TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is 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: And we are so glad to have you here today with us. If you’re working on a project around your house, you need some tips, some advice, some direction, wondering if you can do it yourself or not, pick up the phone and give us a call at 888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974. We’re going to see what we can do to get you started on the right foot.
And coming up on today’s program, severe weather can strike at any time, no matter where you live. So we wonder: are you ready with emergency supplies at home, at work and even in your car? We’re going to teach you what you need to keep at all three locations, in just a bit.
LESLIE: Ah, so much to plan for.
Well, also ahead, is your aging toilet wasting water with every flush? Well, toilet technology has jumped light years. And with a little do-it-yourself know-how, you can actually replace that toilet and save water and money.
TOM: And also ahead, are dust, pollen and other allergens making your life a sneezing, sniffling mess? You don’t have to suffer. There’s one thing you can do that will help you reduce those allergens.
LESLIE: And one caller who gets on the air with us today is going to win four 30-foot packs of GutterBrush. We’re going to start needing those soon, you guys. We’re into September. Those leaves are going to be falling. And this is an easy, inexpensive way to keep your gutters clean from debris.
TOM: That’s a full 120 feet of GutterBrush. It’s a prize worth $400. Going out to one caller drawn at random, so let’s get to it. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
Leslie, who’s first?
LESLIE: Now we’ve got Claire in Alaska on the line who’s dealing with a first-time basement. What can we do for you?
CLAIRE: Well, I have purchased a 1900 house and it has this basement that is getting moisture. It has this sticky, black paper on the outside but it is not functioning properly, apparently, because there’s a lot of moisture coming in.
TOM: Right.
CLAIRE: And it would require digging out on the outside to do the outside. Is there any way to address it from the inside?
TOM: Well, there’s another way to address it on the outside and that is to pay attention to the angle of the soil around the house. So when it does warm up and you have the opportunity to regrade the foundation perimeter – and make sure that the angle of the soil, the angle of the grade slopes away from the building.
CLAIRE: I put French drains in all around the property and sloped it and put gravel.
TOM: So there’s – well, OK. Now, if he sloped it with gravel, then he didn’t really do you a favor, because the gravel is porous. So the water goes through the gravel, back to the dirt underneath and into your basement. So if you’re going to slope it – yeah, give him an A for effort but it’s not going to be successful. You have to grade it with clean fill dirt so that you can tamp it and the water will run away from it. Water is not going to run over gravel; it falls through it.
But there’s a second thing to check and that is: do you have gutters on the roof?
CLAIRE: No, because the snow pulled them off.
TOM: Right, OK. Well, look, if you can collect the water at the roof edge – and even if you have deep gutters or if you use the type of gutters that have the warming cables up on the roof. If you prevent water from running off the roof and against that foundation perimeter, you’ll prevent a wet basement, because most of the water collects at the outside.
Protect the perimeter; keep it as dry as possible. And a lot of wet basements are caused because gutters are missing or gutters are clogged and the water rolls off the roof right against the foundation. Soil is flat, so the water has got nowhere to go and it just sits there and leaks into the basement.
CLAIRE: OK. So I’ve got to work on that.
TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Now we’ve got Richard in Washington on the line who’s doing an addition and needs a hand. What can we do for you today?
RICHARD: Actually, here’s what I’ve got. I’ve got a house built in 1938: a footprint – essentially, a shape like a cross.
TOM: OK.
RICHARD: The bottom portion of that cross used to be the garage. They turned it into living space and what they simply did with that bottom left quadrant, they poured about a 4-foot-high concrete wall.
What I’m wanting to do is try to gain as much ceiling height as possible. It’s currently framed with 2×10 for the ceiling joists. And I just didn’t know if some of the new engineered lumber would allow me to perhaps get away with something a little shallower while still retaining the strength. But I need to go 16 on center – pardon me, 12 on center instead of 16. I’m willing to do that.
TOM: So, Richard, let me ask – let me stop you, OK? Because you’ve got a complicated question. And my first question to you about this is: do you have an architect working with you on this project?
RICHARD: Not currently.
TOM: You need one, OK?
RICHARD: OK.
TOM: This is not a do-it-yourself, general-contracting kind of project. You’ve got a house that you started with that’s got problems. It sounds like – it definitely sounds like the guy before you didn’t have an architect; otherwise, he wouldn’t have designed all these drainage problems into it. And then the guy that came before that, that originally built the house, didn’t have an architect, at least one that knew what he was doing. You, my friend, need an architect.
An architect can look at this situation, address these questions in terms of the design, the elevation and spec out the lumber that you’re going to need to get you where you want to go. Yes, will TJIs or laminated beams help you get more span with less depth? Yes, they will. But it’s an engineering problem to figure out which ones you use and how you lay it all together.
So I would tell you, “Stop, right now.” Stop wasting time trying to figure this out on your own and focus on finding an architect to help you. You will be spending some money on this design. It will be well worth it. You will avoid a whole host of problems with the design later on. And secondly, you’re also going to have a set of specs that you can use to go to different contractors and get some prices. So that’s definitely your next step.
RICHARD: OK. I guess that covers it.
TOM: Richard, good luck with that project. 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, we’re just a few, short weeks away from the official start of fall. I can’t even believe it’s been back-to-school already. Well, give us a call so we can help you get your home in tip-top and warm shape for those cool months ahead.
TOM: Still to come, cooler weather is around the corner but before you button up, you need to find out how to improve indoor air quality so you can breathe easy all winter long. We’ll tell you, next.
ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is presented by Pavestone’s easy-to-stack RumbleStone Rustic Building Blocks. Create any outdoor hardscape you can imagine, to instantly add old-world charm. Available at The Home Depot. For more information and product instructions, visit Pavestone.com.
TOM: Making good homes better, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: Standing by for your call. We want your home improvement question at 1-888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974.
And one caller we talk to on the air today is going to win four 30-foot packs of GutterBrush. Pretty cool product. You simply insert the GutterBrush in your rain gutters, from end to end, and it acts as a barrier against leaves and other debris while letting the water flow right through.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm. And those four 30-foot packs of GutterBrush add up to 120 feet total for one lucky caller who will spend a lot less time on a ladder cleaning those gutters this fall. It’s a prize valued at $400.
TOM: Visit GutterBrush.com to learn more and call us, right now, for the answer to your home improvement question and your chance to win at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Mary in North Carolina is on the line with a squirrel situation. Tell us what’s going on.
MARY: Well, I have three porches in my house and my husband found that the squirrels were eating all the porch columns. Well, he went – he replaced them all and lo and behold, they came back and they started chewing again. So, I don’t know what to do. He’s painted them and I’m thinking is there something he could put in the paint or some other product we could use to put – to fix these columns with?
LESLIE: Stop using lamb legs to hold up your porch, geez. Oh, my goodness. I don’t know why they seem to really like your porch posts but they do. And you want to kind of get rid of them in a humane way that’s just going to deter them from chewing on your porch and maybe send them to somebody else’s or just send them back into the wild to eat a tree.
But are you familiar with the company, Havahart?
MARY: Havahart. No, I’ve not heard that.
LESLIE: They have all sorts of humane animal traps and animal repellants and wireless dog fences. And it’s actually H-a-v-a-h-a-r-t.com.
MARY: Oh, OK.
LESLIE: And they’ve got a product that should work for you. It’s called the Critter Ridder Animal Repellant? And it’s a spray and it’s all-natural, so you don’t have to worry about – around kids or pets. But it will repel nuisance animals: squirrels, raccoons, dogs, cats, groundhogs, really pretty much anything.
MARY: Oh, great.
LESLIE: But it only lasts for about 30 days, so you will have to reapply it. But it has things like black-pepper oil, things that they’re not going to like. And it’s not something that you’re going to be bothered by. So if you’ve got even like a birdfeeder that the squirrels are getting at, you can try this on that.
But give it a whirl. You can find it online. I think it’s about 12 bucks a bottle; it’s not too expensive.
MARY: OK.
TOM: Mary, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: William in North Carolina is dealing with some sticky doors. Tell us what’s going on.
WILLIAM: Well, I’ve got this problem going on now. It’s been, oh, many years since we moved into this house, in 1992.
TOM: OK.
WILLIAM: It seems like some doors stick and the others don’t. And then when the doors that were sticking don’t stick anymore, the ones that were not sticking stick. So I can’t figure it out. I’ve been wondering, is it the paint job that they put on the doors when they built the house or is it something doing with – dealing with the climate or what?
TOM: Well, it has to do with the climate, William, and it’s the fact that when it gets moist out, when it gets humid out, the doors will tend to swell more than when it – in the wintertime, when things are drier.
Now, you can fix this by adjusting the swings – the door installation. You may have to reset the hinges to make a little bit more room around it. One of the things that you might also want to check is you could take the door off the hinges and look at the edge grain; that’s the very top and the very bottom of the door. If that wasn’t sealed, then that kind of acts as sort of the open door for all the moisture to get into that door and cause it to swell.
So if you were to seal the top and the bottom of the door – I bet the sides are: the hinge side and the striker side. But the very top and the very bottom tend to be left untouched very often. And if you were to seal those with a clear finish, for example, or just to paint them – I don’t know if your doors are clear or not – then that will have an effect on stopping the doors from absorbing as much moisture.
So it’s really a carpentry problem. It’s nothing mysterious about it; it’s just the doors are swelling, getting stuck in the openings. And you can rehang the door to address that. You can also seal the top and the bottom to slow it down, OK?
WILLIAM: OK. Thank you very much.
TOM: William, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well, autumn’s colors are something to look forward to but the change of seasons has its drawbacks, you know, like allergies and of course, energy costs and the greater likelihood of catching a cold or getting sick.
TOM: And that’s where Filtrete’s Healthy Living Ultra-Allergen Filter comes in. By using this one filter, you can alleviate all of those problems. In fact, the Healthy Living Filter not only captures 90 percent of large allergens – such as dust, pollen and mold spores – from the air passing through it, it also tracks and filters microscopic, airborne particles that carry bacteria and viruses. That’s the stuff that can get you sick.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm. And you know what? If you change that filter every three months as specified, you’re going to find that you’re going to reduce the amount of energy that you need to heat your home, which is then going to lead to lower energy costs and of course, reduce stress on your HVAC system.
TOM: Give your health, your home and the air you breathe a boost this fall and winter for just 16.99. You can find the Filtrete Healthy Living Ultra-Allergen Filter at select home center or hardware stores or get it online at Filtrete.com.
LESLIE: Annette in Arizona is on the line and needs some help with a patio project. Tell us about it.
ANNETTE: The problem that I’m having is I’ve been wanting a patio cover put on my house for the last 20 years.
TOM: OK.
ANNETTE: Well, now that my kids have grown up, I’m able to do that now. So, the problem is everyone is telling me that I have a very low roof and my ceilings in my house are only 7½-feet ceilings.
TOM: OK.
ANNETTE: So, I don’t have much of a clearance. So of course, everything else seems to be lower in the backyard.
I’ve called probably eight or nine different builders now to see how much it would cost, this patio cover. And it’s straight across, so it’s 56 feet long, the whole length of the house.
TOM: Right.
ANNETTE: And I think probably six of them never called me back.
TOM: That’s pretty typical.
ANNETTE: And so the two that have, one of them is a very good friend of mine and I really do trust him in building this patio cover. But he says I need to cut 6 feet into my roof in order to get the pitch that I need for at the very end. So I really wanted a 56-feet-wide by 10-feet-out patio cover.
TOM: Right. So what he’s saying is that if he adds a roof that starts at the edge of your roof and then kind of comes out from that, you’re not going to have much pitch, is that correct? Because you’re starting so low.
ANNETTE: Correct.
TOM: So I think your builder friend is probably correct, from your description. That said, the problem that you have with different builders giving you different advice can be completely avoided if you get a design professional to go in there first.
So if you’re able to find, for example, an architect in your area that wanted to take on a small project, have them design this patio cover for you and then you’ll have a set of specifications. You can work through all the angles with the architect or the designer. Then you’ll have a set of specifications. You can call those contractors back and say, “This is exactly what I want. Now, just give me a price to build it.”
Otherwise, you have no way of comparing apples to apples, because every builder is going to have their own solution. And you’re going to get different prices and you’re really not going to know how to compare them, because who knows what one guy is doing versus another? Does that make sense to you?
ANNETTE: Yeah, I understand. And the problem is I wouldn’t mind him doing it but I am so afraid that wherever he cuts into it to build out – I’m so worried that I’m going to start having problems leaking.
TOM: I really wouldn’t worry about it, OK? Because builders know how to build roofs and they know how to build roofs that don’t leak. And somebody built that roof that’s over your house right now and there’s no reason to think that your builder can’t attach another roof to it and then reroof that area properly so that you don’t get leaks. I think he’s giving you the right advice, because you can’t – if you start low and then go out, you’re going to end up with almost a flat roof and that’s going to leak like a sieve.
So if you have a good pitch, that’s going to be the surest way to avoid leaks. I would not worry at all about a contractor that has to dig into an existing roof; that’s done all the time. It’s not a big deal. If somebody knows what they’re doing, they can roof it properly, flash it properly and you will have no leaking issues – new leaking issues – as a result.
ANNETTE: Alright. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate your answer because my worry was it’s going to start leaking. And then I’m going to have major problems because it’s going to be leaking over the family room, the dining room, the kitchen and the bedroom and the – I said – that’s another problem that I don’t want to get into.
TOM: Yeah, well, now that the kids are gone, I think it’s time for you to get that project done and enjoy it, right?
ANNETTE: OK. Thank you so much.
LESLIE: Now we’ve got Bill in Tennessee on the line who needs help with some sinkholes.
Bill, tell us what’s going on.
BILL: I’ve got a patio in the backyard and at the end of my patio, I’ve got two huge sinkholes and then another sinkhole at the corner of my house. And this has been going on for about a year, year-and-a-half. They’re about 5 feet deep and – I don’t know – the circumference of about a manhole cover.
And just wanted to know what’s the cheapest and best way to take care of it where it doesn’t keep on happening. My patio is actually cracking where it’s sinking down a little bit.
TOM: So over the course of a year, these holes have revealed themselves?
BILL: For about the last year-and-a-half is when they started happening.
TOM: So very slowly but surely. And how old is this house?
BILL: About 15 years old.
TOM: Well, I mean it could be the result of loose fill that was put in these areas around the house when the home was finished – graded, when it was done.
BILL: Right.
TOM: It could be the result of that. It could also be the result of some decaying material, like old trees or things like that that are in there.
Do you have any concern about it continuing to happen or do you think it’s pretty much done?
BILL: It’s pretty much done, it looks like, and …
TOM: So what I would do is I would fill those areas with clean fill dirt and that’s the most inexpensive dirt that you can buy. And then, you want to tamp it down really well. So you put a little bit in, you tamp it, you put some more in, you tamp it. And then you finish it off with topsoil. And because it’s a sunken area, I would almost overfill it a little bit, because it’s going to settle down flat.
BILL: And what if it – like a year from now, it starts happening again?
TOM: Yeah, well, if that’s the case and it starts happening again, then at that point I would have to recommend that you got an engineer in to take a look at it, to see if we could figure out what was going on with the soils. You may need to do some borings around there to try to determine what’s in the ground and why it’s sinking.
BILL: OK. Well, that sounds great.
LESLIE: Well, still ahead, you might not give a second though to your aging toilet. It works just fine, right? But if your toilet is old, you could be wasting a lot of water every time you flush. We’re going to tell you how you can replace yours with a much more efficient model, after this.
MIKE: Hey, this is Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs and I’ve just been told that Tom and Leslie might have a dirtier job than me? I find that hard to believe but then I heard they worked in a pit. It’s a money pit but it’s still filthy.
ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is presented by Cabinets To Go, where you get premium-quality cabinets for less. You dream it, they design it and always 40 percent less than the big-box stores. Visit them online at CabinetsToGo.com.
TOM: Making good homes better, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: And on The Money Pit’s Pinterest page, right now, you’re going to find our Back to School board. It’s chock full of ideas on desk organization and a homework help center. Check it out at Pinterest.com/TheMoneyPit.
LESLIE: Laurie in California, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
LAURIE: I am trying to put a freestanding deck in my backyard. And my backyard has blackberry bushes in it, so I have to get rid of the blackberry bushes first.
TOM: Right.
LAURIE: And I don’t want them to grow back up through the deck.
TOM: OK.
LAURIE: So how could I do that?
TOM: Well, they’re probably not going to grow through the deck because the deck is going to block all sunlight to it. That said, as you prep the soil, what you’re going to want to do is – obviously, you have to build footings for this, right? So you build the footings and then you take off whatever the top surface is there, if there’s grass, whatever. And then you lay down weed block, which is sort of this black, burlap-y kind of fabric. And you lay that down underneath the deck and then you can go ahead and frame over that.
What you might end up doing is do the framing and then kind of lay the fabric down at the very last minute because, frankly, it’s kind of hard to walk on it while you’re framing this deck. So you might end up even putting the floor joists down, then lay the fabric under it, then finish it off. And that’ll help slow down anything that wants to come up right away.
But I think that once this deck is built, it’s going to be so dark under there that you’re not going to have problems with the blackberry bushes coming up through the deck. It certainly would come around it but not through it.
LAURIE: OK. Alright. Thank you.
TOM: You’re welcome, Laurie. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well, if there was a national holiday for plumbers, it might be called Fix a Leek Week. Well, a week created by the D.O.E.’s WaterSense Program – it actually exists to help make homeowners aware of just how much water is wasted due to household leaks.
TOM: You might be shocked to learn that 10 percent of all homes have leaks that waste up to 90 gallons of water a day. And one of the most common is the leaking toilet. Here with tips to help stop those leaks for good is Richard Trethewey, the heating-and-plumbing contractor for TV’s This Old House.
Welcome, Richard.
RICHARD: Hey, guys.
TOM: So, Richard, toilet leaks are something that I think we tend to tolerate. They can go on for a long time. And sometimes, we don’t even know it’s happening until, perhaps, you see the water bill. Are they difficult to fix?
RICHARD: Well, it depends on what the leak is caused by. You know, a lot of times, there are leaks inside of a toilet that never show themselves. But they waste water in a crazy way; they just run and run and run.
And so, if you hear, in the middle of the night, water running and you just don’t know where it’s from, look inside the toilet tank. That requires lifting the lid on the back of the toilet tank and looking down. And most often, it is this flapper – the device that sits inside that tank – that when you hit the tank lever, it lifts. And that flapper doesn’t always seat.
Now, if it doesn’t seat, that means water doesn’t run on the floor but it runs down the drain and you’ll hear it, you’ll hear it, you’ll hear it. Now, sometimes, it runs so much that all that cold water coming into that toilet tank, particularly in the summer, makes that toilet tank sweat so much that the water then leaks from the outside of the tank down onto the floor, down under the toilet, down to the ceiling below. And you think you have a plumbing leak but it isn’t really the case; you’ve got an internal issue inside the toilet tank.
And that’s an easy fix. Replacing a flapper or the flush mechanism inside is pretty straightforward.
TOM: You mentioned condensation. And I saw you install a very interesting fix to a toilet that that happened to on one of your – I think it was one of your Ask episodes. And what you did is you installed a valve that actually spilled just a little bit of warm water into the toilet bowl to reduce condensation.
RICHARD: Ingenious little device. In places of high, high humidity, you just blend a little bit of hot water into the toilet tank to just make sure that you don’t get above the dew point on the outside of the toilet tank.
And that worked perfectly. That homeowner was so thrilled and it was fun to show that story, actually.
LESLIE: You know, I think it’s interesting. We have a bowl in our house that just tends to – the chain disconnects from the flusher handle.
TOM: Yep.
LESLIE: And so I’m constantly opening it up just to reconnect it. And recently, I heard porcelain jangling after my five-year-old was in the bathroom. And I guess he’s seen me do it so many times that he thought he could do it.
RICHARD: Yes.
LESLIE: And I heard, “Clang, clang, clang. Help! I’m going to drop it!” I came running in and there’s Henry holding the porcelain lid to the tank. I’m like, “Don’t do that yourself.” But it’s true: they need work and it’s an easy project that you can tackle confidently, so much so that a five-year-old wants to attempt it.
RICHARD: Now, Leslie, I think you need to enable Henry to become a plumber in the future. Let him go with that now.
TOM: Yeah, he’s showing some skills – some early skill.
LESLIE: Can he be a Trethewey?
RICHARD: He doesn’t want to be a Trethewey. He wouldn’t want that but …
LESLIE: Do you need an apprentice?
TOM: Now, Richard, it seems – it sounds like when a toilet does leak, that virtually all the parts are replaceable. Is there ever a reason to replace the toilet or does that pretty much never wore out – never wear out and just the guts have to be updated?
RICHARD: Well, to your point, Tom, you can always completely rebuild a toilet tank. But if that tank originally was designed for 7 gallons per flush, that was the – in the oldest toilets, they were always 7 gallons per flush. Then we got it down to 3½ gallons per flush. And these were designed in.
Nowadays, you could rebuild some of these older toilets with modern guts inside to get it down to a lower level. But if you really want to get as low as 1.1 gallons of water per flush, you really should change the entire toilet. Because they have been engineered, when they were built, to be able to take that less water and still effectively flush.
So, you can try to play around with adding parts to an existing toilet. But the most comfortable way to make sure it’s completely water-saving is to put a new toilet in.
LESLIE: Do you think it’s a do-it-yourself project?
RICHARD: Well, you’ve got to know what you’re doing. I mean you’ve got to turn the water off, you’ve got to get the water out of the toilet, remove the bowl cover. Sometimes, they don’t come off; they’ve been rusted on. You’ve got to be careful not to chip the china on the toilet.
So, if you’re comfortable and handy, you can do it but it might be more than some homeowners want to do. People are still worried about water. They’re still worried about breaking china and stuff like that. So, if you’re brave and semi-stupid, do it.
LESLIE: I like it.
TOM: Great advice. Richard Trethewey, the plumbing-and-heating contractor on TV’s This Old House, with tips on how to rebuild or replace a toilet.
Thanks, Richard.
RICHARD: Great to be here.
LESLIE: 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 by The Home Depot. More saving, more doing.
And still ahead, severe weather can come out of anywhere. Are you ready no matter where you live? Up next, emergency-preparedness tips for home, for work or for your car.
ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is presented by Pavestone’s easy-to-stack RumbleStone Rustic Building Blocks. Create any outdoor hardscape you can imagine, to instantly add old-world charm. Available at The Home Depot. For more information and product instructions, visit Pavestone.com.
TOM: Making good homes better, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: One caller we talk to on the air this hour is going to not only get the answer to their home improvement question but four 30-foot packs of GutterBrush.
Now, GutterBrush is made of stiff, durable bristles. They’re spun through a steel core and it fits into your gutters and it stays there to protect against leaves and other debris, so your gutters are not going to get clogged. The water is going to wash straight through and out the downspout.
LESLIE: Yeah. GutterBrush is a simple alternative to gutter cleaning or even those expensive leaf guards.
Now, you check out their website: it’s GutterBrush.com. You can learn more there. But if you call in, you’re going to get a chance to win 120 feet of it. We want to hear from you, so give us a call at 888-MONEY-PIT.
TOM: 888-666-3974.
LESLIE: John in Nebraska is on the line with a kitchen-painting question. Tell us what’s going on over there.
JOHN: I’ve got a kitchen project and what I’ve – we’re doing – me and my wife, we’re painting our kitchen. And we ran into a situation that – above our stove, we replaced our range here recently with – it’s a downdraft. And like I say, we want to do painting and we’ve got cracking behind the stove, the area and …
TOM: So is the wall surface itself cracking or is it like the seam or – what are you seeing?
JOHN: I’d say it’s probably the paint. I believe we used a – I’m sure it’s a latex. And unfortunately, I think one – I’m sure one of our downfalls – we don’t have a backsplash.
TOM: So how about this, John? Why don’t you make a backsplash? How about if we tell you an easy way to make a backsplash out of tile? Would that work for you?
JOHN: OK, sure. I’d listen.
TOM: So there’s a product called Bondera – B-o-n-d-e-r-a. And it’s a self-adhesive mastic, so it’s kind of like contact paper. It’s got glue on both sides, though. And you roll this stuff out, you stick it on the wall. And then you can basically stick tile right to it without having to use any of that sort of goopy glue mastic.
And you stick the tiles right on there. It’s perfect for a backsplash. Then you grout it and you’re done. It is definitely the easiest way to do a tile backsplash. Sort of no-fuss, no-muss and you could get a backsplash done inside of a couple of hours if you plan out the tile sizes correctly.
John, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well, storms can strike without warning. One moment, you’re comfortable. The next, you’re worried about how long you can get by with what you’ve got. Well, when the forecast calls for severe weather, it’s important to make sure that you’re ready for the storm, whether you’re home, at work or perhaps even in your car.
Here’s a tip to help you do that, presented by KOHLER Generators.
TOM: First, a well-stocked emergency kit is really essential to any place that your loved ones spend a lot of time. So think about what every family member needs to get by for several days without power or even water. Keep those emergency items in one spot in your home and make sure everybody knows where to find them. Stock things like food, water, medicine, toiletries and survival tools, like flashlights, tents, tarps and even extra batteries.
LESLIE: And remember, emergencies can strike when you’re not at home. So at work, you want to keep a supply of water, food, toiletries and medicines in close range. You want to be sure to have comfortable sneakers within reach, too, in case your evacuation requires a lot of walking.
And finally, don’t forget your vehicle. You need to keep jumper cables, flashlights and shovels in your trunk. And you might want to think about keeping some water, food and even blankets in there, as well.
TOM: And this Severe Weather Tip has been presented by KOHLER Generators. Running on clean propane or natural gas, a KOHLER standby generator is permanently installed outside your home and comes on automatically within seconds of a power outage. To learn more, visit KOHLERGenerators.com.
LESLIE: Lucy in Kansas is on the line and would like some help refinishing some cabinets. Tell us about your project.
LUCY: Yes. We have a home that is about 17 years old. I just moved here about three years ago. And we have solid-oak cabinets and the overall finish is just looking dull. It isn’t awfully bunged up or anything but there are areas, like along the upper edges of the drawers, where the color looks faded. And so, I don’t know what to use to clean them and I don’t know what to do to make them have some sheen.
TOM: A couple of things. First of all, you can clean them with Murphy’s Oil Soap; that’s a good, mild soap for cleaning any kind of wood surface, including floors and cabinets. So that’s the first thing.
The second thing is you can – if it’s just the finish that’s kind of worn a little bit, you can take those doors off, take the drawers out and lightly sand them and then put another coat of urethane on it. You’re probably going to want to use a satin urethane but make sure you sand them first. And use an oil-based, satin urethane. I would not use water-base.
LUCY: I see.
TOM: Even though it’s easier to use, it’s not as durable. So, use the oil-based urethane. And I would dry it on maybe one drawer front or someplace that’s the least obvious in your kitchen, just to make sure you like the way it came out, and then go ahead and do the rest.
LUCY: Mm-hmm. OK. I think that’ll just fix us right up.
LESLIE: Well, still ahead, surface burns on laminate countertops, that doesn’t necessarily mean the whole thing’s got to go and you need to replace everything. We’re going to tell you when and how you can repair and refinish those charred laminate counters, after this.
ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is presented by QUIKRETE Concrete & Cement Products. QUIKRETE, what America’s made of. Like us on Facebook and visit online at www.QUKIRETE.com for product information and easy, step-by-step project videos.
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.
Hey, do you have a question about your money pit that still needs an answer? Well, head to our site for advice from Tom and me and other do-it-yourselfers just like yourself. You can check out our blogs while you’re there. It’s all in the Community section at MoneyPit.com.
And you can post your question there, just like Michael in Alabama did. And Michael writes: “We’re converting our screened-in porch into a sunroom. Its roof is covered in asphalt shingles with no true insulation. The sunroom will be air-conditioned but considering we’re in the hot South, should we drop the ceiling and install insulation? For what it’s worth, the room faces north and there’s some shade from trees in the afternoon.”
TOM: You absolutely, positively need to have insulation there if you’re going to air-condition that space.
In terms of the drop ceiling or not, there’s really two options. If you want to use traditional fiberglass, you’re going to need more depth than what those existing ceiling rafters can afford you. So in that case, I might consider not necessarily putting a drop ceiling in but at least furring down a ceiling, so you have sort of traditional ceiling joists that you could fill with 15 or 20 inches of insulation.
Another option, though, would be to consider a product like Icynene Spray-Foam Insulation. That’s about three times the insulating power of fiberglass. So if you had like a 2×8 rafter and you sprayed it with Icynene foam insulation, that would be all the insulation that you needed and you could maintain that sort of cathedral look to that screened-in porch. But you do need to insulate that space.
You know, a lot of times folks will convert these sunrooms that are sort of stuck on the side of the house, not really intended to be year-round homes, to finished living spaces. There’s a lot that goes on. Not only do you have to make sure that all your mechanical systems are extended, like air conditioning and like electricity, you also need to start with something even more basic and that would be the foundation.
I can’t tell you how many times in the 20 years I spent as a professional home inspector that I saw rooms like that. And I checked the area around the foundation and found there was no footing there; that these rooms were built right on top of just a slab, like a patio. And that’s just not going to cut it. So make sure that, structurally, it’s in good shape before you put money into it, Michael.
And in answer to your insulation question: yes, you definitely need it if you’re going to add air conditioning to that space.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm. Otherwise, you’re just going to be paying to cool hot air that just keeps invading the space. And then you’re going to get condensation issues. It’s going to open up a whole ‘nother set of problems.
Alright. Now we’ve got a post from Marilyn who writes: “I accidentally set a pot of boiling water on my laminate countertop and it left a burn. Are there options for fixing it other than replacing the countertop altogether? It’s a corner piece and even if replacing just one piece of the counter is an option, I don’t know how to remove just this one section.”
TOM: I mean it’s possible. There are laminate patching compounds, if you’re lucky enough to find something that fits the color – matches the color. It’s not likely it’s going to be a great patch; it’s always going to look like a patch.
So, a couple of other things. You could relaminate that top; just put another layer of laminate across the entire top surface which is, of course, a big project. But maybe the easiest thing might be to use one of the new laminate paint products that are out. There’s a number of those. And I think Rust-Oleum makes a whole line and then there’s – what’s the granite – that granite company that makes it, as well?
LESLIE: Well, I’ve worked with both of the Rust-Oleum products. Rust-Oleum has got one that’s a solid color that’s a couple of easy steps. You do have to let it cure and there is some prep work. Then Rust-Oleum has a larger kit that’s probably four times the price of the small, solid color that looks like a granite. And that’s a lot of elbow grease but actually looks fantastic when done.
I know Modern Masters has one that’s also on the higher price range but it’s beautiful. So depending on the look and your skill level that you’re comfortable with, you can actually achieve a beautiful, painted countertop.
TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com. We hope that we’ve helped you take that first step towards fixing up your house, perhaps tackling a fall home improvement project as the weather starts to turn a little bit chilly in the next few weeks.
If you’ve got a project that you’d like to get done, don’t know where to start, start by heading on over to MoneyPit.com or picking up the phone and calling us anytime at 888-MONEY-PIT. Remember, if we are not in the studio, we will call you back the next time we are. But that’s all the time we have for now.
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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(Copyright 2014 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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