Show Notes
In this one-stop shop for all things home improvement, we’ll tackle the war against bathroom germs, explore the art of building a paver patio that lasts, reveal expert tips for restoring rotted wood, and answer more questions from callers. Whether you’re a seasoned DIY enthusiast or a novice homeowner, this episode has something for everyone!
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
- Bathroom Germs: Experts are flush with ideas on the best way to stop the spread of bathroom germs.
- Paver Patio: Get some tricks of the trade on building a paver patio that will last for years to come.
- Rotted Wood: When wet weather leads to rotted wood, learn how to restore and rebuild the damaged areas.
Top Questions & Answers
- Windows: Amy thinks her windows are discolored from water damage, but it’s probably normal fading from sun and rain. Sanding and exterior polyurethane can restore the finish.
- Shower Plumbing: The shower temperature changes whenever the toilet flushes. Brad needs to install a pressure balance valve to regulate the mix of hot and cold water.
- Pest Control: Ick! Kelly wants to get rid of bugs, slugs, and rodents. She must seal any gaps, remove any food that may attract rodents, and hire a professional for general pesticide treatment.
- Mortar Repair: The mortar is breaking apart between the doorframes and limestone of Steve’s home. He gets tips on removing the loose mortar and how to repoint those areas.
- Tree Roots: Large tree roots in Kevin’s yard are a problem. We suggest covering them with natural landscaping solutions like mulch, soil, or groundcover plants.
- Electrical Outlets: Pat has questions about installing GFCI outlets in his kitchen. They’re good to have and we explain how they work and how he can do it.
- Sealing Concrete: Past flooding left cracks in Bonnie’s basement floor. She can use silicone caulk to seal them and add a two-part epoxy product over the surface.
- Plumbing Noise: Robert’s new faucet is making a trumpet sound! He get tips on checking the washer and aerator for obstructions before having to replace the faucet.
- Ventilation: After reshingling his roof, Ken gets advice about removing the power vent, adding ridge vents, and completely opening the soffits to improve ventilation.
Ask Your Home Improvement Question
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 00:00:22 | TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 00:00:29 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 00:00:31 | TOM: So happy to be here with you today on this beautiful spring weekend. We hope that you guys are enjoying the weather and maybe thinking about some improvements because if you are, we are here to help. If you don’t know where to start, how to start, whether you already started and you’re stuck, reach out to us and we might be able to move that project along, get it done a lot sooner, a lot quicker, and make sure it comes out great the first time so you can get back to enjoying your space. If you’ve got questions, a couple of ways to reach out to us. You can call us at 1-888-Money-Pit. That translates to 888-666-3974 or better yet, just go to moneypit.com slash ask. Click the blue microphone button and you will immediately send your question to us for the fastest possible response. Coming up on today’s show, we’re going to talk about patios. Is building a patio on your to-do list this spring? We’re going to share some tricks of the trade to build a patio that will last for many, many years to come because I got to tell you, Leslie, in all the years I spent as a home inspector. I saw a lot of bad patios more than I saw good patios. You know, the kind that are like all roly-poly and have weeds coming through them and just kind of look nasty. That’s really, it doesn’t have to be that way. We can, we can stop all that with some tips. |
| 00:01:40 | LESLIE: And also ahead, now that it’s spring cleaning season, there’s a new piece of research that may have you rethinking how you use your bathroom. We’re going to share what experts say is the best way to stop the spread of germs. |
| 00:01:53 | TOM: And with all the rainy, wet spring weather ahead, you may very likely find rotted wood in places where water spends more time. And then maybe it should. So we’re going to explain the easiest way to restore the rot and stop it from getting worse. |
| 00:02:04 | LESLIE: But first, do you feel like you’re in a constant game of tug of war with your house and your house is winning? Well, we’re here to help you take back the lead from advice to answers to hot new products. We’re your one-stop shop for all things DIY. |
| 00:02:18 | TOM: So let’s get to us. Reach out to us right now. Again, that’s 1-888-Money-Pit or just go to moneypit.com slash ask. |
| 00:02:25 | LESLIE: We’ve got Amy from South Dakota on the line with a window question. What’s going on? |
| 00:02:30 | CALLER: We have crank out windows. There’s like three windows in the set and the outside two crank out. And I’ve noticed some discoloration, mostly along the bottom, a little bit up the sides of the window. And I’m thinking it’s maybe some water damage from maybe the windows were out and it rained. But I’m also seeing it on the middle window. Okay. So that has me… |
| 00:02:52 | TOM: Questioning your water damage analysis. So Amy, is the stain like sort of like a grayish color on the wood? Yes. So I think what you’re seeing is normal oxidation. And the reason that happens is because the sun and the rain, of course, has some contributing factors here, but mostly the sun hits those lower edges and it tends to kind of break down the finish and then it starts to fade the wood or turn the wood color. The same thing happens if you were to leave raw lumber outside for a long time. It starts out nice and bright and sort of yellowish and then it gets dark, darker and grayer. As time goes on, it’s exposed to water and to the sun. So I think it’s just saying that these areas that you’re seeing may need to be refinished. It’s not a major problem. It’s really a cosmetic one and it could become structural at some point, but you might want to explore the idea of sanding those areas. And what you’ll find is that when you sand them, you tend to take away that gray and you get down to some of the raw wood that’s just underneath the surface. So if you sand them and then refinish those with an exterior grade urethane, you’re going to have a lot of urethane and that’s important. I would use an oil-based exterior grade because it has more UV protection in it. Then you’re going to find that it will last a lot longer. And in terms of those metal windows, I’m a little confused about that. It could be that sometimes when the water dries off, dries out, it leaves behind mineral salts and that can look kind of discolored. One thing you could try, a little test for that, is to wipe it down with white vinegar because vinegar will melt those salts and see if that goes away. And if not, I think my fallback would be it’s probably just discoloration of the paint, and again, repainting them, this time with a primer first, and then a top coat of paint will restore the finish. |
| 00:04:37 | LESLIE: Okay, very good. Thank you. |
| 00:04:39 | TOM: You’re welcome, Amy. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:04:43 | LESLIE: Brad in Texas, you’ve got the Money Pit. How can we help you today? |
| 00:04:45 | CALLER: I live in a house that’s 20 years old. We bought it when it was new. And just recently, we started having issues with the temperature in the shower. Um… Changing radically when you flush the commode. Okay. And I think I understand the physics of what’s going on here. I mean, obviously, you’re using a lot of, you know, cold water all of a sudden. But what I’m not sure of is why would it start after 20 years? It’s just been a very recent thing, and why would it suddenly start, and is there a fix for it? |
| 00:05:17 | TOM: Do you have a pressure balance valve in that shower? Do you know what that is? |
| 00:05:22 | CALLER: I do not know what that is, but I don’t think I have that, sir. Okay. |
| 00:05:25 | TOM: So, I don’t know why it’s happening right now, but I will tell you that the solution for this is a pressure balance valve. And that is a type of shower valve, and it’s very, very common. So, you may have it, and I was thinking that maybe it broke down, and that’s why this is happening now. But basically, what it does is it maintains the mix between hot and cold water. So that if you were to flush a toilet, run a dishwasher, run the washing machine, whatever, even though you have less pressure on one side or the other, it keeps the flow the same. So, you may have less water flow in terms of how much, how hard that shower feels to you, right? But the mix of cold and hot would never change. And this way, you don’t get the scalding, you know, blast or the freezing blast that can really ruin your best day. |
| 00:06:16 | CALLER: Well, it can certainly wake you up. Yeah. |
| 00:06:18 | TOM: It’s true. |
| 00:06:19 | CALLER: So, you’re telling me that I need a pressure. Pressure balanced valve on the shower head. |
| 00:06:25 | TOM: Yeah, that’s a certain type of shower valve. Right. It’s for showers and baths. It’s called a pressure balance. All right. |
| 00:06:31 | CALLER: So, is that something you could add after the fact? Because this, like I said, this house was built 20 years ago. I’m not sure if that was a thing back then. |
| 00:06:37 | TOM: It was available, but I don’t know if it’s installed or not. I would probably change the shower valve at the same time because it may be right behind. It’s probably going to be built right into it. |
| 00:06:46 | CALLER: Sounds like a job for my local friendly plumber. |
| 00:06:48 | TOM: I think it is. And it’s not a big job, but I think you’ll find that it’ll solve your problem. All right. Very good. Thank you so much. Yeah, you’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thank you. Bye-bye. |
| 00:06:58 | LESLIE: Kelly, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today? |
| 00:07:01 | TOM: How do you get rid of freeloading bugs, slugs, and unwanted rodents from your yard, your garage, your basement, and your home? Well, Kelly, that’s quite a tall order. It sounds like you’ve got a lot going on there. So, I think, Leslie, we could divide these up into insects and then into rodents, right, because you kind of approach them differently. And on the rodent side, that’s probably the easier one to tackle because you need to have to seal up all the gaps from the outside. Rodents only need the space about the size of a pinky to get in there. So, you want to seal up those gaps. You want to make sure that your any food as well is off the floor. You want to make sure your containers, like dog food on the floor, for example, in a big old bag, boy, rodents love that sort of thing. So, you’ve got to be really careful with that. We’ve got a great article that walks you through that and a whole bunch of other tips on moneypit.com. But I think this is a good case in terms of the insects, Leslie, for sort of a general pesticide treatment because where else do you begin with that kind of stuff? What kind of infestation? Yeah. |
| 00:07:54 – 00:08:07 | LESLIE: I mean, I think unless you know specifically what’s going on to treat specific insects, specific rodents, like it’s more of a general treatment. And when you work with, you know, a pesticide professional or somebody who does this for a living, they’re going to really know how to target everything. |
| 00:08:08 | TOM: Absolutely. So, good luck with that project. |
| 00:08:10 | 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. Stephen from Kansas has some issues with Stone House. Tell us what’s going on. |
| 00:08:29 | CALLER: I have a native limestone house that was built. This is in the middle of Kansas, and they used a lot of limestone years ago. And this house dates back to the late 1800s. I have a problem with the mortar breaking out between the door frames of this house. The house and the limestone. |
| 00:08:58 | CALLER: And I’m not sure exactly what to use. |
| 00:09:02 | TOM: So, you have this mortar that’s falling out between the stones itself, and that’s called pointing. And that’s pretty common. Okay. Now, what you need to do is to remove the loose areas of mortar and to repoint it or reapply new mortar in those spaces where it’s lost. So, to do that, you’re going to want to mix one part Portland cement to two parts lime. It’s a type of Mason’s lime. And then eight or nine parts of a washed building sand. And that’s sort of the mix that is going to be necessary to create new mortar in those seams and have it stick. Now, that type of a mortar mix is designed to be able to be very workable so that you can get it in between those joints and do those repairs and have it stick and last another hundred years. So, it’s one part Portland cement, two part lime, and about nine parts sand. And then you add just enough water to kind of make it workable. Don’t make it too wet, though. Otherwise, it’ll just sort of fall off your trowel. |
| 00:10:09 | CALLER: I see. Okay. I was trying to find something on the internet, and I could not find what I thought was proper. |
| 00:10:19 | TOM: That’s typically the way it’s done. Now, you could also buy a mortar mix, but when you have a really old house like that, most people are going to mix it themselves. Okay. |
| 00:10:27 | CALLER: Thank you very much. Appreciate it, and I really enjoy your show. |
| 00:10:31 | TOM: Well, thank you very much. We appreciate you listening. |
| 00:10:34 | LESLIE: Well, are you dreaming of creating a relaxing paver brick patio space to enjoy the sunshine as the warm weather approaches? If so, we are here to tell you that this is a definite DIY-capable project, and we’ve got some tips to help. |
| 00:10:49 | TOM: That’s right. So, first, you know, in the realm of DIY patio possibilities, brick, natural stone, and cement pavers are really the main paving choices when it comes to materials. Now, all three varieties are installed in sand, with irregularly shaped natural stone being the biggest challenge to work with because it’s kind of like assembling a giant outdoor jigsaw puzzle. Yeah. |
| 00:11:11 | LESLIE: And, you know, figuring out that layout really is the next step. You’re going to need to assess the space that you’ve got slated for placement and then plan for necessary drainage. Now, a good trick of the trade is to use a rope to outline the shape that you want. Then you can even set up some furniture inside that roped-off area, which will become your patio, to kind of get a feel of how much space you’re going to have to enjoy when that patio is done, because now is the time to make those adjustments before you actually start. |
| 00:11:38 | TOM: All right. Let’s talk about how to avoid the most common paver patio mistakes. And that comes from not properly prepping the base. You’ve got to get this right, or you’re going to get patio bricks that are uneven. You’re going to get weeds that will come through. So take your time. First, you want to properly excavate the soil that’s there and go down and get it nice and level. And then you add a stone paver patio base to that. It’s kind of finely ground stone, not powdery, but more like half-inch-sized chunks of stone that gets spread out and then tamped down. And when you do this right, and especially if you have a mechanical tamper, although most DIYers are going to use just a hand tamper. But it’s almost as hard as a road is. That’s how tough it should be. Now, once that’s down, you can put a little bit of sand over that, like, you know, an eighth or a quarter of an inch. And you start to lay your patio bricks right in that sand. And once you establish that pattern, you continue through the whole area. Then you just add some more sand on top to fill in the gaps, and you are pretty much good to go. But get that right. Take your time. And that patio will last a super long time. |
| 00:12:42 | LESLIE: Yeah. And if you already have a concrete patio, but it’s starting to look worn. And not really that attractive, there’s actually a special type of paver brick that is half the thickness of a normal brick that you can easily lay on top of the old patio. Now, it’s called a Milano paver. And it’s made by PaveStone. Yep. |
| 00:12:59 | TOM: Good point. Saves you from having to tear up the old concrete, too. |
| 00:13:04 | LESLIE: Taylor in Michigan is having issues with a door. What’s going on? |
| 00:13:08 | CALLER: We were having, like, some swelling around our doors. And so it sticks when you shut it. And we were wondering if, besides that, there was a problem. So we’re just standing it. If there’s anything that you can do to help fix that issue. |
| 00:13:22 | LESLIE: Well, you got to really figure out where it’s sticking, because that’s going to determine how you fix it. So have you kind of figured out, is the door leaning, and maybe one part is rubbing? Is it at the lock point? Where are you noticing the stick? |
| 00:13:38 | CALLER: Yeah. On both of our doors that have that issue, we’ve noticed it towards the top of the door. So that part might be leaning a little bit, I think. |
| 00:13:46 | LESLIE: And have you tightened the screws in the hinges just to see maybe it’s sort of loosened and it’s fitting in the jam itself? Yeah, we have tried that. |
| 00:13:55 | TOM: Typically, if the door is not closing properly, it’s not adjusted properly. And the door can only move so many ways. And what we typically find is that if you pay attention to the reveal as the door closes and you look for unevenness there, it’s going to signal to you what has to happen. So, for example, if the door is rubbing on the top, then typically that hinge, the opposite hinge, has to be set deeper into the jam so it opens up. Look, you can sand this, you can cut this, but you’re better off adjusting the door because invariably it did close properly once and it’s just moved a little bit. |
| 00:14:36 | LESLIE: And that’s expected over time. |
| 00:14:38 | TOM: Yeah, exactly. Sometimes you can pull a screw out that’s going into the jam and repair it. You can replace it with a longer one that reaches through the stud. And just by doing that one thing and driving it in with like an impact wrench or a drill driver, it will suck that whole jam over and fix the door like with one screw. Okay. Yeah, but that’s what you need to pay attention to. Taylor, we did a video for Yale to teach folks how to align the door for smart locks. And the same advice actually applies. It’s called DIY Door Alignment for Smart Locks. It’s on YouTube. It’s also on moneypit.com. So just search for the door alignment video and we will walk you through step by step all the different ways you can adjust the door. Okay? Awesome. |
| 00:15:21 | LESLIE: Great. Thank you so much. All right. We’re heading on out to Ohio where Kevin’s been dealing with some tree roots at the Money Pit. What’s going on? |
| 00:15:28 | CALLER: Well, I have a tree out front. It’s a quite large tree. I’m not really good at identifying them. But I have very large tree roots going through my front yard. And it’s kind of hard to get around with my mower. And I’ve thought about putting in a flower bed or mulching over it. I’ve asked a few people I know. And that’s what they suggested. But I’ve also heard putting something over them could rot out the roots. So I don’t really know what a good solution would be. |
| 00:16:01 | TOM: Well, first of all, you want to keep the tree, right? Right. You should understand that the tree roots are a part of the fabric of that tree. And you can’t cut them away. Right. And in terms of covering them, I think any natural material like mulch, for example, or additional soil is going to have no effect, no damaging effect on them. I think that when you get into situations where tree roots get covered by, sometimes people have like concrete patios over them or that sort of thing or brick patios. And then, yeah, it can hold a little bit extra water there. But I think that any type of a landscaping solution is your best course of action. You’re just going to have to deal with the issues of it sort of popping up. You’re just going to have to deal with it sort of popping up through the lawn and just enjoy it for as long as you have it. You know, we had a beautiful maple tree that I had to get rid of about two years ago and it broke my heart because it was the tree covering the side of the house with lots of nice shade. And we had a hammock that was permanently affixed to it, an adjoining tree. And we lost it because it was just kind of started to die from the inside out and couldn’t save it. So we had to take it down. So I say enjoy it as long as it is there. And use a natural solution to try to avoid having to, you know, grow grass in a difficult spot like that. You could also think about ground cover plants, you know, like ivy or something of that nature. That would grow well in that shade. Just be mindful of the fact that it’s not going to respect any boundaries. So you’re probably always going to have to trim it back. Right. Well, thanks, guys. All right. You’re welcome, Kevin. Good luck with that project. Thanks again for calling us at 1-888-Money-Pit. I’ll tell you something I saw today. We’re having a roof put on a house. And I saw a new way to carry shingles up the roof. Now, Leslie, I showed you and Jim, our engineer, a video of this. It’s hard to believe, but we had a roofer that actually carries an entire bundle of shingles on his head as he climbs a two-story ladder using both hands on the ladder but none on the shingles. And he was, like, perfectly balanced and kind of crazy. But, man, I’ve never seen that before. So it really surprised me. |
| 00:18:03 | LESLIE: First of all, it was impressive. You know, this was not a slight gentleman. He was cranking up that ladder with those shingles on his head. And then when he got to the roof and got off of the ladder, he never put his hand on the shingles and walked right up the peak. I was like… |
| 00:18:19 | TOM: Oh, yeah. Yeah, he’s going up and down peaks after he gets off the ladder. |
| 00:18:22 | LESLIE: It was impressive. |
| 00:18:23 | TOM: I’m not going to stand under him while he’s doing this, but I was impressed. |
| 00:18:26 | LESLIE: Oh, no, no, no, no. I’m not going to be the one holding the ladder for him. But definitely, like, definitely impressive. Now we’re heading up to our neighbors in the north where Pat in Ontario has got a question about electricity. What’s going on? |
| 00:18:41 | CALLER: So we have, in our kitchen, I understand that according to building codes, at least in Canada, you’re supposed to have GFCIs on your kitchen counter. We do not. And we’ve been planning to change those out for a while. But we actually had an electrician in to inspect our breaker box for an unrelated issue. As it happens, our house was hit by lightning. Thankfully, nothing seriously did happen. There was no damage, but an interesting experience to see how that affects things. But thankfully, like I said, everything, the breaker box is all fine. But while the electrician was here, I mentioned our kitchen outlets, and he said that it wouldn’t matter if we upgraded them to GFCIs because the circuitry on our house is not configured for it. Something to do with the breaker box needing to be changed. Something needed to be, I don’t know, adjusted. But my understanding of GFCIs was that they just sort of operate independently, regardless of what type of circuitry they’re connected to. |
| 00:19:34 | TOM: That’s a great question, and the answer is yes and no. So how old is your house? |
| 00:19:40 | CALLER: About 30 years. |
| 00:19:41 | TOM: You know, I can’t imagine what he’s referring to with the box. It might be that he was, was he saying that he can’t put a ground fault breaker in the main panel because you could certainly put it in the outlets? I mean, there’s two types of ground faults. One is built into a circuit breaker, and the other is built into the outlet itself. Right, okay. So he may have been referring to the panel itself. But as far as the outlet is concerned, the reason I said yes and no is because usually one area where people can’t put them in or have difficulties when you have a really old house, like one that was built in the 1930s that doesn’t have a ground wire. Right. |
| 00:20:14 | CALLER: No, that’s definitely not the case here. |
| 00:20:15 | TOM: And actually, you can, even in a two-wire system, you can do it. But basically what you’re doing is the electricians that know how to do this, they’ll essentially wire the ground fault so that any diversion of current to the ground side of the outlet will essentially turn it off. So it’s kind of like a faux ground. It’s not a real ground. But it serves the same purpose. It’s shutting the breaker off. But I think they’re really important in those wet locations, not only in the kitchen, also in the bathroom and at the outside. And for those that are not familiar with GFCIs, that stands for ground fault circuit interrupter, and essentially detects any diversion of current to a ground source, which would be you if you were, say, plugging in an appliance that had a short or something of that nature. And if it detects two one-thousandths of a volt, it will shut it down instantly and prevent harm. There’s actually a more sophisticated version, of that now, called an arc fault, which is great because an arc fault protects your house from fire. If it detects any arc, it will shut down the entire circuit. But I think you should go ahead when you’re ready to do those improvements and add the ground fault in the kitchen. You may, depending on how the circuit is designed, you may be able to put it in one location and it will cover all of the outlets that follow. You may not necessarily have to put in separate ones at each outlet position. One thing, though, that you want to be careful not to do is to put it on the refrigerator outlet. Or even on the refrigerator circuit. Because refrigerators, when they go on and off, they have a big power draw from that compressor as it starts to operate. And that will sort of trick the ground fault into thinking that you have a diversion of current and it will shut off the refrigerator and ruin your food. So you don’t want to put it on refrigerators or freezers. But all those other outlets should be good to go. |
| 00:21:54 | CALLER: And because you’re not going to be handling the refrigerator plug all that much, it’s not a big safety concern anyway, right? |
| 00:21:58 | TOM: Well, that’s part of it, yes. But certainly the chance that your refrigerator can go off and all your food can go bad is a bigger concern. Okay? |
| 00:22:07 | CALLER: Okay. All right. So basically you’re saying that regardless of how our electrical circuitry is configured, it’s a good idea to put GFCIs in those outlets? |
| 00:22:18 | TOM: It absolutely is. Oh, yeah. |
| 00:22:19 | CALLER: Okay. All right. Thanks very much. |
| 00:22:22 | TOM: Well, now that it’s spring cleaning season, here’s a new piece of research that may have you rethinking how you use your bathroom. Now, you guys may have heard that the best way to prevent the spread of germs from your toilet is to simply close the lid before you flush. Makes sense, right? |
| 00:22:37 | LESLIE: Yeah. I mean, if you can actually get the children to flush, that’s, you know, one step. But here go, guys. A study published in the American Journal of Infection Control found that flushing the toilet with the lid down does not stop the spread of small germs. Researchers discovered microscopic viral particles basically landed all over the bathroom when a person flushes the toilet, whether the lid is up or down. So that’s gross. Like, what do you do? |
| 00:23:04 | TOM: You’ve got, what, do you just flush and run so that it doesn’t get all Well, I like the fact that they found that the only thing that changed when the lid was down was the, and I quote, trajectory of the germs. So you’re launching them throughout the bathroom. So they say instead of worrying about keeping the toilet closed, the study found that disinfecting the toilet and nearby surfaces is the best way to reduce the spread of germs. And of course, kids, listen up. Wash your hands, right? Wash your hands. |
| 00:23:34 | LESLIE: Ugh, this is all horrible. And it’s crazy because you think about when the kids, you know, my kids obviously are bigger now, but when you think about when they were so small and closer to the toilet water as they’re flushing, and, you know, they’re probably watching it swirl down. |
| 00:23:50 | TOM: Yeah, that’s right. |
| 00:23:51 | LESLIE: The germs are just going right in their face. So gross. Oh, the joys of bathrooms. All right, now we’ve got Bonnie on the line. We need some help sealing concrete. What’s going on, Bonnie? |
| 00:24:03 | CALLER: We actually had some flooding a couple of years ago, and we ended up with some cracks. So we fixed the cracks, and now we want to seal it. And we went out and bought some basement sealer. And it’s so toxic and the smell is so bad that there’s just no way we can use it. And I just wondered if you had a suggestion for something that, you know, not so toxic. |
| 00:24:30 | TOM: So if you have a cracked floor and you’ve sealed those cracks with, usually you want to use silicone on that. And then if you want to put something on top of that floor to finish it, you can use one of the two-part epoxy products. They work well. I mean, yeah, they’re going to smell a little bit while you’re doing it, but they don’t smell for long. I just did my basement with the Dyche Coating floor product, and it worked terrific. So what I did was, in my case, I had poured new concrete on the floor, and then once it cured, I think I waited about a month, I used the Dyche flooring product on that. It was two-part epoxy. You mix it together. You’ve got to follow the mixing instructions. You’ve got to do it just right because usually you have to stir these and wait so many minutes before you apply it. Then I applied it. And as I applied it, I used a color chip that comes as an option, sort of sprinkled it in there. And those are nice because it makes it look a little bit better, but it also hides dirt at the same time. It’s not as visible. And it gives you just a little bit of texture to it. And then it cured it. And I tell you, within, I don’t know, two, three days, I didn’t smell anything. I didn’t smell anything down there. And it looked great. And it was done. So if you want to seal concrete today, I think two-part epoxy is the way to go. Okay. |
| 00:25:35 | LESLIE: Well, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Robert in Texas is on the line with the Money Pit. What’s going on at your house? |
| 00:25:42 | CALLER: I’ve got a faucet, a wall faucet that I replaced. It’s new. And every time I turn a hot water heater or a hot water on, it sounds like a trumpet’s going off. |
| 00:25:51 | TOM: Oh, boy. Okay. |
| 00:25:53 | LESLIE: It’s musical. |
| 00:25:54 | TOM: Yeah. It sounds like there might be a problem with that faucet. There’s a washer inside of it that sometimes when it expands like that because of the hot water, it starts to sort of whine. And I might try this to start with. I might take the aerator off the tip of the faucet and see if it repeats itself. And if it still happens with that, then I would switch out that faucet. I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to harm you from using it. It’s just going to annoy the heck out of you. But I would do the easy thing first, which would be to remove the aerator, just to make sure it’s not an obstruction there. Because sometimes you get debris on the line. That will block that. Okay. Even though it’s water, you think it’s going to be debris-free. But I got to tell you, I haven’t pulled a lot of those off over the years. You’ll see a lot of grime and grit and sometimes tiny even pieces of metal in it. So try that first. And if that doesn’t work, then I think it’s the faucet issue. Okay. |
| 00:26:42 | CALLER: Like I said, I just brand new, but I guess that don’t matter, right? Yeah. |
| 00:26:45 | TOM: Well, if it’s brand new, then you take it back and replace it or get another one. Get a different brand. Yeah. |
| 00:26:49 | CALLER: Okay. Well, I’ll give that a shot and see if it works then. |
| 00:26:53 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Ken from North Dakota on the line with a question about roofing. What can we do for you today? |
| 00:26:57 | CALLER: So I have a 20-year-old house that I re-shingled recently and took out the power vent and put in … Well, when we finished the roof, of course, then I put in the continuous ridge vent. Yup. And when the power vent was in there, the soffits were all full up with insulation, and then there was just every fifth rafter, they had the four-foot baffle to allow air in. Yes. So now my question is, with the continuous ridge vent, do I need … Do I need to open up the soffits so that there’s more ventilation in there? |
| 00:27:32 | TOM: Yeah. Well, first of all, removing that power vent was a really smart thing. I’m not sure if you realize this, but removing it basically is going to make your whole home more efficient because those power attic ventilators, what happens is in the summertime when they kick on, they’re so powerful that they take air not only out of the attic, but they’ll reach down into the house through all the nooks and crannies and spaces around wiring and plumbing and such, and it will pull out all the air-conditioned air or some portion of it, which means you have to replace it and it’ll cost you more to cool. So that part was good. Ridge vent was good. To your question about the soffits, yes. You would be better off having those soffits be completely open as opposed to every few feet. When you had the power ventilator, you were able to get away with it, but a continuous ridge and soffit vents is the best way to go. They work together to flush out warm air in the summer and cool moist air in the winter, which can make your insulation inefficient. Correct. |
| 00:28:24 | CALLER: All right. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate the help. |
| 00:28:27 | LESLIE: Well, when wood gets wet and it stays that way for a long time, it rots. And with all the rainy, wet spring weather ahead, you may very likely find rotted wood in places where water is spending more time than it should. We’re talking about places like a wood windowsill, wood porch columns, the trim around doors, or even the wood that trims the corner of your home or the fascia that’s just behind the gutters. You know, places like this, they get wet and they stay wet and they may not have been painted frequently enough, and that’s going to deteriorate into a soggy, mushy, rotted mess. |
| 00:29:00 | TOM: That’s right. But instead of replacing wood that rots away, there is a way to restore and rebuild these areas for a lot less than replacing them. Now, two products I use for this type of a project are Liquid Wood and Wood Epochs. They’re both made by a company called Abitron, and I’ve been working with their products for years. They’re very high-quality products, and they’re what you call a high-performance epoxy. They work together to restore or rebuild rotted or damaged wood. So if you just have a little bit of rot and it kind of gets like stringy, you can use the Liquid Wood on that. But if you’ve got an actual hole, use Wood Epochs. It’s like a two-part putty. You mix it together. It sort of mashes together in your hand, and then you press it into the holes. And it’s super lightweight. When it’s done, it kind of cuts just like wood, sands like wood, and it just blends into the finish. So you can actually shape it if you have some fancy molding. But definitely a good way to kind of preserve and restore some rotted areas of the house for a lot less money than it would cost you to rebuild them from scratch. |
| 00:30:02 | LESLIE: Clayton wrote in to Team Money Pit and wants to know, are there any new paint and primer in one product that will cover very dark paneling, or am I stuck with double work of priming and then painting? |
| 00:30:13 | TOM: You know, Clayton, I think it’s time for an attitude adjustment because priming and painting are two completely separate processes, and they have completely separate purposes. And unfortunately, I have found that trying to mix the two together, even with all the products that are out there that claim to be prime and paint in one step, they’re just not the same. So let me explain further. First of all, a primer is a type of paint that is specifically designed to adhere to a variety of surfaces that you may encounter. It could be new work, like new drywall or new wood, or it could be work that has had some other type of finish on it. So it could have been painted before. It could have been varnished before. It may have had many layers of wallpaper on it before. And primer, regardless of the surface, if it’s a good quality primer, it’s going to adhere to that old surface. And that is really, really important because the last thing you want to have happen is for that paint to peel away after you’ve done all that work. So a good primer does that. It adheres very well. What it doesn’t do is flow very well or give you good, solid color. That’s where the top coat comes in. And so the top coat, once you put it on primer, is going to flow nicely. It’s going to hide the brush strokes, the roller marks, and it’s going to give you a good, even sheen across that entire surface. Now, when you try to put these together, I have found that they work if you just have a certain narrow set of circumstances. Let’s say you’ve got a wall that’s maybe a bit dirty and scuffed, hasn’t had a tremendous number of coats of paint on it, but it really needs a refresh and you want to start from scratch. I think in a situation like that where it’s not terribly a challenging surface, a paint and primer in one is probably okay. My problem with paint and primer in one is anytime I’ve tried to put a second coat on, it gets weird because it doesn’t flow and lay like the regular paints do. So that’s why I’m not a big fan of that except in that really narrow circumstance. In your case, you want to cover dark paddling. Listen, you’ve got to go with the two-step process here. Use a good quality primer. It’s going to make that paddling look fantastic once you put the paint coat on. Don’t try to do this in one. You’re really going to get the best job if you use the two products, the primer first and then the paint. |
| 00:32:23 | LESLIE: And you know what? Depending on what that top coat color is, it’s still two very satisfying steps because first the paneling becomes white or a toned tinted primer and then it becomes the color. So hooray. It’s like two different projects. Exactly. All right. Andrew wrote in saying, my home was built 25 years ago and has the original vinyl siding. In a few places, it’s starting to get a few holes and I’m wondering if those panels can just be replaced and what’s involved to do so. |
| 00:32:47 | TOM: Yeah. I mean, you can take vinyl panels off, vinyl siding panels off. There’s actually a tool. It’s a zipping tool or an unzipping tool. It kind of slides between the panels and takes them apart. And once you get the first one off, you can take subsequent ones off. Now, you first need to find out if there’s new vinyl siding available by that same manufacturer. And even if there is, I will caution you that you may have a coloration difference between the two because vinyl siding does fade. Now, if that’s the case, if it’s an inconspicuous area, maybe you don’t care so much. But if it’s going to be really visible, the other thing that you can do with vinyl siding that a lot of people don’t know is you can paint it. You can paint it and have it last a long time so you could make the repair and then paint the vinyl siding and everything would match. |
| 00:33:27 | LESLIE: All right. Good luck with that, Andrew. |
| 00:33:29 | TOM: You are listening to the Money Pit Home Improvement Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com. If you’ve got some projects in mind and weren’t able to get through to us today, remember, you can do that 24-7 when you call us at 888-Money-Pit or always online at MoneyPit.com slash ask. Happy spring, everybody. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 00:33:47 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. Remember, you can do it yourself. 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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