Show Notes
In this episode, learn how to refresh your home decor affordably with five practical tips and get four strategies to reduce pool heating costs. Plus, find out the benefits of motion detector spotlights for enhanced home security and convenience. Listen in for answers to these and other home improvement questions on today’s show!
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
- Pool Heating: Dive into savings with tips to reduce pool heating costs.
- Home Decorating: Learn thrifty ways to refresh your home décor without breaking the bank.
- Motion Detector Lights: Discover the convenience and benefits of outdoor motion security lights.
Top Questions & Answers
- Painting Siding: Can you paint aluminum siding? Pat gets tips for power washing and priming the surface for good adhesion before applying a topcoat of paint.
- Water Heater: Stewart needs advice about replacing his oil water heater with an electric water heater. It’s more expensive to buy but less expensive to run, especially if it has a timer.
- Lawn Care: Catherine wants to replace sod that never took root. She should start with a soil test to find out how to adjust the soil with the proper fertilizer and lawn care.
- Deck Stain: How can Gary clean a barbecue grease stain on his deck? If the wood has been stained before, he should use a stain stripper. If not, he needs a deck cleaner.
- Squirrels: Squirrels have chewed the bird feeder and chased the birds away. Priscella gets suggestions for keeping the squirrels away from the bird feeder.
- Log Cabin: Gary wants to stain the faded log cabin walls. He should start by cleaning the logs thoroughly, then decide whether to apply a clear sealant or a colored stain.
- Wood Floors: How can old pine and oak floors be safely cleaned? We recommend a natural cleaning product that Margaret can use without damaging the wood.
Ask Your Home Improvement Question
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 00:00:00 | CALLER: If your roof starts to leak or your floor’s really squeaky, live in a Money Pit, Money Pit. If your basement needs a pump or your place looks like a dump, live in a Money Pit, Money Pit. Pick up the telephone, fix up your home sweet home by calling 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:00:23 | CALLER: The Money Pit is presented by Roof Maxx and EcoFlow. Now, here are Tom and Leslie. |
| 00:00:31 | TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 00:00:36 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 00:00:37 | TOM: And we are here to help you get projects done around your house, your home, your apartment, your condo, your yurt, wherever you call home. We’d love to help you make it the space you want it to be. So, if you’ve got a project to do, if you’ve got a problem that needs to be solved, if you’ve got a DIY dilemma and you just don’t know which way to turn, well, you can turn to us for the answers to those questions. The number here is… Here is 1-888-Money-Pit, or better yet, just go to moneypit.com slash ask and click the blue microphone button to record your question and send it immediately to us for the fastest possible response. Coming up on today’s show, are you getting ready to refresh your home with some new decor, but maybe you’re not so sure if your budget is ready to handle the hit? Well, we’re going to share five ways to save lots of money decorating your home sweet home just ahead. |
| 00:01:27 | LESLIE: And if you have a swimming pool, you may know that pools can be costly to operate. Especially if they have a heater. We’re going to highlight four ways that you can keep those costs down while enjoying summertime swims. |
| 00:01:39 | TOM: Plus, motion detector spotlights are a great addition to your home for both convenience and security. And thanks to LED technology, they’re easy to install and some don’t even have to be wired. We’ll share those options. |
| 00:01:50 | LESLIE: But first, we want to help you create your best home ever. So, maybe you’ve got a big project on deck for the summer season or perhaps you’re taking this time to kind of enjoy what you got. And think about the projects that you do want to tackle. Well, big or small, whatever that job is, we are here to lend a hand. |
| 00:02:07 | TOM: Plus, we’ve got a great giveaway going out to one fortunate listener drawn at random from those who reach out to us with a question. It’s the Die Hard Max Industrial Strength Epoxy Floor Coating Kit. It’s from our friends at Dice Coating and is a perfect surface for garage floors, basements, or laundry areas. And it’s worth $99 going out to one listener drawn at random from those that reach us for today’s show. That number again is 888-Money-Pit. That’s 888-666-3974 or go to moneypit.com slash ask. Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first? |
| 00:02:40 | LESLIE: Pat and I was on the line with a question about painting. What can we do for you today? Yes. |
| 00:02:45 | CALLER: I would like to paint my aluminum siding on my home. I can’t afford to side it right now. And I was wondering if it’s possible to paint aluminum siding. Absolutely. |
| 00:02:56 | TOM: There’s no reason you can’t paint aluminum siding. What you want to do is clean the house really well, power wash it perhaps. And then you’re going to have to prime that siding. That’s really important. |
| 00:03:08 | LESLIE: Otherwise, nothing is going to stick. Exactly. |
| 00:03:11 | TOM: So you need to do a primer coat. |
| 00:03:13 | CALLER: Okay. Well, what kind of primer? |
| 00:03:16 | TOM: Well, you’re going to use a primer that’s designed to work with the paint that you select. So for example, if you’re going to work with the Benjamin Moore family of paints, you’re going to use a Benjamin Moore primer. Okay. And the primer is the glue. It’s the adhesive coat. That’s what makes the paint stick. And then you put the top coat on top of that. |
| 00:03:30 | CALLER: Now, will this peel on the south side where the sun hits? |
| 00:03:34 | TOM: No. Not if you do a good job on the prep. You know, that’s why we’re telling you to prime it. And because the siding is metal, that paint job should last you a good 8 to 10 years. It lasts less if it’s an organic material like wood siding. But with metal siding, it can last a long time if it’s done well. |
| 00:03:52 | CALLER: Oh, good. That’s a good thing to know. Okay. I wasn’t sure I could even do it. I thought maybe it would just peel right off. Now, with the power wash, is that just – I’d have to hire somebody to probably do that. |
| 00:04:05 | TOM: Yeah. I mean, unless you happen to have your own pressure washer, yeah, you’d have to hire somebody to do that. And they’ll use a detergent and clean off any dirt and debris and algae and so on that’s on the metal. And you let it dry really, really well. Then you prime. Then you paint. I mean, it’s a big project, Pat. You know, if you’re not comfortable with, you know, 10-foot, 20-foot ladders, depending on how high your house is, you might want to hire a painter to do this. No. |
| 00:04:25 | CALLER: I’d probably hire someone else to do it. But do you think it’d be real expensive or would I be better off to find a good vinyl siding, man? |
| 00:04:32 | TOM: Well, I think that you don’t have to side the house. You don’t have to side it. You can paint this house and paint it successfully. I think it will be less expensive than siding. |
| 00:04:39 | CALLER: Thank you very much. I appreciate it. |
| 00:04:41 | TOM: You’re welcome, Pat. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:04:46 | LESLIE: Stuart in Rhode Island’s got a water heating question for us. What can we do for you today? |
| 00:04:50 | CALLER: I had an oil-fired hot water heater, a separate oil-fired hot water heater, separate from the oil burner. And it finally went bad. After 13 years, I guess that was a good time period. And my plumber is urging me to replace it with an electric hot water heater with a timer on it. It’s much more cheaper to do that than to replace the oil-fired hot water heater that I had. But I’m just wondering, is there any negatives to it? |
| 00:05:20 | TOM: Well, it’s a little more expensive to run than oil. But as you say, it’s a lot less expensive to buy. I’m actually surprised that it only lasted 13 years. Because oil-fired water heaters seem to last a lot longer than standard water heaters. I mean, if you just look at the warranties, the standard water heaters, the electric water heaters, may have a five-year warranty on the tank, maybe a 10-year warranty on the tank. But I’ve found that oil-fired water heaters last 20 to 25 years on a regular basis. So the fact that it failed at 13 is just plain bad luck. I have nothing against the idea of you putting in an electric water heater and saving some money there, as long as you are using it with a timer. It won’t last probably as long as what I would have thought your oil water heater would have lasted. But it will save you some money. I presume your house also has oil heat. Is that correct? It does. And is it hot air or hot water? It’s hot air. It’s hot air. Okay. Yeah. So the water heater is a little bit more expensive. The water heater is completely stand-alone. Yeah. So, I mean, I think it’s potential. I don’t really have a strong feeling one way or the other. It’s really personal preference. But if you want to save some money, there’s no reason not to put the electric water heater as long as it’s sized properly and it is on a timer because, of course, you only want that to run when you have to. Water heaters are dumb. They heat the water 24-7 whether you use it or not. So you want to make sure that it’s properly insulated and the timer is set up so it’s not running all night long when you don’t really need it running. Right. |
| 00:06:35 | CALLER: Okay. Any idea how many hours? I should probably have that shut off. |
| 00:06:38 | TOM: Well, what I would do is I would shut it off kind of after you’re done with your evening cleaning tasks because the water will stay warm for a while. So if you like to shower and bathe at night, you know, whenever that part of the evening is done, that’s when you want to shut it down. Then bring it on about an hour before you wake up in the morning. If you leave to go to work on a regular basis, you can, you know, turn it off while you’re away at work. But if you’re home or you work from home and you need it during the day, you might have to skip that cycle. But the key time to have it off is in the middle of the night. Okay. Very good then. I think I’ll stick with it. All right. Good luck. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:07:12 | LESLIE: Hey, you want to support our podcast and help us grow? Well, go ahead and leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and we’ll be forever grateful. Plus you’ll be helping other homeowners discover our show. Just go to moneypit.com slash review. |
| 00:07:25 | TOM: Hey, we got a great giveaway and it’s a product that I used myself in my basement. It is from Dice Coatings. It’s called Die Hard Max Industrial Strength Epoxy Floor Coating. It’s a kit worth 99 bucks. It basically gives you a very tough and glossy high performance finish for your concrete floors. So as I said, I used it in the basement. I’m actually planning to use it in a very large garage in the not too distant future because it worked so well. And I like the fact that everything you need is in the kit, which covers 250 square feet. It’s going to give you a surface that’s easy to clean. It’s going to resist water and salt and chemicals and oil stains and hot tire marks and all that sort of stuff. It’s on sale now for $99 per kit at Dice Coatings. Low is at Home Depot and that includes free shipping, but we’ve got one to give out to one lucky listener. So if that’s a project you’d like to tackle, we’ve got the product you need to get it done. Call us right now with your question at 1-888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:08:20 | LESLIE: All right, now we’ve got Catherine in Arizona on the line who’s dealing with an issue with sod and Arizona is pretty darn hot. So tell us what’s going on. |
| 00:08:28 | CALLER: I live actually in the mountains in Arizona and so our issue is not the heat, but the cold. And so what we’ve had happen is that we’ve had a lot of people come in and say, well, we laid sod about eight years ago and unbeknownst to us, novice homeowners, it had mesh netting on the backside of the roll. And I don’t know if we were supposed to remove that or something, but now the sod did not take to our climate and it has died and we would like to re-feed or lay on some new sod or something like that. But in order to prepare the soil and till it and all of that, I just don’t know what to do because there’s this mesh netting all over the ground. And in some areas it’s exposed, in some areas it isn’t, but I just wondered what your advice would be. |
| 00:09:12 | TOM: So the sod never really bit, so to speak, it never really grew through the mesh netting and connected with the soil below? |
| 00:09:19 | CALLER: Not really. I mean, it did in some areas, but it just did not grow well for our climate. It couldn’t handle the winters. It just wouldn’t recover. |
| 00:09:28 | TOM: Well, I mean, the first thing you want to do is a soil test. You can, you know, sometimes your county extension services and offices, services like that will, will do the test for you or have a landscaper do the test. But you need to know what’s in that soil and how to adjust the pH to get it just right to re-seed. Yeah. |
| 00:09:46 | LESLIE: To fertilize correctly. Right. You know, otherwise you might not be giving it the stuff that it needs and it won’t grow. Yeah. |
| 00:09:51 | TOM: You’re working blind. Now, the other thing to keep in mind is that the best time to do this is not the beginning of summer. The best time to do this is in the fall when it’s a little cooler out because even if you did everything right. And it started to grow the intense heat that follows a month or two down the line will burn it out and kind of ruin all the good work that you did. So I would spend the summer getting the information that you need to kind of come up with a plan. Now in terms of whether or not you remove the old sod or not, if it’s really loose and disconnected and not really knitting and sort of sitting on top, then in that case I would take it out and then prep the soil below. If it has connected, then I would leave it. Got it. Now, if you have sod, is it weedy? Is it also weedy, Katherine? |
| 00:10:37 | CALLER: There are lots of weeds. So it’s not so much the sod that’s the issue, but it’s the plastic mesh netting that was on the backside of the sod roll that’s there. And I just don’t know, can we till with that there or is that going to get all caught up in the tiller? |
| 00:10:51 | TOM: I think you probably can. I mean, in my experience, those types of backers are designed to stay there and not be removed and they just sort of deteriorate naturally away. Okay. So I don’t suspect that that would be the case. That would be an issue because otherwise, how would you ever lay it down? Right. |
| 00:11:07 | CALLER: Right. Yeah. I don’t know. I didn’t know what was supposed to be common, just that it hasn’t degraded at all. After eight years, it’s still totally there. |
| 00:11:16 | TOM: Well, here’s an idea. One of the things that you could do is you could rent a seeding machine that slices the lawn. There are machines out there that will actually slice it and drop the seeds sort of into the slits. And that will cut through it. But really, before you do any of that, the first thing you do is do a soil test and see what’s going on there. Yeah. |
| 00:11:34 | LESLIE: This way, you know how to feed it, how to take care of it, when it’s going to want to be seeded. I mean, that will really answer a lot of questions for you. Okay. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. |
| 00:11:42 | TOM: And if you end up deciding to leave the sod in place and if it gets really weedy, one thing you could do is something called a Roundup restoration. You can spray Roundup right on the sod and kill the sod and actually leave it in place and then put the seed right up into the dead grass. It will hold it really well and it will resprout and the Roundup will not prevent the new seed from taking root. |
| 00:12:01 | CALLER: Huh. Okay. Okay. |
| 00:12:03 | TOM: That’s called a Roundup restoration. |
| 00:12:05 | CALLER: All right. That makes sense. |
| 00:12:07 | TOM: All right, Katherine. Good luck with that project. Let’s hope there’s some more green in your future. Yes. |
| 00:12:11 | CALLER: I hope so. Thank you. |
| 00:12:12 | TOM: 888-666-3974. Well, one of the most exciting things about owning a new home is decorating it. But rushing into decorating and buying furniture can mean making choices that you might later regret. Instead, we say think ahead and come up with a plan. So we’ve got five tips to help you do just that. Yeah. |
| 00:12:32 | LESLIE: And here are some ways to help you stick to a reasonable budget and save some money. So first of all, you want to think about spreading out those big expensive purchases. If you’re going to be buying a number of those high ticket items like a couch or a bed or a large cabinet or something, you don’t have to get them all at once. Make a list of the pieces that you need to buy and prioritize them. This way you’re kind of spreading out all of those big expenses. You also want to kind of avoid those trendy design choices because they’re going to go out of style quicker. They’re going to go out of style quicker than the more traditional items and it doesn’t have to be a traditional look. It can just be something that’s more neutral or more grounded in a look of a design that you like rather than something so outrageous and just fun. Because five years from now, that crazy pattern on that couch or chair isn’t going to be that same that you loved at that moment when you bought it. So think about things like that. You also want to splurge on the essentials. Classic pieces are worth investing in. You can always cover those trends with inexpensive home accents. Think pillows. Think, you know, an inexpensive throw rug. Even like a drape or whatnot. These are great ways that you can bring in a color, a pattern, something that’s way more trendy. Heck, even peel and stick wall coverings. So easy to go up, so inexpensive, and it’s a great way that you can create that trend without sort of really committing to it. You also want to think about decorating around a statement piece. So pick the item that you kind of want to anchor the design of the room to. It could be a rug. It could be a fabric. It could be a piece of artwork. Whatever it is. Make that the focal point and design around it. And then look at what you have. Shop your home. Kind of repurpose things that you already have. Maybe it’s just moving it from one spot to another. Maybe it’s painting it. Maybe it’s recovering it. Whatever it is, you’ve got a lot of great goodies already in your house that can save you a ton of money. |
| 00:14:17 | TOM: You know, you find a lot of inspiration from things in nature. I remember one time we had a listener that saw a leaf and she loved the color of the leaf. So she wanted to bring it into the store the next day to get them to match the color, except it was a leaf. So it changes color. So you’ve about what you choose. Got to do it quick. So that’s right. To build your palette around that. You know, here’s another tip for those that are moving into a new space. There’s a lot of energy when you move in and a lot of inertia that you have to kind of manage. And one of the things you have to manage is the fact that you have this deep desire to change what’s there because it’s not your spaceship. I know you own it. You’re paying a mortgage on it, but you haven’t really embedded with the place yet. So instead of going in and trying to do everything at once, you know, tearing out wallpaper, and repainting all the rooms, and things like that, I say, slow down and do it one room at a time. Decide what’s really important to do first, and then second, and so on, because one of two things is going to happen. Either you’re going to get all that work done exactly as you intended initially, or you’re going to start getting used to it along the way, and you’re not going to do all those projects, and you’re going to save yourself a ton of money. So manage that inertia, manage that excitement, and just take it slow. You’ll have a much better result than that. |
| 00:15:25 | LESLIE: We’ve got Gary on the line who’s got a question about staining a deck. Yeah. Let us help you with that project. What’s going on? |
| 00:15:31 | CALLER: I have a barbecue grease spill on my deck, and I need to reseal my deck, and I’m not sure what product to use to get the grease off. My wife tried Dawn, and oh boy, did that not work. I could use your help. Thanks. |
| 00:15:49 | TOM: Hey, Gary. Boy, I can’t imagine how badly that Dawn experiment went. Probably not the best choice for a deck cleaner. Let me tell you what will work. First of all, I need to know whether or not your deck cleaner works. I need to know if your deck was stained before or not. Now, if it was stained previously, then what I would do is, Olympic makes two products. One is a deck cleaner, and one is a stain stripper. If you have a deck that’s been stained before, I would use the Olympic stain stripper, which is designed to pull that stain out, and at the same time, clean and prep your deck for the new finish. Now, if you use the stain stripper, you do not need to use the cleaning product. If the deck’s not been stained, then you can use the Olympic deck cleaner. You spray it on. I think it sits on for about five to 10 minutes, and then you rinse it off, and that’s probably the best you can do in terms of prepping that surface for stain. Now, you used the word seal, talking about sealing a deck. Sealing a deck is not only going to do much for you. What I would recommend you do is stain the deck, and of course, you have choices on stain. They come as transparent, semi-transparent, and solid color, and I’m a big fan of solid color because the more color you put on there, the longer it lasts, the more protection the wood gets as a result. So that’s basically where you’re at. I would either clean it. I would do a stain stripper on it, depending on whether it had stain on it before, and then I would use a solid color stain, and you should be good to go for a good eight to 10 years. |
| 00:17:08 | LESLIE: So, Tom, you’ve had a big renovation project going on at the other home. How is that kind of coming along at this point? |
| 00:17:14 | TOM: Ah, yes. We have a reno going on with another house, as you say, and it’s going well. I mean, it’s a 1906 house, beautiful home, but boy, really, it needed a lot of work. So we finished the kitchen, and we did it in a way that was really affordable. We took these beautiful birch cabinets. They were beautiful in their construction, but maybe a little dated, and we sprayed them. So now they are a beautiful sort of a medium gray color with beautiful sort of a nickel trim on them, and they just look awesome. And then I just finished up the bathroom, and you know what I did? I decided to replace all of the valves in the toilet at the same time. |
| 00:17:48 | LESLIE: I mean, it’s great to do everything at the same time, but why are you doing that now? |
| 00:17:52 | TOM: Well, look, I had a 1970s toilet. It had fairly … I don’t know if it was new valves. Well, maybe they were at their midpoint, and I’m talking about the flush valve, the fill valve, and I thought, you know what’s going to happen? As soon as I rent this unit out and I have a tenant in, like the first month, something’s going to leak. So I figured, why not just replace it all? So I picked up the Fluidmaster. If you remember, they have the everything toilet tank repair kit, so everything is in the box, basically, that you need. |
| 00:18:16 | LESLIE: Yes, all the bits. |
| 00:18:18 | TOM: You got it. So no multiple trips to the store or anything like that, and I figured, I’m just going to do it all. So I basically took out the flush valve, the fill valve, drained it out, put it all back together again. It worked perfectly the first time, and I’m totally good to go. So I think proactively replacing the toilet tank valves is really a smart thing to do, and when you use the everything toilet tank repair kit, basically, you know you’re going to have everything you need. Thirty bucks, I was done. No chance of leaking. We’re good to go. |
| 00:18:46 | LESLIE: Is any of it like a tough job, or can anybody tackle this project? |
| 00:18:49 | TOM: No, it’s actually pretty easy to do this level of plumbing. I mean, if you can turn the water supply off to the toilet, you’re totally good to go. And Fluidmaster is actually really good with education. They have great videos that walk you through pretty much every step of the process, so you really can’t go wrong. You can check it out. Their website is fluidmaster.com. |
| 00:19:07 | LESLIE: Priscilla in Massachusetts is on the line, and while we all love birdhouses, guess who else likes them? Squirrels. Let’s help her keep them out. What can we do for you today? |
| 00:19:16 | CALLER: They’ve chewed away at the holes of it so that they actually have made the holes bigger, and because of that, the birds are not going to be able to get out of the water. They’re going in there because the squirrel can go in there. So I’ve already tried PVC piping, because I figured that’s something I can put in there, insert it just in the hole and it’s not too big, kind of narrow, but I can’t find one that fits. |
| 00:19:42 | TOM: I mean, most of the solutions for bird feeders or birdhouses are really in two categories. One, they make it rather unpleasant for the squirrel to be able to get up that high with things like cones or plastic bottles. Or slippery pipes or ducks or slinkies or things like that that slide around and make a lot of noise. Oh, yeah. Or simply move it completely away from where squirrels can get to it. So for example, if you were to string a wire between two trees and not have overhanging branches above, the squirrels would never be able to get to that birdhouse. |
| 00:20:13 | CALLER: Do you know of something I can insert in the hole, though? Right. |
| 00:20:17 | TOM: But if you insert it in the hole, the squirrels are still going to hang out in that birdhouse and they might try to chew their way in via another entrance. Right. So that’s why I’m saying that I would not focus on reinforcing the birdhouse as much as I would focus on moving it to an area that’s less likely to be attacked by squirrels. |
| 00:20:35 | LESLIE: Well, if you have a swimming pool, you know how much fun they can be, but you also know how expensive they can be to keep heated, run efficiently, maintain, all of the things. So to help, we’ve got three tips on how you can reduce those costs but still enjoy that pool. |
| 00:20:51 | TOM: Now, first, one of the easiest and most effective ways to lower your pool. Heating costs is to use a swimming pool cover, you know, a pool cover helps to retain heat and reduce evaporation, which means you won’t need to use as much energy to keep that water warm. |
| 00:21:05 | LESLIE: Now, next, managing your pool temperature. It’s really another key factor here. By keeping that water at a consistent temperature and not overheating it, you can save a significant amount on those energy costs. It’s all about kind of finding that sweet spot where your pool is comfortable, but it doesn’t cost you a fortune to heat and keep that way. And also, let’s not forget about that pool pump. Using a smaller pool pump less often can make a big difference. You’ve got to learn how to choose, install, and operate an efficient swimming pool pump because that can help you save on energy costs without sacrificing the cleanliness and the circulation of your pool water. |
| 00:21:41 | TOM: Now, for those who are looking to upgrade their pool’s heating system, there are several options to consider. High efficiency heaters, such as heat pump pool heaters and solar pool heaters, can offer pretty significant savings. And if you’re looking to save on energy costs, you can save on a lot of savings over traditional gas pool heaters. Each type has its own benefits, so it’s definitely worth exploring which one is right for you. |
| 00:22:00 | LESLIE: So to get started, check out some great resources on the Department of Energy’s website at energy.gov. They offer detailed guides on using pool covers, managing pool temperatures, and choosing the right pool heater that’s going to work for your needs. |
| 00:22:15 | TOM: Definitely. You’ll find everything you need to know to start saving on your pool operating costs while keeping your pool comfortable and your energy bills low. Well, if your house is like mine, you may have a garage floor that looks like it’s a little bit worn, a little bit dirty, and maybe has an occasional stain here and there. If that’s the case, an easy way to restore it is with Die Hard Max Industrial Strength epoxy floor coating. Now, it comes in a kit. It’s worth 99 bucks, and I’ve got one here in the studio to give away to one lucky listener that reaches us with a question. This product works well. I’m using it on my garage because I already used it on my board. basement. And man, it was easy to put down. It was super hard, very shiny, easy to clean. That’s the problem with concrete. You know, it’s really hard to keep it clean. But once you cover it with Diehard Max Industrial Strength Epoxy Floor Coating, you get a tough, glossy, high performance finish that’s really easy to maintain. It’s worth 99 bucks going after one caller drawn at random from those that reach us on today’s call. So why don’t you make that you? Call us at 888-Money-Pit or just go to moneypit.com slash ask and click on the blue microphone button. |
| 00:23:24 | LESLIE: We’ve got Mark on the line who’s got a log home. He needs some help with, I guess, preserving the logs and making sure it stays gorgeous. What’s going on? |
| 00:23:32 | CALLER: My wife and I bought a log home eight years ago and the previous owner hasn’t stained it. So it’s getting faded and everything. So we’d like to know the process to do that and also |
| 00:23:40 | TOM: the product we should get to do that. Hey, Mark. Yeah, I love log cabins. They’re absolutely beautiful. Your first choice, though, is to determine whether or not you want to just preserve that log the way it is and not have any kind of colorant added to it, because you can get stains that will actually… Do exactly that, stain the color. And so it will sort of blend in and be very consistent across all of those logs. Or you could do clear stains or clear sealers. They come in water-based and oil-based. The most important thing is to make sure you’re cleaning that surface first. You can do a light pressure washing and there are products… I would stick with the same manufacturer and everything. But for example, if you go with Olympic, there is an Olympic cleaner that’s designed to be used first. And you basically spray it, let it sit on the surface for a while, and then you can rinse it away. It’s super clean, though. That’s real important because even though you say it was sanded a year ago, it picks up stuff pretty quickly, including dirt and sometimes even moss or algae. So I would definitely clean it, let it dry really well. And then you have to make a decision on which way you want to go. I mean, in terms of stain, you’ve got solid color stain, semi-transparent, and transparent. I’m a fan of solid color because it lasts the longest. But if you want to just keep the natural color of the wood to the extent that’s possible, because even if you just seal it with clear, it’s still going to turn color underneath all that, then you can do that. Just make sure that whatever you choose has a good dose of UV protection because that’s what really damages the log. That ultraviolet light from the sun, that’s what causes all those cracks and checks. And while you’re at it, make sure you check that chinking. That’s that mortar-like material that usually is rubbery these days that goes in between the logs. And take the opportunity to repair that before you do the stain. That should wrap it up. Good luck with that project. Well, if you have a motion-detecting light anywhere outside your home, you know it can be a very good deterrent to both people and the critters. You don’t want skulking the house. You don’t want to skulking around the outside of your house. These lights are easy to install. They’re very affordable, and they definitely add a sense of security and peace of mind. |
| 00:25:33 | LESLIE: So how do they work? Now, motion detectors, they’re kind of like small electronic eyes that detect heat waves from a moving object. This can include people, animals, even cars. And that light’s going to stay on anywhere from 1 to 20 minutes. It really all depends on how you set it, and a photocell is going to keep that light off during those daylight hours. Now, most motion detectors have a semicircular field of view up to 240 degrees and an adjustable distance range, sometimes up to 70 feet, sometimes more. And field and range can be adjusted to avoid coming on when a car just drives by. Now, here’s a tip. Motion detectors can also allow you to operate that light manually, usually by flipping the switch off for a second and then back on. And this allows you to keep that light on at night when you want to, even when there’s no motion. So it’s kind of a great option there that helps you keep that light on at night when you want to. So it helps you out when no one’s home and helps you out when you are. |
| 00:26:26 | TOM: Now, if you have an existing light fixture, hooking up a new motion detector fixture is really an easy project. First step, kill the power, right? Make sure it’s off. Then you can remove the old unit and wire up a new one. That’s about it. The same wiring pattern should apply to the new unit. Make sure the hot black wire is connected to black, neutral to white, and don’t forget to connect that green ground to the bare copper wire around the ground screw. If you do all that, you will be good to go. And by the way, don’t forget to connect that green ground to the There’s some new lighting options out there in battery powered, which amazes me. The power and the lights that you get, the brightness out of battery today is amazing. So there’s no wiring involved. You get really good illumination and it’s operated by a battery. I’ve got one behind my house that I put up that has been running on the same battery for a year, one battery for a year, and it’s a motion detection light. So lots of opportunities to improve your lighting and your security at the same time. |
| 00:27:25 | TOM: Virginia is next on the Money Pit. How can we help you, Margaret? |
| 00:27:27 | CALLER: I have an old house. Part of it built Civil War era. |
| 00:27:32 | TOM: Okay. |
| 00:27:32 | CALLER: The floors in the oldest part are pine and they’re about two, the boards are about two and a half inches wide. And the newer part, the boards of the floor are oak and they’re more narrow. I want to know how to safely clean them and keep them protected. |
| 00:27:52 | TOM: There’s a product called Tree Wax. Which is perfect for this particular application. It’s made by the Beaumont company and Tree Wax has been around for many, many, many, many years. And it’s actually a natural cleaner for hardwood floors. So you can find that at retailers across the country. You could find that online, but look for Tree Wax Natural Floor Cleaner. And it’s going to enable you to clean those floors very thoroughly. And it’s going to enable you to clean those floors very thoroughly without damaging the wood. And that’s what’s critical because some of the floor products are not really designed for wood floors. Sometimes there’s too much moisture in them. They don’t evaporate well and they leave too much moisture in the wood and that causes the wood to swell or stain further. So look up Tree Wax. It’s not expensive and it works very well. |
| 00:28:47 | CALLER: Okay. So is this a put on and wipe off? |
| 00:28:50 | TOM: Yes. |
| 00:28:51 | CALLER: Okay. That sounds good. |
| 00:28:53 | TOM: Tree Wax is spelled T-R-E-W-X. T-R-E-W-A-X. |
| 00:28:56 | LESLIE: Okay. One E. Okay. Got it. |
| 00:28:58 | TOM: All right. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:29:02 | LESLIE: Ed reached out to Team Money Pit and says, I have a shady deck and need some help dealing with a greenish growth. He says, my deck gets partial sun during the day and it has like a greenish moss all over it. How do we clean that to get rid of it and prevent it from coming back? |
| 00:29:18 | TOM: Okay. So it’s really a two-part solution here, Ed. First of all, what you need to do is to clean the moss that’s there first. Now, there are deck cleaners that work very well. There are deck brighteners that work very well. These will both remove the existing moss that you have on that deck. |
| 00:29:36 | LESLIE: Like regardless of how thick that moss may be, sometimes it’s just sort of like a thin greenish tint, but sometimes there can be like almost an actual thickness of moss. |
| 00:29:46 | TOM: Yeah. I think they’ll still work very well. Now, you may have to use a little more aggression in terms of maybe a power washer, not too much now, maybe 500 to 1,000 pounds of pressure is about all you want. And those pressure washers have settings on them so that you can have a wider spray and not a needle-like spray so you won’t damage the deck. But once you get rid of that surface, what you want to do is to take steps to get more sunlight on that deck. Because if you get more sunlight on that deck, the moss won’t be able to regrow. So you say you have partial sun, but there’s a way that you could say thin out some of the trees, not cut them down, but just get a little sunlight comes through a little bit more frequently than what you have right now. That is the easiest way to stop any kind of mold, mildew, algae, lichen growing on that deck surface. Then the other thing that you could do is you can use a product called Spray and Forget. Now, what Spray and Forget does is it reacts with the sunlight to also kill whatever growth is on that deck, but it doesn’t happen instantly. So I would put it on as the last step because if you have a heavy coat right now, you’re going to wait all summer for it to totally die. So I would put it on as the last step. Dry up and fall off. So I would do that as a last step. Use Spray and Forget. And if you do that every few months, then I think you’ll be in good shape. You’re going to have to maintain that deck in that condition because if you let it get away from you, it’s just going to grow green all over |
| 00:31:04 | LESLIE: again. All right. Now we’ve got a question from Brian who’s thinking about reinforcing a bathroom floor. He says, I’m remodeling the bathroom in a 1955 house. The subfloor is rotten where the bathtub was and one floor joist has termite damage. I dealt with the termites, but I’m wondering what is the best way to repair that damaged joist? Can it be sistered? I mean, that’s really kind of your only option here, right? |
| 00:31:29 | TOM: Well, I’ll tell you, when I was a home inspector, Leslie, I used to do this all the time. I would go into these bathrooms and check for rotted floors. I would put one foot on one side of the bowl and one foot on the other side of the bowl. And with my thighs, because I didn’t want to touch it, or with my calves, I should say, I would try to sort of press it down. And sometimes you would feel rotten spaces right under that toilet. That’s the one place it leaks. And the second thing I would do is I’d take my foot and put it against the tub wall and push it down on the floor against, because that’s what happens where you have water that splashes out of the tub and lands on the floor. I’m telling you this because I want you to make sure that you’re getting all the areas that are rotted the first time you do this repair. Now, in terms of that joist, yes, you could sister it. And what that means is to take a new beam and put it against the old beam and then glue them together and bolt them together. Don’t nail them, but screw them or bolt them together. And basically |
| 00:32:21 | TOM: supports the weight that the old beam was supporting. And of course, I hope you also had the house treated for termites at the same time. Otherwise, you’ll be doing this again and |
| 00:32:29 | LESLIE: again and again. All right, Ed, good luck with that project. And hopefully you can keep that |
| 00:32:32 | TOM: moss from coming back. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I hope that you guys are enjoying the beautiful summer weather. And if you’re doing home improvements this summer, remember, if you’ve got questions, you’re running into a jam, you don’t know which way to turn, you don’t know if you can do it yourself or you’ve got to hire a pro, you can reach us 24-7, at 1-888-Money-Pit, or go to moneypit.com slash ask and click the blue microphone button. We are always here and willing, ready, and able to help. Until we talk again, I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 00:33:04 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 00:33:06 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
| 00:33:07 | 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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