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: And we are here to help you with your home improvement project on this fine weekend. Pick up the phone, help yourself first by calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974.
We’ve got a great show for you planned this hour. You know, they call it “fall” for a reason. And if raking leaves is the last thing you want to do this weekend, we’ve got some ideas on tips, techniques and tools that can make that leaf collection a lot easier.
LESLIE: And cooking up holiday memories usually means cooking up lots of food. We’re going to tell you how to troubleshoot your oven now before the turkey’s inside and your stomach starts grumbling.
TOM: Plus, have you checked your windows lately? We’re going to have a checklist for you to help make sure those windows are still as energy-efficient as they were the day they were installed.
LESLIE: And one lucky caller never has to fight or smell those common kitchen odors again. We’re giving away a Glisten Family of Cleaners Prize Pack, including Glisten Disposer Care.
TOM: So let’s get to it. Pick up the phone, call us, right now, at 1-888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974.
LESLIE: Linda in Rhode Island is on the line and needs some help with winterizing the A/C unit. What’s going on?
LINDA: Well, I was wondering if someone could give me this proper procedure to shut down the unit for the winter. Because it was not successful last winter, I ended up with a problem when I went to start it up in the spring. So I thought, perhaps, I had not done something that maybe should have been done that I wasn’t aware of.
TOM: Ah, probably just bad luck, Linda. When you have an outside central air-conditioning compressor, there’s really not much to be done in the winter. Except that what we generally recommend is that you turn the power off to it and then you cover the top of it. One thing you don’t want to do is cover the sides of it, because you have to let moisture move in and move out.
If you completely wrap it up – I’ve seen people completely wrap them up like a holiday package. Bad idea because that traps a lot of moisture inside. It can cause condensation and corrosion. You really just want to cover the top to kind of keep leaves out. But other than that, you just leave it exposed and nothing should happen to it as a result of that.
LINDA: Oh, very good. Well, I certainly will follow that this year, because I did exactly what you said: I wrapped it up like a package thinking I was protecting it.
TOM: And maybe that didn’t work out so well. So, yeah, I think you maybe gave it a little bit too much TLC. So just cover the top to stop the leaves from getting in but leave the sides open so it can air out properly, OK? So it can ventilate properly.
LINDA: Well, thank you ever so much.
TOM: Linda, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Milton in Georgia is on the line and he’s getting some water at his basement. What’s going on at your money pit?
MILTON: I have a problem. When it rains heavy and water from – it’s running to my septic. I don’t know – and then goes and backs up into the toilet, into the bathroom hole. Where the water is supposed to be going down, the water is coming back up through there. And then it floods my basement.
TOM: So, what’s happening is you think the septic is flooding and then it’s backing up into the house. Is that correct?
MILTON: Yes. Yes, sir.
TOM: That’s not supposed to be happening. You’ve got a pretty significant septic problem there. Have you had any septic professionals look at this?
MILTON: Yeah. Well, they said that the lines they built – they said – what did they say? They said the drain that goes out to seep the water out – or what do you call that, the … ?
TOM: Yeah, the field – the drain field. Does he say it’s clogged?
MILTON: Yeah, they say it’s clogged. What can I do to get that unclogged?
TOM: So, if your drain field has failed, that unfortunately, Milton, is the end of a normal life expectancy for a septic system. So the field has to be replaced. When the drain field becomes clogged, then you need to do some major work.
Now, you could move the drain field to another section of the property or you could remove the soil and replace the soil there. But when it gets completely clogged, it’s not draining anymore. And that really is the end of the septic system. But that’s a significant problem and it’s a potential big expense.
So I would do this: I would get an expert to look at this, maybe somebody like a very experienced professional home inspector or a health officer to look at it and really diagnose that that is exactly what’s happening. Because that’s what it sounds like. And if that’s the case, if the field has actually failed, then you can go ahead and get some bids for replacement of it. But I wouldn’t do it just on the contractor’s word. I would get an independent expert, who’s not there to sell you a septic system, examine it and make sure it really has failed.
MILTON: OK. And another question now. When it floods now, the water goes onto the sheetrock like 4 inches. Should I take off the whole sheetrock or do I carve the piece that is wet?
TOM: You can cut the piece that’s wet about 12 inches off the ground and see what’s behind that. Now, if there’s insulation, that needs to be replaced, as well. You’ll have an additional seam there but you don’t have to tear the whole thing out.
And by the way, if it turns out that you do want to tear out more than that, what I would do is I would put a different type of drywall in there. There’s a product by Georgia Pacific called DensArmor – D-e-n-s-Armor. And basically, it’s a fiberglass-faced drywall, so it can’t grow mold or rot.
MILTON: Oh, OK, OK, OK. DensArmor.
TOM: Alright, Milton? Good luck with that project.
MILTON: Thank you very much but I appreciate that.
TOM: Have a nice day. Thank you 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, it’s our favorite time of year. It’s autumn and there’s lots of stuff to do around your money pit. Let us give you a hand. Call us, right now, at 888-MONEY-PIT.
TOM: 888-666-3974.
Still to come, we’ve got step-by-step techniques for making sure your windows are working the way they should be, before winter chills really set in.
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: Pick up the phone, give us a call, right now, at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. You’ll get the answer to your home improvement question. Plus, this hour, we’re giving away the Glisten Prize Pack, a fantastic set of prizes which includes the only EPA-registered dishwasher cleaner: Glisten Dishwasher Magic. It cleans, it freshens, it maintains and extends the life of your dishwasher.
LESLIE: Yeah. And you’re also going to get Glisten Disposer Care. Now, that’s going to get rid of garbage-disposer grunge, buildup, germs and of course, that stinky odor that sometimes happens. You can find it at a lot of retailers but also at GlistenCleaners.com. It’s a prize pack worth $50.
TOM: Going out today to one lucky caller drawn at random. That number, again, is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Judy in Minnesota, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
JUDY: We replaced our windows – all the windows – in our home over 10 years ago. And just this year, there appeared to be snow between the glass on two of the windows. So our question is: do we have to replace the windows again or is there some way to get that out?
LESLIE: Actual snow or was it just fogging up?
JUDY: No, it’s like – it looks like snow when the sun shines on it. It’s that noticeable.
LESLIE: So that’s probably more like a frost. And generally, what happens when you start to see condensation or frost or any sort of cloudiness in between two panes of glass, that usually means that the seal has failed. And that’s not generally something that’s fixable. Because when the seal fails, the gas that’s in there to keep the windows energy-efficient and put that thermal seal in there, that’s gone, too. So your window loses all of its energy efficiency, other than just the two panes of glass.
So, repairing that really isn’t worth it. I mean at this point, you should probably look into a replacement window.
JUDY: Replace the windows. Not all the windows. Just those two windows?
LESLIE: Right. And it would be a replacement window, so the operable parts are what changes out. The side panels, that all stays. It’s the up-and-down parts that get changed out.
JUDY: So they can just replace that middle part then?
TOM: That’s correct. Especially if it’s a recent window and yeah, the manufacturer is still sort of available. When the seal fails like that, there’s no repair for it. If you probably are not suffering through a lot of energy loss as a result of this, it’s mostly just a visual thing. But it’s not repairable; you need to have that sash itself replaced.
JUDY: OK. Well, thank you so much.
TOM: Alright. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Ralph in Pennsylvania is on the line with a heating issue. What’s going on?
RALPH: I have a flat roof on my house, right? And it’s one room that, I guess, when they built the house, they planned it to be a garage? And I’m using that room because it’s really nice but I can’t get it to heat up for some reason. It seems like the – it’s like a draft coming in there. And I can’t get the room warm at all.
TOM: And how are you heating it? What’s the heating system look like for that particular room?
RALPH: I don’t have heat in that room.
TOM: But you say you can’t heat it up. But how are you trying to heat it up?
RALPH: Oh, I don’t want to – I own one of those ammos (ph) heaters: you know, the stoves?
TOM: So, you’re using a portable heater and you’re not – it’s still – it’s not warming up. Is that your – is that the situation?
RALPH: Correct.
TOM: A couple of things. First of all, garages are essentially the exterior of your house. And so, if they’re not built to contain heat, then they’re going to be very difficult for you to do just that. You mentioned it has a flat roof, so you don’t have a lot of access to that roof space where you could add insulation.
The walls. Are the walls insulated?
RALPH: Yes, they are. It’s actually – the garage is actually attached to the house. It’s like part of the house. There’s a big door, actually.
TOM: So this is part of your house but it’s not part of the central heating system for the house?
RALPH: Correct. Correct.
TOM: Yeah. See, I really think you need to have more BTUs in that space, as well. So, I don’t think you’re getting enough heat out of this portable unit. How is your – how is the rest of the house heated? Oil? Gas? Electric? What?
RALPH: Oil.
TOM: Oil, OK. Hot air? Forced air?
RALPH: Correct.
TOM: Is there an opportunity to extend the heating system ducts – supply and return – into that area that was formerly a garage?
RALPH: Yeah. I think that’s where – maybe that’s what I have to do. I don’t know. But it – my problem is, actually, that I feel a draft. Even if I take out the plates on the floors and whatnot, on the outlets, I can feel air coming through there.
TOM: Yeah. So you’re going to probably have to do some comprehensive draft-proofing.
So, look, first of all, you need to extend the heating system into that. If it turns out you can’t or it’s not going to deliver enough heat, the least expensive way to heat that room would be by to add – and just in this room – electric baseboard heaters. You could have these permanently wired in and run off a thermostat and even run off a clock thermostat so that when it really gets very cold, you can use this to supplement the heat in that room. That’s the least expensive way to add additional heat to that space.
In terms of the drafts, yeah, you need to start attacking those drafts in all the ways you normally attack them. You want to try to identify them. If it’s coming in around the outlets, then you add gaskets behind the outlets. There’s foam gaskets, very inexpensive, you can put in that go under the cover plate and will cover that area. If it’s coming around the windows, you may need to weather-strip those windows or caulk the windows. You want to attack those one at a time.
And the roof above that you said is a flat roof, is that roof insulated, as well?
RALPH: Yes, it is.
TOM: Well, then, it sounds to me like what you want to do is seal off the drafts and add additional heating to that room the easiest way you can. I just don’t think you’re getting enough BTUs in there with the space heater, OK?
RALPH: OK. Thank you very much.
TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
Well, now that the temps are dropping and you’ve started to feel the drafts, it’s a good time to inspect your windows for signs of those drafts that really drive up energy costs.
LESLIE: Yeah. You want to start by examining the edges of your windows and patio doors for any drafty areas. Now, an easy way to do this is to run the back of your hand slowly over these spots. The back of your hands are so much more sensitive than the palms, so you’re really going to be able to quickly find the leakiest spots.
TOM: Great tip. And those leaks can usually cut down on the energy efficiency of your windows, so you really want to get them fixed quick.
Now, the easiest way to do that is with weather-stripping or caulk. You want to seal the gaps. And if you don’t use the windows at all, say, during the winter, you can either use a temporary weather-stripping caulk and actually caulk that window closed – the caulk can be stripped off easily in the spring – or you can use window film. And that gets stretched across the entire window and then again, does a great job of keeping those drafts at bay.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm. And now, while you’re working along your windows, you want to go to the windows and see. Are they opening easily or closing easily? Well, if they’re not, that could mean that key components inside are actually damaged and maybe they just need some adjustment or maybe they need replacement.
Now, all of that could mean that the windows are no longer as efficient as they once were. So you should consider repairing them or replacing them.
TOM: Yeah. Now, if that sounds expensive, it could be. But remember this: you don’t have to do all the windows at once. In fact, the smart way to do it if you’re just concerned about the cold weather is to do, say, the windows on the north and east sides of your home first. They’re going to be the coolest sides of the house. And then you can get to the west and the south windows, maybe, before summer rolls around.
LESLIE: Bret in Rhode Island, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
BRET: We have the 1890s Victorian home in Wakefield. Then we have put in an 8×14 master bath in with Frank Lloyd Wright Arts and Crafts-style tile in it. And the shower in the corner, that’s a step-in shower. And over the last eight years, because of – plastic floor of the shower wasn’t supported. It started to crack from the flexing. And I’m not sure how I can take care of those cracks without ripping out all the tile around the lip of the plastic floor of the shower.
TOM: So, there is one way to do it. And it’s not real pretty but you can do it this way. And that is that plastic base is made of fiberglass and you can use a fiberglass-repair kit and basically cover the split area with a fiberglass patch. And essentially, that means you’re going to put down resin and then you’re going to put down fiberglass itself and press it into the resin. Once that dries, you’re going to put down more resin and then more fiberglass in. You’re going to kind of crisscross it and essentially, you’re going to build up kind of a patch across that crack.
Now, of course, that’s going to be painfully obvious but maybe you don’t care about that. Maybe you’re thinking, “I’d rather have it just be patched and watertight than have to tear out the tile.” Because yes, replacing that kind of shower pan will require that you remove that tile around the first 8 to 12 inches all the way around to be able to get that pan out.
BRET: I think – I’m not sure that it’s fiberglass; I think it might be just hard, molded plastic. I got it at a big-box store.
TOM: The only way to try to repair it is with a fiberglass-repair kit. And you can pick that up at an auto-parts store. You know, it’s like a body-repair kit. And essentially, it’s just those two things: it’s basically the resin itself and the fiberglass material. It may be some – it may have some sandpaper with it. But you’ve got nothing to lose; you might as well try it.
I did it once in a house that I owned – bought myself a year before I got around to tearing out the shower pan – and it worked great.
BRET: OK. It’s a great idea. We’ll give it a try. Thank you so very much.
LESLIE: Now we’ve got Leslie in Nebraska on the line who’s dealing with an oversized oak door. What happened? Did it grow?
LESLIE IN NEBRASKA: What I did was – I live in a 100-year-old, German bungalow-style house.
TOM: Nice.
LESLIE IN NEBRASKA: And I changed the doors. It had been remodeled and it just had the flat, hollow-core doors in it. I changed them out for solid – for oak doors. And in one room, the door now – the hinges are in the very corner, as it were. But at the bottom, it meets and at the top, there’s about a ½-inch gap where we put wedges. So I’m wondering how to trim that out appropriately.
The original doors had 1-by trim with the flat board on top so they butt against the board on the top. And I’m wondering what I can do to make this work.
TOM: So, if I understand this correctly, you purchased a prehung door, you installed it into the old opening. In order to make it fit, you had to shim it in quite a bit. And as a result, now you have large gaps between the prehung and the old door opening. Is that correct?
LESLIE IN NEBRASKA: Correct.
TOM: Alright. So, you need a wider trim, obviously; that’s where you’re going to have to start with this.
Now, the most traditional trim is clamshell – which is, I think, quite boring – 2½-inch or 2¼-inch wide, surrounds the door. A more interesting way to do this might be to trim it off with a two-piece trim. So what you could use is you could use a piece of baseboard molding as the first layer of trim. So this would give you a wide molding all around the door.
And you could make this as wide as you have to. Baseboard molding is usually either 2½ inches or 3½ inches wide. So you treat – use that as casing, if that makes sense. And then on top of the outside edge of the baseboard, you can put corner molding. And so it becomes sort of – its outside corner mold, so it becomes stepped. So, the fluted part of the baseboard is against the hinge and then it steps up at the end with the outside corner molding. And this gives you sort of a two-tiered casement arrangement all around the entire door.
This can be very, very attractive. I once did an entire house like this and it looked really good. Gives you a lot of dimension and it kind of brings you back to the day when all the moldings around doors were done in a really fancy way like this and gives that particular door a lot of personality.
LESLIE IN NEBRASKA: Thank you so much for your help.
TOM: You’re welcome, Leslie. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Still ahead, are you waiting for those leaves to rake themselves up? Well, spoiler alert: it’s not going to happen. But there are ways that you could make the job easier and safer, too. We’ve got landscape pro Roger Cook from TV’s This Old House joining us with leaf-cleanup tips, when The Money Pit continues.
TOM: And This Old House on The Money Pit is brought to you by the STANLEY Smart-Measure Pro. Bluetooth-enabled for quick and easy measurements right from your smartphone. Snap, measure, share.
We’ll be back with more of The Money Pit, after this.
KEVIN: Hi. I’m Kevin O’Connor, host of This Old House on PBS. From floorboards to shingles, you are tuned to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show with Tom and Leslie.
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: Hey, is your house ready for the colder temperatures ahead? Well, you can check off some November home improvement weekend projects if you check on the check-off list on our website right now. It’s all online at MoneyPit.com.
LESLIE: Now we’ve got Michelle in Washington on the line who’s dealing with some flooring adhesive. What’s going on?
MICHELLE: We have pulled up our vinyl off our concrete floor. We have a slab floor and want to replace it with tile. But we have the residue left from the vinyl being pulled up. And I want to know the best way to get that up, if there’s any kind of chemical or just boiling water. I know it’s going to be scraping but I didn’t know what I could put on it ahead of time.
TOM: Adhesive goes down easy and sure doesn’t come up that way.
MICHELLE: No, it doesn’t. And it’s probably been there for 20 years, so …
TOM: Yeah. Is it fairly smooth or is it …?
MICHELLE: Oh, it’s fairly smooth. The vinyl came up but it left the paper backing.
TOM: So, if it’s fairly smooth and it’s well adhered to the concrete, you might be able to just glue the tile down right on top of that. Because I’ve got to tell you, it’s really hard to get that adhesive up. It’s not like you could cover it with boiling water or vinegar or something like that. You might be able to use a citrus-based adhesive remover and that might help you a little bit. But if it’s already well adhered to the concrete slab, then I don’t see why you couldn’t go on top of it with the new tile mastic.
MICHELLE: OK. I did that in my kitchen. I went right over the old tile because it was very flat. But now I’m doing another area. It’s not a big area – it’s an entryway – but we’re doing a whole big room that includes the entryway and it’s ceramic plank. And I was concerned about the – you use a different mastic, because I understand with the ceramic-plank floor – and I thought that heat might wet that paper enough to not give me good adhesion.
TOM: Well, if it’s just paper, you could probably do some abrasion, some sanding of that glue to get through the paper. Because yes, you don’t want to have a non- sort of adhesive layer in between the tile adhesive and what you’re going down to. But that shouldn’t be that big of a deal, especially if it’s a small area.
MICHELLE: Oh, OK.
TOM: But like I said, you could use a citrus-based adhesive remover. Try to see if that will loosen it up. There’s also a way to grind it off but it’s expensive and you need some specialized equipment.
MICHELLE: Great. I’ll try that. Thanks for taking my call.
TOM: Alright. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well, raking up fallen leaves is a time-honored autumn chore and totally strenuous if you go about it the wrong way.
TOM: That’s right. Like any task, it’s much easier if you’ve got the right tools and techniques. For fall leaf-collection tips that save time, sweat and stress, we welcome Roger Cook, the landscaping contractor for This Old House.
Welcome, Roger.
ROGER: Thanks for having me.
TOM: So, why do we even bother rounding up leaves in the first place? Can we just leave them alone?
ROGER: That’s really a good question. I mean we’re out there chasing the last leaf until the snow falls and sometimes I wonder why we’re so bound and determined to remove every leaf when in certain situations, they can be good.
TOM: OK.
ROGER: On a lawn, if you have excessive piles of leaves, it will – it can damage the lawn; it can smother it. So we definitely want to collect all the leaves off there. I like to put some of the leaves back into the beds, especially if you can grind them up and reduce them. Take and spread them right in the bed and they’re a natural mulch.
TOM: Alright. So what’s the best way to collect them when you do have to rake them? Is it simply raking them up? Any tricks of the trade for that to make it easier?
ROGER: It all depends on the yard, how big it is and what you’re going to do with them. I love to rake up leaves and just take and put them on a blue tarp, drag them over …
LESLIE: And then jump in them?
ROGER: The big pile? Yeah.
TOM: Yeah.
ROGER: Just make sure there’s no sticks in there.
LESLIE: Right.
ROGER: I love to take them, make a big pile on a blue tarp, drag it over to the compost pile and dump it off. But if you have a big yard, raking becomes a real chore.
TOM: Now, let’s talk about that compost yard. If you just have brown leaves, don’t you need other things to put into a compost to make it work properly?
ROGER: Yeah. You’re going to mix it in with some of the green stuff you saved all year from saving the grass clippings from your lawn.
TOM: Ah, OK. So you’re basically taking your grass pile that you accumulated all spring and summer and your leaf pile from the fall and mixing them together to mix your compost.
ROGER: Leaf jambalaya. It’s great. It’s great.
No, it will. It’ll break down over time and then you have a source for compost to do your planting.
LESLIE: Well, you know what I think is so funny is in my municipality, they come and vacuum up the leaves with an industrial-sized truck once or twice a week.
ROGER: Yeah.
LESLIE: But the funniest thing is every single time I rake up all the leaves and put the nice pile in the street, the next day is like the windiest day and then they’re all right back.
ROGER: All loaded back again? Well, it’s frustrating sometimes but there are tools that can help you do it a little easier. There’s a lot of different types of blowers around. There’s small, battery-powered ones or electric ones for a small yard. Particularly good for getting some leaves that you can’t reach in with a rake. There’s the basic backpack blowers that you go around with, you see the guys with all the time to clean up the leaves. And then there’s the big one – the big mother of them all: the big, giant, two-wheeled blower that blows everything into the neighbor’s yard.
LESLIE: I’ve seen it.
TOM: And wake up the neighbors if you start early enough, right?
ROGER: Yeah, yeah.
LESLIE: Geez.
ROGER: You just have to pick the right tool for the right spot.
LESLIE: So once you’ve got all those leaves gathered, should you just contact your local municipality and find out the best way to dispose of them if you’re not composting?
ROGER: Well, there’s a lot of different ways to get rid of it. A lot of the communities, you can get the brown bags and you’re going to fill the brown bags and put them out at the curb. Some people will put the leaves in a pile and a landscaper will come by and vacuum them up for them. Others will just take and chew them up and use them as mulch.
TOM: So we know that, generally speaking, it’s best to get the leaves up. You mentioned they can kill grass but I imagine it can also attack trees and other types of plants because you can get a fungus under it, correct?
ROGER: Right. If you have a tree – like crabapples, which are prone to a fungus disease – those leaves fall to the ground and the fungus spore is there for next spring. If you vacuum them up or you rake them up and get rid of them, you’re really going to help cut down on the amount of fungus disease in that crabapple.
TOM: So we were so hoping Roger was going to give us a pass on raking up leaves this fall but alas, no dice.
LESLIE: No dice.
TOM: Roger Cook, the landscaping contractor from TV’s This Old House, thank you so much for stopping by The Money Pit.
ROGER: Well, at least I said you could leave a few behind.
TOM: There you go.
ROGER: Thanks for having me.
LESLIE: Alright. You can 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 and Ask This Old House are brought to you on PBS by GMC. GMC, we are professional grade.
Well, still to come, it’s not a holiday without delicious food and desserts, so now is the time to make sure your oven doesn’t give out just when you crave those goodies most. We’ll have troubleshooting tips that’ll keep your range up and running, after this.
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.
Pick up the phone and give us a call at 888-MONEY-PIT. One lucky caller is going to win a great prize this hour.
TOM: We’ve got the Glisten Prize Pack. Glisten are the machine-cleaning experts. And this prize pack includes the only EPA-registered dishwasher cleaner: Glisten Dishwasher Magic. It cleans, it freshens, it maintains and extends the life of your dishwasher.
LESLIE: Yeah. You’re also going to get the Glisten Disposer Care. Now, that’s going to get rid of garbage-disposer grunge, all that gross buildup which, of course, leads to germs. And then what comes? That super-stinky funk.
Now, you can find this at GlistenCleaners.com and a lot of retailers, as well. But the prize could be yours. It’s a $50 prize pack if you call us today.
TOM: And again, that website is GlistenCleaners.com. And that package is going out to one lucky caller drawn at random, so let’s get back to the phones, Leslie. That number, again, is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
Who’s next?
LESLIE: Bill in New Mexico is working on a bathroom remodel. How can we help you with that project?
BILL: Well, thank you for taking my call. I have a project in my bathroom. We have cork flooring and it was installed professionally.
TOM: OK.
BILL: And with the cork, you can still see the seams and such and I’m concerned about getting out of the tub, out of the shower and the water landing on the cork flooring.
TOM: Well, first of all, cork was a very, very good choice for a bathroom. I mean it lasts indefinitely. I’ve seen cork in homes that are 40 or 50 years old and still in good shape. Cork stands up very well to water, so that’s why it makes a great choice for bathrooms.
In terms of finishing the cork, it’s really quite simple. Today, we just use polyurethane. So, a light sanding and then a couple of coats of polyurethane is really all of the refinishing that needs to be done to that floor.
BILL: So when I do a light sanding, the color in the cork, is it going to change? Is it going to get lighter? Is it going to …?
TOM: It may, depending on how much of that color is dirt and grime and how much of it is the original cork.
BILL: Yeah.
TOM: So, I would just do a little bit at a time and do it evenly and just kind of watch what’s happening and monitor as you go.
BILL: A brush? Roller? Spray?
TOM: Actually, the easiest way to put on polyurethane is with something called a “lambswool applicator.”
BILL: Oh, yes. I see. Uh-huh.
TOM: Yeah, it’s kind of like a mop. But in a bathroom, it’s so small that you might just find it easier to brush on. I don’t know how big your bathroom is but if it’s your standard 5-foot-by-8-foot bathroom space and you have to go around all the fixtures and cabinetry, if it was me I’d probably just use a 2½- or 3-inch brush.
So does that answer your cork question?
BILL: It certainly does. And I’m going to get some and put some polyurethane down.
TOM: Well, it’s one of the hardest-working appliances in the house all year long but your kitchen oven, it’s really put to the test about now when holiday cooking starts to get into full gear.
LESLIE: Yeah. The truth is that ovens need occasional repair and maintenance, especially if you want to avoid them breaking down before or during a big party.
TOM: Yep. So now is a good time to check the accuracy of your oven’s temperature to make sure it’s cooking like it says it should. It’s easy to do. Just set up a thermometer into a preheated oven and then compare its reading to that of the set temperature.
LESLIE: Now, you want a glass-bulb thermometer, not oven thermometer. Those are really the most recommended for those accurate results. And if it comes back a little high or a little low, don’t worry. A reading of 25 degrees Fahrenheit above or below the set temperature is perfectly acceptable.
TOM: Yep. Now, you also want to clean your oven’s control panel. Use a non-abrasive cleaner or a glass cleaner for that, not a cream cleanser. And that’ll remove the grease and the remnants of any food.
LESLIE: And the oven doors, they have gaskets around them. That helps to keep the heat inside. So you have to inspect the gasket to make sure that they’re not warped or cracked. And replace them if it’s needed. And you’ve got to do it every once in a while.
TOM: And if you plan to use your oven’s self-cleaning feature this season, don’t wait until the last minute. You know, if an oven is going to break down, it will happen during the self-cleaning cycle. So do it early and this way, if there’s any issues, you’ll be able to address it before the guests arrive.
888-666-3974. Let’s get back to the phones. Call us now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Wendy in Georgia, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
WENDY: I have two drafty doors and we opted to use the peel-and-stick foam insulator.
TOM: OK.
WENDY: And it didn’t work that well. And it just created more of a gap, it seems like. It just didn’t work at all and I’m just wondering what kind of solution can we use instead of the peel-and-stick fill-in stuff.
TOM: So, when you say the peel-and-stick foam, do you mean when the doors close, you get drafts that come through them and you use the peel-and-stick weather-stripping?
WENDY: Yes.
TOM: Do you want to operate these doors in the wintertime?
WENDY: Mm-hmm. Definitely.
TOM: And what kind of doors are they? What are they made of? Are they metal doors or are they …?
WENDY: It’s a metal door.
TOM: So it’s an old, metal, sliding-glass door.
WENDY: No, it’s a regular door. It’s just – and it goes out to our patio but it’s not a wood door. It’s made of metal.
TOM: Oh, it’s a metal door. It’s a regular metal door.
WENDY: Yes.
TOM: Are the drafts coming in around the sides and top of the door or are they coming under the door?
WENDY: Under the door and on the side, right where the door locks.
TOM: If the door is out of alignment – in other words, if you close the door and it doesn’t evenly strike the jamb all the way around – it’s going to be almost impossible to get a seal from that type of weather-stripping. It’s got to strike the weather-stripping and then compress it a little bit to give you the seal.
Now, I would take a look, very carefully closing that door – open and close it from the outside – bringing it to where it just starts to touch the jamb and see if it strikes evenly all the way around. If it doesn’t strike evenly, then you need to adjust the door. And that’s usually done by moving the door jamb one way or the other to get it to basically hang better so that it will strike evenly.
In terms of the door at the bottom, the door saddle might be replaceable. Or in the alternative, you could do something that’s probably even easier and less expensive – is you could put a door sweep on the bottom of the door.
Now, a sweep attaches to the face of the door and it basically goes right down to the floor. It looks kind of broom-like; it has bristles that are really tight together. And that actually will help a lot of the breeze that’s coming through and under the door.
WENDY: OK.
TOM: And then, of course, you could always go with a storm door and that’s another way to approach the whole thing, OK?
WENDY: That sounds perfect.
TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Still ahead, does your chimney let water inside any time it rains? Well, you can get the perfect product for the fix, when The Money Pit continues after this.
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TOM: Making good homes better, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
Hey, could your wood furniture and décor use, maybe, a pick-me-up? Well, look no further than your garden and kitchen. Odds are you’ve already got a couple of these around your house: you know, coffee, berries, nuts and spices. Those are all you need to make some stains that will work on the wood around your house. No shopping or chemicals necessary.
TOM: Yep. You can learn how to make those stains, the natural way, by visiting our website home page, right now, at MoneyPit.com.
LESLIE: And while you’re there, post an e-mail in our Community section, just like Andy did who writes: “I have water leaking from my chimney, through the flue and into my basement. A chimney company came and checked out the flashing and chimney. They said the flashing was fine and they did some repointing near the top. But then the water got in again last week. What is causing this?”
TOM: Oh, boy. Keeping water out of your chimney is pretty important but sometimes it definitely can feel like an uphill battle. So what I think you need to do here – since you’ve eliminated the obvious, which are the cracks in the chimney top and the flashing – is a masonry sealer.
Now, a masonry sealer will do just that: it will stop the water from soaking into the masonry and then sort of dripping down the flue and getting into your house. The key here is the type of sealant. You want to make sure that it is vapor-permeable. That means that moisture can move in and move out of the chimney. And this way, it won’t get trapped. It will dry out eventually but it won’t get trapped in that chimney. Because if it does get trapped in the brick, in the cold weather it’s going to freeze and it’s going to spall or crack that brick. And that can be somewhat destructive.
So as long as it’s a good-quality silicone sealer that’s vapor-permeable, you’re good to go. And that should drastically reduce or completely eliminate the amount of rain that you’re getting into that chimney space now.
LESLIE: Alright. Now I’ve got one here from Lainey who writes: “What’s the safest, easiest way to remove a thick layer of adhesive glue that remained on my hardwood floors after I peeled off the linoleum? I tried sanding it. That did get most of it but I’m concerned about the effects of too much sanding. Currently, I’m thinking vinegar. Will this eat away the glue?”
TOM: Not likely. I mean look, glue is really hard to remove. There is no chance that vinegar is going to cut it. So, what you need here is an adhesive remover at the least. I would look to the citrus-based removers and the strippers. And they can be effective.
But in this case, you might not be able to avoid sanding the floors, too. If that’s the case, I would definitely have a pro do the sanding, because they have the tools, the tips and most importantly, the techniques for sanding floors.
If you just need a minor amount of sanding and you don’t have adhesive, you can do that yourself. There’s tools that just do a minor amount of sanding so that you can just sort of get the top layer of urethane off and refinish it. But when you’ve got to dig deep – you’ve got to cut through the muck, like glue residue – you’ve got to use a big floor belt-sander. And if you don’t use one of those every day, you will dig into that floor and you will ruin that floor. So you ought to have a pro do that for you. Do not do that kind of floor-sanding by yourself. And once you’re done, about three coats of polyurethane and you’ll be good to go.
And by the way, when you put the polyurethane on, don’t believe it when it says it’ll dry in a couple hours. It won’t.
LESLIE: Oh, no. It takes days and days and days and days and days and then more days. So make sure that if you’re applying multiple coats that you let each coat really, really super dry between them. Otherwise, it’s going to end up a sticky mess that will never dry. You’ve got to do it right, Lainey. And good luck with the floors.
TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com. Hey, thank you so much for spending this beautiful fall weekend with us. It’s time to get outside and get started. Hopefully, you have gotten a few tips on how to make that leaf-cleaning a little bit easier, that’ll leave raking a little bit easier, from our friend, Roger Cook, who stopped by.
But if there’s another project on your to-do list and you have a challenge, you have an issue, you don’t know where to start or you got yourself stuck in the middle of it, remember, you can reach us, 24/7, at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
Happy Fall, everybody. 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.
END HOUR 1 TEXT
(Copyright 2015 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.)
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