Holiday Entertaining Made Easy #1128161

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

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: On air and online at MoneyPit.com. And we are here to help you with your home improvement, décor projects. So help yourself first. We’re standing by for your calls, your questions at 1-888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974.

And I can’t believe it but we are smack-dab in the middle of holiday entertaining season. So this hour, we’re going to have some tips to help you turn a ho-hum space into a complete home theater on a budget. You know, when you think of home theaters, you think of all the rich people out there that got the mini movie theaters in their house. Nope, nope, nope. You can have one that fits just in your present living room but gives you great sound and picture quality. We’ll show you how.

LESLIE: Plus, now that it’s fireplace season, getting your chimney cleaned is a job that’s both necessary but it’s also one that comes too frequently with those chimney contractors. They come over to your house, then they start offering all kinds of fraudulent advice and really just hoping to get a whole bunch of money out of your wallet. Well, we’re going to help you sort out the facts from all the smoke.

TOM: And we’ve got advice on a new and very green way to add insulation to your home and seal out drafts at the same time. So let’s get to it. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974.

Leslie, who’s first?

LESLIE: Chip in Arizona is on the line with a smoking furnace. What is going on?

CHIP: Well, it’s not a smoking furnace. What happens is when I light my fireplace in my living room – and my heater kicks on. For some reason, it backs the smoke into the house. And I’m wondering what would cause that.

TOM: When you light your fireplace and your heater kicks on at that same time?

CHIP: Yeah. We have a beautiful fire going, we’re sitting there having a glass of wine, the heater kicks on in the winter and all of a sudden, the smoke starts coming out of the vents in the fireplace. The flue’s open, the chimney is clean and the air vents are opened. I’ve been in construction most of my life. I can’t figure it out.

TOM: So, what I’m thinking is that you have a depressurization of the inside of your house. When you turn your furnace on, it’s using so much air from the house to mix with the combustion gas that goes out the chimney that it causes a negative pressure inside your house. And as a result, it’s affecting the draft on the fireplace. And if you shut the furnace off, then that stops, of course. But no, I think probably what you need is more combustion air for that fireplace.

CHIP: And how do I do that?

TOM: Is this an old brick fireplace or is this a modern metal fireplace?

CHIP: No. Actually, it’s a fairly new, modern fireplace with the chimney that goes up the galvanized steel – black steel – that goes up.

TOM: There may be another reason for this and it might have to do with the mix of supply and return registers in that particular part of the house. Because if you’re pulling too much air on the return to the HVAC system, that could affect the draft for the furnace, as well.

I think that you may have a depressurization because of maybe the location of the return ducts. Maybe they have to be moved to the opposite wall or something like that if they’re on one wall and it’s a partition wall that could come through the other wall. But it might be that there’s not enough air supply into that room and so you’re getting a depressurization. That would make a lot of sense and that would definitely cause the draft to reverse on the fireplace.

CHIP: Well, that’s good to know. I’ve been trying to figure it out. And I’ll tell you, I don’t get stumped too often but that stumps me. Alright. Thank you very much.

TOM: Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Cynthia in New York, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you today?

CYNTHIA: I have a little cottage that I’ve been renovating and I put on a metal roof. And I was advised that it would be a good idea to put gutters on this metal roof. Well, I had some old gutters and I put – had those put on but I didn’t – couldn’t get the connection to – for the downspout and that they are 3-inch-square connections, like little elbow things to connect from the gutter to a downspout. Can’t find any 3-inch-square connections anymore. So it was – I was told that there’s a – I don’t need gutters. It’s sort of like a downspout …

TOM: Yeah, Cindy, I know what you’re talking about. There’s a product that fits on the edge of the roof that is not a gutter. It’s called a “rain handler.” And the way a rain handler works is as water comes down the roof, it hits this rain handler and it disperses the rain into a wider pattern, so it’s not like the water rolls off your roof and hits the ground.

I think it’s OK in an area where there’s not a concern about a wet basement and flooding around the foundation or erosion. If you’re just trying to disperse that water, that’s probably an option. But it’s not a complete replacement for a gutter because a gutter’s a water-management system and this is really a water-dispersal system, if that makes sense to you. You can find more information on that product online. It’s simply called RainHandler.com.

Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: You are tuned to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com.

Well, guys, we are into December. I can’t even believe it. This year is coming to an end. Everything is happening way too fast. I feel like I say this every calendar year. But before you know it, it’s going to be super wintery all across this country. So, what can we do to help you guys out, get ready for the holiday and get ready for just the chilly weather ahead? We’re here to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 888-MONEY-PIT.

TOM: 888-666-3974.

Still to come, no need to spend big bucks on your entertainment space. We’re going to tell you how to create your very own home theater on a budget, after this.

TOM: Up until now, you purchased insulation to insulate, to help keep warm spaces warm and cool spaces cool.

LESLIE: But now, Owens Corning has changed all of that with Pure Safety High Performance Insulation. Pure Safety not only insulates but also actually contributes to a healthier, safer and more comfortable environment for your family.

TOM: That’s right. First, it’s a high-density, all-purpose insulation that efficiently fills cavities in your home with a layer of thermal protection. Next, Pure Safety contributes to healthier indoor air. It stays put in walls and floors and produces 50 percent less dust than some other insulation products. That means healthier air for your family to breathe.

LESLIE: Pure Safety is also fire-resistant. In case of a fire, you’re going to have extra minutes to escape to safety. And those are minutes that can make all the difference.

TOM: And finally, Pure Safety reduces noise up to 50 percent. It helps to keep outside noise out and reduces inside noise from traveling from room to room inside.

Pure Safety High Performance Insulation from Owens Corning, a single product that will enhance your family’s health, safety and comfort. Learn more at PureSafetyInsulation.com. Pure Safety, the greatest home improvement you’ll never see.

ANNOUNCER: Today’s Money Pit is presented by Caseta by Lutron. Simple to use, simple to set up. Learn how you can win a $5,000 smart-home upgrade, at OurLifeUpgrade.com. No purchase necessary. Ends 12/15/16.

TOM: Where home solutions live, welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Standing by for your calls at 1-888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974.

So, Leslie, I’ve got to tell you a story about my daughter’s apartment. She goes to college and her and her roommates got a bill, that was unexpected, from the management company. And the bill had some utility fees on it, which were expected. But then it had these service fees. It had about, I don’t know, 20 bucks worth of utilities, which you expected, right? But then it had a $50 fee and another $25 fee for paying the utilities because apparently, the utilities didn’t start the day they moved into this apartment.

LESLIE: What?

TOM: They started two weeks later. And so, because of that overlap, this management company decides, “Well, we’re going to just charge you a service fee in the amount of $50 and then another $25 for paying your $20 of utilities.” And I’m like, “Are you kidding me?”

So I get on the phone and I call the office for her and I’m like, “Would you please explain this to me?” “Oh, sir, well, it’s in the lease. You have to have these utilities the day you move in. It’s in the lease. It’s in the lease. It’s in the lease.” And I said, “You know, I don’t think we ever got a copy of that lease.” “Oh, well, we’ll send it to you.” So, of course, nothing shows up, right? Finally, I get the lease. Leslie, the lease is 23 pages long. Twenty-three pages for a lease. I’ve never seen a lease this long.

LESLIE: Yeah. But if you – who got the lease in the first place?

TOM: Yeah. Well, I mean I think what these kids look – they’re renting the apartments for the first time in their lives. They should’ve walked out of the office with it. For whatever reason, they didn’t have it. But I got it. But this here is the best part. So guess what I did? I read the lease. And guess what?

LESLIE: It’s not in there at all.

TOM: It’s not in there. There was a fine for turning it off early before you move out but there wasn’t a fine for not turning it on early enough.

LESLIE: That’s complete B.S. And the funny part is that they keep expecting that because they’re kids. They’re not going to look or pay but they don’t count on their parents, who are savvy, to really look into it.

TOM: And a lot of them don’t, right. So, I wrote a very curt e-mail to the management company and told them what I discovered and guess what happened? Those fines came immediately off the account. And now, we’re going to make sure that all the other kids that got these fines, too, know about this, as well, because it’s just not right. How dare they charge that kind of money?

So, the bottom line is here that if you’ve got a lease, you’ve got to read it and you might be surprised what you find in it, especially when there’s this kind of a landlord dispute. I don’t think they ever had a teed-off father read these leases before. But now, I think they’ll be a little more careful.

LESLIE: George in Pennsylvania is on the line with a bathtub question. I guess your bathtub’s cracking up but not in a funny way.

What’s going on, George?

GEORGE: Yeah. I’m just wondering, is there some kind of solution do they have – plastic tub? And I’ve got a crack in the floor of it. Thought of really taking the whole tub out. I was wondering, is there’s some kind of gunk or something I can put on it.

TOM: Well, not gunk but what you can do is you can rebuild it with fiberglass. And what you want to do is go to an auto-parts store and you want to buy some fiberglass repair material. And you’re basically going to rebuild this as if you were fixing your car after a crash. When you apply the fiberglass base coat and then you apply the fiberglass itself and you build it up – some layers of it – and then you put a gloss coat on top. It’s going to look like a patch but it does stick very well to those tubs and it can take the flex and it won’t leak.

I actually repaired a shower pan that way once and it worked really, really well until I had the opportunity to tear the whole thing out. So, you can do a good – pretty good job with fiberglass.

GEORGE: Oh, OK. Alright. Well, thank you very much. You have a good show you’ve got there.

TOM: Alright. Thanks, George. Good luck with that project.

LESLIE: Sherry in Texas is on the line with a siding question. How can we help you today?

SHERRY: We have this little cottage moved in that has siding on it. But we want it to look like the other outbuildings and put redwood siding on it. To put siding over siding, do you use a special nail? Is it possible to do that or do you use screws?

TOM: Well, first of all, the siding that you have right now, is it flat or is it clapboard? What does it look like?

SHERRY: It’s flat siding.

TOM: So, like a plywood kind of a surface?

SHERRY: Yes, yes. It’s an ugly siding and we want to go with a redwood siding.

TOM: Alright. So here’s what I would do. And this is for a shed?

SHERRY: Yes, uh-huh.

TOM: So what I would do is I would take building paper – tar paper or even Tyvek but it’s really not necessary but just tar paper. I would put that up first and then I would attach the siding on top of that, driving the nails into the original siding. You do not need to remove the original siding.

That said, remember, if you’ve got doors or windows, you may have to build out the edge a little bit around to make up the difference. Because the siding is going to be thicker than the old stuff.

SHERRY: OK. Alright. Put tar paper under it. Thank you so much.

TOM: You’re welcome, Sherry. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Well, now that we’re in the entertainment season, we thought it might be a good time to talk about ways you can spruce up your entertaining spaces. And one project that comes to mind is building a home theater system. Now, that’s one you might think is best left to those with the big budgets but it’s not so. All you need is some basic equipment and a sensible design that works to create the theater environment.

TOM: And that’s the case. So the first step is to kind of assess the space that you have to work with. You need to plan for some comfortable distance between your screen, your speakers and your seating. But remember, a great home theater doesn’t require a giant screen and a gazillion speakers that kind of shake the walls and shake the floors. The ideal viewing distance from a television is usually just about two to two-and-a-half times the width of the screen. So that can make it pretty compact.

And as far as the gear goes, the switch to digital TV signals over a few years ago pretty much made flat screens that are high-def very affordable. So pick one up, watch for the sales, get one that works for your space. And there’s also these home theater-in-a-box sets. Now, they pretty much have everything, including the flat screen and the sound system built in for a really pretty affordable price, and you don’t have to kind of assembly it yourself. In other words, you don’t have to pick out all these different components. They work together because it’s kind of predesigned.

LESLIE: Yeah. And the other thing is you really don’t need to spend a lot of money on new home theater furnishings or even redesigning the room because probably, you’ve got everything that you need in your home already or easily accessible. I mean you’re going to need comfortable chairs and good acoustics.

Now, upholstered couches and chairs, they’re ideal. But you can also think about adding inexpensive sound-absorbing elements. So think about area rugs and draperies. And remember leather furnishings kind of bounce the sound around. So if you have leather already, just add some throw pillows or some blankets.

TOM: So, now, the last thing you want to think about is lighting or more importantly, the lack of lighting. Because that is important for good home theater viewing. So two things: first of all, make sure you have dimmable lamps or lighting. That’s easy to do. There are extension cords with dimmers built in or you could replace your light switch with a dimmer. And some of these are even controllable from your phone.

And then you want to choose drapes or shades that block the sunlight. Now, a good option are cellular shades. They come in either translucent or light-blocking varieties. So if you order one that blocks light, you’ll get a nice looking shade that can actually make your room a little warmer, because they have sort of an insulation effect. And they can completely block out the light, which makes the theater room work. So, some easy ways to create that home theater without spending a whole lot of money. And you can pretty much do it on a weekend and have it good to go for the next holiday party that you decide to throw.

888-666-3974 is our number. Give us a call, right now, with your home improvement or décor question.

LESLIE: Claire in Maine, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

CLAIRE: Yes, I have a little problem with my water softener. I seem to have nice, soft water with it. The soap lathers good and everything. But when I wash my vehicles and then one of those is black, after it dries, wherever there were any of the droplets of water, when that dries off I get all these little white deposits all over the vehicle. And I was wondering why, if it’s soft water, why I’m getting those.

TOM: Yeah, because it doesn’t sound very soft; it sounds more like hard water. You’ve got a lot of minerals in that.

Now, the water that you’re using to wash the vehicles, this is coming from the water softener?

CLAIRE: Yes. All my water – my hot and my cold – go through the softener.

TOM: Including the hose bibbs that you’re hooking up to to wash the car?

CLAIRE: Yes.

TOM: Well, obviously, the water softener is not working correctly. You’ve got a lot of minerals in there and that’s what’s showing up on your beautiful, black car.

CLAIRE: Well, I know I had the hardness checked about three years ago and they gave me a number, 23, and they set it at that and that’s what I’ve been going with ever since.

TOM: Well, maybe it’s time to have it serviced again and have it checked again, because things can change. And that’s got to be what’s causing it, though.

Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Heading over to Florida, where Peter has lost power in the bathroom.

Peter, what’s going on and can you see what you’re doing?

PETER: Yeah, I had a GFI go bad. And when I went to change it over, for some reason I couldn’t get any juice to the receptacle underneath the sink. So, I got juice to where I put the new one in but – so I went down to Home Depot – I listen to you folks all the time – and I got a new one. And the gentleman over there told me to find the hot wires go and put them on the receptacle where it says, “Line.” And then the other two hook up on the bottom of it.

TOM: Peter, do you know that the ground-fault circuit worked properly and then it stopped working?

PETER: Yes, sir.

TOM: So it worked properly and then stopped working. Have you considered the fact that the ground-fault circuit interrupter could be doing its job and then there could be a problem elsewhere in the circuit?

PETER: Yeah, I didn’t give a thought about that. No, I didn’t.

TOM: So, I think that when ground-fault circuit interrupters start to trip, people say, “Oh, it must be a bad circuit breaker,” and they don’t consider the fact that the circuit breaker is, in fact, doing its job detecting a diversion of current to a ground source and tripping to prevent you from getting a shock.

So, the solution wouldn’t be, necessarily, first to replace the ground fault. I would investigate further to see what exactly is happening and causing that to trip. I think, based on your description of what you’ve done thus far, that this might be just a little bit above your skill set. And while we can respect the fact that you’re doing this on your own, when it comes to electricity you want to get it right. And if you were to miswire that and in fact, perhaps, you – there are different ways to hook up ground faults. And if you do it one way, you can get it to trip and not protect the rest of the circuit. So, it would appear to be working correctly when, in fact, it wouldn’t.

So this is not the kind of thing I would recommend that you do yourself, Peter, with all due respect. I would definitely have an electrician look at this because I suspect that the ground fault is doing its thing. They rarely go bad. And if it’s tripping, it’s probably tripping because something is going on elsewhere in the circuit.

The ground faults will cover everything that’s on that circuit. So if you had, for example, a loose wire somewhere down the line and that was causing some sort of an arcing condition, that could trigger the ground fault to go off.

So, contact an electrician. This is the kind of job that you should not do yourself, because I want to make sure that the problem is what you think it is and it gets properly fixed.

Peter, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Just ahead, Richard Trethewey from TV’s This Old House is stopping by with advice on how to get your fireplace ready for the winter and more of your calls at 888-MONEY-PIT.

ANNOUNCER: Alright. Hold the work. No one works in the house. Next call is for picture. Here we go. Picture up. Standing by. Speed. Give me speed in three. It’s all for The Money Pit in two, one and action.

TOM: Up until now, you purchased insulation to insulate, to help keep warm spaces warm and cool spaces cool.

LESLIE: Pure Safety is also fire-resistant. In case of a fire, you’re going to have extra minutes to escape to safety. And those are minutes that can make all the difference.

TOM: And finally, Pure Safety reduces noise up to 50 percent. It helps to keep outside noise out and reduces inside noise from traveling from room to room inside.

TOM: Making good homes better, welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: So have you had some leftovers sitting around from Thanksgiving or are they all gone by now?

LESLIE: Me? I made a turkey after Thanksgiving. We go away every year now. Ever since Ed passed away, we go away for Thanksgiving. And then I want my own turkey, so then I make one the day I get home. So I’m going to be eating this turkey pretty much until Christmas.

TOM: Problem with that is your microwave starts to smell like turkey. So I thought we would offer a pretty simple …

LESLIE: It does.

TOM: Right? A simple way to kind of freshen up the microwave. Here’s the recipe: basically, you just mix a teaspoon of vinegar and lemon in a cup of water. And then put it in the microwave for two minutes. It does a really good job of getting into all the nooks and crannies and kind of neutralizing any of the odors that are in the machine. And it will come out fresh every single time and especially ready for the next time you have to throw a turkey leg in there or whatever else.

888-666-3974. Hey, give us a call, right now, with your how-to question.

LESLIE: Heading over to Alabama now where Mary is trying to remove some old caulk from a bathroom fixture. What’s going on?

MARY: Hi. I recently was trying to remove the caulk from around my bathtub and cannot get it removed.

TOM: OK.

MARY: I have purchased one of the tools at a home improvement store and it is so hard that it won’t remove. And I’m worried about scratching the bathtub and the edge if I get a razor blade.

TOM: Have you ever used a paint remover to remove layers of paint?

MARY: Yes.

TOM: OK. Well, just like a paint remover will strip paint, there’s a product called a “caulk softener.” And the caulk softener gets applied to the caulk and it sort of reliquefies it, softens it up and makes it a lot easier for you to scrape it out.

So you want to apply the caulk softener first. And once it works and softens the caulk, clean it really, really well. The next thing you want to do is take a bleach-and-water solution and wipe that seam down really well, because you want to kill any bacteria that’s in there. You want to make sure there’s no mold spores that are left behind.

And the next thing that you want to do is fill the tub with water. We always caulk tubs when they’re full of water and here’s why: because when the caulk dries, the tub sort of comes back up. When you fill the tub with water, it sinks down. When you put the caulk in it, let the caulk dry and then let the water out of the tub, it comes back up and compresses the caulk and it’s not likely to fall out again or pull apart again at the seam, OK?

So, those are the steps you want to follow. Start with a caulk softener, wipe it down with bleach and water, fill the tub with water, caulk it. When the caulk dries, let the tub water out and you’re good to go.

MARY: Can you recommend a good caulk to replace it with?

TOM: I would take a look at the DAP products that include Microban. Microban is an additive that stops any mold from growing inside the caulk.

MARY: OK. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

TOM: You’re welcome, Mary. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Well, the weather outside can be frightful.

RICHARD: But in here, it’s so delightful.

LESLIE: But if you don’t maintain your fireplace, it can be downright frightening.

TOM: And the song you just heard was sung by our friend, Richard Trethewey, the plumbing-and-heating …

LESLIE: Equally frightening.

RICHARD: Yes.

TOM: Equally frightening. The plumber-and-heating contractor on TV’s This Old House.

And Richard, fireplaces are great for ambiance and maybe cutting your home heating bills a little bit. But if they’re not clean, they can be doing more harm than good, right?

RICHARD: Yeah. I mean all the – so many of the houses from that – when this part of the country was settled, those houses were all gone, not from age – from chimney fires that sort of …

TOM: Fires? Wow.

RICHARD: The principle heating source was those fires all winter long. And finally, they just overheated and then there’d be a creosote fire. It’s a big deal.

TOM: So moving into the fall, temperatures start to drop. What’s the first thing that you would advise folks do to make sure their fireplace is good to go?

RICHARD: Well, if you’re going to really use your fireplace – if you’re going to burn one ambience fire a season, it’s no big deal. But if you’re really going to use that fireplace a lot, call a chimney sweep. Hire a chimney sweep, have him come in. Nowadays, they’ve got cameras that can go up inside, they can look for what the lining condition is inside that thing. If there’s breaks in the lining, there’s a place where creosote and soot can get into – get out of the chimney. It’s not good. So, chimney sweeps, we think about, you know …

LESLIE: Mary Poppins?

RICHARD: Yeah. Mary Poppins. Chim-chiminey. I was going to sing again.

LESLIE: Don’t sing.

RICHARD: Sorry.

LESLIE: Don’t sing.

RICHARD: They’re not just characters in old movies. They are a professional organization that – there’s really good ones out there. You should do your due diligence, though, because not everybody is that. So, you want to look at the Chimney Safety Institute of America or somebody that’s in the game that’s been around for a while.

TOM: Right.

RICHARD: Ask around.

TOM: Yeah. We occasionally will get a call from somebody who’s had a chimney sweep come to their house and it’s almost the same – always the same pattern. Their inspection “fees” are always very, very low. But lo and behold, they find tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage that immediately has to be fixed so your house doesn’t burn into ruin.

RICHARD: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s right.

TOM: And sometimes that’s right but a lot of times it’s just not. And they’re just trying to sell you something that you don’t need.

RICHARD: Yeah.

TOM: So you do need to be very careful about choosing that pro.

Now, if we do find damage, you would think how can you possibly repair something that’s inside the chimney? What are the options?

RICHARD: Well, you’ve got to figure out where it is and if it’s near the top or near the bottom, we can get at it. You can often patch it. You’re still trying to get down inside of – to an existing – usually, it’s an 8×8 chimney liner if it’s the old claystone.

TOM: Right.

RICHARD: But nowadays, you can actually reline a chimney a variety of ways. One, you can reline it with a cement that you’d actually inflate the equivalent of a balloon inside and then pour concrete over to make a new liner.

TOM: So the balloon goes inside the chimney and the concrete surrounds the outside of the chimney and basically you sort of cast a new liner?

RICHARD: Right. That’s right. That’s right. A new liner. Mm-hmm. And then you can also drop a new proper gauge smoke pipe down inside of a chimney, too. Sometimes that’s your only choice.

LESLIE: And that’s something that really needs to be done, especially if you’re going for more high-efficient heating options in your home.

RICHARD: Well, we also should do – we should talk a little bit, though, about high efficiency. A fireplace, although it’s lovely for ambience, that there reaches a point halfway through that fire that the amount of heat that you got from that fire is – it’s over. Now, everything after that halfway point is just heat that’s leaving your building …

TOM: Right.

LESLIE: Going right out.

RICHARD: Right. And going up through there. So, there was a time that that was our only choice but – so we should be very clear about that the fireplace is not a principle source of heat in most cases. If it is, you should find a way that the air that is being burned in the fireplace comes from outside, not from inside the building. That means you put in a fireplace insert or the equivalent of a heat exchanger inside, where the fire exists in the firebox and you see it but you’re not really letting the air that you are breathing come into that fireplace.

TOM: So we’re essentially supplying combustion air from the outside for the sole purpose of feeding the fire but we’re still enjoying the heat on the inside?

RICHARD: Right, right. Right. That’s right. Now, I love the smell of a wood fire. Everyone does. It’s part of that ambience you talk about. But we see more and more in people’s houses, they’re going with gas fireplaces, so they have that sort of look of a fireplace. And that is going to be vented with either a series of smaller pipes bringing air from outside and then venting. And many times, they just don’t even need a chimney; they just vent out to outside. And so, that’s become the sort of convenience in America solution for that.

LESLIE: But let’s get back to a wood-burning fireplace for a second. So many people want to use those wood-burning logs that are sort of those quick fire starters.

RICHARD: Oh, no.

LESLIE: And I feel like those are the worst things that you can do for your chimney.

RICHARD: There’s a fair amount of chemicals in them and it’s not just wood that’s in them.

TOM: Right.

RICHARD: So, yeah. And so, you’ve got to worry about the buildup of creosote and other chemicals up there. The chimney sweep will do his visual inspection and then he’s got a series of brushes and vacuums that can go down and clean that thing right back to Bristol (ph), right back to original condition. Just about …

LESLIE: And then you should only use seasoned wood.

RICHARD: That’s right. Yeah. And it wants to be dry enough, too. If it’s highly moist, you’re also going to have – in the process of combustion, you’re going to have lots of moisture that can also stick on the side and help to form that almost creosote paste, almost like a toothpaste up inside the firebox.

TOM: And that’s what gets danger. If we do not clean the fireplace and you get the combustion mixing with the moisture, you can get that creosote, which can stick to the sides.

RICHARD: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

TOM: And then that could fuel a chimney fire which is very, very dangerous.

RICHARD: If you see flames coming out through the top of the chimney, it’s not good.

TOM: Let’s try to avoid that with tips from Richard Trethewey, the plumbing-and-heating contractor on TV’s This Old House.

Thanks, Richard.

RICHARD: Great to be here.

LESLIE: Alright. Catch the current season of This Old House and Ask This Old House on PBS. For local listings and step-by-step videos of many common home improvement projects, visit ThisOldHouse.com.

TOM: And This Old House is brought to you on PBS by State Farm. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

Coming up, every once in a while around my area, we’ll get a storm that leaves ice dams behind. And when that happens, leaks can end up inside your house. We’ll have tips to help you keep clear of ice dams, after this.

TOM: Up until now, you purchased insulation to insulate, to help keep warm spaces warm and cool spaces cool.

LESLIE: Pure Safety is also fire-resistant. In case of a fire, you’re going to have extra minutes to escape to safety. And those are minutes that can make all the difference.

TOM: And finally, Pure Safety reduces noise up to 50 percent. It helps to keep outside noise out and reduces inside noise from traveling from room to room inside.

TOM: Making good homes better, welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Standing by to take your calls, your questions, your concerns about your house. What are you doing to fix it up? Need some advice on how to get started? Are you seeing a leak stain or a squeak or something else that just doesn’t feel right? Give us a call, right now, at 888-MONEY-PIT.

So, a couple of years back, I was ready for a new roof on my very old house and I decided that it was a good time to kind of step up my insulation, as well. Now, I had fiberglass already but it was kind of settled and I had to do the roof anyway. So I figured why not go all the way and get the underside of the roof sheathing sprayed with Icynene, which is the spray-foam insulation?

And I liked it because I knew that not only would it add that extra insulation that I wanted to keep the energy bills down but let’s face it: my house was pretty drafty. I mean even though I’m a home improvement expert, the house apparently didn’t know that and it was pretty leaky, pretty drafty. It’s a really old house. So, the thing I like about the Icynene is it expands to fill all of those gaps. So it does sort of stop the drafts, as well as add insulation at the same time. So now my heating bills are down and the home is a lot more comfortable as a result.

LESLIE: Yeah. You know, Icynene is really a great product in itself but it’s also a good way to minimize the risk of ice dams forming. And when they form, ice dams can cause some pretty costly damage. Now, what happens is the foam is going to keep the heat inside your house. It’s not going to rise up and then melt the snow, which is then going to run down to your roof edge and at the roof edge is where it’s going to refreeze. And that could lead to the backup of water into your house. That’s what an ice dam is.

TOM: Yeah. And when that happens, it gets everywhere and can be really expensive to fix. The water runs right down the inside of your house.

Now, since I installed Icynene at my house, they actually have a new product out that is called Classic Max. And what’s different about it is it’s an ultra-low-VOC, high-performance, open-cell spray foam. So, you used to have to leave your house for about a day or so after they sprayed. Now, you only have to leave for two hours because it’s not releasing all of those VOCs into the air. And just like the original product, it expands and seals all of those gaps, so you get the insulation and you get the draft-proofing at the same time. And this one’s also GREENGUARD Gold-certified because it has such an ultra-low-VOC emission.

So you can check it out at Icynene.com. Good stuff.

LESLIE: Now we’ve got Joan in Illinois on the line who’s dealing with a mold issue.

Tell us about it, Joan.

JOAN: Well, I’m wondering what causes dry rot and how you can tell if you have it.

TOM: OK. Well, what are you seeing, Joan?

JOAN: Coming down to the floor, there’s about an inch below the molding. And I took the carpet up and I saw sawdust down there. And I wondered if it was dry rot.

TOM: Right. So, first of all, there’s no such thing as dry rot; there’s only wet rot. Wood that gets wet – it gets over 25-percent moist – can start to decay. Then, if that wood also dries out, that’s what people call “dry rot” but it’s really sort of a misnomer because it’s not really dry rot; it’s wet rot that has dried out.

JOAN: Oh. So we can’t cause it by overheating or under-humidifying a house.

TOM: No. Well, not overheating but if you over-humidify, I guess it’s technically possible because you’d put a lot of water in there. But no, you’re not going to cause it by overheating.

In terms of what you’re seeing under this molding, I think that would bear some further investigation. When you mentioned “sawdust,” I think about carpenter ants, for example. And so, I would make sure that I know exactly what’s causing this.

One of the things that you could do is you could take a picture of it and you can post it to our Facebook page at Facebook.com/TheMoneyPit. We’ll take a look at it and give you an opinion. Or you could post it to the Community section at MoneyPit.com. How about that?

JOAN: That sounds great.

TOM: Alright, Joan. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Do it yourself or not? We’ve got tips on how to decide if a project is right for your skill level, after this.

TOM: Up until now, you purchased insulation to insulate, to help keep warm spaces warm and cool spaces cool.

LESLIE: Pure Safety is also fire-resistant. In case of a fire, you’re going to have extra minutes to escape to safety. And those are minutes that can make all the difference.

TOM: And finally, Pure Safety reduces noise up to 50 percent. It helps to keep outside noise out and reduces inside noise from traveling from room to room inside.

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TOM: Making good homes better, welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Well, you might assume that Leslie and I are the ultimate DIYers, that we do every project in our homes ourselves.

LESLIE: I’m trying not to laugh out loud.

TOM: And I’ve got to tell you the reasons that we don’t do everything ourselves are the same reasons that you might not want to do a project, either. And it has to do about – it really has to do with a couple of things.

First of all, if you do the job yourself, you might save money but only if it comes out right and you don’t get hurt. So, that’s why projects that might involve electricity or plumbing or things of this nature, you may not want to tackle yourself. It might be more cost-effective and less aggravation just to have a pro do those types of jobs.

LESLIE: Yeah. You mentioned electricity. I mean electricity is on the line with things that could cause damage to yourself or your home or others, so something like that where you really don’t have a super-high confidence level and it could seriously cause some danger, like electrocution, death.

TOM: Mm-hmm. Yep.

LESLIE: So, I try to avoid some of those things when possible. I can swap out a light fixture but I’m not running new lines to create new outlets.

TOM: Yep. Good point. Now, the other things to consider is it might take longer to do the job if you do it yourself. And that could be particularly important with some projects, like a bathroom remodel or a kitchen remodel. You want to get pizza off speed dial and get that kitchen back together as quickly as possible. If you do do it yourself, it might take a lot longer.

And finally, you could make really expensive mistakes. If you order something wrong, you’re going to end up having to pay for it and any savings you had by not hiring it out could be absorbed right then and there. So, really think carefully about whether or not you want to do a project yourself or not. Some things are best left to the pros.

LESLIE: Alright, you guys. You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers. You know, you can reach us on the phone all the time at 888-MONEY-PIT or you can post your questions. And I’ve got one here from Phil in Wisconsin. And Phil writes: “My wife turns down the thermostat to 50 degrees when we’re all at work. That’s for nine hours a day. It takes a while for the house to heat back up when we get home.”

This person is in Wisconsin. I believe it gets pretty cold in Wisconsin.

TOM: Yeah.

LESLIE: “Am I actually saving money by turning the thermostat that low if my furnace has to work so hard to bring the heat back up?”

TOM: You’ve got a very good point, Phil.

And the other thing is, gosh, in Wisconsin, I’m surprised he hasn’t had any frozen pipes yet. That’s really, really cold.

I wouldn’t tell you to go down to 50. I might go down to 62, maybe, at the lowest. And the other thing is: why not get this on a clock-setback thermostat so the house can then heat up an hour or so before you get home?

The newest thermostats today, the ones that are smart thermostats, they have a technology called geo-fencing, which is really cool. The way a geo-fence works is it knows – the thermostat knows when you’re actually physically getting close to home. So you could set it so that, for example, if you’re 10 miles away, 20 miles away, it will bring the heat up. And then the house will be nice and warm when you walk in the door because it knows kind of where your phone is. And it can communicate that and know that if you’re this distance away, the heat can come on and the house will be nice and warm when you come home.

And likewise, it’s also helpful that when you leave the house, these geo-fences know when you’re going, they can go down to sort of a lower setting, like the 62 or 64 degrees. But I think going down to 50 is really too low, especially in a cold climate like that, because you’re going to get a frozen pipe one of these days. And that’s going to cause one heck of a mess, believe me. And while you enjoy telling your wife, “I told you so,” we like to see that not happen to you, Phil. So, I would suggest that maybe you try to find a way to meet in the middle and kick that temperature up a bit.

LESLIE: Yeah, 62 does seem to be the magic number because, believe me, a burst pipe is going to cost you thousands upon thousands of dollars in damage. They’re just – don’t argue, get a clock-setback thermostat. You guys will be way happy and warm when you get home.

TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com. We hope you’ve enjoyed this hour of the program. If you’ve got questions, remember, you can reach us, 24/7, at 1-888-MONEY-PIT any time of the day or night. If we’re not in, we’ll call you back the next time we are and maybe answer your question on the 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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