Replacing Attic Stairs

Jim starts with some email questions as we work to get our phone lines fixed. He talks to callers about permit problems on remodeling a house, replacing a staircase to an attic, a toilet flapper, and more. Jim continues in the second hour on the phone lines helping callers with their home improvement questions.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is probably gonna sound a littlestrange to you. Texas Home Improvement is
on the air with your host,Jim Jack. What I need to know?
You always give me the way togo, great observation. You got
to be on the radio. Well, this might be the answer to my
president. I'm really glad I couldtalk to you. You're the smartest guy,

(00:21):
and I mean the tall Jim.Now with all your home improvement questions.
That's seven one three two one twofive eight seven four. That's seven
one three, two one two fiveeight seven four. Texas Home Improvement brought
to you by US Services Plumbing,Foundation, Repair and air Conditioning, Texas
Remodel Team Windows, the official windowcompany of Texas Home Improvement, American Standards,

(00:42):
Comfort the way you like it,Jane's Hardy Sighting the best sighting on
the planet. USA Insulation Wall Phoneinsulation for existing homes, Ready seal stain
and sealer floor in the core,Sunburst Shutters where beauty meets energy efficiency.
Guardian Roof Systems, residentially commercial roopingSpecialist, Woodland's Water Restoration, your hometown

(01:03):
solution for property damage. Man Picture'sRemodeling and Construction, Party Plank Specialist,
and now broadcasting live from the DuttonRanch. Here, it's Jim dot Hey,
welcome to Texas Home Improvements, yourtotal home improvement Source. I'm Jim

(01:26):
Dutton here to help you out anyhome improvement question you have. Feel free
to pick up the phone, giveme a call, and I'll see what
I can do to help you out. Number to call seven to one three
two one two five eight seven four. That's seven one three two one two
five eight seven four. And youknow, whether you're doing it yourself,
thinking about a project, or maybeyou're in the middle of a project,

(01:49):
doesn't matter. Pick up the phone, give me a call, and I'll
see what I can do to helpyou out. Here on Texas Home Improvement,
your total home improvement Source. Also, don't forget about our website,
t hipro dot com. Now that'sthere as a resource to help you out.
Twenty four to seven. Uh.You know, when you go to
tchipro dot com, you're gonna findthat there's links to the people you hear

(02:12):
me talk about. There's questions andanswers, there's uh just all kinds of
videos and uh things. There linksto copies of our newsletters that go out.
I mean, it's just like Isay, a wealth of information at
t hipro dot com. But ifyou've got a question, now's the time

(02:36):
to pick up the phone and giveme a call. So seven one three
two one two five eight seven four. That's seven one three two one two
five eight seven four, and I'llsee what I can do to help you
out here on Texas Home Improvement.And today's kind of a special show for
us because it is the start ofour twenty first year of doing Texas Home

(03:00):
Improvement. You know, the showstarted on January third back in two thousand
and four, and so we havenow completed twenty years and here we are
starting year twenty one of Texas HomeImprovement and would love to have you on
the show today. So again theirnumber seven one three two one two five

(03:24):
eight seven four. That's seven onethree two one two five eight seven four.
And I'll see what I can doto help you out here on Texas
Home Improvement, your total home improvementsource. And today we are broadcasting from
Galveston, Texas. UH We're downat the UH Hilton next to the Galveston

(03:45):
Convention Center. They're having the TexasAssociation's Affair and Expositions or something. I
can't remember what the what the wholething is. We basically you can come
down and go through different training forpeople who put on fares and different things
like that. And I work withthe Passing Livestock Show and Rodeo and so

(04:08):
down here learning about things that canhelp us out put on a better show
for the people who come out tothe Passing Livestock Show in Rodeo. But
that didn't change anything. I justset up all my stuff, came up
to my room, and now we'regoing to do the show. So again,
if you got a question seven onethree two one two five eight seven

(04:30):
four, and I'll see what Ican do to help you out here on
Texas Home Improvement. Since we haven'tgot any calls coming in yet, why
don't we start with an email question. This comes in from Robert in the
Highlands and he says he needs acomplete roof replacement. Well, Robert,
that's a pretty easy one. Youneed to call Guardian Roof Systems. Just

(04:55):
had them redo my office roof,which was a flat roof, and now
we're just signed contracts to redo theroof on my townhouse there in Pasadena.
You can call them at two eightone four zero seven seven two eight zero,
and they'll be able to help youout with that new roof there and

(05:17):
get you taken care of. Soagain, if you got a question seven
one three two one two five eightseven four. That's seven one three two
one two five eight seven four,and I'll see what I can do to
help you out here on Texas HomeImprovement. Your total home improvement source,

(05:41):
David in Deer Park has several cracks, bricks need replaced, and some pointing
around stonework needs repaired. And soI guess you're looking for a brick and
tuck point person, and I gotsomebody for you. You can call mister
Brick. You can reach him atseven one three eight five six eight three

(06:05):
two nine. Again, that's amister Brick. Seven one three eight five
six eight three two nine. I'veused their services on several projects, so
they do a great job. Andyou know, especially when you're dealing with
something like you're dealing with David,where you're uh doing brick cracks and uh

(06:26):
tuck pointing around the stone and allthat you want the mortar colors to match.
That's that's the the big trick andstuff in miss I know, mister
Brick can take care of that.I mean they've they've trained a lot of
other people on how to do thatas well. So, uh again,
just give mister Brick a call andhe'll get you taken care of. So

(06:47):
seven one three two one two fiveeight seven four. That's seven one three,
two one two five eight seven four. Let's see Daniel, he's asking
about a deck replacement. He says, my mother lives in the Woodlands.
The back deck meets or the backdeck needs work. They need to replace

(07:13):
the whole thing. Well, Igot just a guy for you. You
hear me talk about him all thetime, Texas Remodel Team. They do
decks and covers and complete home remodelsup in that area. Of course,
you hear me talk about them doingreplacement windows. They do that all over
the area. But call Texas RemodelTeam at two eight one six one two

(07:38):
fifty nine ninety one to eight onesix one two fifty nine ninety one and
they'll be able to help you outwith that deck and get that taken care
of, whether it's going to beto replace the whole deck or just having
to you know, replace some ofthe boards and stuff. Now, I
will tell you if you just replacesome of the boards, it lea's gonna

(08:00):
show not going to look the best. So uh, you may be looking
at wanting to replace more than you'rethinking of right now. And again seven
one three two one two five eightseven four. That's seven one three,
two, one two five eight sevenfour. And I'll see what I can

(08:22):
do to help you out here onTexas how Improvement. Oh, I see
I need to change something here realquick. Let me get this changed over.
I had rebooted after I got thingsstarted and failed to take care of
getting back into the right studio hookup here. So we'll get that taken

(08:43):
care of real quick and did it, and then we'll jump into the calls
here. Let's see. Ah,there we go and get this second part
done. Let's see here we're havinga little bit of phone issue. I'll

(09:05):
tell you what, give me justa couple of minutes. We'll start on
the phones after that. Josh,you want to clear the board, we'll
start things up on that here ina few minutes. Then again, no,
give us a few minutes before youcall in. I'll let you know
and then we can start taking callsagain. In the meantime, Why don't

(09:26):
we continue on with some more emailquestions. This comes from Gay and he
says, hey, Jim, whatis the best way to remove a large
area a pretty bad algae and stainedfrom hardy plank. Well, typically what
you do is just wash it downwith soap and water. Now you can

(09:48):
use a pressure washer. You wantto be careful that you don't get too
close with the pressure washer that youstart gouting into the paint. But surprisingly
enough you can just use like laundrylike tide even and a broom as a
scrub brush. Hose it down,you know, get everything wet, dip

(10:09):
your broom into the the tide orwhatever brand you want to use, and
start scrubbing down the algae and thattypically will clean it up pretty good.
Not something that you normally have todo, but like any siding, if
it's exposed to moisture too long,it will get some of that on,

(10:30):
but the paint seals it, soit's not getting down into the siding itself.
It's really just on the surface.So usually it comes off and cleans
up really nice, and you know, you typically don't have to worry about
repainting it right away. Then,so again we're getting ready to take a

(10:50):
quick break here. When we comeback, hopefully we'll be able to get
the phone lines up and running foryou. The number seven one three,
two one two five eight seven four. Don't forget about our website t hipro
dot com. It's there as aresource to help you out twenty four seven.
So if I'm not available, thenyou go to thchipro dot com.

(11:26):
Oh, let's talk about Sunburst Shuttersreal quick. They are the best selling
plantation shutters in America for a greatreason. They insulate two to three times
better than traditional wood shutter and theyalso look gorgeous. That pollywood is guaranteed
to never chip, crack, warp, or split. But really everything at
Sunburn Shutters is designed to last longer, look better, and outperform all the

(11:50):
other products. And yes I dohave it in my home. Love my
Sunburs shutters. Now you can takea look at some Sunburn Shutters by simply
calling seven one three eight ninety sixeighty one fifty. That's seven one three
eight nine six eighty one fifty.And when you do that, they'll book
an appointment. They'll have one oftheir design consultants come out and come out

(12:13):
and show you and help you getthat perfect look and fit for your home.
So again Sunburst Shutters seven one,three, eight nine, six eighty
one fifty or just go to thhiprodot com and click on the link for
Sunburs Shutters. At floor End Decore, we know pro as your one stop

(12:33):
source. We deliver everyday savings onover a million square feet of instock flooring
tools and installation materials. See howour flooring experts can help save you time
and money with our best in classselection at rock bottom prices and with pro
level benefits like our dedicated Pro serviceTeam, Pro Hotline, Pro Premier Financing
and unbeatable Pro Loyalty program. Youget what you need, when you need

(12:56):
it, where you need it.Come discover floor End Decore where we know
pro. When Jim Dutton of TexasHome Improvement recommends our company, T won't
steer you wrong and he recommends Guardianroof Systems, I said down to League
City, Hello JD Hey Jim,how you doing that? Man? I
did call you last week about chimneycapsyou recommended. I called Guardian Roofing.
I did call them. The techniciancame out, he was on time,

(13:18):
and man, that did it kudosto Guardian. Good job for me.
I really really appreciate that Guardian roofSystems. Click the link under trusted contractors
at thchipro dot com. All right, so you're having a problem with your
HVAC system. I mean, wegot some cold fronts coming through and you're

(13:39):
not getting the heat that you thoughtyou needed. Well, you need to
give due West air Conditioning a calland let us come out take a look,
see what's going on, and getyour system working again the way it
should be. And look, ifyou haven't had your system checked out yet,
you really need to make sure tohave that preventative maintenance done on your
HVAC system. That's what keeps youfrom having problems during the heating and the

(14:05):
cooling seasons. So when you wantthe best, you call due West at
seven one three four seven three sevenone five six at seven one three four
seven three seven one five six Andof course whether it's foundation repair, plumbing
or air conditioning, do West canhelp you with all your home services.
Give us a call. I sawJim Dutton with the big old hammer in

(14:33):
his head walk in the streets ofDFD. He was looking for a wall
that he could knock down. Herecomes Jim Dutton again. Oh, here
comes Jim Dutton. Here comes JimDutton. Here's more with Jim on Texas

(15:09):
Home Improof next time. Hey,welcome back to Texas Home Improvements, your
total home improvement source. I'm notgonna throw the number yet because we are
still working on getting the phones fixed. Soon as we get them fixed,
so you'll hear me start throwing thenumber out again, and that's when it's
time to call in. In themeantime, we're going to take care of
some email questions, and if youwant to email me, go to thchipro

(15:33):
dot com. Scroll down to thebottom. Over on the left hand side,
you'll see the ask Jim button andthat's how you can send in an
email question. And why don't wejump into one of the emails right here.
This one comes from Katrina and itsays we have had a musty odor
in our house. It seems tobe more prevalent after rain. For example,

(15:56):
we didn't smell it during the twentytwenty summer of no rain, but
it is back. We followed youradvice to use our nose and we think
it is due to mold growth onthe soil under the house. It is
pure and being foundation. We've triedspraying with bleach. It seems to come
back. Any advice, absolutely becausealmost always it is from under the house.

(16:23):
The soil gets moist and it givesoff an odor. Usually this happens,
especially in older homes, because overthe years, the soil around the
house has been built up. Thesoil under the home stays at the same
original elevation and so it becomes lowerand as the home ages, it gets

(16:45):
more and more moisture build up underit. The other thing that happens is
people try to close off the vents, thinking they're going to make their house
more comfortable and energy efficient, andby doing so they stop the airflow underneath
there. That allows the moisture againto build up and gives off that musty,

(17:08):
moldy smell. And you can treatthe soil all you want. You're
not going to stop that. Now. The things you need to look at
is the ventilation. Make sure you'vegot good ventilation and in some cases just
putting a fan, and they makefans that specifically fit into these peer and
beam homes. Vent openings so youcan draw air out. Never push air

(17:33):
under the home. Always just drawair out, because when you push air
under the home, it can pressureup and go to the inside of the
home. By drawing the air out, it always draws the air across and
that helps dry the soil underneath thehome, which helps with that moldy smell.
In some cases, what you endup doing is putting down a vapor

(17:56):
barrier that keeps the moisture that's inthe soil from rising up into that crawl
space. It basically stays underneath theplastic vapor barrier that you would lay on
top of the soil that's not neededreal often typically through drainage and ventilation,
you can take care of the moistureunder the home. And I said the

(18:18):
drainage simply because again as homes age, things change around the house and we
start getting areas where water can standthat again will put more moisture in the
soil under the home and cause thoseodors. So the very first thing to
start with is take a look atthe soil. If it's moist you got

(18:40):
a problem with the moisture in thesoil. So now you start looking to
see if there's standing water, ifthere's flow wrong, or if the soil
is lower under the home than itis around the home, and you start
addressing all the issues from there.But almost always you got to get the
ventilation fixed and uh, drainage fixedin order to get rid of these type

(19:03):
of problems. Very rarely do youhave to do the barrier underneath there,
but in some cases you do so. Again, we're working on getting phone
lines up. As soon as weget them up, I'll start letting you
know. And are you telling meit's up now? Okay? Seven one

(19:26):
three two one two five eight sevenfour. We got the phone lines up
and working. Let's give this aquick try here. So Ruben, welcome
the Texas Home Improvement. Well maybeit's just me hitting the buttons and I'm
joking on that, but uh,Rubin, are you there? Okay,
I'll put them back on hold andgo ahead, and hello, Ruben,

(19:52):
you're there. I am yes,sir, go ahead, good doing good
good. I have a questions.I am so. I recently purchased a
home and I needed to get centerpoint out to connect the gas, so

(20:12):
we pulled a permit for that,and then my plumber told me that I
need to check to the city becausethere's a hold from the city on that
property, and I called and theysaid that whoever the previous owner was that
remodeled the house never pulled a permit. Well, I bought the house out

(20:36):
there is and now now I don'tknow what to do. I'll tell you
what, Ruben, this one's gonnatake a few minutes. You mind holding
through this news, and we're gonnaand we'll jump on that. Then we'll
be back with more Texas home improvementsseven one, three, two, two,
five eight seven four. Let's talkreal quick about Revius shingles. You

(20:57):
know, when it comes to theweather here in Texas, you've got hailstorms
when you go north, you've gotwind when you come south, and you
got to have a durable shingle thatcan handle everything. And that is the
Revus shingles by f Wave. Thisis a tough in fact, it's the

(21:17):
toughest Class four shingle I know ofon the market. It's the This shingle
not only passes the two inch hailtest, it'll pass a two inch steel
ball test. It'll withstand winds wellin excess of one hundred and thirty miles
an hour. In fact, it'sbeen tested up to one hundred and seventy
mile an hour winds. I mean, if you're looking for a shingle that
you put on your home and youare done, the Revus Shingles by f

(21:42):
Wave is exactly what you're looking forwhen it comes to home repair and improvements.
He'll give you the good news andthe bad news, kind of like
a Velveta and Vasoline sandwich. Here'sJim Dutton, non Texas Home Improvements.

(22:02):
Hey, welcome back to Texas Home. Ruben seven one three two one two
five eight seven four. When weleft, we were talking with Ruben,
and Ruben bought a house somebody hadpulled a or done a bunch of remodeling
and not pulled permits on it.And now he's got the house and needing
to figure out what to do.So Ruben, my first question for you,

(22:26):
what did they do? I reallydon't know. I mean I saw
the house and so you know,but I liked it and bought it,
So I really I don't know theanswer question. So it was the city
saying it was red tag then Ibelieve, So yeah, okay, And

(22:48):
how long ago did you buy it? Uh? Friday? Last Friday?
Oh okay. So here's the firstthing you're going to need to do.
You go back to the real estateagent and let them know, hey,
we got a problem here. Theydid all this work, they didn't pull
a permit. I can't get apermit now to do what I need to

(23:11):
do, because they should be ableto pull back in, tell you what
work they did, and straighten outthe permitting with the city. Now.
The city also ought to be ableto tell you what the red tag was
for. And in some cases itmay not be that big a deal to
get somebody out to inspect it.But in other cases, you know,

(23:32):
like if an addition was put onand not permitted or something like that,
the city can actually make you tearit out. Yeah, so it's probably
not going to be probably not goingto be too big a deal to get
it fixed. But it does fallback on the seller to do that stuff.
And if for some reason they don'twant to do it, you just

(23:56):
get you a real estate attorney andthey will send them these nice little letters
demanding them to take care of itor go to court. And I can
tell you up front, the realtoris not going to want it to go
to court because it don't look goodfor them. Uh. And they don't
want to have to be paying forit. So I think it'll be ready

(24:17):
fairly, easily taken care of.But it's going to start with that call
to the realtor. Okay, Ireally appreciate it. Thank you so much.
You bet you take care of andyou know, I'll tell everybody up
front, this is the problem withnot pulling permits for the work you do.

(24:37):
I'd say, you know, Itell you this all the time.
It can come back and bite you. And this this is a real good
example because you know, quite frankly, if the previous person doesn't take care
of this, there there's gonna thisis something that can go into a lawsuit,
and you will win on this lawsuit. Now, if you're the person

(25:03):
who did it wrong, hey,no, you're not going to win because
there are laws and rules that requireyou to get those permits to do it
right. So and if you're buyingand it's been remodeled recently, that's always
a question to ask, hey,were the permits obtained and closed out?
And that's one of the things youcan actually check with a permit department if

(25:26):
there's been work done to it,were these permits closed out? That's what
you're looking to hear that permits werepulled and closed out. Closed out means
that the final inspections were done.All right, let's get ready to head
back into another call seven one three, two one two five eight seven four

(25:47):
Dan and deer Park. How canI help you today? Hey, good
afternoon. I've got a house thatwas built in seventy four that we own,
and we have a added staircase thatis in the hallway and we need
to replace the staircase. So youknow, my wife's gone online and she's

(26:08):
looked at a number of different things, and basically it seems to boil down
to a couple of things. Numberone, do you want a wooden ladder
or do you want a ladder thatis wooden handrails? But the stairs themselves
are made out of anominal and probablythe second differential one those is do you

(26:30):
want one has two hundred and fiftypound maximum or do you want one that
has a three hundred toown maximum.So our question is is that, basically,
is there any other things around thestaircase ladder up into that that you
would say, hey, you needto be looking at this or be aware

(26:51):
of this type of thing. No, that that's really the big ones.
And I guess yes, there isone other thing. You got to make
sure that it is wide enough toaccommodate whatever you've gotten the attic, right,
yeah, okay, do you doyou suggest the wooden or aluminum?

(27:15):
I mean, do you have apreference if you were doing it, which
one you would go with? Youknow, in my personal home, I
have a wooden one. I've alwaysliked the aluminum ones, but the wooden
one was there when I when Ibought the house. I would have to
take a look at the cost ofthem, because we you you use the

(27:37):
latter so seldom. The big,bigger question for me would be, you
know, the two fifty to threehundred pound I would definitely go with the
heavier, okay. And that's partof the thing, is that the three
hundred pounder is more expensive than themean yes, more expensive than the two
hundred and fifty pounder. But alsowhat, at least in the commons sections

(28:00):
that we see that are online,one of the big complaints around the two
hundred and fifty pounds ones are thatthey're rarely meant the most Excuse me.
The complaint that you see most oftenis that the stairs themselves are put in
very poorly at the post, andyou don't see those same comments with the

(28:22):
three hundred and fifty pounds one well, and the people say that because,
let's face it, a lot ofus are bigger than we used to be.
And if you're dealing with with aladder that's only rated for two hundred
and fifty pounds, I'm two thirtyfive going up that ladder that don't leave

(28:44):
a whole lot of room for youknow, for grace period on it.
And so yeah, it just feelsrickety right. Okay, So I have
one other question related to this.This is a do it yourself project we're
doing. One other question is it'skind of an oddball quay, and it's
a cosmetic question. Is there anyway to make the the current one that

(29:08):
we have, uh, you know, has the entry into it and it's
got like what you might call likea picture frame molding around the opening and
then the door the doors? Isthere any doors? There? Is there
anything that can be done or youcan do or you have seen that makes

(29:29):
it look better than it is?I guess, for lack of better terms,
like I said, this is reallya cosmetic question. It and it's
a good question. I mean,I have actually seen some people, uh
put the same texture on the dooritself as they have on the ceilings,
and so it blends in very welland doesn't stick out. Do they still

(29:52):
have the how do they do?How do they fill the gap so to
speak? All well, they leavethe trim and everything there. They still
leave the trim and everything there.They simply texture the door itself and so
it's just not as noticeable because youdon't have this whole big square up there

(30:15):
that is different. Right, AndI hate to do this to you,
but I've got that music. Man, I was supposed to take a break,
so I need to go ahead andtake that break real quick. I'll
put you on hold, and Idon't mind finishing answering that. You know,
if you're looking at remodeling your homeand you're wanting to get something completed

(30:36):
before you move on to your nextproject, and you want a company who's
going to pull the permits and dothings away it's supposed to be done,
you're looking for the Texas Remodel Team. These guys do great at their remodeling
and stuff. But what a lotof people don't realize is they got a
complete window division. They can dothe replacement windows for you no matter where

(30:57):
you live in the city of Houston, and they got several different styles where
you to choose from. So ifyou want fast, expert installation and you
want it done right and on time, call Texas Remodel Team at two eight
one six one two fifty nine ninetyone. That's two eight one six one

(31:21):
two fifty nine to ninety one forTexas Remodel Team. At floor End Decore,
we know pro as your one stopsource. We deliver everyday savings on
over a million square feet of instock flooring tools and installation materials. See
how our flooring experts can help saveyou time and money with our best in
class selection at rock bottom prices andwith pro level benefits like our dedicated Pro

(31:45):
Service Team, Pro Hotline, ProPremier Financing and unbeatable Pro Loyalty program.
You get what you need, whenyou need it where you needed. Come
discover Floor End Decore, where weknow pro all. Let's thought about some
James Hardy siding. You know,if you're looking to do some new siding

(32:05):
on your home because you want togive it some curb appeal. You know
you get your best bang for yourbuck with James Hardy siding. It's gorgeous,
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And you know what, dollar fordollar, it's the best investment you can
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(32:29):
When Jim Dott you No Texas HomeImprovement, recommends a company you won't
steer you wrong, like Due WestServices. I had your phenomenal company out
regarding a foundation watering system and sotired of lugging those miserable so cross that
keep getting destroyed. It's just anightmare. So anyway, I had Jacob

(32:51):
out from your company Due West andhe was phenomenal, and you run a
tip top organization. He was dressedbeautifully, the pluck he drove up and
was perfect. I mean, youjust have made yourself a wonderful company.
I can't thank you enough. Ireally appreciate it. Do West Services Foundation
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(33:15):
one five six. That's seven onethree four seven three seven one, five
six online at do Dashwest dot com. That's du dash West dot com.
Do West Services. Keim, youhelped us a long time ago when I
had a crack on the kitchen floorthat we kept having it repaired over and

(33:36):
over again, and you said itwas the hot water line adjacent to the
dish wars that caused us. Andthat's exactly what it was. Cracks on
your floor. Are crack pot contractorsat your door, Jim Dunton, we'll
fix them both here he is onTexas Home Improvement. Hey, welcome back.

(33:58):
Seven one, three, two,five, eight seven four Again any
home improven question you have. Wewere talking with Dan in Deer Park about
a pull down staircase and Dan,sorry about that. Now, that's fine.
You really answered all my questions withregards to which one to purchase and

(34:19):
all that sort of thing, SoI really appreciate it, you bet.
And you know there is one otherbig factor when you're putting these staircases in,
make sure they use good fasteners,because really, all this is going
to scare people a little bit,but when you go up those staircases,

(34:40):
all that's holding you up is whateverfasteners they use that go through the side
of the framework into the studs orinto the rafters up there and the ceiling
joists and stuff. And sometimes they'llgo in with is like four little sheet
rock screws, and yes, thestaircase will hang there, but you put

(35:06):
too much weight and those things aren'tdesigned to hold the weight, they'll sheer
off suit. You got to makesure you've got plenty of fasteners or large
enough ones to hold it. Iguess I would ask them if with that,
with that the heavy suggestions on whatthe you know, minimum diameter of
the fasteners should be, I don't, but that will come with the instructions

(35:29):
for the staircase. Yeah, Imean, it's okay, it's just that,
you know, that's also the samepeople who uh, you know,
barely put it together so barely hopeit's two hundred and fifty pounds. So
yeah, kind of asking if you'retelling me, if you tell me,
if you for instance, if youwere telling me, hey, you know

(35:50):
what if you get it and it'sgot three eight cents fasteners or are better
or thicker, and that's great.Uh, and I get it and it's
got you know, one sixteenth okaykind of send off, you know,
the alarm bell, so to speak. Yeah, Now, what most of
them are going to tell you isis going to be larger than that.
Uh. Where I kind of runinto an issue with some of them is

(36:13):
they'll put four in, uh youknow, all along the long sides,
just two on each side. Andtypically if I'm gonna put one in,
I want three along the long sideand at least one or two on the
two end pieces as well. Okay, okay, okay, Hey, greatly
appreciate, thank you very much.You bet you take care again. Seven

(36:39):
one three two one two five eightseven four, And I'll see what I
can do to help you out.Jake and Victoria, how can I help
you today? Yeah? I gota plumbing thing. My my target leaks
a little bit. It fills up, but it leaks a little bit.

(36:59):
And I replaced that red rubber thingtwice and after like a month, it
still seems like it leaks. Isthere something I can do? And the
red rubber thing you're talking about isthe flapper in the bottom correct? Correct?
It seems like it, you knowit it leaks a little bit,

(37:22):
but it's all the time. Yeah, what you need to do is pick
up the flapper and reach down andrub your finger around the top of that
of the drain opening. You knowwhere the flapper sits. And I bet
what you're gonna find is it's gota mineral deposit build up. It's probably

(37:44):
rough. And that's the reason thatwell, I've done, you've replaced it
done, still und the flapper,I guess, the red thing, but
not not below it is there canI put bleach in it? I mean,
what can I do? Well?Not if it's got mineral posit build
up. And here's where it happens. You know, the the flapper will

(38:05):
start to warp a little bit,and as water leaks by, mineral deposits
build up and it creates a littlehump there and sometimes you just literally have
to scrape that stuff off, allright, And it's just around the opening,
you know where the flapper sits ontop of you just open flip up

(38:30):
the flapper and just make sure that'sall clean and smooth and more likely that's
where your issue is. Is thata common problem? Yes, I don't
need your plumbers to come out.Now. You shouldn't need a plumber for

(38:50):
that one. Now, if itgoes beyond that, then it might be
a little bit of a different problem. But the fact that you replace the
flapper it had, and actually replacedit twice, it's pretty much gonna be
that. That's that's a rough surfacethere that just needs to be cleaned up
some well. You saved me aservice. Call Thank you, You're welcome.

(39:15):
You take care, call it,call it a late Christmas gift.
Thank you all right again our numberseven one three two one two five eight
seven four. That's seven one threetwo one two five eight seven four.
Any home improvement question you have,feel free to pick up the phone,

(39:35):
give me a call, and I'llsee what I can do to help you
out here on Texas Home Improvement,your total home improvement source. We're gonna
take a quick break. We'll beback with more Texas Homeprovement. In fact,
we got a whole another hour togo, so don't go anywhere again.
Seven one three two one two fiveeight seven four. Let's talk about

(40:00):
USA insulation. You know you hearme talk about foam insulation. I don't
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But there's more to it. Youcan retrofit your existing home with foam insulation

(40:25):
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(41:49):
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And do they offer multiple styles andchoices so you can get the exact

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one online at Texas Remodel Team dotcom. Who Jim Dunn, Spamdamn?
Whoa Jim dunneon Spamboman, Jim dunn'thad a sall Sandaman the gun brought to
the walk Fama dam You'll improve yourheart to Bamba dam with EVERYBODYO Joe?

(43:22):
Whoa Jim Dunn? Joe, We'reback with more Texas Home Improvements and Jim
dunn't hey, welcome back to TexasHome Improvement against seven one three two one
two five eight seven four. Becky, how can I help you today?

(43:42):
Well, Hi, Jim, howare you doing today? I am doing
that good. I have used yourcompany for so many things over the years,
mainly just for plumbing, and actuallyI had your company out. Oh
it's in a number of years nowsay place toilets. They just done all
kinds of things. But they alsoI have a smell, No, you're

(44:07):
welcome. I also have a smellcoming out of a sink in the bar
area. This is an older housethat has those old bars, you know
the bars, and through the smellthat comes out of the sink. But
it's only when it's cold. AndI had your plumber cover here, your

(44:30):
main guy and summer and sol somethinglike that, and he tapped that light
off. Yes, that's it,and he tapped it off. And so
we don't run water, we don'tuse it anything like that. And we
thought that would be the end ofit. Even since then, I've even
had my house free piped singing thatwould be the end of it. So

(44:53):
whenever it's cold, the smell comesback. And at some point we're going
to have to sell the house becausefor an older couple, and so I
feel like, well, I'm goingto have to sell the house in the
summer, if you know what Imean. What can I do about this?
Well, it sounds like this isgoing to be a vent issue and

(45:15):
it's something that we can take anotherlook at, because you know, when
you're looking for this kind of stuff. You never know what's actually causing it.
You just have to kind of trialand error till you find it.
And I hate to say this,I do have to take a quick break,
but yeah, it sounds like weshould be able to find this with
a vent issue that's taking place.And if you want to call me at

(45:38):
the office, be more than happyto get involved and make sure we get
you taken care of. Hey,let's talk real quick about American Standard.
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you like it. That's American StandardAir dot com. This is probably gonna
sound a little strange to you.Texas Home Improvement is on the air with

(46:23):
your host Jim dot exactly what Ineed to know. You always give me
the way to go, great observation. You got to be on the radio.
Well, this might be the answerto my pros, and I'm really
glad I could talk to you.You're the smartest guy. And I mean
call Jim now with all your homeimprovement questions. That's seven one three two
one two five eight seven four.That's seven one three, two, one

(46:45):
two five eight seven four. Jaxon'sHome Improvement brought to you by US Services
Plumbing, Foundation, Repair and airConditioning, Jaxon's Remodel Team, Windows,
the official window company of Texas HomeImprovement, American Standards, Comfort the way
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(47:09):
floor in the Core, Sunburst Shutterswhere beauty meets energy efficiency. Guardian roof
Systems, Residential and commercial roofing Specialist, Woodland's Water Restoration, your hometown solution
for property damage and Victor's Remodeling andConstruction, Hardy Plank Specialists. And now
broadcasting live from the Dutton Ranch,here's Jim dot Hey. Welcome back to

(47:38):
Texas Home Improvements, your total homeimprovement source. I am Jim Dutton,
here to help you out any homeimprovement question you have. Just feel free
to pick up the phone, giveme a call, and I'll see what
I can do to help you outhere on Texas Home Improvement. Number to
call seven one three two one twofive eight seven four. Now you can

(47:59):
always go to our site and takea look as well. That's uh thhipro
dot com. There's all kinds ofhelpful information there, links to the people
you hear me talk about, questionsand answers, and videos and newsletters.
I mean, it's all there atthhipro dot com. One of the things
you may need to use sometimes isthe ask Jim button. That's where you

(48:20):
scroll all the way down and onthe left you'll see ask Jim. That's
how you email me. So again, that's all available at thhipro dot com
right now, though, if you'vegot a question seven one three two one
two five eight seven four, let'shead to Spring and Linda. Welcome to
Texas Home Improvement. Hello Jim,thank you for taking my call. I

(48:45):
have a I have a thirty fivehundred square foot house. About eighteen hundred
square feet of that is twelve xtwelve tiles. It's a medium colored tile.
Originally it had a very light groutand we've been here for ten years
in all of the high traffic areas, the grout is discolored. I've used

(49:08):
every commercial product that I can findto clean the grout and cannot get it
cleaned. And it makes my wholehouse look dingy. So I'm just about
ready to tear it all out andput something else in. But before I
do that, can you recommend anyway to restore my groud to its original

(49:29):
color? And if I can getit to that point, should I seal
it so it doesn't get dirty again? Well, the first thing I would
ask is is it a darker groudor a light colored grout. It's a
very light colored grout. Okay.Typically to get those cleaned, they steam

(49:52):
clean them, and so you'll you'llend up bringing in one of the flooring
cleaning companies like you know Stand orsomebody like that who can steam clean it
and get all the dirt. Andthen yes, after it's cleaned up,
you can put a seiler on itand that'll help it. You know,

(50:12):
the ceilers they wear out over timeand so the dirt will build up again
over time. But uh, steamcleaning on those tile floors does does a
remarkable thing on cleaning them up okay, And is there a steam cleaner that
you would recommend. I've used acouple of them. I mean, I've

(50:34):
used Stanley Steamer. I've used oh, I can't remember the name of the
other one now, but you know, give Stanley Steamer a call and they
can help you out. All right, all right, I really appreciate it.
Thank you so much. You betyou take care and again our number

(50:59):
seven one three two one two fiveeight seven four. That's seven one three
two one two five eight seven four. H Glenn and Katie. How can
I help you? Hi, Jim, thanks for taking my call. I
had a question. We're looking atdoing a bathroomy model and in the tub

(51:21):
and putting in uh I'm not surewhat you call it, but you know,
no top anymore, just the basebase unit and like the shower stalls.
So I've used some of some ofthe folks like that, some of
the home shows, and I'm justkind of concerned that they say, oh,
it's like X amount of dollars,but if you do it now,

(51:43):
then it's like six thousand dollars cheaper. So any recommendation to companies or any
like. Should I use a generalcontractor versus one of these companies, or
should I go like with someplace that'sin Costco. That's that advertisement. When
you go with like the place inCostco, it's going to be like the

(52:07):
shower places that you see when yougo to the home shows. And basically
what they do is they come in, they tear everything out, go down
to the studs, and then comeup from there. And so it it's
expensive to have done. It aggravatesme when places start though doing you know,

(52:30):
here's a bid for twenty three thousanddollars, but if you'll sign today,
we'll do it for like you said, seventeen thousand and quite frankly,
if you hold companies who do that, if you hold off on not doing
anything, typically within a day you'regoing to get a call from a manager

(52:52):
and he's going to be, now, what can I do to go ahead
and get this closed? How wouldanother three thousand dollars off? Do you?
Yeah? They just play those numbergames, and I don't like that.
I mean, I we give youa price. This is the price
we can do it for, andthat that's what it is. But as

(53:14):
far as somebody to do it,I'll give you the name. You're in
Katie, right, correct. Okay, I'm gonna give you the name of
a company who can come in anddo it for you, at least give
you a price comparison. And thisis a contractor who basically can come in

(53:34):
and take care of everything. It'sVictor's Remodeling and Construction. There's remodeling and
construction, okay. And their numberis eight three to two two four three
ninety nine ninety seven. Okay,very good. So Victor's Remodeling Construction okay.
And I'm I'm actually in my car, so it can't write the number

(53:58):
down, but I will remember thatre modeling and construction. So I appreciate
the information. And I see thesame way you do. The people like
coming back like, oh another ten, another five thousand dollips. Like I'm
a little bit suspicious of that.So yeah, that's just aggravating. Yeah,

(54:19):
I agree. Okay, Jim,thanks you have a great, great
day, and happy you as well. Thank you, sir, you bet
again. Seven one three two onetwo five eight seven four. That's seven
one three two one two five eightseven four. And I'll see what I
can do to help you out hereon Texas Homeprovement, Daniel, How can

(54:42):
I help you today. Hi,I have a question about the pull down
attic stairs. I recently heard acolor about that. My issue is,
I recently had some people come upand replace a air conditioning blower up in
the attic, and when one ofthem stood on the bottom rungs, it

(55:10):
cracked the woodwork of the actual stairs, and I'm wondering if I can actually
fix that on my own or doI have to replace the actual whole unit.
Well, if you've got the capabilitiesto work with the wood, you

(55:36):
can fix it on your own.Okay, it doesn't mean you have to
replace everything. Okay, I definitelydo. But I did hear you talking
about things being within code and Ididn't know if that is going to be
something that gets inspected, And soI just want to make sure I even

(56:00):
if you were changing out the wholestaircase, you know, pull down staircase,
that's not a permit item. Okay, okay, yeah, Like so
all the springs are are fine.Everything is good. It's just like the
uh, the bottom brace, sookay, yep. Yeah, and and

(56:20):
and honestly that's pretty common and yeah, that can be changed out and fixed
with the new board, and yeah, you'll be you'll be good, all
right, Well, thank you somuch, you bet you take care you
too, and again our number sevenone three two one two five eight seven

(56:44):
four. In fact, with that, I've got open lines now, so
pick up the phone, give mea call. Let's talk about some home
improvement projects here on Texas Home Improvement. That's seven one three two one two
five eight seven four. You knowI I recently had to do a home
improvement project that I just I didn'tdo it myself. I hired somebody to

(57:06):
do it, and that was toreplace my roof. I just did not
want to mess with going up there. And I've done roofing, don't get
me wrong, but I don't wantto do that work anymore. My bigger
issue, though, was I wanteda shingle that I didn't have to worry
about. And you know what I'mtalking about, the windstorms we get the

(57:28):
and as you go further north youget into hale. Well, I went
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(57:50):
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You know, when a hurricane comesin, one of the things that causes
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to worry about that with the RevaShingles by f Wave. You want to

(58:15):
learn more about it, go tothchipro dot com and click on the link
for Reva Shingles by f Wave.You know, when you hear the words
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my gosh, I don't want tohave to deal with this. When you
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(58:36):
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When you want the best, youcall due Wes seven one, three
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savings on over a million square feetof in stock flooring tools and installation materials.
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(59:19):
need it. Come discover floor andDecore where we know pro. Let's talk
about replacement windows. You know,sooner or later all of us have to
replace the windows in our home.That's just it's a ware item. It
does go bad over time. TexasRemodel Team, Hey, they can help
you with all your window needs now. They got several different lines whether it's

(59:44):
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to call. It's Texas Remodel Teamand you know, yes, you hear
that Texas Remodel in there. Thisis a complete window division that all this

(01:00:07):
these guys do and I'm not talkingabout the company, but the crews in
the window division. All they dois replacement windows. But what happens when
you get into a home that hassome bad wood, Well, because they're
part of a remodeling company, theygot crews available to come and keep the
project on time. Again, it'sTexas Remodel Teams Window Division two eight one

(01:00:31):
six one two fifty nine to ninetyone two eight one six one two fifty
nine to ninety one for Texas RemodelTeams Window Division. You were listening to
Texas Home Improvement with Jim Ditton.You are a source for all things home
improvement that says big ass Texas.Here it's Jim Dyton. Hey, welcome

(01:00:59):
back to Excess Home Improvements seven onethree, two one two five eight seven
four Ted and Magnolia. What canI do for you today? Well,
I have a driveway, uh fora house that's about six years old,
and the one by four expansion jointpieces of wood are beginning to rot and

(01:01:22):
come out. And now I've gota big gap between the concrete. And
uh, I know there's some goodcommercial cocks that i'll say commercial company's shoes.
What would be a recommendation for ahome just pull all those wood planks
out and put a different cock in. Yeah, I mean, you can

(01:01:46):
go back with wood if you want, but typically what I recommend is to
just pull it out. And there'sa product actually called Trima Slab and it
it comes on a roll. It'sa material that slips down into that crack
opening they got. It's made indifferent widths and so you just kind of

(01:02:08):
measure the with the opening you haveand you order it accordingly. But it's
the quickest, easiest, and itlasts a long long time. The problem
I've seen with the cocks that areusing Thos rubber ice cocks is it doesn't
take that long and they start deterioratingand shrinking up and you're still leaking water

(01:02:30):
underneath and stuff, and so,uh, you know, the these roles,
it's it's something that's made here inLeague City and you can find it
at some of the Ace hardware stores. But like I said, the product
is called trim a Slab and it'sTheir website is trim dash a dash slab

(01:02:50):
and uh, that's what I wouldtake a look at. Good. Good.
I appreciate that recommendation. You betthat's something. Is that something you
accompanied? No, No, wedon't. We don't do that kind of
stuff, but any handyman would beable to put it in for you.

(01:03:14):
Sure, okay, good, well. I appreciate that. I'm not familiar
with trying to slab. So I'mglad I called you already. You take
care of thanks, bye bye,and again our number seven one three two
one two five eight seven four,and we're gonna head over to Jersey Village.

(01:03:37):
Joe. You having a good daytoday, yes, sir, if
you give me the right answers,this could be expensive. I have.
That's that's why I said, Idon't know how good today is yet.
No. I have some cosmetic cracksin my driveway and my sy walk has

(01:04:00):
some panels that are being pushed upby the tree roots. I guess the
two three. The house is twentyeight years old, and so what I'm
thinking is I need to do somethingprove having to be looks like we raised
or whatever. But if y'all haveyou any ideas or thoughts on that well,

(01:04:30):
it really depends on what's going onand how big the panels are.
To be honest with you, Imean, every once in a while you
get out and yeah, there's treeroots that are pushing a panel up,
and you can literally tip the panelover, take the tree roots out,
and lay the panel back down andit goes into place. So it just

(01:04:51):
depends on what a person sees whenthey get there. But in general,
once tree roots have started pushing itup, usually have to take the concrete
out and replace it. Uh,it's when it settles that you can use
like the phone injection or mud pumpingand stuff like that to level up the

(01:05:11):
concrete. Do y'all do that fordriveways or is that yesters foundation? Yep
do We do concrete replacement and wealso do the phone injection and the mud
pumping and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, we can definitely come
take a look at it and thetree roots. H you don't what I

(01:05:35):
need to get a pre guy out. No, we do root shields and
and all that kind of stuff aswell. Oh excellent, Okay, so
it's not too late to do theright thing if in case I need to
present the house foundation from being impacted. No, not in the years,

(01:05:58):
not at all. You yeah,you know, and most people the foundation
from these trees and stuff. Normallya house is eighteen to twenty years old
when most people first start seeing theissues. You know, the fact that
your house is twenty eight years oldnot unusual at all. And a lot
of times it depends on how farout away from the house the trees are

(01:06:21):
put in and stuff like that.But yeah, don't feel like the lone
ranger. And yes, it canbe expensive, Okay, the repair or
the raising the side, I meanthe driveway, well, whichever it is,
it is it is. Yeah,if you let it go and you

(01:06:44):
got to do full blown foundation repairon the home, that gets really expensive.
But you know, sometimes even foryeah, and even for doing your
athane and mud pumping and stuff.It sounds expensive to some people. To
other people, hey, it's it'sa bargain. But I can tell you
you know, you're typically looking atsomething that starts at eight hundred dollars and

(01:07:08):
goes up from there. Right,Okay, just one last question on the
roots of the tree. If Idid deep root watering and put in part
of my irrigation system a root water, would that get the roots to go
down instead of trying to grow up. And I bet you I don't know

(01:07:30):
irrigation though, right, I shoulddo that first. We do foundation watering,
but not not that type of wateringfor yards and stuff. But tree
roots are typically in the top eighteeninches. They're not. Trees are typically
not made for the roots to godeep unless it has a tap root like
a pine tree or something. Okay, well, best thing I do is

(01:07:53):
just get y'all to come out takea look at for me and tell me
where I'm at with the roots,the dam and the driveway. Okay,
great, well, just give usa call. It's at seven one three
four seven three seven one five six. That's the number for due West,
and I'll be more than happy totake a look at it for you.
We'll do. I'll give you ashout, thanks much. And oh you

(01:08:15):
bet, let's see here. Let'stalk about American Standard. You know.
American Standard air is my choice inair conditioners. I've I've been having those
in my home since nineteen ninety nine. And American Standard heating and air conditioning.
Those systems are nationally recognized for excellencefor performance, reliability, and customer

(01:08:36):
satisfaction. Let's face it, that'sa big one. So take care of
your family all year long with AmericanStandard Air Again, American Standard heating and
air conditioning technology meets the ever changingTexas weather and on, so you can
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you need it. And let's faceit, right now, we go back

(01:08:58):
and forth between air and but youknow, invest wisely and invest in the
home comfort system that will last youa long, long time comfort the way
you like it. American Standard Airdot Com. He's dependable, consistent,
and sane, the complete opposite ofTexas weather. Here's Jim Dutton on Texas

(01:09:24):
Home Improvement. Hey, welcome backto Texas Home Improvement again. Seven one
three, two one two five eightseven four. We're gonna head out to
Seabrook. John, Welcome to TexasHome Improvement. Yes, Hello, John,

(01:09:45):
good afternoon. Can I help you? I was looking for recommendation down
in my area for a remodeling companyto do a kitchen remodel. Okay,
and it's you're just gonna gut itand redo it, yes, sir,
okay, Cabinet instruction victors. Yes, ye, yeah, give victors A

(01:10:13):
call yeah at eight three two twofour three ninety nine ninety seven. Okay,
great, really appreciate it, sir, thank you, you bet you
take care all right, bye,and let's head over to Richmond and Craig.

(01:10:33):
Welcome to seven forty k t H. How can I help you?
Hey, good, wonderful, beautifulday to you. My wife is a
well built, brand new home tenyears ago and we're coming up roughly about
six months before the senior anniversary.Most released. My home came with a

(01:10:57):
tenior warranty, and after they botchedthe roof when they were building the house
made me a little paranoid. SoI'm wanting to get an inspector come out
and just look at the house,you know, from top to bottom.
And so my question is, isthere a particular type of inspector I should

(01:11:23):
maybe look for that can deal with, you know, other than just the
inspection, but a ten year warrantythat most homes give you, or should
I perhaps get two of them andget to opinions or what course of action
do you think would be best?Typically, the only thing that's still under

(01:11:48):
warranty at ten years is usually thefoundation. Uh. Usually by the time
we get to ten years. Allthe other warranties have long time asked because
most of the warranties you don't havea one, two, five and then
a ten year is typically the structureitself, the foundation and stuff. So

(01:12:12):
as far as somebody who could takea look, normally, it wouldn't be
a regular home inspector. You wouldnormally be looking for someone who's more on
the engineering side. And there's anorganization called the Foundation Performance Association, and

(01:12:32):
if you'll take a look at theirwebsite, they have a list of different
engineers who will come out and dothat type of inspection for you. Okay,
all right, well that's a good, good suggestion. I greatly appreciate
it. You bet you take care, may thank you bye and again in

(01:13:00):
our number seven three two one twofive eight seven four Bill and Katie,
how can I help you today?Hi, gim I've got a little plumbing
issue with the faucet at the inthe kitchen. It's a Mullen Sense type

(01:13:23):
of turn on, turnof, andI'm disconnected a battery so I can operate
at manually. The issue I haveis the hot water is not as powerful
as the cold water, which leadsme to think that there's something obstructing the
hot water, and I believe couldcome either from the lever that you turn

(01:13:48):
on for hot and cold and thepressure on the top of the sank,
or it could be a clog orsomething in the hot water heaterd down underneath.
I'm thinking of doing it myself,but I'm I think I'm getting out

(01:14:12):
of my comfort zone when I'm tryingto determine. I'm going to have to
take that lever apart and see ifthere's anything blocking it and sam down underneath
looking at the connection. What wouldyou suggest? I guess my first question
is you have a a water heaterunder the counter there, No, the

(01:14:39):
water heat is up in the attic. Okay, yeah, yeah, I'm
sorry I didn't mention that. AndI've tested the pressure on a couple of
sinks in the bathroom or in thein the in the other room, and

(01:15:00):
they seem to be about the samebetween the cold and the hunt. So
it seems to be mostly isolated withthe kitchen sink. Okay. So typically
the places where you will find itto block is going to be the valve
under the kitchen sink. You knowwhere the line comes out of the wall
from the pipe and then goes upto the sink itself. And those are

(01:15:27):
notorious for if you don't use themon a regular basis, they start getting
a scale build up and stuff andyou can't shut them down. What a
lot of people don't realize, youknow, they see a half inch pipe
coming out of the wall and theythink, okay, so this is a
half inch going out. Well inthat valve, it chokes down to like
a eighth inch or a quarter inchrather tight opening, so it chokes way

(01:15:53):
down and if any scale build upor anything like that blocks it, it
does choke the water flow down quitea bit. So typically to check out
where the problem is, I woulddisconnect the line under the sink and use
a five gallon bucket to run thewater into the five gallon bucket, so

(01:16:17):
that'll limit if if my flow isright at that point, that means it's
in the faucet. If my flowis short at that point, then it's
more likely that valve, and justreplace that valve and you're done right,
Okay, I will try that nice. If I run in the problems,

(01:16:40):
I'm gonna call a plumber. Thencall well glad to hear you got it,
okay, okay, Jim, thankyou very much. You bet you
take care right bye bye. Andthat is a thing. I mean,
a lot of this kind of stuffpeople can can do on their own.

(01:17:03):
But when you get into something whereyou're a little over what you're comfortable with
doing, that's when you just giveus a call at d West Tootal Plumbing
and we'll be more than happy tocome out and take a look and see
what we can do to get youtaken care of. Now again our phone
number seven one three two one twofive eight seven four. Let's talk about

(01:17:24):
sunburst shutters real quick. You know, if you're thinking about shutters for your
home, you need to take alook at sunburst shutters. Now they use
Pollywood and Pollywood is guaranteed to neverwarp, crack, chip, or peel.
But Hollywood gives you that rich lookof fine wood shutters without those inherent
problems. And you know, Pollywoodshutters are guaranteed a lifetime guarantee. Now,

(01:17:48):
sunburn shutters, they they design everythingto look better, last longer,
and outperform all the other products onthe market. And I do have sunburst
shutters in my home, love them. My parents and have them, my
sister has them. I mean,namebody who sees them. They understand this
is a quality product that's gonna last. So you want some shutters, why

(01:18:09):
not call and get a design consultationso you can work with an expert to
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(01:18:30):
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(01:18:53):
when you need it, where youneed it. Come discover Floor End Decore
where we know pro. Hey,let's talk about due West the second I
just mentioned the plumbing division there andyeah, we can take care of all
your plumbing needs at due West.We also have our eight air conditioning division
we can take care of all yourair conditioning needs and you all know us

(01:19:15):
for uh foundation repair needs. Sowhether it's foundation repair, plumbing or air
conditioning, when you want the bestcalled due West seven to one, three
four seven three seven one five six. You know a lot of window companies
can put in new windows, butcan they make the trim look right?
Do they use high end cock toseal up the air gaps? And do

(01:19:38):
they offer multiple styles and choices soyou can get the exact windows you need
and want for your home. JimDutton, host of Texas Improvement for Texas
Remodel Team, they have a windowdivision that does nothing but windows, and
they can make sure that things likeyour trim, your brick, even your
windowsill looks perfect because after all,they are owned by a construction company,

(01:20:00):
carry all the major brands of windows, and their insult crews are second to
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(01:20:24):
one two eight one six, onetwo fifty nine ninety one online at Texas
Remodel Team dot com. When JimDetton of Texas Home Improvement recommends our comedy
he won't steer you wrong and herecommends Guardian roof Systems said down to League
City. Hello jd Hey, Jim, how you doing that? Man?
I did call you last week aboutuh chimneycaps you recommended. I called Guardian

(01:20:45):
Roofing. I did call them.The technician came out, he was on
time, and man, that didit. Kudos to Guardian. Good job
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under Trusted Contractors at THHI dot com. Just can't get enough of that Jim
Dutton stuff and see him in livingcolor on our YouTube channel or tips,

(01:21:10):
how toos and episodes you may havemissed from the Texas Home Improvement TV show.
Subscribe now here's more Texas Home Improvementwith Jim Hey, Welcome back to
Texas Home Improvements. Your Total HomeImprovement source seven one three, two one
two five eight seven four David inSpring Branch, how are you today?

(01:21:35):
Hey? I'm doing okay. Thankyou very much for taking my call.
You know, I have a veryI think I think that's a silly question.
It has to do with air conditioneruter window units. I do have
one at my It's a room inthe back of my it's not attached to
my home. It's a I thinkit's a ten x seventeen room. I

(01:21:56):
have an air conditioner, the windowunit of seven thousand BTU. But I
have a choice there. I canput on the air conditioner or either the
heater. But when I put onthe heater, it stays on constantly.
I mean it really never gets allthat hot. And not only that,
but it stays on constantly, andit's been doing that since day one.
Do you need a certain type ofhere or or you know, a conventional

(01:22:21):
type or something like that so thatyou have not only the air conditioner but
the heater as well. And letme make sure I understand. Is this
a window unit type unit? Yeah, it's a window unit. And air
conditioner works like okay, and Iput it on, it goes and it
comes on and awful. But onthe heater, it just stays on constantly.

(01:22:43):
Yep. Yeah, And you know, yes, you want first of
all, you do buy most ofthose don't have heating units in them.
Most most window units, uh,they're they're only for cooling, and so
it may or may not have athermostat that flips it on and off.

(01:23:05):
It shuts the heating element off,but it keeps the fan motor going to
keep the air circulated because with heat, it normally rises, and so by
keeping the air going, it keepsit circulating through the room. And that's
more likely what they're trying to dowith it. Okay, I did a

(01:23:26):
lot of them, a lot ofthem. If you look at the settings
will give you the option though,of leaving it on all the time or
having it cycle where it shuts thefan on and off. This one doesn't.
Okay, Oh yeah, that's notunusual. Yeah, I want one

(01:23:48):
that shuts on and off like youjust mentioned the one that's you know,
goes on and off automatically when itreaches out desired temperature. So when I
buy another unit, what should Ibe looking for? Should I be looking
one for? Because I was misledI thought this one had got heater aspect
as well. Yeah, you justliterally have to look and see if it

(01:24:15):
has the the uh settings that thatcycle it on and off, because like
I said, I'm sure the heatingstrip is shutting down. It's just not
shutting the fan down. Okay,coming on buy and just make sure that
the heat option is going to beautomatic. It is going to shut on

(01:24:40):
en rock depending on the temp.What the temperature is. It doesn't go
by a certain name. Okay,Oh, I appreciate that, you bet.
I'm sorry you take care well.I was going to say one of
the brands you may want to lookat that kind of uh, Frederick's.
It's an old brand in window units, but they still make top of the

(01:25:00):
line equipment and that's one that willprobably do what you want to do.
Fick. Okay, I would definitelylook into that. Alrighty, take care,
Thank you, Right, and let'ssee here again seven one three two

(01:25:20):
one two five eight seven four inuh Renee in Spring. How can I
help you today? Hey, Jim, good afternoon, Thanks for taking my
call. Hey Jim, I gota three years old Yeah, and we
want to we want to update thewhole house, the flooring, the bathroom

(01:25:41):
is, the kitchen, It justit just needs to be updated. And
my question to you is it wouldyou u are you gonna refer me to
Victor? Uh to do a wholewhole roomot or should I just try to
uh get a bath guy to dothe bathrooms and the towel got to do
the towel or what's the best togo about that? Well, you said

(01:26:02):
you're up in spring, right,Yeah I am, yes, yeah,
uh for spring. I would tellyou to call Texas Remodel Team okay,
okay, and their number is twoeight one six one two fifty nine ninety
one. Okay. And you knowyou ask whether to call one person let

(01:26:29):
them do it all, or ifyou should call the different places and let
them work on it. You know, it all depends on how involved you
want to be on hands on handlingthe project. Because when you start calling
and have X company come in anddo the shower, and another company's doing
the cabinetry and another you're doing allthe coordination uh and timing and everything,

(01:26:55):
where typically if you call like TexasRemodel Team, they coordinate all that so
the project goes faster uh and quitefrankly, typically will come out better.
Okay. Yeah, that's I don'teven know where to start, so that's
gonna be. Then you definitely don'twant to be the Yeah, call Texas

(01:27:17):
Free Model Team, because unless you'vedone a little bit of this kind of
stuff, you don't want to bethe GC on it. Okay, that
sounds very wise. Thanks Jim,Thanks for taking my call. Appreciate it.
You bet. You take care.All right, We're gonna take a

(01:27:38):
quick break. We'll be right backwith more Texas Home improvement. You know,
I just built a new display.In fact, we set it up
yesterday and I'm gonna put some ReadySeal on it because I built the thing
out of cedar. It is gonnabe used for one We're doing remote broadcasts

(01:28:00):
and stuff like that. And youknow, Ready Seal is far and away
the best product for staining a fence, a deck, or any outdoor wood
surface. Now Ready Seal it's awood stain in sealer in one so that
you can add color and seal thewood from moisture in one easy step.
And combining the stain and sealer iteliminates extra costs, saves time during application,

(01:28:24):
but it still produces a high endquality finish every time, so you
can stain and seal with no cracking, chipping, flaking or peeling. Now
it's really the simplest do it yourselfproject. You will ever find. This
is one that nobody has to calland say do you think I can do
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(01:28:44):
roll it on, spray it on. You don't have to worry about
runs, laps, streaks, noneof that stuff because as it soaks in,
it all spreads out. You wantto find some Ready Seal, It's
at the box stores like Lows andhome depot and hardware stores, lumber yards,
virtually any place that carries building materialstypically carries Ready Seal. But if
you want to find a store nearest, you just go to readyseal dot com.

(01:29:10):
At floor Endecore, we know proas your one stop source. We
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(01:29:31):
Loyalty program. You get what youneed, when you need it, where
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everybody knows that when you buy anew home you can get foam insulation in
the walls and stuff. But whatabout your existing home. Well, that's
when you need to call USA Insulation. They have a proprietary non expansive phone

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(01:30:19):
a contractor, he won't steer youwrong. Dylan, Hey, Jim,
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(01:30:41):
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(01:31:02):
Remodel Team now at two eight onesix one two five nine nine one.
That's two eight one six one twofive nine nine one our click the link
at thhipro dot com. He'll giveyou his honest opinion every time. That'll
get you unfriended on Facebook. Here'smore with Jim Dunton on Texas Home Improvement.

(01:31:30):
Hey, welcome back to Texas HomeImprovement. Let's head into our last
call of the day. Don Howcan I help you? Hey? Hello?
Oh there are you there? Yeah? I have, yes, sir,
go ahead. A house or ahouse and a shop that was built

(01:31:53):
in the fifties, okay, andthen I added a trailer a couple of
years ago. But there's a shopand they put when before I bought it,
they put the shop on top ofthe driveway. And when it rains,

(01:32:14):
water comes in one side and goesacross. And I am looking for
options. You know, do Ihave to pour another's slab on top of
the existing slab to stop the waterfrom coming in? Do I have to
trench around it and provide drainage,and I'm just exploring my options right now.

(01:32:44):
Well you know, obviously I'm notlooking at it. But if you
have the option to be able todivert the water, that's that's the way
to handle it. Uh. Ifyou're ever going to have to work on
this thing and it's sitting on justfour inches of concrete, it's not workable.
And in that situation, I wouldpick the structure up, take that
four inch concrete out, and poura regular foundation under it. So that

(01:33:08):
gives you a couple options. Butreally the only thing I could say is
we'd have to look at it tobe able to answer that question. And
with that, I gotta let yougo because that music meant we were completely
out of time. Let's talk realquick though. What do you do when
disaster happens? You know, wewere just talking about water there. What
about flooding water? What about firemole leaking pipes? Well, that's when

(01:33:30):
you need Woodland's Water Restoration. Theycome in, they assess the problem,
they deal with your insurance company,they deal with putting it all back together
and get you back hole again.That's what Woodland's Water Restoration Company does.
They specialize in mitigating these disasters,call Woodland's water restoration at two eight one

(01:33:51):
five seven, six eight four fivenine. Better yet, write the number
down so you have it when youneed it, because you never know when
disaster strikes. Two eight one fiveseven six eight four five nine