December 7, 2025 • 44 mins
In is hour of At Home with Gary Sullivan, Gary tackles common household issues and shares practical solutions. He discusses the importance of maintaining a dry basement, explaining how to check downspouts and ensure proper water flow. Gary also shares tips on how to clean and maintain hardwood floors, recommending the use of pH-neutral cleaners to avoid damaging finishes. Additionally, he talks about the benefits of using a product like Easy Breathe to control humidity and prevent mold growth. With a focus on home maintenance and DIY projects, Gary offers advice on how to keep your home safe, dry, and well-maintained.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
All right, weekends here, welcome aboard at Home with Carrie Selvin.
This hours brought you by Roto Ruter and they do
the plumbing and the water clean up, a company that's
been trusted recommended for generations coast to coast. Rota Ruter
fixes clogged drains, leaky faucets, in running toilets, repair and
replace water heaters, garbage disposals, some pumps, water softeners, the works.
(00:38):
It's one eight hundred Get Roto and we thank them
for sponsoring this hour of the show. And uh, let's
talk a little bit about your home. What do you say.
Our phone number is eight hundred eight two three eight
two five five and feel free to grab a line.
A lot to chat about. Yesterday we got into a
lot of discussions about toilets, and I'm always saying how
(01:02):
challenging plumbing can be. When the weather gets cold and
we're inside, it gets more use. And I'd kind of
like to go through that again, just a couple of
the things, just the real basic parts of you know,
how to fix minor plumbing and just kind of chat
(01:26):
a little bit about that. So let's just take an
example of the toilet quote. We get this call a
lot flushing itself and what's causing that, and really what's
causing that is leakage from the closet where the flapper
is like a plug over the water savor valve, and
(01:50):
when you flush, you press it down, the flapper goes up,
the water goes from the closet to the bowl, and
so it's a transfer of water with force and moves
the wast into toilet. We'll get into that if that
particular process doesn't work. But if that happens and everything's
working fine, and then you're kind of sitting in the
(02:12):
family room or in the bedroom and you hear the
toilet just kind of turn on, not really flush, it
just kind of turns on, and you hear it, and
you say, what, it sounds like the toilet's flushing itself.
What's going on there? Well, what's going on is that
water that flapper is just not seating properly, and that
(02:35):
water is leaking down into the bowl. And then the
valve with the float is calling for water, so it
turns on and it fills up the closet. So we're
wasting water to begin with. Annoying for sure, and you
can always tell if that's happening. You can run just
a you just get a little food dye and put
it in the back of the tank in the closet,
(02:58):
and you'll see that water from that closet transfer into
the bowl. It'll start turning the bowl the color of
the food coloring. So it's transferring without you ever touching
the lever. So I was talking about yesterday. A lot
of people don't realize the flappers aren't what they used
to be. If you will, and there's chlorine in the water,
(03:22):
that chlorine, it doesn't disintegrate it, but it compromises the flappers,
and sometimes they just don't lay as flush as they
do when they're new. And in a lot of cases,
the lifespan of a flapper, if you've noticed you've been
changing them more and more, like a year and a
half and you're replacing them that never used to happen.
(03:43):
I mean, they last like ten years. And there are
some chlorine resistant flappers. I know you never knew that interesting.
One of them is called a quirky. It's a red one.
I would encourage you, if you're having that issue, to
go ahead and change that out to a corky and
see if that doesn't stop. Other things that make I
(04:07):
guess the toilet run maybe not shut off is that
that flapper doesn't seed all the way. Water maybe could
be running over into the overflow tube, or that little
tiny hose that goes into the overflow tube is down,
you know, maybe a couple inches down into that overflow tube,
and that will keep it running and running and running.
(04:30):
That overflow tube should have the hose going into it
just in like the top quarter inch, and the water
line on the outside of that overflow tube it should
be about you know, an inch from the top. And
if those things are a little bit out of kilter,
quite honestly, it's gonna keep running now. Kind of. The
(04:51):
other thing which kind of start our conversation yesterday is
when you have the toilet and you flush the toi
and it doesn't remove all the waste. What that will
usually be a sign of is you're just not getting
quick enough trainsfer of the water from the closet to
(05:14):
the bowl. And there's two main areas I'd like you
to take a look at. The first one would be
underneath the rim of the toilet. There are little holes
where the water would come from the closet go into
the rim of the toilet and come out those holes
(05:35):
and create the flush, and they get calcified, they get
hard water deposits in they kind of plug up those holes,
and well, then you've got a problem, right, You're not
getting enough oomph to remove all the way. So if
you take a compact mirror something along those lines underneath
(05:55):
that rim, take a look and if they're calcified or clogged,
a paper clip, kind of clean them out with that,
or maybe a little twist drill bit between your index
finger and your thumb, just kind of twist that around
a little bit and see if we can clean out
those holes. And then down at the bottom there's a
(06:19):
jet vent, so you look down into the toilet. Down
at the bottom there's a little hole. Those also get
an accumulation of hard water deposits and you don't get
that propulsion to move all the waste out that air.
And there's a couple of things you can do. You
(06:40):
can try, I mean, plumbers used to use moradic acid.
I'm not going to recommend a homeowner be messing with that.
You can try a product like CLR, which is I
think a hydrochloric acid. I believe I could have that wrong,
but it's a lighter acid. You just pour a quard
of that in there. Let's sit overnight and flush and
see if that helps. You can also put a rubber
(07:03):
glove on and take like a take like a toothbrush,
an old toothbrush, and use the handle and just clean
and you know, jab that handle a toilet toothbrush into
that little hole into toilet and you'll probably remove a
lot of gunk. I mean, I'm just talking about crystals
(07:26):
or it almost looked like sand, and it'll clean that
out real nice. In a lot of cases, take care
of your problem. So it was you know, we had
quite a few calls, and that means there's probably quite
a few people with that problem right now, and I
just wanted to take the opportunity to address those issues
(07:47):
and hopefully save you some you know, some angst and
give you some information and maybe how you can fix
those problems. So having said that, let me give you
the phone number. I invite you to join us. Love
to talk to you about maybe your home projects, or
maybe a problem you're having, or maybe a project you're
(08:09):
going to tackle next year. And one of the things
to also be thinking about this time of year in
this you know, this month and the next month I
usually try to talk about it is you know, we
have we're indoors, maybe a lot of people in the house,
maybe a lot of gifts will be exchanged, and dot gonet.
(08:30):
We're running out of room in our home, so kind
of going through and you know, purging some of the
items we have in our home, maybe getting the garage
a little bit more organized, maybe the basement a little
bit more organized, maybe the storage closets a little bit
more organized. I don't know about you, but about a
(08:55):
year ago I got into this heaven area some shelving
with leftover paint so that I, you know, I didn't
want to get rid of it and then have to
touch up a wall or something along those lines. And
then I probably had more cans of paint than I
had rooms in the house, which was telling me I
(09:16):
probably had a history of colors and leftover paint and
it was time to kind of get down in there
and decide what was still viable, what was not viable,
and then you know, maybe repurpose that paint. There's several
organizations that do that. If it's an oil based paint,
(09:36):
it's a little harder to give away. Usually you can
drop it off at your county maybe for a hazardous
materials drive. And I did that and it quite honestly
was amazing how much space that saved. And then I
(09:57):
took the ones that were viable and got my sharpie
out and if it wasn't on the top of the can,
the room and the approximate date and the color and
all that information it was. It was a good thing
to do, and it just kind of cleans things up
and all those things down there with a cardboard boxes.
Putting them in a plastic containers also a real good idea.
(10:20):
So we'll talk a little bit about that also in
the meantime. Love to take your calls again. It's eight
hundred eighty two three eight two five five. Y're at
home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Takes right with a call to Gary Sullivan at one
eight hundred eight two three talk. This is at home
with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
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(11:18):
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(11:58):
Plumbing and Water Clean, a company that has been trusted
and recommended for generations. Coast to coast. Roto Router fixes
clogged drains, leaky faucets, and running toilets. They repair and
replace water heaters garbage disposals, some pumps, water softeners, and
every other residential or commercial plumbing fixture. I use Rotoruter
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(12:20):
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(12:41):
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(13:11):
go at home with Gary Sullivan taking your calls for
your your home projects. It's eight hundred eight two three
eight two five five and to the phones we had
don welcome.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Yeah, Gary, thanks for taking my call. You know I
have I have popcorn ceilings at trail level house, all
over the house, and I'm trying to get rid of it.
I mean, I'm guessing without without having to move all
the heavy furniture. So the easiest way to do that
without making a mess all over the house. Do you
(13:44):
have anything.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Well with those two qualifications, don don't do it. Okay,
that's because.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
But I kind of figured that. I kind of figured
you would say that.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Hear it from you, Yeah, it's you know. So let
me just give you a couple options. Okay. First of all,
it is a real messy job if you're going to
remove it.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
I actually did that. I actually did that in a
small room in a closet upstairs.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Right.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
It took me all day because I did make a mess,
but I was able to clean it up and paint
it everything. But it wasn't easy. Yeah, it's hard, modern
method or whatever.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Well, you know there there is an option. In fact,
actually we hit somebody on yesterday where it was a
drywall company and one of the things they do is
they clean up popcorn ceilings and they usually take a
look at it depends on how thick the popcorn, the surfaces,
how rough it is, and an option that some people do,
(14:45):
again it's still messy, they'll put drywall right on top
of it.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Yeah, so that's what I did. Actually, I mean I
didn't put the drywall. I could take it out. I
was able to take it out. You know, I just
like a you know, like a home improvement book. I
look at it. Whatever I just put, you know, I
painted it all w It works really good. But I
don't want to sell the house to have to just
remove the popcorn ceiling.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
That's my issue.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Is it going to cost a lot to professionals to do.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
It or well, you know, I don't know exactly what
the costs would be in the size, but you know,
it's a it'll be more of an investment than just
painting it, because you know, you know what kind of
job that is. Now, there is one other thing, in
all seriousness, there is a semi clean way of not
removing it, but hiding it. There is a there's a
(15:35):
company called Decorative Ceiling Tiles. All right, Decorative Ceiling Tiles,
and it's a dot com. You can take a look
at it. And they have literally thousands of different types
of ceiling tiles, some as as thin as maybe three
(15:59):
sheets of paper. Oh wow, it can be put up
with little tiny breads. There's not tracks. Wow. They also
have some colored I'm gonna use the word styrofoam. It's
not styrofoam, but it's like a styrofoam. It's about an
inch and a half thick, and it can look like
a tiled ceiling. I mean, it's very attractive. There's some
(16:22):
thin ones that look like pewter, look like copper. Anyway,
if you go to Decorative Ceiling Tiles dot com, all
these tiles, I mean, these tiles aren't designed to just
hide popcorn ceilings. They're actually used as a decorative finish
over ceilings. Like if you had an office in your
(16:42):
house and it was a nice house and you wanted
to have like a copper ceiling, you could buy these
thin piece they're plastic, they're thin. They're put up with
breads or a dolloup of glue and you go it
right to the drywall and it's beautiful. So that and
it's inexpensive. So that is. You know, if you're saying
(17:04):
I'm looking for something that's new and exciting and maybe
you could help me, you know that would be it.
It's not removing anything, and it's it's hiding it basically.
You know, it's so thin you don't have to change
light fixtures or anything along those lines. Take a look
at that. That might be something you're looking for.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
So last question is what is the purpose of the
pop corncer? Was that like soneproofing in the old days?
What was it for?
Speaker 1 (17:30):
It was about saving dollars. It was literally about savad
dolls when they were building the houses, and a lot
of it happened in the nineties when the housing boom
was going on, and you know, skilled craftsmen were not
necessarily overly plentiful. There was so much work to do,
and they didn't have to finish the ceilings. They didn't
(17:52):
have to. They start doing it on walls too, So
they would tape and then rather than mudding and sanding
and then remutting and then priming and all that, they
would take topping compound basically in paint and mixture with
small styrofoam beats and they would literally hang the drywall,
tape it and just blow this over the surface and
(18:14):
they were done.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
All right. Hey, thank you, sir, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
You're quite welcome. Thank you for the call. Take care.
I mean, that is amazing. But there is By the way,
we do we podcast different interviews we do when we
podcast each hour of the show, it's always available to you,
and I encourage you to kind of take a look.
They're titled very nicely on what we're going to discuss
(18:37):
in that hour. You can get it at the iHeart
app and microphone a little magnifying glass. Just click on
that podcast At Home with Gary Sullivan and we had
a drywall company on there and they were talking about
what they do and they just hang new drywall directly
over it because it is a chore and it is
(18:58):
messy if you're going to scrape that off, and whether
it's painted or unpainted also adds to the complexity of
the job. All Right, music's playing Bill. You'll be up
first if you'd like to join us. It's eight hundred
eight two three eight two five five at Home with
Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Start a project and don't know how to finish it?
Call Gary and one to eight hundred and eighty two
three talk. You're at Home with Gary Soliva.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
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(20:05):
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(21:34):
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You'll see and smell the difference. All right, back at
(21:56):
it We go at home with Gary Salvan thirty three
minutes after the top of it. They our chat about
your home issues, maintenance, repair, maybe even a project for
next year. Happy to take your calls, our phone number
is eight hundred eight two three eight two five five bill.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Welcome, Yes, sir, that time caller?
Speaker 1 (22:18):
All right, welcome, All.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
Right, I listened to the program yesterday and heard the
you know, the the old fashioned flapper at the flapper
at our flapper years and years ago. I'm eighty one
years old. Forty years ago, I had a grocery shopping
bag full of flappers and my neighbor down the road said, Ken,
(22:43):
why don't you get the bell system? And I said,
what the hell is a bell system? And he said,
it's it. It works just you don't have to change
anything in there. Your flesh bow stays the same. All
you do is put that little ring around the bottom
and make sure you get a red one. And an
(23:04):
idiot five year old kid can hook it up. And
I haven't had. I've changed the rubber ring maybe twice
in forty years. Mmm, and it don't leak.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Now there's all kinds. Let me ask you a question, Bill,
Is this the one where when you're calling it a
bell system, it's it does look like a bell, and
at the bottom of it there's a rubber washer that
just goes up and down and then closes off that
clo dream No, okay.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
You call you call it. In this part of the country,
we call it the flesh vow. Okay, the pless you
call them the closet. Okay. Now, at the bottom of
the closet there where the flapper fits in the hole,
there is a lip and that rubber ring that's around
that lip and stays stationary, okay, and the the bell
(24:00):
goes up and down and the weight of the water
seals that and it worked. I mean, I'm I'm forty
years in.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Well that's great.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
Well yeah, but I mean it can be picked up
at lows and it's very very simple. It's back in
back in the day, it was about up two dollars.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah, and I don't know what it will be now
right right.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
But it's real, real simple to I mean really, I'm
not a plumber. Yeah, and I made a heck of
a lot of plastic pipe in my lifetime, but I'm
not a plumber. But uh, anybody can hook it up.
It's really really simple to do.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah. I think that one of the things that's kind
of the newer version or it's not really a version
of that. But at the end of that conversation, because
we had several conversations about you know, the leaky flapper,
et cetera, and how Chureen's eating them up road Master,
I'm gonna guess probably fifteen years ago came out with.
It has a ring. It is an aluminum ring, and
(25:10):
inside that is in a POxy type putty and you
peel a little plastically off and you just press that
down and it's all one piece and it's tilted, and
I like I like the fact that it's tilted a
little bit because that flapper again then has a little weight.
(25:30):
You've kind of cleaned up that rim and I've had
tremendous luck with that. That's kind of a not quite
the same thing, but along the same version. I mean, basically,
we're looking for a plug, right, I mean, we're gonna
plug that thing up.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Yeah, and just just that that rubber that red rubber
ring that you put on there, and they're a little
tiny lip down there at the bottom, right, and you
kind of have to expand that rubber lip that rubber
ring just a little bit so it's over it, sure,
and it goes down flat.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Sure. Sure, Well that's what we got to do. We
got to plug her up. And I appreciate your comments
on that, and you know, it's another option for a
lot of people. You've obviously had some tremendous luck with it,
so I'm all for that, I mean, I got tired
of replacing the flappers on mine, and I started learning
(26:25):
a little bit about the quality of flappers over the
last thirty years and found out, well, they're not what
they used to be, and with the chlorine in the water,
how it was kind of compromising some of those flappers. Again,
you mentioned the red one. The flapper I got was
a red one. It was called a quirky. It was
chlorine resistant, and that kind of solved my problems when
(26:48):
I was talking to the person regarding the flapper that
they were having problems on that outlet where he was
talking about putting that rubber ring on. The old ones
were brass. Of course, now they're plastic or nylon, and
you get a little chip and nose, and you can
have the best flapper in the world, and if it's
(27:10):
not smooth, it's not gonna seat. And that fluid Master
with a kind of gluing a new ring on in
heavny apparatus, all one piece, with the fluid Master flapper
untilded down, that seemed to solve a lot of problems
for me also. So anyway, we've got some answers to
a problem, and that's what it's all about. Let me
(27:31):
give you the phone number you can join us. It's
eight hundred eight two three eight two five five and
happy to talk to you about your home project. A
little maintenance, little repair for those folks that got a
little snow in the past week. And I think I
had read that the forty eight percent of the condon
the United States has got snow on the ground. Maybe
you do, maybe you don't. But if you had a
(27:52):
little snow and you use a little rock salt, or
you use a little ice melter, if you get above freezing,
sweep it off, kind of hose it down. Don't let
that residue just sit on concrete because with a little
drizzle and maybe a little fog and moisture, it reactivates.
(28:14):
That creates a very caustic solution on that concrete. And
quite honestly, we get a lot of calls on crack
concrete that's not going to really cause a crack, but
what's going to causes what they call spawling. And that's
where the surface I called driveway acne. It's where the
surface kind of starts popping up. And we'll get a
lot of calls in the springtime and I'll say a
(28:34):
good bit of those can be traced back to the
winter and what you used on the concrete and whether
you remove that residue or not. If you used on
a sidewalk or a stoop going into your home, If
you got carpet right inside that door, boy, you better
(28:55):
be doing a lot of vacuum on a daily basis.
If you've got people going in and out of that door.
If you've got wood flow or uh LVP or LVT
tile or a laminate floor, well I get a good
you know, we talk about the Jaws cleaners. They got
a hardwood floor cleaner. Get that residue off because it's
(29:16):
a grit. It's you know, it's not going to be
noticeable right away, but whenever you uh, you know, if
you took salt and shook it on a wood floor
and everybody kept walking on for a while, you start
doing damage to the floor and that residue kind of
the same thing. So you know, I'll let you be
(29:37):
the judge if that's a problem or not. A lot
of it is depending on how your house is set up.
Where people enter your home, where your family enters a home,
where the guests enter the home and the type of
floor that's underneath it. But you know, if you have
some you know, like a varney finish on a wood
floor or an engineered wood floor and it had a
(29:58):
you know, factory finish on there, and you're dragging in
road salt on your shoes and stuff like that and
not taking your shoes off, you will compromise that finish
over time, so we can get in the habit of
maybe taking our shoes off or cleaning that residue, probably
on a daily basis, until you get to resdue cleaned
(30:20):
up outside. All right, feel free to join us. It's
eight hundred eight two three A two five five and
happy to take those calls. Also, we had a lot
of wind and cold temperatures and a lot of parts
of the country, and I hope you paid attention to
your house. On windy days. You can really start telling
(30:43):
where those drafts are. And a lot of times, once
you know where they're coming from, easy to address. It
takes time, I get that, but you know, getting them
taken care of is certainly key. I had two is
in my home. One was actually in a pantry connected
to the kitchen and there was a trap or an
(31:06):
access door going into the attic in the pantry. The
other one was in a bedroom closet in our bedroom
and when that closet door was left open, and it
had an access panel in the ceiling. And it's an
access panel basically is a piece of plywood over a hole.
You get a windy day, you can feel cold air
(31:29):
coming down through that access panel very easily. A little
weather stripping foam tape comes in a coil, put it
on the plywood where it sits on the ledge. That'll
help seal that out if you want to do that,
and then come back with a piece of plexiglass with
some either more tight or some foam weather stripping on
(31:52):
that and use you know, maybe six eight nine screws,
small screws and just take a piece of plexiglass with
that tape up there up against the trim boards. Man,
you can you can seal that up really nice, really
inexpensively and really eliminated draft. You'll be more comfortable in
(32:13):
saving you a little money on your on your heating also,
So that might be an option for you. All right,
grab a line, happy to chat with you, and you're
at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Helm for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at Home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Well, I talk about a lot of products you can
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In fact, listeners tell me tear menders that must have
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(33:08):
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(34:11):
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(34:36):
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(35:00):
home with Gary Sullivan as we take your cause regarding
your home projects. It's eight hundred and eight two three
eight two five five kind of glossed over on what
to use. And I thought, you know, during this time
of year, I'd give about six weeks of some cleaning tips.
So let's use that as a cleaning tip. And I'm
(35:20):
talking about Jaws products, and what we're going to talk
about is using their wood and composite floor care, so
really traditional mopping on new wood and the composite floors,
(35:41):
which I'll call the LVT, and exposing them to a
lot of moisture. There's two types of those types of
products too. Their waterproof and water resistant, two different, totally
different things. Most of them are water resistant unless you
buy them specifically to be water proof for like a
basement or a bathroom. And the easy way to do
(36:07):
is and we use this at our home when I
was talking about the residue we drag in during the
wintertime and how that can be damaging to a floor.
And you want a and this is really important regardless
of what type of product you use. You want to
find a pH neutral product. That's very important because you
(36:30):
don't know what type of finish is really on those floors,
and a lot of times you'll buy a cleaner and
they'll become a white haze on there because it's reacting
to the finish that's on that floor. And the Jaws
Hardwood Floor Cleaner, and you can use a microfiber mop
(36:50):
they have that, or you can get on your hands
and knees and use a microfiber cloth. It'll be a
streak free number one, it will not affect the finish
on the existing floor. It'll be low moisture cleaning and
you literally spray and wipe, and it'll also clean up
(37:14):
the dirt and the salt that's tracked in during the
holiday season and when you start having a lot of
guests over. So you can check it out for yourself again,
it's the Jaws Hardwood Floor Cleaner. They have all kinds
of wonderful products of pH neutral. It's Jaws Cleans dot com.
Jaws Cleans dot com, and they're also running a sale.
(37:36):
It's twenty percent off. Just use the code Gary. I
don't know if think any more of those catty kits
or not, which comes with about six different cleaners. It's
an awesome deal. But I don't know if I haven't
looked up to see if they still have some left.
If they do, grab that that you'll get a good experience,
I assure you. So that'll be our tip. Getting rid
(37:58):
of that residue always a good idea. All right, So
other things I was talking about earlier when we get
started about just kind of cleaning making room in the house,
cleaning up some of the storage. Donate this, pitch that,
keep this, you know, the drill containers always a good
(38:19):
idea versus cardboard boxes if you're storing near a cross
space or in a basement. Not a big fan of
storing things in the attic, And especially when you take
down decorations and you got those lights. Remember even though
that attic is ventilated, because it still gets very warm
in the summertime, if you've got ninety degrees outside, even
(38:41):
with good ventilation maybe one hundred and ten, no ventilation
maybe one hundred and forty. So i'd keep things out
of the attic. But you know, kind of purging and
getting rid of some old stuff. For whatever you're saying,
say that's a good idea to do this time of
(39:03):
the year. Other thing is if the mowing season has ended.
Since we're talking about a lot of snow cover throughout
the United States, I would assume in many parts of
the country mowing season has ended, so properly, storing that
mower might be a really, really good idea. If you've
got a plastic tank, I know there's fuel stabilizers you
(39:24):
can use those. Maybe a little old school, I still
run all the gas out of the system, and I've
never ever had problems after I've done that. A lot
of people say it'll mess up the gaskets, and maybe
it does, but maybe you should use the fuel stabilizer.
Some people say yes, other people say run the gas
(39:45):
out your call, But do not just store that lawnmower
with gas in it that doesn't have a stabilizer in it,
or it's not going to start in the spring for you. Also,
a good time as you're doing is to clean the mower,
clean the underside of the deck, maybe change out the
spark plug, maybe lubricate, maybe get the blade sharpened. Those
(40:08):
are the things you definitely want to do this time
of year as you kind of call quits for the mowing.
Season and I'm all about that. The leaves are up
and the grass has been cut and I'm finished.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
So do that.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Also, while you're storing out again, we're always starting to
walk around the home. I implore you to do this
because during the wintertime and you get a lot of snow,
a lot of ice, a lot of rain, making sure
you're pulling all that water away from the house is
really really key to having a healthy home. A dry basement.
(40:48):
Wet basements they breed mold and that is very unhealthy.
So when you check the down spout, you make sure
that down spout is pulling the water, whether it's underground
or whether it's on the surface. You want that about
six feet away from the foundation. You want to have
a grade there where you're taking that water away. That's
(41:11):
critically important. If you have a downspout and you have
an underground pipe that's supposed to take that water away
and it's no longer lined up, so you're spilling half
that water right on the foundation. I can almost assure
you at some point you're going to have water in
that basement, and depending on how long you let it go,
(41:35):
really gets into a point of you know, is it
correctible or are we looking at a big waterproofing job.
But I'm telling you the grating in the groundwater moving
that away from the foundation is so key. And if
you know where that water is going when it's underground
and in that pipe, is it going you know, to
(41:55):
a storm sewer, is it going out the back of
the yard into a creek? Knowing where it's taking that water,
and knowing that that pipe is opened, not impeded by
leaves or acorns from the squirrels, making sure there's snow,
knot and ice not packed on the outlet, which is
(42:17):
holding that water in that pipe and causing it to
back up and causing it to put the water on
the foundation. That's so much where we get in troubles.
And I've said it many times in our basement, a
lot of people will say, oh, I got a leak,
But it's where the floor meets the wall, and I'm
gonna put calking in there. It's not gonna work, okay,
(42:41):
the water pressure will destroy that calking. And there is
a natural seam there. Those are two separate pores. It's
not a crack. It's literally where the wall is meeting
the floor. So really the way you correct. It is
lower the water table when you lower the water table
by getting that water away from the foundation. It really is.
(43:04):
It really is that easy. So give that a little look.
As we start getting into the colder folder months and
maybe you have snow packed around the foundation. That's not good,
all right. You can make your home safer by keeping
that basement nice and dry. And also, you know there's
a lot of airborne particles that are not healthy inside
(43:26):
our home. And that's why I always talk about the
easy Breed violation system. And right now, Easy Breathe is
giving you two free UMDI stats to control humidity in
your home with an easy Breed purchase. Check it out
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Your calls next, You're at Home with Gary Sullivan
Speaker 2 (44:02):
Takes it right with a call to Gary Sullivan at
one eight hundred eight two three talk This is at
Home with Gary Sullivan.
All right, weekends here, welcome aboard at Home with Carrie Selvin.
This hours brought you by Roto Ruter and they do
the plumbing and the water clean up, a company that's
been trusted recommended for generations coast to coast. Rota Ruter
fixes clogged drains, leaky faucets, in running toilets, repair and
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It's one eight hundred Get Roto and we thank them
for sponsoring this hour of the show. And uh, let's
talk a little bit about your home. What do you say.
Our phone number is eight hundred eight two three eight
two five five and feel free to grab a line.
A lot to chat about. Yesterday we got into a
lot of discussions about toilets, and I'm always saying how
(01:02):
challenging plumbing can be. When the weather gets cold and
we're inside, it gets more use. And I'd kind of
like to go through that again, just a couple of
the things, just the real basic parts of you know,
how to fix minor plumbing and just kind of chat
(01:26):
a little bit about that. So let's just take an
example of the toilet quote. We get this call a
lot flushing itself and what's causing that, and really what's
causing that is leakage from the closet where the flapper
is like a plug over the water savor valve, and
(01:50):
when you flush, you press it down, the flapper goes up,
the water goes from the closet to the bowl, and
so it's a transfer of water with force and moves
the wast into toilet. We'll get into that if that
particular process doesn't work. But if that happens and everything's
working fine, and then you're kind of sitting in the
(02:12):
family room or in the bedroom and you hear the
toilet just kind of turn on, not really flush, it
just kind of turns on, and you hear it, and
you say, what, it sounds like the toilet's flushing itself.
What's going on there? Well, what's going on is that
water that flapper is just not seating properly, and that
(02:35):
water is leaking down into the bowl. And then the
valve with the float is calling for water, so it
turns on and it fills up the closet. So we're
wasting water to begin with. Annoying for sure, and you
can always tell if that's happening. You can run just
a you just get a little food dye and put
it in the back of the tank in the closet,
(02:58):
and you'll see that water from that closet transfer into
the bowl. It'll start turning the bowl the color of
the food coloring. So it's transferring without you ever touching
the lever. So I was talking about yesterday. A lot
of people don't realize the flappers aren't what they used
to be. If you will, and there's chlorine in the water,
(03:22):
that chlorine, it doesn't disintegrate it, but it compromises the flappers,
and sometimes they just don't lay as flush as they
do when they're new. And in a lot of cases,
the lifespan of a flapper, if you've noticed you've been
changing them more and more, like a year and a
half and you're replacing them that never used to happen.
(03:43):
I mean, they last like ten years. And there are
some chlorine resistant flappers. I know you never knew that interesting.
One of them is called a quirky. It's a red one.
I would encourage you, if you're having that issue, to
go ahead and change that out to a corky and
see if that doesn't stop. Other things that make I
(04:07):
guess the toilet run maybe not shut off is that
that flapper doesn't seed all the way. Water maybe could
be running over into the overflow tube, or that little
tiny hose that goes into the overflow tube is down,
you know, maybe a couple inches down into that overflow tube,
and that will keep it running and running and running.
(04:30):
That overflow tube should have the hose going into it
just in like the top quarter inch, and the water
line on the outside of that overflow tube it should
be about you know, an inch from the top. And
if those things are a little bit out of kilter,
quite honestly, it's gonna keep running now. Kind of. The
(04:51):
other thing which kind of start our conversation yesterday is
when you have the toilet and you flush the toi
and it doesn't remove all the waste. What that will
usually be a sign of is you're just not getting
quick enough trainsfer of the water from the closet to
(05:14):
the bowl. And there's two main areas I'd like you
to take a look at. The first one would be
underneath the rim of the toilet. There are little holes
where the water would come from the closet go into
the rim of the toilet and come out those holes
(05:35):
and create the flush, and they get calcified, they get
hard water deposits in they kind of plug up those holes,
and well, then you've got a problem, right, You're not
getting enough oomph to remove all the way. So if
you take a compact mirror something along those lines underneath
(05:55):
that rim, take a look and if they're calcified or clogged,
a paper clip, kind of clean them out with that,
or maybe a little twist drill bit between your index
finger and your thumb, just kind of twist that around
a little bit and see if we can clean out
those holes. And then down at the bottom there's a
(06:19):
jet vent, so you look down into the toilet. Down
at the bottom there's a little hole. Those also get
an accumulation of hard water deposits and you don't get
that propulsion to move all the waste out that air.
And there's a couple of things you can do. You
(06:40):
can try, I mean, plumbers used to use moradic acid.
I'm not going to recommend a homeowner be messing with that.
You can try a product like CLR, which is I
think a hydrochloric acid. I believe I could have that wrong,
but it's a lighter acid. You just pour a quard
of that in there. Let's sit overnight and flush and
see if that helps. You can also put a rubber
(07:03):
glove on and take like a take like a toothbrush,
an old toothbrush, and use the handle and just clean
and you know, jab that handle a toilet toothbrush into
that little hole into toilet and you'll probably remove a
lot of gunk. I mean, I'm just talking about crystals
(07:26):
or it almost looked like sand, and it'll clean that
out real nice. In a lot of cases, take care
of your problem. So it was you know, we had
quite a few calls, and that means there's probably quite
a few people with that problem right now, and I
just wanted to take the opportunity to address those issues
(07:47):
and hopefully save you some you know, some angst and
give you some information and maybe how you can fix
those problems. So having said that, let me give you
the phone number. I invite you to join us. Love
to talk to you about maybe your home projects, or
maybe a problem you're having, or maybe a project you're
(08:09):
going to tackle next year. And one of the things
to also be thinking about this time of year in
this you know, this month and the next month I
usually try to talk about it is you know, we
have we're indoors, maybe a lot of people in the house,
maybe a lot of gifts will be exchanged, and dot gonet.
(08:30):
We're running out of room in our home, so kind
of going through and you know, purging some of the
items we have in our home, maybe getting the garage
a little bit more organized, maybe the basement a little
bit more organized, maybe the storage closets a little bit
more organized. I don't know about you, but about a
(08:55):
year ago I got into this heaven area some shelving
with leftover paint so that I, you know, I didn't
want to get rid of it and then have to
touch up a wall or something along those lines. And
then I probably had more cans of paint than I
had rooms in the house, which was telling me I
(09:16):
probably had a history of colors and leftover paint and
it was time to kind of get down in there
and decide what was still viable, what was not viable,
and then you know, maybe repurpose that paint. There's several
organizations that do that. If it's an oil based paint,
(09:36):
it's a little harder to give away. Usually you can
drop it off at your county maybe for a hazardous
materials drive. And I did that and it quite honestly
was amazing how much space that saved. And then I
(09:57):
took the ones that were viable and got my sharpie
out and if it wasn't on the top of the can,
the room and the approximate date and the color and
all that information it was. It was a good thing
to do, and it just kind of cleans things up
and all those things down there with a cardboard boxes.
Putting them in a plastic containers also a real good idea.
(10:20):
So we'll talk a little bit about that also in
the meantime. Love to take your calls again. It's eight
hundred eighty two three eight two five five. Y're at
home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Takes right with a call to Gary Sullivan at one
eight hundred eight two three talk. This is at home
with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
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(11:58):
Plumbing and Water Clean, a company that has been trusted
and recommended for generations. Coast to coast. Roto Router fixes
clogged drains, leaky faucets, and running toilets. They repair and
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(13:11):
go at home with Gary Sullivan taking your calls for
your your home projects. It's eight hundred eight two three
eight two five five and to the phones we had
don welcome.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Yeah, Gary, thanks for taking my call. You know I
have I have popcorn ceilings at trail level house, all
over the house, and I'm trying to get rid of it.
I mean, I'm guessing without without having to move all
the heavy furniture. So the easiest way to do that
without making a mess all over the house. Do you
(13:44):
have anything.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Well with those two qualifications, don don't do it. Okay,
that's because.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
But I kind of figured that. I kind of figured
you would say that.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Hear it from you, Yeah, it's you know. So let
me just give you a couple options. Okay. First of all,
it is a real messy job if you're going to
remove it.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
I actually did that. I actually did that in a
small room in a closet upstairs.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Right.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
It took me all day because I did make a mess,
but I was able to clean it up and paint
it everything. But it wasn't easy. Yeah, it's hard, modern
method or whatever.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Well, you know there there is an option. In fact,
actually we hit somebody on yesterday where it was a
drywall company and one of the things they do is
they clean up popcorn ceilings and they usually take a
look at it depends on how thick the popcorn, the surfaces,
how rough it is, and an option that some people do,
(14:45):
again it's still messy, they'll put drywall right on top
of it.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Yeah, so that's what I did. Actually, I mean I
didn't put the drywall. I could take it out. I
was able to take it out. You know, I just
like a you know, like a home improvement book. I
look at it. Whatever I just put, you know, I
painted it all w It works really good. But I
don't want to sell the house to have to just
remove the popcorn ceiling.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
That's my issue.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Is it going to cost a lot to professionals to do.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
It or well, you know, I don't know exactly what
the costs would be in the size, but you know,
it's a it'll be more of an investment than just
painting it, because you know, you know what kind of
job that is. Now, there is one other thing, in
all seriousness, there is a semi clean way of not
removing it, but hiding it. There is a there's a
(15:35):
company called Decorative Ceiling Tiles. All right, Decorative Ceiling Tiles,
and it's a dot com. You can take a look
at it. And they have literally thousands of different types
of ceiling tiles, some as as thin as maybe three
(15:59):
sheets of paper. Oh wow, it can be put up
with little tiny breads. There's not tracks. Wow. They also
have some colored I'm gonna use the word styrofoam. It's
not styrofoam, but it's like a styrofoam. It's about an
inch and a half thick, and it can look like
a tiled ceiling. I mean, it's very attractive. There's some
(16:22):
thin ones that look like pewter, look like copper. Anyway,
if you go to Decorative Ceiling Tiles dot com, all
these tiles, I mean, these tiles aren't designed to just
hide popcorn ceilings. They're actually used as a decorative finish
over ceilings. Like if you had an office in your
(16:42):
house and it was a nice house and you wanted
to have like a copper ceiling, you could buy these
thin piece they're plastic, they're thin. They're put up with
breads or a dolloup of glue and you go it
right to the drywall and it's beautiful. So that and
it's inexpensive. So that is. You know, if you're saying
(17:04):
I'm looking for something that's new and exciting and maybe
you could help me, you know that would be it.
It's not removing anything, and it's it's hiding it basically.
You know, it's so thin you don't have to change
light fixtures or anything along those lines. Take a look
at that. That might be something you're looking for.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
So last question is what is the purpose of the
pop corncer? Was that like soneproofing in the old days?
What was it for?
Speaker 1 (17:30):
It was about saving dollars. It was literally about savad
dolls when they were building the houses, and a lot
of it happened in the nineties when the housing boom
was going on, and you know, skilled craftsmen were not
necessarily overly plentiful. There was so much work to do,
and they didn't have to finish the ceilings. They didn't
(17:52):
have to. They start doing it on walls too, So
they would tape and then rather than mudding and sanding
and then remutting and then priming and all that, they
would take topping compound basically in paint and mixture with
small styrofoam beats and they would literally hang the drywall,
tape it and just blow this over the surface and
(18:14):
they were done.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
All right. Hey, thank you, sir, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
You're quite welcome. Thank you for the call. Take care.
I mean, that is amazing. But there is By the way,
we do we podcast different interviews we do when we
podcast each hour of the show, it's always available to you,
and I encourage you to kind of take a look.
They're titled very nicely on what we're going to discuss
(18:37):
in that hour. You can get it at the iHeart
app and microphone a little magnifying glass. Just click on
that podcast At Home with Gary Sullivan and we had
a drywall company on there and they were talking about
what they do and they just hang new drywall directly
over it because it is a chore and it is
(18:58):
messy if you're going to scrape that off, and whether
it's painted or unpainted also adds to the complexity of
the job. All Right, music's playing Bill. You'll be up
first if you'd like to join us. It's eight hundred
eight two three eight two five five at Home with
Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Start a project and don't know how to finish it?
Call Gary and one to eight hundred and eighty two
three talk. You're at Home with Gary Soliva.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
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You'll see and smell the difference. All right, back at
(21:56):
it We go at home with Gary Salvan thirty three
minutes after the top of it. They our chat about
your home issues, maintenance, repair, maybe even a project for
next year. Happy to take your calls, our phone number
is eight hundred eight two three eight two five five bill.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Welcome, Yes, sir, that time caller?
Speaker 1 (22:18):
All right, welcome, All.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
Right, I listened to the program yesterday and heard the
you know, the the old fashioned flapper at the flapper
at our flapper years and years ago. I'm eighty one
years old. Forty years ago, I had a grocery shopping
bag full of flappers and my neighbor down the road said, Ken,
(22:43):
why don't you get the bell system? And I said,
what the hell is a bell system? And he said,
it's it. It works just you don't have to change
anything in there. Your flesh bow stays the same. All
you do is put that little ring around the bottom
and make sure you get a red one. And an
(23:04):
idiot five year old kid can hook it up. And
I haven't had. I've changed the rubber ring maybe twice
in forty years. Mmm, and it don't leak.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Now there's all kinds. Let me ask you a question, Bill,
Is this the one where when you're calling it a
bell system, it's it does look like a bell, and
at the bottom of it there's a rubber washer that
just goes up and down and then closes off that
clo dream No, okay.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
You call you call it. In this part of the country,
we call it the flesh vow. Okay, the pless you
call them the closet. Okay. Now, at the bottom of
the closet there where the flapper fits in the hole,
there is a lip and that rubber ring that's around
that lip and stays stationary, okay, and the the bell
(24:00):
goes up and down and the weight of the water
seals that and it worked. I mean, I'm I'm forty
years in.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Well that's great.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
Well yeah, but I mean it can be picked up
at lows and it's very very simple. It's back in
back in the day, it was about up two dollars.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah, and I don't know what it will be now
right right.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
But it's real, real simple to I mean really, I'm
not a plumber. Yeah, and I made a heck of
a lot of plastic pipe in my lifetime, but I'm
not a plumber. But uh, anybody can hook it up.
It's really really simple to do.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah. I think that one of the things that's kind
of the newer version or it's not really a version
of that. But at the end of that conversation, because
we had several conversations about you know, the leaky flapper,
et cetera, and how Chureen's eating them up road Master,
I'm gonna guess probably fifteen years ago came out with.
It has a ring. It is an aluminum ring, and
(25:10):
inside that is in a POxy type putty and you
peel a little plastically off and you just press that
down and it's all one piece and it's tilted, and
I like I like the fact that it's tilted a
little bit because that flapper again then has a little weight.
(25:30):
You've kind of cleaned up that rim and I've had
tremendous luck with that. That's kind of a not quite
the same thing, but along the same version. I mean, basically,
we're looking for a plug, right, I mean, we're gonna
plug that thing up.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Yeah, and just just that that rubber that red rubber
ring that you put on there, and they're a little
tiny lip down there at the bottom, right, and you
kind of have to expand that rubber lip that rubber
ring just a little bit so it's over it, sure,
and it goes down flat.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Sure. Sure, Well that's what we got to do. We
got to plug her up. And I appreciate your comments
on that, and you know, it's another option for a
lot of people. You've obviously had some tremendous luck with it,
so I'm all for that, I mean, I got tired
of replacing the flappers on mine, and I started learning
(26:25):
a little bit about the quality of flappers over the
last thirty years and found out, well, they're not what
they used to be, and with the chlorine in the water,
how it was kind of compromising some of those flappers. Again,
you mentioned the red one. The flapper I got was
a red one. It was called a quirky. It was
chlorine resistant, and that kind of solved my problems when
(26:48):
I was talking to the person regarding the flapper that
they were having problems on that outlet where he was
talking about putting that rubber ring on. The old ones
were brass. Of course, now they're plastic or nylon, and
you get a little chip and nose, and you can
have the best flapper in the world, and if it's
(27:10):
not smooth, it's not gonna seat. And that fluid Master
with a kind of gluing a new ring on in
heavny apparatus, all one piece, with the fluid Master flapper
untilded down, that seemed to solve a lot of problems
for me also. So anyway, we've got some answers to
a problem, and that's what it's all about. Let me
(27:31):
give you the phone number you can join us. It's
eight hundred eight two three eight two five five and
happy to talk to you about your home project. A
little maintenance, little repair for those folks that got a
little snow in the past week. And I think I
had read that the forty eight percent of the condon
the United States has got snow on the ground. Maybe
you do, maybe you don't. But if you had a
(27:52):
little snow and you use a little rock salt, or
you use a little ice melter, if you get above freezing,
sweep it off, kind of hose it down. Don't let
that residue just sit on concrete because with a little
drizzle and maybe a little fog and moisture, it reactivates.
(28:14):
That creates a very caustic solution on that concrete. And
quite honestly, we get a lot of calls on crack
concrete that's not going to really cause a crack, but
what's going to causes what they call spawling. And that's
where the surface I called driveway acne. It's where the
surface kind of starts popping up. And we'll get a
lot of calls in the springtime and I'll say a
(28:34):
good bit of those can be traced back to the
winter and what you used on the concrete and whether
you remove that residue or not. If you used on
a sidewalk or a stoop going into your home, If
you got carpet right inside that door, boy, you better
(28:55):
be doing a lot of vacuum on a daily basis.
If you've got people going in and out of that door.
If you've got wood flow or uh LVP or LVT
tile or a laminate floor, well I get a good
you know, we talk about the Jaws cleaners. They got
a hardwood floor cleaner. Get that residue off because it's
(29:16):
a grit. It's you know, it's not going to be
noticeable right away, but whenever you uh, you know, if
you took salt and shook it on a wood floor
and everybody kept walking on for a while, you start
doing damage to the floor and that residue kind of
the same thing. So you know, I'll let you be
(29:37):
the judge if that's a problem or not. A lot
of it is depending on how your house is set up.
Where people enter your home, where your family enters a home,
where the guests enter the home and the type of
floor that's underneath it. But you know, if you have
some you know, like a varney finish on a wood
floor or an engineered wood floor and it had a
(29:58):
you know, factory finish on there, and you're dragging in
road salt on your shoes and stuff like that and
not taking your shoes off, you will compromise that finish
over time, so we can get in the habit of
maybe taking our shoes off or cleaning that residue, probably
on a daily basis, until you get to resdue cleaned
(30:20):
up outside. All right, feel free to join us. It's
eight hundred eight two three A two five five and
happy to take those calls. Also, we had a lot
of wind and cold temperatures and a lot of parts
of the country, and I hope you paid attention to
your house. On windy days. You can really start telling
(30:43):
where those drafts are. And a lot of times, once
you know where they're coming from, easy to address. It
takes time, I get that, but you know, getting them
taken care of is certainly key. I had two is
in my home. One was actually in a pantry connected
to the kitchen and there was a trap or an
(31:06):
access door going into the attic in the pantry. The
other one was in a bedroom closet in our bedroom
and when that closet door was left open, and it
had an access panel in the ceiling. And it's an
access panel basically is a piece of plywood over a hole.
You get a windy day, you can feel cold air
(31:29):
coming down through that access panel very easily. A little
weather stripping foam tape comes in a coil, put it
on the plywood where it sits on the ledge. That'll
help seal that out if you want to do that,
and then come back with a piece of plexiglass with
some either more tight or some foam weather stripping on
(31:52):
that and use you know, maybe six eight nine screws,
small screws and just take a piece of plexiglass with
that tape up there up against the trim boards. Man,
you can you can seal that up really nice, really
inexpensively and really eliminated draft. You'll be more comfortable in
(32:13):
saving you a little money on your on your heating also,
So that might be an option for you. All right,
grab a line, happy to chat with you, and you're
at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Helm for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at Home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Well, I talk about a lot of products you can
make your life easier, and I use and love tear Mender.
It repairs tears and all types of clothing, fabrics, leather,
even buttons. It's time to get those holiday decorations out
and it's one products you gotta have around your home.
In fact, listeners tell me tear menders that must have
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(33:08):
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Speaker 5 (33:18):
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Speaker 1 (33:49):
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(34:36):
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from rotorrouter dot com. And back aheada we go at
(35:00):
home with Gary Sullivan as we take your cause regarding
your home projects. It's eight hundred and eight two three
eight two five five kind of glossed over on what
to use. And I thought, you know, during this time
of year, I'd give about six weeks of some cleaning tips.
So let's use that as a cleaning tip. And I'm
(35:20):
talking about Jaws products, and what we're going to talk
about is using their wood and composite floor care, so
really traditional mopping on new wood and the composite floors,
(35:41):
which I'll call the LVT, and exposing them to a
lot of moisture. There's two types of those types of
products too. Their waterproof and water resistant, two different, totally
different things. Most of them are water resistant unless you
buy them specifically to be water proof for like a
basement or a bathroom. And the easy way to do
(36:07):
is and we use this at our home when I
was talking about the residue we drag in during the
wintertime and how that can be damaging to a floor.
And you want a and this is really important regardless
of what type of product you use. You want to
find a pH neutral product. That's very important because you
(36:30):
don't know what type of finish is really on those floors,
and a lot of times you'll buy a cleaner and
they'll become a white haze on there because it's reacting
to the finish that's on that floor. And the Jaws
Hardwood Floor Cleaner, and you can use a microfiber mop
(36:50):
they have that, or you can get on your hands
and knees and use a microfiber cloth. It'll be a
streak free number one, it will not affect the finish
on the existing floor. It'll be low moisture cleaning and
you literally spray and wipe, and it'll also clean up
(37:14):
the dirt and the salt that's tracked in during the
holiday season and when you start having a lot of
guests over. So you can check it out for yourself again,
it's the Jaws Hardwood Floor Cleaner. They have all kinds
of wonderful products of pH neutral. It's Jaws Cleans dot com.
Jaws Cleans dot com, and they're also running a sale.
(37:36):
It's twenty percent off. Just use the code Gary. I
don't know if think any more of those catty kits
or not, which comes with about six different cleaners. It's
an awesome deal. But I don't know if I haven't
looked up to see if they still have some left.
If they do, grab that that you'll get a good experience,
I assure you. So that'll be our tip. Getting rid
(37:58):
of that residue always a good idea. All right, So
other things I was talking about earlier when we get
started about just kind of cleaning making room in the house,
cleaning up some of the storage. Donate this, pitch that,
keep this, you know, the drill containers always a good
(38:19):
idea versus cardboard boxes if you're storing near a cross
space or in a basement. Not a big fan of
storing things in the attic, And especially when you take
down decorations and you got those lights. Remember even though
that attic is ventilated, because it still gets very warm
in the summertime, if you've got ninety degrees outside, even
(38:41):
with good ventilation maybe one hundred and ten, no ventilation
maybe one hundred and forty. So i'd keep things out
of the attic. But you know, kind of purging and
getting rid of some old stuff. For whatever you're saying,
say that's a good idea to do this time of
(39:03):
the year. Other thing is if the mowing season has ended.
Since we're talking about a lot of snow cover throughout
the United States, I would assume in many parts of
the country mowing season has ended, so properly, storing that
mower might be a really, really good idea. If you've
got a plastic tank, I know there's fuel stabilizers you
(39:24):
can use those. Maybe a little old school, I still
run all the gas out of the system, and I've
never ever had problems after I've done that. A lot
of people say it'll mess up the gaskets, and maybe
it does, but maybe you should use the fuel stabilizer.
Some people say yes, other people say run the gas
(39:45):
out your call, But do not just store that lawnmower
with gas in it that doesn't have a stabilizer in it,
or it's not going to start in the spring for you. Also,
a good time as you're doing is to clean the mower,
clean the underside of the deck, maybe change out the
spark plug, maybe lubricate, maybe get the blade sharpened. Those
(40:08):
are the things you definitely want to do this time
of year as you kind of call quits for the mowing.
Season and I'm all about that. The leaves are up
and the grass has been cut and I'm finished.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
So do that.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Also, while you're storing out again, we're always starting to
walk around the home. I implore you to do this
because during the wintertime and you get a lot of snow,
a lot of ice, a lot of rain, making sure
you're pulling all that water away from the house is
really really key to having a healthy home. A dry basement.
(40:48):
Wet basements they breed mold and that is very unhealthy.
So when you check the down spout, you make sure
that down spout is pulling the water, whether it's underground
or whether it's on the surface. You want that about
six feet away from the foundation. You want to have
a grade there where you're taking that water away. That's
(41:11):
critically important. If you have a downspout and you have
an underground pipe that's supposed to take that water away
and it's no longer lined up, so you're spilling half
that water right on the foundation. I can almost assure
you at some point you're going to have water in
that basement, and depending on how long you let it go,
(41:35):
really gets into a point of you know, is it
correctible or are we looking at a big waterproofing job.
But I'm telling you the grating in the groundwater moving
that away from the foundation is so key. And if
you know where that water is going when it's underground
and in that pipe, is it going you know, to
(41:55):
a storm sewer, is it going out the back of
the yard into a creek? Knowing where it's taking that water,
and knowing that that pipe is opened, not impeded by
leaves or acorns from the squirrels, making sure there's snow,
knot and ice not packed on the outlet, which is
(42:17):
holding that water in that pipe and causing it to
back up and causing it to put the water on
the foundation. That's so much where we get in troubles.
And I've said it many times in our basement, a
lot of people will say, oh, I got a leak,
But it's where the floor meets the wall, and I'm
gonna put calking in there. It's not gonna work, okay,
(42:41):
the water pressure will destroy that calking. And there is
a natural seam there. Those are two separate pores. It's
not a crack. It's literally where the wall is meeting
the floor. So really the way you correct. It is
lower the water table when you lower the water table
by getting that water away from the foundation. It really is.
(43:04):
It really is that easy. So give that a little look.
As we start getting into the colder folder months and
maybe you have snow packed around the foundation. That's not good,
all right. You can make your home safer by keeping
that basement nice and dry. And also, you know there's
a lot of airborne particles that are not healthy inside
(43:26):
our home. And that's why I always talk about the
easy Breed violation system. And right now, Easy Breathe is
giving you two free UMDI stats to control humidity in
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for yourself. It's letter E letter Z breathe dot com.
Your calls next, You're at Home with Gary Sullivan
Speaker 2 (44:02):
Takes it right with a call to Gary Sullivan at
one eight hundred eight two three talk This is at
Home with Gary Sullivan.
At Home with Gary Sullivan News
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