Your Place: Shellac-based primer can stop wood 'bleeding'

Question:

We had two pieces of trim replaced on either side of our front door because of rot at the bottom of one. (The other was changed so they would match). One new piece has an eight-inch section that exudes sap (I'm guessing) that is a brownish color, coming through the Kilz primer I applied. I called the place where the carpenter purchased the wood, and they didn't think that was a defect.

Answer:

"Stubborn tannin bleeding" is how one expert describes your situation, which leads me to believe that your door trim is oak. What I think is that you need a pigmented, shellac-based primer such as Zinsser's B-I-N. (Kilz does not contain shellac.) Although B-I-N's odor is less than pleasant, it will likely hide the brown tannin much better.

I have nothing against Kilz. I've used it as a primer to cover rust-colored water stains after a roof leak or plumbing issues have been repaired. It's just that I think shellac-based primer works better in the situation you describe. Keep both on hand.

Q:

My mother-in-law, 84, lives on a fixed income and is trying to keep heating-oil costs down. She has seen advertisements for portable space heaters claiming to be energy-efficient and able to lower her heating bills by up to 50 percent. One features an Amish-made fireplace mantel with a heat source, a fireless-flame miracle heater. Another advertisement is for an Eden- Pure quartz infrared portable heater. She doesn't have the money to waste on things that don't work.

A:

Since I don't have the facilities to do so, I have not tested either product. Consumer columnists at newspapers in Houston; Columbus, Ohio; and Tulsa, Okla., however, have not been enthusiastic about the claims made about the Heat Surge Roll-n-Glow (though they did like the Amish mantel).

All I know is that the ad claims the Heat Surge ($298) produces "an amazing" 5,119 BTUs. I have a vintage 1,500-watt, oil-filled electric heater made by DeLonghi in my workshop that does the same thing, and it cost me $100 in the mid-1990s.

Consumer Reports tested the EdenPure ($400), and the results were not encouraging. The magazine said it was the worst-performing of the 20 heaters it tested. Scoring higher were the Honeywell HZ-519 ($60), the Holmes Quartz Tower ($60), and the DeLonghi SafeHeat Flat Panel ($80).

Q:

We live in a 70-year-old stone Colonial in Wynnewood. Last year, we put in a new, more energy-efficient furnace. I know there is a lot more we could do to close up leaks and insulate our house. I would love to have someone come into our house and tell us the most important things we should do to improve this situation. However, we are not at all handy, so I need someone who could also do the work for us at a reasonable price. Any suggestions?

A:

I'd recommend you hire an energy auditor. The problem is there aren't a lot of them in this area, and the few there are tend to be incredibly busy, especially at this time of year. (In the old days, utility companies offered free energy audits to their customers to reduce consumption and cut costs.) Look on the Internet and in the Yellow Pages for names of a residential energy auditor - many limit their efforts to the more lucrative commercial market.

More about tobacco smells:

A recent column featured a question from a reader eager to rid a garage of a lingering tobacco smell. Rutgers professor emeritus Joe Ponessa offers this advice:

If the paint doesn't work to cover the smoke smell, do what hotels do when someone has smoked in a nonsmoking room: Place an ozone generator in the space for several hours.

To find companies providing this service, look in the Yellow Pages for companies that restore buildings damaged by water or fire.

Note that ozone is a strong irritant gas. It dissipates quickly, but people should not be present when this equipment is operating.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the American Lung Association discourage the use of ozone-producing air cleaners in occupied spaces.