Q. My bathroom window has a metal frame and sweats all the time.
The water drips down on the plaster sill and I’m afraid the plaster will rot soon.
The window is fixed, and I have an exhaust fan that I use during showers.
How can I prevent the water from rotting the plaster?
– Arlene Thomas, Slidell, La.
A. Get the exhaust fan going before, during, and at least half an hour after each shower. You have to exhaust all that moist air to dry out the window. You can put a wood sill over the plaster and paint it with an oil primer and oil paint.
Another possibility is to screw an acrylic or Plexiglas sheet over the opening, as a storm window. This will prevent all that sweating on the window and frame.
Q. When I moved into a new apartment, I cleaned like crazy, but I also scratched the toilet bowl under the water. How can I get rid of those scratches? How can I hang a big, heavy mirror on a brick wall?
– Maxine, Bristol, R.I.
A. Keep cleaning the bowl with toilet bowl cleaner. The cleaner the scratch, the less it will be noticed. Eventually it might disappear entirely, but there’s nothing you can do to reduce it, especially since it is under water.
As for the mirror, make sure it has a hanging wire or chain at the back.
Then drill a hole in the mortar between the brick, using an ordinary drill bit or a masonry bit in your power drill. Insert a molly bolt, and use the bolt, not driven home, to hang the wire on. Two bolts are needed for a heavy or large mirror. If the mortar is crumbly and can’t hold a bolt, drill the hole in the brick itself. A masonry bit can drill a hole in old brick quickly.
Q. Last year, the television told me to open my water taps so they will drip a little, to prevent freezing. It seemed to me that this cost a lot of money. How cold does it have to get to do this?
A. Be wary of what you hear on TV. For starters, to prevent freezing, the water should flow, not just drip, costing even more in wasted water. It’s a drastic thing to do, and the temp should be under 10 or 15 degrees for several straight days to be a problem.
If you have never had frozen pipes, then there is no need to do anything. If you are concerned, insulate all exposed pipes, mostly in the basement, with foam insulation tubes, and be sure to seal all seams, vertical and horizontal, with duct tape. If you did have frozen pipes in the past, you can hang a trouble light on one of the pipes in the basement, to provide just enough heat to be of some help; it helped me.
Q. During a remodeling project in our Florida vacation house, some 6-inch-square ceramic floor tiles were scratched. How can I replace them? I think they were installed with thin-set mortar.
– Gladys Tokeson, Gadston, Ala.
A. If the tiles are only scratched, and you can ignore the spoiled part, you might be able to fix the scratches with Creeping Crack Cure, in the Improvements Catalog (800-642-2112). If the tiles are in thin-set, you’ll have to break them up and chip them out with a chisel, then put in a new one and add grout. Instead of thin-set, you can use tile adhesive.
If the tile is set with tile adhesive, it might be easier to remove: Chip out the grout and then try to pry up the tile with a chisel. The adhesive holds well but will release with pressure from a prying chisel. Adding heat will help, too.
Q. Last summer, the caterpillars were all over my vinyl siding and their droppings left their mark. I used a stiff brush with warm water and a detergent, and got most of it off, but stubborn ones still remain.
I used my thumbnail, but it’s a tough fight. Any ideas?
– Patrick, by e-mail
A. Keep up with the strong detergent solution, but leave it on for up to 5 minutes, so it can do its work of dissolving the drops. Then scrub with a plastic pot scrubber. Steel wool or any hard scrubber will tend to burnish the siding.
