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.
Q: I had solar panels put on my 1,600-square-foot house in January 2015. But I’ve only seen a 10 percent reduction in my utility bill since then. Shouldn’t it be more than that? I’m also wondering if I’m still eligible for state and federal tax credits or is it too late to apply for them?
A: First of all, you need to call up the company that installed your panels and have them come back to see if repairs are needed. A 10 percent reduction does not seem like enough. And yes, you have a number of years in which to claim those credits; you’d better talk to your tax adviser about how you can do that and what the rules and regulations say.
Q: I have white flies on my grape vines. How can I get rid of them?
A: I suggest using neem oil, a natural insecticide that is safe to use with edibles. It’s a vegetable oil pressed from the fruits and seeds of the neem tree, native to India. But white flies are very persistent and reproduce easily. So you need to apply the oil every few days. White flies are sucking insects that can kill a plant if the flies keep reproducing and reach a big enough population. They often attack vegetables as well as lantana and hibiscus plants.
Q: In my garage I have a light fixture with a sensor in it that is supposed to turn on the lighting when someone comes out in the garage. I’ve always used incandescent lights in the fixture, but recently I put an LED bulb into it. So now the LED bulb blinks on and off and on again all the time until I turn off the sensor in the wall switch by hand. How can I fix this?
A: If you keep the fixture the same and change the type of bulb, the light won’t always operate the way that it’s supposed to. You’ll have to buy and install a fixture that’s compatible with LED bulbs. LED bulbs are electronic as opposed to the resistance nature of incandescent bulbs. So LEDs require a fixture designed for electronic devices.
Q: I have a half–inch gap between the bottom of my front door and the threshold at the bottom and as a result we get some water coming into the house during monsoon season. How hard would it be for me to replace the front door myself?
A: It’s not that hard to do, but possibly, as long as there is no water draining down to your door off your lot, you probably only need to put in a door sweep at the bottom of the existing door to close the gap.
Q: I have been leasing a townhouse that I’m now thinking of buying, but I’m worried because the roof has been leaking. You can see dried water spots in the living room and also on the common wall in the garage. The homeowners association will fix the roof, but they won’t do anything about repairing the interior walls. What can I do about that?
A: That’s not an unusual situation in townhouses or condominiums. The HOA will repair the roof, but won’t do anything about the damage inside a house. You might check to see if there is some kind of insurance policy that will cover that type of repair, but if not, you would have to pay for it yourself. Make sure to have a qualified home inspection to check for any other possible resulting damage from leaks.
