Show Notes
In this show, learn how to conquer clutter with a storage shed, decide between window repair versus replacement, and get expert advice and resources from a DIY guru and a leading retailer. Plus, we’ve got answers to lots more questions for all your home improvement projects!
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
- Storage Shed: Shed your outdoor clutter by building a backyard storage shed.
- Window Repair: This checklist helps you see clearly on whether to repair or replace your windows.
- DIY Expert Advice: HGTV star and home improvement retailer offer advice for DIY projects.
Top Questions & Answers
- Mold: Karen has gotten some bad advice about mold on the basement walls. She must have samples tested to discover the correct mitigation plan to treat the mold.
- Water Heater: What’s the best kind of water heater for a large family? Mike should consider a tankless water heater to save energy and provide hot water instantly.
- Drafty Windows: Cold wind is blowing through Joyce’s apartment windows. She can seal the drafts by using shrink film or a temporary caulk.
- Jacuzzi Drain: A caustic cleaner burned the tub surface when Barry tried to clear the clogged drain. We have suggestions for different products that are better to use.
- Front Door: Rick just wants to replace his front door rather than the entire transom. We discuss the challenges and carpentry needed for the exact entry door replacement.
- Foundation Repair: Brenda’s poured cement basement walls are starting to crumble. She should hire a structural engineer to inspect the foundation and determine the best repair specification.
Ask Your Home Improvement Question
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 00:00:21 | LESLIE: Welcome to the Money Pit, where we make good homes better. This is episode 2505, and we have a great show in store for you in the start of the spring season. Coming up today, are your windows drafty or simply worn out? Or maybe you’re wondering whether to repair them or replace them all together? Well, we are going to share a checklist to help you determine the best course of action for your home and your budget. Plus, joining us this hour is HGTV’s Boise Boys home improvement expert, Clint Robertson. Super nice guy, lots of fun, has great stories to share about his life experience. I mean, he just loves construction and real estate and law and business. And he’s going to help us create the perfect recipe for a great home. Also ahead, now that spring is in full swing, you may be finding that the lawn mowers and the kids’ bikes, you might be running out of some storage outside. Building a shed could be a great solution to that mess. We’re going to tell you what you need to know to plan that project just ahead. But first, do you feel like you’re in a constant game of tug of war with your house and the house is winning? Well, here we go! We’ve got a chance for you to win this! One lucky listener is going to win a great prize. It’s the Green Machine 62-volt brushless 22-inch electric cordless self-propelled lawn mower worth $649. So call in with your questions right now for your chance to win at 888-Money-Pit. Jim, who’s first? |
| 00:0 | JIM: Well, we all deal with neighbors sometimes, and some are better than others. And sometimes some of them are really, really loud, just like Marilyn’s daughter’s neighbor. What’s going on over there, Marilyn? |
| 00:02:02 | CALLER: The walls are so thin that she can hear them at a regular, she says, I haven’t heard it, but she says at a regular volume. She switched her bedroom over and her living room over so they don’t shear that wall, but it’s still just as bad. So it’s not that they’re, how do I put it? And she says the worst thing is I can hear what they’re saying. |
| 00:02:26 | LESLIE: And that’s like a little TMI, right? Oh, man, Marilyn, I’m sorry. All right. So I love the phrase, you know, the walls are very thin. And I think a lot of people actually think when they say the walls are thin that we’re saying the walls are actually physically thin, but they’re not. It’s just the way the wall construction was done. There’s a lot of ways for sounds to kind of transmit. So typically in a condo, they take steps to make sure that doesn’t happen. They use different types of sound deadening approaches. Maybe it’s insulation. You know, they can use a type of insulation. They can use insulation called rock wool that has sound deadening capabilities that’s typically used in a wall like that. But the problem is that these kind of changes can’t be made without physically taking that wall apart. You know, you have to kind of take the sheetrock off. |
| 00:03:14 | CALLER: Can you do something on her side of the wall? That’s what I’m questioning. I don’t think that that’s going to happen. Yeah. |
| 00:03:19 | LESLIE: No, I understand that. You’d have to disassemble her house from her side, and I don’t think that’s going to happen. And she’s probably not even allowed to do that. So here’s the thing. I mean, you could go ahead and put a second layer of drywall right on top of the existing layer of drywall. And you do that with a special type of glue. It comes like in a caulking tube. It’s called green glue, and it’s made specifically to be a sound deadening glue. But you do have to kind of cover the entire wall with the stuff and then glue and screw that second layer of drywall right on top of that. And that’s going to create a barrier that’s going to absorb some of that sound. There’s also a type of drywall that already has that sound deadening material built into it. One of the manufacturers is called Quiet Rock, and it’s basically a sound deadening drywall. But you have to remember that that sound is not only going through the drywall itself, but it kind of gets around the holes that are in the wall, the outlets, the switches, heating ducts, you know, whatever else is on there. So you usually have to go from behind the outlet box, for example, and get sort of like a putty or a gasket that comes on a sheet. And you put that behind the outlet cover so that kind of quiets that area down. I mean, you do really have to address all the different areas. And you can kind of also address this from like a decorating standpoint. You can get some wall covering. I mean, you could almost even like upholster the wall itself. Again, it just depends on what you’re doing. I mean, depending on what level of commitment you’re allowed to do in the space that she’s in, you can hang drapes, you know, put up a curtain rod along the ceiling and then just hang long drapes along the entire wall. There’s acoustical wall panels that sort of get built out with a channel system on the wall, and then it snaps in place. So you build up this channel system. You put some acoustic foam on the wall. You wrap it in fabric and then snap the outer layer around it. It actually looks awesome. It’s super easy to install, but it is a big project. And again, it’s got to be in a space that you’re in for the long haul because you are adhering things to the wall. You’re putting in, you know, screw holes. It’s a lot of stuff. So if you’re in the space where you can do this, it’s great. I did this for my sister’s apartment with those acoustic panels when they lived in the city and they just had a very noisy neighbor. And it did the trick, and it made the bedroom look really, really great. So there’s a lot of things that you can do. You just have to figure out what you’re comfortable with doing. You just have to figure out what you’re comfortable with doing yourself and what you would need to hire a pro for. Oh, thank you. I can’t thank you enough. I can’t believe that you called back. This is great. All right. You’re welcome. Good luck with everything. I hope your daughter gets her privacy back. |
| 00:0 | JIM: Okay, Leslie. It’s time to roll up our proverbial radio sleeves. All right. And talk windows with Steve. |
| 00:06:09 | CALLER: I’m doing it now. |
| 00:0 | JIM: What are you working on, Steve? |
| 00:06:12 | CALLER: Well, I’m not working on it. Lowe’s is working on it. They put the windows out farther. The windows are 4-inch vinyls, and they replaced it like a 1-inch aluminum single panes. they didn’t that it would fit in. So now, even though it’s caulked on the front and the back, there’s air leaking from the sides. What I test that is I just turn on the fan in the bathroom, and I can go to the farthest window in the house and put it by the sashes, or there’s a couple holes in the actual vinyl, and air will be sucked through that. The HVAC, it’s so strong, it’ll blow out a candle. I just had the inspector there, and the inspector kind of said that he’s just there to look at the screws. He said he liked the caulk job, and they said they’re going to fail it. We’re yet to see that, if Lowe’s gets to hear that the job failed. |
| 00:07:07 | LESLIE: Who measured the windows here? Who measured the house? Did the contractor come to measure those windows? |
| 00:07:12 | CALLER: The contractor did that. Yeah. |
| 00:07:13 | LESLIE: Look, this sounds like a problem with their installed sales department. So I do think you need to go back to Lowe’s and file a formal complaint about the job. They certainly don’t want to have that work out there. And, I mean, it’s pretty clear to me from your description that the windows weren’t measured correctly, because if they were, they would have just gone in and installed, and they would have been properly sized, and it would have been a much easier project. They are always going to be a little smaller than the opening, and you usually fill that space with an expandable foam sealant, and you want one that has some flex to it. So you definitely want to make sure you go with it. And they do have a foam sealant that’s rated specifically for windows and doors, because if you don’t, the traditional expandable foam is kind of going to squeeze that window and maybe even squeeze it shut, and you don’t want that. So there are the ones that are rated specifically for windows and doors, and that will fill it but allow everything to operate and fill that gap. So I do think you need to go back to Lowe’s, file a complaint. I don’t know if the inspector is going to be a source for this. You know, if they fail, it helps you. But I don’t think that they’re necessarily going to be the determination of quality. They just want to make sure that it’s watertight, and it sounds to me like you want this to be an airtight insulation. And I think you just need to go back to Lowe’s, tell them about the issue, and hopefully they come and help you address it. |
| 00:0 | JIM: Okay, And like anything, of course, Leslie, you want to go in there politely and handle things the way it should be, as opposed to, you know, flipping out and stuff. |
| 00:08:44 | LESLIE: I say flipping out for ift and niceness. Ift and niceness doesn’t always work. |
| 00:0 | JIM: You just don’t lead with flipping out. |
| 00:08:51 | LESLIE: Don’t go in hot. |
| 00:0 | JIM: Yeah, I mean, because think about it. It’s common sense. Human nature is somebody’s more likely to help you if you’re nice to them than if you’re not. True. |
| 00:08:59 | LESLIE: And, you know, mistakes happen. So it could have just been an issue. I remember when I bought my home. I mean, I bought my home in 2003, and we replaced the front entry, and they basically measured for this big mahogany door with side lights, and it was a contractor that my dad had worked with forever. So, you know, it was someone we trusted, and something got mixed up in the writing down of the information. And when it came, the measurements were sort of transposed, and everything was wrongly sized and didn’t fit. Oh. And luckily, they were able to pop the old thing that they just cut out back in its spot and go rebuild the other piece. But it happens. You know, people make mistakes. |
| 00:0 | JIM: Boy, what a lot of work. |
| 00:09:40 | LESLIE: And expensive, too. So go in there. Be kind. Be calm. Explain the situation. And hopefully, you walk out with the resolution you want. |
| 00:0 | JIM: Without flipping out. |
| 00:09:50 | LESLIE: And then, you know, flip out later if you want. 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. What are you guys working on at your money pit? If you’ve got some outdoor projects, we have got a prize that is fantastic for you up for grabs this hour. It’s the Green Room. Jim Machine 62-volt brushless 22-inch electric cordless battery self-propelled lawnmower. This is a prize worth $649. One lucky listener is going to get this very powerful 62-volt battery. I mean, it kind of gives you, like, gas-like performance. And this battery will give you up to a 70-minute runtime. The prize includes two batteries and a super-fast charger. Check it out for yourself at HomeDepot.com. But give us a call for your chance to win. Jim, who’s on the line? |
| 00:1 | JIM: My dearest Leslie, we have Charlotte in Louisiana. She is with us next year on the Money Pit. She’s got a water issue on the patio. What’s going on down there, Charlotte? |
| 00:10:55 | CALLER: We have a small patio on the back of our house. And we want to extend it out to help divert the water. The rainwater needs to flow through our yard. And we want to know what might be decorative. That wouldn’t just look like a slab of concrete. And that would also help, you know, slope down to allow the water to flow through our yard. |
| 00:11:28 | LESLIE: Well, why don’t you build the new section out of paver bricks and then pick a color that complements the existing concrete patio? I mean, you can almost surround it. And if you have a brick color, you can have a gray stone color. There’s lots of different colors associated with that. And you can make it look like the whole patio was designed to be that way, even though it’s kind of two sections. Definitely mixed materials are a huge trend right now in outdoor spaces. So this is a good way to cleverly give yourself the height difference that you need to move that water away. You could do almost anything with paver bricks. They do come in a variety of shapes and sizes and thicknesses as well. So if you wanted to use something that looked like a pathway, you could very easily do that. Okay. And that wears pretty well. Well, it will wear well if you do a good job on the install. You know, a lot of times people don’t install them properly and they don’t put the right base down. And then they start to sort of heave and wave and get saggy and weird. And then you’re going to see weeds grow up through them. But if you dig out that area properly and give yourself the right base, a solid base, you can lay those bricks in right. And it will give you many, many years of life. |
| 00:12:37 | CALLER: Okay. So we could have like a concrete base in there. No. |
| 00:12:40 | LESLIE: I mean, you don’t even need a concrete base. It would be more of a crushed stone base that you tamp down very, very well. So what you do is you dig down first however many inches. It really depends on the thickness of the paver stone that you go with. So you dig down usually two to three times that thickness. Then you put down sort of a stone aggregate. You tamp that down. It’s like a kind of a contractor mixed material of stone. It’s like a crushed gravel or an aggregate. You’ll find it at the home center. And I mean, they can even deliver it to you in these giant bags. And you can get, you know, a hand tamper where you’re sort of stomping it down yourself. But you can get mechanical ones too that you move around. And it tamps it down. And once you have a solid base, I mean, it can be as solid as a road or as a concrete patio as well. And then once it’s tamped down, you put sand over it. You tamp it down again. You’re compressing it and compressing it into the structurally stable base. And once that’s down and everything is level, you put your pavers right on top of it. Okay. |
| 00:13:41 | CALLER: Good deal. Okay. Well, that’s great. All right. Thank you so much. I appreciate the info. |
| 00:13:46 | LESLIE: All right, Charlotte. I hope this helps you. Thank you so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. Well, do your windows need work? Are you wondering if they can be repaired? Are you at a point of total replacement? Here are five factors that you can consider to help you make that decision. First of all, think about the drafts. Check your current windows. Do you have windows for loose or damaged weather stripping? That’s an easy repair. You can repair those areas and caulk those draft areas around the window frame, and you will instantly improve insulation and reduce those drafts. Now, you also want to be thinking long-term. Loose glass, deteriorating frames, that could indicate significant issues. While repairs may be cheaper initially, investing in an energy-efficient window replacement will offer you better long-term benefits. You also want to check for moisture. Now, frost, condensation, if you see that on the window panes, that does indicate a seal failure and poor efficiency. Replacing the glass or even the entire window is recommended here to improve that insulation. You also want to look at the functionality of the windows. Are they difficult to open or close? Can you lock them effectively? That kind of suggests functional failure as well, and that is an indication for replacement. And you also want to think about the sun. Are you trying to block out UV rays? Are you seeing damage from the sun to your carpets or your furniture? That means that your window is offering inadequate protection from the sun, so if you are replacing those windows at this point or down the road, you want to consider a window with a glass package that is designed to filter out those UV rays, and that will help protect all of the interior furnishings. If you do decide to repair your windows, it is generally a do-it-yourself job with a good chance for success. When it comes to window replacement, however, that is really a project best-seller. Sometimes, you will have to do it yourself. The reason if you have to check out those different windows is that you can do it yourself whenever you want, so it is definitely a good idea to find out when you want to do it. That is why we are doing this project in our final product videos, which will be a quick Have a great day! See you soon! Thank you for watching! Thanks so much for watching, and we will see you in our next video! Jim, who’s on the line? |
| 00:1 | JIM: Hello, Janet in New York. You’ve got Leslie on the Money Pit. How can we help you out today? |
| 00:16:09 | CALLER: I’ve had a new countertop installed on a newly built house, and my options were granite or granite, and they installed the countertop in the kitchen, and I’ve looked online and I’ve talked to several people, and I get so many different options or different ways to keep it clean and to maintain it. |
| 00:16:32 | LESLIE: And my biggest thing is this granite seems to be more work. Yeah. Well, hi, Janet, neighbor in New York. You know, you’re right about that. Everybody kind of thinks, well, it’s granite, it’s going to be indestructible. And it is, but it’s the finish that needs a lot of work to maintain. I mean, the quartz countertops are a lot easier to maintain than granite because granite by its nature is porous. And you know, they mill it, the granite, and then they finish it, and then the sealer is applied. And it does have to be redone from time to time. And that could be every few years. You just have to stay on top of it with cleaning and polishing. So you’re right. It is more work than a Formica countertop. But here you go. You also have to make sure that whatever cleaning supplies you’re using are going to be safe for granite or natural material surface because you don’t want to put something on that could deteriorate that protective coating that’s on top of that natural material. And you also have to be careful with the edging that, you know, that cut edge that you select for that countertop. You don’t want to select an OG edge. It’s more decorative, but it’s a little bit more delicate and not that I have experience from this, but we have a granite countertop with the OG edge and I stand in the same exact spot every day, multiple times a day to wash the dishes and the button on my jeans happened to hit that exact spot all the time and it kind of has worn away the finish in that one spot. I did eventually have that finish resealed and that area filled in. But you just kind of have to be careful. You kind of have to pay attention because it’s expensive, it’s durable, it’s granite, but it does need some love and care to last that long time. All right? Oh, good. Thank you. Well, good luck with your project and thank you so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. Joining us this hour is a real treat. We have Clint Robertson, who’s a home improvement expert, who’s kind of a get her done kind of guy and you would recognize him from the Boise Boys on HGTV, is in the process of filming a brand new series called Boise Boys. Clint, welcome to the Money Pit. |
| 00:18:36 | CLINT: Well, thank you very much, Leslie. Glad to be here. And thank you for having me. |
| 00:18:40 | LESLIE: Well, we’re super excited to check out what you have going on. So tell us about this new project, Building Boise, because we all certainly enjoyed the Boise Boys and you and Luke, we’re happy to have you back in our lives. So tell us a bit about it. |
| 00:18:51 | CLINT: Well, if you’ve ever been to Boise, you know it’s just a magical place. It’s got the, you know, the river running through the middle of it. It’s in the foothills of the Rockies. You know, it’s just a magical place. You’ve got desert hills and a little bit further north, you’ve got the beautiful Alpine area. It’s really magical. It’s got Boise State University. I’m actually an attorney and a CPA. So I’m not only a Boise State fan. I actually teach business law at Boise State. So it’s just a good town to be in. |
| 00:19:20 | LESLIE: Well, I mean, this is so interesting because you kind of really bring both sides of this business. You’ve got business law. You’ve got, you’ve been a CPA. You deal with realty. I mean, it’s just a wonderful place to be in. And flipping houses, and you kind of bring this full encompassing approach when it comes to homes. So tell us a bit about that. Yeah. |
| 00:19:37 | CLINT: You know, I grew up the son of an entrepreneur, and I didn’t really know any other way. One thing my dad always told me when I was a kid, he said, if I only, he was a CPA, and he said, man, if I’d only been an attorney, I feel like I’d been the whole package. So I thought, you know what, spoken from a guy who knows what he’s talking about, I went ahead and went to law school after I worked a year at the Ernst & Young CPA firm in the small business department. I got my business law Juris Doctor. I practiced a little bit, but I’ve always kind of used it as my own tool in real estate, because obviously that’s my love. |
| 00:20:08 | LESLIE: I mean, which is really so great, because you’re looking at a real estate deal and what a home could be from all aspects of it, from a financial approach, from an aesthetics approach, from sort of a resale, from an investment standpoint. So when did you kind of figure, you know what, I’m going to be a contractor, and I’m also going to have a TV show? |
| 00:20:26 | CLINT: Pre-2008. And we all know what happened in 2008, when the real estate company, the real estate company, the real estate bubble hit. |
| 00:20:30 | LESLIE: I know. Shh. |
| 00:20:31 | CLINT: Don’t Back before 2008, there were a lot of coastal buyers, when I say coastal, mainly the West Coast, looking for income-producing real estate in Texas. I started developing dirt, just finding dirt, raw dirt, developing it, subdividing it, building four-plexes, duplexes, and condos, and apartment complexes, selling to coastal buyers on HELOCs. That was just a huge business, and I realized really quickly that if I control every end of this, from finding the dirt all the way through to developing the building, own the real estate office, own the title office, and basically beginning to end, there’s so many holes along that road that get taken out of real estate, and I found that if I controlled the whole process, then the profits were really, really almost double what they would have been had I not been paying these tolls at each step, other experts doing, you know, what I could do. |
| 00:21:18 | LESLIE: I mean, that’s really great, and it’s so beneficial for everybody that you’re working with to sort of all be in this one group to have a successful project. Now, you and Luke from the Boise Boys. Yeah. You and Luke from the Boise Boys on HGTV have been best friends for how long? |
| 00:21:32 | CLINT: You know, I met Luke at church. I love what he does with his family. I love how he has a heart for children who don’t have families, and he’s opened his doors to many, many children who have disabilities. Those children now have a home, they have a loving home, a good mom, a good dad, who’s totally devoted to that, and I really like that, so when I met Luke, we were in church together. He was a traveling musician. I had a law office and a little CPA firm kind of all in one, and we had just discovered Boise. We were living in northern Idaho. So I realized pretty quickly when I got to Boise that it was in a Goldilocks zone where you could buy, flip, and sell, and make a good return. Luke, come to find out, had a couple of houses he was actually working on, and we all know what happens when you get close to the end of a flip house. It’s a three-ring circus, and if you do not manage really closely, it can turn into a money tip. No pun intended. No, we get it. So I jumped in when Luke was traveling and helped him finish up a couple of houses, and Luke has that aesthetic thing going that few people have. He can see what it can be from what it is. So I thought, well, you know, he knows the area. We row the boat in the same direction when it comes to family and taking care of our kiddos. And so we jumped in together on one house, and the rest is history. |
| 00:22:41 | LESLIE: Oh, that’s awesome. What can we expect from building Boise in the summer of 2025? How are you guys doing? How many episodes are you in? |
| 00:22:48 | CLINT: Well, right now, we’re about to have four drop, and the good thing is because everything’s streaming now, you know, not to talk about networks and numbers, but as you’re aware, across the board. Most works are really suffering, but streaming is where it’s at, so we’re trying to get ahead of that curve. We’re working with a group called Homestyle, and if you have a smart television, you’ll be able to watch the show. It’s that simple. And you’ll be able to watch all the episodes, one at a time, one a day, whatever you want to do. What you can expect is the best of Boise Boys. It’s going to be all the fun without the fluff. It’s going to go straight to the fun, the information, the things that people want to see between Luke and I, and also the nitty-gritty when it comes to hopefully they learn a thing or two while they’re watching. |
| 00:23:27 | LESLIE: All right, so let’s learn a thing or two now. You got some tips to help us make our kitchens more inviting? |
| 00:23:32 | CLINT: If you’re selling a home, and that’s my perspective, I’m always looking at what other people would see when they walk into a kitchen. What do I like? And to make a kitchen more inviting, to me, is no clutter. And so if you’re trying to sell your home or you’re flipping a home and you want to put the best face on it, then less is always more. You know, greenery, plants do have a place in the kitchen. Some people combine that with herb gardens. What have you. But other than that, keep your kitchen uncluttered and organic. You’ll love yourself. |
| 00:24:01 | LESLIE: I mean, being that it’s spring and a lot of people are getting into spring cleaning, do you have like some favorite tips when it comes to decluttering? Because so many people just, you know, they always come down to say, like, I just don’t have the time to put the things away. For me, I put things away immediately so that there isn’t the clutter, and the second there is an ounce of clutter in the house, I sort of get very unsettled. So how can you help some folks get ahead of it or, you know, tackle some of the clutter that’s already there? |
| 00:24:25 | CLINT: Well, you know that everybody’s got a junk drawer where they’ve got scissors and tacks and rubber bands and those types of things in their kitchen. Don’t feel bad when you have a disorganized junk drawer. Take out all your clutter on a junk drawer, but make sure everything else is organized. And something that a lot of houses ignore today, if you’re renovating a home or if you’re looking to buy a home, if you’re renovating, make sure you give that prospective buyer a big pantry. If you’re buying a home, you can never have a big enough pantry. So just make sure you have a pantry that you can close the world out of when you’re entertaining, you know, just when you want to clean up in the kitchen. Make sure you have that extension of your junk drawer, which can sometimes be your pantry on short notice. I like it. |
| 00:25:00 | LESLIE: I do like that. It’s great because you can just kind of close the doors and hide the mess away. Exactly. |
| 00:25:04 | CLINT: Exactly. |
| 00:25:05 | LESLIE: What about in the bedroom? Any tips to kind of make a bedroom feel warmer, more welcoming, more relaxing? |
| 00:25:10 | CLINT: You know, I’m a big believer in sleep and how sleep really just makes life better. And the studies have proven that a good night’s sleep is the foundation of good health. And I’ve always never had any problem sleeping. I love sleep. But sometimes on a Saturday morning when I want to sleep in, that sun comes creeping in the window, and that’s not ever fun. So Fendi and I experimented with something on our most recent home, and we loved it. We actually, they have a new, they have new products out that basically are blackout shades, which hug, you know, which hug the whole window, completely take the light out. But something else we did to make our bedroom more cozy is we did something unorthodox. We, when we bought the home, there were white shelves. There was shelving, you know, white television shelving, bookcases in the bedroom. Everything was white. The curtains were white. And I said, Sandy, let’s just try something out here. I went and found a really cool midnight blue, almost black, but it had just enough blue. We painted all the walls in midnight blue. We left our bookcases white and the trim white, and the ceiling, obviously, we left white. But it so transformed our bedroom. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. It’s one of the best decisions, design-wise, I have ever made, and will never go back. I’ll never have a bedroom that doesn’t have dark, dark-colored paint in it. It’s just so, so rich. |
| 00:26:32 | LESLIE: And I do love when you take a darker paint and you go with an eggshell finish, and it kind of gives that wonderful, like, rich, velvety feel. |
| 00:26:39 | CLINT: It does because you don’t have reflection. |
| 00:26:40 | LESLIE: Yeah, it’s great. |
| 00:26:41 | CLINT: If you don’t have eggshell, you’re going to get a reflection off of it, and you don’t want that. That’s a great point, Leslie. |
| 00:26:45 | LESLIE: All right. Clint Robertson, home improvement expert and one of the Boise boys who we can all check out, Building Boise this summer, online streaming on your smart TVs. Where can people go to check things out? Still send them to Instagram for the Boise boys? |
| 00:26:58 | CLINT: We’re all over social media, so look up Boise boys on social media. You can actually, in the meantime, on your smart TV, start looking for Boise boys because not only do we have a lot of episodes out from our previous seasons, but if you search Boise boys, you’ll be able to find Building Boise because we’ll be one of the top returns on your smart TV search, so just keep your eyes peeled. We’re coming. |
| 00:27:16 | LESLIE: Give us a call. Let us know what you are working on. Our team is standing by at 888-Money-Pit to put you in the queue so we can lend you a hand and help you finish those home improvement projects, but also help you win a great prize to tackle a very seasonal project. It’s the Green Machine 62-volt brushless 22-inch electric cordless battery. It’s a self-propelled lawnmower. It’s worth $649. You can check it out at homedepot.com, but you have to be in it to win it, so give us a call at 888-Money-Pit. Well, now that spring is in full swing, you might be finding that between the lawnmowers, the bikes, the balls, the sporting equipment, you could be a little tight on storage, and sheds could be a solution, and it can actually be a DIY project or a pro project, but before you begin, there are four important things you’ve got to consider. First of all, the average cost to build a shed is going to run between $800 and $4,000. I mean, this all depends on the materials you choose. You’re going to need a lot of materials. Whether you’re doing it yourself, whether you’re hiring a pro, but whether you go pro or you opt to go to loan, there are several basic questions you’ve got to ask yourself before you start. For example, do I need a permit? Well, you might. You want to check your local building codes to determine if you need that permit to build a shed on your property. You don’t want to find out after you finish the project that it’s got to come down because you violated some sort of building code or zoning ordinance, so better to ask those questions up front before you spend the expense and the time. Now, when it comes to the shed itself, what size, what style, do you want something simple and just utilitarian, or do you want something decorative? There’s so many different styles and sizes out there. You want to evaluate your home and property to determine the best style for your needs. Now, you’ve got to think about where does the shed go on your property. Depending on the size of the property, you could have a few options for the placement of the shed. But depending on the property, you could have a few options for the placement of the shed. So you’ve got to figure out what’s going to work best for you. Some popular choices include building it close to the house, which makes running power and water maybe super easy, or some like tucking it to the side or the back of the property so it’s less obtrusive. Totally on you, totally on your aesthetics there. And the last thing to think about is what’s your budget? If you’ve got a tight budget, you can build a simple shed yourself that gets the job done without a lot of frills. If you’ve got some wiggle room, you can look for added features such as integrated shelving inside. Maybe the exterior is a little bit more fancy with some decorative trim. Or if you’ve got a budget here, you can kind of go man cave, she shed, outdoor bar, yoga barn, whatever you want. Add electricity, heat, plumbing. I mean, there are some great Pinterest pages and some online resources for some totally out of this world outdoor storage spaces. Again, radio air quotes here. I mean, they call them storage spaces, but I feel like people are living out there and them having the time of their lives. |
| 00:3 | JIM: Now, out here in the Midwest, Leslie, a big fad it seems to be is the pre-manufactured sheds where they actually deliver them to you. |
| 00:30:29 | LESLIE: Yeah, and you just pour that slab, right? |
| 00:3 | JIM: Well, you can do it both ways. You can have it on a slab. You can also have it where they’re up like on risers. It’s like, I won’t say four by four, but it’s probably four by six. And they set it right on the ground. It’s ground contact stuff. They’re relatively competitive. So before you do anything, you just keep that as an option, as much as we both like to swing a hammer. Sometimes it’s nice to have somebody else put that together in a factory for you. |
| 00:30:53 | LESLIE: I mean, think about how quick you could have that yard tiki bar. |
| 00:3 | JIM: There you go. |
| 00:30:56 | LESLIE: I mean, storage shed. I mean, storage shed. |
| 00:3 | JIM: Yeah, that’s what you meant. |
| 00:31:01 | LESLIE: Let’s jump into our Money Pit email questions. Jim, who do we have on the line? I think we’ve got somebody with a counter question. |
| 00:3 | JIM: Yeah, you’re getting right to business, Leslie. Let’s go right to the emails. I like it. Oh, for sure. Gary from Florida with, sounds like a 75-year-old countertop. His countertop is weird and yellow, orangey kind of color. And he’s contemplating replacing it, but he’s looking at granite and marble, which is pretty expensive. And his other options are out there because he’s concerned about stains and discoloration and stuff. But you had an idea we were talking off air about that makes total sense in this situation if he’s stain prone. Yeah. |
| 00:31:34 | LESLIE: I think, Gary, a good option for you would be a composite countertop material like a Corian. There are several different brands out there, and it’s made from a bunch of different materials to replicate a solid stone surface, and it is a solid stone surface in its own right. It’s just a composite material, so it’s not real granite. It’s not real marble. It’s made, though, to look exactly like that. I mean, it can even look like concrete. It can look like a solid shiny color. There are so many wonderful ways and color options and design options when it comes to Corian. And the good part is, is that it’s super durable. They are generally scratch resistant. They are generally scratch resistant. They are generally heat resistant. And the price point is way lower than a natural stone. So I think if it’s time to finally update these countertops, it’s a good option to look at that keeps you in a very reasonable budget. So good luck with this project, Gary. I can’t wait to hear about it. Corian is an awesome choice. You can’t go wrong. I can’t wait to hear about it when it’s done. |
| 00:3 | JIM: And a possible DIY repair down the road if you do get staining is you can lightly sand Corian and take a hors d’oeuvre on, whatever the brand is, and you can take some of the top off of it. And you don’t have to worry about it. And you don’t notice it. It’s something you need a touch to do. But you might want to consider having a pro command to do it if you get staining problems down the road. |
| 00:32:46 | LESLIE: All right. Good luck with that, Gary. |
| 00:3 | JIM: You know, taking shorts and swimsuits and light jackets out of storage is a great way to set up if you mentally start your spring out. You know what I mean, Les? |
| 00:32:56 | LESLIE: Oh, for sure. |
| 00:3 | JIM: But it can turn into a huge disappointment if you find out they’ve been ravaged by insects like moths, for example. Yay. Leslie’s got a timeless solution you can build yourself in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word. Leslie. Leslie. |
| 00:33:10 | LESLIE: Leslie H.: Yeah, I mean, it is sucky. It’s like you go through the effort to put everything away. You think you’re storing it correctly. You’re getting tidy between seasons. But when you take it out, you come to find that bugs and moths have been eating the clothing. So for centuries, cedar has been used to keep those bugs and moths away. Now, the cedar not only repels the pests, but it also resists mildew, which does mean that turning a standard closet into a cedar closet to keep those belongings safe is an easy-do-it-yourself project, and it will work for years to come. Now you can add as much or as little cedar as you want to the walls of the existing space. It’s going to be most effective if you line that space in full and I’m talking about the ceiling, the back of the door, all sides, the floor. To start you want to make sure you go with eastern red cedar. It’s the type that gives off the scent that does keep those bugs away and you can either nail the tongue and groove cedar to the studs, you can attach it using construction adhesive, or you can do a combination of both. You can use a stud finder to find and mark those studs and begin at the back wall. Now you want to nail through the tongue of the wood at each section and angle the fasteners about 45 degrees down to keep them from getting in the way of the next board. And once that back wall is fully covered you want to install the cedar on the side walls allowing the back edge of the boards to cover the cut ends at the corners. And the best part here is that over time as the cedar scent sort of starts to wear away you can rejuvenate it by just lightly sanding that cedar. You might have to do it once a year, it could be a year, it could be a year, it could be a little bit more, but you’ll notice as that aroma kind of fades that means it’s not working as effectively. But sand it, obviously take the clothes out, protect the area, sand that cedar, vacuum away the dust, and you’ve got a whole rejuvenated cedar closet which means your clothes are in good shape, you’re saving money, and the bugs are gone. Great do-it-yourself project and a great way to extend the life of your wardrobe. Coming up next week guys, are you ready to spend more time outside? Well we’ve got five easy ways for you to create the perfect outdoor living space. All that and more next week on 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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