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 systems. His goal is to provide answers that suit the specific lifestyle wherever someone lives in Arizona.
QUESTION: My mother-in-law has lived 15 years in a house that may be about 50 years old. Recently, she received a brochure by mail saying that anyone in a house with plumbing lines 50 years or older has to replace all the pipes or the owner will not be able to sell their home. Does she need to do that?
ANSWER: We’ve had other reports about those brochures, and they seem to be national advertisements from an insurance company. Tell her not to worry. But you may feel safer by calling a licensed plumber to come check the conditions of the pipes.
Q: I’ve heard that when you stake up a young tree, you shouldn’t make the guide wires too tight. So, why can’t manufacturers put a spring in the middle of the cable so the lines will give a little bit when they have to?
A: That might work with a young tree where you want some small movement when winds come along, but with a larger tree that you’re resetting in its place, you can’t do that. You almost have to have a rigid system of cables to keep it there. Actually, with a young, growing tree, you can eventually remove those guide wires. But with a very large tree, unfortunately, you might have to leave them in place almost forever.
Q: I have a house built about 1902 or 1903. It has a tin roof on it and we did a spray-in foam job on the underside of the roof. The attic has a ventilation opening at the very top and also a side draft. The foam has helped keep down the heat, but can we add any more insulation?
A: What you may want to do is get R-38 insulation installed on top of the ceiling area in your living space as well. It will make you more comfortable and reduce your electric bill significantly.
Q: I live in a patio home that has a patio that needs complete remodeling. Can I hire a builder to design the plan and then build out the whole job? Or do I have to have a design to start with?
A: Yes, you can use a design-build contractor. When you interview that company, explain the basics of what you want to do and ask what might be the price range of what you have to spend on that kind of job. They will probably talk about the various features you can include, and then gradually you’ll arrive at what it might cost for a builder to do the work.
Q: I have a 19-year-old grapefruit tree that’s drying up and dying. It’s so bad that I’ve decided to remove it. I’m also concerned about a much healthier lemon tree that is about 10 feet away.
A: It sounds as if you’ve been overwatering the grapefruit — and possibly also the lemon. Buy a moisture meter to measure how wet the soil is and check it periodically. Those trees only need a good deep watering twice a month to keep them healthy.
What’s confusing is that over-watering and under-watering can both result in yellowing leaves on a plant, and over-watering can eventually cause a tree to develop Texas root rot. If that’s the case at your home, and you want to replant in the area where the grapefruit was, you need to excavate the spot carefully and remove every bit of the old roots and the rot. Then you can plant again.
