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:
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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 with your home improvement question. Call us right now with your do-it-yourself dilemma. Call us right now with your last-minute, got-to-get-it-done holiday home improvement project because we’re here to help. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974.
And speaking of holidays, if you’re like millions of homeowners who will be going away for the holidays this year, it is a great time to take stock of the security around your house to make sure your home and belongings are safe while you’re away. So coming up, we’re going to have some tips to help you do just that.
LESLIE: And as you start to tackle your holiday shopping list, when you do go shopping for those big ticket items, should you shell out all that extra money for an extended warranty? Well, it really depends on what you’re buying. We’re going to tell you when a warranty is worth it and when you should just skip it.
TOM: And like it or not, there’s one thing that you might have to have on your shopping list this holiday season and that’s a brand new TV. Why? Well, if you have an old set – the kind that uses an antenna that’s roof-mounted or the old-fashioned rabbit ears – you will not be able to tune into any channels starting in February; you’re going to need a digital-to-analog converter or a brand new TV to make it work.
LESLIE: Yeah. And if you’re buying a TV or the converter, make sure that your new item is not an energy hog. We’re going to get the tips straight from our friends over at Energy Star, including what to look for in a green TV, converter box or satellite or cable service; whatever you’re getting, that is all coming up for you.
TOM: And if a painting project is on your list of to-dos this fall, we’re giving away a great set of Styletto paint brushes this hour, worth 20 bucks to one of our callers. These are very cool; they’re arrow-tipped brushes that make cutting in a real breeze. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. That free set of brushes is going to go to one of our callers this hour of the program, so let’s get started. Pick up the phone, give us a call; let us help you get the job done.
Leslie, who’s first?
LESLIE: Mary calling from Long Island, New York has a question about flooring. What can we do for you today?
MARY: Our rug is like 20 years old and it’s reached a point where it has to be pulled up. It’s the living room, dining room, stairs and hall.
TOM: OK.
MARY: So – and we had – this is only the second time we had the wall-to-wall; even though we’re here 44 years. Now we are thinking that why not – if the floors look good after the rug gets ripped out, how would I treat it? What would I do to give it a nice finish?
TOM: I bet you if you’ve been there 45 years that you probably have hardwood floors under that, correct?
MARY: (overlapping voices) Absolutely.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) And it’s probably in great condition.
TOM: That’s right, because carpets make a really good dropcloth. So I think it’s a perfect time – and frankly, very trendy – for you to have hardwood floors right now, Mary. So here’s what you’d do.
You’d pull up the carpet. You’d pull up what’s called the tackless, which is that strip that goes along the walls that it’s attached to.
MARY: Right.
TOM: You’re going to have to do, you know, a bit of cleaning up. You’re going to have some holes there that’ll need to be fixed. You’re going to want to have a contractor come in and sand the floors. Don’t do it yourself …
LESLIE: Oh, it’s a big job.
TOM: … but sand the floors – it’s a big job.
MARY: Sand?
TOM: Sand the floors and then polyurethane it and then if you want a little carpet just do some throw rugs – make sure you get an anti-skid mat to go under them – and the place will look beautiful.
MARY: Sounds good. You know this was a model house when I bought it and they had paper – thick papers – all over the floor so the traffic wouldn’t damage the floors. So I know they’re in excellent condition.
TOM: Well, this sounds like the right thing to do. Mary, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Bill in Utah needs some help with accessibility. What can we do for you?
BILL: I had a wheelchair ramp built on the front of my house and it’s a little bit steeper than code and the hot sun bakes down on it. And when they covered it they put an asphalt material on it and when I put my electric wheelchair on it, it ripped it up.
TOM: Hmm. Did they put like an asphalt – like a roof – like a rolled roofing material or something of that nature?
BILL: Yeah. Something kind of like that.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Yeah, well, that’s not – see, that’s not rated for any type of foot traffic or wheelchair traffic.
BILL: Well, I was wondering, what could I put on it? Could I put like an Astroturf or something like that?
TOM: What’s the deck made out of?
BILL: It’s just made out of wood.
TOM: OK. Wood plywood?
BILL: Plywood and it’s got 2×2 rails on the side of it.
TOM: OK.
LESLIE: You know, what you’re looking for is something called anti-skid tape. If you go online, one of the websites that sells it is SharpSafety.com. I mean, there’s a ton of different resources. They sell it in a variety of thicknesses, different levels of coarseness but it’s really made for that. So what you’re looking for is anti-skid tape.
TOM: Yeah. The key here, Bill, is to make sure that you have a clean, dry surface to apply it to. You’ll have to remove that old asphalt roofing material that was definitely not rated for this type of application. Get a good, clean, dry surface. Apply this and I think you will be good for several years with this type of a product.
BILL: Great. I appreciate it very much.
TOM: You’re welcome, Bill. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: You are tuned to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Thanksgiving is days away, folks. Not too late to get some projects done around the house, so pick up the phone and give us a call with your home repair or your home improvement question 24 hours a day, 7 days a week before those guests come a knocking at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
TOM: 888-666-3974. It’s always a pleasure when unexpected guests drop in to visit over the holiday season but not if that unexpected guest is a burglar. We’re going to give you some tips, when we come back, to make sure that does not happen to you.
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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 and you should pick up the phone and give us a call at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. This hour, we are giving away a set of three Styletto paint brushes. The set is worth about 20 bucks; it is a great prize for this time of year. Low humidity; fantastic to tackle painting projects around your house. And the Styletto brushes, they’re really great because they’re sort of like nothing you’ve ever seen before. The bristles sort of come to an arrow point; they’re perfect for cutting in around walls, ceilings, corners, molding. It is one of those tools that really helps to make the painting jobs a lot easier, because it cuts your prep time into nothing because you’re just using the brush to cut in. Great project, good time of year – but you’ve got to be in it to win it, so pick up the phone.
TOM: 888-666-3974.
Well, very soon you may have a Santa sack full of gifts hidden in your home but are you sure your house is ready for the holiday season? Remember that burglars will be in attendance as well, looking for obvious signs that you are gone. Even if it’s just for the evening, here are three simple things that you can do to keep them at bay.
First of all, make sure you take advantage of light timers. They are very inexpensive, easy to do and the more sophisticated ones today have multiple settings so they can come on a number of times throughout the evening, to make it look like there’s activity going on in your house.
Second, make sure you have a neighbor collect your mail and your newspapers and thirdly, check this out: you may want to ask your local police force if they have a vacant house patrol. Many areas of the country this is the policy of the police department; that if you check in with them and let them know that you’re not going to be home, they will give your house an extra sweep, so to speak, to make sure that no one is visiting that should not be there when your home is not home.
And of course, if you’ve recently bought any expensive holiday gifts – like electronics or jewelry – make sure you store them somewhere else until you get back home, so everything is good to go when you get back in the door.
888-666-3974. Call us right now with your home improvement question. Let’s get to it.
Leslie, who’s next?
LESLIE: Joe in Virginia is looking for some help building a home from scratch. What can we do for you?
JOE: I’m thinking of building an underground house into a hillside …
LESLIE: OK.
JOE: … and I’d also like to make it a healthy house; you know, to keep it free of formaldehyde and mold.
TOM: Mm-hmm.
JOE: And I know very little about construction, so right now I’m just looking for references, recommendations, resources and then probably to buy a set of tested building plans.
TOM: Well, certainly there are lots and lots of plans online for earth berm or earth-sheltered homes. Why is it that you’re interested in this particular technology?
JOE: To keep down energy costs.
TOM: OK, OK. A particular type of lot this home will work on is one that is sloped, so it’s sort of being built into the hillside. Did you have that kind of a lot in mind or do you just want to sort of start flat and build up from there?
JOE: Oh, no. I live in an area with a lot of hills.
TOM: (overlapping voices) OK. Alright.
JOE: (overlapping voices) So that’s not an issue.
TOM: Well, maybe it’s a good opportunity for you. You know, the main concern that I would have would be water infiltration with these homes because if you do get water in there, obviously that’s the start of all sorts of evils. So you have to be very, very careful with that. Are you going to build this yourself or are you going to hire a contractor?
JOE: I would probably hire a contractor because I know so little about construction.
TOM: Yeah. And I think that if this was – if this was my house and I wanted to do that, I would do a lot of research to try to find a contractor that has experience building this …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: … kind of technology because, frankly, I used to see a lot of them in the 80s when energy cost was really high but we don’t see too many of these anymore. So I don’t know that you’re going to be able to find someone that is, you know, really experienced but I wouldn’t want to do it without that person.
You know, the other consideration here too is if you’re going to build an earth berm home, remember that although you find this very attractive and interesting, if you have to sell that house you may have difficulty because you’re going to have to find someone who’s like-minded.
JOE: OK. And then one other side question, unrelated.
TOM: Right.
JOE: On the Money Pit jingle, is that Leslie singing? (Tom laughs)
LESLIE: No! (chuckles)
JOE: OK.
LESLIE: You wouldn’t want to hear me sing that.
JOE: Oh, it sounds just like you. You see, a very nice voice. (Leslie chuckles) Well, thank you very much.
TOM: That’s actually a woman named [Lu Legree] (ph) and she actually has a new CD coming out, called Shadows and thank you for asking because she is absolutely terrific.
JOE: Alright. Thank you, Tom and Leslie.
TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
If you’ve ever heard Leslie sing, you’d know (Leslie chuckles) it wasn’t her on the jingle. (chuckles)
LESLIE: It’s more like (high-pitched squeal).
TOM: Nor, by the way, was it me; although I did write the tune.
LESLIE: Because Tom, you sound a bit like that too. (makes high-pitched squeal) No, I’m kidding. (Tom and Leslie chuckle)
TOM: I wrote it and turned it over to our friend, Chris Sutton. There’s information about him on our website at MoneyPit.com and Chris is the master behind that.
LESLIE: Val in Wisconsin needs some help with heating. What can we do for you?
VAL: Hi. Have a question regarding a quartz infrared heating system.
TOM: Alright. How can we help?
VAL: Well, it’s that time of the year where you close up your house and then you get your bill and you think you’ve done everything you could and you still want to stay warm. Can’t find a lot of information on it. I have gone to the local hardware store that’s selling them. They also have some advertising in the Sunday papers.
TOM: Mm-hmm.
VAL: Is it really worth spending the $400 that these units cost – paper and from the hardware store – to offset your cost? It’s electrical and I’m not real sure how to convert the kilowatts to the thermal units. So I’m at your mercy of, geez, do I buy it or do I just turn up the thermostat?
TOM: Well, how much is your heating bill on average every month?
VAL: Well, it varies depending on – we had it programmed into the thermostat …
TOM: Mm-hmm. And how much do you think you’re going to spend on heat this winter?
VAL: Well, we’re probably going to spend …
TOM: Because heating oil has come down again and gas has come down again.
VAL: Well, that leaves – so you know, kind of – is electrical cheaper in the winter than gas?
TOM: No. Look, here’s the way that gas …
LESLIE: And electrical is going to be expensive.
TOM: Yeah. The cheapest is going to be gas, followed by oil and/or propane about the same, followed by electric. The radiant heat or the quartz heaters are good space heaters but I would never recommend you use it for your primary heat source. We like space heaters for unused rooms that don’t have to be heated all the time or say a basement where, you know, you’re going to use it a short period of time during the year but you don’t really need to fully go out and heat it, because they have a low installation cost.
But in terms of substituting that type of heat for your central heating system, there’s no way it’s going to be more efficient than that and, as you mentioned, they’re very expensive. So the payback on that is going to take a long time.
LESLIE: Time for cooking with Katherine. We’re going to head over to Vermont where Katherine has got a question about her kitchen.
KATHERINE: Several months ago, I called in and asked about a cutting surface for on top of the stove and you were totally against it.
TOM: OK.
KATHERINE: And what I’ve come up with is a portable island and the question I have now is on the cutting board surface.
TOM: (overlapping voices) OK.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) OK.
KATHERINE: What can I use that would be very good to my knives?
LESLIE: Butcher block is probably going to be your best bet. The only thing that you need to be concerned with butcher block is once a year you want to sort of give it a really, really – you always want to keep it clean but once a year you want to give it a good cleaning, sand it down a little bit and then coat it with – is it mineral oil, Tom?
TOM: I would use mineral oil or vegetable oil.
LESLIE: OK. You want to make sure that you cover it with the oil and keep a good job at cleaning it because you don’t want bacteria to grow into it, because it is a very porous surface; but it is going to be the easiest on your knives and it is going to look fantastic.
TOM: Katherine, it sounds like you have a great combination there. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Yee-haw! Going over to Texas to talk with Brian about a fireplace. What’s going on?
BRIAN: Hey, I moved into a 25-year-old home and this fireplace; it looks like it’s straight out of the Brady Bunch.
LESLIE: (chuckling) OK.
BRIAN: (chuckling) It’s got stone from the floor to the ceiling and the stone is very nice but it’s got this black mortar that makes it just look kind of dated. And so what I’m wondering is, how can I change the color of this mortar to make it something a little bit more friendly?
TOM: Hmm. Sounds to me like a job for some very strategic painting. (Leslie growls) Because, you know, getting light mortar to be darker is something that could be stained.
LESLIE: That’s something that can be done.
TOM: That can be stained. There are mortar stains that will do that but to try to take a dark mortar and make it light …
LESLIE: Would you have to use some sort of heat-resistant paint?
TOM: Probably not, because there’s not that much – the outside surface of the fireplace doesn’t get quite that hot.
BRIAN: OK, so I wouldn’t have to use a heat-resistant paint, necessarily?
TOM: I don’t think so.
BRIAN: I could just paint over this mortar?
TOM: I think you could paint over the mortar, yeah.
BRIAN: Oh, well, that’d be great.
LESLIE: I mean is it worth it to saw out the mortar …
TOM: No.
LESLIE: … or does that make a giant disaster?
TOM: No, no, no. That would be a disastrous job. That would be so much work it wouldn’t be worth it. I would try to paint it.
BRIAN: OK, so I’d just go with like a flat interior paint?
TOM: Yep, exactly.
BRIAN: Alright, great.
LESLIE: Jay in New York, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you today?
JAY: I am going to be moving into a home that needs a new furnace and a hot water heater and I heard so much about these hot water panels. I spoke to my plumber and he said that it’s very expensive to install but in the long run it will be cheaper for you.
TOM: Jay, I think you’re talking about a tankless water heater, correct?
JAY: I believe so, yes.
TOM: Yeah. It hangs on the wall as opposed to being sort of a stand-up water heater and your plumber is right; they are a little more expensive to buy than a standard water heater – probably about twice as expensive – but they last a lot longer and they’re also more efficient. It’s definitely …
LESLIE: How long do they last?
TOM: … the way to go. Probably a good 20 years.
LESLIE: So double the life span?
TOM: Double the life at least. Yes.
JAY: He said a 25-gallon hot water heater will give me from anywhere from 7 to 10 years.
TOM: Yeah, well, not 25. That would be really small. The smallest water heater for your average residential house is about 40 gallon gas but the tankless water heater is going to be about a quarter the size of that. It’s going to deliver an endless source of hot water; you’ll never have to run out of hot water again. It’s more efficient because it only heats water when you need it.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm. So think of all your energy savings.
TOM: Exactly. If you add it all up, I think it’s the way to go.
JAY: Alright. Very good.
TOM: Alright, Jay. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well, in just a few months, the country is going to take a giant leap into the high-tech age when television broadcasts are going to switch from analog to digital. It’s really confusing; a lot of people don’t know what the heck is going on. Up next, if you’re going to upgrade your TV, we’ll tell you what to look for in an energy-efficient model. That’s right, they exist. So stick around.
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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: And we are about to leap into the digital age in a very big way. You know, in just a couple of months, the broadcast format is going to change to digital-only television. That means that if you have an analog TV and you don’t have cable or satellite service, you’re going to need an analog-to-digital converter box. Yes, yet another piece of electronic gadgetry (Leslie chuckles) to plug into your house in order to keep getting those television broadcasts.
LESLIE: Something else I’m not going to know how to hook up. (chuckles) In fact …
TOM: It’s going to flash. (chuckles)
LESLIE: It’s going to be a nightmare for me, I know it. In fact, millions of consumers are going to make the switch by getting a converter or buying newer televisions or subscribing to a cable or satellite service that they haven’t had before. But before you do any of those things, we want to tell you that the government’s Energy Star program is making sure that the changes you make are made in a green way. So we’ve got Denise Durrett joining us from the Energy Star program. She’s the communications specialist.
Welcome, Denise.
DENISE: Thank you so much.
TOM: So, Denise, can you first clarify what exactly it means …
LESLIE: Yeah, what’s going on ?
TOM: … when we say we’re shifting to digital-only television? Does this mean that those of us that are still sort of using the rabbit ears will no longer be able to get TV signals?
DENISE: That’s correct. You won’t be able to get the TV signals without having some sort of a service – a cable or satellite service – connected to your television or without having …
TOM: How fortunate for the cable or satellite companies that is. (chuckles)
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Yeah!
DENISE: (chuckling) Yeah, exactly. Or without – or you can go, you know, the cheaper route and get this digital-to-analog converter box …
TOM: OK.
DENISE: … which is a device that converts digital television broadcast signals to analog signals. So, as of February 17, 2009, you need to have something set up on your TV so that you can still get those TV programs you want to watch or else you’ll just be watching static.
LESLIE: Now, how do you know if the television that you currently have is going to need this converter box? Because I know some televisions are digital and then that shouldn’t be a problem. Like how do you know if you’ve got the right thing or not?
DENISE: Well, most TVs – most digital televisions will have labels or markings on them or statements in their materials that came with them, indicating that they contain digital tuners. So, you know, pretty much any TV that you’ve bought over probably the past couple of years would be a digital television. But those are markings that you’ll see on the TV …
LESLIE: OK.
DENISE: … so that you know.
TOM: Now, Denise, it would seem that this is a time when Americans are going to consider replacing TVs and perhaps buying these boxes. Are there Energy Star-qualified conversion boxes that will be available?
DENISE: There are Energy Star-qualified digital-to-analog converter boxes available on the market now and we’re estimating that consumers are going to purchase as many as 22 million of these boxes …
LESLIE: Wow.
DENISE: … leading up to this transition. In fact, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration is administering a program to help consumers acquire these DTAs or these …
TOM: Mm-hmm.
DENISE: … digital-to-analog boxes, which are expected to cost about $50 and NTIA is going to provide up to two $40 coupons per household …
TOM: (overlapping voices) Oh, fantastic.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) That’s excellent.
DENISE: … to offset the cost of those two – of two DTAs for your home. So, you know, you can get these products; you can go into your local electronics stores and ask for them and make sure that you’re asking for Energy Star-qualified ones. The Energy Star-qualified digital-to-analog boxes actually use less energy when they’re in ON mode and when they’re sleeping and they automatically will power down after four hours or less of inactivity.
TOM: Well, we never get four hours of television inactivity in my house.
LESLIE: Yeah, totally. (Tom and Denise chuckle)
TOM: No, I think we may get just about that much between when the kids start and stop with the TV. So it sounds like with all the TV use in the country that this is going to be a good opportunity to, again, cut your energy costs.
For more information, you can go to the Energy Star website at EnergyStar.gov/products. That’s EnergyStar.gov/products.
Denise Durrett, thanks so much for stopping by once again to help us make our homes more energy efficient.
DENISE: Thank you for having me.
LESLIE: Alright. Well, now that Denise has helped us sort out everything that you need to tackle this crazy February changeover, when you’re ready to buy that new TV should you get the extended warranty? Yes or no? We’ll tell you what to do, next.
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ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is being brought to you by Guardian Home Standby Generators, America’s choice in power outage protection. Learn more at GuardianGenerators.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: Give us a call right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT because this hour we’re giving away a set of Styletto paint brushes to one caller, worth 20 bucks. It’s a unique brush design that gives you the edge you need for precision painting. It’s designed for cutting in and around walls, ceilings, corners and moldings. It’s sort of an arrow-shaped brush, like a double-sided cut-in brush; very unique, very innovative. It will help you get lots of painting projects completed around the house. Styletto – for every corner of your home.
LESLIE: Well, while you’re tackling your home improvement projects – because it’s a great time of year to do painting; you’re having a lot of guests come over, you want the house to look great – in addition to having all those guests come over, you’re doing a lot of shopping; you’ve got gifts to give and some of those are big-ticket items. And you know when you go into the store, what’s the second-to-last question that the salesperson asks you? And they sort of do it nonchalantly and then you feel, you know, pressured into saying yes. It’s the extended warranty.
But do you really need the extended warranty? I know they really bully you into feeling like you should be taking it but some repairs are covered by the standard manufacturer warranty and that comes with the product; no extra charge there. In fact, Consumer Reports data shows that stuff rarely breaks within the extended warranty window but within the typical two to three years of purchase.
You know, when electronics and appliances do break down, the repairs on average cost about the same as the extended warranty does.
TOM: If you do want to play it safe and go ahead with the extra coverage, make sure you check your credit cards first. You know, first of all, many of the credit cards today – especially the ones that are the gold, the platinum cards – typically will lengthen the manufacturer’s warranty by as much as one year when you purchase the product with the credit card.
Also, shop around; extended warranties – they vary in length and term and guess what? You don’t always have to buy them from the place that sold you the product that’s offering them. There are extended warranties available on the market for just about everything. They’re out there; you just have to find them. And never pay more than 20 percent of the purchase price for the warranty and don’t be afraid to negotiate the price and terms, because they’re high, high markup items.
888-666-3974. We, however, will not mark up the cost of the answer to your home improvement question because it’s the same as the phone call; it’s free. Let’s get back to the phones.
Leslie, who’s next?
LESLIE: Heading over to California where Frankie needs some help with the garage floor. Welcome, Frankie.
FRANKIE: Enjoy your show.
LESLIE: Thank you. What can we do for you today?
FRANKIE: Well, I have a crack in my garage floor that started probably about seven years ago; very small, right at the entrance to the door, about halfway – I have a two car garage – right where the driveway meets the floor.
TOM: OK.
FRANKIE: And it has gradually worked its way all the way to the back …
TOM: Mm-hmm.
FRANKIE: … to the pillar where the hot water heater sits.
TOM: Alright. And how wide is this crack, Frankie?
FRANKIE: It’s probably about a quarter of an inch?
TOM: Well, have you tried to fill it with anything?
FRANKIE: I had a fellow come out – three years ago, I had a new driveway put in.
TOM: Yes.
FRANKIE: And they ground down the crack and put like a sealer thing in it …
TOM: Mm-hmm.
FRANKIE: … but it didn’t seem to do much good.
TOM: OK. Well, what you want to use is something called an epoxy patching compound …
FRANKIE: Uh-huh.
TOM: … and that’s something that’s going to be somewhat flexible and it will expand and contract with the driveway. And that should at least stop water from getting in there. You know, you could be getting water in there that’s freezing and expanding and causing it to move.
The thing about the garage slab is that it’s not structural. Even though we all think it is, you know, it’s really just a covering on the dirt; it’s not really what’s holding up the house. It’s really only holding up itself and, unfortunately, many times they’re put in improperly. They’re not reinforced correctly and as a result you get these shrinkage cracks or expansion cracks that form. So, they’re not – I’m not concerned structurally but at least to try to seal it, I would use an epoxy patching compound or I would use a flowable urethane compound.
FRANKIE: OK. Alright. Thank you very much.
TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Sheldon in Washington D.C., you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you?
SHELDON: I live in about a 12-year-old house with vinyl siding. It’s never been cleaned but all of a sudden we’re getting all kinds of literature – advertisements in the mail. They say our siding needs cleaning and I’m not sure. Does it need cleaning? Does it need cleaning in the spring or in the fall? And how do I do it? Do I hire the guy that says he uses high-pressure steam or do I hire the guy that says, no, he has cold water but it’s got chemicals in it and that’s what we need?
TOM: Well, first of all, is your siding dirty?
SHELDON: There is a spot that has some dirt on it. I think it’s from the shade.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: If it’s a small area and you can clean it yourself, Sheldon, then you don’t have to hire a guy to do it. I mean the advantage of hiring one of these housecleaning guys is they’ve got the gear to do it. They’ve got the tall ladders, they’ve got the pressure washers and so on.
LESLIE: Yeah, they’ll get every nook and cranny and you don’t have to worry about falling off of anything. But if you’ve got one spot of some mildew growth on there from a shady area, that’s something you can definitely tackle on your own.
SHELDON: OK.
TOM: Yeah, it’s not that hard to do. Now, if you do want to hire somebody they’re going to probably want to use a pressure washer and if that’s the case, you have to make sure they don’t use too much pressure because the convenience of that pressure washer is really that it just has a very long spray so it can reach up into tough areas. With vinyl siding, though, it’s very, very soft; so if you don’t use sort of a fan spray on it then you could damage the siding. So really it’s the skill, not so much the amount of pressure, that comes to play here.
In terms of any type of any type of a house wash, there are different types of siding washes that are mildicides and certainly those can be effective in helping keeping the house clean. Some companies prefer just to use bleach but whatever you do, you need to kind of protect the plants around the foundation …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: … because if you put too many chemicals in there, they’re going to be damaged. OK, Sheldon?
SHELDON: Thank you very much. I had one more question. They say I also need a sealant, some kind of wax sealant after it’s washed. You recommend that?
TOM: I don’t think so. (chuckling) No, I don’t think so. You don’t have to wax – you don’t have to hot wax your siding, OK? (chuckling)
LESLIE: Could you imagine?
TOM: No, the siding is fine just by itself so if anyone’s telling you that you need a sealant on vinyl siding, that would be the guy that I do not hire.
SHELDON: OK.
TOM: Alright?
SHELDON: Well, thank you very much.
TOM: You’re welcome, Sheldon. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: You know what, Tom? I saw something interesting at the home center the other day. The folks at Clorox sort of wised up and instead of just selling the bleach in the bottle, they have now created a whole line of cleaning products to handle siding and mold growth and outdoor projects and indoor projects.
TOM: Well, it’s about time.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) So it’s really interesting.
TOM: (overlapping voices) It’s about time because people have been using that stuff for years.
LESLIE: Exactly. And they even have it in two different fun applicators; one sort of attaches to your own hose so it becomes like a pressure cleaner and the other one sort of has like a pump system built into it. So, it’s really smart and it’s very useful.
TOM: Last time I had my house painted the painter would only use Clorox.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm. I mean it really does work the best.
TOM: And it came out super-bright. I was like, ‘Are you still going to paint it? Because it looks pretty good.’
LESLIE: You’re like, ‘Wow, you did such a great job on the paint.’ He’s like, ‘Thank you.’
TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Up next, the right attic ventilation can make all the difference in heating your home. Why? Well, because if you don’t flush out the air and the moisture that’s with it, the insulation just doesn’t work. We’ll tell you how to have the right ventilation for your space, next.
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ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is brought to you by Owens Corning. It’s easy to insulate your home and save money. What’s stopping you? Learn more at InsulateAndSave.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: And if you don’t want to pick up the phone and call us at 888-MONEY-PIT, you can also e-mail your question to us by going to MoneyPit.com and clicking on Ask Tom and Leslie. We can’t get to every question but we do answer many here on the show as well as on my AOL blog at MoneyPit.AOL.com.
LESLIE: Alright. We’re going to jump into the e-mail bag right now and first up we’ve got Paul from Omaha, Nebraska who writes: ‘We are getting estimates to have a new roof put on and was told by one contractor that I did not have proper roof ventilation. Is there a good way to tell if this is true? They want to sell me a ridge vent or to add more turtle boxes. Thanks for your help.’
TOM: I’ve actually never heard the term turtle boxes but …
LESLIE: Turtle boxes.
TOM: … I can only imagine they mean the square vents because …
LESLIE: Yeah. Because it looks like a shell sitting on your roof?
TOM: If I was going to have a turtle box, I guess that’s what it would look like. (chuckles) But I think they’re talking about the square vents and listen, Paul, the contractor is correct in that you probably do need more roof ventilation. However, it’s real important you have the right kind of roof ventilation and that would include ventilation that goes across the ridge vent and ventilation that goes across the soffit vent and that is at the overhang of the roof space.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: And that’s really important because if you don’t have it in both locations it’s not going to work.
LESLIE: Well, because you need it to come in through one and out through the other.
TOM: Yeah, exactly. It goes in the soffit, up under the roof sheathing and exits out the ridge. And that’s real important because if your insulation gets slightly damp it’s not effective; it’s not going to insulate.
And speaking of insulation, if you want to make sure you’ve got enough insulation in that space, now is the time to do that as well. There is a really good website that can help you figure that out. It’s called InsulateAndSave.com. It’s put together by the folks at Owens Corning who really know this topic inside and out. InsulateAndSave.com. So check it out today.
LESLIE: Alright. Next up, we’ve got Dennis from East Meadow, New York or at Long Island. ‘We live in a split-level home. We find a large collection of dust every few days in the bedroom. The house in general is a dusty house. A new oil burner with an oil hot water system was installed last year. All year long, the dust accumulates on the furniture. What can we do?’
TOM: A good quality electronic air cleaner, I think. I don’t think the fact they changed the furnace has …
LESLIE: Has anything to do with the dust.
TOM: … anything to do with it whatsoever, no. Sometimes people think it does but it really doesn’t. This is a problem of the quality of the air cleaner. I’ll tell you, one of the things that they may have happened is when you put in the new furnace I wonder if you put in a proper filter. It could be that the filter was never installed and maybe the dust is worse than ever now as a result of that. But what we would recommend is a whole-home electronic air cleaner; that is definitely the way to get the air scrubbed as clean as possible. The new high-tech electronic air cleaners can take out dust and dirt, even virus-sized …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: … particulates inside the air. Aprilaire makes a great one; that’s the one I have in my house. I have the model 5000.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: I’ll tell you, we have a separate heating and air conditioning system; like our heating is hydronics so we have radiators, so we don’t need to run the ducts in the winter. I do it anyway because it cleans the house.
LESLIE: So you just put it on sort of circulate; you’re not cooling.
TOM: Yeah, I do. Exactly. But it cleans the house.
LESLIE: Yeah and the filter system on these whole-home air cleaners are these massive, folded-up pieces of fabric that, you know, stretch out for – I want to say miles but I’m sure it’s not – but they really do take everything out and it sort of electronically charges everything so it really does suck these particles to the filter. And it’s not the same type of filtration that you’re going to get just from those inexpensive ones that you put at the register; it really does make a huge difference. And Dennis, if you install one of these you will see far less dust, which I’m sure will make you and the misses very happy.
TOM: Yeah. The fiberglass filters – we call those rock stoppers.
LESLIE: (chuckling) It’s true.
TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Thank you so much for spending this hour with us. The show continues online 24/7 at MoneyPit.com and remember, you can also pick up the phone any time of the day or night and reach us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself …
LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone.
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END HOUR 1 TEXT
(Copyright 2008 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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