October 5, 2009
Dear Ken: Is it too early to drain my sprinkler system? John
Actually, you should have been doing it already. The pipes won't freeze and burst until the ambient temperature gets down to about 27 degrees, but why take a chance? In addition, though the weather forecast may say, "Overnight temperatures in the low 30's", if you're in a low-lying area , you may get to the freeze-up point.
Many folks blow out their systems this time of year. However, if it's a dry winter, you should water the lawn-plus bushes and young trees-every three weeks or so. Virtually all modern sprinkler systems are piped with that black, shiny polyethylene material. It's flexible enough so that it almost never causes problems, even after the coldest winter season. The pipes you really need to protect and drain each time are the ones that stick out of the side of the house. You should be able to un-winterize, irrigate and then drain these elements with a simple twist of three or four valves. If not, a plumber can rearrange things so that you can periodically provide needed moisture to the lawn with the least hassle.
Dear Ken: We are considering the purchase of a home that apparently was remodeled without permits. What are the implications of this situation? Doyle
You have a couple of choices here. You could ask the seller to go hat-in-hand to the building department and ask for a retroactive permit. This is pretty daunting, as they may charge a penalty-maybe two or three times the regular fee-plus they may want to open up walls for inspection of hidden systems. This approach can also delay the closing for a longer period than you'd like.
Another approach is to hire a good home inspector. If you can find one who has built homes in the past, so much the better. The inspector will most likely not guarantee whether or not the work meets the current codes, but they will look for the obvious safety issues-like amateur wiring and plumbing, missing smoke detectors and compliance with emergency escape-so-called "egress"-requirements.
One final consideration is whether or not these issues will reemerge to haunt you when you sell the place. The good news is that the further you go down the owner chain away from the folks who originally did the work, the less it seems to matter. Your earl estate agent has undoubtedly seen this situation before, so ask them the same question you posed here.
Dear Ken: After the recent hail, our skylight leaked. The insurance company says there is no roof damage. Instead they say the skylight is worn out and won't pay for it. What do you think?
It may have been ready to leak all along. What do I mean? When hail piles up against the upper curb (the "box" it sits on) of the skylight, it melts very slowly and can leak on to the ceiling. This is usually a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence. But it's easy to reset and reseal the skylight to its curb. Hire a roofing company to remove it, clean up the curb and then reset it in a bed of their favorite siliconized roof sealant.
Dear Ken: My radon level is about 25. Can I simply ventilate the basement with fans to lower it?
Usually not. Radon is pretty a fairly heavy gas, so it tends to accumulate at floor levels in the basement area or in the crawl space. The fan is may lower the level some, but surely not to at or below the EPA recommend 4.0. The good news is that radon mitigation is relatively inexpensive, considering the benefits it provides. Most average-sized homes will run from about $1000 to $1500 or so. They will seal all the cracks in the floor, cover the crawl space dirt with plastic and suck air from underneath these areas with a small fan. Make sure the company provides a guarantee that the new measured radon level is close to zero.
For further info, go to the www.epa.gov Web site and download, "The Citizen's Guide to Radon".
