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 1 TEXT:
(promo/theme song)
TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles. You are tuned 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. The website is MoneyPit.com. Welcome to a very special edition of The Money Pit, broadcasting live from the 61st annual National Hardware Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.
LESLIE: Yeah, I’m very excited about our next guest. I have to say it. I’m just giddy. You know how I feel about This Old House.
TOM: Yeah, you’re a big fan. Well, celebrating his …
LESLIE: I’m a big fan forever and ever.
TOM: Celebrating his 20th year during the 2006/2007 season, as a proud member of America’s favorite home improvement team, is general contractor Tom Silva.
LESLIE: Yay!
TOM: Hey, Tom.
TOM SILVA: Good afternoon.
LESLIE: Hi there.
TOM SILVA: It’s nice to be here.
TOM: It’s nice to be at the National Hardware Show. It’s amazing. You know, I think if it’s in the home, it’s in this … it’s at this trade show.
TOM SILVA: Oh. If it isn’t … I mean, if it’s … if you can’t find it here, you can’t find it anywhere.
TOM: Yeah, exactly. So now, you guys are working on a real interesting project right now. You … we talked to Kevin about this a couple of months ago. Tell us how it’s going. You’re working in East Boston …
TOM SILVA: Mm-hmm.
TOM: … on a house. It’s a two-family house, isn’t it?
TOM SILVA: Two-family house right next to the airport.
TOM: Right.
TOM SILVA: (laughing) So we get to see the people. We can actually wave to the people as they leave.
TOM: Yeah.
TOM SILVA: But it’s two women that own this house. It’s been in the family for years and they bought it from all their siblings. It’s an aunt that lives on the second floor …
TOM: Right.
TOM SILVA: … and a niece that lives on the first floor. And we’re going to fix it up. They have no money … left (laughing) and they’re like … but …
TOM: Was that before you started?
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) It’s always the case.
TOM: Or is that now, midway through the job?
TOM SILVA: It’s typical. It’s typical. We have all these homeowners that don’t have much money and …
LESLIE: Big dreams, little budgets.
TOM SILVA: Exactly, exactly. So we’re going to show you, basically, the process of, basically, simply … a simplify, a fix-up. And try to get it done for their budget.
TOM: Well …
LESLIE: How far into it are you already?
TOM SILVA: We are actually into the … we’ve got three shows under belt and we are basically starting demo. We just actually started demo last week and I’ve got some asbestos removal; that’s going to happen next week. So we’ve got to clean the job up for that. And then, we’ll start airing … start filming the fourth show end of next week.
TOM: Now, with all of the work that you guys are doing with these homes, do you spend a lot of time not filming parts of it? Or are we pretty much seeing the entire process from start to finish when we watch an episode of This Old House?
TOM SILVA: Well, there’s a lot of redundancy in construction …
TOM: Right.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM SILVA: … so you’re not going to see. I mean once you see a little wall framed, there’s no sense in seeing the whole house framed.
LESLIE: All the walls framed.
TOM: Yeah, exactly.
TOM SILVA: I mean, you see the basics of a lot of it. But you see the important stuff. I mean, This Old House has taken a lot of pride in teaching people how to do it right. It always … you know, in the long run, it always pays to do it right the first time.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM SILVA: And we, basically, show you the steps or the processes of each part of each job.
TOM: Now, you said you were trying to show this … these particular folks how to kind of do a project on a budget. What do you think are some of the most common mistakes that people make, Tom, when they … when they want to tackle a remodeling project, how do they get themselves into a situation where they run out of budget? Where they’re making planning mistakes? Where do you think that happens along the way?
TOM SILVA: Well, I think reality really kicks in. A lot of people don’t realize what something costs.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: Yeah.
TOM SILVA: They really don’t understand how much a refrigerator costs or a countertop. And … but you know, the big thing about a budget is if you have a … I always tell people, if you have a $100,000 budget or if you have $1,000,000 budget …
TOM: Right.
TOM SILVA: … whatever your budget is, subtract 20 percent off of that budget and then see what you can do for that money.
TOM: Yeah.
TOM SILVA: That gives you a little bit of a cushion to see what you can …
TOM: That’s a great tip.
LESLIE: Plus, you’re always going to end up spending that extra 20 percent.
TOM SILVA: You’re going to spend it. There are four magic words in construction (laughing) that will raise that budget every day and our homeowners use them all the time: ‘While you’re at it.’ (laughing) There goes the budget. It just went up. It never goes down. And …
TOM: How about …
TOM SILVA: … it …
TOM: How about the surprise factor, too, when you open a wall up and you find the termite infestation that you didn’t expect that was there before? There’s lots of ways that that budget can (inaudible) unexpectedly.
TOM SILVA: Absolutely. The budget right here on … already started on this project. We found asbestos in the mastic that held the tile on the wall.
LESLIE: And that removal is not only costly but it has to be done in a safe manner.
TOM SILVA: Exactly. It has to be done by certified abaters that have to come in and they have to, basically, tie everything up with plastic.
TOM: Yeah.
TOM SILVA: You can’t go … they’ve got to take showers when they’re done. I mean, if it wasn’t for the show … because of the show, we get them stuff.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM SILVA: And because of that process, this homeowner’s not going to have to pay for that. But the average homeowner has to pay for that.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Would have to pay for that. And that’s …
LESLIE: Do you keep into account, budget-wise, even the things that you’re getting, you know, for free, what the overall budget would be had you not?
TOM SILVA: You know, we don’t. In this process … in this job, because the homeowner’s have such a limited budget …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM SILVA: I mean, this is a lot of money. I’ll tell you what their budget is. Their budget is $125,000 for each floor.
LESLIE: OK.
TOM: Wow.
TOM SILVA: Alright? Now, that’s not a lot of money …
TOM: Yeah.
TOM SILVA: … when you’re renovating kitchens …
LESLIE: Everything.
TOM SILVA: … and bathrooms, alright? But …
TOM: Right, yeah. Sure, because you could drop 30 grand just on a kitchen.
TOM SILVA: (raspberry sound) You could drop it on a countertop. (laughing) You kidding?
TOM: Maybe on one of your projects. (laughing)
TOM SILVA: Well, I did a project where the homeowner dropped almost 40,000 on a granite countertop.
TOM: Wow.
TOM SILVA: But anyway, you know, for the homeowner, they come in and … this project was the first project that we actually had to take into consideration all of the things that we could get to make it work for their budget. Because we really wanted to do this … I mean, it was two wonderful girls that own this house and we wanted to show somebody – it’s a nice, simple project – how to fix it up.
LESLIE: And Kevin was telling us that their design styles are so different …
TOM SILVA: Ugh.
LESLIE: … that you guys are meeting the challenge of creating two equally separate spaces that work for the house as a whole.
TOM SILVA: Right. One is very contemporary; one is kind of modern. So it’s been great.
TOM: Now have you … do you think you’ll make it into a situation where the downstairs lady is now going upstairs and saying, ‘Hey, why can’t I have that bathroom downstairs?’ (laughing) Because I think people don’t really know what they’re getting into until they actually see it being constructed. It’s very hard for people to visualize.
TOM SILVA: Absolutely. That’s what a designer or an architect is good for. I mean, they come in and give you a drawing or a sketch …
LESLIE: Yeah, but a rendering and plans can only go so far. Some people can’t actually imagine that in their own space.
TOM SILVA: Absolutely.
LESLIE: Even if you give them a picture.
TOM SILVA: Absolutely. What we do on the show – and we’ve done it quite a few times – I’ve actually taken cardboard boxes, doors, hardware, whatever we can find …
TOM: Right.
TOM SILVA: … and mock up a whole lay-up for kitchen.
TOM: Oh, interesting.
TOM SILVA: And it’s … oh, and they go in and say, ‘Oh, you know.’
LESLIE: ‘Now I get it.’
TOM: ‘Now I know.’
TOM SILVA: ‘Now I get it.’ (laughing) We actually – when we did the Manchester project by the sea, which was one of our biggest homes that we’ve ever done.
TOM: Right.
TOM SILVA: It was over a million-and-a-half. And the homeowner wanted an island. And he knew exactly what he wanted for a height, but yet he couldn’t establish the height. So he said he wanted a specific length …
TOM: Right.
TOM SILVA: … of this island. So we did it and said, ‘Geesh, you know, that is too big.’
TOM: Yeah.
TOM SILVA: To him, that was great.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: Right.
TOM SILVA: And it works a lot for homeowners.
TOM: (inaudible)
TOM SILVA: And we do projects all the time where people … we’ll do it and they’ll say, ‘Well, gee, you know, I didn’t think it was going to be like that.’ (chuckling)
TOM: Well, if you don’t recognize his voice, we’re talking to Tom Silva, the general contractor from This Old House, celebrating your 20th year with the program. Did they give you like a gold ring or something?
TOM SILVA: No, they didn’t get me … (laughing) they didn’t give me anything.
TOM: (overlapping voices) For 20 years? Nothing like that? No watch.
LESLIE: A golden tape measure.
TOM: (laughing) That’s what he needs, right.
TOM SILVA: That’s right. A golden tape measure. That’d be nice.
TOM: (laughing) We’ll work on that.
TOM SILVA: Alright.
TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: He’s Tom Silva. Thanks for stopping by The Money Pit …
TOM SILVA: My pleasure.
LESLIE: It’s my pleasure.
TOM: … for our broadcast at the National …
TOM SILVA: Do a good job. Keep up the good work.
TOM: Well, we will. We’ll have you on again.
TOM SILVA: Alright, I’ll look forward to it.
TOM: This is The Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: I’m Leslie.
TOM: We’ll be back with more, after this.
(promo/theme song)
ANNOUNCER: This portion of The Money Pit is brought to you by Dens Armor Plus, the revolutionary paperless drywall from Georgia-Pacific.
TOM: Welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show, broadcasting from the 61st National Hardware Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. You got a question about your home improvement project? Need some help solving that do-it-yourself dilemma? Call us right now at 1-888-666-3974.
Lots of new products here at the 61st National Hardware Show. And right now we’re going to get into the area of adhesives. And we’re going to talk to Scott Jackson. He’s a product manager with Loctite and they have a new product out called Sumo Glue.
Hi, Scott.
SCOTT: Hello.
LESLIE: And I love the packaging.
SCOTT: Oh, thank you very much for (inaudible).
TOM: Yeah, why did you decide on the big sumo wrestler?
SCOTT: Sumo wrestling, right now, is a big … is growing in popularity through the U.S. and the sumo wrestler conveys power and strength.
TOM: (overlapping voices) I didn’t know that. Is that right?
SCOTT: Yes. It’s getting much more popular. Here in Vegas is …
LESLIE: Really?
SCOTT: … one of the areas that we have lots of tournaments and that with the sumo wrestlers and there’s clubs that are popping up in various parts of the U.S. Also, the sumo wrestler …
LESLIE: I think it’s the attire. (chuckling)
SCOTT: I think it is.
LESLIE: People are really into those pants. (laughing) Or lack thereof.
SCOTT: Maybe we can bring some for you guys (inaudible). (laughing)
LESLIE: It’s all Tom; not for me.
TOM: Now, this product, Sumo Glue, I saw it and was impressed by it because first of all, it’s almost completely invisible. When you glue up … you had some boards you glued up with this and you challenged me – a woodworking pro – to find the glue line.
SCOTT: Mm-hmm.
TOM: Couldn’t find it. Why is that?
SCOTT: It’s a phenomenal product that’s actually … it creates a clear glue line but when it’s … when it … because it is polyurethane-based, it will foam. It will appear white …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
SCOTT: … until you actually sand down or remove the foam. And then it gives you a clear, translucent glue line. As a woodworker, you know, that’s very important. Gives you a nice look in the end.
LESLIE: And I like it that even if it does sort of make a bit of a mess and you don’t clean it up as best as you should, it’s stainable and paintable so you’re still not going to see it.
SCOTT: Exactly. And this product actually foams less than half the amount of other products in the market place.
LESLIE: Because some of them foam crazy amounts.
TOM: That foam is so unpredictable, too, and when it gets out it’s just impossible to get off.
SCOTT: Yeah, it goes … it is a bit challenging working with polyurethane products and we’ve tried to simplify that experience for the consumer and the homeowners. And this makes it a lot more convenient. Less foam, higher strength. And, actually, it’s three times faster, which we found that most homeowners want to get on with the project, move on to the next step in their life …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
SCOTT: … and they don’t want to be sitting there clamping something …
LESLIE: Waiting for it to set up.
SCOTT: … and waiting for it to set up. This is … this will set up three times faster than other polyurethane products.
TOM: How much stronger is this compared to, say, a white vinyl or an (inaudible) resin, a yellow glue?
SCOTT: It depends on the formulation of those. And it’s barely … in some cases, it’s comparable and it depends on the substrate. If you look at a PVA or a (inaudible), you’re looking at a product that only adheres wood. This product will work well on wood but also adheres well to PVC and concrete, brick, etc. So it gives you a lot of versatility with the product as well.
LESLIE: So it can replace all the adhesives you already have at home.
SCOTT: It is a great, versatile adhesive.
LESLIE: That’s great.
TOM: And you know, you wonder why would you want to glue a brick? (laughing) I actually chipped off a brick. My kids were playing and they knocked something into the bricks on the edge of the step. And it was a tiny piece. And it was too small to do anything with mortar …
LESLIE: And that would drive you crazy.
TOM: Yeah, it would.
SCOTT: Oh, yeah.
TOM: And I glued it … I glued it back on. You know, and then … so you really can glue brick if you have to.
LESLIE: And so this is great for outdoors, as well.
SCOTT: It’s … great point. It’s 100 percent waterproof; excellent for outdoor applications. So you have an Adirondack chair that needs to be repaired. You just go ahead, apply that there and you … move on with your project. And it’s, again, stainable and paintable so you have no issues when you actually …
LESLIE: How long does it take to fully set up? Until I’ll be able to paint it or use it?
SCOTT: For a porous surface, like wood? After 30 minutes, it will have a very high bond strength; higher than most other polyurethanes …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
SCOTT: … just after 30 minutes. Twenty-four hours it’s fully cured …
TOM: Very quick.
SCOTT: … but you’ll actually have substrate failure. You’ll actually have the wood break after just 30 minutes.
TOM: And one last question. Any tricks of the trade for cleaning up any excessive glue from sloppy gluers like me? (laughing)
SCOTT: Yep. You’d want to use an acetone or some mineral spirits.
TOM: Right.
SCOTT: Wipe it off quickly, before it fully cures.
LESLIE: Will it accidentally bond my fingers together? Not that I’ve ever done that. (laughing)
TOM: How does she know?
SCOTT: We have other products that could do such things but this …
LESLIE: But this one won’t?
SCOTT: … one shouldn’t. Nope.
TOM: This one won’t.
LESLIE: OK, good.
SCOTT: It’ll take you a half-an-hour. (laughing)
TOM: Scott Jackson, thanks so much for stopping by The Money Pit and telling us about Sumo Glue. For more information, where do we go?
SCOTT: Sumoglue.com.
LESLIE: Great.
SCOTT: sumoglue.com.
TOM: Terrific.
LESLIE: Thanks, Scott.
SCOTT: Thank you so much.
TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974.
Lots of tools being rolled out here at the 61st National Hardware Show. A lot of innovation in tools as well. And now, we’re going to talk about one of those with a friend of mine. His name is Kevin Blodgett. He is with a company called Drill Doctor.
Kevin, welcome to the program.
KEVIN: Hi, Tom. Hi, Leslie.
LESLIE: Hi, Kevin. And Kevin actually makes a tool for a tool, which is interesting.
TOM: Yeah, tell us about the Drill Doctor. What does it do?
KEVIN: A Drill Doctor is a power machine that sharpens drill bits. It’ll sharpen drill bits 3/32 up to
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