#2427 – Hot Tips for a Cool Home and Lower Bills | Stump Removal | Protect and Restore an Old Roof

Show Notes

Today’s show covers practical methods for removing unsightly tree stumps, offers advice on staying cool without skyrocketing utility bills, and presents a technique to extend your roof’s lifespan by five years. Plus, listen as we provide expert advice for additional home improvement questions from DIY callers like you!

Table of Contents[Hide][Show]

Show Notes
Top Questions & Answers
Ask Your Home Improvement Question
Podcast Transcript

Cooling Costs: Learn how to beat summer heat with hot tips for a cool home and lower utility bills.
Stump Removal: Don’t get stumped by the challenge of stump removal after taking down trees.
Roof Restoration: Old roofs get new life with an effective Roof Maxx treatment to restore worn roof shingles without roof replacement.

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

Read Transcript

00:00:31	TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
00:00:36	LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
00:00:37	TOM: And we are so psyched to be with you today as we talk about your home, your home improvements, your apartment, your condo, your yurt, whatever you call home. If it needs a repair or two, this is the place to be because we would love to hear what’s going on. We’d love to help you make that place more comfortable, to fix up anything that’s bugging you and get you on the road to success. To enjoying your house. First step, though, is to help yourself by reaching out to us with those questions. You can do that by going to moneypit.com slash ask and clicking the blue microphone button. You can very easily record a question and it will come to us instantly for the fastest possible response. Or just call us at 1-888-Money-Pit. Coming up on today’s show, a tree in your landscape can be a thing of beauty, right? But after it’s gone, the stump is left behind? Not so much. Well, there’s nothing easy about stump removal. If you’re patient, there actually are a number of ways to get rid of stumps for very little cost. So we’re going to tell you how to do just that.
00:01:34	LESLIE: And also ahead, the summer is predicted to be a hot one. So staying cool and comfortable while not breaking the bank, paying for your air conditioning is top of mind. We’re going to share ways to prevent that utility bill blitz.
00:01:47	TOM: And the summer season with its intense heat can be very rough on your roof. So we’re going to share a way to protect and restore flexibility to your asphalt shingles by five years with one application. Thanks, Bill. And we’ll tell you how to do that in just a bit.
00:01:59	LESLIE: But first, we want to know what you want to know. It’s our job and our mission to educate, inspire, and help you build confidence on projects that you want to get done.
00:02:08	TOM: That’s right. But your job is to help yourself first by reaching out to us with your projects and your questions. So a couple of ways to do that. And call us right now at 1-888-Money-Pit. So you don’t have to figure out what all those letters mean on your phone. I’ll just tell you. It’s 1-888-666-3974. Or you can very simply post your question at moneypit.com. By clicking the blue microphone button. So we’re ready. Are you ready? Call us right now with your questions. And Leslie, who’s first?
00:02:36	LESLIE: Alicia in North Carolina is on the line with the Money Pit, has a question about a patio and deck. What’s going on?
00:02:41	CALLER: We have like a patio cement slab in the back of our house. It runs the length of our house. On half of that slab, it sits our deck. Okay. We live in a split level, so the deck goes up rather high. It has posts. It sits on this cement slab patio. And there’s a crack going down the middle of it. We bought the house about three years ago. We didn’t notice the crack. It was there, but we really didn’t notice it. And then I’d say about last year, we were sitting down and noticed that the crack is now splitting open. Our backyard slopes down. It’s North Carolina. There’s lots of that red clay. I don’t know. It’s most of what our ground is made up of, and it’s like the ground is pulling away from that cement slab because of rain and flooding in our backyard, which unfortunately floods as well. So it’s making it worse. I don’t know whether the footings are what they really should be. We’ve had a couple of people come out and estimate the situation. I just don’t know what to do.
00:03:51	TOM: First of all, are you convinced, Alicia, that this crack is active? That it’s opening up? Or is it just that you’re paying attention to it now every time you walk out in the backyard, so maybe you’re imagining it’s getting bigger?
00:04:02	CALLER: No, it’s different looking than it was when we first bought it.
00:04:04	TOM: How big is the crack?
00:04:05	CALLER: It’s not huge. Yeah, no, it’s not like it’s three inches big now. It’s small still. It’s opening up. The caulking isn’t covering the crack anymore. So I’d say about quarter inch.
00:04:17	TOM: All right. It’s not bad. So there’s a couple of things you can do here. First of all, you do need to clean out that old caulk and reseal this. That’s one way or the other. Quikrete has a product that’s made specifically for concrete slabs that you can use that will give you a textured finish, and it dries in about an hour, so you do want to reseal it. Now in terms of not having to look at it, maybe doing something that would be a little more attractive, maybe slowing it down, I think you’re right. The reason it’s moving, if it is in fact moving, is it’s exacerbated by waters. Cement slabs don’t have footings, so there’s nothing holding it back from doing this, and I just wonder. I wonder if this deck was properly built because it’s sitting on top of half of it. It really just shouldn’t be sitting on the four-inch concrete slab. It should be sitting on the footing below it, be that what it may. Another idea that you might want to consider is PaveStone makes a paver brick that is about half the thickness of a full paver brick, and it’s designed for taking a cement slab that maybe doesn’t look so hot and creating a beautiful paver patio with it. The way it works is you lay down. You lay down the perimeter, and then you sort of put your whole pattern in, and then you take up the perimeter, and you basically glue in the outside perimeter row. Then that holds all the bricks inside of it, and then you add this typical paver stone, and it looks fantastic. That’s available from PaveStone.
00:05:42	CALLER: You know, my big concern is five years down the line if we want to put the house on the market kind of thing, and I didn’t want to … I wanted to do something … If I was already seeing an increase in the craft, I wouldn’t want to do that. What would it look like five years?
00:05:58	TOM: A cement slab is not a structural part of your backyard or your patio, okay? It’s basically there as a surface that you can work with. If you put the pavers over it, and it goes from a quarter of an inch to three-eighths of an inch, nobody’s ever going to see that, and pavers are just going to shift. Product is made by PaveStone. It’s actually called PaveStone Milano. That’s the brand. That’s the particular product that is the thinner version of the full PaveStone paver. Okay. Again, it can go down right on top of that slab. It goes down really quick, and it’ll look fantastic.
00:06:26	CALLER: Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate it. I love your show.
00:06:29	TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit.
00:06:34	LESLIE: Glenn in Arkansas is on the line with a roofing question. What’s going on at your money pit?
00:06:38	CALLER: Well, I have some moss on my roof. I had had a bunch of tree limbs there, then I got those cut. Just got a little bitty piece of the moss here and there growing on the west side of my roof, and I just want to know what I can do to maybe get rid of it and keep from coming back. That won’t hurt the roof.
00:06:56	TOM: So, well, you took the first step by getting rid of some of those trees. You’ll have more sunlight, and that will have a natural effect, sort of a natural mildewcide effect. The other thing that you can do is you can treat that wood with a mildewcide. There are a number of roof products out there that will work. Jomax is one, 30 Second Cleaners is another, and these are products that you can use a spray hose applicator with, so you just kind of shoot the roof and saturate it and let it work for a while. It’s not an instant thing. You know, you have to … Mm-hmm. Because what it’s doing is killing the moss, and then sort of mother nature releases it and washes it away. The other thing that you can do, maybe after the roof is getting clean, is at the top peak of the roof, put in a piece of copper flashing across the entire top of the roof, maybe under the cap shingles, because what happens is as the rainwater hits the copper, it releases some of the metal into the rainwater, and that acts as a mildewcide as well. Have you ever noticed that around a chimney, sometimes you see streaking underneath it, that’s because the water is connecting with the flashing, and that water then is actually acting as a mildewcide after it picks up a little bit of the metal from the flashing, and that’s why you get a streak. So if you put a piece of copper all the way across the top peak of your roof, it’ll do the same thing. Sounds great. I’ll do that. Good luck with that project. Thanks for calling us at 888-Money-Pit.
00:08:13	LESLIE: Do you love learning about home improvement on our podcast? Well, we love bringing you all the latest tips and tricks.
00:08:19	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.
00:08:29	LESLIE: Karen in Texas is on the line with a driveway that is just cracking up. What’s going on?
00:08:33	CALLER: My home was built in the late 1970s, and that’s what’s going on is my driveway has just gotten full of cracks and everything. So when I was looking into replacing, tearing it out and replacing the concrete, I had someone suggest to me that there’s some newer products on the market that you can overlay over top of the concrete. Yeah.
00:08:56	TOM: So this is a concrete surface, right? We’re not talking about asphalt. It’s definitely concrete? Definitely concrete. All right. Now the cracks that you’re seeing, is the driveway sagging or is it just have these sort of fissures in it? And I’m asking this question because I want to know if it’s structurally unstable because no matter what you put over it, if it’s got a weak base, it’s just going to continue to move and crack. It’ll look better, but it’ll still do that.
00:09:20	CALLER: I wouldn’t say it’s unstable. There are quite a few that… They’re not small, short ones. I mean, they’ve gotten pretty big. There is one area at the bottom of the driveway by the street that seems to have had a little bit of a collapse. Shift.
00:09:37	TOM: Yeah.
00:09:38	CALLER: Nothing you can’t… Yeah. Nothing that can’t be dealt with.
00:09:41	TOM: All right. So here’s what I would do. There’s a new product out just this year from Quikrete. It’s called Recap. And it’s a really interesting product because they’ve designed a product that will absolutely bind to all of the concrete. It’s made of old concrete and not separate. And it’s fairly simple to apply. You put it on, you clean the concrete, you put it on when the concrete’s wet and you work it, smooth it out, you trowel it out. You can use a squeegee. You can use a broom to give it a bit of a broom finish. And then the whole thing dries in just a few hours. I think that would be a great addition. In terms of the end of the driveway where it reaches the street, that’s the part we call the apron. What I would recommend you do there… Is to go ahead and tear that out. You can pick up a few bags of Quikrete and mix it up in a wheelbarrow and re-pour that. And this way you can make sure it’s nice and thick and structurally stable. And then even sort of extend the Recap color onto that so it’ll all look like one piece when it’s all done. But I think that that’s probably the best because if the concrete continues to move, and by that I mean sort of shift a little bit, expand, contract, freeze, thaw, cycle, whatever. Those cracks will show back up. But most of them will be filled in by the Recap product. I think you’ll like how it works.
00:10:59	CALLER: Awesome. That was what I was hoping to hear because it’s got to be a whole lot less expensive than having it tore out and completely re-poured.
00:11:05	TOM: Well, absolutely. And you know, by the way, there’s one other option too if you’d love to have a paver driveway. There’s a new paver out from PaveStone. It’s called Milano. And what’s cool about these Milano pavers is they’re half the thickness of a normal paver. And they’re designed specifically to go over old concrete patio and driveway surfaces. So you could look into those as well. Probably a little more expensive. Well, probably a lot more expensive than the Recap product. But it looks absolutely gorgeous when it’s done. And you really can’t tell that it’s not a full thickness paver when you see it. So there’s two options for you.
00:11:41	CALLER: Perfect.
00:11:42	TOM: Awesome.
00:11:42	CALLER: Thank you.
00:11:43	TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. Well, if you have a stump to get rid of, there are a couple of really expensive ways to do that. But there are also some less expensive ways to make stumps disappear. First, the most common method of stump removal is grinding. But that job is about as far away from DIY as you can get. You need to hire a tree service who will use a very specialized stump grinder. And that can get really, really expensive. It’s a monstrous piece of equipment. Yeah.
00:12:11	LESLIE: Now, for a hardy do-it-yourselfer, digging out a medium to small size stump definitely is possible. It’s a matter of exposing the trunk below the grade, chopping out that wood, and repeating until that stump is gone, or you’re exhausted, or whichever comes first, because you’re going to have to do it a bunch of times. I promise. It’s going to take a little bit, but it’s definitely a doable project. Now, an easier way to remove a stump is to use chemicals. And they’re going to be sold in home centers and hardware stores. And they do contain potassium nitrate, which is going to speed up the microbial process of decomposition. So basically what you do is you drill some deep holes into that stump, and then you pour those chemicals into the holes, and then cover the stump with a tarp. And you’ve got to wait. You’ve got to wait about four to six weeks, because then what’s going to happen is that wood is going to become spongy. At that point, you can chop out the softer wood. It’s still going to be exhausting, but not us.
00:13:03	TOM: You know, I actually did tackle a stump that way. I drilled deep holes into a stump. And you know what I learned? You can’t do that with a small drill, because you burn your drill out. It was smoking in my hand, and I actually completely burned it right out. So I threw that one in the garbage, and I actually got out one of my old corded drills. One of the things. I guess the corded drill was good for is that. And I was able to go to the holes drilled. And it worked very well. Just like you say, it takes a while, but it does work. Now lastly, the other way you can do this is you can burn out the stump. This works best on older or drier stumps. It’s basically potentially dangerous, so you need to know what you’re doing. But it generally involves pre-treating the stump with a flounder liquid, and then starting a small fire on top of the stump. We’ve got the step-by-step tips on how to do that on moneypit.com. But again, you’ve got to be very, very careful when you tackle that project.
00:13:50	LESLIE: William in North Carolina is on the line. He’s with a mold question. What can we do for you today?
00:13:54	CALLER: Mold and mildew. How do you eradicate it?
00:14:00	CALLER: I’ve got it on the walls, on the ceiling, which I’m going to pull that out. But I’ve been told different things. I mean, can you simply try to bleach it off of walls, or?
00:14:14	TOM: All right. Hey, William. Let’s start at the beginning. Tell me about this mold that you’re seeing. Tell me what kind of house you have, how old your house is, where you’re finding the mold, how long it’s been going on. That sort of thing. Okay? Talk to us.
00:14:25	CALLER: Sure. It’s a cabin out in the woods, and it is in the shade. It was built in 1960, and it is a wooden structure. The walls on the inside are both wood, knotty pine, and it’s beautiful. And then the bathroom is where the real concentration is. It is a stucco-type wall.
00:14:57	TOM: All right. So you have a cabin. Does the cabin have heating? It does, yes. Okay. But it’s not used year-round?
00:15:06	CALLER: It’s not. And unfortunately, I let someone stay here for the past year, and I don’t think they maintained it.
00:15:15	TOM: Well, typically, when you have cabins such as the one that you described, it will grow mold more quickly than a place that has a… A more typical HVAC system that’s properly maintained. And usually, what you have to do is go in and thoroughly clean it. Now, there are lots of different products to do that, but it definitely has to be done. And you have to also be very careful, because as you’re doing this, you could risk releasing those mold spores and also breathing them, which could make you sick. So you need proper cleaning materials, and you need proper ventilation materials so that you are not breathing that back in. A mask, yes. And ventilation techniques, for example, depressurizing the cabin while you’re doing the work, because otherwise, the mold spores get released to the air. Honestly, it’s not a do-it-yourself job, although I know a lot of folks that have hunting cabins and that sort of thing will do it themselves. But you’ve got to be really careful the way you go about this, because you can make it worse. Okay.
00:16:09	CALLER: So what are the materials that are typically used? Is it a bleach type? Yeah.
00:16:14	TOM: Usually, there’s a bleach type material. It’s an oxygenated bleach type of a product, or it’s a diluted bleach. There are a number of commercial… There are a number of commercial products that are like that, that are out there, 30-second cleaners is one of them. And you have to apply it, and you have to let it sit, because it will kill the mold spores, and then you rinse it off. But it’s a process. There’s a lot of elbow grease involved, and then you have to maintain it. But if you do it once and do it right, some of these products will also have an inhibitor as part of them, so that it won’t grow mold as quickly in the future. Okay.
00:16:46	CALLER: Yeah. The situation I have is because it is so deep in the woods that it really… Yeah. …does not get any sunlight… Yeah.
00:16:54	TOM: …in the bed. Yeah.
00:16:54	CALLER: I get that. Yeah. So… Yeah. And the way it has been raining here in North Carolina, I think that’s just exasperated the situation. Yeah.
00:17:04	TOM: No doubt. Well, you just got to… You know, you’re just going to have to do a little more maintenance to try to keep that at bay. But like I say, that those new products have inhibitors in them, so hopefully that will slow it down. Okay.
00:17:14	CALLER: What was the one you just said? 30-minute? Yeah.
00:17:17	TOM: 30-second cleaner is a good product. Jomax is another one that’s been around for a long time. It’s made by Zinsser. Just follow the label directions, and I think that you’ll be very happy with the result. Okay? Okay.
00:17:27	LESLIE: Well, this summer is predicted to be one of the hottest in recent memory, which means staying cool and comfortable while not breaking the bank paying for your air conditioning is going to be on everybody’s mind.
00:17:38	TOM: Well, thanks to tax incentives and the ever-increasing energy efficiency of our HVAC equipment, there are a variety of ways to prevent that utility bill blitz. With us to share tips is Dennis Stinson, Senior Vice President of HVAC. He’s the Director of Sales for Fujitsu General America. Welcome, Dennis.
00:17:54	DENNIS STINSON: Well, thank you, Tom. Thank you, Leslie. It’s a pleasure to be here and talk to your listeners.
00:17:58	TOM: Well, I’ll tell you, it’s a bit warm here today, and I am sitting in the comfort of my Fujitsu split ductless, which is quietly cooling the studio, and that’s tough to do. It’s tough to do quietly, that’s for sure. So I’ve been a fan of your equipment for many years and was actually an early adopter of split ductless because they work so darn well for situations like ours and for so many homeowners as well, too.
00:18:21	DENNIS: Well, we’re glad to hear that. We’ve got many hundreds of thousands of units outside in the States and Canada as well doing exactly what you just said, providing great comfort very quietly and very efficiently. So glad we have another devotee.
00:18:33	TOM: All right. So let’s talk about ways to improve our air conditioning situation and cut costs. And one of the big ones we should chat about is the fact that the Inflation Reduction Act is doing a lot to help us afford lots of energy-saving appliances. Including air conditioners. So can you talk about how that works? Yeah.
00:18:55	DENNIS: So the Inflation Reduction Act is a good piece of legislation, and it’s going to take some time for all of it to roll out in its entirety. But there’s a couple of parts to it. One of it is an extension of the tax credit, and this is a good piece of legislation. So this will provide a tax credit on your federal return based on home improvements. And this is really just an extension of what we’ve had for quite a few years and, frankly, through quite a few administrations. It’s a good piece of legislation because it’s an extension, which means that consumers and contractors and distributors and good citizens of the U.S. already know how to use it. So it’s easy to apply. The second part of that is what we more so know as the Inflation Reduction Act. And this is a little more involved because what it does is pushes down some funds to each individual state based on criteria, not only on income, but also on efficiency. So each individual state is creating their programs and the requirements to be able to qualify for that. To date, many states have submitted their application for their intent to participate in it. New York State is the farthest along, but effectively what you’ll see is many thousands of dollars available for the replacement of a home heating system based on installing high-efficiency electric heat pumps in replace of that.
00:20:19	LESLIE: So now we’re getting to the end. We’re getting ready to install some new high-efficiency equipment in the home to keep us cool. What are some other tips that we can do in tandem with the equipment to sort of help us save money, keep the home efficient that you guys are really recommending to go hand-in-hand?
00:20:32	DENNIS: Well, Leslie, that’s a great question. So we know that all heating systems are not created equal. So we know that what we can find is that there’s really two types of technology that, as a consumer, you want to zero in on. The first is inverter technology, and what that means is that the piece of equipment is going to ramp up and slow down based on the load or the demand that it’s seeing. So the hotter it is outside or the more people in the building, the more capacity the unit will put out. But it’ll slow down when it’s a mild day and you just want to chase the chill either at heating or just take the edge off in the cooling mode. So think of it as a cruise control for a car, that it replaces the amount of energy that comes out. Contrary to that, what you would have is a traditional piece of equipment that’s either all the way on or all the way off. Potentially overheating or underheating or conditioning a space so the fact that it can run at partial capacity means tremendous efficiency but also greater comfort as well. The second side of that question, looking at it, is that you would want to ideally have something that’s zoning your house. So if you’re downstairs watching the game, then you would condition the downstairs area, the living room area, your TV area, your den, to that comfort level. And then at nighttime, when you go up to bed, you would condition your living room area, your bedroom, so that the whole house doesn’t have to be 72 degrees or 68 or whatever it is you find it comfortable. Just those spots that you’re conditioning in. And if you get to that point in life like I am now where the kids are off to college and going somewhere else, then do we really need to keep their bedrooms the same temperature as everywhere else? And the answer would be no. I can condition where I’m living, but I don’t have to under-condition or over-condition other spots that aren’t being occupied.
00:22:14	TOM: You know, that inverter technology is a game changer for heat pumps. You know, for years I’ve been telling listeners how to use heat pumps in terms of how not to ride that thermostat up and down so that it doesn’t always switch on that emergency backup heat, which is the straight electric resistance heat, which is super expensive. But now with this inverter technology, you’re kind of the brain behind it. You’re the intel inside. And you’re basically very carefully and very strategically adjusting that heat based on factors like outdoor temperature and almost guaranteeing comfort as a result of that. So that’s really going to change the market. That’s going to change the market for heat pumps and make them far, far more practical in addition to the fact that you now can heat when it’s well below zero outside, correct?
00:22:55	DENNIS: Yeah, you’re absolutely correct. And that’s the terminology, right? So many think that when you use the heat pump, it gets to a certain point and then it doesn’t work so good anymore. Then I need to kick up and not back up resistant electric. And then, frankly, at that point, nobody’s saving money, right? Right. But the heat pumps today with inverter technology is we have full capacity below minus 15 degrees. So when it gets really super chilly. And around the beginning of the new year, at least where I live, then you’re going to still get 100% capacity out of your unit beyond. So there is not a need for that, frankly, expensive auxiliary backup heat. The unit will do it all by itself.
00:23:33	TOM: Dennis Stinson is the Senior Vice President of Sales for Fujitsu General America. Great technology, great products, and a great time to invest in a new cooling system as we run into what’s going to be one of the hottest summers in recent memory. Dennis, thank you so much for stopping by the Money Pit.
00:23:51	DENNIS: Thank you for having me. It’s been a real pleasure.
00:23:54	LESLIE: Now we’ve got Frankie on the line with a countertop question. What’s going on, Frankie?
00:23:58	CALLER: I have in my kitchen is a countertop that I think is linoleum. I’m not sure what it is, but it’s gray in color. And I would love to either change it out or do something different. Somebody told me I could buy another round of paint. And that way it would look better than it does.
00:24:19	TOM: Hey, Frankie, you know, actually there are a number of ways for you to do this project. First of all, you mentioned that the countertop might be linoleum. I doubt that. It would be certainly an odd choice. Linoleum is an old flooring product. It’s more likely to be some sort of laminate. And if that’s the case, a company called Daich Coatings, D-A-I-C-H Coatings, their website is DaichCoatings.com. They have two different products that are designed as countertop finishing kits, and they’re awesome. One’s called Spreadstone, and one’s called Luxrock. And I’m actually doing a project myself right now with the Luxrock products. Now, these are coatings that have a lot of stone in them. The Spreadstone looks kind of like a more of a solid, even stone feel to it. The Luxrock looks just like solid granite, except that they’re super easy to clean. So it’s a project you can do yourself. It takes about three days or so, depending on the product. Essentially, you clean the top, and you get to work. Everything you need is in the kit. So check out the Spreadstone Countertop Finishing Kit and the Luxrock Solid Surface Granite Countertop Kit, both available at DaichCoatings.com, D-A-I-C-H Coatings.com. I think that’s a great way to restore your countertop without spending a whole lot of money.
00:25:33	LESLIE: Well, the summer season, with its intense heat, can be really rough on your roof. Now, the intense UV radiation, that can dry out your roof to a point where it’s going to lose all of its flexibility. And when that happens, shingles can dry out, they’ll crack, and then they lose their water resistance. Now, this is especially true today, because most shingles have less asphalt in them than ever before, which means that they’re going to dry out all the much faster. And when that happens, the shingles are going to need to be replaced, and that can be pretty expensive.
00:26:04	TOM: Now, there is another way, however, to extend the life of your roof, and it’s called Roof Maxx. And it’s a roof rejuvenation treatment that restores the flexibility and waterproofing potential. And it can save you 80% over the cost of a traditional roof.
00:26:20	LESLIE: Yeah, and Roof Maxx’s new technology uses natural plant-based bio-oil for a full asphalt shingle restoration. And this gives shingles flexibility, and instantly can add five years of life to your roof.
00:26:33	TOM: Yeah, it’s kind of like when the sun dries out your skin, and you use a lotion to help bring it back. Or like when you treat an older deck or a driveway to add some life to that surface. Roof Maxx does something very similar. For asphalt roofs, only they use this revolutionary new technology that soaks into old brittle shingles. And it adds millions of microbeads of all-natural bio-oil to restore the flexibility and prepare them to better protect your home. I saw this for myself at a home that we were trying to sell in Florida. And we thought we were going to have to replace the roof. But after the Roof Maxx treatment, all the shingles became very flexible once again. And it was totally good to go for at least another five years.
00:27:11	LESLIE: Yeah, and you know what? Each Roof Maxx treatment comes with a five-year flexibility guarantee. And with three treatments possible once every five years, Roof Maxx can add up to 15 years of added life to your asphalt roof.
00:27:22	TOM: To learn more, set up an appointment with your local Roof Maxx dealer at Roof Maxx.com+. Right now, Roof Maxx is offering a free roof tune-up with every Roof Maxx treatment. Including repairs to loose shingles, loose flashing, ceiling cracked shingles, and fixing up those exposed nails. Schedule your free roof evaluation today. At RoofMaxx.com. That’s RoofM-A-X-X dot com.
00:27:47	LESLIE: Earl’s on the line with some issues with vinyl siding. What’s going on over there?
00:27:51	CALLER: My question is regarding vinyl siding. It’s already colored. And just issues with the buckling or the bending or whatever you want to call it. And causes and what to do about it.
00:28:04	TOM: Well, Earl, I’m sorry to hear that you’re seeing that your siding. And unfortunately, it means that the siding was installed too tight. When you put vinyl siding on, the back of the vinyl panels, they don’t have holes for nails. They have slots for nails. And you’re supposed to put the nail in the middle of the slot. And you’re supposed to not drive it tight to the building. You’re supposed to let that siding breathe or move a little bit. Because vinyl has a very high expansion ratio. So when the sun hits it, especially the sides of your house that are on the south side and the west side. When the sun hits that, if the siding is on too tight, it’s going to buckle and get real wavy and ugly looking. There is no easy fix for this short of taking the siding off and then reinstalling it with proper looseness to each piece.
00:28:48	LESLIE: Can you reuse that same piece or is it already warped and that’s garbage?
00:28:52	TOM: No, you can. It will straighten out again. In fact, it probably wants to straighten out, but it can’t because it’s sort of stuck in place, right?
00:29:01	LESLIE: Too tight, yeah.
00:29:01	TOM: I think you can use it again. If all the pieces are the same length, you don’t have to number them. But if they weren’t, I would just put tape on and number each piece. But when you put it back on, it’s got to be loose. What I used to do, Leslie, when I was home inspecting is I would grab a piece of the siding with my hand and try to slide it back and forth. And if it’s put on right, I could move it about a half inch. In fact, it almost would feel loose where you could switch it back and forth. But if it’s too tight like that, man, I’ll tell you what, that really looks like heck when the heat hits it and it gets really warpy. And you can spot it a mile away. But that’s the only solution. Take it off and reinstall it properly. Well, Anna reached out to me. She says,
00:29:45	TOM: Leslie, this doesn’t seem like a very difficult project. So where would you begin when you want to make outdoor cushions? Is there special foam involved, certainly special material for the covers? Where do you go?
00:30:00	LESLIE: And I mean, that’s definitely it. You’re going to need to go to a more higher quality fabric source in your area. You know, a Joann’s or a Michael’s or a Walmart that sells fabrics. They might not have the best outdoor fabric, but they may have it in stock. So definitely check there first. If not, look at sort of a fabric resource in your area and you want outdoor fabrics. And if you can get an outdoor commercial fabric, that’s even better because those fabrics are going to be sun resistant, fade resistant, mildew resistant and water resistant. And those are the things that you want when you’re looking at an outdoor fabric. Now, assuming you know how to make a cover, you always work with that fabric inside out and kind of pin over the existing cushion. And that’s pretty much the easiest way to make a cover. I could go into it way more if you want to reach out again. We’re happy to give you the step by steps. But definitely make sure you have an outdoor fabric and also an antimicrobial foam for an insert if you need a new one.
00:30:50	TOM: That sounds like a great idea. And I wasn’t aware that you could buy antimicrobial foam. So good tip right there.
00:30:59	LESLIE: There is definitely foam for outdoor furnishing. So you want to make sure you get the right one because some people it rains, you know, and you don’t grab them in quick enough and then they get wet. And yes. That’s lucky. So you want the right stuff.
00:31:09	TOM: Well, if you enjoy watching hummingbirds in the summer, the best way to attract them to your yard is to feed them. But while you can buy hummingbird food in the store, you can also very easily make it at home. Leslie’s going to share the do’s and don’ts of making your own delicious sugar water homemade hummingbird food in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word. Leslie, that’s the way you attract kids too. Keep them home by feeding them, right? Sugar water. They got plenty of sugar around my house, I’ll tell you that.
00:31:36	LESLIE: I mean, basically. So it’s so great because hummingbirds, they’re so fast. They’re so beautiful. I mean, they fly up to 50 miles an hour and they kind of fly in like every zigzaggy direction ever. And I always feel so lucky when I get to see them. So if you’re lucky enough to get them in your yard, feeding them to keep them coming back to your yard is the best way to do it. So before you understand the do’s and don’ts of hummingbird food, you’re going to need a recipe. And that’s really, really simple. It’s one cup of sugar and four cups of water. Now you mix the two ingredients together, bring it to a boil and let it cool. And that is it. Now, a bird’s digestive system is very different from humans. So there are some tips to keep in mind when you’re making this homemade hummingbird food. You need to pay attention to the shelf life. Homemade hummingbird food in the refrigerator, you can keep it for up to two weeks. If you don’t use it all by this time, just toss it. Nectar in the feeder itself should be tossed after two to four days. And that’s really dependent on how warm the weather is. The feeder should be cleaned and refilled with a fresh batch of food. If there’s any doubt as to whether that solution has spoiled, you want to err on the side of caution and just discard it. Just as eating spoiled food can make you sick, the same is very true for hummingbirds. And imagine a hummingbird puking at 50 miles an hour. That seems terrible. Now, lastly, while it’s not absolutely necessary to boil hummingbird food, it’s definitely a good idea. Boiled hummingbird food is going to last. It lasts longer, so you can make it in larger batches to save time. Plus, if the quality of your tap water is mediocre, boiling that water is really an easy step to make sure that your solution is at the highest quality. And also remember, if you’re looking for a good cocktail recipe, simple syrup is one-to-one sugar and water. And it’s always great to keep that in the fridge also.
00:33:21	TOM: Great tips. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Coming up next time on the program, are you ready to refresh your home with some new decor but worried about the cost? We’re going to share five budget-friendly tips. And decorate your home sweet home in the very next edition of the Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
00:33:38	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.)