Mark has a dancing washer: It's a front-loading, stackable unit that literally moves a foot or so across the floor while it's spinning. How can we keep it in its place?

• These low-water-using washers spin much faster than their traditional top-loading cousins. I hear complaints not only of waltzing around the house, but also of excessive noise when they are installed on the second floor. Check out a nifty vibration-dampening pad at www.gviinc.net. It looks like a hockey puck with a hole drilled in one side. The feet of the appliance sit in the hole and an adhesive coating on the bottom side helps the washer stay put.

Roger is a snow bird: Every winter we leave town for a few months. Please remind me of how to prepare the house for the winter.

• I'm not a believer in shutting off the heat entirely. You risk freeze-ups of pipes inside wall cavities, plus the super cold temperatures are brutal on woodwork, furniture, electronic devices and appliances.

First, set the thermostat no lower than 55 degrees. Then flush each toilet and remove the water in the bowls with a large car-washing sponge. That leaves a hole that can let sewer gas into the house, so stuff a couple of plastic shopping bags in there - but not too far. Invert a piece of Tupperware over the shower drain and, finally, close the pop-up stoppers in each remaining sink.

It's a good idea to relieve the pressure in the system. Turn the water heater off - including the pilot - and then close the main incoming water valve in the basement. Let some water dribble out of the lowest bathroom sink to let atmospheric pressure into the pipes. To ensure that the icemaker won't keep calling for water from a dry pipe, lift up that little lever in the freezer compartment. It's also a good idea to open cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls to let some warm air waft through those spaces.

Water-using appliances, like your clothes- and dishwasher, don't do very well if they are left unused for long periods. So, have a friend come in every few weeks to use them for a short period. They will need to know how to turn the water on and then back off as I've described above.

T.W. wants to spiff up the bath: Who should I call to regrout my shower?

• Regrouting a shower is one of those homeowner jobs that you can do yourself and get great results, even if you don't have prior experience. You'll need a little grout "saw" to remove the top 1/8 inch or so of the old material. Then buy a tub of premixed grout at the hardware store and apply it with a large sponge or grouting trowel. You'll get the hang of it quickly, and, after you rinse the wall and polish it, I promise you'll be proud of the results.

Jim was his own plumber: I used those screw-together white plastic fittings with nylon washers under the kitchen sink. Some are weeping. Do you think I have them tight enough?

• First, make sure the little nylon washers are not upside down. The taper goes down and away from the male portion of each joint. This system is designed to be tool-free - that is, hand-tightened only. But, sometimes you need a little more force than that. Use a set of large "plumbers" pliers to screw down the knurled nut until you hear a squeak - then 1/8 of a turn more. The weeping should cease.

Dear Readers: I gave some advice a couple of weeks ago about household sources of interference, like buzzing and humming, on AM radio stations: fluorescent lights, timers and photocells, for example. Vern and Sherry offer another one. They bought a digital-to-analog TV converter. It's a box that will be required to see all-digital TV after next February if you don't have cable or satellite. Theirs produces buzzing so strong that they even get it on the car radio when they pull into the garage.

Thanks guys. My advice is get another one, and, if it continues, contact the manufacturer.

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Write to Moon c/o The Gazette, P.O. Box 1779, Colorado Springs 80901 or e-mail him at ken@kenmoon.com.