We are re-installing our old shingles on our 1907 Craftsman in Venice , CA. We removed all the shingles and stripped the old paint off most of the shingle. While the shingles were down, we installed insulation and shear wall. Prior to reinstalling the shingles, we applied a coat of linseed oil to both sides of the shingles. When reinstalling, we flipped the shingles, leaving the unpainted side visible.
We are now researching the best final protective coat for the shingles that will allow us to see the natural grain of the wood. A few options have come up:

1. 2 more coats of linseed oil
2. 2 coats of linseed oil and linseed wax on top of that
3. linseed oil stain (we don't really want to do this because we don't want the shingles to be darker)
4. pine tar

What is your advice? Or can you suggest any other options? If we use pine tar, will the outside of the house be forever sticky? Does the pine tar have a strong smell? Does it make the wood darker?

Is linseed oil and wax sufficient?

We also want to make sure what ever option we are using is ecologically sound and non-toxic.

Also, can you recommend a non-toxic method for removing paint....i.e. not using the very toxic liquid paint strippers.
Thanks for your help.

Any thoughts on the relative merits of a propane furnace vs. heat pump with respect to installation cost, reliability, efficiency? We're building on a ridge in central Maryland. Probably will have 30-40 (??) days per year when the temperature stays below 32.

The bedroom in the back corner of our basement has a wall that mildews terribly. Previously, I replaced mildew damage near the floor. The entire back of the removed drywall was covered with mildew. Now, mildew is coming through the wall near the ceiling. This wall is the bathroom's toilet wall. There is a half bath on the floor above. Can the condensation of the toilet tanks do this? What other things might contribute to this? What do I need to do to repair this?

I live in a circa 1890 Folk Victorian that was completely remodeled in 2001. As an historic building in a town that is itself an historic landmark, the HARC (Historic Architecural Review Commission) required several remodeling conditions, among them the matching of the original 19th C. siding (not sure if it's T&G or shiplapped). The siding is a mix of old and, as of 2001, newly milled wood (I don't believe the pattern existed anymore commercially).

Bottom line: every year or two over the past five I've had to have the exterior repainted in patches as the wood grain has popped up in several spots and the paint has peeled extensively. I'm even seeing sap coming out in certain areas. What's going on and who is responsible? I've heard everything from green wood to painting in wet weather to vapor barrier issues to a too-humid environment inside the house.

The south side, of course, gets the worst of it in the summer, but the peeling is not limited to that side. Should I strip the whole south side and patch the rest using an oil-based primer, some say, to help keep moisture at bay, or would that just exacerbate an interior humidity problem? I had a contractor doing tile work use his moisture probe on the drywall on the south side of the house and it looked like a slightly higher than average moisture content (but nowhere close to, for example, a bathroom shower).

I'd send you a picture if I could so you could see what I'm talking about. I'll be talking with the original building contractor (a friend, unfortunately) to get more information on the type of wood siding used and more info on the conditions surrounding the construction. I'm interested to hear what you think.

We moved into our home(10 yrs old) last fall. We have 5 acres in the suburbs of minneapolis. We have a finished basement and a sump pump system. As far as I know our basement has always been dry (no strange smells/stains/ etc). Our front yard slopes toward the house with an external tile at the base of the hill that drains to the back of the property.

During the spring thaw our sump pump ran 15-20 times a day for 20 seconds at a time. Now mid-June it still comes on 3-4 times a day. There is a one drop/5 seconds constant drip into the sump pit. The back of our property is considered a wetland-however it is grass without standing water and is 10 down in elevation from the basement.

The frequency of the sump operation concerns me. Is this ?normal or a red flag? Are there external things I should consider. Did they put the house on a spot it shouldn't be on? Is this a ?common scenerio? Please advise.

Regards, MNP

How typical is aluminium wiring to the circuit box and for all 220 volt appliances in homes and apartments? Is it considered fairly standard?

I'm not ready to do a bid process right now but need to find out a rough estimate of how much it costs to tuck point. The basement and garage are in need of a fair amount of such work. Each probably doesn't need everything tuckpointed, but a good portion does need it, and some bricks need to be replaced. The basment is approximately 40lx26wx9h and the garage is approximately 20x20x9. Are you able to give me any kind of a rough idea how much a job like this would cost? In Omaha, NE.

Our 1650 SF rambler was built in '54 and we want to replace the old, original oil furnace with something more modern and efficient. We also want to be able to cool the house and clean the air in the house. Even tho this is technically considered a temperate climate, we don't like the hot summer weather. Additionally we live close to the airport so the pollution is an issue especially in the heat of summer. We're thinking of an electric heat pump. What is your advice/recommendation? We plan to hire a contractor to do all the work. We've had 2 estimates this week for a heat pump and one for a new oil furnace and air conditioner a few weeks ago. The estimates range from $7500-$9200 w/o tax so far. One estimate says we need more duct work for the heat pump. There's gas at the street but not to the house and we're not too keen on gas. There's so much to consider and we want to pick the right system. We're planning on staying in the house for many years. We're not rich but are willing to spend the money to get it done right. We also want to add some insulation to the attic (and possibly in the walls of our bedroom to dampen noise from the airport). Thank you for your time. Your website is a wealth of information! :)

The home where I've lived for the past 18 years is built on sandy soil, with concrete blocks forming the basement walls. It's about 55 years old. There is a slight downward slope away from the house and I never have leakage of rain water into the basement unless I neglect to clean out the window wells. The basement has only one visable floor drain. It is next to the furnace and hot water heater and is very slow. The run-off from the humidifier will cause it to fill up and form an increasingly large puddle after only a few hours. So I have to keep the water line into the humidifier 3/4 closed. I've had this drain roto-rooted and power- rodded, but the line was impassable after about 25 feet. This floor drain would quickly be overwhelmed by significant water in the basement, say from a broken pipe or water heater. I want to avoid installing a sump pump, partly due to expense, but also because I don't want my basement floor chopped up to make basins or canals. Now here is the actual question: The floor outside of the furnace room is covered with linoleum tiles. Isn't it very likely that there's a floor drain under those tiles somewhere? And if so, might it perhaps still function? If I could find it, I could run a hose into it to test it out. So I rented a metal detector this morning, but it registered what had to be false positives over the entire surface of the linoleum. I kept adjusting the sensitivity, but to no avail. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

We're having a home built that is supposed to be "all masonry construction". Phase I homes were all masonry: cement block, wrapped in a brick facade. We're in Phase II of construction. Because of the cold Chicago weather, the developer wants to change the construction materials so that he can start development now. He wants to use a wood frame, wrapped in Tyvek, with a brick facade. I believe that the all masonry construction is better because it will last forever, is better protection against fires and is quieter. Does all masonry construction have a longer life expectancy? Amtrak and a Freight train runs across the back of the home. The models in Phase I with the masonry construction did a good job of muffling noise. Will the Tyvek construction muffle the noise as well? Finally, can they change the construction materials without our consent? There were many advertisements saying this would be "all masonry construction", but our contract says they can change the materials with equal or better value. Its been eight months since we signed the contract.

Dear George and Associates,

What is the proper installation of a "seamless?" laminate shower that does happen to have a horizontal seam in it at a height of five feet.

I have a new installation of a seamless laminate shower in a bathroom remodel. The product is molded horizontally and is only five feet wide or tall as you look at the shower pan to ceiling shower. Thus there are two horizontal pieces to this shower. The Seamless Shower Walls, Inc. out of Fresno, California, put the bottom piece over the top piece with a four inch overlap. At this height a lot of water will hit that seam. Then they put a molding around the horizontal seam and sealed it with silicone. However, before the rest of the other part of the bathroom remodel was done the bottom piece of the shower had pulled away from the wall on the longest or back side of the shower. The company then came back and tried to reglue the wall and pushed a frame on it to hold until it was dry. Since that did not work they say they will redo the bottom section using more glue.

The contractor I am working with for other projects and who properly prepared the shower area for this company states that he believes the overlap should go the other way like shingles on a roof or siding on a house, whereby the top piece overlaps on top of the bottom piece so the water will run down and off. Or he says some kind of z-molding engineering should be done to assure water will not creep behind the bottom half.

The company states this bottom over top is perfectly fine and that the glue will last for years and seal the wall perfectly. At the same time they are saying they can easily remove the bottom half and redo it.

With this bathroom remodel we have corrected many leak problems in the walls and flooring and we are anxious that this installation of a shower will not repeat the past troubles. Unfortunately we are already tied in with this company and I am not sure they are giving us the right information. They also have been fairly rude stating that our contractor does not know what he is talking about.

The situation today is that the contractor is suggesting that I request them to pull the whole thing out and put the top over the bottom. The company is insisting that they only do the job one way, bottom over top and that they are going to schedule in the time when they are going to return.

I want the job done correctly and I need some leverage that comes from knowledge and what is the proper installation technique. California code is that the wall be waterproof to six feet. The company is saying that I have to do the maintenance for the seam to last. Then they said that they would come out and do the maintenance and if it does not work replace everything ... all damage. They say over the phone that their product lasts 10 years, but on the back of the estimate, it states five years for the product and one year for the installation. I have already paid for the product as the installation was completed.

I will appreciate your input into this confusing situation.

Sincerely, Elizabeth

Hi George--

we have a question about a new addition to our home. We want to add a living area upstairs; it appears that the home originally had only one floor but someone converted the attic (at the highest point, with normal high ceilings) into a couple of small rooms.

We want to add two dormers the full length/width of the house to increase the living area (with full steps going up). At present the floor-ceiling is composed of 2x4's. In order to make it an up-to-code living space, what are the minimum requirements for the floor joists? Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you. (If you can recommend any book we can read on this subject, that would be great).

Kim and Jose

I live in the San Francicso Bay Area, near the city of Walnut Creek. I need to replace old siding on one wall of my house. The old siding is a 12 inch particle board. What product do you recommend for our weather:

1. stucco 2. hardi plank 3. certainteed weatherboard 4. vinyl

• Regards,

  Nick

My husband and I hired a fully licensed and insured contractor (whom we had checked out first and still talk with) to do an addition for us 2 years ago.

Our concern is with the 1st floor kitchen area which we extended out to the side an extra 2 1/2 feet wide x 15 feet long. This kitchen extension with underneath crawl space is abutting next to the outside wall of our below level basement and our 3 year old asphalt driveway is on the other side. Everything was done according to code and inspected and mason/cinderblock walls were used and a concrete floor was poured. The contractor's workers were not going to pour a concrete floor in the new abutting crawl space area until my husband and I said something. We were concerned when we saw water from rain collecting in the crawl space before the floor went on above it. A vent was placed at the one end of the addition crawl space. No water gets through this vent.

I am sorry to make this so long, but I could not leave out the details. Our concern is that before this kitchen addition with the underneath crawl space was done, a section of the basement wall that it is abutting would always get pretty wet when it rained and still does. It is also made from cinderblocks with mortar. We have a drain and sump pump in the basement also however we never get any water, except that one wall. Now since we did this addition with underneath crawl space next to this wet basement wall, we now see water dripping slowly down it from a higher point when it rains. We are hoping this crawl space addition next to this wall did not make things worse. The mortar between some of the blocks on this older wall was crumbling previously or had holes in some spots, as if it is being washed away slowly. We do not want it to get worse or have major problems later.

The question is do we repair this partially crumbled mortar between the block? If so, what do we use and who should do the repair? Our masonry guy, told us to just leave it alone. He says the wall needs to drain. Another mason told us to just patch it up and it will be fine. We are confused as to what to do. Who is telling the truth? Should we install a drainage system outside the addition where the driveway is? We called 3 waterproofing companies and they do not want to be bothered with our wet, partially crumbling wall. They were only interested to see if they can install a drain & pump inside, which we already had. We want to solve the wet wall problem and structurally repair it. Do we drylock it? This wall makes my laundryroom look ugly. Our gutters and leaders outside are all brand new and we have a dehumidifier on in that section of the basement. We believe it is underground water causing the problem. We do not live in a flood zone. We can't slope the property away from the side of the addition, as we tried to pitch the driveway away when we had it redone but it did not help. Thanks. Your help is greatly appreciated.