Home Improvement Show 07-26-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Good morning and welcome in. It is now time again
for the Home Improvement Show of the Midlands and we
appreciate you joining us on this Saturday morning here on
one of three point five FM and five sixty AMWVOC.
If we haven't met, my name is Gary, Gary David,
and it's nice to meet you and nice to have
you along. And you're gonna be some wonderful people this
hour and by the way, next hour too of the
Health and Wellness Show. James Carwell, the owner of Freedom Plumbing,

(00:44):
is going to be joining us in the hour, as
will Summer from beaver Rufegan Gutters. We got that on tap.
But do we start off with this guy right here?
It is Marcus Greenwell, the owner of Lifetime Cabinets and Countertops.
Good morning to you, sir.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
I am leading off the pie. Good morning to you.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Come strong man, game, Yeah yeah, yeah, I always do, man,
I always try.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
That's true.

Speaker 4 (01:06):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
How you doing brother? Oh man?

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Amazing. It's the best day of my life.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Even with the temperatures like there are.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Sweating coming in now, I ain't alive all right.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Well, you can't listen during the week man. I rolled
out of the house about tendall four every morning. Yeah,
and I still haven't gotten used to the idea that
I walk out the door. I'm like, what all right?
I mean in the morning, it was just like whoa hello.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yeah, so it's it's been going good. I had a customer, well,
a friend slash remodeler. Her name's Meghan. She came in
last week and she said, oh, she said, I heard
your radio show last week. That's so funny.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
She said. She said, you said the joke that Gary.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Made about you bringing up the rear and you said no, no, no,
no no.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
She got a good laugh out of that. She said
she was just rolling around in the car laughing.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Well, Megan, he's leading the pack.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Now I'm leading the pack. A lead off hitter.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Said, there we go on the show from bringing up
leading the pack. Yeah, thank you, Well, thanks for listening
to making we appreciate that. Yeah, you do a lot
of work obviously directly with with with you know, homeowners
and business owners. But you guys do a lot of
work with you know, go do construction bills with remodelers
and yeah, all sorts of things.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, yeah, sure knew, even painters. I had a painter
the lady. I walked in the door. I was talking
to the customer and she goes, I'll recognize that voice
anywhere in the world. And I said, well, how is that?
She goes, I listened to you on the radio. I
was like, I love it. She's like, that's how you
got this job. That's what she told me. Great, I said,

(02:41):
you are the best.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
I was like, that's awesome, painter. You never know.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Where's my cut? Man?

Speaker 2 (02:47):
I know, right, yeah, right, I deserve it.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
I mean, well, I was talking somebody else about you
last week. I was like, I just love that. Guys
what I told him about you. I do thank you
like family, you know, well, you know it is like family.
Yeah here, I mean we we are the listeners everybody, yes,
because they all get to know each other. We get
to know each other and everything really on an intimate way.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
It's kind of something sort of that's.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
The great thing about this, this particular radio format. I
love it so much.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
I remember Wayne white Side.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
The Late Way. Yeah, he last by the way. Yeah,
he had a show on here for.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Years for years, and when I was young, I would
listen to him growing up on here on your show
on this show, not yours.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
Show thinking when you were young and I was here?

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah were you were you? Have
you been doing it the whole time when with Wayne
white Side.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
When he was here.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Oh yeah, okay, okay, so it wasn't that long ago.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
I've been watching since twenty years nineteen ninety eight, yeah,
twenty thirty a year or two away, thirty.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Years and twenty twenty one, yeah this time around. Yeah, yeah,
I've been close twenty five years.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Wow, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
People love you too, well, I think you saying that. Yeah,
not everybody apparently, but we don't want to talk about that.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
Well, there's ten people in the world like that. So anyway,
I do countertop.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, I was gonna say in the meantime, we need
to sell some countertops here man.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
So well, I mean it is all about you, so
that's all about it. But I sell countertops. I have
granted countertops. I have courtz Court Site Court What else
do I have?

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Marble mom?

Speaker 3 (04:25):
Yeah, we have in stock stuff. I got slabs at
my one fifty three chapin Roads store. I have another
store at forty twenty Fernandina Road. If you don't know it,
you can take some measurements of your kitchen, bring them
in there. If they're close, my price is going to
be close to what we quote you in the house,
in the in the two locations.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
Let's talk about why that's not always the case with
other people, you know, a lifetime with those Yeah, with
those of those measurements, you guys are able to tell
somebody pretty much right there with a really probably a
few dollars, yeah, in many gases of what it's going, Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
I'm normally within one hundred dollars of the final price,
depending on how close the customer gets with the measurements.
And sometimes I'll go in there and like I did
at your house, recommend little overhangs extra, you know, to
sitting area and stuff like that, maybe go all the
way up to the bottom of the window or you
know where to sink area. Is a lot of times

(05:21):
I'll do that. It cost us more money and time
to do it, but it's it's something special that I
do as the owner going out to measure every job.
I go out there just kind of make sure the
specifics are right, you know, And.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Have you ever shown up and somebody just totally changed
their concept where they want to do based on what
you saw when you got there. I mean, it's one
thing if you have the measurements, Yeah, well you go
see the layout and everything else. I mean, yeah, I
bet it's happened.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
At Colors too. Everything. Literally.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
I had a client I went into their house and
last week and and I was like this, there's not
going to work, I said, And I kind of told her,
I said, look, this color over here is going to
be better. They came back and her and her husband
came back in and switched to the color I recommended.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
They were like, I love it. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
Sometimes people will come on to the to the yard
and say they'll describe to me what they want, and
I'll take them straight to the color. Boom right within
ten some I had one customer, a couple, well if
you remember this about a month ago that they were
picking a vanity for their house, walked in, described it,

(06:32):
walked out. Within ten minutes, they're walking out the door. Yeah,
right with the contract I wrote it up.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
Boom boom, boom. Ten minutes they were gone.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
So I'm good at it. I mean, I'm not, you know,
trying to say anything, but I do have a kind
of knack for it. You know, as far as color
coordinations and you know, style stuff like that. I think
I have pretty good style, style, styling proof.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
I do have yellow on today.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
You are rocking the yellow, are you?

Speaker 5 (07:03):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (07:03):
So if y'all come see me today, make sure you
make a comment where is that yellow shirt at?

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Now? And well, I know when we first worked with
y'all on countertop, our first purchase. Oh goodness sakes, well,
I heard yeah, and it was well, we did bathroom
vanities to start.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yep, we did a granite, but I got two different
color granites, wasn't it? It was one just one color.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Two bathrooms. Yeah, how do you remember all this time ago?
I vaguely remember it was my house. But then we
went back again a second time and we did a countertop.
We did a marble white marble and placetop or that's
same marble with the with the kitchen countertop, which is
really nice because we all kind of got one big room.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, you can see each other from me.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Yeah, but I mean the first time we came out,
I mean I I had no idea. Okay, yeah, what
you get, granted, you get because for a lot of folks,
if you caink get countertops. If you've never purchased before,
that's what top of mind comes to you, is granted countertops.
That's right, that's right, And some people just refer to
all countertops as granted countertops.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
That's right, that is true.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
And I had no clue, no concept of the differences
between them. We first came out to the to the
shape of road location, started looking around the slabs. So
what is the difference? And you know, for first time
buyers of something like this, or maybe you've moved into
home and if you've got countertops, you assume they're granted.
Maybe they're not. Yeah, but you're looking to, you know,
do something else. You know, how do you know what's

(08:36):
right for what? That does make a difference, right.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And that's one of the if you
didn't know this or not, but that's one of the
biggest questions I get asked right off the bat every
single time.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
Not every time, but ninety.

Speaker 3 (08:50):
Percent of the people want to know, Hey, what's the
difference between grantite and courts courtzite and marble. So I know,
I'll go through so that granted is a natural stone,
it's you know, then you have the quartz is a
man made stone, so it's not porous. Granted, it's porest
because it is a stone. One thing to keep in

(09:10):
mind that we do put a sealer on the granite
that is uh about five hundred dollars a gallon, so
it's not cheap. I don't have to do it, but
I do it for every single job, and we do.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
We actually, even even though.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
We don't have to put a quartz sealer on the
courtz as well. Okay, where we cut the edging and
stuff like that, we actually seal that as well. So
so the court you got granite, quartz quartzite. Quartzite is
harder than granted, it's a natural stone. It looks like marble,
but harder than granted. So you can actually take a

(09:46):
knife and it will dule the knife out.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
Oh yeah, well you know, granted you have granted cutting
boards for example, so you know that's hard. Yeah, but
courtzize is even harder than that. Wow. Okay yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:57):
So and then you got marble, which is softer than anything,
but it's very elegant looking and people love the look.
So whenever people come in a lot of times they're
looking for a color that looks like marble. So depending
on what their budget is. You know, I'll kind of design.
I'll just kind of take them to the right, you know,

(10:19):
and if they want, if they're rough on countertops and
young families stuff like that, you might not want.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
To go with the marble.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
But if you do, you just have to be careful
with it, with cast iron skillets and kids, you know,
and stuff like that, you know, being rough with them,
rough with them because they will scratch. I haven't really
seen them scorch a lot.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
We had them in that house for several years, and
of course we were careful with them.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, I mean, well it's just like most folks are anyway.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah, I mean we had no issues at all with it.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
Yeah, It's just like if you had lambin at tops
or or core in or something like that, you gotta
be careful with them too. So sure, you know, because
they will mar and scar, scar and scratch if you
cut with a knife on them, and that type of thing.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
So what about from a price perspective, But I guess
kind of complicated because of the levels and such, right.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
Yeah, the cheapest starting point is level one, granted, and
you do have level one courts and they're typically around
ten dollars more square foot for the court starting prices,
and then you know, if you start looking at white
and Gray's, you know you're looking at another increase of
ten dollars for the courtz. Courtz looks a lot like marble. Uh.

(11:28):
It is really good as far as non porest part
of it. So if somebody spills wine on it, you
can leave it there for a couple of days, it's
not going to really matter.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
But you can really tell a difference. If you put
a marble on the court side by side, it's obvious
that it's not the same.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, court man made.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
It doesn't have that depth, right the stones, I look
at it, right.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
There are some people that can't tell the difference. That's
just because they're not used to looking at the stones.
But I can tell for sure there's not many of them.
There are some that tricked me. Yeah, I mean so good. Yeah,
they're they're really goodding, they really are.

Speaker 6 (12:08):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
And we've got some on sail right now that that
is really pretty white grays. It's got some brown streaks
in it and some thin lines in it and some
you know, it's just real pretty. It's kind of that
going thing white white and the gray and then it's
got some brown features in it.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
So so we was talking about level ones. Now granted
is the most inexpensive. Then you got the courts. The
man made.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
The court sites harder.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
Then I was telling you on that moment's hardness scale,
it's it's below a diamond, but above granted. So granted,
I guess it's eight or nine, or I mean seven
or eight, and then the courtz is eight or nine.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
I mean, I just confused myself.

Speaker 3 (12:57):
I know y'all aren't confused. Mark two marbles the softest
four to five marble.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Then you have.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
U courtz in grantitede are pretty close in hardness scale, uh,
seven to eight, and then you have quartzite eight to nine,
and then you have a diamond ten.

Speaker 4 (13:20):
So cort site last check, you will sell diamond countertops. No, no, no, okay,
just checking check. Price wise might be coming, who knows,
who knows what's next? Now they it might be man
made diamonds.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
That's a good idea.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
So again price wise, granite level one, yeah, then court courtz,
then marble, then quartzite. If we're all talking about comparative levels, all.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
I mean granites and quartz. All of them could be
all of.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
Them could be in the same price range depending on
what the color is. It seems to be that the
prettier something is the more extra, Yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
Or do you have situations though, I know during the
pandemic that were you know, we all had issues getting stuff, okay, yeah,
but I mean aside from that, I mean, are there
times that we're okay, yeah, this particular stone is getting
a little more rare than it used to be.

Speaker 7 (14:19):
Well, August one, hopefully the Brazilians will come to their
senses and yeah, right, it's got taken care of because.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
The granted comes out of Brazil basically, yeah, I.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Mean eighty five percent of it. So yeah, so they
need to get that taken care of for us. But
but right now, everything that we have, if you want
to catch something before it get shipped over, if they do,
I don't think they're going to let it go through,
but if they do end up letting it get to
that higher import level from Brazil, come on in this week,

(14:54):
good idea, before the end of the month. I mean
we're booked up pretty good anyway, So I mean, you know,
you don't have you know, but if you go ahead
and get the material ordered and everything. We'll save that prey.
If you know you're going to do your project, come
on in and see me. I'll take care of you.
We'll go and lock that price in. I'll call them up,
put up stuff on hold at that price, and then

(15:15):
we're good. But if they ship something new in, that's
when it's gonna end up going up right exactly, depending
on if they end up going through.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
With it all of all the natural stones. I know
we talked about this a couple of weeks ago. Yeah,
you do have we did? You used to have a
mine here in the in.

Speaker 3 (15:32):
The Midlands that yeah, Winnsboro and out in Winnsboro that
blue grantited blue blue granted, I think it's called but
it's gray, but blue gray makes.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
Sense, right. Yeah, But does the vast majority or does
a large chunk of this come from overseas?

Speaker 3 (15:49):
Yeah, there's some that comes out of Alabama and some
that comes out of of Vermont or something like that,
and then we get a lot of the courts material
come out of the North Carolina mountains up there where
they had floods.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
Yeah, we talked about before.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
But so that would be the main areas I guess
around here to get it. But yeah, eighty five percent
of it comes out of out of uh Brazizil. Did
I tell you about the stuff that comes out of Russia. No,
it's so expensive. It can only be mine three months

(16:26):
out of the year.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
I believe that it must be in Siberia or yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, yeah, I thought about the roads get frozen over
and they can't. They can't get the ice rod truckers across.

Speaker 1 (16:37):
Those wacky Russians.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, wow, yeah, I love it all right.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
So I'm glad you brought that up though, Marcus, because yeah,
I mean you could have that fifty percent tariff. Yeah yeah,
just a couple of days. Yeah yeah, get in boughty
getting good just in case with the pre terror pricing now.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
Okay, yeah yeah, come see me one fifty three Chapin Road.
That's where I'll be today. My brother David is gonna
be at forty twenty Fernandina Road. We can both help you.
That is some bigger order stuff. If you want the
remnants that I'm in charge of out there today, that
they're gonna be ter free.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
Right, And that's at the Chapin Road location.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
At the Chapin Road.

Speaker 1 (17:17):
That's the one Tarafree with dealer costs right.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
Yes, all right, Dela costs. That's right absolutely, and we'll
we'll put you on the schedule.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
All right. Marc's good to see it, my friend to
see y'all.

Speaker 8 (17:30):
Lifetime Cabinets and Countertops is your locally owned sourced for countertops,
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 Lifetime Cabinets sc dot com or stop buy
one of Lifetime Cabinets and Countertops two conveniently located showrooms

(17:53):
on Fernandina Road in Columbia or Chapin Road in Chapin
and check out the hundreds of slabs in stocked it
Marble courts Court site. They've got it all. And if
you 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 just kitchens and bats. Lifetime Cabinets and Countertops
does outdoor patios, vanities, bars, man caves, you name it.

(18:17):
Lifetime Cabinets and Countertops Fernandina Road in Columbia, Chapin Road
and Chapin and online at Lifetime Cabinets sc dot com.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
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(18:49):
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and nurses. Find out more at Finishingtouchteam dot com. Welcome

(19:22):
back to the home improvement Show of the Midlands. James
carl Well is with us now from Freedom Plumbing. James,
Good morning, Buddy, Good morning Gary.

Speaker 9 (19:31):
How are you?

Speaker 1 (19:32):
I'm doing good? This happened to you at your home
earlier this year. You had a flood with a what
a faulty? Uh? Something to do with the washing machines.
I recall, wasn't it.

Speaker 5 (19:41):
Yes, sir, yep. I had to replace the upstairs floor.
The downstairs floor, had to move all the furniture out,
get a moving company in there, stay in a hotel
for a month. M it was. It was quite interesting experience,
for sure, no doubt.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
And you just before we came on, you were telling
me you've got a neighbor who just had an issue,
but well, a septic tank problem. Yep.

Speaker 5 (20:03):
So they had the blackage on the line going out
to the tank. Some of them was upstairs taking a
shower and that water had nowhere to go, so it
just kept pouring out of the toilet, It came downstairs
and water in the kitchen, living room. For you, it was,
it was all over the place. They're going to have

(20:24):
to rip all the floors out downstairs at Hardwoods, so
it makes it a little bit more difficult too.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
How long of a shower was this man, That's.

Speaker 5 (20:36):
A good question. It can have a little a little
laundry too though, yeah, yeah, yeah, that water has nowhere
to go. I think they may have been doing a
load whilst he was taking a shower and it just
added to the methow.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
So well, so let's let's talk about this, James. And
I don't know what percentage of folks and again depends
on where you live, whether you've got access to sewer
lines or not. And around here a lot of rural areas,
so there are a lot of septic tanks in this area.

Speaker 5 (21:03):
Yeah, well, we're actually looking to build a house here
just beyond the Gilbert line, and of course there's no
city sewer out here, so we're going to need to
put a sepject tank in.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
So this is a whole different ball game here, especially
if you're, you know, are moving from a location where
you had city water and sewer to a location where
you don't. Let's talk about the things that you really
need to know, or maybe you are. I'll step tank
for a long time, and there's stuff you need to
know about it that maybe you don't well.

Speaker 5 (21:35):
The steps you can take to try to minimize damage
in a situation like that or prevent it would be
installing a pop up or pop off valve on the
clean out that's just outside the foundation of the home
and that that just screws in just like the cap would.
But what it allows for if the tank backs up
and this system starts filling up, it'll actually open up

(21:59):
and allow the sewer is to flow out side rather
than flooding home. So and you would still probably notice
some signs of the gurgling toilets, girling sinks, things of
that nature to know to go out and look to
see if there's an issue. But it's a lot better
to have that sewer come up outside in the yard

(22:21):
than it is inside your house.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
Well, let me ask the stupid question here, James, why
is that non standard on all sepu tang installations.

Speaker 5 (22:30):
That's a good question. Yeah, I don't have an answer
for you on that one. I typically recommend it to anybody.
I have one on my house and when it rains
a lot at our home because that area doesn't absorb
water very well into the ground. If it rains for
a couple of days straight, we start getting gurgling toilets

(22:52):
and just kind of hold off on using water unless
necessary and just kind of keep an eye on things. Yeah,
so yeah, we definitely put one in at our home.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
So even with that, it can be inconvenient. I guess
it sounds like even if you've got one installed.

Speaker 5 (23:09):
Oh yeah, it's definitely And it doesn't happen very often.
I mean it has to rain a few days straight,
unless the whole day it just saturates the ground. That
makes it to where the ground can't take any more water.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
Right now, what is it? We'll let me ask you
this first. Is it possible if you have to install
a new septic system, or if you're building your own
home and have anyone installed, that this is an option
you can get that put on initially or is this
always something that comes after the fact.

Speaker 5 (23:40):
Oh, yeah, you can. I mean it can be installed immediately.
It's just a matter of taking the cap or the
plug out, which just screws into that portion of the line,
and then screwing this device in and again It's all
it does is kind of just opens up to allow
sewer to flow out, and then when it stops blowing down,
it shuts again.

Speaker 1 (24:01):
How much what are we talking about from a price
perspective on having something like that added on? Oh?

Speaker 5 (24:07):
Man, I mean you could do it yourself pretty easily.
Maybe fifteen twenty dollars at the store.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
Oh this is a no brainer then.

Speaker 5 (24:14):
Yeah, definitely something I would recommend putting in to protect
your home from flooding in the event that the stop
that your curves past that point. Now you can still
have a blockage occur, you know, before it exits the
house with you know, maybe a blockage underneath the home somewhere,
and that valve wouldn't help because water isn't making it

(24:37):
to that point. So there are situations that can happen
that you know, there's really no way around other than
paying attention to what's going on. As soon as you
start hearing gurgling a toilet downstairs and get a two
story home, stop running water upstairs because it all goes
to the same place. Yeah, if the water isn't in

(25:00):
and out upstairs and you think, oh, well upstairs or
downstairs and upstairs is drained, and fine, well it's draining,
find upstairs because it's all going downstairs. Yes, and that's
when you get your overflowing toilets.

Speaker 1 (25:13):
Yeah. So, but the scenario just mentioned maybe of the
stoppages before you actually get to the septic tach that
can happen on city sewer that's the same thing, right.

Speaker 5 (25:22):
Oh yeah, And normally what we see on stoppages, you know,
on city lines, is going to be typically roots and
that will be somewhere out in the yard. And the
first thing I would do anytime you got a blockage
on a sewer line and you're on city sewer is
contact the municipality that you pay for, you know, your

(25:46):
sewer or water. They may be on the same bill,
they may not be, but contact them first. Make sure
it's not an issue on their end. Let them come out,
take a look and tell you whether or not you
need a plumber or whether it's on their end. They
take care of it.

Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yeah, charge to you, Okay, Yeah, let me ask you
about that, because, yeah, it depends on where the blockage is, right,
just who far is to who's responsible for remedying this situation.

Speaker 5 (26:09):
Yeah, So typically you're going to have two clean outs.
Some homes don't have any just because they were built
before they were required, or they're buried and it's really
hard to locate them. But you'll have one near the
road about ten fifteen feet from the street, and then
you'll have one near the home three or four feet
from the foundation of the home. If the one up

(26:30):
the street is holding water, it's going to be a
city issue. That means that their system isn't taking that water.
If that one's dry, but yours is full, that means
the block it's just in the yard somewhere. So it's
kind of a process of elimination to figure out how
far is the water getting and whose end is the
issue on.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
When you talk about a cleanout, you can you see
these often these are the white PBC County.

Speaker 5 (26:57):
You know, they say accessible, and then that comes down
to the definition of accessible. Some people think digging it
up in the yard means it successible. But we prefer
to either have them, you know, coming up out of
the ground just enough to see him, or have them
in a meter box if the customer doesn't want, you know,

(27:18):
the I shore, which there's not much to them, so
it's not that big of an isold.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
It's interesting because I know exactly where the one is
that's sold, maybe ten feet from the road at my place,
but I don't know where the one is close to
my house. I'll have to look for that that one.

Speaker 5 (27:32):
I'm in, And there's again a possibility that might not
be buy Some of those clean outs near the road
have been installed by the city after the fact, so
they'll come in, they'll you know, dig the yard up,
put a clean out in if they're having continuous issues
on there, if they're into the system. So there is

(27:52):
a possibility where that you have a city clean out
and no clean out at the home, okay, and then
one should be installed. Because the city line only goes
their direction, they're not concerned with you being able to
get back in the other direction with a piece of
equipment or a camera.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
Okay, let's go back to septic tanks for a second.
Let's let's take this from the perspective James, of someone
who has never lived in a home on a septic
system with a septic tank. And again, like you mentioned,
you're moving out, you know, out in the Gilbert area,
and a lot of people are doing this these days.
We've heard of a lot of people, the housing market
being what it was, selling homes, going further out, buying

(28:34):
some land, building something and maybe for the first time
they're on a piece of property where they're not they
don't have access to city sewer. So let's talk about
the maintenance, the care, the things you need to be
aware of. If you find yourself as a as a
first time proud owner of a septic tank.

Speaker 5 (28:50):
System, well, the first thing I would recommend doing is
having that service at least once every five years.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
Every five Okay, what does that involve? The what are
we talking about?

Speaker 5 (29:01):
You have a service, we'll contact a local pump company
that could be Cee Taylor and Sons Sharp Septic Service,
complete septic service of any of those that are licensed
through d HACK to pump tanks.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
Okay, so that's step number one. Every at least ones
every five years, right, you.

Speaker 5 (29:20):
Serve five years, I would recommend doing that. That'll, you know,
get you back to the ground zero with the empty tank. Now,
there is a natural process that occurs inside of a
tank where the enzymes eat viaegradable material. And I've had
customers say they've pumped their tank in twenty years and
the only wait for that to happen is that something
has to be dissolving what's going into that tank, and

(29:43):
the enzymes do that. So you can add enzymes uh
to the system. I believe one brand is rid X.
You just flush that down the toilet, it goes into
your tank and basically it's just those bacteria or enzymes
that eat the biograde and material inside your tank and
helps just kind of maintain that process. If you're using

(30:06):
detergents and things of that nature, heart and bleach, now,
all those things can kill the enzymes and bacteria inside
of the tank and cause that process to kind of
slow down. So that would be another good idea, just
adding that periodically.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
Okay, I got that, we got real lucky. Knock on, Well,
we're knocking one anymore. We don't live in that same home,
but we lived for twenty years almost in a home
that had a septic tank, and as I recall, we
had a pumped out maybe twice, might have been just once,
but maybe no more than twice. I know that. So
maybe we got lucky there. And yeah, we don't think

(30:43):
about it. It's everything that goes in there, right, It's
not just what you're flushing down the toilet, it's everything
that goes in there.

Speaker 5 (30:48):
Oh yeah, food down the disposal, you know, all kinds
of stuff. And the one other thing I'll say is
if a product is listed as fleshable and it's not
toilet paper, it's not flushable. They'll market that product just
because they want to sell it. They don't care if
your system backs up. I've seen toilet bowl cleaners that
you can pop the little sponge off the end and

(31:10):
they're like flushable. I wouldn't do it, yeah, no, no,
huh huh.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
Do do the seputantes come in varying sizes?

Speaker 5 (31:23):
Typically you're looking at about a thousand gallon tank on
a residential home, and I think they designed our system
with about one hundred and one hundred and twenty foot
of or one hundred and sixty foot of drainfield. And
another thing to think about if you ever need a
repair done, make sure you're contacting a some of these

(31:44):
licenses through d heck, which we'll have here in the
next few months. I had it before, just didn't get
very many calls for it, but we're looking to kind
of branch out. But it needs to be a licensed,
certified d heck company. You got to take an exam,
you got to know the you know know the ropes

(32:05):
when it comes to installing these systems. There's there's pretty
strict requirements when you're putting these systems in, and they
have not They've gotten away from getting involved in repairs,
so you can have a repair done by a company
that's not even license and they may not know the
correct installation procedure. So just make sure if you're getting

(32:28):
a company out there that you verify that they're licensed
through d to do what they're doing.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
That's a good call back quickly to the question by
the size of the tank. Are there instances where you
might have a smaller than a thousand gallon tank ins
or might need a bigger one. I guess does that
Does that just depend upon the size of the house.

Speaker 5 (32:47):
Or Yeah, they base it off of how many bedrooms,
So you know you would think size it on bathrooms.
But you could have one bathroom and seven bedrooms and
you know you got seven people living in the home
or eight nine people living in the home, whether someone
is sharing a bedroom, and you know those nine people
are going to use more water than a free bath

(33:12):
house with two people living in it.

Speaker 1 (33:13):
That is, if they can get into that one bathroom.
God bless if you got to be people in one bathroom.
But well, I guess, let me ask you this, would
it benefit you? If the recommendation is okay, a thousand
gallon tank? Would it benefit you? And can you get
access to a larger thing than that in a residential property?

Speaker 5 (33:33):
You can. But typically during the initial process d heck
is going to design your system. They're going to tell
you this is what's thank you need. This is how
many feet of drainline you need or drain field, and
this is where it needs to go. If they come
out and do soil testing as far as they'll use

(33:55):
core samples to see what kind of soil you have.
At what point do they reach clay, which you know
is almost like a barrier for water. Yeah, and then
they'll design the system, tell you how deep, what your
max depth is. So they'll do all that and then
again they don't get involved in that process when it
comes to any repairs that are necessary.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
So yeah, just installation.

Speaker 5 (34:16):
They used to we used to call them all the time.
They come out and say I need you to add
this many feet of drayfield. They've consolidated a lot of
their departments so they don't get involved with the repairs anymore.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
All right, So you got questions about your seputang of
coming soon if you need that that service and all done.
These are the guys to call. James always going to
talk to my friend. How to folks reach you at
Freedom Plumbing.

Speaker 5 (34:40):
They can give us call at eight oh three four
four seven zero four seven one, or visit our website
at Freedom nash Plumbing dot com.

Speaker 9 (34:49):
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,
very annoying. So next time you need an electrician, call

(35:09):
mister Electric because life is better with electricity. Services provided
by locally owned and operated franchise. ESE products and services
may vary by location.

Speaker 10 (35:17):
Hi there, I'm Jeremy Holliday, local owner of Mister Electric
of Columbia. I've been servicing the Midlands since twenty ten
and I'm happy to answer questions and give you free
estimates with upfront pricing. Schedule your free safety check with
Mister Electric of Colombia 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

(35:40):
mister Electric dot com forward slash Columbia.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
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 gutty 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 from the same great folks behind Anthony John Construction,

(36:04):
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, our

(36:30):
old friend, Summer from Beaver Roofing and Gutters. Summer, Good morning,
Good morning, how you doing. I'm good, I'm good. I'm
gonna guess that you're You're more used to otherwise saying,
because I talk about it during the week all the time.
But I'm still that inclination is to say Summer from
Anthony John Construction, which is not a lie exactly.

Speaker 6 (36:51):
Yes, I still catch myself and they're like when people
call in, I'm like, oh, yep, and Beaver Reroofing and Gutters.
I apologize, Yes, that is us. Still.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
You've been on with this for years now on the
Home Improving Show of the Middles and we really appreciate that.
And for years, Yeah, we talked about Anthony John Construction,
but we didn't talk a lot about the other things
Anthony John does. We talked about roofing and gutters. So
that portion of your business has now been branded as
Beaver Roofing and Gutters. So I don't know. I guess
we'll talk about some roofs and gutters.

Speaker 6 (37:23):
This morning, right, we'll do it.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
I'm down, okay, cool? And we talked. I guess a
couple of weeks ago. Heath was on with me and
he's he's the guy in charge all your gutter stuff,
that is right. And we had Heath out of the
house this past summer and installed those six and seamless gutters.
As I was telling he, it's not like we didn't
have gutting our house. We had gutters. They were there

(37:47):
when we bought the house, and we're probably all the
house was built back in the eighties or whenever it
was the nineties, I guess it was. But the gutters
that y'all put up are a bit different from the
gutters that if your home is, you know, fifteen twenty
years old, or maybe even if you had gutters recently.
Your gutters are a little different from the ones that
may be on your house right now.

Speaker 6 (38:07):
How is that so, Like you said, six inch seamless
metal gutters are so before they were a little bit smaller.
They were a five inch gutter. Some may be metal, however,
some actually came in six excuse me, ten inch sticks
of guttering, so they would seam those together. So with

(38:30):
that being said, when there are seams, there are more
opportunities for leaking, more opportunities for damaging, collapse and that
sort of thing that's just a week a week spot
in the in the guttering system, and more opportunities for failure. So, yes,
our gutters are six inch seamless, seamless gutters, and they

(38:51):
are metal like like you were saying. Some could have
been made of like a thick plastic. They don't do
that often anymore, Like you said, if your home is older,
they could be made of plastic. So our gutters are
literally custom fit for your home. When our guys come out,

(39:12):
they have a big gutter machine in the back of
the truck. It's pretty cool to white. So your gutters
start as a flat piece of metal. Then they process
it and they run it through the machine and it
you know, they'll measure They take all of their measurements
and we actually dial it in and they know exactly
just how long it is. When that flat metal comes out,

(39:35):
it's a K style shaped gutter and that's what we install.
And you know it fit perfectly for you. They stop
the machine, they chop it right there and bam, it's
perfectly made for your home. Custom fit.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
And yeah, you've been telling us for years how much
more water these gutters can move as opposed to a
five inch I get it because you think, OK, so
then's bigger. What's the big deal here?

Speaker 6 (40:00):
But I figger is better?

Speaker 7 (40:02):
Ye?

Speaker 6 (40:05):
No, but like you said, the inch, it's it is.
It's crazy to think. However, from that five inch to
the six inch gutter. The six inch gutters hold forty
percent more volume of water, so it is able to
accept that much more watered from your roof, take it
and divert it away from your home. You know a

(40:26):
lot of times when they are not adequate enough, they'll
fill up, they'll spill over. You know, if they're five inches,
they could spill over the front. If your gutters are
not in great condition, you have not really maintained those gutters.
It could actually spill back into your home and it
will appear to be leak, but it's not. So there

(40:51):
is a number of things that could happen when one
your gutters are not large enough, or two when they're
not maintained properly. So you know, that's another thing that
you should really be making making a note of and
doing when you're doing your checklist of monthly or yearly
things to do for your home.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
Yeah, and you know that was And I knew this
because we talked about it for so long, but you know,
it was earlier that I was past. This past spring,
we had just a heavy downpour one day and I
looked out there and sure enough, there's watering over the
front of gutters. And I gotta tell you then, my
next thought was, okay, boy, I sure hope it's not
running over the back of the gutter too. Uh right,

(41:33):
So yeah, I was, you know, I was a little warreos. Okay,
will you guys come out?

Speaker 6 (41:36):
Boy?

Speaker 1 (41:37):
I hope I gotta pull those old gutters down and
find this damage of the face behind it, because that
can happen.

Speaker 6 (41:41):
It happens a lot. It happens often, because you know,
it's just you know, gutters. They they are kind of
like the unsung hero I can if you will, of
your home. You know they're there. They're great, They're doing
their job. However, if you forget about them, don't maintain them,
or you know you don't have them. They're so much
damage that could be done. Obviously, we talk a whole

(42:04):
bunch about foundation problems. Yes, that is one thing that
you know, over time it can happen. Your foundation can
become you know, it can settle, crack you know. And
water intrusion that is a large, large problem. However, like
you said, facia soft it. If you have wood facia
or soffit and you're not caring correctly, for one, the

(42:27):
gutter system rate that you do have, or to the
lack of gutters, that wood can become damaged soft and
that's just more ways for water to get in through there,
or to critters, spiders, other insects or even like uh,

(42:48):
squirrels and things of that nature. So it's just more
ways for things that should stay outside to come inside.
So you gotta you gotta take you know, take cautions,
take time for these little things.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
Since you brought this up, funny to us when you
talk about properly maintaining your gods, what does that evolve?
How do you properly maintain a god system that's already
on your home?

Speaker 6 (43:11):
Sure, So cleaning them. They need to be cleaned. You know,
we do have a bi annual and then we have
an annual cleaning service. It really depends on your area
that you live in and how much foliage is around
and that sort of thing. You know, you want to
make sure that they're cleaned. If they're clean, the water

(43:32):
has a clearer channel, clear a clear way to get
to those downspouts and away from your home. If they're
not clean, there's a lot of build up that can
happen and that's when things start going a right over
the top behind the back. So whenever we come out
when we clean these we're actually looking to make sure
that we get all of the goops, all of the gunk,
all of the granules that come off of your roof. Yes,

(43:54):
and you know, it's not just things that that are
fallen from the sky like I just mentioned things from roof.
You know, leaves get piled up on your roof. They
go into those gutters, so leaves and granules and that
kind of causes slimmy stuff to acclimate and everything else.
So we're coming out, we're cleaning your gutters. We're making

(44:14):
sure that they're pitched appropriately to make sure that that
water that falls in goes to those down spouts. We're
making sure that at our corners, because yes, at the
corners we do have seen but we're making sure that
they are calked correctly. Everything is water tight when we
come out there to clean and maintain these gutters. So

(44:35):
you want to make sure they're fastened nicely into that
the face and everything is sound and water is going
happily away from the home as it should be.

Speaker 1 (44:45):
Right, And you talk about it, if anybody's ever cleaned
out gutters, you know, as you talk, that's slime, that
gunky stuff builds up in there, and yeah, it's it's
it's a nasty, nasty process. But that stuff not only
is it nasty, it gets heavy, Yes, And I guess
there's a danger there that even if even in a
drought situation, that stuff gets in there, it gets wet,

(45:06):
it gets nasty, and that weight, I guess could could
potentially start to pull that gutter away from the hole.

Speaker 6 (45:13):
Pull away from the home. You're exactly right, So you know,
even in like you said, the cold, you know, yes,
we do get some rains and whatnot, but if that
stuff gets nasty cold and then freezes that's even heavier.
So you know, that's why we like to really urge
homeowners to make sure that they are doing this, you know,
right before the fall or right after. You know, you

(45:34):
have all the leaves and stuff falling, cacorns, whatnot. You
that's you're calling this out there, making sure that your
gutters are cleaned. We clean those out, We get you
ready for the winter because we want to make sure
that everything is nice clean, all of that debris is
out and ready for any you know, water or freezing
and whatnot. They're ready, they're ready to do what they

(45:57):
need to do and protect your home.

Speaker 1 (45:59):
So if you have got protection, which we opten to
do because we had a lot of trees around the house,
absolutely as heath of your guys. Know. So if you
if you've got gutter protection on there, I mean, are
you out of the woods here or there's still things
you need to be do you still kind of need
to get them checked out every now and to make
sure things are honkey dory.

Speaker 6 (46:19):
So that's a great question. Yes, so we do. We
have two types of gutter protection, gutter guards or covers.
There are a lot of different things that people call those,
but yes, we have two different types, and when we
install those or suggest those for you, we often look
at the type of foliage that you have. So one
is better for like oak leaves and acorns and things

(46:40):
of that nature. The other is a mesh and it's
really good for pine needles and smaller things that could
possibly get lodged into the the shurflow which has you know,
holes in it. So you know, we want to make
sure that we are giving our customers the appropriate protection
that they need. We don't want to give them something

(47:01):
that's over costly for them, but we need to make
sure that we're evaluating and give them what they need.
So yes, once we have these covers on, it's really
great to come we can come out. We sweep them
off because a lot of times it will get on
top of the gut, on top of the guards, which
is great, it's still doing it's it's still they're doing

(47:23):
the purpose. However, they just need to be swept off
and that doesn't say that sometimes they don't shift here
and there. So we can always come out and just
do a maintenance. That's what we call our our our
gutter tune up, our gutter clean out. That's what we're
doing we're coming making sure that they're all cleaned off,
that the pitch is correct, all the semes are you know,
they're watertight and things of that nature. So for yes

(47:46):
and no, you know, you're not completely out of the
woods because they're still just a little bit that needs
to be done with, you know, routine maintenance.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
Now I've noticed too, since y'all put those new gutters
in our home that there looks like there's fewer down
spouts than we had before. They look to be bigger.

Speaker 6 (48:03):
That's correct. So that's another thing that comes with these larger,
the larger gutters that we install, these six inches. So yes,
the down spouts are bigger, so they can take more
water away than the smaller down spouts that are installed
with the five inch. So a lot of times that

(48:23):
is a concern of customers and where down spouts are
going to be placed, and I don't want them in
front of the columns and listen, I totally get it.
That was a concern of mine whenever I got you know,
when we were installing gutters. We don't want to mess
up the pretty aesthetics and that sort of thing. I
get it. So we are very careful when we are

(48:44):
placing these down spouts, and we're making sure that it
is aesthetically pleasing when we're placing them. And like you said,
we have we can now offer fewer. We don't need
as many down spouts because these down spouts that we
do install with the six inch are larger, you know,
to win wind for everybody.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
Let me ask you this because and I don't know
that typically is something that the customer I think does
after the fact. I don't know if there's I'm sure
there's a name for it. But oftentimes you'll see and
maybe you've done this at your home. At the bottom
of the down spout, you add a tube onto the
end of to further move that water away from the
base of your home right right, And sometimes you'll see

(49:25):
folks who, boy, it's like they got this twenty thirty.
It's just sitting out in the yard, you know, the
on top of the yard moving. I mean, how how
far away do you need to get that water moved?

Speaker 6 (49:39):
You know, it really depends on the lay of the
land really and if you're if you are super super flat,
A lot of times what they will do is we'll
actually we can actually dig into the ground and place
you know that they go from the down spout into
the pipes and when we bury the pipe, okay, and

(50:00):
it can take it as long as you need to
to get it completely away from your home, you know.
So there are a lot of different things. It does
depend upon the lay of the land. If it can
just be you know, a few things here or there
which kind of washes out and goes to to your
the surrounding areas, that's great, just as long as it's
not gonna sit there and pull up against your home,

(50:24):
because that's obviously the reason to get it away from there.
So there are a lot of different things that to
consider when you say how long do they how far
does it need to get away from the home. So
that's something that he's you know, he thinks about. And obviously,
when you're living in the home, you know, oh my gosh,
this is this is not working. It's literally a pool

(50:45):
over here. So at that point, you know, hey, we
have a little bit of a different circumstance here. We
need to come up with something creative, something esthetically pleasing
to get this water away from the house.

Speaker 1 (50:58):
Right you say, every down the nose, somebody puts one
of some of those those tubes on there, and they
just it's it's like a big dryer hose just running
across the yard.

Speaker 6 (51:07):
I know why corgated, corgated black pipe.

Speaker 1 (51:10):
Yeah, there's a reason for it and all that, but
sometimes it can be done slightly, I guess. So you
want to try to leave.

Speaker 6 (51:17):
So you know, don't think, oh my god, this is awful.
I can't handle this. But there is a lot of
different ways that we can take care of that and
make sure that the water is getting dispersed where it
needs to and everything actually looks nice and pretty too.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
All right, So summer is beaver roofing and gutters. And
let's remind folks too, all the other stuff you may
have used, anti jockets, structure more in the past, you
still do that.

Speaker 6 (51:40):
Absolutely. We are still there. We are up rolling, remodeling
and grooving, decking, whatever you need. We're still hanging on
and doing on in Anthony John Construction. So don't forget
us for that stuff.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
Either, right, but for the roofs, for the gutters, and
we'll talk roofing next time. It's beaver roofing and gutters.
You've got a brand new phone number and a brand
new website. Tell us what it is.

Speaker 6 (52:00):
You got it, so call us at eight zero three
nine nine one roof can't forget it. And then we
also have our new website at Beebeaverroofing dot com.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
Terrific. All right, summer, always a pleasure to have yourself.

Speaker 6 (52:14):
Good weekend, you too, take care.

Speaker 8 (52:18):
Lifetime Cabinets and Countertops is your locally owned source for countertops,
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

(52:42):
Fernandina Road in Columbia or Chapin Road in Chapin and
check out the hundreds of slabs in stock, granite, marble,
quartz court site.

Speaker 1 (52:51):
They've got it all.

Speaker 8 (52:52):
And if you 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 just kitchens and bats. Lifetime Cabinets encountertips,
does outdoor patios, vanities, bars man caves, you name it.
Lifetime Cabinets and Countertops Fernandina Road in Columbia, Chapin Road
in Chapin and online at Lifetime Cabinets sc dot com.

Speaker 5 (53:18):
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

(53:39):
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 A
plus rating with a Better Business Bureau. I'm James Carwell,
local owner of Freedom Plumbing, and we look forward to
servicing you for all of your plumbing needs. Get fifty
percent off your next service call when you mention jun

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