Q–Our old house has plaster walls and as part of a recent renovation we had to remove an old vent from one wall, leaving us with a 9-inch-square rectangular opening in the plaster with no backing behind it. Can you tell us an inexpensive and simple way to fill or patch this hole?
A–One simple technique is to fill the hollow space with large wads of crumpled up newspaper or cardboard.
Push the paper in until it hits the backing, and keep pushing in more crumpled wads until it catches firmly against the back side of the wall and stays in place.
Now you can start applying the first coat of patching plaster around the edges of the hole. But don’t try to fill the entire opening with this first application.
Wait until this hardens around the edges, then apply additional layers, working in toward the center until all the paper or cardboard is covered with at least one coat.
Continue applying more layers until the plaster is about level with the surrounding wall, then after this hardens apply spackling compound if necessary to fill in any shallow depressions that remain in the dried plaster.
Q–About 30 years ago, I put Z-Brick up on several wall areas in my kitchen. Someone suggested painting this material in an off-white shade. How do I go about it?
A–Before you paint it, you must first clean the surface by washing off all grease and dirt. Then seal the surface with a coat of stain killer such as B-I-N, Kilz or similar product. After this dries you can paint with a latex flat or eggshell enamel in the color of your choice.
Q–I have a humidifier installed in a small utility closet in my condominium apartment. There is an electric furnace/air conditioner plus a hot-water heater in the same closet, so it gets quite hot in there with the door closed.
Could this be why the humidifier keeps burning out heater elements quite frequently?
A–It sounds to me as though this is a strong possibility, but I cannot say for sure. Contact the manufacturer of this appliance to find out if their technical people can tell you whether this could be the problem.
Q–Water seeps into my basement after a very rainy period and a contractor told me that this is probably because my gutter downspouts empty onto the ground next to the house. He suggesting putting in one or more “dry wells” to dispose of this water and keep it away from the basement walls. What is a dry well and how can I install one?
A–A dry well consists of a deep hole in the ground that is most often lined with perforated masonry blocks.
Water from the downspouts is then carried into this by means of underground lengths of plastic pipe that are connected to the bottom of each downspout. Gutter water coming down off the roof is collected and allowed to gradually seep into the soil.
One way for the do-it-yourselfer to build such a dry well is to bury an empty 50-gallon drum in the ground at least 10 feet away from the house.
Fill this with large rocks and punch or drill many holes at least one-half inch in diameter around all sides. Make sure you also make a hole either in the side or top of the drum large enough for the plastic underground piping coming from the downspout to enter.
Bury the drum deep enough so that the top is 18 inches below ground level and cover it with pressurized lumber or reinforced concrete on top.
