Question: The glass top of my dining table is 60 inches in diameter and sits on suction cups attached to a bamboo frame. The suction cups are worn and won't hold. I bought some new ones but they are too small and also will not hold. What can I use to keep that big glass on an even keel and safe? — Barbara Hanlon, Sudbury, Mass.
Answer: I looked in my catalogs — without success. You would think someone would sell big old suction cups for various purposes, but not to my knowledge, or that I could discover. So, you have to play it by ear, and I suggest this: Take off the suction cups, if they are still there, and put a neat, medium-size dab of adhesive caulk on each upright support on the frame. Then press the glass in place. You may have sort of a blob of adhesive that you can see, but that stuff holds like crazy. Adhesive caulk is sold in caulking cartridges or tubes at hardware and building stores. Two good brands are PhenoSeal and PolySeamSeal. The handyman, who has glued tile with the stuff, can attest to how strong it is.
Or, maybe a piece of soft, flat rubber secured to the posts will hold the glass.
Another way to fasten is to drill holes, if the glass is not tempered, and screw the glass top onto the framework with solid brass screws. You can buy special bits for drilling into glass, but I have to repeat: Do not try this on tempered glass; it will explode if tampered with. Or, have a glass company drill the holes for you. And, caveat emptor: There is always a chance of breaking the glass while drilling holes.
The saga of smelly houses from downdrafts in chimneys continues. The problem is that some houses have downdrafts in their chimneys, even with the damper tightly closed, and those downdrafts bring in the repulsive odor of burnt wood, creosote and other wondrous things. One solution is to close off the firebox opening, very tightly.
Bill Cassidy of Chelmsford, Mass., has a better idea and called to tell us about it: "My problem was aggravated by a whole-house fan, which drew in some pretty powerful odors when I turned it on. My fireplace damper is the kind you push to open and pull to close and is pretty tight but not tight enough.
"I took a piece of plastic, opened the flue damper, put the plastic up across the opening, and then closed the damper onto the plastic, creating a seal. It worked great.
"One word of caution: Tell your wife what you have done because mine was seconds away from starting a fire without taking out the plastic one chilly day last fall. That would have been a real smoky mess."
Good point, Bill, and thanks for the tip.
Question: My wood front door is 60 years old and has tiny cracks, big enough to see daylight through. How can I fill them, and how can I paint the door to fill the cracks? — Joy Gentle, Arlington, Mass.
Answer: Paint is unlikely to fill even tiny cracks; if you tried it, the wood would expand and contract and the cracks would open again. So, try this: Apply a bead of caulk to the cracks, then press the caulk in with your fingers. Scrape off excess and wipe smooth with a wet sponge, or wait a few days and sand smooth. Do this on both sides of the door. The caulking should be flexible enough to be pressed into small cracks; no other material will do. The caulk will expand and contract with the movement of the wood, so the cracks are less likely to open again.
To paint, sand heavily, wash with a strong detergent, and rinse. Apply a latex exterior primer and finish off with two coats of a latex trim or housepaint. And remember: thin coats. Exterior oil-based primer used to be the state of the art primer to go with a latex finish paint, but the new latex primers are close to the quality of the
oil primers. It's funny; sometimes in the maintenance of your house you will do a remarkable paint job (or other project) that lasts far beyond its expected life. You must have done something right, you say, but no doubt you have forgotten what you used. It matters not; if you remember what you used and try to use it again, chances are it is not sold anymore, or its formula has been changed, or it has been banned because it was toxic.
The handyman's front door is like that. It has lasted close to 20 years and has not faded or peeled. It is alligatoring a bit but not so much that it has to be redone immediately. I remember using an oil-based primer and a latex trim paint. Brand? Haven't the faintest clue.