Evening star., 1941-07-12
First Aid
For the
AHing House
By ROGER b. WHITMAN.

by ROGER b. WHITMAN.
One of my correspondents writes
Of having a sun porch opening from
his living room through two large
French windows, and wants to know
If he could take them out and re-
place them with single broad
arch. His idea is to inclose the
porch and to make it part of his
living room. This would be en-
tirely practical, provided-and that
provided" Should be underScored-
sufficient support is put in for the
wall above the arch to take the
place of the support that is now
given by the window frames. A
support can be in the form of
girder forming the top of the arch.
The size and strength of this
girder should depend on the weight
that will be placed on it; the
weight of the wall, and possibly
also of the floor above. The change
should not be made without the
advice of a competent builder, who
can estimate the sizes of the new
support. of the girder and of the
end posts that hold it up.
Gilt Finish.
Question: have a gilded table
and picture frames to which I
should like to give a finish that
would be slightly darker and that
would make the carvings and
holdings stand out. What could
I do?
AnSwer-Use a glaze tinted with
brown; you can get it at a large
paint store or can make it by thin
ming varnish with one-fourth as
much turpentine and tinting with
color -in-oil. Brush it on literally,
and while it is still wet, wipe off
with dry cheese cloth. This will
leave slight tone on the fiat sur
faces and deeper tones in the mold
ings and carvings.
Lin0leum Table Top.
Question: should like to cover
the top of my maple kitchen table
with linoleum, for I think 1t would
be more practical. How should
I go about it?
AnsWer-You can use any good
grade of inlaid linoleum, to be had
from a linoleum dealer. BY far
your best move will be to have the
job done by dealer, who will use
the right kind of paste and can
protect the edges of the linoleum
with the necessary metal bindings.
Removing Paint.
QueStlon-Paint on the floor of
a porch has cracked and caked in
spots. We have tried paint remover
and scraping and planning, with poor
results. How can we get it off?
AnsWer-When paint resists all
those efforts to remove it, I should
let 1t remain. 1t should be enough
to make the surface smooth by
sandpapering; new paint can go on
top.
Heating a Basement.
QueStlon-1n two basement rooms
of a fat building heated by steam.
pipes and coils along the ceiling
do not keep the place warm. What
kind of a radiator could I put in at
floor level? Or how else could the
rooms be heated?
Answer-You can use the same
principle that is applied in heating
garages and other large open spaces.
In your rooms the heated air collects
along the ceiling and needs only to
be distributed to the other parts
of the rooms. You can do this with
a small electric fan at one end of
the coils, blowing along the ceiling.
This will put the air into circulation
and bring the heated air down to
the floor and through the rooms.
Attic Insulation.
Question-In insulating the attic
space between our ceiling and the
fiat roof. would it be satisfactory
to nail insulating sheets to the tops
of the ceiling beams? This would
be less expensive than having the
spaces between the beams blown
with rock wool.
AnSWer-That idea would not be