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: It’s a new year. And we’ve got new ideas; you’ve got new projects. Call us right now; we will tackle them together. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974. Welcome to this hour of the program.
Hey, coming up, if you’ve picked up a new flat-screen TV or furniture as a holiday gift, keep this in mind: hundreds of kids are injured every year from furniture that tips over. We’re going to have some ideas on how you can anchor that large furniture onto the wall and avoid a preventable problem.
LESLIE: And if making New Year’s resolutions is something that you dread, instead of making promises to yourself, you might want to consider making resolutions that are a lot easier to keep and those that will help improve your home. We’re going to tell you what to resolve to do in the new year that will save you money and keep your home humming.
TOM: And this hour we’re giving away a very cool prize. It’s the Seek Compact Thermal Camera that you can plug into your smartphone and check out what’s behind the walls, in terms of energy loss. It will help with many DIY projects.
It’s worth 249 bucks. Going out to one caller drawn at random from those that reach us for today’s show, so let’s get to it. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
Leslie, who’s first?
LESLIE: Jan in California is having a wallpaper-removal situation. Tell us what’s going on.
JAN: Hi. Been removing wallpaper and repapering for 50 years and never come across where you take the wallpaper off and it looks like there’s a paper lining behind it. I’ve had some people tell me that this is a filler for the texturing so the wallpaper looks smooth. And others tell me that it’s a liner and it fills the whole wall with pencil lines where the wallpaper goes. I don’t want to damage the sheetrock that’s underneath, so I’m a little leery about taking that off or leaving it on or what I should do with it.
TOM: So your end game is to get down to the drywall?
JAN: Well, it doesn’t have to be if I can texture over what’s there. But it’s almost like a paper and I don’t know if we can put the mud and everything on that.
TOM: If it’s adhered well, then I don’t see why you couldn’t texture over it. Do you want to use a textured paint?
JAN: No, I want to use the texture that I’ve had on the other walls.
TOM: The key here is whether or not the surface that you’ve exposed is well-adhered to the drywall underneath. If it’s well-adhered, then you can go ahead and put your texture over that. If it’s not, then your texture could be on there for a couple of months and it could start falling off in chunks when that backer paper pulls off. As long as it’s well-adhered, then I don’t see any reason you can’t go on top of it, Jan.
JAN: OK. I appreciate you and enjoy your program all the time.
TOM: Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Greg in Iowa is on the line and he’s dealing with a radon situation. Tell us what’s going on.
GREG: Well, my wife and I are in the process of buying a home and we’re in the process of closing on this home. And when we – gone through the whole process of buying it and everything, we had to have an initial – we decided to have an inspection done. And then at the end of this inspection, where they go over everything mechanical and about the house and everything, they then offered a radon test to be done. And I had heard about the test and read about the test and figured it was a good idea to have it done. It was $100, which was pretty cheap compared to what we found out.
And I guess what I’m trying to find out from you all is – in Iowa, they say that there’s 70 to 71 percent of the homes in Iowa have a radon problem.
TOM: OK. Now, you had a radon test done. What did the level come back at?
GREG: It came back at 18.
TOM: OK. So 18 picocuries?
GREG: Yes.
TOM: So 4.0 picocuries is the action guideline. Remember, I spent 20 years as a professional home inspector; I got this, OK?
GREG: Yes, sir.
TOM: So 4.0 is the action guideline. So you have a radon problem. It’s not unusual – it depends on the area – and certainly not the worst that I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen homes that had levels of upwards of 100 picocuries.
GREG: OK.
TOM: That said, you do need to put in – or more accurately, the seller - is a sub-slab mitigation system where you have pipes that go into the slab and they pull the radon gas out. Now, has that process been started?
GREG: Yes, sir.
TOM: Alright. So then you’re on your way. But when you’re done, it’s very important that they test out of this and get a successful number. I will caution you, though, because this is a real-estate transaction, remember that you are not in control of that house.
And one of the biggest concerns that I had as a home inspector doing radon tests was I couldn’t necessarily trust the sellers to leave my test alone. And if they open the windows or doors during the test, they’re going to vent that house and get that number to be down. So, it’s really important that when you’re doing a mitigation system, you would probably step away from doing charcoal absorption canisters and you would do other types of radon testing.
There’s one called a “working-level monitor,” where it basically takes samples on an hour-by-hour basis. And you can look at the results that come off of this and what you look for, as a tester, is a normal pattern. And you’re going to see a pattern that sort of climbs throughout the day and is really high at night when the house is completely still, starts to drop during the day. A good tester can tell if the test has been compromised.
So just proceed cautiously. Not an unusual situation. Sub-slab ventilation is the way to go and when they’re done, this test should be down to near zero.
GREG: Thank you very much.
TOM: You’re very welcome. And I think you’re doing all the right things. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: You are tuned to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com.
Happy New Year, everybody. Give us a call at 888-MONEY-PIT. We want to help you with all of your home improvement projects that you are working on in this new year.
TOM: Still to come, has your promise to eat healthier already been left in the dust? We’ve got advice on some New Year’s resolutions that are easier to keep and might even pay off.
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, with your home improvement question. You’ll get the answer, plus an opportunity to win a great prize. We’re giving away this hour the Seek Compact. It’s a powerful and portable, state-of-the-art thermal camera that connects directly to your smartphone. The Compact actually creates an image from invisible infrared light. You just plug it into your phone, tap the app and find and fix problems faster with more confidence.
You’ll learn more at Thermal.com. It’s worth $249. Going out to one caller drawn at random. That number, again, is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Keith in Delaware is on the line with a fireplace-decorating question. Tell us what’s going on.
KEITH: I have a 2×2-foot chimney system, concrete block with a terracotta flue in it. And it’s in the garage. And on the living room side of the wall is a red-brick fireplace that’s 4 feet wide and floor to ceiling. And the hearth in front of it is also 4 feet wide and sticks into the room about 6 feet. And the end of it is a radius to the (inaudible at 0:08:03), kind of like a popsicle stick.
And we don’t really – it originally had a wood stove on it, so there’s an 8-inch flue about 2 feet up off the floor. We’d like to change it over to some sort of decorative stone. But since some of it’s probably attached to drywall, some of it’s attached to concrete block, do we take it down? Can we attach to it? Will it stay up? And then what do we do with the hearth? Should we try to chip some of the brick off and then put a stone on?
TOM: So you’re never really going to use this hearth for a fireplace?
KEITH: Well, it was originally for a wood stove. There was never a fireplace. We’d like to put a wood stove back, eventually.
TOM: Well, if you’re going to put something back, then you don’t want to destroy what’s there.
KEITH: Is there some sort of product that’s thin enough that it doesn’t make it too big and bulky in appearance once we cover it over with some sort of a stone?
TOM: Keith, you know, there’s a product on the market that’s pretty new. It’s called AirStone and their website is AirStone.com. And it’s an easy-to-apply stone veneer. You might want to take a look at that, because you could actually attach that to the top of the brick and come up with a totally new look to it.
KEITH: OK.
TOM: In fact, they’ve got some photographs of some folks that have done sort of fireplace makeovers, on their website, in their blog section at AirStone.com/Blog.
KEITH: We had thought about painting it but we didn’t really care for the painted approach. I guess we’d have to use muriatic acid and all that to be able to cover it properly. We are committed to changing it, whether it be paint or stone. We’re just trying to refresh the room and give the fireplace an updated appearance and the brick is just an older, dingy, reddish color.
TOM: Right. Now, I don’t want you to ignore the fact that painting this room with an appropriate color shade could change the look of it, as well. Right now, it sounds like the focus is on the fireplace.
But Leslie, if he was to choose some complementary colors to kind of bring this all together, I think it could make an impact, as well, don’t you think?
LESLIE: I mean it can but with the brick playing such a predominant role, you’ve got to feel comfortable with it and the colors that will work.
Now, with a red, your complementary colors to it are going to be sort of in the green/brown tones that will sort of work well in the color wheel. It really depends on what your aesthetics are and what the look of the space is.
And have you thought about using a slate or a bluestone, some sort of different approach to sort of sheathing it?
KEITH: We had thought about that. In fact, on the hearth, that would probably be a good choice because it would be easier to sit a wood stove on.
LESLIE: Right. Just on the hearth and then leaving the rest brick. And then that way – I’m not sure how close to the wood stove you might be but you could do some interesting floor cushions to give yourself a little seating area around it or some cute benches.
There’s even, I’ve seen – I’m not sure who makes them but I’ve seen some bronze-legged, little benches that would surround a fireplace hearth, that are upholstered on top and they’re sort of built into the hearth itself to create a surround?
KEITH: Oh, that’s a neat idea.
LESLIE: Since it does take up so much space and you could then utilize it.
KEITH: Alright. Those are some great ideas.
TOM: Hope that helps you out, Keith. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Now we’re going to Iowa where Kathy is on the line with a flooring question.
Kathy, how can we help you with your project?
KATHY: Well, my son is purchasing his first home and the home was built back in 1930. And the carpet that is in the home is newer carpet but the owner was a heavy smoker. And we are going to have to pull the carpet out and we found that the backing that is underneath of it is probably original carpet padding from 30, 40 years ago. And it’s adhered to the wood floors.
TOM: And they’re like hardwood floors?
KATHY: They are hardwood below, yes.
TOM: OK. So a couple of things. First of all, you need to pull the carpet up, you need to pull the tackless up. That’s the nail strips that hold it down. You’re going to have to scrape up the old padding that’s sticking to the floor as best you can. And you would use floor scrapers for that or a paint scraper for that or even sometimes a spackle knife or a putty knife will work. And then you’re going to have to refinish that floor.
Now, if some of the pad sticks to it, if you really can’t get it clean, then I would use – and actually, I would hire somebody to do this, because sanding a hardwood floor is a tricky business if you’ve not worked with the equipment before, because you can easily ruin the floor. The belt sanders that the professional floor finishers use for these are very heavy and hard to maneuver and they take a lot of material off very quickly. So if you don’t know how to handle it, you can dig through the floor before you know it and you’ve ruined it.
KATHY: Yeah. I don’t even know if the floor below is salvageable or what condition or type of wood – hardwood flooring – it is.
TOM: Well, you may find that it is salvageable. Very often, those old homes had good-quality flooring underneath and then the first thing people did was put carpet over it, which made for a great drop cloth in the last 80, 90 years. So you may find it’s in good shape.
You might also find that it’s not oak but Douglas fir, which is equally beautiful although it’s a bit softer. But in either event, have the floor sanded professionally. If you can restore them, I think you’ll be very happy with the results.
KATHY: OK. Well, thank you.
TOM: You’re welcome, Kathy. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well, every New Year’s Eve, Americans promise to lose weight and save more money. But most of us don’t realize our homes could actually be doing this for us. With a few simple changes around your home, homeowners can expand their space, save money and make their home a healthier, better living environment.
TOM: Yep. So if your New Year’s resolution is to go on a diet, consider cutting the fat at home by decluttering your rooms. Crowded spaces are hard to work in, they’re hard to clean and they can take way too much of your daily energy away. So better put that to productive projects by starting with a clean space.
LESLIE: Well, how about getting in shape? Now, lack of maintenance is the number-one cause of deterioration in homes today. Even if you don’t have much time for home care, small maintenance jobs done now can save thousands of dollars later. So you’ve got to make a list of important maintenance jobs that need to be done each and every season.
For example, in January, it’s too cold to work outside, so take this time now to look over your plumbing system for leaks.
TOM: And to save money and stay on budget, lower your energy usage. Small fix-ups, like improving insulation and caulking around windows or sealing the gaps around outlets and light switches on outside walls, can dramatically reduce the cost to heat and cool your home.
Need more ideas? Got a specific project in mind for your money pit? Pick up the phone and give us a call right now. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Alright. Now we’ve got Gary in Maryland with some wall cracks. Tell us what’s going on.
GARY: The cracks are along the one outside wall – or the one wall on the short side, on a 26-foot side. And they’re both on either side of the bathroom, which is between two bedrooms.
TOM: So what you’re describing is a pretty normal scenario. We typically get movement in walls of homes and where you have seams between walls and ceilings, one wall and another wall or above a window or above a door. That’s where the movement tends to evidence itself.
Now, the solution here is going to require that you redo the seam between the cracked areas. What you’ll do is you’ll pull off the old drywall tape, if it’s loose. If it’s not loose, you could probably leave it in place. But if it’s loose or if it’s wrinkled or anything like that, I would pull it out. And I would replace that with fiberglass drywall tape.
Fiberglass drywall tape kind of looks like a netting and it’s sticky, it’s easier to handle. And so you press it into the seam. And then once it’s pressed in place, then you’re going to add three layers of spackle on top of that, making each one as thin as possible. So you start with the first one, try to keep it pretty narrow and just cover the tape. And then the subsequent two, you go a little wider and a little wider and try to feather out the edges. And that actually will bridge that gap between the two surfaces and the crack will not form again.
If you try to spackle over a crack without doing that, it’s just going to show up. I mean you could spackle it and paint it but it’s going to come out every winter or every summer, depending on whether it’s swelling or shrinking that’s causing the crack. It’s going to pop open again.
GARY: Good. Thank you very much. Good show, too.
TOM: You’re welcome, Gary. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Now we’re talking to Pauline in New Jersey who needs some help with a countertop. How can we help you today?
PAULINE: I have a lot of counters in both bathrooms and the kitchen. And from the – I have backsplashes, as well. And where the backsplash and the counter meet, it’s coming up white and it looks like dry paste. And also, what’s happened over the last few years – at first, I took a little bit off with my nail but now it’s getting really bad. And it’s – there were splash marks, as though when they put the counter in, they didn’t clean off the – so whatever they used. And it looks like you splashed something on that dried up.
And I don’t want to use anything that isn’t right for the granite and ruin it. So I was wondering if you had a suggestion that might be easy for me to use and get rid of this stuff.
TOM: How long have you had these countertops? When were they first installed?
PAULINE: Seven years ago.
TOM: And they’ve never been sealed since?
PAULINE: No, no.
TOM: Well, granite tops do take quite a bit of maintenance. People think that they’re fairly maintenance-free because they’re somewhat indestructive. But they really do need a lot of care and they need to be resealed from time to time.
And it sounds to me like the white stuff that you’re describing is most likely mineral salt. And what happens is the countertops, when they lose their seal, they absorb more moisture. Then the moisture evaporates off and it leaves behind the mineral-salt deposits that’s in the water. And that forms that white sort of crust; it’s like a grayish-white crust.
Now, what are you using to clean them on a daily basis?
PAULINE: Generally, just water and a little – they told me to use the Windex.
TOM: Yeah, you can make a homemade granite cleaner with rubbing alcohol – standard rubbing alcohol – mixed with maybe a half-a-dozen drops of dishwasher detergent.
PAULINE: Thank you so much.
TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Still ahead, we’re going to share some pretty serious advice on how you can prevent a common tragedy. And that’s injury or even death that can happen when furniture isn’t properly anchored to a wall.
TOM: We’ll be joined by a commissioner from the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s “Anchor It!” campaign, when The Money Pit continues after this.
ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is brought to you by Lutron’s new Maestro Occupancy-Sensing Switch. Never ask “Who left the lights on?” again. Starting at around $20, this motion-sensing light switch turns the lights on automatically when you walk into a room and off when you leave and works with all types of light bulbs. Learn more at LutronSensors.com.
TOM: Making good homes better, welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: Hey, here is a startling fact: every 24 minutes, a child is hurt from a tip-over accident. You know, these can happen when a large TV or a piece of furniture falls on the child. And there are dozens of deaths from these tip-overs.
LESLIE: Yeah. It’s really a sad but very preventable tragedy. So here to tell us how to prevent tip-overs is Joe Mohorovic, the commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Welcome, Joe.
JOE: Thanks so much for having me on today.
TOM: So, Joe, you call this the “Anchor It!” campaign. It’s supposed to be a call to action for parents. How so? Why is this program so important and how do we get parents to participate?
JOE: Well, preventing tip-over incidents is inexpensive. It only takes five minutes. And learning how to secure your furniture to protect children is very easy by visiting our website, AnchorIt.gov.
And the reason this hazard is such a scary one is it’s a latent hazard. It’s something hidden in the home and most people aren’t familiar with some of the facts, that you just identified, that every two weeks a child dies when a television or a piece of furniture is unsecure and it falls over on top of them. So we want to get consumers to be thinking and create a game plan to secure your new TVs, as well as your furniture.
TOM: Now, this can kind of sneak up on parents because this could be furniture that’s been in the house for years. And of course, while adults were living in the house, it wasn’t as much of an issue. But to kids, every piece of furniture is just a jungle gym and they can’t wait to get on top of it.
JOE: Absolutely. Visit any playground, right, and you’ll see a device that’s built for children to climb. And unfortunately, a child’s desire to climb doesn’t always end in the play area. So during these winter months, when time to be outside is more restricted, children are spending more time trying to climb in the home. And those dresser drawers really look to make good stairs and ladders.
LESLIE: They do.
JOE: And that’s what kids do. And when they do, we have some really lethal-weight furniture and especially when there’s one of those old, tube-type TVs that’s placed on top of a dresser. It can create a lethal amount of force and impact.
TOM: Well, it could be a bookcase. It could be an oven – a range or an oven. When those doors are pulled down, the kids love to climb on top of those doors. They’re easy to get up to. And if that range is not properly secured, they have brackets now with the newer ones that the feet sort of slip in. Think of the leverage of that door extended and the child’s weight on the outside of it. The entire range can flip out of your cabinets where – I mean your kitchen countertop area where it’s set and flip over right on the kid.
JOE: You’re absolutely right. We’re glad that we’ve made some progress in building codes to make sure that those appliances are largely now being secured when they’re installed.
But you’re absolutely right. That same scenario does occur with many pieces of common furniture around the home, whether it’s a bookshelf or a bureau, that seven-drawer dresser, especially when somebody puts a television on top of that, which we really want to discourage consumers from doing. They buy these new flat-screen TVs and it’s terrific. And then where does that old 100-, 150-pound TV go? It usually goes into a child’s bedroom because it’s still in working fashion. And that’s where you’ve got a really lethal scenario.
LESLIE: So if parents want to get some information on the “Anchor It!” campaign and really learn what they can do to help prevent these tragedies, where do they start?
JOE: We’d like them to start by visiting our website, which is AnchorIt.gov – A-n-c-h-o-r-I-t – .gov. And we’d also like owners to be thinking about – instead of placing that old, tube-type TV on an old, unstable piece of furniture, please take it to a local recycling center.
TOM: Fantastic ideas. Thank you so much.
Joseph Mohorovic, he’s a commissioner with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Again, that website for more information on how to secure your furniture so that it does not tip over on children is AnchorIt.gov. That’s AnchorIt.gov.
Thanks Joe.
JOE: Thank you. Keep it safe.
LESLIE: Well, did you pick up a few new electronics this holiday season? Get rid of the old ones, the Earth-friendly way, with recycling tips for your electronics. We’ll have that and more when The Money Pit returns, after this.
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.
Pick up the phone, give us call at 888-MONEY-PIT. We’re going to help you with your home improvement questions. But we’re giving away a great prize this hour, which is a very helpful tool to use around your house.
We’ve got up for grabs the Seek Compact, which is a powerful and portable state-of-the-art thermal camera. It’s going to connect directly to your smartphone. You can use it with the Apple system or Android. And it creates an image from invisible infrared lights. So you’re going to be able to see where you have air leaks in your house and where cold spots are and really what’s going on behind the walls. All you do is plug the Seek Compact into your phone, tap the app and find and fix. And you can even solve problems faster with much more confidence.
Check it out online; it really helps explain it. It’s Thermal.com.
TOM: It’s worth $249. Going out to one lucky caller drawn at random. Make that you. Pick up the phone and call us, right now, with your home improvement question at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Alright. Now we’re going to help Bud in Oregon avoid a hair-raising electrical situation.
What’s going on, Bud?
BUD: I’ve got 3 banks of the 2 bulbs each, 4-foot-long mounted up in the ceiling, built into a box directly over my cooktop. And during the summertime, when the humidity is higher, if I get any moisture up there, it can take sometimes days before those lights will come on reliably on the first flip of the switch.
Now, in the winter, when I’m burning a wood stove, which means I’ve got lower humidity inside the house, if I’m cooking on the cooktop and don’t turn the lights on before, I get the same problem. Except as soon as the moisture stops going up there and I’ve got 10, 15 minutes, then the lights will start coming back on regularly and be reliable again.
So, what I need to know from you, if you’ve got some suggestions, is before I get up there and start looking for how to do something, I want to know what I need to have in stock. Is there something – a lubricant, a cleanser or whatever – to do something with contacts or got any suggestions?
TOM: I would give up on those fixtures.
BUD: Yeah, I would, too. I think you’re right.
TOM: I would just give up on them. They don’t sound safe to me. I’m not quite sure what exactly is going wrong with them but they certainly shouldn’t be behaving that way. And I would worry about them getting worse and potentially causing a fire.
The cost of a 4-foot, doable fluorescent fixture is not very much today. And so I would simply take this on as a project and replace each and every one of them. I wouldn’t try to change the ballast out, I wouldn’t try to clean it, I wouldn’t try to do anything like that. I would just replace them. It’s just not worth it.
BUD: It’s not what I wanted to hear but it’s a good thing and it’s probably cheaper in the long run to spend the $8, $10 per what you – put up 3 brand-new ones.
TOM: Exactly.
BUD: OK. I’ll just look for a good time when I can do it without breaking my neck.
TOM: That’s always important. Bud, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
Well, smart home may be a couple of the latest buzzwords in the home improvement industry as so many of us seek ways to use home automation products to do things that used to be more of a manual task. But the cool thing is that while for many years we would only see these high-tech capabilities in movies and other sci-fi-funded sites, WiFi connectivity now makes smart homes a really affordable reality.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm. And as smart-home technology gets more popular, more companies and brands are coming out with all kinds of different platforms. Now, the confusing part is that most connected products are only compatible with certain platforms. So how do you determine which one is right for you? Well, before you select a platform or even buy a hub, you want to think about the kinds of connected products that you’d like to have in your home.
TOM: Yep. And then you want to go into the process of thinking about versatility. Look for devices that are compatible with several different platforms. This is important. But at the same time, you want to look for platforms that are compatible with a variety of products and brands. It basically gives you more choice to get done what you want to do.
LESLIE: That’s right. Today’s Home Automation Tip has been presented by The Home Depot, the destination for smart-home solutions and technology, with a huge variety of brands and expansive platforms both in store and online at HomeDepot.com.
TOM: It’s where you’ll find the Wink Smart-Home Hub, a quick-and-simple way to connect you and the products you rely on every day in your home. You can manage products from multiple brands on a single app, allowing you to select the products that are right for your life.
Learn more at HomeDepot.com.
LESLIE: Gwen in Wyoming, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
GWEN: Well, we’re working on a kitchen remodel and I’m looking at sinks. Right now, we have a stainless-steel sink that has three compartments in it. And it just doesn’t seem to hold the water hot for very long. And I was wondering, are different things more insulated or how could we insulate a sink?
TOM: Well, sinks are generally not insulated.
GWEN: Right.
TOM: What should be insulated is the wall behind the sink. And if the wall behind the sink is not insulated, then the cabinet gets that much colder and then, of course, the water doesn’t stay warm in the sink very long. It’s an interesting question, though, Gwen, and I’m thinking about how could you possibly insulate a sink.
I mean one idea comes to mind is to spray the whole thing with expandable foam insulation, because it would be under the cabinet. And once you got it done – it would be kind of a messy job but once it was done, you’d be finished. Except that you would want to make sure you keep it away from all the plumbing connections because, eventually, you’re going to want to replace the faucet and you don’t want to have to cut through all that mess, you know. Or you could just wrap it with some other type of insulation: one that’s perhaps encapsulated, like a batt insulation.
But I’ve never actually had anyone ask me how to try to keep a sink warmer but I see why it’s important to you. Because it would make sense, as you’re doing the dishes, to try to keep that water as warm as possible. But I would first want you to concentrate in making sure the wall underneath there is properly insulated.
GWEN: That makes sense. So when we pull it all out and – we’ll double-check to make sure that wall has good insulation.
TOM: Yeah, that might be part of your problem. And if you get it warmed up – insulated and warmed up - you may not have to deal with trying to insulate a sink.
GWEN: OK. Well, great. Thank you.
TOM: You’re welcome, Gwen. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Now we’ve got Joe in Illinois on the line with a plumbing question. How can we help you today?
JOE: We just got through renovating the kitchen or – well, we’re almost through with renovating the kitchen. And the brass fitting inside the wall, when they put everything together, the galvanized nipple was cross-threaded into it.
TOM: OK.
JOE: And so when I went down – and I mean I cleaned out an unbelievable amount of corrosion. Had to use naval jelly to get all the rust out and finally got the threads cleaned up real good. And got the galvanized pipe and doped it up and went to screw it in and it would only go so far. When I backed it out, cleaned it back up again and took a look, it’s cross-threaded, because that brass is softer.
TOM: Huh. Right.
JOE: And what I wanted to find out, is there any kind of a thread-repair tool that I can get? I’m fairly adept with construction stuff. My dad was a general contractor and he didn’t like giving kids money but he’d let you earn all you wanted to. So, as a consequence, I got a little bit of working knowledge.
TOM: Well, look, if you were a plumber, you would probably have a tap that was big enough to clean that up but that’s a pretty expensive piece of equipment. Now, you’re trying to connect a piece of galvanized to a piece of brass and you can’t thread them together, so the other option that comes to mind is a Fernco, which is like a rubber boot with two radiator clamps on either side. And a lot of times, when you’re using – when you’re trying to attach dissimilar drain pipes like that, you can use a Fernco. You get them together as best you can using a Fernco around the outside and strap them up. And that keeps it nice and tight and it’s really easy to do.
JOE: Is that a readily available – and how permanent is that?
TOM: It’s very permanent. I would go not to a home center for that but I would go to a plumbing-supply center and explain the situation. And make sure you measure the pipes, because they come different sizes based on what you’re trying to connect.
JOE: I do appreciate the advice, sir.
TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Up next, it is the time of year where we go through a lot of beautiful photos taken over the holiday season and put them into frames and enjoy them around our house. Well, don’t let those photos get ruined by the picture frames themselves. We’re going to share some advice for saving photos that seem to have magically become stuck to the glass, when The Money Pit returns after this.
TOM: Making good homes better, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: Hey, if you didn’t get the new house you were dreaming of all season, make the most of the one you have. It starts with optimized storage. We’ve got tips for a home storage makeover that will free up space, time and sanity, on our home page at MoneyPit.com right now.
LESLIE: Alright. And while you’re online, post a question, just like Lainey did who writes: “I have photos of my children’s baby pictures that have stuck to the glass of the frame. How can I get the pictures out without ruining them?”
TOM: A very sticky problem, Lainey. The answer really depends on what type of photo you’re trying to remove. The older the photo, surprisingly the easier it might be to solve the problem, because older photos have sort of a gelatin coating on the paper surface. And a photo lab might be able to immerse the picture in a wetting agent, which’ll essentially separate it from the glass.
Now, if the photos are a newer black-and-white or color print, there’s really no easy way to remove the photo without damaging it. The only chance you may have of saving that stuck photo is to lift maybe one corner off and very gently use a single-edge razor and slowly work the print and glass apart. Or if you’d rather not chance any of this, remember that you can always buy new glass for the picture frame and make the old glass a permanent part of the photo you’re trying to preserve.
LESLIE: Alright. Next up, we’ve got a question from Jim who writes: “I’m trying to solve a problem with peeling paint. I painted my daughter’s room using prime, then paint. Now it’s become my son’s room and there are spots where the paint just pulls off the wall in long strips, like rubber. I want to paint the room again but I have no idea how to handle the areas where the paint is peeling.”
TOM: It’s pointless to simply paint over an issue like this, because your new finish is not going to stick to the layers upon layers of bad paint. Instead, what you need to do here, Jim, is take the time to strip away the old paint so that you have a new surface to work with. That paint, somewhere deep in all those layers, has basically lost its adhesion ability and that’s why it’s pulling off. So I would strip those walls first, get them down to as close to the original material as possible. Then once that’s happened, you can prime it and paint it and that coating will stick.
LESLIE: Alright, Tom. Good trick. That should really help a lot.
TOM: Well, it’s tempting to toss your old electronics in the trash once you’ve gotten new ones but there’s a better, greener way to get rid of them. Leslie has got Earth-friendly electronic-recycling tips, in this week’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word.
LESLIE: Yeah. You know, your computer is good at a lot of things and unfortunately, hurting the environment is one of the things it’s also very good at. Discarded computers, they release toxins, including PVC and heavy metals, right into the ground unless you recycle them.
But here’s some words for the wise. Now, first you’ve got to be careful which recycler you use. Many unfortunately just dump products into developing nations rather than here. So you want to look for an e-Steward recycler. That’s e-Steward – S-t-e-w-a-r-d. They’re going to follow the highest standards for reusing and refurbishing your old laptop, your desktop, your tablet, even your phone.
Now, speaking of trash turned treasure, the electronics that you’re done with might be just what somebody else needs. So before you trash it, reach out to individuals or non-profits who maybe can get a little more life out of it itself. Or you can take it back to where it came from. Many manufacturers offer take-back programs where they recycle your old product for free, sometimes even giving you a trade-in credit or money in return.
Now, Staples and Best Buy both have recycling programs, so reach out to your local store there for some details. And for the item you probably replace the most – your cellphone or your smartphone – you want to reach out to Capstone Wireless or Call2Recycle. And that’s Call – the number 2 – Recycle. Both are going to dispose of phones responsibly, which will give you and Mother Nature something to smile about.
TOM: Good tips. This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Coming up next time on the program, we’re going to talk about how to hang photos or art of any size and any weight on any wall, whether it’s plaster, drywall, paneling, heavy or light. We’ve got tips on how to get that project done, on the next edition of The Money Pit.
Happy New Year, all. 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 HOUR 2 TEXT
(Copyright 2015 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.)
Leave a Reply