Home Improvement Show 05-09-26

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Good morning and welcome in now the Home improvement Show
of the Midlands on one of three point five FM
and five sixty amwvoc Our pleasure to have you join
us this morning is always for the program. We really
appreciate you listening. Coming up, we'll talk to Rus Marcasey.
He owns the Finishing Touch Team. They're nearly a quarter
of a century now in painting all around the middle
of the state too, for that matter, and we'll talk

(00:46):
about exterior and interior painting and where it is. He's
going to lay a special on us too, so we'll
stand by to hear from rust little bit later on
the half hour, Jeremy Holliday mister Electric, with what your
electrical panel box means about your house. We talked a
bit about this a couple of weeks ago, but we'll
get it to it a little bit deeper this morning
when that Jeremy joined us. Next half hour from mister

(01:07):
Electric right now. Trey Powell from Mosquito, Joe Trey, good morning,
my friend.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Hey, Good morning to you.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Hey. Last week I was mentioning on the on the
Weekday Show one morning that if if, if you're suffering
right now when you step out your back door and
the mosquitoes are just all over you like white on rice.
Then that I can't relate, you know, I haven't been
able to relate for a long time. Best thanks to

(01:35):
you guys over at Mosquito Joe, so so so thanks again,
my friend. It's it really is unbelievable how well this
this this treatment works. It's really fantastic.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
Well that's great.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
We love to hear that. And uh, I'm glad that
glad that you're not getting bit.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
No sir, And hey here we are. It's Mother's Day weekend, right.

Speaker 4 (01:54):
I know it's uh, it doesn't feel like Mother's Day
weekend in South Carolina. But had some very unusually cool temperatures,
you know, pretty consistently for the last month.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
And a half.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
Yeah, and kind of unseasonable, right.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
Right, but it's still we've had enough of those hot
days and well we haven't had much rate at all.
We've had enough for the squeters to be an issue,
haven't we.

Speaker 4 (02:22):
Yeah, So a couple of odd things have happened this year.
When we started the year out in February and March.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
With unseasonably warm, warmer.

Speaker 4 (02:30):
Temperatures than we normally had, and we had a lot
of rain, and then in April things cooled down a
little bit and we didn't get rain, i think for
thirty nine days, which was very unusual, and that probably
slowed the mosquito down a little bit. There they're hatching,
probably slowed down. The cooler temperatures feel great to us,

(02:52):
but they also feel fine for mosquitos as long as
the temperatures above fifty degrees. I know, when we walk
outside and it's fifty five in the morning, we need
a jacket, but mosquitoes is that's that's fine. Those eggs
will continue to hatch as long as they're wet. Now,
we've had you know, plenty of rain over the last
you know, about week to ten.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Days, which is great. We really really needed it.

Speaker 4 (03:17):
But unfortunately, what's what's happening is that is igniting a
lot of mosquito eggs that had gone dormant because they
weren't wet. You know, the mosquitos, if if if one
of their favorite places to lay eggs is dry, they'll
lay the eggs zer anyway, and then the eggs will
just wait until it rains and as soon as they
get wet and they start hatching and going through that

(03:39):
larval stage. So we are we are liable to see
a big spike in the mosquito population here over the
next five to ten days.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Okay, all right, and that's what what surprises people. How
could go from zero to sixty seemingly overnight.

Speaker 4 (03:56):
Yeah, those mosquito eggs will just light dormant until the
conditions are right and the temperatures have been fine. I
know they're unseason will be cool, but they're fine as
far as mosquitos go, because as long as it's above
fifty degrees, were good.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
So that hasn't slowed them down.

Speaker 4 (04:10):
But the many many drought that we had, you know,
definitely could slow down the hatching process for them. And
so if they if they if they're not wet enough,
they'll just incubate until it rains and when the water
you know, kind of picks them up, washes them into
a puddle. Then they then they hatch and then suddenly,

(04:31):
you know, five to ten days later, you have a
big hatching and uh, and that population will just sow.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
We I think a couple of weeks ago, Trey, you
and I discussed this, but they're talking about a super
El Nino this season. I was reading this past week
that now they're predicting it will may not come in
until maybe no as late as November. But typically what
a super El Nino, from what I gather, means is

(04:58):
more rainfall and warmer temperatures, although it could mean to
more rainfall and maybe even more more and more snow.
There's winter for us here in South Carolina. But let's
just say that, you know, this thing arrives in November,
we're suddenly unseasonably warm, and we're wetter than usual. This
could be an extended mosquito season.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
If that's the case, Yeah, one hundred percent.

Speaker 4 (05:18):
That will definitely extend our mosquito season, you know, probably
all the way through December. You know, if your temperatures
are above fifty degrees, which a lot of times in November,
you'll have a day or two where I'll die down
into the forties. But for the most part, you know,
our our mosquito season, you know, runs till about Thanksgiving. Anyway,

(05:40):
it'll start slowing down in October, you know, because not
as many eggs are hatching, but they're laying just as
many eggs in that timeframe. And if the temperatures are
warm and there's plenty of rain. Yeah, that's that's definitely
going to make it a long mosquito season. We're not
going to get the relief that we're we count on,
you know, come this winter.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
I got to tell you my wife's girlfriends are very
excited because we are having next weekend a girl's night
out at our house in our backyard. And and I
think to a to a to a woman, they all
know that they're not going to have to deal with
with with with a obsquitoes at our place, and that's
one least thing we've got to worry about. But talk

(06:22):
to us if somebody, Okay, Mother's Day is tomorrow, but
here comes Memorial Day, Trey. That's right. Uh, it's the
unofficial start of summer. And for somebody who maybe has
an event planned for Memorial Day out and back, uh,
and they they've got a big mosquito problem. Can they
get relief between now and then?

Speaker 3 (06:42):
Absolutely?

Speaker 4 (06:43):
I mean the sooner that they call us, the better.
But I would say that most of our customers kind
of start out that way. As you know, they're planning
a graduation party or a Memorial Day party or Mother's
Day party, and you know, and they're you know, starting
to think about how they're going to set up, and
they're just you know, they're just like, man, these mosquitoes
are awful. You know, we should maybe we should try

(07:05):
mosquito Joe. I mean, the great thing is we don't
have contracts. You know, somebody can call us and have
just a single treatment done. If they're having a party,
we would recommend like a special event treatment where we
would actually try and treat twice right before that party,
just to make sure that that you know, nothing's nothing's

(07:25):
biting during during the party and activities. So you know,
we can we can do that. But what we find
is that usually customers they like it so much and
they didn't realize how well it worked, and next thing
you know, they're they're they have us there for the
whole summer and the next summer, and now they're kind
of addicted.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
I was getting ready to say it is very addictive,
very addictive. Okay, So now explain to us the difference.
Let's say I could I go out to a big
box store somewhere and buy some kind of a spray
and go around the yard and spray it and kill mosquitoes. Uh,
what's the difference between the the typical di I why
effort in what you guys do a mosquito joe? What
makes the difference here?

Speaker 4 (08:04):
Well, I mean, sure, there's there's all kinds of stuff.
There's a lot of gimmicks that are out there, but
there's also you know, legitimate stuff that's out there that
people can do. And if they're you know, motivated to
do it themselves, then you know, one of the main
things that they need to do is look for some
sort of larva side, whether that's mosquito dunks is very popular,

(08:25):
which is something that you're going to put into any
standing water that's in or around your yard that you.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
Can't get rid of.

Speaker 4 (08:33):
I mean, the best thing to do is dump it out,
dump out, you know water. But if there's something like
a drain and you just have to be you know,
well trained to be able to find those things. A
lot of people look out their back window and they say, yeah,
we don't have any standing water. But I guarantee if
you don't have standing water, you won't have mosquitoes. If
you have mosquitos, you have standing water. It's somewhere. You

(08:55):
just got to find it and make sure that you're
consistently you know, every couple of weeks, putting more larva
side into anything and everything that's that's holding water, that's
gonna that's going to do a big, you know thing
as far as reducing the population, because you'll stop the
mosquitoes from being born, and mosquitoes only live males for
ten days females for four to six weeks, so you

(09:18):
can lower the population real quick if you're applying larvaside.
And then they do have sprays. They're not commercial grade,
you know, stuff like what we would use, but they
are you know, they do are somewhat effective. You just
have to use them more often, so you know, every
couple of weeks if they're you know, somebody is.

Speaker 5 (09:35):
You know.

Speaker 4 (09:35):
The key is doing it consistently, you know, you know,
just like clockwork, like you would cut your grass. As
you get out there and make sure you're treating everything
that that could hold water or anywhere that water could hide,
you're treating that with a larvaside and then spraying all
the bushes and shrubs and foliage around the yard, which
is where mosquitos will rest. You know, they eat the

(09:56):
nectar off of green foliage. It's the only thing that
they eat. And they also high from the sun. So
if you're spraying all the bushes and shrubs around your yard,
you're going to eliminate those adult mosquitos as well.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
So if all they eat is the nectar off these leaves,
why are they biting us.

Speaker 4 (10:12):
Well, when they're biting us, they are you know, that
is females only, and what they are doing is trying
to get a blood meal in order to lay their eggs.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
You know, when a.

Speaker 4 (10:25):
Probably the first day a mosquito was born, they're born
as an adult and they look for a mate, and
once they find a mate, they mate one time and
then that female will use what that male has given
her over and over again. That can constantly reproduce eggs.
And every time she's producing eggs, which is every few days,

(10:46):
she has to have a blood meal in order to.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
Lay those eggs.

Speaker 4 (10:49):
So, you know, when those eggs start producing, he is
looking for a bird or a dog, or a cat.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
Or a human or anything that is breathing CO two.

Speaker 4 (10:58):
They're attract the CO two and that shows them that's
something that they can get a blood meal, and so
they're coming after you so that they can lay those
eggs and start producing more.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
And that's really all they do every few days is
they lay.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
More and more eggs, their pose, their whole life. Yeah wow, okay, yeah, Well,
since you brought up the animal part of it, I
mean the spray, the spray you spray for mosquitos also
has other applications, doesn't it.

Speaker 4 (11:23):
Well, I mean it's a general use insecticide. I'm not
sure exactly what you're at.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Well, like fleas and tics doesn't have an impact on that.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
The mosquito treatment that we do is a general you know,
for all the vector insects, mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks. That
same application will will control all three of those. It's
different applications for other things like fire ants, that would
be a different application.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
You know, home pest defense we.

Speaker 4 (11:49):
Offer that to keep cockroaches and ants out of the house,
and that's a different application using different products.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
Right, But as far as outside the mosquito does control
the fleas and the tics is well, I we have
we have a we have a cat who stays out
in the backyard quite a bit and an adult that
goes out every now and then. I couldn't tell you
last time we've picked a flea off of one of
those two so that it works great for that too.
But yeah, inside the home ther total home pest defense.
We're using that to at our house. Delighted with it.

(12:17):
I mean, so right, you can take care of anything
that bugs the snot out of you at your house.
Mosquito Joe has an answer for right.

Speaker 4 (12:26):
Yeah, that's correct. We do general pest control. We do
obviously mosquito flee and tick. We also do roadent control,
and we're also doing termite control. We put out bait
stations and we do you know, annual inspections for for
termites as well. So any pests enter around the house
or the yard, we have a solution for it.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
As you always say, and this is the way you
do business. You're not tying anybody into anything long term. Now.

Speaker 4 (12:57):
We want to earn their business the right way every time.
I mean, it's all of our services are guaranteed and
none of them have a contract, even the term might
you know service that we have. Obviously, hast prevention is
the key, and for anything to be successful, it's a
reoccurring service.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
But if somebody moves.

Speaker 4 (13:17):
They don't have to worry about buying out a contract
or something like that in order to move houses. And
so you know, we've we've never done contracts and don't
have any intention of doing them in the future.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
As far as it comes to the mosquito treatments that
you guys do. For somebody listening this morning that has
never given you a call before, they've never tried out
your services, you still run a special for that first
time treatment to get them introduced.

Speaker 4 (13:42):
Yeah, we'll do a first treatment if they've never used
us before, for only thirty nine dollars, and this gives
us them a chance to try us. There's no strings
attached or anything like that. The reoccurring service is obviously
more than that. That's you know, well below costs, but
we want them to give them a chance to try
it out and see what they think.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
Okay, and again let's reiterate to a Mother's Day being tomorrow. Well,
it's it's too late for that. But if you've got
a graduation party plan for later on the month, Memorial
Day gathering at your place, I guess the best advice
is to don't wait too long. Maybe Monday, pick up
the phone and call you guys and get you out
there to nip this thing in a bud a little bit.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
That's exactly right.

Speaker 4 (14:25):
Eight five to five, Aska Joe eight five to five
asked Joe, and one of the folks in our office
would be glad to help you out answer any questions
you have and set up initial service. They can also
find us at Mosquitojoe dot com.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
All right, Trey, always a pleasure, my friend. Thank you
so much.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
Man, Hey, thank you.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
Have a good weekend, buddy, still to come. Russ Markuesy.
He's the owner of the Finishing Touch team here in
the Midlands and they've got a special. We've been talking
about the exterior petting special, but I'm told he's going
to lay an interior petting special on us as well,
So we'll talk to him here and just the second
or two and next half hour, Jeremy Holliday, the owner
of Mistro Electric with what's your electric body? Yeah, that

(15:06):
panel in your in your home means about your home
and some things that well we just are maybe not
aware but we should be. We got those guys coming
up to join us on this edition of the Home
Improvement Show of the Midlands on one of three point
five FM and five sixty AMWVOC. Thanks for being with us. Hi,
this is Gary David. You've heard me talk for years

(15:27):
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, just with

(15:47):
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.

Speaker 6 (15:56):
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(16:20):
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(16:42):
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Speaker 1 (16:54):
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(17:15):
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and nurses. Find out more at Finishingtouchteam dot com and
Welcome back to the Home Improvement Show. Of the Midlands

(17:36):
on one oh three point five FM at five sixty
AMWVOC my Man Russ Marcasey joins us now on the
Home show.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
Good morning, my friend, Hey, good morning Gary. How are you.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
I'm doing well. We've been talking a lot recently about
the special you've got on exterior painting. You guys are
offering ten percent off on any and all exterior paint jobs, right.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
We are, We sure are. We're offering ten percent off
any exterior paint job, full paint job, Gary, and we're
also offering a free complimentary power washing one year from
the date of completion of that paint job to come
wash the house, go through it. Also, you know, inspect

(18:18):
all of the work that we did a year prior,
so it's you know, it's a good thing to do
to take a look at it a year later, make
sure that nothing's failing, and then you get your whole
house washed on top of that.

Speaker 1 (18:29):
It's fantastic. And we should probably remind folks that when
you come out and I list from experience, when you
come out and do an exterior paint job, the first
thing you do is power wash that surface.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
It always, Gary, just about almost always, there's some just
very rare situations where we don't. But i'd say about
ninety five percent of the time we're having to clean
that surface before we paint it to get all that
dirt and debris off.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
You know, yeah, unless you have a sparkling clean exterior surface,
and what's the point? But who does?

Speaker 2 (18:58):
Right?

Speaker 1 (18:58):
Who does?

Speaker 4 (18:58):
Now?

Speaker 2 (18:59):
Yeah? Pretty rare, it's pretty rare for that. But but yeah,
but yeah, we're we're running that. We're running that special
right now. We're also running another special, Gary actually uh
on interior painting as well. Okay, okay, so we are doing, uh,
you know, paint two rooms, get one room of equal
size for free.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
Oh wow, okay, yes, sir, that's what.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
We're doing right now. We're trying to off run those
two offers right now to the end of June is
where we're running those Gary.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
Okay, so both interior and exterior specials through the end
of next month. Okay, that's right, Yeah, that's right. How
the approach that you use and and you know, again
I've seen this because you guys have done interior and
exterior painting for us. But the approach that you have
to use, I mean, there are some differences there Number one,
The weather is a big, a big factor when it
comes to exterior painting, certainly, But are the processes, are

(19:50):
the paints are they Are they the same inside or out?
Does anything change there? Us?

Speaker 2 (19:54):
There's there's a big Yeah, there's a there's a lot
of differences really, Gary. I mean, it's exterior painting versus
interior is, you know, two totally different things, totally different products,
preparations a little bit different. I mean, you know there's
some there's some constants that we do both interior and
exterior for sure, you know, like sanding and calking up

(20:15):
of gaps and things like that. But you know, we
just use different products to you know, for for those things.
So we're gonna use a little bit of a different
cock to seal up cracks and whatnot on the outside
versus the inside. The primers are going to be a
little bit different, Gary, We're not going to use the
same interior primer that we would use for exterior primers.

(20:35):
Things like that, you know for sure. But you know,
it's especially when it comes to exterior painting, the preparation
is so so darn important. Gary, It's where it's at.
It's you can put the most expensive paint in the
world on top of your soffits or siding of your house,
and if you don't prep it correctly, you're not going

(20:58):
to get any time out of it soever. It is
really really the value is in the preparation. It really is.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
You know, this is this is this is the mistake
that most of us di wires make, whether it's inside
or outside. We don't properly prep that surface. But you
know what, Russ, because I've seen this before. This is
also a mistake that a lot of people make who
might be charging you to paint your home.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
One hundred percent, Gary, We you know, we come across
it unfortunately a little too often. And you know, there's
there's things that there's knowledge and theory that you that
you just have to know, you know, all the way
down to what did they paint your house with previously? Okay,
because certain paints may not be compatible with other paints.

(21:46):
So if it's if it hasn't been painted let's say,
for instance, and just I don't know, you know, ten
fifteen years, seventeen years, something like that, there's a there's
a possibility that you have petroleum oil based paints on
your house at some point and if so, you don't.
You can't go over those surfaces with latex paint. You

(22:06):
just can't because it'll pop and peel and you won't
get the uh, you won't. The latex paint will not
adhere to that late to that oil based paint gry.
So you go in those situations.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
Yeah, so you'd like take paint chips and test it
or do you just do you just know?

Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yeah? Yeah, Well a lot of times I do just know.
We you know, we can feel that, we can look
at it, and we we definitely can know. But we'll
take what's called the natured alcohol and we'll put it
right on there and we'll rub it on and see
if it comes off or not. We can we can
tell with that, but I'll tell you whenever whenever we're
in doubt and there's it could go either way and

(22:42):
we're really just not sure, because sometimes that happens right
where you know it's the uh, the natured alcohol test
isn't really coming out right, and the homeowner is not sure.
When in doubt, we we'll go ahead and bond prime
the surface before we put the finished paint on top.
That will ensure that the coat of paint is going
to adhere to it, and you know, we feel comfortable

(23:06):
doing it that way, and then this way we can
guarantee it as well. We do that a lot of
times on our commercial jobs as well, Gary, where let's
say we're doing a school and the school hasn't been
painted in maybe twenty years. Well, we have no idea
what's on those walls at that point. It could be
an epoxy, it could be an oil based paint, it

(23:26):
could be latex. Probably not, but it's probably one of
those two. So we bond prime. We use a bond
primer which is a universal bonding primer. You can get
them for exterior and interior. And once you coat that
surface with it, you can go over it with whatever
you want. You can go right back over it with
latex paint, no problem, and it will adhere. It is very,

(23:48):
very very important to do that. You know, exterior wives, Gary,
you've seen it before where you've got popping and peeling
paint on a eve of a house or you know,
soffits of a house. You can actually see the wall
wood underneath it. Okay, you got a primate with with
correct primers, we like to use an oil based exterior
primer to do that. If you don't do that and

(24:11):
you just slap some latex paint, finished paint right over it,
you're guaranteed that it's going to pop and peel again.

Speaker 1 (24:16):
On you, you know.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
And those are the big differences right there, They really are.
It's really in the preparation.

Speaker 1 (24:21):
Like we said in the beginning, let me point out
again here for those di wires amongst us now and
maybe you've picked up on a lot of hints here
about how to go about this, But the point is
you're hearing Russ talk about this sort of thing and
the steps and the preparation and the processes, the procedures
and all the things you've got to know. You understand

(24:42):
why as a di wire you don't get the results
that a true professional painter like the folks you've got
to Finishy Touch team can get. So this is why
I love talking to you about this because my wife
and I we've done a lot of paint jobs over
the years.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
And oh, yeah, it's a fantastic painter.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
But yeah, you've seen her work and she loves.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
To do it's really good.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
She is.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
I'm still trying to recruit her.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah yeah, well, but I can tell you this. All
these things you're saying right now are things that we
have never ever done.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
Really, yeah, you know, sometimes get a matter of yeah, buddy,
but look, you know this is something that we do
all the time, do this every single day. And you
know it's It's funny though, because everybody can paint. They say,
everyone's oh we can paint. I've painted in my mom's kitchen,
I've done this, I've done that, and you know, to
a certain extent, sure, sure, but this is where it's at.

(25:33):
This is where if you want a long lasting professional job,
these are the steps you have to go about it
the right way. You've got to use the right materials.
It just makes all the difference in the world from
something lasting, let's say your exterior lasting two years, three
years maybe, to get that ten to fifteen years out
of it before you have to do it again. That's

(25:55):
really where it's at. You know.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
I'm glad you brought it because I was talking about
my next question. Yeah, usde I wires do a yeah job,
how long can we expect it to last? Versus how
long can we expect yours to last? And you just
answered that, so thank you.

Speaker 2 (26:08):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, hey, look, if if you
do all the right preparation, I mean, this is this
is where's at you. We'll go through and we'll we'll
use Bondo compound. Okay, to fix things around the house,
everything has to be cocked up super super super tight
to where there's no gaps anymore. So moisture can't get

(26:28):
into those pieces of trim and they start to swell
and rot. Now you're replacing wood, you know, things like that.
So that's why I love coming back a year later
as well to do the power washing, because you know,
if something maybe the house has moved a little bit
and and eve just one little joint has popped a
little bit, you know, we can we can take care

(26:49):
of that right there on the spot. If if that's
the case, and it's nature of the beast, it happens,
you know, from time to time. But you've got to
do that stuff right the first time, Gary, And that's
how you get here, that's how you get your long
job out of these painting projects.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
So you're telling us that when you come back a
year after the initial job was complete on an exterior
job and you do this inspection, that even if something
has happened to that exterior that is totally non related
to the job you did. Like you just mentioned to us,
you're still going to one.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
Hundred percent, Okay, one hundred percent, Gary, one hundred percent. Yeah.
We look, you know, we want customers for life, right,
we want a partnership, and we want to be a
painting contractor that everybody can trust all the time.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
You know.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
Look, if it was my house, that's what I would
want someone to do, Okay, And that's how we treat it.
That's exactly how.

Speaker 1 (27:39):
We treat it. Gary. And I got to tell you,
I mean before I can't to know about you guys,
I mean going back a number of years, and I
should have known about You've been around here about what
more than twenty three years now, right, I guess.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
It is this summer's twenty five years, twenty five this wow,
five years. Yeah. I was having to do the math
the other day that guy, I said, probably it's actually
twenty five. I was telling my wife.

Speaker 1 (28:00):
Yeah, a quarter of a century A long time, A
long time, but but we old, well you give me
both brother, uh, but we have we have used other
and I'm using the air quotes here professional painters in
the past and even though I knew when you guys
came in to do our first job for us, I
knew what to expect because you that's one of the

(28:20):
things you do. You want to be sure that the
customer knows exactly what's going to happen. Uh, And we
were well aware of it, but even to watch the
process full. And this was the first job you did
for us, was a was a master bathroom. It's not
even that big of a master bathroom. But it took
you guys, yeah, two days to do it because again,
the prep work was day one. We have never had

(28:42):
that done even by people we paid the paint. That
has never been No, I'm serious. I guess that happens
way too often.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
Huh, it does, it really does.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
It's look, you've got to go through the motions. I mean.
So what we do is when someone calls me for
a paint job and they're looking to get pricing for something,
I'll go down there myself. It's always me Gary. I
always go myself, by the way, and I like to
do that because I like to educate being the homeowner
on exactly what is what. There's a lot of times

(29:16):
I'll tell people, I'll tell folks I'll say, hey, look,
I know you're getting three four prices, and I would
do the same thing even if we don't do the
painting for you. Make sure they do X, Y and Z.
Make sure they do that. I tell them all the time.
I like explaining all the different possibilities, just to give

(29:36):
the homeowners much information so that they can make the
best decision possible. And then what we do in our proposals, Gary,
is I couple that with a very very detailed proposal
of exactly all the preparation. I run right through it
on the proposal, down to all the materials that we're
going to use, from what manufacturer we're going to use

(29:58):
generally Sure Williams almost every time, and how many coats
were going to put on. It's very important to have
all of that in black and white when you're seeing
proposals or estimates that are very vague, Gary, and it's
just a couple of real quick sentences like paint the
walls or pink the outside. You know, things like that.

(30:20):
Those are red flags. You know that's not what you want.
You want to be able to have everything in black
and white, so there's no gray areas in the end,
and that's really what gives it the stigma and the
you know where people kind of dread going through this
process is because of that issue, because of the gray
areas of somebody not doing what they set or they

(30:41):
thought they were going to do. And that's the real issue.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
Since you brought it up, you talked about the number
of coats. For example, is there any really such thing
as a as a one coat paint?

Speaker 2 (30:52):
No, sir, there's not. I mean, look there's not. They
even the primer and finish paint in one that they've
put out there. You know, it's it's kind of it's
a gimmick, is what it is. And look, yeah, I'm
not gonna knock anything necessarily like that, but look, we
you have to put two coats of paint on, no
matter what. If we're gonna paint a living room, let's

(31:14):
say Gary, and they want the exact same color, I mean,
the exact same color, We're putting two coats of paint
on no matter what, because that's what makes the job.
You have to get the build on it, okay. And
what we call that is is the dry uh, the
dry film thickness once once the paint actually drives, and

(31:36):
so you want to build that up. You know, general
paint will dry, you know from anywhere it's from a
four to eight mills thick is how it will dry.
So the more coach you put on, you get that
build you get that full opaqueness, and that's what makes
the job look really good. Yeah, you've seen it a
million times when you walked into something and you can
almost tell like there's only been one coat on. It

(31:57):
doesn't look quite finished. There's weeks and there it needed
another coat is what it needed. And then we we
we we don't veer from that whatsoever we have to
put two coats on. I get folks that ask me
all the time, hey what if we only put one
coat of paint on? We actually won't even price it
that way, just because we know how it's going to
come out, and we know it's not going to last,
and that's not what we do.

Speaker 1 (32:18):
Okay, again, let's reiterate you. The two specials you're running
now through the end of next month.

Speaker 2 (32:24):
Are yes, So we are we are doing ten percent
off all exterior painting, okay. And we are also doing
which includes a free complimentary powerwash one year later and
inspection and interior wise we are offering a special for
you know, two full rooms, get the third room of

(32:44):
equal size for free.

Speaker 1 (32:46):
Terrific. You know, next time we get together, we got
to talk about your cabinet refinishing specials.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
Absolutely, yeah, We've got some really really cool things happening
with that.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
And something that we just I think something we just
broached a couple months ago over the first I'm with
you is popcorn ceiling removal. That's right, you guys, Yes, sir.
Is there anything when it comes to painting you won't do?
I mean anything, Resse?

Speaker 2 (33:12):
No, really, actually there's not. Gary. We are a full
fledge you know, paint shop. Yep, we sure are all right.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
So now if you want to get a quote, you're listening,
and I want to talk to this guy. Here's the
great you call the number. You're the guy that folks get.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
Right always Gary, Yep, I'm the guy that you get.
I'm the guy that comes out takes a look at
your house and and and get you all the information.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yes, sir, all right, Russ MARCHESI Finishing Touch Team. How
do folks reach you, my friend?

Speaker 2 (33:40):
Yes, sir, you can give me a call at eight
zero three four sixty seven six seven five nine, all right, and.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
That website there's always his finishing touch team dot com.
All right, Russ, Gary, Thank you buddy, having a great weekend.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
Thank you Gary, you too. Take care.

Speaker 7 (33:56):
When your power goes out. There's not a lot to do,
but you can call mister Electric with priority dispatching. One
of our electricians will be at your door ready to
safely restore your power fast. Because not having electricity is annoying,
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(34:16):
mister Electric because life is better with electricity. Services provided
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vary by location.

Speaker 8 (34:24):
Hi there, I'm Jeremy Halliday, 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

(34:47):
mister Electric dot com forward slash Columbia.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
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
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(35:12):
just with a new name. Eight oh three nine nine
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Leave it to Beaver Beaver Roofing and Beaver Gutters. And

(35:32):
welcome back to the Home Improvement Show of the Midlands
on one O three point five FM and five sixty
amwvoc As we welcome in our friend Jeremy Holliday. He
is mister Electric. How are you, buddy?

Speaker 3 (35:45):
Hey, good morning Gary.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
Doing it good? But I can't complain at all, man,
I got zero complaints, zero complaints. If I did, nobody
would care anyway, right, that's right. We talked a couple
of weeks ago about breakers in your home or your business,
and I know we discussed it. If they keep popping off,
there's a reason for that and you need to get

(36:07):
it looked at. But that's that's part of the bigger picture,
that that that panel and whatever room it is in
your home with all those circuit breakers. Today's topic is
what that panel says about your home? So what does
it say about your home? That's that's that thing that
you know. All we know about it, most of us
is hey, if if if a if a circuit trips,

(36:28):
we go in there and we flip it, we flip
it back on, and that's pretty much the extent of
our knowledge. Jeremy.

Speaker 5 (36:33):
Yeah, So a panel is essentially at the heart of
your electrical system. So it's it's and it's like a
dashboard for electricians. We can tell a lot by looking
at that panel. You know whether, uh, the age of
the electrical system, the size of the service, if the

(36:54):
home has you know, room for future circuits, and if
the capacity of that panel is able to run those
circuits if you need if you need additional circuits, the
quality of you know, sometimes electrical work. We can see
if there's work that's been done in the home since
that panel has been installed, and whether it's been done

(37:14):
by an electrician or by make it work guy. You know,
there's signs of any damage overheating, corrosion, or moisture in
that panel. And if the home has modern protection like
AFCI arc fault I say, art fault breakers and ground
fault breakers, which is a modern type breaker compared to

(37:38):
the older ones. And if the home's outgrown, it's original
electrical design. So if your home's forty or fifty years old,
you know you can you can paint it, you can
remodel the kitchen, you can make it look like a
new home. But that panel is going to tell on it.
It's gonna it's gonna expose, uh, the real age, you know,

(38:04):
of the home if it hasn't been if the electrical
system hasn't been brought up and updated.

Speaker 1 (38:09):
So you guys, as part of what you're every time
you make a house call and mister electric one of
the things you do, and people can even request us,
I guess, is just to come out and do an
inspection of the system in a home, which is a
good idea. Y'all did it for us last year. How often, yeah,
do you go out there to do one of these
and find that when it comes to the panel itself,

(38:29):
there's some kind of issue. Is that pretty frequent, Yes.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
It is.

Speaker 5 (38:35):
It's more frequent than you would think. A lot of
times we see things that have been done, for instance,
breakers that don't go with that panel, they're not rated
for it. Loose connections we found, you know, we find
loose connections. A breaker doesn't always trip in a panel,
and it doesn't mean that there's not a problem. So
sometimes you know, if you have let's say, a wire

(38:58):
connection inside the panel's loose, the circuit may still work,
the lights may still come on, and the breaker may
never trip, but that loose connection can create heat every
time current passes through it, and over time that heat
can discolor the wire, damage the breaker, or melt the insulation,
or create you know, arcing. It's you know, it's going

(39:19):
to be arcing in there. So the so you may
think everything's fine, the breaker didn't trip, but the panels
actually giving us a warning sign. When we open it
up and look in it, we can we can see
issues in there and connections become loose over times. You know,
you know you're talking you going homes they're thirty forty
years old and the panels hasn't been opened in ten years,

(39:43):
and sometimes those connections can work their self loose for
whatever reason, temperature changes, you know, high loads, or just
never originally was tightened up properly. So when we when
we do a panel change, when we install breakers, we're
supposed to use a a what do you call it, well,

(40:10):
a corkscrewdriver okay, yeah, yeah, like connections. Yeah. So uh,
there's all kinds of reasons to we. We always say
take it to the panel. Every call we go on,
we want to take it to the panel because, like
I said, that's kind of a dashboard for us. We
can see a lot of things that's going on with

(40:32):
that electrical system through that panel.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
So, Jeremy, as a homeowner, is there any way that
we would know when it comes to house is everybody's
a di I y at something, but when it comes
to electricity, you really got to know what you're what
you're what you're doing in higher professional like you guys
are mister electric. But as we look at a panel
in a home, is there are there tail tale signs

(40:57):
that we could see that would indicate, you know, maybe
you need an update, an updated upgrade, or a whole
new panel or what have you, anything that we can
see as a as just a home owner with no
knowledge of electricity.

Speaker 5 (41:09):
Absolutely, there's some there's some big warning signs. And this
is for everybody that's out there looking at a home
that's you know, been remodeled and up for sale. You know,
you can have a home inspection done and it's not
the same as a detailed electrical inspection from an electrician.
We're going to point out things that that the home

(41:33):
inspector might not point out because he's a general inspector. Yeah,
but there's things also that the customer can look at
in their home or in a home that they are
wanting to purchase, and it you know, the home is older,
the panel appears to be original, you know, then that's

(41:54):
a big sign. Okay, if the home is forty years
old and the panel is you know, it looks like
it's years old, also, then you want someone to evaluate
that panel, the panels. If it's only one hundred amps
and it's a single family home, that's a big sign.
Or if it's fuses. You know, if you have fuses,
you know, the little we've all seen them, the little

(42:16):
glass screw infuses. Yeah, that's apparent that electrical system is old. Wow,
if the if the panel is full, you know, just
there's no more room in it, right, you know, if
you live in the home and the breaker's trip continuously,
that's a big sign. If you have flickering, your lights
dim often obvious rust, you know, corrosion on the outside

(42:41):
of the panel. You don't want to open up your panel.
Don't open up your panel, but on the outside there's
visual things. You know, you can open the door. Is
it rusty, is it corroded, is it warm? Is it buzzing?
Does it smell? You know, sometimes you get a fishy
smell when there's electrical stuff bur is it poorly labeled?

(43:03):
And or there holes? There shouldn't be holes in your panel.
You shouldn't look in there and can see inside through
the door the internal components. There shouldn't be any holes
in that panel. And then modern protection like ground fault
breakers and arc fault breakers.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
What's the difference between those two jerem me a ground
fault breaker and an arc fault breaker.

Speaker 5 (43:25):
So a ground fault is I like to call it
leaking current. So it's gonna pick up where the electricity
is escaping and it's out there where it can shock you,
so that a ground fault breaker detects that leaking current
and shuts that breaker off so you don't get hurt.
And then it won't work until that leaking current is

(43:47):
harnessed and brought back into the circuit. And so an
arc fault is essentially as it sounds, if there's any
kind of frayed wiring where there's an arc jumping that
shouldn't be jumping, that's going to create heat, it's going
to damage things, and that breaker is monitoring that circuit,

(44:08):
almost like having i won't say a whole firefighter, but
a partial firefighter in your panel, monitoring the circuit and
making sure that if there's any kind of arching that
shouldn't be happening, that that breaker is shut down and
that circuit no longer has current flowing through it to
protect you from danger that could happen if it continued.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
Dude, those are modern, Okay, So the newly constructed homes
have these as a rule in that panel.

Speaker 5 (44:38):
Yes, okay, any new home today will have a fully
loaded you know, the panel. Almost every breaker in there's
either arc fault, ground fault, or both, so it's a
it's required now.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
So how far do we have to go back? Jeremy
homes that are ten years old, fifteen years old, twenty
years old before they started at actually doing this on
a regular basis.

Speaker 5 (45:03):
So they come out with the they are fought in
the nineties and they only required the bedrooms back then.
But now so it's they've been out for a while,
but they they had a you know, they've got them
really dialed in now to where they're I only get
too technical, but they're reading sign waves and they can

(45:24):
tell if it's an arc that is supposed to be
there for say, like a motor startup like the dishwasher,
as opposed to a dangerous arc that that is is
not a normal sine wave reading that is typical of
an appliance or a piece of equipment. And so once
they got them dialed in, they were able to make

(45:49):
the electrical system so much safer that they started requiring them.
So if your home is, you know, twenty years old,
thirty years old, most likely you may have one arc
fault in there, but then it may be you know,
like I don't want to get too technical, but they
the first arc faults weren't combination arc faults they wouldn't

(46:10):
detect parallel arcing. So now you know you may have
one of those old arc faults in your panel. So
and then the and then the original breakers well not there, Yeah,
the original breakers, the ones that everybody has in their
home if they're not on fuses.

Speaker 3 (46:29):
Still is is.

Speaker 5 (46:34):
It protects you from over current. So you're you're putting
too much on that circuit and what will happen is
if that breaker wasn't there to shut the circuit down
and protect you, it would melt the wire down because
you're trying to pull too much and it's there's no limit, uh,
and the only limit is the size of the wire.
So eventually you'll burn the wire in half and that's

(46:54):
what will stop the current from flowing. But by that
point you may have a fire. So that's why we
put a breaker in there for the size wire that
you have. So you know, we run into people and say,
we can't you just change the breaker to a larger breaker.
And that's why we can't just change it to a
larger breaker because now the wire is the limiter and
that wire you don't want it to burn in half

(47:15):
because then you have the potential of you know, for
one thing, it's gonna cost a lot more to fix.
But then another thing, best case scenario, you don't cause
a fire. So, uh, we have breakers in there, and
that that's what they're That's what the original breakers do.
They they the old style breakers will protect you from

(47:36):
overloading that circuit or if there's a direct short so
hot to neutral type situation, it's gonna arc out and
just shut that breaker off.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
Like it should.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
This is really scary stuff to hear, jem I gotta
be honest with you, man, how many of us are
sitting at homes right now without really the proper protections
when it comes to our panel that that we need
to have and could wind up being a very bad
situation for us. So I guess the bottom line here
is if your home is I know you mentioned the
word or the forty years old or more maybe even

(48:11):
thirty years old, then probably you need to get that
panel evaluated or you home could be newer than that.
But if you've done additions or add ons to your
home and more breakers have been put in, a probably
needs to be evaluated as well. I guess right right,
the more.

Speaker 5 (48:27):
Stuff you add, you're you're adding to the capacity of
that panel, and your service has to be rated for uh,
for the amount that you're load you're trying to put
on it. So if you're adding you know, big items
EV chargers, hot tubs, you know, things of that sort,
then you're gonna that's where we're going to start, is

(48:50):
the panel. We're going to say, hey, this is this
service going to handle that? And what do we have
to do so we can put that equipment in because
that's the starting point.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
And I guess that you talk about a home as
thirty or forty years old. We have so many appliances
these days we didn't even dream of back then. Yeah,
that are so sophisticated. Do they actually draw more current? Jeremy,
some of these these new appliances we're using.

Speaker 5 (49:15):
You know, I wouldn't say they draw more current. I
would say we've probably gotten more efficient. And that's what
we you know, everybody strived for as far as each appliance.
But they definitely we have a lot more of them,
so yeah, you know that you just keep stacking them
on time, you know, I mean a long time ago,

(49:36):
my grandfather, you know, we had a little thing, a
little a little back and forth where you tell me
you could wire you know, a house in a day.
And and my comeback was always, well, they only had
one outlet in the in the bedroom back then, you know.
Right now we got you know, six or seven and
you know, filling fans and might fixtures and and the kitchen.

(49:57):
I mean, my wife, I don't know about everybody else's,
but she has so many appliances for the countertop. I mean,
it blows my mind. Sometimes we don't got room to.

Speaker 1 (50:07):
Put things on the countertop because the appliances.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
I know.

Speaker 1 (50:10):
Yeah, that's right, Oh my goodness. Okay, So and again
this is all part of what you guys do as
a free inspection when you come out to check out
things like just that right there the panel box. Let
me coup a couple of the quick things before we
let you go this morning. We're almost out of time,
Jeremy number one, and maybe we'll spend some time later
on down the road and talk about this again. Is

(50:32):
the systems that you use because here comes hurricane season, right,
we're not that far away from it. And for folks
who use generators, I know you guys can put it
what I can't remember the name of what you call it.
It's a it's kind of a port that I guess
you can plug your generator to outside the home so
you're not having to run extension cords and such.

Speaker 3 (50:52):
That's right.

Speaker 5 (50:53):
Power inlets, power inlet, that's you can put a power
inlet on your house. Absolutely okay. And that's where a
portable generator. It's you know, manual start most of the time,
but it's a good solution for keeping at least a
few lights on and being able to have the TV
on and keeping refrigerator going, you know.

Speaker 3 (51:16):
So that's a good option.

Speaker 1 (51:18):
And again springtime, people doing fix up stuff, we should
just remind folks that you guys at mister Electric, if
you want to do yard lighting or whatever, accent lighting,
you guys handle that too, right, that's right, yep, yep.

Speaker 5 (51:31):
We can evaluate your electrical panel, we can do a
safety check. We can look at any home enhancements you
want to do. We can put power inlets in. We
can do standby generators. We're actually doing one right now
in Pomaria. We can you know, there's anything on the home,
residential electrical we can do it.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
It requires power to make it happen. You guys got
it covered.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
Absolutely.

Speaker 5 (51:58):
They can reach us They can see all that on
mister Electric dot com Forward Slash Columbia, or they can
call us directly at eight zero three eight six eight
four two four to three.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
All right, jeremy, how today mister Electric, have yourself a
great week in my friend.

Speaker 3 (52:14):
Thank you, Gary.

Speaker 5 (52:15):
You do the same.

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(52:37):
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Drip Ninjas eightoh three five nine ozho eto two six
or Drip Ninjas dot com.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
Hi is Gary David looking to refresh your home or
business with a fresh code of pain. Call Finishing Touch Team.
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Don't hire just another painter. Hire the Finishing Touch Team

(53:07):
perfection with unwavering commitment to superior craftsmanship and customer service,
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Speaker 10 (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

(53:39):
us apart 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 next servis call when you

(54:00):
mentioned you heard us on w VOC. Learn more at
Freedom dash Plumbing dot com. That's Freedom, dash plumbing dot com,