concrete sealant for stoop?


One more house problem. Our stoop has steps with a metal frame and concrete on the actual steps. The prior owner of 50 years each year put another paint coat on — so we finally this year blasted off all of the paint and concreate and had new concrete put in. Now we are getting some moisture under the stoop — which folks explain as caused by a poor concrete job as there’s an insufficient liner under the concrete and of course concrete is pourous. Someone suggested that I paint a sealant on top and that will keep the water out. Does that make sense and does anyone have suggestions of such a sealant?

Many thanks.

By kenw | 11/01/2008 10:48 AM | Comment

Smell from riser / heat


OK, here’s a problem we can not crack. We had a contractor dig out our basement this summer. All went fine. Then when we turned on our heat there is a strange smell coming from the riser in the upstairs bedroom (it’s the end of the line of this steam heat system). At first we feared it was cat pee — as after our construction the furnace room they created smelled like cat pee. We have no cats but the prior owners had plenty. The smell is a bit metallic/amonia. I treated the floor and area around the furnace and the smell went down a bit. One recent plumber said immediately that the smell is some substance they use when pipes are cut or fit. For the basement dig out, one pipe was moved. We had the furnace cleaned, and that plumber said the water looked horrible (which makes sense as we never changed it in the three years we’ve lived here). We’ve run he furnace many times hoping to burn it off, but now two weeks in it’s still here. Bottom line, no one has a solution. Any thoughts? Many thanks.

By kenw | 11/01/2008 9:17 AM | Comment