#2473 - Extended Warranties: Worthwhile or Worthless? | Leftover Paint | Home Seller Kitchen Mistakes

Show Notes

Today, we’ll show you how to store leftover paint properly and put it to good use. If you’re planning to sell your home, find out what kitchen mistakes could scare off buyers. Plus, we’re breaking down whether extended warranties are worth the price. Tune in for DIY tips, tricks, and answers to your home improvement questions!

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Podcast Transcript

Warranties: Are extended warranties worthwhile or worthless? Find out when to buy and when to pass.
Leftover Paint: Get fresh looks from old cans with tips for storing and using leftover paint.
Home Selling: Don’t let these stale kitchen mistakes cook your home sale.

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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00:00:01	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: Happy holidays, everybody. We hope that you’re enjoying this very special time of the year. And as we seal ourselves up inside the home and we start to spend more time inside than outside, you get to spend a lot of time focusing on those four walls. And if you’ve got projects you want to tackle to make your home look better, feel better, be more comfortable, use less energy, now would be a great time for you to reach out to us with those questions because that’s what we do. The number here is 1-888-Money-Pit, 888-666-3974. Or faster yet, you can post your questions to MoneyPit.com slash ask. Just click the blue microphone button. You can record your question. It will come right to us for the fastest possible response. Coming up on today’s episode, are you guys collectors of leftover paint? Unfortunately, it doesn’t have much of a resale value like other things we collect. But in my house, I do seem to have a never-ending supply of partially used cans of paint. And if that’s you, we’re going to share some tips on how you can preserve that paint and great ways to use it up.
00:01:39	LESLIE: And are you planning on selling your home this coming year? Well, if you are, a few recent trends may have homebuyers looking elsewhere. We’re going to share what to avoid when you put your house on the market.
00:01:50	TOM: And as you do your gift shopping, have you guys noticed how many retailers offer the opportunity to purchase an extended warranty? I mean, extended warranties are available on everything from toasters to TV sets, right? Well, do they ever make sense? Generally not. We’ll explain why and what you can do instead in just a bit.
00:02:11	LESLIE: But first, guys, our focus is you. We know it’s the holiday season. We know you guys are all busy. So let us help you make all of those DIY projects manageable. Doable. And get them off your to-do list before the big man arrives at the end of the month. Give us a call. Let us know what you are working on so we can grant your Christmas wish.
00:02:29	TOM: We want to take those projects and make them DI done. The number here is 1-888-Money-Pit. 888-666-3974. Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first?
00:02:40	LESLIE: Cheryl in Texas, you’ve got the Money Pit. How can we help you?
00:02:42	CALLER: I have some countertops that are plywood. I just purchased a house recently. And I’m planning to do a total remodel in about a year. But right now the countertops are plywood. And so I wanted an idea to put on the countertops so that I don’t have water damage to the plywood. And plus something that looks nice. And I was wondering if you might have an idea.
00:03:11	LESLIE: Well, I mean, there’s a lot of different options, of course, at a variety of price points. And if you’re looking for something that’s just going to be temporary but still stylish and fun, and functional, you know, probably your quickest and most DIY and affordable option could be tile. Now, that’s going to be something that you could easily do on your own. And there’s a lot of different choices to keep you within a variety of price points. And that generally can look really, really great. The other options are laminate countertops, which you can get pre-cut at the local home center. And that just depends on how much of a run you need and how much actual cutting to fit to size that you have to get. But those are probably going to be your two most affordable. I think with tile, it really gives you an opportunity to make it really stylish and your own and something that you can feel proud of doing yourself and last you through the long haul until you’re ready to do a major remodel.
00:04:01	CALLER: Okay. And what do you usually adhere the tile with? I’m not really much of a DIY person, but I’m sure I think I could do it. But I was just kind of curious with the water, what adheres that tile to? And how do you use the tile and keep that countertop protected?
00:04:19	TOM: So there’s two options. There’s tile mastic, which is sort of like a glue that you trowel onto the plywood and you stick the tiles onto that. And then there’s like a tile mat. It’s like a two-sided adhesive mat that you glue that down to the wood surface in your case. Then you peel off a backing and you can stick the tiles right on top of that. So there’s a couple of ways to do that. If you can find the mat, what’s interesting about that is you can grout right away. If you use the mastic, you’ve got to let it dry overnight. And then you can grout.
00:04:47	CALLER: Okay. I like those ideas.
00:04:49	LESLIE: Okay. Thank you so much.
00:04:50	TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit.
00:04:54	LESLIE: Mike in Pennsylvania is on the line with a flooring question. How can we help you today?
00:04:58	CALLER: My kitchen floor is vinyl. Vinyl floor with a couple of things in it where things have been dropped over the years. So it’s broken the outer seal and the black is showing through, the underlayment or whatever. So a couple of options. And I’ve had experience with sticky back tiles on the laundry room concrete floor. I’ve also put ceramic tile down in a foyer with the cement board and so forth. And what I’m thinking in my kitchen, if I went with the ceramic, then I’ve got a problem with putting the cement board down plus the ceramic tile and I’d have to cut some doors. My question is, take the easy way out. Would sticky back tiles work over a vinyl floor?
00:05:45	TOM: I think probably not too well. I’ve got another option for you. Have you considered laminate flooring? Are you familiar with it? Yeah.
00:05:50	CALLER: Yeah.
00:05:51	TOM: So laminate flooring is perfect for this situation because you can lay it down right over the old vinyl or you could pull the vinyl up if you choose to. It doesn’t have to be glued down. The board is simply locked together. The tongue and the groove joint of the laminate boards, whether they’re strips or whatever, whether they’re square planks, will lock together. And then essentially it will just sit on top of that floor. You leave about a quarter of an inch space between the edge of the laminate and the floor. You can use a piece of shoe molding to cover that between the baseboard molding and the laminate itself. And it doesn’t take up a lot of room, not as much room as putting down, you know, you mentioned the backer board and the tile and so on. It’s only going to take up about a quarter of an inch or so. Now I’ve had laminate floor in my kitchen for almost 20 years. And you can hardly see anywhere on tear-out at all. You’d be hard-pressed to find any worn areas. It’s really incredibly durable stuff.
00:06:47	CALLER: So there’s no grout or anything. They just interlock basically like a tongue and groove, right? No.
00:06:53	TOM: And the thing is, you could find laminates that look like stone tile. You can find them that look like ceramic tile or marble. And you can find them that look like hardwood floor. They’re absolutely beautiful and they’re super durable. So I think that’s the best solution for your situation. Mike, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MIKE. We’ll see you next time on Money Pit.
00:07:11	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.
00:07:17	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.
00:07:30	LESLIE: Cindy in Louisiana, you’ve got the Money Pit. Tell us all about your roofing problems.
00:07:34	CALLER: We have a camp. And it’s got, it’s a metal building with the pitch on the roof. There’s several different layers of the pitch. It goes down, so let’s be like three different pitches on it. We had it put in, oh, probably in 07 or 08. And then around 2011, we decided to pull off that plastic wrap insulation off the inside of the roof and spray on the spray insulation on it. And once we did that, that’s when we started noticing the leaks. So we tried different things. We even had another company come out, pull out all the screws and put in new ones that were a little fatter and so with the washers and all that mess with them to seal it. That has not worked. We’ve been up there on that roof I don’t know how many different times trying to put silicone on top of the screws after we clean it down along the seams.
00:08:35	CALLER: Sometimes we’ve even had to get up there and he’s had to pull out the screw, put silicone in and put the screw back in. It’s just been an absolute nightmare to try.
00:08:44	TOM: You said these are metal roof panels? Is it like corrugated roof? What kind of metal roof is it? Right.
00:08:49	CALLER: It is. It’s like a corrugated roof.
00:08:51	TOM: So they’re big metal panels, right? Right. When you try to replace these screws, I guess you’re essentially taking the panels almost off the roof, right? Because you’re removing all the fasteners? Yeah.
00:09:00	CALLER: Well, we can’t. I mean, with the spray and everything else. I mean, we had even thought about could we, you know, take the roof off and start over. And now with the spray down on it, we can’t even do that.
00:09:12	TOM: Oh, so this spray is actually up on the underside of the metal roof itself? Right.
00:09:17	CALLER: So it’s like glued down now.
00:09:19	TOM: So there was basically no, there was no like sheathing or anything underneath this? No.
00:09:24	CALLER: When we started this project, we started it with someone who we thought, we didn’t know anything. And we thought the person knew everything. And now we know better, but, you know, we messed up and now we’re kind of caught in a bad position.
00:09:40	TOM: So, yeah, it’s not a good situation because it’s kind of hard to try to repair something that probably wasn’t put in well to begin with. So I have one idea for you, and that is to put another layer of roofing over the roofing that you have now, but put ice and water shield in between the layers. So ice and water shield is very effective at sealing these kinds of leaks. It’s specifically designed to seal around fasteners. And if you were to, if it was possible for you to put another layer of metal roofing over this, but put ice and water shield in between, that would definitely stop the leaks from happening. Short of that, I think there’s a situation where the roof has to come off and you really have to do it right from the get-go because I don’t think the roof was just put on, I guess, over some sort of furring strips or something like that. There was never any ice and water shield underneath that. And so I’m not surprised that it does leak, especially from driving rain. I don’t think you can rely just on the fasteners or even fasteners that have like rubber gaskets on them to keep that kind of a roof completely leak-free.
00:10:38	CALLER: All right. Well, I tried. Thank you.
00:10:40	TOM: All right. Good luck with that project. Thanks for calling us at 888-Money-Pit, 888-666-3974. I wish we could give everybody a quick fix, but sometimes we just can’t, especially when you have a roof that’s been going so wrong on so many levels for so long, you just can’t bring it back.
00:10:59	LESLIE: Well, one thing most homeowners have stashed around the house, maybe the basement, the garage, is leftover paint from their last project. And let’s be honest, probably the project before. Well, instead of letting that paint sit around gathering dust, you can actually put that extra paint to good use with some fun and practical projects.
00:11:18	TOM: Yeah. So for starters, if you have a small amount of paint, try using it to refresh furniture. A coat or two can turn an old stool or table into a bold statement piece in minutes. Or if you want something even easier to do, you could paint a picture frame or paint flowerpots. These are quick, low-commitment ways to bring a pop of color to your decor.
00:11:38	LESLIE: Now, another way you can be using that leftover paint is to create an accent wall. Even if you only have a quart of paint, that’s enough oftentimes for a small wall, and it can totally change the feel of that room. Or get creative with some patterns. You can use painter’s tapes to create some stripes, some chevrons, even a checkerboard on the floor or a wall. Right. Whatever you like. It’s a great way to add some interest and your personality to the space.
00:12:02	TOM: Now, keep in mind that the most important reason to hold on to leftover paint is for touch-ups. If you’ve got dings and scratches on walls or cabinets, a quick dab of that paint can make them disappear.
00:12:12	LESLIE: But keep in mind that paint is only going to last if you store it properly. So you need to keep it at room temperature. If it freezes, it’s no good to anyone. You want to keep the lid of the can clean. If paint piles up on there, air is going to get in and that paint is going to dry out. And another trick here that helps is to punch a few holes in that lip so the paint, when it does get in that ring around it, it will drain out and not clog it up so it doesn’t seal properly.
00:12:36	TOM: Now, the best trick of the trade, in my view, store the paint can upside down. This way, the paint in the can will actually seal off and prevent any air that can leak through the lid. Now, if you want even more tips and ideas and inspiration about how to work with leftover paint and how to store it properly, head on over to our website at MoneyPit.com. We’ve got a whole list of creative ways to put that old paint to good use.
00:13:00	CALLER: Marilyn, you’ve got the MoneyPit. What can we do for you? We are a military family. My husband’s in the military and I’m a stay-at-home mom to five kiddos and we homeschool. And basically, in the past when we’ve moved, we’ve always bought a house and basically, you know, thinking that if you pay yourself, it’s better than paying someone else. However, we’re moving to Illinois this time. And the property taxes are quite excruciatingly high. And we’re just trying to decide if it’s better to buy or to rent this time.
00:13:32	TOM: So, do you know how long you, your husband, well, first of all, thank you for your service and your family’s service. Do you know how long you will be in the Illinois area?
00:13:42	CALLER: Well, it could be anywhere from two years to three, four, five. You never know with the military, you know.
00:13:48	TOM: Because, I mean, you know what the risk is. Because if you buy a house and then it turns out you have to move again, if you can’t sell it or if you, if the market turns and ends up not being worth what you paid for it, you could get under water pretty quick on that. And so, in circumstances when you’re in the military, I think a lot of times it does make sense to rent. Because the other thing is you don’t want to have to move out of there. Now, you need to carry two houses, maybe find yourself being a distant landlord to a property. You know, these are all difficult scenarios that you really want to deal with. So, you need to avoid. Have you spoken with your accountant about the tax consequences of perhaps renting instead of buying? Because there may be some advantages there.
00:14:28	CALLER: We haven’t yet because we just found out a couple of days ago.
00:14:31	TOM: And you know what? You can always rent first. Renting is a short-term commitment. I understand that moving is a hassle. But you could always rent first, get to know the area, get more comfortable, and then make a decision later. It looks like you’re going to stay. You don’t have to do it all at once. Okay.
00:14:50	CALLER: I guess my hesitation with that is that we have five small children. So, I’d like to move as little as possible.
00:14:56	TOM: I would think that better off selling it now, putting it on the market now. Maybe you’ll find a cooperative buyer who can delay the closing date until you guys are ready to move out. But I wouldn’t want to find you stuck not being able to get a buyer, running out of time while your family needs to move on to the new location. So, I think a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush as my dad always used to say. So, I would try to put that on the market now. And hopefully, it’ll sell quickly and you’ll be able to take your time getting to the new location. And by the way, since I can imagine with five kids, you find the house just chock full with stuff, the best way to get your house ready to sell. There’s a great article on our website at MoneyPit.com about this. But conceptually, what we’d like to see you do is to try to declutter as much as possible. Make those rooms look big and bright. Because anybody that’s going to buy your house is going to probably be moving from, say, another crowded house or a crowded apartment. You want to make sure it looks like their stuff can fit in there. And then, if you have any rooms that need to be repainted, just choose neutral colors for the same reason. Make it look open and inviting. And that will help you sell the property as quickly as possible.
00:16:06	LESLIE: Carrie in Alaska is dealing with a heating problem. It’s cold there. What’s going on?
00:16:11	CALLER: I live off-grid. With a… Battery bank and inverter with a solar and generator backup to recharge batteries. Consequently, I have a fully electric house with propane direct vented furnace. My question is, will installing a drop ceiling improve my heating efficiency and lower my propane bill? Because my ceilings are, like, vaulted at 17 feet. And a lot of the heat goes up. So I’m just wondering… Basically, a 12 by 24-foot area.
00:16:51	TOM: So, Carrie, what you need to do is to not only put in that drop ceiling, but to put insulation batts above the drop ceiling. If you just put the drop ceiling in, you will not have enough R-value in that drop ceiling to do the job you needed to do. So I would build the drop ceiling, and then I would put probably at least 12-inch thick unfaced fiberglass batts on top of it. It should be plenty strong enough to support that. Just stacked end-to-end right above that ceiling. You’re going to have to kind of put the frame in, put a couple of ceiling panels in, drop some insulation in, and sort of work your way across. But if you were to put that much insulation above the drop ceiling, it will have a huge difference in your heating bill. Because right now, you’re spending most of that money to heat that ceiling cavity. And you’ve just got to keep the heat lower than that.
00:17:36	CALLER: Okay. Well, that’s good to hear. I appreciate the help there.
00:17:41	TOM: You’re welcome, Carrie. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-522-7000. You’re welcome. This is Money Pit. You know what season this is, Leslie?
00:17:47	LESLIE: It’s the ho-ho-home improvement time.
00:17:51	TOM: It is. And the perfect gift is my new book, Home Maintenance for Dummies. It covers all of the maintenance you’ll need to take care of your home, save money, and get comfortable. It’s available on Amazon, and you can find it by going to MoneyPit.com slash dummies. MoneyPit.com slash dummies. It makes a great gift for any friends or family who own a house, or it’s a gift for your family.
00:18:41	CALLER: Audio to Audio Staten. So I don’t know if that’s something I should attempt to try to fill in. I know matching the grout color is real important. What do y’all recommend?
00:18:56	TOM: So do you have a lot of this to do, Barbara, or is this just sort of some minor repairs?
00:19:00	CALLER: There’s quite a bit.
00:19:01	TOM: Yeah, I wouldn’t recommend you do it yourself. I’d have a mason do this because there is some technique to this. You have to mix up the mortar just right. It’s got to be kind of sticky. And once it’s laid in, it really takes a skilled hand to do it. So I would have a professional do that. I would not make that a do-it-yourself project. If it was just some areas that were broken out and needed some minor fix, then I’d say okay. But if there’s a lot of repointing to do, I would not suggest you do that yourself, only because it takes an awful lot of practice and sort of a steady hand that is something you wouldn’t be able to do right out of the gate.
00:19:36	CALLER: Okay. My need is to get it right like that. Thank you so much. You’re welcome.
00:19:40	TOM: All right. Good luck, Barbara. Happy to help.
00:19:43	LESLIE: Well, if you’re planning on selling your home this coming new year, kitchens are a very important aspect. But there are a few recent trends that are pretty much guaranteed to dissuade those buyers. The first one here is open shelving. Now, I really feel strongly that there are two types of people in this world, those who love an open shelf in the kitchen and those who hate it. Well, if you fall in that first group, there is no guarantee that a potential buyer of your home is also going to like it. I personally, I hate it. I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to be bothered with making sure everything is styled perfectly on my shelf day after day. I do that enough at work. When I get home, I want to close the door, and you don’t need to see the 35 different sports bottle cups things we So that is definitely a sort of polarizing topic there in a kitchen.
00:20:32	TOM: Now, next, sterile kitchens. Now, while there’s nothing wrong with a sleek contemporary kitchen, some homeowners today take the idea a bit overboard. So if your kitchen is so white and so featureless and shiny that it might be mistaken for an operating room, chances are it’s not going to appeal to many potential home buyers. So think about injecting some color, some texture, some personality if you want to get top dollar for your home.
00:20:57	LESLIE: The other thing we’re talking about here is bright mosaics or some sort of, you know, crazy tile backsplash. They can be very eye-catching, great, but if you have no intention of moving soon, awesome. Tile it any way you want. Go with the biggest trend. However, if you think you might be putting your house on the market, know that not every buyer is going to love that color or the pattern you’ve selected. Neutral tile selections help potential buyers really imagine how their own color and style preference is going to coordinate with all of those other elements in a kitchen or even a bath for that matter. So, you know, if you’re going to be in the house for a while, go crazy. Decorate how you want, design how you want, but know that if you’re selling, it could be a detriment to a buyer.
00:21:36	TOM: You know, you can’t underestimate the importance of neutral colors. When I was in the home inspection business, I inspected a lot of homes that were taken over by relocation companies. These are pros at selling homes as quickly as possible. What would they do as soon as the old homeowner left and that moving van rounded the corner? They’d send in the painters. They would rip out floor materials. They would rip out old carpet. They’d put in beige carpet and off-white walls. Why? Because no matter who looked at that house, their stuff was going to fit in that new color scheme. It might seem a little bit boring, but it works. So, don’t go too crazy with color. It really can turn a lot of folks off.
00:22:12	LESLIE: Dan in Missouri, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
00:22:15	CALLER: I have a back porch that I turned into a salon for my wife. And it was never insulated out there. And I’ve insulated the walls and ceiling. And I need a way to insulate the floors. And what it is, it’s about a foot off the ground at the front of it and maybe a foot and a half at the back of it. And there’s not really a good way to crawl under there. And try to insulate. I’ve wanted the best way to try to insulate to keep the pipes from freezing.
00:22:43	TOM: Yeah, that’s going to be difficult because you have no access to that space. I mean, in a perfect world, you’d be able to get in there and push some fiberglass bats underneath the floor. But you can’t do that now. What kind of flooring is down from the top side? Is there any way you can remove that floor and insulate and then reinstall it?
00:23:01	CALLER: No, not without great difficulties. It’s got old two-by-six flooring with heating on top of that. And then I’ve got a laminate-type flooring on top of that.
00:23:13	TOM: So the flooring is finished too, correct? Yes, yes. I don’t have a good solution for you because you have no access to that space.
00:23:20	CALLER: Very, very little access around the edges. I mean, I can get to the edges and insulate around the outside, but I wouldn’t even know.
00:23:26	TOM: If you could get creative and get those insulation bats up and pressed up onto that floor, that’s going to help. But it’s very difficult. One thing you could also consider doing is spray foam insulation. A spray foam pro might, might be able to get the tools back down to the nooks and crannies of that floor space to be able to foam it and sort of work their way out. Spray foam, you spray it and it expands. There’s a very significant expansion ratio of maybe 100 to 1 or so. So they put a thin coating on the inside of the floor, it will like fill up to like 8 inches or 10 inches thick. So that’s a possibility, but again, it’s tricky.
00:24:05	CALLER: And I ran plumbing and water, so I need to somehow…
00:24:08	TOM: Well, if you ran the plumbing and the water, why didn’t you insulate the pipes at the same time?
00:24:12	CALLER: Well, if I was planning on… I thought there would be a way to insulate around the outside of it or insulate… I ran everything through a window through the basement to get out there, so I’ve got airflow through my basement. So if I could somehow insulate around the edges, I think it might keep it enough to…
00:24:28	TOM: Right. You might want to dig out some of that crawl space, you know, create kind of like a Yankee basement there. Not enough to do anything more than crawl in there. But you may need to lower some of it to get access to that space and do everything that you need to do. That’s a problem when you convert spaces like that. You know, they were never intended to be a living space when they were first constructed. So they’re very challenging to work around, just like you’re experiencing.
00:24:55	CALLER: Yeah, I’m finding that out.
00:24:56	TOM: All right.
00:24:57	CALLER: Thank you.
00:24:57	TOM: All right. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-PitT.
00:25:02	LESLIE: Well, if an appliance is on your holiday shopping list, more likely than not, you are going to be asked, if you’d like to buy an extended warranty with that product. And you might be wondering if it makes sense to do so. Now, the Federal Trade Commission says millions of consumers pay for protection that they don’t need. So to keep from wasting money, you’ve got to do your homework.
00:25:24	TOM: Now, first, you need to compare coverage. Know what the basic warranty covers to see if the extended warranty truly provides you with enough additional coverage. Also, know your appliance. You can check its repair reputation online at websites like ConsumerReports.com to see how likely it is that that appliance will break down.
00:25:47	LESLIE: You want to also check for hidden costs. Now, extended warranties often have deductibles, service fees, even cancellation charges. Find out whether a technician is going to come to your house or if you have to take it in to be serviced. And if you have to take it in, find out how far away those repair locations are.
00:26:04	TOM: And finally, you will not only see extended warranties. Any warranty is offered on appliances. Any toy store, sporting goods store, electronic store will try to tack these product protections on to a sale. Write the register. Well, they’re trying to catch you at a weak moment. It’s the worst place for you to make any kind of intelligent decision because you really need to do the homework to know if it’s the right opportunity for you.
00:26:29	LESLIE: All right, now we’re going to remote Alaska where Lonnie has an igloo question. I don’t think we’ve ever talked about an igloo.
00:26:36	CALLER: Okay, well, we have the opportunity to purchase a monolithic dome which looks like an igloo.
00:26:44	CALLER: Oh, okay.
00:26:45	CALLER: And when we were touring it, it’s only a 20-foot in diameter. But they did have a dehumidifier inside. And on the outside, it had just been painted with like a vinyl paint, a thicker paint. And there was bubbles on the outside. And I took a knife and poked it and water drained out. So I’m wondering if there’s a condensation problem, especially for mold and what it would take to remedy that.
00:27:20	TOM: So what is this dome constructed out of? Is the entire thing concrete or what’s it made out of?
00:27:25	CALLER: It is concrete.
00:27:26	TOM: Well, listen, you’ve got to have some sort of a system to try to manage moisture in a space like that. Because let’s face it, first of all, concrete is very hydroscopic. So water that will get into that concrete at the base where it comes in contact with the soil, it’ll draw up into the concrete surface and essentially saturate the entire thing. If there’s bad drainage, it can get worse. But I could definitely see how it would stay very, very damp. The moisture that you’re seeing inside that paint is clear evidence of the fact that this structure is holding a lot of water. Now, it could draw from the soil. Or it could just be from the humidity in the air that’s getting into the walls. So it definitely has to be managed. And it sounds like just a dehumidifier by itself may not be the answer. You might need to really have an HVAC Pro design a system that could manage that moisture. And in terms of the paint itself, you also have to choose a paint that is designed to stick well to concrete. You mentioned this is a really thick paint. We’ve seen a lot of paints out there that claim to be sort of almost like a liquid siding. That are very thick. But the problem is that they’re not vapor permeable. So they don’t breathe. As a result, everything stays underneath it. And then when you see those bubbles and the water’s just forming right there, it’s just going to continue to push that right off. And I imagine when it gets really, really cold, it’ll probably freeze and expand and crack that paint, basically making it worthless. So I think you have reason to be concerned. And I would definitely, if there’s a good professional home inspector in that area that could look at it for you, that might be a pro to start with. But I definitely think you’re going to need to have an expert design a system that works for that. You know, typically when you paint concrete, you want to use an epoxy-based paint that has really high adhesion and really strong durability. But it sounds to me like this paint that they used in this case was not that type of paint. Okay. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. All right. Well, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit.
00:29:30	LESLIE: And Team MoneyPit saying, I know you always recommend priming before painting. I’m buying brand new interior pre-primed slab doors. Should I reprime the doors before painting them? The finished paint I’m using is primer and paint in one. Okay.
00:29:43	TOM: So if the door is pre-primed, primed at the factory, you don’t have to apply a primer. You can put the top coat right on that. Keep in mind that primer and top coat paint have different properties. So there’s no purpose in putting more primer on top of old primer. Speaking of that, I generally don’t like to use paint and primer in one. There’s always going to be trade-offs when you do that. If you try to put multiple coats on, I find that it doesn’t really cover very well and gets a little bit sloppy and hard to use. You see a lot of brush marks and roller marks and that sort of thing. And you’re not really getting any extra protection. Look, manufacturers, I give them credit. They’re trying to make it easier for folks to prime stuff before they paint it because there’s a lot of complaints when you put paint on and it starts to peel. You got to use the primer. The primer makes the paint stick, right? But primer and paint in one doesn’t really buy much. I would definitely tell you to do it the old-fashioned way and prime it with a primer and then paint it with paint designed to do just that. Well, adding a festive touch to your windows is a great way to spread some holiday cheer. But you need to make sure you know how to attach those decorations without damaging window frames. Leslie shares some non-destructive decorating tips in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word. Leslie, windows are getting more energy efficient and more complicated, and you really need to be careful what you’re sticking in there, right? Yeah.
00:31:06	LESLIE: I mean, you really don’t want to mess up a window frame because you can totally ruin the energy efficiency and the functionality. So you have to really take care when you’re decorating the windows for the holiday season. You know, that’s really the issue. So there’s a few obvious things that you should never do to your window. Don’t drill into or puncture the frame or the sash. Also, you want to steer clear of gluing, stapling, taping lights to that window frame. And be careful with real pine branches or cones because that fresh pine sap can leave nasty stains after the holiday season is over. And while it’s tempting, do not spray fake snow from aerosol cans on your windows. It can be very hard to remove after the holidays. I tried to spray some fake spiderweb that was like this really fancy theatrical fake spiderweb like on some decorations in the foyer of my house. And I got it on the wall, and now I have forever spiderweb wall. It’s gross. I can’t get it off, so don’t be like me and just be careful with what you’re doing to decorate. So how can you safely add some holiday cheer to your windows? Suction cups. They’re great for hanging glass ornaments, icicles, a small lightweight wreath. If your home has some younger kids in it, those adorable peel-and-stick temporary decorations that are kind of like gummy and gooey but don’t stick and make a mess. That’s so much fun. I mean, you have to let the kids kind of put the stuff up the way they will. The spelling of Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah or Season’s Greetings is never going to be straight, and it might, quite frankly, be misspelled. But let the kids have their fun, and you just put the OCD on hold for a couple of weeks. But there’s really a ton of great ways. You just have to make sure that anything that you’re attaching, just watch around the trim. Now, if you have your heart set on attaching something to your window area, do it on the decorative trim by the wall, not the window itself. That we can fix and repair and not worry about.
00:32:54	TOM: This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. So, coming up next time on the program, if you plan to do some window shopping for windows, you may find that it’s one pretty confusing experience. Well, fortunately, there is one label that’s required to be on every new window sold. And if you know how to read it, finding the best windows becomes instantly simplified. We’ll explain how to do just that on the very next edition of the Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
00:33:19	LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
00:33:20	TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself.
00:33:22	LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone.

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