Pieces

of the Caribbean

Your Mastercard

melted somewhere around the 18th Christmas-gift purchase, and your wallet's

thinner than Calista Flockhart. Looks like that midwinter trip to the

Caribbean is out.

Pines

in the yard?

The ordinary pine

cone. It can be a simple symbol of winter, in a plain basket dressed

with a bow.

Show

up your home's elements

In a well-designed

house, the drama is in the details.

How

to connect a new foundation to an old one

Q. I am building

an addition on my home and realize I must connect the new foundation

with the existing one. What is the best way to do this? Is there a way

to waterproof the connection? Will this connection become a hinge point

in the future, causing cracks in the walls? I am very concerned about

how to make a connection between the structures that will stand the

test of time. - P.M., Orono, Minn.

White

powder on new masonry can make you nuts

Q. I feel our new

home has some serious problems, but our builder disagrees. The house

is less than 6 months old, but we have ugly white deposits that are

leaching out of our chimney, a wing wall that juts from a corner of

our home and a retaining wall. I feel there must be something wrong

for this to happen. The more I scrub, the worse the problem gets. What

is wrong, and what can be done to fix the problem? - Andrew M.,

Loveland, Ohio.

Tackling

winter dryness in your home

It's winter,

which means dry air.

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