Transcripts

Transcript For March 22, 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 2 TEXT:

(theme song)

[audio timestamp: 0:25]

TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles. This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show where we make good homes better. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Call us right now with your home improvement question. Call us right now with your do-it-yourself dilemma. Call us right now so that we can help you knock a couple of items off that to-do list or maybe it’s a honey-do list. (Leslie chuckles) And by the way, my dear, I hope that you are satisfied with the work that I tackle on my honey-do list that you gave me.

LESLIE: You know, I hate doing electrical (Tom chuckles) so you did a fantastic job. Alright, big news here, first: Leslie, me, knocked up; having a baby. (Tom chuckles) Very excited.

TOM: Congratulations.

LESLIE: Thank you, sir. But I, especially now, wanted to shy away from doing electrical (chuckling) around my house.

TOM: That’s not the part that I contributed to; I want to be very, very clear about that. (chuckling)

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) No, no, no, no, no! I have a husband; not Tom. Anyway, Tom put up a beautiful chandelier for us in the nursery, which I love so much and I am just, you know, even though there’s no furniture in the room just yet it really looks cute and I thank you so much.

TOM: Well, you’re welcome and the point is that the honey-do list may not necessarily be between spouses. It could be between friends and we will help you …

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) (chuckling) It could be between friends who are more handy. (laughing)

TOM: We will help you get those jobs done. No matter how that project got on your list we will help you take it off if you call us right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

Hey, coming up this hour on the program, buying new furniture or laying new carpets? Make sure you have all the info on the potential chemical hazards in both. We’re going to tell you what you need to know.

LESLIE: And also ahead, you wouldn’t think of jumping in your car and revving it right up if it sat idle on winter and you never, ever started it up, right? So why do you do that to your lawnmower every, single spring? We’re going to teach you the right way to treat your mower for its first foray out into your yard so it is always ready for you and every lawn mowing adventure, in just a few minutes.

TOM: And we’ve got a great insider’s tip to tell you about that will help make painting easier and cleanup a real snap.

LESLIE: And don’t forget, one lucky caller we talk to this hour wins a terrific prize. We’re giving away a pair of cedar window boxes from Vixen Hill just in time for you to plan out your beautiful spring blooms that you will beautifully mount and attach to your home.

TOM: They’re worth 120 bucks so call us right now if you’d like to be in it to win it. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

Leslie, who’s first?

LESLIE: Well, with the real estate market being soft all across the country folks are wondering whether to sell, tear down, move, what to do and that’s what Kemper in California wants to talk about. What can we do for you?

KEMPER: Well, I have a house for sale that I just never had the gumption or the resources to whip into shape.

TOM: (chuckling) OK.

KEMPER: So it’s got …

TOM: So you admitted defeat, huh? (Leslie chuckles)

KEMPER: Well, what I discovered was I was going to repair and expand it and then I realized the cost of construction is pretty extreme and I was better off the way things were; just buying something that was more suitable for me.

TOM: OK.

KEMPER: So what I want to do is sell this place but the different prospects – some think, “Oh, I can fix this up”; others think it’s got to be torn down. My impression is that the fast flip type, you know, professionals want to knock down, start over and give me a low bid. But my concern is that the county wants this thing fixed one way or another – knocked down, something – and they won’t give me a clear indication of whether it’s up to the buyer to fix it or knock it down or whether the county is going to be heavy-handed and say, “No, you’ve got to knock it down.”

TOM: I would do two things. Number one – I would hire a professional home inspector who’s going to be an independent expert to go through that house and really give you an honest assessment of its true condition. And the home inspector, being the kind of person that inspects homes all day long that are in real estate transactions, will be able to tell you how yours stacks up and what’s serious and what’s not serious. The second thing I would do is recommend that you hire a real estate attorney, because as inconsistent as the advice is that you’re getting from the county, it is going to be based in law and they can’t just willy-nilly tell you to tear down a house. There are laws to protect people from overaggressive bureaucracies like that and if you’re getting that kind of information you need a real estate attorney because this is a big investment and you need to get the right information.

So I would spend a little money on professionals. Get to the bottom of this, Kemper, and then you’ll know what you can do with that investment.

KEMPER: OK, but if I get a contractor in here, some professional that says, “No, this can be fixed up,” I’m in pretty good shape, right?

TOM: Well, that’s why I’m telling you to get a home inspector; not …

KEMPER: Yeah.

TOM: Not a contractor. Because if you call a contractor they’re going to give you a contractor’s solution which involves hiring them.

KEMPER: I see what you’re saying. Yeah.

TOM: I’m trying to help you get impartial expert advice …

KEMPER: OK.

TOM: … so you really know what’s going on …

KEMPER: OK.

TOM: … and then you can take the appropriate first step.

KEMPER: OK. That’s great. Thanks a lot.

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

LESLIE: Rosalie in New Jersey, welcome to The Money Pit. What can we do for you?

ROSALIE: Yes, I have a baccarat vase that’s about 15 years old and over the years, from having flowers in it, the water has clouded the bottom half of the vase. I have used sand; I have used bleach; I have used vinegar and I can’t get the clouding out.

TOM: Well it may not be clouding at all. It might be that it etched the glass surface.

ROSALIE: The water etched …?

TOM: The water etched the surface. Yeah, it might be that and that’s not uncommon in an old vase like that or in windows as well. We see that quite frequently. So if you used various cleaning solutions and you can’t get that out, it might not be something that can get out. It might be that interior surface of the vase is etched …

LESLIE: It’s etched.

TOM: … and that’s why it looks that way.

LESLIE: Have you tried – when you’re using the vinegar are you using straight vinegar?

ROSALIE: Yes.

LESLIE: Have you tried heating it; like boiling that vinegar and then putting it in …

ROSALIE: No.

LESLIE: … and then leaving it in for like a day or two?

ROSALIE: No, I haven’t done that.

LESLIE: I mean it’s worth a shot. Another thing is something called Barkeeper’s Friend …

ROSALIE: Yes.

LESLIE: … and you use it – have you tried it?

ROSALIE: No, I haven’t. It’s a strange-shaped vase; the top of it is narrower.

LESLIE: Hard to get your hand in there.

TOM: Yeah.

ROSALIE: Hard to get your hand in but I do have a brush.

TOM: You have a bottle brush that can reach down in there with it?

ROSALIE: Yes.

TOM: Mm-hmm.

ROSALIE: I will try the Barkeeper’s Friend. I also, as we’re talking, thought about baking soda (audio gap) …

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

ROSALIE: … for a lot of things. Would you suggest me making a paste out of the vinegar and baking soda?

TOM: No. Just – you can try vinegar and water. You can also try CLR, which ...

ROSALIE: Yes.

TOM: … stands for calcium, lime, rust and that takes away mineral deposits. But if you’re trying all these solutions and it doesn’t come clean, just accept the fact that it may not be something that comes out and it may just be an etching on the interior of the glass that can’t come out.

ROSALIE: Wow.

LESLIE: Yeah, and definitely try the hot vinegar as one of your solutions.

ROSALIE: Yes.

LESLIE: Try the Barkeeper’s Friend; even if the CLR, another thing along those lines or Lime-A-Way but it’s the same product really.

TOM: Good luck, Rosalie.

ROSALIE: Thank you.

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

LESLIE: You are listening to The Money Pit and we can help you tackle all of your spring to-do home improvement projects so give us a call if you’re confused, need inspiration or just need a helping hand 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

TOM: 888-666-3974. If that home improvement project on your mind involves laying some new carpet, don’t do it until you listen to what we have to say about the hazards of textile preservatives that are in that carpet. We’ll tell you what you need to know, next.

[audio timestamp: [0:07:40.7]

(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: Call us right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT because everyone that gets on the air today automatically gets entered into our prize drawing this hour. We’re giving away a pair of window boxes and aren’t they going to look nice on your windows this spring? They’re from Vixen Hill. These are one inch-thick, heavy-duty, cedar window boxes with forged mounting brackets. They look good and they’re easy to install and they’re worth 120 bucks. Going to go to one caller to 1-888-MONEY-PIT. You must have a home improvement question and be willing to come on the air and ask us.

LESLIE: Alright, and maybe you’re calling us with our number one received question here at The Money Pit which is, of course (drum roll), flooring. You know, maybe you’re thinking about installing some new carpeting in your house; maybe one room, maybe all the rooms. Well, it’s a great idea because brand new carpeting can give your room a bright, fresh, new look. But new carpets and even some upholstered furniture can contain preservatives, formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds which you’re hearing, as a buzzword, you know, VOCs. And these VOCs, they’ve been linked to cancer and developmental problems. So you want to make sure you avoid exposure by making sure that any new rug that you buy meets indoor air quality standards set by the carpet and rug institute and, as an extra precaution, just to be safe, let that rug air out of the house for about 48 hours before you even bring it into the house; install it and this even includes throw rugs. So just be safe; be cautious; look out for your family and you’ll be happy in the long run.

TOM: And I’ll tell you, if you order new carpet, it’s hard to get those guys to bring the carpet ahead of time but I …

LESLIE: You have to.

TOM: … I make it part of the negotiation. If you want to sell me the carpet I need it delivered, you know, two or three days or maybe the week before it’s going to installed so that we can air it out. It makes sense; it’s the safe thing to do. So, even though the carpet suppliers are not so used to it; the retailers are not so used to it, you know …

LESLIE: Customer is always right.

TOM: Customer is right. So just get them to give it you your way.

Hey, do you have a flooring question? Pick up the phone right now and call us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. Let’s get back to the phones.

Who’s next?

LESLIE: Michael in Pennsylvania is dealing with a slow drain. Tell us about your problem.

MICHAEL: Hey, I’ve got a slow drain situation; all copper pipes. It’s like an inch-and-three – well, I guess two-inch pipe. And I took a snake in there that I got from a Rent-a-Center and, you know, it’s the – it’s like a drill all hooked up; turn it on; it spins – and ran that in.

TOM: Right.

MICHAEL: That frees up a little bit but it’s still kind of slow. What’s the best way to chemically clean out a slow drain like that?

LESLIE: Well we’ve got a natural way for you to give a whirl first before you go ahead and try anything super harsh that could, you know, actually do some damage to the plumbing itself.

MICHAEL: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

LESLIE: You want to take one-half cup of each salt, baking soda and vinegar – the white vinegar – and pour that down the drain and then you follow it with two quarts of super boiling water and that’s going to sort of activate everything and get it to sort of foam up and clean its way down the drain itself. That should usually do the trick.

I’ve also found that Roto-Rooter makes a natural enzyme that comes in a liquid form that you mix with hot water and you do this once a month and that sort of helps loosen up all the goo and soap scum and hair and stuff that tends to build up down the drain as well and help move it along. It’s always better to try natural stuff first because the chemicals can be really harsh to the plumbing and end up causing a whole other host of problems.

MICHAEL: Right. Well, thank you very much. I’ll give that a shot.

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

LESLIE: Going out to California to chat with Ed about water hammer. What’s going on?

ED: We have a problem with copper pipes.

TOM: Mm-hmm.

ED: We installed copper pipes to replace the galvanized about 40 years ago. No problems until about five years ago. Now, when we flush the toilet or turn off the tap there’s a sound like water hammer.

TOM: It’s probably happening because the brackets have loosened up. You know, water is very heavy as it flies through the pipes on its way to your fixture and then you turn the faucet off and that centrifugal force keeps moving forward and shakes the pipes and the more they shake the looser they get and that’s what can cause this water hammer and the rattling sound. So, couple of things.

First of all, I would examine all of the accessible areas where you can check the brackets that attach the pipes to the framing area. And the second thing you can do is have what’s called a water hammer arrestor, which is kind of like a shock absorber for your plumbing system, installed by a plumber near the fixture and that will solve this problem and quiet it down. The good news is that water hammer rarely causes any type of a leak. It’s more of an annoyance, but that’s the way to solve it.

ED: Great, thank you very much.

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

LESLIE: Roger in Michigan has a question about his garage. What can we help you with?

ROGER: I have a new house and I do want to seal my garage because it’s probably the first heated garage we’ve ever had and we’re coming in now with the snow and everything and it’s – you know, water is [in it] (ph) just laying there and I’ve got to push it out and then it freezes and all that stuff. So, I do want to seal the floor. The garage is 28x25 and what do I need to do; what kind of preparation do I need to do to do this so – having listened to you guys over the years – to do it right so it lasts?

TOM: I think the best finishes today for garage floors are the epoxy paints.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm, and the good news is a lot of these products come with their own sort of preparatory step product. They’re built into phase one or as a separate, stand-alone product on its own in the kit.

TOM: You might want to take a look at either QUIKRETE has a garage coating system and also EPOXYShield; two leading brands ..

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Mm-hmm, both are great.

TOM: Both work very similarly. They’re two-part epoxies, Roger, so that you have the base and then you have the activator. It’s all inside of the same can. So you have a gallon that’s like short-filled. It looks like it has about three-quarters of a gallon in it and then you have this quart which is like the activator. You mix the two together and then you have, you know, a couple of hours to work with this. Before you do that use the cleaning product to clean the floor and get it ready to go. And I’ve found that those epoxy paints can really last a long time. I’ll tell you, we used it at the Boy Scout house. We have a concrete floor there. And man, those kids, as you can imagine, put it through its paces; much worse than any car or road salt could and they – it really stood up very well.

LESLIE: Now since Roger is probably going to need to buy two kits because he’s dealing with 700 square feet of floor surface, is it best to sort of put both components; like both of the epoxy and the resin compound into a five-gallon bucket …

TOM: No.

LESLIE: … and mix it all together?

TOM: Nope, nope, nope. Not unless you work really fast.

LESLIE: OK. (Roger chuckles)

TOM: No. (Tom laughs)

ROGER: You know me. OK, alright. (chuckling)

LESLIE: If you’ve got bathtub woes maybe you’re like Joe in Pennsylvania. What’s going on?

JOE: Hi. I have – I’m remodeling an old farm house and I have a cast iron tub and I was wondering what you guys consider the best option; whether to have it like resurfaced with an epoxy or one of those plastic liners they put in or just take it out and put a new tub in.

TOM: Well, is it like a clawfoot tub?

JOE: No, it’s nothing fancy. This is just an old, cast iron tub.

TOM: Alright, well you could have it resurfaced but the problem is that if you have it re-epoxied it’s not going to last as long as the original one did. It will chip and it will ding and it will dent, so your options are really to do that and understand you’re going to have some ongoing maintenance or replace it. There’s one other option – it’s called Bath Fitter which basically, they come in and they put an insert in the tub and the only problem with that is it takes up a little bit of room so it makes the tub a bit smaller. And I think that you’ll find that the cost of doing that is about the same cost as actually tearing it out and replacing it.

My question to you would be how long do you think you’re going to be in this house. If you’re talking about five, ten 10 years I may think that it’s probably a good idea just to resurface the existing tub. If you want it to last a lot longer than that; you’re going to enjoy it for a lot longer than that you’ll get a better return on investment if you actually tear it out or go with the Bath Fitter route.

JOE: OK. That kind of answers my question. I was kind of leaning towards just tearing it out and starting all over again. Because we will, probably, you know, prefer something long term.

TOM: Well you know, at the same time, Joe, you can also make some improvements to make sure that bathroom is more accessible. There’s a good website for that. It’s AARP.org/HomeDesign. Give you a nice checklist of things that you might want to think about putting in that bathroom so it remains super accessible regardless of your age or physical condition.

JOE: OK, that sounds good. Hey, let me ask you a bonus question while I have you here.

LESLIE: Sure.

TOM: Alright, two for one. Two-for-one special. What do you got?

JOE: Two-for-one special; that’s it. I think I know the answer to this one. I’m going to change the plumbing also. Copper or PEX?

TOM: PEX. Good stuff.

JOE: PEX. Yeah. Yeah (inaudible).

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Far less destructive, too.

TOM: (overlapping voices) Cross-linked polyethylene; less destructive; easier to run in an older house; more flexible; less chance of leakage. I would definitely go with PEX.

JOE: OK, that answers that question. Thank you very much.

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

This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show.

Up next, you’ve probably done a spring car tune-up but what about a lawnmower tune-up? That’s right, lawnmowers, just like your car, wear out; get out of whack; out of sequence; they get dirty and they need to be maintained or they’re not going to work right. We’ll tell you how to tune up that lawn mower, next.

[audio timestamp: 0:17:28.9]

(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 where we make good homes better. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: We’re sort of your handy friends; the ones that you always wish were around to help you get those jobs done; except that we know enough not to lend you our power tools. (Leslie chuckles) We won’t cross that line but for everything else call us right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

Hey, are you ready to give the green lawn a trim for the first time this year? Well, before you rev up the lawnmower, check the spark plug wire connection; then check the blade, sharpening any dullness out with a file; clean it inside and out; lubricate all those moving parts, including the wheels; and don’t use last year’s gasoline. Empty the tank completely. Gosh, we hope that you did because if you didn’t your tank right now will be filled with varnish. That’s what happens when the gasoline …

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Gunked up. And dispose of it properly.

TOM: Exactly. Dispose of it properly. Good, good point.

Now, by the way, if you do need to store some gasoline in a piece of power equipment make sure you use a preservative. You can use a gasoline additive that will preserve it so it doesn’t go bad after 30 days because believe it or not, that’s how long gasoline lasts.

LESLIE: Well, I mean when you think about it, it never sits in your car for that long.

TOM: That’s right. So …

LESLIE: So it does make sense.

TOM: … do it now and then in the fall do the same thing once again. You’ll be good to go next spring. A few tips to help you tune up that lawnmower before you hit the turf.

888-666-3974.

Leslie, who’s next?

LESLIE: We’re going to talk to Ted in Texas about attic insulation. How can we help you?

TED: Well, I had a question. I was going to put some insulation in my attic and I had heard about a spray type material that you could have a contractor do and they could – you know, it would, I guess, stick to the rafters and all that and I was just wanting to know if that stuff is – you know, you hear a lot of hype about it but I don’t want to pay for something that’s really not going to do what I want it to do. I live in Texas and it’s – you know, it gets really hot. So I’m wanting to know what the best way to, you know, insulate my house; especially when we’re, you know, talking 105-degree days.

TOM: Well, when you have an existing home and you already have attic insulation in there, for you to use a spray insulation would require you to remove all of that and I think that you’re probably going to be better off and just as cost-effective to add additional insulation to the existing insulation that you have rather than completely remove and replace. When it’s brand new, the spray foam insulations work very, very well because they seal at the same time. But for an existing home, for a retrofit situation, I think that my recommendation, Ted, would be for you to add additional insulation. And you want to have probably a good 12 to 15 inches in the attic when you’re done, of built-up insulation.

TED: OK, what is the – I mean what’s the primary reason for having to remove the other insulation?

TOM: Because this insulation is designed to stick to the drywall surface and in between the rafters and then expand and it can’t be mixed with fiberglass insulation. You say spray foam. You don’t mean blown-in, do you?

TED: Well, it’s …

TOM: Because blown-in insulation, which is fiberglass, generally can go on top of the existing insulation. The negative thing about blown-in insulation is that it makes the attic absolutely impassable when you’re done and you need a lot more thickness of it because it has more air inside of it than you would if you used fiberglass bats.

TED: Well, I saw one of the – I saw another home that was being built and it seemed like the insulation, when they sprayed it on up underneath the decking it only looked like it expanded out about a half on an inch. And so I thought, well, maybe that would be something that – you know, and I can’t remember what they called the product but I did see it on TV and I was just …

TOM: Well, there’s – one of the most popular ones is a product called isonene, which is a very, very good product. But again, it’s something that I would look at if I was doing a new construction. I probably wouldn’t use it for retrofit.

TED: OK. OK. Alright, well that’s …

TOM: How much insulation do you have right now, Ted?

TED: In some areas it’s probably maybe eight to ten inches.

TOM: Yeah, I would just – I would add another six inches of unfaced fiberglass bats on top of that.

TED: OK.

TOM: That would be very cost effective, easy to do and it’ll give you good return on investment.

TED: Well I’ve got really high ceilings and, of course, my air conditioner is up in the ceiling and my house is only like seven years old and I have like 14-foot ceilings in some parts. So I was just wanting to get the most bang for my buck because here in Texas it’s …

TOM: I know.

TED: … you know; it’s not uncommon to have a …

TOM: That’s what I said. Make sure you have enough attic insulation and make sure you have plenty of attic ventilation …

TED: OK.

TOM: … and that will be a good investment for you.

TED: OK, great. I appreciate it.

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

LESLIE: You are tuned to The Money Pit and we are with you for every home improvement adventure including painting and if you’re ready to tackle that painting job, here’s an odd question for you: do you have a rubber band handy? Hmm. You’re going to need one. We’ll tell you why, after this.

[audio timestamp: 0:22:57.3]

(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: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show and just like a crusty paint brush left to dry in the sun, fixing things sooner is always better than fixing them later. (Leslie chuckles) Call us right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. We’ll help you get ahead of those home improvement projects. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete and the handy number that you need is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. If we talk to you on the air and you ask us a home improvement question and we give you the answer, we are going to enter you into the Money Pit hardhat for a random prize drawing and the winner is going to get a pair of window boxes from Vixen Hill. They’re worth 120 bucks. They’re made of solid cedar. They’re really gorgeous. They’ve got a traditional design and I have to tell you; window boxes, they make such a nice, quaint adorable addition to pretty much any style home and it’s a wonderful place to showcase annuals; beautiful, bright-colored flowers and sweeping vines. It really just does charm up your home and they could be yours for free. So that’s even better.

TOM: Call us right now if you’d like a chance to win them at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. You must have a home improvement question and be willing to come on the air and ask us. But we don’t bite. We’re not scary. We’ll really help you out. 888-666-3974.

Now maybe your question is about painting. Here’s a good insider tip for painting. Stretch a heavy-duty rubber band across the top of the paint can; anchoring it at the handles. Why? Well, because when you wipe a paint-loaded brush across it all the excess paint will land back in the can rather than on the lip, which is always very helpful. I always hate when I close paint cans back up and I put the lid back on and give it a couple of whacks.

LESLIE: And it gets like super stuck in there or it splatters all over you?

TOM: Yeah, and the splatter is everywhere. I always think it’s like a crime show. I’m leaving blood spatter evidence everywhere. It strikes the wall and drips all down and like it’s a horror movie.

LESLIE: Or you’ve made such careful efforts not to get any paint on you and you did and you were great and you’re like spotless.

TOM: Until you close the can, right?

LESLIE: And then you close the can and then you get it all over yourself …

TOM: Yeah.

LESLIE: … and then you back into the wet wall. (chuckling)

TOM: The rubber band can solve all of those woes. One quick tip to make your painting projects go easier.

Call us right now with your home improvement question. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Charles in Maryland, welcome to The Money Pit. What can we do for you today?

CHARLES: I have a question about linseed oil. I have a cypress board on the outside of my house and my mother-in-law has been putting linseed oil on it. However, she’s passed away now and I don’t know what she was using. Was she using boiled or was she using raw linseed oil?

TOM: Interesting question. Do you know what the difference is between boiled linseed oil and raw? The difference is that the boiled linseed oil is the only one that dries. The raw one does not dry. And so, for a siding sealing material, for an exterior finish, you use boiled linseed oil.

LESLIE: When would you ever want it to not dry?

TOM: You know, that’s a good question. I don’t know. I think if you were doing a finish technique called a French polish, which is something that’s used in furniture making …

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: … where you mix wax and linseed oil together and you do it like on a lathe when something’s spinning around very fast. That’s one time I think I’ve used it, but for the most part, in terms of sealing anything outside the house, always use boiled linseed oil.

CHARLES: Thanks a lot.

TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. One other useless fact that I’ve trapped in my brain.

LESLIE: Why thank you, Cliff Claven. (Tom chuckles)

Jeff in North Carolina needs some help repairing a door. Tell us about the problem.

JEFF: Well, new doors and windows from a company that has since gone out of business. They offered the lifetime warranty, of course, but it’s a heavy backslider and it’s got a barrel system.

TOM: OK.

JEFF: It’s like a plastic barrel that runs underneath the door. And those barrels started popping out a while ago and I have not been able to: number one – get the door out to even look at the bottom of it; and I’ve been over to my Lowe’s hardware and a couple of other places and nobody seems to – they sell, for lighter doors, a disk roller type system – in other words it sits on the track and it’s like a little – but nobody seems to know anything about these barrels and I was wondering if you know any way or any kind of kit that I can get to repair these doors or if you can even …

TOM: You don’t know what the manufacturer of the door is or was the door company that you hired to do this, they were the manufacturer?

JEFF: They were supposedly the manufacturer. (inaudible)

TOM: Yeah. Problem is that with those types of companies that hardware that they were using to build those doors is generally not available over the counter, so to speak. It’s – you know, I mean it’s out there but it’s bought individually by manufacturers like that. To try to find it as a replacement is something that’s near impossible most of the time.

JEFF: OK, so I’m pretty much looking at a replacement door then.

TOM: Yeah, I think you are and I would encourage you to use a really good-quality door because these are the situations that you get into when you work with one that’s not a good-quality door and a lot of these companies that are local companies promise lifetime warranties. The question is who’s lifetime. (chuckling) You know? I mean …

JEFF: Yeah. Found that out.

TOM: … you know, is this the lifetime of an insect or, you know, the life of the house? Because if they go out of business what good is it to you?

JEFF: Right.

TOM: I’ll tell you one company I would suggest that you check out and it’s Therma-Tru. Therma-Tru.com. Therma-Tru actually invented the fiberglass door and they make these incredible sliding doors and entry doors made out of fiberglass that look just like real wood and they’re amazing. They’re really energy efficient and they’re super strong and they can really take a lot of weather.

JEFF: Alrighty. I’ll definitely look them up then.

TOM: And they’re also sold at Lowe’s, by the way.

JEFF: OK. Oh, I think I’ve seen them. Yeah.

TOM: Yeah. They’re good doors.

JEFF: Oh, Alrighty. Alright, then. Thank you very much.

TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974.

Well, spring is a great time to tackle a driveway project and if you’re thinking about putting on in or perhaps expanding the driveway that you have right now, we’re going to give you the differences between asphalt, concrete and pavers. Learn what material is best for your driveway, after this.

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ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is being brought to you by Guardian Home Standby Generators; America’s choice in power outage protection. Learn more at GuardianGenerators.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: Call us right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT with your home improvement question and we want to remind you that the show continues online at MoneyPit.com where you can sign up for our free podcast. What does that cost again? Nothing.

LESLIE: Nothing.

TOM: It’s free. It’s available at MoneyPit.com. You can also check out the transcripts of the program. If there’s a tip that you heard and you can’t write it down, don’t drive off the road (Leslie chuckles); pay attention to what you’re doing and go to our website after the show at MoneyPit.com. It is all right there waiting for you.

LESLIE: Ah, but wait, there’s more. While you are at MoneyPit.com you can click on Ask Tom and Leslie. If you don’t feel like picking up the phone and calling in your home improvement question you can e-mail us your question and we will answer them every hour of the show at this point, like we do always and we’ve got one here from Christine in Ashburn, Virginia who writes: “We would like your professional opinion, please, on the difference between asphalt and concrete driveways. Is one material better than the other for long-term usage? Does one hold up better over the other under certain weather conditions?”

TOM: You know, I would say that probably my choice for a driveway, if I could afford it, would be concrete pavers.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: Only because they’re very, very attractive. My second choice would probably be solid concrete which would be less expensive and my third choice would be asphalt.

LESLIE: But with concrete you have a lot of great options because stamped concrete and even tinted concretes or even acid-stained, you know, look really beautiful and you can get the look of a paver by just simply using a stamping material on the concrete itself.

TOM: Yeah, good point. Now, asphalt’s probably the least expensive but I will say this.

LESLIE: There’s a lot of maintenance to it.

TOM: Well, there’s a fair amount of maintenance but if you’re going to do it there’s a big, wide range of how well it can be done. I’ve seen asphalt driveways done very badly so they crack up fairly quickly. You want to talk with your paving company about how thick that asphalt is going to be. I mean if you don’t have a driveway that with the base and the asphalt is a good six or eight inches thick, it’s going to break down fairly quickly. So make sure you do a good job, regardless of what material you choose, so that you won’t have to do it again. Like we always say, do it once; do it right; and then you don’t have to do it again.

LESLIE: Alright, we’ve got one here from Vicky on Merna, Nebraska who writes: “I’m interested in putting laminate wood flooring in my kitchen and dining room but I’m having a hard time selling this idea to my husband.”

TOM: (chuckling) Help!

LESLIE: “He doesn’t think it could withstand our busy lifestyle and would have marks and chips in it in no time. We live on a farm and we have children at home. Skateboards and other toys would be on it regularly and it’s the hub of activity at all times as I do a lot of cooking, baking and canning. Also, can we put it directly over the laminate flooring that’s there now?”

TOM: Now I think I know what her husband’s problem is. It’s because she’s combining two flooring materials in this description. Laminate wood flooring. There’s either laminate flooring or there’s wood flooring. Or you …

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Or wood. There’s laminate that looks like wood.

TOM: Well, I was thinking that she could be referring to engineered floor, which is where you have a thin layer of like oak on top of different layers of, you know, other types of softer woods; where it’s engineered together. Let me give you the breakdown.

Laminate floor works great. Incredibly durable stuff. Engineered hardwood, also durable but I wouldn’t recommend it for the skateboard issue; even that’s not going to stand up to that. In your situation, Vicky, I think that the best choice would be laminate floor.

LESLIE: Yeah, and if you love the look of wood you can get a laminate that looks just like any hardwood out there on the market.

TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Thank you so much for spending this hour with us. We hope that you’ve learned something that makes your home improvement projects just a little bit easier.

Coming up next week on the program we’re going to talk about a new study that finds that it really is easy to be green and millions of American’s are being more green everyday. If you think you’re not doing enough to reduce energy consumption in your house; to reduce the load on the power systems; to reduce the wear and tear on our environment, we’re going to give you some very easy – we call them light green (Leslie chuckles) – ways to tackle those projects around your house, next week on the 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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