Smart Windows for Comfort and Security, the New Product that Prevents Dryer Fires, and Dishwasher Rules You're Probably Breaking

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: Coming up on today’s program, have you ever wondered whether the doors and windows have been left open at your home? Or maybe you took off for work and left all the shades up? Well, now there’s an app for that. We’ll have a review, coming up.

LESLIE: And also ahead, dryer fires can be super-dangerous and no one knows this better than appliance repairmen, which is why one former repairman invented a product to eliminate the problem of dryer fires forever. We’re going to share those details, in just a bit.

TOM: And speaking of appliances, look before you load. We’re speaking about your dishwasher and not everything should go into it. We’ll teach you which items and utensils you might be ruining that dishwasher with without realizing it.

LESLIE: And also ahead this hour, we’re giving away a great prize. You know, sometimes it’s kind of hard to hear the conversation when you have an air conditioner going. What? Well, no more. We’ve got up for grabs the Haier Serenity Series Quiet Air Conditioner.

TOM: It’s a great prize worth 299 going out to one caller drawn at random with their home improvement question. So pick up the phone, give us a call, right now, with your question. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974.

Leslie, who’s first?

LESLIE: Alright. Now we’ve got Clyde in Oregon on the line who’s dealing with sparrows that are taking over. What’s going on at your money pit?

CLYDE: Well, this happens to be my daughter and son-in-law’s cabin. And they came up and there were hundreds of sparrows nesting in the eaves.

TOM: Oh, boy.

CLYDE: And they blew them all out with water and stuff and they came right back.

TOM: Huh. OK.

CLYDE: They have sort of been told, I think, to put up netting but I want to get an owl there and have him eat them up.

TOM: Well, that would be one fat owl, I think, with all those birds around. Well, a couple of things. Whenever you have perfect landing spots, like the eaves that you’re describing, it is rather difficult to stop the sparrows from doing what they like to do, which is nest. There are different types of bird spikes that are available that you basically can staple up and attach them to the spaces that are not very obvious. But it makes it impossible for them to get in and out of there and set these nests up.

I don’t know if you’ve seen these but they look like pieces of wire that are sort of bent up at a 90-degree angle that kind of look very bushy. And when they’re sticking up there – you’ll see them on top of lots of building, especially commercial buildings. The birds can’t land there. And so I think something like that might be a better option than putting up the netting and perhaps a little more attractive.

LESLIE: Yeah. And it’s usually sold by the foot. It’s like either sold in 3-foot pieces – I know I used it for an episode of Hotel Impossible in North Carolina that was just getting all these birds sort of sitting on the eaves in there and they were pooping all over the front doors. It was horrible. But it works.

CLYDE: That’s nice and easy.

TOM: If you go to a website called Bird-X – B-i-r-d-X – you’ll see a wide variety of products there, one of which is just simply called Bird Spikes and it’s just really simple. It’s not very expensive. And you can attach it in those spaces and that ought to keep them from coming back.

CLYDE: That sounds great. I really appreciate it. And I’m probably the one that (audio gap) put it up.

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

LESLIE: Alright. Now we’ve got Eva in North Carolina on the line with a water-heating question. How can we help you today?

EVA: Our home is about 11 years old. We have a hot-water heater on our third floor of our home. And I’m a little nervous about it being up on the third floor. And with it aging out, I’m concerned about it potentially bursting or leaking. So what we’d like to do is replace the hot-water heater in this house.

However, we’re not sure. We kind of have a disagreement. We’re broke right now, financially, but we would – for peace of mind’s sake, I would like to possibly look into a tankless. My husband thinks we should just replace the current one that we have upstairs on the third floor with the same darn thing because he’s like, “If it’s new, it won’t leak and it won’t burst.” So what do you guys suggest?

TOM: How old is the water heater?

EVA: As old as the house, I presume. The house is about 11 or 12 years old.

TOM: Well, if it’s an 11-year-old house, it’s going to have an 11-year-old water heater. And while, yeah, that’s closer to the end of a normal life than not, believe it or not, it’s not horribly old. I’ve seen water heaters go 15, 20 years.

EVA: But because it’s on the third floor of the house, I’m nervous because water is going to – it’s not like it’s in the basement or the garage. So if there is a leak or something like that, I’m concerned about there being a lot of water damage to our home.

TOM: I understand. And you could – that would happen if a pipe broke, as well. So, if you want to replace it with a tankless, that is going to be more expensive than a tanked water heater. But it’s definitely worthwhile because they last a lot longer and they also give you on-demand hot water, so you never really ever run out of warm water.

If you’re concerned about your plumbing system’s reliability in general, just make it a practice that whenever you guys go away for a weekend or longer, you turn the main water valve off. You don’t need to leave water on when you’re not home for an extended period of time. So that might also be something you might want to start doing on a regular basis.

EVA: So whenever you’re going to be gone for the weekend or more than a couple of days, turn the main water valve off.

TOM: That’s right. Because you don’t need it on. And this way, if the water heater ever were to break, it would lose the 40 or 50 gallons that’s in it but it would not constantly run, run, run.

EVA: Gotcha. So, going back to my original question, what do you guys suggest we do? Because my husband thinks, well, let’s just get a new one, the same thing. And then he thinks it’s going to give me some peace of mind.

TOM: OK. Here’s what I would do. You said that money is tight. I don’t want you to throw good money at bad ideas and I think replacing it with the same thing is kind of a bad idea, especially since it’s 11 years old. What I would prefer to see you do is live with that for another year or two, save up some money and then put in a tankless.

EVA: OK. And do you recommend tanklesses (ph) go in the crawlspace or in the garage or outside?

TOM: Well, they can pretty much go wherever you want. If you put them outside, they get a little less efficient because, of course, the outside temperature is cold and that means they have to work a little bit harder.

EVA: OK.

TOM: And sometimes, they’re put in rooms that are insulated or outside closets and that sort of thing. But you have the flexibility because a tankless water heater is going to be about a quarter of the size of your tanked water heater.

EVA: OK. So it sounds like that’s what you recommend is a tankless but maybe just live with this one for another year or two.

TOM: I think that makes the most sense. OK, Eva?

EVA: OK. Thank you.

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

I don’t feel like 11 years old is a terribly old water heater.

LESLIE: No. I mean given that a lifespan is 10,12 years. And you’re right: before we moved in, the one in our house was like 20 years old.

TOM: I used to see that all the time as a home inspector. And yeah, it’s old but not worth emergency replacing.

LESLIE: You can live with it. No. Just for peace of mind. There are other things that you can do.

TOM: There’s enough life left in that to risk not doing it now and saving up your money for a year or two and then going tankless. Because tankless is definitely the technology that is state of the art today and worth every penny of its cost.

LESLIE: You are tuned to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com. We are here for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so pick up the phone and give us a call at 888-MONEY-PIT.

TOM: 888-666-3974.

Up next, dryer fires devastate thousands of homes every year but one resourceful appliance repairman is doing his part to prevent them, with an invention that’s already saving homes and lives. We’ll have the details, next.

ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is sponsored by Pella Windows And Doors. Pella products with Insynctive technology can connect with compatible home automation systems so they can be programmed to help keep your home in sync with you. Learn more at Pella.com.

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

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Give us a call, right now, at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. One lucky caller this hour has cooler and quieter days ahead with a Haier Serenity Series Quiet Air Conditioner.

LESLIE: That’s right. No more shouting over the noise from a loud A/C. The Serenity Series is more than 50 percent quieter than most window units and it features a remote control and a timer, too.

TOM: Going out to one caller drawn at random from those that reach us with their home improvement question. So pick up the phone and give us a call at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. And you can learn more at HaierSerenitySeries.com. That’s Haier – H-A-I-E-R- SerenitySeries.com.

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

PAM: Off of my master bedroom, it has a small deck out there. Apparently, the seal has broken. It’s two pieces of glass that has some sort of, I don’t know, some sort of thing inside of it. And it’s now looking really milky. I’m wondering if I can replace it by getting another glass door or can I replace the glass alone?

TOM: OK. So what’s happening is you have insulated glass and that seal between the panes of glass is called “swiggle.” And when the swiggle fails, then moisture gets in there between the panes of glass and then you get condensation, which is that white, milky, yucky appearance to the glass.

Now, it impacts the energy efficiency in some way but other than that, it’s pretty much just cosmetic. And I say that because it’s not an easy fix. You have to replace the sliding glass door or replace the glass. And it’s probably less expensive to simply replace the door itself. You get a good-quality Pella or Andersen sliding-glass door there and you’re not going to have to worry about glass that fails for a very, very, very long time. And I think that that is probably the best way to attack that problem. Either live with it and accept the fact that it’s going to be yucky looking or replace it with a new, good-quality slider.

PAM: OK. Sounds good. Well, thank you for your help.

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

LESLIE: Now we’ve got Don in Virginia on the line who’s got a painting question. How can we help you today?

DON: I got a house that’s about, oh, probably 30 or 40 years old and I got Masonite siding on it. And it’s flaking at the bottom and there’s a couple chips needing – a woodpecker drilled a couple holes in it. I was just wondering how you smooth it out and repaint it.

TOM: So, that type of siding is what we call “composite siding” and it does require frequent painting, more so than other types of siding. It’s slightly less durable than other types of siding. And the problem is that it delaminates, too. So if you say it’s flaking, you mean that the layers are actually coming apart?

DON: No, just the paint just peeling off a little bit.

TOM: Oh, just the paint. OK. So what you’re going to need to is get as much of that loose stuff off as possible and then you’re going to apply a primer coat. And make sure it’s a good-quality, oil-based primer from a major manufacturer.

And the reason you’ll do that is because that’s going to give you the best adhesion. The primer will really, really stick well to the surface after the loose paint is left. And then after it dries well, then you could put your topcoat over that. But by using an oil-based primer, you’ll find that you have better adhesion of the subsequent layers of paint. Does that make sense?

DON: Yes, it does. What kind of paint would I use? Would only oil-based paint or …?

TOM: Yeah. I would use an oil solvent-based primer. A Benjamin Moore would be a very good brand or a Sherwin-Williams.

DON: OK.

TOM: And then I would use their matching exterior paint.

DON: OK. Well, now exterior is what I’m painting.

TOM: Right, no I understand that. But you’re going to use the exterior primer and then the exterior paint. But just use the oil-based primer.

DON: Oh, OK.

TOM: Because you have the option to use like an alkyd-based primer, which is like a latex base. I think that in your situation, that’s not going to stick as well. So I want you to use the primer that gives you the maximum adhesion and that’s going to be an oil-based primer.

DON: Well, I certainly appreciate it.

TOM: Well, good luck. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

DON: OK. I like listening to you all. Thank you.

TOM: Well, more than 15,000 home fires are caused by dryers each year but don’t go hanging a clothesline just yet. There’s an inventor now that’s come up with a product that alerts you when your dryer and safety are actually at risk.

LESLIE: Yeah. It’s called the DrySafer and it’s actually a dryer lint alarm that looks like an elbow joint but it’s so much more. The DrySafer is not only going to keep your dryer venting from being crushed behind the unit itself, it lets you know if your dryer is overheating or if there’s a loss of airflow or any other malfunction.

TOM: And the backstory to this product is pretty interesting. It was invented by Tom Aciolla. He’s a long-time appliance repairman and he came up with DrySafer after seeing thousands of dryer fires.

TOM ACIOLLA: So what our system does is two things: it monitors both the airflow and the temperature of your dryer. So, if your dryer ever malfunctions and overheats, we’ll alert you to that by alerting five beeps in the alarm.

LESLIE: OK.

TOM ACIOLLA: And more importantly, what we do is we monitor the entire airflow of the dryer.

LESLIE: So you’re not just monitoring, say, from the dryer itself to the beginning of the venting system. You can actually see what’s going on from behind the dryer, through whatever bends and walls and wherever this is going, to the exterior of your building.

TOM ACIOLLA: Yes. Twenty years ago, they really relaxed the building codes and they concealed all of the piping to exhaust the outside.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm. Yeah, you never know where they go.

TOM ACIOLLA: That’s right.

LESLIE: You see your dryer, it goes into the wall and then you assume it exits somewhere.

TOM ACIOLLA: That’s right. And there’s no way to know what’s happening inside your walls and ceilings of your home.

TOM: And you can listen to the entire interview with Tom Aciolla in our Top Products Podcast at MoneyPit.com. And to learn more about the DrySafer Dryer Lint Alarm, visit DrySafer.com.

LESLIE: Dixie in Illinois has a question regarding a crack in the basement and the possibility of it caving in.

Dixie, are you calling us from a pile of rubble or are you just concerned?

DIXIE: I am actually concerned because it started out with just hairline cracks following along the concrete blocks. And there’s cracks in each corner of the foundation above ground, as well as these cracks in the walls below, in the basement.

But the cracks are getting bigger and bigger. There are some of them that are gaping, I want to even say, an inch-and-a-half, 2 inches of …

TOM: You have an inch-and-a-half crack? You mean width? It’s open an inch-and-a-half?

DIXIE: Well, they are – well, you can’t see through the crack but the walls are bending in. We’ve even put reinforcements.

TOM: Alright. So, horizontally – like the cracks are horizontal and they’re bending in, Dixie?

DIXIE: Most of the ones that are bending in are horizontal, yes. But the cracks do go up and down, as well.

TOM: Alright. So you need to immediately contact a structural engineer and have the foundation inspected. This sounds serious. I can tell you that, typically, horizontal cracks are caused by frost heave, where the drainage conditions are poor at the outside of the house, water collects there, soil freezes and pushes in.

But you have that many cracks and those cracks are that significant, you need – not a contractor. I want you to find a structural engineer. You’re just hiring this guy to inspect the home and prepare a report discussing the condition of the foundation. And if repairs are needed, the engineer should specify those repairs. Then you can bring a contractor in to follow the engineer’s specification and make the repairs.

And then finally, make sure you bring the structural engineer back to inspect and certify that they were done correctly. Because at this point, unless you follow those steps just like that, you’re going to have a serious deficit to the home value. So that’s why if you have it inspected by a structural engineer, repaired by a contractor per the engineer’s specs and certified by the engineer as OK, you have kind of a pedigree for that repair you can pass on to future home buyers, OK? Does that make sense?

DIXIE: OK. But how do you find a structural engineer?

TOM: So, there’ll be local engineering companies. You could also check the website for the American Society of Home Inspectors, ASHI – A-S-H-I – .org. Now, those guys will not necessarily be a structural engineer but there may be an engineer among them that’s also a home inspector.

Alright? Thank you very much, Dixie. I hope that helps you out.

LESLIE: Jason in Iowa is dealing with some asbestos removal, a topic I’m very familiar with these days.

Jason, what’s going on at your money pit?

JASON: Well, we bought a house. And in the basement, the ductwork has crumbling asbestos tape around all the seams. And I didn’t know it was asbestos at first. A gentleman – a friend of mine kind of told me that it was, which was good to know because I would have just started tearing it off there.

But I know that it can be dangerous. And I’ve been told to put on a good HEPA-filter mask and wet the filters and such and you can take it off and wear gloves and be careful. But is that really the case? I mean do I have to legally hire a professional to come in and remove something like that?

TOM: It’s definitely the smart thing to do, Jason. Because the problem with asbestos is it’s very, very fine. It’s finer than smoke. If you were to release asbestos particles and assuming there was no wind, it would take eight hours for them to hit the floor; that’s how fine they are.

So what you are seeing is only part of the problem. What you’re physically seeing, those chunks, is only part of it. This is a situation where you really can’t do it yourself.

LESLIE: Yeah. And the other part of the equation is the disposal. It’s like you can’t just take it and put it in a trash bag and stick it outside.

JASON: Right.

LESLIE: I’m in the process of having asbestos shingles removed from my home, on the exterior. And they have to be not only properly taken down and packed up in a certain manner but they have to be completely driven off to another state and certified that they’ve been disposed of in a proper manner.

Now, I’m sure with just the tape wrapping the piping, that’s not going to be the extreme case there but you do have to make sure that it’s disposed of properly. You don’t want to get in any trouble.

TOM: And by the way, Jason, you can’t visually identify asbestos. So the very first thing you should do is to have some – a sample of the material tested to confirm that it is, in fact, asbestos.

JASON: And who would do that?

TOM: An asbestos lab.

Leslie, you just had asbestos testing done. Who did you use for that? Was it a local lab?

LESLIE: It was a local company that also does the removal. But there are several companies. I would just look locally at asbestos removal. And it was fairly simple and the test took about two days. And it gives you a percentage of asbestos found in the item and it’s interesting.

JASON: Well, thanks so much for your time.

LESLIE: Alright. Thanks so much for calling The Money Pit.

Still ahead, never dread drywall repairs again. Innovative products that will make that tough job easier. We’re going to tell you all about it when The Money Pit continues.

ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is presented by Haier, the world’s number-one appliance brand and a leader in air-quality solutions. Haier is a new kind of appliance brand, focused on home solutions designed for each stage of the emerging consumer’s life.

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: Well, we love to help homeowners solve problems. It’s also the goal of many of the brands that we are proud to partner with.

LESLIE: Yeah. You know, Hyde Tools has been very focused, over the past five years, on products that help homeowners improve their money pit and professionals looking for more effective ways of working a jobsite.

TOM: Here to tell us about some of the most significant products out from Hyde Tools this year is Corey Talbot.

Welcome, Corey.

COREY: Hi, Tom. Hi, Leslie. How are you?

TOM: So you guys are always taking tools, that perhaps have been around for a long time or not, and making them better or completely remaking them to make jobs easier. You’ve got a fantastic, new drywall-taping tool out right now that I want to ask you about called WET n STICK. This seems to take the skill required for spackling and make it a lot simpler.

COREY: Oh, you hit it on the head; that’s exactly right. It’s basically you wet it and you stick it to the wall and you come back after about 45 minutes and it’s dry and ready for your second coat. So you’re saving an entire day and really saving that entire first process of trying to put mud on the wall and then smooth it out and make it look good. That all is taken away.

TOM: And that’s one of those jobs, Leslie, that it’s really hard. It looks easy but it’s actually really hard to get it right.

LESLIE: Yeah. I was going to say how – I don’t want to say “idiot-proof” but how simple is it to make sure that you get a nice, smooth cover over the seam? Because that really is your first step. And you can put as much stuff over it but if you’re getting something weird or there’s some bubbling up, how easy is it?

COREY: That’s exactly right, Leslie. It takes that entire piece. And you dip it in the water for less than two seconds and then you’ve obviously cut it to the size that you need.

LESLIE: So it’s almost like wallpaper paste.

COREY: It’s just like wallpaper. It is. It’s a different type of compound. You obviously – and this is something you’re going to put on the wall and you want it to stay permanently, so it actually permanently bonds to the drywall tape. And once it’s on there – I mean when you try to pull it off, it will rip the paper off of the drywall before it’s going to come off of there.

TOM: So, really, it’s very, very durable. That would make it perfect for not only new work but perhaps even repairing cracks in drywall.

COREY: What we’re seeing right now is that that is where the biggest piece of the market is for. It’s just folks that they can’t get a drywaller to come to their house to do a small job where they’ve got a little – something happened in the Northeast here. We called big storms this last year where we had lots of leaking due to ice dams. And so people are trying to get those things fixed and it’s really hard to get a drywaller to come and just do a remodel or just a fix-up, repair-type job.

TOM: Well, this product makes a lot of sense. It’s called WET n STICK from Hyde Tools. We’re talking with Corey Talbot of Hyde Tools.

Another new innovation that you guys really need to check out is the PivotPro Water Wand. Now, this is also new from Hyde Tools and it basically has taken a garden hose and made it a heck of a lot more functional.

Tell us about it, Corey.

COREY: Well, what we’ve tried to do was – we came out with something called a PivotJet a couple of years ago, which was a nice, little product. The problem with it, with anything that you’re doing with water, is you tend to – you spray on your water and you spray on your detergent or your soap and then you spray it off. And you think it’s clean and then you look at it and it’s not clean. Because, unfortunately, it does take either some pressure or a little bit of brushing or something like that, a sponge to be able to free up the whatever it is: the grease and the grime or the mold and the mildew, the algae that’s on there.

So what we’ve come up with is a tool that allows you to pivot the end and also have a brush attachment that pivots, as well. And there’s lots of different accessories that we’ve come out with, different brush heads that are for different types of jobs that go onto this PivotPro.

And we’re selling a couple of different models: one that’s for boat and auto but I like to use it for the RV, another one that’s for outdoor cleaning and it’s great for decks or patios or the siding on your house. Lots of different uses for it and it’s a very – it’s something that you can take and make exactly what you want it to be, because there’s lots of different settings and lots of different accessories that could go along with it.

LESLIE: You know, Corey, I know sometimes that projects just need a little extra oomph. Is there a way to put any sort of cleaning solution in to help you get the job done?

COREY: That’s a great question. We’ve actually come up with a 16-ounce dispenser and that’s not unusual. But what we’ve been able to do is actually take that dispenser and make it so that it has different settings for different ratios. So there’s two different – there’s a model that’s for just gardening and that model will have different ounces per gallon on it than one that’s made for outdoor cleaning.

And so it’ll say – on a dial that’s right on the actual product, it’ll say “1 ounce, 1½ ounce, 2 ounces.” And up to 18 ounces. And it allows you to set the amount of cleaner that’s going to be added to the water stream. And basically, you’re going to follow your manufacturer’s instructions in whatever it is that you’re putting into there. So if you’ve got a deck-cleaner type of solution or just something that you’re doing with your boat or with your car and you’ve got a soap, it allows you to set exactly what it is the manufacturer says you should. And then that will be what comes out at the end.

TOM: Now, aside from the cleaners that can fit in the reservoir, what about a mold inhibitor or maybe even a weed-and-feed liquid? Could that be used, as well?

COREY: Absolutely. The only thing that we say with any of those is that, obviously, if you’re going from one type of job to another, you want to make sure you’re rinsing that tool out first.

TOM: Yeah, flush it out.

COREY: Right, exactly. But it does. It has settings for those, as well.

TOM: That’s terrific. Corey Talbot from Hyde Tools, thank you so much for stopping by The Money Pit. Great innovations.

COREY: Thank you so much.

TOM: If you’d like to learn more about Hyde products, you can simply go to HydeStore.com. That’s spelled H-y-d-e – Store.com.

Thanks, Corey.

COREY: Thank you.

LESLIE: Alright. Still ahead, imagine you’re enjoying a barbecue on the other side of town and the weather starts to get a little weird and the rain starts rolling in and all of a sudden you’re like, “Oh, man. Did I leave my windows open?” Well, with a new app that’s out right now, a quick glance from your smartphone will give you the answer. We’re going to tell you all about that smart-home technology that raises your home’s IQ, as well as your comfort and safety, when The Money Pit continues.

TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

Hey, do you guys like the strong, silent type? No, no, no, you’re not listening to the wrong show. I’m talking about air conditioners. We’re giving away a Haier Serenity Series Quiet Air Conditioner to one lucky caller this hour.

TOM: It’s a fantastic prize. It’s got all the strength you expect in a window unit, at a fraction of the noise. You can learn more at HaierSerenitySeries.com. That’s Haier – H-a-i-e-r – SerenitySeries.com.

The prize is worth $299. Going out to one caller drawn at random. So pick up the phone, give us a call, right now, at 1-888-MONEY-PIT with your home improvement question for your chance to win.

LESLIE: Mary in Virginia, welcome to The Money Pit. What can we do for you today?

MARY: I’m looking to purchase a home that has a slab foundation. And when I went in, I kind of smelled a musty, mildew-y odor. And I’m just wondering, how would you know that water is coming up from the ground and saturating that slab? And how do you protect a home that has just – that’s built just on a slab? They’re nothing under for water to drain under or anything.

TOM: Was this a home that was vacant or did it have a family living in it?

MARY: It has been vacant for a while.

TOM: And that makes sense. Because when you don’t run the HVAC system as frequently as you would if it was occupied, sometimes you’re going to get high humidity inside the homes. But because it’s a slab doesn’t make it any more or less susceptible to water infiltration. But of course, because it’s above grade, you don’t get floods. What you do get is the power of the concrete basically drawing water up from the ground – it’s called “capillarity” – and then letting it evaporate into the air.

The correction for that is the same thing you would do even if you did have a basement, which is to improve your drainage on the outside: extend the downspouts, the gutters; improve the soil slope so that water is sort of shunted away from the foundation perimeter. But I think that once you move into the house and use the HVAC system, you’re going to find that that moisture is not nearly as detectable as it is right now. And if it does become more detectable, you could always add a dehumidifier.

MARY: OK. So it’s the – that smell I’m getting is not coming from the carpeting that’s on top of the – laying on top of the slab?

TOM: Ooh. Carpet on top of slab? That’s a bad thing.

MARY: Well, I mean I don’t know what’s under the carpet and I’m assuming that there’s some kind of subfloor there. But yeah, it’s wall-to-wall carpeting and I know underneath it is basically a …

TOM: Yeah. We don’t like carpet on concrete, for a whole bunch of reasons. So I would be recommending that you find another type of flooring for that. Because when you put carpet, which is largely an organic material, against those damp, moist, concrete slabs, bad things happen. You get mold and mildew growth, you get allergens that form, you’re going to get dust mites, things like that. So, we really don’t like carpet on concrete slabs. If you can choose a different type of flooring, if you’re going to do some remodeling, that would really help out a lot.

MARY: OK. Thank you so much.

TOM: You’re very welcome, Mary. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

Well, how many times has a summer rainstorm left you wondering if perhaps you left your home’s windows open again?

LESLIE: Yeah. You know, I like to call it the “summer window dance.” You get a little bit of a cooler temperature, it’s not so humid, so you’re like, “Oh, I’m going to open all the windows up.” And then maybe you run out and all of a sudden it starts to pour, as it does in summer. And then you’re like, “Oh, crap. I’ve got to get home and close all the windows.” It’s like you’re constantly running around to operate your windows, depending on the weather.

TOM: Well, this is cool because Pella has actually done something to make that sort of a problem of the past. They have a new thing called the Pella Insynctive Windows Home Automation System. And basically, with just a glance at your smartphone, you can check the status of your windows and your doors from really any location.

LESLIE: Yeah. Pella’s Insynctive line also features motorized blinds and shades that you can control with a touch of a button. So just because you’re not home doesn’t mean you can’t close your blinds once the sun goes down.

TOM: If you’d like to learn more about Pella and other products that raise your home’s IQ and your comfort and safety, head to MoneyPit.com and check out our Smart Home Gallery.

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

BOB: I have a friend who has a house with a metal roof on it. Their cell service is pretty severely impacted every time somebody tries to call him on his cellphone when he’s inside his house.

TOM: First off, your cell is probably always – very frequently, I should say – inside buildings that have metal roofs. Think about it: your church, your post office, your bank, restaurants. There’s a lot of metal roofs out there. And if he’s having a problem just in his own house, I would suspect that the signal is weak to begin with. And I think the solution is a little device called a “cellphone booster.”

A booster can be basically plugged into the house, inside of the house and it can like double or triple the range of the phone. So if I was having that issue, I would just get a cellphone booster, install it in my house – it’s not a very expensive piece of equipment – and solve my problem once and for all.

BOB: OK. Interesting. I just wondered about that.

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

LESLIE: Judy from Illinois is on the line and is dealing with some changes in a hardwood floor. How can we help you?

JUDY: Well, I have a little problem in the winter with my hardwood floor and separating. And I can kind of see down in there. And I was wondering about a whole-house humidifier in the winter to keep that from happening, because it’s fine in the summer, what you would suggest.

TOM: A whole-house humidifier is a good thing when you have forced-air heat that’s gas or oil or propane, because that tends to be extremely dry. I would encourage you to use a very good-quality unit, like an Aprilaire. Because there are a lot of units that don’t work very well and they don’t work very long, especially the kind that spray water into the duct system, as opposed to the Aprilaire unit, which has an evaporator pad where the water sort of trickles down this pad and then it evaporates into the house air that way.

So, a humidifier can help. If the gaps are particularly large, you can also fill them with jute – j-u-t-e – jute type of rope. And then you could refinish over top of that. Sometimes, if the gaps are really big, that’s a good thing to put in the middle of it because it kind of blends in with the floor and doesn’t show through.

LESLIE: Yeah. And Tom, sometimes I finish the jute roping before I even lay it in. Like I’ll dip it in a can of the same color of stain and sort of work it in with my fingers. And then once it dries, then I squish it into place with a painter’s knife.

JUDY: Well, thank you.

LESLIE: Alright. Thanks so much for calling The Money Pit.

Still ahead, it’s there to make your life easier but could your dishwasher be shortening the life of your dishes that it’s trying to clean? We’re going to tell you all about it, when The Money Pit continues.

ANNOUNCER: The Money Pit is brought to you by QUIKRETE. It’s what America is made of. For project help from start to finish, download the new QUIKRETE mobile app.

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. And we love to hear what you are working on. So on MoneyPit.com, head to the Community section. Post your question, just like Ryan did from New Jersey who writes: “I purchased an old Victorian home which we, of course, had inspected before we bought it. Now that we’re moved in, we’ve discovered significant damage from termites estimated towards $20,000 and up. And we discovered that the seller didn’t disclose the termite activity or the damage they’d repaired. I’m not a litigious person but what are my options?”

TOM: That’s not good. I mean the fact of the matter is that the seller did repair work on this house and had the house treated and kept that important detail to themselves or took any other steps to obscure discovery of this damage, that’s a major problem. That’s fraud. And I think regardless of whether you’re litigious or not, you absolutely need to speak to an attorney about this. Because with $20,000 in damage, there may be nothing you can do but file a suit.

Now, in terms of the home inspector, the inspector may or may not have missed it. And the reason I say that is because an inspector can only inspect what’s actually visible and accessible on the date of inspection. So depending on how obvious this was, if it was something that was blocked or obstructed or behind walls or behind carpets or furniture, you can’t expect the inspector to find that. The seller, however, if they had prior knowledge, they are in big trouble and you definitely need to pursue this, Ryan.

LESLIE: Yeah. Don’t let this one go, Ryan.

TOM: Well, if you are lucky enough to have a dishwasher, it’s tempting to throw everything but the kitchen sink into it. But there’s a chance your dishwasher may be doing more harm than good. You can find out which kitchen items always deserve sort of the white-glove treatment or at least the rubber-glove treatment, in this week’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word.

LESLIE: Yeah. You know, it goes without saying, guys: anything that’s marked “hand wash” on the bottom of that plate or serving item should be hand-washed. But those really aren’t the only items that shouldn’t find their way into your dishwasher.

If you have a seasoned cast-iron skillet, you guys know how hard it is to get one of those. Basically, it’s like years of cooking in a cast-iron skillet that makes everything taste wonderful and puts that nice, crispy edge on all kinds of wonderful things. But if you put it in the dishwasher, that is all going to go away.

So with a cast-iron skillet, you want to hand-wash it but not with soap. You actually scrub it with a little bit of cooking oil and salt, then you wipe it dry with a paper or even a towel cloth and that will keep it from rusting.

Now, if you fill an insulated travel mug with coffee every morning, you need to wash it every night but you need to wash it by hand. The force of the water in your dishwasher can actually get between the mug’s outer and inner layers. That’s going to cause odors and mold and make your favorite travel mug just gross.

Same thing with nonstick pans. Some of them are dishwasher-safe but others will lose their nonstick quality in extreme heat. Now, you can either check with your pan’s manufacturer or just play it safe. The minute or two – or 5 or 10, whatever it is, depending on how beat up that pan is – that you spend hand-washing it will actually really save you from having to replace that pan.

And the same thing with Calphalon. You guys, Calphalon is a special coating on the exterior of a pan. I have a whole bunch of Calphalon pans that are anodized. And I put a smaller pan in the dishwasher and that whole coating is gone. So really pay attention to this.

And finally, anything made of wood, it simply doesn’t belong in the dishwasher. Not just because it’s porous and it’s going to absorb all the soap and the germs but because all of that heat is eventually going to dry out that wood and it’s going to crack and split. So just keep those out of the dishwasher altogether.

TOM: Great advice. This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Coming up next time on the program, cooling your house is a big job, which is why your air conditioner may be prone to malfunctioning every now and then. We’ll have tips to teach you what to look for to make sure it keeps going and going and going through all of these warm summer months, 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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