Show Notes
Delve into the intricacies of home improvement as we discuss getting the right bang for your buck in lumber purchases, using the best grout cleaning routine, and breaking the ice on frozen garage doors. From measuring mastery to thawing tactics, we’ve got answers to these and other homeowner questions!
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
- Measuring Lumber: Does the price you pay for lumber really measure up to what you get?
- Cleaning Grout: Read between the lines on how to choose the right cleaner for your dirty grout.
- De-Icing Garage Doors: Learn how to de-ice a garage door that’s become a frozen fortress.
Top Questions & Answers
- Dehumidifier: Kayla’s dehumidifier keeps tripping the 100-amp circuit. The problem is with the breaker, not the dehumidifier, but she can easily add a bigger dedicated circuit.
- House Settling: Cracks, stuck doors, and popping screws all happening at once may indicate house movement. AJ needs a home inspector or structural engineer to determine whether it’s an active problem.
- Rusty Garage Doors: Carolyn gets tips on how to sand, prime, and paint her rusty metal garage doors.
- Gutters: Leslie learns a new word for gutters from Eric, who finds out that gutters should always be installed, even on a house with a concrete slab.
- Sink Refinishing: Debra wants to get rid of the black ring around her drain without having to replace the beautiful sink. We have tips for using cleaners or steel wool.
- Insulation: What kind of insulation should be used for the exterior walls of an old home? Blown-in insulation by an experienced installer would be Twan’s best choice.
- Bathroom Flooring: Linoleum floor tiles are curling up in Darlene’s bathroom. Adhesive is a temporary fix, but we suggest installing a floating laminate floor over it.
- Wheelchair Ramp: Sue needs to prevent ice on a wheelchair ramp without damaging the wood. Calcium chloride, mixed with sand, is effective and less corrosive.
- Painting Redwood Siding: David is off to a good start by priming his redwood siding and should use a good quality paint over it as soon as possible.
- Roofing: Catherine’s old barn needs a new roof. If the barnboard is continuous and solid, she can install the underlayment and shingles right over it.
- Salt in Septic System: Giovanni was told the salt from his water softener is deteriorating his concrete septic tank, but we don’t think that’s very likely.
Ask Your Home Improvement Question
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 0:00:24 | TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles. This is the Money Pit home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:00:29 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:00:30 | TOM: And whether you’re a do it yourself or a do it for me kind of home improvement. We are here to be your how to expert you’ve got questions about a project you’d like to tackle around your house. You’re in the right place. Help yourself first though, by reaching out to us with those questions at 1-888-MONEY-PIT or simply go to moneypit.com/ask and click the blue microphone button. Hey, here’s our first story for today’s show. It’s a fun one because even though we call lumber that we use for building homes to buy something, you know, two by four, two by 6 to 8, did you guys know that actually measures a lot less than that. So we thought we might share why you may not actually be getting what you pay for when you buy or to buy lumber. |
| 0:01:13 | LESLIE: All right. And also ahead, we get a lot of questions about how to clean tile grout, which always seems to look great the day you put it in. And then it never looks as good ever again. It gets dirty, it gets drab. It’s just gross. We’re going to share a solution that can restore that new grout brightness. |
| 0:01:30 | TOM: And if you’ve been chipping away at a lot of ice, this winter will share tricks of the trade to help make it disappear, especially when it freezes a garage door shut. And that happens surprisingly often. I hear about it all the time. So we’re going to tell you how to unstick your garage door. |
| 0:01:45 | LESLIE: All right. But most importantly, guys, we want to know how we can help you create your best home ever from bathrooms to basements and demolition to decor, we’re here to share non-biased expertise to help you tackle your to do’s with confidence. |
| 0:02:00 | TOM: So reach out to us right now. Or really, anytime a DIY dilemma comes to mind, you can reach us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT or go to moneypit.com/ask. Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first? |
| 0:02:11 | LESLIE: Kayla in Iowa. You’ve got the Money Pit. How can we help you today? Just get married and move. |
| 0:02:14 | CALLER: Into a new home? And it already had a Honeywell home humidifier installed in it. And it seems like a dream come true. I thought it was going to be amazing, but we have 130 and every now and then our breaker will shred. And I don’t even know downstairs unless you’re down there and have gone down a couple of times. And it was the basement is flooded and it floods like over into the other room, like into that where I eventually want to like carpet and have like a family room. |
| 0:02:57 | TOM: Is that because the dehumidifier condensate pump stops working? |
| 0:03:01 | CALLER: I’m not sure what it is. There’s like an overflow thing for it, and I’m assuming it’s supposed to lead to a drain, but the drain or the and the laundry room, which is in the opposite direction. |
| 0:03:14 | TOM: Okay. So when everything is working correctly, this dehumidifier is going to take moisture out of the air, drop it into a reservoir, or which you either have to empty or it will pump out somewhere. Usually if it’s got a condensate pump associated with it, it could pump up sort of against gravity. And there’s a clear plastic tube that goes out and leads to a drain somewhere or even outside the house. If you have a power failure, you know, it’s not going to work. And it might actually start to leak maybe back into that room where you are. Of course, that dehumidifier is not working at that time, so it’s not going to leak for long. But I could see how it could create a bit of a puddle. So your problem is not so much with a demon of fire, but why you’re having a problem popping these breakers. Now, 100 amp service is a service is actually a pretty darn good service, and it frequently doesn’t get the respect it deserves. When these breakers pop. It’s not usually because you’re pulling more than 100 amps because whatever circuit you have, this particular dehumidifier on is needs to be improved perhaps by adding an additional circuit. But the service for the house should be fine. |
| 0:04:17 | CALLER: Okay. It does have a clear hose, at least outside. |
| 0:04:21 | TOM: That’s what’s going on. When your power goes out, the pump stops working and that’s why it’s leaking. Okay, So focus on getting this plugged into a circuit that is a little bit bigger than what you have right now. An electrician could help you sort this out, but it’s not a big deal to add an additional circuit just for that device. |
| 0:04:37 | CALLER: All right. Sounds good. All right. |
| 0:04:39 | TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 88 Money Pit. |
| 0:04:43 | LESLIE: We’ve got AJ on the line is dealing with a newish house about nine years old. And it seems to be getting a lot of movement and some cracks, reform and what’s going on. |
| 0:04:51 | CALLER: There are now some cracks starting to show up in a few places and the front door is jammed. It does not open and various places, but the large screws and nails are starting to show up on the wall. I have a feeling that the house is shifting. I don’t know why because it’s only nine years old and I was wondering if you have seen or heard anything like that and what you might be able to recommend to me. |
| 0:05:19 | TOM: The fact that you’ve been there for nine years, I presume it’s you that have been in the House for nine years and are seeing this now means there may be something new happening that’s causing this kind of movement, certainly a door that sticks, a door that needs to be adjusted from season to season. Not unusual, but if it’s all happening at the same time, then I think it warrants deeper investigation. The fact that you’ve got walls that have nail pops very, very common, even some cracks around openings around where there’s intersections of walls and ceilings and that sort of stuff. Also very common. But again, since it’s happening all at the same time, I think the best way to get into this and find out if there’s something to be concerned of is for you to hire a professional home inspector to do an inspection of the house of these areas and give an opinion as to whether or not this is an active problem or not, or hire a structural engineer to do the same thing. That’s the first question is, is it active or is it just normal expansion? And contraction? The other thing I would say to look out for is whether or not there’s been some change, especially with respect to drainage around the house. Sometimes when you get a lot of water that accumulates around the foundation perimeter, even from something as simple as a perennially blocked gutter, that water gets under the foundation allows some shifting to occur because the wet soil gives way and lets the building move more than it would if it was dry. That could be a contributing cause. But if it’s nothing obvious like that, I would definitely call a professional, get it evaluated. So you’ll know what to do. I can’t really speculate today beyond that, but those are the typical reasons that these problems develop. Heading to Florida over Carolyn’s on the line has some rusty doors that need painting. How can I help you? |
| 0:06:59 | CALLER: I’m needing to remove paint or fix my garage doors. They’re metal and I don’t know what I have to do. They do have some rest on them. And so I guess I’m going to have to send them down and treat them, but I just don’t really know what to use on them. |
| 0:07:17 | TOM: So that’s a pretty straightforward project. So the first thing I need to do is I need to send off those rust spots because you don’t want to paint over the rust, so you want to stand them off. You use a very fine grit sandpaper for that, probably something that’s around 200 to 300 grit like an emery paper will work well for that. And the next you do need to prime them. I would recommend Rust Solium. And you can buy that, you know, by the court, by the gallon. You don’t want to prime that hold door. And by the way, aside from sanding the rough spots, you want to lightly sand the whole door to make sure it’s clean because again, you don’t want to have anything in between that of the primer. Then you can use the rust only in primer on the entire door. And then on top of that, you’re going to use. I would just stay with the rust only in one and use a topcoat of color from there. It’s a little tricky when you’re dealing with garage doors. You have to sort of have them propped open a little bit because otherwise the door, when it closes, it rubs against the weather stripping and of course that mars up the paint finish. So you’re going to have to sort of pick a day when it’s warm enough where you can have that garage door open and let it dry and just don’t put it down all the way. If you leave it sort of suspended in the air about maybe halfway down, you’ll probably be okay. I would work one side at a time. It’s going to be a bit of a time consuming project, but it’s pretty straightforward. It’s not that difficult. |
| 0:08:38 | LESLIE: Hey, you want to make our day? Well, go ahead and leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts and we’ll be jumping for joy. Plus, you guys, your feedback helps us make the show even better for you. Just go to Money Pit, XCOM slash review. All right, now we’ve got Eric in Michigan on the line. He’s got a question during a construction project here about an eavesdrop. |
| 0:08:57 | CALLER: The question is eavesdrop, yes or no. When you’re building, does it make a difference that it’s on a concrete slab or if you have a basement just decides whether to install these trucks or not yet? |
| 0:09:11 | LESLIE: Tom, I mean, I’ve never heard this term before. What is an eavesdrop? Do we have those here? |
| 0:09:18 | TOM: Yes, you say gutter, but in Michigan, they say eavesdrop. |
| 0:09:22 | LESLIE: That’s the famous tomato tomato gutter model. Yeah, that’s true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. |
| 0:09:26 | TOM: Your question is, do I need gutters and. Yes, you do. It doesn’t matter if you’re on a concrete slab or if you have a basement because the gutters are going to manage the water, the foundation perimeter, which is important in both cases. Now, if you if you let a lot of water run off your roof, even if you’re on a slab, you’re going to find that as the soil gets, it’s very wet around the foundation, you’ll have more settlement and get some cracking. And also in some cases, if there’s a heavy rainfall, you get so much water that because concrete is so hydro stopping, it absorbs water like crazy. It can actually pull that water up into the living space of your house. Now you’ve got mold issues and everything else. So, yes, you do need gutters. And if you have basements, well, if you don’t have gutters, you’re just waiting for a flood to happen. You’re ready for it because it’s going to happen. So, yes, put gutters on the house, but downspouts on the house, make sure they are extended. At least this is new construction. So I would say at least four or five feet away. And when they do the final grade, do a little bit higher of a grade than they are required to by code, because it settles and it settles quickly. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen the minimum grade just turn flat, like within six months to a year. Now you got no drainage at all and the water is just sitting there. So that water management is really, really important. Eric And that’s why I think he definitely should have eavesdrops around the, around the roof edge of your house. |
| 0:10:47 | LESLIE: That’s fancy. I’m going to start using that every day in my life. that eavesdrop is overflowing. |
| 0:10:53 | TOM: Use that in a sentence in your general conversation. |
| 0:10:55 | LESLIE: Hey, kids, keep those tennis balls out of the eaves trough. |
| 0:10:59 | TOM: There you go. Well, guys, if you’re just getting started in home improvement projects, you may be confused by the way lumber is sold because you actually get a lot less wood than you think. You paid. |
| 0:11:11 | LESLIE: For. So, for example, let’s say you’re getting ready to build a shed and you purchased two by fours to build the walls. Now, are you expecting that they actually measure two inches by four inches by whatever length you’ve got? Now, what you’re going to find is that even though they are called two by four, they actually measure one in 5/8 inches by three and a half inches. And the same goes for a one by six. You think you’re getting a one by six, but you’re going to find that it really only measures three quarters by five and a half inches. So what the heck is happening to all that missing lumber that you thought you bought and you paid for? |
| 0:11:45 | TOM: Well, it’s actually the effects of more moderate lumber production if you’ve ever seen a two by four in a really old house, you may notice it actually is two inches by four inches. But now when a tree is cut up to lumber today, those boards, they’ll start at about two inches by foreigners. But when they’re dried, which actually makes them stronger and then planed to remove all the shortcuts, what you’re left with is less than two by four is now one and 5/8 by three and a half and a two by six is one in five by five and a half and so on. |
| 0:12:13 | LESLIE: Yeah. Now the lumber industry uses two forms of measurement. It’s dimensional and it’s nominal dimensional. Is the size of the board rents first mill that the lumber yard and the nominal size is after it’s dried and planed and it’s what you ultimately find in the lumber yard. |
| 0:12:27 | TOM: But the good news is that the length, well, that’s always the length. So an eight foot two by four is really eight feet long. But when it’s five inches thick and three and a half inches wide, well, except there’s always an exception, right? Because if you buy something called a two by four stud, which is actually 93 inches. Any guesses why, Leslie? That is not 96 inches when you buy two at first, 93, three inches short version, basically, is it. Yeah. Yeah. When you buy a stud, if it’s called a two by four stud it’s actually 93 inches long. And here’s why. Because it’s designed to build a wall with and the top and bottom sill. So the top horizontal piece of the wall and the bottom horizontal piece is going to make up for that additional three inches and give you an eight foot tall wall, which happens to be the same size as the drywall. You’re a good match to it. So, yes, if you buy a stud, it’s actually shorter than just buying an eight footer. |
| 0:13:15 | LESLIE: All right. 11 making things easy. |
| 0:13:17 | TOM: Or not. |
| 0:13:19 | LESLIE: Heading out to Fayetteville, Pennsylvania, where Deb’s on the line. So I’ve heard about ring around the collar. I’ve heard about ring around the tub. But you’ve got a ringer on the sink. |
| 0:13:28 | CALLER: What’s going on? That’s problem is that I have a bathroom counter combination saying this beautiful. It’s creamy yellow. I love it. Nothing’s wrong with it except right around the drain is just ugly black that won’t come off. And my husband said you might have to just replace the whole thing. I said, That’s ridiculous. Everything’s perfect. Except that spot. There’s gotta be something to you. He mentioned something like a line the way we haven’t tried anything yet, but it’s like I said, it’s just a ring around the drain part. Everything else in the sink is perfect. I hate to get rid of the whole thing for that. There’s gotta be something. Even if we have to stand it or something. Maybe there’s a new product to get rid of that black, But it’s really a shame because everything else is perfect. Yeah. |
| 0:14:14 | TOM: Debra, I know what you’re talking about, and what happens is that that is the area of the sink with a compositing, which is pretty sure what you, what you’re referring to, where it really where’s the finish of the sink wears. And then over the years you get just sort of the dirt and the grime that embeds itself into that space. Sometimes you get a reaction between the metal drain that’s there and the sink itself. It’s funny you mentioned sanding. I think if it’s you’ve done all this sort of over-the-counter products attempts, I mean, I would try sealer maybe just to make sure you check that off the list. That’s the calcium lime rust remover. But I would try that. I would also try it oxygenated bleach. But if those two things don’t work, you could consider disconnecting the drain, basically pulling that all out and then seeing if you could abraded some of that dark area away with some steel wool. I don’t think sandpaper will work, but it would allow you to have a better shot at it. And then when you put it back together, make sure you use a new drain connection from the top side because you will stop getting any additional deterioration. And you might even consider one that’s slightly wider. If it has slightly wider lip on that metal drain, that would actually cover the old block, which is probably forming between the drain itself and the sink. So there’s a couple of ideas for you. Hopefully one of those will straighten this problem out without you having to replace the entire thing. |
| 0:15:43 | LESLIE: One in Nebraska is on the line with some help on an insulation project. What can we do for you? |
| 0:15:47 | CALLER: The home was built in 1935 and I like to insulate the exterior walls. What would be the best way to do that? Heater foam or blow it in insulation? |
| 0:15:56 | TOM: So you are confident that there’s no insulation in those exterior walls right now? One. |
| 0:16:01 | CALLER: There’s not in there. I’m very confident. |
| 0:16:04 | TOM: So because we don’t want to have you open up all the walls, probably the best thing to do is to do blown an insulation that could be blown in from the interior or from the exterior, depending on how where you would like to patch it to blow an insulation that drill holes that are about an inch to an inch and a half a diameter and then usually you use cellulose that’s blown in under a slight pressure. And it’s important to work with a company that’s very experienced with the product because they have ways to make sure it gets to all the spaces it’s supposed to get to and accounts for settling of it. For example, one of the ways to do that is if the insulation is installed, they’ll use an infrared camera to basically scan all your walls and look for cold spots that would indicate a place where insulation did not get to. So I think blown in is the way to go with that thermal verification. |
| 0:16:56 | CALLER: Okay. So thermal ask for thermal verification. |
| 0:17:00 | TOM: Yeah. And it really shouldn’t be anything extra. It should just be part of their tools because otherwise, how do they know they’re getting an insulation everywhere? It should be. I would also tell you to make sure you double check the amount of insulation you have in your attic because as uncomfortable you think you might be because of those walls, they are actually responsible for a very small part of the heat loss compared to the attic. So you want to make sure that the insulation overhead in your part of the country is like 15 to 20 inches of fiberglass insulation. |
| 0:17:27 | CALLER: Thank you very much. |
| 0:17:28 | TOM: You’re welcome. Tom, Thanks so much for calling us at eight. At eight Money Pit. |
| 0:17:33 | LESLIE: Darlene in Arizona, you’ve got the Money Pit. How can we help you today. |
| 0:17:35 | CALLER: Remodeling a bathroom into a laundry room because there was no laundry room there and three bathrooms. So I put the stick on linoleum squares on the floor, which was probably a mistake. But it’s all down. And now I know from the edges it’s starting to pull up just so that it’s fine in the middle, but around the edges. And so I was wondering, should I use a silicone around, you know, like kind of pull them up a little bit, put silicone around there or like a water based sealant of some kind. I just didn’t know quite what to do if we put the washing machine in there and there was a leak and then I was afraid the whole floor would come up or something. |
| 0:18:26 | TOM: So do you think if you kept pulling the tiles, they would all come up completely? |
| 0:18:29 | CALLER: I think the reason why the sides are maybe the floor isn’t quite even on the thrown the edges or something. And I’m just thinking that maybe it wasn’t quite even. And it it’s not every every side, but just part of it, right where the washer is going to be, as a matter of fact. |
| 0:18:47 | TOM: Well, look, if you were to give it a lift up those edges and add a tile adhesive underneath that, a regular floor tile adhesive, the kind of tile he said that you would use if you’re laying down these vinyl tiles from scratch and then you weighted it while it dried, that’s probably the best chance you got of preventing it from coming back up again. But I got to tell you that so in my experience that once these seams start to go, you fix one and two more pop up. So this might be something you’re chasing if it’s only a small area. What you could also consider is basically replacing the vinyl floor with laminate floor. You know, just a small amount of laminate flooring won’t be that expensive. And it can be laid down right on top of that vinyl floor. Laminate floors will float. They don’t need to be attached. They sort of lock together and they will lay down on top of that, You know, you put a saddle in where you like the doorways and that kind of stuff, but that would give you a really durable floor. You wouldn’t have to worry about it. |
| 0:19:43 | CALLER: Would that be better than pulling it all up? That’s a good idea. Thank you very much. |
| 0:19:47 | TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 88 Money Pit. |
| 0:19:51 | LESLIE: Well, Tile Grout is a pretty durable material for sealing the spaces between your tiles. But while it always looks clean and bright when you first put it in, it definitely climbs that growth scale pretty quickly thereafter. Now, the good news is that cleaning it is totally a DIY project and it definitely can change the entire feel of the bathroom. |
| 0:20:12 | LESLIE: I mean, it really brightens up the space. Now Grout gets dirty from mold, mildew, soap, scum. So the first step to cleaning it is to pick the right type of grout cleaner for your tile. And there’s two types acidic and non acidic. But choosing the right one doesn’t depend on how dirty the grout is. It’s based on that type of tile that you’ve got around the grout. |
| 0:20:34 | TOM: Well, that’s right. So if a tile is your typical glaze, tile acid based cleaners are okay. So opt for a good quality commercial tile cleaner and apply it with a stiff bristle brush or a nonmetallic scouring pad. Be sure to wear safety glasses to keep those cleaners from spraying in your eyes as you scrub. Now for inglese tiles. These are very attractive, but they’re definitely hardest to keep clean. It calls for a natural cleanser, so a paste of baking soda and water works well when applied with a softer medium bristle brush. And finally, for natural stone, don’t use those acid based cleaners, which can damage the surfaces of marble, granite, travertine, limestone, terrazzo, other natural materials. You can definitely use a non acid base cleaner or that natural paste method. |
| 0:21:20 | LESLIE: Now, with any of these, here’s a tip. You want to pick up a grout brush for a few dollars. It’s going to save you a ton of time. It’s a stiff bristle brush. It’s shaped to get into those crevices that hold the grout and it’s got a comfortable handles. You’re not going to get worn out before the dirt leaves the grout because it is going to be a lot of elbow grease here. To get that grout clean, you’re going to need to follow the directions of the grout cleaner. But it’s usually the best way to work from the top down, cleaning and rinsing and working in small areas at a time. I mean, it’s okay to do a little bit and, you know, come back the next day too, but always make sure you wash away the cleaner in the area that you’ve been working on. |
| 0:21:57 | TOM: Yep. And once you tile spread again, let’s keep it that way, shall we? The way you do that is by applying a grout sealer. Now, silicone based sealers are best. I suggest waiting a day or two the grout to thoroughly dry and then apply the sealer. This way it’ll soak in nicely. And by the way, it’s also a good time to take a look at your bathroom vent fan New ones can be automatically operated by HumidiStat, so after a shower they’ll stay on long enough to vent out all that excess moisture so it doesn’t settle on the tile and lead to quicker mold or mildew growth. |
| 0:22:28 | LESLIE: All right. Now we’ve got Sue from Ohio on the line. Welcome to the Money Pit. How can we help you today? |
| 0:22:32 | CALLER: We had a wooden wheelchair ramp built for my father. And with the treated lumber and wanted an idea or what product we could use the kind of, you know, off of there without damaging the wood. |
| 0:22:45 | TOM: You know, there are different types of salts that can be effective as to prevent snow and ice. What you want to do, though, is make sure that you not use sodium chloride or rock salt. You want to use calcium chloride. Calcium chloride is less corrosive. It has less of an impact on plants and on pets, but does just as good a job of keeping the snow and the ice off. What I would suggest is you take this calcium chloride and you mix it up with playground sand, the kind of sand that you might put like in the sandbox and create sort of a mixture that you can keep handy so that whenever you do get a little bit of ice and snow, you can spread the salt sand mixture down and keep that ramp clear. |
| 0:23:28 | CALLER: Okay, great. Thank you. |
| 0:23:30 | TOM: All right. Good luck with that project. Sue, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. |
| 0:23:35 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got David from Ohio on the line who need some help making paint stick. I know it’s a tricky subject here, but sometimes it really just doesn’t want do what’s going on. |
| 0:23:45 | CALLER: I have questions about redwood siding. I have an older home built in the fifties. Paint has a hard time staying on the place. I’ve removed most of the paint and coating it with IKEA’s exterior oil base primer. I was hoping to find what a good topcoat paint would be for that. |
| 0:24:02 | TOM: Well, you know what? It sounds like you’re doing the right thing by priming that siding. Now, if it hadn’t been painted, we would have told you to use solid color stain and not paint because solid color stain as it wears, as it ages, it sort of fades out paint as you’ve experienced, as it wears content to peel off. But the fact that you’ve prepped it and now have used a solvent based Kill’s primer on the whole thing, I think that was a really smart thing to do because that is what gives you that sort of locking sort of adhesion quality. Now on top of that, in terms of paint quality, I would recommend a good quality paint and by that I mean probably Sherwin-Williams or maybe Benjamin Moore, two very good brands. Within those brands, you’re going to have choices as well. I always find I usually go to the local Sherwin Store near me because the guys in there always know a lot about the different variations of paint product that the company makes. And give me a give me a really good recommendation. So I think as long as you stick with those name brands, you’re going to be fine. I wouldn’t wait too terribly long between the primer and the paint, though, because you don’t want that. The primer is not designed to stand up to whether and you want to get it on as soon as weather will permit. |
| 0:25:17 | LESLIE: Now, here’s a quick tip for a chilly problem. If you’ve been chipping away a lot of ice this winter season, you may know that that ice can also freeze a garage door shut if you find yourself frozen in. First tried disconnecting that automatic garage door opener and then try opening it manually. If that doesn’t work, don’t force it or you can definitely damage that door. Go ahead and spray a lock. Deicer along the bottom of the door. And if you don’t happen to have one, you can use WD-40 as a deicing agent because that’s another one of its many uses. |
| 0:25:49 | TOM: Now, you can also pour lukewarm water along the base and then slide a knife along the bottom to break away any remaining ice between the door and the concrete floor. And always amazes me how that seam is. So like contact cement, like, you know, between the frozen rubber to the concrete, it just really takes a good effort to break it free when it happens. So now you’re good to go. |
| 0:26:13 | LESLIE: Heading up north to New Hampshire, where we’ve got Kathryn on the line who’s got a roofing question. I mean, it’s a roof of a barn, but roof nonetheless. So what’s going on? I have an 1890s barn, 30 by 40 that needs a new roof. It has about one inch thick barn board going across the rafters. And I’m wondering. |
| 0:26:34 | CALLER: If I can put. |
| 0:26:35 | LESLIE: Either shingles or a standing seam metal roof right on top of the barn board or if I need to put plywood or some other type of sheathing on top of that barn board before I apply the shingles. |
| 0:26:49 | TOM: Well, that sounds like a really beautiful building and I’ll tell you, as long as that the sheathing is solid sheathing and not spaced sheathing. So in an old building like that, sometimes you have sheathing that’s based on pine, which you would nail, like a cedar shingle roof. If that’s the case, you need to plywood that roof so you have solid sheathing. But if that barn board is continuous, solid, thick one inch thick wood, and if there’s no major damage in it, there’s no right or big warped sections or anything like that. There’s absolutely no reason that you cannot go right on top of that. Of course, you’re going to use an appropriate underlayment like a heavy tar paper or something of that nature. But you could shingle right over that without having to add plywood sheathing. I was not going to add anything to that. But wait, so I think you’re good to go. |
| 0:27:34 | LESLIE: Giovanni in New York, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today? |
| 0:27:37 | CALLER: I have a septic tank. That’s a water softener flushes in two. And we put a dry drywall next to the use of our next to the septic tank for the saltwater to regenerate and dump in, too. But what I do is, instead of 25 years or ten years or 20 years, I can’t remember when they cleaned the septic tank out the last this year they said the walls are becoming deteriorated to the tank because of the salt and I might only have a three year life left in the tank. |
| 0:28:10 | TOM: What’s the tank made out of concrete? I’ve never actually seen a septic tank wear out. I mean, I couldn’t buy that. You may have some deterioration in the walls of the concrete, but yeah, unless they’re broken up, I don’t know if I would believe that you’re going to have a three year life left in it. I mean, I think those things are pretty indestructible. Now, what? Did you have somebody open it up and inspect the inside of it? |
| 0:28:29 | CALLER: Well, they cleaned this tank out about a month ago before the holidays because, you know, all the kids in the family coming over. And I was thinking I didn’t ask them the question, is it deteriorating from the inside? There? Is the drywall overflow from the water softener class without informing salt around the outside of the tank? I haven’t been able to get back to me. And he’s not even returning my calls. Yeah. |
| 0:28:57 | TOM: I don’t have a high degree in confidence in the advice that you were given on this. I don’t think I would be too concerned about it because I don’t see salt deteriorating concrete. You know, it’ll deteriorate the surface, but I don’t think I don’t think with all the water that’s being run through there, I don’t see it having that kind of deteriorate, serious material effect. I mean, if you put rock salt on a concrete sidewalk, it’s going to cause it to pit, you know, when you’re using salt water along with the tens of thousands of gallons of other fresh water. Good stuff in that kind of a tank. I just don’t see it as having the same kind of effect. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. |
| 0:29:32 | LESLIE: Gary in Virginia reached out the team Money Pit. Now Gary says I’m replacing floors and I’m looking for a recommendation here. I have three large dogs and a swimming pool, so the dogs are wet all day. I think he means the dogs have a swimming pool. I need something that will hold up to their nails running on the floor all day and will not be slippery due to the water from the dogs. my God. That has got to be a mess. Three big dogs with their hair. I can imagine. They’re like. And water. |
| 0:30:00 | TOM: Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I’m thinking about the Stone hybrid products as a as a really good option here, because what you need is a product that A is absolutely 100% waterproof. So that rules out pretty much everything except for maybe luxury vinyl plank, rigid vinyl plank, that sort of thing. And that’s good. And it’s pretty durable, but it’s not as durable as the stone hybrid products. Now, I know that low flooring has one called Dura Vana that I’ve used. I’ve tested this stuff when it first came out. I trying to cut through it with a with a vibrating sander and I took my framing header and banged on it. Well, accidents on the oak bench. I didn’t dented, I couldn’t scratch it. And I’ve since used it in about three houses and it’s really holding up well. So I think that’s probably a perfect option for here. And the best news is not terribly expensive. I think it runs about four bucks a square foot, but sometimes you find it for less on sale. So take a look at the stone hybrid products from L.A. Flooring or any other manufacturer that makes them. I think that’s a perfect solution for a four. It’s going to really stand up to dogs and cats and really any animals that you have around there with those long scratchy nails. |
| 0:31:14 | LESLIE: You know, just sort of teaching your dogs how to use a towel. I mean, you know, if you can do that, I think we can. Yeah. We got a lot of other things we come around to right now. Toni wrote in saying, I got a new gas water heater with a vent that’s an inch shorter than my old one. How do I make it longer? I think he sent a pic. Did you see it, Tom? |
| 0:31:34 | TOM: Yeah, he did. It’s basically the draft hood on top of the water heater is not long enough. So that vent pipe is short by about an inch to an inch and a half. Now, you can’t just like align it over the top there because it’s not going to work properly. Now let me just explain what a draft hood does. So the draft hood basically takes air from the house and mixed it with the combustion gas that’s coming up through that gas water here. And then it sends it out to the chimney and it’s got to be installed properly. And so in this case, what you need to do is basically extend that vent. If it was me, I would take the whole thing down and build a new one from scratch, because this way I know it’s done perfectly. You can’t stretch it. You can’t just the one over the top of it. You got to replace it. And the other thing to know about the draft hoods is where it opens on the water here. If you ever want to check your venting and make sure that nothing is blocking the chimney, if you put the back of your hand near that, you’ll feel the steam coming out. Kind of like what comes out of a teakettle when it’s boiling is still a little bit steamy. But the heat coming out of it, no touch because it’s hot. And that that means that the chimney is blocked and that’s a problem. You can also hold a match near it. See, it’s a flame leans in, but there’s any indication that’s blocked. Got to be fixed immediately because then there’s carbon monoxide danger. |
| 0:32:52 | LESLIE: All right. Well, I hope that helps everybody out. We are always standing by here at Money Pit to lend a hand chat about projects you’re working on, help you get inspired to tackle some new projects. Whatever it is, we are here to help. |
| 0:33:06 | TOM: This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Thank you so much for spending a little bit of your day with us. If you’ve enjoyed the program, we would really appreciate it if you would drop us a five star review on Apple Podcasts or every listen to your paws. We’ll be back next time with more great tips. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:33:25 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:33:27 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
| 0:33:28 | 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 2024 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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