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 now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT with your home improvement project, your do-it-yourself dilemma. We’re here to help you get the jobs done. Before you pick up the hammer; before you pick up the saw, pick up the phone and give us a call at 888-666-3974. We’ve got lots of helpful tips coming your way this hour on the program, including some tips on how to get your yard ready right now. You know, a little pruning and trimming in that yard will save you tons of time come spring and even potentially protect your house from damage in an upcoming winter storm. We’re going to tell you what you need to know, in just a bit.
LESLIE: And also ahead this hour, it’s happened to you a ton of times I am sure. Have you ever left a pen or a crayon or a lipstick in your clothes …
TOM: Well, I’ve never left a lipstick, I’ll have you know …
LESLIE: Yeah, but I bit the misses has.
TOM: … but I have missed a pen or two in the pants pocket.
LESLIE: And let me tell you, you run these things through the wash and get into the dryer and it is a giant disaster not only for your clothes but for the dryer itself. So we’re going to tell you how to get rid of all those stains that happen in the dryer drum before you go ahead and wash any other clothes in there.
TOM: And we’re giving away a set of three rakes, from our friends at Ames True Temper, worth 50 bucks. That will certainly help you with your fall fix-up projects. So let’s get right to the phones. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974.
Leslie, who’s first?
LESLIE: Barbara in New York is looking to get some remodeling done. How can we help you?
BARBARA: Yes, I’d like to know how to hire a contractor to do a complete renovation of my kitchen. I live in a New York City apartment that I own.
LESLIE: OK. Well, actually, I mean it’s good that you’re calling us in advance because some people tend to not ask the right questions and not do enough research when it comes time to hire a pro and they end up with a bad experience and that’s not the case we want you to have. So generally what we would recommend is ask your friends, ask your neighbors, ask people that you are familiar with who’ve had home improvements who they might recommend. But there’s actually an online networking website called Angie’s List and it’s A-n-g-i-e-s List; Angie’s List. And what they do on this website is anybody who’s ever used any type of service professional can go onto the website and write a review about this pro; so now you can look up different recommendations in your neighborhood for a contractor, for a painter, for anybody who does any sort of service contracting. And they’re not allowed to go on and pad their review. It’s sort of – it’s very regimented to make sure that it truly is user-friendly and it gives you the best sort of advice as to who folks in your area would recommend as well.
BARBARA: Well, that sounds wonderful. I’ve never heard of that before.
TOM: It’s a great service. Barbara, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Now we’re going to talk with Ron about the number one question we get here at The Money Pit which is flooring. Welcome, Ron.
RON: Hey, I have a home that I’ve been in for 18 years and I’ve replaced all the flooring except for my kitchen and breakfast nook which has an old linoleum floor.
TOM: OK.
RON: And I had, I guess, a two-part question. One, I was wondering if I can put the new-type stick-on laminate floors that are out there; can I put that right on top of my old linoleum floor. The second question would be also I’ve been considering ceramic tile; can I stick it right on top of linoleum floor.
TOM: The answer is yes and yes. The laminate floors …
LESLIE: Is not going to stick; it’s going to floor.
TOM: It floats, right; exactly. It locks together. All of the types of laminates that are available today are sort of click and lock. They don’t have to be glued together anymore and they’ll sit right on top of that existing vinyl floor. If you want to install a ceramic tile surface, you’d probably nail down like a tile backer to the vinyl and then you’d go right over that. So one way or the other, you can go on top of that floor. You do not have to pick it up, Ron.
LESLIE: Now but Ron, you know with both you’re adding height to your floor situation; so you need to be concerned about any under-counter appliances, like a dishwasher, that you would have that might be compromised in how it fits into this situation with the new flooring. You don’t want to, certainly, trap anything in place by adding this new floor and new thickness and now you can’t pull out the dishwasher if something breaks. So you need to take that into consideration as well.
RON: Hey, I appreciate that because I hadn’t taken that into consideration. Some of the other floors that I have tiled previously have cracked along with my foundation; they follow the lines of the foundation. So I was wondering if maybe having that type of linoleum floor there would prevent the cracking that I’ve seen elsewhere.
TOM: Maybe …
LESLIE: Well, you get the cracking because there’s movement …
TOM: Yeah.
LESLIE: … in the subfloor underneath. So if the surface that you put the tile on before previously had a lot of movement to it or was uneven or unsteady, that’s why you see the cracking.
TOM: I think also you’re going to find that the laminate floors today are extremely durable and much more comfortable underfoot than the ceramic tiles too, Ron.
LESLIE: And certainly an easier project to install than tile, I think.
RON: Great. Hey, I appreciate y’all’s help today.
TOM: You’re welcome, Ron. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: You are tuned to the Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. If you are feeling the chill of this autumn season, pick up the phone and give us a call because we can help you stay nice and toasty as the weather starts to get really cold around here. Any time of day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week; 1-888-MONEY-PIT, that’s the number to call.
TOM: 888-666-3974.
Up next, yard work in the winter? Absolutely. We’re going to tell you what you can do in the coming weeks to prune down your spring workload by getting a jump on it right now.
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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: And you should give us a call right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT because one caller we talk to on the air this hour is going to win a fall cleanup prize pack from Ames True Temper. You’re going to get three different rakes designed for different kinds of raking around your house. It’s a prize worth nearly 50 bucks. It’s going to go to one caller that reaches us today at 888-MONEY-PIT and you must have a home improvement question when you pick up that phone.
LESLIE: Well, with all those leaves falling around your yard, you’re probably going to put those rakes right to use as soon as the winner receives them and you might start thinking, ‘Alright, we’re getting to the end of the autumn season. No more yard work. Winter’s coming. I can put everything aside.’ That’s not necessarily true. You can actually do some yard work in the winter that’s going to be a big benefit to your garden come spring and also cut back on one chore that you might have to do once the spring season does arrive.
While we’re in the winter months, which are coming, take this time to prune your fruit trees and any rose bushes that you have around your money pit’s yard. You want to do this before you start to see any buds. You don’t have to do it as soon as winter arrives. You can do it a little more into the season. You also want to remove any crossing canes; you want to thin out the branches. And then finish the whole project by spraying the plants with dormant oil. This way, come springtime, you will have at least one yard chore checked off your honey-do list.
TOM: And that’s a good thing. Another thing that’s good to do this time of year is to go outside and look up at those trees. If you spot any dead branches, please, trim them away right now before they get snow and ice on them and come crashing down on your car or into your house. You know, my very first pickup truck, Leslie, was my first new car. And you know, the very first time you can buy a new car in your life, it’s like the love of your life?
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: Well, I had like a big old branch come and crush that thing down to a pancake (Leslie groans) in a bad storm once. And so it’s always a good idea to do as I say not as I did back in those days.
LESLIE: Now this is a tip you will follow for the rest of your life.
TOM: No, absolutely. I was pretty young when that happened. But you do want to go outside and look up and make sure you trim away any of those dead branches so they don’t become a projectile in a severe winter storm.
888-666-3974. Let’s get back to the phones.
LESLIE: We’re going to take a call from Dallas in Connecticut who’s having an issue with a deck. What can we do for you?
DALLAS: Yeah, I have a problem with the deck. Unfortunately, I stained it about – roughly about a year ago. It seems that the rail held up pretty good but most of the deck portion; a lot of it just either faded out or came off and my concern is I would like to maybe do something over it. Do you have something that’s not so labor intensive [like sanding] (ph)? And if I wanted to put a paint surface instead of staining again, what would I have to do?
TOM: You’re pretty much looking for the magic wand here, aren’t you? (everybody chuckles)
DALLAS: (inaudible at 0:09:20.8)
TOM: You know it is a lot of work, especially when you have a finish that goes on, Dallas, and then comes right off again because you can’t put anything on top of a bad finish; if you do, it’s going to continue to peel off. So if you want something that’s going to work and you’ve got a bad product on there now, you’re going to have to strip it off; there’s just no way around that because you can’t put good paint on bad paint; you can’t put good stain on bad stain. You have an adhesion issue that has to be addressed first before you can put the next layer on.
DALLAS: Any particular type of stripper that you might recommend that is going to be safe to use?
LESLIE: Well, there are a whole host of different products; every manufacturer makes one. If you’re looking for something that’s terrifically green, there’s a website that you can go to; it’s called GreenBuildingSupply.com and they have a bunch of green strippers that are sort of more natural in their materials that they use for the project. But you just want to make sure that you get rid of anything that’s peeling up. If you go with a solid stain – you know one that looks more like paint but it still sort of saturates the surface as a stain does – look for one that’s sort of a mixture of an oil and a latex product, so it’s like a primer and a topcoat all in one, because that’ll really help with the adhesion. But you’re going to notice you always get the most wear and tear, obviously, on the horizontal surfaces and the vertical surfaces are going to keep the stain much longer. So make sure you follow the directions and you will get what the manufacturer promises as far as duration.
DALLAS: Oh, OK. Thank you so much and have a pleasant day.
LESLIE: You, too.
TOM: You’re welcome, Dallas. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Going way out to Alaska to talk with Theresa about a leak. Tell us what’s going on.
THERESA: Hi, I have some water coming in, in our basement, and it looks like it’s just coming in through the cinderblocks. We can’t really pinpoint the exact location. But my question was should we try to find the leak on the exterior of the house and try to reseal the cinderblock area or would applying drylock to the interior walls be sufficient enough.
TOM: It depends. Do you live in a houseboat?
THERESA: No. (chuckles)
TOM: Well, then you really don’t need to seal those walls.
LESLIE: Yeah, you really want to work outside in.
TOM: Yeah. What you want to do is take a look at the exterior foundation perimeter and look at the drainage conditions because obviously something is broken down in the drainage conditions. Most basements flood because of problems with the gutter system. Make sure your gutters are clean, they’re free-flowing, they’re not getting overwhelmed in a heavy rainstorm and, most importantly, look at those downspouts; if they’re not discharging water at least four feet from the house foundation, you’ve got to extend them because that water will shoot down that pipe and just do a u-turn right back into the basement.
LESLIE: And you also want to look at the grading around your house. You want to make sure that the soil is not sloping towards the foundation; you want it slope away. Because any water that’s going to collect there, you want it to move away from it; not sort of sit there or roll back towards the house.
THERESA: Alright, thank you very much.
TOM: You’re very welcome, Theresa. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Rich in Wisconsin needs some help with a foundation issue. Tell us about it.
RICH: Hi, I got a house that we took over that had a [like built over] (ph); the guy was building it for four years and we bought it and then took over the whole phase. It’s new construction. And he built it in …
TOM: You’re a brave guy, Rich.
RICH: Yeah. Well, I’m a pretty avid do-it-yourselfer, so it’s the second or third house I’ve worked on.
TOM: OK.
RICH: But the problem was that he built it into a hill, which isn’t the problem; the problem is there’s a lot of exposed foundation wall. It’s got the two-inch Styrofoam; the pink Styrofoam on it. But there’s not much I can do with it besides oh, maybe, [pull it] (ph). There has been like some of that BellaStone but that stuff gets very expensive. Do you guys have any other ideas?
TOM: You know what I’m thinking? What about the Owens Corning product? That’s really nice stuff.
LESLIE: Which? The stone?
TOM: The stone, yeah; the synthetic stone.
LESLIE: It’s called – a stone veneer by Owens Corning. It’s called Cultured Stone and it can look like river rock; it can look like pebble; it can look like ledgestone. It really is beautiful. It’s completely synthetic; it’s manufactured; it’s very durable; it’s lighter weight than the actual stone product itself; easy to install and it looks fantastic.
TOM: And a lot less expensive than any natural stuff. That’s why the synthetic is good to use in this situation.
RICH: Really?
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: Yep, mm-hmm.
RICH: Is it readily available like from any local – like the big three?
LESLIE: Oh, God, they have so many local vendors. If you go to their website, which is CulturedStone.com, you can find there your local dealer and who that might be and then start looking at pricing.
Time to step into the bathroom with Gabriella in New Jersey. So you’re doing a renovation? How can we help?
GABRIELLA: Yeah, it’s nice to talk to you. I like your show a lot.
LESLIE: Thank you.
TOM: Thank you.
GABRIELLA: We’re saving up to do our bathroom in a couple months; to start, hopefully. And what I’m wondering is – you know we’ve gone to the stores – the Home Depot, the Lowe’s, the Expos – and I see that it’s beautiful things and the tubs that have the jets and what an investment it is to get it started.
TOM: Right.
GABRIELLA: But in the end – like maybe down the line; I don’t know, 10 or 12, 15 years from now – I don’t know; is it worth the – do you get kind of your money back? Does it add that much value to your home to splurge?
TOM: Sure. There are certain home improvements that will give you a great return on investment and others that won’t and improving your bathroom or your kitchen really, consistently, over the years, have given you the best ROI. So you’re going to get two benefits. First of all, you’re going to get an improved or maintained home value; and secondly, you’re going to have the second benefit of being able to use that for the next decade or so. So I think that it’s wise to spend a bit of money on a bathroom or a kitchen upgrade. You don’t necessarily have to go luxury; you can go midgrade and do just fine.
GABRIELLA: OK. Alright.
LESLIE: I mean it really depends on your preference; what do you like. I mean when it comes down to it, it’s what do you like and the durability is really going to work itself out in the end.
GABRIELLA: OK, yeah. I mean I do want something nice; you know that’s comfortable, that’ll last a while. But in conversation with my husband, he’s like, ‘Well, a sink is a sink and the water will come out and it’ll drain and …’ (audio gap) (chuckles). And I see his point but …
TOM: Well, you know what?
GABRIELLA: … the look and the appeal of it is …
TOM: Sure, you want to invest in good-quality products. They are going to give you a good return on investment. You know, a sink – yes, all sinks hold water; some look a little more stylish than others; some wear better than others; and especially the plumbing fixtures themselves. You know, there’s a big difference between a good-quality faucet from Moen and one that perhaps is from some lesser manufacturer. They look good and they last for a long time. There’s nothing like having ceramic valves, for example, that are not going to leak.
GABRIELLA: Right.
TOM: Alright, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: David in Tennessee is just having a hard time getting enough hot water in his house. What can we do for you today?
DAVID: I was wondering – I live in a real small house and my water heater is in the closet and I was wanting to take it out and put it in a crawlspace; maybe buy one of those low-profile hot water heaters. And another thing too, my house only has half-inch pipe. It’s an older house. I was wondering if you could suggest anything.
TOM: Well, what’s the problem you’re trying to deal with here, David? Is the fact that it takes a long time for your water to get hot in the different fixtures?
DAVID: Yes.
TOM: Well – but changing the size of your water heater is not going to fix that; changing the location could. For example, if you had a water heater that was closer to your bathroom, then obviously the bathroom would get the water quicker than it did if it was farther away from the bathroom. And so, one of the advantages of, for example, a tankless water heater, is that they’re small so you can fit them in more spaces closer to the place that you actually want to use that. But to make that change, you’d have to zone the water. So in other words, if you had two of them in your house, you’d have to have two separate loops of water.
So I think if you’re asking ‘How can I get the water quicker?’; unfortunately, that requires physically moving the water heater closer to where you want to use it.
DAVID: OK. Thank you. I love your show.
TOM: Well, thank you so much.
LESLIE: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show.
I’m sure this has happened to you because it happens to me quite often. I always forget to check the pockets when I’m doing the laundry and a stray crayon or a pen; anything that is guaranteed to melt and stain ends up in my pockets and then goes through the wash and not only ruins my clothes but the dryer as well. It’s probably happened to you and if it hasn’t, it will; so you need to know this. When we come back, we’re going to tell you how to wash your dryer; 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: Put down the tools and step away from the project; not before you pick up the phone and call us. Let us help you get the job done because this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: And here’s a project. Have you ever opened your clothes dryer and realized, to your horror, that you didn’t quite check all of the pockets?
LESLIE: Yes.
TOM: It’s quite a shock to see that ink, lipstick, crayon – you name it – big, stinking mess all over your clothes. What’s worse are the stains on your dryer tumbler; the thing that tumbles those clothes around. That will get on all of your successive loads. So you need to make sure it’s clean. To make sure you know how to do that, we’re going to give you this tip.
You want to apply a mild abrasive or a laundry stain treatment to the affected area. That actually will strip it away. Wipe it down with a damp cloth then dry a load of old towels or rags for about 25 minutes. This actually cleans the dryer drum. These steps are going to remove that stain and even if a little mark remains on the tumbler, the color will not transfer onto your crystal clean laundry again.
LESLIE: (chuckling) And you know what? If you don’t have old towels or old rags lying around, just use all the clothes that you totally ruined (Tom chuckles) and wash (laughs) …
TOM: Because it can’t get any worse.
LESLIE: Yeah, totally. And once – you know it’s like always; once you put something through the dryer, that stain is set in there. So it’s like kiss all those things goodbye. Clearly, I have had issues. Pens and highlighters have always been the number one thing. After Tom and I finish a record session, pens go into the pocket; then laundry gets done and so on and so forth. It is a vicious cycle. (Tom chuckles)
Well, if you liked that tip, you are going to love all the stuff that you can get at MoneyPit.com. We have a treasure trove of resources waiting for you. You can check out our tip of the day and learn how to get a new one every, single day on your own website. And you can look up our project of the week and you can even get a monthly maintenance calendar that’s going to give you your home’s to-do list. It’s like your home asking for help. ‘Help me with this. Change my filter. Do all these things.’ It comes to you all month long, one weekend at a time; you will get this maintenance calendar and it will be a huge help to you and your money pit.
TOM: It’s all free. Keep your home humming. Learn how at MoneyPit.com.
Let’s get back to the phones. 888-666-3974.
Who’s next?
LESLIE: Heading down to the basement with Dwight in Wyoming. What’s going on at your money pit?
DWIGHT: My question was regarding the enamel chipping off a sink. We have bought a house built back in probably the late – early 60s, late 50s; the basement was.
TOM: OK.
DWIGHT: The enamel is chipping off around the overflow hole in the front of the sink and we just want to know if there’s any way – we can’t find a way out there to get that stopped or to patch it or repair it somewhere.
TOM: Dwight, you know there’s actually a product that’s designed specifically for that and it’s typically an enamel or a porcelain repair compound. It’ll also work on fiberglass and acrylic surfaces. They’re available online; number of websites. One that has a lot of products that do this is called Surface-Repair.com and there’s a repair kit that’s a paste and there’s also sort of a nick-fix for something that’s not quite as deep. If it’s a real deep gouge; a big, deep chip, then you want to use the paste. If it’s not that deep you can use the enamel nick-fix which is more like a paint; kind of like a touch-up paint for your car. But either of those products will fix this and the idea here is to really – just to seal the surface so that the rust stops deteriorating the metal and then lifting off more of the porcelain surface.
DWIGHT: OK. Can you get that in a color?
LESLIE: It comes in several colors. It comes in tones of white; sort of like an almond, a bone. There’s like that quintessential 70s avocado green and gold and also black.
DWIGHT: Alright, well thank you very much. I will sure enough give this – look this up on the web and see if I can’t figure it out.
TOM: Alright, Dwight, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Now we’re going to talk to Kay in Virginia who needs some help with a basement. What’s going on?
KAY: Hi, thank you for taking my call. My issue is with my unsealed concrete basement floor.
TOM: OK.
KAY: I had a sick cat in the basement for, actually, a couple of months; who tended to miss the litter box on a couple occasions and …
TOM: OK, enough said. We got it. (Tom and Leslie chuckle)
KAY: No, but it’s – I’ve been able to clean up the debris, so to speak, but – and I’ve sprayed the floor with …
LESLIE: But it’s the odor, right?
KAY: Yes. So I still have the odor and I still have the stains that won’t go away.
LESLIE: OK. Are you willing to paint or finish the concrete floor when you’re done removing the odor?
KAY: I can certainly paint.
LESLIE: OK. What you want to do – there’s a product that I’ve used when we were training a puppy and she wasn’t very well-behaved and carpeting and yada-yada-yada, It’s called Just Rite; it’s R-i-t-e. Right?
TOM: Yes, correct.
LESLIE: JustRite.com is the website. And it comes in like a set. It’s a couple of different products that you use together and basically it’s an enzyme that kills this bacteria that’s living in the concrete, causing the odor to constantly be there. So if you do the process, it’ll make that odor completely go away.
Now once that odor is gone, you’re probably still going to – you may still have some remnants of the stain. If that’s the case, I would use like an epoxy coating on that floor. It’s going to finish really nicely on the concrete. It’ll hide the stains. It’ll wear very, very well; it’s very durable. And it comes in one kit, so it’s very easy to install.
KAY: Wow, that sounds like a great – I can do that. I can do that myself.
TOM: Yeah, the product actually is called 1-2-3 ODOR FREE and, again, the website is JustRite.com.
KAY: Alright. Listen, I really appreciate it. Thank you guys very much.
TOM: You’re welcome, Kay. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well, it is election season; or the silly season, as Tom and I like to call it. (Tom chuckles) And we are full of it. You keep hearing promises, promises. It is the mantra of both candidates right now and especially with just days left for some last-minute campaigning – don’t forget November 4th; go out there and vote – if you want to know how your candidate’s policies are going to impact you and your money pit, we are going to spell it out for you, next. So stick around.
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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 and the number here is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. That’s 1-888-666-3974. And if we answer your home improvement question on the air, you are automatically entered into our random prize drawing and this hour we are giving away a set of three rakes from Ames True Temper. They are worth 50 bucks and, believe me; at this time of year, you will find a chore for each and every rake that you will win. (Tom chuckles) But you got to be in it to win it, so pick up the phone and give us a call and remember to ask us your home improvement question.
TOM: Well, November means last-minute campaigning and more policy promises from both camps and the candidate who ends up in the White House is going to have a direct impact on your white house or your blue house or your yellow house or whatever color house you have, in terms of taxes and energy resources and financial protection. That’s why, in the next edition of The Money Pit’s free e-newsletter, we’re going to look at those promises from both sides and let you compare them line by line. Sign up for the free newsletter now, if you don’t already get it, at MoneyPit.com. We’re going to keep your e-mail address totally confidential and you will enjoy the next edition of our newsletter.
888-666-3974. Leslie, who’s next?
LESLIE: Heading up north to our friends in Canada where we’ve got Gary on the line. Gary, what can we do for you today?
GARY: I’ve got a linoleum floor …
TOM and LESLIE: OK.
GARY: … and I bought my wife a bike trainer and it had these nice things to protect the floor; made out of rubber.
TOM: Aha. Let me guess.
GARY: (chuckling) I knew Tom was going to say that. (chuckles)
TOM: You have a nasty stain now where that rubber was pressed into the linoleum. Is that correct?
GARY: Yes, it is.
TOM: Yeah, what you’ve experienced here, Gary, unfortunately, is a chemical reaction between the different types of materials that has changed the composition of the linoleum (audio gap) Now there’s an idea.
LESLIE: Without a rubber backing.
TOM: Now normally we hear the same story when people buy the rubber-backed like …
LESLIE: Bath mats.
TOM: … bath mats or the little soft mat that goes in front of your kitchen sink where you stand to wash dishes all the time.
GARY: Yeah.
TOM: And they peel that up after a couple of months and find the discoloration. Whenever you put those two materials together – in fact, some of the manufacturers will actually warn against this particular condition; you really have to be very, very careful. But you could use a throw rug; perhaps one that doesn’t have a rubber back. (chuckles)
LESLIE: Or a Sharpie. (chuckles)
TOM: (laughs) Or a Sharpie, yeah. (Gary chuckles) And that’ll [solve it] (ph). But the good news is your wife is in good shape, right? (Leslie chuckles) She’s getting lots of exercise on that thing.
GARY: (inaudible at 0:28:17.1), yeah. Yeah. Only problem is, this is an apartment. (Leslie groans)
TOM: Uh-oh.
GARY: Yeah.
TOM: So you could be held responsible for the damage, huh?
GARY: Yep.
TOM: Big throw rug, Gary. Big throw rug.
LESLIE: When you are moving out and you get that final sort of bye-bye …
GARY: Yeah.
LESLIE: … make sure you both stand over the stains. (Gary chuckles)
TOM: (laughing) Gary, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Heading over to Texas to chat with Susie about flooring. I hear you’ve got a situation where the floors are falling apart. What’s going on, Susie?
SUSIE: Yes, we put down some ceramic Italian white slate from Lowe’s; about 1,700 square feet of it. It was supposed to be high-grade – grade four – high traffic. We have no children. We have no traffic. It is pitting just terrible …
TOM: Hmm.
SUSIE: … and when it pits, underneath – evidently because the color doesn’t go all the way through – what I’m seeing is the red clay look underneath.
TOM: Hmm, so this is like a painted kind of a slate?
SUSIE: I’m assuming it is.
TOM: Yeah. Do you know what the manufacturer was?
SUSIE: I don’t. I’ve still got a box of it. I just don’t know what to do.
LESLIE: I mean it sounds like whatever surface coating that was baked onto there – because that’s essentially what it must be; it must be some sort of a glazed tile –
TOM: Is failing.
SUSIE: Yes, OK.
LESLIE: – is not sticking.
TOM: Right.
SUSIE: Right.
TOM: And there’s no easy solution there. How long has this floor been down?
SUSIE: This floor has been down a total of three years.
TOM: Here’s what I would do. I would get out that box of the unused tile.
SUSIE: Right.
TOM: I would go back to the manufacturer; contact them directly.
LESLIE: If they’re still in business.
TOM: (chuckles) Let’s hope they are. Contact them directly. Find out what the warranty is on there. Perhaps you can get in touch with them; send some photos and see what they have to say about it. Because it sounds like you’ve got a bad finish on that.
SUSIE: Possibly. Can I restain the whole floor; the grout and the tile?
TOM: Hmm, don’t know. Don’t know. Depends on what the material is. There are concrete stains that probably could be used for this but you really have to test it out on something first; and perhaps, if you’ve got some extra tile, you could do that.
LESLIE: I wouldn’t do anything before I contacted the manufacturer.
TOM: Yeah, I wouldn’t go experimenting.
SUSIE: Alright. And my last question is for – can I put a wood floor, laminate, down on top of this?
TOM: Yes. Yes. You would use an engineered hardwood or you could use a laminate floor; either product would be fine. You don’t have to take up the old tile; it can float right on top of that. Just remember, you’re going to be a little bit higher. You’re going to have to do some trimming where it hits the walls. But that’s a good solution.
SUSIE: That’s not a problem. And we just put in the Rheem tankless and we love it.
LESLIE: Yeah.
TOM: Wow, fantastic.
SUSIE: I am shocked. You know it’s the size of two shoeboxes.
TOM: I know; it’s so tiny, right?
LESLIE: Dude, they’re little.
SUSIE: It’s just incredible.
TOM: And have you ever run out of hot water since you put in the Rheem?
SUSIE: Only if you run out of cold water. (laughter) And then you’re really in trouble. (chuckles)
TOM: That’s right.
SUSIE: Oh, we love it. Thank you. Love your show.
TOM: Susie, that’s fantastic. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
Well, if you’d like to cut some energy costs this winter, insulation is probably the number one way to do just that as well as to reduce your carbon footprint. We’re going to tell you how to figure out exactly how much insulation you need in your money pit, next.
(theme song)
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: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: Pick up the phone or head on over to MoneyPit.com and ask us your home improvement question. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. If you’d like to reach us online, head on over to MoneyPit.com and click on Ask Tom and Leslie just like Kirk did.
LESLIE: Alright, Kirk writes: ‘I’m looking at adding insulation to my attic. OwensCorning.com recommends r49; however, the closest I can find is r38 and that’s 12 inches thick, which almost doubles the height of my rafters. Is it OK to go higher than my rafters? If so, how do I walk through my attic without being able to see the rafters? You might want to know I currently have three inches of blown insulation in my attic.’ Wow, if that’s all you’ve got, Kirk, it’s super-great that you’re thinking of making these changes.
TOM: Yeah, that’s not much and before we enter the insulation question, we should probably straighten you out on the nomenclature here. I think you’re talking about your floor joists, not your rafters; otherwise you would be hanging from those rafters (Leslie chuckles) because that is what is supporting your roof. Now we understand why you’re confused.
When it comes to the insulation, it’s a really good improvement though; I will say that.
LESLIE: Yeah, and especially this winter we’re looking at super-high heating costs; you know upwards of 20 percent increase. So it really is a good decision, Kirk, especially if you’ve only got that three inches; you really are smart to add more. If you can see the joists on your attic floor, you don’t have enough insulation and the Department of Energy updated it’s insulation recommendations to an r value of 60, which means if you’ve got fiberglass batt insulation you want 19 inches and if you’ve got blown-in insulation you want 22 inches; which you are lacking, friend.
TOM: And there are a couple of options to make sure that you have that much. First of all, if you go with the blown-in option, you can actually do that yourself. You mentioned Owens Corning before. They’ve actually got a new machine, Leslie, that I saw at the remodeler show not too long ago which is called the Attic Cat; the Owens Corning Attic Cat. It basically allows you to blow insulation into your attic kind of on your own. You could check your local Depot or Lowe’s to see if they have one those …
LESLIE: So it’s a rental.
TOM: … that you could actually rent and do your own blown-in insulation.
If you want to go with batt insulation, you can use unfaced insulation and that’s real important. You don’t want to use anything that’s got a vapor barrier on it because that will trap moisture. You want to leave it nice and fresh. So you could use like about 16 inches of Owens Corning pink unfaced batt insulation which will give you the r60 altogether.
Now, that does mean that you will not see those joists but that’s OK. If you want to see the joist; if you want to save some area for storage, do that sort of in the middle of your attic. Sort of carve that out; have less insulation in just the area where you want to store. But in the other area, make sure you have plenty of insulation because that’s really going to save you a lot of money on your heating costs.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm, and when you’re working over this insulation, it’s OK to use temporary flooring. Planks or plywood are great to help you find some footing. And it’s OK to step on the insulation if you have to; but if you do, make sure you sort of fluff it back up when you’re done because otherwise, if you squish it, it’s not going to provide you the r value that you need.
TOM: And speaking of insulation, I’ve got a new column coming up this week on AOL. It’s called Button Up: Caulking, Weatherstripping and Insulating and it’s available right now at my page on AOL and that’s at MoneyPit.AOL.com.
LESLIE: You know, I think it’s so important that everybody thinks about the insulation because you know the attic is sort of like the hat on your head. It keeps all the heat in your house; it keeps your house cool in the summer months. So it’s so important to go up into your attic; look at your situation; address any sort of lack you might have in the insulation in your own home and it will really make a huge difference. Everybody’s being so smart about (audio gap) energy bills.
TOM: Just remember what your mom always used to say: always wear a hat when you go outside. (Leslie chuckles)
This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Thank you so much for spending this hour with us.
If you’d like more information about any of the topics we chatted about on this program, you can head on over to our website at MoneyPit.com where the show continues online.
I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself …
LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone.
END
TRANSCRIPT FOR OCTOBER 27, 2008, HOUR 2
Hosts: Tom Kraeutler & Leslie Segrete
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: And your home improvement projects just got easier. Pick up the phone and call us right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. We’re here to help you get those projects done around your house. What are you doing? What are you working on? What would you like to get done before you start paying those super-high energy bills? Maybe you want to insulate. Maybe you want to weatherstrip. Maybe you want to get rid of that front door that’s been leaking and drafty and blowing wind right through your house. We can help you with all those projects and much, much more if you pick up the phone and call us right now at 888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974.
Now, maybe you’ve already done all those projects and your house is really sealed up and nice and tight. Well, if that’s the case, we’re going to tell you about radon gas (Leslie chuckles), because that’s the kind of people we are. We love to spread happy news. You know, it’s a bad gas …
LESLIE: We like to scare you stiff.
TOM: … this radon stuff and if you do have a particularly tight house or if you do happen to have a high radon level in your house, it can be very unsafe. So coming up this hour, we’re going to tell you how to get to the bottom of that home improvement project and get rid of it once and for all.
LESLIE: Yeah, and I think it’s also a really important test that you should be doing if you spend a lot of time in your home’s basement. You know, you’re taking over extra space because you’re certainly not moving; you’re staying where you are. So if you spend a lot of time in the underground area of your house, you definitely want to look into the radon level of your home.
And while we’re on the topic of home safety, we’re going to be talking about fall prevention, a little later this hour, with the president of the Home Safety Council because falls at home are the number one reason that people end up in the emergency room. We’re going to hear about some solutions for these potentially dangerous areas in your home.
TOM: And one of those areas is carpeting, which can be a super trip hazard. So if you want to go in a different way, we’ve got a great idea for you: wood floors that you paint. This is actually a really cool look. You know I’ve got a hundred-year-old home here and we painted the wood floors upstairs and they stayed that way for years and they looked fantastic.
LESLIE: It really looks great.
TOM: We’re going to tell you exactly how to tackle that project so that the paint will stay on for as long as you need it to. It looks really good. In fact, you can actually paint on some pretty cool effects to make it even look like it has a carpet or an area rug, using some of those stencils that I know I’ve seen you use on some of your television shows.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm, it’s a great project and it really does look fantastic on any floor anywhere in your house. And here at The Money Pit, we love to give away prizes; and so this hour, we’re giving away some GE Caulk Singles. They’re worth 50 bucks and they are a quick and easy way to use caulk without that pesky old gun that ends up wasting every bit that’s left in that tube.
TOM: So let’s get to it. The number is 888-666-3974.
Leslie, who’s first?
LESLIE: Well, if you’re thinking about finishing your basement, you’re like our friend Robin in New Hampshire. What can we do for you?
ROBIN: Hi, we are going to be finishing the basement – probably most of the work ourselves – and I thought I heard you talk about not doing a treatment for waterproofing. We had about six inches of water in our basement a couple of years ago when everybody was getting wet basements. What would you recommend? Because it was coming right through the cement walls.
TOM: Yeah, what we would recommend is a multistep process. First of all, when your basement floods consistent with heavy rainfall, which is generally what’s happening when everybody is getting wet basements, you want to look outside your house first. Look at the grading and the drainage at the foundation perimeter; the immediate four to six feet around the outside of your house. Start at the roof. Look at the gutter system – make sure it’s clean; make sure the downspouts …
ROBIN: We have no gutters.
LESLIE: That’s part of the problem.
TOM: Well, therein lies the big problem, OK.
ROBIN: (chuckling) OK, we’ve got to get them.
TOM: You need to have gutters because otherwise you’re dumping all the water off the roof edge …
LESLIE: Directly on the foundation.
TOM: … at that backfill perimeter where the house was once dug up and then the foundation built and then the dirt pushed back in. Well, that’s very, very absorbent and if that water is being dropped off the roof onto the foundation perimeter, it’s going to go right through the walls. No wonder your basement’s leaking. If I wanted to make a basement leak, I would take the gutters off the house. (Leslie chuckles)
ROBIN: Oh, OK. (chuckles) (inaudible 0:04:22.8)
LESLIE: Or you would take gutters that are on the house and fill them up with a lot of junk …
TOM: That’s right.
LESLIE: … so that nothing can get through it.
TOM: Yeah. Robin, get gutters on the house and make sure the downspouts are extended away from the foundation perimeter. And the fact that you had no gutters and only had one wet basement in all this time, that’s not so bad. That actually is very surprising. So I suspect that just having a gutter system on your house is going to fix this once and for all.
The other things to do, while you’re at it, are to make sure that the soil slopes away from the wall at the outside; it’s not too flat. You don’t want the soil to slope into it. If you’ve got to improve it, you add clean fill dirt and slope that away. But those two things will solve the majority of wet basement problems and you’re right, you don’t need to put in basement waterproofing systems; you don’t need to dig up foundations; you don’t need to break up slab floors in basements and put in drains and sump pumps and all that. That is all a waste of money, in our opinion. You can solve most wet basements just by cleaning your gutters and regrading the foundation perimeter.
ROBIN: Great, thank you very much.
TOM: You’re welcome, Robin. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Bill in Texas needs some help with a cracked tile. What’s going on at your money pit?
BILL: About six years ago I added a 15×15-foot room to my house and the concrete slab of that room is attached to the slab of the house. And then we laid one foot-square ceramic tiles on both the floors and the tiles went right across that joint. And then about three years later or three years ago, a hairline appeared in those tiles right over that joint …
TOM: Yep.
BILL: … and over the three years, that crack has increased about 1/32 of an inch; which doesn’t sound large but it looks big.
TOM: (chuckles) Yeah, and it’s annoying I bet, too.
BILL: Yeah, I plan to take those tiles out and cut them – cut new tiles – and put them in so that the grout joint between the tiles is right over that slab joint. Is that the right thing to do? Is there something else that I should do to help that situation so I don’t have trouble?
TOM: No, you’re absolutely right. Because you’re getting some movement between the old and the new parts of the building and you’re always going to have that movement. That’s a very normal thing to happen, Bill. So you want to work with it. Your idea of taking the old tiles out and perhaps doing a different tile pattern there, where you do have a grout joint over that seam, will help. You are going to have some movement there still and you are going to get, still, a bit of a crack there. There’s pretty much nothing that you can do about that that’s going to stop that …
BILL: OK.
TOM: … you know unless you did some real major work, which we wouldn’t recommend.
BILL: No.
TOM: But putting the seam there would make a difference.
BILL: OK, well that sounds good. Thirty-secondth of an inch isn’t too terrible in three years, so I guess maybe I’m going to come out OK.
TOM: There are people – as hard as this may be to believe, there are people in America that have bigger home improvement problems than you, Bill. (Tom and Leslie laugh)
BILL: Oh, I – oh no, I hear what you’re saying. Listen, I appreciate you all so much. Listen to your show every Sunday and really do love it.
LESLIE: Thanks, Bill.
TOM: Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: You are tuned to the Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Pick up the phone and let us know what you are working on because you can call in your home repair or your home improvement question 24 hours a day, seven days a week, whenever you happen to encounter that debacle or something breaks or you suddenly get an idea. Well, we are here to help you sort through it all at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
TOM: 888-666-3974.
Up next, we’re going to talk about radon. It’s a gas that makes its way into your home from the soil underneath it and it can be very dangerous. So how do you know if you need to be worried? We’re going to tell you how to get to the bottom of that home improvement challenge, 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. Besides getting the answer to your home improvement question, one caller we talk to this hour is going to win a $50 prize package from GE Caulk Singles. These are those single-use squeeze packs of caulk. They’re going to make your caulking jobs easier around the house. It’s as easy as tear, squeeze and toss and you won’t need to struggle with a caulking gun. Lots of projects that you can use that for; bathroom, windows, doors, you name it. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Alright, well we here at team Money Pit, we always think about doing things that are safe for you and your home and making important decisions and adjustments to your house that keep you and your family in good health and in good situations. And if you spend any time in your home’s basement, you need to make sure that you test for radon. I’m sort of in denial about this; I, who spend a majority of my lifetime in my basement – my money pit – because that’s where my home office is and I do work from home and I’m down there all the time and it’s just sort of something that I’m afraid of. And it’s a gas, this radon, that forms naturally in the soil and it’s known to cause cancer. I mean it’s a pretty serious thing. All you have to do is pay 15 bucks for a do-it-yourself test kit. Now is the perfect time of year to do it because you close all the windows and you sort of open this canister and then it does its magic as long as you’re just opening doors for entrances and exits; it’s not like you want to do it in the summer when you’ve got windows open.
If you want to do it by a pro, it’s about 100 bucks. When you get the results, if you find that you’ve got a four or more picocuries-per-liter of air, you’re going to need to install a radon mitigation system and that’s going to vent the radon under your home to the outside safely and make it safe for you and your family to spend time in your home’s basement.
TOM: Yeah, and those systems are actually not too expensive. You wouldn’t see your home’s value drop, either; because potential buyers will see that the mitigation system is a good thing because it’s in, it’s working and it’s protecting the house.
888-666-3974. Let’s get back to the phones.
LESLIE: Now we’re going to talk to Jeff in Minnesota about a plumbing situation at his home.
JEFF: Yeah, I’ve got an older house. My water out of the sink runs really slow but the water in the tub …
TOM: (overlapping voices) Now is it just the one sink?
JEFF: Yes.
TOM: Is it just the one sink or is it all of the fixtures in the house?
JEFF: No, just one sink.
TOM: OK, what kind of water lines do you have? How old is your house?
JEFF: 1920.
TOM: Ah. So you probably have steel water lines. Is that correct?
JEFF: Yes, sir.
TOM: And have you replaced any of those steel pipes?
JEFF: No.
TOM: Hmm. You know, 80-year-old pipes tend to rust internally and they sort of shut down, like a clogged artery. And typically, it’s the horizontal ones that go first and the vertical ones that go second. So I hate to kind of go right to the most expensive possible problem here but that may very well be it if you’ve got 80-year-old pipes in the house that are steel. If you had copper, we wouldn’t be talking about this.
One of the things I’d like you to try at this particular – is it just a sink or is it a sink and a tub? What is it?
JEFF: Sink.
TOM: Just a sink? OK. Have you tried taking the aerator off of the faucet?
JEFF: Yes.
TOM: And that doesn’t change anything?
JEFF: No.
TOM: OK. And have you made sure that the water lines are fully open at the supply line into the sink itself?
JEFF: Right, and it’s only the hot water; not the cold water.
TOM: It’s only the …
JEFF: The cold water runs fine.
TOM: Mm-hmm.
JEFF: Hot water is slow.
TOM: Alright. So you made sure that the line was fully open?
JEFF: Right, yes.
TOM: And the nearest bathroom to this particular – the nearest other place that hot water is used to the one where it’s very, very slow coming out of the pipes; does that seem to be fine and how far away is that?
JEFF: Five feet.
TOM: Ah. OK. Good chance you have a bad valve here. If you’ve got another faucet five feet away that’s working fine, good chance you have a bad valve that’s just not opening up. Sometimes when you have older plumbing, you think that the valve is opened all the way up and really it’s kind of stuck halfway open or something like that. I’d take a look at that next; perhaps replace the valve and see if that does it.
JEFF: OK. OK, thank you.
TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that home improvement project, Jeff. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Jeanette in Utah needs some help putting up some wallpaper. Tell us about your project.
JEANETTE: First of all, it’s an eight-foot – I mean a ten-foot ceiling. And the house is over 100 years old and it has layers and layers of wallpaper already. And so I’m not sure how to, first of all, get it straight with that tall of a ceiling and do I need to peel off the layers and layers of wallpaper.
LESLIE: Hmm. In what condition is the wallpaper that is currently on your wall? Is it really super-duper-duper stuck there and there’s like nothing peeling or falling away?
JEANETTE: It’s dated and it’s starting to peel.
LESLIE: In my own home, I wallpapered over wallpaper. I made sure I got a super-sticky adhesive and it’s worked fantastically well; knock on wood. I haven’t seen anything peeling up; I haven’t seen any changes; I haven’t seen anything. And that wallpaper was in very good condition. It was stuck on there very, very well. We had a couple of places where there were tears and peels only because of moving incidents or the previous owners had some children that may have peeled at a seam here and there and it is currently adhering very well and we’ve had it for a year now.
So I say if the base is sturdy and adhered well, you can absolutely wallpaper over it. Because especially dealing with so many layers; if you try to strip, it’s going to take ages and ages and ages.
JEANETTE: OK. Well, that’s great.
TOM: Alright, Jeanette. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Heading over to Illinois; Theresa, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you today?
THERESA: We have a problem with ants and recently we’ve had a lot of rain and we just see them coming into our house and I’ve sprayed and in the past that seemed to take care of them but now they just keep finding different ways to come in and I don’t know if we should start looking at getting someone in here to take care of that professionally or if it might just be the weather is driving them in or if you have any suggestions.
TOM: You know, it sounds like the ants really like your house, Theresa. (Leslie chuckles) What are you serving there?
THERESA: (inaudible at 0:14:31.3)
LESLIE: (chuckling) Stop making it so inviting.
THERESA: Yeah. (chuckles) Not good.
TOM: If you’re really being overrun with them, the best thing for you to do is to have a professional come in and put the appropriate product down. Because if you continue to use over-the-counter products, you’re going to probably over-apply them and that actually can be less safe than having a pro come in that knows just the right product, to put it down once, put it down right and not put it down again. And that’s the best way to get long-term satisfaction. Plus, many of the insecticides that go down today basically create barriers where these things won’t come back. I mean they affect just the insect they’re designed to affect and they’re very social systems, in the sense that once they get on one insect they pass to the other and pretty much wipes out the entire infestation.
LESLIE: Yeah, and a pro is going to know exactly where to look for wherever this ant nest might be; where they’re coming from; where they’re coming into. So they’re going to know the tricks of the trade to sort of help you stop it once and for all.
THERESA: OK, and so like this time of year would be a good time to do that? I didn’t know if in the spring would be better or just as soon as possible might be good.
TOM: It depends. Do you want to live with them all winter long? (Leslie chuckles)
THERESA: So as soon as possible is what you’re saying? OK. (Theresa chuckles)
LESLIE: (chuckling) Yes.
TOM: (laughs) I’d get right to it. Theresa, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Dean in Idaho needs some help with a project in the bathroom. What’s going on?
DEAN: Yeah, I have a manufactured home and I had to replace the shower manifold. And it got some like wallpaper on 3/8-inch drywall board and it’s been discontinued and I can no longer get it but the drywall has been ruined.
TOM: Well, so you had a prefinished wallboard, essentially is what you’re saying and had a wallpaper attached to the drywall. Is that correct?
DEAN: Yes, yes.
TOM: And the drywall – I mean the wallpaper surface is in bad condition, correct?
DEAN: Correct.
TOM: So what you can do is think about actually putting a second layer of new drywall over that. You can use some very thin drywall – the 3/8-inch material is fine – essentially sandwiching the old stuff. Then you can tape and spackle and pretty much start from scratch right there; add wallpaper, paint it – you know, whatever you want to do.
The other thing that you might want to look at is some of the high-tech panelings that are out today because they’re actually quite attractive. And again, they could go right on top. They have cool, new finishes; they’re not that expensive. And that’s two ways that you could dress up that space.
LESLIE: You know, there’s also something interesting. When you spoke about textured wallpaper and the texture already being on the wallboard in this manufactured home, there’s a product called Anaglypta paper, which is essentially a textured wallpaper (audio gap) walls.com. And Anaglypta is spelled A-n-a-g-l-y-p-t-a and there might be something there that matches.
TOM: Was that the word you used when you won that spelling bee?
LESLIE: Possibly.
TOM: (chuckles) There you go, Dean; three options to help you out. 888-666-3974.
LESLIE: Ginny in Pennsylvania, welcome to The Money Pit. How are you today?
GINNY: Fine, thank you, and you?
LESLIE: Great. Tell us what’s going on at your money pit?
GINNY: I have a concrete breezeway and there’s a damaged place in it and I need to kind of fill it and then I want to paint the breezeway.
TOM: OK.
GINNY: What can I fill that with?
TOM: You’re going to want to use an epoxy patching compound; available at a home center or a hardware store. It will stick properly to the concrete. Then, after it dries, then you can paint the whole concrete surface again with an epoxy paint.
GINNY: And it’s not going to chip out or …?
TOM: It will not chip out.
GINNY: Oh, that’s great.
TOM: As opposed to using a concrete patch, which could chip out. You want to make sure it’s an epoxy-based patching compound. It’s designed specifically to stick to the old concrete.
GINNY: Can you do the same thing with a crack in the concrete, like in the sidewalk?
TOM: Yes, you certainly can do the same thing to a sidewalk crack as well.
GINNY: OK, well I thank you very much and I enjoy your program.
TOM: Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Up next, it’s the number one home accident. It sends Americans to emergency rooms every year. What are we talking about? It’s falls.
LESLIE: And to prevent falling, you know there are so many places in your home that you could make safer. We’re going to tell you all of those, next.
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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 now that the cooler weather is upon us and we’re spending a lot more time indoors, you need to be cautious about a potential injury that could occur. You know, there’s one home injury that sends more people to the emergency room than any other each year. And would you believe that it’s accidental falls? More than five million Americans are hurt during falls at home every, single year and falls kill 6,000 Americans a year in their own homes.
TOM: If you’re wondering if your home has trip-and-fall hazards, it most likely does. But being aware of the most vulnerable spots can help increase the safety in your own house. Joining us to tell us what to look out for is Meri-K Appy. She’s president of the Home Safety Council.
Hi, Meri-K.
MERI-K: Hi, guys. Thank you so much for having me back.
TOM: Some of this research always seems so obvious after the fact but why is that we still continue to have these staggering number of fall injuries every year?
MERI-K: Well, I think people like to think of their homes as the very safest place they can be but, as I’ve shared with your listeners before, every year there are some 20,000 deaths and more than 21 million medical visits that occur because of accidents. This happens, obviously, when people are distracted, rushing around, doing what we do at home and not really thinking that something as simple as clutter on the stairwell could result in a really serious fall.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
MERI-K: So part of it has to do with putting things on the radar screen so folks know where to look to find the leading culprits and then just taking a few minutes to fix them.
LESLIE: Well, and also I find things that perhaps I’m used to in my home – like I know the area rug by my front door; I don’t have an antiskid mat underneath it but I know that it’s slippery and I pay extra attention. But I forget that people coming in, who aren’t aware, might not see it. And now that I have the newborn, you know when I’m holding him and walking around, suddenly I have a whole new perspective of things that …
MERI-K: That’s right. It’s a brand new world for you.
LESLIE: It really is. So I’m really starting to really take a look at what I can do.
Now where should I start, regardless? Is it more important if you have young children or older adults in the house or is it really all-encompassing for every member of the home to make things safe?
MERI-K: Falls are something that can happen to anybody, but you’ve named the two highest-risk groups; the very young and the very old. For babies, when you’re talking about your newborn, it’s one thing when they’re not moving around very much but as soon as they start to crawl or even begin to kind of teeter, you want to get ahead of things. So now would be a great time for you to
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