DIY Network

Ed Del Grande Interview: Concrete Repairs, Instant Hot Water and more From "Ask DIY Home Improvement" episode DADH-212

You've sent in the email questions and DIY has prepared the answers. Home-improvement expert Ed Del Grande has answers about concrete repair, instantaneous water heaters and repairing damaged siding.

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Figure A

Q (Douglas in Little Rock, AR): The corner of my siding is bent. Can I replace this myself?

Ed: From the viewer's picture (figure A), this looks like aluminum siding. Replacement aluminum can be tough to find now that it has been largely replaced in the market by vinyl. There may be a way to repair the bends in this existing siding. Try this: Place a straight piece of scrap wood beneath the bent piece, and another on top -- creating an "aluminum-siding sandwich -- then strike the top piece to flatten the siding. It may take a few times, but this technique may straighten the siding so that it looks OK.

	Figure B
	Figure C

Q (Phyllis in Oakview, IL): The steps leading up to my front door have serious cracks. What is the best way to repair them?

Ed: Judging from the picture (figure B), this problem is what is known as a settling crack -- a situation where concrete slabs can crack due to wash-out of the subsoil from underneath. The conditions that lead to this can be summed up as "the killer G's" -- gutters, grading and groundwater. To avoid this problem, make certain that the grading around your house directs water away from your house, and make sure that gutters also channel water away. This will prevent excessive groundwater from eroding the subsoil. As for the existing crack, it will need to b chipped out until it's open to about 3/4-inch. At that point, you can fill it with a special cement-product known as hydraulic cement. This specialized product (figure C) expands as it cures to fill the crack. Apply it like putty, and fill the crack. But you'll need to work fast because it cures in about 5 minutes.

Q (Sandy in Reno, NV): I live alone and am thinking about buying an instantaneous water-heater. What should I know about them?

Ed: An instantaneous water-heater, also called a tankless water heater, doesn't hold 30 to 40 gallons like a standard water heater. Instead, the water flows through the device and is heated as it flows through, typically by a gas-burner and heating coil. Standard water heaters offer "unlimited use," meaning that hot water can be supplied to more than one outlet at a time (a bathtub and a dishwasher, for example), but a limited supply. In other words, the hot water will run out at some point. A tankless water heater, by contrast, offers the opposite -- limited use (meaning it can supply hot water to only one outlet at a time) but essentially unlimited supply. The device keeps heating water as long as the water is flowing through it. Therefore, instantaneous heaters are better suited to small families or individuals living alone. For large families, stick with the traditional tank.

Q (Marlene in Texarkana, TX): What is the proper height for wall sconces?

Ed: The standard recommendation is 5-1/2 to 6 feet from the floor. That's for average-sized people. If yours is a tall family, you could go as high as 6-1/2 feet.

RESOURCES :

HGTV's Complete Fix-It
Author: HGTV