Hosts: Tom Kraeutler & Leslie Segrete
(NOTE: Timestamps below correspond to the running time of the downloadable audio file of this show. Text represents a professional transcriptionist’s understanding of what was said. No guarantee of accuracy is expressed or implied. ‘Ph’ in parentheses indicates the phonetic or best guess of the actual spoken word.)
BEGIN HOUR 2 TEXT:
(promo/theme song)
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: Pick up the phone and give us a call with your home improvement question, your do-it-yourself dilemma. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. Maybe you are sick and tired of paying those sky-high energy bills; want some advice on how you can make your home more energy efficient. Is there a home improvement project that is just reaching out, screaming from across the room, that you’ve got to get done but you don’t know where to start? We can help you. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
Hey, how are those investments doing? Losing money like crazy? Well you know, there is one investment that could actually make you money this year and it is, in fact, your home; and that money will come in the form of tax credits. But how do you get those tax credits? How do you qualify them and what will they pay for? We’re going to cover that in this hour of the program.
LESLIE: And also ahead this hour, we’ve got another way that your home can make you money by keeping it maintained and in good condition. Those will all offer you big return on investment. We’re going to tell you how to do that and how to go one step further to determine which improvement costs can be recouped. Whoo-hoo!
TOM: And joining the program a little bit later this hour is our friend and home improvement guru, Pat Simpson. He’s going to give us some tips on how to bring a bare, dull closet back to life.
LESLIE: Plus, we are giving away a great prize this hour. We have got a painting tool package from our friends over at Zibra.
TOM: It’s a prize package that’s worth 90 bucks. Going to go to one caller that reaches us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. Let’s get right to those calls.
Who’s first?
LESLIE: Well, Kevin in Washington is looking for some extra storage space in the attic. How can we help you with that project?
KEVIN: Yes, I want to lay a floor down so I can use it for storage but the blown-in insulation is blown in at a level that’s higher than the 2x4s on the ceiling.
TOM: Right, the floor joists.
KEVIN: Yes.
TOM: Yeah, so how do you achieve both? You’ve got to raise the height of the ceiling joists in order to get a floor over it. You cannot compress the insulation, Kevin, because if you do you squeeze out the trapped air and that’s what’s actually giving it it’s insulating ability.
KEVIN: Exactly, so how do I get the floor up …?
TOM: Is this a trussed roof or is it a stick-built roof? Do you know the difference? Is it prefabricated trusses?
KEVIN: Yes.
TOM: Alright, well you’re not really supposed to do this but I’ll tell you anyway. You can’t cut any of those trusses. What you could do is sister under the side of the bottom cords another piece of 2×4 and position that so the height is just above the blown-in. But you’re not supposed to put a lot of weight on; that’s the reason that you have to be careful here. There’s a truss – there’s a certain type of truss called an attic truss and that definitely is not what you have. But I had a condo once with a trussed roof and I actually was able to add about 400 or 500 square feet of storage space by doing exactly this. We added another 2×4 to the side of the existing truss and basically brought it up to the height of the insulation and then added some flooring over that. But again, you can’t …
KEVIN: OK.
TOM: Not a lot of weight, OK, Kev?
KEVIN: Well, it’s just furniture, books and people. (Leslie chuckles) I mean people will be up there.
TOM: Yeah, OK. Well, don’t put the water bed up there – OK? – filled with water. (chuckles)
KEVIN: OK. Thanks, y’all.
TOM: Alright, Kevin. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
I was going to say the Encyclopedia Britannica collection but I don’t think they exist anymore.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Yeah, it was like, ‘Not a lot of weight.’ ‘OK, it’s just people, books and furniture.’ (chuckles)
TOM: (chuckling) Yeah, right.
LESLIE: Oh.
TOM: Not a lot of weight.
LESLIE: And why are you storing people in your attic? (Tom chuckles)
Margaret in North Carolina is dealing with a nasty three-letter word: rot. Tell us about it.
MARGARET: Yes, we have a balcony and the balcony is 14 feet from the ground. The supports are wood and the wood has rotted out; the wooden supports. And so what we’d like to do is the wall itself, the fa
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