paint or stain the cedar to sort of spruce it up. Should I?
TOM DAVEY, Jamaica Plain
A. No, you should not. In fact, I have white cedar pickets in a fence that have been in for maybe 25 years, and they still look good, au naturel. Why gild the lily? If you ever want to paint or stain (heaven forbid!), use a semitransparent stain. No paint or solid color stain. With any finish, you're doomed to a lifetime chore.
Q. I hung my bird feeder over some brick steps and suet in the feeder dropped on the brick, staining them. How can I clean it off?
FAITH McDONALD, Cambridge
A. It happens every year, but usually during the barbecue season, when oil gets dropped on wood or brick. The cure is the same in all cases: Wet the stain with paint thinner to dissolve the oil (grease, fat), then pour lots of cat litter, Speedy-Dri (an absorbent clay used by mechanics at garages), or if the stain is small, baking soda. Leave it for an hour or so, then sweep it up, and throw it away. Repeat until the stain is gone.
Q. Friends say you're sure to consider this a joke. It isn't. I'm new to the area, and I sleep in a cold bedroom by choice. I find a supply of ants on window sill and wall, very slow moving but still ants. How do I get rid of them?
BLANCHE RODDY, Boston
A. Some questions and a lot of answers are funny, but they're no joke. This is serious business, sometimes with the fate of houses and people in the balance. Those ants are slow moving because they are cold. If they are large, they are probably carpenter ants, which have lost their way, fallen out of the nest, or come out of a sort of hibernation. Keep sweeping them up and throwing them away. I think they are carpenter ants, and the nest which they make in damp, punky wood, may be near a window, where a leak might have wetted the wood. Call an exterminator to make an inspection and possible treatment. The proper control of carpenter ants is to find the nest and destroy it. And, of course, replace that damp, punky wood, and fix any leaks or causes of that damp, punky wood. Your house is not going to fall down, but it would be nice to get rid of the ants for good.
Sleeping in a cold room? I like it, too, but I can't get the room cold enough to go brrrrr.
Q. I read your column in the Virginian Pilot of Norfolk, Va., about cutting muriatic acid with water to clean a mineral stain in a toilet bowl. It said to use one part muriatic acid and give parts of water. What gives?
FAYE PEARMAN, Norfolk , Va.
A. Oops. The word should have been five and was in the original copy. Things got lost when the column was transmitted for distribution. In fact, you don't have to make a mix of acid and water, if the mineral stain is under water. Simply pour in half a cup of muriatic acid. It's OK to pour acid into water; the other way is dangerous. Always take great care and wear skin and eye protection when working with acid.
Cupping floors
When Jason (no last name) asked how to repair a floor that was water damaged, making the boards cupped and unsightly, the handyman suggested he could sand the cupped boards enough to level and smooth them out. The sanded floor would need revarnishing. Sometimes it's is easier to leave the floor alone; it will cure itself.
This is what Mike Knowles of Falmouth wrote: My 5-year-old new house had a heating pipe freeze, and puddled on most of the oak floor and some of the floor below it. I mopped it off within six hours of its occurrence; but basically it was soaked.
All the boards cupped on the edges; very noticeable, both visibly and when walking on it. So, I ignored it for about six months. By the time summer rolled around, the cupping had retracted and showed no signs of cupping at all. So, give the floor a few months; that may solve it without any effort/cost. Since the area is small in this instance, you might even put something heavy on the spot to encourage it to correct itself.
Clifton Dean of Fitchburg e-mailed us that he had a similar experience: Not being able to afford to replace the floor, I simply waited and let it dry. Lo and behold, the cupping disappeared. My floor doesn't even need to be refinished. And Karen Bailey wrote: The floors had buckled up in the area where water had soaked it and, after much thought, I decided to put weights on it for a month. It worked. The pressure of more than 200 pounds worked to gradually push the wood back where it was before the leak.
The Globe Handyman on Call also appears in the Sunday Real Estate Section. Peter Hotton is available 1-6 p.m. Tuesdays to answer questions on house repair. Call 617-929-2930. Hotton also chats on line about house matters 2-3 p.m. Thursdays. To participate, go to Boston.com. Hotton's e-mail is photton@globe.com
