You Have Questions About Your House and Rosie Has Answers
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: My home was flooded some time ago, and I have just moved back in after having the repairs done to restore the house. Now I have found that the vinyl flooring installed by my licensed contractor was done very poorly. What should I do?
ANSWER: Fortunately, you used a licensed contractor because you need to put your grievances in writing and take them to Arizona Registrar of Contractors. The registrar can deal with your contractor and help get this situation fixed and resolve the potential financial issues involved. Licensed contractors pay into a fund that can reimburse homeowners in some cases.
Q: I live in a 1954 brick home that has electrical junction boxes set in between the bricks. I want to do some renovation and I’d like to use these boxes again for the outlets. I know how to do electrical work so what’s the process to follow? My service panel has not been upgraded.
A: It could be very difficult for you to do this without upgrading the panel. You also need to ground each circuit because you can’t put a three-pronged plug into a two-pronged outlet. In fact, you really need to consult a certified electrician to make sure all the work you need to have done is compliant with the current electrical code.
Q: Do you have any tips on how to get rid of bugs in vegetable gardens?
A: Try timing your planting so vegetables produce before the heavy bug season — like putting in early bird tomatoes for example. Always plant flowers that produce nectar and pollen because they bring in the good bugs that eat the bad ones. In early spring, buy eggs at nurseries for praying mantises and ladybugs who eat aphids and other bugs that can harm your plants. Also beneficial for plants are green lacewings that eat aphids, mites, thrips and whiteflies.
Q: It’s going to be scorpion season soon. So, how do I apply diotamaceous earth around my property to fight scorpions? Do I sprinkle it all over the yard?
A: You want the pests to walk through it. So you want to make a narrow band of it around the house so the critters have to walk through it. It’s not expensive to use, but you don’t want big heaps of it sitting there. And when you are done, wash your hands thoroughly. It’s a fine powder that will cling to your skin and you can get it on everything you touch. By the way, if you could look at this powder through a microscope, you’d see that it is made up of tiny, very sharp particles. These particles will cling to the scorpion’s body and cuts it up physically and internally as they ingest it.
Q: I have a 20-year-old roof that is covered with concrete tiles. Now they’re going to take them off in order to redo the covering underneath. Is it true that they can replace the same tiles afterward? Will the old tiles work as well as new tiles would have?
A: Yes, the concrete tiles can be returned to the same roof. It’s the underlayment that is under the tiles that is the actual “roof” that keeps out the rain. However, sometimes the tiles get broken during the roofing process. In that case, it might be hard to match the color of the old ones with a new tile. Sometimes however, they can “hide” the oddly colored tile in an area of the roof that’s not as visible.
