Show T AM to the AILIN BUS 1 J by roger C whitman QUESTION the walls of our new home are all pastel colored rough finished plaster now five 0 clock shadow is beginning to show around our high wall reg aisters our oil furnace has filters for the blower but nevertheless the soot on two walls looks black how can I 1 remove this grime and prevent a recurrence ANSWER to clean the walls first remove as much loose dirt as you can by light brushing and follow by cleaning with a wall paper cleaner the filters ably are loaded down with dust and may need cleaning if they are of the cleanable variety if not they may need to be replaced QUESTION the linol linoleum eurn in our kitchen has risen up in a certain spot it is inlaid linoleum over a felt base over plywood do you think if we bored a small hole in the linoleum and poured some kind of cement in it would hold what kind of cement would you becom mend for this job ANSWER try this method for flattening the bulge cut a slit in the bulge following a line of the pattern so that it will not show then press linoleum cement under bac each h side of the slit working it well underneath with a spatula or some similar tool wipe off sur face smears promptly if you can not get linoleum cement use roof ing cement smears of roofing cement should be promptly wiped off with turpentine then place weights on top until the cement has dried hard QUESTION we bought an elder ly house which smells smoky on wet days in winter the smoke odor is more noticeable we have a gas burner in a steam furnace Is the cause of the odor a dirty chimney if so would soot remover do any good ANSWER the chimney most probably needs a thorough clean ing A soot removing preparation might help to remove some of the odor in the lower part of the chimney try it and see if it destroys the smell if not you had better call in a professional chimney cleaner to give the chimney a thor ough cleaning he will know how to do the work it is an extremely dirty job that I 1 do not think you could handle yourself if there is a fireplace in the house the smoky odor may come from there was there ever a fire in the house QUESTION my walls are covered with a very poor quality of wallboard which bulges here and there it is covered with paper but now shows a few cracks which developed after the furnace was started what is the best thing to do with the walls the expense is an item have to have someone do all the work ANSWER for a good job it would be better to take off the board and replace it with one of better quality properly put up according to the manufacturer manufacturers s in or else nail up new boards over the old ones in the meantime you might consider nailing down the bulges as well as you can and then covering the joints with strips of decorative wood such as half round |