5 Ways to Redecorate on a Budget | Clear Cabinet Clutter | Slippery Sidewalk Solutions | Ep #2269

TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Happy Holidays, everybody. As we sail towards the end of ‘22 and look forward to ‘23, we are looking forward to helping you with projects to get done around your house, inside or out. Whether it’s a repair, a remodel, a décor project, whether you’re talking about some improvements to outdoor living or indoor living, you can count on us to help you every step of the way. But first, you’ve got to help yourself.

Couple of ways to reach out to us: you can call 1-888-MONEY-PIT or post your questions on MoneyPit.com. Just click the blue microphone button.

Coming up on today’s show, are you getting ready to refresh your home with some new décor? Not sure if your budget is totally ready to handle that hit? Well, we’re going to share five ways you can save lots of money decorating your home sweet home, in today’s Smart Spending Tip, just ahead.

LESLIE: Plus, do you have a pantry or set of cabinets that are stuck in a constant state of disarray? Well, we’ve got easy ways for you to clear the clutter, with pantry designs that will deliver spacious and orderly food storage.

TOM: And we’ve got tips on how you can prevent snow and ice damage, including our recipe to stop slippery sidewalks from forming without destroying your concrete.

LESLIE: But first, The Money Pit is about helping you. So whether you live in a house or an apartment, whether you’re dealing with a repair or dreaming about a large renovation, we are here to help you tackle your to-dos with confidence and have a whole lot of fun along the way.

TOM: So, reach out to us, right now, with your questions. The number here is 888-MONEY-PIT; that’s 888-666-3974. Or you can post your questions to MoneyPit.com. Just click the blue microphone button.

Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first?

LESLIE: Janet in South Carolina has got a question about covering a patio.

Tell us about your project.

JANET: I want to build a patio cover. I want to know if I should come off from the soffit. The people I talked to that are going to maybe be building it want to come off the house, go underneath the soffit and come out that way. There’s a corner where it’s perpendicular. I guess the soffits are going to be perpendicular. So the roofline is also perpendicular, if that’s the correct word I’m using. So I just want to know if I should come – or could come off the soffit or do I need to come back and go against the house?

TOM: So, Janet, I think this kind of project, you have to be very careful about how you build it because I’ve seen more built poorly than built correctly. The idea of attaching it underneath your soffit is basically the first sign that it was kind of an amateur’s project. Because normally, you wouldn’t attach a roof under a soffit like that.

But I’ll tell you what you would attach under that and that would be a removable awning. You know, there are really nice awnings today that can extend out 10 or more feet, that are mounted on the wall – exterior wall. And with the touch of a remote control, extend out and cover that whole dining area of the patio really effectively. And I think that is much more likely to give you enjoyment, it’ll have less maintenance hassles and improve the value of your house than trying to put together any kind of a roof structure over that.

If the option is just to make a patio cover, I think that’s probably a much more attractive way to go and probably less expensive.

What do you think, Leslie?

LESLIE: I think an awning, for certain, is far more customizable. You can have it come in, come out depending on the weather. You can pick an interesting fabric that’s going to work nicely with the house. I mean truly, awnings are lovely and really do a wonderful job of just updating the façade of a home. So I feel like that’s a better way to go, for sure.

Heading over to Tennessee. Joe is on the line and seems to have a lot of questions about the structure of his home.

What’s going on?

JOE: Well, this house was finished in 1930. It’s brick and concrete and I have a couple of drooping corners.

TOM: OK. Yeah, house corners are not supposed to droop.

JOE: The roof definitely needs redone and I would rather having a living space upstairs, since I’ve got to replace the roof and most of the wood anyway.

TOM: OK.

JOE: What my real question would be – it is quite expensive to continue with brick because I probably have anywhere from 25 to 50 runs to continue on a 40×40 square. So, what could I use and still have some sort of R-rating on my insulation when I bring that brick up to make the ceiling and the top part of my house livable?

TOM: So, you have a brick house right now and you want to add a story to this? Is that correct?

JOE: Well, we have an upstairs.

TOM: Right.

JOE: It’s middle peak and window on each side. And it’s …

TOM: OK. And how is it sided right now?

JOE: It’s all brick.

TOM: So you’re saying when you take the roof off, you want to bring up the siding to kind of meet the new peak that’s going to be created. Is that correct?

JOE: There you go.

TOM: Alright. So, certainly, you could do it with the brick. And the other option, though, would be a complementary material, so one that would look good against brick. And we see a lot of homes that have two different types of siding. They could have brick and they could have HardiePlank or they could have brick and they could have stucco. There’s a lot of different options for siding.

And regardless of what option you choose, though, the answer to your insulation question is – has nothing to do with it. To make sure that that space is properly insulated, you want to make sure you have good wall insulation and then good ceiling insulation and then good attic ventilation. Because all of those three things are going to work together.

So I think what I might think about, in doing this project, is what combination of siding material is going to flow well with that brick and look like it was always there? That’s the key. Sometimes when folks do these kinds of projects you’re talking about, you could tell it’s a patch, right? It just looks awkward.

JOE: Oh, yeah.

TOM: Yeah. So you need to think about something that’s going to actually match nicely with that existing brick.

And I’ll tell you what, if you go to an architect for a project like this or a designer and you can – it’s very easy to do that on the drawing board, so to speak, which is all computer today. And you could do different colors and just really spend time deciding what you want this to look like when you’re done. And then you’ll know what material you need for that siding.

JOE: Do I still have to vent my roof if I seal it with spray foam, that new insulation? Spray foam?

TOM: No, you do not. You do not. And I’m glad you asked that question and clarified that. If you use spray-foam insulation, then that roof area becomes a conditioned space, as opposed to an unconditioned space. And you no longer have to have any ventilation. And it’s also a much more efficient way to go.

JOE: Now, am I going to create some sort of space that’s going to collect moisture in doing that?

TOM: No, you will not. Because when you put in spray-foam insulation, it expands to fill all the gaps.

So, I have a very old house that was built in the last century. And we put spray-foam insulation in the attic and in doing so, we covered all of the old vents and sealed in the gable vent at the end. So I have zero ventilation in my attic space right now and we couldn’t be happier, because that attic never gets too cold, never gets too hot. And the energy bills have never been lower.

JOE: That’s awesome. That about does most of my questions, brother. I appreciate your time.

TOM: Alright, Joe. You’ve got a big project on your hands there, my friend, so good luck with it. And let us know if anything else pops that you have a question about, OK?

JOE: Yes, sir. Thank you very much.

LESLIE: Now we’ve got Eve in Massachusetts on the line who’s dealing with a big headache going on over at her money pit.

What happened?

EVE: We had a roofing job done, which was great. And the same party did a gutter job and it doesn’t – you had mentioned 6-inch gutters. That was in our contract.

TOM: Yep.

EVE: And the gutter job is inadequate. The water shoots over the gutter and the gutter doesn’t go to the full end. So I was wondering, do you have any hints about negotiating with a contractor?

TOM: Yeah. Has the contractor already been paid?

EVE: A down payment, yes.

TOM: You gave him a down payment. He did the installation. And so he’s done the work but the work’s not done well. So you’re actually in a pretty good position. Usually, we get these calls and the contractor’s already been paid and long gone, so …

EVE: Oh, OK. No, I waited on that because I was in doubt.

TOM: The question is, you know: was the job installed correctly? And I can’t tell you without seeing this but you mentioned that water shoots over the top of the gutters. Are there gutter guards on top of these gutters?

EVE: There’s a screen. Would keep the leaves out but not the water.

TOM: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

EVE: We had the – because there’s a peak. It’s a ranch house and the roof is straight except for the peak.

TOM: Right.

EVE: And those two valleys are where a lot of water comes off, especially lately.

TOM: Yep.

EVE: We’ve had 1-inch-in-an-hour rainstorms.

TOM: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, this is all fixable. And what you’re going to have to do is – first of all, have you talked to the gutter company and the roofing company about the problems that you’re having? Have they made any suggestions?

EVE: They actually did the original job and then came back and did the reinstall. And the reinstall is really no better than the original job.

TOM: Right.

EVE: And at the one end, the gutter doesn’t go past the end of the roof, so there’s a drip and it puddles on the ground because the gutter is 2 inches short.

TOM: Well, yeah, the gutter doesn’t always go past the end of the building that far. That may or may not be the problem.

But I can tell you about the valley situation. So where you have a valley and you get a lot of water that collects there and it comes down fast and furious, there is a way that you can install what’s called a “diverter,” which is like an L-shaped piece of flashing. And what that can do is take some of the water that’s running down the valley and move it further out on the roof, so it comes to the roof edge in a different spot and doesn’t all collect in that center spot. And if you do it with the same color material that’s on the roof, it’s not terribly noticeable, either. It’s just an old trick of the trade that I know, to kind of reduce the amount of water that’s coming in one particular place – is to use a diverter like that.

Now, if you’ve tried twice with this contractor and it’s still not done right, then what I would maybe do is get an estimate from a different contractor – one that’s completely disconnected from the one that you used – and tell them what the problems are that you’re having. You don’t even have to tell them who did the work. You could just say, “Look, I had these gutters done some time ago and they’re not performing well for these reasons X, Y and Z. Could you give me an estimate on what it will take to correct it? What would your recommendation be and what will it take to correct it?”

And I would get at least two independent estimates like that and see if it starts to align and make sense to you. And then now you know both what might be the options here and secondly, what it will cost. And if you don’t want to then deal further with your existing contractor, then you just write them a letter and say, “Listen, this job was inferior. I got some estimates to correct it. The estimates are X and I’m going to deduct that from what I owe you.”

EVE: I see. They did say that they were willing to cancel the contract, refund our money. [Though I might have] (ph) – I did contact another better company. And their jobs would be 8 weeks out, so I need the gutters to be there in the meantime. Can I negotiate with the original?

TOM: If this contractor has offered to refund you all your money and walk away – and are they – they’re not going to take the gutters off, are they? They’re just going to leave it? Because there’s no value to them of taking those off.

EVE: Oh, there isn’t. OK. They had said something about taking it down and refunding the money.

TOM: Well, there’s no value to – I mean they’re not going to reuse those gutters. All those gutters are custom-made. So if they’re willing to give you most of your money back, if not all and leave the gutter job in place, at least you have something there for the winter. And then I would try again in the spring.

EVE: I see.

TOM: It’s a tough time now to get a contractor to do that kind of work. It’s really out of season.

EVE: Yes, especially in the Northeast.

TOM: Alright. So I think we’ve fleshed out some options for you, Eve. Thanks so much for calling us and good luck with the project. I’m sorry that happened to you.

EVE: Thank you so much.

TOM: Well, one of the most exciting things about owning a new home is decorating it. But rushing into decorating and buying furniture can mean sometimes making choices you’ll later regret. Instead, think ahead and come up with a plan.

LESLIE: Yeah. Now, here are some ways to help you stick to a reasonable budget and save some money. So, first of all, if you’ve got a lot of big-ticket items like a couch, a bed, don’t buy all of those at once. Spread out those larger purchases and then make a list of all of the things that you want and then prioritize. What do you need more, sooner? Is it the bed? Is it the couch? Is it the TV cabinet? Whatever it is, put a list together, decide what’s important, go in that order. Don’t do everything at once.

Now, when you’re buying something that’s upholstered, say, or a larger piece of furniture – cabinet, a dresser, something like that – avoid those trendy design choices. Because chances are they’re going to go out of style a lot sooner than you’re willing to cough up some more money to replace that item. So, make sure you’re thinking about whether you’re going to like that piece in 5 years from now and then go with your gut.

Now, if you’re looking at essentials like bedsheets, I don’t know, dish towels, throw pillows, throw blankets, you can splurge on things like that that you’re going to use every day and need to stand up. Bath towels is a great place to splurge, as well. Because these are things you’re going to use a lot, you’re going to clean a lot and you want them to last.

Now, think about how you’re going to decorate that room. Maybe you have a really great, I don’t know, chair or a rug or a cool piece of art. Think about that one thing and use that sort of as your statement piece, your starting point and then design everything around that. You know, with a piece of art, you could be like, “How do I do that?” Maybe there’s a cool color in it or a texture or a pattern that kind of inspires the look of the space.

And then lastly, I always shop in my home to decorate other areas of my home. So if you have a piece that you’re tired of looking at in the living room, move it over to the den or bring it up to your bedroom. You can move stuff around. You can also update tired accent pieces. Maybe you just repainted a bedroom. Take that can of paint, add a stripe to a vase or paint the whole flower pot. Do something to bring that color into other spaces. This way, you’re kind of carrying that color theme throughout the house. If you have open shelving, you can paint the inside of it.

There’s a lot of stuff you can do, so think about upcycling what’s already in your home and truly, you can save a ton of money and make your house look really new and fresh.

TOM: Now, for new home decorating, I think that the most important suggestion we can give you is this: wait. We recommend you wait at least 2 or 3 months before making significant purchases and here’s why. In the years I spent as a professional home inspector, I always used to get asked by my clients how to do this or how to do that, in terms of changes they want to make right away when they get into the house. And when you dig into it, it’s because certain aspects of the house are not like the house that they left and maybe they liked.

But the truth is, change takes a little while to get used to and one of two things is going to happen: you’ll either get used to the old décor, shift some of your existing furniture around and discover, hey, it’s not so bad; or – and this is OK – the desire to decorate is going to increase and you’ll take on the project anyway. But by waiting, you’ll have a much better idea of what you want to spend money on. Don’t just change for the sake of change. Let it sit for a while. Get used to the place. Then you’ll be making the changes that are truly important for you and are going to have the biggest impact.

LESLIE: Joan in Missouri, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you?

JOAN: I have a small 8 x 10 out-building and I’d like to use it for a craft shop – a craft studio. But I need to heat it to make sure the paint doesn’t freeze in the winter. Also, I need it to be a functional temperature. So I’m not really sure how to go about that.

TOM: OK. So, first of all, can you get gas lines to this particular building so that you can use a gas heater?

JOAN: That would be doable.

TOM: That would be doable. And the other option is propane.

JOAN: Propane. Yeah, we’re not allowed to have propane where I live in town.

TOM: OK. So, if you can get natural-gas lines run to that particular building, then what I would use is a gas furnace and I would heat it the same way I would heat a house.

Now, if it’s one – is it one open space?

JOAN: Yeah, it’s just a little – tiny, little building.

TOM: So if it’s one open space, you can probably put a small wall heater – gas-fired wall heater – in there and insulate it as best you can. And I think that will be enough to keep it warm.

JOAN: OK. Well, I’ll give it a shot. Thanks a lot.

TOM: So, Leslie, I put it a sink drain and disposer the other day and it worked perfectly – ran lots of water, turned it on and it was fine. And then it wasn’t fine. And it turned out I made one simple mistake, which I think anybody can make, but I will admit I’ve made this mistake before. So I probably shouldn’t have done it the second time.

But that is – you know when you assemble the plastic drainpipes? There is a seal that goes in there. It’s like a ring and it has an angle on it so the more you push it down, the tighter it gets. I had it upside-down. Just that one little thing caused all kinds of problems. So, it was a quick fix.

But just when people think everything in our projects goes perfectly, no, not so much. We screw up as much as everybody else. But fortunately, it wasn’t hard to find and fix and we were able to get on our way. Of course, had a few towels to dry after that. But otherwise, we were in pretty good shape.

LESLIE: Luke in North Carolina is on the line with some floors that are buckling.

Tell us what’s going on at your money pit.

LUKE: Underneath my home, I’ve got a crawlspace. And I have HVAC in my house. It was built in 1986. And the wood floors that we had put in are starting to buckle in one place. Nice, big, plank wood floors. And I believe it’s due to the humidity, possibly, in the crawlspace or the way that the – I’m not really sure. But I’m kind of wondering how that can be fixed.

TOM: Well, Luke, buckling wood floors could definitely be caused by very humid air in that crawlspace. So, let’s start there. I’m going to kind of run you through the basics of what you need to do to try to dry that out.

First of all, you want to make sure that you have a vapor barrier. You want plastic sheeting across the entire floor of that crawlspace. You secondly want to make sure that there are crawlspace vents that are opened up on those exterior walls. And thirdly, you want to take steps to reduce the amount of moisture that has a chance to get into that crawlspace. And the way you do that is by making sure that your gutters are clean and free-flowing and extended at least 6 feet away from the house so you’re moving all that water well away from the crawlspace. Then also making sure that the soil slopes away from the house so it’s not sort of recessed or holding water against it. That’s what will dry out a crawlspace.

Now, you could also add a whole-house dehumidifier down there. There are some good models that Santa Fe makes that will be suspended from the crawlspace ceiling and run on a humidistat to, again, pull that moisture out. But that would be the way that you would try to reduce moisture in that crawlspace.

I would be curious, though – you really should see some other signs of moisture, if it’s really that bad to be affecting the floors upstairs. You might see some mold, you might – some algae growth. You may even have some rotted beams. So I would inspect it first and then, if you need to dry it out, those are the steps I would follow.

Good luck with that project.

Well, do you guys have a pantry or a set of cabinets that are stuck in a constant state of disarray? Well, if that’s you, we’ve got some easy ways you can clear that clutter with some pantry designs that deliver very spacious and orderly food storage. So, first, you’ve got to get organized. And a smart way to do that is to keep a grocery list on or near the pantry door or better yet, like we do, on Alexa.

That is just so darn convenient. When you’re thinking you need something, you just go, “Hey, Alexa. Add a quart of milk to my shopping list,” and it’s done. So, piece of cake. Make it a family rule that whenever somebody notices something that’s almost gone that they need to add it to that list.

LESLIE: Now, if you have a lot of small items like seasoning packets, gelatin, pudding boxes, individual snack packages, juice boxes, you can take an over-the-door shoe rack with shelf trays or clear pockets. Something like that is perfect, because then you can utilize every space, including the back of the door. And you can fully see all of these little, weird, tiny, individual things that take up a bunch of odd spaces, all right where you need it.

TOM: Now, you also want to group things together according to how they’re used. So, for example, instead of keeping all of the herbs and spices together, put the sweet spices with the other baking supplies. You can use a small basket to hold stuff like allspice or cinnamon or cloves or ginger, nutmeg and other baking spices. And the next time you’re making an apple pie or gingerbread, you can just grab the basket and you know you have every spice you need in one place.

LESLIE: I mean I do have a popcorn Ziploc bag in my cabinet.

TOM: Well, that’s almost as good.

LESLIE: It’s the coconut oil, the popcorn kernels, the salt, the spray olive oil and the peanut M&Ms. And it’s all right in one bag, so it’s ready to go.

TOM: It’s your go-bag. It’s your go-bag for popcorn-making. Just grab the bag, it’s all in there.

LESLIE: I’m like, “Snack time? I’m ready to go.”

TOM: Yeah.

LESLIE: So no searching when I really want the good snack.

Now, you know, it’s important to have some good rules to use when you’re organizing the pantry. The less you use something, the harder it should be to reach. Save that prime real estate in the pantry for things you’re grabbing for every single day. And add under-shelf racks to the pantry, because that’s going to double the storage capacity of those weird middle shelves. And you can use them to corral all of your food wraps so they’re very easy to find. You can use another for bread and rolls so they don’t get squished. It kind of creates more cubbies so that you have better use of the space.

TOM: Now, if you’re totally inspired to start organizing your pantry, the first thing to do is to empty it. You want to get rid of anything that’s expired or that you just don’t use and then repeat that process every couple of months. There’s no better way to clean the pantry or clean a closet or clean your garage, whatever you’re cleaning, to empty the thing 100 percent, because it really shows you what you’ve got. And it makes it a whole lot easier to get organized on the way back in.

LESLIE: Yeah. It makes you also do it. Because if you turn around and all your stuff is all over the place, you can’t leave it midway.

I’ve started to organize my closet in my bedroom and then got distracted with making dinner or bedtime or any of the things. And then I go to go upstairs to go to bed and I’m like, “Oh, every clothing item I own is in a pile on the bed. But got to do that now.”

TOM: Well, I am so glad to say that I’m almost done with my basement project. Once the floor gets dried, we will be able to put stuff back in. Because right now, I am ready for a hoarder’s intervention. I’ve got so much crap on the first floor, because we moved it out of the basement, that it’s becoming almost unsafe.

LESLIE: Well, you are well on your way to a newly organized new year. Good on you.

Alright. We’ve got Leda on the line with a question about moisture.

What can we do for you today?

LEDA: I have a conventional foundation. The house built in 1970. Solid hardwood floors. And rain was collecting, pooling under the house. I think I’ve got that stopped but I’m wondering – before I got it stopped, there was this powdery-gray – like a mold or mildew. Not very wide, real narrow. And I’m wondering where that – what that is and how to stop that if it comes back.

LESLIE: Well, that’s just a mineral-salt deposit. They call that “efflorescence.” And that’s generally when the water gets into the wall and then dries out, you’re left with just the mineral laying on your wall. And that gives it sort of a cloudy, grayish look to it. And it’s actually easy to get rid of, especially if the water situation has fixed itself. What you would do is you take a little bit of white vinegar and water and you can mix it in a spray bottle. And you put it right on that and it wipes right away.

LEDA: OK.

TOM: Well, good luck with that project. I hope that helps you out. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

Well, staying on top of snow removal is definitely going to keep outdoor routes safe and prevent some icy buildup. Now, they key here is to shovel walkways and driveways right after a storm. Because the longer you wait, the heavier the snow gets. In fact, sometimes I’ll go out and do a mid-storm shoveling, just to cut back on the amount of snow I’m going to have to shovel when the storm’s over.

LESLIE: No. All I want to do is when – I want to go sledding. I don’t want to deal with cleaning anything up.

TOM: No work?

LESLIE: I don’t want to deal with the work.

But truly, you’ve got to get out there, you’ve got to shovel. And once you do, you should apply salt melt on any ice on your walkways and your steps. But you’ve got to choose the right salt. That’s really important.

Now, traditional rock salt, that works really well. However, it’s extremely corrosive to surfaces. And then you’re going to see, after the winter, that that concrete is going to be all pitted and worn. This is why we end up with potholes in the road, correct?

TOM: Yes, yes. And potholes in your sidewalk, which look really awful. A better choice is called “calcium chloride.” It’s a lot less corrosive. It’s not going to harm your sidewalks or your indoor floors when it’s tracked into the house. And I don’t believe it’ll hurt pets, either. If the salt is marked “pet safe” or “concrete safe,” it’s definitely the way to go.

Now, what I do is I mix it up in a 5-gallon bucket with playground sand. Just regular, cheap, old playground sand. Or sometimes you can use masonry sand; it doesn’t really matter. And this way, I have a little grit in that mix so that when it starts to melt and sometimes it refreezes, I’ve got some sand in it now to give it a little bit of traction. And this way, the salt is totally ready when I need it. Just put it in the bucket, cover the lid and it’ll be good to go.

LESLIE: Hey, John in New York, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

JOHN: Last week, I heard something about a guy talking about drainage issues in the basement. And he started talking about certain things to make sure of with the gutters and the footer drains and making sure the soil slopes away from your house.

TOM: Yep.

JOHN: My situation is a little weird. I have a salt-box style house, 1,750 square feet. A very steep hill my house is built into. So, basically, three sides of the – two sides of the basement are partially in the soil.

TOM: OK.

JOHN: One side butts up to the garage, at the ground level, on one side of the house. And one wall of the basement is below the ground completely.

I have very good drainage. I’m on a hill, like I said. However, when it rains heavily, I do get that seep around the foundation. And my thought was, how do you slope soil away in a situation where there’s an overwhelming grade on the property coming right up against the house?

TOM: Yeah, that’s a good point. So, in your situation, the grade is not as important as what you can do to intercept that runoff through your property. So, two things.

First of all, the advice that we gave you about gutters, that’s really critical even in your situation. The gutters have got to be clean, free-flowing and those downspouts have got to be discharging away from the house. In your case, you’re going to probably want to go from the uphill side to the downhill side. You might want to run them underground, through solid PVC pipe, and have them break out to daylight somewhere on the downhill side so you’re really managing that roof water.

In terms of the runoff, the way you handle that is with something called a “curtain drain.”

JOHN: OK.

TOM: Basically, it’s a trough drain and it gets laid into the soil. And as the water runs down the hill, it falls into this drain and then it gets intercepted and sort of run around the house. Now, instead of going through all the work to construct a French drain, where you have to dig trenches and use perforated pipe and stone and filter cloth, there’s another type of a prefabricated French drainpipe that you could pick up at Home Depot. And it’s made by NDS.

It’s an EZ-Drain pipe. And you’ll recognize it when you see it, because it’s a plastic drainage pipe that’s surrounded with – it looks kind of like a packing peanut and then there’s a filter cloth around that. So they’re one piece. They’re modular. And you basically stack these up side by side and then put the soil back on top of them. It’s a very fast, easy way to put that French drain in without going through all of the work that you would have to if you were building it kind of from scratch.

So, in your case, you have to put this drain in to intercept the runoff of the water, run it around the house, again, out to daylight and then I think that your water problems will go away.

Happy Holidays, everybody. Happy New Year. It’s a very exciting time of the year as we wrap up ‘22 and get ready for ‘23. What are the projects that you have on your to-do list? You’ve got some work inside or outside you want to do? I think my one resolution for this year is going to be to redo my kitchen. Not like a gut-job renovation but painted cabinets, new floors, kind of the things we always talk about doing to give it a big face look.

Leslie, you’ve got something?

LESLIE: You know, I did a lot of stuff last year. I repainted the kitchen cabinets. I did the porch, the front stoop, the driveway. So, I think my plan is to just kind of kick back and enjoy it for now, until I come up with something new.

TOM: Well, it’s pretty well known that poinsettia flowers, while beautiful, can be dangerous if eaten. But it turns out that some other holiday flowers are actually even more toxic. Leslie has tips to keep you and your pets safe, in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word.

Leslie, a lot of folks have these plants around their house right now, so good timing for this info.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm. And don’t ask how I know that these things are dangerous for your pets.

TOM: Oh, no.

LESLIE: Tom, do you remember this? Do you remember?

TOM: Yes, I do remember. I know what you’re going to say.

LESLIE: Many, many, many years ago, Tom sent me a beautiful winter flower arrangement and the dog proceeded to eat the holly.

TOM: Oh, man. I was like, “Sorry?”

LESLIE: And I just remember thinking as it happened: I feel like that’s bad. I feel like I read somewhere that that’s really bad for the …

TOM: I do remember that. Ah, man. That was Daisy, right?

LESLIE: I mean – ah, was it Daisy or was it Lanny? I feel like it was a million years ago.

TOM: I don’t know. We’ve been through so many animals together.

LESLIE: How many pets ago was this?

But holy cow, you guys. It starts off harmless. It was such a beautiful holiday arrangement but who knew that so many of these holiday flowers and greenery is really bad for you and really bad for your pets?

Now, the holly leaf, like I mentioned – first of all, they’re prickly and that’s enough to hurt your fingers. But if anybody consumes the berries, just one or two, that can cause a tummy ache. But if you eat 20 or more? You could die. So, just really be careful with that.

Mistletoe, that’s another thing. Everybody’s like, “Oh it’s so romantic. La-la-la.” Well, diarrhea is not romantic, guys. If you end up with this mistletoe, if you get the oils on your hands and then you eat something or you accidentally ingest something from the mistletoe, you can be super sick. Nausea, diarrhea, blood-pressure issues and sometimes a fatality is possible when you eat the berries. It’s amazing how beautiful holiday décor can be so dangerous. So with the mistletoe, keep it up high, keep it above a doorway. Don’t let anybody handle it. That’s the number-one problem.

These two – so beautiful, so well-associated with the holidays. I’m talking about amaryllis, those big red and white flowers. They’re huge. You usually get them as the bulb. You always see them at the market. Or paperwhites, which are those smaller white flowers. Same thing. You see them growing out of the bulb. That’s usually how you see them. Those can cause heart arrythmias and convulsions if the bulb is digested. And pets are especially susceptible to these flowers, so you’ve got to keep them far away from any hungry or curious animal.

Now, when it does happen, God forbid, if somebody does ingest something or even if you think that the plant was eaten, call your local poison-control center. Be sure that you know the name of the plant, as well as the exact parts and if you can tell the amount that was consumed. Also be prepared to provide the approximate time when it was eaten, the age of the person, the weight, the condition. These are all critical bits of information that you need to give to get proper care in the event of one of these emergencies.

So, just try to stay calm. I know it’s scary but the more information you have when you’re calling for help, the better it will go.

TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Coming up next time on the program, are outside noises disturbing your sleep or work? You have some noisy neighbors? Well, you can do some things to minimize those sounds. Whether it’s traffic, the train or those neighbors or even some loud plumbing, we’re going to help you get back your peace and quiet, on the very next edition of The Money Pit.

I’m Tom Kraeutler.

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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