Home Improvement Show 01-18-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Good morning and welcome in now the home improvement show
of the Midlands. It's time again, my friends, and we
got a full hour for you here on one of
three point five FM and five sixty am WVOC. Lots
of terrific information to pass along. We're talking to Russ
Mark Casey from Finishing Touch Team, Jeremy Holliday mister Electric,
and Summer from Beaver Roofing and Gunnar's got them all
lined up here on this Saturday morning. It's good to

(00:33):
have you with us here on WVOC. My name is
Gary David. Let's get started though and talk about plumbing
issues and more with my friend and yours. It's James Carwell,
the owder of the Owner. I should say a freedom
plumbing James.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Good morning, sir, Good morning Gary. How are you.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
I'm doing well man. We want to talk about the
backflow issues this morning, and I guess maybe we could
start with defining exactly. I think it kind of says
to what it is backflow, But what are we talking about?
We talk about.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Backflow, so we're talking about basically protecting the city water
against any contaminants or cross contamination that could occur within
someone's home, maybe due to their irrigation system, sometimes a
hose so you can get backflow or back siphonage a

(01:25):
couple of different ways. The city main brakes. There's enough
water going out of that break to start pulling water
out of somebody's house. That can happen. I've gone to
a house before open the hose bib. They said, we
don't have any water. Open the hose bib and you
can hear the sound of what sounds like water coming out,

(01:46):
but it's actually air getting pulled into the system because
there was a water break on the main you know
about over so, kind.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Of like that when you see the pictures of those
tidal waves, you know they suck all that water out
before they come in kind of thing. I guess.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
I can get something similar to that.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yeah, okay, you can.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Also it can also happen if a fire truck hooks
up to a fire hydrant. You know, they're pulling so
much water out of that fire hydrant that it could
create back siphonag to your home, and if you're not protected,
then it could potentially pull water out of your house.
Unlet's say you're filling a bucket up to wash your
car or something like that. You know, you got the

(02:29):
hose in the store water. It can pull whatever is
in that bucket back into the drinking water system or
irrigation heads. You got it, your irrigation systems on, it's running,
and you got the breaking the line or somebody hooks
up to the fire hydrant and it starts pulling that

(02:52):
water in. It can pull that, you know, fertilizer or
anything that you put out on your yard into those
earsation heads and contaminate the city water. So backflows are
there to protect against cross contamination.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
So what sort of methods are we talking about here?
Is this one size fits all or different things for
different applications.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Or for residential is typically pretty basic. There's a what
they call a call of dual check valve assembly that's
testable and typically you'll see them see them on irrigation systems.
So you'll have your meter box which again usually ten
to fifteen foot from the road, and then usually perpendicular

(03:38):
to that, you'll have a backflow which is in another
meter box and it basically controls you know, it goes
to your irrigation system. Now, the city on their end
requires a non testable basically check valve dual check on

(03:59):
the meter. So you'll have your water meter, you have
your dual check that checks against anything from the house
coming back into their system, and then you'll have the
check the dual check valve assembly, which is testable on
the irrigation portion and if it's done properly, if it's registered,

(04:20):
that device is supposed to be tested once a year,
and you typically get a paper in the mail that says, hey,
it's time to test your backflow.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
Okay, all right, let me stop you right there, because
I have never gotten one of those.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
It could be that the person that installed your irrigation system,
if you have one, never registered it. So that thing
is just sitting in the ground and cross your fingers
that it is working. We see that quite a bit.
You'll have irrigation companies come in, they'll run the irrigation lines,
they'll put the valve in, but they'll never fill the

(04:54):
paperwork out because they're not qualified to do the testing
of the actual valve. That valve is not supposed to
go into operation until it's tested by a certified tester,
and then that paperwork gets sent in to YACK or
the municipality, which then sends it to DK.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
Okay, So even given even given that still a good idea,
whether the municipality notifies you or not that you should
be checking this.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
And once this gets tested, once it's gonna you will
get a note the next time letting you know it
needs to be tested again because at that point it's
registered with with whatever municipality you have or water pure
You're theyre okay.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
So who does this testing? Is that something that you
guys do?

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yep. We've got two licensed technicians, one me including myself,
and another technician and we got those uh I think
at the beginning of that or the end of last year,
and one at the beginning of this year. So uh yeah.
We had to go take a what was it a
four day course on backflow prevention testing, and I had

(06:12):
to memorize each test for because there are different backflows
for different levels of hazard. I guess you could say,
but typically the ones we run into around here are
going to be for residential are going to be the
dual check valves at least, and they used to be

(06:33):
able to used to be able to test them with
a little tube and check the tube and if no
water came out, you're good. But now they require a
test for a five valve gauge, and that gauge has
to be calibrated once a year. So it's a it's
a lengthy process to learn how to do it. And
again you're talking about a four day course and just

(06:54):
testing a backflow.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Okay, so now now from the consumer side, how much
is something like this cost to get tested?

Speaker 2 (07:06):
I would say it ranges from one to two fifty
depending on the size and accessibility and things of that nature.
We have some pretty big ones for churches and buildings
that require a lot of water, and when they require
a lot of water, they're going to require a larger

(07:28):
testable device, makes sense, and those are usually a lot
more difficult to work with because you're dealing with really
big gate valves to shut off certain portions of the
system and things like that.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Okay, well let me ask you this then, James. All right,
so your engaging systems, your egation is going to be
running off of city water or off of say well water.
Does that make a difference.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
It does. Your well water is not going to require
a backflow because the risk of back siphonog into your
well water doesn't really I guess it could happen, but
a lot less likely to happen, like you're well pumped
the check valve and your well pump would have to
go bad in order to try to draw wark back

(08:10):
into your well.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Well, I must explain my situation. And we actually drawed
off that little creek behind our house.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
Well, then yeah, you don't have a dual check valve
assembly at that point. You probably have a jet pump, yes, yeah, yeah,
and then it's not very likely for you to have
any kind of cross contamination issue there. And honestly, if
if it was to do it, you probably have the
same stuff running off to the pond as far as

(08:38):
fertilizer and anything like that as you would get drawn
through the heads. So not a basically what we're what
this is forced to check the rest of the consumers
in the city water system. And so you don't you
don't have that cross connection there between the city water

(08:58):
and potential hazard such as again your fertilizers and things
of that nature. Oh, they could happen in a sink
if you had a hose, because so you know some
people have the hoses. Come, let's say you have this
pull down sprayer, yes, and you pull down spray and
you're filling up sink that sprayers in the water, and
something happened, it could pull that whatever solution you had

(09:21):
in your sink up through that sprayer if there was
back siphonage in the house. And now a lot of
sits actually have a secondary check valve built into their
system to where water can't get pulled through the faucet
in the opposite direction.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah, you know, the more we talk tomorrow, I realize
how little the late person knows about the plumbing in
their home. And you know how many different things.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
There's a lot of safety devices needed to really protect
protect the plumbing system.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Well, then then that begs the question, I mean, do
you guys, do you know safety checks for lack of
a be a word or just you know it kind
of inspection things to help homeowners know if they're you know,
everything is working as it should and they've got everything
they should have.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
Well, the biggest safety thing as far as cross connections
are concerned, would be that dual check valve assembly that
we can test out in the yard. That that's the
biggest thing that that is there to protect against cross contamination.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
Okay, it's freedom.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
Planing they are they're now requiring other devices on other
things such as you're supposed to have anti siphon hose
bib devices on each of your hose bibs. Now, when
you when you build a house in order to pass inspectionion,
you're supposed to have those. It's basically a check valve
for your hose bib you're outside faucet to keep any

(10:50):
water from being pulled up the hose. Again, if you
have a dual check valve, the non test will want
at the meter as long as it's working and you're
not going to be able to pull anything through. The
problem is those just regular dual check valve is not
a testinable device. So you know it could have been

(11:13):
in there for any mechanical thing is eventually going to break,
and it could have been in there since the house
was built.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
So have you ever known to come back after the fact.
Let's say you like, as you say, we're doing homeost
to be built, it's got to have this on it
right now to meet code. But for all it was
built fifty years ago. To the minicipasers will come back
and say, Okay, you're going to have to go back
and change this and change that because you're not up
to today's code even though your home was built fifty
years ago.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, they're usually grandfather of that kind of stuff in
it when it comes to situations like that, because I know,
like I said, now they're requiring those check valves at
the hose bibs. They didn't used to require them. They're
not making, you know, to go back and do that now. Yeah,
they're not making people that didn't have them go back

(12:01):
and put them in when it wasn't required.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
Good stuff. My friend, James Carwell, Freedom Plumbing, how do
folks reach you, my friend and.

Speaker 2 (12:08):
Give us call ah three four four seven zero four
seven to one our visitor website at Freedom dash Plumbing
dot com.

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(12:39):
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welcome you back to the Home Improving Show of the
Midlands and we appreciate you tunor in this morning here

(14:12):
on one O three point five FM and five sixty
am WBS. He'd of course always available on the absolutely
free and updated I Heart Radio app. Haven't got it yet,
grab it It's free, haven't updated yet? You know I
love that update. Really good stuff. Hey it's Russ Mark
Casey from Finishing Touch Team joining us. Now. Hey, good morning,

(14:32):
Hey Gary, good to be here. Good to see you
bring back. Yeah, man, yeah, this is you know, we
talk with a lot of folks on the Home Show
this time of year that this time of year can
sometimes be a you know a bit of a slow
period because well, you know, we're get in those winter
doldrooms and such and sure, but it won't be long
no before everybody and their brothers starts thinking about, Okay,

(14:56):
let's fix the old place up a little bit here.

Speaker 6 (14:58):
Absolutely, yeah, no, absolutely, yeah. In winter time is is
you know, historically, you're right, it is a lull for
for most i'd say most construction really Gary, you know,
not just painting in particular, but you know, most construction.
But uh, you know, we i'd say mainly for exterior
type work. It generally slows down this time of the

(15:20):
year because you know, we don't want to paint your
house when even though it gets to fifty five degrees
during the day, let's say, right, well, that's all fine
and dandy, Gary, but it gets down to I think
tonight's slow is going to be thirty thirty one, yeah,
or something like that. So you know that's the that's

(15:40):
the issue. Right, So you can't you can't do anything
out early in the morning because it's too cold, So
you only have a small little window period kind of
in the afternoon. Right, But depending on what type of
painting you're doing, what type of materials you're using, in
the dry time of those materials, it's gonna get cold
that night, and that's that's the issue.

Speaker 3 (15:59):
You don't want.

Speaker 6 (16:00):
You don't want any sort of paint that hasn't cured
yet getting to a freezing temperature. Like that because it's
gonna you know, vastly affect the adhering of that paint
to whatever surface you're you're applying it to.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
Right, Well, that's the main.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
So the cure time is different depending on the paint
product being used. One hundred percent yeah, yea one hundred percent.
You know what's the quickest cure time?

Speaker 6 (16:21):
You know, Latex paints are generally the quickest cure time
in all honesty. Lacquer based paints cure extremely, extremely quick.
But that's something you put like more on your cabinet, tree,
built ins, trim like that. Generally speaking, we're using Latex
paints these days. We don't use a ton of oil
based paint, although I still like to use it. I'm

(16:43):
just old school like that. It works, you know, you know,
if it works, why fix it if it's not broke, right,
But oil based paint will take a lot longer to
cure out. But Latex, you know, to the touch, it'll
be dry within an hour or two, right, But generally speaking,
you want to give a twenty four hours to cure.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
Okay, that's that's you know, that makes it impossible.

Speaker 6 (17:04):
As time of year, it is, it really is, you know,
not saying that we haven't had to do this in
a pinch or for emergency situations, you know. But uh,
it can work out, you can, you can as long
as you fit it within that window. And sometimes you
can force drive some things if you need to. You
can make it work if you need to. But it's
just not recommended. So hence the little bit of the

(17:27):
lull during the winter time. But we do, uh, you know,
we focus on so much commercial painting garry, yeah, you know,
and that's just NonStop. So even a new construction building,
let's say we uh we put heaters inside to acclimate
the space and get it warmed up so that those
products and finishes can cure even even throughout the Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
Well yeah, a new building no HVAC system is still
exactly going to have to exactly you have to do
what you have to do.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
You know.

Speaker 6 (17:54):
But it's it's always a little bit of a challenge
during the winter. Each winter is different than the next.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
Right.

Speaker 6 (18:01):
Uh, it's cold, it has you know, but I'll tell
you I take that over the wetness.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (18:08):
You know, if you remember back a couple of winters ago,
we've had some really wet winters and that really affects
a lot, because not only is it is it cold,
but it's putting so much moisture into the atmosphere with that,
it's just not it's not good conditions for painting outside whatsoever.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Can you get to a point where it's too hot to.

Speaker 6 (18:24):
Yes, absolutely, gary during the summertime. Let's say we're painting
the exterior of the house, okay, and it's going to
be ninety five degrees that day.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (18:35):
The main point that you you know, that you want
to make sure of is that you're not painting in
direct sunlight.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (18:42):
So what we'll generally do is we start earlier in
the summertime months. Okay, we might start normally we'll start
around seven o'clock. Okay, well, we may start at six
o'clock in the summertime, and we strategically work around the
house in the shade. Wherever the sun is we are
not and that is how we work house, going all
the way around. You got to be real careful of

(19:02):
that because uh yeah, sometimes you know, if you're painting
direct sunlight, you can put that paint on, it'll dry
before you're crushing, absolutely, and you get all sorts of
issues not not just you know, the paint adhering to
the surface, right, but you get what's called flashing in
the pain industry. That's a term that we use called flashing. Yeah,
Like if you look down the side of it, I'm

(19:24):
you know, you know, you don't notice it, I guess
unless you're looking for it. But if you ever look
down the side of a wall or a building that's
been painted, looking at it directly, sometimes you can't see it,
but down the side of it you see all these
little shiny patches everywhere and inconsistencies on it. That's called flashing, Okay.
And you get a lot more of that when it's
when it's hotter out. What causes that, like like what

(19:46):
we're talking about now that could absolutely cause.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
It, environmental factors, you know, just just wrong application period.

Speaker 6 (19:52):
You know, anytime you're spray applying or roll applying any
sort of you know product, you always want to keep
it on a wet edge is the term that we use.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (20:02):
So if you're painting a wall, for example, right, you
have to cut it in at the top, cut it
in at the bottom of your corners, right, and then
you have to roll Well, you don't want to go
through and cut in the entire room first and then
roll it okay, because your cut in edge is now
going to be drier than your roller and you're gonna
get a potential flash mark okay at those where those

(20:23):
areas meet. Okay, So you want to keep that that
cutted edge right there wet as you roll into it.
That will you know, detO or any sort of flashing.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
This is what I love talking to you because a
lot of folks listening, you know, I I could that's
a smalltle, new one room thing. I want to I
just want to paint it myself. But then absolutely learn
something like that that that folks, I didn't know that.

Speaker 6 (20:45):
Yeah, that's a that's a big rule of thumb. Yeah,
it's it's painting one on one. Uh, you gotta you
gotta paint on a wet edge. And uh if you're
rolling your room and you're rolling walls, you always want
to finish. I think you know we've talked about this
in some earlier segments, but uh, you know rolling in
one direction down okay.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
Which which I've never done it right up and down
thing right.

Speaker 6 (21:06):
Absolutely, and now that's okay to get the product on
the surface okay, just to get it on the wall,
but you have to finish it somehow, and you know,
you might want to go four or five feet into
the wall. You can go up and down just to
get the product down there nice and evenly and smooth.
But then you want to start back and roll in
one direction and finish down. Finish down, always down, because
there's two there's two textures to that roller cover.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
Gary.

Speaker 6 (21:28):
When you go up there's a different texture, and when
you go down there's a different texture one hundred percent.
So when you go up and down like that, generally speaking,
that's what you're actually seeing. Once it dries, that flashing,
you're seeing the difference in texture is what you're actually seeing. Interesting,
So you know, keep it in one direction. It'll it'll
make for a much better paint shob.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
How do you determine? I know part of this is
based on maybe what's already there. Yeah, but when you
guys come out, I mean the job you did for us,
I mean you said it off whatever paint was already
on that surface on those walls, and basically started over again.
And this is part of what you do. That part
is you you know, rehab the sheet rocks before you
pay preparation. But what what determines are there certain situations

(22:13):
where you've got to use this kind of paint versus
another kind of thing all the time.

Speaker 6 (22:18):
Yeah, there are so many different products, so many different
surfaces substrates, right that we have to apply to whether
it's uh, you know, brick tilt up pre cast wall
panels for example, Okay, we want to use something different
on that sheet rock, would hardy plank?

Speaker 1 (22:40):
Okay?

Speaker 6 (22:40):
There's certain you know, surfaces and sidings that you have
to use a hundred percent acrylic, like stucco for example. Ethys,
you can't just use any sort of random exterior paint
on a stucco surface. Okay, you have to use one
hundred percent acrylic. So you need to know, you need
to be you know, burst fight and what surfaces you

(23:03):
have and what products will do and what they won't do,
you know, long before you purchase anything, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
And of course if you just planning on putting up
what's already there, you got to be sure that absolutely
the paint type. Right now.

Speaker 6 (23:16):
I can't tell you how many times we get calls
where we have to fix, you know, just just paint jobs,
right We just did one this past weekend. As a
matter of fact, in a commercial space. We had to
go there on a weekend because you know, the folks
are in there during the week working, so we do
that all the time. We worked nights, weekends, you know,
accommodate whatever we need to. But the doorframes were a

(23:38):
metal doorframe in this facility. Okay, the maintenance or whoever
it was, had painted some latex paint over the original
oil based paint. Okay, so the paint was just flaking
off terribly, terribly, right, So we had to go in
there sand it all down and uh and repaint all
the frames for them and encapsulate that that text paint

(24:00):
that was on there so that they don't have that
issue any longer.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
Let's talk in a few minutes we have left about
the work you do on cabinets. Absolutely, yeah, because I
know you love Back in December, you're in a you're
in a big special on those. But absolutely yeah, replacing cabinets. Sure,
kitchen cabinets will say, well you could, you could.

Speaker 6 (24:19):
Spend thousands, Gary, Absolutely, I mean crazy about it's it's
very expensive these days. Yeah, it's you know, painting your
cabinets is the biggest bang for your buck that you
can get. Okay, you can completely transform your cabinets and
the way your kitchen looks for that matter, by simply

(24:39):
just applying a good coating of color paint onto your cabinets.
Doesn't matter if they're stained or already painted, you know,
going back to what we were just talking about different
products for different surfaces. Right, Uh, stained cabinetry, Gary, we
would have to prime that with an oil based primer
first before we put our finished paint over it. Way,

(25:00):
everything adheres and sticks to it.

Speaker 3 (25:02):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (25:03):
If it's an existing painted cabinet, we don't have to
bond prime those cabinets necessarily. Okay, we can go over
that with our straight oil based paint finished paint.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (25:13):
So you know, each job is different and we assess that,
you know, for each customer. But it's a it's a
great transformation. It's one of our We we love doing cabinetry. Okay,
it's such a transformation, very gratifying finish, you know, you
know what I mean, it really is. And the cost
savings is a fraction of replacing your cabinets.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (25:35):
Matter of fact, I think I'm going to be doing
it at my own house here very soon. My wife
is uh, you know a good paint, she's I know one,
I do know one. Yeah, I can't get this guy call.
But she's been on me about changing the color on
our cabinet try as well. So it's just you know,
you know, you go ten years and you want to
you want to freshen it up and do something different.
It's a great way to do it and not spend

(25:55):
twenty thousand dollars replacing your cabinet, you know.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
Oh well, you can find out more by a giving
this guy call er heading over to the website which
I'm finishing toouchdeam dot com. Correct, Yeah, and is that
the best way just to go there and get all
the contact in.

Speaker 6 (26:08):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely you can go there. You can always
give me a call at eight oh three four six
seven six seven five nine. That's always a direct line
and I always.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
Answer very good Bruss. Good to see about it.

Speaker 3 (26:18):
Goo to see you.

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of our electricians will be at your door ready to
safely restore your power fast. Because not having electricity is annoying,
very annoyer. So next time you need an electrician, call

(26:57):
mister Electric. Because life is better with electric city services
provided by locally owned and operated franchisees products and services
me very by location.

Speaker 3 (27:05):
Hi there, I'm Jeremy Holliday, local owner of mister Electric
of Columbia. I've been servicing the Midlands since twenty ten,
and I'm happy to answer questions and give you free
estimates with upfront pricing. Schedule your free safety check with
mister Electric of Columbia and receive fifty dollars off any
work over three hundred dollars. Call eight oh three eight
six eight four two four three or visit my website

(27:27):
mister Electric dot com, forward slash Columbia.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
Mister Electric. Jeremy Holiday, Good morning, sir, How are you.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
Good to see you Gary doing great?

Speaker 1 (27:51):
We want to talk about well keeping safe today. That's
what's we get over really with we talk about electricity.
A lot of what we talk about is keeping safe, right,
that's right. A lot of things can go wrong, especially
if you try to go it on your own. But
but today keeping safe as far as smoke detectors are concerned. Yes,

(28:12):
all right, you're an electrician. You know the issues that
can come up. And I don't I don't know what
the stats are on this, Jeremy, But you know, when
there's a when there's a fire and something happens and
something catches far, I'm guessing that a fair amount of
time there's some sort of an electrical issue that's caused.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
A well, it could be any kind of issue, you know,
somebody can be smoking in bed or whatever.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
But but but certainly electricity you can can can be
achieved contributor to.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
Yes, electricity. You want you want the you want a
good installation, You want your electrical to be functioning properly.
You want all the safety devices in place. But on
top of that, smoke detectors are going to protect you
from fires that are caused uh by other things in
the home, you know.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
And we're just talk about play old regular you know,
stick it up on the wall, put a cold battery
in the smoke detector right well there? Or do we
need something more or are there better things available?

Speaker 3 (29:07):
Yes? Yes, when it comes to picking out the right
smoke detector for your needs, it's better to go with
one that's you know, been approved by testing laboratory. You
recognize that's right, you listed you want to you know
you have things like ten year batteries now in detective
smoke alarms.

Speaker 1 (29:29):
It's more irritating waking up on a Saturday morning because there's.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
This deep Yeah, right, time to change the battery. Get
your ladder out and get up there and deal with
something that you may not be familiar with. That I
get it put back up properly? Is it going to fall?
You know?

Speaker 1 (29:45):
Well, I lived in a house one time. We live
in a home that the one in the room over.
We had a huge room over and it was they
placed it up high. But the only you get to
it was to have to place a ladder on the
steps to get right. Genius. But anyway, thankful don't have
to deal with that problem anymore. But so it got
ten year batteries. Now I did not know that. Yes,

(30:07):
now is they can you buy those first. What you
may already have or is that a special smoke detector
that comes with a ten yure.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
Battery, Well, you can buy them, you can, Yes, you
can go to the local hardware store and purchase a
ten year battery smoke alarm. Absolutely, the ones.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
We do list now.

Speaker 3 (30:25):
Yeah, we carry them on our vans. You know, mister
electric can come out and give you turnkey service. We
have smoke detectors, well, smoke alarms, that's the true terminology
form smoke alarms. And they're multi criteria, so they use
different technology to detect smoke or fires. And those are

(30:46):
the more they're they're the they're the recommended type of
smoke alarm to give you a better response rate, so
it's going to give you less nuisance alarms. But they
also have a ten year battery.

Speaker 1 (30:59):
So you know, I feel dumb because I thought I
smoked alarm as a smoke alarm, but apparently that's not
necessarily truth.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
No, they've advanced, like everything else, you know, so quick
to change the technology they have. The way they detect
smoke or fire, there's a photoelectric and ionization technology and
what that does is it's detecting if it's an open
flame or a smoldering fire.

Speaker 1 (31:26):
Really yep.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
And they have you know, little microchips in them now
that can can can check double check itself and make sure, Hey,
is this really something that I need to be alarming about?

Speaker 1 (31:40):
And is there one particular type or one that has
particular functions or even a brand for that matter, that
you and your experience have found is the best to have?

Speaker 3 (31:50):
If the one we like, you know, it's a matter
of opinion. But the one that we install actually was
on consumer reports for being a very good uh smoke
the smoke alarm, and it's made by a company called
you know U s I U s I. You know,
I'm not here for us I, but.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
Thank you to say that, just like I did. Okay, Now,
what's what's the cost of one of these things?

Speaker 3 (32:19):
Yeah? You know, when we get to cost, I don't
have them in the top of my head. Uh, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
I mean, is it that that much more expensive than
say the one you just go pick up at Walmart
or something.

Speaker 3 (32:33):
They're a little more spendye for the for the alarm itself.
You know, there's it's it. It's a variety of different
prices for different smoke alarms of Uh, as far as
what we purchase them for, I don't. I don't have
that information.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
But what we're not talking about hundreds hundred of dollars? No,
is there when it comes to where these alarms are
located in the home. I mean, is there a science
to that or is it just wherever the builder put
it when they build a house.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
There is a science to it there there. You know,
the way smoke flows through your home, the way the
way smoke rises in certain uh circumstances. You know, if
you if you put a smoke detector or a smoke alarm,
if you want to say smoke detective, smoke alarm, next,
smoke detector.

Speaker 1 (33:23):
Anyway, what you say.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
Next to a vent, you know that's moving air. You
may have problems. So there's a distance you should be
away from those areas air intakes returns. Uh, you should
selling fans, exhaust fans, bathrooms. You need to be a
certain distance away from different areas just based on the
environment that they're going to be exposed to not confuse them. Right, So, Uh,

(33:52):
they need to be certain heights.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
Like they're always up high. Yeah, as a reason for that, I.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
Guess that's right. So if if you have a really
high vaulted ceiling, you may wonder why they put a
smoke detector, you know, so far up there you can't
get to it. But there's a reason for that, and
it's normally because that smoke is going to rise to
the ceiling before it starts filling up the house, and
so it'll be running across the top of the ceiling.

(34:18):
You know, they always tell you to get down on
the floor and crawl out of a fire, so you
can hopefully stay out of the smoke because that's the
clearest area. It's closer to the floor, so the ceiling
is the most contaminated area with smoke, and so that's
why they put them in the highest in the highest
points of the home, because that's where the smoke is
going to go.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
Is there a rule as to how many you need
to have in a home. I guess based on the
square footage of the home. Is there a good rule
of thumb for that?

Speaker 3 (34:48):
Yeah, it's a you know, every third you.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
A two story house, you're gonna be one up and down.

Speaker 3 (34:52):
Yeah, one on every level. A smoke detector in every bedroom,
a smoke detector outside the vicinity of every bedroom, So
a certain footage really radius, yes, and then you know
common areas. If I remember correctly, the radius is thirty foot.
So if you have a smoke detector down there and
the area is greater than thirty foot, now you need

(35:12):
to outside that radius, you need to add another one.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
Well, let's say I don't know, let's say a two
thousand square foot home. They're all laid out differently, of course,
maybe a different number of rooms and such. But I mean,
how many smoke detectors are we alarms? Are we talking
about in your average two thousand square foot home?

Speaker 3 (35:30):
You know, I'd say about six or seven?

Speaker 1 (35:32):
Really that many? Oh yeah, and I'm going to guess
that most people don't have that many.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
No, No, I know, I don't. Nope. That's the code,
like we talked about before on the show, is updated
every three years and they find you know, you know,
they take data and they find out, you know, you
want one in multiple in multiple locations, because you also
want them to be interconnected. And what that does is

(35:56):
if a fire happens on one side of the house
and you're on the other side of the house, all
those smoke detectors are going to go off, rather than
the smoke detector getting to where the one Rather than
the smoke getting to the one smoke alarm that you
have in the home, half of the house could be
a blaze at that point. You see what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yeah, And how is how does that work that they're interconnected?
Is that through an app or something or the wire?
How does that work?

Speaker 3 (36:22):
The best system is a hard wired system, and there's
a communication wire that runs in between them, all of them,
and they're and and they communicate with each other. So
when one goes off, they're all going to go off.
Give you a better response time.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
Wow? Okay, yeah, so more than likely. Unless your home
was just built in the last year or two three maybe,
then chances are probably pretty good that at least a code.
You don't have enough of these in your home right now?

Speaker 3 (36:52):
Absolutely?

Speaker 1 (36:53):
Wow? Who knew?

Speaker 3 (36:56):
Well, you know, because that's why we do the safety check.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
That's one of the reason let's talk about that.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
Yes, so we go when we come out to your house,
we'll do a safety check on the electrical system and
give you an idea how you can make your system safer.
Because of the all all the new safety devices that
we have coming out that that make your electrical system
a lot safer for you. And uh, you know that's
one of the most dangerous systems in your house. I

(37:22):
put that next to gas. You know, is electricity flowing
through your walls everywhere throughout your home, and you want
to make sure it's maintained properly and that you have
all the safety devices in place that can help protect you.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
I'm just gonna bet that every time you do one
of these things, it's a real eye opener for the
home or business owner.

Speaker 3 (37:41):
It enlightens them a great deal, really does Wow.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
While we're on the topic of CO two detectors also
something yes, so you ought to have yes, best placement
for those, and we have it on our bedroom because
it's like, okay, we would seem that that would be
you know, if you were asleep, that's when you really
of course it's odorless, right seeh too is odorless?

Speaker 3 (38:05):
So right, silent killer.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
Yeah, I guess maybe multiple CO two detectors in a
home too would be the best idea.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
Yeah, you definitely want one on every level. Okay, if
you have a garage it's attached to your home and
you don't have any gas on your home. You still
want to have COO detectors on every level, one on
every level at least minimum.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
Mister Electric, Jeremy, how today? How to folks get ahold
of you guys, whether it's just for a routine or
an emergency?

Speaker 3 (38:34):
Well, Gary, They can reach us at eight zero three
eight six eight four to two four three, or they
can find us online at mister Electric dot com forward
slash Columbia.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
All right, but hey, stay warm out there if you can. Man.

Speaker 10 (38:47):
Yes, sir, I'm James Carwell, local owner and operator of
Freedom Plumbing right here in the Midlands. After working as
a plumber for nearly a decade, I decided to open
my own business. Andreedom Plumbing was born because of my
love for this country and the great respect I have
for the men and women of our armed forces and
our first responders. I named my company Freedom Plumbing. What

(39:10):
sets us apart from other companies is our customer service.
We have a five star rating on Google, a five
star rating on Facebook, and a plus rating on Angie's List,
and an A plus rating with a Better Business Bureau.
I'm James Carwell, local owner of Freedom Plumbing, and we
look forward to servicing you for all of your plumbing needs.
Get fifty percent off your next service call when you

(39:32):
mentioned you heard us on WVOC. Learn more at Freedom
dash Plumbing dot com. That's Freedom dash Plumbing dot com.

Speaker 1 (39:45):
Some are from Beaver Rufig and Gutters Summer. Good morning.
We're going to take things along a little different route
to start off with this morning, and that is, you know,
the insurance aspect of all of that, and that that
whole angle, and let's talk about you know, how all
this wor if you've had some roof damage. I mean
we you know, we hope it doesn't happen to you,
but yeah, when it does, Like I always say, because

(40:08):
I talk about y'all all the time during the week
and you know, and just as an assigne here and
we're not gonna name names, okay, but there are roofing
companies out there that don't do roof for pairs, biggest
flat don't do them. Then there are I think I
mentioned this to you a while back. I got an
email from a listener. Oh gosh, this was Thanksgiving a

(40:30):
year ago. Yeah, where we had had a storm and
it ripped his satellite dish off the roof, which caused
him it wasn't a lot of damage, but just just
a little bit. Unfortunately, he didn't call you guys first.
He called another local roofing company and they told him
that it would be three months before they could get

(40:52):
to him.

Speaker 8 (40:55):
What's that which it's crazy. You know, when they put
the satellite dishes on the roofs, they're actually they're taking screws,
so they're going through deckings. So when that comes off
or it's ripped off, that's exposing the inside of your
home to water and put you know, elements that can

(41:15):
you know, harm the home, and if it keeps getting water,
getting water, it could cause rot and more damage. Then
you know what, we'll just go in there make that
little repair done right, so you know, that small you
know damage could could potentially be devastating.

Speaker 1 (41:31):
So but but he called you guys then right away
told me that in the email, you guys got out
to the within like twenty four hours. You had it
fixed quickly, and you know, you knew anything that ever happened.

Speaker 8 (41:42):
So that's exactly what we like to hear. And that's
you know, we like to handle business that way. You know,
we we wouldn't want our own to be like that.
So we do try to treat all of our customers
as you know, family and friends. So and that's exactly
what you are after you deal with us. So we
you know, we like to give those types of services

(42:02):
to the to the community.

Speaker 1 (42:04):
So let's talk about the insurance angle here, because that
could be a little confusing for folks. You know, homeotors
policies these days. I mean, when's the last time anybody
really read theirs right.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
Exactly?

Speaker 8 (42:16):
There are all kinds of words and line items and
everything else that you know, it's lay people don't aren't
very sure about. So you know, I'll tell you a
lot of times people don't even realize that, hey, I
have damage until we get a hard rain. And like
you said, we haven't had any you know, recent wind

(42:39):
or hail or anything along those lines that may cause
those types of damages.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
To our roof.

Speaker 8 (42:44):
However, we notice that we have those damages when we
get these hard rains and things of that nature. So
or you know, you're seeing them in the on the
ground and that sort of thing. But you know, we
get a hard rain and you're like, oh my gosh,
I've got to stain in my on my feeling. So
that's when you're like, oh, my goodness, maybe I should
call somebody, so they call us out. Whenever we come

(43:08):
out for any type of inspection, that sort of thing.
We're going to get up on that roof. We're going
to take a look at your shingles. We're gonna look
for those type of weather patterns, hail, hail hits, hail
impacts on your shingles. We're gonna look for the wind
folds in the shingles and that sort of thing. And
you know, I'll tell you one or two here and there.

(43:32):
Insurance is not going to say, oh, you need a
brand new roof. You know, it has to be a
significant amount of impact from the weather for insurance to
say yes, we'll go ahead and cover this. We'll get
you guys a new roof. So that's what we're doing.
When we're going up on your roof. We're evaluating, we're
taking a look. We're looking to see if yeah, you

(43:55):
probably do have a claim here or it's not that significant.
You know, we can do a small repair and get
you taken care of. So, you know, that's the main
thing that people tend to ask, well, what do I do?
How do I go about it? That sort of thing.
So the main thing is, let us come out, let
us take a look first, because you don't want to

(44:16):
call the insurance company and do all of that type
of thing before you know if you have significant damage
or there are you know, a claims for them to
come out to take a look at. So step one,
give us a call, we'll come out, we'll evaluate.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
You talked a bit of a moment ago about maybe
you have damage that maybe you've had it for months
and didn't know it until we got a hard rain
and suddenly you notice that spot on the ceiling and
you got an issue. Okay, let's talk about an insurance
standpoint from turns from the standpoint of Okay, you don't
need a whole new roof, but you do need some

(44:55):
repair work done. Is that covered?

Speaker 8 (44:59):
It is covered? However, sometimes you have a deductible. Most
times we all have a deductible on our policies. So
a lot of times the adjuster will come out and say, hey,
we see you have damage. This is what we'll cover,
you know, and they'll cover say six hundred dollars of

(45:22):
you know, a repair damage, whatever have you. And they
have a say they have a deductible of one thousand dollars. Yeah,
So with that being said, they're not going to cover
that repair. But you know with your larger repairs, say
it's a thirty five hundred dollars repair and you have
a deductible of a thousand, you know, yes, they'll cover

(45:45):
twenty five hundred dollars. You cover that deductible.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
And we've always heard that with insurance companies it's not
even so much about the size of the payout but
the frequency of the payout, and that they will cancel
people's policies just because they have too many claims. They're
claim happy, they think absolutely.

Speaker 8 (46:05):
So that's why we always like to say, hey, let
us come out first and let us take a look,
right because like you said, there is not everybody is
like this, but there are some who are claim happy
and and they're just nope, nope, nope. You know they're
just they're shutting them down left and right. So that

(46:25):
we just like to come out take a look. We're
gonna we're on your side. You know, we're not out
there to get every like you said, we do our pairs.
We don't have to get a full roof every single time.
We're not out there to do that. We're out here.
We're honest, we're gonna let you know, yeah, you got
some damage, there's a there's a good cause for you
to call them out, have an adjuster come out. And

(46:47):
you know, with that being said, we're happy to come
out and kind of be your advocate because, like you said,
they don't always want to you know, cover these RepA
cover a roof replacement. But that's you know, that's why
we like to be out there with the adjuster. We're
going to back for you. Hey, take a look at this,

(47:09):
Take a look at this. This is what I'm seeing
because they know the homeowner isn't going to get on
top of that roof with them or you know, look
at these photos or know even what they're looking for
exactly right exactly, So you know, we're we're there to
help help you, advocate for you, and you know, just
to be a be a good buffer between homeowner and adjuster.

(47:32):
And we're here to help. So you know, whenever we say, hey, yep,
give them a call, we always like to be there
to help advocate for you when that adjuster comes.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
Okay, yeah, and I guess what it's all said and
done is up to the adjuster, right, but you can
put a little pressure on there and show the evidence.

Speaker 8 (47:51):
I guess exactly exactly, and that's that is exactly what
we will do. Like you said, we're going about we're
going to bat for you. We take all kinds of photos.
We go inside the attics and show, hey, this is
where damage was, this is where the leak is, all
sorts of things like that. You know, there are different
things that they're looking for in reports and things along

(48:12):
those lines. They're looking for impacts. They're looking for When
I say impacts, how many times say hail hit in
a certain area of your roof. They're counting those those hits.
They're counting the times that shingles have folded back and
in that area as well. So we are we we
know what they're looking for. And you know, if we

(48:34):
think it's just cause we're there for you to help you.

Speaker 1 (48:38):
So hypothetical scenario here summer. Sure, you we have a hailstorm,
You don't notice the media impacts, the damage. Maybe maybe
let's just say it's three months later, suddenly you see
that staying on the roof yep, And you guys go out,
you take a look, and you determine that yeah, wow,

(48:59):
you had some damage, and I guess you can kind
of get a feel for maybe how long ago that one. Well,
obviously it was a hail story. You know, we haven't
had one in three months. It's you know, you got
this damage at least three months ago. But exactly so
now you get the insurance company involved, is there a
scenario where they say, well, yeah, but that was three
months ago, you should have taken care of it.

Speaker 8 (49:23):
Generally?

Speaker 1 (49:24):
No, okay, good, because use a homeowner. Until you see
the evidence, how.

Speaker 8 (49:28):
You're gonna know, right exactly exactly because you don't. I mean,
you don't really know until you see it. Until we
get a super hard rain. Obviously when the hail, when
it's hailing it, we are generally having bad weather. But
water doesn't, you know, it just water travels in the
wildest ways. So yeah, we're there for you. And no,

(49:50):
the insurance should not give you any pushbacks if it warrant,
you know, if there were enough impacts and things of
that nature. It can't just be one two hail hits
and oh yeah you need a brand new room. They yeah,
that is when they would give us some pushback. No,

(50:11):
it's not warranted we'll do a repair in this area,
things of that nature, and it may not even be
from the haill why it's leaking. So there's a there
are a multitude of different scenarios and whatnot that could happen,
but time wise, no, it's you know, three months, six months.

(50:31):
They shouldn't give you any pushback on that.

Speaker 1 (50:33):
No, sir, okay, good to know, and I listen. I'll
talk about insurance companies like they're had to rob you,
and many of them do very you know, good work,
their upstanding absolutely, but as a homeowner, you know, it
gets frustrating because you're paying those premiums every year and
you expect not to get any hasshole, right, but the
noise work that way.

Speaker 8 (50:52):
Of course, you're exactly right, and you know, just navigating
an insurance claim or anything along those can be really
confusing if you've never done it before and you're like,
I don't know what to do. I'm not sure you know.
So that we do this often. We do it with
a multitude of different insurance carriers too, so we are

(51:14):
very familiar with the process and how each carrier kind
of handles different scenarios and documentation and and things of
that nature. So you know, we're very familiar with the process,
even though it can be so unfamiliar to homeowners. So
that's why we were here along the whole way.

Speaker 1 (51:35):
And I know, I'm sure it varies from from insurer
to ensure a summer, but do you find when you
work with these insurance companies that they pretty much they
have kind of an algorithm. I mean, Okay, we have
to have this much damage or this much of the
roof with an issue before well we'll say, yeah, well
we'll accept a claim for a roof replacement or that.
Does that Does that vary from situation to situation?

Speaker 5 (51:59):
Uh?

Speaker 8 (51:59):
Not necessarily, You're you're right, you know, they are looking
for a certain amount of you know, impacts damage in
a in a I guess like a square okay area
ten by ten square area of your roof, you know,
and it's if they see, you know, more significant on
the front than on the back. You know, it really

(52:22):
just depends on the amount, you know, that's what it is,
and that square area on the front, on the back,
on the side, they're looking, they're evaluating the whole thing.
So but they're generally all the same, okay. Uh.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
Well, so again the point being you'll be there to
advocate for the homeowner with the ad shows up, so
you don't have to feel like you're on your own
with this thing. And because again you don't have the
right questions to ask right or with the answers you're getting,
or are really straight answers or not. So that's that's
that's a piece of mind for you, right there, Beaver
Roofing in Gutters. And that the phone number again, eight

(52:59):
oh three nine nine one roof eight oh three nine
nine one roof. That's eight oh three nine nine one
seven six sixty three. And of course folks can always
check out online summer at beaver Roofing dot com. And
by the way, before you call, there's i know, always
something you tell us that you would like folks to
do before they pick up that phone and call eight

(53:20):
o three nine nine one roof.

Speaker 8 (53:22):
You know, check out our Google reviews, check out what
people are saying about us before you give us a call.
We think you will like what you hear and what
you see, and you know we're always happy to help.

Speaker 1 (53:34):
Terrific summer. You have yourself, great weekend. We'll talk soon.

Speaker 8 (53:37):
Take care you too.

Speaker 1 (53:39):
Hi, this is Gary David, You've heard me talk for
years about Anthony John Construction and the wonderful jobs they
do for folks all across the Midlands. When it comes
to roofing and gutting, well it's the same people doing
the job, but the name has changed. That's right now
it's Beaver Roofing and Beaver Gutters. Leave it to Beaver
for all your roofing and gutter needs. The same great
service and the same great folks. I'd Anthony John Construction,

(54:01):
just with a new name eight oh three nine nine
one roof and Beaverroofing dot com the gutter roofing work.
Leave it to Beaver. Beaver Roofing and Beaver Gutters.