Show Notes
In this show, we’ll help you assess your roof’s winter readiness, reveal the best and worst appliance brands, and show you how to expand attic storage safely. Plus, we’re here to help you tackle any home improvement challenge with confidence, so listen in for expert answers to all your questions!
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
- Attic Space: Find storage room under the rafters by adding attic floor space.
- Appliance Rankings: Consumer Reports’ appliance rankings reveal best buys and big regrets.
- Roof Care: Learn whether you should repair, replace, or rejuvenate your roof in time for winter.
Top Questions & Answers
- Foundation Drainage: Does Jill really need a double drainage system for the home she’s building? It’s a smart idea and we recommend having a good pitch and installing larger gutters.
- Plumbing: The bathroom plumbing is new but the water comes out rusty. Randall should install a whole-house water filter on the main line.
- Countertop: Is there a way to refinish a stained white marble countertop? Katherine can use a Daich Coatings kit to easily do it in the weekend.
- Marble: Should Gary seal a marble table after staining it? We discuss various products to clean, polish, and seal the surface.
- Dirt Floor: Rob wants to put concrete over the dirt floor in a hut. He gets instructions on how to tamp down the dirt, then pour and levelly spread the concrete.
- Fireplace: Lynn is looking for ideas on how to change the façade of her fireplace. Marble, granite, and faux stone are all great options that can adhere right onto the brick.
- Soundproofing: Gloria needs to block out the noise from her upstairs neighbor. We explain how to add Green Glue or soundproofing drywall, plus seal around any fixtures.
Ask Your Home Improvement Question
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 00:00:24 | ANNOUNCER: The MoneyPit is presented by Daich Coatings. Now, here are Tom and Leslie. |
| 00:00:29 | TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 00:00:35 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 00:00:36 | TOM: And this is episode 2471. You can listen when you want by following the show at moneypit.com slash podcast. Hey, I hope you guys are having a great weekend. If you are planning a project for this weekend and need some help, that would be a great topic to reach out to us for. You can call us at 1-888-Money-Pit or you can go to moneypit.com slash ask. If you’ve got a project you want to get done, need help solving a problem, you’ve got a decorating dilemma, whatever you want to get done in and around your house, we can probably offer a solution that will move the project along if you help yourself first by reaching out to us at 1-888-Money-Pit. Hey, coming up on today’s episode, winter can be very rough on roofs and it’s a good time to plan for repair, rejuvenation or replacement. So we’re going to tell you what those options are and how you know when to make that call. |
| 00:01:27 | LESLIE: And if you’re in the market for a new appliance, you might be surprised to find out which brands ranked the most reliable and which ranked the least. We’re going to share the results of Consumer Reports’ latest reliability rankings. |
| 00:01:40 | TOM: And if you’re finding you need more storage room in your house, your attic might be an option, but only if it’s got a solid floor. So we’re going to share tips on the best way to add floor space without impacting your home’s structure. Or it’s energy efficiency. |
| 00:01:54 | LESLIE: But first, do you feel like you’re in a constant game of tug of war with your house and that your house is winning? Well, we are here to help you take back that lead. Plus, we are also giving away the new Luxrock Ultra-Solid Surface Granite Kit to one listener drawn at random. With this kit, you can add a smooth as glass granite surface right over your old countertop. |
| 00:02:14 | TOM: So reach out to us right now with your questions. The number again is 1-888-Money-Pit. That’s 1-888-666-3974. We’re going to talk to you in just a few minutes. Go to MoneyPit.com slash ask. Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first? |
| 00:02:28 | LESLIE: Jill in Washington is on the line with a question about a foundation. What’s going on at your money pit? |
| 00:02:32 | CALLER: We’re having a small house built up here in the great beautiful state of Washington. And the builder is recommending a double set of, how do I say it, for drainage. He wants to really be sure that the drainage all is tight lined. One system will be tight lined, that joins with the downspouts from the roof and then the other is kind of like a perforated, long, 200-foot piece of hose with a sleeve over it. Do you recommend both of those? Is that overkill or how would you do it? |
| 00:03:11 | TOM: So we’re talking about surface drainage here or talking about gutter drainage or both? These sounds like, from your description, that these are all running away from the house. Is that right? |
| 00:03:21 | CALLER: Yes. He wants it around the, they’ve simply just finished the foundation and are about to do the backfill. Before they do the backfill, they want two drainage systems put in place. One is a hard, I’m not sure of the correct terminology, it’s a four-inch pipe. |
| 00:03:42 | TOM: Yeah, one’s for the downspouts and one’s for the foundation. Is that correct? Correct. Exactly. No, I mean, I think he’s doing it right and those steps will help. The one really important thing is that when he’s done with this is not only those downspouts have to be extended away from the house, but you want to make sure that that finish grade also has a pitch that drops at least about six inches over the first four feet because with new construction, you’ll get a lot of settlement and you got to have good pitch. But if you have downspouts that are extended out away from the house and you have good pitch, you’ll never have to worry about a water infiltration problem. And I also don’t suspect those additional foundation drains will really come into use much. If at all. But since it’s all fully open right now, there’s no really, there’s no harm in doing that. |
| 00:04:27 | CALLER: Okay. So, so it’s just bite the bullet and just put both systems in. |
| 00:04:32 | TOM: Yeah. Now, have they put the gutters in yet? |
| 00:04:35 | CALLER: Oh, no, no. The house isn’t even built yet. No. |
| 00:04:38 | TOM: Okay. So here’s a, here’s a good tip. Most builders are going to put in what’s called a four-inch K-style gutter. That’s a standard gutter. Opt for the next size up. It’s a six-inch gutter for two reasons. Number one, it holds more runoff from your roof. It doesn’t get overwhelmed. And number two, it doesn’t clog as easily because the downspouts are much bigger. |
| 00:04:59 | CALLER: I see. What a great tip. |
| 00:05:01 | TOM: Okay. And they’re not that much more expensive either. |
| 00:05:03 | CALLER: Great. Well, you know what? When we get to that point, I’m going to call the show back because it always rains up here and I will let you know that we took your grand advice and how it all came out. |
| 00:05:16 | TOM: All right. Can’t wait. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-BIT. Good luck with that brand new home. |
| 00:05:20 | LESLIE: Thank you so much. |
| 00:05:21 | TOM: Building a new money pit. |
| 00:05:22 | LESLIE: Building something new that will become a money pit at some point. |
| 00:05:25 | TOM: That’s right. That’s right. As beautiful and luxurious as these homes are, we know that everybody’s house becomes a money pit sooner or later. And so that’s why we’re in The Money Pit prevention business. |
| 00:05:34 | LESLIE: All right. Next up, we’ve got Randall on the line joining us here at The Money Pit. What can we do for you today? |
| 00:05:39 | CALLER: I’ve got a condo. The condominium complex was built in probably the early 60s to the mid 60s. I did a recent renovation of the entire complex. And when they completed the plumbing process in my bathroom, after they finished everything, they put new faucets, new tub-shower combo. And now whenever you turn on any of the water faucets, there’s a rusty brown color that comes from the faucet. It only comes out for about three to five seconds. And then it clears immediately. Okay. And goes away. But I never had this problem ever before prior to doing the renovation. And I don’t have it in any of the other rooms except for the master bedroom that is kind of connected to the same pipes. So I’m just wondering if my plumber had put in the wrong piping to go into the fixtures or if it’s rust that’s built up in the old pipes since it’s such an older complex. |
| 00:06:49 | TOM: Anything is possible. It’s kind of hard to diagnose why that’s happening. But I’ll tell you where the solution lies. And it’s not that complicated of a project. And that’s at the main water line when it comes into the unit. What I would do is I would put a whole house water filter right there. They’re not terribly expensive. You do have to turn off the main water line. And this is a plumbing job, so you’d have to hire a plumber for it to cut in the filter. But the filters can last anywhere from three months to a year or more, depending on which type of system you buy. And the filter at that level is designed to take out the bigger particulates like rust. You know, it can improve taste, but it’s mostly designed to take out particulates. So if you put it there, no matter where it’s coming from, that will pull it out. |
| 00:07:32 | CALLER: Now, let me ask a question because I was told possibly that I need to flush my hot water heater. |
| 00:07:38 | TOM: I mean, I guess it’s possible. But frankly, I don’t really see the need to do hot water heater flushing unless you have really hard water. I don’t think you can really hurt it by doing it. But I will tell you, sometimes when you do flush the water heater, you will find that the valve at the bottom, you can open it, but then it becomes hard to close. It doesn’t close all the way. You also have to release the pressure relief valve on the side. And that also can get kind of clogged with debris and sometimes it doesn’t close all the way. So if you do take on that project, keep in mind that you might end up having to do more than you counted on because what you would do is turn the water valves off to it at the top. And then you would open up the hose at the bottom. You would probably have a rubber hose connected to that, by the way, going to a sink. And you would have to pull open the tab on the pressure relief valve on the side to let air into the tank. Otherwise, it won’t drain. So, I mean, it’s possible that you can do that. But I’m very cautious about that because I know from experience that sometimes when you mess with those valves that haven’t been opened or touched in years, they don’t always go back. |
| 00:08:42 | CALLER: Right. Right. Okay. All right. Great. I really appreciate it, Cheryl. Thank you. Thank you. And I’ll look forward to your comments and help and I’ll lean maybe towards the filter system like you were discussing and I’ll go from there. |
| 00:08:54 | TOM: All right. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:08:59 | LESLIE: Do you love learning about home improvement on our podcast? Well, we love bringing you all the latest tips and tricks. |
| 00:09:05 | TOM: And if you want to make us smile, leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. Just go to moneypit.com slash review. If you guys reach out to us right now at 1-888-Money-Pit, You’ll get two things. One, you’ll get the answer to your home improvement or decor question. And two, you might just get a chance to win the new Luxrock Ultra Solid Surface Granite Kit. This is a new DIY kit from Daich Coatings and allows homeowners to add a smooth as glass granite surface over countertops, tables, vanities, you name it. It’s a real stone resurfacing system. It looks and performs just like real granite. The kits retail for $149 or $229, depending on whether you want to cover 20 or 40 square feet. They’re available online with free shipping at Home Depot, Lowe’s, and DaichCoatings.com. We’ve got one of the new Luxrock Ultra Solid Surface Granite Kits going out to one listener drawing at random. Make that you. Call us now with your questions at 1-888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:10:01 | LESLIE: Katherine’s on the line and needs some help, potentially with a holiday gift. What’s going on? |
| 00:10:06 | CALLER: My daughter has a white marble countertop that is very badly stained. I wonder if that product you were doing for her would be a good fit for her? Just talking about if it is something that can go over existing stained marble. If it is, that might be what they get for Christmas. |
| 00:10:22 | TOM: Yeah, you’re talking about Daich Coatings product. It’s called Marble Dream and it’s a marble resurfacing kit. Now, Daich does tell us that the product will work over stone. So, that’s what you have there. It works over laminate, concrete, plywood, stone, pre-coated and solid surfaces. So, I do think you could use the marble resurfacing kit on top of real marble that’s completely worn out. And it’s a pretty easy project to do. You can do it in a week and you basically put on the Marble Dream base coats first and you let that dry. Then you put a sealant on top of that and you’re pretty much good to go. Not terribly expensive either. So, check that out at daichcoatings.com. It’s D-A-I-C-H, coatings.com. And yes, I think it would be great under the holiday tree as well. |
| 00:11:08 | LESLIE: I was going to say, that makes a pretty good gift. Now, if you were going to give the gift and do the |
| 00:11:12 | TOM: project, that’s an even better gift. That’d be a better gift. Well, now that we are in the roughest weather season of the year, it’s a good time to plan for roof repair, rejuvenation, or a replacement that might be needed to be done to keep your home nice and dry. But what is the smartest way to go? Repair, replace, or rejuvenate? |
| 00:11:32 | LESLIE: Well, first of all, you’ve got to evaluate the wear and tear situation of your roof. Now, roof shingles are made from a glass fiber that’s covered with an asphalt coating. And as the sun heats that roof, the asphalt will dry out. So, you’re going to want to make sure that the roof is dry. So, you’ve got to check the roof for signs of wear and tear, like worn spots, cracked shingles, |
| 00:11:51 | TOM: curled shingles, or even just missing shingles. Now, if your roof is leaking, the first thing to check is the roof flashing. That could be the only cause of your leak. Now, if the flashing is loose or it’s deteriorated, it’s probably responsible for most of those roof leaks. So, you really need to check that out first because that’s actually not a terrible thing to have to |
| 00:12:09 | LESLIE: fix. Now, if you do need to replace your roof and have a single layer of shingles, you can usually add one additional layer of shingles right on top to give you a total of two layers. But we really don’t recommend this. And here’s why. A second roof layer, it’s not going to cool as well in those hot summer months, and that will help it wear out a lot quicker than those single-layer roofs would. Now, if you’ve got a worn section and maybe it’s just limited to a kind of small area, you can repair it. But if the entire roof is looking this way, you really have to start thinking about rejuvenation or simply replacing. |
| 00:12:42 | TOM: Now, if your roof is only moderately wet, you’re going to want to replace it. Now, if your roof is only moderately worn, rejuvenation is a great option. Now, one of our long-time sponsors, Roof Maxx, does this. They developed a process where your roof is treated with a plant-based, food-grade, non-toxic oil, which can add five or more years of life to the roof. It’s a safe, easy, proven, and very affordable alternative that can be done at a fraction of the cost of a roof replacement. We did this to a house my mom was moving out of in Florida. And, man, it worked great. Got the house sold and restored the roof for another five years. |
| 00:13:12 | LESLIE: Now, if you do need to replace, your roof and you have a single layer of shingles up there, you can usually add an additional layer right on top for a total of two layers of shingles. But we really don’t recommend doing this. And here’s why. A second roof layer is going to make it not cool as well during those hot summer months. And then that causes those shingles to wear out a lot more quickly than a single layer of roofing would. |
| 00:13:34 | TOM: Now, speaking of overheating, if you do need a new roof, make sure you improve your roof ventilation at the same time, because cool attics will help keep the roof cooler and the cool roofs are just going to last a lot longer. |
| 00:13:45 | LESLIE: Heading over to Delaware where Rosalind is on the line about a marble question. What’s going on? |
| 00:13:50 | CALLER: Yes, I’m Gary. I’m Rosalind’s husband. |
| 00:13:53 | LESLIE: Oh, hi, Gary. |
| 00:13:54 | CALLER: Hi, Gary. How can I help you? Yes, we have a question. We bought a marble table and we didn’t know that it needed to be sealed. How do we go about doing that? |
| 00:14:05 | LESLIE: Gary, are you calling because you’ve stained it and now you’re sort of stuck and want to like work backwards or you’re just preemptively doing some work? |
| 00:14:12 | CALLER: We had stained it. We got the stain out, but we didn’t know that it needed to be sealed. |
| 00:14:18 | LESLIE: And is it a new marble table or is it sort of like an older piece that’s maybe lost its surface finish over time? |
| 00:14:25 | CALLER: No, it’s new. |
| 00:14:26 | LESLIE: Brand new. So now there’s a couple of different kinds. You may have a honed piece of marble, which doesn’t have any polish on it at all, and it’s meant to sort of have that like chalky, unfinished look to it. And then there’s a more high polished finish that looks like it has a glaze to it where it’s like shiny. Now there’s a couple of different ways to achieve that. There are professional products that you can get at your local, you know, a place where you might get granite or marble countertops and they have a sealant. Sometimes it’s better if they do it. I know when you have marble or granite countertops, they should be reapplying that glaze every three to five years. If it’s a lighter color, it should be more often. But with a piece like that, you might be able to just get away with some marble polish, which will give you a shine and give you a more protective surface on there. But there really doesn’t seem to be a homeowner type of glaze that you can get to apply because it is truly like a mixed different bunch of parts that are meant to |
| 00:15:22 | CALLER: be applied, you know, very systematically, very carefully. Okay. So now I can get that at a local |
| 00:15:32 | LESLIE: home goods store or something like that? Yeah, I would definitely get a marble polish and, you know, follow the directions and apply that, you know, exactly the way you’re told. And that’ll give you a nice sheen on it and make it much more durable. If you want something that’s much more shiny and really meant to coat and protect the surface, I would head on over to, you know, a local vendor near you that does marble and granite countertops and ask them for a product. They might have something that’s DIY or they might be willing to take the piece and coat it for you. |
| 00:16:00 | TOM: You know, since it’s a small table, it shouldn’t be much of a charge. I see. Okay. All right. Well, thank you. All right. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. All right. Thank you. I love that Rosalind’s putting up her husband, Gary, to make the call. Get on the phone, Gary. She’s like, talk to these people because you’re going to have to fix this. |
| 00:16:24 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Rob in Maryland on the line with a building with a dirt floor and he needs some |
| 00:16:28 | CALLER: help with it. How can we help you? Yeah. Hi. I have a 18-foot diameter round space outside. It’s a little hut and I have a dirt floor. And I just want to see if there’s some type of a concrete that I can just pour down there or pour on it and it’ll… |
| 00:16:43 | TOM: It’ll just find its own level. Well, I mean, concrete to some extent finds its own level. You have access to this space, right? Is there any reason you can’t float it out? Yeah. It’s easy to do. So then what you’re going to want to do is a couple of things. First of all, this is an unheated space? Correct. All right. So what you want to do is you would want to make sure that the dirt is solidly tamped down, right? And then you’re going to add concrete to that to a thickness of at least four inches, but maybe even six. Right. And then you’re going to add concrete to that to a thickness of at least four inches, but maybe even six. And then float the concrete. It takes a little skill. You’re going to have to do some research on how to do this, but essentially when the concrete comes off the truck, there’s stone that’s embedded in it. And as you spread it out with a shovel and a rake, you sort of float it, you shake it with a float, a trowel. It’s like a big trowel. And then the stones sink to the bottom of the concrete and sort of the cream comes to the top and that’s what gives you that nice finish. And you’ll sort of work the concrete smooth and then work your way out the door. So I think it’s a |
| 00:17:43 | CALLER: simple as putting in a concrete slab floor. Is there anything like a dust cover? |
| 00:17:46 | TOM: Yeah. I mean, you can, there’s plastic dust covers and things like that, but I mean, you want a floor that you could actually use. So the concrete is the best way to go. Okay. All right. I mean, you could probably do some with brick pavers, but it’d be a lot of work because you’d have to cut all those round edges. All right. Thanks a lot. Good luck with that project. Thanks |
| 00:18:02 | LESLIE: so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. Lynn in Arkansas is online and needs |
| 00:18:07 | CALLER: some help with a chimney. What can we do for you? Well, I have a 1980s brick fire place. It is surrounded by library paneling. So the brick surface area is just the hearth and a row of bricks on either side of the fireplace and perhaps two rows of bricks above the fireplace until it meets the mantle and then library paneling from there up. I want to give it a facade and I thought about stuccoing it or plaster of terrace or perhaps tiling it. I want to attempt to do this myself and I didn’t know if I was going to do it myself. I was overstepping my boundaries. |
| 00:18:44 | TOM: Leslie, I think the tiling is kind of a cool idea because that would be very attractive on a fireplace. I like that a lot better than stuccoing it. Oh, yeah. |
| 00:18:51 | LESLIE: I mean, I even like outside of tiling, you can face it with marble or a granite and that can really look beautiful and you can do that in a fuller sheet. They almost do it in three pieces and that looks stunning. You can also do it in a faux stone so it looks like a ledge stone or a river rock. That really gives it some characteristic. I mean, it’s gorgeous that way. |
| 00:19:12 | CALLER: Could this go directly on top of the brick or would I need to prep the brick? I imagine I would need to fill the brick grout lines to make it a smooth finish, perhaps before tiling. |
| 00:19:27 | TOM: No, because the tile could pretty much go over that. |
| 00:19:31 | CALLER: Right, and you’re adhesive. |
| 00:19:32 | TOM: Yeah, you would adhere it right to the brick. It might be a little tricky on the grout, but I don’t think you have to put any kind of sheathing over it or anything like that. |
| 00:19:42 | LESLIE: Okay, cool. Very good. I mean, I wouldn’t. I think your adhesive is going to be enough. The only instance is if you had like a super uneven surface, like I had a very old fireplace that the surface was, it almost was like a coral, but it was like this old cement stucco that looked like coral that was all uneven and I put a cement board over that just to give me a level playing field, but if you’ve got an even surface, I think that’s the way to go. Wonderful. Okay, I’m going to try this. |
| 00:20:10 | TOM: All right. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:20:14 | LESLIE: Well, when you’re shopping for appliances, one thing most consumers are looking for above all else is whether that brand is reliable. Now, Consumer Reports can help you determine that with their Sixth Annual Appliance Brand Reliability Rankings. Now, the rankings, which are based on survey data from over 400,000 appliances purchased over the last 10 years, assesses the dependability of various appliance brands, including refrigerators, dishwashers, and appliances. You can download the list of all the appliances, dishwashers, microwaves, ranges, cooktops, wall ovens, washing machines, and dryers. I mean, they’ve really covered everything. |
| 00:20:48 | TOM: This is such valuable information, so if you’re in the market for a new appliance, these rankings are definitely worth reviewing and they’re available at ConsumerReports.org. And you might be surprised at what you learn. For example, SpeedQueen, which is traditionally known for making the commercial machines that we see in laundromats, reentered the residential market a few years back and now ranks number one in the market for the number one laundry machine in the world. Audio, Audio, Audio, Audio, Audio, Audio, Audio, Audio, Audio, Audio, Audio of Audio meaning Bluetooth at StuartMag.android.com |
| 00:21:20 | LESLIE: Oh, that’s what I bought myself just last year! I mean, it’s great, it works very efficiently, it cleans everything wonderfully, I’ve had no issues, so I’m very happy with that purchase. Now, here’s another surprise that we learned, Viking, known for their high-end ranges in classic styling and premium price, I mean they can be pricey, they’ve been identified as the least reliable brand which is SUPER surprising! |
| 00:21:48 | TOM: Yeah, and very sad for such a classic appliance like a Viking. So you got to do your homework, right? |
| 00:21:53 | LESLIE: Yeah, absolutely. Glenn, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today? |
| 00:21:57 | CALLER: Hi. I was calling to find out, I was looking to purchase used a propane heat stove for the house to replace my wood stove. And my question is, I live in town in a home now that has natural gas, and I’m wondering if a propane stove could work in a natural gas environment. |
| 00:22:18 | TOM: Not unless it has a new burner put into it, because the burners are different for propane and for natural gas, Glenn. So you can’t just use one in place of the other. You have to have a different burner, because the orifice, the size of the holes where the gas comes out is different. |
| 00:22:35 | CALLER: Oh, okay. Now, I know I’ve had experience in taking something that’s natural gas and converting it. I would guess, Bennett, you could do that. You would make it smaller. |
| 00:22:43 | TOM: Same idea. Yeah. And you have to have the right parts to do that. |
| 00:22:46 | CALLER: Okay. So it sounds like probably more than a project and probably more expensive than I would want to tackle. |
| 00:22:52 | TOM: Probably. Yeah. You might just want to pick up a new stove. By the time you get the parts for it, you’ll probably be halfway there, and this way you’ll be starting clean. Okay? |
| 00:23:00 | CALLER: Well, thank you for letting me know that, and I really appreciate your help. I enjoy listening to the show. |
| 00:23:06 | LESLIE: We’ve got a great reason for you to reach out to Team Money Pit as well. Up for grabs is the new Luxrock Ultra-Solid Surface Granite Kit. I mean, if you’re looking for a project to make your house look amazing this holiday season before the rest of your guests arrive, it’s a DIY kit that can help you transform any sort of countertop, tabletop, vanity top from your normal surface there to something that looks like a true granite surface. I mean, it is a real stone resurfacing system. It’s super simple to apply. It rolls on, comes in six colors, including a beautiful new silver ice white. Now, this kit reaches up to the top of your house, and it’s super easy to apply. So, if you’re looking for something that looks like a true granite surface, and you’re looking for something that looks like a true granite surface, and you’re looking for something that looks like a true granite surface, and you’re looking for something that looks like a true granite surface, you can check it out at Home Depot, Lowe’s, and DaichCoatings.com. |
| 00:23:48 | TOM: Yep. It’s available with free shipping. The new Luxrock Ultra-Solid Surface Granite Kit is also going out to one listener drawn at random. If you’d like to receive it, make that you, and call us with your questions. You might just be the lucky winner. 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:24:01 | LESLIE: Well, if you’d like to pick up some storage space, flooring your attic could be a great option. But you have to do it cautiously, because doing so the wrong way means that you could weaken the structure of your home, squash your insulation, or find yourself with one foot planted firmly through the sheetrock in the ceiling below. Very Christmas vacation, sort of half in one floor, half in the other. Now, the key here to installing a successful attic flooring project is to complete the project without damaging the roof, or the floor structure, or weakening the existing attic insulation. First of all, you need to know what kind of roof structure you have. Is it made from |
| 00:24:41 | TOM: trusses, or from conventional lumber? Now, if the roof structure was designed with prefabricated trusses, your attic was definitely not designed for storage. There is, however, a possible solution. If you keep the storage weight to a minimum, you may be able to build a storage platform above the insulation simply by attaching some horizontal supporting beams to the floor. If you want to keep the storage weight to a minimum, you may be able to build a storage platform above the insulation simply by attaching some horizontal supporting beams to the sides of the trusses. Now, even easier, you can use a prefabricated attic floor kit which is specifically designed to raise the attic floor above the insulation. Now, if your home was built with standard conventional lumber, your risk of causing structural issues is less, but you still need to be sensible when you install that floor. The beams you would be installing the subflooring on are actually ceiling joists at the top of the ceiling joists from the floor below, and these are designed really to hold up a drywall ceiling, and they’re usually not strong enough to support a floor loaded with your rusty barbell collection, so you’ve got to use your head. |
| 00:25:36 | LESLIE: Yeah, and another thing that you want to think about is your home’s energy efficiency, which almost always suffers when that attic is converted for storage. Since most attics need about 16 inches or more of insulation, the insulation is always thicker than the ceiling joists or trusses, and when you add that floor, it can cause that insulation to compress, and then it reduces the efficiency of the fiberglass insulation, so you really need to |
| 00:25:59 | TOM: consider that as well. Yeah, Now, a good solution here is to add flooring to an area just around the attic door opening, and this way you can pick up some storage without disturbing the insulation through the rest of the |
| 00:26:11 | LESLIE: attic. Gloria in Massachusetts is on the line and needs some help keeping things quiet. What can we |
| 00:26:16 | CALLER: do for you? I live in a condominium. There are three floors. I’m in the middle floor. The person over me has put wooden floors in throughout her condominium. I feel like I’m living in a bowling alley. She gets up at five o’clock every morning, and then she gets up at five o’clock every morning. She’s a schoolteacher and leaves at six. There’s no way that I can sleep beyond five. I called MIT looking for some kind of guidance. They said they don’t know anything about soundproofing. |
| 00:26:43 | TOM: Interesting. Well, that’s a little shocking, but okay. But I wouldn’t imagine that MIT usually takes tech support help calls like that, but we know a little bit about soundproofing, so I can give you a couple of ideas. Great. Now, because you’re in a condominium, I guess you probably need a little bit of soundproofing, to get permission to do this. There’s two ways to soundproof this ceiling that I can think of. In both cases, you’re going to have to add another layer of drywall on top of the one that’s there now. There’s two ways to do this. There is a product called Green Glue, which is kind of like a silicone-looking greenish caulk. You need an extraordinarily large amount of it, but basically, you apply it to the ceiling, and then the drywall gets put on top of that, and it creates sort of a damper that absorbs some of the sound. The easier way to do it is there is actually sound-resistant drywall. One of them is called Quiet Rock, and it’s sound deadening sort of built into the drywall sheet. You’ll find that it’s very heavy, but it’s pretty effective, and that would be installed in a traditional way, again, probably screwed right through into the current ceiling. And then, of course, you have to tape and spackle all the joints. But where most people miss an opportunity of soundproofing is around the fixtures that come through the ceiling or the walls, if that’s the case. I luckily have none. You have none. So you have no lights or anything that comes through that ceiling? It’s just a plain flat ceiling? Well, then it’s pretty easy. And you could probably have a general contractor do this or a carpenter do this for you, but you’re going to have to re-drywall the ceiling with sound-resistant drywall like Quiet Rock, and you’ll find that at Lowe’s. There’s another one that’s called Quiet Fix, and there’s one called Sound Break. And just keep in mind, though, that you’re not going to completely silence those heels from your upstairs school teacher that gets up at five in the morning, but it will be a lot better if you install this properly. So I think the easiest thing to do would probably be to pick up at Lowe’s, since it’s so readily available, and then have a contractor install it. I will do that. And keep in mind, you’re going to have to tape all of the seams like you normally would. Tape all the seams, paint the ceilings. Yeah, paint the ceiling between the walls and the ceiling. You may have to either tape that or use molding to cover that seam. So it’s a bit of a project, and you’re going to want to move all your furniture out, all this goes on. But I think it’ll make a big difference for you, especially |
| 00:29:15 | LESLIE: since you’re so sensitive to that sound. Maybe you’ll get some better sleep that way. Yeah, but make sure that your board approves everything. Whoever you’ve got to ask, make sure they’re okay |
| 00:29:24 | CALLER: with it before you invest this. I will do that. Thank you so very, very much for your help. |
| 00:29:29 | TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:29:34 | LESLIE: Brandon wrote in to Team Money Pit and would like to add three-prong outlets to his 1940s house. He says, I have a home that was built in the 40s, and all of my outlets are two-prong with no grounded wire. I was wondering, should I replace this receptacle with a three-prong outlet or ground it to the box? Or is this something I should hire an electrician for? |
| 00:29:52 | TOM: Maybe. If there’s no grounding wire in the outlet, you might be able to ground it to the metal electrical box that the outlet is in, but only if that is grounded. You need to use a voltage tester to determine this. The other option is to install a GFCI in that outlet. That won’t be grounded, but it will detect any ground fault and shut off the power to the outlet. In either event, I do not recommend you do this yourself. It’s a potentially tricky job. There’s a lot of variables, and really, it’s one that you should use a licensed electrician for. |
| 00:30:23 | LESLIE: Definitely, especially because this has the risk of losing your life. Electricians are your great friends in these projects. |
| 00:30:31 | TOM: Yeah, there’s that. Well, if your home feels small and you’re planning to move, staging the home before potential buyers show up can definitely help create a positive first impression. But staging almost always involves getting rid of a lot of what made your home crowded in the first place. Leslie explains some tips to get through that process in today’s |
| 00:30:50 | LESLIE: edition of Leslie’s Last Word. Leslie? Yeah, I can remember when I bought our home, geez, like 24 years ago. Leslie and I bought our home 24 years ago, and Leslie and I bought our home 24 years ago. And it was just Ed and myself at that point. Within like two weeks, I remember my dad saying like, wow, you guys are really filled up this place. So guys, you have to remember that what causes a lot of people to leave their homes is because they’ve become too small for them. So if your house is cluttered, if you’ve got too much furniture or knickknacks spilling out of every nook and cranny, it is not going to be very appealing to those potential buyers who are coming from an equally crowded space. Now, another common mistake sellers make is expecting that potential home buyers will share their personal sense of style and decor. And that’s probably not going to happen, you guys. So if you happen to love huge antique armoires from the 1920s or crazy blue countertops or, you know, all kinds of very personalized things, try to change it to something more neutral. Get rid of the big stuff. I mean, you really want people to be able to imagine their own stuff, in your space. You also want to keep in mind that potential buyers are very nosy by nature, and they will, and I’m telling you, they will open every cupboard and closet and inspect every nook and cranny of your house when they are touring. So you want to make sure that your staging efforts include emptying out those cupboards and closets so that they look spacious and inviting and say, like, oh, all your stuff is going to fit so nice in here, but don’t pay attention to the 20 trash bags that were just here yesterday outside. I mean, that’s not going to happen. You’re going to have to empty everything out completely, but think about 50% full should kind of be the limit. Now, for much of the same reasons, you want to limit wall decorations to fewer and larger pieces of artwork and include a few strategically placed mirrors because that does help expand the space and reflect a lot of the home’s best assets. Now, once you’ve cleared out the space, it’s okay to accessorize what’s left, but kind of limit it to uncluttered groupings of kind of, you know, two or three items. I always go odd numbers. I don’t know why. It’s just a designer thing. So like three or five, depending on what it is, you guys. But when it comes to staging, remember, less is more. The less stuff you have, |
| 00:33:07 | TOM: the more you will make on the sale. Good point. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Coming up next time on the program, winter weather can be especially hard on your home’s plumbing system, especially if your pipes freeze and break. We’re going to share easy ways to prevent a frozen plumbing pipe disaster on the next edition of the Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 00:33:27 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. Remember, you can do it yourself, 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.) |
Leave a Reply