Home Improvement Show 05-02-26

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Good morning, my friends, and welcome in. It is time
for the Home Improvement Show of the Midlands and thanks
so much for joining us this morning here on one
of the three point five FM and five sixty AMWVC.
I'm Gary David, coming up, great folks here to pass
along great information. Marcus Greenwell, Lifetime Campus and Countertops joins us.
This morning. We'll be talking to James car Well from
Freedom Plumbing, got some DIY tips to pass along, and

(00:40):
Christina McDuffie from Drip Ninjels will be here to talk
about mitigation and mold mitigation as well, one of the
things they specialize in. First up, it's Summer from Beaver
Roofing and Gutters. We want to talk about roofing, Todavid.
We want to kind of maybe go a little bit
of different angle to start things with you, Sommer, and
that is you know, the insurance aspect of all of that,
and that that that whole angle, and let's talk about

(01:04):
you know, how all this works if you've had some
roof damage. I mean, we you know, we we hope
it doesn't happen to you, but yeah, when it does,
like I always say, because 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

(01:29):
are I think I mentioned this to you a while back.
I got an email from a listener. Oh gosh, this
was Thanksgiving a year ago 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

(01:50):
guys first. He called another local roofing company and they
told him that it would be three months before they
could get to him.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
What's that which is it's crazy. You know when when
they put a 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 you know, harm the home, and if

(02:22):
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 (02:37):
So but but he called you guys then right away
told me in the email you guys got out to
them within like twenty four hours. You had it fixed quickly,
and you know, you knew anything that ever happened.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
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 provide get those types of
services to the to the community.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
So let's talk about the insurance angle here, because that
could be a little confusing for folks, you know, home
motors policies these days. I mean, when's the last time
anybody really read theirs right.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Exactly? There are all kinds of words and line items
and everything else that you know, u'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

(03:41):
like you said, we haven't had any you know, recent
wind or hail or anything along those lines that may
cause those types of damages to our roof. 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

(04:01):
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 out for any type
of inspection that sort of thing, we're gonna 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,

(04:25):
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. 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

(04:49):
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 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

(05:11):
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 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.

(05:33):
So step one, give us a call, we'll come out,
we'll evaluate.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
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 sudden 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

(06:01):
repair work done. Is that covered?

Speaker 2 (06:04):
It is covered. However, sometimes you have a deductible. Most
times we all have a deductible on our policies. So
a lot of time 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

(06:28):
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 one thousand, you know, yes, they'll cover

(06:51):
twenty five hundred dollars. You cover that deductible.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
And we've always heard that with insurance companies it's not
even so much about the side 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.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
They think we're gonna let you know, yeah, you got
some damage.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
There's a there's a good.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Cause for you to call them out, have an adjuster
come out. And 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 repair cover a roof replacement. But that's you know,
that's why we like to be out there with the adjuster.

(07:35):
We're going to bat for you. Hey, take a look
at this, 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.

Speaker 4 (07:48):
What they're looking for.

Speaker 5 (07:51):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
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. And we're
here to help. So you know, whenever we say, hey, yup,
give them a call, we always like to be there
to help advocate for you when that adjuster comes.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
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 2 (08:21):
I guess exactly exactly, and that's that is exactly what
we will do. Like you said, we're going about. We're
going about 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

(08:42):
those lines. They're looking for impacts. They're looking for or
when I say impacts, how many times say hail hit
in a certain area of your roofs. They're counting those hits.
They're counting the times that shingles have folded back and
in that area as well. So we are we know
what they're looking for. And you know, if we think

(09:04):
it's just cause we're there for you to help you.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
So hypothetical scenario here, summer, we have a hailstorm. You
don't notice the media impacts of 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, yeah, wow, you

(09:29):
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 and 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 2 (09:52):
Generally No, okay, good, because here's a homeowner.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
Until you see the evidence.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
How you're gonna know, right exactly exactly because you don't.
I mean, you don't really know until you see it.
And so 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 yes, we're there for you.

(10:19):
And no, the insurance should not give you any pushbacks
if it warrants, 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. Say yeah, that is when they would give

(10:40):
us some pushback. No, it's not warranted. We'll do a
repair in this area, things of that nature, and it
may not even be from the hail. 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. They shouldn't give you

(11:02):
any pushback on that.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
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
and 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 hashole right, but
the noise work that way.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
Of course, you're exactly right, and you know, just navigating
an insurance claim or anything along those lines can be
really confusing. If you've never done it before, 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

(11:43):
very familiar with the process and how each carrier kind
of handles different scenarios and documentation and things of that nature.
So you know, we're very familiar with the process, even
though it can be so un familiar to homeowners. So
that's why we were here along the whole way.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
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 we'll we'll say, yeah, we'll
we'll accept a claim for a roof replacement or is
that does that? Does that vary from situation to situation? Uh?

Speaker 2 (12:29):
Not necessarily, You're you're right, you know, Uh, 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

(12:52):
just depends on the amount.

Speaker 1 (12:55):
Beaver roofing in gutters and that the phone number again
A 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

(13:17):
something you tell us that you would like folks to
do before they pick up that phone and call eight
O three nine nine one roof.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
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 (13:34):
Terrific summer. You have yourself, great weekend.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
We'll talk so take care you too.

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Speaker 1 (13:55):
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Speaker 5 (14:10):
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(14:33):
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Speaker 1 (14:50):
Welcome back to the Home Improvement Show of the Midlands
on one O three point five FM and five sixty AMWVC,
and welcome in Marcus Greenwell, the owner of Lifetime came
Abson Countertops.

Speaker 4 (15:01):
Well, well, well, thank you sir, and good morning Columbia,
hands surrounding area and heart nation. Well, I heart world, world. Yeah,
you have more than a nation.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
The whole planet could be listening to you right now,
my friend.

Speaker 4 (15:14):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
How are you? Man?

Speaker 4 (15:15):
Oh, it's the best day of my life? How about you?

Speaker 1 (15:18):
You know I can't complain. I cannot complain.

Speaker 4 (15:21):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (15:23):
You know where we're sitting here now, it's it's it's gosh,
what is it a May second? Yeah? Wow?

Speaker 4 (15:28):
Yeah, it's time.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
I mean we were in the month of Memorial Day now, yeah,
the unofficial kickoff to summer.

Speaker 4 (15:34):
Oh, I love it.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
And is it pretty much always the case that this
time of year is when you're busiest.

Speaker 4 (15:42):
Yeah, I think so.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
But what is it about that about springtime and everybody
wants to do that nobody stuff?

Speaker 4 (15:47):
Yeah yeah, I mean except for the spring breakers, there's
no real uh you know, no action going on, so
everybody's sitting around the house wanting to fix it up.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
I think, you know, look at those old linoleum countertops
and we got to do something.

Speaker 4 (16:01):
I mean, flamin it. Yeah yeah, yeah, but that's good.
That's good. That's true. Looking at the old laminate top's going, Oh,
I want to change those out. Man, it's time.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
If you have alium counters, you've got a real issue.

Speaker 4 (16:16):
Yea eating on the floor.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
If he's something we haven't talked about a long time, Marcus.
Because this is also that time of the year. This
is kind of like home selling season. Yeah yeah, and
and I know with interest rates and everything else, and
you know, it hasn't been what it usually is, but
but still people that want to put their home on

(16:41):
the market. It is to your detriment if you are rocking,
you know, a laminate countertop.

Speaker 4 (16:48):
Yeah yeah, yeah, you're gonna have to change that out,
uh to to sell it or be on the you know,
the upper list anyway, you know, the on my checklist
gets granted, it's.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
True that if you go on to a Zillow or
one of those sites and you'll want to search for
a house, and they give you the check boxes of
what you're looking for, and almost every time people want,
you know, some kind of a stone countertop, so your
house will even pop up in the search.

Speaker 4 (17:18):
Yeah, exactly. So if you're going to sell your house eventually,
we're running pretty busy right now. So keep that in
mind if you want to, if you want want to
do something, come on in, bring some measurements in. I
got two stores today open for Fernandina Road and one
Chapin Road, My Chapin Road stores affectionately called the Boneyard.

(17:43):
I've got a lot of scrap pieces, as you know,
not scrap, but leftover pieces from cuts called remnants that
you can put anywhere on a tree.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
Stuff.

Speaker 4 (17:56):
And let's what you have done. I've done yep.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
But you'll stop you right there because I know you
hear the word scrap, like, no, this this is all
new stuff, right.

Speaker 4 (18:08):
Yeah, Brandon is just ready to get off of my lot.
But we cut a kitchen and then we only charge
for what you use. So if you have a forty
foot kitchen, and I have a fifty five foot slab.
You got fifteen square feet left over, that's mine. So
I sell it as new as because it is for

(18:29):
a bathroom or vanity or you know, something like that
at a table. I did several of those last week.
Thank you, Thank you, Nathan.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
And here's the great part about that, because while the
first customer came into their kitchen and paid paid you know,
the full, the full, the full price, right right, you
come in on the backside now and you need got
a smaller project. I mentioned here recently that our youngest
son is getting ready to upgrade his condo, and so

(18:59):
the kitchen, I mean, it's it's small enough to do
a remnant there. Yeah, But now you buy a remnant
from this guy, same countertop somebody else bought the rest
of it from and paying full price. You're not paying
full price.

Speaker 4 (19:11):
Right, that's right. You're paying uh instead of paying the
twenty five square foot minimum, like if you went into
a box store. Then you're not You're not gonna have
to pay that, you know. You just pay for that
ten square feet that you need, you know, so you
get the same you know deal as the other guy.
You know, what I'm saying, right, So you don't have

(19:32):
to you don't have to buy the whole piece, So
it really saves a lot.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
And you're you're buying this a dealer costs, right, that's
customers dealer costs.

Speaker 4 (19:41):
So yeah, and plus you don't have to do the
twenty five square foot minimum, right, yeah, right, so it
really adds up.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah. Absolutely, And I suppose if I don't know, you
tell me, I mean, if if somebody just wanted to
come in and say, yeah, I need more than that,
but I tell you, I just want a piece, a
bunch of remnants together. I don't care what it looks like,
a bunch of remnants. I guess you could do that.

Speaker 4 (20:01):
Yeah, yeah, I've done it before, you really Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Just a hodgepodge of this and that, and yeah, mix
and match it all together.

Speaker 4 (20:08):
Yeah, for outdoor kitchen. He just wanted enough to cover
it up.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
Note it was for an outdoor kitchen. Yeah, yeah, guys,
don't don't don't don't try to sell your wife on
this for an indoor kitchen. I don't think that's gonna
end well for you.

Speaker 4 (20:24):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (20:25):
Well, I mean you could try if you wanted to Uh.
So what's new, what's new and hot and exciting.

Speaker 4 (20:31):
Lots of court sites. Uh, we we got some new courts,
a big giant display of courts and both stores.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
Uh, this is the man made.

Speaker 4 (20:41):
The man made stuff. Yeah, opening up some different blues
and different colors that are real hot right now, a
real real nice look. Of course, you got your white
and grays, you know that looked like marble popular. But
they have some real real good looking stuff at good pricing.
Uh or we do. Uh, that's you know, available to

(21:02):
take a look at. It's got some good programs where
you can buy even for vanities, buy half a slab.
You don't have to, you know, buy the twenty five
square foot minimum because we can buy the half a
slab for the vanity. So okay, yeah, that's another good
that's at my forty twenty Fernandina store and at the

(21:24):
Chapin store one fifty three Chapin Roun.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
Okay, Now, let me ask you this because we haven't
really seen it aside from gas prices be a big
issue yet. But you got to figure the shoes getting
ready to drop at the grocery store, for example, because
of all what's going on, does that sort of thing
have any impact on on on your business and the

(21:46):
price that you're having to pay. It's got a factory.

Speaker 4 (21:49):
Yeah, there's been some increases, but we do every order individually,
so it just if I mean, you're talking about a
small amount, then it's gone up. So it's not like
a matter of fact, I don't think some of our
prices have even gone up because it's just a little
less profit margin because we use the same factor every

(22:09):
time when we do you know, a bid and stuff
like that off a job that comes in. So I
hadn't really noticed any maybe a dollar or two, but
you know, the way we do our matrix is the
same price, you know, So it's let's say, for example,
if something was sixty five dollars and it went up,
you know a dollar or something like that is still

(22:30):
sixty five dollars.

Speaker 1 (22:31):
I mean because the actual you know, where you get
this stuff that doesn't change. It comes out of mother Earth. Yeah,
it's the courts, which is van made and all that.
So I guess any increase would really be more along
the lines of transportation. Yeah, pointed to point B and
and so forth.

Speaker 4 (22:45):
Okay, good, Yeah, we were hit harder by the tariff
stuff in the UH in the I don't think about that.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:51):
Yeah, the container situation they had a couple of years
back when the containers were limited spot.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
We had our yeah supply chain Christmas.

Speaker 4 (23:00):
Yeah that was yeah, yeah, yeah, this is nothing compared
to that.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
About how much of Okay, we're talking about the natural
stuff now, yeah, I mean what ballpark percentage of of
of all the countertops in the country are are actually
I don't know what's the term mind or whatever extracted
from the grind here in the States as opposed to overseas,
and Brazil is like the big.

Speaker 4 (23:23):
Eighty eighty five percent, Yeah, comes out of Brazil.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
Eighty five percent that much of yeah wow.

Speaker 4 (23:28):
Yeah, so most of it comes out of there, the
natural stuff.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
Oh okay, and we're talking about any granite court site.

Speaker 4 (23:37):
Yeah, well it comes out of Italy. And then we
do have some out of the states up north and
Maine and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
It's the granite state, right, yeah, they call the Grand Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (23:48):
So and then some there's some actually stuff comes out
of Alabama as well, some of the Alabama white and
stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (23:53):
The marbles wasn't maybe I'm thinking of something different, but
wasn't there a place here in our state one time
that was.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
Yeah, up in Winnsboro, Blue granted or whatever they called
it stuff, But it was more like for different applications
instead of countertops. It was too soft to put on countertops,
and to cut it in big six. It's it's for
the headstones and stuff like that. Okay, that's what they
used it for. Okay, just was too soft to make
it thin to put it on countertops.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
But nothing else. Since you mentioned that eighty five percent
of all this comes from Brazil, yeah, there in Italy
and all this, so you know, almost all of it
comes from somewhere other than the states. Could yeah, I could.
There's the terriff issue, yeah, when it was an issue
and all.

Speaker 4 (24:36):
There's a big mine up in North Carolina kind of
close to where they had all the flooding and stuff
like that where they get quarts out of where they
make the man made stuff out of. So they'll get
that quartz out of there and then grind it up
or do whatever they do to it, and then ship
it off to you know, and sell it to people
that actually put it together. Okay, you know courts, I

(25:00):
don't think so, you know, like Costantino and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
But but no one particular product has hit any harder
than the other. You know, it's not like now grand
price is going up but court Site's coming down. Yeah,
they're all pretty much. Yeah, there's going to be a problem.
It's it's all kind of equally shu.

Speaker 4 (25:17):
Yeah, okay, exactly. So we're in good shape there.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
Good.

Speaker 4 (25:20):
Now, one thing you got to keep in mind right now.
If you want to do a granted marble, you know,
courtz Courtzite project, go then and get your measurements, come
in and see us. We'll give you a price right
there on the spot. I got magging at the store
today ten to six. That's that forty twenty Fernandina Road,
and David is going to be at one fifty three

(25:41):
Chapin Road at the Boneyard. But we're running pretty we're
running pretty tight schedule. So if you want something done quick,
you know you're going to probably be looking about eight weeks,
six to eight weeks minimum, Okay.

Speaker 1 (25:55):
Yeah, Explain to folks who may be new to the
programmer not to talk about it. Why does it take
the dog onlaw?

Speaker 4 (26:02):
Yeah, just because we're busy, because everybody out here a
matter of fact, I've got several listeners doing projects with
us right now. I mean probably half the schedule really, yeah,
I mean a lot a lot of listeners are doing
business and thank y'all.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
Appreciate you doing that.

Speaker 4 (26:17):
Yeah, thank you, and we're so grateful for that.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
But I mean it's it's it's more too then just say, Okay,
that's the one I like. Can you bring it by
and put it in tomorrow?

Speaker 4 (26:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
A lot has to happen to that that that piece
of stone before it gets installed. Yeah mh and uh again,
because you guys do all that yep, start to finish
you can you give the the guaranteed the guaranteed installed.

Speaker 4 (26:41):
Age, right, yep, that's right. So we're looking into what
June now, So if you want something before June, I
don't know, but but if you maybe we'll have a
spot come up. And that's what all I do. Say,
I give guaranteed dating and if we get it done sooner,
which happens a lot. Yeah, but we've got a lot

(27:02):
of big projects going on right now. We're really really
blessed and thankful for all that. So but literally I
can't think of but one time we've lost a deal
because somebody had to have it done faster, you know,
and within the last months. And we've been busy for months.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
So well, I can't imagine you get done any quicker
than you guys do. Yeah, just remember you you go
what you pay for.

Speaker 4 (27:25):
Yeah. Yeah, I've had people tell me stories I say
you that, and they.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
Wish they would do a whole show or two on that.
I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah, Well the reason why these guys
right here lifetime cabins of count of top seven straight
years winners in the state readers bol.

Speaker 4 (27:39):
Yeah, and we just won the Lexingdon County too. By
the way, you number one Lexandon's best. I think they
call it great Marks. So today both locations open YEP
ten to six forty Road over there by Greens or
Costco or Northern Tool. That's a real good one.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
Cross the street from Hardy's.

Speaker 4 (27:59):
Yeah yeah, that's right, San Jose Starbucks. But most importantly,
you know we're going to be there today. Come see us,
bring some measurements, and we'll take care of you. You know,
we'll treat you like family.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
All right, I always do. Marcus. Good to see my friend,
to see you.

Speaker 7 (28:17):
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great selection, great prices, and they pride themselves on superior
installation and customer service. The owner, Marcus will even personally
come out to do all your measurements. See the selection
online at Lifetimecabinets SC dot com or stop buy one
of Lifetime Cabinets and Countertops two conveniently located showrooms on

(28:40):
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check out the hundreds of slabs in stock, granite, marble,
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can't find exactly what you were looking for when you're there,
and that's rare, they will find it. And it's not
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(29:03):
man caves, you name it. Lifetime Cabinets and Countertops Fernandina
Road in Columbia, Chapin Road and Chapin and online at
Lifetime Cabinets SC dot com.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
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(29:36):
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(30:05):
Carwell the owner of Freedom Plumbing James.

Speaker 3 (30:06):
Good morning, sir, Good morning Gary.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
How are you.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
I'm doing well and I hope you are too. Buddy Fixes,
d IY fixes, do it yourself fixes we want to
talk about today on the Home Improvement Show of the Midlands.
Great stuff that well. I guess this depends on your
level of expertise as far as they do it yourself thing.
But let's talk about some of this correct some of
the simple things that you don't necessarily need to call
a plumber for. Where should we start, mister Carwell.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
Out of the most common thing I would say that's
an easy do it yourself fix would be a toilet
that's leaking and the water's leaking out of the tank
into the bowl, Yes, and the toilet occasionally fills back up,
you know, periodically. We call that a ghost flush. Yeah,
so it's almost like somebody flushed the toilet because there's

(30:54):
no water in the tank, but it doesn't ever actually flush.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
Very familiar with that ghost flush, yes, oh yeah, I
think we all are what causes that and how can
we fix it.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
So typically it's just the flapper inside the tank that
when you push the handle down, it raises that flapper
up and it allows the water to go from the
tank to the bowl. The one thing I would make
sure of if that's something that you're looking to replace yourself,
is to match the flapper that's in the toilet or

(31:25):
the flapper that should.

Speaker 4 (31:26):
Be in that toilet.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
I say that because I've seen in past jobs we
go out and like American standard toilets, for example, they
require a certain type of flapper, and if you don't
use that flapper, then you're most likely going to double
flash the toilet. So the flapper stays open too long
and allowing more than the one point six gallons to

(31:48):
go down, so it'll flush and it'll stay open and
it'll continue to kind of flush one more time, so
you want to make sure you get the proper flapper
for the toilet. Just they're not all created equal and
what they.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
Should be, shouldn't they? But not I think universal, I
guess as it comes to that. Now, to be specific,
when we talk about the flapper, we're just talking about
that a little rubber kind of piece or whatever that
covers the hole to the bottom of the tank, right
or are we talking about the entire assembly.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
Nope, Just that rubber piece has got the chain on
it that connects to the handle. That that's the flapper
that we're talking about. And what will happen over time
is the coordinated water will you know, eventually start to
make that thing sometimes shrink and then the flapper won't
be covering a hole all the way, right, so you'll
get a seepage of that water, and a good way

(32:39):
to test to see if that is what's happening. Take
a couple drops of food color and drop it into
the tank. And if you notice that food color and
making its way down to the bowl, and you know
that you have a leak from the tank to the
bowl as far as past getting past that flapper.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
It don't flush anything, just put the food coloring in
the tank and then wait a little while and see
if your bowl blood should there.

Speaker 3 (32:59):
And a lot of times you can see the a
stream of color coming down inside of the bowl if
it's coming through, so you should you know. Sometimes you
can notice pretty quickly. Other times, you know, let it sit,
go back, check it, check the bowl, see if you
got any color in it. Now, I'll let you know
if that flapper needs to be replaced.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
It's good tip. So your best bet is then to
of course, go ahead and remove the flapper that's there
just in case. Well, if it's an American standard, you
pretty much know you're gonna have to, I guess, take
maybe a picture of that flapper and take it. I'll
take a picture before you hit down to the big
hardware store.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
Thanks.

Speaker 3 (33:34):
You get a couple of things you can do. You
can shut the water off to the toilet, then remove
that flapper, take it with you. A lot of times
a picture will do. Or you can just pull up
the toilet making model that you have and it should
have the schematics on the parts that are used in
that toilet and you can just make sure you're getting
the right one. It's a little bit more complicated way
of doing it, but that would guarantee that the one

(33:56):
that's in the toilet is the proper one, because I've
had in the past they call another plumber in the past,
a plumber put the wrong flapper in and yeah, so
you can't replace it with what's in there because at
that point it's not the correct one, right.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
Yeah, Okay, So that's a pretty easy fix for most
of us, right there, and a good tip on the
food coloring. Well played, well played, mister Carwall. All right,
So replacing the flapper, that's something we can pretty much
all do without too much of a hassle. What's next, I.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
Would say some the basic faucet rebuilds. You know, if
you have a dripping faucet, that that's a depending on
your mechanical ability, that that would be one that could
be done. And that's just mainly you know, if it's
a single handle faucet, take the handle off, remove the
cartridge after you shut the water.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
Off, yeah, shut the water off.

Speaker 3 (34:52):
Yeah, and you can a lot of times. What I'll
do is I'll shut the water off to the whole house,
even when just rebuilding a single faucet. And the reason
I do that is, you know, we go to older
homes and the shut off alves may not work all
the way. You know, it might just let a little

(35:13):
bit of water continue to go through. And you can
also by shutting off as old shut off olves is
you can create damage to the washers and little pieces
of that washer can break off and go up into
the faucet. So just to prevent all that, I typically
just shut the water off to the house and then
do the rebuild. That way, I'm not causing additional issues

(35:33):
for the customer to have to resolve that day, whether
it be having a replace emergency shut off olves, or
try to figure out where that piece of rubber got
stopped in a supply line or something if it breaks off,
because that's that's something that can definitely happen, is those
washers get corroded and brittle, and you'll have a piece

(35:54):
of break off and it'll go up in either into
your faucet or it can get stuck in a supply line,
and then you have a reduction of flow through that
particular you know, whether it be the hot side of
the cold side. So try to avoid all that, shut
the whole house off and rebuild the foscet and then
cut it back on.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
Okay, Well, this begs the question for folks who've never
shut the water off to the house. I mean, where
do you go to do that?

Speaker 3 (36:17):
Typically most of them have a shut off out near
the foundation of the home, which a lot of times
is in a little round pipe full of leaves and spiders. Yeah,
so I try to avoid that one, and I typically
go to the meter itself, okay, by the road, usually
about ten to fifteen feet from the road, yep, in

(36:38):
a metal box or a plastic you know, plastic footed box,
and you will I would suggest to go out to
you know, you loser home depot and and acquire one
of the meter keys which allows you to put it
onto the meter, shut off and turn it easily. You
could do it with a crescent wrench or a pair

(36:59):
of channel lots something like that. It's a lot easier
if you got that little tool. And I think they're
only about ten dollars.

Speaker 1 (37:03):
Okay, and not about idea to have one you know
where you know where it is anyway, just just just
in case you ever have an emergency.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
Right, Oh, yeah, that's definitely a good thing to know,
is how to shut your water off at the water meter,
because the last thing you want to do is have
an emergency situation going on and not know how to
shut the water off and have to call the city
and it takes, however long for the city to get out.
I've had customers called the fire department to come out
and shut the water off.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
Oh wow, the fire department. They do just about everything,
don't they. Mantle Man. All right, so we dealt with
the flapper. We've dealt with And you know, you talk
about a rebuild anytime you s to the word out rebuild,
that scares me. But apparently it's not as complicated as
it may be. Sounds with a faster no.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
You know, some of them can get the older the
faucet is, the more corrosion that are around the handles,
they can get quite difficult to get apart to begin with.
And then if you don't know the brand, that would
be something I would kind of caution people about attempting
if you don't know what brand it is, you have
to put that specific brand and that model. So it

(38:10):
might be a price feasture, but if it's you know,
a different type of price feasture is still not going
to work properly. So the one thing to make sure
of is knowing the brand and to make to make
a model of that faucet all right, to make sure
that you're getting the right parts, and you know you
can contact if you know the manufacturer, you can contact them,

(38:31):
possibly send them an email with a picture so it
can get a little bit in the weeds as far
as making sure you're you're putting the right stuff back
in what's what it needs all right.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
There's some quick DIY fixes for you. And if you
don't feel like taking on yourself or the problem is bigger,
you want to call our buddy here, James Carwell, Freedom Plumbing.
How can folks rate.

Speaker 3 (38:52):
James and give us a call it eight oh three
four four seven zero four seven one or visit our
website at Freedom dash Plumbing dot com.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
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 guttery, 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 behind Anthony John Construction,

(39:22):
just with a new name eight oh three nine nine
to one roof and Beaverroofing Dot com the gutter roofing work.
Leave it to Beaver, Beaver Roofing and Beaver Gutters. And

(39:43):
we welcome you back to the Home Improvement Show of
the Midlands on one O three point five FM and
five sixty AM WVOC and we welcome into the studio
Christina McDuffie from Drip Ninjas. Christina, good morning, good morning,
good to see you. This is your first visit with us, right.

Speaker 8 (40:00):
It is absolutely now tell us, tell us what it is.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
What is your position over at Drip Ninjas. What is
it you do, Christina?

Speaker 9 (40:07):
So, I am a mitigation manager and that's going to
involve a lot of different things. I'm going to help
with scheduling, with getting crews out, things like that, and
going around making sure jobs are jobs are good.

Speaker 1 (40:23):
Okay, all right, So and again let's remind folks who
you'm on the program just a couple of times what
it is you do at Drip Ninjas.

Speaker 8 (40:32):
So we are I c RC certified company, what does
that mean? And that is.

Speaker 9 (40:40):
That's pretty much our industry that oversees all the rules
and regulations. Okay, and we we focus on mold, water,
fire odor, things like that, things that are a problem
in your home.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
Okay, so you've had a pipe break, sure, you know, flood,
Absolutely forbid.

Speaker 9 (41:02):
We're the last person that you want to call, but
it's going to be a.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
Good call with the first person you need to call.

Speaker 8 (41:07):
Yes, absolutely right.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
And I know that you guys are you work around
the clock, around the year. You don't take days.

Speaker 9 (41:13):
Off, no, no, absolutely not. This is a twenty four
to seven industry.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
So when a disaster happens, first up, obviously, you know
you need to get folks like you guys are dripped
ninjas on the scene as quickly as possible. I mean,
any delay can make the problem that much worse.

Speaker 9 (41:33):
Right, Absolutely, as soon as you know there is an issue,
you want to get a professional out like ourselves, and
we will come out.

Speaker 8 (41:42):
We will assess everything.

Speaker 9 (41:44):
And we will let you know where you need to
go from there, and we can help guide you through
that process. Whether that's first time person that's never been
through this before, just need some extra guidance or if
you need a little extra help with on the insurance side,

(42:04):
we can help you along.

Speaker 8 (42:06):
That as well.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
Okay, so we talk about mitigation. I guess that that
that term in this case covers a lot of stuff, right.

Speaker 9 (42:16):
Sure, sure, yeah, absolutely. You'll typically hear water mitigation and
that's just you know, to fix the water issue. And
you'll also hear fire as well, and that's that's very traumatic.
Whenever someone has one of these things happen in their home,

(42:37):
whether it be water damage, fire, mold, it's very traumatic.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
I'm gonna just get go on a limb here and
guess that you probably deal more with water damage and
fire damage, yes, because I mean, all these pipes got
run through a house or a business. Any one of
those could break it anytime.

Speaker 8 (42:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
Absolutely so, so let's let's focus a bit on that
because you mentioned that other that other word.

Speaker 8 (42:59):
Mold, yes, microbial growth.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
Yeah, so you know, getting out you know, obviously, first
first to if someone doesn't know how to look at
where that water key is to turn off the main
water supply to the house, uh the spoiler alert, figure
it out like right now, you know, know where that
main shut off ive is and and be sure, if
you got a water can I guess it. Newly constructed
homes these days, they're putting that right there in the garage.

(43:24):
If you've got that, which is very convenient.

Speaker 9 (43:26):
That's that's awesome thing to do, because some people just
don't know where it's at and it just prolongs damages. Yeah,
a lot of people have to end up calling a neighbor, friend, police, fire,
us come and help shut that off.

Speaker 1 (43:44):
Right, and it's going to take some time for anybody
else to get over that. Absolutely, and every every minye
counts yes. Yeah. So so that's the first thing is
to stop the flow. Okay, we're going to focus on
water here. Stop the flow, of course. But uh then okay,
people think, okay, well let's get it dried out of
it'll be okay. Well, number one, it could do damage, absolutely,

(44:05):
But even if it doesn't do damage, you can see
now we talk about.

Speaker 9 (44:10):
Mold absolutely and there's two ways that goes. Sometimes you
will see it, sometimes you won't. Usually people call us
when there is an issue that they think there may
be something going on. They see something not sure what
it is and want us come and take a look.
Mold's a symptom you can try to clean it all

(44:33):
day long, but if you don't address that moisture source,
you're just watching a bad sequel and repeat. And we
don't just treat the growth. We like to kill that
driving engine source. Yes, absolutely, what we want to do
is remediate that issue, get rid of.

Speaker 8 (44:52):
The mold, and get you back to normal more quickly.

Speaker 1 (44:58):
Let me ask you this, Christina, Let's say hypothetically speaking here, Okay,
we've got a home that has and for somehow, somehow
or another, we know this as a fast fact that
there are no mold issues at all in this home. However,
there's been a pipe break, there's been a flood of
varying degrees in a situation like that. Can you go

(45:21):
from no mold to mold just on one incident like that?
And if you can, how long does that take to develop?
Is that it seems mabode? It wouldn't be something you
know right away. It may be weeks or even longer
than that before you start to notice it. Would that
be accurate?

Speaker 8 (45:35):
Absolutely?

Speaker 9 (45:36):
So, all it takes is one water incident not being
taken care of, properly dried out because you want to
dry all of the structural materials and make sure that
there nothing is sandwiched in between, and mold can start
growing pretty quickly, believe it or not, as little as

(45:59):
twenty four hours that fast. Yeah, and it can it
can spread just as quick. And it's really like I said,
source prevention, taking care of that source, making sure that
it's taken care of. Then the next step is to
get you know, get rid of the mold.

Speaker 1 (46:19):
So I'm guessing then, based on that, you could have
a you could walk into your kitchen, this has happened
to me, okay, and you see water coming out from
under the sink. Yeah, all right, you immediately shut off
the main water supply to your home. Sure it's not
that much water really because you caught it right as
it happened. You've cleaned it up. But you can still

(46:42):
be on the hook for some mold.

Speaker 9 (46:43):
I guess absolutely, because there's still going to be moisture
in those materials.

Speaker 1 (46:48):
Okay, yes, sir, okay. And we talk about mold, I
mean we here's a pretty scary termstone out there, black mold.
You know, something black death or something of the Middle Ages. Right,
Mold comes in very degrees, I guess absolutely.

Speaker 9 (47:02):
And there are thousands of types of mold species, and
you will hear scary terms like toxic black mold. Our
industry's standards tell us that the species is going to
matter less than the condition level. So oh really okay,
yes sir. And if you have if you have active

(47:23):
growth on your wall, that's going to be condition three.
It doesn't matter what color it is. It could be black, purple,
I've seen purple, pink, yep, cold white, it comes, it's rainbow.

Speaker 8 (47:41):
It's what it is is a.

Speaker 9 (47:45):
It's a contaminant that's going to need to be physically removed,
not just identified. If you know what's there, I mean
it's there, So the thing is to remove it short.

Speaker 1 (47:55):
Of actually seeing it. As you mentioned, you don't see
You don't always see it. Absolutely right. You could have
it right now in your home and have no idea
I guess, so at times you might be able to O.
Can you smell it? I mean a mist the older
kind of thing. Would that act a mold issue?

Speaker 8 (48:11):
Absolutely?

Speaker 9 (48:12):
And never ignore that musty smell, that that old basement
scent is actually going to be m VOC's And ask
microbial volatile organic compounds and what that is? Is this
going to be the mold off gassing and if you

(48:34):
smell it, your home is telling you there's an issue,
there's a hidden issue, and you need to get somebody
out there now.

Speaker 1 (48:42):
And maybe we're of the mind that, well, hey, I
can go to the big box store and buy something
and spray it on there and get rid of the problem.
I mean, is does that work? Or is there more
to it than just that acurcina.

Speaker 9 (48:53):
There is a lot more to it than just that.
There are a lot of we are in the day
and age.

Speaker 8 (48:59):
Of why but absolutely, I mean.

Speaker 9 (49:06):
Who doesn't learn something on YouTube and there's a wealth
of good information out there, But there are things that
companies like us, we live, breathe, eat, So you don't
want to just grab a bottle of bleach and start spraying.

(49:27):
We we work within standards of our industry and just
to let you know, bleach is not an antimicrobial for
porous materials.

Speaker 8 (49:38):
And what it's going to do is this. It is
just going to kill that color and.

Speaker 1 (49:42):
It's going to come back, okay because gone.

Speaker 9 (49:45):
Absolutely and you'll hear people say things like, well, I
sprayed it, I did this, but it's back now.

Speaker 8 (49:52):
That's why.

Speaker 9 (49:53):
Because you're just literally spraying something on there, you're not
taking care of it properly. There's there's there's a whole
certain way to go about taking care of the mold.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
So this is kind of similar to, Okay, you have
a gaping flesh wound and it's going to need stitches.
A band aid ain't gonna get rid of it, right,
You've got to have to stitch it up at some point, right,
So this is just putting a band aid over some
mold absolutely may go away, or may appear to have
gone away, but it really hasn't sure sure.

Speaker 9 (50:19):
And you never want to just put a band aid
on something because that's not really fixing a problem.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
Right now, How do you know when when you guys
go in and start to mitigate these things, how do
you know your job is done? Christina?

Speaker 9 (50:32):
So our job is going to be done when there
We've got certain tools that we can use, checks and balances,
and we can even get a third party High genis
out just to do a post verification.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
Right.

Speaker 9 (50:49):
So there's a lot of different ways that things can go.
But what we will do is we will develop a plan.
We will follow that plan in our industry actually tells
us how to treat this mold.

Speaker 1 (51:06):
What what's the time frame here, Christina. I know it's
different for every job. Depends on how much water, how
much mold, and all of that. But I mean, can
you give us a general ballpark idea from the time
the issue happened until you know the homeowner is in
the clear? Now, I mean in your average case.

Speaker 9 (51:25):
I would I would probably say, if we come in
and we already have a protocol something set, we follow
those guidelines front to end, you're looking at probably five days.

Speaker 1 (51:41):
Oh that quick, okay?

Speaker 9 (51:42):
And it really it's really going to be dependent on
the size of the job. Sure, the severity. There's a
lot of things that fall into place with that.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
But I you just said weeks, you know, but it
could be as as soon as five days.

Speaker 8 (51:56):
It could be as soon as five days.

Speaker 1 (51:58):
Yes, all right, So again I guess if nothing else,
we get nothing else from what we just talked about.
The key point is is address the problem as soon
as possible, absolutely, okay, And you do that by calling
these good folks right here, dripped ninjas.

Speaker 8 (52:12):
Yes, absolutely, give us a call.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
How to folks get a hold of you, Christina, so.

Speaker 9 (52:16):
You can call us directly eight three nine two five
seven nine one five eight or go to our website
dripped ninjas dot com. We're available twenty four to seven
because water disasters and mold.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
They don't wait, No, they don't. They don't take a
day off, do they No. Christina, great to meet you,
Nice to see you.

Speaker 8 (52:35):
Nice to meet you as well.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
Dripped Ninja's be sure to keep that name somewhere, write
that down somewhere, putting your phone or somewhere. And let's
hope you don't ever need them, but if you do,
they're there for you. Christina mcduffey, Drip Ninjas have a
great weekend.

Speaker 8 (52:46):
You as well.

Speaker 10 (52:47):
When disaster strikes, you want life back to normal fast,
and that's when you need Drip Ninjas with rapid twenty
four to seven emergency response to handle water, fire, mold
and storm damage, restoring your property and your peace of mind.
They're certified proceeds state of the art equipment to stabilize, clean, dry,
and document every step when water damage hits. Time matters
called dripninj Just now at eight O three five nine

(53:08):
OZHO eight O two six or visit drip ninjas dot com,
Drip Ninjas eto three five nine oh ETO two six
or drip Ninja's dot com.

Speaker 11 (53:19):
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,
and Freedom 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 sets us apart

(53:40):
from other companies is our customer service. We have a
five star rating on Google, a five star rating on Facebook,
an a plus rating on Angie's List and an eight
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 new service call when you mentioned you

(54:01):
heard us on WVOC. Learn more at Freedom dash Plumbing
dot com. That's Freedom dash Plumbing dot com.