Evening star., 1940-05-11
First Aid
For the
AHing House
BY ROGER b. WHITMAN.

ny nOuGN 4 10<AXVs
9. My kitchen walls and ceilings
are finished with tongue-and-groove
beading. The seams are separated.
What can / cover or seal them with?
Two cracked plaster ceilings were
covered with thin wallboard, with
the joints stripped. Can put in
sulating board over them, nailed
through to the laths and beams? Or
must the wallboard and plaster first
be removed?
A. Seams between the boards of
the walls and ceiling will open and
close in changes from damp to dry
weather. No filler will Withstand
the swelling and shrinking of the
wood. One remedy would be to
cover the boards with felt nailed ON
with tacks, spaced six inches apart
in all directions, and then hung with
canvas pasted on, to be painted or
papered. Insulating boards can be
put on your other ceilings after re-
moving the strips, using nails long
enough to 60 through wallboard and
plaster and into the woodwork be-
hind.
Rafting Windows.
@. What can be done to keep
windows from rafting, besides
stufhng the cracks?
A. The best and most permanent
cure is to put on metal weather.
strips, which will give other advan-
tages as well. Another method for
the lower sash is to take off the
strips of molding that form the
front edges of the grooves in which
the sashes slide, and to replace them
to make snugger fit. At any hard
ware store and at a five-and-ten you
can get rubber wedges made to stop
rattling.
Unpleasant Odor.
@. There is an odor in our bed
room at all times, especially when
windows and door are closed. 1t Is
not an odor of something dead. It
has been in the room since it was
painted four months ago. When the
paint was mixed, my wife noticed
an obnoxious odor, but the owner
OF the house insists that it cannot be
the paint. What would be your
guess?
A. If the paint was of a kind
mixed with cold water, and contain
ing casein, it is probably responsible.
Poor qualities of casein paint often
have most Objectionable odor, al
though in the best qualities this has
been entirely overcome. Inquire into
the kind of paint that was used;
this may be the answer.
Papered Cellar Walls.
Q. I would like to paper my cellar
walls, which are plaster and in
cIned to be damp. How could the
paper be made to stay on?
A. With damp walls the question
is not only of making the paper stay
on, but of its becoming stained. I
do not advise attempting it.
Spotted Floor.
@. Our year-old hardwood floors
were originally in beautiful condi-
tion with what I suspect was a shell
lac finish. Although we have used
liquid floor wax, they show every
water drop as white spot and also
scrape up badly. How can this be
prevented?
A. White spots from water are
characteristic of shellac. One rem
edy would be to wipe the floor with
denatured alcohol, which will take
up the wax and erase the white
spots. You should then put on one
or two coats OF top quality floor var
nish, for which the shellac will be a
good first coat.
Brass Clock.
Q. I have a brass clock with
chimes that has been in the family
for about so years. It hasn't run
steady for a long time. I would like
to have it made into an electric
clock. Would you please tell me
who could do the work and whether
or not it would lower the value of
the clock to alter it in this way?
A. The clock can be electrified,
but all Of the present works in the
clock will have to be removed. You
will find names of firms who do this
kind of work listed in the classified
telephone directory. Putting mod
ern mechanism in the old clock will
depreciate the value.
Kitchen Floor.
Q. plan to have a floor laid in
the kitchen of a summer cabin, and
would like to know what type of
wood would be best and how I
should finish it.
A. Oak or edge grain yellow pine
can be used, and could be finished
either with two coats of quick-dry-
ing varnish or a penetrating wax
finish made for this particular pur-
pose.
Cellar Store Closet.
g. have a large store closet In
my cellar. How can I remove damp
ness from it so that clothes can
safely be stored out of season?
A. It is not advisable to use Gel