Yes, I like leaf-guard-type gutters, sure. But do I like the price? Not usually. Ever hear the comparison about how many chauffeured limousine trips could be provided at taxpayer expense for the cost of light rail? Consider how many times you could have your gutters professionally cleaned for the price of these fancy gutters.
Q: We're remodeling and were wondering whether we should reuse the doors in our 1910 bungalow. They're in good shape, very heavy, and with 50 coats of latex paint on them. One fella said he would charge us $100 each to have them dipped, and if we bring them in this week, he'd give us a discount! There are five of them. I know from an ecological point of view that reusing the doors is good. I also know that the cost is about equal to buying new doors, but are the doors we're stripping and repainting better than new doors? They are panel doors; that is five panels going horizontally, with the original doorknobs.
A: If it were me, I absolutely would reuse the old doors. To get something of equal (or lesser) quality today, you would pay hundreds of dollars each and still not duplicate the charm.
Q: I have a hollow-core mahogany front door. This does not seem great for security. Would I be better off replacing it altogether, or installing a screened steel security door in front of it?
A: Thinking only of appearance, a new door sure sounds attractive. Thinking only of security and my wallet, one of those mesh screen security doors — the type that looks like it was surplus from county jail, bolted to the side of the house, is the ticket. This way, on a hot day you can get fresh air and still keep the riff-raff at bay.
Q: What is a guideline for sizing an attic fan? Do I need to have one pulling air into the attic and one out?
A: Attic fans are mounted on the roof or a gable wall and ventilate the attic only, whereas whole-house fans (known also as Southern fans) are cut into the ceiling and ventilate the entire house, blasting the hot air into the attic and out. Neither of these fan types is to be confused with "whole-house fans" installed in new homes since 1991 — these are smaller and not made to cool, but simply to bring in fresh air.
In the case of an attic fan, it exhausts to the outside, and the fresh air enters through the screened attic vents in the eaves and peak. Take the square footage of the attic and multiply by 0.7. This will give you the size of fan in cubic feet per minute (CFM). One to 2 square feet of attic venting is needed for each 1,000 CFM, no matter the fan style.
While it may be easy to throw out a rule-of-thumb number, actually measuring the net-free area of the vents in the attic is about as easy and accurate as planning for war. No help there, sorry. With newer fans, we are finding that an undersized fan that runs for a longer period of time may be more effective and less noisy. Don't forget that solar fans are available.
Whole-house fans are sized by taking the square footage of the interior of the building and multiplying by 3. Yes, this is one huge fan, and you will feel one very large breeze. Tie down loose objects and small children lest they be sucked up into the attic.
Q: On the recent question of furnace cold-air return: Cold air is at the bottom of the floor — why would a vent be at the ceiling?
A: "Cold" is cold only when compared to the hot air coming out of the hot side of the furnace.
UPDATES: On May 2, I wrote about rusting nails bleeding through the paint on a home with cedar siding. Furthering this discussion, Paul Mackie with the Western Red Cedar Lumber Association tells me they recommend that only hot-dipped galvanized, aluminum or stainless steel ring-shank siding nails be used with Western red cedar.
Electro-plated galvanized and mechanical galvanized nails are not recommended, as they have thinner zinc coatings, which tend to flake when driven, thus resulting in iron stains. Hot-dipped galvanized siding nails are acceptable if the siding is to be pre-primed and solid-stained or painted. If the siding is to be stained with a clear stain, semi-transparent stain or bleaching oil, then stainless steel or tensil-strengthened aluminum nails should be used.
If the structure is near saltwater, then marine grade (316) should be used. Mackie adds that the home in question likely was gun-nailed with electro-plated nails. Further specific technical information on cedar and cedar siding installation is available from www.wrcla.org.
Darrell Hay answers readers' questions. Call 206-464-8514 to record your question |
