On the Wire - Quick Fixes
Weekend warriors, you have a whole EXTRA day coming to tackle those projects you’ve been putting off. Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, in other words – fix stuff before it gets worse! Take a look at the quick fixes we came up with for common household failures. With a little help, you could probably finish all three in time for a great cookout!
Uncovering a Treasure:
Sometimes, the best part about renovating a room is finding a surprise. For example, you decide to pull up the old carpeting in your foyer and find a beautiful ceramic tile mosaic underneath. A great hidden treasure, but how do you restore that tile to it’s original glory? Start by getting rid of the glue that held the carpeting on. Avoid using chemical solvents or strippers. You can use dry ice to freeze the glue. It should pop it right off with a putty knife. Make sure to wear gloves! A heat gun, available at your local crafts or hardware store, will soften the glue without melting it. If you find painted tile, strip the paint from it with a homemade paste. Mix 1 part TSP (trisodium phosphate) with 2 parts calcium carbonate (sometimes called whiting), and add water until the mixture reaches the consistency of a thick paste. Using a putty knife, apply the paste to the tile, about 3/8 inches thick. Let the paste sit on the tile for a half hour for best results. Then scrape off the residue with a plastic putty knife. Rinse the tile immediately and thoroughly with warm water. Don’t forget to wear gloves, use eye protection, and make sure to open the doors and windows!
Repairing Split Drywall Tape:
This is a very common, albeit annoying, problem in many homes. To fix unsightly drywall tape, use a sharp knife and make a clean break at the edges, then carefully pull away the loose tape. Brush away any dust or loose material. Apply joint compound and position new fiberglass mesh tape, then press the tape into the compound. Apply more compound over the tape using a taping knife. Use gentle strokes to smooth the surface with the compound. If you are using ready-mix or "easy sand" compound, mound the compound up a bit. If you use regular dry-mix compound, level it with the knife. Let it dry, then apply one and perhaps two more coats, feathering the edges. The finished patch should look and feel even with the surrounding wall. Sand, prime, and paint.
Repairing a Damaged Wood Floor:
Hardwood flooring is a great look that many homeowners are opting for these days. Older homes sometimes have hidden hardwoods under wall-to-wall carpeting, but they may need to be repaied. To fix a hardwood floor, you must first remove the damaged section. Using a spade bit, bore holes across the ends and middle of the old boards. Use a wood chisel to split the boards lengthwise between the holes. Slip a pry bar into a split and carefully remove the damaged board. Using a claw hammer, pull out old nails in the subfloor. Carefully cut the new boards for a tight fit. Slip the groove of each new piece into the tongue of the adjacent board. Secure the new boards and nail through the tongues on all but the last piece. Use glue on the subfloor, tongue and half groove of the last piece, then tap it into place. Use a block to protect the wood surface.
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Ask Tom & Leslie - Uneven Ceiling
This week's question comes to us from Richard Pare. He says, "I have a badly alligatored plaster ceiling that needs refinishing. I remember hearing about self-leveling battens to take out any surface unevenness when I fix new sheetrock over the old plaster. It is not possible to re-skim as the plaster has lost contact with the lath underneath. Any suggestions?"
Richard, we have never heard of "self-leveling battens" but we’re familiar with the job of having to repair damaged plaster ceilings. Tom had to repair 2-inch sag in the middle of the living room ceiling before covering the whole thing with drywall in his home. To do this, he installed 1 x 3 firing strips on 24-inch centers across the entire ceiling. Then, using cedar under course shingles, he shimmed between the firing strip and the old plaster to get the entire surface as level as possible. The end result was a smooth surface upon which he was able to attach drywall, then spackle and paint. Since drywall isn't very flexible, it was necessary to do all this to get the surface flat enough. In your case, you might not have to. If the old plaster is simply cracked and the frame of the ceiling isn't significantly sagged, then you can simply go over the old plaster without installing firing strips. We hope this helps.
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Got A Question About Your Money Pit?
You can do-it-yourself but you don't have to do-it-alone. Getting in touch with us is as easy as 1 - 2 or 3!
- The toll-free studio hot line is 1-888-MONEY PIT. Find out when we broadcast in your area by checking out our website at www.moneypit.com. Each week we take dozens of calls, give great advice and offer callers a chance to win a terrific prize awarded to one random caller to every show.
- Call when it's convenient for you, 24 hours a day, same number: 1-888-MONEY PIT. A live person takes your call 24/7! So -- WHENEVER you have a home improvement question -- phone it in. Simply tell our phone screener your first name, and where you're calling from...and ask your question. We’ll get back to you with the answer – or even call you back during the show!
- Click here to email your question to us. We may read your email on the air and we also respond personally to many of the email questions we get.
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On the Air - Clear the Air
You might be surprised to learn that most homes generate 40 POUNDS of dust for every 1500-square feet of living space. That’s a lot to clean! And one pound of dust can hold 40 thousand dust mites. So it’s not just that you have to keep your house clean, you also want to keep it healthy. According to some new reports, irritants in the air you breathe, and not necessarily germs, could be causing your chronic cold symptoms. The best way to get rid of irritants and allergens in your house is at the source, but it’s not always realistic to do that. You’d have to dust hourly! A whole-house air cleaning system is a good way to reduce airborne contaminants in a home, including dust, pollen and bacteria… even viruses… year-round. The best whole-house cleaning system we can recommend is by Aprilaire. To learn more, visit www.Aprilaire.com and listen to our nationally syndicated radio show this weekend, when we welcome Aprilaire’s Sean McCarthy. Sean will have all the ins and outs of a whole house air cleaner, including installation info. To find out where we broadcast in your area, visit www.moneypit.com
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Dot Common Sense - The Bow Stops Here
With the foundation repair industry growing to more than $10 billion annually, residential consumers and commercial builders alike are realizing that foundation failures can lead to sagging real estate values. A foundation’s structural integrity becomes jeopardized when hydrostatic and lateral earth pressures exceed the strength of the concrete or masonry wall. These lateral pressures barrage the foundation and cause the walls to bow inward.
In the past, bracing and shoring up existing foundations walls was a massive undertaking, with lots of jack hammering, moving duct work and moving utilities… but not anymore. The development of The Reinforcer® carbon fiber technology system is providing an advanced alternative for repairing and strengthening foundation walls. This externally bonded composite reinforcing system is a Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) which is lightweight, non-corrosive and virtually impossible to stretch. It’s also ten times stronger than steel, plus much easier to install and very easy to camouflage. Once the block wall has been painted over, The Reinforcer® is virtually concealed. In essence, it’s a simpler, more attractive solution than installing steel I-beams.
The philosophy behind The Reinforcer® is based on standard engineering principles. For every increase in pressure, The Reinforcer® provides an equal and opposite resistant force; making the wall stronger which helps eliminate shifting, cracking and bowing.
Please visit www.TheReinforcer.com for detailed information.
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Fun Fact - Strike Out
Lightning strikes the earth about 20 million times a year. Is your house protected from lightning damage? Properly installed lightning protection systems can save your house from costly damage. Have lightning arrestors professionally installed on your roof. If lightning does strikes, these arrestors use protected cabling systems to re-direct the energy away from your home and into the ground.
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Short Cuts - Good Fences
The saying goes, good fences make good neighbors – but yours may be a little worse for wear. Wooden fences can come apart if they’re not properly built. The biggest downfall of a wooden fence is when it’s installed to close to the ground, where rot and termite damage can ruin it. To best way to keep your wooden fence in good shape for years to come , is to treat the bottom of the fence boards with a preservative, and don’t let them come in direct contact with the ground – a good three inch gap is best.
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Copyright 2006 Squeaky Door Productions, Inc.
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