Transcripts

Transcript For January 26, 2008, Hour 1

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 1 TEXT:

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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: Call us now with your home improvement question. Call us now with your do-it-yourself dilemma. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. We know, as you look around your money pit, there’s a project that you want to tackle today or tomorrow or next week. Let us help you get it started by picking up the phone right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. Because we are here to help you. We’re your how-to coaches for all of those projects.

We have a great show in store for you today. First up, are you suffering from leaky wallet disease? What’s that? (Leslie chuckles) Well, that’s what happens when you start paying high heating bills. And if your home isn’t sealed properly this winter, you probably definitely are. So this hour we’re going to give you some top tips that you need to keep the cold air out and the warm air in.

LESLIE: And also ahead this hour, since you’re about to be spending so much more time indoors with the chillier seasons across the U.S. upon us, you might be doing a bit of furniture polishing. And we’ve got an item that you should really think about including in your toolkit. It’s toothpaste. Ah, toothpaste. That’s right. We are going to teach you a brand new way to use this medicine chest staple to keep your furniture in tiptop shape in just a few minutes.

TOM: And laminate countertops are a great and inexpensive choice for kitchen countertops, but they do take a beating. So if yours are looking a bit worse for wear, we’re going to have some tips that you need to get your counters back into tiptop shape.

LESLIE: And of course we’ve got a terrific prize for you this hour. It’s a Ryobi AIRgrip ProCross laser level. Say that 15 times fast. It’s worth 70 bucks and it’s going to one caller chosen at total random who ask their question on the air at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

TOM: 888-666-3974. Pick up the hammer, pick up the nail but pick up the phone first and call us. Let’s get right to the phones.

Leslie, who’s first?

LESLIE: Mary in New Jersey has a question about radon. What’s going on at your house?

MARY: I have a dirt crawlspace like under my house.

TOM: OK.

MARY: And it’s under – we have a full basement under part of the house and then a crawlspace. And the crawlspace, I was worried about that. Like are we losing feet there? Should we be putting like plastic on the floor and do we have to worry about radon?

TOM: Well, a couple of things. First of all, let’s talk about the plastic vapor barrier on the floor of the crawlspace. That’s always a good idea because that stops the moisture from evaporating up off the soil and getting into the house space.

In terms of radon, radon is tested in the lowest living space of the house. So in your case that would be the basement. If you’ve never tested for radon it’s a good idea. The fact that you have a crawlspace is not going to increase or decrease the risk of having a radon problem. You could have it regardless because, as far as the radon is concerned, it’s going to go right through your concrete floor just as fast as it’ll go through your dirt floor.

MARY: Oh.

TOM: So if you’ve never tested for it I would encourage you to do that. Northern New Jersey, some parts of it are certainly known for having high radon levels. If you did test it and it came out high you could install a radon mitigation system which, again, is not incredibly expensive – I mean it’s not cheap but it’s probably in the $5,000 range – and that would draw off the radon gas before it gets into the house.

MARY: Oh, OK. And as far as the vapor barrier, is that just like plastic that you just roll out in …?

TOM: Yes, plastic. Yep. Yeah, go ahead and put …

MARY: How far up the sides? Do you go up the sides or just right …

TOM: You don’t necessarily have to go up the sides. What you can do is roll it out across the entire dirt floor. Try to use as few seams as possible. If you have to use multiple pieces of plastic viscuine then overlap it about three feet.

MARY: OK, thank you – what about insulation of the beams above the crawlspace? That …

TOM: Good idea to insulate the floor above an unfinished crawlspace. Use unfaced fiberglass bats. They can be …

MARY: Unfaced?

TOM: Unfaced, that’s right. No paper. No foil face. They can be supported in between the floor joists with wire insulation hangers. They’re like long pieces of wire that sort of get sprung, bent and sort of stick in between the two floor joists to support the bats in place.

MARY: Oh, OK. Very good. Well thank you so much.

TOM: Alright, Mary. Hopefully that warms you up this winter. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Neil in Kansas, welcome to The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

NEIL: Yeah, we’ve got a house that’s a little over 100 years old and I mean I’ve noticed a little bit of settling on it. But this winter there was a draft coming off the one side of the house and then down on the floor I noticed the gaps between the floorboard and the walls. Is that normal or is that (INAUDIBLE) a worse problem (INAUDIBLE)?

TOM: Sometimes you get settlement where there’s separation between the floor and the wall. You know, a good product to seal that up is called Great Stuff. It’s an expandable foam sealant. You spray it in that area and then walk away. Don’t touch it. Let it dry. Then you can trim off the excess. And once you trim off the excess you can actually paint it. If it’s a painted baseboard moulding it’ll sort of be camouflaged right in with it. You won’t see it anymore.

NEIL: Yeah, you can’t see it unless you pull the carpet up. I was just wondering what – if that just (INAUDIBLE).

TOM: Well, if you have carpet, now you’re going to have to – you want to use that expandable foam sealant you’re going to have to mask off the carpet because it will get on there.

NEIL: OK, (INAUDIBLE).

TOM: Alright. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: You are tuned to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show and if you’ve got a problem at home that you just can’t figure out in the home improvement department, then pick up the phone and give us a call 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

TOM: 888-666-3974.

Leslie, what’s the one room in the house that everybody hangs out in when you have a party? It’s the kitchen.

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Oh, the kitchen.

TOM: That’s right. And if you have kitchen countertops that are made out of laminate and they’ve been scarred and burned and dirtied and dulled by all of the traffic that goes through your kitchen, we’re going to give you some tips to get them back in tiptop shape, next.

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ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is brought to you by Therma-Tru, the nation’s leading manufacturer of fiberglass entry and patio door systems. Choose the brand more building professionals prefer. And add up to $24,000 to the perceived value of your home. For more information, visit ThermaTru.com.

TOM: Making good homes better. Welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show where our motto is measure twice, cut once and always paint over your mistakes. (Leslie chuckles) I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. And if you give us a call right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT we are giving away a great prize this hour to one caller who calls into the Money Pit at 888-MONEY-PIT, asks their question on the air. Then we’re going to put your name in the Money Pit hardhat and we’re going to choose one name at random and the prize this hour is the Ryobi ProCross self-leveling laser level with AIRgrip. Man, that is a mouthful. And it’s so cool because the AIRgrip, it allows your laser level to cling to the walls, any surfaces that you’re working on and it’s not going to leave a mark anywhere. It’s got no marring. It’s pretty amazing. And it’s got a lot of great features, including horizontal, vertical and even intersecting laser beams as well as a self-leveling mechanism and a fine adjustment knob. So this is great for laying tile, putting up moulding. It will really help you get a job that’s really on the straight and narrow. It’s worth 70 bucks but it could be yours for free if we talk to you on the air this hour. Again, the number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

TOM: 888-666-3974.

Let’s talk about that kitchen. If your laminate countertop has cracks, burns or knife scars, a plastic filler made for the purpose can actually help smooth things out. Now, before you begin the repair you need to make sure that the surface is prepared and this is one of those situations where you do need to read the directions. Because basically you’re trying to bind two different materials here. These plastic fillers, they work great but only if you put them on properly and sometimes you have to do a bit of sanding and a special topcoat and your countertop will look just like new, but only if you follow those step-by-step instructions.

Do you need some step-by-step instructions to help you with another home improvement project? Call us right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Ann in Connecticut, welcome to The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

ANN: Hi, we put in a pearl hot tub, oh, probably a couple of years ago when we were building our house. And unfortunately, when I did the painting, I missed some spackles of paint on the tub itself. It’s baby blue and I got most of it but I’ve got little, tiny specks that have been on there now for quite a while. Is there any way to get them off?

LESLIE: And this is a fiberglass hot tub?

ANN: Yes.

LESLIE: What about – have you tried using a rubbing compound? Like very, very delicately. You know, don’t be too aggressive with it. If you just carefully take a little bit of the rubbing compound on a damp cloth and then just sort of, in a circular motion, quickly go over the paint area, it should lift it right off. Then you can go ahead and wax that area.

ANN: OK. Well, so it’s a rubbing compound for like an auto or is there a special thing that I should look for?

TOM: The kind of rubbing compound that you use for your car. It’s available at, you know, Pep Boys and other auto part stores and places like that.

ANN: Fabulous. Well, I’ll give it a try. Thanks.

TOM: Alright. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Harold in Arkansas has a roofing question. What’s going on?

HAROLD: I have a metal roof on my house. It’s been on there – it’s one of these painted, rib panel roofs. It’s been on my house about 30 years …

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

HAROLD: … and the enamel paint is coming off and the galvanize is starting to show through. And I was wondering what y’all would recommend; what kind of paint to put on it. I’d rather put paint on it than cool seal because it’s painted a sand color and I’d like it to look like it did before – when it was new.

TOM: So what I would recommend that you do is to scrape, prime and paint. So you’re going to want to abrade it to get rid of all of the loose, flaky paint. Then you’re going to want to prime it with a good quality, metal primer and then I would use an oil-based topcoat. And a couple of layers of that should last you quite a long time. Now paint on a metal roof actually lasts a lot longer than paint, say, on the outside of your house and the reason is this: with a metal roof you don’t have the expansion and contraction; you don’t have the moisture that gets into it. So if it adheres correctly, that paint job can last you 20, 25 years.

LESLIE: There’s actually a great website. There’s a company called Calbar. Calbar Inc. is their website and they make acrylic elastameric roof paint, primers, sealers specifically for metal roofs and siding and they’ve been in the business 85 years. They’re website is very user-friendly. They offer a lot of colors. They sell the products. They also offer the services to do it. So it might be something you want to look into there.

TOM: Harold, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Ron in Michigan, welcome to The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

RON: Leslie, I’m trying to find out how to work on a landscape during the winter time in Michigan and I’m a novice at this and I …

LESLIE: So are you looking to start from scratch or are you looking to work with what you have or are you trying to preserve what you’ve got through the winter season?

RON: Starting from scratch?

LESLIE: Whoo. All new plants or sort of trimming back what’s there and adding to it?

RON: I’m going to develop a new plot; probably, I was thinking, something four feet wide. I didn’t know if it was going to go in a circle. I guess it depends on what designs I run across and, as far as being in Michigan, what type of plants would I get, you know, or what ideas could I get from that. So you can see I’m kind of struggling where to start.

LESLIE: Well, I think your best bet, Ron, is number one, head to the magazine stand and look at a ton of exterior garden design magazines and just start taking a look at what sort of layout, what type of plants, what colors, what sort of feel or motivation or movement inspires you in what you see and might work for what you’ve got in your yard. And then I think, you know, March/April is a good time to start thinking about actually planting things.

And I think at that point you might want to sit down with a landscape designer or a garden designer because, number one, they’re going to know the best plants for your region since you and I both don’t know that answer. They’re going to know what’s going to work well, what’s going to require a minimum amount of water, less maintenance; especially if you’re not so skilled in the garden area at this point. And I think if you work with a pro initially and learn about the process, learn about the plants, learn about the maintenance and then go ahead and take it on your own after that.

You know, the start-off point is the hardest and, really, the biggest problem is soil cultivation. You want to make sure that the soil is prepped and ready to, you know, take all of those plantings because you don’t want to put a plant into, you know, non-nourished soil that’s not going to thrive and then you’ll end up wasting your investment. Plus, a lot of these garden centers and a lot of these pros will ensure the plantings. So if you go to the store and buy a plant and plant it yourself and it dies, you’re out whatever the money it was to do that. If a pro comes in and does it and it doesn’t stand up so well, even up to a year a lot of these folks will replace it. So it might make sense to do that initial investment with someone who can help you get the best results and then take it from there.

RON: What if you really didn’t want to, you know, involve a professional? Is there another way to, you know, scour the web or someplace to that would show, for my area, what’s available?

LESLIE: Oh, absolutely. Do you have a favorite local garden center that you know of in your area? Find somebody locally. Like we have one in my neighborhood called Hicks and when everything is going all completely blooey in my backyard I head over there. I say, you know, “We’ve got this shady area. It’s not working out. What can I do?” They know where I live. They know what type of plants work well for the region. So they really can help me through the process and through all of that, you know, in the few years that we’ve owned the house, we’ve cultivated quite a nice little garden back there; really based on the knowledge of all the folks at the garden center. So they really are a good resource and in the winter it’s kind of slow over there so you can head over and spend a lot of time brain picking.

RON: OK. That’s an idea.

TOM: There’s a good place to start.

Ron, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Jeff in New York has a question about a water pump. What’s going on?

JEFF: I have a two-story house in the country and I have a water pump in the basement …

TOM: OK.

JEFF: … and every time I turn the water on either, wherever it is – on the first floor or the second floor – I hear this rumbling that goes on for, I don’t know, 60 seconds, two minutes, three minutes.

TOM: Mm-hmm.

JEFF: And I’m not sure how to quiet that down; if there’s some kind of enclosure you can put on it or is that more than just a pump, is that the water heater itself.

TOM: Sounds like air in the system. You have a well water system?

JEFF: Yes.

TOM: Alright, so when you turn it on you get all this noise, all this rumbling as the system pressurizes.

JEFF: Mm-hmm.

TOM: Yeah, well that’s probably the air sort of moving through the system and that’s not unusual. You know, in most cases you leave the pump on all the time. Since you are turning yours on and off, you are going to get some air and some noise on startup. That’s not unusual and shouldn’t have any effect on the function of the system whatsoever.

JEFF: But is there any way to quiet that down? It’s sort of an annoyance to have that rumbling going on. Or is that part of – is that also part of it’s heating the water?

TOM: Yes, when it’s real cold like that and the heaters come on, sometimes you get some, you know, expansion and contraction in the tank that can make sort of a rumbling, buckling kind of a sound.

JEFF: Mm-hmm.

TOM: And again, that’s not that unusual. When you have a vacation house like that where you’re turning the water completely off and then reheating it and repressurizing your entire house you’re going to get some noise in the plumbing system. You’re saying it only lasts you a few minutes so I wouldn’t – you know, listen. Walk back out of the house for five minutes, you know (Leslie chuckles), and turn it on.

JEFF: Yeah.

TOM: I don’t think it’s a terrible problem and certainly not one worth correcting.

JEFF: So it has nothing to do with enclosing the pump itself?

TOM: No. That would – you know, all that would do would be – you know, it might soften it a little bit but seems like kind of an extreme solution.

LESLIE: We’re going to talk to drafty Dan in Rhode Island. What’s going on?

DAN: I have an older home that I purchased back in March. So I’m finding out new things all the time. Of all places, I’m getting drafts through wall outlets.

TOM: That’s not unusual at all and there’s a simple solution for that, Dan.

DAN: Great.

TOM: What you need to do is get some wall outlet gaskets. There’s actually a foam gasket that’s specifically designed to fit around an outlet – like a two-plugged outlet. They also have them to fit around light switches; either a single light switch or a double light switch; a small narrow one or the big décor switches. And the way you install those is you remove the switchplate on the outside of the outlet or the light switch and then you put this rubber gasket or foam gasket behind that and then you reinstall the switch plate and it does a great job of sealing those gaps out.

DAN: OK. I mean I noticed on a couple of the switches the hole that was cut out wasn’t exactly, you know, like true square. Would that make up for any gaps from like an uneven cut in the drywall?

TOM: If you have a big gap around there there’s another thing that you could use and that’s a product called Great Stuff, which is …

LESLIE: One of those expandable foams.

TOM: Expandable foam sealant.

DAN: Oh, that’s what I was thinking of to try and – yep.

TOM: Yep. That works well. Now the trick of the trade there is to spray it around that hole and then walk away. Don’t try to clean it up. Just let it dry. Then after it dries …

LESLIE: Yeah, and under spray.

TOM: Yeah, don’t put too much because it does expand a lot. And then after it dries, you can go back with a knife and cut the excess off. But just walk away after you spray it. Let it harden and it’s really easy to manage from there.

DAN: Yeah, well, I know that product well. I’ve used – I’ve done a basement door that I put in

TOM: It works very, very well. And by the way, if you’re going to use it for doors there’s a special formulation for doors that doesn’t expand and force the door to sort of swell shut. So make sure you choose the right one for the product that you’re using.

Well, Dan, good luck with that home improvement project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: More great home improvement advice, including some information that you are going to scratch your heads about: why you should be putting toothpaste on your furniture. We guarantee it is going to make you and your furniture smile. We’ll tell you why, after this.

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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: Welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com. You can listen to this show whenever you want to on our website at MoneyPit.com. Just sign up for our free Money Pit podcast and we will deliver this show to your iPod, to wherever you like to listen to it, to your cell phone every, single weekend automatically. It’s all available for free at MoneyPit.com.

LESLIE: Gosh, technology is amazing yet it doesn’t seem to cancel out the fact that I am a total neat freak. When that robot comes to my house and does all that cleaning, then I will say …

TOM: Then you’ll be there?

LESLIE: … “Yay, technology has balanced out my cleaning OCD.” (Tom chuckles) But if you’re like me and you love everything to be totally neat and crispy and sparkly and lovely all across your house, you probably think that coasters are your best friends. However, if you find that your coasters don’t get used as often as you like or maybe you had a big party and somebody left a glass somewhere over the holidays and you ended up with some water rings – you know those white marks on your furniture that are bound to drive you crazy? – well, that’s the result of the moisture from that glass, you know, condensation being trapped under the finish or the wax of your tabletop. And if you want to take that bite out of those stains, all you need to do – and I know this sounds crazy but it does work because I do this once a summer at our farm table out at my family’s summer home – you want to apply toothpaste to a damp cloth and then rub it into the ring and when you’re finished, just buff the entire surface and those rings will be gone. Well, until you have the next party and you’ve got to do it again. (laughs)

TOM: 888-666-3974. You got a cleaning question? You got a grouting question? Is your waterbed suddenly leaking and it’s coming through the ceiling? We can help. Give us a call right now. 888-666-3974.

LESLIE: Norma in Arkansas is dealing with an HVAC situation. How can we help you with it?

NORMA: I want to know which do you think is the best: to put the heat and air up under the floor – where it comes in the floor – or up overhead where it comes down from the ceiling.

TOM: In Arkansas I want to make sure that my house is cooling properly so I’m absolutely going to put the ducts down at the floor level. If you put the ducts up in the ceiling the air is never going to drop down.

NORMA: Mm-hmm, that’s what we thought but the guy, he wanted to put it from overhead. So we don’t want it that way. We want it coming up from the floor.

TOM: Well, are you using one duct system, Norma, for heating and air conditioning? Is that correct?

NORMA: One system. Heat and air system.

TOM: OK, there is a way to install ducts where you can sort of have your cake and eat it too and that is where you drop the duct down the wall with two supply registers; one up high and one down low. And what happens is in the winter time you close the upper register so that the heat comes out the bottom. And in the summer time you close the bottom register so that the cold air comes out the top. And many years ago this is the way all HVAC ducted systems were installed but because, you know, folks are trying to cut costs, it stopped. But it shouldn’t add that much expense to it. It’s just a matter of ducting in an extra register. You’d have twice as many registers on the walls but one would be up high and one would be down low and you would operate them based on season.

NORMA: Well, we’ll talk about that then. (Leslie chuckles)

TOM: Alright, Norma, you do that. That is the solution to your problem. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Matt in Michigan’s got a moldy situation. That’s a lot of Ms. Matt, what’s going on?

MATT: Hey, I live in a house we bought about four years ago and the house is about 38 years old. Well, the beginning of every winter we notice condensation on the ceilings near the exterior walls. Single-story house and there’s – you know, there’s ventilation but there’s no attic or anything; you know, no livable attic up there. And we’ve tried to control it just with a dehumidifier in the basement and that doesn’t seem to solve anything. So I’m just wondering what may be a cause of this condensation and then – which, you know, grows mold eventually.

TOM: Well, the cause of the condensation is because that area of the wall is colder than the rest of the wall. And the reason that could happen is because there could be voids in the insulation there. There’s a tool called an infrared scanner that essentially allows an energy auditor to see through your walls and look for those types of spaces and once they’re identified then they can be insulated with like a blown-in insulation product or something like that. If you want to try to do a better job of controlling the humidity, instead of putting dehumidifier in the basement we would recommend that you install a whole-home dehumidifier. This is a type of humidifier that’s actually built into your entire HVAC system and, hence, it controls humidity in all rooms of the house; not just the basement portion of the house.

Now, if you see mold start to form in these spots, you want to attack it very quickly. You want to spray the area down with a bleach and water solution and if you stay on top of it then I don’t you have any safety or health issues. But don’t let it get out of hand because then it can really kind of grow crazily and really impact you guys.

MATT: Right, yeah. So, the whole-house dehumidifiers. I wasn’t aware those were made. Where do you get those?

TOM: Aprilaire makes a great one. It’s Aprilaire.com and they have to be installed by your local HVAC contractor. It’s a permanently installed unit but when they’re functioning they take out 90 pints of water a day.

MATT: Hmm, wow. OK. And I’ve heard of, basically, baffles go in the rafters near the roof.

TOM: Mm-hmm.

MATT: Would that kind of thing help out in this situation to bring cold air further up into the attic?

TOM: Well, the insulation baffle, what that does is it presses down the ceiling insulation at the roof overhang so that the soffit vents will work and ventilate the entire roof space. So that really is disconnected from what we’re talking about here in terms of a cold spot in the wall. That actually happens above that.

MATT: OK. OK. Alright, well thanks for your help.

TOM: You’re welcome, Matt. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: You are tuned to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. And you might think that drafty windows are the only way that you’re getting air leaks around your house. But you’ve got some bigger holes to think about. In fact, your outer walls have a lot of things going on and a lot of leaks that you don’t even know about. But we’re going to tell where to start and how to fix them, after this.

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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, welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Call us now with your home improvement question. Call us now with your do-it-yourself dilemma. Call us if your low-flow toilet has suddenly become a no-flow toilet. We can help. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. If you call right now you’ll get the answer to your home improvement question and an opportunity to win a great prize. We’re giving away the Ryobi AIRgrip ProCross laser level. It’s worth 70 bucks and it includes three laser functions. It will work horizontally, vertically or in crosshair feature. Plus it’s got a 50-foot laser line and a 360 degree laser rotation. Basically, it’s your high-tech home decorating, home remodeling tool that you really can’t live without. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. It’s going to go to one caller chosen at random from this hour’s show.

LESLIE: Hey, and maybe you’re picking up the pone to give us a call about that mysterious draft that you’re feeling around the house. Well, with chillier weather happening across the country this time of year, you could be feeling those drafts and not be exactly sure where they’re coming from. Well, here’s a tip. Your outlets on any exterior walls of your home, they could be a big source of hidden air leaks. But it’s an easy problem to fix because they can be easily sealed.

To do that, you want to turn off the power; remove that outlet or light cover place – whatever is that you’re dealing with on that exterior wall; and then you can go ahead and install inexpensive foam gaskets. And these are basically little foam sheets that are cut to look exactly like either the outlet cover or the switchplate cover and they just go right on the backside. Or you can get one of those spray foam sealants and just fill in that cavity because there’s a lot of space in there that’s causing all those leaks. Whichever method you choose, that’s going to seal out those drafts and it’s going to stop those energy dollars from leaking right out of your wallet. This way you can save up for the holidays for next year.

TOM: 888-666-3974.

Are you thinking about making some energy-saving improvements to your house? We can help. Give us a call right now.

Leslie, who’s next?

LESLIE: Greg in Colorado is looking to seal a floor. Tell us about your project.

GREG: I got a project going on in the garage and I would like – maybe you guys can help recommend a product that I can put down on a concrete floor to seal the floor; not only seal it, to maybe give me some nonstick surface as well that’ll tolerate gasoline, grease, things of this nature. But also I do a lot of welding so I’d like something that may not – is a little …

TOM: Ignite? (chuckling)

GREG: Yes.

LESLIE: (chuckling) Burst into flames.

GREG: Not only ignite but there’s hot cinders that – from welding that go onto the floor that perhaps may burn the floor. Something maybe a little resistant to that as well.

TOM: Well, that’s a pretty tall order, Greg.

LESLIE: Yeah.

TOM: You’re talking about some sort of a real industrial floor and not something that’s going to be very readily available. Generally, when it comes to concrete floors, if you want something that’s really durable, you would do an epoxy paint, which is a two-part mixture …

GREG: I see.

TOM: … where you would mix epoxy with a hardener and then apply that. And I’ll give you an example of it. I don’t know if it’s as tough as welding but it’s pretty darn close. We have a Boy Scout house in my neighborhood that needed a new floor; solid concrete. They poured it with the epoxy paint and so far the scouts haven’t been able to dig through it and that was about a year ago.

GREG: OK.

TOM: And it worked real well. There’s a couple of manufacturers that make that. QUIKRETE makes an epoxy paint as does Rust-Oleum.

GREG: OK. QUIKRETE and Rust-Oleum. OK.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: It’s not too terribly expensive so if you do end up, you know, scarring it up from the welding work you can always put a new coat on every couple of years.

GREG: (INAUDIBLE)

LESLIE: And you know what else? There’s also – oh, I’m sorry. You know, also, if you do that epoxy coating, you know, with the paint across the entire floor, then, Greg, you can go ahead and buy something that’s called an anti-static mat, which is used a lot in the heavy-duty shops, especially where welding is done. Because you know, these are super protective; they’re durable; they won’t ignite and they come in a variety of sizes and you could put that down on the floor in your welding area and get a good sized one to sort of contain your sparks, if you will.

Pauline in Massachusetts, welcome to The Money Pit. What’s going on at your house?

PAULINE: Well, what’s going on in my house is that on my bathroom window and also my den window, which are both on the same side of the house, there’s a water mark as though there was a spill on the window sills all on the right side. And it looked a little blown up. I was away and I came home and it was a little blown up and now it’s dried up but we’re left with water marks as though there’s still a spill on it but they’re dry. What can I do or is there a possibility that it’s not dry somewhere else underneath?

LESLIE: This is on the sill; not on the glass, correct?

PAULINE: Yeah, on the sill and a little in the bathroom where there’s a Jacuzzi underneath – you know, it’s flush against that wall – which wasn’t used at all.

TOM: I think you’re going to have to keep an eye on it because we need to know if it’s still active or not.

PAULINE: No, it’s not active now. It’s totally dry.

TOM: OK.

PAULINE: But it looks as though there had been a spill there, you know, and now it’s stained. It’s sort of – it’s the same color but it looks – it has a water mark like you get sometimes in carpeting; that line.

TOM: I understand. But it’s on the window sill. Is the window sill …

PAULINE: It’s on both sills.

TOM: The sills are painted or stained?

PAULINE: Painted.

TOM: OK, well then this is easy to fix. Do you happen to have any of that paint around?

PAULINE: Yeah.

TOM: Good. Don’t put it on before you put a primer step on first.

PAULINE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: OK? You’ve got to use a primer coat because what’ll happen is if you try to repaint that with a water stain …

PAULINE: Yeah.

TOM: … that stain will pull right through the paint and show up again and you’ll just be …

PAULINE: Oh, OK.

TOM: You know, you’ll be hating yourself. So …

PAULINE: Is there any particular kind of primer? Is there a kind that I have to use?

TOM: If it’s just a little water stain like that, you can use a water-based primer. You can go out and pick up a Behr water-based primer or a KILZ water-based primer. Get a little small can of it. They come in the pint-sized can. Get one of those foam brushes as you have a really small paint job here …

PAULINE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: … and do a coat of primer first. Prime the entire sill; not just the spot.

PAULINE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: Because otherwise, when you put the paint on it won’t sort of lay right.

LESLIE: Not going to match.

TOM: Yeah. Well, it’s like rougher in one area than the other. And then just repaint the sill.

PAULINE: How long do I wait in between the processes?

TOM: Just enough for the primer to dry; you know, an hour or so if it’s a warm day. Shouldn’t be a problem.

PAULINE: OK. Thank you so much. I appreciate your help.

TOM: You’re welcome, Pauline. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

You are tuned to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show.

Up next, we love our pets but they don’t always smell that pretty. We can fix that though. We’re going to give you some tips to eliminate pet odors, next.

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ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is being brought to you by – well, by us. Save hundreds a month on groceries, not to mention significant savings on home improvement products and services with your new Money Pit American Homeowners Association membership. And get $50 in Zircon tools if you join in the next 30 minutes. Call now. 866-REAL-HOME. That’s 866-REAL-HOME. Now here are Tom and Leslie.

TOM: Welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. We’re back with more how-to and, more importantly, how-not-to home improvement tips. Call us right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT if you find yourself in either category. We won’t judge. We’re here to help you get the job done. And if you’re a bit shy and don’t want to pick up the phone, you can always log onto our website at MoneyPit.com and send us an e-mail by clicking on Ask Tom and Leslie.

LESLIE: Alright, and we’ve got one here from Ron in West Warwick, Rhode Island who writes: “I have to paint my home next spring or summer and I keep hearing about these vinyl sprays with a lifetime warranty. What’s up with them and are they worth it or should I just use paint or have my home resided?”

TOM: There’s no such thing as lifetime paint, Ron …

LESLIE: Yeah, no way.

TOM: … and that’s what those products tout to be, essentially. You know, they basically claim that you can spray them on and never have to paint your house again and that’s just not true. We hear a lot, a lot of complaints about those products all around the country. We know there’s big advertising budgets behind them and there’s a lot of arm twisting. But it just doesn’t seem to work. A lot of complaints associated with it with mold and rot and peeling and cracks and things like that. Lots of lawsuits. And so, just not a good thing to do.

If you want to paint your house, then paint your house. Do it the right way. Prime it first, then paint it. You’ll get a paint job that’ll last you a good 10 or 15 years. Or take the next step and go with vinyl siding. But the cure-it-all sprays that they claim will just take the place of a good vinyl-sided job, not going to happen.

LESLIE: Yeah, it’s just too good to be true, Ron.

Alright, we’ve got another here from Jay in Fredericksburg, Virginia who writes: “How do we eliminate a cat odor in a house that we just purchased? We removed the carpet and the padding and the top layer of the subfloor is particleboard, which seems to be stained and swollen in some spots. I intend to replace the worst sections of this subfloor but didn’t really want to do the entire thing. Should we paint the subfloor to seal it or is there another product that will help eliminate the odor?”

Now, I’ve used something. It’s from a company called Just Rite and the product is called 1-2-3 Odor Free and we used it quite a bit when we were training our puppy Daisy who’s now full-grown and, thankfully, very trained. But you know, unfortunately, things get through to the carpet pad and the subfloor and their products are, you know, a natural enzyme and you sort of inject it through the carpet into the subfloor and since you’re already exposed you’ll be able to apply it directly to the subfloor and it neutralizes this bacteria that causes that, you know, excessive odor that won’t go away. I say give that a shot and really do replace the areas that are swollen and damaged because that could just cause an uneven base for whatever base you’re going to put on top of that.

TOM: And we used it when we were training spot and it was a good thing that it was available in 55 gallon drums too (Leslie chuckles) because he wasn’t so smart a dog. It took a while for him to catch on. (Tom laughs)

LESLIE: Aw, poor Spot. But he’s a good dog now.

TOM: He’s a good dog now. Yes he is.

LESLIE: Alright, we’ve got one here from Monty in Hobart, Indiana who writes: “I need to build up the grade of the soil around my home to help with the leaky basement this coming summer and the rainy season. How exactly do I do this and what materials will I need?

TOM: Well, you need a good shovel. You need a good wheelbarrow and you need some …

LESLIE: A strong back.

TOM: Strong back and you need a truckload of clean fill dirt.

LESLIE: Not topsoil.

TOM: Now, the most important thing is the soil choice. That’s right. If you choose topsoil, which is what most people would think is the natural choice, that product is very, very organic so it tends to act like a sponge and hold water around your house, Monty. So what you want to do is order up clean fill dirt from your local landscape supply, add that to the foundation perimeter and make sure you tamp it down. Now, the slope that you want to get is one where it extends – drops about six inches over four feet so it’s a nice, even, about 10-degree slope. Top that off with some grass or some stone or mulch. That will prevent erosion and you’ll be good to go next summer.

LESLIE: Yeah, and it’s really smart that you’re associating this grade with the leaky basement because that is going to fix that problem right away.

TOM: You’ve been listening to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show available on air and online at MoneyPit.com. Thank you so much for spending this hour with us. Remember, if you are struck with a home improvement question at any time of the day or night you can always call us at 1-888-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.

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(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.)

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