Episode #2012: Porch Popularity Surges | Keeping Lawns Healthy During Drought | Solution for Stinky Dishwashers | How to Find & Fix Roof Leaks
In this chapter …
Porches are the perfect space to enjoy the outdoors, tighten and even visit with neighbours from a socially acceptable interval! This may be why front porches are making a big comeback and we’ve got tips-off on how you are eligible to see the most of yours! Plus…
With generally blistering heat across the nation, are you wondering how to avoid having your garden be converted into a dead, dry barren? We’ll have the tips-off on how you can conserve water, recover dead spots and still have a beautiful lawn in summer in particular the ONE thing you are able to never do! Have you ever found a hole after a major rainstorm but exactly can’t seem to pinpoint where it’s coming from? We’ll share some tricks of the trade to help you find the sources of roof holes BEFORE they lead to any serious damage.Dishwashers do a very good job of scavenging your meals but dishwashers can turn stinky immediately if they are not properly maintained. We move you through that project.
Plus, answers to your dwelling increase questions, about installing a dedicated electrical outlet, making an attic space congenial, repairing a popcorn ceiling, getting rid of chows in your lawn, repairing a sticking opening.
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 so glad to be here today to help you take on jobs around your home. This is Episode 2012 and we’ve got a lot of great nonsense to cover.
First up, with all the frenzy of modern life, are you longing for the days of past when all we did is sat outside and chitchatted with neighbors and enjoyed an ice-cold lemonade in a rocker on a hall? Well, if you think about it, porches are the perfect way to socially-distantly communicate with neighbors that are walking by, right? Because you’re hinder the interval. But it’s a fun sit to be. And it is about to change that a great deal of tribes now are remaking those foyers. They’re becoming more and more popular, maybe driven on by COVID and maybe not. But we’ve got some tips-off if you’d like to give your foyer an update.
LESLIE: And with the generally blistering heat across the nation, are you wondering how to avoid having your garden turn into a dead, cool desert? We’ve got tips-off on how you can conserve water, rebuild dead spots and still have a beautiful lawn, including the one thing you should never do.
TOM: And have you ever found a disclose after a big rainstorm but you can’t seem to pinpoint exactly where it’s coming from? We’re exiting share some tricks of the trade to help you find sources of roof openings before they to be translated into serious damage.
LESLIE: But first, this show is really about you, so we want to hear what you’re working on. Let us know how we are able to give a hand.
TOM: The amount here is 1-888-MONEY-PIT, 888 -6 66 -3 974. No matter when you’re hearing this testify, you can always call us, 24/7. We are standing by to make your questions. And if we’re not in the studio, we will call you back the next time we are.
So let’s get started. Leslie, who’s first?
LESLIE: Karen in Texas is on the line with a driveway that is just cracking up. What’s going on?
KAREN: My home was built in the late 1970 s. And that’s what’s going on- is my driveway has just gotten full of crackings and everything. So, when I was looking into changing- sobbing it out and ousting the concrete- I had someone indicate to me that there’s some newer commodities on world markets that you can overlay over top of the concrete.
TOM: Yeah. So, this is a concrete skin-deep, right? We’re not talking about asphalt. It’s surely concrete?
KAREN: Definitely concrete.
TOM: Alright. Now, the crackings that you’re encountering, is the driveway droop or is it- exactly have these sort of schisms in it? I’m asking you this question because I want to know if it’s structurally unstable. Because no matter what you put over it, if it’s got a weak base, it’s just going to continue to move and fissure. It’ll look better but it’ll still do that.
KAREN: I wouldn’t say it’s unstable. There are quite a few that extended. They’re not tiny, short ones. I mean they’ve gotten pretty big. There is one area at the bottom of the driveway, by the street, that seems to have had a little bit of a collapse.
TOM: Shift? Yeah.
KAREN: Nothing you can’t- yeah. Good-for-nothing that can’t be dealt with.
TOM: Alright. So, here’s what I would do. There’s a new produce out really this year from QUIKRETE. It’s announced Re-Cap. And it’s a really interesting product because they’ve designed a project that will perfectly bind to aged specific and not separate.
And it’s fairly simple to apply. You kept it on. You moistened the – you clean the concrete, you articulated it on. And when the concrete’s wet- and you work it, smooth it out. You trowel it out. You can use a squeegee. You can use a broom to give it a bit of a broom finish. And then the whole thing cools in just a few hours. I think that would be a great addition.
In periods of the end of the driveway, where it reaches wall street, that’s the percentage we call the “apron.” What I would recommend you do there is to go ahead and sobbing that out. You can pick up a few bags of QUIKRETE and mix it up in a wheelbarrow and repour that. And this action, you can make sure it’s nice and thick and structurally stable. And then even sort of extend the Re-Cap color onto that so it’ll all definitely sounds like one section when it’s all done.
But I think that that’s probably the most wonderful. Because if the concrete continues to move- and by that I want sort of shift a little bit, expand and contract, freeze/ melting cycles/second, whatever- those cracks will show back up. But most of them will be filled in by the Re-Cap product and I think you’ll like how it works.
KAREN: Awesome. That was what I was hoping to hear, because it’s got to be a whole lot less expensive than having it weeping out and wholly repoured.
TOM: Well, utterly. And by the way, there’s one other option, extremely. If you’d love to have a paver driveway, there’s a new paver out from Pavestone. It’s called Milano. And what’s cool about these Milano pavers is they’re half the thickness of a regular paver. And they’re designed specifically to go over old-time concrete porch and driveway surfaces.
So, you could look into those, as well. Probably a little more expensive- ah, probably a lot more expensive- than the Re-Cap product. But it seems perfectly elegant when it’s done and you really can’t tell that it’s not a full-thickness paver when you see it.
So there’s two options for you.
KAREN: OK. Awesome. Thank you.
TOM: You’re welcome. Good fortune with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Richard in Tennessee is on the line and has an interesting question involving an relic soda machine. Tell us about it.
RICHARD: Well, I bought an relic soda machine that actually worked. And I wanted to framed the old-time quarter in and slither the bottle out. But I took it and set it in the garage, plugged it in. And as soon as the compressor knocked on, it jaunted the GFCI breaker or the GFCI circuit on the push. So, I reset it and it wouldn’t keep reset.
TOM: Well, that is totally expected because refrigerators, when they kick on, have a very big draw of current. And that’s necessary to get them travelling and then it kind of goes down after that. But refrigerators are not supposed to be installed on ground-fault circuits. And as a result, yours is going to keep jaunting as it has.
So, your proper solution would be to run a tour just for that machine. And if it’s just for that machine, it does not have to be ground-fault protected. The reason it’s ground-fault protected- the circuit in the garage is ground-fault protected- is because it’s a wet point. But for a dedicated service to one machine, it has not been able to “ve got to be”. You’ll have to have an electrician do that.
I would not, you are aware, disconnect the current ground fault, because that floods the rest of the stores in the garage. It could even extend outside stores or bathroom stores. Sometimes, that circuit can wind its acces through the house. But I would apply it in a dedicated outlet just for that machine and then your trouble should go away.
RICHARD: Thank you very much.
TOM: Alright. Good luck with that campaign. Thanks so much better for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: That voices kind of fun to have that in the house.
TOM: It does, yeah. Well, like everything, you think, “I’ve got the machine. I’m good to go. All I’ve got to do is plug it in.” Ah , not so quick. There’s other expenditures to establishing sure it labours right. When that machine was common, you didn’t have to worry about ground faultings because we didn’t using them to yet.
LESLIE: Right.
TOM: So, never had the issue. Today we do and so , now you’ve got to …
LESLIE: They were far more dangerous then.
TOM: Yeah. Now you’ve got to add the circuit.
LESLIE: Randy in Texas needs some is contributing to some yard occupation. Tell us what’s going on.
RANDY: Yes, ma’am. What I’ve get, I’ve got a 30 -foot by 15 -foot pressure-treated deck on the back of my house. And where the wood has contract or shrivel and handed me the differences between the 2×6 timbers, I’ve had leaves fall in there and I can’t get- I have no way to get them out without taking the deck up, which I don’t want to do. Is there some method that I can position some kind of organic matter or something in there to break down the foliages so I don’t have sprouts coming up?
TOM: So you’re saying that you have organic matter that’s persist between the 2×6 floorboards of the deck and they’re starting to grow?
RANDY: The deck itself is sitting on a concrete terrace. And then I’ve came 2x4s laid on edge and that’s what I built the deck on.
TOM: Oh, so it’s basically a timber platform, like a pallet on top of a patio.
RANDY: There you go.
TOM: Yeah. No wonder it’s so moist. Well, listen, I mean that’s a real remarkable assemble and there’s good reason for doing it- not doing it that way, because of what you’re picture. You’ve got a lot of moisture editions here.
I don’t have a good solution for you, because it’s exactly a non-traditional way to make a deck.
RANDY: Without having- it had to be that way, otherwise it wouldn’t match up with the floor. I’d be elevated above my floor, my altitude of the house itself.
TOM: Mm-hmm. Right.
RANDY: I’ve heard putting dry molasses. Would that help?
TOM: I have no idea.
RANDY: OK.
LESLIE: I don’t know. I feel like that might attract some critters of some sort.
TOM: Yeah, some ants. Certainly ants and stuff.
You have a wood-framed deck that’s basically built flat on top of a concrete skin-deep. The concrete is going to stay certainly moist and damp, which is one of the reasons that it’s such- so it’s perfect, nearly greenhouse-like conditions for you to grow embeds through there.
One of the things that you have been able do is you could use a produce like Roundup, which is a herbicide that they are able to – you know, once you scatter it, it will stop- it will kill things and stop saying that from coming back.
LESLIE: Kills a lot of things.
TOM: Right.
And you too might want to try Spray& Forget.
RANDY: OK.
TOM: So, Spray& Forget also has the ability to stop mold and mildew and lichen and algae. And it may be just enough to stop the growth of whatever is happening between those councils. But you can find that at home centres nationwide. It’s a great product and it has kind of a residual effect.
Now, it’s not an instant-gratification kind of deal. You spray it on there and you make the sun and the wind and the rain got to get it. And very slowly, over hour, it breaks down all of those materials and stops it from coming back here. So, you’re going to have to do something like that to try to maintain this.
RANDY: OK.
TOM: But in terms of stopping the material from get in between the rifts, that I don’t have a solution for you on, OK?
RANDY: OK. Alright, sir.
TOM: Alright. Good fortune. Thanks so much for that announce. Appreciate your question and good fortune with the project.
Well, are you looking for a few extra feet for storage or relaxation or maybe for an entertainment center or maybe a guest bunked? Well, the mixture might once be right under your snout and maybe even under your roof. It’s a porch.
LESLIE: That’s right. Porches are making a big comeback, indicating up in a growing number of new construction projects. And they’re desirable infinites for much more than an old-fashioned foyer rocker.
Now, new halls are being furnished with radiant-heat bodies in the flooring, glare-proof mesh instead of traditional screens and other facets that is not simply attain them comfy but are suitable for year-round use.
TOM: Now, if you’ve once got a porch and it’s looking a bit worn, there are a lot of brand-new, low-maintenance cloths that you can use. Well, I shouldn’t say they’re new. A mint of them have been around for a long time but there are some brand-new ones. But the neat thing is that they don’t need anywhere near the amount of work to take care of than the traditional timber factors that most halls ought to have constructed out.
For example, you can replace your lumber foyer storeys with composites. You can use synthetic railings and spindles, which’ll need pretty much zero paint to maintain. Just make sure you evaluate that design under all that porch floor before you remove and change the human rights committee you’re accompanying on. Because if the joists are having any issues, you need to deal with the structures first. And we don’t crave you to work on exactly the cosmetic material unless you know it is solid and secure.
LESLIE: Now, once you’re all done with the update, you can add from a flourishing variety of weatherproofing features and gizmoes, like TVs, couches, all these sort of unexpected interior touches. Believe it or not, those things are all also made for outdoor give. So you just have to make sure that you find patches that are made for outdoor expend. You don’t want to placed a regular sofa outside. You want to find one that’s built with sort of polypropylene information for the make and then waterproof materials and foam for the cushions.
So look for things that are properly rated for outdoor practice- even electronics, igniting, everything- and you can have just a beautifully-designed space.
TOM: If you’d like some more tips-off on revising your foyer, principal on over to MoneyPit.com and pursuit “porch repair.” We’ve got a couple of great announces on simply that.
LESLIE: Taylor in Michigan is having issues with a entrance. What’s going on?
TAYLOR: We were having some swelling around our opening. And it is therefore persists when you shut it. And we were wondering if, besides sanding it, if there’s anything that you can do to help reparation that issue.
LESLIE: Well, you’ve got to really figure out where it’s sticking, because that’s going to determine how you prepare it. So have you various kinds of figured out- is the door leaning and maybe one part is chafing? Is it at the fastening extent? Where are you noticing the affix?
TAYLOR: Yeah. On both of our doors that have that issue, we’ve noticed it towards the top of the door. So that portion might be leaning a little bit, I think.
LESLIE: And have you stiffened the pins in the hinges merely to see, perhaps, it’s sort of slackened in its fitting in the jamb itself?
TAYLOR: Yeah, we have tried that.
TOM: Typically, if the door is not closing properly, it’s not adjusted properly.
LESLIE: Yeah.
TOM: And the door can only move so many behaviors. And what the hell is often find is that if you pay attention to the reveal as the door closes and you look for unevenness there, it’s going to signal to you what has to happen. So, for example, if the door is scratching on the top, then typically that hinge- the opposite hinge- has to be set deeper into the jamb so it opens up.
Look, you can sand this, you can chipped this. But you’re better off adjusting the door because, invariably, it did close properly once and it’s only moved a little bit.
LESLIE: Right. And that’s expected over time.
TOM: Yeah, precisely. Sometimes, you can pull a shaft out that’s going into the jamb and replace it with a longer one that contacts through the ornament. And only by doing that one thing and driving it in with an impact wrench or a instruct operator, it will suck that whole jamb over and give the door with one screw.
TAYLOR: OK.
TOM: OK? But that’s what you need to pay attention to.
Taylor, we did a video for Yale, to learn tribes how to align the door for smart locks. And the same advice, actually, devotes. It’s called “DIY Door Alignment for Smart Locks.” It’s on YouTube and it’s also on MoneyPit.com. So only search for the door-alignment video and we will walk you through, step by step, all the different ways you can adjust a entrance, OK?
TAYLOR: Awesome. Great. Thank you so much.
LESLIE: Andrew in Iowa, what can we do for you today?
ANDREW: I have a roof that was redone with[ ventilate bank]( ph ). And I’m getting snow in my attic and I want to realize the attic a livable space. I’ve been kind of redoing with drywall and I don’t know if I should kind of remake the[ ventilate ridge]( ph) or if I can do spray-foam insulation before I do it or various kinds of what my next step would be.
TOM: And you’re asking a couple of different questions, so let me kind of break them down.
First of all, to stop the snow from coming into your attic, that’s a common thing that happens with ridge vent-holes. There’s a type of vent called a “filter vent.” It’s made by CertainTeed. Their brand is called Air Vent. That’s their website: AirVent.com. And the filter volcano has this mesh inside that causes aura pass in and out but stops the blizzard and the rainfall from doing the same. So, that’s really the factor of having the privilege type of show product.
Now, in terms of performing that a congenial cavity, I “re saying”, as someone who owns a dwelling where we had the attic altogether sprayed with spray sud, I was very, very impressed with the results. The attic is really quite pleasant now. And we only use it for storage. I did it for insulation , not for finishing. But the attic is very pleasant in the summer. It’s not hot in the winter. It’s not cold. It’s always ambient temperature up there.
And if you do use spray-foam insulation, then you would actually block up all of your vents. You would make them out. You don’t need to vent a ceiling if you’re going to spray the underside of it with scatter sud. It’s a ventless system by its design.
So, that’s an option that you can choose. Or you could just situated the filter vent-hole in and finish it as it is. But I will say that the scatter foam will give you better insulation up there in that cavity than you could get by using a fiberglass batt, simply because the rafters aren’t very deep in most cases and you can’t get enough inches of separation in there.
ANDREW: Alright. Well, perfect. Thank you. I have a lower and upper attic, so it’s a lot of infinite. So I just wanted to make sure I had the right plan before I proceeded. So, it is just like the spray-foam insulation is, so thank you.
TOM: Good fortune with that activity. Thanks so much better for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Michelle in Michigan is on the line with a question about moles. That’s a lot of Ms, Michelle. What’s going on?
MICHELLE: Well, I have about an acre-and-a-half of backyard. Well, actually an acre , not quite a half. But I have moles incessantly coming from my neighbor’s yard and tearing up. And they’re living under my patio.
LESLIE: Well, you know why they’re coming to your garden is because your yard is serving up a lusciou analyse that they really like. So, the reason why moles show up is because your property probably has maggots. And you are able to not read them. They’re living in the dirt underneath the lawn. But that’s what the moles are eating. So the deception to getting rid of the moles is to get rid of the grubs.
MICHELLE: Now, how would I go about by doing that? Because I’ve done everything I could possibly think of- spraying, putting things down, even a few homeopathic things- but good-for-nothing seems to be working.
LESLIE: There’s a couple of different makes that you can use that will, I guess, give the maggot statu. One of them that you can find at your neighbourhood residence centre is GrubEx. And that’s an application that you’ll put on the lawn and that will get rid of the chows. It won’t happen instantaneously but it’ll start to get rid of the burrows. And then the moles will figure out that you don’t have the savory gives in the lawn anymore and they’ll start moving elsewhere.
Have you tried anything like that?
MICHELLE: No, I haven’t tried anything like that. My neighbor down the street told me to poke little flaws in the field and made bubblegum in there. And they might be confused thoughts it might be a grub or a snake and they are to be able to not want to come back. I was trying to do something where I wouldn’t hurt them but they’re really hurting my yard.
TOM: That’s right. It’s really simple. If you eliminate their nutrient generator, they’re going to go try to find it somewhere else. So, the chows are the food. If you are deleting the burrows, you’ll eliminate the moles.
MICHELLE: OK. Well, enormous. Then I’ll have to give that a try.
TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much better for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well, with the hot weather and some areas of the nation find liquid dearths, some homeowners are wondering how avoid a situation where their grounds be converted into a dead, cool barren. Well, it’s possible to preserve and maintain your lawn, even through dry sorceries, and still have a beautiful yard.
TOM: Yep. So here’s a few gratuities to get started.
It all begins with the clay. Now, you can add an amendment to your clay so that the bushes don’t need nearly as much water. That’s time a figment message for something you mix into the soil to improve it. If you’ve came, for example, sandy or gravelly or decomposed granite kind of soil, you can help it hold water and nutrients by contributing some well decomposed textiles, like compost or manure or peat. But if you’ve got a soil that’s got a lot of clay in it, you can improve the aeration, which is also important, and then included something that’s more fibrous, like composted timber chips or peat moss or straw.
LESLIE: Next, it actually helps to understand your soil’s pH. Now, pH dominations how available nutrients are for a flora to use. The principle grime pH is usually considered to be 6.5. Now, you can add lime to raise soil pH and sulfur to lower it. For about 20 bucks, you can get a soil test from your state’s cooperative extension service. That’s going to cover pH, as well as a knot of other categories all designed to help you get to know the soil in your yard.
TOM: Well, precisely. Now, once you know you’ve got good grime, what you want to do next is choose bushes that are a little on the less-thirsty side. You can do that by picking those the hell is, number one, native to your region and likewise able to thrive in your area’s heat zone. The native plants are more likely to withstand those drought conditions and not suffer, certainly, any significant damage. So, unquestionably bide native. Don’t import when it’s getting really hot out.
LESLIE: Now, when it comes to watering, it’s really important to made to ensure that the spray you give your flowers will be as effective as possible. So you want to use dribble irrigation rather than overhead watering.
Now, floras take in water more efficiently when it’s applied to their roots rather than their foliages. Watering instantly at the beginning is also going to conserve water that you’re going to lose to vapour or runoff during the overhead watering.
Watering towards the evening really isn’t great because if a flora sort of goes to bed wet- it becomes nighttime- there’s a really good chance that it could get a fungus ailment really from having too much moisture in the seed structure. The sunlight in the working day actually cures kind of obstruct that irrigate where it needs to be and in use for the duration of the day. At nighttime, it only various kinds of sits there.
You want to too make sure that you water seriously but occasionally. A good moisten once or twice a week really is all you need.
TOM: Now, here’s a kind of an important trick. You know, if we get drought conditions and if your lawn turns brown, you would naturally think that maybe the lawn has died. The truth is it has not; it has just gone dormant. But it’s really important that where reference is does become dormant you do not step on it, because it’s very fragile. If you don’t go on it, you is letting it sit there in all of its brownness, once the flood comes back or you can start watering again, it will sort of re-green and continue on its merry channel to grow to the detail where you’ve got to drag that riding mower out again.
But if you walk on it and sort of tramp it down, that will damage the flora. And that’s going to take a whole season to come back. So, try to stay off it when it gets really hot out and it “re coming back” very, very quickly.
LESLIE: Now I’ve came Nancy in Arkansas on the line with a depict question. How can we help you?
NANCY: Calling on behalf of my mom and she has an older home. And there- she has a lot of- she has a popcorn ceiling. And she has a lot of cobwebs and material. And I’m just wondering, what would be the best way of removing those to eliminate as much debris falling in the carpet and that sort of thing and to give it a fresh look?
LESLIE: Well, I belief with a popcorn ceiling, number one, you’re fighting the texture. So everything kind of wants to get stuck up there.
So, first off is I would start with one of those Swiffers that look like a feathering duster, really to get all of that dust and that- the cobwebs down so that you’ve got a clean surface. And if that searches OK, then you might want to stop there.
You can’t really clean a popcorn ceiling because the behavior you remove a popcorn ceiling is to spray it with irrigate and then you rub it off. So if you try to clean it with any sort of cleanser or sweat, you’re going to start to disintegrate the popcorn and fix that come off, if it’s genuinely a popcorn ceiling and not a textured stucco or something like that. So I picture once you get the spiderwebs and things off of it, you might be better off only drawing it and yielding it a fresh coat to just sort of freshen up the ceiling room a little bit.
But if you do decide to paint the popcorn ceiling, you have to get a very specialized roller. It looks like a- it’s a foam roller that has a spiral chipped to it. And that will open up to sort of accommodate the popcorn-ceiling texture. If you use a regular roller, it’s going to paint it and then attract the composition off. So you have to be careful in your work. But that’ll do a great job of freshening it up.
NANCY: OK. Well, great. Well, thank you so much.
TOM: You’re very welcome. Good fortune with that activity. Thanks so much better for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well, if you’ve ever had a leak during a rainstorm and you can’t find the source, we know it can be really frustrating. But there are a couple of quirks that we can share to help you narrow it down.
TOM: First, most roof leaks, well, you’d think they’d come straight through the shingles but they don’t. Instead, they usually come through the places where different ceilings intersect, as well as places where stuff comes through your roof, like a plumbing ventilate or a chimney. So you really want to start your inspection there.
And when I say inspection, you don’t have to go on the roof. Most of this work can be done from the soil exerting a duet of binoculars or a camera with even a telephoto lens. Anywhere you can get a close look at these areas is the place to start.
Very often, I will grab a binocular or a camera with a long lens and look at the chimney flashing. And if it’s separated or drawing away from the chimney, I don’t have to be on the roof to find that. You can see it from the ground.
LESLIE: Now, if the leakage still isn’t obvious and you’re cozy and qualified climbing up on your roof, you can check for spills by wetting down the ceiling with a hose and then having a helper in the attic below look for those divulges. Now, if you go with this method, it’s important to work your method from the lowest section of the roof to the highest instead of that entire roof at once. This path, you’re going to be able to spot the seep and narrow down the country it’s coming from.
And remember, don’t blast water under the shingles because if you do that, you can actually cause divulges to happen. Also, remember not to stand on the soak places, because you don’t want to slip. Roofs, slipping, ocean, all terrible.
TOM: Yeah. Merely do this from the ceiling if you’re truly confident working in a gap like that. If not, hire a pro.
Now, if you do find a leak , no matter how small-time, you need to repair it as quickly as you can. The repair complexity is going to vary based on the problem. And in many cases, you may need to hire a roofer to get it done just right. But retain, many times we have regrettably heard of roofers trying to turn small fixings into a major roof-replacement projection. You rarely need to replace the entire ceiling if you’re really dealing with one spill like that. They primarily can be fixed. So, don’t think that you’re ever going to have to go for a big, terminated roof-over when you’re precisely dealing with here one seep in one location.
And you know what? If you still have questions, you can always reach us, 24/7, at 888 -MONEY-PIT or announce your question at MoneyPit.com.
LESLIE: Joe in Iowa wants to talk decking. How can we help you?
JOE: Well, I’ve got a small problem with my decks. They’re pressure-treated lumber, about 18 -year-old decks. One faces north and one faces south. And I watched a neighbor- they’re getting- both are getting bad. And I watched a neighbor use one of those products whatever it is you paint it on and it’s supposed to renew or reinstate your deck. I watched them pressure-wash it twice and dry it and buy the special applicators with two hairs. Over the winter, one wintertime, it started peeling off.
TOM: Yeah. I heard that time and time again. It looks good in the accumulate but it doesn’t stick. It doesn’t stick. And you get this really thick-skulled coat of- I think they call it a “restorer.” It just peels right off. It’s like the worst peeling paint project you’ve ever seen.
So, Joe, have you thought about doing sort of a deck makeover where perhaps you keep the structure but you replace the deck cards with composite or something like that?
JOE: That’s what I was wondering. I’ve seen where they’ve got these thinner composites you really put over the top of your cards, where they don’t stand up, or just take all the deck cards off and leant all new composite cards on.
TOM: First thing I would do is I would do a thorough inspection of such structures, because we don’t want you to threw- do anything to this if it’s not structurally resound. It’s got to be well attached to the house. The floor joists have to be solid without major sounds or shifting, properly reinforced, properly poised. You know, if this thing is rock-solid and the structure is good, then you could start. I would remove the decking boards because there’s no structural stability to the decking boards. I would draw the decking committees off and I would simply stated composite right on top of that.
Lots of great choices out there in composite. You can take a look at the composite products made by Veranda at The Home Depot, for example. Really good trash. Exits on quite easily. And once that’s down, you’ll never have to worry about a split, a hit or picking up a paintbrush again.
JOE: Or get a sliver in your foot when you go out to check the grill.
TOM: Nope. That’s right. Not at all. Yeah. And they have some composite factors for the railing system, as well, if you want to go that far.
JOE: That’s what I was wondering: what’d be the best course to go with.
TOM: Yeah. There’s a lot of preferences out there but I- it’s kind of personal wish but I’ve worked with the Veranda produces, which are made by some of the same manufacturers that form the more name brands. And they drive great. So take a look at those and move from there.
JOE: Alright. Thank you.
TOM: Remember, there are a couple of ways to get in touch with us. You can post your question at MoneyPit.com and that is what Carl did. Carl is in Massachusetts and he says, “We recently moved into a brand-new home and one of my first occupations was to install a dishwasher. My problem is the dishwasher has developed a fouled odor. We have cleansed and cleaned the washer several times. Still is quite stinky. Did a mess something up during the install? Help me induce my wife happy.”
Well, OK. How can we turn that down, Leslie? It sounds like he’s dealing with what we call “biogas, ” right? I imply such is little, tiny bits of menu that get stuck inside spray forearms sometimes and then they crumble and then they can have an ugly odor. And they can also form on the back of the rubber seal around the door.
But I would look to see if you could disassemble the scatter appendage. That’s often what does it. These spraying limbs have little ports in their own homes and sometimes, they get clogged and they get egregious. You’ll encounter a pitch-black gel or a gunk that comes- sometimes will attach to them. You’ve got to flush that all out. Just use super-hot water, dry them in a solution of irrigate with a little of bleach. And make sure you fully clean down those door shuts with a bleach-and-water solution, as well. And that ought to help you out a lot.
There’s also a commodity by Glisten, I believe, that’s a dishwasher sanitizer that you can put in and run it through a repetition empty-headed. And it does a pretty good job of cleaning some of those infinites you may have missed.
LESLIE: Alright. Next up, Sylvie in Kansas affixed a question. Now, she writes: “Is it OK to draw over wallpaper? The previous proprietors of my home threw wallpaper straight-shooting on the drywall with no primer, which is determining it really difficult to remove. What’s the worst that could happen if I do paint over it? ”
TOM: I don’t know. What’s your two pennies on that? I helped out a friend of mine the coming week. His mom’s house was going to be sold and she had expended wallpaper on half the chambers in the place. And I’m like, “Oh, soul, it would be nice if you could just paint over it, because taking the wallpaper down in half the offices in a house is a monster job.” What do you think?
LESLIE: I don’t know. I don’t like paint over it because I definitely sounds like, eventually, the adhesive behind the seams is going to give out and it’ll start to peel. I don’t belief the seams ever actually will be eliminated when you coat over it, even if you were to tape or spackle or do something to kind of hide it. It’s not going to be a long-term fix. And then, if he wishes to eventually remove the wallpaper, it’s a heck of a lot harder.
I think it’s worth it to go for the elbow grease and get the paper down or framed another bed of drywall over it. You’re going to be so much happier with the final result when you take the time to do it the right way. I just- I’m not a fan of painting over it. I think it’d be bad.
TOM: The interesting thing, though, is if you are going to take this down, my gosh, don’t do it without hiring a steamer. A wallpaper steamer is the only way to go. You’ll have the best chance of tightening up that adhesive “if youre using” a wallpaper steamer.
There’s also a little tool called a “paper tiger” that you roll over the surface and it gives these tiny punctures in the present working paper. That helps that steam get behind the paper. So you reel it and perforate it with the paper tiger. Then you use the steamer to try to separate it. And maybe you’ll get lucky; perhaps it won’t be so terrible when you use the right tools to get the job done.
LESLIE: You know, a friend was asking about removing wallpaper and they obstructed saying, “I get the paper claw.” And I said, “You mean the paper tiger.” And they depart, “Nah, I got a knockoff one.” It take me laugh so hard.
TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Thank you so much better for expend this part of this summer day with us. We hope we’ve given you some gratuities and ideas to perhaps have a little less perspiration when you try to tackle those inspirations.
If you have questions, don’t get annoyed. Write us, call us- 888 -MONEY-PIT, 24/7- or pole your questions to The Money Pit’s website at MoneyPit.com.
Until next time, I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself …
LESLIE: But you don’t “re going to have to” get it on alone.
( Copyright 2020 Squeaky Door Yield, Inc. No component of this transcript or audio enter may be reproduced in any format without the express written authorization of Squeaky Door Productions, Inc .)
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