December 27, 2025 • 41 mins
In this hour of At Home with Gary Sullivan, Gary tackles home improvement questions from listeners. Teresa calls in about a crumbling mortar issue with her fireplace, and Gary recommends using a product like Zip It Mortar to repair the damage. Mike discusses his deck's staining issues, and Gary advises on the best type of stain to use in a shaded area. Chris has a problem with a rotten egg smell in his sink, and Gary suggests using an enzyme drain cleaner to clear the blockage.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, best time of the day, good afternoon. Welcome now
number four. You're at home with Gary Sullivan as we
take your calls regarding your home projects. We're happy to
take your call and let's have a conversation of repair
or maintenance on your home. Maybe a project you got
coming up and you're doing a little research on that.
Our numbers eight hundred eight two three eight two five five.
(00:23):
It's just greater Cincinnati area and me right now, So
feel free to grab a line. They're wide open. All right,
let's get back to the phones. We have Teresa and Mike. Teresa,
you're up first.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Welcome, Thank you, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas. I am calling
about my fireplace. Okay, inside my brick. The brick does
all the way up to the ceiling. The house is
twenty five years old and the concrete at the edge
of where the drywall is has been falling out ever
(00:59):
a base cup three years and I have to repair
it now. It's getting too much. How would I repair that?
It seems like I've seen where you can buy concrete
in a tube. Am I dreaming that? Or I don't know?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
So it's it's the mortar that's crumbling. And needs to
be replaced. I'm guessing. So it looks like concrete. It
looks like mortar in between bricks on the outside of
some homes. So to answer your question, can you get
mortar in a in a clocking to my answers, yes,
(01:37):
you can get that. I don't know if you want
to get that, and I'll tell you why. I mean,
there's there's tons of its sold, so don't you don't
have to take my feelings on it. And there's all
different kinds, but it seems to me that they're always
a little more whitish than regular gray, or some looks
(02:02):
just like calking. They do now have some mortar in
a calking tube that's a little bit more. I think
it even comes in a gray tube and it's got
a texture to it so it doesn't look like calking.
But there's also so I'll let you make that decision.
You can do a little research on that. But there's
(02:25):
also a product that quick Crete makes called zip It
Mortar now, so it comes in i don't know, like
a little zip it lock bag, okay, and there's three
pounds of mortar in it, and it comes with a
(02:46):
putty knife and it comes with the instructions. You lead
the mortar in the bag and you add whatever the
amount says of water into the bag. Then you zip
it clothes and you need the moisture, the water and
the mortar the dry mix together until you get you know, concrete, okay,
(03:13):
and then open up the bag. It's got it's got
a bonding agent in it. Concrete doesn't like to stick
to concrete. So what we gotta do is we got
to remove the crumbling, loose mortar and then we use
this zip it mortar that's been mixed up. You can
use that putting knife, or you can use a trial
(03:35):
and you just fill the cavity.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Now, okay, so I should remove all of the mortar.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
You should remove all as much of the affected mortar
as you can so that you have a crevice to fill. Okay, Okay,
it's in my opinion it's easier than using a calking too.
I mean, because the hardest thing, the hardest thing of
(04:04):
that project is getting rid of the old mortar, and
you're going to have to do that with a cocking
toob anyway. You don't want to just put it on time.
It's not going to look good. Yeah, So just yeah,
and it's got a bonding agent and you can just
use that putty knife and kind of move it in
and the mortar if it gets a little sloppy, you
(04:25):
know a cloth and that's damp, you will remove that,
whereas the colcking gets sticky and oh yeah, I just
think the mortar is easier to use.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Okay. Another thing what I was thinking of first, and
then I started looking at it, was putting a piece
of molding.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
You can do that down that you can certainly do that.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
It's a concrete If this zip it doesn't look.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Good, right, I might end up.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
That's an option.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
There's also an option of putting some dye in there.
That gets a little bit more complicated. You could if
it looks and it's a little off color, maybe you
could paint that mortar. But the trim molding is the
classic answer. You just hide it. Yeah, and you can
make that look very good on both sides.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
One other question I have is regarding the fireplace. We
have a wood burning stove in it and it's twenty
five years old. We use it every year. We have
our get the chimney cleaned every other year. Okay, but
every now and then it's not every time we use it,
but every now and then we smell the smoke coming
(05:39):
back into the house and the door shut and secured.
So I don't know what is going on with that.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
My guess is it's on a very damp, humid day,
usually in the fall, and that's kind of the nature
of the beast. To be honest with you, there's also
a shelf there, and next time you have it cleaned,
ask them, uh, you know, if there's a shelf in there,
you know, I get this smell and maybe they can
(06:09):
give that a little bit more of attention. It's just
creosot smells what it is. And I know when I
had one of those stoves, it always seemed like when
the weather changed in late fall and it got a
little damp and it was humid or springtime and it
was fifty five degrees and it was after the burning season,
(06:29):
I'd get that smell in. And also, if you have
negative air pressure inside the home, like the windows are closed,
it's real damp outside and you got the bathroom fan on,
you're kind of pulling that air down that chimney and
you kind of get that smell in the house. Even
just cracking the window a little bit will sometimes reverse
(06:51):
that airflow. So it could be numerous things, but nothing
to worry about.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Good, I will try that then. Okay, well, thank you
for your house. You have a great here.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Very good. You do the same. Thank you all right.
Twelve thirteen and Mike welcome.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Yes, sorry, I.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
Had a question on we have a thirty year old deck.
We bought this place and it had it had a
Thompson water sealer put on the deck a long time ago,
like out twelve fourteen, fifteen years ago, is my guess.
(07:37):
And so of course the deck has gotten some green
on it, and you know we I pressure washed it
last last summer and I was I was going to
put a sealer on, and I really haven't been happy
with the brand I was using, which was Thompson's. I
(08:00):
mean I had used that on the steps two years
ago and appealed, so maybe and they were new. They
were later made steps to help with UH with getting
up the steps with a shorter tread height. So anyway,
so that didn't work out on the steps, so I
(08:23):
didn't really mess with them. But the main deck just
doesn't like I'd sprayed it. I had a I sprayed
it hard, but not hard enough to tear up fibers.
I didn't use any chemicals at that point. And then
then I read online that I should do a water
(08:43):
test to see, uh, well the water sinking in to
know that it's trust me for sustained.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Trust me that you know. That was probably the problem
with the steps, probably not the problem with decking. So
let me ask you a couple of questions. And I
know exactly where you're going. You and about eight billion
people have this problem. So okay. Number number one is
is it a real sunny location or partial shade or
(09:15):
all shade?
Speaker 5 (09:16):
It'd be pretty much all shade because there's a roof,
all right, there's a roof. It's in the woods. The
house is in the woods, and there's a roof over
the entire deck.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Okay, cool steps of course are in.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
The open, but it's you know, it's a ten ten
by twenty eight deck.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Okay, under a under it just a roof. Yeah. And
on the type of stain you're using, are you using
a solid color stain or a semi transparent.
Speaker 5 (09:46):
I I didn't put anything on it. Well, on the
steps I did that was a that was a transparent Okay,
reddish collar.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Okay, but yeah, deck that you're gonna do, you're going
to doing a semi transparent also.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
Uh yes, or even transparent. I mean the wood has
a nice color to it. Okay, I enjoy seeing the
wood at another location at my this this is our
second home. But at my at my house, I had
used I had neglected that deck, and then I used
(10:24):
a dark stain.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
And so a semi transparent, a semi transparent you can
see the wood grain a solid color. You can't see
the wood grain. It looks more like paint. And a
transparent is just absolutely clear and you can see the wood.
There is no pigment. So here's the here's the story.
(10:48):
The good news is it's in the shade. So a
semi transparent stain in the shade is probably gonna last
you three, four, maybe five years, Okay, transparent in the
shade maybe one or two. If those were in the sun,
(11:09):
you're transparent to give you a year, and you're you're
semi transparent to give you between one and three years,
even in the best, even the best of stains. So
that's where your expectations are. So in the steps just
before we know if you're using a semi transparent that
(11:31):
can be applied probably anywhere from a month to a year.
So taking a tablespoon of water and putting it on there,
if it soaks into the wood in like a minute
or so, you can go ahead and stain. If it
doesn't soak in, that semi transparent won't penetrate in. It'll
(11:54):
actually be a surface coating and it will peel. So
that's probably I feel pretty confident that's what happened to
the steps. So you're if you're going to redo that deck,
the pressure washer, you know, you can use that to rinse,
but I wouldn't be blasting away at that wood. What
(12:17):
I would do is this, if it's a semi transparent,
it's just thirsty and tired and faded and whatever. Get
an oxygenated bleach, which is usually a deck cleaner by
the brand. It's an oxygenated bleach. It's usually mixed with
water and it's a crystal, and you spray it onto
(12:41):
the deck with a tank sprayer and you let it
sit about ten minutes. Then you reapply and then you
can rinse it with your pressure washer if you want,
or a hose for that matter, and then you know,
let it dry. If you're gonna use a solvent, let
it dry two days. If it's a water base, you're
(13:03):
going to let it dry two hours. And then it
comes to what kind of product you want to use.
And there's products that run twenty dollars a gallon, there's
products that run fifty sixty dollars a gallon. And you know,
probably the best one out on the market right now
is either Defy or cab It. They're gonna be about
(13:26):
fifty dollars a gallon. In the shade, you should get.
You should get. And you know, if I'm saying three
to four years, you get an extra year out of that.
Might be four to six years out of a semi
transparent only in the shade. If it was in the sun,
it'd be three years. Period. Darkers lasts longer than light colors.
(13:47):
You'll still see the wood grain. And that's that's kind
of the whole story.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
Okay, So I use the tanks prayer with that oxygenated
leach correct, put it on, Spray it on, and in
about ten minutes, I rinse it off.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
About ten minutes. Read you put another application on. There's
two applications. Reapply, yeah, okay, and the second thing, right,
you let that you let the oxygen aate bleach do
the work, and it'll lift that dirt up so much
better than just trying to blast it away with a
pressure washing. You run no damage of fuzzing the wood
(14:27):
or anything along those line, right.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Right, right, yeah, okay, that's good to know. Yes, in
the cabin I had is what I had used at
my house then and night. Okay, I probably we'll go
to that once I know I'm ready to sure to
get stayed on this. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
All right, you're welcome, Thank you. Take care. All right,
we're gonna take a break. We got Chris and then Barry.
If you'd like to join us, it's eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five. You're at home with
Gary Salvent right here in fifty five care see detalk station.
All right, Beck, get it. We go twelve twenty four
and you're at home with Gary Sullivan taking you up
to the one o'clock hour. And if you'd like to
(15:06):
join us, do so. It's eight hundred eight two three
eight two five five. Let's go to Chris. Chris, welcome, Hi,
good morning, good morning.
Speaker 6 (15:20):
Hey. I have a problem with one of my sinks
I'm getting when I turn on the cold water in
the upstairs bathroom, I get a terrible kind of rotten
egg smell out of it. But it doesn't happen in
the other bathroom upstairs, and it doesn't happen in the
bathroom downstairs or this sink in my kitchen. I'm just
(15:42):
getting it out of there.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
Yeah, got a Well, no, we don't. We're city water,
all right.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
So my guess, Okay, usually if you have a rotten
egg smell or a salt your acid smell, it's usually
caused by the anode rod in the hot water tank,
but you would probably smell that everywhere, and if you're
(16:13):
getting it on the cold water or the hot water,
it's in material. My guess is what's happening. We've talked
to a couple of people today about bacterial growth in
drain pipes, and more than the drain pipes, the kind
of the spillover pipe or spillover tube. So if it's
(16:36):
it's near the vanity, I'm assuming yeah, okay, So, as
I was saying to him, everything we use in our
you know, bathroom is pretty much a gel product, gel, deodor, gel, hairspray, gel, toothpaste,
everything's gel, shaving cream gel, so it's sticky, and the
(17:00):
sticky substance creates a sticky substance on the pipes, and
it collects dead skin, whiskers, bacteria grows, and that smell.
That's what you're smelling. In fact, the water doesn't you
need it. Sometimes even go down the drain pipe, it can.
It can. If it's a heavy shower and you got
(17:23):
steam all over the bathroom, that sink can smell because
that that moisture, that water vapor is actually wetting the
bacteria and causing that odor.
Speaker 7 (17:37):
So I get, yeah, go ahead, Yeah, I'm just puzzled
by it because it's like the bathroom is smell is fine,
and the shower that's right next to it, it's not
coming out of the shower head or anything like that.
Speaker 6 (17:50):
So shower, you don't get that stinky smell.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
It's not the water. Yeah, it's not the water. It's
it's the bacteria that's in the drain line. Sometimes we'll
have that problem in the shower and what it'll be.
It'll be hair. You know, somebody in the house has
real thick hair and that hair will get stuck in
(18:13):
with the shampoo and the oils in that and it'll smell.
Often in that case, the only way to do it
is snake it and remove that air pluck. But in
the vanity, if you go in the hardware store and
you get an enzyme drain cleaner, and some are liquids
summer crystals, follow the directions. Usually what you'll do is
(18:35):
you'll put the stopper down and you'll turn on warm
water and you'll put xyz amount of either crystals or
liquid in there. You'll let it sit about ten minutes,
it'll activate, you'll pull the stopper up, you'll flush that
enzyme mixture on the inside of the pipes. It'll go
(18:58):
down the drain and and you won't use that vanity
till morning. And you might have to do it twice,
but every time I've used it, it pretty much takes
care of the problem. Now that's for the drain. Remember
when I talked about the overflow hole. So at the
(19:20):
top okay, so at the top of that sink, on
the vertical wall of that sink, there's a hole or
an oval shape slit, and sometimes water gets down and
there Sometimes that's just pulling the odor up from the
drain because they're connected. But after you do the drain
(19:42):
pipe with the enzyme cleaner, it take some bleach and
just a funnel and get that down that overflow pipe
and I think you'll take care of it.
Speaker 6 (19:53):
Okay, all right, all right, great.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
I hope it works.
Speaker 7 (19:58):
It should all right, Thanks, Thanks, Happy.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Happy New Year to you. Very good. All right again,
it's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five.
A real quick break and bury your up first, we'll continue.
You're at home with Gary Salvan right here in fifty five.
Care see the talk station and back to whek we
go as we spend a little time together and talk
about issues that we may be having with our home.
(20:24):
And as I've said many times over the past thirty
nine years, it is the biggest investment most of us
ever make. And like all of investments, you gotta well
you got to manage them. So that's what we're here
for you. All right. It's eight hundred eight two three
eight two five five. Feel free to grab a line
and berry.
Speaker 8 (20:43):
Welcome, good afternoon, Gary, Yes sir.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Thank you for your show along every weekend.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Very goods.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
I got a three part I've got a three part
concrete question.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
For you.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
I'm gonna use two of the products that you promote,
the quick creek and uh wait and forget. But I
don't know that I've ever heard this on your show before.
On my driveway and even my patio I've got it's
like marble sized holes that have developed in the in
(21:23):
the concrete. So which, uh quick thing which you recommend
for that? Well, some of them are as small as
a marble and some of them are almost as big
as a golf ball.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
How deep are they?
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Probably half inch?
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Does it look like just something popped out?
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Yeah, I don't know. It's just it's just like, you know,
you could put put a marble in there.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
And uh so there's a there's a condition called spawling.
It's SPA L, L, I and G and spawling. I
used to joke about. It's like driveway acne. It's just
like little divots out of the concrete. They're not, you know,
perfectly round. They're about the size of a nickel. Some
(22:21):
are shallow, some are deep. And spawling can be caused
a couple of couple of ways. One would be when
that concrete was poured and trilled out, maybe they added
a little too much water to make it a little
bit easier to float out the concrete, and that surface
(22:47):
was a little softer than the rest of the concrete,
and it'll it'll chip out with with weather changes, et cetera,
et cetera. The other thing that causes spawling is if
you have some snow and you drive your car and
it collects road salt and snow and you drive in
(23:11):
and it drops on the driveway or the apron. Aprons
usually get it more than the driveway, but it can
be on both. It could be in the garage floor too.
That salty snowy icy mixture when it melts becomes a
salty brine solution that penetrates into the concrete and is
(23:31):
very corrosive and that will cause spawling. So to repair spauling,
there is a product called vinyl concrete patcher. It also
is a quick crete product, and it has a bonding
agent in it so it will attach itself to the
(23:53):
old concrete, which, as I said, concrete doesn't like concrete
to stick to each other. So you'll clean that out,
you know, whether you use a pressure washer, a vacuum,
a whisp, broom, whatever, you clean that out. The best
you can get as much residue out of there as
you can. And if you're going to patch it in
the summer, you definitely wet it first. The vinyl concrete
(24:15):
patcher is a powder you mixed with water. Let's sit
for about three minutes. Literally. You can go around with
a putty knife and just fill them. Probably not gonna
match exactly, so you probably will see the patch. So
sometimes the patch is worse than a divot. But I'm
just giving your heads up.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Yeah, okay, and it needs to the driveway needs to
be cleaned as well, and I'm guessing we and forget
would I do that before or after the repairs?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Go ahead and clean it. It's not gonna matter. Just
go ahead and clean it now you can. There's no
rhyme or reason to what goes first the wedding forget.
Of course, you know, if you were gonna use a
pressure washer, i'd say clean it first. If you're gonna
use the wet forget, it's non aggressive, it's applied. You're
(25:14):
gonna wait six to eight weeks this time of year,
which is you know you're gonna wait six weeks in
the summer, and you know you can patch it in
the spring.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
Okay, and the last part of it. Uh, to my stupidity,
I got rust on the patio part of my driveway.
Will the wet and Forget clean that up? Do I
need to use something else?
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Yeah, you gotta use something else. So the wedding Forget
will clean algae, fungus, mold, mildew like in any type
of growth like that, and it'll be a total kill.
So it'll be you know, it'll be its natural color.
A concrete will be its natural color, and it'll probably
(26:03):
be that way for about two years. It will regrow,
but there's a little barrier in that wet and forget.
Also as far as rust, that's iron oxide, so usually
a mild acid, and there's a product called Nothing's going
to remove it, like right now, right, I mean, so
(26:25):
there's a product called iron out. It is a mild
acid that will devour iron oxide without really etching or
hurting your concrete. The application is you just don't spray
it on. So if it's a given area, literally you
get a bucket, you mix the iron oxide or the
(26:48):
iron out. It's either a crystal or liquid mixed with water,
and you just stay there with about a four inch
paintbrush and just keep basting that rusted area. You might
have to baste it thirty forty times. Just keep applying
it and applying it, applying it, applying. You'll be able
to watch it just fade away. Okay, and that's probably good.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
Do you let it drive before the next location or
just keep it well, just keep basting and keeping it wet,
and just keep basting it on there, because that that
concrete's purse it will actually suck it down into the concrete,
but it doesn't.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Don't let it drive. Just just keep basting it on
there and be patient.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Okay, Yeah, that's easy to say, right, Yeah it is, okay,
all right, thank you Gary.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
All right, Happy new year to you. Thank you. All right.
So our phone number if you'd like to join us,
seven fifty five hundred, seven five hundred. All those lines
are open, and uh we're talking about your home. And
of course there's a lot to do this time of year,
that's for sure. Listen, we've had some really nice weather.
(27:59):
It's gonna get cold again. I told you my project.
Cold weather's tough on garages, tough on garage doors. I
started the program today going. I always tell folks you
know garage doors are strained during the harshness of temperatures.
So January July we had a cold December, we had
(28:23):
some snow going in and out of the garage. On Christmas,
I could hear it kind of groaning. I could hear
it needed a little bit of help. And that's on
my list today. So if you haven't been maintaining it
a couple times a year, I'd say today, it'd be
a great day. It's warm, it's nice, not bad at
(28:44):
all for the time of year. And I'm talking about
the springs, the hinges, the rollers, the tracks. Make sure
they're clean. Cotton cloth and mineral spirits will clean them well.
And then get some silicon or teflon spray, no oils,
(29:05):
no real refined oils. Teflon or silicone blaster makes a
garage door lubricant. Use that. That's what I use. That's
what I'm gonna be using about an hour from now,
all right, So I just want to give you a
heads up on that.
Speaker 8 (29:21):
All right, David, you'll be up first. We'll take a
little break and come back and get your question. You're
at home with Gary Salvin right here in fifty five
care seed detalk station. All Right, you're at home with
Gary Salvin. We're twelve forty six on your Saturday, and
I think what day it was. Boy, don't the holidays
mess with you there, big time, big time.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
All right, let's get to David.
Speaker 9 (29:43):
David, Welcome Merrik, Christmas, Happy New Year and all that
good stuff.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Yes, sir, back at you.
Speaker 9 (29:51):
Hey, I got a question you've probably never been asked before.
All Right, I have a laminate floor in my kitchen,
which I all twenty years ago, and there are three
planks that are cracked. And I'll tell you why they cracked.
I pulled the refrigerator out.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
I knew you're going to say that.
Speaker 9 (30:14):
I pulled the refrigerator out and it cracked some of
the lamb in it. And anyhow, I do have some
replacement pieces, and I'd like to pull these out and
put the pieces I have. I've got like three or
(30:35):
four lanes left. So and it's all like tongue and groove,
so it all interlocked. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
It doesn't snap together. Then there isn't a metal track
in there.
Speaker 9 (30:47):
It's not a it's a it's plastic. You got any
you got any you know I got got I have
no problem with putting some screws in it.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
So I got an idea, and you're going to have
to tell me if you think it'll work. So I'm
going back to wood floor days, okay, and not necessarily
the lamined days, but if it doesn't have the metal
clip on tracking, it very well may work. So what
(31:21):
they would do with a wood floor on something like
that back in the day is they would they would
literally cut the tongue off. Okay, Okay, what I was
all right, So they cut that out and that's how
they're going to remove that plank.
Speaker 9 (31:37):
Okay, So here's the next question. How do I cut
that out with a razor knife?
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Well, you could anything that would cut it as a
cheap answer, but I think that's kind of where I'm going.
One of what I had in mind would be, I
don't know if you ever seen these multipurpose tools. It
looks like a drumwell tool on stage aeroids. It's got
a circular saw blade that fits on the front of
(32:05):
it that is about an inch and a quarter in diameter, right,
and it's got real fine teeth. If you could if
you're if your hands steady enough, if you can guide
that right down that that that groove that cut it
right now, okay, and then you can pull that plank out,
and then of course you're gonna have to remove the
(32:27):
tongue on the replacement board, right okay, And then it
really depends. I mean again, I don't think you want
to put a screw through there. I know you can,
and you certainly can the refrigerators going over it again,
I guess, or you could glue it down.
Speaker 9 (32:48):
Yeah, I pull the refrigerator out to blow the uh uh,
blow all the dust out underneath where all that you
know what I'm saying. That's yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
And I don't know if you've got any of those
nylon glides underneath those footers, but those babies work really
nice with laminate, and you can get those, you know
where it's not gonna show, maybe where they're an inch
and a half inch and a quarter and it will
(33:24):
make that more accessible if you got to get to
the water filter anything along those lines. But I think,
you know, without seeing your project, I think that's what
I would investigate on getting it solved that way.
Speaker 9 (33:39):
All right, all right, I appreciate it. You got you
have happy New Year.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
You do the same. Thanks for the call. Take care
all right. Yeah, by the way, you know this time
of year we do seem to, i know, in our house,
just to accommodate our fans when they come and visit
and dinners and you know, furniture gets moved and sliding
(34:05):
it around and it can be a little bit of
a chore. And I'll tell you those little glides they
make them an all different size. The first time I
got them, and it's been a while, I was just
absolutely astonished how easy they move furniture, big pieces of furniture,
and it doesn't matter on kind of like what surface
(34:27):
either if you wanted an investment boy that had been
a good Christmas present for home or I just thought
of that. But you can get a packet them. We're
a whole different sizes and shapes, but we use the
dickens out of those things anymore, you know, But just
an idea. And for refrigers, they're great. Dan welcome, Hey Garry,
(34:50):
how you doing doing great? Thanks good.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
A quick garage question. I've got an order block one
and a half car garage. Would it be possible to
have a floating floor in there that they poured a
separate floor.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
H So when you say a floating floor, you're talking
like a laminate flooring or what.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
No, no, no, it's it's a slab. But there's a
there's a definite scene where the block comes down on
the side and meet up with the floor.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
And on the on the one side of the garage,
it's probably three quarters of the wall was under three
feet of dirt.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
So when it.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Rains, it's not like it's seeping through the side of
the you know, the vertical of the wall. I'm wondering
if it's I haven't looked at it when it's raining
to see if it's coming up through that separation between
the floor and the where it meets the wall.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Yeah, I see. We have the same thing in basements too.
Those are two separate points, whether the wall and the floor.
So the only time it really comes into play is
if your water table gets too high at that point
and the water comes in. So let me just thinking
this out loud, Okay. One thing I would think about
if I had a garage in the garage floor it
(36:10):
would be blocked or is it poured? Also, no, it's
the walls or blocked. Okay, So you got block and
then you had the pour and then there's this gap.
And so why would the water table be too high there?
And my answer would be, I don't know. Is there
(36:31):
gutters on that size? Are they clogged? Are they overflowing?
Does the down spout go on the ground or does
it deposit the water on the surface That would raise well,
that would allow that water to weep in there. That'd
be a path least resistance. It may not be the
water table, but it would be a path least resistance
(36:52):
for surface water.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Yeah, And that's that side of the garage where it
seems to happen. Like I said, there's you can't see it,
but it's a it's a there's a walkway about four
feet off off the garage and there's three feet of dirt,
you know, elevated dirt between the garage and that and
that walkway. And I'm thinking, and there is a there
(37:16):
is a gutter there, but the gutter goes out the
backside of the garage and I know that's clear, Okay,
So I'm wondering, is that just when the dirt gets
wet it it goes to that.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
I'm thinking it's I think that is the path that
is resistance if there's any kind of you know, it
doesn't take much with a you know, gushers of rains
we've had lately. Yeah, over the last few years. I
mean they're even changing gutter sizes in our area. They
never used to rest all six inch gutters, but they
are now. So I'm thinking it's just ground water. You know,
(37:52):
it's just saturating that area so much, and water is
always moving. It's the path of the least resistance would
be that gas versus the soil. The soil is resisting
more water.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
Yeah, I play on it.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
So, yeah, so that's the big decision, and I would
say that's what I would try. In fact, I think
I might even try a euthane clear calocking or gray
euthane or gray silicone, something that has good flexibility. Now,
(38:29):
somebody listening right now is going, no, no, no, there's
gonna be water pressure there. You got to use a
hydraulic cement. I don't think so. I don't think there's
that much water pressure. I think it's just an opening
and that water is gravitating to that because there's nothing
to stop it. I think, you know, with a gray
(38:50):
silicone you're kind of putting your finger in the dike
and that would be enough resistance to move it along. Now,
if it were underground, you know, no way, you know,
I mean no way. There'd be enough water pressure in
there where it would probably push at and you'd probably
have to I don't know what. Really, the only way
to really do it if it were way underground, would
(39:12):
be to cut that floor and put in a drain pipe.
To be honest, but I think where you're at, I
think i'd it's not gonna cost you much. It doesn't
have to be pretty. I'd get some gray silicon and
put a beat along the air and see what happens.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
See what? And is that? I know this weekend's going
to be kind of mild, but is that something if
I missed this weekend? Can you use it in colder temperature?
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Let's see, it's going to tell you on the label,
but my guess is it's going to tell you, you know,
forty degrees limitation or maybe thirty five degrees, and that's
the temperature of the concrete. So if you got an
insulated garage, that concrete might be warmer than that. But
(39:59):
if it's zero out side, I'd probably wait.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Okay, okay, all right, Yeah, we'll give it a shot
the next time and we'll get that easy.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
He's very good.
Speaker 8 (40:10):
Happy, appreciate it, Happy new year to you.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Thank you for the call. I appreciate it. All right.
Well that's going to wrap up, and uh boy, I'll
tell you what it was. A busy dow was a
little bit surprised. In fact, I was very surprised. It's
always good to be busy, we all say that. And
a lot of interest in getting a few things. Uh
taken yourself for four hours? Yeah, well yeah, well I
(40:33):
always have my big pat of nose. You do.
Speaker 6 (40:35):
I'm impressed.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
You know, we can fix things in your house, or
you can listen to me tell you all the things
that need to be fixed. You tell me we should
be better. All right, Danny boy, another great day, and
not only that, a great year. Thank you for all
your help in two thousand and twenty five going into
two thousand twenty six. I want to wish everybody very
(40:59):
happy new year. Good lord. Willing back next weekend for
more at Home with Garry Sullivan.
Well, best time of the day, good afternoon. Welcome now
number four. You're at home with Gary Sullivan as we
take your calls regarding your home projects. We're happy to
take your call and let's have a conversation of repair
or maintenance on your home. Maybe a project you got
coming up and you're doing a little research on that.
Our numbers eight hundred eight two three eight two five five.
(00:23):
It's just greater Cincinnati area and me right now, So
feel free to grab a line. They're wide open. All right,
let's get back to the phones. We have Teresa and Mike. Teresa,
you're up first.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Welcome, Thank you, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas. I am calling
about my fireplace. Okay, inside my brick. The brick does
all the way up to the ceiling. The house is
twenty five years old and the concrete at the edge
of where the drywall is has been falling out ever
(00:59):
a base cup three years and I have to repair
it now. It's getting too much. How would I repair that?
It seems like I've seen where you can buy concrete
in a tube. Am I dreaming that? Or I don't know?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
So it's it's the mortar that's crumbling. And needs to
be replaced. I'm guessing. So it looks like concrete. It
looks like mortar in between bricks on the outside of
some homes. So to answer your question, can you get
mortar in a in a clocking to my answers, yes,
(01:37):
you can get that. I don't know if you want
to get that, and I'll tell you why. I mean,
there's there's tons of its sold, so don't you don't
have to take my feelings on it. And there's all
different kinds, but it seems to me that they're always
a little more whitish than regular gray, or some looks
(02:02):
just like calking. They do now have some mortar in
a calking tube that's a little bit more. I think
it even comes in a gray tube and it's got
a texture to it so it doesn't look like calking.
But there's also so I'll let you make that decision.
You can do a little research on that. But there's
(02:25):
also a product that quick Crete makes called zip It
Mortar now, so it comes in i don't know, like
a little zip it lock bag, okay, and there's three
pounds of mortar in it, and it comes with a
(02:46):
putty knife and it comes with the instructions. You lead
the mortar in the bag and you add whatever the
amount says of water into the bag. Then you zip
it clothes and you need the moisture, the water and
the mortar the dry mix together until you get you know, concrete, okay,
(03:13):
and then open up the bag. It's got it's got
a bonding agent in it. Concrete doesn't like to stick
to concrete. So what we gotta do is we got
to remove the crumbling, loose mortar and then we use
this zip it mortar that's been mixed up. You can
use that putting knife, or you can use a trial
(03:35):
and you just fill the cavity.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Now, okay, so I should remove all of the mortar.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
You should remove all as much of the affected mortar
as you can so that you have a crevice to fill. Okay, Okay,
it's in my opinion it's easier than using a calking too.
I mean, because the hardest thing, the hardest thing of
(04:04):
that project is getting rid of the old mortar, and
you're going to have to do that with a cocking
toob anyway. You don't want to just put it on time.
It's not going to look good. Yeah, So just yeah,
and it's got a bonding agent and you can just
use that putty knife and kind of move it in
and the mortar if it gets a little sloppy, you
(04:25):
know a cloth and that's damp, you will remove that,
whereas the colcking gets sticky and oh yeah, I just
think the mortar is easier to use.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Okay. Another thing what I was thinking of first, and
then I started looking at it, was putting a piece
of molding.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
You can do that down that you can certainly do that.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
It's a concrete If this zip it doesn't look.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Good, right, I might end up.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
That's an option.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
There's also an option of putting some dye in there.
That gets a little bit more complicated. You could if
it looks and it's a little off color, maybe you
could paint that mortar. But the trim molding is the
classic answer. You just hide it. Yeah, and you can
make that look very good on both sides.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
One other question I have is regarding the fireplace. We
have a wood burning stove in it and it's twenty
five years old. We use it every year. We have
our get the chimney cleaned every other year. Okay, but
every now and then it's not every time we use it,
but every now and then we smell the smoke coming
(05:39):
back into the house and the door shut and secured.
So I don't know what is going on with that.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
My guess is it's on a very damp, humid day,
usually in the fall, and that's kind of the nature
of the beast. To be honest with you, there's also
a shelf there, and next time you have it cleaned,
ask them, uh, you know, if there's a shelf in there,
you know, I get this smell and maybe they can
(06:09):
give that a little bit more of attention. It's just
creosot smells what it is. And I know when I
had one of those stoves, it always seemed like when
the weather changed in late fall and it got a
little damp and it was humid or springtime and it
was fifty five degrees and it was after the burning season,
(06:29):
I'd get that smell in. And also, if you have
negative air pressure inside the home, like the windows are closed,
it's real damp outside and you got the bathroom fan on,
you're kind of pulling that air down that chimney and
you kind of get that smell in the house. Even
just cracking the window a little bit will sometimes reverse
(06:51):
that airflow. So it could be numerous things, but nothing
to worry about.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Good, I will try that then. Okay, well, thank you
for your house. You have a great here.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Very good. You do the same. Thank you all right.
Twelve thirteen and Mike welcome.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Yes, sorry, I.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
Had a question on we have a thirty year old deck.
We bought this place and it had it had a
Thompson water sealer put on the deck a long time ago,
like out twelve fourteen, fifteen years ago, is my guess.
(07:37):
And so of course the deck has gotten some green
on it, and you know we I pressure washed it
last last summer and I was I was going to
put a sealer on, and I really haven't been happy
with the brand I was using, which was Thompson's. I
(08:00):
mean I had used that on the steps two years
ago and appealed, so maybe and they were new. They
were later made steps to help with UH with getting
up the steps with a shorter tread height. So anyway,
so that didn't work out on the steps, so I
(08:23):
didn't really mess with them. But the main deck just
doesn't like I'd sprayed it. I had a I sprayed
it hard, but not hard enough to tear up fibers.
I didn't use any chemicals at that point. And then
then I read online that I should do a water
(08:43):
test to see, uh, well the water sinking in to
know that it's trust me for sustained.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Trust me that you know. That was probably the problem
with the steps, probably not the problem with decking. So
let me ask you a couple of questions. And I
know exactly where you're going. You and about eight billion
people have this problem. So okay. Number number one is
is it a real sunny location or partial shade or
(09:15):
all shade?
Speaker 5 (09:16):
It'd be pretty much all shade because there's a roof,
all right, there's a roof. It's in the woods. The
house is in the woods, and there's a roof over
the entire deck.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Okay, cool steps of course are in.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
The open, but it's you know, it's a ten ten
by twenty eight deck.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Okay, under a under it just a roof. Yeah. And
on the type of stain you're using, are you using
a solid color stain or a semi transparent.
Speaker 5 (09:46):
I I didn't put anything on it. Well, on the
steps I did that was a that was a transparent Okay,
reddish collar.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Okay, but yeah, deck that you're gonna do, you're going
to doing a semi transparent also.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
Uh yes, or even transparent. I mean the wood has
a nice color to it. Okay, I enjoy seeing the
wood at another location at my this this is our
second home. But at my at my house, I had
used I had neglected that deck, and then I used
(10:24):
a dark stain.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
And so a semi transparent, a semi transparent you can
see the wood grain a solid color. You can't see
the wood grain. It looks more like paint. And a
transparent is just absolutely clear and you can see the wood.
There is no pigment. So here's the here's the story.
(10:48):
The good news is it's in the shade. So a
semi transparent stain in the shade is probably gonna last
you three, four, maybe five years, Okay, transparent in the
shade maybe one or two. If those were in the sun,
(11:09):
you're transparent to give you a year, and you're you're
semi transparent to give you between one and three years,
even in the best, even the best of stains. So
that's where your expectations are. So in the steps just
before we know if you're using a semi transparent that
(11:31):
can be applied probably anywhere from a month to a year.
So taking a tablespoon of water and putting it on there,
if it soaks into the wood in like a minute
or so, you can go ahead and stain. If it
doesn't soak in, that semi transparent won't penetrate in. It'll
(11:54):
actually be a surface coating and it will peel. So
that's probably I feel pretty confident that's what happened to
the steps. So you're if you're going to redo that deck,
the pressure washer, you know, you can use that to rinse,
but I wouldn't be blasting away at that wood. What
(12:17):
I would do is this, if it's a semi transparent,
it's just thirsty and tired and faded and whatever. Get
an oxygenated bleach, which is usually a deck cleaner by
the brand. It's an oxygenated bleach. It's usually mixed with
water and it's a crystal, and you spray it onto
(12:41):
the deck with a tank sprayer and you let it
sit about ten minutes. Then you reapply and then you
can rinse it with your pressure washer if you want,
or a hose for that matter, and then you know,
let it dry. If you're gonna use a solvent, let
it dry two days. If it's a water base, you're
(13:03):
going to let it dry two hours. And then it
comes to what kind of product you want to use.
And there's products that run twenty dollars a gallon, there's
products that run fifty sixty dollars a gallon. And you know,
probably the best one out on the market right now
is either Defy or cab It. They're gonna be about
(13:26):
fifty dollars a gallon. In the shade, you should get.
You should get. And you know, if I'm saying three
to four years, you get an extra year out of that.
Might be four to six years out of a semi
transparent only in the shade. If it was in the sun,
it'd be three years. Period. Darkers lasts longer than light colors.
(13:47):
You'll still see the wood grain. And that's that's kind
of the whole story.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
Okay, So I use the tanks prayer with that oxygenated
leach correct, put it on, Spray it on, and in
about ten minutes, I rinse it off.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
About ten minutes. Read you put another application on. There's
two applications. Reapply, yeah, okay, and the second thing, right,
you let that you let the oxygen aate bleach do
the work, and it'll lift that dirt up so much
better than just trying to blast it away with a
pressure washing. You run no damage of fuzzing the wood
(14:27):
or anything along those line, right.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Right, right, yeah, okay, that's good to know. Yes, in
the cabin I had is what I had used at
my house then and night. Okay, I probably we'll go
to that once I know I'm ready to sure to
get stayed on this. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
All right, you're welcome, Thank you. Take care. All right,
we're gonna take a break. We got Chris and then Barry.
If you'd like to join us, it's eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five. You're at home with
Gary Salvent right here in fifty five care see detalk station.
All right, Beck, get it. We go twelve twenty four
and you're at home with Gary Sullivan taking you up
to the one o'clock hour. And if you'd like to
(15:06):
join us, do so. It's eight hundred eight two three
eight two five five. Let's go to Chris. Chris, welcome, Hi,
good morning, good morning.
Speaker 6 (15:20):
Hey. I have a problem with one of my sinks
I'm getting when I turn on the cold water in
the upstairs bathroom, I get a terrible kind of rotten
egg smell out of it. But it doesn't happen in
the other bathroom upstairs, and it doesn't happen in the
bathroom downstairs or this sink in my kitchen. I'm just
(15:42):
getting it out of there.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
Yeah, got a Well, no, we don't. We're city water,
all right.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
So my guess, Okay, usually if you have a rotten
egg smell or a salt your acid smell, it's usually
caused by the anode rod in the hot water tank,
but you would probably smell that everywhere, and if you're
(16:13):
getting it on the cold water or the hot water,
it's in material. My guess is what's happening. We've talked
to a couple of people today about bacterial growth in
drain pipes, and more than the drain pipes, the kind
of the spillover pipe or spillover tube. So if it's
(16:36):
it's near the vanity, I'm assuming yeah, okay, So, as
I was saying to him, everything we use in our
you know, bathroom is pretty much a gel product, gel, deodor, gel, hairspray, gel, toothpaste,
everything's gel, shaving cream gel, so it's sticky, and the
(17:00):
sticky substance creates a sticky substance on the pipes, and
it collects dead skin, whiskers, bacteria grows, and that smell.
That's what you're smelling. In fact, the water doesn't you
need it. Sometimes even go down the drain pipe, it can.
It can. If it's a heavy shower and you got
(17:23):
steam all over the bathroom, that sink can smell because
that that moisture, that water vapor is actually wetting the
bacteria and causing that odor.
Speaker 7 (17:37):
So I get, yeah, go ahead, Yeah, I'm just puzzled
by it because it's like the bathroom is smell is fine,
and the shower that's right next to it, it's not
coming out of the shower head or anything like that.
Speaker 6 (17:50):
So shower, you don't get that stinky smell.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
It's not the water. Yeah, it's not the water. It's
it's the bacteria that's in the drain line. Sometimes we'll
have that problem in the shower and what it'll be.
It'll be hair. You know, somebody in the house has
real thick hair and that hair will get stuck in
(18:13):
with the shampoo and the oils in that and it'll smell.
Often in that case, the only way to do it
is snake it and remove that air pluck. But in
the vanity, if you go in the hardware store and
you get an enzyme drain cleaner, and some are liquids
summer crystals, follow the directions. Usually what you'll do is
(18:35):
you'll put the stopper down and you'll turn on warm
water and you'll put xyz amount of either crystals or
liquid in there. You'll let it sit about ten minutes,
it'll activate, you'll pull the stopper up, you'll flush that
enzyme mixture on the inside of the pipes. It'll go
(18:58):
down the drain and and you won't use that vanity
till morning. And you might have to do it twice,
but every time I've used it, it pretty much takes
care of the problem. Now that's for the drain. Remember
when I talked about the overflow hole. So at the
(19:20):
top okay, so at the top of that sink, on
the vertical wall of that sink, there's a hole or
an oval shape slit, and sometimes water gets down and
there Sometimes that's just pulling the odor up from the
drain because they're connected. But after you do the drain
(19:42):
pipe with the enzyme cleaner, it take some bleach and
just a funnel and get that down that overflow pipe
and I think you'll take care of it.
Speaker 6 (19:53):
Okay, all right, all right, great.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
I hope it works.
Speaker 7 (19:58):
It should all right, Thanks, Thanks, Happy.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Happy New Year to you. Very good. All right again,
it's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five.
A real quick break and bury your up first, we'll continue.
You're at home with Gary Salvan right here in fifty five.
Care see the talk station and back to whek we
go as we spend a little time together and talk
about issues that we may be having with our home.
(20:24):
And as I've said many times over the past thirty
nine years, it is the biggest investment most of us
ever make. And like all of investments, you gotta well
you got to manage them. So that's what we're here
for you. All right. It's eight hundred eight two three
eight two five five. Feel free to grab a line
and berry.
Speaker 8 (20:43):
Welcome, good afternoon, Gary, Yes sir.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Thank you for your show along every weekend.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Very goods.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
I got a three part I've got a three part
concrete question.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
For you.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
I'm gonna use two of the products that you promote,
the quick creek and uh wait and forget. But I
don't know that I've ever heard this on your show before.
On my driveway and even my patio I've got it's
like marble sized holes that have developed in the in
(21:23):
the concrete. So which, uh quick thing which you recommend
for that? Well, some of them are as small as
a marble and some of them are almost as big
as a golf ball.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
How deep are they?
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Probably half inch?
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Does it look like just something popped out?
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Yeah, I don't know. It's just it's just like, you know,
you could put put a marble in there.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
And uh so there's a there's a condition called spawling.
It's SPA L, L, I and G and spawling. I
used to joke about. It's like driveway acne. It's just
like little divots out of the concrete. They're not, you know,
perfectly round. They're about the size of a nickel. Some
(22:21):
are shallow, some are deep. And spawling can be caused
a couple of couple of ways. One would be when
that concrete was poured and trilled out, maybe they added
a little too much water to make it a little
bit easier to float out the concrete, and that surface
(22:47):
was a little softer than the rest of the concrete,
and it'll it'll chip out with with weather changes, et cetera,
et cetera. The other thing that causes spawling is if
you have some snow and you drive your car and
it collects road salt and snow and you drive in
(23:11):
and it drops on the driveway or the apron. Aprons
usually get it more than the driveway, but it can
be on both. It could be in the garage floor too.
That salty snowy icy mixture when it melts becomes a
salty brine solution that penetrates into the concrete and is
(23:31):
very corrosive and that will cause spawling. So to repair spauling,
there is a product called vinyl concrete patcher. It also
is a quick crete product, and it has a bonding
agent in it so it will attach itself to the
(23:53):
old concrete, which, as I said, concrete doesn't like concrete
to stick to each other. So you'll clean that out,
you know, whether you use a pressure washer, a vacuum,
a whisp, broom, whatever, you clean that out. The best
you can get as much residue out of there as
you can. And if you're going to patch it in
the summer, you definitely wet it first. The vinyl concrete
(24:15):
patcher is a powder you mixed with water. Let's sit
for about three minutes. Literally. You can go around with
a putty knife and just fill them. Probably not gonna
match exactly, so you probably will see the patch. So
sometimes the patch is worse than a divot. But I'm
just giving your heads up.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Yeah, okay, and it needs to the driveway needs to
be cleaned as well, and I'm guessing we and forget
would I do that before or after the repairs?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Go ahead and clean it. It's not gonna matter. Just
go ahead and clean it now you can. There's no
rhyme or reason to what goes first the wedding forget.
Of course, you know, if you were gonna use a
pressure washer, i'd say clean it first. If you're gonna
use the wet forget, it's non aggressive, it's applied. You're
(25:14):
gonna wait six to eight weeks this time of year,
which is you know you're gonna wait six weeks in
the summer, and you know you can patch it in
the spring.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
Okay, and the last part of it. Uh, to my stupidity,
I got rust on the patio part of my driveway.
Will the wet and Forget clean that up? Do I
need to use something else?
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Yeah, you gotta use something else. So the wedding Forget
will clean algae, fungus, mold, mildew like in any type
of growth like that, and it'll be a total kill.
So it'll be you know, it'll be its natural color.
A concrete will be its natural color, and it'll probably
(26:03):
be that way for about two years. It will regrow,
but there's a little barrier in that wet and forget.
Also as far as rust, that's iron oxide, so usually
a mild acid, and there's a product called Nothing's going
to remove it, like right now, right, I mean, so
(26:25):
there's a product called iron out. It is a mild
acid that will devour iron oxide without really etching or
hurting your concrete. The application is you just don't spray
it on. So if it's a given area, literally you
get a bucket, you mix the iron oxide or the
(26:48):
iron out. It's either a crystal or liquid mixed with water,
and you just stay there with about a four inch
paintbrush and just keep basting that rusted area. You might
have to baste it thirty forty times. Just keep applying
it and applying it, applying it, applying. You'll be able
to watch it just fade away. Okay, and that's probably good.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
Do you let it drive before the next location or
just keep it well, just keep basting and keeping it wet,
and just keep basting it on there, because that that
concrete's purse it will actually suck it down into the concrete,
but it doesn't.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Don't let it drive. Just just keep basting it on
there and be patient.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Okay, Yeah, that's easy to say, right, Yeah it is, okay,
all right, thank you Gary.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
All right, Happy new year to you. Thank you. All right.
So our phone number if you'd like to join us,
seven fifty five hundred, seven five hundred. All those lines
are open, and uh we're talking about your home. And
of course there's a lot to do this time of year,
that's for sure. Listen, we've had some really nice weather.
(27:59):
It's gonna get cold again. I told you my project.
Cold weather's tough on garages, tough on garage doors. I
started the program today going. I always tell folks you
know garage doors are strained during the harshness of temperatures.
So January July we had a cold December, we had
(28:23):
some snow going in and out of the garage. On Christmas,
I could hear it kind of groaning. I could hear
it needed a little bit of help. And that's on
my list today. So if you haven't been maintaining it
a couple times a year, I'd say today, it'd be
a great day. It's warm, it's nice, not bad at
(28:44):
all for the time of year. And I'm talking about
the springs, the hinges, the rollers, the tracks. Make sure
they're clean. Cotton cloth and mineral spirits will clean them well.
And then get some silicon or teflon spray, no oils,
(29:05):
no real refined oils. Teflon or silicone blaster makes a
garage door lubricant. Use that. That's what I use. That's
what I'm gonna be using about an hour from now,
all right, So I just want to give you a
heads up on that.
Speaker 8 (29:21):
All right, David, you'll be up first. We'll take a
little break and come back and get your question. You're
at home with Gary Salvin right here in fifty five
care seed detalk station. All Right, you're at home with
Gary Salvin. We're twelve forty six on your Saturday, and
I think what day it was. Boy, don't the holidays
mess with you there, big time, big time.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
All right, let's get to David.
Speaker 9 (29:43):
David, Welcome Merrik, Christmas, Happy New Year and all that
good stuff.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Yes, sir, back at you.
Speaker 9 (29:51):
Hey, I got a question you've probably never been asked before.
All Right, I have a laminate floor in my kitchen,
which I all twenty years ago, and there are three
planks that are cracked. And I'll tell you why they cracked.
I pulled the refrigerator out.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
I knew you're going to say that.
Speaker 9 (30:14):
I pulled the refrigerator out and it cracked some of
the lamb in it. And anyhow, I do have some
replacement pieces, and I'd like to pull these out and
put the pieces I have. I've got like three or
(30:35):
four lanes left. So and it's all like tongue and groove,
so it all interlocked. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
It doesn't snap together. Then there isn't a metal track
in there.
Speaker 9 (30:47):
It's not a it's a it's plastic. You got any
you got any you know I got got I have
no problem with putting some screws in it.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
So I got an idea, and you're going to have
to tell me if you think it'll work. So I'm
going back to wood floor days, okay, and not necessarily
the lamined days, but if it doesn't have the metal
clip on tracking, it very well may work. So what
(31:21):
they would do with a wood floor on something like
that back in the day is they would they would
literally cut the tongue off. Okay, Okay, what I was
all right, So they cut that out and that's how
they're going to remove that plank.
Speaker 9 (31:37):
Okay, So here's the next question. How do I cut
that out with a razor knife?
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Well, you could anything that would cut it as a
cheap answer, but I think that's kind of where I'm going.
One of what I had in mind would be, I
don't know if you ever seen these multipurpose tools. It
looks like a drumwell tool on stage aeroids. It's got
a circular saw blade that fits on the front of
(32:05):
it that is about an inch and a quarter in diameter, right,
and it's got real fine teeth. If you could if
you're if your hands steady enough, if you can guide
that right down that that that groove that cut it
right now, okay, and then you can pull that plank out,
and then of course you're gonna have to remove the
(32:27):
tongue on the replacement board, right okay, And then it
really depends. I mean again, I don't think you want
to put a screw through there. I know you can,
and you certainly can the refrigerators going over it again,
I guess, or you could glue it down.
Speaker 9 (32:48):
Yeah, I pull the refrigerator out to blow the uh uh,
blow all the dust out underneath where all that you
know what I'm saying. That's yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
And I don't know if you've got any of those
nylon glides underneath those footers, but those babies work really
nice with laminate, and you can get those, you know
where it's not gonna show, maybe where they're an inch
and a half inch and a quarter and it will
(33:24):
make that more accessible if you got to get to
the water filter anything along those lines. But I think,
you know, without seeing your project, I think that's what
I would investigate on getting it solved that way.
Speaker 9 (33:39):
All right, all right, I appreciate it. You got you
have happy New Year.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
You do the same. Thanks for the call. Take care
all right. Yeah, by the way, you know this time
of year we do seem to, i know, in our house,
just to accommodate our fans when they come and visit
and dinners and you know, furniture gets moved and sliding
(34:05):
it around and it can be a little bit of
a chore. And I'll tell you those little glides they
make them an all different size. The first time I
got them, and it's been a while, I was just
absolutely astonished how easy they move furniture, big pieces of furniture,
and it doesn't matter on kind of like what surface
(34:27):
either if you wanted an investment boy that had been
a good Christmas present for home or I just thought
of that. But you can get a packet them. We're
a whole different sizes and shapes, but we use the
dickens out of those things anymore, you know, But just
an idea. And for refrigers, they're great. Dan welcome, Hey Garry,
(34:50):
how you doing doing great? Thanks good.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
A quick garage question. I've got an order block one
and a half car garage. Would it be possible to
have a floating floor in there that they poured a
separate floor.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
H So when you say a floating floor, you're talking
like a laminate flooring or what.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
No, no, no, it's it's a slab. But there's a
there's a definite scene where the block comes down on
the side and meet up with the floor.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
And on the on the one side of the garage,
it's probably three quarters of the wall was under three
feet of dirt.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
So when it.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Rains, it's not like it's seeping through the side of
the you know, the vertical of the wall. I'm wondering
if it's I haven't looked at it when it's raining
to see if it's coming up through that separation between
the floor and the where it meets the wall.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Yeah, I see. We have the same thing in basements too.
Those are two separate points, whether the wall and the floor.
So the only time it really comes into play is
if your water table gets too high at that point
and the water comes in. So let me just thinking
this out loud, Okay. One thing I would think about
if I had a garage in the garage floor it
(36:10):
would be blocked or is it poured? Also, no, it's
the walls or blocked. Okay, So you got block and
then you had the pour and then there's this gap.
And so why would the water table be too high there?
And my answer would be, I don't know. Is there
(36:31):
gutters on that size? Are they clogged? Are they overflowing?
Does the down spout go on the ground or does
it deposit the water on the surface That would raise well,
that would allow that water to weep in there. That'd
be a path least resistance. It may not be the
water table, but it would be a path least resistance
(36:52):
for surface water.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Yeah, And that's that side of the garage where it
seems to happen. Like I said, there's you can't see it,
but it's a it's a there's a walkway about four
feet off off the garage and there's three feet of dirt,
you know, elevated dirt between the garage and that and
that walkway. And I'm thinking, and there is a there
(37:16):
is a gutter there, but the gutter goes out the
backside of the garage and I know that's clear, Okay,
So I'm wondering, is that just when the dirt gets
wet it it goes to that.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
I'm thinking it's I think that is the path that
is resistance if there's any kind of you know, it
doesn't take much with a you know, gushers of rains
we've had lately. Yeah, over the last few years. I
mean they're even changing gutter sizes in our area. They
never used to rest all six inch gutters, but they
are now. So I'm thinking it's just ground water. You know,
(37:52):
it's just saturating that area so much, and water is
always moving. It's the path of the least resistance would
be that gas versus the soil. The soil is resisting
more water.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
Yeah, I play on it.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
So, yeah, so that's the big decision, and I would
say that's what I would try. In fact, I think
I might even try a euthane clear calocking or gray
euthane or gray silicone, something that has good flexibility. Now,
(38:29):
somebody listening right now is going, no, no, no, there's
gonna be water pressure there. You got to use a
hydraulic cement. I don't think so. I don't think there's
that much water pressure. I think it's just an opening
and that water is gravitating to that because there's nothing
to stop it. I think, you know, with a gray
(38:50):
silicone you're kind of putting your finger in the dike
and that would be enough resistance to move it along. Now,
if it were underground, you know, no way, you know,
I mean no way. There'd be enough water pressure in
there where it would probably push at and you'd probably
have to I don't know what. Really, the only way
to really do it if it were way underground, would
(39:12):
be to cut that floor and put in a drain pipe.
To be honest, but I think where you're at, I
think i'd it's not gonna cost you much. It doesn't
have to be pretty. I'd get some gray silicon and
put a beat along the air and see what happens.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
See what? And is that? I know this weekend's going
to be kind of mild, but is that something if
I missed this weekend? Can you use it in colder temperature?
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Let's see, it's going to tell you on the label,
but my guess is it's going to tell you, you know,
forty degrees limitation or maybe thirty five degrees, and that's
the temperature of the concrete. So if you got an
insulated garage, that concrete might be warmer than that. But
(39:59):
if it's zero out side, I'd probably wait.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Okay, okay, all right, Yeah, we'll give it a shot
the next time and we'll get that easy.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
He's very good.
Speaker 8 (40:10):
Happy, appreciate it, Happy new year to you.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Thank you for the call. I appreciate it. All right.
Well that's going to wrap up, and uh boy, I'll
tell you what it was. A busy dow was a
little bit surprised. In fact, I was very surprised. It's
always good to be busy, we all say that. And
a lot of interest in getting a few things. Uh
taken yourself for four hours? Yeah, well yeah, well I
(40:33):
always have my big pat of nose. You do.
Speaker 6 (40:35):
I'm impressed.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
You know, we can fix things in your house, or
you can listen to me tell you all the things
that need to be fixed. You tell me we should
be better. All right, Danny boy, another great day, and
not only that, a great year. Thank you for all
your help in two thousand and twenty five going into
two thousand twenty six. I want to wish everybody very
(40:59):
happy new year. Good lord. Willing back next weekend for
more at Home with Garry Sullivan.
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