Weekly Columns

Both current and archived weekly newspaper columns. The date of the column and a teaser of the column appears below. Click on the date to see the entire column.

August 31, 2009

            Dear Ken:  I have a 60 year old toilet that I don't want to replace.  But I can't get the flapper valve to quit leaking.  Can you help me?                                         Dan

August 24, 2009

            Dear Ken:  I can't find the end of one of my long flex downspout pipes.  What can I do?

August 17, 2009

            Dear Ken:   Is there any real value in purchasing a hot water heater blanket?  The outside of the water heater always feels cool to me.                                    Doris

August 10, 2009

 

            Dear Ken:  Our water heater is in the basement.  We have to wait a full minute to get hot water to the bathroom.  How can we speed up this process?               Brad

August 3, 2009

Dear Ken: Would there be much cooling difference between an attic fan and a whole house fan? Also, what about energy rebates? Bill

July 27, 2009

Dear Ken: I have a refrigerator in the garage for extras. It doesn't behave well, now that it is so hot. Any ideas how to make it more efficient? Barbara

July 20, 2009

            Dear Ken:  You recommended a certain type of carbon monoxide detector on your show a couple of weeks ago.  Which one was that?

July 13, 2009

            Fred's pit is empty:  The builder put in a sump pump pit in the basement, but there isn't a pump inside.  Do you think I need one?  It's about a third full now.

July 6, 2009

            Jim is skeptical about whole house fans:  There are some sites on the Web that discourage hall fans because they don't work and can be dangerous.  Can you give me your side?

June 22, 2009

            Dear Readers:  How hot is your attic?  We're coming into a time of year when it might be nice to know.   Excess attic heat can slowly leak through the bedroom ceiling after hot summer afternoons-and that's what keeps you tossing and turning all night.   Newer homes usually don't have enough fresh air flow through the their attic interiors.   Builders are often blamed when winter winds blow snow in through the vents, so they supply the bare minimum of vented openings-and they have a...