Episode #2043: New Technology in Water Heaters | Disposing Hazardous Trash | Getting Your Lawn Ready For Winter
In this incident …
If you’ve ever stepped into the shower first thing in the morning and received a blast of icy cold water, you know it’s not best course to wake up! New technology in water heaters can thwart this by circulating hot water to lavatories, BEFORE you need it! We’ll share how to stop this “shower shock” ounce and for all. Plus…
If you’re tackling fall cleaning process around the house — getting rid of trash is easy, but getting rid of hazardous trash , not so much. We have tips-off on the easiest ways to purge your home and garage of things like aged decorate, pesticides and more just ahead.Fall is the perfect time to get your lawn ready for winter, and a bright lettuce outpouring and summertime next year. We’ll share a handy 4-step checklist to assist you do time that.The most common laundry room disaster is a broken washer supply hose and it can cause thousands of gallons of sea to floodlight your dwelling! Learn one simple substitution that can stop this from happening to you!
Plus, provide answers to your residence improvement a matter of, repairing a leaky skylight, repurposing carpeting, eliminating spiders, hiring an designer in order to senility in place
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 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: And we are so glad we’re here, because this is our chance to help you- it’s what we love to do- take on the projects you want to get done around your room. Because if you’ve got a money pit, you’ve got a home. Because we see this as a period of endearment, a residence that needs constant adoration and upkeep. It needs, actually, some TLC to stay in good shape to keep helping you and becoming the very best home ever.
So, if you need to stop the spills, you want to stop the squeals, you want to spruce up your outdoor seat, you want to work on your kitchen, you’ve got 6 weeks or 7 weeks or so before the holidays- well, actually, you really can’t say that, because it depends on when you start counting. But if you’re thinking about Christmas, New Year’s, Hanukkah, yeah, you’ve got a little bit of time. You can’t take on a intestine reno but we can give you some notions on easy fix-ups for those rooms or genuinely anything else you want to talk about.
We’re your instruct, your guidebook. We’re sort of your escapade navigates, right? Because home better is an adventure.
LESLIE: Oh, for sure.
TOM: It’s exciting, it’s exhilarating and sometimes, it does not go as strategy. So, if that describes you and you want to get some help, we would be honored to do time that.
Couple of ways to get in touch with us. You could announce your questions to MoneyPit.com. Just click on Ask a Question. You can also use our social-media directs: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. You can reach out to us through there @MoneyPit or on Facebook. That’s Facebook.com/ TheMoneyPit. Or you can call us. The count is 1-888-666-3974, which happens to spell 888 -MONEY-PIT. We’re here for whatever you need to get done. So reach out and let us help.
Coming up on today’s program, hey, have you ever stepped into the shower first thing in the morning and received a blast of icy-cold water? Not so spectacular in the hot of the summer but subject, when it gets cold outside it becomes even worse and it’s not the best way to wake up. And that’s why you’re going to desire the new technology we’re going to talk about. It’s coming out in sea heaters and they are now being designed to circulate hot water to the showers before you need it. Isn’t that smart? We’re going to have all those items, in really a bit.
LESLIE: And if you’re tackling fall cleanups around the house, getting rid of trash is easy but getting rid of hazardous trash , not so much. We’re going to have tips on the easiest way to purge your home and garage of things like old-fashioned coat, pesticides and more, really ahead.
TOM: And fall is the perfect time to get your lawn ready , not only for wintertime but for a luminous, green springtime and summer next year. The season’s just right to weed brand-new grass, because it’s get lots of months now to grow deep and strong before the hot of the summer happens next year. So we’re going to share a handy, four-step checklist to help you get your lawn in good shape.
LESLIE: And fall is also a popular time to take on bath renovations that you’d like to get done before the holidays. And as blessing would have it, we’re giving away $ 3,500 in tub makes from American Standard and Grohe, all available at RiverbendHome.com. All you need to do is enter the Beautiful Bath Sweepstakes at MoneyPit.com/ Sweepstakes.
TOM: So, let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s firstly?
LESLIE: Adam in Rhode Island is on the line with a leaky skylight. What’s going on?
ADAM: I have a bay window in my bedroom and it’s below a skylight. And for a while, it started to create those chocolate-brown discolours on my ceiling. But for the most part, the biggest problem was there was a leak in the bay window. So, my father and I became up there. We applied a new flashing kit on the skylight and it seemed to help the problem but it did not eliminate the problem.
And I had a contractor friend over who made a look at it, as well, and he noticed that if you go out on the outside, the bay window abuts the ditch where the sewer attaches to the roof above it. And it’s his opinion that there should be, perhaps, some 6- to 8-inch crack there between where the ditch converges the house and where the bay window starts. So it’s his opinion that the bay window might have been improperly installed.
TOM: So, it sounds like the bay window is up too high? Is that what you’re saying? So it mostly going well up under the gutter?
ADAM: Right. It certainly- there’s certainly no break between the soffit but there’s too no separation from where the gutter convenes the members of this house, either.
TOM: Alright. And does the bay window have its own ceiling on it? Or is the roof sort of built into the soffit structure?
ADAM: No. It’s under the overhang.
TOM: Oh, it is under the overhang. OK. Mm-hmm. Is it is feasible that the gutter is overfilling and perhaps the liquid is backing up through the channel, coming into the soffit and running into the bay?
ADAM: I thought that at one point. And I have gone up and checked and the sewers are clean.
TOM: OK. And where this is on the ceiling, is there sort of a long stretch of roof that goes down before this- before it makes the skylight?
ADAM: Yeah. I guess so. Maybe 10 or 15 feet.
TOM: So, I’m going to give a gimmick of the commerce and this might solve it. You are likely to be coming so much water against that skylight that it’s just sort of forcing its room in. One thing you might want to do is to try to gave a diverter on the ceiling, right above the skylight. And this- see if this works. It’s really easy to do and so there’s kind of no reason not to try it.
But you make a – you take a piece of aluminum in the shape of an L and you basically fasten it to the roof. And you basically want to intercept that flowing of water down the roof and have it run around the skylight and around the bay window. So you’re slowing the publication of spray that’s coming down that roof, extending full steam towards that skylight and that bay-window area and ranging it around that cavity. And all you’ve got to do is tack that onto the roofing shingles, leant some silicone caulk to help seal the edge and see what happens.
ADAM: So you caulk the leading edge of the L with silicone. And how do you append the aluminum to the roof?
TOM: Yeah, you have been able simply nail through the shingle and with a roofing nail.
ADAM: OK.
TOM: Because you’re- well, the caulk will help seal it. And basically, you’re capturing that spray as it’s running down the roof. And it’s sort of pour right around that skylight/ bay-window roof combining and then off to the gutter.
ADAM: Alright. Bang good. I’m willing to try it.
TOM: Good luck, Adam. Thanks so much for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Now we’ve came Kathleen in Illinois on the line and she’s got a question about a arched ceiling. What can we do for you?
KATHLEEN: I’m calling about a renovation activity that we seek to do on a three-season sun porch. And it’s a 12 x27 room. We did tackle do space substitution by ourselves and we were able to do that. They’re vinyl-clad windows, the tilt-in kind and everything. But the ceiling right now is 12 -inch tiles the hell is- they seem to be glued up to the ceiling. They’re not on a grid method; they’re merely up there. And we want to placed faux-tin ceilings. And we’re wondering if that’s a project that we could tackle or is that something best left to professionals or- we’re looking for your advice.
But we had some mar from rain on the ceiling and we’ve had the roof changed. But I even covered over where the spray stains “ve been with” that Zinsser Stain Stop. And you are able identify the- it did not cover it, so we need to change the ceiling.
TOM: Hey, they become these tiles that are a drop-ceiling type of a tile that inspects just like tin. Have you appreciate those, Kathleen?
KATHLEEN: Yes, “were having”. And we thought that those were very cool and we didn’t know- do you think just LIQUID NAILS or something to put it up over these existing tiles?
TOM: What’s underneath the tiles? Plywood sheathing?
KATHLEEN: I don’t know. It feels certainly solid when you propagandize a …
TOM: I would try to figure out what’s underneath it. You could make some sections of the old-fashioned tiles apart, see how thick that is. I would prefer to have a mechanical attachment, like a staple or something like that, than just simply the glue. The cement is OK.
LESLIE: I imply I would use LIQUID NAILS and something else.
TOM: Yeah, exactly.
KATHLEEN: Uh-huh. And you don’t think it would- I don’t want it to look uneven, how they – you check sometimes those grid organizations where the tiles kind of droop and sloop and ogle …
TOM: No, if it’s done really well, it looks great. We’ve seen them at actually high-end decor showrooms, where you have some genuinely upscale decorating done, and they look fantastic.
KATHLEEN: OK. Alright. Well, thank you so much.
TOM: You’re very welcome. Good luck with that project, Kathleen, and thanks so much for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well, if you’d like to represent your soak more beautiful and more efficient , now is a really good time to upgrade your tub fixtures and faucets with those that are WaterSense-certified. That’s just one of the soap projects that you can take on if you penetrate the RiverbendHome.com Beautiful Bath Sweepstakes at MoneyPit.com/ Sweepstakes.
Now, you can win up to $ 3,500 importance of bathroom concoctions from American Standard and Grohe, including beautiful fixtures, faucets and more. It’s all available at RiverbendHome.com.
TOM: Now, “ve been thinking about” it. Superseding your aged lavatory, your faucet, your shower with newer frameworks obliges appreciation for both you, your billfold and the environmental issues. And improving now is going to reduce your water use and save you coin. With American Standard, Grohe and DXV, you don’t have to sacrifice performance for productivity. They work well, they drive awesome and they’re lovely. So why not check out the wide range of high-efficiency bath concoctions at RiverbendHome.com and open the Beautiful Bath Sweepstakes, right now, at MoneyPit.com/ Sweepstakes?
LESLIE: Alright. Now we’re going to take a call from Tim in Arkansas, who’s got some concrete issues with his patio and his garage. You know, maybe he wouldn’t have these problems if his friends didn’t help him with it.
What’s going on, Tim?
TIM: When it rains, it’s busting it and causing it to have punctures in the concrete. And it’s just like it’s washing it away. And then I do have a 4-inch slab and the concrete is cracking.
TOM: Alright. So the patio is a 4-inch slab, the concrete is cracking. Are there a lot of fissures in it? Like is it sternly deteriorated?
TIM: Well , no. But it’s like- I don’t know. It’s kind of like going to the center of the garage and it’s like it commencing from the 4×4 place, the 8×8 pole. And it’s really various kinds of- oh, it’s simply, I don’t know, really cracking. I don’t know how deep it is but it’s time kind for cracking all the way across.
TOM: So is the concrete slab inside the garage or is it next to the garage?
TIM: Right, right. It’s time inside the garage. It’s bent over the …
TOM: So, seem, there’s no easy acces to fix this. All you can do is seal the hits and cut down on the humidity that’s getting through there. Generally, when those slabs crack, it’s because there was some organic material underneath them that rotted away or perhaps the grunge wasn’t pact fairly when it was first installed.
Replacing the slab is an initiative. Not probably as big of a project as you might think but it is a project. But unless it’s so cracked and so deformed that it’s causing a tripping threat or some other concern like that, I wouldn’t do anything further than time closing it and moving on.
TIM: OK. Well, it’s really a hairline crack. Yeah, you don’t think it’ll get any worse, do you?
TOM: It could but it’s not uncommon for these slabs to have hairline cracks.
TIM: OK, OK. It’s not bothering anything. I merely don’t know how deep it is or …
TOM: Yeah, I wouldn’t panic over it. It’s not a structural concern, because the floor is basically precisely there to give you a surface to drive on. It’s not tied into the foundation of the house.
Tim, good luck with that activity. Thanks so much for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well, if you’ve ever had to wait for the irrigate to get hot when you’re ready to take a shower, you’re going to adore this. There are on-demand water heaters that have a built-in circulation, which means that it’s going to deliver instant hot water for your part residence with no waiting.
TOM: Now, with most water heaters, you’ve got to wait for the cold water in your tubes to travel to your shower. And if you have a bath that’s in the far end of the house from where the sea heater is located, a lot of periods it’s got to go from the first floor or the basement the whole way down the house and then up to the bathroom. So it can take a long time. But if you’ve get built-in recirculation and a high-efficiency tankless water heater, there is no more waiting because the water is spouted through your pipes before you need it. So it’s ever hot, it’s always good to go and it’s there right when you step in first thing in the morning.
LESLIE: Yeah. And not only does it stop that blast of cold water in your face first thing in the morning, you’re going to save up to 12,000 gallons of sea per year because you’re not going to be running all that cold water waiting for it to get hot.
TOM: It’s a great option if you’re replacing your water heater. So keep it in intellect because, first of all, it’s tankless; you never run out of hot water. And because it’s high-efficiency, it can be expressed directly abusing PVC pipe. And since it’s smaller than a barrel irrigate heater, you’ve came a lot of station options.
So, huge technology. Love to see this is happening in service industries since we are litter so much water. And people get so exasperated just waiting for it to get hot. It’s a question we get a lot and finally, we’ve got a great solution.
LESLIE: Liz in New Jersey is on the line and she has a kind of thrifty idea. She wants to reuse wall-to-wall carpeting? What’s going on?
LIZ: Yes. I have carpeting that is 20 years old but it’s in my front room, which hardly anybody – you don’t have to step on it to go through other parts of the house. And it is all well and good. And I was wondering if I could have that taken up, because underneath is hardwood and I wanted to refinish it. But my carpeting in my bedroom, which is smaller, is worn. And I was wondering if I could situate that carpet in the bedroom.
TOM: I don’t meet any reason that you couldn’t do that. You know, pulling the carpet up is pretty easy to do as long as it was put down precisely to begin with.
Now, I will admonish you, if that cavity in the living room turns out to be not one piece of carpet but carpet with a stratum in the middle of it, that seam could be your weak link. That seam might not be obvious to you, if it was done well to begin with, but when you take the carpet up, you may find that it’s mostly two bits of wall-to-wall carpet seamed together with seam tape. And then if you try to move that piece upstairs, the strip could break apart because now you’re kind of disturbing it. And you may have a bit of a mess on your hands.
But I see no reason why you couldn’t reuse the carpet. It’s certainly possible. That said, I suppose the most expensive part of this project is going to be the labor, because you’re going to have to have a professional carpet installer do this work. And considering the fact that the upstairs bedroom is fairly small, the added cost of brand-new carpet might not really add that much to the overall project.
LIZ: Oh.
TOM: So think about the economics of this, OK? If you’re going to spend money on an installer, then it’s going to cost you X dollars to have them come in, make the aged carpet out, cut a new portion to fit upstairs and move it upstairs. How much more can the carpet maybe cost you, extremely if you bought a remnant or something of that mood?
LIZ: Oh, I accompany. Yeah. I think it’s one entire, long piece. I truly do.
LESLIE: It depends. Because, usually, the bars of carpeting are 13 hoofs. So if you’ve got a run of the area that’s bigger than 13 feet, then you’re probably going to have a seam somewhere in there.
The other thing to consider is that 20 -year-old padding might not be reusable, so you might have to get new pillow. Whereas if you got new carpeting, they’re going to throw in padding, for the most part. So, to be considered all those things.
TOM: Alright, Liz. Well, good luck with that projection. We “ve given you” some nonsense considered in, 888 -6 66 -3 974.
LESLIE: Cody in Texas, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
CODY: Yes, ma’am. I was calling because I’m having a problem with scorpions and imperfections and material. And I was going to see if you could recommend an frugal direction to treat them, both inside and out. We’ve used commercial-grade firms in the past to come in and scatter. That’s only not in the budget right now. And I’ve tried Sevin Dust specks outside and just wanted to see if you could recommend anything that would be good inside and out.
TOM: Well, if you’re concerned about spiders, there’s a new commodity out called Miss Muffet’s Revenge, that’s made by the Wet& Forget Company, that’s inexpensive and can keep them out for a year. But I don’t think that’s going to keep the scorpions out.
CODY: OK.
TOM: One natural commodity that folks have reported good success with is boric battery-acid. And boric battery-acid can be applied a number of ways. You can scatter the pulverization, you can mix the gunpowder with sea and spraying it. But you have to remember it doesn’t kill on contact; it essentially kind of messes with the skeleton organisation of the scorpion and causes them to die from dehydration. So, it’s more a preventative than it is sort of an immediate call- an immediate-result product.
CODY: Spray it around the foundation, on the exterior of the residence? Too would I want to spray that inside or would it be OK to spray inside?
TOM: Well, you could spray it inside, as well. I make it’s somewhat safe to spray inside and outside.
LESLIE: Yeah. Another natural oil that they just don’t seem to like, for whatever reason, is cedar oil. So if you mingle cedar oil with water and then spray that around your bound or if you’ve came chinks or crannies in your footing or on your interior, you can use that, as well. They likewise don’t like lavender. So if you plant some lavender around your organization, they’ll tend to stay away.
CODY: Awesome. I admire the assistance, person. You all have a great rest of the day.
LESLIE: Give us a order with your dwelling fixing or your home betterment question, 24/7. We’re standing by at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
TOM: Well, guys, you know fall is fire season. And I want you to think about the last time you changed your smoke detectors. If you can’t remember or the answer is never, it’s a good time to replace them now because there’s been a big change in the manufacture of these. We’re now looking 10 -year batteries. The detectors have become, essentially, permanent contraptions. You buy one with a 10 -year battery. It is not replaceable. So, after 10 times, you simply toss it out and buy a new one.
You know, think of it like a mixer or some other tiny gadget for your residence. After 10 times, it’s time to get a new one. Well , now, it’s going to be like that with smoke detectors. I think it’s excellent because this is the fire season, so to speak. We’re turning heating systems on, so a great time to think about replacing that with one that has a 10 -year battery so you know you’re always protected.
LESLIE: Alright. Now we’re going over to Michigan, where Linda is on the line and wants to add onto a farmhouse. How can we help you with that?
LINDA: Well, I have about a 100 -year-old farmhouse and I- the only bathroom is upstairs. It’s a two-story farmhouse. And I want to age in place, so I want to add another lavatory downstairs. And also, I inherited a doll collecting from my mother and it’s stored in all the storage in all the areas, so I kind of want to bring it into one room and add another room for that and hobbies.
People have been suggesting that I simply- oh, exactly supplement a- break up one of the areas in the house and only settled a shower any old place. But the chambers are really well proportioned; it’s good cross-ventilation. I don’t want to have a mess. I want to have some vogue to the adds-on, so beings have suggested that I go to either an inventor or a drafter or interior designer. I don’t know- I’m not sure what that process involves and how many I should go to or …
TOM: Well, I think that you affected the hammer on the top and that is to hire an inventor. Because, virtually, you want to make sure that whatever you do to this house flows and maintains its structural unity, as well as its design integrity. So an architect can help you do only that.
Selecting where to keep that bathroom will be a balance of settlements trying to decide where it fits best in the design, where the plumbing is now, what it would take to get the plumbing where it needs to be for this particular bathroom and then how best to design those offices for your collects and that sort of thing. The designer can manage with such structures and the mechanical plans. Once that’s done, then you could consider bringing in an interior designer to help lay it out and pick emblazons, pick furniture and make it work for you visually.
LESLIE: And I review the other good thing about bring back the architect is they may have an interior designer that they work with. You can bring in your own. They’ll be able to sort of work together to help you specify the right fabrics for the right arenas. So it really is a strong partnership.
LINDA: I find. Now, do I drawing- do I talk or consult with two designers and get their thoughts? Or do I just go with one and get the designs?
TOM: What I would do is I would bring in one or two or maybe three inventors to see the quality, tell them what you want to accomplish, catch out how they use. You get a feel for them, yeah, they get a feel for you and then you make a decision based on that.
LESLIE: I think you meet with somebody – you meet with two or three architects, as Tom showed. Just get a feel for them, because you’re going to know if you want to work with them, you’re going to know how well you communicate back and forth. You’ll sort of spitball intuitions there during that converge and get a really good sense of how much they’re understanding you. And whoever you feel the most comfortable with, I fantasize, is what’s going to lead you to the right decision. And then you’ll start drawings.
LINDA: OK. I did get a card from someone who squandered them but- exerted such person or persons but he was- this placard says he’s a enlist consultant.
TOM: You don’t require a drafter, OK? You miss an architect. You merely want an designer- a good-quality architect. So focus on that first. You could take- often, they’ll have bibles that prove some of their past jobs. You can see what kind of work they do.
It’s “re going to be” – you’ll figure out, through a process of elimination, which one you’re most comfortable with and that’s the person that’s going to get the job. But they’re well worth the financing because they’re going to make this process easy and they’re “re going to be” – you’re going to be assured that it comes out accurately as you plan.
If you bring in some- if you go right to the contractor step, they’re just going to squeeze this bathroom in wherever they think it fits and you’re not going to be happy with it. So get the architect; they’re well worth their investment.
LINDA: OK. Great.
TOM: Good luck with that activity. Thanks so much for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Well, fall is the season when everybody starts to really clean out their garages. So you’ve got a lot of stuff in there from the summer season and you want to get into it, get wise coordinated before you need all that winter stuff. But formerly you go through it and you’re starting to get rid of things, how do you get rid of the scum that’s considered toxic? And what exactly is considered toxic? And some of those might surprise you.
TOM: Yeah. For example, coat is considered toxic even if it’s latex. I mean we gave it on the walls of our kids’ rooms, right? But most jurisdictions do consider getting rid of extra paint to be toxic, so you can’t applied paints, paint strippers, auto lubricants and other chemical trash out with the household trash. Instead, a lot of municipals have household-waste drop-off websites that are set up especially for the toxic waste. We know it’s a fus but it’s probably better for you and the environment.
LESLIE: Yeah. Now, another item that’s considered toxic is batteries. And the best bet is to check with those big-box retail stores by you, where they are unable to give return-to-vendor chests that are made solely for recycling batteries.
And speaking of retailers, aged computers, TVs and other electronics is likely to be stopped off at many national retailers for safe disposal. And some of those include Best Buy and Staples.
TOM: Yeah. You know, Best Buy, for example, we checked in with them and they tell us they collect more than 400 pounds of make for recycling every minute the accumulations are open.
LESLIE: Wow.
TOM: Yeah. And in 2020, by the end of it, they’re going to recycle 2 billion pounds of electronics. So that’s amazing. So, all well and good, Best Buy.
So don’t throw your recyclables – your electronic recyclables- out with the junk. Take it to Best Buy or take it to Staples.
LESLIE: Hey, how would you are ready to rebuild your lavatory with some new, beautiful tub fixtures and faucets from American Standard and Grohe? Well, you can by enter the RiverbendHome.com Beautiful Bath Sweepstakes at MoneyPit.com/ Sweepstakes.
Now, we’re giving away $ 3,500 in shower faucets, fixtures and more, all from RiverbendHome.com. You can enter once a day at MoneyPit.com/ Sweepstakes.
TOM: And I love the way this is set up, because if you post your entries to your social-media pages, you can earn bonus enters. So, go to MoneyPit.com/ Sweepstakes and start penetrating today.
LESLIE: Cary in Alaska is dealing with a heating trouble. It’s cold there. What’s going on?
CARY: I live off-grid with a battery bank and inverter with a solar and generator backup to recharge batteries. Consequently, I’d- and I have a full electric residence with propane direct-vented furnace. My question is: will installing a discontinue ceiling improve my heating efficiency and lower my propane bill? Because my ceilings are vaulted at 17 paws. And a lot of the heat goes up, so I’m just wondering- basically a 12 x 24 -foot area.
TOM: So, Cary, what you need to do is to not only put in that drop ceiling but to put insulation batts above the cease ceiling. If you exactly employed the lower ceiling in, you will not have enough R-value in that drop ceiling to do the job you need it to do. So I would construct the discontinue ceiling and then I would position probably at least 12 -inch-thick unfaced fiberglass batts on top of it. It should be plenty strong enough to support that. Really stacked aim to goal right above that ceiling.
You’re going to have to kind of positioned the frame in, applied a couple of ceiling panels in, lowering some isolation in and sort of work your mode across. But if you were to leant that much insulation above the remove ceiling, it will have a huge difference in your heating money. Because right now, you’re spending most of that coin to heat that ceiling hole and you’ve just got to keep the heat lower than that.
CARY: OK. Well, that’s good to hear. I admire the help there.
LESLIE: Well, fall is the season to get your lawn ready for the coldnes winter onward. So, here’s a four-step checklist to make sure that your ground is good to go.
First of all, keep on mowing that lawn but never trim more than a third of the grass blades off in a single trim. Now, this is going to allow for more sun to reach the base of the grass, which impedes brown-out in the winter. Letting it grow too high may also attract lawn-damaging field mice. It’s OK to keep mower blades on the lowest setting for the last two cuts of the season.
TOM: Now, next, you want to aerate your lawn. The contracted clay will hurt your grass growing. Aerating pierces flaws into the soil. It gives in oxygen and ocean and nutrients get back into the lawn. A couple of ways to do that. You can be utilized a walk-behind aerator or you can get an attachment that attracts behind a riding mower. And once you get done with the aeration, generally it’s a good hypothesi to do a seeding, because grain is inexpensive. It precipitates in those punctures and it grows really well in the drop and it’ll be nice and strong grass, as a result, next summer.
LESLIE: Now, another good practice is mulching your needles. Many mowers can mulch the leaves with an connect. And since mulching with a mower can mingle grass clippings with needle corpuscles, these nitrogen-rich grass particles and carbon-rich leaf molecules will compost more rapidly. Together, they return nutrients to the soil.
TOM: And ultimately , now is the time to repair any bald spots in your lawn. We had a few to fix this year because the deer were stomping on the lawn. And in the summer, we pretty much soil that grass right away.
So, had a bunch to fix. The easiest room to do that is with one of the all-in-one lawn-repair mixtures. You can find them at garden-variety patronizes and dwelling midsts. They have the seed and the fertilizer all together in- it seems kind of clumpy when you get it out of the pocket but you can just use a garden smooth or dethatcher to scratch the loose soil on the spot and scatter them down. Then water them regularly until the grass starts to take hold.
LESLIE: Linda in Rhode Island is on the line and needs some help with winterizing the A/ C force. What’s going on?
LINDA: Well, I was wondering if someone could give me this proper procedure to shut down the unit for the winter. Because it was not successful last winter, I ended up with a number of problems when I went to start it up in the spring. So I visualized, perhaps, I had not done something that maybe should have been said and done I wasn’t aware of.
TOM: Ah, probably just bad luck, Linda. When you have an outside central air-conditioning compressor, there’s truly not much to be done in the winter except that what the hell is generally recommend is that you turn the strength off to it. And then you cover the top of it. One thing you don’t want to do is cover the sides of it, because you have to let moisture move in and move out.
If you perfectly wrap it up- I’ve seen beings totally wrap them up like a holiday package. Bad idea because that captures a lot of moisture inside. It can cause condensation and corrosion. You really precisely want to cover the top to various kinds of preserve buds out. But other than that, you just leave it exposed and good-for-nothing should happen to it as a result of that.
LINDA: Oh, very good. Well, I certainly will follow that this year, because I did exactly what you said: I wrap it up like a package recalling I was protecting it.
TOM: And maybe that didn’t work out so well. So, yeah, I think you maybe make it a little bit too much TLC. So precisely cover the top to stop the leaves from get in but leave the sides open so it can air out properly, OK? So it is able cool properly.
LINDA: Well, thank you ever so much.
TOM: Linda, thanks so much for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: We’re going to take a post now from Jonathan who writes: “I’m concerned about VOCs when covering my lockers. Is it OK to use an oil-based primer with a latex cover in order to cut down on the VOCs? Also, if the cabinets I’m painting have laminate places, do I was also necessary prime those, as well? ”
TOM: OK. So, Jonathan is concerned about VOCs, who the hell is volatile organic compounds. They were used a lot more before paint became more environmentally friendly like it is now. I would not be concerned about consuming it on my kitchen cabinet. And in fact, I would recommend that not only the primer but the topcoat be oil-based or “solvent-based, ” as we call it in the industry, because it’s actually a lot tougher than latex.
Latex paint is great for a lot of things but when “youre trying to” threw it on a cabinet door or drawer that’s going to be opened and closed and slammed all the time, you’re going to find that it time doesn’t take that kind of abuse. I symbolize the draw has come a long way. It is not as much of an issue, in areas of environmental revelation, as it used to be. Of trend, you know, choose a nice day for your assignment, set up a space fan to exhaust area breeze to the outside so you have plenty of good the sector of ventilation.
And too, by the way, if you’re doing kitchen cabinets, it’s smart to take all the doors and drawers off and do everything separately. It’s merely a heck of so much easier. Just be sure you prep cabinet ministers properly before covering, because that’s going to make sure the depict sticks.
LESLIE: But you know what, Jonathan? You can also- at this time, you can change your hinges, you can add a different finish grip, you can add some brand-new equipment. It’s truly a great chance to sort of give your closets an even more extra new look. So, get on it.
TOM: For the most part, plumbing systems rarely leak. Nonetheless, one role, unearthed just outside the laundry-room wall, does. It’s the rubber hoses that connect the washing machines to the valves. And lover, when those hoses end, the seep can be so bad it can collapse the ceiling of the flooring below it and pretty much ruin all the furnishings. But if you make one change to those hoses, you can save yourself a lot of grief for about 20 horses. Leslie clarifies, in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word.
Leslie?
LESLIE: Yeah. Now, this is a problem that give cause homeowners countless heartaches over the years for one reason: for decades, manufacturers have always sent brand-new cleanse machines with rubber hoses. Now, the problem is that the rubber wears out, hoses crack, they words swells and eventually they divulge, dumping millions of gallons of ocean onto the floor below and below that and below that. That spray can travel.
TOM: You are so right.
LESLIE: So, the best way to prevent this is to remove your washer’s rubber hoses and replace them with stainless-steel hoses. Now, these overhead about $20 but almost never, ever divulge. Really shut off the water-supply valves and remove and supplant the old-time rubber hoses with stainless. It’s a very easy DIY project.
Now, if you want to take it one pace further, think about adding a single-lever shutoff valve to the washer supply line. This mode, you can turn the water off between uses.
And there’s too a number of smart-home makes available out there that are going to monitor the liquid flow at your main water valve. And then it can alert you if it detects an remarkable occurrence, like a water line that’s not been shut off or is never shutting off and there’s a big sum of liquid somewhere in your dwelling. So, emphatically a good project to have some of those technologies helping you out at home.
TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Coming up next time on the programme, whether you’re a young mom with her mitts full or taking care of an aging parent, universally-designed concoctions offset life so much easier and safer. We’re going to share why universal design works for homes and folks of all ages, on the very next edition of The Money Pit.
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.
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