Table pad left unsightly lint - what to do?
Q. I left a table pad on my dining room table for a bit too long, apparently, because when I took it off it left light, fluffy bits of lint. How can I remove it?
DICK NEWELL, Attleboro
A. There was probably furniture polish on the top that made the lint stick. Whether there was or not, wash the table with paint thinner (mineral spirits), which won’t hurt anything and will clean the table nicely as well as remove the lint. It will dull the finish, which you can restore by buffing with a soft cloth. If you use furniture polish, use it sparingly and seldom.
Q. I had a lot of black flies and wasps in an upstairs bedroom. I sprayed with Ortho flying insect stuff. Within an hour I had many corpses. The next morning most of the corpses were gone. What happened to them? A friend said they might have been eaten by spiders.
BARBARA
A. It beats the heck out of the Handyman. I don’t know, but your friend’s idea they might be spiders is plausible, except spiders usually trap their prey in webs. Both flies and wasps are spiders’ prey. A friend told me that in a spider-wasp fight, the spider usually wins. But if there is food available, spiders will find a way to find it.
Hey, you might find an insect that eats all those corpses. And you might have discovered a new species, and you can name it Barbarasia corpus eatus. Next time, don’t use insecticides indoors. They are too dangerous. In fact, if a spider eats an insecticide-laced insect, it could be curtains for him, too. Swat ’em or squish ’em, or toss ’em outdoors, and keep the spiders.
Q. I built a beautiful table of red oak, gave it two coats of Minwax oil stain and two coats of polyurethane varnish. I worked in my unheated garage. Not long afterward many little bubbles appeared, as if droplets of something had fallen. What’s wrong, and can I fix it without refinishing the entire table?
AL CALDERONE, Newton
A. I think the cold made the bubbles, whether the varnish is oil- or water-based. I don’t think you have to refinish. Sand off those bubbles, so they are smooth and even with the rest of the finish. Take the table indoors, then apply two thin coats of the same varnish. The table will look awful after sanding, but the new varnish will cover the blemishes. I also think the original coats might have been too thick, another cause of bubbles.
He said the pipe is probably a no-hub iron pipe with neoprene gaskets held with steel bands. All the person has to do is tighten the bands; they are adjustable, with clips like those on automobile radiator hoses, Thompson said.
Q. I have a new boiler and water heater, fired by gas, that was installed in June. It has two zones and there has been a loud humming in the family room, which is next to the boiler room. The humming is intolerable. We never had such loud noises in the old system, which was 45 years old. I called National Grid, the installers, who said there was nothing wrong with the system and hinted that there is nothing to fix. The noise is simply too loud. What can I do now?
ROBERTA FOX, Needham
A. So much for National Grid. It sounds like one of the zone pumps. Call any plumbing and heating man. Maybe the pump needs replacing, but at any rate a competent professional will find out.
Q. We had a new solid wood door installed in 2006. Shortly after it was installed, the finish started wearing off. Our contractor said he used marine coating used for boats. He took the door down and said he put another coat on it. It did the same thing. We had a fellow look at it and he said he could refinish it and put a different coating on it that was better than the marine coating. He is charging $450. He said he could come out once a year to maintain it for $100. Does this sound reasonable? Also, we do get the morning sun on the door and we don’t have much of an overhang.
DONNA, by e-mail
A. Paying $450 for a clear-coat finish, even two coats. That is a rip-off, in my opinion. It is also my opinion that there is no clear coat, marine finish, or varnish that will stand up to any kind of weather, especially when the door is not very well protected. At least you have not found one, so far. You are better off sanding the finish and painting it your favorite color with an exterior primer and exterior paint. Or, sand to the bare wood and put on a single coat of a semitransparent stain.
Handyman on Call also appears in the Globe’s Style & Arts section 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 Boston.com. Hotton can be reached at photton@globe.com.
