Ask the Carey Brothers

Answer: Since the foundation has been painted before, you probably don’t need a primer. However, you will have to do some preparation. Use a wire brush or a pressure washer to make sure that the surface is clean and free of all loose paint. Then, you can apply a coat of high-quality, acrylic, water-based paint.

Aluminum foil no-nos

You want to keep your oven sparkling clean so you protect it by putting aluminum foil on racks, under food as it cooks, and down on the oven floor where food drops and burns to a crisp. But instead of helping, you’re hurting your oven.

Foil placed on the oven floor reflects and intensifies heat, which can cause the bake element to burn out prematurely.

Foil placed under foods on the racks is bad because it traps heat in the bottom of the oven, keeping it from circulating and reaching the heat sensor near the top. Severe overheating is possible; besides damaging the bake element, that could also affect insulation in the oven wall and discolor or even crack oven-door glass.

By disrupting temperatures and air circulation, aluminum foil messes up cooking times, too.

A quickie clean just isn’t worth it.