Show Notes
- Energy Audit: Learn how an energy audit finds ways to make your home more energy-efficient and save money on utility bills.
- Roof Shingles: Strong winds can cause serious roof damage. Find out about wind-resistant roof shingles that can protect your home from storms.
- House Cleaning: Does it seem like the dust in your home never goes away? Get tips for how to easily clean better and sneeze less.
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
Plus, answers to your home improvement questions about:
- Home Foundation: Brenda’s concrete basement walls are starting to crumble. She needs a structural engineer to determine what a contractor must do to repair the foundation.
- Pet-Proof Flooring: Pet ferrets have taken a toll on Bruce’s carpeting. We recommend engineered vinyl plank flooring that’s waterproof and durable.
- Concrete Repair: Can you repair a piece of broken brick and mortar? Bob should use concrete adhesive and cover the crack to re-stucco the area.
- Woodpeckers: Knock, knock! Woodpeckers are drilling for insects outside Bruce’s house. We’ve got DIY tips to treat for bugs and keep woodpeckers away.
- Popcorn Ceilings: What is the best way to remove popcorn ceilings? It can be a messy project, but Laura learns a wet scraping method to make it easier.
- Clogged Toilet: The toilet is making a bubbling sound and has to be flushed twice. Barbara should try using a toilet auger to clear the obstruction.
- Skylights: Will a skylight make the room too bright and cause glare? It shouldn’t be a problem since Ginny’s tubular skylights will direct sunlight straight down.
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 00:00:31 | TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 00:00:37 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 00:00:38 | TOM: And we are here to help you take on the projects you want to get done around your house. This is episode 2301 and we are so glad that we’ve been able to help you guys with your projects for a bunch of years. Right now. But the first thing to do is on you. You got to help yourself first. You got to if you’re frustrated, you got to put down those tools and you got to pick up your computer, pick up your phone and call us. The number here is 1-888-MONEY-PIT or better yet, go to moneypit.com/ask and post your question so that we can help you get a lot of good tips coming up on this show. First up, wouldn’t it be great if there was a service that could evaluate your house and pinpoint every single spot where an improvement could save you some energy and guarantee it? Well, there is it’s called an energy audit we’re going to share with these pros. Do add a51. That’s really good just ahead. |
| 00:01:28 | LESLIE: And spring storms can whip up some seriously damaging winds that can rip the shingles right off the roof. But now a new roof shingle is out from Owens Corning that’s wind resistant up to 130 miles per hour. We’re going to explain what gives that new duration shingle, this incredible level of protection in just a bit. |
| 00:01:47 | TOM: And have you guys been doing your spring cleaning but feel like you’re just stirring up more dust and you started with, well, we’re going to share some must do dusting advice so you can clean more and sneeze less now. |
| 00:01:58 | LESLIE: But first, we’ve got home improvement questions from you guys that need answers. So maybe you’ve got a question now, too, but you just don’t know where to turn. Well, turn to us. We can help you out. We’re going to help you save some money will help you save time. We can help you avoid all of those home improvement hassles that’ll definitely slow you down on the way to your dream projects. Well, whatever it is, reach out to Tim Money Pit, because we’d love to lend a hand. |
| 00:02:21 | TOM: The number here again 1-888-MONEY-PIT or go to money pit dot com slash ask and click the blue microphone button. |
| 00:02:28 | LESLIE: Brandon, Kansas, you’ve got the Money Pit. What’s going on at your house? |
| 00:02:32 | CALLER: Hi. So it’s going to fall in. |
| 00:02:35 | LESLIE: No know what’s happening. |
| 00:02:37 | CALLER: Well, we have the house was built in about 1908 and the basement walls were poured concrete and they’re starting to crumble. I mean, significantly, like No. 2 to 4 inches in some spots. The problem is we can’t lift the house because it’s made out of like heyday blocks that were like with decorative front on them. So the whole thing’s block and we can’t I mean, it’s just way too heavy to the left. So trying to figure out how to repair the walls or replace them or add structural something to them, I don’t know. |
| 00:03:20 | TOM: Okay. So this is not something that you can figure out. You do not have the experience, nor do 90% of the contractors that you call to ask this question. If you’ve got walls that are in that bad shape, you need to go to a structural engineer that is really critical for a bunch of reasons. First of all, the structural engineer is going to know exactly what kind of repair to prescribe and in his or her report will detail with words and drawings what that repair has to look like. Once you get that specification, then you can talk to contractors who will execute that design. But most importantly, when you’re dealing with a major structural issue like this, you also need the structural engineer to come back after the repair is done and say, yes, it was done correctly and there’s no further, further cause for concern, because at some point you’re going to sell this house and that engineering report and the inspections that follow are going to be sort of a pedigree that’s going to stay with the house. So I’ve seen these repairs done badly, more than they’ve been done well. And it’s usually because people try to skip that step. It’s really important you have a design professional when you have walls that are sagging a couple of inches like you describe it, because it’s beyond the scope of what any contractor should be trusted to design themselves. |
| 00:04:34 | CALLER: Okay. Well, that that makes me feel better because for one person said, well, they would come in and spray concrete on, but they would need to drill through to put some supports. And I’m like. |
| 00:04:45 | TOM: Yeah, no, you’re in tennis. You go up with that kind of advice because guys never seen your house yet. |
| 00:04:49 | CALLER: So you know. Yeah, right. |
| 00:04:52 | TOM: So yeah, you need to get a design professional and get these contractors, all of these contractors in the door because they’ll try to take advantage of you and prescribe all sorts of crazy ideas and they just don’t have the training to do that. Okay. |
| 00:05:03 | CALLER: All right. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. |
| 00:05:05 | TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks again for calling us at 88 Money Pit. |
| 00:05:10 | LESLIE: Bruce in Tennessee has some furry friends and I mean some ferret, furry friends and maybe some help picking flooring. What’s going on? |
| 00:05:18 | CALLER: Yeah, yeah. I’ve got seven ferrets that are taken a hard line on my carpet and I want to replace it. And I thought, well, I might want to try something different. |
| 00:05:28 | TOM: Seven ferrets, huh? |
| 00:05:30 | CALLER: Yes, sir. |
| 00:05:31 | TOM: So you’re looking for ferret proof flooring, Bruce? |
| 00:05:33 | CALLER: Something like that. Yeah, somebody is absolutely sure. |
| 00:05:37 | TOM: Well, I mean, so you’re basically looking for a pet resistant flaw, and that rules out natural hardwood and, of course, carpet. But you’ll be happy to know that there are a lot of synthetic products today that are perfect. One that comes to mind is called Engineered Vinyl Plank. It’s one of the newest flooring products on the market. And I got to tell you, this stuff is really amazing because it looks just like the real thing. It looks just like wood. They’ve just done so well with the technology behind making engineered vinyl plank. That is a coming out looking just like the real deal. And it’s also pretty affordable. So you might want to take a look at the products that are available in that EVP family. The other one to think about is laminate. But I guess if I was thinking about laminate versus EVP, I’d probably go with EVP because it’s 100% waterproof and I think it might be a bit more durable. You can go to a place like Lumber Liquidators in one of their showrooms and take a look at some of the samples. I think you’d be surprised with how good looking this stuff is, and it certainly would be something that could take a lot of punishment, takes the wear and tear as well as, of course, it’s not going to deteriorate in any way if it gets wet. |
| 00:06:51 | CALLER: What kind of installation are we talking about? |
| 00:06:54 | TOM: That’s pretty much DIY. I mean, you can hire a pro, but it’s got a tongue and tongue and groove seam. It’s sort of a locked joint like most of those products do. It’s floating, so you don’t have to glue it down. You basically go an edge to edge if you have baseboard molding. I would go within about a quarter of three segments of the baseboard molding lead that have a gap and cover it with shoe molding. So you have some expansion and contraction. Okay. But it’s pretty easy to do. You got to make sure the force is pretty flat. If you got a lot of dips and waves in the floor, there are certain tolerances that each manufacturer will specify for those products. Just make sure you’re within those tolerances. But I think if you take a look at the EVP flooring, that may be a good solution for you and for your parents. And I will tell you, this is the first time I’ve ever gotten a question about fireproof one. |
| 00:07:38 | CALLER: I think one of the reasons I was looking at the vine or the laminate, I’ve seen some friends up there. There’s a believe it or not, there’s a lot of good, fair Facebook groups out there. And there’s thousands of us that talk back and forth. And I think I’ve seen some folks take that bottle or laminate and kind of hate it and give it a little bit of a bend upon the edges and then put the molding maybe a eight inch from the floor or something and give it almost a bathtub effect in the room. |
| 00:08:05 | TOM: You mean kind of have it like bend up? I wouldn’t do that. Yeah, no, I think you’re asking for trouble. There are no flooring manufacturers. It’s going to warrant that. It’s only designed to be installed flat. I mean, people get creative with stuff like this, but that definitely outside the scope of how that materials designed to be used. |
| 00:08:21 | CALLER: But that’s what I’m thinking. And that’s why I wanted to ask you guys. I figured you guys would know, but it’s just kind of a I think what people are thinking is an aisle pet proofing or spill proofing, shall we say? |
| 00:08:30 | TOM: Yep. I hear you. |
| 00:08:31 | CALLER: Okay, I’ll look for that. And you said Lumber Liquidators as well, right? |
| 00:08:35 | TOM: Yeah. They’ll have its EVP engineered vinyl plank. |
| 00:08:38 | CALLER: Okay. Sounds great. |
| 00:08:39 | TOM: Good luck. Thanks so much for calling us at 88 Money Pit. |
| 00:08:42 | CALLER: Thank you, sir. |
| 00:08:44 | LESLIE: Bob in Illinois, you’ve got the Money Pit. What can we help you with today? |
| 00:08:47 | CALLER: I have a brick stoop and a decorative a decorative piece on the end. It’s like a corner piece. It appears like the just fell off. So it fell off and the concrete mix is attached to it. The mortar, I guess you call it. Yep. And my question was, is there a way of kind of, I hate to say, gluing it back on, but is there some type of material or some kind of purchase where I can just put it on and kind of put it in place and put something underneath to hold it in place so it won’t fall off again. |
| 00:09:18 | TOM: So what broke off was a chunk of the concrete. |
| 00:09:20 | CALLER: Then a chunk I saw a real piece, I think a decorative or a piece. |
| 00:09:24 | TOM: If I told you what material to use, could you recreate the corner piece? No. So then what you’re going to need to do is you’re going to need to use a concrete adhesive and quickly makes one. If you go to their Web site, a quick sitcom, you can find that type of product that would be able to essentially it is essentially adhesive and then glued back on. And I will tell you this, after you get it glued on, if you want to cover the crack, there is a new product from quickly called recap that’s basically designed to go on top of old concrete and you wet it down, you clean it really good, and then you could basically re stucco, this whole area. And with the recapped product you’ll stick to the old concrete really, really well and look like brand new. |
| 00:10:09 | CALLER: Doesn’t sound part great. |
| 00:10:11 | TOM: Nope, it’s made me pretty easy. |
| 00:10:13 | CALLER: First of all, I appreciate you taking my call. Thank you very much. I’ll give it a try. |
| 00:10:16 | TOM: You’re very. |
| 00:10:17 | CALLER: Welcome. Bye bye. |
| 00:10:19 | LESLIE: Well, are you tired of paying high utility bills every month? Do you want to make your home more energy efficient? But you really don’t know where to start? Well, an energy audit is just what you need to evaluate your home’s energy usage and then recommend the best ways for you to save energy. |
| 00:10:35 | TOM: All right. Yes. But what exactly is an energy audit and who does it? Well, audits are done by energy auditors. Now, energy orders are pros that specialize in analyzing a home’s energy usage and identifying areas where energy can be saved. Now, they often use very specialized equipment to conduct a very thorough assessment of your home’s energy efficiency, and they provide recommendations to help you reduce your energy use and save money on your utility bills. |
| 00:11:03 | LESLIE: That’s right. But just like with any pro, you need to know what you’re looking for to find a good one for this important work on your home. Now, here’s a few tips to help you get started. First of all, you want to look for certified professionals. You need to make sure that the energy auditor you hire is certified by a reputable organization like the Building Performance Institute, which is BPI or the Residential Energy Services Network, which is resonant. Now, this ensures that they have the necessary training and expertise to provide accurate recommendations. And you also need to check for a license is you need to make sure that the energy auditor that you hire has the necessary licenses and insurance to protect you in case of any accidents or damage. |
| 00:11:44 | TOM: Now, I actually took courses from RESONATE. Those guys were really, really good at what they do. Now during the evaluation, your energy auditor is going to conduct a specialized test called a blower door test. Now, this measures air leaks in your home. And the way it works is they essentially close all the windows and all the doors in the house and then they replace usually your front or your back door with this blower door. And then what they try to do is sort of suck all the air out of the house. And what they’re doing is trying to find out how much external air will actually leak in when they apply that pressure. And it’s a way of figuring out how leaky your house is. And if it’s super leaky, then you want to figure out exactly where those leaks are, because it could be windows, could be doors, or it could be something else about the way your house was built. |
| 00:12:30 | TOM: Now, they also use infrared cameras and these help identify areas of heat loss like, say, no insulation in a wall. And they’re going to inspect your heating and cooling systems and your appliances and your insulation and determine where energy can be saved. And after the evaluation, that energy auditor is going to provide you with a report outlining their findings and recommendations for improvements. And these recommendations may include stuff like upgrading your insulation or sealing air leaks or upgrading your heating and cooling systems, or replacing appliances with more energy efficient models. But it’s all in there. And the thing I like about these guys is they’re not there to sell you the work. They’re just there to give you the information. |
| 00:13:10 | LESLIE: Yeah. And I think one of the most important things that you need to consider from this report are the ROI calculations. You know, these are your return on investments because this way you’ll know exactly how much you’re saving by making those recommended improvements. And then you can make your improvement decisions accordingly. So bottom line, hiring an energy auditor is a great way for you to improve your home’s energy efficiency and save some money on those utility bills. With a little research and the right pro, you’ll definitely be on your way to a more energy efficient home in no time. Bruce in Oregon is on the line with a woodpecker question. What is going on in your money pit? |
| 00:13:46 | CALLER: Well, we have a house. It’s got Cedar Sheik siding on it and it’s aged nicely. But woodpeckers have recently realized that between the lower sheikhs, where they come together so bugs can crawl up behind a perfectly good shingle. And they seem to drill right through that good shingle to get at that moist little bud. |
| 00:14:09 | TOM: Wow. Well, that stinks. And you’re right. They’re looking for food. That’s why a woodpecker pecks because he’s trying to find a meal. So one thing might be to treat the siding to stop these bugs from kind of getting in there. Another thing that often works and but it’s kind of annoying in that is that if you around the area of the siding can hang some tin pie plates that sort of flop in the breeze, maybe in the area where they love to sort of congregate. Or the other thing that seems to scare them away is if you were to take a black, big black plastic garbage bag like a big hefty bag and cut it into strips, but sort of leave like the top of it intact. So it would sort of flutter. That also will dissuade them. And I think you have to break their habit, Bruce. And those two tips can do that. Now, if you want to try something natural, but if you were to mix up a hot sauce and me pick up an oversize bottle of it at the supermarket and mix it with some water, put it in a pop up garden sprayer and spray down the siding. This makes sure it’s done. It’s not the discolored siding. They get one taste of that. They will not go back for any more of those bugs, I can guarantee that. So there’s a couple of ways to try to dissuade them, but you’re going to have to break their habit. Otherwise, you’re going to keep going for that easy meal right below the lip of the cedar. |
| 00:15:28 | CALLER: And not kind of wild about making the house smell like a strong bouillabaisse. I just I’ve tried our images the fiberglass kind of replicas. They’ve actually perched on those at times, so they’re pretty slick. They’re so terrible. Yeah. And I’ve tried some of the things waving in the breeze. Do you have a suggestion for a saving treatment that won’t be quite so obvious to visitors to our home? |
| 00:15:59 | TOM: Well, look, Bruce, if you don’t want to try the hot sauce, and I personally would give it a shot, because I think it’s going to be very inexpensive and they’ll think it’s going to stay around, like make your whole house smell like a restaurant. There are two other things that you might want to think about. Bird Be Gone has a woodpecker repellent kit that has very good reviews on Amazon, but it’s not pretty. It’s kind of along the same lines the tin pie plates and the plastic hefty bag sort of wafting in the wind. But they’ve used different types of balloons and streamers that are very shiny, which is what kind of freaks them out. But they do say that once the woodpeckers have left the siding, you can remove these. So you’re not talking about a permanent addition to your house. And there’s also some chemical repellents for woodpeckers, although I have to say that I have not seen very good reviews on them. It seems to be 50, 50 and they’re kind of expensive. So that’s sort of where we’re at with that. You’ve got to sort of break that cycle and I think you may have to put up with some unattractive decorations while you’re working on that. But I would give those a shot because they’re not very expensive and you’ve got nothing to lose. |
| 00:17:09 | CALLER: Well, I’ve tried squirt guns and that works while I’m while I’m home. But I’ll tell you, I think I actually started the cycle when we put Sue it out and it seemed as though the animals sort of demanded equal parts of suet and fiber and they got fiber from our cedar shingles. So we stopped doing the suet and it went down some. But it’s still here. So thank you for your advice. I appreciate it. |
| 00:17:33 | LESLIE: Laurie in Missouri is on the line and needs help with some spackling. What’s going. |
| 00:17:36 | CALLER: On? Well, I have it basically as that popcorn ceiling and I’d like to know an easy way that’s not so messy to remove it. I want to have a flat ceiling, but. |
| 00:17:48 | TOM: Fortunately you can’t do that without the mess because you’re going to be quite a messy project. There are a couple of tricks of the trade that will help you though, but let me kind of walk you through this. The first thing you need to do is to test it for asbestos because you want to make sure that there’s no asbestos in that sort of popcorn material. You can pick up in the semester’s testing kit at most home centers and major hardware stores. Or you could use an outside lab. It’s not terribly expensive once we know that it’s not asbestos. This, then your first option is kind of what we call the wet scrape. And what you do is you start with kind of like a one gallon garden sprayer, a Gordon Pump sprayer, and you spray that popcorn material very lightly. You don’t want to overspray, but you want to kind of saturated and let it sit for ten or 15 minutes and then you should be able to take a spec online for a putty knife and simply scrape off that ceiling, go slow, start a small area, make sure that it has absorbed the water. And once you’ve scraped that entire ceiling, you can kind of take a survey of the job because I’m sure you missed some spots. And of course, the second option is to do that, but do it dry and it’s totally doable. Meaning it’s been done, though, with varying levels of success. It’s not totally encouraged because if you do, of course have any asbestos, obviously you can’t do it. If you have lead paint, that’s a problem. It’s much easier for stuff to become airborne. So it’s a very, very dusty way to go. Now there is a tool that’s available that kind of helps with this and what is called a popcorn ceiling scraper. It’s actually a vacuum attachment. It attaches to your shop vac or your wet dry vac. And as you sort of pull it across that surface and the debris scrapes off, it goes right into the vacuum. And then there’s another one that home Max makes that’s just like a very, very wide scraper, kind of like think of it as like a ten or 12 inch wide spackle blade. And that can help you with the project, too. But if your desire was to try to do it in a way that was less messy, it’s just not going to happen by nature of the beast. It’s going to be very messy. And then lastly, once that stuff is down she’s probably not going to have a perfectly clean ceiling as much as you would have if it was brand new. But I think you do have to prime it before you’re painting it, right? |
| 00:20:13 | LESLIE: Oh, absolutely. And I was going to say, when you’re scraping, try not to like gouge too deeply. You don’t want to damage the ceiling any further in the process to give you more stuff to repair. But a primer is going to be really imperative. You know, latex primers are available. You can get ones that are oil based, you can get a bin or a zinger. You really want to sort of seal in that surface and then always go with a flat paint on the ceiling and make sure you get ceiling paints because that’s just going to adhere more nicely to a ceiling since it is over your head and it does have a little bit more thickness than a regular wall paint would. But after that, I think you’re going to be super happy. |
| 00:20:47 | CALLER: I appreciate it. My husband’s laughing at me. |
| 00:20:51 | TOM: He’s laughing because he’s not going to do it. |
| 00:20:56 | LESLIE: Well, spring storms can whip up some seriously damaging winds that can rip the shingles right off of the roof. But now a new roof, shingles out from Owens Corning that not only looks great but is wind resistant up to 130 miles an hour. This is huge considering the storms we’re seeing across this country. |
| 00:21:13 | TOM: It really is the technology behind these new true definition duration series shingles is really interesting. They feature a sure nail technology that provides a wide, very, very visible engineered fabric strip. And the strip pinpoints the nailing zones. They call them No Guess Nailing zones. So that results in a really outstanding, gripping power of the shingles blow. And it keeps those shingles layers intact, as well as provides for really incredible fashion or holding power. And when you have that all together, it’s going to protect against that wind uplift. So there’s a lot of elements to this that are designed to work together and keep those shingles right where they belong on your roof, even up to 130 miles an hour. |
| 00:21:54 | LESLIE: And you know what? They do come in a variety of styles, too, including the duration architectural shingles, which is going to feature high contrast monochromatic hues in a wide range of colors. And if you’re looking for bolder roof colors, the duration designer, it does feature higher contrast tones of unique color blends. And that’s going to give you a more distinctive view from the curb. So no matter what your architectural style of your home is, you’re going to find a roofing shingle that’s really going to work. |
| 00:22:20 | TOM: Well, yeah, definitely. So no matter which way you go, all of the duration series shingles from Owens Corning are going to deliver a beautiful roof with outstanding durability against the elements. If you’d like to learn more, go to a Lowe’s store near you or go to Lowe’s dot com. |
| 00:22:38 | LESLIE: Barbara from Rhode Island is on the line. Barbara, you got some funny noises going on with the toilet. What’s going on? |
| 00:22:43 | CALLER: I have a half bathroom in my upstairs. It consists of the toilet and a small sink and for the last few months, when we flush the toilet, we get like a bubble sound. And it will flush. But it doesn’t take, like, the paper with it. We looked in the tank and it is right up to the level of the water. The chain is way with the flap opens up and then it will close and it will sell. So it’s kind of like we have to flush it twice in order to actually get the paper to go down. |
| 00:23:32 | TOM: So the fact that you get this this gurgle to me sounds like the venting is obstructed. That’s where the air gets back into the system. And there’s a vertical pipe that goes from the back of the plumbing connection up through the roof. And when it’s starving for air, you get that type of a gulp that happens. So it could be that there’s a partial obstruction somewhere in that drain line itself. Have you tried to clear the toilet to make sure that nothing was in there? |
| 00:23:59 | CALLER: Yes. My husband did take a plunger and he used it and it didn’t seem to help. |
| 00:24:08 | TOM: Barbara It’s good that he tried the plunger, but that may not actually work. If the if it’s obstructed. It can happen. It can work if it’s sort of a larger mass. But if it’s something that got in there, like something that was drop in the toilet or something, that’s why it’s worked its way in there from another drain, which you might want to do is try using something called toilet auger. No toilet auger is kind of like a two foot long toilet snake. And what it does, it actually gets into that trap, part of the toilet, which is usually where most of the obstructions are. And it’s a very inexpensive tool. And you could buy one at a home center, I’m sure, for probably ten or $20. And if you use the toilet auger, you’re definitely going to clean out that entire bowl and the trap that’s attached to it, because the trap is just that it’s a narrow portion where the waste has to flow up and over in order to drain out. |
| 00:25:06 | TOM: And if you get waste that builds up there, then that’s not going to happen. |
| 00:25:09 | CALLER: Okay. All right. So we’ll try that. And if that doesn’t work, you mentioned about the pipe coming out the roof. |
| 00:25:18 | TOM: Yeah, the vent. If that doesn’t work, I would contact I would reach out to a plumber at that point or a drain cleaning service, because you basically done as much as you possibly can do. |
| 00:25:27 | CALLER: Okay. Well, thank you so much. Hopefully that the auger will solve the problem. |
| 00:25:33 | TOM: All right. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 88 Money Pit. Well, have you guys been doing your spring cleaning? But maybe you’re feeling like you’re stirring up more dust than you started with. Well, dusting is definitely one of the most dreaded cleaning chores. But if you have a method to the madness, you can get through it pretty easily, even without sneezing. |
| 00:25:55 | LESLIE: Yeah. First of all, you’ve got to allow gravity to give you a hand here. So dust first, then vacuum and start high with those light fixtures, the ceiling fans, then the furniture and work your way all the way down to the baseboards. And next work methodically starting at the doorway and then work around the room, pick either direction, clockwise, counterclockwise, whichever way you want, but sort of stick in that same direction. And every few months you want to do a deep cleaning with a polish or an oil soap especially. And all of that would furniture and the baseboards around the house. And if you kind of get in a routine with this, it really does keep things at bay for a lot longer. |
| 00:26:32 | TOM: Yup. And when you’re all done, be sure to replace the dust filter in your HVAC system. In this way, are you going to be catching new dust as it develops? |
| 00:26:40 | LESLIE: In Missouri has a question about a skylight. How can we help you today, Ginny? |
| 00:26:44 | CALLER: We have turned our garage into a living room, and consequently we have windows only on the south side where the door was. We have a nice large living room, but it’s been very dark on the north side, so I’ve found a wonderful deal on a tubular skylight and I bought it. But because it’s our living room and we have our television in there and such now I’m concerned about putting it in because is it going to interfere with being able to watch the television in the daytime? And no one seems to have information about this? |
| 00:27:29 | TOM: Are you saying because of the fact that it be so bright over the TV, possibly that it would sort of wash it out? Is that what your concern is? |
| 00:27:38 | CALLER: Right. It won’t be directly over the television. It’ll be in the middle of the north part. But we’re just concerned because of reflections and things like that. |
| 00:27:51 | LESLIE: But Tom, the sun tunnels generally, depending on the way they’re installed, direct the light straight down. Correct. |
| 00:27:57 | TOM: They have diffusers. So the lens part of it that’s at the end, it’s kind of more like having a sealing like fixture when you’re done. So I don’t think it’s going to be an issue. I’ve never heard of that as a complaint to any. Oh, so I would tell you to do it. I think those are great. These are great products. And by the way, for those folks that are not familiar with this, so what a sun tunnel is like a tubular skylight. So imagine instead of having to cut a hole in your roof and then build a light shaft, you can cut like a round holding your roof. You can drop this tube down through it. And basically it snakes down between the roof and the ceiling. Kind of like think of it as a dryer. Exhaust ducts are flexible like that, but it’s wide. It’s like 12 to 14 inches wide and the inside the tube is polished like a mirror. So it takes a lot of light and directs it down that tube to that light diffuser, which is at the ceiling level. |
| 00:28:49 | TOM: So I think it’s a great option and I think it’s a good use in this particular space. |
| 00:28:54 | CALLER: Well, I really think you because it was very difficult to find information. |
| 00:28:59 | TOM: Good luck, Ginny. Thanks so much for calling us at 88 Money Pit. |
| 00:29:03 | LESLIE: Tim wrote in saying, I recently inherited a house it’s not been occupied in over five years and was not winterized. Water was turned off but was left in the toilets. Frozen, cracked them. I’m seeing some very questionable electrical and I’m not sure about heat hot water because the gas isn’t turned on yet. Roof has three layers on it with no leaks, but I am in a basement that has a history of flooding. So where do I start? I’m not a handy person. This is a lot of projects. |
| 00:29:30 | TOM: I love the last line. I’m not handy. What can I do? |
| 00:29:33 | LESLIE: I’m not handy. But everything’s messed up here. |
| 00:29:36 | TOM: Well, listen, it’s never a bad thing when you inherit a house, even if it is, as in this case, sounding like a real life money pit. But listen, Jim, none of the things that you mentioned are insurmountable. I mean, if the basic foundation and framing and roof are intact and everything else is very fixable now, even with the things that can be fixed, it’s also a question of economics and skills and time. What I would do is I would have an inspection done by a professional home inspector that can really go through the house and figure out what needs to be done and also in what priority you need to tackle them, because some of this may be cosmetic and he or she will be able to determine that so that it will make really good sense. And this way you’ll have an accurate to do list and a priority list so you know what to do first. |
| 00:30:19 | LESLIE: Yeah, that makes sense. All definitely smart moves. And you know what? Down the road, this house is going to be great here, so enjoy the process. |
| 00:30:26 | TOM: Well, green home improvement choices are definitely everywhere you look these days, and it’s not always clear to figure out how much you’re actually helping the planet and helping yourself with the choices you make. Leslie has some tips to help you sort it out in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word. |
| 00:30:41 | LESLIE: You know, just like organic and healthy. I mean, you see those words everywhere you turn in the supermarket, building products and fixtures can easily be green washed with their true value hidden behind big prices and even bigger claims. So if you’re planning to purchase a home improvement related product and you want to ensure that it is environmentally friendly, there are a few things that you should be looking at beyond those advertising claims to determine if that product is actually green. So start by considering the basics. We’re talking about the raw materials that go into that product and where they come from. You’ve got to remember that anything that’s got to be transported from a very long ways away, that brings other precious resources into the equation. Then you want to look at the adhesives, the coatings, the finishes, all of those things that are used to make that product viable. And whether or not the manufacturing process leads to the release of harmful substances. Next, consider those product packaging pieces here and the likelihood that that’s going to release those VOCs, the volatile organic compounds into your home environment during and after installation. Then a product’s afterlife should also be a factor in determining its greenness. Just as you’ve got benefits to selecting a product that’s made from sustainable ingredients, you know that those ingredients can be recycled, reclaimed, repurposed when this product’s lifetime is over with. You. I mean, listen, all good things come to an end. So at some point, this product that you’ve got in your home, it’s going to be time for its end as well. So when that happens, if that product is green and you know, you can take care of it in a green way in its afterlife, that is much preferred. So you’ve got to look at this whole package from beginning to end and then make those decisions. |
| 00:32:23 | TOM: Good advice. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show coming up next time on the program. If you’d love to have a backyard pool, but you can’t afford it just short of backyard space. We’ve got two words for you. |
| 00:32:36 | CALLER: Spool pool. |
| 00:32:38 | TOM: We’re going to share how school pools are popping up all over the nation, delivering a very spot like experience in a very small space. On the very next edition of The Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 00:32:49 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 00:32:50 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
| 00:32:52 | 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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