Show Notes
- Paint Sprayers: Planning a painting project? High-efficiency airless paint sprayers make the job easier and faster so you can paint like a pro.
- Multi-Use Tools: Get info on finishing DIY home projects quicker and easier with corded, cordless, and manual multi-use tools.
- Buying a Foreclosed Home: Bargain or burden? Learn the pros and cons of buying a home in foreclosure.
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
Plus, answers to your home improvement questions about:
- Cracked Bathtub: Tim’s new bathroom came complete with a cracked bathtub! It will be hard to repair, but he may get a temporary fix with a fiberglass repair product.
- Staining a Deck: Why should you wait before staining a new pressure-treated deck? We explain that Theresa should let the lumber dry out for a year so the stain will apply properly.
- HVAC System: Luke wonders if he really needs two natural gas HVAC units. A two-zone system is definitely more efficient, along with an upgraded thermostat.
- Cleaning Outdoor Furniture: How should Lucy clean her outdoor furniture? We’ve got advice on how to clean different materials.
- Upgrading Electrical Wiring: Is it safe to keep old knob and tube electrical wiring? It’s not grounded and can be dangerous, so we recommend that Judy should get her wiring replaced.
- Garage Door Repair: Dave has dry rot above his old wood garage door. We tell him how to support the rafters while replacing the garage door header.
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 0:00:36 | TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:00:41 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete and. |
| 0:00:43 | TOM: We are here to help you take on the projects that you want to get done around your house. If you’ve been working around the house this week, this weekend, or you got some plans for taking on projects in the days and weeks ahead. But maybe you got a question, you don’t know where to start. You got a problem to solve? Well, that’s what we do. We’re here to help you create your dream house. So go ahead and give us a call with those questions and we will get it done. The number here is 188 Money Pit. That’s 888-666-3974. Or better yet, go to moneypit.com/ask and click the blue microphone button, which you’ll also find on every single page of money pit dot com. You get to record your question, you’ll come right to us via voicemail and we’ll answer it on the next edition of the show. Coming up on today’s show, spring is the new season for lots of things, and that includes painting But new, high efficiency, airless paint sprayers are going to make that project easier than ever. We’ll explain how they work and help you cut painting time by a full third. Plus, we love seeing manufacturers that make tools easier to use in our fashion, or has done that with a new line of corded cordless in manual multi-use tools that can handle a wide array of fasteners. This makes it quick and easy to complete a wide scope of simple home projects. You get to do more with less. We’ll tell you all about that. And with home prices at an all-time high, it can be tempting to look for a good deal by buying a home that’s been foreclosed on. Or is it? We’re going to share the pros and the cons of that approach. But first, do you need help? The Renault repair the core project. We share expert tips, ideas and inspiration to help you avoid the perspiration when it comes to improving your space. So reach out to us with your questions. Go to Money Pit e-commerce, ask and click the blue microphone button. Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first? |
| 0:02:33 | LESLIE: Tim in New York is having an issue with the tub. What’s going on in your bathroom? |
| 0:02:37 | CALLER: So my wife and I moved into our home two years ago, and the previous homeowners recently redid the bathroom. Very nice. But unfortunately, the bathtub has two cracks in it. So I recently had to be real quick. I recently had a bathtub filter come in and take a look at it. They can’t do it because they don’t have the mold for it and they would have to cover up the tile anyway. So my question is, is there an easy fix? And even if I had to replace a tub, do I have to take out tile to do so? |
| 0:03:07 | TOM: Well, you have to take probably the first couple of rows of tile. It depends on how difficult it is to get the tub in and out of that space. It’s a pretty big job. I mean, it might be that it’s just not worth trying to save the tile. This is the time when you might just want to think about whether or not you could just renovate the entire bathroom because frankly, by the time you get that tub out, you’re going to be taking so many of the other fixtures out, out of the way to kind of get the tub in and out, you might end up doing that. Anyway, Tim, you know, the bathtub is the first thing that goes into a bathroom and everything else works around it or fits around it. And I think the bath filter idea was a good one, but if they can’t do it, they can’t do. |
| 0:03:47 | CALLER: It. Yeah, I looked up online and you know, they have these epoxies fix cracks. I don’t think it’s going to work or be a permanent fix. Do you have any knowledge on that? |
| 0:03:59 | TOM: That’s true. I would agree with that. It’s very difficult to repair a crack or a chip in a tub. Is it a fiberglass tub? |
| 0:04:05 | CALLER: It is. It’s a fiberglass tub. |
| 0:04:07 | TOM: So, I mean, look, you know, they report they repair fiberglass boats, right. Or fiberglass cars. So you can use right from an auto body shop. You can use fiberglass repair compound to fix this. It’s not going to be pretty, right? I mean, like a Bondo product or something like that. It’s going to be obvious. But if you want to buy yourself some time and use the tub for a while, you could do that. You know, I had a shower stall once where the fiberglass pan cracked and I repaired that with fiberglass and Bondo just by basically applying the fiberglass in a couple of layers and then putting the compound over top of that. And you could see it, but it didn’t leak after I fixed it. |
| 0:04:47 | CALLER: Okay. Well, maybe I’ll look into that, you know? But the bathroom is so new that I don’t want to rip out. |
| 0:04:54 | TOM: Well, I know. I hear you. It hurts. And, you know, it may be very well that the tub was put in incorrectly, because when you put it in fiberglass tubs, you’re supposed to put a solid fill under them. Usually you’ll put like a loose mix of mortar mix underneath it because it basically gives you something solid to step into because the tub has some flex. |
| 0:05:12 | CALLER: Yeah, I don’t think they did that because you could actually feel the tub moving underneath my foot. Yeah. |
| 0:05:18 | TOM: Yeah. Unfortunately, it sounds like it wasn’t put in. Right. Okay. |
| 0:05:21 | CALLER: All right. Well, thank you very much. I was very helpful. |
| 0:05:23 | TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. |
| 0:05:28 | LESLIE: Teresa in Tennessee is on the line with a decking question. How can we help you? |
| 0:05:31 | CALLER: We just finished three decking our deck outside and with treated lumber. |
| 0:05:38 | LESLIE: And we were going to stay in it. So I was very happy, you know, going and trying to figure out my color. |
| 0:05:43 | CALLER: And I was told that we’re supposed to weigh about a year to stay in it. Is that true? |
| 0:05:48 | LESLIE: It’s brand new pressure treated lumber. |
| 0:05:50 | CALLER: Yes, it is. |
| 0:05:50 | LESLIE: Yes. So the there’s a formulation that they use to create the lumber to be more weather resistant, which is basically saturating that wood with whatever that mixture is that makes that wood durable. So in doing so, you’re dealing with, you know, some very green, very wet wood. So if you were to apply a stain at this point, it would kind of just float on the top and not really saturate into the wood and you’d end up with like a strange finished product and it also would not last at all. So what they recommend from Pressure Treated is a season six months. It’s got to be dry, it’s got to dry out and once it does dry, then you’re able to apply the finish and it will saturate whatever the stain is, saturate into the grain of the lumber itself and therefore stay for a much longer period of time. |
| 0:06:37 | CALLER: Oh, okay. |
| 0:06:38 | LESLIE: Then. And the type of woods will depend on what that aging time is. |
| 0:06:42 | CALLER: Oh, okay. So six months, not a year. |
| 0:06:44 | LESLIE: Right. It’s generally a season time, right? |
| 0:06:46 | TOM: Yeah. I mean, it is it is going to end up being a year. But I would just if it was brand new now, I would go through a full summer with it and then, you know, when next spring comes around you can think about applying some solid color stain then. |
| 0:06:58 | CALLER: Okay. Well, thank you all very much for answering my question. |
| 0:07:02 | TOM: All right. Good luck. Thanks so much for calling us at 88 Money Pit. |
| 0:07:06 | LESLIE: Luke in Kansas, you’ve got the Money Pit. How can we help you today? |
| 0:07:09 | CALLER: We recently just bought a limestone house and the previous owners had completely remodeled everything. And, you know, with new palmy, new electrical, you know, new windows, new, pretty much new everything. The only thing that they didn’t do to this house was the heating and air conditioning unit. And the unique thing about this house is the upstairs and the downstairs are both heat heated and cooled with two different units. The upstairs unit is an 84 model and the downstairs unit is a 1993 model. And what I’m wanting to do is I’m wanting to take those completely out and, you know, kind of make it more efficient. But I don’t know, really work really what to do or where to go or how, you know, what should I do? |
| 0:08:09 | TOM: Okay. So first of all, when you say more efficient, you want to remove these heating systems now and make it a single zone. Is that what you want to do? |
| 0:08:17 | CALLER: You know, since each of the floors are individually heated and cooled, I didn’t know whether I should take those completely out and, you know, put two brand new heating and cooling units in, or if I should try to make the whole house, you know, just, you. |
| 0:08:37 | TOM: Know, you should definitely leave the two zone because that actually is a much more desirable way and frankly, a more efficient way. Because typically when you have one heating system, you know, it’s always like the upstairs is a little warmer than you want it to be or the downstairs little cooler you want to be. I mean, never, even if it’s reasonably well balanced, you still get these inconsistencies based on weather conditions and wind having to zones, having two separate pieces of equipment running. This is definitely the way to go. Now, I’m sorry, did you say this was this was forced air gas fired? Is that what it is or what kind of. |
| 0:09:13 | CALLER: Know that central heating air central heating air for? |
| 0:09:16 | TOM: I understand that, but what’s your fuel? Is it a low heat? |
| 0:09:19 | CALLER: Natural gas. |
| 0:09:20 | TOM: Natural gas. Okay. Yeah, perfect. So you have two compressors. You have two furnaces. If you want to update those, certainly. Go ahead and do that. Make sure you’re putting in high efficiency energy star qualified units and you know, you don’t have to do them both same time. You might want to do that 84 unit first from 1984 first. |
| 0:09:40 | TOM: Okay. |
| 0:09:41 | CALLER: Okay. The other question is, is do I need to change any of the dock work for that? |
| 0:09:46 | TOM: No, probably not. Now, what you have to change is you have to change the outside compressor in the inside furnace, and the evaporator call is attached to at the same time. Because when it comes to air conditioning, the evaporator coil has to match the compressor outside. Okay, If it doesn’t match, then it’s not going to be as efficient. |
| 0:10:06 | CALLER: What kind of efficient signal? Like a 90%? 95%. |
| 0:10:10 | TOM: I would say to get the most efficiency you can afford. But remember that, you know, if you’re going to be there a short term, you may never get the payback on it if you’re going to be there long term, chances are you might. So you have to really identify what the most important, you know, outcome of this is. You know, if you’re in a house that’s going to be there for five years because you’re expecting to move or transfer or whatever, I probably frankly wouldn’t put in the very most expensive unit because I’m never going to pay back on that. But if it’s something where this is the house that I’m going to be in for the next 20 plus years, then maybe I would so make the determination. But just keep those numbers in mind. |
| 0:10:48 | CALLER: Okay. And what about thermostats? There’s digital thermostat right now, but should I just since I’m replacing everything should just go ahead and replace the thermostat to just I. |
| 0:11:00 | TOM: Would not that you not that you have to replace that as a control mechanism but there’s so many so many advantages to new thermostats today. You know, they’re wi fi enabled. And so you can operate them kind of as a remote control, whether you’re sitting on the couch or you’re you know, you’re away, you know, driving home from work, you can have thermostats that are geofence today, which means you choose the perfect temperature setting for when for when you get in that house. And as you’re approaching your house because you’re out an airing or, you know, coming home from work and you could set it so that, hey, when I get ten miles from my house, I want the heat to be there. So I want the air conditioning to be that so that when you walk in the door, it’s perfect. |
| 0:11:40 | TOM: I mean, it’s pretty cool what you can do with thermostats today. So I think if you’re going to go for it and replace these heating systems, I would definitely replace my thermostats at the same time. |
| 0:11:49 | CALLER: Okay. All right. All right. Hey, thank you very much. You want. Good luck. That gives me a that gives me a good idea where you start now. |
| 0:11:58 | TOM: Perfect. Well, we’re glad we could help you out. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. Well, do you have a big paint project in mind this spring? Like maybe painting a deck, a fence, or even the exterior of your house? Well, as challenging as that size job may sound, it’s actually much easier to accomplish thanks to the new high efficiency paint sprayers that are out from Wagner. Now, these paint sprayers feature high efficiency, airless technology, and that produces up to 55% less overspray. So no wasted paint. They also output a very high quality finish with better control and the job goes quickly because the paint actually goes down three times faster than if you were to try to do it with a roller. Now, these Wagner sprayers are easy to use and they’re really perfect for DIYers who are just learning about airless spraying. You can save money by taking a big project yourself instead of hiring a contractor and using a sprayer. Also does a much better job than a brush on uneven surfaces like a fence, for example, a project I recently completed. Now the Wagner Control Pro Sprayers come in several models, but I chose the Control Pro 170 because it pulls, paint or steam directly from a one or five gallon bucket, which is especially useful for large projects like a long fence. And in my case my fence was bought on board and five gallons was just what I needed. And they also didn’t have to stop to restock the paint and because of the sprayer, I was able to get into all those nooks and crannies between the boards, which I never would have been able to done as successfully with a brush or a roller to find the right Wagner sprayer for your project, just go to Wagner, Spray Technium Wagner Spray techium. |
| 0:13:41 | LESLIE: Lucien, Kansas Need some help Clean and some lawn furniture. How can we help you? |
| 0:13:44 | CALLER: We left our lawn furniture out of doors all winter long, and it is covered with a film of just grime accumulated from the weather. We have a combination. Some of it is plastic, some of it is metal furniture, and there’s some fiberglass. What can we use on that? |
| 0:14:06 | LESLIE: All right. Well, everything is going to kind of be a different approach now for the fiberglass. You know, you can really just use a basic cleanser with a, you know, a mild, abrasive brush and you just want to brush on some cleanser, clean it up like soapy water. That should do the trick. You can even use dry erasers on them to see what it is on there for the wood. You’re going to want to also use like a soapy cleanser with some water. You want to gently use a pressure washer if you need to, but you also want to make sure that once that’s all done, that depending on what the wood is, is it painted, is it stained, is it natural? You might have to reapply whatever that finishes. Judy in Iowa is on the line with an electrical question. Tell us about what’s going on at your place. |
| 0:14:47 | CALLER: My electricity gives me wonder. It’s so far, so good. Yeah. Our house is old. It was built in the late 1920s and we love it there. It’s a big old farmhouse, but it’s got knob and tube wiring in it. And the electrician said that was there that I’m not sure he’s a full-fledged electrician, but he said that it was okay and he said, Just don’t mess with it and it’d be all right. But I just get nervous in the summer when we have the air conditioner on. Every once in a while, the lights seem to go dimmer when the air turns on. So I’m just wondering if we should stick with what we have or is that a danger? Do I need to switch or do we need to change it over to something else or what? |
| 0:15:34 | TOM: So knob into wiring is the very first essentially wired type of house wiring that was available. And it’s called knob and tube because there are ceramic knobs like little they were almost like drawer pulls and they’re attached to the side of the structure. So that might be, for example, the rafters or the ceiling. JOYCE And then the wires are stretched from knob to northern knob and where it goes through a Joyce is a ceramic tube. It’s inserted in it, and that’s why it’s called knob and tube now, not into wiring. The biggest issue with it is it’s not grounded, nor is it ground ball. So it’s unsafe from a user perspective. But even more important, you know, that wiring was done like in the 1930s and it’s pretty much falling apart today. It’s very often you’ll see the rubber insulation just break and fall off and crumble. And in addition to that, and the reason that the wires are strung off the beam is because they have to be air cooled. And so guess what happens when you put insulation over that? It’s no longer air cooled, so it gets even hotter. So I think that knob and tube wiring is unsafe and should be disabled no matter what else is going on with your air conditioning. Now, as to the air conditioning issue, that may or may not have something to do with the knob and tube. Whenever you turn on an appliance with a big compressor happens often with refrigerators or air conditioners that the circuit that you’re on there happens to be, you know, somewhere close to the lighting circuit. That’s the place you usually see it. That kind of thing happens all the time. But unless you have lights on, you don’t physically notice it. But, you know, it’s not uncommon, for example, in the kitchen to see the lights dim once in a while, an older house whenever the refrigerator kicks on. Because nowadays we put those on separate circuits. But when they share a circuit, well, then you’re often going to see that kind of effect. So my advice would be to replace the knob to more wiring. Now you can simply disable it, leave it in place, you’ll take it out, but you want to replace it as much as you possibly can. Love to see it replaced throughout the entire house. I know that sometimes it’s difficult, but it’s certainly worth it and it would be a lot safer if you did. |
| 0:17:41 | CALLER: Okay. Well, I appreciate that. I was always wondering and my husband says, I think that’s fine. And I’m a little nervous. |
| 0:17:48 | TOM: I think your instincts are correct here. And I think you should you should take it out. |
| 0:17:53 | LESLIE: Well, one thing we love about our industry is how manufacturers continue to improve and refine tools to improve their function and ease of use for the users. And a great example of that is the new line of multi tools developed by Arrow Fastener. So with us to talk about that is Bill Sokol, good friend of the Money Pit and VP of Marketing. |
| 0:18:12 | LESLIE: Welcome, Bill. |
| 0:18:13 | CALLER: Hi, Tom and Leslie great to be back. |
| 0:18:15 | TOM: Hey, so Bill Arrow exists to empower DIYers. You help us tackle and complete home projects, get them done quick, get them done cleanly and get them done with lots of pride. You guys have been doing that now for over 80 years. I just love the back story of your company because you and at the Sense, was it 1929. |
| 0:18:36 | CALLER: 1929? Absolutely right. |
| 0:18:38 | TOM: So talk about that. What was the first product that came off the line? |
| 0:18:41 | CALLER: Well, we actually started in the Staple Business, The founder of the company, Maurice Abrahams, was a staple salesman in New York City. Believe it or not. He would sell staples to offices in Manhattan. And that’s really how he got his start. He moved from Staples into manufacturing staple guns and started out with desktop staplers, actually, and then moved into the heavy duty kind of staples that we know today. |
| 0:19:07 | LESLIE: Yeah, And you guys are best known for your TV staple gun, which I think over its lifetime. You sold off, what, like 50 million of them? |
| 0:19:14 | CALLER: Absolutely. We still make over a million a year. |
| 0:19:17 | TOM: So you guys have just introduced a new family of multi tools and talking about in my introduction about tools that do different projects. So you need fewer tools and you get more done. You’ve got the TI 501 the ET 501f in the 8501 ce, which of course means little to our audience. So let’s talk about what those all do. |
| 0:19:35 | TOM: I know one is corded, one is cordless and one is manual, depending on what preferences you have. And they all do some different things. They handled a wide variety of fasteners, right? |
| 0:19:46 | CALLER: Yeah, they do, Tom. You know, for years, staple guns have had kind of a single purpose. They fired only one kind of fastener. And you still see that today in all kinds of fastening tools, all the way from a manual staple gun on up to like a professional roofing nailer. Most of these tools are designed to fire only one specific type of fastener, although, you know, they’ll often do it in different lengths. Now, that’s fine for the pro who’s got a truck full of tools that he uses every day, But for the average homeowner, this is meant that you have to buy and own several different tools to do different things around the house. One of the trends in tool design in our business over the last few years has been designing tools that can do more than one thing. So this really increases the flexibility of the tool provides homeowners with a wide range of options for what they can do. And this new family of tools, the 5a1 series does exactly that. They can fire five different types of fasteners, three staples and two Brad Nails in multiple lengths. And the series is available in a manual design and a C corded design, and also a DC cordless design. So there’s an option for everybody, and it’s really a great solution for a homeowner who wants to do a lot of different things around the house but doesn’t want to have, you know, an entire workshop full of these things. |
| 0:21:05 | LESLIE: Yeah, and I think it’s so great because the tool is suited to so many different fasteners. So if you’re doing something that’s more of like a crafting project or upholstery or anything with woodworking, you’re looking for a traditional staple. But if you’re looking for something that’s like, you know, maybe a cable with all your holiday decor, something with Garland that you’re trying to put up around a window, you definitely want that curvature. So more of a crown staple. And it’s great because you can do all of this with the same tool. |
| 0:21:29 | CALLER: It does indeed. So we will fire our classic TiVo staple, that heavy duty staple that’s really good for everything. It’ll fire a light duty, 1821 sized staple, which is great for temporary installations, holiday decorations and things like that that you want to remove and you don’t want to as big a hole in the wood or, you know, whatever you’re stapling, you know, fire the round crown staples, which as you mentioned, they’re perfect for wiring applications. So if you’re doing something like thermostat wiring or garage door openers or any kind of low voltage applications, those are great. And then there’s two kinds of Brad nails it fires. It’ll fire a 5/8 inch standard, Brad for light duty trim work or it’s great for this flat pack furniture assembly when you buy stuff at IKEA, for example, they give you these little brands that are really a pain to try to hammer into the back of a cabinets or something like that. This tool makes really short work of that. You’ll also fire a pin nail, which is something new for us. So if you want to put a nail in that you don’t, can’t really see that it’ll go below the surface of the pen. Now is a really nice option. |
| 0:22:34 | LESLIE: Yeah. I think what’s interesting is we’re seeing, you know, continually this development of cordless tools and what their capabilities are and how long their batteries are on for. And I think what’s so interesting is I think on a single charge, you’re saying we can get a thousand fasteners fired. I can’t even imagine using a thousand fasteners on a projectile during one charge. So you can really get a lot done. |
| 0:22:55 | CALLER: No, it’s really great that way. A thousand is a lot of staples or brass to be able to fire at one time. And the cordless option, of course, is really convenient. It frees you up to Ing work at anywhere. So if you got to go out in the yard to do something and you don’t want to run 100 feet of extension cord out there, it’s really good. You can keep it in a truck or a car. You can use it in a variety of places where you don’t have a ready power source available. |
| 0:23:21 | TOM: We’re talking to Bill Sokol. He’s the vice president of marketing for Arrow Fastener about the new line of multi tools. That’s how one tool that handles a variety of fasteners and it’s available in corded cordless and manual versions. You know, Bill, I’ve been watching your site over the last year or two and noticed that you guys have started to sell a lot of blades for online tools. And I got to tell you, I recently did a remodeling project on a 1906 house, and my oscillating tool was like my favorite tool for I don’t care if I’m doing plumbing from work. I found uses for the oscillating tool because it’s just so darn convenient to use that blade to get in those tight spaces. How are the blades doing for the company? |
| 0:24:00 | CALLER: The blades are doing really well. You know, the blade business has been kind of stuck for a long time in that there’s been just a handful of manufacturers with big names and the guys have been pretty expensive. You know, if you use this for demo work or working around your house, that you basically use them up and you toss them out. There are consumable items. So we’ve been able to engineer a really high quality blade at a price that really fits most people’s pocketbooks a lot better than what’s been out there. So what we’re hearing from pros and from homeowners alike is that it’s a really good value. It performs extraordinarily well. And you don’t break the bank when you’re buying a blade. |
| 0:24:38 | TOM: Continuous innovation always a good value. The products of Arrow Fastener. Bill, thanks so much for stopping by The Money Pit once again filling us in on the new products. Those multi tools, by the way, are available right now. They’re in-stock on Amazon and you can also visit Arrow Fastener AECOM to learn more that’s arrow fastener dot com. Thanks, Bill. |
| 0:24:58 | CALLER: Thanks Tom and Leslie it’s been great. |
| 0:25:01 | TOM: Well, with home prices still up there, it can be tempting to look for a good deal by buying a home that’s been foreclosed. It’s not a bad way to get a potential price break, but there are a lot of pros and cons to consider before you take that plunge. First up, let’s talk about the pros. Obviously lower costs. The big advantage of buying a home in foreclosure is the price because they’re being sold under duress. Foreclosed homes are typically less expensive than comparable homes in the same area. The sellers are also motivated, usually banks or mortgage companies. They don’t want to own foreclosed properties. It’s not their business. They want to move them quickly. And some lenders will spend a little bit of money beautifying the property, make those repairs, and it can give you a good chance to build equity quickly if you’re buying a cheaper home that needs renovation, you have a chance to increase your equity when it’s fixed up. There are also loans available that will give you enough money to buy the home and rehab the property. There called the FHA two or three K mortgages. Look into those things. A little more money to help you with that fix up. But now let’s talk about the cons because there’s a bunch of them. First of all, it’s being sold generally as is. If you buy a house out of foreclosure, that means you’re buying the house, as is all the words, all of the effects, everything. You own it, and some foreclosed homes have severe structural issues or code violations that could cost you thousands to fix. Also, remember that homeowners being evicted may have abused the home or not paid for needed repairs. It just got worse and worse and worse. And very often, utilities will not even be on when you try to have it inspected. I’ve been in this position as a home inspector. It’s extremely difficult to determine the condition of mechanical systems. When you don’t have gas, you don’t have electricity, you know, you can’t check the lighting. It’s a lot of risks there. So you want to make sure that those utilities are turned on, even if it’s if the banks having a hard time get rid of the property, they very well may turn them on. I’ve also seen that happen as well. And lastly, the home is in foreclosure. Actually, it may not go up for sale because sometimes they stay in foreclosures for years. You got to be following those sales all the time. So you catch the opportunity to buy it when it actually is ready to go. But if you can adjust your strategy, you can address your expectations. Buying a foreclosed home can still be a good deal. For more tips, check out is it bad to buy a foreclosed Home? That’s the name of the post with all of the tips on Money Pit dot com. |
| 0:27:31 | LESLIE: All right. Heading up north to Canada, where Dave in Ontario needs help with the garage door. What can we do for you? |
| 0:27:36 | CALLER: I’ve got the old wooden garage door and over half of it’s the wooden framework and the paint was all bulging. So we kind of topped out. It looks like the whole thing is dry rotted, so I’m not sure if I’m opening a whole Pandora’s box and I’m not going to be able to tear the whole garage down, but it looks like I got to replace the header in it. Now it’s a cement block garage, so I don’t know how involved this is going to be. |
| 0:28:05 | TOM: So it’s just a header over the garage door. Was there a leak above it? |
| 0:28:08 | CALLER: The roof was done a year and a half ago. So and again, it’s not an attack. It’s a detached garage. So if it was leaking, I’m not really I’m not sure whether it was long term. |
| 0:28:23 | TOM: But you’re not it’s definitely not leaking now. |
| 0:28:25 | CALLER: No, not everything’s dry in there now. |
| 0:28:27 | TOM: And is the roof rafters resting on that header? |
| 0:28:30 | CALLER: Yes. It’s a four sided. So I guess they call it a cottage. |
| 0:28:35 | TOM: Well, you’re probably going to have to do is you’re probably gonna have to build a temporary wall to hold up the roof rafters. Why? You disassemble the header and you do that like inside the garage door, you basically build kind of a fake wall right up to the underside of the rafters to support them between the garage floor and the underside of the rafters while you do the disassembly replacement of the header. Then once it’s okay back together, then you can disassemble the temporary wall and then the weight will be transferred back on to the new header. So that’s the process. |
| 0:29:03 | CALLER: Would I be jacking that up, taking a little bit of pressure off of it? |
| 0:29:06 | TOM: I wouldn’t jack it up, but just make it snug. It probably won’t move at all. |
| 0:29:10 | CALLER: Okay, so this is something I could probably handle myself or should I be getting a contractor? |
| 0:29:15 | TOM: Well, if you’re pretty experienced, yes, but it’s also the kind of thing that you might need to have pro help you with. Have nothing do every day because you don’t want to mess this up. If you get something wrong, then you could cause some structural problems that are going to be, you know, pretty concerning. |
| 0:29:33 | CALLER: Yep, very good. That gives we pointed in the right direction. |
| 0:29:36 | TOM: All right, Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 88 Money Pit. |
| 0:29:41 | LESLIE: Well, Stan heard our podcast about raised garden beds and asked some good questions. All right. Stan says, Why would you want to raise the garden above Otherwise good soil. Potting soil can be expensive. Should I be mixing it with 5050 with sand? And if I use pressure treated wood to frame the raised garden, is there any danger that that lumber will leak chemicals into the veggies? Those are good questions. |
| 0:30:02 | TOM: A lot of good questions. So first off, Stan, the Rose Garden beds are a really nice way to sort of set off a garden from the rest of the yard. Some people also like to add a roof with wire mesh to keep out wildlife. So you have some options there. And yeah, potting soil would be expensive, but that’s why we recommend garden soil or even specific raised garden beds. Soil. It’s available and it’s a lot less than just doing it all with potting mix. And as for your concern about pressure treated lumber, totally understand it, but it’s not as much of an issue anymore because the treatment processes were updated over a decade ago. But if you’re concerned, a simple solution is just align the planter with plastic sheeting. But I really don’t think it’s much of an issue. And you know what? Those are nice. Those garden beds are a really nice way to get started on a garden around your house. And you got kids, Boy, they love the garden beds because it’s a lot less work. It’s starting from scratch. |
| 0:30:57 | LESLIE: Yeah. And you know, it puts them at a good height for the kids too, because they’re kind of like right in a space where they can reach and help. It’s fun because it’s right there where everybody can access it. |
| 0:31:05 | TOM: Well, now that the weather has warmed up and the days are longer, let your home’s interior reflect what’s happening outside. Leslie has some tips in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word. Leslie, time to refresh that inside space before the cold weather comes back. |
| 0:31:20 | LESLIE: Yeah, for sure. I mean, when it’s colder out, I always like to layer things on in the inside that feel cozy and warm and darker because I want to feel all warmed up inside my house. But now that it’s summertime, or at least getting to be summertime, I want to bring that outdoors in. I want to heal everything in the house, be fresh and light and airy. I really want it to feel beachy and summery. So why don’t we start with the items that we use on a daily basis? Go ahead. Change out those heavy, dark, toned winter linens, the bedding, the towels, put those away for the season and swap out for ones that are lighter weight, softer and color, things that sort of have that gauzy summery feel to it, even colors and tons of tops and beiges and grays and light blues, things that just make you feel like you’re at the beach now, even your draperies, you can make those more seasonally appropriate. You can even go without draperies for the summer season just to let more light in or go with something that feels more gauzy, that has like a nice breezy feel to it, something that’s going to move around in the open air or even swap out a fabric shade for a bamboo one or a natural one to give you that same beachy feel. And it’s super easy, especially if you find ones with the same mounting hardware, go to the same manufacturer. You should be able to just find ones that will interchange with the hardware that is existing to your current shade. And finally, throw pillows area rugs. You can swap those out as well for summery colors, summer textures. You want that beachy frame of mind. I mean, my goodness, I don’t live on the water. I’m not far from it. About a 20 minute drive. But I do love to feel like I’m sort of in that escaped vacation mode when I’m in my house. And you can do it by swapping out some of the things that you’ve already gotten home. And once you do it once, if you don’t have it now, you’ll kind of store things away and you’ll be able to just swap stuff out every season. So don’t be afraid to add to your collection. |
| 0:33:07 | TOM: This is the Money Pit Home Improvement show coming up next time. Are you looking for a good deal on a fixer upper? But maybe you’re concerned you won’t have the money to make the needed repairs. Well, a popular HUD mortgage program will lend you both the funds to buy the house in what you need to fix it up. We’ll show details on this very handy approach on the next edition of The Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:33:28 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:33:29 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
| 0:33:31 | LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone. |
| (Note: The above referenced transcript is AI-Generated, Unedited and Unproofed and as such may not accurately reflect the recorded audio. Copyright 2023 Squeaky Door Productions, Inc. No portion of this transcript or audio file may be reproduced in any format without the express written permission of Squeaky Door Productions, Inc.) |
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