Home Improvement Show 08-12-23

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Episode Transcript

(00:09):
Good morning, friends and welcome.It's the Home Improvement Show of the Midlands
and we thank you for joining uson this Saturday morning here on one h
three point five FM and five sixtyAM w VOC and across the planet on
the iHeart Radio app morning to tellyou, I'm Gary David and I'll be
joining the hour by John and KathyFegner from Rock the Top, James Carwell

(00:30):
from Freedom Plumbing, and Terry Nationfrom Nation Builders. But to get the
ball rolling this morning, now,if you let's say, let's be extreme
here, let's say you needed brainsurgery, you wouldn't go to your family
practitioner, right, Well, ifyou're looking for countertops, why not go
to the experts. And they joinedus this morning on the Home Improvement Show

(00:51):
of the Midlands. It's Marcus Greenwelland Casey Alexander from Lifetime Cabinets and Countertops.
Good morning. I feel like Iwas waiting to speak. I was
like, wait, wait, gettingup. That's how he always well,
that is true. If you want, if you want to witness this in
person, you work with these guysand Michael's will come out to your homer

(01:14):
business. Measure it up, measureit up. I always like to say,
meet the family, pen dogs,meet the kids, go in there
and do all the details and givegood advice, gauge in some witty conversation
with you as best I can.How y'all doing doing great good? It's
been I mean I had some interestingjobs lately and uh, you know,

(01:37):
people searching for materials that stuff.Yeah, really cool, And you know
it's it's kind of fun for mesometimes because I get you, I get
locked into researching some of these thatyou know, somebody will find something on
Pinterester or whatnot, and you knowit may not be right here in town,
but I can look, you know, across the network of suppliers that

(02:00):
we have and Alpha. I meanwe literally probably two dozen just here around
the perimeter of the state and intoAtlanta and up in North Carolina, you
know, not to mention friends.Yeah, and you know, at least
one of our suppliers has like eighteenlocations across the United States, so you

(02:25):
know, we can pull from allall their warehouses and get transfers done and
things like that as long as it'llmake the trip. And found some in
Dallas, Texas, I think yesterday, didn't we Yeah, and from those
same people. I mean, notnot that customer, but from the same
supplier. I've had to pull stuffas far as Seattle. So you know,
it's if it's out there, youthink we can get it, So

(02:46):
don't don't worry about you know,if some of them think that we come
into our showroom. You know,we don't have that large of a showroom
there Paradina especially. You know theshop. There's a lot out there outside
and stuff the indoor show room.You know that. You know, the
shop is kind of small, andsome people will get the idea that that's

(03:07):
our limited selection. It's not byany means no. I mean anything that
you can put your eyes on,uh, you know, pretty much anything
you can put your eyes on onFacebook or Instagram or Pinterest, I'll find
for you. I guess it backin the old days before we had all
those resources available to us, rightthe instagrams and the pictures and yeah,

(03:30):
if you went to go shop somewhere, you fought, okay, this is
all this is it? I mean, that was the extent of your knowledge
as a consumer as well as onthe lot. Yeah, Ubatuba. It
wasn't the first Getatuba. Yeah.Well, and and that means, especially
if if you are here in town, whether it be a big box store
or another you know, fabricator likeus, and you see a slab that

(03:52):
you like, Well, they haveto get it from pretty much the same
place as we do, so Ihave access to it. We can't.
So it's you know, it's notit's not hard for me to track down.
And you know, if they willbring it in and let you look
at it before before we cut it, that's the important. That's the important,
right exactly. Yeah, we won'tcut it just off that picture.

(04:15):
We want to eat it, comein and put your blessing on it.
Yeah, because once it's cut,it's cut, right, you break it,
you pay for it. Yeah,yeah, exactly. Yeah. So
I guess it's going to depend ona couple of things. You know,
who who you're resourcing this out toto get this stone, where their geographically
are in the country, and thisand that. But I mean, is

(04:36):
there typically a time frame that youexpect to be able to, you know,
actually have that in front of thecustomer for them to see it and
place their eyes and hands on it. If it's if it's in Charlotte,
Charleston or here in Columbia. Imean usually it's within a week. I
mean they they have trucks in thearea everywhere, they try to get it

(04:57):
to us as quickly as possible,and then you know we're turning jobs.
I mean almost that quick these dayswhere you know, a couple of weeks
ago, right now it's been althoughit's not like you're not busy, because
you are, oh yeah, yeah, I mean, and we got a
hundred jobs you know, waiting stillfor flooring or cabinets, carpenters are in
high the man right now, andI'm sure you know, you know,

(05:19):
Terry can tell you more about thatand whatnot, but it's it's one of
those situations where hey, you know, we've got the stune, we're ready
to cut. Can we measure?So we have a couple of extra spots.
So it's opening up spots where we'reyou know, putting people in,
especially flips that are are time sensitive. If you're flipped the house right now,

(05:42):
I gotta give us a call becauseif it's time sensitive, or if
you're ever without a kitchen, youknow, you got your cabins in and
ready for your countertops, and you'resaying everything that you know we'll, we'll,
we'll. You know, you needto get you in quick. We
can do it. I can comeout and measure because I'm without the countertop.
Okay, so you can say,well the plans call for this size,

(06:04):
but you know how that goes,right, Yeah, I mean you
got at the countertop. You've gotto be in place before you can't make
the measurement. Yeah, the captains, I'm sorry, before you can make
your measurements in order to cut thosecountertops. Recently, we were able to
help out. I mean, hecouldn't get his strength an occupancy on his
new house and uh, you know, so I was holding up, you

(06:25):
know, some financial stuff with hisbank and everything. So we were able
to get in there quick and getit done. And we got the stone.
Didn't we do it the same afternoonnext morning? Well, it was
the same after I think it wasthe same day one, same day we
received the stone. He was Icalled him up. I was in Florida.
I called him up, and hecome out there and looked at it

(06:46):
that morning, sent it to hiswife and said yep, let's go.
We cut it and put it inthat afternoon for him. He was there
when I got there that I meanthe truck. The truck was unloading.
I got there about nine forty fivein the morning. You know, we
open ten and I see him ona little dry I see the guy out
there, you know, walking aroundlooking at the slaves, taking pictures of
us are hanging in the air onthe forkliff. He probably been hanging all

(07:10):
night long way for that truck show. Oh my goodness. And it's yeah,
it's it's a it's a creative challenge, and it's it's gotta be a
lot of fun to track all thisstuff down because it's out it's out there
somewhere, you know. I mean, you know how much dirt I am
though. I mean all research andresearch I'll find, you know. He's
like, yeah, there's sixty perdolomite in this one. But it's all

(07:33):
seriousness, you know, it's youknow, we gotta get him a puppy,
the one we were talking about yesterday, getting trying to you know,
get out of Dallas. I was, you know, one of the things
I said, it's like, hey, you know, I found that stone
initially because I was looking for thisother stone and you sweet pulled up another
stone. I was like, okay, I might like that better. So
and now she you know, she'sgot two choices, and uh, you

(07:56):
know, so it's you know,it's we'll see which quae she goes,
you know, you know, sheshe she goes to the original work of
stone that I found. Then wecan get it even quicker. We don't
have to wait for that transfer firsttime. First time, everybody would know
that they were those stones were sosimilar, right, you know the first
time we were with y'all, wewe actually picked a stone awful lot out

(08:18):
in shaping a granted for our vanities. Then when we did the kitchen kund
on top of that marble, thatwas one that you you brought in from
outside. And I don't ever forgetbecause Marcus Casey sends me this this email?
Why I send it to me?And she said, Anne, but
whatever, iright, he says,been this email with this link, And

(08:41):
who knew there were so many differentvariations of almost the same pattern. I
just my mind just went, yeah, they have it. Remember sixteen different
bundles of that bloc marble in Charlotte. Yeah. So I did what any
you know, smart husband would do. I just for the email of my

(09:01):
wife, I said, this one'son you hunting. I think she picked
the one that was my favorite.Dad. Yeah, And again once it
came in, it didn't take long, and it seems that alreadycall it's really
a matter of days, you know, I'm getting y'all to call him and
saying, okay, come out andcheck it out. And you know,
sure enough, we go out thereand it's exactly. And it was one

(09:22):
of those things that to my eye, because I'm a guy, all right,
they all looked about the same tome. But to my wife,
she she knew, said, yeah, that's exactly the one I looked at,
exactly the one. So yeah,so you can do it either way.
Yeah, I mean it's easier totell that when you have like an
island or a peninsula in your case, or war whatnot. You know,

(09:45):
when you see the bigger when itgets kind to twenty five and a half
inch sections or twenty two and ahalf inch sections and a vanity, sometimes
you can kind of you know,you know, you know, is that
the one? Same one? ButI mean really it's when you have like
the today's kitchens, it's so mucheasier to see all that perspective. Yeah,
the big, big islands and all. Yeah, because get bigger,

(10:09):
yeah, stuff like that. It'sit's easier to see the finished product being
what you picked out. There's someof those stones that don't have a patagn
yeah, right, and those thoseare the really easy ones, right yea,
yeah, it's always gonna look likethat. It's just a plain color,
right, that's what that's like.The clips. Let's just get that
you get. Yeah, my brotherwas saying that the other day. He's

(10:30):
like, man, this guy heresyshould get stock in dollars, white color.
Yeah, I expect for for contractors, for developers, builders, that's
probably an easy thing, right,Just yeah, they probably come back to
each and every time they were thesame thing. Yes, yeah, it
makes sense, makes sense, allright. So again let's reiterate that because

(10:54):
of issues that aren't yours, butissues in the contracting world. Right now,
you got carpenters on backwater. Itseems like, you know, trying
to get these uh, these thesecabinets done, so you that puts what
you do at a hole for them. So that's opening up other holes for
the focus, right right, Andwell, well we'll get it and then

(11:15):
as soon as these cabinets are ready, we'll get the other jobs, right,
back on the books. I meanwe haven't waiting. We have I
mean we have a plan so uhand uh, the guys are working as
hard as they work all the time, and even some I mean, uh,
you know, even doing a fewthings here and there on saturdays.
Uh not you know, not reallyinstalls, but but unless you know,

(11:39):
but just you know, getting somesidework done and clean up war so they
don't have to do it during theweek, so they can knock out all
these installs, whether it be templatingor whatnot. It's it's uh, it's
been good to see everybody on theteam really throwing in the extra effort to
make sure everybody's really getting what theyneed these days. Now, if you
want to see Casey Alexander today,where will you be my end? I

(12:00):
will be at Fernandina across from NorthernTool there same strip as Greens behind Starbucks
there on the opposite over there byHearts and the tattoo shop. And and
you can call me on the phone. You can always, yes, you
can always reach Marcus on the phonebecause you the owner, answer all the
phone call. That's all right,And Dave, it'll be out at one

(12:22):
fifty three Shaping Road. Right pastthe hotdog man, right past Cash's Chicken
on the left. Just follow theslabs all the way through the gate.
The office is back down the back. Yeah, you got all your landmarks.
You know where to go, youknow why to go there. Lifetime
Cabiness and Countertops All right, Marcus, good to see you guys have a
great so much appreciate you guys.Rock the Top Resurfacing transforms outdated tubs,

(12:43):
tile walls, tile floors, countertopsand more without replacements, save money,
time and the environment. Free estimatesat Rock the Top Resurfacing dot Com or
eight oh three nine two o eighta fists. Lifetime Cabinets and Countertops is
your locally owned source for countertops,great selection, great prices, and they
pride themselves on superior installation and customerservice. The owner, Marcus, will

(13:07):
even personally come out to do allyour measurements. See the selection online at
Lifetime Cabinets sc dot com or stopby one of Lifetime Cabinets and Countertops two
conveniently located showrooms on Fernandeena Road andColumbia or Chapin Road in Chapin and check
out the hundreds of slabs in stockGranite marble, quartz, quartzite, They've

(13:28):
got it all. And if youcan't find exactly what you were looking for
when you're there, and that's rare, they will find it. And it's
not just kitchens and bats. LifetimeCabinets and Countertops, does outdoor patios,
vanities, bars, man caves,you name it. Lifetime Cabinets and Countertops.
Fernandeina Road in Columbia, Chapin Roadin Chapin and online at Lifetime Cabinets

(13:50):
sc dot com. Welcome you backto the Home Improvement Show of the Midlands.
That as always, Thanks for joiningus this morning here on one of
three point five FM, five sixtyAM w v o C. And as
you travel around this summer, aswe're winding summer down, lots of the

(14:11):
kids are already back at school,not only a couple of districts left here
in the Midlands to go back.But if you are vacationing, you can
always take us wherever you go.Don't forget on the I Heart Radio app
anywhere in the world. All right, time to welcome in John and Kathy
Figner. It's time to rock thattop, not rocky top, not rocky

(14:31):
Top. That's John Denver, butit's Tennessee Rose game guy bad rock the
top reservicing. How y'all do it? Great? Good to see both like
hermony act. You might have tobring you on as a harmony singer.
That wasn't bad. You wan't trythat again? Great, dang, we're
good rocket at all. Right,Now, let's let's let's quickly recap.

(14:58):
Have y'all been with us on acouple of a k but we're talking about
a process that y'all have been involvedin for a long time. I know,
John, you you got a longhistory yeah with this, and it's
it's as the name implies, originalbagster, Yeah, resurfacing. Yeah.
So rather than rip it out andreplacing, go for the third are resurface.

(15:22):
Ye. Leave it all right whereit's at. There's nothing wrong with
it except it's guilty of being ugly. Stay all right there and we'll just
make a beautiful in waterproof and alot of advantage of this for none bigger
than the cost savings of the costis unbelievably, it's unbelievable. And we're
talking about tubs, tiles, countertops, ceramic tile, floor, ceramic tile,

(15:43):
anything, Yeah, and any kindof tub, any kind of surround.
You can have the hard surfaces oror the ceramic tile, or you
know, whatever it happens to be. We can do it, leave it
right there, and it's beautiful.I think the last time you all are
in we we touched on floors.Yes we did a little bit. Yep,

(16:03):
but we may want to expand onthat this morning, if you like.
So. On floors, ceramic tilefloors, we again we just resurface
them. But the beauty of itisn't just the beauty of it. A
big factor in this is that thegroutlines are now sealed also, so you
don't have to worry about them mold, dinner, getting dirty in any way,
or changing colors on you. They'reone hundred percent waterproof so and anti

(16:26):
skid, so now it's not slippery, so dirt doesn't stick to this.
You can throw mustardwn there and wipeit right off with a towel. It's
wow. It's quite a nice option. See full love it, anti skid,
anti stain yea and waterproof and waterprooflon top of that. Yep.
When we do full bathrooms, andwe do them all the time, you
know, it's almost like encapsulating theyou could fill the place full of water

(16:48):
if you wanted to. It's waterproof. So you're reminding me that commercial I
keeps seeing on TV the guy thattapes up the house and it supposedly keeps
war from coming anyway. Grass yep, and buy that commercial. But this
is a whole different ball gaming.Yeah, we did so. Our last
project we just finished, I thinkit was we pulled paper on Monday.

(17:12):
It took three days to do twobathrooms and the kitchen countertops three days done.
That's the other thing. So thecost savings is number one. The
time savings. Yeah, I mean, if you're going to renovate two bathrooms
in a kitchen, you're talking asolid month of work for you know,
the old school. But I meanif you're going to move things around,

(17:33):
I totally get it. You know, we got a lot of friends that
we refer to that too. Ifyou want to turn a tub into a
shower, no problem, I meando that. That's not us, but
we would refer some of our friendsto that, and we're very proud of
them for the great work that theydoe. But if you want to save
a lot of money and a lotof time, you can't beat it.
It's not possible. So now,Kathy, people may have seen, you

(17:57):
know, TV commercials and such forthese overlays talking about showers in particular,
these over this is not what we'retalking about. Now. We're just gonna
leave what's there if it needs tobe repaired. So if there's cracks or
chips in the tile, or evenmissing tiles, we can repair them and
then resurface them. We can eventake like the toothbrush holder and soap dish

(18:19):
holder that are old and down thewall, take those off, fill it
in with fiberglass and make it looklike a tile, and then you don't
have that there anymore, and updatesit. That's some of the whose time
is coming. Go on the toothpasteholders on the wall, right, toothbrush
holders. Yeah, nobody does thatanymore. Right, Yeah, probably wasn't

(18:41):
a good idea to begin with,but but we'll leave it at that now,
I'm sure. Let me ask youthis, what are the questions when
you first sit down with somebody,what are the questions you most often get?
Well, like, if we're doinga kitchen countertop, let's say they
have for mica in there. Oneof the first things they want to know

(19:03):
is how does it handle heat?Sure? Yeah, I mean if you
put a red hot pan on there, how is it going to burn it?
Or what's gonna happen? So Idid a test on this with a
map torch on a ceramic tile thatI resurfaced, and I held the map
torch on there for sixty full secondsat about two inches away, and when
I removed the heat, I hadwhat I thought was a burn, a

(19:23):
circular burn on there. Right thenI took a rag and doused it with
acetone and wiped it right off.So it handles heat up to sixteen hundred
degrees, which is amazing. However, it's still a laminate countertop, so
if you put a red hot panon there, which you're not supposed to
do, it could still delaminate becauseit's still laminate, So the glue between

(19:45):
the laminate and the particle board underneathcould still Yeah, you could still have
a problem, but you'd have thatproblem anyway. So bottom line, use
a heat and pad. That's whatthey make for now. So that's one
question. Okay, that's one.What else colors do? I have choices

(20:07):
of colors, and there's literally hundredsof choices of colors. But I carry
a sample box of all the mostpopular colors with me all the time when
I do estimates and break them rightout there. And the first thing when
I opened the box, people arelike, oh wow, because I buy
a bunch of white tiles and thenI just resurfaced the tile and that becomes
my sample. And I've got,you know, smooth textures, and I
got rough textures for the anti skidsso people can feel them. And the

(20:30):
sample box is full of tiles.It's been with me for decades. It's
taken more abuse than any countertop orany tubs ever gonna take. I'll pull
a tile out and have them lookat it. Go ahead and pour some
wine in there and wipe it rightoff if you want to see how it
handles all the stains and everything.And people don't usually do that, but
they believe me. I mean,I warranty countertops forever. SO tubs is

(20:52):
a five year warranty, which isa couple of years above the industry standard.
But have not had any problems withit at all. So colors,
that's that's another question that people askabout. What other questions to yeah,
and how long it lasts? Wouldyou just touched on that. It's really
untill you are tired. Color.It's very rare that we have. Usually

(21:12):
if there's an issue, the weaknessthat it might have would be a sharp
metal objects. So if you havea chef knife in the kitchen, use
a cutting board. If you chopon it, it doesn't matter if it's
granite or for Mico or Korean,you couldn't scratch the surface. So use
a cutting board. It's you know, common sense, but you know you'd
be surprised. Oh yeah, that'sreally the only weakness that that it really

(21:33):
has. Its well, so Ican I can envision someone listening and saying,
well, this sounds cool, butwhat is it? Yeah, So
the first thing we do is putan epoxy primer on there, and it
can be any color. Usually it'swhite or gray or sometimes you know black.
Rarely is it like purple or anything, but it can be. And

(21:56):
then on top of there we spraya multi stone colors and we have many
colors of this multi stone, youknow these flex and then we dry those
and then we sand them and blowit off, and then we put three
coats of acrylic polyurethane with an Hfive hardness on there, and they can
make it an H six hardness,but that's so hard that it could be
brittle. It's too hard. Yeah, it's too hard, so you don't

(22:18):
want that. So it's uh,they got it right in the sweet spot,
right where it needs to be.They could make it an H four,
but and that's still very hard,but an H five is right where
it needs to be. And yeah, it's uh. It's fast, it's
beautiful, it's waterproof, stain proof, and you save in thousands. So

(22:40):
I can't really think of a reasonanybody wouldn't want to be doing something like
this. I used to take itall out and put it all back together
again. I know how long ittakes, I know how long, how
much it costs, and that's notthe market. Whereafter we like saving people
thousands of dollars on every single project. And when we're done, same reaction.
If you go to our Facebook wall, I mean actually record people's reactions

(23:03):
to it, and they're always thesame. And that's a wonderful feeling every
single day when we're done working.It's really my guys love it. I
love it. Sure, you knoweverybody that we work for loves it.
It's just it's a good happy place. So you're talking colors here are they
all? Is it all solid colorsor can you there's different colors you can

(23:23):
do solid Most people pick something witha fleck in it. Okay, you
know gives us some character, Iguess, So yeah, you can.
If if there's a a specific let'ssay Bear or Shrin Williams, or a
different brand color from their color chartyou want, John can request that from

(23:47):
our suppliers and they'll match that asa base with our coating as a Basically,
it's extremely rare that we would doa countertop just the solid color.
In fact, anytime anybody asked meto do that, quickly, you know,
steer him in a different direction.We can do you know, very
tiny, tiny fleck, which iswhere the industry is actually going, rather
than the busy large flex. Butto do just just white, we can

(24:12):
put some sort there's litters like thatwe can offer. It is almost there's
so little flected, it's almost none, but at least there's some to give
it some character. This is adesign choice. This is not a function
choice. Correct. There's a lotof creativity involved in that, and that's
the part that I enjoy. Isthere I'm a creative type of person and

(24:33):
I really want things to pop.It's very important to me. I work
with designers like Paige Butler, who'ssuper super good. Yeah we heard from
page last in the last segment.Yeah, yeah, it's amazing. Yeah,
she is amazing. So she's greathelping clients pick colors. If you
know, somebody's wanting to match alot of other things in the room as
well. Yeah, so let meask you this. Uh, folks listening

(24:56):
right now that want to find outmore again, you can get go to
as you mentioned, I guess whetherthe website, the Facebook page, what
have you ye, look at theproduct, look at the examples, look
at the reactions, as you mentioned. Yep, they want to get started.
I mean, what kind of timelinethis time of the year are we
looking at here? Three weeks ish? Three weeks? Right now? We

(25:18):
can slide little somebody's just got atub and surround. We can slide that
in somewhere because sometimes people call it. You know, my dog got sick
last night. Just you know,I need to move this and I can
call somebody else. We've got lotsof jobs and hey, you know,
we can slide this in for youand many times that works out really good.
So but we would probably be aboutthree weeks out right now and we
have larger projects coming to like onea project we just picked up as a

(25:41):
month long deal. So once westart, we'll do businesses too. I
mean we can do commercial commercial stuff. Yeah, yeah, we do a
lot of commercial stage away communities,bathhouses where anywhere you're seeing old, outdated
tile. If you see a walland it's all yellow and it's Fred Flintstone,
you want to get it up today, give us a call.

(26:02):
We can save you. Literally.We did one hundred foot long foot long
wall at Swansea High School about threeweeks ago and rather than turning it off,
the wall just just leave it there. We saved him so much money.
You say that taxpayers, I'm seriousthough. It looks great. Jeez,
all right, they love it.Rock the Top Reservicing John and Kathy

(26:25):
figure how to folks best reach allRock the Top reserfacing dot com or give
us a call at eight oh threenine eight two zero eight eight. I'm
James Carwell, local owner and operatorFreedom Plumbing right here in the Midlands.
After working as a plumber for nearlya decade, I decided to open my
own business, and Freedom Plumbing wasborn because of my love for this country

(26:48):
and the great respect I have forthe men and women of our armed forces
and our first responders. I namedmy company Freedom Plumbing. What sets us
apart from other companies is our customerservice. We have a five star rating
on Google, a five star ratingon Facebook, and a plus rating on
Angie's List and an a plus ratingwith a Better Business Bureau. I'm James

(27:08):
Carwell, local owner of Freedom Plumbingand we look forward to servicing you for
all of your plumbing needs. Getfifty percent off your next service call.
When you mentioned you heard us onw VOC learn more at Freedom dash Plumbing
dot com. That's Freedom dash Plumbingdot com. Hi, this is Gary
David. You've heard me talk foryears about Anthony John Construction and the wonderful

(27:30):
jobs they do for folks all acrossthe Midlands. When it comes to roofing
and guttering, well it's the samepeople doing the job, but the name
has changed. That's right now it'sBeaver Roofing and Beaver Gutters. Leave it
to Beaver for all your roofing andgutter needs. The same great service on
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(27:53):
work. Leave it to Beaver,Beaver Roofing and Beaver Gutters Welcome back to
the home and prove and show theMidlands. Thanks for joining us this morning
here on one of three point fiveFM and five sixty am w v oc
as. We're now joined by JamesCarwell, the owner of Freedom Plumbing.

(28:15):
James, Good morning, my friend, Good morning Gary. How are you.
I'm doing well man. You're alwaysworking, always working man. It's
been a while. I guess that'sthe life of a plumber. They're in
it. Huh. Absolutely, that'sa good thing though, Yeah, it's
a good thing. It's been awhile since we I think we touched on
this subject, but I thought wemight go here today. What are the

(28:38):
most common reasons why people call FreedomPlumbing or any plumber for that matter.
What are the big things that happenedthat lead us, as homeowners of business
owners to have to call folks likeyou, James. I would say the
number one call we get would berunning toilets ah. That would be one
of the biggest things that we getdripping falsets, things of that nature,

(29:02):
right, are those at all connected? They can be you know, A
main cause I would say for afailure of a fixture, be at a
running toilet or a dripping faucet,would be high pressure on the incoming water
system. Okay, which I meanas a homeowner or a business owner.

(29:23):
Anything you can do about that yourselfor do you have to call a pomber.
I mean, depends on how comfortableyou are, as I usually say,
but usually to correct that issue,well, the only thing you can
really do to correct that issue isgoing to be installing a pressure regulating valve
on the incoming line to the home. Anything over ADPSI is considered high pressure

(29:47):
on a system and can cause prematurefailure of your fixtures such as falsetts and
toilets, also water heaters and thingsof that nature. I don't want anything
over ADPSI coming in. I candefinitely weighed down those components that try to
hold the water back. Makes sense, makes sense. I know when we
first moved to the home right now, several years ago, I had to

(30:10):
call you guys out because we hadthe opposite problem. Our water pressure was
too low. Yeah, and alot of times it can be the cause
of a failed pressure regulating valve.I've seen them do some weird things when
they go bad. I've had acustomer call in one time and they heard
this home throughout their whole house whenthey ran water, and it was I

(30:30):
guess the diaphragm that water squeaking past. That diaphragm was just causing a noise
that could be heard throughout the wholehome when they ran water. So they
can do some strange stuff. Theycan reduce your pressure dramatically, reduce the
volume, which is you know,doesn't really go hand in hand with pressure,
or they can give you one hundredpercent of what the pressure coming into

(30:52):
from the you know, municipality.If it's one hundred and twenty PSI coming
in when that thing failed, itcan it can revert back to the original
psi, which means it's basically notfunctioning anymore in its capacity and what it's
supposed to do. Well. Hejust says something that I found curious.
So low water pressure and low volumearen't the same thing. Yeah, So

(31:19):
typically what you'll get if you havea volume issue is you'll get that initial
burst of pressure out of a faucet. Let's say you turn your kitchen faucet
on. You get a nice strongflow coming out, and then it slowly
kind of decreases in the amount ofwater that's coming out of that faucet.
That would typically be a volume issue, so you're not getting the volume to

(31:45):
back that pressure up. You know, your system might pressure up to seventy
psi, but the restriction of flowisn't there, so you'll get that kind
of situation how to the faucet,and typically when we run into that,
it's a failed pressure regulating valves.Okay, so okay. Obviously high high

(32:07):
water pressure, as you told us, can cause problems to the components of
your systems, including your water heater. Low pressure other than being just annoying,
I mean, can it cause anyproblems not. Typically believe the municipality
is required to at least give youthirty psi. I think it's the it's

(32:30):
a minimum that they're allowed to provide. And unfortunately, in a situation like
that, the only thing you cando to remedy the problem to get a
higher pressure with be installing a boosterpump to increase the pressure to the home.
We don't really run into that veryoften, but you know it can

(32:50):
be an issue. All right,Okay, so running faucets, running toilets.
You mentioned running toilets often a symptomof water pressure that's too high.
Can there be any other issues ina toilet that causes it to do something
you don't want to to aside fromjust the water pressure being too high.

(33:10):
Well, if you get what wecall a ghost flush, which a lot
of people say, it sounds likemy toilet's filling up. Is this somebody
flushed it? Yeah, I'll saythis kind of randomly fills up on its
own. And basically what's happening isthe flapper that holds the water in the
tank is allowing some water to slowlyseek pass into the bowl, which goes

(33:34):
down the drain and eventually it getslow enough to where the fill valve says,
hey, we need water in thistank. So it'll fill up and
it'll drain back down. That'll fillup, and you'll get what we call
the ghost flush, the dreaded ghostflush. Yes, and I think we've
talked about this before, James.When it comes to changing out that flapper,
that seems like a no brainer,but it's not always. Not all

(33:57):
flappers are created equal. I willsay that you want to make sure that
you get the correct flapper in thetoilet that is original to the toilet as
far as the manufacturer. So let'ssay American Standard, they have a flapper
that has a float on it.Well, that float is designed to keep
that flapper up for the proper amountof time to get the right flush.

(34:22):
And if you put a generic universalflapper in, what will happen as it'll
stay up until the water level dropsall the way down to the flush valve.
So what you'll get in that caseit would be like a double flush.
So you're using more water than youhave to with each flush. Not

(34:44):
necessarily a problem. A lot ofpeople like you know, having more water
than necessary just to make sure everythingis going down, but you are using
more water than you need. Thesenew toilets are designed specifically, you know,
to be lower consumption toilets. SoI think now they're down to one
point two eight gallons per flush.They used to be three and a half

(35:06):
gallons of flush. Yeah, yeah, So at first it was an issue
when they started lowering the volume ofwater the flush, but they've they've revamped
the systems now to where you stillget a pretty power for flush with a
one point two eight gallons. So, so looking into your toilet tank there
and just saying pulling out the oldflapper after you've cut the water off,

(35:28):
of course, taking it out toa big box store and buying one.
It looks just like it isn't alwaysthe right I mean, unless you got
a brand new toilet in there,or you you just built a brand new
home, you don't know over theyear somebody in that house might have replaced
it with the wrong flapper. Yougotta be sure you got the right one
that's correct. A lot of timesthere'll be a stamp or something imprinted into

(35:53):
the porcelain that gives you a modelnumber for that tank to make sure that
you're getting the proper flapper. Sothat would be one thing to look for
for a do at yourselfer, isto make sure that you pull that you
know, model number up and makesure you're getting the right flapper for that
toilet. And you have some thatdon't even use flappers. They use these

(36:16):
what's called flush towers, and it'sbasically a flat washer that goes around the
tower that lifts up to flush.So you want to make sure you get
the right one of those because there'sdifferent manufacturers of those as well. Are
either one of those two a isone better than the other, I mean
the old flapper or the one youjust described, just the different system.

(36:39):
The flush tower allows more water atonce to go out. It's kind of
got a bigger opening, so youknow, they feel like that larger volume
of water. You know, it'sdesigned for that toilet to give you a
powerful flush. So just make sureyou're getting the right one because there's a

(37:00):
few different manufacturers of those as well. You've got Man's Field and Cohler has
some. Yeah, so you justwant to make sure you're getting the correct
I guess washer, to make sureit seals properly and you don't run into
future issues. So so toilets youcan quite possibly fix at least the ghost

(37:21):
flush problem. When it comes tofaucets, I mean again, as you
say, depending on your comfort level, maybe you can go in there and
do something. But I'm always verythere are very few I've said this before.
There's a couple of things I'll dowhen it comes to plumbing, and
I know my limits. I mean, that's not something you want to mess
up because you can win a big, old, big old nasty problem on
your hand afterwards. Water can causea lot, a lot of damage.

(37:44):
That's what I always say. I'veheard a rumor that when they put fires
out there's more damage caused by thewater than the fire if they're successful in
putting it out, and then you'regonna have to get mitigation come in there
and and dry everything out. Makesure you don't get mold or mildew and
stuff, stuff of that nature.You danged if you do, You're danged

(38:07):
if you don't. Well, we'reout of time here. We we hit
on those two. I mean inabout thirty seconds. Is there like a
third big issue you deal with regularly? Stoppages? I would say we did
a superline replacement on Thursday, andwhole building right next to es those at

(38:30):
a chiropractice center. So yes,stoppages would be the other big issue.
Slow drains, things of that nature. And for something like that, I
would definitely call a plumber. Iwouldn't use any kind of chemicals. Right,
How do you reach you, guysat Freedom plumby James give us a
call at eight oh three four fourseven zero four seven one, or is

(38:52):
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(40:00):
Welcome back to the Home Improvement Showof the Midlands as we're now joined by
Terry Nation from Nation Builders. Goodmorning, my friend, Good morning,
glad to be here. How theheck Argument been great? Been a little
busy. Yes, we're talking toCasey and Marcus earlier starting show, and
they were talking about how he saidbe sure to ask Harry about that.

(40:20):
It's like carpenters are in your contract, but carpenters are like in high demand
right now. That's right. Ye, we's going on as her carpenter strike
or something there. I think everybody'son strike except our few guys, and
then everybody else seems to be onstrike. Okay, well we're in for
a special treade today because you havebrought a guest with you who This is

(40:45):
a name I have heard now foryears. Okay, almost everybody on this
show talks about this person and usesthis person and her expertise. And it
was, yeah, we've got tobring her in one day. And all
these years I have never had thechance to meet her. So I'm delighted
to to get a chance to meetthis morning. It's Page Butler, Page,

(41:05):
Good morning to good morning to you. I'm glad to be here.
You have no idea how many timesyour name has been mentioned on this program.
Well, I'm fortunate to work witha lot of these guys because they
do good work and it makes mydesign look like it's supposed to. I
don't have to worry. I cancount on all of them to do job
okay. And for the record,Page is not a carpenter interior design interior

(41:30):
designer. Yes, well, youknow, and we've talked about this Terry
in the past, and this isn'tthe difference with nation Builders, all right.
This is not just you know,some guys shows up and says,
what do you want done and whippedout a little you know pad It just
jots down some notes and maybe makesit a little rudimentary drawing or whatever,
and says I'll get back to you. This is not the way you do

(41:52):
business. No, this is actuallyall this is next level. You know.
Back when I started my business,that's exactly what I did. I
went in, I told the homeowner, Hey, go shopping, let me
know what you like, and thenwe'll put it all in for you.
Well, we don't do that anymore. Paige has single handedly changed my business,

(42:13):
my business model, my business structure, and the looks and the feel
of our jobs. So yeah,she she has definitely taken me an our
design to the next level. SoI'm always fascinated by this. My wife,
for example, she's got a verygood eye for such things. Okay,
she's not a you know, aninterior designer ever been trying to do

(42:35):
that sort of thing. But somepeople just have it right, that's true.
That's true. So it's a combinationof what God gave you and then
going to school and learning. Imean, even if it's codes are you
know, but all the details,important details that come together with just an

(42:55):
eye for design. And Terry justmade my day with that. But I
think you're a company out, Yesit is, but it's just a great
working relationship because they do such excellentwork. You mentioned carp you know,
being carpenters. Well they are that. So if I choose to design a

(43:19):
certain cabinet, door front, theycan do it. They can do anything
that I want them to do tomake the design unusual so that everybody's kitchen,
bathroom or whatever we're working on doesnot look the same. We're about
to be working on some built insand the style of the house is mid
century, so we're not just goingto go in there and put some standard

(43:43):
built ins. It has to reflectthe style of the home. So that's
just one example. But it's justa great group of people to work with
and personally we get along great,but professionally we just click and they,
like I said, they finish mydesigns for me to where I can feel

(44:07):
good walking away from every job becauseit's I mean, it's your reputation online
too. At this point. Absolutely, you walk in and consult with that
homeowner business owner, and you know, you lay out your vision or your
plan and if somebody an execute it, then that makes you look bad to
That's right, That's right. Soit's a good thing. So I'm just
I'm curious, page. I meanhow every every job is different obviously,

(44:30):
but I mean when you walk into a project, I mean, what
we are the first things that youdo? How do you go about doing
what you do? Okay, architecturalstyle As I pull up, architectural style
is the first thing that I noticedthat needs to be considered on every design
job. Then I have a conversationwith each and every client to see what

(44:55):
their dreams are for the room orhome, and then we mesh the two
with the architectural style and what theywant. But it has to you know,
be something that will work together.Also, how they live in the
home really matters. So if theyhave certain ideas about how they want their

(45:17):
kitchen to be, but it's notgoing to work function like they need it
to be, we'll find that outin that conversation and we can make some
changes. And it's a again,it's it's a it's a given take.
I'm sure I'm just guessing here,and I don't you've run across this.
I'm sure times when you're going andyou go, oh, well we can

(45:38):
do this, we can do that, and then we can go and then
didn't you find it? Then there'sthen this nasty budget thing inners a conversation.
But I mean going in, Imean that's something you're you're both cognizant
of, right, and so it'sit's it's a given take. That's right.

(45:58):
We work with every budget. Sowhen when Terry is doing a bid,
we talk about what the looks shouldbe and then that leads us to,
for instance, us on price persquare foot for tile or countertop material.
So when he's entering the budget,it will reflect what we discussed and

(46:24):
so there's no surprises. So howdoes this work, Terry? I mean
once Page comes up with her design, and once the once the client says
yep, that's what we want todo, and you guys go in and
start making that magic happen. Imean, is are you still involved with
that point Page all the way?Oh, she's very Look I've told our
folks many times. Listen, y'all, we work for Page, so you

(46:45):
know, if questions come up duringthe job, we're like, we got
to call Page. We have tocall Page. So so do you ever
just drop my unexpectedly to make surethey're doing what you said they should be
doing. I'm not worried about that, but I do stop by and again,
and of course make appointments with theclients to check on things, and

(47:07):
and we're making little decisions throughout,you know, like we might choose cabinet
hardware a little later, but wetry to have all of the decisions made
ahead so that when Terry and hisguys get started, everything's on the premises,

(47:28):
so we're not waiting on something tocome in for a while. And
unless you've actually you know, you'reyou're set one on yourself, but had
had a home built, you don'treally realize the amount of minutia that goes
in and all the little decisions anda big renovation. I mean, there's
just a lot of selections to bemade, and you have to, like

(47:49):
I was saying before, get thosedone early, because as you know,
ever since COVID, there's been youknow, await for some of these things.
So now we try to even bemore conscious of ordering ahead now again
because we again we consider an interrutors. It comes in and they make all

(48:10):
these fabulous choices and designs of whatthis is gonna look like and that's gonna
look like. But yeah, iteven goes down to the handles on the
doors. I guess, yes,it's all important, the faucets and and
everything else. Wow, do youhave any tips a page for folks who
are just looking at the home they'rein right now and maybe not doing a

(48:31):
total You know, they don't needto call Terry, you know, to
do a total thing, but butthey just are there things that people can
do that's maybe not terribly expensive thatas an interitors, don't you'd say,
you know, you could try thisor try that. I mean, is
it possible to do that without aremodel? I guess is what I'm asking.
Sure, But they can still callTerry for some of these things,
such as, yeah, I'm gonnastart tearing down and building. Well,

(48:54):
what I was going to say is, like I mentioned before, if they
wanted their kitchen to have a differentlook, then they might just redo the
door and drawer fronts and that mightbe a different look in that style.
So they could make those cabinet doorsand drawer fronts for them and and then

(49:15):
that'll change the whole look at thekitchen. Sometimes of course, paint colors,
countertop material if they had, forinstance, of for Micah, what
a difference that makes to go witha natural stone. So you were Marcus
all the time, I know itlike we work together a lot, Yes,
and so it just depends on,like you said before, budget,

(49:38):
no matter what they're doing. Butsometimes it could be just adding some art
to the wall. But a lotof the time, when when they really
want to refresh, it's something thatTearry and you know nation builders can do.
Absolutely. Are there any what arethe trends on the horizon right now

(49:59):
or do you even more about that? Well? I smile when you say
that, because I'm really a designerthat likes to have a classic look.
No, matter what the architectural styleis. So I try not to run
towards a trend. I want whatever'sdone in these people's home to be lasting,

(50:22):
because I don't want them to spenda lot of money and then or
a little money and then in ayear or two want to change it.
That puts pressure on people, andso I think it should be done in
a way that they can enjoy itfor years to come. But I would
say a trend, without being ahuge trend, is going away from grays

(50:46):
and into warmer tones. That's alreadybeen happening. But I guess a trend
would be back to jewel tones.Everything is cyclical, so here we go
again. But I think that theycan be used in a beautiful way to
where you could have, for instance, a neutral on the wall or on

(51:08):
cabinets and pull those jewel tones inin a way that they're not gonna want
to change them when that trend leavesin five years. So so agreeable grays
on the way out? Well,that was the number one color in twenty
nineteen. It is still a nicecolor. But don't you think it's time.

(51:30):
I mean it's two thousand, almosttwenty four, and so it's not
that it's not a color that doesn'twork. I still like it, but
I have to admit I get tiredof seeing it. It's funny we go
back and look at pictures of thehopes that we've moved into, back of
the you know, the eighties andthe nineties, and we look at the

(51:51):
walls and the wallpaper and the darkcolors and the oh my goodness, and
wallpaper has been back to wallpaper,come back to But I'm sorry, you
can't sell me on wallpapers. Everyonetake that down again. Put it in
a powder where it's not that much. All right, Well, thank you
for coming by. It's wonderfight forall these years to finally get a chance

(52:14):
to meet you. Thanks for havingso terry. This is this is again.
This is part of what makes nationBuilders different. That's why I brought
her in. She is a majorpart of what makes us different. All
right, and we'll be back totalk specifically about all that remodeling stuff you're
doing, and all stay in busy. I know this this summer and hopefully
your guys are trying to trying totrying to beat the heat as best as
they can. Man. We luckilywe're mostly inside, So it's all good.

(52:37):
There you go. You're not doingroofs, right, that's right,
that's right, Terry. How toreach you at nation Builders nation Builders.
Our website is nation Builders LC dotcom. Our phone number is eight three
eight o seven eight one four zeroand page. Can folks find you on
the web? Well, actually,the best place to find me is on

(52:58):
Facebook or Instagram. Yeah, somy business page is Page Butler Interior Styling
and Design Page. But you canmessage me and I'll get back to you.
Terrific. All right, both y'allhave a great weekend. Thank you
so much. Do you wish youcould wake up each day in a home
that feels like it was made justfor you. It's here with nation custom

(53:21):
Builders. For over a decade,nation Builders has been building dreams, one
house at a time as a locallyowned and operated business. They're proud of
their reputation as a trustworthy business andbelieve in placing customer satisfaction as the top
priority, even above profits. Votedbest remodeling contractor in the state for the
last two years. Simply imagine whatyour house could look like and let nation

(53:43):
Builders do the rest. Create akitchen that fits your lifestyle, Transform your
bathroom into an oasis, or expandyour home to accommodate a growing household.
Call nation Builders at eight zero threeeight zero seven eight one four zero or
visit nation Builders LLC dot com tolearn about their process and how they work.
That's nation Builders LLC dot com nationcustom Builders. You can find it

(54:07):
cheaper, but you won't find itbetter.