Home Improvement : Saddle on Chimney Can Stop Leaks
QUESTION: We would certainly appreciate your suggestions to correct a persistent leak in our roof by the chimney. This leak is causing water damage to the ceiling near the fireplace in our living room.
My husband’s efforts to tar the edges between the roof and chimney help for a while but don’t correct the problem. We replaced the roof but that made no difference. Will a “saddle” from the roof to the chimney help? Our chimney is four feet wide.
ANSWER: A cricket (also called a saddle) should solve the problem. Whenever the width of a chimney located along the slope of a roof is more than two feet, a cricket should join the roof and chimney. The cricket prevents debris from piling up behind the chimney. This can cause rain to back up under the shingles and leak into the house. The cricket also deflects water running down the roof around the chimney.
Tips on How to Lay Your Own Carpeting
Q: We are considering laying our own carpeting and would appreciate any suggestions you might have on working the stiff material into corners and around stair steps.
A: Modern carpeting is of man-made fiber held together by a latex or foam backing (Kanga-back.) The carpet is very stiff and hard to handle, but here are a few tips to help you add flexibility to the carpet so it will fit easily into odd shapes and around stair steps.
If at all possible, lay the carpet flat and unrolled, to let it “relax” and lose any wrinkles that resulted from rolling. If you have a large paved area, such as a driveway or patio, unroll the carpet outdoors, so the sun can warm and soften the backing. This will make the carpet more flexible.
If you are working in cold or wet weather, unroll the carpet in a basement or garage and let it lie loose for a day or two to lose its wrinkles.
If you still have trouble fitting the carpet around stairsteps, apply moisture to the latex backing. Using heat from a hair dryer or heat gun will help make the carpeting as flexible as ordinary fabric, and you’ll be able to shape it easily.
Flame Spread Ratings and What They Mean
Q: Can you tell me what “Flame Spread 200 or less” means? I saw it on a label on the back of a 4-by-8-foot plywood panel that had a decorative finish.
A: Flame spread is the propagation of a flame over a surface. The flame-spread rating classifies the fire-hazard potential of different building materials. It is based on tests performed by independent labs using procedures developed by Underwriters Laboratories.
Inorganic materials and untreated red oak provide the range against which flame-spread ratings are made. Inorganic materials, which include concrete, cement-asbestos board and metal, have a flame spread of 0. Untreated red oak has a flame spread of 100.
Building codes require that materials with a low flame-spread rating (0 to 25) be used in fire escape routes, as in stairways and exits. Where passageways and corridors are not part of an enclosed exit, the flame-spread rating of the material should not exceed 75.
Materials used for interior walls and ceilings generally have a flame-spread classification of 200 or less. This includes most untreated plywood or paneling.
For further information on any home problem, write to Popular Mechanics, Readers Service Bureau, 224 W. 57th St., New York, N.Y. 10019.
