Q:I recently purchased a gas heater. I also own a generator. The furnace installer told me that if I used the generator to power the heater, I could blow out a circuit panel on the heater. The guy told me that I could get something to install on the heater that would make it possible to run the heater with the generator. Is that true? Where can I find one of those things?

A: Today’s heaters can be temperamental, but they also cannot be asked to do things for which they were never designed. It might have saved you a lot of time after the fact if you had asked about hooking up your generator to the heater when you were shopping for the new one. I would contact the manufacturer of the heater directly to see if it could provide the specifications, including the make and model, of the device you would need to make one work with the other.

Generators are often asked to do more than they are designed to do, and also can be misused. Is this a whole-house generator we are talking about? Then perhaps the generator is easily able to operate the heater if the power goes out. Contact the generator manufacturer as well to make absolutely certain that the heater-maker recommendations fit your machine.

Q:Six or seven years ago, we had a screened-in porch and deck built. It’s well-built, but not particularly well-finished. The builder used 2-by-6-inch boards instead of deck boards for the floor. Some of the boards are warping, knots are falling out, and one even continues to bleed sap. Is it possible to place deck boards on top of the 2-by-6’s to make it more appealing? If not, what other possibilities are there?

A: Well, there’s strength in 2-by-6’s, but deck boards would have been better, easier to maintain, and longer lasting.

Say you do put deck boards on top of the 2-by-6’s to renew the look of the floor. If you have problems with what’s underneath, what you put on top will probably be affected.

I’d remove the 2-by-6’s and replace them with Trex or some other composite, low-maintenance product that would probably stand up to wear better and need little attention.

Have questions for Alan J. Heavens? E-mail him at aheavens@phillynews.com or write him at The Inquirer, Box 8263, Philadelphia, PA 19101.