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Handyman on call

Cleaning oil off Formica cabinets

By Peter Hotten
Globe Staff / October 22, 2009

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Q. My Formica cabinets are very oily above my stove, and nothing I use cleans off that oil. Any good ways?

ADINA MARRINUCCI, Walpole

A. Ammonia is a great dissolver of grease and oil. Use a mix of 1/4 cup ammonia in a quart of hot water.

Q. I have to replace the flagstones in my front walk after 18 years. The mortar has deteriorated badly. Do I need new stones?

CURIOUS A. Not at all. Those stones are millions of years old, and will last for millions more unless you take a sledgehammer to them. They my be laid in concrete, and if none is loose, a mason can chip out the mortar and put in new mortar. Or, he could lift the stones and chip off the mortar, then put them back with the proper mortar in the joints. It’ll be good for 20 years.

Q. The Formica counters in my New Hampshire cottage are 50 years old and have an aluminum edge with a snap-in red strip right down the middle. Some of the strips have broken off. Where can I find such strips?

SUSAN SHNIDMAN, Lexington

A. Good luck. Styles change often in decor, and one 50 years old is unlikely to have any spare parts. Check with any Formica dealer. If you can’t find any, have the dealer cut red Formica into thin strips so you can glue them in the edge space with an adhesive caulk.

Q. I have a 12-foot wood extension ladder. A rung in the middle in missing. Can I put in a new rung?

ANNE, from Yonkers

A. No. Cut it up for firewood. If one is gone, others will go too, probably with you on them. Years ago I had a good wood ladder, which I had to keep outdoors. One day I put it against the wall and stepped on the first rung, and it broke. That 10-inch drop felt like 3 feet. But it got me to cut it up for firewood.

Self-sharpening mower
Remember the item recently on these pages on sharpening a reel (push) mower? There are places that sharpen them, but Charles Reynolds of Melrose called to tell us that reel mowers can sharpen themselves as they move, because their blades cut grass with a scissors motion. Said Reynolds: “On each end of the cutter bar (the one you can’t move), there is a set screw. Loosen one and tighten the other, ever so lightly, and then when the blades move as you mow, they will sharpen up and keep sharp.’’

Globe Handyman on Call also appears in the Sunday Real Estate section. He’s available 1-6 p.m. Tuesdays to answer questions on house repair. Call 617-929-2930. Hotton (photton@globe.com) also chats online about house matters 2-3 p.m. Thursdays. Go to www.boston.com.

© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.