Show Notes
- Open Floor Concept: Create an open design in an older home with a pass-through project.
- Smart Home Security: State-of-the-art home security systems defend your domain and grow with your family.
- Choosing a Paintbrush: Make DIY painting projects easier by choosing the right paintbrush for the job.
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
Plus, answers to your home improvement questions about:
- Building a Deck: Cheryl wants to build a deck over a concrete pad. We explain why that’s not a good foundation and how to build a proper footing.
- Plumbing Leaks: What should you do about pinpoint leaks in copper pipes? Mike should monitor the situation and replace the pipes as needed rather than remove the whole plumbing system.
- Cleaning a Vinyl Fence: Beverly wants to clean black marks off her white vinyl fence. She needs to find the source of the stains and use an abrasive pad with the right cleaner.
- Flooring Over Concrete: Wally gets advice on sealing cracks in his concrete floor to prevent moisture before installing a new floating floor over it.
- Installing Vinyl Siding: Should you use nails or screws to install vinyl siding? Beverly learns why to definitely use nails and how to allow the siding to expand.
- Water Sensors: Doug wants to know if a water sensor is a worthwhile investment. We agree that water sensors and leak detectors have smart technology that works well.
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 0:00:24 | TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:00:30 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:00:56 | TOM: And do you have a DIY dilemma? You’ve got a project you want to tackle around your money pit. Well, we are here to help because we are in the money pit prevention business. We’re going to help you spend some money to do it once, do it right and not have to do it again, or maybe not spend any money at all if we can tell you how to do it yourself, but help yourself first by reaching out to us with questions because that’s why we’re here and that’s what we love to do, is to answer questions about your projects. The way to get in touch with us is by calling 1-888-Money-Pit. That’s 888-666-3974. Or better yet, just go to moneypit.com/ask and click the blue microphone button for the fastest possible response. Coming up on today’s show if you’d like your home to feel open and airy but you just don’t have the budget for a big remodel. Well, we’re going to share some smart tips to help you open up the space without emptying your bank account in the process. And maintaining a home that is safe and secure is an important part of the American dream. And advanced technology and smart home security products now makes that easier than ever to accomplish. But with so many options, how do you get started with a security system that works for you and is going to grow with your family? We’re going to share some tips just ahead. And painting is the one DIY project that probably seems to be the simplest to do, but that’s exactly why it’s even more frustrating than ever when a seemingly simple project like painting comes out badly. So we’re going to share some pro painting tips to help make sure that you can avoid that happening to you. |
| 0:02:01 | LESLIE: But first, it’s our job, our mission to educate, Inspire, to help you build confidence on projects that you’d like to get done and to simply guide you on how to get those done. Once, get it done right so you don’t have to do them again. |
| 0:02:14 | TOM: But your job is to help yourself by picking up the phone in the first place and calling us with your questions at 888-Money-Pit or going to Money Pit, .COM slash ask. And I see some folks have done just that. So let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first? |
| 0:02:28 | LESLIE: Cheryl’s on the line with the decking question. How can I help you today? |
| 0:02:31 | CALLER: I’m going to have a deck built at the back of my home, and I have a concrete pad outside the door. And when I ask someone to come and look at it and give the announcement about a deck. |
| 0:02:44 | LESLIE: They were wanting to. |
| 0:02:45 | CALLER: Put the support right on this concrete pad, this back here. But it’s all broken up and all uneven from a large, very large maple tree that I have in the back. And the roots. |
| 0:02:59 | LESLIE: Are there. |
| 0:02:59 | CALLER: Gnarly and a lot of them are near the surface. And so I was wondering if it would even be you even recommend that I even think of having a deck built back there with the tree roots in the situation I have. |
| 0:03:14 | TOM: So first of all, this is a patio, so it’s a thin concrete slab, maybe four or five inches thick. Is that what you’re telling me you have right. So that is not an appropriate foundation for a deck. And so anyone suggesting that it is would scare me because in your part of the country, you need to have the footings for that deck be below the frost line. So that means that those footings have to be about three feet in the ground. And then on top of those fillings you can build the deck. Otherwise the decks are going to ride up and down as the land freezes in the wintertime. So what I would do is I would break up that patio and take it out of there if it’s already, you know, half broken up. I mean, with a jackhammer, you’d probably get that thing out of there in an hour or two. It actually will come out a lot faster than what you would imagine in terms of the tree roots. Yeah. If you could get some of that out of there, it’s probably not a bad idea. But clearly what you have to concentrate on is what however, you’re going to support this deck. If it’s pretty much a grade level deck, you know, you have to kind of put that beam in flush with the rest of the floor structure. If it’s going to be up a little bit, then you would basically put the beam underneath the floor. Joyce and support it on however many columns it takes to make it compliant with building code. But to do it right, it’s got to be on a foundation. So don’t just slap a deck structure over that patio. It’s just not going to be built correctly and I doubt it would pass building code and it would also could devalue your house in the event you tried to sell it in the future. |
| 0:04:40 | CALLER: Okay. Well, the contractor that I had out here, he was leery of, you know, he didn’t want to disturb the tree roots too much for fear of killing this gigantic tree. And that was his. |
| 0:04:53 | TOM: Well, it wasn’t a solution because the roots are going to be there with or without the patio. It’s not a solution. And he’s not going to disturb the tree roots that much less. It will be hard to dig those holes. You may have to chop through some of them, but I don’t think just digging, you know, three or four holes for a footing is going to be enough to kill a tree. |
| 0:05:11 | CALLER: Okay, I do. I’m glad that I gave you a call then. Thank you so much. |
| 0:05:16 | TOM: All right, Cheryl. Well, good luck. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:05:20 | LESLIE: We’ve got Mike on the line who was dealing with pinhole leaks. And I have had these, so I know that surprisingly, they produce a lot of water. Well, what’s going on? Maybe we’ve got a good solution for you. How can we help? |
| 0:05:30 | CALLER: I have a house that’s just about 36 years old. The plumbing, it’s a copper pipe. It’s the same type of copper. About two months ago, I got a pinhole leak in an area in my first floor inside the wall. I got that repaired last week. I came home and I had another pinhole leak. And I’m just wondering where the house be in this old sherry pipe, the house possibly, or another method. I’ve been reading about is called EBI pouring down. If you could give me any information what your ideas are on that. Hey, Mike, it’s unfortunately that your plumbing has started to develop a pinhole leaks. You know, that will continue to occur over time, but I don’t think it calls for an immediate replacement of your entire system. I would just monitor it. I mean, I might be a little more cautious when I go away and turn off my main water valve and that sort of thing. The other thing to think about is that whenever you’re doing renovations in that house, never put a wall back that’s got the old plumbing in it. You want to replace it with tech specs, which stands for Cross Links Polyethylene. It’s a very simple type of pipe to run because it’s flexible and it doesn’t have to be solder and that sort of thing. |
| 0:06:38 | TOM: But the reason you got those pinhole leaks, by the way, is maybe not just because the plumbing may be a bit thin, but you probably have acidic water. And when you have more acidic water, it tends to happen more frequently. So I would just monitor and repair over time. I don’t think if it was my house, I would immediately think I have to replace all the plumbing. That’s a pretty expensive and dramatic step when all you’ve suffered so far is just a couple of pinhole leaks. All right. Good luck with that project. |
| 0:07:05 | LESLIE: Hey, you’re tired of living in a money pit. Well, we’re here to help. And if you want us to help out, it would be awesome if you could leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts. Just go to Money Pit dot com slash review. It’s only going to take a minute and it means the world to us. Beverly in Ohio is on the line. How can we help you today? |
| 0:07:21 | CALLER: I have a problem with my white vinyl fence and I’m trying to see if you have any ideas as to what I can use to clean it. It’s got black marks all over it from a use that used to mail my used to mow my grass. And I’ve had a power cleaned twice. I’ve tried to clean it. Now I’ve got it off. Is that what I can do? Because it’s you know, it’s an expensive. |
| 0:07:40 | TOM: Have you tried to use one of those green scotch pads on it that has just a minor amount of abrasion. I’m trying to think what actually could be making these black marks. If it’s something that’s on top of the vinyl, then you should be able to remove it. The other thing is, if it happens to be something that is solvent based like tar or rubber or something of that nature, nothing that you could try to do is you could try to spray that with some WD 40. That has a pretty good ability of breaking down those types of substances just a little bit, perhaps on that green scrubby pad, rub it over that surface and see if that lifts it off. I think the key is to try to figure out what that black mark is and then what’s going to take it off from there. But I would try it in those in that order. See how you make out. |
| 0:08:26 | CALLER: Beverly Okay. Yeah, some of it is from the road and some of it is from them taking their lawnmower and trying to mow the grass right up against it. |
| 0:08:34 | TOM: Well, I mean, that would throw dirt and stones of it against it, but that should be clean. I mean, as long as the whatever, as long as this vinyl fence is white all the way through, it’s got to be something that’s on top of it. And that’s why I say you have to right there, find the right cleaner and the right tool to remove that. Beverly, thanks so much for calling us at eight At eight Money Pit. |
| 0:08:53 | LESLIE: All right. Let’s welcome Wally, who’s working on the Sun Room project. Tell us about it. How can we help? |
| 0:08:56 | CALLER: I’m redoing a my sunroom and it’s a concrete floor and it’s pretty old. There’s some cracks in there that if I put down a floor over top of it like I plan to do, I’m worried that it’s going to be very uneven. And the floor won’t last very long. |
| 0:09:14 | TOM: Hey Wally. So I think, first off, your choice of using something like a luxury vinyl plank is a good idea for that space. That kind of floor will float on top of the old slab. So it shouldn’t really be impacted by any of the cracks that you described. That said, we want to make sure that we’re reducing the chances of any moisture kind of working up through that. So I would go ahead and steal those. There are a number of different types of products that you can use. If it’s a smaller crack, you could use silicone. There are some concrete patching compounds that you can use. If they’re slightly bigger. If they’re deep, you can fill the crack with a backer rod first and then seal the area on top of that. In addition to the luxury vinyl planks, there’s also a type of product called hybrid stone. LL Flooring makes one under the brand name of Duravana that I’ve used. Those types of planks are stiffer than the vinyl, and that could be attractive. If the floor is slightly uneven, the vinyl will tend to hug any of that unevenness. But the stone planks, the hybrid stone style will not. And they’re pretty inexpensive. Last I checked, they were around four bucks, maybe five bucks a square foot and pretty easy to install. So I think you’re on the right track to seal those up, use the floating floor and you should be good to go. |
| 0:10:27 | LESLIE: Well, while older homes have charm and character, the thing that they often lack is an open floor plan, and it’s something that more and more modern families are looking for. Now, the good news is that you don’t have to stick with the layout that’s offered in your home currently. |
| 0:10:42 | TOM: Now, one way to create an open feel in a closed in space is to build a pass through between the rooms. Now, this is not a first time DIY project. I want to say that up front because it involves some carpentry and some potential electrical work as well. But you want to start with the most important element. Determine if the wall can be opened up by figuring out if it’s a load bearing wall. Now, if possible, you want to go to a floor below, perhaps in the basement or crawl space and look at how the floor joists are running. Are they parallel or perpendicular to the wall? If they’re perpendicular, that wall could more than likely be load bearing. And you’re going to need some expert help if you’re not sure or even if you are sure, you’re going to need some expert help to know how to deal with that. Now, if the wall is load bearing, you can still add a pass through, but the project gets a lot more complicated and it shoots kind of well beyond the DIY stage. So as we said, go get a pro. |
| 0:11:35 | LESLIE: Yeah. Now next, guys, if the wall is not load bearing, you can cut out a pass through. But before you go all in, I mean, it’s really smart to do some exploratory surgery first. That’s right. You know, make some strategic holes in the wall. So before you do things, you want to trace out your template. Where exactly are you cutting? Where do you want this pass through to be? And try and line up this templates that to the left and to the right of this pass through? You’ve got studs because that’s going to make framing this whole project out a lot easier if you’ve got the room and you can lay this out. So it is between studs, it’s even better because then you don’t have to frame everything left. The right sides, all the openings. Now remember, turn off all the electrical circuits to that wall before you even do anything. Make sure all the power is off. Then you want to use a reciprocating saw and you’re cutting only through the thickness of the wallboard. So in other words, you’re not just going to take that reciprocating saw and kind of just go willy nilly into the wall and start cutting. Don’t cut the studs, just cut the drywall away. Does that make sense? |
| 0:12:37 | TOM: Now, once you see inside, it’s a lot easier to double check of the wall as load bearing for sure. If you see two by threes as opposed to two by fours, it’s probably not carrying any weight. But if you do see two by fours, the opening will need to have a header beam, which is a beam that goes across that opening is supported on the sides of it right down through to the bearing space below. Now another thing to look out for is the wiring. If you see any wiring in the opening, you’re definitely in need to redirect those using junction boxes and you’re most likely going to need electrician to address that. Now, once that’s all settled out, you can set about cutting out the opening one hit, though. If the framing should sit flush with the wallboard in the upper and lower parts of the pass through, then what you want to do is use what’s called a plunge. Cut. So you want to drop the saw blade into it. It’s a lot cleaner way to cut that out of the way. And once you’re done, the finishing touch might include some molding or even a counter in that pass through if the area’s opening up, save for maybe a kitchen or a dining area. But you’re going to find that if you have that opening in that wall, it’s really going to add a lot of visual space and give you that open feeling without having to commit to a real major remodeling project. |
| 0:13:45 | LESLIE: Heading over to Florida. We’ve got Beverly on the line who’s got a question about siding. What’s going on? Are you installing it yourself? |
| 0:13:51 | CALLER: That’s just a shed and it’s ten by ten. And I’ve had some siding that I got some vinyl siding and I wanted to put it on the shed and I figured she’s only eight feet high, so I’d be able to, you know, put it on myself. But I heard conflicting opinions about whether I should use screws or nails. You know, one hardware store guy goes use screws, other says use nails. And it’s going on (inaudible) strand board And then I put the tar paper. |
| 0:14:26 | TOM: Yeah. So it’s not it’s not a tough question. It’s not even it’s not even a close question. You’re going to use nails and not only are you going to use nails, you’re going to use nails and you’re not going to drive them home. You’re not going to drive them to where they’re solidly bang in that siding. And the Orient Strand board vinyl siding has some has some peculiarities to its installation methods. So, you know, of course, you start low, right. And the pieces interlock. Now, if you’ll notice, vinyl siding doesn’t have nail holes, it has now slots. And that’s for a really important reason. The vinyl has a really big expansion ratio. So if you put the vinyl siding on to tight where it can’t slide, it’s going to buckle and it looks terrible. You can always see a bad siding job on the south side of the house when the sun hits it and it buckles. And that’s because the siding was nailed on too solidly. So you’re going to use like a flathead nail, like a roofing that would be fine or something like that. And you want to just put it in the center of the slot and you don’t want to make it tight. You want to leave enough space when you’re done, you should be able to grab that piece of siding and slide back and forth in the slot. You know what I mean? Yes. And if it slides back and forth, that’s perfect. That’s exactly what you want. It’s not going to fall off. It’s not going to blow away. But because you’ve put it on loosely that way, it’ll be able to expand and contract and not buckle. |
| 0:15:44 | CALLER: Okay, Well, I’m glad you told me, because the first I put the screw in and I put it in tight. |
| 0:15:51 | TOM: Yeah, that’s natural. That’s what we are sort of, you know, destined to do is to really always make stuff really strong and type. When it comes to siding and vinyl siding, it’s just not done that way. And that’s why. |
| 0:16:00 | CALLER: Oh, okay. Well, thank you very much. |
| 0:16:02 | TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with the project. Thanks for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:16:07 | LESLIE: Doug, you’ve got the Money Pit. What can we do for you today? |
| 0:16:09 | CALLER: I’m considering getting one of these water sensors to go on the water pipe to sense if there’s any water running when there shouldn’t be any water running. And I’m wondering if that’s something that’s worth the investment. |
| 0:16:25 | TOM: Yeah, actually, those sensors work quite well because they some of the smarter ones will actually measure your pattern. And if something outside of the pattern happens, they’ll alert you. Usually they’re hooked up to wifi and they have a notification system so you can get alerts on your smartphone. If you’re just concerned about leaks. There’s another type of leak detector that’s out. It’s made by a company called Simple Sense SNCC. It’s a wifi enabled detector that will detect water leaks and also freezing if your heat was to go off. And that also has an app that goes along with it. And again, it’ll alert you if you get a leak, say, in your basement, for example, or if you get a frozen freeze down there, it will alert you that you’ve got a problem. So you could deal with it hopefully before it gets much worse. |
| 0:17:11 | CALLER: Oh, okay. Yeah. But so so generally, I guess I should do a little research and see exactly what I, what my need would be and go from there. But that’s basically, I guess it’s worth it then to do the investment. |
| 0:17:26 | TOM: I do think it’s worth it. The leak detection technology, there’s a company called Stream Labs that makes those and those are very cool. They just clamp over the pipe so you don’t even have a plumbing connection to make. And again, they’re going to tell you via an alert if you have a problem with a leak before it becomes a big stinking mess that you have to clean up. |
| 0:17:48 | CALLER: Yes. Yeah, I’m familiar with that name. I did a basic research and I’ve seen that name. So they have pretty efficient then? |
| 0:17:55 | TOM: Absolutely. |
| 0:17:56 | CALLER: Okay. Listen, I appreciate that. |
| 0:17:59 | LESLIE: While maintaining a home that’s safe and secure is an important part of the American dream and advanced technology and smart home security products now makes it easier than ever to accomplish. But with so many options, how do you get started with a security system that works for you and it’s going to grow with your family? |
| 0:18:17 | TOM: With us to talk about that is Hooman Shahidi, the SVP of Product Development for SimpliSafe. You know, it used to be that one key differentiator between professionally installed systems and those that were sort of a DIY install was that the pro systems offered 24/7 monitoring, but those differences have really evaporated. I know you guys were out there early with offering live guards to monitor security systems and now you’ve expanded your line to include lifeguard surveillance that actually has guards watching your property even when you’re not home. So how is this changing the possibilities for consumers to keep their home safe? |
| 0:18:55 | HOOMAN SHAHIDI: Yeah, so, Tom, I think SimpliSafe has always provided 24/7 monitoring where our monitoring agents are standing by for any alarms that our customers have in their home. And they respond and dispatch authorities. Recently we launched Lifeguard, which was actually above and beyond just 24/7 monitoring. And in fact, our agents engage through our smart alarm camera with anybody who may be in the home to assess the situation and have a lot more information to be able to react, whether to disarm the system or to dispatch the authorities. |
| 0:19:37 | TOM: Interesting. So I did note from your website at SimpliSafe.com. You had some videos there of burglars actually entering the home and then being basically caught the act by the SimpliSafe live guard. That’s terrific. So I presume that’s all done trapped on video and also conveyed to the local authorities right? |
| 0:20:02 | HOOMAN: That’s exactly right. And, you know, whenever there’s an event in your home, the most important thing is response time, because that’s what helps keep you, keep you safe. And with 24/7 live guard, our agents can respond immediately to the event and try to take action to capture the video, but also dissuade a potential intruder from continuing potentially nefarious activity. So we’re really excited about being able to do even a better job of keeping our customers safe. |
| 0:20:35 | LESLIE: I mean, I feel like people might be uneasy with having these cameras on inside their home. So how do you balance privacy with security? |
| 0:20:44 | HOOMAN: SimpliSafe has always been focused on protecting our customers privacy. First and foremost. Of course, you know, we let customers know and they opt in to their specific part of our service. Second, we design our products with privacy in mind. One of the great unique things that we’ve always had, nine door cameras, is a privacy shutter that allows the customer to know when the camera is active and when it’s not fact checked or cameras are designed so that they’re only active when either you as a customer is wanting to see what’s going on inside your house or if there’s an alarm, an actual physical shutter disengages so that you know that the camera is on a recording. And when it’s engaged, you know, the camera is off and there’s nothing going on there. So that’s a great way for our customers to have assurance that we are always respectful of their privacy. |
| 0:21:46 | LESLIE: All right. So clearly, here’s your plan for covering everything on the inside of the house. But what about the outside? I mean, more and more you hear about these porch pirates and package thefts. Like what are your plans for that? |
| 0:21:57 | HOOMAN: Oh, yeah. We’ve had outdoor cameras for quite some time. We launched a simply safe outdoor camera in 2021 to complement the SimpliSafe doorbell camera that we have. We’ve actually had on the market for a while. Those cameras allow our customers to be able to view what’s going on outside the home and if they choose to, our agents can also leverage those cameras to get better situational awareness for first responders if they need to be deployed to our customers home and our customers are really excited about that product. Very well rated. Lots of good reviews for both the performance and the great thing about SimpliSafe and how we think about it is, you know, they’re not just outdoor cameras. They’re part of a holistic security solution, which includes the 24 seven monitoring. |
| 0:22:47 | TOM: Yeah, let’s talk about that. If you’re just getting started with smart home monitoring systems such as those offered by SimpliSafe, and where do you start with that? How do you decide what level of protection number of devices, what options are most popular if you haven’t really delved into that area before? |
| 0:23:04 | HOOMAN: Yeah, so we really try to help the customer on that journey because every home is different in terms of what physical devices you need. And you know, we really designed our system to be scalable to be able to cover, let’s say you have in a studio apartment and you only need a door sensor to protect the front door to your house or a motion sensor for the main area. You start there or if you live in a ten bedroom mansion, we got you covered there with an array of sensors. And since our system is wireless and expandable, you can start and build out from there. And if you actually if our customers go through our shopping journey on our website, we’ve got a number of ways between prepackaged options for them as well as even a quiz that kind of helps us understand what kind of home they have, how many windows, those how many doors, the size of the house and actually recommend their custom system for them. |
| 0:24:04 | LESLIE: So you can start off with the very basic sort of security package at home. What are the other options? I mean, is it fairly modular or can I add on different components like where can I go with this? |
| 0:24:15 | HOOMAN: We find very frequently customers get, you know, basic protection and then they realize, hey, you know what? I also want to make sure that I’m protected. Where it comes to fire is carbon monoxide. And so they buy additional sensors to cover that need. Another really popular one is water sensors that help customers realize whether they have a broken pipe in their home and get an alarm associated with that. And all that is monitored 24/7 is SimpliSafe home security system. So even when you’re away from home, we will be keeping an eye on your house. |
| 0:24:51 | TOM: We’re talking to Hooman Shahidi. He’s SVP of Product for SimpliSafe. You mentioned water protection. That’s a good point. And it leads me to this question. When it comes to these types of systems, are there insurance discounts that are available in terms of, say, your homeowner’s insurance if you had this kind of additional level of protection? Because clearly you’re a better customer for an insurance company if you’ve taken the steps to identify, say, a water leak before it causes severe damage. |
| 0:25:18 | HOOMAN: Obviously you’ve got to get in touch with your specific insurance provider. But I think almost all insurance providers will give you a discount. And we have a service will send you a certificate saying that SimpliSafe is protecting your house. 24 seven where a you out certified system and monitoring your central station. You turn that into your insurance company and you generally get a pretty significant discount. A lot of times the system kind of ends up paying for itself in short order. |
| 0:25:46 | TOM: We’re talking to Hooman Shahidi, the SVP of Product for SimpliSafe, now available with 24 seven Live Guard protection. Hooman, thank you so much for stopping by the Money Pit. I love the fact that the system is so customizable, so modular that you can start with your basics and you can build out from there to the point where we have the system is just absolutely perfect for your needs. If you’d like to learn more, go to their website simplisafe.com. Hooman Shahidi thank you again for stopping by the Money Pit. |
| 0:26:19 | HOOMAN: Thanks Tom and thanks as the pleasure speaking with you today. |
| 0:26:24 | LESLIE: Well, painting is the one DIY project that probably seems the simplest to do. I mean, how hard can it be then? You know, just dipping your brush in the can and then slap in the paint on the wall? |
| 0:26:35 | TOM: Yeah. And that’s exactly why it’s even more frustrating than ever when a seemingly simple project like painting comes out badly, which can happen if you start with the wrong brush. |
| 0:26:45 | LESLIE: Yeah. Now, the average home improvement center provides lots of options. I mean, have you been down the paint brush lately? There are a ton of brushes out there, so how do you know which one is the right one for your project? |
| 0:26:58 | TOM: You know, it all starts with choosing the right bristles, and that’s going to depend on the type of paint type of stain or finish. You’re applying. First, you have natural bristle brushes or these are sometimes called china bristles, and they’re designed for oil based paints. They provide a very even finish their sturdy enough to clean with paint thinner or turpentine. But you can’t use that same natural bristle brush for latex paint because they tend to soak up water and lose their springing this and just don’t perform very well for that kind of paint. You want to use synthetic bristle brushes. Those are definitely the best choice. |
| 0:27:33 | LESLIE: Now, what about the quality of the brush? There are definitely a wide range of brushes out there and, you know, a wide range of price points as well. Is it better to buy a more expensive brush? How do you know? |
| 0:27:45 | TOM: I mean, I think it does when it comes to brushes, you definitely get what you pay for, and better brushes simply have more bristles. The bristles are of differing lengths, and the bristles have split ends, which is actually a good thing because that enables them to hold more paint. If you go with a lower quality brush that can leave ridges in the paint as well as sort of thin spots because it just doesn’t apply the paint very evenly. |
| 0:28:10 | LESLIE: Now, what about the dreaded cleanup job? I feel like everybody hates this part. So generally they’re tossing the brushes, which you shouldn’t be doing. You should be taking the time to clean them. So how do you clean them? |
| 0:28:22 | TOM: Yeah, that’s right. For both types of brushes, you want to squeeze out as much of the paint or finish of the brush as possible. You can use old newspaper paper towels. These will work well for this and then brush as much of the paint off as you can and then blot the brush from the base of the bristles to the tip to squeeze out whatever’s left. Now, for latex paint, you want to rinse the brush with warm, soapy water, then hang it up to dry with the bristles pointing down so the water doesn’t soak back in towards the handle. That can cause it to swell and kind of get nasty. Now, for oil finishes, you want to dip the bristles in the paint thinner for a few minutes and then use a dab of dish soap and warm water to wash the thinner off and then again hang them up to dry. I like to let them soak overnight in simple green, a little trick of the tray that I use because I find that the simple green takes out pretty much all of the old paint, leaves them in pretty good condition. And as you said, Leslie, lastly, when they’re all dry, put them back in those cardboard sleeves. It’s a good idea because it helps them keep their shape and be good to go the next time you want to take them out for a project. |
| 0:29:30 | LESLIE: Yeah, if you’re spending the money you want to keep using them. |
| 0:29:33 | TOM: We are here to help you take on the projects you want to get done around your house. You can pose those questions to Moneypit.com/ask. And that’s exactly what David did. |
| 0:29:43 | LESLIE: That’s right. David wrote in. He says, We’re having engineered wood flooring installed into our second bedrooms and we want to know what are the benefits and drawbacks of having it glued down or floating. Also, should we have something between the plywood and the floor and anything else we should consider before we have it installed? |
| 0:30:01 | TOM: So first of all, I will tell you that I think floating floors are really best today. Those floor systems have boards that lock together. They don’t have to be glued. They simply lay in place and lock together. You leave maybe a quarter to a half inch of space at the perimeter and you cover that with molding just make sure you leave that gap, because if you don’t and the floor expands and start to buckle and then that becomes a very hard problem to solve. Now, underlayment is useful for comfort and for sound reductions. I would suggest you check with your manufacturer to see which underlayment products they recommend. It’s going to vary some of those boards have underlayment attached to them already. Others use sort of like a thin, like rubbery foam, kind of a covering that goes across the floor first and most important, and this is a really important trick of the trade before you put flooring down, if you got the old carpet up before you put the flooring down, make sure you secure that subfloor. By doing that, I mean, typically sub floors are nailed in place and the nails will loosen up, the cause squeaks and that sort of thing. So I would screw that subfloor down. You can use case hardened screws case here and drywall style screws and you can screw that floor down every 16 inches every single board that really locks it in place. This is the one chance you have to do this and eliminate a whole host of future squeak issues. Well, you have that old flooring material off. You want to really secure that subfloor down. And this way it will be solid for all the days and weeks and years to come because you know what’s going to happen. You’ll put the flooring down. If you do this in the first place, you step, it’s going to go squeak. You’ll be so pissed. |
| 0:31:46 | LESLIE: You’re going to be pissed and it’s not going to be so easy to get to know. |
| 0:31:49 | TOM: It’ll be almost impossible and you’re going to learn to live with it. |
| 0:31:52 | LESLIE: All right, David. Well, let’s get this project done right so you don’t have to worry about that at all. |
| 0:31:56 | TOM: Well, are you planning an end of summer backyard blowout? You can light up the night with tiki torches as long as you do it safely. Leslie has some tips to do just that, along with some ideas on realistic flame free options in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word. Leslie. |
| 0:32:12 | LESLIE: You know, if you like to set the mood and create Beyonce, you can do it with some dramatic lighting in your backyard. Now you can pick up oil, burning torches at almost any store that sells outdoor stuff. And you can also use citronella oil in those lanterns, too. And that’s going to help you keep the bugs away, but also make everything look super adorable outside. So, first of all, let’s talk about safety. Any time we’ve got an open flame, you have to practice fire safety. So make sure you’ve got a bucket of water and a hose close by. When you do snuff out the flame, make sure the torches are in a fireproof place. Also, you want to be sure to check safer products dot gov and make sure that the torch you’re using is considered safe and it hasn’t been recalled. If you want some added safety led technology has really brought us a wide array of very safe battery and solar powered torches, and some of these will turn on automatically at dusk and they even flicker just like a real flame, which really makes it beautiful and possible to light up the night without throwing caution to the wind. So remember, play it safe, but have some fun. |
| 0:33:16 | TOM: This is the Money Pit Home Improvement show coming up next time on the program. If summer storms have taken out a tree but not the stump, we’re going to share tips for getting rid of what’s left without needing to hire a tree service. Do that job for you. That’s all coming up on the very next edition of The Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:33:34 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:33:36 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
| 0:33:38 | 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 2023 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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