#2381 – Budget Blueprint for Home Maintenance | Affordable Stone Countertops

Show Notes

Enjoy some home budget bliss as we discuss how to control maintenance and repair costs, get the look of expensive stone countertops at an affordable price, and do a home remodeling project with the best ROI! Save time, money, and stress as we answer these and other home improvement questions you’ll want to know.

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Ask Your Home Improvement Question
Podcast Transcript

Home Maintenance Costs: Avoid unpleasant surprises by setting a budget for home maintenance and repairs.
Stone Countertops: Get the luxe look of stone countertops at a fraction of the cost.
Remodeling ROI: Find out which home improvement project delivers the highest ROI.

Ask Your Home Improvement Question

Do you have a home improvement or decor question? Call the show 24/7 at 888-MONEY-PIT (888-666-3974) or post your question here.

Podcast Transcript

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00:00:28	TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is The Money Pit, home improvement show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
00:00:34	LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
00:00:35	TOM: And we are here to help you with the projects you want to get done on this very new year. It’s still a new year. We’re still kind of getting used to 24.
00:00:43	LESLIE: Please, I’m going to say Happy New Year until February.
00:00:45	TOM: I’m allowed. Yeah, I just about stopped writing 23 instead of 24 and stuff that I have to date. So it’s sinking in that we’re here to stay. And we are here to stay to help you with projects you want to get done around your house. So if you’re a do-it-yourselfer or you’re a… a do-it-for-me kind of home improver, you can trust us to give you the advice and the tips and the knowledge that you need to tackle the project yourself. Or if we don’t think you should, we’ll tell you how to find a pro to help with that job too. Coming up on today’s show, kitchen renos. We’re going to talk about that because these are really expensive remodeling projects. And surprisingly, one of the more costly components is the stone countertop. I looked into the cost of a stone top, just a basic stone top. And it was over $2,000 for a small apartment I was renovating. So I was like, man, that’s a lot of money. So we’re going to share a new way to build stone countertops that can be done for a fraction of the usual cost.
00:01:37	LESLIE: And speaking of kitchens, if you wanted to take on a home improvement project that will deliver to you the best return on investment, that might be the project that you pick. But while a kitchen is a great improvement, it doesn’t even come close to what Remodeling Online says delivers the highest return on investment. We’re going to share what that project is just ahead.
00:01:56	TOM: Well, guys, if you own… In a home, nobody likes surprises, like when things break down unexpectedly, which I guess is pretty much how things always break down because you never expect them to break down. But if you set a realistic budget for home maintenance, you can reduce those surprises and the expense of emergency repairs. So we’ve got a set of rules that will sort of help you figure out exactly what you need to put away so that you have no surprise expenses if that happens to you.
00:02:21	LESLIE: All right. But first, is there a project that you’re stuck in the middle of? Or maybe there’s a project that you just can’t seem to get. Well, that’s when you call us, you guys, because we can kind of get you unstuck. Let’s make that the motto for 2024. Let’s get unstuck and get these projects done. So let us know what you are working on and how we can lend a hand.
00:02:41	TOM: Yeah, we’re kind of like virtual WD-40, right? It doesn’t matter what the question is. We’re good for 1,001 uses. So put us to work. Call us now with your questions at 1-888-MONEYPIT, 888-666-3974, or just go to moneypit.com slash ask. Let’s get to it. Leslie? Who’s first?
00:02:59	LESLIE: Fran in Tennessee is on the line, and her French door has developed rot. What is going on?
00:03:04	CALLER: Well, we live in a 150-year-old house. And over the years, as we’ve moved in here, we’ve done repairs and modernized some things. So we had a French door put in the dining room. It’s covered in a metal flashing around the outside. But we didn’t realize at the outset that it was a composite door. And over the years… It has developed rain rot. The only thing I can… You know, it has just fallen away at the bottom, about six to eight inches up. We covered the door with a four-by-eight piece of plywood to keep rain off of it. But we don’t know what to do. Is it repairable, or would it be best just to replace the entire door?
00:03:47	TOM: This is screaming replacement to me. I was afraid you were going to say that. Well, listen, you’ve already covered it with a sheet of plywood. So, I mean… If you called me and you said, listen, I got a hole in my door because it’s rotted out, and it’s a few inches from the bottom, I would tell you there’s different materials that you can use to fill those rotted holes back in with that are sort of like packing a cavity, you know? There’s two-part epoxy patching materials. You mix them together. You put it in there. You sand it. And then you can, you know, prime it and paint it. You can use auto body putty for stuff like that, too. And you press it in there, let it dry again, sand it, paint it. And you go… But at this point, it sounds to me like this door has given you all the years of service it has to offer. And I would think about getting a new door. And I would tell you specifically, Fran, to look at the new fiberglass entry doors that are out there because they could look like a painted door or they could look like a beautiful wood door. You know, there’s lots of qualities of that fiberglass today where it looks pretty darn good. And the nice thing about it is it’s completely impervious to water. And it’s five or six times more energy efficient than wood.
00:04:52	CALLER: It does. And thank you for talking with me. I appreciate it.
00:04:55	TOM: I hope that helps you. Al, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEYPIT.
00:04:59	LESLIE: Martin in Wisconsin is on the line with a question about a load-bearing wall. What’s going on?
00:05:04	CALLER: I’ve got a wall between my kitchen and living room that I’d like to open up. And there’s already a doorway there I’d like to open up and make an open area. And the walls, it’s a main support wall. It’s a structural support wall. I want to take out about 12, the span would be about 12 feet. There’s a doorway there that’s already four foot. It’s a little bit wide. And so I’m going to try and open up another eight foot of it. And I was wondering about, like, structurally, if I would be possible to put in, like, a micro-limb. I think that’s what they call them.
00:05:37	TOM: Look, I don’t recommend this project for the faint of heart or the inexperienced contractor because it’s not the kind of job you should be doing as, like, you know, your first foray into home improvement. I can explain to you conceptually how it’s done. And let’s assume that you have a bearing wall here and you need to disassemble that wall. So the way it is done conceptually is that there is a temporary wall built on both sides of the bearing wall that has to come out. So basically you’re building a load-bearing wall on one side of the wall that’s coming out, maybe six inches or a foot away, and one wall on the other side. And then once those temporary walls are in place, then and only then do you disassemble the bearing wall. And in terms of that laminated beam, yes, once you put that beam in, it’s got to be properly supported. So the ends of the beam have to be sitting on something. Like another part of the bearing wall so that the load is transferred down to your foundation. So, again, it’s really a pretty complicated project and one that has to be done right or the consequences are pretty devastating. So it can be done, but it’s a big project and it’s not the kind of project I would recommend you tackle unless you have a lot more experience than it sounds like you have.
00:06:47	CALLER: Yeah, that’s kind of my thought about it. I just thought I would reach out to you guys.
00:06:52	TOM: All right. Well, I think you’re on the right path now. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-922-9222. Money Pit.
00:06:57	LESLIE: You know, we love hearing from our listeners. And if you want to make our day, leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts.
00:07:03	TOM: You know, it really helps us know what we’re doing right and how we can improve our show for you. So just go to moneypit.com slash review, moneypit.com slash review, and you might even win a copy of our book.
00:07:17	LESLIE: Kathleen in Texas is on the line and has some questions about a garage floor.
00:07:20	CALLER: What can we do for you? I’ve been considering doing an epoxy covering on my floor. I’ve been considering doing an epoxy covering on my floor with the Painted Flex for quite some time. And I was told by someone who does flooring that he would not recommend that because he said when your hot tires pull in into the garage and sit on that flooring that it breaks the seal. And then where those tires go, that is a constant wear factor. Is there anything better or newer on the market for that type of product, or what would you suggest?
00:07:54	TOM: I don’t agree with that at all. In fact, epoxy floor coatings are designed specifically to stand up to hot tires and also, you know, icy and salt-covered cars that are dripping on them. If it’s done right, you’ll have proper adhesion. If it’s done wrong, you can get peel up on the floor. But epoxy floors for garages are designed specifically to take that kind of punishment. So I very much disagree with your painter. Maybe he had a bad experience. But if he did, all I can say is that, remember, it’s unusual to find bad paint. But it’s pretty good. It’s fairly common to find bad painters. And if he skipped a step or didn’t prep the floor properly, you know, that would cause that condition to occur. Okay.
00:08:34	CALLER: Well, this gentleman did the staining of concrete floors. So maybe he just didn’t like doing that type of work. I don’t know.
00:08:41	TOM: Maybe he doesn’t like to paint floors. He likes to stain them. But I’m just telling you, I think it works well. You know, look at the products by Quikrete, for example. The epoxy floor products there are fantastic. They’re beautiful. They’re really durable. And they go down pretty quickly.
00:08:55	CALLER: Oh, well, that’s great.
00:08:55	LESLIE: I really appreciate it.
00:08:57	TOM: All right, Kathleen. Good luck with that project. Let us know how it comes out.
00:09:00	LESLIE: Jim in North Carolina is on the line with an HVAC question. What can we do for you today?
00:09:04	CALLER: Finishing my basement and looking for some pointers in framing out the HVAC vent runs. I have a vent that goes across the ceiling perpendicular to the joist, comes to a T, and the vents run, you know, parallel to the ceiling. So it’s a good choice for ways. And I was trying to figure out how to frame that and box it in, and especially with, you know, keeping in the fire blocking rules in mind. So I didn’t know if you guys have any pointers on that or not.
00:09:44	TOM: So you’re talking about return ducts here?
00:09:48	CALLER: No, it’s not a return duct. It’s actually a feed duct, you know, a vent.
00:09:54	TOM: So the trunk line. It runs perpendicular to the floor joists. And then what you’re asking is how do you turn those in between those floor joists, run them to the exterior wall and then up into the room itself?
00:10:05	CALLER: Well, no, it’s more like, you know, these vents are already run, you know, and I had a HVAC contractor actually come in and they run flexible vents. I’m trying to frame it in so you can sheetrock it and everything. Oh, okay.
00:10:24	TOM: Well, that’s different. Yeah. So you just want to conceal these. I mean, you can build a frame around them. I’ve done that with five quarter by three, like bridging material. It’s like a half size of a two by four and constructed a wood frame, attached drywall to it, and then spackled it and finished it traditionally. But I will say it’s an awful lot of work. And that’s why in basements, I much prefer drop ceilings these days for two reasons. First of all, they go in quicker and they’re finished. And secondly, you’ll always have access to the floor. The pipes, the wires, and the ducts, if you need them, if it’s a drop ceiling. So you could frame it in if you want, and you would do that with a lighter building material, like five quarter material, but it is a lot of work. That’s kind of your option. Okay.
00:11:08	CALLER: I’m finding out it’s a lot of work. Yeah.
00:11:12	TOM: It is. It’s like an endless amount of small pieces of drywall. And then it’s just, you know, it’s way more spackled than you need to make it look right. And so that’s why, you know, I used to do it that way. And then I got smarter in my old age and started using drop ceilings and I’m a lot happier as a result. And the drop ceilings today, if you haven’t looked at them recently, they are beautiful and they can look like tin ceilings and they can look like traditional wood ceilings. You know, there’s lots of options. So check them out and make the best decision for you, Jim. Okay. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEYPIT.
00:11:43	LESLIE: Well, kitchen renos, they’re expensive. And surprisingly, one of the more costly components is that beautiful countertop that you’ve been dreaming about. You know, that kind of beautiful icing, finishing touch of your space. That you just have to have until you realize how expensive it is. But there’s another way that you can achieve that look of marble, stone, even granite for a fraction of that usual cost.
00:12:06	TOM: Yeah. Daich Coatings is a company that specializes in stone coatings. And they’ve got three different coating products that use real stone and they allow do-it-yourselfers to create realistic and very durable marble, stone, or granite countertops. Yeah.
00:12:22	LESLIE: First, there’s something called the spread stone. It’s called the spread stone textured stone coating kit. Now, with spread stone, you can create a spackled granite stone appearance that’s either smooth or textured. And the result is a lower sheen, natural stone slab look that you can use both inside and outdoors. And you can even use it in an outdoor kitchen. It really makes a beautiful, realistic, high-end look for outside.
00:12:45	TOM: Next, if you love the look of a smooth granite finish, LuxROCK Solid Surface Granite Countertop is for you. Now, I use the LuxROCK kit to create. It’s a very authentic granite top with kind of sparkling mineral accents. In fact, I had a lot of fun asking other pros I was working with at the time to tell me if the top was real granite. And they overwhelmingly said, yes, absolutely. And they were completely wrong because I showed them that it was just a coating, but a super durable and beautiful one that I’d created using that LuxROCK kit. Yeah.
00:13:16	LESLIE: Then you’ve got the Marble Dream Resurfacing Kit, and that’s the newest countertop kit from Daich Coatings. The Marble Dream is going to allow you to create a realistic surface. With its marble vein accents, and you can pick like a wide sweeping vein pattern. You can do something tighter, something that has less veining. I mean, it’s totally up to you and your imagination how this marble looks. And it’s really gorgeous. It’s going to give you a smooth surface that truly resembles a premium marble.
00:13:42	TOM: All Daich Coating Resurfacing Kits come in a variety of colors and finishes, and they can transform your existing countertop surfaces in just a weekend and offer excellent resistance to stains, hot pans, and demanding daily use. Daich Coating Kits are available online through the Home Depot and Lowe’s, or you can order your kit with free shipping right now at DaichCoatings.com. That’s D-A-I-C-H Coatings.com.
00:14:08	LESLIE: And in Illinois is on the line with some sort of odor coming around her money pit. What’s going on?
00:14:12	CALLER: My mom is 87, and she was born and is still living in the exact same house. And she has a basement. It is a cement floor, and it has two floor drains. In one drain, the air conditioner and furnace drips into, and then in the other drain, the shower and the washer drains into that. But periodically, we get that old, earthy, old smell that waffles, you know, around the basement and starts coming upstairs. We’ve tried, you know, for years, you know, a bucket of water down the drain, hoping that that gets rid of it, but that really doesn’t last for long. So you have an easy solution for me.
00:14:52	TOM: Do you have any idea? Do you have any idea where these drains go, where these floor drains go? Yeah.
00:14:57	CALLER: No, I don’t.
00:14:58	TOM: Yeah. I mean, you don’t know if they’re connecting up with the main waistline of the house or not. Floor drains should, in a perfect world, connect with the rest of the waistlines for the house. And they tend to sometimes get an odor in them because the traps dry out. And the solution to that is, like you know, is to put a bucket of water in now and again because then that U-shaped part of the drain is going to dry out. So the pipe fills up with water and stops the sewage gas from backing up. Is the smell that you’re getting a sewage gas smell or is it just a dampness smell?
00:15:34	CALLER: It’s a damp, earthy smell.
00:15:36	TOM: Do you have any other evidence of moisture in that basement? Do you see efflorescence or mineral deposits on the walls? Does it look like they’ve leaked? Have you ever had a flood? You know, that kind of thing?
00:15:45	CALLER: Nope. No flood. Occasionally, you know, a crack in the foundation.
00:15:49	TOM: Well, I think the first thing you need to do is figure out where those pipes are going. And, you know, one way to do that is to have a drain cleaning company run a camera down there. It’s a pretty common test these days. It’s like a camera on the end of a snake. And you can stick it in the pipe and they can basically figure out where it’s going. Because if it’s not installed right, then, you know, that is an issue. You might also consider abandoning some of those drains. And instead of running the, what was it, the shower? And the, and the… And the sink and the washer, sorry, into that. What you would do is you would install what’s called a lift pump, which is kind of a sealed container that gets filled up with water. And then a pump carries that water up high enough to let gravity drain it into the main waistline of the house. That’s the case. And you could seal off that drain and not have to worry about it.
00:16:42	CALLER: Have you ever heard of something called like a drainger?
00:16:46	TOM: That’s a good idea. And that’s an approach. And basically what it is, is it’s a drain that also prevents back gassing or back, drafting out of that drain. So it’s kind of like a ball valve that the water can flow through it. But the valve itself, the check valve stops the sewage gas from getting back in. If you want to keep running that washer and that shower into the drain, then that’s probably a good option. But I really don’t like the idea of the washer and the shower running into that drain. I think it should be properly plumbed through a lift pump. So it lifts it up. And out and directly into the waistline coming out of the house. Thank you so much. You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Well, guys, if you want to take on a home improvement project in 2024 that delivered the very highest return on investment of all remodeling projects, what project do you think you might need to do? I mean, I’m thinking new kitchen, new bath, maybe a deck. Well, while those are all fantastic improvements, they don’t even come close to the return on investment you’d receive from installing, a new garage door.
00:17:53	LESLIE: That’s right. And according to Remodeling Online’s cost versus value survey, garage doors deliver a 104% return on investment, meaning they actually add more value to your house than the cost of the project. So with us to talk about this and the latest trends in garage doors is Tina Mealer. She’s the marketing director for Haas Door. Welcome, Tina. Thank you for having me on the show. I really appreciate it.
00:18:18	TOM: That’s a really startling statistic, 104%. I mean, the garage door kind of makes sense because it takes up such a big portion of the front of your house. And if it looks as good as the doors that Haas makes, you can certainly understand why it would add value to your home at the same time.
00:18:35	TINA MEALER: Yes. The garage door does take so much space on the front of the house, and it’s the biggest moving door you have. And we are seeing this trend where it is almost pushing that envelope of being such a draw for your home as the front door. So a lot of people now are looking at matching the garage door to the front door or really using the garage door as a showcase piece to stand out and add to that curb appeal, which, as you said, is having a great return on investment for our end consumers.
00:19:10	LESLIE: I mean, and you certainly make it easy. You have so many beautiful styles and design options. And to boot, you have a design program on the website so that you can really see what everything would look like. That has to be huge. It’s hugely helpful. Yes.
00:19:23	TINA: It’s such a unique tool for the consumers and also for our dealers because you can go on and put the photo of your house. So you can take whatever angle you need. Like my garage doors are on the side of my home. So I kind of took an angular shot and put it on the tool. And then you can essentially try on different garage doors. So you can look at wood grains. You can even change where you’re placing your windows if you want lights down the side, which is… It’s a big trend right now. Or if you even want to do a unique style of a diagonal or however, you can try it all out in the tool so you can see colors and really get a good idea of what you think will really fit your home well. And then we’ve taken this tool to the next step because what we’ve done is we’ve integrated this tool with our dealer network. So you can pick a dealer right in the tool without going outside the tool when you are ready. And you can send them your project. So you’ll send them a digital file. They can open it up, quote it for you, and send it back to you. So it’s a really unique connection because you don’t have to waste time. And you can do it all hours of the night. So you can send it to the dealer. When he comes in the next morning, he’ll have it right there and get the information back to you the next day. So it’s a really useful visualization tool.
00:20:48	TOM: You know, Tina, so many of us are working from home. We’re spending more time at home. We’re taking on more hobbies at home. We’re really using those garage spaces. And I know that you guys have focused on improving the energy efficiency of doors. And there’s actually a designation now that helps us know how energy efficient a door is called the U-Factor. Can you talk about that and how consumers can use that data to choose a door that’s really going to be well insulated for their house?
00:21:14	TINA: The garage door industry as a whole has really stepped up and taken a change towards U-Factor. So prior, we all used in the garage door industry a calculated R-value, which with insulation, that is a very common measurement. But in code and code compliance and how architects view products for the home, U-Factor is the measurement to use. So the industry led by our DASMA, which is our garage door industry, DASMA has put a program together. That was a volunteer. It was a voluntary program for all of the manufacturers where we moved to U-Factor as our standard of measurement for thermal performance. And what that measures is the energy transfer from the hot side of the garage door to the cold. So it actually is measuring energy transfer, which is much more relevant than insulating factor.
00:22:13	LESLIE: Now, Tina, given that you can customize so much and people truly love having these windows in the garage doors, does adding the glass? Does that make sense? Does that affect that insulative factor to the garage door?
00:22:24	TINA: Yes, it is a huge impact on the garage door. So the first thing then consumer will want to do is look at where do they live? Do they have an area where they really need that thermal performance? And like in Ohio, where I live, you definitely do. But where consumers can go wrong is they try to save some money and put eighth inch glass in there. And that is such an energy hole. And the garage door is using eighth inch glass because there’s no insulation value there. So you would want to go with a half inch insulated glass, which is worth the value because it really brings that performance of your U-Factor very low, which means there’s not a lot of energy transfer going through that. So when you’re looking at manufacturers and garage doors, you want to look for that U-Factor and then make sure you’re asking them what glasses they’ve quoted for you. And if they’ve quoted eighth inch glass, you’ll want to ask for a half inch if you really need that performance because that half inch glass will give it to you.
00:23:29	TOM: Good advice. We’re talking to Tina Mealer. She is the director of marketing for Haas Garage Doors. Tina, before we let you go, I want to talk about the installation. I am an advocate of having pros install garage doors because, first of all, if you’ve ever seen it done, it’s like when we were little, we had the erector sets and all the parts were laid out all over the floor. It’s kind of like that. I mean, there’s so many screws and bolts. And adjustments and cuts that have to be made. It really makes sense to have somebody that does it every day installed. It’s really not a DIY project. But as you mentioned earlier, you actually have a group of dealers across the country that are very familiar with your products, correct?
00:24:06	TINA: Yes. And we really rely on them. Haas Door really prides ourselves to give a high quality product to consumers. And we feel like that U-Factor represents that. But to really take that quality to the next step, is you have to rely on the installer. And a professional garage door installer has years of experience. He can come and check out your entrance for your garage. And that’s what they will do every time and make sure it’s measured correctly. And then they’ll give you hints on how to improve your experience. They may change the track to take it higher up so you have more perceived room in your garage. They may offer up, hey, if you’re going to go lights down the side, and you can see the garage door. You might want to use a frosted glass in there. But they also have very technical information. They know what the surround should be built like, so it’s secure when they’re putting up the springing system for the garage door. So it’s not only that they have years of experience, but they’re going to add quality to the installation process versus getting the garage door somewhere else.
00:25:12	TOM: There you have it. Tina Mueller, the marketing director from Haas Door. Thank you so much for stopping by the Money Pit. And as we said, for a project that gives you a great return on investment, you really need to consider a brand new garage door from Haas. Tina, thanks again for stopping by.
00:25:29	TINA: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
00:25:31	TOM: And if you’d like to learn more about Haas Door, go to their website. It’s haasdoor.com. That’s spelled H-A-A-S-D-O-O-R dot com.
00:25:41	LESLIE: Now we’re heading over to North Carolina where Chris has a question on flooring. What can we help you with today?
00:25:46	CALLER: I had a leaking toilet that rotted my wood subfloor. I ripped it all up. And I put the new pieces of wood back down. But my cuts weren’t exactly perfect. And there’s some spacing in between, like maybe like 3 16ths. Yeah, that’s pretty good. Okay. It’s just in some sections. And I’m going to put down the quarter-inch cement board to put tile down here. And I wanted to know what type of mortar do I use to put the cement board down onto this wood subfloor? And then once the cement board is down and it’s screwed in, do I have to put some type of mesh tape to put the boards together and then mortar the tape? No.
00:26:20	TOM: So first of all, if you’re going to put down Durock, which is sort of that cement board that you’re describing it, generally that’s screwed down. So you would screw that down to the floor. And then on top of that, you would apply the adhesive for the tile. And you’d glue the tile right to the board. You know, having those gaps in the plywood repair is no big deal because that’s all going to be covered over. Just make sure that when you put the cement board down that you don’t align the seams of the board with any of the old seams of the plywood below it. Right. Everything should overlap.
00:26:51	CALLER: Do I still have to put the mesh tape down for the boards? The cement boards or no?
00:26:55	TOM: Yeah, I don’t think so. Okay. I think you can go right on top of that. As long as you have good adhesion of those boards down, they’re secured well in place, they shouldn’t move. Okay, great. Chris, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEYPIT.
00:27:08	LESLIE: You know, it’s always a good idea to start a rainy day fund for your house. So if it rains and the roof leaks, you’re going to have some money set aside for those repairs.
00:27:17	TOM: Yeah, when we say rainy day fund, we really mean a rainy day fund. But here’s the question. How much do you need to set aside? Well, here’s a rule of thumb that will help. You want to set aside about 1% of the home’s value to cover a year’s worth of repairs and maintenance. So if your home is worth $300,000, you should plan on spending about $3,000 on the maintenance over the course of a year.
00:27:39	LESLIE: Now, that doesn’t include big expenses that you should anticipate every once in a while, you know, like a new furnace, maybe an air conditioning issue, roofing, water heaters, those types of things. Right. If those components are aging from the start, it’s a good idea to start setting aside a little bit more money now.
00:27:56	TOM: And when it comes to appliances, as we’ve said before, it’s often cheaper to replace them than to repair them. Take a look at that quick reference that we have called Appliance Repair or Replace on MoneyPit.com, and it will walk you through that decision.
00:28:11	LESLIE: Lisa in Iowa, you’ve got the MoneyPit. What can we do for you today?
00:28:14	CALLER: I’ve got borders and wallpaper to take down. Now, what if I pee? I’ve got paint over it. Should I prime it? And if I have to take it off, do I score it and then peel it off? Do I use water and vinegar? Hey, that’s my question.
00:28:34	TOM: So here’s the best way to approach this project. And you’re right, it is a lot of work, but we really don’t like the idea of painting over the wallpaper because you’re just kind of putting off the problem for later and makes it even harder to deal with. Sorry. The easiest way to take off a lot of wallpaper is with a steam wallpaper stripper. And it’s a tool that you can easily rent. I know Home Depot rents them. I’m sure other places rent them. And it really does a good job of steaming the glue and loosening up the paper. You can speed the job up by scoring the wallpaper. And there’s a neat little tool called a paper tiger that is really a one of a kind. And it kind of rolls over the paper and puts a bunch of little holes in it that helps the steam get through the surface to get to the glue underneath. And it comes off that much easier. Now, even though I say it’s easier, it is still a lot of work. So I don’t want you to kid yourself, but renting the steam stripper for the wallpaper is definitely the best way to go.
00:29:28	LESLIE: Well, cool. Thanks a million. Brad in Missouri wrote into Team Money Pit saying, I have a gravel driveway and I’m wondering if I can still use a snowblower on it. I feel like a lot of people wonder that. Yeah.
00:29:40	TOM: And you can still use a snowblower on it. You’re going to lose some of that gravel. And certainly you want to be careful as to who’s around you when you’re doing that because it can get thrown for quite a distance. But when you set the depth of the snowblower, you want to keep it above the gravel. But if you happen to dig in there just a tad and hit a little bit, you know, you just try to resist that. But the truth of the matter is it’s still going to be a heck of a lot easier for you to use that snowblower than to declare that any other way. And frankly, the same thing would happen even if you had somebody plow your driveway. They may scrape some of that gravel. That’s just kind of a part of the maintenance of having a gravel driveway. I know I’ve got one. And after a hard winter, I definitely have to get out there and put some more stone. Or just move the stone around to kind of restore those dips that may have happened because of the snowblower.
00:30:27	LESLIE: All right. Dana in Minnesota writes, do you know what would cause my pilot flame to keep going out on the gas water heater?
00:30:33	TOM: Yeah, two things. When natural gas burns, it can leave behind combustion deposits that could cause it. Or more commonly, the thermocouple wears out. That’s part of the pilot light assembly. It’s expected to have a life expectancy that’s less than what the water heater is. So you just have it removed and replaced. And you should be good to go. Are you about to throw out an old chair or a dresser that maybe you no longer need or no longer want because it just doesn’t look so good? Well, not so fast. Leslie has tips for bringing new life to old furniture in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word. Leslie?
00:31:07	LESLIE: Yeah, you know, they say don’t judge a book by its cover. Well, you shouldn’t do it to furniture either. You know, furniture refinishing and upholstery are definitely DIY projects that can create statement pieces out of furniture that’s old, that’s weathered, or kind of just fading into the background. So first of all, look at that piece of furniture that you want to refinish because different materials are going to require different treatment. Now, the better the original material, the better the ultimate results. Unless that piece is chipped or loaded with layers of old paint and refinishing stuff, a simple sanding really does do the trick when it comes to putting on a new finish on a piece of furniture. If a piece does require stripping, though, you can consider adding a new one. If you’re outsourcing it, you know, it really depends on what that piece of furniture is, especially if it’s something that has a lot of fabric and some wood on it that then that wood would need to be refinished, but it’s kind of close to the fabric and you don’t really know what to do. Just Google up a good upholsterer in your neighborhood or go on social media to your local area’s mom and dad’s page and say like, hey, can you recommend an upholsterer? There’s a qualified person in your area who’s really good at this. And maybe it’s just as simple as saying, you tackle this part, I’ll tackle this part, or just having them outsource that project altogether to them. It really depends on your skill set. And again, that ratio of fabric to wood on a piece of furniture. A lot of the stuff you can tackle yourself. I mean, generally when you’re looking at a chair or something that maybe just has an upholstered back or seat, sometimes you can just remove that back and seat and simply wrap that with fabric and then tackle the body of the furniture itself. So again, you kind of have to look at each piece of furniture as a whole. Its own one unit and see what it takes to tackle that. I’m happy to look at images. If there’s a piece that you want to tackle at your money pit and you don’t quite know where to start, send it our way. We’ll give you some advice. We love to do that. And definitely look at your pieces of furniture twice because I bet you you’ve got some hidden gems right in front of you.
00:33:08	TOM: This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Coming up next time on the program, would you guys like to add some more light to say maybe your kitchen? Well, a popular window trend is doing just that in a very unusual way. We’ll share how transom windows are being used to bring light to those spaces on the next edition of The Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
00:33:28	LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
00:33:29	TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself.
00:33:31	LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone.

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