Show Notes
- Patio Makeover: Old, worn concrete patios get new life with an easy DIY paver makeover.
- Preventing Bathroom Mold: Keep bathroom mold and mildew at bay by reducing moisture with these ventilation tips.
- Garage Door Styles: Attractive garage doors add immediate curb appeal with updated styles to complement your home.
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
Plus, answers to your home improvement questions about:
- Cleaning Brick: Mortar stains are hard to remove, but Gail gets tips on how to safely use a stiff wire brush or drill attachment without damaging the brick.
- Cracked Tile Floor: Dan’s tile floor is probably cracking because it wasn’t installed properly. He can replace them as needed or replace the tile floor after installing a flexible uncoupling membrane underneath.
- Faulty Closet Light: Ming has a closet door light that doesn’t come on and sometimes arcs. That’s a fire hazard that needs to be replaced immediately.
- Leaking Windows: Water is leaking through the top of the windows under a rotting gutter. After fixing the gutter and fascia, Dan should monitor the leak to see if he needs to remove the siding and replace the flashing.
- Updating a Bathroom: The dated green tiles around Peg’s bathtub have got to go! A whole bathroom renovation may be a better option than painting, reglazing, or adding a fiberglass insert.
- Plumbing Noises: There’s a loud banging in the basement whenever someone uses the toilet, shower, or laundry. Nicole may need to secure the pipes, install a water hammer arrestor, and check the well pump.
- Replacing Soffits: Mike is thinking of replacing the soffits on his garage with Hardie plank, but we advise him to use a different material in a color that complements the siding.
- GFCI Outlets: Do GFCI outlets need their own circuit breakers? The circuit breaker is actually built into the outlet and Belinda can use an outlet tester to be sure they’re grounded.
- Bathroom Mold: Bathroom mold keeps coming back, no matter what Matt does to remove it. He gets tips on improving the ventilation and using caulk with mildewcide.
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 0:00:29 | TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:00:35 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:00:57 | TOM: Here to help you take on the projects you want to get done around your house. We hope that you guys are having a great summer. You’re enjoying this beautiful weather and maybe you’re taking on some projects now that it is so nice out here trying to get stuff done inside and out. But if you’ve got a project that you’d like to get done and you don’t know where to start, or maybe you’re stuck in the middle, well, that’s where we come in. We’ve been at this for a long time, over 20 years, and we’ve done 2300 episodes of the money. And actually this episode, Leslie, is number two, three, three, three. |
| 0:01:08 | LESLIE: So many threes. A lot of threes. |
| 0:01:09 | TOM: Yeah, but we would love to share some knowledge that we’ve picked up along the way and help you get your projects. Don’t help yourself first by reaching out to us. Two ways to do that. Best option is to go to MoneyPit.com/ask and click the blue microphone button. You get the fastest possible response or you can call us at 1-888-Money-Pit. That’s 888-666-3974. Coming up on today’s show, if you’ve got a concrete patio that’s kind of beat up, well, there’s no need to replace it. We’re going to share a new way to give it years of life. That’s very easy to do. |
| 0:01:41 | LESLIE: All right. And no one likes cleaning mold and mildew in a bathroom, but that job can be made a bit easier if the moisture from your shower tub in is vented. We’re going to share tips for mold free bath. |
| 0:01:52 | TOM: And when you look at the outside of your home, does the garage door rank as pretty much the most boring surface you see? Well, today there are so many styles and colors. It looks for garage doors to choose from, and replacing that door can be a very simple and affordable home improvement project. We’ll have tips just ahead. The number here is one eight at eight Money Pit or go to MoneyPit.com/ask. |
| 0:02:15 | LESLIE: Head now to Idaho. Gail’s got an issue with some stains on some brick What’s going on over there? |
| 0:02:20 | CALLER: I have a question about removing mortar splash stains from exterior bricks and whether I could damage it by using maybe a metal brush on a drill so I don’t have to scrub so hard with the regular brush. |
| 0:02:37 | TOM: Now, any time you get a stain on brick, it’s really difficult to get it off because this brick is so absorptive. Now, with this mortar splash that’s gotten on there. I think what I would do first, because Brick is also a bit soft, I would use a wire brush. You would pick one up at a home center or a hardware store. It’s got stiff wire bristle. And then I would try to use that wire brush to brush off in brushes areas where the stains are. And you got to be careful because you don’t want to damage the brick too much. If you scratch it a little bit, that’s okay. Even if it looks a little lighter than the surrounding areas eventually to sort of fade together. But that’s probably the first step. And if you want to go deeper than that, you could pick up a wire brush attachment for a drill and just like a drill bit, it goes into the truck and it spins around and you got it. It’s a little bit it’s a little bit wily to handle, right, Leslie? I mean, if you don’t if you don’t have the. |
| 0:03:30 | LESLIE: Handle. |
| 0:03:31 | TOM: You will get crushed. Sure. It’ll alienate. Exactly. It’ll handle you. It’ll bounce right back in your face. But you know what? Oh, the other important thing that you should know is that if you’re going to use a wire brush attachment on drill like that, please, please, please wear safety glasses because those wires can break off and fly off. We don’t want you to get hurt. So that’s the way I would approach this. It’s a matter of levels of aggression using a wire brush. You don’t want to go too heavy because you’ll damage it. But that’s probably the best way to get rid of that splash. And hopefully it’s not too big of an area. |
| 0:04:02 | LESLIE: Heading out to Arizona. Dan’s on the line with a cracked tile. Tell us what’s happening. |
| 0:04:06 | CALLER: Yes, hi. I have a home in Rimrock, Arizona, and it was built in 2006 and it has tile flooring and it’s created I’m assuming the foundation is settled. And I’m really not sure what to do about this. I mean, I don’t know if I should call grout. Yes, it has cracked tiles and I can’t get the tiles anymore. So anyway, I need to see what your suggestion would be. |
| 0:04:32 | TOM: You know, I hate when we get these calls ugly because when you have a tile floor and it wasn’t installed. Right. Which is probably what’s going on here, you know, there’s no quick fix, right? You either have to keep replacing tiles as they crack or you have to go ahead and tear the whole thing out and do it right. I suspect what’s happening here is that the installer never used an uncoupling membrane. Now that’s a very specific type of like underlayment that goes between a concrete slab and the tile floor. And it allows the floor of the tile to move differently than each other. And this way, when you have expansion and contraction and movement, you don’t it doesn’t result in the tile cracking. It just sort of moves with it. And you know, when you say move, you think, well, it’s stationary, isn’t it? But everything’s moving. The house is always moving, the walls are moving in or out. They’re moving up and down. It just happens so slowly and so evenly you don’t see it. But, you know, from wind pressure and the forces of nature is moving and you got to account for that. And that’s what an uncoupling membrane does. There’s a product called Ditra, Dan, which is the kind of product that I would recommend. You could check that out at Schluter.com. They make a lot of products for tiling under a name. It’s kind of the experts in that space. And that’s the sort of thing I’m talking about, the special membrane that’s designed to separate the movement of the tile from the subfloor below or the concrete slab below. In your case. And I think once you’re ready to replace that tile floor, that’s kind of the next step. That’s what you’re going to have to do. So between now and then, you can just try to replace those as you can. And by the way, you mentioned you can’t get that tile anymore. Leslie. I always think that when you can’t find the tile that you could drop in some decorative tiles and make it look like it was always designed to be that way, right? |
| 0:06:16 | LESLIE: I mean, for sure, it depends on the size, the shape, the location of those tiles. You know, if there’s something that you can grab, perhaps a tile from behind, something if delicately you can remove it. And it would be well, then go for it. But otherwise, depending on where those tiles are, you can pop one out and then sort of look and kind of create a pattern based on what was broken and kind of work with that. You can add in something more decorative, you can add in something with a little bit of a different sheen. You can add in something that’s a grouping of smaller tiles. So there’s really a lot of great options to make it look like what happened was a design choice, you know? |
| 0:06:50 | TOM: Right. Yeah. And you know what always happens when you do this stuff like that, people come in, they notice and they go, Oh, I love the
pattern in your tile floor. It’s absolutely gorgeous. |
| 0:06:58 | LESLIE: Oh, thank you. I totally did it on purpose. |
| 0:07:02 | TOM: Keep your mouth shut. Just thank them very much for your amazing creativity. |
| 0:07:07 | LESLIE: Ming, in Texas, you’ve got the Money Pit. How can we help you today? |
| 0:07:12 | CALLER: Hi. I have a closet door that it’s supposed to like. Supposed to come on. When I open the door, I have to jiggle that little button and play with it for a while before I can get the light to come on. And sometimes it arcs. |
| 0:07:25 | TOM: So you’re turning this light switch on and you’re getting an arc that’s really dangerous. That is an immediate fire hazard. So you need to have an electrician fix that right away. See, these switches can basically deteriorate internally. And if they’re sparking like that, that’s a big problem. Consider yourself lucky, but that should not be happening and it has to be immediately replaced. |
| 0:07:50 | CALLER: Okay. |
| 0:07:51 | TOM: All right. |
| 0:07:52 | CALLER: I should not use that door. |
| 0:07:54 | TOM: You should get that switch fixed. It should not be doing that. All right. That’s your first thing you’re first to do. |
| 0:07:59 | CALLER: Okay. |
| 0:08:00 | TOM: Well, let’s prevent a home fire, shall we? |
| 0:08:02 | CALLER: Yeah. |
| 0:08:04 | TOM: Thanks so much for calling us at 888 Money Pit. |
| 0:08:06 | CALLER: Thank you. |
| 0:08:08 | LESLIE: Hey, you’re tired of living in a money pit. Well, we’re here to help. And if you want us to help out, it would be awesome if you could leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts. Just go to the Money Pit dot com slash review. It’s only going to take a minute and it means the world to us. Dan in Rhode Island is on the line with some sort of leaky window issue. What’s going on? |
| 0:08:27 | CALLER: Well, I had an issue with there was water leaking inside the top of my window. It was like a real rainy day. But I did notice that on the outside of the house where the gutters were mounted to was rotting away. So it was pretty much a hole there. And it seemed like the water might have been getting in and then seeping into the house. |
| 0:08:45 | TOM: So it’s entirely possible just because you happen to see it come in the top of the window doesn’t mean that’s the source of it’s most likely the flashing now. From your description, it sounds like you may have had an obstructed gutter that backed up and splashed water kind of behind it, rotted out the fascia that would have been attached to that possibly could have been a source for water infiltration or that could just be coincidental. And there could be an issue with the flashing around the window. What kind of sighting do you have on the house? |
| 0:09:12 | CALLER: It’s actually a wood siding. I’m not sure the top of it, but it’s not like a cedar shingle or something a lot older. The house was built in the 1960s. |
| 0:09:23 | TOM: Okay. But it’s some sort of a shingle. Yeah. Well, here’s what I would do. I would fix the gutter in the fascia. Right. That’s an easy thing to do. And then I would monitor it and see if it still continues to happen. If it does continue to happen. Then what I would do is I would remove the siding around the top and sides of the window and just re flash the whole thing. It’s kind of hard to do this sort of in bits or pieces. You got to really do the whole thing or not do it at all. So that’s the best way to approach it. Let’s do the easy thing first to see these, see if that actually does it, which is that gutter replacement. And then if not, we can start to dig a little deeper into it until we get to the bottom of it. You know, if you do get that gutter fixed or even if you don’t, frankly, there’s nothing you could try. And then it’s just go outside with a garden hose and don’t blast it. But maybe, like take. If you have a jet on the end of it, take that off. But just let the water roll over the window from the top. You know, go up about a foot or two above the window, wet the siding down as if it was just drenched in a big rainstorm. And see if that lets water inside. That might also give you the clue that there could be probably the flashing and not the gutter or in addition, the gutter. Okay. |
| 0:10:31 | CALLER: Yeah. Now that you mentioned the flashing, maybe it doesn’t make sense because they actually have looked like a piece of vinyl. Possibly. That is, it’s like a U-shape. It catches the top of the replacement window and it goes from the inside, over the top of the window and then to the outside. |
| 0:10:48 | TOM: Sounds like what we call a J channel. |
| 0:10:50 | CALLER: From the inside. Listen to the letter J. But then if you kind of go if you look at it from the outside, the whole piece is probably like a U-shape, I would say, that sits right on top. |
| 0:10:58 | TOM: You might be talking about the J channel or drip edge, but either way, those are all part of the flashing system. And if that window is leaking, when you do your hose test, then you’ve got to sort of disassemble that and put it back together with good flashing all around. |
| 0:11:11 | CALLER: Okay. All right. Thank you very much. |
| 0:11:12 | TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:11:16 | LESLIE: Well, for most homes, a backyard patio is home base for all of your outdoor living activities. But if your patio is old or worn or just plain cracked, you don’t have too many options to kind of spruce it up. Painting or standing usually doesn’t make it look all that much better. And tearing out the old concrete and pouring a new patio is kind of messy. And it can be expensive. |
| 0:11:36 | TOM: Well, now there’s a much better way to do a patio makeover. You can renew an old patio or a sidewalk or really any other concrete surface with no demolition required when you use a type of paper called a milano paver. It’s made by paved stone, and these pavers are just three centimeters thick, which is about an inch and a quarter. Now, from the surface, they look just like the usual full thickness Brett paver. But because they’re installed on top of the old patio, they don’t need to be. |
| 0:12:04 | LESLIE: Yeah, it’s a three piece system and it’s installed in basic patterns directly over concrete that requires very little surface prep. And that makes this project super budget friendly and really great for a DIY or to get done. |
| 0:12:16 | TOM: Yeah. And all you really do is glue the outside a couple of rows of this to kind of support the edge and then the rest of them each basically stack on the patio and that’s it. You’re pretty much done. They look fantastic to check them out at pay Stone, AECOM, the Milano pavers. Great option. |
| 0:12:32 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Peg from Rhode Island on the line with a question about a fiberglass shower insert. Let me guess. The tiles are like pink or green or something. Really dated. |
| 0:12:42 | CALLER: Definitely green. Yes. Lime green, too. Right now I have a whole under the sea thing going on in there to try to accommodate that. |
| 0:12:50 | LESLIE: Holy moly. Well, you know, generally you’re doing the right thing there when you try to decorate around, do the color scheme or make light of it. But I get it that color can become tiresome rather quickly. So short of retailing your bath, there are a couple of things you can do. You do have the option to paint tile, which nevertheless, in my opinion, it’s something that’s sort of just a temporary placeholder until you can actually redo that bath. But there are shower inserts that sort of surround the existing tile and can create a whole new bath and shower surrounded, you know, a day. |
| 0:13:25 | CALLER: Right. But actually, it’s a fiberglass insert. It’s not tile. It’s a fiberglass insert that would need to be cut out. We actually did have one of those companies come out to put an insert, but because it’s a fiberglass all one piece from probably 72 or 73, the entire thing would have to be cut out. So mainly one of it is that like refinishing spray worth the effort or cut it out and get rid of it. |
| 0:13:53 | TOM: So you’re asking, can you re glaze, so to speak, the fiberglass shower stall that you have right now or. |
| 0:14:00 | CALLER: Right. Okay. Right. You see these companies for these resurfacing sprays, whether or not it’s something it’s even worth doing, doing ourselves or hiring a professional or get the saw and go to town. |
| 0:14:13 | TOM: Yeah, I hear you. I think that you’re probably not going to be totally happy with that because once that fiberglass surface starts to wear, unless it’s made in the factory like it was the first time, it’s never going to be as nice as it used to be. Okay. Pretty labor intensive project as well. So I think if you do want to tear it out and do something else, you’d probably be better off doing that. I know it’s a big job, it’s a big restoration, but, you know, there’s just no shortcuts. When you want to do something that’s going to last you for the next, you know, 20, 30, 40 years. |
| 0:14:46 | CALLER: Right. I don’t mind the green shower myself. My husband likes that more than I do with my beautiful tropical shower plan. It looks great. Wait, think white toilet. We’re good. |
| 0:14:57 | LESLIE: But, you know. |
| 0:14:59 | TOM: I mean, like Leslie said, you can decorate around it, too. |
| 0:15:01 | CALLER: There’s always what we’ve done. That’s definitely what we’ve done. All right. So that was the main thing. Was it worth it to refinish it? Probably not. |
| 0:15:09 | TOM: Yeah. No, I don’t think it is. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:15:15 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Nicole from Connecticut on the line who’s dealing with some noisy pipes. What is going on? |
| 0:15:21 | CALLER: Every time we flush the toilet and use a shower or wash a load of laundry, there is a well here. And we hear loud banging in the basement where the well, you know, water comes in to the basement floor. |
| 0:15:38 | TOM: There’s two things I’m thinking that could be causing this. The first one is pretty straightforward. It’s called water hammer. And water hammer occurs when some of those plumbing pipes in the basement are loose. If they’re not well attached to the wood framing, you know, usually the ceilings choice in this example. Then when you open up a faucet and then or close a faucet or flush the toilet, that water movement through the pipes suddenly stops. But sometimes the force continues to shake the pipe, and that is what we call the water hammer. And because they’re metal pipes, they tend to transmit that sound quite effectively all over the house. You know, we get calls from folks that are what makes them so miserable, because if somebody goes to the bathroom, you can hear it in the dining room during dinner. |
| 0:16:26 | CALLER: Because. |
| 0:16:26 | TOM: The pipes are making such a racket. So water hammers one possibility, but because you also have a well, it might also be that what you’re hearing is the well pump go on and off. Now, it shouldn’t go on and off every time you run the water. If you have an expansion tank near it. So the expansion tank basically holds the water and then you sort of feed off of this tank when you draw water and it has to go down to a certain point before it refills with more water that gets served through the pipes. So I would just tell you to do a test, have mom or you stand in one location, the other person near the well and then run some faucets and turn them on and off and so on and see if it is that the well is going on every time it draws water because that’s not supposed to happen. That’s a lot of wear and tear on the well. It’s a lot of expense in terms of energy. And if you had the right type of tank in there next to it, that could stop that from happening. If it’s not the case, then it’s most definitely going to be water hammer. And again, you can secure those pipes to the underside of the floor draw structure. There’s hangers for that. Or in the worst case scenario, or there’s also a plumbing component called a water hammer or rester, which you can think of as a shock absorber. And it goes on the end of some of those water pipelines and basically takes some of that excessive pressure and settles it down so it doesn’t shake the pipe as much. |
| 0:17:49 | CALLER: Okay, wonderful. Thank you so much for all your help. |
| 0:17:52 | TOM: All right. Well, good luck with that project. |
| 0:17:54 | CALLER: Thank you. Have a great day. |
| 0:17:57 | LESLIE: Heading up to Texas, we’ve got Mike on the line with a sighting question. What is going on at your place? |
| 0:18:02 | CALLER: I have an older garage that’s in my backyard, and it has vinyl siding on it. And the siding, it’s only under skirt are under the side panels of the roof and everything is starting to deteriorate, fall apart. And I have found out I can’t get a replacement in that color or anything else like that that’s going to match up. And so my question was, I was going to go and use Hardy Plank and Hardy Plank plywood to put underneath there. So it would be something it’s not going to rust or, you know, Rod or anything else over time. And is there something you would say would be, okay, I’ve seen houses with it on there, but my side are 26 inches out. My back is 30 inches out. And then I have four feet off the front as part of the roof. It’s four feet over of the eaves. There. Sam, is that you think that’s too much of an area to cover, or would I be better go in a different direction? |
| 0:19:08 | TOM: Okay, So first of all, you’re calling the siding. And I think what you’re talking about is the soffit straight the underside of the roof over here. Is that correct? All right. Yes, sir. So hardy planks are great material, so I have no issues with that. Assuming you can find the pieces that you need to make this work. What I’m concerned about is that, especially being in Texas, do you have ventilation in that soffit area now? |
| 0:19:32 | CALLER: Yeah. All the vital siding that’s there has a little hole. |
| 0:19:35 | TOM: Right. So you can’t cover that. You need to have a ventilation. And so to do that with Hardy Plank, it’s kind of like doing this the hard way, frankly, because you would have to, you know, cut vents into the hardy plank. And it’s not the easiest thing to cut, even though it lasts forever. I mean, if it was me, I would definitely hardy plank a siding, but for the soffit, I would simply replace that with new soffit material. That would be the easiest because you probably already have the fish in the J channel in place and you can probably buy vinyl panels and cut them to fit and get them in there. And you say you can’t find the exact color. Well, you could use a complementary coloring. And certainly White goes with everything. Yes, sir. Or you could if you really wanted to paint them, you could buy those panels. They come they’re about usually about ten feet long. Then you could spray paint them any color you want and then cut them to fit and put them in where the old panels are sort of falling apart. |
| 0:20:28 | CALLER: Okay. |
| 0:20:29 | TOM: So I don’t think I would do this with Heart with Hardy Pink only because it’s really not meant for that particular application. And it’s really critical you have that ventilation because if you don’t your roof and your attic space are not going to be properly vented and they’re going to overheat and that’s going to drive up your cooling costs and it can also shorten your roof life. |
| 0:20:46 | CALLER: I appreciate that. Thank you all very much. |
| 0:20:49 | LESLIE: Well, nobody likes cleaning mold and mildew in the bathroom, but that job can be a lot easier if you control the moisture that you get from when you shower or when you bathe. You got to make sure that it’s properly vented out. All too often, though, this really isn’t the case. Now get this building code. Don’t even require a bath vent fan. And they say if your bathroom has got a window, that’s it. I mean, that’s kind of silly because unless you’re opening that window and you happen to have a chilly breeze in the middle of winter and it’s moving the air around, it’s still not really doing the same job as a vent fan. But window or not, a properly sized and installed bathroom fan is the best way that you can make sure that moisture won’t build up and then it’s going to prevent the mold. |
| 0:21:33 | TOM: Yeah. So first you want to make sure the fan is the right size. Bath fans are rated by CFM that’s cubic feet per minute and it’s based on how much air actually move. Now, the rule of thumb for sizing a bath fan is that you need one CFM for every square foot of floor space. So if your bath is 80 square feet, you need an 80 CFM fan. |
| 0:21:54 | TOM: Now, if the bath is high ceilings, that’s going to change a bit. But for the most part it’s just one cfm per square foot. Also, it’s important the fan is vented outside through the exterior wall or the roof. It should not be vented into an attic or into the attic soffit or even up to and against an attic vent. We want it to go through and its own vent and right to the exterior. If you don’t do this, you’re going to be dumping a lot of moisture in the attic space that can cause rot, cause mold. And it could definitely make your insulation not work very well, because when the insulation is damp, it just doesn’t insulate. And lastly, it helps if you have the bath exhaust on a timer that can be set to run for at least 10 minutes after you leave the bathroom. That way any residual moisture is exhausted out before it can condense on the surfaces of the walls of the ceiling and fuel that next round of mold buildup. |
| 0:22:49 | LESLIE: All right. Now we’ve got Belinda, who wants to talk electricity. What kind of electrical work are you doing over there? |
| 0:22:54 | CALLER: I live in a house that was built in 1971, so there were no GFI outlets then. And little by little, you know, I’ve been adding them. So my question is, I have a couple more, you know, that I want in bathroom Central one, a GFI outlet is at it. Does it need its own circuit breaker or is it okay if they splice it into an existing wire? |
| 0:23:20 | TOM: No, it does not need its own circuit breaker. In fact, the ground fault breaker is a circuit breaker. Now there are two types of GFCI devices. There are most common ones built into the outlet, and the other one actually is a circuit breaker with the ground fault circuitry built into it. With an older house, typically you’re just going to replace the outlet with one that has a GFCI outlet and an electrician that knows what they’re doing should be able to handle that. I always suggest that you test that yourself by using the test bar and if possible, there’s a little electrical tester that’s in the shape of the plug that tells you a lot of information. All you do is stick this thing in and it has lights on it. And the lights will tell you if it’s grounded. It’ll tell you if the polarity is reversed, which means the wires have been put in backwards and will also enable you to test the ground fault outside of the breaker itself. So which is a better test? It’s kind of like what happens if you if you have a bad appliance plugged into it. So it’s definitely something that can be done after the fact and you don’t have to do it at the breaker itself. |
| 0:24:25 | CALLER: Okay. So it doesn’t need its own data. Keep it lying down to the circuit breaker. Okay. And this tester you’re saying is something I should buy to have in my own toolbox, in my house. |
| 0:24:38 | TOM: It’s called an outlet tester. Yeah. They’re like, I don’t know, ten bucks. They’re really cheap. It looks like a small plug, you know, three prong plug. And you just plug it in. You’ll see there’s lights on it and a little push button. And when you read the instructions, you’ll see it’ll tell you if everything’s wired right. |
| 0:24:51 | CALLER: And then the way to test my GFI outlet that I have just press that red. |
| 0:24:55 | TOM: But it should click off right. And B and be dead, basically. |
| 0:24:59 | CALLER: Thank you. |
| 0:25:00 | LESLIE: Well, without looking guys, can you describe the style of your garage door? What? Your garage door doesn’t have a style. It’s just a garage door. Well, then it might actually be time for a new one. If your garage door is plain white paneled, boring, you seriously are missing out on a great opportunity to bring some super major curb appeal right to your home. You know, your garage is a big part of what people see when they take in your home’s front facade. And sometimes, I mean, depending on the architectural style of your home, that garage door can be up to like 60% of what they see Now. |
| 0:25:35 | TOM: You can totally transform the look of your house simply by replacing that garage door. There are many, many options to consider from a carriage house style to a barn door. Look, and even the ones with sleek modern lines plus garage doors are not only steel today, you can find fiberglass options that are also a fantastic choice because they can look like wood, but without any of those maintenance hassles, if you live in an area that’s prone to storms, you can get garage doors that are highly storm resistant, highly wind resistant and can really stand up to that level of wind is that’s super important. When the garage door blows in the house, sort of blows up, blows out. That’s why you see old broken glass on the outside, because the house fills with air and poof, that’s what causes a major amount of damage. So lots of options today. If you’re ready for a garage door, you need to take all of them in and make the best decision for your home. |
| 0:26:28 | LESLIE: Matt in Ohio is dealing with some multiple issues going on related to what is happening. |
| 0:26:34 | CALLER: We had our house build about six years ago. The stand up shower in the master bath is molding around the bottom. I have cleaned the mold off. I’ve scraped it all off. I’ve recorded it and the mold keeps coming back. I had a guy come out. He told me, Get this kind of caulk, paint him to and help him to clean all the cork off. Recall it, and now it’s back again. Not sure what to do about it. Also, have a swelling wall on the on the outside wall, across from that stand up shower and the caulking keeps cracking as the wall separates from the bathtub and the counter. The countertop, the vanity is connected to the outside wall. |
| 0:27:17 | TOM: Wow. Matt, you’ve got a lot going on there, man. So first of all, if you’ve had this repetitive problem with mold over and over again in the bathroom, I suspect that the solution, if not the entire solution. But a good part of it is to take a look at your bathroom ventilation, because we find that bathrooms that are not properly ventilated, they’re not well ventilated. Those damp, wet conditions persist after shower taking and lead to an enormous amount of mold growth. So we want to make sure that you have a good bath fan that is running in that space. And we recommend that it be tied to a humidistat, which is a moisture sensing switch so that whenever the humidity is high in the bathroom, the fan will run and pull it out until it’s dry. And in doing so, you will find a lot less mold growth in terms of selecting a product. There are different clocks that are out there, obviously designed for kitchens and baths that have mil the sides in them. One additive that has been successful in my applications over the years is microban. So if you see a cork that has a microban active and I believe the DAP products do, I found that to be very effective. And in terms of the cork between the vanity in the bathroom and the wall, So typically that could be a big gap. And it’s not designed corks not designed to take up those big gaps. So what you want to do is you want to get some foam bead which is sort of like a bat’s called a backer rod and it comes in different diameters and basically it’s like a long foam tube that you shove down between the top and the wall. You put it. So it’s about a half inch or quarter inch below the vanity backsplash. And then you caulk on top of that between the vanity and the wall, and then that will support the bottom of that cork and it will be much less likely to crack and pull away. So those are the steps that I would follow. But again, get that bath vented properly. I think you’ll be amazed at how fewer cases of mold growth you have as a result. |
| 0:29:20 | LESLIE: Reach out to Tim Money Pit like Jack did, who writes, We don’t have a closet in our bedroom and I want to build one, but I’m not sure how large it should be. Are there any rules of thumb for closet size? |
| 0:29:31 | TOM: I think it’s a balancing act, right? I mean, in older homes, it’s not unusual to come across bedrooms without closets. The other option is to use an armoire which has been used in past errors to store clothes and accessories. And, you know, it’s a trend that’s somewhat on the rise, along with customizable wardrobes. But even in houses with added wardrobes and armoires, no closets are never a bad idea, especially from a resale standpoint. But you’ve got to consider size. I mean. Well, I’ve never heard anyone complain about a closet that’s too big, you know, because they’re going to add value to your home, but not if they reduce the bedroom and the space. It’s left to the size of a postage stamp. So there’s always a tradeoff, right? |
| 0:30:08 | LESLIE: That is true. All right. Now we’ve got a question from Charles, who writes, Our master Bathrooms window has a crank attached to the window frame. The windows are in good shape and the frame is to my situation is that the crank doesn’t operate the window to open or close anymore. It almost feels like it’s stripped. Is this something I can fix myself? This happens all the time. I feel like with these windows it does. |
| 0:30:28 | TOM: And this is how they wear out. Now that crank, you have to look on the side of it to see if there’s a screw that’s sort of flush with the surface of the crank that may have loosened up, because that’s often how it’s attached to the window gear, which is underneath it. But if it is in fact stripped, then unfortunately you’re in a situation where you’re going to have to replace that window. You could try if you know the manufacturer, you could try to see if the part is still available. But in worst case scenario, you’re going to have to replace that. I did both. Leslie. I actually replaced the cranks on a window in my office because it was the Andersen window, and I was able to identify exactly which window it was and get the replacement parts. But we had kitchen windows where we couldn’t do that and we had to actually replace them. |
| 0:31:09 | LESLIE: And sometimes it’s just such a simple fix like this that can extend the life of the window. So it’s definitely worth looking into. |
| 0:31:15 | TOM: Well, if you’re only using your microwave to heat up leftovers, you may be missing out on some other very handy uses. Leslie has some great microwave hacks in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word, Leslie. |
| 0:31:26 | LESLIE: Yeah. I mean, it really is a great way to heat up leftovers and soups and teas, but you can do so much more with your microwave. I mean, first of all, if you’ve got a sponge in the kitchen, that’s a little stinky, you can soak that sponge in water and vinegar and zap it for a minute. And you can do the same with a cutting board if you rub a little lemon on it, heat it for a minute. I mean, you’re saying goodbye to all of the germs that have been sitting on there. Now, here’s some other fun tips. You can remove labels and stickers from bottles. I mean, it’s a great way to just take it off without all of the extra elbow grease. You heat them in the microwave for about 30 seconds. The heat loosens the adhesive and it makes it way easier to peel that label off. If you’ve got sore muscles from all of your home improvement projects, you can fill a microwave safe sock or cloth bag with rice or flaxseed and then microwave it for a minute or two. And that really creates a lovely warm compress that can be used for soothing muscles in your aches and keeping your hands warm. Add some lavender and it’s lovely for your neck if you’re trying to take a nap, try herbs or flowers can be done quickly if you place them between paper towels and microwave them in short bursts of 20 to 30 seconds. You don’t want to do it too much at once because it might over dry them, so do them. In short bursts until they’re dry and crisp. And that’s a great way to dry those herbs and flowers. And lastly, if you’ve got a candle holder and you love the container, but there’s a little bit of wax left in there or some residue on it, you can put that in the microwave for a minute or two and then just wipe away the extra wax. I mean, so many great things you can do in addition to just having pizza rolls. |
| 0:32:56 | TOM: And you could do that too. |
| 0:32:57 | LESLIE: Yeah, you can have pizza rolls while you do the other stuff. |
| 0:33:00 | TOM: There you go. Coming up on the next edition of the Money Pit, if your garden is looking like it’s had too much sun, one of the best ways to beat the heat is to make sure your plants are well irrigated. And you can do that with micro irrigation. A system of drip tubing and tiny sprayers that delivers water right where you need it. We’ll tell you how that works in the very next edition of The Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:33:22 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:33:23 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
| 0:33:25 | 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.) |
Leave a Reply