Feb 28, 2015 4 min read

Q. I believe you’ve stated that the best ventilation for an attic is a ridge vent and long, continuous soffit vents. My question is what happens when the ridge vent is under 3-4 feet of snow. Should I keep the gable vents?

A. When a vent is blocked, by snow or anything else, it stops working. I’m surprised you did not report ice dams and leaks into the attic or house. The soffit vents may be enough to prevent ice dams, but it’s a good idea to free the ridge vent of its snow burden. But not you. Lay off the roof; it is too dangerous. Hire a roofer or professional who does this sort of thing as his vocation.

Q. Several months ago I recaulked my bathroom tile shower, the corners where the tile wall meets the tile floor. I carefully removed the old caulk, let the shower dry a couple of days, and slowly applied the new caulk. For most of the shower, it looks great. But in one corner, it curled and came away from the surface. I again removed the caulk in this area, dried the shower thoroughly and replaced the caulk. Again it has curled and come away from the wall. What’s the problem and how I can fix it?

A. Problem? First, there seems to be no depth to the joint (maybe because the tiles are too close together), so any caulk is being applied to a flat surface. Second, the wrong caulk was used. Use instead grout, a white cement-like material that will get into any cracks that are available. Use sandless grout. If you really want to use caulk, do it this way: Put your caulk cartridge in a caulking gun, with a good spout, then push the caulk into the joint, then smooth it out with a wet finger, making a small concave cove.

Q. My kitchen ceiling is peeling just above the stove, probably from steam from pots. How can I repair it? It looks like parallel wavelets.

A. I don’t think it’s calcimine, which must be removed entirely or painted with a paint called CalCoat. I think the steam from cooking did it. To fix, sand all the loose, wavelet type peelings, right to the bare plaster, then apply two thin coats of a latex ceiling paint. To prevent a recurrence, I suggest you install a stove hood vent, exhausting outdoors to clear out all that steam.

Q. I had a new gas-fired water heater installed about a month ago and every time I turn the hot water on everywhere in my house I have air in the pipes. Do you know how I can fix this?

A. I am guessing that you are getting hot water eventually; no one should go without hot water for a month. I’d say you should call the installer to make sure you get hot water with each turn-on, with no air.

Q. I have water pipes to an upstairs bathroom that run along the outside wall of my house, built in 1920, and I’ve had some trouble with them trying to freeze on me. It is not helping that the steam radiator that is in the bathroom never gets hot. I resort to putting a space heater in there, but only run it when at home. The radiator in question is unlike any other in the house, built into the wall and less than 2 feet tall, and there are no knobs. It has some vents parallel to the floor and an opening at the bottom where another parallel pipe can be seen, which also doesn’t get warm. Any suggestions on how to fix it or who to contact to get it running?

A. Keeping the bathroom cabinet open to house air may help some. First, those water pipes in the wall may be uninsulated, so you will have to take plaster or plasterboard off the wall, so you can insulate the pipes and the wall itself. The steam radiator, shallow and indented in the wall, is typical of steam radiators in uninsulated walls of the 1920s. What you might be able to do is replace it with a small radiator that stands on the floor. Then insulate the space vacated by the old radiator.