Q: The homeowner living in a ranch house our company built five years ago is complaining of mysterious carpet staining, showing up as a stripe along the outside walls of some rooms. There do not appear to be any water leaks or problems with the gas applia
Q: I have been asked to determine the cause of black shadow marks on a cathedral ceiling in a new home. The black marks correspond to the bottom sections of the rafters, near where the rafters meet the wall. The black shadows do not resemble stains from water leaks. There is a gas fireplace on one of the outside walls; the fireplace has been tested for leakage, and it checked out fine. The owner burns a large candle, which sits on the fireplace mantle. Could the ceiling shadows be caused by soot from the candle?
Q: We are builders in the Philadelphia area. Over the past few years, we’ve experienced several cases of what we’ve been told is "carpet filtration" — dark ghost lines that appear on the carpet under doors and around the perimeter of rooms. We tested the hvac system and found a sizeable imbalance between the supply and return sides, so we added an additional central return system to equalize the pressures. Is the imbalance the major cause of the filtration? If not, what are the causes? We have had to replace some carpet, and hope that we don’t continue to be liable for a recurring problem.
Q: The Journal’s panel of experts answers the most commonly asked questions from the job site.
