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 in their sewer system. His goal is to provide answers that suit the specific lifestyle.
QUESTION: We own a 40-year-old masonry home that’s covered with stucco, and periodically, we have it repainted. Now we’re repainting again, and I wonder if I need to have the house re-stuccoed because it has a lot of little hairline cracks, about the width of a pencil lead, on the stucco surface. A little stucco is also peeling off at the roof line on one wall. But none of the painters who gave bids on the job seems to think it needs new stucco.
ANSWER: So long as large chunks of stucco are not de-laminating or peeling off the walls, you probably don’t need to re-stucco the entire house. Reputable painters would not want to paint over faulty stucco because it would mean more trouble for them later on. You will just need to have some elastomeric patching done before you repaint. Have your house repainted every seven to 10 years.
Q: I have an old concrete patio in my backyard and I want to redo it. I’m thinking of covering it with black slate. Would that work?
A: Dark-colored slate could get very hot in the summer. In addition, slate is not a very good surface outdoors. It can get slippery when it’s wet, and it could look very dusty in the summer. A better choice would be to buy light-colored or white concrete pavers. You can lay them right on top of the concrete and the light color will keep the pavers cooler in hot weather.
Q: I have a tree that has started leaning after a recent wind storm, and I wondered if I can straighten it out somehow? Right now, I’m using a bunch of two-by-fours and cables to keep it from falling down.
A: Yes, you can prop it up and save it from falling down. You need two or three lodge pole stakes that you can buy at a nursery; you’ll have to use a pole pounder or heavy sledge hammer to drive the stakes deeply into the soil around the tree. Then you suspend the tree by fastening the trunk to the stakes with soft webbing ties. Or you can buy cables with anchors at hardware stores. When you plant these types of anchors underground, you can lock them in place to help straighten out the tree.
Q: Several years ago, I planted several artichoke plants from seeds that grew up into a hedge. They did well for a while, but started dying off. Only two plants have survived. Can I thin them out like rhubarb and replant pieces of the plants?
A: Yes, you can thin them out and replant. Most artichoke plants produce for a few years; then the chokes get smaller and smaller. You can divide the crowns into several divisions and transplant each into their own separate space.
