Transcripts
Transcript For March 22, 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:
(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 now with your home improvement question. Call us now with your do-it-yourself dilemma. This is where work and fun meet. Because we think home improvements should be enjoyable. They shouldn’t be stressful and even on the occasion when something goes wrong in your house, hey, we can make it fun to fix it. Call us right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. People are going, “Yeah, right Tom.”
LESLIE: Those fun little missteps when suddenly you step into the paint tray and then walk across the thing and then the broom handle slaps you in the face. That’s kind of an enjoyable little sense of humor for a minute. (chuckling)
TOM: Call us right now with your home improvement question at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. We have a busy show planned for you. If you’re thinking of building a deck or a playground this spring or summer you’re going to need some good lumber. But how do you know if the wood you’re going to use is actually safe for your family and the environment? We’re going to tell you how to do just that this hour on the show.
LESLIE: And also ahead, why is that collection of plates or photos sitting in your closet hiding from your eyes and everyone you want to show it off to? We’ve got some great ideas to let your favorite items see the light of day, in just a few minutes.
TOM: Plus, spring cleaning around the house? Make sure any hazardous waste that you get rid of is disposed of properly. What’s hazardous waste? Well, we’re not talking about things that glow in the dark (Leslie chuckles), but there are some other things around your house that are pretty hazardous; certainly dangerous to kids, to pets, to the yard, to the environment.
LESLIE: And you can’t just throw them out.
TOM: We’ll talk about the safe way to dispose of those products in just a bit.
LESLIE: And we’re also giving away a Flow Wise shower head from American Standard. It’s worth 90 bucks.
TOM: So call us right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. Leslie, who’s first?
LESLIE: Well, pavers certainly make a gorgeous driveway or patio or even a front entrance walkway and Nancy in Florida needs some help with her project. How can we help?
NANCY: Hi, there. I’ve got cement pavers around our pool here in Florida and we have a problem with mold and weeds growing up between the pavers. Do you have a suggestion of something that can permanently help us with the mold and maybe something to seal them so that the weeds don’t come up as much?
LESLIE: Yes, Tom and I found a great new product at the builders show this year.
TOM: Absolutely. There is a product that’s brand new out from QUIKRETE. It’s called PowerLoc and it’s actually known as a jointing sand. It’s a brand new product that has never been out there before to solve this very, very problem; when you have weeds and moss that grows up between the bricks. And the way you work is basically you clean that area out and then you sweep this jointing sand in and then you run some water over it and it basically solidifies.
NANCY: QUIKRETE PowerLoc.
TOM: That’s right. QUIKRETE PowerLoc.
NANCY: OK.
TOM: It’s a jointing sand designed to solve exactly this problem. In fact, Leslie and I just found it at this year’s International Builders Show.
NANCY: Thank you so much.
TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Ron in Pennsylvania’s dealing with some roof moss. What can we do for you?
RON: Oh, how you doing, guys? Appreciate taking the call. I have a 10 year old home and we’re – the front of the home is a northern exposure and we have this strip of moss on the roof shingles and I’m trying to get, you know, some direction on how I can get that moss off.
TOM: Sure. Since it’s the north face it’s typically more shady. Do you have any trees that overhang the home there that are causing that shade?
RON: Well, no. In the back we have southern exposure but in the back is wetland area and a creek.
TOM: Right.
RON: So there tends to be a fair amount of moisture.
TOM: OK.
RON: So in the wintertime, because of the southern exposure, the front part of the house doesn’t get, you know, as much sun. So …
TOM: OK. There’s a couple of things that you can do. There are various products on the market that are designed to help wash away the moss. One of them is called Roof Reviver and I think their website is RoofReviver.com. Another one you can buy in home centers; it’s called Jomax. And essentially, you spray these products on; let them sit and then sort of scrub the moss away after it sits for a little while.
RON: OK.
TOM: A little trick of the trade to stop this from happening in the future is to go up to the ridge of this roof. Is it a ranch that you have or a two-story Colonial?
RON: No, it’s a two-story Colonial.
TOM: OK. Well, at the ridge that goes down the peak …
RON: OK.
TOM: … if you could take a piece of copper flashing or nickel flashing and lay it on top of the ridge, what’ll happen is at it rains some of that copper or nickel will release into the water as it runs down the roof and it’ll cleanse the roof because that’s a good mildicide. Copper or nickel are good –
RON: Copper.
TOM: Yeah, good mildicides and it’ll release the metal into the water. That tends to keep it clean. That’s why sometimes when you see chimneys that have sort of white streaks under them …
RON: Right, right.
TOM: … that’s because of the copper flashing that the water is releasing off of.
RON: OK. That sounds great.
TOM: Alright?
RON: I panicked because I thought I had to, you know, do a major roof repair but this sounds great.
TOM: No, you know the moss on the roof doesn’t really cause any damage. It’s really just a cosmetic issue.
RON: OK. Really appreciate.
TOM: You’re welcome, Ron. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: You are tuned in to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Give us a call with your home repair or your home improvement question 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
TOM: 888-666-3974.
Up next, not all lumber is created equal when it comes to home playgrounds and decks. Find out which wood is good for your family and the environment, after this.
[audio timestamp: 0:05:44.2]
(theme song)
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: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show and we make good homes better with your help. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete and you should give us a call at 1-888-MONEY-PIT this hour or right now even because you could win a fantastic prize. One caller that we talk to on the air this hour who asks their home improvement question not only gets the answer but they thrown into – well, not you personally but your name gets thrown into the Money Pit hardhat for your chance to win a FloWise showerhead from American Standard. It’s a really great and environmentally friendly showerhead that uses a special mechanism to create a powerful spray of shower without using excess water. So it is a green addition to your home. It’s worth 90 bucks. Call us now with your chance to win.
TOM: 888-666-3974.
With that American Standard showerhead you could clean up after those home improvement projects.
LESLIE: (chuckling) You’re going to need it.
TOM: Here’s one project that’s pretty dirty because you always do it in the summer when you’re really sweaty. It’s building a deck. You know, I love cutting wood and working outside but, you know, when you do that in the summer it’s kind of nasty. (chuckling)
LESLIE: When sawdust gets stuck to you and you have that inevitable film of dirt?
TOM: Exactly. You know, when you choose that lumber for that deck or that playground you obviously want to use something that’s really sturdy and resistant to decay and to pests. But you have to be careful. The chemicals in the treated wood can actually leach out and pollute the surrounding ground and actually even endanger your family’s health.
So, for decks and playground equipment you want to use reclaimed cedar or redwood. That is the best wood to use for decks or playgrounds because it’s naturally resistant to fungus and insects or you could opt for recycled plastic lumber; products like Trex, which are really, really great and really never wear out. So remember, don’t just go use any old type of lumber. You want to pick one that’s going to last a long time and that’s going to be safe for you and for the environment.
Leslie, who’s next?
LESLIE: Talking to Terry in New Jersey about the order of projects involved in his kitchen remodel. What’s going on?
TERRY: I’m interested in having a new kitchen floor put down and a floor in the foyer. So how do I go about it? Do I pick up the old floor or can they put it right over the old floor?
TOM: What kind of flooring do you have down right now, Terry?
TERRY: Linoleum flooring.
TOM: Linoleum? You can probably go right on top of that. The only caution we have for you is, when it comes to the kitchen, make sure you remove your dishwasher first and that you floor all the way under that space because you don’t want to block the dishwasher in.
TERRY: Right. Anything else that – is there anybody that you could recommend?
TOM: What kind of flooring do you want to put down?
TERRY: I don’t know. I just want some suggestions on what to put down.
TOM: Well, I’ll tell you, probably one of the most durable floors right now is laminate floor for a kitchen because …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm, and there’s a lot of options with laminate. You can really get it to look like anything.
TERRY: Is that a wood flooring type thing?
TOM: Well, it can look like wood or it can look stone or could look like tile. It’s actually made of plastic but it looks darn good. I’ve got a laminate floor in my kitchen that looks like stone; it’s textured and everything and we’ve had it down for ten years and the kids have not been able to do any damage to it despite many, many attempts.
TERRY: Sounds good. (chuckling)
TOM: So a laminate floor is a good choice for a kitchen.
LESLIE: Woody in Ohio is dealing with a bouncy floor. What’s going on?
WOODY: Well, when I walk in the dining room my China cabinet begins to rattle somewhat and I’m kind of curious how could I stabilize my floor joists without having to go and replace the joists or my wiring going through and what have you.
TOM: Not really. Woody, how old is your house?
WOODY: God, about 86 years old.
TOM: Aw, it’s a pretty old house, yeah. Well, in an older home, typically the spans on the floor joists are a lot longer and the joists themselves are narrower than what you would have today. And so, what I would do in this case is I would suggest you put in a midspan girder and this does not have to be really complicated because we’re not really holding up the house here. We’re really just sort of taking the flex out of that floor.
So what you would do is you would go downstairs. Is this on a basement?
WOODY: Yes.
TOM: OK, so you would go downstairs to the basement and you would install a beam that would be comprised of maybe three 2x8s, ought to do it. Mid span between the two ends of the joists that cover the dining room area; right down the middle, make sure you have good contact to all the floor joists – and because it’s an old house you may do a little shimming here and there to make sure you have good contact – and I would support that beam with probably two or three lolly columns. Now, you could probably put it right on the concrete floor because, again, we don’t necessarily want to do anything more than take the flex out of this. If you want to do a real super good job you could dig out the floor and pour a little footing there; maybe something that’s about 18 inches deep by about 18 inches square. But at least to start with I would just put a beam in the middle of the span of these dining room floor joists and that will take the flex out of it and you won’t hear the China rattle the next time you walk across the room.
LESLIE: Now when you’re assembling this, Tom, would you do sort of a staggered situation with a 2x4 so that it can become like one, long, continuous piece? You know, so like maybe the two end ones are even with each other and the middle one staggers out half of the distance so that you have areas to constantly attach things to; almost like a LEGO.
TOM: Not 2x4s. You mean 2x8s.
LESLIE: Oh, 2x8s. I’m sorry.
TOM: I would use as few seams as possible and the rule of thumb whenever you construct a load-bearing beam like that is if you have a joint in the beam – like if you had a triple beam with three, say, 2x8s and there was a seam somewhere – that seam would always be over a post.
WOODY: Right.
TOM: You don’t have to be quite as strict about this because, again, we’re not really holding up much of the house; we’re just taking the flex out of the floor. But putting a midspan girder in there will solve this problem.
WOODY: OK, so it should be just the length of the dining room area in itself? Would that be it?
TOM: Yep. And across – perpendicular to the floor joists that are there right now.
WOODY: OK, 2x8s and three of them.
TOM: Yep.
WOODY: What method would you use to fasten the 2x8s together? Would it be glue and screws or what?
TOM: No, I would just nail them together.
WOODY: Alright, then. Thank you so much.
TOM: You’re welcome, Woody. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
You know what you call it when the glassware moves.
LESLIE: What?
TOM: China syndrome.
LESLIE: (chuckling) Now you really can just do this to your own home without getting any approval from an engineer …?
TOM: It’s not an engineering job. It’s not – I mean this is a little trick of the trade for just taking the flex out of floor joists. If I was concerned about Woody supporting some load-bearing portion of his house then of course we would recommend the appropriate professionals be involved, but in this case …
LESLIE: Should you get it approved by an inspector if you intend on selling the house at some point?
TOM: If you can – I don’t think it’s that complicated a project. Again, we’re just taking the flex out of these beams.
LESLIE: Alright.
It’s swarm season and Irene in South Carolina is seeing the termites. What’s going on?
IRENE: Hello. Yes, several weeks ago I listened to one of your programs and you were talking about termites. You mentioned that the bait trap systems now are passé.
TOM: Correct.
IRENE: And you said that there was an applicant on the market but I wasn’t quite sure what you had said; if it was Thermidor or Tomidor.
TOM: You’re close. It’s called Termidor. T-e-r-m-i-d-o-r. It’s a BASF product and it’s something that a professional pest control operator could apply for you. And basically the way these products work today is they’re undetectable, which means that once the pest control operator applies them in the soil around the house and in the foundation of the house, the termites cannot detect that this termidicide is in the soil and so what happens is they’ll pass through it, get it on their bodies and take it back to the nest and then, of course, it wipes out the entire nest. Think of it as germ warfare for bugs.
IRENE: I see.
TOM: And it works really well. It’s very effective. It’s very safe. They’ve had tests that go 10, 15 years now in effectiveness and it works great.
IRENE: And they think …
TOM: The website is called TermidorHome.com and there’s a locator there where you can find a pest control pro in your area that could do the work for you. I’ve used it in my own home and it worked very effectively.
IRENE: Now could you spell that again?
TOM: T-e-r-m-i-d-o-r.
IRENE: OK.
TOM: Termidor.
IRENE: Home.com.
TOM: TermidorHome.com.
IRENE: And this has to be applied strictly by a pest control …
TOM: Absolutely. It’s not a do-it-yourself product. Yep, mm-hmm.
IRENE: Alrighty. Well, I thank you very much.
TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Barry in New York has a question about heating. What can we do for you today?
BARRY: Hi, thank you for taking my call.
LESLIE: You’re so welcome.
BARRY: I listen to you quite often on the weekends but this is a first-time caller.
I have a home here in Brooklyn. I’ve been here 36 years.
TOM: OK.
BARRY: We have the original gas hot water heating unit. I have baseboard heating. The pilot went out and I called – can I say the names or …
LESLIE: Let me guess. KeySpan.
BARRY: KeySpan?
LESLIE: (chuckling) Is that who you called in?
BARRY: I have the service contract.
LESLIE: Yeah.
BARRY: They came. Was some moisture on the floor – not puddles – and they said what’s happening is as the flame goes on, whatever, or goes off, it’s actually putting out the pilot. Agreed. No argument. So after 36 years I really can’t complain too much. I need a new unit. Obviously I had …
TOM: OK. Yeah, that water heater did quite well for you, by the way; at 36 years old.
BARRY: Oh, yes. It’s a – the unit was a hydrotherm …
TOM: Yeah.
BARRY: … 125,000 BTU, to give you an idea.
TOM: OK, you’re talking about a boiler; not a water heater now.
BARRY: Right. To heat the home.
TOM: OK. Go ahead.
BARRY: I have three-zone heating.
TOM: OK.
BARRY: OK. Now I call them; they gave me a price. I also went to Sears, because I know they do that with Carrier and so on and so forth.
TOM: Uh-huh.
BARRY: They gave me a price.
TOM: Right.
BARRY: One price, if I may say it, was about $9,000; one price was $6,000; and then Sears told me, “Well, we have a unit …” – excuse me, “We have a unit that’s more like $5,000.” It’s not quite as good. It’s not the Cadillac, shall we say, but it’ll do the job.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Yeah.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Yeah, but you want the Cadillac. (Tom clears throat)
BARRY: Huh?
LESLIE: You want the Cadillac, though. I mean the …
BARRY: Right.
LESLIE: … lifespan of a boiler is – what? – 30 years; 25 to 30 years?
TOM: Thirty to forty years.
BARRY: Right. Then when I called my independent plumber …
TOM: Right.
BARRY: … just to see what he said – he’ll come down and so on and all that – he said, “Well, we’re talking about $4,000.”
TOM: And that’s the right price. I’ve got to tell you that sometimes when you use the really big companies there’s a really big markup associated with it and the labor is not necessarily any different. I bet you that each organization still has to use a licensed plumber to do the install.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
BARRY: Oh, yes. They give me all the literature and everything …
TOM: Yeah. If you have a good – I would always prefer to go with a good independent contractor than to go with either the utility company or, you know, one of the big retailers.
BARRY: Got you.
TOM: I would go with a good, local, independent guy; buy a boiler; have it installed; make sure you get a permit; make sure you get it inspected and you will be good to go, hopefully, Barry, for another 35 years.
BARRY: OK, well the inspection – it’s in the basement and so on, you know. The inspection and all that stuff is done by them, isn’t it, when I call them to install it?
TOM: No, get a permit and have your local plumbing inspector inspect the guy’s work.
BARRY: Oh, oh, oh, oh. OK. I see.
TOM: OK?
LESLIE: Got to do it right.
BARRY: OK. And then after he says everything’s OK then I have myself a furnace …
TOM: You got it.
BARRY: … that’s working. I thank you very much. You’re always very informative. You’ve helped me a lot with my home and I appreciate your help very much.
TOM: You’re welcome, Barry. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: You are tuned to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show.
Up next, we’ve got a great idea for displaying all of your favorite collections; everything you’ve got in your home from hankies to plates.
[audio timestamp: 17:50]
(theme song)
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 right now with your home improvement question. Call us right now if you’re a do-it-yourselfer or a direct-it-yourselfer. We will make sure you don’t become a do-it-to-yourselfer. We’ll keep you safe and help you get those projects done at the same time and we could give you a great prize because this hour all callers to The Money Pit will have their names tossed into the Money Pit hardhat to win a $90 high-tech showerhead from American Standard. It’s called FloWise and it actually uses 40 percent less water than current standards but it’s going to give you the invigorating, awakening, stimulating shower that we know that you need to get started with your day in the morning. If you want to win call us right now. You’ve got to have a home improvement question. The number again, 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well if you’re looking for a project to do this weekend with some of your favorite items that you’ve got around the house, whether it’s hanging your family photos or a collection of plates or platters, we’ve got an idea right now to give you some more dimension by surrounding your collection with an ornate frame. You can hang a backless and glass-free frame that’s larger than the item that you’re displaying around each piece of your collection. So you’re sort of creating an individual, unique frame for each item. It’s going to really give your entire collection some extra visual oomph. Go to salvage yards, flea markets, thrift shops. Pick up frames. They don’t have to match and if they’re in kind of yucky condition, clean them up a bit and paint them a fun, bright, shiny lacquered color and paint them all the same. It suddenly brings everything together. It’s a great project. It’s really going to snazz up your collection.
TOM: See that? Decorating advice, repair tips and it’s all here for you for free. Pick up the phone. Call us right now. It’s 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
Who’s next?
LESLIE: Dominic in New York has an issue with a fireplace and chimney. What’s going on?
DOMINIC: Up on the roof where the chimney is, there’s like a – I think they call it a whirlybird or it’s like a fan that turns when the wind blows.
TOM: That’s not for your fireplace. That’s your roof vent.
DOMINIC: Roof vent?
TOM: Yeah.
DOMINIC: I was wondering what the purpose of that was because it’s kind of making a noise.
TOM: There’s no purpose for it. (chuckling) It’s a type of vent and people put them on many years ago because they were impressed that they did spin and thought they were doing something. But effectiveness-wise they’re really lousy roof vents and what happens is the bearings wear out and they get real noisy and screechy and I would suggest that you remove that vent and roof over it so that you no longer have a hole in your roof. And to replace it, the best kind of ventilation would be a ridge vent that goes down the peak of the roof coupled with some soffit vents at the overhang.
DOMINIC: I think it’s hooked up on top of the chimney, though. Think it’s on where the – you know, the smoke stack where it comes out of the fireplace; on top of that.
LESLIE: You might be seeing, on top of the chimney, those sort of chimney cage covers to prevent any animals climbing down into it and they could look kind of similar.
TOM: You telling me you’ve got one of those vents that spins on top of your chimney?
DOMINIC: I believe so, yes. I mean I can’t see it. I live in a kind of condo complex and what happened was the roofer went up and he was up there working and he tied it down. Presently it’s like tied down so it doesn’t turn to make the noise. And that’s …
TOM: I’ve never seen that type of a vent on top of an active chimney. That sounds very strange to me and I’d want some more information on that. What you might want to do is have a certified chimney sweep look at that just to make sure it’s safe.
DOMINIC: OK.
TOM: That sounds very unusual.
DOMINIC: Mm-hmm. OK.
TOM: You typically don’t have any type of a termination like that on a vent pipe for a chimney or a fireplace.
LESLIE: Heading over to Iowa to chat with Cindy about a garage door. Tell us about what’s going on?
CINDY: Hi, I’ve got two cracks under my garage door, from the edges of concrete in. The space in between the two cracks has heaved. My garage door now is kind of high-centered. It’s a little worse on the east side than the west side and I didn’t know if there’s anything you can do about like …
TOM: What kind of door is it, Cindy? Is it wood or metal?
CINDY: It’s – I think it’s fiberglass. It’s insulated.
TOM: The garage door is?
CINDY: Yes, the garage door is.
TOM: OK. If it was wood you could actually score it and shape it and cut it to sort of follow the flow of the uneven garage floor. If it’s not, the only other thing that you could really do is to try to double up the weather stripping or add some padding to the bottom of it to try to take up some of that space.
CINDY: OK.
TOM: And this way you can get, perhaps, a better seal. You know, garage floors are not dimensionally stable like they would be if it was, say, a slab foundation or something of that nature. They’re basically just covering the dirt and so they do tend to move a lot and crack and shift and sometimes the only way to get that to work is with some additional weatherstripping.
Now, the other thing that you could think about doing is you could add, to the back side of the garage door, another piece of trim whereas the trim is actually cut to the shape of the floor. Think of it as – like adding a piece of baseboard moulding; where it’s sort of a one-by material that attaches to the back of the garage door and then that gets shaped to the floor and the weatherstripping goes on the bottom of that piece.
CINDY: OK. I can do that.
TOM: So there’s a couple of ways to deal with this. It’s not so unusual and not something that you have to worry too much about.
CINDY: OK. Thank you so very much.
TOM: You’re welcome, Cindy. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: You are tuned to The Money Pit and if you’re thinking about going green maybe you’re thinking about your spring cleaning projects. You know, can your spring cleaning save space in your home but also help save the environment? Yes. We’re going to tell you all about it in just a bit.
[audio timestamp: 0:23:23.8]
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 and hey, Tom, I know I probably tell you this all the time off the air; I love working at The Money Pit. Number one – because we share great information and I enjoy your company so darn much. So I guess that’s really one and two. But a really cool benefit of the show and I really think one of the better perks of our job together is that a lot of different manufacturers, they send us products to try out.
TOM: To evaluate.
LESLIE: Exactly.
TOM: Yeah.
LESLIE: And it’s great because we get all kinds of tools, paint, other stuff and sometimes these boxes are ginormous and things that we absolutely don’t need. But it’s great …
TOM: Yeah, but when I wrote Ferrari and asked for an evaluation …
LESLIE: (chuckling) Yeah.
TOM: … they didn’t see the humor in it.
LESLIE: Yeah, they sent you like a matchbox-sized car. (Tom laughs) And they were like, “Evaluate this.” (laughing)
TOM: Go to town, kid. Knock yourself out. (laughing)
LESLIE: But it’s really cool. All kidding aside, we get to check out some really great stuff; some new stuff. And not all of it’s great but a lot of it is really awesome and cutting edge and we post all of our recommendations online at MoneyPit.com so you can check it out; you can listen from us; really decide what it is that you want to buy and know that you’re getting something that we’ve tried out and it’s good. All you need to do is click on the Repair and Improve section and look for cool products.
TOM: And while you’re there at MoneyPit.com you can check out our tip of the day. Here’s a tip that comes from that section of the website. You know, when it’s time to take on spring cleaning – and it’s just about that time – don’t forget to get rid of old paints and chemicals that are just sitting around. In one sweep you can really dispose of all the paint, the paint thinners, the motor oils, the kerosene, dangerous cleaning solutions all at your local recycling center and you were telling me, Leslie, you just participated in the STOP program. Tell me about that.
LESLIE: Yeah, our town calls it S-T-O-P – Stop Throwing Out Pollutants – and I know that where I live on Long Island there’s – every community has it. So I’m sure, look up online your area. I’m sure someone in your sanitation department can point you in the right direction. And they do it once a month. They set up at like a local park or a parking lot; you know, at a shopping center before they open up and it’s basically different stations. You load up everything in your car in the morning. You pull up; they ask where you live so they know you’re actually in that town; then they pull everything out. You never get out of your car. You don’t have to dry out cans of paint. You don’t have to do any prep work. And they fully dispose of it properly; recycle what they can and nothing leaches into the groundwater. You don’t have to worry about anything plus you can empty out your garage in a day.
TOM: If you’re going to do it do it right and don’t hurt the environment; don’t hurt yourself or anybody else that gets into those things.
You know, if you have to dispose of paint cans we’ll give you a couple of tricks of the trade for that. First of all, if it’s spray paint turn it upside down and hold the trigger down until all of the compressed gas is out of it and if it’s regular cans of paint open them up and leave them in the sun until it gets hard or you could throw some like cat litter in there is good.
LESLIE: Kitty litter. Works great.
TOM: Yeah, kitty litter works great to soak up that excess paint and, again, just let it get hard then you can throw those out in the regular trash.
If you need more tips on how to get rid of your disposables like that, go to our website at MoneyPit.com or pick up the phone right now and call us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
Leslie, who’s next?
LESLIE: Dave in New Jersey is having some sink problems with the faucet and the water heater. What’s going on?
DAVE: Not sure if it’s a water heater problem. I think it is. The problem I’m having, basically, is on the hot water side of my faucets, let’s say – and all the faucets are the same – the water pressure is about one-tenth of what it is on the cold side and …
TOM: Is it only in one sink?
DAVE: No, all the sinks.
TOM: All the sinks.
DAVE: The two bathrooms and the kitchen sink; all the same.
TOM: OK.
DAVE: I don’t – I’ve been here about 12 years now so the water heater’s about 12 years old.
TOM: OK.
DAVE: It still puts out a fine amount of hot water. It’s just that – and I don’t remember a few years ago if it was – I think the pressure was more than it is now, so I’m wondering if – I know the town I live in has hard water so I don’t know if that’s contributing to maybe the hot side getting sediment building up and it’s just closing – the line is closing in.
TOM: Well, I’m thinking it might be one valve, Dave, and that would be the valve that’s right after the water heater or it could be, actually, the cold water supply into the water heater. If the valve is sort of partway closed, then that could account for this issue.
LESLIE: And that …
DAVE: It’s all the way open so I know it’s …
TOM: Well, I know you say …
LESLIE: It could be closed by sediment.
TOM: Well, yes, and it also could feel all the way open but not physically be all the way open inside because sometimes they break down inside and although they feel open they’re actually not. They could be stuck halfway.
DAVE: Wouldn’t the problem be after the water heater because it’s only on the hot side and not the cold side? The cold side the pressure (inaudible).
TOM: Well, the cold water is – the cold water, I’m talking about the cold water that feeds into the water heater so you have a cold water supply into the water heater. You generally don’t have a shutoff valve on the hot water side of the water heater.
DAVE: Right, there’s – that’s right, that’s right.
TOM: So it would be the cold water into the water heater is where the restriction would be. So I would take a look at that valve …
DAVE: Now, if I were – is that something a plumber would do anyway if he was replacing the water heater?
TOM: Yes, yes.
DAVE: (inaudible)
TOM: Yeah, and if your water heater is 12 years old, you know …
LESLIE: It’s on its way out.
TOM: … there’s something to be said for replacing it before it starts to leak. It’s already beyond the useful life expectancy …
DAVE: Right.
TOM: … so this may be a good time for you to go ahead and replace that water heater and replace the supply valve at the same time.
DAVE: That was my thought. Just to kill two birds with one stone and just be …
TOM: Yeah, the cost of labor will probably about the same, so it’s only the cost of the water heater that makes the difference. Think that makes sense, Dave. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: We’re going to talk weatherstripping with Joy in New York. What can we do for you?
JOY: Hi. I’m just wondering, with all my windows and my two doors, that it seems like the heat bill is rising all the time. I was wondering what the estimated cost would be for weatherstripping the windows?
TOM: How old are your windows, Joy? Are they real old?
JOY: Well, they’re – no, I guess. Well, I guess so. I guess 20 years old. The weatherstripping in them – they’re new windows where you can clean them easily and that …
TOM: Mm-hmm.
JOY: … but all the weatherstripping around them and the doors; because that’s where I feel the cold coming in.
TOM: Right. Well, there’s a couple of options. First of all, weatherstripping is very customized. You have to – there’s a number of different weatherstripping products that are out there that can be – you would select the one that’s closest; that’s going to fit the best for your particular situation and have it applied. It’s pretty much a job for a handyman.
Another thing that you can do is if you have windows that are not used that much in the winter, you could literally caulk them shut with a special type of caulk that’s known as a temporary caulk. There are a couple of manufacturers that make it. One of them is called Seal ‘N Peel.
LESLIE: And that’s by DAP.
TOM: And there’s another one I think called Peel Away and they’re basically caulk products that are sold in the tube that you are able to sort of caulk the windows shut – and make sure it’s not a window that you need to open in the event of an emergency – but it totally seals the window and then in the spring you peel the caulk right off and it pulls right off of the window in one piece. It’s really pretty incredible stuff.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm. My mom has her entire Manhattan apartment building hooked on the stuff.
JOY: Oh, OK. Now what is that again? What is it called?
TOM: Seal ‘N Peel by DAP or Peel Away – and I think that’s the Red Devil version.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
JOY: And would a handyman be able to do that, because …
TOM: Oh, yeah. Very easy for a handyman to do. If he can use a caulking gun he can apply this stuff.
JOY: Alright. So I would buy the material and then he could do it?
TOM: Absolutely.
JOY: Oh, OK. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
TOM: You’re welcome, Joy. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974.
LESLIE: Coming up on The Money Pit, we are going to reach into our listeners’ e-mail bag and answer a question about switching your heating system at home from oil to gas. Can you do it? Should you do it? Yeah, I think so. We’re going to tell you, next.
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TOM: Well, if your bathmat is stuck to the ceiling you probably have the exhaust fan set too high. (Leslie chuckles) This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
I was wondering where you were going with that. (Tom laughs) I’m like, “That is unusual.” (laughs)
TOM: A souped-up bathroom exhaust fan.
LESLIE: I’m like, “Wow, there must be some odor issues going …” (laughing)
Alright, well maybe you even have a question because you just don’t know what the heck to do with your house. I mean it’s a sluggish real estate market out there. You know, maybe you’re starting to think, “Is it a better idea of renting my home now instead of trying to sell it and keeping on reducing that price?” Or maybe even you’re thinking about renting a home instead of buying one and moving into it. So there’s a lot of options out there and we’ve sorted it all out. We’ve got the pros and cons of both in our very next issue of our Money Pit e-newsletter. It’s totally free. It comes right in your inbox every Friday morning. You sign up for it at MoneyPit.com.
TOM: And while you’re there you can click on Ask Tom and Leslie and shoot us an e-mail question. We’ve got a bunch here. Let’s start with Lorraine in Shenandoah Junction, West Virginia.
LESLIE: That sounds like a lovely place to live.
TOM: It does.
LESLIE: Lorraine writes: “Is it possible to switch from oil forced air to propane or gas without replacing the entire system?”
TOM: Yes. There is a burner that would have to be installed. If you had an oil burner there is a gas burner that can be replaced and, in fact, our boiler right here at our Money Pit used to have an oil-fired system and we kept the boiler and just replaced the burner with a gas burner and it’s much more efficient and, of course, it’s cleaner and I don’t have to worry about the tank. So you can change out just the burner. You don’t have to replace the whole boiler or furnace at the same time.
LESLIE: What happens to the tank? Does somebody have to come in and physically remove that for you or you just leave it shut down?
TOM: Ah-ha, that’s – now that’s a good question. In our case, our tank was underground. So what we did is we dug down to the top surface of it; we cut a hole in it and we used a company that pressure-washed out the inside of the tank and then pumped out that liquid; took that away – because that was waste; and then we filled the entire tank with an expandable foam. So when it was done it was completely solid; still in the ground. And by doing so, we didn’t have to bring in the backhoes and damage the landscaping that was nearby. We had a gorgeous tree and it was in a tight space, sort of between the tree and the house, and it was a really good way of properly abandoning that oil tank.
LESLIE: And you know what, Lorraine? With gas prices what they are right now, you are so better off to take the investment and make those changes. You’ll save money in the long run.
TOM: Well, as we all know, it’s almost tax time again and while you …
LESLIE: Whee! (chuckling) I hate it.
TOM: … may not normally associate that with home improvement, doing your taxes, you might want to take a moment to rethink that. Leslie has the reason why in today’s edition of Leslie's Last Word.
LESLIE: That’s right. We know it’s strange. When you think about taxes you don’t generally think, “Home improvements. Maybe I’ll get some money back; especially since home improvements can cost a good bit of money.” But Uncle Sam and Energy Star, they want to pay you – you heard us correct; pay you for improvements made to your home that are energy efficient. So they’re not just shelling out money because you put down new carpet, but if you’re making some energy efficient changes there are tax credits that are available for many types of home improvements including adding insulation – hence, improving your heating and cooling; saving you dollars; replacement windows and certain high-efficiency heating and cooling equipment.
If you want some more information you should visit the Energy Star website – it’s EnergyStar.gov – to learn all about the qualifications and which home improvement projects, products, et cetera will qualify for the tax credits. So really, make sure you save all of the labels, the stickers, the receipts, so you’ve got it come tax time; you can say, “Mr. Accountant, Uncle Sam, this is what I need to do and, by the way, I get this money back.” So make sure you keep track of everything so you’ve got the proof to back up everything you’ve done to the house because you could get some dough back at you.
TOM: You mean they won’t believe you if you just tell them you did it?
LESLIE: Yeah. (Tom chuckles) “Look, I took a picture of my house. Isn’t it nice? I swear those windows are new.” You’ve got to save everything.
TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Thank you so much for spending this hour with us. The show continues online at MoneyPit.com.
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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