December 21, 2025 • 44 mins
In this hour of "At Home with Gary Sullivan" covers various home improvement topics. Gary discusses metal roofing, specifically the importance of ventilation, insulation, and reflectivity in preventing heat buildup in attics. He also talks to a caller who's concerned about his heat pump's performance during extremely cold weather. Additionally, Gary shares tips on winterizing outdoor equipment, such as gas mowers and generators, and answers questions from listeners about pest control and home maintenance. The hour wraps up with a discussion on the importance of proper ventilation in homes, especially during the winter months.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:32):
Well, it's a weekend. Welcome, you're at home with Gary Salvin.
Thanks for joining me another weekend getting a few things
done around the home. When we were talking about metal
roofing and gage and all that, I did do a
little just quick research. I know the fellow that called
said Todd had always recommended a twenty six gauge. He
was getting recommendations on a twenty gauge, and so I
(00:56):
was looking up on the gauge. And you know why
is there a difference. Here's the Scoop twenty six gauge steel,
best all round choice for residential homes. Now. It's strong
enough for snow, the wind, even foot traffic. It holds
(01:17):
the screws better, dents less than thinner metal. The slightly
higher cost than the twenty nine gauge, but worth it.
The twenty gauge twenty nine gage is thinner, it's common
for sheds, garages, barns, lighter and less expensive, more prone
to denting from hail or falling branches, and it's acceptable
(01:41):
in mild climates. Now his place was in or in
Tennessee is where they were. And then there's the third
and it's a twenty four gauge steal. That's the heavy duty.
That's the premium, high end homes, commercial buildings, excellent wind
and impact resistance, and it is required in some high
(02:02):
wind or coastal areas. So that's that's the gages. The
twenty twenty six is the you know choice for residential homes,
and i'd say the twenty nine less expensive but garage
sheds and barnes okay, and then the premium. So we
(02:23):
got that figured out. I appreciate that call, and let
me give you the phone number you can join us
happy to talk about your home projects. It's eight hundred
and eight two three eighty two five five lines open,
so go ahead and grab one. Hey, Larry, Welcome.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Gary Murray.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Christmas to you, sir, Merry Christmas to you, Larry.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Gary. I caught the tailwind of a conversation last weekend
from a gentleman from I think southern Indiana about heat pumps,
uh huh, and I think I'm about I'm in the
Midhigh Valley, so I have about the same timpse he has.
And I've got a small five hundred and twenty five
square foot room edition not half a heat pump on
(03:07):
I think I've even talked to this in the past.
I wish the manufacturers of HVAC would come out with
a much smaller gas for stare, but so far nobody
has yet. But regarding his concern, I've been charting, just
for your information, some vent temperatures compared to the outside temperatures,
(03:32):
and it might even lease some concerns for some of
your listeners.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
What I've discovered is.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
That and I'm this is not scientific officely, but the
outside temperature down to eight degrees, I'm still getting around
eight eighty degrees out of my vent.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
And that's on thet No, that's just with it.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Now, that's just that's just that's a one and a
half unheat pomp and it's basically short runs of my
duct work. But that's not too bad, Okay. And then
it's not as straight line as the timberature goes up,
but it's pretty close. Over it goes to twelve degrees,
I'll get I'll get eighty two degrees. I'm a vent.
(04:18):
If it's twenty degrees, I'll get eighty five out of
my event, et cetera. But what I found interesting, Gary,
is that when you get to about thirty degrees to
thirty two. It pretty much peaks out around ninety and
it doesn't go any higher in that.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Okay, so.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
For what it's worth.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
And I did kick on the emergency heat at one
time when it was twelve degrees outside and it actually
made that temperature go from eighty two up to ninety six.
So the heastrips did bump it up another fourteen degrees.
Now I know they're expensive. I thought it interesting. Yeah,
(04:57):
I thought it interesting though that it kind of peaks
out at around thirty thirty two degrees and then you
don't get any more heat out of your heat pomp.
There's a max right there.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So for those concerned about am I getting enough heat? Yeah,
I'd like to have more, but they still give you
a warm rror even down to the single digits.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yeah. I think his problem. I'm trying to think back
to the call, but I believe his Yeah, I think
his his problem. It was really cold last weekend. I
think that's when the call came.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
It was and it was.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
You know, I think it was like zero and well hit.
The purpose of his call was his auxiliary heat came on.
He knew it was going to be expensive, and his
compressor outside wasn't working.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Oh, oh, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, and the compressor itself usually you know, it'll shut
off around zero degrees or five degrees, you know, when
it's near zero, and that was that was his issue.
And at that point you're, yeah, that's kind of it.
You know, your emergency heat comes on. It comes on automatically.
(06:10):
So yeah, but that's good to know that.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Well, we don't know how old his unit is. What
that's your taking was how it's programmed except those.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, and I was using the zero to five degrees
is just a general overall quick look when you said eight, uh,
and you were getting that heat. Quite as a little surprise,
you're getting that much heat.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So you're right, and that'll keep the room warm, but
it keeps it comfortable.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Sure, sure, No, that's that's acceptable. Of course. If it's
not working, that's that's you're going to go to the auxilary. Yes, so,
and you're right, it depends on the age and you know,
the program and everything else. So I was talking in
general terms also.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Right, I just keep hoping that a Bryant or a
carrier or somebody will come out with a small footprint
twenty five thousand BTU unit you know, gas, and that
all I would need, and that would make that room
a lot more toasty, because of course when you have
(07:21):
a gas four stair, your vent heats much much much more. Okay, right,
nobody's come up to the plate yet and made one.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
There you go. Yeah, I haven't heard a one. But
I'm not exactly in the HVAC business, but I have
not heard a one. So, you know, I think that
we're seeing a lot of one in the smaller ones.
Is like a you know, mini split systems or something.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
I know, I know, I know, and I just don't
want to go that direction, but I understand it anyway. Well, listen,
you have a merkavisus and a happy new year, and
we'll talk to you next year.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Very good Larry, thank you, you do the same. Take care.
All right, let's go to Sam. Sam.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Welcome, good morning, Gary, long time listener here. Yeah, so
I enjoyed the talk with the metal roofings, and this
spring will probably getting a new roof on the house.
My concern for efficiency is I have a ridge vent
now and unfortunately to hip roof, so you have a
minimum run on your ridge vent, and I'm thinking about
(08:22):
covering that over and going with the traditional box roof vents.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
You can definitely get.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
More air out of those.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
Sure you can that ridge, because the challenge with the
ridge is if the plywood sheet things not cut back
far enough, or if the tar paper is not caught
back far enough, they could.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
Roll over with the coil roll and you know, go
on with it. So it's kind of one of the
things people should know is, and I've done some research
in houses, the metal does have a tremendous amount of
reflectivity for the heat and your tarbagh aingles they're just
absorbent fore heat, and I tell people heat seeks the cold,
(09:00):
so those shingles get hot, they want to go in
the attic.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
That attic heat wants to go in the house.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
And that's why the air runs longer, costs you more
unitruns or last long less in years of service. So
I want to do my part to go above and
beyond what a what I consider an average roofer would
do and just get the box reached.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I just couldn't do. At your take on that, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Think you know. I mean, it is all about reflectivity,
it's about insulation, it's about ventilation and all those components
as you know, come into play and you know, having
that all bounced out. I think that's also one of
the advantages of having a muddle metal roofing installer that
(09:43):
is just not trained in asphalt shingles, you know, where
they're actually concentrate in. I think he even mentioned that
concentrated in you know, the installation of metal roofing, which
also means you know, taking the ventilation, the reflectivity and
all that into consideration. But yeah, I think that's that's fine.
(10:06):
In some cases. I've even noticed in manufactures, Sam the
installation of metal roofing depending on manufacture is sometimes different.
It's not always universal, and so that's another thing to
take into consideration.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Well, this house, in particular, with the ten twelve roof,
what I've learned is the soopit vents are actually below
the double top player on the wall, so basically your
air has to go through that and then hanging the
left to go into the antic. Anytime you have bins
and airflow, you're decreasing the.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Sure So your vents now, are they actually through the
shingles above the gutter like a smart vent?
Speaker 4 (10:47):
No, No, this is a ninety seven bill. They're traditional
into soopet and honestly, okay, like most houses, I see
there's not enough ventilation. My understanding is that you kind
of tear up your mindal siding when you try to
add the same soppit panels. I probably go in with
the like a wholes ault and cut the add more
because I'm with you on the efficiency. The intake is critical.
(11:08):
You can row put a whole roof roll back on top,
but if you don't have an intake, you're just killing
the system.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I just read an article not long ago. It's seventy
two percent of the roofs are improperly insulated, and that's scary.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
And then my yeah, my travels, I see that exactly
that what you just said. And I'm a big proponent
of energy efficiency because I try to teach people because
I say, if we knew about it, we would probably
go forward with that. It's cost savings and on on on.
Like I'll say, hey, your black roof roof looks great,
but it was the hottest roof you could have possibly picked.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Right on hand, right, That's that's very true. And you know,
I try to educate people on the ventilation aspected thing is,
look at your roof as a chimney, and I like
your idea of using like the roof fence the box
roof fence, because you're gonna lose You're going to move
a lot more air through that through that attic, and
of course mother nature doesn't allow a vacuum, so that
(12:07):
means you've got to bring in the same amount of
air or more. Actually you should be bringing in about
ten percent more than you are exiting out. So yeah,
getting that formulation correct is vitally important.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Well, if I'm full son.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Also in the ten twelve, what people need to understand
you've got a lot more roof decking surface was it's
going to magnify the heat in the attic. Sure, I've
had a wireless thermometer up there for probably fifteen years
and I can just about tell you every day, well,
my temperature is going to be up there, and that's
my chart to change these numbers once I get into
the roof system replacement.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Yeah, and of course the reflectivity of a metal roof
is going to help you a bunch there. So hey,
I appreciate the call. We you are up against the clock,
and thank you. Sam. Have a great Christmas and let
me give you the phone number. It's eight hundred and
eighty two three eight two five y five Dot home
with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 6 (13:03):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at Home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
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Talking a little home improvement. Twenty three minutes after the
top of the iron, you're at home with Gary Salvin
taking your calls regarding well your issues and we will
be happy to get you on board and shout about
maybe problems you're having around your home. All right, you
got the phone number, grab a line, Howard.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Welcome, Hi Gary. Hey, I've came up with a problem.
But when it was really cold outside, I've got a
Bryant heat pump less than five years old. I was
outside and you know, they they had all that cold
(16:22):
and the windy and the blowing snow, and I noticed
my heat pump was totally the outside of it was covered.
You know, it sucks in through the outside cooling fins
or something. They were all totally covered with snow. Yeah,
be sucking that stuff in. And I'm thinking, well, that
(16:46):
can't be good. But what do I do about it?
Or should I do anything about it?
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Well, actually, you know, I'm not an HVAC guy, but
I a.
Speaker 7 (16:55):
Heat pump when it gets so dog on, it will
it won't defrost and it'll shut down.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Now, we were talking in general terms because all units
are a little different, and also age has something to
do with it. But those outside units a lot of
times they'll frost over. And I'm gonna guess that's what happened.
And yeah, I don't know, have we Is it working
(17:31):
now or did it never? It is? Okay, so my
guess is that's what's happened. So a heat pump in
general terms, okay, Now, I'm sure somebody's gonna call it
said mind does it at eight degrees but usually around
seven zero to five degrees or below zero, that heat
pump is going to not function and you're going to
(17:54):
go to your emergency heat and if that compressor isn't working,
it's going to freeze up up, just as you found.
When that falls and it starts functioning, you'll probably have
to you know, it'll start fallowing it and then it'll
start functioning. So if that's what happened, If that's what happened,
(18:14):
it was doing the way it functions.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yeah, okay, Well is there a way or should I
I don't know, put something around it?
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Or no, no, I mean it's just not designed to
run when it gets that dog on cold and it'll
freeze up, and then when it warms up, it's going
to kick back on. You know, it's going to defrost
hopefully and you'll be back in business. But covering it
up you'll actually cause bigger problems, to be honest with you,
because it needs the airflow also, and when you put
(18:49):
covers over those they used to sell covers, it makes
me crazy because you put the cover over a metal
mechanical equipment and you get all that ground moisture and
you'll have rust issues and you'll actually decrease the life
of it there.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Yeah, you know, and I was That's what was concerning
me because I was outside and the thing is running
learning into it.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, so the defrost, you know, I mean, you can
have it checked out and make sure it's properly operating.
But my guess is, you know when it quit operating
when it got very cold out, that's when it kind
of froze up. When it melted, then you're you know,
your heat pump started working. Gain We'll continue at home
with Gary Sullivan.
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(22:10):
let's get back at it. We're thirty three minutes after
the top of the air If you'd like to join us,
our phone number is eight hundred eight two three eight
two five five. And we're talking about the metal roofing.
I think, yeah, when we were talking about the metal roofing,
we were talking about vents. It's talking about hip roof.
He was talking about maybe you know the importance of
(22:32):
that whole formula ventilation, insulation, reflectivity of the roofing versus
a black shingled roof and absorbing that radiant energy. And
he talked about using roof box vents, and I do
want to just you know, so if you're listening, you're like, oh,
(22:53):
I think I'll do that too. Roofbox vents will let
snow in, and it's usually wind driven snow. And if
you have that problem in a snowy part of the
country and you have a lot of wind, you can
get a lower profile or a flat box vent, and
(23:19):
you can also get a baffle installed in that box vent.
So I don't want you to think if you live
in snow country that yeah, sure throw that up there.
There's even an air vent for snow country, which is
a slant back vent. So I wanted to just pass
(23:42):
out along in case you know that was something you
were dealing with. But I will tell you, and you've
heard me preach it many times, that formula on ventilation
critically important in the summertime and can be very important
in the winter time. And they ask you may ask why,
(24:05):
And I'm telling you a lot of people, you know,
I talked about how a lot of houses are not
properly vented, like in the seventy percent range, and even
in the winter time if you have improperly vented cook fan,
(24:25):
you know, a range fan, range hood fan, or a
bathroom fan. And never a bad ideas I'm talking sometimes
about getting up in the attic and see what's going on.
Is just to check where that vent is or where
that vent pipe ends in your attic. Is it properly
(24:47):
installed where it's venting outside or through the roof, or
is it laying on the insulation, is it hanging off
a rafter or truss or whatever where it's and you
got a real lot of cube up in that attic.
That can be a different thing too. But as you
pump warm moist air into an attic and there is
(25:11):
no ventilation in that attic's cold and it's not vented properly.
You can't have a mass that warm moist air that's
being vented into the attic and not taken outside. It's
going to hit that cold temperature. And remember, warm air
can hold more moisture than cold air. And if you're
(25:33):
pumping warm moist air into an attic and it hits
an attic temperature of thirty two degrees or forty eight
degrees or thirty one degrees, it's going to be like
raining in your attic because it's going to shed all
that moisture and it may shed that moisture on the
underside of the roof, it may shed the moisture right
(25:56):
on the insulation. And you got the picture then, Because
we always talk about mold and always say, you know,
it takes three ingredients. Mold spores are everywhere inside your house,
outside your house, in the woods, they're everywhere by mother nature.
(26:20):
Organic material is everywhere in your attic. Look at all
the wood, right. So we got organic material, and we
got the mold spores. And all we need to add
is the secret sauce, and that's water. And then you
got mold issues. And in the summertime kind of got
(26:42):
the opposite issue. You got a lot of heat, you know,
ninety five degrees out, you got a black asphalt shingle.
I mean I've seen, you know, with not proper insulation.
I've seen attic temperatures one hundred and forty degrees. Now
think about that. If you got a bedroom right above
(27:05):
the root or right below the roof, so the attics
above you. In a lot of cases and you got
or if you got two story got up upstairs bedrooms,
sometimes that's the cause of the problem. You can never
get them cool. So you got radiant energy hitting a
black shingle, it's being absorbed. It's just cooking in that attic.
(27:29):
You got air conditioning on and it's just a big
hot box. The only thing protecting you in those up
there upstairs bedrooms is the dry wall and what insulation
you have. But if you got one hundred and forty degrees,
I mean like you're literally trying to sleep next to
(27:50):
the wall of an oven, and if it's not properly insulated,
you're not going to be very comfortable. And that's why
I'm always talking. When people talk about insulation, you got
to talk about ventilation equally important, especially in climates where
the four seasons are very very important, so keep that
(28:15):
in mind next time you have a roof inspection or
if you're thinking about putting on a roof. So many
roofing materials warranty are void because it's not properly ventilated.
I think the first two things you're going to read
(28:35):
on a roof warranty is you're going to read about
how it cannot this new roof can't be applied to
the existing roof. If you do, it will void a warranty.
And the next thing you will read is if you're
(28:58):
not properly if that roofof is not properly ventilated, you're
gonna lose the warranty on the roof. So that's why
I'm always talking about how important it is to deal
with a good roofer and can make that make those decisions.
And some some homes are just really really difficult to
get them properly ventilated, especially the ones with a hip roof.
(29:22):
So you know it does read those warranties interchangeing too,
so definitely, uh, you know, read them. Pay attention. Yesterday,
as I hear somebody's blower running outside, I talked about
maybe time to put the power equipment away. And again
(29:43):
if you have a gas mower or if you have
a battery mower. We had a big discussion about battery
mowers because there's an awful lot of them. But if
you're doing the the gas mower, you can go ahead,
and you know, you got to make a choice which
way you're going to do it. You can put in
(30:06):
you know, a fuel stabilizer, fresh gas fuel stabilizer, fuel
stabilizer in the guess that's in the marr and you know,
fill it up all the way. Don't lose it half
because condensation will get in there and that can cause problems.
Or you can run the gas out of the more
(30:29):
and out of the carburettor just get it all out
of the equipment, let it let it clunk out if
you will. For battery equipment, store the battery in areas
that are forty to seventy degrees and you don't keep
(30:49):
them fully charged. You let them get about forty percent charged.
You can get a trickle charger. You can just keep
your eye on it, check it out, and that's if
it's going to be in storage for you know, three
to six months, that's how you would take care of that.
But the most important thing you can do, quite honestly,
(31:12):
is get it cleaned. Well, that's equally important, I should say,
it's not more important. But before you, after you get
all the gas, run I get underneath that more and
get all of that accumulate grass, a lot of times
is just packed and stuck on there. Use a plastic
(31:33):
putty knife and easy for me to say, and just
scrape that grass off and get a blower out, or
use a rag, get all the leaves and dust, change
the air filled, or might even change the spark plug,
sharpen the blade. Get all that stuff done now, and
go ahead and put it in the story. Some of
the newer mowers, whether it's battery or gas, they got
(31:56):
some great apparatuses where you can either fold down or
take off off the handles very easily, and so it
makes for a little more compact storage. So I wanted
to pass those along. Get and be about that time.
All right, let me give you the phone number. We'll
come back, we'll take your calls, and we'll kind of
wrap things up for the weekend, and I will be
(32:17):
here with Danny Boy next Saturday. So certainly wishing every
one a very merry Christmas. In the meantime, let's take
a break, come back and kind of wrap things up.
Your calls are necessary. If you'd like to jump on board,
do so. You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 6 (32:34):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This he's at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
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Speaker 1 (34:25):
And work it like a prob Hey, Gary Salvan here
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(35:14):
back at it, you're at home with Garry Salvan as we.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Kind of.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Wrap things up to a degree. Just some quick safety
tips over Christmas too. If you're burning a fireplace and
got a nice fire on Christmas morning, I know we
all like that mentioned yesterday. It is a fireplace, is
(35:42):
not an incinerator, and it seems like on Christmas it
happens every year. You do not burn gift paper in
the fireplace. You do not burn boxes in the fireplace.
It creates a very quick hot fire. And if you
have an abundance of clear and didn't have that chimney clean,
(36:02):
you very well could have a chimney fire. And if
you've already had one, and you kind of put your
home in jeopardy. So don't burn the gift paper, don't
burn the boxes. All right, let's go to Mike. Mike welcome.
Speaker 9 (36:18):
Yeah. I keep listening to people, you know, talking on
clothes dryers, and there's something that's never been mentioned on
their linen Filder. Yeah, on their linz Fielder. If they
use fabric softener strips that leads an invisible coating in
(36:39):
there that stops the air from going through.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
You're exactly correct. You're exactly correct. Yeah, I think, yeah,
I I do know that we use those at our house,
and I also know religiously we pull out the interior
filter because there's two of them. I was I was
(37:04):
talking about how our vent pipe got clogged from the
screen outside at the end of the vent. But between
loads we'll always clean that that with ours is right
in front of the drum. You just pull it out
of the housing and we'll use a nylon scrub brush
(37:27):
and just go over that to keep you know, that
air flowing. But you're you're exactly correct. I don't mention
it very often. Go ahead.
Speaker 9 (37:38):
Yeah. What I recommend is when you take the lint off,
hold the filter up to your hand and try blowing
through it in a different areas, sometimes only half a bit,
it will be closed.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Off right right, Well, it's vitally in part important even
you know whether it's your outdoor vent or you're in
side air because your clothes aren't going to dry properly,
and you're going to be wasting energy. And if it's
really bad, you're dryer can overheat. So I thank you
(38:12):
for that tip. Bug, appreciate it. All right, let's go
to uh Gail Gail Welcome.
Speaker 10 (38:21):
Well, Hi, I appreciate you taking my car.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Welcome.
Speaker 10 (38:26):
I have a bug problem. I cook every meal and
I have I believe their fruit flies and pantry bugs.
A lady called in at the store. So I've had
blue sticks around and I have the thing that hangs
from the top to catch like flies, but they go
(38:50):
on there too, And I'm trying to clean the covers out,
all the covers at a job.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Yeah, but you gotta do it.
Speaker 10 (39:00):
I mean you're always gonna have some crumbs. I mean
there's just no day to stop it. So I really
don't know what more I can do. Do you have
any ideas?
Speaker 1 (39:12):
So, yeah, so maybe I can help, maybe I can't.
But so, what what type of are they? Little moss?
Or they look like little like fleas or tell me
what they what do you think they are?
Speaker 10 (39:29):
They look like little moths maybe with a tiny tail
or a fruit.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Why so it looks like a moss. Yeah, Okay, So
let's let's work. Let's let's work on that first, okay,
and that there's other things we can work on those.
So you're right. And they're usually brought in through grain, oats,
(39:55):
flower or anything along those lines, So you know, to
be honest with you, I would probably pitch any of
those types of products, get them out of the house.
That would be number one. I went through this. It's
been a number of years, and it was a pain.
I know exactly what you're going through. And I'll tell
you how we ended up getting rid of and I'm serious.
(40:17):
Once we pitched everything and we were cleaning, and we
put everything back in and we got them again.
Speaker 9 (40:27):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
And I started asking questions, started reading about it, and
what I found out is those maws were actually laying
eggs in the pantry. So what we had is we
had not wire racks like we have in our pantry now.
(40:51):
We had wood shelves that had braces on the wall.
And we didn't eradicate the problem till we got rid
of all the grain products in our house and pulled
the shelves out. And then with ah, you know, a
soap and water and I can't remember we used name
(41:13):
bleach or not, but we wipe down all the braces
on the drywall, and then when we put everything back in,
I'd have to look it up and you can. You
can do this, Gale. But one of the things that
helps drive them out, it's is I think it. I
(41:35):
think it's basal or it's bay leaves. I can't remember
which one. Yeah, yeah, And that kind of makes it
undesirable for him in case you bring them back in again.
And uh, but that's that's what our issue was. So
when you say it's a lot of work, it is
(41:58):
a lot of work. But you're going to have to
do it. You're gonna have to get that stuff out
of your house. You're going to have to get that
clean to a point where it's not going to be
an issue if you have woodshelves or anything along those lines.
Even down at the bottom where there's the base board,
just make sure everything's wiped down really good and move
(42:21):
on from there. I think you'll take care of it.
Speaker 10 (42:23):
Though, what if they're drain bugs? What do I do?
Speaker 1 (42:26):
Well, That's what I was going to say. So the
other thing is, you know, that's why I was asking
exactly what they look like. What you described as moss.
That's that's usually how you eradicate what we just talked about.
If they are drain bugs, what you can do is
you can tape some masking tape over the drain. Let's
sit overnight and see if you catch them there. Okay,
(42:48):
they'll stick themselves to the masking tape if they are.
One of the things you can do is if it's
there's a disposal there, you can pull that out and
on the back side of that black guard where you
push the food through, it's usually got all kinds of
bacteria on it, and that's what they're feeding off of.
So we're gonna, you know, clean that up real good.
(43:11):
Maybe even get a disposal cleaner, one of those tablets
you can put in there and create some you know,
get those cleaned real good. Also, if you have any
house plants, sometimes there's different types of insects that will
lay eggs and they look like drain flies, but they're not,
and fly strips get rid of those. That's why I say,
(43:31):
let's test over the drain to make sure they're drain
flies too. So yep, that's that's how I'd eradicate those pests.
I do want to take this time really to wish
everyone a very merry Christmas. It's been a pleasure. We've
been doing a show for a long time, and I
certainly appreciate you listening and spending your weekends with me.
(43:55):
So I hope you and your family have a very
merry Christmas. Danny Boy as always an excellent job, and
merry Christmas do you also, Good Lord Willing back live
next Saturday. You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 6 (44:27):
Thanks the weekend, and you have fixed questions. Give Gary
a call at what eight hundred and eighty two three
talk this. He's at home with Gary Sullivan.
Well, it's a weekend. Welcome, you're at home with Gary Salvin.
Thanks for joining me another weekend getting a few things
done around the home. When we were talking about metal
roofing and gage and all that, I did do a
little just quick research. I know the fellow that called
said Todd had always recommended a twenty six gauge. He
was getting recommendations on a twenty gauge, and so I
(00:56):
was looking up on the gauge. And you know why
is there a difference. Here's the Scoop twenty six gauge steel,
best all round choice for residential homes. Now. It's strong
enough for snow, the wind, even foot traffic. It holds
(01:17):
the screws better, dents less than thinner metal. The slightly
higher cost than the twenty nine gauge, but worth it.
The twenty gauge twenty nine gage is thinner, it's common
for sheds, garages, barns, lighter and less expensive, more prone
to denting from hail or falling branches, and it's acceptable
(01:41):
in mild climates. Now his place was in or in
Tennessee is where they were. And then there's the third
and it's a twenty four gauge steal. That's the heavy duty.
That's the premium, high end homes, commercial buildings, excellent wind
and impact resistance, and it is required in some high
(02:02):
wind or coastal areas. So that's that's the gages. The
twenty twenty six is the you know choice for residential homes,
and i'd say the twenty nine less expensive but garage
sheds and barnes okay, and then the premium. So we
(02:23):
got that figured out. I appreciate that call, and let
me give you the phone number you can join us
happy to talk about your home projects. It's eight hundred
and eight two three eighty two five five lines open,
so go ahead and grab one. Hey, Larry, Welcome.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Gary Murray.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Christmas to you, sir, Merry Christmas to you, Larry.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Gary. I caught the tailwind of a conversation last weekend
from a gentleman from I think southern Indiana about heat pumps,
uh huh, and I think I'm about I'm in the
Midhigh Valley, so I have about the same timpse he has.
And I've got a small five hundred and twenty five
square foot room edition not half a heat pump on
(03:07):
I think I've even talked to this in the past.
I wish the manufacturers of HVAC would come out with
a much smaller gas for stare, but so far nobody
has yet. But regarding his concern, I've been charting, just
for your information, some vent temperatures compared to the outside temperatures,
(03:32):
and it might even lease some concerns for some of
your listeners.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
What I've discovered is.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
That and I'm this is not scientific officely, but the
outside temperature down to eight degrees, I'm still getting around
eight eighty degrees out of my vent.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
And that's on thet No, that's just with it.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Now, that's just that's just that's a one and a
half unheat pomp and it's basically short runs of my
duct work. But that's not too bad, Okay. And then
it's not as straight line as the timberature goes up,
but it's pretty close. Over it goes to twelve degrees,
I'll get I'll get eighty two degrees. I'm a vent.
(04:18):
If it's twenty degrees, I'll get eighty five out of
my event, et cetera. But what I found interesting, Gary,
is that when you get to about thirty degrees to
thirty two. It pretty much peaks out around ninety and
it doesn't go any higher in that.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Okay, so.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
For what it's worth.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
And I did kick on the emergency heat at one
time when it was twelve degrees outside and it actually
made that temperature go from eighty two up to ninety six.
So the heastrips did bump it up another fourteen degrees.
Now I know they're expensive. I thought it interesting. Yeah,
(04:57):
I thought it interesting though that it kind of peaks
out at around thirty thirty two degrees and then you
don't get any more heat out of your heat pomp.
There's a max right there.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So for those concerned about am I getting enough heat? Yeah,
I'd like to have more, but they still give you
a warm rror even down to the single digits.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yeah. I think his problem. I'm trying to think back
to the call, but I believe his Yeah, I think
his his problem. It was really cold last weekend. I
think that's when the call came.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
It was and it was.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
You know, I think it was like zero and well hit.
The purpose of his call was his auxiliary heat came on.
He knew it was going to be expensive, and his
compressor outside wasn't working.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Oh, oh, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, and the compressor itself usually you know, it'll shut
off around zero degrees or five degrees, you know, when
it's near zero, and that was that was his issue.
And at that point you're, yeah, that's kind of it.
You know, your emergency heat comes on. It comes on automatically.
(06:10):
So yeah, but that's good to know that.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Well, we don't know how old his unit is. What
that's your taking was how it's programmed except those.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, and I was using the zero to five degrees
is just a general overall quick look when you said eight, uh,
and you were getting that heat. Quite as a little surprise,
you're getting that much heat.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So you're right, and that'll keep the room warm, but
it keeps it comfortable.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Sure, sure, No, that's that's acceptable. Of course. If it's
not working, that's that's you're going to go to the auxilary. Yes, so,
and you're right, it depends on the age and you know,
the program and everything else. So I was talking in
general terms also.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Right, I just keep hoping that a Bryant or a
carrier or somebody will come out with a small footprint
twenty five thousand BTU unit you know, gas, and that
all I would need, and that would make that room
a lot more toasty, because of course when you have
(07:21):
a gas four stair, your vent heats much much much more. Okay, right,
nobody's come up to the plate yet and made one.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
There you go. Yeah, I haven't heard a one. But
I'm not exactly in the HVAC business, but I have
not heard a one. So, you know, I think that
we're seeing a lot of one in the smaller ones.
Is like a you know, mini split systems or something.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
I know, I know, I know, and I just don't
want to go that direction, but I understand it anyway. Well, listen,
you have a merkavisus and a happy new year, and
we'll talk to you next year.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Very good Larry, thank you, you do the same. Take care.
All right, let's go to Sam. Sam.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Welcome, good morning, Gary, long time listener here. Yeah, so
I enjoyed the talk with the metal roofings, and this
spring will probably getting a new roof on the house.
My concern for efficiency is I have a ridge vent
now and unfortunately to hip roof, so you have a
minimum run on your ridge vent, and I'm thinking about
(08:22):
covering that over and going with the traditional box roof vents.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
You can definitely get.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
More air out of those.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
Sure you can that ridge, because the challenge with the
ridge is if the plywood sheet things not cut back
far enough, or if the tar paper is not caught
back far enough, they could.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
Roll over with the coil roll and you know, go
on with it. So it's kind of one of the
things people should know is, and I've done some research
in houses, the metal does have a tremendous amount of
reflectivity for the heat and your tarbagh aingles they're just
absorbent fore heat, and I tell people heat seeks the cold,
(09:00):
so those shingles get hot, they want to go in
the attic.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
That attic heat wants to go in the house.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
And that's why the air runs longer, costs you more
unitruns or last long less in years of service. So
I want to do my part to go above and
beyond what a what I consider an average roofer would
do and just get the box reached.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I just couldn't do. At your take on that, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Think you know. I mean, it is all about reflectivity,
it's about insulation, it's about ventilation and all those components
as you know, come into play and you know, having
that all bounced out. I think that's also one of
the advantages of having a muddle metal roofing installer that
(09:43):
is just not trained in asphalt shingles, you know, where
they're actually concentrate in. I think he even mentioned that
concentrated in you know, the installation of metal roofing, which
also means you know, taking the ventilation, the reflectivity and
all that into consideration. But yeah, I think that's that's fine.
(10:06):
In some cases. I've even noticed in manufactures, Sam the
installation of metal roofing depending on manufacture is sometimes different.
It's not always universal, and so that's another thing to
take into consideration.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Well, this house, in particular, with the ten twelve roof,
what I've learned is the soopit vents are actually below
the double top player on the wall, so basically your
air has to go through that and then hanging the
left to go into the antic. Anytime you have bins
and airflow, you're decreasing the.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Sure So your vents now, are they actually through the
shingles above the gutter like a smart vent?
Speaker 4 (10:47):
No, No, this is a ninety seven bill. They're traditional
into soopet and honestly, okay, like most houses, I see
there's not enough ventilation. My understanding is that you kind
of tear up your mindal siding when you try to
add the same soppit panels. I probably go in with
the like a wholes ault and cut the add more
because I'm with you on the efficiency. The intake is critical.
(11:08):
You can row put a whole roof roll back on top,
but if you don't have an intake, you're just killing
the system.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I just read an article not long ago. It's seventy
two percent of the roofs are improperly insulated, and that's scary.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
And then my yeah, my travels, I see that exactly
that what you just said. And I'm a big proponent
of energy efficiency because I try to teach people because
I say, if we knew about it, we would probably
go forward with that. It's cost savings and on on on.
Like I'll say, hey, your black roof roof looks great,
but it was the hottest roof you could have possibly picked.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Right on hand, right, That's that's very true. And you know,
I try to educate people on the ventilation aspected thing is,
look at your roof as a chimney, and I like
your idea of using like the roof fence the box
roof fence, because you're gonna lose You're going to move
a lot more air through that through that attic, and
of course mother nature doesn't allow a vacuum, so that
(12:07):
means you've got to bring in the same amount of
air or more. Actually you should be bringing in about
ten percent more than you are exiting out. So yeah,
getting that formulation correct is vitally important.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Well, if I'm full son.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Also in the ten twelve, what people need to understand
you've got a lot more roof decking surface was it's
going to magnify the heat in the attic. Sure, I've
had a wireless thermometer up there for probably fifteen years
and I can just about tell you every day, well,
my temperature is going to be up there, and that's
my chart to change these numbers once I get into
the roof system replacement.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Yeah, and of course the reflectivity of a metal roof
is going to help you a bunch there. So hey,
I appreciate the call. We you are up against the clock,
and thank you. Sam. Have a great Christmas and let
me give you the phone number. It's eight hundred and
eighty two three eight two five y five Dot home
with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 6 (13:03):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at Home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
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(13:42):
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(14:27):
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(14:49):
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(15:41):
Talking a little home improvement. Twenty three minutes after the
top of the iron, you're at home with Gary Salvin
taking your calls regarding well your issues and we will
be happy to get you on board and shout about
maybe problems you're having around your home. All right, you
got the phone number, grab a line, Howard.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Welcome, Hi Gary. Hey, I've came up with a problem.
But when it was really cold outside, I've got a
Bryant heat pump less than five years old. I was
outside and you know, they they had all that cold
(16:22):
and the windy and the blowing snow, and I noticed
my heat pump was totally the outside of it was covered.
You know, it sucks in through the outside cooling fins
or something. They were all totally covered with snow. Yeah,
be sucking that stuff in. And I'm thinking, well, that
(16:46):
can't be good. But what do I do about it?
Or should I do anything about it?
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Well, actually, you know, I'm not an HVAC guy, but
I a.
Speaker 7 (16:55):
Heat pump when it gets so dog on, it will
it won't defrost and it'll shut down.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Now, we were talking in general terms because all units
are a little different, and also age has something to
do with it. But those outside units a lot of
times they'll frost over. And I'm gonna guess that's what happened.
And yeah, I don't know, have we Is it working
(17:31):
now or did it never? It is? Okay, so my
guess is that's what's happened. So a heat pump in
general terms, okay, Now, I'm sure somebody's gonna call it
said mind does it at eight degrees but usually around
seven zero to five degrees or below zero, that heat
pump is going to not function and you're going to
(17:54):
go to your emergency heat and if that compressor isn't working,
it's going to freeze up up, just as you found.
When that falls and it starts functioning, you'll probably have
to you know, it'll start fallowing it and then it'll
start functioning. So if that's what happened, If that's what happened,
(18:14):
it was doing the way it functions.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yeah, okay, Well is there a way or should I
I don't know, put something around it?
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Or no, no, I mean it's just not designed to
run when it gets that dog on cold and it'll
freeze up, and then when it warms up, it's going
to kick back on. You know, it's going to defrost
hopefully and you'll be back in business. But covering it
up you'll actually cause bigger problems, to be honest with you,
because it needs the airflow also, and when you put
(18:49):
covers over those they used to sell covers, it makes
me crazy because you put the cover over a metal
mechanical equipment and you get all that ground moisture and
you'll have rust issues and you'll actually decrease the life
of it there.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Yeah, you know, and I was That's what was concerning
me because I was outside and the thing is running
learning into it.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, so the defrost, you know, I mean, you can
have it checked out and make sure it's properly operating.
But my guess is, you know when it quit operating
when it got very cold out, that's when it kind
of froze up. When it melted, then you're you know,
your heat pump started working. Gain We'll continue at home
with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 6 (19:37):
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(22:10):
let's get back at it. We're thirty three minutes after
the top of the air If you'd like to join us,
our phone number is eight hundred eight two three eight
two five five. And we're talking about the metal roofing.
I think, yeah, when we were talking about the metal roofing,
we were talking about vents. It's talking about hip roof.
He was talking about maybe you know the importance of
(22:32):
that whole formula ventilation, insulation, reflectivity of the roofing versus
a black shingled roof and absorbing that radiant energy. And
he talked about using roof box vents, and I do
want to just you know, so if you're listening, you're like, oh,
(22:53):
I think I'll do that too. Roofbox vents will let
snow in, and it's usually wind driven snow. And if
you have that problem in a snowy part of the
country and you have a lot of wind, you can
get a lower profile or a flat box vent, and
(23:19):
you can also get a baffle installed in that box vent.
So I don't want you to think if you live
in snow country that yeah, sure throw that up there.
There's even an air vent for snow country, which is
a slant back vent. So I wanted to just pass
(23:42):
out along in case you know that was something you
were dealing with. But I will tell you, and you've
heard me preach it many times, that formula on ventilation
critically important in the summertime and can be very important
in the winter time. And they ask you may ask why,
(24:05):
And I'm telling you a lot of people, you know,
I talked about how a lot of houses are not
properly vented, like in the seventy percent range, and even
in the winter time if you have improperly vented cook fan,
(24:25):
you know, a range fan, range hood fan, or a
bathroom fan. And never a bad ideas I'm talking sometimes
about getting up in the attic and see what's going on.
Is just to check where that vent is or where
that vent pipe ends in your attic. Is it properly
(24:47):
installed where it's venting outside or through the roof, or
is it laying on the insulation, is it hanging off
a rafter or truss or whatever where it's and you
got a real lot of cube up in that attic.
That can be a different thing too. But as you
pump warm moist air into an attic and there is
(25:11):
no ventilation in that attic's cold and it's not vented properly.
You can't have a mass that warm moist air that's
being vented into the attic and not taken outside. It's
going to hit that cold temperature. And remember, warm air
can hold more moisture than cold air. And if you're
(25:33):
pumping warm moist air into an attic and it hits
an attic temperature of thirty two degrees or forty eight
degrees or thirty one degrees, it's going to be like
raining in your attic because it's going to shed all
that moisture and it may shed that moisture on the
underside of the roof, it may shed the moisture right
(25:56):
on the insulation. And you got the picture then, Because
we always talk about mold and always say, you know,
it takes three ingredients. Mold spores are everywhere inside your house,
outside your house, in the woods, they're everywhere by mother nature.
(26:20):
Organic material is everywhere in your attic. Look at all
the wood, right. So we got organic material, and we
got the mold spores. And all we need to add
is the secret sauce, and that's water. And then you
got mold issues. And in the summertime kind of got
(26:42):
the opposite issue. You got a lot of heat, you know,
ninety five degrees out, you got a black asphalt shingle.
I mean I've seen, you know, with not proper insulation.
I've seen attic temperatures one hundred and forty degrees. Now
think about that. If you got a bedroom right above
(27:05):
the root or right below the roof, so the attics
above you. In a lot of cases and you got
or if you got two story got up upstairs bedrooms,
sometimes that's the cause of the problem. You can never
get them cool. So you got radiant energy hitting a
black shingle, it's being absorbed. It's just cooking in that attic.
(27:29):
You got air conditioning on and it's just a big
hot box. The only thing protecting you in those up
there upstairs bedrooms is the dry wall and what insulation
you have. But if you got one hundred and forty degrees,
I mean like you're literally trying to sleep next to
(27:50):
the wall of an oven, and if it's not properly insulated,
you're not going to be very comfortable. And that's why
I'm always talking. When people talk about insulation, you got
to talk about ventilation equally important, especially in climates where
the four seasons are very very important, so keep that
(28:15):
in mind next time you have a roof inspection or
if you're thinking about putting on a roof. So many
roofing materials warranty are void because it's not properly ventilated.
I think the first two things you're going to read
(28:35):
on a roof warranty is you're going to read about
how it cannot this new roof can't be applied to
the existing roof. If you do, it will void a warranty.
And the next thing you will read is if you're
(28:58):
not properly if that roofof is not properly ventilated, you're
gonna lose the warranty on the roof. So that's why
I'm always talking about how important it is to deal
with a good roofer and can make that make those decisions.
And some some homes are just really really difficult to
get them properly ventilated, especially the ones with a hip roof.
(29:22):
So you know it does read those warranties interchangeing too,
so definitely, uh, you know, read them. Pay attention. Yesterday,
as I hear somebody's blower running outside, I talked about
maybe time to put the power equipment away. And again
(29:43):
if you have a gas mower or if you have
a battery mower. We had a big discussion about battery
mowers because there's an awful lot of them. But if
you're doing the the gas mower, you can go ahead,
and you know, you got to make a choice which
way you're going to do it. You can put in
(30:06):
you know, a fuel stabilizer, fresh gas fuel stabilizer, fuel
stabilizer in the guess that's in the marr and you know,
fill it up all the way. Don't lose it half
because condensation will get in there and that can cause problems.
Or you can run the gas out of the more
(30:29):
and out of the carburettor just get it all out
of the equipment, let it let it clunk out if
you will. For battery equipment, store the battery in areas
that are forty to seventy degrees and you don't keep
(30:49):
them fully charged. You let them get about forty percent charged.
You can get a trickle charger. You can just keep
your eye on it, check it out, and that's if
it's going to be in storage for you know, three
to six months, that's how you would take care of that.
But the most important thing you can do, quite honestly,
(31:12):
is get it cleaned. Well, that's equally important, I should say,
it's not more important. But before you, after you get
all the gas, run I get underneath that more and
get all of that accumulate grass, a lot of times
is just packed and stuck on there. Use a plastic
(31:33):
putty knife and easy for me to say, and just
scrape that grass off and get a blower out, or
use a rag, get all the leaves and dust, change
the air filled, or might even change the spark plug,
sharpen the blade. Get all that stuff done now, and
go ahead and put it in the story. Some of
the newer mowers, whether it's battery or gas, they got
(31:56):
some great apparatuses where you can either fold down or
take off off the handles very easily, and so it
makes for a little more compact storage. So I wanted
to pass those along. Get and be about that time.
All right, let me give you the phone number. We'll
come back, we'll take your calls, and we'll kind of
wrap things up for the weekend, and I will be
(32:17):
here with Danny Boy next Saturday. So certainly wishing every
one a very merry Christmas. In the meantime, let's take
a break, come back and kind of wrap things up.
Your calls are necessary. If you'd like to jump on board,
do so. You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 6 (32:34):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This he's at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
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Speaker 1 (34:25):
And work it like a prob Hey, Gary Salvan here
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(35:14):
back at it, you're at home with Garry Salvan as we.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Kind of.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Wrap things up to a degree. Just some quick safety
tips over Christmas too. If you're burning a fireplace and
got a nice fire on Christmas morning, I know we
all like that mentioned yesterday. It is a fireplace, is
(35:42):
not an incinerator, and it seems like on Christmas it
happens every year. You do not burn gift paper in
the fireplace. You do not burn boxes in the fireplace.
It creates a very quick hot fire. And if you
have an abundance of clear and didn't have that chimney clean,
(36:02):
you very well could have a chimney fire. And if
you've already had one, and you kind of put your
home in jeopardy. So don't burn the gift paper, don't
burn the boxes. All right, let's go to Mike. Mike welcome.
Speaker 9 (36:18):
Yeah. I keep listening to people, you know, talking on
clothes dryers, and there's something that's never been mentioned on
their linen Filder. Yeah, on their linz Fielder. If they
use fabric softener strips that leads an invisible coating in
(36:39):
there that stops the air from going through.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
You're exactly correct. You're exactly correct. Yeah, I think, yeah,
I I do know that we use those at our house,
and I also know religiously we pull out the interior
filter because there's two of them. I was I was
(37:04):
talking about how our vent pipe got clogged from the
screen outside at the end of the vent. But between
loads we'll always clean that that with ours is right
in front of the drum. You just pull it out
of the housing and we'll use a nylon scrub brush
(37:27):
and just go over that to keep you know, that
air flowing. But you're you're exactly correct. I don't mention
it very often. Go ahead.
Speaker 9 (37:38):
Yeah. What I recommend is when you take the lint off,
hold the filter up to your hand and try blowing
through it in a different areas, sometimes only half a bit,
it will be closed.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Off right right, Well, it's vitally in part important even
you know whether it's your outdoor vent or you're in
side air because your clothes aren't going to dry properly,
and you're going to be wasting energy. And if it's
really bad, you're dryer can overheat. So I thank you
(38:12):
for that tip. Bug, appreciate it. All right, let's go
to uh Gail Gail Welcome.
Speaker 10 (38:21):
Well, Hi, I appreciate you taking my car.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Welcome.
Speaker 10 (38:26):
I have a bug problem. I cook every meal and
I have I believe their fruit flies and pantry bugs.
A lady called in at the store. So I've had
blue sticks around and I have the thing that hangs
from the top to catch like flies, but they go
(38:50):
on there too, And I'm trying to clean the covers out,
all the covers at a job.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Yeah, but you gotta do it.
Speaker 10 (39:00):
I mean you're always gonna have some crumbs. I mean
there's just no day to stop it. So I really
don't know what more I can do. Do you have
any ideas?
Speaker 1 (39:12):
So, yeah, so maybe I can help, maybe I can't.
But so, what what type of are they? Little moss?
Or they look like little like fleas or tell me
what they what do you think they are?
Speaker 10 (39:29):
They look like little moths maybe with a tiny tail
or a fruit.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Why so it looks like a moss. Yeah, Okay, So
let's let's work. Let's let's work on that first, okay,
and that there's other things we can work on those.
So you're right. And they're usually brought in through grain, oats,
(39:55):
flower or anything along those lines, So you know, to
be honest with you, I would probably pitch any of
those types of products, get them out of the house.
That would be number one. I went through this. It's
been a number of years, and it was a pain.
I know exactly what you're going through. And I'll tell
you how we ended up getting rid of and I'm serious.
(40:17):
Once we pitched everything and we were cleaning, and we
put everything back in and we got them again.
Speaker 9 (40:27):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
And I started asking questions, started reading about it, and
what I found out is those maws were actually laying
eggs in the pantry. So what we had is we
had not wire racks like we have in our pantry now.
(40:51):
We had wood shelves that had braces on the wall.
And we didn't eradicate the problem till we got rid
of all the grain products in our house and pulled
the shelves out. And then with ah, you know, a
soap and water and I can't remember we used name
(41:13):
bleach or not, but we wipe down all the braces
on the drywall, and then when we put everything back in,
I'd have to look it up and you can. You
can do this, Gale. But one of the things that
helps drive them out, it's is I think it. I
(41:35):
think it's basal or it's bay leaves. I can't remember
which one. Yeah, yeah, And that kind of makes it
undesirable for him in case you bring them back in again.
And uh, but that's that's what our issue was. So
when you say it's a lot of work, it is
(41:58):
a lot of work. But you're going to have to
do it. You're gonna have to get that stuff out
of your house. You're going to have to get that
clean to a point where it's not going to be
an issue if you have woodshelves or anything along those lines.
Even down at the bottom where there's the base board,
just make sure everything's wiped down really good and move
(42:21):
on from there. I think you'll take care of it.
Speaker 10 (42:23):
Though, what if they're drain bugs? What do I do?
Speaker 1 (42:26):
Well, That's what I was going to say. So the
other thing is, you know, that's why I was asking
exactly what they look like. What you described as moss.
That's that's usually how you eradicate what we just talked about.
If they are drain bugs, what you can do is
you can tape some masking tape over the drain. Let's
sit overnight and see if you catch them there. Okay,
(42:48):
they'll stick themselves to the masking tape if they are.
One of the things you can do is if it's
there's a disposal there, you can pull that out and
on the back side of that black guard where you
push the food through, it's usually got all kinds of
bacteria on it, and that's what they're feeding off of.
So we're gonna, you know, clean that up real good.
(43:11):
Maybe even get a disposal cleaner, one of those tablets
you can put in there and create some you know,
get those cleaned real good. Also, if you have any
house plants, sometimes there's different types of insects that will
lay eggs and they look like drain flies, but they're not,
and fly strips get rid of those. That's why I say,
(43:31):
let's test over the drain to make sure they're drain
flies too. So yep, that's that's how I'd eradicate those pests.
I do want to take this time really to wish
everyone a very merry Christmas. It's been a pleasure. We've
been doing a show for a long time, and I
certainly appreciate you listening and spending your weekends with me.
(43:55):
So I hope you and your family have a very
merry Christmas. Danny Boy as always an excellent job, and
merry Christmas do you also, Good Lord Willing back live
next Saturday. You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 6 (44:27):
Thanks the weekend, and you have fixed questions. Give Gary
a call at what eight hundred and eighty two three
talk this. He's at home with Gary Sullivan.
At Home with Gary Sullivan News
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