The Home Improvement Show 12-6-25

Tune in here for this December 6th 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 everything from winter prep to holiday projects, sharing real-world stories and tips along the way. The hosts open with lighthearted conversation—holiday prep, funny family moments, and even a couple of “don’t do what I did” lessons learned on ladders and frozen faucets.

From there, they transition into timely winterization advice, including disconnecting hoses, preventing freeze damage, and checking outdoor hydrants. They also highlight current home renovation challenges, the rising cost of materials, and the growing interest among young people in the skilled trades.

Listeners get updates on Dave’s ongoing projects, John’s coastal home repairs, and plenty of insights on plumbing, electrical work, tub surrounds, gas logs, and preparing homes for cold weather. This episode blends practical know-how with relatable experiences—perfect for homeowners gearing up for winter.

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Episode Transcript

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

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

Speaker 3 (00:20):
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good morning, David Doval.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
How are you all is well? How about you?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
My Ris? Everything's good, everything's good. That's ready for just
working on the holiday stuff. Christmas is around the corner
if you can believe that, and uh and come it man,
oh man, that's you know what they say the great
philosopher Socrates, The closer you get life is like a
roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end,

(00:48):
the faster it goes. I think that was Socrates.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Good reason, good day.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
I did my daughter did ask a question or maybe
she found something on Pinterest. I don't know. It was like,
why do toilet paper companies have to advertise? Who is
it using this product? We should change the topic now
to home improvement. We're here for home improvement seven four, five,
seven eleven ten. We want to talk about what's important

(01:22):
to you to give us a call. Let's see, I've
got all this stuff up. There's a lot out there.
There's some good stuff for I guess winter time coming
that we should probably talk to and or talk about.
And of course we got our text line at same

(01:43):
number seven oh four, five, seven eleven ten, just text
us and we're I love that we can. We can
see your texts and it gives us a minute to
you know, to get into break out of break and
make sure we give you good answers and even some
follow ups. So don't don't forget to use WT text
explain powered by or driven by Liberty bew or gmc david.

(02:05):
What's going on in your world?

Speaker 3 (02:07):
Just a couple of projects, wrapping up a bathroom, working
on a large r V garage out in out in
the Union County area, Weddington. So it's finally coming together,
you know, not without its issues, but coming together as.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
As we were, you know, chatting off air or offline whatever.
There's just the getting things sort of done. There's just
feels like there's a lot of moving parts. There's always
been a lot of moving parts, but I just feel
like for some reason, there's like more complexity in it
or I don't know. Folks get confused easily.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
It's just scratched my head sometimes and I just think,
you know, it's just not that hard. This isn't rocket
science here we're doing in the Stop for a second,
think about what you're doing, really and how's that going
to affect other people? But maybe that's the thing. I
don't know. I don't want to be cynical either, you know, that's.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
No I don't do that's I tell you the generation
coming up like behind them, the current folks kind of
struggling with some different thoughts and ideas. They're on fire,
they're ready to win battles. So I'm encouraged.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
Good.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
They want to be in the trades, they want to
they want to be successful business people, and they're willing
to work to get there. So it's exciting to see.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
Ye say it. On most days I wish I was.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah. Yeah, it's fifty young. If you've got kids exiting
high school or just in their junior year high school
and thinking about what they want to do, I'm telling you, like,
come out of a trade school with a six figure
income on relatively short order and zero education debt. Now

(03:59):
that does you know let's don't make the mistake that
we all made last time where we said everybody needs
to get a college degree, like nobody needs a college agree.
Not true. But there's a there's a balance. And if
you if HVAC, plumbing, electrical, any of the trades, it's like,
it's exciting time and I don't worry about it. Just

(04:22):
let your kids know that if they don't do that,
they should set money aside for retirement and for home
improvement at the same level or the same order of magnitude,
because it's going to get expensive.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
It's already gotten expensive, yeah, trust me, you know. And
I hear it from people and they're like, oh my gosh,
this is so expensive. Like I know, yeah, I know,
I've been doing it a long time. I'm shocked too,
because you know, you see these you put these numbers
out and you're like, how can this even be? But
it is what it is. And you know, as I

(04:56):
tell people, if I could do it for less, I would,
I mean, just what it is.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Well, we're making progress now finally on our little house
up in Castle Haynes. So grateful for your help with that.
All right, let's talk. Let's see what's going on here.
We've got all kinds of stuff from tubs surrounds to
gas logs, finish, I don't know. Oh, just a lot

(05:29):
of inside stuff, I think this week, so we'll talk
about that. We'll also talk a little bit about winterization things.
I don't know if we're late after that first come
we have, y'all had the same kind of really cold
snap there for a couple of days.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
We did, we did. Yeah, I went around and turned
off make sure I disconnected all the hoses, and you know,
I had some issues with that. I have some different
types of hydrants on the house. I have one on
each side of the house, and they, uh, they have water.
What it did was it trapped water between the cutoff

(06:04):
valve and where the hose was connected. And it wasn't
necessarily a hose when this happened. It was a y
connector that wasn't opened. Oh and so it held a
little bit of water in there. Well, it froze and
it broke the brass and so it didn't leak with
the with the when the water was off. But if
you had a hose, if you had a hose end

(06:24):
connector on there, or a nozzle that you could turn
off and you turned the water on. It was spraying
out of the faucet where it split open. So I
was like, okay, lesson learned there. Yeah, you'd think you'd
know better at that at that age, but it was
just I thought they were open, is all it was.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
But yeah, that was a couple. It's always a little
embarrassing when like the things you talk about like you
want here, like I'll say it, it's shameful, it's funny.
It was fine. But I was hanging Christmas lights with
you know, my little uh what do you call it?
Girl of the ladder, and I needed to tack a

(07:05):
little nail into the tree to hold the string in
place until I could wrap everything anyway. I had the
hammer with me. I didn't have my tool belt down,
so I just put the hammer over the top rung
of the ladder and then I got down and did
a bunch of stuff. And Barb was out there with me,
and I'm like, okay, we got to move the ladder. Well,
guess what right on the head and they just glanced

(07:29):
just such a way that all I got was a
little scratched and we looked at each other and just
started laughing. We're like, oh that was bad. You say,
never do.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
This left thing many times on the ladder, stuck in
a hole or something, and still still would just eat
you up. So it's not a saals all with a
nine inch blade in it or something.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, I left the Yeah, I left the pole pruner
up there. All right, all right, we got to take
a break. Let's do that. I guess we got to
talk about homer proof here at some point. Let's take
our break. I think, Uh, let's take our break. We're
seven four five seven by phone or on the WBT
text line driven by Liberty Pew at GMC. We will
talk about your questions. Where we returned to the whole depault,

(08:15):
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Speaker 1 (08:16):
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Speaker 2 (11:41):
Welcome back. It's the Home Deep im Improvement Show with
John and Dave. I'm John Gordon.

Speaker 3 (11:46):
I'm Dave doval.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
Or Loving Your Calls at seven O four five seven
oh eleven ten or a textus the same same number
seven O four five seven eleven ten of the WBT
text line. Welcome back. It's the Home Deep Balm Improvement

(12:10):
Show with John and Dave. I'm John Gordon.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
I'm Dave doval.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
Or Loving Your Calls. At seven O four five seven
eleven ten or text us the same number seven four
five seven eleven ten on the WBT text line. All right, David,
I was just going through all this stuff. Here's one
here's a question that actually is also going on in

(12:35):
my personal life at the moment. Also, but replace replacing
a tub surround with ceramic? Like, what has to be
done to correctly deal with this? I think, you know
my sometimes my tendency is always if you don't take
it to the studs, you're not doing your job, and
that's not always correct. But in this case, I think,

(12:58):
depending on what's on there, pulling the tubs around off
probably damages the drywall. At best, it's probably mold resistant
drywall or moisture resistant drywall. You would holp, yeah, but
probably not really. What should be back behind there? What
should be behind there?

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Concrete board is the best, the rock or hardy board,
either one. Either one, because you're gonna you're gonna, you're
gonna waterproof it any way. So we you know, we
not only reinforced the corners and all that, but every
the entire surface is waterproof with most of the time
they're using red Guard. But there's other products out there.

(13:38):
But yes, that is that that that' as a that's
just a must. Yeah, that's that's what I think. And
I think you do take the drywall off and if
you're if you're remodeling, so and the and the code
is is that if you put any dry wall back
of there. So if you do, if you you're supposed

(13:58):
to really want you take that surround out. You're really
technically supposed to put purple board on the ceiling over
the shower, okay, is what they like to see it.
It would behoove you. But if you don't want to
go to that, you could you could waterproof the ceiling,
you know, and you could do that with water with

(14:19):
the exterior paint, or you could buy a rubber paint.
Remember the stuff we talked about out of Nevada. Well,
it's like sandy tread, but this is a little easier
to work with. It's more like paint. Oh okay, but
that product works really well. Of course you could use
that the waterproof with too, you know, but it's not
any cheaper than Redguard.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
So, as you said, Redguard is what I see like
most frequently, which is sort of a relatively recent development.
I feel like and well, I guess since the thirty
years we've been doing it, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (14:56):
Yeah, it's it's it's yeah, it's.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
In the what are the like the Shlooter products. USG
has a product with all the different like that actually
gives you the corners and things to paint in. It
really is much easier and much more fool proof than
the traditional betting. Am I am I remembering that correctly?

Speaker 3 (15:17):
Well, yeah, because it's a system and if you follow
if you follow those those directions, now you know, just
doing regular concrete board or fiberboard or whatever it is
you want to use on the walls, if if you
just waterproof it, I mean some people still use drywall
and in waterproof it. I wouldn't do that. I just

(15:38):
I just I just I just think you have a
I think you could probably have a just a condensation
problem because the tile gets so so so warm on
a hot shower. You know, you get all that steam
and it's going on and on. If it's if it's
on an outside wall, there's a good chance it's it's
going to condensate.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
So that's good point.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
I have something have something in there that can withstand it.
If it gets moisture on. It is worth it. And
then I think the other thing too, especially if it's
an older home. I know your house is not is
not that old. But the one that we've we've been
working on, the dry wall or the insulation was all covered.

(16:19):
It had some I'm pretty sure some mold on it,
but it also had dirt. But what it did allow
was for us to air seal the wall, which was
part of the problem because there was holes drilled in
the exterior wall that were not filled with foam. And therefore,
so you coming in right, you're moving air from the

(16:39):
attic to the crawl space and along with it you
you pull the dirt and all that in as well.
So it's just a good opportunity and for no more
than a little bit of insulation costs, it's worth it
to pop it out, you know, bag that up, get
rid of it, gets new insulation, and then a can
of low expanding foam or foam and uh, you know,

(17:01):
you do the bottom plate, you do the corners, and
then any penetrations in the top or the bottom plate,
you know it now it's tight.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's good that that you actually
touched on something that was a question farther down. We'll
just go to it right now. It talked about putting
tile on the ceiling in a shower, you know area,
is that still thin set to hold it up? Or
do you need something? Do you need in adhesive?

Speaker 3 (17:28):
No, we did it. We did it in our master
in that with thin set, right, yeah, just with thin set,
and they might mix it a little stiffer, but you know,
you still want it. Wanted to have that consistency. But yes,
and and it's great because you know, our little we
and we actually lowered the ceiling from a nine foot

(17:49):
to like seven and a half feet in the shower.
And the fame, why did you do that to keep
it warmer in there? Because it's you when you build
a big shower. You know a lot of people have
this this idea, this fantasy of having this this big
open shower with no doors. And let me tell you something,

(18:10):
you freeze your butt off gets chilly, So if you
keep it compact. And we actually had thoughts of I
have a steam generator a friend of mine gave me.
I was trying to find the controls at the time
for it, and we were going to make a steam
shower and That was one of the reasons that we
that we also put the ceiling in and lowered. It

(18:33):
was was a thought process, and what we were going
to do was above the standard panel and shower door,
we were going to put another small set of doors
that were hinged so that when you took a steam shower,
you could close those and keep the steam, you know,
pretty much inside the the shower anyway. So the but

(18:56):
ran out of time, and I don't know own up
with I don't know if we ran out of money,
but we ran out of time, I'd have been out
of money by that point close to that too.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
So well, it's good. I think that that's good to know.
Although doing thin set it is surprising how aggressively that
will actually hold tile, because if you misplaced one and
you're trying to pull it, ask me how I know that,
right while the thin set's still wet, right, it's still
it's it grabs, So all right, that's good. That's good

(19:31):
to know. The next one is is typically on our
list of things to do. When we talk about, hey,
what should you be paying attention to in the winter time,
this person says, Hey, all of a sudden, I have
huge cracks in my crown molding, both at the joints
and along the ceiling, and and and we're like, yeah,

(19:54):
it's December, heat's been running, the house is drying out.
It's only going to get worse over the next probably
sixty sixty days or so. So that's the bad news
is it looks a little unsightly. The good news is
this is the perfect time to get out a good

(20:14):
You can use a latex base cock, but you want
one that's going to stay resilient as it cures, and
just calk up those cracks now while they're open. It
won't hurt anything when the humidity comes back again and
the wood swells a little bit. To seal those joints.
If you use a flexible product, it'll compress when you

(20:38):
know the ammidity is higher, and then as it retracts
it'll it won't break again. So this is a really
good time actually to get after those on the trim,
just different places where you start to see cracks and
stuff because the wood is drying out. So take advantage
of the opportunity. It's almost like, hey, pay attention to me.

(21:01):
If you if you do this now, you won't have
to deal with it next year, or you won't have
to look at it next year, in the year after,
and so on and so forth. So I think, yeah,
that's one of the things.

Speaker 3 (21:11):
Some of its trust lift too, and we talked about
that before, right, And you know, there's some practices about
not fastening the dry wall within where the trust is
cross over the house. Normally this happens at the attic level,
and so as the trust crosses over interior walls, they
tell you to leave the screws back from the edge

(21:34):
eighteen inches and not fasten them to the trust is
in the middle, because the trustes are actually bowing and
moving depending on the weather. So in the winter time
they tend to they tend to, I guess they bow
up and as they dry out, and so that is
that's one of the things that happens. And there's something

(21:56):
I've heard of some drywall guys that specialize in that
and go in and and repair that, huh. And so
that's what they do, is they find the screws and
they dig them out that are too close, go back.
Then they patch everything up, paint. But the calking's a
lot cheaper, a lot cheaper, but it's less a mess.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
It's but it's a you make a really good point
in the construction portion of things, right should we just
making sure that you solve problems because it doesn't feel
like a lot. But those trusses have like built in
camber in that bottom court anyway, the bottom rail of
the UH of the truss, and so when it when

(22:38):
it dries out, it's going back to that point. It's
like when you see that the big especially the aluminum
body UH tractor trailers going down the road, just the
flat bends and if you look at it empty, it's
it's almost like it's got an arch to it, and
so that when it gets a full load, it goes flat,
not bows. Trusses are built kind of the same way,

(22:58):
so it's just exact sturbates the problem if they when
they go.

Speaker 3 (23:02):
We talked a little bit more about how you there's
a deal with nailing the crown too, So.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
That's where I thought you were going to go. Actually
what you said it nail into the U because where
should the crown.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
Be nailed at the ceiling and not the wall exactly?

Speaker 2 (23:16):
So all right, right, yep, it's it's gonna move and
it's imperceptible. All right, it's time for a break. We're
gonna go ahead and take it. Where's seven four five
seven eleven ten. We want to get your questions answered.
You can also text us at that same number on
the WBT text line driven by Liberty Buick GMC. Give
us a call, give us a text. We'll talk a while.

(23:37):
Return from these important messages. Welcome back. It's the Home

(24:00):
Deep Balm Improvement Show with John and Dave.

Speaker 3 (24:02):
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
We're going to talk about your home improvement questions at
seven o four five seven eleven ten or texting by
text at seven four five seven eleven ten using WBT
text line driven by Liberty view at GMC. Time for
our Home Depot product of the Week. You've heard us
say that this is the time of year to go
shop the home Depot for a lot of different things. Today,

(24:28):
we're going to focus on the combo kits, and I'm
going to emphasize one in particular. It's a rigid eighteen
volt eight tool combo kit with a two amp hour
battery and a four amp hour charger. A two amp
hour battery, a four amp hour battery and a charger. Sorry,
you don't get amp, howers and a charger and a toolbag.

(24:50):
Eight tools. It has in it a drill drive, a
drill driver, an impact driver. If you've never used one,
you won't believe how you survived with that one when
you get one. A reciprocating saw, a circular saw, a
random orbit sander, a job site blower, an LED work light,

(25:10):
and a hand vacuum forty cubic feet per mintent hand vacuum.
Price point on this bad boy guest David for eight tools.

Speaker 3 (25:20):
Of four hundred dollars.

Speaker 2 (25:23):
Two ninety nine.

Speaker 3 (25:24):
Wow, was.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
Uh seven to ninety nine. It's eight tools, and it's
eight legit tools, and so I can't emphasize enough. This
is the time of year if you're going to help
a new couple that's just got married and they need
some you know they and either one of them is
a serious you know do it yourself or a remotely
serious do it yourself or for three hundred bucks to

(25:49):
start out with eight tools, a charger, a two amp
and four amp hour battery, it's insanely great deal, so
so check it out. It's a rigid eighteen volt cordless
a tool combo kit for two hundred ninety nine dollars
while you're there, you can. I'm focusing on the Rigid piece.
I love the lifetime service agreement that you get with Rigid.

(26:09):
I've sort of kind of been a convert to Milwaukee because,
like I, just they're amazing tools. But they that for pros.
The pros just eat them up right, they love them.
But for the consumer that might be a bit of overkill.
Although I see more and more red everywhere I go.
But this particular deal is an excellent home. But check

(26:30):
out the combo kits in particular. I think you'll be very,
very pleased with the price points and the values there.
It's a real legit way to fight what David and
I were lamenting earlier on. It's just a very expensive
world in which we live. So that's it. That's our
own deeper product of the week. Check it out, all right, David,
we were talking about cracks and crown molding. Here's one.

(26:58):
This I should laugh because I would probably make this mistake,
actually not put so oops. I put peg board on
the wall, and now my hooks won't go in. Let's
see what happened. I've seen it before, looks good, nothing
hanging on it. The problem is those hooks have to

(27:20):
have some room behind them to hang right, and so
you can buy spacers, little black things and like pegboard
hooks and and I honestly don't know how people use those.
The easiest thing that I've done, David, and I end
up rendering, you know, certain holes unusable. But I just

(27:41):
like fur it out. Yeah, a piece of three quarter
inch that I rip down, it's not doesn't have to
be big. It just has to be enough to space it.
Do you do something differently.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
No, that's exactly what we're doing. You just do usually
do the perimeter because you know you have something to
fasten to, and then just a couple of strips in
the middle, and as you said, you don't you don't
lose as much space, uh for a place for a hook, right,
That works really well. It's quick, simple, painless.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
Either that or you're digging into the drywall.

Speaker 3 (28:13):
You could do that. That works out holes.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
Anyway. All right, So that's we chuckle, But it's not
it's not an uncommon mistake because if you just got
to kind of think about it a little bit.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
So I think I built a work I built a
workbench once and and uh, you remember it used to
how you would attach a mirror to a to a dresser,
and you know, it'd have the slats on it from
the back and then you would fasten the mirror to that.
So I did the same thing, but I put the
peg board on those slats that stuck up and so.

(28:49):
And then of course I put the work bench on wheels,
because I'm a big believer in that in the shop,
if you have locking wheels, then you can move it
to clean. Makes it much easier. But I could also
use the back of it for things that I didn't
need very often but needed a place to put them,
so you know, like old handsaws and things like that

(29:10):
that you don't use very often. So it works pretty well.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
I'm adding that to my list of my geek list
that I'm assembling.

Speaker 3 (29:19):
Picture be beside it.

Speaker 2 (29:21):
Well, yeah, yeah it does. And I've got your like
your initials in fancy Roman script on the top. But
move to clean behind the workbench. Yeah, because ladies and gentlemen,
I know that's on everybody's list. Honey, it's you. Could
you go out there and clean.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
I'm just busted, I know, I know, But think about
dropping your assembling something and you drop of that special
washer or nut. It rolls underneath the workbitch which is
on four by fours and it's loaded with paint on
the bottom, and then you have a bunch of tools. Yeah,
so wheels.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
You know your problem is you're just too practical. Because
I go in the house and Barm's like, John, why
is the left side of your face black? Oh? Because
I was land on the floor, run up and down
trying to find that washer that went behind the work patch.
We'll go wash up all right, chuchuchuchuchu Ooh, here's a

(30:25):
good one. It just says controlling indoor humidity. Yes, you
should do that. What's your next question? It's kind of
related to what we were just talking about with the
crown molding, right, Yes, a lack of humidity is causing
you know, some of the things to shrink and so on.

(30:47):
There's a couple of ways to attack it. One is
systemically with a humidifier in the HVAC system, right, And
I know we're going to run out of time here,
so maybe we'll just roll into the next SEGM with this.
But we're talking typically about a steam solution for a

(31:07):
systemic commudy fire, right, versus some of the other options
that are out there, and then there's there's units you
could just put in in a particular room, or there's
some bigger units. But let's let's let's get ready to
take our break here and then and we'll come back
and dig in a little bit deeper because there's some
kind of old fashioned home remedies that you can use
also to help with that. But we're at seven o

(31:29):
four five seven eleven ten by phone or by text
using the WBT text Lime driven by Liberty Buick GMC.
We'll talk about your home improvement questions. When we returned
to the Home Deep a home improvement show with John
and Dave. Welcome back, It's the Whole Depot Improvement Show

(32:19):
with John to day.

Speaker 7 (32:20):
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval, taking your calls at
seven oh four five seven eleven ten or texts set
the same number seven oh four five seven eleven ten.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
Before the break, we were talking about just maintaining humidity
or controlling humidity in the winter time. We talk a
lot about it in the more humid times of the
year because the challenges from high humidity tend to be
more obvious and more permanent. If that's the right way

(32:56):
to say it. When you start having issues with mold
uh and sometimes health from a health perspective, high humidity
and and and spores and fungus and molds and things
like that are problematic. What I learned, or what we've
learned I think David over the years just checking this out,
is that low humidity is equally challenging from a health perspective.

(33:20):
Sure is, yeah, one would or I I just shouldn't
put my ignorance on everybody. But I always thought there
was see less humidity. You know, you think about bacteria
and things growing and damp and climates like that, but
in your body, the dry reduces the amount of mucus
and all that stuff, and you end up being more

(33:41):
prone to infections uh and vary.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
And if David Drew taught us that from right from nascare.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
Yeah a long time ago actually, right, But yeah, I
just I just didn't think about it that way. So
it's important to maintain the humidity from a health perspective
as well as from a struct perspective. And although yeah,
you probably don't get dry rot or rotting issues from
dry humidity in your structures, right, but but you have

(34:12):
some of the things so we talked about. I think
it's not difficult for someone to get a room humidifier
or even to put a steam like vaporizer or something
in a in a bedroom when when when you're sleeping
and and those things are are fine. But when you
start talking about a systemic solution adding a humidifier to

(34:36):
like the heating system, a little bit more caution or
a little bit more information might be be called for.
And David, we talked about using a steam system. Share
you're thinking on that versus some of the others that
like just inject a spray into the UH the heat exchanger.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
I think the steam turns out to as it's turned out,
is the better way to go. It's it's it's it's
probably the more expensive way to go as well, but
it's it's the equipment's different and they've simplified it and
it can be installed on most furnaces. Now you do
have to check with your h VAC contractor about this
because some won't do it. They won't install these systems

(35:21):
if your systems in the attic UH and and reason
is is that if something if the water line was
to freeze or burst, you know, then you've got a
problem in the attic and it could end up being
their fault, so for liability reasons. But I think there's
ways to do it. It could be insulated, Uh you know,
you just have to pay attention to that. You need

(35:42):
water cutoffs and all of that so that you can
isolate that that that unit. But steam truly is the
best way because you're introducing steam and not actual it
is water, but it's in this form of steam and
it's going to go through the system and get picked
up by the warm air quick an absorb into the house,

(36:02):
versus if you're spraying water into the duck. You have
to if it could just make a mess real quick.
I had one on my system back in the eighties
and and it just made a mess in the in
the furnace and we had an upflow furnace in a
closet and it was right off of the garage. So

(36:23):
it was as big a deal as it could have
been if it would have been in a house with
wood floors or something like that. But uh, the steam
technology is definitely the way to go. And of course,
if you can't do that, then I think you already
hit that note or these these misting humidifiers that you
can buy that hold a gollon two gallons, three gallons
of water. But I will tell you this much, you

(36:45):
better go ahead and get one because they'll be gone
before long.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
Yeah, and then and then it's like seasonal right, you
can't well, I guess you can get just about anything
online anymore.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
You can. But they even they run low, and.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
And our houses and stuff last.

Speaker 3 (36:59):
Year seemed to be for some reason, was exceptionally dry.
And I had I don't know how many people calling
me about that or sending me notes or texts, and
and that's that's what we did at home. As a
matter of fact, we added another one to the house
last year because it was so dry. And as I
told you before, John, we we turn our heat down

(37:20):
very low at night, because neither one of us could
stand it. I'd rather, I'd rather put another blanket on
the bed, and if you have to get up in
the middle of the night, you just move a little quicker.
So but but you're not dried out, and it's it's
not as bad. So you get a little relief from
a from electric heat or or a gas furnace blowing

(37:43):
and dry in the air out even more. That gives
you a little reprieve. But we we did. We have
one in the bedroom, and we have one out in
the living room that gets drawn nearer return and it
draws that up and it's a missing system and and
it really does. It does really well. It doesn't make
a big mess, and and it lasts for two or
three days before you have to add the water back

(38:06):
to it. And again you should probably use filtered water
or how our whole house is filtered. So we're good
on that that part, but uh use that they last
longer if you're on a well, you really should probably
consider using uh distilled water in those units because it'll
are the.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
Worst case by the big five gallon bottles and dump
it in that way.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
There you go, that's a smart thing. I don't even
think about that.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
Yeah, So I got a quick question related to that,
like keeping the thermostat low at night. Do you use
a rubber mallet or just like a wooden stick to
break the ice off the toilet so you don't chip
the porcelain or well, what's your trick?

Speaker 3 (38:45):
That's the other advantage to that day toilet seed?

Speaker 2 (38:51):
Oh God, all right, good, So I think you make
a really good point though, on two things for the auxiliary,
like the room humidifiers. Depending on how they're designed, some
of them have a medium that revolves. There's different things.
Steam is probably the best solution. There also are missing
I should say missed missing. It doesn't have to be steam.
It can be missing there and and then but even those,

(39:15):
to your point, you got to clean them. And and
if there is a medium involved in that, especially, got
to clean that, uh, both for build up and for bacteria,
right right exactly, So uh be safe as you as
you think through how you want.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
It, and you can tell on all those things the
mister and it it gets that familiar pink line inside
the bucket if it sits for a couple of days,
you know, if it's not running. I noticed when we
came home last year from our Christmas trip, and of
course the machine that sat there and wasn't running, and

(39:52):
and it had that line. And of course I took
it all and I should have dumped it. It was
on my list and just didn't get to it. So
but yeah, you do have to take care of there's
a little bit of maintenance. So read the directions so
that you don't have to buy another one in the
following year or so that it's working when you need
it to work right. You don't want it, you know,
want it clogged up or not missing correct.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
Now, it's so good advice. It'll make it'll make a
different it's an investment. And you know we've talked about
just sometimes being more comfortable, being able to sleep better
and not getting every single bug that comes down the
line because your body is not as immune as it
could be. So good stuff. Uh, we're probably about a

(40:33):
minute away from our break, so we'll get ready to
do that. When we come back. We're going to talk
about thermostats. We're going to talk about semigloss paint. We're
going to talk about post construction alterations for doors, gas logs,
all kinds of stuff. So get you get your get
you a cup of coffee ready, get your questions ready.
Give us a call seven oh four five seven eleven

(40:55):
ten or same number seven O four five seven eleven
ten on the WBT text line by Liberty View at TMC.
We'll talk about your home improvement questions when we return
to the Home Depot Home Improvement Show with John and Dave.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
The Home Depot Home Improvement Show with John and Dave
pre Centupy tried pro answering your home improvement questions every
Saturday on News Talk eleven ten and ninety nine three WBT.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
Welcome back, everybody. It's our number two with the Home
Deep Home Improvement Show with John and Dave.

Speaker 3 (41:55):
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval.

Speaker 2 (41:58):
We are taking your albeit not many at seven O
four five seven eleven ten or your texts at the
same number, seven O four five seven eleven ten. Let's
talk about what's on your mind. Otherwise we'll just keep
talking about what's on ours.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
The website to ask John and dot com or questions
at ask Johnndave dot com. UH place for you to
send us a note whether you want to ask us
a question or scold us, or every once while we
get one, somebody tells us we don't know what we're talking.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
About, so and we're cool with that.

Speaker 3 (42:37):
Yeah. Hey, I've learned a lot of times we've said
things that not not intentional but were words were turned
around or something and people correct us, and you know,
we appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
It's yes, clarification is like we.

Speaker 3 (42:54):
Want to be accurate.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
So all right, I think that's a good plan. Let's
see what do we got when we I said, we're
going to talk about thermostats. So this is one of those, Hey,
I left the ladder, the hammer on top of the ladder.
That wasn't too smart. Person recounts that they brought the
h VAC person out because their thermostat wasn't working, only

(43:16):
to find out that that hadn't replaced the batteries. A
lot of thermostats have a battery, a double a couple
of double A batteries in them. Got to check them.
The numerous systems have a little indicator when the battery
is getting low, give you a little icon. But if
you're not checking your thermostat every day, if you've said

(43:38):
it and you know, sit and forget.

Speaker 3 (43:40):
I don't know if ours has a battery or if
it just works off of the it's an idead.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
Yeah you've got Yeah, I don't know. I mean it's good.
It's a great question. As I read this, I'm like, gosh,
we put a new system in about a little about
a year and a half ago now, and I have
no idea whether there's a battery edit or not. I
think it's just a wired system that there's a low
voltage line coming to it took power that but I

(44:07):
don't really know, so it's actually on my list to
do also, So next week we'll talk about repairing, you know,
the damage you did to your thermostat looking for batteries.
All right, let's see Todd's got a question. Let's get
him next. Todd, Good morning. You have a whole deep
Older provement show with Johnna Dave.

Speaker 8 (44:25):
How are you, hey, how y'all doing right?

Speaker 2 (44:27):
Doing well? Good?

Speaker 9 (44:29):
Hey?

Speaker 8 (44:29):
Question? Uh, crawl space encapsulation. So I've got a house
built in seventy eight. It's got all the insulation in
and I put all the uh, you know, plastic down
that I don't have any issues with mold or moisture,
but I've always wanted to, you know, have something real

(44:51):
neat under there because I'm gonna do it yourself. And
it's nice go on under there and it's nice and neat.
I just wondered, do you you recommend that all the
vents be sealed or bricked up if you do it encapsulation?
And also I wondered about the foam on the sides
of the foundation versus just putting the plastic on.

Speaker 3 (45:16):
That is uh, that's certainly one of the ways you
could do it. And they spray closed cell foam over
the over the interior walls. They remove the insulation from
the joist and then and then and then there's a
heavy liner that gets put down on the bottom. A
lot of times, Todd there's also they'll they'll put in

(45:40):
a sump pump and a pit and and I don't
know that every crawl space needs it, but just in case,
with that liner down, everything directed towards that pit or
to some type of drain. I have drains in my
crawl space that we built in as we built the house,
but that that that go to daylight, so that they'll

(46:01):
drain through gravel and then out into the system that
the water drains to.

Speaker 8 (46:07):
And yeah, mine's always been very dry, so you know,
and I don't have a water problem, you know, around
the outside of the house because I have the water,
you know, running away from the foundation.

Speaker 3 (46:19):
Sure, same situation that we're in. And we did a
hybrid system. So we actually went in and just put
down ten mili plastic where our grade was perfect. The
water gets away from the house. We used we covered
the vents from the inside. They're closed from the outside,
but covered them from the inside and foamed in a

(46:42):
foil faced styrofoam and then we use a dehumidifier that
it doesn't run very often and it works. It works
really well.

Speaker 8 (46:51):
It sounds like I was telling me that you can
leave the insulation in is there? You know, I don't
like any insulation and there if I can avoid it,
you know, anything hanging down or when I go under
there to work. What do you think about that?

Speaker 3 (47:06):
Well, if you if you you have to insulate the walls,
if you remove the insulation, I mean, it's fine for
you while you live there, but when you sell the
house it will have to be put back in or
you'll have to insulate the walls. I'm just I'll just
throw that out there because I've seen a lot of wow.

Speaker 2 (47:20):
Do that.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
Because the cross space stays pretty pretty warm. Actually the
ground level is the ground temperature. But the code says
that you have to have insulation in one of those places.

Speaker 8 (47:34):
And wow, okay, So insulating the walls. Is that like
the one inch uh styrofoam.

Speaker 3 (47:40):
Or I think so? And I'm not sure what the
R value is on the walls, So that would be
something you would you would need to. I'm sure you could.
You could just do a quick search.

Speaker 8 (47:51):
Oh that'd be a pain if you know you got
to sell it. Wow, yeah, okay.

Speaker 3 (47:55):
So you have to have it in there. You'll buy
buy buy code.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
So okay.

Speaker 8 (48:00):
And does anybody brick your vent holes?

Speaker 2 (48:03):
You know?

Speaker 8 (48:03):
So it doesn't you know, I'm not a real I
don't love the vents.

Speaker 3 (48:08):
No, they make They actually make a cap that you
can put over them from the outside. Okay, so if
they're recessed, if you have the manual vents, you can
put a coup of them and glue them in place.
They're siliconum and okay, they kind of disappear.

Speaker 8 (48:24):
And one more question about like the waterproof tape that
they put around the pillars under the there. I've seen
some of the guys pictures that they don't use the
tape all along the top like of the foundation or
the pillars.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
Is that termite?

Speaker 8 (48:40):
It seems like I like the tape.

Speaker 3 (48:42):
It's the termite. Uh, And you'd leave a termite inspection point,
I believe.

Speaker 8 (48:47):
Right right, So, but you can still have the tape
on the top, right, you don't have to.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
I don't know if they don't do it because it
doesn't do as well that they use some type of adhesive.

Speaker 8 (48:58):
I would think to okay, okay, gotcha, okay, Hey, well,
thank you a lot. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
Welcome, thanks for the call, Tid. Let's talk to Joe,
gor and Joe. You're on the Whole Deep home improvement
show with John today.

Speaker 8 (49:15):
Yes, sir, good morning. I appreciate you all show. I
hope it doesn't go the way of the Trading Post.
I love listening on Saturdays. My question is I have
a older mobile home that we're fixing to replace, and
it's a rental. And of course last year Murphy's law,

(49:40):
excuse me, in twenty twenty five, we had the HVAC
unit replaced. Now it's a twenty four ton. It's a
package unit. Do you know all in one. There's no
lines running in the house or anything like that. My
question is the new unit. I've been informed because of
the higher seat and blah blah blah, that they it

(50:03):
will come with its own HVAC unit. I want to
move that hvac. It's you know, it's three foot tall,
it's shy of three foot wide, and it's six foot long.
I looked at the tag I pulled up the model
number to good one and it's you know, just shy
of four hundred pounds. If I get the proper dolly

(50:25):
and some young bucks, there's no problem. Just pick that up,
slide it on a palette, and then move it onto
my trailer and then take it to another building. Actually
it's a big garage. I'd like to use it in
as my permanent residence.

Speaker 3 (50:40):
No, there's no problem at all, you know, just just
just handle it gently, just.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
Keep it as level as you can, I think, right,
and then don't operate it for a day once it's
in place, so all the stuff settled out the way
it's supposed.

Speaker 8 (50:55):
To, right, Yeah, like moving a refrigerator. Just or and
make sure you eat.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
Go ahead, I said, as long as you don't tip
it up. If it gets tipped up.

Speaker 9 (51:06):
That right, well yeah yeah, no, I think we can
just lift it up and slide it onto a palette
and then you know, use some dollies and some young
bucks to move it.

Speaker 8 (51:18):
And I promise I won't have the young bucks lick
their fingers and touch the wires to make sure it's disconnected.

Speaker 2 (51:27):
All right, you love you, We love your humane approach.

Speaker 8 (51:32):
Well, I appreciate y'all.

Speaker 3 (51:33):
Take care.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
Thanks Joe, have a great one, great call, folks. We
got to slide away for a break seven h four
or five seven eleven ten by phone or by texts.
We'll be back after these important messages. Welcome back. It's

(52:19):
the whole Deep Home Improvement Show with John and Dave.
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval seven four five seven
oh eleven ten. That's by phone or by text. We'll
talk about what's important to you. David. How come when
I put semigloss paint on a less imperfect surface, everything
showed up because we shouldn't have used semigloss.

Speaker 3 (52:41):
Right right? Or you got to you gotta go to
a level five dry wall patty.

Speaker 2 (52:50):
Yeah, you gotta do it like maestro.

Speaker 3 (52:52):
Well it's like a plastered you just floated out. But yeah.
One of the biggest things that I encourage with my
customers is that when we're when you're remodeling and people
want to go back to a shinier paint is pick up,
pick up flat paint that's really scrubbable and washable, and
stick with that because it hides. Flat paint hides the

(53:13):
imperfections in the walls. And I know there's some places
that you really have to have something that's that's scrubbable
and washable. But if you can get away with it,
try to try to stay flat if you're looking for
especially John, especially with all of the overhead lighting that
we use now, it shows you want to talk about
putting it on display. And I just tell people all

(53:35):
the all the we call them holidays in the in
the drywall because the the drywall guy was on holiday
when that happened.

Speaker 2 (53:43):
The uh I thought it was another word.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
H yeah, well too, but but we call it art.
So if you look at those nail pops in the
wall and you follow that line, there's actually it actually
makes ara of some sorts. But you know, all kidding aside,
I mean you especially when you do when you do

(54:07):
a remodel, you can't a lot of times you can't
control what was there. So if the studs are in
and out or it's bowed, it shows, shiny paint shows everything.
So if you could keep it to a matte matte finish,
that's more washable. That has this the I think the
lowestchene before you go to dead flat, right, and it's washable.

(54:30):
So we did all of our closets in that because
closets tend to get scuffed up and moved on. But
you can at least wash the walls and then the
house is and we just used flat paint throughout the house.
It touches up easier. That's the other thing. Yeah, when
you when you use a when you use a shiny paint,
anything with a gloss, it's hard to touch up. Afterwards,

(54:53):
you can almost always see everywhere you touched up. But
flat paint touches up really well. So that's why you'll
find most contra actors push it. Just less problems, less
less headaches. No such thing as a perfect wall unless
you pay for it.

Speaker 2 (55:08):
Yeah, it's it can be done, but it's a slow process, right, process,
it's a few extra steps.

Speaker 3 (55:13):
Yeah, it's expensive to get it then.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
Yeah, so I think and and the technology and the
Latex paints from a scrubbable perspective, PPG, Bear, Sherman Williams
all have a a good product with respect to scrubbability, right, right,
you see the tests and stuff that they do now
and it's it's it's acceptable. Although I just I don't know.

(55:39):
I sort of like the the smoother finish, but it's
just not worth it.

Speaker 3 (55:45):
Yeah, no, I get it. And then you know, then,
like we said, with flat paint, you can touch up
usually you can touch up paint. So if they get
scuffed up and it's beyond what a rag or a
magic eraser can do for you, then you can touch
it up with a with just a foam like a
hot dog roller works really well. And then the key
is is people say, yeah, but then you have to

(56:07):
keep paint. Yeah, you do. So you have to keep
a little bit of paint around. Remember, and we just
add this on there to the paint question, John is
keep it in a in a reasonable place, not too hot,
not too cold, you know, kind of like how you
would store your your your you know, vegetables like potatoes.
Keep it someplace and and keep it marked. Another thing

(56:31):
I like to do is I get an extra sticker
printed for the paint because a lot of times it
gets covered up on the can. Not intentionally, but somebody
sets a brush on top of the lid or whatever.
Now the formula is wasted. You can't see it, and
you have to go for a match, which they can
do pretty well. But it's it's it could be off.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
It can be ever so slightly on a big wall.

Speaker 3 (56:54):
It's it's apparent and you see.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
Yeah, so if you forget.

Speaker 2 (56:58):
To get to just snap a picture and archive. I
have a file of all the I used to keep
an extra paint lit with everything on it, right, and
I'm like, that's ridiculous, It's just a box full of
paint lits. I'm like, here's here's a spreadsheet and a
and a series of pictures.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
Anyway, I just keep it on the file for the
House of receipts and it's I just stick it on
the inside of the folder and there right which room
it's in. So it keeps it simple but not a
bad not a bad way to keep track of it.
And I think you can do. I don't know if
you can. You can if you set up an account.
I think you can set this up and they'll keep

(57:37):
it for you.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
Yeah, telling me what it's I think they still call
it one paint and the professionals will use it because
you know, if you've got several properties that you're maintaining
or working on, then and and particularly the larger guys
that want to have the same sort of look and
feel and color for everything, then they've got their formula stored,

(57:58):
and some of them actually have their own formulas made right.
Their designers say this is a color we want, and
then you match it and you know the formula and
so yeah, it's a pretty slick solution.

Speaker 3 (58:08):
Yeah. So you have that, and then you're you're good
to go. It's a homeowner. If you do that, then
you have which room it is, you set up your account,
and then and then you know, then there's no doubt
about it.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
All right, So good information. Here's one that's a little
bit I don't know. The question is is there how
can I put a pocket door in post construction? So
the house is done and now I want to put
a pocket door. That's a fairly major undertaking, isn't it.

(58:44):
I mean, drywall's coming down stuff, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (58:46):
Well, yeah, and if it's load bearing wall, though, you
have to have a header that not only covers where
the door is. Now, So if you have a thirty
six inch door into a room, you have about a
forty inch header over top of that door. If you
you now you would have over six foot header because
you have to head off of the area where the

(59:07):
door goes into the pocket as well, so that you
can carry the load above it because you're you're essentially
you're taking you are you're taking the studs out.

Speaker 2 (59:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (59:16):
So a pocket door is that's where the barn doors
came in, right or so.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
That's why they Yeah. Yeah, but even that you got
to have you Chris our Son just loves the whole
barn door thing, like he'll put a barn door on
a pantry or something if you let him. I don't know. Yeah,
but but even there, you got to have open wall,
which sometimes you don't have. I think the other challenge

(59:42):
stable when you say you got to head it off
or put a header on it. I mean what happens
when you go from a forty inch header to an
eighty inch header? I mean the dimension of the framing
has to go up too, doesn't it.

Speaker 3 (59:56):
Well, yeah, it changes. And then if it's and if
you're you know, if you're honest slab, there's supposed to
be a footing underneath it. If it's carrying a load,
if it's a crawl space, then it has to have
a footing in a pier at the end of the
headers because that's transferring the.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
Way where all the load is going down.

Speaker 3 (01:00:12):
It takes that down to the ground. So yeah, so
there's there's a little bit more to it than we think.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
So I think kind of like we will show you.
We'll send you a link to the drapery section of
home depot dot.

Speaker 3 (01:00:29):
Com and say, these beads, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
They can be pushed out of beads. It's nice, It's nice. Okay,
let's talks. Let's let's talk to Donna. Donna, good morning.
I got the whole deep home Provement show with John
and Dave. How are you. I'm good, doing well.

Speaker 10 (01:00:46):
Okays, a little hard to hear you, but I'll give
it a try. Hey, what if you can help me.
My mom lives in a home that was built in
the fifties. What she's got is an electric cook top
with a hood above it, and on the left side
of the hood is a fan. On the right side
of the hood is a old fluorescent eighteen inch light

(01:01:08):
which goes up through the cabinet and it goes into
a plug. The floraccent light has a pull chain on it.
She had electrician out there because the light started, you know,
not working properly. He looked at it, he said, you know,
I could put a new starter, new bulb that might work,

(01:01:28):
don't know for sure, So I did. He said you
might want to replace it. So I did find a
starter in a bulb. We could go that way. But
then I started looking, Hey, it's kind of corroded. Let's
just relace the whole thing. So looking at, of course,
what's available today, These new led under cabinet lights and
everything I find, say, do not install over a heat source.

(01:01:52):
And I'm sure steam is an issue as well, So
what can I purchase?

Speaker 9 (01:01:58):
You know?

Speaker 10 (01:01:58):
I did find some metal fluorescent lights, which again might work,
but most of them are hardwired. So my question is
any thoughts on what I could put up there? The
fluorescent has lasted for sixty plus years, so I'm thinking

(01:02:19):
that's probably the way I'm going to have to go.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
Well, here's one question, real quick, Donna, is is there
for all that's involved? Would it makes sense just to
replace the range hood all together and have it in
a real light? Okay? Then no? Okay?

Speaker 10 (01:02:41):
Then I think ninety three years old, you can't do
much changing.

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
Oh, I understand that. Oh I took care of my
mom and dad blessed to have them for ninety five
in one case, so totally get that. Yeah, So I
think there's there's a T fifteen which is kind of
a thin line fluorescent light that would work in that
they make a version that it has a little cover

(01:03:07):
over it that if you wanted to take a peek
at that would would probably be okay, it would it
would probably be acceptable in those applications. And then the
hard wire part of it, David, you can actually rectify that.
I mean you can. You can either probably an electrician
would do this for you. You can either take a box
off of the off the plug that's already there, or

(01:03:29):
you can add a chord to it, right so you
can go all the way back into the box and
make the connection inside the fixture and put a pigtail
plug on it and boom, plug it in. You're good
to go. There you go, Okay, I think we got
to jump away for a break here, so we'll do that.
Donna hank type, we've got down hold if you've got
more questions seven oh four or five, seven oh eleven, ten,

(01:03:49):
we'll return after these important messages. Welcome back to the
home default of Goudent Show with John Today.

Speaker 3 (01:04:09):
I'm Don Gordon, I'm Dave Doval.

Speaker 2 (01:04:12):
We want to get back to Donna.

Speaker 3 (01:04:14):
And yeah, she's got a d question.

Speaker 2 (01:04:16):
Okay, hey Donna, thanks for waiting for the break there.
Sorry we were in a little bit longer.

Speaker 10 (01:04:20):
My second question, thanks for taking two. I have two
fiberglass doors, their three quarter glass, and we bought them
up four years ago and we were revised by the
building supply place to buy them unfinished and finish them ourselves,
which I did. I used the gel stain and the
I think it's called Helmsman Polly and they held up

(01:04:42):
pretty good, but they need to be refinished, and I
did email you. I hate to say it's been over
a year and finally in the spring and I definitely
tackle the project. You suggested that I strip them with
this blue Bear Slayer stripper, which I purchased.

Speaker 3 (01:04:58):
And.

Speaker 10 (01:05:00):
The person at the store recommended instead of staining them
once I use the stripper. Instead of using minwax gel stain,
he said, use the General Finish's exterior four fifty. Now,
I'm just wanting any any thoughts on that. Have you
ever heard of using that versus a because it is

(01:05:20):
not a gel stain and it does come in colors,
but he said, oh, it'll lasts a lot longer. Than
the minwax gel stain.

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
David, I got to defer to you on that one.
I've always heard gel stain on the on the fiberglass.

Speaker 3 (01:05:37):
Yeah, that's what we've always used. I've never used anything else.
I've never had much luck.

Speaker 10 (01:05:43):
Yeah, same here everything I read. You know, you see
some forums online, and I did see a few people
mention this General Finishes which actually has a poly incorporated
in it, or you can buy the clear, and he
told me, you know, go ahead and even put another
layer of just a clear sort of on top of it.
So okay, just didn't know if you had any experience

(01:06:06):
with that General.

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
I have in it before. And the poly and the
stain together is normally only for interior use. Yeah, no,
it's exterior it okay, I haven't seen.

Speaker 10 (01:06:19):
That exterior four fifty.

Speaker 3 (01:06:21):
It's called okay. Then if it has the polly in it,
then it probably will be okay. But if you're doing
a stain and then then a spar varnish after, I've
just I've just always used the the gel stain because
it's what I get to stay on the door, and
it is it is it a textured door?

Speaker 10 (01:06:45):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:06:47):
Yeah, So yeah, that worked that that always worked for me,
and and would normally be a couple of coats and
then and then a really good a good your thing,
of course, spar your thinge yellows. Oil bases. The water
basses do not do not yellow, but they tend to
hold up a little bit better. But if it's in

(01:07:08):
the sun all day, it's it's gonna last. It's gonna
last a year or maybe two if you're lucky.

Speaker 10 (01:07:15):
Yeah, that was my experience because the bottom half of it,
even though it's covered covered porch, one of them, especially
probably bottom two feet, definitely gets sun and it got
kind of milky looking after a while. And again I
use I think the helmsman. Is there anything other than
the helmsman you think might be better?

Speaker 2 (01:07:35):
It's the question is less about the brand or the title,
so much is what the bass is, Donna. If it's
a petroleum base versus a water base, the petroleum base
holds up is from a durability perspective longer, but it ambers,
it changes, it changes color from the sun.

Speaker 10 (01:07:56):
That's all okay, Well, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:01):
Welcome, thanks for the call, thanks for thanks for waiting
for the break. All right, quickly, let's do our Home
People Product of the Week. I didn't want to keep
Donald waiting any longer than we did. This week, we're
talking about the Rigid eighteen volt eight tool combo kit.
Eight tools. This kit includes a drill driver, an impact driver,

(01:08:27):
a reciprocating saw, a circular saw, a random orbit sander,
a job site blower, led work light, hand vacuum, and
a manicure set. No, I'm lying about the last one.
But it has eight tools. It's one hundred percent compatible
with all the other rigid eighteen volt batteries or systems.

(01:08:48):
So it's got a two amp and a four amp
hour battery included and a charger. If I didn't say that,
the price point on this kit normally seven undred ninety dollars.
It's eight hundred and some dollars worth of tools, two
hundred and ninety nine dollars right now in the whole
Christmas or holiday setup. It's a great deal. How do

(01:09:14):
they do that? I think it's just an investment because
truth be told, a transparency. If you start using a
kit like this, you're gonna you're gonna use Rigid tools,
and you can look at that. You can look at
this for rigid I like the rigid ones from a
consumer perspective, because if you register the tool within ninety days,
it has a lifetime service agreement, so that means parts,

(01:09:37):
service and so on free for the lifetime of the
of the product. But Riobi has an awesome set of
of combo kits Milwaukee, same kinds of savings on Milwaukee tools,
so just check it out. This is the time of

(01:09:57):
year if you've got somebody forming a new household or
a young couple's just gotten married, and one or the
other is a serious you know, do it yourself for
and this is a great entry solution. It's the same
amount of money, David that you and I paid for
our first combo kits and we got like three tools
in one of them was some kind of dorky flashlight.

(01:10:18):
Did I say that out loud? I'm sorry, But so
this is a great deal. But check out all of
them because you might be you might be down a
different path. We just heard, you know, a commercial for
for Makita Comparable Savings and all those arenas. So it's
a great time to buy these sorts of things. All right, Uh,

(01:10:38):
we're going to be tight on a break again. Holy
counts because I messed up to the first one. When
we come back. We talked about the pocket door, but
there's a lot of questions this week, David about gas logs,
so maybe we'll tackle that when we come back from
our break. If you've got different questions, folks, call us
at seven oh four, five seven eleven ten or at

(01:10:58):
same number for or for a text. You can text
us at fat number, or as David pointed out, send
us an email at questions at ask John and Dave
dot com. We'll be back to the Home Deep over
Provement Show right after these important messengers. Welcome back. It's

(01:11:46):
the Home Deep Home Improvement Show with John and Dave.

Speaker 3 (01:11:48):
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval seven oh four or.

Speaker 2 (01:11:51):
Five seven eleven ten. We're in the lightning round. Last
opportunity to give us a shout this week, do it?
Here comes fanatic. Good morning. I'm the Home Deep Home
Improvement Show with Dave.

Speaker 11 (01:12:00):
How are you just a good morning? Happy holidays?

Speaker 2 (01:12:04):
Happy holidays.

Speaker 11 (01:12:04):
I was called thank you, I was calling I had
someone whether come into to take the fast off of
my own where to get the holes off my washer,
and they couldn't get it off, and they I said, well,
I put some DEFOI on. They said they couldn't get
it off either way they were breaking or something. So
what they end up doing they they cut it. They
cut it the space that would the faucett go in

(01:12:27):
at the hot and cold water, and they you know,
put the new one in and they uh, they went
underneath of that. They cut a hole underneath of that
fasted in my wall. I wondered with that necessary to
do that?

Speaker 2 (01:12:41):
It's what what it may have been, Finetta is do
you know what do you have galvanized pipes in the
house or are they copper or do you know PBC?
Do you know what the supply lines are made of?

Speaker 10 (01:12:53):
I wouldn't know.

Speaker 2 (01:12:54):
I know, he was it's a dumb question on my partner.
It's my it's that's okay. Uh yeah. So that's I
think that they did the right thing is because if
if that had broken in an opportune place, they'd have
to they would have had to make the same repair, right,
So they just opened up that wall, got down on

(01:13:14):
the pipe where they could manage everything, and then they
could start there and move the correct plumbing back up
and put a shut off valve for the hot end
for the cold in its place. So as cumbersome as
that probably was in my own home, I believe I
probably would have done the same thing, David, I defer
to you on that. Uh No, that's if there's something

(01:13:36):
I'm missing.

Speaker 3 (01:13:37):
That's where the repair would have needed been made. So
they did. They replace the whole washer box, the where
the where the spicketts are yees.

Speaker 11 (01:13:45):
So they put the new speak it up there, but
they didn't feel any like. They didn't put the little
cover over. They left and open a gap in this.
And I was skipped back because when I turned the
heat on in the house, the heat.

Speaker 2 (01:13:55):
Go through the wall.

Speaker 8 (01:13:56):
It sucked it up through the wall.

Speaker 2 (01:13:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (01:13:58):
Yeah, so you've got to come back and do that.
But when I'm concerned about they went up underneath of that.
When they placed the foster, the new fosters, they went
up underneath. They cut a hole in the wall.

Speaker 2 (01:14:10):
They know what they can do that for a future.
I mean, you probably don't have to deal with it
ever again. But they could put what's called an access
panel over that. And it's it's something you can buy
at the home improvement store and it just fits into
the wall and it's got a door on it that
you can open up and close. It's either that or

(01:14:32):
I know, in working with some older homes, especially where
things were kind of hidden by like a washing machine,
we've put just a piece of of plywood, thin plywood,
with some gramets and screws and just screwed it in
and painted at the same color as the wall, so
that if we had to have access to that again
we could. And older homes where you may want to

(01:14:53):
clean out drains and things and it's hard to access,
that's a solution. It's just called an access panel. You
should cover that up for any of a number of reasons,
not the least of which is what you're saying. The heat,
the loss of heat in the wintertime and cool in
the summertime. So right, but but the perspective, go ahead,

(01:15:14):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 11 (01:15:15):
I'm sorry. When he cut the hole into the wall.
He did put the pad back and then he glued
it up in there. But I'm not pleased with in
a way because I'm thinking it might like shift down,
you know, by the machine and stuff running. I was
hoping that they can like put a little mud on
it and wipe it down.

Speaker 3 (01:15:33):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they could.

Speaker 2 (01:15:35):
They could just patch that with like a regular drywall patch. Yes,
but they don't want to do that.

Speaker 11 (01:15:40):
He said, he's gonna put a piece of some kind
of plastic over and and and leave it like that.

Speaker 3 (01:15:45):
And there's that. Well, yeah, he's gotta put up that
sounds like an access store. That is what they're going
to put in there. But they normally the plumber doesn't
do that. So that's two different, right, No, no, no,
too different.

Speaker 11 (01:15:59):
Put the said the plumber put the plane. And he
told me, he said, I'm not a I'm a plumber,
and I'm not a sheet rock You a sheet rock man.

Speaker 8 (01:16:07):
He said, you gonna get.

Speaker 11 (01:16:08):
A sheet rock man to come here and do that.
But to the people that that had him to come
out to do the faucet, they don't want to come
out and and to do that. They want to put
a piece of a plasket over. And I asked him
if you well, I said, could you just put the
sheep rock a little mud over and this painted this,
paint that spot and this is And they got me
going riding around the circle.

Speaker 3 (01:16:26):
So yeah, well, believe it or not, there's something you
could do yourself. It's not that hard. Probably could watch
what he told me. You could probably watch a video
and the next thing you know, it'll be Faneta's drywall service.

Speaker 11 (01:16:38):
If I they said, if I can make a cake,
I can put the ice on the keg. I can
do that.

Speaker 3 (01:16:42):
That's They're exactly right. It's that and the beauty is
is if it doesn't look pretty, you could just send
it off and do it again.

Speaker 11 (01:16:48):
There you go, All right, Well, I got my answer
that I appreciate it. But you said it was it
was necessary to cut that hole in it.

Speaker 2 (01:16:55):
It sounds like to connect that.

Speaker 3 (01:16:56):
Yes, yeah, they.

Speaker 11 (01:16:58):
Went outside and turned the walk and when I say
out and turned the water and then it came back in.

Speaker 3 (01:17:02):
Ye, yeah, they did.

Speaker 2 (01:17:04):
You right, you're you're in good hands on that.

Speaker 11 (01:17:08):
When they couldn't hold it while they did, You're right.

Speaker 2 (01:17:11):
Yep, yeah, they had to go there.

Speaker 3 (01:17:13):
That was the cheapest way to do it.

Speaker 2 (01:17:16):
Okay.

Speaker 11 (01:17:16):
All I didn't and I'm satisiede with it because I
listen at y'all Saturday morning. I'm in Chester, South Carolina.

Speaker 2 (01:17:21):
Oh oh my gosh, Well, thank you. We appreciate you listening,
and we're glad you called for that. Thank you.

Speaker 8 (01:17:27):
Happy holidays, You're happy holidays to you.

Speaker 2 (01:17:30):
Merry Christmas. Thank you, my boy, God blessed for that.
She's done it, right. Yeah, and David, you're right, a
little thing, a little YouTube video and pretty soon, I mean,
I'm pretty sure you could probably do neurosurgery from YouTube
if you can.

Speaker 3 (01:17:46):
And that's the beauty of dry walls that that you can.
You can put it on there, you can stand it off,
and you could paint it. And and it's what's even better, John,
as you already said, it's behind the washing machine. Yeah
you can't, you're really not even nobody's gonna see it.
The main thing is to stop the air movement, which
is exactly what she was talking.

Speaker 2 (01:18:03):
With an NFL right. She knew him immediately what the
challenge was. So yeah, all right, So there there we go.
We got a couple minutes left. I want to get
one thing in here for sure. So my neighbor, this
is from my neighbor, Frank and Frank, if you're listening
to here we go. So all these homes that we
live in have a builder grade. They have built in

(01:18:27):
gas logs are on LP. So we have LP gas
logs and they're a builder grade and it's I don't know,
they're just terrible, like they don't put out any heat.
It's and so Frank wants to replace him. He got
somebody out and they said, no, we have to take
the entire firebox out, and they're replaced the whole fire

(01:18:48):
box out. They're vented by the way, and to take
the firebox out now you know, you're taking ceramic tile
down and just it's just a big fat mess. My
sense is with the LP gas plumbed into the existing firebox,
you can get a set of logs sized for that
firebox and just replumb them to the LP and get

(01:19:09):
out of life. Am I Am I missing a detail.

Speaker 3 (01:19:12):
That or probably not. I mean it just depends on
if there's room and if you could find something. So
some of the stuff is very narrow and they only
make what that was custom made to fit in that
particular box. That's possible, you know, and you could get
away from the logs and put a burner in there.

(01:19:33):
And just like we don't have logs, we have glass.
We have there's a yeah remember yeah, yeah, it's a
mirror on the back and we like it. And I
mean it's like forty two thousand BTUs. It'll run you
out of there. So but it is ours is vented
as well, so but it's narrower, it's not as deep
as a normal unit, so he may be able to

(01:19:55):
get away with something like that. So maybe look down
those lines unless they're just it's dead set up on
having logs, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:20:01):
No, I'll find out. Good point. I appreciate that. Look,
we are gonna be that we're gonna run out of
time before anything else we've got. We still have a
bunch of gas log questions, David, I'll say it until
next week we'll look at it, and then also some
things for the heavy duty winter rising stuff, so we'll
catch all that next time.

Speaker 3 (01:20:20):
It is not going to warm up anytime soon, that's
my guess.

Speaker 2 (01:20:23):
You know, there's a few data points to support that. Folks,
thanks for being with us this week. We surely appreciate
the calls. We like to remind you every single week
that we think that the most important kind of home
improvement you can make is the one that makes your
home a happier place to live in, especially in this
holiday time where everything can be predetic. Don't forget to
work on that project, and we'll see it next week
when we return to the whole deep Home improvement show

Speaker 3 (01:20:43):
With John and David Many