Byline: Mike McClintock

Have questions about how to keep your home fit and trim?

Home Sense columnist Mike McClintock is online every other Thursday at Noon ET to answer your questions about home building, remodeling, repairs and the wide range of home-consumer issues. If it has something to do with the place where you live -- from home security to the latest on appliances, energy-saving and a lot more -- just ask. Mike has the answers.

McClintock's column appears in the Post Home section every Thursday. He is the author of 10 books, including "Alternative Housebuilding."

The transcript follows.

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Mike McClintock: Hi there: While I start with your questions, this time a quiz up front about product brand names, but from a global perspective as surveyed and compiled for 2004 by brandchannel.com.

The group polled 1,984 people worldwide in their annual Readers' Choice Awards, asking about brands that have the most impact (positive or negative) on our lives. "Impact" isn't defined- and who knows how a brand name affects your life anyway- but it generally seems to mean "most recognized". See if you can pick the top three- thinking globally- and then check some info about a very offbeat ripple effect of brand name popularity along with the quiz answers end of hour as usual.

HOME SENSE- BRAND NAMES -QUESTION

From this list of Brandchannel.com top ten brands with the most impact globally (and some surprising names there), can you name the top three?

al jazeera

apple

coca-cola

e-bay

google

ikea

mini (cooper)

nokia

starbucks

virgin (air)

- on to your questions

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Herndon, Va.: I want to install a new phone jack, and the nearest existing jack is in the room downstairs. How difficult is it to run wires between floors? Will I have to drill thru the floor behind the wall?

Mike McClintock: The trick is to drill from the old jack area into an empty space that you can drill into from the destination. Sounds easy, but it can be an art that electricians call fishing. Think to keep it simple i would just drill up near the baseboard so there would be just a tiny tail of wire below the new jack.

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Hot in Herndon, Va., and its only June!: I live in a townhouse where the summer heat on the 3rd floor makes the bedrooms too warm. How much difference in comfort level and cooling costs would it make to add an electric roof fan to a townhouse? Would it be worth the trouble to have one installed? Or would the difference be minimal? Thanks.

Mike McClintock: It's strange (world out of whack) when the weather goes from way too cold in May to way too hot in June. As to fans; they always make you feel cooler, but can be a budget drain if they are exhausting AC air. The best bet is an exhaust fan in the attic or attic crawl space. The floor of the attic should be heavily insulated. Above that should be enough ventilation to make the air almost the same temperature as the air outside.

You might accomplish this simply by increasing the vent area- the size of the intake and outtake grills. If that's not practical, a thermostatically-triggered vet fan would help. First, I'd try measuring the ceiling temp- taping a thermometer to the ceiling. The rule of thumb is that if the wall (in this case ceiling) temp is more than five degrees warmer than the room temp (read that by setting a thermomter on a chair midroom) you probably will benefit from more insulation and more ventilation.

I'd do the insulating and venting before investing in the fan- specially if you get a 10-15 degree difference in the readings.

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Springfield, Va.: We recently power-washed and stained our deck. Unfortunately, the stain no longer matches the surrounding fence. Do we need to powerwash the fence too or simply apply a new coat of stain? Thanks for any tips. I am eagerly awaiting the use of our deck.

Mike McClintock: A deck is the place to be now- maybe under a huge umbrella. So it really depends on how exact a match you want. But if the fence doesn't need power washing, think i would add a semi-transparent stain that's in the ballpark and chalk up any small difference to weathering.

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Alexandria, Va.: I want to replace the linoleum on my condo kitchen floor. Pulling it up is easy. But how can I make it smooth underneath without buying expensive heating or rolling devices? I want to lay new tile down myself.

Thanks Mike!

Mike McClintock: When the tile comes up sometimes the roughness that remains is glue- and that is very difficult to remove. If the existing floor is sound (and maybe just the wrong color with some cracks and chips) you could lay right over them. If the floor is really too up and down for new tile one way or the other, the solution is to add an underlayment- a thin, usially no more than 1/4" layer.

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Laurel, Md.: Hey Mike. I enjoy these discussions very much. I will be installing new laminate flooring in our kitchen this weekend. I won't mention the brand name, but it is the floating, glueless, snap together type sold in most home improvement stores. My question: should I install around the kitchen island OR temporarily remove the island, install the floor, and then put the island back on top of the new floor? I've asked several people and I get conflicting answers. HELP! Thanks.