#2398 – Critter Control: Preventing Wildlife Damage | Storing Unused Paint

Show Notes

Get tips on safeguarding your yard against wildlife damage, preserving your leftover paint for future projects, and avoiding water damage by checking your gutters in today’s featured topics! Plus, get answers to even more home improvement questions for your next DIY adventures!

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Podcast Transcript

Wildlife Damage: Get critter control tips to prevent wildlife damage to your yard and garden.
Unused Paint: Extend the life of leftover paint by storing it the right way.
Checking Gutters: Avoid water damage by checking gutters to ensure they’re flowing freely.

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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00:00:26	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 projects you’d like to get done around the house. Maybe it’s a project. Maybe it’s an improvement. Maybe it’s a repair. Maybe it’s a plan for a future project. If it’s on your to-do list, if it’s on your dream list, reach out to us with your questions. But 1-888-Money-Pit or go to moneypit.com slash ask and click the blue microphone button to get us your home improvement question. Hey, coming up on today’s show, as the weather warms, we’re seeing more and more signs of spring cropping up everywhere. But along with the flowers, trees, and lots of green, there’s a lot of wildlife that crosses over that wild side right over to your yard. And man, they can disrupt your plans for a beautiful landscape and garden. So we’re going to share some tips to encourage deer, rabbit, and groundhogs to stay clear of your space.
00:01:22	LESLIE: And if you’ve taken on painting projects in your home, have you accumulated a few partially filled cans of paint that you’d maybe like to use again someday? Well, we’re going to share some tips on how you can double the life of that stored paint so that it’s ready when you are.
00:01:36	TOM: And spring rains are drenching yards and gardens right now. But unless you have a well-designed system of gutters, they can also lead to some serious damage to your home. So we’re going to explain how to check to make sure your gutters are flowing freely.
00:01:48	LESLIE: But first, we are here to help you plan and save you money and spare you from all those snafus that can happen on your way to those wonderful home improvements. So what are you working on? It’s getting warmer out. Are you thinking about those outside projects? Maybe you’re refreshing the indoors. Well, whatever it is, we are here to lend a hand.
00:02:06	TOM: Give us a call right now with your questions. 1-888-Money-Pit or better yet, just go to moneypit.com slash ask and click the blue microphone button. Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first?
00:02:17	LESLIE: Tara in Pennsylvania is on the line with an insect question. How can we help you?
00:02:21	CALLER: Hi, I was just wondering, we have a bunch of earwigs. It’s up underneath. Underneath our siding. And it seems like they’re always there. And we were just wondering, you know, what can we do to get rid of them? Is there anything that’s attracting them there?
00:02:33	TOM: Well, look, they’re probably looking for food. So something is landing on that siding and attracting them. Generally, when they’re not up high like that, it’s advisable to trap them. Like a trapping program will reduce their population. But if they’re up on the side and crawling on the building, I’d probably go straight to a pesticide management program, some sort of chemical control. The University of California. The University of California recommends a pesticide called Spinosad, S-P-I-N-O-S-A-D. And there’s a number of commercial products that are available that have that in it. And that should be probably the best way to control them and stop them from coming back and encourage them to go to somebody else’s house.
00:03:12	CALLER: It would be helpful. Along those lines, as far as insects go, we get crickets down in our basement. Spider crickets. I guess they’re spider crickets. I’m not sure. They’re little black crickets. But every year they drive me crazy because my bedroom is downstairs.
00:03:29	TOM: Why don’t you call a pest control operator like Orkin and have them just do a general spraying for insects? You can probably put just the right pesticide in and around your home in a safe and effective way that will reduce both problems. Stop the earwigs and stop the crickets and just get you a lot more comfortable.
00:03:48	CALLER: Well, that would be great.
00:03:49	LESLIE: And you know what, Tara? With the cave crickets, we get them where I live on Long Island. In the basement. And, you know, I always feel bad when my sister and brother-in-law sleep over because they’ll sleep on an air mattress in my basement. And I’m like, those spider crickets are going to leap on you because they totally gross me out. But if you take some double stick tape and just put it around the perimeter of the room, you know, in the interim while you’re waiting to treat, they do tend to congregate there. And they’ll get stuck. And then you can just pick it up and toss it in the morning.
00:04:19	CALLER: That’s a good idea. I was just using some, like, indoor spray. Every year when they come around. And then, you know, I’m sucking up the crickets constantly. Dead crickets everywhere. And along with them and stink bugs, it hasn’t been fun.
00:04:35	TOM: Yeah, I bet. You know, Tara, when it comes to making decisions as to whether or not you should go with a professional or use the sort of the do-it-yourself approach, I always feel that if you go with a pro, they’re actually going to use less pesticide than you’re applying yourself. And it’ll be done in exactly the right manner with just the right amount to take care of the problem. I think people tend to over-spray when it comes to the over-the-counter pesticides and actually put themselves in greater danger. Does that make sense? Okay.
00:05:01	CALLER: Well, thank you very much.
00:05:02	TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit.
00:05:07	LESLIE: Dave is on the line and has a question about a kitchen sink. Tell us what the problem is.
00:05:11	CALLER: I have a kitchen sink that is mounted underneath the quartz countertop. The sink was mounted using wood blocks that were glued to the quartz countertop. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. The wood blocks are now starting to separate from the quartz countertop. The glue is no longer holding the blocks. The kitchen sink is now dropping. I was wondering if this is a DIY project and how I might go about remounting this kitchen sink using a more permanent solution.
00:05:41	TOM: You know, I wonder how long that sink has taken to fail like this, but I feel like probably the best thing to do. I mean, the way it was mounted by gluing blocks to the other side of the quartz top, was it was not unusual. So what I think I would do if I was you is I would take out the old sink completely. And I know it’s a bit of a hassle, but I would remove it completely. And then I would remove those blocks. Now, if they’re already loose, this should be pretty easy. If they’re not already loose, you may have to, I probably would use a back saw and cut basically between the quartz and the wood block to kind of free it up. A back saw. A back saw is a saw that’s fairly flat, or you could use a regular wood saw as well, as long as you keep it flat to the underside of the surface to separate that. But you get those wood blocks over, off, and then you start again. And in terms of the best material to adhere it, I think I would use good old-fashioned contact cement. You know, I’d put probably two coats of contact cement on the wood block and on the sink. I would get that block position right where I want, contact it. I might even put a clamp on it for a little while just to make sure it holds really well. It drives pretty fast. And then once you put the sink in, you can reattach it, secure it to those wood blocks that you’ve replaced. But I think that you’re going to have to start from scratch. This isn’t kind of a repair as much as it’s just sort of a take it apart, replace what’s there, and start over again.
00:07:07	LESLIE: Hey, you want to support our podcast and help us grow? Well, go ahead and leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and we’ll be forever grateful. Plus, you’ll be helping other homeowners discover our show. Just go to moneypit.com slash review.
00:07:21	TOM: Well, 84 Lumber. 84 Lumber is celebrating National DIY Day on April 6th, so come plan your next project.
00:07:27	LESLIE: Whether it’s a new deck, a fence, or a door, 84 Lumber has all the top quality lumber and building materials you’ll need, and knowledgeable staff ready to help.
00:07:36	TOM: Visit 84lumber.com to find project plans and ideas in a store near you. That’s 84lumber.com.
00:07:43	LESLIE: Dot, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
00:07:45	CALLER: Oh, a couple years ago, we had a driveway put in. We have a… a house with an attached garage, and they had graded the driveway, they said, properly so the water would drain away from the house and into the lawn, and we get standing water in our driveway still, and I was just wondering the steps to…the proper steps to put a trench in our driveway.
00:08:23	TOM: Okay, so it would seem to me that if you’re talking about water that’s collecting on the driveway itself or on the side of the driveway, there’s a distinction.
00:08:31	CALLER: In the driveway and also close to the house and where the driveway meets, and then there’s an attached garage there also.
00:08:41	TOM: If we were to stop the water from collecting on the side of the driveway, would the top of the driveway still be flooded?
00:08:46	CALLER: I think so. Apparently, they graded it.
00:08:48	TOM: All right, because it’s easier to put in a curtain drain. Along the side of the driveway than it is to slice the driveway and insert a drain. Because if you want to try to drain what’s on the driveway, essentially, you have to cut a slice into the driveway. It’s not something that you could do. It requires specialized tools. And then a drain is inserted, and it’s kind of like a very narrow grate, almost like a box that’s dropped into the driveway. The driveway’s graded to the top of it so that the water can sort of roll in and then fill up the drain and then run out. If, in fact, that this water is collecting along the side of the driveway, then it’s easier from a do-it-yourself perspective to add in a curtain drain. The way that works is you would dig a trench that was maybe a foot wide, maybe a foot deep. You’d put some stone on the bottom of that. Then you’d put a perforated PVC pipe. You continue to fill that up with snow and all around it. You’d add some filter cloth over that. And then you would regrade, and it would be completely invisible when it’s done. And of course, it has to be pitched properly and discharged properly as well. So the curtain drain on the side of the driveway. is easier than sort of the trench drain where you have to cut the driveway. I would tend to say do the curtain drain first and see how it goes. Dot, I hope that helps you out. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit.
00:10:03	LESLIE: Well, if it seems every year more and more animals like deer and rabbits and groundhogs are finding their way into your backyard or flowerbed or your garden, maybe they’re more than ever before popping up, now is a great time to take some action so you can limit the damage that they can be capable of causing. So here’s a few. Here’s a few options to send the message that, hey, guys, party’s over. We don’t want you here. You know, you can go somewhere else, but please just don’t stay here, little animals. So here’s some tips.
00:10:31	TOM: So first, let’s talk about repellents. There are plenty of homemade remedies and commercially available products to help keep deer and rabbits and groundhogs and such out of the yards and the gardens. They work, but here’s the thing, guys. They have to be applied about every three weeks. Wildlife, they are creatures of habit. And when you apply repellents, you’re trying to break that habit. But it’s not a sort of one and done situation. If the wildlife figure out that sometimes your landscape tastes bad and sometimes not, they’re going to keep coming back to check.
00:11:01	LESLIE: All right. Now let’s talk about fencing because physical barriers like fencing are truly the most effective, but they’re also the most expensive and have a visual impact on your yard. And guys, get this deer. They can jump up to eight feet. So unless you’ve got like a massive fence outside of your yard, those deer can definitely find their way. So there’s actually a lot of good choices out there when it comes to fencing and you can go with a shorter four foot fence. It can work, especially if you have double up the fencing kind of two layers because they can’t really jump over the two of them together. And I know, Tom, you did this at your garden and that seemed to work for those deer, right?
00:11:39	TOM: Yeah, it did. Because we had sort of the vegetable garden closer to the house and there was also sort of a playground fence that was right up against that. So yeah, they got the message. But we did also have deer along the back of our property. It’s a little bit remote and there they’re a little more stubborn about leaving. So I actually did put up a deer fence there, but it wasn’t terrible, even though it had to be tall because I used the netting style and I essentially put some posts in the cable between the posts and I attached the netting to the top of that because once they knew it was there, they definitely stayed away. Now, if you have rabbits or groundhogs are trying to keep them out, you want to make sure that the fencing has smaller openings along the bottom two feet. So for our garden, that vegetable garden, we used four foot black wrought iron style fence, but I attached some of that black flexible fencing along the bottom and that worked really well to keep those critters away. And lastly, change up the menu. You know, some plants and trees are resistant to wildlife. As the deer population in my area got worse over the years, we decided to remove an old line of bushes and replace them with a specific type of bush that was very, very resistant to deer. It’s called a green giant arborvitae, not any kind of arborvitae. It’s got to be called a green giant arborvitae. And we’ve actually seen families of deer walk up to the new bushes and give them a sniff and move on. So hooray for that.
00:13:04	LESLIE: All right, Joyce, Missouri’s on the line next with smoke damage. What is going on at your money pit?
00:13:08	CALLER: Hi, I have a ceiling that got a bit of smoke damage from a propane fireplace. So I don’t want to… I don’t want to paint and have it bleed back through and then have to go paint again. Painting is a big enough job. I want to do it where it will stay white and not bleed through. So my question is, do I need to seal it, wash it? What do I need to do before I paint it?
00:13:35	LESLIE: If you’ve got smoke damage, generally what is done? And that, you know, are you seeing like yellow stains? Is that what you’re seeing? Is it all over? Is it in a spot? No, it’s a smoky color. All right. So because it’s a soot and the soot can tend to feel like a little bit of smoke, it’s not a little bit oily or greasy depending on what you were burning. I guess it’s from the propane. You might want to clean it a little bit first with TSP. You can find that in the paint center in the painting aisle. It’s called trisodium phosphate. And you mix that up and you can make it sort of a thicker consistency. And you want to wash those areas. See if you can get some of that soot off first. And then once that’s all dry, you’re going to want to prime that wall and prime the entire wall. And you can use an oil-based primer that does tend to seal in those stains a little bit better. Sort of, you know, smoky odor that might have been there from whatever the damage was. And then once that’s dry, you can go ahead and put a latex paint over it. That’ll give you the color and that’ll, you know, ensure good adhesion of the paint to the primer, to the wall. And hopefully then, if you’ve done a good job of sort of trying to clear away the extra soot and the stain and then sealing it with the primer, that shouldn’t bleed through. So that really does the trick. Okay. Heading out to Maine, we’ve got Frank on the line who’s dealing with a hot water issue. So tell me, nothing but cold showers these days? What’s going on?
00:14:53	CALLER: I’ve got water in the bathroom and the kitchen, hot water. Okay. The problem is I don’t get heat out of the baseboard, hot water heat.
00:15:02	TOM: Oh, okay. Yeah, that’s a different problem. No, that’s a real problem. That’s a real problem, especially in Maine, right? Yeah. All right. So how many zones do you have in the house? Is it one thermostat or are there multiple thermostats?
00:15:13	CALLER: There’s multiple thermostats because I have an in-law apartment up over a garage.
00:15:17	TOM: Okay.
00:15:18	CALLER: Part of the apartment is built up over… It’s on the second story of the addition, and there’s heat in that, but in the apartment itself where I live, it can get down to 64, even though the thermostat said it’s 70.
00:15:40	TOM: Okay. So do you ever feel the radiators be warm in the apartment that you live in, or do they just never get hot?
00:15:47	CALLER: Never get hot. They get warm. But it obviously doesn’t heat it up to the number on the thermostat.
00:15:54	TOM: You’re going to need to have an HVAC guy look at this, but I’ll tell you what I would be checking. So first of all, you’re going to have one circulator for each zone. So if you have two zones in the house, you may have one circulator for both, or you could have a zone valve, which operates mechanically to move the water through one loop or the other loop, or both, depending on what the thermostat is calling for. Okay. And you’re also going to have a temperature sensor inside that water called an aquastat that could also be bad. I think there’s an issue here with either the circulator or the control. If you can figure out, if you have both thermostats turned up and one’s really hot and one’s not, you can actually go to the boiler itself, look for that circulator. You’ll see where two pipes come in, and you can actually touch one and see if it’s hot and touch the other. You’ll know which one is the problem. And also, if you’re standing in front of the circulator… Okay. I would want to know if that circulator was making a lot of noise, if it was rattling, because sometimes as they start to wear, that can impact this problem as well, too. In fact, when I was a home inspector, I had a very interesting way of sort of checking the health of a circulator. I would have a long screwdriver that kind of used to use to poke around for like wood rot and stuff like that. I would put one end on the body of the circulator, and the other I’d hold up to my ear, and just right above my earlobe, and it was like having a stethoscope. Man, you could hear. You could hear all the mechanical clicking and clacking going on inside that motor. And after you did it for a while, you knew how to predict a bad bearing or something else that it needed. So I think the issue is going to be in the circulator, it’s going to be in the zone valve, or it’s going to be in one of the temperature sensing controls that move that water and tell it when to go through the radiators. I mean, there could be air in the system, but with a baseboard radiator, that doesn’t happen as much as when it’s cast iron radiators. So I hope that gives you some direction, Frank, and you’re able to get warm here before you have to experience very many more chilly nights. All right. Thank you. You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Well, when it comes to storing paint and the life expectancy of that leftover paint, most manufacturers are going to say that paint can last two to three years. But my personal experience, Leslie, is that it can last a heck of a lot longer, as much as five to six years, because the success depends not only on where the paint is stored, but more importantly, the condition of the case. Because the enemy of stored paint is simply this, it’s air, right? So the more air that gets into that can, the shorter the life of the paint. So you want to keep the air out. You’ve got to have a good seal. So that seal is really key to storing that paint for the long run. So here are a few things we’ve learned along the way that can help you do just that. Yeah.
00:18:36	LESLIE: And I think this one we’re all guilty of. So when you go to open a can of paint, is the first thing you like grab a screwdriver and start prying away around the side? Well, don’t use a screwdriver because what happens is it kind of bends that edge. And then you’re never going to get that nice tight seal again because you’ve bent it and now it’s just not going to seal. Instead, use a paint can opener. I mean, it’s a tool that you can either get for free or like super inexpensive at the paint or the hardware store. Generally, they’re handing them out to you. And it kind of has like a curved screwdriver end. So as it’s kind of prying it open, it’s not bending back the rest of it. Now, before you start to paint, you want to poke drainage holes in the bottom rim of that paint can, you know, right around the edge. Because you’re going to pour the paint. It’s going to sit in that little lip around there. And then again, not seal well. And you can use a screwdriver and a hammer so that you can just kind of tap little holes all the way around. And then as the paint gets into that lip in that rim area, it will drain back into the can. Now, when you’re done painting, use the brush to clean that seam as much as possible on the paint can. And then go ahead and take a rag and wipe the opposing seam on the lid. Because paint that’s going to dry in either area, again, it’s going to make it so that it does not seal. And then that paint is just going to be. It’s supposed to air and it’s not going to last.
00:19:50	TOM: All right. So now you’ve paid very careful attention to that rim and you’ve got it as clean as possible. So the next step is simply this. Cover the open can with a piece of clear plastic wrap like cellophane or saran wrap. This is going to act as a gasket and provide an additional level of seal protection to prevent that air from getting into the can. And finally, place the lid on and then tap it down gently at first. You want to go maybe using a rubber mallet, which is good. Or sometimes I’ll put a wood block between the hammer and the rim to prevent any dents and damage. Now, once it’s done, you’re ready to store the paint. Don’t just stick it on a shelf. Stick it on a shelf upside down. Why do you do that? Well, because that’s going to assure, again, that no air seeps in. And make sure you do this in a cool, dry place.
00:20:33	LESLIE: Now, here’s one last tip, guys. Get in the habit of writing the date the paint was first opened right on the can. And this way, you can easily track that paint’s shelf life. Because who knows? Maybe you’re going to find out that you can store that leftover paint a lot longer than anybody thought was possible. I also always write down the name of the paint or the number of the paint and the room that I painted it in, just because sometimes things are similar and sometimes maybe you have a different finish on things. This way, there’s no questions as to where it goes and how long you’ve had it. Heading over to Maryland, we’ve got Nick on the line who’s dealing with water in the basement. What’s happening?
00:21:08	CALLER: I have a blocked basement of a building. And I’ve coated it with dry lock. I’ve done repairs on a roof. And basically… What I have now is a wall that’s not wet, but it’s like a yellowish tan and paint is like chipping. So I’m not getting water on the floor anymore. And at this point in time, I’m not sure what to do to kind of prevent the water from standing the wall. Okay.
00:21:43	TOM: So first of all, here’s what’s going on. The problem you’re describing actually is water. But you’ve slowed it down enough to the point that what’s left is evaporating for the most part, but it’s leaving behind mineral salt deposits. That’s the off-color staining and what’s causing the paint you put on those walls sort of split away. It’s usually white, crusty, gray, sometimes tan. And that mineral salt is just evidence that the wall is still getting wet. The reason it’s getting wet is because concrete block is very hydroscopic. It will draw water up into it like a straw. And it gets as much water as it can. And then that water will go ahead and evaporate out, leaves the salt behind. When there’s a lot of water, it actually puddles. And that’s where you can really start to see the flood start to happen. Now, the reason that this goes on is simply because there’s too much water being allowed to collect too close to the foundation. You mentioned you’d done some roof work. Do you have a gutter system on that roof? Is the gutter clean? And are the downspouts discharging away from the foundation by at least four, five, or six feet? Yes. Here’s what I would like to hear and what I’d like to see. I’d like to know that you have adequate downspouts draining that flat roof. And by adequate, depending on the size of the spout, the size of the gutter, the standard gutter is a five-inch gutter. But what I would recommend is a six-inch gutter because it handles 50% more water. And the downspouts, the liters, are much wider and don’t clog on that building. And then when they do get to grade, we don’t want them anywhere near the foundation. We want that water. To discharge, perhaps, it’s through a solid, not a perforated, but a solid PVC pipe, depending on your grade, where then it takes that water away from the building and comes out into the daylight somewhere where the grade is lower. And I mean away, away, 15, 20 feet, whatever you have to do. You want to move that water from the roof away from the building. Now, once you get the gutters working and working perfectly, and by the way, if you want to see what’s happening right now, the next time you’re there, when there’s a real, really heavy rainfall, grab your galoshes and your raincoat and your umbrella and go look around that building and look at where that water is sitting. I can guarantee you that this water is collecting somehow, some way near that foundation. You’ve got to move that water away. And then once you have the downspouts all settled up, the last thing to do is you could improve the grade if it’s very flat. We’d like to see the soil slope about six inches over the first four feet and then taper off after that. And that would be with clean filter, not topsoil, but something that’s very tampable, compact. Then you can cover it with mulch or topsoil after that. The reason that you’re having the water issues you’re reporting to us has to do with water management at the outside. It’s not rising water tables or any of that sort of thing. So if you address those issues by collecting the water properly, discharging it into the right number of spouts, getting it away from the building, and then improving the grade, I think that that basement’s going to dry up. You did the last step, which is what I would have told you. After you did all of that, you could paint those walls and that would just stop some of the surface evaporation. But you’re not there yet. That’s not the first thing. That’s the last thing you do.
00:24:49	CALLER: Sir, thank you very much for taking the time to call me back. I really appreciate it.
00:24:53	TOM: You’re very welcome. And listen, on our website at moneypit.com, we have a guide to fixing leaky and damp basements. I would encourage you to look that up. It’s one of our most popular pieces. It gets about 100,000 views a month. So people are finding it very helpful and it will reinforce some of the things we’ve talked about today. Okay?
00:25:12	CALLER: Thank you very much, sir. I really appreciate it.
00:25:15	TOM: Well, with him… With heavy spring storms happening right now in a lot of parts of the country, it’s a good time to take a look at your gutters because they are key to more than just keeping water from sort of overflowing on your head as you dart in and out of your home on a rainy day. Yeah.
00:25:30	LESLIE: First of all, guys, gutters perform one duty and that’s controlling the water around the home. But if gutters are missing, disconnected, clogged, or maybe you just don’t have large enough gutters, you could be facing expensive home repairs like flooded basements, cracked foundations. And sidewalks, a leaky roof, and all of this can even lead to wood-destroying insects finding a very, very tasty meal at your house. Right.
00:25:54	TOM: So here are a few things to check. First, most homes have five-inch gutters. They’re called… The standard gutter is called a five-inch K-style gutter because the profile sort of looks like a K. And they’re designed to drain 600 to 800 square feet of roof surface per downspout. So here’s what I want you to do. Step back and look at your house roof. Step back and look at your house roof to estimate about how much roof surface is draining towards the spouts. And you want to make sure you have no more than about 800 square feet of roof per individual spout. Because if you do have more than that, your gutters will definitely overflow during heavy rains. Yeah.
00:26:29	LESLIE: Now, next, it’s very important to note where those downspouts discharge. They should be draining no closer than four feet from the house. And that grade should be pitched so that the water continues to run away from the home and not back towards it. If not, all that roof water is going to do. Do a U-turn, go right back to the house, go right up against that foundation and cause a whole host of troubles. You also want to check for any clogs. You know, with a five-inch gutter, they’re going to need cleaning at least twice a year. Definitely the spring, definitely the fall. But depending on where those gutters are and what kind of trees you have around and where you are in this country, you might need to do it more than twice.
00:27:03	TOM: Now, if you really want to know how well your gutters and all of your drainage around your house is working, the next time you get a really heavy rain, grab your rain boots, grab an umbrella and take a walk. Around your house. Look up at the roof. Look up at the gutters. Are they overflowing? Look where they discharge. What’s happening to all that water? Is it running away from the house or is it sort of ponding near the corners of the house? Is it being trapped by landscaping or by curbing or something else that you have sort of bordering the foundation? You’ll get a quick education on what’s happening with your drainage. You’ll know exactly where to focus on your improvements. Yeah.
00:27:39	LESLIE: And if all of this just sounds like too much darn work and you don’t want to deal with it, here’s another solution. You can replace those five-inch gutters with the next larger size, which is six inches. And I know it’s only a one-inch difference, but that really does make a huge difference because they can drain 50% more water. And the biggest benefit, because those downspouts are also so much wider, they almost never clog.
00:28:02	TOM: That’s right. So no gutters needed. You know, for all of the advice I give on this program about the importance of clean gutters, I will tell you, I’ve personally not cleaned my gutters since 2014. Why? Well, because I have those large six-inch gutters with big downspouts that just don’t get clogged. It doesn’t matter what the trees release. I’m in a wooded area. It goes right down that downspout and out. So you think about it, even though those bigger gutters are a little more expensive, if you consider the cost of five-inch gutters plus all the money it costs for gutter guards, it’s totally worth it. So much better. And you never have to deal with those types of clogs again.
00:28:40	LESLIE: Renny reached out to Team Money Pit and asks, What is the rule of thumb for painting over water stains? I have a two-story home and my second-floor shower stall leaked and dripped from the first-floor ceiling. The leak is fixed, but now I’m looking at very black stains in spots. The paint is also cracked and is peeling along a two-foot-long drywall seam.
00:29:03	TOM: So, well, I’m glad you fixed the leak. But before we get to painting over water stains, let’s talk about mold, because I think that’s what you may be seeing here. Mold. Mold really needs three things to fester. It needs air, it needs food, and it needs water. And while there’s plenty of air and drywall is a terrific food for that black mold, the fact that you fixed the leak means that there should be no more moisture to feed an ongoing mold problem.
00:29:28	LESLIE: Yeah. Now, you also want to keep in mind that the black mold that you think you have may not in fact be black mold at all. While it’s possible it’s mold, water stains caused by the reaction of water with paper and paint and rust, that can also cause a black-looking spot. So, it could be that, but either way, you definitely want to give it a good cleaning to make sure that whatever it is, you’ve taken care of it. Now, as for painting over the water stain, our suggestion is to remove any loose paint, wash that area down with bleach and water, just to make sure if they are mold spores, they’re totally neutralized. And that’s really your first step. Yeah.
00:30:03	TOM: And the next step, and really the most important before you put that sort of finished paint on, is to paint that stained area with an oil-based primer, like Kills, for example. This is going to seal. This is going to seal that stained surface and prevent it from leaching through the top layer after you paint. If you don’t prime it, that stain will come right through the sealing paint. So for the best results, prime the entire area, not just the spots that have been impacted by the leak, because what happens is when you put your finished paint on top, your top coat of paint, the areas that are not primed will absorb differently than the areas that are primed, and you’ll get sort of an uneven finish. So especially for a bathroom or a kitchen. I would definitely just prime the entire ceiling, and then put one more coat of the top paint over that.
00:30:46	LESLIE: All right. I hope that helps you out. Now, I’ve got one here from Theresa, and she says, we have a vent fan which vents outside along the heater in our bathroom. We’d like to install a humidity sensor so that the fan will run until it senses no more moisture. The heater should be a choice to be turned on as needed. There’s many available online, but I’m overwhelmed, and I’m not sure which is right for my wants and my application. Can you please recommend a sensor that’s going to fit? Our needs? Sure.
00:31:13	TOM: So first of all, it’s a really good idea. I congratulate you on looking for a humidity sensor, because keeping that fan on until all the moisture is vented is really important to prevent mold in the bathroom from forming. And if you keep it drier, that’s just not going to happen. Now, there are humidity sensor switches that are available. Leviton is a major manufacturer of these. They have both a switch just for the fan that runs on humidity. They also have one that’s a combination humidity sensing switch and a power switch, which I think is what you’re going to need here, because you want a separate switch for the heater. And so that’s sort of a two-in-one. So look into the Leviton, L-E-V-I-T-O-N, humidity sensing switches, and I think you’ll find exactly what you need.
00:31:58	LESLIE: All right, Teresa, and you’ll be on your way to a much more comfortable bathroom.
00:32:02	TOM: This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Hey, guys, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with us. We hope that we’ve given you a tip or two that you find helpful and valuable. We’ll see you next time. Thanks, everybody. in more value for you as you pursue the challenges and the joy of home ownership and improvement. If you’ve got questions on projects you’d like to get done or projects you’re doing now, or maybe you’re a parent that just happened, you can reach out to us 24-7 at 1-888-Money-Pit or always for the quickest possible response, simply post your question at moneypit.com slash ask. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
00:32:34	LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
00:32:35	TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself.
00:32:37	LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone.

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