January 3, 2026 • 44 mins
Gary tackles home improvement projects and shares expert advice. He chats with listeners about various topics, including cleaning and maintaining gutters, dealing with a noisy refrigerator, and upgrading concrete patio steps. Gary also discusses the importance of inspecting and maintaining chimneys, and offers tips on how to remove stubborn Boston ivy from homes. Additionally, he shares product recommendations and DIY solutions for common household issues. With his expertise and friendly demeanor, Gary helps listeners navigate their home projects and provides valuable insights for a successful DIY experience.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:29):
All right, the weekend is upon us and you're at
home with Garry Sullivan. That starts brought to you by Jaws. Well,
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Check it all out. It's Jaws, Jaws cleans dot Com.
(01:12):
And I just used some of their Citrus floor cleaner
last week. Used it on the hardwood floors. See if
my wife's listening, she'll hear me say I used it
on the floor and I didn't use it on the
floor sea. I feel guilty right away. She used it
on the floor very particular, and she was showing me
all the dirt to chi got off and they'd just
(01:33):
been finished about a year ago. No waxes and no oils,
just a pH neutral cleaner. And it did do a
great job soch so my knees don't allow me to
get on the floor anymore. Not that I did it
on a regular basis or anything, but just want to
give credit where credit is due. All right, let me
give you the phone number. It's eight hundred. I'm trying
(01:56):
to get out of trouble before I really get into trouble, Danny.
It's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five,
and certainly happy to take your calls. One of the
things I was just thinking about what to talk about today,
and it always kind of depend on you to take
the show wherever you'd like to take it with the
(02:18):
questions you may be having around your home. But one
of the things we're going to work on today is
not necessarily redoing the kitchen, just kind of clean it up,
giving a little better look. Maybe it is just cleaning
that glass top stove before the holidays, and maybe it's
taking a look at the kitchen cabinets, refinishing them, maybe
(02:40):
just cleaning them, maybe rejuvenating. So we'll get some tips
on that as we work our way through the weekend.
And you know, as you uh, I don't know, if
you start getting kind of finicky of things are knee
inside of the house. We're saying to start spending more
time indoors in many parts of the country.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
And we're going to have our first cold snap here
in about twenty four hours, and I'm sure we won't
be alone. We were based out of the Midwest, so
we'll get our fair share of cold weather. And it's coming.
And as I was walking around the house yesterday just
kind of looking at things that might be a little
out of kilter, I found the down spout where it
(03:20):
wasn't lining up to the pipe under the ground. And
that's a big deal. It doesn't look like anything. I mean,
it doesn't look like a big deal at all. It's
behind some bushes. I happen to be just blowing the
leaves out of the landscaping beds.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Thing's not lined up. And of course it's as bad
as claw gutters, quite honestly, because as it rains and
it goes down the roof and into the gutters and
it flows down the down spout. If the pipe going underground,
is it lined up with a down spout, bingo, you
got it. It's right on the foundation. Causes hydrostatic pressure
not good for the foundation and sometimes join up with
(03:57):
a wet basement. So let's talk about that. It's eight
hundred eighty two three eight two five five, and Jim,
you lead us off today. Welcome.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
I good Sunday morning to you, sir.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yes, sir, thank you.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
I was. I got me a new refrigerator or two
letter job. It's not the same brand as yours, is okay,
and it's making it's making funny noises, and sometimes the freezer.
The freezer's had ice all over it in the bottom.
And when I first got it was nicely, it ran
nice and quiet the first three or four days, and
(04:31):
then I heard scratching down on the floor behind it.
It sounded like a small mouse or a small rat.
And that lasted about two or three minutes. And I
haven't heard that always since. And uh, I'm and I
was just curious if you got about the same thing.
I know you've got a different two letter model than
mine is, but.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah, well I'm still I'm still fighting my battle, Jim.
My refrigerator is only a year and a half old.
And I had two service calls when was during warranty,
which never makes anybody happy. And then when I started
having problems. Is it wasn't really cooling to a degree.
It wasn't making ice real well. And I came out
(05:12):
and replaced the ice maker, and then after it got
out a warranty. Luckily, I never bought an extended warranty
in my life, but I did on this one because
I just had a bad feeling.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
I did the same thing. I got one. I got
one year on it and uh, like I said, I
got there for five year. Morning I pay for it, and.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yeah, so what mine was I had. I had to
repair people with the warranty out again this week and
my my fan sounded like found it sounded like a
propeller on a plane that was hitting the wall. That's
how loud it was.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
And I even take I even taken't like, oh man,
and this thing was loud and it wasn't cool and
it had all it really did feel like it had
all kinds of problems.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
With the service guy. It was the second trip to
the house in two weeks, and finally he took off
the covers and opened up and he goes and it
looked like a glacier was behind there. So it's the
heater that wasn't defrosting properly. It was the water where
it was draining out. That pan wasn't in there where
(06:29):
there was fall to the drain, so it was collecting water,
it was freezing, and so they actually ordered four parts
and they're supposed to come Thursday and get it all
taken care of. But he said, not only was that
fan hitting ice after we thowed some of that ice,
that pan was bent and that fan blade was actually
(06:53):
not only hitting the ice, but it was also hitting
the side of the cover of the back of the refrigerator.
So it had some big issues. I'm far from an
appliance repair person, but hopefully we get that all straight
out on Thursday.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
I get a little bit of a fan always on
mine back in the back every now and anybody's kind
of like, I don't know, it's real light. It's sometimes
that fan makes and always back there, and sometimes it doesn't.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, well so was mine mine would I don't know
if it'd get jammed, but it get very quiet sometimes.
It just it had several issues where it just wasn't
allowed to work right. So, like I said, hopefully we
get that, you know, that defroster where we can move
the air between the freezer and the refrigerator compartment and
(07:43):
the fans not hitting, you know, the cage and the
ice is melted and then we'll be in good shape.
But it was interesting. I did a little research on
the unit itself before I even called the repair people,
and everything it pinpointed turned out to be exactly what
it was was. You know, they were talking about the
(08:03):
heater on that particular model. I've had some problems with it.
It's just amazing to me the amount of information you
can pick up online now, even without knowing much about appliances.
Quite honestly, that.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Thing I like about mine. Thing I like about mine
the best is it saved me almost four hundred and
fifty dollars a month on electric or four hundred and
fifty killowats a month on electric. Right, I've been reading
my media every day, right, and it's saved me. I
had a thirty five year old and maney in there
and it's been a nice one. But I kept look
(08:38):
that electric builders nothing running in the house, but nothing
hardly at all. Yeah, bun coffee pot and that was it.
And I was paying almost two hundred dollars months.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yeah, I'll tell you my refriger is saving me a
lot of money right now because it's not even working.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
I feel for you, brother, I feel.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
All night, Jim, Well, thank you so much. Have a
great weekend.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Oh I will thank you, sir.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
You have good all right? Take care, Bobby, woe is me? Right?
All right, Let's take a little break and we got
Will and Christina. I hate to just get on the wine.
Will and Christina. You'll be up first and second. If
you'd like to join us AT's eight hundred eight two
three eight two five five. You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Takes said right with a call to Gary Sullivan at
one eight hundred eight two three talk. This is at
Home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
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(10:14):
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So your basement is dry sealed and maybe even have
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(10:37):
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Well it's fall and that means smart homeowners are preparing
their homes for winter, especially they're plumbing. Hi this scary
(10:58):
solvent for Roto Router plumbing and water cleanup. I want
you to go outside, unscrew your garden hose and check
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(11:22):
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(11:45):
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(12:05):
All right, let's get back to work. You're at home
with Gary Solvent taking your calls regarding your home projects.
It's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five
and will welcome. What are you working on?
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Good morning Gary. How are you going? Well, I'm not
gonna work on it today. It's a little rainy, but anyway,
I have a I have an older house. The trees
look pretty though. I have an older house, a center
block foundation. It's pretty stable. I got a few little
hairline not hairline cracks, hair steps cracks here and there
that I've cocked over over the years. But it's a
stable you know. I don't have anything shifting or anything
(12:39):
like that. But the foundation has been painting. It is
mostly above ground, okay, foundations on the hill side, so,
but I'm it's been painted over the years. I want
to think I'm thinking about putting something like a rhino
shield or a ry type of product on there that
would basically seal that up better than cinder blocks. But
(13:01):
I'm not sure I could do that, you know, with
like that type of product.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Well you could. You could a runner shield of work
on wood, it'll work on block, it'll work on metal siding,
it'll work on bricks. So that's certainly an option. Are
you looking for somebody to do this for you or
are you looking for something as a do it yourself
project or kind of like where's the budget?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Well, I'd probably do it myself. I'm fairly handy, Okay.
I guess the biggest thing would probably be taking off
that old paint, several layers of paint that's been on there, iume.
That has to be pretty clean.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yeah, man, First thing every direction says on every can
of paint is pretty much addressing what's already on here,
and quite honestly, not only just cleaning, but removing as
much of it as you can. Uh so what's on
there now? Is it like regular house paint will or
what's on.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
It was some type of you know, like a concrete
paint that was you know, tinted in the master house,
you know, so it was actually a concrete I don't know,
you know, I don't know. I don't think it's oil,
but it's probably know, some type of good quality paint. Okay,
that lives.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
So so is this issue cosmetic more than anything at
this point?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Well, it is cosmetic because instead of paint is now
it's diesel pink. It's probably thirty twenty five years old,
and I've touched it up a little spotsier and there. Okay,
but it is it is probably twenty five to thirty
years old. Okay, But I'm thinking the rhino shield will
steal the foundation a little bit better. You know, That's
(14:50):
what my thoughts.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Are, right right, you know what I'm saying, Well, you
know what I would do then if rhino shield is
not a do it yourself project, it's it's applied. So
what I would do, if that's kind of what you
have in mind, is I would get them out there
and let them take a look at it and see
(15:11):
what that cost is and what you know, what they're
going to have to do. I know they use a
specific primer and stuff, so they may be able to
just use the primer and then do the rhino shield
over that. But I can't say, you know without seeing it,
So why don't you put that on your list to
go ahead and get that estimate and then in the
(15:34):
meantime I can give you some other things. If if
the finish is just tired looking and it's not really
peeling and it's not you know, it's kind of there
and faded and just tired looking, there's a there's a
number of products you could put on there. From a
regular like Emerald Sherwin Williams Exterior flat house paint, which
(15:56):
you'll give you serviceable pigment on that surface for probably
ten to fifteen years. There is a product like dry Lock,
which is a masonry paint which holds back water vapor.
I will say that if you use that product to
get the full benefits of that concrete water repellency, that
(16:23):
you would have to remove the existing product, so that
would be your masonry waterproofing paint. Then there's one decorative
coatings that are kind of almost looks like a corean.
You may have heard me talk about a product called
roller Rock. It's a very decorative coating, comes in probably
(16:44):
eight different color patterns. It's a thick coating. It could
probably go over that existing coating. Again, if it's just
faded and tightly adhered to the existing substrate, it'd probably
just be a matter of cleaning it and put two
coats of the roller Rock on. So there's three quick
do it yourself coatings you could use. And then in
(17:07):
the meantime you'll have your quote on your rhino shield
and then we can probably have a little little further
discussion or you know, weighing the benefits and the cost
might give you your answer.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 6 (17:21):
It is feeling in several places. So I'd probably take
a powwasher and might be power worship. Not in a
real thick but you know to knock it off or
a wire brush on a pold Okay, And it is
a want it matches the house, which is an almond
so it's an almond color and that's what the sighting is.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Okay, So it glaze pretty well. So can you tint,
like dry lock any of those things?
Speaker 1 (17:48):
You can sure, sure, so the roller rock will put
that off to the side. They do have an almond one,
but it has like I said, it's not like a
flat color like house pain. It's got some pattern. But yes,
you can. The dry lock can be tinted. Absolutely. The
people in the paint store a hardware store may not
(18:09):
know that. But here's the little secret. They all have
their mixing tints, and they all have their formula books.
And when you mix it into the dry lock, which
is not a base it's a white masonry paint, you
mix it at half strength and you'll come very very
close to their color books. So yes, you can mix
(18:31):
it for sure.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
Cool.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
All right, great, I appreciate the info. Info.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
You're quite welcome. Thanks for the call, well, appreciate it
all right, Looking forward to your calls. If you'd like
to grab a line. We got wide open lines and
that doesn't happen all that often, but your chance to
give us a call. It's eight hundred A two three
A two five five, Go ahead and grab a line.
Happy to talk about your home projects and there's a
(18:59):
lot going on. Yeah, you may not be able to
work outside today, or maybe you're in a great part
of the country where you can I know in the
south southeast. It's this is home improvement season for sure,
So taking your calls again. It's eight hundred eighty two
three eight two five five. Will continue with your calls.
You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
Start a project and don't know how to finish it?
Call Gary at one eight hundred eighty two three talk
You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
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(20:19):
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(20:40):
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(21:03):
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I talk about a lot of products that can make
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(21:49):
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(22:10):
All right, back to work, we go at home with
Gary Salvin. Just listen to a commercial on chimneys and fireplaces.
We had a call yesterday and this is it was
a really good call. It was one I guess maybe
some of us have that we don't really pay attention
and we don't know we have it. First of all,
(22:32):
rule of thumb, I'm professionally inspecting and chimneying of a fireplaces.
If you burn a cord of wood, you should have
it inspecting clean annually. Outside of that every two years.
And this person called and talked about seeing an efflorescence.
(22:54):
What is efflorescence? That fluorescence is a chalky, salty crystal
that is usually on the surface of a cementatious product
or substrate. So the brick, the mortar, maybe if you
have block on the inside of the chimney, that crystallization
(23:15):
and beyond that, and it's caused by water reacting with
lime and salts in the masonry surface. And you might
be thinking, big deal, you know, big deal. You know
it's the block of the chimney that's in the attic
(23:35):
or something, who cares, or it's outside. Man, it doesn't
look real good. But really it's a little bit of
a red flag that you should dig a little deeper,
especially if you're using that fireplace. I have said for years,
and I think you'll agree with me, is water is
the number one enemy in your home, even if it's
(23:57):
just a little efflorescence on this. So for the brick,
and yeah, you can go to the hardware store. You
can pick up an effluorescence cleaner. You can clean it
off and you'll say, well, that wasn't a big deal.
It'll come back, you'll clean it again. Still not a
big deal. But really, what it's you know, I always say,
dig down to the roof, why why is this going on? Well, Garry,
(24:22):
it's outside that chimney's you know, you say water, it's
getting wet, it's got a fluorescence on it. True, but
maybe that water is going inside the chimney, going between
the liner and the brick. Maybe it is on the
brick and it really needs to be waterproofed um And
(24:50):
I didn't say sealed. I said waterproof because you wanted
to minimize the penetration of the water into the brick,
but you also wanted to breathe in a exhaust moisture out.
I'm not trying to be difficult. I'm just trying to
show you what else it could be. This is the
cause at the top of that chimney. I always talk
about a concrete pad, it's called a crown wash. The
(25:14):
flu's going up through that like a sidewalk or a driveway.
Concrete over time will crack. Maybe water's getting down in
that crack. Maybe it's a bigger problem. Maybe there's a
gap between the crown wash and the flu and if
water gets down in between that and then goes through
(25:35):
free stall cycles, maybe we end up with a crack liner,
which is an expensive repair. But digging down and there's
so many really, really really good reasons to have a
chimney inspected and cleaned, and yesterday we even got into
(25:58):
different degrees of crew so how some are very easily remedied.
Others look like a black porcelain, that's how glazed it is,
and it can catch fire and it could crack a liner.
So I bring this up because probably people listening right now,
(26:20):
you may have some people that have just bought the
house and have not had it inspected, and you get
to the holidays, and who doesn't want a nice cozy
fire in the fireplace. Don't do that until you've had
it inspected, or maybe you've lived in that house and
you burn wood occasionally. It's been ten years since anybody
(26:42):
took a look at that fireplace. Yeah, I wouldn't. I
wouldn't use it until you really know it's usable, that
it's in good repair, because you're you're really not going
to see where the problem is. Maybe up in that
chimney it may have a crack liner and there may
(27:03):
be really third degree kreisode on there, and if that
catches fire, your house is vulnerable. Not trying to scare it,
just trying to tell you when things need maintenance. It's
easy when you know your snowblower needs maintenance because it
won't start. You can't see some other things that need maintenance,
(27:27):
or a drain pipe that no longer drains. You got
to do something then, But with a chimney, maybe you
just can't tell. That's why you need to have it inspected.
All right. Our phone numbers eight hundred eight two three
eight two five five. Kevin, welcome, Hi Gary, love your show.
Speaker 7 (27:45):
You help me out all the time.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 7 (27:47):
I have a water heater left your water heater, and
every time I try to drain it get the hardness
out of it, it seems to take a day from
the water to come out of this tang. I just
can't figure out what it is I'm doing wrong.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
It just doesn't drain out in.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
An hour mm hm. And so you're shutting off all
the valves and doing all that and it's just not
coming out of the bottom drain very fast?
Speaker 8 (28:14):
Correct?
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (28:17):
All right? You know one of the cheapest valves made
are usually on everybody's water heater. I mean they're terrible.
They're they're usually made it like nylon plastic. And what
I would do is my guess is, Kevin, is a
lot of the hard water deposits and this is actually
(28:39):
kind of a common complaint. As you're draining it to
get rid of the hard water deposits, those hard water
deposits start clogging up.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
That that.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
That pipe or that valve, and it starts it impedes
to flow water, so it's a trickle whereas it should
come out like a lawn faucet, and it's not because
there's so much debris in there. So what I would do, Kevin,
is go ahead and let drain for all day or
a half a day. Let's get all that water out
(29:10):
of there, and let's take that valve off and get
yourself a nice brass stainless steel ball valve and just
with a lever handle and open that up, maybe even
turn the water on, flush that thing out the best
(29:32):
we can. Kind of try to start over, if you will,
and I think you'll find the drainage mechanism is going
to be a lot better on a ball valve because
what a ball valve does is it's a round ball.
But when you turn it in an open position, that
whole size is the size of the pipe. So water,
even when there's more sediment in there, flows easier than
(29:56):
the type of valve they put on those water heres.
Speaker 7 (30:01):
Great job, thank what I need to do.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Gary, I appreciate it, all right, Kevin, thank you, take care,
bye bye. All right, let me give you that phone
number once again. It's eight hundred eight two three eight
two five five. Those lines are open, and that always
opens up the question, doesn't it. Do I need to
drain that water heater every year? And that's always a
(30:28):
trick question for me to answer. If you just bought
the water heater or just had that water here installed
in the last year, my answer is, yes, yeah, drain it.
Go ahead, flush that out. That'd be good. If you
haven't done it for eight years. Should I drain that
water here? My quick answer is probably not. The sentiment
(30:53):
that's built up in that water heater may be holding
that water heater together. Now it's like a rock, you
know the old adages. Uh. You know, it takes one
person to get a new water heater down in your basement,
and takes two or three people to get the old
one out because it's full of sediment. There's a rock
(31:15):
at the bottom of that and so it's very heavy.
And you know, if you want to take if you
got an older one and you want to just maybe
drain two or three gowns off it. See if it's clean,
See if it's clear. I think that'd be it. Taking
all of it down though, I just don't think I
(31:35):
would do that. But it's costing you more. And you
got to remember that too. I mean, think about it.
If half that well, that's that might be an exaggeration.
Let's say twenty percent of that tank has got calcium
carbonate rock in the base of that thing, and you're
(31:56):
heating it either with electricity propane gas. You gotta heat
that rock up first, all right, and a lot of
times to let you know that there's a lot of
sediment in there. You seem to be running out of
water faster because it's doesn't hold as much water. So
(32:22):
again rule tomb, Yeah, clean it every year. Unless it's
an older water heater, then I'd say big caution there.
Maybe drain off a couple two three gowns and be
done with it, or you can get yourself in trouble.
All right, Well, take a break and Tina, you'll be
up first. If you would like to join us, grab
a line. It's eight hundred eight two three eight two
(32:44):
five five at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
Help for your home is just to click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
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(33:33):
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and water cleanup, a company that has been trusted and
(34:18):
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 Rotor Router at my
house and you should leave plumbing to the pros too.
Call one eight hundred, get roto or go to Rotrouter
(34:41):
dot com today. So your basement is dry sealed and
maybe even have some pumps, but yet the musty odor
still lingers. You need to ventilate below grade spaces. All
basements and crawl spaces need air exchanges in order to
prevent musty smells and moisture build up. The easy Breathe
provides critical air exchanges to create and maintain healthy indoor
air quality, and right now get twenty percent off in
(35:03):
two free you ministats with every Easy Breath purchase called
eight six six eight two two seventy three twenty eight.
Visit easybreed dot com. Well, you're at home with Gary
(35:26):
Slivan talking about your home and given some friendly advice
maybe on things that you may have around your home
that you feel, you know, a need to dig a
little deeper on how to take care of that issue.
Maybe we can help. Our phone number, you got it,
Give us a call and we'll chat. Uh Tina, welcome,
(35:48):
Thank you, Hi Gary.
Speaker 8 (35:50):
I have an issue with Boston ivy. Okay, Hi, I'm
trying to powerwa wash my house and the Boston ivy
has left these little sticky feet all over the sidings.
Is there any solution that can kind of dissolve it
or help it come off?
Speaker 1 (36:07):
It's called time time. I don't know of anything including
And first of all, I've had this call off and
on for years, and I had the problem myself on
my very first home. I had English ivy all over
the side. Tore it off. It was starting to get
a little obtrusive, getting underneath metal sighting and everything else,
and I pulled it off and that started my search
(36:31):
my quest on how to remove the roots of that
ivy off brick. And there is nothing, and you cannot
use things like a wire wheel or a wire brush, er.
You know, if it's on brick, you would certainly do
damage to that. The craziest thing is Tina and I say, truthfully, time,
(36:55):
what will happen is those roots that would that woody
material will dehydrate and literally you'll be able to sweep
it off.
Speaker 8 (37:08):
That's kind of what I thought. I'd have to just
kill it off and let it fall off.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yeah, and boy, I have over the years. I've tried
all kinds of things and had one person say, well,
get a propane torch and burn it off, and I thought,
I'm not trying that. But eventually, you know, it's about
eighteen months it would be dehydrated. I remember one day,
(37:35):
it's crazy. I went out with a woody street broom
and just started no cleaner, no nothing, and it just
started raining like leaves in the fall. It just started
taking it right off. It was no big deal, but
it's a big deal right now. So I think I
(37:55):
would recommend trying to live with it. I've had people
that actually painted a brick wall to hide it. Don't
do that unless you wanted painted brick, but you know,
because it will still dehydrate and it probably caused a
paint peel.
Speaker 8 (38:11):
Yeah, well, it's it's on brick, and it's on vinyl
siding too. I mean, it just sticks to everything right right.
I didn't know if there was anything that would take
it off or not.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
I have found nothing. And if somebody has truly found
an answer for that, they can certainly share it. But
I think that the best solution, quite honestly, is time.
Speaker 8 (38:31):
Okay, is there anything that kills the ivy.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Yes, there's a lot of vegetation killers out on the
market that will take care of it. Now that whole
game has changed a little bit, so you'll have to
read labels. I mean, with the roundup issues that it had,
they have different types of roundup and and it's a
vegetation killer that can be used on IVY and even
(38:57):
poison ivy, and it will you know, if it's still growing.
It would take repeated applications. But you know, when I
did it, I just literally manually. I was young, then
manally just pulled it off the house. The English ivy
(39:18):
cut it up and then dug the roots out and
all that. But you can use a vegetation killer for sure.
Speaker 8 (39:25):
I'm afraid if I start pulling it off the house,
it's going to take the vinyl siding off.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Well, you know what, I'm still thinking about mine, which
was on brick only. But that's a good concern. I mean,
that is a good concern. If it's got something to
grip to and it's growing underneath there, I think I
would probably cut that, you know, even with a pruning
(39:51):
pair of pruning scissors or something along those lines, and
then work on the ivy beneath. And of course, one
you have cut off the food and moisture supply, that
will die.
Speaker 8 (40:06):
Okay, that's awesome. Okay, well, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
You're quite welcome to you to have a good weekend.
Take care, bye bye. Yeah, that is a challenge. I did.
I remember all the things that I tried to do.
I've even even tried, like a in an inconspicuous area,
which probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, using like
a sanding sponge, trying to sand that out. You're just
(40:32):
not going as long as that thing is gripped into there.
I just you know, you don't want to use a
wire brush, you don't want to use a wire wheel.
You're gonna you're going to compromise that brick and you
run a potential of causing problems. But I said eighteen
months to two years. It's probably two years. It wasn't.
(40:53):
I don't think less than that. And it was just
who knows how long it was like that before I tried.
But it came down to a point where just running
a stiff scrub brush or stiff street room across that,
no liquids, no nothing, that it literally just cleaned up beautifully.
(41:17):
And it was on the side of the house where
we didn't have to look at it every day. Might
be different if it's right next to the front door,
but it was easy to forget when it was on
the side of the house, So it wasn't a big
deal for us. But that ivy, there's two schools of
thought on that. Some people like it and kind of
a natural radiant barrier for your home in the summertime.
(41:42):
But I'll tell you what, with those roots, it can
do damage, especially if the brick becomes or the mortar
becomes soft or cracked and the roots can get down
into the crevices of the mortar. You could end up
with some damage on that wall. So I'm kind of
not real pro about that. Some people like to look
(42:05):
that's up to you, but be careful what direction it
can be can cause some issues. Just like when we
talk about getting rid of molds and mildews on roofs,
that's one thing that's just stain. That's a little cosmetic.
It's really not doing a whole lot of damage of
the roof. But if you start having a moss grow
(42:28):
on a shingled roof, that can be a problem because
it too has roots, not as stout as an English
ivy or a Boston ivy, but it does have roots,
and if there's fractures as that asphalt shingle gets older
and those roots get down in there, it can cause
damage to some roots or some roofs roofing tile and
(42:52):
asphalt shingles for sure. So I would recommend getting rid
of that, and even the mold and the mildew, which
I think is and sightly it's an airborne algae spore.
It goes from house to house and stains those roofs.
New roofs now have about a ten year warranty on it.
They got some metal metal fragments in the coatings of
(43:14):
the shingles which will prevent that for ten years, but
after that period you might have to clean the roof
periodically simply by spraying like a wet and forget onto
the surface and no scrubbing. You don't want to do
that in eliminating that same with the moss. It will
take care of moss. It may need a second application,
(43:36):
all right. You can join us as we talk about
your home. It's eight hundred eight two three eight two
five five, grab a line, happy to chat and well
we'll get you back to work if that's what you
want to do today, for sure, we can, uh well
talk you to the project. We'll continue with your calls.
You're at home with Garrie's elevant.
Speaker 5 (44:27):
Weekends. I mean a never ending list of things to
do around your home. Get help at one eight hundred
eighty two three talk You're at home with Gary Sullivan
All right, the weekend is upon us and you're at
home with Garry Sullivan. That starts brought to you by Jaws. Well,
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And I just used some of their Citrus floor cleaner
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give you the phone number. It's eight hundred. I'm trying
(01:56):
to get out of trouble before I really get into trouble, Danny.
It's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five,
and certainly happy to take your calls. One of the
things I was just thinking about what to talk about today,
and it always kind of depend on you to take
the show wherever you'd like to take it with the
(02:18):
questions you may be having around your home. But one
of the things we're going to work on today is
not necessarily redoing the kitchen, just kind of clean it up,
giving a little better look. Maybe it is just cleaning
that glass top stove before the holidays, and maybe it's
taking a look at the kitchen cabinets, refinishing them, maybe
(02:40):
just cleaning them, maybe rejuvenating. So we'll get some tips
on that as we work our way through the weekend.
And you know, as you uh, I don't know, if
you start getting kind of finicky of things are knee
inside of the house. We're saying to start spending more
time indoors in many parts of the country.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
And we're going to have our first cold snap here
in about twenty four hours, and I'm sure we won't
be alone. We were based out of the Midwest, so
we'll get our fair share of cold weather. And it's coming.
And as I was walking around the house yesterday just
kind of looking at things that might be a little
out of kilter, I found the down spout where it
(03:20):
wasn't lining up to the pipe under the ground. And
that's a big deal. It doesn't look like anything. I mean,
it doesn't look like a big deal at all. It's
behind some bushes. I happen to be just blowing the
leaves out of the landscaping beds.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Thing's not lined up. And of course it's as bad
as claw gutters, quite honestly, because as it rains and
it goes down the roof and into the gutters and
it flows down the down spout. If the pipe going underground,
is it lined up with a down spout, bingo, you
got it. It's right on the foundation. Causes hydrostatic pressure
not good for the foundation and sometimes join up with
(03:57):
a wet basement. So let's talk about that. It's eight
hundred eighty two three eight two five five, and Jim,
you lead us off today. Welcome.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
I good Sunday morning to you, sir.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yes, sir, thank you.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
I was. I got me a new refrigerator or two
letter job. It's not the same brand as yours, is okay,
and it's making it's making funny noises, and sometimes the freezer.
The freezer's had ice all over it in the bottom.
And when I first got it was nicely, it ran
nice and quiet the first three or four days, and
(04:31):
then I heard scratching down on the floor behind it.
It sounded like a small mouse or a small rat.
And that lasted about two or three minutes. And I
haven't heard that always since. And uh, I'm and I
was just curious if you got about the same thing.
I know you've got a different two letter model than
mine is, but.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah, well I'm still I'm still fighting my battle, Jim.
My refrigerator is only a year and a half old.
And I had two service calls when was during warranty,
which never makes anybody happy. And then when I started
having problems. Is it wasn't really cooling to a degree.
It wasn't making ice real well. And I came out
(05:12):
and replaced the ice maker, and then after it got
out a warranty. Luckily, I never bought an extended warranty
in my life, but I did on this one because
I just had a bad feeling.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
I did the same thing. I got one. I got
one year on it and uh, like I said, I
got there for five year. Morning I pay for it, and.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yeah, so what mine was I had. I had to
repair people with the warranty out again this week and
my my fan sounded like found it sounded like a
propeller on a plane that was hitting the wall. That's
how loud it was.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
And I even take I even taken't like, oh man,
and this thing was loud and it wasn't cool and
it had all it really did feel like it had
all kinds of problems.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
With the service guy. It was the second trip to
the house in two weeks, and finally he took off
the covers and opened up and he goes and it
looked like a glacier was behind there. So it's the
heater that wasn't defrosting properly. It was the water where
it was draining out. That pan wasn't in there where
(06:29):
there was fall to the drain, so it was collecting water,
it was freezing, and so they actually ordered four parts
and they're supposed to come Thursday and get it all
taken care of. But he said, not only was that
fan hitting ice after we thowed some of that ice,
that pan was bent and that fan blade was actually
(06:53):
not only hitting the ice, but it was also hitting
the side of the cover of the back of the refrigerator.
So it had some big issues. I'm far from an
appliance repair person, but hopefully we get that all straight
out on Thursday.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
I get a little bit of a fan always on
mine back in the back every now and anybody's kind
of like, I don't know, it's real light. It's sometimes
that fan makes and always back there, and sometimes it doesn't.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, well so was mine mine would I don't know
if it'd get jammed, but it get very quiet sometimes.
It just it had several issues where it just wasn't
allowed to work right. So, like I said, hopefully we
get that, you know, that defroster where we can move
the air between the freezer and the refrigerator compartment and
(07:43):
the fans not hitting, you know, the cage and the
ice is melted and then we'll be in good shape.
But it was interesting. I did a little research on
the unit itself before I even called the repair people,
and everything it pinpointed turned out to be exactly what
it was was. You know, they were talking about the
(08:03):
heater on that particular model. I've had some problems with it.
It's just amazing to me the amount of information you
can pick up online now, even without knowing much about appliances.
Quite honestly, that.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Thing I like about mine. Thing I like about mine
the best is it saved me almost four hundred and
fifty dollars a month on electric or four hundred and
fifty killowats a month on electric. Right, I've been reading
my media every day, right, and it's saved me. I
had a thirty five year old and maney in there
and it's been a nice one. But I kept look
(08:38):
that electric builders nothing running in the house, but nothing
hardly at all. Yeah, bun coffee pot and that was it.
And I was paying almost two hundred dollars months.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yeah, I'll tell you my refriger is saving me a
lot of money right now because it's not even working.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
I feel for you, brother, I feel.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
All night, Jim, Well, thank you so much. Have a
great weekend.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Oh I will thank you, sir.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
You have good all right? Take care, Bobby, woe is me? Right?
All right, Let's take a little break and we got
Will and Christina. I hate to just get on the wine.
Will and Christina. You'll be up first and second. If
you'd like to join us AT's eight hundred eight two
three eight two five five. You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Takes said right with a call to Gary Sullivan at
one eight hundred eight two three talk. This is at
Home with Gary Sullivan.
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Well it's fall and that means smart homeowners are preparing
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(12:05):
All right, let's get back to work. You're at home
with Gary Solvent taking your calls regarding your home projects.
It's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five
and will welcome. What are you working on?
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Good morning Gary. How are you going? Well, I'm not
gonna work on it today. It's a little rainy, but anyway,
I have a I have an older house. The trees
look pretty though. I have an older house, a center
block foundation. It's pretty stable. I got a few little
hairline not hairline cracks, hair steps cracks here and there
that I've cocked over over the years. But it's a
stable you know. I don't have anything shifting or anything
(12:39):
like that. But the foundation has been painting. It is
mostly above ground, okay, foundations on the hill side, so,
but I'm it's been painted over the years. I want
to think I'm thinking about putting something like a rhino
shield or a ry type of product on there that
would basically seal that up better than cinder blocks. But
(13:01):
I'm not sure I could do that, you know, with
like that type of product.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Well you could. You could a runner shield of work
on wood, it'll work on block, it'll work on metal siding,
it'll work on bricks. So that's certainly an option. Are
you looking for somebody to do this for you or
are you looking for something as a do it yourself
project or kind of like where's the budget?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Well, I'd probably do it myself. I'm fairly handy, Okay.
I guess the biggest thing would probably be taking off
that old paint, several layers of paint that's been on there, iume.
That has to be pretty clean.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yeah, man, First thing every direction says on every can
of paint is pretty much addressing what's already on here,
and quite honestly, not only just cleaning, but removing as
much of it as you can. Uh so what's on
there now? Is it like regular house paint will or
what's on.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
It was some type of you know, like a concrete
paint that was you know, tinted in the master house,
you know, so it was actually a concrete I don't know,
you know, I don't know. I don't think it's oil,
but it's probably know, some type of good quality paint. Okay,
that lives.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
So so is this issue cosmetic more than anything at
this point?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Well, it is cosmetic because instead of paint is now
it's diesel pink. It's probably thirty twenty five years old,
and I've touched it up a little spotsier and there. Okay,
but it is it is probably twenty five to thirty
years old. Okay, But I'm thinking the rhino shield will
steal the foundation a little bit better. You know, That's
(14:50):
what my thoughts.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Are, right right, you know what I'm saying, Well, you
know what I would do then if rhino shield is
not a do it yourself project, it's it's applied. So
what I would do, if that's kind of what you
have in mind, is I would get them out there
and let them take a look at it and see
(15:11):
what that cost is and what you know, what they're
going to have to do. I know they use a
specific primer and stuff, so they may be able to
just use the primer and then do the rhino shield
over that. But I can't say, you know without seeing it,
So why don't you put that on your list to
go ahead and get that estimate and then in the
(15:34):
meantime I can give you some other things. If if
the finish is just tired looking and it's not really
peeling and it's not you know, it's kind of there
and faded and just tired looking, there's a there's a
number of products you could put on there. From a
regular like Emerald Sherwin Williams Exterior flat house paint, which
(15:56):
you'll give you serviceable pigment on that surface for probably
ten to fifteen years. There is a product like dry Lock,
which is a masonry paint which holds back water vapor.
I will say that if you use that product to
get the full benefits of that concrete water repellency, that
(16:23):
you would have to remove the existing product, so that
would be your masonry waterproofing paint. Then there's one decorative
coatings that are kind of almost looks like a corean.
You may have heard me talk about a product called
roller Rock. It's a very decorative coating, comes in probably
(16:44):
eight different color patterns. It's a thick coating. It could
probably go over that existing coating. Again, if it's just
faded and tightly adhered to the existing substrate, it'd probably
just be a matter of cleaning it and put two
coats of the roller Rock on. So there's three quick
do it yourself coatings you could use. And then in
(17:07):
the meantime you'll have your quote on your rhino shield
and then we can probably have a little little further
discussion or you know, weighing the benefits and the cost
might give you your answer.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 6 (17:21):
It is feeling in several places. So I'd probably take
a powwasher and might be power worship. Not in a
real thick but you know to knock it off or
a wire brush on a pold Okay, And it is
a want it matches the house, which is an almond
so it's an almond color and that's what the sighting is.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Okay, So it glaze pretty well. So can you tint,
like dry lock any of those things?
Speaker 1 (17:48):
You can sure, sure, so the roller rock will put
that off to the side. They do have an almond one,
but it has like I said, it's not like a
flat color like house pain. It's got some pattern. But yes,
you can. The dry lock can be tinted. Absolutely. The
people in the paint store a hardware store may not
(18:09):
know that. But here's the little secret. They all have
their mixing tints, and they all have their formula books.
And when you mix it into the dry lock, which
is not a base it's a white masonry paint, you
mix it at half strength and you'll come very very
close to their color books. So yes, you can mix
(18:31):
it for sure.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
Cool.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
All right, great, I appreciate the info. Info.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
You're quite welcome. Thanks for the call, well, appreciate it
all right, Looking forward to your calls. If you'd like
to grab a line. We got wide open lines and
that doesn't happen all that often, but your chance to
give us a call. It's eight hundred A two three
A two five five, Go ahead and grab a line.
Happy to talk about your home projects and there's a
(18:59):
lot going on. Yeah, you may not be able to
work outside today, or maybe you're in a great part
of the country where you can I know in the
south southeast. It's this is home improvement season for sure,
So taking your calls again. It's eight hundred eighty two
three eight two five five. Will continue with your calls.
You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
Start a project and don't know how to finish it?
Call Gary at one eight hundred eighty two three talk
You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Hey, Gary Sullivan. Here another happy Odor comment. I bought
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With all the cooler damp weather's on the way, so
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I talk about a lot of products that can make
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It repairs tears and all types of clothing fabrics, leather,
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In fact, listeners tell me terminders that must have for
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(21:49):
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(22:10):
All right, back to work, we go at home with
Gary Salvin. Just listen to a commercial on chimneys and fireplaces.
We had a call yesterday and this is it was
a really good call. It was one I guess maybe
some of us have that we don't really pay attention
and we don't know we have it. First of all,
(22:32):
rule of thumb, I'm professionally inspecting and chimneying of a fireplaces.
If you burn a cord of wood, you should have
it inspecting clean annually. Outside of that every two years.
And this person called and talked about seeing an efflorescence.
(22:54):
What is efflorescence? That fluorescence is a chalky, salty crystal
that is usually on the surface of a cementatious product
or substrate. So the brick, the mortar, maybe if you
have block on the inside of the chimney, that crystallization
(23:15):
and beyond that, and it's caused by water reacting with
lime and salts in the masonry surface. And you might
be thinking, big deal, you know, big deal. You know
it's the block of the chimney that's in the attic
(23:35):
or something, who cares, or it's outside. Man, it doesn't
look real good. But really it's a little bit of
a red flag that you should dig a little deeper,
especially if you're using that fireplace. I have said for years,
and I think you'll agree with me, is water is
the number one enemy in your home, even if it's
(23:57):
just a little efflorescence on this. So for the brick,
and yeah, you can go to the hardware store. You
can pick up an effluorescence cleaner. You can clean it
off and you'll say, well, that wasn't a big deal.
It'll come back, you'll clean it again. Still not a
big deal. But really, what it's you know, I always say,
dig down to the roof, why why is this going on? Well, Garry,
(24:22):
it's outside that chimney's you know, you say water, it's
getting wet, it's got a fluorescence on it. True, but
maybe that water is going inside the chimney, going between
the liner and the brick. Maybe it is on the
brick and it really needs to be waterproofed um And
(24:50):
I didn't say sealed. I said waterproof because you wanted
to minimize the penetration of the water into the brick,
but you also wanted to breathe in a exhaust moisture out.
I'm not trying to be difficult. I'm just trying to
show you what else it could be. This is the
cause at the top of that chimney. I always talk
about a concrete pad, it's called a crown wash. The
(25:14):
flu's going up through that like a sidewalk or a driveway.
Concrete over time will crack. Maybe water's getting down in
that crack. Maybe it's a bigger problem. Maybe there's a
gap between the crown wash and the flu and if
water gets down in between that and then goes through
(25:35):
free stall cycles, maybe we end up with a crack liner,
which is an expensive repair. But digging down and there's
so many really, really really good reasons to have a
chimney inspected and cleaned, and yesterday we even got into
(25:58):
different degrees of crew so how some are very easily remedied.
Others look like a black porcelain, that's how glazed it is,
and it can catch fire and it could crack a liner.
So I bring this up because probably people listening right now,
(26:20):
you may have some people that have just bought the
house and have not had it inspected, and you get
to the holidays, and who doesn't want a nice cozy
fire in the fireplace. Don't do that until you've had
it inspected, or maybe you've lived in that house and
you burn wood occasionally. It's been ten years since anybody
(26:42):
took a look at that fireplace. Yeah, I wouldn't. I
wouldn't use it until you really know it's usable, that
it's in good repair, because you're you're really not going
to see where the problem is. Maybe up in that
chimney it may have a crack liner and there may
(27:03):
be really third degree kreisode on there, and if that
catches fire, your house is vulnerable. Not trying to scare it,
just trying to tell you when things need maintenance. It's
easy when you know your snowblower needs maintenance because it
won't start. You can't see some other things that need maintenance,
(27:27):
or a drain pipe that no longer drains. You got
to do something then, But with a chimney, maybe you
just can't tell. That's why you need to have it inspected.
All right. Our phone numbers eight hundred eight two three
eight two five five. Kevin, welcome, Hi Gary, love your show.
Speaker 7 (27:45):
You help me out all the time.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 7 (27:47):
I have a water heater left your water heater, and
every time I try to drain it get the hardness
out of it, it seems to take a day from
the water to come out of this tang. I just
can't figure out what it is I'm doing wrong.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
It just doesn't drain out in.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
An hour mm hm. And so you're shutting off all
the valves and doing all that and it's just not
coming out of the bottom drain very fast?
Speaker 8 (28:14):
Correct?
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (28:17):
All right? You know one of the cheapest valves made
are usually on everybody's water heater. I mean they're terrible.
They're they're usually made it like nylon plastic. And what
I would do is my guess is, Kevin, is a
lot of the hard water deposits and this is actually
(28:39):
kind of a common complaint. As you're draining it to
get rid of the hard water deposits, those hard water
deposits start clogging up.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
That that.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
That pipe or that valve, and it starts it impedes
to flow water, so it's a trickle whereas it should
come out like a lawn faucet, and it's not because
there's so much debris in there. So what I would do, Kevin,
is go ahead and let drain for all day or
a half a day. Let's get all that water out
(29:10):
of there, and let's take that valve off and get
yourself a nice brass stainless steel ball valve and just
with a lever handle and open that up, maybe even
turn the water on, flush that thing out the best
(29:32):
we can. Kind of try to start over, if you will,
and I think you'll find the drainage mechanism is going
to be a lot better on a ball valve because
what a ball valve does is it's a round ball.
But when you turn it in an open position, that
whole size is the size of the pipe. So water,
even when there's more sediment in there, flows easier than
(29:56):
the type of valve they put on those water heres.
Speaker 7 (30:01):
Great job, thank what I need to do.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Gary, I appreciate it, all right, Kevin, thank you, take care,
bye bye. All right, let me give you that phone
number once again. It's eight hundred eight two three eight
two five five. Those lines are open, and that always
opens up the question, doesn't it. Do I need to
drain that water heater every year? And that's always a
(30:28):
trick question for me to answer. If you just bought
the water heater or just had that water here installed
in the last year, my answer is, yes, yeah, drain it.
Go ahead, flush that out. That'd be good. If you
haven't done it for eight years. Should I drain that
water here? My quick answer is probably not. The sentiment
(30:53):
that's built up in that water heater may be holding
that water heater together. Now it's like a rock, you
know the old adages. Uh. You know, it takes one
person to get a new water heater down in your basement,
and takes two or three people to get the old
one out because it's full of sediment. There's a rock
(31:15):
at the bottom of that and so it's very heavy.
And you know, if you want to take if you
got an older one and you want to just maybe
drain two or three gowns off it. See if it's clean,
See if it's clear. I think that'd be it. Taking
all of it down though, I just don't think I
(31:35):
would do that. But it's costing you more. And you
got to remember that too. I mean, think about it.
If half that well, that's that might be an exaggeration.
Let's say twenty percent of that tank has got calcium
carbonate rock in the base of that thing, and you're
(31:56):
heating it either with electricity propane gas. You gotta heat
that rock up first, all right, and a lot of
times to let you know that there's a lot of
sediment in there. You seem to be running out of
water faster because it's doesn't hold as much water. So
(32:22):
again rule tomb, Yeah, clean it every year. Unless it's
an older water heater, then I'd say big caution there.
Maybe drain off a couple two three gowns and be
done with it, or you can get yourself in trouble.
All right, Well, take a break and Tina, you'll be
up first. If you would like to join us, grab
a line. It's eight hundred eight two three eight two
(32:44):
five five at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
Help for your home is just to click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Hey Gary Salvin here for solar pumps. Zalor's been keeping
home safe and dry since nineteen thirty nine, and their
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(33:33):
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dot com. Hey Gary Salvin here another happy odor Exit comment.
I bought a perfect juice car, except it reached from
the smell of smoke. I scrubbed, I sprayed, I even
left windows open for days, and nothing got rid of
that smell. Then I found odor Exit AQM Air Quality Manager,
(33:56):
a small packet and the smell was gone overnight, not
covered eliminae and the smells never come back. Don't live
with a car that smells like a campfire or any space.
Order Odor Exit AQM at odor exit dot com. Go
to odor exit dot com for the best pricing, combas
and service. Hey, it's Gary Salvan for Roto Router Plumbing
and water cleanup, a company that has been trusted and
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recommended for generations coast to coast. Roto Router fixes clogged drains,
leaky faucets, and running toilets. They repair and replace water heaters,
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house and you should leave plumbing to the pros too.
Call one eight hundred, get roto or go to Rotrouter
(34:41):
dot com today. So your basement is dry sealed and
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Visit easybreed dot com. Well, you're at home with Gary
(35:26):
Slivan talking about your home and given some friendly advice
maybe on things that you may have around your home
that you feel, you know, a need to dig a
little deeper on how to take care of that issue.
Maybe we can help. Our phone number, you got it,
Give us a call and we'll chat. Uh Tina, welcome,
(35:48):
Thank you, Hi Gary.
Speaker 8 (35:50):
I have an issue with Boston ivy. Okay, Hi, I'm
trying to powerwa wash my house and the Boston ivy
has left these little sticky feet all over the sidings.
Is there any solution that can kind of dissolve it
or help it come off?
Speaker 1 (36:07):
It's called time time. I don't know of anything including
And first of all, I've had this call off and
on for years, and I had the problem myself on
my very first home. I had English ivy all over
the side. Tore it off. It was starting to get
a little obtrusive, getting underneath metal sighting and everything else,
and I pulled it off and that started my search
(36:31):
my quest on how to remove the roots of that
ivy off brick. And there is nothing, and you cannot
use things like a wire wheel or a wire brush, er.
You know, if it's on brick, you would certainly do
damage to that. The craziest thing is Tina and I say, truthfully, time,
(36:55):
what will happen is those roots that would that woody
material will dehydrate and literally you'll be able to sweep
it off.
Speaker 8 (37:08):
That's kind of what I thought. I'd have to just
kill it off and let it fall off.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yeah, and boy, I have over the years. I've tried
all kinds of things and had one person say, well,
get a propane torch and burn it off, and I thought,
I'm not trying that. But eventually, you know, it's about
eighteen months it would be dehydrated. I remember one day,
(37:35):
it's crazy. I went out with a woody street broom
and just started no cleaner, no nothing, and it just
started raining like leaves in the fall. It just started
taking it right off. It was no big deal, but
it's a big deal right now. So I think I
(37:55):
would recommend trying to live with it. I've had people
that actually painted a brick wall to hide it. Don't
do that unless you wanted painted brick, but you know,
because it will still dehydrate and it probably caused a
paint peel.
Speaker 8 (38:11):
Yeah, well, it's it's on brick, and it's on vinyl
siding too. I mean, it just sticks to everything right right.
I didn't know if there was anything that would take
it off or not.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
I have found nothing. And if somebody has truly found
an answer for that, they can certainly share it. But
I think that the best solution, quite honestly, is time.
Speaker 8 (38:31):
Okay, is there anything that kills the ivy.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Yes, there's a lot of vegetation killers out on the
market that will take care of it. Now that whole
game has changed a little bit, so you'll have to
read labels. I mean, with the roundup issues that it had,
they have different types of roundup and and it's a
vegetation killer that can be used on IVY and even
(38:57):
poison ivy, and it will you know, if it's still growing.
It would take repeated applications. But you know, when I
did it, I just literally manually. I was young, then
manally just pulled it off the house. The English ivy
(39:18):
cut it up and then dug the roots out and
all that. But you can use a vegetation killer for sure.
Speaker 8 (39:25):
I'm afraid if I start pulling it off the house,
it's going to take the vinyl siding off.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Well, you know what, I'm still thinking about mine, which
was on brick only. But that's a good concern. I mean,
that is a good concern. If it's got something to
grip to and it's growing underneath there, I think I
would probably cut that, you know, even with a pruning
(39:51):
pair of pruning scissors or something along those lines, and
then work on the ivy beneath. And of course, one
you have cut off the food and moisture supply, that
will die.
Speaker 8 (40:06):
Okay, that's awesome. Okay, well, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
You're quite welcome to you to have a good weekend.
Take care, bye bye. Yeah, that is a challenge. I did.
I remember all the things that I tried to do.
I've even even tried, like a in an inconspicuous area,
which probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, using like
a sanding sponge, trying to sand that out. You're just
(40:32):
not going as long as that thing is gripped into there.
I just you know, you don't want to use a
wire brush, you don't want to use a wire wheel.
You're gonna you're going to compromise that brick and you
run a potential of causing problems. But I said eighteen
months to two years. It's probably two years. It wasn't.
(40:53):
I don't think less than that. And it was just
who knows how long it was like that before I tried.
But it came down to a point where just running
a stiff scrub brush or stiff street room across that,
no liquids, no nothing, that it literally just cleaned up beautifully.
(41:17):
And it was on the side of the house where
we didn't have to look at it every day. Might
be different if it's right next to the front door,
but it was easy to forget when it was on
the side of the house, So it wasn't a big
deal for us. But that ivy, there's two schools of
thought on that. Some people like it and kind of
a natural radiant barrier for your home in the summertime.
(41:42):
But I'll tell you what, with those roots, it can
do damage, especially if the brick becomes or the mortar
becomes soft or cracked and the roots can get down
into the crevices of the mortar. You could end up
with some damage on that wall. So I'm kind of
not real pro about that. Some people like to look
(42:05):
that's up to you, but be careful what direction it
can be can cause some issues. Just like when we
talk about getting rid of molds and mildews on roofs,
that's one thing that's just stain. That's a little cosmetic.
It's really not doing a whole lot of damage of
the roof. But if you start having a moss grow
(42:28):
on a shingled roof, that can be a problem because
it too has roots, not as stout as an English
ivy or a Boston ivy, but it does have roots,
and if there's fractures as that asphalt shingle gets older
and those roots get down in there, it can cause
damage to some roots or some roofs roofing tile and
(42:52):
asphalt shingles for sure. So I would recommend getting rid
of that, and even the mold and the mildew, which
I think is and sightly it's an airborne algae spore.
It goes from house to house and stains those roofs.
New roofs now have about a ten year warranty on it.
They got some metal metal fragments in the coatings of
(43:14):
the shingles which will prevent that for ten years, but
after that period you might have to clean the roof
periodically simply by spraying like a wet and forget onto
the surface and no scrubbing. You don't want to do
that in eliminating that same with the moss. It will
take care of moss. It may need a second application,
(43:36):
all right. You can join us as we talk about
your home. It's eight hundred eight two three eight two
five five, grab a line, happy to chat and well
we'll get you back to work if that's what you
want to do today, for sure, we can, uh well
talk you to the project. We'll continue with your calls.
You're at home with Garrie's elevant.
Speaker 5 (44:27):
Weekends. I mean a never ending list of things to
do around your home. Get help at one eight hundred
eighty two three talk You're at home with Gary Sullivan
At Home with Gary Sullivan News
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