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.

April 6, 2009

            Betty's had a rough winter:   I live in a two story townhome.  When it snows,  the wind blows it into the attic and then it melts through the ceiling.   How do I tackle this?

March 30, 2009

            One of my listeners has bad water:  We are on a small community water system.  It's awful.  We have mineral buildups everywhere.  I've  heard water from softeners isn't good to drink.  Should we do it anyway?

March 23, 2009

Greg wants to save money on his gas bill: What do you think of those shiny foil layers that go into the attic? Do they really save heat?

March 16, 2009

Galen is confused: I know you’ve discussed radon gas before. I hear that the testing to set the allowable levels was arbitrary and feel that maybe this is just one more scary thing that folks make money on. What do you think?

March 9, 2009

Jamie’s ready to water the lawn: I want to fire up my sprinkler system, but I’m worried about freeze-ups. When can I leave it on permanently?

March 2, 2009

My neighbor Jeff wants to know if he can use a brighter CFL in a fixture marked "60 watts max".

February 16, 2009

Dave has an older house:  I have discovered that I have a void under my basement concrete  slab.  Should I attempt to fill it?

February 2, 2009

Michelle and Tom are overdoing it:  We have a brand new home with a humidifier, and when it's 30 degrees or below, we get moisture on most window frames.  Should this be happening?

January 26, 2009

                Charlie may have a furnace problem:  You talked about lowering the thermostat by 10 degrees before bedtime, but should it take 3 to 4 hours to recover that heat in the morning?  Our A/C runs all the time in the summer, but it never gets below 80.  Are these related?

January 19, 2009

Rich wants faster hot water:  I heard you talking about a return loop for hot water.  What is that?