Transcripts

Transcript For November 24, 2007, 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:

(promo/theme song)

[audio timestamp: 1:00]

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 with your home improvement question. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. Whatever you’re doing, whatever you’re working on, we’re here to help you get the job done. It’s fix-it advice for the hammer impaired, the improvement challenged. We don’t judge. We’re just here to help you get those projects accomplished. The number, again, if 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

Hey, are you thinking about installing a wood or laminate floor? You know, it can be a do-it-yourself job. But if you’re not too careful it could also be a do-it-to-yourself job.

LESLIE: That’s true.

TOM: So we are going to, this hour, deliver some tricks of the trade to make sure you can tackle this very popular project all by yourself.

LESLIE: And also this hour, you know, is your water running hot and cold? Well, if you want an easy way to keep your water temperature exactly where you want it without fluctuation, we are going to tell you how to get that water to the exact degree of your liking.

TOM: And if you hear the phrase “track lighting,” do you think dated 1980s living room with the perfect match to your mood lamp that you just can’t throw out? Well, track lighting does not have to look dated. We’re going to give you some tips to make it really dazzle in just a bit.

LESLIE: And also, we’ve got a great prize this hour. One caller is going to win a brand new Ryobi four-piece lithium ion combo kit. It’s really a fantastic prize. It’s worth 260 bucks and Tom and I have had a few chances to work with these tools and they really are great.

TOM: I love the fact that we just completed this AARP home makeover project and I was running through those batteries pretty quick with all the work we were doing …

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: … and they charge in like 15 minutes.

LESLIE: And they’re lightweight and powerful. You know, I picked up an older model of – you know, I carry around – I hate to say it, but I carry around the DeWalt that my grandpa gave me when I was a little girl and it’s 14 volts and, you know, it’s near and dear to my heart. And I one point I picked up your Ryobi lithium and it was like, “Rrrrr” (Tom laughs) and I was like, “Oh.” And then I think I may have walked away with it and you came chasing after me. (laughing)

TOM: (overlapping voices) Oh, that’s what happened to it mid-job. I was looking for that thing for about an hour. Now I know where it was.

LESLIE: I had it. I was installing grab bars in the bathroom.

TOM: Well, we’re going to give a Ryobi One+ combo kit, lithium combo kit, away this hour. Worth 260 bucks. It’s a circ saw, it’s a drill, it’s a flashlight, it’s a reciprocating saw worth $260 if you call us right now with your home improvement question. You could be the lucky person that wins it. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. Let’s get right to the phones.

Who’s first?

LESLIE: We’re going to talk to Ashley in Indiana about sealing her windows. What’s going on?

ASHLEY: Hi, I moved into an apartment about a month ago and my bedroom window, you can feel the breeze coming in. But the problem is I am three stories up.

LESLIE: OK, where do you feel the breeze coming in? Sort of around the frame or through the glass itself when it’s closed?

ASHLEY: Actually, you can feel the breeze all the way around the window.

TOM: OK, and this is an apartment, Ashley?

ASHLEY: Yes, sir.

TOM: So you don’t own the windows, right? You wouldn’t be replacing windows.

ASHLEY: Right.

TOM: OK. So, here’s a couple of things you can do. First of all, there’s a product out that’s a temporary caulk. It’s called Seal ‘N Peel and that one is made by the DAP company. There’s one made by Red Devil. I think there’s one made by a generic, like mega-store brand, and basically what these temporary caulks do is they allow you to essentially caulk the window shut in the winter so you seal out all the drafts. But then in the spring you peel the stuff off.

You know when you get a credit card in the mail and it’s kind of stuck to the paper with like that white gel or that clear gel?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

TOM: That’s what this stuff feels like and it peels off just like that; kind of stringy and rubbery. And it’s a really good invention because it’s very inexpensive and it’s – you know, it’s not as obtrusive as putting the plastic on your windows and that kind of stuff.

ASHLEY: Right.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm, and it’s perfect for the apartment installation. You know, my mom’s using it at her place in the city.

ASHLEY: That’s great. And what’s the name of that again?

TOM: Seal ‘N Peal. S-e-a-l, the letter N, and then Peal; P-e-a-l.

ASHLEY: OK, great. Thank you so much.

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

And we probably should mention, Leslie, that the only time you need to be cautious using that stuff is when it’s a bedroom egress window.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: You don’t want to seal it shut. Now, in Ashley’s case, that wasn’t …

LESLIE: I mean it does come out but if you’re stumbling and rushing for quick exit, you don’t want to have to peel this out.

TOM: Exactly. In Ashley’s case, she’s three stories up. It didn’t sound like that was the egress. But if you were on the first floor and that’s the only way out in the event of a fire, then you do not want to seal your window shut. For all other uses it’s a great product.

LESLIE: Now we’re going to talk to Clyde in Florida who is trying to deal with moisture in a bathroom. And Clyde, you are already in a super-humid state. How can we help you?

CLYDE: Yes, it is that. I purchased a mobile home at the beginning of the year …

TOM: OK.

CLYDE: … and it has cathedral ceilings in it and the vents are in the ceiling. And I’ve noticed in the hotter days that the vent in the front bathroom, it builds up condensation on it and then it drips and makes a puddle on the floor and I’m just trying to figure out if there’s anything I can do to eliminate that.

TOM: This vent, is this the air conditioning vent?

CLYDE: Yes.

TOM: Hmm. Well, the condensation, is it collecting around the outside of the duct and then dripping through the ceiling?

CLYDE: Well, it’s just dripping from the duct itself. From the vent.

TOM: (overlapping voices) From the duct itself.

CLYDE: Correct.

TOM: Probably what’s happening is this. There’s so much humidity in the space above it that it’s condensing on the outside of the ducts, running down and then dripping into the room and the solution, therefore, is to do a couple of things. First of all, take every step you can to reduce the level of humidity in the attic. That would be by making sure that you have good ridge ventilation and soffit ventilation so you’re flushing air out of that.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm, and also make sure that your bathroom ventilation vents themselves are venting outside and not just into the attic space.

TOM: Yeah, because that could be dumping moisture in there. And then, also, make sure that you insulated around that duct; especially in the area close to the bathroom. If you insulate the duct from the outside surface then you can’t get condensation in it because you’ll be protecting that from the temperature exchange and it forces the moisture out of the air, resulting in the water droplets and that is what results in the moisture kind of running down into the floor.

LESLIE: You are tuned in to Money Pit and maybe you are still feeling a little full from your big Thanksgiving meal. Well we’ve got home improvement projects to help you work off those extra pounds in your house and on you, so give us a call now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

TOM: 888-666-3974.

Coming up, do-it-yourself tips to make sure your flooring project ends up perfectly.

[audio timestamp: 7:29]

(promo/theme song)

[audio timestamp: 10:33]

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, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Back with more how-to and how-not-to home improvement tips to make your projects go just a bit easier. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT and if we talk to you on the air today, you could win a four-piece lithium ion combo kit from Ryobi.

What, in fact, is a lithium ion combo kit, Tom? What possibly could (inaudible)?

LESLIE: I was just going to ask you that. My goodness.

TOM: Well, it’s a circular saw; it’s a battery-powered drill; it’s a reciprocating saw and a battery all in one handsome bag. Worth $260. Helps you get all the jobs done around your house and the One+ batteries, they work with all of the other One+ tools from Ryobi and really charge up quite quickly. So if you’d like to win it, pick up the phone right now and call us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. You must have a home improvement question and be willing to come on the air and ask us.

LESLIE: Hey, and with that great toolkit from Ryobi you could go ahead and start working on your new flooring project. Well, whether you’re the winner or not, if you’re thinking about floors or in the middle of it we’ve got a trick here that’s going to make your life so much easier when installing a floor. Alright, here you go.

A chalk line. All you need to do is snap a line with your chalk line. It is such a simple step to make sure that you’re laying your floor and any material floor completely straight; whether it’s tile, stick-on laminate squares, wood planks, even a wood-look laminate. There’s only one thing that you do need to keep in mind. Once you snap that chalk line it’s kind of delicate so be really careful when you’re crawling around laying the floor or walking over it because you don’t want to erase your straight edge. So if you’re going to be doing a lot of trafficking over that chalk line, spray a little hairspray over that bright blue or that red chalk line you’ve just put down and it will totally stay put for your entire project.

TOM: Great advice. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. Soup to nuts and floorboards to shingles, give us a call right now.

Who’s next?

LESLIE: Now we’re going to Kansas to talk to Debbie about flooring. What’s going on?

DEBBIE: Well, I have carpet in my basement and it’s time to replace it. But I’m kind of hearing from different sources that maybe I shouldn’t replace it with carpet.

LESLIE: Yes, and let me tell you from the horse’s mouth. (Tom chuckles) I had carpeting when we moved into our home. I loved it. It was cozy and cushy and I kept that basement dry. We had a terrible rainstorm. Water got into the basement. That carpet sucked it all up; was a breeding ground for mold and mildew. I felt that wet floor. I pulled it up. Now we have laminate.

DEBBIE: So, laminate flooring is what you’re recommending then?

LESLIE: It’s probably the best choice for basements only because you’re dealing with a very moist subfloor, which is your concrete floor that’s down there below that carpet. When you get weather outside that’s very wet, whether it’s snow or rain, that water’s got to go somewhere so it just sort of wicks through that concrete; not in a great amount but you will get consistent moisture. And then you’re dealing, of course, with a below-grade room that’s going to be inherently more humid than any other place in the house and all of that leads to mold growth really bad.

TOM: Now there is one other option and that is, if you like the look of wood you can put in a type of hardwood flooring called engineered hardwood. It’s not solid hardwood. What the engineered term refers to is the fact that this hardwood is made up various layers of wood that are glued together at opposing angles; much like plywood …

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: … except with a very attractive finished hardwood as the top layer and because of that, it’s dimensionally stable and it can go in a damp, below-grade space. Regular hardwood flooring, say ¾-inch thick like oak planks or something like that, would cup and twist and warp and it would be not appropriate but engineered hardwood is a possibility. So you can go engineered hardwood or you can go laminate and then you can put some throw rugs down there if you want some carpet. At least they’re easy to pick up and clean and rinse out if they ever got leaked again.

LESLIE: Yeah, if there is water.

DEBBIE: And is that what you have done? Because the coziness is something I thought I’m going to miss. You know.

LESLIE: No, I definitely – I’ve got area rugs in the basement. You know, not only is it our hangout place but it’s also my home office. I enjoy being down there and I was really surprised how much the laminate floor – because I went with a wood look in sort of like a warm honey – really opened up the space. It feels much larger. It feels cozy. And the only places where I would sit a lot and my feet would be touching the floor I put other little throw rugs there just so that my feet weren’t so chilly.

DEBBIE: Well, I think you convinced me.

LESLIE: Good. You’re going to love it.

DEBBIE: OK, thank you.

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

LESLIE: See, it helps when I make mistakes, Tom. (chuckling)

TOM: Yes. Well, listen. Do as we say, not as we do. (chuckling)

LESLIE: Taking a call from Paul in Rhode Island, dealing with some scratchy floors. What happened?

PAUL: (beeping sound) I just had my floors refinished about three months ago and ...

TOM: OK.

LESLIE: Wait, are you backing up right now? (Tom laughs)

PAUL: Actually I was. I was in a vehicle. I’m sorry.

TOM: That’s OK.

PAUL: And …

TOM: Pay attention to where you’re driving, please. (laughing)

PAUL: I am. I’m pulled over now.

TOM: Alright.

LESLIE: OK, [two and 10] (ph).

TOM: Go ahead.

PAUL: I got surface scratches on my hardwood floor. It’s not gouged into the floor but it’s scratched, I’d say, below the first or second layer of polyurethane …

TOM: OK.

PAUL: … and I was just wondering how can I get that out to a nice, even finish again.

TOM: So you’ve recently had it finished so you don’t want to refinish it?

PAUL: Yeah, I don’t want to go through the whole process having (inaudible) done and refinished. Is there a way just to like spot coat it maybe or something like that?

TOM: Well, yes. I mean certainly you could abrade that area. You could sand that area with some very fine like 220-grit sandpaper and then recoat just that one area. But I’ll give you another way. If you’re kind of like this across the entire floor there is an alternative to sanding it down to raw wood and that is to rent a floor buffer with a sanding screen. And what that basically looks like, it sort of looks like a window screen and it’s mounted on the bottom of a floor buffer and it’s your standard, you know, 12 or 18-inch diameter – I forget what it is – to go on the bottom of that buffer. And you can go through the entire floor with that and it basically just smoothes out those scratches off the surface and then you mop on another coat of polyurethane and you’re back to a totally new finished floor without having to use the big, heavy sanders that grind it down to the raw wood.

PAUL: Oh, OK. That sounds like a good idea.

TOM: So there’s two ways to do it. You could do it in just the one area like that or you can floor buff it with a sanding screen and do the whole floor. I’ve done both. I mean I had an area in my living room where one of the chairs was rubbing in and actually had cut through the finish and I just patched that one area by itself. And you know, when I first got done you could see that it was shinier than the rest but give it a couple of weeks and it kind of blends in.

LESLIE: It’ll all even out.

TOM: And then in other cases I’ve actually used the floor buffer and done the entire floor then mopped on a new coat of urethane. When you put the urethane on though, make sure you use oil-based urethane. Do not use water-based polyurethane on the floor. It’s just not tough enough.

PAUL: OK.

TOM: Alright, Paul?

PAUL: Thank you very much for your help. I appreciate it.

TOM: Well, you’re welcome, Paul, and I tell you what. For calling in tonight, because you’re dealing with home improvement questions, we’re going to give you one of the Money Pit American Homeowners Association memberships. How’s that sound?

PAUL: Oh, thank you very much. I appreciate that.

TOM: You’re welcome. It’s worth 120 bucks and gives you access to home improvement contractors and discounts on all sorts of services for the home.

Paul, what we’re going to need you to do is call 866-Real-Home. That’s the membership number.

PAUL: OK.

TOM: Give them your name and they will hook you up and for any of the other folks that are listening, if you’d like to try this out for 30 days for free and get a Zircon laser level just for doing that, you can call 866-Real-Home and they’ll hook you up as well.

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

PAUL: Thank you.

LESLIE: Jeff in Alabama’s got a sticky situation happening at the windows and doors. What’s going on?

JEFF: Well, I guess it’s because of maybe the dampness. I don’t know. But it’s cooler so we’re ready to open the windows and let in some of the nice air and not run the air conditioning. But they’re stuck and some of the doors are getting a little sticky.

TOM: OK.

LESLIE: Are they wood windows? Tell us about everything.

JEFF: Yeah, wood windows and I think the doors are fairly new so I don’t know if they’re wood or MDF or something like that. But you know, I know we’ve got at least one wood door that was in there as an entry door originally and so it’s getting a little stuck as well.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: Alright, well I’ll give you a couple of tricks of the trade. First of all, are you able to get the windows open or are some of them stuck shut?

JEFF: Well, we can move them a little bit but it’s just – you know, it’s like you’re curling 70 pounds or something like that.

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) It’s struggling. (Tom laughs) Hey, it’ll save you on gym membership, alright?

JEFF: Yeah, that’s true. OK. (chuckling)

TOM: If it’s stuck shut the best thing to do is to grab a putty knife and work it around to try to break the seam between the paint and the window. If it …

LESLIE: Is it just, Tom, that the humidity has caused the wood to swell and now the paint’s kind of stuck or is it just that it’s swollen so much that it’s stuck in the …?

TOM: Well, it ends up actually swelling because of the humidity and forming sort of a chemical bond that’s just as strong as glue sometimes.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: So sliding the putty knife around is a good way to start to free it up. Another thing to do is take a block of wood and set it on top of the lower sash of the double-hung window like where …

LESLIE: So by where the lock is.

TOM: Where the lock is but near the outside edge where it comes together. And with a hammer, take a couple of quick raps, driving the window down as if you’re trying to close it because what that does is it actually breaks the seal of the paint. You do it on the left side; do it on the right side. You put the block of wood so that you don’t end up with dents like on the window itself. And so you’re tapping that frame. Now, once you get it moving you can shoot some WD-40 in there and that ought to help free it up.

As far as the doors are concerned, I would very carefully bring the door closed to see where it’s sticking because the advice on how to free it up is going to depend on where it’s sticking. For example, if it seems to be fairly consistent across where the strike side is one thing you might want to do is one at a time loosen the hinges …

JEFF: Mm-hmm.

TOM: … and carve out the hinge so you set it a little bit back deeper into the door.

JEFF: OK.

TOM: That will actually create some room on the other side.

Another thing that you can do is if it’s just sort of touching – like very often they’ll catch on the top of the door where it strikes the door jamb. If you can sort of very carefully close the doors just about touching and then scribe a pencil line, just kind of be able to mimic the angle of that – of the opening with the door …

JEFF: Right.

TOM: … then what you could do is you could plane it or you could sand it and actually take a little bit of the door away. You’re probably going to find that this is where they’re most swollen. So the gaps that you create now will create just enough of a gap to take a couple of layers of paint and still have it closing freely.

JEFF: Right.

TOM: Then when it comes time for the summer, if things are shrinking up a little bit more than they are now …

JEFF: Sure.

TOM: … the gap will not be so unsightly. But you have to take it one step at a time and that’s how to attack the door and the window.

JEFF: OK. Somebody said one time that you could take line a long deck screw, pull out one of the screws in the hinge plates there on the door and drive that screw in where it’ll catch a stud and try to pull it that way. Is that a good idea?

TOM: You can. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t work. If it’s an old door that’s been up there for many years it probably will not work. If it’s a newer door that’s been up maybe just, you know, say zero to five years …

JEFF: Yeah.

TOM: … where there’s still some flex, then I think you have a better chance that it works. If you’re going to do that, choose the screw that is closest to the center of the door jamb; otherwise, you might miss the stud.

JEFF: Right. OK.

TOM: And remember, if you pull the hinge closer to that side, you’re going to open a gap opposite of that so just be mindful that if you move a hinge one way it causes sort of a cause and effect and you’ll get a gap on the other side.

JEFF: Oh, OK.

TOM: So if you don’t do it the right way you could make the problem worse.

JEFF: OK.

TOM: Doors a little tricky. You know, you’ve really got to think through it before you start moving them around.

JEFF: Sure.

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

JEFF: Thank you.

TOM: Up next, keeping a consistent hot water (inaudible) your water heater can be a bit of a challenge, as we learned this morning in my house. Woke up. My son, who goes to school very early said, “Dad, no hot water.”

LESLIE: And he’s the first one, right?

TOM: He’s the first one. Which gave me a chance to fix it before I had to hit it. (chuckling) But he went to school on a cold shower. Poor kid.

Hey, how do you make sure that it doesn’t happen to you? With some new technology that I think we’ll need in our house very soon. We’ll tell you all about it, after this.

[audio timestamp: 22:47]

(theme song)

ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is being brought to you by – well, by us. Get a $1,000 guarantee that the contractor you hire gets the job done right with your new Money Pit American Homeowners Association membership. And get $50 in Zircon tools if you join in the next 30 minutes. Call now. 866-REAL-HOME. That’s 866-REAL-HOME. Now here are Tom and Leslie.

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

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: And it’s a double whammy you get hit with this time of year. Holiday shopping bills and energy bills that include all of those decked out halls …

LESLIE: Ugh.

TOM: … blinking lights and all. You want to save a few bucks on both?

LESLIE: Yes, please.

TOM: We’re going to cover that topic in the next edition of the Money Pit e-newsletter. It’s free. Sign up now at MoneyPit.com.

LESLIE: Alright, Tom. So earlier you were talking about your son Thomas. I feel so bad. So he got the cold shower this morning?

TOM: He got the cold shower, yeah.

LESLIE: Ugh. Trouble, trouble, trouble. Well, to keep you or your kids out of a similar situation where, you know, Tom’s going to make sure he gets the hot shower, you want to make sure that you’re getting a good temperature mix and you want to keep it somewhere between, say, scalding and lukewarm.

TOM: Yeah, that would be good. (chuckling)

LESLIE: (chuckling) Somewhere in the middle of that. And you know, finding that delicate balance, it can be a little tough. But not if you have a tankless hot water heater and especially one with a digital thermostat. Because most of these newer models come with digital readouts that are going to let you see exactly how hot your water is and then you can adjust it as necessary to find that sweet spot, if you will, of exactly the temperature that you love. And tankless units, they also provide the added convenience of endless hot water so Thomas, Jr. will never be in a cold shower situation again. And you know, Rheem tankless hot water heaters, they even come with a remote control so you can adjust the temp without even going to the basement. So it’s a good way to play a little trick on somebody. (chuckling)

TOM: So I can let him get started with the hot water then dial it down to cold right away, right?

LESLIE: Aw. That’s so mean.

TOM: That would be mean. No. (chuckling) But I tell you what. These tankless water heaters, it really is the hot ticket today because it is a consistent, endless supply of hot water and it’s always exactly where you need it. And speaking of kids and especially with younger kids, it’s cool that with these digital thermostats these days …

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: … you can actually dial it down to a much lower, safer temperature so that if you want to send, you know, your five or six or seven-year-old up to take a bath by themselves – which, by that age, they can pretty much turn the faucets on and do it –

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: – you don’t have to worry about them scalding themselves. So it’s good …

LESLIE: Yeah, because then you really keep control over it.

TOM: Yeah, it’s good technology.

If you want more information, you can visit the website for RheemTankless.com or pick up the phone and call us right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974.

Leslie, who’s next?

LESLIE: Pat in Colorado is working on a gazebo. How can we help?

PAT: Hey, I’m building a gazebo on a cement slab that I had poured and want to put like terracotta tile down for the flooring. You know, we get a lot of rain and a lot of snow up here. So, I was just wondering if there’s any prep I need to do or can I just put the (inaudible) or thick-set (ph) as the case may be and place the tile right on the cement.

LESLIE: Tom, is there any reason for concern with a terracotta tile out of doors in especially a freezing and thawing climate?

TOM: No, as long as it’s properly adhered and you use the right type of adhesive on this. I would be very careful to make sure that I don’t have any gaps under there where water can get in under it and cause the moisture to kind of freeze and expand and pop. I’d also be careful to use an unglazed terracotta here because it’s going to be slippery. But if you do that, I don’t see any reason you can’t use it outside. I’ve glued terracotta down to fiberglass decks on seashore houses that are in freezing climates and it works great.

PAT: Is there a special kind of grout I need to consider?

TOM: Nope, just a regular sand grout will do it.

PAT: Hey, that’s great. Really appreciate your show.

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

LESLIE: We’re going to Pennsylvania next and talking to Bob with an HVAC question. What’s going on?

BOB: My house is only three years old but I have an 80-percent furnace with natural gas.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: OK.

BOB: And I was curious to know if it’s a wise thing to do to put a heat pump in instead of my air conditioner and use the gas as the backup or if it made better sense to go with the 95-percent efficient furnace and leave the AC. I was going to consider doing one or the other or just leaving it alone.

TOM: Well, in your part of the country – are you talking about electric heat pump?

BOB: Yes.

TOM: In your part of the country, with the dramatic temperature swing that you have in Pennsylvania, I would never recommend an electric heat pump because it can – if it gets to the point where it’s not going to keep up it’s always going to bring on the backup. I just don’t think that’s necessary. I would recommend that you go with a very high efficiency condensing furnace – you know, like a Lennox Pulse or something like that – and that’s going to give you the best efficiency. And then with an Energy Star-rated air conditioning compressor, those would be the two elements that would deliver the best overall efficiency in your part of the country.

Heat pumps are generally OK only if you live in the south; like I would say Georgia and farther south because the temperature is not quite as dramatic and it’s OK if you running the backup mode from time to time. But I think in your place I would definitely use a high-efficiency furnace.

BOB: OK. I appreciate that because it was described to me that the heat pump would only run down to about 40 degrees which is the temperature range, like you said, down south is when they are efficient and then, you know, then it would switch over to the gas. So I didn’t know if that made enough sense with the amount of time that (inaudible).

TOM: (overlapping voices) Well what happens is – what happens is this. A heat pump is an air conditioner that runs in reverse. You know when you have a window unit stuck in a window of your house it blows hot air on the outside?

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: Well, if you reverse that refrigeration cycle you have a heat pump. The problem with a heat pump is it will only heat to within two degrees of what you set it at. So let’s say you set the temperature in your house at 70. If the temperature falls to 69 the heat pump kicks on. If it falls to 68 the heat pump stays on. If it falls to 67 the heat pump says, whoa, I can’t keep up with this anymore and brings on the backup heat which, in most cases, is electric which is really crazy and, in your case, would be gas. So you’re going to end up running the gas when furnace a lot anyway. That’s why I think the best thing for you to do is to skip the heat pump part of this and just go with a good-quality, high-efficiency gas furnace. That’s going to give you the best return on your investment and it’ll also be more comfortable …

LESLIE: Keep your energy bills down.

TOM: Yeah, because another common complaint of heat pumps is that they blow “cold air.” But they don’t really blow cold air but they don’t blow air that’s as warm as what you’re used to. So as you’re sitting in your easy chair and that air comes out of the register at like 90 degrees instead of like 105, as it blows across your skin, your skin being damp, you get evaporative cooling which forces sort of a chill effect and that’s why people say it feels like it’s cold air when it’s really not. But for all those reasons I would not do a heat pump in Pennsylvania. I would go with a high-efficiency gas furnace.

BOB: Thank you so much.

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

A life full of drama is bad, except when it involves track lighting. That offers the flexibility and ease of installation and dramatic effects that can make life all that more pleasant. We’ll tell you how to get it, after this.

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[audio timestamp: 33:45]

ANNOUNCER: This portion of The Money Pit is brought to you by Aprilaire, makers of professionally-installed, high-efficiency air cleaners. For more information, go to Aprilaire.com. Now, here are Tom and Leslie.

TOM: Welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. More hints, tips and hardware horror stories coming up this hour. Call us right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT with yours. We’ll help you dig out. The number is 888-666-3974.

LESLIE: Yeah, and if you call that number not only are you going to get a wonderful answer that will greatly save you time, energy and, potentially, a finger; you will be automatically entered into our random prize drawing this hour and we are giving away a really, really great prize. It is a four-piece lithium ion combo kit. It’s from our friends over at Ryobi. It’s worth $260. It includes a drill, a circular saw, a power driver and the coolest thing is that all of these lithium ion batteries are compatible with any of the other tools you might already own from the Ryobi One+ line. So no getting rid of one thing to bring in the new. It will all play nicely together and it could be yours for free but you’ve got to pick up the phone now and dial 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

TOM: 888-666-3974.

One project you might use those brand, spanking new tools for is to install some track lighting. You know, with track lighting you can spotlight a room’s decorative points of interest and just plain shed light for utility and safety and they can look really cool. Plus, with installing today’s track lighting fixtures it is easier than ever thanks to their very modular sort of click-together design which allows different tracks and fixtures to be snapped together in an endless variety of patterns and styles. It’s sort of a do-it-yourself electrical project; one that you truly can do. With just a little bit of care and caution you can have that room looking just great.

You have an electrical question like that? Call us right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

Leslie, who’s next?

LESLIE: We’ve got Rich in Colorado on the line who could have a potential hair-raising situation with some old wiring. Tell us about it.

RICH: I had to replace an electrical outlet and when I pulled the old one out I’ve got just old two-wire wiring in the house instead of three.

TOM: OK.

RICH: And I didn’t know how serious a problem this could be in the future and at the hardware store all you can really find are the three-prong outlets and a lot of stuff that I have, you know, has three prongs and I was concerned about the two-prong outlet versus the three-prong outlet and if that old two-wire wiring needed to be replaced.

TOM: Well, with two-wire system, the ground is basically through the neutral and you can install a three-prong into it but it has to be done correctly so that you do not create the illusion of ground where it doesn’t exist. It’s really not a do-it-yourself project.

You know, there are a couple of things that could be done. For example, you could install a ground-fault circuit interrupter into a two-wire system so that it turns the circuit off. It doesn’t technically ground it but it turns it off if there’s a diversion of current to ground. But it’s not a do-it-yourself project. It’s also possible to run a third wire into some selected circuits and have that be the solution to the problem as well. It’s an antiquated system. It’s still safe as long as it’s installed and maintained properly, but it’s a good question and one that many people deal with and the answer is you can live with it but you only want to modify it if you do it correctly.

LESLIE: Stephanie in Arkansas, welcome to The Money Pit. What can we do for you?

STEPHANIE: I have an aquarium rock that is stuck in my garbage disposal.

TOM: Oh, I hope the fish isn’t stuck in there too.

STEPHANIE: No, no, no, they’re in the tank. (Tom chuckles) But I got the key out and I figured out – because I’m a first-time homeowner …

TOM: Mm-hmm.

STEPHANIE: … and I’m blonde.

TOM: Oh, OK. (Leslie laughs)

STEPHANIE: But I got the key – I got the key out and I figured out how to …

TOM: Which explains how the aquarium rocks ended up in the garbage disposer, huh? (chuckling)

STEPHANIE: (chuckling) That’s how it got there. It’s a blonde error. But I figured out how to unstick it with the key underneath.

TOM: OK.

STEPHANIE: And I felt in there and I thought I got everything out but as soon as I turn it back on it’s still in there. So …

TOM: Alright. Well, are you just hearing it sort of like, you know, run around? Like in other words, it’s not stuck. It’s not jammed.

STEPHANIE: It is stuck right now but I can get it unstuck.

TOM: OK. And – but so it’s still in there and when you turn it back on it jams again because the rock kind of gets jammed in there?

STEPHANIE: Correct.

TOM: Alright.

STEPHANIE: And it’s an older garbage disposal so is there a way that I can clean it without turning it on? (INAUDIBLE)

TOM: (overlapping voices) Yeah, I’ve got an idea. I’ve got an idea for you. Alright, first of all, get it unstuck so it’s just down there and loose.

STEPHANIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: Make sure the disposer is off. Get a vacuum, turn it on and stick the suction of the vacuum down there and pull that rock right out.

STEPHANIE: OK, great.

TOM: OK? Or get some …

LESLIE: Hey, that’s a fun trick.

TOM: Get somebody to help you with it. Yeah.

STEPHANIE: If worse comes to worse and I have to take this off, is it hard to put them back on? Is there anything specific that I have to really watch for, for it to work right?

TOM: The disposer? Ugh. That would be – that would be a big hassle.

STEPHANIE: OK.

TOM: You should be able to get that rock out or, you know, wear it down to the point where it just goes down the drain. (Stephanie chuckles)

LESLIE: Just grind away at it?

TOM: Grind away at it. Yeah, exactly. Now, if it’s loose and inside the disposer, you just can’t like see it, you know, very often when stuff gets stuck in there you can stick a flashlight down there and see it and grab it.

STEPHANIE: OK.

TOM: But of course, the power has to be off. That’s critical. But if you – and if you use a vacuum – you know, even a shop vac or wet/dry vac – lot of suction, stick it down there. It’ll probably pull it right up.

STEPHANIE: OK, great. Thank you so much.

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

LESLIE: This is The Money Pit and we make good homes better.

So, you went to the home store. You got paint chips.

TOM: Check.

LESLIE: You painted little samples all over your wall.

TOM: Check.

LESLIE: You got excited. You thought you were making the right decision.

TOM: But no.

LESLIE: No.

TOM: What happened?

LESLIE: You paint everything and all of a sudden it just doesn’t look the way you thought it was going to. Well, we’ve got some tips to help you make that color work for you and the room, so stick around.

[audio timestamp: 39:47]

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 Rheem.com. That’s R-h-e-e-m.com. Now, here are Tom and Leslie.

TOM: Making good homes better, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Call us right now with your home improvement question. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. If that question is how do I uncut a $2,000 piece of marble, probably can’t help you. But if it’s how do I paint my …

LESLIE: Make your project smaller. (chuckling)

TOM: … how do I paint my house, that we can do. That’s right. Yeah, there’s certain things that Crazy Glue just doesn’t work for. (Leslie laughs) Sorry to tell you.

LESLIE: That’s hysterical. And you know what, folks? While we know that MoneyPit.com is an awesome website, maybe you’re feeling too shy to ask your question on the air. So while you’re cruising around MoneyPit.com researching all of your projects, go ahead and click on Ask Tom and Leslie and we will answer your e-mail question right now like we do every hour and we’ve got one here from Chester in Montgomery, Alabama who writes: “I chose the paint sample carefully and bought three gallons of paint. However, on the wall the eggshell finish and lighting made the paint take on a “mustard” look which we are dissatisfied with. How successful are we likely to be in asking the home store to take out some of this yellowish-green by retinting it?”

TOM: Hmm. Well, I tell you what. It’s a chemical equation and chances are that you’re not going to be able to accurately predict in advance what changing that mix is going to do to it.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: What you could do is go to the home store and if you know what that paint was made out of, you could try to find another similar paint that has the same ingredients but perhaps one additional one. That might actually change it successfully and predictably if it’s just one more thing. But I will tell you that, universally, one thing that does always sort of darken and soften these concoctions gone wrong and that is to just add a tint of black.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: Bringing the tone down just a little bit might make the difference.

LESLIE: Even like a brown. And you can pick up pigment at your local home center in any paint supply store and then it’s sort of a trial and error, mix and match and see where it goes. But generally, Tom’s right. Those darker hues really do tend to warm it up, unify it and change it. Because we had a similar problem with my parents’ apartment years ago.

TOM: Right.

LESLIE: They chose this beautiful, greenish tone …

TOM: Right.

LESLIE: … and when they put it on the wall it was weird and so we mixed in a little bit of brown and it really helped to correct it. So you …

TOM: Yeah, but here’s the situation. Chester, you said you have three gallons …

LESLIE: Yeah.

TOM: ... three separate gallons of this?

LESLIE: I would put them all together.

TOM: Yeah. Get a five-gallon bucket before you start messing with this because if you’re going to get the one gallon perfect you’ll never be able to reproduce that for the rest.

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) And you’ll never get them to match.

TOM: So hope that helps you out.

LESLIE: Alright, here we go. We’ve got another here from Mike in Seattle, Washington. Writes: “I’m having my roof redone later this year. With the damp conditions in my area I know I need some sort of extra protection. Is there something better to use than felt as an underlayment?”

TOM: Yeah, don’t use felt. Use one of the high-tech, synthetic underlayments. These really stand up a lot better than the old-fashioned tarpaper. Grace makes one. It’s called Tri-Flex Xtreme.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: It sheds water way better than felt and it doesn’t tear and you can walk on this stuff without slipping. It just gets put on much like felt except it’s much bigger sheets. There’s information on that at their website which is GraceAtHome.com. Felt is really not a great choice for roofs these days. We have a lot better products.

LESLIE: You know, and considering that sometimes – I know generally roofing projects are, you know, a one-time deal. They come in and they’re done. But if, for some reason, the weather turns and they’ve got to stop mid-project, you’re not going to get any leaks by just leaving this, you know, Tri-Flex exposed.

TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Thank you so much for spending this hour with us.

Hey, before we go, it is the ho-ho-home improvement time of year and you’re probably thinking what am I going to get the home improver on my shopping list. We have a solution. Go to our store. We’ve got lots of home improvement gear for you at the Money Pit website at MoneyPit.com. Just click on the store. You’ll find t-shirts …

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: … and stickers and all kinds of stuff.

LESLIE: And you know what? The girly t-shirts …

TOM: Yes.

LESLIE: Because I have my I heart the Money Pit t-shirt –

TOM: Uh-huh.

LESLIE: – it fits so well. It’s cute. It’s not oversized. It really is perfect. Because so many times you get these t-shirts, you think it’s going to be great and all they’ve done is really take a smaller men’s shirt and said it’s ladies. But our Money Pit shirts fit so fantastically well and I adore mine.

TOM: There you go. You can dress like Leslie. (chuckling) Go to MoneyPit.com.

Thanks so much for being with us. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself …

LESLIE: But you don't have to do it alone.

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(Copyright 2007 Squeaky Door Productions, Inc. No portion of this transcript or audio file may be reproduced in any format without the express written permission of Squeaky Door Productions, Inc.)

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