Question: I am a new condo owner in a 30-year-old brick building. The aluminum windows have a history of leaking. In my unit, the water is coming in at the bottom of the window, going inside the wall and wetting the floor, sometimes even pooling on the floor, but always under the windows.
I am getting tired of putting towels on the floor when it rains. The trustees say that brick buildings leak, that it's a fact of life and nature of the beast that you have to live with.Do brick buildings leak, or is it the windows? If it is the windows, how can they be made not to leak? The building is nine stories high. The windows have an aluminum sill at the outside bottom. There is caulking in various places, and it is not in the best of shape. Howard Cutler, Brookline, Mass.
Answer: Your first priority is to fire the trustees and find some who have common sense. Brick buildings do not leak, unless they are poorly built, or the mortar deteriorates enough to let water in. In 30 years, that mortar should be in good condition, again, unless it was poorly installed. To give you an idea of how a brick wall can survive, go to Rome. Scattered throughout the city are Roman walls of brick and mortar (and it's the old-fashioned lime-and-sand mortar that is not as strong as modern mortar), and those walls are intact after 2,000 years. Sure, the mortar has deteriorated some, and so have the bricks, but they are still there. Those walls are a real imprimatur for brick.
I think it's the windows, or at least the windows where they are caulked. A caulked joint is often iffy, and if the caulking deteriorates or cracks or breaks up, which it can despite some claims that it will last a lifetime, leaks occur. The design of the windows may be part of the problem, especially if that outside sill is not sloping down to act as a watershed.
Question: I have sap on my car that was parked near some trees. It's very hard to get off the hood because the heat from the engine baked it on. Bug and tar remover helped a little, but a bit of it remains as a visible bump. Will anything else do a faster, better job? Phil Kubzansky, Newton, Mass.
Answer: Try rubbing alcohol, WD-40 lubricant or Skin-So-Soft bath oil. The way to use these materials is to let them do their work of dissolving (the alcohol will do this) or softening (the oils will do this), enough to rub off the remaining sap. If you use the oil, wash the car to remove it.
Funny thing: It is sometimes illegal to use a material on something it is not designed for, but usually we can get away with it. At least, these materials will not harm the paint.
Question: My house feels very humid in the warm season and smells musty. Could this be due to the tar paper I used under the new cupboards I installed? Or is it due to much ground water around my house? My cellar is also humid. R.F., Northampton, Mass.
Answer: It's an old story, humidity, and the reason the handyman is running such an old story is that the letter writer did not include a return address. So this is the only way to answer. The tar paper under the cupboards is not to blame, nor is the ground water unless it has entered the cellar or is creating a swamp in the yard.
In warm weather, high humidity is the nature of things, and if the house and cellar are closed up, they will be damp and musty. Ventilation is the answer. In July and August, when it really gets humid, ventilation will not do much good because it's humid everywhere. Ventilation is best in drier months, say May, June, September and October. In July and August, a dehumidifier will work but is expensive to operate. Air conditioning, which dehumidifies as it cools, will also work.
Question: My front porch has six wood steps to the landing. One of the stringers (step holders) has rotted out. How can I replace that stringer and what should it sit on? I think the stringer that rotted out was sitting on the ground. Marcia Hannon, Jamaica Plain, Mass.
Answer: You can shore up the existing steps, if they too are not rotten, and pull out the bad stringer. Make a new stringer of pressure-treated wood; you can buy a pressure-treated stringer of the right size and length at a lumber store. Or, use the old stringer or the one that is not rotted as a template to cut a new stringer. Set the bottom of the stringer on a concrete block or a pad of poured concrete.