The Home Improvement Show 8-30-25

Tune in here for this 8-30-25 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 the realities of home maintenance as summer gives way to fall and the importance of staying proactive with projects around the house. They discuss seasonal challenges like protecting pools, keeping gutters clear from shedding live oak leaves, and using the right crawl space barriers to prevent moisture and even vegetation from taking hold. 

John and Dave emphasize that even small tasks, if left undone, can quickly pile up and become costly problems. They also share insights on choosing the right gutter protection systems, navigating the complexity of electrical switch replacements, and understanding plumbing and building material options.

Listen here for more!!!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The Home Depot Home Improvement Show with John and Dave presenter.
I tried pro answering your home improvement questions every Saturday
on News Talk eleven and ninety nine three WBT.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Good morning, everybody, Welcome to the Home depaulme 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 Dobie new Lips. Good morning, David Dole.
I'm a hard name to pronounce. Happy Labor Day weekend.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Yes, sir, doing anything fun? Yeah, we got a whole
house full.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Oh yes, well no, I said, don't you do anything fun?

Speaker 3 (00:40):
That's what I said. Nah, I'm discussing.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
That's good. That's good. That's good. Having family rounds always good. Yes,
it's it's time, man. I can't believe the summer has
gone streaming by a couple of things we have to
talk about this morning are sort of looking like fall.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Thinking things right, you know, just to just to it
wasn't long ago we were talking about trying to keep
the pool cool with a little shade we put over it,
and now we're trying.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
To like warm warm?

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah. Is it sucking the heat off at night? Man?

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Bad?

Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, it's gone.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
So we do you have a cover for it?

Speaker 3 (01:24):
We do? We have it covered up?

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yes, Yeah, so that's that's really the trick is just
a bit of a headache. But again, first world problems,
country cup problem is grateful for all the good things. Yeah,
we're going to take calls this morning at seven o
four five to seven eleven ten for a pleasant change pace.
I don't think that numbers changed in the thirty years
we've been out here messing with this. Seven o four
five seven eleven ten. You can also text us at

(01:49):
that same number using the WBT text line driven by
Liberty view of GMC, So lots of ways to have
conversations this morning. It's Labor Day weekends, and David, historically
we go one of two extremes on Labor Day weekend.
We have radio silence because everybody's got a house full
and they're doing something else. Or we get a lot

(02:10):
of questions because people are thinking, hey, I got the
extra day and I'm not going into the summer. Now
we're winding summer down, so they're going to get some
stuff done around the house. Either way, we'll uh, we'll
tackle what's good, any good, any good, like professional projects
going on.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
For you now. Just started a big garage and we've
just been working on that and you know, lots of
stuff in the works, lots of stuff coming up.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
So doesn't quit, No, no, it doesn't. It's there's always something.
In fact, Barbara and I were sitting down, I don't know,
doing something the other night and she's like, you just
keep you just keep asking me things about tasks around
the house, kind of like why do you keep thinking
of these things? Because there they are, they need to
be thought about, right, So even in a house it

(02:56):
doesn't need major renovations, there's lots to do. When you
are talking about projects, there's a lot that's good.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Well yeah, always always, there's always something to do and
if you don't do it, guess what and then it
piles up and you get behind.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
So yeah, the this week's project for the Gordons was
gutter protection. I decided, like I think I mentioned that
we have live oaks and I didn't know this, but
there are two kinds of live oak trees. They're beautiful,
love them. But one sheds its leaves in the spring

(03:31):
and one sheds it leaves in the fall. That delightful,
and we have fortunately, we have both on the property,
so it's perpetual anyway, and they're a pain and they
get in the gutters. And I realized that the last
rainstorm that my gutters need cleaned again, and so I've

(03:53):
been investigating gutter protection products. More to come, but I
think I'm going to do it, and I think I'm
going to use a very simple one. There's some really
crazy people out there by the way. Costwise, Oh my gosh,
I know. I'll just leave it at that. All right,
let's talk about your questions. Seven four, five, seven eleven

(04:16):
ten David, this morning, We've got all kinds of stuff.
We're in the crawl space, we're in the gutter. Talk
about water going across the driveway, catching it maybe and
directing it. Cultured marble, plumbing, supply lines, pecks, copper, CPBC, PBC, concrete, ceiling, steel, doors, LEDs,

(04:45):
all kinds of stuff. I spent two hours yesterday. My bad,
totally my bad. We have porch lights on this little
porch that we have and it's got four switches, I'm sorry,
three switches. It's a four way switch instead of just
two switches for a three way switch. Right, So I

(05:09):
bought a fancy lutron, like one of the ones that like,
I don't know, if you think about it in the shower,
the lights dimm or something. I don't know. The problem
is like I put it in, it would work, and
I'm like, how this can't be right, and you have
to like replace all of the switches right right, And

(05:31):
I'm like, yeah, I didn't do that, and at forty
nine bucks a pop, I'm probably not going to. So
I had to put everything back in place and just
go find a regular four way dimmer, which is not
as easy as it sounds when you're trying to find
the rocker switch, because that's what everybody is in this
house built for old people anyway, First world problems again.

(05:55):
So I guess my recommendation is pay attention when you
buy product, read the whole label. Don't pretend like you
know what you're talking about. Here's a question, David, that
is that I that's interesting you and I think have
talked in the past about like a hack almost that
we said, hey, do this while you're in the crawl space,
because it's it's kind of a good I don't know,

(06:16):
but the question was as simple as does the does
the poly erath the vice queen, polyethylene that you put
down in the crawl space have to be black? Does
it have to be.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
Black in some counties? I think in this state or
this county, in Mecklenburg County, I think it does have
to be black. And the reason is is that light
shines through the vents. If your vents are open, which
you know, stuff will grow and it makes it grow.
It's exactly right. So yeah, so black or an opaque
something that the light can't get through is what they want.

(06:54):
But I have seen it and of vegetation growing in
crawl spaces because they had clear plastic near event.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
It's a terrarium. It's like more complexity. All right, there's
a couple other crawl space questions and we'll jump into those,
but we really want to take your calls at seven
O four five seven eleven ten or text us at
that same number seven four five seven eleven ten. We're

(07:21):
about thirty seconds away from taking our breaks, so we'll
go ahead and get ready to do that, but do
you give us a Call'll be ready, grab a cup
of coffee and uh and get your questions ready. We'll
talk about your home improvement questions when we return to
the Whole Deeper Home Improvement Show with John and Dave.

(08:07):
Welcome back. It's the News Talk eleven ten, wbt's Home
Improvement Show with John and Dave.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
Seven oh four five, seven oh eleven ten. That's the number.
Give us a call. We're talking about seasonal milestones and Charlotte.
It's time for another seasonal milestone. It's the sixth annual
WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive Thursday September fourth. WBT and
the One Blood, Big Red Bus will be at the
Doghouse in Uptown Charlotte from ten am to three pm.

(08:38):
That's a lot of time. So like you can squeeze
some stuff, you can squeeze into your day a minute
for some blood because we'll be broadcasting live. Encourage you
to make a life saving blood donation. It's the sixth
annual version of the WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive. That's
this Thursday, September fourth at the Doghouse in Uptown. Visit
WBT dot com for location details and register your appointment.

(09:01):
Do it, do it, do it, do it. It's good. Okay, David.
We were talking about crawl space stuff and and sometimes
we don't like little things take for granted, like should
the should the poly be clear or black? We're saying
black for obvious reasons. Is do you build like a
little terrarium down there if you're not careful? But this

(09:23):
is one crawl space vents and guess what We're not
being asked should they be open or closed? It's like
my foundation vents keep falling out? What should I do?
We'll put them back? Next caller, please, how do you
how do you put them back there? So the ones
that are built when they do the foundation, you know,

(09:45):
the little metal ones that have the flange on top
that fits into you know, the mortar joint, those typically
don't fall out, although they fall apart pretty readily, right,
but you can I'm guessing that they're talking about the versions,
the PLA or the PBC versions that go back in
and then they've got a little screw on the side

(10:05):
that you're kind of tighten up and it pushes against
the block and holds it in place. Those can fail
fairly frequently. Do you have any little hacks that you
used to help keep those things in place?

Speaker 3 (10:16):
Well, usually we glue them. So we'll put glue because
there's normally a flange around it. It's that's a little
bit wider and and that ensures that they that they
cover and opening completely. And so what we do is
we'll use the compression screws that work off of each side,
but we'll put a dab of glue in each corner

(10:38):
and then and then hold them in place. And sometimes
if the you know, if the if it's if it's
uneven along the top, we'll seal the entire top with silicone.
And a lot of times, yeah, that's what we use,
is just clear silicone because you could still get them out.
You'll just take a putty knife and just just cut
that along there and slide it in behind it between
the brick and the the uh, the cock or the

(10:59):
vent and it'll it'll pop right out. Okay, all right,
So that's not the simplest way, right.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
So bad, I think, just while we're on that topic,
we've we've we've spoken about the automatic events versus the
manual events, and and usually recommend folks go with the
with the manual events.

Speaker 3 (11:22):
Right, And somebody had those events, and I think they're
still out there, but they're hard to find. The automatic
vents or what we're talking about with the flans in
the in the in the screws on each side that
work off compression. They made an identical one that was
a manually operated but you they're hard to find, you know,

(11:44):
you're right.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
I think what I was doing we were doing our
first flip house up in Hampstead. Uh it was. I
I ended up going to three or four different home
peoposts to find it. I you know what, I didn't
find them. I had to order them online.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yeah, I think had.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
I got them from home depot, but I had to
do it online.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
And I was surprised because it's the ideal way. If
you have an older home and the vents were in
bad shape, what a great way to replace them all
and so you have something that looks uniform. And they
operated great, they were they were perfect. I'm not a
big fan of the automatic vents because I think they
stay closed too long. Yeah, if you're going to do.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
It, you know, if you're going to that's probably not
the most expensive biometallic strip, right, So it's exact for
failing pogging or just sticking it pretty high. No, and
that was exactly the reason we wanted it to look.
You know, most of them worked, but a handful didn't,
and so we just replaced them all that way. But yeah,
we had to do it online. We had to go
online to find him and get them. And those are

(12:46):
big boxes. When you get like a dozen of those
things shift to your house. Yeah, all right, all right,
so that's uh, that's some cross space stuff. Let's get
up in the gutter. Low spot in the gutter, holds water,
hidden hangar probably solution, right, Yes, when you do that,

(13:09):
how do you gauge? I think? Am I remembering right?
You're supposed to have a quarter of an inch drop
over ten feet? Am I remember that? Right?

Speaker 3 (13:19):
I think? So, I'm not sure what it is. It's
it's it's it's very very limited drop.

Speaker 2 (13:26):
Yeah, it kind of has to be, right because you've
only got facia depths to play with. So if you
got seventy feet and it's more than that, pretty soon
you're down at the window.

Speaker 3 (13:37):
Yeah, I figure, yeah, so don't get that.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
We laugh, although we've seen that.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yeah, it's not a quarter inch per foot, it's a
quarter inch over a long time.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Mine gutters never clogged. But man, I hate looking out
the window. When I I was thinking though, what is
the pitch for plumbing.

Speaker 3 (14:02):
Not more than a quarter of an inch eighth or
quarter of an inch per foot.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
Per foot h Yeah, so you really couldn't use one
of those cheap levels to figure it out for your gutters.
No math.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
Those guys usually eyeball it, and they're they're pretty good
at it. I was at it. I was looking at
mine the other day and and I was at a
vantage point and I thought, wow, you know this thing
is it flows perfectly. It's it's it's it's You could
just tell.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
Yeah, that's that's good. The the placement of down spouts is
kind of important.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
Well, and that's that's the key, is that if you
have if you have that seventy foot run you were
talking about, yeah, you've got to get it, because we
do on the back of our house, and we have
one long run and it has a large down spout
at each end. So it's it's high in the middle
and then pitched left and left and right and does fine.

(15:00):
I mean, it's it's it's never the only time we
have a problem is if I don't get the debris
cleaned out around the strainers that I have at the
down spouts.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
So it's it's uh, which, by the way, that's those
those things work pretty well.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
I remember you saying that, that's that's really the trick.
If you can get away with that and just have
to pull those things out occasionally, you're you're in a
good spot.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
Yeah, and that's normally what we have.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
Now.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
This last time I cleaned, I had to shovel dirt
out of them because there was so much dirt from
the construction across the street. And I was pretty shocked.
I used to I used a kid's sand shovel, uh
from right, Yeah, that's what I went, and I just
I just I scrubbed him. I just cleaned out as
much as I could, and then I washed the rest
of it. And then I just stuck a hose in

(15:49):
the down spout and let it run for five minutes,
trying to wash the the dirt out to the road
because everything is piped out to the ditch. So and
the good news was I was able to go out
to the ditch because I have a bunch of rock
out there that the water drains onto, and I could
see debris and dirt and sand and all that washed

(16:09):
out to the streets. So that I knew that it
was it was running away, you know, does not stop it.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Yeah, so you could watch, you can monitor it and confirm. Yeah,
that makes sense. Hey, We've got a text on the
WBT text line driven by the libertybut GMC from Cohen
and it says, hey, crawl spaces. Are there any product
you can recommend for moving fungal growth on wooden joists?
Is X fourteen good? I'm not familiar with X fourteen,

(16:41):
but David, you and I have spoken about conchrobium. I
think to do that, and there's a couple of ways
to do that. Conchrobium. First, we like it because it
has a long lasting effect and it's innocuous from a
a toxic or like caustic chemical perspective. It's uh, sodium

(17:07):
bicarbon and I think, or isn't it that's sodium carbon
and and soum carbonate carbonate, right, and and so it's
it's environmentally safe. It encapsulates the spores so it can
clean away what's there, But then it encapsulates remaining spores
so that they don't pollinate. For want of a better,

(17:30):
a better heart, a better I'm sorry, a better totally
totally blank, trying.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
Well Yeah, because you're you're you're you're encapsulates. It can't grow.
The only problem with with something like that is that
you really do have to if you have a big
build up. It's hard to get rid of the stains
with with that product. You almost have to have a
chlorine or the what did he say it was the thirteen.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
X x fourteen fourteen?

Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah, yeah, that thirteen was the previous version. I'm just kidding.
And I don't know if you've seen that x fourteen,
but it it makes that stuff disappear kind of like
thirty second bleach does, which makes me think that's probably
what it is.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
Okay, So that product, then, I think, would be good.
We just like the concrobium to prevent it from coming
back to the greatest extent possible, I think, right, And
then I know we're going to be right up against
the break, so we'll go ahead and take it. We
can talk about the adamizer or the mister or the
conchrobium mister that can be effective when you have large

(18:38):
scale challenges. Folks will do all that. When we return
to the Home Deep Home Improvement Show with JOHNA. Dave,
don't go away, We'll be back after these important messages,

(18:59):
we'll welcome bout. It's the whole Deep Home Improvement Show
with John and Dave.

Speaker 3 (19:02):
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
We're at seven four five, seven eleven ten, or you
can text us at that number using the WBT text
line driven by Liberty View. Ork GMC got some great
texts out there real quick before we jump back on
that and before we do our product of the week. David,
we were talking about conchrobium for was it a Cohen

(19:27):
for Cohen asked a question about X fourteen good product.
We were talking about conchrobium, and there's a foger coen.
If you have big issues or a lot of it,
and you don't want to just go space by space,
you can use a foger, a conchrobium fogger that will
encapsulate the mildew on the framing members, but you you

(19:50):
may still see it right, so it'll still be visible,
so you may want to aggressively agitate and get it
off and then use conchrobium. Foger is expensive if you
buy it, it's like between four hundred and five hundred dollars,
so probably not an investment. You may choose to make
to use once or twice in your life. I'd have

(20:10):
to go back and check it. Used to be the
Home Depot would rent those, and maybe if Home Depot
doesn't rent them anymore, you may find another rental company
locally that would rent it to you, so you don't
have to spend a lot of money just to use
it one time. So that's it. Let's also take a
second right now and do our Home Depot Product of
the Week this week. Like everything else in the world,

(20:34):
appliances have become a very expensive investment. There's a lot
of great stuff, and they're very energy efficient with a
lot of conveniences, but they're not inexpensive, and so I
wanted to call out this particular product. This is a
ge profile product, so it's a higher end product. But

(20:56):
I kind of like to encourage people, Especially when you
make an investment in something like an appliance, there's cost
of acquisition, cost of ownership. Now you can certainly dial
down the bells and whistles of what you get. But
the one I'm looking at right now is a twenty
seven point nine almost twenty twenty eight cubic foot refrigerator.
It's the smart refrigerator. So it's got all the kind

(21:17):
of Wi Fi connections and things you can do. But
here's a couple of things that I like about this
particular one. It's stainless steel, but it's got the fingerprint
resistance resistance stainless steel finish, right, so you don't see
fingerprints every time somebody touches the door. It's got led lighting,
So why is that important. Well, it's good and bright,
but also when you turn the light on or you're

(21:38):
open it up, it's not adding a whole bunch of
heat into the part of the refrigerator that you're trying
to keep cool. It's got door and door storage, so
very efficient, a lot of space. It's got a third
drawer that's temperature controlled, so you can make it very cold,
or you can make it work like a almost like
a beverage cooler. And again it's got to built in

(22:00):
Wi Fi. Do you need that to live or die?
Probably not, but it's a feature that is pretty cool
and it actually lets you do some things from an
energy efficiency perspective. And then finally, it's got an advanced
water filtration system. Where we are is not different from
a lot of people. Water supply is good, fine, but

(22:23):
it's not like I don't know, I just remember the
days of getting water out of Lake Michigan, and it
was I don't know, it was just different. This filtration
will actually take out some I you have to go
read the fine print, I guess, but some of the pharmaceuticals, David,
you and I've spoken about the fact that our water
treatment companies really struggle to get drugs out of the

(22:47):
system and people just flush their you know, use prescriptions
down the toilet, right, So this will actually filter out
pharmaceuticals ninety eight percent of hydropofen. It's got a big
list of things here that I can't even pronounce, but
that's it. That's why I think it's the product of
the week. Here's what's really cool. It's not cheap. It's
like twenty six almost twenty seven hundred dollars, but that

(23:09):
is a savings of almost a thout. It's about a
It is a thirty nine point some percent savings over
the regular price. And there's an additional deval going on
right now with the home depot. If you buy an
appliance between nine hundred and sixty seven and nineteen ninety
five you get an additional hundred dollars all the way
up to additional four hundred and fifty dollars. So I

(23:29):
need to shut up now. It's going to sound like
a own deeper commercial. I never want to do that,
but this I got kind of revved up when I
looked at this, especially knowing what it's like to try
to purchase appliances and maintain good appliances. They're not inexpensive,
so make wise imprudent investments, I guess is kind of
what I'm thinking about there. All right, back to text,

(23:52):
looking at Let's see Love Eric, a process that had
helped clear up clogged French drains. David, you and I
have spoken about this. Eric has the gutters that go
down into the corrugated pipe and then out to the
street or to wherever the appropriate discharges. And if your
downspouts get clogged up, then it goes into the drain,

(24:14):
and if it's flung enough, the entire drain gets clogged up.
That's a tough one, right because you can't typically put
it's typically black corrugated pipe, and if you put some
sort of router device in there, you're just tearing it up.
Have you had any luck with water pressure.

Speaker 3 (24:32):
Well that's normally how they how they do it now,
so they'll go in with a jetting machine, same way
that they clean sewer lines out, and you know that
works for you know, dirt and debris. It's not going
to do a whole lot for the roots. So you know,
obviously they have a camera that you can send down
as well, so you can clean it and then send

(24:53):
the camera and then they can mark it and find
the roots, you know, the area where the roots are.
Then you would have to dig it up and cut
the roots out and then you know, replace that that
section of pipe. So it's not easy. I mean, if
you're going to do it, you're better off to bite
the bullet and use PVC. You don't have to use
Schedule forty. You could use a lighter pipe. I used

(25:16):
Schedule twenty and it was it was fine. But you
know it's it's just as you said, you can't put
a cutter in uh in the corrugated because it'll destroy it.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah, So, so Eric appreciate the text. Thanks for the question.
I think I would try. I would David, are you
aware of someone out there that will actually do just
that kind of work?

Speaker 3 (25:41):
Well, yeah, most most most plumbing companies are drain cleaning companies.
That's what they use, so it could get a little pricey.
But also what was the name Shine, right they offered
They offered that service. I'm not sure that they still
do Shine as a uh a window gutter cleaning company,

(26:03):
and that was something that they offered. But I think
you actually, if you have you could rent a pressure washer.
If you don't own one, you have to have something
kind of substantial and then rent enough hose. But you
can buy that tip and you may be able to
rent that that that tip also that goes on the
end of the hose, because that's what you're doing is
you're feeding that hose down end and through the through

(26:27):
the pipe. So you may be able to rent it
and do it yourself.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Is that like the rotating kind of tiped it.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
It uh, it just has it has a zero degree
in the front, so it's it's it's it has that
and then it has jets or has streams of water
there that are blowing backwards as well, so.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
As you can evacuated.

Speaker 3 (26:49):
Well yeah, well, and it also helps push it through
it and so it washes and so it it's it's
a pretty cool it's a pretty cool method.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
You know.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
It just depends on how clogged up it as I guess.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
Okay, well, Eric appreciate the text. I hope that's helpful,
and we'll move on. It's time taking another break. My gosh,
that was a quick segment. Seven oh four five seven
oh eleven ten. You can call us at that number.
You can text us at that number. We'll take your
questions when we return to that number after these important messages.

(27:58):
Welcome back. It's the Whole Deep Home Improvement Show with
China Dave. I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval. We're at
seven o four five seven four five seven eleven ten
by phone or by text. Jimmy has a question about
a cross space. Jimmy, good morning. If you're on the
Home Deep Home Improvement Show with China Dave. How are
you Jimmy there? Hello? Hello, Hey Jimmy, We hell Hey,

(28:24):
how can we help Jimmy hearing us? Hey? Go ahead, Jimmy, Yes, sir,
I got a question.

Speaker 4 (28:34):
I used iPhone and I sprayed my my attic uh,
and I was wondering could I use that in a
cross space or installation?

Speaker 3 (28:46):
You you can they do spray foam in cross spaces
and here you wow, hello, yeah, we're here. Watch you
call us back. See if we can get to keep going. Okay,
how about now, hey, Jimmy.

Speaker 4 (29:00):
Real fall away.

Speaker 5 (29:02):
I can sar you real fall away. I don't know why.

Speaker 3 (29:04):
Okay, he's working on it. So let's let's see if
we can get it figured out. We're gonna put it.
I would just put you on hold for a second,
and uh, do you have your radio nearby?

Speaker 2 (29:19):
Off?

Speaker 3 (29:19):
Okay, once you turn it back on, can you hear me? Now?

Speaker 2 (29:25):
Got off?

Speaker 1 (29:25):
I work actually.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
Okay, so Jimmy sounds like you got your radio back on.
So yes, you can spray a crawl space. It's it's
not always the best use of of foam because it,
you know, it could be a little pricey. I mean,
I think it's worth it in this climate. I think
it's worth it. In the attic. You're really better off

(29:50):
if you if you if you're gonna insulate the crawl
space to either put traditional insulation in the in the
crawl space floor system, or you put it on the
perimeter on the walls and then they do a liner,
you know, full encapsulation that gives you that that's probably
money better spent on a crawl space in my In

(30:12):
my my opinion, John, I think you go that same
way because you get you're getting more bang for your
buck when you when you when you do that type
of encapsulation in the crawl space, you get insulation and
you're you're you're you're stopping the water, the moisture coming
from the ground.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
When when we did our house, we sprayed the attic,
we talked about doing the walls and possibly the crawl space,
and they the people that did it, sell insulation for
a living, and he said, you really would be better
off just to put traditional insulation in those those spaces.
We have a semi a semi encapsulated crawl space or

(30:53):
it's a hybrid system, so our vents are closed, we
have a dehumidifier, we have a ten mili plastic that
is taped at the joints, and of course all of
our down spouts are we we've controlled all the water
so we don't have any water getting in the crawl space.
And I also have drains at the low end of
our crawl space, so if water was to get in there,
it would make its way to those drains. So I

(31:17):
really I probably would spend my money elsewhere versus foaming, foaming,
foaming the crawl space. Not it's probably not necessary. Now
you can, John, and you guys have probably been doing
some of this in your in the house that you
guys are flipping, sealing up holes and penetrations.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
Yes, well, and in this particular house we we're in
right now, we actually did choose to seal the cross space.
I mean, it's an investment house, but it just felt
like the right thing to do for whoever was going
to get this behind us. And and Jimmy, great question.
Kudos to you for investing wisely in the house overall.
But I think you're right, David, if you're going to

(31:55):
spend that amount of money on foam, I would just
get the benefit of of sealing everything up and then
not having to worry about it. If you don't want
to spend if you just say, hey, I can spend
money or not spend money, then don't spend the money
and just go with fiberglass insulation.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
Okay, Jimmy, I hope that helps. Okay says I'm gonna
pull them back up just to see. Uh, Okay, hey Jimmy.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yeah, sir, did you did you hear that?

Speaker 5 (32:22):
Really?

Speaker 3 (32:27):
Okay? Send us a send us a note at send
us a note at our website. Uh, ask John and
Dave dot com. Hit the questions button or questions at
ask John Dave dot com and we can finish that.
I'll put a phone number in there, Uh, Jimmy, so
we can if if I have time, I'll give you
a call. We'll chat about it, all right. I hope

(32:48):
that helps.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
All right, Jimmy. If if you were not able to hear,
I hope it helped everybody else listening who was able
to hear appreciate the call. All right. Let's see. I
think that there were several crawl space questions and all
the things we had this week. But but I think
we've covered that up. Let's talk. Let's go back. It

(33:15):
was Eric who was asking about, you know, getting the
lines for your the drain lines going to the street
or to wherever the builder directed them cleaned up. This
is kind of related to it, and it's it's a
question about a lot of water moving across a driveway

(33:35):
and and what's a good way to deal with that
to direct it where it should go. We've heard we've
had challenges, David, I think where folks have called us
and there's so much water moving across the driveway it
actually gets up into the garage right the pitch of
the driveway as such, and it could be bad planning
at construction, could be any of a number of things.

(33:57):
But we've talked about two solutions. One of them is
UH using and I'm drawing a blank on the product
that's the drain great that you can actually put down.
You cut the concrete, you put It's almost like putting
a gutter into the driveway and then letting the water
move through that gutter to a point and and be

(34:21):
discharged or hitting hitting another one of these lines like
we're talking about for the gutters. UH, what do you
remember the name of that?

Speaker 3 (34:28):
I can't remember any type of any type of trench drain.
I mean there's there's dozens of them out there that
are available. You just if you if you put it
in a driveway, you just need to make sure that
it's designed to be driven over. Because there's lighter weight
UH products out there that you use for around a
swimming pool or through a sidewalk, right, But but the

(34:51):
the heavy duty ones will usually have UH it's a
real thick plastic top.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
Big thick, yeah, or a metal I've seen the metal top.
Actually that's crews into the big heavy dew the gray
PVC or vinyl underneath. And then and then you can
put discharge points at several different places. You can put
it at the end, you can put it the middle,
carried away another thing, and actually we're doing it at
the at this property that we're on right now. Is

(35:19):
one of a better term like a catch basin at
the top of the driveway because that's where the water moves,
and then we'll let it run into that and then
from that drain box take it out and let it drain.
So there's a couple of different ways to think about it.
A good landscaper would be a partner to have you
help kind of brains through the best way to direct
the water. And then after that you can you can

(35:41):
engage whoever you need to to to install a you know,
a drive over drain grate. I think we answered that questions.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
I think that's it, and it's the ds is who
you were talking about.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
Thank you again. Check it online. You can see you
can it may make more sense if you go online.
Check that out and you can sort of see the
product and then and I think the lights will go
off and say, okay, I see how this could work.
The other challenge though, there, David, also, isn't we make
it sound like, oh, this is a super simple thing.
I mean, depending on what your situation is, you may
be cutting concrete right sure, but it's not the end

(36:21):
of the world. Uh. But but again it's it's not
it's not just though, I'll just drop this thing in place, right,
So there's there's a little bit of work to be
done to make it function the way you want it
to function, or function correctly. But again, uh, cost of acquisition,
cost of ownership. Do it right the first time, save
you lots of headaches down the road. All right, let's see,

(36:42):
we got about a minute and change left here. I
think we can answer this one really quickly, David, cultured
marble top has lost its gloss. It's just kind of
dulled out. And now that the substrate, for want of
a better term, is exposed, there really isn't a lot
you can do to ren is there.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
No. I mean, you shell gloss, but you can you
can do that, but it's probably not gonna it's probably
gonna do what you need to do. But there are
if you don't want to change the tops out, you
can go to a uh they have codings out there.
So people that that spray countertops. We we had somebody
on one time that that that had a product that

(37:23):
you could paint over your countertop. So I'm not sure
how long that stuff lasts, if it's just a band
aid or if it just gets you by, but it's
it's one thing that you could do. But really, in
the end, if it's a vanity top, if it's cultured marble,
which is what it sounds like, yeah, you probably can
just measure that and and and go to your local
your local home improvement store and and grab a top

(37:46):
and change that thing out.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
By the time you spend the money exactly upgrade. Yeah,
we'll be behind that, all right. We got to take
a break. Seven four or five, seven eleven ten. That's
the number for call. That's the number for text using
WBT text line driven by Liberty View et GM. Don't
go away. We'll be back to the Home improvement.

Speaker 1 (38:02):
Show right after this, The Home Depot Home Improvement Show

(38:48):
with John and Dave pre Center. Bye, try pro answering
your home Improvement Questions every Saturday on News Talk eleven
ten and ninety nine three WBT.

Speaker 2 (39:01):
Welcome back, everybody. It's our number two with the whole
Deep Home Improvement Show with John and Dave.

Speaker 3 (39:05):
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Loving the calls of the texts folks. Seven O four
five seven eleven ten. That's called the dial in number,
or you can text us at that same number using
the WBT line text line driven by Liberty Buick GMC.
Thanks to the folks there for making all that work
good stuff. This week we're Labor Day Weekend, celebrating labor,

(39:29):
celebrating a little bit of relaxation from labor and taking
care of taking care of our homes. David, I think
we've hit on the catch basins. Ryghway, Here's here's a
question that I think we've dealt with a lot. There's
actually several things, so maybe we can kind of step
through each of them. They're all related to plumbing and

(39:52):
plumbing supply lines. The first question was is reckon pex
copper CPVC? And then there was a related question that
was just thinking in the PVC world, like PVC versus CPVC.
So maybe let's take a second, and when we're talking

(40:14):
about PVC supply lines, so where it's going to be
part of your drinking water supply, that's where it needs
to be CPVC versus PVC. Correct, And could you take
a second on that.

Speaker 3 (40:29):
Yes, CPVC is for water lines and PVCs for drain, drain,
vent waste. Okay, and so so I'm sorry, I was
reading a email.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
That's that's all right, that's all right. I think just
simply it helps to understand if you think about chlorine
being used to make water pure or clean or drinkable. CPVC,
I think stands for chlorinated polyvinyl chloride, So there's an
extra I didn't pay enough attention in organic chemistry to

(41:06):
explain that, but but that is used wherever drinking water
or supply line is in you can get PVC. Like
there's I think three quarter one inch white PVC typically
used for irrigation systems. It's a thinner wall and it's
not suitable for supply lines or interior plumbing. But that's

(41:28):
that would be I think the easiest way, or at
least in my brain, it's the easiest way to remember
the difference. But then the question is all right, you've
got pecks, you've got copper, you've got CPVC. On this
house that we're in, we had galvanized pipe. We're not
going to go there ever. Again, I don't think between

(41:49):
those three pecks, copper, and CPBC. What are your thoughts, David.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
I am a I really like pecks. I mean, I
don't get me wrong, I love copper, but it's just
so expensive and.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
It's hard work, harder to work with.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
It's harder to work with. And of course they have
crimping tools now so you can crimp. You don't necessarily
have to use solder. But the seat the pecks is
my is my favorite. It's fast, Uh, it's it's a
it's a quick, quick crimp. You can crimp your fittings.
You can bend it. There's a lot of times if

(42:25):
you have the space, you can bend it instead of
putting an extra fitting, which means you have less opportunity
for leaks. I just think that it's it's as long
as it's gonna hold up and there's not gonna be
a problems with it. Same thing, the chemicals they put
in the water to keep the water from killing us,
essentially really making you sick is sometimes it's the same

(42:48):
chemical that degrades the fittings or or the pipe. And
they've had some they've had some issues with certain brands
of of pecks, but nothing like it was with the
polybute lane and most of that was the fittings, right.
I think when they had the copper fittings with polybutilene,
I don't think they had much trouble. I think there

(43:09):
was still some problem with pipes and certain municipalities with
the with the however they were treating the water. I
think it was weakening the pipe and it was splitting.
But for the most part, I think it was always
the plastic fittings that that were the that were the issue.
So okay, uh love packs, love love working with it.
Hopefully there's not gonna be problems with it if it

(43:29):
If it is, there's a lot of houses. Yeah has
this been It's been used for years now, and uh,
it could be it could be a real problem.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
So so I think the other thing, if you think
about the CPVC, where you're using a cement, it's a
great it's a great joint, right because it fundamentally.

Speaker 3 (43:51):
Uh oh, it sounds like John uh dropped out you back, John, I.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
Think can you hear me?

Speaker 3 (43:57):
Yep? Got you?

Speaker 2 (43:58):
Okay, Yeah, I just I don't know what that was
the whole system maybe just blacked out and came back.
Fortunately all came back anyway. So it's a great connection,
but it's you're not supposed to use it for like
twenty four hours or something like that. After you make
a chemical weld. Also, whereas the pecks, once you make

(44:20):
the crimp, it's ready to go, and then they make
the little profittings David that have the kind of plastic
spacer I guess for one of a better term on
the end of it make it super easy, even if
you're gonna do it as a do it yourselfer. Right,
you don't have to be this wicked smart plumber guy
to make that work. All right, let's see we've got

(44:40):
I have noticed a roaring rumbling sound when I flushed
the commode in the front bathroom. Roaring rumbling sound, I
don't know, going through the pipe. Not unusual to hear
water if the the main drain is close. What do

(45:02):
you think, David?

Speaker 3 (45:04):
Yeah, so is it is it? Is it from the
Is it from the drain or is it from the
supply from the water coming into the to the toilet,
because if it's restricted, you know, sometimes it could just
make all kinds of awful noises and you know, actually
it's a whistle or a high pitched noise like that.
But but but I guess you could. You could. It

(45:24):
just depends on how you hear it and how you
describe it.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
So rumbling, Yeah, I don't know, it's uh, Johnah Edmunds. John,
if you can call us if you're not driving, that
would be great, and we'll try to tackle it with
a couple extra questions. If not, send us a noted
questions at ask John and Dave dot com and uh,
and we can maybe salute that out a little bit more,

(45:50):
all right, Uh seven or four five seven oh eleven ten?
We are about a minute away from.

Speaker 3 (45:59):
What did Julie's us. Julie's uh sent us a note
for to astrono Dave dot com and she says that
during a recent heavy rain, water came through a second
floor bathroom ceiling. She called in for remediation through the
insurance company. I'm assuming they came in and she had
a faulty boot around the exhaust pipe on the on

(46:21):
the roof. They it's repaired now, and the ceiling is
is is fixed, but the hole or the ceiling needs fixed.
So she has like a two foot by four foot
hole and it needs to be patched up and of
course painted. U she said. When looking through she saw
a crackboard in the attic, which is probably some type

(46:41):
of a knee brace. Sometimes they just split when they
put nails through them, but anyway, and then she also
has a GFI outlet in the kitchen that was installed
in it's not working properly. And the outdoor receptacles are
not working in the breakers off, So some that's going on. Yeah,
you probably do need an electrician, Julie. And then I

(47:06):
will I'll answer this. I'll help her out with us.
And she's she's looking for somebody to help her out.
She's not sure who to call. Uh, she doesn't want
to get scammed. So, uh, Julie, I got your note
and I'll take I'll take care of that. We'll see
if we can see if we can get that fixed
up for you.

Speaker 2 (47:25):
All right, We've got a couple of texts out here
where we'll get to him right after this break, so
we're gonna slide away. It's the Whole Deep Home Improvement
Show with John and Dave. We'll be back to take
your questions after these important messages. Welcome back. It's the

(47:53):
Whole Deep Home Improvement Show with John and Dave.

Speaker 3 (47:55):
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval.

Speaker 2 (47:59):
Folks love the calls. Leven the texts appreciated? Where seven four, five,
seven eleven ten. This one, here's a text. We've heard
this before. Love your show. Moved into a brand new house.
This is the part that's got me just a little
nerved out. With a split heat pump, I'm not sure

(48:19):
I know what a split like. They might be referring
to a couple things with a split heat pump, but they
were saying that after forty years, their experience was forty
years of gas heat and cheaper energy bills, especially in
the winter. They were a text person is amazed at
how much more expensive the heat pump is and how

(48:41):
much less comfortable they are. They don't get the warm,
cozy heat of gas. And the question is, I know
it would cost a lot, but it would be worth
to swap it out. So David a couple things on
this one. I wish David Drew was here with us.
This week instead of last week. But a brand new house,
I would, I would, I would. I would not be

(49:03):
surprised to hear this comment from somebody that had an
older heat pump, right, because they were not as efficient,
and they were not so they cost more and they
weren't as good as heating as the newer versions are.
But this is a brand new house, so it should
be the latest technology. So not sure what's up there.

(49:25):
I think we would recommend, like if you get to
start from scratch, it sounds like natural gas is available
for for this person, we would recommend take get the
best of both worlds. Heat pumps and in certain conditions
are the most energy efficient way to produce heat and cold. Right,

(49:47):
heat and cool, But then there comes a point, especially
on the heating side, where extreme cold they have to
have auxiliary electric kick in and and then that's that's expensive.
A dual fuel system which uses a heat pump to
cool always, and then it uses a heat pump to

(50:09):
heat when the outside temperature range stays above or stays
I mean even into the low to the mid twenties
when it gets really cold outside. Instead of the high
resistance wires kicking in to add additional heat. Then a
natural gas fired system kicks in and now you get

(50:33):
the fast, less expensive high heat from gas versus relying
on the auxiliary heat strips to heat things up. Do
you think it's like this is a brand new house,
I mean, to change out to a dual fuel system.
I don't know all the size of the house, but
I'm guessing it's fifteen thousand ten, I.

Speaker 3 (50:56):
Would think twins. Yeah, it's somewhere in there, you know.
So yeah, I mean, I guess if you have the
money to, you know, to do it, you know, it's
it's certainly one way to do it. But I think
I would if it's not if it's not performing properly.
I mean, it could be as simple as as a
duct is leaking or loose or not connected or I

(51:19):
don't know.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
Yeah, I think I don't know how. It's his brand
new house, so I don't know how new is it's
still under warranty. Sure, it would be the worst thing
that would be get them out to take a look
and really do as you say, David, a duct inspection.
And to do they'll put a thermometer at the at
the you know, registers and measure the cold and the

(51:43):
heat coming out and tell you whether the system is
performing correctly. If you don't, if you're a little bit
leery about hey, I may not get an unbiased remark
or comment or feedback from you know, who has anybody
that has a vested interest in the situation. There's a
lot of good. I would call an independent HVAC person

(52:03):
out and just have them to take a look at it.
If you want to get really complicated, you could have
an independent person come out and do a load calculation
and just check to make sure that the system is
sized correctly for the house that you're in. Yeah, and
that that is possibly be another challenge.

Speaker 3 (52:23):
And that could have just been a screw up and
paperwork because all that's taken care of before when the
permit is drawn, so they have to size the system
and do the load calculations then, and it's possible that
maybe they put the wrong size unit in, So you know,
it could be just somebody comes out and does looks

(52:43):
at the paperwork says, oh, this is what's wrong, which
is on the builder on his and his subcontractor would
take care of that. But I mean, you won't know
unless you unless you call him out there and get
it looked at.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
But great question. I'll tell you. I grew up in
the North with gas heat and our first venture with
a heat pump was, you know, less than optimal. We
have one now and it's I I don't think I
would swap it. I don't know. I think I would
still take gas for the I would do the dual fuel.
So there is something about just that warm feeling coming.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
And that's that instant. But it's it's it's it's instant.
It's instant gratification. I think, uh, with gas, if you
think about it, because you turn the thermstat on the furnace,
and with a gas furnace and it's in in a
couple of minutes, you're warm, right, and so and it
and it takes a little bit longer for for a
heat pump to to be able to catch up when

(53:39):
it's really cold, right, you know. But I've seen the
mini splits in action and they do great. You know
on the heat side too, they'll they heat up pretty
pretty quick. But like you said, it's not as it's
it's not like it's not like a gas furnace. There's
nothing like it.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
Okay, So there we go. Great question and and I
hope that's helpful. I hope that helps out. I don't
have a name, so South Carolina person, lovea thanks, thanks
for texting. I hope that works out. Let us know
we'll be here again next week. God willing. All right,
here's a start. Oh this is just like I just

(54:18):
made a comment here. David and we talked about at
the beginning of the show. Cooler weather is coming, believe
it or not, and there was just some questions around
ceiling concrete and as the weather cools off, this is
a really good time to think about getting out seeing
the concrete, dealing with little cracks and stuff like that

(54:39):
is where of the cools and the concrete expands. So
nothing more than just hey, don't be afraid to don't
be afraid to start thinking about that kind of stuff
and making plans. Plan a weekend where you can get
out and do the driveway, sidewalks, whatever it is. Makes
a big difference when it comes time to clean up
in the fall as the leafs, as the leaves fall

(54:59):
and leave marks on the concrete, and in the spring
when the oak tags come down and leave marks on
the concrete. A sealed driveway, sealed walkway clean off super
easy versus busting out the pressure washer to make things
clean again. So that was anything on anything on ceiling.
I think we're I think we're good there. Yes, here's

(55:22):
one steel door is rubbing on the top of the
jam steel doors. There's a little bit of room that
you might have with a bit of sandpaper, just with
the thermal break the wooden thermal break the wooden't frame
on a steel door. But David, I'm willing to bet
that if it's rubbing on the top the bottom hinge,

(55:46):
if you draw it tighty up, you'll probably pull that
down and solve the problem. Right, Yes, that would be
my guess.

Speaker 3 (55:53):
That's where I would start.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
Yeah, don't don't try to do something to alter the
door if it's in the top. Just think of the
door as being less than square in the frame, so
it's not lined perfectly in the frame. And I wish
you could see my hands now that might help. But
if it's rubbing on the top and you got to
pull it so that that top doesn't run rub then

(56:15):
pulling it at that bottom. If it's top right, the
bottom left hand hinge will draw it up. If it's
top left, the bottom right hand hinge will typically draw
that door back to square and the rubbing will go away.
That would be and that means taking out a hinge
screw and replacing it with like a two and a
half or three inch screw driven all the way in

(56:37):
through the jam into the jackstud to pull that back
that frame back square. That's I think that's it. Typically,
it's not more complicated than that.

Speaker 3 (56:48):
Yeah, I mean, and if it's, if it is, I
mean a lot of times you can grab the door,
have the door in the open position, and you can
you can grab a hold of it and kind of
like you're trying to lift up or push down on it,
and keep an eye on the hinges and see if
there's much movement. That's a good point, you know, And
that is that that can tell you if you if

(57:10):
you're loose, if the hinge is loose from the jam,
or if it's loose from the door, or if the
knuckles are wore out, because you know, eventually door hinges
and pins wear.

Speaker 2 (57:21):
Yeah, they do. In fact, A good way to to
kind of make that determination is just to look at
the hinges closely, and if you see like a lot
of black like dust looks like dust, that's that's really
just really fine filings from the metal hinges that just
as they rub over each other over a period of time,

(57:42):
and and once those rub enough to your point, David,
then that they're the space is different and now you're
out of kilter. Sounds like Doors could use the chiropractors
to fix those joints kind of things. Get it, get
a line back up again. That would be maybe maybe,
I don't know, Door doctor, we could start a franchise.
What are you saying? All right, I think we're gonna

(58:04):
be close to a break here, so we'll get ready
to take it. Folks. This is the Whole Depah Home
Improvement Show with John and Dave. We are at seven
O four five seven oh eleven ten by phone or
seven O four five seven oh eleven ten by text
on the WBT text line driven by Liberty Buick GMC.
Give us a call, give us a text, we'll talkjus.
Your question is when we return to the whome Defaut
Home Improvement Show with John and Dave. Well, welcome back.

(58:53):
This is the Home Depot Home Improvement Show with John
and Dave.

Speaker 3 (58:55):
I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave Doval.

Speaker 2 (58:58):
Give us call we'd seven O four five, seven eleven
ten text us at the same number. It's time for
our Home Depot product of the week. It's it's this
is a really good time to buy appliances, and so
I'm will to take a second on that. There's a
whole bunch of stuff going on at Large. You can
check out the website, check out your store savings like
forty percent. The particular product that I want to talk

(59:21):
about this morning is a Ge Profile twenty seven point
nine qbic foot four door smart French Store refrigerator. It's
not inexpensive, but most appliances are not. The reason I
like The reason I really like this one is a
handful of things. Number one. It's a stainless steel, so
it looks great, but this particular one has a fingerprint

(59:41):
resistant stainless steel finish. It's got a hands free auto
fill for water. I don't know how critical that is,
but if you're going to have a water dispenser, it's
it's pretty cool. Led lighting bright lights the whole compartment,
but doesn't generate a ton of heat when the door
is open. The storage capacity and the way it's designed
to be able to move shelves around fit a gallon

(01:00:03):
of milk. Here something changes. You can actually move the
shelf and independently left side, right side, there's a third
drawer that you can change the temperature from very cold
to almost like a beverage cooler if you want. And
it's got a couple of features that really help the
refrigerator or the freezer took energy efficiently recover from protracted

(01:00:25):
periods of time where the door was opened. And then finally,
the filtration system in this the water filtration system actually
takes pharmaceuticals, some pharmaceuticals out of the water supply that
may not be taken out just in the day in
and day out treatment of your water. So all in
it's a really great product. This particular, you can get

(01:00:46):
this twenty seven point nine cubic foot refrigerator right now
at a one seven hundred dollars savings, So that's a
big savings, but it's also expensive. Twenty six ninety eight
right now is the price I'm looking at online. There's
an additional up to four hundred and fifty dollars you
can save depending on how much you buy. That's that's it.

(01:01:07):
I would encourage you to go and just check out
the overall things, because as expensive as this particular unit is,
make no bones about that, you can also get appliance
suites where you get refrigerator, dishwasher, stove, microwave and a
comparable price. So there's a lot of great savings to

(01:01:28):
be had right now for the Labor Day special. Let's
let's leave it at that and check it out, or
I'll just burn up more time. Okay, seven four five,
seven eleven ten, that is our number. Give us a call.
Let's see and our caller from South Carolina or a
text from South Carolina that said the split heap pump

(01:01:50):
is adducting. Is ducting stays in the house, evaporators in
the attic. So I'm taking that maybe it's it's a
dampers system as well as just a heat pump system,
which David I think begs that same question about the
load calculation could be really really tight.

Speaker 3 (01:02:07):
Well, yeah, it's and fits a two story. They can
use one system, but they have to use a zone system.
So it's possible there's there's some duct or some some
dampers that aren't opening. They open electronically when it and
closed whenever it's called calling for heat or cooling depending
on which thermostatus is reacting, So it could be something

(01:02:30):
as simple as that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
But in South Carolina, nascaar is right down there, it
might be right wild have a call just.

Speaker 3 (01:02:38):
To check it out there, absolutely, folks, we trust, so
all right, I'm gonna do a quick email.

Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
Yeah, yeah, go for it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:45):
Linda writes us, and she said that her house is
cedar siding. It's approximately thirty five to forty years old.
Said they're starting to see some rotted wood on the
ends of the cedar and a few bottom boards that
and also there's some paint peeling here and there, just
just just a little bit, and they want to maintain it.

(01:03:06):
What's you know, where they're asking what's what should they do?
What's the best thing that they can do? Well, I mean,
obviously this those boards just need to be replaced that
are rotted and recalked a lot of times on the
ends of the boards, it's either at a joint right John,
or where it meets a style where it's holding water,

(01:03:27):
where it's where it's able to get in easily, So
that needs to be that needs to be cleaned up.
If the boards are rotten, they need to obviously be replaced.
And then on the ends if it's if it's near
corner styles or whatever, it sounds like maybe the calking
needs to be replaced. And then if you have peeling paint,

(01:03:47):
a lot of times that's an indication on siding that
water is getting behind the siding and it's it's what
it's doing is the moisture is trying to come out
of the wood, and when it does and that paint's
blocking it push the paint off. It's called hydrostatic hydrostatic pressure.
So you know, I guess you could get that paint

(01:04:08):
peeled off of there and maybe treat it with cedar shield.
But thirty five or forty years old, I don't know
how much money do you want to spend on that
old siding. I guess it becomes the.

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
Question, right, well, but it also could be an aesthetic
decision too, right, So.

Speaker 3 (01:04:26):
It is, And I mean, of course you could put
cedar back up, and you can certainly replace those pieces.
And you know, it also depends on which side of
the house it's on. You know, the north or the
east side normally doesn't dry out as much as the
south of the west side, So maybe you really if
you pay attention to those two sides and do the
work there. You may be in good shape. So hopefully, Linda,

(01:04:49):
I don't know if you're listening. I hope you got that.
If not, but I'll follow I will follow up with
the email back.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
All right, good deal. We've got a text from Nate
wants to know how to get moss off of the
mortar joints on He's got a brick home, he's got
moss growing on it. He says. It seems to be
growing mostly on the concrete seams between the bricks the
mortar joints, some growing on front stoop. Not unusual for

(01:05:17):
it to be in the mortar joints more than on
the brick, Nate, just because the mortar joints hold the
moisture where the brick may not, or as much not
difficult to get rid of. Pressure washing is very effective.
The only caution we would give you there is gallons
permitted versus pounds per square inch is typically a better solution.

(01:05:38):
And if you have a tumbled brick, so it's got
a color or like a grain kind of surface to it,
it's not just a red brick that would be Really
you have to be I don't know that I would
recommend pressure washing those bricks because the likelihood of you
just taking that surface off is high, and then you

(01:05:58):
have another problem as far as how it looks. But
the if you have a large area, the pressure washing
solution on the right brick will be effective. If you
have just a small area, like on the stoop, I've
taken it out just using a wire brush in a
regular hose, So that would be a David. Anything there
that I missed.

Speaker 3 (01:06:17):
Well, no, I mean, and I think that's a place
that you could probably use a little outdoor bleach as well.
And then it will it will light and we get
that on the our steps are on the front side,
all brick, and we get it. We get a little
bit of that. Uh just because of where it's at
doesn't get as much sun. And so that's I normally
just put it in a spray bottle and hit it

(01:06:39):
and then I can just hose it right off. Okay,
so you go so to clean it right up. If
it gets real thick, you know, then you you're right, John,
you do have to wire brush. I usually catch mine
before it gets crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:06:51):
There you go, All right, let's see Jim's got a
question Jim, Good morning on the Hole Deepomer Prove and
Show with John and Dave. How are you Oh?

Speaker 6 (01:06:58):
I heard you guys just talking about boards and rotting
or in or replacing. And my question is is it
possible to maybe put a cladding type material over your
facier boards, not disrespecting the color of the paint obviously,
but maybe going with some neutral white for the future,

(01:07:21):
just to keep from having to replace space boards again
or worry about caulking or insects and that sort of.

Speaker 3 (01:07:27):
It's done all the time. They come out with aluminum
that comes in a roll and a metal break and
they'll they'll shape and bend that metal to go over
top of the facier board. They can, you know, obviously,
could put in metal or or plastic vinyl soffet material
as well while they're at it, and then you eliminate

(01:07:51):
the need for paint or rot It's a great way
to get rid of of the carpenter bees.

Speaker 7 (01:07:59):
They can't What should should you try to contract that
through someone who specializes in.

Speaker 3 (01:08:06):
Novel yep, someone that's insiding normally normally does that type
of work. And then and then the other thing, because
you's a couple of things you said in the beginning
was if it's if it's rotted. If you have any
rotted wood, it needs to be treated or replaced. Don't
don't ever let anyone tell you that they can just
cover that up and it'll be okay, because that wood

(01:08:28):
will continue to rot and deteriorate underneath that metal, so
it has to be repaired or or you can treat
it with cedar shield if it's not too bad.

Speaker 7 (01:08:37):
So even if you were to put that cladding over
your faceboards, the wood still could rot.

Speaker 3 (01:08:41):
It will because it only needs a little bit of
moisture and the humidity, the humidity we have in the
air is enough to keep feeding the rot.

Speaker 7 (01:08:51):
Well, I'm under large willow oak trees and I've declared
I'm not going to do gutters again until i do
something about the trees. And the wife won't let me
do anything about the trees.

Speaker 2 (01:09:01):
Hey, Jim, hang on, do me a favor. Hang on
one second, because there's a couple of points you made
that we want to go back to about the rotting
wood and so on, and we're way past the break.
If you don't mind, we're going to put you on
hold and we'll come back right after these quick messages
to the Whole Deep O Home Improvement Show with John
and Dave. Welcome back. It's the Whole Deep Homer Provement

(01:09:38):
Show with John and Dave. I'm John Gordon, I'm Dave
Doval seven four five, seven eleven ten. Text or call
and we'll get into your questions. We are in the
final segment of the show, so quick jump on, let
us know what's going on. Got a great text from
Kevin and love it Kevin. Kevin sent the picture as well,
and his question is get a pressure washing stay in

(01:10:00):
a deck and he needs to seal large holes in
the woods. He's got some boards that are pretty rotted out.
He was trying to determine whether there was a solution
to cover up some of these gaps and holes and
badly rotted spots in the pictures that we're looking at, Kevin,
and in the scenario you've got, you got to pull
those boards up and replace those There's sometimes if you

(01:10:23):
get a really rough surface and you've got spots, you
can put like a product called deck Over, which is
in my opinion, a great temporary solution. It covers those
things up. I don't think it's as esthetically pleasing as
other solutions, but looking at what you've got, you do
need to replace those rotted boards and then you can
get after cleaning the rest and staining them if you

(01:10:45):
use a solid color stain. You can use solid stains
now on deck there's versions that can actually put on
horizontal surfaces that might help cover up the difference in
coloration between the existing boards and the new boards. So
that's it. That's the answer. I appreciate the text, Thanks
so much, David. Let's see the question correct dimmer for

(01:11:10):
LED lights. I'm thinking this is distilled down from other
comments that we've had where it's getting less and less
common to have dimmers and situations that are not l
ed right, is LED becomes the dominant solution for lighting.
Incandescent is UH is kind of moving away. But you

(01:11:33):
do need a specific dimmer for LED lights. I've seen
it's a it's not complicated. It's actually a dimmer on
a dimmer if you will. It's got a little dial
adjustment and you turn you put the you put the
dimmer in place, and and then you turn the lights
on and you dial the little dial down until they

(01:11:55):
just go off, and then you bring it right back on.
That sets the low limit if you will, uh, for
the for the led bulbs, and then when you use
the dimmer up and down, it'll it'll keep them from
blinking or going out altogether as you're dim And.

Speaker 3 (01:12:09):
That second little dials underneath the plate right right, so
you have.

Speaker 2 (01:12:13):
To take the plate off and you'll see it. Uh. Yeah,
it looks like a little like a little dial with
the point on it. Roger questions about whether Roger, good morning,
Deep Yes, sir, how can we help.

Speaker 3 (01:12:32):
Go ahead?

Speaker 5 (01:12:32):
Roger, Hey, I have a piece of walnut slab of
walnut I should say black walnut that I'm wanting to
put outside on my deck kind of create a table space,
and I'm looking for a product that will seal it
UV protect it.

Speaker 4 (01:12:50):
I've used Tompson water Seal on my deck for years
and it works great, but I'm looking for something maybe
other than that may be food safe as well. So
I was hoping you guys can help me with that.

Speaker 3 (01:13:05):
So the main thing, the first thing you need to
do is stabilize it. So it kind of goes back
to the product that we talk about often is cedar shield,
and you could paint that slab with cedar shield, and
what that will do is it'll drive any moisture that's
in that slab, it'll drive it out, and then it
will keep it from taking moisture on. And then whatever

(01:13:27):
sealer you choose to put on top of that will
will be more stable. It's not gonna the wood's not
going to expand in contract, so the sealer is not
gonna it's not going to give up as easily as
it would if it was able to expand and contract.
And then I think I think as far as as uh, John,

(01:13:49):
I mean, do you think like linseed oil or that's
where I.

Speaker 2 (01:13:52):
Was gonna go, Roger, just because of the food safe
comment that you made, I think you don't. I don't
think you want to put a poly erathan or a
super a spar of varnish kind of solution on there,
which would certainly work from a protection perspective, but would
not be optimal at all for food safe. I think
you're looking at linseed oil. There's a different mineral oils

(01:14:12):
that are food safe rated. They would be very effective.
The only challenge for you, Roger, will be you have
to stay on top of that, right, So it's not Hey,
I did this now, in five years from now, I
can come back. But you sound like I mean, I'm judging,
I guess, so shame on me. But you sound like
the guy who kind of takes care of things and
is thinking this through. So that probably wouldn't bring game
stopper for you, but that's how I think, that's how

(01:14:34):
we would proceed.

Speaker 5 (01:14:36):
Do you think linseed oil will be better than mineral So.

Speaker 2 (01:14:40):
The only question I have I think linseed oil would
be better. What I'm unsure about, Roger, is the food
safe element of linseed oil versus mineral oil. And that's
just my ignorance. So you may be able to check
that out, or somebody may know that, David, you may
know that. But the only reservation I would have mineral
oil versus linseed oil is I know that they make
food safe versions of mineral oil because I use them

(01:15:02):
on interior products. But I don't know about the linsito
a portion of it. That's all her, Roger. Let's see this.
We're gonna put you on hole. We'll finish up off
the air because we've got a hard stop for the
top of the show or the bottom of the hour.
The top of the hour, end of the show, so
we'll put you on hole. Make sure we finish up correctly. Folks,
it's Labor Day weekend. Don't forget to work. I'm having

(01:15:23):
some fun enjoying it. Remember that there's great dignity at work.
And also remember that we think the most important kind
of home improvement you can make is the one that
makes your home a half your place to live it.
Don't forget to work on that. We'll see you next
week on The Home People, Home and Food Show with
John Today