Episode #2002: Build Your Own Fire Pit | Planting a Pollinator Garden | AC Tune Ups | Healthy Lawns in Hot Summers
It’s a great time of year for outdoor life and if you want to step up your space, we’ve got tips-off on how you can build your very own fire pit!
Want a plot that is not simply examines good, but too dishes an important purpose? Bees, hummingbirds and butterflies are all pollinators and play a big role in weed breeding. Tom& Leslie have gratuities on how you can create a pollinator garden to give these creatures a lieu to to be undertaken by their good work! Are you ready to fire up your AC to keep cool and pleasant this summer? Well, there are three things you should do FIRST to make sure your system is good to go for the warm season ahead.When summer heat mounts in, your lawn may suffer. We have gratuities on how to keep lawns healthful through summer drought.
Plus, provide answers to your residence better a matter of, whether or not to replace plumbing supply positions, preparing your ceiling for a metal roof installation, restore cracking grout, refinishing bar stools, getting rid of feral felines
Do you have a home improvement or decoration question? Call the show 24/7 at 888 -MONEY-PIT ( 888 -6 66 -3 974) or post your question here.
Read Transcript
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 to help you take on the projects you’d like to get done around your live. If you have some projects on projects that will help you constitute your dwelling the best home ever, well, we’re here to help you get those projects fulfilled. If you don’t know where to start, you can start by calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. We will give you some tips-off, some suggestion, some impressions on how to get that programme proceeding or get it done. Or we’ll let you know if you’re in over your foreman and what your next steps might be. But what’s on your to-do list is on our to-do list, as well. So help yourself by calling 1-888-MONEY-PIT or announcing your questions at MoneyPit.com.
Coming up on this bout, it’s a great time of year for outdoor living. But if you want to step up your seat, we’re going to have some tips on how you can build your very own fire pit and have a place to have those s’mores every night of the week if you like.
LESLIE: That sounds good.
And if you’re looking for a garden that not only glances good but likewise performs an important purpose, well, bees, hummingbirds and butterflies are all pollinators and play a big role in flower reproduction. We’re going to have gratuities on how you can create a pollinator garden to give these humen a residence to to be undertaken by their good work.
TOM: And are you ready to fire up your A/ C to keep cool and comfy this summer? Well, there are actually three things that you are able to do first to make sure your system is good to go for the heated season ahead.
LESLIE: But first, we want to hear from you. What are you guys working on? Give us a call. Let us know what projects are on your to-do list, what you’re thinking about, maybe something that’s giving you a hard time. Whatever it is, we’re now to give a hand. So impart us a call at 888 -MONEY-PIT or affix your question to MoneyPit.com.
TOM: 888 -6 66 -3 974.
Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first?
LESLIE: Celina in Tennessee, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
CELINA: Last week, I had approximations done on my home to have all my drainpipes replaced.
TOM: Hmm. Why did you do that?
CELINA: My house was built in 1944 and we’ve had some disturbance here lately with clots and everything. So, I simply decided to go ahead and supplant all the drain lines.
TOM: Is that because the – you were coming seeds and that sort of thing in the pipes?
CELINA: I don’t think there’s springs in their own homes , no, because we’ve had those- the tube from the house back to the drain supplanted already. This is just the inside pipe. And they’re old and yes, we have had a couple of them to sever but I precisely decided to get them all replaced.
However, today, my son told me that all of that is useless if I don’t get the main line coming into the house superseded, too. And I wanted to see what your make was on that.
TOM: Well, we’re talking about two every kind of pipings. You’re talking about drainage hoses versus supply pipes. And the afford hose that comes into the house may or may not need to be replaced. The questions I would have for you are: what’s the pipe made out of and are we having any problems with it?
Now, in an older house, you were able to the original sword plumbing- steel main-water pipe- coming into the house which, if the house was built- did you say the 40 s?
CELINA: Right.
TOM: That’s a super-old pipe that emphatically is at risk of breaking.
CELINA: OK, great. So when they come back out to do my plumbing, because they’re doing it in two weeks, I need to ask them to look at the tube. And that aims- because none of the person or persons that gave me estimations even mentioned it was bad.
TOM: Well, I would take a look at that. And typically, in a house, you don’t replace the drainpipes. I’m a little caught that you’re doing that. Commonly, in an older house with sword hoses, you end up changing the supply pipings. And you do horizontal initiatives pipings first because they’re the easiest to access. And you do the vertical pipings that go up through the walls last-place because they’re the hardest to access. And you can do it in stages.
The first step of a steel-pipe conversion is to do the prime. The second one is to do all the horizontals in the cellar crawlspace and the third is to do the horizontals. And so, normally, that’s what you do in a house that has that kind of plumbing.
You mentioned you had some problems with clogging with the drainpipes but that’s pretty unusual. And I actually have never heard of anyone wanting to replace drainpipes. Frequently, they supplant supply pipes.
So you might want to get a second opinion on this and not just take the opinion of the plumber that lacks the work.
CELINA: OK, great. Thank you so much.
TOM: You’re welcome, Celina. Good fortune with that activity. Thanks so much for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Now we’re origin on over to Kansas where Russ has a roofing question. What can we do for you?
RUSS: OK. I’ve got a farm that I bought eight years ago and on “the farmers “, there’s a very large, very old barn. A matter of fact, the loft considered sufficient that you could probably fit a regulation-sized basketball court inside of it. According to the graffiti inside the barn, it was built in either’ 34 or’ 38. And it was done initially with cedar-shake shingles with 1×4 stringers, what, about every 4 inches or about a 31/2 -inch infinite in between them.
TOM: Yep. I know the construction well.
RUSS: OK. And as you are aware, those cedar shingles are not going to be in very good condition as of this quality. So I know I’m going to have to go up there. Trying to figure out a safe way to work up there so I can remove the cedar shingles, so I can prep it to go back with, probably, a metal ceiling. The question is- I’ll have to screw the ceiling down. The question is: am I- will I be able to go instantly with the 1x4s with the metal roofing or would I be better off hammering everything fully and putting down some plywood or OSB?
TOM: Well, I is of the view that a good roofer could work with the 1-by furring rows that are up there right now. Because, frankly, that’s the course metal roof was originally put down. It wasn’t put down on solid sheathing; it was put down on deprives just like that. So I think that that’s a penalty option for you. I don’t think you need to do the sheathing in this particular case.
If you were going to put down asphalt shingles, I’d tell you you need to sheathe it. But for a metal ceiling, you may have to do some added carpentry to get the airstrips where you want them, to oblige the seams on the roof and so on, but I don’t witness a rationale for you to sheathe this barn. I study the metal can go right on top of that.
RUSS: OK. So patch the rotted 1x4s and maybe put in some where the seams are and we should be good that nature?
TOM: Absolutely.
RUSS: OK. Do you have any suggestions on how to safely work on a 45 -degree pitch?
TOM: Yeah. Call a roofer. It’s not a do-it-yourself project. I mean that’s a really high-end project and if you do it every day, you have all the appropriate safety gear and scaffolding and skill set to be able to work on that. That’s a very dangerous place to try out your do-it-yourself sciences. Because handling those big-hearted membranes up there, you get a wind gust and you start flying off the ceiling. Those medical statements add up very quickly, so I is undoubtedly recommend that you have a professional do this.
RUSS: OK.
TOM: Alright. Good fortune with that projection. Thanks so much for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Now we’re lead on over to Washington State where Sabrina is dealing with some grout that’s cracking up. And it’s not chuckling; it’s falling apart. Tell us what’s going on.
SABRINA: So I had some grout positioned some time ago. And they’re about 18 -inch tile bits. And what I’m noticing now is there are several situates- it’s kind of happening all over- where the grout is actually cracking. And I’m not sure what to do.
TOM: So, is it a punishment sound or is it a big crack?
SABRINA: The grout is cracking and now some of the tile articles are cracking.
TOM: Yeah, that’s a problem. It voices to me like the tile was not put down on a basi that was solid enough. When you use a big tile like that, you need to have a really strong base. So you have to have a mud base or you have to have a tile base. And you are eligible to even have to have an expansion material underneath that so that you don’t get this kind of cracking. If you don’t get good endorsement across an 18 -inch tile and you get a little bit of crusade in the storey, it cracks very quickly.
So, I think this- at this stage, it’s going to be something you’re going to have to manage. And if it gets really bad, you’re going to end up go those tiles out and replacing them. It’s very hard to recover from this when the tile profession was potentially not done right to begin with.
SABRINA: Yeah. And I was wondering if it has anything to do with- I’ve heard a couple of beings tell me that the underlayment- and maybe you said that- the underlayment wasn’t assured down properly or whatnot.
TOM: It wasn’t strong enough, right. It wasn’t strong enough. You construe, if there’s more- if there’s flex in the storey, the tile is not going to bend, it’s going to crack. And so that’s why the tile- what’s under that tile has to be really solid. With a- bigger the tile, the wider the tile, the less forgiving it is. If you framed mosaic down, you are aware, it can move all day long and you’re never going to see those cracks. But when you kept a big, 18 -inch square tile down, it’s got nowhere to go.
SABRINA: It’s got nowhere to go.
TOM: Exactly.
SABRINA: And what is your recommendation for my- for correcting it?
TOM: Unfortunately, there’s no easy recommendation. If the tile project was done wrong to begin with, there’s nothing I can tell you to do that’s going to fix it at this target in time. It’s really going to be something that you’re going to have to tolerate and eventually, you’re going to end up replacing them. And this time, you’re going to do the proper occupation with putting the floor down.
How long have these tiles been down?
SABRINA: About five years.
TOM: I was going to say, whoever positioned them down didn’t actually do the number of jobs right. You’re going to end up having to tear it out and do it again.
SABRINA: That’s OK. Well, thank you, guys. I just wanted to talk to some professionals. And I heard your show and I really appreciate you guys giving me the advice.
TOM: You’ve got it. Thanks so much for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
Well, Father’s Day is just a couple of weeks apart and we’ve launched a brand-new sweepstakes to help you win tools for Dad. It’s called the DIY Dad Giveaway and we’ve went 10 rectifies of implements from Arrow to give away to 10 luck winners.
LESLIE: That’s right. Each set is worth $ 120 and includes both a T50 and a PT50 Arrow Stapler, as well an Arrow GT3 00 Fastener Pro High-Temp Glue Gun, which really is perfect for taking on dozens of projects around the house.
Arrow is all about performing durable, reliable tools and fixings. And these implements will give your dad years of use.
TOM: And you can enter once a day at MoneyPit.com. And be assured to take advantage of the many actions you can earn extra bonus entryways, by subscribing to our podcast or calling us on social media.
LESLIE: Tim in Iowa has a wood-finishing question. How can we help you?
TIM: I’ve got an old house. It’s get fir floors. I have acquired some reclaimed fir flooring to put in an addition, to try and match up the rest of the house. The question I have is- this is gonna be the first floor that I redo in the house, so I kind of wanted to- whatever I do, I want to do it in the rest of the house.
But the question I have is on the clear finish. I know a lot of different companies are making a water-based clear. And my second issue is whether- or as far as durability, whether if anything of that product would be durable.
And then too, I have a couple of hounds that I’m worried about nail scratches, as far as sheen extends. I know the shinier it is, the easier- the more scrapings “youre seeing”. So, I’m inquisitive if there’s anything out there that shines good and will stand scratches.
TOM: Yeah. I have always felt that oil-based floor finishes are key. Any time I’ve tried to use a water-based floor finish, it doesn’t seem to have the stability. So I would definitely recommend an oil-based floor finish, like a polyurethane.
And in terms of sheen, I think that semi-gloss is what you want , not high gloss because that does show. Not exclusively does it evidence scrapings, it pictures a great deal of grime easier. But semi-gloss or satin is a neat emblazon to have.
So I thoughts the answer is oil-based, satin polyurethane is the solution.
TIM: Is there any kind of a two-part epoxy one that’s even more durable than the polyurethane or …?
TOM: There are still. There are two-part finishes like that. Professional floor installers do application those, like when they do sort of gym floorings and that kind of stuff. But it’s not sort of an over-the-counter purchase. You’d have to go to a flooring-finish equip company.
LESLIE: Oh, yeah. And that’s going to have to be applied in a manner where you’re really thinking about ventilation and protection of yourself, because that’s a moderately corrosive material.
TIM: Alright. Thank you very much, guys.
TOM: You’re welcome. Good fortune with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
Well, I’m a big hiker and after a long day on the path, one of the things that’s fun to do is to relax around the campfire. Well, you are eligible to have that campfire feeling all year long- and without the hike- in your very own backyard when you build a flame pit.
LESLIE: Yeah. You know what? It’s not a difficult project and it’s made even easier when you use RumbleStone from Pavestone.
Now, RumbleStone is an outdoor building block. Basically, you precisely stack it and then it fits together quickly and easily.
TOM: Yeah. I signify it’s really very easy to use. So for a round ardor oppose that, say, is about 10 inches high and about 45 inches across, you’d need only 2 sizings of RumbleStone: the mini-blocks and the trapezoidal-shape blocks. You only start by creating a stable, tier job range and then you exactly lay out the trapezoidal blocks and the mini-blocks in a roundabout. You alter each one. And they are unable to even be secured with building adhesive if you like. You don’t have to but if you’d like. And there’s no mortar involved. So it couldn’t be easier to stack these up just like building blocks, like the style you used as a kid, in the form of a flame pit.
LESLIE: It’s really great. And three mantles of RumbleStone is really all there is a requirement. For the second and third level, precisely offset those blocks from the mantle beneath it. And then exactly strand the bottom with beach and you’ll be ready to fire up s’mores in no time.
TOM: Yep. For a complete cloth listing and teaches on how to do it, plus videos, go to Pavestone.com. And look for the RumbleStone videos under the How-To Guide tab. That’s Pavestone.com.
LESLIE: Now we’ve came Ben in Illinois on the line with a popcorn-ceiling question. How can we help you today?
BEN: Got a probably 70 s, ranch-style home.
TOM: 1970 was a very good year for popcorn.
BEN: Yes, it was. They had this popcorn ceiling the whole way in the Television room, uninterrupted, that goes through the kitchen.
TOM: OK.
BEN: And uninterrupted spurt goes all the way down the hallway.
TOM: OK. So what happened? Did you have a leak or something?
BEN: Had some breath damage to some shingles and it came down through the attic. And it discoloured some of the popcorn ceiling in the Television room. I since situate a new roof on but it- yeah, it discoloured it and some of the popcorn stuff came off.
TOM: So, is the popcorn physically injured except for losing a few seeds, so to speak?
BEN: Well, there’s still a little of discolouring on the stuff that didn’t fall. But there’s some regions that did.
TOM: You’re going to have to repaint the popcorn ceiling. And it’s kind of a pain-in-the-neck job but it can be done. The key here is this: you want to use a extremely, extremely thick roller and one that’s slit. The rollers are about 3/4 -inch or even an inch thick-skulled and they have a slice, various kinds of, in them every inch or so. And so it implements a lot of paint.
And the key thing is you’re going to want to use a primer firstly. Don’t time do this with topcoat, because that leak blot will come right through. So you primary the popcorn ceiling firstly and then you draw it.
Now, if you’re missing a bunch of region of popcorn and you want to touch that up, there are a number of companies that fix popcorn-repair commodities. One of it’s called Homax- H-o-m-a-x. And they have a spray where it’s as easy as squandering an aerosol spray-can that you mostly shoot up there and it will change the composition. So you can kind of fill in the area where some of that textile has come off. And then, since you’re painting, you draw the whole thing over again.
Now, whether “theres going” from tip to aspiration in the house is up to you or whether you, you are aware, precisely various kinds of decide where you’re going to stop painting, that’s your announcement. Maybe there’s a natural situate for that, maybe there’s not. But you have to paint it; that’s the only way you’re going to be able to get this to look normal again.
And by the way, one final thing, when you do paint it with the topcoat, make sure you use flat ceiling paint.
BEN: Gotcha. And I guess a two-prong question here, if I still have epoch. To fill in those places where the popcorn ceiling came off, how do I avoid this major overlap if I use this aerosol spray that’s supposed to fill in?
TOM: Well, you’re just going to kind of thin it out in the areas where it already exists and then go a little bit heavier. You have some button over it. It’s not going to look like a spot. It will be whiter than everything else but you’re going to paint this whole thing, anyway, when you’re done. So, what we want to do is really really supplant the texture and then you’re going to paint everything. And so it’ll all blend in delicately when it’s done.
BEN: OK. And I would plan on doing a transition: maybe a fancy wood deal that exits over to block that TV-room ceiling off from where it goes into the kitchen. And I could connect it to the kitchen counters that diversify out a little bit. That action I wouldn’t have to do the non-damaged sections and repaint them, as well.
TOM: Why don’t you do that after you paint the section that’s shattered and be seen to what extent you like it? Because you’re going to – you’ll be surprised with how dirty and dingy that ceiling has get where reference is has some brand-new dye against it. It’s going to look pretty fresh and clean and might cause you to do the whole thing.
BEN: And that merely might. That’s a very good point. I appreciate that very much, Tom.
LESLIE: Jo in California is on the line and needs some is contributing to some bar-stool restoration. Tell us what they look like.
JO: Well, they have wooden appendages and they’re padded, they’re cloth. And then down at the bottom, where the foot are at, they’ve get little wooden railings on them. And I need to remake them. I’ve got them cleaned and grazed down and everything. And person said I should use spar lacquer on them and I need to know what to get to put on them- on the wood.
LESLIE: Is there any metal at all? It’s all lumber?
JO: No. Everything else is padded.
LESLIE: So everything else is fabric.
JO: The limbs are wood. It’s got one, two, three, four little metal legs on it, at the bottom, and halfway up. And they’re wood. And I’ve got them is prepared to decorate but I don’t know what to put on it.
TOM: So you want to refinish the timber in a clear- for the clear finish or a painted finish? A clear finish?
JO: Clear finish.
TOM: OK. So, yeah, I mean you can use spar varnish on it; that’s a fine concoction. What you’re going to have to do, though, is lightly sand all those lumber surfaces.
JO: They’re ready. They have already done that.
TOM: You’ve done that. OK. Well, then, you’ve done the hard part if you’ve done all the sanding. But what I would tell you to do is to be very careful to get the varnish merely on the lumber and not on any of the cushioned spheres or the metal areas.
LESLIE: Yeah. This is going to be about imaginative masking and taping things off and plastering things with plastic and tape and …
TOM: Yeah. Because if you get it on there, you’re going to have a problem. So you want to mask it very carefully to keep it away from the areas where you don’t want the spar glos to get.
JO: Yeah, OK. And you think that’s the best to get? Because somebody else said, “No, you don’t want to use that. You want to use clear acrylic.”
TOM: Well, gaze, it’s a personal preference. The varnish is- I guess spar lacquer is oil-based, which is fine. And it’s actually – you’ll find that the oil-based finishes are a little more durable in areas of abrasion resistance.
LESLIE: And I think they grant a better sheen, as well.
TOM: Yeah, it’s a good point. Mm-hmm. They take a little longer to dry but they are a tougher finish.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm. With the acrylic- “clear coatings, ” as they call it- it’s even offered in a spray I’ve seen. I guess that really kind of depends on how fresh the lumber is, how much coverage you miss. Again, disguising is going to be the key now. And you really need to consider how much of a sheen you require. Think about that, as well, when you’re impelling your collection. Because if you crave something that’s super shiny and virtually has that soaked regard, really, that oil-based varnish is the way to go.
Hey, is it you people want a garden that is not simply glances good but also helps an important purpose? Well, there are a lot of categories out there- including bees, hummingbirds and butterflies- that play-act a big role in flora reproduction.
TOM: Yep. They’re announced “pollinators” and they really are incredibly important to life now on Earth. So, it’s ever recreation to give these beings a residence to carry out their good work.
LESLIE: Yeah. Now, when you’re thinking about planting a pollinator garden, it’s the variety that counts because it offers a variety of nectar and pollen informants. So, three things that you’ve got to remember.
First of all, you demand a variety of flower dyes and chassis because that’s going to attract different types of pollinators. Then you want to choose flowers that flower at different times of the year, because that’s going to provide nectar and pollen beginnings throughout the regions of the gardening season and not all at once.
And whenever it’s possible, people, try to choose embeds that are native to your range or your region, your zone. This practice, they’ll thrive where you live and you’re not going to be constantly struggling to make it work. So find something that ripens where you’re from and you’ll have major success.
TOM: And one final gratuity. When you are ready to plant- normally, when we plant blooms, for example, we’re large-scale on sort of spacing everything out. But in such cases, you actually want to plant them in bunches rather than single floras, because this helps to attract the pollinators all that much better.
LESLIE: Heading over to Oklahoma, right now, to talk to Sheila about a kitchen do-over. How can we help you coat those countertops?
SHEILA: I recently- my husband and I remodeled our kitchen and we refinished our closets and we- they had- “were having” some adjourned lighting done and we didn’t have enough money for our bars. So, I’ve been looking at, online, some material about repainting your countertops. And I wanted to know your opinion about it or if you’d heard anyone do that or what your thoughts are on that.
TOM: Yeah, the countertop decorates ought to have out for probably five or eight years now and they seem to do very, is a good one. I know Rust-Oleum has an thorough pipeline of countertop covers out that are available in many, numerous colors. So I think it is a good option.
I think it’ll buy you a little of epoch on those countertops so that you can avoid having to replace them. And you’ll have the opportunity to paint in either a solid shade or they have countertop coats now that kind of look like stone countertops. They look like granite and another type of natural substances. So I think they’re a very good option and I is contributing to you to pursue it.
SHEILA: Yeah, I actually spotted a company online that sells them- their product- locally at one of our wallpaper storages and has already been obtained its consideration of this agenda item. I simply haven’t started the project yet.
TOM: What you might want to do is try to get your hands on a piece of laminate. And you can go to a home hub and buy a really small piece of laminate, like a scrap. And this road, you can practice a little bit before you actually get it on your countertop.
SHEILA: Do you know about the length of time and how durable it is as far as lasting?
TOM: It’s not as durable as the laminate but it’s pretty good.
SHEILA: Yeah, OK. Well, great. Thank you, Tom, for making my call.
TOM: You’re welcome, Sheila. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: You know, Father’s Day is just a couple of weeks apart and we are launching a brand-new sweepstakes to help you win tools for Dad. It’s called the DIY Dad Giveaway and we’ve got 10 establishes of implements from Arrow to give away to 10 luck winners.
TOM: That’s right. Each prepare is worth 120 horses and includes both a T50 and a PT50, which are both Arrow staple handguns, as well as an Arrow GT3 00 High-Temp Glue Gun, which is perfect for taking on dozens of projects around the house.
Arrow is really about think durable, reliable tools and fasteners. And these implements are going to give your papa years of use.
LESLIE: Alright, guys. You can enter one time a period at MoneyPit.com. And be assured to take advantage of the many highways that you can make extra introductions, by subscribing to our podcast or inspecting us on social media.
TOM: Give us a announce, right now, with your residence betterment question. The count is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Jeff in South Carolina is dealing with some unwanted visitors to their money pit. Tell us what’s going on.
JEFF: I have a couple of feral cats that are running around in my backyard. I have a birdbath and the felines stop at that birdbath. And when the chicks come in to take a drink and then splash, they jump up and they kill the fledgling. And what I’ve done is I’ve spouted the irrigate out of the birdbath to keep the fowls apart. But how do I be disposed of the felines?
TOM: I imply there’s a lot of initiatives around the country, with organizations that will help deal with the feral-cat issue. Many of them guide what’s called a TNR program, which is Trap, Neuter and Return. So, the idea is that they trap the “cat-o-nine-tails” humanely, like with a Havahart trap or something like that. They neuter them, then they return them to the environment but hopefully not in your vicinity where they’re used to finding that informant of food.
And so I would turn to individual organizations like that that can help you trap the cats and get them off of your dimension. And if they have the computed carry that they can neuter the cats- and that helps the overall society from stopping these “cat-o-nine-tails” from reproducing.
LESLIE: And you know what else? We had an issue years ago when- there’s a person on our block who feeds every cat in city. Has about 30 the bag of cats and kittens exactly living in their backyard. And the neighbor next door was doing a ton of work. There was a dumpster with nutrient scraps and stuff in it. And so all the cats various kinds of just wove into my yard.
And I had called the village because candidly, I didn’t sentiment the felines being there but they were killing a possum. And now, all of a sudden, I had to clean up a dead possum and fowls. And I actually don’t want to be doing that. So I called the village and the hamlet referred me to the town. So, long storey short, I made a bunch of calls to finally get to someone in the county who was just telling me that where I live, feral cats have the same rights as squirrels, which means you can do nothing about them.
But if you do find a local cat salvage, they might be willing to come and help you make the “cat-o-nine-tails”, find them a home to be adopted by. And maybe if you find a place that you feel comfortable with, a gift might not hurt in helping them to get the “cat-o-nine-tails” off your property. So, you never know. I might make a call to your city or your hamlet and envision where that leads, too.
JEFF: OK. Thank you very much.
TOM: Alright. Good luck with that activity. Thanks so much for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well , now that it’s starting to come warmer, it really is a good time to have your A/ C serviced. Central air conditioners work by using a chemical refrigerant that’s going to soak up the heat inside your house and then transfer that heat to the exterior. And if it’s weak, it’s going to cost you a lot more for that arrangement to run.
TOM: That’s right. So here’s an easy way to check how well your structure is actually cooling.
Now, when an air-conditioning system is working properly, it should produce a temperature differential of 15 to 20 stages. That means that between the return breath, where it goes back to the system, and the supplying air when it comes out the cross-file, the temperature differential- the difference- should be 15 to 20 degrees.
Now, if the temperature differential is more like 12 measures, that’s a problem because that means that system has to run that much longer, maybe almost twice as long, to do the same job chill. And that’s going to be really, really expensive.
So, it’s a good opinion just to check those temperatures at the supply and at the return and experience what the split is. If it’s not 15 to 20 stages, then it might be time to have it serviced.
LESLIE: Yeah. And even after you have the service, you want to make sure that your central air-conditioning system stays in shape by changing that filter at least once a few months. And there are a good assortment of filter excellences available, so make sure you buy a good-quality one that’ll do its job well. And recollect to change it. I feel like I ever fix the mistake of forgetting so I always, toward the end of the month in the summer, remain it right by the return duct in the middle of the hallway so I almost have to trip over it every day.
TOM: I used to laugh when I was a home inspector when you could see that you were- the person’s furnace had absolute zero maintenance. But darn it, the day before the home inspect came in, they converted that filter.
LESLIE: “I change the filter all the time.”
TOM: It’s like, “Guys, too little too late.”
Margaret in Virginia is next on The Money Pit. How can we help you, Margaret?
MARGARET: I have an age-old home. Part of it improved Civil War era.
TOM: OK.
MARGARET: The floorings in the oldest percentage are pine and they’re about- 2 of members of the board are about 21/2 inches wide. In the newer percentage, the human rights committee of the storey are oak and they’re more restricted. I want to know how to safely clean them and keep them protected.
TOM: There’s a produce announced Trewax, which is perfect for this particular application. It’s made by the Beaumont Company. And Trewax has been available for countless, numerous, many, many years. And it’s actually a natural cleanser for hardwood floorings. So you can find that at retailers across the country. You could find that online.
But look for Trewax Natural Floor Cleaner. And it’s going to enable you to clean those floors very thoroughly without damaging the wood. And that’s what’s critical, because some of the storey products are not truly designed for lumber floors. Sometimes there’s too much moisture in them, they don’t evaporate well and they leave too much moisture in the lumber. And that causes the wood to swell or stain further.
So, look up Trewax. It’s not expensive and it works very well.
MARGARET: OK. So is this a put on and wipe away?
TOM: Yes.
MARGARET: OK. That sounds good.
TOM: Trewax is spelled T-r-e-w-a-x.
MARGARET: OK. One E. OK. Got it.
TOM: Alright. Good fortune with that assignment. Thanks so much for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Did those springtime sprinkles display you guys that you have some spills that you didn’t actually be informed about? Well, Whitney now announced a question that says, “The airs in my coastal area often smacked openings at an slant. The question is we have a leaky sliding-glass door where the door encounters the ceiling. We’ve tried adjusting the channels by sloping them but that leak continues. I was told the disclose can start anywhere, so I’m not sure how to fix it. Can you facilitate? ”
TOM: Yeah. It’s tricky sometimes, extremely “when youve got” those leaks that are caused by driving torrent or wind-driven flood. It sounds like the problem might be with the flashing or the lack of flashing around your sliding-glass door.
Now, twinkling is a protective sort of sealing membrane that’s designed to provide sort of a watertight seal between the door and the siding, because that’s genuinely where it’s most vulnerable. Now, the problem is that sometimes this flashing will crack. It will be reliant sometimes on caulk or some other type of sealer. And I find then when that happens you’re really best to make the siding off around the door and reflash it properly.
There’s kind of two ways you can attack this. I mean you could try to throw more sealer on it or more caulk on it or just sort of guess at where these reveals are coming from. Or you can simply mostly pull the siding off from around the door and reflash it. The difference is that now- because compared to the time when this locate was built- there’s a lot better flashing makes out there. In fact, there are these adaptable sheaths that are self-adhering, that you essentially extend up under the siding and over the edge of the door. And if there’s an field that’s not wholly flat, it doesn’t buckle or crack or check. And it actually can do a much more effective job.
Now, if you want to try something in sort of the interim, what you could do to try to get a better idea as to where this is leaking is take a garden hose. And positioned it to sort of a medium flow and then kept it right above the siding above the door and sort of work it across that part top of the door very slowly. Have somebody on the inside watching for it to leak. It might establish you, if you’re lucky, maybe one area of that flashing where it’s leaking. And then maybe you can then investigate precisely that one section rather than take all of the siding off.
LESLIE: Alright. I hope that helps you out, Whitney.
Next up, we’ve got a post now from Jason. Now, Jason writes: “Last summertime, the combination of hot weather and very little rain had my lawn sounding more like a hayfield. Is the grass dead? Can I save it? What if this happens again? ”
TOM: It is very difficult, when you have those dog days of summertime, to maintain a health lawn. But that summer hot have been able to – you can work with it. When it turns the grass brown, the key here is to exactly not march on it. If you walk on it, then it takes forever to come back. But if you can just let it sit and just stay to your walkways and not stroll on it, you’re not going to damage it. It will actually sort of re-green itself and regrow itself very quickly if you are eligible to kind of stay off it.
A couple other things that you can keep in mind. First, you want to cut back on mowing when you have the very hot, cool forecast because the grass is going to go into a somewhat inactive district. It are also welcome to perform dead then but it’ll come back when the weather conditions improve. So, mowing once a week is batch. And it also is best to keep the grass a little longer in the summer because it kind of shades itself.
LESLIE: I love it. It opens itself its own cooling spot.
TOM: Yeah. And if you cut too frequently, that intends the grass is going to lose more moisture. So, a couple of things to keep in mind if we do be returned to a period of the summer where we have very, very little rain.
LESLIE: Alright. I hope that helps you out, Jason. Good luck and I- and may you have a beautiful, dark-green lawn this summer.
TOM: You are listening to The Money Pit Home Improvement Show and we are so glad that you are. We’re just about out of time for this episode but if you’ve get questions, we are always standing by to make them, even when we are not on the aura. You can get in touch with us by posting those questions to The Money Pit’s Facebook parish at Facebook.com/ TheMoneyPit. Or of course, you can always call us, 24/7, at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
Thanks so much for attaching us. 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.
( Copyright 2020 Squeaky Door Make, Inc. No section of this transcript or audio document may be reproduced in any format without the express written permission of Squeaky Door Production, Inc .)
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