Show Notes
Today, we’ll explore surprising new options in drop ceilings, the right way to drill into drywall when there’s no stud, and a quick hack to keep your home warm using free heat. Plus, we’re answering your top home improvement questions from DIY callers like you!
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
- Drop Ceilings: Stylish designs and smart new options are raising the bar on drop ceilings.
- Drywall Anchors: Drywall anchors make it easy to hang something on a wall without studs.
- Window Warmth: Take advantage of free heat generated by sunshine streaming through your windows.
Top Questions & Answers
- New Driveway: Can Donna put an asphalt driveway over her crumbling concrete driveway? It can’t be done and she’ll need to replace the concrete with layers of asphalt.
- Insulation: Luke is concerned about the risk of mold with spray foam insulation in the attic. We assure him it would need to be a sustained leak and he would see evidence of it.
- Toilet Moisture: Condensation on the outside of the toilet keeps dripping on Ilene’s floor. We have tips for making the toilet water warmer and the house less humid.
- Leaks: Tim gets advice on what to do about horizontal cracks in the walls of a concrete pit and how to improve the outside grading and drainage.
- HVAC: Carol has air in the lines from her hot water boiler system. She should open the bleed valves at the radiators to let the air out.
- Icy Sidewalk: The concrete sidewalk and driveway are retaining moisture and freezing. His best option is to use non-corrosive potassium chloride to thaw the ice.
- Radon: A radon monitor is reading higher levels upstairs than downstairs. That’s unusual, and Jane should have the radon mitigation system checked.
- Heating: Steve removed his old steam heat radiators and is considering a new HVAC system. If he doesn’t want to restore the radiators, he has some other options.
- Elevator: Can you install an elevator in a two-story house? Rosalie learns it’s becoming more common and is very possible to do in a small space.
- Driveway Stains: Can rubber marks be removed from an asphalt driveway? We don’t think so, and Ryan will have to reseal the driveway to cover the marks.
Ask Your Home Improvement Question
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 00:00:11 | LESLIE: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is The Money Pit. I’m Leslie Segrete. And sadly, I have some very unfortunate news to share with everyone here at The Money Pit. This week we lost our dear host and very good friend Tom Kraeutler. He passed suddenly and unexpectedly during a surgery. We’re going to miss him terribly. Tom was the foundation of this home and we built everything on him, his words, his advice and guidance. And I promise you, we will continue to build this home together here at Team Money Pit. So join us this hour as we pay tribute and enjoy these last few episodes with our friend Tom. |
| 00:01:06 | 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. |
| 00:01:13 | TOM: And we are here to help you take on projects that you might like to get done around your home. We’ve got a few weeks of winter left before it’s springtime, which is always a popular time for projects. But maybe you’re thinking about a project and starting to plan it that you want to get done. Or maybe you’ve been staring at some dull and dingy walls and you want to swoosh them up with some painting projects. Or maybe you’re planning a kitchen reno to get done before the holidays roll around all over again. Hey, whatever is on your to-do list, you can swing it right over to ours by calling us with your questions. Whether you’re a do-it-yourselfer or a do-it-yourself-er. Or whether you’re a do-it-for-me kind of home improver, let’s take on these projects together. Coming up on today’s episode, we’ve got a great one planned for you guys. First up, if you’ve been thinking about a remodeling project and wondering, what do I do with the ceiling? Well, I bet there’s one ceiling option that you are definitely not considering, a drop ceiling. We’re going to share why you may want to consider the new drop ceilings just ahead. |
| 00:02:12 | LESLIE: And if you need to hang something in your home, it’s always best to drill directly into the wood studs. However, if that wood stud is not available, you can drill directly into the drywall if you choose the right anchor for the job at hand. We are going to share tips just ahead. |
| 00:02:27 | TOM: And you want to take advantage of free heat this winter? We’re going to share a quick and easy way to make sure your windows keep you warm on a chilly day. |
| 00:02:35 | LESLIE: But before we get to what we want to talk about, we want to hear what you want to talk about. Whether you are planning a small decor project or you’re diving into a full-blown renovation, we have got you covered. |
| 00:02:46 | TOM: Plus, if you reach out today with your questions, you might just win a copy of my new book, Home Maintenance for Dummies. It’s kind of like sitting on your bookshelf waiting for you to need us and we are ready to go. So reach out to us with your questions. We’re going to give a copy away to one lucky caller drawn at random. The number here is 1-888-Money-Pit. That’s 888-666-3974. TOM:, who’s first? |
| 00:03:11 | LESLIE: Heading over to Mississippi where we’ve got Donna on the line dealing with a worn-out driveway. What are you looking to do? |
| 00:03:17 | CALLER: My driveway is partly crumbled, partly scored, partly rusted on. Can you put a blacktop surface on top of a concrete surface and have it hold up? |
| 00:03:28 | TOM: Hey Donna, so I can definitely see how that might seem to make some sense, putting blacktop over concrete. But it really is not going to work because the way you build either a driveway made of concrete or a driveway made of blacktop is entirely different. So you can’t mix the two. So you’re going to have to. If you want to go blacktop, you have to take out the driveway that’s there. And then you have to put in the right layers because blacktop driveways are made up over layers. And they’re usually at least five or six inches thick by the time you’re done. But they put in different layers. They start with a stone base. Then they roll that stone base with a tool that packs it down really, really tightly. It’s almost as tight, as hard as a road when the stone base is down. |
| 00:04:08 | LESLIE: Wait, you forgot the part where they wait four weeks because they want it to settle. And then you drive on it. |
| 00:04:14 | TOM: Yeah, but I’ve never had that. When I’ve done driveways, we’ve always rolled them and then put the blacktop on all at one time. Oh, my gosh. |
| 00:04:21 | LESLIE: Our contractor made us wait four weeks minimum so that it settles and it gets rain. You drive on it. |
| 00:04:28 | TOM: I have to say that anybody that makes you wait all that time is not doing a really good job on the base because if you put the base in right, you shouldn’t have any of that happening. |
| 00:04:35 | LESLIE: I mean, it was super firm, but that was their thing. |
| 00:04:38 | TOM: Well, maybe that’s their thing. But that’s not what I did. And I don’t think you necessarily have to do that as a matter of course. The driveway, the asphalt itself, I was starting to say, there’s different grades of it. So you want to get one that’s about a medium grade because if you try to get one that’s too smooth, it’s not very strong. And the medium grade has bigger pebbles in it and it locks together very, very nicely and lasts a long time. So you can’t put it on top of the concrete. You have to take the old concrete off or out and start again from scratch. |
| 00:05:03 | LESLIE: And I will say switching from concrete to the blacktop, it’s gorgeous. What a big difference it made. It just made the house look sharp. I love it. Yeah. |
| 00:05:12 | TOM: And I should also mention that the concrete is not in horrible shape. It could be resurfaced. There’s a product called ReCap that Quikrete makes that is designed specifically for that. You could add a layer of this ReCap product on top of the old concrete and give it a fresh new surface. So that’s another option for you as well. |
| 00:05:28 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Luke from Texas who’s got a question about insulation. What’s going on at your money pit? |
| 00:05:33 | CALLER: So I’ve listened to a couple of episodes here recently, and I’ve noticed a trend of recommending spray foam insulation. And I’ve noticed a trend of recommending spray foam insulation in the ceilings, or I shouldn’t say in the ceilings, but in between the roof rafters. And I was very interested in doing that in my house. However, I started to become a bit concerned with issues of potential mold. I mean, if there’s any kind of roof leak, whether it be closed cell or open cell foam that’s sprayed, any kind of roof leak, that foam is going to trap the water in there, won’t it? |
| 00:06:10 | TOM: You’d have to have a roof leak though. Yeah, it went on for some time for that to happen. You would have evidence of the leak. Because I have spray foam in my attic, and I’ve covered my rafters with it. And we had a really, really bad rainstorm once, and I got a bit of a leak around the chimney from the flashing. But it came right through when I saw it. I was able to deal with it. I wouldn’t worry about that. The one thing about spray foam you need to understand, Luke, is when you spray foam an attic, it no longer is a vented attic. It is now an unvented attic on purpose by design, right? So everything is sealed in now, which is the reason it becomes so wet. It’s so warm. And as opposed to, you know, being icy cold like it would most winters. I mean, my attic is practically the same temperature as the rest of my house now, and my energy bills went way down as a result of it. So I don’t have that concern at all. And if I did get a roof leak, I think I’d probably spot it pretty quickly. I don’t think it’s the kind of thing that’s going to seep in there and sit for a long time and be a big discovery later. Interesting. |
| 00:07:05 | CALLER: All right. Thank you so much for your input. I appreciate it. |
| 00:07:09 | LESLIE: Hey, you want to make our day? Well, go ahead and leave us a five-star comment. We’ll do our review on Apple Podcasts, and we’ll be jumping for joy. Plus, you guys, your feedback helps us make the show even better for you. Just go to MoneyPit.com slash review. We’ve got Eileen on the line who’s talking about a toilet that’s got a lot of condensation issues. What’s happening? |
| 00:07:28 | CALLER: I have cooler toilets that sweat. There’s water that condenses on the outside surface of the toilet, and then it drips on the floor. So I’m not sure whether it’s the toilet. Or whether it’s cold water that’s part of the issue. |
| 00:07:47 | TOM: Well, Eileen, that actually is a problem that we hear about once in a blue moon. And it usually happens because the water is really, really cold. You must have like super cold groundwater coming up into that plumbing system. And then you also have a warm, moist, humid house. And the two of those combined together is going to cause a lot of condensation. Now, a couple of things you can do. Some toilets, they do have insulating kits for the inside of the toilet. Although there is some concern that the insulation breaks down after a while and kind of get into the valves. Toilets are typically filled with cold water, right? But when you have this kind of problem, sometimes a plumber can put in a hot water line that doesn’t give you all the hot water for filling the toilet. But it spills into the cold water and mixes it a little bit so that the water temperature is a lot warmer than it was. It’s not quite as cold as it was. And then you don’t have the condensation problem. So there are two ways to address that. And finally, do the things that you can do around the outside of your house to reduce moisture from getting in. Grading, drainage, gutters, all the things that we talk about to fix crawl spaces that leak or basements that leak. All of that reduces the amount of moisture, natural moisture that gets into the house. And if the house is drier, there’s going to be less condensation that can happen. |
| 00:09:00 | LESLIE: Heading over to Illinois where we’ve got Tim on the line who’s got a leaking issue. What’s happening at your money pit? |
| 00:09:05 | CALLER: I’ve got a concrete pit. It’s about eight foot deep. It’s concrete floor. Concrete walls and a concrete ceiling. And it seems the walls are cracking. The ceilings look like about a foot above the ground. The rest of it’s down below the ground. And I was thinking of just digging it out along the walls and dropping some thin rubber down the side of the outside of the wall. What do you think about that idea? |
| 00:09:36 | TOM: So what is this, like a fallout shelter? No. |
| 00:09:38 | CALLER: It’s about a nine-foot by 27-foot concrete pit. Okay. |
| 00:09:45 | TOM: First of all, the cracking that you’re seeing, are you seeing cracking that’s vertical or horizontal? Horizontal. So this is not the sort of thing where you would have gutters on it, right? Because it’s sort of partially buried. So any water that lands around that pit is basically soaking in close to the foundation walls. And when that happens and we get frost, that soil is going to expand. And it’s going to press against those walls. And that’s what’s pushing in on the walls most likely from whatever side is showing the crack. So to avoid that, you need to take steps to try to improve the drainage around the outside of this. This is very similar to the advice that we give people that have leaking basements. You want to make sure that the water doesn’t collect there. So if you could, first of all, improve the grading so that any soil that’s around this slopes away significantly. Like you would want to have about a six-inch drop over four feet. And if you had to add soil to do that with, you would use clean fill dirt, which packs very well, not topsoil. Topsoil is very organic. And that’s going to hold water in there. Now, the other thing to think about is since you mentioned there’s sort of a concrete roof here, sometimes what folks will do is they’ll put another roof on top of the concrete roof that has a slight pitch to it. So if you were to build a sort of a roof that was sort of a concrete roof, sitting on top of that where one side was higher than the outside walls so that water could run down towards a gutter and then you can collect that water and move it away from the building, that would also be probably the number one thing that would try to reduce this because you’re just going to have a lot of water rolling off that roof and sitting around the foundation. That’s going to continue to soak in and expand. Digging out the foundation perimeter and putting rubber against it, it’s not going to really change anything in the end. You’re still going to get expansion. It might take an extra year for it to get past the rubber layer, but you’re still going to get expansion, and that will still get worse over time. But I would concentrate on making that soil more stable around getting the drainage working, and that’s going to be the long-term solution to this. Does this make sense to you, Tim? |
| 00:11:49 | CALLER: Yeah, if I were to put a roof on it, how wide would you recommend I make a neve to keep the water away from it? |
| 00:11:57 | TOM: You don’t really need much of a neve as long as you have a gutter that collects it at the edge. If you had a neve that went over a foot, that would be plenty. And you could be a pitched roof like a standard house, or it could be a sloped roof where it’s higher on one side than the other. But you need to get some way of collecting that water and moving it away from the building. You can’t have water collect around the walls because it’s just going to freeze and expand and crack. |
| 00:12:18 | CALLER: Thank you very much. |
| 00:12:19 | TOM: All right. Well, good luck with that project. Well, if you’ve been thinking about a remodeling project and wondering, what do I do with the ceiling? I mean, I bet there’s one ceiling that you’re probably definitely not considering, and that’s a drop ceiling. And Leslie, when you say drop ceiling, we all get these pictures of the old ratty ceilings that we probably had in our schoolhouse and other places like that. Church rec halls, you know, you name it, and they were not very attractive at all. But that’s all changed, right? |
| 00:12:46 | LESLIE: Yeah, I mean, we do get it. Sometimes they can be old and dated. But you may want to give the drop ceilings of today another look because they are absolutely stunning. So we’ve got some tips on how you can decide if a drop ceiling is for you. First of all, it’s not just a plain flat tile anymore. Today, you can find drop ceiling tiles that look like old-fashioned tin ceilings, wood paneling. I mean, there’s a lot of design options out there. Plus, with the right kind of finish, it’s even hard to tell that they’re drop ceilings at all. |
| 00:13:16 | TOM: Yeah, definitely, because with a drop ceiling, you have tons of choices for color, for texture, and for material. And while white is generally a great option for smaller spaces because of the sense of openness that it creates, if you’re looking for something bold or something different, you could look at colored or textured tiles. They could really be a nice idea. |
| 00:13:34 | LESLIE: Now, to make sure a drop ceiling is going to work for you, you’ve got to consider the available headspace in that room. It’s not just a practical consideration, but aesthetic as well. You’ve got to kind of look at the space above your living room windows from the window frame to the ceiling and consider where that drop ceiling is going to land, especially in comparison to that window frame, and then determine if that’s going to be a good look for the space. |
| 00:13:56 | TOM: Yeah, and another benefit of drop ceilings is that they provide for easier access to any mechanical systems above. So, for example, if your plumbing pipes are running through there or your wiring or your waste lines, it can be really helpful to be able to just disassemble a couple of panels rather than cut into like a drywall ceiling if you have to make a repair. So, there’s definitely a practical side as well. So, give them a second look. I think you’ll really be surprised with the options that are available. |
| 00:14:21 | LESLIE: We’ve got Carol joining us, who’s got a lot of air in the pipes and causing some heat. So, if you have heating issues, what’s going on at your money pit? |
| 00:14:28 | CALLER: I have a boiler. I have air in the lines. My boiler has an automatic burper. I’ve bled the lines, but there’s more air than usual. |
| 00:14:37 | TOM: Hey, Carol. So, I’ve actually never heard of when you say your boiler has a burper. I’m not quite sure what you mean by that. But when you have air in the heating system, in a hot water heating system, what you need to do is you need to let the air out at the radiators themselves. So, the air is going to work its way out of the system, and you open up the bleed valve, which is at the radiators. And you let that run until the water starts coming up. When the water starts coming out, then you’ve released all the air. And that’s really all you need to do for that system. And the reason the air gets in there is because when the boiler refills, which it’ll do from time to time, that water that comes in from the tap is going to have air entrained in it. And as it’s heated, it gets released. So, that’s where the air comes from. But by bleeding it at the radiator valves, you should be able to eliminate that water and restore heat to those chilly radiators. |
| 00:15:21 | LESLIE: Now, we’ve got Don from Illinois on the line, who’s dealing with some slippery sidewalks. What’s going on? |
| 00:15:25 | CALLER: My driveway, I have a new house, four years old. Driveways and sidewalks always retain moisture. And, of course, in the climate I live in, it freezes. So, it gets flipped quite frequently. Is there a product I can put on to repel the moisture and get it to run off? |
| 00:15:42 | TOM: So, Don, I don’t really think it’s appropriate to seal a sidewalk. I mean, you could use a concrete sealer on it. That would stop some of the moisture from soaking in. But if you were to do something like put like an epoxy finish on that sidewalk, you’re still going to have soil. You’re going to have some water that sits there, and it’ll freeze, and it’ll be doubly as slippery. So, I would tell you to use a non-corrosive ice melt on that, something like potassium chloride. Not salt, not rock salt, because that will tear up the sidewalks. But you want to basically take some potassium chloride, mix it in a bucket with some maybe playground sand to give it some traction, and keep it near the doors, near the sidewalks, so that it’s easy to sprinkle on when the snow hits. But you’re not going to stop the water from basically wetting down the sidewalk. Because even a very, very thin layer of moisture can be very, very dangerous and slippery. So, I don’t think sealing these sidewalks beyond just using a basic sealer, which will not interrupt the surface grip of it. But anything that’s like an epoxy coating or something of that nature could make it even more dangerous. So, I would tell you just to use a potassium chloride mix and use that to basically manage the salt in the winters of Illinois where you live. |
| 00:16:51 | LESLIE: Jane in Iowa needs some help with a radon problem. |
| 00:16:53 | CALLER: What’s going on? I have a radon mitigation in my basement, which is working just fine. I had my little monitor upstairs to change the batteries, and I noticed that the radon in my upstairs is more than the downstairs, probably because I don’t get much circulation other than from the basement. I set it closer to where I have the air coming in from outside, but I know Iowa has an awful lot of radon. So, I was wondering what’s the best thing to do or if that’s all right to have it if it’s at, you know, 3.0. So, if you have an idea, I’d be happy to listen. |
| 00:17:36 | TOM: Hey, Jane, you know, if you have a higher radon on the second floor than the first floor, something definitely sounds off because radon levels are going to be highest in the lower parts of the house where they’re nearest to the soil because that’s where it comes in. You could be getting some draft that’s giving you an odd reach. You could be reading there because you’re exchanging too much fresh air. But what I would do at this point is I would have a licensed radon mitigator just check the system to make sure that it’s operating properly and it’s basically taking the radon gas out from under the house and venting it outside. But the fact that you’ve got a higher radon upstairs than downstairs is very unusual and leads me to believe that something is wrong with that system. |
| 00:18:13 | LESLIE: Hey, guys, did you know that 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. |
| 00:18:30 | TOM: Yes, and they’re also offering our listeners a great opportunity for free professional installation so you don’t even have to install this yourself. They’ll send out pros to do it for you with a signed agreement. Restrictions apply, but don’t wait. You must call right now at 1-800-586-9606. That’s 1-800-586-9606. 1-800-586-9606. |
| 00:18:55 | LESLIE: Taking a local call from Steve in New York who’s dealing with a heating question. What’s going on? |
| 00:19:01 | CALLER: Well, I used to have a steam heating system in my house with the old radiators. Okay. My house is probably from the 1890s, and I was thinking about the radiators that have been removed that have been heating with like just a direct-vac heat system, you know, one of them gas wall units, and I was thinking about trying to put forced air in that house, but I have no way to get through the, you know, the bottom of the house. First floor to like the second floor because I have like soap plates in the wall. I was wondering if you got any ideas what I can do for a heat system instead of putting steam back in here because I’d like to put central air in the house too. |
| 00:19:33 | TOM: Right, so you want to have a ducted system where you can have heat and air. Right. And you say that you used to have these steam radiators, but you took those out. That’s kind of a shame because steam radiators and steam heat in general is a pretty warm and wonderful way to heat a house. |
| 00:19:47 | CALLER: Well, I still have the radiators downstairs, and I could put them back in. That was my other question too. Should I just go back to the steam radiators and the steam boiler and just forget the air condition? |
| 00:19:57 | TOM: To restore the steam heating system, you would have the benefit of warm, moist, and comfortable heat in the winter. Your air conditioning system would be a separate ducted system. Now, there’s two ways to do this. You can use a traditional ducting system, which would run in through your walls, or you say it’s difficult, of course, because of the way the walls are constructed now. But in some cases, I know I have a house that’s a little bit older than you. It’s yours. And when I put in air conditioning, we were able to run them, ducts in closets and places like that, so they weren’t quite so obvious without going through the walls itself. But there’s another system I’d like you to look into called SpacePak, spelled P-A-K, S-P-A-C, P-A-K.com, SpacePak.com. This is a system that is a high-velocity, low-volume design. So the ducts of a SpacePak system are only like three-and-a-half-inch or so tubes, and they can be inside wall and floor cavities very easily. You don’t have to have the big ducts. And what they do is they move air through at a faster speed. That’s why they’re called high velocity, and they still do a great job of cooling the place. So that’s another option for you in terms of getting air conditioning. But, again, it’s a separate system than the heating system that you have now. And, of course, the third option is just to go with ducts all the way, and putting in a forced-air system won’t be as comfortable as the hot water, but it would be less expensive than two systems. But you’re going to have to find a very talented agent. There’s a HVAC contractor that understands this is an old historic home, and he can’t just go tearing things wide open. He’s got to be creative and strategic about how he gets the ducts into each place in the house. |
| 00:21:28 | CALLER: Do you recommend a baseboard electric heater at all? |
| 00:21:30 | TOM: No, it will cost you an arm and a leg, especially in New York. It’s the very most expensive way to heat a house. |
| 00:21:35 | CALLER: Okay, I thought the electric baseboard came down in price, but I guess I’m wrong on that. |
| 00:21:40 | TOM: It’s not the baseboard that comes down in price. |
| 00:21:41 | CALLER: The equipment is cheap. It’s electricity that costs you an arm and a leg. Yeah, I thought they were cheaper to run today, but I guess I’m wrong. |
| 00:21:46 | TOM: Yeah, no. All right, Steve, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. Yeah, thanks. Bye. |
| 00:21:54 | LESLIE: Well, if you need to hang something in your home, it’s always best to go directly into those wood studs. But if you can’t find it, it’s not available, the right drywall anchor can definitely help you out. It can hold a surprising amount of weight if you buy the right one. Now, there’s many types of drywall anchors, but they all share a similar trait. They expand behind the drywall, providing an anchor to hang a heavy object. Now, the key here is to choose the one that’s rated for the weight of whatever it is that you’d like to hang. |
| 00:22:23 | TOM: Yeah, so for example, toggle bolts. These are among the strongest types of anchor bolts. They feature sort of a winged nut that pops open when it’s installed to spread the load across a wider area. I used these, for example, recently to install grab bars at my mom’s house. I actually drilled through tile that was on the wall and through the wall behind it. Didn’t really have much flexibility on looking for a stud. I had whatever it was, it was. It turned out I was in an area of the wall that had no studs, and so I used the toggle bolts, and it worked really well. Now, there are also steel or plastic hollow wall anchors that you can try. These are one-piece anchors that have a screw built in, and then as the screw is tightened, that anchor expands from the inside and then sort of pinches itself to the wall. |
| 00:23:08 | LESLIE: Yeah, now, self-drilling anchors are another option. These look a lot like a screw themselves, and they’re among the easiest to install. You just kind of tap them in to get started, and then drive that anchor in with a screwdriver. No matter which option that you choose, you want to carefully read the packaging to make sure that their weight rating can handle the weight of the item that you’re going to be hanging. This is the most important key here, guys. The weight has got to accommodate the weight of whatever it is you will put on that wall. |
| 00:23:33 | TOM: Yeah, and while it’s best to always find a stud in the wall, there are lots of ways you can attach things right to drywall. Hey, Leslie, that reminds me, we forgot one. The monkey hook. Remember the monkey hook? |
| 00:23:44 | LESLIE: You’ve always loved the monkey hook. |
| 00:23:46 | TOM: The monkey hook’s like a wire. It’s sort of like a C-shaped wire that goes in. There’s a really small hole in the wall, and it goes into the drywall and sort of snaps in place and holds 50 pounds. So lots and lots of options. So think about that. The most important thing is when you hang it, you don’t want to lose it, right? So make sure you choose the right anchor, and you do a good job putting it together so whatever you’re hanging there is going to stay up for the long haul. |
| 00:24:09 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Rosalie on the line who’s looking for ways to make her home more accessible. Tell us about it. |
| 00:24:14 | CALLER: I’m looking to install an elevator in a two-story house. |
| 00:24:18 | TOM: You know, that’s actually becoming very common, installing elevators in houses. It used to be something that was thought of as impossible, but now with advanced technology, it’s entirely possible. It takes the same space as, say, a small coat closet. It operates, you know, you’re not going to have five people in it. It operates designed for a single person or maybe a person and an aide. I would make sure it’s big enough for a wheelchair, because that could happen in your future. And you’ve just got to block out the space for it. So the first question is where do you want to put it, and, you know, do you have access to this first floor of the elevator without having to go up basically the landing of the elevator, without having to go up any steps or make sure there’s a ramp there. And then you need to carve out the space for it for the two stories or whatever, however number of stories you’re going to have for this, and it can be installed. I actually helped my cousin, who had an elevator put in his house. He was impacted by a very severe hurricane in the northeast and lost a good part of his house, and when he rebuilt, he planned in an elevator space. And the only issue we had was that it was basically accessible from ground level, and there was a small pit underneath of it for, you know, some of the controls and I guess the springs or the motors or whatever, and that pit used to fill with water. It was something that he hadn’t thought about, but being on the shore, I guess that was something he probably should have, or at least his architect should have told him. So we designed a pump and helped him install a pump and found one that fit perfectly underneath the elevator to keep that pit dry. But I’m telling you, it’s a tried and true technology today, and there’s no reason you can’t do it. |
| 00:25:57 | LESLIE: Reach on out to Team Money Pit. Let us know what you are working on and how we can lend a hand. And here is a great reason for you to reach out. We’ve got a prize up for grabs, which is the home maintenance for dummies. This is the dummies book that Tom just wrote. I mean, it is a fantastic sort of informational highway of all the things that you need to tackle the projects in your home, whether you are a seasoned DIYer or you are just getting started. It is packed with practical tips to keep your home in tip-top shape. Home Maintenance for Dummies is available for $24.99 at Amazon and MoneyPit.com slash dummies. |
| 00:26:32 | TOM: Don’t miss your chance to win a free copy, though, and you can take control of your home maintenance like a pro. Call us now with your questions at 1-800-544-9000. Or just go to MoneyPit.com slash ask. |
| 00:26:44 | LESLIE: So do you want to take advantage of free heat this winter? Well, you can start by identifying which windows in your home get the most sun during the day. And pay attention to those sunny spots and make sure they are not covered by curtains, blinds, or blocked by any outdoor vegetation. |
| 00:26:58 | TOM: Yeah, you know, sunlight streaming into your home in winter isn’t just sort of a nice thing to have. It’s free heat, literally. And if you uncover and unblock your sunniest windows, you can let in more natural warmth and reduce your reliance on heating systems. The result is lower energy bills and a cozier home all season long. You can even automate this. If you have a smart home where you have, say, some devices that are controlling your window blinds, you could set them to raise in the morning and lower when the sun goes down. And this way you’re taking advantage of it. You don’t have to remember to do it. It just happens. I mean, these systems are so smart. They even adjust based on the length of daylight from time to time. So it just happens year-round. You get more light in the summer and less light in the winter, and they just adjust. So take advantage of it. Remember, windows really can make a difference. |
| 00:27:46 | LESLIE: Ryan’s on the line and has a question about a driveway. What’s going on? |
| 00:27:49 | CALLER: I have rubber marks in my asphalt driveway. Looks like some people were doing burnouts in it before. |
| 00:27:57 | TOM: See, who’s burning rubber in your driveway? |
| 00:28:00 | CALLER: You got a teenager? Yeah, we just bought the house, and the previous people must have had some big parts. So I tried to degrease it in the power washer, but it didn’t come out, and I’m clueless. I can’t find anything else. |
| 00:28:16 | TOM: I don’t think you’re going to get those out. I think you’re probably just going to have to let them ride until you decide to seal the driveway again. So it’s a bit cold now, but, you know, come spring, maybe spring or fall, this would be a good project, and that’s to reseal the whole driveway and just kind of cover them over. I don’t think you’re going to be able to clean asphalt. It’s hard enough to get oil stains out. But if you’ve got burn marks in it, I just don’t see it happening. |
| 00:28:40 | CALLER: Oh, okay. That’s good to know. And is sealing the driveway, is that something I could do myself? Sure. Or should I hire a professional? |
| 00:28:46 | TOM: Yep. Well, either way, you definitely could do it yourself. You know, you can buy good quality sealer products at your home center, like Home Depot and Quikrete makes some. And what you’re also going to buy is like an oversized squeegee. It’s like the squeegee the size of a big old push broom. And you need to make sure that, you know, if there’s cracks, there’s products that you use for that, and you make sure it’s nice and clean. And then you kind of start down one end and work your way out and give it a good day or two in the sunshine to dry up real nice and harden, and you’re good to go. It’s something you have to do every couple of years when you own an asphalt driveway because the road salt, the ice, you know, it really wears on it, as does the sun. And it’s going to shrink, it’s going to crack, and the surface is going to wear off. It has to be resealed. |
| 00:29:26 | CALLER: Okay. Is there a specific product, Tom, that you’d recommend? |
| 00:29:29 | TOM: I would look at the Quikrete products, Q-U-I-K-R-E-T-E. I know those guys. They’re really good. Their formulations are really awesome. I saw, in fact, when I saw your note coming up here on our caller screen, I was wondering if it was a concrete driveway because I just came back from a trade show and they showed me a resurfacer product that was absolutely amazing. You know, we get a lot of calls from folks that have old deteriorated concrete surfaces. And they always try to put like, you know, more concrete on it or more cement on it and it peels off. They came up with this resurfacer product. And what they did is they did like a tinsel strength test on it where it’s basically applied to concrete and then they try to pull it apart, right, try to pull the resurfaces off the concrete. This stuff was so strong, it actually took chunks of the concrete in aggregate with it when they tried to pull it apart. So, I mean, that’s good chemistry right there. You know, and so that’s what I mean. |
| 00:30:17 | CALLER: I trust those formulations and I think they put a lot into them to make sure that you have good adhesion and good performance out of All right. Well, thanks so much. I listen to you guys all the time. I’ve learned a ton from you both. |
| 00:30:28 | TOM: All right. Well, we’re glad we can help you out, man. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:30:33 | LESLIE: Jack wrote in to Team Money Pit saying, We’re planning to replace 15-year-old laminate flooring in our kitchen and entrance. The old flooring is damaged from water from the dog’s bowl and in front of the sink. What recommendations do you have for flooring that’s waterproof versus resistant, scratch-resistant, and easy to install? |
| 00:30:51 | TOM: Well, that’s a lot to expect from a flooring, right? Right. Waterproof, pet-proof, scratch-resistant. Okay, well, that rules out tile, which of course would be the most durable for a pet. Now, if you’re thinking about luxury vinyl plank, yeah, it’s completely waterproof, but I don’t think it’s going to stand up to pet scratching. Really, the only thing that would probably stand up would be a hybrid stone plank type of a product. It’s like luxury vinyl, but it is much, much more durable. You know, there are a number of manufacturers out there. It’s more expensive than the vinyl. Probably, I’d say, $5 to $8 a square foot. It is easy to install, but my experience with it is it’s been found that it’s very, very durable. In fact, when it first came on the market, I grabbed a piece of it and started banging on it with a hammer and trying to sand it with a sandpaper just to see if I could scratch it, and I couldn’t. It was that tough. So, I think what you’re looking for is a hybrid floor product. Lumber liquidators or LL Flooring used to have one called Duravana. I know that some of their stores are closing down. Maybe you’ll find that. But there are other manufacturers as well, Jack. But that’s what you’re looking for. |
| 00:31:59 | LESLIE: And you know what else, Jack? You can get a dog bowl sort of station. I don’t know if that’s the right word for it, but it’s like the food bowl and the water bowl kind of sit in an elevated stand that then has sort of like a barrier around it. And the water, if it spills, goes underneath it and collects in like a little save-all because I have a Sherman who’s a very sloppy drinker. And this has done wonders for us. |
| 00:32:22 | TOM: Sloppy drinker, huh? |
| 00:32:23 | LESLIE: Sloppy drinker. Those silly dogs. Now, Zach in Atlanta says, I have several small chips on the edge of my granite kitchen counter. Is it okay to buy a DIY kit to fix this or should I go ahead and hire a pro? The edges are always tough because, you know, you have to go with whatever that finished edge is, OG or just mitered or whatever. Yeah. And I don’t know if filling that in sort of mimics that shape without having to go in after and do some more work to it that maybe you can’t do. Yeah. |
| 00:32:51 | TOM: I mean, it is tempting to buy the over-the-counter chip repair kits that fix that. It’s the granite. But they really can’t compare to the work of a granite repair pro, especially when you have, you know, one of those very nice corners. The DIY kits use like a paint-like material that fills those chips where the granite pros, they actually use real granite and they actually rebuild the damaged portion of the granite countertop. So when they’re done, it’s pretty much invisible. They’ll grind up the granite to make it identical to what’s already in the counter. They’ll mix it with epoxy. They’ll fill the chip. And then they’ll very carefully sand the area and buff it so, you know, it really looks absolutely perfect when it’s done. |
| 00:33:33 | LESLIE: Yeah. I mean, I bet you can use those kits for smaller imperfections in a flat surface of it because there you don’t really have to worry about sort of rebuilding it up and smoothing it to a finish. There you’re kind of just… |
| 00:33:46 | TOM: Or it’s less visible, right? It’s like… |
| 00:33:48 | LESLIE: So I think, you know, if you have some imperfection or damage in the flat surface kind of within the counter, go for it. But those edges are challenging. |
| 00:33:56 | TOM: This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com. I don’t know about you, Leslie, but I’ve kind of had it with winter. I mean, I’m ready. I’m ready for spring. I’ve never had it with winter. Yeah. Well, it’s because you ski a lot. So I get it. |
| 00:34:10 | LESLIE: No, I love it. |
| 00:34:11 | TOM: We all have our reasons. But I want to get outside and tackle some projects. I got a greenhouse that’s yearning to be built. |
| 00:34:18 | LESLIE: You’re itching to build that project. I know it. |
| 00:34:20 | TOM: I am itching to, man. I am itching to build it. It’s going to be awesome. But if you’ve got questions about projects you’re planning to do now or in the future, remember, you can always reach us at 1-888-Money-Pit, 888-666-3974. We’d love to help you out. But for now, that’s all the time we have. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 00:34:39 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 00:34:40 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
| 00:34:42 | 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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