Episode #2038: Switching to Fall Vegetable Gardens | Simple Energy Saving Solutions | Best Water Filters | Garage Organization for Fall
In this chapter …
Summer’s come to an end, but your fresh afford of veggies doesn’t have to. In this escapade Tom& Leslie gratuities to how to turn your summer vegetable plot into a fall vegetable garden. Plus…
Plus, as the temps go down the cost of heating your residence goes up! We’ll share a few simple steps you can take around your dwelling to reduce energy sources and save money extremely! If you are ready for a health alternative to the cost and all the waste of bottled water- we’ll review water filters that can be installed in your dwellings plumbing system that’ll deliver great perceiving ocean at a tiny fraction of the cost of buying bottled.Trying to fit your vehicle in your garage? What a perception! Get handy tips for garage organization that can make it happen.
Plus, answers to your residence better a matter of, hiring a private coverage adjustor, cleaning your washing machine, repairing a popcorn ceiling, how to choose channels, dryer venting.
Do you have a home improvement or decor question? Call the show 24/7 at 888 -MONEY-PIT ( 888 -6 66 -3 974) or post your question now.
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: Well, summer has come to an end but we are ready to help you take on your fall projects. Have you got some impressions on campaigns you’d like to get done? Give us a label, right now, at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. We are ready to grab our tools and get to work for you. Inside or out, first floor, second storey, cellar, attic, you appointed it, we’ve got some gratuities, some ideas to help you get those projects done once, get them done right. And then you can move onto more projections, because there is a never-ending list. At least there is around our houses and I’m sure around yours, as well. Help yourself firstly by order us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT or posting your question at MoneyPit.com.
Well, the warm forecast has passed but your fresh give of veggies doesn’t have to. We’re going to give you some tips on how to turn your summer vegetable plot into a descend vegetable garden.
LESLIE: Plus, as the temperatures go down, the cost of heating your residence goes up. We’re going to share a few simple steps that you can take around your home to reduce energy use and save money, too.
TOM: And if you’re ready for a health alternative to the cost and all the waste of bottled water, we’re going to review water filters that can be installed in your home’s plumbing system and hand great-tasting water at a tiny fraction of the cost of buying bottled.
LESLIE: But first, we want to hear from you. What are your precipitate job projects, you guys? You doing inside work? You doing outside duty? Whatever it is, we here at Team Money Pit are here to lend a hand.
TOM: Give us a entitle, right now, at 1-888-MONEY-PIT. And if you do, you may also win a designate of four trigger fastens we’re giving away from Jorgensen. They are heavy-duty. They can be used with precisely one mitt, stirring them great for DIYers and crafters alike.
They’re worth 120 bucks. Disappearing out to one caller, one listener attracted at random. Make that you. Reach out to us, right now, at 1-888-MONEY-PIT or upright your question at MoneyPit.com.
Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s firstly?
LESLIE: We’ve get Dan in Louisiana on the line who’s had some mar from recent hurricanes and needs some help figuring out the next steps. Tell us what happened.
DAN: The question is we got hit hard with the hurricane. My roof is gone. My home has altered off its piers.
TOM: Wow.
DAN: And the adjuster or assurance guy came out and said, “Oh , no, we can’t pay for that, you know. That’s not- we’re not going to do that.” And it’s really a lot of things on the inside while I- where I had ocean injury, sheetrock not coming down but I could tell there’s water stigmatizes on it. And they’re saying, “Well, we’ll simply patch that little excavation right there.” And I can’t do that. I’ve got to stimulate- I want the whole ceiling decorated. It won’t examine good. So, I don’t know what to do.
TOM: OK. So, Dan, let me ask you something. The policy adjuster that came out, this is somebody that works for your homeowners insurance company?
DAN: Yes.
TOM: Alright. What you need, sir, is a public adjuster. A public adjuster is an insurance adjuster that works in the private sector. And the style public adjusters work is they will sign a contract with you where they will represent you to the insurance company.
DAN: OK.
TOM: And now you’ve got one adjuster- an expert adjuster- against the other. And the action they get paid is by a percentage of the claim that they get for you. So, it’s kind of a no-lose situation when you hire a public adjuster.
DAN: Right, right.
TOM: The thing is that the public adjuster, they’re not going to be bamboozled by the insurance company, because they know their business.
DAN: OK.
TOM: So I would concentrate – your next stair is I would focus on trying to find a good-quality public adjuster. Now, I don’t know your area and I don’t know who’s working in that area. I don’t know whether public adjusters in that area are licensed or not. If you have an attorney or an accountant or somebody like that that you trust, see if you can get some makes on a good-quality public adjuster. And then using them represent you to the insurance company.
Because you’re exactly right: when it comes to those sorts of things, you don’t require a adolescent amend done when you need a major mend. You don’t demand a touch-up. I want how can you – you can’t touch-up a ceiling. Let’s say the paint on the ceiling is 5 or 10 years old. You can’t time touch that up; you’ve got to repaint the entire ceiling. I don’t care if the opening discern was 2 inches wide, so …
DAN: That’s right. I want to be whole.
TOM: Right. Yep. And that’s why you paid for the insurance. And you’re going to have to demand that it be properly handled. So that’s your next pace. You’ve got to find a good-quality public adjuster to represent you.
DAN: Where would I find that public adjuster if I- I don’t have a lawyer or a friend. Where would I find- are they in a telephone book or …?
TOM: I’m sure you could find one online.
DAN: OK.
TOM: But again, there’s good ones and there’s bad ones. So I’m sure there’s a community there of people you know of you can trust, whether it’s not a solicitor or a realtor. I don’t know who else you have in your community there but I’m just going to be- just get some cites, get some referrals. Try to find parties that they’ve had some ordeal with. Take your time. Find the right person. Don’t only get the firstly guy that shows up at your doorway. Precisely take your time and find a good person.
DAN: Right.
TOM: And I think you’ll find that your experience with your insurance company after that will be- make a lot more sense.
DAN: That clangs- I certainly appreciate you all calling and taking my bellow. It’s forlorn over here. It’s like a bomb went off in this city. There’s 90 percentage homes this is gonna be reroofed. And I don’t- I’m only- I merely have a roof in my house to be releveled. People have trees the hell is dividing their dwellings in half. But what you see is a community coming together and everybody’s being humble. It’s wonderful. You look for the good in this stuff and God consecrates you somehow.
TOM: Yep. Well, listen, Dan, we went through Hurricane Sandy up now not too long ago, several years ago. And we verified our share of devastation and you guys certainly have insured a lot more than we have. And I’m so pleased that your community is as strong as it is and coming together like it is. And I think that it’s going to make some time but you will heal from this and you will rebuild from this and hopefully be stronger than ever before.
Listen, as this process goes on, you call us back any time that we can lend a hand. And you spread that statement to your neighbors, as well, OK?
DAN: I will. And you don’t know how important you all are to us. I listen to yourself all all the time and it’s – you all are a blessing. So you’re God-sent, so Godspeed to you all. Thank you so much.
TOM: Thank you so much, Dan. And good luck to you, sir.
DAN: Thank you, sir.
LESLIE: Now we’ve got Gail at the line who’s have a question about a laundry machine. Tell us what’s going on.
GAIL: I heard you say one day about – you’re going to tell people how to clean their rinse machine. And I stayed around but then I had to go outside. When I “re coming back”, it was all over.
TOM: OK.
GAIL: And it’s just got a gray, you know- of course, it’s a grey machine. But you can see gray up to a certain point. A daybreak gray-headed. It’s not the same white. So I need to do something for( inaudible) to keep it clean.
TOM: Alright. So are we talking about scavenging it from a state/ sanitary perspective or are you talking about only cleaning down the outside?
GAIL: No , no , no. The inside of the tub.
TOM: Right. So, what you want to do first is you want to run an evacuate quantity with probably about 3 or 4 goblets of bleach, about three times what you normally would put in a loading. And what this does is this will sterilize a great deal of the internal plumbing without risking impairing your invests. You want to run an drain hot-water loading with about 3 or 4 bowls of bleach.
Now, the second thing that wishes to do- is this a front-load or a top-load?
GAIL: Top-load.
TOM: So, if it’s a top-load, you don’t make this gradation. But for those listening that have a front-load, you want to take a bleach-and-water solution and obliterate the seal of the rubber gasket around the door, the whole way around. Because a lot of epoches, you’ll get some debris that will form in that seal and it will grow some bacteria. And then it can really smell. So mopping that seal down is important, as well.
So, that’s actually a pretty simple way to sort of sanitize your soap machine. Because in some instances, you are eligible to have bacteria that stands behind. But by running the empty load with bleach and hot water, that will clear it out.
GAIL: OK.
TOM: Alright? Good luck with that programme. Thanks so much better for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: One of you who calls in this hour with a question will be chosen to win a great prize. It’s a fixed of two 12 -inch and two 36 -inch Heavy-Duty Jorgensen Trigger Clamps worth $120. They’re really fantastic, because they have E-Z Hold Bar Clamps, which allow for rapid and easy clamping. And then you can easily convert them into spreader secures. I imply it’s super great to give you an extra hand when you’re trying to keep something together and you really can’t do it on your own. And the deep-reach pads are going to help protect your work.
This is a prize that’s going out to one luck caller this hour.
TOM: It’s worth $120. Going out to one person. One. Exclusively one. And you know what? We’ve got a positioned of 4 fastens: two 12 -inch and two 36 -inch. So call us, right now, with your question. It “couldve been” you. The numeral is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Now we’re heading to California. We’ve got Steve on the line who’s have a question about insularity. Tell us what’s going on.
STEVE: Yes. Recently, I’d heard of a brand-new type of insulation. Supposedly, it’s supposed to be used on the space shuttles and- to protect people. It’s a reflective metal? And they talk about …
TOM: I think you’re talking about radiant barrier. Is that right?
STEVE: Is that what it is? I guess so.
TOM: Yeah. Yeah. It’s not only a type of insulation, it’s designed to reflect some of the UV rays of the sunshine back out, wonder the hot off of the insularity, try to keep it off the isolation and keep it up towards the top of the roof. My concern with beaming railing is it overheats the shingles and abridges the ceiling life.
There’s a lot better ways to save energy than beaming obstacle, starting with making sure that you have the right levels of insulation in your attic gap and furthermore, making sure that you have the right amount of ventilation venting that attic opening. So, today, you want to have 15 to 20 inches of isolation if you use fiberglass in the attic. And you need to have a fully-vented ridge vent that goes down the flower of the ceiling and fully-open soffit ducts. And those two things, working together, are going to make sure you have energy savings all year round.
But there’s no supernatural fasten now. There’s no new room disclosure with this stuff. It’s been around as long as I’ve been on the radio and that’s a long time.
STEVE: Oh, OK.
TOM: Yeah. So if you have fiberglass, you can add additional batts on top of what you have. You can add additional unfaced insulation laying on top of what you have. Just make sure you don’t gave storage on top, because you don’t want to squish it; you want it to be fluffy. And then make sure you have a fully-open ridge vent and soffit volcanoes at the overhang, OK?
STEVE: Because clearly, I knew I needed soffit- a big gable ventilate or something like that.
TOM: A crest expres is much better than a gable vent-hole. It’s more efficient, because the ridge is always in a region of depressurization. In other gusts, as wind blows over your ridge at the top of the ceiling, it wants to draw air out of the attic. And as breath blows against the two sides of the house, it pushes breath in the soffits. So the aura goes in the soffit, underneath the roof sheathing, taking away heat in the summer and moisture in the winter and then departures at the bank. And that hertz merely repeats itself, 24/7, 365 eras a year.
STEVE: Well, thank you. Yeah, I’ve put in ridge vents, so I precisely have to go up there on the ridge, taken away from the top shingle, prepare- cut back the plywood a little bit.
TOM: That’s right. Exactly cut- yeah, chipped the slit in and drop-off a brand-new volcano right on top of it.
STEVE: Well, thank you very much for clearing that up with me. I probably saved myself a great deal of money.
TOM: Glad to help, Steve. Thanks for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
Well, that steady river of veggies from your plot might be coming to an purpose. But if you want to keep the produce coming well into the cooler weather, you can by transitioning your summer veggie garden-variety into a descent vegetable patch.
LESLIE: Yes. Veggies like broccoli, cabbage, clam, spinach, mustard light-greens, beets, turnips, these all originate are you all right in cooler condition. And the key is to rejuvenate your soil, replenishing all of the nutrients that it’s spent flourishing those summertime veggies.
TOM: So, first step, pull out the plants that are done producing and yank out any loose weeds or debris. We exactly made out all of our cucumbers. We had a great season of cucumbers but cucumbers, when you develop them, they take over everything. They’re …
LESLIE: Oh, do they?
TOM: They do not hold back. They go up the side of the house, they go on the fence. They just go anywhere they can. But when they’re done, they’re done, so pull those out. Then you can add compost and mulch and stratum in some straw or fodder on top of it. This is going to insulate the garden when the temperatures start to drop.
LESLIE: Now, most fall veggies can brave a little of frost. But you can extend their season by up to a month by adding a frost rug on top of the hay.
TOM: Now, for new sink veggies, just sow a grain every 1 to 2 inches and before you know it, you’ll replace those store-bought salad prepares with the fresher copy from your very own backyard garden.
LESLIE: Betsy in Georgia needs some aid attacking a ceiling job. What’s going on?
BETSY: My question is how to remove popcorn ceiling. We have a bonus room above our garage that the popcorn ceiling was falling down in spots.
TOM: OK.
BETSY: And we raked and scraped and we weren’t getting very far with it and we shattered the drywall with gashes from being scraped. So my husband put stippling on the ceiling to cover up the gouges and I don’t think it gapes good at all.
TOM: OK.
BETSY: It inspects dumb.
TOM: So he kind of placed more texture back on where he had the aged texture?
BETSY: Yes.
TOM: Yeah. So now do you have to remove the stippling, which was probably done with the spackle, correct?
BETSY: Yes.
TOM: Ugh. Boy, I tell you what, you attained it- it proceeded from bad to worse. You know what I would do if I wanted a really clean ceiling and that was the situation? I would knock down as much of that as was physically possible, so it’s nice and flat, make sure as much of the popcorn is gone as possible and then I would settle a second layer of drywall over the whole thing. Tape it, prime it, paint it and be done with it. You’ll have a brand-new ceiling.
LESLIE: Bury it. Hide it.
TOM: I’m like, “Bury it.” Because that drywall is probably so injury now from the scratching off of the old popcorn to the adding of the stipple. And then you’re going to have to sand and be disposed of that. I only don’t think that- all the work that’s going to be worth you putting into that is just not worth it. You’re exactly not going to get a really clean look. So why don’t you precisely put a second layer of drywall over it? It’s really clean, easy to do and it will search much, much better in the long run.
BETSY: Right. And then we- our other ceilings have popcorn but we haven’t undertook that. So is there an easier direction to get onto off?
TOM: Well, here’s the right way to do it- is that you would dampen it and then you are able to scrape it.
LESLIE: So you use a draw sprayer or a garden run sprayer and then you really delicately spray that on the ceiling. You know, get it wet. You’re going to have to cover everything; it is a messy job. And then you only clean it apart with a spackle knife.
TOM: And by the way, though, if you want to buy yourself some time and maybe- what happens with the popcorn, it gets dirty and grungy-looking. You can actually cover that. There’s a special type of roller that’s a highly thick-skulled roller that’s got kind of cracks in it and presses the coat up inside the sort of the fragments of popcorn. And you can get a nice color, clean-living look to it. So, it is possible to depict that and have it look a lot nicer and a lot cleaner.
BETSY: Alright. Well, thank you very much.
TOM: You’re welcome, Betsy. Good luck with that programme. Thanks so much better for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Doug in Iowa has got a wallpaper question. What can we do for you today?
DOUG: My mothers live in an old-time Victorian dwelling, Southwest Iowa, structured around 1919. And “thats really not” original wallpaper but it’s starting to kind of peel away from the top of the roof- the ceiling strand. And I didn’t know what was a good way to, I suspect, re-adhere that to the wall. And what the hell is you recommend?
LESLIE: So it’s just where the top section of the wallpaper converges that wall/ ceiling seam?
DOUG: Correct.
LESLIE: Hmm. Now, does it seem like it’s happening all across the entire wall or is it really a piece here and there? Is it exactly at areas? What’s the situation?
DOUG: Pretty much merely at this one where these two strips convene. And I’m not sure why it was – why that occurred there but the wallpaper is just starting to peel back a little bit.
LESLIE: OK. Well, there is a glue that you can buy and I want to say it’s announced Seam Fixer or Wallpaper Seam Fixer. And it’s sort of like a bottled form of wallpaper adhesive. And it really is the best solution that I’ve seen for smaller determines of wallpapering. I most recently exploited it because my four-year-old has become fascinated with our vestibule wallpaper and has started to peel at ranges. And as much as I cherish him, I’m like, “Dude, let’s not do this.” And it actually does seem to do the trick.
DOUG: Yeah, that sounds great. I’ll look into that.
TOM: Alright. Well, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Tracy in New York is on the line with a sewer question. How can we help you with this project?
TRACY: I’m thinking about get ditches put on my house but I’m not sure what I need to know and what I should query when I have the contractors come over to do the quote.
TOM: Alright. So you have no gutters right now?
TRACY: That’s correct.
TOM: OK. So, here’s a duo things to think about. First of all, what you want are seamless troughs. So the lane they’re shaped is the contractors come out and the sewer material is actually in a expanse capital and it’s on a roll of metal. And they run it through a shape machine that actually causes the shape of the gutter. And this direction, they can originate the sewers the exact length that you need for the different sections of your house.
Now, the number of rants that you put into the gutter is important, because you don’t have – you want to have little than 600 to 800 square hoofs of roof face per spout or the troughs will back up and get overwhelmed. So give attention to that.
Also, “ve been thinking about” where the downspouts come down. You don’t want them dropping sea right at the area of the foundation, because that will collect there and it can soak in. It can weaken the foundation; it can flood a basement or a crawlspace. Only generally a bad idea. So you want the downspout to extend at least 3 to 4 feet away from the foundation. If you had a water problem, I’d tell you to take it out further but if you don’t have a problem, at least 3 to 4 hoofs out.
So, if you have one downspout and you have a- if you have one section of gutter and you have a choice as to whether the downspout is on the left than the title, use our ability about to be considered that. Yeah, don’t bring it out near a walkway or something like that; drawing it out in the opposite side of the house.
Now, the other thing to think about is gutter protectors: whether or not you want to kept them in or not. Because when you get channels, you’re going to get the need to clean those ditches. And the report contains such a wide variety of gutter pickets that are available today.
The kind that seem, in my own experience, to work the best are those that work on surface tension. So these have kind of a terminated coating to them and the buds will clean over them and the irrigate hangs this include or maybe goes through some louvered slots and falls into the gutter. So, “ve been thinking about” that. Check out with the company whether or not they volunteer a gutter-guard option at the time of the installation. And this highway, you can get it sort of all done at the same time.
And then one other trick of the trade is that before you attach these to the house, do you know if the fascia is lumber, right now, or is it aluminum? What are you going to be attaching it to?
TRACY: Wood, I believe.
TOM: So this is the perfect time for you to paint it. This is your one and only golden opportunity to made a couple of good coats of exterior paint on that. Because once that ditch is attached, you are never ever going to take them off or at least not for a heck of a long time. So, get a couple of good coats of coat on that fascia now, before you settled the sewer on, so that it’s protected.
TRACY: OK. That’s great. Thank you so much for your help.
TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that assignment. Thanks so much better for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well, as the temperatures go down, the cost of heating your dwelling goes up. Now are a few fast and easy fastens to stop the less well-known sources of energy leaks.
Well, for example, you might be surprised to learn how freezing aura can make its way into your living space through the light-footeds and channels on those exterior walls. Now, the mixture is simple. You really compute pre-fit, plastic-foam outlet gaskets behind those spread plates and that’s going to seal the drafts.
TOM: Now, another situate the heated aura inside your dwelling escapes- I want flees in huge quantities- is through the chimney. If you’re fortunate enough to have a fireplace, huge. But all the time you’re not applying that hearth, warm air from your home is spawning its room up the chimney and out. And that’s just a big consume of energy.
Now, an easy set is to insert something that is called a “chimney balloon” into the flue. It’s basically kind of a sturdy plastic balloon that inflates to fit your chimney and it acts as a plug to avoid that unwanted airflow from coming in there and concluding its way out. The good bulletin is that it’s easy, also, to remove when you want to use that fireplace.
LESLIE: Now, caulk is a great way to keep water out around the outside of your windows. But did you know that it can also stop sketches on the inside of the windows? Now, cold sketches can reveal through exterior walls and make it into your live, as well. So to close those out, you include a beading of caulk between the interior window trim and the wall.
TOM: And are talking about windows, here is one more very little-known trick: fasten your openings. Now, of course we want you lock them if you’re going away. But you should ever keep them locked even when you’re home. Because if you’ve ever noticed the lock on a double-hung window, you know that when you rotate it, it actually propagandizes the window down to the sill. And in doing so, it creates a very tight seal. So, if you fasten the windows, you’ll actually likewise seal out some sketches, as well.
888-666-3974. If all this talk of saving energy has got you thinking about some questions you’d are happy to get answered , now would be a great time to call us- the numeral is 1-888-MONEY-PIT- or post your question at MoneyPit.com.
LESLIE: Buck in Texas, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
BUCK: I was calling to ask a question about a built-up roof, about 4,000 square foot. I was thinking about taking and putting a varnish on top of it. No insularity in the attic. And was wanting to know if it certainly would actually shelve the heat in the lower flooring by putting a brilliant-white roof membrane on top.
TOM: Well, those types of roof covers do have UV reflectors in there and they’re designed to constitute the ceiling jug. And certainly, it will be a heck of a lot cooler than the black ceiling that you’re starting with. So I think that that’s probably a good opinion in your situation, specially being in such a warm part of the country, Buck.
BUCK: Any special make symbol that you can recommend going on top of tar?
TOM: No. But make sure it’s a roof paint. I imply often, “youre using” a fibrous aluminum cover for something like that. What you really want to look for is the UV reflectivity of it. Because the more UV it manifests, the very best the number of jobs it’s going to do.
And by the way, it will too expand the roof life, as well, because the cooler the ceiling is, that aims less of the petroleum is going to evaporate out of the asphalt and it’ll last a lot longer.
BUCK: OK. Good.
TOM: Buck, thanks so much better for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: And for one lucky caller to The Money Pit this hour, we’ve got a great prize. We’re giving away a situate of two 12 -inch and two 36 -inch Heavy-Duty Jorgensen Trigger Clamps worth $120.
Now, they’re going to deliver 600 pounds of securing ability. These fastens truly are serious workhorses for serious home improvers, crafters and producers. So prepare them yours. Give us a call for your chance to win. It’s worth $120. If you want to check them out, go to PonyJorgensen.com.
TOM: That multitude, again, is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Tommy in Nebraska, you’ve get The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
TOMMY: My question concerns my dryer. I moved into a mansion that had the washer and dryer already here in my laundry room. And when I was cleaning back behind the dryer- the dryer hose is aluminum type and it’s appended with videotape. Obviously , not done correctly. And what I want to know is what would you recommend? Is there a better dryer-vent hose or a tube of some kind? It’s a fairly short-lived length from the wall to the dryer.
TOM: If it’s the adaptable aluminum hose, then that- I is very likely go ahead and made that back in. If it’s vinyl, I has not been able to. But you’re sure it’s aluminum, right?
TOMMY: It is. It’s like shiny aluminum foil.
LESLIE: Yeah. And that’s the one that wishes to there, because that’s heat-resistant.
TOMMY: Oh, you do. OK.
LESLIE: Yes.
TOMMY: Rather than the white-hot vinyl? It’s better than the lily-white vinyl.
LESLIE: Right. Because the white vinyl could overheat and potentially effect a shell luck. So the aluminum one is great because it won’t hold onto all of that heat.
Now, the question is: where does your dryer hose duct to? Does it go to the outside? Has it been cleansed in a while? These are all maintenance things that you need to be doing for your dryer.
TOMMY: Right, Leslie. And that’s what I is ready to do, because I am so afraid of fire lucks. OK, so I need to separate it? And it is expressed to an outside vent.
TOM: So what you should do is get a dryer-vent cleaning brush. There is one that’s available online called the Gardus LintEater. Leslie and I both have one of these grazes. They’re really cool. They’re like covers on the end of fiberglass rods. And you adhere them into a drill and time spin them into the vent and go back and forth and pull them out.
TOMMY: Oh, my goodness.
TOM: And you’d be amazed how much dirt comes out of those things. So that’s one- I’m sure you could probably find it at a dwelling midst or at a equipment collect, as well. But a dryer-duct scavenging brush is what you really need for that.
TOMMY: OK. And then when I reattach that hose to the vent and then to the dryer, undoubtedly I don’t want to use tape, which is what they’ve used.
TOM: There’s a big bracket that is sort of like a clamp that fits around that. And it goes over the hose and the hose get over the volcano and then it all sort of bolt together. And I’m sure you could also find those at a residence midst or a hardware accumulation. No, you should definitely not strip it together.
TOMMY: I will do that. Thank you so much better. I appreciate it.
TOM: Thanks so much for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well, if your family applies a great deal of bottled water, you may be ready for alternatives that cost little but deliver the same enormous taste.
Now, two types of filters do time that for you. You can save money and lead green with an under-sink water filter or a whole-house water-filter system.
TOM: Yeah. And here’s how they work.
For under-sink filters , now most are what’s called “dual-cartridge filters.” They have both carbon-block and granular-carbon filters. And those dual filters reduce the most common substances or contaminants that we find in tap water from borough generators. This could be stuff like leading and mercury, asbestos, pesticides and even cysts. They’ll also eliminate sediment. They’ll get rid of the bad smack and the odors caused by the chlorine that’s added to municipal organizations, as well. You do, however, need to pay close attention to the filters. They’ve got to be changed about every 6 months or when 500 gallons of spray have surpassed through them.
Now, the other type, which is a little bit more convenient, is called a “whole-house water filter.” It’s convenient because it’s much larger and it’s installed at the prime sea valve, so it pretty much filters all of the liquid that’s going into your residence. And it will also catch dirt and impurities, like rot, but it can also improve water taste, it can reduce cloudiness and shorten contaminants. Filtrete, for example, has one that’s pretty inexpensive. It’s a quick-change system. It costs under 100 horses. And those filters last-place about 12 months.
So, one highway or the other, you don’t need to use all that bottled water. You don’t need to deal with the cost, the expenditure or the environmental impact of throwing away the millions of plastic bottles of liquid we do each year. You can add these filters. They’re not expensive. They’re pretty easy to install and enjoy great-tasting water at home.
LESLIE: Now we’ve get Rhonda in Washington who needs some help with window cleanup. Tell us what you’re working on.
RHONDA: Hi. Well, you know what? We bought new openings and then my husband turned the sprinkler on and now we’ve got water-deposit grimes all over these new openings. And it’s on the western side of my house and it’s time baked on. And I cannot find any space to get that cleansed off and I was wondering if you had any suggestions.
LESLIE: There’s actually a super-easy trick of the market. Have you tried white vinegar?
RHONDA: Oh, you know what? I drenched paper towels in white-hot vinegar and just soaked it on there and it didn’t appear to do anything to it.
TOM: Rhonda, have you tried LIME–AWAY?
RHONDA: Uh-uh.
TOM: LIME–AWAY is a cleaner that’s designed to dissolve mineral deposits. What you have are mineral salts. And it’s kind of like CLR. It’s made by Reckitt Benckiser. They’re a big cleaning manufacturing company. And it acts very well on vinyl siding and other vinyl faces and I’m sure it will work well to make those situates. It’ll take lime off; it’ll also make rust-brown stains off.
RHONDA: Soak it in a article towel and nonsense and then precisely put it on there like that and make it simply sit?
TOM: No, it’s a center. You precisely desegregate it.
RHONDA: Alright. Well, cool. Thank you so much.
TOM: What’s on your fall to-do list? Put it on our schedule. Swing it right over by label us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT or posting your question to MoneyPit.com or Facebook.com/ TheMoneyPit.
LESLIE: Now we’ve got a affix here from Shawn who reached out to us on Facebook. Now, Shawn writes: “I’ve decided I’d like to start parking my car inside of the garage.” I mean that’s a kind of immense theory. “Do you have any gratuities for organizing and storing all of the stuff that’s parked in there right now? ”
TOM: Well, that’s a great fall project, isn’t it, because it’s a period of change, right? We’re putting away our lawn equipment and that sort of thing and we’re getting out our shovels and the stuff that we’re going to need. So, always a good time to think about organization.
You know, when it comes to the garage, there’s something special about that room and it’s a special danger. And that is- it ever concerns me, Leslie, that you’ve got the kids’ playthings placed next to the pesticide, right? So you’ve got to be really careful to keep that separate. You’ve got some pretty active boys there at your house and I know you’re worry about trash like that, too.
LESLIE: Oh, for certain. But it’s too- in addition to providing pesticides, there’s implements. And some of appropriate tools are abrupt or dangerous. So we’re very curious and these minors want to just take everything and anything.
So you’ve got to make sure that you keep these entries separate. If you do store substances or paint items or anything that seems kind of dangerous, you can have a cabinet that has locking doorways or at least get them up and out of the way of kids.
Another thing I like to do is sort of sorting things by season and positioned the stuff that’s under the current season towards the front and the things that are out of season towards the back. So you’re always kind of rotating what’s easier to have access to over the others.
And then you’ve got to look up. You really need to figure out where you can put extra things that’ll allow your car to get in but still keep your stuff in there.
TOM: Absolutely. I was with a chum of mine this past week and he wants to be some storage opening in his garage. He’s got a nice garage but he’s got a lot of stuff on the walls once. So I said, “What about all of the opening? ” He had a big, towering- not an attic seat but a big, towering kind of attic opening neighbourhood. And we procured a really nice shelf on Amazon: 8 feet long, sword, about 2 hoofs deep and a whole cable system to subsistence it. And now it sounds splendid and there’s a entire bunch more room up there now that he can use for storage that he never had before.
LESLIE: Alright. Now we’ve got a upright here from Sam in Kentucky. Now, Sam writes: “I have a 100 -year-old house that was rewired about five years ago. Now I have random on-and-off circuits and ceiling fixtures going on in one part of the house. Do you have any idea what is causing this? ”
TOM: Yeah. I don’t know exactly but that’s bad. You should not have anything going on and off random. And that usually happens when there’s a loose wire and there’s some arcing or precipitating or tremors. All sorts of things that could be induce that.
If you have had that cabled so recently, you need to get in touch with an electrician, Sam, and get that problem diagnosed. There’s no way you should be having things go on and off by themselves. If you- when you say random on and off, are you saying that they’re tripping circuit breakers? Well, then, that could be the same issue. You could have some bad wiring in there and the circuit breaker is tripping off to protect your wiring from overheating.
So when “youve had” that sort of thing happening, you really need to get it looked at. There’s very few circumstances where your beacons and shops should not be anything but generally on or systematically off. And that’s not the case here, so get onto fixed.
LESLIE: Alright, Sam. Good luck with that. You don’t want to have any sort of dangerous status at home, peculiarly if you’re not at home to monitor if there’s a fire or something. So only be safe.
TOM: You’ve been listening to The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Hey, thank you so much for spending this little part of your daytime with us. We cherish answering your home improvement questions. We know they come at all times of the day or light, which is why you can call us at all times of the day or light at 1-888-MONEY-PIT or of course, berth your question to our website at MoneyPit.com. If we’re not in the studio when we hear from you, we predict we will call you back the next time we are.
I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself …
LESLIE: But you don’t is therefore necessary to do it alone.
( Copyright 2020 Squeaky Door Product, Inc. No fraction of this transcript or audio datum may be reproduced in any format without the express written permission of Squeaky Door Creation, Inc .)
The post Episode # 2038: Switching to Fall Vegetable Gardens | Simple Energy Saving Solutions | Best Water Filters | Garage Organization for Fall appeared first on The Money Pit.