Temporary fix for a laminated countertop may not be worth it

I just moved into a condo and discovered the kitchen counter is badly stained laminated plastic. Can you suggest a temporary fix until I redo the counters completely?

ELI DUBINSKY, Brookline

If it is to be a relatively short time, why not just wait, and to heck with a temporary fix? Or replace the countertops sooner than you expected.

But if you insist, you can do a pretty good fix by painting the tops. Sand to reduce gloss and roughen the finish, wash with a strong detergent solution, and finish with a high-quality oil-based paint. Kyanize makes a special paint called Melamine, designed for laminated plastic. Go to a paint store that carries the Kyanize brand.

I am having the aluminum siding taken off my house and plan to have wood siding applied. One contractor suggested putting up red cedar clapboards or red cedar shingles. Another suggested putting up primed clapboards. What should I do?

CARLEE BLAMPHIN Belmont

Taking off the aluminum siding is a good idea, and what you should do first is get 10 cents a pound for the aluminum; it has some worth.

The contractors have worthy offers, but you must be aware of the need to prime red cedar (clapboards or shingles) to prevent the dreaded cedar bleed -- the leaching of the cedar color (brown) out of the cedar by water, depositing it on the finish as brown stains. The priming is necessary if you paint or apply a solid-color stain.

There is another way to avoid all that concern about cedar bleed and finishes. Apply white cedar shingles, 5 inches to the weather, and you don't have to stain, paint, seal, or do anything to them, and they will last 40 years, weathering to that so-called (but beloved) Cape Cod silver. You will not get cedar bleed with white cedar, because it contains a lot less tannin.

There is a new wrinkle to white cedar shingles; you can buy standard but first-rate shingles that are green; that are uncured, full of water. They dry out after they are installed, and they do contract some, leaving small gaps between shingles, which are strictly cosmetic. There is another kind of white cedar shingles: kiln dried, and they will not shrink after installation. They also can be stained (best with a semitransparent stain). They cost twice as much as the green shingles. White cedar shingles may not be available in all parts of the country.

Plugging the old cistern

When Donna Eastman of Ellisburg, N.Y., asked how to waterproof an old cistern built into her foundation, to collect rain water for irrigation, the Handyman suggested having a swimming pool man put in a vinyl liner.

Good idea, said Bill Tragakis, president of Watertown Plumbing and Heating Supply, but here's another option, from what Tragakis says is an old plumber's trick: Pour in a lot of oatmeal, especially in the corners, and add water. The oatmeal will expand and fill the leaks.

Well, Bill, it is certainly worth a try.

I would like to replace a hot-air floor register grate for an opening about 11 by 16 inches, but I cannot find a vendor. Can you help?

PERPLEXED

Handyman to the rescue! (I love to say that.) Call Reggio Registers (978-772-3493) of Ayer for a catalog. Reggio (that is the boss's name) makes registers and other covers in a huge variety of sizes and shapes, in cast iron, brass, and aluminum. The iron ones are reminiscent of those in Victorian houses of an era long gone. The Handyman filled his house with them and they are elegant. He also used the cast-iron registers to cover basement vents.

The company also makes wood registers and wood covers for wall-mounted outlets.

The registers are expensive, but worth every cent in elegance.

There is a free-standing, unheated building in my yard. It is bigger than a two-car garage, and part of it is already occupied. There are about 100 square feet of space I would like to fix up to use as sort of a summer room, but I am stumped on what to put on the floor. I liked the idea of flagstone, but a friend said it is porous, and will stain badly.

ROSE , Watertown

Your friend is right. And what is the use of sealing something that is porous? OK, here's the perfect solution to your floor: Cover it with 12-by-12-inch ceramic tiles: rough to make them slip-resistant, glazed to make them easily cleaned with water. Put them down with a thin-set mortar and they will give you yeoman service for 100 or more years. You can put area rugs on the tiles, too. While the big-box stores have a pretty good selection, go to a store that deals only in tile. The variety of tiles is bewildering.

A crack has appeared in a shower-area wall of limestone tiles in my two-year-old condo. It is not wide, so what can I do to seal it? I don't want water to get behind the tiles.

ROBERT SURABIAN Jamaica Plain

Try repeated applications of Thompson's Water Seal on the crack, which might seal it nicely. Goop, sold in hardware stores, might also do it, but it also might show more than the water seal.

I have two small cut-outs (angled parking spaces) on my driveway, which are nice for the cars but are bare earth, making them muddy and messy in winter, in fact most of the year. Can I pave them with concrete?

STEVE CURTIN, Lakeville

You sure can, but it entails more than pouring the concrete. First, you have to excavate deep enough to fill the space with 6 inches of crushed stone, with enough space to allow 4 inches of concrete. The crushed stone will allow drainage of water under the slab, preventing heaving in winter. Make wood forms of 1-by-5s or similar sturdy boards to allow 4 1/2 inches of concrete. Order the concrete from a ready-mix concrete dealer, who will pour the concrete, but you have to level it out and finish it.

Before the pour, insert 3/4-inch rebars (reinforcing rods) in the space. Suspend the rebars on small stones to make sure they are in the middle of the slab. You can place the rebars in a criss-cross grid, tying them together with big twist ties or wire. Or instead of rebars, use steel mesh with 6-inch openings.

Assuming each cut-out is 10 feet wide and 20 feet long, you should put in an expansion joint in the middle. Form it by placing a half-inch-thick board in the wet concrete, about three-quarters down. Remove it after the concrete sets. The concrete will be weakest where the board was, and will crack there first, preventing cracking in other parts of the cut-out.

You want a rough finish, as slip-resistant as possible. After the concrete has been poured and smoothed off, wait 15 minutes for the concrete to begin setting up, then float the finish; that is, rub a wood trowel called a float on the surface in half-round strokes. To reach normally out-of-reach spots, put a piece of plywood (2 feet square will do) on the concrete and kneel on it. The plywood will not sink into the conrete; if it does, take it off and wait another 15 minutes or so before floating.

I would like to replace an old wood bulkhead door with a steel door. The size seems non-standard, and I remember you mentioned a man who installs off-size doors. How can I get hold of him?

TOM CLEARY, Medford

He's the Bulkhead Man, Joseph Cavallaro of Canton, 781-828-4645 or 800-553-4301.

Globe Handyman on Call Peter Hotton is available 1-6 p.m. Tuesdays to answer questions on house repair. Call 617-929-2930. Hotton also chats on line about house matters 2-3 p.m. Thursdays. To participate, go to Boston.com. Hotton's e-mail is photton@globe.com.