#2443 – UV Defense: Benefits of Window Films | Home Exterior Upgrades | RumbleStone Building Blocks

Show Notes

Today, learn how to lower cooling costs and protect furnishings from UV damage with window films, and get inspired with DIY ideas for upgrading your home’s curb appeal. Plus, we’ll share how to customize outdoor features with creative building blocks. Listen in for all this and answers to more home improvement questions from callers!

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Podcast Transcript

Window Films: Window films are an effective defense against heat, glare, and UV damage inside your home.
Home Exteriors: Add beauty and value to your home exterior with DIY upgrades to add curb appeal.
RumbleStone Building Blocks: DIY building blocks make it easy to create custom outdoor features.

Ask Your Home Improvement Question

Do you have a home improvement or decor question? Call the show 24/7 at 888-MONEY-PIT (888-666-3974) or post your question here.

Podcast Transcript

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00:00:32	TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
00:00:37	LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
00:00:38	TOM: What are you guys working on this fine summer weekend? If it’s really, really hot, you can take the day off. But if it’s not and you want to take on a project and you don’t know how to start, maybe you did start and you got stuck, maybe you don’t know what products to use, whether you can do the project yourself. That’s what we talk about here on The MoneyPit Home Improvement Show. So we would love to hear from you. We’d love to hear your questions, your comments about all things home improvement, home remodeling, and home repair. The number here is 1-888-Money-Pit. That’s 888-666-3974. Or better yet, go to MoneyPit.com slash ask. Click the blue microphone button. You can record your question right on the website and it’ll come right to us. And we can answer those questions for you. And we’ll be right back after this break. Well, we’re going to share a cool tip about the benefits of window films that can actually lower your cooling costs, protect your furnishings, and enhance your home’s energy efficiency.
00:01:38	LESLIE: And August is National Curb Appeal Month. And don’t worry, Tom, your card is in the mail, so you should have received it by now. If not, I’ll get you in there. But truly, it’s a great month to make the exterior of your home look amazingly beautiful and refreshed, whether you’re selling your house or whether you’re staying put for a long time. So we’re going to share some DIY options to spruce up the sidewalks, the patios, the steps, all those great spots.
00:02:03	TOM: And when you guys were kids, did you like, like Leslie and I, enjoy building blocks? I mean, you can have that same creativity that you enjoyed as a kid, but in a much bigger and better way as an adult when you build an outdoor kitchen using some special blocks that you just have to stack together. You don’t have to be a mason. You don’t have to cut them. You just have to stack them just like you did as a kid. We’ll explain how the system works just ahead. Yeah.
00:02:29	LESLIE: And those don’t hurt nearly as much as it does when you step on a Lego in the middle of the night.
00:02:33	TOM: Unless you drop them on your foot, but that’s kind of hard to do.
00:02:35	LESLIE: Different way. Different, different. But first, guys, we want to know what you want to know. So what are you working on? Because our focus is helping you. So let us know what kind of projects you’ve got on the horizon or ones you’re kind of already knee deep in. Whatever it is, let us lend you a hand.
00:02:51	TOM: The number here is 1-888-Money-Pit, 888-666-3974. Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first?
00:02:59	LESLIE: Ellie in Wisconsin is on the line and just got a new place. Congratulations. And you’re looking to put up some wall shelves, do some decorating and show some things off. How can we help?
00:03:08	CALLER: I have a new home that is actually brand new to flip everything inside. I would like to put it on the floor. I put up wall shelvings. I desperately need wall shelvings in the bathrooms, I think, because I don’t know where else products would go and I have no idea where to first to begin.
00:03:23	TOM: Well, bathrooms are a great place to start your how-to project, Ellie. You know, I give you a lot of credit for going out there and buying a few tools to get yourself started with. In terms of these shelves, you know, if it’s a small shelf, like for knickknacks and things of this nature, you don’t really have to attach it to the studs, which makes the project a lot easier. There’s a whole bunch of different types of wall anchors that are out there that basically will hold just fine in that drywall. If it’s even a little bit heavy, you can use something called a toggle bolt or this cool little connector that’s called the monkey hook. It’s like a piece of wire that goes into the drywall and bends up behind the wall. And those things can handle up to 50 pounds. So I wouldn’t get too worried about having to go over the top with some heavy-duty shelves and drilling through the walls because aside from finding the studs, you also want to make sure you’re not finding, like, your plumbing pipes. But that drill wouldn’t cause a leak, which would be a big mess.
00:04:15	LESLIE: Yeah, Ellie, you really just need a light-duty drill driver. That’s going to help you with a ton of projects around this new house. And for shelving, make sure you pick something stylish. You can go for some that are more shallow, more of like a leaner ledge if you just want to put some artwork or some pictures on it. You can go for ones that are more deep. Maybe you want to put cookbooks or, you know, some bathroom products on it, depending on where you’re putting the shelf. But make sure that you properly anchor it for the weight that you plan to put on it. And it’s always good to put more weight anchors. Then you might actually put on the shelf because it’s better to be safe than sorry.
00:04:47	TOM: Yeah, but if it’s light-duty, you don’t have to go ahead and worry about connecting it to the studs. You’ll be able to hang it right from the drywall using the types of connectors that we talked about.
00:04:54	LESLIE: James in Tennessee, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
00:04:58	CALLER: My daughter, I got a house that I gave to her that was my father’s old home. So she was cleaning, though, and doing some remodeling to it and had wallpaper on this wall. So they tore it all off. And then they had newspapers. They had a newspaper on it from 1941.
00:05:16	TOM: Wow.
00:05:17	CALLER: And a whole bunch of stuff about FDR and before World War II. Oh, that’s amazing. Took all that down. And then the wall is made up of boards that are 12 inches wide, 8 feet tall. It’s an inch and a half thick. So looking at it, it’s all American chestnut.
00:05:33	TOM: Oh, wow. That’s beautiful.
00:05:35	CALLER: So she wants to just cover it back up. I said, no way. Oh, no. No. No, no, no. I said, if you don’t want it, let’s take it out. That is so classy today. So they ought to be able to get quite a bit of money for it.
00:05:44	TOM: You’re suggesting that she remove them? Or do you want to use those as the final ones?
00:05:48	CALLER: Well, she thought about that. But then she said, well, I’m just going to paint it because it doesn’t match what I got. I said, no, no, no. And I’m trying to talk her out of this very seriously because I said, you know, they don’t make that stuff anymore.
00:06:01	TOM: Yeah. No, they don’t. That’s really a very rare find. And I think if you were to sand it and refinish it, you’d have a really lovely wall surface. And even if the color wasn’t quite right, I’d rather see it. So you stain it to bring the color closer to what she wants it to be and still have all of that character. Leslie, what do you think?
00:06:18	LESLIE: I mean, it’s always so rare to find such beautiful wood in good condition. And I think there’s some ways to enhance it, enjoy it, and make it sort of go along with the rest of the decor, whether it’s changing the stain slightly on it, adding just sort of a clear coat to just really bring out that graining. You know, I wouldn’t be afraid of it, and I’m not afraid to mix different types of woods as well. And then different types of wall features. Of course, you know, you can still hang your art. You can still hang, you know, pieces of fabric or woven items. There’s different ways to make it work, and I would hope that she would embrace that.
00:06:54	CALLER: Looking at it, you know, these boards are an inch and a half thick. They’re not… I said, you know, you could take that thing down and probably have them sawed up even greater and have a lot more wood to work with.
00:07:06	TOM: Or just have them planed. You know, you could have them planed and smoothed out. If they come out easy enough, that might be an option. I’d consider that, because obviously sanding them when they’re vertical is a lot of hard work. But you could take them to a mill and have them planed so that they would basically take just an eighth inch off the surface, and you’d have a perfectly clean new American chestnut surface to work with after that.
00:07:30	CALLER: Okay. Well, I’ll just… Like I said, I just… I don’t know what the stuff is worth, but I’ve been told it’s worth… It’s very valuable. Yeah.
00:07:36	TOM: Well, listen. I mean, you certainly… You could sell the material. But I think the most value is in this beautiful home that you’ve given your daughter, and I think it could… It really speaks to the age and the character of the building. So I agree with you. I’d try to talk her out of it.
00:07:48	CALLER: All right. Well, I thought… I was listening to you all over the week, and I said, man, I ask you people what y’all think. Yeah. So I guess I’ll try to work on her some more.
00:07:57	TOM: All right. Well, we’re glad you reached out. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. All right. Thank you.
00:08:04	LESLIE: 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.
00:08:12	TOM: 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.
00:08:23	LESLIE: Valerie in Arkansas is on the line with a flooring question. What can we do for you today?
00:08:27	CALLER: I have some ceramic tiles on the floor that have cracked, and it’s just a hairline crack, but I was wondering if you could give me some advice on how to do that. I was wondering if there was a way to repair those or if they have to be completely replaced.
00:08:40	TOM: You cannot repair a cracked ceramic tile. Once cracked, it will always be cracked. The question is, can you pop the cracked tile out and replace it? Are additional tiles of the same make available? That could require some research, but if you can’t find the exact same tiles, you may have some other options. You could try to replace it with a complimentary tile, one that may actually be a decor piece, you know, and kind of stand out on purpose. Or you could look for an area where you have tile that maybe went into a closet or something like that and try to remove that and use that to replace the cracked tile. That’s kind of an extreme example of it. But at the least, the least you need to do is to figure out why it cracked, though, and usually that has to do with the floor system and that perhaps it wasn’t properly installed to begin with. Does that make sense?
00:09:28	CALLER: It does. It does. I was afraid you were going to answer it that way, though.
00:09:33	TOM: Leslie, what are some places? Places that Valerie might look for if she was thinking about finding matching tile for an older floor?
00:09:41	LESLIE: It’s challenging to find a tile once especially it’s been discontinued and also if you are new to the house and it’s an old tile and you just don’t know where it is. So say you’ve got a box. If you’re lucky enough to have a box that has something with a manufacturer on it, you can at least reach out to the manufacturer and see. Or maybe you’ve got, you know, one or two new tiles kicking around. There are a few manufacturers. There are a few manufacturers across the United States that you can actually send that tile to and they’ll actually make it for you if they have that glaze in their stock. A couple of them that do that are North Prairie Tile Works there in Minneapolis. But that’s going to be a bit on the pricier side. It’s going to run around $30 per square foot. So it really depends on how important it is to actually have this tile and to match it. You know, it’s tricky. If you can try a couple of architectural salvage yards, maybe you can find something that works. But I do like the idea of popping out a couple of things here and there to sort of make a purposeful pattern and add a detail in that wasn’t there before. I think it’s a cost-effective way to sort of, you know, keep the integrity of the tile you love but make it new without spending a ton of bucks. Okay.
00:10:51	CALLER: All right. I’ll try that then.
00:10:53	TOM: Well, as temperatures rise, a lot of homeowners struggle to manage cooling costs. And window films are one good way to do just that, especially in climates with long cooling seasons like in the United States. They’re a very smart, cost-effective way to keep your home cool and comfortable. Yeah.
00:11:10	LESLIE: You know, these films are applied directly to the glass surface where they block solar heat gain, they reduce glare, and they protect against ultraviolet UV exposure. But they’re also ideal for maintaining your view while preventing that solar heat gain that can drive up your cooling costs. Plus these films can protect your furniture, your artwork, even the carpeting from fading due to UV exposure, which does happen. Yeah.
00:11:32	TOM: I think a lot of people don’t realize that, but that’s why your furniture fades is because of the UV exposure that comes through the windows. And even the floor. Oh, yeah. For sure. So to find the best film for your windows, the National Fenestrating Rating Council, that’s the NFRC, rates window films. And they provide each window a film energy performance label. This is kind of like, we’ve talked about these guys before when it comes to window glass. It’s an independent agency that rates the energy efficiency of the glass. So you can use these labels just like you would with a window to compare the film.
00:12:05	TOM: Yeah.
00:12:06	LESLIE: And if you want to stay cool and save on those energy costs, window films are definitely worth considering. If you want some more information, visit the Efficient Window Coverings Collaborative at efficientwindowcoverings.org. The site is supported by the Department of Energy and is going to have all of the details that you need to choose the right window film for your home. Bob in Wisconsin is on the line with a question about adding a patio. How can we help? Yes.
00:12:31	CALLER: I have a 16 by 20 foot patio, runs the 20 foot length of the house. And what we’re thinking about is putting an enclosure on it, but the roof line runs along the patio so that it’s sloped down towards the patio. And so the deck, I should say, is on the outside, of course, and we’re thinking about enclosing the deck. Is there some way we could enclose that without cutting into the existing roof of the house?
00:13:06	TOM: Why are you hesitant to want to not cut into the roof of the house? Because if you think about it, roofs are always naturally intersecting and if it’s done right, it can be done in a very permanent way so it will not become a leak problem. Okay.
00:13:22	CALLER: The roof line where it comes down to the deck would be about eight feet, so I would imagine throughout the 16 foot patio. So, if it’s going to be a very long length, we’d have to probably raise that up about how far.
00:13:37	TOM: Well, let’s just say you wanted to get a 312 pitch. So yeah, it’s going to have to come up quite a bit. But the other option is to go with a very low slope roof and use a roofing material that’s designed for that. So if you were to use like a rubber roof and that’s a heat sealed roof that goes down, that can be perfect, almost flat. This is not going to be flat. It’s going to be low slope. And if that is intersected correctly with the existing roof, then that’s going to be perfect. And if that is intersected correctly with the existing roof, you may be able to maintain that ceiling height. Okay.
00:14:06	CALLER: I understand. Yeah. That’s what I thought. I don’t think there’s any easy way to do it. One other question, if I might. We have a patio area that has concrete on it now and it’s four feet by 20 feet and we’d like to put tile on it. It’s outside though. It is covered by a roof area, but it is an outside area. Is there a way to do that? Is there a way to do that without running into problems?
00:14:33	TOM: Well, the adhesive that you use has to be rated for the temperature climate that you’re in. My concern would be living in Wisconsin that that tile, even though it’s covered, is going to get wet and it’s going to freeze and it’s going to pop off. So rather than use tile, you might be better off with a paver brick that is more durable in an environment like that. The tile, I’m just concerned, is not going to last.
00:14:59	CALLER: Yeah, that was my concern too with the freezing and expansion and contraction. Yeah. Okay. Well, that was my two questions. Thank you so much.
00:15:10	TOM: We enjoy listening to your show. Well, thank you very much. We appreciate the call and good luck with that project.
00:15:15	LESLIE: Now we’ve got Peg from Rhode Island on the line with a question about a fiberglass shower insert. Let me guess. The tiles are like pink or green or something really dated.
00:15:25	CALLER: Definitely green. Yes. Lying green. So right now I have a whole under the sea thing going on. I want to try to accommodate that.
00:15:33	LESLIE: Holy moly. Well, you know, generally you’re doing the right thing there when you try to decorate around the color scheme or make something of it, but I get it. That color can become tiresome rather quickly. So short of retiling your bath, there are a couple of things you can do. You do have the option to paint tile, which it never lasts in my opinion. It’s something that’s sort of just a temporary placeholder until you can actually redo that bath. But there are shower inserts that sort of surround the existing tile and can create a whole new bath and shower surround in, you know, a day.
00:16:08	CALLER: Right. Actually, it’s a fiberglass insert. It’s not tile. It’s a fiberglass insert that would need to be cut out. We actually did have one of those companies come out to put an insert. But because it’s a fiberglass all one piece from probably 72 or 73, the entire thing would have to be cut out. So mainly we want to find, is that like refinishing spray worth the effort or cut it out and get rid of it?
00:16:36	TOM: So you’re asking, can you reglaze, so to speak, the fiberglass shower stall you have right now? Right. Okay. Right.
00:16:45	CALLER: You see these companies for these resurfacing sprays, whether or not it’s something it’s even worth doing ourselves or hiring a professional or get the saw and go to town. Yeah.
00:16:56	TOM: I hear you. I think that you’re probably not going to be totally happy with that because once that fiberglass surface starts to wear, unless it’s made in the factory like it was the first time, it’s never going to be as nice as it used to be. Okay. It’s a pretty labor intensive project as well. So I think if you do want to tear it out and do something else, you’d probably be better off doing that. I know it’s a big job. It’s a complete restoration, but you know, there’s just no shortcuts when you want to do something. I think it’s going to last you for the next, you know, 20, 30, 40 years. Right.
00:17:29	CALLER: I don’t mind a green shower myself. My husband minds it more than I do with my beautiful tropical shower curtain. It looks great. White sink, white toilet. We’re good. I mean, it’s cute. You know. Yeah.
00:17:41	TOM: Well, I mean, like Leslie said, you can decorate around it too. There’s always an option.
00:17:45	CALLER: That’s what we’ve done. That’s definitely what we’ve done. All right. So that was the main thing. Was it worth it to refinish it? Probably not. Yeah.
00:17:52	TOM: No, I don’t think it is.
00:17:54	LESLIE: Well, August is National Curb Appeal Month. And whether you are selling your home or you’re living in it for a long time, tackling a few key home improvement projects can add beauty and definitely value to your home’s exterior. And one area that we’ve been focused on are our concrete surfaces. For example, porches, walkways, pool surrounds. They’re hard to clean. And then they can often end up looking dirty and worn.
00:18:18	TOM: Well, that’s right. But services like these are actually easy to update with the wide selection of products available through Daich Coatings. With us to run through the options is Peter Daich, the president, and I call him the chief innovator at Daich Coatings. Welcome, Peter. I think innovator is the right word. I mean, it totally comes to mind when I consider that your company has been specializing in stone-based coatings since, like, I think 1990. And you guys have developed dozens of low VOC, non-toxic stone-based coating formulas that work and work really well. I think you were way ahead of the curve on that. I mean, we weren’t even talking about low VOC way back then.
00:18:51	PETER DAICH: I think stone is the main part of it. We like the naturalness of stone and the hardness. And really, I mean, if you’ve got an exterior surface area that you want to make safer and just make, you know, look good and timeless, what better thing than actually using stone rather than simply painting?
00:19:09	LESLIE: Well, I think a lot of people get confused or get nervous and think that working with stone is a far more complicated project than it actually is. So they just don’t.
00:19:18	PETER: You’re right. And actually, the way this works is we’ve taken the stone, but we’ve worked it into a formulation that is easy to apply with either a roller, for instance, which will give you a very characteristic, very attractive stone surface that also has very good anti-slip characteristics or also something like spread rock, which is a great product that we have, extremely popular, which is a granulated speckled granite finish that you actually put on with, you know, a squeegee from a standing position or with a trowel, if you are comfortable using a trowel. But, you know, we believe in completely resurfacing what’s there instead of just painting it. And that way, you literally have a whole new substrate that you can walk on for years, and that’s just going to look like a million bucks in front of your home.
00:20:08	TOM: Now, spread rock is unique in that it’s granite coating, but it doesn’t behave like the granite we’re familiar with. And I’m talking about countertops. You use a granite countertop these days, and, man, it gets stained very easily. It’s pretty darn quickly from tomato sauce or coffee or oil or whatever. Yeah. But these coatings, that just doesn’t happen to them. They’re really, really durable. They look just like the real thing because they are the real thing. They’re just engineered to be water-resistant and impact-resistant and weather-resistant and so on. Right? Yes.
00:20:36	PETER: Yes. Exactly. And I mean, you know, regardless of where you live, whether it’s, you know, in the south where you’ve got a lot of UV that hammers away at surfaces or especially even in the north. You’ve got salt. You’ve got snow. You need to clear away that snow. That means shoveling. That means using, you know, snow blowers and whatnot. The whole idea here is it has to live with you. It needs to survive. It needs to be there for a lot of years. And that’s the beauty of stone. It’s tough. And it stands up. And it looks timeless. And if it’s something that you can do easily as a do-it-yourselfer or a professional, you know, that’s really the ticket. And that’s why spread rock is so popular. I mean, you know, if it’s something that you can do easily as a do-it-yourselfer or as a do-it-yourselfer, it’s beautiful looking and it’s surprisingly easy to put down.
00:21:22	LESLIE: Now, what if you have areas outside the home? I know we’ve been talking about, you know, pool surrounds. These areas tend to have a lot of water. They can be more slick. Are there additives or do the coatings already have an anti-slip technology built into it?
00:21:35	PETER: They do. But depending on the kind of finish that you are applying, you would then, you know, generally all of our finishes, you’re going to finish them off with a sealer of some kind. And we have sealers for different uses. Like we have a sealer. We have a sealer that you would use in your garage if you want a nice stone floor in your garage. We have a garage and driveway sealer. If you’re doing outdoors around a pool surround or on a walkway or a porch and steps where you don’t want to slip and fall, we’ve got something called TrackSafe anti-slip sealer, which pairs beautifully with spread rock. And you just roll that down and it adds very, very good slip resistance. So you get the beauty of the stone, but you also get something that’s going to keep out the water. That’s not going to stain. And that’s going to give you… That’s going to give you some additional slip resistance to keep you and your family safe.
00:22:22	TOM: Peter, let’s talk about the prep because I know that’s really key to doing a good job with these products. What’s involved in getting a surface ready for spread rock or one of your other stone-based finishes?
00:22:33	PETER: Mostly, it’s pressure washing. If you do only one thing, one of the most important things really that you do is pressure wash. That means, you know, effectively blasting the dirt out of the pores of that concrete so that when you apply the stone coating over top, it’s going to end up in a very, very good condition. It’s going to anchor in. It’s going to lock in and it’s going to stay there. It’s going to stay there for years. So pressure wash, number one, make sure the surface is clean. Number two, if there’s a lot of pitting, let’s say you have a garage floor and you want to redo your floor, you don’t want to have a lot of indentations or pitting in that surface that might be able to transmit through the final decorative finish that you apply. So you may want to use something called rock patch that we have, which is a pre-mixed stone patch and leveling compound that’s ready to go and you just spread it on. It fills those holes. It’s super hard. There’s no cement required, no mixing required. You make that floor nice and smooth and then you apply whatever you want on top. And it also helps to ensure that the decorative coating you apply is just going to go further because now you’re not filling holes and texture, you’re putting it over a smooth surface. And I tell you, the transformation is just out of the question. And it’s really very easy to do. And the whole idea is this needs to be something that anyone can do with basically almost no skill at all. It’s simple and you just roll it on or you spread it on and it dries really quick. And before you know it, you’ve got a completely different surface and it’s going to last.
00:24:06	TOM: And spread rock granite stone coating is available in seven different colors. It resists water. It resists impact. It’s weather resistant, abrasion resistant, it stands up to mold and mildew and chemicals and even heat. And it’s made, again, of 100% real stone thanks to the innovation of the team at Daich Coatings. Peter Daich, thank you so much for stopping by the Money Pit. Congratulations on your continued success as an innovator of granite and stone-based coatings for all sorts of surfaces. As you know, Peter, we’re friends off the air and you recently helped me tackle a countertop in a home that we were renovating with the Marble Dream product and it just got done. It looks amazing. And we’re just so thankful.
00:24:48	PETER: It’s our pleasure and we had the maestro doing it, you know. I mean, you know what you’re doing. But the beauty is you don’t need to be a Tom Kraeutler. You could be just a regular DIYer and you’re going to get a great result. But I thank you very much for the compliment, truly appreciate it, and I’m so glad you’re happy.
00:25:06	TOM: Peter Daich from Daich Coatings. The website, by the way, is daichcoatings.com, D-A-I-C-H, coatings.com. Check it out. Look at all of Peter’s amazing products. I’m sure. I’m sure there are some products there that you could use around your home, especially as we enter National Curb Appeal Month. Thanks, Peter. So here’s a pretty common home improvement problem. Your toilet starts to run and run and run, and then it even flushes all by itself, which is kind of freaky.
00:25:32	LESLIE: Oh, those ghost flushes are fun.
00:25:34	TOM: Oh, yeah. It really scares you, especially when it’s really quiet at night and then somebody seems to be flushing the toilet, except that there’s nobody in the bathroom.
00:25:41	LESLIE: Even ghosts have to pee, Tom.
00:25:42	TOM: Yeah, I guess so. But the reason that happens is that the flush valve is worn and leaking. So enter with a solution. The folks at Fluidmaster, they’ve got this new flush valve called the new Super Flapper, and they’ve given us three to give away to one lucky caller, so you can pretty much update all of the flappers in your house. Now, these are designed to stop the noisy running toilets from wasting water and flushing all your cash down the drain. The Super Flapper fits both two-inch and three-inch toilet flush valves, so one valve fits almost every toilet imaginable. And it includes a cool new water pump. It’s got a water adjustment feature that allows you to customize the water levels in your tank so you can maximize your flush and save water. Easy to put together. It retails for $14.98. We’ve got three going out to one lucky caller, so make that you. Reach out to us with your questions at 1-888-Money-Pit, or you can check it out at Home Depot, again for $14.98.
00:26:34	LESLIE: Well, did you love playing with building blocks as a kid? You know, we’d stack them up with no limits to our imagination, and that’s the idea behind Rumble Stone Wall Blocks. Now, Rumble Stone is the adult version of building blocks, and these rustic looking stones come in project kits that make it easy, fast and affordable for homeowners and contractors to build those outdoor features. Yep.
00:26:57	TOM: They’re perfect for creating outdoor kitchens and fire pits and grow surrounds. You can build planters, you can build benches and a lot of other configurations. Assembly is a breeze because whether you’re using a kit or you’re customizing your project, the Rumble Stone blocks just stack together, just like building blocks. You just follow a predetermined pattern to build the most popular outdoor features, and the design makes construction really easy, even for a beginner.
00:27:24	LESLIE: Yeah, and just like those building blocks from our childhood, they offer endless creativity. You can mix and match different sizes and shapes to customize your space exactly how you want it, and they can even be used for traditional paver projects like patios, walls and landscape borders.
00:27:40	TOM: Rumble Stone wall blocks provide both strength and aesthetic appeal, ensuring your projects stand the test of time. To find a PaveStone retailer near you, visit pavestone.com.
00:27:51	LESLIE: All right, now we’re heading out to Kansas, where Tom has a question about decking. What can we do for you today?
00:27:56	CALLER: Yes, we bought a place at the lake, and the deck, it’s a wooden deck, and we’re going to seal it. What’s the best way to seal it and prep the wood for that?
00:28:10	TOM: Okay. So is the wood in pretty good structural condition? Is it, are there a lot of checks and cracks in it now? Did it have an old finish on it?
00:28:18	CALLER: I believe it was sealed before, but I believe it’s been a while. The flooring of it, at the one end, there’s a, we have a tin roof on the top, but it does drip on it out at the end, and it’s not, it’s not rotted or nothing, but it, you can see there’s a little bit of mold, green stuff, you know, from the water.
00:28:41	TOM: Well, you’ve got to clean it thoroughly, and you’ve got to remove any loose finish. And if you can wire brush it or sand it just to kind of get the dead wood off the surface of it, sometimes you get a lot of, a little degradation at the surface of the wood, that would be helpful as well. And that’s really all you got to do to prep it. And at that point, you’re going to have to determine what you want to put on it. Now you say sealing, but I would recommend a stain. Stain, there’s two different levels of that. There’s semi-transparent and solid color. It’s also transparent, but I think semi-transparent or solid color are your options, and I would opt for solid color always because it has more pigment in it and it lasts longer. And if you put the solid color stain on it, that has the effect of sealing and protecting the deck if you use a good quality stain. And it’s still going to let the grain show through. So prep it properly, follow the label directions, and then apply a solid color stain. Now, it’s not paint. It is stain, but it’s called solid color stain. If you have any questions about what it’s going to look like, then just start in perhaps on a step or somewhere that’s in a small area where it’s not very visible so you can get confidence in it. But I think you’ll like the way it’ll come out. Okay.
00:29:55	CALLER: Okay. Well, that was my question. Thank you very much.
00:30:00	TOM: If you’ve got a lot of home repairs or home maintenance to do, I would love to recommend my new book, which just came out from the Dummies folks. It’s called Home Maintenance for Dummies. And you don’t have to be a dummy to get this book. It’s like an encyclopedia for looking up all the most common home maintenance chores to do around the house. You’re going to save lots and lots of money. Amazon has it ranked the number one new release in home repair. So I’m pretty proud of that and wrote it with all of you in mind. You can find it at moneypit.com slash dummies.
00:30:29	LESLIE: David in Florida wrote in to Team Money Pit saying, I have an old porcelain toilet in my home. The bowl is starting to get stained, and I’d like to know how to make it look clean again instead of just replacing it. Okay.
00:30:39	TOM: Yeah. So that’s a typical challenge with those old toilets because they really do catch a lot of stains and they build up over the years. I have found the best way to clear those stains is with CLR. That is a calcium line and rust remover product. It’s a great way to clean away all of those sorts of deposits as well as the scale and rust from your toilet. But you have to know how to use it. First of all, you want to turn off the water supply to the toilet, David, then flush the water from the bowl and put about a cup of CLR into the bowl. Wait a couple of minutes and then scrub the bowl with the toilet brush for a couple more minutes. Until that soil is loosened. If it’s a real tough stain, you can use a pumice stone. Just wet the pumice stone and gently rub it on the stained area. Then you’ll turn the water supply back on and flush and it should be clean once again. Now if you’ve got rust stains above the water line, you can apply the CLR directly to the stains right below the rim and then scrub with a brush from there. Wait a couple of minutes and then again flush the toilet. This should do it. Your toilet will be cleaner than it’s been in years.
00:31:35	LESLIE: All right. Good luck with that, David.
00:31:37	TOM: Well, whether you’re creating a kid’s room for a new arrival or you’re updating a space for kids who insist that they’re not little anymore, working in a child’s room can be a fun and creative adventure. Leslie has three things that can help make sure your project is a success in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word. Leslie? Yeah.
00:31:54	LESLIE: You know, whether you’re creating a kid’s room for a new arrival or perhaps you’re updating a space for a kid who insists that they’re just not little anymore, working on your child’s room can be fun. It can be a creative adventure. So here’s some things that can help you.
00:32:09	LESLIE: First of all, the trick is to go in knowing the parameters of what you can spend, the smarts of material selection, and how you can make that space safe, healthy, and adaptable as your child designer grows. Now, believe it or not, it’s possible to combine coolness and practicality, safety, and organization for a room that both you and your child are going to love. Next, you want to think through how many kids are using the space now and how many in the near future, you know, like the next two to five years. And what are those kids going to love? It’s present ages, and what age landmarks are they going to be hitting in the next few years? Like, are they a baby to preschooler, grade schooler to tween, tween to teen? Because that’s going to determine what things you need in the space to make it usable and sustainable, durable, lastable, because you want it to grow with these kids. And finally, what activities need to be accommodated here? Obviously, sleep and homework. Those are two necessary but sometimes hated necessities. Play, arts and crafts, sporting goods storage. All of that needs to be considered. And then, of course, the kids. As well as what you feel comfortable allowing in the kid zone versus the family zone. So think through these ideas with your kids. Maybe include them in the decisions because that can help make sure the room works very well for your child and the entire family. I always let my kids come in with their ideas, how they want to use the space, what colors, what types of furnishing, and we together come to the process of the design. If you want some more tips, check out Create a Kid’s Room That Will Grow With Your Child on moneypit.com.
00:33:33	TOM: This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Coming up next time on Money Pit Home Improvement Show, we’re going to be talking about how to buy a new home on the program. If you’re buying a new home, you’re going to have lots of options to choose from. But many of these don’t really have to be done when the house is built. We’re going to look at which upgrades make sense to buy from the builder and which you can get done later on your own and save a lot of expense in the process on the next edition of the Money Pit.
00:33:33	TOM: I’m Tom Kraeutler.
00:33:33	LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
	TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself.
	LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone.

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