Hosts: Tom Kraeutler & Leslie Segrete
(Note: The timestamps below correspond to the running time of the downloadable audio file of this show.)
BEGIN HOUR 1 TEXT:
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TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles. This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. Call us with your home improvement question; with your do-it-yourself dilemma. Hey, do you think new homes are costly? Well, besides the cost of the land – did you read about this, Leslie? – there might be another reason. USA Today is reporting huge increases in the theft of construction materials.
LESLIE: (overlapping) I did see this article. I think this is amazing; that people are hopping fences and walking away with wire and beams and construction materials. I mean things you can’t just walk down the street with.
TOM: These guys are even stealing backhoes. (laughing) So, if you’re planning a major remodel, one of the tips we could start off the show with is to tell you to secure your materials. Because even though you have like an enormously heavy pallet of plywood out in your front yard, apparently there’s a market for that.
LESLIE: (laughing) Well, it’s free.
TOM: Exactly. Also coming up this hour – does this sound like your garage: a mine field of vicariously stacked boxes, a bunch of may-come-in-handy-someday junk and no car in sight?
LESLIE: Are you spying on me, Tom? (laughing) Well, unfortunately, many garages fit that description; including mine. But they don’t have to. Coming up a little later on the show, we’ll hear from Fine Homebuilding magazine’s editor, Kevin Ireton, about tricked-out garages which are pretty cool. They’re luxurious spaces where not only is there no junk insight but they include all kinds of extras like hydraulic lifts that allow you to park your cars, virtually, one on top of another.
TOM: Or you could lift your junk and have it two layers deep.
LESLIE: (laughing) I’ve lifted all of the garbage above the car. It’s excellent.
TOM: Well, with a garage like that you’ll have plenty of room for a tricked-out toolbox, as well, including the great prize package we’re giving away this hour. It’s a tool kit from IRWIN with all kinds of goodies including a saw, level, laser guide and pliers worth 250 bucks. It’s going to go to one of the lucky folks who gets on the air with us. So let’s go to our first caller. Leslie, who’s on the line?
LESLIE: Alright. Well, Rick in Texas listens to The Money Pit on WFNC. And it seems like you’ve got some unwanted visitors in the front yard. Tell us about it.
RICK: Well, I have five dogs, five cats and three horses. (laughing) My own little Noah’s ark going on here.
TOM: (chuckling) Okay.
RICK: The problem I’m having is in our front yard, where the dogs go out are … seem to have a flea infestation. And, of course, they’re bringing them inside the house. And just need to know what I can do to try to control them that won’t really harm the animals or my lawn.
LESLIE: Hmm. So are you looking for an environmentally sound answer or are you looking for something toxic?
RICK: Something that’ll kill the fleas. (chuckling)
TOM: Just make them go away.
RICK: Exactly.
TOM: Yeah, we get less green at that point (laughing), when we’re inconvenienced, you know?
RICK: Well, it is ‘technically’ … it is brown a lot, too.
TOM: (overlapping) (chuckling) Give me some chemicals.
LESLIE: Well, there’s actually … it seems to be that there are large infestations of fleas outside; so much so that a website called pestproducts.com has an outdoor flea kit. And it’s applied through a hose and sprayer and, basically, the kit will cover a thousand square feet of area; and it’s used for, pretty much, heavy infestation. And it combines two chemicals, Permethrin Pro and Nylar; and those are really needed to combat heavy infestation. And the directions are to apply it every 14 days, two or three times; and that should really nip the flea problem in the bud.
TOM: And there’s another natural solution – and they’re actually worms; they’re called nematodes. They’re little microscopic worms that prey on the larvae of the fleas themselves. You can get those at most garden centers. And a small can of those things carries like a hundred million of the worms. And then they could be spread in the yard, maybe after you get it under control with the chemicals. And then on an ongoing basis, hopefully, that will keep the flea population down. And that, in addition to whatever flea treatment your veterinarian recommends for your animals, ought to get this under control and have you scratching a lot less inside the house. (laughing)
RICK: Definitely. We’re controlling it with shampoos and the stuff behind their necks on the (inaudible) …
TOM: Right.
RICK: … but like, say we control them, then a couple of weeks later they’re just back again.
TOM: Yeah. Well, I think a good attack on this yard is going to make a big difference and there’s two ways to approach it. Okay?
RICK: And that was nematodes?
TOM: Nematodes. Yes, they’re little worms; you can get them at garden stores.
RICK: Okay, thank you very much.
LESLIE: Alright. Good luck.
TOM: You’re welcome, Rick. Thanks for checking in from Texas. This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Now, Mike from New Jersey, who listens to The Money Pit on WCTC, is joining us who wants to talk about adding books to a library. Bookshelves; are you a big reader?
MIKE: Everyone in the family is and that’s why we have so many.
LESLIE: Fantastic. So you’ve just run out of space.
MIKE: (chuckling) We have boxes of books that need to get put away. And a lot of them are paperbacks. We have paperbacks sitting on large bookshelves and what I wanted to do is get those off of there and get the rest of the paperbacks unpacked. I’ve got … the fourth wall in the library is a blank wall and that’s because you walk past it. The two doors in the corridor that kind of passes through the library is that wall.
LESLIE: Well, the good thing is that paperbacks generally tend to be much smaller and not as deep. So if you were to build a custom shelving unit over there, you wouldn’t have to stick out as much from the wall to compromise your walk-through.
MIKE: And what I was hoping to do was to actually inset the shelving between the studs. And that’s why I’ve called you.
TOM: That would work, too, because that’s about as much room as you need.
MIKE: Right.
TOM: Now, this particular wall – and here’s the important question, Mike – is it a bearing wall? Do you know?
MIKE: No. No, the house, actually, is custom modular.
LESLIE: Oh, excellent.
TOM: Oh, okay. So only the exterior walls are bearing.
MIKE: Right. Right. Only the exterior walls are; that’s right. So it’s part of the inner ‘box.’
TOM: Okay. So it’s a partition wall. Now, do you want these bookcases to be narrow? Like 16 inches wide, for example? Or do you want it to be wider than that?
MIKE: I’m open to suggestions.
TOM: Well, what I would suggest … I’ll give you my idea and Leslie, you can chime in.
LESLIE: Okay.
TOM: What I would suggest you do is you’re going to want to remove the drywall in the area where you want to build the bookcase. So if you do this very carefully, you can do it without taking the whole wall apart. What you do is … first of all, you draw on the wall the big square area that’s going to become this bookcase. And you … it would be nice if you could go like from stud … inside stud edge to inside stud edge; you know what I mean?
MIKE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: And then you cut the drywall out in that piece.
MIKE: Yep.
TOM: All the way around.
LESLIE: Would you just use a skill saw and go along the edge of the stud?
TOM: No, you can just cut it out with a utility knife.
LESLIE: Okay.
TOM: Now, let’s say you went two bays wide; so you have one stud in the middle.
MIKE: Right.
TOM: Now what you do is you go above the drywall edge by about, say, three quarters of an inch. And you plunge cut, with a reciprocating saw, that 2×4. So, basically, you’re cutting an extra little drywall slit right above it so that … the reason you’re going three quarters up above is that, once you take that stud out, you can put a three quarter inch piece of pine or something in there and that’ll totally frame out the inside of that bay.
LESLIE: So you don’t need to place a header with another 2×4 to sort …
TOM: Not if it’s a non-bearing wall. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If you want, you could do a 2×4 header there, to make it a little stiffer. But we, basically, just want to support that drywall edge. And then, once that’s out, you can basically frame it in with, say, some luan plywood or something like that, trim the outside edge and there’s your bookcase.
MIKE: Okay.
TOM: Now, you could probably extend the shelves a little bit too, Mike, if …because right now you’re dealing with, say, three-and-a-half inches or so. You could probably make your shelves more like five-and-a-half inches as long as they’re supported well and screwed in place. That gives you a little extra support on that for some of the bigger paperbacks.
LESLIE: (overlapping) Well, what you could do is, since you have those studs as your side rails, you could … you could use something short and make like a pinner or like a nailboard, where you would put that along the edge of whatever you’re using to finish against the stud. And then your shelf can just rest right on top of that. As long as your expanse isn’t too wide; then you might need to support the back edge, too. But if you’re staying pretty narrow on the shelves, you can just put two nailers on the side and then put your shelf right on top.
MIKE: Ah, let’s see. The overall length of the wall is about 13 feet and there’s a door that swings against it. So take off three feet, roughly. And then, I’ve got a light switch on the far end that I’m going to still want there. So let’s say I’ve got … well, eight feet or nine feet. It’s going to … that’s six studs. I’ve got about (laughing) … let’s say I’ve got six studs across.
TOM: Alright. Well, I would cut out … I would not cut out six studs. That would be a lot. (laughing)
MIKE: Well, I’d be cutting out five.
TOM: Well, it’s still a lot. I mean one I would go but not … I wouldn’t go five. You know, what you might want to do is just make individual bookcases that fit inside those stud bays and set them in from the outside. All you need to do is cut the drywall out and then slip the box in; you know what I mean? You make the box first then slip the whole thing in so your bookcase would have four sides and a back and some trim. And then slip it right in there and the trim can act like a picture frame; you secure it in place and then you prop your shelves in-between.
MIKE: Ah, great. Thanks a lot; appreciate it.
TOM: Thanks, Mike, for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Alright, Money Pit listeners. If you’re still paying off holiday debt, the last thing you need is a sky-high energy bill on top of all of that. For some easy tips and product ideas that will help save you money, go to newmoneypit.wpengine.com now and click on the Repair and Improve section. There, you’ll find everything we’ve ever written to help you keep your energy bills in check.
TOM: Speaking of tips, do you know that natural stone is a beautiful option for kitchen and bath surfaces? But to make it last a lifetime, you really need to know how to clean it. Find out the right way to clean stone, right after this.
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ANNOUNCER: This portion of The Money Pit is being brought to you by Ryobi, manufacturer of professional feature power tools and accessories with an affordable price for the do-it-yourselfer. Ryobi power tools. Pro features, affordable prices. Available exclusively at The Home Depot. Now, here are Tom and Leslie.
TOM: Welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Well, do you love the look of natural stone countertops but hate the maintenance? You know, using the wrong cleaners won’t only set your stain in deeper; they can actually shorten the life of the top. For the solution, sign up for the free Money Pit e-newsletter, today, at moneypit.com. In next week’s issue, we’re going to feature three quick tips to make taking care of your tops a breeze.
LESLIE: Ah, Tom, that’s terrible; you’re going to make everybody wait. Not even a tease. Not even a little tease. Well, we’ve got …
TOM: Yes, but it’s worth it. It’s very well worth it.
LESLIE: I know but there’s somebody out there, right now, ready to scrub that countertop that’s like, ‘I’ve got to wait.’ Alright, we’ll we’ve got something that you don’t have to wait for. It’s a fantastic prize and we’re going to give it away, this hour, to one person who calls in and gets their call answered on air. And this prize will help you tackle just about any job. It’s from IRWIN and Strait-Line. It’s a whole kit of tools to add to your DIY arsenal. The prize package comes with more than two dozen tools including vise grip groove lock pliers, fast release pliers, a MARATHON carpenter saw, a Pro Touch utility knife with blades, work site gloves, Strait-Line grip light, a torpedo level, an entire set of vise grip pliers and a soft-sided bag to keep everything in. It’s worth 250 bucks. So call in now, get your call answered on air and it could be yours.
TOM: 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. Who’s next?
LESLIE: Next up is Phyllis, in Tennessee, who’s looking to save some energy dollars. How can we help?
PHYLLIS: Well hi, how are you?
TOM: We’re great.
LESLIE: Great, how about yourself, bubbly?
PHYLLIS: Cold.
LESLIE: (chuckling) You’re cold.
PHYLLIS: It’s cold out. You know, it’s getting cold out and I wondered what else can we do, besides space heaters, to keep our homes warm. Do you suggest, maybe, draperies; heavy draperies to cover windows?
TOM: Well, describe your house to us, Phyllis. How old is your house?
PHYLLIS: Oh, the house is behind Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee.
TOM: Okay. (chuckling)
PHYLLIS: And it was built in 1953.
TOM: Okay.
PHYLLIS: And it’s a brick ranch but the windows are old. I think they’re the original windows. And I seem to have a lot of cold coming in through the windows and then the doors.
TOM: Are replacement windows an option for you?
PHYLLIS: No, not at this time.
TOM: Okay. Well, a couple of things you can do. First of all, let’s start with all of the basics. It sounds to me like you’re talking about more drafts than an insulation question. But with a 1953 house, you really want to check that attic. Insulation is inexpensive and you really want to have a good eight to ten inches of insulation up there. As far as the windows, there are a number of things that you can do, one of which is called temporary caulk.
LESLIE: Yeah, this is great. It’s from DAP and it’s called Seal n’ Peel Caulk; and you can use that to actually seal your windows shut if you’re finding that you have a draft coming from where the window is in the track. You can use it to go in there; it’ll seal your window shut but it’ll also seal out those drafts. But important, if you’re going to need, maybe, a window in a room as an exit – just in case you have an emergency – make sure you keep one undone. But also check on the outside of the framework of the windows; where the frame meets the wall. Use some caulk to go in there to seal up all of that.
Think about weather stripping on your door so that when you close your front door, you’re getting a nice, tight seal. Look at your electrical outlets that are on exterior walls and put weather stripping behind those cover plates so you stop drafts coming in there. Think about heavy drapes; yeah.
PHYLLIS: Well, this sounds like something that I can do myself, isn’t it?
TOM: Well, it absolutely is. And the cool thing about Seal n’ Peel is that you caulk it in the winter, now, but then you peel it off in the summer …
LESLIE: In the spring time.
TOM: … and it doesn’t damage your windows.
LESLIE: And it’s clear, so you can’t see it when it’s in there. It’s not like someone will notice.
PHYLLIS: Would it be possible to possibly leave it in the summer because of loss of air conditioning?
TOM: Well, it could but, remember, now you’re not going to be able to use your windows? So we’re trying to keep those windows operational in the summer.
PHYLLIS: Okay.
TOM: Alright? But it certainly is an option. And listen …
PHYLLIS: Yeah. It’s very interesting. I could save those winter and summer … if I used that product.
TOM: You could. And listen, Phyllis, if you get … when you can get to it – ready for those replacement windows – remember that you don’t have to do the whole house at once. If you’re concerned about the winter time, you do the north windows first, followed by the east, then the west and the south. If you’re concerned about keeping the sun from getting in and driving up air conditioning costs, then you reverse that; you do the south first then the west, then the east, then the north. But you could do like one side of your house a year; you don’t have to do them all at once. So it … you can manage some of the expenses that way.
PHYLLIS: Yeah, I know. Time is tough. It’s either you’re going to eat or you’re going to keep your house warm.
TOM: I hear you.
LESLIE: Yeah, and that’s a hard decision. But Phyllis, also keep in mind that your utility company that provides your heating source, they will come to your house – you know, they don’t really advertise this – but they’ll come to your house and they’ll check your house for energy efficiency and sort of tell you where your problem areas are. So after you address drafts, they might be able to help you figure out why it is that your house is so chilly.
TOM: Yeah, it’s called an energy audit and many utility companies do them for free.
PHYLLIS: Really?
TOM: Yep. Okay?
PHYLLIS: That’s great … that’s great news.
TOM: Okay, Phyllis. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Now we’re going to talk about a leaky window with Shirley in Nebraska. Shirley, what happened?
SHIRLEY: We have a rental house and it … and there’s water leaking in from … it looks as if it’s leaking in from underneath the bottom trim of the window.
TOM: Okay.
SHIRLEY: And well we thought, well, we’d shut the window real tight and we closed it and it’s still leaking in from under the windows.
TOM: How old are your windows, Shirley? Are they modern or are they old windows?
SHIRLEY: It’s an older home; I’m going to say, probably, built in the 1900’s. It’s just an old home.
TOM: So you have old windows, then.
SHIRLEY: Probably.
TOM: Okay. Are they wood windows?
SHIRLEY: Yes.
TOM: Do you have storm windows on there?
SHIRLEY: Yes.
TOM: Okay. Are the storm windows installed properly? Are they in the right order? Because, sometimes, if you happen to reverse the panes in the storm windows by accident, then they basically act as a trough and let all the water run into your house.
SHIRLEY: I didn’t know that. (laughing) Wrong way of putting those windows in?
TOM: Think about the way the rain’s going to fall …
SHIRLEY: Okay.
TOM: … and make sure it rolls down properly and away. The other thing that you can do is in the storm … in the sill of the window, you need to, typically, drill like quarter-inch size holes through the bottom of the storm window ledge – the little metal storm window ledge – so that if water gets inside that sill, it runs back out again. And a lot of times those weep – those are called weep holes – a lot of times they get clogged. So take a look in those sills and see if there are drain holes in there.
SHIRLEY: I’ll be darned; I didn’t know that.
TOM: Yeah.
SHIRLEY: Well, I sure will.
TOM: Alright, well take care. Take a look at those two things and I think one of those is going to nail this down. Alright, Shirley?
SHIRLEY: Oh, that’s great. Thank you very much.
TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks for calling The Money Pit.
LESLIE: Tom, you are a wealth of knowledge.
TOM: We try. We try. It’s only because I have an old house. (laughing) Learn from my mistakes. (laughing) Do as I say not as I do, right? Okay, Leslie. No matter how well I take care of my garage there’s one word that I would never use to describe it and that would be ‘luxurious.’ But believe …
LESLIE: No, I would choose ‘dank,’ ‘damp,’ ‘cold,’ ‘gray’ (laughing) …
TOM: ‘Unorganized,’ ‘sloppy,’ ‘tripping hazard,’ ‘death trap.’ Would that work?
LESLIE: (laughing) Definitely.
TOM: Well, coming up, the latest in tricked-out garages including everything from hydraulic lifts for your cars to diamond-studded refrigerators. Sounds like …
LESLIE: Like diamonds like in my rings?
TOM: If I say a diamond-studded refrigerator is a girl’s best friend, will you slap me?
LESLIE: No, I would want to like hang it off my neck.
TOM: Okay. I thought that might be kind of like buying your wife like a vacuum cleaner for Mother’s Day.
LESLIE: No, that’s so very 50s but also kind of cool.
TOM: Alright. Well, we’re going to learn about that from Fine Homebuilding’s editor, Kevin Ireton, next.
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ANNOUNCER: This portion of The Money Pit is being brought to you by Aprilaire, makers of professionally-installed smart humidifiers. Aprilaire’s computer-equipped, completely automated, no-touch humidifiers never need manual adjustments. Advanced computer technology measures the outdoor temperature and indoor humidity over 86,000 times a day and continually adjusts your home’s indoor humidity for maximum comfort. For more information, go to Aprilaire.com.
TOM: Welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. Going to talk a little bit, now, about garages and, most importantly, how to trick yours out so it’s just the coolest, most organized place in the world. With us to do that … with us to do just that is Kevin Ireton; he is the editor of Fine Homebuilding magazine, on newsstands now. The latest issue has got a cool article called ‘Tricking Out the Garage.’ Hey, Kevin, welcome to the program.
KEVIN: Hi, Tom. Hi, Leslie.
LESLIE: Kevin, if you ever need a garage to come in and set it up and take some photos, you are more than welcome, anytime.
KEVIN: You know, the first thing I was going to ask was do you … do you two have garages? (laughing) Because I don’t even own a garage.
LESLIE: Really?
TOM: Really? Where do you put all your tools? (laughing)
KEVIN: Oh, my tools are in my basement; my cars sit outside. I have to admit, though, if I had a garage, it would be full of tools and would never see a car.
TOM: Well, garage makeovers have really come a long way. There’s a lot of products that are available, now, to really make the whole garage space as important as decorating another room in the house. I mean you’ve got cabinets; you have wallboard; you have different flooring surfaces. You guys looked into this. Where are we with options, today? Where does somebody start? What are some of the things that they have to think about if they just want to improve their garage space?
KEVIN: There’s no question that the main goal is organizing all the stuff that you store out there.
LESLIE: You mean you don’t just shove things out there to get it out of sight?
KEVIN: Well, that’s what most of us do but I think that as people are spending more and more money to remake their houses – make their houses even better – suddenly, they’re focusing on the garage. As you know, a lot of people enter the house through the garage and they’re walking past all that junk and they’re wanting to make it less unsightly; they’re wanting to make it more usable, easier to find stuff. The two main things to focus on, there, are going to be cabinets and wall storage systems.
TOM: Alright. Let’s start with talking about the wall storage systems. Now, I just did, actually, do a makeover in my garage; and I looked at the wall storage systems – some of the proprietary systems. I decided to go back to basic slat wall – the same product that’s used in many retail stores – because it has horizontal slots in it that you can stick brackets in and get stuff up off the floor. It was inexpensive; about $35 a sheet. I had a little trouble finding somebody that had it in stock; ended up ordering it – special ordering it – from my local Home Depot. But it looks really cool now.
KEVIN: Tom, did you install it floor to ceiling or did you just put it along the center of the wall?
TOM: No, I put it floor to ceiling so it looks like paneling. Even though I wasn’t going to use the bottom of it, you know, the aesthetics count. (chuckling) So I wanted the whole thing done.
KEVIN: Well, there’s two basic systems. The other system is a kind of wire mesh grid system.
TOM: We’re talking to Kevin Ireton; he is the editor of Fine Homebuilding magazine, on newsstands now, including a great article called ‘Tricking Out the Garage.’ So Kevin, before we let you go, I want to talk a little bit about floors because, eventually, things do end up on the floors and the floor is the place where the sawdust falls and the snow melts off the car. And it really takes a beating. I know there are some improvements in floor coating systems, now, and even modular floors. What have you guys discovered are the best floor options for garages, today?
KEVIN: The coolest thing, in my opinion, are interlocking tiles made of polypropylene or PVC. They’re usually 12 inches square; they interlock; they come in a variety of colors. And they’re comfortable to walk on but you can park on them, you can clean them. So it can make a dramatic change. And there’s not really … they’re easy to install. The high-end garages – you know, the true car aficionados; what they want is actually an epoxy coating on their …
TOM: Right.
KEVIN: … on the cement floor. And those systems can be very expensive to install but, admittedly, can be very beautiful. They almost look like …
LESLIE: And durable.
KEVIN: … countertops.
TOM: Yeah, you know we put an epoxy floor coating in the local boy scout house. And we used Epoxy Shield, the Rust-oleum product. And it was pretty easy to do, I’ve got to say. The can comes short filled, so you have to mix the curing agent with the epoxy. But it went down, you know, just like paint. And then there was like a speckle finish that you put on the top of it and it really did look good. And it was really tough and we were confident that those boy scouts weren’t going to be able to hurt it.
KEVIN: Does it seem to be holding up?
TOM: It absolutely seems to be holding up. And I’ll tell you, I’ve used some other garage floor paints in the past and have not been that happy with them. But I really liked this epoxy product.
KEVIN: Well, that’s great to hear.
LESLIE: Hey, Kevin, before we let you go I want to hear about this hydraulic car lift for the garage and dream.
KEVIN: Yeah, on the high end we saw some amazing things and one of the most amazing was from a company called Revolution Lifts which, basically, allows you to drive your car into the garage, you push a button, and then it … the car is lifted on hydraulic lifts six or seven feet off the ground so that you can then park another car under it. Pretty high-tech.
TOM: Hey, you know if you put that in for 2,500 bucks you can convert your one-car garage to a two-car garage and raise your real estate value. (laughing)
KEVIN: Make sure you’ve got the head room, though, before you push the button. (laughing)
TOM: Kevin Ireton, the editor of Fine Homebuilding magazine. Thanks again for stopping by The Money Pit.
LESLIE: Thanks, Kevin.
KEVIN: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.
LESLIE: Well, if we’ve inspired you to clean up your garage, cleaning and polishing the inside of your home may be next. Coming up, a natural recipe for furniture polish that can double as a salad dressing? Hmm.
TOM: In case you get hungry while you’re doing all that work. (laughing) Sprinkle it on and keep moving.
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ANNOUNCER: This portion of The Money Pit is being brought to you by the amazing Telesteps Telescoping Ladder which extends from 30 inches to 12-and-a-half feet in a matter of seconds. Available online at rewci.com or by calling, toll-free, 888-845-6597. Take advantage of free shipping now. And don’t forget to mention coupon code ‘Money Pit’ and receive five percent off your purchase today.
TOM: Welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. So, Leslie, in the break I was polishing the broadcast table …
LESLIE: (chuckling) Okay.
TOM: … but I wasn’t going to spray the furniture polish on the salad. You tell me that I can.
LESLIE: If you make this one, you can use it also as a salad dressing; not the one in the can under the sink, okay?
TOM: Okay.
LESLIE: Let’s just clear that up.
TOM: Alright, go.
LESLIE: Alright. Well, take this scenario. Company’s on the way, you’re short on furniture polish and you need to spruce things up. Well, here is a quick recipe for a natural alternative to commercial polishes. Simply mix three parts olive oil to one part white vinegar. The result is a recipe for rich-looking furniture with an inexpensive price tag. And when you’re done, add some salt and pepper and put it on that appetizer and you’re good to go.
TOM: Sounds good. 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. Now, if you call that number right now, there’s an inexpensive price tag of tools we’re going to give away; how about free? We’re going to give away an entire tool kit that can be added to your DIY arsenal, from IRWIN and Strait-Line. The prize package comes with more than two dozen tools including vise grip groove lock pliers, fast release pliers, a MARATHON carpenter saw, a Pro Touch utility knife with blades, worksite gloves, a grip light, a torpedo level, an entire set of vise grip pliers and a big old, soft-sided bag to keep everything in. Now it’s worth 250 bucks if you had to buy it. But if you call, right now, at 1-888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974, your name will be tossed in the Money Pit hardhat for this week’s prize.
LESLIE: Jill in Virginia listens to The Money Pit on WSVA and you’ve got a question about flooring. How can we help?
JILL: Yes, there was a leak in my bathroom and I pulled up the old linoleum. And, in doing so, I found that part of the floor was hardwood, part of it was particle board. Now there’s a place where the particle board has just kind of chipped apart and some of the old tile adhesive is still on the floor. I need to know how do I get rid of the old tile adhesive and what’s best to patch that area of particle board that’s all flaked away.
LESLIE: What are you looking to put on top of this?
JILL: Probably the peel and stick tiles, like you get at the … Lowe’s, Home Depot, that type of place.
TOM: Oh, the peel and stick?
JILL: Yeah.
TOM: This is for a … this is for a bathroom?
JILL: Yes.
TOM: You know, a peel and stick tile is probably not the best solution for this. It’s not going to stay.
JILL: Okay.
TOM: Yeah, I would recommend you think about either using sheet vinyl or laminate floor.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: And if you use laminate floor, you can basically … you’re going to need to scrape out as much of that …
LESLIE: Adhesive.
TOM: … glue as you can. But you don’t have to be pretty about it. I mean as long as the floor is somewhat flat. And in terms of the area that’s deteriorated, you can fill that with a floor patch compound just to get it relatively flat. But the laminate floor, when it locks together, is pretty thick and pretty sturdy. So it can actually go over a slightly uneven area. And there’s even an underlayment that you can put under that laminate floor that will take some of the deflection. And that will give you a really good looking floor and a really strong floor.
LESLIE: Well, another option, also, is – new from Armstrong – is their luxury resilient vinyl flooring. And it comes in like a slate; it comes in a mini-tile; it comes in a – looks like wood. And it’s really inexpensive; it’s like $2.50 per square foot. That’s uninstalled but you can get something that looks really fantastic, is super inexpensive and would be great for a bathroom. And that already has an underlayment on the backside so you don’t really have to worry about that either.
TOM: Is that put together … is that put down with a mastic, Leslie?
LESLIE: Mm-hmm, it is. It’s put down with a mastic. It has to be done by a professional just because it’s a sheet product and it can be unwieldy. But it really is a great looking product.
TOM: So there’s a couple of options for you there, okay, Jill?
JILL: Alright. Thank you.
TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at The Money Pit.
LESLIE: Marlene in Michigan listens to The Money Pit on WDUZ and you’ve got a ceiling question. What can we do for you?
MARLENE: Well, in my kitchen, my ceiling is sprayed on. We had a ‘ring’ in a snowstorm and my husband thinks probably it’s above … on the roof where the antenna for the TV sits. And it has leaked in there and it’s probably, oh, 20 to 24 inches long and probably six inches wide.
TOM: Okay.
MARLENE: And it looks rusty.
LESLIE: Have you fixed the leak?
MARLENE: Yes.
TOM: Okay, and is the ceiling … is the ceiling simply stained, Marlene? Or is it deformed in any way?
MARLENE: It’s kind of, oh, pinkish-red. No, it definitely is a leak in the roof. We need to go up and check to see where it’s leaking.
TOM: Alright, well here’s what you need to do. First of all, you do need, obviously, to check where it’s leaking and to repair that leak. Having done that, you’re left with this nasty looking stain; that’s the easy part. To fix that, what you want to do is prime that area. Now, because it’s a textured ceiling, it’s difficult to brush prime it. But you can buy a spray primer.
LESLIE: Well, you can also buy – if you want to roll on the paint – you can buy a foam roller cover which is a yellow foam and it has slices in it, like you would a spiral ham on Thanksgiving. And what happens is as you’re using this roller, all of the spiral slices will open up to accommodate that texture. So you don’t have to … if you can’t get the spray, you can always go with this.
MARLENE: Oh. Because I did try just a wet cloth to try and dab it, see? But it seems that …
LESLIE: The texture came right off.
MARLENE: … the texture …
TOM: Yeah, that’s not going to work. When you have a stain like that, you have to seal it in with a primer and then you paint it on top of that. It’s not something that you can wipe off. So you can either use the roller or you can use a spray primer. There’s a product out called Upshot, with the spray in the top of the can. It shoots out vertically. And, either way, you’ve got to prime that spot and then you can paint it again.
Now you may have to paint the entire ceiling because if you just touch up that one area, you may come up with an area that’s brighter than the rest. But either way, it’s going to make your ceiling look a whole heck of a lot better. Okay?
MARLENE: Thank you very much.
TOM: You’re welcome, Marlene. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well, if you’ve ever tried to seal the floor of a basement or a garage unsuccessfully, you know how frustrating it is to have a crackling and crumbling feeling underfoot. Well, coming up, we’ll answer an email question about how to avoid this very problem.
(theme song)
ANNOUNCER: This portion of The Money Pit is being brought to you by Ryobi, manufacturer of professional feature power tools and accessories with an affordable price for the do-it-yourselfer. Ryobi power tools. Pro features, affordable prices. Available exclusively at The Home Depot. Now, here are Tom and Leslie.
TOM: Welcome back to this hour of The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. Now the website is moneypit.com. On our website, you will find just about every single home improvement article we have ever written. Articles that Leslie’s written; articles that I have written; articles that we have written together. All for one purpose and that is to make your home improvement projects easier, simple and faster than ever before.
And, while you’re on that site, you can also email us to [email protected]. Let’s take a moment to jump into the Money Pit email bag.
LESLIE: Okay, well here’s one from Meryl in Kansas who writes: ‘I have a home that was built over the basement of the previous home that had burned. The basement floor has been over coated twice in several places with some kind of sealer; but the sealer is separating from the floor, again, and crumbling. Do you have any suggestions for what I could use to seal and level this floor so it doesn’t crumble under foot again? I’ve heard of a product called DuraCoat that sounds like it might be a solution. Are you familiar with it?
TOM: Hmm. That’s not familiar to me. Is it familiar to you?
LESLIE: No, no. But the Epoxy Shield is something that sounds very similar.
TOM: Yeah, except that what I would be concerned about is because the original finish, Meryl, on your floor is deteriorating. No matter what you put on top of that, you’re going to get the same situation. So when you have a bad finish – and it doesn’t matter, folks, if it’s a bad finish on the wall or the ceiling or the molding or the floor; a bad finish is a bad finish is a bad finish.
LESLIE: You can’t put good over bad.
TOM: You can’t put good over bad. That’s right. If it’s not adhering to the original surface, then it doesn’t matter how good that next top coat is going to be. So what you really need to do here, Meryl, is you need to strip off that old floor. Now, because it’s a basement, it occurs to me – and this is going to depend on whether or not you’ve got a way of getting rid of this water – but I’m thinking that you could pressure wash, probably, a lot of that loose painting – paint – out of there. I’m assuming it’s an unfinished basement. And you could blast away a lot of that paint and, perhaps, avoid having to use a chemical stripper in an enclosed space like that.
LESLIE: How could you even begin to pump that water out of that basement if it’s …
TOM: Well, what if you had a sump pump?
LESLIE: That sounds pretty fun.
TOM: Yeah, you know. Good. Would be a good reason to have a flooded basement.
LESLIE: Yeah, that sounds like a fun time.
TOM: You know, it’s amazing; you don’t really need a lot of water either; you know, when you’re doing that kind of a job. Because it comes off pretty readily.
LESLIE: No. Yeah, because it’s so … it’s so forceful that it’s really doing the job that a large amount of water would do.
TOM: I’ve stripped … I’ve stripped paint off of cast iron radiators with a pressure washer.
LESLIE: In the house?
TOM: Well, yeah. No. (laughing) No, not in the house. Well, I took it out. (laughing)
LESLIE: (overall) This is like the epitome of the indoor water fight that we were never allowed to have …
TOM: (laughing) Exactly.
LESLIE: … and it sounds very appealing.
TOM: Well, whether you use a pressure washer or use a chemical stripper, get that old paint off, then let it dry thoroughly; put a dehumidifier down there. And then, prime the entire surface; use a really good quality primer. And once you’re done with all those steps, then tackle it with an epoxy paint like the one that you were suggesting, Leslie – Epoxy Shield.
LESLIE: Yeah, the Epoxy Shield is really great. It goes on in a couple of parts, it mixes together quite easily, it self-levels, it’s gorgeous and you get to add this fun metallic fleck to it which makes it kind of retro and cool at the same time.
TOM: Well, your mother was right. Planning does make perfect. And that is the topic of today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word.
LESLIE: Well, I don’t know if my mother’ll tell you this but a good architect will provide you with much more than blueprints.
TOM: (laughing) What do you mean? Your mother was married to an architect.
LESLIE: (laughing) Ah, ding, ding, ding. An architect’s rendering for a project is just the beginning of their expertise. They’re also excellent resources for information on building materials, site choices and even construction methods. Your architect is also the legal gateway to your project’s beginning because, in most communities, an architect or engineer must sign off on working drawings, which is very important. And they might know the right people to get those papers in a little bit faster. So go with an architect. I truly recommend it.
TOM: And make us part of your plan for tackling your home improvement projects. 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.
END HOUR 1 TEXT
(Copyright 2006 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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