November 24, 2008

Karen's garage door is being difficult:  In the winter, I have to hold the button until it goes down.  Not in warm weather.  What's happening here?

Your faithful friend needs a "tune up".   Apparently, the side tracks are no longer parallel, or the rollers themselves are pinching.   It's more apparent in cold weather because steel things tend to shrink and so put other moving parts in a bind.

Every two years or so, you should invite a reliable garage door company over to adjust and tweak everything on and around the door.  They will tighten all the bolts and lag screws on its surface, lubricate it, balance the springs and adjust the tracks and rollers.  They will also do a reversing test to make sure the system is safe.

The garage door is not a DIY item.  The springs and cables are under incredible tension and so can injure you without warning.  The only thing I do to mine is to spray some Teflon-based lubricant (WD-40 is OK, too) on the rollers and tracks occasionally.

Carol has big windows:  They are in a sunroom which gets quite hot, and we want to know what you think of window film?  Does  it last?  Is it good for privacy?

It's mostly good for saving energy.   It can help reflect heat inside in the winter time--saving heating dollars-- and back out in the summer-lowering your air conditioning costs.  You can apply it yourself if you have a little help and a lot of patience.  Buy the 90+ material at the home center or hardware store.  You apply it just like they do for an automobile:  cut it to approximate width, apply a soapy film to the window, remove the backing to expose the sticky part (this is where you'll need another pair of hands), slide it into place and, finally, squeegee out the water.

There are some privacy benefits with this stuff, but they aren't 100%.  Although the reflected sunlight keeps folks from seeing in the daytime, at night, when you are backlit with interior lighting, you will be seen.

It is long-lasting, up to a point.  Since this is mostly installed on the south and west facing windows, it eventually breaks down.  One other thing:  most window manufacturers won't honor their warranty on  newer windows after you install the film.  So, if that's your situation,  check with the window company first.

Mary has a concrete issue:  The previous owners put a skim coat layer on our patio, and it is now coming off in chunks.  We would like something new on the patio.  Any ideas?  Do we need a jackhammer?  I hope not.

When this material starts to slough off, it's fairly easy to complete the job.  I'll bet a few well-placed blows with a small sledge hammer would finish it off.  There are lots of choices for your patio.  You could use natural flagstone, glued on with an appropriate mastic (avoid tile, since it is so slippery).  How about using brick or manmade pavers?   They can be installed without any glue or mortar and bedded with fine sand.  It's really a great scheme in our climate, because they are free to move and shift in response to temperature and other stresses.

L.L. has pesky birds around the house:  How can I cover up woodpecker damage on my 5 year old cedar siding.  I'm trying to sell it and some of the siding looks terrible.

You can buy some of the same siding and use it to create "plugs" to hide the damage.  Using a hole saw in an electric drill, cut the birds' holes out and substitute a plug of the same size cut out of the new wood.  Use a little wood glue ( the brown stuff) to keep it in place.  Once you apply a dab or two of stain to match the rest of the house, you'll have created a virtually invisible patch.

Do the best you can , but keep in mind that rough cedar siding is a natural, rustic-looking material , so a buyer wouldn't  expect it to be blemish-free, as if it were, say, furniture.