Wall-Mounted Faucets Still Available

Question: Do you know any way to convert an American Kitchens Co. kitchen faucet to a modern type? The company is out of business and no more faucets are available. A lot of people have them.

Answer: It appears that you have a wall-mounted faucet that needs replacing. The “modern type” faucet that you refer to is what plumbers call “deck mounted” faucets.

I checked with several sources, Mike Hartstein of GMA Plumbing Discount Center in West Los Angeles, Sandy Geisser of Cleveland Wrecking Co. near East Los Angeles, and Marty Kaplan of Snyder-Diamond, Santa Monica, Pasadena, North Hollywood and Torrance, and came up with several suggestions.

Most replacement wall-mounted faucets are adjustable, so you should have no trouble replacing the existing faucet with a new one from a manufacturer such as Moen, Chicago, Delta or Price Pfister. The cost should be from $18 to $90 for a Moen unit, according to Geisser.

Q: Could you give us any information on how to re-porcelain a kitchen sink? We just moved into a 28-year-old house and the porcelain is worn off from repeated scrubbing with a cleanser.

A: You’re in luck, living in Granada Hills, which isn’t all that far from Miracle Method of Glendale-Burbank, 645A W. California Ave., Glendale. This is the company that refinished the porcelain fixtures in the 1987 Pasadena Showcase House of Design. They did a beautiful job with sinks and tubs--some of which probably dated back 70 years to when the house was new.

Q: A year or so ago you mentioned automatically closing screen doors for sliding glass patio doors. Do you have that information handy?

A: You probably remember an October, 1986, column that mentioned the Pella Window Store at 12405 Ventura Blvd., Studio City. There are also Pella stores in Lawndale and Arcadia. They have patio doors with factory-supplied automatic screen closers.

Another possibility is a Kelly Kloser; I have had one on a patio screen for almost 10 years now and it works fine. Unfortunately, I can’t remember where I purchased this gadget that’s more than a gadget. Chuck Fromberg of Action Screen & Door, 24619 Arch St., Newhall 91321, tells me that the company that makes Kelly Klosers is going out of business. He doesn’t know where to get any of the closers, and he wants them badly! Can anyone out there help out?

It’s amazing to me that patio screens aren’t routinely equipped with closing devices, the way hinged screen doors are. Maybe there are different priorities involved, but a screen is a screen is a screen!