Show Notes
- Outdoor Projects for Fall: Autumn is the season to fall in love with some favorite outdoor projects for your home.
- Door Locks: Home security starts with strong door locks. Find out the best and worst locks for preventing break-ins.
- Marble Surfaces: A new DIY product creates beautiful marble surfaces without the expense.
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
Plus, answers to your home improvement questions about:
- Supplemental HVAC: Cathedral ceilings make it hard to cool the house evenly. Ed may add a split ductless system to supplement the central air conditioning.
- Caulking Siding: Does Mary need to caulk concrete siding attached to plywood walls? She may only need adhesive, but she can use caulk to touch up any areas where nails break through the painted surface.
- Window Leak: Water is leaking into the bay window beneath a skylight. Adam gets tips on sealing gaps with caulk and diverting water from the roof.
- Concrete Curb Cracks: Susan’s concrete curb is cracking and sloping downward. She’ll either need to rebuild it or use DIY products to repair and resurface the concrete.
- Finishing a Dirt Floor: Rob wants to pour concrete over a dirt floor in his hut. It should be easy to tamp down the dirt, then spread and float the concrete smoothly.
- Attic Ventilation: How much attic ventilation is needed? Dale only has about half of the recommended amount and adding soffit vents would be most efficient.
- Backsplash Adhesive: Audrey gets information about an adhesive backing product for installing a tile backsplash.
- Window Condensation: Too much condensation on Steve’s vinyl replacement windows is caused by deficient glass or frames. It’s worth contacting the manufacturer and the installer.
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 0:00:31 | 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. |
| 0:00:38 | TOM: It’s my favorite time of year. It’s fall. It’s the Goldilocks season. It’s not too hot, it’s not too cold. So if you got a project that you want to get done around your house, you’re in the right place because we are here to help you do just that. Reach out to us with your questions, your comments, your issues. If you need a little bit of direction on how to get started with the project, if you’re stuck in the middle or you need some advice on what to do, all great reasons to reach out to us, two ways to do that Go to Money Pit Ecom, slash ask, click the blue microphone button. You can record your message right into your iPhone or your Android or whatever device you have, or you can call us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. |
| 0:01:29 | LESLIE: And according to the FBI, most burglaries involve criminals forcibly breaking into your home. Well, Consumer Reports have been testing door locks and they just released some new ratings. We’re going to share the best and the worst ones that you can buy. |
| 0:01:44 | TOM: And you love the classic look of marble tops in your kitchen or bath, but not the high costs. We’re going to share a new product that provides a beautiful marble surface without that usual expense. |
| 0:01:54 | LESLIE: But before we do that, we’re here for you. So let us know what you need help with. Is it a renovation, a repair, a decorating project? Well, reach out because we’ve got the tips, the ideas, and the inspiration that are going to help you avoid all of that home improvement, perspiration when it comes to fixing up your spaces. |
| 0:02:12 | TOM: Let’s get to it. The number here is 18888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974 or again for the fastest possible response, go to moneypit.com/ask. |
| 0:02:23 | LESLIE: And I was on the line with a heating and cooling question. What can we help you with today? |
| 0:02:27 | CALLER: I’ve got a home. It’s a ranch style on the basement, about 3000 square feet and probably half of the upstairs. The living room and the kitchen and dining room is cathedral ceiling. That part of the house seems to stay about ten, 10 to 15 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. It’s I’ve had the A.C. checked and they say the size is adequate. But I was wondering, is there is that inflation problem and is there a way to correct that? |
| 0:02:58 | TOM: Well, it’s basically heat loss. And yes, whenever you have a cathedral ceiling, you can’t get as much insulation in ceiling structure. And because heat rises and you’ve got that ceiling up there, you’re going to have a warmer second floor. So how do you combat that? Well, there’s a couple of things. One of which is, do you have ceiling fans up there? Yes. All right. And the ceiling fans are not helping. Are they pushing that warm air down so that it can be cool in the summer? |
| 0:03:23 | CALLER: It helps because it’s remember. |
| 0:03:25 | TOM: One of the things you might want to do is considering supplementing that second floor with a split system or a mini split necklace. It’s usually easier to do that than to overrun the air and the main air conditioner to get the second floor cooler. And in the long run, you’ll use less energy that way. Sometimes in in a in the depending on the home design, you’re going to get a warm area of the house that just can’t get enough air delivered to it because of its design. You know, in my home I’ve got an office on the west side of the house and it just happens to be pretty far from where the air handler is. And so it always stays a bit warmer. And I put a split Douglas system in there just to kind of supplement the central air. We still have central air in the same space, but the split Douglas supplements are quite nicely and does a really good job of keeping it very cool and comfortable in those warmest summer days. So I would suggest you consider that as an option here. |
| 0:04:17 | CALLER: Okay. Now, would it help to put a like a power event and the seat and the roof? |
| 0:04:21 | TOM: No, because you don’t have an attic. You have an attic. You have a cathedral. So there’s no attic space there. Plus those exhaust as attic exhaust fans typically take as much air conditioned air out of the house as they do hot air because they depressurize the attic so much that they tend to draw it down into the house and still some air conditioner at the same time. |
| 0:04:40 | CALLER: Okay. All right. That makes sense. All right. All right. Thank you. You’re very. |
| 0:04:43 | TOM: Welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at eight. At eight Money Pit. |
| 0:04:47 | LESLIE: Now we’re going over to Alaska, where Mary has a question about siding. How can we help you today? We recently sighted our house with concrete siding. Underneath is plywood and then Tyvek. We use four by 12 panels. |
| 0:05:01 | CALLER: That. |
| 0:05:01 | LESLIE: Are pre painted. They’re attached to the plywood walls. |
| 0:05:04 | CALLER: Okay. |
| 0:05:05 | LESLIE: My question is, do I need to caulk where the baton. |
| 0:05:09 | CALLER: Attaches to the. |
| 0:05:10 | LESLIE: Panels? And secondly, do I need to cast the nail holes on the bat? |
| 0:05:14 | TOM: Well, you wouldn’t caulk with a baton attaches to the panels. You might use an adhesive in that area that’s recommended by the siding manufacturer. In terms of the nail holes, generally, you don’t have to caulk nails, you know, as long as you’re not smashing the nails in and breaking the siding, they’re usually tight enough around them where you do not have to call each individual nail head. |
| 0:05:34 | LESLIE: The nail holes. |
| 0:05:36 | CALLER: Have broken through the painted surface. |
| 0:05:38 | TOM: So if they broke through the painted service, it’s not a bad idea to touch them up a little bit of caulk, but I wouldn’t be too concerned about it. |
| 0:05:44 | CALLER: Okay. |
| 0:05:45 | LESLIE: Thank you very. |
| 0:05:45 | CALLER: Much. |
| 0:05:46 | TOM: You’re welcome. Mary, Thanks so much for calling us at 88 Money Pit. |
| 0:05:50 | LESLIE: Adam in Rhode Island is on the line with a leaky skylight. What’s going on? |
| 0:05:53 | CALLER: I have a bay window. In my bedroom is the lower skylight. And for a while it started to create those brown stains on my feeling. But for the most part, the biggest problem was there was a leak in the bay window. So my father and I went up there. We put in the flashing kit and the disguise seemed to help the problem, but it did not eliminate the problem. And I had a contractor friend over who took a look at it as well, and he noticed that if you go on the outside the bay window, bunch, the gutter where the gutter attaches to the roof above it, and in his opinion that there should be perhaps some like 6 to 8 inch gap, there between where the gutter meets the house and where the bay window starts. So it’s his opinion that the bay window might have been improperly installed. |
| 0:06:40 | TOM: So it sounds like the bay window was up too high, is that what you’re saying? So it basically goes right up under the gutter? |
| 0:06:45 | CALLER: Well, it’s certainly there’s certainly no separation between its soffit, but there’s also no separation from where the gutter meets the house either. |
| 0:06:53 | TOM: All right. It is the bay window have its own roof on it, or is the roof sort of built into the soffit structure? |
| 0:06:58 | CALLER: No, it’s under the overhang. |
| 0:07:00 | TOM: It is on there. Okay. Mm hmm. Is it possible that the gutter is overfilling and perhaps the water’s backing up through the gutter getting the soft and running into the bay? |
| 0:07:10 | CALLER: I saw that at one point, and I have gone up and checked and the gutters are clean. |
| 0:07:15 | TOM: Okay. And where this is on the roof, is there sort of a long stretch of roof that goes down before this, before it hits the skylight? |
| 0:07:23 | CALLER: Yeah, I guess. Oh, maybe ten or 15 feet. |
| 0:07:26 | TOM: So I’m going to give you a trick of the trade. And this might solve it. You might be in so much water against that flush against that skylight that it’s just sort of forcing its way in. One thing you might want to do is to try to put a diverter on the roof right above the skylight and see if this works. It’s really easy to do. And so there’s kind of no reason not to try it. But you make up you take a piece of aluminum in the shape of an L and you basically attach it to the roof when you essentially want to intercept that flow water down the roof and have it run around the skylight and around the bay window. So you’re slowing the volume of water that’s coming down that roof. You know, running full steam towards this skylight in that bay window area and running it around that space. And all you going to do is tack that on to the roofing shingles, put some silicone caulk to help seal the edge and see what happens. |
| 0:08:15 | CALLER: Because you’ve got the edge of the L with silicone. And how do you affect the aluminum to the. |
| 0:08:20 | TOM: Yeah. You could you could simply nail through the shingle. |
| 0:08:24 | CALLER: Okay. |
| 0:08:25 | TOM: And with a like a roofing now because you’re well with the cork will help seal it and basically you’re capturing that water as it’s running down the roof and it’s sort of running right around that skylight between the roof combination and then off to the gutter. |
| 0:08:39 | CALLER: All right, I’m good. I’m going to try it. |
| 0:08:41 | TOM: Good luck, Adam. Thanks so much for calling us at 88 Money Pit. |
| 0:08:45 | LESLIE: Hey, guys, if you’ve heard a helpful tip or two while listening to our show, please help us help even more home improvers by dropping us a five star review on Apple Podcasts. |
| 0:08:53 | TOM: That would be awesome. And you might even win a copy of our book My Home, My Money Pit, Your Guide to Every Home Improvement Adventure. Just go to Money Pit icon slash Review. |
| 0:09:04 | LESLIE: Susan in Texas has some concrete that’s cracking up. Tell us what’s going on. |
| 0:09:08 | CALLER: Yes, I have a curve out. Front of a 1955 year old home. And the curb. Is cracking in spots and going down. And I get a flat and I didn’t. Know what do I need to do to repair that? |
| 0:09:20 | TOM: Then this is your responsibility, not the township’s. |
| 0:09:23 | CALLER: Yes, I’ve called several times and everyone says it’s my responsibility to fix it. I just you know, they say when you sell your home, the curb appeal and that stuff. |
| 0:09:34 | TOM: Curb appeal, got to start the curb and you keep calling and get the same answer. So I guess you kind of stuck with it. Right. Well, listen, there’s a couple of things that come to mind. First of all, you say it’s like a slanted and sloped. If it’s settling, you know, it’s going to be torn out, if it’s just cracked. There’s a lot of ways to fix the cracks. Quikrete has a number of good products that are designed exactly for that. There is a crack seal. There’s a crack repair product that’s kind of like caulk. There’s also a resurfacing product. So if it’s spoiled or deteriorated, you can resurface it and it will stick to the old concrete and come out looking quite nice. So there certainly are products to make what you have look better and work better. But if the whole curb is structurally sinking because sometimes water gets under it and that kind of stuff, then that’s the case where you’d have to tear it out and have a mason build your new one. |
| 0:10:23 | LESLIE: Okay. Okay. |
| 0:10:24 | CALLER: But that quickly is pretty easy to do. |
| 0:10:27 | TOM: Absolutely. Yes. Take a look at quick reaction. They lots great videos there. They’ll walk you through exactly what you need to do. Just search for crack repair. You’ll see there’s many options depending on the thickness of the crack and what you need to achieve. Okay, that is wonderful. |
| 0:10:40 | CALLER: Thank you so much. Good luck. |
| 0:10:41 | TOM: Thanks so much for calling us at eight at eight Money Pit. |
| 0:10:45 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Rob in Maryland on the line with a building with the dirt floor and need some help with it. How can I help you? |
| 0:10:49 | CALLER: Yeah. Hi. I have a 18 foot diameter round space outside. It’s a little hut and have a dirt floor and just want to see if there’s some type of concrete that I can just pour down there, pour on it, and it’ll just find its own level. |
| 0:11:05 | TOM: Well, I mean, concrete to some extent, finds its own level. You have access to this space, right? Is there any reason you can’t floated out? |
| 0:11:12 | CALLER: Yeah. Yes, it’s easy to do. |
| 0:11:14 | TOM: So then what you’re going to want to do is a couple of things. First of all, this is an unheated space, correct? All right. So. So what you want to do is you would you would want to make sure that the dirt is solidly tamped down. Right. And then you’re going to add concrete to that to a thickness of at least four inches, but maybe even six, and then float the concrete. It takes a little skill. You’re going to have to do some research on how to do this. But essentially, when the concrete comes off the truck, there’s stone that’s embedded in it. And as you spread it out with a shovel and a rake, you sort of float it. You shake it with a float, a trowel. It’s sort of like a big trowel. And then the stones sink to the bottom of the concrete and sort of the cream comes to the top. And that’s what gives you that nice finish and you’ll sort of work the concrete smooth and then work your way out the door. So I think it’s as simple as putting in a concrete slab floor. |
| 0:12:05 | CALLER: So anything like a dust cover. |
| 0:12:07 | TOM: Yeah. I mean you can there’s plastic dust covers and things like that, but I mean you want a floor that you could actually use. So the concrete is the best way to go. |
| 0:12:14 | CALLER: Okay. All right. |
| 0:12:15 | TOM: I mean, you could probably do some wood brick pavers, but it’d be a lot of work because you’d have to cut all those round edges. |
| 0:12:20 | CALLER: All right. Thanks a lot. |
| 0:12:21 | TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. |
| 0:12:26 | LESLIE: Well, fall is the perfect season for working outside and taking on some really big planting and patio projects, like maybe building Rock garden, a paver patio, a fire pit laying new sod, or even planting trees. So here are a couple of our favorites to get you started. |
| 0:12:43 | TOM: First, let’s talk building a fire pit. This has to be one of the most popular projects ever for this time of year, and it’s really not that hard to do. The most important step is picking the right location. You will be aiming for a sweet spot not too far from your back door, but also not too close to where sparks can fly off the fire and land on your house roof, or where the heat can melt society, which frankly is surprisingly common. All the years I was a home inspector, Leslie, I’d see that very telltale sort of arched, bent up, shrink, shriveled up, siding overheated, a sort of mark on the side of the building. I know that they got the grill or the fire pit too close to that wall. |
| 0:13:21 | LESLIE: Yeah, just way too close. Now to build a fire pit. You want to use landscaping stones and these are large bricks, about 2 to 3 times as big as a regular brick. And they come in shapes to build either square or round fire pits. Now, to install them, you need to prepare a solid and level base of well packed gravel, and then you simply stack the big landscape stones on top of each other like gravity. Do the rest. |
| 0:13:44 | TOM: Now, another great project for this time of year is to build a rock garden or a water feature. The weather is perfect for this kind of very heavy work. There’s a lot of easier to get it done now and only have to add the plants and finishing touches when spring arrives. |
| 0:13:57 | LESLIE: Now, one part of this project that often gets DIYers tripped up is figuring out the best layout. So here’s a trick that we found that can really help. And all you need is some rope. You just use that rope to define the borders of your rock garden or water feature or whatever other element that you want to build. And once you have it down, just look at it to look good. You like it or you’re going to use it well, Are you going to enjoy it from every vantage point in the yard, You know, all those things. And then once you know it works, you got it? |
| 0:14:25 | TOM: Yeah. For example, like if the rock garden is long, a path will still be enough room to walk by. Or what if you needed to run a lawnmower over the path and the machine through it? If you take time to think through the total layout, use the little rope trip. You can really make sure the job gets done right and works super well for your space. |
| 0:14:43 | LESLIE: All right. We’re going up to Dale in Kansas, who’s working on an attic makeover. How can we help you today? |
| 0:14:48 | CALLER: Well, I bought this little house and it’s got an orange down the center of peak to the roof. And then one, two by two square oak on the end and doesn’t seem like that’s adequate ventilation to get rid of the heat. |
| 0:15:06 | TOM: So you have no soffit vents at all. You have just have this ridge. You have the ridge vent, the gable vents and no soft advance at the overhang of the roof. |
| 0:15:14 | CALLER: And I put a 12 inch turbine then on it. But I’m thinking I need more than just that to fit square. Then I was thinking about putting for 12 inch. I don’t know what the column was, so did not bounce down towards or end of the roof. |
| 0:15:31 | TOM: Okay, well, you’re on the right track. So let’s talk about attic ventilation in the way it’s supposed to work. So the attic is always supposed to be the same temperature as the outside. So if it’s hot outside, it should be hot in the attic. And if it’s cold outside, it should be cold in the attic. Basically, the attic has to be well ventilated for that to happen. Now, you have actually half of what I usually recommend is a ventilation system, and that’s a continuous ridge vent down the peak of the roof. The second half of that, though, are soffit vents at the overhang of the roof. Soften vents are good because as the wind blows across the house, that soffit area pressurizes and pushes air up into that soffit that rides up underneath the roof, sheathing where it cast away heat in the summer and moisture in the winter and then exits at the ridge. And that same wind that’s pushing positively against the side of the house. And the soft advance is actually creating sort of a negative pressure at the ridge. So you get this kind of nice continuous flow. And if you have that working for you, then actually what you should do is block off those gable vents because that’s going to kind of interrupt that nice flow that we’ve created. Now, in your case, you have no soffit vents. I would first explore the potential of putting in soffit vents. The other idea that you suggested was putting in a regular roof vents, but lower on the roof. You know, not a terrible idea, but not nearly as efficient as soft vents. And if you don’t have a soft, there’s a type of vent called a drip edge vent, which basically extends the roofline about two inches, creates a short soffit. That’s pretty effective. But if you can get continuous soffit and ridge venting, that’s really all you need. The other types of ventilators, a turbine that you mentioned, that kind of stuff, you know, it looks like it does a lot, but it’s really nowhere near as effective as having that continuous open ridge and the continuous open soffit. Okay. |
| 0:17:14 | CALLER: I’ve never seen I’m not familiar with that drip. |
| 0:17:17 | TOM: Edge vent Google drip edge vent. And I think certain teed I know certain teed makes it. I’m sure others do as well. And it’s a really effective little vent. Now, you may have to do some modifications of your roof shingles at the overhang to get this in. But considering you’re going to have to modify your roof anyway to put those roof vents in, I think that’s probably the best way to go for homes that don’t have a soffit because it does create that intake point down low in the roof, which is going to really let a lot of air in. And I think you’ll see a big difference there. |
| 0:17:47 | CALLER: Okay, thanks. |
| 0:17:48 | TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at eight. At eight Money Pit. |
| 0:17:52 | LESLIE: Well, most burglaries involve criminals forcibly entering into your home, according to the FBI statistics, and that includes coming through your front door. But even if you’re diligent about locaking up, you do need a good deadbolt to thwart those thieves. |
| 0:18:06 | TOM: Well, Consumer Reports has been rigorously testing and evaluating door locks for years, and they’ve released some new ratings of the best and worst ones you can buy. With us to share what they found is Dan Wroclawski. Dan is the home appliances reporter for Consumer Reports. Welcome, Dan. |
| 0:18:21 | DAN WROCLAWSKI: Hi, thanks for having me. |
| 0:18:23 | TOM: So you found that many of the deadbolt locks tested lacked a certain level of protection that you might want to expect when you’re trying to secure your house. So tell us what you found and how you went about testing these things. |
| 0:18:34 | DAN: Sure. So we conduct three what we call brute force tests. So that includes kick ins where we actually have a custom jig with a £100 steel battering ram that we throw into a door that is outfitted with each deadbolt. |
| 0:18:53 | TOM: Oh, come on. That’s got to be fine, right? I mean, that’s got to be a terrible part of the test. Brute force test. |
| 0:18:58 | DAN: It is very entertaining to watch. Okay. So, yes, we do that. We raise the height of that battering ram every time, basically until we get the door to break. And basically, the longer a deadbolt can withstand that battering ram, the better it does in that test. That’s probably the most interesting one of the bunch. The other two we do are a drilling test where we use a cordless drill and just try to drill through the deadbolt. The last test we do is just a lock picking test where we actually take the lock apart and look at how it’s constructed internally and see how easily a thief could pick it based on its design. |
| 0:19:38 | TOM: So with the brute force testing, how do you determine whether the failure is the lock or the door? Because it would seem to me that with most chickens, given the fact that most people don’t really understand the right way to install a lock and they don’t use long enough screws, and it really is just, you know, going into the jam and nothing much else. So I would think that the door jam itself would break before the metal deadbolt would. Do you deal with that issue? |
| 0:20:05 | DAN: Yes, that’s correct. So what we really look at is whether a lock comes with a better strike plate. We encourage manufacturers to ship all of their locks with a straight plate that comes with three inch long screws so that you can really, you know, get it deep into the door frame. And that way you won’t have that issue because you’re absolutely right. The frame will give way before the lock itself. But all locks do come with a strike plate and we just, you know, really want to see all of them come with a good box, straight plate with those long screws. |
| 0:20:38 | LESLIE: Now, what about a keypad lock? I mean, it’s the same sort of system internally, right? It’s just your mechanism of opening as different. Does that change the security features at all? |
| 0:20:50 | DAN: I mean, it does change what features are available to you, but our testing is still the same. So we look at both electronic keypad locks as well as your smart keypad locks and models that connect to Wi-Fi or Bluetooth or some other wireless technology. And so we do the same, you know, brute force tests on all of those locks, but also evaluate the features that they have. You know, how easy are they to set up and get connected? How easy are they to control remotely? They have any other security features, like a tamper alarm. If someone is trying to, you know, kick in the door or drill through it. So there’s a number of things outside of the brute force test that we look at for those models. |
| 0:21:31 | TOM: You know, we learned some time ago we actually did a video on this to teach people how to install a door or how to install in these just keypad locks, because if the door is not perfectly hung, if it doesn’t close properly and everything doesn’t line up and you get sort of like rubbing from the deadbolt, that sort of thing, it tends to wear out the battery life. And so in this video, we pretty much showed people exactly how to how to adjust the door and how to make sure it was working properly, because otherwise you would you would run out of power pretty quickly. And that’s a whole nother set of issues that come up, especially when you have electronic lock. |
| 0:22:02 | DAN: You’re absolutely right. Yeah, it really can put a lot of extra unnecessary strain on the motor and yeah, really cause your battery life to suffer. We, you know, also try to really encourage people to make sure they’re installed properly, that the lock bolt is gliding in smoothly into that straight plate and just, you know, making sure it works right so that you don’t run into those issues. |
| 0:22:27 | TOM: So we’re talking to Dan Wroclawski. He is the home and appliances reporter for Consumer Reports. You did all these tests. What were the ratings? What were the best and the worst models? |
| 0:22:35 | DAN: Sure. So the best locks in our ratings right now are if you’re looking for just the standard deadbolt, the Yale premier single cylinder. Why each a two? If you’re looking for a high security door lock and what’s great about these is they pretty much all withstand drilling attacks from a cordless drill. The best model there is the metal Comac, some 11TR503 And if you’re interested in an electronic lock, we really like the Schleswig touch keyless FE375 CEN. |
| 0:23:07 | TOM: And which ones perform poorly and should be avoided. |
| 0:23:11 | DAN: So there are a lot of them. But okay, I can give you I can give you the worst offenders. All right. |
| 0:23:18 | TOM: Go right ahead. |
| 0:23:18 | DAN: Some of the absolute worst that we’ve seen are my locks. There’s a few models from them, but one to look out for. It’s actually a smart lock. Is this my locks bally zero to us? And basically it can’t protect you in any brute force. You know, attack, drilling, kicking or being kicked in. If you’re looking at electronic locks, do not get the Sherlock GK 201 and one five. Also highly susceptible to drilling, cracking and kick in. And as just regular deadbolts go, you’ll want to avoid the Yale Edge series. Why are eight to IB? It just goes to show you got to really be careful even within the same brand. You know one deadbolt can do fantastic in these tests and the other just fails. |
| 0:24:08 | TOM: Yeah, I think that was interesting. The was in the top of the best locks and also had one on the bottom. So you’re right, you can’t just go by brand. So and that’s why you guys are so specific about the the locks that you test and you give us the model numbers because they do change, right? And you got to make sure that you’re comparing apples to apples. |
| 0:24:25 | DAN: You know, these companies will make slight tweaks to the hardware here and there. So you really want to want to pay attention to that unique model number. |
| 0:24:32 | TOM: Dan Markowski, thank you so much for stopping by the money. But very interesting story and interesting project testing these locks. If you’d like to learn more, go to Consumer Reports dot org. Sign up for a membership. I tell you what. I can’t tell you how many times I go to Consumer Reports when I’m looking to buy a product and get their report on what they’re testing. Sounds great. Independent expert advice. Dan, thanks for what you do and thanks again for stopping by the Money Pit. |
| 0:24:59 | DAN: Thank you for having me. |
| 0:25:01 | LESLIE: Audrey in South Dakota, you’ve got the money Pit. What can we do for you today? All right. I was listening to your show last weekend and I heard you talking. |
| 0:25:07 | CALLER: About some. |
| 0:25:08 | LESLIE: Kind of, like, contact. |
| 0:25:09 | CALLER: Paper, but you put. |
| 0:25:10 | LESLIE: It on your, like, your. |
| 0:25:11 | CALLER: Kitchen wall, and you can put tile on it for a backsplash. Yeah, That’s. |
| 0:25:14 | TOM: A product called Bundarra. Tile mat set, kind of a long name, but basically it’s a two sided adhesive sticky material that if you want to do a backsplash or for that matter, a countertop, you pull up the backing on one side of it, press it against the wall. In your case for the backsplash, then you can stick the tiles right to the other side of it, pull off the backing on the other side and stick the tiles right on, and then you can pretty much grout immediately thereafter. So you don’t have to wait for glue to dry or even mix up glue or get at a tile glue that can kind of get all over the place. It’s all on the mat. So you cut it to fit, put it on the wall, pull off the back and then go ahead in the blue tile right to it. I would caution you, though, that I would not recommend you put this right on drywall because it’s going to be a permanent. You’re never going to get it off. And if you ever want to replace it, you have to cut the wall out because they’ll just pull the paper right off. And what you could do is just put a thin sheet of lawn plywood on the wall first and then put the tile right on that very thing. |
| 0:26:14 | LESLIE: Thank you very. |
| 0:26:14 | TOM: Much. Good luck. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. Well, if you love the classic look of marble tops in your kitchen or your bathroom, but not the expense, those coatings is out now with new product called the Marble Dream Resurfacing kit that lets you create a beautiful marble surface in just a weekend. |
| 0:26:34 | LESLIE: Yeah, it’s a roll on marble resurfacing kit that’s so great for countertops, vanities, even tabletops. It comes in for elegant color schemes and even lets you create a real marble veined surface in just a few simple steps with no special skills needed. Now you can create a tough, resilient marble surface with distinct, defined veins, or you can create one that has those soft, swirly veins. They are two very different looks and you definitely have one that you prefer. So once you start doing your research, you’re going to know exactly. It’s really easy to use. No skills are needed and everything that you need is included in the kit for just $169. |
| 0:27:10 | TOM: And you find that Marble Dream servicing kit at Daichcoatings.com. |
| 0:27:18 | LESLIE: Heading to North Carolina where Steve’s on the line with a window. Question What’s going on at your Money Pit? |
| 0:27:24 | CALLER: I have a 30 year old home where I put vinyl replacement windows in, and here in North Carolina, of course, we have very hot and humid nights. And one thing I noticed in the mornings that there would be condensation around, you know, Scott, the crawlspace is in the panes of glass are internal, not external. But I would notice some conversations like around those and around the edges. And even some mornings they are worn by the a trial level house and the downstairs is on a concrete slab and even some of those windows are completely covered, covered with condensation. I just wondered, is that normal or is there something wrong with the installation? |
| 0:28:16 | TOM: So it’s not normal? Steve, what you’re seeing is a result of a lack of efficiency of either the glass or the window frames themselves. What’s happening here is the cool that you’re generating inside the house. That air conditioner is basically chilling the windows themselves. Then when the warm, moist air on the outside of your house strikes them, it condenses. Because if you think about it, as you cool the air, it releases the water. Same thing happens when you walk outside with a glass of iced tea and you get water that forms in the outside of it because of the conversations, because it’s the warm air striking it. So it does point to a potential inefficiency of the windows now, because the moisture is forming on the outside and on the inside, you don’t have to worry about leaks and damage. But I don’t think you should be seeing as much as you are. It does speak to an issue that’s potentially wrong with the windows themselves. |
| 0:29:07 | CALLER: Okay. I guess the you know, if I contact the manufacturer, if they are argon gas, I believe the manufacturer that I would contact would be installer. |
| 0:29:21 | TOM: Or so if the windows are covered by a warranty, I certainly would reach out to the manufacturer as well as the installer. I would reach out to both of them and raise the issue, explain it very clearly, send some photographs if you can, and see if they’re willing to do something about it, because I sense that the windows are not insulated very well because that should not be happening. |
| 0:29:41 | CALLER: Okay. All right. Well, thank you so much for your help. |
| 0:29:45 | LESLIE: All right. Mario reached out the Team Money Pit. He lives in New Jersey and recently installed replacement Windows himself. He says I left the storm windows in place because I like that extra layer of protection. But I wonder if there’s a downside to doing that. |
| 0:29:58 | TOM: You know, I don’t really think there’s a downside to do it. I mean, it’s another layer of glass you’re going to have to clean. You may find that you get some condensation on the back side of that, depending on how the temperature swings between one side of the glass and the other, which you’d not get with the replacement window, because that’s insulated glass and it’s sealed. I don’t really feel like it’s a bad thing. It’s just inconvenient and kind of you know, it kind of defeats the purpose of replacing the windows. So go ahead live with it now. But if you decide ultimately to take them out, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. |
| 0:30:26 | LESLIE: And I wonder how that looks like. Does it look okay with an old storm window? Like does that do anything to the frame or the trim? |
| 0:30:34 | TOM: Yeah, that’s a good question. It’s going to look a little funky. It’s not going to look like brand new windows, you know, It’s going to look like something is off. Sometimes you can look at stuff and pick up some like alternate it to the normal installation. Like, I see that a lot when you look at electrical panels and something just not quite right and you dig in like, oh, yeah, I know what they did. They put the black or the way it should have been or whatever the heck it was. So yeah, I think it’s not the definitely not the right way to do it, but for the most part, I don’t see it causing any harm. |
| 0:31:00 | LESLIE: All right. Good luck with that project, Mario. And good luck with those new windows. |
| 0:31:05 | TOM: Well, if you’re planning to sell your house anytime soon, one of the best opportunities to get a qualified buyer happens. During the open house, you know, that’s when you get to invite hordes of strangers to poke around every nook and cranny of your personal space. Well, Leslie has tips and how to survive the invasion and get your house ready to sell. In today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word, Leslie. |
| 0:31:26 | LESLIE: Yes? The open house is like my worst nightmare. It’s, like, painful to come in and look at it every day. They’re touching things, you know? It’s like, I love to go look at houses and we’ll go to open houses often. And my kids are always like, Does it come with this furniture? Can’t touch them like it’s not yours, Don’t touch it, don’t open it. And so I know other people would be doing that at my house. But you got to make sure that your house is ready to be seen so you can kind of relax and enjoy the process. So first of all, a buyer needs to really be able to envision their own life in that house. How are they going to live in this space? So clear the clutter. That is definitely something you want to do. And it also opens up the room. So definitely think about removing anything larger or extra pieces of furniture. Just show people that there’s a lot of space, you know, space that’s there that you forgot about, which is why you’re moving in the first place. Now, buyers aren’t going to notice if your home is spotlessly clean, but they are going to notice if it isn’t. So hire a cleaning service, help make it sparkle. You can even have them just do it once before the first set of open houses and then you can kind of just maintain it for the next upcoming ones. Now, OTAs, super important. Nobody wants to buy a house that smells like your pets or if you’re a smoker, nobody likes a stinky house. So you can neutralize those odors by scrubbing the walls, shampooing the carpets, keeping your litter boxes clean. Think about also beautiful finishing touches in the house, new towels in the bathroom, a beautifully set dining table. These things kind of make an impression outside. Trim the lawn with the landscaping, prune the shrubs, and once the day of the open house shows up, guys leave. Don’t stick around. Nothing makes buyers more uncomfortable than if the owner is there. They’re going to feel more excited. They’re going to show more interest. They’re going to ask more questions. It really is great. Make sure your realtor knows all the awesome features and a great stand outs of the home. This way they can really speak comfortably about your house and you don’t have to be there. Trust me, you don’t want to see the people walk all around your space. |
| 0:33:29 | TOM: That is so true. I say the same thing about home inspection. Get out. Get out. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement show. Coming up next time on the program falls. An amazing season for beautiful colors and lots of fun activities, but it’s also the start of fire season will highlight fire prevention risk you haven’t thought of and give you tips to eliminate them. On the next edition of the Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:33:52 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:33:53 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
| 0:33:55 | 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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