What to do about a soggy yard; cleaning Corian
Q My backyard is forever wet and soggy. Well, not forever, but in winter and spring it is very wet, and it does not dry out until late August. I had a French drain installed recently, and it is doing a great job of keeping the basement dry. Is there any kind of drainage system I can put in the yard to keep it reasonably dry?
DESPERATE
A Call a landscaper or a hydraulic engineer to see if a drain will work. The water table (the level of underground water) is very high, so the question is where to drain that water. One possibility is to add fill to the low parts of the lawn, being careful not to slope the ground toward the house.
Q I have a white Corian vanity sink that I like very much. I took it from a house I had previously owned, and stored it in my basement for a number of years. Now I want to install it in my newly purchased house, but the leading edge of the vanity has discolored with a brownish stain. I have tried various cleaners without success.
LAURIEN ENOS, Plymouth
A The nice thing about Corian (I have two Corian vanities, quite old and still very nice) is that you can sand out stains. I think the stain is rust, caused by rusty water or condensate. Try sanding the stain out with fine sandpaper. If that does not work (I think it will), try this: Mix 4 ounces oxalic acid (sold in paint stores) in a quart of hot water. Just pour it on and let it dry.
Q My house is only two years old, and a hairline crack has appeared in the foundation. It collects a bit of water -- three towels' worth -- when it rains. A company said it will charge $1,000 to inject an epoxy filler from the inside. Is this outlandish or not?
CURIOUS
A Since you cannot get to the crack from the outside because of an overhanging porch, you have little choice but to have the work done and be done with it, or not do it and keep an eye on the leak; it may not get any worse. And if it does, you could try undercutting the crack and inserting hydraulic cement for an interior repair. Or, coat the crack with Drylock, a cement based paint that might stop the leak. Try the Drylock first, and see what happens.
Q I had my house inspected with an eye toward saving heating fuel. An N-Star man said that I don't need new windows but said that I have R-10 attic floor insulation that should be R-40. Adding that insulation and doing other work to the attic will cost $2,600, which I am obliged to pay half. Is that a reasonable price? Also, my son got over-enthusiastic in chopping ice from my driveway, and created 20 or so dings, shallow depressions. How can I fill them?
TRUDY L., Needham
A The charge for insulation and other work on the attic such as ventilation is reasonable, especially since you have to pay half. The R-10 insulation is by far inadequate (just 3 or so inches of fiberglass), which will be upgraded to R-40, which is 12 inches of fiberglass. It's a good start and will save you a fair amount of heating fuel.
As for the dings in the driveway, tell your son that God put the ice there and God should take it away. It just takes a little more time. But as far as the dings you have now, all is not lost. You cannot fill those shallow dings, but you can seal-coat the driveway. I don't regularly recommend sealing, which is 90- to -95 percent cosmetic, but in this case the cosmetics will do the trick, disguising those dings so that eventually you will never know they're there.
From Ray: The problem, of course, is that the salt corrodes the metal, and when the metal corrodes it fuses the two parts of the salt shaker together. Periodically separate and clean the same to avoid that happening. Silver is particularly vulnerable. That tends to indicate that these are salt shakers that are infrequently used and reserved for holidays and other special occasions.
An easy way to avoid the problem is to take a small piece of plastic wrap, fold it over once or twice, insert it between the top and bottom halves of the salt shaker, and then screw (or press) the two parts together. The two parts to the salt shaker cannot be fused shut through corrosion with a barrier of the plastic wrap in place. This tip comes not from me but from my mother, Lucille Gouin, who was born in 1907. She taught me the tip and told me that she learned about it in the mid-1930s from a Boston Globe Chatters column (I presume that, at that time, a piece of cloth or paper was recommended as the barrier, as I don't think that plastic wrap had been invented).
From Lorraine: She suggests a similar idea. If you poke a hole in the center of the plastic wrap, she said, you can use the salt.
The Globe Handyman on Call also appears in the Sunday Real Estate Section. 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. 