December 28, 2025 • 45 mins
In this hour of At Home with Gary Sullivan, Gary tackles two pressing home improvement issues. First, he helps a homeowner whose ceiling paint is peeling due to potential moisture issues. Gary suggests testing for moisture and recommends using a good quality latex ceiling paint to prevent future problems. Next, he advises a caller on how to fix a slow-flushing toilet, suggesting checking the water flow and cleaning out debris from the jet hole. With his expertise and friendly guidance, Gary helps listeners tackle their home repair and maintenance needs.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:36):
All right, the weekends here. Welcome Mad Home with Gary
Salvin Tucker, Little Home Improvement. Happy to take your calls
at eight hundred and eighty two three eight two five five,
chatting about your home, your projects. I got it right,
very good. Struggling with the phone numbers today for some reason,
but happy to take your calls. You got me here. Yep,
he's back in the chair and he can answer it.
(00:58):
Not your question, but answer to the call and then
flip it over to me and away we go. Let's
kick this hour off with ever evert.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Welcome, good morning, Gary, enjoy the show.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I'd like to pick your brain and your expertise in paint.
My home is seventeen years old, or we've lived in
seventeen years, two story brick, and I just noticed over
the holidays the ceiling paint in the foyer has began
to blake. And it hasn't started falling off, but just
(01:32):
big flaky areas, and it's scattered throughout the fouryer, not
in any one particular spot. And I know the moisture
and other things like that, and there's no bathroom above it.
The front door has got a porch over it can
paint just fail.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
How long go has it been painted?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, I don't. We've lived here seventeen years and I've never.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Oh okay, okay, I got you. Well, paint can fail
to answer your question, but it's unlikely, okay. So usually
if it starts peeling, usually in the first few years,
I usually fall back on the plan that it probably
(02:21):
wasn't prepped properly. So if that were the case, it
would appealed a long time ago.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Okay, correct, And that was my assumption as well.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Right now, if it fails fifteen years, ten years, eight years,
twenty years, I usually go, probably moisture is getting in
between the layers of paint and causing it to peal.
So we'll visit that in just a second. So you've
been there seventeen years. How old is the house? It is.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Forty seven years old.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Okay, So that was probably done with late text.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Paint, that would be my assumption.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yes, yeah, so around the late seventies, you know we
started you know, late text paint was available before then,
but you know, the oil based paints, the lead based
paints was pretty much outlawed at that point. I think
that was about seventy seven. If it were lead based
(03:28):
paint or oil based paint. It could fail. It could
just fail and start peeling. Is it drywall that's up there.
It's not plaster.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It is drywall, Okay.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
So one of the things we can do well, it's
failing period. You just want to make sure that it's
not going to fail once we scrape it off and
get that thing fixed up again. You want to make
sure there's no moisture. So a couple of ways of
doing this. If it's accessible in the attic and you
(04:04):
could get up there, I would certainly go into those
areas and see if there's you know, I've seen crazy
things where there's a leak in the vent boot which
is just damp at the insulation, which is just barely
damp in the dry wall, which has caused the paint
to peel.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Directly above this for you is my bedroom.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Okay, So nothing going on there. The other the other option,
it could be sometimes it just happens too. I'm just
trying to hunt for things to make you feel a
little about it. If there was a bathroom exhaust pipe
(04:49):
running through behind the ceiling, or something in the base
of the attic or in the cross base, or just
in the wall cavity which was leaking warm air and
hitting cold air and causing a little condensation. Possibility. Unlikely,
but possibility. So really we're back to the kind I
(05:13):
don't know. So if you want to test for moisture,
what you can do is get some painter's grade masking
tape to blue stuff and tape a little you know,
twelve by twelve, eighteen by eighteen whatever size plastic where
that pain is peeling and see if any moisture forms
(05:35):
in that behind that plastic, and if it is, we
probably ought to explore a little bit more. My guess
is it won't, but that'll tell us if there is
a moisture issue. But it doesn't sound like there could
be based on where it's at. However, moisture goes anywhere,
(05:56):
so you never really know. But if that's the case
and it's dry, I think I would scrape it off,
you know, patch it with some topping compound primate and
uh and paint it.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Okay, yeah, and real quick, I'll go again.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I was just gonna say, make sure you use you know,
a good latex ceiling paint. It is breathable, So if
there was any minimal water and I'm sure. That's if
there is any water, it's got to be very very minimal.
It would have stained by now. But a latex ceiling paint,
good quality ceiling paint is breathable effort, so it'll allow
(06:35):
that water vapor to exhaust through where the old oil
based paints did not allow that to happen.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Gotch and real quickly if I could follow up.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
I had called back earlier in the summer or in
the summer. My neighbor and I both were having trouble
with the I believe it's called the crown wash on
the top of our chimneys, correct, and we'd gotten some
estimates from companies around here that was in the thousands
of dollars to remove and replace that and then seal
(07:07):
the chimney. And I called you, and you put me
to Chimney RX, right, and we bought their products and
had a handyman sure apply and for a few hundred
dollars we're back in business.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
I just want to thank you for that recommendation.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
You're quite welcome. That's great stuff too. And it's just
like I always call like a rubber rised band aid.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, and he and I are both up in age,
so thirty and fifty year warranties don't mean a lot
to me right now.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
It's a lifetime warrant you ever.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
That's where we lived for us, and I enjoyed the cell. Gary,
Thank you much. Have a happy new year, right take
care by all right, let me give you the phone
number you can join us as we talked a little
home improvement, and we are live in studio taking your calls.
It's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five
and you can go ahead and grab line. Danny will
(08:08):
take the call and you and I will chat. By
the way, if you're listening to this in it's you know,
a replay or a podcast or whatever. We are here
every weekend, every Saturday and Sunday eight to noon Eastern time,
and that's when you can get your calls in. Happy
(08:29):
to chat with you about what you're working on around
the home. Kind of going back to the umidifiers, I
hope we made that clear. If you have a whole house,
youmidifier on the furnace, on the duckwork. There is a
not filter. It looks like a filter. Everybody calls it
(08:50):
a filter, but it's not a filter. It's about an
inch and a half two inches thick, about ten by ten.
It just sits in there and that water trickles over
that it becomes absorbing and holds that water. And as
the fans going and the furnace is working, it's blowing
that moisture throughout the home, keeping your humidification at a
(09:11):
good level, which makes it more comfortable in your home.
For instance, if you have say sixty eight degrees and
you got twenty percent humidity in your home, it's going
to feel cold cold. And if it's thirty five percent
humidity in there and you got said sixty eight, you
(09:32):
can be comfortable. It does make that much of a difference.
And during the winter time it's all there's a little
dryer in our homes. Ideally, even freezing outside, you want
about thirty five percent umidity on the inside. All right, again,
the phone number's eight hundred eighty two three, eight two
five five. Grab a line and we'll continue with your calls.
You're at home with Gary Salton.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
If you don't have a list of things to do
around the house, Gary will find something for you at
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(12:38):
I hope you're having a great holiday, and we got
a little time to talk about things. We need to
be a little mindful regarding our homes. Maybe it is
a little repair, maybe it's a little maintenance. I know.
The other day, I was always and I always do,
talk about garage door lubrication, how important it is. And
(13:00):
I said, there's two good times to do it at
extreme cold temperatures and extreme warm temperatures. Do it twice
a year, and I always mentioned July, in January July,
and of course in a lot of parts of the country,
we had some extreme winter weather in December beginning of December,
(13:21):
and the other I think it was on Christmas. As
I was, I bet you did this a few times
taking out trash, and I opened the garage door and
it was a little noisy. I could tell it was
not struggling, but it was groaning a little bit. And
(13:43):
immediately put it on my list, and that's going to
get done today because I didn't do it during the
most extreme weather, which was early December. Usually wait till January, yes,
and July, and so that's on my list today to
lubricate it. Easy to use silicone teflons, don't use grease,
(14:04):
don't use real refined oil clean the tracks and stuff.
But we can talk about that also. I always use
the Blaster's got a combination of those of the teflons
and silicons, and it's called a blaster garage door lubricant
and it works great. I haven't done it yet, but
I can tell you that garage is going to be
(14:25):
a lot quieter after I do use it. All right again,
grab a line. We've got a spot for you in
Fay Welcome.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Hello.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
Yes, oh, I have a need another professional opinion regarding
a problem with my toilet.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Okay, it.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
I really can't remember how old it is. I had
replaced the original toilet. I think the house was built
in nineteen sixty and I think I replaced it of
that toilet with this color, maybe maybe ten years ago.
Speaker 5 (15:07):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
And it's one thing, it's very slow filling. It's it
takes about five minutes now to refill. Uh, and it
barely flushes. I've had three plumbers come out. It's been uh,
it's been rooted out twice. No, and one of the
(15:35):
plumbers it was it's well. One of the plumbers suggested
that the company come out and go on the roof
it could it could, and I really did want to
do that, so I didn't go that route. So I
had another plumber come. But but that first plumber did
Actually he showed me by taking a huge bucket of water,
(15:56):
and when he would pour it in, there was no
problem at flushes. So I can't figure out what the
problem is because if you fill it with a five,
you know, a bunch of water, it flushes. So consequently,
I keep an empty milk carton next to the commode
and if I need a really good flush, and I
(16:17):
just flush it and I have to hold it down
all the way the whole time. Uh, And I pour
the water and let the water pour in to get
a really good flush. Otherwise, and that's when you can
get a flush where you hear it going sut down. Otherwise,
I flush it and I'll twirls around and it twirls around.
(16:40):
But now it looks like it flushed something. But it
twirls around, and I don't know if it's a mode.
I mean, have replaced the hardware in the back and
tried that, and that didn't make a difference. So we
just put the old hardware back in.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Uh, Well, what does the plumber say to you, I
mean did he just say oh well, or I mean,
what's the story he didn't fix it?
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Well, no, well they didn't know what to do to
fix it. One of the plumbers did go out into
the yard into the clean out and look down in
through there and there wasn't anything.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Well, I would say, the possibility of it being clogged
or you know, backed up something impeding that is about
twenty percent. So that would be the probably the last
thing I would check. Uh, not the first thing I
would check. So think about the way the toilets set up.
You got a closet that's full of water, and when
(17:42):
you press the lever down and the flapper goes up,
it transfers that water into the bowl, and it should
do it with a little bit of velocity, or you
don't have a strong flush and the water toils around.
So the first thing I would check is not the drain,
we'll get to that, but the amount of water that's
(18:06):
in that closet going into that bowl. When you press
that flush handle down, that flapper goes up. If it
doesn't allow that water to rush into that bowl, it's
not going to flush any waste. It's not going to
give you a good flush. So underneath the rim of
that toilet, there is a series of holes that go
(18:29):
all the way around, right, done that, Okay, So you
get a little compact mirror and you just run that
along underneath that rim and see if those holes are open.
I'm gonna guess they're not. There's gonna be well, Okay,
go ahead.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
I was just gonna say, I have cleaned it and
cleaned it now. I've never really looked to see if
they're open, but I have seen when i've watched it.
I have saying water come down.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Yeah, there's water. I just don't think there's enough of it.
So you can even get like a bobby pin if
you want, and with that compact it's showing those holes.
Is just stick the bobby pin in those holes and
see if you can. Probably hard water deposits in there
that's impeding the water from going from the closet into
(19:20):
the bowl, not giving you a good flush. So that's
number one. Number two, I'm gonna put you on hold
and we'll discuss the other area that might need the
attention and see if we can get that toilet working.
We'll continue at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Time to get your hands dirty with Gary Sullivan. Give
them a call at eight two three talk you're at
home with Gary Cellivator.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
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(20:29):
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it yourself with Demon. Well. One thing to always keep
(22:25):
in mind is the biggest investment many of us make
is our home, and like all investments, it needs your attention.
And that's why we do this show each Saturday and
Sunday to talk about maintenance and repair. And if you'd
like to join us, do so. Our phone number is
eight hundred eight two three eight two five five and
(22:46):
lines are opened. Fay, Let's get back to the toilet
issue here. We talked about getting enough flush down in there,
and I really do feel like that's probably your biggest problem.
The other problem is not so much blockage from you know,
like when kids are real small. I'd have one of
(23:08):
the kids that always throw down one of these little
rubber ized tiny cars and they get trapped in the
in the trap on the toilet. But a trap in
a toilet goes down, then it goes straight up, and
it does a one eighty and straight down, and normally
things will get wedged in there, like somebody tosses a
dixie cup in there, or a toy or something like that.
(23:29):
But usually backing up is not an issue. But it
requires not only an xyz amount of water, it also
requires a good airflow. Nobody ever thinks about air floor
flow when you're flushing a toilet, and that's where that
pipe is on the roof. That could have some debris
(23:53):
in it. But there's also when you look down into
that toilet, you'll see a little hole to the front
of the toilet under the water, and that's a vacuum hole.
It's actually a jet hole, okay, and hard water deposits
get clogged up in the air and you don't have
(24:13):
that air, and all of a sudden, the toilet kind
of functions like if you had a gas can and
you didn't flip up the vent in the back, it
just kind of blurb blurb blurb. It doesn't really flush evenly,
and it doesn't flush good. So down in that hole,
put yourself an old toothbrush or something, some rubber gloves
(24:35):
and just get that back in that jet hole and
just god just keep you know, trying, and scrub the
inside of that hole out. Okay, you'll see all kinds
of gunk come out of there. Then get a bottle.
Get a bottle of CLR It's calcium lime rusty movie.
You can get a hardware stores grocery stores. Take that
(24:57):
whole court bottle and pour it into that toilet bowl,
and let's sit overnight and then try and flush it
in the morning. See if that helps. Okay, Okay, those
two things are basically cleaning out the ports for the
air and also opening up the ports for more water.
(25:20):
I think it's the ports underneath the rim and it
needs more water. And I think you're kind of proving
that to yourself by putting in the juggle, right right.
But try both of those and see if they don't
help your problem.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Okay, great, Well, I'm so glad I thought to call you.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I certainly needed.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
Another suggestion, another opinion.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Very good.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
I'll let you know. I'll let you know what happens.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
I hope it helps you out. Very good. Thank you.
Pay all right, and again our phone number you can
grab a line. We got them. They're open. It's eight
hundred eight two three eight two five five. Happy to
take your calls as we talk a little home improvement.
All right. It's you know, after the holidays, of course,
we've had maybe a lot of people at the house,
(26:10):
maybe a lot of kids at the house. You're gonna
find a little ding and dent in the walls, and
you're gonna see a scratch, and you're gonna maybe if
you're finicky about your home, and some of us are,
some of us not so much. But if you are
finicky about your home, you're gonna want to do a
little paint touch up if you have, and I hope
(26:32):
you do saved some paint that can match that room.
Of course, you know, make sure it's well stirred or
well shook up, because especially darker colors, maybe dark olives,
(26:53):
which are pretty popular right now, um or maybe even
a dark blue. If you just kind of stick stir
that and dip a little paint brush and know, I've
got that little scratch mark. I got that little scratch mark,
it's not gonna it's not gonna. It's not gonna look good.
Those have a lot of pigment in it. Pigment is
(27:15):
heavier than the water, which is the base of the paint.
What I would do, if you're gonna have a darker
color and you're gonna touch it up, I would either
get myself a paint stick and really stir it up,
so with stern arounds, just not around the circles. It's
down in the center. Lift up and stir around. Lift
(27:36):
up and stir around, or take it to the hardware
store or paint store. Make sure the lid's on nice
and tight, and let him put it on the shaker.
It only has to be on there for a minute.
And take it home and pop that lid off. You
can get yourself again. It's probably been painted with a
(27:57):
with a paint brush, uh or a paint roller, and
don't use a brush, That's what I'm trying to say.
So you can get one of these little tiny rollers,
four inch rollers, even if you just use that in
a little plastic tray and touch it up with that.
The fading of paints is in the last ten years
(28:20):
is minimalized. You used to say you can't really touch
it up because the paints faded the windows allowed too
much UV lighting. Not so, not a problem anymore. The
windows are better and so is the paint. It will match,
but it will not match unless it's really you know,
mixed up, be it a stick or taking the hardware
(28:43):
store and get it on the shaker. But I'm telling
you take that extra little step. It might take just
a little bit longer. But some of those darker colors,
with that smooth, flat, sweetish look, if you don't get
to all of that pigments stirred up up into that paint,
you're gonna notice it. It's gonna be diluted. It's gonna
(29:03):
be a little bit lighter. So trust man that one.
All right, let's go to Debbie. Debbie, welcome, Hi Gary.
How are you doing fine? Thanks?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Good.
Speaker 6 (29:14):
So I've got a question. I bought a house in October.
It's a ranch and it's got a partial basement and
there's a crawl space under three of the bedrooms. Okay,
the bedrooms are very cold. So I looked in the
crawl space. There is insulation in it on the walls.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Okay, it's like unfaced.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
Insulation, and there is plastic on the floor. All right,
some of the plastic is ripped in places. But I
guess my question is, is there anyway I can get
those bedrooms to warm up? The rest of the house
is fine. You go in those bedrooms and you can feel.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
The yeah, and I'm guessing that is the problem, though
it could be other things, such as the dampers that
are in the pipes that are going to those bedrooms.
Maybe the joints aren't sealed, maybe they're not real tight'.
In other words, you're not getting the full amount of
heated air back there. It could also be that, um
(30:24):
maybe the filter isn't you know. Again, it's the further
reaches are those bedrooms also, so it could be the
delivery system. There are adjustments on the damper that can
allow more air to go back there because it's satisfying
the thermostat. And I'm assuming the house thermostat is not
in those three back bedrooms. It's probably you know, it's
(30:47):
on the opposite end of that, Yeah, exactly, seeing when
you're blowing that heat, it's satisfying that thermostat there, but
there's not enough getting back to those back bedrooms. I'm
just bringing this up. It's going to be hard to
determine which it is. It can certainly it can certainly
be the crawl space, and there can certainly be some
(31:09):
improvements with that. So I just wanted to throw that
other thing in there. So what kind of islation.
Speaker 6 (31:15):
See the insulation blowing like it's vented, but I can
see when the wind blows that insulation blows in there.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
So okay, So what kind of insulation is on the walls.
Speaker 6 (31:30):
It's like a cream colored it's not faced, Okay, it
looks like the pink okay.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Okay, so you can't really tell how it's stuck to
that now, okay, all right, So it's helpful, Okay, it's
helpful and unfaced. All that means is it allows water
vapor to come through it, which is when it's below grades.
A good idea. So they got the right kind of
(31:58):
insulation up there, and there's none underneath the the floors
of those bedrooms. Correct, No, there is there an opening
in that crawl space for ventilation. They don't do it
too much now, but they used to do it.
Speaker 6 (32:16):
Where there's als was built in seventy one, okay. And
there's vents, two vents on either side of the crawl space.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Okay. Do you have those open or closed?
Speaker 7 (32:27):
They're open?
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Okay. Probably close those, okay, because they're not really helping
you in the summer or the winter. When you think
about it. The summer, the only way it can ventilate
is if there's a wind. And there's wind in the summertime,
but not a lot of windy days and the air
outside is very humid, and a lot of problems with
(32:51):
crawl spaces is there's moisture issues. Okay, so we really
I would close those. There's a there's trends in building
practices now called whole house encapsulation, cross space encapsulation, attic encapsulation,
(33:11):
where they're just they're going to close off those vents.
They're going to insulate the walls, and they're gonna insulate
the floor. Even though it's Mother Earth what they'll do,
and and it's not cheap if somebody else does it,
but they'll they'll use that. Yeah, I mean it's three
grand plus maybe, But you can do some things. I
(33:34):
mean you you can do some things, even if it's
a matter of putting closed cell poam panels on the
ground and covering it with a ten mili plastic. Okay,
that's going to create some you know, it won't be
real super cold. You close those vents, you won't have
(33:54):
winter wind blowing in there. And I'd leave I'd leave
my on the walls as is. Unless we can figure
out a reason why we don't want to do that.
I'm guessing it goes from top to bottom.
Speaker 6 (34:10):
No, they're just small vents right in the Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
I'm I'm sorry, I'm talking about the insulation on the walls.
Does that go from Yeah, okay, So we'll leave those
the same. Maybe we'll work on insulating the floor, closing
up the vents and see if that helps. I would
not insulate underneath that floor. I mean it's a possibility
(34:34):
you can, but I don't think I would do it
until I close those vents and create a better moisture barrier,
and a closed cell foam will not allow water to
come through that foam. Put that on the base, even
if you use duct tape together and then just put
a ten mili plastic right on there. It'll check the
(34:56):
water and it'll also minimize cold air from going on
because that ground temperature stays, as you know in the fifties,
year round. But you know, so you'll you'll warm that
area up a little bit and that might be enough. Okay,
So and if nothing else, it will help you anyway
(35:18):
with a moisture issue, which you know can lead to
molds and things like that. So I would definitely do
that to the cross space, even if it wasn't cold bedrooms.
Speaker 7 (35:30):
Okay, Okay, and then if it.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Doesn't work, I would really next time you have an
HVAC person there, talk to them, see if they can
make some adjustments on a vent runs, See if they
can make some adjustments maybe on cold air returns. Those
all play into not keeping those maybe even a wireless
(35:53):
thermostats for those bedrooms. So there's other things you can do,
but for the cross space, that's what I would do.
All right, Thank you much for the call. Appreciate it.
All right. We got Mike, Mike pat Ron and you
if you'd like to join us as we're talking a
little home improvement and you're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com.
Speaker 8 (36:17):
This he's at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
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All right, let's get back to work. What do you say?
(38:50):
Nine minutes before the top of the are talking about
your home? And uh let's kick this uh period off
with Mike. Mike, welcome, Hi, How are you doing doing? Good? Sir?
Thank you?
Speaker 7 (39:03):
Well, I'm a plumber. I'm calling about the woman who
just called about the toilet not flushing properly.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Uh huh.
Speaker 7 (39:11):
And and one thing I always used to do is
uh I would take a five gallon bucket of water
and pour it in the ball and see if that
would initiate the flush, right, don't you know, determine whether
waste or and uh and normally than that, but a
lot of times old water clouses, they just they lime
up so bad. And you know, I've tried, I've tried
(39:34):
the rust removers and lime removers, and sometimes you just
gotta go ahead.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
And I hear you, well, that's what was kind of
baffling me, to be honest with you, is she had
a plumber out there, and I don't know what this
story is. You know, every every service calls a little different,
right and uh, you know, the like replace the inside
parts of the toilet, and said, well, it might be
a problem on the roof. And then was that I said,
(40:00):
well did they They never fixed the problem? Then she
says no, And I hear exactly what you're talking about.
I mean, I didn't get that far, but you know,
lined up rim yeah clr, yes, small chance I will
work if it's got that whole wind and maybe knocking
some loose hard water deposits. Yeah, And I know you
(40:23):
guys used to use moratic asi and I don't recommend
homeowners to do that.
Speaker 7 (40:28):
Yeah, well, meridic acid, I used to use it. Ton't
wipe the lead joints.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Yeah, sometimes you're you're exactly right. And I think she
said it was interesting. I callers run together after a while,
But I think she said the toilet was only like
ten to twelve years old. So I didn't know if
it was maybe, you know, and I wasn't going to
ask her. I don't think she would have known. I
didn't know if there was. You know, that certainly falls
(40:58):
in the era of the low flush toilets, and I
don't know, but it seemed like it's just started happening.
Didn't seem like it was a problem from the get go.
So you know, he said, he snaked out the.
Speaker 7 (41:10):
Toilet, put them bowl cleaners in the tank. Yeah, and
then when you flush, it opens that flush valve and
that thing will slip down in there and kind of
claws of blockage. But that's kind of a temporary thing.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
Yeah. Eventually, well, you might be right, she may need
another toilet, and I give some little basics, maybe she'll
get lucky and move some of those and and it
it works. Sometimes it's not a surefire fix. Obviously.
Speaker 7 (41:40):
Sometimes you take that five gallon bucket, fill it with
water and it flushes the bowl, and then instead of
going further, you just keep filling that five gallon bucket
up and have it sit next to the water well.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
So so, Mike, I don't know, you might have missed
the very first part of that call. So she was
talking about the plumbers that she had there, and I said,
so there was no solution and she said no, and
I thought that was strange. And she has a milk carton. Yeah,
she has a milk carton. So it was one gallon
and it's right next to the toilet and she flushes
(42:14):
and pours that milk carton in there and it removes
the waste it flushes. So I was pretty much back
underneath the rim. Somehow it's being impeded. It's not getting
that water from the closet to the bowl.
Speaker 7 (42:31):
Yeah, and venting too, I mean some of them at
the vents are clogged. You know, birds make nests, squirrels,
everything climbs. In the event, clumber should at least run
a snake or something down the vent. But I don't
know if a lot of times I'd just say replace
the water closet years old.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
That seemed odd.
Speaker 7 (42:53):
I mean, I'm still from the old school. Like the
old six gallon flushers.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
Took care of everything, didn't it.
Speaker 7 (43:01):
Well, the problem with these new water claws that you know,
they're one and a half gallon flush, and what happens
is it's not enough water to kiyo collins y. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
And even some of them now are like zero point six.
Speaker 7 (43:17):
Oh yeah yeah. The old duel plush too.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
Yeah, it's not enough water.
Speaker 7 (43:23):
So and if you have a four inch sewer line,
it's not enough.
Speaker 1 (43:27):
Water to carry the waist out right.
Speaker 7 (43:29):
If you got a three inch, well maybe it might work.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
But I hear you. Mike, thanks for the call. I
appreciate it. We're gonna be up against the top of
the are, but thank you very much for the call.
Appreciate it. Call any time. I love to have your help.
We'll continue. We'll have Pat, Mike and Ron. If you'd
like to join us, please do. It's eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five.
Speaker 9 (43:51):
We're talking about your home, and you're at home with
Garry Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
Home Improvement one O one with Gary Sullivan every weekend.
Classes begin at one eight hundred and eighty two three tall.
You're at home with Gary Sullivan,
All right, the weekends here. Welcome Mad Home with Gary
Salvin Tucker, Little Home Improvement. Happy to take your calls
at eight hundred and eighty two three eight two five five,
chatting about your home, your projects. I got it right,
very good. Struggling with the phone numbers today for some reason,
but happy to take your calls. You got me here. Yep,
he's back in the chair and he can answer it.
(00:58):
Not your question, but answer to the call and then
flip it over to me and away we go. Let's
kick this hour off with ever evert.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Welcome, good morning, Gary, enjoy the show.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I'd like to pick your brain and your expertise in paint.
My home is seventeen years old, or we've lived in
seventeen years, two story brick, and I just noticed over
the holidays the ceiling paint in the foyer has began
to blake. And it hasn't started falling off, but just
(01:32):
big flaky areas, and it's scattered throughout the fouryer, not
in any one particular spot. And I know the moisture
and other things like that, and there's no bathroom above it.
The front door has got a porch over it can
paint just fail.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
How long go has it been painted?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, I don't. We've lived here seventeen years and I've never.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Oh okay, okay, I got you. Well, paint can fail
to answer your question, but it's unlikely, okay. So usually
if it starts peeling, usually in the first few years,
I usually fall back on the plan that it probably
(02:21):
wasn't prepped properly. So if that were the case, it
would appealed a long time ago.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Okay, correct, And that was my assumption as well.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Right now, if it fails fifteen years, ten years, eight years,
twenty years, I usually go, probably moisture is getting in
between the layers of paint and causing it to peal.
So we'll visit that in just a second. So you've
been there seventeen years. How old is the house? It is.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Forty seven years old.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Okay, So that was probably done with late text.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Paint, that would be my assumption.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yes, yeah, so around the late seventies, you know we
started you know, late text paint was available before then,
but you know, the oil based paints, the lead based
paints was pretty much outlawed at that point. I think
that was about seventy seven. If it were lead based
(03:28):
paint or oil based paint. It could fail. It could
just fail and start peeling. Is it drywall that's up there.
It's not plaster.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It is drywall, Okay.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
So one of the things we can do well, it's
failing period. You just want to make sure that it's
not going to fail once we scrape it off and
get that thing fixed up again. You want to make
sure there's no moisture. So a couple of ways of
doing this. If it's accessible in the attic and you
(04:04):
could get up there, I would certainly go into those
areas and see if there's you know, I've seen crazy
things where there's a leak in the vent boot which
is just damp at the insulation, which is just barely
damp in the dry wall, which has caused the paint
to peel.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Directly above this for you is my bedroom.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Okay, So nothing going on there. The other the other option,
it could be sometimes it just happens too. I'm just
trying to hunt for things to make you feel a
little about it. If there was a bathroom exhaust pipe
(04:49):
running through behind the ceiling, or something in the base
of the attic or in the cross base, or just
in the wall cavity which was leaking warm air and
hitting cold air and causing a little condensation. Possibility. Unlikely,
but possibility. So really we're back to the kind I
(05:13):
don't know. So if you want to test for moisture,
what you can do is get some painter's grade masking
tape to blue stuff and tape a little you know,
twelve by twelve, eighteen by eighteen whatever size plastic where
that pain is peeling and see if any moisture forms
(05:35):
in that behind that plastic, and if it is, we
probably ought to explore a little bit more. My guess
is it won't, but that'll tell us if there is
a moisture issue. But it doesn't sound like there could
be based on where it's at. However, moisture goes anywhere,
(05:56):
so you never really know. But if that's the case
and it's dry, I think I would scrape it off,
you know, patch it with some topping compound primate and
uh and paint it.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Okay, yeah, and real quick, I'll go again.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I was just gonna say, make sure you use you know,
a good latex ceiling paint. It is breathable, So if
there was any minimal water and I'm sure. That's if
there is any water, it's got to be very very minimal.
It would have stained by now. But a latex ceiling paint,
good quality ceiling paint is breathable effort, so it'll allow
(06:35):
that water vapor to exhaust through where the old oil
based paints did not allow that to happen.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Gotch and real quickly if I could follow up.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
I had called back earlier in the summer or in
the summer. My neighbor and I both were having trouble
with the I believe it's called the crown wash on
the top of our chimneys, correct, and we'd gotten some
estimates from companies around here that was in the thousands
of dollars to remove and replace that and then seal
(07:07):
the chimney. And I called you, and you put me
to Chimney RX, right, and we bought their products and
had a handyman sure apply and for a few hundred
dollars we're back in business.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
I just want to thank you for that recommendation.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
You're quite welcome. That's great stuff too. And it's just
like I always call like a rubber rised band aid.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, and he and I are both up in age,
so thirty and fifty year warranties don't mean a lot
to me right now.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
It's a lifetime warrant you ever.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
That's where we lived for us, and I enjoyed the cell. Gary,
Thank you much. Have a happy new year, right take
care by all right, let me give you the phone
number you can join us as we talked a little
home improvement, and we are live in studio taking your calls.
It's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five
and you can go ahead and grab line. Danny will
(08:08):
take the call and you and I will chat. By
the way, if you're listening to this in it's you know,
a replay or a podcast or whatever. We are here
every weekend, every Saturday and Sunday eight to noon Eastern time,
and that's when you can get your calls in. Happy
(08:29):
to chat with you about what you're working on around
the home. Kind of going back to the umidifiers, I
hope we made that clear. If you have a whole house,
youmidifier on the furnace, on the duckwork. There is a
not filter. It looks like a filter. Everybody calls it
(08:50):
a filter, but it's not a filter. It's about an
inch and a half two inches thick, about ten by ten.
It just sits in there and that water trickles over
that it becomes absorbing and holds that water. And as
the fans going and the furnace is working, it's blowing
that moisture throughout the home, keeping your humidification at a
(09:11):
good level, which makes it more comfortable in your home.
For instance, if you have say sixty eight degrees and
you got twenty percent humidity in your home, it's going
to feel cold cold. And if it's thirty five percent
humidity in there and you got said sixty eight, you
(09:32):
can be comfortable. It does make that much of a difference.
And during the winter time it's all there's a little
dryer in our homes. Ideally, even freezing outside, you want
about thirty five percent umidity on the inside. All right, again,
the phone number's eight hundred eighty two three, eight two
five five. Grab a line and we'll continue with your calls.
You're at home with Gary Salton.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
If you don't have a list of things to do
around the house, Gary will find something for you at
one eight hundred eighty two free talk. You're at home
with Gary's elevator.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
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(10:38):
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(12:38):
I hope you're having a great holiday, and we got
a little time to talk about things. We need to
be a little mindful regarding our homes. Maybe it is
a little repair, maybe it's a little maintenance. I know.
The other day, I was always and I always do,
talk about garage door lubrication, how important it is. And
(13:00):
I said, there's two good times to do it at
extreme cold temperatures and extreme warm temperatures. Do it twice
a year, and I always mentioned July, in January July,
and of course in a lot of parts of the country,
we had some extreme winter weather in December beginning of December,
(13:21):
and the other I think it was on Christmas. As
I was, I bet you did this a few times
taking out trash, and I opened the garage door and
it was a little noisy. I could tell it was
not struggling, but it was groaning a little bit. And
(13:43):
immediately put it on my list, and that's going to
get done today because I didn't do it during the
most extreme weather, which was early December. Usually wait till January, yes,
and July, and so that's on my list today to
lubricate it. Easy to use silicone teflons, don't use grease,
(14:04):
don't use real refined oil clean the tracks and stuff.
But we can talk about that also. I always use
the Blaster's got a combination of those of the teflons
and silicons, and it's called a blaster garage door lubricant
and it works great. I haven't done it yet, but
I can tell you that garage is going to be
(14:25):
a lot quieter after I do use it. All right again,
grab a line. We've got a spot for you in
Fay Welcome.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Hello.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
Yes, oh, I have a need another professional opinion regarding
a problem with my toilet.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Okay, it.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
I really can't remember how old it is. I had
replaced the original toilet. I think the house was built
in nineteen sixty and I think I replaced it of
that toilet with this color, maybe maybe ten years ago.
Speaker 5 (15:07):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
And it's one thing, it's very slow filling. It's it
takes about five minutes now to refill. Uh, and it
barely flushes. I've had three plumbers come out. It's been uh,
it's been rooted out twice. No, and one of the
(15:35):
plumbers it was it's well. One of the plumbers suggested
that the company come out and go on the roof
it could it could, and I really did want to
do that, so I didn't go that route. So I
had another plumber come. But but that first plumber did
Actually he showed me by taking a huge bucket of water,
(15:56):
and when he would pour it in, there was no
problem at flushes. So I can't figure out what the
problem is because if you fill it with a five,
you know, a bunch of water, it flushes. So consequently,
I keep an empty milk carton next to the commode
and if I need a really good flush, and I
(16:17):
just flush it and I have to hold it down
all the way the whole time. Uh, And I pour
the water and let the water pour in to get
a really good flush. Otherwise, and that's when you can
get a flush where you hear it going sut down. Otherwise,
I flush it and I'll twirls around and it twirls around.
(16:40):
But now it looks like it flushed something. But it
twirls around, and I don't know if it's a mode.
I mean, have replaced the hardware in the back and
tried that, and that didn't make a difference. So we
just put the old hardware back in.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Uh, Well, what does the plumber say to you, I
mean did he just say oh well, or I mean,
what's the story he didn't fix it?
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Well, no, well they didn't know what to do to
fix it. One of the plumbers did go out into
the yard into the clean out and look down in
through there and there wasn't anything.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Well, I would say, the possibility of it being clogged
or you know, backed up something impeding that is about
twenty percent. So that would be the probably the last
thing I would check. Uh, not the first thing I
would check. So think about the way the toilets set up.
You got a closet that's full of water, and when
(17:42):
you press the lever down and the flapper goes up,
it transfers that water into the bowl, and it should
do it with a little bit of velocity, or you
don't have a strong flush and the water toils around.
So the first thing I would check is not the drain,
we'll get to that, but the amount of water that's
(18:06):
in that closet going into that bowl. When you press
that flush handle down, that flapper goes up. If it
doesn't allow that water to rush into that bowl, it's
not going to flush any waste. It's not going to
give you a good flush. So underneath the rim of
that toilet, there is a series of holes that go
(18:29):
all the way around, right, done that, Okay, So you
get a little compact mirror and you just run that
along underneath that rim and see if those holes are open.
I'm gonna guess they're not. There's gonna be well, Okay,
go ahead.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
I was just gonna say, I have cleaned it and
cleaned it now. I've never really looked to see if
they're open, but I have seen when i've watched it.
I have saying water come down.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Yeah, there's water. I just don't think there's enough of it.
So you can even get like a bobby pin if
you want, and with that compact it's showing those holes.
Is just stick the bobby pin in those holes and
see if you can. Probably hard water deposits in there
that's impeding the water from going from the closet into
(19:20):
the bowl, not giving you a good flush. So that's
number one. Number two, I'm gonna put you on hold
and we'll discuss the other area that might need the
attention and see if we can get that toilet working.
We'll continue at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Time to get your hands dirty with Gary Sullivan. Give
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home with Gary Cellivator.
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(22:25):
in mind is the biggest investment many of us make
is our home, and like all investments, it needs your attention.
And that's why we do this show each Saturday and
Sunday to talk about maintenance and repair. And if you'd
like to join us, do so. Our phone number is
eight hundred eight two three eight two five five and
(22:46):
lines are opened. Fay, Let's get back to the toilet
issue here. We talked about getting enough flush down in there,
and I really do feel like that's probably your biggest problem.
The other problem is not so much blockage from you know,
like when kids are real small. I'd have one of
(23:08):
the kids that always throw down one of these little
rubber ized tiny cars and they get trapped in the
in the trap on the toilet. But a trap in
a toilet goes down, then it goes straight up, and
it does a one eighty and straight down, and normally
things will get wedged in there, like somebody tosses a
dixie cup in there, or a toy or something like that.
(23:29):
But usually backing up is not an issue. But it
requires not only an xyz amount of water, it also
requires a good airflow. Nobody ever thinks about air floor
flow when you're flushing a toilet, and that's where that
pipe is on the roof. That could have some debris
(23:53):
in it. But there's also when you look down into
that toilet, you'll see a little hole to the front
of the toilet under the water, and that's a vacuum hole.
It's actually a jet hole, okay, and hard water deposits
get clogged up in the air and you don't have
(24:13):
that air, and all of a sudden, the toilet kind
of functions like if you had a gas can and
you didn't flip up the vent in the back, it
just kind of blurb blurb blurb. It doesn't really flush evenly,
and it doesn't flush good. So down in that hole,
put yourself an old toothbrush or something, some rubber gloves
(24:35):
and just get that back in that jet hole and
just god just keep you know, trying, and scrub the
inside of that hole out. Okay, you'll see all kinds
of gunk come out of there. Then get a bottle.
Get a bottle of CLR It's calcium lime rusty movie.
You can get a hardware stores grocery stores. Take that
(24:57):
whole court bottle and pour it into that toilet bowl,
and let's sit overnight and then try and flush it
in the morning. See if that helps. Okay, Okay, those
two things are basically cleaning out the ports for the
air and also opening up the ports for more water.
(25:20):
I think it's the ports underneath the rim and it
needs more water. And I think you're kind of proving
that to yourself by putting in the juggle, right right.
But try both of those and see if they don't
help your problem.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Okay, great, Well, I'm so glad I thought to call you.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I certainly needed.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
Another suggestion, another opinion.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Very good.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
I'll let you know. I'll let you know what happens.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
I hope it helps you out. Very good. Thank you.
Pay all right, and again our phone number you can
grab a line. We got them. They're open. It's eight
hundred eight two three eight two five five. Happy to
take your calls as we talk a little home improvement.
All right. It's you know, after the holidays, of course,
we've had maybe a lot of people at the house,
(26:10):
maybe a lot of kids at the house. You're gonna
find a little ding and dent in the walls, and
you're gonna see a scratch, and you're gonna maybe if
you're finicky about your home, and some of us are,
some of us not so much. But if you are
finicky about your home, you're gonna want to do a
little paint touch up if you have, and I hope
(26:32):
you do saved some paint that can match that room.
Of course, you know, make sure it's well stirred or
well shook up, because especially darker colors, maybe dark olives,
(26:53):
which are pretty popular right now, um or maybe even
a dark blue. If you just kind of stick stir
that and dip a little paint brush and know, I've
got that little scratch mark. I got that little scratch mark,
it's not gonna it's not gonna. It's not gonna look good.
Those have a lot of pigment in it. Pigment is
(27:15):
heavier than the water, which is the base of the paint.
What I would do, if you're gonna have a darker
color and you're gonna touch it up, I would either
get myself a paint stick and really stir it up,
so with stern arounds, just not around the circles. It's
down in the center. Lift up and stir around. Lift
(27:36):
up and stir around, or take it to the hardware
store or paint store. Make sure the lid's on nice
and tight, and let him put it on the shaker.
It only has to be on there for a minute.
And take it home and pop that lid off. You
can get yourself again. It's probably been painted with a
(27:57):
with a paint brush, uh or a paint roller, and
don't use a brush, That's what I'm trying to say.
So you can get one of these little tiny rollers,
four inch rollers, even if you just use that in
a little plastic tray and touch it up with that.
The fading of paints is in the last ten years
(28:20):
is minimalized. You used to say you can't really touch
it up because the paints faded the windows allowed too
much UV lighting. Not so, not a problem anymore. The
windows are better and so is the paint. It will match,
but it will not match unless it's really you know,
mixed up, be it a stick or taking the hardware
(28:43):
store and get it on the shaker. But I'm telling
you take that extra little step. It might take just
a little bit longer. But some of those darker colors,
with that smooth, flat, sweetish look, if you don't get
to all of that pigments stirred up up into that paint,
you're gonna notice it. It's gonna be diluted. It's gonna
(29:03):
be a little bit lighter. So trust man that one.
All right, let's go to Debbie. Debbie, welcome, Hi Gary.
How are you doing fine? Thanks?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Good.
Speaker 6 (29:14):
So I've got a question. I bought a house in October.
It's a ranch and it's got a partial basement and
there's a crawl space under three of the bedrooms. Okay,
the bedrooms are very cold. So I looked in the
crawl space. There is insulation in it on the walls.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Okay, it's like unfaced.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
Insulation, and there is plastic on the floor. All right,
some of the plastic is ripped in places. But I
guess my question is, is there anyway I can get
those bedrooms to warm up? The rest of the house
is fine. You go in those bedrooms and you can feel.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
The yeah, and I'm guessing that is the problem, though
it could be other things, such as the dampers that
are in the pipes that are going to those bedrooms.
Maybe the joints aren't sealed, maybe they're not real tight'.
In other words, you're not getting the full amount of
heated air back there. It could also be that, um
(30:24):
maybe the filter isn't you know. Again, it's the further
reaches are those bedrooms also, so it could be the
delivery system. There are adjustments on the damper that can
allow more air to go back there because it's satisfying
the thermostat. And I'm assuming the house thermostat is not
in those three back bedrooms. It's probably you know, it's
(30:47):
on the opposite end of that, Yeah, exactly, seeing when
you're blowing that heat, it's satisfying that thermostat there, but
there's not enough getting back to those back bedrooms. I'm
just bringing this up. It's going to be hard to
determine which it is. It can certainly it can certainly
be the crawl space, and there can certainly be some
(31:09):
improvements with that. So I just wanted to throw that
other thing in there. So what kind of islation.
Speaker 6 (31:15):
See the insulation blowing like it's vented, but I can
see when the wind blows that insulation blows in there.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
So okay, So what kind of insulation is on the walls.
Speaker 6 (31:30):
It's like a cream colored it's not faced, Okay, it
looks like the pink okay.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Okay, so you can't really tell how it's stuck to
that now, okay, all right, So it's helpful, Okay, it's
helpful and unfaced. All that means is it allows water
vapor to come through it, which is when it's below grades.
A good idea. So they got the right kind of
(31:58):
insulation up there, and there's none underneath the the floors
of those bedrooms. Correct, No, there is there an opening
in that crawl space for ventilation. They don't do it
too much now, but they used to do it.
Speaker 6 (32:16):
Where there's als was built in seventy one, okay. And
there's vents, two vents on either side of the crawl space.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Okay. Do you have those open or closed?
Speaker 7 (32:27):
They're open?
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Okay. Probably close those, okay, because they're not really helping
you in the summer or the winter. When you think
about it. The summer, the only way it can ventilate
is if there's a wind. And there's wind in the summertime,
but not a lot of windy days and the air
outside is very humid, and a lot of problems with
(32:51):
crawl spaces is there's moisture issues. Okay, so we really
I would close those. There's a there's trends in building
practices now called whole house encapsulation, cross space encapsulation, attic encapsulation,
(33:11):
where they're just they're going to close off those vents.
They're going to insulate the walls, and they're gonna insulate
the floor. Even though it's Mother Earth what they'll do,
and and it's not cheap if somebody else does it,
but they'll they'll use that. Yeah, I mean it's three
grand plus maybe, But you can do some things. I
(33:34):
mean you you can do some things, even if it's
a matter of putting closed cell poam panels on the
ground and covering it with a ten mili plastic. Okay,
that's going to create some you know, it won't be
real super cold. You close those vents, you won't have
(33:54):
winter wind blowing in there. And I'd leave I'd leave
my on the walls as is. Unless we can figure
out a reason why we don't want to do that.
I'm guessing it goes from top to bottom.
Speaker 6 (34:10):
No, they're just small vents right in the Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
I'm I'm sorry, I'm talking about the insulation on the walls.
Does that go from Yeah, okay, So we'll leave those
the same. Maybe we'll work on insulating the floor, closing
up the vents and see if that helps. I would
not insulate underneath that floor. I mean it's a possibility
(34:34):
you can, but I don't think I would do it
until I close those vents and create a better moisture barrier,
and a closed cell foam will not allow water to
come through that foam. Put that on the base, even
if you use duct tape together and then just put
a ten mili plastic right on there. It'll check the
(34:56):
water and it'll also minimize cold air from going on
because that ground temperature stays, as you know in the fifties,
year round. But you know, so you'll you'll warm that
area up a little bit and that might be enough. Okay,
So and if nothing else, it will help you anyway
(35:18):
with a moisture issue, which you know can lead to
molds and things like that. So I would definitely do
that to the cross space, even if it wasn't cold bedrooms.
Speaker 7 (35:30):
Okay, Okay, and then if it.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Doesn't work, I would really next time you have an
HVAC person there, talk to them, see if they can
make some adjustments on a vent runs, See if they
can make some adjustments maybe on cold air returns. Those
all play into not keeping those maybe even a wireless
(35:53):
thermostats for those bedrooms. So there's other things you can do,
but for the cross space, that's what I would do.
All right, Thank you much for the call. Appreciate it.
All right. We got Mike, Mike pat Ron and you
if you'd like to join us as we're talking a
little home improvement and you're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Help for your home is just a click away at
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All right, let's get back to work. What do you say?
(38:50):
Nine minutes before the top of the are talking about
your home? And uh let's kick this uh period off
with Mike. Mike, welcome, Hi, How are you doing doing? Good? Sir?
Thank you?
Speaker 7 (39:03):
Well, I'm a plumber. I'm calling about the woman who
just called about the toilet not flushing properly.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Uh huh.
Speaker 7 (39:11):
And and one thing I always used to do is
uh I would take a five gallon bucket of water
and pour it in the ball and see if that
would initiate the flush, right, don't you know, determine whether
waste or and uh and normally than that, but a
lot of times old water clouses, they just they lime
up so bad. And you know, I've tried, I've tried
(39:34):
the rust removers and lime removers, and sometimes you just
gotta go ahead.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
And I hear you, well, that's what was kind of
baffling me, to be honest with you, is she had
a plumber out there, and I don't know what this
story is. You know, every every service calls a little different,
right and uh, you know, the like replace the inside
parts of the toilet, and said, well, it might be
a problem on the roof. And then was that I said,
(40:00):
well did they They never fixed the problem? Then she
says no, And I hear exactly what you're talking about.
I mean, I didn't get that far, but you know,
lined up rim yeah clr, yes, small chance I will
work if it's got that whole wind and maybe knocking
some loose hard water deposits. Yeah, And I know you
(40:23):
guys used to use moratic asi and I don't recommend
homeowners to do that.
Speaker 7 (40:28):
Yeah, well, meridic acid, I used to use it. Ton't
wipe the lead joints.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Yeah, sometimes you're you're exactly right. And I think she
said it was interesting. I callers run together after a while,
But I think she said the toilet was only like
ten to twelve years old. So I didn't know if
it was maybe, you know, and I wasn't going to
ask her. I don't think she would have known. I
didn't know if there was. You know, that certainly falls
(40:58):
in the era of the low flush toilets, and I
don't know, but it seemed like it's just started happening.
Didn't seem like it was a problem from the get go.
So you know, he said, he snaked out the.
Speaker 7 (41:10):
Toilet, put them bowl cleaners in the tank. Yeah, and
then when you flush, it opens that flush valve and
that thing will slip down in there and kind of
claws of blockage. But that's kind of a temporary thing.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
Yeah. Eventually, well, you might be right, she may need
another toilet, and I give some little basics, maybe she'll
get lucky and move some of those and and it
it works. Sometimes it's not a surefire fix. Obviously.
Speaker 7 (41:40):
Sometimes you take that five gallon bucket, fill it with
water and it flushes the bowl, and then instead of
going further, you just keep filling that five gallon bucket
up and have it sit next to the water well.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
So so, Mike, I don't know, you might have missed
the very first part of that call. So she was
talking about the plumbers that she had there, and I said,
so there was no solution and she said no, and
I thought that was strange. And she has a milk carton. Yeah,
she has a milk carton. So it was one gallon
and it's right next to the toilet and she flushes
(42:14):
and pours that milk carton in there and it removes
the waste it flushes. So I was pretty much back
underneath the rim. Somehow it's being impeded. It's not getting
that water from the closet to the bowl.
Speaker 7 (42:31):
Yeah, and venting too, I mean some of them at
the vents are clogged. You know, birds make nests, squirrels,
everything climbs. In the event, clumber should at least run
a snake or something down the vent. But I don't
know if a lot of times I'd just say replace
the water closet years old.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
That seemed odd.
Speaker 7 (42:53):
I mean, I'm still from the old school. Like the
old six gallon flushers.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
Took care of everything, didn't it.
Speaker 7 (43:01):
Well, the problem with these new water claws that you know,
they're one and a half gallon flush, and what happens
is it's not enough water to kiyo collins y. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
And even some of them now are like zero point six.
Speaker 7 (43:17):
Oh yeah yeah. The old duel plush too.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
Yeah, it's not enough water.
Speaker 7 (43:23):
So and if you have a four inch sewer line,
it's not enough.
Speaker 1 (43:27):
Water to carry the waist out right.
Speaker 7 (43:29):
If you got a three inch, well maybe it might work.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
But I hear you. Mike, thanks for the call. I
appreciate it. We're gonna be up against the top of
the are, but thank you very much for the call.
Appreciate it. Call any time. I love to have your help.
We'll continue. We'll have Pat, Mike and Ron. If you'd
like to join us, please do. It's eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five.
Speaker 9 (43:51):
We're talking about your home, and you're at home with
Garry Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
Home Improvement one O one with Gary Sullivan every weekend.
Classes begin at one eight hundred and eighty two three tall.
You're at home with Gary Sullivan,
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