Can You Guess the Germiest Place in Your Kitchen? | Seed vs. Sod for a Lush Lawn | Filthy Screen Cleaning | Ep #2294

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

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: And we are here for one reason and one reason only and that’s to help you take on the projects you want to get done around your house.

We’ve been at this for over 20 years. We’ve got tips, we’ve got advice, we’ve got ideas to help you get through those challenges. If you don’t know where to start, give us a call. If you’re stuck in the middle, give us a call. You can actually not even call us. You can go to MoneyPit.com/Ask and record your question right there and we’ll answer it the next we’re in the studio. Lots of ways to reach out and get the answers you need to take on the projects you want to get done, because it’s spring and we’re all doing projects right now. It’s a great time to work inside the house or outside the house.

Coming up on today’s show, a new survey is out and it revealed the germiest place in the kitchen. Now, I know you’re thinking, “Cutting board, countertop.” No. It’s neither of those. It’s not the faucet. We’re going to share this very surprising source of all that contamination, in just a bit.

And I think, Leslie, when we do you’re going to be thinking, “Oh, my God, I touch that thing a dozen times a day.” Yes, you do but you don’t think about it.

LESLIE: Try a gajillion times a day. It’s pretty gross.

TOM: The better you are as a cook, the more you touch it. We’ll leave it at that.

LESLIE: And also ahead, if you’ve been striving to create a lush, green lawn around your home but feel like you’re constantly losing that battle, you might be tempted to throw in the towel and start from scratch. So we’re going to share the tips on the best way that you can get that luscious, green lawn you’re looking for.

TOM: And nothing says spring like throwing open the windows and breathing in some fresh, spring air. But if your screens are filthy, you might be sucking in something that’s not quite so fresh. So we’re going to share a formula for a quick and easy screen cleaning, just ahead.

LESLIE: But first, if you can dream it, you can build it and we can help. So let us know what you’ve got planned for this spring season. Whatever it is that you are working on, Team Money Pit can help you get those projects done. So let us know so we can lend a hand.

TOM: The number here is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. That’s 888-666-3974. Or better yet, go to MoneyPit.com/Ask, click the blue microphone button and then tell us your question. We’ll call you back the next time we’re in the studio.

LESLIE: Heading out to Ohio, we’ve got Mark on the line who’s looking to do a kitchen on a budget.

What’s going on?

MARK: We’ve got a kitchen. It is sadly in need of a renovation. We’d like to do it on a budget like you said. We were looking at IKEA but then I’m seeing a couple of things on there that say IKEA doesn’t last very long. And then there were other ready-to-assemble companies out there or maybe some other ideas on where to go. I mean I don’t mind putting the work in. I just don’t want a $30,000 budget.

TOM: Well, I’ll tell you, my experience with IKEA, in terms of quality, has always been very good with their kitchens. I bought some IKEA kitchens years ago when we turned an apartment in my house – it was a two-family house, like a mother/daughter. We turned that sort of small apartment into a studio with a little, sort of office/kitchen for myself. And those cabinets have worn very, very well over all these years. Now, I will say that what I find about IKEA now is that the prices on the cabinets have gotten really expensive from where they used to be.

I also like the way they install. Because unlike traditional cabinets – with the wall cabinets, you put a bar on the wall and then you attach the bar and then you hang the cabinets off the bar.

MARK: Right.

TOM: So you don’t have to secure every cabinet individually, which makes that process a lot easier. And on the base cabinets, there’s no kickboard built into it.

LESLIE: They have feet.

TOM: Yeah, that’s right. They have feet. So, you put in a ledger board on the wall – I guess it’s about 6 inches off the floor – and then you rest the back of the cabinet on that ledger and the feet go in the front of the cabinet. And then they can be adjusted to get them just right, just level. And then there’s a kickboard that snaps over the whole thing. So, I think the installation is super smart.

LESLIE: Yeah. And Tom’s right: their prices have come up. I do like their shape, I like their finishes. They have some fun colors if you’re looking for something a little different. And I like their hardware. So, it’s like, from that perspective, I do like the look of an IKEA cabinet.

I think if you’re trying to stay more budget-conscious, if you go to a big-box store and try to find something that is definitely an in-stock option, that’s going to be your best bet. If you have to assemble it from a big-box store, that’s also going to be more cost-effective.

But again, the install process there is going to be a little bit more than the IKEA install process. It just depends on how much you want to do. Anytime you have to customize anything, that’s when the numbers start to go up.

MARK: Right. I planned to do all the work myself.

TOM: We bought a house this past year – a two-family house – and it was, it had a kitchen from probably the 1950s. A friend of mine saw it and said, “Looks like a mustard bottle exploded in here,” because it was all yellow and plaid and weird, you know. So, I took those cabinets out and I used stock cabinets from Lowes. And they had a shaker-style cabinet – a white cabinet. And I bought all the cabinets for that kitchen – which is a pretty much normal, full-size kitchen – for under two grand.

MARK: Oh.

TOM: And it was a bit of a hassle to put them in, mostly because the house was very, very slope-y. So I had to be creative about getting the installation just right. But I saved a lot of money on that.

And then, for the countertop, I used a Daich Coatings product called LuxROCK. And I built a plywood countertop and then I covered it with the LuxROCK product and it looks just like granite. And so, that was a super-budget kitchen and the whole thing, probably, with the hardware – oh, I did use IKEA handles, though, by the way, because I like the design of them.

LESLIE: Their hardware is gorgeous.

TOM: IKEA had a role but had the inexpensive role.

Anyway, it came out great and it’s been wearing very well. So, you’ve got some options over there but I think that’s a good overview of what you’re up against.

MARK: OK. OK, I like the – my son did IKEA and he likes his really well. He said it went in really easy.

TOM: Yep.

MARK: But then I just started reading other reviews. It was probably – what it was – it was probably part of an ad for somebody else and they got this guy to make it look like IKEA just wasn’t as great.

TOM: Yeah, that happens, too.

MARK: But you know what? Let’s go look at these people. So, I think that’s what happened. So, we’re going to make an appointment with IKEA and I think we’ll do the – I’ve got a Home Depot nearby. So, we’ll look at them, as well.

TOM: Yeah. Check them out. Alright. Hey, good luck with that project, Mark.

MARK: Bye now.

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

KAREN: Yes. I had a tile floor put in my bathroom. And where you walk in, the tile has – the grout has chipped out. And so I called the tile guy and he came and he took that piece of tile out and regrouted it and it’s happening again. Is there something I can use just to seal that up or do we have to regrout it a third time?

TOM: Well, if the grout is falling out, then sealing it is not going to change anything. It sounds like the grout might have been not mixed correctly, perhaps it was too dry. Is it falling out in the same place that it fell out the first time?

KAREN: Yes.

LESLIE: Karen, is it a small tile or a large tile?

KAREN: I think it’s 12×12.

LESLIE: And you’re not seeing any cracks in the tile? It’s just strictly on the grout?

KAREN: Yeah, just the grout is chipping out. And it’s just in the one place: the same place he replaced it.

TOM: Well, when you say he replaced it, did he just sort of fill in the missing areas or did he actually really physically take out all the old grout?

KAREN: He took out the old grout and put in a new tile.

TOM: You’re going to have to have the tile guy come back again, pull out the grout and try it one more time. But have him look this time, carefully, to see if there’s any movement in the floor there that’s causing this to happen. Because I agree with Leslie on this: I definitely think something’s going on there that’s causing it to loosen up. It shouldn’t be happening.

If the grout was not fully removed the first time, then I would think that maybe it just wasn’t adhering. But if it’s completely totally and completely removed and it’s still coming up, then I think that there’s something unstable about that floor surface and that’s why it’s popping up. You’re going to have to get the tile guy involved again. It’s definitely not a maintenance issue.

KAREN: OK. Well, I will do that for sure then.

TOM: Alright. Well, good luck. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974.

LESLIE: Now we’re heading on over to Iowa where Brian has a crack on the wall that keeps on coming back.

Tell us what’s going on.

BRIAN: Well, yeah, I built this home about 6 years ago and noticed it within the first year, really, that in just one of my bedrooms, I have a crack that comes up from my bedroom going into my bathroom door. And it kind of almost goes up probably close to 2½ feet, 3 feet. And it comes and goes, depending on the year. I’ve finished over it a couple of times on both sides of the wall, into the bathroom and here and have tried to refinish over it and it keeps coming back. And my builder looked at it. Can’t quite figure it out and …

TOM: This is what we call a Groundhog Day home improvement project, Brian, because it just keeps happening over and over again, right?

BRIAN: Yeah, yeah. It just – you know, I just – originally, I just tried to cover it up and make it look better and …

TOM: Alright. Well, here’s the thing. You’ve got a very normal crack in a wall there. Cracks often form over doors, like exactly what you’re describing there, because that’s a weaker part of the wall. And for whatever reason, you had some settlement in your house and it caused this crack to open up. The fact that you’re spackling it is not going to solve it. It solves it for a season but it won’t solve it permanently.

What you need to do is you need to sand the area of the crack pretty well, because I want you to get out – get rid of all that extra spackle you’ve been putting on there. Then I want you to add a layer of fiberglass drywall tape, which is sort of like a netting. It’s a bit sticky-backed. And then I want you to spackle over the fiberglass netting – over the fiberglass tape – on both sides. Start with a narrow bead of spackle and then open it up wider and wider and wider. And that, on both sides of the wall, will make that wall strong enough to stand up to the movement that will happen the next time the wall expands or contracts.

You can’t just spackle it, because you’re not really doing anything to bridge that gap. You bridge that gap with the tape, spackle over the tape, now you’ve got a permanent repair. Does that make sense?

BRIAN: Yeah, that makes sense.

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

LESLIE: Now we’re heading on over to Delaware to chat with Ruth who’s having an issue with water heating.

Tell us what’s going on.

RUTH: Our water heater is – I’m guessing it’s around 12 years old. And whenever I use the hot water, it doesn’t seem to last very long. And so a couple months ago, maybe 6 months ago, my husband and his friend – and his friend, I guess that’s what he does for a living. They emptied the water heater and they put two new elements in. But in my opinion, it’s still doing the same thing, like it didn’t – to me, it didn’t change the length how long the hot water lasted.

TOM: And this is an electric water heater?

RUTH: It’s not gas; it’s electric, yes.

TOM: And so, when they replaced the elements, they tested both elements to make sure they actually work?

RUTH: I’m not sure if they did that. I don’t know. He said they put new elements in. I’m assuming they – I guess I could ask them later if they did that.

TOM: Because here’s the thing. When you have a water heater that’s electric and it runs out of hot water quickly, it’s usually because one or the other of the two elements burn out or the control circuit breaks down so that they don’t actually come on. So, what you do, as a technician, is you run a continuity tester on these coils. And it’s a way of determining whether or not they’re working or not.

Electric coils for a water heater is just like a light bulb: it either works or doesn’t work; there’s no in between. And so, the first thing I would do is check the continuity on both of these coils to make sure they’re both physically working. Because what you’re describing, to me, sounds like one is not and that could be the whole source of the problem, OK?

RUTH: Alright.

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

Well, guys, keeping the kitchen clean is an important way to keep your family healthy. But as you scrub, wipe and wash your way across the kitchen, you might be surprised to learn that the spot in the kitchen with the most germs isn’t a cutting board, it’s not a countertop or even the handles of your sink.

LESLIE: Yeah, listen to this. Hunker recently reported that, according to a study published in the Journal of Food Protection, the germiest place in your kitchen, the area with the highest amount of cross-contamination can be found on the spice jars. I mean it’s gross.

It makes a lot of sense, you guys. Of the almost 400 spice jars sampled, 48 percent of them contained cross-contamination. And spice jars had the highest concentrations across all kitchen surfaces. It turns out that spice jars were more than twice as contaminated as surfaces like your countertops. And even the scientists doing the studies were surprised, pointing out that most research on the cross-contaminations of the kitchen surfaces, due to handling of raw meat or poultry products, had focused on kitchen cutting boards or faucet handles. It makes sense because think about what you’re doing when you’re prepping to cook, right?

TOM: Right. You’re handling the raw meat, you’re grabbing the salt shakers, the pepper shakers, the garlic, the tenderizers with those meaty hands, right? And then dousing the meat, the poultry, the fish, whatever it is with the spice and then you’re putting it right back in the cabinet. So it never gets cleaned, right? I think we all know that when we’re done prepping the meat, we wash our hands, right? But not in between all that so, yeah, pretty gross. But now you know.

LESLIE: I guess we should be putting all the spices in little glass jars like they do on all the cooking shows. We should put whatever we need in the little jars, put everything on the counter. Yes, it’s more to wash but how gross that we’re doing that.

TOM: Now that you know that that’s where a lot of the contamination is, I think it’s – it would be smart just to clean out your spice rack once in a while and just wipe the outside of the jar. You know, that’s not that big of a deal to do it every week or two. And that will certainly cut it back, if not eliminate it completely.

LESLIE: Alright, fine. Take away my cooking-show dreams. That’s fine.

Tara in Pennsylvania is on the line with an insect question.

How can we help you?

TARA: Hi. I was just wondering – we have a bunch of earwigs that’s up underneath our siding. And it seems like they’re always there and we were just wondering, what can we do to get rid of them? Is there anything that’s attracting them there?

TOM: Well, look, they’re probably looking for food, so something is landing on that siding and attracting them. Generally, when they’re not up high like that, it’s advisable to trap them. Like a trapping program will reduce their population. But if they’re up on the side and crawling on the building, I’d probably go straight to a pesticide-management program, some sort of chemical control.

The University of California recommends a pesticide called Spinosad – S-p-i-n-o-s-a-d. And there’s a number of commercial products that are available that have that in it. And that should be probably the best way to control them and stop them from coming back and encourage them to go to somebody else’s house to infest.

TARA: That would be helpful. Oh, along those lines, as far as insects go, we get crickets down in our basement every …

LESLIE: Spider crickets.

TARA: I have – I guess they’re spider crickets; I’m not sure. Little black crickets. But every year, they drive me crazy because my bedroom is downstairs.

TOM: Why don’t you call a pest-control operator, like Orkin, and have them just do a general spraying for insects? So you can probably put just the right pesticide in and around your home, in a safe and effective way, that will reduce both problems – stop the earwigs and stop the crickets – and just get you a lot more comfortable.

TARA: Oh, that would be great.

LESLIE: And you know what, Tara? With the cave crickets, we get them where I live on Long Island, in the basement. And I always feel bad when my sister and brother-in-law sleep over, because they’ll sleep on an air mattress in my basement and I’m like, “The spider crickets are going to leap on you.” Because they totally gross me out. But if you take some double-stick tape and just put it around the perimeter of the room, in the interim while you’re waiting to treat, they do tend to congregate there. And they’ll get stuck and then you can just pick it up and toss it in the morning.

TARA: Oh, that’s a good idea. I was just using some indoor spray every year when they come around and then I’m sucking up the crickets constantly – dead crickets – everywhere. And along with them and stink bugs, it hasn’t been fun.

TOM: Yeah, I bet. Tara, when it comes to making decisions to whether or not you should go with a professional or use the sort of the do-it-yourself approach, I always feel that if you go with a pro, they’re actually going to use less pesticide than you’re applying yourself. And it’ll be done in exactly the right manner, with just the right amount, to take care of the problem. I think people tend to overspray when it comes to the over-the-counter pesticides and actually put themselves in greater danger. Does that make sense?

TARA: OK. Well, thank you very much.

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

LESLIE: Time to talk window replacement with Nick.

Tell us what you’re planning on working on.

NICK: I’m looking to replace 10 of my windows on my split-level house. On the front four windows, I will be removing all the vinyl siding and getting down to the plywood directly. Is there an advantage to using new-construction windows versus replacement windows? I feel the new replacement would allow me to use the nailing flange but I wasn’t sure if that is an added advantage or not.

TOM: So, Nick, as you know, the difference between a new-construction window and a replacement window is the installation. With new construction, you have a flange around the outside of the window that goes against the sheathing. But of course, if it’s an existing home, you have to take the siding off to accomplish that, which really adds to the expense. And I don’t think it really gives you anything in terms of efficiency or strength or really any reason to do that.

If you have traditional wood windows, let’s say, in the existing home, and you can remove the sashes in double-hung windows – that’s the sliding part that goes up and down – a replacement window would be ordered to fit inside that existing wood space that used to be the whole outside perimeter of that window. And then it gets trimmed and all the molding is covered or wrapped with aluminum so that when it’s all done, it looks very natural and like that’s the way it’s always been. I would strongly encourage you to do that.

Now, in terms of choosing the windows, regardless of whether you go new construction or replacement, make sure you’re getting a good-quality, ENERGY STAR-certified window. Check for the National Fenestration Rating Council sticker that’s on the outside of it. That NFRC sticker is important because it will give you sort of an apples-to-apples comparison ability, because it appears on different windows – on all windows, I should say – and you could look at the different stats that it shows you. And you’ll be able to know if the window’s really efficient. Because I do find that with replacement windows, there’s a lot of misinformation out there.

So do your homework, choose a good-quality replacement window, have it professionally installed. And I think that’s going to save you some money and give you a much more efficient home as a result.

LESLIE: Well, we know you would love to have a lush, green lawn this summer but is seed or sod the best way that you can make this happen? Here’s what you need to know to make that call.

Well, both sod and seed options will get you a lawn that’s the envy of the neighborhood. But with sod, it’s going to happen a heck of a lot faster. Now, if you seed the lawn, in 16 to 18 months and under perfect conditions and if you take care of it properly, you’ll end up with what a piece of what sod looks like today.

TOM: Yeah. But a year-and-a-half faster, right?

LESLIE: Right, exactly.

TOM: In either case, soil prep is really a very important thing that has to be done. All lawns will fail if you don’t fix the soil before you start any of this. So, the first step is to do a soil test so you know what you’re starting with. And then you need to rototill, add compost, add sand. If it’s a heavier soil, then you’re going to add some starter fertilizer. And once that’s all done, only then can you lay in the seed or the sod, depending on which way you decide to go.

LESLIE: Also, you’ve got to keep planting times in mind, because they’re very different for seed and for sod. Now, sod can be planted any time of year, as long as you’ve got the water to take care of it. And seed can only be done earlier in the spring or in the fall. And if you try to seed a lawn during July or August, it’s just going to dry out.

Now, the other thing to note is that sod is not available in blends; it’s made for sunny areas. And with seed, you can buy different blends that are going to do well in a shaded area. Sod, for the most part, should only be put down in a sunny area.

Now, Tom, do you remember when we redid the driveway and they put the sod down and then we had that week of 4-million-degree temperature and more sun? And no matter how much we watered, it did not work in that situation for us and we ended up having to seed a month-and-a-half later. But I don’t think no matter what amount of water we could have put on it would have helped it at that point. It was just too hot.

TOM: That’s why you really have to do this in the fall and not – or the very early spring, because you need a certain amount of time for those roots to grow. If the roots are too short, then it dries out that much quicker. But you know what? Regardless of whether it’s seed or sod, it really does come down to that watering. And if you don’t have a proper watering plan, it’s just not going to grow.

So, for example, when you put down a seed lawn, you need to water very frequently but for very short periods of time. Because the seed is not just – is only sitting, really, on that top, say, ¼-inch of soil. So, that’s where you need it to keep moist. Once it germinates, then you start watering for longer periods as the root system goes down deeper into the soil.

So, remember, water daily but water strategically and water accurately and you’ll have a very beautiful lawn that’ll last you from spring, through summer, through fall.

LESLIE: Heading out to York, Pennsylvania. We’ve got Bob on the line who’s got a flooring question.

What can we do for you today?

BOB: Hi. Thank you, Leslie. We have a laminated floor that’s builder’s grade. It was put in when the home was built, about 16 years ago, on a concrete slab. It’s a single-floor rancher. And we’re wondering whether we could put luxury vinyl tile directly over that or does that laminate need to be removed?

TOM: First of all, it would be unusual for a laminate floor to be glued down over concrete, even 15 years ago. It may be that the joints between the laminate floor panels were glued together, which was common when that material first came out. But to actually glue that down to the concrete would be rare. So, if you can do any type of investigation, maybe in a closet or someplace that’s not that obvious, to see if those tiles are actually adhered to the floor, that would be the first thing that you should note.

Secondly, you said luxury vinyl tile. I think you’re talking about – are you talking about the luxury vinyl plank? Like the extruded vinyl planks?

BOB: Yes, sir, the kind that snap together. Yes, sir.

TOM: Right. OK, yeah. I mean you can go on top of what’s there as long as it’s flat and solid, which it sounds like it is. The only thing I would caution you about is to watch the transitions. You know, you want to make sure if you’re going between rooms, that when you put the added thickness on it, it doesn’t cause a tripping hazard. If you’re in a kitchen area, you don’t want to block in a dishwasher. So, sometimes you put flooring in that’s too thick and it makes it very hard to pull that dishwasher out when you ultimately have to replace it, which will probably happen. So, if you just keep an eye on those transitions, then there’s no reason you can’t lay it right on top of that existing floor.

You’re going to leave a ¼-inch or so – ¼- to 3/8-inch sort of gap between that floor and the baseboard molding. Or you could take the baseboard molding off and have it just go up to the wall. And then you put the baseboard molding down to cover that gap. But you leave a little space, because it’s going to be – there’ll be some level of expansion and contraction. And that will definitely be necessary so that it doesn’t buckle. Does that make sense?

BOB: It does. Thank you very much. Very helpful.

TOM: Alright. Well, good luck with that project.

BOB: Alright. Thank you very much, folks. Bye-bye.

LESLIE: Now we’re heading over to Virginia where Margaret has a question about a bathtub.

Tell us what’s going on.

MARGARET: We have an old, cast-iron tub and it’s real rusty in spots. And I’m wondering what we could do to restore it.

LESLIE: Now, when you say real rusty in spots, are we talking about big spots or are we talking about small, little ones from a chip here and there?

MARGARET: No. We’re talking about big spots because the water – it was not good water when we first moved here. And so it had a lot of wear and tear on it about 40 years before we moved here. And we’ve been living here, probably, about 45 years, so …

TOM: So your tub is almost 100 years old, huh?

MARGARET: Exactly.

TOM: Yeah. Well, look, it served the house well. It’s not going to last forever. It needs to be reglazed at this point. And I’ve had some experience with folks that have tried to reglaze these tubs inside the house. And it can be done but it’s an awfully messy and intensive job. And unless it’s done professionally, it doesn’t seem to last very long. There are home reglazing kits. Rust-Oleum makes one that’s for tub and tile but I wouldn’t expect it to last all that long.

The best way to do this is to have the tub taken out and reglazed. But if you’re going to do all that, you might as well replace it and not just have that – not just not have that reglazed unless it’s particularly beautiful. I think those are your options. It’s not easy to do a touch-up to something like this when it’s just got so – it’s got almost 100 years of wear and tear on it.

MARGARET: Oh. Yes, yes. OK. That was my question. I appreciate that.

TOM: Well, nothing says spring like throwing open the windows and breathing in some fresh, spring air. But if your screens are filthy, you might just be sucking in something not quite so fresh. So, here’s the easiest way to get those screens scrubbed.

LESLIE: Yeah. First of all, you’ve got to remove the window screens from those window frames and then lay the screens on a flat surface – your driveway is perfect for that – and use a mild soap and water and a soft-bristle brush to remove that dirt and grime. Now, you want to clean both sides of that window screen and around the inside and outside of that frame.

TOM: Now, next, use a hose to rinse those screens off and then lay them out in the sun to dry. Now, you may be tempted to use a pressure washer on the screen. Don’t do it. The force of the water is just too much and it can definitely destroy that screen in a second. You’ll be very, very sad.

LESLIE: Yeah. And by the way, while most window screens could remain in the windows year-round, they actually will last longer if you remove and store them during the winter months.

TOM: Yeah, because they won’t be exposed to those UV rays from the sun 24/7, 365. Try to keep it only to the warmer months and you’ll double their life expectancy.

LESLIE: Alright. We’ve got Carl on the line who’s looking for a new water heater. Trying to step things up over there. What’s going on?

CARL: I’m interested in electric heat-pump water heater. And I haven’t found any information about how it affects the climate in the house. If I put one in my basement, which is uninhabited, will it cool down my basement? Will I need to put some insulation between my basement and my living quarters due to the coolness of the air?

TOM: So, Carl, I don’t think installing a heat-pump water heater, which is the most efficient type of electric water heater, is going to have any effect whatsoever on your basement in your particular description. You know, basically, the heat-pump water heater takes some air in – it has a small fan. It takes air in from the top of the unit. It usually blows it out the side. It doesn’t heat or chill that air. I think you may be confusing the role of a heat pump, in terms of an HVAC system that will supply warm air or cold air to warm or cool your house, the kind that has a compressor outside.

Heat pumps are all self-contained and they will have no effect on the room temperature. But they are going to have a big effect on your utility bills. And right now, there’s lots of great rebates for them, I think, up to around $1,000. So you’ll find that the prices have come down on them. The rebates have gone up. And I think it’s a really smart move and a good way to get away from an electric water heater. Which, let’s face it, that is the most expensive way ever to heat your water. A heat pump’s a much better choice.

LESLIE: Heading over to Plattsburgh. We’ve got Laurie, who wrote in, saying, “I have a walkway in front of my house that’s grass. I’d like to put down concrete pavers and I’d like to know how I go about installing them and what goes underneath?”

This seems like a great project.

TOM: Yeah. And that second part of the question, as you know, is really the most important one. It is: what do you put down first? It really is. If you don’t get that right – how many times have you seen paver walkways or paver patios that are uneven and kind of saggy and sort of roll-y and you’ve got a lot of weeds that come up in between them? That’s because the base wasn’t done right.

So here’s what you want to do. You basically want to dig down. You’re going to probably go down about 6 inches. Then you’re going to put in some weed cloth, which is sort of like a black, mesh, kind of a burlap-y sort of looking stuff on the ground. Then you’re going to put stone on top of that and you’re going to tamp that stone. Level it out and tamp it. The idea here is you want to basically put in that base stone so that when you put the bricks down, that the bricks are sitting just above where you want the surface to be. So, basically, pretty much even with the grass, right? Or the roots of the grass.

Now, once the stones are in there, you tamp, tamp, tamp. Now, there’s a couple of ways to do that. You can rent a mechanical tamper but that’s kind of big and it’s kind of heavy. Or you could just go pick up a tamping iron, which is like a wood pole with a metal plate at the bottom of it. And you basically just pound that stone down into the ground. And as you do this, you’ll find that it gets – it starts to sort of adjust and settle and lock together. And it gets almost as hard as concrete by itself. Sure, you’ll be huffing and puffing a little bit as you go through this but it’s totally worth it, because that solid stone base is what’s going to hold those brick pavers right on top of it.

Now, in terms of the pavers, you’re going to work on the outside perimeter first. And you’re going to use an edger – an edging product – that will kind of hold that area in. And then, when you put the interior bricks down, you lay some sand in there. Very thin coat. Put the bricks on top of the bedding sand and you stack them up. They’re all modular. You’ll try to design this so you have as few cuts as possible.

And by the way, when you decide the width of that walkway, do it in such a way that there are no cuts. Make sure you have full bricks that you’ll use at either end. And when you’re all done, you use some additional paver sand to fill in the gaps. Water it – because it helps it all settle down – and you are totally good to go.

But remember, good base means a really good, finished product.

LESLIE: Alright. Next up, we’ve got Al in California who says, “I have a house built in 1910. It has steel plumbing pipes that seem to be rusting and forming small leaks. I know I have to have a replacement but what’s the best way to proceed? Because it seems like a big job.”

TOM: Yeah, it is a big job and based on the age of your house, that’s the original plumbing. And what you’re describing, you may not realize this but it’s rusting on the inside of the pipe. When you cut those pipes out, you’re going to see that there probably is a very small space left where the water passes and you probably don’t have great water pressure. So, you do have to replace those.

Here’s how I recommend you do that if you can’t do it all at once. Do all of the visible and accessible pipes. So if you’re on a crawlspace or a basement where you can easily get to them, all those horizontal pipes tend to rust more than the vertical pipes. Everything that you can possibly get to, replace. And you can replace it with PEX – cross-linked polyethylene. Very easy plumping pipe to work with. No soldering, no torches. Very easy to do and you’ll see an immediate improvement.

And then, as you start to work on the interior walls or if you open something up and you find more of that steel pipe, then you replace it as you go.

LESLIE: Alright, Al. Good luck with that project. It’s going to be a big one.

TOM: Happy spring, everybody. This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show and we are just about out of time. But remember, if you’ve got questions on those spring projects, we love, love, love to hear from you. So, go to MoneyPit.com/Ask. Check out the new tool we just put up there called SpeakPipe. Basically, it’s a button. You click it, you record your question and it comes right to us. We’ll play it on the air and give you an answer in the next show.

But for now, that’s all the time we have. 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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