Each year, thousands of Arizona residents email or call Rosie Romero’s radio show with questions about everything from preventing fires in their chimneys to getting rid of tree roots invading their sewer system. His goal is to provide answers that suit the specific lifestyle wherever someone lives in Arizona.
QUESTION: I live in a subdivision that was built on a slope, and my neighbor’s lot is slightly higher than that of my house. A concrete block wall stands between our lots; the concrete is covered with stucco and paint. But when water drains off my neighbor’s lot during storms or when he irrigates his plants, the runoff is directed to my lot through some small drainage holes. There is so much water that it’s washing away the paint and stucco on my side of the wall. I’ve had to fix the wall twice, and it keeps right on happening over and over again. How can I fix this permanently?
ANSWER: There probably isn’t much you can do if your neighbor won’t cooperate in the effort. He would have to be involved in fixing the drains on his side of the wall or decreasing the irrigation. Try to approach him about the issue, because eventually the drainage could cause erosion of the footings for the wall.
Q: We have a two-story house built with a back patio that is covered by a tar and gravel roof. Now when I look out on that roof, most of the gravel is gone. It apparently washed off in the rain over the years. It was a mixture of sand and pebbles on top of 90-pound rolled roofing that had hot tar covering it. Do I need to replace the pebbles?
A: That sand-and-pebble mixture was put on there to protect the roofing material from ultraviolet rays. You can replace it, but you might want to have the whole roof sealed first with elastomeric roof coating to prevent future leaks. Then you need to power wash the roof lightly and apply another sand-and-gravel mixture.
Q: I have a 45-year-old house built with adobe bricks that originally had black mortar used in between the bricks. Over time, the mortar faded from black to almost white. I was told that I could restain the mortar to make it black again, but that I would have to brush the stain on the mortar seams. Can’t I just spray it on using a tiny spray gun?
A: You can put a new stain on the mortar, provided it’s in good shape, but you would have to mask every brick in order to spray on the stain, and you wouldn’t want to do that. You want to be sure that the stain doesn’t drip onto the bricks themselves. Before you proceed, you should talk to an adobe brick expert.
Q: I live in Sabino Canyon and have two large dogs that live in my backyard and keep digging holes in the pea gravel. I keep filling the holes up, but they continue to dig. How do I get them to stop?
A: There are natural products you can buy at nurseries that work. One is called Go Away, and is good for deterring visits by rabbits, cats and dogs. It’s a behavior-modification compound that can help keep pets away from trees, shrubs, gardens and garbage cans. It is environmentally safe and biodegradable, and will not harm animals.
