The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

First Aid For The Ailing Houses

At a 5-and-10 or hardware store, large-headed tacks marked with numbers can be had in pairs, one for driving into a window frame and the other having the same number for the corresponding screen. With this identification there is no question as to which screen belongs to which window.

louver Screens These are gaining popular acceptance, although their price is higher than ordinary galvanized or even copper screening. Louvered screens consist of hundreds of tiny louvers which are punched from a sheet of metal. This permits light and air to get through, but keeps out insects and the sunlight. Each tiny louver forms a shade that shields the room against the sun at its highest and hottest positions during the day, and can thus lower room temperature.

AWNINGS

Awning cloth in common use is dyed, the stripes or other pattern being woven. When the dyes fade, they cannot be renewed, although the awning can be refreshed by redyeing in a single color. The stripes will show, although not too clearly, and as a general rule the result is a success.

Awning cloth can be painted with house paint thinned with one-fourth as much turpentine. Paint should be applied in a thin coat and brushed into the fibers; a thick coat on the surface will cause sticking. The paint should be thoroughly dry before the awning is folded. Special paints are on the market that give excellent results on faded awning cloth. One of these is called Setfast.

WATERPROOFING

Canvas, awning cloth, and similar fabrics can be waterproofed by painting with a solution of 1 pound of shaved paraffin in a gallon of turpentine or clear kerosene. The fabric should be stretched when applying; it should also be dry. Paraffin will dissolve more quickly when the solvent is hot. Naturally, neither turpentine nor kerosene should be heated over an open fire. Heating can safely be done by putting the container in a pail of hot water.

This mixture should not be used for waterproofing the canvas top of an automobile, for the liquid would dissolve the rubber cement used in the material. To waterproof such a top, soft beeswax can be rubbed on, or melted paraffin can be applied. The car should be allowed to stand in the hot sun; with heating, either material will in time be absorbed by the canvas.

A tear in an awning can be most securely repaired by sewing a patch on the under side. A patch can also be attached with a plastic patching preparation (Duro Handy Patch) with UHU All-purpose Glue, Duco household cement, or rubber cement, such as is used for patching an inner tube. The awning is laid face down on a flat surface, a cement walk, for example. A patch of canvas is cut, and both the patch and the space on the awning that it will cover are coated with cement. When this has dried enough to be strongly tacky, the patch is laid in position and forced into tight contact by hammering.