Handyman on call
Tape helps keep plaster in place when you hang pictures on old walls
Q. How do you hang pictures on old walls (wood slats) without all the plaster crumbling?
REGINA, in Hotton’s chat room A. Put a square of masking tape or heavier duct tape on the spot where you nail. The slats (lath) are bouncy, but the plaster is thick enough to take a nail, especially if it is a picture hanger nail, which is driven in at an angle. If that doesn’t work, you can drive a round-headed screw through the plaster and into the wood lath.
Q. My modular house has good (I guess) double-glazed windows. They work OK, but recently a rust-colored film has appeared on the outside glass, mostly on the east side.
I tried washing, even scraping with a razor blade scraper, without success. I called a glass company, and they are coming tomorrow. How can I clean them?
PEGGY RUTHERFORD, Dover, N.H. A. I think that stain is from water that has a lot of mineral in it, making the film rust colored. The hot sun might have helped, too. Try cleaning the glass with Zud, sold in hardware stores. Or clean with paint thinner and scrape with a razor scraper. Or, rub with Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.
Q. We live in a condo where roofs are being replaced - mostly because of leaks from ice dams on some units. We have no ice dams. The new roof will have continuous vents between the soffit and the new built-out gutters. I assume the existing ridge vent will be replaced or used. Our unit has an 18-by-24-inch vent on the end of the building venting our attic. This vent has an exhaust fan that operates on a thermostat. We use it for attic cooling.
The condo folks say we must remove the fan so they can completely close the louvered vent. They claim the vent will interfere with the circulation of air from the new roof edge vents to the ridge vent. Do you agree with them that the closure of the wall vent is necessary? I’d like to suggest that we at least try not removing the fan but closing the vent and see what happens. Does that sound good to you?
VIRGINIA, by e-mail A. Yes, it sounds good to me. I agree with the condo people for once, that the gable vent and fan are not needed with a ridge vent and soffit vents. In fact, they can interfere with the efficiency of the ridge and soffit vents.
So, convince them to cover the gable vent and leave the fan in place, but don’t let it run. If everything works OK, you can make the closure permanent.
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 from 2-3 p.m. Thursdays. Go to www.boston.com. 
