Show Notes
On this show, find out why tripped circuits may be a sign your electrical panel is ready for an upgrade, learn an easy way to prevent ice dams on your roof, and get DIY hacks to fix water rings, dings, and dents on your furniture. Plus, listen in as callers’ home improvement questions are answered with expert advice!
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
- Electrical Upgrades: Learn 5 powerful reasons to upgrade your electrical panel.
- Ice Dams: Icicles on your roof can indicate a potential roof leak, but there’s an easy way to prevent ice dams.
- Furniture Repair: Repair furniture dings, dents, and stains with these easy DIY hacks.
Top Questions & Answers
- Bathroom: Eddie has a moisture problem in his bathrooms. He should ensure he has enough attic insulation and install humidistats with timers to increase ventilation.
- Flooring: There’s sun damage around the floor area where Ty pulled up a rug. Time and UV light will eventually even out the wood flooring unless he wants to sand the entire floor.
- Sewer: Betsy has tree root clumps blocking her sewer line. There are ways to clear the sewer line without having to excavate the whole area.
- Mice: Mice are coming into William’s house through the basement. He must avoid storing anything that attracts them, seal all gaps, and place bait stations on the basement ledge.
- Fireplace: Wind is blowing in all around a gas fireplace. Susan should look for gaps around the box, check the installation guidelines, and install fireplace doors.
- Paneling: What is the best way to cover dark wood paneling? If it’s not glued on, David can try removing it. Otherwise, he can paint it or add a layer of drywall over it.
- Tile Floor: The ceramic tile floor in a new home is already cracking, probably due to the lack of an isolation membrane installed between the slab and the tile. Debra should have an independent engineer evaluate it.
Ask Your Home Improvement Question
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 00:00:00 | TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 00:01:06 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 00:00:00 | TOM: Happy New Year, everybody. Hope you guys had a great holiday season and you are planning projects for the year ahead because we would love to help. Reach out to us. You got a home improvement project. You got a repair, a remodeling, a decor dilemma. That’s why we’re here. Our number here is 1-888-Money-Pit or you can very easily go to moneypit.com slash ask and post your question by clicking the blue microphone. Coming up on today’s show, you probably don’t think much about your home’s electrical panel until a circuit trips and then you’re pretty much forced to think about it. Those trip circuits might be a sign that your panel is ready for an upgrade. We’ll explain why. |
| 00:01:06 | LESLIE: And icicles on trees, they are super-duper pretty, but icicles on your roof, pretty also, but they can be a sign of a potential roof leak, which is bad. So we’re going to explain the easiest way that you can prevent those ice dams this winter. |
| 00:01:20 | TOM: And did your furniture pick up a little extra wear and tear over the holidays? We’ve got quick hacks to fix water rings and dings and dents just ahead. |
| 00:01:28 | LESLIE: But first, we want to know what you want to know. It’s our job. It’s our mission to educate, inspire, and help you build confidence on those projects that you want to get done. |
| 00:01:38 | TOM: But your job is to help yourself by first reaching out to us with your projects and your questions. There are a couple of ways to do that. 1-888-Money-Pit is one way, or you can go to moneypit.com slash ask. Click the blue. |
| 00:01:50 | LESLIE: Microphone button, record your question, and you’ll be first in the line next time. We’re in the studio. Let’s get started. Leslie, who’s first got Eddie in Delaware on the line was dealing with a moisture situation going on. Tell us about it. |
| 00:02:03 | CALLER: I’m having a moisture problem with two out of the three bathrooms. It’s a three bathroom home. |
| 00:02:12 | CALLER: And each, each bathroom has a inline exhaust fan. And this, this occurred last. Last season, last winter season. And we’ve got a really severe winter. And we’re getting a lot of condensation. I have dampers in two of the bathrooms at the ceiling. And last season, last winter season, I installed additional damper after the exhaust fan, after the inline fan in the ceiling. And I was still getting a lot of moisture. News. And we’re going to take a look at the ceiling where the sheetrock was actually falling apart. That’s how much moisture we got. Okay. |
| 00:02:55 | TOM: First of all, right above this space, is there an attic? What’s above it? |
| 00:03:01 | CALLER: Yes, it’s an attic, yes. |
| 00:03:02 | TOM: All right. And how much insulation do you have in that attic? |
| 00:03:04 | CALLER: The home is only 8 years old. |
| 00:03:07 | TOM: So, first of all, bathrooms are sources of warm, moist air. If the temperature of the drywall is chilly, it’s going to condense and cause condensation. So, you want to make sure that the attic above it, that you’ve got at least 15 to 20 inches of insulation in there. That’s really important. |
| 00:03:24 | CALLER: Oh, there is. There definitely is. And what I also did was, when I started having this problem, I replaced the flexible ductwork, which was originally R6, to the maximum of R8. And I’m still getting the problem. And these two bathrooms that I’m having the problem, they’re not used for showers or bathing of any sort. |
| 00:03:47 | TOM: The second thing I want to suggest to you is, you mentioned that you have exhaust fans in two of the three? |
| 00:03:52 | CALLER: No, no. All three have their own individual in-line exhaust fans, yes. Okay. |
| 00:03:58 | TOM: So, in-line, in other words, it’s ducted out somewhere, they’re all connected together and ducted out at one point? They’re not connected. |
| 00:04:03 | CALLER: They’re not connected together. They’re all different. |
| 00:04:06 | TOM: They all vent on their own out the building? Yes. And you can confirm that the vents are working, so if you turn the fan on, if you go outside, you’ll see the flapper? Yes. So, hooking them up to a humidistat slash timer might not be a bad idea, because this way, when the humidity gets high in the room, it’ll automatically come on. Leviton makes such a switch, designed specifically for bath fans, and I think that might be the next step. I think we need to move more air through these rooms. The second thing is, what’s underneath these bathrooms? Are these on the second floor or first floor? Are they over a slab? |
| 00:04:39 | CALLER: It’s a ranch home. |
| 00:04:40 | TOM: And what’s underneath? Crawl space. Crawl space? Okay. Does the crawl space have a high-humidity problem? No. I would recommend that you replace the existing fan switch with a humidistatically-controlled fan switch. Yeah, okay. I’ll try. Eddie, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:04:57 | LESLIE: Carolyn Rhode Island is on the line and needs some help with the exterior of her home. How can we help you? |
| 00:05:02 | CALLER: I have a 115-year-old Queen Anne Victorian. Twelve years ago, I replaced all the columns on the porch, and they’re rotting out again. And they’re finger-jointed columns, and I was told they were installed incorrectly, so I’d like to know the correct way to install them. |
| 00:05:22 | TOM: Why were you told that they were installed incorrectly? |
| 00:05:25 | CALLER: I was told that because the top was not sealed with some kind of flashing, that there was snow and rain getting in the top of the column, and it was rotting the column from the inside out. |
| 00:05:37 | TOM: Well, that may or may not be the case, I mean, certainly you need to pay attention to water control when you do a project like that. It’s hard for me to imagine, usually columns sit underneath an overhang, but if there was some aspect of it that was exposed, then maybe that could be the case. Another area to make sure you keep it off the ground is at the bottom of the column. We usually advise columns to be put on something called a post-dog, which is like a plate that keeps it up a half inch or an inch off of the floor or the slab, depending on how this is built, so that you have some room for the column. You want the column to dry out and not collect water, but generally, any time you have water that collects in an area, you are going to have rot. Now, replacing these columns is not a do-it-yourself project, so you need to proceed very carefully with this, because those columns hold a lot of weight, and that weight has to be transferred while the repair is being made. |
| 00:06:32 | CALLER: So let me ask you this, I’m thinking now of replacing them with the new fiberglass or composite columns, whatever they’re made out of, told by a friend of mine that I should still have. Do you have some kind of a steel pole inserted in the middle to hold the weight of the porch? |
| 00:06:49 | TOM: Yeah, it depends on the column. There are those types of composite columns where there’s essentially a metal column, like a lolly column, that does all the work, the structural work, and then the decorative column kind of snaps around that. |
| 00:07:01 | CALLER: Oh, I didn’t realize that. |
| 00:07:02 | TOM: Because the composite itself may not be load-bearing. In fact, it would be unlikely for it to handle almost any weight whatsoever. |
| 00:07:10 | CALLER: Thank you for the information and for confirming what my friend told me. He’s not a carpenter, so I was questioning him. |
| 00:07:15 | TOM: You tell him he’s very smart. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:07:21 | LESLIE: Do you love learning about home improvement on our podcast? Well, we love bringing you all the latest tips and tricks. |
| 00:07:26 | 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. |
| 00:07:34 | LESLIE: All right, now we’re heading to Tennessee where Ty is on the line. What’s going on at your money pit? |
| 00:07:38 | CALLER: My wife and I had an area rug in our den. And you know, we had a lot of fun. It was a large area rug. We needed to replace it, so we picked it up. And there’s sun damage where it’s faded the hardwood floors. So there’s a lot of demarcation. And I was wanting to know if there was an easy way to fix that without having to sand the hardwood floors. |
| 00:07:58 | TOM: Yeah, time. |
| 00:08:02 | TOM: Time will fix it. You know, I have hardwood floors in my very old house. And I remember once having to do a pretty significant repair where an old floor furnace…do you remember those old floor furnaces that would sit flush with the floor? So I had a big square hole in the floor. And I had to take that out and put framing in and then replace the flooring. And I actually had to make some of this flooring because it was an unusual shape. And despite my best efforts, of course, the new flooring was like…it was like the difference between white and brown. It was like that distinct. It looked clearly like a patch. And I had the same feeling about, well, maybe I could stain it. But I knew that if I just let it alone, it would eventually fade. And I’ll tell you what, within a year, it had faded to match the other floor perfectly. And I’m so glad that I did not try to mess with it and I just let ultraviolet light and time do its thing. The same way it protected that floor under that carpet, it will eventually fade and be the exact same color as the rest of the floor. So I wouldn’t do a thing. Leslie, what do you think? |
| 00:09:06 | LESLIE: I mean, it’s always really interesting when you have a beautiful floor and you want it to look fantastic. So… Yeah. I mean, if you have time and, you know, learn to live with it, you’ll enjoy it. Okay. |
| 00:09:15 | CALLER: Well, thank you, because I wasn’t sure. I mean, if you could put a glaze or something on the faded part to try to match the other part. We just didn’t want to have to go through the hassle of re-sanding that whole room and then, you know, the dust and all that stuff that goes along with it. |
| 00:09:30 | CALLER: It is a big project. |
| 00:09:32 | TOM: It’s a very big project. Yeah. So, I mean, I really think you should just give it some time and let it fade back. And, you know, you give it some time, it’ll save all that money and time and aggravation. Because the only way to skip this step is to basically refinish the whole floor. Yeah. And there’s really no reason for that. |
| 00:09:48 | LESLIE: Or just cover it up again with another rug. |
| 00:09:51 | CALLER: Yeah. We were thinking about covering it up with a smaller rug, but that still leaves a lot of demarcation. Yeah. So we may have to go back with an 8×10 again. |
| 00:09:58 | LESLIE: Or a 9×12 until you eventually cover the whole floor. |
| 00:10:03 | CALLER: Well, that’s true, too. Okay. So we’ve lived without the rug on there for three or four months now. So we may just go for another year and see what happens. There you go. |
| 00:10:12 | TOM: See what happens. All right, Ty. Good luck. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:10:17 | LESLIE: Well, your home’s electrical panel is made up of circuits that provide electricity to your home. Now, you probably never think about it until that circuit trips. And then you have to because something stops working or you’re sitting in the dark. But if you find this is happening more often, it could be a sign that you need to upgrade your electrical service panel. Yeah. |
| 00:10:36 | TOM: So how do you know? Well, there are really five signs your service panel might need an upgrade. First off is basically bad wiring. Faulty wiring is a leading cause of fires in the country. And signs of faulty wiring are going to include things like dimming or flickering lights, slight shock sensations when touching an appliance. Sometimes you’ll get a persistent burning smell, or you’ll get a sparking or discoloring of power outlets. If you see any of those, you may have some wiring issues to deal with. Yeah. |
| 00:11:03 | LESLIE: But what if you’re a homeowner? If your home still has fuses, I mean, does that sort of automatically signal that you need to upgrade? Sometimes. |
| 00:11:09 | TOM: Fuses and circuit breakers basically function the same. They prevent a short circuit or a circuit overload. You know, a circuit breaker interrupts the circuit. A fuse can actually melt and become a fire hazard. Fuses are not illegal, but they are outdated. They’re designed for a time when we didn’t have so many electrical appliances and outlets and basically just demand on the system. And the fuses have to be replaced. Where circuit breakers, they just need to be reset. So it really comes down to not only safety, but also convenience. |
| 00:11:39 | LESLIE: Now I think another sign is if you kind of find yourself needing a lot of extension cords or power strips around the house, because if you’re kind of plugging everything into one outlet via these power strips or the extension cord, it’s probably a good idea to upgrade. And you can also install new electrical outlets and a circuit where they’re needed, and that’s going to minimize fire and tripping hazards. |
| 00:12:00 | TOM: Now if you’re upgrading major appliances. For instance, that’s a great time to upgrade your panel as well. This could include things like maybe adding a pool, a hot tub, a spa, a new AC unit, or other appliance that uses a lot of energy. Standard electrical panels can provide anywhere between 100 and actually 400 amps of power. If you have anything less than 100 though, you’re going to have a really hard time keeping up with power demands. And it’s always smart to update your electrical panel when you’re renovating if you plan on selling your home. So keep that in mind. And by the way, that’s a project that only a lot of people do. It’s not something that a licensed electrician can and should do. It’s actually a complicated series of things that have to be done when you replace a panel because the power company has to disconnect it from the street power, then the electrician has to basically remove and replace the old panel, and then the system is reconnected, the meter is reinstalled, and you’re back online. But there’s a lot of steps, and definitely not a DIY project. |
| 00:12:56 | CALLER: Betsy in Delaware, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you today? In my basement, I have my clean-out thing. And I’ve got a lot of stuff. Oh, over the years, I’ve noticed that my plumber is around more than anybody else. |
| 00:13:08 | TOM: You’ve got him on retainer, huh? Yeah. |
| 00:13:09 | CALLER: So I had a new heating and air conditioning system put in, and I asked the guy if he had a plumber. So he had this guy come over, and he said, you know, that shouldn’t be happening, and you need somebody with a camera. So he said, I don’t do that stuff anymore. You know, I’m old, too. So he sent somebody over, and they put a camera down, and you could see, like, several big chunks of root balls. And they said, you know, the clay pipe’s in bad shape, and the house is like 42 years old. I got an estimate on, you know, what it’d be to, they were gonna bring the clean pipe up to the ground level, and to get to the pipes, it was gonna be like, it’s 10 feet down. So, you know, he gave me his estimate, but then when they came out to do it, had an excavator who’s from another state, just right over the line, and he had the sonar thing. And he marked out the pipe. And it worked. And it was right next to a beautiful maple tree I have. I mean, like, two inches that was planted, you know, at the same time the house was built. So I thought, okay, you know, one of my neighbors had told me there’s this stuff they spray through. Oh, they also put the camera all the way through, and they were like, I counted five big knobs of wood, you know, of roots. So I understand that when they do the spray, you know what I’m talking about with the spraying, the spray. I do. |
| 00:14:34 | TOM: Yep. We’re gonna talk about that. Okay. So tell me the rest of the story. Go ahead. |
| 00:14:37 | CALLER: Well, you know, I understand that they would have to, like, saw those things out somehow and then do it. So I’m thinking, you know, I’d like to keep the tree, but I’m not so sure that, you know, how long that stuff’s been around, if they really can do that with, you know, getting rid of those knobs and then doing it. So I want your opinion, because I love your show. Okay. |
| 00:14:58 | TOM: So here’s the thing. First of all, just to put your mind at ease. Any sewer cleaner that’s worth his or her salt. Okay. Any sewer cleaner that’s worth his or her salt can run a snake down those clay pipes and clean out all those root balls. So you do not have to do this whole excavation thing or even pipe lining just to clear your pipe. Now, will you have to do it again? Sure. But maybe in a year or two or three. And so the inexpensive way to fix this is just to have a sewer cleaning done. I don’t care how deep the pipe is. Their clean-out tools can go 50 feet, 100 feet, and you’ll be done. The system that they’re talking to you about doing is called pipe lining or pipe relining. And basically what it is, is that you’re gonna have to do a lot of work. It’s like, think of it as a long fiberglass sock that’s run through this pipe. And they have a couple of ways of doing it. They pull it through and then it basically is expands and then lines the inside surface of that old clay pipe. So basically you’re relining the pipe with this new fiberglass material. And this is very helpful in cases where you have sewer pipes that are going into beautiful maple tree roots or under patios. Or around pools or places that you don’t want to excavate. It’s not an inexpensive process. So just keep that in mind. It’s gonna be more expensive or at least as expensive as tearing everything up and replacing it. But again, I don’t think you have to do this unless it’s really something you want to do to improve your house. Okay? |
| 00:16:21 | CALLER: My concern, and you know, this is where I thought you could help me out too. You know, I know it’s not expensive. It’s two different plumbers I talked to because the first guy doesn’t do that lining system. But he did tell me about it. The tree is like higher than my two-story house. So that’s gonna be a big expense. But with this fiberglass thing, does the, I mean, as the roots grow again and again and again, because they always do, is that going to penetrate that fiberglass? |
| 00:16:49 | TOM: No, absolutely not. It gets through the clay pipe because it’s pretty easy to get through a clay pipe. It basically goes right through the joints of the pipe because clay pipes are put in sections and they easily get right through those sections and then they have a fertile space in which to grow. So no. So if you re-line the pipe with fiberglass, it’s not gonna, you will no longer get any roots to get in there. |
| 00:17:07 | CALLER: Well, that’s good to know. And then the last question, and you guys are great. Thank you for being patient. |
| 00:17:12 | TOM: No worries. |
| 00:17:14 | CALLER: The clay pipe is old. I mean, it’s like, my house is 42 years old. And so, you know, I didn’t know if that’s deteriorating or, you know, how long they really last. |
| 00:17:24 | TOM: Not at all. Not at all. Clay pipes can last 100 years. Easy. |
| 00:17:28 | CALLER: All right. Awesome. |
| 00:17:30 | TOM: Okay. So here’s what we’ve learned. We’ve learned that you don’t have to tear out the pipes. We’ve learned that they’ve got lots of life left in them. You can just snake them. But if you want to preserve that tree and you do want to replace them, I think lining is probably a better option. Okay? Okay. |
| 00:17:44 | CALLER: Great. Thank you so much. |
| 00:17:46 | TOM: Good luck with that project. |
| 00:17:46 | LESLIE: Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-Money-Pit. All right. Our next caller has a question that I’m happy to answer over the phone, but will not go see in person. William in Delaware has mice. What is going on over there? Yeah. |
| 00:18:00 | CALLER: We recently, back in March, moved in a Habitat for Humanity home, and we really enjoyed Tororo in downtown Wilmington. And for the first, I’d say, four or five months, we had no problems with mice or anything else. But the last three or four months, man, we’ve been getting mice coming in from the basement. I think that’s where they’re coming from. We’ve caught like 25 mice in the last three or four months. That’s why we’ve got sticky traps out. I’d go around and put low-spanning foam in any cracks I could find, and basement penetration stuff. But I don’t know where they’re coming in other than that, and I was wondering if you had any ideas for what to do next. |
| 00:18:43 | TOM: Well, why don’t you get a cat and a snake? Problem will be solved. |
| 00:18:46 | CALLER: Right. Well, unfortunately, my family’s allergic to dogs and cats, so I can’t do that. |
| 00:18:52 | TOM: Well, look, have you tried bait yet? |
| 00:18:54 | CALLER: Well, yeah. I had some bait traps outside. But they’re still coming in. Okay. |
| 00:18:58 | TOM: So getting rid of rodents is sort of a management problem, all right? You know, they’re so small, they can squeeze into the space the size of a nickel. And so you’re doing all of the right things. Now, outside the house, and since it’s a newer house, this may not be the case, but we always tell people to not store firewood against house, not store garbage against house, to make sure that there’s no areas where mice can sort of linger around the outside of the house. Inside the house, you want to make sure you don’t have any kind of food source. So if you had a pet, that might be, you know, the dog food bag. Or if you have a pantry, that might be keeping the cereal boxes on the bottom shelf where they can be chewed into by mice. You know, those are all the normal things. Beyond that, it’s a maintenance issue where you’re going to make sure you keep… You said bait’s outside. I would put bait inside. What I would do is… Is this on a basement or a crawl space? Yeah, it has a basement. So I would… And the basement’s not finished? No, it’s not. So what I would do is I would get some bait stations, put it up on the ledge between the concrete block and the bottom sill where the framing is. That’s sort of like the highway that the mice will use to crawl all around the outside of the house. So put your bait stations right there so that they can have some of that delectable poison and then go outside and die. |
| 00:20:16 | CALLER: Well, hopefully, that’s what I was a little leery about. I’m afraid that they might die inside the house, someplace where I can get to them. |
| 00:20:23 | TOM: Well, occasionally, you could find one inside the house, but it’s unusual. Normally, they’ll go outside. The thing is, as the weather gets colder, they go inside because they like a nice warm house as well. But you’ve got to prevent them by sealing up all the gaps and putting out bait stations. Okay. |
| 00:20:38 | CALLER: Well, I’ll try more of the bait stations outside then. |
| 00:20:41 | TOM: Not outside. Put the bait inside on that ledge. |
| 00:20:44 | CALLER: Oh, okay. Okay? Yes, I will. |
| 00:20:46 | TOM: All right. Good luck with that problem. Okay, thanks. You’re welcome, Bill. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:20:51 | LESLIE: Well, it is officially my favorite season of the year. It’s winter. I love winter so much, and while snow on the roof and the icicles on the eaves really do look so beautiful and wintry and pretty, both could mean that you have a problem. Heavy snowfalls followed by those warmer days kind of allow that ice to dam up at the roof’s edge, and that’s going to block that melting snow, and that can lead to some serious leaks inside your house. |
| 00:21:19 | TOM: Yeah, and it’s more common in warmer attics because those are not properly ventilated. So, to prevent this, you want to be sure your roof is adequately ventilated with good soffit and ridge ventilation, and if you plan to replace your roof soon, you want to be sure to have the contractor install ice and water shield. Now, that’s a product that actually gets installed along the roof edge. Typically, it goes up under about the first three foot of roof as an extra layer of protection against those ice dams. |
| 00:21:45 | LESLIE: Now, in the southern climates, an ice and water shield under the roof is a good thing. We’ve also seen that one of the things that can help with that is the roof insulation and that’s the type of insulation that you see with a hurricane. And in that insulation, you kind of cover the entire roof, and then the shingles are installed right on top of it rather than at the edge like we do in the north. |
| 00:22:03 | TOM: Yeah, and it’s so smart because this way if the shingles get blown off, the ice and water shield is still attached protecting your home until you can get back to fix it. |
| 00:22:11 | LESLIE: Susan in Missouri has a question about a fireplace. Tell us what’s going on at your money pit. |
| 00:22:16 | CALLER: Well, I have a gas fireplace, and I’m going to be working on a little project. and it’s one of those where they seem to have cut the hole in the wall and stuck the fireplace in there and now I cannot stop the wind from blowing in. I don’t know what to do. |
| 00:22:31 | TOM: Okay, so is the wind coming in the hole where the gas pipe is coming through? |
| 00:22:34 | CALLER: It seems to be coming from all around the fireplace. You know, it’s got the mantle and it comes from around the mantle and anywhere where there’s, you know, where it’s been put together. It seems to have air coming in and of course it is coming in. It’s got the outside box, I guess, to have the exhaust. |
| 00:22:56 | TOM: Okay, so this sounds to me like it’s a manufactured fireplace as opposed to an old brick one that was converted to gas. Is that correct? |
| 00:23:03 | CALLER: Absolutely. Absolutely, yes. |
| 00:23:05 | TOM: And it has doors on it too? |
| 00:23:07 | CALLER: No, it does not. |
| 00:23:08 | TOM: Do you know what the brand is of the fireplace? Lennox, I believe. Well, the first thing I would do is I would take a look at the installation and very often there’s probably gaps somewhere around that box that were not properly sealed. I would also consider contacting Lennox and getting the original installation instructions. You may even be able to download those which would give you or your contractor a guide to determine if it was correctly installed. And then thirdly, I would find out if doors are available for that fireplace because that could solve all your problems. |
| 00:23:41 | CALLER: Oh, okay. Okay. |
| 00:23:42 | TOM: Especially if it’s a gas fireplace pre-made and it has a combustion air supply. You may be able to keep that all behind the glass doors and stop all the drafts from coming through. |
| 00:23:51 | CALLER: Oh, that’s a great idea. Thank you. I’ll try that. |
| 00:23:53 | TOM: All right. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:23:58 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got David joining us here at Team Money Pit. He’s got some brown paneling and needs a lot of help. What’s going on? |
| 00:24:04 | CALLER: We inherited a house that was built back in the 70s and I was wondering what to do with the original wooden dark brown paneling that’s on the living room and kitchen dining room areas. |
| 00:24:16 | TOM: We get a lot of calls just like this, don’t we, Leslie, from folks that have paneling kind of stuck in the 70s paneling. And in this case, you know, generally your options are to either remove it if you can, assuming it’s not glued to the walls, or paint it. What do you think? |
| 00:24:31 | LESLIE: I mean, those really are your only two options. So it kind of depends on how much work you want to get into. Definitely don’t try to fill any of those gaps and crevices that make it the paneling because it’s not going to stay. They’re like, ooh, I’ll make it look like a smooth wall. |
| 00:24:48 | TOM: No, you can’t. |
| 00:24:50 | LESLIE: No, no. That’s not going to work. It’s just going to fall out and be more frustrating. I mean, painting the paneling looks fine in my opinion. It’s definitely that sort of clabbered look that you kind of get, but vertical instead of horizontal. |
| 00:25:03 | TOM: Yeah, I think it comes down to budget because, I mean, everybody can paint and you definitely got to prime it and put a couple of coats of finish on it. I would use, you know, something with like a matte finish. I wouldn’t use anything with a sheen. And that’s sort of the budget way to, you know, get rid of this and lighten the space up. In the best scenario, you’re going to want to remove it. And sometimes that’s easy and sometimes it’s not. If it’s glued to the wall, then you end up having to do a lot of drywall repair or putting a little layer of drywall on, which really drives up the cost. So maybe you could do a little exploratory surgery and see how hard it is to take that off. You know, find an area where maybe you can pry it off a little bit of the seam and see if there’s any glue under there. If there’s no glue, then you can probably take it off. You have to fill the nail holes, but that’s not such a bad deal. But if not, what you could do is paint it, you know, and just live with it for a little while. And then maybe in the future, you can go ahead and tear it off when you have a bigger budget to take care of, you know, making sure those walls are properly restored. |
| 00:25:54 | LESLIE: Yeah. Either way, figure out what you’re going to do. You’re definitely going to transform the space. Even if it’s just with the paint, it’s going to feel a lot brighter. It’s not the lighting. It’s the dark paneling. I promise you it’s going to feel a lot brighter once you do that. Well, now that the holiday season has passed, is your furniture just looking a little beat up, maybe worse for the wear? Did you pick up some rings and dings and dents with all of those holiday guests? Well, here’s a few hacks to help you bring that furniture back in shape. |
| 00:26:21 | TOM: So first, let’s talk about those white rings. Those are caused when water vapor penetrates into a finish, and they can be removed by wiping them gently with a cloth barely dampened with denatured alcohol, and they will magically disappear. |
| 00:26:35 | LESLIE: All right. Now, if you’ve got shallow chips where a clear finish has kind of chipped but that underlying color is intact on the finish of a furniture, you can fill that ding with a few drops of clear nail polish. And after that polish dries, you can sand it flush with a 600-grit sandpaper. If you want to restore the sheen on a satin finish, you can rub it with a 4-0 steel wool and paste wax. For a glossy finish, you want to use auto-polishing compound with a rag. |
| 00:27:01 | TOM: Now, if you’ve got an area that’s got a large scratch or a worn edge, a felt-tip touch-up marker works really well for spaces like that. They come in a variety of wood tones to match common furniture finishes. You can use them to color large scratches or edges where the stain basically is worn away. You apply only to the damaged area and wipe them immediately if any gets in the neighboring area. And then finally, just apply a coat of paste wax over the repair, and the entire adjacent surface will give you a nice, even sheen. Now, I’ve also found, Leslie, that if you can’t find the right felt-tip marker, a Sharpie does wonders. I mean, if it has to be the right color combination, right? But let’s say you have dark furniture and then you get a light color scratch in it. If you color that scratch in with a Sharpie and then rub off the excess, it’s amazing. It just hides it perfectly, and nobody knows the never mind. Yeah. |
| 00:27:52 | LESLIE: Look for all those wonderful different shades of furniture. Heading over to Texas, we’ve got Deborah on the line who’s got a badly cracked floor. Let’s see what’s going on. |
| 00:28:01 | CALLER: My home was built two years ago in south central Texas in the San Antonio area. About six months ago. All of the ceramic tile cracked in like a spiderweb fashion. I’m waiting for engineer’s report through the warranty company to see if they’re going to do anything about it. I believe they’re going to come back and tell me it’s settling. But I have a hard time believing that a house would be settling as such in two years. I’m just not sure what’s going to happen. But I thought I would ask a professional. |
| 00:28:39 | TOM: Hey Deborah. So here’s what I’m thinking. I’m not ready to chalk this up to settlement at all. If you’ve got a badly cracked tile floor, the best possible cause here is because they didn’t put an isolation membrane between what I’m presuming is a slab and the tile, which means as you get expansion and contraction, they move separately and if the isolation membrane is not there, they’re going to crack. If you in fact have a problem with the slab itself, it is definitely not a settlement issue. Something is dreadfully wrong. And I appreciate that the home warranty company that you got from your builder is sending an engineer out. But I think you need to have your own engineer look at this. Somebody is independent from that home warranty company to give an opinion as to why this happened because it could be potentially safe. It could impact your safety. It certainly could impact the value of your home. So I would definitely recommend you hire your own structural engineer and have that evaluated yourself. Good luck with that project and I hope this is helpful. |
| 00:29:34 | LESLIE: Karen wrote in to The Money Pit asking, I live in New Hampshire and I have a problem with carpenter ants. I was wondering if you know a way to know the extent of damage without tearing down the walls and also is there a way to stop the ants from coming back without calling an exterminator? |
| 00:29:49 | TOM: So it is tricky to find wood destroying insect damage without opening things up. I can tell you, for example, when it comes to termites, you can hold a flashlight parallel to the wall and actually see sort of the tunnels that termites have built right under the paint surface. It sort of shows you a side view of all of that. With carpenter ants, you’re looking for what’s called frass. Frass is sort of the leftover material that’s like wood dust that’s left when they chew through that space. If you see a lot of frass, you know you got carpenter ant damage. But look, it’s really important if you see any of this sort of thing to get it treated. There are DIY products. You can use ant baits. You can use borax acid. You can use diatomaceous earth. But you got to use something because if you leave them alone, they can definitely eat you at a hearth and home. |
| 00:30:33 | LESLIE: All right. Good tips and good luck with getting rid of those suckers, Karen. |
| 00:30:37 | TOM: Well, is your home missing that vintage charm? Leslie’s got a few tips on how to add that friendly feeling without a complete remodel in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word. Leslie? |
| 00:30:48 | LESLIE: Yeah. If you love that look of a vintage home and how that charm that it gives, you know that it really can add value to your home. But if you’re living in a fairly new space, you probably don’t have a lot of those special touches. Now, one way that you can capture that vintage feel without giving up that modern convenience is to simply add a salvaged antique fireplace mantle. Even if you don’t have a real fireplace, a mantle can just give a feeling to a space. It grounds a room. It gives you a focal point where there wasn’t one before. And it really, if you do have an existing fireplace, it just spruces up the space. And you can find them on salvage yards, online. You can find even replicas of one that look like one. Like a vintage piece for not a tremendous amount of money. So look online and you’ll definitely find a vintage feel mantle that’s going to make that fireplace look wonderful and really change the whole look of a room. Now, when older homes are torn down, there are these architectural salvage yards. Definitely look online. You probably have some in your area that you didn’t even know exist. And when you go there, in addition to those mantles that you’re looking for, you can find a clawfoot tub. You can find stained glass windows, antique doorknobs. Vintage drawer and door pulls. All kinds of things that definitely give that feel to a space. And because they’re authentic and worn, they just really do the job in an instant. And they don’t have to cost a ton of money. Now, you can also check for individual pieces that have been redone on sites like Etsy or even OfferUp or Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist. And even though a mantle won’t actually be that working fireplace, it’s going to add that charm to your home. So definitely look for all of those. All of those layers and those places that you can bring in the sort of vintage-worn feel to bring that space, that sort of charm, grounded look that you’re dying for. So definitely get online and find those pieces. |
| 00:32:41 | TOM: We have an old mantle in our home without a fireplace. And you’re right. It absolutely adds that warmth. I love it. The carton to the front of it, it says, Wellby Fall, Hearth and Hall. I don’t know what says vintage more than that, but we really enjoy it. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Coming up next time on the program, we’re going to talk about how to add a bathroom to your basement. It can definitely make the space more usable, and it can also increase the value of your home. But let’s face it, gravity being what it is, below-grade bathrooms require some special consideration to drain properly. So we’ll teach you how to go with the flow with that project on the next edition of the Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 00:33:22 | 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.) |
Leave a Reply