Transcripts

Transcript For March 1, 2008, Hour 2

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:

(theme song)

[audio timestamp: 0:25]

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 right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT with your home improvement question, your do-it-yourself dilemma. If you’ve started a project and got stuck, remember our motto: anything worth starting is worth starting over with us. 888-666-3974.

Coming up today we’re going to talk kitchens. It’s probably the room that you might spend the most time in but if it’s not set up right it could be giving you a pretty major workout. We’re going to have some design tips to help you save all that lifting in just a bit.

LESLIE: Plus, are the dings, dents and scratches in your hardwood floor starting to make them look pretty bad? Well, let’s put the positive spin on this. Why not focus on what looks good and make them charming instead of fretting over the negative? We’ve got a fun, creative idea – painting floors – that can really turn around the look of that tired hardwood.

TOM: Now, you know, there are folks listening right now, Leslie, saying …

LESLIE: What?!

TOM: … “Painting a floor! Oh, no!”

LESLIE: Not for everyone.

TOM: Why would I want to paint my beautiful hardwood floor.

LESLIE: It’s not for everyone but if you’re crafty, creative, looking for something different and very personal it’s for you.

TOM: Alright, and also ahead, one of the most popular outdoor projects is installing a paver patio or even a paver driveway. These are kind of like putting together a big jigsaw puzzle. They’re a very fun project. We’re going to have some tools, some tips and some techniques that are going to make paving any surface that much easier.

LESLIE: Ah, and here’s the prize that could actually make it easier. We’re giving away the Ryobi AIRgrip Pro-Cross laser level. You can’t stick it to a wall in that project but you can certainly draw out a laser line so you know everything is perfectly straight and square. It’s worth 70 bucks but it goes for free to one lucky caller.

TOM: 888-666-3974. Let’s get right to the phones. Who’s first?

LESLIE: Barbara in South Carolina’s dealing with an oven issue. What’s going on?

BARBARA: Hi, Tom and Leslie. I discovered when I was fixing Christmas dinner that I seemed to be burning everything …

TOM: OK.

BARBARA: … and finally determined that my thermostat on my oven was broken. And I’m pretty handy with everything and replaced the eyes (ph) and so forth. Is there any way I can replace that thermostat?

TOM: You absolutely can. It’s not that terribly difficult to do. The key here is getting the thermostat part itself. I’m going to recommend a website called RepairClinic.com and on that website you can actually first select the brand of oven and then you select the type of part. You’d select thermostat. And it sort of drills you down into the exact part that you need and some of these thermostat parts are, you know, pretty expensive. I was looking on their site and it looks like anywhere from like four to 30 bucks for a thermostat and they’ll actually give you the step-by-step instructions on how to do it yourself; whether it’s electric or gas, they’ll walk you through it.

LESLIE: And that’s good because those instructions are specific to your type of oven, so you’ll really be skilled in tackling this.

BARBARA: OK, that sounds good. Thirty dollars doesn’t sound bad at all.

TOM: No, it’s cheaper than …

BARBARA: I was expecting even a bit more.

TOM: Cheaper than hiring someone to do it.

BARBARA: I know and then I priced a new oven and I’m – I mean a new stove and I’m talking about like $1,500 or something so that sounds great.

TOM: Well, if you really want a new stove, Barbara, then you can use this as the excuse. OK?

BARBARA: OK. Thank you so much.

TOM: (overlapping voices) (chuckling) Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974.

LESLIE: You know, Tom, when my husband and I lived in a rental apartment in Queens I was wondering why – you know, I’d bake an apple pie and like the crust would be like burnt in five minutes and the pie would be raw.

TOM: Right.

LESLIE: And like cookies were charred and, you know, things were just going totally bananas. And one day I opened up the stove – you know, I had it set at 350 and opened up the oven door and it was so hot it singed my eyelashes off.

TOM: Oh, no. (chuckling)

LESLIE: And let me tell you, it took a long time for them to grow back to normal. But …

TOM: Yeah, because without the thermostat working right it’s just on all the time.

LESLIE: Everything – it was like at 500.

TOM: Right.

LESLIE: I made a turkey in like an hour. Like it was crazy …

TOM: Oh, man.

LESLIE: … and you know, it was the simplest repair but what a disaster.

TOM: You can definitely do it yourself. Barbara, good luck with that project.

LESLIE: Cal in Pennsylvania needs some help with a tiling project. What’s going on?

CAL: I’m retiling my kitchen floor and when I took up the old floor I realized it was mounted on previous linoleum which was on top of particleboard. And what I’m looking to do is properly install tile without tearing up the particleboard and I want to get back to almost exactly the same height as possible.

TOM: Now, is the old tile directly on top of this linoleum that you uncovered?

CAL: Yes, with thinset or some sort of …

TOM: OK, mm-hmm.

CAL: … adhesive.

TOM: And did it seem it stood up OK? Like it didn’t crack or move or become loose? Was it pretty solid?

CAL: There was one cracked tile. These were …

TOM: Right, right.

CAL: … six-inch tiles or eight-inch tiles. There was one cracked tile. It was cracked when I moved into the house three years ago and I don’t know what …

TOM: Well, listen, one cracked tile is not much to worry about. While it’s not technically the correct thing to do, your best bet is probably to put tile right back on the surface that you took it off of and to add some glue and to use a thinset material or a thinset adhesive and try to reglue right to that vinyl floor again. Now, if it held up the first time it’s probably going to hold up the second time.

The best way to do this would be to put a tile backer, but you’re concerned about the height and I understand why. And of course, you want to avoid going any deeper on the tear-out.

But since it worked the first time, I think it’ll be OK the second time. I would caution you, though, to not use a very wide tile. Because wide tiles are more unstable and if there’s any flex in that floor or anything that’s uneven, you’ll get more cracked tiles. But if you stick with something in that eight-inch area or smaller, that you had, I think you’ll probably be OK.

CAL: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

LESLIE: You are tuned to The Money Pit. Give us a call with your home repair or your home improvement question 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Whenever that pipe breaks we are there for you at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

TOM: 888-666-3974.

Up next, tips to turn those old hardwood floors into a charming and welcome part of your home once again. We’ll tell you exactly how to do it, next.

[audio timestamp: 6:34]

(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. Welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Give us a call right now with your home improvement question at 1-888-MONEY-PIT and if the plan works, as predicted, two things will happen. First you’ll get your answer and secondly you’ll get a chance at winning a great prize because we’re giving away a Ryobi Pro-Cross self-leveling laser with AIRgrip. AIRgrip allows this laser level to cling to walls and surfaces without leaving a mark. So it’s got lots of great features including horizontal and vertical and intersecting laser beams and it’s going to help you make sure your home improvement projects come out on the straight and narrow. It’s worth 70 bucks but it could be yours if we talk to you on the air this hour. The number again is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Now, if you win that prize and you like this next idea, it’s the great tool for you because you can use it to help layout a perfect pattern for your painted floor project if this is something you’re into. I’m telling you. It’s not for everybody but those of you who are adventurous to try, it could really look beautiful.

We’re talking about painting your hardwood floors. Especially if you’ve got a hardwood floor that’s really looking worse for the wear; it’s pretty beat up, you could take the time and refinish it and revarnish it and do everything that you need to and start from scratch and have a great opportunity to keep that hardwood floor looking great, or you could sand them down just a little bit and paint them. It really gives your home a nice cottage-y sort of seashore kind of feel if you go with beachy, washy sort of colors. Or you could paint a border around your floor just for some interest. Even if it’s just a stencil border or even you know how inlaid wood floors sometimes have a key pattern around it? You can mimic that with paint. So you don’t have to go crazy or you can a full harlequin pattern on the floor. It’s totally up to you.

If you’re really feeling adventurous, pick up some nice stencils or do some research at a rug store and paint a replica of a beautiful rug on your floor. The ideas are endless. Look through magazines. Get ideas from all over the place. If you’re feeling courageous you can have your hardwood floor looking beautiful and charming in a weekend’s work.

TOM: 888-666-3974. Soup to nuts and floorboards to shingles, call us right now with your home improvement question.

Let’s get back to the phones.

LESLIE: Roger in Dallas Fort Worth calling about a deck question. What can we do for you?

ROGER: I have cedar on my deck. Should I stain that or put a clear coat over that or not?

TOM: Absolutely.

ROGER: Or just leave it natural? Stain it?

TOM: (overlapping voices) Yeah, I would seal it.

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Well you should do something.

ROGER: (overlapping voices) I mean I’m putting like a clear coat …

LESLIE: You want to definitely put something on there because you need to protect it from moisture, from sun damage. So anything – and that’s personal preference whether you go clear coat or whether you go a solid stain or whether you go a semi-transparent stain. It’s totally up to you for the aesthetics but you definitely do need it to help protect your investment.

ROGER: OK, well thank you.

TOM: Thanks so much, Roger.

LESLIE: Mary in New Jersey has a question about moisture in the basement. What’s going on?

MARY: We were looking at a new house in northeastern Pennsylvania …

TOM: OK.

MARY: … which we both loved. Went back one day after a snowstorm. Went into the basement and midline above grade in the basement on a poured concrete wall was a lot of moisture. It was almost like somebody drew a line around and it was wet from midline up. Some places were – obviously looked like water.

TOM: Mary, what’s causing that is condensation. The reason you didn’t see any moisture from the midline down is because the soil on the other side of that wall acts as an insulator. But when the wall is fully exposed it’s going to be super cold. There was probably a lot of humidity in the home at that point in time and so what you saw was condensation on the outside wall.

Once the home is heated; once the basement is heated or at least if there’s a dehumidifier in there then that’s not going to happen anymore. That’s not something I would worry about.

MARY: OK, and it was on the inside wall even – and I was just trying to get – somebody told me it was a common problem but nobody could give me an idea of what excesses would be.

TOM: Well, if it’s – you said it’s a solid concrete wall. Those are very, very structurally stable walls. If you’re not collecting water on the inside I wouldn’t worry too much about it, but again, if you dehumidify the basement, then that’s not going to happen anymore. It’s a simple problem because of the exposed wall being so cold.

LESLIE: Well and also, like Mary had mentioned, you know, there was a substantial snowfall, so you’re dealing with a lot of moisture right up against the home’s foundation walls. So you’re going to see that moisture wicking through the concrete just because of that moisture and the snow sitting right there.

MARY: And as far as buying a new home, this would not be a big concern or considered a structural flaw?

TOM: No, it wouldn’t be to me but before I bought a new home I would have the home inspected …

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Inspection.

TOM: … by a professional home inspector.

MARY: OK.

LESLIE: Even if it’s new.

TOM: You can find one by going to the website for the American Society of Home Inspectors, Mary. It’s ASHI.org. ASHI.org. Those guys are the crème of the crop for the business.

MARY: OK. Thank you so much.

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

LESLIE: Dave in Utah’s putting in a fireplace. How can we help?

DAVE: We have a gas fireplace and the gas fireplace is nice but it’s one of those that has the exhaust that goes – or the vent that goes up the side of the house. And whenever it gets windy it makes some pretty loud noises. It’s like taking a piece of sheet metal and bending it back and forth.

TOM: Hmm. Well, I’m not quite sure that there’s a good solution for this because the specifications for where those vents – you have what’s called a direct-vent fireplace – and by the way, we strongly recommend those over the ventless fireplaces that dump the combustion gas back in the house which is pretty unhealthy for a bunch of reasons. But in terms of the vented fireplace, the specific location of those is dictated by the manufacturer and absolutely no modification is permitted. So we can’t even give you suggestions about, you know, maybe you can modify the vent so that it’s shaped differently or diverting air differently. You just can’t do that because that is all specified by the folks that make these fireplaces and if you change anything you could potentially have an unsafe situation.

LESLIE: Is it worth calling the manufacturer to see if there’s like a flap or a something that can go on the outside that’s activated when the fireplace is in use and therefore open but, you know, closed in a situation where it’s windy and clanging around?

TOM: Certainly that would be the only way that you should be comfortable making any modifications. So contacting the manufacturer is probably the first step; explaining the problem. Chances are it may have happened to somebody else and they may already the solution …

LESLIE: That’s why they moved. (Dave and Leslie chuckle)

TOM: They may already have a solution for it.

DAVE: OK, well I will do that then.

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

LESLIE: Kyle in Indiana is having a tile situation. What’s happening?

KYLE: Hi. Yes, I have some tile on my kitchen floor and a couple places the grout’s starting to come up. When I bought the house they did leave some tiles and a bag of grout. Can this just be filled in or does it need to be replaced or more extensive work done to fix this?

LESLIE: Well, are you seeing actual damage to the tile or is it just the grout is breaking up and sort of moving away?

KYLE: Just the grout is starting to come away in a couple places on a couple of the tiles.

TOM: Well, I think that you certainly can mix up some of that grout and it’s great that you still have it. The one caution I would give to you is that even though it perhaps is the original grout and originally was the exact same …

LESLIE: It’s not going to match the wear and tear.

TOM: Yeah, it was originally the exact same color. The existing grout, no doubt, has gotten dirty over the years, so when you first put it in you may find that it’s very obvious that it’s a patch but as it wears and as it gets dirtier over time and as you’re washing the floor it’ll probably sort of melt right in there. So I think it’s great that you have the existing grout. I would mix some up into a paste-like consistency. I would go for sort of a toothpaste-like consistency and fill in those places. Make sure you get it as clean as possible before you do this …

KYLE: OK.

TOM: … and you should be good to go.

KYLE: Alright, thanks a lot.

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

LESLIE: Vicky in New Mexico is having some issues with the electronic furnace. What can we help you with?

VICKY: Well, I’ve getting a recurrent smell, bad smell, from fumes when the furnace blower cuts on. And I’ve had the local utility company here. They always check for carbon monoxide which, of course, is odorless. They never find that and they say they don’t find any gas source for the fumes and they don’t know what it is. Plus, what’s rather upsetting is I smell it because I’m here for extended period of time and I’ve had a lady friend here. She smelled it. But when the pros come out and check, well, where’s the odor?

TOM: Well, a couple of things could be causing this, Vicky. Is this only happening on the initial startup or do you pretty much smell it all the time?

VICKY: No, it’s been going on since before Christmas.

TOM: Alright, well there’s a couple of things that could cause this. First of all, we want to make sure your heating system is running safely and if you’ve had the utility company check that then I’m going to presume that it is running safely. Secondly, you could – and I hate to say this – but you could have something in your ducts like a rodent that died. And if that happens …

LESLIE: Which could cause a similar smell.

TOM: Yeah. That can cause a very, very similar smell.

VICKY: Pardon me. How would anything get in the ductwork? That has been suggested, but how?

TOM: Well, you know, I’ve got to tell you, Vicky, a mouse only needs a really small space to get in; about the size of …

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Like a quarter of an inch.

TOM: Yeah, well about the size of a finger. I would say a little bit more than a quarter but about the size of your finger they can – a mouse can squeeze in and there’s lots of gaps in ductwork, believe me. So there are places that rodents can get in.

I would suggest that you have your duct system cleaned, as good next step. We know the system is running safely. Get the duct system cleaned and that, I think, is going to take care of it. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: David in Kentucky, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you today?

DAVID: Yes, I have a question on putting a utility sink in my basement. (dog barks) I don’t have a drain.

LESLIE: Because you want to wash that dog? (Tom and David laugh)

DAVID: You’re right. That’s one thing I could do. I didn’t even think about that.

LESLIE: (chuckling) Of course.

DAVID: But I don’t have a drain there. I just have a sump pump hole. (chuckles)

TOM: OK.

DAVID: Can I put my waste drain – drain it into the sump pump hole and have the sump pump pump that waste water out?

TOM: Well, let’s just say that that is not technically correct but I’ve seen it done. The better solution is something called a lift pump and what that is is it looks like about the size of a sump – maybe a bit smaller – and it’s kind of like a sealed plastic bucket that is sort of underneath the utility sink. And what happens is it is float actuated so as the water drains into this reservoir a float comes on when the water gets to the top and kicks on a pump and then it pumps the waste water up high enough so that it could be drained into the main drain waste vent pipe that’s going out of the house.

DAVID: And that’s right there so that wouldn’t be a problem. Are you talking about – I mean how does it get into that pump?

TOM: Well, it actually sits right on the floor under the sink.

DAVID: OK.

TOM: It’s about the size of a small trash can; is kind of the way to describe it.

DAVID: I see.

TOM: And not too hard to install and not terribly complicated or expensive to buy.

DAVID: Well, I appreciate that. I didn’t even know such a thing existed.

TOM: Yep, it does and you’ll find that online, in a plumbing supply house or probably even in a big home center.

DAVID: OK. Awesome.

TOM: Just describe what you want to do and they’ll hook you up with the right parts.

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

Up next, a do-it-yourself paving project just go way easier. We’re going to have the tips, the tools and the techniques you need to know to get the job done right.

[audio timestamp: 18:51]

(theme song)

ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is brought to you by Rheem water heaters. For dependable, energy-efficient tank and tankless water heaters you can trust Rheem. Learn more at SmarterHotWater.com. Now, here are Tom and Leslie.

TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete and we’ve got a great idea for you guys: pavers. Paver a driveway; paver a patio. In fact, if you’re looking for some really eye-catching curb appeal, there’s truly nothing that can kick it up a notch than a beautifully paved driveway or patio. They are so gorgeous and there are so many different sizes, shapes, colors and styles of paving stones that you can use in a lot of different patterns. It doesn’t have to look like your neighbor’s.

TOM: And what I like about it, it is truly a do-it-yourself job. If you – let’s just say if you’re a puzzler –

LESLIE: I’ve done it.

TOM: – you know, you like doing puzzles and you like doing home improvement projects, you can kind of put them together (Leslie chuckles) because that’s how easy this is …

LESLIE: This is the perfect weekend for you.

TOM: It is. Exactly. And actually, the products are coming out now that are making it even easier. With us to talk about that is Frank Owens. He is with QUIKRETE and nobody knows concrete like the guys at QUIKRETE and they’ve been sort of following this trend and have some new products out that will make the project easier.

Hey, Frank.

FRANK: Hi, how are you?

TOM: We are excellent. So talk to us about the trends that you’re seeing in pavers. Are these becoming more and more popular? More paver patios and paver driveways and fewer, perhaps, decks?

FRANK: You know, we’re seeing that kind of trend and we’ve seen it for a number of years where the typical do-it-yourselfer is willing to and interested in taking different paths and trying new and unique things. And decorative concrete and pavers; adding color to, you know, backyards and walkways and that type of thing is really something that is something they can accomplish; you know, a family project or a single do-it-yourselfer can do it and it’s simple as long as some basic steps are taken.

LESLIE: And I think the really important thing and possibly, you know, the area that some people tend not to pay as much attention as they should is the base layout and the preparatory work because if that’s not done properly, your entire paver situation could literally crumble under foot.

TOM: You know, Frank, in all the years I spent – before I got on the air I was professional home inspector and I can’t tell you how many badly installed paver patios I’ve seen that are all roly-poly and the roots are coming through and they just look terrible. But that’s because people are not doing those base steps. So where do you begin?

FRANK: You know, the key is really to plan ahead and, you know, mark out the area that you’re going to first apply your pavers and you’ve got to remove the sod and after that you really need to make sure that you leave and dig down about four inches deeper than you intend the base of your pavers to be. Because as you mentioned, this sub-base for the pavers is the most critical aspect as to whether it’s going to be a satisfactory long-term project. You want to go four inches deep beyond the depth of the paver and use a compactable gravel or stone and not just a sand. This needs to be a product that you can compact and whether – if it’s a large project, I even recommend going to a rental yard and getting a power compacter; the …

TOM: One of those mechanical tampers?

FRANK: Exactly. And if it’s a smaller project or you feel like you want to get a lot of exercise you can use a hand tamper. (Tom and Leslie chuckle) But …

TOM: That’s the aerobic pavers.

FRANK: (chuckling) Right. But a good four inches of compactable crushed gravel and that’s – the way you can tell it’s compactable is it’s varying sizes all the way from very fine, dusty material to about three-quarters of an inch and, you know, fractured stone. And that will really give you a good, solid sub-base.

LESLIE: And then you go ahead and put sand on top of that, correct?

FRANK: Yes, you can. You know, if you’ve done a very good, solid compaction job, oftentimes you can just put the paver right over top of it. But what the sand will allow you to do is it gives you a little bit of leeway, you know, so you can pull some sand away or add a little bit more to get that flat. Because what you’re going to want to do is – you know, you’re going to want to make sure your slab is level. Unless it’s up against the home you want to make sure that it slopes away from the home.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: Right.

FRANK: But a good layer of patio paver base sand will allow you to kind of manipulate up and down pavers and add sand or subtract as necessary.

TOM: We’re talking to Frank Owens. He’s a vice president with QUIKRETE Companies and, Frank, when you get done with the base coat and then you have a thin layer of sand and you’ve got your pavers in and you have to put, then, another type of sand on top of that – and you guys make one called jointing sand – how is that different from, say, the sand that’s underneath or from any other type of, say, playground-type sand?

FRANK: Well, typically the sand that you put between the joints and pavers is all the same gradation. It’s a very fine, consistent size; where …

LESLIE: But this is just like the swept-in sand. This is your final step, correct?

FRANK: That’s correct. And we actually have two different varieties. We have a standard sand – it’s called jointing sand – that’s a very fine sand and we have a new product called PowerLoc that’s polymer modified; that actually locks your pavers in place. But those sands differ in the size and these are very consistent and very fine; where your play sands and all-purpose sands tend to have a wider variation in sand sizes.

TOM: Well, what a great spring project to tackle.

Now, Frank, when you’re done with putting in the jointing sand and the PowerLoc sand, on an ongoing basis is there additional maintenance that QUIKRETE recommends for paver patios?

FRANK: Well, on the PowerLoc sand this product is designed to sweep the sand into the joints. You then mist the sand and it locks it into place. It actually – the sand becomes …

LESLIE: Like a mortar.

FRANK: … very – exactly – very firm. And the beauty of that, it will not only lock the pavers in place but it’ll prevent weeds from growing up or insects from coming up and it’s – it is a natural polymer. It’s actually an organic polymer that we use and – like if your pavers were to shift a little bit the sand would actually remend itself so it doesn’t form a crack and it’ll keep your pavers stationary in place, so all that work you did in doing the right compaction you don’t have to worry about water penetrating and getting down and eroding your sub-base. It just makes that project that much more long term and durable.

LESLIE: If, say, you need to remove a paver at some point – maybe there’s a stain on it you can’t get out and you want to flip it over – is it possible to sort of break them apart?

FRANK: Oh, yeah. The PowerLoc polymer sand, it really just – it bonds the sand together to – you know, it’s not like a concrete.

LESLIE: OK.

FRANK: The PowerLoc is a product that you don’t really need to use only in a new installation. If you have a weathered patio and you have grass coming up through it, I mean it’s a great aftermarket product. You just pressure wash it and you can put the – you know, the new sand in there. But it’s – you know, it’s not like a concrete. It’s actually like a very, very firm gel.

LESLIE: Oh, interesting.

FRANK: Yeah, it’s pretty neat stuff.

TOM: That’s a great product and a great idea. Frank Owens from QUIKRETE. Thanks for stopping by The Money Pit; filling us in on what it really takes to construct a paver patio today.

If you’d like more information about QUIKRETE, they have a great website – by the way, Frank – with fabulous tips. You guys did a really good job. If you need a tip on a masonry repair project it is there at the QUIKRETE site and that’s at QUIKRETE.com.

FRANK: Thank you very much.

LESLIE: Alright, thanks, Frank. That certainly should help make a lot of those paving projects stay through the long haul.

Alright, well we know that the kitchen is a chore-heavy room, but if you’re doing all the heavy lifting in the kitchen you’re doing something wrong. We’re going to tell you how to avoid stressing and straining, next.

[audio timestamp: 27:04]

(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: Are you a brand new homeowner and wondering which end of the hammer is the bangy-bangy one? (Leslie chuckles) We can help. Experts, novices, do-it-yourselfers, direct-it-yourselfers; pick up the phone and call us right now at 888-MONEY-PIT because this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

I think the better notion for first-time hammer users – and I know that sounds crazy but there are some out there – is, you know, how do you hold the hammer on the actual neck of the hammer. Some people really choke it right up underneath and itself. You need to be relaxed with your hammer, folks. Make it an extension of your arm and enjoy it.

Want some more fun tips? Give us a call throughout this hour at 888-MONEY-PIT and any time you like. But if you call through this hour and you get your question on the air, you’ve got a great chance to be entered in our prize giveaway which is the Ryobi AIRgrip Pro-Cross laser level and I’ve got to look at a note to say that because there’s so many big words. (Tom chuckles) I thought it was like a tongue-twister. It’s worth 70 bucks. It will give you criss-cross, vertical, crosshair, crazy laser lines. You can do just about anything with it. But it could be yours for free, so give us a call at 888-MONEY-PIT.

TOM: 888-666-3974.

I love when you talk about the hammer as the extension of your arm. Is it true that you developed a Pilates exercise using a hammer?

LESLIE: (chuckling) I do all of my exercises with a variety of tools. (Tom laughs) I’m one in zen with my tool belt.

TOM: Well, if you are doing some heavy lifting around your kitchen, you are probably having a bit too much exercise and could use some tips. There are actually several things that you can do to stop giving yourself such a workout.

First of all, if you are tired of carrying pots full of water from the sink to the stove, you might want to think about installing a handy, extra faucet called a pot-filler faucet. It’s a faucet that’s installed right next to the stove. Or, in the alternative, just install an extra long hose to the sink sprayer. This way you can reach over to the stove and fill up the pots there. You don’t have to move them. Because water is pretty heavy. It weighs about eight pounds per gallon.

LESLIE: And also, think about how much your garbage weighs and how much trash your family is generating on a weekly basis. I think it’s something like 40 pounds for a family of four. Am I totally making that up? Why does that sound so familiar to me? So think about getting, maybe, a garbage disposal that can help you rinse some food waste down your sink. Even a trash compactor. It kind of smushes everything down and crushes down all of your non-food waste into these tiny little cubicle packages that are all compressed and lightweight. Anything that you can do to help sort of compact, compress and minimize the garbage that you’re moving outside all week long will really help with your strain. Just make sure that you’re not adding, you know, extra problems around the kitchen by putting all those switches in hard-to-get places. Make sure everything is accessible.

If you think about a few changes that you can do to spruce up your kitchen, they’ll keep you safe, too.

TOM: 888-666-3974. Call us right now with your kitchen makeover question. We can help you out.

Leslie, who’s next?

LESLIE: Roy in North Carolina, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you today?

ROY: I’ve got, seems like, a dust problem.

TOM: OK.

ROY: And I don’t know how I can tell if it’s really a normal amount of dust or – I think it’s a whole lot more dust than a person would normally have. I put a new heating system in and I know the duct was supposedly sealed off. Is there any way I can measure the dust that I’m getting and determine if I’m getting maybe more than I should be getting normally?

TOM: Well, you can’t measure the dust but you could have a duct test done where you can actually measure the amount of loss through the duct system to determine if its leaking or not. What kind of a filter system do you have on it? Is it like a thin fiberglass filter?

ROY: No, I’m using the white paper filter type.

TOM: How big is it? Is it …

ROY: It’s a 25x20x1.

TOM: Right, how – by one? OK, that’s what we call a pebble stop, OK? (Leslie chuckles)

ROY: OK.

TOM: That’s not a good, efficient filter. What I would recommend is something called a whole-house electronic air cleaner. A whole-house air cleaner can take out dust particles almost the size of virus particles. It is just incredibly efficient compared to the thin, paper filters that you’re using right now.

Probably the best one – it was ranked tops by Consumer Reports for many, many years – is made by Aprilaire. Their website is Aprilaire.com. I think it’s called Model 5000. We have one of those in our house and I’m telling you, it made a huge difference.

ROY: Oh, OK. Great.

TOM: That’ll be much more effective. That’ll keep your house nice and clean.

ROY: Alright, great. Thanks for the information.

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

Yeah, when you use those thin, fiberglass filters they just don’t do the trick.

This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show.

Up next, is the cold weather putting a freeze on your roof? Well, find out how to thaw out those frozen roof vents or, better yet, the kind that seem to let the snow snow right through and get into the attic. We’ll tell you how to fix it, next.

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TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. It’s a great hour, it’s a great idea because we make good homes better. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: The number is 888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. And if you can’t get through to us we want to remind you that there are lots of great resources for you at MoneyPit.com. For example, do you want to know about the recently recalled products? It’s all there for you at MoneyPit.com. How about some ways the government will actually pay you back for saving energy. That’s waiting for you at MoneyPit.com and even some information about the laws that protect renters from the potentially scamming landlords out there. We will point you in the right direction at MoneyPit.com. Click on there today.

LESLIE: And if you’re on the website and suddenly have a question that you say, “You know what? I don’t feel like searching around. I want an answer to my specific question immediately,” click on the little icon that says Ask Tom and Leslie and e-mail us your question and we’ll get back to you right now, this hour of the show where we always jump into our e-mail bag and tell you exactly what’s going on with you at your money pit.

We’ve got one here from Herb in Grand Forks, North Dakota who writes: “I have frozen roof vents and I’m looking for a product that will help keep them clear that’s going to keep me from having to climb up that snow-covered roof and do the job myself.”

TOM: Well, if your roof vents are getting snow clogged and the snow is getting into your attic, there is a roof vent from the Air Vent Corporation called Filter Vent that is specifically designed to prevent that from happening, Fred. It’s sort of a mesh material that fits inside the vent itself and without that I’ve seen the attics actually fill up with snow.

LESLIE: Really?

TOM: I saw an attic once, Leslie, that had a couple of feet in snow in it sort of under the vent area because it was just leaking right through.

LESLIE: That’s crazy. And there’s no way you can just put a bend on it?

TOM: No, because if the wind is right and the snow wants to get in there it’ll go right through.

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) It’ll get in there.

TOM: Yep.

LESLIE: Alright. We’ve got one here from Mark in Lakeville, Minnesota who writes: “We’ve a finished basement and the carpet over the concrete floor is feeling damp. We don’t feel any water leaks but we suspect that the main water pipe that runs under the concrete floor might be leaking. What’s that about?”

TOM: First of all, don’t put carpet on concrete floors in basements. Bad idea for all sorts of reasons. Basement floors are always going to be damp. They’re always connected to the soil so it’s always going to be wet and damp and what’s going to happen; it’s going to react with that carpet. The carpet is a great source of food and you will grow mold and not be a happy camper. So Mark, the first step, pull up that carpet. Use a different flooring. Use a laminate flooring. Use an engineered hardwood, but do not use carpet in a basement.

OK, so you say you got 50 bucks and a couple of hours of your time and you want to make your kitchen look better? Great, because that’s the topic of today’s edition of Leslie's Last Word.

LESLIE: That’s right. This is a really fun and cost-effective idea. If you find that you’ve got a soffit in your kitchen – you know, that space between your cabinets that goes up to the ceiling. It could either be made of wood. It could be, you know, drywall, whatever it is – but you’re dealing with this sort of blank space that just continues from your cabinets up to your ceiling. Well, why not think about dressing it up? You can use some moulding or some wood appliqués just to sort of finish it or tie everything together or just make a nice detail out of it. And if it’s wood, stain it the same color as your cabinets. If it’s paint, paint it the same color as the ceiling or go for a bright, fun color that really just draws the eye up. Whatever you can do to sort of boost the look of your kitchen and enhance those cabinets will help you extend the eye upward and make that room just look fresh and exciting, which is of course what you want for the spring home.

TOM: 888-666-3974. That number may be dialed 24/7/365. If we are not in the studio when you have a home improvement question we will call you back the next time we are. And speaking of the next time, the next time on The Money Pit we’re going to tell you why it’s really important to leave a paper trail. If you aren’t sure you can do the job yourself, hiring a home improvement contractor could be a wise move but just make sure you keep good records of the job. We’ll give you the step-by-step details on the records that you need to keep to have an adequate paper trail to make sure your project gets done perfectly on next week’s program.

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 2008 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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