Show Notes
Stay safe and secure with information about building a safe backyard playground for kids, battery technology to guard against power loss, and fences that add privacy, security, and style. Plus, get answers to more home improvement questions for your next DIY project!
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
- Playground: Play it safe by building a fun backyard playground with kids’ safety in mind.
- Generators: New battery technology protects against power outages.
- Fences: Good fences make good neighbors, so get tips on putting up the perfect fence.
Top Questions & Answers
- Tile Flooring: Why is there condensation on the ceramic tile floor? Annette gets advice on reducing the indoor humidity that’s bringing warm air against the cold floor.
- Electrical: Steve is concerned that none of his kitchen outlets are grounded, but it’s not certain. A good electrician is needed to do an evaluation and identify any issues.
- Clothes Closet: Heavy clothes have bowed the rod and pulled the brackets away from the closet wall. Bea learns how to strongly secure the brackets, shelf, and rod.
- Patio vs. Deck: Bill is trying to decide between building a concrete patio or a wood deck. They’d be similar in price, but the concrete patio would last much longer.
- Tree Roots: Should Lynn worry about the pear tree roots near her house foundation? They shouldn’t pose a problem and she’d see signs of any damage beforehand.
- Pool Deck: Howard is painting his concrete pool deck and doesn’t want it to be slippery. He gets tips for prepping the surface and applying an anti-slip coating paint.
Ask Your Home Improvement Question
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 00:00:29 | TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 00:00:35 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 00:00:36 | TOM: And we are here to help you get the projects done around your house that you have on your mind. If you don’t know where to start, how to start, who to hire, can you do it yourself, do you need to get a guy, do you need to get a gal, somebody that does this for a living, hey, we can help you sort through all of those questions. But you’ve got to help yourself first by reaching out to us with your questions. At 1-888-Money-Pit, that’s 888-666-3974. Or better yet, just go to moneypit.com slash ask and click the blue microphone button and you can speak your question right into your computer, your iPhone, your tablet, your whatever, and we will get it and get back to you very, very quickly. We’ve got a great show planned for you today. First up, we’re going to talk about playground safety in children. You know, it’s the last thing on their minds, but it has to be the first thing on our minds. So we’re going to share some tips on how to make sure your playgrounds are safe. |
| 00:01:29 | LESLIE: And more homeowners than ever are searching for ways to reduce those electric bills and manage increasingly severe power outages. We’re going to highlight new battery technology that can do both. |
| 00:01:40 | TOM: And, you know, the old saying, good fences make good neighbors. But exactly how do you build a good fence? You know, like the kind you won’t have to build over and over again because it got destroyed by rot and termites and carbon rants. We’ve got those solutions just ahead. |
| 00:01:55 | LESLIE: But first, our focus is you. We want to know what you want to know. So if there’s a DIY project on your to-do list, let us help make it a DI done project. |
| 00:02:04 | TOM: Call us right now at 1-888-Money-Pit. That’s 888-666-3974. Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first? |
| 00:02:13 | LESLIE: Annette in Mississippi is on the line and has a flooring question. What can we do for you today? |
| 00:02:18 | CALLER: I have ceramic tile in my kitchen and den. And I’ve noticed condensate on top of the surface of the tile. And I was just wondering what causes that. |
| 00:02:30 | TOM: The difference between a cold floor and a warm, humid house. So when you have, you know, think about it this way. You go outside in the summer and if you’ve got a, you know, a cold glass, an ice-filled glass of water or iced tea, you get moisture on the outside of that glass. Well, why is that happening? Because warm, moist air is striking the outside of the glass. It’s cooling and it’s releasing the water, right? Because the warmer air holds more water than colder air. So in your house, you have, again, moist air striking a cold surface and it’s condensing. Dehumidifying that space can help. And there’s a couple of ways to do that. One of which is an appliance called a hold-home dehumidifier. It fits into your HVAC system. And it can take out a lot of water, about 90 pints of water a day out of the air. And it can also reduce the cost of air conditioning because everybody thinks that air conditioning is the only way to dehumidify a house. It’s actually not. And it’s not that good of a dehumidifier. Frankly, if you were to add a hold-home dehumidifier in addition to air conditioning, you will find that it will pull a lot of moisture out of the air and it will make the air a lot more comfortable, not quite so clammy, and it will dramatically reduce or completely eliminate the condensation that you’re getting now on your floor. Because that can get slippery, too, so you’ve got to be careful. Right. |
| 00:03:49 | CALLER: Is that common for ceramic tile floors? |
| 00:03:52 | TOM: It’s not the material, okay? It’s the environment that’s causing this. It’s not the floor that’s making this happen. It’s the environment. You have high humidity in your house. Why? I don’t know, but you want to check and make sure your bath and exhaust fans are going outside and you want to make sure that your kitchen range duct hood is ducting outside. You want to look at the grating and the drainage of the foundation perimeter. If you have a lot of water that piles along the outside of the foundation, overflowing gutters, that can raise the dampness and the humidity level. All those things contribute, and you can certainly take a look at those things. But an appliance like a hold-home dehumidifier, might be the best solution. Okay, Annette? Okay. |
| 00:04:31 | CALLER: Well, I currently use just a single room dehumidifier, and I haven’t noticed it in any other place in the house. It’s just that one area. Yeah. |
| 00:04:40 | TOM: Well, you know, this is an option. I mean, you could certainly try another dehumidifier in that space, but it is an environmental issue, and it’s not the building materials. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:04:51 | LESLIE: Steve in Kansas, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today? |
| 00:04:54 | CALLER: My daughter, about two years ago, bought her dream home, so to speak. She died at four years. And, you know, she had her house inspected by a noted reputable house inspector. here about two weeks ago, I was in to change out the range or cook stove in the kitchen that was on a separate island. And putting in the new stove, I had to move the outlet. So I decided, well, I’m going to shut the power off because of where the screws and everything were. |
| 00:05:23 | TOM: That was wise. |
| 00:05:24 | CALLER: And I went out to the breaker box, figured it was the 50-inch breaker. Most of the stuff was not. It was not labeled or allegedly labeled. And I shut the 50-inch breaker off and came back in the kitchen, and the lights went out. And I started thinking about it. Well, they shouldn’t be on the 50-inch breaker, but I thought, well, maybe it’s coming from the back of the stove. There was maybe a plug-in or something that they, anyhow. Further checking, I found that virtually nothing in the kitchen had any ground wires, even though there were GFIC breakers or plug-in, I call them breakers. But they do trip if there was a current demand or a supposedly… |
| 00:06:03 | TOM: When you say ground wire, are you telling me it’s a two-wire system instead of a three-wire system? |
| 00:06:07 | CALLER: There was… I opened the plate up on the breaker, and there was no ground wires at all running anywhere. And most everything in the house has got a three-prong outlet. |
| 00:06:16 | TOM: Because there was a time when you just had two wires. You didn’t have a third ground wire, and it was grounded through the neutral. So is that what you’re saying? |
| 00:06:22 | CALLER: Well, none of the outlets with the little cheapy tester show that it is grounded. |
| 00:06:27 | TOM: So… That’s a second issue, Steve, okay? Because you can use a ground fault circuit interrupter outlet even if you don’t have a ground wire. Because basically, it’s sort of a trick of the trade, but you can… You’re essentially creating the ground protection even though it’s not actually grounded. So if there’s a diversion or current to a ground source, it turns the outlet off. So it’s possible to use a GFCI even if you don’t have that third wire. When was this house built? |
| 00:06:55 | CALLER: Roughly 61 or… Roughly, yeah. |
| 00:06:59 | TOM: It might be a two-wire house. So look, if you have concerns about this… Yeah, most everything was two-wire. Right. Well, then, it’s not that the whole house is not grounded. It’s just it’s grounded through the neutral. And then you have a combination of three-prong outlets that don’t really have a ground wire attached to them. So I get that. And that probably shouldn’t have been done. And I’m sure there’s going to be work to be done to straighten that out. A home inspector should have at least tested a representative sample of outlets to see if they were grounded or ungrounded. And that would have been a very simple thing. To do. But if that didn’t happen, and I’m sorry for that, but you may be wise to have a good electrician do an evaluation to kind of give you a sense as to exactly where you are so that you don’t falsely rely on an outlet being grounded only to find that it’s not. Because if it’s not grounded, guess who becomes the ground? You. Right? You become the ground. And that’s not good. So the ground fault outlets are a possible solution. But I think you need, at this point, to get a sense. To get a sense as to what you have and what you don’t have. I think you’ve identified some important issues, Steve. And I think the next step would be for you to bring in a pro. I would recommend HomeAdvisor.com as a good independent site where you could consider a wide variety of electricians and see if you can find one that is highly rated that other folks have used and I’m happy with. And maybe just start right there. Okay? Okay. Good luck, Steve. You’re a good dad. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:08:27 | LESLIE: Hey, Hey, guys. If you’ve heard a helpful tip or two while listening to our show, please help us help even more home improvers by dropping us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. |
| 00:08:37 | That would be awesome. And you might even win a copy of our book, My Home, My Money Pit, your guide to every home improvement adventure. Just go to MoneyPit.com slash review. |
| 00:08:47 | CALLER: Now we’ve got Bea in North Carolina on the line. What’s going on at your money pit? |
| 00:08:51 | CALLER: Well, I have this closet that is fairly long, maybe about six feet long. Okay. And it is a rental. It’s a property of mine. Okay. And the tenant, who had more clothes than anybody I’ve ever met, put a whole bunch of suits on there, literally. Oh, those are heavy. Put a whole bunch of, yeah, suits on there. And it bored the rod and it pulled the supporting boards from the wall. Okay. And it’s hard to keep getting these contractors to do small jobs. They charge a lot. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. And I’m wondering, if I got a job from you, how could I myself, who’s a novice at DIY projects, tackle this kind of a job? Okay. |
| 00:09:38 | TOM: So let me ask you this. Can you describe how that closet rod is supported? You mentioned it pulls the board out of the wall. A lot of times we’ll see boards that have holes drilled in the middle of them. And then the board itself is attached to the wall. And then the rod kind of sits on that, inside that hole. Is that what you’re looking at? Yeah. |
| 00:09:58 | CALLER: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. handle the rod that is the situation, but then what we also have are these supporting racks, if you will, that are placed every so often through the length of the closet. So he literally not only did that wood rod bow, but those supporting racks that are then nailed to a board that is nailed into the drywall that literally pulled away from the wall, everything pulled from the wall. |
| 00:10:30 | TOM: Okay. So here’s what you need to do. First of all, you need to completely empty the closet and take out the shelf, which was probably loose on top of that assembly as you’ve described it. Now, what I’m going to call is the cleating, which is the wood strips that are attached to the drywall on the long wall and also on the short walls. The first step is to make sure that those are solidly attached. And to do that, you need to locate where the studs are in the wall. Those are the wood framing members that are behind the drywall. Now, an easy way to do this, even though you’re kind of putting some tiny holes in the wall, but you know what? It’s kind of worth it. And I’m going to tell you how to do this and hide it at the same time. If you were to take a small finish nail, these are the thin nails, you know, one that’s about three inches long without a big head on it. And if you were to tap that nail or drive that nail into the wall where you think the studs are, and they’re probably going to be close to where those brackets were. But you sometimes you can knock on the wall with your with your hand, like you’re knocking on a door, and you’ll hear that it’s a little different sound where the stud is. But if you find out where that stud is, and then put a little pencil mark on that wood cleat where that is, because you’re going to drive a screw in there. And so you want to find the studs, you can use that nail to kind of, if TOM: you hold the nail close to the top of the cleat, where the shelf’s ultimately going to cover it, you can even like tap it in a little bit till you feel the wood and then wiggle it out. So now you know where the stud is. Now, once you know where the stud is, what you’re going to do is, use what are called drywall screws or hardened screws in a home center. Anybody can direct you to these. They’re black screws. They have a Phillips head bit on them. You want to get one that’s long enough to go through that cleat and into the wall. So I would think about two and a half inches long will do it. And then the way you drive them in is not with a screwdriver, but with a drill. So a drill with a screwdriver tip on it, you start real slow and you can drill right through that piece of wood, right through the drywall and right into the stud. And you know what, Bea? When you hit that stud, you’re going to know it because that screw is going to be in there nice and solid. And there’s no way that wood is ever going to pull off again. So you want to do that every place you have a stud in the corners or the sides. There’s always going to be a stud in the corner. Sometimes you have to angle the screws a little bit to get to that. Once you have that done, then you can replace the shelf back on top. You can put the closet rod back in. And you’re going to want to attach that closet rod well to the wood cleats on the ends. And then again, depending on how it’s designed, I don’t know if it has a hole or sometimes there’s a bracket, but you want to use screws for this, not nails. Always use these drywall screws. They are like the miracle fastener for all sorts of home improvement projects because they don’t pull out. And then in terms of that bracket that is attaching and is holding those intermittent sort of supports, now normally the cleat behind the shelf is about four inches tall. You’re going to have probably another piece of wood that goes down the full length of the bracket. And again, that has to be screwed into the stud. And then you can attach the brackets to that wood. Now, attaching the brackets to the wood, you don’t necessarily have to use the same size screws, but you have to use screws. And if you get that all done right and lined up well, there’s no way this guy in all of his suits is going to pull that shelf and that bar down again. Okay? It’s really not a difficult project to do. It’s a good basic DIY project. |
| 00:13:49 | CALLER: Should I change the rod to a metal rod? |
| 00:13:52 | TOM: You could change it to a metal rod. And if you get a metal rod, you can find one that’s like telescopic. So they’ll have a rod that works for like five to seven feet, for example. And if your closet’s six feet, you extend it. And the metal rods, at the end, they have like a built-in bracket that sort of hangs on top of that wood cleat. And then again, it screws in. So that might be a little easier for you, a little nicer for you as well, and possibly even stronger than the wood rod. |
| 00:14:18 | CALLER: That’s great instruction. |
| 00:14:20 | TOM: All right. There you go, Bea. Good luck with that project. |
| 00:14:22 | LESLIE: Well, as the weather turns warmer and kids are moving outside to play, it’s a great time. To make sure that the play areas around your house are properly constructed and safe. Right. |
| 00:14:32 | TOM: You know, every year in the U.S., more than 200,000 kids under the age of 14 are hurt in playground accidents. And many of those happen in backyard playgrounds all across the nation because of the play equipment. Most of those injuries happen as a result of a fall on a hard surface. Yeah. |
| 00:14:50 | LESLIE: And you know what? That’s why it’s important to create safe fall zones around all of the equipment. You’ve got to do the areas under. But also at least six feet around that playground because it needs to be soft enough to cushion a fall. |
| 00:15:03 | TOM: And you know, people are thinking, well, I have a grass yard with my playground equipment, so I’m good to go, right? No, you’re not actually good to go. What kind of support do you think that grass gives a kid if he or she falls on it, right? |
| 00:15:14 | LESLIE: I mean, what’s under the grass is pretty hard. |
| 00:15:17 | TOM: Well, there are actually several materials to consider, and it’s based on personal preference and aesthetics and cost. So we’re talking about something as simple as wood chips or mulch. But you could also use. You could also use shredded rubber, pea gravel, or even sand. Yeah. |
| 00:15:30 | LESLIE: Now, it doesn’t really matter what material you use. It’s the depth of the material that’s important. And that depth is determined by the height of the equipment that you’re putting it around or under. So, for example, if the equipment, your playground equipment in your yard has about seven feet, you need at least six inches of depth for 10 feet. You need nine inches for 11 feet, though. You need 12 inches. So you kind of have to accommodate based on the height because obviously the higher you fall from. The harder your fall is going to be. Yeah. |
| 00:15:58 | TOM: And really, do you have to have playground equipment that’s 10 feet tall? I say not. Let’s keep it low, folks. And remember, this isn’t just a one and done. Replenish the landings on material as needed. Probably once at the beginning of each outdoor season, you’ll need to add a little bit more. And also be sure to leave some space between equipment. So, for example, if you’ve got a swing, don’t let the arc of the swing come anywhere near any of the other pieces of playground equipment. |
| 00:16:24 | LESLIE: Yeah, it makes sense. But I swear to you. Those kids, like, you know, they’re kind of dummies. I can remember my boys being like, someone’s on a swing. I’m going to walk immediately behind it. So it’s like you’ve got to imagine that they’re going to do the silliest thing ever and plan for it. |
| 00:16:38 | TOM: Oh, yeah. We had side-by-side swings, and the kids would play bumper swings and try to crash into each other. |
| 00:16:43 | LESLIE: Or how tight can we twist them up so that your brother spins like crazy? Oh, that’s right. Bill from Pensacola, Florida, is on the line and has been wanting to take on an outdoor project. What are you working on, Bill? |
| 00:16:55 | Me and the wife are talking. We’re talking about doing a concrete patio or a wooden patio. What would you say was the least expensive way to go with it? We haven’t hit the Florida lottery yet, but we’re wanting to do something out in the backyard. |
| 00:17:13 | TOM: Well, Bill, that’s a good question. And certainly a wooden deck or a patio will be, I think, similar in price. But more importantly, you have to ask yourself what’s going to wear better. And given the fact that you’re in Florida. I think you absolutely have to go with a patio because you’re going to build that deck at basically a grade right on the lawn, essentially. And if you leave it up, you know, maybe six inches or so, it’s going to be a lot more work to take care of. It’s going to be a lot more likely to get moss and algae on there. The boards can become cracked and checked. So I’m thinking that that’s probably not the best solution for your part of the country. Leslie, what do you think about the paver idea, though? The Milano pavers are going top of concrete. That’s an option, too. It looks pretty good. |
| 00:17:55 | LESLIE: I mean, the pavers. The pavers are lovely and you can sort of interlock them together in a variety of shapes, patterns. And they’re super simple to use if you’ve got that level sort of concrete patio to start with. And I think for your climate, I feel like the concrete’s way more manageable than dealing with a wood deck. |
| 00:18:13 | TOM: Absolutely. So hopefully that gives you some good options, Bill. Thanks so much for calling us at The Money Pit. |
| 00:18:18 | LESLIE: Well, today, more homeowners than ever are researching for ways to reduce their electric bills, better manage increasingly severe power outages, and become more energy independent in general. Well, fortunately, there are also more options than ever before to help you accomplish that. |
| 00:18:34 | TOM: And joining us to talk about backup energy options is Clement Fang. Clement is with Briggs & Stratton Energy Solutions. Welcome, Clement. |
| 00:18:41 – 00:18:4 | CLEMENT FENG: Hey, Tom. Hey, Leslie. Good to be with you today. |
| 00:18:43 | TOM: You know, it seems that electricity is becoming more and more expensive and less reliable every year. And with hurricane season coming up, it’s predicted to be really bad. So I guess now’s a really good time to talk. Talk about what our options are. |
| 00:18:57 – 00:19:3 | CLEMENT: Yeah, that’s absolutely right. We are entering hurricane season. And according to Colorado State University, it’s going to be a really active season this year. And it’s just putting a lot of folks that are living along the coast at risk of a major power outage. And even in the interior of the country, power outages have become more frequent and a little bit longer than normal. The U.S. EIA tells us that, on average, the typical home in the U.S., has experienced five and a half hours of power outages each year. It’s a big and increasingly troublesome issue. |
| 00:19:31 | TOM: That Colorado prediction was really interesting. I think you told me they have 23 storms, 23 named storms, and their average is like nine? |
| 00:19:39 – 00:19:5 | CLEMENT: Yeah, their April forecast predicts 23 named storms, with 11 of those being hurricanes. And that’s the highest prediction they’ve ever had. The previous high, as you mentioned, was nine hurricanes in a season. And this year, they’re forecasting 11. So it’s a big deal. |
| 00:19:55 | LESLIE: So are we still thinking that the best way to go to ensure that you always have power at home is with a permanently installed standby generator? Yeah. |
| 00:20:03 – 00:20:4 | CLEMENT: So permanently installed standby generators have been around for years. They’re well-known, very reliable pieces of equipment. They are permanently attached to your home. And they are powered or fueled by the home’s natural gas or propane fuel. And they’re a little bit different than portable generators, which you can just pull out and plug in. But with a portable generator, you have to refuel them, and you have to run an extension cord. But standby generators are permanently connected to a home. And so they provide automatic backup. Whenever there’s a power outage, they just turn on automatically within a few seconds. And the home resumes having power just as though there were not a power outage going on. |
| 00:20:45 | TOM: So Leslie and I both have natural gas-fueled standby generators. I can say for sure that my generator has kept our show on the air during periods of power outage. So it definitely has been important to us. And I start to hear more and more folks asking about them and talking about them. They’ve become very, very commonplace and just a really great investment that’s going to add to the value of your home. But beyond standby generators, there’s been a lot of improvements in residential battery storage. The cost has come down, and they’re becoming very popular as another way to restore power to your home during times when the utility just can’t cut it. |
| 00:21:22 – 00:22:2 | CLEMENT: You know, U.S. energy landscape is changing. Quite a bit. You know, more homes are equipped with solar panel systems, solar energy systems. And often, these homes that have solar energy are putting in battery storage so that they can be even more independent from the grid. So these homes, you know, they get power from the sun. They store the excess energy into their batteries. And then when there’s a power outage, the batteries can supply the house. Or when the utility rates are really high, the home can shut off. And that’s a big part of the power outage. And the utility company can draw power from the batteries instead. So homeowners are saving money with batteries, and they’re also managing power outages. But today, because batteries have become more affordable, some homeowners are putting in battery systems even without solar energy on their home. And so in that case, they’re using the batteries almost like a backup power generator. And the batteries and generators, you know, they do similar things. They both provide backup power. They just operate differently. And there are… There are pros and cons of each technology. |
| 00:22:28 | LESLIE: That’s interesting. If you go the backup battery route without the solar, how many hours of usage do you think you get out of a full charge, I guess? |
| 00:22:36 – 00:23:4 | CLEMENT: Briggs & Stratton is introducing a new system that is more affordable and more compact than ever before. But the price of battery technology keeps coming down. And for now, a very basic system that we’re offering can provide up to about 10 hours of backup for a home. And that uses a single battery with an inverter and the hardware to connect it to your electrical panel. So you designate which of the loads in the house you want to be on battery power during a power outage. And it’s usually not the whole home. You have to, you know, make some allowances because batteries can only store so much energy before they need to be recharged. That 10-hour basic system that we’re offering is really quite affordable now. The equipment cost with installation is about $11,000. But batteries are subject to the Inflation Reduction Act, or they’re eligible for tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. And so you can get a 30% tax credit when you install batteries. And so that $11,000 system comes down to more like $7,600 when you apply the income tax credit. |
| 00:23:47 | TOM: We’re talking to Clement Fang. He’s with Briggs & Stratton Energy Solutions about ways to power your home in the advent of a power outage. So, Clement, thanks so much for joining us. So, Clement, the battery technology has really changed a lot, and that is in part what’s making it possible for these technological advancements. I understand that the Briggs & Stratton system is now LFP, which is the lithium ferrophosphate batteries. I think that’s important to understand because it’s a safer and more affordable option than previous battery technologies, right? |
| 00:24:16 – 00:25:1 | CLEMENT: Yes, absolutely. You know, battery storage systems have been around for a very long time. You know, folks that live off-grid think about farmers and ranchers. They’ve been putting in battery systems for many years, along with their, you know, wind or solar systems. And those traditional batteries were lead-acid batteries, not too different from the batteries that, you know, were in cars. They would just have, like, rows and rows of these lead-acid batteries. And they had limitations. They need to be replaced. After a while, their operating range is pretty narrow. And then they were, you know, pretty difficult to handle because of the chemistry involved. But today’s chemistry… That we use are lithium battery-based. And not all lithium is the same. But the Briggs & Stratton system uses lithium ferrophosphate, which is an inherently safer technology, much, much less prone to heat and other issues. Their operating range is wider. And they also last a very long time. We guarantee our LFP batteries for 10 years. That’s a very long time. And realistically, they last longer than that. |
| 00:25:20 | We’re talking to Clement Fang with Briggs & Stratton about the Simplify 6.6 battery system from Briggs & Stratton. Clement, thank you so much for stopping by the Money Pit. There’s lots of options today for us to restore power to our home in the event the utility goes out, and also to manage power, as you’ve explained. So I’m pretty optimistic that we’re going to be able to avoid power outages in the future with this kind of technology. Absolutely. |
| 00:25:44 – 00:26:0 | CLEMENT: Homeowners have more choices today than ever before. You know, whether you’re using a standby generator or you’re using a solar energy system with a battery system. You know, whether you’re using a battery storage system or not. And then, you know, even electric vehicles have battery storage that can sometimes be wired into the home for backup power purposes as well. |
| 00:26:03 | TOM: If you’d like to learn more about your energy options, go to energy.briggsandstratton.com. That’s energy.briggsandstratton.com. Clement Fang, thanks for stopping by the Money Pit. |
| 00:26:15 – 00:26:1 | CLEMENT: Thanks, Tom. Thanks, Leslie. Good talking with you today. |
| 00:26:18 | LESLIE: Lynn in Mississippi is on the line and is having an issue with a pear tree. What is going on that doesn’t involve a partridge? Hi. |
| 00:26:25 | CALLER: Yes, ma’am. I have a Bradford pear tree, but I think I made a mistake. I’m not sure, but I let it grow up right next to my house. Okay. The foundation is concrete, and the tree has now gotten probably, I’m guessing, maybe 15 feet tall, and it’s got like three trunks. It’s very, very pretty, and it looks good, but now I’ve gotten concerned. My concrete foundation is pretty thick, but does Bradford pear trees have a tendency to try to grow up through concrete foundation? |
| 00:26:57 | TOM: You know, pear trees don’t get that big to a point where they typically impact foundations, and if they did, you would probably see some evidence of that. So, you know, while it sounds big to you, you know, pear trees, standard pear trees get to be like, you know, 18 to 20 feet tall or so, and that’s just not big enough to really do much foundation damage. So, I think you can live with that for a while. Just keep an eye on it. I wouldn’t tear that out. |
| 00:27:22 | CALLER: That is wonderful news. Okay. What should I look for? I mean, can I go on the outside where it’s right there close to the house? Is there something that I can look for that will kind of tell me it could be a problem before it actually starts buckling my concrete? |
| 00:27:35 | TOM: Actually, you would see it on the inside. If you saw any cracks forming in the concrete opposite where the pear tree is, that would be a good indicator of it, but boy, it takes an awful lot of force to do that, and trees are going, the roots are going to try to find the path of least resistance. So, I just don’t think it’s very likely that you’re going to see that, but I’d see it on the inside first. Okay? |
| 00:27:54 | CALLER: Thank you. Thank you so very much. I’m going to leave it alone. |
| 00:27:57 | TOM: Well, putting up a fence can add style and security and value to your property, but it can also be an eyesore and a maintenance headache and cause a battle with your neighbors. So, to avoid those pitfalls, you have to plan carefully, and the first thing to do is check your property lines. You don’t want to build on your neighbor’s yard. That would be very sad because you’d have to take your whole fence down and move it a few inches and put it back up again. You also want to check with local officials to make sure. You don’t need a permit to build a fence, and once you’re sure about those things, you can start thinking about what kind of fence you’d like to have. |
| 00:28:32 | LESLIE: Yeah, and you know, there’s a lot of choices because fencing is available in so many materials, including natural and pressure-treated woods, vinyl, and even metal. Now, the natural wood can be very beautiful, but it’s going to require the most maintenance, and also, you need to remember that a fence has two sides, and it needs to look good from the outside as well as the inside, and don’t try to save money on your fence. Your gate, that part of your fence, is going to take the most wear and tear, and it can also be a security risk if somebody leaves it open, so to be safe with a gate, you want to add a spring hinge that’s going to help it swing back into place, and now, this is super important if you’re talking about a yard with a pool. I mean, there’s so many other things to consider when it comes to a fence and a gate with a pool, but at least making sure it swings back and closes on its own. |
| 00:29:18 | TOM: We’ve got a great, very popular article on fencing on moneypit.com. If you’d like to check it out, it’s got a full checklist. Just Google Money Pit Fence Building, and we’ve arranged for our friends at Google to bring you right to our website. How about that? |
| 00:29:33 | LESLIE: Howard in Tennessee is on the line and needs some help making things around the pool not so slippy. What’s going on? |
| 00:29:39 | CALLER: We have a concrete deck around our pool, and it has been painted before years ago, and I was going to pressure wash it, and I wonder what kind of paint surface to put on there that would not be slick for people with fall. |
| 00:29:56 | TOM: Yeah, so I think what you want, Howard, is a paint with an anti-slip coating. There are paints out there that have some abrasion to them, and so they are specifically designed for stairs and wet locations, which is what you’re suggesting. I know there’s one at Home Depot that’s called SureStep, S-U-R-E-S-T-E-P. It’s made by InsulX, and it has some pretty good ratings. Folks seem to be very happy with it, and it’s designed as an exterior coating that does just that. It can go on concrete, and what I would caution you, though, is if you are going to pressure wash, you want to make sure that that surface gets really dry and that you’re lifting off any loose paint, because as good as the top coat of paint is, if it’s not sticking, it’s not going to do you any good. So you want to make sure, if you’re going to pressure wash it, that’s great, but make sure that loose paint’s gone, and give it a good couple of days in the sun to dry before you put the next layer of paint on it. But take a look at that SureStep product, and I think that’s exactly what you need. |
| 00:30:54 | CALLER: Well, thank you so much. And I’d just like to say I love your show. It’s very informative, and here in Tennessee, we like it. |
| 00:31:03 | TOM: Well, we thank you so much for listening there in Tennessee, Howard, and have a great day. Thank you, sir. |
| 00:31:09 | LESLIE: Patty in Delaware wrote in to Team Money Pit, and she is dealing with squirrels. I planted bulbs last fall and flowers early spring, but now I’m dealing with squirrels digging up the beds. They dug dozens of holes and show no sign of slowing down. Why is this happening, and how can I stop them? |
| 00:31:26 | TOM: That’s because you’re under the mistaken opinion that you actually own the soil that you planted on, but the squirrels are really the legal property owners, and you now have trespass on the place that they keep their food. So basically what’s going on is they must have dug that out in the fall to store their nuts, and they’ll stay that way through the winter, and then they’ll uncover them in the spring for a meal. And I think that’s what’s going on. So what are we going to do about that? Well, two things. First of all, you could use a natural repellent like hot pepper spray. You can make that yourself by mixing water with cayenne pepper and a few drops of dish soap, then transfer that mixture into a spray bottle and apply it to the areas where the squirrels are active. Or better yet, use a safe but powerful commercial repellent like Bob-X. I use that on my deer. It works well, but there’s a Bob-X rabbit and animal product as well. The big difference between the commercial repellents and the natural repellents is that they don’t wash. They have sort of a stick-to-itiveness, and as long as you don’t do it like right before a big rainstorm, it’ll last for a couple of weeks. And you do need to repeat that from time to time. I mean, every couple, three weeks. Otherwise, the squirrels will get used to coming back and start looking for their nuts that you have now made it hard for them to find. |
| 00:32:44 | LESLIE: I hope that helps because, you know, they really do cause a ruckus. |
| 00:32:48 | TOM: It’s their property. |
| 00:32:52 | TOM: Well, do you have areas around your house that are just ridiculously difficult to clean? Well, make your list. Because Leslie has solutions in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word. |
| 00:33:01 | LESLIE: Yeah, I mean, it’s interesting. You have stuff around the house that just seems to get dirtier and dirtier. I mean, why are these spots so hard to clean? Well, we’ve got some simple solutions for some of those tough cleaning tasks. So, first of all, let’s talk about your oven door. Things drip, it gets stuck inside the glass, and you’re probably thinking, eh, it’s a lost cause. But actually, if you remove the drawer from under your oven and look under that oven door, you’re going to see a space that will allow you to reach between the glass. If you’ve got a slim enough cleaning brush and some good cleaning solution and you get up in there, you are good to go. I mean, it really is like the surprise of a lifetime when you’re like, what can I do about this oven door? So, that’s a great trick there. |
| 00:33:42 | TOM: And those doors come off, too, don’t they? I mean, if you just open them slightly and pull them up, they very often will come off the oven itself, and you can lay it down and work on cleaning it, too. |
| 00:33:52 | LESLIE: And work on it that way. True, true, true. All right, what about kids’ toys? I mean, these are generally like a germ factory. But if you’ve got a mesh laundry bag, you can run those toys through a warm water cycle with some bleach, and they are instantly sanitized. I found this was a great tip when the boys were little for like all of their bath toys. It just helped sanitize them because bath toys get super gross. And finally, if your morning shower has just lost some of its vigor, you could have just mineral deposits clogging up that shower head, which really is a simple fix here. That solution is pouring. Pouring some white vinegar into a plastic bag and then using a rubber band to secure that bag under and around the shower head and then let it sit overnight. That vinegar is going to dissolve all of those mineral deposits and wait until you see the difference when you turn that shower on. So these are just a couple of things. I’m sure you’ve got a ton of other tricky spots. Let us know what they are, and we can help you figure out how to clean them. |
| 00:34:48 | TOM: Good tips. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. And coming up on the next edition of the Money Pit, if you’d love to have a show, have a backyard swimming pool, and this is the year you’re going to do something about it, we’re going to share a very cool option over traditional chlorine pools. We’ve got the scoop on natural in-ground pools that are pond-like, gorgeous, and totally earth-friendly options on the very next edition of the Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 00:35:14 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 00:35:15 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
| 00:35:17 | LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone. |
| (Note: The above referenced transcript is AI-Generated, Unedited and Unproofed and as such may not accurately reflect the recorded audio. Copyright 2024 Squeaky Door Productions, Inc. No portion of this transcript or audio file may be reproduced in any format without the express written permission of Squeaky Door Productions, Inc.) |
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