9 Outside the House
No discussion of houses is complete without covering some of the related features and structures, such as porches, decks, garages, driveways, and yards.
Compaction of asphalt driveway
Q. My driveway is 650 feet and I want to ensure adequate compaction is obtained. How can I tell if the contractor is actually using the right size machine?
A. The proper procedure, to get proper compaction, is to first use a small 1- to 1½-ton “break-down roller” followed by a 5-ton roller after the asphalt has cooled down. To get this kind of compaction, you may have to deal with a large contractor who does road work for the state, if you can get him or her to take on a small job.
Cracks in blacktop driveway
Q. I have a badly cracked blacktop driveway. I was advised by a contractor that he could add 2 inches of new topping instead of tearing up the old surface. I’d like to know if this is a viable solution. The driveway is quite long.
A. It depends entirely on the soundness of the substrate. You would be wise to have a couple more paving contractors give you their opinions and prices. If the driveway has sunken holes and an irregular surface, such as depressions where car wheels have traveled or cars have been parked, the substrate is probably not good. But if it only has cracks while the overall surface is even, topping it may be okay.
Newly paved driveway develops cracks
Q. Our 400-foot long driveway was paved two years ago by a contractor reputed to be one of the best. The contractor removed loose stones from the old driveway to prepare the bed. The paving was installed in two layers. This year, I had the driveway sealed by a contractor recommended by the paving contractor.
Since the first of August, cracks have appeared and more are appearing and widening almost daily. Most of the cracks are in the center of the roadbed and run as long as 42 feet with a width of 1/10 of an inch. It appears that the cracks do not go beyond the top layer of asphalt.
Do you have any idea why the driveway is cracking? Are you receiving other reports of cracking in this drought and heat? Do you have any suggestions on how the cracks should be repaired to end this problem?
A. Your driveway is probably wide enough for the contractor to have done it in two parallel sections for the entire length. This leaves a seam between the two sections. Since you mention that the cracks are in the center of the roadbed, this appears to be the case. The seam, which may not have been so noticeable before the sealant was applied, has become so as is often the case afterwards.
If the cracks do not increase in width, there is no need to be concerned but you might want, for your peace of mind, to ask the paving contractor to take a look at it. If he or she is one of the best, as you say, he or she should be glad to follow up on this and offer some calming advice or a solution if repairs are needed.
Yearly coating of driveway is a bad idea
Q. My neighbors and I seal-coat our driveways every year. In a recent column, you said that driveway sealers should not be re-applied any sooner than four to five years. So are you recommending we seal-coat every four to five years?
A. Applying a sealer to a driveway too often creates a build-up that can eventually lead to cracking of the finish known as “alligatoring.” And the more you add coats, the worse it gets. The cracks are not waterproof and water can get into the asphalt and cause early damage. Sealers should be applied only when the existing coating is worn down.
Q. Could you enlighten me on the proper way to go? Does an acrylic sealer on an asphalt driveway cause cracks because it is water-based? Should the driveway be sealed every year? Is it better to use a coal tar sealer? Can one sealer be put on top of another type? What about a crack filler? Weather Shield makes one you just pour into the cracks and let dry before applying a sealer. Does it work?
A. An acrylic sealer does not cause cracks. A driveway does not need to be sealed every year. Do it only when the driveway looks like it needs it—every three to five years. Acrylic sealers are very good but more expensive than the old stand-by rubberized coal tar emulsion. Once one type of sealer is applied, it is best to stick to the same type unless the old one has pretty much worn out. Do remember that sealers should be applied in the hottest weather as they need high heat and sunlight to cure. Apply sealers in very thin coats.
Any good quality crack filler should work. Be sure it tells you that you can apply the sealer of your choice over it.
Best time to seal asphalt driveway
Q. In a column about an asphalt driveway you said: “It is a good idea to apply a sealer, but it is best to wait two years until the asphalt has turned gray. If the driveway is in the shade, you should wait even longer.”
My driveway was put in last fall. I read in another column that the driveway should be sealed about six months after it is installed. Who is right? When should I seal my new driveway?
A. The other columnist advised, correctly, to not seal a driveway until the light oils and other volatile chemicals have evaporated from the new asphalt. But setting a time to seal new pavement is based more on theory than an exact number of days or months.
As an asphalt pavement ages, it becomes less flexible and, eventually, brittle. The surface also turns gray and progressively becomes more porous as the black liquid asphalt cement is evaporated by the sun, which allows the finest aggregates or sand in the pavement mix to be released and washed away. This process would have to go on for a number of years before the pavement would be substantially damaged.
By not sealing a driveway too soon, or waiting for it to turn slightly gray, which takes about two years, you have insured that all of the light oils and volatiles are gone and that the asphalt is sufficiently hard so you don’t have an eternally soft driveway prone to tire dents and kickstand holes from bicycles or motorcycles. If a homeowner finds that, after one year, his driveway is unsightly, then he should by all means seal it.
There are many variables involved in paving a driveway. These include the type of mix used, the quality of the workmanship, the amount of compaction used when rolling it (heavy roadwork rollers are not used on residential driveways, thus the compaction is limited), the quality of the asphalt cement used to make the mix, and the geographic location — to name a few. These can all play a role in determining the answer to your question. But it is safe to say that sealing a driveway before it is six months old is not a good idea, and waiting three years may be too long.
Best way to seal asphalt driveway
Q. I want to put a driveway sealer on my driveway. It is now 2 years old. I see many of my neighbors doing this by hiring someone to spray their driveway with what looks like black paint. Is this method better or the same as buying the cans of sealer and hand-spreading the material yourself?
A. You were wise to wait two years before considering applying a sealer. It usually takes that long for the oils in the asphalt to evaporate and for the asphalt to harden. If your driveway is in the shade, you probably need to wait even longer than two years until the asphalt turns grey.
The best sealer is an acrylic sealer that is now available in black (it used to be solely used on tennis courts and it is usually available only through tennis court contractors) but it costs more than the other two good choices.
These choices are:1. an asphalt-based emulsion that is healthier than coal-tar pitch for the applicators and 2. coal-tar pitch emulsion—the old stand-by. Coal-tar pitch emulsion is a very dark dull black; avoid the use of any shiny cut-asphalt sealer. This is the process used by most contractors who do driveway sealing.
You can apply the sealer yourself from a can but be sure to spread it thin and evenly, and do not re-coat too often; every five years is good enough. There are two advantages to spraying; it’s done more quickly and it is aesthetically more appealing because it is applied more evenly. On the other hand, brushing is fine but it often leaves streaks because homeowners do not know how to spread it evenly. They generally pour some of the sealer onto the driveway from the can and attempt to spread it from the puddles; this results in an uneven application. The way to do it is to pour narrow strips of the sealer down the driveway and to spread it with a rubber squeegee held at a 45 degree angle while repeatedly walking down the driveway. But this still does not usually result in a finish as even as a spray job.
One more issue: sealers should be applied only in hot weather.
Q. I have an asphalt driveway that has a big motor oil stain on it. How do I remove the stain?
A. The best way to clean an oil stain from concrete or asphalt is by sprinkling a layer of TSP-PF crystals onto the stains and sprinkling hot water onto the TSP-PF. Scrub with a stiff bristle brush and let stand for a half hour. Rinse with clear water. If the oil is deeply embedded, you may need to repeat the procedure.
Oily residue on concrete driveway
Q. The falling leaves have been left too long on my driveway and have left an oily residue on the concrete. What do I have to do to get rid of this?
A. Next spring or summer, mix one cup of TSP-PF in a gallon of hot water and scrub the concrete with it using a stiff bristle brush on a long handle to spare your back. Once you are satisfied that the oily residue is gone, rinse the driveway with your garden hose.
Q. Our asphalt driveway meets the wall of the house and mushrooms have been growing and lifting the asphalt against the wall of the house. What causes the mushrooms to grow and what can we do to correct this problem?
A. According to a lawn and garden specialist, the mushrooms grow from the decaying of organic matter beneath the asphalt such as an old tree stump or roots. He doubts the mushrooms themselves are lifting the asphalt, although it is possible (I have seen other types of plants grow through asphalt), and wonders if the asphalt is not lifted by frost action. The clue is whether the lifting occurs during the winter or only during the growing season.
If his assessment is correct, it seems that the only way to cure the ailment is to dig down and remove the decaying matter, add sand or gravel and repair the asphalt.
Asphalt driveway keeps sinking and cracking
Q. My driveway was initially installed when my home was built in 1976. It is approximately 20 x 100 feet with a downhill grade (30%) from the house to the street. The original driveway had approximately 4 inches of sand and gravel for a foundation, topped by what I was told is 4 inches of asphalt. I routinely sealed it in the fall with a polymer/asphalt sealer. Year by year it sank and cracked.
About ten years ago I had a contractor lay two inches of asphalt on top of the existing driveway. This was fine for a few years, then the sinking and cracking began again. I plan to have it re-topped again with another two inches of asphalt. Most of the contractors that I have contacted for estimates, recommend digging up the entire driveway, hauling it off in dumpsters, and starting from scratch with a new foundation, etc. The difference in cost is $2,500 for a 2-inch topping versus $20,000 for a new installation. What do you recommend?
A. It sounds like the driveway needs a more stable base. Going with another 2-inch topping will get the same results as the last time. It will be fine for a few years, but will start sinking and cracking again soon.
If you are planning on staying in your home, investing in the removal and replacement of your old driveway would be sound. However, the $20,000 price for this sounds high, but could be justified if the contractors are going to dig down and install more gravel this time - like at least 1-foot or more. They should also install a geotextile fabric on the original soil before putting down the gravel to prevent it from sinking. If you haven’t already done so, you may want to get several estimates.
The alternative is to top the asphalt every few years as needed. If you divide $2,500 into $20,000 and the topping lasts five years, you can put eight toppings on (discounting rising prices); that’s 40 years!
Keep in mind that asphalt is not a structural material unless it is applied very thick. The asphalt on most driveways is really the “roof” used to keep the sub-base materials (gravel) dry and compacted. If those sub-base gravels are not deep enough or they become wet, it will add to the sinking and cracking that you are referring to.
Reasons for flaking of concrete driveway
Q. I built a home two years ago and put in a concrete driveway. The following spring the top layer of the driveway began flaking off. Now, a year and a half later, the whole top is crumbling and can be removed with a garden hose.
A dozen or so houses around here have similar problems that are found on driveways, garage slabs and patios. These were poured by different contractors but all in the same year. What’s causing this and what can be done about it?
A. Concrete scaling is caused by one or more of the following:
- Freezing and thawing of concrete containing moisture such as can occur if it is poured—in cold weather or if freezing temperatures occur before it has cured completely.
- The use of calcium or sodium chloride salts or ammonium sulfate or nitrate.
- Finishing operations carried out while bleed water is still on the surface.
- Insufficient curing of the concrete if left exposed to a hot sun and/or wind after the pour without proper protection.
- Pools of standing water from a poorly draining slab in cold weather.
Unfortunately, the only way to resurface the concrete is to cover it with blacktop.
Best way to repair cracks in a concrete driveway
Q. My concrete driveway and parking area have become pitted and cracked over the years and I notice that when it rains, the water goes into these cracks and sometimes finds its way into the basement.
Can this whole area be coated with asphalt driveway sealer or would you recommend putting an asphalt topping over the concrete? A thick covering would cause the garage openings to be lower and allow water to enter the garages. Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
A. You should check the condition of the grade and any appurtenances around your house to see if they are responsible for the basement wetness and, if they are, you should get them fixed. Although it’s possible, it is less likely that the cracks in the driveway are the cause of the wetness unless the driveway pitches toward the garages. An asphalt driveway sealer is not the answer; the cracks have to be filled with something more substantial.
Considering that it sounds as if your driveway is very flat, your best option, if the damage is not too extensive, is to have the pitted areas and the cracks repaired with a product like Thorocrete or Top’N Bond. However, if the entire surfaces of the driveway and parking area are affected, an asphalt topping may be the best bet if it can be thin enough not to lead water into the garage.
Rain on wet concrete causes dusting
Q. Our new concrete driveway is very dusty everywhere but under the house overhang. The sidewalk, which was poured two hours earlier, is also okay. Is the problem due to the fact that it rained very hard right after the driveway was poured and it was not covered? The builder was told by the concrete company to clean the driveway and seal it. Is this the solution or are they putting me on?
A. The part of the driveway exposed to rain shortly after pouring is dusting for that reason. The high cement/water ratio caused by wetting so early in the curing process resulted in a weak surface.
To minimize or eliminate it, apply a hardener such as zinc or magnesium fluoro-silicate on the concrete when it is thoroughly dry. Be sure to follow manufacturer’s directions. Actually the contractor should be responsible for this repair.
Cleaning up spilled stucco
Q. Recently we had our home re-stuccoed. Originally (15 years ago) it was coated with the stucco treatment that had a foam base. Then last summer, after finding cracks and learning that there was water damage under the stucco, we had the old fashioned, cement-like stucco treatment applied.
We’re happy with the work done except that the workmen were a bit messy. Some of the wet stucco got on our paver-block driveway and on the roof and now that it’s dried, it seems almost impossible to get off. The men who did the job have come back and tried to scrub it off, but it didn’t help much. Any suggestions on how to remove this dried stucco?
A. Too bad the workers didn’t clean their mess immediately; it would have been so easy to get rid of the splatters by flushing them away with your garden hose at the end of a day’s work while the cement was still fresh. Now that the cement has set over the last few months it may not be possible to remove the splatters from the paver blocks, and it certainly can’t be done from the roof shingles without causing serious damage.
You should have the workers come back and try to chisel the excess hardened cement off the driveway paver blocks and remove any residue with muriatic acid. There is a risk that the cement is so attached to the pavers that chiseling it off may also take a chip off the pavers. But no attempt to remove the cement splatters from the roof shingles should be made; it will damage the shingles irreparably. Assuming that your house is 15 years old since this is when the stucco-like foam panels were originally installed, your roof shingles have about another five years life expectancy.
For the time being, you can mitigate the visual problem by staining the splatters to match the color of the shingles as closely as possible.
Q. How can I remove rust from my concrete driveway?
A. If the stain hasn’t penetrated too deeply into the concrete, you should be able to remove it with a saturated solution of oxalic acid. Buy the crystals in a paint or hardware store and mix them with hot water until they can no longer be absorbed; this will give you a saturated solution. Swab the stained area with the solution and let it stand for two to three hours. Scrub the area with a stiff bristle brush while rinsing with clean water from your garden hose. Repeat if needed.
Deeper stains require more drastic measures that are not safe or easy for the average person to use. They need special attention from experienced hands.
Oxalic acid is a strong chemical; use great care and caution in handling it. Wear eye and skin protection. Use a glass or plastic container; do not use metal.
New coating of concrete on driveway
Q. Part of our cement driveway has settled about one inch allowing melting snow and rain to get into the garage. Can a cement coating be added to it instead of having to redo the driveway?
A. Yes it can. The existing surface must be thoroughly cleaned by pressure-washing or steam cleaning. You can rent the equipment needed for some of the above or you can have it done commercially.
You can also clean the driveway with a stiff scrub brush and TSP-PF. Sprinkle the granular TSP-PF over the surfaces to be cleaned. Sprinkle hot water over it and scrub. Let stand for 30 minutes and rinse off. Follow directions on the container carefully.
Now, depending on the area to be resurfaced, you can either do it yourself or hire a masonry contractor. Use Thorocrete in the case of a relatively small area, or have a concrete contractor do the repair with new concrete mixed with a vinyl additive to insure better adhesion.
Products to safely melt snow on new concrete driveway
Q. I replaced my concrete driveway in the summer of last year. What could I use to melt snow and ice from it? Most of the products I have checked state that they should not be used on a new driveway for one or two years.
A. You should be able to use any product containing calcium chloride. They are not supposed to be harmful to concrete once it has cured for a few months, but be sure that the product you choose does not contain ammonium-base salts or glycol, as both can cause damage to concrete. Potassium chloride is another possible choice. But stay away from sodium chloride—it is very harmful to concrete—as is magnesium chloride.
Your driveway was undoubtedly poured with air-entrained concrete—the norm for driveways. It should be resistant to damage from any ice-melting chemicals recommended above. It is also desirable to mix ice-melting chemicals with coarse sand.
It would also be a good idea to consider sealing your driveway but it needs to be done in warm weather. You can do so with a mixture of equal parts mineral spirits and boiled linseed oil applied with a sprayer, roller or fiber brush on a long handle. You will have to give the solution time to be absorbed and cure before using the driveway—this may take several days.
You can also buy pre-mixed sealants containing xylene or siloxane.
Q. In planning the demolition and reconstruction of my quickly deteriorating driveway, I was interested in pursuing the possibility of heating the subsurface to alleviate having to shovel ice and snow associated with our bitter Pittsburgh winters. The driveway is approximately 150 feet long, with a grade of what I would approximate at 4 or 5 percent. I intend to tear up the existing asphalt-covered concrete and replace it with a reinforced, 4-inch concrete pour. Do you have any suggestions as to what would be both effective and economical to address this problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
A. Effective, yes; economical, no. The driveway should be built as follows: Pack a 4- to 6-inch bed of stones; cover it with filter fabric and a thin layer of fine sand. Lay a bed of 2-inch thick extruded polystyrene rigid insulation (blue, grey, pink or green, depending on what is available in your area). The insulation will keep the heat from heating the soil below, which would waste a lot of energy. Lay plastic tubing approved for this purpose in a thin layer of sand just deep enough to bury the tubing, and pour a minimum of 4-inch thick concrete over it.
You didn’t mention what type of heat you have. If you have a warm-air system you will need a separate source of heat for the driveway, as you can’t use the warm-air system for it. If you have a hydronic heating system, you need to find out from a heating contractor if your boiler has enough capacity to do the snow-melting job. Your chosen contractor will figure out how many BTUs the system will require to perform properly, and will surely have a radiant floor engineer specify the configuration of the piping. But compare the cost of installation of the de-icing system and the extra energy used to operate it year after year to the cost of having someone plow the driveway; plowing gives a job to someone who makes his or her winter living by plowing and sanding, and is much less wasteful of our nation’s energy resources.
Covering concrete driveway with asphalt
Q. My 20-year-old concrete driveway is in atrocious condition. It is cracked through and through and pieces are coming off whenever I sweep it or shovel snow. Is there a not too expensive way to fix it or do I have to replace it? Can it be paved over with blacktop?
A. The photos you sent me do show extensive deterioration. It does not look like your driveway can be repaired at a reasonable cost. The best and least expensive solution would be to cover it with 2 inches of asphalt. All loose chunks will probably have to be removed but let that decision be made by the paving contractor. Just be sure that the new driveway, now 2 inches higher, does not lead water into your garage, where it would freeze and cause a dangerous situation.
The alternative would be complete removal of the concrete and a new pour—probably considerably more expensive.
Steep driveway too slippery for safe walking
Q. My driveway has a very steep pitch. When it gets icy, it is very dangerous to walk on it. Since the asphalt is breaking up, I plan to replace it. Is there anything I can do to make it less slippery such as a rough surface or heating pipes?
A. Concrete may be your best option as it can be given a rough texture with a special finish you would have to request and insist on. Installing heat pipes in the concrete is an option if you have a hydronic heating system but is expensive to install and run. You will need to have rigid extruded polystyrene insulation put down on the ground before the concrete is poured and a new circulator or zone valve installed on the boiler line to the driveway together with a control you would only activate when there is snow on it.
A less expensive but more work intensive way (since it would require shoveling) would be to have steps built next to the driveway. They can be built out of pressure treated wood or made part of the concrete driveway. The latter would require special forming.
Making the driveway less slippery
Q. My driveway has a very steep pitch. When it gets icy, it is very dangerous to walk on. Since the asphalt is breaking up, I plan to replace it. Is there anything I can do to make it less slippery, such as adding a rough surface or heating pipes?
A. Concrete may be your best option, as it can be given a rough texture with a special finish you would have to request and insist upon. But even this type of finish is likely to be slippery if there is deep frost or ice on the concrete.
Installing heat pipes in the concrete is an option if you have a hydronic heating system, but this option is expensive to install and run. You will need to have rigid, extruded polystyrene insulation put down on the ground before the concrete is poured. You’ll also need a new circulator or zone valve installed on the boiler line to the driveway together with a control you would activate only when there is snow on the driveway, and the system will need to have antifreeze, which reduces its efficiency.
A less-expensive but more work-intensive solution (since it would require shoveling) is to have steps built next to the driveway. They can be built out of pressure-treated wood or made part of the concrete driveway. The latter would require special forming.
“Slime mold” in driveway
Q. My friend has a problem with a very large tar-and-chip driveway. They noticed a slime and took it to the Penn State Extension to find out what it is and were told it is “slime mold.” It’s slowly creeping all over the driveway. It is somewhat black and very slimy. Their grandson walked on it and it made prints where he walked after that.
They’ve tried different antifungal solutions that they got at the hardware store, and it did nothing. They have tried Clorox bleach, etc. They noticed that since the weather has gotten very hot (90 degrees F), it shrivels, but then as soon as the evening cools off or it rains, it is back. Please, I need to help them.
A. Slime mold, a motile decay fungus, develops under wet conditions and grows very fast - almost visibly. The way to eliminate it is to dry the area up. This may require digging a ditch on one or both sides of the driveway to dry its bed up. The ditch or ditches should be filled with egg-sized stones for safety. Obviously someone knowledgeable needs to look at the situation to determine how best to accomplish this. Contact an excavating contractor, an American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI)-certified home inspector, a professional engineer or an experienced general contractor for help.
A pest control operator can flood the affected area with Tim-bor to kill the fungus, but the moisture source must be eliminated or the slime mold will return.
Repairing driveway salt damage
Q. I had a concrete driveway installed two years ago. To my dismay, I have recently noticed numerous chips coming off the surface. What is causing this to happen? I did not apply any salt to the driveway nor was a car parked there for a long period of time.
How can I best repair the spots and what can I do to prevent further damage next winter? Would sealing the concrete help and, if so, what product would work best and when should it be applied?
A. You may have brought salt in from the roads on the tires and undercarriage of your car. The telling signs may be that the chips occur where the car has tracked. In warm weather, hose any loose concrete and other contaminants off and repair the chips with a vinyl reinforced concrete repair mix. You should be able to find one of these products in hardware and building supply stores. Follow directions.
You can seal the driveway with a mixture of equal parts boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits applied with a heavy nap roller. Do so on dry concrete and on a warm day. Do not use the driveway until the sealer is cured and absorbed.
Bricks on walk have discolored
Q. I have a long brick walk that’s one and half years old and is set on stone dust. Originally, the bricks were a bright red but they have now turned to a dull red.
Two weeks ago, I swept stone dust between half the length of the brick walk. Unfortunately, I did not hose the walk off immediately; they are now dull and grey. I have scrubbed them twice, first with clear water then with a strong solution of liquid Tide. This removed most but not all of the grey. Is there any way to restore them to their original bright color?
A. You have a tough problem—there is little you can do. Stone dust particles are so fine that they fill the pores of the bricks, and there is no practical way to get them out. It would have been better to use sand. But try pressure-washing.
Air pollution also adds to the discoloration of the bricks by filling its pores.
Iron in water stains walk
Q. I have a residence in Florida with an in-ground sprinkler system fed by a well. The water has a high iron content which stains my walks. I use a product to remove the stains but they return after the next watering. Is there a clear sealer that can be applied over the concrete to prevent future staining? Or what type of water filtration can be added to rid the water of iron?
A. You could try sealing the concrete with a mixture of equal parts boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits applied with a roller. The surfaces will have to be cleaned first. To filter the iron out, call a water specialist to analyze your water as iron comes in different forms requiring different treatments.
Stain flaking off of concrete walkway
Q. Last summer I had a new concrete driveway installed. Shortly after it was installed, a gentleman that does miscellaneous work around my house decided to stain my walkway with a gray water-base stain in an attempt to match my new driveway.
Over the winter, portions of the stain flaked from the walk and it now looks terrible. This summer I started to power-wash the walk in order to remove the remaining stain. I have not been too successful. Can you advise me of a product that will assist in loosening the stain for power washing?
A. The success in removing the remaining stain depends largely on how the stain was applied. A stain that flakes off, as yours does, seems to indicate that the surface was not well prepared or that the stain was applied too thick - perhaps with a roller instead of a brush. Or the walkway’s surface is not porous.
You could try one of the environmentally safe citrus strippers available in paint stores. A wire brush may also be needed.
Walkway stained by tree droppings
Q. I had a patterned concrete walkway with a white brick border installed last October, and it has become stained from tree droppings (sugar maple, with those darn “itchy balls”). There are black outlines from the tree pods staining the concrete. What can I use to clean the concrete? I don’t want to kill the grass with a bleach mixture. Any suggestions would be appreciated, and, also, could I seal the concrete walkway with some sort of sealer, such as for bathroom tile, so that it does not absorb the tree debris?
A. Straight Clorox bleach is your best option—if you rinse thoroughly, it should not affect the grass. If you decide to try this, apply it over the entire walkway so as to avoid having lighter areas, but not so much as to have excessive runoff. Let the solution sit for a few minutes, brush it around with a stiff bristle brush (on a long handle to save your back), and flood the walkway clean along with the adjacent grass to dilute the bleach.
To seal the concrete, apply a mixture of equal parts boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits. Let it dry thoroughly before using the walkway; this may take some time, particularly if the walkway is in the shade. Be sure to apply it in hot weather.
PT walkway develops slippery coating
Q. We have walkways at our camp made from pressure-treated lumber. They get almost no sun anytime during the day. Several have developed a dark brown coating that absorbs moisture in the rain and becomes about a millimeter thick and extremely slippery. It can be removed by hard scrubbing when it is in the wet mode. Is this a fungus? Can I paint something on the boards to eliminate this problem?
A. This slimy coating is a combination of mold and algae. There are two ways to remove it. First, try hard scrubbing with a solution of 1 cup TSP, 1 quart fresh Clorox bleach and 3 quarts warm water. Then rinse thoroughly. Be careful using this solution as it will seriously damage vegetation. Thoroughly wet all vegetation near the walks and cover it with plastic prior to applying the treatment. When done with the treatment and the rinsing, flush the area with plenty of water.
Once you have cleaned the pressure-treated wood, allow it to dry and apply one of the special coatings made for this type of wood. My favorite is Wolman Raincoat, but there are others. Re-coat every two to three years to prevent recurrence.
Q. I recently did a stupid thing. After an ice storm, I threw rock salt on a strip of sidewalk that was poured less than two years ago. The cement has developed pockmarks and, as a result, there is granular cement over much of the area. Is there anything I can do to prevent further deterioration of the walk?
A. Is the sidewalk on your property, or the town’s? If it is on the town’s, you may not be able to do anything without their permission. But if it is on your property, you should first repair the damage by hosing off all loose material. You can then fill the pockmarks with a vinyl-reinforced patching compound such as Top’n Bond. After the patching material has cured according to the manufacturer’s instructions, you can brush-coat the walk with a mixture of equal parts boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits (be sure you buy boiled linseed oil and not raw linseed oil, as the latter will never dry and you’ll have a mess on your hands).
Sidewalk pitted by use of rock salt
Q. I have a long, 3-year old concrete sidewalk that is pitted due to rock salt usage during the first winter. Each year, it is getting more pitted. How can this be repaired and halted from continuing to get worse. I would appreciate any feedback.
A. Remove all loose particles with a strong jet from your garden hose or a pressure washer. Following instructions on the container, use one of the packaged concrete repair materials available in hardware stores and construction supply houses. Some brand names are Thorocrete and Top ’N Bond; there are others depending on where you live, as some of these products are distributed regionally.
Inadequate compacting causes sidewalk cracks
Q. I had a new sidewalk installed during the summer when the temperature was about 90⁰F. As part of the work, there are three steps and a platform 8 feet by 9 feet. After about three months a crack appeared across the platform. I called the contractor who told me that the crack occurred because I didn’t allow him to put a seam in the platform. As a result, the stress forces had no place to go and the crack developed. Is this true?
A. I would disagree with your contractor. There is no need to put a control joint in an area as small as the platform. Control joints are used when pouring large basement slabs, in roadways, on sidewalks, etc.
Since the crack appeared in the fall before winter, it is not due to frost heaving. It is more likely that the crack occurred because the ground under the outer part of the platform was not compacted enough. It is the responsibility of the contractor to make sure that the substrate is adequate before pouring any concrete.
Crack between sidewalk and foundation comes back yearly
Q. There is a crack between the house foundation and the sidewalk. I keep filling this crack with cement almost every year but it comes back again. A contractor told me that there is nothing that can be done about it. The problem is that I see moisture on the foundation walls inside the basement. Any advice, please?
A. There is obviously seasonal movement that breaks down your repair. It sounds to me as if your sidewalk is slanted toward the house foundation so any rain water gets into the crack and wets your basement wall.
The ultimate solution is to have the sidewalk redone to slant away from the foundation. This can be done by adding a new layer of concrete (if your sidewalk is concrete) or covering it with brick pavers or flagstones, or by removing it and starting all over. A potential problem with covering an existing concrete or other masonry sidewalk is what happens if there are any steps to the house, etc. An experienced masonry contractor should be able to advise you and make the necessary corrections.
However, if the slant is minimal and you do not, or cannot easily, make the changes to the sidewalk — and the crack is small enough — you could try this: Thoroughly clean the crack as deep as you can. Carefully insert in it a backer rod of the right size without breaking its skin so that the depth of the crack left for caulking is half the size of its width. Buy polyurethane caulking (nothing else) and caulk the crack with it. You can buy backer rods and polyurethane caulking from firms specializing in construction supplies.
Q. The 6-foot by 12-foot cement slab porch in front of our home has settled and now slopes toward the house. In heavy rains, water runs to the house and eventually seeps into the garage below. Must we break the slab and start over?
A. The appropriate corrective measure depends on how old the house is and whether the settling of the slab has stopped.
Assuming you can be sure that the situation has stabilized, you can simply build a form around the three sides of the porch slab, making sure the proper pitch away from the foundation is reestablished, and pour a new slab at least 2 inches thick at the outside end over the old one.
If the level of the new slab would still keep it adjacent to the house foundation, as opposed to being against the wood siding of the house, drill 5/8-inch holes in the foundation with a rented Hilti gun an inch above the bottom of the new slab, 4 inches deep and 2 feet on center. Insert #4 (a half-inch diameter) reinforcing steel rods all the way into the holes and extending almost to the end of the old slab. Place steel “chairs” under the rods to keep them 1 inch away from the bottom of the slab (buy them in the same supply store that sells the steel rods or get them from the ready-mix concrete supplier).
However, if you can’t be sure that the old slab is no longer settling, although you can still follow the method described, there is no assurance that separation between the two slabs will not occur later with the possible result that the new slab may be affected, unless you can pour it at least 4 inches thick at the outside edge.
Alternatives, if the settlement is stable and the drop not much more than two inches or so, are to cover the slab with bricks or flagstones in a cement bed of diminishing thickness towards the outside. However, do not use this method unless you are certain the base slab is stable or you may have to do it again in a few years.
Closing deckboard spaces in enclosed porch
Q. We have enclosed our deck built of pressure-treated wood. How can we fill the spaces between the deck boards to make the porch bug-proof?
A. If it is close to the ground, make a skirt around it with pressure-treated plywood or cover the boards with pressure-treated plywood and outdoor carpeting. If it is high enough to get underneath it, staple screening to the boards between the joists.
Removing Astro-Turf from veranda
Q. Our veranda’s concrete floor is covered with Astro-Turf. I tried to peel it off but found it securely bonded with adhesive. How can I remove it and the adhesive?
A. Try boiling water. Use heavy rubber gloves and pour the water on an area about one- to two-square feet at a time. Give the water a couple of minutes to work and peel the carpeting off. Scrape the adhesive off with a wide blade putty knife. You may have to pour more boiling water on the adhesive to soften it enough for removal and you may need to wipe the residue off with rags.
Moss grows on outdoor carpet
Q. I am having a problem with the outdoor carpeting on my porch ledge and steps where rain hits the carpet. This year is the first time green moss is spreading. How do I get rid of it without ruining the carpet? The carpet on the porch floor is fine.
A. The best way to get rid of moss — a bleach solution — is likely to damage the color of the carpet and perhaps its structure as well.
Under the circumstances, I suggest you try to clean the affected areas with a detergent such as Tide with Bleach Alternative or with Oxy-Boost, an oxygen bleaching agent www.ecogeeks.com. But be sure to try either one first in the most inconspicuous place you can find and wait a few days to see if the treated carpeting is affected negatively.
An alternative is to remove the carpeting from the ledge and steps of your porch.
Mahogany porch floor damaged by weather
Q. I read your column every week and thank you for your good advice to homeowners. Last summer, we put on a screened-in porch on the west side of our home. The screens are removed for the winter. The floor of the porch is mahogany. After much deliberation and different opinions from paint stores, we decided to use Australian Timber Oil by Cabot to protect the floor. Two coats were put on.
The rain and snow of the fall and winter have done a job on the finish. It looks like it was washed off where it was most exposed. Do you have a product that you recommend for such a floor that, although covered by a roof, is still exposed to the elements of our Northern weather?
A. The mahogany used for your floor has a very tight grain and does not take penetrating oils well.
Your best bet is to wash the entire floor with a mild bleach solution (one part bleach to five parts water) to remove any pollutants, and re-apply the same oil to the floor.
But why do you remove the screens in winter? They would protect the floor from the elements. You may also want to consider installing, inside the porch, some all-weather roll-down shades that should be controlled by thin nylon rope tied to eye screws at the top and bottom to keep them from being blown around by the wind.
Beadboard as a porch ceiling
Q. I am considering adding a beadboard ceiling to my screened-in porch. I will be attaching it to 8-inch rafters. What if anything should I do about venting before installing the beadboard? The existing roof is asphalt shingles over tar paper and plywood. Will heat build-up be a problem once the ceiling is enclosed and will it affect the life of the roof?
I thought it might look better running the beadboard lengthwise 16 feet across the rafters rather than add furring strips and attaching it the other way 12-plus feet from the house side to the front of the porch. What’s your opinion?
A. Since you mention that the beadboard will be nailed to the rafters, I take it that there are no ceiling joists and, therefore, no attic space above the beadboard. If you do not plan on enclosing the porch in the future and making it into a year-around room with ceiling insulation, heat and an open connection with the rest of the house, there is no need to provide ventilation. Any heat generated by the sun hitting the roof will be dissipated through the beadboard and end up in the porch as it does now. To minimize the heat below the ceiling, you can staple reflective aluminum sheets to the rafters before installing the beadboard.
If there are rafters AND ceiling joists, gable vents on each side of the porch as close to the high part of the gables should be sufficient. You are right; the ceiling will look much better if the beadboard is run perpendicular to the rafters (the long way).
Pillars on porch are darkening
Q. My daughter had a home built in Georgia a few years ago. The four pillars of her front porch have darken and no longer look nice. Can she paint over the old paint or does she need to remove it first?
A. The darkened areas are probably mildewed, a common thing in the southeast where air moisture is very high. She should first try cleaning the pillars with a solution made with 1 cup detergent (TSP-PF is best), 1 quart fresh Clorox bleach and 3 quarts water wearing heavy rubber gloves. If, after the cleaning, she still wants to paint the columns, there should be no need to remove the old paint as long as it is sound. Any peeling paint should be removed.
Q. There is a small porch on the south side of my living room which has sliding glass doors. I wish to enclose this porch with as much glass as possible to get a lot of light in the living room. What do you suggest?
A. It depends on how you plan to use the porch. You’ll want ventilation and if you intend to use the porch in the cold months, double glazing. The sun should heat it during the day. The porch can be enclosed with sliding or patio doors and companion fixed panels or a combination of doors and windows from sill height.
How to cool a south-facing enclosed porch
Q. Many years ago I built a porch that faces south, so it is in continuous sun all day. I have been trying to determine how I can cool off the inside but I have been unsuccessful. I have a 52-inch ceiling fan and a 24-inch two-way fan (exhaust and intake) to circulate the air but it doesn’t appear to be working. The temperature is constantly 90 to 100 degrees on sunny days.
I thought of putting a roof vent thinking this might release trapped air. I also thought of insulating the ceiling. I would like your opinion on these ideas and any other suggestions you may feel would help.
A. The only thing the ceiling fan does is move hot air around. The exhaust fan draws in outside air that is also hot on those days and, since the ceiling assembly has become radiant under the sun, the fan does not do much for you.
If the roof is covered with a dark membrane or dark roll-roofing, the best thing you can do to improve the situation is to put on a white or reflective roof covering. Roll roofing comes in white and there are also white synthetic rubber and PVC membranes (Sika Sarnafil and Johns Manville are two manufacturers of such roof membranes). They cost more than roll-roofing but will last a lot longer. However, you may need to clean them from time to time, as air pollution may dull them and diminish their reflexivity.
If there is space to lay 2-inch thick rigid insulation on top of the roof sheathing before installing the new roofing, that is the ideal way to insulate the roof. However, if there isn’t, this is the best way to go: If the rafters are exposed, you can nail or screw 1-inch by 2-inch furring strips to the sides of the rafters and against the roof sheathing, tack 1- or 2-inch thick rigid polyiso insulation, with the aluminum reflective film facing up, to the bottom of the furring strips and fill the rest of the rafter depths with fiberglass.
Install a ceiling finish. Install Air Vent, Inc. Flash Filter Vent where the porch roof meets the house wall and off-the-shelf soffit vent strips in the porch roof overhang. This will provide some ventilation and a reflective surface to reflect solar heat back out.
Enclosing a screened-in porch
Q. My wife and I are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our next child. We just have to make some room. To do it we are planning on enclosing a screened in porch that I built when we moved in three years ago.
The porch has a two-foot foundation and is located on the back of the house. It is approximately 13×11 feet. I used 4×4 cedar posts approximately 24 inches on center, 2×4 cedar for the top plates and the sole plates. They are not bolted but shot with a power hammer, and 2×4 cedar blocking. I attached the screens with lattice on the outside.
Here are the questions that I have for the transformation.
Do I break down what I have and install sill seal, a 2×6 mudsill, and then a sole plate? Since three of the walls for the room are going to be outside walls, should I use 2×4’s or 2×6’s for the studs? For wall sheathing, 3/4 inch or 5/8 inch? Or should I just keep what is there, fill in the spaces between the posts with 2×4 studs, sheath the walls, Sheetrock, etc.?
A. Congratulations on the expected arrival and best wishes for an easy delivery.
Do not remove any of the fine work you did; there is no need to do so. Instead of installing sill sealer, caulk both the inside and outside of the sole plate where it joins the concrete. Since the cedar posts are set 24 inches on center, there is no need to add any studs in between. The wall sheathing need only be 1/2-inch thick, but can be 5/8-inch if you prefer.
You can fill the spaces between the 4×4s with R-13 or 15 fiberglass and, assuming there is enough of a roof overhang, nail 1-inch-thick rigid insulation to the outside of the posts before applying the sheathing. Then cover the sheathing with No.15 felt, and apply Benjamin Obdyke Home Slicker over the felt (or omit the felt and use Home Slicker Plus Typar instead) to create a drainage and ventilation space between the sheathing and the siding (you didn’t mention what type of siding you plan to install—it may have a bearing on what I just recommended).
But here is another suggestion: You used cedar—a warm and beautiful wood with a wonderful smell. Again, assuming that there is enough roof overhang, what about fastening 2-inch-thick rigid extruded polystyrene or polyisocyanurate insulation to the outside of the cedar posts and screwing the sheathing to the 4x4 posts through the insulation.
Then tightly fit 11/2-inch thick extruded polystyrene rigid insulation (use this type of insulation instead of polyisocyanurate as it does not have aluminum skin that could peel off when you glue drywall to it) between the 4×4 cedar posts. Install 3/8-inch-thick gypsum board between the posts using a J-bead and adhere it to the insulation with Styrobond or polyurethane caulking. This will leave about 11/2 inches of the cedar exposed to the inside for a great look.
Sun room too hot in summer, cold in winter
Q. We bought a house that has a room that they call a sunroom. It is 8 feet by 10 feet. It has 12 thin vinyl windows from top to bottom around the room. These are not glass windows and the room hits 80 degrees in the hot summer and can’t be used then, and in the winter it can get to 25 degrees in there. So we can’t use it in the winter either. Maybe in the spring and until June it can be used.
Is there a solution to making this room liveable for us without costing us a fortune? We have limited funds. I tried an electric heater but it did no good at raising the temperature in the room. Even putting on 2 fans did not cool it in the summer.
Any help that you can give us would be greatly appreciated.
A. I assume that the vinyl windows cannot be opened and that they are on a slant as was the practice in the early days of the sunroom craze. We now know better, and passive solar houses and sunrooms use vertical glazing, and have overhangs to shield the glazing from the summer sun.
The only advice I can give you is to have reflective roll-up shades installed, if it is possible, so the room will not get so hot in the summer. I have no suggestion for winter use with the limited funds you have. The ultimate, but expensive, solution is to change the incline of the glazing from slanted to vertical, extend the roof to have an overhang of 2 to 3 feet (the exact measurement depends on where you live) and replace the vinyl windows with double-glazed glass with a built-in film to control certain UV rays. This amounts to rebuilding the room.
An intermediate solution, if you want to use the sunroom in the winter, is to bring a source of heat in it but the cost of operation is likely to be high since the vinyl glazing is not very energy-efficient.
Replacing the vinyl glazing with double-glazed glass windows and introducing some windows that can be opened in summer is another option that would make heating the room less expensive and allow some cooling in summer.
But since the glazing is so minimal, are you sure that the walls and ceiling are insulated? If they are not, changing the glazing is not a worthwhile expense. If you can’t afford to rebuild the room, using it only when feasible is probably the best you can do.
PVC Moldings
Q. I have to replace some molding on my screened porch. The screens are each 43" wide by 64" tall. I saw the 100% cellular PVC molding (3/4" quarter-round) which claims to be rot-free and wondering if you have any experience with it. It comes in white. I would paint it a dark green. Really need to know if it’s easy to cut and screw in, and if it really lives up to the promise.
A. Cellular PVC moldings are the wave of the future. They can be tooled just like wood and can be painted, but only with latex paints. Do not use oil-based products on it. Some paint companies make paints specifically for PVC moldings; it’s best to use those if you can find them locally.
How long will PT posts last?
Q. My pressure-treated wood deck is supported by two 6×6-inch posts that go at least 2 feet into the ground and are resting on concrete footers. How long can treated posts exist in the ground without deteriorating? The deck was built in 1997. There are a lot of homes whose decks are supported with this type of post installation. Are we facing a slowly deteriorating situation?
A. If, as it is most likely, the pressure-treated posts used on your deck are treated with CCA preservative to a retention rate of 0.40 lbs. per cubic foot, they are rated for contact with the ground. The treatment should make them last for 20 years or more. If you are in the house that long, replacement is not that difficult anyway.
I personally favor this type of installation in areas where frost-heaving is a serious problem because concrete piers simply poured in a cardboard tube without footings and steel reinforcement are much more prone to problems than wood posts.
Sloping grade needed under deck
Q. Our house is one story and U-shaped. The open middle is completely covered with a wood deck. In heavy rains, the cellar wall leaks. Is there any material that could be blown under the deck that would absorb rain?
A. Not that I know of. There obviously is a low spot under the deck and, unfortunately, this is so often the case. I wish builders were more conscious of the problem these low areas under decks cause. The grade under decks should be as high as possible against the foundation and it should slope away gently to the outside. It would also be best to cover the soil with black plastic anchored to the ground with landscape staples or weighted down with stones.
In your case, I would suggest you remove as many deck boards as you can (hopefully they are screwed down and not nailed) and do what is outlined above.
Be sure that no soil is in contact with any wood parts of the house itself (I assume the deck is pressure-treated). You may also want to have a pest management professional (PMP) check that the present condition has not resulted in an infestation of termites or carpenter ants (they both love moist conditions). It may also be wise, after the grade changes are made, to have the ground treated against termites and ants before the deck boards are screwed back on.
Q. I am planning to build a deck in the back of my house this summer and wonder what is the best way to attach it to the house to avoid problems later.
A. The best way to attach a deck to a building, in my opinion, is to do so with Maine brackets, aluminum deck brackets that are lag-screwed to the house under the siding, and to which the deck header is fastened. If your local building-supply store does not carry them, have the store order the brackets or buy them at www.deckbracket.com.
Concrete piers under deck have shifted
Q. The concrete piers under our deck have heaved tremendously and have lifted the deck to a point that necessitates repairs. How should I go about it and what can I do to prevent this from happening again? The deck is 3 feet off the ground and there are three piers under the beam on the outside of the deck.
A. The piers may have heaved because they were not properly built or there may be water collecting under the deck, or at each pier, if there is the frequent depressions I so often find there. Another possibility is a high water table but it’s rather rare and this space doesn’t permit me to deal with every situation. If it is the problem, write again.
Keep in mind that the ground under any deck is not insulated by a layer of snow so frost tends to travel quite deep. All piers need to be set below the frost line unless some other means of preventing deep frost are taken. You’ll probably have to replace the piers.
Place a couple of screw jacks on wide boards under the outside beam of the deck between the piers (you can rent them in any tool rental place). Remove the existing piers, which you will probably find have no footings. As a result, frost grabs the piers and yanks them right up in what I refer to as “bear hugging.”
Have the three holes excavated to below the frost line. The bottoms must be firm and flat. Set plastic forms such as the Big Foot on the bottom of the excavation. Set Sonotubes or equivalent on top of the forms, plumb them and cut the tops off at the desired height, remembering that they must all three be level.
Pour the concrete and place in it whichever hardware you have chosen to attach the deck beam to the piers. Lower the jacks after the concrete has cured at least twenty four hours. Backfill around the piers with sand and top it off with native soil, making sure that the dirt slopes away to shed water.
It is also imperative that you fill any depression under the deck with native soil—not sand or other granular mix—so water cannot pool under the deck. The area under the deck should be higher than the surrounding ground to shed water. The dirt should be tamped. You may have to remove some boards to do that; screw them back up instead of nailing them.
House rots where it attaches to deck
Q. We recently bought a house with a lovely deck. It was a house for sale by owner. Unfortunately, we didn’t have it inspected as we were assured by the sellers that they had taken care of all items that needed to be done.
We have now discovered that there is considerable rot where the deck attaches to the house. A contractor told us that he has to remove the deck to repair the damage to the house. The estimate for this job is very high and we are very upset. We are considering suing the sellers for not divulging this serious problem.
A. First, I think you were unwise not to have had a professional home inspection done in spite of the assurances by the sellers that all needed repairs had been taken care of. It is quite possible that the sellers had no idea that there was extensive rot where the deck joins the house; it’s not something that is readily apparent until there are signs of weakness in the deck such as an unusual bounce.
But don’t be too harsh on yourselves as I have also seen cases where less-than-competent home inspectors also missed such a problem. The best assurance that a home inspector is fully competent is to hire an inspector certified by the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI). You can also get this information from ASHI’s Web site at www.ashi.org.
Although your problem is serious, it does not need to be that expensive to repair. It sounds as if the contractor you got an estimate from is not familiar with the Maine deck bracket, a bracket developed by a contractor in Maine to attach decks to houses so the ledger board does not come in contact with the house wall. Connecting a deck ledger directly to a house wall is a very poor practice that can lead to the very problem you are experiencing. Unfortunately, it is also a common practice.
To perform the repairs using Maine deck brackets, the deck needs to be temporarily supported about three feet from the house wall to give workers room to work. The deck joists are cut off at the exact point where the deck bracket outside plates plus the thickness of the deck ledger will be. This gives workers room to repair the rot in the house wall.
The brackets are lag-screwed into the new band joist through the repaired sheathing and the repaired siding covers the inside plate of the brackets. The brackets’ web projects about three inches leaving an air and drainage space between the deck ledger and the house wall. Joist hangers are used to attach the deck joists to the new ledger and the deck floor is repaired. The deck floor must not come into contact with the house siding; a gap must be left for drainage and air circulation.
This repair can be accomplished in a day by two workers and only requires a bracket every eight feet. This is certainly a lot less expensive than taking the deck down.
You may need to have a building supply store order the Maine deck brackets (www.deckbracket.com) as they are not so well known that stores keep them in stock.
Deck is coated with mold, and stain is peeling
Q. My pressure-treated deck and outdoor stairwells are coated with mold. They are located in an eastern exposure facing open fields. They had been stained about eight years ago and are now peeling too. How should this problem be solved?
A. Were your deck and stairs coated with a solid color stain containing linseed oil? At this point, I suggest you have all the remaining stain removed. Try pressure-washing to make the job easier, but if this is not completely successful, you may have to use a paint-and-stain remover.
A paint store can advise you as to the best to use for these surfaces — probably a liquid remover, as they are less expensive than the gel or semi-solid types. Once the wood is clean, coat it with a product specially made for pressure-treated wood, such as the Wolman line that penetrates the wood and will not peel.
Mildew on a Trex deck
Q. I had a deck built two summers ago out of Trex composite decking. Two summers ago, it mildewed unbelievably. It was literally black polka-dotted. I used TSP and scrubbed and scrubbed. The mildew got a lighter color but it is still there.
This past summer, I started another round of TSP and scrubbing but could not clean it up completely. The TSP also managed to make a mess of the pressure-treated wood used on part of the deck and the cedar railings. How do I clean my deck? How do I stop it from mildewing?
A. TSP will not kill mildew spores; for that you need bleach. The best procedure is to spray a mixture of equal parts water and fresh Clorox bleach using a plastic garden sprayer. Do not rinse.
TSP will remove other pollutants, or, in states where TSP is banned, TSP-PF. This will have to be rinsed off with your garden hose.
I am not sure what you mean by the TSP making a mess of the pressure-treated decking and railings. If you mean they are spotted, it may be because the TSP cleaned off dirt from the areas on which it splashed. If this is the case, treat the entire decking and railings using a mild solution such as one cup of TSP per gallon of water. You may also want to add a cup of Clorox bleach to the mix.
Be sure to cover any vegetation with plastic after drenching it as the above solutions are very harmful to it. When done, drench the vegetation again to dilute any of the solution that might have gotten on it.
Mildew spores are floating in the air all the time. You may have to repeat the process from time to time.
Q. We moved into a hillside ranch last fall. The land falls off in the rear allowing a walk-out finished basement in which there are two bedrooms and a bath facing our lovely backyard.
We would like to have a large deck built so we can enjoy the backyard and eat on the deck in season but we don’t want to block the light to the downstairs bedrooms. There is a door from the kitchen to an outside wood stoop and steps on the side of the house. The detached garage is about 12 to 15 feet away from the house. We haven’t been able to come up with a good solution. Do you have any suggestions?
A. What about building a free-standing deck some 10 feet away from the back of the house and connected to the house by a bridge that would tie into the stoop? If the steps are on the side of the stoop facing the garage, they may not need to be changed. You may even want to extend a walk from the base of the steps to the side garage door and have a roof built over it to be able to get from the garage to the house under cover from the elements.
Another solution is to build the deck attached to the house but not put boards on the first couple of feet from the house in order to let light in downstairs. You will need a railing for safety.
Building a room underneath a deck
Q. My 17 foot by 22 foot deck is high enough off the ground to accommodate a room underneath. It is not quite high enough, however, to provide enough space for a person to work in the space between the roof of the proposed new room and the rafters of the deck. My question is whether you are aware of any construction technique or material that would allow me to create a waterproof ceiling for the room beneath the deck without either 1) taking the deck apart or 2) making the deck surface itself the roof. That is, is it possible to seal the new roof from the bottom side?
A. What I will describe to you is not a standard construction technique, but I have used it myself for the same purpose. The issues to address, and steps to take, are as follows.
- You will have to support the deck in order to remove the beam and the posts.
- You didn’t mention whether or not there is already a concrete patio under the deck. If there is, does it have frost walls around its perimeter? If there are no frost walls, the slab may not be strong enough to support the new construction. This needs to be addressed.
- The most crucial part of this system is how to waterproof the joint between the house wall and the new roof. Even if you have a very wide overhang, you will need to be extra careful that rain splashing on the deck or under windy conditions is not allowed to creep behind any flashing that you use. It is best to make a saw cut into any vertical wood siding or insert the upper leg of the flashing under horizontal wood or vinyl siding. The lower leg of the flashing should extend a minimum of 16 inches under the deck.
- Screw a pressure-treated 2-inch by 6-inch to the deck joists at the mid point and another one where the beam used to be, and where the new walls will be built.
- Either find U-shaped aluminum channel stock with 3-inch legs in a metal fabricating shop, and have them cut enough of them in 5-inch lengths to be installed 16-inches on center under the outside board, or have them make them up for you. Screw them upside down with the opening facing the house.
- Choose metal panels with “v”s; avoid corrugated panels.
- From underneath, screw the selected metal decking material to the flashing at the house wall, using 1-inch aluminum or plastic tubing as spacers.
- Screw the metal decking to the middle board, using 2-inch tubing as spacers. Let the metal decking run under the aluminum channels to where the room ends (you can also have the metal panels run past the walls of the new room to provide an overhang).
- Caulk the double-V overlaps of the metal panels generously with polyurethane caulking compound, and screw each panel to the next.
- Screw a 2-inch by 2-inch piece to the house wall to give additional support to the roofing material.
- Stick W.R. Grace Ice & Water Shield (or equivalent) under the metal panels, starting at the top and overlapping each sheet by a couple of inches. This is to provide additional protection in case water works its way around the caulked metal panels overlap.
- Next, build the outside wall firmly in contact with the metal decking to support the deck. Remove the temporary supports.
- Build a framework for the roof made of 2-inch by 4-inch lumber (there will be no live load such as snow or people walking on the metal panels since the deck will protect the roof below). Keep the roof framework 2 inches below the metal panels, as the safest way to insulate the roof is with closed-cell polyurethane that should fill the space above and between the roof framing, giving you approximately an R-44 roof.
I would strongly discourage you from using fiberglass in the roof—it’s a recipe for problems down the line. The room’s walls can be insulated with fiberglass or foam.
Q. We plan on adding a deck to our house which we will eventually screen in. How can we avoid having spaces between the deck boards? We are considering tongue and groove cedar planking which we would seal. Would that survive snow and rain? We are also considering pressure-treated plywood. We probably will carpet the porch floor some time later. Any other recommendations?
A. Cedar boards properly treated would be fine but I would not recommend putting carpeting on them later. There are plastic composition deck systems available today that do not have spaces between boards and plastic covering system for existing deck boards that could be covered with carpeting. Pressure-treated plywood is also a practical option as substrate for carpeting but, if that is your final choice, you should consider framing the joists 12 inches on center to make the plywood stiffer; ½-inch thick plywood on 16 inches on center framing will flex. But pressure-treated plywood should only be used if the porch will be enclosed in a few years.
Special deck screws worth the price
Q. I plan on building a deck in my back yard this coming spring. What is the best way to fasten deck boards to the joists? Should I use nails or screws and which type?
A. Use special deck screws. Although they are slightly more expensive than nails, they have a number of advantages over nails—one of which is that they will not come out and will control warping much better.
Stain deck floor, don’t carpet it
Q. We have had our pressure-treated deck for a number of years. Each year, it requires a good deal of time and money to keep it looking presentable. We had the thought of covering it with indoor-outdoor carpeting but wonder if this is a good idea. How would we fasten it to the floor: with staples, glue or nails?
A. I don’t think the carpeting is a good idea. It would telegraph the spaces between the deck boards and need adjustment from time to time as it stretches. Thus, fastening it down permanently would be a poor idea. You’d end up hating it.
A better solution is to clean the deck with a deck cleaner/restorer such as Wolman Deck & Fence Brightener and to coat it with a sealer such as Wolman RainCoat Water Repellent or Wolman Deck Stains, depending on the final effect you want. Keep in mind that stains do not need to be re-applied as often as clear coatings. A stain should last for several years. There are other brands to do the same.
Treating and sealing mahogany decking
Q. I have a small open porch on the south side of my house that was built 3 years ago from pressure-treated wood and mahogany that was used for the decking. I just completed the cleaning of the mahogany with a Behr product for “Cleaning, Brightening and Conditioning” that is supposed to restore the wood back to its original beautiful color. The product contained oxalic acid and was applied for approximately 15 minutes and then the wood was rinsed for about 15 minutes.
The gray color is gone and now I want to seal it. I used Flood CWF-UV on the pressure-treated wood already (which was first cleaned with a Clorox bleach/water solution) and used Thompson’s Advanced sealant on the mahogany the first year when it was built. Can you advise me as to what product would be best to use? These or possibly another one? I know mahogany is a very dense hardwood quite different from the pressure-treated. Would a paste sealant of some kind be better — if one exists?
A. Cabot Australian Timber Oil is made specifically for exotic hardwoods. Penofin also makes a product for these woods.
Don’t coat deck with linseed oil
Q. The ten-year-old deck on my house needs attention. It is not built of pressure-treated wood and the deck boards have cracks and splits. Someone suggested that I coat it with linseed oil on a yearly basis to preserve it. Yes or no?
A. No way. Raw linseed oil would never dry; boiled linseed oil would, but linseed oil is gourmet fare for a variety of molds. Your deck’s life may be prolonged but at the cost of your living with a dark, mottled mess.
One of this nation’s authorities on wood preservation, who has done extensive research for years on a variety of products, considers Amteco TWP Roof & Deck Sealant the best way to go. They offer a line of ready-to-use products ideal for homeowners, whereas concentrates to be mixed with special oils are more suited to commercial applications that require large quantities of material at a lower cost.
Stripping paint from a deck
Q. My pressure-treated deck is coated with a latex stain that starts chipping and peeling within a few months. The pressure-treated railing is painted with latex paint and has a similar problem.
I would like to remove the deck stain and paint on the railing and use an oil-based stain on both the deck and railing. The deck is attached to a vinyl-sided house with shrubs on one end.
What is the best way to remove the stain and paint? I have a 2600 PSI pressure washer. Is it possible to use it without damaging the wood?
A. The use of a pressure washer is not recommended for pressure-treated wood as it can damage the surface of the wood, but it has been used successfully. Your choice. You will have better and faster results applying a stain and paint stripper made for decks such as Wolman’s DeckStrip Stain & Finish Remover.
Once you have obtained the results you want with the stripper, apply one of Wolman’s clear coatings or stains, which are manufactured and are ideal for pressure-treated wood. You can select the product of your choice at www.rustoleum.com, which owns Wolman and several other brands. You should be able to find Wolman’s products in well-stocked building supply or hardware stores, some paint stores and DIY home centers or order them online.
Sap leaching through deck stain
Q. I have just finished staining my backyard deck. It is treated wood, approximately six years old, and this is the third application at about three-year intervals. I used Cabot brand deck stain in a dark-brown hue. The problem is that there seems to be sap leaching up through the stain in random areas; it is whitish in color, has the texture of dried glue droplets and is quite noticeable on the darkened finish. Is there a product or homemade solution that will remove the sap without affecting the stained wood? Cabot recommends one coat only. Your comments would be greatly appreciated.
A. It sounds as if a lower grade of yellow southern pine was used for the deck. Number 2 pine has knots, and sap exudes from it and will continue to do so until all the sap is gone. There is nothing you can do to stop the sap bleeding through the stain. Too bad a better grade of pressure-treated wood, such as B-select, was not used.
Different treatments for cedar and PT decking
Q. I applied Amteco TWP Cedartone over cedar decking that was treated with TWP Cedartone five years ago, and it is taking two weeks to dry in some spots. What mistakes did I make? How should I apply TWP Cedartone to a pressure-treated deck initially treated with TWP Cedartone five years ago? Should I scrub the deck with your suggested mixture of 1 cup TSP, 1 quart fresh Clorox bleach and 3 quarts of warm water?
A. Do you have two kinds of decking—cedar and pressure-treated? There is a difference between the two in the way that they react to a second application of Amteco TWP. A second coat of TWP applied over a five-year-old coat on a cedar deck should not cause the problem you have, as cedar has an open grain structure that is very absorbent unless that structure has been plugged by various pollutants. However, a second coat applied over a pressure-treated deck (southern yellow pine) that has a much harder surface, even after five years, could result in poor drying, especially if you applied the TWP too thickly.
This may be due to the fact that some years ago TWP’s formula was changed to conform to federal regulations regarding the control of volatile organic compounds. Highly-refined linseed oil was added and the mildewcide and solids were doubled, making it more important to apply thinner coats, thus increasing the coverage per gallon to 600 square feet. To remove the excess that does not dry within a few days, take a clean rag dampened with mineral spirits and wipe off the excess that has not been absorbed.
In any case, before applying a second coat of TWP, even after five years, the decking should be cleaned using the solution I have recommended that you mention in your letter. The easiest way to do this is to spray the solution on with a garden sprayer and then scrub the deck with a scrub brush (a long-handled one to spare your back). Then the decking should be pressure-washed at 1,200 psi to remove all dead fibers and other pollutants loosened by the solution and the scrubbing. However, you may want to try flushing it with your garden hose equipped with a pistol-grip sprayer set to full force; this may be enough to do the cleanup.
Q. I am seeking your advice regarding my wood deck. It was built with our house about four and a half years ago, and about three years ago I pressure-washed it and then treated it with Olympic WaterGuard clear wood sealant. This appeared to work nicely, but within a year or two the wood started splintering and separating and curling at the grain in many places, mostly on the flooring surfaces. I am afraid I may have held the pressure-washer nozzle too close to the surface of the wood, but my in-laws also live in the neighborhood and they have the same problem.
Last summer, I re-applied the sealant to the railing and a different brand of sealant to the flooring. It is getting slowly worse, and I would like a long-term solution. I have considered renting and using an orbital sander and then applying something different to the wood, such as marine varnish, but I’m not sure what would be best. Can the wood be salvaged? Should it be sanded first? What do you recommend? Any advice would be appreciated.
A. It sounds as if the best grade of wood was not used. You didn’t mention whether the deck is made of pressure-treated wood or some other type. It may be that the wood used has a flat grain instead of being quarter-sawn; flat-grain boards have a tendency to splinter and separate along the growth layers of the wood. I doubt that your pressure-washing had anything to do with the problem you have; it’s more the nature of the wood that was used. You could try sanding the deck boards, but if the wood is flat-grain it will continue to splinter, curl and separate as the seasons take their toll.
I would not recommend varnishing the wood. It is best to use a penetrating preservative.
Restoring the appearance of a wood deck
Q. We have purchased a home with a very large deck that is between 7- to 8-years old and has never been taken care of. The wood is greyish. What can we use to paint or stain it and restore some of its beauty?
A. To remove all discoloration and dead wood fibers, clean the deck with either Wolman’s DeckBrite (a powder concentrate) or Deck and Fence Brightener (a liquid concentrate). Follow the instructions carefully and in about 10 minutes, the manufacturer claims the wood will be rejuvenated. Follow that with the application of one of Wolman’s Rain Coat products or other preservatives you can find on their Web site: www.wolman.com.
I would not recommend painting a wood deck; it is very seldom successful and, once done, any problem becomes major.
Clear sealer for wooden deck
Q. I plan on pressure-washing my pressure-treated deck and want to seal it before the weather gets cold. What product would you recommend? I would prefer a product that does not change the natural color of the wood.
A. There are several products on the market that will accomplish what you want to do. One I have used with great success is Wolman RainCoat. Keep in mind that any clear product needs to be re-applied more frequently than those with a hue.
Plant growing through deckboards
Q. The decorative plant we have growing around our deck is now growing under it and coming through the deck boards. We realize we should have put plastic under the deck but we didn’t. How can we control it now?
A. You have not mentioned how close the deck is to the ground. Can you get under it, remove the parts of the plant that have grown under it and lay heavy black plastic on the soil? The plastic should be weighted down with stones or bricks. The plant should not grow back under the deck if you block all light and keep water out with the plastic. If there isn’t enough room to crawl under the deck, perhaps you can pull as much of the plant out as possible from the perimeter of the deck and, with the help of another person, slip the plastic under the deck.
Weigh its perimeter down. You may want to dig a trench on the deck side of the plantings to cut its sprawling roots and insert in the ground a plastic or metal border to prevent further root incursion.
Q. I installed a Trex deck last year. It is now spotted and dirty-looking. I washed it with a bleach and water solution but that didn’t help. What can I do? Also, should the deck be coated with a sealant to prevent this from happening?
A. Trex does not need any sealant or other treatment, according to the manufacturer. The treatment for removal of the stains depends on the kind of stains. For stains caused by mildew, fruit and leaves, use a conventional deck wash (you can buy one in a hardware, paint or building supply store). For rust and grime, the recommended cleaning agent is one containing phosphoric acid (available in home centers and hardware stores). If the stains are caused by oil or grease, scrub with a degreasing agent or sand lightly with fine sandpaper. The resulting discoloration will eventually weather to the original grey.
Q. Our concrete deck needs to be painted and sealed. How should it be cleaned? What kind of paint and sealer should we use?
A. A good cleaning solution is one cup TSP-PF or other strong detergent, 1 quart fresh Clorox bleach to 3 quarts of water. Scrub with a stiff bristle brush. Rinse thoroughly. Be aware that this solution is caustic to vegetation. Soak all adjacent vegetation before treating the concrete, cover it with plastic, do not use so much of the solution that it will run off onto the vegetation and flood the entire area with water as you rinse to dilute the solution.
I would not recommend painting the concrete. Instead use a concrete stain; it gives a much better and longer-lasting job. There is no need to apply a sealer after staining.
Covering concrete patio with ceramic tiles
Q. I am interested in covering my concrete patio with ceramic tiles. I reside in the Chicago area and I am concerned about the effect of the winter weather on the tiles.
I have checked with tile representatives at two home improvement stores in the area and they both indicate that there is a tile that is appropriate for outdoor use. However, both wondered if the winter weather would be more than the tiles could tolerate. The concrete is old and has had cracking problems in the past but I have recovered it and it is, at this time, level and free of cracks. Is it possible to cover existing concrete with ceramic tiles or am I wasting my money?
A. The first question to address is the stability of the patio. If it is old and has had cracking problems in the past, there is no assurance that the topping you put on is not going to suffer the same fate. The original slab cracked because it was poured on an unstable substrate. It could be that there is poor drainage under it or that the backfill settled and caused it to crack. This is not good news for the topping you put on.
However, on a sound slab, you can install ceramic tiles; the Canadians do it all the time, but success depends on the installation. The tiles must be vitreous or labeled impervious to moisture. The slab should slope or be domed or crowned to drain effectively, or trouble is not far behind. You should use a latex thinset adhesive specially made for impervious tiles, use latex grout, and apply a sealer over the entire surface.
The most successful installations are made over slabs that have a drainage layer under them; unfortunately, it’s too late for you. Are you wasting your money? Probably, with what you have told me.
Composite decking on patio
Q. We have a concrete patio on two courses of blocks at the rear of our house. Twice now, we have tried outdoor carpeting. It gets only the morning sun. After it rains, it stays damp (like a sponge) for long periods which causes green mold to form on it. I am thinking of installing composite decking on top of the slab. The patio does have a one-inch slope. I would first install 2x4’s, spaced out for drainage. Then the decking material. Good idea or bad? Any other suggestions?
I assume that there is enough space between the door to the patio and the patio itself to accommodate the new construction. Select and use very straight pressure-treated 2-inch by 4-inch sleepers and fasten them to the concrete (after a thorough cleaning of the slab) with construction adhesive. Follow instructions to allow firm setting of the sleepers onto the concrete before fastening the decking.
Pouring new concrete over old on patio
Q. My concrete patio has sagged on one end. I would like to pour 2 to 3 inches of cement on top of it to level it. Is there a bonding material that would bond the new to the old? The patio is above ground so it does not sit in water. What is the best way of doing this job? What about reinforcing? I would appreciate your advice.
A. The surface of the existing patio would have to be cleaned thoroughly and etched with a solution of muriatic acid (1 part acid to 9 parts water) applied with a stiff brush attached to a long handle. Be very careful with muriatic acid; it is very corrosive and must be handled with great care. Use only glass or plastic containers; do not use any metal and do not get any on metal. Pour the acid slowly into the water and not the other way around. Wear heavy-duty rubber gloves and old clothes.
There are several adhesive products that are painted on the concrete before pouring the new concrete over it (buy one in a masonry supply house). Keep in mind that it is difficult to feather the new concrete to the old in the high end so you should plan to have the concrete at least 1 inch thick there.
Reinforcing is difficult to do on such a thin application. It may be better to use fiberglass-reinforced concrete, but that may leave you with fibers sticking out and a rougher surface. Chicken wire, hardware cloth, galvanized plaster lath or 2×4-inch mesh fencing are alternatives, although you may not need anything.
There are also some important steps that must be taken to ensure a successful and lasting job during the pour and the ensuing finishing phase. The main key to success is to allow the concrete to cure so it won’t develop hairline cracks into which water can eventually get and cause problems in time.
This is a job best left to an experienced concrete contractor.
Raising a sunken section of patio
Q. Our house was built in 1947 with a 9 foot by 12 foot patio. In 1976 we increased the patio to 14 feet by 26 feet by adding to the original on three sides. Since then the yard side of the original patio has been sinking and is now about 2-1/2 inches lower than the added sections. Is there a product that can be added to smooth the entire surface to correct this problem? We are considering using an aggregate surface; is this a good choice?
Before we tear up the whole patio to replace it, we would really appreciate any help you can give us.
A. You should investigate why the yard side of the original patio has been sinking since 1976 when it had remained level for the previous 29 years. Something is happening, such as settlement of the soil under that side. That needs to be addressed or any topping you add to the affected area will increase the weight of that section and could cause further settling; the way you describe the condition makes it sound as if the settling is an ongoing condition.
However, if you know that the settling has been stable for quite a number of years, you may want to risk adding a topping.
But the best way to take care of the problem, if you have enough space between the top of the patio and any doorsill is to add a 4-inch layer of concrete over the existing, you can cap the entire patio. But make sure that reinforcing mesh is used and properly set within the concrete or, better yet, a grid of reinforcing rods is used to securely bridge the sunken area.
An exposed aggregate finish, when done by experienced concrete finishers, is beautiful.
Installing a concrete patio floor
Q. I am considering having a 14-foot by 14-foot concrete patio floor installed in my back yard. It will not be connected to my home or any other standing fixture. In the coming years, I may either build a decking system or a shed on the foundation.
Besides hiring an experienced contractor, I am hoping you can answer the following questions: What should be the desired height of the concrete patio floor? Can the concrete be poured directly on the ground or should the base have crushed stones? What should be in place to prevent any frost damage? Is colored concrete worth the money? Should the foundation include a metal mesh? Any other helpful tips to ensure a long lasting patio floor?
A. Much depends on the type of soil you have. If the soil is sandy or gravely, your chances of success are much greater. In that case, you can pour what is called a monolithic slab — a slab with thicker edges around the perimeter, in this case to prevent surface water from getting under it.
But if the soil is heavy (clay or silt), you are taking a chance pouring the concrete directly on the existing grade. It is best to have at least two feet of the soil removed and replaced with 1-1/2-inch (egg-size) crushed stones. If your yard is sloping, provide drainage to daylight for the crushed stone bed and be sure to keep the outlet open (it can eventually get plugged by grass, soil or a rodent’s nest).
In either case, the thicker edges of the slab should be reinforced with two ½-inch re-bars, and 6-inch by 6-inch wire mesh should be used in the concrete slab. The mesh should be set on tees specially made for the purpose, as the mesh needs to be approximately in the middle of the pour to be effective.
Have the forms set high enough so that the grade can be brought up the edges of the concrete. This will ensure that the slab ends up with a sloping grade on all four sides to prevent water from seeping under the patio.
For additional safety, you may want to lay 2-inch thick rigid extruded polystyrene insulation under the slab. If you use crushed stones, the insulation should be set on a 2-inch bed of crushed stones before the rest of the stones are spread, but leave about half an inch between the insulation boards so that any water that gets in the stone bed can drain into the soil below.
Get a quote from concrete contractors on pouring the concrete with and without color in it. You can also opt for the options of staining - not painting - the concrete at a later date.
But why would you go to the expense of pouring a concrete patio if you plan to build a deck over it? It only makes sense if you decide to build a shed on it. It seems to me that you should decide the eventual use before going any further.
Stain–don’t paint–exterior concrete
Q. A few years ago I used hydrochloric acid on my concrete porch to prepare it for staining. A year later, the stained appearance was unattractive so I decided to paint the porch with an exterior latex.
Now I have a problem. When the porch surface gets wet, bubbles of paint pop up and, as the porch dries, the bubbles disappear and the surface seems normal. Sections of paint just peel off easily.
Does the problem lie with the fact that I used a hydrochloric acid solution in readying the porch for staining?
A. Rest easy — the hydrochloric acid is not responsible for your paint problem.
Either the concrete was not fully dry when you applied the paint or, more likely since the bubbles appear only when it rains, water penetrates the paint film as it stands on it (latex paint is not waterproof). When the sun shines on the surface, the water expands or turns to steam and causes the bubbles to appear.
The only remedy I can offer is to remove all the paint, which should not be that difficult since it peels off easily. Then apply a coat of stain again. That is what you should have done after the first year when the stain no longer looked attractive. Painting exterior concrete is seldom successful and typically causes constant headaches.
Paint peeling from concrete patio
Q. A couple of years ago we painted our patio (old concrete) with oil paint. It’s peeling off and looks terrible. Can you give us an idea how to scrape it off completely so we can repaint it? Also, what kind of paint do you think may be best?
A. You should use a liquid paint remover. You can find one in any paint and hardware store. It is best not to paint concrete for the very reason yours is peeling. It is best to use a concrete stain.
Turkey grease leaves stain on patio
Q. A garbage bag was left on my concrete patio and grease from a turkey carcass has left an ugly stain. I tried power-washing it off without success. How can I get rid of this stain?
A. Spread a layer of TSP-PF granules over the grease spot. Gently sprinkle very hot water onto the granules and scrub with a stiff bristle brush. Wait 30 minutes and rinse the area off. You may need to repeat the treatment if the concrete is porous, the grease has been on it for a while and has penetrated deeply.
Re-surfacing a concrete patio
Q. My 15 feet by 22 feet concrete patio is 30 years old. Several years ago, I had it power-washed. The force of the water washed away the smooth top finish which left a coarse surface exposing the stones of the original mix. The patio is always dirty-looking and must be washed at least every two years.
What can I apply over the surface to improve its appearance?
A. There are a number of vinyl-reinforced topping products available such as Top’n Bond and Thorocrete. However, your patio represents a very large area for you to handle by yourself in one operation so that the final product will be uniform. The working time of these products is also limited, which means you have to work fast or have more than one person working.
Your best options are to 1) Hire a concrete contractor to pour a new top that should be at least two inches thick or 2) Have a masonry contractor apply Thorocrete or lay flagstones or bricks over the patio.
New concrete patio looks blotchy
Q. I had a new concrete patio poured last summer around my in-ground pool. While drying I noticed (and brought to the attention of the contractor) that the concrete looked spotted with dark and light grey colors mixed throughout the concrete surface. The contractor said it “takes time to dry”, and the patio would change to a more uniform color.
Unfortunately, even now the concrete looks blotchy with light and dark grey patches throughout the work. Is there anything I can do? I have heard that you can “color” concrete. Your suggestions and comments are most welcomed.
A. Blotchiness in concrete can be caused by the use of flake calcium chloride in the mix but that is used in cold weather so it is unlikely to be what happened with your concrete deck. Another possibility is that the contractor laid a sheet of plastic over the newly poured concrete to retard dehydration.
Dark spots occur where the plastic was in contact with the concrete. But if the contractor used a curing compound, the cause of the blotchiness is harder to determine and only an experienced concrete engineer looking at it may be able to come up with an answer.
Concrete can be stained after an acid etch but that must be done by an experienced professional. Over time, the sun may help to lighten up the darker areas
Q. We paid a contractor to install a stained (bluestone) stamped concrete patio about three years ago. The patio has now lost much of the gray color and the contractor is out of business. Do you know how we can re-stain and reseal the patio? We do not want to just paint the patio.
A. As you have discovered, exposure to the elements will bleach color out of concrete and other materials. A concrete stain should work if the surface is cleaned with any household detergent and thoroughly rinsed before application. You will have to repeat the process every few years due to continued exposure.
Brick patio subject to water damage
Q. We built a brick patio with old bricks about two years ago. The bricks are laid on a bed of crushed rock and sand, and we have swept crushed rock between the bricks. Now, we are concerned about the moss that is growing in the crushed rock fill. Although it lends some charm to the patio, I am worried that it can cause damage by moving the bricks. Can you advise us?
A. The moss should not affect the bricks by moving them, but old bricks are not pavers and are subject to water damage. The moss thrives in humid conditions and actually retains water which, in turn, can be absorbed by the bricks.
Rain water, snow melt and soil moisture are all factors which may eventually cause the bricks to disintegrate so, if you like the appearance of the moss, you might as well leave it as it is only one of the potentially destructive forces that may do the bricks in.
Moss growing on patio
Q. Is there a way to get rid of moss that is growing on my patio deck? I have red pavers, and the moss is growing between them. Is there some spray or solution that I can apply that will kill the moss but not bleach the stones?
A. Spray the area with a mixture of 3 parts white vinegar to 1 part water, but it is not likely to last for the entire season
Green spots on concrete patio
Q. I live in a townhouse with a 10-foot by 10-foot concrete patio. The concrete has greenish-colored spots that appear to be moss or mold growing into its porous surface.
I’ve used a 2-to-1 mixture of hot water and bleach, and scrubbed the patio. This removed all the dirt but the greenish spots remained. What is this? Is there a simple and easy way to remove these spots? The patio faces west and does receive full afternoon sun.
A. Try a mixture of equal parts water and fresh Clorox bleach (it contains chemicals other brands may not have). Pour it on and let it stand for a few minutes to see if it gets rid of the greenish spots. If it does not, increase the ratio of bleach to water and try it in one spot. Once you have succeeded, you’ll probably have to bleach the entire patio so it will have an even color.
Clearing mold and ants from brick patio
Q. I’ve not noticed the following question in your column and I would appreciate it if you could provide some solution to my problem. I have a 20-foot by 12-foot brick patio in my backyard. The problem is that most of it is covered with green mold that grows in between the bricks, together with small weeds and ant soil heaps! While I can control the weeds to a large extent and the ants to a small extent, I cannot find any way to get rid of the mold at all. My main goal is to keep the patio as clean as possible throughout the year.
A. The anthills can be easily controlled by pouring boiling water on them. As for controlling the green mold, try scrubbing the bricks with a mixture of 1 part fresh Clorox bleach to 3 parts water. Do not rinse.
Q. How can I remove pine tree sap from our new brick patio? I have tried turpentine and mineral spirits without success.
A. Try Lestoil. That has worked for others.
Which patio materials will stay cool?
Q. I am planning to remove my maintenance-intensive wood deck and replace it with a patio. While I like the idea of a slate patio, I am concerned about the heat the slates will absorb. What materials would be best for a patio and stay relatively cool?
A. Any masonry material will absorb and retain more heat than wood. Slates, paver bricks, concrete would all store heat and release it slowly as the sun no longer hits them. Paver bricks would be the best, if you insist on masonry, as they are less dense (thus containing air). Placing any masonry material on sand instead of a concrete base would also help keep it less hot.
There are alternatives to masonry. Since you have a deck, and you wish to get rid of the wood decking surface, you might want to consider substitute materials such as Trex (made of recycled supermarket bags and waste wood products). There are other man-made materials based on plastic also available.
One great option we tend to forget is grass. Give it some thought.
Don’t blacktop patio
Q. Our 15-year-old patio has developed long cracks that have been patched but it still looks like a road map. This summer we plan to have our driveway recoated with blacktop. Would it be advisable to have the patio blacktopped too?
A. Don’t do it! On hot days the blacktop will soften and be tracked into the house, and furniture legs will sink into it.
Although more expensive, your best solution is to cover the patio with flagstones or blue stones in a cement bed—provided the patio has finished settling, the cracks are stable and you have enough clearance under the door to raise the patio’s surface about two inches. Flash properly at the joint of the new surface and any wood on the house and consider having the area treated against termites. Wood hidden behind masonry is vulnerable. Remove the siding, coat the sheathing with a wood preservative and cover it with Grace Ice & Water Shield or equivalent.
Bricks around patio are flaking
Q. We have a brick wall around our patio. The bricks are flaking badly due to moisture and frost. One bricklayer suggested replacing the bad bricks for $1,000 while another would rebuild the entire wall for $9,000. I wonder about simply plastering the wall with a colored stucco but the bricklayers said that the moisture would be trapped in and flaking would continue. But I have seen houses redone with decorative cement work. Wouldn’t moisture be trapped in those walls? So would it be any different for our wall?
A. Is the brick wall around the patio acting as a retaining wall? In other words, is there dirt against it on the outside of the patio? If so, you would have to moisture-proof its back and provide good drainage or the moisture would travel through the bricks and cause problems in the front.
But, if the wall is free-standing, you could try stuccoing both sides after removing all loose material. The stucco should be reinforced with a vinyl additive for better adhesion. The top will also have to be waterproofed. This can be done by covering it with flagstones or any other fitting material.
The only unknown is whether or not moisture is drawn from the ground, a process known as “rising damp.” It could cause spalling of the bricks and pop out the stucco. The wall may have been built with used bricks or poor quality bricks. Paving bricks would be more resistant to moisture.
Options for renovating a concrete patio
Q. I would like some information about renovating my backyard concrete patio. The patio measures 15 by 30 feet, and was laid approximately 12 years ago. Over the last few years, several cracks have developed and the concrete has discolored to the point of being unattractive. I would like to have the concrete completely removed and replaced with a material that is easy to maintain, will withstand the elements (I live in northeastern New Jersey and get a fair amount of sun, rain and snow). My backyard faces north. Besides concrete, what other materials do you recommend, and what are the general costs associated with those materials? I have thought of outdoor tiles, composite decking and pavers, but have not looked into the costs of materials and labor. Any information you can provide is greatly appreciated.
A. If the cracks are minimal, there are several options that would save you the cost of removing the concrete. But they depend on how much space there is between the concrete patio and any door that opens onto it.
One option is to have a concrete cap poured over the existing concrete; for best results, it should be mesh-reinforced. The new concrete can be stained (not painted) after installation, or a color can be added in the mix before it is poured. This would be the least expensive solution. Another option is to have a mason lay paver bricks or flagstones in a mortar bed over the existing concrete. This will cost more than pouring a cap over the existing concrete. In either case, make sure the new surface slopes gently away from the house for drainage.
Yet another option is to remove the existing concrete, lay a crushed stone bed 4 to 6 inches deep, and lay concrete paver blocks over the crushed stone. You should be able to find some form of concrete pavers in local building supply stores; the ones I am familiar with come in such sizes as 2-feet square, 2 feet by 30 inches, etc. They usually have a pattern such as diamonds on top. If there is a slope to your land and the soil under the patio is heavy (such as clay or silt), a drainage system should be provided to drain any accumulating water from the stone bed to a point downhill.
Another way to go is to lay flagstones or paver blocks directly onto a sand bed. Any needed adjustments can easily be done if frost heaves some of the pavers or flagstones.
Repairing concrete garage floor
Q. The cement floor in my garage is badly pitted. Is there a way to repair it rather than tear it out and repour it? A couple of inches of new concrete could be added except at the garage door.
A. The existing concrete surface should be cleaned with TSP-PF to remove all grease, oil and other pollutants. Then, all loose cement should be removed in the process of rinsing off the detergent treatment. Steam cleaning is also very effective.
The cleaned concrete can be patched in a number of ways, depending on how badly pitted it is. You can use Thorocrete for small areas. Or a new cap can be poured over the old concrete, feathered at the door. Have a competent concrete contractor do it for you.
New garage floor damaged by acid
Q. In the chaos of our renovations, a bottle of muriatic acid was inadvertently tipped over on our new garage slab, and a tiny amount of it leaked out onto the floor. As a result, the smooth surface of the slab has been etched away in an area about the size of a dessert plate.
Ordinarily, I’d think nothing of it, but the exposed surface too closely resembles that of the old slab, which deteriorated from (I assume) water penetrating its unfinished surface, freezing, and gradually breaking off particles, sometimes as fine as dust, from the top. The concrete of the old slab came to resemble some urban bridge abutments, which have “spalled” to the point that their rebar shows.
In the new garage, of course, I expect only the water that may drop from the vehicles parked inside, but I’m still curious whether I should seal this spot with something or even skim-coat it.
A. The etched area should be repaired to prevent further and deeper damage when salt in the snow falls off your cars. The repairs can be made with a vinyl-reinforced patching mix. Remove all loose particles with a strong jet from your garden hose or a pressure washer.
Following instructions on the container, use one of the packaged concrete repair materials available in hardware stores and construction supply houses. Some brand names are Thorocrete and Top ‘N Bond.
White substance growing in concrete cracks
Q. I have a growth-like substance between cracks in my concrete garage. The growth is white in color and looks like Styrofoam. I remove it, but it keeps growing back. What is it and how do I get rid of it?
A. If the growth is very feathery and wipes off easily, it may be efflorescence - salts from the concrete being leached out by moisture that eventually dries up leaving the salts exposed. It can be brushed off and it won’t cause any harm.
However, if the growth is spongier and slimy, and keeps growing shortly after you remove it, it may be one of the slime fungi that grow very fast and breed under very moist conditions. In that case, I suggest that, wearing rubber gloves, you scrape some off with a trowel and put a sample in a glass or plastic jar. Take it or mail it to a microbiologist in the extension service of your state university after contacting him or her to be sure you are sending it to, or dropping it off at, the right place. The microbiologist will analyze the sample and recommend a treatment.
Removing oil and grease from concrete garage floor
Q. How can I remove oil and grease stains from my driveway and garage floor?
A. The most effective way to remove grease and oil from concrete is to spread a layer of granular TSP-PF over the stains, sprinkle hot water over them and scrub with a stiff brush. Let stand for half an hour and rinse off.
You can buy TSP-PF in hardware, paint and agricultural stores. Protect eyes and skin.
Removing paint layers from concrete garage floor
Q. How can I remove several layers of latex and oil paint from my concrete garage floor? What can I use other than ordinary paint removers, as I would need at least 5 gallons? Who sells paint removers in 5-gallon pails?
A. You can rent a concrete grinder and have its operation explained by the rental store. The bricks used to grind may clog with paint so, if available, you should blow them clean with an air compressor or you’ll have to use several sets of bricks. Ask the rental shop if a floor tile stripper would not work better in your case—depending on how many coats of paint you think there are.
The alternative is a non-flammable paint stripper. Apply it at the rate of one gallon per 100 square feet and cover the coated area with plastic immediately to retard evaporation. Let it stand for an hour or more; remove the plastic and scrape. Do it in sections. Repeat, if necessary. Ventilate well and wear eye and skin protection. You should also use a paint vapor respirator.
Paint removers are available in 5-gallon pails, but on special order. Check with your paint store to see if there would be any savings.
Cleaning bird droppings from concrete
Q. We’ve had barn swallows nesting in our garage and I thought perhaps you might know of something I could apply to the poured concrete floor that would help remove their droppings. I’ve tried using vinegar, but this only partially works, plus it corrodes the surface of the concrete. I’ve also power-washed the floor with no result (other than cleaner droppings).
A. Try scrubbing the floor with a strong solution of 3 quarts water, 1 quart Clorox bleach and 1 cup TSP-PF.
Q. A 50-foot-tall black walnut tree between my house and garage appears to have busted my garage concrete floor. It was all right until recently. Will it continue to break the floor? What can I do about it?
A. The tree may be responsible. One way to make sure is to see whether it gets worse every year without getting better seasonally. Another is to remove badly-cracked sections of the floor and dig for the roots.
You should ask yourself if it’s doing the same thing to your house’s foundation wall if you have a crawl space or basement.
I certainly would not feel good about recommending the destruction of such a beautiful old tree. So, if only the garage slab is affected, you could simply remove it and put crushed stones in its place. However, if the house foundation is also affected, you may have to cut any large roots pressing against it. A tree surgeon is the person to call for advice and the job.
Filling gaps under garage slab
Q. An area under our garage slab has eroded over the past several years. The foundation walls of the garage are built with concrete blocks. The garage floor is concrete reinforced with steel rebar. A construction firm says they can fill these voids with grout injected through holes in the floor. Have you had any experience with this method? Do you think it would work?
A. When done by an experienced crew, this is a very good option. Care must be taken not to blow the block walls out. Insist on a copy of the contractor’s insurance on work performed and completed operations.
Half-boiled linseed oil to treat garage floor
Q. You have mentioned coating a garage floor with a mixture of half-boiled linseed oil and half mineral spirits to seal it. I am not clear on how to half-boil linseed oil and when to add the mineral spirits.
A. Interesting question. How does one “half boil” anything (my bad choice of words)?
There are two kinds of linseed oil: raw and boiled. Raw takes forever to dry, if ever. Boiled dries fairly quickly. You buy boiled linseed oil ready to use; you don’t boil it yourself. You make the mixture with equal quantities of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits. This treatment is particularly desirable in areas where the streets are salted to clear them of snow and ice in winter but it will also help protect concrete from oil and other stains.
Fibers in fiberglass garage door are showing
Q. The fibers on my fiberglass garage door are showing. Is there any kind of clear coating that can be applied to the panels?
A. Clear coating would not hide the fibers that have probably collected dirt. Clean the door, rinse it and try Gel Gloss. It may be what you want. An alternative is to prime it with Zinsser’s Bull’s Eye 1-2-3. and paint it with a good quality exterior latex.
Q. My double garage door comes down with a bang and is very hard to lift. It binds and requires a great deal of strength to get it started. This has been a progressive situation but it seems worse since I painted it a few months ago. What can I do to make it work better?
A. Over time the torsion spring or stretch springs have weakened and need adjusting. The coat of paint you put on also added weight and thickness where the door comes in contact with the door stops.
If your door has a torsion spring (over the door and parallel to it), adjustments are not a do-it-yourself job. A special tool is required as well as training. The spring is under great tension and, if not properly handled can cause serious injury.
Stretch springs are safer and easier to handle. There is one on each side of the door and they are parallel to the tracks. To tighten them, either move the S hook to the next hole or shorten the cable by moving the cable clamp, whichever is appropriate, while the door is open and the springs not under tension.
Never grease or oil the door tracks; they will collect dirt and cause the wheels to bind and wear out. The tracks must be kept dry. You may, however, use WD-40, a dry lubricant, on the ball bearings of the rollers or a special lubricant available from garage door installers.
Rub hard yellow soap or beeswax on the door stops to reduce friction. The door stops may have to be moved after repeated paintings.
Garage-door opener fails in cold weather
Q. My garage-door opener works fine except in cold weather. The door does not go all the way up and has to be pushed up manually. We have adjusted the lifting screw on the box but this has not helped. How does cold weather affect the operation of the door and what solution is there?
A. You have given me very little information. For instance, is the door opener chain- or gear-driven? Gear-driven openers are prone to cold-weather difficulties, whereas the chain-driven types seem free of them.
But the problem may be with the door itself. Disconnect the operator mechanism from the door and try to open and close the door by hand. If the door binds in any way, this may be the reason for the incomplete operation; the door may bind more in winter as the cold affects the metal parts.
It may be time to call a service person to adjust the door anyway. This routine service involves lubrication, checking all the pulleys, the cables, and the tension on the springs.
Low-clearance garage-door openers
Q. Is there a company that makes automatic garage door openers that do not have to have space over the door when open? My door opens against the ceiling and I’ve been told all the openers have to have at least two inches clearance over the door.
A. There are two options that should be looked at by an experienced garage door installer. One is a quick close fixture and the other is a low headroom track.
Keeping water from seeping into garage
Q. My concrete garage floor has very wide cracks. The grade slopes toward the garage and water comes in when it rains. I plan on putting in a new floor. Is it necessary to raise the garage or should I simply put in a drain system to lead the water away from the garage
A. Can you simply pour a new concrete floor over the cracked one and have it slope towards the door, as it should?
To keep the water out, a concrete trough can be built in front of the garage door. Cover it with a steel grate; you can find one in a steel shop. Look for one in your Yellow Pages under “Steel Distributors & Warehouses.”
Garage windows fog up and remain damp
Q. Nearly every time it rains, the windows on our garage get fogged up and the inside feels damp. I assume that happens because of humidity. I want to be able to store things inside this building but I am worried about mold. What can I do to prevent this fog-up in the future?
A. It sounds as if the condensation on the garage windows is occurring because the rain lowers the outside temperature, which cools the glass, and the humidity in the garage is so high. And like most garage windows, they are probably single-glazed.
Garages are quite humid, particularly if they have a dirt floor or concrete that was poured directly on soil. Cars also bring in moisture.
This is not a good situation for storing anything that can be affected by humidity. Your garage may need ventilation in the form of gable vents or soffit and ridge vents.
Driveway settles lower than garage floor
Q. After letting the ground settle for one year, we paved our six-year-old driveway with asphalt. After this past, very cold winter, the driveway has dropped 2 inches below the level of the concrete garage floor and has pulled away from it about 1 inch. What should be done to prevent the cracking of the concrete floor from either water freezing in that space or from continually driving over that 2-inch drop?
A. You can get a bag of blacktop and fill the separation between the driveway and the concrete garage floor with it. If you slope it a bit, you can close the 2-inch differential in height somewhat but there should be no need to make the two even. The concrete floor may be resting on a frost wall anyway and be secure.
Q. My home is a 1921 colonial with a one-car detached garage. The garage is sinking (approximately ½ inch) on one side. This was first apparent when the garage-door opener motor burned out due to the off-balance; currently, the door is difficult to open manually. Numerous contractors have had different opinions on how to fix this, ranging from tearing down and rebuilding to just jacking up and replacing the bottom sill and the 2×4s on the side that is sinking. Please advise.
A. My advice would depend on the cause of the settling. I am not clear, from your description, if the settling is caused by a sinking foundation or by a rotting sill. If it is caused by a settling foundation, fixing it would also depend on when the settling occurred and if it has now stabilized—only time can tell you this (you didn’t say when you discovered the problem, but it sounds recent).
If the foundation is settling, it was either poured or built on unstable ground. Jacking up the garage may not solve the problem in the long run unless the situation is stable and has been that way for several years. In that case, it may be best to underpin the foundation. However, if the settling is due to a rotting sill and 2×4s, they can easily be replaced with pressure-treated wood after jacking the garage up to its former position.
My guess is that the settling may be due to a rotting sill, based on the assumption that the garage is as old as the house (since it is only a one-car garage) and that foundation problems would have become apparent long ago. It sounds as if the contractor suggesting replacement of the sill may be the best one to use.
Covering steel garage with bricks
Q. More than 20 years ago, we had a steel garage built. I now wish we had it built with bricks to match our house and would like to know if you can recommend where I could purchase brick facing or sheets of fake bricks to cover our garage.
A. There are several manufacturers of thin bricks that are applied with mastic to sound substrate. They are not fake—they are real bricks but only ½ inch thick. Some of the makes I am familiar with are Endicott, www.endicott.com; Summitville Tiles Inc., www.summitville.com; Ambrico (American Brick Company), www.ambrico.com.
Water drips from underside of steel carport roof
Q. The roof of our carport is made of steel with a baked-on enamel finish. During the winter, water dripped from the underside of the carport onto our new car, leaving big blotches on it. What can we do to stop this problem?
A. Condensation formed on the underside of the carport roof because metal can get much colder than the ambient air on clear nights when radiation is strong. The air under the carport is warmer and humid and water vapor condenses on the cold metal.
A temporary solution that may work, if there is not much wind blowing in your carport, is to fasten a plastic tarpaulin on a slant under the carport and over the car. This will catch the drips and discharge them on the low side of the tarp. If you let the tarp droop at the low end, you can concentrate the water in one spot and catch it in a bucket.
A permanent solution is to install extruded polystyrene (¾- to 1-inch thick) on the underside of the car port roof. This can be done with an adhesive such as Styrobond. The metal will be insulated from contact with warm moist air, and the dripping should stop.
Restoring a pitted garage floor
Q. My garage floor has become pitted from road salt over the years. I’m considering using one of those epoxy coatings to fill in the pitting and smooth it out and/or first using concrete restorer to fill in the pits and then the coating. What do you think of the possible outcome (looking decent) from this approach?
A. Why not simply using a polymer-modified product such as Thorocrete or vinyl-reinforced TOP’N BOND? They are both one-step processes for repairing damaged concrete surfaces and should be easily available in building supply stores.
Just be sure that you remove all loose particles with a strong jet of water before applying the new mix and that you follow the instructions on the containers.
Leaks in combination sun deck and carport
Q. I have a combination sun deck/carport. The deck is pitched 3 inches in 10 feet and is covered with plywood. I caulk the seams between the sheets and paint them yearly, but the floor still leaks and the plywood is rotting.
You have mentioned in the past covering a porch with canvas to make it watertight. Is this a practical solution for my problem and if so, where can I get information on materials and methods?
A. It can be a practical solution to your dual problem: rotting plywood and water leaking onto the car below. Roofers used to install heavy canvas years ago and it had to be painted with several coats of porch enamel, then re-coated every few years. But you’ll have to check around to find a roofer who still may do this type of work.
If not, another solution is to remove the railing and let the plywood dry, sweep it clean, and lay Grace Ice & Water Shield (I&WS) over it, overlapping each 3-foot section by 2 inches after installing metal drip edge all around. I&WS has a sticky side that is put down on the original clean and dry plywood deck. It must be covered to prevent damage from the sun. An alternative is a synthetic membrane such as EPDM or Trocal.
Since your photos show a considerable step down from the door to the deck, rip pressure-treated 2×10s, 10 feet long, to get 2 pieces from each one with one end about 3 inches and the other about 6 inches. Place them on the deck with the shallow end at the house as you would to build a new deck with headers at both ends. This will give you a level surface.
Then screw pressure-treated 1×6 deck boards to the sleepers, tight to each other (shrinkage will create spaces as the wood dries). Replace the railing by fastening it to the new deck.
Insurance company says to remove moss from shed roof
Q. The insurance company said we have to get the moss off our shed roof by this coming October. She said to use a power washer. I remember you said not to use a power wash on shingles. We removed a lot of trees from around the shed. Could you please tell me an easy do-it-yourself method? It looks black and light green to me.
A. I wonder why the insurance representative told you to remove the moss from your shed roof. I can’t see any reason for doing so. Power-washing roof shingles is not advisable; the pressure is very likely to damage the shingles. It will certainly take off the mineral granules, which protect the shingles from UV rays.
When you say black and green, are you seeing a discoloration of the shingles such as is caused by algae? That’s a different story. Moss shows as a soft growth that can easily be picked off by hand or brushed off with a floor-sweeping broom, so it would seem that if its removal is required, it should be simple enough to do so without having to walk on the roof (unless the shed is very large).
Particle-board shed deteriorating fast
Q. The storage shed I bought last year is made of particle board. I was told it did not need to be painted. However, it has turned black on most of its surface and the roof is beginning to sag. How can I salvage it?
A. It should have been painted. Wash the mold, dirt, air pollution and stains off with a solution made of 1 cup of TSP-PF, 1 quart fresh Clorox bleach and 3 quarts of water. Rinse thoroughly and allow to dry. Prime with a quality oil-based primer and paint with two coats of a top-quality latex exterior house paint.
It’s too late to do anything about the sagging roof. It sounds as if it needs to be replaced.
Products to restore exterior wood finish
Q. You mentioned once the name, Dekswood, that can be used to restore a warm color to a red cedar fence, as well as decks and other outdoor wood structures. I have called many hardware and department stores, lumber companies and home centers. No one has ever heard of them, even people who have been in the business for years.
A. Both Dekswood and CWF®-UV5 Premium Penetrating Wood Finish are products of the Flood Company of Hudson, Ohio. Flood’s products are nationally distributed and generally found in paint stores. I mention product names when it seems appropriate to do so in order to help my readers, but can’t always specify where they can be bought in each location. In this case, you can go to the company’s Web site, www.flood.com, to locate a store near you or purchase products on line.
Matching new wood with weathered wood
Q. I want to treat some new white cedar to match the old wood on a fence which is grey from exposure. It there some way to do this?
A. Try using a very thin semi-transparent grey or black stain and apply it with a clean, white rag so it is not too heavy. Time, patience and allowing nature to take its course is also an option.
Refinishing a galvanized fence
Q. Our galvanized fence has rusted badly over the years. We’d like to paint it. How should we prepare it and what kind of paint should we use?
A. You’ll have to remove the scaly rust. If your fence is of the chain link type, you have a big job ahead of you. The best way to do that may be to apply a liquid rust remover with a paint roller. However, wire brushing may do a better job. Try it first. Then prime and paint with Rust-Oleum primer and finish coat.
Neighboring construction cracks cinder-block wall
Q. Thirty years ago, I built a cinder-block wall approximately 4 feet high and 100 feet long covered with a cement scratch coat. A construction company started to build new homes on the other side of the wall and the builder backed all his dirt against my wall. This has caused three ugly cracks to appear on the wall.
I have come up with the idea to cover the entire wall with ivy. Can you recommend a fast growing, bug-free type of ivy and tell me how many plants I would need.
A. The first thing that comes to mind is the responsibility of the builder. If your wall was a free-standing wall as I assume it was since the contractor piled dirt against it on the other side, he had the responsibility to make sure the wall could stand the pressure applied against it by the dirt.
You haven’t given me any more details but I am assuming you built the wall with 8-inch-thick blocks. That is fine for a free wall but if the wall becomes a retaining wall, and it is in a straight run without angles, corners or buttresses to reinforce it, the builder should have known better than push dirt against it. You should have him rebuild the wall for you as a retaining wall, starting with a couple of courses 2 feet thick, the next 2 courses 16 inches thick and the top two courses 12 inches thick.
The alternative is a reinforced concrete wall 12 inches thick. In either case, there should be weep holes every 4 feet at the base of the wall on your side and the wall should be backfilled with stones covered with filter fabric, followed by coarse material and native soil.
Make sure the structural issues are taken care of, then consult a local nursery on what to plant.
Removing moss from retaining wall
Q. Moss is growing on a cement block retaining wall. I would like to remove it and also prevent recurring growth. I have applied laundry bleach full strength that temporarily killed the moss but after another period of hot, humid weather, it grows back. Is there a method for removing it permanently?
A. Removing the moss growth with bleach is a very good way to go but to keep it under control for at least one year, spray it with Moss & Mildew Killer. If you cannot find Moss & Mildew Killer locally in a garden supply, hardware or large discount stores, you can order it online at http://tinyurl.com/bxjudkg. Moss & Mildew Killer comes in 2-pound shaker boxes or as hose-end sprayer.
The manufacturer claims that it will not damage shrubs, trees or lawn, but you should read and follow the directions carefully and follow them. It is said to be effective for a year.
Mildew keeps returning to white metal railing
Q. At the start of the warm season and once more during the summer, I clean the white metal railing of our wrap-around porch with a solution of bleach and water to remove mildew that forms on it. It’s quite a chore as there are many slats and curlicues. Is there a product I could use that is mildew retardant so I only have to do this chore once a season?
Also, last year, I noticed that some of the railings are chipping exposing a silver metal (aluminum?). How can I repair this? Is the solution I use too harsh, causing the coating to chip off?
A. You could try adding a mildewcide to the solution you use. You should be able to find one in paint and hardware stores.
I think that the solution you use is not responsible for the chipping; it’s more likely that these areas were hit by something. Repairing the chips of the railing is more difficult. You are not likely to be able to match the paint (white is the most difficult shade to match) and it certainly would not be of the same consistency. However, if you can’t live with the chips, you could attempt to touch the affected areas with an epoxy paint.
Or you could consider repainting the entire railing. If that is your eventual choice, use an epoxy or 100% acrylic gloss latex and add a mildewcide to the paint.
Rust-stained railing
Q. There are unsightly rust stains around the bases of the wrought iron railing on our concrete front porch. Is there a way to remove them and to prevent them from coming back?
A. The success of the treatment will depend on how deep the rust stains are. If they are recent and superficial, they may be removed with a solution of oxalic acid (1 ounce of acid to 1 cup of water). Swab the solution on with an old paint brush. Oxalic acid is caustic! Use caution, wear heavy rubber gloves and other skin and eye protection. Mix the solution in a plastic container (do not use metal containers or tools with it). Let the solution stand for two to three hours after which scrub the treated areas with a stiff bristle brush while rinsing them with clear water.
Deep stains are not in the province of do-it-yourselfers; they require professional attention with poultices of very strong chemicals.
To prevent recurrence, be sure that the railing and posts are kept painted with a rust-inhibiting paint.
Repainting a wrought-iron gate
Q. I live in a Spanish-style house with a black wrought iron gate and black wrought iron railings on the first and second stories. My husband painted everything black fifteen years ago. Now the gate is showing a lot of rust and I want to know what needs to be done to paint it again.
My husband can’t remember what he did as far as sanding and priming, and what kind of paint he used. Can you advise me on the steps to do this job and what I should use? I will do the job this time. I’ve seen advertised a small double roller; should I use it or a brush?
A. The best way to remove rust is to use a steel brush. You should remove all loose scales but you need not remove all traces of rust. Once you are satisfied with the steel-brushing, use a regular brush with stiff bristles to remove all rust dust the steel brush left behind, or use a clean cloth dampened with mineral spirits to wash the metal.
To paint the wrought iron, you can use a paint specially formulated for metal that is a primer and a finish coat in one. A small brush is probably the best tool to use as it will get in small spaces a roller may not reach.
Painting steps to make them less slippery
Q. I would like to repaint my wooden porch steps but make them less slippery. Someone told me to put sand in the paint. Is this on the level?
A. Coarse sand mixed with deck paint has been used for years as an anti-slip coating for steps but it must be constantly stirred. It is an option, but there is another one. Your paint store probably has SKID-TEX; if not, buy in a pool supply company. I am told it remains in suspension in the paint, to which it is added and well mixed, much better than plain sand.
Q. I want to put outdoor carpeting on my front stoop but want to be able to remove it later. I have read of the problems people have had removing it and the glue.
A. If you want to remove it later, I would urge you not to do it. Moreover, I am not in favor of painting or carpeting exterior concrete; the problems down the line are too difficult to solve. You can improve the looks of concrete stoops or steps by putting clay flower pots along their edges. Fill them with flowers that will bloom all summer and fall.
Removing carpeting from front steps
Q. Our concrete steps are covered with a dark green indoor/outdoor carpeting, the kind that first came out and has a flat, almost velvet-like surface. It is impossible to remove and we were told that removing it would damage the steps. Can we brush over it the type of paint that’s made for concrete?
A. The carpeting should be removable with boiling water. Wear heavy rubber gloves, start in a comer, and pour boiling water on an area about two square feet. Wait a minute to let the water dissolve the adhesive and pull the carpet up. Continue doing this to a small area at a time. Use a broad blade putty knife to scrape off remaining adhesive as you pull off the carpeting. This should not damage the concrete, but there might be some residue left that you may have to sand off when it is dry, or use a adhesive remover.
Q. A couple of years ago I had my two front steps and a wall that is also a planter replaced. The brick I originally chose became unavailable so I picked a different one which is a light pink/orange color. The color is okay but the brick is very porous. After the plants have been watered or after it has rained, the wet always shows on the wall, seems to stay for a long time and always develops mildew. I think they look old and shabby.
Could you please tell me the best way to deal with mildew and green on an outside wall, and is there any way that I can treat the bricks to stop them from being so porous. Also, is it possible to paint bricks one by one, leave the grout how it is and still have it look natural?
A. For the front steps, and any flat surface, it would have been better to choose paver bricks which are more resistant to moisture penetration. Painting is unlikely to be successful; it would not give you a lasting surface on the steps and is very likely to peel off the planter wall, pushed out by the moisture from inside the planter.
You can clean the bricks with a solution made with 1 cup TSP-PF, 1 quart fresh Clorox and 3 quarts water using a stiff bristle brush. Rinse thoroughly. Be aware that TSP-PF is lethal to plants so use carefully and avoid contact with them.
Unless the inside of the planter wall was waterproofed, moisture will work its way through the bricks as you water plants and repeat the cycle of mildew and green growth. You could remove the soil from the planter and line its walls with 6-mil black plastic before refilling it. Be sure all seams are folded over to keep water from creeping through them.
Concrete chipping from new front steps
Q. We had new cement steps put in front of our home a few months ago. About two weeks ago, the cement started to chip on the surface. An old friend said the contractor didn’t put a finishing coat on the cement and even if he chips the entire surface and then puts the finish coat on it, it may happen again. He said we should insist on a guarantee from the contractor to protect us if it does happen again. Any help from you as to what to do would be greatly appreciated.
A. There are several reasons why the concrete steps are chipping, but not putting a finishing coat on it is not one of them — quite the contrary. If the contractor sprinkled cement on the concrete to make it cure faster, it is likely to come off.
If you trust the contractor to be honest and responsible, call him or her back to see the problem. There are ways to remove the unsound topping and to apply a vinyl-reinforced topping if the surface to be treated is not too deep.
Thoro makes Thorocrete which can be reinforced with Acryl-60 for a better bond. Or Top’N Bond, which contains its own binder. can be used. The contractor should be familiar with these products (or equivalent — contractors all have their favorite compounds. Your state probably has a law that makes contractors guarantee their work for one year — that’s pretty standard.
Q. Several bricks on my three-year-old front steps have cracked or are deteriorating. They are all at the end of brick rows or where the iron railings were installed. The place where I bought the bricks tells me they are good and the problem is water getting between the concrete and the bricks and freezing.
What can I paint on the bricks to eliminate this problem? Should the mason be responsible for re-doing the job at no cost to me? Some of the bricks are discolored from leaves, etc. How can I clean them?
A. Bricks used on outside flat surfaces like walks, steps and patios should be pavers—bricks manufactured for that type of heavy duty. Perhaps yours are not and, if so, the merchant should not have sold them to you if he or she were made aware of the intended use. The mason should also know that regular bricks are not satisfactory for these purposes.
Workmanship has a lot to do with success. The mortar joints should be tooled in a concave manner and be tight to resist water penetration. The joints of railings and bricks must be waterproofed. The bricks must have a certain moisture content at the time they are laid so they have a limited water suction capacity or there will not be a proper bond between them and the mortar. The ratio of sand and cement is also important.
Try removing the stains with a solution of equal parts of fresh Clorox bleach and water.
Repairing mortar between bricks
Q. I have concrete steps in the front of my house and between some of the bricks the concrete has rotted out. I believe they call this pointing. My house is also brick and the same thing is happening in spots.
I would like to attempt to fix both of these things myself. Is it easy for an inexperienced person and if not, what exactly do I need to do the job and what is the specific process?
A. If I understand you correctly, you have bricks steps and the mortar between the bricks is deteriorating. The same is happening between the bricks of your house. (Concrete is a mix of Portland cement, sand and crushed aggregate and is used for concrete foundations, slabs, driveways, roads, buildings, etc.)
Tuck-pointing is what needs to be done, but since you are inexperienced, it is best for you to have a mason or handy person familiar with tuck-pointing do the job, particularly if the mortar crumbling is extensive.
Tuck-pointing requires the removal of all loose mortar, but with care so as not to cause serious damage. Once the loose mortar is removed, the joints need to be washed clean with a garden hose. Next is mixing the right mortar consistent with the age of the bricks (old mortar is different from newer mortar) and getting the right color so the repairs won’t stand out like a sore thumb.
As you can see, an amateur job may really detract from the overall look of the house. However, if you decide to make the repairs yourself, get a bag of ready-mix mortar from hardware or building supply stores, mix it following directions on the bag. Apply it to the cleaned joints with a small trowel and strike the joints with a joint tool or a short piece of garden hose.
Railroad ties used as steps are slippery
Q. The railroad ties that make up my front and rear steps are slippery when wet and have caused people to fall. What can I do about them?
A. Scrub the ties regularly with a solution of ½ water, ½ fresh household bleach to kill off and remove the mold that grows on them. You can also try to roughen the surfaces with a steel brush attachment on a drill or stick strips of gritty fabric on the parts that are stepped on. Buy them in hardware stores and apply them to thoroughly clean and dry surfaces.
Q. The nails used when my new porch steps were built several years ago are rusting. The steps look like they have the measles. What can I do besides taking all the nails out to stop this? As it is, I have to paint the steps every spring.
A. The contractor should have used double hot-dipped galvanized, stainless steel or ring-shanked aluminum nails. If there aren’t too many steps, you may want to have the nails removed and replace them with deck screws or one of the above type nails.
If this is not practical, you’ll have to remove the rust by sanding it off the nail heads (although that’s not going to remove the deeper rust that formed on the shanks), wire brushing it off, or by applying a liquid rust remover. Then prime the nail heads with a rust-inhibiting primer (apply at least two coats), using a small artist’s brush. Paint them with two coats of an exterior latex deck enamel, working it all around as much as you can. Finally, paint the steps to blend the whole thing in.
Outdoor Furniture and Equipment
Table wobbles on bluestone patio
Q. My patio is made of bluestone and its surface is somewhat irregular, causing my table to be wobbly. I have tried moving it around but cannot find a spot where it won’t rock. This is very annoying. Is there a simple way to steady the table besides using cardboard that gets wet?
A. You can settle your table once and for all by using plastic “Wobble Wedges” from Focus 12, Inc. Wobble Wedges can be purchased at The Container Stores wherever they are located. Their Web site is www.containerstore.com where you can locate the nearest store. Other stores and on-line sources are listed on the manufacturer’s site at www.wobblewedge.com.
Restoring a weather-damaged picnic table
Q. Now I know why all our neighbors in our retirement community have glass picnic tables. After ten years, our lovely redwood has a large dark area with soft fibers. We do cover it for the winter but that must not be adequate.
If it’s possible to renew it, we will cover the top with glass. We can cover the seats with protective covers in the summer. We had these all under a patio roof before and never suspected that constant wetness would harm them. We thought redwood was impervious to rain.
A. Heartwood redwood (and for that matter, many other trees’ heartwood) is more resistant to decay than summer growth, but most picnic tables and benches are not likely to be made with heartwood.
Depending on the size and depth of the damaged area, it may be possible to get it repaired. If the top of the affected spot is still level, you may be able to “harden” the softened wood with a product like Minwax High Performance Wood Hardener. If it has softened but the damaged area is not too deep, you may be able to dig it up and fill it with Minwax High Performance Wood Filler, or any epoxy product used to repair auto fenders, etc. But it won’t be redwood; you’ll have to stain it or paint it.
However, if the area is quite large, it is simpler to replace the affected board. All wood picnic tables I have ever seen are built with several 2-inch by 6-inch planks cleated together. Any skilled handy person or carpenter can do it easily. Once the repairs have been performed, clean the table and treat it with a wood preservative every year or two. You can get a preservative with a redwood stain.
Q. I recently purchased two half barrels made of cedar for planting flowers. They will be outdoors in all kinds of weather. I am wondering if it’s necessary to put any type of water proofing or sealer on them to preserve them.
A. Are you sure they are made of cedar? The half barrels available in all garden and nursery stores I am familiar with are made of oak from whiskey barrels cut in half. Their interior is burned which contribute to their durability. These barrels do not need any treatment. Mine have been out for 20 years and are still in good shape. If yours are really made of cedar, liberally coat them inside and out with a wood preservative and line the inside with 6-mil black plastic.
Cleaning plastic lawn furniture
Q. How do you treat the white plastic resin lawn chairs which have developed gray mold stains? I’ve tried Purex and Soft-Scrub but neither removed much.
A. I have had success wiping these chairs with a solution made of 1 part fresh Clorox bleach and 3 parts water to which is added a small amount of detergent. The mildew stains should be gone quickly after which you should rinse thoroughly. Once dry, apply a coat of Gel-Gloss.
Cleaning plastic outdoor furniture
Q. What is the best way to clean white plastic outdoor furniture that becomes stained by the weather? I just hate to throw something away if it need not be.
A. The safest thing is to use an oxygen bleach such as Oxy-Boost (www.ecogeeks.com.) To my dismay, I have used a solution of regular bleach and water before with wonderful results—for a while—but the resin furniture began to chalk and lost all its luster. I can only wonder if the bleach had anything to do with this deterioration or it was simply age. I had to throw the furniture away. Live and learn.
Gel-Gloss is a cleaner/polish you can also try. It is available in many home, hardware and department stores, or at www.gel-gloss.com.
Sealing a cracked concrete fountain
Q. I have a concrete fountain, approximately 24 inches in diameter, which has several cracks and will not hold water. What product can I use to seal the fountain, so that it will hold water.
A. The easiest fix is to find a polyurethane caulking, available at a masonry supply house. My favorite is Sikaflex 1-a, which I have used for over 50 years. It comes in several colors, including one that very much resembles concrete. It can also be painted after it has cured. You did not mention where you live but you may find an A.H. Harris store near you; they carry either Sikaflex. You can find the store closest to you on their Web site: www.ahharris.com.
It is absolutely essential that you clean and dry the fountain and, once you have applied the caulking to the cracks, that you let it air-cure for a minimum of seven days, so be sure that you cover it to keep it dry but in such a way as to allow for ventilation. Once properly cured, polyurethane caulking can be immersed in water.
Building a bird bath with waterfall
Over the years, I have received letters from readers who have built birdbaths with waterfalls, with helpful comments and leads for pumps for such waterfalls. They write:
• Six or 12-volt pumps are much better than 110 volts, as the wiring is simpler and less dangerous. Buy them at Fleet Farm Stores or through boat supply stores or catalogs which sell them as bilge pumps.
• You’ll need a deep-cycle marine battery and a charger to recharge the battery when it’s down and out. One reader says he runs his pump at 6 volts as, at 12 volts, the water jet is too strong. He also says that it will not hurt the pump to run it at 6 volts.
• One pump recommended by several readers is the Little Giant Pump from the Little Giant Pump Co. of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (www.lgpc.com). There are plenty of others on the market available through garden centers.
Go to it. The birds need open water in winter when all is frozen. The pleasure of watching the variety of birds that flock to fountains is unmatchable.
Q. I have an outside gas grill that uses natural gas. It gets a lot of spider webs that cut off the gas. I used to be able to clean the grill myself but as I am getting on in years, I cannot do it any longer. The gas company charges me between $50 and $60 to do it. I was told to put moth balls in and around the grill but that did not work. I was also told to switch to propane gas. I would appreciate any information you can give me to eliminate this problem.
A. Spiders can really plug up the venturi holes that are essential for the proper and safe performance of gas grills. Spiders will plug these holes just as much with propane gas as with natural gas.
I do not know of a way to prevent spiders from plugging the venturi holes. I would advise you to budget the amount necessary for a gas technician to prepare your grill for safe operation. It’s a small price to pay to ensure you won’t blow yourself up or burn your house down.
Annual maintenance of gas grills
Advice from a Reader:
“I just wanted to let you know about two recent experiences I had with propane outdoor grills that could be potentially dangerous.
“There was a blockage in the gas line that caused the gas to come out in front of the burner (outside of the grill) and shoot flames up the front of the grill. The result was melted control knobs. I thought the unit was defective and returned it for another type that uses propane to ignite charcoal. The same thing happened, though no runaway fire occurred. I blew out the gas line with an air compressor and a small spider appeared in the grill.
“Thought you may want to pass this along to readers. It seems like good insurance and preventative maintenance to make sure the gas lines remain clear and if the unit is stored outside, it is likely that critters can invade.”
A. Thank you very much for reminding me that I should repeat the cautionary advice that I have run intermittently in spring of past years. Spiders and other small creatures will winter in the tiny holes and cause the grill to malfunction as you have experienced. Houses have burned down because of this.
Cleaning a bronze and brass sun dial
Q. My bronze/brass pedestal sun dial, thought to be about 100 years old, has badly weathered over time. Although I don’t want a bright finish, I would like to clean some of the scale and oxidation that has built up in its highly-ornate pedestal portion. What products and procedure would you recommend?
A. Try Wright’s Brass Cream first. If this is not enough to achieve the results you want, try Wright’s Copper Cream, which is stronger. Both bronze and brass are alloys of copper with other metals. If you cannot find these products locally, check Wright’s Web site at www.jawright.com.
Clear sealer for wooden mailbox
Q. I have made a wooden mailbox and painted it pure white with flowers on the lid and a bird on the front. Because the mailbox will be outside, I want to use a sealer on it. However, varnish will leave an amber shade and all polyurethane sealers are for interior use. Please tell me if there is any sealer I can use that won’t turn my white mailbox amber.
A. Your mailbox sounds beautiful, and I understand how proud you are of it and why you would want it unaltered by the sealer.
Rejoice! You can use an exterior acrylic polyurethane varnish (they do exist); it won’t alter the color of the mailbox and will last a long time.
Q. Our new neighbors have installed an air conditioning and heat pump unit. It stands on a concrete slab outside, between their home and ours. The noise is overwhelming and, when the unit is running on high, our concrete floor vibrates. Is there a buffer that can be installed to eliminate this noise? We appreciate any help you can give.
A. There is something you can do to reduce both the noise and the vibration of your slab, but you need your neighbor’s cooperation, as it has to be done from their side—and, hopefully, at their expense if they are good neighbors.
I once successfully solved this problem for someone by building a two-faced brick wall with each brick set at an angle (instead of the bricks laid in a running bond, as is usually done). This made for a sawtooth pattern that is very effective in deadening sound. Because of the configuration of the bricks there is also a space between the two faces, and the sound bounces on the staggered bricks of the outer wall.
The wall should be built on the edges of the concrete pad that the air conditioning unit is on, facing your house and with side wings around the unit, but should still allow access for servicing. The wall should be about 1 foot higher than the unit. To reduce the vibrations, the unit should be set on heavy-duty rubber blocks.
Re-grading a lawn
Q. In reading your columns, I have always been aware of your emphasis on making sure soil is graded properly for drainage. Very fortunately, I have never had a problem with water in my basement. Now, though, I am afraid I may have created a situation where there is a potential for a water problem.
I am living in a home built in 1955, with very sandy soil. However, there were massive shrubs (some sort of evergreen) growing all along the front of the house that I’m sure were put in when the house was first built. They spread 8 to 10 feet into the yard and had never been taken care of. You know what happens next. I hired my teenage boys to chop, haul and dig! The yard is ever so much bigger now, but after the removal of roots and stumps, the ground is about 6 inches shallower than it used to be! I immediately realized that this calls for “correct grading,” but I am unsure of how to go about it.
In order for me to act preventively and do it correctly the first time around, I hope you can give me specific pointers. I am not sure if I should merely bring in a huge load of topsoil to fill in the “trench.” Should I fill a couple of inches with gravel and then top off with dirt to increase drainage? How far up the foundation wall should the top be? The topsoil along the front of my house (next year I will attack the back) is about 6 inches lower than the rest of my front yard. This shallow area extends from the foundation wall about 10 feet toward the street and about 40 feet along the foundation. The street-side edge of my property has a curb. My soil is very sandy and drains well. How should I repair the trench so that I can best grade the front yard and keep water from finding the low point of my yard and seeping into my basement?
A. You are wise to think about doing the work now. The fact that you have had no water problem so far is no guarantee that you won’t have any in the late winter or early spring, when the snow melts—and even this fall under some special weather circumstances. Once the sand gets wet and freezes, it will no longer absorb water and the possibility is strong that water collecting in the “trench” will run down the side of the walls and leak into your basement. A worse scenario is that, if your foundation wall is made of cinder blocks, the frost could cause the walls to crack.
You do not need gravel at the bottom of the trench. Have a load of good topsoil delivered and fill in the depression; from the measurements you gave me, it looks like you may need a minimum of 7 yards of topsoil. Remember to keep a clearance of 4 to 6 inches between the topsoil and any wood or other type of siding. Slope the ground gently away from the foundation for as far as possible. If there is not enough slope between your house and the street curb to allow for a smooth and gentle grade slope, carry the slope as far as possible and count on the sandy soil to absorb the water away from the foundation.
Q. We just bought a home and it has a large patch of ivy growing on the ground on the side of the house. We would like to get rid of the ivy and possibly grow grass in that area. However, I heard that it is almost impossible to completely remove ivy without it growing back.
A. Ivy is, indeed, very difficult to remove. However, it can be done. You have to dig out as much of the root system as you can with a small, curved fork tool (like a forked hoe) and your hands. Any small pieces of root left will grow back. In that case, you can spray a contact herbicide such as Pronto Fast-Acting Brush Killer or Ortho Brush-B-Gon on the new, green growth, but such products should be used sparingly. You will have to use a sprayer that will never be used for anything other than an herbicide, as any residue on the sprayer parts will kill any leafy plant.
Raising a section of a sodded lawn
Q. We have been in our house 14 years now; it was built on an old cornfield. The yard was sodded. In one small section of the yard, the soil (sod) has sunk a couple of inches, in an approximately 10-foot by 10-foot area. I would like to raise this back up to the rest of the grass. Can I just lay another layer of sod right on top of the old, existing grass? Or do I have to remove the old grass? Sod is about the right thickness to bring things back up to normal. Any information will be appreciated.
A. No, you shouldn’t lay new sod over the old. Doing so will cause the old sod to rot and develop mold that will kill the new sod. Moreover, the old sod prevents the new sod from getting nutrients from the soil itself.
You should remove the old sod with a spade by cutting it in squares that are manageable (this is known as “scarfing”) and laying the squares aside on a plastic sheet. You do not need to go deep; a couple of inches is fine, and that is why a spade is the best tool—used horizontally, its flat blade allows you to cut the roots cleanly. Renting a sod cutter is an option for a very large area, but it is hardly worthwhile for an area that’s just 10 feet by 10 feet.
Spread new topsoil in the sunken area to bring it back to the level of the adjacent sod and lay the sod squares back. Tamp the sod firmly and water it thoroughly. If you do this at this time of the year one good soaking may be enough, but if you do it next spring, water the area at least once a week if not more depending on the amount of rain you get. The main thing is to keep the soil moist until the sod has taken root, and this will take several weeks.
Q. Last spring, I had a new lawn put in. It looked lush and beautiful until about the end of summer. At that time, mushrooms began to sprout everywhere. I plucked them daily in hopes that they would not spread (I wish I could have sold them as there were so many!). I am hoping that you might know of a solution to my lawn problem. Is there a spray or application of some sort that I can apply that will kill these ugly plants?
A. Mushrooms are fungi that grow in moist soil with decaying vegetation. This means that there is some buried wood decomposing in your soil. It could be tree stumps, other parts of trees such as buried branches, construction lumber or wood chips mixed with the soil. The growth of mushrooms will stop if you remove the offending material, or when the decay process is complete. There is no need to use chemicals.
You may also want to have your soil analyzed to find out what nutrients it may need. Contact the extension service of your state university for instructions in taking soil samples to be sent to them for analysis and recommendations.
Ridding lawn of small saplings
Q. My lawn is covered with small oak saplings that grow faster than the lawn. What can I do to get rid of them? There are too many of them to think of pulling them out.
A. Can you hire a local high school student to pull them out for you? If not, keep mowing them with the lawn; they’ll eventually die.
Grass stops growing
Q. We have a problem with our yard in back (shade to sun with large Norwegian pine nearby). Where we had grass is now dirt (and mud in the winter). This problem seemed to happen this year but the grass had always been thin. We have a service do our fertilizing. I hesitate to overseed (or sod) in the spring if we have another problem to solve first or if I should bring a professional in to look and make a recommendation.
A. Call the extension service of your local university to find out how to take soil samples and where to send them for analysis. The results of this analysis will tell you what you need to do to improve the soil. You should also ask them what kind of grass seeds or ground cover to use in this area.
Underground cable installation causes weed problems
Q. The area between the curb and my sidewalk is covered with marble stone. Recently, the telephone and cable TV people installed underground cable with a machine to dig a trench. In doing so, they tore up the plastic barrier that had been put there to keep the weeds out. Now I have all kinds of weeds growing through the stones. I use Roundup; it kills the weeds, but I have to get down to pull the dead plants out. I am in my 80s and would like to avoid all this work every couple of months. Is there a weed killer that does the job permanently?
A. Ortho Season-Long Grass & Weed Killer is a ready-to-use, pre-emergent liquid herbicide that kills weeds and grass within three to five days of application, and poisons the soil within two weeks. Ortho claims that its effects last for months.
Round-up also makes Round-Up Extended Control. You should be able to find either in hardware stores or garden centers.
However, if the destroyed weed barrier was on your property and you put it there, you should contact the responsible telephone and cable companies and have them come back and re-install it. They disturbed the weed-control system that was in place, and should return it to its previous state. If the weed barrier was on city property and was installed by city employees, call the city office and see what they can do about getting it repaired; they may have more pull with the telephone and cable television companies than you do, or they may get their own crews to fix it.
Restoring lawn after installing a pool
Q. Last summer we had an in-ground swimming pool installed in our yard. My lawn was destroyed. It is now all uneven dirt and mud with deep ruts. About 5,000 square feet of lawn was affected.
Should I hire a landscape contractor to reseed and establish a new lawn or should I use sod? If I reseed, will the grass grow spotty and sparse? And if I go with sod, do I have to water it frequently for it to take hold? Thank you very much for your advice.
A. Why didn’t the people putting the pool in back-rake your backyard? It should be their responsibility. You will need to have the yard smoothed and leveled regardless of the way you choose to repair the lawn.
Seeding is a lot less expensive than sodding, but laying sod gives you an instant lawn, which is not subject to the vagaries of the weather. If you decide to seed the area, you may want to consider having a contractor spray seed and binder—a process called hydro-seeding.
Regardless of your choice, the lawn will have to be watered regularly until it is established.
Q. I would like to use oak wood for landscaping. Is this a good idea and how can I preserve the wood?
A. Why don’t you simply buy pressure-treated landscape ties? Any brush-applied treatment is of short duration and most of these products are quite expensive. Hardly worth the trouble when there is a reasonably permanent alternative.
Q. I purchased eight pieces of lava rock about five years ago. The pieces that are out in the open have developed green moss whereas the ones under the house overhang have not. We purchased them at a nursery but they didn’t know how we could clean them.
My husband wants to get rid of them but I don’t. Any suggestions?
A. The reason the uncovered rocks have developed an algae is that they are exposed to rain and absorb it. Algae develops through photosynthesis when sunlight reacts with water and carbon dioxide in the rock. You can remove it with an algaecide spray called Fountec that you can purchase from Kinetic Fountains through their Web site www.kineticfountains.com or by calling their toll-free number 877-271-1112. Wear safety glasses, spray Fountec, brush with a stiff bristle fiber brush, rinse. To retard the formation of new algae, spray Fountec again.
Artillery fungus grows in mulch
Q. We live in a townhouse development, and in the parking lot and around the grounds we have the artillery fungus. Is there any way to remove it from the cars without doing damage to the paint job? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
A. Artillery fungus grows in decaying mulch, and is expelled with great force when maturing and when the temperature and humidity are right; it is especially attracted to light surfaces. This occurs in spring and fall. I don’t believe you can remove it from cars. It is impossible to remove it from siding, so it would follow that the same applies to any other finishes. Don’t you wish they would make glue like this?
The only thing I can think to suggest is that you have new mulch put over the old early every spring, or replace the organic mulch with Rubber Mulch (see Resources). Or park your cars away from the mulched areas.
Avoid organic mulch around foundation
Q. In a recent post you said it is best not to put mulch next to foundations because it attracts bugs. What about cedar mulch? I’ve been under the impression cedar mulch deters insects and is OK to use next to the foundation.
A. Any organic mulch will hold moisture and eventually decompose. This is an ideal breeding ground for all kinds of bugs including earwigs. It is also best not to have any material that holds moisture against the foundation as it can lead to basement or crawl space water problems.
I have always recommended sloping the ground away from the foundation and planting grass as the vegetation of preference. Grass has deep roots and continually draws moisture out of the soil which is what you want. However, if you want to use a mulch, the best kind is the recently available rubber mulch made from shredded tires. It won’t hold moisture or rot, and it is not unattractive.
Protecting rose bushes from winter weather
Q. I put foam covers on my rose bushes to protect them from winter’s cold and laid stones on the four corner tabs to hold them in place. However, the wind ripped the stones off, breaking the foot pads. Is there a better way to secure them in place than piling dirt around their bases (difficult to do when the ground freezes before the covers should be put on and unsatisfactory if grass will be smothered by the dirt)?
A. Place an old auto tire around each cone.
Bricks used as tree border shed paint
Q. I painted the brick border around my trees with white Rust-Oleum last year. Now, after the winter months, half the paint has come off.
What can I use on them to insure they’ll stay white longer than a year? And how can I remove the rest of the paint? I’m afraid to use an acid wash for fear it will burn a hole in my clothes and burn my skin.
A. No oil- or water-based paint is going to stick under the set-up you have. The bricks will absorb moisture from the ground and the paint will peel.
Remove the remaining paint by dipping them in a bath of hot water and TSP-PF. Use rubber gloves and old clothes to protect skin and wear glasses for your eyes. Then paint the bricks with a cement-based paint.
Mortar cracks in stone pillars
Q. The mortar on the fieldstone pillars on each corner of my 70-year-old house appears in good shape although there are some cracks between the stones at the base. Would painting the pillars with a clear water sealer help prevent further damage?
A. You should fill the cracks with a cement slurry rubbed in by hand (wear heavy duty rubber gloves). Let it dry. If you want to coat the joints, although that should not be necessary, apply boiled linseed oil with a small brush but only to the joints. The stones need no treatment.
Q. We recently saw a spate of ads on commercial television recommending adding the product advertised to a septic system to keep it from having problems. The gist of the ad is that if you don’t add their product to your septic system, it will develop problems and have to be dug up at great expense. What is your recommendation? Is this hype or true?
A. This question comes up quite frequently and my answer has not changed. All the research I keep up with reinforces the fact that additives can actually be harmful to the proper functioning of a septic system. Some research suggests that adding bacteria can increase biological activity that stimulates the formation of methane gas. This, in turn, pushes non-digested, solid particles in the sludge into the liquid where it can be carried away into the leaching field, contributing to its eventual clogging.
Additives can also be harmful to the scum layer that builds up at the top of the effluent in the tank. This scum layer holds fats, grease and other detrimental substances that float up. Enzyme additives can cause this layer to break up and be carried into the leach field with potentially harmful effects.
There is no need, according to studies performed in various labs and universities, to add any product advertised as helping proper functioning of a septic system; all the bacteria needed for the process are contained in human feces.
But of great importance to the proper functioning of any septic system is to avoid flushing into it harmful product such as sizeable quantities of bleach, Lysol and other caustic products such as drain cleaners. Toilet cleaners and deodorizers that are installed in the toilet tank or strapped to the rim of the bowl should also be avoided even though they may claim to be safe. Also to be avoided are non-dissolving tissue, sanitary napkins, colored toilet paper and other foreign objects.
It is also essential to have a septic tank pumped out every three to five years depending on the number of occupants in the house and certain other individual considerations dependent on their own digestive systems.
I hope this will help convince those reading this that nothing need be added to a septic system for it to work properly in spite of the claims to the contrary made by manufacturers of the so-called essential enzymes.
Dry wells fail because of silting
Q. The dry well receiving the discharge from my gutters stopped working three years ago; the gutters got full of leaves as I have many large trees on my property. Roto-Rooter could not open it as it was so packed. As it has been three years, do you think that the leaves and other matters have disintegrated? Or is there a liquid I could pour that would speed up decomposition?
A. If you are saying the dry well itself is packed solid, I have bad news for you; it’s unlikely that this is due only to leaves. More than likely, the dry well has silted and that would explain why the Roto-Rooter mechanic could not open it unless there is a clog in the line that is so tight that the cutter could not dislodge it.
Dry wells have a limited life span for that very reason; they eventually fill up with silt. This is why I have not been in favor of them for years, having seen too many of them fail. In my opinion, it is best to discharge gutters on the ground onto a splashblock and have the grade sloping away so water does not linger against the foundation.
Tree roots block sewer pipe
Q. Last summer I had a sewer back-up into my downstairs toilet and bathroom. The plumber said it was due to roots from a tree on the side of the house. The tree is a beautiful red maple and I don’t want to remove it.
Is there something I can periodically flush in the downstairs toilet to discourage roots from invading the sewer pipe?
A. You certainly don’t want to cut down a beautiful tree to keep its roots from clogging your sewer but if the plumber is right you have a problem with the sewer pipe. That pipe should be cast iron or PVC and — if properly installed and not rusted through, crushed or otherwise damaged — roots should not get into it.
How old is your house? It is also possible that an old type Orangeburg pipe was used and that it is failing, as they do over time. Or your sewer line may be made of clay pipe sections, and the tree roots get inside at their joints. In any of these cases, the sewer pipe should be replaced before you have more serious problems.
I assume that your plumber has run an auger through the sewer line to unclog it and it is now free of roots. Your local hardware or home store may carry Roebic Root Killer, or RD Root Destroyer. Both products claim to kill roots to clear sewer lines.
Removing stains from apron around pool
Q. The cement apron around our pool has turned black in spots where water is apt to stand. Washing with TSP-PF hasn’t helped. How can these spots be removed?
A. A loyal Canadian reader who has had the same problem solved it after many attempts with a variety of other products by pouring liquid pool chlorine on the stains, brushing them, and then rinsing. Use a stiff, long-handled, fiber scrub brush (buy in hardware stores), wear old clothes, and be sure to protect your eyes and skin.
Rust spot on pool
Q. We have a vinyl-lined pool. Upon removing the winter cover, we discovered a metal pin, which had lodged in a crevice. We removed it but it left an ugly rust spot about 3 to 4 inches long and 5 feet deep.
All attempts at removing this stain have failed. Stain removers quickly dissolve before reaching the spot. We have even tried an SOS pad at the end of a pole. We are assuming this rust spot will eventually eat away at the liner. Could you suggest how to remove it?
A. I doubt the rust spot will eat away at the lining; the source of the rust is no longer there. You may want to check with your pool maintenance company or the installer to make sure. If it needs to be removed—or you insist on doing so—you would have to lower the level of the water in the pool to be able to reach it. Buy product such as BioGuard Stain Remover or equivalent from a company that sells and installs pools.
Removing carpeting from around pool
Q. We purchased a home with an in-ground pool that has indoor/outdoor carpeting around the pool area. The carpeting is beyond cleaning and also has moss growing in various spots. We’ve had it pressure washed several times but the moss keeps coming back.
We would eventually like to put ceramic tiles or have textured concrete poured in place of the carpet. Meanwhile, we want to rip the carpet up and remove the glue from the deck. What is the best way to tackle this phase?
A. After you have torn the carpet out, the adhesive can be removed with boiling water. Work an area of about two square feet at a time, pouring boiling water over it and, as the adhesive softens, scrape it off with a broad-blade putty knife. Be sure you use heavy rubber gloves. Dispose of the dregs environmentally in a heavy-duty plastic bag and ask your local authorities whether it can be disposed of in the trash or if it needs to be dealt with as a hazardous substance.
Retiring a pool by filling it in
Q. I hope you can help me. Now that I am living alone, I cannot maintain a 32-foot by 16-foot in-ground, vinyl-lined swimming pool, and I would like to have it filled in. I don’t want the job to be done incorrectly, so I would feel much more secure dealing with contractors if I have some background information.
Who should I call to do the job? What should I look up in the Yellow Pages? What should be done with the lining, diving board and slide? What should the pool be filled with? There is a wooden deck around the pool and a concrete section to anchor the diving board, as well as a 10-foot by 8-foot poured-concrete pad for the shed and the pump. What should be done with these? The gas has been turned off, but should anything special be done with the gas pipes in the ground? How about the electrical box in the shed in which the pump is plugged? Do you have any idea of the cost of such a project?
A. I assume you plan on staying in the house for quite a while, but you should still consider other options with the pool. You may want to consult with a local Realtor you trust to determine whether or not the existence of the pool adds a lot to the value of the house, if and when you decide to sell it.
But if you are firm in your decision to get rid of the pool, considering the several factors of the removal you are aware of, your best solution is to hire a general contractor. He or she will handle the securing of the gas line with a gas service company; the removal of the electric service with a licensed electrician; and the removal of the wooden deck, shed and concrete structures. He or she will also handle the removal or slashing of the bottom of the vinyl lining (to allow for drainage) and the filling of the pool with the appropriate local material—probably sand or bank run gravel, or excess material from an excavation job nearby (in this latter case, the material should cost you nothing).
The best way to find a reliable general contractor is to ask several neighbors and friends for the names of contractors they have used, and inquire about their experiences with these contractors; also be sure to ask for and check references. Get two or three bids and take the one you feel best about—not necessarily the lowest. Let your intuition guide you; nothing beats it.
Sorry, but I can’t give you any idea of the costs involved, as much depends on local conditions, access to the site, and disposal costs.
Controlling algae on small pond
Q. A few years ago, I had a small pond built in the back of our house to enjoy watching wildlife come to drink or play in it. We also put fish in it. The pond is fed by underground springs which were obvious before construction as the selected area was quite marshy. It has been a source of great pleasure but there is a new problem. During the hot weather, some growth is developing and getting worse every year. It causes the water to become turbid and unappealing.
Do you know what this growth is and is there anything we can do to control it?
A. The unwelcome growth is probably some form of algae. It is dormant over the winter but grows back as the water temperature rises.
There is an effective control measure that is biologically safe: barley straw—but to be effective, it must be put in place very early in the spring before the algae has a chance to grow. Once the algae has bloomed enough to affect the quality of the water, the straw is nowhere as effective.
You can buy pre-packaged barley straw packed in mesh nets that include a float and an anchoring loop. They should be placed as close to the center of the pond since your pond is spring-fed but away from the outlet. They should be just below the surface but anchored to the bottom of the pond with a nylon rope and a weight such as a brick (select one with holes) or other kind of suitable weight. If your pond has water lilies, place the barley bags under a leaf.
The way it works is through the slow decomposition of the barley which releases chemicals that interfere with the growth of algae while encouraging the growth of other desirable aquatic plants. Isn’t nature wonderful if we know how to nurture her?
You should be able to get these pre-packaged small bags of barley straw in stores selling plastic ponds, liners and pond supplies. You may also find barley straw in some garden centers. Check the Web site www.barleystraw.com for more information such as quantity needed, how it works and why. You can also call the manufacturer: Scrypton Systems Inc. The toll-free number is 800-229-5454.