Show Notes
In this episode, we’ll be looking upward to keep your home safe and comfortable! First, check out tips for adding living space in your attic. Then, beware the dangers of damaging ice dams on your roof. Finally, keep the cold out and the warmth in with spray foam insulation that’s made easy. Listen in for answers to all this and more of your home improvement questions!
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
- Using Attic Space: If you need some added living space, look up toward your attic for some remodeling ideas.
- Icicles and Ice Dams: Those pretty icicles hanging off your roof may signal damaging ice dams.
- Spray Foam Insulation: Sealing out drafts is made easier and more effective with a new one-part spray foam insulation product.
Top Questions & Answers
- Closet Space: Matt wants to move the entry to a narrow closet from the short end to the wide wall. Building a temporary wall is a good idea in case it needs support.
- Laminate Flooring: What is the easiest way to install a laminate floor? Tristan gets step-by-step instructions on how to lay down a new floor.
- Sump Pump: Jesse must drain his washing machine into a gray water pump instead of a sump pump. We advise him on how to connect the vent system.
- Wallpaper Seams: One big area of Nora’s wallpaper is mysteriously curling at the seams. There are several wallpaper seam repair products she can apply.
- Old Window Repair: Someone broke the windows in Mike’s very old house. He’ll need to replace the glazing around the glass and have a carpenter repair the wood.
- Kitchen Cabinets: Marilyn loves her oak kitchen cabinets and wants to take them to her new home. It shouldn’t be a problem to carefully disassemble and move them.
- Cockroaches: Yuck! Alan moved into a house that’s crawling with cockroaches. Professional pest control is his best option, but it may take time to get rid of the roaches.
- Door Above Concrete: The door over a concrete slab porch is chipping away the cement. Christy should use a patching compound and add an adjustable sweep on the bottom of the door.
- HVAC: Joan would love to turn a small outbuilding into a usable space. A small wall heater running off a natural gas line would be a great way to make it comfortable.
- Garage Floor: A low spot in the garage floor keeps filling with water and freezing. Mona can use a patching compound to level the floor or install a modular tile floor that will drain and provide traction.
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: Happy holidays, everybody. Hope you are enjoying this magical time of year. If you are thinking about making some improvements, making some repairs, if you’ve asked Santa Claus for some new DIY tools under the Christmas tree. If you’ve got a project in mind you’d like to get done, reach out to us because we are here to help you do just that. The number here is 1-888-Money-Pit. Or post your questions that money twitter.com/ask. Coming up on today’s show, we’re going to talk about icicles. Now, most people, when they see icicles hanging off the roof, go, oh, how pretty nice. But I see roof leak. I’m not the Scrooge here last. But you know what that means? That means they’ve got ice, dams, and the water is going to back up, go under the shingles and leak into the house, causing a lot of damage. It doesn’t have to be that way. We’re going to talk you through that problem and let you know what you can do to fix it. And we’ve got some advice on how you can even get your insurance company to pay for it. |
| 0:01:30 | LESLIE: All right. I’ll let you have that. Also ahead, in most homes, usable space is at a premium. And these days, you really are looking to take any opportunity to add more. It’s definitely tempting. But guess what, guys? There’s one area that you shouldn’t be overlooking, and that’s the attic. We’re going to highlight several ways that you can take advantage of the space overhead in just a bit. |
| 0:01:51 | TOM: And one of the most effective ways to reduce drafts and lower home heating costs is to seal spaces where cold air leaks in. Spray foam is a great way to do just that. We’re going to share tips on a new product that makes that job easier than ever. |
| 0:02:03 | LESLIE: First, our focus is you. We want to know what you want to know. So if there’s a DIY project on your to do list, let us help you make it a DIY done project. So let us know what you are working on. |
| 0:02:15 | TOM: Call us right now with your questions at 1-888-Money-Pit. That’s 888-666-3974. Or better yet, post your questions to moneypit.com/ask. Click the blue microphone button for the fastest possible response. Let’s get to it. Leslie who’s first. |
| 0:02:31 | LESLIE: Heading out to Alaska where Matt’s on the line and need some help building a closet. What’s going on? |
| 0:02:36 | CALLER: I have a closet that’s about ten feet long and three feet wide. And currently the entrance is on the shore wall from my hallway. It’s a long, skinny closet. And it’s not very useful because if I store anything inside, I have no room to maneuver past it to access item store behind it. And one wall is right by my front entrance. So what I’d like to do is create an opening in that wall and that would provide much needed front entryway storage. And there was the closet do run perpendicular to my roof trusses. So I believe them to be load bearing. My question is, do I need to build a temporary support wall while I create that opening? Since the other wall, the closet which is right next to it, will remain intact. So any insight you have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. |
| 0:03:22 | TOM: Hey, Matt. So you know what? I have a house that I bought some time ago that had that times, too. We had two of those exact shaped closets like that where, you know, the wide wall was closed off and the short wall, I guess I kind of expected you to sort of shimmy in sideways to use the closet. It’s a complete waste of space. So I did exactly what your suggestion is. I closed off the short wall and opened up the wide wall. The question about whether or not it’s load bearing or not, it may or may not be, I can’t really tell. And even if you do have trusses that cross it, it may not be load bearing in the same way that a house that’s not built with trusses is because those trusses actually transfer a lot of the load around. But look, when in doubt, go ahead and build the temporary wall, right? I mean, there’s no point not doing it. It’s a pretty easy steps and take an extra couple of hours, put one on both sides. So I say go ahead and build a temporary wall, reframe it as if it is load bearing better safe than sorry and enjoy that newfound closet space. |
| 0:04:16 | LESLIE: Tristan I was on the line with the flooring question. What can we do for you today? |
| 0:04:19 | CALLER: I’m going to be laying down a laminate flooring. We’re doing this. Easiest way of doing it. |
| 0:04:24 | TOM: The easiest way to do this laminate floor is a good place to start because limited floor doesn’t is not a floor that needs to be glued together. It usually locks together. The joints on the boards usually snap together. So what you want to do is it’s a fairly square room that you’re working in, or is it an oddly shaped room? : Well, I’m going to add a curtain measure, but for the most part it is square. So what you want to do is just be conscious of where the seams on the flooring are going to end up, because if you find the middle of the room, you’ll start from there and you work out. What you want to avoid is to have the boards that are up against the wall to be really narrow, like one inch strips or two or three inch strips. So you want to decide whether you’re going to start these seams right in the middle of the room or overlap with the first piece that when you get to the edges of the wall, they’re kind of even. And then the next thing is, since they all kind of lock together, you’re going to leave a little bit of Gatling and maybe a quarter of an inch between the edge of the laminate floor and the wall or baseboard molding itself. And then you can use a second piece of molding on top of that, like a quarter round or a shoe molding to cover that seam. This allows the floor to expand and contract. And depending on the type of floor you purchase, some of them have an underlayment built into the panel itself. And in other cases you put down an underlayment first, which could be like a very, very thin layer of foam. It helps to give the floor a little bit of give and comfort. : That’s good to know. Thank you so much. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:05:43 | LESLIE: Hey, Money Pit podcast fans, you want to help us out? Well, go ahead and leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and we’re going to give you a virtual high five. Plus, you’ll be helping us spread the word about our show. Just go to moneypit.com/review. Jesse in Michigan, you’ve got the Money Pit. How can we help you today? |
| 0:06:00 | CALLER: I’m sorry. The question about the laundry pump set up, it’s innovation right now. The current setup is our washing machine going into a laundry tub and then the laundry detergent is something that sits inside a bucket that’s just on top of the basement floor. Something comes up drain my next out of the house, I’ve got a new great water pumps that I’d like to replace on pump with. |
| 0:06:23 | CALLER: And the great water pump has a vent location that has to be connected to event system for the pumps operate correctly and so I’m wondering if that vent system, which I have to somehow connected to the main event stack in the house certain it’s just like hooked up to some sort of new system in the basement. I’m a little unclear on what to do with that aspect of it. |
| 0:06:43 | TOM: Okay. So first of all, the entire assembly that you just described to us is not done correctly. You’re not supposed to be draining laundries into Sampson in any way, shape or form. Your idea of putting in a greywater pump, however, is the right way to go. And then, of course, you would discharge the washing machine into that gray water pump. It would be float actuated and it would lift the water up high enough to drop it into the main waste system for the house. And yes, it is supposed to be vented as well. And the vent would in most cases connect with the stack vent for the house. Although there is a type of ball vent that could be used to not connect where it would just let area but not gases out. So there are two ways to do that. |
| 0:07:25 | CALLER: Okay. The main static in the house seems to be pretty much inaccessible. There is no opening. You seem to be able to tap into it. So I’m going to What other type of art was I can look for? |
| 0:07:36 | TOM: It’s technically known as a known as an air admittance valve and basically it lets air in, but it doesn’t like let gases out. |
| 0:07:45 | CALLER: And so I can simply just have it exist in the basement space. So no call other to attempt to function properly. |
| 0:07:50 | TOM: Exactly. |
| 0:07:51 | CALLER: Okay. Thank you so much for your help. |
| 0:07:53 | TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:07:58 | LESLIE: All right. Time to talk wallpaper with Nora. What is going on in your Money Pit? |
| 0:08:02 | CALLER: Well, I have a lovely wallpaper that looks great, except for the some of the. Seems like about half of them are curling up a little bit, and I haven’t been able to find a good product to keep them flat. I’m looking for a product that I can use because I hate to have to strip off that whole wall worth of wallpaper just because I can’t keep the things flat. |
| 0:08:24 | LESLIE: Is it just in that one area or is it in multiple spots around the room? |
| 0:08:28 | CALLER: It’s multiple spots across a load bearing wall in the center of the home. So it’s just seems to be that whole wall, because that’s the wall I put the wallpaper on for an accent. |
| 0:08:43 | LESLIE: Is it in sort of the same spot, the same height across the aisle? I’m just trying to figure out if there’s something maybe weird going on with the wall. |
| 0:08:50 | CALLER: Yeah, because I have wainscoting below and wallpaper above. And so it’s. So it’s the same up the wall where the wallpaper is, right? |
| 0:08:59 | LESLIE: Is it the vertical seam or the seam where the bottom of the paper meets the wainscoting vertical. |
| 0:09:04 | CALLER: The vertical thing where the two pieces together. |
| 0:09:07 | LESLIE: And it’s happening at every panel. |
| 0:09:09 | CALLER: Pretty much across the wall. |
| 0:09:11 | LESLIE: So that’s a lot. So I mean, it could have been a couple of things. It could have been during the installation process, you just didn’t get enough of the glue on the ends and then it just kind of didn’t adhere, right? Or you didn’t bookmark it long enough so that that glue sets up properly. But what you can do now is there’s several seam repair products and I know they’re kind of annoying, but you sort of put that glue on and then you do sort of reroll over that whole area of the seam until it kind of adheres and sticks itself down. So hopefully that can repair it. But I’m just curious that it’s happening over the entire room. If there’s like a moisture issue or something else going on, like at that wall at every seam. |
| 0:09:52 | CALLER: No, it’s not the entire room. |
| 0:09:55 | LESLIE: It’s the one wall, correct? |
| 0:09:57 | CALLER: It’s the one wall because I do have a second wall and those seams look fine. It’s just that one wall. So that’s what I’m dealing with. And I like I say, I don’t want to have to strip it all off. |
| 0:10:12 | LESLIE: No, I don’t want you to have you try to seam repair glue at all. |
| 0:10:15 | CALLER: I did. It’s been a while ago and it didn’t work at all. So it’s like, I don’t know if there’s something on the market now that works better than the product I tried to begin with. |
| 0:10:24 | TOM: There’s a brand that is available on Amazon. I mean, when it comes to something like this where I don’t have a lot of personal experience with it, I do like to look at the reviews because I think it is a good indication and there’s a brand on Amazon called Solve It so lv i.t and it’s a wallpaper repair adhesive and they’ve got 7004 star reviews and another similar product has 2504 and a half star reviews. So I think that’s probably a good indication of something worth trying. Right. And I would it’s only what ten or 15 bucks to buy a tube of this stuff. I would give it a shot. I’d pick one of the seams and see how well it works before I commit to the wall. The one thing is you want to make sure you find what works before you do More than that, because you can’t keep putting multiple different types of adhesive on top of the one before because that’s just not. |
| 0:11:11 | CALLER: Going to work. Right? |
| 0:11:12 | TOM: All right. We’ll give it a shot. Good luck. Let us know how you make out. |
| 0:11:14 | CALLER: Thank you very much. |
| 0:11:16 | LESLIE: Well, snow on your roof and icicles on the eaves might look pretty, but both could mean that you have a problem. Now, heavy snowfalls followed up by those warmer days, often allow ice to kind of dam up at that roof edge where it starts to block all that melting snow. And then that can lead to some serious leaks inside the house. |
| 0:11:35 | TOM: Yeah, and you know what? It’s more common in attics that have a lack of adequate insulation and also those that are not properly ventilated. So to prevent this, be sure your roof has plenty of vents. Don’t block them off in the fall in the winter, and make sure you have good soffit and ridge ventilation. And if you plan to replace your roof soon, you want to also be sure to have the contractor install ice and water shield. And that’s a roof product that gets installed along the roof edge at the bottom edge, kind of at the overhang. It goes up under the first three feet of roofing and it really provides an extra layer of protection against those ice dams. |
| 0:12:07 | LESLIE: Yeah. Now in southern climates, though, an ice and water shield underlayment can protect against leaks from heavy wind driven rain. The type that you would get from a hurricane. And in that installation it would cover the entire roof. And then the shingles are installed right on top of it. |
| 0:12:21 | TOM: And this way, if the shingles get blown off, the ice and water shield is still attached, protecting your home until you can get back to fixing it. |
| 0:12:28 | LESLIE: Mike in Nevada is on the line with a window question What’s going on in your Money pit? |
| 0:12:31 | CALLER: I have an old house that was I’m fixing up to retire and they’ve got the old wooden windows in there that has a crossing over like four panes. And someone broke into it. And I’m trying to figure out a good video or I don’t even know what those kind of windows are called. So I’m just lost where to start. : And I, I talked to an old timer guy and he said he said they sell that 40 the golden of those window panes and a can. And he said, just watch your fingers and then trim it off with a pocketknife. And I thought, well, maybe, maybe they sell in my talking guns by now. |
| 0:13:04 | TOM: Now, well, no, because it’s not it’s not caulk. It’s called glazing. And it is like a putty. And so what you want to do is scrape out, obviously the broken shards, a window, and the old glazing, and you’ll get sort of a nice, clean, recessed edge. You press the new pane in place and it gets held in place with the glazing. And in fact, there’s kind of a special putty knife that you can use for that or you can use a standard one. The special one just has a couple of more bells and whistles to it for glazing that window. But basically you’re going to trial it in there and try to be as neat as you possibly can. Look at the other seams around it, try to make it, match it. Sometimes with old windows, you have to replace that glazing from time to time. Anyway. Now I will I would imagine that those windows are going to be a little bit drafty. So you have to decide whether you want to add storm windows on top of that or not. But they’re beautiful windows, I’m sure, and they just take a little more work to keep them operable and working. |
| 0:13:54 | CALLER: Well, they broke the wood, the wooden cross out. And I was looking at that, trying to figure out how do you make new ones. That’s so I was trying to find out. |
| 0:14:01 | TOM: So that’s more of a carpentry project and that is going to take somebody that’s got a, you know, a pretty high degree of carpet carpentry skills to put it back together, especially if it’s a milled piece. Do you have the broken pieces? Is it all possible that you could use those to glue it back together? Because if that was the case, I would recommend it use epoxy on that. And there are some epoxies out there that can rebuild missing sections of the wood. For example, if you ever have a rotted window sill, sometimes you get kind of a hole. It’s just like a rat hole. There’s a poxy patch that works well for that that basically you can fill up like you’re filling the cavity and then sand it off and it works great. So what do you have left? Anything of these broken pieces? |
| 0:14:39 | CALLER: I got some of them from outside, but there’s a big piece like right in the middle. Right in the middle where they joiner That’s the one I couldn’t find. And I thought maybe there’s a variable tells you how to make a new one of those. I’m pretty good with a lot of a lot of tools and, and carpentry abilities but I don’t I don’t know even what those kind of windows are called. |
| 0:14:56 | TOM: Yeah. Mike The product that I would recommend is called JB Weld. JB, the initials JB Weld. And it basically it’s a premium epoxy putty and you can use it to pretty much rebuild anything. And it gives it can it can sort of restore the structural integrity of that piece. So again, I would try to put back together everything you’ve got in the piece that’s missing. Perhaps you can rebuild with the with the epoxy putty and then you’re good to go. |
| 0:15:20 | LESLIE: Marilyn in South Dakota is on the line with a cabinet question How can we help you today? |
| 0:15:23 | CALLER: A galley kitchen is very small. We just live in a small ranch that we put in quarters on custom build cabinets with the crown molding to the ceiling, the French cabinets up to the ceiling and are European style. And so we’re going to be putting the house on the market. And my husband are having a little debate because I want to take them out and bring them with their quarters on solid oak. And, you know, we put them in years ago where if we had to repeat this again now, it would be like three times the cost. And so I want to take them out and I’m designing a new home. So I have the galley design sort of drawn in. And so we could put them basically in the same configuration with just a little bit more room on both ends for their living space. So I just wanted to getting your opinion on that. Sure. |
| 0:16:09 | TOM: I mean, why not? You can basically disassemble it the same way that you assembled it. You mentioned that you have crown molding on the cabinets all the way up to the ceiling. That would be the place to start. And I would take the doors off and take the molding apart. Take the doors off next, because you don’t want to have to work on those cabinets with the doors on them. So I would take the doors off of the hinges carefully, pack them and store them and label them so you know which cabinet they go to. Then just start taking the boxes apart. Start with the wall cabinets and work your way down to the base cabinets. And you know, the difficulty the project is going to be, you know, totally based on how they put it together the first time. But hopefully you can get everything apart pretty quickly with just some, you know, very gentle prying off of the molding and with the removing of those cabinets the same way they were assembled, they were probably screwed into the wall. You should be good to go. I would be careful that the wall cams are usually also screwed together. And so you may have to pull out more fasteners than you expect, but I certainly don’t see any reason you can’t disassemble them, especially given the fact that they’re good quality cabinets and that you feel like there’s a place for them in. |
| 0:17:09 | CALLER: The new home. I’ve been wanting to kind of call about this, but we weren’t sure until we found out for sure we are going to be moving. |
| 0:17:16 | TOM: All right. Well, it sounds like we’ve got a plan. Thanks so much for calling us at eight At 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:17:21 | LESLIE: Alan and George is on the line with a roach question. You’ve already given me the creepy crawlies. What’s going on at your Money Pit? |
| 0:17:27 | CALLER: I’m having to have a forced move. Okay. Is it like eight days ago? And so now I’m going into this other house and it is just crawling with both American and German cockroaches. |
| 0:17:39 | LESLIE: And you can understand them because of their accent. |
| 0:17:43 | CALLER: But man came in and sprayed. But I was not here, so I don’t know where he sprayed. |
| 0:17:47 | TOM: Well, I mean, I think at this point you have to trust that he knows what he’s doing and then see if you can get this under control. I mean, from the from an extermination perspective, whatever he’s going to apply is going to kill both of them. I mean, the American cockroaches are bigger than the German ones, but they’re still, you know, pretty nasty. And, you know, generally the advice on dealing with these things is to keep a clean house, I mean, a really clean house. And then they use baits and gels and powder insecticides, and you’re better off having the professional do that because frankly, they can get their hands on the stronger stuff that you can and they know where to put it, they know how much to apply and hopefully it’ll do the job of getting these things under control and completely eliminating them. And then perhaps when you move into this House, that plus improved hygiene, because it sounds like the last occupant was pretty sloppy and may have left food around or had leaks in their plumbing, things that can sustain these insect populations, that that’s not going to happen again. So I think he did the right thing and it’s just going to take a while for them to go away. |
| 0:18:44 | CALLER: Okay. What to do any good, the like bomb behind it or that? |
| 0:18:47 | TOM: No, no, no, no. I wouldn’t I wouldn’t get involved in that. And I can’t tell you how many times we read stories about those bug bombs blowing up houses because there’s a lot of people out there. I think if one of those bug bombs is good, use an eight is better. It usually ends up with blowing out the front wall of the house or worse. So yeah, I wouldn’t do that now. I would just trust the professional they’re going to. They’re let’s just assume that the guy put the right material in and listen. If you have questions, call the company up. Ask them what they did, what they used. They should be at least leaving you information on what products they put in and find out if there’s a guarantee. If you see any more roaches, you know, should you call them and how long should you wait to make that call? Because it might take a couple of days for these things to settle down. |
| 0:19:29 | CALLER: All righty. Well, I appreciate your. |
| 0:19:31 | TOM: Well, in most homes, usable space is at a premium, so any opportunity to add more space is absolutely tempting. And that’s why the attic can be one of those tempting spaces to remodel. Now, the first thing to do is to check the height of the attic, turning your head banging potential, you know, by measuring from the floor to the highest point. If it’s seven feet or more, you can walk comfortably down the center of the attic. Then you can probably make a go of adding storage there. |
| 0:19:56 | LESLIE: Yeah. Now, if this sounds like a job that you want to take on, it’s highly advisable that you work with an architect or other design pro to help you work through the issues and then detail exactly what you need to have done. |
| 0:20:08 | TOM: Now, beyond the basic design, you’ll need to plan an improved the attic floor joists during the conversion by having sister joists installed next to their undersized siblings now properly installed, these can span overload bearing walls and support normal floor traffic. |
| 0:20:22 | LESLIE: Now you also want to make sure that you’re planning for attic stairs. If you presently access your attic by pull down stairs, you’re going to need room for a proper staircase for permanent access. And that does take up a lot of room in about 14 feet or so of space to build a straight stair and much less for those angular configurations. But you do want a regular old staircase. |
| 0:20:44 | TOM: Now, when we say finish, we’re not talking about making this like finished living space because in some parts of the country, if you do that, you need to add a sprinkler system as well. What we’re talking about is finishing it off enough so it can adequately support storage. |
| 0:20:56 | LESLIE: Now, when it comes to storing things in the attic, remember, the insulation is up there to keep the house warm. So if you’re going to start using that flooring area to store a bunch of stuff, you want to make sure that you’re not squishing the insulation and reducing its R-value you can sort of designate a smaller area as the storage point so that you don’t have to worry about all the insulation being affected. |
| 0:21:16 | TOM: And finally, when you get all that stuff up there, make sure you can see it. You know, when we did some storage additions to our attic, we added some additional lighting and man, I’m so glad we did because, you know, it’s so nice to be able to go up there and see everything and reorganize things and get rid of things because we have plenty of light so good time. They had perhaps some of these lights to that space. |
| 0:21:36 | LESLIE: Christie in Delaware is on the line. How can we help you today? |
| 0:21:38 | CALLER: I have a back porch that is on a concrete slab, and I recently installed a storm door. It’s 36 inch door. And, you know, the bottom of the door has the built in weather stripping. But, you know, it was installed and everything’s fine, but there’s pieces of that concrete slab right where the door is that over time has chipped away. |
| 0:22:04 | CALLER: And more specifically in each of the corners. And I’m wondering what can I do to build it up, fill it in without having delays, you know, by a whole bag of sacrifice. |
| 0:22:17 | TOM: So you’re going to want to use a patching compound on that. And you’re right, it’s not typical. It’s not a typical bag concrete. NYX It’s made by the same manufacturers. Take a look at Kwikrete. They have a patching compound. And basically the difference is the passion compounds are designed to stick to the original concrete surface. So if you have some chips or broken out sections there, you can repair it with the patching compound. And this way it’ll stay, you know, through the weather. And in terms of that door, that’s not striking properly. What you could do is put a sweep on the outside of that door. They have door sweeps that attach to the outside and they’re adjustable so that you can have one side be lower than the other. And some of them are rubber where you can actually scroll it, take a marker and like trace the uneven concrete surface to the bottom of the door suite and basically cut it to fit. |
| 0:23:06 | CALLER: Yeah. Because the problem that I’m having is, you know, as little critters get in, you know, slugs, crickets, that kind of thing. And it’s really not a wall. It’s just the corners. |
| 0:23:15 | TOM: I would do both. I would patch the concrete. And if the door sweep is still not in constant contact, I would replace it and then adjusted to fit. Okay, great. Good luck with that project. Christie, Thanks so much for calling us at eight 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:23:28 | LESLIE: Joan in Missouri, you’ve got the Money Pit. How can we help you? |
| 0:23:30 | CALLER: I have a small eight by ten outbuilding, and I’d like to use it for a craft shop, a craft studio. But I need to heat it to make sure the paint doesn’t freeze in the winter. Also, I need it to, you know, be a functional temperature, so I’m not really sure how to go about that. |
| 0:23:46 | TOM: Okay. So first of all, can you get gas lines to this particular building so that you can use a gas heater? |
| 0:23:53 | CALLER: That would be doable. |
| 0:23:54 | TOM: It would be doable. I mean, the other option is propane. |
| 0:23:57 | CALLER: Propane. Yeah. We’re not allowed to have propane for I live in town. |
| 0:24:01 | TOM: Okay. So, I mean, if you can get natural gas lines, run to that particular building, then what I would use is a gas furnace and I would heat it the same way I would heat a house. Now, if it’s if it’s one is it one open space? |
| 0:24:12 | CALLER: Yeah, it’s just a little tiny little building. |
| 0:24:14 | TOM: So if it’s one open space, you can probably put a small wall heater, gas fired wall heater in there and insulated as best you can. And I think that will be enough to keep it warm. |
| 0:24:22 | CALLER: Okay, well, I’ll give it a shot. Thanks a lot. |
| 0:24:25 | TOM: Well, one of the most effective ways to reduce drafts and lower home heating costs is to seal spaces where that nasty cold air leaks in. Now, spray foam is a great way to do that. And DAP has just launched a new spray foam system that is perfect for builders, remodelers and serious DIYers like you. |
| 0:24:43 | LESLIE: Yeah, it’s called the touch and foam professional wall and cavity foam. And now touching from it’s portable, it’s self-contained, all one component polyurethane foam dispensing kit and it’s perfect for sealing gaps in wall and floor cavities as well as your attic, your basement, and even crawl spaces. |
| 0:24:59 | TOM: Now, here’s the key difference between this product and what’s out there now. Unlike the two part spray foam systems, these require mixing separate components. DAP’s wall cavity foam consists of only one container that has both the A and the B components already mixed inside. Now, this makes it a lot less complicated and easier to use solution that can be applied in a wide temperature range of between 40 degrees and 120 degrees Fahrenheit. |
| 0:25:23 | LESLIE: Yeah, and the kid is easy to use for both professionals and homeowners that are doing repairs, renovations and even new installations. And they effectively air seal and insulate homes and buildings while enhancing the R-value and providing class a fire resistance. It’s great for repairs, renovations and even new installations. |
| 0:25:40 | TOM: Yeah, I mean, this cool product that’s definitely revolutionized spray foam application with this first one component, broadcast spray foam, you’ll find the DAP touch and foam system at Menards and select Home Depot stores or learn more, adapt Apple.com. |
| 0:25:55 | LESLIE: Moana in Wyoming, you’ve got the Money Pit. How can we help you today? |
| 0:25:57 | CALLER: I’ve got a garage that has a low spot in it up by the front tire and so snow all comes off of it and then sits there. It doesn’t drain out and then it freezes. And then I have a skating rink. Oh, boy. Yeah. And I’m just wondering if there’s anything that that I can use to either kind of fill in that hole and spread it out, you know, make it more level or what would happen if I drilled holes down to it? |
| 0:26:26 | TOM: Well, that was my first thought. Monet, if you were to fill this in, if I was to tell you how to fill this in, you think that that would allow the water to drain out? |
| 0:26:34 | CALLER: Probably not. |
| 0:26:35 | TOM: Okay. That’s what I was afraid of. |
| 0:26:37 | CALLER: Unless I filled it, you know, quite a bit and then sloped it back. |
| 0:26:41 | TOM: There is a way to do that. There’s there are materials called patching compounds. They’re epoxy in nature, or they’re made of other materials that are designed specifically to adhere to the old floor. And so one thing you could do would be to basically re level the floor using the epoxy patching compound to smooth out those areas. Another idea that comes to mind is that there are a number of garage floors out there that are modular in nature that can be assembled on top of the concrete and basically give you about an extra half inch of height. And the water, if it collects at all, would be kind of below that level. They’re made to drain, they’re perforated, they’re durable, and they look pretty cool, too. I’m thinking of one that snaps together and looks like tiles that can actually be quite a decor element as well and has more traction than the concrete wood itself. |
| 0:27:30 | CALLER: And it would go over the low spot and still be level. |
| 0:27:34 | TOM: What you would put it over the entire floor, you know, you basically would redo the whole floor of the garage with this. |
| 0:27:38 | CALLER: Material. And so what about drilling holes in it? You think then I may have more water come up through? That was my concern. |
| 0:27:44 | TOM: Probably not, because I think what’ll happen is it’ll get clogged up. I don’t think it’s going to be effective. I mean, I guess it’s possible you could put a drain in there if you really drill the big hole, but we don’t know we’re going to run again up against when you get through that concrete. |
| 0:27:56 | CALLER: No. Well, it’s gravel underneath, but yeah. |
| 0:27:59 | TOM: It’s a pretty big job. And fewer to drill. And I think you’re probably just going to clog up. I don’t think it would be an effective drain unless you actually, you know, put a properly sized drain in there. And that’s just a bigger project. I mean, if you think smoothing this out, that low spot is going to solve it, then I would just use a patch and compound on it and try it. You got nothing to lose and see what happens. If you decide you don’t like that, you can always go with the floor tile option. |
| 0:28:20 | CALLER: After that you have a tile option, a manufacturer that you would recommend for this. Yeah. |
| 0:28:27 | TOM: Home Depot has dozens of these garage floor tiles and they’re not going to have them in the store. But if you go to Homedepot.com and just search garage floor tiles, we’ll see what the options are. Lots and lots of options and, you know, some of them are quite attractive. |
| 0:28:40 | CALLER: Okay. Well, I appreciate your help. Thank you very much. |
| 0:28:43 | TOM: Well, you’re very welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:28:49 | LESLIE: Korin, Pennsylvania, reached out to Money Pit and says the black flexible spacers between the three big concrete slabs that make up my driveway are brittle and coming out. How can I replace them? What do I use and can I do it myself? |
| 0:29:01 | TOM: Yeah, you can definitely do it yourself. So those spacers are designed because you can’t just pour continuous slab. If you did, it would expand and contract and crack. So the spaces are put in to give it a place to move. So what you want to do is pull out those old spacers and you’re going to have to use like a skinny tool. I mean, frankly, a big screwdriver works fine to dig out any soil or moss or weeds that get sort of growing up in that area. The next thing you’re going to do, Korin, is you’re going to use what’s called a backer rod, which is like a foam tube. The little bit wider that gap find at home centers and you press it into the space that that joint was that until it’s about an inch or an inch and a half below the surface of that concrete slab. And on top of that, you install a flow all urethane sealant or similar product that. Right that rides basically on top of that back garage and then sort of floats up towards the top of the slab. So this way you’re not wasting a lot of that sealant having it fall between the slab. You’re keeping it up top where it needs to be, and you will prevent anything else from getting past that and growing more weeds and grow stuff from below. |
| 0:30:12 | LESLIE: All right. Hope that helps you out with that. I know it does start to look like fuzzy and gross. It’s like a lifetime is over now. We’ve got one here from space who says, I live in an area prone to hurricanes and I want to strengthen my roof. The house was built in the mid-eighties before local codes were updated. After Hurricane Hugo. Is there something I can do from the attic side? |
| 0:30:32 | TOM: Yes. It’s not just the attic, though. I mean, listen, first of all, in a severe storm, the combined wind forces will try to lift your roof off the house. So adding spray foam insulation, while a fantastic way to lower your energy costs, will have no effect on that. So the best option for existing homes to reinforce the roof by adding strapping and other forms of hardware is specifically designed to connect the rafters to the exterior walls of the house. Now, there are a wide selection of options for this, but many straps and ties are made by Simpson’s strong tie. So I would start with that company and take a look at their website. But I’ve got to caution you, Page, because this type of retrofit is really a project best left to the pros. It’s not easy. It’s difficult to work in a tight space and solid workmanship to make sure you’re actually securing both ends of that strap is really important, and much of this will be a lot easier when you have to replace your roof, but you don’t want to chance it. So have a pro tackle the project sooner rather than later. |
| 0:31:33 | LESLIE: Now piece earlier in the show we were talking about ice and water shield and you know, yes, perfect to use in areas with snow and cold. But also amazing, as we mentioned, for southern climates where you’re prone to hurricanes, wind driven rain and leaks associated with roof damage. So this is definitely a great opportunity for you here. |
| 0:31:51 | TOM: Yeah. Because if the storm was to maybe not take the structure of the roof off, but more commonly it rips all the shingles off the roof, leaves the house exposed to the water from the storm. If you have ice and water shield across the entire roof, it tears to the sheathing and also stops me able to get through it. So that’s why in southern climate, it’s a good extra layer to have in between the shingles and the roof sheathing. |
| 0:32:15 | LESLIE: All right, good luck with your roofing project. |
| 0:32:17 | TOM: This is the Money Pit Home Improvement show on air and online at MoneyPit.com. Hey, guys, thank you so much for spending a little bit of your day listening to us. We hope that we’ve been helpful. We hope we gave you an idea or two to help you get on with your home improvement projects. If you’ve still got questions, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us any time at 1-888-Money-Pit or by going to MoneyPit.com/ask. But for now, that’s all the time we have. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:32:45 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:32:46 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
| 0:32:48 | 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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