Choosing a new front door
Q I am replacing my front entry and door. I have researched it a bit, and have come up with two ideas: fiberglass and steel. What should I get?
SUSAN GOROG, Medfield
A Ah, a lady whose name is a palindrome. "And my husband's name is Bob," she added. My goodness, a double palindrome. That makes my day, but let's get to the subject at hand. I think fiberglass is the better choice. A fiberglass door is well insulated, and can be painted or stained, with no fear of decaying or rusting. A steel door is also well insulated, but it can only be painted; in fact it must be kept well-painted to prevent rust.
Your third option is wood. Wood generally has a lower insulation value, but it can be painted or stained, or even stained and varnished. And you can put a storm door on a wood door. Any door is a good barrier against the weather as long as it is well sealed and weatherstripped.
Q I am rather amazed at the amount of dust I have in the house since I replaced wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors. Not only dust, but big dust balls. I have a hot-air furnace, I change the filters regularly and I had my air ducts cleaned just a few years ago. Do I need a new furnace?
JERRY SINATRA, Walpole
A I don't think you need a new furnace, although you should check it for a cracked heat exchanger, which can spew soot (not dust) into the house and will smell like burned fuel, which can be lethal. I think there is no more dust than there ever was; the wall-to-wall carpeting simply hid it better than the hardwood flooring. If you are burning candles in the house, especially aromatic candles, stop. They can produce quite a bit of soot. And, instead of changing filters regularly, let them get a bit dirtier so they will stop more dust, even though that might reduce the efficiency of the furnace. Also, check those filters to see if they are, indeed, blocking dust.
Some people think that hot-air furnaces create more dust than, say, a hot-water heating system. Not necessarily so. The hot-air system just re-arranges the dust more widely than a water system will.
Q I had a camp built in New Hampshire, and I am wondering now what kind of flooring to install. Would the new plastic laminates work well in a summer cottage near the water?
KATHY ROLFE, Brighton
A Yes, I think laminates would work nicely in a summer cottage. It is relatively inexpensive, and is warranted for 15-to-20 years, not too bad for plastic. However, sand-laden feet can scratch it, but sand-laden feet can scratch anything, especially varnished hardwood. So, when you and/or the kids come in from swimming, be sure to clean off those sandy feet.
Here are several replies:
J.B. of Plymouth e-mailed: He could build an insulated box, as you suggested, and then run a drop light with a low-wattage light bulb in the box.
From L. DeLong of Ashland, by e-mail: Our very effective solution to a similar situation was a water pipe freeze protection cable: electric plug-in, very inexpensive to buy and run for the season. One or two of these might work for M.A.T.
From Peter D., Stratham, N.H., by e-mail: The pump should be drained when left for a long time in freezing weather. I do this regularly in my old barn house, with no heat at all in Chilmark. Never fails, and sure is not expensive to do.
And by e-mail from George Adams of Merrimack and Conway, N.H.: I did the same (insulated box), and I added an electric utility heater. This heats the space well during cold weather for about $30 a month. I combined this with a "cottage monitor" from Smarthome that alerts me if the temperature goes out of the safe zone I had established.
Q In my brand new house, there is tile around the whirlpool wall and on the floor. The floor tiles are quite large, but the grout is the wrong color, which makes the tiles look a different color. The tile man wants to paint the grout lines instead of replacing the grout. What should I do? The man said it would take several days to take out the old grout and put in new grout .
NO NAME
A The man just does not want to take out the grout. Don't let him paint the grout; it will not work well. Since the tiles are rather large (12 by 12 inches) -- and the not-big bathroom floor is covered by the whirlpool, a shower stall, and vanity -- there are few lines of grout to dig out. He can do that, plus put in new grout, in a day.
Handyman on Call also appears in the Globe's Real Estate section on Sundays. 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. 
