The mistake is an improperly installed roof

Q. Based on your advice, my neighbors covered up their gable vents when their new roof was installed with ridge vents. I was about to do the same thing when a friend advised me to ensure that my ridge vent was installed properly with the plywood roof sheathing removed two inches from the ridge on both sides to allow air to escape from the attic. I found that there was no plywood removed when the ridge vent was installed. There was no path for the air to escape from the ridge vents effectively, rendering them useless. My neighbor and I both had the same original builder and the same replacement roofer install the ridge vents, so I suspect that my neighbor made a huge mistake in following your advice. I do not recall you advising inspection of the roof vent before taking steps to seal the existing gable vents. I think you blew it. A. You were about to get your roof done and you were advised by a friend to make sure that a vent slot is cut at the ridge, and now you complain that no such slot was cut, and you didn't catch it in time? Who is to blame? The problem is that both you and your neighbor had work done by incompetent people. Any contractor or roofer worth his/her salt knows that you have to cut an inch off the sheathing from each side of the ridge for a soffit/ridge-vent combination to work. They probably also put the wrong type of ridge vent on. You should have followed my oft-repeated advice to ask for and check references before you have any work done. The cheapest price, if that is what you sought, is very often a mistake. You have a claim against the contractor and the roofer. Have them come back, remove the ridge vent, cut the slots and replace the ridge vent. If they won't, threaten them with a small-claims court suit. There is no reason for me to mention every step of a process that competent mechanics already know. If a doctor tells you to drink a lot of water, do you expect him or her to tell you to get a glass out of a kitchen cabinet, make sure that it is clean, and fill it with water? That's as ludicrous as it is for me to tell a homeowner to make sure that he tells the contractor not to forget to cut the vent slots before installing a ridge vent. This column is not about educating contractors how to do the job they're paid to know.I have my sump pump draining out under my deck onto my lawn. Although the water drains well away from the house and there is a slight slope away from the house, it obviously keeps the surrounding lawn wet. I would like to somehow drain this water underground if possible. Any suggestions? A. To be able to drain the water underground satisfactorily, your lawn needs to slope away steeply enough to be able to bury a pipe and have it daylight where you want it to discharge safely. Because your sump pump keeps your lawn wet, I assume that it comes on quite often, otherwise the lawn would dry up between discharges. This makes it unwise for me to recommend a drywell, which is likely to fill up faster than the soil can absorb the water, back up and cause more problems. You may want to consider tying the discharge hose into a horizontal perforated pipe set at the outer edge of the deck so that the water is spread over a wide area of your lawn.I read your answer to the couple who bought their first house. If you watched "Holmes on Homes," you would not have told them to drywall over the existing plaster. Who knows how much mold is behind the plaster? It may be a mess to remove it, but you can insulate and clean up any mold that is there. Also, 3/8-inch-thick drywall doesn't have the indentation for seaming the joints, and every seam would stand out.A. Regarding my answer to the question from these new homeowners, once they have solved the moisture problem, as they plan to do, the mold, if any has developed, will die, as mold needs to be fed with moisture to survive. They mention that they are house-poor, so I should tell them to spend a fortune tearing down the plaster and disposing of it? That does not make any sense at all. And, if you are familiar with old brick houses, you must know that there is no space for adding insulation in the walls - the plaster is applied directly to the interior surface of the bricks, which is why the plaster suffers from any moisture coming through the bricks by capillary attraction. Under the circumstances, adding insulation over the plaster and covering it with gyp board, as I suggested, is the best and least expensive solution. Please visit a lumberyard and check out 3/8-inch gyp board. You will find that all gyp board of any thickness has tapered long edges for taping compound.We have a recurring problem that I am hoping you can help us solve. The tape in the two ceiling joints of our family room keeps separating and breaking away from the ceiling. The room addition is 9 years old, and we have had to have it retaped five times in the last nine years. The latest taping was in May 2009, and it has broken away. We have had no "settling cracks," only the tape problem. It appears that the tape doesn't stick. We have used three different drywall companies to help solve the problem; the last one added additional screws close to the joint to the drywall, but to no avail. There are no leaks in the roof or other damage. Do you know of any product or other solution, short of applying wood trim? A. Looking at your photos, I am concerned that you have a more serious problem than peeling drywall tape, which is likely to be the result of condensation in the cathedral ceiling. It is a beautiful room, and I assume that there is fiberglass insulation between the rafters of the sloping ceiling. Is there continuous soffit and ridge ventilation, with protected airways assuring adequate air circulation between the soffits and the ridge? Without it, condensation may have formed over the years with no way to be vented out. Even if the ceiling fan is the only cut in the drywall, a lot of moisture may have convected into the small, flat attic above the fan through this cut, especially since it is at the highest point where the vapor drive is strongest. The best and least destructive way to find out if this is the case is to have someone investigate with an infrared camera and an electronic thermometer that measures the temperature throughout the entire ceiling. This will record weaknesses in the system. I hope that I am mistaken, as the fix will be very expensive, entailing the removal of the roof and any wet insulation, securing proper ventilation and rebuilding the roof, or removing the drywall, etc. If it is not possible to provide ventilation successfully, the other option is to remove the fiberglass and replace it with closed-cell urethane spray foam.I read your column regularly and I know you have had many articles on windows and replacements. Unfortunately, the recommendation for Marvin or Anderson is out of our price range. We have been looking at the MI 1450 series and the Superseal. Do you have any comments about either of them?A. I know nothing about either of the windows you mention and haven't been able to find anything about them on the Internet. In my own experience, I have found Marvin windows to be very competitive with quality vinyl windows. Andersen 400 Series are more expensive, and their 200 Series, though considerably less expensive, is not the same quality product. Replacement windows come in all ranges in quality and price. If you want energy-efficient and quality windows, you may have to consider windows that are more expensive than you can afford. Keep in mind that some of the better windows qualify for tax credits, which may bring them more in line with your price range. Over time, quality windows pay for themselves in energy savings.My exterminating company is suggesting a product called Leaf Defier Gutter Protection System that acts as a biocide and fungicide and UV stabilizer. It has 25-year, no-clog warranty. Their website is leafdefier.com. Do you know anything about this product?A. Is your exterminator a dealer for Leaf Defier? Their website is interesting, but so are all websites that are designed to sell products. They quote an independent laboratory test, but do not mention the name of the lab. They also show figures of the strength and integrity of their product compared to three others after 1,000, 2,200 and 4,500 hours of testing, but there seems to be a discrepancy in the numbers: Leaf Defier appears to get stronger at 2,200 hours than it was at 1,000? Then it declines rapidly at 4,500 hours. A 25-year, no-clog warranty is as good as the company that gives it. Keep in mind they may go out of business, get sold and have new management. As always: caveat emptor. Being thoroughly biased and jaded by all the claims floating around, I prefer to rely on a commercial gutter and downspout system that has stood the test of time. I have been using it since the 1950s without a single failure. I have also tried several gutter guards and have been disappointed by every one of them - a lot of money spent on "education."I have a wall in my home that is Z-BRICK. Do you know if I am able to buy Z-BRICK or the grout anywhere? I really only need the grout, as some of the bricks are loose and I need to refasten them on the wall. A. Z-BRICKS and grout are carried by some Ace and True Value Hardware stores, Do it Best, Sutherlands Lumber Home Improvement centers, Menards and Lowe's.I spilled almost a gallon of milk on the cloth back seat and floor of my car and can't get the smell out. I had the car detailed, but the dealer could not guarantee that the smell would come out. He recommended I take it to another car spa and have an ionizer put in for about an hour to pull out the smell, but I can still smell it. After spending almost $175, I haven't resolved the problem. Do you have any suggestions? A. Try spraying Magic-Zymes on the affected areas. You can buy Magic-Zymes by calling their toll-free number: (866) 478-2368 or through their website, magic-zymes.com. bull; Henri de Marne was a remodeling contractor in Washington, D.C., for many years, and is now a consultant. Write to him in care of the Daily Herald, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006, or via e-mail at henridemarne@gmavt.net.#169; 2009, United Feature Syndicate Inc.