November 22, 2025 • 45 mins
Your calls along with Gary's expert tips and advice. We also talk to our friends at Roto Rooter.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:30):
All right, this weekend Welcome, you're at home with Gary
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(00:53):
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it at Winforget dot com also, and we thank them
for sponsoring this hour of the show. All right, of
course we're talking home improvement and love to have you
join us. Our phone number is eight hundred eight two
(01:14):
three eight two five five. Feel free to grab a
line and let's go to Milt Milt Welcome.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Hey, I've got a question for you. I've got an
aggregate driveway, okay, and I do need to sell it.
Some of my neighbors have sealed theirs and they tend
to be very slick and I have kind of a
(01:45):
steep driveway. It's not very long, but it's got a
good little slope to it. So is there a good
sealer that I should use that is not going to
leave it slick? And when's the right time to do that?
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So, first of all, when you say an aggregate driveway,
you're talking about an exposed aggregate. In other words, it
looks like stones on the top, correct, Okay, okay, Well yeah,
the reason it's slick is there is, first of all,
stones and the ceilers don't penetrate stone all that. Well,
that's number one. Number two is the other fella. I
(02:25):
don't know if you heard me talk about a penetrating
concrete ceiling that you can't even tell it's on the
driveway itself. You can't use that on an exposed aggregate.
So what you need is you need a seiler that
you would use like for stamped concrete or exposed aggregate,
(02:49):
and it's a solid it lays on the surface. The
ceiling actually stays on the surface, which in a lot
of cases is slick. Now, there is a non slip
a solid coat sealer and it's called track Safe t
R A C S A f E. And the manufacturer
(03:12):
of that, I think you can get it on their website.
I believe you can get it on whom Depot's website,
maybe even Low's website, but not in the stores. It's
DICE Coatings. It's d A i C ch Coatings dot com,
d AI Chcoatings dot com. It's called track safe and
(03:34):
you can put it on with a roller. You can't
just spray it on. But it's a slip resistance. You
can use that on concrete, garage floors, exposed aggregates, stamp concrete.
You could use it on ceramic tiel on a bathroom.
But it is a slip resistance sealer.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Okay, all right, just what I needed. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
You're quite welcome. Thank you, Take care bye bye. Be
mindful too, if you're using a solid color seiler and
you have to on some particular projects exposed to aggregate. I
mentioned stamp concrete. I mentioned when something is a coating
like that particular product would be not a penetrant that
(04:22):
would be built into the concrete. It would be absorbed
into the concrete. Sun will break that down over time,
and it'll break it down in a couple two three years,
So you have to stay in front of it. Okay,
you can't miss six years and then come back, because
(04:42):
what will happen is it'll start doing It'll bleach out
the stone, and especially in stamp concrete, it'll really bleach
out the pigmentation. Or if you have a semi or
a semi transparent concrete stain and then used a usually
a non penetrant seiler on top of that makes it pop.
(05:04):
It's a gloss or track safe. Again it's on the surface,
and once that it has some UV protection, but you know,
again it's on the surface and it's clear, so I
can't have too much and it starts just slowly, quietly
bleaching out that color. It will be three years and
(05:28):
it'll start looking not tattered, but it'll look tired. And
when you put the new coat of ceiling on there, man,
it'll just pop again. So when you get to a
point where it's starting to look like, wow, that colorant
and it's really kind of just very dull, and it's
(05:48):
you know, it's time for it's time for another coat
or two of that celant, and it will bring that
color in that pizazz back almost immediately as you're applying.
It's it's really wonderful how that works when you just
when you think, oh gosh, wait, way too long, it'll
(06:09):
just pop and bring it, bring it right back. So
keep that in mind. But most of your concrete seales
that there's not color really involved, and it's just a
broom finish concrete. Uh, you just use a penetrating finish. Again,
about three to three years really alive. Maybe five on
a vertical surface or something like that with crowding or
(06:32):
you know, brick or something along those lines, maybe five years.
But on a driveway you can figure about three. And
that's a good rule of thumb. And I tell people
you might be thinking, right now, why do I need that? Well,
I'll tell you if you live in a normal in
(06:52):
a northern climate, you really need it, just because of
the snow and ice and road salt that can be
dragged in on your driveway, which is very corrosive. You know,
when it drives, there's a white powder over the driveway
and then every morning you get a morning do or
you get a little winter drizzle and it reactivates that
and it becomes very caustic and it's something you really
(07:19):
don't want. I've seen brand new driveways have pot marks
all over it, and there's nothing more sickening than spending
you know, the cost of a new driveway or a
new driveway apron and then all of a sudden, you know,
you got all these pot marks over it. And it
(07:39):
could be the type of mix they use on the concrete,
but normally, normally it is just you know, you just
let that salt corrode that driveway and it was not
properly protected. So thanks for the call. I appreciate. Let's
go to Joe.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Welcome h Gary. A quick question about gas fireplaces.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Since I've never burned wood in it, and since there's
no crease, O, do I need to have the chimney
clean on an annual basis?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Not necessarily on an annual basis, I would have it
inspected occasionally, just to make sure there's you know, it's
in good shape because there's other things that causes liners
to crack or depending in some gas fireplaces, just depending
on what the inside part of that chimney looks like.
(08:38):
Sometimes they're just almost like they can rust and cause problems.
But you know, I wouldn't do it every year or two,
but I haven't inspected, you know, maybe every three or
four years.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
That sounds great. Thanks for the help.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
You're quite welcome. Thank you. Take care, you know, by
the way, that brings up a good question. A lot
of people asked me, you know, like, do I have
to do any may it's annually on a gas fireplace. Yeah, yeah,
you do. One of the things you might want to
do is just take a look at the flame. What
color is it if you've if you've got a good
(09:13):
combination of a blue flame and a yellow flame, that's perfect.
If you got an orange flame, or it's just you know,
if it doesn't have any blue, it could be burning
a little dirty. And I would also worry about just
cleaning the glass with a regular fireplace glass cleaner, wipe
away that white film that's just caused by mineral mineral deposits,
(09:39):
and don't move the logs unless it's absolutely necessary. And
here's why. If you start seeing a lot of soot
on the logs themselves, that's telling me it's not burning
real clean, and you should probably have somebody take a
look at the gas logs. But if there's just a
little soot on there a paint brush, you don't have
(10:01):
to touch the logs in terms of, you know, changing
the way they're stacked, because that's important, but just taking
a paintbrush and dusting a little bit that's soot off
will do a really good job. So don't bump the logs,
don't rearrange the ceramic logs. They are placed there precisely
for the flame pattern. A lot of people don't realize
(10:24):
that you have your manual, it'll tell you exactly how
to stack it if you don't look it up. If
you if you don't want to do that and it's
been there for a long time and never been serviced,
you might have somebody come out there a chimney you know,
certified chimney sweep and let them clean the logs, restack
them and uh and you know, just make sure that
(10:47):
the whole mechanism itself is in good working order. They
can check the pilot light the burner, and again that
pilot flame should be steady and blue. The pilot flame
should be blue, not yellow, not orange, not flickering. And again,
if you have an uneven pattern of flames coming up
(11:09):
to those logs, it might be the logs aren't stucked properly.
And you can do it yourself if you got your
manual or look it up, or you can get a
chimney sweep in there all right. Our phone numbers eight
hundred eighty two three eight two five y five lines
are open at home with Gary sullivantor.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
If you don't have a list of things to do
around the house, Gary will find something for you at
one eight hundred eighty two three talk You're at home
with Gary s Ellivator.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
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(12:14):
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com Dumont Smart safe and proven, so do it yourself
with Demon. Well, here's an idea. Make your coming winter
(12:55):
fun and easier to deal with by picking up a
can or two of Blaster industrial strength silicon lubricn. It's
perfect for snowshovels and snowblowers to keep snow from sticking
and clogging. Use it on your car door and window
gaskets to keep them from sticking. And hey, sleds go
super fast too. It reduces friction while preventing rust. Enjoy
this winter and grab some Blaster Industrial stringths silicon lubricin
(13:18):
at a home out of our hardware store near you,
and always use Blaster products and work it like a pro. Hey,
it's Gary Salvan for Roto Router plumbing and water cleanup,
a company that has been trusted and recommended for generations.
Coast to coast roto Uter fixes clogged drains leaky faucets
and running toilets. They repair and replace water heaters, garbage disposals,
(13:39):
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you should leave plumbing to the pros too. Call one
eight hundred, get roto or go to rotrouter dot com today.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
All right, back at it.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
We go, by the way on gas fireplaces, a lot
of times we don't even think about needing a professional service.
And I'd mentioned a couple of things, so I was
just looking at professional inspections. You know, what does it
entail and when you should really call a professional. So
I thought i'd quickly go through those. Number one we mentioned,
and that is the flame is yellowing. It's not a
(14:38):
really bright blue at the base of the burner. And
the pilot light you should have it inspected. Smell gas,
of course, soot on the logs that's heavy, or soot
on the glass, not just that white haze, but actually
black soot. And I said that too. It's probably a
bad oxygen mix maybe, and it's burning a little dirty,
(15:02):
so that would be a reason the pilot light keeps
going out. That's certainly a reason, and you should really
have it served, you know, serviced. If it's over three years,
you definitely should have it service. And what are they
going to check for you? Well, they're going to check
a couple of things. We'll just check the gas pressure.
That makes a big difference, burner alignment, safety sensors, carbon
(15:27):
monoxide levels, and the proper stacking of the logs of
the guests fireplace. All right, let's get back to the funds. Karen, welcome.
Speaker 6 (15:38):
Oh hey, this is about a Napoleon fireplace. Insert. So
we burned wood and we burned the sawdust bricks and
it's got a firesh We had a clean the chimney
and the whole thing last year. The first fire I
did this year went fine. The second one, the fire
(15:58):
wash did not operate. I don't know, and I don't
I never looked in there. I don't know if it's
a postal operate every time you do a fire, or
if it just wasn't hot enough.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Well, tell me what a firewash is. I have not
heard that term.
Speaker 6 (16:11):
Well, when you look inside the you know you've got
your it's lined with the fire bricks. On the very
top is a metal a flat metal thing with holes
all the way down both sides, and so when the
fire is operating, fire goes through that and it washes
it kind of like circulates the hole.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
And you were concerned about the firewash. For what reason?
Speaker 6 (16:37):
It didn't operate this last time. And I don't know
if it only operates when it's super hot. We've had
this for over ten years, and I don't know why
I didn't. Well, it's because I have to get down
on the floor to look in there.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Yeah it is, but it's just.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
There probably probably, I think that's where you're going to
fight your answer. I don't have that answer. Whether it
operates every time? Is it Does it operate mainly when
the when the sawdust pellets or log is burning, Yeah,
that's when it operates. My guess it is heat controlled.
(17:14):
My guess is it is he controlled. But I don't
know that for certain. So I would check your manual, though,
I really would read that to just be more familiar
with it. I hear you, I hear you.
Speaker 6 (17:27):
I know, all right, appreciate.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
It, all right, thank you much, thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Don't really know the answer to that. I've not really
heard that term, to be honest with you. I had
a pellet stove, which is to compress sawdust.
Speaker 7 (17:43):
Also.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I had that for years, probably for ten years. I
have a guest log set now and I've burned would
so I've done all three and I really love if
I had my choice between all of them. Back in
the day, I probably enjoyed the pellet stove more than
(18:05):
any Certainly the pure wood was best, but there's work
involved there, splitting the wood, getting the wood, stacking the wood,
bringing the wood in. The pellets were easy, self loading,
gave off great heat, didn't quite have the ambiance maybe
as you know logs burning, and didn't have the crackle
(18:26):
pop and all the nice sounds, but it was it
was very convenient and gave great warmth. The gas fireplaces,
it's nice, I would say, when we have a gas fireplace,
maybe maybe on that first couple cold nights, certainly during
the holidays when you have people over, they're very nice.
(18:50):
But the pellet stove kind of covers all your bases,
if you will. And I understand just from reading articles
woodstoves are all the rage again, so that's you know,
that's nice. I love a wood stove if I can.
(19:11):
It's just work. You just got to be prepared for
the work all right. As promised, Paul Abrams, Rotor Router
will be joining us. We're going to talk about some
fall maintenance you definitely should do around your home, winter maintenance,
and a very busy week the folks at will have
this week, especially after Thursday. We'll continue. You're at Home
(19:34):
with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Time to get your hands dirty with Gary Sullivan. Give
them a call at one eight hundred and eighty two
three talk. You're at home with Gary Celibrator.
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(20:52):
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(22:23):
that time taking a look outside where I am. The
sun's out. If I looked at the last three days,
it was kind of cold and gloomy and very very gloomy,
and that reminds me all about plumbing. When it gets
cold and gloomy, that's when we need our help from
our friends at Rhota Ruter. And that's exactly who I have.
Paul Abrams. Paul, welcome again to that home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Good to see you.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Gary, Yes, sir, how you doing all right?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
You know you were talking about that gloominess and yeah,
I'm out of hibernation. I'm waiting for the sun to
come out and I'm going to finish all my winter rising.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Well, let's talk a little bit about that, because Rotor
Ruter what a legacy name. I know you guys are
throughout the United States and you know that name. Just
when we start talking about plumbing and pipes, that name
just pops in many of our heads. And on your website,
I've said this main time, paulse You've got a really
informative website that talks about what to do in the
(23:24):
fall and what to do in the winter. And let's
just go through some of those fall maintenance tips if
you don't mind.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yeah, sure, well you said it. I mean, we've got
so much information at rotoroter dot com. If you miss
something that Gary and I talk about today, go there
search winter Rising and you'll find all kinds of blogs
and videos and things like that. But yeah, if I
had to say, you know, the the number one thing
that causes problems is is frozen pipes, and it's usually
(23:55):
that outdoor faucet. So everybody listening go out there after
the US disconnect your outdoor hoses for sure, before you
cover them up with a foam insulation kit, wash them
for a few minutes and make sure they aren't dripping
because if they are, you might have a leak there,
and it's best to fix that before winter arrives.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
For sure. For sure. Yeah, I've been preaching that since
probably about mid September. You know, it's so important. I mean,
you know, there's two different types of faucets, and some
people think that frostproof faucet prevents everything. But if that
garden hose is attached to it and there's water in it,
it's just back flowing back into that pipe, and you're
(24:35):
going to have a problem for sure.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Oh yeah, you know, I've got those frostproof hose beds
in my home and I don't have the disconnects down
in the basement that I have to drain out. But
I know a lot of people do. People forget to
do that. And if you've got those, you know, go
shut that valve off, go outside and drain it out,
Let all the water get out of the system. Then
(25:00):
cover it with a with a foam insulation kit, and
you know, rest easy this winter without that extra worry
of sure of a frozen pipe bursting.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
You know, heaven doing you know, doing this show for
like thirty nine years, Paul I always equate winter time
with water heater questions. Now, the water heater for the
most parts inside a home, what what what do we
have to do if anything? Or is that just I know,
when it gets cold outside, it's tough on plumbing.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
It is, you know, it's the it's that elephant in
the room that we all want to ignore. We know
it does its job, makes a little rumble here and there,
but for the most part, it's awfully dependable, your water heater.
So you know, let's give it a little love. This
is a good time of year to go check it out. Uh,
you know, feel around the pipes going in the inlet,
the outlet, make sure there's no leaks up there. Look
(25:56):
around the base of it if you uh, if you
see any water around the floor that could have been
coming out of that That tube that runs down the
side of your water heater is connected to your temperature
and pressure relief valve. And if that thing's burping and
shooting water out, that means your heater is either getting
too hot or it's developing too much pressure in the tank.
(26:19):
And you want to deal with that before winter too.
But you know, it's a great time faul to drain down,
flush out the sediment that accumulates in the bottom of
your water heater, so that you'll find instructions at rotorator
dot com on how to do that. There are great
YouTube videos showing you how to do that. But you'll
save yourself a lot of trouble and extend the life
(26:40):
of that water heater by draining that that sediment out
of the bottom of it.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Every year, you know, we talk about that, and sometimes
you can just drain off like two or three gallons
and remember that water's hot, and you know it'll be
kind of you know, rusty colored or something along those lines,
that it'll be clear and you're probably good to go.
One caution I've used in the past. I don't know
how you feel about this if you're somebody that's listening
(27:05):
right now and not how water heater is, or the
water heater is twelve years old and you've never drained it.
Sometimes that sentiment's kind of holding the water heater together.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Yeah, you know, you're right, they say eleven years is
the life expectancy of a typical conventional water heater. Yeah,
if you've never done it before, you're right, Garrey, you
might be inviting some problems starting that ten or twelve
years into the life of your water heat. Oh boy,
if it broke, don't fix it at that point.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, it's great to start out doing that and keep
doing it, but boy, if you haven't done anything, it
might be a little more cautious. How about the some pump.
We've had some decent rains at least where we're at
testing them. If you haven't had a lot of rain,
probably a real good idea.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Yeah, and you know that's some pump. You know, if
you're getting heavy rain the fall, you can get down
and watch it. If there's water coming into the pit,
you want to see if that pump's turning itself on,
draining most of the water out of the pit, and
then turning itself off again without any trouble. And if
you don't have water in the pit right now, you
(28:17):
can run a garden host through the basement window works,
get a five gallon bucket and pour it in that
pit and make sure the pump's doing its thing. And
if it isn't, or if it's hot nothing, something's off
running too long. I've had one to do that before.
It's a good time to get it, get it taken
(28:37):
care of before winter because before you know it, we're
going to have the spring falls and there's going to
be a lot of ground water seeping in the basement
walls and floors. Oh yeah, and you want that some
pump to be working when it's time for it to.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Be working, No doubt about that, No doubt about that.
And before long it's also going to be hard freeze times.
And I know you started out talking about frozen pipes,
and gosh know, I can just imagine just how busy
you get on a day where it's ten below zero
and pipes are freezing. Give me some areas, or give
(29:13):
my listeners some areas where to inspect looking for pipes
that are exposed. If you've lived in a house for
thirty years, you probably know where it's vulnerable. But where
should we be looking for pipes that could freeze?
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yeah, you know, any pipes that are exposed to the
elements are a little colder with those outside walls. We
talked about the hose bitch, the ones that are connected
to hose bitch. Once you've taken care of those, if
you've got a crawl space, or if you've got pipes
running through your garage or your attic like that, in Florida.
(29:50):
You'll want to take a look at those and know
the difference between a water supply pipe, which is usually copper,
it might be pecks and could even be cast iron,
and a drain pipe, which is usually PVC or there's
usually a larger diameter pipe. That's the easy way to
(30:10):
know the difference, right. You know, if we've seen people
gary that they think they've insulated their pipes and look
at that cross base or looking under a pier and
beam home and find out they put pipe insulation around
a drain line, but they've neglected their water supply pipes.
And if drain lines are pitched properly, you usually don't
(30:31):
have to worry about those freezing o. There are always exceptions,
but it's the water supply pipes that there's copper lines
especially that will and see PVC in those things, you
want to make sure you've got good insulation on them.
If you've got a pipe that is especially vulnerable, you
can run thermostat controlled heat tape or heat cable that
(30:54):
will keep that pipe from freezing. I've got one right
now running on my backflowsalve outside right connected to my
sprinkler system. Because they're not going to be able to
get to me until for another week or so, and
we're already getting it dipping into freezing temperatures and that's
all it takes to do damage.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Yeah, that's a good point. And you know, I guess
those vulnerabilities are different in different areas too. You were
talking about Florida, and I'm not in Florida, so I
forget about that. They get freezing cold temperatures sometimes too,
and the protection on those pipes isn't quite as great
in the Midwest, where I am a little different ball game.
(31:32):
But you get some older housing, no insulation in walls,
and you know, block construction, and that copper pipes running
right along that block underneath the kitchen sink. That that's
vulnerability of its height.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Oh gosh. Yeah. And what you have to think about
is when it when a pipe freezes, you know, it
creates pressure. There's an ice block in there, and it
creates pressure, and that pressure's got to give somewhere. And
that's why they tell you, you know, you leave your
leave your least some thinks trickling during extreme cold periods
it leaves the pressure. So if you get something freezing,
(32:10):
that pressure is going to go somewhere, and often it's
out the side of the pipe wall. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
First, yeah, yeah, I was just gonna say, even if
you have one of those situations that I just described,
you know, leaving the cabinet doors opened, and you know,
if you don't have any foam sleeves around that copper,
that's something you can do today because we always love
to put that off.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
The box, doores and uh, you know, keep some of
that stuff ranging never know when you're gonna need it.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
I know folks call rotor ruter when they have plumbing
problems and also drain problems. Is there any drain maintenance
a homeowner can do anytime of the year. Yeah, things
are just running a little slow.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Sure when things are slow, Uh, you know, you think
about your house, which drains typically run slow. The shower
drain in my house runs slow from time to time,
and me and my wife has longer hair and boy,
but it seems like, you know, every six months or so,
I got a slow drain in there. So you can
get one of those little you know, the little plastic
(33:18):
drain widgets that you put down in there, even put
a hook in a metal coat hanger, push it down
in that pipe. Twist it around a few times. Go fishing,
I say, pull back, and you'll be surprised what you
catch down there. Do that two or three times until
nothing else is coming up. That takes care of it.
And then after you've cleaned it. There's a lot of
(33:39):
these bioins. I'm drain care products aren't caustic and and
and you know with the fumes and everything, they're natural products.
And those that you introduced good bacteria down into the pipes,
and it eats away a lot of that gunk. Doesn't
work instantly, but you leave it sitting there overnight, it
(33:59):
works meles sure.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
And we put so much of that gunk in there ourselves.
I mean, our toothpaste has gel in it, our shaving
cream is gelling it, our hairspray has geling it. Everything
we use in a bathroom has gel in it. That
makes inside of those pipes nice and tacky, and it
kind of collects things. And you're right, those enzyme products
do a pretty good, pretty good job. I've used one
(34:22):
called Drainbow. Just put the plug in the vanity bowl
and put some warm water in there and pour some
of the drain bow in there. Let's sit about ten
minutes it activates it and pull the plug and let's
sit over.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yes, great products. You know this week of always you
mentioned at the top, we're coming into Thanksgiving and plumbers
called brown Friday. It's the busiest day of the year
for Roto Rooter and most plumbing companies in most markets
because drains just get overloaded. You get a house full
of guests and they're taking extra showers, they're they're flushing
(34:59):
the toilet more often, right, run in the disposal, and
making a big meal in the kitchen. All those things
come together. It's a perfect storm for your drain system.
And that's why so many drains back up on Thanksgiving
and the Friday after.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
So if I have twenty potatoes to appeel on Thursday,
I don't take all the scraps and shut them down
the disposal.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
It happens every year and every time.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
All right, Well, we've been preaching a little bit of
that too. One thing I will say, and I think
it was in I don't know, one of our conversations,
or it was in one year commercials or something, but
I've really latched onto this, and that is if you
are not comfortable doing plumbing, and we all got to
(35:49):
know where our strengths or you don't have the time
to do it, to create kind of an ongoing list,
almost like a shopping list. You know, vanity sink, slow drip,
toilet flushes itself. In other words, when you call rotor
Ruter if you have multiple small jobs, very very efficient
(36:12):
at getting that taken care of and save yourself a
little money at the same time.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Yeah, create a punch list because you get second job discount,
third job discount, fourth job discount. So you know, rather
than pay you know, oh, let's just have him deal
with this one issue. It actually saves you money. Sure
while at plumber's in your house to have ving knock
got any of the problems that you that you're worried about,
(36:38):
that you're dealing with it, it's a lot less expensive
in the long run.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Very good, Paul, thanks for joining us today. A happy Thanksgiving.
I hope you're not too busy Friday. And again, folks,
that website is rotoreruter dot com. You can get a
lot of good information. Schedule a visit with Rotor Ruter
to your home if you'd like. And Paul, thanks again.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
My pleasure, Gary, Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Thank you take care. All right, very good, Thank you
very much, Paul. I enjoy the conversation we have throughout
the years, and they do a great, great job for you.
Get a lot of compliments about the folks at Rotor Router.
All right, your call's next, so grab a line. They're
wide open right now. It's eight hundred eight two three
eight two five to five. You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (37:28):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
Thank you. Thanks.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
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back at it we go rotoruter dot com. Easy website
to remember when it pass that along once again, and
then we'll get to the calls here and Bill welcome, Hi.
Speaker 7 (40:22):
Thank you, Yes, sir, Hey, I've got a question about
roof Max. That product. Does that work? It's you know,
it talks about extending your roof for years and I
haven't seen I don't think it's been around for fifteen years.
How do I know if that really works?
Speaker 1 (40:39):
I guess you don't take on it. Yeah, well, first
of all, when you say extend your roof for years,
it does. But it's in steps and does it work? Yes?
Does it work on all roofs? They have to determine
how far gone, the roof is and so the way
(41:00):
what was invented was there's not as much asphalt and
shingles as there used to be. Okay, the shingles are smaller,
they're more brittle, and if you got a thirty year roof,
my thirty year roof lasted twenty three years. And if
at about year eighteen, I would have called roof Max.
(41:20):
And back then I don't think roof Max was in business.
But they've been out there now for about I don't
I really don't know, but I'm gonna guess around eight years.
And what they'll do is they'll determine this roof still
got it. It's definitely where and it's lost some of
its protection from the sun. That's the granular protection which
(41:45):
keeps the shingle away from the UV rays of the sun,
which really breaks down, dries out the shingle, makes it brittle.
So they created a product where you spray this on
and it will rejuvenate to shingle and it will almost
like a glue, hold down the existing grains of protection
(42:10):
on the shingle and that'll give you about another five
years worth of life.
Speaker 8 (42:16):
And they've got a ten year old roof and I
plucked in a lot of debris in the first ten
years in my gutter, and I think that's pretty normal.
Speaker 7 (42:28):
However, I was thinking, I don't want to wait too long.
Maybe ten years is too soon.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Yeah, well it might be. I wouldn't know until they
inspected or I inspected it, but they would take a
look at it. Is it a thirty year shingle guarantee
or what is it?
Speaker 7 (42:43):
No, no, I'm sure it's a builder special. It's probably
a twenty twenty year.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
Well, then ten years probably wouldn't be too much. I mean,
nobody really gets the warranty out. That's why now they're
playing games calling a limited lifetime warranty. Well, what's that mean?
I don't know. So Bill, I'll tell you this. It
will work. It's not for everybody, and I always say that,
but it's an option, all right. So if if you're
(43:08):
showing signs aware and you want to get to that warranty,
they will come out and say, yeah, yeah, we can
save this, and it's five years at about twenty five
percent of the cost of a new roof. At the
end of five years, you can do another five years.
You can do it three times. So by the time
(43:31):
you have it applied, you're welcome.
Speaker 7 (43:34):
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
You bet take care. By the time you have it
applied three times, you've got about eighty percent of the
price of a roof covered. So if you know you're
just gonna be there a couple of years, maybe that's
something you want to do. My check with your insurance
company too, to make sure they're going to cover that
as a roof. Still, you know, cover that from an
(43:56):
insurance standpoint. Getting some different information on that all right,
Easy Breed Ventilation system. You hear me talk about it
all the time. It creates air exchanges from the lowest
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be a first year at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (44:40):
Home Improvement one oh one with Gary Sullivan every weekend.
Classes began at one eight hundred and eighty two three
Top you are at home with Gary Sullivan
Speaker 5 (45:00):
The publica
All right, this weekend Welcome, you're at home with Gary
Selvin said, has brought you by What and Forget? Have
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and Forget outdoor has, but it's called Wed and Forget
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for sponsoring this hour of the show. All right, of
course we're talking home improvement and love to have you
join us. Our phone number is eight hundred eight two
(01:14):
three eight two five five. Feel free to grab a
line and let's go to Milt Milt Welcome.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Hey, I've got a question for you. I've got an
aggregate driveway, okay, and I do need to sell it.
Some of my neighbors have sealed theirs and they tend
to be very slick and I have kind of a
(01:45):
steep driveway. It's not very long, but it's got a
good little slope to it. So is there a good
sealer that I should use that is not going to
leave it slick? And when's the right time to do that?
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So, first of all, when you say an aggregate driveway,
you're talking about an exposed aggregate. In other words, it
looks like stones on the top, correct, Okay, okay, Well yeah,
the reason it's slick is there is, first of all,
stones and the ceilers don't penetrate stone all that. Well,
that's number one. Number two is the other fella. I
(02:25):
don't know if you heard me talk about a penetrating
concrete ceiling that you can't even tell it's on the
driveway itself. You can't use that on an exposed aggregate.
So what you need is you need a seiler that
you would use like for stamped concrete or exposed aggregate,
(02:49):
and it's a solid it lays on the surface. The
ceiling actually stays on the surface, which in a lot
of cases is slick. Now, there is a non slip
a solid coat sealer and it's called track Safe t
R A C S A f E. And the manufacturer
(03:12):
of that, I think you can get it on their website.
I believe you can get it on whom Depot's website,
maybe even Low's website, but not in the stores. It's
DICE Coatings. It's d A i C ch Coatings dot com,
d AI Chcoatings dot com. It's called track safe and
(03:34):
you can put it on with a roller. You can't
just spray it on. But it's a slip resistance. You
can use that on concrete, garage floors, exposed aggregates, stamp concrete.
You could use it on ceramic tiel on a bathroom.
But it is a slip resistance sealer.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Okay, all right, just what I needed. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
You're quite welcome. Thank you, Take care bye bye. Be
mindful too, if you're using a solid color seiler and
you have to on some particular projects exposed to aggregate. I
mentioned stamp concrete. I mentioned when something is a coating
like that particular product would be not a penetrant that
(04:22):
would be built into the concrete. It would be absorbed
into the concrete. Sun will break that down over time,
and it'll break it down in a couple two three years,
So you have to stay in front of it. Okay,
you can't miss six years and then come back, because
(04:42):
what will happen is it'll start doing It'll bleach out
the stone, and especially in stamp concrete, it'll really bleach
out the pigmentation. Or if you have a semi or
a semi transparent concrete stain and then used a usually
a non penetrant seiler on top of that makes it pop.
(05:04):
It's a gloss or track safe. Again it's on the surface,
and once that it has some UV protection, but you know,
again it's on the surface and it's clear, so I
can't have too much and it starts just slowly, quietly
bleaching out that color. It will be three years and
(05:28):
it'll start looking not tattered, but it'll look tired. And
when you put the new coat of ceiling on there, man,
it'll just pop again. So when you get to a
point where it's starting to look like, wow, that colorant
and it's really kind of just very dull, and it's
(05:48):
you know, it's time for it's time for another coat
or two of that celant, and it will bring that
color in that pizazz back almost immediately as you're applying.
It's it's really wonderful how that works when you just
when you think, oh gosh, wait, way too long, it'll
(06:09):
just pop and bring it, bring it right back. So
keep that in mind. But most of your concrete seales
that there's not color really involved, and it's just a
broom finish concrete. Uh, you just use a penetrating finish. Again,
about three to three years really alive. Maybe five on
a vertical surface or something like that with crowding or
(06:32):
you know, brick or something along those lines, maybe five years.
But on a driveway you can figure about three. And
that's a good rule of thumb. And I tell people
you might be thinking, right now, why do I need that? Well,
I'll tell you if you live in a normal in
(06:52):
a northern climate, you really need it, just because of
the snow and ice and road salt that can be
dragged in on your driveway, which is very corrosive. You know,
when it drives, there's a white powder over the driveway
and then every morning you get a morning do or
you get a little winter drizzle and it reactivates that
and it becomes very caustic and it's something you really
(07:19):
don't want. I've seen brand new driveways have pot marks
all over it, and there's nothing more sickening than spending
you know, the cost of a new driveway or a
new driveway apron and then all of a sudden, you know,
you got all these pot marks over it. And it
(07:39):
could be the type of mix they use on the concrete,
but normally, normally it is just you know, you just
let that salt corrode that driveway and it was not
properly protected. So thanks for the call. I appreciate. Let's
go to Joe.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Welcome h Gary. A quick question about gas fireplaces.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Since I've never burned wood in it, and since there's
no crease, O, do I need to have the chimney
clean on an annual basis?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Not necessarily on an annual basis, I would have it
inspected occasionally, just to make sure there's you know, it's
in good shape because there's other things that causes liners
to crack or depending in some gas fireplaces, just depending
on what the inside part of that chimney looks like.
(08:38):
Sometimes they're just almost like they can rust and cause problems.
But you know, I wouldn't do it every year or two,
but I haven't inspected, you know, maybe every three or
four years.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
That sounds great. Thanks for the help.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
You're quite welcome. Thank you. Take care, you know, by
the way, that brings up a good question. A lot
of people asked me, you know, like, do I have
to do any may it's annually on a gas fireplace. Yeah, yeah,
you do. One of the things you might want to
do is just take a look at the flame. What
color is it if you've if you've got a good
(09:13):
combination of a blue flame and a yellow flame, that's perfect.
If you got an orange flame, or it's just you know,
if it doesn't have any blue, it could be burning
a little dirty. And I would also worry about just
cleaning the glass with a regular fireplace glass cleaner, wipe
away that white film that's just caused by mineral mineral deposits,
(09:39):
and don't move the logs unless it's absolutely necessary. And
here's why. If you start seeing a lot of soot
on the logs themselves, that's telling me it's not burning
real clean, and you should probably have somebody take a
look at the gas logs. But if there's just a
little soot on there a paint brush, you don't have
(10:01):
to touch the logs in terms of, you know, changing
the way they're stacked, because that's important, but just taking
a paintbrush and dusting a little bit that's soot off
will do a really good job. So don't bump the logs,
don't rearrange the ceramic logs. They are placed there precisely
for the flame pattern. A lot of people don't realize
(10:24):
that you have your manual, it'll tell you exactly how
to stack it if you don't look it up. If
you if you don't want to do that and it's
been there for a long time and never been serviced,
you might have somebody come out there a chimney you know,
certified chimney sweep and let them clean the logs, restack
them and uh and you know, just make sure that
(10:47):
the whole mechanism itself is in good working order. They
can check the pilot light the burner, and again that
pilot flame should be steady and blue. The pilot flame
should be blue, not yellow, not orange, not flickering. And again,
if you have an uneven pattern of flames coming up
(11:09):
to those logs, it might be the logs aren't stucked properly.
And you can do it yourself if you got your
manual or look it up, or you can get a
chimney sweep in there all right. Our phone numbers eight
hundred eighty two three eight two five y five lines
are open at home with Gary sullivantor.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
If you don't have a list of things to do
around the house, Gary will find something for you at
one eight hundred eighty two three talk You're at home
with Gary s Ellivator.
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removers that are tough on layers but safe for you
in the environment. Try Demand Smart Strip Advanced. It works
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(12:34):
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com Dumont Smart safe and proven, so do it yourself
with Demon. Well, here's an idea. Make your coming winter
(12:55):
fun and easier to deal with by picking up a
can or two of Blaster industrial strength silicon lubricn. It's
perfect for snowshovels and snowblowers to keep snow from sticking
and clogging. Use it on your car door and window
gaskets to keep them from sticking. And hey, sleds go
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this winter and grab some Blaster Industrial stringths silicon lubricin
(13:18):
at a home out of our hardware store near you,
and always use Blaster products and work it like a pro. Hey,
it's Gary Salvan for Roto Router plumbing and water cleanup,
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(13:39):
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Speaker 5 (14:00):
All right, back at it.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
We go, by the way on gas fireplaces, a lot
of times we don't even think about needing a professional service.
And I'd mentioned a couple of things, so I was
just looking at professional inspections. You know, what does it
entail and when you should really call a professional. So
I thought i'd quickly go through those. Number one we mentioned,
and that is the flame is yellowing. It's not a
(14:38):
really bright blue at the base of the burner. And
the pilot light you should have it inspected. Smell gas,
of course, soot on the logs that's heavy, or soot
on the glass, not just that white haze, but actually
black soot. And I said that too. It's probably a
bad oxygen mix maybe, and it's burning a little dirty,
(15:02):
so that would be a reason the pilot light keeps
going out. That's certainly a reason, and you should really
have it served, you know, serviced. If it's over three years,
you definitely should have it service. And what are they
going to check for you? Well, they're going to check
a couple of things. We'll just check the gas pressure.
That makes a big difference, burner alignment, safety sensors, carbon
(15:27):
monoxide levels, and the proper stacking of the logs of
the guests fireplace. All right, let's get back to the funds. Karen, welcome.
Speaker 6 (15:38):
Oh hey, this is about a Napoleon fireplace. Insert. So
we burned wood and we burned the sawdust bricks and
it's got a firesh We had a clean the chimney
and the whole thing last year. The first fire I
did this year went fine. The second one, the fire
(15:58):
wash did not operate. I don't know, and I don't
I never looked in there. I don't know if it's
a postal operate every time you do a fire, or
if it just wasn't hot enough.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Well, tell me what a firewash is. I have not
heard that term.
Speaker 6 (16:11):
Well, when you look inside the you know you've got
your it's lined with the fire bricks. On the very
top is a metal a flat metal thing with holes
all the way down both sides, and so when the
fire is operating, fire goes through that and it washes
it kind of like circulates the hole.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
And you were concerned about the firewash. For what reason?
Speaker 6 (16:37):
It didn't operate this last time. And I don't know
if it only operates when it's super hot. We've had
this for over ten years, and I don't know why
I didn't. Well, it's because I have to get down
on the floor to look in there.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Yeah it is, but it's just.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
There probably probably, I think that's where you're going to
fight your answer. I don't have that answer. Whether it
operates every time? Is it Does it operate mainly when
the when the sawdust pellets or log is burning, Yeah,
that's when it operates. My guess it is heat controlled.
(17:14):
My guess is it is he controlled. But I don't
know that for certain. So I would check your manual, though,
I really would read that to just be more familiar
with it. I hear you, I hear you.
Speaker 6 (17:27):
I know, all right, appreciate.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
It, all right, thank you much, thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Don't really know the answer to that. I've not really
heard that term, to be honest with you. I had
a pellet stove, which is to compress sawdust.
Speaker 7 (17:43):
Also.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I had that for years, probably for ten years. I
have a guest log set now and I've burned would
so I've done all three and I really love if
I had my choice between all of them. Back in
the day, I probably enjoyed the pellet stove more than
(18:05):
any Certainly the pure wood was best, but there's work
involved there, splitting the wood, getting the wood, stacking the wood,
bringing the wood in. The pellets were easy, self loading,
gave off great heat, didn't quite have the ambiance maybe
as you know logs burning, and didn't have the crackle
(18:26):
pop and all the nice sounds, but it was it
was very convenient and gave great warmth. The gas fireplaces,
it's nice, I would say, when we have a gas fireplace,
maybe maybe on that first couple cold nights, certainly during
the holidays when you have people over, they're very nice.
(18:50):
But the pellet stove kind of covers all your bases,
if you will. And I understand just from reading articles
woodstoves are all the rage again, so that's you know,
that's nice. I love a wood stove if I can.
(19:11):
It's just work. You just got to be prepared for
the work all right. As promised, Paul Abrams, Rotor Router
will be joining us. We're going to talk about some
fall maintenance you definitely should do around your home, winter maintenance,
and a very busy week the folks at will have
this week, especially after Thursday. We'll continue. You're at Home
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with Gary Sullivan.
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(22:23):
that time taking a look outside where I am. The
sun's out. If I looked at the last three days,
it was kind of cold and gloomy and very very gloomy,
and that reminds me all about plumbing. When it gets
cold and gloomy, that's when we need our help from
our friends at Rhota Ruter. And that's exactly who I have.
Paul Abrams. Paul, welcome again to that home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Good to see you.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Gary, Yes, sir, how you doing all right?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
You know you were talking about that gloominess and yeah,
I'm out of hibernation. I'm waiting for the sun to
come out and I'm going to finish all my winter rising.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Well, let's talk a little bit about that, because Rotor
Ruter what a legacy name. I know you guys are
throughout the United States and you know that name. Just
when we start talking about plumbing and pipes, that name
just pops in many of our heads. And on your website,
I've said this main time, paulse You've got a really
informative website that talks about what to do in the
(23:24):
fall and what to do in the winter. And let's
just go through some of those fall maintenance tips if
you don't mind.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yeah, sure, well you said it. I mean, we've got
so much information at rotoroter dot com. If you miss
something that Gary and I talk about today, go there
search winter Rising and you'll find all kinds of blogs
and videos and things like that. But yeah, if I
had to say, you know, the the number one thing
that causes problems is is frozen pipes, and it's usually
(23:55):
that outdoor faucet. So everybody listening go out there after
the US disconnect your outdoor hoses for sure, before you
cover them up with a foam insulation kit, wash them
for a few minutes and make sure they aren't dripping
because if they are, you might have a leak there,
and it's best to fix that before winter arrives.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
For sure. For sure. Yeah, I've been preaching that since
probably about mid September. You know, it's so important. I mean,
you know, there's two different types of faucets, and some
people think that frostproof faucet prevents everything. But if that
garden hose is attached to it and there's water in it,
it's just back flowing back into that pipe, and you're
(24:35):
going to have a problem for sure.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Oh yeah, you know, I've got those frostproof hose beds
in my home and I don't have the disconnects down
in the basement that I have to drain out. But
I know a lot of people do. People forget to
do that. And if you've got those, you know, go
shut that valve off, go outside and drain it out,
Let all the water get out of the system. Then
(25:00):
cover it with a with a foam insulation kit, and
you know, rest easy this winter without that extra worry
of sure of a frozen pipe bursting.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
You know, heaven doing you know, doing this show for
like thirty nine years, Paul I always equate winter time
with water heater questions. Now, the water heater for the
most parts inside a home, what what what do we
have to do if anything? Or is that just I know,
when it gets cold outside, it's tough on plumbing.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
It is, you know, it's the it's that elephant in
the room that we all want to ignore. We know
it does its job, makes a little rumble here and there,
but for the most part, it's awfully dependable, your water heater.
So you know, let's give it a little love. This
is a good time of year to go check it out. Uh,
you know, feel around the pipes going in the inlet,
the outlet, make sure there's no leaks up there. Look
(25:56):
around the base of it if you uh, if you
see any water around the floor that could have been
coming out of that That tube that runs down the
side of your water heater is connected to your temperature
and pressure relief valve. And if that thing's burping and
shooting water out, that means your heater is either getting
too hot or it's developing too much pressure in the tank.
(26:19):
And you want to deal with that before winter too.
But you know, it's a great time faul to drain down,
flush out the sediment that accumulates in the bottom of
your water heater, so that you'll find instructions at rotorator
dot com on how to do that. There are great
YouTube videos showing you how to do that. But you'll
save yourself a lot of trouble and extend the life
(26:40):
of that water heater by draining that that sediment out
of the bottom of it.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Every year, you know, we talk about that, and sometimes
you can just drain off like two or three gallons
and remember that water's hot, and you know it'll be
kind of you know, rusty colored or something along those lines,
that it'll be clear and you're probably good to go.
One caution I've used in the past. I don't know
how you feel about this if you're somebody that's listening
(27:05):
right now and not how water heater is, or the
water heater is twelve years old and you've never drained it.
Sometimes that sentiment's kind of holding the water heater together.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Yeah, you know, you're right, they say eleven years is
the life expectancy of a typical conventional water heater. Yeah,
if you've never done it before, you're right, Garrey, you
might be inviting some problems starting that ten or twelve
years into the life of your water heat. Oh boy,
if it broke, don't fix it at that point.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, it's great to start out doing that and keep
doing it, but boy, if you haven't done anything, it
might be a little more cautious. How about the some pump.
We've had some decent rains at least where we're at
testing them. If you haven't had a lot of rain,
probably a real good idea.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Yeah, and you know that's some pump. You know, if
you're getting heavy rain the fall, you can get down
and watch it. If there's water coming into the pit,
you want to see if that pump's turning itself on,
draining most of the water out of the pit, and
then turning itself off again without any trouble. And if
you don't have water in the pit right now, you
(28:17):
can run a garden host through the basement window works,
get a five gallon bucket and pour it in that
pit and make sure the pump's doing its thing. And
if it isn't, or if it's hot nothing, something's off
running too long. I've had one to do that before.
It's a good time to get it, get it taken
(28:37):
care of before winter because before you know it, we're
going to have the spring falls and there's going to
be a lot of ground water seeping in the basement
walls and floors. Oh yeah, and you want that some
pump to be working when it's time for it to.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Be working, No doubt about that, No doubt about that.
And before long it's also going to be hard freeze times.
And I know you started out talking about frozen pipes,
and gosh know, I can just imagine just how busy
you get on a day where it's ten below zero
and pipes are freezing. Give me some areas, or give
(29:13):
my listeners some areas where to inspect looking for pipes
that are exposed. If you've lived in a house for
thirty years, you probably know where it's vulnerable. But where
should we be looking for pipes that could freeze?
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yeah, you know, any pipes that are exposed to the
elements are a little colder with those outside walls. We
talked about the hose bitch, the ones that are connected
to hose bitch. Once you've taken care of those, if
you've got a crawl space, or if you've got pipes
running through your garage or your attic like that, in Florida.
(29:50):
You'll want to take a look at those and know
the difference between a water supply pipe, which is usually copper,
it might be pecks and could even be cast iron,
and a drain pipe, which is usually PVC or there's
usually a larger diameter pipe. That's the easy way to
(30:10):
know the difference, right. You know, if we've seen people
gary that they think they've insulated their pipes and look
at that cross base or looking under a pier and
beam home and find out they put pipe insulation around
a drain line, but they've neglected their water supply pipes.
And if drain lines are pitched properly, you usually don't
(30:31):
have to worry about those freezing o. There are always exceptions,
but it's the water supply pipes that there's copper lines
especially that will and see PVC in those things, you
want to make sure you've got good insulation on them.
If you've got a pipe that is especially vulnerable, you
can run thermostat controlled heat tape or heat cable that
(30:54):
will keep that pipe from freezing. I've got one right
now running on my backflowsalve outside right connected to my
sprinkler system. Because they're not going to be able to
get to me until for another week or so, and
we're already getting it dipping into freezing temperatures and that's
all it takes to do damage.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Yeah, that's a good point. And you know, I guess
those vulnerabilities are different in different areas too. You were
talking about Florida, and I'm not in Florida, so I
forget about that. They get freezing cold temperatures sometimes too,
and the protection on those pipes isn't quite as great
in the Midwest, where I am a little different ball game.
(31:32):
But you get some older housing, no insulation in walls,
and you know, block construction, and that copper pipes running
right along that block underneath the kitchen sink. That that's
vulnerability of its height.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Oh gosh. Yeah. And what you have to think about
is when it when a pipe freezes, you know, it
creates pressure. There's an ice block in there, and it
creates pressure, and that pressure's got to give somewhere. And
that's why they tell you, you know, you leave your
leave your least some thinks trickling during extreme cold periods
it leaves the pressure. So if you get something freezing,
(32:10):
that pressure is going to go somewhere, and often it's
out the side of the pipe wall. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
First, yeah, yeah, I was just gonna say, even if
you have one of those situations that I just described,
you know, leaving the cabinet doors opened, and you know,
if you don't have any foam sleeves around that copper,
that's something you can do today because we always love
to put that off.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
The box, doores and uh, you know, keep some of
that stuff ranging never know when you're gonna need it.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
I know folks call rotor ruter when they have plumbing
problems and also drain problems. Is there any drain maintenance
a homeowner can do anytime of the year. Yeah, things
are just running a little slow.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Sure when things are slow, Uh, you know, you think
about your house, which drains typically run slow. The shower
drain in my house runs slow from time to time,
and me and my wife has longer hair and boy,
but it seems like, you know, every six months or so,
I got a slow drain in there. So you can
get one of those little you know, the little plastic
(33:18):
drain widgets that you put down in there, even put
a hook in a metal coat hanger, push it down
in that pipe. Twist it around a few times. Go fishing,
I say, pull back, and you'll be surprised what you
catch down there. Do that two or three times until
nothing else is coming up. That takes care of it.
And then after you've cleaned it. There's a lot of
(33:39):
these bioins. I'm drain care products aren't caustic and and
and you know with the fumes and everything, they're natural products.
And those that you introduced good bacteria down into the pipes,
and it eats away a lot of that gunk. Doesn't
work instantly, but you leave it sitting there overnight, it
(33:59):
works meles sure.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
And we put so much of that gunk in there ourselves.
I mean, our toothpaste has gel in it, our shaving
cream is gelling it, our hairspray has geling it. Everything
we use in a bathroom has gel in it. That
makes inside of those pipes nice and tacky, and it
kind of collects things. And you're right, those enzyme products
do a pretty good, pretty good job. I've used one
(34:22):
called Drainbow. Just put the plug in the vanity bowl
and put some warm water in there and pour some
of the drain bow in there. Let's sit about ten
minutes it activates it and pull the plug and let's
sit over.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yes, great products. You know this week of always you
mentioned at the top, we're coming into Thanksgiving and plumbers
called brown Friday. It's the busiest day of the year
for Roto Rooter and most plumbing companies in most markets
because drains just get overloaded. You get a house full
of guests and they're taking extra showers, they're they're flushing
(34:59):
the toilet more often, right, run in the disposal, and
making a big meal in the kitchen. All those things
come together. It's a perfect storm for your drain system.
And that's why so many drains back up on Thanksgiving
and the Friday after.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
So if I have twenty potatoes to appeel on Thursday,
I don't take all the scraps and shut them down
the disposal.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
It happens every year and every time.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
All right, Well, we've been preaching a little bit of
that too. One thing I will say, and I think
it was in I don't know, one of our conversations,
or it was in one year commercials or something, but
I've really latched onto this, and that is if you
are not comfortable doing plumbing, and we all got to
(35:49):
know where our strengths or you don't have the time
to do it, to create kind of an ongoing list,
almost like a shopping list. You know, vanity sink, slow drip,
toilet flushes itself. In other words, when you call rotor
Ruter if you have multiple small jobs, very very efficient
(36:12):
at getting that taken care of and save yourself a
little money at the same time.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Yeah, create a punch list because you get second job discount,
third job discount, fourth job discount. So you know, rather
than pay you know, oh, let's just have him deal
with this one issue. It actually saves you money. Sure
while at plumber's in your house to have ving knock
got any of the problems that you that you're worried about,
(36:38):
that you're dealing with it, it's a lot less expensive
in the long run.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Very good, Paul, thanks for joining us today. A happy Thanksgiving.
I hope you're not too busy Friday. And again, folks,
that website is rotoreruter dot com. You can get a
lot of good information. Schedule a visit with Rotor Ruter
to your home if you'd like. And Paul, thanks again.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
My pleasure, Gary, Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Thank you take care. All right, very good, Thank you
very much, Paul. I enjoy the conversation we have throughout
the years, and they do a great, great job for you.
Get a lot of compliments about the folks at Rotor Router.
All right, your call's next, so grab a line. They're
wide open right now. It's eight hundred eight two three
eight two five to five. You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (37:28):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
Thank you. Thanks.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
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back at it we go rotoruter dot com. Easy website
to remember when it pass that along once again, and
then we'll get to the calls here and Bill welcome, Hi.
Speaker 7 (40:22):
Thank you, Yes, sir, Hey, I've got a question about
roof Max. That product. Does that work? It's you know,
it talks about extending your roof for years and I
haven't seen I don't think it's been around for fifteen years.
How do I know if that really works?
Speaker 1 (40:39):
I guess you don't take on it. Yeah, well, first
of all, when you say extend your roof for years,
it does. But it's in steps and does it work? Yes?
Does it work on all roofs? They have to determine
how far gone, the roof is and so the way
(41:00):
what was invented was there's not as much asphalt and
shingles as there used to be. Okay, the shingles are smaller,
they're more brittle, and if you got a thirty year roof,
my thirty year roof lasted twenty three years. And if
at about year eighteen, I would have called roof Max.
(41:20):
And back then I don't think roof Max was in business.
But they've been out there now for about I don't
I really don't know, but I'm gonna guess around eight years.
And what they'll do is they'll determine this roof still
got it. It's definitely where and it's lost some of
its protection from the sun. That's the granular protection which
(41:45):
keeps the shingle away from the UV rays of the sun,
which really breaks down, dries out the shingle, makes it brittle.
So they created a product where you spray this on
and it will rejuvenate to shingle and it will almost
like a glue, hold down the existing grains of protection
(42:10):
on the shingle and that'll give you about another five
years worth of life.
Speaker 8 (42:16):
And they've got a ten year old roof and I
plucked in a lot of debris in the first ten
years in my gutter, and I think that's pretty normal.
Speaker 7 (42:28):
However, I was thinking, I don't want to wait too long.
Maybe ten years is too soon.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Yeah, well it might be. I wouldn't know until they
inspected or I inspected it, but they would take a
look at it. Is it a thirty year shingle guarantee
or what is it?
Speaker 7 (42:43):
No, no, I'm sure it's a builder special. It's probably
a twenty twenty year.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
Well, then ten years probably wouldn't be too much. I mean,
nobody really gets the warranty out. That's why now they're
playing games calling a limited lifetime warranty. Well, what's that mean?
I don't know. So Bill, I'll tell you this. It
will work. It's not for everybody, and I always say that,
but it's an option, all right. So if if you're
(43:08):
showing signs aware and you want to get to that warranty,
they will come out and say, yeah, yeah, we can
save this, and it's five years at about twenty five
percent of the cost of a new roof. At the
end of five years, you can do another five years.
You can do it three times. So by the time
(43:31):
you have it applied, you're welcome.
Speaker 7 (43:34):
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
You bet take care. By the time you have it
applied three times, you've got about eighty percent of the
price of a roof covered. So if you know you're
just gonna be there a couple of years, maybe that's
something you want to do. My check with your insurance
company too, to make sure they're going to cover that
as a roof. Still, you know, cover that from an
(43:56):
insurance standpoint. Getting some different information on that all right,
Easy Breed Ventilation system. You hear me talk about it
all the time. It creates air exchanges from the lowest
level of the home, removes the most of the polluted air,
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(44:17):
right now you can get two hundred and fifty dollars
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It's easy Breathe. I'll also give you two humidistats so
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Breathed dot Com. We'll continue with your calls. Ron You'll
be a first year at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (44:40):
Home Improvement one oh one with Gary Sullivan every weekend.
Classes began at one eight hundred and eighty two three
Top you are at home with Gary Sullivan
Speaker 5 (45:00):
The publica
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