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: It’s a great hour. It’s a great idea. It’s home improvement. We can help you with those projects. Call us right now at 888-666-3974. Coming up this hour, are you planning a remodeling project this fall?
LESLIE: I am. I’m planning several, actually.
TOM: Well, I know you’re not stuck trying to figure out where to begin but many in the audience might. So we’re going to explain to you why a pair of scissors might be the first tool you need when planning your next remodel.
LESLIE: And also this hour, since you don’t have x-ray vision – I’m guessing, folks – unless you’re Superman (giggling) you probably can’t tell what kind of flashing was used around your windows. Coming up in a few minutes we’re going to tell you how to spot the telltale signs of bad waterproofing.
TOM: Yeah. And especially before the storms come rolling in.
And you know, we get a lot of calls here on The Money Pit about wallpaper. But most of the time the questions have to do with how to get rid of it if it’s old and outdated. You know, but wallpaper is actually making a comeback. There are a lot of neat, new patterns out there. And getting rid of the old stuff is not so hard to do. We’re going to give you some tricks of the trade in just a bit.
LESLIE: Yeah, in fact wallpaper is one of my fall projects, actually.
TOM: Alrighty, then.
LESLIE: Taking it off and putting up new ones. And also this hour we’re giving you a great prize. It’s the Eureka vacuum. It’s worth 169 bucks. It’s the Capture Plus. It’s a really great vacuum and best of all, it could be yours for free. But you got to call us to be entered to win.
TOM: 888-666-3974.
Leslie, who’s first?
LESLIE: Tuning in on KSRO we’ve got Dawn from California. What can The Money Pit do for you today?
DAWN: Hi. I wanted to know – we want to spruce up my girlfriend’s deck and it has a paint ceiling. I wanted to know whether we should powerwash it or sand it.
LESLIE: I think you’re going to have to do a little bit of both. So you’re seeing a lot of – is it paint or is it stain that’s on there?
DAWN: It’s paint.
LESLIE: OK. And so you’re seeing bubbling and blistering …
DAWN: Right.
LESLIE: … things are just popping up.
DAWN: Mm-hmm.
LESLIE: You want to first start off with your pressure washer. And don’t be too overly aggressive because then you can damage some of the wood fibers that are underneath that paint and cause it to splinter and stand up even more damage to the wood rather than the paint. So you want to make sure that with the pressure washer you get as much of that stuff off as you possibly can. Then …
DAWN: About how far away should we hold it?
LESLIE: What, like 18 inches, Tom? Is it like two feet?
TOM: Yeah. Yeah, that’s about right. Twelve to 18 inches but make sure you use the right head on it so it doesn’t have too much pressure.
DAWN: OK.
LESLIE: And then once you sort of do that, you know, you might be able to get all of that off with a pressure washer and a paint scraper. If you’re having a hard time and it’s really not coming off you can go ahead and use a chemical stripping product to get the rest of it off. Because the goal is to get as much of the old product off so that when you go to put new stain or paint or solid stain onto this deck it’s going to stick because it’s all about adhesion and prep.
And then once you get it down – you know, if you find that you’ve got to go with a chemical stripping agent go ahead and use that – rinse it off well; get rid of everything and let it dry out. Then I would recommend, instead of paint, using a solid stain. Because paint is designed, when you put it on something it sort of sits on the surface; whereas a solid stain is going to be as opaque as a paint but it’s meant to saturate into the wood itself. So it’s going to do a better job of sticking on there.
And the Flood company makes a variety of solid stains and the good part about their stains is that they feature something called Emulsibond, which is a built-in primer. So it’s a primer and the solid stain all in one. And it’s an oil-based primer and a latex topcoat so you’re really getting the best of both worlds. And if you do the right prep it’s going to last around five years on a horizontal surface.
DAWN: And that’s called Ultra Bond?
LESLIE: It’s called – Emulsibond is their additive but it’s the Flood Company and they make a ton of – it’s called CWF Solid Stain. And I think they offer 65 different colors.
DAWN: Oh, wow. OK. Can you spell the name of that company that makes it? Flood?
LESLIE: It’s Flood. Just like what happens when there’s too much water. (Tom chuckles) F-l-o-o-d.
DAWN: OK. Great. Thank you very much.
TOM: Dawn, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: We’re talking asbestos with Richard in New York. What can we do to help you with this?
RICHARD: Yeah, hi. I was ripping out my basement and I’m noticing these big steam pipes with asbestos on them. And I’m sure you’ve, you know, come across that before. But my question is can I wrap them with something rather than have to go through like looking up in the phone book asbestos removal or just leave it alone?
TOM: Well, you should not be wrapping them with anything because if you disturb them then you’re going to increase the risk that you will be exposed to asbestos fibers. Asbestos on the steam pipes are serving a purpose. It’s insulating the pipe so that the steam does not escape or the steam stays in the steam state, I should say, until it gets up in the radiators where it condenses back to water and goes back to the boiler to be reheated. So the insulation is doing its job.
What we know about asbestos is that if it’s disturbed – if it’s damaged or it becomes friable or deteriorated it can be released to the air. Now, in the process that you might go through wrapping this with something you’re more likely to release more of that than would ever come out on its own if you just left it alone.
So if this is a basement that you’re going to really not have a lot of activity in, Richard – like the kids aren’t playing down there; they’re not kicking balls around; that kind of stuff –
RICHARD: No, no.
TOM: – and you leave it alone, then you’re probably OK. The best thing to do is to completely remove it but that has to be done by an expert because if it’s done incorrectly it could contaminate the house.
RICHARD: Yeah, I thought they had some kind of product that you could just stick over it and wrap it up (INAUDIBLE).
TOM: There’s two ways to deal with it. There’s removal and encapsulation. But either process should be done by a pro. I generally prefer removal because this way it’s gone. If you encapsulate and you have to make a repair or something like that you have to dig back into that same asbestos.
RICHARD: Alright, great. I really appreciate that.
TOM: You’re welcome, Rich. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Hey, that’s a great call and we’ve got lots of great calls here at The Money Pit. And you know what? Why don’t you call in with your home repair or your home improvement question 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If the question strikes you we will answer it for you. Give us a call at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
TOM: 888-666-3974.
Up next, are you ready to cook up a new look for your kitchen? Well, the best tool to start with is a pair of scissors. We’ll tell you why, after this.
(promo/theme song)
ANNOUNCER: This portion of The Money Pit is brought to you by Aprilaire, makers of professionally-installed, high-efficiency air cleaners. For more information, go to Aprilaire.com. Now, here are Tom and Leslie.
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: Call us right now with your home improvement question. You’ll get the answer and a chance to win a fabulous tool that can help you actually clean up from that home improvement project because this hour we’re giving away a Eureka Capture Plus vacuum worth $169 with all kinds of cool attachments to help you get all the places the sawdust might land. Call us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. You must be willing to come on the air and ask your home improvement question, which could have to do with making over your kitchen.
LESLIE: Yeah, if you’re thinking of remodeling your kitchen you’re smart because it’s one of the biggest and best home improvements you can make. According to the annual cost versus value survey that’s done by Remodeling Online, even a minor kitchen remodel can deliver a 98.5 ROI which you know means return on investment.
And the best place to start might just be with a pair of scissors. That’s right. Keep some folders. Gather up clippings and photos of your dream kitchen items. Every time you flip through a magazine if you see something tear it out, cut it out: appliances, lighting, cabinets, flooring. Even if you just see something that maybe it seems like a nice color combination or there’s something about that photo that you like, maybe it’s the placement of things, if you like it rip it out and then when you’re going over the plans and the ideas with you architect and your contractor show them; share this with them. And it’s going to help you get the best project, the best finished product for your kitchen. You’re going to love it. It’s a recipe for satisfaction, I guarantee.
TOM: 888-666-3974.
Leslie, who’s next?
LESLIE: Judy in Florida is looking to insulate her home. What can we help you with?
JUDY: Hi, I’d like to ask a question about using foam inside a new home …
TOM: OK.
JUDY: … that we’re constructing and wanted to know the pros and cons. And we were looking at the – closed cell? Closed cell.
TOM: Are you referring to polyisonene?
JUDY: Uh-huh. Something similar to that.
TOM: Yeah, good choice. You know, very, very energy efficient. Has to be installed at the time the home is constructed. But does a great job of not only insulating the home but also sealing against drafts because it does fill up all of the cavities and all of the bays. it’s an expandable foam. So when it’s sprayed it expands; it takes up all the space and it’s trimmed. And that really does a good job.
You know, when you just put fiberglass bats in there there’s still a lot of air that can get in around that.
JUDY: Right.
TOM: But the expandable foam insulations eliminate that problem.
JUDY: Uh-huh. Any problems with it being too tight? Making the house too tight?
TOM: No, absolutely not. And in fact, if your home was too tight that would be a good thing because you would then put in an air-to-air heat exchanger which will let in fresh air but it will treat the heated or the cooled air on the way out so you don’t have to reheat or recool. So you don’t have to worry about whether or not the insulation will make the home too tight. If it is too tight there is another appliance that could be installed that will fix that and it’s called an air-to-air heat exchanger.
JUDY: So that’s a good idea, then?
TOM: Excellent idea.
JUDY: OK. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate your help.
TOM: You’re very welcome, Judy. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT and enjoy your new home.
JUDY: Thank you.
LESLIE: William in California, welcome to The Money Pit. What can we help you with?
WILLIAM: We’re going to put screens over the whole window on the outside; you know, not just – you know. Because you just open them from the inside.
TOM: OK.
WILLIAM: And what we wanted to do is I was – I just don’t want to put the screen over it but a border around it or something, you know?
TOM: Well, what you need to do is you need to create a wood frame for it first. If you want to make a wood screen you basically make a wood frame and that frame has a groove in it and the groove is designed to hold the screening material and the screening material is held in by like a rubber cord …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: … that gets pressed in all the way around. It’s a screening tool that you use. So if you want to create it you would have to build the frames to each window’s side and then insert the screening and then they could simply be screwed on from the outside and then taken off …
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) And you know what? That’s actually – it’s actually really easy because if you go to your home center, in the aisle where they sell the screen doors you’ll find the rolls of the screening material, the fiberglass screening, in a variety of colors and different opacities, you know, so you can see through them a little bit better. And then they sell the metal tracking as components. It’ll be four sides and then you need to pick up the four corners. And there’s even instructions right there telling you how much extra space you need to allow and how much longer you should cut everything. Then you snap everything together and then the tool that Tom mentioned, it looks like a double-ended pizza cutter and that feeds the – this rubber hosing into the track with the screen to keep it really secure.
WILLIAM: Oh, you can buy the track? You’re saying you put that on the wood and then you push the screen into it?
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: Yes, exactly.
WILLIAM: Alright. Well, I appreciate that.
LESLIE: Russell in Ohio is next up on The Money Pit. How can we help you?
RUSSELL: Hi, part of my house is converted from a garage.
LESLIE: OK.
RUSSELL: And I believe it’s just carpet over the concrete right now.
TOM: OK.
RUSSELL: And I’m wondering what would be a good solution to put down over that concrete for like a different floor to maybe insulate a little bit but not so thick that I have to change my door heights and what not.
TOM: I think laminate floor would be a great solution.
LESLIE: Yeah, laminate floor is a really nice solution and it comes in so many varieties of styles from a hardwood look to even a tile look. And they go in any room where you have a high moisture situation. So they’re great for a room just like the garage and they can go straight over the concrete flooring.
RUSSELL: Now, a laminate. Is that like the roll type or is that like the squares?
LESLIE: No, no, no, no, no. A laminate can be – a laminate, is it made from a plastic, Tom? Is that how they make it?
TOM: Yeah, it’s like a – it’s like a laminate countertop except it’s a lot tougher. It’s about 20 times more durable than the kind of laminate used for countertops. And it comes in a tile that has an interlocking edge on it so you basically can snap it together. Actually I shouldn’t say just a tile. It does come in strips as well, depending on what kind of flooring you want. But it’s a great application for putting it on top of concrete which can be a damp surface because it’s totally structurally stable.
RUSSELL: Oh, OK. So not like – so Pergo wouldn’t work over that?
TOM: Well, that is – Pergo is laminate floor.
LESLIE: Pergo is a laminate.
RUSSELL: Oh, OK.
TOM: That’s a brand of laminate.
LESLIE: But if you’re looking for more options I would say check out Armstrong.com. Because they’re a flooring company that offers a huge selection of laminate floorings; anything from all different types of wood to a slate to a brick look. So there’s a lot of options and they range in prices from, say, $4 go $11 per square. So the prices are fantastic. So there’s a lot of great options and that’s a good place to start.
TOM: And they also have an insulating underlayment that goes under that floor as well.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm. Some of them – some of them have a rollout sort of subflooring that might go on there; like an underlayment. And others of them have the underlayment directly on the back of the piece. So depending on what you choose make sure you have the right underlayment.
RUSSELL: Excellent. The insulation’s what I was looking for. Thanks a lot, folks.
TOM: Russell, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
RUSSELL: Beola (sp) in Pennsylvania’s doing something with her wood floor. What’s happening?
BEOLA (sp): The floor is uneven. It’s like going downhill.
LESLIE: OK.
BEOLA (sp): And what I had chosen to do was use floor leveling.
TOM: A floor leveling compound, Beola (sp)?
BEOLA (sp): Yes, floor leveling compound.
TOM: OK. What kind of – what kind of floor are you trying to put down?
BEOLA (sp): Well, the floor is already in.
TOM: Oh, it’s already in.
BEOLA (sp): Right. But what’s happening is it has about two-and-a-half – about two-and-a-half inches of (INAUDIBLE) on one end of the …
TOM: Wow. What kind of floor was put in?
BEOLA (sp): It was a hardwood floor.
TOM: Oh, man. Listen, Beola (sp), at this stage you can’t use a floor leveling compound. That has to be done before the hardwood floor is put in. Once the floor is put in the only way to level it out is to take the floor up first. And that’s just like doing the whole job over again. If the floor was unlevel the contractor should have fixed it before he put the hardwood in; not after.
BEOLA (sp): No, this is an – this is an old, old house.
LESLIE: Well, that’s from the house settling over years.
BEOLA (sp): Exactly. That’s what it came from.
TOM: OK, so you – what you want to do is just level this floor now or do you just want to – do you want to put a new floor down?
BEOLA (sp): No, I just wanted to level this floor out.
TOM: Alright. Well, if you put – if you level the floor out you’re going to have to have some sort of a new flooring to put on top of it. The compound is not a finished floor. It’s just a material that helps you level the floor. What room are we talking about here, Beola (sp)?
BEOLA (sp): We’re talking about a middle bedroom.
TOM: A what kind of room?
BEOLA (sp): A middle – it’s a middle bedroom. I have three bedrooms up there.
TOM: It’s a bedroom. OK.
BEOLA (sp): It’s the one that is in the middle. Yes.
TOM: Alright. If you’re going to put it down in the bedroom you could use a floor leveling compound to level the floor and then on top of that you could carpet or something of that nature. But the floor leveling compound itself is not a finished floor. That’s what you need to know.
Now, structurally it doesn’t make any sense for you to try to raise this floor. Because once a floor settles like that if you try to bring it back up after all that years of settlement you’re inevitably going to do some other destruction in the house. You could crack walls, crack ceilings, pull pipes apart, separate wires and things of this nature. So at this point, the good news is it’s probably not a structural issue because it’s very common in an older house. But the bad news is you’re going to have to cover that hardwood floor with a leveling compound and then maybe carpet over that or put engineered hardwood on top of that or put carpet on top of that. But you’re not going to be able to raise the existing floor. Do you follow me?
BEOLA (sp): Right.
LESLIE: You know, it’s very common with old homes. I hate to say it but our house, in the dining room you can see, on the jamb from the dining room into the kitchen, there’s probably a good two or three inches. The house has settled that much over the almost 100 years that it’s been there. And while it’s character and charm, as we call it, it’s structurally – it’s no biggie.
TOM: Right, exactly. Because you know when they built the older homes they were – the beams were small and the spans were long so you got a lot of movement. So every old house is going to have a lot of movement. A common mistake, though, that I wanted to make sure Beola (sp) didn’t make is trying to raise that floor back up structurally. It never works out. So you’re better off …
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Well, is there a way that you could pull those planks up and then rebuild like say a platform on top of those floor joists to just level it? I mean that’s a huge project.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Well. Yeah, but it’s a – it’s a – you could but it’s – it’s a big – it’s a big, stinking mess I mean is what it is. You could tuck the floor up and you could shim out. I mean for example, in my house my bedroom floor sags and that’s right above the living room ceiling. When we worked on the ceiling we actually firred out the ceiling to take this huge belly out of the middle of it from the sag.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: So the ceiling looks perfectly flat now. But the floor above is still …
LESLIE: Is still …
TOM: … is still sagged, of course, so.
LESLIE: It’s funny. I swear, in our bedroom upstairs from the dining room, which also is on the slant, I swear, if I don’t lay completely over to the side that’s slanting I swear I roll over in the middle of the night. (laughing)
TOM: (overlapping voices) You’re rolling? (laughing)
LESLIE: I’m always like, ‘I feel so much higher up on this side.’
TOM: I have a – I have a nightstand with two drawers in it. (Leslie chuckles) I can’t open them both at the same time because it’s already tilting forward. (laughing) It wants to roll over. I’ve had to catch it a couple of times.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Ah, character. (laughing)
TOM: That’s right. You know, the realtors have a word for that. It’s called charm.
LESLIE: And it adds an extra 50 grand.
TOM: 888-666-3974.
LESLIE: Paulo in Virginia finds The Money Pit on WJFK. How can we help?
PAULO: Hi, I was wondering if you could give me any suggestions or recommendations on a solar-powered attic fan? I’m looking for ways to keep my house cooler, obviously, and you know, reduce energy costs. And I was wondering if you had any recommendations on that.
TOM: Yeah Paulo, does your house have central air conditioning?
PAULO: Yes, it does.
TOM: OK, I would definitely not recommend an attic fan. Because what happens is attic fans are so strong that they actually reach down into the conditioned space of your house, and they do that by using the wall cavities and where the outlets and pipes come through the walls, as places where they draw air from the inside of your house – it’s that air conditioned air – and it’ll pull it right up into the attic and exhaust it outside. So an attic fan can actually drive up cooling costs. A better option is just to use passive ventilation. That would be, for example, a continuous ridge vent across the peak of your roof; matched with continuous soffit vents at the overhang of your roof. This good natural ventilation that’s passive – it’s not a powered ventilator – does a really good job of letting out that heat in the attic space without taking any of the cold air from the interior of the house down below. OK?
PAULO: Alright. It’s a new house so I think I’m pretty much covered on those.
TOM: Well then, I would definitely not put in the attic fan. You don’t need it.
PAULO: OK.
TOM: Alright, Paulo? Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: We’ve got more great home improvement advice coming up after this but first I want to talk to you about wallpaper. It doesn’t have to be old-fashioned and it doesn’t have to be hard work. You might be feeling sour about it because you’ve had a bad experience but up next we’re going to have a wallpaper expert who’s going to try to convince you to give this design option another chance. It worked. I’m putting it in my house. I love it.
(theme song)
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 phone calls at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. Especially if you’ve ever wrestled with this problem – and you probably have; most of us have – and that is we want to redecorate a room but we’re stuck with the worst looking wallpaper (Leslie chuckles) that you’ve ever seen in your life. You know, sometimes I see these rooms – and I’ve had them in homes myself – and you think to yourself, ‘What were they thinking?’
LESLIE: (chuckling) But you know …
TOM: What were they thinking? As they were standing in the wallpaper store back in 1962 choosing this lovely shade of chartreuse paper for those walls, you have to wonder. Well, we do get a lot of calls here at The Money Pit about wallpaper and most of the time those questions have to do with pulling down those very old and outdated patterns.
LESLIE: But we’ve got good news. We’ve got an expert on the program today who’s got great tips and ideas. We have Stacy Senior Allan. She is the Marketing Director from Thibaut Wallpaper and Fabric.
Welcome, Stacy.
STACY: Thank you very much for having me.
LESLIE: Alright, Stacy. We get a ton of questions here at The Money Pit about wallcovering. And for the most part people, like Tom said, have got something up there that is just outdated or not their personal style and they want to take it down. What is the best way to get that wallpaper off if you’re in that situation?
STACY: Yep, I can understand that they move into a house you want to get that ugly stuff of the wall and they can put up something much prettier.
LESLIE: Yeah, exactly.
STACY: So the first thing – yeah, the first thing you want to do is to just test a corner. Take a little piece and see if it comes off easily just like that. And sometimes it’ll strip right off the wall. The next step is to try some hot water on it and see if that works.
LESLIE: Just simple hot water? Not a steamer?
STACY: Yeah, sometimes hot water will work. I mean I think the last resort would be a steamer. The third option would be to try a wallpaper remover. You can use some kind of scoring tool to get through the front and then a wallpaper remover. At Thibaut we like disks (ph) but I know other people have different products that they prefer. And sometimes it gets into the paste and eats away at the paste and makes it come off clean.
TOM: Now Stacy, if the paper is well-adhered is there any reason we can’t go right on top of it?
STACY: Really, if the paper is well-adhered you can go over it. But what you want to do first is use a high-quality, all-purpose, water-based primer sealer. You definitely want to use a water-based primer sealer because it seals the situation so that you will not have any moisture getting back behind that old wallpaper …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
STACY: … and making any bubbling happen.
TOM: Terrific.
LESLIE: Now, even if you’re putting down wallcovering on a painted surface or a relatively new drywall surface – not something that’s raw – would you still use that specific primer just in the event five, 10, 15 years down the road you want to take that paper down?
STACY: Yes. You always want to use a – you can either use – in a new drywall situation or a plaster wall situation you would use a wallcovering primer sealer or a regular primer sealer. And that will make sure that what you’re dealing with is a clean surface and makes the wallpaper easier to hang and makes it come down easily later.
LESLIE: That’s really good to know.
TOM: Stacy, are the designs changing? Are they getting younger and hipper? It seems that we always think of wallpaper as being associated with very old homes. But how are the design elements of wallpaper changing today?
STACY: I think wallpaper has gotten definitely a fresh kick of hipness. Something’s going on with wallpaper now where it used to be sort of stodgy and fussy and maybe too busy. And wallpaper companies like Thibaut have gotten the message and are really designing for a younger client. We have more open designs; more tone-on-tone; more modern shapes that are really hip in what’s going on in fashion. And …
LESLIE: And you know what I think, Stacy? I’m sorry to interrupt, but especially what you guys do at Thibaut, which I love, is I love the tone-on-tone; I love the large patterns. You guys are using colors that have been so popular in paint – you know, chocolate browns and grays and silvers – but never really sort of crossed over into wall coverings. And it’s really a chance to be bold and adventurous and make, you know, an overall design and art statement for even a small room in the home.
STACY: Yep. With wallpaper there’s a lot of things that we can design for the homeowner where we can use a few different colors in one pattern that bring rooms together or we can use tones of the same shade – let’s say it chocolate brown – and add a slight metallic. So that’s something you can’t achieve with paint. You really can get a very polished and finished effect with wallpaper.
TOM: The website is beautiful. It’s ThibautDesign.com. T-h-i-b-a-u-t-Design.com. And Stacy’s phone number there is 800-223-0704.
Stacy Senior Allan from Thibaut Design, thanks so much for stopping by The Money Pit.
STACY: Thank you.
LESLIE: Alright, I really do hope that wallpaper is on the up and up because I love it and it really is such a fun way to express yourself in an artistic way. So go for it. Give it a second chance.
Alright. Well, even if your home is brand new you’re probably like most people. You have no idea about the quality of the building materials that were used to waterproof the framing of your windows and your doors. Up next, we’re going to tell you some telltale signs that could mean a leak is happening or on the horizon. So stay with us.
(promo/theme song)
ANNOUNCER: This portion of The Money Pit is brought to you by Ryobi, manufacturer of professional feature power tools and accessories with an affordable price for the do-it-yourselfer. Ryobi power tools. Pro features, affordable price. Available exclusively at The Home Depot. Now, here are Tom and Leslie.
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: Call us now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. One caller we talk to today is going to win the Eureka Capture Plus vacuum worth 169 bucks. It has three cleaning tools that make it easy to reach hard-to-reach places and a sealed HEPA filter, which I think is always a cool idea because you don’t want to put more dust out the back of the vacuum than you put into the front of the vacuum.
LESLIE: It’s counter productive. (chuckling)
TOM: Exactly. If you want to win it you must be willing to come on the air and ask your home improvement question. 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Alright and maybe your question that you’re wanting to call us about is, ‘Why do I have these leaks around my windows?’ or ‘What’s going on with my roof?’ Well, if you’re like most people you probably have no idea if any waterproofing materials at all were used, in fact, when your windows and your doors were installed. Worse yet, because you can’t see behind the window or the door and into the walls you’re probably not going to find out until it’s too late if there was nothing there to help you with waterproofing. But you can inspect the frames of the windows and doors for signs of leakage. If you see any unusual stains that are appearing around the frames, the window trim, the sills; you know, discolored plasterboard or even peeling wallpaper, that’s a good sign that you have a leak going on.
TOM: Absolutely. Other signs include deterioration or separation of a deck from the main part of the house. Very important to make sure your deck is properly maintained. If you see chipped or cracked stucco finishes; if you see mold or mildew or decay in the walls where the insulation or the electrical systems as well as missing, cracked or blistered paint inside the walls of your home, if you see any of these warning signs you probably have a leak and you need to get it fixed as soon as you possibly can.
If the repair includes replacing a door or window frame be sure to keep the leak from reoccurring. Use one of these high-tech new flashings that surround the door and window jambs very nicely; very tightly. Like Grace Vycor Plus is a good product to use because it adheres to the frame and it creates a real watertight bond and the water is just not going to get through; as well as the wind. Wind won’t get through either. So it’ll be very energy efficient.
If you want more information their website is GraceAtHome.com and that’s going to keep you leak-free.
LESLIE: Tommy in Kansas wants to talk about paint on a porch. What can we do to help you with the project?
TOMMY: Yeah, I just had a question as far as painting the porch floor. What would be the best type of paint for outside?
LESLIE: Well, what’s your porch made out of?
TOMMY: It’s wood.
TOM: You know, Tommy, I would definitely use an oil-based paint. And the reason is oil-based paints are far more durable that water-based paints. And for a floor application that’s definitely the only way to go. And in fact, if you have any kinds of slippery issues you could actually add an additive to that paint that’s an anti-skid additive that adds some sand surface to it as well.
TOMMY: OK, that sounds perfect. That’s exactly what I was wanting to know.
TOM: Good. Tommy, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
TOMMY: I appreciate it.
LESLIE: Bruce in Pennsylvania listens to The Money Pit on WAMO and you’ve got a fireplace question. How can we help?
BRUCE: I had some people come in, look at a fireplace. Said it needs to be relined. And (INAUDIBLE) with a camera. But one part that they said they had to do is when they go to repair a fireplace, according to the code, that if your fireplace – say you’re coming in to bring it to working order – they have to bring everything up to today’s code. And the area that they’re talking about was the hearth. Because below the hearth is (INAUDIBLE) holding the hearth in place that was up to code when they built it but they said nowadays the hearth – the wood has [to be removed] (ph) from the hearth. And I was just wondering if they’re telling me the truth or …
TOM: Well Bruce, when you say you had some people in that said you needed to reline your fireplace, immediately the hair on the back of my neck stands up and begs me to ask this question. Were these chimney sweeps?
BRUCE: Yes, yes.
TOM: Yeah. I must be psychic, Leslie.
LESLIE: And they would do …
BRUCE: They showed me – they showed me with a camera. I can clearly see the gaps between the flues.
TOM: OK. But you know what? Just about every chimney has gaps in the flues. Is this – how old is this chimney?
BRUCE: It’s 45 years old.
TOM: It’s not that old.
BRUCE: Right.
TOM: I tell you what. Before you spend any money on advice that is delivered to you buy a chimney sweep, I would hire an independent inspector to review it. Because I’m sure they’re talking about thousands of dollars here …
BRUCE: Yeah.
TOM: … and in almost case that I know of that chimney sweeps have come in and said that chimneys had to be relined they A – either A, did not have to be relined or weren’t nearly the fire hazard that the chimney sweep was making it out to be to get your business. There’s just too much of a conflict of interest there. And it’s a condition – it’s a scam that we’ve heard about over and over and over again. I cannot tell you how many calls we’ve gotten on this show with this exact situation. You know, there’s different spins on it. Sometimes they’re doing free or low-cost inspection.
You know, in the 20 years I spent as a home inspector, before I got on the air, I often would get a call from somebody who asked me to back up an opinion from a chimney sweep and usually the situation went something like this: ‘You know, I hired a chimney sweep for a cleaning or inspection’ and it was usually something really cheap like a $40 or $50 cleaning ‘and lo and behold, it turns out we need a …’
LESLIE: A $10,000 improvement.
TOM: Yeah, ‘We need two, three, four, five, $10,000 in repair.’ And so I’d say to the client, ‘Why do you think that chimney sweep could drive from three counties away to do your $50 cleaning if he wasn’t selling a lot of these repairs?’ And many times I didn’t find that the chimney needed that repair. It needed no repair; just a basic cleaning. So, I just don’t think that chimney sweeps are the best people to give you independent advice.
What you might want to do is log onto the website for the American Society of Home Inspectors that is at ASHI.org – A-S-H-I.org. You drop in your zip code and they’ll give you a list of home inspectors in the area and contact the inspectors and ask about a partial inspection. That’s an inspection of just one item. These are guys that are pros that don’t sell any repair services whatsoever. They’re just there to give you their honest, professional opinion about the condition of your home. And this way you’ll know exactly whether or not you have a problem, Bruce, and if you do you can deal with it. But if not, you might have just saved yourself several thousand dollars in repair work.
BRUCE: Oh, OK. Alrighty. Thank you very much.
TOM: Alright, Bruce. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Catherine in Rhode Island finds The Money Pit on WPRO and you have a basement question. What’s going on down there?
CATHERINE: Well, I had a cement cellar floor. Now the lime was coming through. So what I did I had it painted. And it still came through the paint. Now what could I do to eliminate that?
TOM: Catherine, that’s happening because there’s too much water collecting around the foundation perimeter. So that water is leaking through the foundation wall; it’s evaporating and it’s leaving behind it’s mineral salt deposits. So to cutback on that lime growth, as you’ve described it – which kind of looks like white crusty stuff or gray crusty stuff – what you should be doing is looking at the drainage conditions outside your house.
Leslie, what are some of the things outside the house that we might want Catherine to tackle?
LESLIE: Well, some of the big culprits are, first of all, do you have gutters on the house?
CATHERINE: (INAUDIBLE)
LESLIE: You do? Always make sure that those gutters are as clean as possible. Make sure that you get to them as often as you can. Keep them clean. Because when they’re full water tends to back up into it and overflow and then land directly on your foundation rather than going down the downspouts. Now, with the downspouts you want to make sure that they’re not just depositing the water right at your foundation. Always make sure that that downspout extends about three to six feet away from your house so it’s not just going right back into the foundation. And then, any grading or dirt that you might have around the house, make sure it slopes away from the house. You want to do everything that you can to get that water to move away. This way it won’t be drawn into your foundation.
TOM: And Catherine, once you have the grading and the drainage working right on the outside of the house, what you’re going to see is a lot less of that mineral salts actually coming through. Problem is that foundations are very hydroscopic. They really soak up water very, very quickly. And as that dries out to the inside those salts stay behind. So once you get the water to stop coming through you’re not going to have a problem. Even if you don’t have a leak, the fact that you’re getting that mineral salt deposit is evidence of too much moisture around those foundation walls. OK?
CATHERINE: Now, I know at one time someone told me I should have had that sealed before I painted it.
TOM: Well, the fact that you painted it with a foundation paint; with a basement waterproofing type paint is about all …
LESLIE: Acts as a sealer.
TOM: That’s all you can do, really. That acts as the sealer. So there’s nothing else that you can do. You really need to manage this problem by stopping the water from the outside.
Catherine, thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: More calls coming up after the break. And also, your garbage disposer. Hey, is it not working right? If you’ve got one you know they are the greatest and coolest addition to your kitchen. But what happens when they’re not running? We’re going to give you a little DIY diagnostic help right after this.
(theme song)
TOM: Making good homes better, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
And hey, do you want to listen to The Money Pit while you’re working on your next DIY project? Well, if you do – and who doesn’t because we could talk you through the steps – you can download our podcast at MoneyPit.com. And while you’re there, check out our tip of the day and be sure to sign up for our e-newsletter. Not only is it free – and everything you’ll find at the website is free – you’re also going to get the best advice and information that’s going to help you save even more money around your money pit.
And while you’re there be sure to click on Ask Tom and Leslie because maybe you don’t want to call us. Maybe you just want to e-mail us your question. If you click on the Ask Tom and Leslie button your e-mail will come right here to us like Roger’s did. And Roger listens in on WPRO in Rhode Island and he writes: ‘My daughter recently bought a three-year-old house. Vinyl siding on one side of the house is buckled. It appears that the siding was cut too long. I removed one and trimmed it to fit but it still buckled. The siding won’t lie flat and is definitely wavy. Is there a way to repair this or do I have to replace the siding? Could I use a heat gun or a hair dryer to reshape the siding?’
TOM: No. What’s happening here, Roger, is it sounds like the installer that originally put on the siding put it on too tightly. See, vinyl siding has a very high expansion and contraction rate and if you see it look very wavy on a house, the reason that’s happening is because the siding is expanding and has nowhere to go. If you look at siding pieces before they’re nailed they don’t have holes in them; they have slots.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: And when they’re properly installed you don’t nail the – you don’t drive the nail all the way home, so to speak. You leave it loose a little bit. In fact, you should be able to take the siding piece and slide it back and forth. So that’s the first thing I’d test. If you can’t move that piece of siding back and forth, definitely too tight and probably what has to happen is you’ve got to pull a few pieces of siding off and reinstall them a little bit looser than they were the first time. That might help to smooth it out a bit. But I’ve got to tell you, it’s just a bad installation. It’s going to look worse, by the way, on the south and the west sides of the house. The hotter sides of the home show this wavy siding problem much more prominently.
LESLIE: So, and basically he’s going to have to take down as many pieces as he needs to to get to those culprit pieces, correct?
TOM: He’s probably going to have to take down at least six or eight pieces if it’s very narrow that the arrow that’s actually buckled is. But if it’s a bigger area, you know, I’ve got to tell you may end up having to take more than that. The good news is that this is a cosmetic problem so it doesn’t affect the wall’s ability to keep out the elements. So if you think you can live with it you should just walk away.
OK, so you’ve fished the spoon out of the garbage disposer but now it won’t come on. Well, don’t grind your teeth just yet. Leslie’s going to tell you how to save a $75 service call with today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word.
LESLIE: Yeah, and you don’t even have to deal with the embarrassment of answering to that service technician how that spoon, your wedding ring, whatever got down that disposal to begin with. (Tom chuckles)
Alright, when your disposer jams it often automatically shuts off. And it might not restart by just hitting the wall switch. And many homeowners don’t know there is a reset button. It is located at the bottom of the unit itself. So after you safely remove any of those foreign objects – whatever they might be – from the disposer, all you have to do is go under the sink, find that button, turn that button and it could save you a huge repair bill. You’ll see. You’ll get back up to that switch on the wall and it will go right back on.
TOM: Another handy, helpful home improvement tip from Leslie.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) That’s a lot of Hs, Tom. (chuckling)
TOM: I did that pretty well, didn’t I?
LESLIE: (chuckling) Yeah.
TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show.
Next week we’re going to hit the road. We will be broadcasting from the Life at 50 Plus convention that is put on in Boston from the folks at AARP.
LESLIE: Yeah, it’s a great show. You know, it’s basically like a home show that you go to at your local coliseum or event center and – except this is all about for things that you could utilize in your home for yourself or vacations once you hit 50+ and become an AARP member. But all of these things that we’re going to tell you about maintaining your home, incorporating universal design really work across the board whether you’ve got young ones or your parents living with you. Whatever it is, this can really help to make your home be more safe and more user friendly.
TOM: That’s coming up next week on 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.
(theme song)
END HOUR 2 TEXT
(Copyright 2007 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.)
Leave a Reply