What’s the buzz? It’s probably electric
Q. I have a peculiar problem which no one seems to know about, or worse, care about. I live in a nice house in a nice area of Lexington, and have this awful vibration in the house. The house is all electric, with no gas lines coming in that I know of. I also have central air, and a water heater that I presume is electric. The vibration can be felt, and it sounds, more or less like a giant buzz. It has gotten much worse in the past two weeks. My husband had the electric company send over a representative, who told him that there was nothing he could do.
FRANTIC,
in Lexington
A. That evasive waltz by the electric company’s rep indicates to me that the problem is electric, and the husband should find a rep who will give him a better answer than he got earlier. Heavy wires can make quite a noise when they are carrying power. Have you ever listened to high tension wires? They make quite a sound, and don’t forget that sound is vibration.
Radio frequencies also may cause unusual hums and buzzes, so you could check with local stations. Finally, check with the telephone company and others concerning those ubiquitous microwave towers that we see so often. Finally, what about cable television? Far-fetched? Anything is possible, and best of all, is fixable.
Q. Someone put up wallboard in my cottage on the water, and used standard dry wall nails (they’re blue in color), and a lot of them have rusted and the rust is showing through the joint compound covering the nail heads. The rust does not show through the taped joints. What can I do?
JOAN PARS,
Falmouth
A. The nails are OK to use in a relatively dry environment, but not on the shoreline. Covering them with tape can stop the rust bleeding, but there will be a lot of bits of tape that must be plastered over with joint compound, so that is not practical. Neither is my solution, which is to dig out the old nails and renail nearby with aluminum nails, but it’s the right way. Buy a cat’s paw at a hardware store, and also the aluminum nails. Countersink the new nails and fill the cavities (and cavities of the old nails too), and plaster over three times with joint compound. A cat’s paw is a tool with a wicked-looking claw at one end. Deft use of this claw will pull the old nails. You’ll make a mess, so you can’t use the hole for a new nail. That is why you want to drive the new nail just above or below the mess you made.
Q. How can I get rid of powder post beetles? I can see tiny holes in some wood areas, and can also see very fine, powdery sawdust on the floor or at least below the area where the holes are.
JOHN AKERS,
Sudbury
A. The problem with powder post beetles and other wood-boring insects is that there are several species of them, but fortunately they can be treated generally the same way. For one thing, they come and go, and unless you can spot the tiny critters, they may have already gone. You can treat the holes with bleach or paint thinner and hope for the best. And, a substance called Bor-Care, can be used. The partial word “Bor’’ leads me to conjecture that it is like boric acid, which is an effective treatment for beetles, ants, roaches, and other insects. If you use boric acid (a powder), use it very sparingly. Very little goes a long way. If you don’t want to get into all this, call an exterminator.
Q. I have small basement windows that are all steel except the glass. The steel is rusted, and I cannot open the windows. I put burglar bars on the inside as a safety precaution. Can I repair those windows? The rust is so bad that it ate holes in some of the frames. What kind of a workman can I call to do the work?
INSECURE
A. Those frames are too far gone to repair, so the whole window must be replaced. The frames are embedded in the concrete foundation. A carpenter (that is the worker to call) will cut out the frame and put in a new wood-framed window that will be good for another 50 years. Brockway-Smith makes many kinds of basement windows.
Q. I see in my lawn where small holes are being made by ants, who seem to build hills. The same thing happens on my brick patio. Will they ever stop? Are they harming anything? Should I try to get rid of them?
RICHARD ROUSEAU,
Jamaica Plain
A. They are doing more good than harm, at least in earth where they help condition the soil. The little hills on the patio should not cause much consternation, but if they get to be a nuisance or hazard, you can dump boiling water on them twice a day. But keep the boiling water off the grass!
Handyman on Call also appears in the 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. 
