Show Notes
Today, we’re talking about how to avoid fence fiascos, home renovation updates from the host of Renee Renovates, and easy ways to slash your laundry costs. Plus, we’ve got expert answers to questions from DIY callers, so tune in for more improvement advice!
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
- Fences: Get advice on building a fence that’s stylish, sturdy, and neighbor-friendly.
- Home Renovation: The host of Renee Renovates shares info about her Craftsman house renovation.
- Laundry: Spin and save with simple laundry hacks to cut costs.
Top Questions & Answers
- Insulation: What do you call a 12-sided house and how do you insulate it? We think that spray foam insulation would be Lloyd’s best option that needs no ventilation.
- HVAC: Converting a three-unit building from oil heat to electric baseboard heat would cost Amber a fortune! We suggest separating the zones for each unit instead.
- Adding Bathroom: Phillip wants to install a half bathroom in the basement. He can either install a lift pump to run the plumbing through the ceiling or jackhammer through the cement floor.
- Kitchen Function: Steam from the coffee maker is fading the finish on the upper cabinets. Without extra counter space, Susan will just have to pull the appliance forward while using it.
Ask Your Home Improvement Question
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 00:00:22 | LESLIE: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, welcome to the Money Pit, making good homes better. I’m Leslie Segrete, and welcome guys to Money Pit 2.0, kind of our second episode of this newly revamped Money Pit, where we promise to build off of this foundation and keep giving you guys some great home improvement advice. Coming up this hour, if you want a quick way to start a neighborhood feud, well, then go ahead and just put up an ugly fence and face that ugly side right directly at your neighbor and, you know, really kind of just show them how you feel. But don’t do that, because we’ve got some tips on the right way that you can fence your yard. We’re gonna share that coming up a little later. Also ahead, we’ve got a great guest that you may or may not be familiar with. Her name is Renee Bruner, and she is a content creator behind Renee Renovates. And this young gal reminds me a lot of myself, and I really kind of like her, because she’s taken an old home and learning how to repair and renovate and make it better all on her own. And coming up, once that weather is warming up and your kids are spending more time outside, you may be spending more time inside doing a ton of laundry. I know, I’m a mom of two boys. I feel like I just did six loads of laundry yesterday. So we’re gonna share a few tips. We’re gonna share a few tips to help you save some money doing that. And speaking of saving some money, we’ve got a great prize up for grabs this hour from our friends over at CodaLights.com. We’ve got a Coda Solar Rose Petal Bollard Light 4-pack. It is a gorgeous prize, perfect for a getting ready for spring project. So give us a call. Let us know what you are working on so you have your chance to win. Jim Kenzie, our show’s senior producer, is gonna be introducing our call. So, Jim, who’s up first? |
| 00:0 | JIM: I kind of wanted to win that Coda prize before we get to the call. I can’t do that? Nope. Sorry. Darn my luck. |
| 00:02:11 | LESLIE: Not allowed. You work for the show, you don’t get it. |
| 00:0 | JIM: All right. But here’s who we do have. We’ve got Lloyd from Washington on the line with a question about insulating a ceiling. Give us a little detail here, will you? |
| 00:02:22 | CALLER: This is going to be a great puzzle for you today. Okay. This is not your normal house. It’s a 12-sided house with a cathedral ceiling. |
| 00:0 | JIM: That’s interesting. |
| 00:02:35 | CALLER: And I would have to say that there’s two questions here. One is how to insulate that ceiling, and the second is how to ventilate it or put a non-ventilator in. The roof’s a 10 and 12 pitch with two by 12 rafter bays, and the rafters are spaced 24 inches apart. |
| 00:02:57 | LESLIE: All right. We’re only gonna answer this question if you can tell us what a 12-sided shape is. |
| 00:03:03 | CALLER: A dodecagon. |
| 00:03:05 | LESLIE: Yeah, it is. It’s a dodecagon. I mean, I admit it. I had to look it up. But I was curious, and I wanted to know the answer. All right. Look, this is actually gonna be a lot easier than you think. You’re thinking in the traditional sense, all right? So you’ve got some tough roof spaces here. You’ve got cathedral spaces. You’ve got a lot of small spaces. You have a depth of a rafter that may be only 6 or 8 or 10 inches deep, so you don’t have a lot of room. How are you gonna vent this? So my answer for now is forget about the venting. Forget about traditional insulation. This is probably the best application for spray foam insulation. And here’s why. First of all, you’re gonna get a much higher insulative ability out of a spray foam. It’s much denser. You’re gonna get a higher R-value per inch. And when you use spray foam, you don’t have to ventilate that roof. It just doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t require the air to go through it to dry it out. So the spray foam installers will spray it. Spray it underside of all that roof space and then trim it flat. If you do want to put a sheathing on it, you can do that on top of the spray foam. You’re never gonna have to worry about ventilation. And the nice thing about the spray foam is that not only does it insulate, it also air seals. So you’re not gonna get drafts. Because if you’ve got all those sides of the house, I imagine you’ve got a lot more places that air can leak in. So that spray foam is gonna eliminate that as well. I would definitely recommend spray foam for your home. I can remember when Tom, our founder of The Money Pit, put Isonene spray foam insulation in his house. I mean, his house is like 120 years old, maybe more by now. But when he installed that Isonene insulation in the spray foam, and I mean, he had a pro do it. He was just thrilled with how it came out. And he saw those savings like, really, I think on the first month’s bill. I can confirm this with Sue. But I swear he talked about how quickly that savings came out. And how fast it went down. And I mean, you don’t have to worry about opening up the house to do so. |
| 00:05:05 | CALLER: To open all that roof up at one time, to me, would seem like it would be very difficult. Might even be a little bit dicey as far as structural goes, I’m thinking. |
| 00:05:17 | LESLIE: Alright, but why would you open it up the house? I would do the spray foam from the inside. |
| 00:05:22 | CALLER: If you’ve seen the house, the walls are over 10 feet high in the main floor. Then it goes up to 15. Then it goes to the cathedral ceiling. |
| 00:05:30 | LESLIE: Alright, but what’s on the underside of the ceiling? Sheetrock. Alright, you’ve got sheetrock. So here’s your choice. You either tear off the roof, tear off the roof sheathing, and then spray it and put the whole roof back together. I mean, if your roof’s bad and ready for replacement. |
| 00:05:44 | CALLER: It is. |
| 00:05:45 | LESLIE: Oh, it is? Yes. I mean, it’s really bad? Yes. Alright, well then maybe that’s the way to go. But then you’re going to have to go through the extra work of tearing off what’s probably good sheathing. I mean, generally when they replace a roof, they don’t always remove the sheathing unless certain parts of it are bad. So generally they take off the shingles and whatever underlayment and then examine the sheathing, make the necessary repairs, and then reinstall the new. But if you want to install the spray foam insulation from the exterior, you’ve got to take all that sheathing off. I mean, the best part here is just do it from the inside. Remove the ceiling inside the house. Yes, it’s 10 feet and it makes it more difficult. But drywallers do this every single day of the week in that height. I mean, even much higher. You’d be amazed. A trained crew of drywallers can move through a house so efficiently. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if they couldn’t tear off all those ceilings in just a few hours and put them back in a day or so. Then a couple of days for spackle if you’ve got the right company working. So it’s going to be expensive either way. But if you want to get this space insulated, you’ve got to go in from the bottom or the top. There’s just no other way to do this. I mean, I wouldn’t even consider blown in because, again, you have to ventilate it and there’s just no way to do it with the house you’ve got. |
| 00:07:01 | CALLER: Right, because the cupola that sits on top of it, which is 9 feet across, what it does is it’s six-sided. So you go from 12 to 6. So what you end up with is 6 trapezoids and 6 triangles. |
| 00:07:16 | LESLIE: I mean, are you a mathematician or something for your job? Are you like a wizard to teach math at school? How did you know? I mean, I could tell. I definitely could tell. |
| 00:07:26 | CALLER: So I used to teach shop. |
| 00:07:28 | LESLIE: Oh, my God. You’re like a man of Tom here. It’s like he used to be a teacher as well. He used to teach shop. You guys have a lot in common. Well, it sounds like a super neat house, and we wish you a lot of luck with it. But definitely look into the spray foam. I truly think that that’s the only way to go, and I know Tom would agree. I mean, how you get it up there, that’s what you’re up against. But definitely give it a shot. Okay, Lloyd? |
| 00:07:49 | CALLER: Sounds good. Thank you. |
| 00:07:51 | LESLIE: Hey, you want to support our podcast and help us grow? Well, go ahead and leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and we’ll be forever grateful. Plus, you’ll be helping other homeowners discover our show. Just go to MoneyPit.com slash review. Hey, guys. What are you working on? I know we’re sort of ending winter in a lot of parts of this country, and maybe you’re thinking about the spring season. So what are you working on? Are you building a deck? Are you getting ready to plant a garden? Are you changing your outside lighting? Well, heck, guys. If you’re changing your outside lighting, we’ve got a great prize to help you do just that. It’s the Koda Solar Rose Petal Bollard Light 4-Pack. Now, these are gorgeous sort of staked LED lights that are solar-powered. They have a beautiful leafy pattern to them, and they do just that. They stick right into the ground, they get their power from the sun, and they’ve got an angled feature on top, so they really do their best to absorb all that sunlight. And they will give you eight-plus hours of light, and you kind of just set it and forget it. They’ll come on at dusk, they’ll go off at dawn. It is a great prize pack for you guys. It’s worth $80, but some lucky caller or e-mailer or writer-inner to the Money Pit is going to get their chance to win. So give us a call at 888-Money-Pit and let us know how we can lend you a hand. |
| 00:0 | JIM: A writer-inner still, huh? Yep. |
| 00:09:08 | LESLIE: I’m going to go with it. Maybe it’ll be a new phrase? |
| 00:0 | JIM: It’s a Leslie’s one for sure. Yeah. |
| 00:09:12 | LESLIE: I can’t tell you. I’ve been wanting to say it for a long time. |
| 00:0 | JIM: I know it’s wrong. All right. Here’s who’s next. Leslie, we’ve got Amber in New Hampshire on the line. She’s got some heating and cooling questions. How can we help you, Amber? Hi. |
| 00:09:23 | CALLER: I was wondering if it was worth the expense of converting an oil heat system with baseboard heat to an electric baseboard heating system for a three-unit apartment building. |
| 00:09:37 | LESLIE: Holy cow. Are you independently wealthy, Amber? |
| 00:09:40 | CALLER: No. |
| 00:09:41 | LESLIE: All right. Well, it’s going to be really, really expensive to heat with electric if you’re right now heating with an oil-fired hot water boiler. I mean, you’re going to see a huge difference there, and hot water heat is clearly the best heat, and it really would just not be smart for you to eliminate that. So I’m guessing that you’re asking this question because you want the tenants of those apartments to pay their own electric bills and cover the heat, right? |
| 00:10:04 | CALLER: Yes, because right now it’s all metered separately. Now I have electric, so I figured right now they’ve got the windows open and the oil heat is cranking. Right, right. But, you know, I think that it’s an older building, and the oil tank is starting to show its age. It will need to be replaced, and then the boiler will be replaced. I’m thinking long-term maintenance is, you know, is less. |
| 00:10:27 | LESLIE: Yeah, I hear you, but it is going to be a lot more expensive. So now you’re in New Hampshire, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you ended up paying $500, $600 a month in electric bills per unit because it is very, very expensive to use electric heat. So I would encourage you to keep the hot water heater. Right. And I also would encourage you to make sure it’s zoned separately for each unit. And if you have really old equipment, it’s definitely going to be worth replacing that equipment with new Energy Star rated equipment. If you’re going to have to replace the tank anyway, you could do that. And at the same time, the efficiency today of those newer units compared to those that are sometimes 10 years old, let alone 20, 30 years old, is going to be astronomically more efficient. The new stuff that’s out there today is really, really much better designed. I would never tell you to ditch that hot water baseboard. There’s got to be a better way to solve this in terms of people wasting your heat that you’re paying for with your hard-earned dollars. So, you know, maybe you have to control the temperature in the units and make it so that they can’t change the temperature. And this way, they’re not opening those windows again. There does seem to be some imbalance there. You’ve got to deal with the actual imbalance issue first, but I don’t think tearing out all that good hot water baseboard system and replacing it with electric is going to be the answer for you. |
| 00:11:43 | CALLER: And with gas? Yes. I mean, would it make sense to change, to convert to gas? |
| 00:11:47 | LESLIE: I mean, you can get an option with gas, and gas is definitely more desirable than oil. And you’ve got to get those options for pricing and kind of compare what all those costs are. But I personally would never get rid of a hot water system ever. Okay. |
| 00:12:00 | CALLER: Because someone else was talking about split-heat systems. I thought, oh, you could have built-in air conditioning as well instead of everyone popping in air conditioners in their windows. |
| 00:12:07 | LESLIE: Well, then they can pay the electric bill for the air conditioning. I mean, you can split the electric and let them just pay for the air. I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t. That can’t be done. Okay? |
| 00:12:16 | CALLER: Well, that’s true, too. And have the in-wall, you know, I guess they call it like a split system or something. I don’t know what that is. |
| 00:12:21 | LESLIE: And if it’s electric power in there, you have the electricity split among the apartments so that they’re paying for their air conditioning. Right. |
| 00:12:28 | CALLER: So right now, they put the window air conditioners. |
| 00:12:30 | LESLIE: I mean, they’ve got to plug it in, and then they’re paying the electric bill. So one way or another, whether it’s built into the unit or not, if it’s electric, they should be paying for it. Okay, perfect. Thank you very much. You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. Well, putting up a fence can definitely add style, security, and value to your property, but it can also be an eyesore, a maintenance headache, and possibly cause a battle with your neighbors. So to avoid the pitfalls, you definitely have to plan carefully when you are fencing a property. First of all, guys, you want to check your property lines because you don’t want to build in your neighbor’s yard. I mean, it most likely won’t fit. It would be an accident, but just don’t do it. So know exactly what’s yours, what’s theirs. Check with your local officials. Make sure that you don’t need a permit to build a fence because in some areas, you do. Now once you know exactly where your line is and if you need a permit or not, you can start thinking about what kind of fence because you’re going to go to the store and you’re going to discover, if you don’t know already, that fencing is available in a lot of different materials, including natural and pressure-treated woods, vinyl, and metal. Now, a natural wood fence can be beautiful, but that’s definitely going to require the most amount of maintenance. You’re going to have to restain it every couple of years. You’re going to have to make sure it stays clean. When you put the fencing on, you don’t want it touching the ground because you don’t want it absorbing moisture and rotting quickly. So there’s a lot of things you need to do when planning a natural wood fence. They can be beautiful, but be prepared for that work. Also, you have to remember with a fence, there are two sides. You know? One side looks good from the outside and one side still looks good, but it kind of has different supports built into it so it’s not like the prettier side of the fence. Now, sadly, that prettier side of the fence has to face your neighbors because that’s just the rule of the game here, guys. And you also, when it comes to your fence, you’re going to at some point have a gate and that’s not going to be the part where you want to save money because the gate’s going to take the most wear and tear. It can be a security risk if somebody leaves it open. Your pets can get out. So when it comes to the gate, add a spring hinge. That’s going to help that gate swing back into place. And if this fence is going around a pool perimeter, that is super important that you have. Now, you can also save a lot of money if you build that fence yourself. That doesn’t stop you from still needing a permit and still knowing where your property lines are and following those same rules. It is going to be a lot more work. You’re going to have to support all of those posts, pour some concrete to put them in. I’m not saying it’s a difficult project, but it’s definitely one you have to be prepared for. And do your research. And if you go that route, Team Money Pit is here to lend a hand. Jim, who’s next? |
| 00:1 | JIM: We’ve got Phillip in Colorado on the line, Leslie, who’s working on the bathroom. What is happening over there, Phillip? |
| 00:15:21 | CALLER: Well, we have an unusual house. It’s all concrete, poured concrete, back in the 80s. So all of the walls in the upper and lower are concrete. Now, we have one bathroom in this house. However, we want to install a small bathroom. We want to install a half bath in the bedroom right next to the bathroom that’s in the basement now. So we have a concrete wall between the two. We have concrete floors where the toilet and the bathtub is installed now. Between the bathtub and the other wall, all the plumbing is in there. That’s not concrete. That is framed in. So we have access to that. That’s in the room next door. But the question is, is we want to install another bathroom, a half bath. So we want a toilet and a sink. The sink is no problem, because of what I just said about the plumbing being roughed in there. But, boy, how do we really want to do this? So it’s going to take some, I assume, some demolition work to get down into that. |
| 00:16:35 | LESLIE: So what room do you want that half bath to be in? |
| 00:16:38 | CALLER: It’s in the lower level. It’s basically the same as, you know, you could just say it’s a basement. The only difference is that the wall between the bath that is there now and the bedroom right next door, which is where we want the half bath, is a concrete wall. Okay. |
| 00:16:57 | LESLIE: So you were worried about getting through that wall that separates these two bathroom spaces. You’ve got concrete below, and then you’ve got a concrete dividing wall. But what about the ceiling? Is that typical wood construction? It is. It is. Number one, yes. You could dig out the floor and break out that area, try to find the intersection with the waste pipe on the other side of that wall, or you could use what’s called a lift pump. So there are toilets out there that have pumps that are built into them that when you flush, you can actually spill the water waste from the sink into this well. And it essentially activates a pump, grinds the waste, and then it runs it up through the pipe, and then it would access that waste line and be dropped down from there. So that’s going to be less destructive. I mean, the mechanism, you know, is a little bit more complicated and perhaps a little louder than a typical flushing toilet, but they work very, very reliably well, and they’re often, you know, the only option for a basement bathroom. |
| 00:17:52 | CALLER: Well, no, the main waste line, since the only bath is in the lower level right next to where I want the half bath to be, so the waste line is in the floor, and it runs out to the south through the basement. It goes through and right out, and it goes right down into the sewer line outside. So I don’t, there’s no, it’s the same level, so I would really like to hook up to the existing line that is right next to the half bath that I want to put in. |
| 00:18:23 | LESLIE: Yeah, so I’ve got a secret tip here for you. It’s called a jackhammer. I mean, you can break up that floor, you can connect with that line, or you can go up over that wall and drop into the vent pipe with no doubt, and you’re in the same space. And then, of course, you know, eight feet below that connects with the waste line. So those are your options, and I kind of hope that one of these is going to work for you. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. Joining us this hour, we have a pretty amazing young lady who’s bought herself an old home, a 1914 Craftsman home, without even knowing what the heck to do with the house. Renee Bruner is the content creator behind Renee Renovates, and she calls herself a Proud Power Tool Nerd. So she is here. She’s definitely part of the Money Pit team here. Renee, welcome. Thank you. I’m so happy to be here. So tell us, this is what, 2021, and you kind of see a listing for a really awesome Craftsman house. How did this come about? |
| 00:19:21 | RENEE: Yes. 2021, I’ve always been in love with old homes and the history they have, even though I never grew up in one. But it’s just kind of like the magic and mystery of an old home I was really excited about. And this is my first house ever. So when I started shopping around and I realized that an old home could be a possibility for me, I jumped at it without knowing any of the pitfalls or the upsides of an old home, and really dove in without knowing anything. And it’s been a really fun journey since. |
| 00:19:49 | LESLIE: And maybe that’s probably the best way to do it, without really understanding what you could be getting into. I have a 1923 home myself, so I do understand what goes into it, what could become of it, and all the mysteries that lie therein. |
| 00:20:05 | RENEE: I hear from a lot of people who say they would be too scared to buy an old home. And it’s just so wonderful. I can’t express how great it is to have a home with so much history, and they’re usually built a lot better than new builds. But I do understand that people have heard horror stories before, so there’s a little bit of give and take. |
| 00:20:24 | LESLIE: Now, tell us a little bit about the house. When you saw it, did you say, you know, gosh, this needs a ton of work, or was it just sort of updating systems? Like what really kind of was your first assessment here? |
| 00:20:36 | RENEE: Yeah. It was livable, but it needed work. And I think as soon as I walked in and saw the 12-foot ceilings, I was pretty taken with the house. And then there were some rooms, though, where the ceiling had come down, and there was some termite damage. So clearly it needed some work. There was also a bathroom that had a completely rotten floor. So there was definitely a lot of fixing up that had to happen, but I was able to at least live in the house while I renovated it, and still renovating it and living in the house. |
| 00:21:03 | LESLIE: Now, when you first moved in and started thinking about the stuff that you were going to do and the stuff that needed to be done, what were some of the things that you were going to do? Did you think right off the bat, Renee, that this was something you were going to attempt to tackle on your own, or did you sort of start the interview process with contractors and realize, this is expensive? |
| 00:21:20 | RENEE: I was really in love with the idea of learning how to do it myself. I did know there were some things I didn’t want to touch, like things I could burn down my house, like electrical, for example, where I did bring in some contractors, but a lot of that, I was just like, maybe I’ll figure it out. I’ll look up some YouTube videos, that sort of thing. And then I’ve also had the experience of, you know, being able to do a lot of the things that I wanted to do on my own. And then I’ve also had the experience where, because it’s an old house and it had some specific details where it needed people who knew about old houses, I’ve had some amazing contractors who were all in their 70s who’ve come to my house and not only have been able to fix things, like show me how to fix up the windows and that sort of thing, but have been really been able and willing to walk me through it and share their knowledge with me, which has been so incredible. And I would suggest that to anyone who is in this situation, if you’re able to hire a contractor. I think I find this particularly in older contractors who are interested, not necessarily in growing their business tenfold right now, but are just excited to share their knowledge with others. If you can find people like that who are not only helping your house, but helping you to become better at fixing your own house, that’s an incredible relationship to build. |
| 00:22:25 | LESLIE: Now, when you first started this process, did you own any tools? Did you have any idea what this was going to be or no, you were just sort of willing to jump in and find the right folks and learn the right things? |
| 00:22:37 | RENEE: Oh, yeah. I had no idea. My mom, my first day of home ownership, had to teach me how to use a drill. All right. But go mom. That she knew also. Yeah. She was great. And then since then, I’ve shown her how to use some bigger power tools, so it’s been kind of a nice return situation. |
| 00:22:53 | LESLIE: I love that. I love that you and your mom were sort of learning and growing together and getting more skills and more abilities. Do you find that there’s some challenges? I mean, I know I’ve been renovating homes since the early 2000s, and when I started going into home centers as a young single lady, the guys that worked there were kind of, you know, hesitant to help me out. Do you kind of find a similar approach now, or do you think people have just gotten so used to women in the home improvement field and in the DIY area that they’re just really welcoming? |
| 00:23:24 | RENEE: Yeah, I think it’s a mixed bag. You just never know. There’s definitely some times, even just this past week, I was picking out a bunch of lumber, and I had a cart full of lumber. And I had a guy ask me. What project I was working on, I told him when I was building, and he said, don’t push yourself too hard. And I was like, well, if you only have seen the fact that I built all of my kitchen cabinets from scratch and all these things. And sometimes it’s just in like a very sweet, you know, older generation kind of way. And fortunately, I haven’t had anyone be very rude with it. And I think maybe that’s also just, I’m here in Texas, and you don’t really are rude to strangers. If you’re saying something rude, it might be with a little tongue in cheek. So thankfully, everyone has been just, it’s usually like a sweet joke, and most of the time I take it in stride. But I think at this point, I just kind of giggle. |
| 00:24:21 | LESLIE: Now, what sort of inspired you to start sharing these renovations and the whole process of home ownership and the project itself on social media? |
| 00:24:29 | RENEE: Yeah, I kind of just started sharing my process as a bit of a diary for myself, to remind myself what I’d accomplished, and immediately connected with other young people who bought their first town, specifically old homes. And we’re all kind of in it together and sharing knowledge. And that was really great. And then as I started sharing more content and more projects, I grew a following and now have over a million followers across platforms, which has been so amazing and fun. And they’re all wonderful and supportive, and we kind of inspire each other, and they push me to do more. And it’s been a really cool experience. |
| 00:25:11 | LESLIE: I mean, I really love it. We are talking with Renée Brunner, the content creator behind Renée Renovates, and really, a person who picks out beautiful colors. The palette you have chosen for this home is stunning and subdued, but vibrant at the same time. Like, I love this use of this blue-green and these burgundies. Do you have a favorite project so far? |
| 00:25:33 | RENEE: Oh, thank you. I would say my kitchen, probably. And that’s the burgundy one you would be talking about. I love color. I think that’s something big in my content. I love color. I love what I call moody spaces. I think with 12-foot ceilings, too, I’m not really afraid of making a room too dark, because there’s always a lot of natural light and tall ceilings. So my kitchen is all various shades of dark reds and purples. And it feels like the coziest, wonderful cave to cook in. And it just, it’s like a piece of art. And I love it. |
| 00:26:05 | LESLIE: It’s a gorgeous space. Do you anticipate being done with your home, or is this a project that’s going to go on forever? |
| 00:26:11 | RENEE: Oh, gosh. Well, I say I’m going to be done with it, because I’d love to be able to work on other projects. Like, I’m currently working on the home that my parents are going to retire in. But I would love to be able to work on future homes. But there are already some things that I’ve done in my home where I’m like, ooh, I’d love to revisit that. So I may be caught up in that curse of just constantly working on my house. But honestly, I love it so much. And I’m not really looking to sell. I love it. I’m kind of creating my dream home. I love it. And that requires a few iterations. I’m happy with that. Great. |
| 00:26:41 | LESLIE: Well, Renee Bruner, the content creator behind Renee Renovates, thank you so much for joining us here at The Money Pit. You can follow along with all of Renee’s home improvement adventures at reneerenovates.com. And I certainly can’t wait to see where you go. And we’d love to have you on again. |
| 00:26:58 | RENEE: Thank you so much. I’d love to be back. |
| 00:27:00 | LESLIE: We’ve got a great prize to help you with an outdoor project this spring season. Our friends over at kodalights.com, that’s K-O-D-A, lights.com, has offered up the Koda Solar Rose Petal Bollard Light 4-Pack. It’s a prize pack worth $80, and it is such an easy, beautiful light to set up. There’s no wiring necessary. You just stake that bollard in place, and your pathway glows gorgeously for like eight plus hours every night. As long as it faces the sun, you are going to absorb all of that solar power. And it’s got a dusk to dawn technology, so it will come on as soon as the sun goes down and stay on all night. They really are great. Check them out at kodalights.com, but give us a call for your chance to win. Well, after a cold and snowy winter, we’re all ready to welcome the warmer temperatures of spring and maybe even a little spring cleaning. I do love spring cleaning. This is kind of the time where you sort through things, you pare down stuff, you empty out those overstuffed closets, and I’m not spying on you, but I know you’ve all got them. So as you’re cleaning out those closets and getting, you know, that big clothing switchover, you’re probably going to be doing a lot of laundry in these days ahead. So we’ve got a few tips to help you save money while you’re doing that. Now, it may seem like, oh, is the washing machine too full? Should I take some stuff out? But you always want to make sure that you run that washing machine with a full load. You’re going to use the same amount of energy with that full load. |
| 00:28:35 | LESLIE: The one thing you might want to do is to use the hairdryer in the shower. And then you’re going to use the dryer. So let’s say you’re washing your clothes, and you’ve got that full load. Well, you’re going to put that full load into that shower, and you’ll just get some of that for like an hour or two, and then you’re going to take the clothes out of the dryer, and you’re going to put some clothes in that shower, and then you’re going to put all of those clothes back in. You’re going to get a full load in your dryer. And then you’re going to do this process of washing. and the rest. So, the first thing I want to mention is that the Lint Filt’er is going to run much more efficiently, but it’s also going to run much more safely because dryer fires are the leading cause of home fires in the United States. So, take the minute, empty out that Lint Filt’er. Now, if you’re finding that you’re kind of up for a new appliance, you want to make sure that you use an Energy Star certified washer and dryer. They’re going to use 20 to 25 percent less energy than those conventional models. And when you’re doing the wash, always wash the clothes with cold instead of hot. It uses less energy, plus it really does clean the clothes the same way. So, it’s wonderful to save that money, save that energy and also end up with a clean pile of clothes that, guess what, is going to sit in that chair in your bedroom for a day until you fold it. I know. Again, I’m not spying. I just know what goes on. All right, Jim, who’s next? |
| JIM: In Minnesota, Leslie, we’ve got Susan with a steamy problem, but it’s in her kitchen. What’s going on there, Susan? | |
| 00:29:59 | CALLER: I have my coffee maker. You know, under the cabinet area, and the steam from the coffee maker tends to make the finish on the cabinets fade, and I don’t know where I can put that coffee maker. |
| 00:30:16 | LESLIE: Yeah, I get it, because I, too, have a small kitchen and really no area without a cabinet above it. So, when you’re brewing your coffee, if you don’t have an island, just pull it well forward of the cabinet so that you can brew the coffee in a safe space where the steam is not going to come up and damage the underside of the cabinets. If you don’t have the island, it’s inconvenient just for that moment, and then, remember, you can store it back under that cabinet. No damage, no worries. |
| 00:3 | JIM: Susan, thanks for calling us here at The Money Pit. |
| 00:30:43 | LESLIE: Making good homes better, welcome back to The Money Pit. I’m Leslie Segrete. Jim, you’ve got an email for us. Who’s up? |
| JIM: I do. It’s from Jack in Portland, Oregon. He has a front porch, and he says the slab’s about three inches. Well, it’s about 35 years old. He’s got a lot of pop marks on it. And he wants to know, you know, what to do. What do you do to get rid of the pop marks? And he knows he can’t put cement on cement. So what do you think? | |
| 00:31:05 | LESLIE: Yeah, Jack, definitely you can’t put cement on cement because it’s just not going to stick. So you do need something that’s sort of a mix of things so that it will have that adhesion quality. Now, I’m going to assume that things are level here. So Quikrete has a product that’s going to be great for you. It’s the ReCap Concrete Resurfacer. You put it on with a squeegee. It’s going to fill in all of those holes, but the best part is it’s going to stick because it does have a polymer additive. So it’s not going to shrink and it’s going to really stick well to your existing slab. And hopefully that does the trick. |
| JIM: And Jack, while you’re at it, now would be the time to check the slope of the porch to get the water away from the house. You can make it thicker towards the house and thinner towards the front edge and save yourself more headache down the road. Yeah. | |
| 00:31:47 | LESLIE: And this is definitely the time to do that. |
| JIM: Hey, Leslie. Yeah. We know that spring is the perfect time to think about redecorating spaces in your home for a fresh look, right? Yeah. Well, how about giving us some tips on how we can do that? We’re going to talk about that in this week’s edition of Your Last Word. | |
| 00:32:04 | LESLIE: I did feel silly kind of introducing this segment myself. I get it. I get it. So I thank you for the help there. Sure. But we’re going to work on the tongue-tiedness. Again, we are sorting this out in Money Pit 2.0. You’re right, Jim. You know, spring really is kind of this great time to freshen up. Everything’s kind of regrowing and blossoming and blooming outside. So why not make the same thing happen? Why not make the same thing happen indoors? It’s really a chance because you’ve been all cooped up in the winter. All of the fabrics, the colors, everything kind of is heavy and cozy at the same time. But spring is definitely sort of a breath of fresh air. So you can do this in a couple of easy ways. Think about, like, your shower curtain, your bath towels, your kitchen dish towels. Throw pillows on the couch. Throw blankets on the couch. Maybe if you want to go that extra mile, you kind of update the drapes in the house. Maybe if you want to go that extra mile, you kind of update the drapes in the house. Maybe if you want to go that extra mile, you kind of update the drapes in the house. You can take the space in the living room or the bedroom or the dining room. But that’s kind of, you know, being aggressive in sort of redecorating. But that’s definitely how you go about lightening up the mood, lightening up the space. It’s kind of freshening it up with these fabrics and these color palette of the spring season. And speaking of color palette, you can definitely kind of take it one step further. If you feel that a room is in need of a fresh coat of paint, this could be the chance to do it. And this could be the chance to bring in a lighter, softer color that’s going to work year-round, but definitely give you that fresher vibe of the springtime. You can also bring in, you know, one wall of a peel-and-stick wallpaper that’s removable. It’s a good chance maybe in like a small powder room, or one wall in a dining room, or bedroom, just to kind of freshen the space. And who knows, it could be something that you love and could live there permanently. If you’ve got a bathroom vanity, you can change out the hardware. I’m not saying change out the towel racks unless you need to, but maybe just change a knob or two. And maybe it’s a beautiful glass that’s a nice color, or a ceramic that’s something that feels springy and fresh. If you do want to add some things that are different, if you don’t have a sconce in a bathroom, great chance to add some lighting. Same thing works in a living space. Think about some of these things. You can add in a chandelier. Which is not a huge thing. It’s not a huge electrical project, but it is a great chance to change the vibe and the feel of the space. And it does just freshen things up. And you can go for things in a way that will feel seasonal, but will last year-round in the home. So take this time, tidy up, freshen up, and enjoy that new spring look at home. Coming up next week, guys, as the weather does continue to warm, local wildlife is getting to work disrupting your plans for a beautiful landscape and garden. So we’re going to share some tips to keep those deer, rabbit, groundhogs, all of those cute critters out of your yard. All of that and more on next week’s edition of The Money Pit. I’m Leslie Segrete. Remember, you can do it yourself, but you don’t have to do it alone. |
| (Note: The above referenced transcript is AI-Generated, Unedited and Unproofed and as such may not accurately reflect the recorded audio. Copyright 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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