Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page H05

THE HARTFORD COURANT FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2009 H5 CTLIVING DO IT YOURSELF BEFORE HIRING A ROOFING CONTRACTOR I have been told my asphalt roof shingles need to be replaced and have received bids from four contractors. Is there anything special I should look out for before accepting a bid? In addition to the usual factors of contractor experience, reputation and licensing (if required in your state), you should give special attention to: Insurance. Make sure the contractor is fully insured for liability and has workers' compensation covering all employees. Don't take the GENE AUSTIN months after the job was done. Type of shingles and warranty.

Roofing shingles have varying quality, with warranties ranging from 20 years to 40 years or more. It pays to pick top-quality shingles, and always ask for a written copy of the warranty covering the shingles. Snow and ice protection. If you live in a region where there is heavy snow, have a waterproof membrane installed at the eave edges of the roof to prevent leaks from water backing up under the shingles. Work and payment schedules.

Ask for a written schedule of when work will be started and completed. It is best to choose a contractor who, once the job is started, will complete it without lapses. Final payment should not be made until work is finished. For more information on shingles and roofing contractors, visit the websites www. roofhelp.com choices asphaltshingles and wwwinspect-nycom roof roofcont.htm.

There is a 2-inch crack in the bottom of my insulated storm door. The insulation, fine granules that seem to be under pressure, is leaking out. How can I seal the crack? I want to paint the door afterward. treated with an acid etcher, which makes it more porous and better able to hold paint. Another reason for peeling is moisture in the concrete, which literally pushes off the paint.

It is unlikely that this is a problem in your older cast steps, but it is sometimes the case in basement floors, patios and porch floors that contact the ground. If you decide to repaint, you should scrape off all loose and deteriorated paint, then clean and rinse the steps. Let the steps dry out thoroughly before applying a top-quality latex-based porch-and-floor paint suitable for concrete. Quick Tip Reader Lisa Hurley said she successfully stopped woodpecker attacks on her home's cedar siding by setting up a suet feeder for the birds. Blocks of suet, some containing bird seed or peanuts, are sold at most pet stores and at Wal-Mart stores.

"They prefer this treat much more than pecking at my siding," Ms. Hurley said. A bonus: It is fun to watch the colorful birds when they come to dine. Contact Gene Austin at doit861aol.com or at 1730 Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422. Try epoxy putty to seal the crack.

It can be bought at many home centers and hardware stores, often in the plumbing departments. The putty has good adhesion to many surfaces and grips well under pressure (it is often used to fix leaking pipes). Scuff up the area around the crack with sandpaper to improve adhesion, then mix enough epoxy to make a patch and press it tightly over the crack. Smooth the edges with your fingers. The patch will be a bit lumpy but shouldn't show up much if you paint the door.

My cast concrete steps have been painted several times over the years and the paint always peels. The paint is latex enamel. How can I stop the peeling? Paint peels from concrete for several reasons. I suspect that you might have used the wrong type of paint. Any surface subject to foot traffic needs to have paint that can withstand friction and wear.

These paints are called porch-and-floor paints, and they can be bought at any paint store or home center along with directions for use. Another common reason for peeling is that the concrete is too smooth to give the paint good adhesion. Smooth concrete is often contractor's word for this; ask to see copies of the actual policies. Description of work. Will the old shingles be removed or left in place? New shingles can generally be installed over one layer of old shingles.

If old shingles will be removed, what charges will be made if repairs to the roof deck are needed? Cleanup. Removing old shingles creates an incredible mess, and you should make sure there are provisions covering a thorough cleanup. I recall one job where the owner found his rain gutters full of shingle bits and nails Families Moved Out, Then Their Houses Were Torn Apart paid to be the location for "Revolutionary Low six figures, Becky Siciliano said. "It was the money that made me decide to do it," she added. Real estate agent Kelley describes the town of Darien as "beautifully boring," with neatly maintained and lovely homes.

Kelley, who has sold several homes in this neighborhood, says they recently sold in the $1.1 million to $1.5 million range. "The homes are on half -acre lots in a nice cohesive neighborhood that is also private. I think the production designer picked it because it's rather homogenous," Kelley said. "It spoke of a certain time and certain place and represents what everyone wants the idyllic setting, children, everyone healthy and happy It's like saying, if I do and everything will be OK. But there's also the other side.

Now I'm on a road and I'm stuck and I can't get off it. When you look at these houses, on the surface, life is perfect, but peel back a layer and what do you have?" DREAMWORKS PLAYING NEIGHBORS in "Revolutionary Road" were David Harbour as Shep and Kathryn Hahn as Millie Campbell. The house in the background was one of two Darien homes used in the movie. CONTINUED FROM HI doesn't see any movement or people, you can see that she's unbearably claustrophobic. She was trapped and there was no way to get away, because at that time, women didn't have lives of their own." Located on Chasmars Pond Road and Raymond Street in Darien, the houses used in the film were built in the 1970s on the site of a former rose farm, said Ellen Kelley of William Pitt Sotheby's International Real Estate in Darien.

The Wheeler house and the house of their neighbors, the Campbells, directly behind are four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath "builder's Colonials." 'No Splits Or Ranches' Because the production designer is responsible for the look of the film, Zea was hired early in the moviemaking process. She and her team of researchers found photographs from the era and showed them to director Sam Mendes. Once Mendes decided how he wanted the film's colors, composition and tone to look, a location manager began looking for the right houses. The team looked at locations in New York and New Jersey as well as Connecticut, but chose the Darien homes because of the tax incentives offered by the state of Connecticut. "Sam was very specific in his requests; the house had to have two levels no splits or ranches," Zea said.

"This house had all the ingredients of what would have been around in the 1950s." Once the location manager found the houses, Zea and her team had just five weeks to transform them. The families moved out for the summer while their houses were basically torn apart. The crew removed a wall in the bedroom of the Wheeler house and installed an I-beam to keep it from falling down and replaced the kitchen with knotty pine cabinets and period appliances. Outside, the garage was covered up and landscapers created a little hill for the car to sit on. "We wanted to keep the sense of isolation that was described in the book," Zea said.

"It was just kismet; all the elements came together." About 45 people in all were involved in transforming the house from carpenters to interior designers to prop coordinators. "We wanted the interior to be simple and spare to show that Frank and April were testing the waters about living in suburbia," Zea said. "As things begin to fall apart in their relationship, the home starts to look neglected: The painting is not on the wall, the knickknack is not on the table." Dismantling And Rebuilding The Wheeler house is owned by Peter and Becky Siciliano, a couple in their 60s who said "sure" when a location scout from Dreamworks knocked on their door in April, and offered them a pile of money and a beach house in Rowayton in exchange for allowing their home to be dismantled. They moved out in May, a couple of including switching the roof and some windows and reinstalling the kitchen, a crew moved the family back in exactly as they lived before, referring to photographs they had taken of each room, even the inside of the china cabinet. Just how much were they Granite Sale 20! weeks before their daughter's wedding, transporting by hand the many shower and wedding gifts.

"Dreamworks took care of putting everything in storage for us," said Becky Siciliano. "They were wonderful and extremely professional to work with." Before clinching the deal, the Sicilianos asked all their neighbors if they would mind the disruption the film would cause the cars, the 18-wheelers filled with equipment and all the extra people in the neighborhood. All but one neighbor agreed; the naysayer left town for the summer and refused Dreamworks' offer of $25,000 to paint and cover the house during shooting. Then, the Sicilianos hired an attorney to hammer out the details of renting out their house. "The attorney advised us to put in a clause saying that Dreamworks would have to pay us $1,000 a day for every day they used the house beyond Sept.

6," Becky Siciliano said. "Well, that was a good thing because they were 30 days late." Among the countless expenses associated with the film, a landscaper was paid $156,000 to dismantle and then rebuild an elaborate stone wall in the backyard of the Sicilianos' home. "My landscaper is very happy with his little red Mercedes," Becky Siciliano said. Even The China Cabinet When shooting was finished and the home rebuilt, Kitchen Countertops Bathroom Vanity Tiles and Flooring Professional Fabrication Installation Quick Turn Around Time Free Estimates PYRAMSA MARBLE GRANITE www.granitecityct.com 32 North Road, East Windsor 860-654-1991 Open Sat.9-3 by appt. AWAY FROM HOME evolution as a gardener, Feb.

19 at noon at First Congregational Church, 31 Maple Bristol, at the next meeting of the Bristol Garden Club. The program is open to the public. Call 860-589-0598. Bonsai Workshop: Illusions Vs. Reality Todd Hansen, owner of Sanctuary Bonsai in East Hartford and past president of the Greater Hartford Bonsai Society, will present a hands-on workshop on bonsai and discuss its history, styles and techniques Feb.

21 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge, Mass. Bonsai specimens will be on display to illustrate desirable qualities and horticulture techniques. The fee is $21; $16 for garden members. Call 413-298-3926.

Send information about home- and garden-related events at least three weeks in advance to Home editor Nancy Schoeffler at nschoefflercourant.com. Vairo, National Register and State Register coordinator of the state Commission on Culture and Tourism, will cover criteria, how to apply, benefits, restrictions and the various types of designations. The suggested donation is reservations are recommended. Call 860-658-2500, Ext. 102.

Orchids Judy Becker of the Connecticut Orchid Society will present a program about orchids at the monthly meeting of the Garden Club of Madison Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. in the First Congregational Church Hall, Meeting House Lane, Madison. Her talk will follow a light lunch. Members also will exhibit forced bulbs, cuttings and planters in a horticulture display For information and reservations, call 203-318-0120. Recent Discoveries Plant explorer, horticulturist and author Daniel Hinkley will present a slide-illustrated lecture, about plants that have been recently introduced, discovered or bred, Feb.

14 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Monument Mountain Regional High School auditorium, Route 7, Great Barrington, Mass. Registration is required. The fee is $35; $30 for members of the Berkshire Botanical Garden; group rates are available. Call 413-298-3926.

Climate Change Meteorologist Art Horn will present a program on global warming and common myths about climate change Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m. at Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Drive, West Hartford. The program, sponsored by the Connecticut Horticultural Society, is free for society members; a $5 donation is suggested from non-members. Call 860-529-8713 or go to www.cthort.org.

Monet The Gardener Tish Robinson will present a free talk on Impressionist painter Claude Monet's Landscape Architect Anne Cleves Symmes, director of the Beatrix Farrand Garden Association, will give a talk on the renowned landscape architect Sunday from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington. She will detail the techniques Farrand used in 1912 to create the garden at Bellefield in Hyde Park, NY. Admission, including a reception, is $10; $8 for Hill-Stead members and students. Registration is not necessary Information: 860-677-4787, Ext.

Ill, or go to www.hillstead.org. Historic Pros And Cons The Simsbury Historical Society's Old House Group will present a program on the pros and cons of historic designations and districts Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. in the visitors' center at the Simsbury Historical Society, 800 Hopmeadow St. Speakers Mary Dunne, local government grants coordinator, and Stacey To arrange for a free in-home consultation: Call toll-free (800) 428-6438 or Visit Our Brand New Showroom 719 Silas Deane Highway, Wethersfield www.digiorgiinc.com Open W-F from 10:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m.

Sat. 10:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m Renewal byAndersen. ROOFING SIDING, INC WINDOW REPLACEMENT "Our Family Serving Your Family Since 1933" 1 35, more efficient in winter and 41 in summer, as compared to ordinary dual pane glass. Not valid with other offers or prior purchases.

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License number available upon request. "Renewal by Andersen" and the Renewal by Andersen logo are registered trademarks of Andersen Corporation. All other marks of Andersen Corporation. 2006 Andersen Corporation. All rights reserved..