Tough toilet stain may be an acid test
Q. I have a stain in the bowl of my toilet that won't quit, is resistant to everything I try. I think it is permanent, but I am appealing to you as a last resort. I even tried using a pumice stick without success. Any ideas?
Desperate
A. Ideas? Sure. The Handyman is always willing to stick his neck out. The stain sounds like a mineral stain, and while the pumice stick should have worked, by now you need help. First, try CLR (Calcium Lime Rust), designed to treat those three plagues. Or, hydrochloride acid bowl cleaner. Or, Lime-Away. As with all cleaners and acids, use extreme caution and follow the instructions to the letter.
Q. I have some plywood paneling, real wood, that I would like to paint. The paneling is in good shape, but it is too dark for my house. I am not interested in eliminating the seams. Do I have to prime the wood first?
John Fay, Medford
A. It's an old story, worth repeating now. Actually it is quite easy. Sand the wood lightly, enough to reduce gloss and roughen the finish so it will take paint. Then wash with a strong detergent solution to further condition the wood. Apply a latex enamel undercoater (sometimes called a primer-sealer), and finish with two coats of a latex eggshell finish wall paint, any color you like. If you choose white, you might need only one coat on top of the primer.
Q. My enclosed porch is 15 years old, with a plasterboard ceiling under the roof. I recently had a rubber roof installed, and now the ceiling gets really dirty. I can wash it off with water, but it keeps coming back, and I am getting tired of washing the ceiling so often. What can I do?
Maura Hegarty, Medford
A. That is a strange one, especially when you experienced it after putting on the rubber roof. Perhaps the roof made the space between ceiling and roof very hot, and mold was encouraged to grow on the ceiling. Or, the whole porch is taking on water vapor because it cannot escape through the ceiling and newly rubberized roof. I would think it is mold, but if it can be easily wiped off with water, I am not so sure. Try this for starters: Make a mix of one part household bleach and three parts water, and paint this on the ceiling. This should get rid of the mold, if it is mold, and may keep it away for a while, longer than you have experienced. Wear skin and eye protection when working with bleach.
If it does not, consider taking off the ceiling and painting the roof boards between the rafters white, to act as a new ceiling. Be sure to ventilate the porch regularly to prevent buildup of moisture, which is the primary cause of mold.
Q. My front sidewalk is made of brick paving, without mortar. Every spring and summer, I get weeds and moss growing in the joints. How can I get rid of them and keep them away?
Diane Seskanich, Freeport, Maine
A. Keep the moss if you can. It is attractive and often grows where other green things do not. But whether you can keep it or not, here is how to get rid of the weeds. After they start to grow in the spring, cut them out and sprinkle vinegar heavily on the bricks and in the joints. Vinegar is acid rain, and it will keep the weeds away for a season, or close to a season. When they come back, repeat with the vinegar. The vinegar will tend to stay in the ground under the bricks, so it should not bother other growing things.
Gary Fadden of Hopedale called to say the plastic bolts are occasionally seen these days. To remove, drill a hole into the bolt, then you can pop off the shutter, but the bolt will be ruined. To put back the shutter, I use flat-head wood screws, but you can also buy replacements at
From Jim Myles, Fairlee, Vt.: If you look at the plastic/vinyl bolt, they have angled splines that will go in easy to secure the shutter but will not come out as the splines spread. Using a Dremel tool, I cut the head off. The head can be pinched with pliers or vice grips to allow for a little separation behind it for the cutting tool, but if the shutter gets scratched or marred a little chances are it won't be noticeable anyway once it's painted and reinstalled. If that doesn't work try a couple of progressively larger drill bits and drill into the center of the head until it can be snapped off. Then the bolt part can be either pushed into the wall cavity or cut even and re drilled for a replacement bolt.
And from Nick Cotellesso of Norwood: I had to break the plastic bolts to remove our vinyl shutters for painting. We found bags of replacement plastic bolts for sale at Home Depot in the shutter section.
Thanks, gentlemen, for some good info.
Q. I have been in my house for 20 years, with a wood stove, and I am plagued with creosote. It forms in the chimney, then drips to the bottom of the chimney and seeps out on the concrete basement floor. I have two questions: how to stop the creosote from forming and how to remove the spilled creosote? My stove is highly efficient, and I can slow the fire down for long periods, which I think leads to the formation of more creosote. What's the best thing to do?
Bob Collins, Londonderry, N.H.
A. Burning the stove hotter will reduce a lot of creosote. Or, burn smaller amounts of wood. You already said you are using well-cured hardwood, another way to reduce creosote production. And your idea of replacing the stove with a pellet stove is the best, I think, because the pellets are likely to contain less creosote.
As for cleaning off the creosote, try paint thinner, which is very, very slow. Easi-Off or foaming oven cleaner is better. And TSP with ammonia may work even better. The fact that the creosote is on concrete means that it is in the concrete, and must be pulled out of the concrete instead of just cleaned. To do that, apply the cleaning the solution, then sprinkle lots of baking soda or other absorbent material on the stain, wait an hour or so and sweep it up and throw it away. Repeat as necessary.
Q. Three or four feet of flooring in my hallway have been feeling weak and soft under foot for five to six months. The sagging is just to the side of the main joist where the Lally column is, but seems to be on either side of a crossbeam. I thought it might be termites. We've had a couple of episodes although the whole house was treated several years ago. No new infestations were found. Since the house is about 30 years old we were told the house is "settling." How are sagging floors fixed and who do I contact to get them fixed? How long do I wait to fix the affected flooring since the house is evidently just starting to "settle"?
Pat Kelly
A. For starters, your 30-year-old house is probably not settling. The sagging or soft part of the floor you say is on each side of a cross beam? That indicates that the subfloor is decaying. Check the subfloor (made of plywood) if you can reach it in the basement. If it feels punky and soft, then replace it. If the whole floor is sagging or slanted, it may mean that the main beam has dropped, and can be jacked up with screw jacks. A carpenter who knows what he or she is doing or a contractor who specializes in such structural problems is the professional that you need.
Globe Handyman on Call Peter Hotton is available 1-6 p.m. Tuesdays to answer questions on house repair. Call 617-929-2930. He also chats online about house matters 2-3 p.m. Thursdays. To participate, go to Boston.com. Hotton's e-mail is photton@globe.com 
