Smart Décor and More #1128162

TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Hey, what are you working on? I mean we are smack-dab in the holiday season here. Did you complete your decorating? Maybe you’ve got a string of lights that hasn’t been cooperating. We can talk about that. You trying to get some last-minute décor projects done? Maybe a little reorganization, make some room for the guests? We can talk about that. And if you’ve got a project that you’d love to get done next year, why not start planning it right now? Give us a call. It’s your chance to get your questions answered at 888-MONEY-PIT.

Hey, if you’re tired of buying and then tossing plastic water bottles out each week, a whole-house water filter might be a better option and it’s actually one that’s not that expensive to add. We’re going to have tips on that project, just ahead.

LESLIE: Plus, if you love decorating but want to get those projects done on a shoestring budget, you’re going to love some of the ideas featured in the Southern Hospitality blog. Author Rhoda Vickers is going to be here to share her tips.

TOM: And if you’ve got an older house with beautiful but albeit drafty windows, then adding a storm window might be a smart move, especially because today’s storm windows, they have gone high-tech with coatings that make them even more efficient. We’ll have details on that project, just ahead, along with your calls to 888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974. Let’s get to it.

Leslie, who’s first?

LESLIE: Alright. John in Texas is on the line with a question about new heating and cooling for his money pit. What can we do for you?

JOHN: I wanted to find out some information on these ductless heaters and the air-conditioning instead of using the conventional furnace heater and air-conditioning.

TOM: So are you talking about heating units that get mounted on the wall, for example, that are just sort of space units but permanently installed?

JOHN: Yeah. They look like regular heaters and stuff like that. I just wanted your thoughts on it.

TOM: John, what room in your house do you want to have these heaters in?

JOHN: I want to put them in every room and not use the furnace anymore.

TOM: What’s wrong with the furnace and the air-conditioner?

JOHN: I just don’t like them.

TOM: You just don’t like your furnace? OK.

JOHN: Yeah. I never ever liked them because when we first had a furnace, we had one that was a gravity furnace. And it heated up the entire thing. It didn’t seem like it used much energy. And then they made you turn from coal to gas and you had to add electric to that because it wouldn’t push the heat. So it’s more expensive.

TOM: OK. So, first of all, I think what you’re going to find is that if you use space heaters, that collectively they are going to be expensive than the central-heating system. And if your central-heating system is making it very expensive to heat your house, the problem is generally not the heating system. It might be the house itself in terms of the insulation that you have in the house. And the best place to look for that is in the attic.

If you had to choose one place to add some energy efficiency to your house, it would be the attic by at least doubling the amount of insulation you have there. Most people don’t have this much but you need 15-20 inches of fiberglass in a house for it to be reasonably energy-efficient.

I know what you mean about the old gravity fired – the gravity-fed coal furnaces. They’re really big units and they’re really hot and they do fill the whole house up quite nicely. And maybe now, especially with those older ducts using a more modern furnace, you’re not getting the distribution you want. But I don’t think that’s the issue and I don’t think the solution is space heaters because I think, collectively, you’re going to end up spending a lot more on those than you would on the heating system you have now. So I would tell you to try to improve the energy efficiency of the home and not replace the heating system itself, John.

Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Julie in Missouri, which is probably freezing, just like everybody else in the United States of America has been this winter.

JULIE: Yeah, like way below freezing. So, that’s part of my question. We have a couple of huge hot-water heaters: an 85-gallon and a couple of 50s. We have a bed-and-breakfast and the hot-water heaters are in the basement. And it seems like it’s always the people on the third floor that get up first. And so there’s a lot of water going down the drain of all that hot water. Plus, over the past couple of years, we’ve had frozen pipes and not the outside walls; it’s been in the middle of the room. Because the house was built in the 1800s, so there’s pretty drafty walls.

So, I remember somebody telling me once about some recirculating hot water so the pipes always have hot water in them. Maybe those hot-water pipes wouldn’t freeze.

TOM: Well, first of all, hot water is only half of the equation here. You know, you’re going to be running cold water up to those rooms, as well, correct? Like for a bathroom?

JULIE: Well, I guess. That’s why I’m calling you, because you’re the man.

TOM: Yeah. So I mean I would think recirculating hot water is not the solution here.

Look, if you’ve got frozen pipes or pipes that are – that tend to freeze, there’s really only a couple of things that you can do about this. And the most sensible thing is to insulate them.

Now, if it’s in an interior wall space and you know where that wall is, one thing that you could think about doing is adding blown-in insulation to the interior wall. Now, normally, you wouldn’t do this, right? Because why insulate an interior wall? But that would be a lot easier than tearing a wall open. You’ve got to get insulation on these pipes if they’re prone to freezing. And nothing else short of that is going to solve this.

I have, in my house, a kitchen sink that had a pipe that ran up the exterior wall. And invariably, in the coldest winters, it would freeze. The only solution there is to insulate the pipe. And when we couldn’t get to that pipe to insulate it, what we ended up doing was actually moving the lines to a different location so they would be less likely to freeze.

So there’s always a solution. It’s not always easy but you’ve got to insulate those, as a start. And if it’s an interior wall, I would simply blow insulation into that wall. That’s the fastest way to get some warmth around those pipes and stop them from freezing.

In terms of recirculating hot water, yes, there are ways to do that. But it tends to be very wasteful and I don’t think it would be cost-effective when you consider all of the electricity it takes to run that water 24-7. Plus, when you’re running that water back to the water heater, remember, your water heater is going to run more frequently, too, because it’s actually going to be heating a lot more water: not only the water that’s in the water heater but all that extra water that’s running through the pipes.

So I don’t think, from a cost-effective perspective – even though it seems like you’re wasting resources and wasting money and wasting water, I don’t think you’re wasting so much that it would be anywhere near a break-even for you to put in the equipment it would take to recirculate it.

JULIE: OK. Alright. Well, thanks. I appreciate it.

TOM: Julie, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: You are tuned to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com. Give us a call. We want to hear what you are working on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We are here to lend a hand. You guys know the number: 888-MONEY-PIT.

TOM: 888-666-3974.

Up next, would you like crisp, clean water coming straight from your tap? Well, a whole-house water filter does just that. We’ll explain more, after this.

TOM: Up until now, you purchased insulation to insulate, to help keep warm spaces warm and cool spaces cool.

LESLIE: But now, Owens Corning has changed all of that with Pure Safety High Performance Insulation. Pure Safety not only insulates but also actually contributes to a healthier, safer and more comfortable environment for your family.

TOM: That’s right. First, it’s a high-density, all-purpose insulation that efficiently fills cavities in your home with a layer of thermal protection. Next, Pure Safety contributes to healthier indoor air. It stays put in walls and floors and produces 50 percent less dust than some other insulation products. That means healthier air for your family to breathe.

LESLIE: Pure Safety is also fire-resistant. In case of a fire, you’re going to have extra minutes to escape to safety. And those are minutes that can make all the difference.

TOM: And finally, Pure Safety reduces noise up to 50 percent. It helps to keep outside noise out and reduces inside noise from traveling from room to room inside.

Pure Safety High Performance Insulation from Owens Corning, a single product that will enhance your family’s health, safety and comfort. Learn more at PureSafetyInsulation.com. Pure Safety, the greatest home improvement you’ll never see.

TOM: Making good homes better, welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: I heard that you have a sideline now as a plumber. Is this true?

LESLIE: Basically, if you need any sort of toilet maintenance or repair …

TOM: You’re the girl?

LESLIE: I’m your gal. You know, it’s interesting. I’ve got two boys. They have a bizarre love of toilet paper. So, the past few weeks have been an exercise in – “Oh, I flushed the entire roll of toilet paper, plus the entire box of wipes down. Moops. Everything’s backing up.” So it’s like a couple of times, it was fixable with a plunger. Then I had to get a plumber who then was able to make everything go down. Then, the next time, the plumber had to come and physically remove the toilet from the ground and pull out all of the backed-up paper works.

So, now, this past week, they’re like, “Ah, the toilet doesn’t flush anymore.” I had to do the flap valve and the fill valve. I had to switch everything out, which it’s kind of impressive, I think. It’s terribly easy is also the fact. But to my children, they thought I was the genius plumber situation. I was like, “I’ve got to turn off the water and it’s so difficult.” And I have to tell you, literally, I think I spent $12 at The Home Depot to get both parts and it took me maybe 10 minutes. The hardest part was to turn off the water. It was kind of stuck. So that gave me the hardest time.

I was going to just change one of the valves: just the flapper valve because that’s really where the problem was. But I was like, “You know what? I’m in there, I’m turning off the water, I’m going to do both.” But truly, for around 15 bucks or less, I got both parts and I was really surprised because I honestly hadn’t looked at the filler, the flapper valve at any time in a while. And it definitely was worn. Who knows when the last time they were changed?

So I would say this is probably your basic toilet maintenance and you should kind of do this every 10 years, maybe, or however long if you’re keeping up on checking it out and see how things are wearing. And if you find out that you have a high chlorine content, get the fill and the flapper valve that are meant for high chlorine. And you can also get ones that make your toilet energy-efficient. So many ways that you can upgrade your toilet and feel like a plumbing superstar and really, it’s totally not difficult. And then you can just brag at how amazingly talented you are but it’s not hard.

TOM: What until the neighbors start calling you and asking you to come over to help them with their toilets.

888-666-3974. Hey, if you’ve got a toilet that needs a makeover, Leslie is your gal. For the rest of the questions, we’ll see what we can do. The number is 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Gary in Pennsylvania, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help with your flooring projects?

GARY: Sixty-five-year-old home and some of the – it’s a twelve-foot span on the two-by-eight joist. And back in the 1950s, the lumber grading wasn’t quite what it is today. And there’s some large knots in these and they have cracked in the floors, settled.

TOM: OK. So you want to know how to reinforce those beams?

GARY: Yeah. And I’m putting a sister joist on the side of it.

TOM: OK.

GARY: Two by eight. And I’ve got Simpson Strong Tie Screws that I’d like to use on there but I – and the thin side end of this joist can be rested on the center beam. The outside one, there’s nothing short of the block. And the original one is resting on the block, also.

TOM: So, in other words, you can set one end of it on the girder but the other side of it, there’s nothing to set it on. Is that what you’re saying?

GARY: That is correct.

TOM: OK. So what I would do is I would try to do it the best you possibly can. I mean obviously, the 12-foot span is – it’s supporting fine. This is going to do nothing more than sort of stiffen this up. So a sister beam, for those that are not familiar with it, is a duplicate floor joist. So if you have 2x8s, you put another 2×8 next to it and you glue them together and screw them together.

I do want you to use construction adhesive as these beams come together. Make sure you fit it first, because there’s nothing worse than putting a beam up there full with glue, getting all gooped up, then having to take it down and do again. Make sure it fits properly.

But then the last step is to put some construction adhesive on it, put the beam back up there and then use the screws to seal it together and I think you’ll see a big difference in that floor, even though you can’t possibly get all the way to one end of it. It would be great in a perfect world that you could but if you can’t, I understand. And just get it as long as you possibly can. As long as it’s glued and screwed together, it’s still going to be a heck of a lot stronger than what you started with.

Gary, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Jane Ellen in Pennsylvania is looking at getting some new windows. How can we help you make that decision?

JANE ELLEN: Yes. Well, we are looking at getting – replacing our single-pane windows. And our question is: do you think it would be more cost-effective to spend the extra money on triple-pane windows or would double-pane windows be OK? Other than the windows, the house is fairly well-insulated; it’s not real drafty. We haven’t priced our options yet, so we just were looking for an opinion.

TOM: I think that double-pane windows will be fine. The thing is that when you shop for windows, you have all of these different features and benefits that you have to compare and contrast and sometimes, it gets very confusing when you do that. What I would look for is a window that’s ENERGY STAR-rated and one that has double-pane glass. As long as the glass in insulated and has a low-E coating so it reflects the heat back, that’ll be fine.

It’s been my experience that unless you live in the most severe climates, triple-pane glass doesn’t really make up the additional cost in terms of return on investment.

JANE ELLEN: Wonderful. Thank you so much.

TOM: What kind of windows do you have now? Are they very drafty?

JANE ELLEN: Well, they’re single-pane windows. They’re relatively decent windows for single-pane but they’re old. They’re starting to – you can see the gas is starting to escape from them and they are a little drafty.

Our house has a field behind it; our backyard kind of opens up into a field. So, there’s a significant amount of wind that comes across the field and blows into the back of the house. And off the main back area, we have a three-season room, which helps to block some of the wind from the interior downstairs. But the upstairs bedrooms, you feel the wind a little bit more significantly. We notice the single-pane windows a little bit more there; it seems more drafty right there.

TOM: Well, I think these windows are going to make a big difference for you. Now, if you need to save some money and maybe not do them all at once, that’s fine, too. What I would do is the north and east sections of the house first – sides of the house first – and then the south and the west second. OK?

JANE ELLEN: OK. Sounds great.

LESLIE: I know given the winter that we’ve all had in the Northeast and pretty much all over the United States, you might think that a triple-pane glass is going to do the trick, especially when we’ve had, what, like an average of 5 degrees, Tom?

TOM: Yeah.

LESLIE: I’ve got to tell you, the days that we’ve had 30- and 40-degree temperatures, I’ve put on a light jacket. I’ve seen families out with no jackets. People are out of their minds when we get 40-degree days.

TOM: Yep. I know. We’re happy for it, right?

LESLIE: It’s like summer.

TOM: Alright. Well, Jane Ellen, I hope that helps you out. Thanks, again, for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

Well, I think it’s pretty amazing, Leslie, how many plastic water bottles are tossed away every day across the country. Any guesses? I did a little online research.

LESLIE: Across the country?

TOM: Across the country every day, per day.

LESLIE: Two million.

TOM: Oh, my God, you are so far off. Fifty million bottles a day. Fifty million plastic water bottles.

LESLIE: Shut up. That’s a lot.

TOM: Crazy, right? One source had it at 60 million but you’ve got to figure between 50 and 60 million plastic water bottles tossed every single day. And the thing is if you’re just doing this to have water at home, you don’t have to because you can get clean, crisp, filtered water coming right out of your tap if you do one thing and that’s to install a whole-house water filter.

Now, we’re not talking about the filters that go on the kitchen – on the end of the kitchen faucet. This goes right at the main water valve where it comes in. And once you install it, it’s pretty straightforward. They’re usually pressure connections. You don’t need blow torches or any kind of special tools. Once you install it, you will have filtered water throughout the entire house.

LESLIE: Yeah. Now, I think it’s kind of interesting. There’s a lot of choices out there and they’re dependent on what you want to filter. Now, you can get ones that just filter out dirt or rust and there’s other ones that filter out dirt, rust and chlorine. I think there’s really – you’ve got to depend on what’s actually in your town’s drinking water and what’s in your town’s water supply. And then you can determine where the filter should start.

TOM: The chlorine is an important component of the water because it sanitizes it. But it’s nice if you take it out right before you drink it. And that’s kind of what the filter does.

LESLIE: Oh, for sure.

TOM: And the thing is, you only have to change these out every three months. So, they’re a good investment and if it’s something that you enjoy – this clean, this kind of crisp water – you don’t have to get it out of the bottle. Just get a water filter – a whole-house water filter – install it and you’ll be good to go.

LESLIE: Bill in Ohio, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

BILL: I have a wood-burning fireplace and it has a brick firebox. And I’m going to put gas logs into it. And I’d like to clean it out as best I can before putting the gas logs in. And there’s soot, I guess, and creosote in it. I wonder if there’s any good way to clean that off the brick.

LESLIE: There’s actually so – there’s a ton of different products out there, actually. You can try – it really depends on how much is caked on there, because they all kind of work differently. First might be starting with a TSP, which is a trisodium phosphate. But that’s generally going to only work for not that much of a buildup. And since you’re talking about the interior, try that. The TSP you can find in any of the home centers, in the paint-prep aisle. You mix it up. You can make it more of a thicker paste. And then you put that on there and then you can brush that off or clean that off and see if that will do it. There’s a couple of other things.

You know, many of the stone companies will make something called a “brick and stone cleaner” or a “fireplace brick and stone cleaner.” Can find it online if you search for those exact words. You can even go to – I know my local Ace Hardware has one that’s in a tub. It’s called a Soot Remover. There’s soot erasers but I think that, again, is only going to really work for a little bit of a buildup. But because you’re on the interior, you might want to go for the heavy-duty stuff.

BILL: Alright. Yeah, I tried sodium or baking soda. You sort of paint it on and it actually did a fairly good job but there’s just some areas that are just a little more resistant to that.

TOM: And you have to remember that that brick surface is very absorbent, so you may not end up getting it all out. But as long as it looks kind of even, I think you’ll be good to go.

Now, you also mentioned you’re putting in a gas log here. Be very careful that you have proper venting for this gas log, because they throw out a lot of BTUs. Now, in some cases, what you might want to do is actually physically wire the damper open and then maybe put doors on this so that the damper can never be left shut by accident. There have been so many tragedies when those dampers have been left shut with gas logs, where people have suffered horribly from carbon-monoxide poisoning. So, you need to be really careful to make sure you’re not creating an unsafe situation. I’d rather see the damper be wired open so it can’t be shut. Then you can put a pair of glass doors on that fireplace to keep the drafts from getting into the house. OK?

BILL: Yeah, OK. Thanks a lot.

TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Now is the busy time for creating new kitchens. Our next guest did that, on a budget, using IKEA cabinets and it turned out amazing. We’re going to get that and more budget-friendly décor tips from Southern Hospitality blogger Rhoda Vickers, next.

TOM: Up until now, you purchased insulation to insulate, to help keep warm spaces warm and cool spaces cool.

LESLIE: Pure Safety is also fire-resistant. In case of a fire, you’re going to have extra minutes to escape to safety. And those are minutes that can make all the difference.

TOM: And finally, Pure Safety reduces noise up to 50 percent. It helps to keep outside noise out and reduces inside noise from traveling from room to room inside.

TOM: Making good homes better, welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

Well, if you love decorating or taking on do-it-yourself projects around the house but you want to get those projects done on a shoestring budget, you’ll love some of the ideas our next guest writes about.

TOM: Yep. Her name is Rhoda Vickers and she is the author of the Southern Hospitality blog and founder of the Haven Conference, an organization dedicated to supporting bloggers in the home improvement and décor space.

Welcome to The Money Pit, Rhoda.

RHODA: Wow. Thank you so much. I’m enjoying being here. Thank you for inviting me.

TOM: Now, you were blogging before blogging was cool, weren’t you? You’ve been doing this a long time.

RHODA: I was. That’s for sure. It was just really just a fun thought back in those days. We all started doing blogging just for fun. So, I’m about to hit my 10-year anniversary in February.

TOM: That’s fantastic. So tell us, just for those that are not familiar with the Southern Hospitality blog, tell us what you like to write about, what kinds of projects you like to do and maybe some of the favorite things you cover.

RHODA: OK. Well, initially, when I first started my blog, it was really all about sharing projects at my house, what I was working on, decorating and some DIY projects. Just thrifty decorating ideas that I was doing at my own house. And so, since then, it’s evolved. I still do all of that because four years ago, I took on a renovation and bought a fixer-upper house. So that’s been a major blog fodder.

TOM: Was that because you ran out of projects with your old house? You had to find another one?

RHODA: Well, actually, I went through a pretty bad divorce and then started over and bought this foreclosed house. So it really gave me a lot of blog material. It certainly wasn’t what I planned in life but it – you know, it just happened that way. But the new house, the fixer-upper house gave me lots to blog about. So, it’s been a very fun journey.

I also blog about recipes and some recipes. And I started blogging about fashion about a year or so ago and so – and travel. So, really, whatever is going on in my life, that’s pretty much what I blog about. And so decorating and DIY projects is a big part of that. But now that my house is almost finished, I don’t have a ton of projects to do, at this point. So, most of those are in the past but it certainly has been fun watching my house change.

LESLIE: Well, I think it’s interesting, Rhoda. I think the catalyst for your latest bunch of renovations was your divorce and this big life change. And I think that probably resonated so much with your readers, because there – a lot of people that enter into a new situation in life, whether intended or it springs upon them – so you probably found a lot of people really sort of responding to what was going on with you and your home.

RHODA: They really did. They were so supportive going through all of that. They were very supportive and they were my biggest cheerleaders when I found my house and started working on it. And it really propelled my dad. My dad was about 85 when I bought my house. And he jumped in there with me and helped me get this house fixed up. So he turned into everybody’s hero. And they watched him. I blogged about the house once a week and showed all the updates for about six months while we were working on my house.

TOM: We’re talking to Rhoda Vickers. She is with the Southern Hospitality blog. She’s been blogging for almost 10 years about home improvement projects and lots more.

And Rhoda, I was taking a look at some of the posts that you have put up over the years and I’ve got to say that some of them are pretty inspirational. I like the way you did kind of a total kitchen makeover using IKEA cabinets, for one. Tell us about that project.

RHODA: Yeah. That was very fun. At the time, I did not have a big budget at all, so I could not afford to just go out and do a dream high-end kitchen. So I did my research and really felt like the IKEA kitchen was going to be my best choice and the biggest bang for my buck. So I went ahead and did that and I have not regretted it a bit. I still love my IKEA kitchen four years later.

TOM: I’ll tell you what, Leslie and I did a IKEA kitchen makeover, a partial one. We took a house that we wanted to make more accessible for a multigenerational family and found ourselves staring at the IKEA cabinets in IKEA and thinking about because they’re modular, how can we put these together in unusual ways and make some – a nice décor statement? And we did that. Ended up with a really nice sort of buffet that wrapped around a corner and it was round and it was really beautiful. And I think you can do things with IKEA cabinets, on a budget, that I think you can’t really do some – the standard cabinets that are out there.

RHODA: That could be true. I had an installer that installed mine and he did a great job and I customized a few little things in there and – because my kitchen’s not that big. So I really maxed out my space as much as I possibly could and put everything in there that I could need, as far as the pantry and pullout drawers and things like that. So, it’s a very – it’s very efficient. Not huge but efficient, well laid-out space. And I’m super happy with it.

TOM: And Leslie, it seems like Rhoda has shared a project with you. She did a laundry-room makeover. You just completed one of those yourself not too long ago.

LESLIE: Oh, my gosh. Laundry room makeovers are the best because it’s probably one of the most utilized spaces in your homes. But people sort of treat them as that, like a utilitarian space. They don’t think about making them attractive or enjoyable to be in. And I think it’s so fun when you kind of combine design and practicality and turn a room that you use into a room you actually enjoy being in.

RHODA: Oh, yeah. I totally agree with that because my laundry space – did you say you picked up my laundry space?

TOM: I took a look at it. It sounded like a black hole it looked like you started with down there.

RHODA: It was an absolute pit. It really was. And the first time I laid eyes on it, I could not imagine doing laundry in that space. But I knew with some paint and some elbow grease, we could make it so much better. And that’s pretty much what we did. It was really a lot of paint, a whole lot of paint in there to really clean it up and make it look so much better. And everybody is just amazed when they see it.

TOM: We always say that’s one of the least expensive ways to make a really big impact is paint. Her blog is called the Southern Hospitality Blog. It’s at SouthernHospitalityBlog.com. You can read a lot about Rhoda’s adventures there and see step-by-step photos of her many projects, which I’m sure you’ll find inspiration as you tackle your own.

Rhoda Vickers, thank you so much for stopping by The Money Pit.

RHODA: Thank you so much for having me. I’ve enjoyed being here.

LESLIE: Well, are you faced with beautiful, old but drafty windows? Well, new storm windows can help but now they’ve gone high-tech with coatings that can actually keep the heat in. We’re going to share some tips, after this.

TOM: Up until now, you purchased insulation to insulate, to help keep warm spaces warm and cool spaces cool.

LESLIE: Pure Safety is also fire-resistant. In case of a fire, you’re going to have extra minutes to escape to safety. And those are minutes that can make all the difference.

TOM: And finally, Pure Safety reduces noise up to 50 percent. It helps to keep outside noise out and reduces inside noise from traveling from room to room inside.

TOM: Where home solutions live, welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: So happy to have you here today. We would love to have your calls at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. Pick up the phone right now. Let’s talk about your next home improvement project.

LESLIE: Vivian in Texas is dealing with a mysterious odor in her house. Tell us what’s going on.

VIVIAN: I don’t know what’s going on. I have had three plumbers out there, thinking they could find out what it is. But one of them told me I had a bird in my air-conditioning vents upstairs, because our air conditioning-and-heating system is in the attic and it wasn’t that. And it’s only been a year-and-a-half since I had the septic tank pumped out.

TOM: Where is the odor most prevalent?

VIVIAN: When you walk in the back door.

TOM: Do you think it could be originating near the kitchen sink?

VIVIAN: I had one plumber tell me that, too. And he opened it – opened the grease trap or whatever you call it outside. And he says, “No, that’s clean as a whistle.”

TOM: One of the areas in the house that is often overlooked when it comes to odors, and especially sewage-like odors, are the kitchen-sink or the bathroom-sink drains and not, though, the traps themselves. But what happens is that you will get bacteria that will form around inside the pipe and actually line the pipe. And it gives off what we call “biogas.” And biogas has an awful odor to it and it really is difficult to track down because sometimes it’s worse than others.

So, what we would recommend that you do, before you do anything else, is to get the equivalent of a bottle brush and some bleach-and-water solution and carefully scrub the inside of the drains of the kitchen.

Now, to do that, you might have to take that trap off again and kind of work up. But you really want to make sure that you get rid of any debris that could be stuck to the inside of those pipes, because that’s what the biogas is built upon, so to speak. Does that make sense?

VIVIAN: Well, thank you very much. I’m going to sure try it because three plumbers couldn’t tell me what it was.

TOM: Alright. Well, thanks very much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Well, if you have beautiful, old but super-drafty windows, installing storm windows is probably one of the most cost-effective solutions for plugging those energy leaks. They’re really easy to install and they cost a fraction of replacement windows. In fact, according to the United States Department of Energy, storm windows with low emissivity – and you guys might know that as a low-E coating – that can lower your utility bill just as much as replacing an entire window.

TOM: That’s a pretty surprising stat. I think it’s one that folks really don’t recognize that just adding a storm window can give you just as much energy efficiency as replacing the entire window. And that’s because of the low-E. The low-E actually reflects that infrared heat back into your home, which improves the window’s insulation ability. It’s going to lower your heating and cooling costs, by the way, in the summer. On average, that window can save you about 12 to 33 percent on heating and cooling costs, according to the Department of Energy.

Plus, it’s also possible to install storm windows yourself. I’m not sure I would recommend you do the replacement window yourself but the storm window, if you measure it up accurately, it’s a pretty easy install. I mean the most important thing is that measuring. If you get it right, the window is going to fit and you’re done and good to go.

LESLIE: Yeah. And I think the best part is the installation. They truly just go on the outside of the existing window and then they kind of rest the bottom edge on the sill itself. So really easy.

TOM: Pretty straightforward. A job that you can do yourself.

888-666-3974. Give us a call, right now, with your next home improvement question.

LESLIE: Brian in Kentucky is on the line and working on a Tudor, which is my favorite kind of home. What can we help you with?

BRIAN: I have bought an old, 1979 English Tudor home. It’s about 2,700 square feet. And it’s down in Seymour, Tennessee. And it has got brick on the first floor and the upper floor has the English Tudor style but it’s been made out of plywood. And it looks like it’s textured plywood with raised 1×2-inch strips on it.

The house has never been touched and it’s a good money pit. I’m going to be taking the stripping off of it and I’m going to be probably caulking between the joints of the plywood and replacing whatever existing plywood is rotted with OVC marine board and then siliconing everything.

I’m going to – I want to put stucco or Dryvit over top of that existing plywood. And I’m leaning towards the Dryvit because of the Styrofoam, which will be an insulation factor. But I don’t know the pros and cons of original stucco or the Dryvit and the cost factor.

TOM: Alright. First of all, I’m very familiar with the design house you have and yes, it’s attractive. Unfortunately, it’s really bad in terms of weather-resistance because, usually, they use – well, what they’ll use for the what you’re calling the “plywood siding” is a composite type of material that looks a little bit like – supposed to look a little bit like concrete or look like stucco but it’s not.

BRIAN: Exactly.

TOM: And it’s a composite siding that really does not stand up very well. And if it’s not been touched since 1979, then it probably all needs to be replaced.

BRIAN: OK.

TOM: If you’re trying to decide between using real stucco – or it’s actually called Dryvit and it’s a brand name for EIFS, which is exterior insulated foam siding – E-I-F-S. I would tell you that you should stay away – stay away – from the foam siding. All you need to do is Google-search that stuff and you’re going to find huge problems. There’s been a lot of complaints over the years and as a friend of mine once said to me, who’s a structural engineer – he said, “That product was leaking on the drawing board and it hasn’t stopped since.”

BRIAN: OK.

TOM: Now, they made a lot of changes to it and some people said they’re happy with it. If you live in a wet climate, I wouldn’t use it. If you live – I think it’s good on commercial buildings and masonry buildings because they don’t have the decay factors. But I would absolutely stay away from the exterior insulated foam siding for a residential home.

I think you’re going to end up, Brian, taking all of that plywood off and then you’re going to have to decide what you want to replace it with. If you’re going to go with real masonry siding – real masonry stucco – I think that’s a wise choice. I think that’s a choice that will last a lifetime and give your house a proper English Tudor.

You know, English Tudors last forever because they’re built to last forever. But when we make the fake English Tudors with the composite siding and the furring strips, you’re lucky that it lasted the 30-plus years that it has.

BRIAN: Yeah. Would you go with the marine board, like I was talking about and then put the Tyvek around that or the tar paper or …?

TOM: Well, what you’re going to end up doing is you’re going to have a plywood sheathing. So you’re going to take everything off, examine the interior, make sure there’s no rot in the studs. You’re going to add a plywood sheathing, you’re going to add building paper, you’re going to add metal – woven metal wire – and you’re going to put the stucco right on top of that.

Of course, really, your mason is going to do this but that’s, essentially, the process.

BRIAN: OK. Alright. Well, thank you very much. I appreciate your time.

TOM: You’re welcome, Brian. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Hey, are you looking for ways to make your front entry more festive? Well, stick around because we’ve got all the holiday décor tips coming up, after this.

TOM: Up until now, you purchased insulation to insulate, to help keep warm spaces warm and cool spaces cool.

LESLIE: Pure Safety is also fire-resistant. In case of a fire, you’re going to have extra minutes to escape to safety. And those are minutes that can make all the difference.

TOM: And finally, Pure Safety reduces noise up to 50 percent. It helps to keep outside noise out and reduces inside noise from traveling from room to room inside.

TOM: Making good homes better, welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Let’s get right to answering some posts. This first one’s from Jeannie in Connecticut. It sounds like she’s got a plumbing emergency.

LESLIE: Yeah. That’s old Plumber Leslie here to help. She writes: “A plumbing emergency forced me to redo both an upstairs bathroom and my kitchen just below it, which were both in need of major updates. How can I determine the value of my newly upgraded home?”

TOM: Well, if you had to pick two projects to do in your house that are really going to add some value, you choose well, Jeannie, because replacing your kitchen, replacing your bathroom, those are both projects that generally deliver 80-plus percent return on investment when you sell your house.

Now, how do you determine that exact number? Listen, it’s a bit of a moving target but if you speak with some local realtors and point out that you have these newly remodeled rooms, it’s certainly going to add value. Not only does it add value but remember, when you put your house on the market, you are competing with all the other homes in your neighborhood that are on the market. And the fact that you’ve got the new kitchen and you’ve got the new bathrooms makes your house much more desirable than one that doesn’t have those improvements.

I really think that you can’t go wrong here. I think that was a fortunate plumbing leak that you were able to turn into a nice new kitchen and bathroom for yourself.

LESLIE: Yeah. And I think importantly, make sure you reach out to your homeowners insurance policy because now that you’ve upgraded things, the cost to replace those things have changed. So you want to make sure that that’s reflected in your policies so God forbid something happens, you’ll be able to fix it.

TOM: Well, the holiday season is here and it’s time to deck the halls. But whether you plan to go all out with a light display that can be seen from space or just starting your holiday décor at the front door, that’s a great first step. Leslie has got some simple ideas for a memorable and very festive entryway, in this week’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word.

LESLIE: That’s right. Any day now, houses all around your are going to be decked out with lights and garland and inflatable decorations. But there are plenty of ways to make a seasonal splash in small but effective ways. And that’s starting right with your front door.

Now, you can never go wrong with that evergreen Christmas wreath or a swag. They’re really a holiday classic and they look great as is. But they really also leave room for that personal or even a playful touch. You know, sleigh bells, for example, are going to give your house a classic jingle every time the guests pass through. And there’s no rules when it comes to wreaths, so give thought to even less traditional accessories that are going to speak to your location or really, your personality.

Now, think about it: a set of antlers or some roping will work really well on wreaths for rustic homes. Seashells or brightly painted life preservers do the same for houses by the sea. So think creatively.

Now, whatever your approach, don’t ever hang your wreath by hammering a nail into the door. Instead, use a door hanger or even hang it from your door’s knocker. You can also place a hook at the top of the door and then extend clear fishing line and the wreath from that. You never ever, ever want to put a nail into your front door, because that could really potentially damage it. It could ruin it’s energy efficiency and it can also void the warranty if you’ve still got one. So just be careful.

Now, when you step inside your foyer or even your entranceway, those are also ideal canvases for holiday fun. Go classic with garland and lights. You can be seasonal with pinecones or even hanging snowflakes or pick a theme, like The Nutcracker or woodland friends. So many fun options out there. You don’t even have to make a lot of this stuff. You can find them ready to go at your craft and home décor stores. Just have fun this holiday season. That’s truly what it’s about.

TOM: Great ideas. We love to see all those decked-out doors, as well. So post photos of your finished door décor at Facebook.com/TheMoneyPit.

Coming up next time on the program, one invention that changed the 20th century in a very big way was, of course, the light bulb. But lighting has come a long way since Thomas Edison’s day, with lots of new advances that are taking lighting into the 21st century and beyond. We’ll shed some light on the subject of lights, on the next edition of The Money Pit.

I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself …

LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone.

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