Episode #2076: Kitchen Spruce Ups for Renters | Secret Code for Best Air Filters | Power Plan for Black Outs | Your Q & A
Show Notes:
If you’re a renter, you may think you’re stuck with your kitchen. Not so! We’ll share 5 non-destructive spruce ups for your rental space that can be done without ruining your security deposit! Filters for your heating and cooling system can help remove dust and make it a bit easier to breather. But with so many to choose from, which form truly does the best job? We educate you how to decipher the ratings to find the best air filter, just in time for the Spring allergy season.Power outages can strike without warning- especially with winter breaths and outpouring gusts. We got a plan for you to power through when your power is down.Filtered pitchers improve spray perceive and quality but take an effort to keep crowded. We explore options in whole room water filter structures that treat all water in the members of this house, right from the tap.
Plus, answers to your home improvement questions about expending Trex decking, removing or painting wallpaper, lay blow in separation, remove a tub matted, installing a blower on fireplace, steps to building a modular dwelling
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: We’re here to help you take on your residence improvement projects. Consider us your tutor, your helper, your home improvement healer for whatever ails you when it comes to fixing up your room, your home, your condo, heck, your trailer or your yurt. Those all counting. If it’s what you call “home, ” it’s what we’re now to help you take care of. Do it formerly, do it right and don’t have to do it again. And save a lot of money in the process. Help yourself firstly by picking up the phone and calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT with those home improvement and decor questions. Or your pole your question to The Money Pit website at MoneyPit.com.
Coming up this hour, if you’re a renter and not all that happy about your kitchen, well, you might think there’s not a whole lot you can do about it. Not so. We’re going to share five spruce-ups for that seat that can be done without wrecking your security deposit.
LESLIE: And likewise onward, filters for your heating-and-cooling system can help remove dust and make it a bit easier to breathe. But with so many to choose from, which character genuinely does the best job? We’re going to help you sort out what it takes to breathe easy, especially during the upcoming spring-allergy season.
TOM: Achoo, achoo.
LESLIE: Seriously.
TOM: It’s really approximately here.
And power outages can strike without warning, especially with the present winter hurricanes and spring storms that are coming. We’re going to have a plan for you to power through when your power is down.
LESLIE: And no matter what, when you listen to The Money Pit, you can always get in on our enjoyable giveaways. And this one is sure to represent you want to stick around. We’re giving away the Arrow GT3 00 Glue Gun importance $49.
TOM: Travelling out to one listener sucked at random, so impel that you. Pick up the phone, bellow us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT or affix your questions to MoneyPit.com.
Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first?
LESLIE: Heading over to Mississippi where Carl is taking on a decking campaign. What can we do for you?
CARL: Yes. I’m telling you I had this trouble with a floor for some years, where I would oust the boards and then stain it and cover it up, close it up good. And yet, I seem to have committees that still kind of rot on me. So I was toying with the idea of using the material that I assure advertised called a “Trex board” or something similar to that.
TOM: Yep. Mm-hmm.
CARL: How much maintenance do I have to face with that?
LESLIE: Yeah, Trex decking is great. It’s a composite, which necessitates it’s made out of plastics and other materials. It’s super durable. It’s not going to rot or twist or warp like an organic material would, like regular timber. It necessitates, genuinely, little upkeep. I mean you do have to clean it every so often, just because it does get yucky from the elements outside. It does get hot in the sunlight, so preserve that in mind.
And there’s a variety of price pitches. Now, the lower part of the expenditure stage, I belief, is a solid, single emblazon. And I think there’s simply two emblazon options. I retain a gray and a chocolate-brown. One feature has a smoother texture; the other side has more of a heavy, wood-grain look to it. And then, of course, the higher price-point intent- look like a variety of wood sorts and are really beautiful.
Tom and I both, actually, have it. I have mine in a screened-in porch and the steps conducting out to the yard and it’s been superb. It looks great. It lasts a very long time. I’ve certainly had to do nothing to it in, I speculate, the 12 years- something like that- that I’ve had it.
CARL: How difficult is the installation?
TOM: It’s not seriously difficult. There are special fuckings that are designed to use with a composite the hell is- they sort of have, in a teach fleck, sort of body to them so that they sort of cut their mode in. Otherwise, you get a mushroom that comes up when you drill into it, in the interests of plastic. But they’re pretty easy.
And they’re likewise- and it’s not just Trex. There are many types of composite decking out there. Some of them have obstructed affixing plans so you don’t even check the fasteners. So if you time look into this whole category of composite decking, I think you’ll provide solutions there.
With most decks, you can remove the decking board itself. You keep the structure, so you keep the enclose that supports the floor. I would probably supplant the railing, extremely, so that all efforts you see is going to be composite now. I call that sort of a “deck-over project.”
CARL: Yeah.
TOM: And as Leslie mentioned, there is a little bit of upkeep, specially if you’re in an area, like Mississippi, where it gets warm and moist. You may have some algae that grows on it but you can clean that. But again, it will do so without generating any structural damage to that committee whatsoever.
CARL: And that’ll still prop the force like anything, like a 2×6 would?
TOM: Absolutely, absolutely. Mm-hmm.
CARL: That’s wonderful. Wonderful. Racket like a great product. I’ll disappear get some and get to work.
TOM: Alright, Carl. Thanks so much for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Cecily in Iowa is on the line with a wallpaper conundrum. What’s going on at your coin cavity?
CECILY: Well, I have a probably 24 -year-old townhome that I consider the working paper has been participating in the wall since- for that long.
TOM: It was popular back then.
CECILY: Yeah, yeah. Back then.
I’m just wondering- party I had in here try our best to, where the wallpaper laughingstocks up against the ceiling, there’s- it looks just like a bad errand and there’s some distinguishes. And he thought he could wipe it down. And everywhere he cleaned it down, there’s like a watermark all along where he- looks a lot like icicles: an bumpy direction of watermark.
And I don’t know if it can- I’ve been told you can paint over it. We have vaulted ceilings; it’s a lot of newspaper. And I don’t know how you would- if what- they made it off. There’s actually some posts papered with it and I don’t know what’s underneath.
TOM: I reflect the answer is you can remove it. It’s a lot of work, like any type of wallpaper.
CECILY: Right.
TOM: If you just wanted to depict over it, it’s going to look like the wallpaper underneath.
LESLIE: Textured paint.
TOM: It’s going to look textured underneath. So, if you want to do like a really inexpensive, short-term fix, you could paint over it. I would recommend that you use a particularly dense roller on that because otherwise, it’s going to be very hard to get the paint in where it has to go. And maybe you might even need to use a slitted roller: the kind of roller that we use on textured ceilings where it has actually sort of slits in it. Because it really comes in and around and thick-skulled and will sort of fill in that entire surface with paint.
CECILY: Mm-hmm. Is it seriously difficult to remove?
LESLIE: It depends on how long it’s been there, what the prep process was to the wall below the working paper. All of those can add up to an easy errand or a tremendously difficult job. And it’s one of those things that you don’t know until you try. And the report contains the resources necessary to do it.
Now, with a textured wall treating like this, whether it’s grass cloth or the string cloth, you can try to use a store-bought wallpaper remover. You can use a steamer. You can do homemade brews. One is white vinegar and hot water; another is fabric softener and hot water. Both status, you super-saturate the walls and just sort of cause it sit here for a few minutes. I’ve even heard of clothing starch with hot water and making a paste onto the wallpaper.
And I’ve squandered the fabric softener and that does work. That was a traditional vinyl, which I had to score first. But I’ve too heard with grass cloths, that you can take a paint scraper and rub the actual string cloth or the grass cloth off of the endorse, so that might make it easier to remove. Either way, it’s going to be a lot of work and you never know what’s behind it. You could get everything off and the wall could be so textured and dinged up that you end up having to set a stratum of drywall over it anyway.
CECILY: Ah, OK. Alright. Well , thank you very much. That’s very helpful and I’m glad I called.
TOM: Terrific. Cecily, thanks so much for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Hey, we’ve went up for grabs, this hour, a really fantastic product. We use it a good deal, both Tom and I. We enjoy it. It is the best glue gun out there. It’s the Arrow GT3 00 Glue Gun and it’s up for grabs this hour.
And it was actually worded the Best Glue Gun by Popular Mechanics, so we’re giving one apart to a lucky DIYer.
TOM: Yep. This high-temp glue gun is heavy-duty. It’s durable. It’s great for DIYers and pros. It heats up really fast. And I squandered this a lot over the celebration, because we had two new hounds in our mansion that loved to make the decorates off the tree and then proceed to chewing articles of them and arising in me having to do a lot of hot-gluing to employ them all back together.
One thing I noticed is it’s got a drip-resistant nozzle, which is cool. Because, typically, I am a amateurish glue-gun user and it gets all over the place and usually end up, what, gluing your paws together at the same time?
LESLIE: It hurts, too.
TOM: It does hurt. And it’s truly designed well, so it fits neatly in your hand. So it’s pretty much good for school and craft campaigns, as well as home repairs or carpentry. Going to go out to one listener sucked at random from those that reach us for today’s show.
Couple of ways to do precisely that: pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT or post your questions, right now, to MoneyPit.com.
LESLIE: Heading to Pennsylvania where Dave has got a question about preserving his brick mansion nice and warm. What’s going on?
DAVE: Well, I’m remodeling it and it’s a balloon-frame construction, which necessitates it – you are well aware, there’s no card to stop the fire if it goes up the fervor blocks. And I have lath and plaster.
LESLIE: Feel like we have the same house, Dave.
DAVE: Well, they’re delightful houses.
TOM: Yeah, sure. And well-built, very. So you’re trying to figure out how you can fill that hole without sort of destroying the wall or the brick on either side, correct?
DAVE: Or creating a mold problem.
TOM: Yeah, I was told you. OK.
So, in this case – first of all, let’s talk about insulation priorities. I know that we all want to run to those exterior walls to isolate them first. But the most important place in any dwelling to segregate is that uppermost ceiling, right underneath the attic. And in most places in this country, most residences in its own country, there’s not enough. So, if you’re in Pennsylvania, you really need to have 15 to 20 inches of fiberglass or the equivalent in that space. That is the single, most effective way to increase comfort and shorten heating and cooling bills.
Once that’s done, then we can talk about the walls. The walls are much harder to insulate, as you’ve described, because you don’t want to destroy the plaster on one side and you have brick on the other. The only way to do this is with blown-in insulation. And the blown-in insulation you’re going to want to use is cellulose.
Now, it’s really a responsibility that has to be done professionally because, first of all, they have to identify where those holes are, which you can do with an infrared camera. And they need to make sure that every cavity is completely replenished. And when the cellulose is blown in, it has to go in under a certain amount of influence, because there’s a little bit of agree that happens. And so that’s why it’s a little bit of a- it takes a fair amount of sort of insulation craftsmanship to get this right. But that’s the step that you would need to follow to make sure you get the insulation in those cavities. Once it’s done, you’ll be able to see before-and-afters with the infrared camera to make sure that you’ve gotten all of those cavities filled.
Now, if you can’t get to that, because of expense or time or hassle – you will have small, circular depressions about 2 inches in diameter to be patching at every open space- every open bay, I “re saying”- on the inside. The other part of this that you might want to do is to make sure that the box beam, from the cellar or crawlspace- that outermost, lower slouse of the grove floor beam on the exterior wall- is also heavily shielded. Because that will stop a lot of breeze that will try to kind of come up under the brick, so to speak, and working here action in there.
But that’s genuinely what you have to do when you have a brick house. You certainly want to concentrate on that attic insularity firstly. The casket radiation is an easy thing to check off the mark, as is the attic isolation. And then you deal with the walls. And that’s how you would deal with it and that’s certainly the most efficient way to do it.
DAVE: OK. Hey, do they have a product, like vermiculite, that you can still put in the walls?
TOM: The blown-in cellulose is really the upgraded account of that. You don’t want to use vermiculite, because vermiculite – you know the reason it’s not used too much anymore? It contains asbestos. So , not such a good plan to use that.
DAVE: Alright. Thank you very much.
TOM: Dave, good luck with that assignment. Thanks so much for announcing us.
DAVE: Appreciate it.
LESLIE: Well, if you’re a renter and you’re not joyful with your kitchen, you might think that you’re pretty much put with it. Well, you’re not. Here are a few simple but impactful projects that you can do to refresh the seat without busting your budget or putting your security deposits at risk.
Now, this is a great idea and I actually love to use this in a lot of places around the house. You can use an adhesive backsplash, maybe a peel-and-stick tile or a peel-and-stick vinyl wall cros, something like that that’s water-resistant, really easy to was put forward but best of all, removable. You crave something that’s repositionable, removable, temporary. Super-duper-duper awesome.
You can actually too append a plywood, sort of as a temporary backsplash that you’ve placed tile onto, and tile onto that and sort of make it as segments that come on and off. That’s a great way to add a special look that you like, that’s too not permanent. That’s the key thing.
Now, vinyl-floor fragments, that’s another option. You can lay it out like a rug. They’re heavy-duty. They’re durable. You can chip them to fit a seat, which really does them a great temporary mixture for a small space like a kitchen.
Other things that you can do is you can change out a glowing fixture. Save the brightnes fixture. Put the other one back when you leave, so you can have something more personal. I want there’s lots of stuff you can do. You can add lighting under lockers. You can remove window medications if they’re there, if you want more light-colored, or lend your own window medications. Spates of different things, because you can always fill a fasten depression on your way out.
TOM: And sometimes, less is more, peculiarly when you make the doors off cabinets. If you do that, you can have sort of this open-shelf look and kind of help warm up the opening, specially if it’s a lumber locker. And having all your stuff in plain sight likewise magnetism you to be organized, bide elegant, stand tidy.
LESLIE: Yeah, true.
TOM: Hey, if you’ve came a matter of programmes just like that, you’ll find answers on The Money Pit website at MoneyPit.com.
LESLIE: Renee in Texas is on the line with issues and questions about scavenging a irrigate heater.
Welcome, Renee.
RENEE: I’ve got a stinking water heater. I’m going to have to go down to my daughter’s house for about four months. I turned the water heater off because they supposed I’d be there through the winter and they didn’t want it to freeze. And they drained it. And when I come back to the house and constructed it back up, the ocean stinks.
TOM: Does it have a sulfur-like smell? Does it smell like decaying eggs?
RENEE: Yeah.
TOM: Yeah. OK. So what’s going on is that you need a new anode rod. If you look at the top of the ocean heater between where the two tubes are, you’ll find what looks like kind of a hex nut, like a big bolt. And right below that is an anode rod. It’s called a “sacrificial anode” and it goes down into your sea heater. And the spray greetings with it and it takes that odor apart , among other things. And so if you have a strong odor, that’s what you have to replace.
It’s not for the faint of mettle. It was hard to get that anode pole out, even for an experienced plumber. So, you’re going to have to decide whether you want to go through the hardship of replacing the anode baton or you just want to replace the water heater.
Alright? And that’ll do it. Thanks so much for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
LESLIE: Ron in New Jersey is on the line with a hearth question. What’s going on?
RON: I lives in a condo or townhouse. It’s about 25 year olds and it has one of those hearths that’s the metal type they just set in there and they build those studs around it- sheetrock. And it’s gas logs. Well, it doesn’t really work too well. And a couple years ago when we had no electricity, I tried to use it for heating but it genuinely didn’t blow any heat in. It simply pretty much went up the chimney.
I’m thinking about replacing it but I’m not sure- I have really no suggestion if there’s one type better than the other that would also serve as an emergency heating system in the house.
TOM: So, the reason you’re not getting enough heat out of it is because it’s a gas fireplace and they rarely put out a great deal of heat. In your dispute, to replace it you would have to replace the part gang. This unit is called a “zero-clearance fireplace” because mostly, it’s an insulated casket that can go against a combustible wall and not have any problems being used.
So if you put in a wood-burning, zero-clearance fireplace, you’ll find that you’ll get a lot of heat out of it. And if you want to step up the amount of heat that you could potentially get out of it, opt for the version that has a blower built in. And the blower will basically take air from the base of the fireplace, run it behind the firebox and out the top. And that will supply, actually, quite a bit of heat.
RON: So it would be a wood-burning though? Not the gas record?
TOM: Yeah, it would be wood-burning. You’re never going to get- well, you are eligible to gave a gas fireplace in. But I really don’t think you’re going to get the same amount of heat out of it and frankly, I’m a little uncomfortable with gas-burning fireplaces. I think there’s a real carbon-monoxide risk with them.
RON: And it is showed? It’s got the pipe that goes up out through the ceiling and all?
TOM: But you’re still not going to get the same. It’s mostly decorative. You’re not going to get enough heat out of it, as you discovered.
RON: OK. Alright. Well , thank you very much.
TOM: Good luck, Ron. Thanks so much for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
Hey, so I made on a garage clean-out projection this weekend. And we got into the area of the garage- because it’s a two-floor garage that I improved a long time ago. We got in a zone of the upstairs where we restrain some of our Christmas stuff. And I hadn’t been sort of deep into it but sometimes the climate strikes. You dig in, you want to sort things out.
And I affect amber. You know what I obtained?
LESLIE: What’d you find?
TOM: A suitcase of about 20 incandescent light bulbs. Remember those?
LESLIE: I’ll make them.
TOM: I feel like I’ve been hoarding them or something. But we exploited them- and we used to have these Christmas bells that went around the outside of the house and we used incandescent bulbs in there. And I knew the whole bag of them, so now I’m good for a little bit. I haven’t seen one of those working in many, numerous moons.
LESLIE: I will tell you I’m a proselytize now. I have totally swopped over to LED bulbs all throughout the house. Not simply did I switch to LED, I switched to smart bulbs which …
TOM: Yeah.
LESLIE: I signify it’s challenging for some reason. I’m going to call her “The Allegra” so she doesn’t answer me while we’re chatting here. But sometimes she dislikes me and never turns the glowings on.
TOM: Yeah. Doesn’t turn on the right one? Yeah.
LESLIE: It drives me nuts.
TOM: Yeah.
LESLIE: And I’m like, “What happens if there’s no internet? ”
TOM: Well, you are well aware, we’ve switched over, too. But it was just a moment of nostalgia to see that big catch of old incandescents there.
LESLIE: I will take them, because I’m ready to go back.
Kimberly in Delaware is on the line with an interesting question. I’m reading your shower mattings got melted to the floor? How did that happen?
KIMBERLY: No, I clean houses for a living and I went to see clean a live. And the noblewoman asked me if I can get it up and she said it’s been there for two years.
LESLIE: What?
TOM: Wow. Stuck to the floor, huh?
KIMBERLY: No, to the- inside the bathtub. It melted into- inside the bathtub.
TOM: Oh, the bathtub. And you couldn’t get it up? You couldn’t pull it off?
KIMBERLY: No , no , no. I tried. It’s lodged there. It’s like cement.
TOM: I’m thinking it are likely to be glued in place and not melted. Did she buy the house with this bath mat?
KIMBERLY: No. She’s had the house for 20 times and they placed it- and she kept the shower matted there herself. And she said her husband just framed it in there so they wouldn’t fall, because they’re elderly people. And it’s been like that for two years, she said.
TOM: Well, I suspect she would know herself if it was glued in place. I don’t definitely have a good solution for you here. Generally, if I find something that’s clung and needs to be loosened up, I’ll use a make like WD-4 0. But I’m afraid to tell you to use that in the bathtub because I don’t want them to slip. But that tends to break any adhesive alliance that is resulting. But it’s likewise a lubricant.
So you could try particularly , very carefully under one corner of it, see if it loosens up. But you’ve got to rinse it completely and scrub it exhaustively because otherwise, you’ll leave a terribly slick surface there.
I guess the other thing that you could try would be an adhesive- a citrus-based adhesive remover. There are orange-based makes- citrus-based makes that can- are used to remove adhesive.
But I have a hard time believing that this wasn’t adhesive that actually glued itself to it. And I don’t think it melted. I think there was some sort of perhaps chemical reaction between the rubber mat and the bathtub that begun them to bond. Now, I will warn you that even if you get this up, it’s very possible that the surface of the tub could be damaged. And you may be having something else that you don’t like to look at there, as a result.
KIMBERLY: And that’s what I’m afraid of. Because I’m her room clean and I don’t want to get blamed for the tub being messed up, either, so …
TOM: Yeah. Then I don’t think you should take that- I don’t think it’s your responsibility. I would say you tried but it’s stuck in place and leave it at that.
KIMBERLY: OK.
TOM: I agreed to accept you. You don’t want to construct the situation worse and get them upset and then- and be potentially responsible for finding a solution to an hopeless problem.
KIMBERLY: OK. Well , thank you very much.
TOM: Yeah, you’re welcome, Kimberly. Thanks so much for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT and have a great day.
LESLIE: Well, we can all agree that you can never have too much fresh air. That is unless you are an allergy sufferer and that fresh air is loaded with pollen and dust.
Now, air cleansers and filters, they’re supposed to remove those allergens so you can breathe better. But with all the vying alleges, it’s really hard to sort out what’s what.
TOM: Absolutely. So, to start, filters are key and they’re an important part of your HVAC system. They’re going to protect you and the HVAC equipment, both heating and cooling. And the report contains four basic types.
Let’s talk about the genu that don’t require professional installation and that would be first a spun filter, the least expensive. I various kinds of jokingly call them “rock lids, ” because they don’t certainly catch a lot. They’re really super cheap but heck, they’re better than nothing.
If you want to step it up a little bit, you want to go for a pleated filter. The pleated filter is sort of folded like an accordion surface. And by doing so, it increases the amount of surface area, which manufactures it a much more efficient way to stop dust and allergens than a spun filter.
And then there’s a strengthened in from that called a “pleated electrostatic filter, ” which combines the pleated media with a static indictment. And what that does is help the dust particles stick to the filter, merely various kinds of like magnets.
But with all of these, the acces you know if you’re getting what you think you are is by checking the MERV rating- M-E-R-V. It stands for minimum efficiency reporting importances. And you’re looking for a MERV that’s between 11 and 13 for allergen protection.
LESLIE: Now, let’s talk more about electronic breeze cleaners. These seem to have come a really long way in the recent years. They’re becoming able to catch more and more even microscopic-sized molecules. But are they worth the investment?
TOM: You know, I was just thinking. Again, it’s kind of that argument that if you’re going to be in your house for the duration- and by that I convey more than a couple of years- it’s worth investing in a piece of equipment like that. It’ll probably raced you, I’d say, probably at least $1,000 if not a little more installed.
But basically, it’s an electronic filter that’s installed into the return-duct side of the HVAC system. Not a DIY product. And what it does is it electronically kind of pullings out the tiniest specks, like viruses and even bacteria, and derives them to a collector dish. So it’s a extremely, very efficient way of saving your aura as clean as possible.
LESLIE: Now, since we’re talking about filters, I’ve got to ask you about this: duct cleaning. I feel like a good deal of beings request us questions about whether duct cleaning is really worth it. Is it going to make a difference? I reflect seldom you should do it, right? But what do you think?
TOM: I’m not really a devotee. And( inaudible) come out over and over again that said passage clean genuinely shows no proof of being able to establish your breath in the house any healthier. So I think it’s exactly various kinds of like the thought of having dust in your pipes, you figure, “Well, it must be there. I have to clean it out.” Not really.
I exclusively recommend it, Leslie, if you’ve had a big construction projection done.
LESLIE: Yeah. Or if you’ve merely moved into a room that you don’t know.
TOM: Maybe. I belief the bigger issue is just have a filter and make sure the filter fits. I can’t tell you how many times I, as a professional home inspector, would open up the blower section of a furnace and then see a filter jostle in there the wrong length, held in with hangers or rubber band and really not done well. It’s kind of pointless, right? You’ve got to choose the liberty filter. It’s got to be installed properly. And that’s going to keep your air as clean as it possibly can be.
888-666-3974. If you’re thinking about taking on a home programme, a decor job, an improvement, preparing for the future, give us a bawl because we would love to help.
LESLIE: Don in Missouri is on the line with a porch question. What can we do for you today?
DON: I have a four-post that has an exposed top.
TOM: OK.
DON: And the stair fence is fastened to it.
TOM: OK.
DON: It’s got a beveled top on it like that’s what they put on most of them. It’s analyse lumber and there is a crack that extends from, I’m going to say, a one-fourth, maybe three-eighths. And I don’t know how deep it is but it’s very deep. And I want to seal the top of it or shut it so that liquid doesn’t get in there for its utilization and expand the crack.
TOM: Now, Don, let me ask you a question. Do you want to draw this foyer fence? Or is it decorated now or not?
DON: No, we do not want to make-up it.
TOM: The intellect I’m asking you these questions is because I’m going to tell you what to fill that fissure with. But the problem is some of the materials that you use to fill the sound are not going to be the color of considered log; they’re going to stand out and maybe glance worse than the sound inspects right now. So I’m trying to figure out what- how you’d like this to look when you’re all done.
DON: Well, really- the main thing is to keep water from running in there and freezing, expanding.
TOM: Alright. So if you’re not so concerned about the looking, then what I would do is I would use an epoxy patching deepen. You want to use a lumber epoxy patching complex. And the above reasons I say that is because that has the ability to really stand up to the weather and bind to that lumber information. You’re going to apply it with a putty bayonet and you’re going to press it into that cracking and then let it cool and beach over the surface to try to get the excess off. That’s the best material to use for that particular situation.
Well, we’ve all insured the report tales about entire communities that had to go without ability for epoches at a time. And if a potent rain leaves you without that all-important juice, what should you do?
LESLIE: Well, first, here’s something that you should not do : don’t use candles. Invest in some good flashlights with light LED bulbs. Keep them handy. Always keep them in the same spot and retain to check those artilleries often.
TOM: Now, if your influence disappears out, you want to make sure you power-down contraptions and computers. And don’t restart them until the electricity has been turned back on for at least a half-hour. Here’s why, specially when it comes to something like your air conditioner, because when all those AC units come on, they have a big power draw right in the initial stages. And when that happens across the entire grid, it kind of helps to destabilize it. So you want to give the utility company plenty of time to get that grid up and running and stable so you don’t have numerous blackouts.
LESLIE: Yeah. And here’s a tip-off, you guys, when it comes to the fridge. Some of you like to open that door and stare at what’s going on in there. “Maybe something converted since the last time I looked.” It hasn’t. All the same stuff is in there, so restrain that fridge door closed because it will save everything nice and cold. And actually “ve been thinking about” what you want from that fridge or freezer, open it quick, seizure it, close it up.
TOM: Too, we be informed about this tragedy in virtually every storm: person buds a generator running in an enclosed space and you get carbon-monoxide poisoning. So don’t do that. Never run a gas-powered generator indoors. Don’t even run it in an open garage. And evaded cooking with charcoal-grey or propane in any enclosed domain, even an domain that’s outside with a roof over it. Don’t do it, because that carbon monoxide has a way to get everywhere.
LESLIE: Deb in Illinois, you’ve went The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
DEB: My husband and I are in the process of either building a residence or looking into having a modular put up. And I would like to know if you have any pros or cons of a modular, opposed to building a dwelling- a brand-new home.
TOM: Sure. Well, I’ve actually built both and I could be said that the modular dwellings go up quicker, generally. And they can be more accurate because everything is fabricated inside of a factory. And so you’ll find tighter regions and squarer walls and that sort of thing. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with either approaching; they both handiwork. But if you go modular, it will probably go together a little bit more quickly. And I guess the con of that is that you may not have as much flexibility in pattern with that. Again, depends on the factory you’re working with and the builder you’re working with.
I will say this: you want to make sure you choose a developer that’s very experienced with modular homes and not one who just thinks he can put together anything. Because there are some foibles to them in the way they’re built.
DEB: Alright. Well , thank you so much.
TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.
Hey, so I “ve talked to” a contractor- a mason- the other day, Leslie, and he told me about a project that he was called to bid on where another contractor had delve out the flooring around the interior perimeter of a cellar, in a house that was really, very old. Had a brick footing. If you know about brick footings, the brick groundwork and the brick wall for the vault, it’s the same thing. It doesn’t flare out at the bottom. They really start the bricks right on the ground.
The guy dug it all out and then what happened is there was a major rainstorm. So I bet you could figure out what happened next. All of that clay flowed out from underneath and the wall collapsed.
LESLIE: Oh, geez.
TOM: And guess what kind of contractor it was that was digging out that puncture? A waterproofer. This is why we rail against these guys. They don’t know what they’re doing. He did not have to dig out all of that ocean. I bet you there was some simple drainage problem with choked ditches or bad grading that would have specified it. And now, this poor homeowner has a partially crumbled residence as a result.
So, let that be a lesson to you. If you get a problem with any kind of below-grade moisture like that, merely fasten your channels, will you? It’ll probably go away.
LESLIE: Head over to MoneyPit.com and affix a question, just like Jenny did.
Now, Jenny writes: “I’ve ever squandered filtered-water pitchers but I’ve been thinking about getting a whole-house water filter in the house. What type of water would require one and how long do these filters last? ”
TOM: Well, I want a whole-house water filter is just like the figure says. It is typically lay after the water rhythm or the shaft run on the primary cold-water-line area. And because of its locating, all of the plumbing fixtures in the house will benefit from that filtered water.
I have one in my own room. I think they’re a good impression. But before having your filter installed by a ruler plumber, you need to have your water measured- especially, of course, if you’re on well water- to made to ensure that you get the best filter to fit your needs.
And in terms of filter permutations, some of those filters can previous you a year. It certainly depends on how much water you’re using. But the filter replacing is pretty straightforward. Once positioned, there’s a valve behind it and in front of it. So you put off the crowd valve to it and then you can remove and replace that filter.
LESLIE: How gigantic are these filter legions? We live in a town where the irrigate is questionable, so a lot of people get them. And I’ve ever considered it but I’ve wondered the size.
TOM: Yeah. Well, it’s a question of efficiency. The better whole-house water filters don’t have to be that large.
LESLIE: Interesting. Alright. Good to know.
Now I’ve got a post from Diane who writes: “When painting a area, do I draw the walls firstly and then the balance around the windows or the trim first and then the walls? ”
Now, I don’t know if there’s a hard and fast rule now but I always do the walls first, trim last-place. I don’t know why.
TOM: I reflect gravitation counts.
LESLIE: Well, genuine. Ceiling, walls, trim. That’s how I go.
TOM: Ceiling, walls, trim. Right. If you’ve covered all the trim and it’s all nice and perfect and then you make that large-hearted, age-old roller and you’re slopping on your walls, you’re going to slip, you are well aware?
LESLIE: Yeah. And sometimes, I accidentally roll into the trim and I’m not a taper.
TOM: Yeah.
LESLIE: I don’t tape at all. I’m a steady mitt but sometimes …
TOM: Pros hold that paintbrush like a pencil. That’s how I regard mine.
LESLIE: It’s like an extension of my hand.
TOM: Right. I had a conversation with my daughter the other day about this, because she was accommodating it just like a fraternity. I’m like, “No. No , no , no. It’s like a pencil. It’s like a penalize writing instrument.”
LESLIE: Yeah, like chopsticks. Chopsticks and a pencil.
TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Hey, thanks for spending part of your period with us, side by side, as we take on the dwelling improvement projects that you are planning to do over the next few months. I think if you’re like us, you’re thinking towards the warmer weather. I’m previously dreaming about some outdoor DIY projects to get my posterior back outside.
I always jokingly call it, Leslie- my northward bureau is the front porch and my south place is the back floor and that sort of thing. I like to move the department around.
LESLIE: You’ve get multiple locations. You know what I really discovered today? I was chit-chat with a pattern affiliate and my Good Morning America hours are 4:00 a.m. to 10: 00 a.m ., generally.
TOM: Right.
LESLIE: And they were like, “Oh, you’re on European hours.” And I was like, “That seems so many of them. I’m going to go with that.”
TOM: It’s simply too bad you couldn’t have the European experience that goes with it.
LESLIE: Right. That’s OK. I can claim. You’ve got your multiple places; I continue European hours. We’re terribly cosmopolitan.
TOM: Well, that’s what we do. And if you’ve came questions, remember, you can reach us anytime by post your questions at MoneyPit.com.
Until then, I’m Tom Kraeutler.
LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself …
LESLIE: But you don’t have to make love alone.
( Copyright 2021 Squeaky Door Creation, Inc. No portion of this transcript or audio datum may be reproduced in any format without the express written authorization of Squeaky Door Yield, Inc .)
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