December 13, 2025 • 44 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:30):
All right, welcome aboard. You're at home with Garry Sullivan
and thanks to Beth Harper for joining us. A lot
of good information there, and obviously we need to have
her on for like eight hours. I think.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
If you can do it that long, Gary, let's do
it well.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
She's got a lot to say and a lot of
great information. But if you take a you know, a way,
one thing at least what I take away is you
know you're betting on coverage, right, and a lot of
the coverages for an incident. It's not maintenance. And I
know that has been evolving and it's very true. Not
(01:10):
saying it's right or wrong, that's just what it's going
to pay. So that's kind of the facts and kind
of where we are. So hopefully you got that kind
of that idea along the same way, we're responsible for
the maintenance in our homes and that's what we talk
about every weekend.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
And that podcast will be up in a bit, give
it about a half an hour.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Very good ocasions mist it. That's a good info. So
I want to circle back just for a minute and
talk a little bit about the frozen pipe. That one
still troubles me. With the fellow that I was talking to,
because we really kind of ran, you know, out of
time to really complete that answer. But I do want
to say, and we never got to this point, is
(01:51):
you know, shutting the water off. I'm assuming he did,
but I didn't ask that question shutting the water off
that went to that farac it because it's not functioning,
so we don't want it to be under pressure in
case that pipe burst. Usually, if it's an old garden faucet,
(02:12):
usually inside that wall maybe goes in and then it
goes down into a basement or cross space or something.
There's another valve that controls the water flow to that
outdoor in the garage faucet. Shut that off, take that
little cap off, and that'll bleed the water out of
the line you just shut off. Nothing's going to freeze anymore,
(02:35):
all right. But if the water in there is frozen,
it's not going to bleed out right, And the only
way you're going to thaw it is to And I'm
not saying it couldn't be a malfunction with the faucit either.
I'm just we're going with the assumption of that it's
frozen and the only way, the only way to thaw
(02:57):
that is to get get warmth to it. Now you
can let mother nature start providing a warmth. You can
see what the temperature is in that garage. Maybe it'll
thall itself. If you got the water shut off that
that that's fine. I mean, you're not gonna have a
bursted pipe. That's good. If you want to get warmth,
(03:20):
cut in dry walls, cheap dry walls, easily repaired. Cut
that cut an opening above that fossil, Get a hair
dryer in there and start warming that up and see
if you can fall that leave that. You know, it
sounded like he couldn't even open up that valve so
(03:42):
and he put heat on that valve and he wasn't
getting anywhere on that. So I kind of think maybe
that valve and that stem is just jammed. Maybe a
little lubricant. So I'll leave that alone. But for falling purposes,
mother Nature's going to do it. Or you've got to
(04:02):
get heat in there, whether it's you know, a hair dryer,
whether it's a heat gun on low, something along nose lines,
just to fall that. You don't ever ever want to
use an open flame. Okay, I hear people talk about
that all the time, but We don't ever want to
do that. First of all, it's too hot, and if
(04:23):
that's water in there, and it will make your problem worse, guaranteed.
All right, eight hundred eight two three eight two five five.
That's our phone number. Let's go to Rick Rick.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Welcome, Hi Gary, thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
You're welcome.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
I was listening on the podcast and you were talking
about letting water through the basement to come in and
take care of it that way.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
I was talking about water vapory, water vapor, right, water vapor,
so mean we're not supposed using like drydock anymore.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Well, it depends, It really does depend that. There's been
a lot of discussion about that. The thing is with
the dry lock is if you had a block foundation
and you had a big issue with water where it
was kind of just weeping through the block, and you
(05:24):
put dry lock on it, you will stop the leaking water.
But then the question, the question, quite honestly, then becomes
what happens if there's so much pressure that the dry
lock can't hold it back, then your dry lock will
begin to pee in that peel in that block could crack.
(05:46):
So for water vapor, you're fine, You're fine. You're stopping
that before it even enters the inside of the home.
In other words, you're not going to have a mold
problem that water vapor in there, okay, and along with
radon vapor, it's sealing it in there.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
But if you.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Try to keep that stuff out by using a vapor barrier,
Let's say we have fiberglass insulation three and a half
inches thick. We got a vapor barrier, and it's allowing
that water to come through the fiberglass and it HiT's
plastic or something along those lines. Then that water, that moisture,
(06:34):
that water vapor is then trapped in that wall. That's
a different ballgame, then trapped inside a block foundation. That
makes sense, That makes sense, okay.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Yeah, So what we did is we pulled down some old,
old paneling. This was a nineteen fifties house in the basement,
and we looked at the black and it's really ugly
and it's got some paint on it and sugly and
looked like water had come through, or at least vapor
had come through and got on the back of the panel.
Then we you know, we waited six months a year,
(07:12):
you know, we got all the gutters done and corrected
and the everything moving away from the house and it
doesn't seem like there's any dampness coming through. Okay, so
we were like, should we should we hit it with
dry dock and steal everything in or you know, and
then then you then I heard your podcast.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Yeah, yeah, it's I don't know it is. It's it's confusing,
but I think it's really I would use the dry
lock for water vapor in sealing it out, but if
I had water that was literally weeping through the block,
I think you might feel good by putting dry lock
(07:54):
on there. But the problem isn't they lock. The problem
is what you corrected. You changed out the guttering, you
improved the drainage, and then it's good to have the
dry lock because you're stopping the water vapor which is
in the soil. I mean, you know, it's you know,
but if you got water running through that wall, that's
(08:18):
that's not a long term fix that's going to make
you feel good for a while. Eventually a dry lock
with enough pressure is gonna peel and you're gonna have
the problem because the problems outside. Right, So I always
called dry lock it's kind of an insurance policy. Okay,
it's kind of an insurance pole if you want to
minimize humidity from getting into the home right on, from
(08:40):
getting into the home, water vapor basically from getting in
the home. Used the dry lock. But if you've got
water that's flowing, you got a bigger problem.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Yeah, you get fixed the water right exactly or inside
end ball? Right? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:58):
So could I ask one other question?
Speaker 7 (09:00):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (09:02):
We I bought a house that has a inline duck
system that's working like as an air exchanger, and it's
got like uh uh, I don't know. It's it's down
to the floor and it's got a duct and you
can put it from very little air changing to a
(09:22):
jet propelled change. Is this still okay? Is you know
it's it's basically an inline duck going to an outside source,
you know, outside the house.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Okay. So it's it's allowing air to come in that duck.
It's outside.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
No, it's it's taking the air from the basement, similar
to one of your your sponsors, from the floor and
it's it's like a four inch duck that's that can
take air out.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
It's is there some pulling that air out? Is there
a fan or something?
Speaker 4 (10:04):
Yeah, there's an inline motor okay, line duck like where
you would take like where your ductwork was working, needed
to work extra. It's an inline motor, okay. It takes
that air out of the basement okay, and is going
to a four ine outside duct. And I was just
a little bit concerned about that.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Just well, uh yeah, yeah, I would. I guess I
can't answer that without knowing the cfms, how much cubic
feet admitted the air is moving. But I like the
whole idea rick, and it is kind of along the
same concept that an easy breathe is working. It's a
(10:46):
contained unit, but it is a very slow CFM where
you're not even going to in some cases, I can't
even hear mine. But Doug Garnet, I know it works
because I got you know, like everybody's basement. You know,
you have higher humidity in the summertime, and I put
(11:09):
it on a very lower speed in the winter time,
and I really watch it and measure its effectiveness by
control of the humidity and not getting it too dry,
which is also covering all the other aspects that we
talk about. So you know, I would put a you know,
a gauge down there and just monitor my humidity. But
I think overall, having a very slow exchange of air
(11:34):
from the basement out and letting the air on the
other floor above it filter down, it would be effective.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Okay, all right, yeah, I just you know, I didn't
know if you know that. I'm sure that wasn't the
idea of that motor, but I was like, so that's
why I had the concern.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
Put it that way.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
Okay, okay, all right, thank you very much, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
You're holiday you too, Thank you very much. All right,
let's take a break. We'll come back and get some
more questions answered. Tod eight one hundred at eight two
three eight two five five. You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
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All right, back at it, we go at Home with
(14:53):
Garysalvent taking your calls regarding well little winter weather protecting
our homes, that's for sure. I've got plenty of tips
of just a reminder if you missed the conversation with
Beth Harper that is up on the podcast It's at
Home with Gary Salvin. Danny's got it labeled beautifully and
a lot of good information if you want to know.
(15:15):
And I like to say this because I think it's
very true. It's the kind of redefining homeowner's insurance not
by the broker, but by the insurance companies and a
good broker, it's going to make you aware of it.
That's what I've learned. I started learning it with Beth,
and then I started learning it as we started. It
(15:40):
started out of really, just like she said, don't do it. Started,
how do we lower our rates for homeowners insurance? Well,
I think we didn't really lower them, but we sure
got educated to what we wanted and what was being
(16:00):
covered versus what we thought was being covered. I know
that sounds weird, but you know, everybody's got their fancy commercials,
and a broker, quite honestly can look at a lot
of different things for you or you know, just somebody
working for you. That's what I kind of always pick
out of it. So we appreciate her time. All right,
(16:22):
let's get to Bob. Bob Welcome, Hey, Gary, good show,
Thank you, sir.
Speaker 6 (16:29):
I'm a mayor here in Fairfield, Pennsylvania, and I wanted
to let you know that I installed a roof twenty
five years ago, a metal roof and a brick out
nation house and I installed two hot air furnaces train
one in the attic and one in the basement six
years ago.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Very nice.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
Now, my question is, in the attic when it's thirty
degrees outside, it's running about forty degrees in the attic.
I did install a circulation system in the attic that
he did partially. And my question is, should I try
to insulate the metal roof from the inside, you know,
with these half inch panels or whatever?
Speaker 4 (17:09):
And what do you question?
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Yeah, what did you say the inside temperature of.
Speaker 6 (17:12):
That attic was forty degrees?
Speaker 1 (17:15):
No, I don't think so. I'm thinking to my attic.
To be honest with you, I would say, and I
don't know. I haven't been up there with a thermometer,
but I'm going to guess it's a you know, even
on a day like this where it's a little chili,
it's it's forty degrees plus.
Speaker 6 (17:33):
I mean, there's no sense in trying to pick up
five or ten degrees by insulating the attic.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
No, you should really think, I would say, if we're
talking about you know, ice dams and things like that,
you're really trying to minimize the heat escaping into the act.
In other words, the base of the floor. Insulating just
minimizes and heat risees. It just keeps that from getting
(18:00):
warmer in the wintertime.
Speaker 6 (18:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Okay, So there's two concepts which you're probably a where
a Bob. It's it's whole house encapsulation, which isn't used
much in Pennsylvania, mainly in the southeast. Or it's the
you know, just insulate and ventilate. And it sounds kind
of that's what you're working on.
Speaker 6 (18:22):
Now. This house was built in eighteen forty.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Yeah, I figured it was an older one when you
said you hit a system that was moving that air around.
Speaker 6 (18:32):
Now, of course, you cannot put a d humidifier or
a humidifier I guess, yeah, in the attic because.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
It would freeze right because of the trees or freeze.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
No, I'm saying the water would freeze in the d humidifier.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Yeah, in the very very cold part of the day,
unless you did the whole house encapsulation.
Speaker 6 (18:52):
Got you, Okay, Now the second part is the second
furnace is in the basement.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I'll tell you what, Bob. Will hold that thought because
I'm gonna have to take a break in about ten seconds.
Hold that thought. We'll take that break, we'll come back
and get to your second question. All right, you can
join us. It's eight hundred eighty two three eight two
five five. You're at home with Garry Sullivan's.
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at home with garri Zelda's taking your calls, were getting
your home projects and where we're.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
Chatting with Bob.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
We talked about one issue, now onto the next, Bob, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
Thanks carry. The second is whether or not I have
a fan installed in the basement. The main heating system
is on the ceiling of the basement and it's a
train system. It's hot air, and of course it hates
the basic house. However, there was an addition built about
six hundred square feet going to the west side of
the building, and it has the kitchen in there and
(22:47):
two bathrooms. And my question is do you think a
fan in a space about oh maybe three meters square
It's hard to crawl back there to see if the
pipes are insulated. Does that do any good? Over six
hundred square feet.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Hard to tell? Really, what kind of furnace. Is it or.
Speaker 6 (23:07):
It's a train hot air furnace.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
So what's it run on? Is it electric or is
it propane? Or natural gas?
Speaker 6 (23:15):
Gas?
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Natural gas, natural gas? And there's so the unit is
in the basement and there's a pipe that's going up
to the kitchen area, is it or you're getting that.
Speaker 6 (23:31):
In the back of the old building built in eighteen forty,
there's a space like a door, let's say a small door,
and all the pipes run through that space, including the
air ducting going to heat the addition, so that crawl
space is too small for me to get into, and
I can't see if those pipes are insulated themselves. So
(23:52):
I've always just installed a fan in the hole to
try to blow hot air, not very hot air, but
hot air into the crawl space.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Okay, So here's a theory to think of since you
can see it and I can't. But I get what
you're trying to do. Since you can't tell if they're insulaated.
You just want to add heat into that crawl space
fan a fan blowing air into an area that's not
taking air out. It's not going to do much, okay,
(24:25):
because Mother nature won't allow for air to compress. So
that's the whole thing when you're talking like an easy
breed that I talk about, it's pulling air out in
a very very low CFM, and then it's pulling air
down from the upstairs. In your case, if you're going
(24:46):
to blow warm air in, just having a cross space
open would be doing pretty much the same thing as
a fan would be doing. You would have to be
pulling air out of that cross space to pull that
air in.
Speaker 6 (25:02):
Yeah, the only air moving out of that crawl space
would be around the fan, which is a box fan,
around the space where it's blowing in, around the edge
is blowing out. I assume the compressed air.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Well, you could try it. I mean I would almost
see the air going out of the cross space on
the other side of the cross space, and then the
air from the basement blowing into that.
Speaker 6 (25:24):
I know what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yeah, but you can try it. I see if it helps,
you know. That's but I gotta kind of think not
without pulling the air out.
Speaker 6 (25:38):
Okay, Well I've done it for X years, never had
the pipes freeze. So we had one four degree winner
last year.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Yeah, well, you got a good record going.
Speaker 6 (25:49):
We keep trying Garry. You're doing a good job.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Thanks a lot, Thanks, Bob, appreciate it. Take care all right.
By the way, our phone number if you'd like to
get on board chat a little bit about home projects
maintenance repair. It's eight hundred eight two three eight two
five five and we got Dwight. Dwight welcome.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
Hello.
Speaker 8 (26:12):
I live in Arkansas and I have a problem. We
have a problem, of course, are people that put a
roof on our house. Uh didn't really do what they
should probably should have done in the valleys, you know,
to prevent the ice a freezing and creating it down
(26:34):
and leaking and backing up and leaking into the house.
And I was just wondering if there was any way
that Feller could at his president time cha Ker correct
that now.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Not until that ice is removed. I mean, has this
been an always problem, Dwight? I mean, do you usually
always had a probably a bad winter or something along
those lines.
Speaker 8 (27:02):
Well, uh, uh, actually, fur as that goes, Uh, it's
been a few years since we really had that problem.
You know, it has done it since it was a
house that we bought, uh a few years ago and everything,
and uh, the thing about it is you know it
(27:23):
has done it one time. At one time we had
a bad winter and you know, it had some snow
and ice and everything, and of course that one valley
is in the area where they don't didn't get a
whole lot of sun, don't get a whole lot of sun,
and it stays there for a while and everything. The
ice will melt maybe a little bit up on top
of up up the valley some and the water will
(27:47):
run down and it'll hit that ice. And when it
hits that ice, when it just backs up and it
runs out of the roof and leaps right.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
So you know, I've got a similar They got a
similar situation at my house, though i haven't had the issue. Okay,
I've got a pretty steep valley between a roof and
another part of the structure of the house, and of
course we have some good step flashing going up the
side of the house to prevent that, and then we
have a kind of it's called a saddle where it's
(28:15):
a flashing it's a metal rather than you know, shingles,
which the snow does stay there a while, but it doesn't.
I've not had any issues with with the water backing
up and getting in the house, so you know, until
we remove that ice and snow in there, there would
(28:40):
be some things we could do then. First of all,
if you do have a saddle in there, a metal saddle,
we might want to even inspect that to make sure
that is properly installed and you know, it's not compromised.
We could also possibly go above that saddle and underneath
(29:03):
the shingling, we could install like an ice guard, which
is a rubber roof below a shingled roof. Basically that's
what that is. Or there's also some roof and gutter
cables where it creates a temperature of around thirty eight
(29:23):
degrees in that saddle or along that flashing or gutters,
which would melt it and keep it from freezing because
it's in a really shaded area now well, having its
curious to.
Speaker 8 (29:36):
Know whether or not that there was some kind of
sailor a clear sailor that you can spray on top
of the on top of the shingles, you know, in
that gutter area in that valley area to keep it
from water from leaking through.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
It, because it's probably yeah, it's probably or it's not
leaking from the top of the shingle it's getting underneath
the shingle, and it's my guess is it's leaking between
the bottom side of the shingle and the tar paper.
That's where water is entering.
Speaker 8 (30:14):
See, of course it's just creating a dam and the
water is running back underneath the angle or right, So.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
We have to remove we have to remove the dam.
That's the bottom line. And then we've got to prevent
that dam from forming. And that's the issue because it's
steep and it's it's shaded, and the snow naturally collects
there and then the warmth of that house is warming
(30:40):
underneath where that dam is, and it starts melting and
there's nowhere for that water to go and actually migrates
up the roof, underneath the shingles and into the house.
Speaker 8 (30:52):
Yeah. Better, of course, I'm just talking. He had it.
But uh, the had to put metal you know, of
a flash and you know, underneath the shingles, you know,
and put them under there, or that.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
It wouldn't well, you can put an ice guard underneath there.
In the meantime, you might just get some magnesium chloride.
It's not salt, it's not you know, anything with salt
and melt that I've told people many, many times, and
it's very effective. If you get like paintyhose legs, put
(31:31):
magnesium or chloride, magnesium chloride, thank you Gary in those time,
and then put the you know it's it's it will
it will stretch and you just lay that on the
snow dam. It'll take some time, but it will melt it. Yeah,
and keeping that clear, either by that or by a
(31:53):
snow rake or by you know, a heat. You're not
going to be able to put those cables up there
and create enough heat to create melt. So you know,
it's almost got to be melt through magnesium chloride or
through a snow rake.
Speaker 8 (32:09):
Well, I just you know, I just wondered if they
would probably anything, you know, like I said, you know
when of course, whenever it is dry, you know, and
everything when the when the valley is dry without the
with ali norster're on it, you know, they maybe some
kind of saiver of athor could spray on that and
keep it from the lencoling.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
I'm gonna guess not again finding exactly how that's getting
in the house is going to be hard, But my
guess is you can shingle. You could seal all the
shingles you want, but I don't think that's where the
problem is. I think it's getting underneath the shingle or
you have some flashing issues. Yeah, all right, well, thank
(32:51):
you much for the call, appreciate it and bread you'll
be next. We'll take a break and if you'd like
to join us, we'd certainly love to heave you. It's
eight hundred eight two three eight two five five plenty
of time to go, so grab a line. You're at
home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at Home with Garysullivan.
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back at it. We go about twelve minutes before the
(35:44):
top of the air, and of course we're talking home improvement.
If you'd like to join us, do so again. If
you missed our conversation with Beth Harper and we were
talking about insurance, you can pick that up on the podcast.
Like good information there. All right, let's go to brad Bread. Welcome,
Hi Gary, how are you?
Speaker 8 (36:03):
I have.
Speaker 7 (36:05):
Good I have a dilemma with a shower, and I
was just interested in trying to collect some advice on
the best method of repair. We have a shower that
an upstairs shower that's leaking, uh. And it's a tile shower.
It's leaking onto the ceiling blow uh in the kitchen.
(36:26):
And I think we've determined that the grout uh intersection
of the floor in the wall is not it's it's degradated,
it's it's it's not in the greatest shape. So I'm
interested in learning the best method of repairing that i've
I've cleaned. I'm trying to clean all the ground out
and I was initially going to use a uh a
(36:49):
calk color match calk for the grout to go in.
But in cleaning this out, it's a very large there's
it's not level. You know, there's gaps that are quarter
inch on one end and none at the other, that
type of thing. So what's the best method of repair?
I was going to buy a grout and regrout it
and then try to go over that with some type
(37:12):
of silicone calk, and I don't know that's the best way.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Well, you can regrout you were okay there, but the
silicon cock on top of that is not going to
look good and it's really not going to work. If
you were I'd say, well, the first thing I'd like
to do is slow you down just a second, and
that is are we absolutely positive that's where it's leaking,
(37:39):
Because shower leaks can be really tricky. You know, there's
also the top of that ceramic tile wall, which is
that can be a problem. Also around the shower handles
where the excussion plates are. If those aren't caught. Sometimes
you shower water, water bounces off, rolls down the wall,
(38:01):
gets behind it, that drips down and causes a leak.
There's numerous other places. But if if you're positive that's
where it is, that's fine, then well we're not.
Speaker 7 (38:13):
We're not positive, but it's it's likely that it's there.
I don't think it had a membrane. I don't know
when it was built. We just bought the house, and
I don't think there's a membrane in it. And you know,
so we're kind of guessing at this point, and the
most likely this is the most likely problem because it
(38:35):
doesn't leak that much until you plug the drain up
and then it pours.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
Okay. I was just getting ready to say, do a
water test in that area, and you know, if you're
getting a leaked in, that's about as positive as you're
going to get. I mean, still likelihood. You know it
could be somewhere else, but that that kind of really helps.
So I think if you were gonna use I think
(39:00):
you have the two options. You can get a little
grout saw. You can cut all that grouting out. You
can get a grout mix and regrout that area all possible.
Unsealed grout has a a water penetration rate of about
three percent. A sealed grout has a water penetration of
(39:24):
about one percent, which means you're you're not gonna have
an issue. So that would be option one. Okay, putting
sealing silicone over, that's it's you're not gonna be happy.
The other option is cut the cut the grouting out
and then come back with uh, you know, you can
(39:46):
use your silicone then without doing the grout. I would
rather you use like a a siliconized latex. That makes
one called quick seal. You probably seen the hardware store
a thousand times. It's much easier to apply. It's water soluble,
(40:07):
so if you get down to a point where you
just can't put it into that crevice anymore, you can
literally take a wet cloth and wipe it away. So
I think those are your two options, and I think
they start and stop with both of them.
Speaker 7 (40:26):
Okay, all right, So you're so you're thinking a quick seal,
and I guess they probably have that color matched.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Well it you know it. You might get a couple
of colors. You're not going to get an array of
colors like you're going to get with grouding. Okay, so
you're gonna get a you know, if you've got a
chocolate brown, you're probably gonna be putting in a wide
or a beige caking. If you're grouting it and you've
got chocolate brown grouting, you can probably put in chocolate.
(41:00):
I'm grouting.
Speaker 7 (41:02):
So you think the most likely, the most likely, uh
way to fix this would be not not to replace
the grout, but just to go back in one hundred
percent with the DAP quick seal.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Yeah. I think I would just get as much of
that groud out of there as you possibly can and
then put in a beat of grouting from.
Speaker 7 (41:22):
There, a beat of calking from there.
Speaker 5 (41:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
So once you once you, once you get the grouting out,
you'll see the crevice. Then I want you to take
some rubbing alcohol and a Q tip all right, and
really work that crevice with the rubbing alcohol and the
Q tip out of work as a cleaner and also
a drying agent, and then let it drive for you know,
(41:51):
a half hour or so and then come back with
you know, your quick seal and just put a beat
of cacking in there. Thank you very much, all right, Brat,
thanks good luck. I know that's challenging, and it's just
you know, if the grounding does give you the ability
(42:12):
to make it look like the rest of the wall,
it is never you know, water tight, water proof if
you will, there's always some absorption, but the minimal absorption
on the grout is the grout is going to get damp,
there's not going to be enough for water to get
behind it. You'll probably have a better chance of matching it.
(42:34):
And uh. The only trouble with the grout too, is
there's different types of grout there sanded and there's non
sandy grout. So the sandy grout would be more for
wider grout lines. And when you get down to that
sliver where you can hardly slip a piece of paper
in there, that that that's grouts, that sandy grout's not
(42:56):
gonna work. It's gonna be too coarse. So then you'd
have to switch to you know, you know, then you'd
have to switch to a non sandy grout. And and
by the time you do that. You just better off
clean it out the best. You can put a good
beat of cocking in there. And the silicone is just
very difficult to it's it's not it's not nimble. I
(43:18):
mean it's hard to apply. Whereas the acrylic, silk and
iceed cocking it's more nimble. It can do smaller lines.
It could even be painted if you were really finicky
where you want to get an artist rush in there
and painted. So that's another nurse. All right. We got
plenty of time to take your calls. If you'd like
to grab a line, do so. It's eight hundred eight
(43:41):
two three eight two five y five. We'll continue with
your calls. You're at home with Garry Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
It's the weekend and you have fixed questions. Give Gary
a call at what eight hundred eighty two three talk.
This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
All right, welcome aboard. You're at home with Garry Sullivan
and thanks to Beth Harper for joining us. A lot
of good information there, and obviously we need to have
her on for like eight hours. I think.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
If you can do it that long, Gary, let's do
it well.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
She's got a lot to say and a lot of
great information. But if you take a you know, a way,
one thing at least what I take away is you
know you're betting on coverage, right, and a lot of
the coverages for an incident. It's not maintenance. And I
know that has been evolving and it's very true. Not
(01:10):
saying it's right or wrong, that's just what it's going
to pay. So that's kind of the facts and kind
of where we are. So hopefully you got that kind
of that idea along the same way, we're responsible for
the maintenance in our homes and that's what we talk
about every weekend.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
And that podcast will be up in a bit, give
it about a half an hour.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Very good ocasions mist it. That's a good info. So
I want to circle back just for a minute and
talk a little bit about the frozen pipe. That one
still troubles me. With the fellow that I was talking to,
because we really kind of ran, you know, out of
time to really complete that answer. But I do want
to say, and we never got to this point, is
(01:51):
you know, shutting the water off. I'm assuming he did,
but I didn't ask that question shutting the water off
that went to that farac it because it's not functioning,
so we don't want it to be under pressure in
case that pipe burst. Usually, if it's an old garden faucet,
(02:12):
usually inside that wall maybe goes in and then it
goes down into a basement or cross space or something.
There's another valve that controls the water flow to that
outdoor in the garage faucet. Shut that off, take that
little cap off, and that'll bleed the water out of
the line you just shut off. Nothing's going to freeze anymore,
(02:35):
all right. But if the water in there is frozen,
it's not going to bleed out right, And the only
way you're going to thaw it is to And I'm
not saying it couldn't be a malfunction with the faucit either.
I'm just we're going with the assumption of that it's
frozen and the only way, the only way to thaw
(02:57):
that is to get get warmth to it. Now you
can let mother nature start providing a warmth. You can
see what the temperature is in that garage. Maybe it'll
thall itself. If you got the water shut off that
that that's fine. I mean, you're not gonna have a
bursted pipe. That's good. If you want to get warmth,
(03:20):
cut in dry walls, cheap dry walls, easily repaired. Cut
that cut an opening above that fossil, Get a hair
dryer in there and start warming that up and see
if you can fall that leave that. You know, it
sounded like he couldn't even open up that valve so
(03:42):
and he put heat on that valve and he wasn't
getting anywhere on that. So I kind of think maybe
that valve and that stem is just jammed. Maybe a
little lubricant. So I'll leave that alone. But for falling purposes,
mother Nature's going to do it. Or you've got to
(04:02):
get heat in there, whether it's you know, a hair dryer,
whether it's a heat gun on low, something along nose lines,
just to fall that. You don't ever ever want to
use an open flame. Okay, I hear people talk about
that all the time, but We don't ever want to
do that. First of all, it's too hot, and if
(04:23):
that's water in there, and it will make your problem worse, guaranteed.
All right, eight hundred eight two three eight two five five.
That's our phone number. Let's go to Rick Rick.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Welcome, Hi Gary, thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
You're welcome.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
I was listening on the podcast and you were talking
about letting water through the basement to come in and
take care of it that way.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
I was talking about water vapory, water vapor, right, water vapor,
so mean we're not supposed using like drydock anymore.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Well, it depends, It really does depend that. There's been
a lot of discussion about that. The thing is with
the dry lock is if you had a block foundation
and you had a big issue with water where it
was kind of just weeping through the block, and you
(05:24):
put dry lock on it, you will stop the leaking water.
But then the question, the question, quite honestly, then becomes
what happens if there's so much pressure that the dry
lock can't hold it back, then your dry lock will
begin to pee in that peel in that block could crack.
(05:46):
So for water vapor, you're fine, You're fine. You're stopping
that before it even enters the inside of the home.
In other words, you're not going to have a mold
problem that water vapor in there, okay, and along with
radon vapor, it's sealing it in there.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
But if you.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Try to keep that stuff out by using a vapor barrier,
Let's say we have fiberglass insulation three and a half
inches thick. We got a vapor barrier, and it's allowing
that water to come through the fiberglass and it HiT's
plastic or something along those lines. Then that water, that moisture,
(06:34):
that water vapor is then trapped in that wall. That's
a different ballgame, then trapped inside a block foundation. That
makes sense, That makes sense, okay.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Yeah, So what we did is we pulled down some old,
old paneling. This was a nineteen fifties house in the basement,
and we looked at the black and it's really ugly
and it's got some paint on it and sugly and
looked like water had come through, or at least vapor
had come through and got on the back of the panel.
Then we you know, we waited six months a year,
(07:12):
you know, we got all the gutters done and corrected
and the everything moving away from the house and it
doesn't seem like there's any dampness coming through. Okay, so
we were like, should we should we hit it with
dry dock and steal everything in or you know, and
then then you then I heard your podcast.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Yeah, yeah, it's I don't know it is. It's it's confusing,
but I think it's really I would use the dry
lock for water vapor in sealing it out, but if
I had water that was literally weeping through the block,
I think you might feel good by putting dry lock
(07:54):
on there. But the problem isn't they lock. The problem
is what you corrected. You changed out the guttering, you
improved the drainage, and then it's good to have the
dry lock because you're stopping the water vapor which is
in the soil. I mean, you know, it's you know,
but if you got water running through that wall, that's
(08:18):
that's not a long term fix that's going to make
you feel good for a while. Eventually a dry lock
with enough pressure is gonna peel and you're gonna have
the problem because the problems outside. Right, So I always
called dry lock it's kind of an insurance policy. Okay,
it's kind of an insurance pole if you want to
minimize humidity from getting into the home right on, from
(08:40):
getting into the home, water vapor basically from getting in
the home. Used the dry lock. But if you've got
water that's flowing, you got a bigger problem.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Yeah, you get fixed the water right exactly or inside
end ball? Right? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:58):
So could I ask one other question?
Speaker 7 (09:00):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (09:02):
We I bought a house that has a inline duck
system that's working like as an air exchanger, and it's
got like uh uh, I don't know. It's it's down
to the floor and it's got a duct and you
can put it from very little air changing to a
(09:22):
jet propelled change. Is this still okay? Is you know
it's it's basically an inline duck going to an outside source,
you know, outside the house.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Okay. So it's it's allowing air to come in that duck.
It's outside.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
No, it's it's taking the air from the basement, similar
to one of your your sponsors, from the floor and
it's it's like a four inch duck that's that can
take air out.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
It's is there some pulling that air out? Is there
a fan or something?
Speaker 4 (10:04):
Yeah, there's an inline motor okay, line duck like where
you would take like where your ductwork was working, needed
to work extra. It's an inline motor, okay. It takes
that air out of the basement okay, and is going
to a four ine outside duct. And I was just
a little bit concerned about that.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Just well, uh yeah, yeah, I would. I guess I
can't answer that without knowing the cfms, how much cubic
feet admitted the air is moving. But I like the
whole idea rick, and it is kind of along the
same concept that an easy breathe is working. It's a
(10:46):
contained unit, but it is a very slow CFM where
you're not even going to in some cases, I can't
even hear mine. But Doug Garnet, I know it works
because I got you know, like everybody's basement. You know,
you have higher humidity in the summertime, and I put
(11:09):
it on a very lower speed in the winter time,
and I really watch it and measure its effectiveness by
control of the humidity and not getting it too dry,
which is also covering all the other aspects that we
talk about. So you know, I would put a you know,
a gauge down there and just monitor my humidity. But
I think overall, having a very slow exchange of air
(11:34):
from the basement out and letting the air on the
other floor above it filter down, it would be effective.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Okay, all right, yeah, I just you know, I didn't
know if you know that. I'm sure that wasn't the
idea of that motor, but I was like, so that's
why I had the concern.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
Put it that way.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
Okay, okay, all right, thank you very much, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
You're holiday you too, Thank you very much. All right,
let's take a break. We'll come back and get some
more questions answered. Tod eight one hundred at eight two
three eight two five five. You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
I've used this product because my washer smelled terrible, and
let me tell you it worked great. Hi Gary Sullivan. Here,
Now my water's crystal clear. I've got real peace of
mind with Awesome Watercare. Their products remove all the hidden gunk, biofilm,
bacterian build up from hot tubs, jetted tubs, swim spots,
even washers and dishwashers. If you want your water system spotless,
(13:01):
check out awesome dot com spelled ahh somme dot com.
You'll see and smell the difference. Remodeling your basement into
a rec room, office or home gym, well, don't forget
to ventilate those spaces to protect your home from decay.
The Easy Breathe ventilation system exchanges trap dirty, damp air
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(13:23):
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(13:45):
in the environment. Tried demand Smart Strip Advanced. It works
on over ninety percent of the coatings. No harmful fumes,
no dangerous chemicals. Not sure what you're removing, Well, Demon's
easy test kit tells you exactly what you need. Find
Smart Strip at your part anticipating do it best retailer
Sherwin Williams or visit Dumont Global dot com. At Dumont
Global dot com. Dumont Smart, safe and proven, so do
(14:09):
it yourself with demand. Well, it's fall and that means
smart homeowners are preparing their homes for winter, especially they're plumbing.
Hi this Scary Salvin for Roto Router plumbing and water cleanup.
I want you to go outside, unscrew your garden hose
and check those outdoor faucets for drips. Listen. If they're
leaking now, they could freeze and burst this winter, causing
expensive water damage and plumbing repairs. The time to fix
(14:32):
dripping hose bibs is right now. Call Rotor Router at
one eight hundred get Roto for fast, reliable plumbing service.
All right, back at it, we go at Home with
(14:53):
Garysalvent taking your calls regarding well little winter weather protecting
our homes, that's for sure. I've got plenty of tips
of just a reminder if you missed the conversation with
Beth Harper that is up on the podcast It's at
Home with Gary Salvin. Danny's got it labeled beautifully and
a lot of good information if you want to know.
(15:15):
And I like to say this because I think it's
very true. It's the kind of redefining homeowner's insurance not
by the broker, but by the insurance companies and a
good broker, it's going to make you aware of it.
That's what I've learned. I started learning it with Beth,
and then I started learning it as we started. It
(15:40):
started out of really, just like she said, don't do it. Started,
how do we lower our rates for homeowners insurance? Well,
I think we didn't really lower them, but we sure
got educated to what we wanted and what was being
(16:00):
covered versus what we thought was being covered. I know
that sounds weird, but you know, everybody's got their fancy commercials,
and a broker, quite honestly can look at a lot
of different things for you or you know, just somebody
working for you. That's what I kind of always pick
out of it. So we appreciate her time. All right,
(16:22):
let's get to Bob. Bob Welcome, Hey, Gary, good show,
Thank you, sir.
Speaker 6 (16:29):
I'm a mayor here in Fairfield, Pennsylvania, and I wanted
to let you know that I installed a roof twenty
five years ago, a metal roof and a brick out
nation house and I installed two hot air furnaces train
one in the attic and one in the basement six
years ago.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Very nice.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
Now, my question is, in the attic when it's thirty
degrees outside, it's running about forty degrees in the attic.
I did install a circulation system in the attic that
he did partially. And my question is, should I try
to insulate the metal roof from the inside, you know,
with these half inch panels or whatever?
Speaker 4 (17:09):
And what do you question?
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Yeah, what did you say the inside temperature of.
Speaker 6 (17:12):
That attic was forty degrees?
Speaker 1 (17:15):
No, I don't think so. I'm thinking to my attic.
To be honest with you, I would say, and I
don't know. I haven't been up there with a thermometer,
but I'm going to guess it's a you know, even
on a day like this where it's a little chili,
it's it's forty degrees plus.
Speaker 6 (17:33):
I mean, there's no sense in trying to pick up
five or ten degrees by insulating the attic.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
No, you should really think, I would say, if we're
talking about you know, ice dams and things like that,
you're really trying to minimize the heat escaping into the act.
In other words, the base of the floor. Insulating just
minimizes and heat risees. It just keeps that from getting
(18:00):
warmer in the wintertime.
Speaker 6 (18:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Okay, So there's two concepts which you're probably a where
a Bob. It's it's whole house encapsulation, which isn't used
much in Pennsylvania, mainly in the southeast. Or it's the
you know, just insulate and ventilate. And it sounds kind
of that's what you're working on.
Speaker 6 (18:22):
Now. This house was built in eighteen forty.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Yeah, I figured it was an older one when you
said you hit a system that was moving that air around.
Speaker 6 (18:32):
Now, of course, you cannot put a d humidifier or
a humidifier I guess, yeah, in the attic because.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
It would freeze right because of the trees or freeze.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
No, I'm saying the water would freeze in the d humidifier.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Yeah, in the very very cold part of the day,
unless you did the whole house encapsulation.
Speaker 6 (18:52):
Got you, Okay, Now the second part is the second
furnace is in the basement.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I'll tell you what, Bob. Will hold that thought because
I'm gonna have to take a break in about ten seconds.
Hold that thought. We'll take that break, we'll come back
and get to your second question. All right, you can
join us. It's eight hundred eighty two three eight two
five five. You're at home with Garry Sullivan's.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Solutions to your home improvement are as easy as calling one.
Eight hundred eighty two three talk. This is at home
with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
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at home with garri Zelda's taking your calls, were getting
your home projects and where we're.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
Chatting with Bob.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
We talked about one issue, now onto the next, Bob, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
Thanks carry. The second is whether or not I have
a fan installed in the basement. The main heating system
is on the ceiling of the basement and it's a
train system. It's hot air, and of course it hates
the basic house. However, there was an addition built about
six hundred square feet going to the west side of
the building, and it has the kitchen in there and
(22:47):
two bathrooms. And my question is do you think a
fan in a space about oh maybe three meters square
It's hard to crawl back there to see if the
pipes are insulated. Does that do any good? Over six
hundred square feet.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Hard to tell? Really, what kind of furnace. Is it or.
Speaker 6 (23:07):
It's a train hot air furnace.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
So what's it run on? Is it electric or is
it propane? Or natural gas?
Speaker 6 (23:15):
Gas?
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Natural gas, natural gas? And there's so the unit is
in the basement and there's a pipe that's going up
to the kitchen area, is it or you're getting that.
Speaker 6 (23:31):
In the back of the old building built in eighteen forty,
there's a space like a door, let's say a small door,
and all the pipes run through that space, including the
air ducting going to heat the addition, so that crawl
space is too small for me to get into, and
I can't see if those pipes are insulated themselves. So
(23:52):
I've always just installed a fan in the hole to
try to blow hot air, not very hot air, but
hot air into the crawl space.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Okay, So here's a theory to think of since you
can see it and I can't. But I get what
you're trying to do. Since you can't tell if they're insulaated.
You just want to add heat into that crawl space
fan a fan blowing air into an area that's not
taking air out. It's not going to do much, okay,
(24:25):
because Mother nature won't allow for air to compress. So
that's the whole thing when you're talking like an easy
breed that I talk about, it's pulling air out in
a very very low CFM, and then it's pulling air
down from the upstairs. In your case, if you're going
(24:46):
to blow warm air in, just having a cross space
open would be doing pretty much the same thing as
a fan would be doing. You would have to be
pulling air out of that cross space to pull that
air in.
Speaker 6 (25:02):
Yeah, the only air moving out of that crawl space
would be around the fan, which is a box fan,
around the space where it's blowing in, around the edge
is blowing out. I assume the compressed air.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Well, you could try it. I mean I would almost
see the air going out of the cross space on
the other side of the cross space, and then the
air from the basement blowing into that.
Speaker 6 (25:24):
I know what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yeah, but you can try it. I see if it helps,
you know. That's but I gotta kind of think not
without pulling the air out.
Speaker 6 (25:38):
Okay, Well I've done it for X years, never had
the pipes freeze. So we had one four degree winner
last year.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Yeah, well, you got a good record going.
Speaker 6 (25:49):
We keep trying Garry. You're doing a good job.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Thanks a lot, Thanks, Bob, appreciate it. Take care all right.
By the way, our phone number if you'd like to
get on board chat a little bit about home projects
maintenance repair. It's eight hundred eight two three eight two
five five and we got Dwight. Dwight welcome.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
Hello.
Speaker 8 (26:12):
I live in Arkansas and I have a problem. We
have a problem, of course, are people that put a
roof on our house. Uh didn't really do what they
should probably should have done in the valleys, you know,
to prevent the ice a freezing and creating it down
(26:34):
and leaking and backing up and leaking into the house.
And I was just wondering if there was any way
that Feller could at his president time cha Ker correct
that now.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Not until that ice is removed. I mean, has this
been an always problem, Dwight? I mean, do you usually
always had a probably a bad winter or something along
those lines.
Speaker 8 (27:02):
Well, uh, uh, actually, fur as that goes, Uh, it's
been a few years since we really had that problem.
You know, it has done it since it was a
house that we bought, uh a few years ago and everything,
and uh, the thing about it is you know it
(27:23):
has done it one time. At one time we had
a bad winter and you know, it had some snow
and ice and everything, and of course that one valley
is in the area where they don't didn't get a
whole lot of sun, don't get a whole lot of sun,
and it stays there for a while and everything. The
ice will melt maybe a little bit up on top
of up up the valley some and the water will
(27:47):
run down and it'll hit that ice. And when it
hits that ice, when it just backs up and it
runs out of the roof and leaps right.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
So you know, I've got a similar They got a
similar situation at my house, though i haven't had the issue. Okay,
I've got a pretty steep valley between a roof and
another part of the structure of the house, and of
course we have some good step flashing going up the
side of the house to prevent that, and then we
have a kind of it's called a saddle where it's
(28:15):
a flashing it's a metal rather than you know, shingles,
which the snow does stay there a while, but it doesn't.
I've not had any issues with with the water backing
up and getting in the house, so you know, until
we remove that ice and snow in there, there would
(28:40):
be some things we could do then. First of all,
if you do have a saddle in there, a metal saddle,
we might want to even inspect that to make sure
that is properly installed and you know, it's not compromised.
We could also possibly go above that saddle and underneath
(29:03):
the shingling, we could install like an ice guard, which
is a rubber roof below a shingled roof. Basically that's
what that is. Or there's also some roof and gutter
cables where it creates a temperature of around thirty eight
(29:23):
degrees in that saddle or along that flashing or gutters,
which would melt it and keep it from freezing because
it's in a really shaded area now well, having its
curious to.
Speaker 8 (29:36):
Know whether or not that there was some kind of
sailor a clear sailor that you can spray on top
of the on top of the shingles, you know, in
that gutter area in that valley area to keep it
from water from leaking through.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
It, because it's probably yeah, it's probably or it's not
leaking from the top of the shingle it's getting underneath
the shingle, and it's my guess is it's leaking between
the bottom side of the shingle and the tar paper.
That's where water is entering.
Speaker 8 (30:14):
See, of course it's just creating a dam and the
water is running back underneath the angle or right, So.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
We have to remove we have to remove the dam.
That's the bottom line. And then we've got to prevent
that dam from forming. And that's the issue because it's
steep and it's it's shaded, and the snow naturally collects
there and then the warmth of that house is warming
(30:40):
underneath where that dam is, and it starts melting and
there's nowhere for that water to go and actually migrates
up the roof, underneath the shingles and into the house.
Speaker 8 (30:52):
Yeah. Better, of course, I'm just talking. He had it.
But uh, the had to put metal you know, of
a flash and you know, underneath the shingles, you know,
and put them under there, or that.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
It wouldn't well, you can put an ice guard underneath there.
In the meantime, you might just get some magnesium chloride.
It's not salt, it's not you know, anything with salt
and melt that I've told people many, many times, and
it's very effective. If you get like paintyhose legs, put
(31:31):
magnesium or chloride, magnesium chloride, thank you Gary in those time,
and then put the you know it's it's it will
it will stretch and you just lay that on the
snow dam. It'll take some time, but it will melt it. Yeah,
and keeping that clear, either by that or by a
(31:53):
snow rake or by you know, a heat. You're not
going to be able to put those cables up there
and create enough heat to create melt. So you know,
it's almost got to be melt through magnesium chloride or
through a snow rake.
Speaker 8 (32:09):
Well, I just you know, I just wondered if they
would probably anything, you know, like I said, you know
when of course, whenever it is dry, you know, and
everything when the when the valley is dry without the
with ali norster're on it, you know, they maybe some
kind of saiver of athor could spray on that and
keep it from the lencoling.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
I'm gonna guess not again finding exactly how that's getting
in the house is going to be hard, But my
guess is you can shingle. You could seal all the
shingles you want, but I don't think that's where the
problem is. I think it's getting underneath the shingle or
you have some flashing issues. Yeah, all right, well, thank
(32:51):
you much for the call, appreciate it and bread you'll
be next. We'll take a break and if you'd like
to join us, we'd certainly love to heave you. It's
eight hundred eight two three eight two five five plenty
of time to go, so grab a line. You're at
home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at Home with Garysullivan.
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back at it. We go about twelve minutes before the
(35:44):
top of the air, and of course we're talking home improvement.
If you'd like to join us, do so again. If
you missed our conversation with Beth Harper and we were
talking about insurance, you can pick that up on the podcast.
Like good information there. All right, let's go to brad Bread. Welcome,
Hi Gary, how are you?
Speaker 8 (36:03):
I have.
Speaker 7 (36:05):
Good I have a dilemma with a shower, and I
was just interested in trying to collect some advice on
the best method of repair. We have a shower that
an upstairs shower that's leaking, uh. And it's a tile shower.
It's leaking onto the ceiling blow uh in the kitchen.
(36:26):
And I think we've determined that the grout uh intersection
of the floor in the wall is not it's it's degradated,
it's it's it's not in the greatest shape. So I'm
interested in learning the best method of repairing that i've
I've cleaned. I'm trying to clean all the ground out
and I was initially going to use a uh a
(36:49):
calk color match calk for the grout to go in.
But in cleaning this out, it's a very large there's
it's not level. You know, there's gaps that are quarter
inch on one end and none at the other, that
type of thing. So what's the best method of repair?
I was going to buy a grout and regrout it
and then try to go over that with some type
(37:12):
of silicone calk, and I don't know that's the best way.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Well, you can regrout you were okay there, but the
silicon cock on top of that is not going to
look good and it's really not going to work. If
you were I'd say, well, the first thing I'd like
to do is slow you down just a second, and
that is are we absolutely positive that's where it's leaking,
(37:39):
Because shower leaks can be really tricky. You know, there's
also the top of that ceramic tile wall, which is
that can be a problem. Also around the shower handles
where the excussion plates are. If those aren't caught. Sometimes
you shower water, water bounces off, rolls down the wall,
(38:01):
gets behind it, that drips down and causes a leak.
There's numerous other places. But if if you're positive that's
where it is, that's fine, then well we're not.
Speaker 7 (38:13):
We're not positive, but it's it's likely that it's there.
I don't think it had a membrane. I don't know
when it was built. We just bought the house, and
I don't think there's a membrane in it. And you know,
so we're kind of guessing at this point, and the
most likely this is the most likely problem because it
(38:35):
doesn't leak that much until you plug the drain up
and then it pours.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
Okay. I was just getting ready to say, do a
water test in that area, and you know, if you're
getting a leaked in, that's about as positive as you're
going to get. I mean, still likelihood. You know it
could be somewhere else, but that that kind of really helps.
So I think if you were gonna use I think
(39:00):
you have the two options. You can get a little
grout saw. You can cut all that grouting out. You
can get a grout mix and regrout that area all possible.
Unsealed grout has a a water penetration rate of about
three percent. A sealed grout has a water penetration of
(39:24):
about one percent, which means you're you're not gonna have
an issue. So that would be option one. Okay, putting
sealing silicone over, that's it's you're not gonna be happy.
The other option is cut the cut the grouting out
and then come back with uh, you know, you can
(39:46):
use your silicone then without doing the grout. I would
rather you use like a a siliconized latex. That makes
one called quick seal. You probably seen the hardware store
a thousand times. It's much easier to apply. It's water soluble,
(40:07):
so if you get down to a point where you
just can't put it into that crevice anymore, you can
literally take a wet cloth and wipe it away. So
I think those are your two options, and I think
they start and stop with both of them.
Speaker 7 (40:26):
Okay, all right, So you're so you're thinking a quick seal,
and I guess they probably have that color matched.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Well it you know it. You might get a couple
of colors. You're not going to get an array of
colors like you're going to get with grouding. Okay, so
you're gonna get a you know, if you've got a
chocolate brown, you're probably gonna be putting in a wide
or a beige caking. If you're grouting it and you've
got chocolate brown grouting, you can probably put in chocolate.
(41:00):
I'm grouting.
Speaker 7 (41:02):
So you think the most likely, the most likely, uh
way to fix this would be not not to replace
the grout, but just to go back in one hundred
percent with the DAP quick seal.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Yeah. I think I would just get as much of
that groud out of there as you possibly can and
then put in a beat of grouting from.
Speaker 7 (41:22):
There, a beat of calking from there.
Speaker 5 (41:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
So once you once you, once you get the grouting out,
you'll see the crevice. Then I want you to take
some rubbing alcohol and a Q tip all right, and
really work that crevice with the rubbing alcohol and the
Q tip out of work as a cleaner and also
a drying agent, and then let it drive for you know,
(41:51):
a half hour or so and then come back with
you know, your quick seal and just put a beat
of cacking in there. Thank you very much, all right, Brat,
thanks good luck. I know that's challenging, and it's just
you know, if the grounding does give you the ability
(42:12):
to make it look like the rest of the wall,
it is never you know, water tight, water proof if
you will, there's always some absorption, but the minimal absorption
on the grout is the grout is going to get damp,
there's not going to be enough for water to get
behind it. You'll probably have a better chance of matching it.
(42:34):
And uh. The only trouble with the grout too, is
there's different types of grout there sanded and there's non
sandy grout. So the sandy grout would be more for
wider grout lines. And when you get down to that
sliver where you can hardly slip a piece of paper
in there, that that that's grouts, that sandy grout's not
(42:56):
gonna work. It's gonna be too coarse. So then you'd
have to switch to you know, you know, then you'd
have to switch to a non sandy grout. And and
by the time you do that. You just better off
clean it out the best. You can put a good
beat of cocking in there. And the silicone is just
very difficult to it's it's not it's not nimble. I
(43:18):
mean it's hard to apply. Whereas the acrylic, silk and
iceed cocking it's more nimble. It can do smaller lines.
It could even be painted if you were really finicky
where you want to get an artist rush in there
and painted. So that's another nurse. All right. We got
plenty of time to take your calls. If you'd like
to grab a line, do so. It's eight hundred eight
(43:41):
two three eight two five y five. We'll continue with
your calls. You're at home with Garry Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
It's the weekend and you have fixed questions. Give Gary
a call at what eight hundred eighty two three talk.
This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
At Home with Gary Sullivan News
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