Each year, thousands of Arizona residents email or call Rosie Romero’s radio show with questions about everything from preventing chimney fires to getting rid of tree roots in their sewer systems. His goal is to provide answers that suit the specific lifestyle wherever someone lives in Arizona. Here are questions about home maintenance and improvement from the Tucson area:
QUESTION: The granite on my kitchen counters has started to look cloudy and rough in some areas. What can I do to bring back its old shine and luster?
ANSWER: We’ve been asked this question many times over the years. What you have to remember about granite is that even though it’s one of the hardest and most durable countertop surfaces available, it needs regular maintenance to keep its shine. You will often run into problems with areas around the veins in your granite, places where there are many porous spots. If you don’t seal these areas regularly, rough and dirty spots can develop and grow.
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Before you reseal the granite, you should clean and polish the stone using a special cleaner designed for granite. Once it is dry, you should apply granite sealer with a soaked sponge, flooding the surface, but do not allow the sealer to pool up. If the sealer is absorbed by the granite in less than five minutes, apply some more. After 10 minutes, blot the remaining sealer and buff the stone dry with a terrycloth towel or rag.
A: It might seem as if a handyman can do this job; after all, someone can simply flip a breaker and then change the fixtures using a screwdriver. But when it comes to electrical jobs, we always advise homeowners to hire a licensed and insured electrician. An electrician will be a far better person to troubleshoot any problems that come up during the job.
Q: I’m replacing the outside light fixtures on my house. I’m not replacing the lighting system itself – just putting new fixtures over the lights. Do I need to hire a licensed electrician or can a handyman do the job?
For more do-it-yourself tips, go to rosieonthehouse.com. An Arizona home-building and remodeling industry expert for 25 years, Rosie Romero is the host of the syndicated Saturday morning Rosie on the House radio program, heard locally from 8-11 a.m. on KNST-AM (790) and -FM (97.1) in Tucson and KGVY-AM (1080) and -FM (100.7) in Green Valley. Call 1-888-767-4348.