Replace kitchen fan with a microwave/exhaust?

QUESTION: I have a 1960s-style galley kitchen that has a very large exhaust fan in it that is hanging over the stove. Can I remove the exhaust fan and then replace it with a combined microwave and stove exhaust fan?

ANSWER: You can certainly do that, but then you will not have the exhaust power that you need for a large kitchen. You may be sorely disappointed, because you will have only about one-tenth the exhaust power in cubic feet per minute that you had before with the old fan.

Q: Last winter, I bought a used mobile home. It’s about 20 years old and has a fiberglass-shingle, low-pitched roof. Recently, while cleaning the gutters, I discovered that a lot of grit has been coming off the shingles and getting into the gutters. The roof is getting old, and I think I need to replace it. I’d like to apply foam to the roof. Can I do it on top of the shingles to save money?

A: You’re right, you need a new roof. That grit is made up of fiberglass granules that were on your shingles. You can re-roof with foam, but you don’t want to put a coating like that right over the top of the current shingles. That would look very unattractive — like white scrambled eggs spread over the shingles. After removing the shingles, have roofers put a tan-colored foam on your house. They can also add beige granules to the foam for additional texture to soften the look.

Q: I have a 20-foot ash tree in my yard that seems to be doing very well. It has a huge canopy. But now on the branches under the canopy, all the leaves seem to be drying up all the way around the tree. What’s wrong?

A: Sometimes trees can develop such a dense canopy that the branches die off underneath the canopy because they’re not getting enough sun. You probably need to get in there and start thinning out that tree so that more light touches the branches inside.

Q: There is a shabby-looking, 17-year-old oak railing leading up some stairs to a loft area in my home. I want to repaint it completely in white paint, but do I have to strip off the varnish first? The railing h¥as dark marks all over it from little, dirty hands touching it.

A: This is a great do-it-yourself project, but it’s going to take a lot of elbow grease. First of all, you need to cover the carpet with plastic sheeting. Then you can degrease the wood by cleaning the railing with lacquer thinner or mineral spirits. Once you have cleaned off the railing, degloss the surface to get rid of all the old varnish. You do that by rubbing the entire railing with 220- or 320-grit sandpaper. Afterward, thoroughly clean off all the dust.

Finally, you can paint. You can’t spray the paint on, because you’d spatter it all over the walls and floor. You need to paint with a brush. Be sure to buy a good natural bristle horse hair brush for this job. If you use a good brush, you will have a finer finish and you won’t get lots of brush marks as would be made with a cheaper brush.