The Home Improvement Show 10-4-25

Tune in here for this 10-4-25 episode of the Home Depot Home Improvement show on WBT with John Gordon and David Dovell.

On this edition of the program, John and Dave talk about fire safety and insulation upgrades for existing homes. Highlighting Fire Safety Month, they feature the Home Depot Product of the Week: a four-pack of KIDDE hardwired interconnected smoke alarms with enhanced sensing technology and a 10-year lifespan. Shifting gears, the hosts dive into a discussion on improving home energy efficiency using spray foam insulation. They explore whether existing wall cavities—especially in older homes—can be retrofitted with foam, the limitations of adding foam over existing materials like cellulose, and methods like vacuuming out old insulation. They also stress the importance of coordinating insulation upgrades with HVAC adjustments to avoid humidity issues from short-cycling. Packed with practical tips and humor, the show emphasizes thoughtful planning for both safety and comfort in home improvement projects. Listeners can call or text the show with their questions, making it an interactive experience for DIYers and homeowners alike.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The Home Depot Home Improvement Show with John and Dave.
Pre sent up. I tried pro answering your home improvement
questions every Saturday on News Talk eleven ten and ninety
nine three WBT.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Good morning, everybody, Welcome to the Home Depot Home Improvement
Show with John and Dave.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval, David Noble, good morning,
Good morning, my friend.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
It's another beautiful day.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
It sure is.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
I don't remember where I am. I'm somewhere. I'm not
at home. Back to the good old days.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
So much for retirement, but.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
It's a beautiful day. It's a beautiful day. Ready for
two hours of home improvement conversations at seven O four
five seven eleven ten. You can text us last week
was kind of a quiet week, a surprised for texts,
but you can text us at the same number seven
oh four five seven eleven ten using the WBT text

(00:54):
line driven by Liberty Buick GMC. Right out of the blox, David,
Before I can even find out how your week was,
we have a caller coming in and we should move
post haste. Here we go to that caller. Gerald, Good morning,
how are you this morning.

Speaker 4 (01:11):
Doing good guys, how y'all doing well?

Speaker 3 (01:15):
How can we help?

Speaker 4 (01:18):
Okay, let's see him. I'm a hard time hearing.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
You, but how can we help?

Speaker 5 (01:23):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (01:25):
I got a proposal of him. I got him doing
talking about mold remediation. Okay, we got a propos of
him from Green Home Solutions. You guys familiar with him?

Speaker 2 (01:37):
I am not.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
I don't know, no, not at all.

Speaker 4 (01:42):
Okay. Anyway, I got a proposed here with getting rid
of some surface mold. And they're talking about, of course,
using the act the chuck Ole filters, I guess on
some of their equipment here using a negative air machine.

(02:03):
Excuse me? Whatever that does?

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Is this for a cross space?

Speaker 2 (02:08):
No?

Speaker 3 (02:08):
This is inside Okay.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
In your house? Okay?

Speaker 4 (02:11):
Yeah, and uh they're using uh a plant uh enzyme
based enzyme called ocean oceanic yeah, park you ever heard of?
And then they're doing a pro probiotic boost. So they

(02:36):
use a thing called better air. I guess is a
system that they use.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Gerald Jeryl, can we? Jeryl? Could we? I don't think
he can hear.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
Me, Gerald Joe. Let's so what is your question?

Speaker 4 (02:49):
I just you know, that's your advice on maybe familiar
with fiend of this stuff or is it best to
use somebody like that or me try to do it
my out.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
Well, they say, if it's over six square feet, you
probably should hire someone unless you're a I mean.

Speaker 4 (03:07):
I'm in a nine hundred square foot home here and
it's got They was so shining a lot and had
showing mold on the surfaces of doors and patients of furniture. Right, uh,
you know.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
Just are you living in the Are you living in
the house? Yeah, okay, well I mean you, I mean
you probably could wipe this down if you're living in
there without a respirator. Now you're already been exposed, so
you could. I mean, if you're capable, you could buy
a product called Conchrobium. It's available at home depot, and

(03:45):
you could you could wipe wipe everything down. But I
think the key is is maybe to figure out what's
causing the mold would be the first thing before I
spent the first dime, I would be trying to figure out.
And usually when you have mold and you have it
on the surfaces of of in your house, like you're
talking about, it's because you have a moisture issue. How

(04:09):
do you have air central air conditioning.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
Yeah, but I didn't use I don't use it this summer.
I gotta. I closed off a lot of my brooms
and I have a window unit in my main Okay,
that hard time using it.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
Yeah, that's and that's probably what's leading to this problem.

Speaker 4 (04:30):
So I think we've well this has been going on
time for years, you know, and it's just it's not
a black mold. It's just I don't even say until
you you know, you shine a light down.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
I understand. Sure. So yeah, so it needs to it
needs to be cleaned up, but it needs to be
you need to solve the problem. You're on a crawl space.

Speaker 4 (04:50):
Well it's a mobile home just sitting on you know. Okay,
I understirting around it.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
Okay. So yeah, so you've got you've got some moisture
issues uh going on. You just you just have the
perfect environment for it for it to grow. So, uh,
you could wipe everything down with a product called chrobium.
The walls, the ceiling, the doors, the furniture, everything could

(05:17):
be wiped down with conchrobium. And what that does is
it will it will encapsulate the mold, it'll clean it
and then it will it will it'll create a barrier
so that the mold can't grow back.

Speaker 4 (05:31):
Okay, well I'm missing conchrobium, you know. But of course
he's trying to sell his his service. Yeah, and there's
proprietary solutions.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
And understand it sounds like this didn't really get rid
of the root kills, the root cause of.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
You know, mold, you know.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
So yeah, absolutely if David, I don't know, I don't
know if Jerald can hear you or not, but maybe
so the situation that you have Gerald with just using
a window unit and closing some rooms off and stuff,
and then the amount of humidity in our climate, you
can do the concrobium thing and clean it up. The
likelihood of some of things coming back over some protracted

(06:09):
period of time is high. If you want to get
a gut check, I think it does make sense to
bring a professional in if you have this whole problem
in the house. But it's going to be expensive. But
if you wanted to kind of get a gut check,
you could call someone like Serve Pro Blue Sky. These

(06:30):
are folks who who specialize in the remediation also, and
you could at least compare numbers and compare processes, so
you could see.

Speaker 4 (06:40):
I did call pro and of course, you know, I'm
an old, cheap titewad, and but but their price to
come out and look and give me a proposal was
like three hundred and fifty dollars, you know. Luck, Yeah,
you know, I couldn't go that route and they payble
came out for a fifty dollars fade, you know, and

(07:01):
I don't buy telling they gave me a proposal of
sixteen hundred and seventy dollars to do everything, you know
throughout the whole house.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
Doesn't sound too bad.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
It does not sound bad at all.

Speaker 3 (07:11):
Thought it was gonna be a lot more than that
when you were calling in. I know that's expensive, but
those are your choices. But I still believe that you're
you're going to need to try to run your air conditioning.

Speaker 4 (07:22):
Yeah more, what I mean, I was just thinking, here
is that next summer. You know, I got to just
so I'm too old to touch old or hard to change,
you know, my old ways of you know, being cheap,
you know, so uh but uh well, I think next
summer is going to run my central air. You know,
there's some unit and uh, I see a lot of

(07:43):
times at this time of year, I have my windows open,
and he said, what you know, mold comes in from outside,
so you know through there and so well I don't
need to have my windows open as much.

Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yeah, molds everywhere. So well there you kind of got somemation.

Speaker 4 (08:00):
So but but for to Mort, I don't know where
my moisture problem, baccer. I don't say nothing wet around.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
You know, we looked your moisture problem and courture with
Paul Gerald.

Speaker 4 (08:11):
No rain, it's dry underneath pretty much. And of course
into Jerald, Jered be wet.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
Okay, Jerald, Hang, we're gonna We're gonna put you on
hold for a second. Your moisture problem is not using
your air conditioning right, so you get humidity building up
all summer long, and that's the time that it grows.
Folks are gonna slide away for a break. David's gonna
take care of Gerald off the air.

Speaker 6 (08:31):
You're with the Whole Deep Home Improvement Show with John
and Dave, and we will be back to talk about
your home improvement questions right after these important messages.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
Welcome back. It's the Whole Deep Public Provement Show with
John and Dave. I'm John Gordon.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
I'm Dave Doval.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
We're at seven O four five seven oh eleven ten.
Seven O four five seven oh eleven ten. Give us
a call. You can also text us at that number.
We got screens up. We can see what's going on.
Producer Lonnie's making sure we stay between the ditches on
that Most Grateful David. We went right into into Gerald's call.
He's got, i'd say, an interesting situation. It really isn't

(09:32):
that complicated. It's not, uh, he's he's just got to
decide he's going to bust bust loose with the air conditioning.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah, and that's all we talked about, is just running
it and for the for for other listeners. So if
you were confused or trying to understand what we were
where we were going. Of course we finished this off
the air with with with Gerald. But yeah, you have
to have your air conditioning set at at a minimum
and let it run, especially in the in the hot,
humid months. It doesn't an air conditioner doesn't just cool,

(10:02):
It actually removes the moisture from the air. And when
the moisture is out of the air, it's a better
environment for you to live in to breathe in, but
it feels cooler on your skin. But what you're doing
is you're eliminating the ability for mold to take hold
and grow. So in Gerald's situation, what happens. And he
does have a hygrometer John, so he is measuring, so

(10:25):
he knows.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
But he's not ignorant, No, not at all.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
He's just well, I think he's just on a budget.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
Him work on a budget exactly.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
And he's trying to live his life and I get it. So,
but he was at sixty two percent this morning, but
he said he had his windows open, and of course
it's a little damp outside, and so I told him,
you want to try to stay somewhere between fifty and
sixty percent is what you're looking for. He could run
his air conditioner, just set it at a higher level

(10:54):
and then at night if he wants to run the
unit in his bedroom to help cool him. So he's
not cool in the whole house to seventy two degrees
or wherever he likes it set. But if he would
set his regular air conditioning at seventy five or seventy
six degrees, it'll he won't use as much energy. But
it's it's going to run and it needs to run,

(11:15):
and of course he said he's in a mobile home. Well,
they're not the most they're not the most well insulated
to begin with, so you know, it's a it's a yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
It depends on the age of the manufacturing acture exactly, yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
And then also its position and does he have shade
and all of that. But anyway, we talked about him
written an Ozone machine because he said that that place
has always had that odor. Well, that would make sense
because there's a lot of particle board used in older
mobile homes, and so they absorb that moisture and then

(11:47):
mold grows, and then every time it dries out in there,
then the odor probably recedes a little bit, but then
as soon as it gets damp again, it comes right back.
And it could be carpet, upholstery, doesn't matter what it is.
But as soon as you feed it with a little
bit of moisture, it starts to bloom, it starts to grow,
and you always have that that damp smell, that that

(12:09):
musty smell whenever you when you have those situations. So
sometimes the ozone machine will work in those situations, and
he's going to look into that and possibly renting a machine.
Just remember you hear us say that you you you
can't be in there while those machines are running. Uh,
that's there that you need to read all the safety precautions.

(12:30):
Just one of those things that you would run.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
Well, you get out pretty quick because the headache.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
From oh it gives me a huge headache. So but
but they do work, and I've seen them work and
they do it. They do a great job. But it's
only as good as how you keep your environment. So
if if you go back to if Gerald goes back
to his old ways, he's gonna have moisture in there
and and it's it's gonna rebloom and you're gonna have
you're gonna have a problem. So wish him luck on that.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah, that's good, Thank you for doing that. All right,
there's a lot I have to talk about this week.
We officially start fire safety month October, so we'll talk
about we'll talk about some safety tips. David always go out.
You would think I remember year to year, but I
always go out and just kind of check the websites,

(13:16):
like what are the fire departments and folks say about
you know things, If you say ten things, your fire
department or firefighters, you know, wish you knew about fire
safety if you go to three or four different places
the ten, the number the ten vary a little bit.
So we'll take some time this morning and just hit
on some key things. But it dawned on me and maybe, well,

(13:40):
I know I'm slower than the average bearer, but this
was just a data point. And like we do listen
to just generally, like a lot of podcasts on different things, faith, politics, health,
it probably makes sense and we go just go look
stuff up right home improvement. It feels like it just

(14:04):
makes sense once a year to go out and check
the websites about fire safety, just as a reminder, because
I think I'm probably pretty close, or I think folks
as a general rule are kind of the same. We
have really goodllect or recognition memory and maybe not such
good recollection memory. By that, I mean you can't recall

(14:26):
it without help, but once you go back and read it, oh,
you recollect that. And then when you find yourself in
a situation to have to make a safety decision, you
kind of recollect what you're supposed to do recall with you.
So anyway, I'm not sure why I went down that
big rabbit hole. Other than to say, don't just listen
to you know, David and John about fire safety, but

(14:48):
go out and just check the websites out and it'll
reminds you to check your fire extinguishers. And we'll go
through all ten things here somewhere in the course of
this morning show. But then we had a lot of
questions as well, a lot of cars, a lot of
different questions David stuff on you know in fact one,
this is one I say, it's kind of along the

(15:09):
line at Gerald, but it's it's trying to figure out
how to save money but maybe not getting the best
out of it. Because this particular person wanted to know, hey,
can I add if during construction, can I add half inch?
Or maybe they're doing renovations, which probably makes a little
more sense, so they just want to put half inch

(15:29):
high our foam in the stud cavities before they put
their R thirteen insulation into the wall cavities, and you
can do that. There's a couple things that I think
would say probably not optimal, David, keep me honest on this.

(15:50):
One of them is those those high are sheathings have
a vapor barrier. You got to make sure that you
you don't have a vapor barrier there on I think
on your insulation so you don't trap moisture. But but
the R value you pick up and I can't remember

(16:11):
what the our value is on a half inch high
high R foam, it's I don't know, it's it like
maybe one point five, one point eight something like that. Something, Yeah,
it's it's it's not a lot. And then when you
you're now you're at you're taking a half an inch
away from the wall cavity as you put your R
thirteen insulation in there, which means you're going to compact

(16:34):
the R thirteen into a half an inch less area.
That reduces the R value of the fiberglass, right, because
the fiberglass needs the space the dead air to to
create the insulation value that you need. So my gut
feeling is, by the time you add up the cost
of the high R foam, the labor to put it in,

(17:01):
and then the reduced our value from the conventional insulation method,
I don't think you've picked up anything that has a
payback sooner than five hundred years. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (17:13):
Agree, well, I think they'd be better off to go
in there and air seal with foam with a foam
gun all the crabs and crevices. You'll get more from
that than you would from what you're talking about.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
I know we got to take a break here quickly,
so we'll go ahead and do it. I do want
to talk about foam. Let's just do that when we
come back, because there's a couple of questions that came
up on foam as well. Folks. It's the Home Deep
Home Improvement Show. Itach on to Dave. We're going to
take a little break here, pay some bills, and we'll
be back to answer your questions at seven oh four five,
seven eleven ten when we returned to the Home Deep
hom Improvement Show, it's on a day. Welcome back. This

(18:02):
is the Home Depot Home Improvement Show with John and Day.

Speaker 3 (18:04):
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
Before we jump into the foam questions that we were
talking about before the break, David, let's do our Home
Depot product of the week. And since it is fire
safety month and trying to make things easy, I picked
our product of the week this week as the Kita
Hardwired Interconnected smoke Alarms and it's a four pack. Most

(18:30):
homes have at least for sensors in him, and so
it's just economically smart to do this. These particular ones, though,
have an enhanced sensing technology, so you reduce false alarms
that can sometimes be caused by cooking. It's hardwired, so
you have one hundred and ten one hundred and twenty
vot AC access and it's got a two double a

(18:53):
battery backup, so easy and less expensive battery backup solutions.
Simple installation, and if you've got existing alarms in place,
many times this will just slide back into the same bracket.
But if not, it's a simple click in installation. You
get a little low chirp. We love all those things

(19:14):
that maybe I don't know, maybe Kidd has figured out.
I've discovered that the low chirp also has a clock
on it and it will not occur unless it's at
least two o'clock in the morning. That is not part
of the product of the week. It's got an end
of life alarm, so at the end of ten years,
this is a ten year warranty. At the end of
ten years, it'll give you a little chirp letting you

(19:35):
know that it's the end of it's the end of
its life. So it makes sense to change out the
alarms if they haven't been changed in a long time.
If you're going to add them, this is a great
way to do it, in an inexpensive way to do it.
I think the four alarms cost four of them are

(19:57):
one hundred and nine dollars. That's it. That's our home
Deeper product of the week and staying kind of aligned
with fire safety Fire Safety Month, David, in the next
couple of weeks, we'll talk about fire extinguishers and the
difference between smoke alarms and stuff like that. So we
were talking about the scenario of the tough our solution,

(20:20):
right or a high hor sheathing in the wall cavity
to try to boost the our value, and you said, well,
you can you know, foam up the cracks. There was
another question in the batch of stuff that I was
looking at, where it's easy to understand that, hey, I

(20:44):
have a home that's twenty five years old. I can
go up in the attic, pull out all the insulation
and foam the attic. That process and access to all
that seems pretty pretty simple, right. The question was can
I how do I do that? In interior walls where
you've either got in some older homes some cellulose which

(21:07):
is probably settled out, or are fiberglass already in place.
How are they addressing and can we address spray in
foam into the into existing wall cavities in a home
that's ten, fifteen, twenty years old.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
Well, I know that they can put foam in walls
that don't have insulation, and they do it by weight.
So they drill holes and they they figure out the
square footage, they find the stud cavities, and then they
fill by weight, and then they know that they have
enough foam inside that wall. I am not sure if

(21:43):
they can pile it on top of other insulation. I mean,
obviously you could probably spray foam in there. That would
be a low expanding foam, but it would compress the
original isolation insulation and compress it, which would be would
be fine because you're not your r value from that
insulation where you're going to get it from the phone
the foam. But now I don't know what would happened

(22:05):
with cellulose, and it may not be possible because you know,
once you pack it and it drips or drops down
in the wall and packs upon itself. Yeah, you would.
You would probably pack it some more, but you would
not get the foam down in the bottom of the wall.
So that would that could that could be an issue.
But there are companies out there that that do spray

(22:27):
foam in the walls, and my understanding is it's done
by weight. I haven't seen it done, but I.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
Wonder if you could, And I wonder if you could
open a hole at the top of the wall, cavity
in and at the bottom and actually draw the cellulose out.

Speaker 3 (22:41):
It probably could vacuum it out. You know, a lot
of times they'll vacuum out.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
The smart guys what to do.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah, sure, they'll vacuum up the attic and they'll they'll
vacuum out loose or blown insulation. And when they spray foam,
now you don't have to, but it just helps get
rid of that dust factor, gets it cleaned up, allows
you access to your attic, really allows you to go
up there and floor over top of your joist. So
if you need to use it for storage, you can, right.

(23:10):
It just makes it advantages to Oh yeah, our I
mean our attic is foamed and it's it's It is
great because if I need to do anything up there.
It's it makes it just so much simpler. Uh, you know,
for one, it's cooler. Yeah, so you don't have you
could go there and the you could go up there
in the summer and not worry about it.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
But I promise Barb I would run some additional outlets
for her and and also some lights for the master bedroom.
And I'm like, we doing nothing till November. It's just
too hot, yes, but it's yeah, So that's really good.
That's really good. Okay, so good good information.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
And this I say real quick, just just so so
people know. And we've talked about this before, but I
don't think you can say it enough. Remember, if you
have your addic foamed, you have to make adjustments with
your air conditioning system because you will have too much
air in your house and then you'll end up having

(24:11):
problems like Gerald had with with excess humidity in the
house because you're yeah, you'll you'll short cycle, right, So
so you need you don't just call the insulators, the
FOLM insulators out. You also have to get your h
VAC contractor involved because you have to figure out what
to do with the excess air conditioning so I guess, well,

(24:35):
you get ducked it over to the neighbors and put
a meter on it and sell it to them. I
don't know, but that something has to be done about that.
And sometimes they just they just put a vent dump it.
They dump it exactly so you can you can put
some in the attic once it's done, which will help,
and you need you can, you can do that. That'll

(24:57):
that'll help cool it off even a little bit more.
But we've never needed Our attic has never been over
eighty five degrees.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
So, uh, that's pretty wild.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
That's pretty phenomenal. It really truly is. And that's where
all the duct work is, so in the in the
right so furnace. So it's not working hard either. You know,
you're not cooling off your duct or heating your duct
work up.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
That sounds good. It's a good solution. It's a good solution.
All right, we are we're to break again. Let's just
take it. There's some stuff, there's some real simple things
for coming up, but we'll tackle them when we come back. Folks,
you can call us at seven oh four, five, seven
oh eleven, ten, or you can text us at that
same number seven oh four five seven oh eleven ten

(25:39):
on the WBT text line driven by Liberty Viewing GMC.
Whichever way you choose, we will answer your home improvement questions.
When we returned to the Home DEEPO Home Improvement Show
with Johnny David, Welcome back. It's the Home Deep Home

(26:08):
and Provement Show with John and Dave.

Speaker 3 (26:09):
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
Call us seven O four five seven eleven ten. Our
text the same number. Looking at the tech stream here
nothing doing, give.

Speaker 3 (26:21):
Me by hey real quickly, I wanted to go I know,
I know we're really wrapping up the foam conversation, but
I just wanted to go back and spend a little,
just a little bit of time on air ceiling, especially
if you if you're if you're remodeling, if you're building
something current, or you're if you've stripped down the dry

(26:44):
wall in a room, always take that opportunity to to
seal all of the cracks in the crevices. So where
you want to where you where you're looking for is
at the bottom plate. Where this especially on exterior walls,
this is where it's most important. The bottom plate at
the wall, the bottom plate at where the sheathing meets

(27:06):
and in the corners where the sheathing meets the studs,
you would you would seal those, You seal all those
all those areas. You would be amazed at how much
air infiltration that cuts off. Because you can do all
the insulating you want in the world, but if you
don't stop the airflow, that's that's coming into the house

(27:26):
or being pulled into the house. Right Uh yes, yeah,
So when you're running your heat or your air conditioning
and that that machine is blowing air out, it's also
sucking air back in those returns. Well, it's also pulling
air in every crack and crevice in the house. So
if you if you can seal up what that that's
the idea of it, and it is. It's actually a

(27:48):
new new homes. It is part of the code and
has been for quite a while now. But but before
they put the insulation are allowed to put the insulation
in the walls, they have to seal all of these
air area So around windows, doors, receptacles, boxes where the
wire fits into the back of the box. You don't
see that because it's all covered up as you move

(28:10):
into your home, but those are that stuff is all
sealed because that's where air comes into the house, and
of course if that air's coming in, you're also pulling
dust into your house. So it does a couple of things.
It saves you on energy, but it also it also
helps you with dust and helps keep the house clean
and less pollen, less, less dust period.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
So just that No, that's a great that's a great point.
And remember way back when we were doing you know,
tips of the Week or hacks whatever, we talked about
the if you have lighter carpet, most folks are moving
away from carpet, but if you have a home built
in the eighties or before, in rooms that had lighter carpet,

(28:53):
there was always that dark ring around the carpet the
perimeter of the room that you could never get clean,
could get out. And it's because the carpet actually acted
like an air filter, filtering all of the air that
was being drawn in from the negative pressure situation. Right,
So sealing those things up and it just makes a

(29:17):
huge difference and it looks better when you're done. Okay,
thank you.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
Yeah, I just wanted to just just to fill the
fill that blanket a little bit because it's and it
and it's funny because when we do it after the fact,
and we've talked about this is probably one of our
tips of the week as well, was remember the foam
insulators that you put under your receptaclelak snuggers, yeah, on
on exterior walls. Well, that was part of what that

(29:46):
was because they didn't used to seal the receptacles. And
and then I guess real quick, and if you if
you are in an older home that you know is
not sealed, and at some point in time when you're
electrician is in the house and he's changing receptacles and
switches on exterior walls, that's a good time to shoot
a little foam back where the wire comes into the box.

(30:07):
That'll help seal that that up and you could forego
with the with the little insulators that go into the Yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (30:13):
Think you have to use a specific type of sealant
or a specific type of foam for that, right, But
I think it's it's it's foam. It's red. May also
be red for for cock or or orange maybe. Anyway,
that's a great that's great advice. The other thing that
that is interesting, like I don't if you have an
older home, light a candle a smaller candle like a

(30:37):
birthday cake candle or a little handheld taper or something
like that. Take off the wallplates and hold the candle
next to the to the wallplate. But it's spent, particularly
in the winter time when the air is moving. And
watch what happens. How crazy that flame flickers because it's
got it's got a new draft. It's pretty crazy. Uh,

(31:01):
all right, maybe that's not a good Maybe in fire
Safety month, that wasn't a good suggestion.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
Yeah, the lit candle, Well, we used to joke you
could get your favorite cigar and follow the smoke. There
you go, but follow Really you're better off to use
incense or they make smoke sticks. Yeah, things of that name.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
Yeah, exactly. All right, So this one says, last in
the last couple of weeks, you spoke about toilet shims.
Does that help with rocking? Yes? I think you were
talking about shims, David. Just to level off, we were
talking about a floor flange that may not have been
level I think if I remember right, and you said

(31:41):
you can use you know, the clear plastic shims. They
make a clear plastic shim. You could use any kind
of shim. The clear plastic shim is desirable because it
is clear and you you know, you cut it off
right flush with the edge of the toilet and then
you can even put you know, a clear ceilant around
it and it sort of reflects the color of the floor.
It doesn't look like it's there. But yeah, if if

(32:03):
your toilet's rocking, you can you can shim it with
those shims and bring it back to level. I guess
kind of have a caution to say always asking why
is it that your toilet is rocking? There you go
right because there there could be some challenges with the

(32:24):
floor flange being broken or something that could cost some
headaches down the road, or something's happening and you know
what lies beneath. So so the answer, simple answer is yes,
you can shim it. Just make sure that there's nothing serious.

Speaker 3 (32:41):
Well, yeah, because think about this, if the toilets, if
the toilets rocking, if it's moving around when you when
you when the water's flushed down the toilet, there's a
wax ring between the tank or the bowl and the
and the and the floor and the and the flange.
That's what that's what seals the toilet to the flange

(33:03):
to ensure that all of the waste water is going
down the soil pipe into into your into your drain system.
If if it's if it's if the if, if the
toilet's rocking and it breaks that seal, that wax seal,
there's a good possibility water is going to escape around
that wax ring, and it may it may not show

(33:24):
itself John because sometimes there there's the crack may be
cut or there may not be sealed up around the flange,
and that water can be going down. If it's a slab,
it's it's it's really just an unsanitary thing at that point,
and I guess it could eventually cause erosion under the slab.
But in a wood framed house with a with the

(33:45):
crawl space, you could be rott You could be getting
rotten wood, so you could rot the subfloor. It could
be getting into the joist. So if it's if the
toilet's rock and it's kind of a sign that something's
wrong and it's worth it to have a toilet pulled.
Make sure that the flange is is in fact fastened
to the floor properly, and that it's sealed, and that

(34:08):
it's at the right height. And then when you when
you reset the toilet. That should help you. That should
help you pull the toilet down tight to the flange
and to the floor. Then when you calk, you probably
won't have much rocking. But then you can seal it
down to the floor. And again, you don't seal one
hundred percent of the base of the toilet. You seal

(34:29):
all the way around to almost to the back. Just
leave the back six inches open where you can't see.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
Plus it's easier to do that because you can't get
the cost contact.

Speaker 3 (34:39):
You have to buy the spice tubes.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
That's right, Yeah, so it's all good. All right, that's
that's good advice. And I think, David, what you just
articulated pulling a toilet it seems like a little bit daunting,
but it's really it's a it's a do with yourself project.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
It can be.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
I'm sure it wouldn't kill you. I have a partner
there to help you. Just set the toilet back in place.
I always conn Barber into doing that because my arms
and backs and shoulders don't work like they used to.
And she's a good partner. So all right, we're gonna
slide away for a break. We are taking calls at
seven oh four five seven eleven ten, or you can
text us at that same number and I've got one

(35:18):
out there and we'll tap them when we come back.
So stay tuned. We're gonna pay some bills and be
back to answer your home improvement questions. I'm the Home
Deep Home Improvement Show with John and.

Speaker 1 (35:25):
Day, The Home Depot Home Improvement Show with John and Dave,

(35:52):
pre sent up by try Pro answering your home improvement
questions every Saturday on News Talk eleven ten and WBT.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
Welcome back. It's our number two at the Home Default
of Improvement Show with John and Dave.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
Given Teking calls at seven O four five seven eleven ten,
seven four five seven eleven ten. Got a quick question,
says Hey, guys, quick question. Do you recommend using aluminum
clad romex for electrical repairs and running new circuits? Aluminum
class I'm interpreting that as BX David, Yes, okay, So

(36:37):
the typically you wouldn't use BX unless you were exposed
and it was like it's if you had wires and
you didn't want to have them in Conduit codes allow
a certain amount a certain length of aluminum clad or
BX to be run. But if you're just running circuits, David,

(36:59):
there's not a reason to use the BX. And typically
in house wiring is.

Speaker 3 (37:03):
There right now, if it's in an attic or in
a crawl space, you can just run run romex. The
only time that you have to run an armor a
clad cable something, it can be in the in the
blue pipe, the plastic pipe, or in an armored cable
like that, but it's usually like running an outlet inside

(37:24):
a cabinet. So if you have an island and you
have to buy buy code, you have to put in
a receptacle on the end of the island to to
so that you have some way to plug in. You
have to run that armored cable or that plastic cable
uh housing inside the cabinet and you put your wire
inside that. So that's where that's where it has to

(37:47):
be done.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
Or if you have a an oven in an enclosed
cabinet or an electric cook top coming up through the
cabinet where you can't have just the big.

Speaker 3 (37:58):
The wire expose.

Speaker 2 (37:59):
Okay, yeah, got it? Okay, good, good, good, great question.
Another thumbs up from Gigi. She she always shares some
nice messages. We appreciate the encouragement. So, David, I was looking,
we were kind of in the bathroom on the rock
and toilet deal. What is the best cock for the

(38:19):
joint between the wall and the tub. A lot of
people used to use like just a pure silicon one
hundred percent silicone. Not a fan particularly of that. We're
you if you want to go latex s based. DApp
has a I forget the name of it. It's a

(38:42):
combination adhesive cock cockadhesive. What was the one that we
used to talk about all the time.

Speaker 3 (38:48):
I can't remember poly uh.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
Yes, thank you, so that we liked that one because
it was a flexible cock and it but it also
had an adhesive quality to it, right, so so you
got some bonding and as you as weight when in
and out of the tub, it didn't break. It had
an adhesion to the to the surfaces. That that was good,

(39:15):
and that was a latex based product. David, A like
polyurethane ceiling probably like there's geo ceiling, some really stout
ceilings that really smell a lot there. They're high voc
those are really really good. But I don't know that
feels a little bit like overkill. What are your thoughts?

Speaker 3 (39:36):
Well, and I've used the O s I before, but
it had a reaction with chlorine over time it changed
the color of it.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
Think of that.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
So if you if you're using TILEX or something in
your your shower, you may want to be careful with
those problems. I would probably go with a clear if
I was going to use UH in any polyurethane. And
of course you need to have the windows open in
the exhaust fan on for for a good amount of
time because it's gonna gas off for for a couple
of days and let it, you know, just let it

(40:08):
air out. Uh. But it's for elastic purposes. Man, It's
it's gonna move uh with with with the shower. I mean,
I always liked your your trick, John of of of
filling the bathtub up with water seed. Do all your
prep work between the tile and the tub and get
that taken care of, get it dried out, and then

(40:28):
before you calk, you fill up the bathtub full of water.
Or you can take as you said, you could take
buckets set buckets of water in a shower pan right
and then and and you do your calking and you
leave it in there until it dries and then you
then you release the weight. So bathtub obviously you would
drain the water, and a shower you would you would
dump the buckets of water, wouldn't carry them out, But

(40:51):
but that adds that simulates the weight in the shower
because or the bathtub is that's what happens is we
calk them and seal them while they're empty, but then
we get in there. Yeah, if you fill a bathtub
full of water and it's holding forty to fifty gallons
water and then a body, you know, one hundred and
seventy five pounds, I wish that's my left leg. But

(41:19):
you add that weight, so obviously it stretches down. It's
pushing down on the subfloor and the tub, so you
stretch the calka. So if you don't have calk that
really will stretch and move with the fixtures. Then it's
gonna tear, and now you're gonna get moisture behind it,
and then you're gonna not only it may have surface

(41:40):
mold at some point in time that you can clean off,
but it'll get mold behind it and it'll kind of
translucent so it'll show through. So you'll clean and you'll
clean and clean and it never comes out. It's because
the mold is in behind the cal and it's showing through,
which is why we talk about cleaning the crack of
Once you clean out the joint, you you have to

(42:02):
you have to dry out that that joint and and
get it nice and dry before you put your cock
in there. And ways to do that we talk about
as a fan, run a fan for a few hours.
Also alcohol, alcohol, not the kind you pour in the glass,
but the the kind you put on a cut. Well,

(42:23):
I guess you could use.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
The handyman found in a bathtub. I was just fixing
the weight.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
I was sorry. I was waiting for this to got bored.
So but anyway, the isopropyl alcohol will displace any moisture
that is back in the in that joint or in
that crack between the tile and the tub. So there's
a process to it, and that it takes much longer

(42:53):
to clean the cock out and prep for it than
it does to actually apply the cock. And then I
think when you talk out the cack, John, you also
you like to put.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
Tape, uh, because I can't David doble.

Speaker 3 (43:06):
It yep, So you tape it it's not a bad idea.
And then you get it. You put tape on the wall,
and you put tape on the tub or the shower floor.
Now it's all dry, and then you call and you
tool it and then you peel the tape right then quickly. Yeah,
you want to get it. You don't want to let
it set up, because then you'll be you'll you'll know

(43:27):
why this multi color. You'll find out.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
Send us a picture, a picture we kind of know.

Speaker 3 (43:34):
I had a call back.

Speaker 2 (43:37):
Yeah, so yeah, so that I think that I think
those are good things. And if you if you can,
if you don't mind spending a little bit of time money,
and and you do have to ventilate because they're kind
of they do have some high VOCs, but those poly
polyurethane versions are are pretty style. I always prefer the

(43:58):
clear and maybe it's just me, but it feels like
when you put clear cock in you somehow get like
almost like a reflection or it seems to like blend better,
like there's its Yeah, yeah, I guess maybe that's the
better way to say it.

Speaker 3 (44:16):
That's anyway my experience.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
That's that's good. All right, We've got to take a break,
don't go away. Give us a call at seven oh
four five seven oh eleven ten or text us at
seven O four five seven eleven ten using the WBT
text line driven by Liberty Viewing GMC, and we'll talk
one we return from these important messages. Welcome back. It's

(45:00):
the Whole Deep Home Improvement Show with John and Dave.
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Dobel, taking calls seven O
four five seven texts at the same number. We'll talk
about home improvement topics that are relevant to you or
important for you. I like to argue that most of
what we talk about is relevant in some fashion, but
it may not be important. Hey, so here's a yes, sir.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
I just I just wanted to bring this up because
we said earlier we were talking about the better cocks
to use. You know, they've improved the silicones quite a bit.
So GE has a kitchen in bath silicone that has
a phenomenal stretch. That used to be part of the
problem with silicones as they were one hundred percent water type,

(45:45):
but they didn't move much. They were rigid, and so
this this silicone actually has great elongation properties too.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
So it's think that's one of the black. The black's
too but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yep, yep, yep, you're right.

Speaker 3 (46:00):
You eat a silicone and it comes in different colors.
But uh, I mean it's it's pricey. It's fourteen fourteen
dollars or two. I mean, I guess you get what
you pay for. But but it's designed for bathrooms and kitchens,
so something to think about. And it has low odor,
which is great. And then here's a big win. It's

(46:22):
a big win. And here's the biggest win. It's thirty
minutes ready for water, so you could put it in
and then thirty minutes later, technically you could take a shower.
I wouldn't I would. I would do this and let it.
I would. I would give it several hours before I
got in there, just because. But but that's a pretty
nice cock. And it's that ge supreme uh silicone, And

(46:45):
it is designed for bathrooms. It's once it's cured and dried,
it's supposed to be mold and mildew stain resistant. It
doesn't mean it can't get mold on it. It just
means that it probably won't stain on stained.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
Yeah, you can wipe it away. Yeah, so that's good.
Ge traditionally good research, good products, and I would suggest,
like I look, I get walked down that cock aisle
and it's like there's there's really inexpensive stuff, and then
there's things like you know, they got the mortgage guy
just with a little quick application loan application sitting right there.

(47:17):
So you can buy a tube of cock.

Speaker 5 (47:21):
Up.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
Yeah, clear, the clear is thirteen fifty eight a tube.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
So but but if you use the GE product, like,
what do you want to do thirteen bucks because one,
maybe two tubes twenty six bucks does this and if
you do it right, you never screw with it again.
I might be willing to PLoP down twenty six bucks
for that.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
Well I would too, and I don't. I think you
eventually it'll it'll have to be. But just remember, and
we say this, we talk when we've talked many times
about calking showers and bathtubs. It is not it is
not a once and done project. Usually usually every every
few years. If you use a if you use a
cheaper cock, you better be prepared to do it every year,

(48:07):
every couple of years. Yeah. So if you spend some
money and you know it depends on the use of
the shower and all that, and what kind of chemicals
you're using to clean with. But it is not a
one and done and it is a regular maintenance thing,
and you should pay attention to it because water and one.
I guess real quick, one more time we should say this.
We've said it before, but the corners and the corners

(48:31):
of the tile are supposed to be calked, not grouted.
And the seam at the bathtub and the tile is
supposed to be coked, not grouded. And the seam at
the shower floor and the shower walls, if it's tile
is supposed to be calked, that's not supposed to be
grout because they're moving at different rates. And as we

(48:52):
talked earlier, John, with your extra weight as you stand
in the shower or as you fill up a bathtub,
you add that weight, grout is rigid. It's it's all
it's gonna do is crack. Then water's gonna get behind it.
You're gonna have mold, you're gonna have mildew. Worse yet,
if it gets beyond that place, probably won't in a
shower liner, but.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
But it's typically not.

Speaker 3 (49:13):
In aub it has a lip to risk. Yeah, so
so so think about that, and it's worth spending the time.
And if you're not gonna do it yourself, it will
come with a small price tag to have somebody come
out and do it, But to have it done right
and to pay for it is really peace of mind
and it could save you thousands of dollars in the end.

Speaker 2 (49:33):
Really yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, good call, good call. All right.
Here's a text says I have a Mowden. I think
it's a mowing fausted in my bathroom. I keep replacing
the fausted stem with an ace fauted stem. It seems
they did not last very long, and not one of
my handles goes all the way back before replacing the

(49:54):
fauted stem again. Should I just replace the whole unit?
Or should I try to get a real uh? Mowen's
I think it's I'm interpreting it as Mowen. It's spelled
m O d e N. I would always use OEM
replacement parts as a general rule. Mowan. I think David

(50:16):
has a program where you can go online and they
will send you the replacement parts at no charge. Am
I remembering that correctly?

Speaker 3 (50:24):
I don't think.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
Maybe that's a multi family thing that I'm thinking they
have where you have one hundred and twenty apartments and
they'll they'll keep your you know, replacement parts on that.
I don't know, don't quote me on that, but you should.
You should always use the Mowen cartridge. It's it's machine precisely.
And then the other thing I think David I would
check is it is just greasing the cartridge. Usually it

(50:51):
has some on it out of the package if it's
the mowing one. But I would use the plumbers grease
the hot water version and and put that on there
as you slide it back in, and that you shouldn't
have to replace it that often unless he's got a fault,
like he's got a burr in the in the metal
somewhere I don't know.

Speaker 3 (51:11):
Well, yeah, it's possible, or he's getting some type of
debris in there. So uh my my mother in law
has that problem up in Indiana. She has galvanized pipe
in the house and it's old and it's corroded on
the inside, and so particles are constantly breaking loose and
they get in there, and eventually some get in there

(51:33):
that don't break down, and then it cuts the it
cuts the rubber o rings and then the then you
can't turn the faucet off it's constantly dripping or or
a steady stream. So we we know. I have a
box of underneath the sink up there, so when I'm there,
it has extra cartridges. I just change them while I'm
brushing my teeth. Well, excuse me, Well, I'm just saying

(52:00):
I've gotten so used to it. I'm gotting so used
to it. So there's the thing that was. That was
the deal. When we remodeled that bathroom. We tried to
get get the get her husband to change the plumbing
and he said, no, I'm not messing with it. And
I said, you're gonna be sorry. That's all I said,
put it on. I would say it. I said, at

(52:20):
your house, I'll just be quiet.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
That's it. That's it. That was a good answer. All right.
Here's a quick some quick advice, and it's good advice.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
It says, don't cock the shower wheepholes. So if you've
got a shower door, you've got the channels that the
shower you know, door runs in on the inside. If
it's installed correctly, on the inside channel there's little wheepholes
so that when water gets in the track it drains out,
and Texter from Ohio says, don't cock the wheepholes. We say,

(52:52):
good call, buck Eye. I'm not sure if you're a
Buckeye fan or not, but it's kind of the Buckeye state.
So all right, so good call out there. Let's see
how we're doing time. We're doing great. How do I
tighten the shower head without scratching it? So I got
a new shower head, and how do I tighten it
to the plumbing without scratching it? So I'm envisioning somebody

(53:15):
either with a big pipe wrench or with a pliers
or a channel ocks, I guess, so this might have
been a hack that we did a long time ago. Also,
But first off, many times the shower head will not
be completely round. It'll be flat on opposing sides, and

(53:37):
that is designed that way so that you can get
an adjustable wrench on there and get a grip, and
it is less likely to scratch because it's not grabbing
the actual body of the connection to tighten it down.
So that's number one. The best thing to do is
to get a rag and an adjustable wrench and put

(53:59):
a rag over it over the fitting and then put
your wrench on and then tighten it down and boom,
you're in right, and it's not hard.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
And it really doesn't take much to tight one. So
if now use your tape, your tough line tape or
some of them actually have a washer just like you
put in the end of a hose, and that will
seal that and a lot of times you can use
if your hand. My hands are still fairly strong, so
I can usually tighten them without without a wrench at all,

(54:28):
and they don't leak if you do have to. If
you do need something to grip it, the little pads
john that you use to take a jar lid off, yes,
to get a grip, you can wrap that around there.
That'll give you a good grip. Normally you can tighten
that by hand enough that it won't leak. If it's

(54:48):
leaking you don't have enough tape or you don't have
your washer in place, but that usually the best thing
is to stick a washer down inside the shower head,
the female part, and then as you tight it up
against the goosnack compressed, it'll compress and it will seal
just like a hose does when you twist it onto
your Spickett outside.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
All right, there you go. Seems like a simple question,
simple answer from a simple all right, we a simple
simple I have a friend that says, hey, public school education, John,
public school education. All right, We've got to take a
break thirty seconds from now, and so we'll just remind
you to call us at seven O four five seven
eleven ten or to text us at seven O four

(55:33):
five seven eleven ten using the WBT text line driven
by Liberty Buick GMC. And when you do one of
those two things, we will commence to speak with you.
Be the airwaves on the Home Depot Home improvement show
with John and Dave.

Speaker 7 (55:47):
So don't go away, Welcome back.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
It's the Home DEEPO Home of Puma Show with John
and Dave.

Speaker 3 (56:04):
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval.

Speaker 2 (56:08):
Seven four five seven eleven ten. Call or text we'll
get you time for our Home Depot product of the week.
This week it's Fire Safety Month begins. Fire Safety Month.
We're going to do the Kita hardwired interconnected smoke alarm
and it's a four pack, so we've got multiple got
multiple alarms in the house. It gets you, it allows

(56:28):
you to do it quickly and inexpensively. I like it
just because there's technology in this particular series that reduces
false alarms. It can be caused just by cooking. It's hardwired,
so it's in your one twenty volt ac circuit. But
it's got a double A two double A battery backups
so power outages still works. And it's the double as

(56:51):
are sometimes easier and less of a headache than the
nine volts. It's simple installation, quick twist click mounting bracket,
which is pretty tip. Either you can install the new one,
install the new ones and assemble it, or replace what's
already there. The battery replacement chirp, that annoying thing that
only happens at two o'clock in the morning, uh, is

(57:13):
there so you know when you have to replace the batteries,
although David and I recommend just doing that when you
change the clocks and twice a year and you're good
to go. It's got a ten year limited warranty, and
at the end of ten years it gives you another
chirp that lets you know that it is past its
life expectancy. The really high tech version placed taps. That's

(57:35):
not true either. That's it. That's our home deeple product
of the week. Let's see, David, where we did the
shower head. This is still in the bathroom. I don't
have a plumbing problem, but the my powder room always smells.
So I'm guessing the powder room is one or both

(58:01):
of two things, kind of in the middle of the house.
And and and doesn't have there's not easy access to
a vent pipe, and so there's an air emittence valve
doing the venting under the sink, or the sink just
doesn't get used. Uh, and and the trap dried out.

(58:22):
So either way, a failed air emittens valve or a
dry trap will allow sewer gas back into the room, right.

Speaker 3 (58:30):
It will. And then something that's even it's a little
more far fetched, but it does happen, is a leaky
wax ring that doesn't leak water but just leaks sewer gas. Correct,
So that's that's that's potential too. So it does happen.

Speaker 2 (58:48):
Well, there you go. We're back to pulling that toilet again.

Speaker 3 (58:50):
It could be, but it's one of the things you
have to look at. Remember we talked about this trick before.
If if there's not a if there's not an air
and mittens valve, would would be as you said, John,
under the sink, or sometimes they can be behind a
mirror that's removable from the wall and they're they're they're
just made into the wall and they'll hang a mirror

(59:11):
over them to h to hide them. But my brother
Tim God rest his soul, taught me about peppermint oil,
and he said that when they would have trouble finding
if they thought that in fact it was a sewer
vent leak or the odor was coming from the sewer,

(59:31):
they would go on the roof and put peppermint oil
down the stack nearest to that bathroom that they thought
was venting that that particular those particular fixtures. Anyway, what
will happen is that peppermint oil will show up if
there's a true if there is a leak in the
in the system in the house, if it's coming from

(59:53):
the vent, you'll you'll smell it. If you'll smell if
it's coming out of the sink, then you know that
for some reason your trap's dry. Or if you smell
it around the toilet, you know that the your that
your seal is leaking and you're you're getting sewer gas
back into the house around the around the toilet, So
pretty pretty cool little thing. He's The trick is those

(01:00:13):
you can't spell any on you because smell it everyone else.
You'll smell it everywhere you go. So yeah, and it
doesn't take much. So just just a few drops and
more poor little water behind it and it'll, uh, it'll
wash it down through.

Speaker 2 (01:00:29):
All right, good trick, good heck? All right here this one? Uh,
what is the best way to cut fiber cement siding?
Apparently doing a job done, some cuts there's dust everywhere.
And not only is there dust everywhere, if you don't
have a mask on, you're ingesting that and that's not

(01:00:50):
good either. You can you can get shere the fiber
cement like lap siding, so they actually like are electric
and they work almost like a scissors, and instead of
kicking up all the dusts they cut a small section

(01:01:11):
of the of the actual product out and and it's
it's almost dust free. But you have to buy that.
I don't know that you can rent those anywhere, so
you have to buy the tool. And I don't remember
how much they cost, David.

Speaker 3 (01:01:27):
Yeah, yeah, I have a set. I don't know. They're
probably one hundred hundred fifty dollars I would think.

Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
So, ma, so for a project that may not be
a ridiculous investment, and then.

Speaker 3 (01:01:37):
Now you can always sell it afterwards too and get
part of that money back.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Yeah, that's true. That's true. So so that's the best
way in my opinion. The other way is to if
you use instead of a regular saw blade, use a
fiber cement saw blade. They have fewer teeth and so
you're still going to get us, but they have fewer teeth,

(01:02:02):
they actually will last longer and they won't kick up
as much dust. The third thing is to connect. You
can actually get an attachment for your that kind of
draws the vacuums the dust away as you do it.
But always were at least an N ninety five dust
mask because you don't want to be breathing that stuff in.
So correct, there's there's that. Craig has a question about

(01:02:25):
the bathroom. Craig, the morning you're on the Whole Deep
Home Improvement Show with Johnny Davee.

Speaker 8 (01:02:28):
How are you more than guys?

Speaker 3 (01:02:30):
How are the going great?

Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
Doing well?

Speaker 8 (01:02:32):
Hey?

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
Yah?

Speaker 8 (01:02:34):
So here's what's happening. A couple of years ago, I
replaced a toilet with ah, it's a has a smaller tank,
so it uses less water. It's one of those you
push the thing down it.

Speaker 5 (01:02:50):
It's just like the bottom dropped out of the toilet.
It just and then you hold it down in pleasures
the whole tank for that. But the tank is smaller,
and so it's not against it's not against the walls, okay,
and it feels it feels a little unstable, and frankly,
the reason I'm saying this is bringing this up at

(01:03:12):
all is that it.

Speaker 8 (01:03:12):
Bothers my wife.

Speaker 5 (01:03:13):
It doesn't bother me, but it bothers her. And so
is there anything I can or should do about that?
Should I be concerned at all?

Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
It's miss It's so a couple of things. Leaning back
on the tank if it's far from the wall, like
leaning back could create stress factors in the bottom of
the tank. So legitimate concern by your wife. There's a
couple of little hacks that you can do to prevent that.

(01:03:43):
We're going to be right up against the break here,
so Craig, if you don't mind, we're gonna put you
on hold and David'll chat off here just to make
sure you're cool hang on, and then we'll come back
after the break and make sure that we get that
wrapped up for you. Cool with that.

Speaker 5 (01:03:56):
There's no question that I'm cool, but I'll be glad.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
To hold all all right, all right, thank you Craig
so much. I love it. We got to be back.
Don't go away, Craig, don't go wait. We're gonna be
back to the Home Deep Homer Provement Show with John
and Dave to talk to Craig the cool guy right
after these important messages heve.

Speaker 3 (01:04:44):
I'm John Gordon and I'm Dave Doval, and we are in.

Speaker 2 (01:04:48):
The final round here. We're gonna call back or get
back with cool Craig. Craig, thanks for waiting through the break.
You are cool. A couple things, Just how old is
your home?

Speaker 5 (01:05:00):
The home is probably five years old.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
Okay, all right, okay, So the only reason I asked
that is some older homes have a different rough in,
as in the distance that the floor flange is from
the wall. There's a twelve inch rough in, and typically
I think a fourteen inch rouugh in, And so if
you replaced it incorrectly, that could be a challenge. But
I think I think you've diagnosed it right. The tanks
are just a little bit smaller titan. Make sure that

(01:05:28):
the tank is on tight and it's not leaking and
all that stuff. David, I feel like we've spoken in
the past about a piece of like two by four
one by four attacked to the wall behind it right
to fill that gap. And that way, Craig, what it'll do.
You may have to take the tank off one more

(01:05:48):
time to get it placed properly, and you want it
to be, you know, narrower than the tank and stuff
like that. But do the measurements, do the math to
see what needs to go on the wall, and then
re install that, reinstall the tank, and now the tank
is up against the shim, if you will the two
by four, the one by four, whatever it's taken to
get that back out and and and boom you're done. Yeah,

(01:06:12):
And I think I think your wife will be happy.
And and for all the reasons that you're cool, I
think the best reason you're cool is because your wife
wasn't happy about something and you're gonna fix it, good man.

Speaker 8 (01:06:23):
So so this this just acts as like a brace.

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
It's not exactly yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:06:29):
It's it's just a bumper. And then and then uh,
and then get you if if the gap is too much.
You can buy one of those really thick, fuzzery fuzzy
uh tank tops and put.

Speaker 2 (01:06:39):
On it goes, turn your cool card in. Rite that, boys,
because that's not gonna cut it. That's not gonna cut it, all.

Speaker 8 (01:06:48):
Right, sore, Screw that into the wall. I guess you're
talking about.

Speaker 3 (01:06:52):
Huh yeah, or yeah, you get hot glue it to
make it temporary. There's lots of things you do. I'd
be careful about putting. You don't know its way the
plumbing is come from, so be careful.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
Yeah, if you're gonna screw it, hit a stud, go
find a stud, or don't screw it.

Speaker 8 (01:07:07):
Yeah, well okay, I know where I get two of those.
Well look, listen, guys, I appreciate your hell very much,
and just remember this. Always keep them dips out of
the floor.

Speaker 3 (01:07:17):
Got it, We got it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:18):
Always keep the dips out of the floor. Try to
keep the dips out of your house altogether, especially if
you've got girls dating. All right right there, Thank you,
thank you, sir. Appreciate the call. You gotta love it,
you gotta love it. Here's a hint. Also, just on
the stinky powder room. This is hey, I don't I
don't use one of my bathrooms very often, but I

(01:07:38):
try to run water and flush to commode every week.
Good tip, just common, good common sense stuff. Right, So
all right, boom, got that cool. Craig's on his way
to fix the rocking toilet.

Speaker 3 (01:07:53):
So, oh, by the way, it's a ten inch and
a twelve.

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
Inch bro okay, ten and twelve thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:07:59):
So that's when they get too close to the wall.
You have to buy a ten inch rough in because
the toilet's actually shorter between the wall and wear the
waist excise toilet.

Speaker 2 (01:08:10):
I felt like there was also where they came farther out.

Speaker 3 (01:08:12):
There is a fourteen inch too, but okay, they're special.
But you'll find a ten and a twelve inch in
the in the stream comment. But most everyone needs the
twelve inch rough in.

Speaker 2 (01:08:24):
Yeah, you should check it. You can check it just
by it's from the finished wall. So just take a
tape measure to the back of the drivewall and to
the center of your toilet bolts and it should be.

Speaker 3 (01:08:34):
Twelve inch there you go or thereabouts.

Speaker 2 (01:08:38):
Oh tay, So David, I've got the things, the fire
safety things we've got. I don't know about five minutes
or so you want to just let's run down those
real quick, or do you want to just keep going
on questions.

Speaker 3 (01:08:48):
And do first just keep going on questions?

Speaker 2 (01:08:50):
All right? All right? So so this we talked about
the best way to cut five or cement. We're moving
to the electrical department now and this person has a well,
we'll just say that the breaker box is labeled in
a way that nobody can figure out. So they instead
of having, you know, to turn off every single breaker

(01:09:11):
and shout back and forth or be on the cell
phone to figure out when a particular room is turned
down or turned off, they want to relabel the breaker
box correctly. Is there an easy way to do that?
I feel like we've talked about this before, is it?
I forget the manufacturer, but you can actually get a
device that you plug into the plug or screw into

(01:09:35):
the lamp or to the uh, you know, light fixture,
and it sends a signal down the circuit. And then
there's a device that looks like a little kind of
mini hand, mini gun kind of thing. I don't know
that you just move it from breaker to breaker to
breaker and it'll beep when it picks up the signal

(01:09:56):
that it's you know, counterpart is sending down through the circuit.
I have used those. I have found that it gets
me within one within one circuit, like I've picked up
the signal on the circuit above or the circuit below.
But that didn't mean the end of the world because

(01:10:17):
it was two of twenty some breakers, right, So so
that that's us. I can remember the manufacturer on that cliine.
I think it might be client tools, but that's that's
that's an easy way to do it. Do you have
a hack for it? David, No, All right, so there

(01:10:41):
you go.

Speaker 3 (01:10:42):
I'm sorry, I'm looking at the text here.

Speaker 2 (01:10:43):
I was going to say. The text is Jan and Dave.
I have a double light switch in my bathroom, one
for the fan, one for the light. I want to
convert the switch for the fan. I want to I
want to convert this switch for the fan to switch.

Speaker 3 (01:11:01):
I'm wonder if they're wanting to put in a receptacle.

Speaker 2 (01:11:05):
Anything especially about doing that. So yeah, yeah, so or
maybe one switch for both of them.

Speaker 3 (01:11:12):
Well, that's what I'm thinking is maybe they want to
combine the fan and the light to one switch and
then add a receptacle. And as long as there's a
neutral wire in there. Then yes, you could put a
GFI receptacle in the spot of the other switch. But
I would call an electrician and and and and let

(01:11:35):
them come out there and handle that, because there's a
couple of things you're going to need to know before
that can be done. It depends on how old the houses,
newer houses, and the code has been this way for
a while. Every switch box has to have a neutral
in it. Back when John and I were still in
high school, you didn't have to have a neutral How

(01:11:56):
long ago was that, John, I don't know, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:12:01):
Maybe yeah, ten.

Speaker 3 (01:12:02):
To ten years, that's right. Yeah, But but there was
not a neutral They didn't always put a neutral wire.
And you have to have a neutral wire and a
hot wire and a ground wire for a receptacle. So
if you're not familiar with all those terms or what
they may or may not be, you really do need
to get an electrician.

Speaker 2 (01:12:21):
Yeah, even if you're kind of familiar, it still gets
a little confusing when you start to thinking how you
make the circuit complete and stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (01:12:29):
Right, So, and it doesn't hurt exactly, and it could
be that the if the electricity is going to the
fixture first, and that's being switched and they're using the
white and the black wire as a switch leg you know,
you know, John, I know you know what I'm talking about.
But that's why I'm saying it can get confusing to
the novice. So it's just one of those situations you'd

(01:12:51):
probably be better off just call electrician, let them come
in and sort it out. They'll they'll be able to
fix it pretty quick. And if you don't have a neutral,
they can get one in there where it's something that's
a good point that you that you probably won't be
able to do. So there you go.

Speaker 2 (01:13:08):
All right, So so that's it, and then yeah, that's it.
The other thing that it dawned on me, we're going
all the way back to the question about do I
need to use sheet you know, like metal sheath wire.
I noticed that the phone number was from New York,
and having grown up in Chicago, like what you're what

(01:13:30):
you're used to? Is there there were there actually codes
there were Romax isn't used at all. It's all got
to be in a in a in an armored uh conduit,
if you will, So it's got to be either in
rigid conduit, or in the form of BX. So, actually,
that was a good question. I hope we didn't make

(01:13:50):
it sound like that. I don't worry about that. It's
a legit question, especially knowing that where you're coming from
and what the expectations were there. So so I'm want
to make sure we circle back on that, all right,
that say, my gosh, we're about a minute away from
wrapping everything up. Look, we won't dive deep into fire
safety right now, but I think it is just good

(01:14:12):
go out and just google fire safety, tend send safety
tips for your home, just things. It will help you
kind of refresh your memory. And then in the next
couple of weeks we'll kind of each week we'll take
some topics and fire extinguishers and smoke alarms and things
like that, and we'll talk about them to get your
squared away. We love to remind you that we think
the most important kind of home improvement you can make

(01:14:34):
is the one that makes your home a happier place
to live in. Don't forget to work on that project
this week, and we'll see you next week. From a
return to the Home Depot home improvement show with John
and Dave