Home Improvement Show 10-18-25

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
The Home Depo, The Home Improvement Show with John and
Dave pre sent up. I tried pro answering your home
improvement questions every Saturday on News Talk eleven and ninety
nine three WBT.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good morning and welcome. It's the Home Depot Home Improvement
Show with John and Dave.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
I'm Dave Doval, I'm Wes Woodham.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
John's off this week, so we said last week's. I
think they're in Italy. I think they're a little nice,
little honeymoon retirement, leaning Tower of Pisa, no kids at home,
empty nester, new house, new life. He deserves it, me
and he's been working hard a long time. You can't

(00:44):
believe how many days that that man traveled in a year.
I remember one time when he was with another company
before Home Depot. He told me he traveled two hundred
and eighty five nights.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, it's like never home. But yeah, he wasn't. So
and Barb's a saint. So's he's called payback. Now he's
given back.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Good, and you know they're good. They're Uh, he's a
good guy. I'm glad, glad I got to know him
in my life.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
So have you been there?

Speaker 2 (01:14):
I have not.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
I haven't either, but I've heard everybody that goes loves it.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
It's a little struggle for me to be on a plane.
My wife says I have control issues. She always says
we're flying. She said, once you go knock on the
door and see if you little, let you fly the plane.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
Yeah. I do believe that. I do believe it.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
I'm like, oh, sorry, baby, well you're looking good. Dave,
thank you. I appreciate it, thank you, thank you, you too,
my friend and our good friend here. Look at you, George.
Don't turn sideways. We won't even notice it.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
Say there's not much left. But everybody tells me I
look like a beard. That's just walking.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah, he says he doesn't want to lose any more weight.
It's going to mess up as golf cam.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, yeah, I understand. Oh, you won't be able to
stay on your feet when you swing, twist and fall over.
You look good though. Congratulations on that. Another another win
for PhD weight loss right, Yeah, seventy something best, most best,
The best was for you, so good. I'm glad for you.
I gotta I need to follow your suit. I need

(02:17):
to lose a little bit myself and I could screwed
up closer to the mic.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
You'd be sitting on the thing at that point.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Dave, Hey, listen, lines are open. You probablyn't want to
hear about that. Seven zero four five, seven eleven ten.
We'd love to hear from you. Were talking home improvement.
Wes is joining us. We're gonna talk, uh really kind of.
I think this is our our into our fall maintenance times.
So there's several things that we can we could kind

(02:44):
of go through. I left my phone out in the truck,
so I had a couple of notes in there, but
I can I could go most of it by memory
until we get there.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
You know, you got this.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
We could we could pick that phone up, but it's
kind of the standard stuff. Just kind of go down
through through the list from what I remember. You know,
of course, number one is gutters. Oh my gosh, I mean,
I know all the years that you've been in the industry,
that's one of the most important things is keeping that
water controlled and off of the foundation of the house.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
It is, and now that I'm getting a little bit older,
I used to just kind of walk around the edge
with a blower, but a scary now man.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, when you're younger, you might
maybe you'll bounce, but you probably would heal up quick.
That's not the case anymore now. Yeah, so I'm kind
of the same way I used to be, like a cat.
I could climb around on anything.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
Oh you're still a cat that.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Didn't bother me.

Speaker 5 (03:37):
Yeah, But now now I get on the ladder if
I get up very high, and it's not because I'm afraid,
but my my I shake and good Lord, don't let
me look up because then the vertigo kicks in.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
You know, my wife had it last night.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah it's ugly, So that's ugly. But yeah, but gutter
gutter care, and I think we'll just spend some time
on that first through this for segment. But the normal
thing I think WES is really just just maintaining them
on a regular basis. And obviously if you don't have
a lot of trees, or your neighbors don't have a
lot of trees, it's probably not a real big deal.

(04:13):
Once or twice a year to take a peek up
in the gutters. One of the things that I've done
at my house, and we have oversized gutters and oversized
down spouts, but I bought strainers that I put in
the top of the down where the down spout inners
or ties onto the gutter. They make a strainer and
it's really it's just a cone shaped mesh that collapses

(04:36):
a little bit and that it sets down inside the
down spout. And what it does is that it catches
any big debris that's trying to get down your gutters.
I pay attention to that because our down spouts are
in piping underground and I don't want them to get
stopped up, so I try to keep the biggest debris
smaller debris that breaks down will wash right on through

(04:56):
and go out to the dit.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
Well, we can talk about that, because I tell you,
I was a maze when I go up there. All
of the residue from the asphalt shingles, Yes, that collects off,
and then when you have the corrugated piping underground, right,
that can clog. So we can talk about underground, you know,
using you know, schedule forty EVC or whatever.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yeah, and that is that is definitely part of the
conversation if you have the opportunity, if needed. Now, you know,
some people have the perfect situation with their with their house.
So if you have no trees or very little around you, then,
like I said, your gutters probably don't need as much attention,

(05:35):
but they still need to be cleaned out once in
a while. And just what you were talking about gravel,
the gravel from the shingles will build up and then
what happens is a little bit of that lays in there,
and then that helps the moisture to hang around a
little longer. Now you've got a little algae growing in
the gutters. Now you've slowed down the flow of the water, right.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yep, yep, And then that attributes to large your stuff
and it's the silent underground that just clogs it up.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yes, So it goes on. So keeping the gutters cleaned out.
And if you're on a trede lot, you know, you
really depending on what you have. If you have pin
oaks that are throwing all those little helicopters, you know,
it's multiple times of year that you need to be
cleaning out your gutters. So the alternative is is to

(06:28):
clean them out really well and then you can then
you can go to some type of a gutter guard,
a gutter topper, there's screens, there's all types of things
available out there. I don't know if you've seen the
latest one. It's called rain Drop and it basically it
looks like a almost like catwalk material, a grate, okay,

(06:48):
that goes over top. There's no screen because one of
the one of the issues that happens with gutter guards
is is they.

Speaker 3 (06:56):
It loves the water to run over.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
If they're too tight, the water does it go in
in the gutters, right, that's right. And you know, even
the waterfall edge gutters, it's called surface tension. How they
work is exactly that as the water comes down the roof,
it hits the top of the gutter, it clings to it,
and it rolls around and then drips off into the gutter. Now,
sometimes on real heavy range you'll see it sheet off.

(07:20):
But if you're really a treued lot, that's probably the
best gutter guard.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
I would agree to that.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, But here's the other problem with what can happen
is you have to keep those The top of that
gutter has to be clean. You can't let algae and
mold and dirt collect and grow on the top of it,
because the water will not, it won't cling to it,
It sheets right off, right, And so people are thinking
there's something the gutters are stopped up, whether they're not,

(07:46):
they just the water won't stick to the top of
the gutters. You know, there's maintenance. That's kind of the point.
No matter what you put up or what you do,
there's going to be some kind of maintenance. Yep.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
And you know, and when you're ever selecting the different
type of gutter solution, keep in mind the pitch of
the roof too, right, yeah, because that's that's very sure.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
And where you have two roofs that will intersect into
a valley, a lot of times you have to put
a deflector up there because there's so much water that
collects into that valley. And then when time it gets
to the gutters, it's really rolling and it'll it'll bless
right off out of the corner and people will see that.
But that's that's kind of back to the strainers that

(08:28):
I use in my gutter. That's if if I've put
it off too long and a heavy rain comes, Lord
knows we need some rain. It's been ugly, has it
not much rain at all? But if my gutters get
stopped up or I haven't been out there, I have
a couple of places that it will overflow, and then
I know, okay, get the ladder, go just clean this out.

(08:51):
You know, I went through all the effort to put
the down spouts in and then you and then you
leave it and you're all that water is going by
your foundation, which is exactly what I was trying to prevent.
So yep, but those strainers are cheap, they're they're easy
to put in there. They can be a little sharps
of wear pair of gloves, but I always wear pair
of gloves when I clean the gutters out if you're

(09:12):
doing it yourself. My roofs were low, so I have
long overhangs and I can reach most everything with the
standing up on an eight or a ten foot step.

Speaker 6 (09:22):
Last.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
Yeah nice. Yeah, the sheet rock screws or not the
sheet rock screws, but the sheet metal screws getting in there, yeah,
catching your hands will.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yeah, and the brackets and all of that. So pair
of gloves and then the the other thing I did
that is helpful. And I had to do this because
we had construction going on across the street. And I
know our regular listeners have probably heard me say this
one hundred times, but well, there was so much dust
from that that commercial site they built, they're building a
couple of schools. The dust settled on the roof. The

(09:53):
dust washes down the roof into the gutters, and I've
eventually I took one of the kids sand shovels and
shoveled out the gutters in multiple places to clean them out.
I had to see and most of the constructions that
that the worst part's over with now, so I don't
think I'll have to deal with it again. But but
in between, what I had done was I bought a

(10:14):
deck brush. And that's a that's a short, short bristled
brush that you could screw an extension pole into while
I cut it off on either side of the extension
where you've screwed the extension pole in the threaded area,
and I cut it just so it fits in the gutters. Well,
then I put it on an extension pole, and I
can I can pull the debris to me, and and and.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
Well, I think it's so.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
You have to move the ladder so many times, so
I could pull it. I could pull it all to
me and then and then clean it out. And so
I just think if you if you have a two
story house, you're still pretty limber, and it's something you
want to do. It's it's a it's a quick way
to clean the gutters out without making that many trips
up and down, up and down the lab absolute So
but that was something I came up with one day

(11:03):
and I had I had a couple of those brushes
laying around. One was kind of wore out, so I said,
I'm gonna try this for you.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
We're gonna have to do that.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
So it worked, worked pretty well. All right. Well, I
don't think we've beat that subject to death because there's
plenty more to talk about with gutters. There always is.
But we're gonna have to take a break, So give
us a call seven zero four five seven eleven ten,
don't forget the WBT text line driven by Liberty Buick GMC,
and we'll look for you there and we'll be right

(11:30):
back after these messages. Welcome back. It's the Whole Depot
Home Improvement Show with John and Dave. I'm Dave Doval,
I'm Wes Wooden.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
Good morning, good.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
Morning, Yes we are, we're talking home improvement. Wes is
joining us today. John's off, as I said, so any
questions that you have home improvement wise, give us a
call seven zero four five seven oh eleven ten. It
was quiet last week. I think we only had one
one call. I'll get the text line pulled up here
pretty quick. Another thing to do, try, I mean all

(12:16):
kinds of things to talk about.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
I mean foundations too, I mean landscaping whatever.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
Well, and that's kind of where I was when I
when I when we finished the last segment, when we
talked about that we beat the gutter thing to death.
You really never can because there's so much, so many
things can happen if your gutters aren't performing properly, if
you're not taking care of them. And you know, it's
not a lecture, it's none of that. It's just you know,

(12:44):
if you don't know what you don't know, and if
you don't realize that, how much damage can happen to
the foundation?

Speaker 4 (12:52):
Right?

Speaker 2 (12:52):
I talk a little bit about the amount of water
and what it does.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
What happens, Well, it's amazing when you take about an
acre of land one inch of rains about twenty seven
thousand gallons of water. That's a lot of water. That's
a lot of water. When you think about the square
area the square feet of a roof, I mean thousands
of square feet, and when gutters get clogged up and
has nowhere to go, it overflows. You have rotten freeze boards,

(13:17):
saw fits that overflows into foundation. Then it sinks down
into the ground. Because how much does a gallon of
waterway It's.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Like eight point three pounds?

Speaker 3 (13:26):
Yeah, yeah, so times that times twenty seven thousand gallons right,
times maybe four to five inches upwards of about a
million pounds of hydrostatic pressure pushing down into this clay soil.
Clay soil maintains this moisture, creates voids under footings, creates
differential settlement. So all because of what because Dave, you

(13:48):
didn't get your brush.

Speaker 2 (13:48):
Out and clean your.

Speaker 3 (13:51):
It's crazy. So yeah, it seems to just compound and compound.
But water is a destructive force.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Right, and it's and it's and it in it And
I don't want to say it's worse here than anywhere else,
but with the type of soil we have, it really
does make it kind of worse because if you're all
top soil, yes, it still goes into the ground. When
you go up into the Midwest or areas where the
where it's where the soil really perks and the water
will soak in, it'll keep soaking in and going down.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
Exactly and and go deep. Or South Carolina with sandy soil.

Speaker 2 (14:24):
Sandy soil will do the same things cract, but with
this clay soil, it tends to sit on top. That's
why if we get a real heavy rain after it's
been dry, it just washes and runs off, which is
not good for the creeks and the rivers and the
people downstream obviously.

Speaker 3 (14:38):
So what we've noticed is some of these higher end
homes that put this, they call it fines. They have
all of this nice clay. When you look into the
that well, I don't have any water in my crawl space.
It's because you can't see it because it's underneath the fine.
So you pull that the fines back, and it's horrible.
And I can't tell you many times I've seen that.
So it's just important occasionally right there at the crawl

(14:59):
space or dig those fines back and look, you'll see
a lot of time standing water.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yes, yeah, and of course that water is migrating through
the fines. And all fines are for people that maybe
don't know. That's just it's just really fine gravel. It's
just ground up, just pulverized, and they feel it. It's
easy to work with.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
And break it's nice.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, and it's it's easy to crawl on it is. Yeah,
it makes it makes it nice for a crawl space.
But eventually that's what happens, whether you have a crawl
space or a basement, if you're not managing the water,
it's going to make its way back in there, and
you have to you have to try to control it
outside if you can't. Can't always do that, right, Nope.
I mean sometimes it's going to make its way in,

(15:41):
especially the way some of these houses are built, I
mean the choicest lots.

Speaker 3 (15:47):
Well, and you know sometimes you know, solutions are limited,
but you know one of the old solutions and a
company I used to work for, they stopped doing this,
but putting a French drain on the outside on top
of the footing, right, well, as water migrates through, it
actually soaks in underneath the footing. So we always try
to help steward our clients' resources and we help them

(16:12):
make informed, educated decisions. But a lot of times that's
a waste of money.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
Right yeah, yeah, yeah, Well, and I think the thing
is is that when you do a French drain around
the foundation. One of the things that happens is you've
actually created a quicker path for water to get down
to the footing. Great point, Dave, you did all that
gravel because ideally what you're doing is you're digging it back.
You're installing your waterproof in the wall. Then you could

(16:38):
put fabric or whatever you have gravel, you cover that up.
You put a French pipe, a French drain, a pipe
with holes perforated right right, you try to run it
out to daylight somewhere.

Speaker 7 (16:49):
They call that the active wedge right around the footing.
And then you cover up the top six inches with dirt. Well,
now that the water only has to go through six
inches of dirt, and then it says, wooh, look we're
going down through the gravel right to the foundation and underneath.

Speaker 3 (17:04):
So true, and you know you don't want to compact
that soil, because why you crush the drain right, and
and then you put it like maybe in a basement application,
you put that lateral force because you have typically I
don't want to get too technol axial load, but that
horizontal load then you create even bigger issue. So it
you got to know.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
What's going on, right, you have to push it well.
And ideally what you're looking for is to to get
the house up in the air a little bit on
a little bit of a mound, so that the water
is running away on all four sides. Right, in a
perfect world, you could do that.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
And what's the core issue, Dave, of all this water?

Speaker 2 (17:43):
Right?

Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah, exactly, waters?

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Waters most is probably half of our conversations about the
damage that goes on with Holmes. I know, amazing, it's
what happens so and of course it leads right back
to the gutters. Yep. You know, wouldn't think that it
would matter, but it does.

Speaker 3 (18:02):
Well, Hey, real quick, we can touch on this also.
But if you have like cracks you know where the
garage driveway meets the garage, Yes, where they've got that
big gap. We're coming into cold seasons, water gets in there,
it'll freeze. Then you have cracks, right, and we're going
to talk about kinds of stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
Part of our fall maintenance is in fact of concrete
and ceiling and taken care of exactly of those areas
because those and that is that's not an inexpensive fix
anymore either, concrete has gotten extremely expensive. It's extremely expensive
to take it out, remove it, haul it off, and
then and then report it.

Speaker 3 (18:38):
Well, I've got some questions to ask you myself, Dave,
so we talk about that here a little bit.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
We will talk about that in the meanwhile, we're gonna
have to take another break. So lines are open seven
zero four five seven oh eleven ten. If you don't
want to listen to us yacking about something, you can
call in. We'll we'll yackt about your questions.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
The other an adventure day.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
That's it is an adventure the WBT text line driven
by Liberty Buick GMC. You can you can text us
there at that same number. After that, we're just gonna
take a little break and wait for your calls. We'll
be right back after these messages. Welcome back. It's the
Home Depot Home Improvement Show with John and Dave.

Speaker 3 (19:20):
I'm Dave Doval, I'm Wes Wooden.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
Good morning, and we're answering your home improvement questions. If
you'll give us a call at seven zero four five
seven oh eleven ten, or check out the WBT text
line driven by Liberty Buick GMC. A great way. That's
that's been a pretty good vehicle for no pun intended
right for texts coming in.

Speaker 3 (19:42):
You're so bad, dud, just just it's just natural.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
Sorry, that's what happens when you're around John Gordon for
forty years.

Speaker 3 (19:53):
Oh yeah, he's a he's fantastic.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
So anyway, but it's great because people maybe they don't
want to call, or don't want to be on air,
or just need a quick text and they're listening, driving whatever.
So it's really worked out. And I noticed that during
the week some of the other shows there's lots of
lots of texts. Of course we don't get some of
the texts that they get. Ours are normally please help.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
We like those though, because you know what, it kind
of keeps us on our toes. It's challenging, yes, but
it's so simple. If you got a quick question, just
call yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yeah, and then don't forget. We also have asked John
at Dave dot com. That's that's still there in our
questions page. So you can go to the website and
find the questions page and type of question in or
you could just send a note to questions at ask
John and Dave dot com, spell out the end and
we'll get them and we'll get to them. I had

(20:44):
a couple in there that I have been lingering this week,
but I've been I've been pretty busy and every time
I start, something happens and.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
I get it.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
But it wasn't any emergencies. I'm pretty sure.

Speaker 3 (20:53):
So got holiday time coming, Dave, I do, I do.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
So. Anyway, with that said, let's do the Let's do
the product of the week. I got to send this
to George real quick, but this week it is is
the Home Depot Product the Week is a forty inch
by forty inch fire blank blanket. And this is in
honor of fire safety month October. Every year. We always
we talk about that, and you know, we don't think

(21:20):
a lot about this stuff because it's you know, we're
pretty safe most people. Everything goes smoothly most of the time.
But kitchen fires are the number one fire for kitchen,
for homes, for residents. That's what happens. It starts in
the kitchen's usually round stove or the oven. And this
fire blanket is pretty cool because you're not spraying it.

(21:44):
You don't have to spray a fire extinguisher. So let's
say something catches on fire, on top of the stove.
This fire blanket you just you pull it out of
its container and you you just throw it over the
fire and it suffocates it. It's really it's probably a
welding blanket. I would imagine it's made from that material.
A yeah, and it doesn't burn. I mean it will burn,
but it won't, but it suffocates the fire before it

(22:06):
can cause any damage or spread.

Speaker 8 (22:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
I mean you have a little, tiny little flame, you
freak out, pull a fire extinguishure, you create a bigger issue.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
You've made a big mess, exactly right. And if it's
real powerful and you squirt it into oil or something,
you could spread it, which is what happens with most
grease fires as they spread. So this fire blanket is
kind of is pretty cool. And there's some videos online.
These are available at home Depot. They're only thirteen dollars. So,
you know, I always give John a hard time about

(22:35):
picking products of the week that are expensive, and I'm like,
I guess, let's get some cheaper stuff up there for
the average person, the things that people truly truly do need.
But I know there's one hundred over one hundred at
the home Depot in Pineville, and I'm sure the other
stores have plenty, but check it out. It's a fire
blanket forty inch by forty inch for thirteen dollars, I

(22:58):
mean by a couple of them. You know. Do you
think about if you're out gifts Christmas? Yeah, if you're
outside with the getting ready, I mean we're getting ready
to have Thanksgiving and you're you're deep frying a turkey.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
I was just going to say that it's.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
Another another place that it would be handy if I'm
frying a turkey. That quick quick safety note with that
is make sure you're away from the house a little
ways and have a fire extinguisher ready or a fire
blanket something like this just a case, and you can
use this for your grill as well. If something was
to happen on take off, you could throw it over
your grill and suffocate it. So anyway, that's this this

(23:36):
week's Home Depot Product of the Week. Check it out
at the Home Depot. All right, that is done. Let's
I think we talked quite a bit about about the
gutters and about water and control of the water. So
just real quick, one more time, get up there, get

(23:57):
your gutters cleaned out. Hire someone to do it. Make
sure that they're ensured. You know, I don't know if
you can make them sign a release or whatever. If
they're not, you know, you'd have to talk to your
attorney about that.

Speaker 3 (24:08):
But don't get up there on your own. People fall
get hurt.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yes, well, it's cool. And I think one more thing
to add to that. If you are if you are agile,
and you're still comfortable on a ladder, the greatest thing
all my all my extension ladders have stabilizers. So instead
of it being sixteen or eighteen inches wide, it's now
four feet because I've clamped this bracket that you put
up over top of the roof. It has rubber feet

(24:34):
so it won't tear up the shape next the gutters, right,
It protects the gutters. It keeps the ladder off of
the gutters because it stands off precisely. But it makes
the ladder stable. They're only about fifty bucks. It's it's
worth it. They clamp, they clamp on it. And if
your if your terrain is uneven and you have extension
ladders in that and that bothers you and you're stacking

(24:56):
up bricks or wood, they've got those new. Yes, they're
they're they're extenders for your for your ladder. So they
bolt to the sides at the bottom of your ladder.
You take off the old feet that are on there
and these bolt to the side, and then they're adjustable,
so if you're on uneven grade, you can adjust the ladder.
And now the bottom is sitting stable. If you have

(25:18):
the ladder stabilizer on top and the top stable, it's stable.
The ladder's not gonna it's not gonna slide, it's not
gonna tip, and and you're safe, so you can you
can go up there. That's the that's the biggest thing
with the ladder is that's what happens is that they'll
slide left or right sideways and and then people get hurt.
And you know, of course we don't want that for anyone.
So if if you have an extension ladder, you probably

(25:42):
should have a let ladder stabilized on it. And you know,
if you climb every day, I climb. I don't climb
as much as they used to, but I've always had
them on my ladders, just because it's there's no sense
of taking a chance.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
Of course, absolutely take Warner's got them, Yeah, Lewisville.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
I think, yeah, they all have their own brand. There's
different types out there. They even have them for the
corner of your house, believe it or not. It's a
bracket that fits on that sometimes you have to work
on the house, but it wraps around the corner and
stabilizes the ladder that way. So cool. You know, if
you're a painter, it's probably a good thing to have
because sometimes you can't reach from one side or the other.

(26:20):
Uh so you can or you can catch both sides
if you're trying.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
To be productive. So sure, absolutely so.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
Anyway, with that said, pay attention to your gutters, get
them cleaned out, get you know, look at some type
of a gutter guard. If it's too expensive for gutter guards,
you can have your gutters cleaned out many many times
for the cost of gutter guards.

Speaker 3 (26:42):
And make sure that they're insurance insured and bonded and.

Speaker 2 (26:45):
Yes and all that. Yeah, just just just just yeah,
because if they fall on your property, they could they
well they could move into your spare bedroom, so they
don't want.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
That, or maybe in their new cross space.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
Yeah exactly, So, so pay attention to that and know
we harp on that. But man, it really will. It'll
save you. It seems like it's expensive, but it'll save
you a lot of money over the long haul, it
really does. It seems so much damage through the years.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
Good stuff.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
So I think our next I know we're moving up
on a break, so let's set this topic up a
little bit. I think the next the next fall maintenance thing. Really,
let's do this one. Let's just talk about getting your
furnace serviced. Oh boy, don't wait. We had David Drew
on last week with Nascare and they can't preach it enough.

(27:33):
This is the time of year that the services go
on the maintenance. So these guys are going out and
they're they're looking at your furnace. They're they're making sure
your filters are cleaned, anything around the furnace. I don't
know how extensive their service, and you can ask for more.
So if you want your duct work inspected.

Speaker 3 (27:54):
There's a lot to it. I mean, birds, little animals
love to get into where the exhaust is or the intake. Yes,
and so we can definitely elaborate on all that kind
of stuff.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yeah. So, so fall maintenance on your your heating system,
I mean a lot, a lot of most of us
are still running air conditioning because this is this is
what they call the tween seasons, so they're between heating
and cooling, and these guys are available and there it's
inexpensive to get this done. They could head off a
major problem that's starting to happen. Or the main thing

(28:27):
is you get your furnace fired up right now, and
you make sure it's working before it's cold, right, you know,
because it's usually what happens to us is we wait
until the end. The other thing that David and I
talked about last week was if you go ahead and
fire up that furnace now, you have the opportunity to
open up your windows and doors and let that because
it burns that smell, that dust off, especially if you're

(28:48):
burning gas or propane, it'll it'll burn all that off
and you can you can blow it out. Some people
are sensitive to that, so absolutely take advantage of this
time of year. And then I think also when you're
in between seasons, like like all air conditioning and heating
systems are right, our companies are, this is a good
time to address things. This is a this as you

(29:11):
get your best deals on your on getting systems switched
out because they're not busy exactly. You know, you're going
to pay a premium price when it's in the peak
of the season. So if it's really hot in the
summer or it's really cold in the winter, they're trying
to keep people warm in the winter and keeping them
cooled off in the summer, you're gonna get a better deal.
You're gonna get probably, you're gonna probably get better service

(29:33):
because they're not pulling their hair out. You know, they're
on there, they're they're going one hundred miles an hour.

Speaker 3 (29:39):
Same principle, like you know, standby generators, right, just crank
them up, let them just run for you know, a minute.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
Right, And most of them, most of that stuff does
do it automatically, and if it's not, you should make
sure it's set up. And a lot of the HVAC
companies also will handle your your generator services absolutely. So
with those couple of things in mind, and then I
think the last thing real quick we'll talk about is
duct work. If you have a house that was built

(30:06):
before two thousand, the duct work's not sealed, it's taped
with duct tape, it's not masticked up, you're losing a
good portion of your your heat and air and things
are expensive. So if you if you're going to spend
that money for the conditioning of the area or that's
that's blowing into your house, you want to make sure
it's all coming into the vents and not into the
attic or the cross space precisely.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
So us what does that do? It lowers operation costs?

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Yes, absolutely, so pay attention to that. And and this
is the time of year, it's good to get them out.
Let them inspect it, make sure your druct work's not leaking,
and let them take it from there. And if they
you know, most companies are pretty reputable. If if you
don't need anything, they're going to tell you you don't
need anything. And if they tell you they need something,
tell them to take you up there and show you. Yeah,

(30:51):
you know, go with them, take take the trip and
be sure. So all right, I've gone past our break,
So let's let's do that seven zero four or five,
seven eleven ten. Uh, we'll be at back right after
these messages. All right, welcome back. It's the Home Depot

(31:19):
Home Improvement Show with John and Dave.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
I'm Dave Doval, I'm Wes Wooden and.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
We're talking home improvement. Gives a call seven zero four
five seven eleven ten U or check out the WBT
text line driven by Buick Liberty Buick GMC. We'd love
to uh, we'd love to hear about your home improvement
questions there or by phone or ask John and Dave
dot com. Hit the questions button and we'll catch it.

(31:46):
We'll catch it there as well. I was gonna we
were talking during the break, so I didn't boot up
the text line on the George you have Do you
have it pulled up? I do, we do, so we'll
check that out and see if we have any text
If you do, hang tight, we'll catch up.

Speaker 4 (32:01):
Yeah, we have one. We have Oh no, it was
Oh yeah. They wanted your co host name and credentials
and contact information, et cetera.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
So uh oh, your trouble woll boy.

Speaker 3 (32:14):
Like I said, it's always an adventure out there, be
more than happy to provide that. Uh yeah, always here
to help.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
Yeah yeah, so send us. Uh we'll we'll send that
over to you in just a second. And uh, wes,
but I guess that's a good time. What what do
you what do you do?

Speaker 3 (32:33):
What have you been doing all these First, Oh my gosh,
that's a loaded question. I know I want to be
like you really so cool here, love love being here
online with you guys. But you know, I've been really
exposed to so much background in engineering, hydraunics, used to
be in the fast food chain, restaurant and business, uh,
helping create very creative solutions to all different types of problems.

(32:59):
I am a like since building contractor, been in real estate.
Actually going back into real estate had an opportunity. I
was working with dry Pro fantastic, fantastic organization. I've certainly
learned a lot with foundation solutions and in doing that,
but now going to be working with a home builder here,

(33:21):
very very exciting Tripoint Homes Nice is going to be
starting that here in November and getting back to my
roots building relationships and you know, holding the hand of
clients that really want to have that home ownership, that
American dream.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
Yes, yeah, so so important to so many people. Hopefully
we see these interest rates come down, because I think
we'll see the market I think we'll see it just
goes nuts. I know a lot of the builders are
buying down. They are interestright for folks so that they
could sell their product arg which makes sense. I mean
you're paying it one way or the other.

Speaker 3 (33:54):
I'm sure somebody's paying.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
Somebody's paying it, but you know it's you say, the
end user.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
So you know in a lot of people aren't aren't moving.
I mean it's like for me, you know, I've got
an incredibly good interest rate. It's like, why would I
want to There's nowhere to go to get that kind
of a raid and you have to offset, you know,
is it worth it cost wise? But you know, I've
had an opportunity to establish a lot of relationships with
lenders and so yeah, I'm I'm like you Dave in

(34:21):
the solution business and I love it.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
Yes, it is good. You know, you get to meet
lots of people, get to help a lot of people
in uh you know, I mean you get paid for
doing what you love. It's really not it's not a job,
not a bad gig, it's not a job really exactly right.
So yeah, with so with that said, so we will
we will get that information out to uh the texture

(34:46):
here at the break Uh sorry, I think again, fall
when we've we've hit on the gutters and cleaning the
gutters and and and managing the water that's coming out
of the gutters, and then talked a little bit about HVAC.
Of course, we're coming up on heating season. As we
feel in the mornings, it's getting a little bit cooler,
which is nice. I love it, so so take care

(35:10):
of that and make sure you put water in your pool.
It's evaporating, because it's crazy, that's amazing how much it
comes down. The first year we had our pool, it
wasn't in the ground that long, and then and then
it got cooler at night, and but I noticed the
water was dropping fast, and I was like, oh great,

(35:31):
I've got a leak somewhere. And so how I proved
it wasn't a leak as I took a five gallon
bucket and I put water in it, and I marked
the water level. And then I noticed that the water
level in the bucket went down the same amount as
the pool did each night, obviously not the exact amount
of gallons, but the measurement. So I realized it was evaporation.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
Yeah, you know, I often wonder, Yeah, I wish I
would have put an automatic fill on my pool. But
then again, if you had a leak, how do you
gauge that? Yeah, you know, way to adjust that metric.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
So'm I kind of like the idea of putting my
eyes on it and paying attention. Because the more automated
we make things, the less you pay attention, and the
more trouble you could actually precisely so we start to
trust that, and then then there's a problem. Then there
could be a major problem. It would cost you a
lot more other than if you're just taking that extra

(36:26):
few minutes each day and laying your eyes on it.
And I get that a lot about our pool, and
people say, oh, I don't I don't want a pool.
It's too much to take care of us, too hard.
You know. While it can be depending on where you live.
You have a lot of debris and trees and stuff
can be a pain. But they have automatic skimmers that
skim the top of the pool that clean all day
along with your skimmer, and it's built into the pool.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
Well. I just was at the pool place the other
day and they had forgot what they call it, but
it does. It skims across the top.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
I bought one and it's great.

Speaker 3 (36:56):
It's just like one hundred and eighty nine and then
like two eighty nine. But I wanted to know somebody
that had it.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
I love ours. It's great and it's solar so it
doesn't have batteries, right, so it just runs and it
and it actually goes most of the night and when
it runs out of juice, it just kind of parks
itself by the side.

Speaker 3 (37:14):
Is that the thing that you pull the top and
you just pull.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
It the you pull the strainer out and you wash
it and you like stick it back in. I love it.
And the mole is is cleaner than it's ever It's
always been clean, but it's it's better now. So yeah,
so pay attention. You know. That's just another thing that
that it's all maintenance, fall maintenance, take care of it,
and it's time, just about time to close them down too, so.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
I leave open year round cheaper.

Speaker 2 (37:38):
Yeah, we don't close it because it's too pretty to
look at. So all right, well, speaking of pretty to
look at, it's almost time to go to a break. George,
pretty look, I know, so' that's what I'm talking about.
We get to spend a little time looking at George's
thin phyzeque. We have easy top more touch. Uh.

Speaker 4 (37:56):
One person in regards to having an automatic filler on
your pool, they have a gall engage that he checks
every week when he does his backwash, so he knows he's.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
Put in water. Great, what a great feature.

Speaker 4 (38:11):
Yeah, so that was one of them. And then we
had you guys could talk about this now ur later.
But another LEXI texted in, Uh, she has a double
light switch. She wants to have a switch, a double
light switch to a timer, so one part of the
switch turns on the light and the other one turns

(38:33):
on the fan. The fan. Yeah, so she wanted to
put a timer, so she wanted to know what she needed.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
We can do that, all right. So with that said,
let's take a break and we'll be back with more
home improvement right after this.

Speaker 1 (39:23):
The Home Depot Home Improvement Show with John and Dave
present up by try Pro answering your home improvement questions
every Saturday on News Talk eleven ten and ninety nine
three WBT.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
All right, welcome back. It's our number two of the
Home Depot Home Improvement Show with John to Dave.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
I'm Dave Doval, I am Wes Wooden and we're glad
you joined us.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
Wes, thanks so much, thank you, I appreciate it. Love us.

Speaker 3 (39:48):
Please.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
Line's got some some some texts coming in on the
text line. Lines are open for phone calls seven zero
four five, seven eleven ten and then a urse the
WBT text line driven by Liberty GMC. We we'd love
to see see your text there as well questions at
ask John a Dave dot com. Spell out the end

(40:12):
and we will get those as well. Before the break,
LEXI had text end I'm still trying to get this
pulled up, but I will in a second. Anyway I
had written down. George told us, Uh, so she has
it sounds like two switches and she's wanting to one
controls the light fixture and one controls the fan, and

(40:34):
she wants to put the fan on a timer. Great idea, Lexi.
I tell everyone they should do that and always do
that when I'm remodeling bathrooms. It's a just a just
the main, main thing that I love to do. And
if you have a fan in the toilet room, that's
another place you could put a timer on on the
fan to keep the fan going well after you leave

(40:55):
the room. Uh. You should probably rerunning the fan over
a shower after a shower has been taken for at
least thirty minutes. And uh, idea that let that take
care of some of that humidity. It really does help
with the mold and all that. But Lexi, the that
what you're talking about can be done. The fan, the

(41:16):
switch that controls the fan can be removed and you
can buy a timer switch. The thing you do need
to find out. If you're not well versed in electricity,
you probably need to hire an electrician. But some some switches,
timer switches require a neutral wire. If the house is older,
there may not be a neutral wire in the box.

(41:37):
It's code now in all newer construction there has to
be a neutral in every switchbox for this reason and
also keeps people from trying to use the ground as
a neutral, which you're not supposed to do. But they
do make timer switches that do not have that don't
require a neutral so you can find those as well.

(41:58):
But anyway, that switch can be replaced with a timer switch.
It's not it's not a problem. Pay attention to the
plate because most timer switches are going to be the
decora or the rectangle like a paddle switch. But it'll
be that shape and then you may have a toggle
switch on the other side. But they make it that
combination plate.

Speaker 3 (42:17):
And of course they got standard sized, medium size, oversized.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
Oversize, right, And I always use the midway because it
covers a little bit more if you have room for it,
it just gives you a little more wiggle room.

Speaker 3 (42:28):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4 (42:30):
And actually, Dave, she wanted to put the timer on
both the fan and the white.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
Okay, so she would have to buy two timers.

Speaker 4 (42:39):
So you can't do one to do both.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Well, you could, she could, She could do that, and
then you would you would have a dummy switch that's
that's not connected to anything. Or you could or or
you can you can buy a plate that that blanks
out the one side. Uh And and you put a switch,
so but a double box, you still have to cover
up the box with a double a double plate. Uh

(43:02):
so one way or the other. But yeah, and she
could combine both the light fixture and the fan on
a timer and and it'll be fine. And maybe it's
it is over a bathtub, and and you can control
them separately, but she wants to control them. I don't
know why you would be a heat lamp though, Yeah,
it could be a heat lamp. Now that you need
to that that's where you probably need electrician because your

(43:24):
amp draw might be a little bit more on that
heat exactly or if or if the if the if
it's a if you have more switches, there could be
a heater in that fan as well, and they require
a little bit heavier switch.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
Dave, Yeah, yes, yes, goes yes.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
I always just take a hot shower then I'm going.
So I hope that helps. LEXI. If not, send us
a note to our website. Ask John at Dave dot com,
hit the questions button and uh uh uh leave. Leave
a phone number just in case if I'm not understanding
the question or I need more more more information, I
can always give you a quick call. Sometimes it's faster

(44:04):
to do that, and I don't mind doing at all
whenever I'm.

Speaker 3 (44:07):
Not busy, which a good question.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
It's hardly ever.

Speaker 3 (44:10):
We love questions though, I mean it's.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
Great, Okay. So I think the next thing we wanted
to talk about, uh for for the fall maintenance things,
is probably taking care of our our concrete surfaces are
hard surfaces outside winners coming. John and I are big
proponents of sealing concrete and and it was funny one

(44:36):
of the first times we ever discussed it, we were
both sealing our driveways at the same time, and we
had never talked about it, and and our conversation as
we were coming in in the morning getting ready to
do the show. He usually would call me from when
he was in Atlanta, and of course now from from Wilmington,
but we would we would just talk about what was

(44:56):
going on real quick and anything about the show that
we needed to discuss. And we were both sealing our
driveway at the same time. And that's been years and
years ago. But it is a big deal. It is
to maintain that concrete and it seems it seems daunting,
like it's a you know, you think, you know, I
don't want to do this, this is crazy, I happened to.

(45:19):
I use a low gloss seiler, but it is a
top coat because I like to have that for the
folks that are come over maybe they have a little
oil leak or a little transmission fluid leaking out of
their vehicle. Because I can just go out there and
spray it, wipe it right UPU is then it doesn't
get tracked around or get tracked in the house or inadvertently,
and it you know, and it looks better.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
You know, you know, something that's I never realized until
it happened to me. But you know, you want to
keep everything looking so good out at your house, and
you pressure wash, right, But every time you pressure wash,
you're making that concrete more porous, right, and it gets
dirty or even quicker.

Speaker 2 (45:59):
You're taking the top of it all precisely right.

Speaker 3 (46:01):
So that's a it's a great segue into once you
do this, then put the seiler on that.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
That's what you do, and then here's here's here's the
key to it is that once you apply a good seiler,
and you you for the first couple of years, you
have to put it on every every year or every
two years. But after that it builds up and it
stays down in the pores and it blocks the pores.
So as you just stated, when you pressure wash, first

(46:28):
of all, we recommend a surface cleaner exactly right. So
it's like a lawnmower, right, and you push it. It's easier,
it's hard, it's easier on your body, faster, it's faster,
and it cleans the concrete at the same level. Now
you can yes, and you can disconnect it and put
your nozzle back on to maybe clean out the expansion

(46:49):
joints and get those get that cleaned up, get rid
of any places where weeds or dirt is growing. Our
weeds are growing in the dirt that collects in the
expansion joints. And then and then, but use that surface cleaner.
And then also you can rent because it You're amazed
at how much comes off of the concrete.

Speaker 3 (47:05):
Crazy. What about an antimicrobial? You ever use those? When
you put it on like a like a driveway cleaner
in conjunction with a surface.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
Clean I have it, Yeah, I have it.

Speaker 3 (47:14):
I usually just rock and roll with it.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
Nice. Yeah, so clean it and then and then pick
a sealer. I'm John, And it was the difference is
John always used a water based sealer and I always
used a solvent based He said it was because I
was a hippie and I like smelling the But I
just I think I think you get. I think the
solvent based products you get a little bit better penetration

(47:40):
on your first couple of rounds.

Speaker 3 (47:41):
Well, it's like dry lock, right, you know that oil
base is horrible to work with or paints or whatever.
But I am I would be in agreement with you.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
Yeah, I think, John, Well, but after but after you
get your initial coats on, so let's say you you
you've you've in four years, you've sealed it twice. You've
washed and sealed it twice. And by the way, when
you seal the driveway, it's much easier to clean and
you are not you are no longer taking the top
of the concrete off when you wash it.

Speaker 3 (48:08):
Which product are you using?

Speaker 2 (48:10):
I'm this time. I used it H and C, but
only because I found I found it. It was discontinued
at a at a store and I got it for
twenty five dollars for five gallon pails.

Speaker 3 (48:22):
That's good.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
Yeah, it was great because it's two hundred and fifty
dollars for a five gallon pail, so it was quite
a deal.

Speaker 3 (48:27):
I have to do mine.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
So there's multiple places you can buy solvent based sealers
home depot cells that they sell Eagle brand. It's a
high gloss, so you have to make sure that you
have texture that Normally they would do what's called a
broom finish right correct on the concrete. So when you
put a high gloss sealer on, you have to have

(48:49):
a little bit of grit or some texture on the concrete. Otherwise,
when it's wet, it's pretty slippery, and we have some
spots that are our broom sweat, but it's very light
and it filled it in completely. And the pizza guy
slipped and went underneath his car. I think my wife
gave him an exceptionally nice tip one night and he

(49:10):
was dancing out to his car and he slid right
underneath his car. It was wet. I was like, we
went out there to make sure he was okay. He
was like, yo, I'm so embarrassed, and I was like,
I'm you're embarrassed. I'm embarrassed because I got my driveway
so slick.

Speaker 3 (49:23):
So well, they have a product sometimes you can put
it in and it's like shark skin. They call it
shark skins. It's silica sand. Yeah, exactly right.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
And and so I bought a big bucket of silica
sand and I mixed it in. The biggest problem was
sealing concrete and then adding an additive like like silica
sand is you have to keep it agitated soactly. I
made a little stand I put, I put a piece
of plywood on a dolly and fastened it. I set

(49:52):
the bucket on it, and I made a bracket that
holds my drill with a paddle. Yeah, and I just
have a clamp that I put on it on low
speed and it just keeps agitating it and I keep
dipping the roller and it works great. I mean, you know,
I'm sure people go drive by and say, what is
that idiot do it?

Speaker 3 (50:09):
So I wonder how well that would work on like
tip you know some people put the ceramic tile out
like on a walkway.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
Yeah, it's horrible, yeah, you know.

Speaker 3 (50:18):
And you know, yeah, I as one client that that
purchased a home that had that, So now we're looking
at possibly taking that up. But I'm telling you it
is a hazard, especially like on a rental property, right,
it's got to go.

Speaker 2 (50:30):
Yeah, there's and and they make tile for the outside
or they make it for wet surfaces, and that's what
you should do. But really, pavers, travertine's a better, a better.
If you have the height that you need, you could
put one inch travertine over your concrete. You can actually
mortar it right on there. They'll they'll lay thin, set
and and and lay it down. And travertine you don't

(50:54):
when it gets wet, it's not slippery. Sure, So it's
a it's great for a round pools it's great for side.
It can be a little brittle, so it has to
have a good bass under it.

Speaker 3 (51:04):
Well, you know, I did have an experience with this,
and I'll just let you know. I have a hot
tub and when it gets freeze, protect the water drops
and then the pump comes on and shoots it. Well,
it shot it out onto the tavertine, water froze and
then started breaking exactly. So it's like, you know, you
can't win.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
Yeah, that's tough. That's why you buy extra travertyh Yeah,
you're right, Dave. You know it's sitting around. I have
it behind my shop Luxuries of Homeownership, right right, All right, listen,
we went, we blew right through the break. So let's
let's take it seven zero four or five, seven, oh
eleven ten. We'd love to hear from you. We'll be
right back after these messages. All right, welcome back. It's

(51:48):
the Home Improvement Show with John and Dave. I'm Dave Doval,
I am Wes Wooden and by the way, it's the
Home Depot Home Improvement Show.

Speaker 3 (51:55):
Well I didn't even catch that.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
What did you say, I said, the Home Improvement Show?
Oh yeah, that is home deep but it's the home
depot because they're presenting sponsor.

Speaker 3 (52:03):
Right, yes, of course, awesome, awesome.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
Home deep lines are open seven zero four five seven
oh eleven ten. You can get us that way. You
can call or the WBT text line driven by Liberty GMC.
Get some text there. I still haven't. I still never
got this open. We're yacking during the during the break.
Uh so back to back to the concrete so ceiling.

(52:27):
Uh And I'd mentioned that John, John likes the the
water bass. Oh yeah, and and and that's that'll I'll
do the product of the week at at the bottom
of the hour. I was getting ready to do it again.
But John likes the water based products. I like the
solvent based products. And here's the catch. If you use

(52:50):
water base, you cannot put solvent based over top because
it'll it'll it'll make a mess because it'll dissolve.

Speaker 3 (52:58):
They put the water over the oil.

Speaker 2 (52:59):
But you can put the water over the oil after
time after So like if you did pain, I thought
you could do the oil over, you could do you
you can do latex over over oil. And and we
never we don't like to mix now any of it
if you can help it. But if you can, if
you do, happen to use a solvent based and then

(53:21):
later down the road you want to use a water
base because after a couple of years that the sealer
has dissipated and it's not precisely, but it's ceiling underneath
which is still doing its job and it will for
many years. But if you want it to be better
and stay cleaner and easier to clean, then you keep
adding a sealer on top. You can switch to a
water based and put over top, but you can't go

(53:43):
back once you put water based on you can't use
the solvent based. So so and that's why I keep
going more options, really right, Yeah, yeah, so that's another
reason I like the solvent based. But wash it and
and then and then seal it. And we'll come back
to that. Let's get Kirk in here. Kirk, welcome to

(54:03):
the program. How can we help?

Speaker 9 (54:05):
Yeah, hey, I got a quick question I hope is
I have some stones I laid down. They've been there
a while and I never put anything between the stones,
which are about half inch to an inch space between them,
and I wanted to kind of scratch the dirt out
and put some concrete in between them. And what concrete

(54:25):
would you recommend or to put in there?

Speaker 3 (54:28):
What type of like what kind of stone? Is it
like flagstone or is it like like.

Speaker 9 (54:33):
No, it's just stone stone. I mean it's not flat
so much. It's just racked pieces of stone that I
had picked up sure along the way and laid out.

Speaker 2 (54:46):
And then this sounds like they're mortared in.

Speaker 9 (54:50):
No they're not. Oh so it's all laid in real
nice and they're pretty firm.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
So it's tight. So you're counting opression. You have dirt
on each side that holds them in place.

Speaker 9 (55:00):
Yeah, and I want to the reason I want the
dirt out is to keep the we input concrete, to
keep the wee sure from coming up.

Speaker 2 (55:07):
Totally understand So yeah, So normally just just mortar, the
same type of mortar that they use for bricks. That
it'll be Portland cement and sand. And you can of
course buy that pre pre made and pre mixed so
you don't have to mix it up so it's the
right race ratio. I would get type S because it's
it's it's stronger and then and then you can use

(55:31):
what's called a mortar bag to put it in there.
So there's some tools they have some little thin tools
with handles that you can they're pointing tools that you
can put yeah, yeah, and so you can push it
down in there, but you you can. I'd buy a
mortar bag because you put the mortar, yeah, a grout
bag and you can squeeze uh. That way, you can
squeeze it into the joints and you can control it.

Speaker 9 (55:53):
Right.

Speaker 2 (55:53):
One of the things I would do is I would
probably I don't. It depends on how good you are.
Sometimes people will seal the top of the stone first,
so if you get any excess mortar on, it'll be
easy to clean off. The problem is is if you
get it down on the sides where you want the
mortar to stick, then the mortar, guess what, it won't stick.

Speaker 10 (56:12):
As you know.

Speaker 3 (56:13):
One other idea also, and I'm just throwing things out,
but in order to have a greater contrast, sometimes you
can do different types of sands. Yes, and you can
brush the sand because let me tell you, as controlling
the weeds, it seems like grass will grow up through
concrete and everything else, and then you've almost made it
even more difficult to get the weeds out. But at

(56:35):
least if it's porous like that, you can just you know,
spray the weed killer down there. But the contrasting sand
is kind of nice, right, You've got some options.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
On it, and so yeah, so you can do that.
You can also mix die with your mortar, so you
could change the color. So you have lots of options.
And then they also have polymeric sand that you mix
up or you actually fill it in dry and then
you missed it with water and it'll activate the acrylic
in it. I'm not a huge fan because it tends

(57:06):
to mold or mildew, so then you have to go
out and try to keep cleaning it. So yeah, but
that gives you a few options and maybe look into
all of those and you can if you do a
little research, you'll see the pros and the cons of
each each thing that you're doing. But do clean that
out the dirt and then I would I would actually
pressure wash. I would pressure wash that. And then they

(57:29):
have a bonding additive that you could put in a
pump up garden sprayer and maybe spray and all those
joints and let that dry. That'll give that mortar a
really good base to bond to. So it's a bonding
additive is what it is. And you can also mix
your mortar with that bonding additive as well.

Speaker 3 (57:47):
Yeah, it sounds like you've got a really nice art
project though.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (57:51):
Make it look fantastic.

Speaker 9 (57:53):
Yeah, it's doable, very doable. Okay, great, that's what I
was just sitting there thinking I'd go ask the people
at home Deepoe or Lows. But then I'm riding in
the car and I said, you guys know everything Dave does.

Speaker 3 (58:07):
Yeah, right, thanks so much for calling see you.

Speaker 9 (58:12):
Thanks, Yeah, appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
Thanks card appreciate the call. Yeah, yeah, what's that? They
say this as uh, they say, yeah, David Dole he
knows everything if he doesn't ask his brother. Let's get
Michael in here. Michael, welcome to the program. How can
we help?

Speaker 8 (58:31):
Hey, I've got an older home thhore O. We're twenty
years old, and the carpet on the stairwell was just
worn out. I pulled the carpet up and on the
stairs they had put OCB board for the steps in
the riser. I'm going to go back and put hardwood
on it. But my questions are number one, is it
worth buying the already finished steps with the nose versus

(58:55):
cutting it yourself? And secondly, what tool would you recommend
to measure those steps and those risers correctly so that
you're not miscutting.

Speaker 2 (59:06):
Well, you could make a jig out of thin plywood.
They actually have jigs available that you could buy commercially,
but you're probably not gonna want to do that for
a one time deal. So a lot of times what
people do is they'll they'll and it doesn't have to
go all the way across, but if it goes all
the way across, you get the angle on each one.

(59:26):
I've done it many times that I've always just free
cut them. Normally, what we do is we'll cut a
slight bevel so only the top of the tread is
touching the skirt board and you have a little relief
underneath it, and it's only like a half a degree on
the camphor.

Speaker 3 (59:41):
And then how many steps you got, Michael.

Speaker 8 (59:44):
So there's six going up until you hit the platform,
and then there's seven going up after the bashbacks.

Speaker 3 (59:50):
Yeah, not too much, but I would probably do an
individual because listen, if a lot of those staircases, like
who was a company that built those southern stairs, but
they would pre manufacture those stairs and they were perfect,
but when you're doing them out in the in the field, know,
out in my house.

Speaker 8 (01:00:06):
Each treads different, right, yeah, well the treads are all
the same, but I mean they're OCB board and they're
you know, they're nosed and everything.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
But yeah, so but.

Speaker 8 (01:00:17):
Yes, they're different. They're not. It's not a solid piece, right.

Speaker 3 (01:00:21):
I like the bulldozing uh pre made though.

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
Yeah, it's nice. Hey and Michael, there's several other things
that we need to talk about. I'm gonna put you
on hold. I can either take you off the off
of the air or if you can hold, we'll we'll
just put you on hold. We'll come back. Share with everybody. Okay, thanks,
all right, I'm sorry I just dropped your fat fingers.
Michael calls back. If you're if you're still listening, uh

(01:00:46):
seven zero four five, seven eleven ten, we'll be right
back after these messages. Welcome back. It's the Home Depot,
Home Depot, Home improve It Show with John and Dave.

Speaker 3 (01:01:06):
I'm Dave Doval, I am Wes Wooden and I got
a million.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
Things going on right here. We got to do the
uh let's do the product of the week this week.
It is the it's a it's a fire blanket in
honor of fire safety month October every year that happens.
It's forty inches by forty inches. It's a it's a
quick way to extinguish a fire. They normally, they normally

(01:01:31):
like to keep these in in uh in kitchens, and
don't keep it under the stove. We're above the stove.
Keep it in a cabinet nearby or a pantry. But basically,
unpackaged this thing. And and what's smart is to go
ahead and unpackage it one time and see how it works,
and then fold it back up and put it away.
Same kind of the same thing we talk about with

(01:01:52):
a fire extinguisher, which was our product of the week
last week. Make sure everyone knows how to use it
in the house, and and just in case, but you
basically you unpackage this thing and you you just throw
the blanket over top of the fire on the stove.
And forty inches by forty inches will cover a stove
because the stove is normally thirty inches A standard stove

(01:02:13):
is thirty inches wide twenty five inches deep, about the
same depth as the countertop. And this blanket forty by
forty inches will cover that situation. So and it'll smother
the fire and it'll keep it from spreading, especially if
it's a oil fire. So you know, twelve thirteen dollars
twelve ninety seven for this thing. Buy a couple of them,

(01:02:35):
you know, have them. It's good. You could have one
near your grill or when you're grilling. It's you could
you could put a grill fire out with le.

Speaker 3 (01:02:41):
It uptight, put a bow on it, and put it
in a stocking.

Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
Yeah, it would make a good gift, you know, I
mean different, it's it's the kind of things that we
don't think about. And and so if you give it
to your kids, or you give to somebody that you know,
maybe somebody's getting married. I mean, it seems kind of funny.

Speaker 3 (01:02:57):
But you know one thing that if we're to ever
have and you had it, you'd be like, oh my gosh,
what a life saver.

Speaker 2 (01:03:04):
Yes, absolutely, And well you know what better way to
tell somebody you care about them than that?

Speaker 9 (01:03:08):
Well?

Speaker 3 (01:03:08):
Yeah, absolutely, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
So anyway, that's available at the home depot. It's a
forty inch by forty inch fire blanket for thirteen dollars.
They got plenty of them at the Pineville store. I'm
sure if you have the home Depot app on your phone.
If you look it up, it'll tell you who has
them in stock. And I think you can also get
all that information from the home depot dot com website
and just put in your location or which store you

(01:03:32):
want to go to. They'll they'll point it up and
it'll tell you how many they have. That way, you're
not running over there wasting your time. You can get
another one. But like I said, it's a good deal.
And I think they're normally twelve ninety eight and they're
twelve ninety seven, so it's not a whole lot of sayings,
but it's pretty inexpensive. Safety, all right. But that said,
that is the home Depot product of the week. Let's

(01:03:54):
let's get Michael Wayne. I see you there, Michael. We
cut him off and I want to get him back
in here and then Wayne, you'll be next. Michael. Thanks,
thanks for calling back up. Sorry, I have fat fingers.
I disconnected you by accident. So with those stairs, so
Wes and I were talking off air, those are pre
manufactured stairs because you and you were saying something else.

(01:04:17):
But they're OSB right oriented strandboard. That's correct, Okay, So
those are those are manufactured stairs. They're built in the
factory and actually bring those out. They build the landing,
but they set these stairs. They come pre assembled. You
cannot take those apart, so you have to put a
cap over them. So you have to use a thinner cap,

(01:04:40):
and that's probably what you need to be looking for.
I know you would rather use a solid piece of
oak and go over top of them, but you're gonna
probably end up with the two piece system where it
has the nosing that fits over the existing tread. The
reason is that they're thinner. You're gonna throw your stairs
off if you add, if you add too much, and

(01:05:00):
stairs have to be very consistent going up. I think
you're allowed a three sixteenths difference, Is that right?

Speaker 3 (01:05:06):
Well, I think that's right.

Speaker 2 (01:05:07):
Yeah, between from top to bottom. So you can't you
can't have more than three sixteenths of an inch difference
because it'll cause you to trip. So as you go
up that first step, the second step, third, and so on.
That if it's seven inches, it needs to be. It
needs to be seven to seven and three sixteenths of
an inch or whatever it is. But so if you

(01:05:29):
add three quarters of an inch, you'll be fine in
the middle run of the stairs, but when you get
to the top, it'll be shorter and your first step
will be taller and it'll cause you to trip, and
you don't want to. You wouldn't want to do that.
So but look look into those there's all types of
there's all types of manufacturers out there that have overlays

(01:05:51):
four stairs and see if you can if you like them.
And then I'm just going to give you a couple
of things that I've seen from some designers that they've done.
Actually seeing people go in and paint those steps in
the risers and they will paint maybe paint the risers
or the treads black and the riser's black or whatever
colors you want, and then they put a runner up

(01:06:12):
the middle where you travel the most, where it would
get where so you get a nice look. It's it's
actually it's a it's a cheaper way to finish the stairs,
make them look good. You can buy the rods that.

Speaker 3 (01:06:23):
Go into the that hold the carpet in.

Speaker 2 (01:06:25):
Yeah, they'll hold it to the back. And you can
have a runner. You can have a runner made so
they can bind the edges so you can get regular carpet.
You could get decorative carpet with He was.

Speaker 3 (01:06:36):
Saying that the treads osb though.

Speaker 2 (01:06:38):
Yeah, that's fine, But they send them and they fill
them and then they paint them so that you can't see.
They just use like a wood filler or bondo to
feel the parts that you would see, and then they
paint it so it looks like solid wood and it
looks nice, but then you're not then you're not wearing
the paint out. You put a runner down the middle
and you get a nice look it's and so it's

(01:07:01):
an inexpensive way to do it. And then when the
runner gets war out or needs you can clean it
or replace it.

Speaker 3 (01:07:07):
But a lot of people like the carpet too, because
if you have hard like hardwoods and you've got socks,
you then you create another issue too. Sometimes you could
you could slip and.

Speaker 8 (01:07:15):
Fall, so I do so downstairs it's all hardwood flooring
that I put in down the air and so I
was just kind of working my way up getting carpet
and then I hit this right.

Speaker 2 (01:07:26):
So an overlay, it sounds like an overlay is what
you need. So try to get a You're you're gonna
probably have to bring samples home to try to get
your match, to get to get close. That's that's where you.

Speaker 8 (01:07:39):
Would you would you get something you call it a spinner?
Would you get that at flooring Decore or there a
specialty shop and share it?

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
I think I think you can buy most of the
overlays from most flooring stores, so you can shop around
and get it. And I would think that home Depot
sells it too. It's probably special order, but the problem
with that is you'd have to order and then send back.
And if you get the colors, you can get someone
that stocks it. Obviously, you can take samples home and

(01:08:09):
then find what you want and and order it. No
matter what you do, there's there's a little cost involved
with it because the cost to put wood in. You
have the initial cost, and then you have to finish
it in place, so on and so forth. So it's
not it's not inexpensive, and neither are the overlays, but
it's it's worth it. And I've seen it in many

(01:08:29):
houses and they look they look great when they're done. Well.

Speaker 3 (01:08:32):
The good thing is he doesn't have a whole lot
of steps either right one and done. It's not that's great.

Speaker 8 (01:08:37):
And the landing I was going to put the hard
woods from downstairs and that. But I don't know. I
have to just get somebody to help me because I
don't know how to match those colors exactly so that
it it. You know, it's cohesive.

Speaker 2 (01:08:48):
You probably will have to buy a matching flooring that's thinner,
because again we have to stay at a at a
at the thickness, the smallest thickness that you can get
that's surprited, so the landing will not be able to
be a different type of material.

Speaker 3 (01:09:04):
It'll have to be.

Speaker 2 (01:09:05):
You have to plan that ahead of time when you
build the stairs.

Speaker 8 (01:09:08):
So okay, let's say you guys have been very helpful.

Speaker 2 (01:09:11):
Thank you, good man. Good luck with that. Send us
a picture.

Speaker 8 (01:09:14):
Okay, all right, okay, bye bye bye.

Speaker 2 (01:09:17):
Let's see we got time. Let's get Wayne. He's been
patiently waiting. Wayne, thanks for holding. How can we help?

Speaker 10 (01:09:23):
Good morning, guys, How are you doing?

Speaker 3 (01:09:25):
Wonderful? Wayne? Great? Listen.

Speaker 10 (01:09:28):
I've got a townhouse with an eight x ten concrete
slabbed patiot back and during that rainy spring, it just
flooded a couple of times, about a half inch of
water on it. And long story short, I want to
clean it off it's like mold and mildew and even
up the siding about an inch or two. Should I
spring it with something first, or should I just can

(01:09:49):
I just powerwash it?

Speaker 2 (01:09:51):
Well, you can wash it. The siding is really going
to do better with a little bit of soap and
a car wash brush on a handle. That's that's how
I tackle those those types of jobs, and and and
on my own house as well, And so you'll you'll
use a little bit of soap. My my go to
is normally is chlorine or peroxide either one to clean

(01:10:16):
clean mold and mildew uh and and office surfaces that
are solid that are not uh porous, so like dry
wall and concrete and brick and mortar. The roots of
mold can get down in there. So if you if
you hit the top with bleach, you'll you'll take care
of it, but eventually it will come back because you
haven't killed the roots. So there you would want something

(01:10:38):
like a microbial, right, something that goes a little deeper.
And West knows a lot about that kind of stuff
because it's the kind of stuff they use in cross spaces. Yeah, exactly,
they don't. They normally don't use chlorine. I mean it
will take it off and it'll bleach it out, but
it doesn't kill the roots. But but for your situation,
what I'm going to suggest is to mix up soap

(01:10:59):
and probably some some type of outdoor cleaner that has
chlorine like sixty second or ninety cent whatever it is. Now,
what is that five minute abs? Why would you buy
five minute abs if they have three minute abs?

Speaker 3 (01:11:10):
You want the beach.

Speaker 2 (01:11:11):
Body, right, So, but but anyway, clean those surfaces, and
then I would suggest that you do what we were
talking about and seal that patio. Buy a gallon a sealer.
They make a low luster seiler that's water based. They
sell it at home depot. It's made by Bear. It's
a really good product and you just all you do

(01:11:32):
is roll it on with a three eight snap roller
and it probably won't take you thirty minutes and you'll
be done.

Speaker 3 (01:11:37):
Yeah, And using that cleaner on top of that would
require you know, probably less pressure on the pressure and
so sometimes when you're pressure washing you know, siding and
then it's older and I've seen it, you'll blow a
hole right through it. Right, So being a little more
gentle with it the cleaner would would aid in that.

Speaker 2 (01:11:56):
So a little cleaner, a brush agitated and you're p
does it sound very very big, So you really may
not need a pressure washer. You may be able to
just clean it with a stiff deck brush, which will
probably cost you about seven bucks, with a handle, and
it's it's low nap and it's it's real stiff bristles

(01:12:16):
and it's made for scrubbing. But you can you can
screw a extension handle or another broom handle that's threaded
into it. You could scrub that patio down and and
let it dry overnight, and then you could apply that sealer.
Then the next time that you need to clean it.
First of all, you're not going to get the mold
build up like you have. If you do get anything

(01:12:37):
on there, it'll wash off simply easily. And of course
you have your brush, so you can go out there
with a hose and water a little bit of dish
soap or whatever, and and it'll clean it right up.

Speaker 10 (01:12:48):
I see. Just just to be clear, what's the name
of the actual cleaner I would use.

Speaker 2 (01:12:52):
You can use any any outdoor cleaner that has bleach
in it. So you can just buy straight Chlorox if
you want it, which is a brand name you can
buy an off off any anything with chlorine in it
is gonna is gonna help you get that cleaned up.
But they also make Olympic makes a deck in siding cleaner,

(01:13:15):
Joe Max. There's anything if you look in the cleaning
aisle or if you look in the paint aisle, you'll
find both of those at Home Depot and and just
read the labels and see what you know, see what
you think. Most outdoor cleaners have chlorine in them.

Speaker 10 (01:13:29):
So I see, Okay, it's very helpful.

Speaker 3 (01:13:33):
Thanks for calling in.

Speaker 2 (01:13:34):
You're welcome. Thanks, Wayne, appreciate the call. Thanks for listening.

Speaker 8 (01:13:37):
You bet go bet.

Speaker 2 (01:13:48):
Welcome back. It's the Home Depot Home improvement Show with
John and Dave. I'm Dave Doval.

Speaker 3 (01:13:52):
I'm Wes Wooden.

Speaker 2 (01:13:53):
All right, Wes, we appreciate you joining us. Let's get
Mark in here. Mark, welcome to the program. How can
we help?

Speaker 3 (01:14:02):
Thank you.

Speaker 6 (01:14:02):
I have just had a new deck and solve on
my office's pressure treated and I need to know how
long I need to wait before I can stay it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:16):
Well, you can wait. It depends on the time of year,
so obviously in the summertime you won't have to wait
as long thirty to ninety days is what they say.
If it's in the wintertime, it could be you could
be all the way around till the spring or fall.
There's a way to cheat though. And this is a
product called cedar Shield. And if you listen to as

(01:14:38):
much we do talk about it, this is a product
that you have to order from a company out of Texas.
It's called Cedarside cide dot com and they have a
product called cedar Shield. It's made from cedar oil and
you spray that on your deck or you brush it
or you roll it. And what it does is it
drives the moisture and it drives the moisture out of

(01:15:01):
the wood. I'm sorry, we're getting a bunch of feedback.
Mark okay, I'm for if your radios up, turn it down,
please thank you anyway. So cedar Shield, you paint that
on your deck with a roller brush, you could spray it.

(01:15:22):
And what it does is it pushes the water out
of the wood and it's stabilized. A wood stabilizer is
what they call it. I kind of like to say
it petrifies the wood because what it does it doesn't
allow moisture back in the wood for a long, long time.
But if you apply that product to your brand new decking,
wait seventy two hours. You could stain it after that

(01:15:42):
and it pushes the water out. It's a very cool product.
It's about eighty dollars a gallon. I think it covers
two hundred square feet per gallon. Don't don't make sure
you look at the directions for that. If you sign
up for their newsletter, they'll send you coupons or acounts
and then you can get free shipping and get ten

(01:16:03):
or twenty percent off depending. Almost every holiday they have
some type of a sale. That's what I do. I
buy it by the five gallon pails and I buy
it usually once a year we use it. We put
it on wood rot if you haven't lost the structural integrity,
it'll it'll push the moisture out, it won't allow it
to return, and then we can bondo or fill in

(01:16:24):
with a filler and make repairs on windowsills or you know,
intricate wood or whatever things that are hard to replace
or hard to find. It works really well, so but
it's it's it's one of the benefits of using it
for a brand new decking. It allows you to finish
it sooner.

Speaker 3 (01:16:42):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (01:16:42):
If I've had it installed, say thirty days ago, and
don't want to go that route, how long should I
wait before I just simply stay.

Speaker 3 (01:16:52):
In this time? Right now? I would say probably, you know,
six months.

Speaker 2 (01:16:57):
H and you make it away sooner because we been dry.
So here's the test. Take you take some water in
your hand and sprinkle the water on the deck. If
it absorbs. If it absorbs, then you're ready to stay.
And if it beads up, you need to wait. And
so I think we lost him, Mark, Mark, Mark is gone,
so hopefully he's uh, hopefully he's here. And so Mark,

(01:17:19):
I hope you heard that. And that's it because we
are to the end of it. Wes. How do people
get a hold of you if they want your services?

Speaker 3 (01:17:26):
Well, I tell you I would certainly appreciate that. You
can always call me at seven o four four zero
zero zero three four four. I'm always here to help anyway.
But uh, yeah, that's a it's an honor to be here.
And you know, I'll leave you with this. When you're green,
you're growing, when you're ripe, you're rotting. I always learned
something here from you, Dave. It's such a plethora of knowledge.

(01:17:49):
So good. But I'm always learning. But no, you can
reach me anytime. I appreciate it. Thanks for the opportunity.

Speaker 2 (01:17:56):
We'd love it. We'd enjoy you coming in and spending
your Saturday morning with us. Sure, and thank you. Thank
all of the listeners out there. George, thank you. We
appreciate you, my friend.

Speaker 3 (01:18:04):
Great to see you, George.

Speaker 2 (01:18:05):
Quit quit quit thinning out me and you're wasting away
on it. I know it's a zzy top exactly all right. Well,
with that said, we like to remind you we believe
that the most important kind of home improvements the one
that makes your home a happier place to live. Don't
forget to work on that this week, and we will
see you next week right here on WBT at the

(01:18:25):
Home Depot Home Improvement Show.

Speaker 3 (01:18:26):
Awesome, see you guys,

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