Q-We have beautiful oak wood flooring in our living room, but one of the tongue-and-groove boards has a split in it near one end.
Because the boards interlock, I’m wondering whether there is any way we can replace this cracked piece of flooring without having to rip up the whole floor clear back to the nearest wall?
A-Start by drilling a series of large-diameter holes across the board just past the section where the split is located. Then use a chisel and hammer to split the damaged section lengthwise so you can pry out the split pieces between the end of that board and the point where you drilled the holes.
Next, cut a short piece of new flooring exactly the same length to replace the section you removed.
Because of the tongue-and-groove edges, you won’t be able to drop the new section into place from above, so you’ll need to trim off the bottom lip on the tongue edge before pressing the piece down into position. Nail at each end with grooved or ringed nails, then countersink the heads and fill the holes that remain with a matching-color wood putty.
Q-I had central air conditioning installed in my home and it got very cold the following winter. When it warmed up outdoors, the ceiling vent in one room started to drip water.
The installer said the unit, which is in the attic, needed more insulation, so I had my son install it. But then the same dripping happened again, and came out of other vents in the house, as well as from a bathroom exhaust vent that isn’t connected to the air conditioning.
The installer can’t figure out what the problem is, and he refuses to come back to correct this. Can you help?
A-It sounds as though you’re having a condensation problem inside the ducts in your attic. Apparently, when it gets cold condensation forms from the warm, moist air that finds its way up into the ducts or into the attic.
This type of problem can usually be corrected by insulating the ducts-air conditioning ducts and exhaust ducts-as well as by adding more venting to the attic.
