Q:How can I fill the cracks in wood paneling to smooth out the wall before painting? I guess the cracks are not cracks so much as grooves in plywood paneling. If I cannot use spackling compound, why not?

A: You should not use spackling compound because it hardens fast and is difficult to work with. Use, instead, joint compound, the same material used for covering nail or screw heads and taped seams in drywall construction.

There is a secret to filling those grooves. You have to fill them three times, smoothing out each time with an extra-wide smoothing blade, to prevent the grooves from ghosting through.

Fill the groove, then smooth it out with a wide putty knife. Let dry and sand smooth. Do it again with a wider smoothing blade, let dry and sand, and a third time, sanding smooth as glass. Now you can paint the wall.

Don't scrimp on this three-time technique. The Handyman did not follow his own advice some years ago, filling grooves twice. The grooves looked perfect, and felt perfect as well. But they were still indented, ever so lightly, and ghosted through the wall covering he put up.


Q: I have a small closet with three sides and floor of concrete. I would like to line it with cedar so I can store clothes in it. How can I prevent mold from building up in that closet?

A: If the closet is in the basement, it's best not to store clothes in it. If that cannot be helped, here is what to do: Install 1/2-inch or, preferably,

1-inch Styrofoam on walls, floor and ceiling, and to the door. Use construction adhesive or a styrene adhesive.

Then glue on cedar liner boards, tongued and grooved for a secure attachment with the above-mentioned adhesive.

The Styrofoam will help prevent condensation of moisture inside the closet; without dampness, the mold will not grow.

As a further preventive against mold, install a 75- to 100-watt bulb in the closet, as low as practical and carefully caged to prevent contact with clothing.

You could build a cage out of hardware cloth (half-inch steel mesh) to keep the bulb away from the mesh and also to keep the mesh away from the clothes.

While a source of heat near the floor will work better than a high one, you could compromise and put the bulb high up in the closet, above the clothes. You still need the cage.

Burning a bulb in a closet is hazardous, but properly installed and maintained, it will be safe.

In fact, there used to be a small heating bar called Damp Chaser that you could put in a closet to create a low heat. I have not seen it in recent years.

If the closet is quite small, a 75-watt bulb or even a 60-watt bulb may be adequate. The heat will help keep the humidity under control.

If the closet is quite tight, make sure the bulb does not overheat the closet itself. If it does, use a lower-watt bulb or open the door on a regular basis, or turn off the bulb at specified intervals and for specified times.


Q: When I was looking for a large selection of restoration and decorative hardware, you mentioned Crown City Hardware of Pasadena, but the number was disconnected. Has the company gone out of business?

A: No, far from it. But it does have a new area code: (626) 794-1188. To order the catalog (and it is huge and interesting), call (626) 794-0234 or see www.crowncityhardware.com.


Q: We own the left side of a duplex. Someone installed a half bath under the stairs, which works fine except it is unvented. To extend a vent sideways would mean a duct 30 feet long.

To extend it to the front, it would be 10 feet. What is best to do? I don't like the idea of a bathroom vent extending through the front of the house.

A: Extend the vent 10 feet to the front. A 30-foot duct is way too long for any exhaust fan. Going through the roof would require a duct at least 20 feet long; also too long.

Cover the outlet in the front with a foundation planting and no one will know the difference. It is not exhausting sewer gases but rather stale air, so you can keep the foundation planting a few feet from the outlet.


A reader saw in the Handyman's column that some homeowners were unable to find citric acid (suggested for cleaning rust off hard surfaces). The Handyman thought it was widely sold in drug and hardware stores.

Another name for citric acid is sour salt, said the reader. "It's on the spice shelves in supermarkets," she said.

Sure enough, it's in the dictionary, too, which says also that it can be tartaric acid.