Show Notes
- Pool Safety for Kids: Pool safety always begins with supervision, plus these crucial measures help prevent child drownings.
- Water Odors: Why does your water smell like rotten eggs? We’ve got solutions for stinky water.
- Preventing Roof Leaks: Detecting roof leaks before they happen heads off bigger problems. Here’s what to look for.
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
Plus, answers to your home improvement questions about:
- Painting Kitchen Countertops: Sheila is considering painting her kitchen countertops. We agree it’s an affordable, attractive, and durable option.
- Water Heater Replacement: Steve’s electric water heater leaks. He can replace it with a standard unit or a heat pump water heater that is more efficient.
- Squirrels: Sneaky squirrels are chewing holes in the bird feeder. Priscilla needs to make the bird feeder unappealing or unreachable to keep squirrels away.
- Dryer Vent: A disconnected dryer vent is a fire hazard and creates moisture that makes attic insulation less efficient. Cody must fix and redirect the dryer vent ASAP.
- Concrete Stains: June has metal bench stains on the porch and car stains in the garage. We give her tips on using TSP to lighten the concrete stains.
- Wood Deck Boards: Should deck boards be replaced or refinished? Rob can turn some of them over, replace the worst ones, and use a good solid stain.
- Bathtub Repair: Best remedy for a chipping fiberglass bathtub? Jan can use a fiberglass tub and tile repair kit.
- Shifting Floor Tiles: Tiles are shifting and grout is coming out in Barbara’s heated bathroom floor. She can either repair them as needed with floor adhesive or replace the entire floor and heating coils.
- Efflorescence: Efflorescence caused by mineral salt deposits is making Ted’s cinderblock basement walls crumble and flake. He should improve the drainage outside the house first and then use vinegar to clean the walls before repainting.
- Cleaning a Popcorn Ceiling: How can you refresh a popcorn ceiling? Nancy needs a dry feather duster to remove any cobwebs and a special roller to repaint the ceiling.
- Septic System: A sinkhole is developing near Brian’s septic system. A septic system inspector can tell him if it’s a potential failure of the septic field.
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 0:00:33 | TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:00:38 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:00:40 | TOM: You guys are enjoying this beautiful summer day. If you got a project you’d like to take on maybe a to do to get done around your house. We would sure like to help. You can get that help by reaching out to us at moneypit.com/ask or calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. Coming up on today’s show, now that we’ve hit the dog days of summer backyard pools are more popular than ever. But if you’ve got a pool and you’ve got kids, there are six things you need to do to make sure they stay safe. We’ll share the super important to do list just ahead. |
| 0:01:10 | LESLIE: And it’s a common complaint among homeowners out there for good reason. Nobody likes water that is smelly. Smells like rot nags. Just seems yucky. So we’re going to share what causes this and really the simple cure to help you return the freshness to your H2O. |
| 0:01:25 | TOM: And summer can be very rough on rooves. The heat dries out the shingles that causes them to crack, while the summer storms test the limits of their ability to keep your home free from leaks. Right. Well, we’re going to share tips on how to inspect your roof and head off these kinds of problems. |
| 0:01:40 | LESLIE: And if you’ve got a big painting project on your to do list this summer, we’ve got a powerful paint sprayer to give away to one lucky listener. On today’s show. Yep. |
| 0:01:48 | TOM: This is amazing. It’s the Wagner Titan Control Max 1700. It’s worth 379 bucks. It’s going out to one listener drawn at random. You know what it’s called? Titan. It’s got to be big, right? So reach out with your questions at 1-888-MONEY-PIT or go to moneypit.com/ask. Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first. |
| 0:02:07 | LESLIE: Heading over to Oklahoma right now to talk to Sheila about a kitchen do over. How can we help you paint those countertops? |
| 0:02:13 | CALLER: All right. Recently, my husband and I remodeled our kitchen and we refinished our cabinets. And we they had we had some research lighting done and we didn’t have enough money for our counters. So I’ve been looking at a line, some stuff about repainting your countertops, and I wanted to know your opinion about it or if you’d heard anyone doing that or what your thoughts are on that. |
| 0:02:38 | TOM: Yeah, the countertop paints have been out for probably five or eight years now and they seem to do very, very well. I know Rust only has an extensive line of countertop paints out that are available in many, many colors. So I think it is a good option. Are they going to buy you a little bit of time on those countertops so that you can avoid having to replace them and you’ll have the opportunity to paint either a solid color or they have countertop paints Now that kind of look like stone countertops. They look like granite and other types of natural materials. So I think they’re a very good option and I would encourage you to pursue it. |
| 0:03:13 | CALLER: Yeah, I actually found a company online that sells them their product locally at one of our wallpaper stores and have actually purchased the items. I just haven’t started the project yet. |
| 0:03:26 | TOM: What you might want to do is try to get your hands on a piece of laminate and you can go to a home center and buy like a really small piece of laminate, like a scrap. And this way you can practice a little bit before you actually get it on your countertop. |
| 0:03:36 | CALLER: Do you know about the length of time and how durable it is as far as lasting? |
| 0:03:42 | TOM: It’s not as durable as the laminate, but it’s pretty good. |
| 0:03:45 | CALLER: Yeah. Okay. Well, great. Thank you, Tom, for taking my call. |
| 0:03:48 | TOM: You’re welcome, Sheila. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. |
| 0:03:53 | LESLIE: Now we’re heading over to Tennessee, where Steve wants to talk about water heating. How can we. |
| 0:03:57 | CALLER: Help you buy a water heater? Seems to be going out. It’s about five or six years old. And I’ve been hearing commercials on your show about tankless water heaters and other forms of like water heating solutions. And I was just wondering, is that, you know, costly or, you know, is that a better way to go than put another time? |
| 0:04:14 | TOM: Okay. So you see the water heaters going out. Is this a gas water heater? It’s electric. It’s electric and it’s going out. So what’s happening to it? |
| 0:04:21 | CALLER: It’s leaking. |
| 0:04:22 | TOM: Oh, it’s leaking it five or six years. Really? That’s just plain bad luck, Steve, right now. So. All right, let me ask this question. How long you plan on staying in your current house? Is it just the house for a while? |
| 0:04:33 | CALLER: Oh, yes. Forever house. |
| 0:04:34 | TOM: Hopefully. Generally, I would say I wouldn’t hesitate to install tankless water heater, except this is a big except tankless water heaters that are powered by electricity don’t work that well. They don’t save you that much money. If you have you have the ability to power it with propane, for example, then it’s more realistic. But if you’re planning on pairing it with electricity, then it’s not. So in that case, your options are to replace it with a standard tank, the electric water heater. Or you can use a real new type of electric water heater called a heat pump water heater even more. These are more expensive, but they’re but they’re much, much, much more efficient than a standard electric water heater. Those costly. Yeah, they’re more costly than a standard water heater. You know, you’re probably looking at maybe around 5000 bucks for one plus installation. So they’re much more expensive, but they’re far more efficient. |
| 0:05:24 | CALLER: That’s what I’ll do then. I thank you for answering my question. |
| 0:05:26 | TOM: Sorry to hear about that leak and hope we’ve helped you get back on track. |
| 0:05:30 | LESLIE: Priscilla in Massachusetts is on the line. And while we all love birdhouses, guess who else likes them? Squirrels. Let’s help her keep them out. What can we do for you today? |
| 0:05:39 | CALLER: They’ve chewed away at the holes of it so that they actually have made it. The hole is bigger and because of that, the birds are not going in there because the squirrel can go in there. So I think I’ve already tried PVC piping because I figured that’s something I can put in there, insert it and just in the hole. And it’s not too big, kind of narrow, but I kind of find when that fits. |
| 0:06:06 | TOM: I mean, most of the solutions for bird feeders or bird houses are really in two categories. One, they make it rather unpleasant for the squirrel to be able to get up that high with things like cones or plastic bottles or slippery pipes or ducts or Slinkys or things like that to slide around, make a lot of noise. Oh yeah. Or simply move it completely away from where squirrels can get to it. So for example, if you were to string a wire between two trees and not have overhanging branches above the squirrels, well, they would be able to get to that birdhouse. |
| 0:06:36 | CALLER: Could I give you know of something I can insert in the hole though, Right. |
| 0:06:40 | TOM: But if you inserted in the hole, the squirrels are still going to hang out in that birdhouse and they might try to chew the their your way in the another area. Right. So that’s why I’m saying that I would not focus on reinforcing the birdhouse as much as I would focus on moving it to an area that’s less likely to be attacked by squirrels. Priscilla, thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. |
| 0:07:03 | LESLIE: Hey, you want to make our day? Well, go ahead and leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts and we’ll be jumping for joy. Plus, you guys, your feedback helps us make the show even better for you. Just go to Money Pit dot com slash review. |
| 0:07:15 | TOM: Well, if you’ve got big painting plans this summer, we have got a serious paint sprayer to give away that will help you get those projects done. Is the Titan control Mac 1700 paint sprayer by Wagner It’s great for handymen and general contractors and experienced homeowners is going to help you tackle those large projects. It produces 55% less overspray and gets that paint on three times faster than a roller. Plus it pulls paint directly from either a one or five gallon paint container. And it’s got a 30 foot host. It’s worth 389 bucks. Now, if you’d like to win it, here’s what you got to do. You got to pick up the phone and call us at 88 Money Pit with your home improvement question. Or you can go to Moneypit.com/ask and post your question by clicking the blue microphone button. And we’re going to choose one listener from today’s show and send out that paint sprayer to them. It could be you if you make that call or you go to our site at moneypit.com/ask. |
| 0:08:09 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Cody in Texas who’s got a safety question. The dryer vent has become disconnected. Yes, Cody, this is dangerous. |
| 0:08:17 | CALLER: So I was up in the attic the other day and I saw some insulation blowing the drywall burning at the time. And I walked over there and I could feel the air from the dryer blowing in from between the walls, you know, And that kind of concerned me. It seems to me like it’s not connected within the wall and it’s just blowing out there is and I’m wondering, is that a big deal? Do I need to go in the wall and replace it or is it going to be fine the way it is? |
| 0:08:43 | TOM: No, it’s not fine at all. The way it is for two reasons. Number one, it’s a fire hazard because all it does is being trapped inside that wall cavity. That’s a major fire hazard. And secondly, all the moisture from your wet clothes is being blown up in the attic and then insulation. And once it makes the insulation damp, the insulation does not work. If you even add a minor amount of moisture to insulation, it loses about a third of its r-value. So you want to figure out what went wrong and get it fixed. It can vent up into the attic, but it has to continue through the attic and out to an exterior wall or out to the roof or out to a soffit. So you need to figure out why it disconnected what happened and get it fixed in the easiest way possible. But get that dryer vent pointed outside as quickly as you can. |
| 0:09:28 | CALLER: Okay, I’ll do that. There are some decent cabinets hanging above the dryer, so I guess I need to pull those off and cut into the sheetrock to try to see where the disconnect is. |
| 0:09:37 | TOM: Well, maybe. Why don’t you just pull the dryer out to begin with, stick a light in that duct and see if it tells you anything, and then go from there. Try to minimize exploratory surgery. Cody. Yeah. |
| 0:09:47 | CALLER: Okay, I’ll do that. |
| 0:09:47 | TOM: I appreciate more you cut open, the more you got to fix, man. |
| 0:09:51 | LESLIE: We’ve got Joon on the line was dealing with some concrete stains. Why don’t you tell us about it? |
| 0:09:55 | Speaker 4: How do you get staying off of concrete? Like from a metal bench on the porch and also on the garage floor from what the car has positive. |
| 0:10:06 | TOM: So, Jun, the fact that concrete is a porous product, it’s a masonry product makes it very difficult to lift stains, especially stains that have taken years to develop. What you could do to see if you could lighten up. Some of these areas you’re concerned about is you could create a paste of tri sodium phosphate, which is a cleaning product you’ll find in most paint stores or home centers or hardware stores, mix it up into a paste and put it over the stain, would sit there for an hour or two and then rinse it off and see what happens. It may brighten up that area and you can sort of work it from there to see how clean you can get it. A much better idea, though, would be to consider one of the many good quality epoxy based concrete paint products that are out there. So, for example, I used a product that’s made by Dish Coatings, which is a long time sponsor of the show, to do my basement. And it really came out nicely because with this particular product you mix two parts, a core part A, two part B, and you wait the lead time and then you apply the paint and then within a couple of hours it is really solid and no more stains, no more ugly floors. So I was able to cover a really old floor by doing that. And these products can work inside. They can work outside so they can work in your garage, they can work on your walks, try to get a clean without painting. And I think you going to find it’s definitely going to be a challenge. |
| 0:11:24 | LESLIE: Well, if you’ve got a pool and you’ve got kids, there are six things that you need to be doing to make sure that they’re safe. You know, tragically, there are about 300 drowning deaths of children younger than five each year in swimming pools. And a lapse in parental supervision is responsible for those accidents almost 70% of the time. |
| 0:11:42 | TOM: Well, guys, well, there’s no substitute for watching the kids yourselves. The best backup is a pool safety approach called layers of protection, in which you provide several layers of backup as a supplement to parental supervision. So here’s where to start, and that is with pool fences. Now, when properly designed and installed, pool fences are by far the most effective deterrent against drowning. Now they’re not like usual fences. First of all, they have to be foresighted, completely surrounding the pool. They have to have a height of at least four feet. You want to avoid chain link fences, which can be easy for kids to climb. And you need to make sure the fence posts are spaced not more than four inches apart. So it’s hard for them to get a toehold. And about the chain link, I would point out that there is also a type of chain link called non-flammable, where the squares are much smaller. Those are okay, but the regular ones where the squares are about two inches wide, not so much. Now, the weakest link in all pool fencing is the gate and there are some special requirements for that. The gates have to be self-closing. They have to be soft latching. So the automatically slam shut and lock if they’re left open and the gate latches need to be mounted at least 54 inches off the ground and have childproof release mechanisms. |
| 0:12:54 | LESLIE: I mean, some of those pool gates are adult proof as well. I find that I have a hard time opening many of them. So it’s definitely important, especially with kids around now. Next, we’re gonna talk about pool covers and I mean next to the pool fans, pool covers provide the maximum amount of protection. Now your best option is an automatic pool cover, which can be used between swims rather than only at the end of the season. And these covers are going to be motor driven. And then with the flick of a switch, it automatically creeps across the pool to seal out access to the water. Now, pool door, fence alarms, these are things that you should have. There are high tech advances in pool alarms that are a must for every home with a pool. It’s best if you’re using a combination of the alarm. So a door alarm. This way, if somebody opens the door to the pool area, you get a ding in the house, a fence alarm, same thing. And the pool alarm and the pool alarms are generally if there’s a break in the water. So if somebody jumps in, you’re going to get notified. |
| 0:13:50 | TOM: Absolutely. So I think if you think of all these layers, you can start to understand how they all protect the kids. You know, if they happen to get through a fence gate that was open. But now we have pool alarms that may prevent a tragedy. So you want to have all of these layers in place in addition to your own supervision, to keep kids safe this summer. |
| 0:14:11 | LESLIE: Rob in Iowa, you’ve got the Money Pit. How can we help you today? |
| 0:14:14 | CALLER: I’m going to get your guys’s opinions on the I’m having my deck partially repaired and it’s got some cedar trim and cedar board that have done that. So they’re going to be replaced. So they’re going to look newer compared to the rest of the deck. I was looking into getting one of the epoxy composite tape deck. The coating systems are rust only. Restore is one brand there makes one too. I’m just curious what you guys think about these products and are they worth it? |
| 0:14:43 | TOM: How many decking boards are deteriorated? |
| 0:14:45 | CALLER: Rob Well, oh, it’s a majority of steps. It’s a cedar deck with a green treated wood. You know, underneath baseboard support. The cedar is just dying out. I mean, this about seven years old. The railings are going bad, too. So they’re looking at replacing a lot of the boards on the steps, the railing, but up to the main platform and the main board are doing fine. So it’s mainly the steps up. |
| 0:15:13 | TOM: Well, I wouldn’t necessarily consider, you know, completely sealing in all of that cedar with a product like that. Here’s what I would do. First of all, the deck boards that are cracked or checked or deteriorated, one thing to try is to flip them over because the underside of those deck boards is usually as good as the day it went down. Even no, this cracked on top. The side that was not exposed to the sun is usually in pretty good condition. So you try to do that as much as you can for ones that are really bad, just have to be replaced. Just replace those with new cedar decking boards and yes, it’s not going to match. And then once all the repair has been done, then you want to use a deck washing product like the one that makes that flood would care, makes you run a deck, wash across everything, and then you want to hit it with at least two coats of solid stain. So not paint, but solid stain. Not semi-transparent, not transparent, but solid color stain and a good quality, solid color strain that’s going to look all the same. It’s going to maintain its wood quality. So see the grain through the stain and it’ll look perfect. So I don’t think you need to go with some sort of really thick, super thick coating right now. I think you just need to do some basic repairs. |
| 0:16:24 | CALLER: Okay. What stains would you recommend? That good. |
| 0:16:26 | TOM: Quality stain? So, yeah, Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams. A good quality stain like that. |
| 0:16:32 | CALLER: All right, All right. Okay. Well, thank you very much. |
| 0:16:34 | TOM: You’re welcome, Rob. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. |
| 0:16:39 | LESLIE: Jan’s going to need some help fixing up a bathtub. There’s some chips happening. Tell us what’s going on in your Money Pit. |
| 0:16:44 | CALLER: What is the best remedy with chipping in? My fiberglass bathtub shower unit as opposed to replacing the whole thing? |
| 0:16:57 | LESLIE: You know, Jan, if you head online, there’s actually some tub and tile repair kits that you can get that are specifically made for fiberglass usage. And it’s two parts. You mix it together, it comes in a variety of colors. You’ll be able to find something that works with what you have at home. And then I think the way that you would best achieve this sort of filling in of your chips is to do small layers, let it dry out. Another definitely follow the manufacturer’s instructions for best application, but I think that’s probably the best, most cost effective way that you can extend the life of this fiberglass tub and totally do it yourself. You can find some kits on Amazon at the home centers, but make sure it’s for fiberglass. Barbara in South Dakota is on the line and having a problem with a renovated bathroom at her Money Pit. |
| 0:17:39 | CALLER: What’s going on? We had our bathroom remodeled about three years ago, and maybe six months after we noticed that the tiles were kind of shipping out a little bit when we walk in the most prominent places and then pretty soon about started coming out. And I was wondering, do we have to replace all of our tiles or is there something we can put in there that would move with the grout there or with the tiles? |
| 0:18:02 | CALLER: It’s a heated floor. |
| 0:18:03 | TOM: How is it heated, Barbara? Hydraulic heat is a hot water heat under the floor or electric heat? What kind of heat? |
| 0:18:09 | CALLER: It’s electric heat. Oh, I’m. |
| 0:18:10 | TOM: Really sorry to hear that. You know, I mean, this was a this was a mistake that was made in the installation where that mistake was made. It’s hard for us to tell, but there’s no way that those tiles should be loosening up. And unfortunately, there’s no really easy fix for this. The reason the grout is breaking up is because the tiles are loose, and as the tile loosens, the grout doesn’t really have any structural integrity. |
| 0:18:34 | LESLIE: But isn’t that the result of an uneven subfloor? |
| 0:18:37 | TOM: Not always. And even if it was an uneven subfloor, Leslie, if these were installed right, there would be there would be enough adhesive or base under them to stop them from wiggling. |
| 0:18:47 | CALLER: Think it’s the base underneath? That’s not right. |
| 0:18:50 | TOM: Yeah. So I guess you have two options, Barbara. One of which is for you to go ahead and do what you may already be doing, which is repairing them as you go. If you find that you have a loose tile, if it’s loose enough to come up, you just simply going to add some additional floor adhesive and press it back down again, or you have to remove them the whole floor and replace them. But of course, that’s a big job because you’d have to also, you can’t really save the heating coils that are underneath. You’ll probably end up having to replace those as well. It’s really hard when you have a bad tile job, especially one that’s overheating coils like that to do anything short of replace it. It does not lend itself well to repair. |
| 0:19:29 | CALLER: All right. Thank you so much. |
| 0:19:30 | TOM: All right. Sorry. I wish we had better news, Barbara, but thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT and that’s why we call the show the Money Pit. |
| 0:19:40 | LESLIE: Well, nobody wants to drink or cook or bathe with smelly, rotten egg water. And this tends to be a pretty common complaint among homeowners. So, Tom, what’s going on here? |
| 0:19:50 | TOM: Well, let’s talk about what that smell actually is. It’s really sulfur. It rears its stinky head most often in houses that are located on a ground water supply. That ground water can pick up hydrogen sulfide, which is actually a naturally occurring gas. And that hydrogen sulfide gets absorbed into the water and comes into the house. It smells like rotten eggs, but it’s not dangerous or harmful to your health is just very, very annoying. |
| 0:20:16 | LESLIE: All right. So if you have it, how do you get rid of it? |
| 0:20:18 | TOM: Well, first it is quick test. If it smells seems to be coming from both hot and cold water, then you want to call a well contractor because they’ll install a filter that minimizes the sulfur that reaches your house. But more often, though, the smell comes predominantly from hot water. Now, when that happens, you need to change out the sacrificial anode rod, which is inside your hot water heater tank. Now, it’s called a sacrificial rod for a reason, because the way it works is these rods are made of magnesium, which the hydrogen sulfide attacks, releasing that rotten egg smell and eating away at the rod at the same time. So the solution is to simply replace the magnesium rod with an aluminum sacrificial and a rod, which is a lot more impervious or resistant to hydrogen sulfide. And they get the job done without the risk of so much sulfur adhering to them and being released into your home. These rods cost about 50 bucks. They can be found at any plumbing supply location. It’s not a basic DIY project to do this, but it’s not terribly hard either. Or just call it a pro because it’s a lot cheaper than replacing the entire water heater. |
| 0:21:25 | LESLIE: We’ve got Ted on the line was dealing with some crumbling foundation walls. Tell us what’s happening. |
| 0:21:29 | TOM: A cinder block wall in my basement. As far as I can tell, the basement is fairly dried. It’s been painted. |
| 0:21:38 | CALLER: With a heavy waterproof paint on the cinder block. |
| 0:21:41 | TOM: But parts of it in some places, like it’s crumbling. |
| 0:21:44 | CALLER: Not real deep in the cinder block, but. |
| 0:21:47 | TOM: Maybe, I don’t know. |
| 0:21:49 | CALLER: Half inch or three. |
| 0:21:50 | TOM: Quarters of inch. Like at it. You can just brush it off. |
| 0:21:53 | CALLER: It’s flaking and it’s kind of bubbling. It looks like blisters or something. |
| 0:21:58 | TOM: You know, I can’t figure out why it’s doing that. So, Ted, you say that your basement doesn’t have a moisture problem, but I can tell you it most certainly does, because what you’re describing, my friend, are mineral salt deposits. And the way they form is because you get water that gets soaked into those walls when it’s coming in from the outside, probably because it’s being held against the foundation walls. You don’t have enough slope on your yard or your downspouts are overflowing. And then it hits the concrete walls and it gets absorbed in. It finds its way to the inside of your basement and then evaporates. But what happens is it leaves behind the mineral salts that are from the soil. So that white, crusty, crumbly stuff is just that. It’s mineral salts. And you need to address the moisture issue first by improving the grading and the drainage at the foundation perimeter. And then in terms of those salts, you can brush those away. If you mix up some white vinegar and water and literally melt away. And once that is completely clean and you’ve dealt with the source of it, which is moisture coming in from the outside, then and only then can you repaint those walls. And that should do it once and for all. |
| 0:23:01 | LESLIE: Well, guys, what are you working on this summer season? Is one of your projects a super big painting plan? Well, if it is, we’ve got a serious paint sprayer to give away that’s going to help with those projects. We’ve got up for grabs. The Titan Control Mac 1700 Paint Sprayer by Wagner. Now it’s great for everybody handymen, pros, homeowners, you name it. It’s a great tool to work with. And I love that the high efficiency, airless technology means that I’m going to have 55% less overspray and it’s going to go on three times faster than a roller, so it’s going to be less messy. I’m going to get more use out of the product I have without making that mess again, which come on guys, when you’re painting, it can happen, but not with the Titan Control. Max. It’s a great prize. It’s worth 379 bucks, but it can be yours if you call in. |
| 0:23:46 | TOM: That’s right. The Titan Control Mac 1700 paint sprayer is going out to one very lucky listener joint brand to make that you call us with your home improvement question. Yes you have to have a question to get into the drawing calls now at one 888-MONEY-PIT or go to moneypit.com/ask and click the blue microphone button. |
| 0:24:04 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Nancy in Arkansas on the line with a painting question, How can we help you? |
| 0:24:08 | CALLER: And I have a my mom and she has an older home and there she has like a lot of like a popcorn ceiling and she has a lot of like cobwebs and stuff. And I’m just wondering, like, what would be the best way of removing those to eliminate as much, you know, debris falling in the carpet and that sort of thing. And, you know, to give it a fresh look. Well, I. |
| 0:24:35 | LESLIE: Think with the popcorn ceiling, you know, number one, you’re fighting the texture. So everything kind of wants to get stuck up there. So first off, as I would start with one of those like slippers that look like a feather duster just to get all of that dust and that the cobwebs down that you’ve got a clean surface. And if that looks okay, then you might want to stop there. You can’t really clean a popcorn ceiling because the way you remove a popcorn ceiling is to spray it with water and then you scrape it off. So if you try to clean it with any sort of cleanser or moisture, you’re going to start to disintegrate the popcorn and make that come off. If it’s truly a popcorn ceiling and not like a textured stucco or something like that. So I think once you get the spiderwebs and things off of it, you might be better off just painting it and giving it a fresh coat to just, you know, sort of freshen up the ceiling space a little bit. But if you do decide to paint the popcorn ceiling, you have to get a very specialized roller that looks like it’s a foam roller that has like a spiral cut to it and that will open up to sort of accommodate the popcorn ceiling texture. If you use a regular roller, it’s going to paint it and then pull the texture off. So you have to be careful in your application, but that’ll do a great job of freshening it up. |
| 0:25:42 | CALLER: Okay. Well, great. Well, thank you so much. You’re very. |
| 0:25:45 | TOM: Welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 88 Money Pit. |
| 0:25:49 | LESLIE: Well, summer can be a rough season on roofs. You know, the heat dries out, the shingles causing them to crack. And then summer storms are going to test the limits of their ability to actually keep your home free from leaks. That’s why now is a perfect time for a roof inspection. We’re going to share how to do just that. And today’s roof review tip presented by Roof Max. |
| 0:26:08 | TOM: So first up, using a pro to inspect your roof once a year is really the best way to spot problems early. However, there are plenty of things that you can do yourself to identify the early signs of potential leaks. |
| 0:26:20 | LESLIE: Yeah, you want to start inside by checking the ceiling on the upper floors for any stains or any other signs of leaks. You want to pay special attention to the ceilings above bathrooms and kitchens. Plumbing vents pass through the roof above these rooms and often will break down, causing leaks. You also want to check for leaks above fireplaces, which is another spot. Loose flashing can allow rain to seep in. |
| 0:26:41 | TOM: Now next, head outside and take a look at your roof from the ground. It’s helpful to use binoculars or even a camera that’s got a zoom lens and look for any loose or missing shingles as well as any loose flashing, which is very common around chimneys, around pipes, or where walls and roofs come together. And if you spot any problem areas, it’s a lot easier to get those minor problems fixed now before they become major leaks later. |
| 0:27:04 | LESLIE: And that’s today’s roof review tip presented by Roof Max. A roof max treatment restores flexibility and waterproofing protection of aging asphalt shingle roofs, extending their life by as much as 15 years. Roof max treatments come with a five year flexibility guarantee and can be purchased through a nationwide network of factory trained and certified dealers who also apply the treatment. You can learn more at Roof Match.com. That’s our own FEMA, AECOM. Brian, you’ve got the Money Pit. How can we help you today? |
| 0:27:35 | CALLER: I’ve got a problem with our septic system. And our septic system zigzags back and forth in the backyard. And then where the end of it is, there’s a sinkhole developing the hole. |
| 0:27:46 | TOM: Is this septic system, is it ever been inspected or cleaned? |
| 0:27:49 | CALLER: We’ve cleaned it twice. It’s just my wife and I. This thing I noticed started developing kind of right after we moved into the house. Our house is about 20 years old. |
| 0:27:58 | TOM: Because I wonder if you say this is towards the end of the distribution field, I wonder if the field is not absorbing water like it should absorb in the effluent, as it should. And most of it is sort of running towards the end of the pipe like it’s a long drain and as a result it’s causing erosion in that area. I think that probably the first thing I would do is, is have a septic inspection done with an examination of the field to check the circulation of it, because if it’s not percolating, if it’s not draining properly, you could be spilling a lot of effluent into the ground unknowingly without it having a chance to really soak properly back into the soil. I think what we’re hearing here is a potential failure of your septic field more than a problem with a sinkhole. I suspect that this is erosion that you’re seeing. Okay. |
| 0:28:49 | CALLER: It’s not just a matter of dumping a bunch of dirt in there and covering up. |
| 0:28:51 | TOM: No, I mean, that that that would fill it up again, but I’m afraid it would probably wash out again. So that’s kind of what I would lean to, is having that field inspected and just getting a sense, you want to find out now. I mean, you don’t want this thing to fail at the least opportune time. If you find out early, at least you can plan a replacement if you have to. Brian, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us. At 88 Money Pit. |
| 0:29:15 | LESLIE: Zeroed into Team Money Pit and says we’ve been living in a condo built in the seventies for about a year and have significant rainwater leaks throughout the kitchen window on the first floor in the recent few months. What should I do or check for? |
| 0:29:27 | TOM: You know, first thing Leslie that comes to mind is Zay says this is a condo, and if it’s a condo, you’re typically not responsible to keep the building watertight from the exterior. So window leaks, siding, leaks, roof leaks should all be paid for by the association, which is funded by your collective condominium dues. So that’s the first place I would start, because you certainly don’t want to pay for a repair. You’re already paying for it through your maintenance fees. Secondly, if you do want to try to do some investigation on your own and this is a safe thing to do, buy safe. I mean, like it’s the first floor and you can easily access all that stuff. One of the things that we do sometimes do to identify a tricky leak is we use a garden hose and we will start low on, in this case, a window by running some water. Not like full blast, but just a gentle stream over the bottom of that window and see if we can in essence, make it leak. So if it doesn’t leak, then we’re going to work our way up higher and we’re going to make sure we’re hitting the sides of the window all the way up to the point where if we still have any leaks, the top of the window, because you could have a failure, for example, in the window flashing, which is at the top, and that could let water get in a channel and just shoot right down the inside of that window and then show up inside your house. So it doesn’t always leak exactly. With orders coming in. Sometimes it leaks somewhere else and then runs down there. And that’s a way to do that. |
| 0:30:45 | LESLIE: All right. Next up, we’ve got a question here from Phil, who says We have a 40 year old two story home in North Carolina and we’re about to have the poly bugling piping replaced with pecs. Our walls will be cut open for this project, and I’m wondering what else we might want to do while the walls are opened up. |
| 0:30:59 | TOM: That’s a really interesting question. Phil Yeah. |
| 0:31:01 | LESLIE: Because this doesn’t happen very often. |
| 0:31:03 | TOM: No, I mean, and I bet it even just happened a lot with people who are doing polyethylene piping replacements because it’s a piping that had some major problems associated with it. So it’s probably Phil’s is probably getting around to it now because of the expense. But listen, I think it’s a good question. Two things come to mind. And Leslie, you can let me know if you think of anything else first, for the exterior walls, it’s the opportunity, I think, to improve insulation because most homes don’t have enough. And if the insulation at 40 years old may have settled, it could be sort of squished. And if that’s the case, it’s not doing a very good job. So if you have the access, I would beef up the insulation. And the other thing to think about is what things that you might want to add or improve to make the space nicer, like say, adding more electrical outlets or adding switches or lights or maybe you’ve always wanted a pot fill or faucet over your range and now you’ve got the wall opening up to get to the pipes. You can run a little short piece of piping additionally to a particular faucet. It’s that sort of thing that, you know, in the normal course of events you would want to tear open and wall to do that. But since it’s already opened, what else can we do to make the place a more comfortable and more convenient? And also nicer for us? |
| 0:32:08 | LESLIE: Oh my goodness. I think for me, if I had the chance to change from plaster to all drywall, I think I’d go. |
| 0:32:14 | TOM: That would be enough of a change. |
| 0:32:15 | LESLIE: And then go for it. I mean, we live in a super old house, as you know, Tom, and the plaster is just hanging on. |
| 0:32:22 | TOM: Yeah, Yeah. Literally. Yes. Yeah, Plaster definitely has a life expectancy. And based on the is, your house is far surpassed that. So what happens is if it’s loose or attaches to the walls and then starts to crack it even when you are perilous cracks. This is to come back and back and back. It’s like Groundhog Day, you know, It just repeats itself over and over and over again. So I could see that. But you know what? An easier way to deal with that if you weren’t tearing the walls open is to put a second layer of drywall over the plaster. It’s far less messy. I’ve done it both ways, and that’s the way I decided it was best. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement show on a beautiful summer weekend. We hope you guys are enjoying the weather in your part of the country. If you’ve got questions about projects that you’d like to do, you can reach us 24, seven and 88 Money Pit. Or by going to Money Pit, AECOM ask Until Next Time. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:33:10 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:33:11 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
| 0:33:12 | 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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