July 16, 2023 • 44 mins
Jim is in Minnesota for the second straight day and starts with a quick email question on foundation watering. He also talks overpowering hot and cold shower water, various upgrades around the house, solar panels on a roof, condensation water backing up, and more.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Texas Home Improvement is on the airwith your host, Jim Dot What I
need to know? You always giveme the way to go, great observation.
You got to be on the radio. Well, this might be the
answer to my proson. I'm reallyglad I could talk to you yere.
You're the smartest guy though, andI mean there. Call Jim now with
all your home improvement questions at sevenone three two one two five eight seven
(00:23):
four. That's seven one three,two one two five eight seven four.
Texas Home Improvement brought to you byDust Services, Plumbing, Foundation Repair and
air Conditioning, Texas Remodeled. TeamWindows, the official window company of Texas
Home Improvement, American Standards, Comfortthe way you like it. James Hardy
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(00:46):
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beauty meets energy efficiency. Guardian roofSystems Residential and commercial roofing specialist, Woodland's
Water Restoration, Our hometown solution forproperty damage and victures. Remodeling and construction,
Party Blank Specialists and Now broadcasting livefrom the Dutton wrench. Here's Jim
(01:15):
and welcome to Texas Home Improvement.Your Total home Improvement source. Seven one
three two one two five eight sevenfour is a number to call any home
improvement question you have seven one threetwo one two five eight seven four,
and I'll see what I can doto help you out. And you know,
of course, you can always goto our website t hipro dot com.
(01:38):
There's a lot of helpful information there. You can find a lot of
questions and answers and video clips togo with them, the links to the
people you hear me talk about,the ask Jim button, we can send
in an email question, and ofcourse a spot to sign up for our
newsletter that goes out every other week. But you know, really it's easier
if you pick up the phone,give me a call, and we're able
(02:00):
to talk about your problem that way. If I've got questions on it,
we're right there where we can talkback and forth. So seven one three
two one two five eight seven fouris the number to call. Seven one
three two one two five eight sevenfour, and I'll see what I can
do to help you out. Now, yesterday I did the show from a
(02:23):
town called Jordan, Minnesota. Today, I'm in Cambridge, Minnesota, so
I'm kind of moving around a littlebit. But you know, it doesn't
change the fact that we're here totake calls and answer questions. So don't
worry about the fact that I'm outof state right now, and quite frankly,
(02:44):
next weekend Albota State as well,I'm going from Minnesota over to Wisconsin.
We're gonna go to Oshkosh, Wisconsinfor the big air show over there,
the fly In, and it's EAA'sAir Adventure. It's it's a lot
of fun go every year and havea great time. But I still love
(03:04):
doing the show, so we doit from there as well. But again
our number seven one three two onetwo five eight seven four. Since I
don't have calls lined out yet,I'm gonna jump into an email question.
But I got all open lines sevenone three, two one two five eight
seven four. This came in fromTrisha in Houston and she's asking about Foundation
(03:30):
water and she says, I watchedyour video. I'm sorry, I watched
your video on how to set upthe system with the soaker host. But
have an area where the driveway isup against our slab. It's on a
corner and a spot where we haveto lowest tilt of our slab. What
(03:51):
do we do, thank you?Well, if the driveway is up against
it, there's not much else youcan do other than go around to drive
and that's what I recommend anyways,So go around the driveway is so that's
part of the home foundation. Moisturewill migrate through the soil and get over
where you need it. Now,the fact that that's the lowest area is
(04:15):
unusual because typically where there's concrete upagainst the foundation, that a lot of
time is going to be the highestarea because the moisture in the soil is
not being drained out by Mother naturethe sun beating on the soil and stuff.
So I'm questioning how big the treeis that's outside the driveway there,
(04:40):
and I'm guessing that's probably what's happeningis the tree has been taken out moisture
and let that corner go down.So you may need to take a look
at a root barrier as well.But you know, without I guess this
(05:00):
is a good example of why Ilike to have people call in. But
you know, without being there totake a look at it, there's not
not more I can say, thango around the concrete as though it's part
of the foundation. And you dothe same thing when you come up against
Patio's sidewalks. Any concrete that's upagainst the side of the foundation, just
(05:21):
treat it as though it is partof the foundation and go around it and
you'll be just fine again. Ournumber seven one three, two one two
five eight seven four. Let's headdown to San ley On and Roy.
This is Jim. How can Ihelp you? Yes, sir, I've
(05:42):
got a question of YouTube. Didask people and people can't tell me.
When I turned the shower faceted on. I turned the hot water on and
then turned the cold water. Butthe problem I'm having is either it's two
hot or two cold. If Iturn the cold water all the way on
(06:03):
to get it where it's comfortable warm, the cold water overpowers the hot water,
so I don't have any in themiddle. And it's a glacier bay,
probably three years old. And isit a single handle or double handle?
(06:25):
It's two? Yeah, okay,yeah. You know. The way
that valve works then is as youopen up the two valves, it's just
coming into a mixture area that thencomes out through the spout or up to
the shower head. And you know, the valves themselves are usually as you
(06:48):
turn it, you don't have to. That's probably a quarter turn valve.
In other words, if you turnit a quarter turn, you probably got
full power on the water. Uhyeah, yeah, And so they're they're
really sensitive as far as getting theright amount of turn to it. But
(07:11):
what it sounds like is happening onyours is one of the sides, and
probably the hot water side is itbecause the cold water is able to overpower.
It has an obstruction because inside thatvalve there's the ports that let the
water through are really only an eighthof an inch and something could have jarred
(07:31):
loose out of the pipes. Evena piece of teflon tape when they put
it all together can sometimes get inthere and it plugs it up just enough
so when you try to adjust it, you just plane can never get it
to adjust right. So normally thefirst thing to do to fix it is
(07:55):
pull the stems and make sure everythingis clean in there. And typically ninety
percent of the time that's going tofix the problem. Okay, Uh,
well, I appreciate it, andlike I said, um, you know,
I bought it from home Depot severalyears ago when they were carrying Placier
Bay and yeah, those people they'rejust there. Some can help. But
(08:20):
when I brought that question up,it was like, I don't know.
And then so but but they'll showyou a new Fawcett to buy. Yeah,
yeah, and you know I paiduh like sixty bucks for this thing
about three years ago. And Iwent in another day and there's nothing under
a hundred bucks in there. Yeah, so to replace it. And I
(08:43):
was thinking about going up to what'sat Molin. I can't say bowing or
yeah and red just replacing it.I said, Man, I will be
on the phone Sunday morning and orSunday and get a hold you get the
answer. Well, I would startby just pulling the stems, make sure
(09:05):
everything's flushed out and cleaned up.And I got an idea that's going to
fix the problem for you. Allright, I'll give it a try,
and if it works, I'll giveyou a call next weekend. That way
you'll know that was it. OK. Ok, you take care, appreciate
it, my pleasure, stay cool. Where yet I got it, I'll
(09:26):
tell you real quick. Last nightdown in Jordan there I saw I knew
the temperatures were going to drop down. I woke up at three o'clock this
morning and it was already sixty sixin the trailer. I went ahead and
set the heat so it to atleast keep it at sixty eight, because
you know, coming coming from downin Texas where it was one hundred and
(09:46):
nine degrees when we were getting readyto leave, that's sixty six is cold,
right? No? I know.I went up in March to Minnesota
to my brothers wedding, and Itook a nice set of clothes for the
wedding and the rest of it withshorts and two shirts. And I froze
(10:09):
while I was up there in March. Yep, yeah, I mean I'm
in Cambridge tonight and the low isexpected to be fifty two tonight. Oh
nice. Yeah, So right nowit is a whopping seventy eight degrees.
Well enjoy it and bring something backwith you. I will do my best.
(10:37):
Yeah, bye bye bye bye.Yeah. And the funny thing is
they need water up here. They'rethey're going through a drought. Now I
don't see it. Everything's nice andgreen, but that's what they're saying,
is that they're needing rain up here, it's it's been dry, dry,
dry. Anyways, if you havea home improvement question seven one three two
(11:00):
one two five eight seven four.That's seven one three, two, one
two, five eight seven four again, any home improvement question you have,
feel free to pick up the phone, give me a call, and I'll
see what I can do to helpyou out here on Texas Home Improvement.
Now talking about the heat, youknow, one of the things you got
to keep working in your home isthe air conditioning system. And with the
(11:24):
heat that's going on, a lotof systems have been having problems keeping up.
Well. One of the key thingsthat you got to have it serviced
on a regular basis, and thatreally is twice a year, once for
air conditioning season, ones for heatingseason. And you know the question always
comes up, when should I replacemy air conditioner? Well, the manufacturers
(11:46):
will tell you it should last somewherebetween ten and fifteen years, and usually
most of them are twelve to fifteenyears. So when you hit that ten
to twelve year mark, you canstart thinking, Okay, I'm gonna have
to be replacing this probably before long. And the reason I bring it up
that way is what you got tolook at is how much is the repair
(12:09):
going to be When you make acall. If you do have a problem
and you're in that ten to fifteenyear range, you know if the repair
bill is going to be several thousanddollars, and it can be sometimes if
you're having to replace coils and stuff. That's when you start looking at a
new system. Well, whether youjust need a capacity replace to coil replace,
(12:31):
or you're looking at a new systemor somebody to service your air conditioning
system. Call my company, doWest air Conditioning. We'll come out,
we'll service it, and we goway beyond what most companies do. When
we're servicing the unit, you know, doing a routine checkup. We're taking
the outside unit apart, making sureall those coils are nice and clean.
We're pulling the fan motor out,the fan blades, everything out and cleaning
(12:54):
all of that because it gets outof balance when it starts getting too much
dust and stuff on it. We'rereally getting that unit back up the way
it should be, checking everything thatyou know that there's no oil leaking where
it shouldn't be, and oiling whatdoes need to be oiled. And some
of the older systems do need that. That's why when you need somebody to
give you an honest opinion of yourair conditioning system, call my company,
(13:18):
due West air Conditioning seven one threefour seven five zero zero zero four.
Remember, when you want the best, you call due West USA Insulation.
You've heard me talk about this foryears. When it comes to foam insulation,
it works best in the walls,and when it comes to putting it
into your existing walls, you needto call the folks at USA Insulation.
(13:43):
They have a proprietary non expansive foamthey can inject right into the walls of
existing homes and you'll get the bestour value. It has a great fire
rating and cancels up the eighty percentof the noise as well. Call three
four six two nine seven twenty eighthundred. That's three four six two nine
seven twenty eight hundred and have himcheck out your walls and you see what
(14:09):
you got. And if you're ina house that was built prior to the
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Can you imagine the difference it'll make. But even if your house is just
a couple of years old, theR value can be greatly increased and the
air infiltration stopped with foam insulation againthree four, six, two nine seven,
(14:33):
twenty eight hundred four USA Insulation.James Hardy Siding the best siding on
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(15:48):
That's rights, Texas. That's whatI'm from, Texas, and Texas we
have the death penalty and we useit. That's right. If you've got
to Texas that killed somebody, wewill kill you back. This is Texas
(16:08):
Home Improvement with a June Donekay,welcome back to Texas Home Improvement. Seven
one three two one two five eightseven four. That seven one three two
one two five eight seven four.We're gonna head down to Kima and Nate.
Welcome to Texas Home Improvement. Yes, sir, good afternoon, afternoon.
(16:34):
I wanted to follow up on thelast caller that was talking about he
was having trouble keeping the temperature thecorrect temperature in the shower and uh head
properly. Yeah. I recommend checkingthe showerhead that restricture restrictor because the same
(16:55):
thing was happening to me and Itook the restrictor out. The shower head
works perfectly. It's a lot morepressure now, but the temperature is level
where I want it. Oh,so you weren't able to get the temperatures
adjusted, but when when you tookthe restrictor out, it lets you adjust
it better, Yes, sir,that's exactly what I did. The temperature
(17:18):
was always okay down below, butwhen I flipped into shower before, it
would never get the way I wanted. It would only be too hot,
too cold. I pulled the restrictorout and it worked perfect. Okay,
it's got it's that must have somethingto do with the back feed, you
know, back pressure rather of therestrictor. But yeah, that makes sense.
(17:41):
And besides that, those restrictors theydon't give you enough water flow anyways.
Yes, this is true. Uh, yeah, it worked for me.
I don't know open I worked forhim, but I mean it's worth
a shot. It was really easyto do. I'm not a plumber,
I'm a regular guy, but Idid it myself and m Yeah, like
I said, it works, Okay, Well that gives him another option to
(18:03):
take a look at. Yes,sir, better than buying a new faucet.
Set up absolutely well, Nate.I appreciate that. Okay, Well,
thank you for the show. Youbet by way, good bay and
again seven one three two one twofive eight seven four. That's seven one
three two one two five eight sevenfour. And I'll see what I can
(18:26):
do to help you out. Hereon Texas Home Improvement your Total Home Improvement
source so an email from Robert outof Baytown. He says, we're wanting
to build a home on Lake Livingstonwaterfront lot. The lot is narrow and
slopes towards the water and slopes fromright to left as well. The drop
(18:49):
over the one hundred foot building siteis about five to seven foot. We
have plans for a home that wouldfit on the lot, a two story,
twenty two one hundred square foot home. My question is should we have
a foundation and framing engineered? Wethink so. We are in search of
(19:10):
an engineer. If you have anyinsight into our project, thank you.
Robert. Absolutely it should be engineered. In fact, because of the slope
that you have there. I mean, you're going to be facing some decisions
to make. Do you put ina retaining wall and build the soil up
to build this slab on or doyou put poles into the ground or peers
(19:33):
into the ground. You know exactlywhat type of foundation to build and what
the engineer. The first thing he'sgoing to do is ask for a soils
report. You know, and peoplebock it doing the soils report. It
always amazes me they're going to build, you know, two hundred three hundred,
five hundred thousand dollar house and don'thave a soils report. A soils
(19:57):
report typically is ten to eighteen hundreddollars. Get the soils report. It'll
tell you exactly what type of foundationsshould be built, if you do need
peers, how deep they should be, all the details for the engineer to
properly design that foundation, and thesame goes for the framing of that structure.
(20:18):
You want to make sure that's alldetailed out as well. So absolutely
you need an engineer. So aplace where you can go to look to
find an engineer go to the FoundationPerformance Association website and it just type in
Google Foundation Performance Association and there's alisting of different engineers in there. A
(20:41):
lot of them deal with the soilsand stuff, but some of those same
engineers through foundation designs as well.The structure. They can take a look
at with the foundation, but youknow, most of the time the architect
is going to design the structure andin an engineer will just check to make
sure everything is fine with that.But regardless, the foundation absolutely should be
(21:03):
engineered. And because of the slopeof that lot, you really don't want
to build without it, and Ican tell you in the living scenario,
you're typically outside city limits. Youcan build it, but I'll guarantee you
you'll have a problem with it ifyou don't have it engineered. We're gonna
take a quick break seven one three, two one two five eight seven four,
(21:25):
and we'll be back with more Texashome improvement. Let's talk about American
Standard Air. You know, Ihave American Standard Air in my home.
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(21:45):
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(22:06):
ever changing Texas weather head on.Keep your home cool and humidity free,
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(22:26):
where you eat Hallebenos to cool yourmouth off. Welcome to Texas Summer.
Here's more with Jim Dutton on Texashome improvement. Hey, welcome back to
Texas Home Improvement. Your Total HomeImprovement source seven one three, two one
two five eight seven four. We'regonna head out to Stafford and John.
(22:51):
Welcome to Texas Home Improvement. Howcan I help you? Hey, Jed,
listen, thanks for taking my call. I'm in my car. I'm
heading on to Victoria, hear me. Okay, yes, sir, go
ahead. Okay. So my wifeand I moved into a house about fifteen
years ago. The house is aboutthirty five years old at the time when
we moved in, we made someupgrades. But since then, right now,
(23:17):
this is our coum our home.I'm going to stay in it really
another ten years. My question foryou is is there any guidance you can
give me. There are a lotof upgrades I'd like to be able to
do. For when you need anew route, I'd love to replace the
vinyl with hardy planks. I'd liketo within new gutters and new windows.
(23:37):
My guidance I'm getting from a lotof my friends is, Hey, don't
bother spending all that money, justsell the house as is and don't bother
doing that. And but I wantus to stay in the house for a
while. But I just don't knowif maybe I and would be over investing
(23:57):
and maybe spending two trying to upgradea home, that's where I may not
be able to get a value.Well, the first thing I would tell
you is if you need a roof, that's that's not an upgrade debts and
necessity, that's normal upkeep of ahome. So uh, definitely, when
(24:19):
it comes time to put a roofon, you put one on, because
if you let the house get wetfrom a leaking roof, it destroys it.
Um. As far as the sighting, you know, people always talk
about how redoing the kitchen raises valueand makes a house more saleable. The
other item that raises value and makesa house more saleable is putting James Hardy
(24:45):
sighting on. Uh. In fact, the kitchen remodel and the Hardy sighting
actually go back and forth depending onwhat year and stuff that they're looking at
as to which one is adding morevalue to the house. So if you
want to do it for your owncomfort. You absolutely do it, and
(25:07):
it is going to raise the valueof the home. But the other thing
to keep in mind, a lotof people have been looking at the prices
of real estate and the way it'sbeen safe for the last three years,
where it's just kind of been offthe chart, and you throw a piece
of real estate out there, regardlessof its condition, people are going to
buy it. We are in thetransition time now where it's going to be
(25:30):
going back to being a buyer's market, and when it's a buyer's market,
it's all about the condition of thehome. And if you're thinking about holding
that home for another ten years,I personally wouldn't even think twice about putting
siding on and a roof, andyou know, whatever else you want to
(25:52):
do to it to make it comfortablefor yourself, because right now you're thinking
ten years, but in ten years, you're thinking another ten and before you
know it, you've been in ittwenty years and you could have been sitting
there comfortable the whole time. Yeah, exactly. At the last time,
when I sold my last house,we had made major upgrades to sell for
(26:12):
the sale, and I felt likeI was I cheated myself out of enjoying
all that all those improvements. Icouldn't do that because I waited so late.
You know, I want to thankyou. The point you made about
the roof and the siding. Thatactually so if I think of roof,
siding and flooring new flores, isthat something you guys can help me with
(26:33):
if I called y'all, I actuallydon't do any of those. But if
you go to our website thhipro dotcom, I've got contractors on there to
help you with all of them.Okay, well, thank you so much
for taking my call. You've dida big help. Alrighty you take care
and good luck with the home.Thank you, no way, and yeah,
(26:56):
keep it in mind. I mean, it's not a house, it's
your home. Make it comfortable foryourself. But you know, the other
thing that people talk about is,oh, let's put a swimming pool and
it's going to raise the value ofthe home. And it does. But
you'll spend forty thousand dollars on aswimming pool to raise the value of the
(27:18):
house five or ten. You don'tget your money back on that investment.
But when you've put insighting on,you spend and I'm just using round numbers,
not anywhere's near saying this is whatit costs. Let's just say you
spend ten thousand dollars on average,people are getting eighty percent of that back
(27:40):
and it makes your house more attractivefor a quicker sale, well worth taking
a look at. And as faras flooring, it's the same thing.
If the floors look bad, changethem out. That's part of the normal
upkeep of keeping your house looking great. And should something happen where you do
need to sell, I mean,ever, know when you get offered a
job in another city and you wantto put the house up for sale,
(28:04):
wouldn't it be nice to have itcomfortable the whole time you've been living there
and be able to put it upfor sale on a dime and be able
to move on to your next home. And that's really what it comes down
to anyways. Got a question sevenone three, two one two five,
eight seven four. That's seven onethree, two, one two five eight
(28:29):
seven four. And by the way, on the pricing of real estate,
I know we're still in a marketin Texas where real estate is moving quickly,
but it has slowed down and itis going to slow down even more.
And like I said, it willrevert back into a buyer's market where
(28:49):
people buy what they see. Rightnow, we've been going through a market
where it's just been on fire andit's really been a crazy market. It
will correct itself. It always does. It's not the first time we've been
through this type of market, andit won't be the last. It's ebb
and flows and it'll change again.Anyways, again, if you got a
(29:14):
question seven one three two one twofive eight seven four. That's seven one
three two one two five eight sevenfour and let's see here Kevin and raw
let send an email in it saysthe Texas attic is hot during hot summer.
Notice sap oozing from the pine twoby fours that are support load for
(29:40):
the roof Choice contractors spotted this andsuggests that over time the sap could cause
the two by four to degrade andeventually fail. Is this accurate? If
yes, what is the remedy?No remedy because it's bunk. Don't worry
about it. You know the sapis in there. Is it going to
(30:04):
cause the wood to start to rot? Absolutely not. It is part of
the wood. Mother nature put itthere, and a lot of times.
You know, the sap is driedout when the boards are run through a
kilnan stuff and it becomes so hardthat it never oozes out like that.
(30:27):
But even if it does, ithas nothing to worry about. I can
tell you I've worked on houses thatwere one hundred years old and you could
see where sap head oozed out,and like I said, the house is
one hundred years old, it obviouslydidn't cause it any problems. So it's
nothing I would lose any sleep over. And again, if you've got a
(30:49):
question seven one three, two onetwo, five eight seven four, you
know, if you're thinking about thefoundation of your home, maybe it's been
moving around little bit. You've beenseeing some sheet rock cracks or doors are
starting to misalign, things like that. It's time to call dust foundation repair.
You know, when we come out, we're going to draw the house
(31:11):
up, we're going to mark thetrees in the yard, we're gonna take
elevation readings inside the house, andthen we can sit down and go over
a plan of attack for you,because if left go, the problem is
going to just get worse because everytime the soil dries out, it shrinks.
When it gets wet, it expands, but not quite as much as
it was a time before, soeach time it stays down just a little
(31:34):
bit lower. And that's the reasonmost people notice a foundation problem when the
house is about eighteen to twenty yearsold, because that's when the trees have
gotten big enough they're taking moisture.That's when the soil has gone through the
cycles enough times that it's settled enoughand you're noticing it. Well, there's
things you can do to avoid that, like root barriers and irrigation stuff like
(31:56):
that. And whether you want todo preventative maintenance or you need full blown
foundation repair. When you want thebest, you call Due West seven one
three four seven three seven one fivesix. You know you've heard me say
this for years. When it comesto insulation, foam works best in the
walls, and when it comes toputting it into your walls, you need
(32:19):
to call USA Insulation. They havea proprietary non expansive foam they can inject
right into the walls of existing homes. You'll get the best our value.
It has a great fire rating andcancels up to eighty percent of the noise
as well. Call three four six, two nine seven twenty eight hundred.
That's three four, six, twonine seven twenty eight hundred and if you
(32:44):
want to check them out a littlefurther, go to our website thhipro dot
com and click on the link toUSA Insulation. I've still got God and
(33:05):
my truble. Thank God. GoHey, Welcome back to Texas Home Improvements
seven one three, two one twofive eight seven four. You know you
can catch up on the best ofthe show during the week with our super
(33:27):
podcast. It's on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, iHeart really anywhere you listen
to your podcasts, and it's alwaysavailable on our website t h I pro
dot com. So again, ifyou got a question seven one three,
two one two five eight seven four, let's head to Southwest Houston and Carol,
(33:49):
Welcome to seven forty KTRH. Howcan I help you? Yeah,
I'm I have my roof. I'msorry, it's twenty years old. I've
been here two two thousand and three. I'm interested in putting solar panels,
but I have a question. DoI have to change my old roof before
(34:15):
putting the solar panels or the solarpanel can be just put on. I
don't know. Well, he sentme out. Well, if you're putting
solar panels on the roof. Ifyou when it comes time to put a
new roof on, the solar panelshave to come off. They put the
roof and then the solar panels getreinstalled. So you want to take a
(34:38):
look at the condition of that roofbefore you put the solar panels on.
If it looks like you're gonna needa roof in say five years or so,
I would change the roof before Iput the solar panels. Okay,
sir, All right, don't youvery much. You're well welcome. You
(35:00):
take care and question in my garage, I noticed a crack, a little
crack. Does that mean I havefoundation problem or could it be the change
of weather that's cost it is thecrack in the concrete. Yeah, the
(35:22):
crack is on the floor of mygarage. Yeah, that's not unusual.
All concrete cracks by nature. Thesteel is in the concrete to hold it
together when it cracks. So ifit's just you know, a hairline crack
that goes through and both sides arestaying at the same elevation, don't worry
(35:43):
about it. It's nothing to loseany sleepover, Okay, sir, Thank
you very much. Thank You're welcome. You take care, right, yes,
sir, right. And you knowon these solar panels, uh,
you know, more and more peopleare putting solar panels on and and I
don't have an issue with putting themon. In fact, right now there
are some great deals taking place onsolar panels, so it's it's worth looking
(36:07):
at. But I have seen wherepeople had to spend a small fortune to
take the solar panels off to puta new roof on underneath it. And
that's that's really what I'm saying.Make sure the condition of your roof prior
to putting those solar panels on.Seven one three, two one two five
eight seven four. Greg in Conro, Welcome to Texas Home Improvement. Hey
(36:32):
Jim, you know I've talked toyou before. I live out here in
Conrow and I've got this twenty sevenhundred square foot house and i got two
acs out there. You know,they're twenty three years old, and you
know they're maintaining. You knows.I can set them on seventy six,
you know, during the day andbedroom went on in seventy five, you
know, and they're going to cycle. You know, one hundred degrees.
(36:54):
So I guess that's sure fair comparedto some people. And I hadn't tried
to really any lower than that.But my question is, you know I
had America's Choice come out here,Oh Stephanie. I'm telling you, if
she comes to your house and you'vehad a couple other bids, she's not
gonna leave until she sells use thosewindows. She is a very good salesperson.
(37:17):
And so I'm waiting to get mywindows put in. Okaya, yes,
sir, yeah, to how mywindows put in? And then I'm
probably gonna get y'all to come outhere and look at my age seeds.
And but I should wait for thewindows first, right, It ought to
be pretty soon. Yes, youshould, because you know, part of
(37:39):
sizing an air conditioner properly is doingthe heat load calculations. And and since
we know windows are going in,I mean, the calculations can be run
as though the new windows are in. But it does change the sizing and
what you need for air conditioning.Sure, and you know I'm willing to
(37:59):
way, but I was you know, My other question was, you know
I can afford almost anything that aregular man can afford, but you know,
I don't mind waiting, does itwait any Is it going to do
any good to wait until the fall, other than just helping the guys out,
you know, to the wintertime wherethe things prices go down by the
end a little bit maybe for theair conditioners, yes, sir. Well,
(38:22):
when people are when their air conditioningmanufacturers are typically doing their discounts is
during the fall and winter months.Usually by by the time spring kicks off,
they're already looking at the regular pricingand they're not going to make any
(38:45):
any deals. And that's the samething goes for the the companies doing the
installs. H You know, we'reall looking to keep our guys busy in
the fall and winter and spring andsummer were swamped. And that's what I
understand. And you know, I'mworking, man, I worked on my
life and I'm not going to putsomebody up in my attic. And this
(39:07):
is just necessary, you know,I know, they got enough worry.
They don't have to worry about gettingin my hot at it right now.
You know, I can wait,sure, and you know, and but
my other problem is even though theseunits run, and they run, you
know, they run enough time,I think you know, they go thirty
minutes or so between the cycles,you know. And but my problem is
(39:30):
with my humidity. You know,I have some high sailings. I'm still
running sixty five six gates percenting humidity. Yeah, running, Yes, there
it is. And what's my solutionis a variable speed running all the time.
I mean, what are we lookingat? Either a dual speed or
a variable speed. And I didn'thear the music. I'll take the break
(39:51):
here in just a second. Buta dual speed or variable speed really helps
with a humidity control. And theyeven have settings on them or humidity control,
So that would be what I wouldtake a look at. Yeah,
because I just I just don't knowwhat else to do, you know,
just being just old. You know, hey, if they're still working,
(40:13):
keep them. Yeah, you know, there's no reason to replace them until
until there's a reason to replace them. And I hate to do it,
Greg, but I gotta let yougo because I kind of blew through that
last break there. Let's talk realquick about sunburn shutters. You know,
these are the best selling plantation shuttersin America and Pollywood shutters are guaranteed not
(40:36):
to warp, crack, chip,or peel. Now I have Sunburn Shutters
in my home. Love them.They are gorgeous. But the beautiful part
beyond the looks of them is theyinsulate up to seventy percent more efficiently than
a wood shutter. And Sunburn Shuttersactually has design consultants who will come out
(40:58):
and do help you design exactly whatyou want for a shutter because you've got
different louver sizes, different trim onthe outsides, things like that, and
so they'll help you get that perfectlook and fit for your home. Call
Sunburnt Shutters at seven one three eightnine six eighty one fifty. That's seven
one three eight nine, six eightyone fifty. Woodlands Water Restoration. You
(41:24):
know, when disaster happens, waterdamage, fire, mold, you need
a company you can trust and inHouston area, turn to the restoration experts
at Woodlands Water Restoration. Now,I hope you never need there to make
this call, but if you do, call a company that'll take you through
every step of the process. Again, water fire, flood mold, it
(41:47):
doesn't matter. Woodlands Water Restoration attwo eight one five seven six eighty four
fifty nine. Welcome to Texas summer, the only state where you get condensation
on your butt from the hot waterin the toilet bowl. Here's Jim due
Home Improvement and welcome back to TexasHome Improvement. Let's head out to our
(42:10):
last caliday Scott and Pipers. Howcan I help you? Yes, I've
got an AC unit in one ofthe closets in the upstairs. It drained.
The condensation water goes to a threequarter inch pipe that I believe leads
to the regular plumbing UM that isin the sink next to the to the
(42:30):
bathroom next to it. Okay,it backs up and water backs up into
my sink. I've snaked the drain, I've used UM liquid plumber down the
drain, but it comes back,and especially happens when UM when I'm using
it heavily in the summer months.It happened last year. I do have
(42:52):
a pan that I put in theair intake on the floor to catch any
of the dripping water when it getsold back stills. What do you have
any ideas what could cause that repeatingclogging of that? Now? And let
me make sure. Is it theline to the sink that's backing up or
(43:13):
is it the sink that's backing up? Well, I think it's it's I
think it's the lot the line goingto the plumbing that backs into and it'll
back up into the sink. Okayif it's Yeah, If it's backing up
in the sink itself, that meansthe sink line is plugged. And because
(43:36):
the air conditioner is tying in justabove the p trap and so it's still
dumping the water in, it's ata higher level, and therefore the sink
is catching the water, but it'snot letting it drain out, which means
that there's a clog in the sinkdrain itself. And so yeah, it
definitely yeah. And and you knowthis lie, I haven't snaked it this
(44:01):
year, and it's and it's backedup at least twice in the last you
know month, and I've used theliquid plumber and that seems to you know,
cause it to drain. Yeah,that tells me that there's a cloud
build up in there that probably needsto be snaked out better than than it
was. Uh. And sometimes thatjust requires a little bit bigger snake to
(44:23):
do that. And I hate todo this to you, but I gotta
let you go because we are completelyout of time. Uh. Appreciate the
calls and have a wonderful week realquick. If you're having plumbing issues you
need a plumber, give Due WestTotal Plumbing to call it. Seven one
three four seven five zero zero zerofour
Texas Home Improvement is on the airwith your host, Jim Dot What I
need to know? You always giveme the way to go, great observation.
You got to be on the radio. Well, this might be the
answer to my proson. I'm reallyglad I could talk to you yere.
You're the smartest guy though, andI mean there. Call Jim now with
all your home improvement questions at sevenone three two one two five eight seven
(00:23):
four. That's seven one three,two one two five eight seven four.
Texas Home Improvement brought to you byDust Services, Plumbing, Foundation Repair and
air Conditioning, Texas Remodeled. TeamWindows, the official window company of Texas
Home Improvement, American Standards, Comfortthe way you like it. James Hardy
Sighting the best sighting on the planet. USA Insulation Wall foam insulation for existing
(00:46):
homes, Ready seal stain and sealerfloor in the core, Sunburst Shutters where
beauty meets energy efficiency. Guardian roofSystems Residential and commercial roofing specialist, Woodland's
Water Restoration, Our hometown solution forproperty damage and victures. Remodeling and construction,
Party Blank Specialists and Now broadcasting livefrom the Dutton wrench. Here's Jim
(01:15):
and welcome to Texas Home Improvement.Your Total home Improvement source. Seven one
three two one two five eight sevenfour is a number to call any home
improvement question you have seven one threetwo one two five eight seven four,
and I'll see what I can doto help you out. And you know,
of course, you can always goto our website t hipro dot com.
(01:38):
There's a lot of helpful information there. You can find a lot of
questions and answers and video clips togo with them, the links to the
people you hear me talk about,the ask Jim button, we can send
in an email question, and ofcourse a spot to sign up for our
newsletter that goes out every other week. But you know, really it's easier
if you pick up the phone,give me a call, and we're able
(02:00):
to talk about your problem that way. If I've got questions on it,
we're right there where we can talkback and forth. So seven one three
two one two five eight seven fouris the number to call. Seven one
three two one two five eight sevenfour, and I'll see what I can
do to help you out. Now, yesterday I did the show from a
(02:23):
town called Jordan, Minnesota. Today, I'm in Cambridge, Minnesota, so
I'm kind of moving around a littlebit. But you know, it doesn't
change the fact that we're here totake calls and answer questions. So don't
worry about the fact that I'm outof state right now, and quite frankly,
(02:44):
next weekend Albota State as well,I'm going from Minnesota over to Wisconsin.
We're gonna go to Oshkosh, Wisconsinfor the big air show over there,
the fly In, and it's EAA'sAir Adventure. It's it's a lot
of fun go every year and havea great time. But I still love
(03:04):
doing the show, so we doit from there as well. But again
our number seven one three two onetwo five eight seven four. Since I
don't have calls lined out yet,I'm gonna jump into an email question.
But I got all open lines sevenone three, two one two five eight
seven four. This came in fromTrisha in Houston and she's asking about Foundation
(03:30):
water and she says, I watchedyour video. I'm sorry, I watched
your video on how to set upthe system with the soaker host. But
have an area where the driveway isup against our slab. It's on a
corner and a spot where we haveto lowest tilt of our slab. What
(03:51):
do we do, thank you?Well, if the driveway is up against
it, there's not much else youcan do other than go around to drive
and that's what I recommend anyways,So go around the driveway is so that's
part of the home foundation. Moisturewill migrate through the soil and get over
where you need it. Now,the fact that that's the lowest area is
(04:15):
unusual because typically where there's concrete upagainst the foundation, that a lot of
time is going to be the highestarea because the moisture in the soil is
not being drained out by Mother naturethe sun beating on the soil and stuff.
So I'm questioning how big the treeis that's outside the driveway there,
(04:40):
and I'm guessing that's probably what's happeningis the tree has been taken out moisture
and let that corner go down.So you may need to take a look
at a root barrier as well.But you know, without I guess this
(05:00):
is a good example of why Ilike to have people call in. But
you know, without being there totake a look at it, there's not
not more I can say, thango around the concrete as though it's part
of the foundation. And you dothe same thing when you come up against
Patio's sidewalks. Any concrete that's upagainst the side of the foundation, just
(05:21):
treat it as though it is partof the foundation and go around it and
you'll be just fine again. Ournumber seven one three, two one two
five eight seven four. Let's headdown to San ley On and Roy.
This is Jim. How can Ihelp you? Yes, sir, I've
(05:42):
got a question of YouTube. Didask people and people can't tell me.
When I turned the shower faceted on. I turned the hot water on and
then turned the cold water. Butthe problem I'm having is either it's two
hot or two cold. If Iturn the cold water all the way on
(06:03):
to get it where it's comfortable warm, the cold water overpowers the hot water,
so I don't have any in themiddle. And it's a glacier bay,
probably three years old. And isit a single handle or double handle?
(06:25):
It's two? Yeah, okay,yeah. You know. The way
that valve works then is as youopen up the two valves, it's just
coming into a mixture area that thencomes out through the spout or up to
the shower head. And you know, the valves themselves are usually as you
(06:48):
turn it, you don't have to. That's probably a quarter turn valve.
In other words, if you turnit a quarter turn, you probably got
full power on the water. Uhyeah, yeah, And so they're they're
really sensitive as far as getting theright amount of turn to it. But
(07:11):
what it sounds like is happening onyours is one of the sides, and
probably the hot water side is itbecause the cold water is able to overpower.
It has an obstruction because inside thatvalve there's the ports that let the
water through are really only an eighthof an inch and something could have jarred
(07:31):
loose out of the pipes. Evena piece of teflon tape when they put
it all together can sometimes get inthere and it plugs it up just enough
so when you try to adjust it, you just plane can never get it
to adjust right. So normally thefirst thing to do to fix it is
(07:55):
pull the stems and make sure everythingis clean in there. And typically ninety
percent of the time that's going tofix the problem. Okay, Uh,
well, I appreciate it, andlike I said, um, you know,
I bought it from home Depot severalyears ago when they were carrying Placier
Bay and yeah, those people they'rejust there. Some can help. But
(08:20):
when I brought that question up,it was like, I don't know.
And then so but but they'll showyou a new Fawcett to buy. Yeah,
yeah, and you know I paiduh like sixty bucks for this thing
about three years ago. And Iwent in another day and there's nothing under
a hundred bucks in there. Yeah, so to replace it. And I
(08:43):
was thinking about going up to what'sat Molin. I can't say bowing or
yeah and red just replacing it.I said, Man, I will be
on the phone Sunday morning and orSunday and get a hold you get the
answer. Well, I would startby just pulling the stems, make sure
(09:05):
everything's flushed out and cleaned up.And I got an idea that's going to
fix the problem for you. Allright, I'll give it a try,
and if it works, I'll giveyou a call next weekend. That way
you'll know that was it. OK. Ok, you take care, appreciate
it, my pleasure, stay cool. Where yet I got it, I'll
(09:26):
tell you real quick. Last nightdown in Jordan there I saw I knew
the temperatures were going to drop down. I woke up at three o'clock this
morning and it was already sixty sixin the trailer. I went ahead and
set the heat so it to atleast keep it at sixty eight, because
you know, coming coming from downin Texas where it was one hundred and
(09:46):
nine degrees when we were getting readyto leave, that's sixty six is cold,
right? No? I know.I went up in March to Minnesota
to my brothers wedding, and Itook a nice set of clothes for the
wedding and the rest of it withshorts and two shirts. And I froze
(10:09):
while I was up there in March. Yep, yeah, I mean I'm
in Cambridge tonight and the low isexpected to be fifty two tonight. Oh
nice. Yeah, So right nowit is a whopping seventy eight degrees.
Well enjoy it and bring something backwith you. I will do my best.
(10:37):
Yeah, bye bye bye bye.Yeah. And the funny thing is
they need water up here. They'rethey're going through a drought. Now I
don't see it. Everything's nice andgreen, but that's what they're saying,
is that they're needing rain up here, it's it's been dry, dry,
dry. Anyways, if you havea home improvement question seven one three two
(11:00):
one two five eight seven four.That's seven one three, two, one
two, five eight seven four again, any home improvement question you have,
feel free to pick up the phone, give me a call, and I'll
see what I can do to helpyou out here on Texas Home Improvement.
Now talking about the heat, youknow, one of the things you got
to keep working in your home isthe air conditioning system. And with the
(11:24):
heat that's going on, a lotof systems have been having problems keeping up.
Well. One of the key thingsthat you got to have it serviced
on a regular basis, and thatreally is twice a year, once for
air conditioning season, ones for heatingseason. And you know the question always
comes up, when should I replacemy air conditioner? Well, the manufacturers
(11:46):
will tell you it should last somewherebetween ten and fifteen years, and usually
most of them are twelve to fifteenyears. So when you hit that ten
to twelve year mark, you canstart thinking, Okay, I'm gonna have
to be replacing this probably before long. And the reason I bring it up
that way is what you got tolook at is how much is the repair
(12:09):
going to be When you make acall. If you do have a problem
and you're in that ten to fifteenyear range, you know if the repair
bill is going to be several thousanddollars, and it can be sometimes if
you're having to replace coils and stuff. That's when you start looking at a
new system. Well, whether youjust need a capacity replace to coil replace,
(12:31):
or you're looking at a new systemor somebody to service your air conditioning
system. Call my company, doWest air Conditioning. We'll come out,
we'll service it, and we goway beyond what most companies do. When
we're servicing the unit, you know, doing a routine checkup. We're taking
the outside unit apart, making sureall those coils are nice and clean.
We're pulling the fan motor out,the fan blades, everything out and cleaning
(12:54):
all of that because it gets outof balance when it starts getting too much
dust and stuff on it. We'rereally getting that unit back up the way
it should be, checking everything thatyou know that there's no oil leaking where
it shouldn't be, and oiling whatdoes need to be oiled. And some
of the older systems do need that. That's why when you need somebody to
give you an honest opinion of yourair conditioning system, call my company,
(13:18):
due West air Conditioning seven one threefour seven five zero zero zero four.
Remember, when you want the best, you call due West USA Insulation.
You've heard me talk about this foryears. When it comes to foam insulation,
it works best in the walls,and when it comes to putting it
into your existing walls, you needto call the folks at USA Insulation.
(13:43):
They have a proprietary non expansive foamthey can inject right into the walls of
existing homes and you'll get the bestour value. It has a great fire
rating and cancels up the eighty percentof the noise as well. Call three
four six two nine seven twenty eighthundred. That's three four six two nine
seven twenty eight hundred and have himcheck out your walls and you see what
(14:09):
you got. And if you're ina house that was built prior to the
seventies, you know your chances areyou got no insulation in the walls.
Can you imagine the difference it'll make. But even if your house is just
a couple of years old, theR value can be greatly increased and the
air infiltration stopped with foam insulation againthree four, six, two nine seven,
(14:33):
twenty eight hundred four USA Insulation.James Hardy Siding the best siding on
the planet. And if you're thinkingabout siding for your home or business,
or you know, maybe you're buildinga dog house or a deer stand,
anything that you want to last,you need to take a look at James
Hardy siding. Now it's cement based, so you don't have to worry about
(14:56):
it rotting, catching fire, bugsyeating it. You know, it's just
once it's on, it's there tostay, and it's gonna whole paint better
than any other siding I've ever seen, definitely better than wood ever thought about.
Plus you've got so many options.I mean, yeah, you've got
the stucco. Look the lap siding. Looked at that, and those are
(15:18):
the two that most people use.But the wood shake, why can that
do some accent pieces or the newcontemporary. Yeah, they even got the
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James Hardy Siding has it. Youwant to learn more about it,
go to thhipro dot com. Clickon the link to James Hardy Sighting.
(15:48):
That's rights, Texas. That's whatI'm from, Texas, and Texas we
have the death penalty and we useit. That's right. If you've got
to Texas that killed somebody, wewill kill you back. This is Texas
(16:08):
Home Improvement with a June Donekay,welcome back to Texas Home Improvement. Seven
one three two one two five eightseven four. That seven one three two
one two five eight seven four.We're gonna head down to Kima and Nate.
Welcome to Texas Home Improvement. Yes, sir, good afternoon, afternoon.
(16:34):
I wanted to follow up on thelast caller that was talking about he
was having trouble keeping the temperature thecorrect temperature in the shower and uh head
properly. Yeah. I recommend checkingthe showerhead that restricture restrictor because the same
(16:55):
thing was happening to me and Itook the restrictor out. The shower head
works perfectly. It's a lot morepressure now, but the temperature is level
where I want it. Oh,so you weren't able to get the temperatures
adjusted, but when when you tookthe restrictor out, it lets you adjust
it better, Yes, sir,that's exactly what I did. The temperature
(17:18):
was always okay down below, butwhen I flipped into shower before, it
would never get the way I wanted. It would only be too hot,
too cold. I pulled the restrictorout and it worked perfect. Okay,
it's got it's that must have somethingto do with the back feed, you
know, back pressure rather of therestrictor. But yeah, that makes sense.
(17:41):
And besides that, those restrictors theydon't give you enough water flow anyways.
Yes, this is true. Uh, yeah, it worked for me.
I don't know open I worked forhim, but I mean it's worth
a shot. It was really easyto do. I'm not a plumber,
I'm a regular guy, but Idid it myself and m Yeah, like
I said, it works, Okay, Well that gives him another option to
(18:03):
take a look at. Yes,sir, better than buying a new faucet.
Set up absolutely well, Nate.I appreciate that. Okay, Well,
thank you for the show. Youbet by way, good bay and
again seven one three two one twofive eight seven four. That's seven one
three two one two five eight sevenfour. And I'll see what I can
(18:26):
do to help you out. Hereon Texas Home Improvement your Total Home Improvement
source so an email from Robert outof Baytown. He says, we're wanting
to build a home on Lake Livingstonwaterfront lot. The lot is narrow and
slopes towards the water and slopes fromright to left as well. The drop
(18:49):
over the one hundred foot building siteis about five to seven foot. We
have plans for a home that wouldfit on the lot, a two story,
twenty two one hundred square foot home. My question is should we have
a foundation and framing engineered? Wethink so. We are in search of
(19:10):
an engineer. If you have anyinsight into our project, thank you.
Robert. Absolutely it should be engineered. In fact, because of the slope
that you have there. I mean, you're going to be facing some decisions
to make. Do you put ina retaining wall and build the soil up
to build this slab on or doyou put poles into the ground or peers
(19:33):
into the ground. You know exactlywhat type of foundation to build and what
the engineer. The first thing he'sgoing to do is ask for a soils
report. You know, and peoplebock it doing the soils report. It
always amazes me they're going to build, you know, two hundred three hundred,
five hundred thousand dollar house and don'thave a soils report. A soils
(19:57):
report typically is ten to eighteen hundreddollars. Get the soils report. It'll
tell you exactly what type of foundationsshould be built, if you do need
peers, how deep they should be, all the details for the engineer to
properly design that foundation, and thesame goes for the framing of that structure.
(20:18):
You want to make sure that's alldetailed out as well. So absolutely
you need an engineer. So aplace where you can go to look to
find an engineer go to the FoundationPerformance Association website and it just type in
Google Foundation Performance Association and there's alisting of different engineers in there. A
(20:41):
lot of them deal with the soilsand stuff, but some of those same
engineers through foundation designs as well.The structure. They can take a look
at with the foundation, but youknow, most of the time the architect
is going to design the structure andin an engineer will just check to make
sure everything is fine with that.But regardless, the foundation absolutely should be
(21:03):
engineered. And because of the slopeof that lot, you really don't want
to build without it, and Ican tell you in the living scenario,
you're typically outside city limits. Youcan build it, but I'll guarantee you
you'll have a problem with it ifyou don't have it engineered. We're gonna
take a quick break seven one three, two one two five eight seven four,
(21:25):
and we'll be back with more Texashome improvement. Let's talk about American
Standard Air. You know, Ihave American Standard Air in my home.
I love it, and I havebeen using American Standard Air since nineteen ninety
nine. That's when I bought myfirst American Standard unit and they have been
(21:45):
great every since. Now I havea variable speed, really quiet I love
that system. But the nice thingabout American Standard Air is they've been recognized
for excellence for performance, reliability,and customer satisfaction. So take care of
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(22:06):
ever changing Texas weather head on.Keep your home cool and humidity free,
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comfort the way you'd like it.American Standard Air dot Com the only state
(22:26):
where you eat Hallebenos to cool yourmouth off. Welcome to Texas Summer.
Here's more with Jim Dutton on Texashome improvement. Hey, welcome back to
Texas Home Improvement. Your Total HomeImprovement source seven one three, two one
two five eight seven four. We'regonna head out to Stafford and John.
(22:51):
Welcome to Texas Home Improvement. Howcan I help you? Hey, Jed,
listen, thanks for taking my call. I'm in my car. I'm
heading on to Victoria, hear me. Okay, yes, sir, go
ahead. Okay. So my wifeand I moved into a house about fifteen
years ago. The house is aboutthirty five years old at the time when
we moved in, we made someupgrades. But since then, right now,
(23:17):
this is our coum our home.I'm going to stay in it really
another ten years. My question foryou is is there any guidance you can
give me. There are a lotof upgrades I'd like to be able to
do. For when you need anew route, I'd love to replace the
vinyl with hardy planks. I'd liketo within new gutters and new windows.
(23:37):
My guidance I'm getting from a lotof my friends is, Hey, don't
bother spending all that money, justsell the house as is and don't bother
doing that. And but I wantus to stay in the house for a
while. But I just don't knowif maybe I and would be over investing
(23:57):
and maybe spending two trying to upgradea home, that's where I may not
be able to get a value.Well, the first thing I would tell
you is if you need a roof, that's that's not an upgrade debts and
necessity, that's normal upkeep of ahome. So uh, definitely, when
(24:19):
it comes time to put a roofon, you put one on, because
if you let the house get wetfrom a leaking roof, it destroys it.
Um. As far as the sighting, you know, people always talk
about how redoing the kitchen raises valueand makes a house more saleable. The
other item that raises value and makesa house more saleable is putting James Hardy
(24:45):
sighting on. Uh. In fact, the kitchen remodel and the Hardy sighting
actually go back and forth depending onwhat year and stuff that they're looking at
as to which one is adding morevalue to the house. So if you
want to do it for your owncomfort. You absolutely do it, and
(25:07):
it is going to raise the valueof the home. But the other thing
to keep in mind, a lotof people have been looking at the prices
of real estate and the way it'sbeen safe for the last three years,
where it's just kind of been offthe chart, and you throw a piece
of real estate out there, regardlessof its condition, people are going to
buy it. We are in thetransition time now where it's going to be
(25:30):
going back to being a buyer's market, and when it's a buyer's market,
it's all about the condition of thehome. And if you're thinking about holding
that home for another ten years,I personally wouldn't even think twice about putting
siding on and a roof, andyou know, whatever else you want to
(25:52):
do to it to make it comfortablefor yourself, because right now you're thinking
ten years, but in ten years, you're thinking another ten and before you
know it, you've been in ittwenty years and you could have been sitting
there comfortable the whole time. Yeah, exactly. At the last time,
when I sold my last house,we had made major upgrades to sell for
(26:12):
the sale, and I felt likeI was I cheated myself out of enjoying
all that all those improvements. Icouldn't do that because I waited so late.
You know, I want to thankyou. The point you made about
the roof and the siding. Thatactually so if I think of roof,
siding and flooring new flores, isthat something you guys can help me with
(26:33):
if I called y'all, I actuallydon't do any of those. But if
you go to our website thhipro dotcom, I've got contractors on there to
help you with all of them.Okay, well, thank you so much
for taking my call. You've dida big help. Alrighty you take care
and good luck with the home.Thank you, no way, and yeah,
(26:56):
keep it in mind. I mean, it's not a house, it's
your home. Make it comfortable foryourself. But you know, the other
thing that people talk about is,oh, let's put a swimming pool and
it's going to raise the value ofthe home. And it does. But
you'll spend forty thousand dollars on aswimming pool to raise the value of the
(27:18):
house five or ten. You don'tget your money back on that investment.
But when you've put insighting on,you spend and I'm just using round numbers,
not anywhere's near saying this is whatit costs. Let's just say you
spend ten thousand dollars on average,people are getting eighty percent of that back
(27:40):
and it makes your house more attractivefor a quicker sale, well worth taking
a look at. And as faras flooring, it's the same thing.
If the floors look bad, changethem out. That's part of the normal
upkeep of keeping your house looking great. And should something happen where you do
need to sell, I mean,ever, know when you get offered a
job in another city and you wantto put the house up for sale,
(28:04):
wouldn't it be nice to have itcomfortable the whole time you've been living there
and be able to put it upfor sale on a dime and be able
to move on to your next home. And that's really what it comes down
to anyways. Got a question sevenone three, two one two five,
eight seven four. That's seven onethree, two, one two five eight
(28:29):
seven four. And by the way, on the pricing of real estate,
I know we're still in a marketin Texas where real estate is moving quickly,
but it has slowed down and itis going to slow down even more.
And like I said, it willrevert back into a buyer's market where
(28:49):
people buy what they see. Rightnow, we've been going through a market
where it's just been on fire andit's really been a crazy market. It
will correct itself. It always does. It's not the first time we've been
through this type of market, andit won't be the last. It's ebb
and flows and it'll change again.Anyways, again, if you got a
(29:14):
question seven one three two one twofive eight seven four. That's seven one
three two one two five eight sevenfour and let's see here Kevin and raw
let send an email in it saysthe Texas attic is hot during hot summer.
Notice sap oozing from the pine twoby fours that are support load for
(29:40):
the roof Choice contractors spotted this andsuggests that over time the sap could cause
the two by four to degrade andeventually fail. Is this accurate? If
yes, what is the remedy?No remedy because it's bunk. Don't worry
about it. You know the sapis in there. Is it going to
(30:04):
cause the wood to start to rot? Absolutely not. It is part of
the wood. Mother nature put itthere, and a lot of times.
You know, the sap is driedout when the boards are run through a
kilnan stuff and it becomes so hardthat it never oozes out like that.
(30:27):
But even if it does, ithas nothing to worry about. I can
tell you I've worked on houses thatwere one hundred years old and you could
see where sap head oozed out,and like I said, the house is
one hundred years old, it obviouslydidn't cause it any problems. So it's
nothing I would lose any sleep over. And again, if you've got a
(30:49):
question seven one three, two onetwo, five eight seven four, you
know, if you're thinking about thefoundation of your home, maybe it's been
moving around little bit. You've beenseeing some sheet rock cracks or doors are
starting to misalign, things like that. It's time to call dust foundation repair.
You know, when we come out, we're going to draw the house
(31:11):
up, we're going to mark thetrees in the yard, we're gonna take
elevation readings inside the house, andthen we can sit down and go over
a plan of attack for you,because if left go, the problem is
going to just get worse because everytime the soil dries out, it shrinks.
When it gets wet, it expands, but not quite as much as
it was a time before, soeach time it stays down just a little
(31:34):
bit lower. And that's the reasonmost people notice a foundation problem when the
house is about eighteen to twenty yearsold, because that's when the trees have
gotten big enough they're taking moisture.That's when the soil has gone through the
cycles enough times that it's settled enoughand you're noticing it. Well, there's
things you can do to avoid that, like root barriers and irrigation stuff like
(31:56):
that. And whether you want todo preventative maintenance or you need full blown
foundation repair. When you want thebest, you call Due West seven one
three four seven three seven one fivesix. You know you've heard me say
this for years. When it comesto insulation, foam works best in the
walls, and when it comes toputting it into your walls, you need
(32:19):
to call USA Insulation. They havea proprietary non expansive foam they can inject
right into the walls of existing homes. You'll get the best our value.
It has a great fire rating andcancels up to eighty percent of the noise
as well. Call three four six, two nine seven twenty eight hundred.
That's three four, six, twonine seven twenty eight hundred and if you
(32:44):
want to check them out a littlefurther, go to our website thhipro dot
com and click on the link toUSA Insulation. I've still got God and
(33:05):
my truble. Thank God. GoHey, Welcome back to Texas Home Improvements
seven one three, two one twofive eight seven four. You know you
can catch up on the best ofthe show during the week with our super
(33:27):
podcast. It's on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, iHeart really anywhere you listen
to your podcasts, and it's alwaysavailable on our website t h I pro
dot com. So again, ifyou got a question seven one three,
two one two five eight seven four, let's head to Southwest Houston and Carol,
(33:49):
Welcome to seven forty KTRH. Howcan I help you? Yeah,
I'm I have my roof. I'msorry, it's twenty years old. I've
been here two two thousand and three. I'm interested in putting solar panels,
but I have a question. DoI have to change my old roof before
(34:15):
putting the solar panels or the solarpanel can be just put on. I
don't know. Well, he sentme out. Well, if you're putting
solar panels on the roof. Ifyou when it comes time to put a
new roof on, the solar panelshave to come off. They put the
roof and then the solar panels getreinstalled. So you want to take a
(34:38):
look at the condition of that roofbefore you put the solar panels on.
If it looks like you're gonna needa roof in say five years or so,
I would change the roof before Iput the solar panels. Okay,
sir, All right, don't youvery much. You're well welcome. You
(35:00):
take care and question in my garage, I noticed a crack, a little
crack. Does that mean I havefoundation problem or could it be the change
of weather that's cost it is thecrack in the concrete. Yeah, the
(35:22):
crack is on the floor of mygarage. Yeah, that's not unusual.
All concrete cracks by nature. Thesteel is in the concrete to hold it
together when it cracks. So ifit's just you know, a hairline crack
that goes through and both sides arestaying at the same elevation, don't worry
(35:43):
about it. It's nothing to loseany sleepover, Okay, sir, Thank
you very much. Thank You're welcome. You take care, right, yes,
sir, right. And you knowon these solar panels, uh,
you know, more and more peopleare putting solar panels on and and I
don't have an issue with putting themon. In fact, right now there
are some great deals taking place onsolar panels, so it's it's worth looking
(36:07):
at. But I have seen wherepeople had to spend a small fortune to
take the solar panels off to puta new roof on underneath it. And
that's that's really what I'm saying.Make sure the condition of your roof prior
to putting those solar panels on.Seven one three, two one two five
eight seven four. Greg in Conro, Welcome to Texas Home Improvement. Hey
(36:32):
Jim, you know I've talked toyou before. I live out here in
Conrow and I've got this twenty sevenhundred square foot house and i got two
acs out there. You know,they're twenty three years old, and you
know they're maintaining. You knows.I can set them on seventy six,
you know, during the day andbedroom went on in seventy five, you
know, and they're going to cycle. You know, one hundred degrees.
(36:54):
So I guess that's sure fair comparedto some people. And I hadn't tried
to really any lower than that.But my question is, you know I
had America's Choice come out here,Oh Stephanie. I'm telling you, if
she comes to your house and you'vehad a couple other bids, she's not
gonna leave until she sells use thosewindows. She is a very good salesperson.
(37:17):
And so I'm waiting to get mywindows put in. Okaya, yes,
sir, yeah, to how mywindows put in? And then I'm
probably gonna get y'all to come outhere and look at my age seeds.
And but I should wait for thewindows first, right, It ought to
be pretty soon. Yes, youshould, because you know, part of
(37:39):
sizing an air conditioner properly is doingthe heat load calculations. And and since
we know windows are going in,I mean, the calculations can be run
as though the new windows are in. But it does change the sizing and
what you need for air conditioning.Sure, and you know I'm willing to
(37:59):
way, but I was you know, My other question was, you know
I can afford almost anything that aregular man can afford, but you know,
I don't mind waiting, does itwait any Is it going to do
any good to wait until the fall, other than just helping the guys out,
you know, to the wintertime wherethe things prices go down by the
end a little bit maybe for theair conditioners, yes, sir. Well,
(38:22):
when people are when their air conditioningmanufacturers are typically doing their discounts is
during the fall and winter months.Usually by by the time spring kicks off,
they're already looking at the regular pricingand they're not going to make any
(38:45):
any deals. And that's the samething goes for the the companies doing the
installs. H You know, we'reall looking to keep our guys busy in
the fall and winter and spring andsummer were swamped. And that's what I
understand. And you know, I'mworking, man, I worked on my
life and I'm not going to putsomebody up in my attic. And this
(39:07):
is just necessary, you know,I know, they got enough worry.
They don't have to worry about gettingin my hot at it right now.
You know, I can wait,sure, and you know, and but
my other problem is even though theseunits run, and they run, you
know, they run enough time,I think you know, they go thirty
minutes or so between the cycles,you know. And but my problem is
(39:30):
with my humidity. You know,I have some high sailings. I'm still
running sixty five six gates percenting humidity. Yeah, running, Yes, there
it is. And what's my solutionis a variable speed running all the time.
I mean, what are we lookingat? Either a dual speed or
a variable speed. And I didn'thear the music. I'll take the break
(39:51):
here in just a second. Buta dual speed or variable speed really helps
with a humidity control. And theyeven have settings on them or humidity control,
So that would be what I wouldtake a look at. Yeah,
because I just I just don't knowwhat else to do, you know,
just being just old. You know, hey, if they're still working,
(40:13):
keep them. Yeah, you know, there's no reason to replace them until
until there's a reason to replace them. And I hate to do it,
Greg, but I gotta let yougo because I kind of blew through that
last break there. Let's talk realquick about sunburn shutters. You know,
these are the best selling plantation shuttersin America and Pollywood shutters are guaranteed not
(40:36):
to warp, crack, chip,or peel. Now I have Sunburn Shutters
in my home. Love them.They are gorgeous. But the beautiful part
beyond the looks of them is theyinsulate up to seventy percent more efficiently than
a wood shutter. And Sunburn Shuttersactually has design consultants who will come out
(40:58):
and do help you design exactly whatyou want for a shutter because you've got
different louver sizes, different trim onthe outsides, things like that, and
so they'll help you get that perfectlook and fit for your home. Call
Sunburnt Shutters at seven one three eightnine six eighty one fifty. That's seven
one three eight nine, six eightyone fifty. Woodlands Water Restoration. You
(41:24):
know, when disaster happens, waterdamage, fire, mold, you need
a company you can trust and inHouston area, turn to the restoration experts
at Woodlands Water Restoration. Now,I hope you never need there to make
this call, but if you do, call a company that'll take you through
every step of the process. Again, water fire, flood mold, it
(41:47):
doesn't matter. Woodlands Water Restoration attwo eight one five seven six eighty four
fifty nine. Welcome to Texas summer, the only state where you get condensation
on your butt from the hot waterin the toilet bowl. Here's Jim due
Home Improvement and welcome back to TexasHome Improvement. Let's head out to our
(42:10):
last caliday Scott and Pipers. Howcan I help you? Yes, I've
got an AC unit in one ofthe closets in the upstairs. It drained.
The condensation water goes to a threequarter inch pipe that I believe leads
to the regular plumbing UM that isin the sink next to the to the
(42:30):
bathroom next to it. Okay,it backs up and water backs up into
my sink. I've snaked the drain, I've used UM liquid plumber down the
drain, but it comes back,and especially happens when UM when I'm using
it heavily in the summer months.It happened last year. I do have
(42:52):
a pan that I put in theair intake on the floor to catch any
of the dripping water when it getsold back stills. What do you have
any ideas what could cause that repeatingclogging of that? Now? And let
me make sure. Is it theline to the sink that's backing up or
(43:13):
is it the sink that's backing up? Well, I think it's it's I
think it's the lot the line goingto the plumbing that backs into and it'll
back up into the sink. Okayif it's Yeah, If it's backing up
in the sink itself, that meansthe sink line is plugged. And because
(43:36):
the air conditioner is tying in justabove the p trap and so it's still
dumping the water in, it's ata higher level, and therefore the sink
is catching the water, but it'snot letting it drain out, which means
that there's a clog in the sinkdrain itself. And so yeah, it
definitely yeah. And and you knowthis lie, I haven't snaked it this
(44:01):
year, and it's and it's backedup at least twice in the last you
know month, and I've used theliquid plumber and that seems to you know,
cause it to drain. Yeah,that tells me that there's a cloud
build up in there that probably needsto be snaked out better than than it
was. Uh. And sometimes thatjust requires a little bit bigger snake to
(44:23):
do that. And I hate todo this to you, but I gotta
let you go because we are completelyout of time. Uh. Appreciate the
calls and have a wonderful week realquick. If you're having plumbing issues you
need a plumber, give Due WestTotal Plumbing to call it. Seven one
three four seven five zero zero zerofour
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