INSIDE & OUT : Adjustment Can Give a Waterlogged Garage Door a Lift

Q. After the recent rains, I found that my garage door opener would strain, but it couldn’t pull the door up. I understand that this is probably caused by the door getting soaked and becoming too heavy for the opener to work. Is there some kind of adjustment I can make to the opener?

J.S., Costa Mesa

A. Many common types of openers can easily be adjusted to handle a door that’s been waterlogged, says Charlie Walstead of Orange County Overhead Door in Orange. Usually, there’s one or two screws or nuts on the unit that allow you to adjust the sensitivity of the opener.

They’re usually labeled “open force” or “close force,” and you can try turning the open force to see if that helps the door lift. After you make the adjustment and the door lifts, place a block of wood on the floor where the door sits and close it to make sure the door still reverses when it hits an obstruction.

Don’t make the mistake of adding tension to the springs on your door hardware while the door is soaked. When it dries out, you may have some problems with the door not closing properly. To prevent this, make sure the inside of the door is painted, and also that the bottom of the door is painted and sealed, because that’s generally where most of the moisture is absorbed.

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Q. We had ceramic tile installed in our kitchen, hall and bathrooms four years ago. Just recently, we noticed that portions of the floor have raised a little, and other areas have taken on a hollow sound when they’re walked on. We were told that the problem could be moisture coming up from the cement slab. Is that possible?

J.S., Huntington Beach

A. It sounds as though not enough thinset, the cement used to attach tiles to the floor, was applied, or it was misapplied, says Tere Corrigan of InTile Designs in Anaheim. Many times installers will spread out the thinset and it will dry out before the tile is installed. Then instead of “buttering” the back of the tile with thinset, they just press it into place. Over time, that tile detaches itself from the floor.

Hopefully, you have some extra tiles stored away or that tile is still available. The detached tiles have to be pulled out, which usually means breaking them. The area has to be scraped, and new thinset needs to be applied before installing the new tiles.

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Q. I have a cement statue of the Madonna that is broken in two places. What kind of cement patch should I use to reattach them?

T.M., Mission Viejo

A. You’ll probably want to use a good, five-minute epoxy paste, which you can find at most hardware stores, says Joe Gonzalez of Statueland in Garden Grove.

However, you may want to brace it first. Take one of the broken pieces and put a piece of gum or putty in the center of the broken area, then fit it onto the opposite piece. Remove them and the putty should have left a mark. Drill holes in each piece at the putty mark, and then in one of the holes, glue in a small piece of rebar or a metal rod. This becomes a dowel that matches the other hole, then epoxy the two broken pieces together. After it’s dry, you can use white cement and marble powder as a grout to hide the crack.

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Q. I have wrought-iron bar stools with square legs that are damaging my linoleum floor. What can I use on the legs to protect the floor?

T.S., Buena Park

A. There are some black plastic plugs available that are designed for metal extrusions on furniture, says Frank Eckert of Arrow Hardware in Anaheim. These may fit your chair legs. There are also little round pads that are made for furniture legs that could be cut to fit a square leg. If these don’t work, you may need to put some type of carpeting on the floor under the stools to get some protection.