Have troublesome toilet checked for blockage
Q. I own a three-family, and my tenant upstairs has had a blocked toilet at least four times. It takes an augur, not just a plunger, to free it up. The toilet is not a low-flow, but is only three years old. What can I do?
FRUSTRATED
A. If the toilet was replaced just three years ago, it should have been a low-flow, but that does not relate to your problem. I think you have a partial blockage, such as a comb or rubber ducky, that is only partly stopping the flow. Then when too much paper goes down, it acts as a dam, darn it. Have a plumber check for this partial blockage. I did this once by hand and actually succeeded. I did wash my hands a lot. If that does not work, the plumber should take up the toilet and check all parts of the toilet plus the drain under, and just for kicks, the soil stack as well.
Q. When I found water running between my gutters and fascia board, I noticed a slight gap between the aluminum gutter and the fascia board. The falling water was the first time in years. What is wrong? How can I fix it? Later on I noticed metal pieces in the gap, every several inches.
JULIE, Melrose
A. It is true that water that drips too close to the back of the gutter will overflow the back, and water that drips too close to the front of the gutter will overflow the front. That is because the drip edge is not dripping water into the very center of the gutter along its full length. That is not the case with Julie. The fasteners have lost their grip. Julie was able to see those fasteners in the gap. Have a gutter man check out the gutter and get the fasteners to hold on properly. A handyman could do this too, and make sure no one tries to sell you new gutters. You don't need them. The fasteners might also have come loose from the fascia, because perhaps the fascia has become punky from decay.
Q. I recently bought an older house. The previous owners put two layers of linoleum flooring over a hardwood floor. I have tried to remove both layers and found it extremely difficult. The floors also smell as though there were animals in the house. My thinking is that I will get the linoleum up and find a stain-riddled hardwood floor underneath. I am now thinking of putting hardwood right over the linoleum. Good idea?
CHRIS, by e-mail
A. It is OK to put on another layer of hardwood on top of everything, but you want to be careful that the added thickness does not interfere with baseboard heat or any other kind of heating system or cause a problem of different levels of flooring in each room. Besides, the animal smell might come up through the hardwood. If you do put down new hardwood, put down a layer of tarpaper or building paper to prevent any smells coming through. Better yet, bite the bullet and scrape off the old layers of linoleum by brute force, or use heat to soften any adhesive to make the work easier. You might find the hardwood intact and not too badly stained. But it will need sanding.
Q. I recently found a crack in the poured concrete foundation of my 1968 house. I filled it with hydraulic cement, but it is back, a vertical crack from top to bottom, and is visible on the inside and outside. What is wrong and how is it best fixed? It ranges from 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide, and is in the approximate middle of the wall.
R.R., Sudbury
A. If it is not leaking water, it needs no repair, although you can dig out the old cement and fill it again for cosmetic reasons. Filling it will act as a sort of bench mark to check to see if the crack has widened over time. What happened is that the footing under the wall dropped just a teeny bit, but enough to cause the wall, which is not very elastic, to crack. The footing dropped because it was laid on filled earth, which was tamped to try to make it compact as possible. If the footing was laid on undisturbed earth, the drop might not have occurred. Since the crack is in the middle of the wall, and is wider at the top than the bottom, the footing dropped at one or both ends.
Globe Handyman on Call Peter Hotton is also in G on Thursdays. He is available 1-6 p.m. Tuesdays to answer questions on house repair. Call 617-929-2930. Hotton also chats online about house matters 2-3 p.m. Thursdays. To participate, go to www.boston.com. Hotton's e-mail is photton@globe.com. 
