Episode #1952: DIY Disasters | Hanging Heavy Pictures | Winter Ready Checklist

TRANSCRIPT FOR DECEMBER 9, 2019, HOUR 1

TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: And we are here for one and one reason only and that’s to help you with your home improvement jobs, your maintenance projects, your décor projects. Whatever is on your to-do list, you can slide it over to ours by reaching out to us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT with your home improvement questions. You can also post them on The Money Pit’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/TheMoneyPit.

Coming up on today’s show, have you ever taken on a do-it-yourself project only to have to admit defeat and call in a pro to finish? Well, that happened recently to us. Yes, we are going to swallow our pride and share the story, just ahead, so you know you’re not alone when it happens to you.

LESLIE: It happens to everybody.

Alright. Well, hanging pictures can be a daunting task, especially if they’re heavy. But no matter what surface you’re drilling into, there is a tried-and-true way to secure your wall hanging safely. We’re going to explain.

TOM: And are you ready for winter? I mean really ready? There are seven major storms that are predicted to hit, so we’re going to walk you through a step-by-step checklist to be sure you’re good to go.

LESLIE: Plus, we’ve got great tools to give away today to help with projects around your house. From Arrow Fastener, we’re giving away their PT50 Pneumatic Staple Gun and RT90P, a riveting tool. Great things along with awesome supplies. It’s worth 133 bucks but guess what? For one of you, it’s free.

TOM: That’s right. If you’d like to win it, you’ve got to be in it. Pick up the phone, right now, and give us a call with your home improvement question at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. We will draw one listener from those that reach us for today’s show and send out that Arrow prize pack to you.

So let’s get started. Leslie, who’s first?

LESLIE: Got Larry on the line who’s got a question about some wallpaper that won’t stay put. Tell us what’s going on.

LARRY: I’ve got an old house, 200 years old. And it’s got the plaster walls with cloth wallpaper that was put on about 30 years ago.

TOM: Oh, boy. Right.

LARRY: And now it’s coming off in places but it’s still real intact. I’m wondering if I can just stick it back on with some kind of an adhesive.

TOM: So, is it coming out at the seams?

LARRY: Right, yeah.

TOM: Mm-hmm. OK. So, there’s a tool called a “seam roller” and there’s a type of adhesive called “seam adhesive” – wallpaper seam adhesive. It’s not very expensive.

LARRY: OK.

TOM: And what you need to do is you need to apply that seam adhesive. You can use a really small brush, like a painter’s brush. Try to get it on the back side of those loose sections. And then with the roller, which is kind of like a small rolling pin about 2 inches wide, you roll over it. And that presses it down, spreads the adhesive and helps seal those edges down.

Now, if you do this and it works, you’re good to go. If it doesn’t work, it might be that there’s too much debris on that wall and it’s just never going to stick. And you may have to say goodbye to that – I hate to tell you – 30-year-old wallpaper. But let’s think of it this way: it served your home well. OK?

LARRY: It’s been good. Thank you very much.

TOM: You’re welcome, Larry. Thanks so much for calling us and good luck with that project.

LESLIE: Cindy in Florida, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

CINDY: We bought our house two years ago and one of the options was to have the epoxy floor. And what we got was a plain, gray epoxy.

TOM: OK.

CINDY: And now we noticed that the other houses that are all being built around us, they have a gray epoxy floor but they have those little speckle confetti on top.

TOM: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

CINDY: So we want to know – we want to redo our epoxy to have that little confetti sprinkled on.

TOM: OK.

CINDY: Do we have to strip the old epoxy off completely or can we just put a new epoxy over it?

TOM: No, I think you could put a second layer on it as long as that old epoxy is adhered well. If it looks like it’s a tough finish and it’s sticking well, then I think you could add another coat of epoxy on top of it. Some folks put multiple coats of that base epoxy and some folks put the clear – even put a clear coat on, on top of what they have.

So, no, you can put another layer on it. I would try to find out what product it was so that you’re using the same product. That would give you a better chance of not having any adhesion issues.

CINDY: Oh, that makes a difference, the same product. OK.

TOM: Mm-hmm. Yeah. OK?

CINDY: I didn’t even think of that. Thank you very much.

TOM: Alright. OK, Cindy. Good luck with that project and thanks for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Now we’re going to head over to Nebraska. James is on the line with us and has some questions about insulation. What’s going on at your money pit?

JAMES: Hey, just curious. I’ve done some reading. Some of that spray foam, there’s some fumes apparently possibly coming off some of that. Do you know what’s out there and what that can cause and some of the problems they’re having with that?

TOM: I know of one case that was, I believe, in Canada where there was potentially some material that was improperly mixed but it certainly is not a widespread situation. I personally have Icynene Spray-Foam Insulation in my crawlspaces in my basement and in my attic and across my kitchen roof. And I am very, very happy with it. It’s been very effective for us. So I, personally, would say you could use a name-brand insulation like that without fear of any type of off-gassing. I don’t think it’s a concern whatsoever.

JAMES: OK. I guess that was my only concern, because it looks like it’s a really good way to go. But after, you know, seeing a little bit of that, I was a little hesitant so …

TOM: Yeah. I mean if you deal with a good contractor with a good reputation and a good product, like Icynene, I think you’ll be fine.

I actually have photos of the project on MoneyPit.com. If you search for The Money Pit Insulation Guide, you’ll see photos of the Icynene going down – going into the spaces. And we had a really complicated house. We had flat-roof sections where the roof structure was opened up for the outside and sprayed down across the ceiling and then closed in. We had a traditional attic and then we also had an attic that – over the kitchen that was not accessible. So in that case, the plywood was taken off from the outside. And once again, we sprayed down across the kitchen and then reroofed the place. So, it was kind of an interesting project but we saw huge differences pretty much right away after the product had dried.

JAMES: OK, great. Well, thank you so much. And thanks for taking my question, too.

TOM: You’re welcome, James. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Alright. You are tuned to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Give us a call at 888-MONEY-PIT presented by HomeAdvisor. You can get instantly matched with top-rated pros for any home project and book appointments online for free.

TOM: Just ahead, have you ever taken on a do-it-yourself project only to have to admit defeat and call in a pro to finish? Well, that actually happened recently to us. We’re going to swallow our pride and share the story, after this.

Where home solutions live, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Pick up the phone right now. We want to hear what you’re working on. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT presented by HomeAdvisor, the fast and easy way to find the right pro for any kind of home project, whether it’s a small repair or a major remodel.

And if you do call us with your home improvement question, we will toss your name in The Money Pit hat because we’ve got a great set of tools we’re giving away today. Two great tools from Arrow Fastener. They’ve been making staple guns and staples in their Saddle Brook plant in New Jersey for almost 90 years.

And we’ve got the PT50 Pneumatic Staple Gun going out, as well as the RT90 Pneumatic Rivet Tool. These are great tools for general repairs, for professional use, for upholstery, for insulation, for putting up decorations. There’s lots of stuff you can do with these tools.

And this holiday season, you should visit ArrowFastener.com to find the perfect tool for the DIYer in your life. You can even regift it if you win it. Give us a call, right now, with your home improvement question at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Now we’ve got Leslie in Nebraska on the line who’s dealing with an oversized oak door. What happened? Did it grow?

LESLIE IN NEBRASKA: What I did was – I live in a 100-year-old, German bungalow-style house.

TOM: Nice.

LESLIE IN NEBRASKA: And I changed the doors. It had been remodeled and it just had the flat, hollow-core doors in it. I changed them out for solid – for oak doors. And in one room, the door now – the hinges are in the very corner, as it were. But at the bottom, it meets and at the top, there’s about a ½-inch gap where we put wedges. So I’m wondering how to trim that out appropriately.

The original doors had 1-by trim with the flat board on top, so they butt against the board on the top. And I’m wondering what I can do to make this work.

TOM: So, if I understand this correctly, you purchased a prehung door, you installed it into the old opening. In order to make it fit, you had to shim it in quite a bit. And as a result, now you have large gaps between the prehung and the old door opening. Is that correct?

LESLIE IN NEBRASKA: Correct.

TOM: Alright. So, you need a wider trim, obviously; that’s where you’re going to have to start with this.

Now, the most traditional trim is clamshell – which is, I think, quite boring – 2½-inch or 2¼-inch wide, surrounds the door. A more interesting way to do this might be to trim it off with a two-piece trim. So what you could use is you could use a piece of baseboard molding as the first layer of trim. So this would give you a wide molding all around the door.

And you could make this as wide as you have to. Baseboard molding is usually either 2½ inches or 3½ inches wide. So you treat – use that as casing, if that makes sense. And then on top of the outside edge of the baseboard, you can put corner molding. And so it becomes sort of – its outside corner mold, so it becomes stepped. So, the fluted part of the baseboard is against the hinge and then it steps up at the end with the outside corner molding. And this gives you sort of a two-tiered casement arrangement all around the entire door.

This can be very, very attractive. I once did an entire house like this and it looked really good. Gives you a lot of dimension and it kind of brings you back to the day when all the moldings around doors were done in a really fancy way like this and gives that particular door a lot of personality.

LESLIE IN NEBRASKA: Thank you so much for your help.

TOM: You’re welcome, Leslie. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

So, this past summer, we put in some air-conditioning systems to the studio, because it was getting a little warm. And you guys know we love the split-ductless system, so we decided to go with that because they’re nice and quiet. We didn’t want the noise when we’re on the radio. And so we put in four split-ductless systems. And it worked great all summer long.

So, a couple of weeks ago, it was getting a little chilly in here and Leslie hates to be cold. And that’s fine.

LESLIE: I hate it.

TOM: You know, we have our own body temperature like most couples do. And we are a radio couple. So we switched it to the heating mode but it did not get warmer; it actually didn’t work at all.

Now, I went back to my contractor on this. I’m kidding, because it was Jim, our engineer. Because Jim wanted to put them in himself and I think he did a great job. And Jim was a little perplexed by this.

So, Jim, you tell the rest of the story because you had to call for help.

JIM: Well, all summer long, we had air conditioning. It was great. And came time to fire up the heat and had no heat. So I went into Jim-troubleshoot mode and couldn’t solve it. So I said, “Well, you know what? HomeAdvisor is – we recommend them all the time. It’d be silly not to use them myself.” So I secretly, without telling you, I called – got on HomeAdvisor.

TOM: You could have told me. I would have told you the same thing.

JIM: Yeah, I know.

TOM: You wanted to pretend like you solved this on your own without any help of a professional.

JIM: That’s it. So busted. So I ­­­– literally, this is crazy. From the time I clicked Enter for contractors to get ahold of me, in less than two hours not only were – they responded, it was repaired and they were on their way, which is amazing.

LESLIE: That’s awesome.

TOM: Wow.

JIM: Yeah, I couldn’t believe it. And it turned out all it was is low refrigerant level. So you can have a low refrigerant level. It still runs the air but not the heat, which requires more. But still doesn’t throw an error code because it does have enough refrigerant for summer. So, I learned a bunch and I wanted to give a shout-out to John and Nate. Nate was the technician; John is the owner of the company. Literally called me within four minutes and had it repaired and they were on their way in under two hours. It was cool.

TOM: Wow.

JIM: Just charged me for a service call and the refrigerant I was low on, which is a very affordable refrigerant. So, the whole thing was, remarkably, under 180 bucks.

TOM: Wow.

JIM: Yeah.

TOM: Well, our comfort restored for under 200 bucks. That was a pretty good deal.

LESLIE: I love it.

TOM: And yes, definitely a shout-out to HomeAdvisor. Those guys totally rocked it. Showed up within two hours. Got us all fixed up.

LESLIE: Alright. Next up, we’ve got Mark on The Money Pit. What’s going on at your house?

MARK: OK. I’ve got this house that I bought on – it’s just less than 5 acres by the golf course in Bandon, Oregon.

TOM: OK.

MARK: And I’ve got these pavers that somebody had laid over something. It’s about 2,000 square feet of them in my front yard.

TOM: Wow.

MARK: And it’s not a small house. So, I’m trying to figure out what to nuke this moss that is impending – because I’ve got a lot of huge trees here, too.

TOM: Yeah.

MARK: It’s got everything, guys. This is Oregon.

TOM: Wow. Yeah.

MARK: And I’ve got the salt fog, which is a phenomenon I’ve never even heard of before.

TOM: Here’s what I think you should do.

First of all, since you have so much of this and we’re not just trying to strategically get rid of a little bit, I would use a mildicide on this. I would use something like JOMAX, which is a Zinsser product. You mix it up with bleach, you put it across these pavers and you leave it sit. And it’ll basically kill all of the moss and the algae and so on in a fairly short period of time. You can power-wash it and clean it up after that.

Now, on an ongoing basis, though, there are different types of products. There is Spray & Forget, for example, that you can apply to it. And if you do this every month or two, that will stop the moss from growing as quickly. But whenever you have a lot of shade like that, of course, the conditions are perfect for that type of moss and algae and lichen to grow.

So the first step is going to be to kind of nuke it, so to speak, with a really strong process and then you’re going to apply a more gentle product, like Spray & Forget, to try to stop it from coming back.

MARK: There is hope.

LESLIE: There sure is.

MARK: Always.

TOM: There is. There is. Well, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for reaching out to us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

MARK: Alright. Thanks a lot. Have a good one.

LESLIE: Mike in Tennessee, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

MIKE: Is it possible or even a good idea to put a propane water heater in – next to an electric water heater? With the bad weather that we’ve had and the possibility of losing the electricity, I was trying to determine whether or not I could put in a propane water heater and maybe cheap hot water to be able to wash the kids and the clothes when the electricity goes out.

TOM: Well, that’s an interesting approach. First of all, I don’t see why you couldn’t do that as long as both appliances were installed safely and in accordance with electrical codes and plumbing codes and in accordance to the – and in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. So, there’s no reason why you couldn’t have the water heaters side by side with one being propane and one being electric. But you might want to think about a more permanent solution and a more practical solution to the underlying problem of losing power and that is to install a standby generator.

Now, you can get a standby generator that would run on propane gas. And a standby generator is very handy because it comes on automatically when the power goes off and it can handle the water heater, lights, refrigeration, heating systems, all the basics.

LESLIE: Well, pretty much anything that you want it to.

TOM: Yeah. And keep you moving throughout the house. So, rather than see you spend money on a second water heater, I’d rather see you spend some money on a propane-powered, gas standby generator.

MIKE: What would you think would be necessary for running, yeah, the basics that you were just mentioning there: the water heater, the refrigeration and the stove? You know, not running the whole house – I think that takes about 15,000 kilowatts – but just running a partial system there. What would you recommend for that type of a standby?

TOM: Well, exactly. And you can buy them based on different sizes. So, for example, if you wanted one that was about 8k, that would probably run you probably $2,500, plus or minus.

MIKE: Oh, OK.

TOM: And if you wanted one that was 20k, that’d probably run you about $4,500 and then something else in between. So, they’re not extraordinarily expensive. They have to be installed professionally and of course, this presumes that you have propane available to run them and not – or natural gas. But I presume you’re talking about propane.

It comes with something called a “transfer switch.” So, it gets installed next to your main electrical panel and basically, the circuits that are wired in the transfer switch are the ones that actually come on. So you might have a lighting circuit, a refrigerator, furnace and so on. If you happen to have central air conditioning, you may not use that because you’d be willing to put up with not having air conditioning for a few days but as long as your refrigerator worked and so on.

MIKE: Fantastic. Well, thanks for all the good information you folks provide.

TOM: You’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

Well, Leslie, if you want to hang a heavy picture, you know what the most important subject is to know about? Gravity.

LESLIE: That’s true.

TOM: If you don’t do it right, it’s going to come crashing down. We’ll have some tips to help you hang heavy stuff, no matter what wall configuration you have, after this.

Making good homes better, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

Give us a call at 888-MONEY-PIT. The Money Pit is presented by HomeAdvisor. If you need new flooring in your kitchen or bathroom, HomeAdvisor will instantly match you with the right pro for the job for free.

Now we’ve got Barb in Iowa on the line who’s got a heating question. How can we help you today?

BARB: Yes. My son recently purchased a house and it has the hot-water heat. And was wondering about if we replace that, if you’d suggest staying with that system or going with maybe the forced-air natural gas?

TOM: Oh, no, I would – well, first of all, is it a gas-fired heating system? It’s just heated by hot water instead of ducts?

BARB: Yeah, it has kind of – the radiators along the …

TOM: Oh, listen, Barb, you’ve got the best heating system available. So, you definitely don’t want to take – never take apart a radiant system.

Now, if you want to add air conditioning, you add a separate set of ducts for that. But you never disable that hot-water baseboard system because it delivers warm, moist heat. Now, most builders today don’t put these in because they’re too expensive. But if you bought a house that’s got one, you definitely want to keep it and enjoy it.

BARB: OK. And then if – just repair it if it would need any …

TOM: Well, I mean hot-water systems rarely need repair; it’s just that the boiler needs maintenance. But most hot-water, gas-fired boilers will last 25 or 30 years.

BARB: OK. Well, thank you.

TOM: You’re welcome, Barb. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

Well, if you’ve ever wanted to hang a heavy picture or a piece of artwork, your first concern is usually gravity. You want to make sure that what goes up does not come down.

LESLIE: Yeah. And that’s something you really do want to avoid. But there are so many types of walls out there, from exposed brick to drywall to surfaces covered in tile, that each material is going to have a fastener that’s really best suited for it.

Now, each type of anchor has strengths and weaknesses but they boil down to two types: expansion anchors or hollow-wall anchors.

Now, expansion anchors expand when a screw or bolt is threaded into them. And they work best in thick, solid materials. Hollow-wall anchors are best used in thin materials or hollow walls. And they spread in a variety of ways once they’re inserted into the wall and then you can’t pull them back through.

TOM: So, here’s how you combine the fastener with the wall material. Now, for drywall, nails are OK but they need to go in at a 45-degree angle. Screws are much better and they should be used with a plastic anchor. And for anything that’s heavier than 20 pounds, that fastener must go into a stud.

Now, if you’re working with plaster and you’ve got an old house, now you’ve got to be really careful because plaster walls can crack easily when they’re separated from the lath. And that happens a lot because they dry out over the years. So you want to keep vibration and banging to a minimum while you’re working on it. The fastener of choice, though, is the metal toggle bolt. They expand once they’re pushed through the plaster and they add support from behind. And just like for drywall, though, for heavier items you need to drill into the stud.

And finally, if you’re attaching to brick or mortar, be sure to choose a spot in a mortar joint: the space between the brick and the stone. You’re going to need to use a drill with a masonry bit and then you’ll drive a wall anchor into that hole. And then your hanging is held in place by a screw.

LESLIE: Now, the best fastener for truly heavy objects is going to be a molly bolt. And these combine the ease of installation of a plastic expansion anchor with much greater strength. Now, the largest mollies can hold up to 50 pounds, so you should be able to hang up most things that you really want to.

And then there’s a fastener called the Monkey Hook.

TOM: The Monkey Hook is a pretty cool thing. It’s a – basically a piece of wire that’s in the shape of a hook. And think about, you know, how monkeys support themselves when they go tree to tree by sort of hanging on their tails? Well, that’s the kind of idea. The wire slips behind the wall and locks in place and it leaves the hook standing out. And that tail of a wire turns out to be very, very strong.

And the Monkey Hooks by themselves can hold, I think, probably 30 or 40 pounds and they don’t do much damage. But they only work well on drywall. If you’ve got plaster, you’ve got to go back to the toggle bolts.

LESLIE: Orv in South Dakota is on the line with a log-cabin question. Tell us what you’re working on.

ORV: This is a cedar log cabin. Actually, it’s 4x6s with the edges eased. And four or five years ago, we stained it and it got – we stained it too dark. And I’d like to know if we can – or what needs to be done to bring it back to its original color?

TOM: OK. So, if you stained it and it’s too dark and you want to lighten it up again, it’s not practical to sand down the logs to try to get to the natural wood, nor do I think you have to. What you could do is you could apply a solid-color stain, which is essentially going to be – the color that comes out of the can is the color you’re going to get. It’s kind of like paint except that the grain of the wood shows through. So if you were to put a solid-color stain on those logs, you could definitely lighten it up.

And frankly, when we are asked about staining homes, wood siding and the like, we almost always recommend solid-color stain because it lasts the longest. It has more pigment in it than semi-transparent stains and so I think that’s the way to go, Orv. Just pick up some solid-color stain, any color you want. Apply it to the logs and you could definitely lighten up the look.

ORV: OK. Thank you very much.

TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: You can reach us here with your home repair or your home improvement questions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

Hey, are you ready for winter? I mean really ready? We’re going to have your winter-ready checklist to make sure you’re good to go, in today’s Better Get a Truck Tip presented by Hertz, next.

TOM: Making good homes better, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Give us a call, right now, at 1-888-MONEY-PIT presented by HomeAdvisor.com. Never worry about overpaying for a job. Just use the HomeAdvisor True Cost Guide to see what others paid for similar projects. It’s all for free at HomeAdvisor.com.

LESLIE: And we’ve got another great reason for you to reach out to us here at The Money Pit. It’s the holiday season and we want to give you something that you can really use. We’ve got up for grabs, to one lucky caller, a great tool from Arrow Fastener.

Now, it’s really a pack of tools. We’ve got up for grabs the Arrow PT50 Pneumatic Staple Gun and the Arrow RT90 Pneumatic Rivet Tool. You can fasten a whole bunch of things together with the rivet tool. You can make great projects with the staple gun. I’m always finding things to upholster or fasten or put together with the staple gun. So I promise you you’ll have lots to do this holiday season.

Visit ArrowFastener.com to find the perfect tool for the DIYer in your life. But for now, give us a call with your question for your chance to win.

TOM: Those Arrow tools are going out with supplies for both. The total package is worth 133 bucks. Going out to one listener drawn at random. Make that you. Call us now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Nora in Texas is on the line with a textured-wall question. Tell us what you’re working on.

NORA: We are remodeling our house and we have a room that has a wall that has some flaws in the wall: some bumps and things that I know I won’t get out. But we were going to – we were texturing it with a lightweight joint compound and a paint roller. But when I put it on, I kind of went above my head and came down and then I dipped again, went across the wall and then went across the top about a foot from the ceiling to the – where I’d started. Then went across the bottom from the foot – from the – right ended to the floor. Is it going to show line – how do you keep from showing line marks and …?

TOM: Well, Nora, there’s paints that are designed to do that; you don’t have to use spackling. But I can respect the fact that you probably had some spackle and maybe you just tried to make that work. How do you avoid paint lines or how do you avoid trowel lines with that? You only get one shot to do it and that’s when you work it when it’s wet.

NORA: OK.

TOM: It’s OK to cut-in like that. But before it dries, what you have to do is go across the wall and sort of break into those sort of bands so that you have a pattern there.

NORA: OK.

TOM: I probably would not have used spackle for that, if it was me. I would have used a good-quality textured paint, which would have given you the same effect. But it sounds like that ship has sailed and now you’re working with the spackle. Is that correct?

NORA: Well, yes. What kind of paint has texture in it?

TOM: Oh, there’s lots of different paints. I know, for example, I think it’s Valspar has got about a dozen different ones. And I’m sure every major paint manufacturer has a textured paint.

NORA: So you just roll it on like paint and it …?

TOM: That’s right. It has less coverage. So while regular paint covers about 400 square feet per gallon, textured paint will cover between 150 and 200 square feet per gallon.

LESLIE: And it also depends – the application depends on the type of texture that you choose. Some of them have certain rollers that are required – certain applicators, I should say – that will achieve that look for you.

NORA: OK. Well, thank you very much.

LESLIE: Well, as winter temps drop, it’s the right time to get ready for snow. And according to the Farmers’ Almanac, we can expect a lot of it.

Now, they’ve been predicting weather with an 80-percent accuracy for 200 years. Geez, that’s pretty good. And they say we should expect seven major storms this winter season. Blah. That’s a lot.

Well, we want to help make sure you’re ready for anything that Mother Nature can throw at us. So we’ve got your winter-ready checklist in today’s Better Get a Truck Tip presented by Hertz.

TOM: Alright. First, let’s talk tools. Now, a good snow shovel is priceless when the white stuff starts to land. And today, there are a lot of choices in shovels and some not nearly as good as others. You want to look for a shovel with a bent handle. That makes lifting heavy snow a lot less stressful on your back. Also, take a look at the edge of the shovel. It needs to be reinforced so that scraping ice stuck to the sidewalks or some tough, frozen snow doesn’t bend or break that front edge.

And speaking of scraping ice, don’t forget to pick up a couple of ice scrapers for your car windows.

Next, now, if there’s ever been a time to think about buying a snow blower, it’s now. I bought one years ago, when my kids seemed to get too busy to help out old Dad with the shoveling, and I’ve never been happier. They are available in single- or two-stage models for those bigger driveways. Or for really small areas, you can pick up a snow thrower, which is perfect if you’re only moving a couple of inches of snow at a time.

LESLIE: Next, it’s time to get that salt and sand ready for all those icy driveways and sidewalks. Now, seasoning slippery sidewalks with sidewalk salt is going to cause ice to melt. But the wrong kind of salt can also cause sidewalk surfaces to disintegrate.

Now, the best sidewalk salt is made from potassium chloride or calcium chloride. This type of sidewalk salt will melt ice without damaging the concrete surfaces the way that so-called rock salt does. And rock salt is sodium chloride.

Now, between the heavy bags of salt, shovels, snow blowers, you might find yourself in need of vehicles that can handle more than your passenger car. And for those times, remember that Hertz rents trucks and vans that can do the job.

TOM: Now, for best results, you want to buy the potassium chloride well in advance of the winter storms and mix it with playground sand. And then keep a supply stored near each entrance to your home. The sand is going to provide immediate traction for icy surfaces and the potassium chloride is going to start to melt the ice immediately thereafter.

And that’s today’s Better Get a Truck Tip presented by Hertz. For any home project, store pickup or a move that needs more than your car can handle, remember HDTV: Hertz Does Trucks and Vans. Book now at Hertz.com.

LESLIE: Dot in Wisconsin needs some help with odor removal from a home. Tell us what’s going on.

DOT: I’d like to know how to get rid of cigarette- and cigar-smoke odor?

TOM: Well, it really depends on some of the other materials in the house. So, for example, if you’ve got carpets, it’s very hard to get the odor out because, Dot, you could do a great job cleaning every other square foot of that house but the odor will stay in the carpets.

Generally, if we have a situation where, perhaps, you had a smoker in the house and there was a move-out situation, we tell people to, first off, get rid of the carpets, get rid of the padding, then clean everything very thoroughly using TSP – trisodium phosphate. So this is walls and floors. And then prime everything using a good-quality, oil-based primer like KILZ. Because the primer will seal in any odors that still remain in the building materials: for example, inside of a, say, a plywood subfloor. Once you do all that, then you can essentially redecorate – repaint, new flooring and so on – and you shouldn’t have a problem with the odor.

DOT: Thank you. By chance, would you know if farm and feed stores would carry that?

TOM: Yep, I think so. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Remember, you can reach us with your home repair or your home improvement question 24 hours a day, 7 days a week right here at 888-MONEY-PIT.

Just ahead, have you ever had to fix a roof leak only to find that the damage went farther than you imagined? We’re going to share a story about that, next.

TOM: Making good homes better, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Call us now with your home improvement question at 1-888-MONEY-PIT or post your question to The Money Pit’s website or our Facebook page at Facebook.com/TheMoneyPit, which is what David from North Carolina did. And he is dealing with a leak.

LESLIE: Yeah. David writes: “I had a leak in my kitchen skylight that’s since been fixed. However, the track lighting under the skylight stopped working a few days after the leak. There are two tracks on each side of the sink and only the one directly under the skylight went out. I bought a new power-source supply and installed it thinking this would do the trick but the light still isn’t working. What do I do and can I do it myself with basic DIY skills?”

TOM: First of all, David, electricity and water obviously don’t mix. And since you had a leak, you don’t know what contaminants would have been in that water. And that could adversely affect the electrical circuit, too. So my recommendation would be to not repair this but to replace it. The cost of track lighting is not that expensive. And you may actually be able to still use the lights but just replace the tracks themselves and then, of course, the wiring to it. And I think that’s the safest way to get this fixed.

Too many times folks will just try to repair something like that. But when it comes to electrical fixtures, we really want to make sure they’re totally safe. So I would go ahead and replace the tracks, see if the lights will still work. And if not, replace those, too. Because honestly, they’re just not that expensive and it’s just not worth the chance.

LESLIE: Alright. Next up, we’ve got a post here from Bill who writes: “We’re looking to purchase a home built in the mid-1980s. What are the biggest changes in construction and building codes from the 1980s to today? And are there any drawbacks to houses built around this time?”

TOM: Hmm. That’s a really interesting question, Bill.

I tell you, what I remember about homes built in the 80s is that they were not built well. They were built fast. And they were kind of fast and dirty, you know? The standard of quality was just enough to get through the closing and not get callbacks from the contractors. So we saw an awful lot of workmanship issues. They also didn’t make the best material choices.

But I mean the good news is I don’t think there were any core structural problems associated with those homes. And now, almost 40 years later, if there were structural problems, they would have evidenced themselves.

The other good news about buying a house of that era is you’re probably well into the sort of the second life on a lot of major components: second or third water heater, second or third furnace, second or third roof. If you think about the lifespan of these things, you may even have a new kitchen by now. With a house that’s 40 years old, a lot of that stuff has already been done.

The best advice I can give you is to make sure you get a professional home inspection before you commit to the purchase. You’ll find a good inspector if you go to the website for the American Society of Home Inspectors. They have a directory there where you can look for inspectors that could help you in your local area. I would interview those that are certified members of ASHI – that’s the acronym for the American Society of Home Inspectors – and talk with them about the area you’re buying the house in, whether they’ve been working in that area.

And here’s an interesting question to ask. If they couldn’t do it, which other home inspector in the area would they recommend? And I think you’re going to find that if you ask that to enough people, the cream is going to float to the top. You’ll know who the go-to people are and they’ll be able to do a good, thorough inspection. And you’ll be able to figure out what you’re walking into.

Inspectors have this sort of ability to tell the future by what they see in front of their eyes. And they’ll be able to protect you from some of the common causes of issues that are associated with those 35- to 40-year-old houses.

LESLIE: And Bill, the 80s came with a lot of interesting decorating choices. So, in addition to making sure that the house is built soundly, you’re going to have some fun redecorating for yourself. Either way, happy home shopping and good luck with it.

TOM: You are listening to The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Hey, thank you so much for spending this part of your holiday weekend with us. If you’ve got questions that perhaps you think about as you’re going about all of your holiday duties, remember, you can pick up the phone anytime and reach our call center at 888-MONEY-PIT. If we are not in the studio, we will call you back the next time we are.

Until then, I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself …

LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone.

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(Copyright 2019 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.)