Q–I am building a small bathroom in a large hall closet on the first floor of my two-story house. I located this new bathroom/washroom right under the upstairs bathroom and am doing most of the work myself.
I have been told that in addition to the usual waste line and trap, this new bathroom sink will also need its own vent line. Why is this vent needed?
A–Without a vent, waste water flowing rapidly out of the waste line–as when a sink or toilet is emptied from higher up–would create a siphon action that would actually suck water out of the trap under the sink, thus breaking the seal provided by the usual water-filled trap.
All building codes require a vent for each fixture. The vent permits air to enter the waste line, thus preventing a siphon action and insuring that the water trap under the sink will not lose its water.
Q–I am building a finished playroom in my basement, which has concrete foundation walls. I plan to install insulation between the studs on the walls, and have always understood that the vapor barrier on the insulation should be on the warm side of the insulation (facing inward). However, I recently was told that it would be best to also install a plastic film barrier against the concrete first. Is it really advisable to install both vapor barriers?
A–It is not a good idea to install two vapor barriers–one on each side of the insulation–in any wall. The barrier should be on the warm side of the insulation.
If there is a potential moisture problem in the concrete (moisture coming through it from the outside), then a waterproof coating should be applied directly to the concrete foundation before putting up the new partitions or walls.
Q–About a year ago, I purchased a ranch-style home that is centrally air conditioned. The vents for this system are in the ceiling of each room and there is a problem with water dripping down from these vents when the air conditioner is running. What can be done to prevent this?
A–The dripping is most likely due to condensation forming inside the metal ducts, which obviously run through the attic above each room, and are probably not insulated. Insulating these ducts, or replacing them with non-metallic ducts, should solve your problem.
Call in an air-conditioning contractor to examine the installation so he can determine the most effective solution for this problem.
Q–Our living room has a wood parquet floor that consists of 8-inch squares. In the past year, this floor started to buckle in several places. What can be causing this and how can it be corrected?
A–One possible reason is that the subflooring under the parquet floor is buckling, lifting the squares with it. This can only be cured by actually lifting the wood squares where they have buckled and then re-nailing the subflooring so it lays flat again. After this, you can put the parquet squares back by cementing or nailing them down.
Another possible cause for the buckling can be that the squares were not properly put down with an expansion space around all the edges of the room (against the walls).
Wood tiles should always have a space of about a half inch between the last row of squares and the base of the walls on all sides. This gap is then covered with the baseboard, which is nailed to the wall, not to the floor.
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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.
