Do-it-yourself sunrooms

Add space and lower heating costs

BY JAMES DULLEY

Dear Jim: I want to add a sunroom for more living space and to help heat my home when fall arrives, but I cannot afford to have one built. What design is best, and are there any efficient do-it-yourself kits available?

—Sandi T., Winder

Dear Sandi: Adding a sunroom to a house is an excellent investment and often increases the resale value of your home. The cost per square foot of floor space is much less than adding a traditional room.

Building a sunroom in the spring or summer can help save on your fall and winter heating bills. Designing and locating the sunroom properly can capture enough solar heat to stay warm most of the year. It may also help heat the rest of your house during the fall and winter.

If helping to heat your house when the weather turns cold is a goal, include some provision to get the solar-heated air into your house. The simplest method is to just open a window between the house and sunroom when it is warmer than the house. Installing an exhaust fan (outlet into house) high on a sunroom wall is more effective. For the most convenience, install a thermostat to control the fan.

For a reasonably comfortable living space, any orientation from southeast to southwest is adequate to capture the sun’s heat. Select a convenient location with easy access from inside your house, often at an existing exterior door opening.

If you plan to use the sunroom to help heat your house during the cooler months, an orientation to true solar south is important for the greatest heat gain. Depending upon where you live, true solar south can vary substantially from compass south. Check with your local weather service or on the Internet for the amount to adjust compass south to get true solar south for your area.

Even though contractors can assemble sunrooms in a few days, you can save money and do it yourself. Some sunroom manufacturers will sell the components to homeowners in pre-cut kit sizes. Contact sunroom manufacturers to see if they sell their products directly in kit form. You may find a pre-cut kit close to the size you need.

With some do-it-yourself sunroom kits, you just have to build the base for the sunroom and assemble the components. Some frames are lightweight enough to be built over a wooden deck.

If you are a do-it-yourselfer, you should be able to build an efficient sunroom from scratch. This offers the advantages of lower cost and building the precise size you need. You may find that due to the orientation of your house, topography or landscaping, an irregular shape may get better sun exposure.

Before you begin construction, visit local home centers and building supply outlets. They often have discounted custom-sized, high-efficiency windows that a homeowner or builder did not end up buying. Look for ones with low-emissivity glass with argon gas in the gap. Once you have your windows, design the rest of the sunroom framing to fit them.

In warm climates like Georgia’s, use a solid roof on the sunroom or it will likely overheat during summer. In average and cold climates, a clear roof captures more heat, and you can control overheating with movable shades. Installing roof vents or a venting skylight also helps. Designs with slanted (lean-to) glass capture the most heat, but often have overheating problems.

For the best comfort and efficiency, add thermal mass to the sunroom. A brick paver floor and a concrete block knee wall are effective mass. Use large planters with heavy clay pots. Thermal mass reduces overheating and helps it hold heat when the sun goes down.

Send inquiries to James Dulley, GEORGIA Magazine, 6906 Royalgreen Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45244 or visit www.dulley.com.

Sealant makeover

Give your bathroom a freshness boost

BY DEBORAH GEERING

If no amount of scrubbing makes your bathroom look fresh and clean, it could be due for a sealant makeover.

Over time, sealants weaken and mildew can creep in between the cracks, making your bathrooms look old and faded or, worse, grungy. But it’s amazing how much brighter the whole area can look after a fresh application of caulk. Sometimes it’s worth the trouble to redo the grout between tiles, too.

Recaulking is by far the easier task, says Bobby Wilson, owner of Wilson Handyman in Columbus. The key is a painter’s tool called a five-in-one, a combination paint scraper, putty remover and spreader, gouger and paint-roller cleaner. It is useful for making repairs, installing window glass, painting and hanging wall coverings. “I normally keep about three or four of these in my truck because I’m always using them for everything,” Wilson says.

Use the five-in-one to pull out old caulk, then clean the area thoroughly with a mold and mildew remover like Tilex and allow it to dry.

Select a mildew-resistant caulk, in white or in a color to match your grout or tiles. If you have a large area to seal, you may want to use a caulk gun; for small areas, a hand-squeezable tube will do. Snip the tip off at an angle at a point that is just wide enough to allow a steady flow but a small bead.

“You’ll end up getting the touch for it; it’s just a light drag. Just go along and fill it in,” Wilson says. “Then use a wet finger and a wet rag to go along and pretty it up.”

Another trick is to fold a damp, clean kitchen sponge in half, holding the folded side in your hand. Line up the two edges of the sponge along either side of the caulk, then gently run the sponge along the caulk line to clean the surface on either side while leaving the caulk itself intact. Rinse the sponge regularly.

Allow the caulk to dry for at least 24 hours before running water in the sink or shower.

If the grout between tiles is chipped or stained, you may want to consider redoing it, too. But be warned: You probably won’t enjoy the work. 

“I’m going to tell you that grouting stuff, it’s just a lot of back-breaking work,” Wilson explains. “Even with knee pads, your knees are hurting, your back is hurting. It’s not a fun thing.”

The difficulty is in removing the old grout. The five-in-one comes in handy, but an even more important tool for the job is a hand-held grout saw. “It looks like a razor blade on the end of a toothbrush,” Wilson says. Safety glasses are a good idea when using a grout saw.

As with the caulking job, make sure you get all the old grout out, and clean and dry the area thoroughly. Use a tile adhesive to replace any loose tiles.

For small jobs, you can use a premixed grout; larger jobs are better served by a dry grout mix that you can prepare yourself. Use a rubber grout float to force the compound between the tiles.

After about 10 minutes, wipe the tiles clean with a grout sponge. Moisten the sponge and use the rounded edge to shape the grout in the joints. When the grout dries, polish the tiles with a clean rag. Then use your new caulking skills to caulk the outside edge of the tiles.

Caulking a small bathroom will take only an hour or two, but grouting is best saved for a weekend project, Wilson says. “For the floor of a shower, to saw it all out of there, clean it up and regrout, a novice is going to spend a good solid day on that floor.”

—Deborah Geering is a freelance writer from Decatur.

Waste not

Getting your garbage disposal out of a jam

BY CHRIS HALL

This month, RepairClinic.com, the online source of home appliance parts and repair advice, peers down into the dark depths of garbage disposals to provide some tips to keep them spinning and smelling fresh. First, here’s a quick garbage disposal primer.

Garbage disposals are simple devices that all work on a similar principle. At the bottom is a flat plate on which rotating steel ‘mashers’ are mounted. These mashers work in conjunction with the serrated inside wall to grind up food waste. When you switch the unit on, a motor rotates the flat plate, forcing the mashers to swing toward the outside of the spinning plate, which grinds up waste so it can be flushed away.

A garbage disposal can easily jam if a foreign object falls inside, causing a masher to get lodged against the inside wall. Most appliance repair technicians have rescued coins, bottle caps, jewelry and plastic bag ties from inside a garbage disposal. It’s a good idea to keep small objects away from the sink.

Un-jamming a garbage disposal is very simple. First, make sure the disposal is turned off, then clear out items from under the sink so that you have access to the unit. Next, insert the wrench that was supplied with the unit (if you cannot find it, use a 1/4-inch Allen wrench) into the hole located at the center on the bottom. Turn the wrench in either direction until the loose object is free from the mashers and can be extracted.

With garbage disposals, a little common sense goes a long way:

•  Don’t put fibrous vegetable waste into them.

•  Don’t add too much food waste at once.

•  Don’t put ice cubes in them—these can stress the motor.

•  Always replace the black rubber splash guards if they are damaged or loose.

•  Use Disposer Care™ foam cleaner to eliminate leftover food, grease and odors from  

   bacteria buildup.

While they can last for years, garbage disposals eventually wear out. There are certain warning signs to look for. If your disposal takes longer than five seconds to clear the waste, it’s probably time for a new one. Also, a sure sign of wear is a masher that no longer spins freely, or any wobbling of the flat plate.

When replacing a garbage disposal, get the best unit you can afford. This is an appliance where you really do get what you pay for.

For help locating specific parts for garbage disposals, along with additional maintenance and cleaning tips, visit www.repairclinic.com or call (800) 269-2609.

—Chris Hall is president of RepairClinic.com.

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