Dear Donny

Q

We have two radiators in our living room – one of them, not under a window, has covered the wall above in what looks like black soot. Do you know what is causing this to happen? I want to wash it off, not repaint the whole room. Lorraine Hobbs, Horncastle, Lincs

A

A radiator convects cold air through the bottom and comes out hot at the top. The convection process takes dust and minute particles with it and these form the soot-like marks you are talking about, but this takes years. A wall repaint will sort it.

Q

My daughter had a built-in area made for her TV. She put a glass candle holder on the shelf and it exploded. The wax has gone on the painted shelf and dripped down the front. How can this be repaired? Lynn Manning, by email

A

You need to remove the wax. Scrape it and use brown paper and an iron to collect the rest. Paint won’t stick to wax so you might have problems with the wax mark bleeding through the paint – if so, a quick sand and a stain block will solve that. You can also get liquid cleaners that remove wax – Lithofin’s Wax-Off is one.

Q

I’m putting some fence posts in the ground and was wondering if there was an easy way to cut them to the same height? I would like to cut them on the ground before fixing them in.

Heather Moffat, by email

A

Not if you want them level as you would need to dig the holes exactly the same depth, which is too much hassle. I would put them in first then level off.

Dig a 60cm hole and put the post into the hole level, then use post-fixing concrete to keep it in place. Keep doing this with all your posts, and then use a laser level or string line and cut all the posts to the exact same level height.

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