Show Notes
- Eliminating Weeds: Weeds are the enemy of lush, healthy lawns. Get tips on fighting backyard weeds all season long.
- Natural Stone Countertops: Stone countertops are a rock-solid choice for kitchens but require care. Find out the pros and cons.
- Airless Paint Sprayers: If you’d like to get a smooth and speedy finish on your next painting project, check out a high-efficiency airless paint sprayer.
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
Plus, answers to your home improvement questions about:
- Dock Restoration: Colleen is seeking a product to restore dock surfaces. We suggest using an established, name-brand product and testing a small area first.
- Plaster Walls: Plaster is falling off the walls in Scott’s house. We recommend installing new drywall over it to secure the plaster and provide a smooth surface.
- Staining Concrete: Can you color a concrete patio to cover up repaired cracks? Dottie can choose from a range of concrete stain colors before sealing the patio.
- Hardwood Floors: Mark likes the old-fashioned look but wants to clean and protect his hardwood floors. A light sanding and a flat or satin finish will work.
- Crawlspace Vapor Barrier: Is plastic needed on the ground under an exposed crawlspace? Margie can add a vapor barrier to prevent moisture from wicking up through the soil.
- Toilet Flushing: When Jeff flushes one of his high-efficiency toilets, it sucks water out of the other one. He needs a plumber to check for a venting issue or an obstruction that’s blocking the air to create suction.
- Vines: Invasive vines managed to grow through a window and across the room. After cutting them down, Louise must sand, prime, and paint the walls and be sure to kill the vine at the roots outside the house.
- Deck Maintenance: George is tired of resealing the deck each time it peels. He can either strip the wood and start over or replace the boards with a composite material.
- Carpet Stain Removal: Chuck is trying to remove some old blood stains from carpeting. We have tips on using either water and salt or hydrogen peroxide to lift the stain.
- Preventing Mold: Mold keeps returning around the sink and bathtub. Andrea learns how to use bleach, a mildewcide caulk, and moisture control to prevent mild from coming back.
- Wood Siding: Dennis wants to change the siding on his home. He’ll be able to install the new siding right over the T1-11 wood siding he currently has.
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 0:00:35 | TOM: Coast to coast in floorboards, the shingles. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show on air and online at Money Pit dot com. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:00:43 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:00:45 | TOM: What are you working on today? If it’s your house, you’re in the right place because that’s where we are. We’ve been fixing up houses for decades and helping other folks do just that as well. So if you’ve got a question about a project that you’d like to get into this spring, well, we’d like to get into it with you. You can add that to our to do list by calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT or posting your question for the fastest response at Money Pit, AECOM asks to click the blue Microphone button. Coming up on today’s show, did you guys know that one dandelion plant can make up to 15,000 weed seeds? That’s kind of crazy. We’re going to help you win the battle against these green invaders with tips on how to tackle stopping weeds for the entire season. |
| 0:01:27 | LESLIE: And also ahead, natural stone countertops have been a popular choice for kitchens, but they’re also very high maintenance. So is the beauty and durability of these stone tops worth the hassle that goes along with it? We’re going to highlight the pros and cons. |
| 0:01:41 | TOM: And are you ready to take on a big painting project this Memorial Day weekend? Well, maybe like painting the entire exterior of your house. That would be big, right? That’s a. |
| 0:01:49 | LESLIE: Big project. Yeah. |
| 0:01:50 | TOM: As challenging as that might sound, it’s actually totally doable. So we’re going to share some tips on tools that can make the job a lot easier. |
| 0:01:57 | LESLIE: Plus, we’ve got a great giveaway. We’ve got a new product from date coatings called Rock Patch, which can help you easily repair and restore any concrete surface that was damaged over the winter season. And that’s a prize worth almost 50 bucks. |
| 0:02:09 | TOM: To qualify, all you need to do is reach out to us with your home improvement question. That product’s going out to one color drawn at random. You can reach us by calling eight, eight, eight, 6663974. Or better yet, go to moneypit.com/ask and click the blue microphone button. You can record your question for the fastest possible response. |
| 0:02:28 | LESLIE: All right, Colleen in Texas, you’ve got the Money Pit. How can we help you today? |
| 0:02:31 | CALLER: Yes, I was wondering about a product called Restore. It’s called Liquid Armor Resurfacer. And I have a dock that I wanted to put it on. |
| 0:02:39 | TOM: All right. I’m familiar with those. Restore products have not used them, but I know what they’re supposed to do. One thing I would tell you is I don’t know about the brand you mentioned. I would make sure it’s a brand that’s been around for a long time because we’ve seen some of those thick paint products do more damage than good. I know, for example, that rust only in which is a good brand, makes a product called Restore. It works on concrete and decks as well as vertical siding. So I might start by taking a look at their Estonian product. Just make sure you stick with a name brand that’s been around a long time so that you know that you’ve got a really good product that you’re putting on the deck. And I would also make sure that you tested it in an area maybe on a couple of deck boards to make sure you’re completely happy with it before going all in on the entire deck or dock. |
| 0:03:29 | CALLER: And is it harder to use this type of product versus just a regular paint? |
| 0:03:34 | TOM: Yeah, it’s going to be more difficult because it’s about ten times thicker than paint. So the application is got to be done, right? You’re going to use similar tools, but it’s just going to it’s going to be slow. |
| 0:03:45 | CALLER: Okay. Well, thank you so much. |
| 0:03:47 | TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. |
| 0:03:52 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Scott in Iowa on the line. Who needs help with a painting project? Tell us what you’re working on. |
| 0:03:56 | CALLER: I just recently bought a rental house, and the faster it’s an older home and plastered with falling off the house wall, the guy I bought it from had repaired it. But if you look at it, it’s falling out areas and falling back in in some areas. And I was just wondering. But I have to redraw drywall or is there a cheaper and easier way to fix that? |
| 0:04:26 | TOM: How much of this exist? Is there a lot of this? That’s where it’s plaster. Seems to be loose throughout. |
| 0:04:31 | CALLER: The whole. |
| 0:04:32 | TOM: House. Yeah. Okay. So it’s a problem because it’s going to be dangerous. What happens is the plaster when it’s applied, it’s applied over something called wood lath, which are like thin strips of wood, kind of look like those sticks. We used to hold up garden plants and tomatoes and things like that. And the plaster expands to behind the lath and it sort of locks in place. But over the years with an old house, those key ways recall them loosened up and then the plaster is not attached to the wall anymore. So you are looking at a situation where the walls are going to get worse. It’s not going to get better. And if it’s the ceiling that’s loose, that could be dangerous because when that plaster falls, it’s really, really heavy. I’ve seen a dent in floors and certainly could hurt somebody. So now we have the question is, what’s the best way to deal with this? Should I tear the plaster out? Should I drywall over? I’ve done it both ways. I’ve come to the conclusion after trying it this way for many years, that the best thing to do is to put drywall on top of the plaster, not tear it out for a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s less messy. Secondly, that even when you tear out the lath in the plaster, you’ll find that the studs from the old house behind it are not very even. So when you put drywall up, it tends to warp sometimes. So what I would do is I would attach new drywall over the plaster. You can use 3/8 of an inch thick drywall too. You don’t even need to use half inch drywall. And then by attaching from the drywall through the plaster into the studs, you’ll help secure that loose plaster as you won’t have any further movement in that room. That would be my recommendation. |
| 0:05:59 | CALLER: That works. |
| 0:05:59 | TOM: Out. All right. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974. |
| 0:06:08 | LESLIE: Dad, in Oregon, you’ve got the Money Pit. How can we help you? |
| 0:06:10 | CALLER: Today we have a patio that had some cracks in it. It is exposed aggregate. My husband dug it out and filled in the cracks. Now, our question for you is, is there a sealer with some colorant that we could use over the whole area? |
| 0:06:29 | TOM: I think what you’re asking us for is a concrete stain. Sealers are always clear. So if you’ve got this crack filled in and you’ve got some color to that, then what you’re going to have to do is stain the concrete to match that. And then you could seal it, but you’d have to stain it. And if you’re going to stay in concrete, you would use an acid stain. |
| 0:06:50 | CALLER: Okay. Is there anything you can recommend? |
| 0:06:52 | LESLIE: Concrete makes a great one in a couple of good colors. More neutral than anything. A little crazy, but an easy to apply product. You’re going to get some great coloration there. And you know, it’s a reputable brand. They know what they’re doing. So I would start there. |
| 0:07:05 | CALLER: Well, that sounds great. And I really love your show. |
| 0:07:08 | TOM: Thank you very much, John, and good luck with that project. |
| 0:07:11 | LESLIE: Hey, you want to make our day? Well, go ahead and leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts and we’ll be jumping for joy. Plus, you guys, your feedback helps us make the show even better for you. Just go to Money Pit dot com slash review. |
| 0:07:24 | TOM: Well, as you walk around the outside of your house on these increasingly warmer days, have you noticed that your concrete walk or your pad in your driveway looks a little worse for wear? Winter has that effect on those surfaces. And that’s why on today’s show, we’re going to give away a product that can help restore them called Rock Patch. It’s new from Dish Coatings and it’s a pre-mixed polymer stone formula that can be used to fill low spots or to level or resurface any ugly cracks. If you’ve got some holes in the concrete, maybe you’ve got some deterioration from using the dreaded rock salt and in a way, the surface of the concrete. You can fill all of those spaces and make them nice and neat and smooth with rock pat, super easy to use. You don’t have to mix it up. You just pop the lid, give it a stir and apply and it dries in 24 hours. It’s available online at disk coating scone, also on the Home Depot’s website and Lowe’s, the one gallon container sells for 4195 and we’ve got one of those to give away on today’s show. So call us with your questions and it might just be you. |
| 0:08:22 | TOM: The number here is 188 Money Pit. |
| 0:08:25 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Mark in Oregon on the line who need some help with a hardwood flooring project. Tell us what. |
| 0:08:30 | CALLER: On got an old wooden floor hardwood floor that is looking kind of rough but I don’t really want to put a showroom shine on it, but yet I still want to keep it protected and I kind of want to keep it clean. So I was wondering if there’s a product that you would suggest to more or less not refinish it, but yet keep it maintained, I guess. |
| 0:08:49 | TOM: Well, so what you’re saying is that you don’t want to go all in and have it like totally sanded down. You just want to sort of brush it up a little bit. Is that. |
| 0:08:57 | CALLER: Correct? Yeah, because it’s well used. It’s in a dining room, but yet I think I kind of like that antique or almost museum look to it. |
| 0:09:04 | TOM: Is any of it worn down to the bone? Do you see the raw wood anywhere, or is it just scuffed up a bit? |
| 0:09:09 | CALLER: It’s pretty much scuffed and worn down, I would say. But it’s not. It’s not it’s not bad. Look. And it’s just I just don’t want to really put a shine on it and make it look like it’s a brand new hardwood floor. |
| 0:09:21 | TOM: You’re going to need to pull the furniture out of the room and then you have to do a light sanding of the floor. If it’s not really worn out to the point where, like it’s got cracks or crevices or digs or areas where the stain is missing or anything like that, It’s just sort of roughed up a bit. You can do a light sanding. And the easiest way to do that is with a floor sander and a sanding screen on it. You have to rent one of these for standards that you see used in a commercial building or the mall or someplace like that. And then they’ll give you at the store a couple of sanding screens that go underneath it, and then you very carefully and slowly you do like a light sanding of the whole thing, and then you’ll have to hand sand along the baseboard and the corners and so on. Then damp mop it just to make sure you get up all of the dust vacuum and damp mop it. And then what you can do is apply two or three coats of satin polyurethane. I mean you can even get flat polyurethane if you want. Absolutely no shine to it. But satin usually has just enough sheen to protect it but not be too obvious. And you apply that with not with a brush, but with a lamb’s wool applicator. You pretty much mop it on with the lamb’s wool applicator and stay out of the room for a couple of days and you’ll be good to go. |
| 0:10:33 | CALLER: Well, it sounds great to me. I’ll give it a try. |
| 0:10:35 | TOM: All right. Good luck with that project, Mark. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. |
| 0:10:40 | LESLIE: Now we’re heading over to Delaware, where Margie has a crawl space. Question What can we help you with? |
| 0:10:44 | CALLER: I’d like to know if you should put plastic on the ground underneath your house. We have like a three foot to climb under there to lay plastic on us for a barrier from moisture barrier underneath out like I branch out. |
| 0:10:58 | LESLIE: What’s the is it underneath the entire house or is it just under a certain area? No, it’s underneath the entire. |
| 0:11:03 | CALLER: House you can crawl under and someone said you should put plastic on top of the dirt. |
| 0:11:08 | LESLIE: Now are you having any moisture issues inside the house. |
| 0:11:11 | CALLER: Not really. Were just thinking it would be a good idea to do that. |
| 0:11:14 | LESLIE: Now, generally with an enclosed crawl space or one that’s smaller scale to an entire home, we would always recommend putting down sort of a plastic sheathing and you want to fill the entire space. And in areas where you do have to have seams, you want to make sure that you overlap a good foot or two so that it really lays down nicely. Now, Tom, would you do that if it’s under the entire house? |
| 0:11:38 | TOM: Yeah, I put it down across the crawlspace floor along the entire house because it stops the moisture in the soil from wicking up and evaporating up into the air and then getting the insulation damp and ineffective. So it’s always a good idea to have. It’s called a vapor barrier and have that down on top of that soil surface. You also want to check the exterior, though, to make sure that sure gutters are clean, the downspouts are extended. It’s part of a of a moisture management solution. It’s not just one. |
| 0:12:05 | LESLIE: Off, you would make sure you’re limiting the amount of moisture that actually gets to that the dirt or the soil underneath the crawlspace. So if you make sure that your gutters are extending away from the house a good three feet or so and not depositing the water back towards that crawl space any sort of planting bedded areas, you want to make sure that that soil slopes away. You just want to do your best that you can to move the moisture away. |
| 0:12:28 | CALLER: Okay. Thank you very much. |
| 0:12:30 | LESLIE: Well, we all love a lush green lawn, but sometimes what’s green isn’t exactly grass, nor is it very lush. In fact, weeds can destroy a lawn and remove any chance of turning your backyard into a perfect putting spot. |
| 0:12:43 | TOM: Well, that’s right. But when you consider that just one deadline plant can make up to 15,000 weed seeds, it’s kind of a wonder any of us ever win the battle against these great invaders. So to help, we put together a few tips on how to rid both your life and your lawn from these nasty weeds. |
| 0:13:00 | LESLIE: Well, first of all, the best way to control dandelions and other weeds in your yard is to grow a thick, vigorous lawn. Now dense grass is going to crowd out those weeds and then block the sunlight that those seeds need to Germany. However, that’s not always so easy to do. Now, lawn weeds usually fall under three broad categories unwanted grasses, grass like plants called sedges and broadleaf plants. So to get rid of them, you need to identify the type of weed you have and then target that specific type. |
| 0:13:28 | TOM: Now, no single herbicide or weeding technique or lawn care tactic is going to work against every type of weed. So how do you attack the weeds in your lawn? Really depends on which you have. Now, if you’re looking for a non-pesticide option, a weed barrier is a better solution and another option is to get a covering on the ground that will compete with the weeds. Thick grasses, for example, is going to crowd out weeds and block the sunlight. Now, timing is super important. The best time to spray for weeds is between June and July, and then from late August to September is the best time to create new lawns. If you’re going to roto till and put out a new lawn, do it then or if you’ve got an existing lawn, what you can do is do core aeration. These are like sort of spike aerators that poke a hole down to the soil a few inches, and then you drop the seeds in those holes and by the time next spring comes around, you’ll be well on your way to the brand new lawn. |
| 0:14:20 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Jeff in Iowa on the line, who is working on a bathroom plumbing problem. What’s going on? |
| 0:14:26 | CALLER: Our house was built in 1978. Still have the same toilets in it as the day it was built. So we decided to upgrade to new, high efficient toilets. We bought 1.2 a per gallon flush toilets with a ten flush rating, and we our toilets sit back to back basically, the master bath bedroom has a toilet that sits just behind the toilet in the main bathroom. When you flush the toilet in the main bathroom, it sucks all the water out of a master bedroom toilet, but it doesn’t do it the other way. |
| 0:14:58 | TOM: Here’s the problem. You’ve got a venting issue and there’s not enough air getting into the waistline that’s probably feeding both toilets. And so as a result, when you flush one, you cause a draw on the other that pulls the water out a lot easier to do when you have only one and a quarter gallons of water as opposed to maybe three or four gallons they used to have with the older toilet. So you need to get a plumber in to look at this and figure out where the venting has gone wrong. There could be venting that also became obstructed. You could eat rodents or animals that that nest inside vents. But there’s not enough there’s none of intake air getting into the plumbing system. And that’s why you’re getting this sort of suction problem whenever you had this condition or if you get sometimes you get a gurgling when you flush or when you run sinks and water goes down is because there’s not enough air getting into the plumbing system. |
| 0:15:46 | TOM: And that’s going to be what will solve this for you. Okay, Jeff. |
| 0:15:49 | CALLER: All right. Thank you very much. |
| 0:15:50 | TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 88 Money Pit. |
| 0:15:54 | LESLIE: Luis in Texas is on the line and needs some help cleaning up after a gardening project gone awry. Tell us what happened. |
| 0:16:01 | CALLER: Oh, yes, we have these insidious vines. One found its way into cracks. I guess my windows weren’t very good and it grew into a back bedroom that I had closed out this window and it grew across my wall and onto the ceiling. So I pulled it down and cut it off and I went outside and now it has left behind hard stuff on there that I can’t get off. |
| 0:16:29 | CALLER: I don’t know how to get it off without damaging the wall. |
| 0:16:32 | TOM: Yeah, I know exactly what you’re talking about. And whenever you have a vine attached to a house, those attachment points are really insidious. They’re very hard to get off and it really takes nothing more than elbow grease. And so if you’re talking about a drywall surface here, you’re literally going to have to sand that surface lightly, a braid that surface because you don’t want to cut through the paper to get off anything that the vine left behind. Then once you’re done sanding it, then you have to prime it. And it is a good quality primer here and prime the entire surface, if not the entire room, and then repaint the room. But there’s no way to clean what’s left behind with that vine debris. You have to actually physically braid it off, scrape it, prime it, sand it to get rid of it. And if you want to slow down those vines from growing on the outside of your house, think about spraying Roundup on them. Roundup you’ve sprayed on the leaves and it goes down through the plants infrastructure and kills them at the roots. And that might help get it under control. |
| 0:17:33 | LESLIE: George in Iowa is on the line with the decking question What can we do for you today? |
| 0:17:36 | CALLER: The wife and I have done sealing with the deck twice and both times the first time it lasted a year and it filled up and we still do it again last year and it piled up again, this time after the winners know it and melted it. So we’re not sure if you have any tips or some advice for us to help us out there. |
| 0:17:56 | TOM: You might want to think about doing a deck do over. We just pull off the decking material and add a composite deck, keep the structure. We wanted to do this again. Some of the decking sealants of you don’t strip down to the original lumber. They never absorb properly and they’ll beat up and they’ll peel off. So your options are to do that, strip off everything that you have there and you literally get to strip it off down to the wood and sand it. And then you can use a primer and a solid color stain, and that will give you the maximum chance of adhering. The other thing you might want to think about doing, as I mentioned earlier, is doing sort of a deck makeover where you pull up the deck boards and then you replace just the deck surface boards with a composite like veranda, for example, which is available at the Home Depot. And this way you’ll never have to worry about standing again. You can even keep your existing railing or you could go further and change out the railing as well. But it doesn’t affect the structure of the deck because the material is still sitting on top of the original. JOYCE just of the deck surface has now been completely made over. It looks great. And you never have to worry about standing or sailing again because it’s a lot of work and you don’t want to have to do it every year, that’s for sure. Make sense. |
| 0:19:09 | CALLER: That makes sense. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. |
| 0:19:12 | LESLIE: Well, natural stone countertops have been a popular choice for kitchens, but they’re also super high maintenance. So is the beauty and durability of those stone tops worth the hassle? We highlight the pros and the cons for you. |
| 0:19:24 | TOM: Yeah. So first up, stone countertops are somewhat indestructible. Most can take a hot pot. They’re not going to dent or chip. Home Buyers love them usually because you’ve never had them before and don’t know how much work they can be take care of. But given the popularity, you can argue that they’re going to add to your home’s value. And of course, the stone is beautiful. It comes in many colors and patterns and the finish is almost always clear. So the natural beauty does shine through quite nicely. |
| 0:19:51 | LESLIE: All right. Now, on the minus side, stone tops are expensive, compared to solid surface and of course, laminate. Now, prices vary based on the type of stone that you’re picking. with granite quartz, those are usually at the top. Marble sometimes can be less. But remember that a marble surface is going to be softer and therefore it’s not going to wear as well. Plus, the color itself will darken with age. So the lighter you go is not how it’s going to look down the road. Now in terms of maintenance, granite tops demand the most. They get sealed once they’re installed. But we hear frequently from listeners who are dealing with stains from tomato sauce, coffee, vinegar, grape juice, or even other similar products that just soak into that granite. And once they’re soaked in, it’s pretty hard to get those stains out. |
| 0:20:34 | TOM: Now, I guess if we had Stone Top to choose, lastly, we’d probably go with engineered quartz, right? you’ll find tops in engineer quartz from brands like Caesar Stone and Sal Stone available in lots of colors, but they’re called engineered because they’re made from a mix of natural quartz dyes and polyester resin and some other chemicals. And they have the definite advantage of being easy to maintain and not requiring sealers because they’re just not as porous as the natural stone. So you get the beauty of the stone, but without having to deal with the maintenance. And to me, I think that makes it totally worth it. It’s kind of like having the best of both worlds. |
| 0:21:10 | LESLIE: Chuck in Rhode Island Need some help cleaning something? What’s going on in your Money Pit? |
| 0:21:14 | CALLER: How would you suggest I go about removing blood stains from carpeting? Well, I’m. |
| 0:21:17 | LESLIE: Assuming since you’re calling in, it’s nothing that we want to hide or cover up, correct? |
| 0:21:21 | CALLER: Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. |
| 0:21:24 | TOM: I’ve been down there a long time. |
| 0:21:26 | CALLER: Yeah, about six months. |
| 0:21:27 | TOM: All right, So there’s a couple of different things that you can try, one of which is to make a paste out of salt. And so you take a bowl of cold water and you put enough salt in to make a bit of a paste. And then you apply that to the carpet, let it sit a bit, brush it in with like a small brush, like a small old hairbrush or toothbrush, and see if it starts to lift the stains away. You can dab it with water to kind of thin out the salt, and after it dries, you can vacuum it and they’ll pull the rest of the salt off of it. Oh, okay. So that’s one way to do it. The other way to do it is to try to make a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water. This hydrogen peroxide will also clean up blood. I always say to try this, though, in an area that’s inconspicuous because it also has somewhat of a bleaching effect. We don’t want to have you bleach out the carpet so you can try it in a corner under furniture, in the closet, wherever you know, wherever you have a less visible area. |
| 0:22:21 | CALLER: What ratio of the peroxide to water? |
| 0:22:23 | TOM: Well, no, actually, you can just put the peroxide on without water. Just put like 3% hydrogen peroxide. |
| 0:22:29 | CALLER: Okay, I’ll try those items and see what happens. |
| 0:22:32 | TOM: All right. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at eight, eight, eight. Money Pit. 888-666-3974. Well, guys, if the winter has left your concrete walks or your patio, your driveway kind of a little worse for wear. We’ve got a great product. We’re giving away this show to help you restore those services. It’s called Rock Patch, Brand new from Dash Coatings, and it’s a pre-mixed polymer stone formula that is used to fill and level and resurface those ugly cracks and shallow holes. Now, I like this stuff because there’s no mixing it’s not a powder. It’s in a bag like some of the other repair products that are out there. So you don’t have to deal with the dust. You just pop the lid, stir, and you can apply it immediately. You’ll find this product online at Dave’s Cottages.com, Home Depot and Lowe’s. A one gallon container sells for 4195, but we got one to give away to today’s show. Reach out to us with your questions to qualify for this drawing at one 880 Money Pit or go to moneypit.com/ask and click the blue microphone button. |
| 0:23:31 | LESLIE: Andrea from Ontario, Canada is on the line with a mold question. How can we help you today? |
| 0:23:35 | CALLER: My question would be regarding blackballed, and it’s sort of behind my saying between the sink and the backsplash, just a little bit of space and black mold settles in. There’s a lot of moisture. Obviously, we’re running the water and it splashes so behind and around the sink as well as around my tub, I tried bleach. I scrubbed it. We at one point took out the caulking and recast it, but it came back. So I’m at a loss. What to do with this mold. |
| 0:24:08 | TOM: Is going to grow any place. You have an organic material which could be drywall or it could also be, believe it or not, soaps, gum can have organic matter in it and that can feed mold. And so you have a condition there that’s going be prevalent to mold regrowth. Even when you clean it, it’s going to come back. You’re not going to permanently prevent it unless you change the environment, the climate that that exists in that particular area. So with respect to the tile area, let’s deal with that first. When you re tiled, when you read court, I’m sorry, you did you pull the old caulk out? |
| 0:24:43 | CALLER: Well, it aloe soak it all out. It was actually our contractor who said keep it like very dry, bone dry he called it and then once we had it all dried out, then he came back and put a layer of this white material. I’m not exactly sure what it was, but he finished it off. |
| 0:25:03 | TOM: Okay, so you’re not quite sure where the product is. Here would be the steps. When you pull the old caulk out, you need to spray the joint between the tub and the tile with a bleach solution. That’s going to kill any mold spores that are left behind. Then after that’s dry, one additional step, fill up the tub with water because it makes it heavy and it pulls it down and then you caulk it. And when you caulk it, you want to use a product that has mildew side in it. Now, DAP, for example, has a caulk that has an additive called Microban and Microban will not grow mold. It will prevent it from growing. And so if you use the right product and you take the step of treating it with a bleach solution first before you apply it, that helps. It’s last as long as possible. But again, if you don’t control humidity conditions, eventually it will come back. As for the sink, the same advice applies You not only have to clean it, which takes away the visual, but you have to spray it with a mold aside. And so you could mix, say, a 10 to 20% bleach solution with water and then let it dry, and that will help prevent it from coming back. |
| 0:26:07 | CALLER: I’ll try that. |
| 0:26:10 | LESLIE: So are you ready to take on a big painting project this holiday weekend? Like maybe you’re painting the entire exterior of your home? Well, as challenging as that might sound, it’s actually doable with a new line of Wagner control pro high efficiency, airless paint sprayers. |
| 0:26:24 | TOM: Yep. These paint sprayers feature a high efficiency, airless technology that produces up to 55% less overspray compared to traditional sprayers and the output a softer spray with improved control. So you get a high quality finish and it goes on three times faster than a roller. You get big jobs done very quick. |
| 0:26:43 | LESLIE: Yeah. And whether your project is to paint a deck, a fence or an entire house, these airless paint sprayers make the big jobs so much easier. And in fact, you can definitely tackle them yourself. Now, if you go on Wagner spray detection, they’re even going to give you a step by step instructions on how you can spray paint your entire home. |
| 0:27:00 | LESLIE: So it’s definitely a DIY project. |
| 0:27:03 | TOM: The control pro paint sprayers range in cost from 259 up to 479, and they can handle either water or oil based paints and stains. And they really do make it easier to paint like a pro. You can see the complete line of Wagner products at Wagner spray tech dot com that’s Wagner spray DCH AECOM. |
| 0:27:21 | LESLIE: Dennison California is on the line with the Money Pit. What can we do for you today? |
| 0:27:24 | CALLER: Yes, I have a house that was built in 1879 and it has two 111 siding on it. And I’m wanting to change the fading on it. I want it like a cement board left siding. But my question is, is it is it practical or feasible to just try that breath over might be 111 and then go ahead, put my starting on top of that, or will I be sandwiching in some problems? |
| 0:27:49 | TOM: Well, do you want 11 for those that are unfamiliar is essentially plywood siding and it serves two purposes is a siding and it’s the sheathing. So you do not have to remove that. Now, the downside is that you’re going to have to pack out, so to speak, around the windows, the trim, the windows. The windows will be a bit deeper than perhaps you’ve seen in the past, but that siding can stay just like that. You can put Tyvek over the siding and then over the existing two, you want 11 siding and then add your Hardie plank over that. Just follow the manufacturer’s installation instructions. But there’s no reason for you to pull that plywood off because frankly, if you did, I’m afraid that you’d have to replace it with just regular plywood. And there’s really no point to that that you want. 11 serves a structural purpose as well as keeping the water out of your house. |
| 0:28:32 | CALLER: Oh that makes sense. I didn’t I didn’t think that it actually takes care of the shear, doesn’t it? |
| 0:28:37 | TOM: It does. That’s right. The protection against the shear in the racking forces. |
| 0:28:40 | CALLER: In the fence. Okay, great. I know I have a direction to go. The concern was, is that if I put the solid if I if I sound like something in with a weakness in moisture or anything like that, and I didn’t want to create problems down the road. |
| 0:28:53 | TOM: Yeah, well let’s hope not. If you use good siding on top of tieback, I don’t think that’s going to be an issue. |
| 0:28:57 | CALLER: Okay, great. Thank you very much. |
| 0:29:00 | LESLIE: Well, Cindy wrote in to Tim Money Pit and she’s asking I have an older home with an older furnace and air conditioner. I’ve been thinking about getting a home warranty policy. Is it worth the cost? And do you have any recommendations for a provider? Now, I didn’t realize you could get warranties on an old like on your home that’s been around for 100 years. Like I thought they were like really new construction things. |
| 0:29:21 | TOM: Well, first of all, there is a new construction warranty if the house is brand new. And that’s not all we’re talking about. We’re talking about a warranty that covers typically systems and appliances, and they’re sold by a whole bunch of different companies. And I tell you, I’ve known some people that have gotten good experiences with them where it’s been cost effective, but I’ve heard about a whole heck of a lot more. They had bad experiences because of the fine print in the contracts. it used to be that if your air conditioning went, they would give you the new air conditioner, but they would charge you these kind of weird additional charges, like duct modification charges. Of course, you got to modify the docs to put in a new system that they would charge extra for that try to make up some of the loss. Either the warranty company would do it or the contractor would do it. But I got to tell you, Cindy, of late, I’ve seen these new clauses that are showing up in their contracts, which are called depreciate value clauses. And because of your question, I looked one up because I think it’s really important to understand what this means. What is a depreciated value clause mean, because if you’ve got old systems, you’d be more likely to buy a warranty to cover them because they have a higher incidence of repair. Well, here’s what this says. And this is a from a company called Service Plus. And I don’t think about him. I just found this language online service plus reserves the right to offer cash back in lieu of repair or replacement in an amount that is based on the depreciated value of the system or appliances, which may be significantly less than the retail cost to repair or replace the covered system and or appliance, end quote. So let’s think about that. What do you think the value of, say, eight or nine year old dishwasher is? |
| 0:30:55 | LESLIE: Not a lot. |
| 0:30:56 | TOM: Probably not very much. Not a lot, right? And the same thing with maybe a 15 year old air conditioner. So they’re not really going to give you very much money if these systems fail. The only way it makes sense is if you have a system that’s brand new or say within a few years still under the manufacturer’s warranty, you’d be dealing with the manufacture error, but maybe just out of warranty and then it fails. But of course it’s going to be a depreciated value. They’re never going to give you the cost of a new point. It’s not replacement cost, it’s going to give you depreciated cost. Meanwhile you could be spending hundreds of dollars a year on these contracts. What would happen if you just you took that two or three or $400 a year. These things cost and put them in a rainy day fund so when it rains and the system fails, you’ve got some money to put it against the replacement. So I just don’t think they’re really they weren’t worth a lot before. And with the depreciated value clauses, I don’t think they’re worth anything going forward. |
| 0:31:48 | LESLIE: Yeah. I mean that really does not sound like a very good situation. So Cindy, I think our best advice here is to pass. |
| 0:31:55 | TOM: Well, we hope that you guys are enjoying this beautiful spring weekend and getting lots of things done around your house. Or maybe you’re just enjoying the space that you’ve worked on. But whatever it is, when you run into challenges, when you run into projects, remember you can count on us 24 seven help you out if you reach out to us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT or post your questions at Moneypit.com/asked for the quickest possible response. Happy spring everybody. Hope you are enjoying it. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:32:21 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:32:22 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
| 0:32:24 | 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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