Show Notes
- Garage Organization Tips: Fall is the perfect time to get your garage organized and make room for off season storage. Tom & Leslie share tips to get your garage ready bikes, bats, lawnmowers and more.
- Smart Tips for Purchasing a New Furnace. Whether your old furnace is shot, or you want a more efficient upgrade, a new furnace should never be an impulse buy. We’ll have tips for making smart choice to restore heat without burning a hole in your finances.
- Ingenious Trick for Replacing Broken Ceramic Tiles. Ceramic tiles are durable and easy to care for, but what happens if one breaks, and you can’t find a replacement? We’ll share a trick-of-the-trade for a fast fix up.
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
Plus, answers to home improvement questions about:
- Deck Stain Won’t Stick. Get tips on how to restore deck stain that peels off shortly after its applied.
- Bees Buzzing Your Food. If you’re frustrated by bees that buzz your outdoor meals or those of your pets, Tom shares a neat trick for keep them away from the food.
- To Fix or Not to Fix a House You’re Selling. Find out why it may or may not make sense for you make repairs of improvement to your home before putting it on the market.
- Crawlspace Ventilation. We help one listener sort though some potentially bad advice from a contractor with a conflict of interest.
- Roof Repair Costs. We walk Rochelle though the process of figuring out if an estimate she received for repairs to her roof makes sense and share a resource where you can search for the average cost for hundreds of projects as a guide to determining if your estimate is in line.
- LP Siding: John has a house with a siding that’s been the subject of a major class-action lawsuit. Toms explains the issues with deteriorating LP Siding, and a strategy on how to deal with it in a real estate transaction.
- Hot Water Delays: Find out why it can take a long time for hot water to arrive when the tap is turned on.
- Best Floor for an RV: Learn why today’s luxury and ridged vinyl plank floor products may be a perfect choice for an RV.
- Spider Infestation: John in Delaware needs help dealing with a severe infestation of spiders in every room of his house! Tom walks him through the best options to make them bug out!
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 0:00:30 | TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:00:36 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:00:37 | TOM: So happy fall home improvement season, everybody. If you’ve got a project on your to do list, you can start that project right now. When you reach out to us with your questions at 1-888-Money-Pit or go to moneypit.com/ask you know now is a really good time of year to think about organizing your garage so you can get all that off season storage back in place. So on today’s show, we’re going to have tips to make that project go fast and easy. |
| 0:01:01 | LESLIE: And whether your old furnace is shot or you want a more efficient upgrade, a new furnace should never be an impulse buy. But too many times that’s exactly what does happen, especially if your furnace gives out in the middle of winter. |
| 0:01:14 | TOM: Yeah, or the middle of a home inspection. You know, when I was a home inspector, I used to find furniture that really happened. Yes, I used to find furnaces that had to be replaced immediately because they were dangerous, like cracked heat exchangers that could lead combustion gas back into the house. And I swear, I found them like at the start of a home inspection. And by the end of the inspection, two or 3 hours later, the new furnace is getting wheeled in the door. And I’m like, Ever? You didn’t think that was going to happen today. But, you know, if it’s the middle of winter, you got to do it. |
| 0:01:39 | LESLIE: That’s bananas. |
| 0:01:40 | TOM: Yeah, well, better safe than sorry, right? |
| 0:01:41 | LESLIE: Yeah. All right. So we’re going to share some tips, you guys, to help you make a smart choice when it does come time to replace that furnace. |
| 0:01:47 | TOM: And we’re gonna talk about ceramic tiles. They are durable and easy to care for. But what happens if one tile breaks and you can’t find a replacement? Well, we’ve got some tricks of the trade for fast fix ups for tile projects to help you out of that conundrum. |
| 0:02:00 | LESLIE: All right. But first, we want to help you create your best home ever. From bathrooms to basements and demolition to decor. We are your coach, your counselor, your cheerleader for all those projects, big and small. So let us know what you are tackling this fall season so we can lend a hand. |
| 0:02:14 | TOM: The number here is 1888-Money-Pit. Or you can go to money. BET.com slash asked for the fastest possible response. Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first? |
| 0:02:23 | LESLIE: Bella from Bristol, Virginia, is joining us here at the Money Pit. What’s going on at your house? |
| 0:02:28 | CALLER: We started our day with a solid stain a year ago, and not long into the year the stain started coming up or chipping. So is there a reason for that and how can you prevent that? |
| 0:02:41 | TOM: That’s too bad. You know. Was this deck new when you did this? |
| 0:02:45 | CALLER: No, no, it’s about 20 years old. |
| 0:02:48 | TOM: Normally the reason that happens is because the deck was too wet when the stain was put down. If it was damp and not fully dried out in a stain index is tricky because you really got to work with the weather, right? I mean, it can’t be too hot because then the stain actually dries too quick. But if it’s if it’s damp, even sometimes like the fall in the spring, you know, it’s hard to get that right time. You’ve got to have a good full day or two of sunshine for it to be right to take that. So at this point, what I would do, unless that it’s really coming off in sheets is what I would do is I would occasionally, you know, every two, maybe three months is I would scrape off the loose spots and then just touch it up and kind of just nurse it along that way. Because unfortunately, the only real solution here is to strip it all off. And that’s just a big project. And if it’s not coming off in big sheets, I would try to nurse it along. |
| 0:03:37 | CALLER: Yeah, it’s not come on often cheap. |
| 0:03:39 | TOM: We do get those calls as well. |
| 0:03:40 | CALLER: Okay. All right. Well, I appreciate it. |
| 0:03:42 | TOM: You’re welcome. Sorry, I didn’t have better news for you, but that’s the best thing to do right now. |
| 0:03:47 | LESLIE: Ryan in California is on the line with all that buzzing. He’s got some bees at his place. What’s going on? |
| 0:03:51 | CALLER: Having a really bad problem with me. BS or yellowjackets with my cat food. I can’t get my cat food out. They have traps all over the yard, everywhere, which they’re filling up very fast. But I need some help with these bees. What can you do for me? |
| 0:04:06 | TOM: There’s a type of trap that’s made by the company called Rescue. Rescue and it’s called a trap stick. And I like these. I’ve used them. They’re like plastic baskets that are brightly yellow, and they have a sort of tube inside of them that’s covered with adhesive. And they last a year and the wasp will call into the basket and get stuck there. So these traps have to depopulate a little bit. There’s not going to be an easy way for you to completely eliminate bees in the cat food. However, I do have one suggestion, and I’ve used this to try to know I’m working in an area that has a lot of mosquitoes or biting flies. I’m not going to get rid of mosquitoes, not going to grow the butterflies. And sure, I could put on that sort of thing. But, you know, it’s really effective often because if you put a little wind through that area, the bees can’t fly. There, they can’t land, and that actually keeps them away. So you might want to think about that if you’ve got a little, you know, oscillating table fans you could set up for the kid when the kid is eating outside that will definitely keep the bees away from the cat food. |
| 0:05:06 | LESLIE: And that’s pretty smart. Good call. Hey, you want to support our podcast and help us grow? We’ll go ahead and leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts and we’ll be forever grateful. Plus, you’ll be helping other homeowners discover our show. Just go to Money Pit dot com slash review. We’ve got Marci on the line who’s looking to sell her house and need some help deciding what projects will benefit her going up in Marci. |
| 0:05:29 | CALLER: I have a house that I have to sell and the drywall and the ceiling of the garage needs to be replaced. Do you think that I should do that prior to putting it on the market? Is it that important? |
| 0:05:46 | TOM: You know, Marci, when you have a project like that, you mentioned the garage and the ceiling need to be replaced and you know about it. You know, it has to be done. Or maybe you think personally has to be done. That may not be the priority for the potential home buyer. So I think I might ask your real estate agent, when you list the house, whether or not it’s a project that you think you should do, Because the thing is, what I found after doing being a home inspector for 20 years is that, you know, seeing seen homeowners do the things that they think needs to be done and missed, huge things that really need to be done. But they didn’t know it. So I don’t know that I would run out and change that. The only reason first of all, garages are typically sold unfinished, right? So you don’t the worry doesn’t look pretty. Secondly, the only reason to really have a garage ceiling is because it’s part of the firebreak between the garage and the rest of the house that was separated by a fire wall centrally. So that’s why garages are usually the drywall is usually 5/8 of an inch thick, and it’s a fire rated drywall board is much heavier and denser than regular half inch drywall that’s used for interior walls. If it’s missing and it might be a code issue, if there’s a code requirement that you must pass when you sell a house. But again, I don’t think something like that I would run out and do necessarily unless I got some more information that it was ultimately going to be required. Or maybe you had a real estate professional say it was a good idea, so I’d hold off for now. |
| 0:07:09 | LESLIE: All right. Time to check foundations with Randy from Missouri. What’s going on at your Money Pit? |
| 0:07:14 | CALLER: A few months ago, I had my foundation up from underneath, and I did have a good job in my opinion, what they recommended me doing is sealing the entire foundations and even sealing the event. And my man for the mega and they want to seal off all my mess. |
| 0:07:35 | TOM: So look, first of all, I hope this these guys were engineers and not just people that are in the foundation repair business because there’s a lot of guys out there that are, you know, they’re just foundation repair people and they don’t know as much as engineers. And frankly, in my opinion, all of them shouldn’t be doing the repairs are doing. But aside from that issue, your question is really about moisture. And sure, a crawl space is going to have dampness in the basement. It’s going to have dampness to it. What they’re talking about is to seal the entire foundation and vents from the inside. That’s an approach I don’t know if it’s necessary for you if you want to reduce the moisture that’s down there, there’s a very basic things that you can do that will accomplish that. First of all, you would put down and this is a dirt foundation, A dirt floor. |
| 0:08:21 | CALLER: A dirt floor. Yes. |
| 0:08:23 | TOM: Okay. So what you’re going to want to do is put down a plastic vapor barrier in as few seems as possible, basically cover the entire floor with plastic sheeting that you’d buy at home center and buy the thick stuff because it’s easier to work with and overlap it. And then once you’ve done that, the vents should be open except for, say, November through January on the foundation. And then what you want to do is reduce the amount of moisture gets down there in the first place. And for that you’re going to go outside and look up at your roof line and your gutters. They’ve got to be clean. They’ve got to be free flowing. If you can get out there in a really nasty rainstorm and see what’s happening with water that’s getting into those gutters, you want to see all of the coming out those downspouts and not overflowing in any way, shape or form. If we know the gutters are working really well, then we look at the downspouts, because typically most downspouts are discharging within a foot or two of the foundation. If you’ve got crawl space moisture, you want to get those out four or five or six feet. So you get some leader material at the home center, attach it to the end of the downspouts, do a good job, screw sections together, and then that water will discharge away from the foundation and not find its way back into that crawlspace area. |
| 0:09:37 | TOM: And lastly, take a look at your grading. If the soil around the house is flat or if it’s retaining water, because sometimes we do things like have like landscaped borders and things like that that tend to trap water against the foundation. The goal here, Randy, is to move the water away from the foundation through all the methods that we suggested. And it’s as simple as that. If you do that, that will do a lot to reduce the humidity and the moisture in that crawlspace. If we want to do one more thing, you could put in a crawl space dehumidifier. I got one down in my crawl space. It’s made by Santa Fe. It’s not the kind that sits on the floor with the bucket that has to be empty. It basically hangs off like a sort of an ingenious suspension system that they designed with their systems, and it hangs from the underside of the floor joist actually. So when it comes on, the vibration doesn’t bother you or anything and does a good job, and then that just pumps right outside. So those are the sorts of things I would do rather than seal the entire foundation at this point. |
| 0:10:37 | CALLER: Okay. Thank you. Now. |
| 0:10:39 | LESLIE: Well, fall has just begun and it’s the perfect time to organize your garage. So the first step is to take stock of what you have in there and what you’ll be stored away for those cooler months. Now, your bicycles taking up space. Are there some off season sports equipment? What about those beach folding chairs or maybe the lakeside stuff that you bring around? The best way to store these items is up, so you need to look into some suspended shelving that’s going to keep those off season items just out of the way and free up all that valuable floor space. Or you can consider hanging these items from hooks on the wall. |
| 0:11:12 | TOM: Now you’ve got kids. It’s also a good time to go through all the gear to see what you can toss and donate those inline skates in bad shape or no longer fit in your kids. What about helmets? What about other protective gear? Get rid of what you no longer use. |
| 0:11:25 | LESLIE: Yeah. In our town, we always have, like a sports equipment exchange and everybody’s like, Who needs a cleats size, blah? I got this. |
| 0:11:31 | TOM: That makes so much sense. That’s awesome. |
| 0:11:33 | LESLIE: So great to share everything around. Now, next, you’ve got to decide where you want to store any lawn and garden equipment that you might be keeping in that garage. It’s a good time to get those garden tools cleaned, organized and up on a pegboard and you want to keep rakes and other fall tools handy. And he’d say, Guys, but it’s a good time to get those snow shovels and snowblowers are kind of at the ready to use because it’s going to come sooner than you think. |
| 0:11:57 | TOM: My snow blowers in ready use Since last year when I bought it, we didn’t have any snow. |
| 0:12:02 | LESLIE: And never gave it. |
| 0:12:03 | TOM: A break. And then this year. Well, lastly, you want to make sure any hazardous materials like deicer, gasoline, oil or lawn and garden chemicals are stored safely or even better in a separate location like, say, a shed. It’s a good time to get all those organizational projects done. Right now, the seasons are shifting, so why not spend your first fall weekend getting ready for what is to come? |
| 0:12:27 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Rochelle on the line who’s got a question about gutters. What’s going on? |
| 0:12:31 | CALLER: I need to have work done on my first year boards and replace one by six, wrap with the facial materials, remove the old gutter and put the new gutter on the contractor is charging me, wants to charge me 1300 dollars. And that would include the part and the labor. I really would appreciate getting your opinion. |
| 0:13:00 | TOM: So, Rochelle, it’s really hard to say if that’s the right price, because it’s not just the price we need. It’s the length, It’s the complexity. And we’re talking about a wrench here. We’re talking about a two story roof. You know, the more difficult the job, the harder it is to do in terms of range. You’re talking about removing and replacing fascia and replacing the gutter. So, you know, it’s a chunk of work. I mean, 1300 dollars to me doesn’t sound terrible for the job. |
| 0:13:25 | LESLIE: Unless it’s like ten feet. |
| 0:13:27 | TOM: Yeah, exactly. It was like ten feet, like one little piece. But I mean, a good source of this is something that’s called the true cost report or the true cost guide. And it’s done by the Home Advisor company, which is now powered by Angie. But if you search cost to replace fascia or cost to add gutters and just type true cost guide, with that you’ll find the guide. And it’s a really detailed analysis of the cost and how it changes. But basically, if you were doing this with, say, aluminum, let’s say putting wooden and aluminum on top of aluminum gutters over that, you know, the price on that is probably between ten and $20 a foot. And that doesn’t include the gutter, which will add another few dollars a foot. |
| 0:14:10 | TOM: So my gut says it’s probably not a bad price. But again, I can’t tell you unless I know more about the details of the project. |
| 0:14:17 | LESLIE: John in Washington is on the line, has a question about painting, siding. Tell us about. |
| 0:14:21 | CALLER: It. I recently had a real estate agent come by to talk about selling my house, and they pointed out that I had a siding called LP siding Louisiana-Pacific siding itself stealing supposedly from the 1990s, and it was like a big red flag, I guess that people didn’t put any moisture barrier behind it and it was supposed to be self-sealing when it overlapped. And I was wondering if you guys had heard about it there. There’s a big recall on it. |
| 0:14:47 | TOM: Yeah. The LP signing as it was famous for is deterioration. It’s a composite type of a siding product and I think it was okay if it was installed perfectly. But the problem is that if you over nail it and pierce the outside surface, it swells up and it starts to let the water in and it will start to deteriorate. And it does need paint. I used to joke years ago when this was going on that it was okay as long as you painted it every day before you go to work. |
| 0:15:14 | LESLIE: There’s a lot of work. |
| 0:15:15 | TOM: Because it does really mean that it does really swell. And so I think your realtor is correct. It’s going to be a red flag. You’re going to be dealing with this in the transaction. What I would tell you to do, John, is before you put your home on the market, I would get a professional home inspection done as a seller so that you can find out how the house is going to show in the eyes of a buyer’s home inspector who will ultimately come in once you have a contract on the place. Because Louisiana-Pacific issue should be investigated and it should be disclosed. And by disclosing it, you’re not going to have to dance around with, you know, any reactions from the buyers now not wanting to buy your place or, you know, wanting a big credit as a result, get to the bottom of it, get to the facts and get it from a professional. And this way, when buyers are looking at it, you can start the conversation with, yes, I know we have LP siding. There’s been concerns about it is not leaked. We don’t intend to replace it. And I just want to make it clear right now before you have inspector come in and tell you that it needs to be replaced. We’ve been following and here’s the information on it and I’m going to put it that on the table. So by identifying it early on, you’re not going have to negotiate later because what ends up happening in situations like this is, you know, you go down as low as you can, the price of buyers paying as much as they can on the price and then you find a major problem, the whole deal falls apart. So I’m trying to protect you from that happening. |
| 0:16:34 | CALLER: That’s good advice. Now, do I go ahead and should I paint it or I mean, I should be. |
| 0:16:38 | TOM: Painted if it’s not if it’s not structurally deteriorated. That’s why I say get a home inspector on there. Take a look at it. First we find out about not only siding, but look, you’re going to pay one price for the inspector. Come out. Let them do the whole house. |
| 0:16:49 | CALLER: Yeah, and. |
| 0:16:49 | TOM: Find out what’s going on. And this way you can either disclose it or repair it at your option in your leisure instead of. Well, a buyer is kind of looking over your shoulder at everything you do. |
| 0:16:59 | CALLER: You know what I mean? I see. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that’s. That’s good advice. I hadn’t thought about that. I was in a hurry to get a pension, but maybe I should slow down. |
| 0:17:07 | TOM: So now I’m okay? Yeah. Get the advice. They won’t take long to schedule a home inspection. Then you’ll have a better idea what you’re doing. Go to the Web site for the American Society of Home Inspectors. It’s home, Inspector Dawg, and you can find an AC certified home inspector there. That will be your best place to start. |
| 0:17:22 | CALLER: Is it pretty expensive? |
| 0:17:23 | TOM: Probably three or $400. |
| 0:17:25 | CALLER: Oh, that’s worth it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good. Thank you. That’s a good idea. I really. I’m glad I called. Thank you. |
| 0:17:32 | LESLIE: Nancy in Pennsylvania is on the line and having a hot water issue. Tell us what’s going on. |
| 0:17:36 | CALLER: Well, my. My hot water tank. So long to earn my water. It takes so long to get hot When I turn on the record and washing the dishes, my hand makes that I, you know, waste a lot of water that way. |
| 0:17:50 | LESLIE: Nancy, is this a new problem or has this always been the situation? |
| 0:17:54 | CALLER: Now it’s an old problem. |
| 0:17:56 | TOM: Yeah. And it has to do with the physical distance between the faucet and the water heater. The farther they are apart, the longer you have to wait for the water to heat up. Now, newer water heaters today, and especially the tankless water heaters are very small. And so the way a lot of builders are addressing this is they’re putting in multiple water heaters closer to the bathing or the washing areas of the house. So typically you’d have one for, you know, the kitchen and maybe the laundry area. And you have another one for bathrooms because these water heaters are so small and so efficient, they can, you know, literally squeeze into anything that’s smaller than a closet. In your case, though, it’s just a matter of the distance the water has to travel. Unfortunately, in a house like this, though, I would say that it’s unlikely you will save enough money in water cost to make the installation of an additional water heater worthwhile, Nancy. |
| 0:18:48 | CALLER: But is there anything else I can do? Like I have been told different times that insulating the pipes wouldn’t help or, oh, some people say it would. |
| 0:19:00 | TOM: Well, the only thing that insulating the pipes will do is it’ll keep the water that it’s in the pipes once it gets there, warmer longer. But again, it’s a distance thing. You turn the faucet on, the water starts to move from the water heater where it’s hot to the faucet. And it has to purge all of that cold water along the way. Once it purges, it’ll stay hot, but it just takes a certain amount of time for that amount of water, that amount of volume of water to move through the pipes. Does that make sense, Nancy? |
| 0:19:24 | CALLER: Yeah, it does. And so there’s basically nothing I can do except different water runs. |
| 0:19:30 | TOM: Well, except moving a water heater closer to the unit. I mean, there are three circulators that like sort of take water and recirculate back all the time. But again, that costs energy, too. And that costs plumbing expense, too. And I just don’t think you’re going to save enough to make it worthwhile. Nancy, thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:19:47 | LESLIE: Well, of all the appliances in your home, a furnace is certainly one that’s mission critical, especially if it goes out in the middle of the winter. But if that happens, is it ever worth repairing or is it better to just replace it? |
| 0:20:00 | TOM: Well, it depends. Some parts of a furnace are easy to replace, but if the first is old or has got a very serious defect like that crack in the heat exchanger we talked about earlier, replacing it always has to be done. |
| 0:20:10 | LESLIE: All right. But what if your goal is to save energy? How do you determine when it makes sense to replace just to lower your heating costs? And what should you be looking for in that new model? |
| 0:20:18 | TOM: Well, it depends. Increased energy efficiency does make a compelling case for buying a newer furnace. But you’re going to want to weigh all of the factors carefully. For example, how much you spent on the old furnace. The projected monthly savings on a new one and the ongoing repair costs. Now, furnace efficiency is measured by a rating system that’s called the annual fuel utilization efficiency and the minimum one. The minimum standard for furnaces in the U.S. is 80%, with the top performing furnaces measuring up to 97, meaning only 3% of energy escapes through the flu. The higher the rating, the more money you save. One thing to look for, though, is the system with sealed combustion. This reduces the risk of carbon monoxide leaking into your home. And as efficiency, of course, program will thermostats also give the option of added efficiency and if you choose to program heat to turn on when you’re home and down when you’re out or asleep, you can do that, especially with the smart home style programable thermostats that actually know where you are physically. I mean, you can program these things so that when you’re within ten miles of your house, the heat is at one level. And if you’re a lot farther than that, that’s a different level. So sort of automatically saves your money no matter where you are. |
| 0:21:28 | LESLIE: All right. That’s pretty smart. Now, when you’re shopping for a furnace, should you also at that time reconsider the type of system that you have or the type of energy that it uses? |
| 0:21:38 | TOM: You know, that would be the time to make the change. But again, it needs to be a really good reason to do that. So, for example, in our case, we at one time were running an oil fired boiler and I knew that oil tank was getting older. And so when it was time we decided to abandon the oil tank and then put a gasper on the old furnace, which you can do, you can do a conversion. So we converted that to gas. And this is a long time ago. Okay, I’m talking like 20, 25 years ago. But that was the time to change those fuels. And, you know, similarly, we paid, you know, pretty high heating bills because we had an older system that wasn’t super-efficient. And about two years ago I replaced that with a Kombi, which is a super-efficient gas boiler. And those costs went down like dramatically. So you got to change with the times, but you really need to look at sort of the how long you’re going to be in the house or how long you’re going to use that furnace, especially, you know, when it comes those efficiency numbers as the efficient furnaces are a lot more expensive than those that are sort of standard efficiency. And of course, sales folks always like to push them on you, but you need to consider if you’re going to be in that house for a short period of time, you’re not going to make the money back. And also, are there rebates involved today? There’s a lot of rebates. I mean, when we bought our common boiler, we got a significant number of rebates. And I was actually surprised with how inexpensive it was to change the entire heating system to that type of boiler from the one that we have. And I’m using the term boiler and furnace here interchangeably. Boilers are for those that have hot water and furnaces or for those that heat with hot air. But efficiency is critical no matter what kind of system you’re running. |
| 0:23:09 | LESLIE: Steve, you’ve got the money. Let’s talk flooring. What’s going on? |
| 0:23:12 | CALLER: They have a 1975 RV that’s got that green shag carpet, and I want to rip that out and put a hardwood flooring. And my question is, is that possible to put a laminate floor in an RV? |
| 0:23:27 | TOM: You can definitely rip out that old nasty 1975 shag carpet. Get yourself a nice, clean hardwood floor surface. But I wouldn’t use hardwood for it. I would use engineered vinyl planks. These rigid planks look just like hardwood, but they wear so much better and especially this is an RV, it’s going to be moving around. So you want something that’s got a little flex to it. So I would just use that and take out the old floor. You’ll probably have a decent subfloor there if you make any repairs, then go ahead and put the engineered planks on top it. Low flooring has a line called Core Luxe. It is 100% waterproof, so you have to worry about spills and it’s really inexpensive and it’s totally a DIY project, so that’d be my suggestion. |
| 0:24:05 | LESLIE: John in Delaware is dealing with a spider problem. I can’t even talk about it for fear they will jump into my house. What’s going on? |
| 0:24:14 | CALLER: I moved to the beach about ten years ago. I’m not. I’m 12 miles from the water, but I don’t know whether that’s part of the problem or not. But we have spiders inside the house all the time. They’re always in the corners of the room since forever come into any room and not have one. And it seems like a strictly as you get rid of them a week later you have more of the same areas and it is very annoying. |
| 0:24:38 | TOM: What do you do to get rid of them? |
| 0:24:39 | CALLER: John The only thing I do is I try to kill them and knock down their little Well, good. |
| 0:24:44 | TOM: Luck with that. That’s not working out too well for me, I bet, huh? |
| 0:24:47 | CALLER: No, it’s not. |
| 0:24:48 | TOM: You’re not going to win the war if that’s your treatment approach. The thing that’s insects today is the best way to control the mist is through science. And if you look at a company like Orkin, you know, a company has been around forever, and these guys know exactly what insecticide to put them. They know how to put it down in the right amounts. And the products that they use today are very insect specific. It used to be that there was sort of a broad spectrum pesticide that was put down today. These pesticides are very, very specific for the problem. And if you know, if I was dealing with this in my house, I wouldn’t be running around with my boots trying to kill them all. I would have the pesticide applied, the right amounts, right place and be done with it. So I would recommend that you call Orkin and have that taken care of the right way. It’s safer to do that than to buy over the counter pesticides, which you end up over applying, which are far more dangerous in my view, and certainly a lot less frustrating than having to stomp them to death. Okay, So I would use a pesticide to control these spiders, and that’s the best solution. |
| 0:26:01 | CALLER: So again, you would not advise trying to do it on your own, your getting it job. There is one thing regularly to have a number that. |
| 0:26:09 | TOM: You can’t buy the products that a professional can buy. They’re not available to the general public because they have to be applied just right. That’s why it’s a good idea to turn to a pro like orchid. John, thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:26:24 | LESLIE: Well, ceramic floors are durable and they’re easy to care for. But from time to time, you might need to make repairs to that ceramic tile floor. Now, those repairs can vary from grouting repairs to replacing cracked tiles. And the problem with replacing tiles is often not having matching tiles handy. And we’ve got some magic tricks that can make them reappear. |
| 0:26:45 | TOM: Yeah, you know, this is something that happens a lot as you set out to do. For example, a bath remodel. It’s not always with an old house either. Even a ten year old tile can sometimes be hard to find. So when replacing any tile, it’s always best to use one That’s left over from the original installation. In this way, you can be sure that the replacement tile is going to perfectly match and the existing ones that you have now. But if you don’t have any extras squirreled away, bring the broken piece to a well-stocked tile store where you very well might be able to find one. That’s a very close substitute. |
| 0:27:16 | LESLIE: Yeah. And you know, you can also consider stealing one from under an area that’s not as visible. Like maybe if there’s a tile inside a closet or under the fridge or dishwasher. And, you know, you got to remember, removing that old tile is tricky, but it’s definitely possible. Another option is to have tiles made to order. You can have custom glazes that’s going to cost a little bit more, but you can have them made to match. Just make sure any replacement tiles meet the same standards for ceramic floor tiles that you’ve already got now. |
| 0:27:44 | TOM: Well, what if, despite all your best efforts, you simply can’t find a replacement? Well, you could forget about trying to match the tile altogether and fill the spot with an accent tile. This would be a tile of a different color or texture or pattern. In that case, you might want to randomly replace a handful of tiles around the floor or the wall to make the fix blend in with the rest of the field. You know, when I was doing carpentry many, many years ago, I was working on building very expensive staircases that were custom for homes and things like that, circular and mono beam stairs and things like that. It was very rare, but occasionally I made a serious mistake with a cut and I’m thinking, Oh my God, I’m handling like what was probably a five or $10,000 staircase back then. And I cut something short. I got so good at making those patches that nobody ever knew it wasn’t supposed to look that way. That’s kind of was the secret to a good craftsman. And sometimes we can repair things in a way that’s better than it was before the defect was discovered or heard or happened. That’s kind of what we’re talking about with tiles here. You know, you could add some tiles as a feature element. And, you know, I guarantee you somebody’s going to come in and say, I love what you did, your bathroom or whatever the room is, because they’re going to love those features and they never would know that they’re there for a very strategic reason. |
| 0:28:56 | LESLIE: Brad’s working on a project and he says, I’m building a new patio roof that’s 24 feet wide and 20 feet deep. Is there a way to overlap the rear roof of my house without connecting the patio roof to it? The patio roof will be supported by nine, six by six posts, prefab bases on two foot concrete pylons. So what he wants just for this lower. So the other one runs over onto it. |
| 0:29:18 | TOM: You know what I think he wants to do? You think of like putting an umbrella over your roof, You know, he wants to overlap them. I don’t know why he would do that, though. I mean, if the patio roof is high enough, you want to tie it into the roof of your house. And it would be actually a lot stronger, too. It would stop. It would give it a lot more structural strength, especially in the racking movement, which is the sort of the side to side. It would be a lot stronger if you tied in with the roof. And if it’s not, then you could tie it in under the roof to the exterior wall of the house. So one way or the other, I wouldn’t build this big structure as a standalone. I would connect it to the house for sure. It sounds like you’re doing it right. You’re building it, you know, essentially the same way you would if it was interior space with the proper supports and the proper footings there. But I don’t think you should try to have an overlap. I would definitely connected. I think there’s a lot of benefits to that. |
| 0:30:03 | LESLIE: All right. I hope that helps you out with your project. Now we’ve got Andrew who writes in saying we recently had a water heater installed. Ever since then, whenever you turn off the water, it sounds like thunder from the copper pipes vibrating in the basement of what is causing this. |
| 0:30:16 | TOM: Well, I suspect that the copper pipes in your basement are loose, and it might be because of the installation of this new water heater. When they’re loose, you have when you use water anywhere in the house, that water has such heft to it that when you turn the faucet off, you know, or if it happens automatically, if it’s a dishwasher or a or a washing machine, that water sort of screeches to a halt. But the problems have such weight that it sort of takes the pipe with it and it shakes the pipe. And that’s where you get that water hammer effect. That’s what that’s called a water hammer, because the water just doesn’t want to stop. It takes the pipe with it. And so the solution is fairly simple, though. All you need to do is secure those pipes to the walls and the beams around them. And I suspect that this is only happened since the new unit was put in that the plumber didn’t attach the pipes right. So it’s a simple fixed in a matter of a few brackets. You’re going to have to look for the loose pipes and tighten them up. Now, if that rumble that you’re hearing is not consistent with running water, which it does sound that way, that’s fine. But in case it’s not, we’ll also tell you that if mineral salts build up in the bottom of a tank, that could happen as well. But again, it’s a new water heater. So I don’t think that’s the case here. But if somebody is listening in as an old water heater and thinks this sounds familiar, what you need to do is drain that water heater, turn off the electricity, turn off the gas drain a few gallons of that water heater from the drain plug at the bottom, we’re talking five or ten gallons and then go ahead and shut that valve and put everything back on. And that will clear out some of those minerals that will sort of collected the bottom to take the act as an insulator. And they and weird things happened to cause that sort of rumbling sound when that when that occurs, especially if you’ve got hard water more likely to happen. |
| 0:31:51 | LESLIE: All right. Andrew, That’s all fixable stuff. So fear not. And you might find yourself needing like a white noise machine because you missed those rainstorm sounds. |
| 0:32:00 | TOM: You’re listening to the Money Pit Home Improvement show on the very first weekend of fall. If you’ve got a list of projects that you have been thinking about today that maybe you’d like to tackle before it gets to incredibly cold out and you need some help, get them started. You can find us at money FT.com or go to money becomes less. Ask and click the blue microphone button. And this way you can record your question to us. We’ll answer it on the show and you’ll be good to go start working on that project. Whether it’s a repair, whether it’s a remodel, you know, whether you’re in the middle of it or you’re thinking of a story, we would love to help reach out to us. Money Pit icon Slash asks. But for now, that’s all the time we have. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:32:39 | LESLIE: And I’m Lesley Segrete. |
| 0:32:40 | TOM: Remember you can do it yourself. |
| 0:32:42 | LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone. |
| (Note: The above referenced transcript is AI-Generated, Unedited and Unproofed and as such may not accurately reflect the recorded audio. Copyright 2023 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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