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:
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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: Call us right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT with your home improvement projects. It’s a great hour; it’s a great idea. We’re here to help you get those jobs done. 888-666-3974.
Coming up on today’s program, green products – they’re no longer a niche market; they’re pretty much mainstream as a lot of companies are working to keep up with consumer demand. Now, you’ve heard us talk about the new WaterSense rating; brand new this year from the folks at the EPA. It’s very similar to the Energy Star rating so, coming up this hour we’ll have details on some of the newest WaterSense products that are out there for your home.
LESLIE: And also ahead, we’ve got a quick, easy and cheap way to freshen the air in your home. No more spraying cans and cans of stuff to mask those odors.
TOM: And you know paint can do a lot for your walls but if you want to really take it to the next level you have to think of ways to bring some more visual interest to them. In just a few minutes we’re going to tell you some tricks of the home improvement trade on how you can really make those walls pop.
LESLIE: And you’ve seen them on TV but now we’re giving them away on the radio. We have got a prize pack of three as-seen-on-TV products including a Go Duster, a Stick Up Bulb and a Closet Doubler. It’s a great package. It’s worth 65 bucks. But you’ve got to be in it to win it so give us a call for your chance to win.
TOM: The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974.
Leslie, who’s first?
LESLIE: Well, our number one question here at The Money Pit is flooring and adding to that number one-ness of the topic, we’ve got Donna in Tennessee. What can we do for you?
DONNA: What I’m interested in, we had a house built and currently I live in a 30-year-old home. And I want to get the most bang for my buck, so I’m wondering whether I should refloor in carpet or laminate; if that would – with the housing slump the way it is, I want to make sure that I’m going to get interested buyers.
LESLIE: And what rooms would this be for? The entire first floor?
DONNA: Yes. I’m a ranch on a basement and the basement is finished and I have new carpet down there and I didn’t know whether I should go with the laminate flooring or recarpet the top floor.
LESLIE: OK, well Tom’s going to yell at you about the carpet in the basement but before he does, I think for the first floor of the home, I don’t know, I feel like carpeting is such a commitment. When you go wall-to-wall carpeting it’s a very stylistic choice – it’s an overwhelming color even if you go in a neutral tone; whereas if you do a laminate, which could be in the similar price range as a wall-to-wall carpeting depending on, you know, the type and the quality that you choose and with laminates it depends on, you know, a variety of things: the brands, the different levels of finishes on it. But a laminate can look like anything and you can really get some that duplicate the natural look of wood so well and that gives the buyer the opportunity to have a truly neutral, easy, cleanable surface that they can jazz up with throw rugs, area rugs and really make it their own.
TOM: And the reason that carpet is not a good idea in the basement is because the basement is so damp, carpet essentially becomes mold food. Not only will you get potential mold that will grow there but it also becomes a place that can harbor all sorts of allergens: dust mites and different types of fungus.
DONNA: Even if it has its own return for the basement area?
TOM: Absolutely. Yep. Carpet is just not a good thing for a basement.
DONNA: OK.
LESLIE: A while ago, when I got my house, my husband and I moved in; there was carpeting in the basement and it was awesome and cozy and I loved it and we did everything to keep it dry and gutters got overwhelmed; downspouts not functioning; bad storm; basement flooded. That carpet was a disaster. And hopefully that never happens to you but it did happen to us and we put in a laminate floor and I love it.
TOM: And also there’s a lot of folks that, you know, have carpet in their basements and then they have kids that are crawling on the carpet and the kids develop respiratory issues. So it’s just not a good idea …
DONNA: OK.
TOM: … for a whole bunch of reasons. Stay with a hard surface flooring.
DONNA: OK. Now, laminate, as far as for basements, if it gets wet – like, for instance, you said yours flooded – that damages the laminate?
LESLIE: Not at all.
TOM: No.
LESLIE: It’s made for a moist environment.
DONNA: OK.
TOM: And it’s easy to clean and it wears like the dickens, too.
DONNA: OK.
LESLIE: You are tuned to the Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Pick up the phone. Give us a call with your home repair or your home improvement question 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Any time you feel like it, we are there for you at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
TOM: 888-666-3974.
Up next, easy ways to add interest to plain, boring walls.
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ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is brought to you by Century 21. Now more than ever, your local Century 21 agent is ready to help you find your path home. Start the journey now by visiting your local Century 21 office or Century21.com. Century 21. The GOLD Standard.
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 to get in on our prize giveaway. One caller we help out on the air today is going to get a chance at our random prize drawing to win three as-seen-on-TV products worth 65 bucks; including a Go Duster, a Stick Up Bulb and a Closet Doubler. But wait, there’s more. The only way to get in is to pick up the phone and call us and ask your home improvement question. There’s always a catch with those as-seen-on-TV prizes, huh?
LESLIE: Yeah, and I wanted you to do a better TV announcer voice. I wanted you to be like, ‘But wait!’
TOM: But wait! There’s more.
LESLIE: Exactly.
TOM: And if you call before midnight tonight, we’ll give you the answer to your home improvement question and a chance at winning a fabulous prize.
LESLIE: Alright, I loved it. (Tom chuckles) Hey, when you guys call in you better give us your best TV announcer voice; otherwise, we’re not going to let you ask your question. No, I’m kidding. You can call us anytime and ask anything you like.
And maybe one of those is a new way to really perk up or dress up or enhance, you know, a room that you’re just getting a little bit tired of at home. And a good way to add visual interest by changing things around in your room is simply adding, you know, some chair rail or crown or base moulding; even wainscoting. You can use all of these beautiful features to create just interesting details within the room. You can use flat moulding or you can take all of these different moulding components and create a frame on the wall. And when I say a frame, you know, you can get those little curved corner pieces of moulding that match the straight runs of moulding and create a beautiful, framed-out piece; maybe a longer square or rectangle and a shorter one below it; however you might see it in an Architectural Digest or a House Beautiful or a Country Home magazine; something that might inspire you there. And then what you can do is paint the area within that new sort of frame of moulding a different color, a complimentary tone or even wallpaper; something that’s just fun and bright and unexpected. And all of this can really jazz up your space and it’s really done on the cheap because you can get good remnants of wall coverings.
There’s a good website called Second Hand Rose and they sell really nice vintage pieces of wallpaper that you can get small pieces or large pieces for a really low price. So be creative and change those rooms around.
TOM: And remember, this type of moulding work doesn’t really take a lot of skill or a lot of fancy tools and if you don’t want to work with wood you can use composites that are basically ready to be painted and all you need to do is cut them, fit them on the wall and you are good to go.
888-666-3974. Let’s get back to the phones.
Leslie, who’s next?
LESLIE: Time for some kitchen counter help with Becky in Minnesota. What’s going on at your money pit?
BECKY: Hi, Tom and Leslie. I have an old kitchen counter. It’s laminate and the pattern on it is a butcher block pattern. And the top, the varnish, is peeling on it and I’m just wondering how we could fix that without replacing the countertops or is there anything I can do to jazz up the countertop? Maybe paint over it or any suggestions you’ve got.
TOM: Well, first of all, laminate countertop does not have a ‘varnish’ on it.
BECKY: OK.
TOM: So if the surface is wearing off then it’s actually the laminate that’s wearing, Becky. So there’s nothing that you can do to restore that. Two ideas come to mind: number one – you can relaminate an existing laminate countertop. You can put another layer of laminate on top of that for probably less than the cost of replacing the entire top. And the second thing that she could do, Leslie, is to tile it.
LESLIE: Yeah, tiling over laminate is extremely easy and it’s a great do-it-yourself project; especially if you go with those smaller inch-square or those
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