November 27, 2023 • 27 mins
Ever wondered how to fortify your home for the harsh fall weather? Join us, Donnie Blanchard and Eric Smith, on the Carolina Contractor Show as we arm you with vital tips and strategies to withstand potential storm damages. We peel back the layers on insurance coverage, stressing the need to understand your policy inside out. You'll also get to appreciate the financial wisdom in taking on minor repairs yourself instead of triggering premium rate hikes.
Curious about how to stay warm and cozy when winter actually hits and the power fails? We've got you covered with our practical winter readiness guide. From essential items like generators, candles, to tips on preparing your driveways for icy conditions, we'll ensure you remain comfortable even when the weather outside is frightful. We also guide you through professional chimney cleaning, insulation checks, and help you weigh the pros and cons of different fireplace types.
In the final part of our show, we equip you with a comprehensive checklist to keep your home in top shape throughout the fall. We discuss everything from gutter cleaning, deck board checks, to innovative solutions like composite decking. Plus, learn how to spot and resolve drainage issues, winterize your hose bibs, and even keep away those annoying dirt dobers. With our insights, your home will be ready to take on the fall and winter seasons with confidence.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with
your host, donnie Blanchard,brought to you by GAF, the
world's largest roofingmanufacturer, we protect what
matters most and Mid-AtlanticRoofing Supply, and Rally, a
roofing supplier with adifferent approach, and we're
getting to the halfway point ofOctober.
Welcome to the CarolinaContractor Show.
(00:26):
My name is Eric Smith Cross.
For me, donnie Blanchard,general Contractor,
extraordinaire.
Welcome back to the show, donnie.
It's good to be here, sir, it'salways good to be here, and if
you're wondering what you'relistening to, well, it's a show
about your house and you canfind out the details by going to
the website and also play thehome version of the show,
thecarolionacontractorcom.
That's going to give you anoverall idea of what we talk
(00:46):
about, which is your house.
We talk about everything in itthe roof, we talk about the
basement, the walls, the inside,the outside, and we're going to
talk about some things relatedto fall weather and what to do
with your house.
But before we get to that, youcan get other things at the
website, like links to pastshows, and last week we did a
smart show.
Literally, donnie, what's smartmean Right?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I never knew that.
Smart home, smart phone, allthose things came from the
acronym, that's self-monitoringanalysis and reporting
technology.
But we referenced last weekthat the first smart technology
is when you used to boot yourcomputer up in the 90s and your
computer would come up with theletter number combo Kind of
looked like the matrix, but thatwas a troubleshooting
preventative maintenance methodthat they came up with at IBM
(01:27):
and it just translated to otherdevices that have now turned
into things that we use everyday with a smart home.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
The best investment of a smart device is a
thermostat right, you have thedoor locks, yep, all right.
So you can get that show bydownloading it at the website,
thecarolionacontractorcom wealso have links to the Facebook
page and also ask the contractor.
That would be Donnie, thegeneral contractor.
If you have a question aboutyour house, go to the website
and you can click on the littlebutton there and ask a question
about your house Again, inside,outside, whatever you have, and
(01:55):
Donnie likes to answer them alland we're going to try to get to
some of those today.
We don't want to waste a wholelot of time.
Well, we never waste time.
Every second of the show isvaluable.
It's like gold, it's priceless.
But we are going to try to getsome questions today.
And before we get to the maintopic about the fall checklist,
we did want to go over the factthat, thank God, we had a very,
(02:15):
for our area, a minor hurricaneseason.
We didn't have much impact fromhurricanes, but still
hurricanes and general stormdamage.
There's a lot of things youneed to think about when there's
a storm coming or after onehits.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Right.
So far we've dodged a bullet onthe East Coast and everything
seems to be picking on the Gulfarea.
But should we do it?
I always want to reiterate thistime of year it's a few things
that you can do to make yourlife easier in the event that we
should get a landfallinghurricane towards the end of the
season.
But I always say inspect allfour elevations of your house,
take pictures, and you don'trealize how much you don't pay
attention to your house untilsomething happens, whether it be
(02:51):
wind or hurricane damage.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Inside and outside of your house, because if a tree
falls through your roof anddamages the inside of your attic
, for example, have picturesRight.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
A couple other things you can do is research your
deductible.
When I ask people all the time,hey, what's your insurance
deductible?
People just don't know.
A lot of times it's a flat$1,000 or $2,000.
It used to be $500,000 prettymuch everywhere, but with the
frequency of the hail stormseverybody has resorted to a
higher deductible or even apercentage one or two percent of
your total coverage.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
And don't assume you have flood coverage.
Yeah, it's usually a rider andextra and a lot of people will
have a flood and go well, I'vegot homeowners insurance Right.
You don't have it for a flood.
That's a different thing, soflood policy is different for
sure.
You can call up your policyholder and ask them hey, can you
give me a list of everythingI'm covered for?
And ask questions better safethan sorry.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Flood policies max out at $250,000 is worth
mentioning that because theyusually only cover the bottom
most floor of the house.
Another thing you can do is ifyou have minor repairs, you can
cover that stuff out of pocket.
The power in knowing yourdeductible is that if the
damages won't exceed thatdeductible it's not worth filing
the claim and having thehistory of that claim.
A lot of people don't realizethis, but when you file that
(03:57):
claim it follows you frominsurance company to insurance
company so you'll have that onyour record for the rest of your
life and that could affect yourpremiums if you were moving to
a different insurer.
Speaking of what raisespremiums and rates, the
insurance industry is one of thelast people to consider
something an act of Godlegitimately.
But for your premiums to go upin the event you should file a
claim.
(04:17):
It has to affect an entire zipcode.
So if the whole area gets hitwith maybe a hail storm every
year for three years straight,then the premiums to live in
that area are going to be higherthan what would be in the
surrounding counties.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
So that's the fear that homeowners have.
So if I make a claim that myhouse, and only my house, hit it
if your rates go up, you couldargue that you could.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I always tell folks to ask their, ask your agent,
because that's their job is todo that research and Legwork for
you.
But technically, if you have astorm that damages your house,
they consider that an act of Godand not a man-made peril as the
way they word it so Technically.
That's not your fault, so theyshouldn't be able to raise your
rates and less, like I mentioned, it affects the entire zip code
.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
What we're gonna talk about on the Carolina
contractor show is a fallchecklist the things you need to
do as we move into fall.
I'm doing some planning in myfront yard right.
I'm put, got it aerated and Iput down some grass and I'm
hoping the timing of me wateringit in the rain from the heavens
and the current weather, whichis still staying warm, it'll get
all situated and locked inbefore winter.
(05:19):
But there's a whole bunch ofthings that you can do for fall
and to prepare for fall.
And let's start off the list,donnie yep.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Well, the first thing and I mentioned this in last
year's show about this time isair your house out now that it's
gonna be a 70 degree day, andTell them what you have written
down air your stinking house outand you know there's no harm in
opening doors and windows, andI just think that a lot of folks
don't do that enough.
I read that it's a really smallpercentage of people who never
(05:47):
ever open their windows.
But when your house has beenshut up with that central air
all summer long, it's just not abad idea to get the air
exchanges that you need and getall that fresh air in that
you've been without For most ofthe summer and some people don't
like to open up their doors, orif they don't have screen doors
.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Real quick, I'm not gonna go detail look on Amazon
for magnetic screens.
Yep, and they fit over doors,singles and French doors and
stuff we have on our back door.
It's fantastic.
So if you want to be able toopen up your doors and still not
worry about critters and stuffcoming in Except you know it
won't stop a mother-in-law,thank you, there's your.
There's your mother-in-law, joe.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
I was waiting for it.
Thanks for the tip.
You got it.
Um, inspect your roof or,better yet, have your roof
inspected.
A lot of things on a roof aftera hot summer like we had, we'll
wear out.
You know, the old pipe bootsnot what we use today, but the
old rubber pipe boots.
So they'll break down anywherefrom that five year to that
eight year mark.
The neoprene boots that we usenow are a little bit more
resistant to the sun.
They have a little moreflexibility and don't tend to do
(06:43):
that.
But I always tell folks, ifyou've got a 30 year shingle out
there, you need to have thatthing inspected about every
eight to ten years to get thefull 30 years out of that roof.
And Another thing is you know,sealants, caulk's that are up on
your ridge vent or exposednails that stuff has a lifespan
and it's always a good idea tomake sure that you're not
vulnerable after the hightemperatures we just went
(07:03):
through and I never thoughtabout the boots until I had that
problem.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
We had some sighting done a couple years ago and they
the guys that put it on saidhey, by the way, your boots are
all rotted out is one of them.
Is so much I can see down intoyour attic, right?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
This is totally if you can walk your roof, that is,
it's totally a DIY thing andthey sell these at the big box
stores but it looks like alittle black doughnut and
basically you can get those intheir universal.
So they you can take a pair ofpliers and strip out the layers
until you get the appropriatesize.
But I'd say 90% of the time theplumbing vents that come out
through your roof are an inchand a half, I'd say two inches
(07:35):
max, unless it services a gasappliance or something different
.
But you can buy a.
The doughnut is a temporaryrepair and that way you don't
have to call a roof route untilthe actual roof needs replacing.
But another way that we do is Itake an actual pipe boot itself
and there's a flat flange thatyou have going all the way
around the cone that youmentioned.
You can take snips or heavyduty scissors even, and cut that
(07:56):
flat flange off and basicallyyou slide that down over the old
boot and you don't have toremove anything and it is very,
very minor surgery.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Exactly.
You don't have to deal withtrying to get that aluminum
under shingles and things likethat.
Something we started to do thisweek is we cleaned out the
weeds and grass that weregrowing around our HVAC units.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, and that does help lengthen the lifespan of
your condenser units.
Like you mentioned, people thatlet things grow up around there
.
You know there's all kinds ofthings that can happen from that
, so keeping it clear is areally good idea.
This is my dead horse item ofthe month.
Give it a kick.
I always say HVAC servicing isvery important, at least by
annually.
So when it goes cold to hot orhot to cold, it's a really cheap
(08:36):
thing to do, but it could alsosave you thousands and thousands
of dollars down the road, andalso you don't want to be the
person when it actually does getcold, to be without heat in
your house, and so just thatproactive maintenance of $100 or
$150, whatever it costs in yourarea to have it serviced is a
no-brainer.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
This is also an okay time, believe it or not.
If you have the house open andyou're airing it out, turn on
the heat, because you know whatthat initial burn is.
You get that smell of dust orwhatever, and you'll know if
your heat's working, even if youdon't really need it right now.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
While we're all heating in air, I always tell
people change your filters, andwhen you're out there buying
your filters, it doesn't hurt tobuy a few extras, and that just
saves you one more trip whenthe weather does change.
And also, if you've got thosefilters lying around somewhere,
I always put them in an obviousplace, so it reminds me that
it's about that time to changeit.
Also, recurring item on yourcalendar is not a bad idea as
well the smoke detectors.
(09:26):
We talked about these last weekon the Smart Home Show.
Check your smoke detectors andevaluate if you have a need for
a CO monitor.
I know a lot of houses werebuilt before All the attention
was put on carbon monoxide, butit's not a bad idea to have a CO
monitor.
If you do have to replace thesmoke detectors, they make combo
units that will service both ofthose.
And also we mentioned on theSmart Home Show that they make
(09:47):
the smoke detectors that havebuilt-in speakers and things
like that now.
So just a way that you can havespeakers throughout your house
that play the same music withouthardwiring those.
The next thing I'll say is haveyour generator serviced if you
have one, and a lot of folkshave these standalone generators
now versus the portable option.
I just have the portable optionand if you don't have an
exterior plug for the portablegenerator, I recommend having an
(10:10):
electrician come in.
It costs a couple to a fewhundred dollars to have that
done, but in the event of apower outage it is just a
no-brainer to have somethinglike that that you can plug into
fairly easy.
But I do recommend firing upthat generator.
I believe the standalone unitsthey crank up about once a week
just to make sure that they'reoperating properly.
But if you have the portableversion, I do recommend going
(10:30):
ahead and getting that thingstarted up to make sure it works
when you need it.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah, and you've got a generator hooked up to your
box, yeah, I actually have theexterior plug that I mentioned.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I pull my generator over and kind of set up a little
canopy over it so it doesn'tget rained on or anything.
But we have a brick house sowhen you go inside you can't
really hear the thing run and itdoes enough for what we need
and we have gas fireplace.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
That pretty much heats the whole house when we
need it, and we just all have tocongregate and sleep in one
room, which I like that's notbad, and if you don't have a
generator, that'd be the time tostock up on candles and
flashlights and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Batteries.
You should do that anyway.
And, going in the winter, ifyou have a driveway with a
steeper slope either up or down,not a bad idea to go ahead and
grab as many bags of salt as youhave rooms to store things that
you know you're going to needin the event of a power outage
or snow or ice storm, andsomething that doesn't really
have a shelf life, like salt, isa good thing to have on hand.
And you can cook yeah, you canmake pickles.
(11:26):
That's it.
I made cookies on our green egggrill and put a picture of it
out on the social media andeverybody loved it.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
So that's so funny because, I sent you a picture
earlier this year, I can'tremember why.
Oh, our element in our stovewent out.
Yep, my daughter wanted to makechocolate chip cookies, made
them, put them out, turned onthe oven and it went and pop and
the element was gone.
And she was upset.
So we grilled them out on acharcoal grill and it was great.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, they were better.
I thought, yeah, moving insidethe house, I would say that it's
always wise to stick your headin the attic or actually look
under the house to see whatyou're working with.
As far as insulation, I know thecurrent code is R38 in the
attic, which is about 14, 15inches of insulation, but now's
the time that if you don't havean adequate amount of insulation
, it's a fairly cheap thing todo.
(12:12):
You could call an insulationcompany directly.
You don't need a contractor forthat.
But you definitely want toupgrade your insulation because,
with heat rising in the winter,that's where you're going to
lose the majority of yourconditioned air, and I just
recommend getting your atticinsulation up to snuff if you're
going to do both, which isn't abad idea if you already have an
insulation contractor there,but under the floor insulation
(12:32):
should be an R19 at a veryminimum.
So a lot of times, even if youhave R19, the amount of
condensation or moisture thatcould have been under the house
will get into that insulationand you'll notice that it's
hanging in certain areas andthat's just not a good thing in
the big picture for yourutilities.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Now you mentioned a gas fireplace.
Some people have gas, some havethe electric, and then, of
course, there's the old standardwe have, which is wood burning,
which is why getting it cleanedby a professional looked at a
chimney sweep, yep, and theydidn't let them look at that
because they'll clean it.
But they also have cameras andthey'll run cameras up and what
they're looking for is masonrycracks build up and things like
(13:09):
that.
Those little logs, thatself-cleaning chimney logs.
That's fine if you want to burnthem.
That's not a chimney sweep,that's not cleaning.
They just burn with lessresidue.
But it doesn't mean yourchimney doesn't need a cleaning
and what happens is that residuebuilds up.
It can catch fire inside thechimney.
That's why you want to call itchimney sweep.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
And they're fairly cheap I know the guy that I use
is about $100 to do that andespecially with the cameras.
Yeah, well worth it, with thecamera and everything, to get a
good look at something thatcould potentially cost you your
house.
It is a no-brainer Clean yourgutters.
I know that a lot of peopleknow that that's a given because
all the leaves are falling andeverything.
But if you can and are able, oreven if you have to hire
(13:47):
someone from a gutter company tocome, do that.
A lot of times folks just letthis go and what could really
happen?
There is ice dams could buildup Once the weather changes and
if your gutters are full ofleaves, an ice dam could build
and basically a gutter shedswater in the wrong direction
when that happens, so it couldget behind your fascia, rot your
boxing out and just create awhole bunch of problems that are
(14:08):
really easy to avoid.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
So, donnie, do you have when it comes to gutters?
Say, you put on a new roof andthe gutters are old, need be
replaced.
Is there something yourecommend to style?
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Yeah.
So a K-style seamless aluminumgutter is basically what we do.
In terms of size, I alwaysrecommend folks go the 6 inch
instead of the 5 inch.
It doesn't sound like a bigjump, but the gutter trough
itself just having that extrainch especially if you have a
steep pitch roof it can take alot more volume, and so I just
think it's a no-brainer to gowith the 6 inch.
The downspouts for both are thesame, or 3 by 4 oversized
(14:42):
downspout, and folks claim thatthat holds as much water as a
fire hose on a fire truck.
I don't think you'll everexceed that volume wise.
But another thing, since we'reon the gutters, I tell folks, if
you can't get up on your roof,or if you have a battery powered
blower, that's certainly theeasiest way from the top of a
ladder to get them out of there.
But a kitchen spatula worksjust as good as anything, a
(15:03):
plastic one even.
Don't take your wife's favoriteone, yeah.
And while you're on the gutters, and once you get those cleaned
out, it'll give you a betterpicture.
If you have a gutter that'smaybe sagging.
So if you notice the front lipof the gutter is not perfectly
plumb, then you can go to thebig box doors and just get a bag
of gutter clips, and the gutterclips fit right in there.
(15:23):
You can put a screw right backthrough the fascia and it will
extend the life of your guttersmore than you realize.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
The best thing you can do if you're not sure if
your gutters are doing their job.
Walk outside during the heavyrainstorm and see how that water
is going.
If it's sheeting off over thetop of the gutter or, worse,
hitting the gutter and rollingback behind it, you need to call
somebody and have them make alook at it.
This is the Carolina ContractorShow.
We're a little over halfwaythrough Today's subject.
We're talking about fallchecklist and things that you
(15:50):
can do to look at your house aswe go into cooler weather.
We'll have this up at thewebsite,
thecarolinacontractorcom.
I told you I've planted grassin my yard so I'm not mowing
right now until it comes up.
But this is also a good time anannual thing to check your
mower, have it serviced, atleast clean it yourself.
But if you're not sure what todo, like if you don't have to
change the oil or a plug on amower, you can take it into some
(16:12):
place to have them do it.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
I do that every year and I think just getting your
mower serviced and maybe notleaving it full of gas or
putting the appropriate fuel inthere, that will last the span
of the winter, where that thingshould fire right up when you
need it next spring.
Thank you.
Talking about the yard, I putan item down and said screw your
deck, and I don't mean it likeget rid of the thing or don't
you know, hang out out there.
But a lot of times if you havetreated wood boards for your
(16:36):
decking out there, the summerwill do a number on those boards
and dry those out.
So twisting, warping,especially with treated wood, is
not uncommon.
So every year we went throughand now I have composite because
we changed out last yearfinally.
But before we had composite itwas a yearly maintenance thing
where I'd go get a box of deckscrews from Lowe's or Home Depot
and I'd go out there and it wasalways four or five boards that
(16:57):
needed attention.
So that's one of those thingsthat when they back out and you
try to utilize the deck say youhave folks over to watch
football on a Sunday andsomebody could really get hurt
on a twisted deck board or anail or a screw that's backing
out.
So that's definitely somethingto be proactive for.
And you're a composite fan now,aren't you?
I really am and it gets hot.
That's the one thing that youreally can't walk out there
barefooted when it's blazing hot, but unless there's direct
(17:18):
sunlight on it, it is.
It's the best.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Well, let me ask you this a side note, then if you
have a deck that has predominantsunlight, would you still
recommend a composite?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yes, because the wood is going to get hot as well,
maybe not as with the directsunlight, but I definitely
recommend it in terms oflongevity, in terms of the way
it looks and feels.
It's very sturdy, very solid,but, yes, I think that it's an
it's all the way around betterthan the wood alternative and we
don't ever have to replace itagain.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Very good All right, it rains in the fall and rains
all year, but in the fall itrains and, if you notice, you've
got some standing water in youryard.
It's a drainage issue, so whatcan people do with that, johnny?
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Well, I always tell people to check for runoff and
so, like you mentioned, ifthey're standing water, that's a
really good indicator thatyou've got a drainage problem.
I always start where thedownspout drops come down from
the gutters and the roof,because that's where most of the
water volume that you're havingis being introduced to the yard
.
And the rule of thumb on newconstruction is you should have
six inches in every ten feet ofpositive drainage away from the
(18:22):
house.
So if you can kind of give itthe eyeball test and tell that
it's going to be a positivedrain, then you should be good.
But if your house sits downhill, for instance, from the
neighbor, you know you'regetting all the neighbors runoff
and there may be some thingsthat you need to do to reroute
that.
Sometimes you can put a swellor a French drain in and that'll
handle that problem.
But the reason I bring it upnow is because it's the perfect
(18:44):
time of year to do it and stillget some grass to grow on there
before the winter sets in.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Yep now one thing I've been doing around our house
is pruning stuff back.
And don't go through your yardwith a pair of pruners and just
start cutting things back,because it depends on what it is
.
We've got a wide range of stuff, including like a banana plant,
which I found out you cut rightalmost down the ground about a
foot off.
We've got a berry bush thatonly produces the berries in the
(19:09):
fall.
So if you prune it right now,you'll never get the berries.
I can't remember the plant thatI did a couple years ago.
I pruned it in the spring.
In it that came up fine allsummer, but no blossoms, and
found out no, you need to prunethat in the fall and then you'll
get blossoms in the spring, inthe summer.
So I learned that.
And also, if you've got naturalareas, that you've got weeds
(19:29):
and stuff, go ahead and we usethe term poison them.
Go ahead and spray stuff onthose to kill out weeds.
And and also, if you have itweeds you notice on sidewalks
and concrete driveways andthings like that, go ahead and
spray them, because when theyget a foothold there, that's
what can, aside from settling,can crack your driveway and
sidewalks as little weeds rightover time they can do that?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
did you fertilize your yard when you did the the
stuff you mentioned?
Speaker 1 (19:53):
well.
So I only fertilize the frontbecause it's heavy shade.
So I got a shade grass rightand I just got it from scots and
it's it's blue.
It looks weird if you haven'tgotten grass seed in a while.
It's blue, um, but thebackyard's great.
So that one I fertilize andthis time of year I put in a
feed and weed and a winterizer.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
But the front I can't do that right now because it'll
kill the grass seed you'reridden by somebody's house and
they mowed the front yard so itlooks okay from the street, but
you can tell that the backyard'sjust been let go because they
were too lazy to do it.
Yeah, I've always labeled thata yard, mullet a yard.
Yeah, well, we're on the yard,stuff.
Um, if you have a sprinklersystem, that's something to give
some attention to.
If you don't know if you have adrainage system on the sprinkler
(20:31):
system, it's probably best tocall in a pro.
A lot of times if you don'thave a an easy drainage system
and you don't know how to use it.
The sprinkler companies offer aservice where they actually
come in with compressed air andthey blow the water out of it
and you're thinking, geez, Idon't want to spend the money on
that.
But the alternative is youleave the water in it and let it
go and then you have a pipeburst and more than one place.
(20:52):
Usually that costs a lot moreto fix than the draining your
system with the compressed airexactly, and this is the
carolina contractor show.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
With about five minutes left, we're going to
finish up this list of fallchecklist items you can look at
and we've talked about this along time energy audits, and
there are some power companiesthat Do it free or very cheap.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yes, duke Energy does one, and they come in and give
you the new light bulbs and allthat's fine and good because it
doesn't cost anything.
But I recommend, especially ifyou have a larger home or if you
have utilities that seem likethey're a little bit excessive,
have an accompanyingprofessional energy auditor come
in, because they're going tofind things that can save you
big time and, you know, couldpotentially cut your utilities
in half.
And they won't be the ones tocut your utilities in half, but
(21:35):
they will tell you where theproblems are that need to be
addressed.
So I think an energy audit is ano-brainer.
If you've never done it, do itat least one time.
But there are folks who do it,you know, every few years just
to make sure that their house isworking like it's supposed to.
And just on a DIY note, takeadvantage of the technology we
have.
I mean, they have the, you know, the thermometer guns that they
(21:56):
use to check your forehead whenused to go into places, but you
can also use those to find coldor hot spots, depending on
which season you're checking,and I actually have a little
$100 thermal imaging camera thatgoes right there on my iPhone,
so sometimes we'll have a leakthat we can't really find in a
house.
I'll go in there on a rainy dayand of course the rainwater
that's getting in there iscooler than the ambient
(22:16):
temperature, so I can pinpoint aleak with a $100 thermal
imaging camera, so of courseit's good Very portable very
easy Now.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
I usually do this right after pollen season, but
there's never a bad time topressure wash your house and you
put especially the north sidewhy?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
That's because mold normally grows.
You have vinyl siding inparticular.
The mold seems to really take afoothold with that and if you
let that go for a couple ofseasons and just don't pressure
wash that north side of thehouse, it could actually do
damage to the siding and ofcourse cost you more to replace
that in the long run.
Since we're talking aboutnorth-south, I'll also say a lot
(22:53):
of people don't give theattention to re-caulking their
windows on the south side.
So just like the north promotesalgae and mold growth, the
south side gets the most sunexposure and normally, like I
mentioned, with the roof, thatcaulk does have a life span and
will wear out.
So I recommend going around andmaking sure all your south and
even east and west facingwindows are all caulked.
I want to mention or drop onemore thing back in there.
(23:15):
When I mentioned the sprinklersystem, I also had a note here
to winterize your hose bibs.
Your hose bibs can totallycrack and those little Styrofoam
winterization covers areusually available at the big box
store pretty cheap and I thinkwe've used the same one for five
, ten years, so it's notsomething you have to buy again
every year.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
And don't leave your hose connected during the winter
because it can hold water inthere and it goes backwards,
believe it or not.
The water in the hose canexpand when it freezes and it
starts going into the pipe andback inside the house.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
And just to wrap the list up, I always this isn't
really like a home maintenancething, but I take my small
vacuum and a ladder and I vacuumall the cobwebs that accumulate
it out in my garage.
It is all the cobwebs thataccumulate it over the summer
and this just keeps.
Not that you have an insectproblem as much in the winter,
but it kind of gives you a cleanslate when you get around to
(24:06):
spring and it doesn't give thenew bugs a place to grow or
promote any kind of nest oranything.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
So same with a hornet's nest and stuff.
What is it?
The mud daubers?
Yes, go ahead and scrape thoseoff too.
And if you had bats this is thetime of year, we won't go into
the details, but you can'tremove bats from your house
during the spring and summer.
They're a protected species.
So if you know where they weregetting into your house or
saying you're attic, this is thetime to put up blocks or
(24:34):
netting or things like that tokeep them from getting back in
your house when they come back,because they know where you live
, they have their address ontheir little bat GPS and they
will return.
So go ahead and block off thosespots if you can find them.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yeah, the dirt dober thing that you mentioned.
One of the best things thatwe've mentioned on the show
that's gotten the most feedbackis, I think maybe a year or so
ago, when we mentioned for thefirst time that you could spray
WD-40 in the places where thedirt dober's like to build nests
.
That water displacement 40thformula will not allow them to
build a nest there as well.
So people I've gotten all kindof feedback saying hey, I did
(25:06):
that and I actually did it at mypersonal house and it worked
great.
They just built their nesteverywhere I didn't spray the.
WD-40.
So they got me again All right,it's grill and season.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
It's always grill and season, but this is one of the
last things on the fallchecklist, donnie.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
If you have anything to do with your home in terms of
maintenance.
But in terms of enjoyment, welike to kind of hit the grocery
store on Friday, plan the mealsthrough Monday and now that
football's on Saturday andSunday, we don't leave the house
unless we absolutely have toand I just recommend that as a
good quality family time thingto do.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
It's great this time of year.
It's not too buggy, weathercools off.
It's fun to sit outside andgrill and put some chairs there
and enjoy that time, like Donniesaid, with the family and hang
out and invite the neighbors Ifyou're.
Are you like me?
If you smell someone grillingout, you're a little upset.
They didn't invite you, oh yeah.
Like man somebody's grillingthey didn't invite us to come
out there.
Well, I'd invite you to come toour grill out, but I'm not
(25:59):
grilling out this weekend.
You'll have to wait for theofficial invite.
Maybe we'll put it up at thewebsite,
thecarolinacontractorcom andwe'll put up this information
right here and again.
Donnie, we always have theselists and we say, yeah, we'll be
able to get in a bunch ofquestions and then the list just
takes off on its own.
Long winded today it is, butthere's a lot of information
there.
Get ready for fall.
(26:19):
It's my favorite time of yearbecause I don't have pollen and
allergies to deal with.
Maybe yours is the same, butit's a great time to get out
there.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Hey, I want to mention one thing, since we did
not get to the questions today.
Eric and I discussed that we'regoing to do an entire show just
to catch up on the questions.
So not next week but the weekafter, we'll have all those and
if we didn't get your questionin, please don't stop sending
those.
I try to answer most of themright there on the email, but
the ones that are show worthy wedefinitely like to bring on the
show and talk about, so maybesome other folks can benefit
(26:48):
from what you have going onaround your house.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
All right, so in two weeks we will have the questions
only edition of the CarolinaContractor Show.
You can listen to the pastshows, find information at
thecarolinacontractorcom.
Also check out the Facebookpage.
We thank you so much forjoining us and we hope you have
a great week and we will see younext time on the Carolina
Contractor Show.
Thanks for listening to theCarolina Contractor Show Brought
(27:15):
to you by GAF, the world'slargest roofing manufacturer.
We protect what matters mostand Mid-Atlantic Roofing Supply,
and Raleigh, a roofing supplierwith a different approach.
Your roof is the most importantpart of your home.
Make sure you're protected withsure top roofing.
We're locally owned, operatedand have proudly been serving
(27:37):
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If you're a veteran, ask usabout our Roof for Troops rebate
program.
Visit suretoproofingcom andlisten to our weekly radio show
at thecarolinacontractorcom.
Your top roofing we've got youcovered.
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with
your host, donnie Blanchard,brought to you by GAF, the
world's largest roofingmanufacturer, we protect what
matters most and Mid-AtlanticRoofing Supply, and Rally, a
roofing supplier with adifferent approach, and we're
getting to the halfway point ofOctober.
Welcome to the CarolinaContractor Show.
(00:26):
My name is Eric Smith Cross.
For me, donnie Blanchard,general Contractor,
extraordinaire.
Welcome back to the show, donnie.
It's good to be here, sir, it'salways good to be here, and if
you're wondering what you'relistening to, well, it's a show
about your house and you canfind out the details by going to
the website and also play thehome version of the show,
thecarolionacontractorcom.
That's going to give you anoverall idea of what we talk
(00:46):
about, which is your house.
We talk about everything in itthe roof, we talk about the
basement, the walls, the inside,the outside, and we're going to
talk about some things relatedto fall weather and what to do
with your house.
But before we get to that, youcan get other things at the
website, like links to pastshows, and last week we did a
smart show.
Literally, donnie, what's smartmean Right?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I never knew that.
Smart home, smart phone, allthose things came from the
acronym, that's self-monitoringanalysis and reporting
technology.
But we referenced last weekthat the first smart technology
is when you used to boot yourcomputer up in the 90s and your
computer would come up with theletter number combo Kind of
looked like the matrix, but thatwas a troubleshooting
preventative maintenance methodthat they came up with at IBM
(01:27):
and it just translated to otherdevices that have now turned
into things that we use everyday with a smart home.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
The best investment of a smart device is a
thermostat right, you have thedoor locks, yep, all right.
So you can get that show bydownloading it at the website,
thecarolionacontractorcom wealso have links to the Facebook
page and also ask the contractor.
That would be Donnie, thegeneral contractor.
If you have a question aboutyour house, go to the website
and you can click on the littlebutton there and ask a question
about your house Again, inside,outside, whatever you have, and
(01:55):
Donnie likes to answer them alland we're going to try to get to
some of those today.
We don't want to waste a wholelot of time.
Well, we never waste time.
Every second of the show isvaluable.
It's like gold, it's priceless.
But we are going to try to getsome questions today.
And before we get to the maintopic about the fall checklist,
we did want to go over the factthat, thank God, we had a very,
(02:15):
for our area, a minor hurricaneseason.
We didn't have much impact fromhurricanes, but still
hurricanes and general stormdamage.
There's a lot of things youneed to think about when there's
a storm coming or after onehits.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Right.
So far we've dodged a bullet onthe East Coast and everything
seems to be picking on the Gulfarea.
But should we do it?
I always want to reiterate thistime of year it's a few things
that you can do to make yourlife easier in the event that we
should get a landfallinghurricane towards the end of the
season.
But I always say inspect allfour elevations of your house,
take pictures, and you don'trealize how much you don't pay
attention to your house untilsomething happens, whether it be
(02:51):
wind or hurricane damage.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Inside and outside of your house, because if a tree
falls through your roof anddamages the inside of your attic
, for example, have picturesRight.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
A couple other things you can do is research your
deductible.
When I ask people all the time,hey, what's your insurance
deductible?
People just don't know.
A lot of times it's a flat$1,000 or $2,000.
It used to be $500,000 prettymuch everywhere, but with the
frequency of the hail stormseverybody has resorted to a
higher deductible or even apercentage one or two percent of
your total coverage.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
And don't assume you have flood coverage.
Yeah, it's usually a rider andextra and a lot of people will
have a flood and go well, I'vegot homeowners insurance Right.
You don't have it for a flood.
That's a different thing, soflood policy is different for
sure.
You can call up your policyholder and ask them hey, can you
give me a list of everythingI'm covered for?
And ask questions better safethan sorry.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Flood policies max out at $250,000 is worth
mentioning that because theyusually only cover the bottom
most floor of the house.
Another thing you can do is ifyou have minor repairs, you can
cover that stuff out of pocket.
The power in knowing yourdeductible is that if the
damages won't exceed thatdeductible it's not worth filing
the claim and having thehistory of that claim.
A lot of people don't realizethis, but when you file that
(03:57):
claim it follows you frominsurance company to insurance
company so you'll have that onyour record for the rest of your
life and that could affect yourpremiums if you were moving to
a different insurer.
Speaking of what raisespremiums and rates, the
insurance industry is one of thelast people to consider
something an act of Godlegitimately.
But for your premiums to go upin the event you should file a
claim.
(04:17):
It has to affect an entire zipcode.
So if the whole area gets hitwith maybe a hail storm every
year for three years straight,then the premiums to live in
that area are going to be higherthan what would be in the
surrounding counties.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
So that's the fear that homeowners have.
So if I make a claim that myhouse, and only my house, hit it
if your rates go up, you couldargue that you could.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I always tell folks to ask their, ask your agent,
because that's their job is todo that research and Legwork for
you.
But technically, if you have astorm that damages your house,
they consider that an act of Godand not a man-made peril as the
way they word it so Technically.
That's not your fault, so theyshouldn't be able to raise your
rates and less, like I mentioned, it affects the entire zip code
.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
What we're gonna talk about on the Carolina
contractor show is a fallchecklist the things you need to
do as we move into fall.
I'm doing some planning in myfront yard right.
I'm put, got it aerated and Iput down some grass and I'm
hoping the timing of me wateringit in the rain from the heavens
and the current weather, whichis still staying warm, it'll get
all situated and locked inbefore winter.
(05:19):
But there's a whole bunch ofthings that you can do for fall
and to prepare for fall.
And let's start off the list,donnie yep.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Well, the first thing and I mentioned this in last
year's show about this time isair your house out now that it's
gonna be a 70 degree day, andTell them what you have written
down air your stinking house outand you know there's no harm in
opening doors and windows, andI just think that a lot of folks
don't do that enough.
I read that it's a really smallpercentage of people who never
(05:47):
ever open their windows.
But when your house has beenshut up with that central air
all summer long, it's just not abad idea to get the air
exchanges that you need and getall that fresh air in that
you've been without For most ofthe summer and some people don't
like to open up their doors, orif they don't have screen doors
.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Real quick, I'm not gonna go detail look on Amazon
for magnetic screens.
Yep, and they fit over doors,singles and French doors and
stuff we have on our back door.
It's fantastic.
So if you want to be able toopen up your doors and still not
worry about critters and stuffcoming in Except you know it
won't stop a mother-in-law,thank you, there's your.
There's your mother-in-law, joe.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
I was waiting for it.
Thanks for the tip.
You got it.
Um, inspect your roof or,better yet, have your roof
inspected.
A lot of things on a roof aftera hot summer like we had, we'll
wear out.
You know, the old pipe bootsnot what we use today, but the
old rubber pipe boots.
So they'll break down anywherefrom that five year to that
eight year mark.
The neoprene boots that we usenow are a little bit more
resistant to the sun.
They have a little moreflexibility and don't tend to do
(06:43):
that.
But I always tell folks, ifyou've got a 30 year shingle out
there, you need to have thatthing inspected about every
eight to ten years to get thefull 30 years out of that roof.
And Another thing is you know,sealants, caulk's that are up on
your ridge vent or exposednails that stuff has a lifespan
and it's always a good idea tomake sure that you're not
vulnerable after the hightemperatures we just went
(07:03):
through and I never thoughtabout the boots until I had that
problem.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
We had some sighting done a couple years ago and they
the guys that put it on saidhey, by the way, your boots are
all rotted out is one of them.
Is so much I can see down intoyour attic, right?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
This is totally if you can walk your roof, that is,
it's totally a DIY thing andthey sell these at the big box
stores but it looks like alittle black doughnut and
basically you can get those intheir universal.
So they you can take a pair ofpliers and strip out the layers
until you get the appropriatesize.
But I'd say 90% of the time theplumbing vents that come out
through your roof are an inchand a half, I'd say two inches
(07:35):
max, unless it services a gasappliance or something different
.
But you can buy a.
The doughnut is a temporaryrepair and that way you don't
have to call a roof route untilthe actual roof needs replacing.
But another way that we do is Itake an actual pipe boot itself
and there's a flat flange thatyou have going all the way
around the cone that youmentioned.
You can take snips or heavyduty scissors even, and cut that
(07:56):
flat flange off and basicallyyou slide that down over the old
boot and you don't have toremove anything and it is very,
very minor surgery.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Exactly.
You don't have to deal withtrying to get that aluminum
under shingles and things likethat.
Something we started to do thisweek is we cleaned out the
weeds and grass that weregrowing around our HVAC units.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, and that does help lengthen the lifespan of
your condenser units.
Like you mentioned, people thatlet things grow up around there
.
You know there's all kinds ofthings that can happen from that
, so keeping it clear is areally good idea.
This is my dead horse item ofthe month.
Give it a kick.
I always say HVAC servicing isvery important, at least by
annually.
So when it goes cold to hot orhot to cold, it's a really cheap
(08:36):
thing to do, but it could alsosave you thousands and thousands
of dollars down the road, andalso you don't want to be the
person when it actually does getcold, to be without heat in
your house, and so just thatproactive maintenance of $100 or
$150, whatever it costs in yourarea to have it serviced is a
no-brainer.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
This is also an okay time, believe it or not.
If you have the house open andyou're airing it out, turn on
the heat, because you know whatthat initial burn is.
You get that smell of dust orwhatever, and you'll know if
your heat's working, even if youdon't really need it right now.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
While we're all heating in air, I always tell
people change your filters, andwhen you're out there buying
your filters, it doesn't hurt tobuy a few extras, and that just
saves you one more trip whenthe weather does change.
And also, if you've got thosefilters lying around somewhere,
I always put them in an obviousplace, so it reminds me that
it's about that time to changeit.
Also, recurring item on yourcalendar is not a bad idea as
well the smoke detectors.
(09:26):
We talked about these last weekon the Smart Home Show.
Check your smoke detectors andevaluate if you have a need for
a CO monitor.
I know a lot of houses werebuilt before All the attention
was put on carbon monoxide, butit's not a bad idea to have a CO
monitor.
If you do have to replace thesmoke detectors, they make combo
units that will service both ofthose.
And also we mentioned on theSmart Home Show that they make
(09:47):
the smoke detectors that havebuilt-in speakers and things
like that now.
So just a way that you can havespeakers throughout your house
that play the same music withouthardwiring those.
The next thing I'll say is haveyour generator serviced if you
have one, and a lot of folkshave these standalone generators
now versus the portable option.
I just have the portable optionand if you don't have an
exterior plug for the portablegenerator, I recommend having an
(10:10):
electrician come in.
It costs a couple to a fewhundred dollars to have that
done, but in the event of apower outage it is just a
no-brainer to have somethinglike that that you can plug into
fairly easy.
But I do recommend firing upthat generator.
I believe the standalone unitsthey crank up about once a week
just to make sure that they'reoperating properly.
But if you have the portableversion, I do recommend going
(10:30):
ahead and getting that thingstarted up to make sure it works
when you need it.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah, and you've got a generator hooked up to your
box, yeah, I actually have theexterior plug that I mentioned.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I pull my generator over and kind of set up a little
canopy over it so it doesn'tget rained on or anything.
But we have a brick house sowhen you go inside you can't
really hear the thing run and itdoes enough for what we need
and we have gas fireplace.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
That pretty much heats the whole house when we
need it, and we just all have tocongregate and sleep in one
room, which I like that's notbad, and if you don't have a
generator, that'd be the time tostock up on candles and
flashlights and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Batteries.
You should do that anyway.
And, going in the winter, ifyou have a driveway with a
steeper slope either up or down,not a bad idea to go ahead and
grab as many bags of salt as youhave rooms to store things that
you know you're going to needin the event of a power outage
or snow or ice storm, andsomething that doesn't really
have a shelf life, like salt, isa good thing to have on hand.
And you can cook yeah, you canmake pickles.
(11:26):
That's it.
I made cookies on our green egggrill and put a picture of it
out on the social media andeverybody loved it.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
So that's so funny because, I sent you a picture
earlier this year, I can'tremember why.
Oh, our element in our stovewent out.
Yep, my daughter wanted to makechocolate chip cookies, made
them, put them out, turned onthe oven and it went and pop and
the element was gone.
And she was upset.
So we grilled them out on acharcoal grill and it was great.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, they were better.
I thought, yeah, moving insidethe house, I would say that it's
always wise to stick your headin the attic or actually look
under the house to see whatyou're working with.
As far as insulation, I know thecurrent code is R38 in the
attic, which is about 14, 15inches of insulation, but now's
the time that if you don't havean adequate amount of insulation
, it's a fairly cheap thing todo.
(12:12):
You could call an insulationcompany directly.
You don't need a contractor forthat.
But you definitely want toupgrade your insulation because,
with heat rising in the winter,that's where you're going to
lose the majority of yourconditioned air, and I just
recommend getting your atticinsulation up to snuff if you're
going to do both, which isn't abad idea if you already have an
insulation contractor there,but under the floor insulation
(12:32):
should be an R19 at a veryminimum.
So a lot of times, even if youhave R19, the amount of
condensation or moisture thatcould have been under the house
will get into that insulationand you'll notice that it's
hanging in certain areas andthat's just not a good thing in
the big picture for yourutilities.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Now you mentioned a gas fireplace.
Some people have gas, some havethe electric, and then, of
course, there's the old standardwe have, which is wood burning,
which is why getting it cleanedby a professional looked at a
chimney sweep, yep, and theydidn't let them look at that
because they'll clean it.
But they also have cameras andthey'll run cameras up and what
they're looking for is masonrycracks build up and things like
(13:09):
that.
Those little logs, thatself-cleaning chimney logs.
That's fine if you want to burnthem.
That's not a chimney sweep,that's not cleaning.
They just burn with lessresidue.
But it doesn't mean yourchimney doesn't need a cleaning
and what happens is that residuebuilds up.
It can catch fire inside thechimney.
That's why you want to call itchimney sweep.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
And they're fairly cheap I know the guy that I use
is about $100 to do that andespecially with the cameras.
Yeah, well worth it, with thecamera and everything, to get a
good look at something thatcould potentially cost you your
house.
It is a no-brainer Clean yourgutters.
I know that a lot of peopleknow that that's a given because
all the leaves are falling andeverything.
But if you can and are able, oreven if you have to hire
(13:47):
someone from a gutter company tocome, do that.
A lot of times folks just letthis go and what could really
happen?
There is ice dams could buildup Once the weather changes and
if your gutters are full ofleaves, an ice dam could build
and basically a gutter shedswater in the wrong direction
when that happens, so it couldget behind your fascia, rot your
boxing out and just create awhole bunch of problems that are
(14:08):
really easy to avoid.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
So, donnie, do you have when it comes to gutters?
Say, you put on a new roof andthe gutters are old, need be
replaced.
Is there something yourecommend to style?
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Yeah.
So a K-style seamless aluminumgutter is basically what we do.
In terms of size, I alwaysrecommend folks go the 6 inch
instead of the 5 inch.
It doesn't sound like a bigjump, but the gutter trough
itself just having that extrainch especially if you have a
steep pitch roof it can take alot more volume, and so I just
think it's a no-brainer to gowith the 6 inch.
The downspouts for both are thesame, or 3 by 4 oversized
(14:42):
downspout, and folks claim thatthat holds as much water as a
fire hose on a fire truck.
I don't think you'll everexceed that volume wise.
But another thing, since we'reon the gutters, I tell folks, if
you can't get up on your roof,or if you have a battery powered
blower, that's certainly theeasiest way from the top of a
ladder to get them out of there.
But a kitchen spatula worksjust as good as anything, a
(15:03):
plastic one even.
Don't take your wife's favoriteone, yeah.
And while you're on the gutters, and once you get those cleaned
out, it'll give you a betterpicture.
If you have a gutter that'smaybe sagging.
So if you notice the front lipof the gutter is not perfectly
plumb, then you can go to thebig box doors and just get a bag
of gutter clips, and the gutterclips fit right in there.
(15:23):
You can put a screw right backthrough the fascia and it will
extend the life of your guttersmore than you realize.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
The best thing you can do if you're not sure if
your gutters are doing their job.
Walk outside during the heavyrainstorm and see how that water
is going.
If it's sheeting off over thetop of the gutter or, worse,
hitting the gutter and rollingback behind it, you need to call
somebody and have them make alook at it.
This is the Carolina ContractorShow.
We're a little over halfwaythrough Today's subject.
We're talking about fallchecklist and things that you
(15:50):
can do to look at your house aswe go into cooler weather.
We'll have this up at thewebsite,
thecarolinacontractorcom.
I told you I've planted grassin my yard so I'm not mowing
right now until it comes up.
But this is also a good time anannual thing to check your
mower, have it serviced, atleast clean it yourself.
But if you're not sure what todo, like if you don't have to
change the oil or a plug on amower, you can take it into some
(16:12):
place to have them do it.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
I do that every year and I think just getting your
mower serviced and maybe notleaving it full of gas or
putting the appropriate fuel inthere, that will last the span
of the winter, where that thingshould fire right up when you
need it next spring.
Thank you.
Talking about the yard, I putan item down and said screw your
deck, and I don't mean it likeget rid of the thing or don't
you know, hang out out there.
But a lot of times if you havetreated wood boards for your
(16:36):
decking out there, the summerwill do a number on those boards
and dry those out.
So twisting, warping,especially with treated wood, is
not uncommon.
So every year we went throughand now I have composite because
we changed out last yearfinally.
But before we had composite itwas a yearly maintenance thing
where I'd go get a box of deckscrews from Lowe's or Home Depot
and I'd go out there and it wasalways four or five boards that
(16:57):
needed attention.
So that's one of those thingsthat when they back out and you
try to utilize the deck say youhave folks over to watch
football on a Sunday andsomebody could really get hurt
on a twisted deck board or anail or a screw that's backing
out.
So that's definitely somethingto be proactive for.
And you're a composite fan now,aren't you?
I really am and it gets hot.
That's the one thing that youreally can't walk out there
barefooted when it's blazing hot, but unless there's direct
(17:18):
sunlight on it, it is.
It's the best.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Well, let me ask you this a side note, then if you
have a deck that has predominantsunlight, would you still
recommend a composite?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yes, because the wood is going to get hot as well,
maybe not as with the directsunlight, but I definitely
recommend it in terms oflongevity, in terms of the way
it looks and feels.
It's very sturdy, very solid,but, yes, I think that it's an
it's all the way around betterthan the wood alternative and we
don't ever have to replace itagain.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Very good All right, it rains in the fall and rains
all year, but in the fall itrains and, if you notice, you've
got some standing water in youryard.
It's a drainage issue, so whatcan people do with that, johnny?
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Well, I always tell people to check for runoff and
so, like you mentioned, ifthey're standing water, that's a
really good indicator thatyou've got a drainage problem.
I always start where thedownspout drops come down from
the gutters and the roof,because that's where most of the
water volume that you're havingis being introduced to the yard
.
And the rule of thumb on newconstruction is you should have
six inches in every ten feet ofpositive drainage away from the
(18:22):
house.
So if you can kind of give itthe eyeball test and tell that
it's going to be a positivedrain, then you should be good.
But if your house sits downhill, for instance, from the
neighbor, you know you'regetting all the neighbors runoff
and there may be some thingsthat you need to do to reroute
that.
Sometimes you can put a swellor a French drain in and that'll
handle that problem.
But the reason I bring it upnow is because it's the perfect
(18:44):
time of year to do it and stillget some grass to grow on there
before the winter sets in.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Yep now one thing I've been doing around our house
is pruning stuff back.
And don't go through your yardwith a pair of pruners and just
start cutting things back,because it depends on what it is
.
We've got a wide range of stuff, including like a banana plant,
which I found out you cut rightalmost down the ground about a
foot off.
We've got a berry bush thatonly produces the berries in the
(19:09):
fall.
So if you prune it right now,you'll never get the berries.
I can't remember the plant thatI did a couple years ago.
I pruned it in the spring.
In it that came up fine allsummer, but no blossoms, and
found out no, you need to prunethat in the fall and then you'll
get blossoms in the spring, inthe summer.
So I learned that.
And also, if you've got naturalareas, that you've got weeds
(19:29):
and stuff, go ahead and we usethe term poison them.
Go ahead and spray stuff onthose to kill out weeds.
And and also, if you have itweeds you notice on sidewalks
and concrete driveways andthings like that, go ahead and
spray them, because when theyget a foothold there, that's
what can, aside from settling,can crack your driveway and
sidewalks as little weeds rightover time they can do that?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
did you fertilize your yard when you did the the
stuff you mentioned?
Speaker 1 (19:53):
well.
So I only fertilize the frontbecause it's heavy shade.
So I got a shade grass rightand I just got it from scots and
it's it's blue.
It looks weird if you haven'tgotten grass seed in a while.
It's blue, um, but thebackyard's great.
So that one I fertilize andthis time of year I put in a
feed and weed and a winterizer.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
But the front I can't do that right now because it'll
kill the grass seed you'reridden by somebody's house and
they mowed the front yard so itlooks okay from the street, but
you can tell that the backyard'sjust been let go because they
were too lazy to do it.
Yeah, I've always labeled thata yard, mullet a yard.
Yeah, well, we're on the yard,stuff.
Um, if you have a sprinklersystem, that's something to give
some attention to.
If you don't know if you have adrainage system on the sprinkler
(20:31):
system, it's probably best tocall in a pro.
A lot of times if you don'thave a an easy drainage system
and you don't know how to use it.
The sprinkler companies offer aservice where they actually
come in with compressed air andthey blow the water out of it
and you're thinking, geez, Idon't want to spend the money on
that.
But the alternative is youleave the water in it and let it
go and then you have a pipeburst and more than one place.
(20:52):
Usually that costs a lot moreto fix than the draining your
system with the compressed airexactly, and this is the
carolina contractor show.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
With about five minutes left, we're going to
finish up this list of fallchecklist items you can look at
and we've talked about this along time energy audits, and
there are some power companiesthat Do it free or very cheap.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yes, duke Energy does one, and they come in and give
you the new light bulbs and allthat's fine and good because it
doesn't cost anything.
But I recommend, especially ifyou have a larger home or if you
have utilities that seem likethey're a little bit excessive,
have an accompanyingprofessional energy auditor come
in, because they're going tofind things that can save you
big time and, you know, couldpotentially cut your utilities
in half.
And they won't be the ones tocut your utilities in half, but
(21:35):
they will tell you where theproblems are that need to be
addressed.
So I think an energy audit is ano-brainer.
If you've never done it, do itat least one time.
But there are folks who do it,you know, every few years just
to make sure that their house isworking like it's supposed to.
And just on a DIY note, takeadvantage of the technology we
have.
I mean, they have the, you know, the thermometer guns that they
(21:56):
use to check your forehead whenused to go into places, but you
can also use those to find coldor hot spots, depending on
which season you're checking,and I actually have a little
$100 thermal imaging camera thatgoes right there on my iPhone,
so sometimes we'll have a leakthat we can't really find in a
house.
I'll go in there on a rainy dayand of course the rainwater
that's getting in there iscooler than the ambient
(22:16):
temperature, so I can pinpoint aleak with a $100 thermal
imaging camera, so of courseit's good Very portable very
easy Now.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
I usually do this right after pollen season, but
there's never a bad time topressure wash your house and you
put especially the north sidewhy?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
That's because mold normally grows.
You have vinyl siding inparticular.
The mold seems to really take afoothold with that and if you
let that go for a couple ofseasons and just don't pressure
wash that north side of thehouse, it could actually do
damage to the siding and ofcourse cost you more to replace
that in the long run.
Since we're talking aboutnorth-south, I'll also say a lot
(22:53):
of people don't give theattention to re-caulking their
windows on the south side.
So just like the north promotesalgae and mold growth, the
south side gets the most sunexposure and normally, like I
mentioned, with the roof, thatcaulk does have a life span and
will wear out.
So I recommend going around andmaking sure all your south and
even east and west facingwindows are all caulked.
I want to mention or drop onemore thing back in there.
(23:15):
When I mentioned the sprinklersystem, I also had a note here
to winterize your hose bibs.
Your hose bibs can totallycrack and those little Styrofoam
winterization covers areusually available at the big box
store pretty cheap and I thinkwe've used the same one for five
, ten years, so it's notsomething you have to buy again
every year.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
And don't leave your hose connected during the winter
because it can hold water inthere and it goes backwards,
believe it or not.
The water in the hose canexpand when it freezes and it
starts going into the pipe andback inside the house.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
And just to wrap the list up, I always this isn't
really like a home maintenancething, but I take my small
vacuum and a ladder and I vacuumall the cobwebs that accumulate
it out in my garage.
It is all the cobwebs thataccumulate it over the summer
and this just keeps.
Not that you have an insectproblem as much in the winter,
but it kind of gives you a cleanslate when you get around to
(24:06):
spring and it doesn't give thenew bugs a place to grow or
promote any kind of nest oranything.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
So same with a hornet's nest and stuff.
What is it?
The mud daubers?
Yes, go ahead and scrape thoseoff too.
And if you had bats this is thetime of year, we won't go into
the details, but you can'tremove bats from your house
during the spring and summer.
They're a protected species.
So if you know where they weregetting into your house or
saying you're attic, this is thetime to put up blocks or
(24:34):
netting or things like that tokeep them from getting back in
your house when they come back,because they know where you live
, they have their address ontheir little bat GPS and they
will return.
So go ahead and block off thosespots if you can find them.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yeah, the dirt dober thing that you mentioned.
One of the best things thatwe've mentioned on the show
that's gotten the most feedbackis, I think maybe a year or so
ago, when we mentioned for thefirst time that you could spray
WD-40 in the places where thedirt dober's like to build nests
.
That water displacement 40thformula will not allow them to
build a nest there as well.
So people I've gotten all kindof feedback saying hey, I did
(25:06):
that and I actually did it at mypersonal house and it worked
great.
They just built their nesteverywhere I didn't spray the.
WD-40.
So they got me again All right,it's grill and season.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
It's always grill and season, but this is one of the
last things on the fallchecklist, donnie.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
If you have anything to do with your home in terms of
maintenance.
But in terms of enjoyment, welike to kind of hit the grocery
store on Friday, plan the mealsthrough Monday and now that
football's on Saturday andSunday, we don't leave the house
unless we absolutely have toand I just recommend that as a
good quality family time thingto do.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
It's great this time of year.
It's not too buggy, weathercools off.
It's fun to sit outside andgrill and put some chairs there
and enjoy that time, like Donniesaid, with the family and hang
out and invite the neighbors Ifyou're.
Are you like me?
If you smell someone grillingout, you're a little upset.
They didn't invite you, oh yeah.
Like man somebody's grillingthey didn't invite us to come
out there.
Well, I'd invite you to come toour grill out, but I'm not
(25:59):
grilling out this weekend.
You'll have to wait for theofficial invite.
Maybe we'll put it up at thewebsite,
thecarolinacontractorcom andwe'll put up this information
right here and again.
Donnie, we always have theselists and we say, yeah, we'll be
able to get in a bunch ofquestions and then the list just
takes off on its own.
Long winded today it is, butthere's a lot of information
there.
Get ready for fall.
(26:19):
It's my favorite time of yearbecause I don't have pollen and
allergies to deal with.
Maybe yours is the same, butit's a great time to get out
there.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Hey, I want to mention one thing, since we did
not get to the questions today.
Eric and I discussed that we'regoing to do an entire show just
to catch up on the questions.
So not next week but the weekafter, we'll have all those and
if we didn't get your questionin, please don't stop sending
those.
I try to answer most of themright there on the email, but
the ones that are show worthy wedefinitely like to bring on the
show and talk about, so maybesome other folks can benefit
(26:48):
from what you have going onaround your house.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
All right, so in two weeks we will have the questions
only edition of the CarolinaContractor Show.
You can listen to the pastshows, find information at
thecarolinacontractorcom.
Also check out the Facebookpage.
We thank you so much forjoining us and we hope you have
a great week and we will see younext time on the Carolina
Contractor Show.
Thanks for listening to theCarolina Contractor Show Brought
(27:15):
to you by GAF, the world'slargest roofing manufacturer.
We protect what matters mostand Mid-Atlantic Roofing Supply,
and Raleigh, a roofing supplierwith a different approach.
Your roof is the most importantpart of your home.
Make sure you're protected withsure top roofing.
We're locally owned, operatedand have proudly been serving
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the Triangle for the last decade.
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years on labor.
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