Paint is peeling above shower unit
Q. I have painted my bathroom, including portions of the three walls above the shower unit, and everything is pretty good except for those three walls above the unit. The paint is peeling. I sanded and scraped off most of the paint, and a man gave me a spray can of something oil-based to use. I applied that, and again the paint is coming off. What can I do? The space is nearly a foot high and I am getting tired of painting.
SUSAN LANGDON, Wakefield
A. The paint may be peeling because the environment is too wet. That spray the man gave you might be shellac, which is a good sealer for plaster in a wet environment, but obviously it did not work. For starters, apply one thin coat of a latex enamel undercoater, then one or two coats of Zinsser's Super White, a latex paint that claims to be mold resistant.
If you don't want to risk the failure of the paint again, do what I did with the three walls above my shower enclosure. Buy shiny white Formica, cut it to fit the wall space, and apply it with contact cement. You can cut Formica and other laminated plastic by scoring it with a Formica cutter, and snap it. A Formica cutter is a hand tool with two heavy, sharp cutting points. The hardware clerk should know what you want. A utility knife won't work.
Q. I have hot water heat, and also several rooms I don't use at this time. Can I put covers over the baseboard radiators in those rooms to save heat?
HOPEFUL DON
A. Yes, that will help some. You may have to devise a wood cover of some kind. Another way, maybe, is to have a heating contractor install a zone system so you can cut it off more effectively.
For those who have hot air heat, the job is easier and more effective. A sheet of plastic on registers and outlets will work. Better is an insulated cover; even 3/4-inch wood is a good insulator. Try it and see. A better idea is to go into the basement and look at the small, round ducts that are coming off the big rectangular trunk duct. These round ducts have a damper very close to the big trunk duct. Each has a metal handle that you can turn off and on. If the handle is parallel to the duct, it is open. If the handle is at right angles to the duct, it is closed. So, close the ducts that lead to the unused rooms.
Make sure you close the correct ducts. If you have an eight-room house, and close off two rooms this way, your heater will be heating only 6 rooms. Very good. Very green.
Q. I have a sisal rug that has several water stains on it; fairly large and darker than the original sisal. How can I clean it?
WARREN NOTTLESON, Hingham
A. Water stains are tough, as you have already found out. Call a rug cleaning company that specializes in rugs of all kinds. I Googled several categories of cleaning sisal rugs, and got a lot of information, but little on water stains.
If all else fails, you might consider applying a semitransparent stain. Try a small area on the back of the rug, first. And if in doubt, don't!
Q. I have a terrible skunk odor in a window well just outside one of our basement windows. A skunk injured himself and lay in the well for a long time until a pest control officer came and removed it. The odor has remained, and I can detect it in the basement, so I would like to remove it before the hot-air heat comes on. How can I get rid of the odor? I tried bleach without much success.
REEKING!
A. Initially, clean out all debris from the well, then wet everything in the well: bottom and sides, with vinegar. Another trick: wet the bottom of the well with water, then sprinkle lots and lots of Speedi-Dry (an absorbent clay). If this seems to be helping, repeat it.
Another odor-killer is Neutroleum Alpha, sold by pest control operators and hospital supply houses for skunk odors. If the odor persists into the heating season, put a fan in the open window to exhaust out that window.
Q. My house in Vermont was built in 1840, with a stone foundation. In 2005 I had four large custom-made insulated glass fixed windows with cedar fames installed on an 8-by 24-foot porch. In 2007 they all moved some way or another, creating a 1/2- to 3/4-inch gap between the bottom of the sash and the sill. The gap tapers on the sides up about 14 inches, then stops. I have filled the gaps with insulation and there is no air leakage that I know of. But what went wrong and how can I fix it? The sashes are not warped, still straight and true. The cedar frames are oiled, and so is part of the frame. Another part of the frame is painted. The gaps appeared on all four windows the exact same way.
JERRY FRAIN, Walden, Vt.
A. In the Northeast Kingdom, huh? You sure would know if there were any air leaks. I have always wanted to say this to a Vermonter: It ain't broke, so you don't hafta fix it.
What happened: That stone foundation, especially if the stones are not mortared, dropped a bit, or maybe just a few of the top stones moved, just a bit. This seems unlikely because the foundation or individual stones certainly did not drop in exactly the same way, to affect all four windows the same way. That leaves my other theory: The wood frame, not that of the windows, shrank when it lost moisture, enough and consistently to cause the gaps. I am not even sure of that because wood usually expands in the summer when it takes on moisture.
So I say, sit tight, keep an eye on the gaps and make sure the insulation stays in them, and you will be OK this winter.
Q. I am taking the ropes and weights out of my windows, and plan to fill the weight pocket. What should I use? The pink stuff, or Aircrete? I plan to keep my single-glazed windows; would triple-track storms be enough? And finally, is 10 inches of insulation on the attic floor enough?
PETER MACKIE, Lexington
A. You are well on the way to doing as much as possible to save heating fuel. For filling the weight pockets, loose fiberglass will do well, but it is the very devil to stuff into the pockets. I don't know anything about Aircrete.
You could also fill the cavities with Great Stuff, an expanding foam. Add 14 inches of fiberglass to the 10 inches on the attic floor. One more thing you can do: Install six-inch fiberglass insulation to the basement ceiling. In addition, while the storm and single-glazed windows are good protection against heat loss, you can also install inside storms.
Q. My fieldstone foundation is exposed 18 inches between siding and ground. I am getting a lot of holes between the stones, some as big as my fist. Chipmunks come and go, so I am not worried about them. What can I fill those holes with that will last a long time and may be resistant to the chipmunks?
HARLAN, Weston
A. Good old mortar will work the best, as long as it is compacted very heavily into the holes. A good mortar is Sakrete's or Quickrete's Mortar Mix; just add water. If you compact the mortar very thoroughly, it will last 20 years, even beyond. If you do not, it will fail in only a few years.
Globe Handyman on Call Peter Hotton is also in the Styles Section 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. 