Show Notes
In this episode, we reveal some renter-friendly kitchen upgrades that won’t jeopardize your security deposit. Then, we discuss HVAC filters, guiding you on the best choices for cleaner air. Plus, learn about easy, mortar-free backyard projects to elevate your outdoor space. Listen to all this and more home improvement advice on today’s show!
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
- Kitchen Makeover: Revamp your rental kitchen without risking your security deposit.
- HVAC Filters: Breathe easier by choosing the best HVAC filters for your home.
- Backyard Projects: Craft custom backyard features with DIY building blocks.
Top Questions & Answers
- Cleaning Deck: Joseph’s composite decks have a white film and the color is fading. We suggest a good cleaning to remove algae and applying a solid color deck stain.
- Bathroom Pipes: What size pipes are needed for a shower panel? It’s fine for Norma to keep the same size pipes, but multiple showerheads may reduce the water pressure.
- Ants: Lorraine wants to get rid of ants in her garden and lawn. Precise new insecticides are very effective when they’re brought back to the nest and eliminate the ant colonies.
- Wall Removal: Can Charlie remove a load-bearing wall between his kitchen and dining room? He’ll need a professional to build a temporary support wall and do the project properly.
- Basement Walls: Poor drainage has caused the basement walls to bow in. Rob should hire a structural engineer to inspect the issue and specify how to make the repairs.
- Cement Cracks: Cheryl’s cement porch is cracking along the edges. Repairing the cement is easy and affordable with the right products to patch and adhere to the concrete.
- Light Switches: Pam gets advice on how to install and program an occupancy sensor light in a room with two light switches.
- Well System Plumbing: How to eliminate air pockets in the plumbing? David should check for a problem with the pressure tank that’s getting air in the lines.
- 1960s Home: What should Phyllis look for when buying a home built in the 1960s? It was a good era for home construction, but she should check the appliances and radiant heat for issues.
Ask Your Home Improvement Question
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 00:00:15 | TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is The Money Pit, home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| And I’m Leslie Segrete. | |
| And we are here to help you with projects around your house. So reach out to us right now with your questions at 1-888-Money-Pit. Coming up this hour, if you’re a renter and you’re not all that happy with your kitchen, you might think there’s not a whole lot you can do about it. Well, we’re going to share five spruce-ups for your space that can be done without wrecking your security deposit. | |
| 00:00:56 | LESLIE: And also ahead, you know, filters inside of your heating and cooling systems can help remove dust and also make it a lot easier for you to breathe at home. But there’s a lot of choices out there, so which type really does the best job? We’re going to help you sort out what it takes to breathe easy. |
| 00:01:12 | TOM: Plus, if your backyard spaces are ready for a midsummer spruce-up, we’re going to share a fast, easy, and mortar-free way to build fire pits, seat walls, lighting columns, and lots more. |
| 00:01:21 | LESLIE: But first, are you ready to unleash your creativity and conquer home improvement projects like a pro? Well, we can help you do that. So put your lists together. Let us know what you are working on, what you want to tackle, what you’ve started and kind of maybe walked away from, like that crocheting project I gave up on last year. Whatever it is, you got something you’re working on, let us help you get it to the finish line. So give us a call and let us know how we can help. |
| 00:01:45 | TOM: The number here is 1-888-Money-Pit, 888-666-3974. Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first? |
| 00:01:53 | LESLIE: Joseph in Florida needs some help with a composite deck. What can we do for you? |
| 00:01:56 | CALLER: I have two Trex decks, one above the other, and they’re quite large, wrap around the house. And they were installed in 2007, and since that time they’ve developed a kind of a white film. At times it has some black dots on it, and also the color has faded. And my question is, what can I do to restore that color and make it look more like new than the way it does now? |
| 00:02:28 | TOM: Well, I’m not aware that you can restore the color. The dots that you describe and the staining that you describe sound like it could be an algae. So one thing that you should do is to clean that decking because, unfortunately, composites do tend sometimes to grow algae that tends to stick to them a bit. Like what you’re describing. So I would make sure that I clean it. |
| 00:02:52 | CALLER: I do. I spray it with this Wet and Forget that you’ve recommended, and it does do a good job on that. Okay, great. That’s good to hear. That’s really not the big problem. The problem is the whiteness, like the top of the handrails. The railings are all Trex, and the top, this is high, this is up around 3,000 feet. And the top has turned white, a film like on top of it. And I’ve tried washing it and spraying it, and I didn’t use anything harsh on it. I didn’t want to. But I just wondered if there was something that can bring that color back up. |
| 00:03:21 | TOM: Trex says that you can stain it. I mean, they do say that it’s okay to use an exterior stain with it. They recommend solid color stains. They recommend specifically solid color stains by either Bayer or Sherwin-Williams. |
| 00:03:36 | LESLIE: You know, there’s a manufacturer, Mesmer is their name, M-E-S-S-M-E-R, Mesmer. And they actually have a composite deck finish that’s made specifically for it. It’s in, I think, seven or eight different colors. And it does restore color, you know, to faded composite. I would give it a good cleaning and, you know, try to get rid of all that algae and mold growth that’s on there. And then go ahead and look at this, the Mesmer’s composite deck finish. |
| 00:04:01 | CALLER: Okay, Mesmer. I’ll take a look for that and see if I can find it. All right. |
| 00:04:05 | TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:04:09 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Norma from Delaware on the line who wants to know what size pipes you need to get good pressure in the bathroom. Norma, that sounds like a personal question. What’s going on at your money pit? Okay, I’m going to install a shower panel. |
| 00:04:20 | TOM: Okay. |
| 00:04:21 | CALLER: In order to get, you know, the right pressure. |
| 00:04:25 | TOM: Right. |
| 00:04:26 | CALLER: How big do the pipes need to be? |
| 00:04:29 | TOM: You said you want to install a shower panel. So is this one of these units where it comes in and then fans out to multiple spray heads? |
| 00:04:37 | CALLER: Yeah, the jets, right. |
| 00:04:39 | TOM: How’s your water pressure right now? |
| 00:04:41 | CALLER: Pretty good. Well, my house is about eight years old. |
| 00:04:45 | TOM: If it’s only eight years old and you have pretty good water pressure, you should be okay with this. I will say, though, that the water pressure coming out of multiple shower heads is not going to be as invigorating as coming out of a single shower head. So it’s going to give you good coverage, but it may not be as strong. And I don’t think there’s much that you can do about that. If you’ve got normal street pressure, that’s how those shower panel units are designed to work. But just be mindful that it’s not likely to be as strong when it’s going to come out of multiple heads. Because you basically just need more water to do that. |
| 00:05:21 | CALLER: Oh, okay. Well, you know, I inquired with the builder and he told me that from the basement to the shower floor, I have three-quarter pipes. And then from the floor to the shower head, half an inch. |
| 00:05:36 | TOM: And that’s typical. That’s typical. So, you know, that doesn’t change anything. |
| 00:05:41 | CALLER: Oh, okay. Colin, thank you so much. Thank you so much for your help. |
| 00:05:44 | TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:05:49 | LESLIE: You know, we love hearing from our listeners. And if you want to make our day, leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. |
| 00:05:55 | TOM: You know, it really helps us know what we’re doing right and how we can improve our show for you. So just go to moneypit.com slash review, moneypit.com slash review, and you might even win a copy of our book. |
| 00:06:07 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Lorraine from Vermont on the line who’s got some ants invading her money pit. How can we help you today? |
| 00:06:13 | CALLER: I have them out in my flower beds. I have them on my front and back lawn. There’s a lot of sand here around my house. |
| 00:06:23 | CALLER: Right. |
| 00:06:24 | CALLER: And I am wondering what I could do to get rid of them. |
| 00:06:27 | TOM: Are they getting into the house as well? |
| 00:06:28 | CALLER: No, they are not in the house. |
| 00:06:31 | TOM: All right. Well, that’s good news. So look, there are ways that you can work with this using sort of over-the-counter products, but I would recommend a different direction. The insecticides today have become so sophisticated and so accurate and so able to target specifically the insect that you’re dealing with that it’s really worthwhile having a professional apply these insecticides, one in particular that actually we just used at my mom’s house. Well, not we. I mean, I hired somebody to do this. It’s called Termidor, T-E-R-M-I-D-O-R. And I’m very familiar with this insecticide because it’s one. It’s one that is a part of a class called an undetectable. So the way it works is in the old days, we’d spray insecticides that would repel the ants or kill them on sight, and they would sort of know it was there. So it was detectable. Well, these new insecticides are undetectable. So as a result, the ants go through the insecticide, and then they get it on their bodies, and they bring it back to the nest, and then they share it with the other insects in the nest. So just like that. So just getting some ants to go through it basically takes it back to the nest and wipes out the whole nest. So it’s a very effective way to try to control the ant populations around your house. I don’t know that I would go so far as to do it in my whole yard unless it was really bothering me. But generally, you do this right around the perimeter of your home to try to minimize them in that area and stop them from potentially going into the house. You haven’t seen them yet, but if you’ve got that many, I can almost guarantee that they’re in the house. All right, Lorraine, does that help you out? |
| 00:08:08 | CALLER: That does. Because I actually tried. Someone had told me to use Borax and sugar. |
| 00:08:13 | TOM: Yeah, that’s one of the home remedies that I mentioned. And Borax does work, but it’s just not nearly as effective as a product like Termidor. Good luck with the project. |
| 00:08:22 | LESLIE: Thank you so much. Charlie in Tennessee is on the line and looking to do some renovating at his money pit. How can we help you today? |
| 00:08:29 | CALLER: I have a small kitchen that I’m trying to knock out the wall to increase space to make my kitchen, my dining room, and one big room. My dilemma is the fact that I don’t know whether the wall that I’m knocking down is a low-bearing wall or not. |
| 00:08:45 | LESLIE: Well, step away from the project and don’t knock it down just yet. |
| 00:08:51 | TOM: Okay. Well, first of all, what kind of house do you have, Charlie? Is it a ranch? Is it a colonial? Describe it to us. |
| 00:08:57 | CALLER: It’s a wood-framed home. Okay. |
| 00:08:59 | TOM: One story or two? |
| 00:09:01 | CALLER: One story. |
| 00:09:01 | TOM: And the roof peaks in the middle, goes up from the front, goes up from the back, peaks in the middle? |
| 00:09:06 | CALLER: Kind of. It’s L-shaped. Okay. And where the wall would be would be pretty much right where the two meet. Yeah. |
| 00:09:14 | TOM: So you’re in the middle there. You’re not quite sure. And the dining room and the kitchen are side-by-side. Is it aligned front-to-back on the house or is it aligned end-to-end, so to speak? |
| 00:09:27 | CALLER: That wall would be parallel for the front-to-back. |
| 00:09:31 | TOM: So it’s aligned front-to-back. Okay. I would say that in most cases, that is a bearing wall. That it doesn’t mean you’re dead in the water. It just means it’s a little more complicated for you to open this up. Because if it’s a bearing wall, you have to support the structure while it’s disassembled, and then you have to put a new beam in to carry that load in the new open plan design. It’s not something that you would do yourself. It’s not like, I don’t want you to like, hey, I’ve never done home improvement, but today I’m thinking about tearing down a bearing wall. Bad idea. Okay? So you need to know what you’re doing or get some people to help you to know what you’re doing or hire a pro and get a building permit. And basically the way it works is temporary walls are built on either side of the bearing wall. And this holds up the structure that they’re supposed to be holding. Then the bearing wall is taken apart. The bearing wall is reconstructed, but now you would use a girder. And it could be a wood girder. It could be a metal girder. It could be a combination wood and metal girder that goes the whole span. It could be a girder that sits below the ceiling, or it could be a girder that’s actually flush with the ceiling. So when it’s all done, it’s invisible. But one way or the other, you’ll need that. You’ll need this beam to carry the load above that. And then once it’s all put it back together, you’re really not going to know that it’s there. But you just got to do it right so that you don’t damage your house in the process. Okay? |
| 00:10:43 | CALLER: Yes, sir. Thank you. I appreciate it. |
| 00:10:45 | TOM: You’re welcome, Charlie. Good luck with that project. Now put the saw down. Okay? |
| 00:10:49 | CALLER: problem. Thank you. I appreciate it. |
| 00:10:52 | LESLIE: Well, if you’re a renter and you’re not happy with the kitchen in your rental space, you’re probably thinking that you’ve got no choice and you’re just kind of stuck with it. But you’re not. We’ve got a few simple but impactful projects that you can do to refresh that space without busting your budget and without putting your security deposit at risk. First of all, you can install an adhesive backsplash. There are peel and stick tiles out there. In fact, I’ve seen them even on Good Morning America. We’ve done a segment on all these awesome sort of rubberized sticky tiles that look like those fun little hexagons, bigger sort of rectangular shaped tile, subway tile, great colors, washable. Easy to install. So there’s some options there to do just that. It’s going to add some texture and interest, and it takes no time at all. Plus, if you actually wanted to put up real tile, which you can do, you can just kind of install plywood as a temporary backsplash and then tile over that. So there’s some ways that you can enhance the backsplash there. And along those same lines of peel and stick, you can use peel and stick wallpaper. It has come back in a huge way. I know sometimes I feel like I’m the only one talking about how much I love the peel and stick wallpaper. But I do. And it really can change a space without, say, painting, without doing any sort of major renovation. And the peel and stick stuff truly is that. It puts up, you peel it right off, and you walk away, and you’ve not damaged the walls. And depending on how complicated that pattern is, it doesn’t have to be difficult to put up. So that’s another option over painting. Now, vinyl floor remnants, that’s another great option because you can kind of lay it out over the floor like a rug, but they’re more heavy duty. You can even use something called like a location. Tape, which on one side has a more sticky kind of carpet tape and on the other side has a lighter kind of paper tape. And you can put that so that the lighter side is on the apartment’s floor and the more heavy duty side is on that vinyl piece that you’re putting down to kind of really keep it in place without damaging the existing floor. And, you know, at a smaller size, the price for this vinyl remnant is not going to be a ton of money. So there’s a lot of stuff. You can also change out hardware. Just make sure you keep the hardware and the old screws and whatnot in a bag and label where it goes. So that when it’s time to leave, you can just swap it back out. Same with light fixtures. Very easy to do. Yeah. |
| 00:13:05 | TOM: I love changing out hardware pulls. They’re super cheap. It’s a nice update, but they make a big impact on your kitchen style. |
| 00:13:11 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Rob in Iowa whose basement walls seem to be coming in on themselves. What is going on at your money pit? |
| 00:13:19 | CALLER: I’ve got some basement walls that are heaving in and I need a permanent solution that’s not going to bankrupt me. |
| 00:13:26 | CALLER: Okay. |
| 00:13:27 | CALLER: Basically, what I’ve got is I’ve got some… Okay. I’ve got some wall anchors that have been installed about seven years ago. I’ve been keeping those tight and the walls are still heaving in. We had a drought here in Iowa last summer and this year we’ve had quite a bit of rain. So walls are bowing in up to two inches in places. Wow. I’m getting a little worried. Yeah. |
| 00:13:48 | TOM: If your walls are bowed in two inches, Rob, unfortunately you’ve got a very serious problem on your hands that is not only impacting the structure of your home, but also the value of your home. And if the walls have gotten that bad, we are well beyond the do-it-yourself fix stage. I can provide you some basic information about why this might be happening. Generally, the reason walls will heave is because you get a lot of water that collects around the foundation perimeter, especially if you don’t have terrific drainage. If the drainage is flat, if the gutters are dumping near the corners of the foundation, which is where most gutter contractors leave them, that water collects into the soil and in the wintertime it freezes. It expands and then slowly but surely sort of ratchets that wall out. Now if yours have gone to the point where they’re two inches out of plum, this is a problem. So the way I would address this, and I would do it very specifically and very strategically is as follows. I would retain a structural engineer to examine the problem and specify a repair. It’s very important that you just don’t call a contractor for this because if they don’t have the pedigree of an engineering degree, it’s not going to hold water when it comes time to sell your house. So I would hire an engineer to analyze the problem and design a solution. You could talk cost concerns with your engineer and options and all of that. Once you have that plan in place, at that point in time, you can make the decision as to whether or not you’re going to do it yourself, which may be more possible with the plan than not, or whether or not you’re going to hire a pro. But however you get it done, the third and most important final step is to have the engineer come back and examine the work and then give you an additional letter that says, yes, I identified this problem and I designed a fix and I inspected the fix and it’s done correctly and there’s nothing further to worry about. Because ultimately, if you go to sell your house, the buyers are going to bring up this issue. You want to have that sort of pedigree in your hand so that you can prove that it was a repair of that. Yes, it was structural in nature. But it was repaired correctly. Does that make sense? |
| 00:15:57 | CALLER: Yeah, absolutely. That’s a very interesting approach. I have one kick to throw at you and that is the wall anchor system that’s installed was warrantied and the owner of that company came out and said that he’ll warranty the system and he’s willing to put in like three more anchors, which in my mind is an admission of liability. Do I let him do that or do I need to get the structural engineer first? |
| 00:16:25 | TOM: Is this wall anchor contractor a structural engineer? I doubt it. Stop the repair process, get the engineer. If the engineer thinks that’s a good idea, then that’s a different story. But warrantying doesn’t necessarily mean we put more in. If the product failed and your walls continued to bow as a result, then his liability, depending on where these walls were when he first put the system in and guaranteed that they were going to stop the walls from buckling in, his liability could be significant. But I would get the engineer. I would get the engineer first and let’s get some good impartial expert advice here from somebody that does not have a system to sell you. I don’t want you to get advice from somebody. Sometimes contractors give you advice from people because they sell the system. Yeah, you got a problem, I’m just the guy to fix it for you. That’s not really good expert independent advice. So go to the engineer first, Rob, and then you can deal with the contractor issue after you have the information. Okay. Great. Thank you. Good luck. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:17:29 | LESLIE: Cheryl in Virginia, you’ve got the Money Pit. How can we help you today? I have a cement porch. |
| 00:17:34 | CALLER: The house was built in 1981 and it has a cement front porch to it. And along the edges of the porch, it’s cracking and crumbling like off. |
| 00:17:46 | CALLER: Okay. |
| 00:17:47 | CALLER: And then one portion of the porch, it actually has a water stand there because it’s a dip. |
| 00:17:52 | CALLER: Mm-hmm. |
| 00:17:53 | CALLER: I was just wondering if there’s an economical way I could fix that to make this porch last a little bit longer. Yeah. |
| 00:17:59 | TOM: And there’s a couple of things that you could do. You could either resurface the whole porch surface or you could mix up a recipe of Quikrete products that could be used to patch those badly chipped or spalled areas. Now the key here is that you just can’t buy a cement mix in the bag, mix it up and be done. Because when you’re trying to adhere new concrete to old concrete, you need to use products that are designed to make that bond possible. So if you go to Quikrete.com, you look at the listings for projects, there are actually one sheets there that give you the step-by-step for repairing badly damaged concrete. There’s also a one sheet for resurfacing concrete. And I think one of those two applications and the products they recommend there are going to work. It is a do-it-yourself project and it’s not terribly expensive. The products are very affordable and the instructions are there too, but make sure you follow them. It’s like mixing a recipe. You can’t leave out one item or it’s just not going to come out right. Okay. |
| 00:19:05 | CALLER: And then now as far as along those edges that we have to probably build up a sidewall. |
| 00:19:12 | TOM: You could mix it up to a consistency where you could trowel it and reform the edge. |
| 00:19:16 | CALLER: Wow. Okay. Cool. The Quikrete.com. Thank you so much. |
| 00:19:21 | TOM: Thanks for that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:19:25 | LESLIE: Well, we can all agree that you can never have too much fresh air. That is unless you are an allergy sufferer and that fresh air is loaded up with pollen and dust, then you are a sneezing person. Well, air cleaners and filters are supposed to remove those allergens and make it easier for you to breathe, but there’s a lot of competing claims. So it really can be kind of hard to tell what’s what and what’s better for you. Yeah. |
| 00:19:49 | TOM: So let’s start to talk about filters. They’re an important part of your forced hot air system. They protect your heating and cooling equipment. In fact, my friend called me earlier this weekend and asked what might be causing a weird vibration in his AC system. So I told him to check his filter. And when he said, what filter? I was pretty sure we found the problem because it was loaded with dirt and dust and the system was straining to move air through it. But listen, there’s four basic types of forced air system filters you should be aware of. The first are the very inexpensive spun filters. I jokingly call these rock studs. They don’t really stop very much in terms of dust and pollen. Then you have the pleated filters. The filter media is actually folded, and this increases the surface area and makes them much more efficient than the spun filters. And a variation of that are the pleated electrostatic or electronic filters, which combine the pleated media with the static electronic charge, and that improves its effectiveness. So with all of these, you want to check the MERV rating. That stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Values. And the MERV rating should be 11 to 13. |
| 00:20:50 | LESLIE: Now, let’s talk more about those electronic air cleaners, because they seem to really have come a long way in recent years, and they’ve really been able to catch more and even more microscopic sized particles. But are they worth the investment? I mean, they can be kind of pricey because they are for the whole home. They get installed into the system, correct? |
| 00:21:10 | TOM: Yeah, they are definitely the most effective type of a filtration system. And if you are allergy sufferers, then I think you’d find it to be a great price no matter what they charge. But they are more expensive than the other systems that I noted. But I do think they work really, really well. I mean, they will trap virus-sized particles. Yeah. |
| 00:21:27 | LESLIE: And they sort of draw them to this collector plate, which you then have to clean, but it does a great job of pulling all of that out of the air. And since we’re talking about filters, I mean, you hear a lot about cleaning of the ducts. Is it worth it? Should you do it? So per the EPA, they tell us that duct cleaning has really never been shown to actually prevent health problems. And the EPA does not recommend that air ducts be cleaned routinely, but kind of only as needed. So think about it. If you do a big construction project at home and there’s a lot of dust and maybe it gets into the duct work, then do it. If you’ve just moved into a house and you kind of want to get a fresh start, do it. But it’s not like a, oh, quick, we better clean the ducts. That’s the whole reason here. So do it as you need. Pam in Missouri is on the line and has a question about installing a dimmer, a great do-it-yourself project. How can we help you, Pam? |
| 00:22:17 | CALLER: I have a room that has fluorescent lighting in it, and there’s two entries into that room. So there’s a light switch on each door, so it’s a two-way switch. Can I put a sensor on that so that when you walk in and walk out, the lights come on and go off? |
| 00:22:32 | TOM: Are you asking me if you can? Can you put a sensor on that? Yes. Is your concern that you want the lights to come on automatically, or is your concern that you don’t want people to leave the lights on when no one’s in the room? Both. Well, I guess you could use an occupancy sensor. There’s a switch there, but you would need to set it in vacancy mode, not occupancy mode. See, in occupancy mode, the light comes on when there’s motion. So if you had a three-way, what could happen is you walk in the room, the switch closest to you picks up your motion, turns the lights on. You continue halfway through the room until the one on the other side picks it up and turns the lights off. So that wouldn’t work too well. A better option might be to just replace one side of it, just one of the switches, with an occupancy sensor. But set it in what’s called the vacancy mode. So what that means is you manually turn the light switch on, but if there’s no motion in the room, it will automatically go off. So we use these, for example, in the bedrooms upstairs at our house because kids turn lights on, but as we all know, kids don’t turn the lights off. So if you set it in the vacancy mode, they can turn the lights on, then they’ll go off, depending on the period of monitoring you set. They’ll either go off one, five, 15, or 30 minutes later. |
| 00:23:46 | CALLER: Oh, okay. All right. That would work. Thank you. |
| 00:23:49 | TOM: Hope that helps you out. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:23:53 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got David from Illinois on the line who’s got a question about a well system. How can we help you today? |
| 00:23:58 | CALLER: It’s my son’s well. He has a well in his house and the water system has air pockets in it quite often so that the water will be running and then an air pocket will expel water and sometimes it’ll shoot out of the sink or what have you. And so I was wanting to know what you can do to get rid of the air pockets in a well system. |
| 00:24:26 | TOM: Does the system have a pressure tank on it, David? |
| 00:24:29 | CALLER: It has a pressure tank, I believe. |
| 00:24:31 | TOM: That sounds like a problem with the pressure tank. If the pressure tank is missing, or if it’s not installed properly, or if the bladder has failed, then you’re not getting a chance to build up pressure and then feed off the tank. You might be feeding directly from the well, which could account for the air blasts. Well, that’s a good question. So the first thing I would do is look at the pressure tank, see what kind of condition that that’s in. That’s most likely what’s causing the air getting into the lines. I think that’s the best step. Okay? Okay. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. Well, are you ready to step up your backyard with a quick and easy upgrade? You can easily do just that with Ladera wall block from PaveStone. |
| 00:25:08 | LESLIE: Yeah, you know, these blocks can be configured to define or enhance any part of your outdoor living area, whether you’re building a fire pit, setting up a seating area, defining garden, garden spaces, or creating decorative columns, these blocks are kind of the perfect solution. |
| 00:25:22 | TOM: Yeah, you know, for example, with Ladera wall block, you can build a stunning fire pit in less than five minutes. It’s really that simple because the blocks are designed to be stacked in a variety of configurations, which makes them perfect for any DIY enthusiast. |
| 00:25:35 | LESLIE: Now, Ladera wall blocks offer a natural style that enhances your outdoor living space with a popular natural dry stack look. So there’s no hassle and it gives your project a professional finish with minimal effort. No cuts are needed, and that really simplifies the installation process. And they’re also available in seven different face patterns that allow mask pattern repeats. Plus, they’re environmentally friendly, they require little to no maintenance, and these wall blocks are not only beautiful, but also eco-friendly, offering a sustainable solution for all of your outdoor projects. |
| 00:26:07 | TOM: They’re so easy to work with. I just love them. If you’re ready to transform your outdoor space with ease, Ladera wall block from PaveStone can help elevate your home’s exterior and create the back of your home. |
| 00:26:16 | LESLIE: All right, now we’ve got Phyllis from the Jersey Shore calling in. What can we do for you today? |
| 00:26:23 | CALLER: I am looking to purchase a home, and the problem is I’m looking in a very specific area because I don’t want to leave the current school district the children are in. All the homes around here were built in the 60s. So my first question is, what should I look for in that era of home construction that might be a red flag? And also, the way the homes are all built, the bottom floor has radiant floor heat, and upstairs is hot. It’s a hot water baseboard, and I can’t imagine that 50-year-old pipes are not going to go at some point. And I’m wondering, how do I make sure they’re okay, or look for signs that they’re getting weak? |
| 00:26:58 | TOM: So you’re basically looking for the good, the bad, and the ugly of 1960s construction. Correct. And the story is that it’s actually a pretty good time for home construction. You had copper plumbing. You had decent wiring. Sometimes the services were a little small. But if the homes are mostly… Especially natural gas, you really don’t need more than about 100 amps to power pretty much everything, including central air conditioning. And you got hardwood floors. Very frequently, you had hardwood floors in 1960 houses. And it’s interesting, because they put the hardwood floors in, and they very promptly cover them with wall-to-wall carpet. |
| 00:27:32 | LESLIE: With shag carpeting. Or shag. Yeah. |
| 00:27:34 | TOM: That’s right. Which actually protects them very nicely, and didn’t allow them to wear. So it’s a pretty good year for home construction. Now, because it’s a 50-year-old house, you’re obviously going to have a lot of construction. You’re going to have… How old is the furnace? How old is the water heater? Stuff like that to consider. What’s the general maintenance been? But in terms of an error of home construction, I think it’s a really strong error. Now, if you’d asked me about the 80s, I would tell you, eh, not so much. Those houses were put together pretty fast, and not always in the best possible way. But the 60s is a pretty good year for construction. |
| 00:28:07 | CALLER: Oh, good. Because I’m moving up. I live in an 80s house now. |
| 00:28:09 | TOM: Oh, there you go. So you’re going to get better. In terms of that radiant heat. That’s probably one… The one weak link that that home has. But the thing is, you can’t really determine how far along it is and whether or not it’s going to break. It probably will eventually fail. And when that happens, you’re going to be faced with a pretty costly repair. You’ll have to put in some sort of alternative heat system, because it’s virtually impossible to repair those pipes in the slab. So the first floor of your house, you’ll either be running new baseboard pipes, or you’ll be running electric radiant, or you’ll be adding an air to water heat exchanger so that you can take hot water from the boiler, run it through a heat exchanger and blow air over it through your HVAC system, the same one used to cool the house. But I wouldn’t obsess about that. I mean, it’s probably going to happen eventually, but it may not even happen in the time that you own this next house. So if you like the neighborhood, the 1960s is a pretty good era for home construction. Great. |
| 00:29:04 | CALLER: That’s great news. |
| 00:29:05 | LESLIE: Thank you so much. |
| 00:29:05 | TOM: You’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:29:10 | LESLIE: Phil Rodin to Team Money Pit asking, can I use hardwood planks in my home? Yes, you can. You can use hardwood planks in my basement. We have extended gutters and a French drain, which empties into two different sump pumps. So water is not a problem until it is, Phil. Yeah. |
| 00:29:24 | TOM: If you need two sump pumps, somehow I think there’s a lot of water under that floor, yeah. But I mean, even if you had no water under the floor, the thing is you can’t put hardwood right down on top of a concrete floor because it’s going to swell, it’s going to curl and buckle. It’s not going to end well. It’ll be a huge waste of money. So what you really ought to think about is engineering. You’re going to have to have a lot of hardwood, which is structurally stable because it’s made up of layers of hardwood, or you could choose one of the very many vinyl or hybrid floor products that are out there because they’re 100% waterproof. They last like heck. I mean, they’re so durable. I’ve used Duravana in two kitchens now, and some of it’s been down for years. And I had another kitchen where I had vinyl down for years. I used it in the laundry room twice. So they look great and they just don’t wear very well. So you have a lot more options than hardwood. But if you try to put that on the concrete, you’re going to be very sad. |
| 00:30:17 | LESLIE: Like really, really sad. It’s just going to warp and twist and not be great. And it’s a huge expense to kind of experiment to see what happens. |
| 00:30:25 | TOM: Well, there’s no doubt that houses can eat up more of our hard-earned cash than most of us would wish. But one way to take the edge off all that spending is to choose home improvements that can recoup their cost when it’s time to sell. Leslie’s got some tips on which improvements will bring the most value in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word. Leslie? Yeah. |
| 00:30:45 | LESLIE: You know, like the housing market itself, these things do fluctuate from year to year. But according to Remodeling Online’s cost versus value survey, there’s a number of projects that deliver really good returns on your investment. Now the top five projects for ROI are number five is a bathroom remodel. I mean, that’s very good for you as the homeowner because you’re getting the space that you want in the bathroom layout and configuration and design that you really are desiring. But the return there is only mid-range, about 67%, because those preferences are very personal. And the chances of the next person, the next buyer being like, oh, this is exactly what I wanted, are kind of slim. So that’s not the best, kind of mid-range there. Number four is a kitchen remodel. These are great because chances are you’re just modernizing a space, updating materials, maybe enhancing the appliances and working on a better layout, so you’re going to get a better return at 86%. Now, number three is siding replacement. The next three, the top three, I should say, are all exterior projects. Siding replacement with vinyl siding gives you a return on investment of 95%. I mean, you are really dramatically changing the exterior, the look of the home itself, and that is a big way to recoup your investment. Number two is a new entry door. Same thing. If you can get that curb appeal up, people are going to want that house, and that’s huge at 101% ROI. And finally, number one is garage door replacement at 103% because same thing, you can design a garage door makeover to completely enhance, change, redo the look of your home, and it’s not a huge, huge project, and you can really get something out there in a beautiful, durable material that’s not going to require a lot of maintenance, and it’s really going to make the space look wonderful. I mean, we always think of these outdoor improvements as delivering great ROI. I mean, it’s not going to make the space look wonderful. But the survey also showed that a deck offered only a 50% ROI. So while enjoyable, it really doesn’t add a lot of value to the house. |
| 00:32:50 | TOM: This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Coming up next time on the program, when it comes to the topic of home improvement, there’s often more bad advice than sage wisdom, and that bad advice can sometimes spread like wildfire. We’re going to tackle some of the most common tales and help you separate fact from home repair fiction on the very next edition of the Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 00:33:11 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 00:33:12 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
| 00:33:14 | 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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