Water in basement damaged chimney

THOMAS HENNEBERRY, by e-mail

A. The deterioration of the bricks is caused by water vapor coming up through the concrete floor (there is no vapor barrier) and getting into the bricks and mortar and condensing. The British call it rising damp. To fix it, there is no choice but to chip out the rotten bricks and mortar in a new, hard brick, one at a time. Doing it one at a time will keep the chimney intact, and there will be no concern of collapsing if you do one brick at a time. The hard brick will last longer than the old orange-colored bricks, and the mortar will last longer than the stuff used nearly 100 years ago. It would be nice to put a vapor barrier plastic under the chimney, but that is not possible without extensive work. The replacement brick will help a great deal to keep your house intact.

Q. In my home in Florida, we installed a manufactured bamboo floor and the surface is beginning to peel off where chairs have scraped the surface. Have you any ideas? The rest of the floor is OK, though not as hard as the manufacturer led us to believe.

ERMA LAPIERRE, Florida

A. I have never heard of a bamboo floor peeling where chairs have scraped. Is it the finish (varnish) that is peeling or the bamboo itself? What happened to your floor is a good example of leaving the floor bare. No finished floor will stand up to the punishment given by scraping chair legs across it. I suggest you contact the installer, who can resand and refinish the floor. Then, if you do not use rugs to protect the bamboo and its finish, you can install rubber cups, like those on the ends of crutches, on all chair legs. Hardness of the bamboo has nothing to do with the scratches.

Q. I put down vinyl tiles on plywood with tile adhesive, and after a few years they started to come up, so loose I could pick them up. The same tiles in an adjacent room on a concrete floor have stayed intact nicely. What is wrong? Also, in my house of 30 years, I hang sheer curtains on a bay window, about 10 inches away from the glass. Every now and then I see a water stain, in a zigzag horizontal line across the curtains. I can wash them out, but I wonder why it is happening.

LYNNFIELD

A. For the tiles, you might not be using enough adhesive. Try a different brand of adhesive, and put it on a little more generously with a notched trowel, according to the instructions. Don't use so much adhesive that it oozes between the tiles as you lay them down. As for the curtains, if you keep the curtains closed, covering the wind flow, they get pretty cold near the window, and water vapor condenses on them, forming the horizontal zig-zag line. Keep the curtains open if you can. That should not happen because the water vapor would condense on the colder glass.

Q. How can I remove a rough, stucco-like finish on all my walls in a 40-year-old house? I like the house, but I'm afraid with my boys' rough play, they will scratch themselves on this finish, which has very sharp points. Why did they make such a finish?

HAS TO BE CAREFUL

A. Why indeed? Who knows what designers think? But you can do something about this silly practice. Sand the walls heavily to knock down those peaks. Rinse off the sand dust, let dry, apply a bonding agent, and finish with a skimcoat of plaster to fill the valleys, nice, flat, and permanent.

Q. I had my roof reshingled last fall. Now, rain and melting snow are overflowing the back of the gutters, running down the wall and windows and making a mess. How can that be fixed? The gutters were not moved when the roof was reshingled.

NORWELL

A. It's an old story: The new roof lacks a metal edge, and/or it is positioned wrong. Water must drip into the very middle of the gutters, along their entire length. It the water drips too close to the back, as in your case, water runs over the back. If the water drips too close to the front of the gutter, guess what: water will run over the front of the gutter. Water does remarkable things, many of which are not understood by homeowners,even handymen.

The drip edge must be repositioned. It can be done by installing a drip edge extension, which roofers know about. Since your roof was reshingled less than a year ago (the warranty on labor is usually one year), your roofer should do the work for free. Call him. He is responsible.

To the rescue!

Wow! Holy cow! Sheesh! Those are the only words the Handyman can offer to the 70-plus replies he got when he advised Ginny Niverra of Canton how to get an oversize queen box spring up a narrow staircase. The Handyman did not think the box spring can be cut and folded to ease the journey to the second floor.

Wrong! The answers he got said a box spring can be cut on the bottom (remove the dust cover first), folded, and lifted to its destination, then the cut slats can be repaired with angle irons.

One e-mailer said his box spring had a steel border for stiffening, and he had to cut that too. But he will insert a sleeve and a couple of clamps to fix it. Other responders suggested trading in the big box spring for two narrower box springs to fit under the mattress. Stores have them, we were assured.

So, a humble thanks to all those who e-mailed and called.

Q. My nice vinyl fence has gotten rust marks from a sprinkler system that uses hard water. I can't move the sprinkler so I have to keep cleaning the rust off. But how? I tried Spic and Span and Fantastik without success.

FRANCES RICHARD, Lynnfield

A. There are many rust-removing products out there, and some even work. Try Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Other possibilities: CLR (Calcium Lime Rust), bleach, oxalic acid, Whink products, Rust Magic, Zud, and Lime-Away.

Handyman on Call also appears in g on Thursdays. Peter Hotton is available 1 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays to answer questions on house repair; call 617-929-2930. Hotton chats online about house matters 2 to 3 p.m. Thursdays, at www.boston.com. Hotton can be reached at photton@globe.com.