Last winter during high winds we had smoke coming into the house throught the (thimble) opening where the stovepipe connected to the chimney. I have not had success getting the soot off the paint. Any suggestions?

-- Joyce Dingman (FriendsPatterns@juno.com), October 17, 2001

Answers

Joyce, when we moved into our new home, the local propane company filled our propane tank and fixed the orifices on our heater and stove/oven. Problem was they changed the orifices from natural gas to butane and not propane. We awoke to our new house and freshly painted walls a pretty shade of grey. Problem was that behind every picture and all my knicknacks was white walls. The company paid for the clean up, which was vinegar washed walls, then KILZ, then a fresh coat of paint. They fixed the orifices again, apologized profusely and they are still our propane dealers 12 years later. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), October 17, 2001.

When we moved into our new home, the furnace broke and cause soot to cover everything. I had to clean my home from top to bottom. Depending on the severity, I have found that 409 takes it off better than anything else. Some places I did have to paint because the soot was so bad. Good luck!

-- Doedee Trostel-Patton (trosteld@graham.k12.oh.us), December 01, 2001.

If all else fails, before you paint you might want to try a little Soft Scrub, the stuff you use on sinks. It has bleach in it so I guess it wouldn't work on colored walls but it might. It worked on off white for me.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), December 01, 2001.