#2421 – Step Up Your Staircase Style | Privacy Screen Landscaping

Show Notes

Looking for privacy? Today, we’ll explore natural landscaping screens over traditional fencing. Plus, discover the benefits of metal roofing for summer replacements and learn how to easily renovate your stairs for a fresh interior look. Listen in for info to create your best home ever, with tips for projects both big and small!

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Podcast Transcript

Stairs: Stepping up the style of your outdated stairs is a great DIY project for home design.
Privacy Screen: Landscaped privacy screens are a natural alternative to building a fence.
Metal Roofs: If you’re thinking about roof replacement, find out the unique benefits of installing a metal roof.

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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00:00:19	TOM: The Money Pit is presented by RoofMax, Wagner Sprayers, and the Metal Roofing Alliance. Now, here are Tom and Leslie. Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is The Money Pit, home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. And I’m Leslie Segrete. What are you guys doing? Are you working on your house this weekend? You got a project you’d like to get done? Maybe you’re thinking about it, but you don’t know where to start or whether you can do it yourself or need to hire a pro. Well, we’ve got two pros sitting right here waiting to take your questions, your calls to help you get started. So reach out to us right now at 1-888-Money-Pit or go to moneypit.com slash ask and click the blue microphone button because we are ready to get to work. Coming up on today’s show. If you guys have a pool or any other space that you’d like to keep out of the public eye, privacy screening can help. It’s landscaping, so it’s natural and it provides an option over fencing. So we’re going to share the best ways to do just that.
00:01:20	LESLIE: And also ahead, summer can definitely be rough on roofs. And that is one reason that now is the most popular season to replace a roof. If your roof is ready for a redo, metal roofing offers a lot of benefits that you’re not going to find in the other roofing materials. We’ll explain why just ahead.
00:01:37	TOM: And are you looking for a fun fix up for a rainy summer afternoon? Well, stepping up your stairs is an easy DIY project that can have positive impacts on your home’s value. We’ll tell you how to do that.
00:01:47	LESLIE: But first, we want to help you create your best home ever. From bathrooms to basements and demolition to decor, we’re your coach, your counselor, your cheerleader for all of those projects, whether they are big or small.
00:01:59	TOM: So your first challenge is to pick up the phone. That’s not too hard, is it? And call us with your questions at 1-888-Money-Pit. That’s 1-888-666-3974. Or hear the trick of the trade. We give out a lot of those on this program. But this one is go to moneypit.com slash ask and click the blue microphone button where you can record your question and send it right to us for the fastest possible response. So we’re ready to get going. Are you? Leslie, who’s first?
00:02:28	LESLIE: Janet in Arizona needs some help gardening. What can we do for you?
00:02:31	CALLER: I live in Sedona, Arizona, which is and I live kind of up in a canyon area. Headed up towards Flagstaff here. And I have a really hard time getting any plants to grow around the very shady sides of my house in kind of border boxes and things like that. And I’ve tried a few different, you know, a few different things. And just with no not much luck. So I’m just wondering if you guys have any suggestions.
00:02:57	TOM: What have you tried?
00:02:58	CALLER: I’ve tried kind of like coleuses, pansies. Right now, I do actually. I have something called a still be that’s kind of working there. We try to hostas hostas. I don’t think I’ve tried hostas.
00:03:14	TOM: What about a copper plant? Have you ever seen a copper plant? They’re very beautiful. They’re like sort of a greenish red orange kind of a plant with big leaves.
00:03:22	CALLER: Oh, nice. No, I haven’t heard of that one. I can look for that.
00:03:25	TOM: Yeah, that would be great. You said you tried. What about begonias? That’s a good shade.
00:03:31	CALLER: I think I’ve tried those in my hanging basket and they don’t do well either. Yeah.
00:03:38	TOM: Well, some of this is going to be trial and error. You know, I know that Home Depot has a new garden club that they’re doing now out of the local stores. And they’ve got some real experts that are associated with that. So that might be a good place or just, you know, go to a local nursery and see what they recommend.
00:03:54	LESLIE: Yeah.
00:03:55	TOM: Those are the typical shade plants that we would put in desert locations.
00:03:58	LESLIE: I mean, I use hosta all across the country whenever there’s shade and they come back. They’re very hardy. It’s a perennial. So it’ll come back season after season if you’re able to. And they really, you know, they thrive in the shade. And there’s a ton of different varieties of hosta. So you can find them in, you know, sort of variegated from like a yellow and green, a green and white, you know, different tones on the greens. So there’s probably one that you like. And occasionally the ones that I have in like my super shady areas almost never flower. The ones that get like partial shade will get sort of like a long, wispy one stem with like a couple of like purple flowers on it. Right. But check them out. Right. Right. You really can’t kill them. Yeah. I think that that’s a great suggestion. Thank you very much. You’re so welcome. Brian in Massachusetts, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today? Hi.
00:04:47	CALLER: I have some honey oak kitchen cabinets that I’m interested in painting white. I was wondering if there’s any certain sort of preparation that I need to do. And is there some sort of primer coat that will kind of fill in the grain because the oak tends to be a little grainy.
00:05:06	LESLIE: Now, I have oak cabinets and I was looking into having them painted and you definitely do want to fill that grain because it will stick out through the paint and as far as what’s going to go on there that’s going to stick and stay and give you a smooth surface and not be affected by moisture, humidity, all the things that go on in the kitchen, that’s a tricky situation. But first, let’s talk about what’s currently on your cabinets now. They’re stained?
00:05:32	CALLER: No, it’s just urethane.
00:05:33	LESLIE: Just urethane. And it feels like it’s pretty stained. Is there a solid of the coating on there?
00:05:39	CALLER: Yeah.
00:05:40	LESLIE: Yeah. You’re going to want to strip that off. Otherwise, anything that you put on there isn’t going to adhere. So, what I would start with is either using a chemical stripper or depending on the quantity of the urethane, you can try to sand it a little bit. But I would try to get as much of it off as I can with a stripping agent. Strip everything down. Then once you’ve gotten there, you can go ahead and, you know, sand it just to keep everything looking nice and smooth. Use a tack cloth to wipe away any of that sort of residue that’s still on there. Make sure you’ve got it. Make sure you’ve got a nice, clean surface. And then I think Tom can better speak to what you could put on top that would fill in that grain and stick.
00:06:14	TOM: Once you have it sanded down, I would recommend that you prime it. I would use an oil-based primer for a couple of reasons. It tends to flow nicely. And that’s going to fill in some of those, some of the grain that you don’t want to see. And it’s also really durable. And it’s really sticky. So, it’s going to really adhere to that old cabinet and give you the perfect surface for the top coat of paint. So, I would definitely put an oil-based primer on. Or a solvent-based primer. And then you’re going to need a couple of coats of finished paint over that. And again, I tend to stick with the solvents for cabinets because I do think they have more abrasion resistance with those doors slamming. You know, you’re going to get a lot of rubbing of the doors against the stiles. And I’m afraid that if you don’t use something that’s tough, it’s going to chip off.
00:06:56	CALLER: So, you recommend the oil-based primer and oil? Yeah, I would.
00:07:00	TOM: I mean, for something like that, I would definitely.
00:07:02	CALLER: Okay. And there’s not any particular product or oil-based primer? I would have. Like, I know I do some work on cars. And they have a spray primer that actually will fill, like, small imperfections. Is there anything like that that might be available for?
00:07:20	TOM: Not specifically for cabinetry. But I just think if you use a good quality primer, you’re going to come as close to it as you possibly can. Remember, you can take those doors off. Take the drawers out. Try to make this as easy on yourself as possible. And you mentioned spraying. You know, if you have access to that kind of equipment, you can spray the doors and the drawers. And they’ll look even nicer.
00:07:39	CALLER: Oh, I was talking about a spray can for a small price.
00:07:43	TOM: Oh, no. That would be a lot of spray cans.
00:07:47	CALLER: Yes, it would. Well, thank you so much for your help. I appreciate your input. And keep up the good work.
00:07:54	TOM: All right. Well, thank you. Good luck with that project. And let us know how it comes out.
00:07:58	LESLIE: Do you love learning about home improvement on our podcast? Well, we love bringing you all the latest tips and tricks.
00:08:03	TOM: And if you want to make us smile, leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. Just go to moneypit.com slash review.
00:08:11	LESLIE: All right. It’s time to talk roofing with Kelly from Delaware. What’s going on, Kelly?
00:08:15	CALLER: We have a home that’s a 2002. It’s not architectural shingles. It’s just the flat shingles. It’s in a resort town, a lot of saltwater. We’re wondering if the shingle rejuvenation products are worth trying to attempt to get at extended life on these shingles. I know Lowe’s sells a brand, and I know there’s a company out there that is like a national company that sprays a roof.
00:08:45	TOM: Yeah. So first of all, so your roof is over 20 years old, so it is naturally getting to the end of a normal life cycle. We work with RoofMax. It’s probably the national company you’re talking about. It’s roofmaxx.com. Now, I can tell you that before we started working with RoofMax, I thoroughly reviewed all the research that was done on their product because having spent 20 years as a professional home inspector, I’ve seen roof treatments come and roof treatments go, but I was impressed by the work that these guys had done in advance. And then since that time, I actually had a chance to use it on a house that was owned by my mom in Florida that we were actually having difficulty selling. Now, her roof was 16 years old, and the reason we were having difficulty selling it is because the insurance companies down there don’t want to insure homes that have roofs that are older than 15. It’s kind of an arbitrary number. They just don’t want to insure Florida, bottom line. But the way I solved it was we hired RoofMax. com to treat the roof. And I met with the team down there. We went up on the roof together. I, you know, all those years as a home inspector, I know when a shingle looks dried out. And this one was getting there. I mean, it wasn’t worn out, but it was certainly in the last quarter of its life cycle. And once they put the product on, we actually could see a huge difference in the flexibility of the shingle, right? Not right away, but I mean, the next day. They actually came the day before because we were filming this, and they sprayed half the roof, which they normally, of course, wouldn’t do in real life. And we came back the next day. And we were able to kind of do a side-by-side comparison between the RoofMax-treated side and the side that was untreated. And man, what a difference it made. And actually, as a result of that, we had the local building inspector certify the roof as having at least five years of life left in it. And that’s what the insurance company needed to move off that refusal to insure the home. So I think it worked, and I think it worked well. And it’s about 20% of the cost of the new roof. Now, is it possible that a roof can be too old to do this? Yes. Yes. And that’s why RoofMax dealers all do inspections to determine that first. They’re not going to sell you the product if your roof has exceeded their ability to treat it. So I think sort of a no-risk first step is for you to find your local RoofMax dealer, which you can look up on RoofMax.com, and have them come out to your house and look at the roof, see if it qualifies, and then give you an estimate for the cost. But my experience has been good.
00:10:59	CALLER: That’s good to know. I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t a gimmick. No.
00:11:03	TOM: I had the same concerns myself. Because like I said, I used to pull up to roofs as a home inspector, and I’d look up, and my new jerk reaction was, and it was a 20-year-old velvet, and I’ll look up at the roof, and it looks very nice and bright and white. I’m like, oh, I must have put a new roof on. And then I get up on the ladder, and I look down at the roof, and I notice that in the keys, the slots between the shingles, those were also white. And I’m thinking, well, that’s weird, because normally that part of the roof is natural asphalt, single color. Well, of course, it didn’t take long for me to figure out that these guys had painted the roof, like with regular paint. And called it a roof treatment. So I’ve seen lots of gimmicks over the years. But that’s why I’m so cautious about products like that. And I really was pretty impressed. And you can look up the research yourself. It’s on their website at roofmix.com. Well, I appreciate that so much. You’re welcome. Good luck with the project. Let us know how you make out. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.
00:11:53	LESLIE: Well, enjoying a relaxing afternoon in your own backyard is one of the true joys of homeownership. But what if you’ve ever had that feeling that your neighbors are getting an eyeful every time you’re out there? Yeah. Yeah. It might be a good idea to try to create a more private area. Yeah.
00:12:08	TOM: And there are a lot of very natural ways to do just that. Typically, when you think of privacy screening, you assume it’s going to take a fence to accomplish that. But there are some natural ways that can do just as great a job, if not better. So here are a couple of options. First, consider a line of evergreen trees or arborvitae trees. These can provide year-round seclusion even better than the fence because there are no municipal restrictions on how high they can get. They can grow, right? I mean, all sorts of rules and regulations about fencing, but not about lines of trees and bushes. An arborvitae is a good choice because it doesn’t need pruning to keep it in full shape from top to bottom, and it adapts to a wide range of growing conditions. Now, if there’s a deer problem in your area, like mine, go with a specific type of arborvitae called green giant arborvitaes, which are deer-resistant.
00:12:58	LESLIE: Now, trees that are evergreen are also an option, but if there are power lines above your screen, you don’t want trees that are so big. They’re going to grow into those wires. Now, you have to pay attention to their width at maturity. The rule is that the spacing between trunks when you plant that tree should equal what that width is going to be when it’s mature. Now, while the ideal growing conditions may vary by species, one thing all of these evergreens do have in common is that they love, love, love, love the sunshine. So you’ve got to give them at least six hours of direct sunlight a day, and their foliage will remain full and keep that sunlight. That privacy intact year-round. Now, to get a sense of privacy right away, you want to select specimens that are at least six feet tall with green foliage and moist root balls. They’re going to reach 15 feet or more when they are mature, and these trees need to be planted far enough apart so that they will be touching each other when they’re full-grown, but they’re going to be stunted if you put them too close together now. And that spacing really does depend on the variety that you choose.
00:14:00	TOM: Now, in time, as the hedge fills in, you’re going to have a solid wall of green to enjoy. You’re going to have a solid wall of green to enjoy year-round. We’re actually about four years into a line of green giant arborvitaes, and man, these things have grown, I’ve got to say, at least six feet over four years. In fact, now they’re about four or five feet wide. I’m thinking about trimming them back because they’re getting so big, but they’re just beautiful, and they form a really nice hedge that gives us a nice bit of privacy to our backyard.
00:14:27	LESLIE: Allison, Marilyn’s on the line with an electrical question. What’s going on at your money pit?
00:14:31	CALLER: We are trying to determine whether it would be worthwhile to replace our service. Our house was built in 1976. We currently have 150-amp service underground, and an electrician recommended that we upgrade
00:14:47	LESLIE: to 200-amp service, and it’s a pretty big expense, so we’re wondering if that’s worthwhile. Are you doing any sort of renovation that requires more power? Are you adding in central air, upgrading appliances? Is there a change happening that requires the power?
00:15:04	CALLER: We’ve done a lot of upgrading here in the past, and this is just something that recently was recommended to us when we had just a ceiling fan installed by the electrician.
00:15:15	TOM: I have to say, Alice, that I think what your electrician is recommending you do is fund perhaps his next vacation or college tuition payment because I don’t think going from 150 to 200 makes much difference. Is this a gas-fired house? You have natural gas?
00:15:33	CALLER: We have no gas in the area.
00:15:35	TOM: So this is all electric? Yes. How are you heating your house? Is it a heat pump?
00:15:39	CALLER: We have a heat pump, yes.
00:15:40	TOM: And you have one zone or two? How many heat pumps do you have?
00:15:43	CALLER: One zone.
00:15:43	TOM: I’ve got to tell you, I mean, I think you probably have enough unless you can prove to me that you’re really using more than 150 amps. I seriously doubt you need 200. That’s a lot of power, even for an all-electric house.
00:15:59	LESLIE: I mean, we had to upgrade to a 200-amperage service because we put in central air, and central air conditioning, and we were only on 100, and that was that.
00:16:08	TOM: Yeah. I mean, and even 100, I mean, I was an inspector for 20 years. I used to put a tool called an amp probe on those main cables when everything was running in the house. I mean, we’re talking about electric ovens, refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, and, you know, it would be like a 150-amp service pulling like, you know, 50, 60 amps with everything on. So, you know, you’d be surprised how much you can pull through that. Okay. I think you ought to get a second opinion.
00:16:32	CALLER: We were skeptical. So, thought it was… Didn’t feel right. Definitely wanted to check into it before making that major expense. Yep.
00:16:40	TOM: Yep, exactly. Well, thanks for calling, and I’m glad we helped you out.
00:16:42	LESLIE: Thank you. You’re a great resource. I really appreciate it. William from South Carolina is on the line with a flooring question. How can we help you today? Okay.
00:16:49	CALLER: I’m getting conflicting stories about bamboo flooring, and we want to put bamboo down in the kitchen. It’s a stranded bamboo. How will that work?
00:16:59	LESLIE: It’s a stranded bamboo? Is that what you said? Yes.
00:17:01	TOM: What’s the form of this? Is it tongue and groove?
00:17:03	CALLER: Yes, it’s tongue and groove.
00:17:04	TOM: So, why are you concerned about putting it in the kitchen? It’s a perfect choice for that.
00:17:08	CALLER: I’ve heard several people say, you know, it’s a bad choice. It’ll soak up too much liquid if you spill water on it or something.
00:17:14	TOM: Not bamboo. Yeah.
00:17:15	LESLIE: Now, a bamboo floor, I mean, really is good for all kinds of high moisture situations because of the way that it’s made, because of the way that the bamboo is super durable. I think for a kitchen, though, you know, bamboo has a very specific look, and if that’s what you’re going for, then that’s great. If you want some other options for a kitchen, I personally love bamboo. You don’t have to put a cork floor in a kitchen. It’s got a little bit more give to it. It’s super durable. Again, it’s not something that you would want to necessarily have, you know, spill a lot of water on it, but should you, you’d be okay. But the cork flooring is beautiful, but there are so many other options. I mean, there’s vinyl tiles and vinyl planks and vinyl floorings that are made to look just like any other type of lumber or stone, for that matter, and they’re super durable. I mean, you can get them very, very wet. You can put them in high moisture situations. You know, there’s a lot of other products out there, whereas bamboo’s got a look, and if that’s what you want, it’s great for the application. You just have to think about, you know, what the durability of it is, the ease of installment, those types of things. Okay.
00:18:12	CALLER: I do appreciate it. It eases my mind. Thank you.
00:18:16	TOM: All right. Good. Well, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. Thank you. Well, spring rains hit hard, and that’s one reason as we move into summer, it’s a very popular time for replacing your home’s roof. But no matter what, it’s a very popular time for replacing your home’s roof. No matter what the weather, if your roof is ready for a redo, quality metal roofing offers lots of benefits you won’t find in other materials. To learn more, we welcome Renee Ramey, the Executive Director of the Metal Roofing Alliance. Welcome, Renee.
00:18:45	RENEE RAMEY: Oh, thank you, Tom and Leslie. It’s so nice to be here.
00:18:48	TOM: It’s the season for re-roofing. It’s the time when it all, you know, sort of comes to the forefront in terms of our attention, especially if we’ve been through some of the storms that we’ve been hearing about on the news lately. I want to talk first about metal roofing’s durability. To stand up to storms, and in particular, the terrible hurricanes and tornadoes that we’ve seen very recently and going back several years. How does metal roof do with those super high wind situations?
00:19:13	RENEE: Very well. Actually, we like to tell quality metal roofing systems as being superior to pretty much any other roofing material out there. And in large part, it has to do with how systems are installed, which in layman’s terms, uses a lot of screws and fasteners. And in clips, and just by design and specification, the structure of the material, add that all together, and it just really creates a solid, performing, durable protection for your home.
00:19:45	TOM: That’s a great point, because when you think about traditional asphalt shingle roofs, as soon as the wind just grabs an edge of that shingle, it’s all over, right? It just kind of rips it right up and off the roof. But with metal roofing, it’s larger sheets. They’re very securely attached. And so that just doesn’t happen. And I imagine this kind of… It goes without saying, but it also holds up to hail as well. Hail can cause an awful lot of damage to roofs. But I would imagine with metal roofing, it kind of just bounces off.
00:20:10	RENEE: Yeah, in large part, it does. And even if you do aesthetically end up seeing dents or whatnot, if you’ve got a quality roof, you can rest assured that the metal roofing itself isn’t cracking. Water isn’t penetrating through the roof, typically. Whereas with a standard asphalt roof, you won’t even be able to see. Some of those micro cracks that happen after a hailstorm or during a hailstorm, but you will when the water starts penetrating through your roof and leaking into your home. So that’s the nice thing about metal is, yeah, usually you won’t ever see it. It performs perfectly, even if it did leave a mark. Again, the quality of metal roofing, you can rest assured it’s not getting through the roof to your home.
00:20:53	TOM: You know, speaking of roof leaks and storms, what’s the position of insurance companies on metal roofing? I would imagine that they favor it greatly. Do they offer discounts? Do they offer discounts to folks that have metal roofs?
00:21:03	RENEE: Yeah, in most regions, they do. In fact, I’m not aware of any regions they do not. I’m sure they exist, but I definitely am aware of most that do.
00:21:12	TOM: We’re talking to Renee Ramey. She is the executive director of the Metal Roofing Alliance about quality metal roofing. And Renee, I want to ask you about one of the concerns about metal roofing is that folks think that it’s a very noisy roof. But I tend to think they’re thinking of the very old-fashioned metal roofs, you know, before we had the systems we have today. Do you still hear that concern?
00:21:31	RENEE: Yeah, we actually do hear that quite often, especially in the rainy season. But you are correct. Our metal roofing systems of today, if they’re installed correctly, are not going to be any noisier, if not more quiet, actually, than other roofing materials.
00:21:46	TOM: And along the same lines, it is metal. And we know that lightning loves metal. Does having a metal roof make your home more attractive to a lightning strike?
00:21:55	RENEE: It does not. Actually, we just got done putting together a promotional piece that spoke to lightning, and the myths of metal roofing. But the things that actually draw lightning are more to do with the height of a structure or where it’s located more than the material itself. And in fact, metal roofing will help dissipate if by chance the structure is hit with lightning. The metal roofing will help that energy dissipate through a wider surface area, which a lot of times can actually help downplay the damage of a strike versus lightning. It might be with another type of material.
00:22:32	TOM: Yeah, that makes sense. And while we’re talking about climate, let’s talk about areas of the country that have been devastated by wildfires. And I know what always gets me is I see these homes that have just been completely demolished, and yet there they were with a wood shingle roof. So it’s kind of like throwing kindling to those fires when you see that. But metal roofing, obviously, completely fireproof. That’s not going to happen. If I had to be in a house in a fire, I would certainly want to have a metal roof, right?
00:22:58	RENEE: Most systems are rated Class A, which is… The highest rating you can get. And the nice thing about metal roofs, again, insulation is a big part of the performance of a metal roof, but it is what we call ember resistant. So a lot of times, even if you’re not right on the fire or in the fire, embers can travel up to a mile and still cause damage. And with metal roofing, it’s ember resistant from the fact that if a burning ember lands on a metal roof, it’s not going to catch fire. The way the metal roofs are installed, if they’re installed correctly for wildfire areas, even the ability for an ember to blow into an area of the roof underneath, it can help there as well. So no, metal roofs perform very well in fires. And we’ve seen that a lot in fire-prone areas.
00:23:49	TOM: I bet you have a lot of folks that had wood roofs before and now on the rebuild went metal all the way. Yeah.
00:23:54	RENEE: Yeah. In fact, I live out on the West Coast and we had a fire a couple of years ago that was just devastating. It burnt down hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of homes. And a couple of the counties actually put in a mandate that you had to put in a metal roof if it was a new roof going on at home.
00:24:13	TOM: Well, there certainly is a lot to know about metal roofing. And we call it quality metal roofing because there’s a lot of differences in quality out there. But if you’re using a good product, you’re going to get great benefits. I want to ask you about one more that I know a lot of folks are unaware of whenever I mentioned it, and that is the energy efficiency of a roof. You know, when you choose roofing. You generally don’t think about whether or not they’re energy efficient or not. It’s just sort of not part of the consideration set. But with metal, it definitely should be. And that has a lot to do with the coatings. Can you talk about that, how metal roofs are finished today and how the coatings help us from an energy efficiency perspective?
00:24:46	RENEE: Yeah, absolutely. And you’re spot on. Metal roofs, a lot of them have what’s called a cool coating, which is basically referring to the paint system that goes on the metal itself. And the composition of those paints nowadays. Have properties that will actually reflect a lot of incoming heat. And if any is absorbed, you know, there’s a thing called emissivity. And that just speaks to how much of the heat gets re-emitted back into the atmosphere. But the short story is that with a good roof, with a good coating, you’re going to see your energy bills go down, both on the heating front and the air conditioning front, depending on where you live. You know, we’ve seen some pretty impressive energy cost reduction. Numbers in different regions of the U.S. and Canada where it makes a significant difference.
00:25:35	TOM: Yeah, those low-E coatings are amazing. Very similar to what you have in an energy efficient window where it reflects the heat back out and doesn’t let it get into the home. So all around, lots of great reasons to consider metal roofing. Now, Renee, I know on your website at metalroofing.com, you have a lot of consumer resources. I think they’re really well done.
00:25:56	RENEE: We’ve got a couple of guides that were done in partnership with third-party entities out there. There’s a sustainability guide and a resilience guide. But the MRA, we’ve created our own buyer’s guide, what we call buyer’s guide, and it walks the homeowner through not only how do you tell when you need a new roof, what things should you look for, but it actually walks the homeowner as well through, you know, where you live matters. So depending on your region within the U.S. or Canada and the types of weather events, the heat, things of that nature, it’ll kind of walk you through things to consider when you’re selecting a roof. And then, hopefully, when you get to a point where you’re interested in metal, we’ll even walk you through what to know about the specifications you should be asking for and how it gets installed and things to ask your contractor about just to make sure homeowners end up with a quality metal roof on their home that’s going to last them a lifetime. That’s our ultimate goal. Terrific.
00:26:49	TOM: Renee Ramey, Metal Roofing Alliance Executive Director, thank you so much for taking some time with us today here on The Money Pit. And to check out those guides and learn more about metal roofing, just go to their website, at metalroofing.com. That’s metalroofing.com. Thanks, Renee.
00:27:03	RENEE: All right. Thanks, Tom and Leslie. It’s been a pleasure.
00:27:06	LESLIE: Helen in Arizona is on the line with a question about some bubbling paint. What is going on?
00:27:12	CALLER: I had the exterior of my home painted last summer, and the painter had power-washed it, came back in a couple of days, a day or two, and actually did the painting. And it was about… Two months after that, I happened to notice little bubbles appearing under the paint.
00:27:39	CALLER: And I presume that’s because there’s water under that paint.
00:27:46	TOM: Not necessarily. What you have is an adhesion issue. So the paint’s not sticking to the wood siding or the substrate, whatever it is. This is a wood-sided house? Yeah.
00:27:54	CALLER: It’s a manufactured home. Yes. Okay.
00:27:56	TOM: Do you know if your painter applied a primer or did he just put the top coat paint on?
00:28:03	CALLER: I’m trying to think if my paint did have primer in it.
00:28:06	TOM: Well, it wouldn’t have it in it. It would be a second coat. See, the right procedure would have been to scrape or pressure wash, as he did in this case, to get rid of the loose paint, algae or mildew and so on, let it dry, and then prime it, because primer is what makes the paint stick. Now, if he didn’t prime it… …and the paint’s separating after two months, that’s a big problem. And it’s a problem for your painter, because he did something wrong. There’s no way that paint should be failing after two months.
00:28:36	CALLER: I had it painted the fall prior, and the person did a terrible job. And so I decided to change colors and have it done again.
00:28:47	TOM: The new painter, the guy who does it, accepts the condition of the house. So if the first guy made any mistakes, then the second guy… The guy’s job is to correct those mistakes so that his work looks good.
00:28:59	CALLER: But there was no bubbling after the first paint job. Okay.
00:29:01	TOM: I heard you on that. But okay. No matter what was there before, you need to make sure that the house was not only cleaned and loose paint removed, but primed, because at some point, you can’t keep putting layers upon layers of paint and expect everyone to stick to the one before it. Primer is the glue that makes the paint stick, and if you did not prime, I think that’s probably a good reason that this paint is failing. Two days in warm weather should probably have been enough to deal with any moisture from the pressure washing. I mean, heck, it’s not much more than just a heavy rainfall. So I think what you need to do is to contact that painter and have them back and have a discussion as to why your paint’s failing after such a short period of time. It absolutely should not be happening. Thanks for calling us and wish you the best of luck with that project.
00:29:47	LESLIE: Well, some areas of the home may seem easier to update than others, but if you feel stuck with a dated stairway that was built decades ago… Well, they may be actually one that you can do something about.
00:29:59	TOM: Yeah, you can do this project yourself. All you need is a tape measure, a drill, and a few other common tools. It’s a very easy update, and you can switch out dated wooden balusters for trendy iron balusters. It’s a project you can get done in an afternoon, and it’s a much more affordable project than replacing an entire stair system.
00:30:16	LESLIE: Yeah, and the idea of mixing wood and iron in your home is a very popular design trend that we’re seeing a lot of these days. And this is a project where you can keep your wood. You can keep your wood handrails and posts, but add in those elegant iron balusters. And I tell you, there’s a lot of design styles out there. There’s some that are super ornate and turned, and there are some that are really simple and kind of clean and modern. So there is definitely an iron look for you that’s going to work with your design style. Now that project simply involves swapping out that wooden baluster for the designer iron ones. Now after those older wooden balusters are carefully removed, pivoting fasteners are attached to the handrail. Then the iron balusters are installed. Inserted, pivoted, and swung into that vertical position. Alignment is completed, and screws are tightened to secure that baluster. And boy, do you have a beautiful, fantastic new look.
00:31:05	TOM: Yeah, and like you say, there are a lot of systems available for sale to help you with this project. Or you may feel more comfortable with hiring a contractor to complete the upgrade. But either way, it’s going to cost you a lot less than replacing that stair system.
00:31:19	LESLIE: Russ in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, reached out, and he says that last winter, my kitchen sink water line. I’d left the cabinet open, but it didn’t help. This time, they didn’t burst, but I’m worried that it could happen again in the future. What’s a good way to avoid this?
00:31:36	TOM: Yeah, and now’s a good time to do that. We’re not dealing with sub-zero temperatures. One good way to deal with this is to replace the metal lines, the metal, probably copper lines that you have, with PEX. Now I did this exact project in my old house because my water lines ran up the exterior wall. And even though it was insulated. It just wasn’t enough insulation when it got really, really cold out. So what we did is we left those pipes in place, and then we rerouted them, in my case, from a crawl space inside the kitchen cabinet. So it went from the crawl space up through the floor into the kitchen cabinet, and then connected to the faucets from there. And we never had a frozen issue again. And PEX is a good product to do that with because frankly, even if it does freeze, it expands and it doesn’t break.
00:32:23	LESLIE: All right. Now we’ve got a post here from Sean who says. I’d like to convert a bathtub to a walk-in shower in my upstairs bath. I had two plumbers tell me that that would be a bad idea. My guess is they just don’t want to do the job, but is there any reason that I shouldn’t be changing this to a walk-in shower?
00:32:39	TOM: Well, I think putting in a walk-in shower can be a smart idea, especially if you’re planning on being in that home into your older years. Having a barrier-free shower can really come in super handy. Leslie, you tell me what you think about this. My two cents is if you already have a tub, at least one tub in the house, it’s okay to create any others that you have in the showers, but I think you ought to have at least one tub because when you go to sell your house, a lot of parents are going to want that tub not for themselves, but for bathing the kids, right?
00:33:12	LESLIE: 100%. I mean, you need a place to wash the kids, and the kids generally don’t like showers for a long, long time. So you want that bathtub. So if you’re taking it away without putting another one in, then you definitely are making a mistake. But if you’ve got multiple baths, then go for it. Yeah.
00:33:27	TOM: I don’t see any reason from a plumbing perspective that it would be a bad idea. So I think you’re just not talking to the right plumber, Shawn. So good luck with that project. Well, if you have the room for it, a playset or a deck is a great addition to your backyard. But if you’re going to build one yourself, you need to be sure you use the right type of wood. Leslie has the details in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word. Leslie? Yeah.
00:33:54	LESLIE: Yeah. So if you’re thinking about building a deck or a backyard playset this summer, you want to make sure that you use a sturdy wood that’s resistant to decay and to pests, because both can wreak a lot of havoc on anything that you build out of that lumber. But you also want to be cautious in the lumber that you choose, because chemicals in treated wood can leach out, and you really just don’t want to expose your kids to that possibility. So for decks and playground equipment, a better option to consider is reclaimed cedar or redwood, as both of these options can be used. Now, as for those playground surfaces, wood chips are also very good and a natural choice, but one product that I would stay away from now is a playground surface made from recycled tires. That rubber was designed to contact the road and not your kids, and there have been many concerned about the chemicals that it might be releasing. So let’s just avoid that altogether, and better safe than sorry.
00:34:51	TOM: This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Come on in. Coming up next time on the program, outdoor living spaces have never been more popular, and that includes outdoor kitchens. But cooking and dining outside requires some special recipes of its own. We’re going to have tips for designing an amazing outdoor kitchen on the next edition of The Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
00:35:13	LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
00:35:14	TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself.
00:35:16	LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone.

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