Show Notes
In this episode, we’re sharing easy ways to keep your pipes from freezing, budget-friendly tricks to refresh old tile floors, and a smart way to give your furniture a whole new look with DIY reupholstering. Ready to transform your space? We’re here to help, so listen in for more home improvement advice!
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
- Frozen Pipes: Get hot tips for thawing frozen pipes and avoiding costly damage.
- Tile Floors: These budget-friendly ideas can give outdated tile floors a fresh new look.
- Furniture: Reupholster your furniture for a fraction of the cost of buying new.
Top Questions & Answers
- Mold: Paint just won’t stick in one corner of Judy’s wall where there may be mold. She can use a bleach solution to clean the surface, then prime and paint it over.
- Tile Flooring: Roger wants to install large floor tiles over the existing mosaic tile and grout. He can tile right over the existing surface by using the right type of adhesive.
- Insulation: Blown-in insulation is blowing back through Laura’s stove vent. It may be a commercial fan that’s too strong, and she should consult an appliance or HVAC expert.
- Foundation: TheDrylok sealer on Jodi’s foundation is cracked and bubbling. She can either remove it or have a mason attach a woven wire mesh and apply new stucco.
- Garage Doors: Nancy’s old garage doors are shimmying and not opening or closing properly. It would be better to replace the doors and openers instead of repairing them.
- HVAC: The heat pump is making horrible noises and switching to defrost without shutting off the compressor first. It could be caused by several things, but we advise Conrad to replace the old unit.
Ask Your Home Improvement Question
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 00:00:02 | 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. |
| 00:00:30 | TOM: And we are here to help you take on projects you’d like to get done around your house, around your home, around your apartment, your condo, your yurt, wherever you live, wherever you call home. If you’ve got a to-do to get done to take care of it, you can put that project on our list and we will help. So if you need help solving a problem, maybe there’s a repair that’s happening, maybe some appliance is acting up, maybe you’re getting ready to do some decorating and don’t know how to start approaching that really difficult chore of finding the right color, we can help with that. Whatever you’re working on this weekend or planning for the days ahead, we can help. Reach out right now at 1-888-Money-Pit with those questions or just go to moneypit.com slash ask and click the blue microphone button. We’ve got a great episode planned for you guys. First up, we’re going to talk about frozen water pipes. That’s a very serious risk during these very cold winter days. So we’re going to share some simple and inexpensive ways to prevent that from happening at your house. |
| 00:01:27 | LESLIE: And is your old tile floor looking tired? Well, we’ve got budget-friendly tips to bring it back to life without the cost of a full replacement. From cleaning tricks to creative stencils, we’re going to show you how to transform your tile on a dime. |
| 00:01:41 | TOM: And if you’re longing for a new look at home but don’t have the funds to go all out right now, reupholstering the furniture that you already have can do the trick for a fraction of the cost of buying new. You can change the entire look of your room. So we’re going to share which pieces work best for upholstering and what fabric can create a lasting look with this DIY project. |
| 00:02:02 | LESLIE: But first, are you ready to transform your house into your favorite sanctuary, the place you’ve always wanted to be? Well, whatever that project is, maybe it’s a simple makeover project, or maybe it’s taking a sledgehammer to some walls and doing something a little bit bigger. Whatever it is, we are here to lend a hand. |
| 00:02:19 | TOM: The number here is 1-888-Money-Pit.com. 1-888-Money-Pit. 1-888-666-3974. |
| 00:02:25 | LESLIE: Judy in North Dakota thinks she has mold on her sheetrock. What is going on over there? |
| 00:02:30 | CALLER: I have this one location on a corner wall that is like outside, but the inside wall, there’s a strip about four inches that the paint does not stick. It looks like it could be mold. And so I’m wondering how I can cover it. Well, you can cover up that four inches. It never spreads. It’s just always there. |
| 00:02:56 | TOM: All right. So we don’t know if it’s mold or it’s not mold, but let’s just presume it is. It’s a very small amount. So certainly within the realm of something that you as a DIYer could eradicate. So what I would do is I would take some bleach and some water, and maybe just make yourself up about a 50-50 mix, and dab that on that spot. Let it sit for a few minutes, and then rinse it off, right? And then let it dry really, really well. And what we’ve done so far is we’ve basically killed any mold on that spot. We’ve taken a little bit of that. We’ve taken a little bit of the paint that was there. And small bits of mold, especially on corners and that sort of thing, are not uncommon. Now, in terms of the paint and getting it to stick, what you need to do is you need to prime that with a good quality primer first, like a Kills primer or a Bin primer, B-I-N. And you prime it first, and then you paint over it. So the primer has a different job than the paint. The primer’s job is to adhere to the substrate, which in this case is the wall, and do it really well. It’s sort of the glue that makes the paint stick. And then the paint, of course, gives us the fun part. It gives us the color coat, and that will stick to the primer. So I would treat for the mold, let it dry, and then I would prime it, and then I would paint it. And I think you’ll be good to go. |
| 00:04:02 | CALLER: Okay. So just bleach, 50-50 mix, huh? Yep. |
| 00:04:06 | TOM: Okay. Yep. And then rinse it. And you can mix it up in a little spray bottle if you want, or just do it in a cup. It’s such a small area, you’re not going to get it wrong. |
| 00:04:14 | CALLER: Okay. Thank you very much. |
| 00:04:16 | TOM: All right. Good luck, Judy. Yep. |
| 00:04:17 | Have a good day. Bye. In New York, we’ve got Roger on the line, who’s wanting to add a second layer of tile on top of a shower pan mosaic. So let’s see what’s going on with this project. How can we help? |
| 00:04:27 | CALLER: Well, I’m anticipating on doing my shower over. I’ve got mosaic tile on the base now, which is sitting on a pre-sloped base, and I’d like to know if I can use dry pack and create a base. Okay. And put large format tile over that. |
| 00:04:50 | TOM: How old is this shower that you’re working in? Four years old. What’s the shower pan made out of? |
| 00:04:55 | CALLER: Shower pan is cement board and then mosaic tile on that, on the pin set. Okay. And then grouted like a normal shower would be, trying to eliminate all the grout lines. My wife hates cleaning them. Okay. So I thought I could use larger format tile and cut out most of the grout lines. |
| 00:05:16 | TOM: I’m pretty sure that you can tile right over the mosaic without anything else underneath it. |
| 00:05:21 | CALLER: With no dry pack at all? |
| 00:05:23 | TOM: No. I think no. I think you can go right on top of it. You need the right kind of adhesive to glue those tiles down, but I think you can go right over it. I don’t think it’s necessary to have another layer in between them two, and that’s going to make it easier to reset the drains and that sort of stuff. There’s a whole class of adhesives, tile adhesives that are designed for tiling over existing tile. And I would just make sure, I would go to a local tile supplier, let them know what you’re doing and purchase the appropriate adhesive. And I think that’s the easiest way to do this. When I first heard you were doing this project, I was concerned because I didn’t want you to put good tile over bad tile if that shower pan was old. But since it’s only four years old, then I don’t see any issue here with this. Okay? Okay. |
| 00:06:05 | CALLER: Now, if I should decide to redo one wall, would that be the same? I just use adhesive? Adhesive. Adhesive for larger format tile? Yes. |
| 00:06:14 | TOM: Absolutely. |
| 00:06:15 | CALLER: Possibly scuff it up a little bit with very coarse grit paper. |
| 00:06:19 | TOM: Follow the manufacturer’s recommended instructions for prep. Okay. Which could vary by product, but just make sure you’re buying one that’s designed for tile on tile. Yeah. |
| 00:06:28 | CALLER: Very good. I appreciate that. All right, Roger. Hey, good luck with that project. Oh, thank you much. |
| 00:06:33 | LESLIE: Hey there. We hope you’re enjoying this episode of our podcast. If you are, you know what would totally make our day is if you leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. |
| 00:06:42 | TOM: Absolutely. Just go to moneypit.com slash review and let the world know how much you enjoy our home improvement tips and tricks, and you might even win a copy of our book. |
| 00:06:53 | LESLIE: Hey, did you guys know a burglar enters a home every 30 seconds? That’s why we’re excited to partner with Vivint Home Security. Money Pit listeners can get their award-winning, smarter, simpler home security system right now, starting at just a dollar a day. Plus, all of our listeners get free professional incentives. So if you have any questions or want to help with your home city or town, our office is happy to help. If you have any questions or want to help us with your home, or if you have any other questions, visit us at 800-587-9306. We appreciate you taking the time to log into our home tonight. |
| 00:07:31 | CALLER: See you all again in a minute. I love you. I’ve been blown in the attic, which took quite a while to even get anybody to come and do and cost quite a bit, but has helped a lot. Well, I turned the, over the stove vent fan on, and it was like it was snowing inside. So I need to know how I can remedy it. I assume that the vent is sucking some of the insulation, but just wondered what your thoughts were. Thanks. Thanks. |
| 00:08:11 | TOM: Wow, Laura, that’s really unusual. So you had the insulation blown in, and now when you turn on the vent fan over the kitchen range, you’re getting, it sounds like you’re getting depressurization. Now, your house would have to be awfully darn tight for that one fan to cause this to happen. But let’s assume for the sake of this call that maybe that is exactly what’s happening, and maybe you have not just the average kind of vent fan, but maybe you have like almost a commercial kind, like the kind you might put over a Viking range. If you have a very excessively strong commercial-style vent fan, you would need for that to function something we call make-up air, which is basically a hole that goes from inside to outside and supplies air to basically mix in with the smoke and the oil and the grease, and won’t let that air pull from the rest of the house. So it has its own supply of air to make up what would have been taken from the house air itself, if that makes sense. So I’m afraid I’ll need a little bit more information to help you further. But if, in fact, this is because you have a very strong fan, I would have an HVAC contractor consult with you or the appliance dealer you bought the equipment from and find out what size make-up air you need. They’re going to give you a spec that’s going to tell you how many cubic feet of make-up air you need, and that’s what will have to be installed. All right? Good luck with that project. |
| 00:09:28 | LESLIE: Well, it’s been a very cold winter so far, and that means that water pipes that freeze and break are very common. Now, when that happens, lots of damage can occur. In fact, a spill that’s about half of an inch can easily cause over $10,000 in damage. And the sad thing is, it’s pretty easy to prevent this from happening. Yeah. |
| 00:09:48 | TOM: So first, let’s talk about how not to defrost those frozen pipes, because a lot of folks will go to these methods, which we do not recommend. So starting with a torch, you never want to use an open flame on a frozen pipe. Really bad idea, because it’s so easy to set the rest of the house on fire. Yeah. One thing that I saw in all the years I was a home inspector was heat tape, which, when used properly, is not a terrible thing to do, but what some folks would do is they would use it permanently. In other words, it was like having a heating appliance on 24-7, 365 in some cases. I used to find it even on in the summers. I was going through crawl spaces because nobody ever unplugged it. And heat tape is basically a warming strip that goes on the pipes. But there’s a couple of things you need to know about using it, and you can’t leave it on 24-7. And you can’t overlap it with itself, because that would cause a fire problem as well. It just basically runs parallel to the pipe, it gets taped on the pipe, and you only turn it on to thaw the pipe, and then you disconnect it. So you got to really be careful to do this right. |
| 00:10:49 | LESLIE: All right. Now, better ways to keep those pipes from freezing, you can use foam rubber pipe insulation to protect those exposed pipes from the cold. You can slip foam rubber insulation over that pipe, peel away the backing strips, and then press the adhesive surfaces together, so you’re sort of creating a whole insulative jacket around that pipe. And you want to make sure that the weakest part of the pipe, which is the elbow, is not left exposed. At pipe corners, you want to miter cut the ends of foam rubber insulation with scissors. This way, when you put the two pieces together, you’re kind of creating a joint at the corner with the foam. So, Tom, if your pipes do happen to freeze, how do you go about getting them flowing again? |
| 00:11:26 | TOM: All right. So there are a few ways DIYers can do this themselves. First of all, before you attempt to thaw a frozen pipe, you want to make sure you’re opening the faucet. So keep the faucet open. The nearest to that pipe, for example, in my house, the kitchen line used to freeze, so I would open the faucet and I would open the cabinets and have that kind of ready to go. I try to locate the ice blockage. And then you can use, I said not to use a torch before, but you can use a heat gun or a blow dryer to thaw the frozen pipe. Again, don’t use torches or anything that has an open flame. And the heat tape is okay if it’s properly installed. But if the frozen section of the pipe is just inaccessible, you can use what’s called an electric pipe thawing machine. And that’s something you could probably rent from a local rental house. You need to find the exposed ends of the pipe and then place one clamp from the machine onto each pipe. The machine will then warm the pipe and eventually melt the blockage. So it is possible to do it yourself if you’ve got the time, the talent, and the patience to get it done. |
| 00:12:23 | LESLIE: Jodi in Delaware, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today? |
| 00:12:26 | CALLER: I actually have a problem with my foundation. It’s an exposed foundation about three feet high around the whole footprint of the house is exposed. It’s a cement block foundation that had parging on it originally. And the parging was cracking, so it was recommended by a masonry contractor to put dry lock over it. So this is what I did. They add color to the dry lock, so I put it over the whole foundation and it started to crack and peel and bubble. Yeah. |
| 00:12:57 | TOM: You didn’t adhere properly. First of all, isn’t dry lock usually an interior masonry paint, not an exterior masonry paint? |
| 00:13:03 | CALLER: Well, this particular masonry guy told me that he’s actually used it on the bottom of swimming pools, so he thought that it would work. And when he saw it later, he said, wow, I’ve never seen it do that. Yeah. |
| 00:13:14 | TOM: How about that? You just experimented with your house. |
| 00:13:16 | CALLER: I did call the dry lock people, too. Yeah. And talk to them. And they told me to try to power wash it, try scraping it, but it’s just become like a huge mess. You know, I mean, it peels in some places, some places it adhered. Yeah. |
| 00:13:30 | TOM: The problem is that now that you’ve got that on there, you’ve got to get it off, because you can’t put any, you can’t put new stuff over the bad old stuff. It just will continue to peel. Yeah. |
| 00:13:38 | CALLER: The problem is, is that we are on filled-in marshland is where the, and so we’re on clay and sand. And the cement block, you know, it sort of leaches up through there, so it’s always sort of damp coming up from the ground anyway. Yeah. |
| 00:13:56 | TOM: That’s what I was going to, that’s what I was kind of thinking. I was thinking the block wall might have been wet when you applied it. It might have been visibly wet. But see, those blocks are wet. Those block walls are hydroscopic. They absorb water really, really well. And so if you, if it’s on a moist situation, that water’s going to draw up, get behind that paint, and nothing causes paint to peel faster than water. So unfortunately at this stage, you’re going to have to strip that off. |
| 00:14:21 | CALLER: Oh my gosh. And we’re right on, we’re right on the water. You know what I mean? We’re on the bay. So I’m always worried about things that are non-environmentally friendly. |
| 00:14:31 | TOM: The other thing that I think you probably could do, and this is a, you know, this is a big job in and of itself though, is you could have a mason attach a woven wire mesh to that foundation and re-stucco it. And in that case, it could go right on top of the old junky paint because you’re not really sticking to the foundation, you’re sticking to the mesh. So that’s another possibility. |
| 00:14:55 | CALLER: I gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. Because I guess in some places that was used before underneath the parging. |
| 00:15:01 | TOM: Well, the parging, the parging is simply a stucco coating. It’s just a little bit that goes on top of the block wall and it’s typical for the parging to crack. And usually it cracks along the lines of the masonry block. Yep. |
| 00:15:11 | CALLER: That’s what it did. |
| 00:15:12 | TOM: And that’s not necessarily a defect. That’s pretty much just the way it goes with that stuff, especially if they don’t put it on thick enough. So I would consider if you really want to have it to look like a traditional masonry foundation, I would consider having mesh put up there and then properly re-stuccoed. If not, you’re just going to have to peel that paint off any way you can. You would. I would might take a look at some of the citrus-based paint strippers if you have some that’s really hard to get off. All right. Thank you so much. All right. Sorry to have better news. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:15:44 | LESLIE: Nancy in Massachusetts is dealing with a garage that’s got other plans than closing. What’s going on there? |
| 00:15:50 | CALLER: I have a dilemma about what to do about the door. It’s just not closing properly and sometimes it doesn’t even want to go up and down. Never mind when it comes down. It’s wiggles left to right, left to right, till it gets to the bottom. |
| 00:16:05 | TOM: This is on a garage door opener? |
| 00:16:07 | CALLER: Oh, yes. |
| 00:16:07 | TOM: So when it goes up and down, it shimmies in the opening? |
| 00:16:11 | CALLER: Yes, in the closing. |
| 00:16:12 | TOM: So generally, the rollers on the side of the garage door are failing when that occurs. They’re ball-bearing rollers and when they get stuck, then they get sort of hung up on the way down and that’s what makes the door sort of vibrate and puts a lot of resistance on it too. And that may be the reason it’s not closing all the way. Okay. So the door is not closing evenly. It sounds like the door is pretty old and your options are to replace all the hardware and try to realign the door, get it working right or just replace the door and the door opener. If it’s that old and that sort of rickety, I might lean towards just a replacement. The new doors today are actually a lot lighter than the old doors and they work really smoothly. I just put two on in the garage I guess about eight, nine months ago now. I’m really happy with them. I used to have really heavy, heavy doors. I used to have really hardboard doors on this garage and now I have nice factory painted steel doors that look really good, really sharp and just close flawlessly every single time. |
| 00:17:12 | CALLER: Well, this is one of those metal doors. |
| 00:17:14 | TOM: It is? Okay. But it’s an older metal door? Yeah. |
| 00:17:16 | CALLER: And I put bow shield on the tracks to try to get it to roll down properly. Yeah. |
| 00:17:23 | TOM: But if the hardware has failed, even if you’ve lubricated the tracks, if the hardware has failed, it’s not going to work right. |
| 00:17:30 | CALLER: So what would you recommend? A new door or just get somebody over to do the hardware? |
| 00:17:35 | TOM: I’d get a new door and a new opener. Yeah. |
| 00:17:37 | CALLER: Okay. I don’t want to put good money after bad. Exactly. |
| 00:17:40 | TOM: I think, you know, who knows if you could find the old hardware to match and everything. I’d just get a new door and new opener. I think it’d be worth it. |
| 00:17:46 | CALLER: Okay. Very good advice. I appreciate it very much. |
| 00:17:49 | TOM: Thank you, Nancy. Good luck with that project. So Leslie, you know, we have a condo that we used to live in and now we rent it. And I have a tenant there who called me the other day and said that the sink was leaking. But not to worry, she had asked her father what to do and he had recommended a local plumber who came out and gave us a diagnosis and an estimate as to what was going on. |
| 00:18:11 | LESLIE: But first, were you not like beside yourself that you didn’t get to go over there and look at it? Yeah. |
| 00:18:15 | TOM: I am absolutely beside myself. Okay. |
| 00:18:18 | LESLIE: Tell me. |
| 00:18:19 | TOM: Fortunately, she didn’t let the guy do the work. You know, she just got an estimate. But so I do eventually go, but first of all, she sends me the estimate. Right? Yeah. Now, I look at this estimate and it’s got three valves on it, like the valves under the sink. It’s got one faucet, a strainer for the faucet, and something else, which I couldn’t understand what he was talking about. So it looks like he’s going to replace a faucet basically in a couple of valves. And this is supposedly going to fix this. You want to guess what the price was for that? |
| 00:18:45 | LESLIE: Did he give like an hour estimate or was it just the price based on the work order? |
| 00:18:50 | TOM: One price. One price based on those few parts. |
| 00:18:53 | LESLIE: It sounds like it’s going to be a super ridiculous lot because you use… You seem worked up. Yeah, a little worked up. Like $4,000. |
| 00:19:01 | TOM: No, but you’re in the right neighborhood. It was $2,649. |
| 00:19:05 | LESLIE: What would you guesstimate that to be generally? |
| 00:19:08 | TOM: I’ll tell you what we ended up paying. So I did go over there and I looked at it and I said to her, I said, you know, does it leak all the time or does it only leak when you’re on the water? She says, oh, it only leaks when you’re on the water. I’m thinking, well, why are you changing the faucet first of all? Because there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s something in the drain line, right? And sure enough, I go over there, had nothing to do with the faucet, had nothing to do with the valves. What was leaking was the garbage disposal. Because as those garbage disposals age, and I’ve seen this before, the steel parts that are inside of them start to rust and they expand and when they expand, they crack the outer housing of the disposers and that’s where the water’s coming out. So what we needed here was a new disposer, which he hadn’t even considered. He probably would have got in there and then figured out we needed a disposer and they had another $1,000 on top of it. So what did I do? I replaced the disposer. And I actually replaced the faucet at the same time just to make my tenant happy. I spent about $200 on parts total and it took me about three hours to do it. That was much more than what he was going to charge $2,600 to do. And it just goes to show you, and you asked that question smartly before, were there any hourly breakdowns or parts breakdowns? There were none. And if you get an estimate that doesn’t have that, that’s a problem. Because I’m seeing contractors now that just charge numbers that are so high, it doesn’t matter how long it takes. It doesn’t matter how many parts break down. It doesn’t matter how many parts you need. It’s kind of covered in the big number that they throw at you, but unfortunately people just don’t know any better. And sometimes they just say, all right, go ahead and they kind of bite the bullet and it gets done, but they’re way overpaying for it. Crazy. |
| 00:20:34 | LESLIE: Well, thank goodness you were able to fix it. But I can only imagine when you get the call that like, oh, we had somebody come in. You’re like, no, that’s my house. Yeah. |
| 00:20:42 | TOM: It’s all good now. Everybody’s happy. Except the plumber. He didn’t get the job. |
| 00:20:49 | LESLIE: Well, old tile floors are built to last, but let’s face it, they can start to look tired after a while and replacing them, that can cost a fortune. But don’t worry. There are plenty of budget friendly ways to give your floors a fresh look without breaking the bank. |
| 00:21:03 | TOM: Yep. That’s right. So first up, you want to clean the tile, right? Kind of a no brainer, but sometimes all your floor needs is a good scrub. Tile is very durable. It’s naturally stain resistant. But over time, dirt and grime can actually dull its appearance. So you want to use a gentle cleaner and a microfiber mop or a cloth and make it shine once again. |
| 00:21:23 | LESLIE: And if cleaning it doesn’t do the trick, you can stain the grout. Now, over the years, that grout can get pretty dingy looking, it can become discolored. Even if it’s still in good physical condition, a grout stain, which you can find it in sort of a brush on or a marker form, that’s going to let you change that grout color. And I mean, you might not have thought about it, but changing that grout color can dramatically change the look of the room. I mean, it can freshen it. It can change the dynamic of the space. It can make it feel bigger, smaller. There’s so much you can do with color. So you just kind of have to think about it. And don’t forget, you can bring home samples so you can really see what the change will do. Yeah. |
| 00:21:57 | TOM: And here’s another big change without spending a lot of money. That is to try tile decals. Have you tried these? They’re kind of stick on and they mimic the look of pattern tiles and they’re really good for smooth glazed surfaces, especially perfect if you’re looking for sort of a quick temporary makeover. A great option. Also for an apartment. If you’re an apartment dweller who doesn’t want to risk their security deposit, because you can put them on top of the tile and then take them off when it’s time to leave. Yeah. |
| 00:22:22 | LESLIE: And they do look really cute. Now, another option is, of course, this is if it’s your space, is painting the tile. So if you’re thinking of doing that, you want to start by cleaning and sanding the surface of each tile. Then you apply a bonding primer and tile-friendly epoxy paint, because this method is really what you need to both cover the tile and the grout, but it gives your whole bathroom a whole new look. And you really want to make sure that you have good adhesion. So that’s where that epoxy paint really comes in. |
| 00:22:48 | TOM: You can also consider stenciling the tile, sort of another painting-type project. You can create some really beautiful designs, like floral designs or maybe some geometric patterns using stencils. Now for this, you apply a bonding primer as the base coat and then stencil on your design with a foam roller and finish it with a clear urethane coat, and that’s what delivers the durability. And that’s a process similar to what we do when we refinish countertops. We always use the urethane for the top coat, because it’s very durable. And if it gets scratched, you can just put another coat over it. |
| 00:23:17 | LESLIE: All right. Now, if that grout is just simply beyond saving, it could be time to replace it. Re-grouting, though, really is easier than you think it’s going to be, especially when you have the right tools. You can use an oscillating tool with a grout removal blade that’s going to make quick work of that old grout, but also not damage the tile. And once that new grout is in place, the floor will really look brand new. It’s going to be solid. It’s going to be waterproof. So, truly, you know, some great ways to make a big deal. |
| 00:23:45 | TOM: You know, those oscillating tools are awesome. I had to use one to help me get a toilet off the floor, because the toilet was grouted to the tile floor, and it was kind of locked in place. So I’m like, oh, man, I got to cut through this grout line. So I got my oscillating tool out, and I zipped it around the base of the toilet. It was the only way I was able to get it to free up. So it does a great job cutting through grout. Fairly new tool. You know, it’s been on the market a decade or more, but not too many people are using it. But I’ll tell you what. Once you have one, you’re going to find places to use it, because it really works super, super well. |
| 00:24:19 | TOM: Hey, guys. This week, our thoughts continue to be with the people of Los Angeles and the surrounding areas who are dealing with the devastating wildfires that have swept through the entire region. You know, the destruction and the loss caused by these fires is truly heartbreaking, and our hearts go out to everyone that’s been affected. |
| 00:24:38 | LESLIE: Absolutely, Tom. You know, these fires not only claim homes and property, but also deeply impact the lives of so many families. And to those who are facing this unimaginable challenge, please know that our thoughts and our prayers are with you. |
| 00:24:51 | TOM: We also want to remind everyone, whether you live in a fire-prone area or not, it’s smart to take steps to protect your home and family. You know, wildfire season is lasting longer and longer than ever before, and there are things you can do to make your property more resilient, like creating defensible space around your home. Keeping gutters and roofs clear of debris and ensuring fire-resistant materials are used whenever possible. |
| 00:25:14 | LESLIE: And remember, if you’re in an area affected by fires, prioritize safety above all. Follow those evacuation orders, have a plan in place, and stay informed through local authorities. |
| 00:25:26 | TOM: And to all those impacted by the fires, stay safe. You are in our thoughts, and we stand with you during this very difficult time. |
| 00:25:34 | LESLIE: Hey, guys. If you’re finding our home improvement tips helpful, we have a great list of tips for you. We’ve got a project for you to help us with. Just head on over to the Money Pit on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leave us a five-star review. Your support makes a huge difference in helping us grow the show, and of course, we really appreciate it. Conrad’s on the line and needs some help deciding whether to continue sinking money into an existing heat pump, or maybe it’s time for a new one. Tell us about it. |
| 00:26:01 | CALLER: I kind of like a problem with my heat pump. I’ve never done this before, but it would immediately switch into defrost. I’ve never done this before, but it would immediately switch into defrost. It would in fact become a really big problem if I went into defrost without shutting the compressor off first. That makes a really loud and horrible grinding sound in the process. |
| 00:26:17 | TOM: Hey Conrad. So there are a number of reasons you might have a heat pump switch into the defrost mode erratically like that. It could be something as simple as a bad sensor. It could be a dirty coil. It could be that the system was never sized properly. It could be the reversing valve, but the fact of the matter is you’re thinking about replacing it anyway and it’s 10 years old. It has some low price. I mean that’s pretty much the life cycle for a heat pump so I wouldn’t put any money into this. I would start focusing on getting a new heat pump and getting one that’s a good quality one that’s Energy Star rated. There are lots of tax incentives right now both local and federal. There’s tax credits out there if you buy efficient equipment. I would switch my attention to not trying to nurse this one along. Chances are you could put a few hundred dollars in fixing this now and something else could break you know next week and next month. So I think it’s time to go. Time for a new heat pump for you my friend. Well is your furniture looking a bit warm but you don’t have the funds to replace it? So reupholstering is a good option to consider. You can do this for a fraction of the cost of buying new and it really can transform the look of your room. So Leslie let’s talk about upholstery because this is something I know you are really really good at. I’ve seen some beautiful |
| 00:27:30 | LESLIE: projects that you’ve done including a couch that I owned once many many years ago. It is true upholstery is actually easier than you think. I mean some of the projects are more challenging than others and you know a lot of stuff can make you kind of nervous because you do really need to deconstruct a lot of it before you start putting everything back on and you’re going to want to stop. But don’t chicken out. Go forward. I promise you it’s going to come out great. You kind of have to think of an upholstery project like wrapping a gift. It is that straightforward. If you’ve got the right tools, the right type of fabric, if you make a mistake you can kind of take things out and so |
| 00:28:05 | TOM: start again. So it really is a doable project. So let’s talk about the best type of furniture to reupholster. If you’re a beginner you don’t want to start with the couch. It’s a bit too complex but there are plenty of easier projects to help you build your DIY skills. We have got a project that needs to be done and we’re probably going to do it over the next couple of weekends and that is I’ve got dining room chairs. So these are kind of slick wooden chairs but they have an upholstered seat and the seat is worn. So I ordered new foam and I’m going to take the bottoms off of the seats and just wrap the foam and the fabric around it and staple it in place. So that’s a pretty basic project and a good way to start getting used to upholstery and the upholstery |
| 00:28:45 | LESLIE: tools. Yeah and that’s really what you want to look at and that’s you know probably your most basic tools. You’re looking at a staple gun of some sort whether it’s manual or electric and a good pair of scissors and a screw gun because you’ve got to take a cushion off and put it back on. And they’re probably the most forgiving because you’re removing that cushion, you’re putting it back on, all of the stuff that you’re doing there kind of gets hidden. You know other great easy starter ones are headboards, ottomans, benches, storage cubes, that kind of thing. Great beginner projects. You can even cover a cork board to kind of give it a custom look for your fancy kitchen. You just have to look for furniture where you can easily remove that cushion. You’ve got access to |
| 00:29:23 | TOM: the staples. If you can see where the fabric attaches to the frame, go for it. So what about the fabric? Are there certain types of fabric that work better than others, especially for beginner |
| 00:29:33 | LESLIE: projects? Yeah I mean if you’re a beginner you want to avoid stretchy fabrics, you want to kind of avoid you know a cotton-based velvet, something that has like a direction. Just because those type of things you’re going to have to make sure you’re following the pattern or doing the same thing over and over again on each of the cushions and that might not be as easy for a beginner. So you want to look for something like a heavyweight cotton or cotton blend fabric. You want something durable, easy to cut, something that’s going to hold the staples well. Those are all things that are crucial for your upholstery projects. Again complex patterns, they’re awesome and trust me when you get going and you’re okay or even if you’re okay with the patterns not matching exactly from cushion to cushion, then that’s fine. But if you’re going to nitpick over everything and you want to make sure that that exact part of the pattern is on the same part of the cushion, it might get frustrating and it might deter you from tackling another project or even finishing this one. So definitely simple design, more forgiving, sturdy |
| 00:30:26 | TOM: cotton-based fabrics for a seat cushion, great choice. Good advice. This is the Money Pit Home Show. Give us a call right now with your questions at 1-888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:30:38 | LESLIE: Courtney in Florida reached out to Team Money Pit and asks, I have electronic air filters and I’m wondering how to clean them. One dealer says with a vacuum because washing could cause corrosion and malfunction and another dealer says wash with water. |
| 00:30:51 | TOM: Yeah, and everybody’s an expert, right? |
| 00:30:54 | LESLIE: Right, seriously. |
| 00:30:55 | TOM: We got to get to the root of the solution here and the way we do that is we check with the manufacturer because they’re very, very good, especially with a filter product. And advising you how to wash that filter and how often to wash that filter and so on. If it is, in fact, one that you wash or maybe one that you just vacuum, who knows? But you got to always go back to the manufacturer. So don’t depend on a dealer. Figure out who made it. Get on their website. It’s so easy these days to find very, very old manuals on some of these products. And within that manual, you’re going to find the advice that you need. And I do know that washing with water is okay for some. In fact, some of the electronic air cleaners have filter sort of blocks that come out and you could put them in the dishwasher, but it really depends on what the manufacturer says is good for their product. |
| 00:31:43 | LESLIE: All right. Now we’ve got one here from Andy who says, I live in Pennsylvania and I was listening to your show yesterday and I heard you say that spinning roof vents are not very efficient and that the best attic are ridge vented. I have a 20-year-old house with both ridge vents and an attic fan. The fan recently burned out and I’m wondering if I should replace it. So, |
| 00:32:03 | TOM: I say no, because you may not realize this, but if you have an attic fan and you had the ridge vents, the vast majority of your attic was not being cooled in the summer because what would have happened was that a fan, as it kicked on, would depressurize the attic space and it would pull air in from the existing ridge vent, pull that air over to the attic fan and then discharge it. So it’s kind of like a dog chasing his tail. Waste a lot of energy, you don’t get too far like that. So what I would do is I would take out the old fan, you’re going to have to re-roof that spot over it, and then since you already have a ridge vent, which is good, I would make sure you have soffit vents because that’s the other half of a ventilation system that consists of ridges and soffits. When you have both the ridge and the soffit vent in place, the wind blows against the soffit, it enters the soffit vent, that’s towards the bottom edge of your roof, and then travels up underneath the roof shingles, and then it exits at the ridge. So that sort of cycle, ridge vent, repeats 24-7 and is a very, very efficient way of keeping your attic cooler in the summertime and warmer and drier in the wintertime. So that’s how I would proceed. I don’t think you want to use that fan any longer. You didn’t know what it was doing before, but now that we’ve explained it, I hope this makes some sense to you and you’ll get your ventilation system working perfectly. |
| 00:33:26 | LESLIE: Tom, I feel like people really associate this type of fan with cooling the home, so we always seem to talk about it in the summer, but why is this venting? Why is ventilation so important in the winter as well? |
| 00:33:35 | TOM: So ventilation of your attic space, if you have traditional fiberglass insulation, is something you need to do 24-7 throughout the year, because in the wintertime, while the attics don’t get hot, there’s a lot of moisture that accumulates up there, and if the moisture gets in there, it’s going to saturate the insulation. And if the insulation gets even slightly damp, it loses about a third or more of its ability to insulate. So very, very important that you keep that ventilation working properly every day of the year. All right. Good to know. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com. Hope you guys picked up a tip or two from the show today. If you didn’t and you still have questions, you can reach us 24-7 at 1-888-Money-Pit, because no matter what time it is and what you’re working on, we are standing by to help. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. | |
| TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. | |
| LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone. | |
| (Note: The above referenced transcript is AI-Generated, Unedited and Unproofed and as such may not accurately reflect the recorded audio. Copyright 2025 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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