Q–My house has a detached garage with only one light switch inside. I want to add a three-way switch near the side door of the house so that I can turn the garage light on or off from the house or the garage. How do I do this?
A–I assume that the power for this garage light comes from the house, and that it comes in through the switch box first, then goes on to the light itself. If so, additional wiring is required to replace the existing two-wire power cable (going from the house to the garage) with a three-wire cable.
Then you will have to replace the existing switch in the garage with a three-way switch. At the house end of the new three-wire cable, you will need another three-way switch.
Q–We have an unheated crawl space under our house with an unpaved dirt floor. The crawl space is vented directly to the outside, and about 75 percent of the dirt floor is covered with sheet plastic.
We get dampness and musty odors in the house rising from this area. What’s the best way to seal out these odors?
A–The first thing you must do is cover all of the exposed dirt in that crawl space, overlapping the plastic sheets by at least 6 inches and weighting the seams down with stones or bricks.
The sheets should also lap up about 6 inches onto the foundation walls around all sides. It’s also likely that you will need more venting down there–enough to provide at least 1 square foot of open unobstructed vent opening for every 300 square feet of floor area in the crawl space.
Q–Our garage floor is constantly wet during the winter due to snow. The cement floor has no drain or a slope. What can we do?
A–Unless you install a sump or drain opening in the garage floor, there is little you can do other than leaving the car outside until all the snow is melted off.
One other possibility is to cover the floor under where the car stands with indoor/outdoor carpet. This will catch and absorb the water so it does not run all over the garage floor.
Q–The door frames in my apartment are made of metal and have been painted many times. I plan to strip all the paint off. Then I would like to coat the metal to look like wood. What kind of stain or finish can I use?
A–There are special kits sold for simulating a wood grain. These usually contain a base coat and a heavy-bodied stain or “glaze” that can be applied over this base coat to imitate a wood grain.
The actual result will depend on how skillfully you wipe off and stroke the stain with your brush as you put it on over the base coat. It would be a good idea to buy a small sample and try it on one frame first.
Before applying the base coat, it would also be a good idea to first paint the frames with a rust-resistant metal primer.
Q–Ever since our plumber put new washers in both the hot- and cold-water faucets in our bathroom we get a loud knock or bang in the line each time we turn off the cold water. We did not have this problem before, yet the plumber claims this is no fault of his. He claims there is likely a defective or missing washer in the shut-off valve under the sink, or possibly a loose pipe inside the wall. Before I arrange for another expensive service call, do you have any other explanation?
A–Although both are possibilities, it would seem as though you would have had the same problem before the plumber came if the trouble has nothing to do with what the plumber did.
My guess is that he probably put in the wrong size or type of washer, or that he did not properly tighten the screw that holds the washer in place in one or both of the faucets.
Another possibility is that you have a condition known as “water hammer.” This causes pipes to bang when the water is shut off suddenly. It can be cured by having a special “anti-hammer” air chamber installed near the offending faucet.
You can usually tell if water hammer is your problem by turning the cold water faucet off very slowly. If this does not cause any banging, there is a good chance that the problem is due to “water hammer” or loose pipes.
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Have a question about home repair problems? Write to Bernard Gladstone in care of Your Place, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611. Questions of general interest will be answered in future columns. Sorry, letters cannot be answered personally.
