Show Notes
Today, learn how to enhance your landscape with the right lighting, get three game-changing tips to make your kitchen counters more functional, and find out what to check in your homeowners insurance policy to ensure you’re fully protected. Whether you’re fixing up or starting fresh, we’re here to help, so listen for answers to more DIY questions!
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
- Outdoor Lighting: Get bright ideas for effective lightscaping that offers safety, security, and style.
- Kitchen Countertops: Work smarter, not harder, with 3 ways to improve your kitchen countertop space.
- Homeowners Insurance: Does your homeowners insurance provide enough coverage when disaster strikes?
Top Questions & Answers
- Dehumidifying: What is the best way to reduce humidity in a crawlspace? Randy gets tips for adding vapor barriers, installing an exhaust fan, and improving outside drainage.
- Flooring: Zelda needs suggestions for flooring in a bathroom and small hallway. We suggest installing a bamboo floor that’s good for moist areas.
- Water Heater: Jacob is having trouble regulating the water temperature. He should make sure the water heater is set to about 110 degrees and install a pressure balance value to regulate the shower temperature.
- Drafty Windows: Joyce is freezing from drafts blowing through her apartment windows. We explain how to use shrink film and temporary weatherstripping caulk to seal the seams.
- Front Door: The original solid wood door won’t stay aligned in Dale’s old house. He should remove all the trim and rehang the door, resecuring it inside the framing.
- Dishwasher: The bottom of the dishwasher fills with water after it’s done running. Mary needs to check for an obstruction in the plumbing line.
- House Odors: There’s an odd smoky odor coming from the kitchen and bathroom drains. Barbara gets tips on using a bleach solution to scrub away smelly bio-gases.
- Radon: Is there any way to mitigate radon without installing an expensive system? Adam finds it’s not a DIY project and the reasons why radon levels may vary.
Ask Your Home Improvement Question
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 00:00:15 | LESLIE: Text to text and floorboards to shingles. This is the Money Pit. I’m Leslie Segrete. I want to welcome everybody to this week’s MoneyPit. Sadly we lost Tom Kraeutler a few weeks back super unexpectedly during a surgery and we all miss him terribly, but I promise everyone that we will continue to deliver great advice, help you out with all of your home improvement how tos, and continue to build on the foundation of the MoneyPit that Tom Kraeutler built. Join us every week, shoot us your questions, let us know what you are working on so we can lend a hand. |
| 00:00:55 | TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 00:01:00 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 00:01:02 | TOM: And we are so glad to have you here and joining us today on the program because we have got a lot of info to share. Because that’s what we do. We educate, we try to inspire you, maybe build confidence. We’re kind of your coach or your guide for projects you want to do around your house. Whether you are a DIYer or maybe one who is a do-it-for-me kind of home improver. We can help you get that project done right every time. But help yourself first, reach out to us with your questions. You do that by calling us at 1-888-Money-Pit. That’s 888-666-3974. Or better yet, just go to moneypit.com slash ask and post your question right there. We’ll call you back the next time we’re in the studio. Coming up today, you know, while a lot of folks focus on how their landscape looks, especially about now when we’re getting ready for spring, which is going to happen within a month or so, they may not be as focused on what I call their light scape. But with the right combination of low voltage lighting, there’s a whole new view awaiting you. And the good news is it doesn’t need near the maintenance that landscape does, right? We’re going to walk you through those options. |
| 00:02:07 | LESLIE: All right. And kitchen countertops are the most heavily used work surfaces in every home. But did you know that with a few changes, you can make those surfaces work harder for you? Instead of the other way around. We’re going to share three ways to improve those countertops to make them easier to use. |
| 00:02:23 | TOM: And homeowners insurance has been making the headlines lately, especially in the disaster prone areas. And this has many homeowners questioning whether their coverage is actually sufficient. So we’re going to share what to look for to make sure your policy protects you when it matters most. |
| 00:02:37 | LESLIE: But first, are you ready to unleash your creativity and conquer home improvement projects like a pro? Well, whether you’re sprucing up your space for resale or creating your dream home, we can help. So let us know what you are working on, where you need help or where you need some inspiration. And we can hand all of that info out to you and get your project going in the right direction. |
| 00:02:59 | TOM: The number here is 1-888-Money-Pit. That’s 888-666-3974. Give us a call with your home improvement questions right now or post them to moneypit.com slash ask by clicking the blue microphone button. So let’s get to it. |
| 00:03:13 | LESLIE: We’ve got Randy in Florida on the line who’s got a dehumidification question. What can we do for you? |
| 00:03:18 | CALLER: Our house is off-grade and the crawl space area has ventilation all around the house. And we wanted to see about encapsulating it, you know, with the vapor barrier plastic. And with being in Florida, I was just a little worried about humidity and possibly wanting to insulate it and see what your opinion was. |
| 00:03:41 | TOM: Well, I do think it’s a good idea. For you to add a vapor barrier that will help reduce the amount of humidity that gets into the space above the floor. And that can make the home more efficient and certainly more comfortable. What you might also want to think about doing is adding an exhaust fan. They have fans that are basically the size of a concrete block or a foundation vent. And you could put fans on one side of the foundation and have vents open on the other side. Then have those fans operate on a humidistat so that whenever the humidity gets really damp in that crawl space, the fan can kick on and pull some dryer air from outside across essentially that crawl space floor, pulling the moisture out with it. So those two things can help you manage moisture. On the outside of the house, you also want to make sure that if you’ve got gutters, you should have gutters on the home. And that there’s downspouts that extend away from that foundation. Because when you dump the additional water that collects on your roof right against the foundation, that definitely increases the humidity that’s in that space. So all of those things working together can keep it a lot drier. |
| 00:04:42 | CALLER: Okay, so would you be extending that vapor barrier up the walls of the crawl space? Or would that interfere with that ventilation unit that you’re speaking of? |
| 00:04:52 | TOM: Well, you don’t want to block off the vents. But yeah, I would extend it up the wall if you could extend it 12 inches or so just to make sure it’s sealed well. |
| 00:04:59 | CALLER: Okay, and then would you add a dehumidifier down there? Or would that essentially be what the ventilation unit you’re talking about would do? |
| 00:05:07 | TOM: That’s kind of what the ventilation would do. Okay. I would not add a dehumidifier into that space. It’s not really designed for an unconditioned space like that. Dehumidifiers are not really designed for that. Okay. |
| 00:05:16 | CALLER: And then so that would keep the humidity low enough that we could then put the batted insulation between the floor joists? Yeah. |
| 00:05:27 | TOM: It will make it lower. It will make it reasonably lower. It’s never going to be 100% dry. It’s always going to be damp. But I do think, yes, that will keep the moisture down, which is what you want to do, and allow you to get more efficiency out of the insulation. Okay. |
| 00:05:41 | CALLER: All right. Great. Well, thank you so much. |
| 00:05:43 | TOM: You’re welcome, Randy. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:05:47 | LESLIE: Zelda in North Carolina is looking for some help with a renovation. What can we do for you? Yes. |
| 00:05:52 | CALLER: I’ve done a lot with my floors, but I put some laminate in everywhere because I have a little Chihuahua dog and didn’t want to get scratches on real wood. But there is a bathroom upstairs and a small hallway in front, and I didn’t want laminate there because you don’t want it in the bathroom. So what else would be good? Because I didn’t want the grout issues of tile, and I didn’t know what else to go through. I thought about bamboo, or is there some tile that doesn’t have the grouty stuff? |
| 00:06:21 | TOM: Well, there’s a wide variety of choices. Now, you mentioned that you didn’t want to put laminate there. Do you want something that gives you a wood look? Not necessarily. All right. Well, one of the options that I was thinking would be a bamboo floor. Bamboo is very, very durable, and it’s also very good in moisture. So you can put it in a lot of different areas. So you can put it in a lot of different areas. It doesn’t swell. And you can pick up bamboo as an engineered product, which means it’s made in multiple layers, which gives it dimensional stability. But of course, that is going to give you sort of that wood look. There are also luxury vinyl products that are out today that are very, very thick and heavy vinyl tile that are not very expensive. |
| 00:06:57 | LESLIE: Yeah, it’s like a rubberized vinyl even. They’re fairly thick. They’re available in like a plank style, so it actually looks like wood. Some of those will, some will snap together as the rubberized vinyl. Some will sort of overlap and stick to one another. It depends on the quality of the product, to be honest with you. But they’re both, you know, whichever, however much money you do spend on a rubberized vinyl, it goes together very easily and it looks fantastic. And it’s a little bit softer, so it’s more forgiving on your, you know, your legs, knees, back when you’re standing in the room for a long time. |
| 00:07:29 | CALLER: Well, yeah, because my first choice when I went to look was the bamboo, but I wasn’t sure if that could go in the bathroom. So that, that really is what I kind of like the best. Yeah. Great. Thank you so much. That’s very helpful. |
| 00:07:41 | TOM: You’re welcome, Zelda. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:07:45 | LESLIE: Hey, are you a fan of our podcast? Well, leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and we’ll be doing a happy dance. Plus, it helps us keep the show going and growing. Just go to MoneyPit.com slash review. Jacob in Kentucky is on the line with a water heating question. What can we do for you? Hi. |
| 00:08:01 | CALLER: Yeah. Basically, the problem that I’m having is, I don’t know. I When I’m taking a shower and it’s kind of in the sink as well in the kitchen, when I turn on the hot water, you could, I mean, you can cook macaroni in the hot water. You got to kind of fidget with it if you wash your hands too long or something. And in the shower, kind of the same thing. You know, I won’t turn it on full blast on hot, but you know, just about normal and it’ll cool off after just a couple of minutes. It’ll just almost go cold. And then, you know, just as you’re taking a shower, I mean, in the duration of five or ten minutes, I mean, I end up going all the way over with the hot water, just, you know, the one knob. And I end up turning it on, I guess, you know, like full blast hot. |
| 00:08:52 | TOM: So, let’s see what’s going on here. How old is your water heater? |
| 00:08:56 | CALLER: It’s fairly new. I think it’s just a few years old, maybe three years old. |
| 00:09:00 | TOM: Is it electric or gas? |
| 00:09:01 | CALLER: It’s gas. |
| 00:09:02 | TOM: So, first of all, let’s check the temperature of the water heater. It needs to be at about 110 degrees and see if there may be a temperature indicator on the valve that you can line up or you could simply measure it with a thermometer. Secondly, in terms of the shower, what I would recommend is that you install what’s called a pressure-balanced valve. So, what a pressure-balanced valve does is that once you set the temperature, it maintains the mix between hot and cold so that you deliver that same temperature regardless of what happens to the pressure on one side or the other. So, if somebody flushes the toilet or, you know, runs the dishwasher and all of a sudden, you got less cold water or less hot water, it’s going to adjust. So, the flow may be greater or less, but the temperature will never change and that makes the shower situation pretty much go away. Okay. |
| 00:09:56 | CALLER: Awesome. What was it called again, the valve? |
| 00:09:59 | TOM: A pressure-balanced valve. It’s a type of shower valve. |
| 00:10:02 | CALLER: Oh, okay. Awesome. Well, I appreciate it. |
| 00:10:04 | TOM: If you’re a plumber for it, they’ll know exactly what you’re talking about. |
| 00:10:06 | CALLER: All right. Well, I definitely appreciate your call. |
| 00:10:07 | TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:10:12 | CALLER: Joyce in Massachusetts, you’ve got the Money Pit. What can we do for you today? I have nine windows and we had someone caulk the windows where the window sills because we live in Boston and the cold air has been blowing in. I want to know how I can seal them up because it didn’t do one iota thing for the gentleman caulking the nine windows. |
| 00:10:34 | TOM: Didn’t do any good, huh? And he caulked them from the outside or from the inside? |
| 00:10:38 | CALLER: From the inside because this is an apartment building. We’re on the seventh floor and we have windows going on different angles. And so, I’m trying to find out what is the easiest way to prevent the cold from blowing in because it’s unbearable. Okay. |
| 00:10:57 | TOM: Since you’re on the seventh floor, I presume that you don’t use your windows. You would never use your windows for emergency egress. Do any of them go to a fire station? Do you have a fire escape or anything like that? No. |
| 00:11:05 | CALLER: No. |
| 00:11:06 | TOM: Okay. So, there’s two things that you can do here. One of which is you can use shrink film. It’s a clear plastic wrap that you cut to fit the size of the window. You attach it with a double-face, clear double-face tape that comes with it. And then you use your hair dryer to heat it and it becomes very taut and clear so it doesn’t obstruct the view. |
| 00:11:27 | CALLER: What about weather stripping like weather felt? |
| 00:11:30 | TOM: Well, that’s all possible. But there’s another option. And the reason I asked you if you needed to use your hair dryer is because you don’t use your windows for egress is because I was going to recommend temporary weather stripping. Now, there’s a caulk that’s like a weather stripping sealant, but it’s a temporary sealant. Okay. So, the way this works is you essentially caulk your windows shut. You caulk all the seams in the window where they slide up and down with this clear temporary caulk. And then what happens is in the spring, you can actually grab the edge of this caulk and peel it right off. It comes off like a clear rubbery strip. It enables you to essentially seal your windows shut in the winter and then restore them in the spring. |
| 00:12:11 | CALLER: Thank you very much, and I enjoy your program immensely. |
| 00:12:15 | TOM: All right. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:12:19 | LESLIE: Well, while most homeowners focus on how their landscape looks, they might not be as focused on their lightscape. A good lighting design can not only add safety and security, but also style if it’s done well. So, here’s what you need to consider. First of all, budget. I know people kind of think, oh, I want to spend this much, but let me look at these awesome fixtures first, but really set a number because there’s a big range here. Now, exterior lighting costs can run from a little to a lot, and adding a lightscape to a home where you plan to be for only a few years is going to merit a different level of exterior lighting investment than a longer term abode. But even for big lighting plans, this is one improvement that you can easily spread out over a number of years, seasons, however you want to do it. You can do one side of the house at a time. You can do one type of lighting at a time. There’s lots of ways to keep this in your budget. |
| 00:13:11 | TOM: That’s right. So, let’s talk durability next because whether you’re working with a pro or shopping for DIY lighting systems, you should always invest in quality fixtures and components. Now, low voltage is the way to go, but you really need to work with a good material like copper and brass so those fixtures stand up. And take note. There are a lot of cheap landscape lights out there, and many rarely last more than a season or two. So, you’re better off buying quality and breaking your project up into smaller chunks that you can spread throughout the next year or two. |
| 00:13:43 | LESLIE: Now, you also want to focus on creating mood and focusing where those lights are going to be. Are they highlighting an area of architecture? That type of thing. Now, a range of outdoor lighting fixtures make it possible to illuminate your home’s exterior as well as sort of like, you know, a Hollywood lighting design. But you have to make sure that you’re focusing on specific things. That’s the key here. So, now, for front and backyards, you want to carefully choose focal points that are going to receive the brightest and most dramatic spotlight, and then kind of build the rest of that outdoor lighting scheme around them. And I’m talking about, like, maybe there’s an interesting tree or arbor or a column or some sort of architectural detail or landscape detail that you want to highlight, and then you can kind of build the rest around that. Once you’ve kind of got those focus points, you know, done. Then you can shoot for a more natural look that kind of gives you that replication of moonlight, kind of dipples in that sort of soft lighting from above, because you don’t want it all to be like heavy, spot-on focus or uplighting. You kind of want to mix the type of lighting that might happen naturally. |
| 00:14:45 | TOM: That’s right. I mean, I think too many times when we shop for any kind of a light, we think just singular, right? Like a light fixture. But when talking about landscape lighting, it really is a system of lighting that you need to have. So, multiple components all combining to create that. That fantastic lightscape. So many times we think of lighting as one-off, but in this case, you really want to plan it out so it all works together perfectly to highlight your home. |
| 00:15:10 | LESLIE: All right. Dale in Georgia is on the line with a question about a shifty front door. What’s going on, Dale? |
| 00:15:16 | CALLER: Our house was built in 1937, and it’s still settling back and forth, spring and winter and summer. And the front door, I’ve had problems getting it to catch the striker plate, so I’ve had to move it back and forth. And we’re at a point now where the house is settled again, and I can’t even latch the front door. |
| 00:15:37 | TOM: How convinced are you that the house is actually moving as opposed to the front door just kind of getting out of whack? |
| 00:15:43 | CALLER: Just about positive. I can see there’s a different gap at different times of the year. It’ll be like at the top in the summertime and at the bottom in the wintertime. |
| 00:15:53 | TOM: And what kind of door is this? Is this a metal door, a wood door? |
| 00:15:56 | CALLER: No, it’s a solid wood door. |
| 00:15:57 | TOM: A solid wood door. And you really like this wood door? |
| 00:16:00 | CALLER: Yeah, I think it’s the original door. It’s got the handmade glass in it and the ornate decoration around the edges. Right. |
| 00:16:08 | TOM: So you have no interest in replacing the door? |
| 00:16:10 | CALLER: No. I put a new door on the back, but I really don’t want to lose this door if I can. |
| 00:16:16 | TOM: What I would probably do is essentially rehang the door. So what that’s going to require is you’re moving the trim around the door inside and out. So you can see just the jams. Because I suspect that the jams are not securely attached to the framing or they may have loosened up over the years. I would basically want to rehang this as if it was a new door, but maybe with not doing all the work that would be responsible for that. So if you pull the trim out, then you’re going to look at the attachment points for the jams. You’re going to do one final adjustment, getting the door exactly where you want it. And then you’re going to re-secure the door jams to the door frame. You need to make sure that the space between the door jams and the door frame is completely shimmed with a wood shim. So you would use wood blocks followed by usually cedar shingles, one from one side, one for the other. If you push them together they get wider and they get thicker and they get nice and tight. And then what I would do is I wouldn’t nail it in, I would actually use a drywall styled screw. So a long case hardened screw that you can set just below the surface of the door jam and then putty over it. Because if you attach them with screws and you shim it properly, that door really shouldn’t move. The expansion and the contraction of the door is about all you really should have left. And if it gets tight at one point in the year, I would take the door off and I would trim it a little bit just to make enough room for it to close when it’s fully expanded. Okay. |
| 00:17:52 | CALLER: That’s something I didn’t think of. All right. Well, I do appreciate it. |
| 00:17:56 | TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:18:01 | LESLIE: Mary in Massachusetts is on the line with an appliance that’s acting up. What’s going on, Mary? |
| 00:18:05 | CALLER: The bottom fills up with water. And I mean, probably an inch or two, but say we run the dishwasher at night, like I get up this morning at 7, there wasn’t anything on the bottom of the dishwasher. And about an hour later, it was filled. And it’s been doing that. And we don’t understand what’s going on. We’ve had the hoses checked to make sure they’re not bent or anything, but we can’t figure it out. Okay. |
| 00:18:30 | TOM: So have you cleaned out the bottom of the dishwasher? Sometimes the drain gets clogged. That’s the easy fix right there. |
| 00:18:36 | CALLER: Oh, yeah. We’ve done that. |
| 00:18:37 | TOM: So you have no food particles there? No. So there must be an obstruction somewhere that’s causing it. There’s an obstruction somewhere in the line that’s causing the water and the plumbing in that part of the house to back up. And it’s just evidencing itself in the dishwasher. Have you checked the connection to your garbage disposal? |
| 00:18:53 | CALLER: Well, I don’t have a garbage disposal. |
| 00:18:54 | TOM: You don’t. So it drains where? Does it drain into the trap under the sink? Or where does it drain? Right. |
| 00:18:59 | CALLER: Into the trap under the sink. Yeah. |
| 00:19:01 | TOM: I think you’re backing some water up there. It’s going back up the hose and into the dishwasher. |
| 00:19:05 | CALLER: All right. Then I’m going to have somebody come over. We did have someone come over. I don’t think he’s… He honestly couldn’t figure it out. He checked the hoses and make sure they weren’t bent or anything. And he stayed for a while. And yeah, and it happened again, the water started coming in after he ran it. |
| 00:19:24 | TOM: So if you’re running it and it’s not draining, then there’s a different set of causes for that. It’s either a drain pump or the drain impeller, or there’s a solenoid kit that has to do with removing the water. But if you’re telling me this water is showing up when you’re not running the dishwasher, then I think it must be backing up through the plumbing system. Okay, Mary? So I think that’s a good approach. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 00:19:48 | LESLIE: Well, your kitchen counters are among the hardest working surfaces in your home, but with a few changes, you can make those surfaces work harder for you instead of the other way around. We’ve got three ways for you to improve those countertops to make them easier to use. |
| 00:20:04 | TOM: First tip, lower the counter height. Standard countertop height is about 36 inches from the floor. And if you’re designing a new kitchen, you might want to consider adding an additional counter at a lower level of around 28 to 32 inches high. Two reasons. First, if you’re standing, it’s a better height for kneading or chopping veggies. But if you also leave space underneath for a stool, you can sit down for some of those tasks, which makes it easier as you age. Especially when your parents are visiting and they want to pitch in. It also makes it easier for kids to get in on the action. Now, if you’re ready for a new countertop, get a pullout cutting board or a mobile kitchen cart, which are becoming very, very popular right now. |
| 00:20:43 | LESLIE: Next, you want to get rid of all of that clutter. You don’t have to spend too much here, but you do have to be ruthless. Stop storing seldom used appliances on the countertop. Find a home for everything. I mean, I’m as guilty as everybody else. I’m just sticking with it. I don’t want to spend something on the kitchen counter being like, here’s where this lives, but it shouldn’t. You should have a drawer or a closet or a cabinet. And if you don’t have that space available, make that space available. You need that kitchen counter space. I literally have three tiny counters in my small kitchen. I do not need to be storing a toaster. So let’s find a spot guys. |
| 00:21:19 | TOM: Yep. And finally, nothing makes a counter easier to use than good lighting. So for ceiling fixtures, you want to replace any incandescents and CFLs with LEDs. And check out the integrated LEDs. They can install right under your cabinets or in lieu of some of the other bulbs that are lighting that space. Now this is a project actually I did yesterday, Leslie, because we have track lighting in our kitchen in a few spots and the fixtures had started to get kind of wonky. One of them was sort of like blinking on and off and the other one was getting dull and I just wanted to change them. I had the hardest time though, finding fixtures for this thing and I finally did with a deep search at our local Home Depot. And I found a lot of them. And I put the fixtures in yesterday and I think I overdid it because I think we need sunglasses now in our kitchen. Luckily they’re on dimmers, but yeah, it was a bit much, but at least it worked. |
| 00:22:11 | LESLIE: This is Tom’s kitchen on the sun. |
| 00:22:12 | TOM: Go big, go bright, or go home. That’s right. |
| 00:22:17 | LESLIE: Barbara in South Dakota is on the line with a cigarette smoking house. What’s going on? |
| 00:22:22 | CALLER: Just have a strange odor coming from the drain in the kitchen sink. And I don’t know. There’s also a slight drain in the bathroom. |
| 00:22:33 | CALLER: Not sure. Not sure where it’s coming from or how to correct it. So I thought I’d give you a call. Okay. |
| 00:22:41 | TOM: But you describe it as a smoke-like odor? |
| 00:22:44 | CALLER: A smoke, like someone’s been smoking in the house. I know it’s the strangest thing. We don’t have smokers. |
| 00:22:51 | TOM: And you have it in the bathroom and where else did you say? |
| 00:22:53 | CALLER: Well, mainly in the kitchen sink. Sometimes when you just come into the kitchen, you can smell it. And sometimes it’s real strong. Other times, it’s a lighter smell. |
| 00:23:05 | TOM: What it might be, especially because you have it in both wet locations, it might be biogas. So biogas happens when you get debris in the kitchen sink that just sits there for the longest time and it starts to decay and it leaves off an awful odor. So what you might need to do is to really scrub those drains in both of those sinks. Okay. And I would use a bleach solution to do that, like OxyClean or something of that nature. It’s like an oxygenated bleach. And I would try to sort of cover all of that in that solution and let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes so it really kills any of the bacteria that’s laying in there. But you can get some pretty odiferous bacteria that can cause that type of odor and have it emanate from the drain. Yeah. You can see the drains in sinks and bathrooms. We’ve seen it many times. |
| 00:24:02 | CALLER: Well, where does the debris come from because we’re always using the garbage disposal? |
| 00:24:06 | TOM: Bacteria. You’re not going to see this level of debris. Yeah. |
| 00:24:09 | LESLIE: And it just sort of sticks to the side just naturally. |
| 00:24:12 | TOM: It grows in there. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Okay. |
| 00:24:14 | CALLER: But you mean fill the sink with bleach, kind of bleach water? How would you keep it? |
| 00:24:20 | TOM: Yeah. With like an OxyClean. Not so much the sink, but more importantly, that drain. You want to get that drain really coated in that bleach solution. Okay. |
| 00:24:26 | CALLER: So just let it sit there so it goes through the elbow, right? Yup. |
| 00:24:30 | TOM: Exactly. |
| 00:24:31 | CALLER: Okay. Thank you. |
| 00:24:33 | TOM: Give it a shot. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. Well, homeowner insurance has been in the news a lot lately, especially in areas prone to disasters like North Carolina and California, and it’s left many homeowners wondering across the country whether they have enough insurance to be fully covered. So here’s what you need to know to make sure your policy has what it takes to cover you, when it matters most. |
| 00:24:57 | LESLIE: Well, first of all, replacement cost coverage for your dwelling. This is the most common type of insurance. It’s not based upon the current value of your home, but upon the current price of rebuilding it from scratch with the same kind and quality of materials based on the construction costs where you live. |
| 00:25:14 | TOM: Next, let’s talk about contents. Don’t neglect having enough coverage for the contents of your home, which could also mean purchasing separate endorsements for items that are not ordinarily part of a homeowner’s insurance policy, like jewelry. |
| 00:25:27 | LESLIE: Also, you don’t want to overlook the importance of liability coverage included with your homeowner’s insurance policy. This protects you in case of personal injury or property damage, and even the smallest accidents can be expensive. Increasing your liability coverage by several hundred thousand dollars may just add a few dollars to your annual premium and protect you if you’re held responsible for a guest who trips while visiting your home. |
| 00:25:57 | TOM: And finally, in some areas of the country, flood insurance is also required. Now, flood insurance is kind of specialized. It’s purchased through regular insurance agents, but it’s a program that’s run by the government. And if you have a mortgage on your home, the mortgage company will absolutely require flood insurance if you’re in an area that meets certain criteria for flood risk. So make sure you identify whether that’s an issue for your part of the country, and don’t neglect to pick that up. Because if you do, and there’s a flood, you simply won’t have any coverage whatsoever. You know, it’s always tempting to try to save money by holding down your insurance policy limits. But being underinsured when the need arises, that can be a very, very costly lesson. |
| 00:26:40 | LESLIE: Adam in Wisconsin’s on the line with a radon question. What’s going on at your money pit? |
| 00:26:44 | CALLER: I did a radon test in my basement, adjusted for getting a mitigation in place. |
| 00:26:49 | TOM: What was the level, Adam, that came out of the test? |
| 00:26:51 | CALLER: It was 4.6. Okay. |
| 00:26:52 | TOM: So it’s just above the guideline. Because the guideline’s 4.0. Okay. Go ahead. |
| 00:26:56 | CALLER: So I was wondering, before getting the mitigation system installed by a professional, if there was anything that can be done to help mitigate it without, you know, paying the higher prices of getting a professional to do it. |
| 00:27:11 | TOM: Okay. Well, first of all, you are just over the guideline. One thing that you should know is that the radon levels are going to swing across the year depending on the season. You know, typically in the winter when the house is really, really dry, you’re going to get really sealed up, tight as a drum. Your levels are going to be seasonally high compared to the summer when we tend to let a lot more air into the house, which will push it down below the action guideline, which is 4.0 picocuries per liter of air. Now, in terms of a do-it-yourself sort of radon mitigation system, you know, it’s kind of a hard thing to do because what happens when you do a mitigation system is you set up a system that essentially pulls the gas off of the soil before it gets into the house. Do you have a traditional basement kind of house? What’s your home look like? Yeah. |
| 00:27:58 | CALLER: It’s a traditional basement. It actually has a Palmer valve drain that goes underneath the house. So I mean, one thing I looked at was a drain that would allow water out of the central drain but keep the gas down. Right. |
| 00:28:16 | TOM: Now, do you have a French drain around the inside perimeter of the foundation wall where there’s a gap between the basement floor and the floor? Yes. |
| 00:28:24 | CALLER: I also have a French drain. |
| 00:28:25 | TOM: So, I mean, what a mitigation company would do is they would seal that French drain up the bottom of it to kind of seal off the gas with a flowable urethane sealant. They would seal off the sump if that was accessible. Then they would install a vent pipe that goes into that slab and has a vent fan installed in it that draws the gas off from underneath the slab. So all of that is not really kind of a DIY. Yeah, you could seal the obvious places. But whether that’s going to have a long-term effect is really hard to say because typically what the tester is also going to do is something called a communications test where they’ll put one suction point where that hole is in the slab, they’ll put one suction point in the slab, they’ll put it under suction, under pressure, and then they’ll go around to the other areas of the slab and see if they have any air that’s kind of getting in there. And this way they can tell how much suction they need to install or how many suction points they need to install to kind of make the system work. So while, yeah, I mean, if you had some basic areas that you could seal up, that might help a little bit, but it’s really not a DIY project, Adam, for a whole bunch of reasons. And you know what? If you go to sell this house in the future and it comes out that you had a radon test done or even if they do a test at that time, DIY mitigation is just not going to cut it. You’re going to have to have a system in that was professionally installed and regularly monitored. Does that make sense? |
| 00:29:46 | CALLER: Yeah, that makes perfect sense. So I appreciate the information. I like it. The intervention was just kind of looking to see if there’s anything I could do to try to help bring down that level, but it sounds like I might have to go with the professionals with this. |
| 00:29:57 | TOM: Yeah. And economically, like I said, you’re just over the guidelines. So I wouldn’t consider this an emergency repair, but it’s something that you should get to when you’re ready to, when you can afford it, when you have the time, the inclination, you know, over the next, you know, few months, that would be great. Okay? Okay. All right. Very good. I’m going to paint one side of my house this spring, Leslie, because it’s not that I don’t want to do the whole house, but I’ve just got one side that has like a southeast face. So we get the east wind and moisture off the ocean, which is about a mile away, but it still finds its way here. |
| 00:30:27 | LESLIE: Then you get the sun. |
| 00:30:28 | TOM: And we get the sun. So really just the paint is peeling on this one side. So I’m going to strip it down and just do one side and I probably will buy myself, you know, two or three years before I have to do the rest. |
| 00:30:38 | LESLIE: All right. I love that. Well, let’s see what our listeners are working on. Vince says, we are planning a kitchen remodel, but not sure where to start after that. The kitchen is gutted out. Do we start with cabinets? Do we do the flooring first? What’s the order? |
| 00:30:50 | TOM: Well, I think way before you ever wheeled a sledgehammer. |
| 00:30:53 | LESLIE: You might be too late. Vince sounds enthusiastic. Yeah. |
| 00:30:56 | TOM: The best place to start your kitchen project though, I think is with a thorough and very clear eyed assessment of your current state and what features and functions you’re going to require in a remodel because kitchen design is a very specific skill. So you’d also be wise to consult with a designer who’s certified by the National Kitchen and Bath Association. Because those folks have the know-how to create solutions that are going to fit your budget as well as your lifestyle. And that includes, by the way, keeping the actual remodel moving along so you can get back to actually using your kitchen as soon as possible. Yeah. |
| 00:31:29 | LESLIE: And from there, what’s tackled first really depends on the extent of the remodel that you’re sort of committed to. You just want to take care not to create extra problems and expense with such whoppers as like, oh, I’m going to move the sink from here to there. You know, that does add a lot of time and that is very costly. And if your kitchen has some good bones, you want to capitalize them with smart updates that are going to make the most of your kitchen remodeling dollars. So I think it’s important to kind of really assess what you need, what’s within your budget and what your goal is ultimately. |
| 00:31:59 | TOM: You know, there’s such a wide range of kitchen rentals that you can do that have big impacts. You don’t have to do a gut remodel every time. You can take old cabinets that are structurally sound and paint them. You can update flooring, countertops, fixtures, you know, pretty much the sky’s the limit. So don’t think it’s all or nothing because there are certainly are a lot of different stops along the way. |
| 00:32:18 | LESLIE: Dino wrote in saying, we recently bought an old house in Maine built in 1958 and we’re having trouble with the drainage for the bathroom and the laundry. While the kitchen drainage is connected to the septic system, the bathroom and laundry are connected to a basement floor drain that’s leaking into the other side of the basement. Can we redirect the bathroom and laundry pipes to join the kitchen drainage or should we invest in a Santa flow pump? We love the show and appreciate your advice. |
| 00:32:42 | TOM: Well, something’s going to happen. Something’s odd about this because she says that the kitchen drainage goes to a septic system, but the bathroom and laundry are connected to a basement floor drain that’s leaking to the other side of the basement. So I think she’s talking about a gray water system that goes along with the septic. |
| 00:32:57 | LESLIE: Like it has to be the gray water. |
| 00:32:59 | TOM: Yeah, but you wouldn’t put the bathroom into the gray water drain. The bathroom would have to go to the septic system. Even the washer and the kitchen sink could all go to gray water, which basically means it goes out away from your house and drains somewhere, but it doesn’t have to go through a septic field. Yeah. But the waste pipe has to go through the septic field. So I need more information on what exactly you have here to give you the best advice. When you ask about a Santa flow pump, that’s a toilet that has the ability to grind waste and pump it up and drop it into an existing waste line. So we first need to know where your lines are, what you have and what they’re doing in order to give you that piece of advice. But I think you really need to focus on this because if you’re getting any toilet discharge in that basement, that is super unhealthy. |
| 00:33:39 | LESLIE: Yeah. And Dinah, we’re here to help. So see what’s going on and send us more info. |
| 00:33:43 | TOM: You are listening to the Money Pit Home Improvement Show, and we are so glad you’ve spent this episode with us today. We hope that we’ve shared a tip or two that helps you improve your house to get more comfortable, more energy efficient, more colorful, more exciting, a fun place to live, and a very enjoyable place to spend your days. Remember, if you have questions about upgrading your home, you can always reach us 24-7 at 888-Money-Pit or by going to moneypit.com-slash-moneypit.com. And if you have any questions about upgrading your home, you can always reach us at 888-Money-Pit.com. Until next time, I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 00:34:15 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 00:34:17 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
| 00:34:18 | 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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