Subject: An Item of Highest Neglect
One of the most important areas of one's home is the roof. It is often neglected until the rainy season: then the trouble begins.
A properly maintained roof will be empty except for solar panels in good working order. Leaky, old and broken tanks not in use, glass shards, old plumbing fixtures and piles of guano are signs of neglect. Beside voiding any roofing warrantee, such items actually ruin a roof. The only way to keep a roof in order is not to permit refuse on it, especially leftover and discarded parts from solar or plumbing systems.
Any contractor permitted on the roof must be made personally responsible for removing all refuse he creates as well as to take care not to damage the roof. I have seen roofs damaged by such carelessness and the owners paying thousands to repair them again: this need not happen. One must periodically inspect the roof for leaky solar systems and inform the owners when repairs are needed, remove any guano built up and any foreign matter. Of course, all drains must be kept clear, with refuse traps installed. With this done, your roof can -- and will -- last a very long time.
Professional Painter in Jerusalem, Declan Weelan, asks the following, "Many of my clients insist I use Supercryll Paint. Unfortunately it is very difficult to work with, has a tremendous bubbling problem, and dries much too fast. Is there any additive you could recommend to make Supercryll easier to work with?"
Unfortunately, an additive is not the best way to go. Mentioning a bubbling problem and that it dries too fast may indicate that too much water is being added to the paint. If you need to dilute the paint, use Supercryll Shakoof (most hardware stores will order it for you), or use a paint conditioner such as Flowtroll.
Mrs. Isaacs asks, "One of my children drew with pencil on the wall. Is there any easy way to remove this?"
If your aspiring young artist drew on properly painted walls, one of the best removers for pencil is a soft gum pencil eraser (not the one on the end of the pencil). If the walls have been whitewashed, try using the pencil eraser to remove as much of the pencil as possible, then repaint.
Mr. Yosef writes, "Following an article of yours in the `In Jerusalem,' I bought a bottle of Get Off My Garden to help repel cats from my garden. Although it worked very well, it cost me 50 NIS and I only got two applications out of it. Before agreeing to buy it, the salesman assured me that it would not really work out so expensive, since all that is needed is to keep the cats off the lawn for a few weeks and then they never come back again. It seems to me that to achieve this I might need a few bottles, and even then I am not sure how long the results will last. Any ideas? I noticed the product is produced in Scotland, so I think maybe if I could buy it in the U.K. it might be a lot cheaper?"
Get off My Garden seems to be the best commercial product for this purpose on the market in Israel. Of course it probably will be cheaper in U.K., but when taking into consideration the airline ticket, you may be better off purchasing the product in Israel. Many have recommended spraying such cats with the garden hose and that seems to help, too.
Mr. Anonymous asks, "I was recently in the market for a pergola. One carpenter said his is the best, as he uses Tambour's Varnit stain. He said that using that there is never a need to restain the wood or apply any preservative. Is this true?"
To the best of my knowledge, using only Varnit as a stain preservative on exterior wood would keep the wood only one season before it begins to fade and the wood starts to deteriorate. The best preservative method would be to use Varnit to color the wood, then apply a quality preservative such as Ace's Wood Royal or Log Oil twice. Where these preservatives are not available, linseed oil can be used, but it will need reapplication after two years.
"We recently had our home painted and (now I believe) in error, insisted that the painter use our paint from a few years ago. There is a terrible odor in the room and the painter insists that it is from the old paint. Is there any way to remove the odor without scraping all the old paint off the walls?"
The old paint was probably rancid or moldy. The best course of action would be to have all the walls washed with trisodium phosphate as this will remove most of the odor and kill most of the mold spores inhabiting your walls. Then a quality undercoat and topcoat of anti-mold paint must be applied, or all the walls will turn moldy in time. Sometimes trying to save a few agorot on paint causes one to loose hundreds of dollars in the long run.
Today's Do It Yourself Hint: For really tough clothing stains, make a paste out of water and baking soda then apply to the stain. It is amazing how many "permanent" stains this home made mixture removes. (Please send in your hints as I am running out!)
Yosef Krinsky, a third generation craftsman, is the CEO of Walls R Us -- House Painting, Inc., Jerusalem Division. He can be reached at (02) 585-9559; common mail POB 27355, Jerusalem; email at wallsrus@hotmail.com; and very soon at his new World Wide Web Site, walls-r-us.com. Homeowners (renters, too) are invited to email their questions for a somewhat quick replay. He will publish names of individuals who ask for advice unless they explicitly request to remain anonymous. The Whale he painted in New York is still there.
