Noisy Toilet
Dear Ken: I have a couple of doors that just won’t stay put. They swing open by themselves, so we have to use a door stop. Do we have to call a carpenter? Sherry
Try this trick: Take out the middle door hinge pin—or the lower one if there are only two hinges. Lay it on the concrete floor in the garage. Then give it a smart smack in the middle with a hammer—not too hard, now, or you’ll never get it back into the hinge. This process deforms the pin a little into a microscopic curve so that there is additional friction inside the hinge. It may take two or three tries before you get the pin deformation you need to keep the door open.
Dear Ken: We moved our refrigerator to do some remodeling. Ever since, it makes a racket. What can we do? Brett
You may have jarred the compressor cooling fan. Unplug the refrigerator and move it out far enough to crawl back there and take a look. If you can, spin that little fan by hand. If it rubs, bend the blades ever so gently to clear them. Also, vacuum out the inevitable gobs of dust. Finally, have a helper plug the frig into the outlet, so you can see if the noise is gone, or, if not, at least you can pinpoint its source. If it is the compressor, you’ll need a service call by a professional.
Dear Ken: When we flush one of our toilets, we get a loud humming noise. Do you think it could be our pressure regulator downstairs? Thomas
Probably not. When the fill valve in a toilet starts to wear out, it can make all sorts of unpleasant noises. There is a little rubber disk inside most of these mechanisms that can develop a tear or a tiny hole. Water rushing through it starts to make that low vibration, humming type sound you describe.
The fix is pretty easy. Buy a new fill valve kit. And, as long as you’re in the tank messing around, you may as well buy the other major part in there: the flapper valve. They are available in a combo shrink-wrapped pack. I like the FluidMaster brand because they are extremely homeowner friendly. You can buy both for less than $15.
The other most common toilet-makes-a-noise symptom is an occasional, but persistent, “flushing” noise. It’s usually a leak through the afore-mentioned flapper. You can test it yourself by dumping a few drops of food coloring in the tank. Wait a half hour or so to confirm the diagnosis.
Dear Ken: There is no vapor barrier in my attic insulation. Yet I hear you say on the radio to put the barrier towards the living space. What do you mean? Vince
If you’re going to use batt insulation, you should put that paper face closest to the living area, so water vapor doesn’t get into the colder ceiling, where it can condense and form mold.
Typically, with blown insulation, there is no vapor barrier, so the water vapor passes right through the insulation and into the attic- and then outdoor-spaces. The absence of a vapor barrier in that case, allows humidity to travel back and forth to establish equilibrium.
Dear Ken: On windy days, the smoke comes back into the house through the front of my fireplace. Can anything be done, or just don’t build fires when it’s windy? Ron
Make sure you have enough make-up air into the room. That’s the outside air required to replace the thousands of cubic feet that roars up the chimney when those logs are burning; crack a window near the fireplace.
Also, have a chimney sweep company check the top of the outside stack. Is it high enough above the roof so that the wind can actually carry the smoke away? Does it need a cap or metal extension piece? Finally, is the chimney flue clean enough to draft properly? Though frankly, I’d bet on too little make-up air.
PS for everybody else: Whenever you use an open fireplace—whether burning wood or a gas log—open that window in the same room, even if you don’t see any smoke. Otherwise, you risk pulling fumes out of the furnace or water heater flues in order to satisfy that high air demand. And that can let carbon monoxide into the house.
If yours is a more modern gas log fireplace with a sealed glass front, you're fine. It has its own source of outside combustion air.
Dear Ken: I have a contractor finishing my basement. Now when I use the washer or microwave, the lights dim. Should I be worried? Diane
This may be unrelated to the finish work, but why not have the electrician on site check connections in the electric panel and inside the relevant plug and switch boxes? A little dimming is normal with these appliances, but if this phenomenon is an all-of-a-sudden phenomenon, you need to track it down. If the inside wiring checks out OK, contact the power company. Sometimes their connections inside the meter box overheat or otherwise misbehave.
Dear Ken: We have a pretty good-sized shed that we want to heat for the winter. Which systems do you like? Stan
If you have access to natural gas, I think you’d like a ceiling mounted heater, just as you see in commercial tire shops. Why? Because they’re up and out of the way of flammable items you’re apt to store in the shed. They also make electric versions of these same mini furnaces. In that case, you’ll have to run a 240-volt line underground into your out-building. But all other factors being equal, I’d choose the gas model because it’s cheapest to operate.
