May 30, 2026 • 44 mins
This hour is packed with practical tips and solutions for common home maintenance problems. Gary shares their expertise on how to refinish a deck, including the best products to use and the steps to take to achieve a beautiful, long-lasting finish. We also dive into the world of ants, discussing the different types of ants that can infest your home and how to get rid of them. From sweet ants to carpenter ants, we cover it all.
One of the key takeaways from this hour is the importance of proper ventilation in your home. Gary explains how to identify and address potential issues with your home's ventilation system, which can lead to a range of problems, from mold and mildew to air pollution. We also discuss the benefits of using a breathable sealer on your concrete surfaces, which can help to minimize water penetration and prevent damage.
If you're dealing with a pesky ant problem or looking to give your deck a fresh new look, this hour is a must-listen. Gary shares his knowledge and experience to help you tackle these common home maintenance issues with confidence.
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Speaker 1 (00:32):
Well, the weekends upon us. Welcome aboard. You're at home
with Gary Salvini senters brought you by Wet and Forget
and uh, well, I'll tell you what wed and Forget
and what a great product you can use with uh
you know, getting rid of molds and mildews and fungus.
And they got the Wet and Forget Max. You can
(00:53):
hook it up to the hose and just get to work.
Spray it on, forget about it. Check it out for yourself.
It'll dissolve the fungus, mold and mildew. It's Waitinforget dot com.
All right, let's talk about your home projects, maintenance, repair, remodeling,
cleaning up, whatever you're working on. Hopefully you got some
(01:14):
great weather. I see a little stormy down in the
southeast in different parts through the Carolinas. But we can
certainly take your call. Our phone number is eight hundred
eighty two three eight two five five. That's eight hundred
eighty two three eight two five five. And there's a
lot to talk about, that's for sure. And you know,
(01:36):
during the course of the week, I get exposed to
issues not only at my house, but friends' houses and
different things along those lines and also like to review
notes and calls that we've done in UH past shows.
And one I've continue to try to harp on during
(01:57):
the spring and then going into the summer is the
things that we had problems with in the winter. And
you may think, why do I want to talk about
projects I had in the wintertime or problems I had,
Because if you had problems maybe with high utility bills,
and you realize you didn't have the right amount of
(02:18):
insulation or the ventilation was bad, probably not going to
find somebody to get out there and do that right
away when you're having really really bad weathers. So you
put it off the spring, and then you put it
off the summer. You're like, I got no problems, but
that problem didn't go anywhere. It's like a leaky basement
or a wet cross space. They don't fix themselves. So
(02:40):
if you have questions on maybe insulation or ventilation, those
are equally helpful in the summertime to get those projects done.
You know, I don't know what your weather's been like.
We have not had horribly hot weather. We've had some
rain and it's been cloudy. It's been very seasonal one.
(03:02):
But we're gonna have hot weather. You're gonna have hot weather.
Maybe you've already had some hot weather, and those utility
bills will start climbing again. So if you had some
issues and you did some grumbling, uh say, in the
winter time, now's the time we want to correct those
so we can take calls on net too, all right.
(03:23):
And of course summertime projects with there's always plenty decks
and concrete and painting the house and all that good stuff.
So let me give you the number, and then we're
gonna let Dan lead us off. It's eight hundred eighty
two three eight two five five, and we'll talk about
your home project. Dan.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Welcome, Good morning, Gary. How you doing today?
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Doing fine? Thank you?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Good Hey.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I'm gonna I'm gonna refinish my deck. And it's got
solid stain on it right now, uh huh, And there
are some areas where the stain has gone down to
the wood, even though I've read it, you know, three
or four times over the last ten years. So I'm
just wondering what advice you would have to prep to
get good adherents and all that kind of good stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Do you remember if it was a solvent base or
a water based dand.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I was water based. I believe it was the Sherwin
Williams Deck and dock product. Yeah, I think it was
what I used.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Okay, I'll tell you. And it does take a little
bit more loving care. I guess when you're putting down
a solid color stain, and then if you're putting down
a solid color stain that's a latex, it's the ying
and the yang. A late tex solid color stain probably
(04:41):
holds up to the sun better than any type of
deck stain. It also is the worst penetrating product for
a deck. So what's going on there? This wasn't new
pressure treat of bit or anything. This You said you'd
done this several times, correct, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Mean there were over that course of time, there were
a couple of boards that were replaced, you know, that
were new and I actually had some railing boards replaced
last year that a refresh and haven't been stayed yet.
But whether most of it is, it's been on there
a while.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Okay, it's it's still difficult. I mean, it penetrates, but
it's difficult. So you said, do I have any other ideas? Yeah,
So let's take, for instance, those new boards you have Okay,
we you know, we're going to let those age maybe
a year. No, it doesn't have to age any longer
that we want to give as much of that moisture
(05:33):
out of that wood as we possibly can. But since
we're using a solid color stain, and since it's a
latex and not a solvent base where it penetrates a
little bit better, what we're going to do is we're
going to start out even though the boards are, you know,
within a year old. We want to use an oxygenated
bleach cleaner. So just clean it. It's a powder mixed
with water. Spray it on, mop it on, whatever, Get
(05:56):
it on the surface, let it sit ten to fifteen,
and then scrub, agitate, rinse, let it dry out for
a day or two and you're ready to go with yeah, yeah, okay. Now,
once you have it cleaned, you know that'll keep obviously
the dirt out and help with the penetration. But what
(06:20):
I want you to do is take the next step.
There's in any store, you'll see the stain, you'll see
the cleaner, and you'll see a product called deck Brightener.
I want you to use the deck brightener after you
clean it. It's really for you not gonna brighten new wood.
(06:43):
But what it's gonna do, it's gonna open up the
the fibers inside that wood. Basically, what deck brightener is
is it's wood bleach. It's like solic acid. So what
it does is it opens up the fiber. It allows
how's that wood to drink that stain, to pull that
(07:04):
stain down into the fibers, you'll get a better bond.
So that's the extra step i'd like to see you take.
As far as the other boards that are peeling, obviously
we got to remove any kind of peeling pain and
(07:24):
probably not probably the best way to remove that is
with a deck stripper and not sanding, because think about this,
If you sand that solid color stain off, which is
kind of like pain, right, you burnish, you burnish the
(07:45):
surface of that wood. Burnish means you're even closing up
the wood fibers, even more so than a freshly cut
piece of wood. So with the with the stripper on there,
it'll lift that stain off and you won't have to
use the deck brightener because it too opens the pores
(08:07):
of the wood as you're stripping off the the solid
color stain.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Okay, So is the stripper gonna take off just the
loose peeling or is it so I got to take
all of it off and go down to the wood. Well,
I mean there's a lot of the deck that's fine,
it's just.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Well yeah, and I'm not going to make it work
too hard. I would take and you know, strip off,
use the stripper and do the you know, a length
of the border, half the length of the board. Work
on the peeling paint. Now, the reason the can will
tell you to remove it all but think about and
(08:46):
the reason they are is if the old stuff peeled,
what's preventing the rest of it from peeling? Well, nothing,
but we don't know if it will. And it's a
whole bunch of work. So what I would do is
because I'm lazy too, but I think really sometimes we
have different woods that you know, absorb more than others
(09:12):
in terms of stain or water or something. I would,
you know, I'd scrape the loose pain off, okay, with
like a big putty knife or something, and then if
you wanted to, you know, do the rest of that
board with a stripper. I'd minimize my use of stripper,
but I'd get as much of the loose paint or
possibly loose pain off as like as I could.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Okay, okay, and so back to the freshwood, right, scrub
and then what was the step after that?
Speaker 1 (09:44):
You said, So you clean it with a deck cleaner
or oxygen a bleach at step one, put it on,
let's say, scrub rinse. Then the next step is the
deck brightener. And that's just kind of put that's kind
of the same process, but it's opening the grain up
even more.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Okay, and on the bulk of the deck, I mean
I was planning on power washing first, you know, to
get off all the dirt and all that kind of stuff.
I should do that, right.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
You can be careful of how much pressure you're using,
and it'll be interesting to see if any of that
other paint comes off as you're doing that.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah, I know some spots it will because underneath it
is not the old wood, but it's the old stain
that's there. So it was like the new stain wasn't
sticking to the old stain. And it could be at
one point there was an oil based or solvent based
stain on it, you know, before.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
We bought the house, would be yeah, yeah, so okay.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Well it gives me, gives me an idea of what
I got ahead of me. I appreciate the time and
enjoy your show every weekend.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
But thank you, Ann, Good luck to you. Take care. Yeah,
and that's one of the big trends too, and I'm
not so sure. Well, it's a big project, and especially
if you got that stain that's peeling all over and
you got a big deck, and that's why we're seeing
a big growth in composites and cap composite woods. All right,
(11:09):
Scott Burlin, he's gonna be joining us. We'll talk a
little gardening with him, and then we'll be taking your call.
So let me give you the phone number. Danny's ready
to take your call. It's eight hundred eight two three
eight two five five. You're at home with Gary Salian.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This he's at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Well, they say an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure, and that's true when it comes to
preventing a basement flood. Hey, Gary Sualvan here from my
friends at Rota Ruter Plumbing and Water clean Up.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
There are the some.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
Pump experts and can install back up some pump that'll
prevent basement flooding even during a power outage. And if
your primary pump is getting up in the years, well,
rotro Ruter can replace that too. Trust me, a lot
cheaper than a flooded basement. Called Roto Router at one
eight hundred get rut oh today.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
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(12:40):
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(13:02):
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Did you know multiple states building codes are requiring basement
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(13:25):
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kit while supplies last easybreed dot Com. All right, back
(14:04):
at it we go. We're about twenty two minutes half
from the top of the hour at Home with Gary Sulvan,
our segment with Scott Burline or Let's Garden with Scott
Berline and Scott how are you?
Speaker 6 (14:16):
I'm good.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
How are you doing? I'm doing fine, but I've never
seen so much vegetation in all my life.
Speaker 6 (14:21):
It's a jungle out there.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
It is a jungle out there. Last night, a beautiful, beautiful,
beautiful evening last night, sitting out on the screen porch
and looking out at the trees and stuff, and my
wife even said, look how big these trees are. And
it's like, I just want to get my lopping shore
out there. I just want to clean things up. But
it's not that bad. It's kind of nice looking.
Speaker 6 (14:42):
Yeah, it's beautiful and lush, you know, and we've had
so much rain and the temperatures of stay cool, so
things are just growing really well. Yeah, you know, I
haven't gone out and really looked at new growth to
see what the trees have put on this year, but
I think it's going to be a lot.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
When I look, it's gonna be a whole bunch I have.
I think I told you this once. I have a
smoke bush just outside my office. Yeah, and you know
this thing, I don't know, it's maybe six foot tall.
I kind of keep it a bush. And right now,
those runners, the new blooms, they just kind of created
the little seed things, yeah, which are beautiful, I think. Yeah,
(15:21):
some people don't like those I understand.
Speaker 6 (15:22):
Yeah, that's a plant people like or they don't like.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I love it. I think it's beautiful. But those runners
right now, I'll bet you they're eighteen inches long. Yeah. Yeah,
And so I got to get out there and do
a little shaping here before it gets too out of control.
There you go, but and heat low hanging tree branches,
especially on trees that are probably less than ten years old. Yeah,
(15:48):
I guess, I guess we've got to clean those up
to well.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
You don't have to, but if you want to walk
under them, I know, mother grass there, Yeah, remo the grass.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Yeah you can.
Speaker 6 (15:58):
You know, when a tree gets to a side where
the branches are free, you know, if the branches are
still close to the tree, you don't want to really
get in there and cut them out, just you know,
mulch the area around it. But you know, as the
top gets fuller and taller, yeah, you can start taking
out those lower branches. It's called limbing up to give
(16:21):
yourself some room, get some light underneath. I do that
a lot, just to keep my perennials happy that are
gradually becoming full shade residents.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I'm trying to think. I think it was last weekend. No,
it was the weekend before. It's probably been ten to
fourteen days we planted annuals. May. It was Mother's Day,
maybe right after Mother's Day, after Mother's Day, and I've
never seen annuals take bite so fast. Yeah, yeah, I
(16:52):
mean we timed it perfectly. I mean, seventy five degrees
and it's raining every other day, so hooray. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
We same thing at the zoo. We've put all our
almost all our annuals out now, and they were they
were nice coming into the zoo, but once they hit
the ground, man, they hit the ground running and yeah,
really putting on shape and body and form. You know,
it's really kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yeah. Yeah, it's always amazing to me. You know, we're
always talking about fertilizing our lawn and fertilizing this and
fertilizing that, and I'm looking I'm going like, I don't
know if I've ever fertilized my trees. Those things are
growing like crazy.
Speaker 6 (17:32):
Well that's a good indicator that you don't need to Yeah. Yeah,
if they started looking off, the color was wrong, the
leaves are too small, then you start looking at it
and you start thinking, well, what's going on here? And
but before you fertilize, you know, if that's going on,
bring an arborist in because you might it might not
(17:52):
be a fertility issue.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
It could be something different. Yeah, and I don't know,
this is a layman's answer to it. If you're fertilizing
the lawn or the trees kind of enjoying some of
that fertilizer too.
Speaker 6 (18:04):
Well, they're getting the fertilizer. Whether they're enjoying it or
not is a different question. Oh yeah, trees don't like
the nearly the same level of fertility that that turf requires,
or at least a you know, a turf that is
PGA style, you know, really kept growing. So yeah, you
(18:27):
if you can back off the fertilizer for your turf,
that's great. If you still want to fertilize your turf,
maybe make the maultor ring around your tree.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
I got to make it bigger, Yeah, make it larger. Yeah, yeah,
I got to make it a little larger. Well, it's
a good year to have a gardening show like yours.
And when you say let's garden, you've got fur lined,
you can say, look what I did for you. Yeah, yeah,
take credit when credit's ready. Well, yeah, I'll do it. Sure,
(18:56):
got you got a website people can check out for
some information or a podcast.
Speaker 6 (19:02):
Yeah, the podcast is available all the past shows that
just look for Let's Garden with Scott Berline.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Very good, Thanks for joining us, appreciate it. Thanks Gary,
all right, take care. All right, let me give you
the phone number happy to take your calls regarding your home.
We're going from the house to the garden, back to
the house, So grab a line. It's eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five lines are open and
you're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
Solutions to your home improvement are as easy as calling
one eight eight two three talk.
Speaker 7 (19:44):
This is at Home with Gary Solivan.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
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(20:25):
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(21:46):
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(22:21):
at home with Gary Sullivan towards you're taking your calls
regarding your home projects. Feel free to join us. I
got a spot for you. It's eight hundred and eight
two three eight two five five.
Speaker 8 (22:36):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I do want to remind you also the spring sale
for the gutter brush that's going till June first, so
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The code is Gary the website gutterbrush dot com. And
if you want to you know, as we talk about
good weather and take a look around the house and stuff.
(22:57):
You get a ladder if you can, if you're capable
of you know, secure enough to get up there and
take a look at especially in your lower gutters. Make
sure they're clean. If you have some sort of gutter
blocking mechanism there, make sure it's in good repair, make
sure it's doing its job. And if not, if you're interested,
(23:18):
to go to the website. It's gutterbrush dot com. Take
a look at it. Very very easy to install because
you simply slide it in. And if you have mault
around your house and you have the gutters, again, if
you've had a lot of rain, or if you have
a heavy shower, pay attention to the mault. You'll be
able to see if it's been washed away or not.
(23:40):
Could be a sign that that gutter is clogged. Maybe
it's leaking if you have seams. But yeah, check that out.
Check that out. Sam.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Welcome, Good morning, Garry. I hope you're doing.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Well today, doing fine? Thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Great. In last week you gave me wonderful advice about
a product called odor Exit. I believe it is uh
huh for some animal urine. Uh you know, and I did. Yeah, okay,
Well that took care of it right away. I mean,
I'm impressed. Now my next question, but yeah, thank you.
(24:22):
My next question is the same property that I've moved into.
I took a walk into the backyard and I thought
that they had removed a tree. Yes, well, and it's not.
It is a major ant colony, and I'm afraid they'll
be spreading to the house. And I mean, this thing
(24:42):
is massive. Any thoughts on it? They're not a little
bitty answer, kind of medium size.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah, that's what I was going to ask you. So,
so they did remove the tree, correct or not?
Speaker 5 (24:55):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (24:56):
I have no idea. I thought it was a tree
remove but it looks like it's just a massive colony.
I live on the edge of Mount Airy.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Uh huh. So okay, so you didn't remove the tree.
You either have a stump where there's a colony of
ants or it is a colony of ants period. Correct.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Yeah, I think it's just a colony of ants.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Okay. So there's a lot of different species of ants,
but the two that we see most of are sweet ants,
which are the small ants, the sidewalk ants i'll call
them sometimes. The other is the carpenter ants, which is bigger,
a little more ominous, usually black in color. And they
too have colonies out in you know, outside of your home,
(25:46):
but they find their way inside the home. And that
particularly ant can set up satellite colonies inside your home.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Right And they like DMP wood, are not They're not
big ant. They're not carpenter size antswer okay, you would
see in the house in kind of panic. They're about
like midway.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Okay, Uh, that helps it all. So so what are
you where are you seeing these ants presently?
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Presently? I see them right in the center The backyard
measures about oh I don't know, thirty feet by forty feet,
and they're right in the center. And these this is huge,
like a mound.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Almost okay, okay, And they haven't got in the house
or anything along those ooints right.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Not to my knowledge. So the question is, do I
guess leave them alone?
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Well you can, but well let's talk about it a
little bit. Here. Are you seeing any active trails where
the ants are leaving that colony or that nest and moving.
A lot of times ants will tell you exactly where
they're at and where they're going and what they're bringing
(27:11):
back to the colony.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
I have not noticed any trails, but I honestly, it
was kind of out of a science fiction movie. I
didn't want to get close enough to start seeing if
they have trails leaving.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yeah, well, there's a couple of things you can do.
I mean, firstly, if they're not really hurting anything in
their way, what I would do is probably put some
barrier spray or insecticidal powder around the house to keep
them out of the house. You can also put up
without really knowing exactly what kind of ants there are,
you can also put different baits around the colony where
(27:56):
they will take the bait back to the ueen. The
queen rules the roost, the rest are workers, and in
order to eliminate the problem, you have to eliminate the queen.
So you know, in a way, just kind of visualize,
you have this house of ants with warriors in it,
(28:17):
and you have the king limit in it, or the
queen in this case, and you're gonna build a fence
around your house, and then you're gonna put some bait
to bring it back to the queen. All right, So
there's different powders that you can use. I know, Taro
makes an ant powder that you can literally comes in
a bag with a little sprinkling head on it where
(28:38):
you can just do a perimeter around the house with
that ant insecticide. That'll create a barrier that'll put the
fence around the house. That would be what I would
start with. And then if you want to take some
ant traps that can be used outside or inside. They're
(29:01):
usually in a little plastic disc or you can use.
You could use the insecticide if you want to, but
I think you'd be probably accomplished a little bit more
with a bait for the outside around the colony and
then barrier around the house. Now, I will tell you,
and I've had this problem personally, the colony is really
(29:23):
bigue I ended up having a pest control company literally
come and continue to change the different baits, and you know,
they did the barrier thing, but they were still kind
of getting in the house. I mean, if there's a
lot of them. In fact, a guy told me because
(29:44):
it's the biggest ant colony I've ever seen in a life.
But we eventually knocked him out. But I would use
the tarot dust around the permit of the house and
then get some maybe rescue ant traps or baits around
the colony.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Okay, let me ask you the spelling on the tear
is a tear roll.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Yeah, it's t e r r O t E r
r U.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Gotcha. Well, I'm going to give that a try. And uh,
I know that you've got your weekly show. If I,
if I catch a couple and uh take their photos
and send them to you. Of course I can do
that on the internet. Also, now I'm give you a
better idea of what species it is. Yeah, it's kind
(30:35):
of it's kind of right out of the outer limits type.
But show.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Yeah, and if I if I, you know, when I
run into things and I don't know what type of
specie it is, a lot of time I'll call a
pest control place, tell them the problem I got and
tell them I want to send, you know, a picture
of the ant so it can be identified. That's another
option for you too.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Great. Well, listen, you are a wealth of information and
pay very much. I enjoy your show every week.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Thank you, Sam, take care, bye bye. Yeah. One of
the interesting things this past week, I've had a couple
of friends in different issues with ants all of a
sudden out of nowhere. It's been a very I'm not
going to say an ant free period of time for
us in the Midwest. But with a little bit of heat,
(31:24):
a little bit of coolness, a little bit of rain,
a lot of rain, carpenter ants started showing up. And
remember carpenter ants outside, they love to live in damp wood,
damp soft wood. A lot of times carpenter ants find
their way in their home through your chimney, of all places.
(31:46):
You know, we're talking about putting a barrier down on
the ground, but you know, if you got a big
old tree and it's got some dead branches and it's
hanging over the roof, number one, that's a potential hazard
for your house, right sure, storms, you ain't kidding, But
if some of those branches are dead and they're rotting
(32:06):
and they're wet, it's a perfect place for a carpenter
ant colony. And they literally get on your roof, they
fall off, they get on your roof, they come down
your chimney, and a carpenter ant, unlike a sweet ant,
will build a additional colonies and nurseries inside your home,
usually in an area where it's a little damp aka
(32:29):
basement wood thresholds. But if you really study them on
the ground, a lot of times you'll find the trail
and a barrier, spray or powder and follow the trail
see where they're going. One fell I had him going
through the grass which you couldn't see, but you could
(32:49):
see him going through the mulch in the landscaping bed.
And then you see another line going out and you
follow them and they're going up the tree trunk. That's
where the colony is. Eight hundred and eight two three
eight two five five. That's our number, Jerry, you'll be
up first. You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
Helm for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
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Speaker 5 (34:04):
Well, I've been recommending Blackjack driveway sealers for years, and
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(34:27):
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Speaker 1 (34:34):
Did you know multiple states building codes are requiring basement
ventilation in order to get permits for renovations. Why? Because
basements are a major source of air pollution, they need
to be properly ventilated for a healthy home. Easy Breathe
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(34:54):
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(35:15):
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(35:46):
get it. We go at home with Gary Salvan. Another weekend,
another opportunity to talk a little bit about your home projects.
Feel free to join us. Are got a couple of
spots for you. It's eight hundred and eight two three
eight two Jerry, welcome.
Speaker 8 (36:04):
Oh hi Gary. I have a question for you about
ceiling a patiole using just a roller, no spray. I
was wondering if you have a recommendation on such a product.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Well, when you say a roller, you're talking about like
a paint roller. Is that?
Speaker 8 (36:21):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Okay? Um, when you say a recommendation, I mean the
paint roller is a paint roller outside of the thickness
of the fibers.
Speaker 8 (36:33):
Yes, I was referring more to the product, the ceiling prole.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Okay, all right, good, good, good. So tell me about
the concrete. Is it old concrete, is it stamp concrete?
Is it just regular concrete?
Speaker 8 (36:47):
It's less than a year old and it has a
swirl finish.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
Okay, do you know if they used a cure and
seal product when they.
Speaker 8 (36:57):
Installed that, you know, it hasn't been sealed.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
So nothing, nothing was put on it when they.
Speaker 8 (37:05):
Yes, it was kind of late in the year and
look weather and wasn't able to seal it.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Well, super so a you're ready to go, you can
go ahead and seal it. Number two is I would
use a breathable cealant. So when when you say sealant
and then you say breathable, it's like, well that can't exist,
And you're right, I mean the real really what you're
(37:30):
doing is you're putting on a a weather resistant concrete
for the fire. But it's called a sealer. It's a
salosane seiler. Salocsane is a tripolymer silicon molecule particle exactly,
(37:52):
but it makes the sealer breathable. That's what I'm trying
to say. It's kind of like putting on a liquid
code of cortex. It minimizes, it doesn't eliminate, but minimizes
the amount of water penetration into the concrete. And then
of course we know that concrete is sitting on mother Earth,
so it allows that moisture to breathe through the concrete
(38:16):
and through the quote sealer and exhaust into the atmosphere.
So a sloxane seiler is exactly what you want, perfect
for driveway stoops, patios, sidewalks that you know are in
areas where you go through freestyle cycles and it's very
(38:40):
The viscassia is like water. I mean it's very thin,
which is the next step. When you were talking about
a roller. One of the things for application on this
which can make it really fast. If you try to
put that on with a roller, you're going to be there.
I mean you're going to be dipping that roller a
bunch of time. So they have not not insecticidal tanks prayers.
(39:05):
They have them for sealers. They make them in like
a one gallon and a three gallon. Just get the
one gallon plastic pump sprayer. They're inexpensive, and you just
you know, you're gonna clean that. I know it's only
a year old, but and you're not gonna have to
knock yourself out. But get any dust, pollen, gunk off
(39:29):
that surface first, even if it's just a hose in
a street broom with some soap and water allowed to
dry for you know, day two days, and then take
that seiler, put it in the pump sprayer and you're
missing it. Just a wet or moisten the concrete, you know,
(39:52):
like when you have a little drizzle and you watch
the color of the concrete change colors. That's the consistency
you want to apply the sealer and you do not,
under any circumstance want that sealer to puddle. So having
a roller handy and just using cases you put too
(40:13):
much on air and the puddles, you can go ahead
and just you know, maybe have an extra set of
hands or do it yourself and just roll that area out.
Just don't let it puddle. You're just missing it. And
it's a one code process. In a last for or
I'd say three to five years on a horizontal surface,
(40:34):
is that.
Speaker 8 (40:34):
A solvent palmer or the sealer or.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
That is a solvent sealer. Yes, that is a solvent base.
Better penetration is you may have heard me talk about
before with the first callar to day talking about solid
color stains. You'll get better penetration, uh with a solvent.
Some of those are being you know, unable to be
sold in some stay eight. But I would try and
(41:03):
get that if you could slock sing yes, sir.
Speaker 8 (41:12):
And one final question that I have, I've heard that
you shouldn't put sealer into the expansion joints. Would you
just try to spray near it.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Or I would just spray right over it. The only
thing they're telling you that for is it's kind of
like a guttering system, right, I mean, so it's it's
prone to allowing that sealer to puddle. So again, maybe
if you have a paintbrush air and you just swipe
it over it, don't let it puddle, you'll be fine.
Speaker 8 (41:45):
Sounds good. Thank you very much for your advice.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
Gary quite welcome, Thanks, Jerry, bye bye. All right, let's
go to Mike. Mike welcome. Hello, Hi Dary, how are
you doing fine? Thank you?
Speaker 2 (41:58):
That's great. I have a dehumified or question.
Speaker 9 (42:05):
We bought a cottage and it's uh. It has two
separate cross spaces underneath there.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Now I hadn't encapsulated.
Speaker 9 (42:13):
I have a dehumidifier which is glady big enough to
handle the entire area underneath there both spaces, but there's
say a twenty inch wide like a way to access
from one crawl space to the other. And so I
(42:34):
know if I just run a dumentifier in the one area,
eventually it'll dry out the other area. But they also
sell like an automatic care of electro mechanical damper where
you can have ductwork both to supply and return and
put that into the untreated area or where the deumdifier
(42:57):
is not located, and you can cycle between the two
different areas.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Yea, yeah, that'd be helpful.
Speaker 9 (43:05):
So uh, I've been told that I don't have to
run like the return in there. I only need to
run one of the ductwork in there. So would it
be better to push the dry air into that untreated
area or is it better to draw out?
Speaker 1 (43:25):
I would say draw out? Do you medify it? You know,
if you draw it out and then pull it towards
the other area where the do you meidify is, you're
basically bringing out that air rather than allow. I'm surprised
you you wouldn't do both, to be honest with you,
but I would say the advantage there. The best you
(43:47):
might would be to pull the air towards the do
you meidify? Do you a medify that and go from there.
If you have another question regarding your your cross space,
you will have to get you on the other side
of the hour. As we continue, You're at home with
Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (44:32):
Thank's the weekend and you have fixed questions. Give Gary
a call and what eight hundred and eighty two three talk.
This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
Well, the weekends upon us. Welcome aboard. You're at home
with Gary Salvini senters brought you by Wet and Forget
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All right, let's talk about your home projects, maintenance, repair, remodeling,
cleaning up, whatever you're working on. Hopefully you got some
(01:14):
great weather. I see a little stormy down in the
southeast in different parts through the Carolinas. But we can
certainly take your call. Our phone number is eight hundred
eighty two three eight two five five. That's eight hundred
eighty two three eight two five five. And there's a
lot to talk about, that's for sure. And you know,
(01:36):
during the course of the week, I get exposed to
issues not only at my house, but friends' houses and
different things along those lines and also like to review
notes and calls that we've done in UH past shows.
And one I've continue to try to harp on during
(01:57):
the spring and then going into the summer is the
things that we had problems with in the winter. And
you may think, why do I want to talk about
projects I had in the wintertime or problems I had,
Because if you had problems maybe with high utility bills,
and you realize you didn't have the right amount of
(02:18):
insulation or the ventilation was bad, probably not going to
find somebody to get out there and do that right
away when you're having really really bad weathers. So you
put it off the spring, and then you put it
off the summer. You're like, I got no problems, but
that problem didn't go anywhere. It's like a leaky basement
or a wet cross space. They don't fix themselves. So
(02:40):
if you have questions on maybe insulation or ventilation, those
are equally helpful in the summertime to get those projects done.
You know, I don't know what your weather's been like.
We have not had horribly hot weather. We've had some
rain and it's been cloudy. It's been very seasonal one.
(03:02):
But we're gonna have hot weather. You're gonna have hot weather.
Maybe you've already had some hot weather, and those utility
bills will start climbing again. So if you had some
issues and you did some grumbling, uh say, in the
winter time, now's the time we want to correct those
so we can take calls on net too, all right.
(03:23):
And of course summertime projects with there's always plenty decks
and concrete and painting the house and all that good stuff.
So let me give you the number, and then we're
gonna let Dan lead us off. It's eight hundred eighty
two three eight two five five, and we'll talk about
your home project. Dan.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Welcome, Good morning, Gary. How you doing today?
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Doing fine? Thank you?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Good Hey.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I'm gonna I'm gonna refinish my deck. And it's got
solid stain on it right now, uh huh, And there
are some areas where the stain has gone down to
the wood, even though I've read it, you know, three
or four times over the last ten years. So I'm
just wondering what advice you would have to prep to
get good adherents and all that kind of good stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Do you remember if it was a solvent base or
a water based dand.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I was water based. I believe it was the Sherwin
Williams Deck and dock product. Yeah, I think it was
what I used.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Okay, I'll tell you. And it does take a little
bit more loving care. I guess when you're putting down
a solid color stain, and then if you're putting down
a solid color stain that's a latex, it's the ying
and the yang. A late tex solid color stain probably
(04:41):
holds up to the sun better than any type of
deck stain. It also is the worst penetrating product for
a deck. So what's going on there? This wasn't new
pressure treat of bit or anything. This You said you'd
done this several times, correct, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Mean there were over that course of time, there were
a couple of boards that were replaced, you know, that
were new and I actually had some railing boards replaced
last year that a refresh and haven't been stayed yet.
But whether most of it is, it's been on there
a while.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Okay, it's it's still difficult. I mean, it penetrates, but
it's difficult. So you said, do I have any other ideas? Yeah,
So let's take, for instance, those new boards you have Okay,
we you know, we're going to let those age maybe
a year. No, it doesn't have to age any longer
that we want to give as much of that moisture
(05:33):
out of that wood as we possibly can. But since
we're using a solid color stain, and since it's a
latex and not a solvent base where it penetrates a
little bit better, what we're going to do is we're
going to start out even though the boards are, you know,
within a year old. We want to use an oxygenated
bleach cleaner. So just clean it. It's a powder mixed
with water. Spray it on, mop it on, whatever, Get
(05:56):
it on the surface, let it sit ten to fifteen,
and then scrub, agitate, rinse, let it dry out for
a day or two and you're ready to go with yeah, yeah, okay. Now,
once you have it cleaned, you know that'll keep obviously
the dirt out and help with the penetration. But what
(06:20):
I want you to do is take the next step.
There's in any store, you'll see the stain, you'll see
the cleaner, and you'll see a product called deck Brightener.
I want you to use the deck brightener after you
clean it. It's really for you not gonna brighten new wood.
(06:43):
But what it's gonna do, it's gonna open up the
the fibers inside that wood. Basically, what deck brightener is
is it's wood bleach. It's like solic acid. So what
it does is it opens up the fiber. It allows
how's that wood to drink that stain, to pull that
(07:04):
stain down into the fibers, you'll get a better bond.
So that's the extra step i'd like to see you take.
As far as the other boards that are peeling, obviously
we got to remove any kind of peeling pain and
(07:24):
probably not probably the best way to remove that is
with a deck stripper and not sanding, because think about this,
If you sand that solid color stain off, which is
kind of like pain, right, you burnish, you burnish the
(07:45):
surface of that wood. Burnish means you're even closing up
the wood fibers, even more so than a freshly cut
piece of wood. So with the with the stripper on there,
it'll lift that stain off and you won't have to
use the deck brightener because it too opens the pores
(08:07):
of the wood as you're stripping off the the solid
color stain.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Okay, So is the stripper gonna take off just the
loose peeling or is it so I got to take
all of it off and go down to the wood. Well,
I mean there's a lot of the deck that's fine,
it's just.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Well yeah, and I'm not going to make it work
too hard. I would take and you know, strip off,
use the stripper and do the you know, a length
of the border, half the length of the board. Work
on the peeling paint. Now, the reason the can will
tell you to remove it all but think about and
(08:46):
the reason they are is if the old stuff peeled,
what's preventing the rest of it from peeling? Well, nothing,
but we don't know if it will. And it's a
whole bunch of work. So what I would do is
because I'm lazy too, but I think really sometimes we
have different woods that you know, absorb more than others
(09:12):
in terms of stain or water or something. I would,
you know, I'd scrape the loose pain off, okay, with
like a big putty knife or something, and then if
you wanted to, you know, do the rest of that
board with a stripper. I'd minimize my use of stripper,
but I'd get as much of the loose paint or
possibly loose pain off as like as I could.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Okay, okay, and so back to the freshwood, right, scrub
and then what was the step after that?
Speaker 1 (09:44):
You said, So you clean it with a deck cleaner
or oxygen a bleach at step one, put it on,
let's say, scrub rinse. Then the next step is the
deck brightener. And that's just kind of put that's kind
of the same process, but it's opening the grain up
even more.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Okay, and on the bulk of the deck, I mean
I was planning on power washing first, you know, to
get off all the dirt and all that kind of stuff.
I should do that, right.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
You can be careful of how much pressure you're using,
and it'll be interesting to see if any of that
other paint comes off as you're doing that.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah, I know some spots it will because underneath it
is not the old wood, but it's the old stain
that's there. So it was like the new stain wasn't
sticking to the old stain. And it could be at
one point there was an oil based or solvent based
stain on it, you know, before.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
We bought the house, would be yeah, yeah, so okay.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Well it gives me, gives me an idea of what
I got ahead of me. I appreciate the time and
enjoy your show every weekend.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
But thank you, Ann, Good luck to you. Take care. Yeah,
and that's one of the big trends too, and I'm
not so sure. Well, it's a big project, and especially
if you got that stain that's peeling all over and
you got a big deck, and that's why we're seeing
a big growth in composites and cap composite woods. All right,
(11:09):
Scott Burlin, he's gonna be joining us. We'll talk a
little gardening with him, and then we'll be taking your call.
So let me give you the phone number. Danny's ready
to take your call. It's eight hundred eight two three
eight two five five. You're at home with Gary Salian.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This he's at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Well, they say an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure, and that's true when it comes to
preventing a basement flood. Hey, Gary Sualvan here from my
friends at Rota Ruter Plumbing and Water clean Up.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
There are the some.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
Pump experts and can install back up some pump that'll
prevent basement flooding even during a power outage. And if
your primary pump is getting up in the years, well,
rotro Ruter can replace that too. Trust me, a lot
cheaper than a flooded basement. Called Roto Router at one
eight hundred get rut oh today.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
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the factory, the innovation building where they train plumbers. We
got to see the attention to detail on every pump
they manufacturer, and of course the innovation behind it. Zalor's
a four generation family owned company and you can tell
the people truly care. They care about quality and that's
why so many plumbers recommend Zalor and I do too.
(12:40):
If you need a some pump grinder pump, you can't
go wrong with a Salar pump. Ash your plumber, they'll agree.
Zlarpumps dot com. Hey, if your ready to strip paint
the smarter way reach for Demand's Smart Strip advanced paint remover.
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(13:02):
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Smartstrip Advanced non aerosol Spray is available at participating Sherwin
Williams and Do it Best retailers or Demontglobal dot com.
Did you know multiple states building codes are requiring basement
ventilation in order to get permits for renovations. Why Because
(13:25):
basements are a major source of air pollution. They need
to be properly ventilated for a healthy home. Easy Breed
Ventilation provides solutions at work and our code compliant called
eight six six eight two two seventy three twenty eight
or visit easybreed dot com receive a free humidity monitoring
kit while supplies last easybreed dot Com. All right, back
(14:04):
at it we go. We're about twenty two minutes half
from the top of the hour at Home with Gary Sulvan,
our segment with Scott Burline or Let's Garden with Scott
Berline and Scott how are you?
Speaker 6 (14:16):
I'm good.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
How are you doing? I'm doing fine, but I've never
seen so much vegetation in all my life.
Speaker 6 (14:21):
It's a jungle out there.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
It is a jungle out there. Last night, a beautiful, beautiful,
beautiful evening last night, sitting out on the screen porch
and looking out at the trees and stuff, and my
wife even said, look how big these trees are. And
it's like, I just want to get my lopping shore
out there. I just want to clean things up. But
it's not that bad. It's kind of nice looking.
Speaker 6 (14:42):
Yeah, it's beautiful and lush, you know, and we've had
so much rain and the temperatures of stay cool, so
things are just growing really well. Yeah, you know, I
haven't gone out and really looked at new growth to
see what the trees have put on this year, but
I think it's going to be a lot.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
When I look, it's gonna be a whole bunch I have.
I think I told you this once. I have a
smoke bush just outside my office. Yeah, and you know
this thing, I don't know, it's maybe six foot tall.
I kind of keep it a bush. And right now,
those runners, the new blooms, they just kind of created
the little seed things, yeah, which are beautiful, I think. Yeah,
(15:21):
some people don't like those I understand.
Speaker 6 (15:22):
Yeah, that's a plant people like or they don't like.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I love it. I think it's beautiful. But those runners
right now, I'll bet you they're eighteen inches long. Yeah. Yeah,
And so I got to get out there and do
a little shaping here before it gets too out of control.
There you go, but and heat low hanging tree branches,
especially on trees that are probably less than ten years old. Yeah,
(15:48):
I guess, I guess we've got to clean those up
to well.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
You don't have to, but if you want to walk
under them, I know, mother grass there, Yeah, remo the grass.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Yeah you can.
Speaker 6 (15:58):
You know, when a tree gets to a side where
the branches are free, you know, if the branches are
still close to the tree, you don't want to really
get in there and cut them out, just you know,
mulch the area around it. But you know, as the
top gets fuller and taller, yeah, you can start taking
out those lower branches. It's called limbing up to give
(16:21):
yourself some room, get some light underneath. I do that
a lot, just to keep my perennials happy that are
gradually becoming full shade residents.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I'm trying to think. I think it was last weekend. No,
it was the weekend before. It's probably been ten to
fourteen days we planted annuals. May. It was Mother's Day,
maybe right after Mother's Day, after Mother's Day, and I've
never seen annuals take bite so fast. Yeah, yeah, I
(16:52):
mean we timed it perfectly. I mean, seventy five degrees
and it's raining every other day, so hooray. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
We same thing at the zoo. We've put all our
almost all our annuals out now, and they were they
were nice coming into the zoo, but once they hit
the ground, man, they hit the ground running and yeah,
really putting on shape and body and form. You know,
it's really kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yeah. Yeah, it's always amazing to me. You know, we're
always talking about fertilizing our lawn and fertilizing this and
fertilizing that, and I'm looking I'm going like, I don't
know if I've ever fertilized my trees. Those things are
growing like crazy.
Speaker 6 (17:32):
Well that's a good indicator that you don't need to Yeah. Yeah,
if they started looking off, the color was wrong, the
leaves are too small, then you start looking at it
and you start thinking, well, what's going on here? And
but before you fertilize, you know, if that's going on,
bring an arborist in because you might it might not
(17:52):
be a fertility issue.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
It could be something different. Yeah, and I don't know,
this is a layman's answer to it. If you're fertilizing
the lawn or the trees kind of enjoying some of
that fertilizer too.
Speaker 6 (18:04):
Well, they're getting the fertilizer. Whether they're enjoying it or
not is a different question. Oh yeah, trees don't like
the nearly the same level of fertility that that turf requires,
or at least a you know, a turf that is
PGA style, you know, really kept growing. So yeah, you
(18:27):
if you can back off the fertilizer for your turf,
that's great. If you still want to fertilize your turf,
maybe make the maultor ring around your tree.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
I got to make it bigger, Yeah, make it larger. Yeah, yeah,
I got to make it a little larger. Well, it's
a good year to have a gardening show like yours.
And when you say let's garden, you've got fur lined,
you can say, look what I did for you. Yeah, yeah,
take credit when credit's ready. Well, yeah, I'll do it. Sure,
(18:56):
got you got a website people can check out for
some information or a podcast.
Speaker 6 (19:02):
Yeah, the podcast is available all the past shows that
just look for Let's Garden with Scott Berline.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Very good, Thanks for joining us, appreciate it. Thanks Gary,
all right, take care. All right, let me give you
the phone number happy to take your calls regarding your home.
We're going from the house to the garden, back to
the house, So grab a line. It's eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five lines are open and
you're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
Solutions to your home improvement are as easy as calling
one eight eight two three talk.
Speaker 7 (19:44):
This is at Home with Gary Solivan.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
It's spring cleaning season and Jaws has the perfect lineup
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(20:25):
Spring cleaning packet jawscleans dot com. While supplies last that's
jawscleans dot com promo code Gary gutter brush is the
gutter guard I have in my gutters and have recommended
for years.
Speaker 5 (20:37):
Just fill your gutter with simple brushes to block leaves
while water flows through. It couldn't be any easier. Here's
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Save twenty five percent off for a limited time with
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Stop. Don't pay thousands of dollars to replace your ugly countertops,
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while transforming your home surfaces available online with free shipping
from the home depot. Lows and Daichcoatings dot com. If
you're dealing with large surfaces and hard to reach outdoor stains.
Wet and Forget Max's designed to handle the tougher stuff.
Gary Salvent here, Wet and Forget max is built for
a heavier build up, so it's great for roofs, second
(21:46):
story siding, large driveways and other hard to clean surfaces.
See it's more concentrated for bigger, more challenging jobs. And
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(22:21):
at home with Gary Sullivan towards you're taking your calls
regarding your home projects. Feel free to join us. I
got a spot for you. It's eight hundred and eight
two three eight two five five.
Speaker 8 (22:36):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I do want to remind you also the spring sale
for the gutter brush that's going till June first, so
you can receive twenty five percent off in free shipping.
The code is Gary the website gutterbrush dot com. And
if you want to you know, as we talk about
good weather and take a look around the house and stuff.
(22:57):
You get a ladder if you can, if you're capable
of you know, secure enough to get up there and
take a look at especially in your lower gutters. Make
sure they're clean. If you have some sort of gutter
blocking mechanism there, make sure it's in good repair, make
sure it's doing its job. And if not, if you're interested,
(23:18):
to go to the website. It's gutterbrush dot com. Take
a look at it. Very very easy to install because
you simply slide it in. And if you have mault
around your house and you have the gutters, again, if
you've had a lot of rain, or if you have
a heavy shower, pay attention to the mault. You'll be
able to see if it's been washed away or not.
(23:40):
Could be a sign that that gutter is clogged. Maybe
it's leaking if you have seams. But yeah, check that out.
Check that out. Sam.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Welcome, Good morning, Garry. I hope you're doing.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Well today, doing fine? Thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Great. In last week you gave me wonderful advice about
a product called odor Exit. I believe it is uh
huh for some animal urine. Uh you know, and I did. Yeah, okay,
Well that took care of it right away. I mean,
I'm impressed. Now my next question, but yeah, thank you.
(24:22):
My next question is the same property that I've moved into.
I took a walk into the backyard and I thought
that they had removed a tree. Yes, well, and it's not.
It is a major ant colony, and I'm afraid they'll
be spreading to the house. And I mean, this thing
(24:42):
is massive. Any thoughts on it? They're not a little
bitty answer, kind of medium size.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah, that's what I was going to ask you. So,
so they did remove the tree, correct or not?
Speaker 5 (24:55):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (24:56):
I have no idea. I thought it was a tree
remove but it looks like it's just a massive colony.
I live on the edge of Mount Airy.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Uh huh. So okay, so you didn't remove the tree.
You either have a stump where there's a colony of
ants or it is a colony of ants period. Correct.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Yeah, I think it's just a colony of ants.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Okay. So there's a lot of different species of ants,
but the two that we see most of are sweet ants,
which are the small ants, the sidewalk ants i'll call
them sometimes. The other is the carpenter ants, which is bigger,
a little more ominous, usually black in color. And they
too have colonies out in you know, outside of your home,
(25:46):
but they find their way inside the home. And that
particularly ant can set up satellite colonies inside your home.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Right And they like DMP wood, are not They're not
big ant. They're not carpenter size antswer okay, you would
see in the house in kind of panic. They're about
like midway.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Okay, Uh, that helps it all. So so what are
you where are you seeing these ants presently?
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Presently? I see them right in the center The backyard
measures about oh I don't know, thirty feet by forty feet,
and they're right in the center. And these this is huge,
like a mound.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Almost okay, okay, And they haven't got in the house
or anything along those ooints right.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Not to my knowledge. So the question is, do I
guess leave them alone?
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Well you can, but well let's talk about it a
little bit. Here. Are you seeing any active trails where
the ants are leaving that colony or that nest and moving.
A lot of times ants will tell you exactly where
they're at and where they're going and what they're bringing
(27:11):
back to the colony.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
I have not noticed any trails, but I honestly, it
was kind of out of a science fiction movie. I
didn't want to get close enough to start seeing if
they have trails leaving.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yeah, well, there's a couple of things you can do.
I mean, firstly, if they're not really hurting anything in
their way, what I would do is probably put some
barrier spray or insecticidal powder around the house to keep
them out of the house. You can also put up
without really knowing exactly what kind of ants there are,
you can also put different baits around the colony where
(27:56):
they will take the bait back to the ueen. The
queen rules the roost, the rest are workers, and in
order to eliminate the problem, you have to eliminate the queen.
So you know, in a way, just kind of visualize,
you have this house of ants with warriors in it,
(28:17):
and you have the king limit in it, or the
queen in this case, and you're gonna build a fence
around your house, and then you're gonna put some bait
to bring it back to the queen. All right, So
there's different powders that you can use. I know, Taro
makes an ant powder that you can literally comes in
a bag with a little sprinkling head on it where
(28:38):
you can just do a perimeter around the house with
that ant insecticide. That'll create a barrier that'll put the
fence around the house. That would be what I would
start with. And then if you want to take some
ant traps that can be used outside or inside. They're
(29:01):
usually in a little plastic disc or you can use.
You could use the insecticide if you want to, but
I think you'd be probably accomplished a little bit more
with a bait for the outside around the colony and
then barrier around the house. Now, I will tell you,
and I've had this problem personally, the colony is really
(29:23):
bigue I ended up having a pest control company literally
come and continue to change the different baits, and you know,
they did the barrier thing, but they were still kind
of getting in the house. I mean, if there's a
lot of them. In fact, a guy told me because
(29:44):
it's the biggest ant colony I've ever seen in a life.
But we eventually knocked him out. But I would use
the tarot dust around the permit of the house and
then get some maybe rescue ant traps or baits around
the colony.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Okay, let me ask you the spelling on the tear
is a tear roll.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Yeah, it's t e r r O t E r
r U.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Gotcha. Well, I'm going to give that a try. And uh,
I know that you've got your weekly show. If I,
if I catch a couple and uh take their photos
and send them to you. Of course I can do
that on the internet. Also, now I'm give you a
better idea of what species it is. Yeah, it's kind
(30:35):
of it's kind of right out of the outer limits type.
But show.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Yeah, and if I if I, you know, when I
run into things and I don't know what type of
specie it is, a lot of time I'll call a
pest control place, tell them the problem I got and
tell them I want to send, you know, a picture
of the ant so it can be identified. That's another
option for you too.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Great. Well, listen, you are a wealth of information and
pay very much. I enjoy your show every week.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Thank you, Sam, take care, bye bye. Yeah. One of
the interesting things this past week, I've had a couple
of friends in different issues with ants all of a
sudden out of nowhere. It's been a very I'm not
going to say an ant free period of time for
us in the Midwest. But with a little bit of heat,
(31:24):
a little bit of coolness, a little bit of rain,
a lot of rain, carpenter ants started showing up. And
remember carpenter ants outside, they love to live in damp wood,
damp soft wood. A lot of times carpenter ants find
their way in their home through your chimney, of all places.
(31:46):
You know, we're talking about putting a barrier down on
the ground, but you know, if you got a big
old tree and it's got some dead branches and it's
hanging over the roof, number one, that's a potential hazard
for your house, right sure, storms, you ain't kidding, But
if some of those branches are dead and they're rotting
(32:06):
and they're wet, it's a perfect place for a carpenter
ant colony. And they literally get on your roof, they
fall off, they get on your roof, they come down
your chimney, and a carpenter ant, unlike a sweet ant,
will build a additional colonies and nurseries inside your home,
usually in an area where it's a little damp aka
(32:29):
basement wood thresholds. But if you really study them on
the ground, a lot of times you'll find the trail
and a barrier, spray or powder and follow the trail
see where they're going. One fell I had him going
through the grass which you couldn't see, but you could
(32:49):
see him going through the mulch in the landscaping bed.
And then you see another line going out and you
follow them and they're going up the tree trunk. That's
where the colony is. Eight hundred and eight two three
eight two five five. That's our number, Jerry, you'll be
up first. You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
Helm for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Time unplug and stop covering up odors. Gary Salvan. Here
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Speaker 5 (34:04):
Well, I've been recommending Blackjack driveway sealers for years, and
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(34:27):
hardware store. Visit Blackjackcodings dot com for more information. Blackjack
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Speaker 1 (34:34):
Did you know multiple states building codes are requiring basement
ventilation in order to get permits for renovations. Why? Because
basements are a major source of air pollution, they need
to be properly ventilated for a healthy home. Easy Breathe
Ventilation provides solutions at work and our code compliant called
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or visit easybreed dot com receive a free humidity monitoring
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Outdoor Spaces is made for outdoor living areas. It's designed
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It cleans outdoor stains caused by mold, mildew, algae, and moss.
(35:15):
Ideal for patio sidewalks, decks, citing patio furniture and outdoor fabric.
Wet and Forget is always bleach free, no scrubbing, no rinsing,
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available at Home Depot walmartin Myer. All right, bet I
(35:46):
get it. We go at home with Gary Salvan. Another weekend,
another opportunity to talk a little bit about your home projects.
Feel free to join us. Are got a couple of
spots for you. It's eight hundred and eight two three
eight two Jerry, welcome.
Speaker 8 (36:04):
Oh hi Gary. I have a question for you about
ceiling a patiole using just a roller, no spray. I
was wondering if you have a recommendation on such a product.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Well, when you say a roller, you're talking about like
a paint roller. Is that?
Speaker 8 (36:21):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Okay? Um, when you say a recommendation, I mean the
paint roller is a paint roller outside of the thickness
of the fibers.
Speaker 8 (36:33):
Yes, I was referring more to the product, the ceiling prole.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Okay, all right, good, good, good. So tell me about
the concrete. Is it old concrete, is it stamp concrete?
Is it just regular concrete?
Speaker 8 (36:47):
It's less than a year old and it has a
swirl finish.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
Okay, do you know if they used a cure and
seal product when they.
Speaker 8 (36:57):
Installed that, you know, it hasn't been sealed.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
So nothing, nothing was put on it when they.
Speaker 8 (37:05):
Yes, it was kind of late in the year and
look weather and wasn't able to seal it.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Well, super so a you're ready to go, you can
go ahead and seal it. Number two is I would
use a breathable cealant. So when when you say sealant
and then you say breathable, it's like, well that can't exist,
And you're right, I mean the real really what you're
(37:30):
doing is you're putting on a a weather resistant concrete
for the fire. But it's called a sealer. It's a
salosane seiler. Salocsane is a tripolymer silicon molecule particle exactly,
(37:52):
but it makes the sealer breathable. That's what I'm trying
to say. It's kind of like putting on a liquid
code of cortex. It minimizes, it doesn't eliminate, but minimizes
the amount of water penetration into the concrete. And then
of course we know that concrete is sitting on mother Earth,
so it allows that moisture to breathe through the concrete
(38:16):
and through the quote sealer and exhaust into the atmosphere.
So a sloxane seiler is exactly what you want, perfect
for driveway stoops, patios, sidewalks that you know are in
areas where you go through freestyle cycles and it's very
(38:40):
The viscassia is like water. I mean it's very thin,
which is the next step. When you were talking about
a roller. One of the things for application on this
which can make it really fast. If you try to
put that on with a roller, you're going to be there.
I mean you're going to be dipping that roller a
bunch of time. So they have not not insecticidal tanks prayers.
(39:05):
They have them for sealers. They make them in like
a one gallon and a three gallon. Just get the
one gallon plastic pump sprayer. They're inexpensive, and you just
you know, you're gonna clean that. I know it's only
a year old, but and you're not gonna have to
knock yourself out. But get any dust, pollen, gunk off
(39:29):
that surface first, even if it's just a hose in
a street broom with some soap and water allowed to
dry for you know, day two days, and then take
that seiler, put it in the pump sprayer and you're
missing it. Just a wet or moisten the concrete, you know,
(39:52):
like when you have a little drizzle and you watch
the color of the concrete change colors. That's the consistency
you want to apply the sealer and you do not,
under any circumstance want that sealer to puddle. So having
a roller handy and just using cases you put too
(40:13):
much on air and the puddles, you can go ahead
and just you know, maybe have an extra set of
hands or do it yourself and just roll that area out.
Just don't let it puddle. You're just missing it. And
it's a one code process. In a last for or
I'd say three to five years on a horizontal surface,
(40:34):
is that.
Speaker 8 (40:34):
A solvent palmer or the sealer or.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
That is a solvent sealer. Yes, that is a solvent base.
Better penetration is you may have heard me talk about
before with the first callar to day talking about solid
color stains. You'll get better penetration, uh with a solvent.
Some of those are being you know, unable to be
sold in some stay eight. But I would try and
(41:03):
get that if you could slock sing yes, sir.
Speaker 8 (41:12):
And one final question that I have, I've heard that
you shouldn't put sealer into the expansion joints. Would you
just try to spray near it.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Or I would just spray right over it. The only
thing they're telling you that for is it's kind of
like a guttering system, right, I mean, so it's it's
prone to allowing that sealer to puddle. So again, maybe
if you have a paintbrush air and you just swipe
it over it, don't let it puddle, you'll be fine.
Speaker 8 (41:45):
Sounds good. Thank you very much for your advice.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
Gary quite welcome, Thanks, Jerry, bye bye. All right, let's
go to Mike. Mike welcome. Hello, Hi Dary, how are
you doing fine? Thank you?
Speaker 2 (41:58):
That's great. I have a dehumified or question.
Speaker 9 (42:05):
We bought a cottage and it's uh. It has two
separate cross spaces underneath there.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Now I hadn't encapsulated.
Speaker 9 (42:13):
I have a dehumidifier which is glady big enough to
handle the entire area underneath there both spaces, but there's
say a twenty inch wide like a way to access
from one crawl space to the other. And so I
(42:34):
know if I just run a dumentifier in the one area,
eventually it'll dry out the other area. But they also
sell like an automatic care of electro mechanical damper where
you can have ductwork both to supply and return and
put that into the untreated area or where the deumdifier
(42:57):
is not located, and you can cycle between the two
different areas.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Yea, yeah, that'd be helpful.
Speaker 9 (43:05):
So uh, I've been told that I don't have to
run like the return in there. I only need to
run one of the ductwork in there. So would it
be better to push the dry air into that untreated
area or is it better to draw out?
Speaker 1 (43:25):
I would say draw out? Do you medify it? You know,
if you draw it out and then pull it towards
the other area where the do you meidify is, you're
basically bringing out that air rather than allow. I'm surprised
you you wouldn't do both, to be honest with you,
but I would say the advantage there. The best you
(43:47):
might would be to pull the air towards the do
you meidify? Do you a medify that and go from there.
If you have another question regarding your your cross space,
you will have to get you on the other side
of the hour. As we continue, You're at home with
Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (44:32):
Thank's the weekend and you have fixed questions. Give Gary
a call and what eight hundred and eighty two three talk.
This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
At Home with Gary Sullivan News
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