Hosts: Tom Kraeutler & Leslie Segrete
(NOTE: Timestamps below correspond to the running time of the downloadable audio file of this show. Text represents a professional transcriptionist’s understanding of what was said. No guarantee of accuracy is expressed or implied. ‘Ph’ in parentheses indicates the phonetic or best guess of the actual spoken word.)
BEGIN HOUR 2 TEXT:
(promo/theme song)
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: Call us now with your home improvement project. Call us now with your do-it-yourself dilemma. We are here to help you get the job done. We won’t pick up the hammer, we won’t pick up the nails but we will pick up the phone and talk to you (Leslie chuckles) and help you; like sort of walking you through those projects. We are sort of your home improvement coach. We know that there are things that you want to get done. It’s going to be a long, cold, dark winter ahead. Why not take this opportunity to brighten up your space, to make it warm, to make it welcoming? You can get a lot done with a can of paint. Just be careful that you don’t knock it down the stairs. I did that once.
LESLIE: (chuckling) Tom’s speaking of experience.
TOM: It was very difficult to clean up. Speaking of decorating, do you love the look of these natural stone countertops? They are very, very popular but – whoo! – they are expensive. Well, there is some good news. It is possible now to get real stone countertops at a bargain price. We’re going to tell you how to do just that in just a bit.
LESLIE: And if you’re doing all the heavy lifting in your kitchen, then you are doing something wrong, my friend. We’re going to tell you what not to do to help save your back.
TOM: And also ahead, speaking of design, you’ve heard us talk about it; universal design is a new kind of renovation that’s rocking the baby-boom generation. But will it add or take away from the value of your home? That is the $64,000-and-up question. And is there a way to get financial assistance to help pay for it? We’re going to get the answers to those questions and much more a little bit later in the program.
LESLIE: And this hour we’re giving away a great prize. We’re giving away a Liquid Nails tool bag filled with great-quality adhesives that are going to come in very handy with all of your do-it-yourself projects.
TOM: It’s worth 50 bucks so call us right now. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. Let’s get right to those phones.
Leslie, who’s first?
LESLIE: Alright, if you’ve got a hot water heater that’s not doing the job for you then you might be like Ron in Illinois. Tell us what’s going on.
RON: I’ve got a hot water heater that’s been in the house since ’99 and oftentimes, intermittently, first thing in the morning it is not fully hot when we turn the water on. We have to have the shower turned fully on to hot. And other times it works fine. And I was wondering if it could be a fill tube that deteriorated or possibly the gas valve.
TOM: Alright, so it is gas?
RON: It is gas. Natural gas.
TOM: Alright. Forty-gallon gas-fired water heater?
RON: That’s correct.
TOM: We’re not talking about the issue of waiting for hot water in the morning like in your bathroom, are we?
RON: No, that’s correct. After the water gets up through the pipes it has to be turned fully on to have the hot water but not always.
TOM: Not always. Hmm. OK. Well, it sounds to me like you have a bad thermostat on the gas valve. Obviously it’s not performing consistently. You know, a gas water heater, Ron, is pretty simple. It doesn’t have a lot of moving parts. And if it’s behaving erratically like that, then most likely the thermostat, which controls when the gas valve comes on and off, is probably bad.
LESLIE: Now the thermostat, Tom, that’s something that’s on the water-heating unit itself?
TOM: It’s actually built into the gas valve.
LESLIE: Now is it something that – I mean he said 1999. So we’re at almost – you know, it’s ten years …
TOM: Yeah.
LESLIE: … and that’s kind of the life span.
TOM: Well, you know, most water heaters are going to have like around a ten-year warranty but generally we’re concerned more about the tank than the valves. But sometimes those valves do go bad and it sounds to me like that’s what’s going on here. Now your options are going to be whether or not you replace the valve or you replace the water heater and, Ron, with the age of this thing, I wouldn’t want to tell you to put too much money into it. So you may be better off just replacing the water heater.
RON: I see. (inaudible at 0:04:17.1)?
TOM: (overlapping voices) Because I mean, what are you going to get out of it? Maybe, if you’re lucky, another five years? I just hate to see you replace that valve and then a year from now the thing leaks again because, frankly, by the time you pay the plumber to come out there and replace the valve it’ll probably cost you another 100, 150 bucks to have him replace the whole water heater.
RON: OK. That’s not what I wanted to hear. (Leslie chuckles)
TOM: I know, I know, I know. It’s like we give you tough love here, Ron. (Tom and Ron chuckle) OK? We do tell you what you need to know. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974.
LESLIE: Betty in Pennsylvania needs some help staying warm this winter. Tell us about the problem.
BETTY: Yes, our cellar is very damp. We spend a small fortune just scrubbing it down and putting things down there. Now our duct tapes are all, of course, on the outside wall and they sweat and some of the insulation has even gotten wet from that.
TOM: OK, you mean your ducts; not your duct tapes.
BETTY: No, our ducts.
TOM: (chuckling) OK.
BETTY: Our ducts. (chuckles)
TOM: You said your duct tapes are on the outside wall and they sweat.
BETTY: Oh, did I? Sorry. (Tom laughs)
TOM: Alright, so your ducts are on the outside wall. They’re sweating, they’re condensing …
BETTY: Yeah.
TOM: … because they’re cold and uninsulated. OK?
BETTY: Yes. Now is there a wrapping or something that you can have put on those?
TOM: Sure. Yeah. There’s an exterior duct insulation that can go around that and that would be an appropriate thing to do. Now is this happening in the summer more than the winter? Because that would be typical.
BETTY: Seems to me it happens most of the time.
TOM: Yeah, I bet you it happens worse in the summer when you have warm, moist air and cold ducts. So I would definitely insulate those ducts.
BETTY: Yeah. Who would do that? My heater man?
TOM: Heating contractor, yeah.
BETTY: OK.
TOM: Yeah, just call your heating contractor up, Betty …
BETTY: Yeah.
TOM: … and tell him you need to get all your ducts in a row. (Leslie chuckles)
BETTY: Yeah, because they – we had an awful lot of mold down there. We’ve had a terrible time with that.
TOM: Alright, Betty. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. She didn’t get that at all, did she?
LESLIE: No. (Tom laughs)
You are tuned to the Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Pick up the phone and give us a call. We’d love to hear what you’re working on and give you a hand to get the job done. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week; that is how dedicated we at Team Money Pit are for you all the darn time. (Tom chuckles) So pick up the phone at 1-888-MONEY-PIT and we’ll give you a hand.
TOM: 888-666-3974.
Now, before you decide to tackle a remodeling project these days, you’ve got to make sure it gives you a great return on investment and certainly things that you do to your kitchen do just that; including installing these beautiful, natural stone countertops. But love to do that; can’t afford the hefty price tag? We’ve got some insider secrets to help you get that look at a bargain price, after this.
(theme song)
ANNOUNCER: This portion of The Money Pit is brought to you by Aprilaire, makers of professionally-installed, high-efficiency air cleaners. For more information go to Aprilaire.com. Now, here are Tom and Leslie.
TOM: Making good homes better, welcome back to the Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: Call us right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT with a question, a problem, a challenge. We’re here to help you get those projects done. Are you stuck in the middle of a home improvement project; don’t know which way to turn? Call us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. Are you trying to get something to stick together? Well, you can call us about that, too, because one caller who gets on the air this hour is going to win a Liquid Nails tool bag with a great assortment of adhesives. I have been using Liquid Nails now for probably two decades and I can’t imagine tackling a home improvement project without having a tube of that stuff around. And now they’ve got a whole line of specially-designed Liquid Nails adhesives for use at home on smaller projects. You’re going to get a bunch of products, including the individual-use super glues; an individual-use two-part epoxy; and, with Liquid Nails, it’s done once, done right. The prize is worth 50 bucks, so pick up the phone right now and give us a call at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Yeah, give us a call; especially if you’re thinking about tackling a project in the kitchen. You know, maybe you’re thinking about updating its design or its look or just the style of the space itself and the countertops play a big part in that. And if you love the look of stone countertops – you know, granite or marble or even the manufactured stone like the Corian – you might be thinking, ‘I love the way they look but they’re super expensive. What can I do that’s more affordable?’
Well, to keep the cost down, you might want to use smaller sections of the stone that you like and sometimes they’re sold as large squares. Now you can take these large squares and you can place them side by side and then you can fill the joints with grout or you can really butt them tightly together where you don’t need the grout at all; totally up to you and the style that you’re looking for.
Now, these smaller stone squares; they’re less expensive, they’re a do-it-yourself project so they’re easy to install and they provide an equally attractive look at a fraction of the price of the solid-stone countertops themselves. Now if you’re thinking, ‘Alright, I like the look of stone but what are my other options?’ you can also find some great new looks in laminates and if you’re thinking, ‘No way. That’s totally the 1960s Brady Bunch kitchen. I don’t want it,’ well, you are way off because laminate has come in really beautifully these days. I remember last year at the builders show I saw some amazing looks from Formica, so I’m really looking forward to what they’re showcasing this year. If you look at a laminate today you can find things that look like butcher block, bamboo, beautiful colors and tones and patterns; I mean from the traditional to the unusual. So rethink laminate. It’s affordable. It can be a do-it-yourself project if you’ve got a steady hand and you know how to place things down before they get stuck forever. But you’re not totally at a loss if you’re looking for a beautiful countertop on a budget. Just think again at granite countertops and think again at laminate.
TOM: 888-666-3974. Call us right now with your home remodeling question.
Leslie, who’s next?
LESLIE: Fred in Ohio needs some help with a heating question. What can we do for you?
FRED: Yes, I recently purchased a LP gas vent-free fireplace.
TOM: OK.
FRED: And it just has an on-and-off remote control switch on it and I was wondering if there’s some way that I could change it out to hook up to a thermostat so I can leave it on and actually benefit from heating my home from this rather than just for an appearance-sake type thing.
TOM: Well, Fred, I’ve got to tell you that we don’t like vent-free fireplaces too much around here because they’re not really vent-free; they’re – you are the vent. It’s basically venting …
LESLIE: Yeah, they’re venting into your house.
TOM: Venting into the house and they’re discharging a lot of moisture into the house and they can be potentially unsafe if they don’t run properly and they start to create carbon monoxide. So I am concerned about the fact that you have a vent-free. You really, with any appliance, can’t modify that appliance – especially the controls on it – without potentially doing something that’s very dangerous. So I wouldn’t recommend that you try to add a thermostat to it or anything like that. I would use it very carefully. I would use it only under supervision and I would make sure that I’ve got a carbon monoxide detector in every level of your home.
FRED: OK. Is there anything else I need to do to make it safe, then, since you really don’t like them?
TOM: Well, I can’t give you something that’ll make it safe besides getting one that’s vented. I mean if you want to have an LP fireplace that’s great but you can easily get one that’s vented through the wall or a direct-vent. I just don’t like fireplaces that are vented into the house.
FRED: OK.
TOM: You know, they actually are outlawed in the entire country of Canada, which is pretty advanced with their environmental rules and regulations. So I mean we’re allowed to build them here but it doesn’t mean we’ve got to like them.
FRED: OK, well thank you very much.
TOM: You’re welcome, Fred. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
He was particularly in a good mood considering I just …
LESLIE: Considering you told him that his fireplace should go in the trash.
TOM: (laughing) Pretty much.
LESLIE: Well, gee, thanks so much.
TOM: Yeah, thanks so much. You’re welcome, Fred. Anytime we can help you out, man, just call right back. (chuckles)
Alright, who’s next?
LESLIE: David in Maine, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you today?
DAVID: Well, I’ve got a problem with some wallboard. A crack in my drywall is pretty much from the top to the bottom; pretty much in a straight line – vertically.
TOM: OK. Is that over a seam, David?
DAVID: That’s what I found out; yes it was over a seam (Leslie chuckles) and it was over a 2×4.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Alright, yes. How about that?
DAVID: And unfortunately, when I took a utility knife and started carving it out to make a V-shaped profile I found out that one side of the – it was over a 2×4 and one of the wallboards, one piece of the wallboard, was basically floating.
TOM: (laughs) OK.
DAVID: But my question is is there some easy or cost-effective way, other than just replacing the whole 4×8 sheet of wallboard, to fix that or to secure it so that it doesn’t float?
TOM: Hmm. Well, here’s the trick. I mean there are ways to repair that but, essentially, you have to cut a hole in the wall to do that.
DAVID: Uh-huh.
TOM: Hmm. I’m wondering if it’s easier to fix one or two. I’m thinking, Leslie, the easiest thing to do here would be for David to essentially go to the stud to the left and to the right of the disconnected drywall; cut out both sides of it so now you’re going to take out a piece – let’s assume that the studs are 16 inches on center. So you take one to the right, so you’re 16 inches to the right; 16 inches to the left and now you’ve pulled out a piece that’s 32 inches wide. Replace that with a new piece of drywall that’s 32 inches wide. You’ll have two seams to tape …
DAVID: Right.
TOM: … instead of one but, frankly, it’s not going to be that much more work. Because that one side of drywall is now floating and moving, even if we tell you how to fix that crack …
LESLIE: It’s always going to show up.
TOM: … it’s going to come back fast.
DAVID: Always going to come back, yeah.
TOM: So if you’re going to cut the wall out, I mean we could tell you how to cut it out right near that and slip in some wood blocking and then attach it but, frankly, by the time you do all that the cleanest way to do this is probably to take that whole piece out by going to the left and the right; sort of surgically excise that one piece of drywall, bang in a new piece, tape it, spackle it, be done. You want to make sure you use perforated drywall tape because it’s a little more forgiving if you don’t quite get the spackling there just right. Two, three coats. Feather it out, prime it, paint it and you’re good to go.
DAVID: That’s the only way?
TOM: That’s the way to do it.
DAVID: (chuckling) OK, good enough. Thanks for your advice.
TOM: You’re welcome, David. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
I think David was looking for the magic potion (Leslie chuckles) that would mysteriously make a stud appear where once there was none.
LESLIE: And I like how he was like doing surgical work on it, too. (chuckling)
TOM: Yep. (chuckles) Exactly. He was digging it out. Well, you know, it was probably stuck together by the piece of tape that was there and once he cut that all of a sudden it became …
LESLIE: Uh-huh, it started moving.
TOM: It became a floater.
LESLIE: Jim in Iowa, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you today?
JIM: I’d like to tell you I’ve got a problem with my chimney. We’re putting up J-channel and the J-channel is kind of like a Coke-bottle shape where the channel has to go in and back out the other way and it’s on both sides. We haven’t been able to start that side yet.
TOM: Because you’re trying to figure out how to curve it?
JIM: Yes.
TOM: OK. So you want to know how to curve the J-channel?
JIM: And it’s about inch-and-a-quarter J-channel for insulated siding.
TOM: OK, very simple. Very simple. What you do is you cut the side of the J-channel that goes against the house; you kind of slot it.
LESLIE: The backside; you want to score it.
TOM: Score it and slot it. Actually cut it and bend it around the space and then – before, of course, you put the siding in there – you take some building paper like Tyvek or whatever type of house wrap you’re using and make sure you cover the cut edge of the J-channel.
JIM: Oh, I see.
TOM: That’s what gives you your …
JIM: Should we have an overlap like …?
TOM: Correct. Overlap it.
JIM: Oh, like around some kind of – well, like around a chimney, where you put the flashing.
TOM: Yeah, that’s right. So you overlap it with the building paper or the Tyvek and that’s what makes it waterproof. It’s as easy as that.
JIM: Sounds good.
LESLIE: Thanks so much for joining us at The Money Pit.
Up next, aging in place. This is a new buzz term among the baby-boom generation. We’re going to tell you how to make your home work for you so you can stay in it as long as you care to.
(theme song)
ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is brought to you by Therma-Tru, the nation’s leading manufacturer of fiberglass entry and patio door systems. Choose the brand more building professionals prefer and add up to $24,000 to the perceived value of your home. For more information visit ThermaTru.com.
TOM: Making good homes better, welcome back to the Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete and as all of our boomers in the United States of America are reaching their retirement age, we want to talk a little bit about the trends in retirement and, in fact a recent study from our friends over at the AARP shows that Americans are no longer relocating to warmer climates to retire. They want to stay put in the house that they love, that they’ve worked hard on and everything that they’ve done to make it their dream home. So they’re staying where they love to be.
TOM: And if you do want to stay in your home for the rest of your life or as long as you’re able, there are some things you can do and some places to turn for help. Here to tell us more is our friend Adriane Berg. She’s the author of How to Not Go Broke at 102.
Hi, Adriane.
ADRIANE: Hi, how are you?
TOM: So that’s what we should be shooting for, huh? First to make it to 102 and have some cash left over? (Leslie chuckles)
ADRIANE: You’re not kidding; 102 plus. (Tom chuckles) But you know, in order to do that you do want to stay as independent all your life as you possibly can and that always comes down to the home.
TOM: Yeah, now you actually were telling me earlier that you are in the midst of a universal design renovation project that is, in part, something that you’ve covered in your book. So talk to us a little bit about universal design and how you’re actually sort of trying it out in your own space.
ADRIANE: Well, you know, 10,000 people a day turn 60 and on September 15th I was one of them.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Congratulations.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Happy birthday.
ADRIANE: Yeah, I love the house in which I live and one of the things that I have created is a forever bathroom. And what I’ve done is I’ve done my own research, of course, as you say. It’s all in my book How Not to Go Broke at 102. And what I discovered was it’s pretty easy. If you understand construction or you have somebody who can work with you, there are a lot of people who are universal designers and they know that you need to have your doors about 36 inches wide. You do need to have certain heights at your toilet. You do need to have reinforced walls for a grab bar and you do need to have really accessible faucets and no thresholds. But beyond that, you could have a beautiful bathroom that nobody even thinks about; sees it in any way as a disability area.
TOM: Now I wanted to ask you about that because now more than ever we’re concerned about our home value. If you make these kinds of changes to your bathroom or other rooms of your house, can it look just as good as, say, a traditional construction?
ADRIANE: Well you know, Tom and Leslie, my real background is financial and my concept here is that it’s going to add to the value of your home because people are going to go in there and see something very beautiful, very relaxing, something that they can stay in all their life and it’s pretty much proven in a lot of studies that people are looking for universal design as long as it doesn’t look like someone’s been ill.
LESLIE: Well now, Adriane, some of these renovations could be kind of pricy and with this economic climate that we’re all facing in the U.S. is there any funding from, say, the government or an insurance company that might assist you if you’re wanting to make these renovations in your home?
ADRIANE: Well, there’s a couple of different things. First of all, if you happen to have a long-term care policy and you make a claim – so in other words, this comes at a time in your life when somebody does have a care need – there’s usually up to about $10,000 in actual cash that most policies will give you to renovate your home so that you can age in place or stay home while you’re getting care.
TOM: Interesting.
ADRIANE: That’s an insurance policy. The government will pay for mobility devices – certain mobility devices – under Medicare and certain renovations of the home under Medicare in the event that you already need care. Where you’re paying out of your own pocket though – and we have to admit it and I’m doing it myself – is when you’re fine and you’re just doing this as part of any beautiful renovation you do for your home. So there you really don’t have a resource; although, some things – like being green, solar energy, if you’re going to make an energy-efficient bathroom – you will get some government assistance on that.
LESLIE: Very true. To combine those trends which are both beneficial for you, your health and your home really does show some incentive and the government is really quick to sort of reimburse you for that as well.
TOM: And also, if we start early enough with using universal design principles when we choose to do any renovation in our house – it doesn’t have to wait until we are …
LESLIE: Until you need it.
TOM: … of the age that we need it. Exactly. Just make that sort of the standard and then you’re not sort of laying out all that cash at the time that you actually have a need for it.
ADRIANE: Well, you’ve got that and you also have the way you think. A lot of this, as you know – when it comes to your home, anything – it’s your attitude and the way you think. So let’s say you’re simply going to look for a home. Maybe you are downsizing. You downsize, then you get a home that’s inconvenient or energy-inefficient or the bathroom is on the second floor and the master bedroom is on the second floor. Think twice about things like that. You’re going to find that you can really stay there for much, much longer. And, interestingly enough, today, reverse mortgages are available to you when you buy a home. So a lot of people don’t realize that. They can, as long as they’re 62 years old or older, they can find a home they love and get a reverse mortgage right away and use the money – and this is sanctioned by HUD – to renovate and make universal design out of a home that doesn’t have it; although they love the location, they don’t want to pass it up.
TOM: And that’s just a small sample of the great information you’ll get from our friend Adriane Berg, author of How Not to Go Broke at 102. If you’d like more information about Adriane’s book as well as info on all of the things that she talked about, you can go to her new website which is simply LongevityClubOnline.com. It’s a portal for lots of fantastic information that will help you as you grow.
LESLIE: Alright, Adriane, thank you so much for joining us at The Money Pit.
When we come back, we’re going to tell you how to save your aching back as you age in place. We’re going to give you tips on how to make your kitchen work for you instead of the other way around.
(theme song)
ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is brought to you by Therma-Tru, the nation’s leading manufacturer of fiberglass entry and patio door systems. Choose the brand more building professionals prefer and add up to $24,000 to the perceived value of your home. For more information visit ThermaTru.com.
TOM: Making good homes better, welcome back to the Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
Give us a call at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. We’d love to hear what you’re working on and help you get the projects done right without spending a ton of money on gasoline back and forth to the home improvement center. And one way we’re going to help you save some dough on travel expenses is that we’re going to give you a prize. We’re giving away, to one caller this hour who gets on the air, a Liquid Nails tool bag. Now Liquid Nails, they are the leader in adhesives and now they’ve come out with a whole line of household-use glues for small projects and repairs all around your house. The kit includes easy-to-use squeeze tubes and single-use glues, which is fantastic because Liquid Nails will adhere pretty much anything to anything (Tom chuckles) and, previously, all you had to do was deal with this giant caulking tube, which, if you were doing small things around the house it really – you know, you didn’t use the whole thing up and then, if you’re like me, it got petrified in the garage before you needed it again. (Tom chuckles) So these are fantastic. We’re giving away a whole tool bag full of them. It’s worth 50 bucks. So give us a call for your answer and your chance to win at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
TOM: 888-666-3974.
Now, if you’re tackling a project around the kitchen and doing all the heavy lifting, you’re probably ready to throw the dish towel, literally. There are several things you can do to avoid such a workout. First of all, if you’re tired of carrying pots full of water from the sink to the stove, have your plumber put in an extra-long spray hose next to the faucet or, better yet, you could install a pot-filler faucet which is actually mounted right near the stove itself.
LESLIE: Yeah, you know you might also want to consider getting a garbage disposer. It’s going to rinse your food waste right down the sink and totally get rid of it magically down the drain pipes itself; thus saving you a ton of waste. And you also might like a trash compactor as well. You know, these are two kitchen helpers that are going to help you cut down on the amount of garbage that you’ve got to haul out to the trash can and to the curb; a lot of extra steps totally removed from your daily chores. You just want to make sure that all of the switches for these items are easy to reach. These few, simple changes could really spruce up your kitchen and keep you safe, too. So think about it if you’re tackling some home improvements in your kitchen area.
TOM: 888-666-3974. Let’s get back to those phones. Who’s next?
LESLIE: Alright, with everybody going green out there we’ve got Kim in Missouri who’s repurposing a gym floor in the home. How can we help?
KIM: We purchased an old gym floor and it’s actually a gym floor that my husband and our children’s grandfather had played on.
TOM: Wow.
LESLIE: How cool.
KIM: And we built – we’re building a new home and we want to put this floor in. I pulled the nails out of probably a 2,300-square-foot …
TOM: (chuckling) Oh, man.
KIM: … and I want to know am I supposed to plane it or install it and sand it. What’s the best way to take care of it?
TOM: Well, are all the floorboards about the same thickness?
KIM: They’re pretty much all the same thickness and they’re …
TOM: OK, so here’s what I would do.
KIM: OK.
TOM: I would put it back together the same way it was taken out of that old gymnasium; board for board nail it back down. And then what you’re going to want to do is – and I would recommend you don’t do this yourself and I’ll tell you why – and that is to hire a floor sander. These guys that work with the floor-sanding equipment every day know exactly how to handle it. Even though you can go out and rent one of these big, 12-inch-wide belt sanders to sand the floor, if you like hiccup while you’re sanding that floor …
LESLIE: You get like a major divot.
TOM: … you will divot that precious gym floor that sounds like you’ve had three generations of your family that it had been a part of their life. So I would recommend you hire somebody to do the sanding and that will even it all out, pull out the old finish, give you a fresh start. And then on top of that you’re going to apply three coats of polyurethane. And the way you apply that polyurethane is not by brush but by something called a lamb’s wool applicator. It’s like a …
LESLIE: It looks like a mop.
TOM: It’s a kind of buffing pad that you use when you’re polishing a car …
KIM: OK.
TOM: … but it attaches to the bottom of what looks like a mop and – like a sponge mop; not like a stringy mop – and you use a regular paint tray and you apply, with this lamb’s wool applicator, three coats. Make sure you leave plenty of dry time in between. Wait for dry days. Don’t do it on humid days. Don’t do it on rainy days. You know, really plan it out. And that’ll do it. And when the floor is all done, for the first couple of weeks, put down some rosin paper or some craft paper to try to sort of take it easy on the traffic on the floor because it really does take a couple of weeks for that stuff to really cure and get hard before it’s really ready to take some punishment. So just be gentle with it. Be careful when you place the furniture back on and that floor will take care of you for another couple of generations.
KIM: Alright, I greatly, greatly appreciate it.
TOM: Alright, Kim. Thanks so much for calling us at …
KIM: Thank you. You guys are awesome.
TOM: Well, thank you. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
Now that is a truly green home improvement. They pulled a gym floor out of an old building that three generations of the family had a chance to experience while they were going through the school and now they’re putting it down in their own house. What a great, great story.
LESLIE: You know, last year when my husband and I went up to the Canadian Arctic, we stayed at this little lodge right in Churchill and they repurposed the bowling alley floor as the floor to the lodge. And so every time when you walked in the hallways and you saw this beautiful, very thin wood flooring, you would see the little arrows and the dots so you would know where to line up to throw the ball down. It was so great and it was just charming and I think Kim’s going to have a really great project.
TOM: Well, that’s because up there in the Arctic they have to bring the lumber in by snow dog. (chuckles)
LESLIE: Yeah, totally. They’re like, ‘It’s all we had so we used it.’ But it looks great. It’s a good idea.
TOM: Well, if you love the heat of a roaring fire but you’re not sure what to do with that firewood, we’re going to have some storage tips that will keep that wood nice and dry and termite-free, when we come back.
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ANNOUNCER: This portion of The Money Pit is 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 price. Available exclusively at The Home Depot. Now, here are Tom and Leslie.
TOM: Making good homes better, welcome back to the Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: Call us now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT or head on over to MoneyPit.com, click on Ask Tom and Leslie and send us an e-mail message just like Jean did in Summerville, South Carolina. Jean’s doing a little heating with a fireplace, it looks like, Leslie.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm and Jean writes: ‘We have a fireplace and would like to put a pass-through, like the old milk ones, for the firewood.’
TOM: OK.
LESLIE: ‘Is there any way we can get one of these or is there a way to make one that’s leak-proof and bug-proof?
TOM: Hmm, a pass-through for your firewood. I guess the door doesn’t work so well. (Leslie chuckles) You know, it’s an awful lot of work, Jean. You’ve basically got to build yourself something about the size of a doggy door maybe for a big dog, but it’s basically – you know, you’re going to have to build something that’s totally weatherproof. I’m not aware that anything is available commercially to do that and it’s a lot of work for not a lot of gain. I would recommend that you create the place for the firewood inside the house but not pierce the exterior wall.
Now, the best thing to do to store that wood is to keep it up off the ground. OK to be somewhat near the house but make sure it’s not in contact with the ground because that’s basically termite bait and then just take it in and store it inside only when you need it. Don’t like the idea of putting a door in just for the firewood because it’s just a real difficult project because it’s got to be totally leak-free and damp-proof and I just don’t think it’s going to be worth the effort.
LESLIE: And you know what, Jean, you can get beautiful baskets and fun canvas bags that you can put right next to the fireplace and stand the firewood in and make it a decorative feature rather than an eyesore.
TOM: Alright, Jim writes, from New York and he says that he has got a 1950s-built ranch with a hip roof. The problem is there is no overhang. ‘How do I ventilate this space?’ Of course we always recommend ridge and soffit vents but if you don’t have soffit vents you can use what’s called a drip edge vent, Jim, which basically extends the roofline by about two inches and essentially creates your missing soffit vent. And that will help you flush that attic with lots of air which will dry out the insulation in the winter and cool it in the summer.
LESLIE: And thus making it more energy-efficient.
TOM: Well, now that the holidays are over, how are you going to get rid of that old tree? Leslie’s got some options on today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word.
LESLIE: That’s right. You know, a traditional part of the post-Christmas cleanup has been leaving your old Christmas tree on your curbside for your local garbage collector to pick up and tote to the landfill. But these days, more and more of these landfills are off limits to the Christmas trees and most other foliage or yard waste. Now if you find that you fit into this area where your local landfill refuses to take your Christmas tree, then you might want to consider calling your nearest arborist to see if they’ve got a Christmas tree recycling service available to you. Because not only do recycling your Christmas trees save on landfill space; it actually also provides much-needed and good-quality mulch for the professional and even the amateur gardener. You know, some towns, they’ll take your trees; they’ll turn them into mulch and then you can head over to your sort of trash area and pick up a whole bunch of mulch for free. So look into what you’ve got and if you find that your town doesn’t do it there’s a great website, the Tree Care Industry Association; they’ll be able to help you locate arborists in your area that can offer this service. Their website is www.NATLARB.com. Now that’s short for the National Arborist Association. So visit their website and do the right thing with your tree. Live trees, they look great and they provide a wonderful service to your garden and your neighbor’s garden.
TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Thank you so much for spending this hour with us.
Coming up next week on the program, the Obamas are about to do it. It can be stressful, it can be expensive and sometimes it’s downright annoying. We’re talking about a big move. (Leslie chuckles) I don’t think they’re annoyed. I think they’re pretty excited about it.
LESLIE: I know, seriously.
TOM: We’ll tell you how to make your next move stress free …
LESLIE: And you know what? I bet they don’t actually have to do a darn thing themselves. (laughs)
TOM: Yeah, probably not.
We’ll tell you how to make your next move stress-free on the next edition of The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show.
I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: Helping you build big dreams.
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END HOUR 2 TEXT
(Copyright 2009 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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