May 30, 2026 • 45 mins
Gary takes calls from listeners, addressing concerns about everything from armadillos digging up backyards to moldy ceilings and mysterious "ghosting" stains. He also shares tips on how to tackle these issues, from using natural products like castor oil and dish soap to remove armadillo burrows, to using bleach and water to clean moldy surfaces. But what's behind the "ghosting" stains? Gary explores this phenomenon, which can be caused by everything from cooking smoke to fireplace emissions.
Gary also delves into the world of deck maintenance, offering advice on how to repaint a pressure-treated deck without stripping the old paint. He recommends using a pressure washer and a deck brightener to prepare the surface, and suggests using a solid color stain or paint to achieve a beautiful finish.
If you're facing a household challenge, Gary's got the solution. Tune in to this hour to hear his expert advice and learn how to tackle common household problems. With his years of experience and wealth of knowledge, Gary will have you feeling confident and empowered to tackle any issue that comes your way.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Well the weekends upon us. Welcome. You're at home with
Darius Salvin. This I was brought to you by Salar.
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sponsoring this hour of the show. It's very nice. All right,
back at it we go, and we have. We've been
talking to Tila Tila. Sorry I had to screw it
out on you there, But did that answer your question?
(01:12):
Well enough?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well I'll try that. I've got a product right now
that has a liquid that's a little small container, two
little containers that came in the package. That was my
third try. I've taken the others back and then refunded
and they haven't crawled into that. They're just still in
the bathroom with notes like they don't even care. And
so I now the and the car is not parts.
(01:38):
There's nowhere where people are going to be gathering, so
I'll put it right right near my car because they
didn't swarm my car.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
So what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to
address the flies that are outside, Okay, to minimize the
population of getting inside. When you said you used the
fly strips and you had no luck. Were those hanging
in the bathroom or where did we have those?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I put one right at the garage door, right when
the garage door opens, where they would come in. They
were completely They never got on there for days. And
then I brought one inside and put it in several places.
I moved it around because I kept trying to get
them where they were. They just never ever went into it. Ever,
and say, same thing with the ribbon. The ribbon not
(02:24):
the least it attracted to the ribbon. Yeah. I waded
that up in a bag and took it back in
to store with the others unopened. And then I got
the little small containers that have the liquid. They're not
crawling into that. But I'll definitely start with the outside first,
inside thery.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
That, and I'll also invite our listeners. I know there's
different flys over doing this forty years something sticks in
the back of my mind. There's some flies that are very,
very difficult, and if my memory serves me correct, though
it's been a long time since we took a call.
They like to hang around windows. In this one particular
(02:58):
fly I remember, but I have not run into them
where they you know, usually those fly tapes are are
golden quite honestly, sofa and.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
They're nowhere near window there.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
So the other thing, yeah, the other thing on the
on the ants, the fire ants are just eating the
lady's legs upstairs that when she went outside. So I
got some stuff that sold would definitely do it. It
didn't do a thing. So now I went on your
website and I thought, I thought I saw Andro. Am
I mistaken what I saw on Andro?
Speaker 1 (03:34):
There? I think it's okay.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So I got Andro at the end of the day.
I haven't put it out yet because I'm taking care
of someone's pet and I'm trying to keep him from
getting into it. But I followed the I can't find
a man a mound anywhere. There are a ton of them.
I just stamped them with my foot when I take
him outside. But there are they're everywhere. But there's no
mound that I can find, not one mound.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, well this is probably could it?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Where do I put it?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
In that case?
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Well, another option you can do is use maybe not
an Andrew, but an actual lawn insecticide and do the
whole yard. Okay, you know, like I know Scott's makes one.
I think it's a I think it's a base product
of like a seven dust with a that you would
(04:24):
put down with a spreader. It's a lawn insecticide. And
just do the whole area. And I will tell you
another thing too. And I mean it's not as a
cop out to not be able to give you a
direct answer. But when you have really and I've done
this myself, when you have a really, really stubborn pest
issue that you've been dealing with for a period of time,
(04:47):
there's nothing better than just getting a pest control company
in there and taking care of it. And all.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I agree, Yeah, we had the owners.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Aren't the owners that want to do that.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
So that's the problem, okay, because as we had an
an issue is probably fifteen twenty years ago that I
knew all the products, and there were good products, but
they they're not of the strength of a pest control
company would have. And I was working. I was getting
so frustrated I could not eradicate ants for goodness sakes,
(05:19):
and finally I broke down, like everybody else said, I
don't want to spend that kind of money. And I
broke down and called a pest control company, and I
bet you they came. I bet they made six or
seven visits and they finally got it. And the guy
said to me, he goes, that's the biggest aunt colony
I ever came across. So sometimes sometimes that's what we
(05:42):
have to resort to, just because they got the they
got the good stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Her legs were eating up with them.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Oh yeah, that's bad. But try these two things. And
then also keep listening because a lot of times people
call in with similar experiences and we can learn from that.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Okay, and the main station, I'm listening to a station
out of Birmingham. It only lasts an hour, so I'm
listening now, of course on my phone with you. But
what's the call letters of the station so I can
look at it.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, we stream on. We stream this show which is
live from nine am until one o'clock today noon on Sundays,
and the call letters are our flagship station is fifty
five KRC and that's out of Cincinnati. So you got
(06:37):
the iHeart app hit there, hit radio fifty five KRC
and we'll be there.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Great.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Thanks for your help, all right, Tila, thank you for
the call. I appreciate it. Yeah, they can be tough,
there's no question. And your input fine, I'd love to
have it. Our phone number is eight hundred and eight
two three eight two five five. Happy to take your called.
Danny's ready to answer it and then he'll get you
to me. Terry.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Welcome, Hi there. He called a several weeks ago, and
I had an Armadello problem. We're digging up my backyard.
It looks like a World War two battlefield. Well, I
wanted to call back and let you know that I
found a solution, all right, doesn't kill doesn't kill him,
(07:27):
just moves them. And it also works for moles. And
it's a solution of castor oil and dish soap. And
I sprayed that on the lawn and all of a
sudden they were gone. Now, I sprayed a couple of
(07:50):
times because they came back and uh, but after two
or three uh spray, it was gone. And I would
actually take the you know, find some tunnels and actually
just drench it down into the tunnels in a solid stream,
(08:13):
which I never filled up any of those tunnels. Never.
They were so so many, so deep, oh yeah, or
ran so long whatever. Yeah, and uh, but uh it
got rid of them. Also, it'll get rid of moles too.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Yeah, makes the grubworms so that they don't like what
they taste like, and that irritates them.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
That's right. And you know a lot of times, I'm
so glad you got back with me on that, Terry.
And uh, I know about moles. I don't know that
much about armadillas. And a lot of times on the uh,
the moles, I know, I've had people and I've given
kind of that suggestion in the past. I've also found
out that especially with moles. Again, I don't know about
(08:57):
armadilla's but it works, I would say about eighty percent
of the time. But one of the things that works
with wildlife and animals and birds and pests. And I've
used this phrase all the time is changing the environment.
And that's what you did, really, I mean, you change
that environment, you change that field. You know, the source
(09:21):
of their food, and that's good. So they scadaddled and
you know, might even think about that next year and
do a reapplication because they will probably try to come back.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Yep, yep, we will. So I've got another question for you.
We've taken a house that seems to have mold. It's
been sitting for a long time and there's mold on furniture,
dressers and even on the walls. What's the best thing
(09:56):
to clean that off with?
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Yeah, well, I didn't. Forget has a product. Yeah, Wed
and Forget has a product. It's called Disinfectant mold Eliminator.
It's for indoor use. They make a bevy of products,
so make sure you're getting the one for indoor. You
can spray it, you know, read the label on precautions.
(10:21):
But I know you can spray it on fabric, but
do double check. And my father about ten years ago
had that problem me at a house in Florida and
came up north and I forget all the particulars on it,
but he didn't leave the air conditioner on and basically
(10:42):
ended up with a you know, a lot of humidity
and an enclosed house. And when he went down in
the fall, he hit it on walls. He had it
on furniture. That's the way he did. He sprayed it
and it eliminated. I get that call periodically. It works,
but yeah, if you can get it. And then again,
remember there's mold spores and mildew spores in the air
(11:03):
all the time, and there's organic material in everybody's house,
and once you add high humidity or moisture, you're gonna
have mold. So the secret would be to kill it
and then control the humidity inside the house.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Okay, thanks about you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
You're quite welcome. Thank you much. All right. Uh, the
phone number if you'd like to join us, do so.
It's eight hundred eighty two three, eight two five five.
We'll continue with your calls. You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
If you don't have a list of things to do
around the house, Gary will find something for you at
one eight hundred eighty two three talk You're at home
with Gary Sullivan.
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Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah, I got it. We go at home with Gary
Sullivan taking your calls about your home projects. Feel free
to grab a line and we'll go to Sue Sue Welcome.
Speaker 7 (14:31):
Hello, Yes, Yes, My question is we have a composite
It's a light gray composite deck put on about three
years ago, and of course on the north side it
doesn't get enough sun and it's getting green in it.
And I was wondering if I used crudcutter on there, well,
(14:51):
it eventually fade the composite.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
I doubt it. I don't know, but I doubt it.
I mean crud cutter in a lot of cases I
think is in a kind of a vinyl bottle or
a PVC type bottle. The real question is, I don't
know of crudcutter. It may clean it up, but I
don't know if it'll kill that mildew or whatever it
(15:17):
is that's growing on that surface. I think a better
choice would be like an oxygenated bleach.
Speaker 7 (15:28):
Oxyclean or something like that.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
An oxyclean is a very diluted oxygen aate bleach, but
that may work. You can oxygen aate bleach is usually
like a sighting cleaner or a deck cleaner. That's a
you know, active ingredient. It's a powder. You mix it
with water, put it on, let's sit about ten minutes
(15:53):
to take up like a street broom with a woody fiber.
Agitate it and hose it off. You could do that,
or you could use the wet and forget MAX. If
it's in it's MAX.
Speaker 7 (16:06):
It's the last one. It's MAX. It's a different one.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Uh, They've they put added that they got now wet
and forget outdoor and wet and forget Max. The wet
and forget Max is the original wet and forget the
wet and forget outdoor is for small areas. It's more
of a spray bottle top thing for like cushions on
outdoor furniture and things like that.
Speaker 7 (16:30):
Okay, okay, and that would kill the green whatever.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, it is again the if you're using the oxygen
ad bleach. You know I talked about mixing with water,
put it on, scrub it, rinse it. It's pretty immediate.
If you put the wet and forget on, you'll spray
it on. It could take anywhere from a week to
five weeks. It'll just disappear. You don't have to do anything.
(16:55):
Spray it on and you're done, and then you let
mother nature with the sun and the rain do the
rest of the work.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Okay.
Speaker 7 (17:03):
My other question was when you usual the card cutter,
and they do have the card cutter that is for windows. Yes,
it seems like I've got I got some etching on
the windows, even though I rint and rent and rinse
and rinse it, and it looks like there's etching on it.
After it drives and it's not film. I mean, you
(17:23):
can't take your hand and just wipe it off.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Window cleaner and remove it.
Speaker 7 (17:30):
I've not tried, just like wind decks or something like that.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
You mean, well, i'd try that and see if it
is a film. I can't believe that it would etch it.
Is it possible. I guess anything's possible, But I don't.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
I don't know.
Speaker 7 (17:44):
I mean, you know, I don't know if any.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Of that well would do that.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
The only thing, the only thing I can tell you
is on that can there's probably an eight hundred number
you could call their technical services. Uh. My guess is
my guess is that particular cleaner did do a good
job overall of clean the windows or does it look worse? No?
Speaker 7 (18:07):
Actually no, once you rinse it off and and I
mean because yeah, because I use I just use a
soft brush. It's not really a brush but a material,
and I and I wash windows, you know, and then
I rinse and rinse and rinse it and it looks
really good. I mean there's no streaks, there's no anything.
But then later on it almost looks like there's a
(18:28):
light film.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Yeah, my guess is that as a film that is
designed when it rains, it sheets the rain. Oh yeah, okay,
so that you don't get spotting, that's a guess. I
don't know. But see if you know, I I if
you want it like perfect on the things that spray
on there, you're always going to run a little bit
(18:50):
of a risk of having a little bit. I mean,
for the ones I've used, they all seen to work
really well. But I kind of get what you're doing
talking about. But i'd try a little wind exceency. If
that doesn't take it off. I would also think about
calling technical services. It's a very worse and I don't
(19:11):
think you'll ever get this far as A good window
cleaner will actually use a soap in a very very
very fine steel wool and remove that, but I don't
think you're going to.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Get to that.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Hopefully that helps, and uh well, we'll continue with your calls.
If you'd like to join us. Do so. You're at
home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
No time to get your hands dirty with Gary Sullivan.
Get a call at one eight eight two three talk
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It's spring cleaning season and Jaws has the perfect lineup
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to tackle your whole home with one simple system. You
get the glass cleaner for a streak free shine a kitchen,
and multipurpose cleaners for everyday messes and a powerful cream
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(22:26):
we are taking your phone calls to discuss maybe a
problem or an issue you may be having around the home.
You're at home with Gary Sullivan and our phone number
is eight hundred eight two three eight two five five.
Feel free to go ahead and grab a line and
ron welcome.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Hi Gary, how are you? Thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
You're quite welcome.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I have I live in Strong's, Ohio, outside of Cleveland,
and ice stands this past winner.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Then we got on the choices and every like sixty
inches we got dark spots on artician ceiling.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
For your and.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
And my insurance company come out said there's nothing wrong
with the roof serve pro came out and said they
confined it was wrong. Then I had an engineer came
out through the insurance company and he called it ghosting.
And it's my problem and not the insurance companies any
suggestions of what to do.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Well, it could be ghosting. Let me ask you a
couple of questions. Does it follow like the studs or
the joice or anything? In other words, they're straight lines, right.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Yes they are?
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Okay, So did he explain to what ghosting is?
Speaker 7 (23:56):
Not?
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Really, I'm not gonna lie in it. He came in
and said, it's moisture. Uh, That's what I'm getting out
of it. Moisture. And it's a humidity problem. Maybe we
have the humidifier April Air and it just happened and
it's gotten worse now that it's dryer now, it seems
to be drying up a little bit, but not. You know,
(24:18):
we're afraid to win our grand because everybils in the
house because so it's a problem.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah. So it is straight line, so it's not a
spot here and there or anything like that. Straight lines
right spots.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
But I mean, do you have straight line?
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah? Do you have radiators in the house.
Speaker 7 (24:37):
No?
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Do you burn a lot of candles?
Speaker 3 (24:42):
We do not. We went through all that. I have
a fireplace that we use. It's not log it's gas.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah. So what ghosting is, I don't know if you
looked it up and read anything about ghosting. It's actually
very very tiny particles of carbon that hits density in
a wall, the studs, the joys, and it is a
(25:10):
light gray to blackish film, but it's kind of embedded,
so it's you know, I don't know how to really
clean it. You can seal it in and paint it.
You could cover the ceiling with some products that I
could recommend. But that's ghosting. That's what ghosting is. What's
(25:32):
it caused by? It's caused by fatigues of metal that
are involved in heat. So I guess your fireplace that
you're talking about, the stove, the guests stove, the gas
whatever that could create ghosting. Candle wits used to they've
changed that whole thing now, and old radiators and older
(25:53):
homes cause ghosting. You're focused on moisture, and it sounds
like the person came out to inspect it was focused
in moisture also, And when I first got that call
twenty five years ago or whatever it's been, I focused
on moisture because it kind of makes a little bit
of sense. But my understanding, it's really not moisture. If
(26:17):
it were moisture and it created mold or mildew on
that ceiling, you should be able to clean that. You
should be able to clean that with a bleach and water.
It may not kill it. You would have to go
to what I talk about all the time. I wet
and forget mold killer and disinfectant. But I mean you
(26:39):
can try that. It's under ten bucks a bottle. It's
a disinfectant, mold killer. Spray it on your let it
go for a couple of weeks and see if it disappears,
and or you can just get some bleach and water
in a little bit of liquid soap and just try
it and see if it disappears. I mean, bleach will
(27:03):
make it disappear. Yeah, it'll it'll make it disappear, and
probably pretty quickly. But it won't be a total kill
the bleach I'm talking about. But rather than going out
and buying something, you can try that.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
But I'm afraid if we get somebody to come in
and they clean it up and then they were killed
like us kills, I'm going to stop all this and
do my vaulted ceilings and the foyer and ballted ceiling
in the kitchen and eating area and they paint it.
Is it going to come back? That's my word?
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Well, yeah, I don't. I don't know the answer to that,
to be honest with you. It will come back if
it's being caused by that fireplace, because you're probably using it, right,
I don't know if it's going to be active enough
to bleed through it through it kills. But what's ever
(28:01):
causing it? See, I'm not really sure what they said
is causing it is really causing it. In fact, I
feel like it's not.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
And I do too. It was sure four hours up
in the roof is fine. Blah blah, blah, yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
You know, you know, yeah, if you had an ice
dam and that went up underneath the shingles and got
in the house, which it can do, you're you're, it
would be gone. I mean, the kills would would cover
that up, and it just wouldn't be an issue. And
(28:41):
it wouldn't be in a straight line. How'd that water
get between the drywall and the joys? Did the joys
get so wet? You know? And and it would never
be in a straight line. It would be a water
stain on a ceiling like you've seen all the time.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yeah, and it is its right, Enjoys. It's fron of
the studs.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
I've been in homes where I've seen it. I know
exactly what you're talking about. And it was a big
problem twenty five years ago. So with candles, people were
really into candles, and the wicks that one candle company
was using was causing it. Okay, And but obviously that's
why I asked those questions.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
But if you just look up killer talking, I'm sorry,
I was.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Just looking up ghosting, causes of ghosting. And of course
the first thing talks about is candles. But the second
thing I talked about is fireplaces, especially if it's not
drafting properly. Also, ghosting can be caused by high indoor humidity,
but not not a leak. So an indoor humidity that
(29:54):
would make sense, but other things. I could ask you then,
if it was indoor humidity this winter, were your windows
on the inside, were they wet?
Speaker 3 (30:07):
No?
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Because when you start running indoor humidity of forty to
fifty percent, which is high in the winter time, not
in the summertime. That would be high in the wintertime,
and it's zero degrees outside, your windows will sweat.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Right, so window contract I understand that.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Oh okay, right, okay, you sure do. So if it
was indoor humidity that was high, I think you'd have
had other telltale signs. And then the other thing, of course,
is cooking smoke.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
You know there's just two of us now and are
cooking A lot of it comes in a bag.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yeah, So do you use that fireplace a lot? Occasionally?
Speaker 3 (30:52):
A lot a lot? Well, I want my all downstairs
and it got like you it does well, but I
can oump the flu and it'll go out that way too.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
So what do you burn it? You say it's gas
or I'm sorry I missed that just okay, Well, why
don't we do this as a low experiment Number one,
Get a little bleach and water and take a little
area out of the way and see if it's smears.
See if it starts kind of creating some cleanliness. Okay,
(31:32):
and if it with a bleach, it would disappear of
his mold. If it's the fireplace and those carbon particles,
I'm gonna guess it probably won't clean it. But I
think the next step I would do is if you
have a chimney company that cleans the chimney, or somebody
(31:54):
you used in the past, or get somebody, I would
have them. When I called, I'd ask him about ghosting.
Have you ever heard about ghosting? Do you know I've
read that. You know sometimes fireplaces gas fireplace is being
used a lot. That could be a mechanism for creating ghosting.
(32:14):
See if they know anything about it. If they don't
call another one. A good chimney sweep will be c
si A certified. It's the Chimney Sweep Institute of America.
I think you could even check on their website. C
s I A dot org. I believe. Okay, but that's
(32:38):
a little bit of a game plan to get started.
But i'd you know, it could be cooking smoke or
something like that. But right now I'm leading more quite honestly,
to the fireplace or still the metal thing, because that
was a good thanks Danny.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
It used to be what burning fire it we converted
the gas probably all seven years ago or so. Yeah,
I never had a clean before that. Yeah, there's probably there.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
I would just yeah, I read a little bit about ghosting,
call the fireplace, do the Clorox thing, and then we'll
go from there. But I think that fireplace is the
best angle, to be honest with you right now. But
it sounds exactly like ghosting, really, it really does. And
ghosting is not caused by you know, a leak. You
(33:34):
would just have a leak spot on your ceiling.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
Okay, okay, well, my friend, I appreciated I listened to you,
and hey, I was down in Mobile, Alabama and Orleans
after Katrina.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
But listen, very good, stay in touch. I'd like to
hear how we make out here. Thank you much. Take care.
All right, let's take a break, Mandy, Chris be next.
You can join us. You're talking a little home improvement
on this weekend, hope, you're having a good one and
you're at home with Garry Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Well.
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(36:51):
All right, back at it we go. You're at home
with Gary Slivan. Just adding one more thing on that ghosting.
There is something called it kind of goes with the
fireplace story too, thermal tracking and dust sticks to cooler areas.
And you know upstairs, if you've got blankets of insulation,
(37:14):
that little seam that can on the other side of
the drywall cause ghosting. So one thing to check is
around attic catches and around recess lighting. See if you
got any of those black streaks there also it could
be an insulation issue. Still leaning towards the fireplace. All right,
let's go to Mandy.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
Mandy welcome, Hello, mister Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Are you I'm doing fine? Thank you good?
Speaker 4 (37:40):
Hey.
Speaker 8 (37:41):
I have a question. I know you've talked about this
probably a million times, but we have a pretty large
painted deck and we need the steps how to repaint
that and make it look nice. I know you said
preparation is yep, always the key. So if you could
(38:02):
tell us, all right, well finish what we need to do.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
So it's pressure treated wood. And what do you have
on there? Now? Is it paint?
Speaker 8 (38:12):
It is paint. It's black paint, and it's chipping in
certain places.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
And when it chips, does it go all the way
down to the to the pressure treated decking or is
another coat of another color in there?
Speaker 8 (38:27):
No, it goes all the way down to the pressure coded.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
And how old do you think that deck is?
Speaker 8 (38:35):
Probably twenty years?
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Is there multiple coats of paint on there?
Speaker 8 (38:42):
I know that it was painted two and a half
years ago. The previous owner did the deck two and
a half years ago.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
Well, this is a third call like this, and it's
a common problem really is you don't know what kind
of paint. It's probably even a solid color stain. It
may not be paint. It looks exactly like paint. There
is an ay, can.
Speaker 8 (39:12):
Okay go ahead?
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Any cans of paint that or a stain that was
used left at the house? I think, so, okay, okay,
If it's paint, that's that's fine. I'm just curious. So
and I what you need to do is you need
to find what was used on there? Is it? Is
(39:35):
it water base or is it you know, turpentine cleanup
a solvent base, Okay, I'm gonna bet it's probably a
water base or an acrylic or latex floor paint. And
the reason I'm guessing that is because number one, that
(39:57):
water based paint just has a really hard time penetrating
and biting onto pressure pressure treated wood, so it can peel.
It can peel. And if it's breaking all the way
down to the pressure treated wood, it's probably not the
(40:18):
fault of any of the layers of paint. But the
first layer probably wasn't really gripping onto that pressure treated wood.
Maybe preparation wasn't the key there, and that's why it's
peeling all the way down to the wood, Okay, combined
with it's black, so it holds heat, heat and paint.
(40:44):
I mean you can remove paint by using a heat gun, right,
So that could be making it feel all the fail,
all the way down, you know, to the to the woods.
So how do I fix it? Is it a lot
of it? Is it on a couple boards? Is it
in one little area? Is it? Tell me how severe
(41:07):
is a couple boards?
Speaker 8 (41:08):
It's very sporadic.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Okay, well then we won't we won't, uh we won't
get too crazy. Let's let's scrape off as much of
the paint that's loose as we can. I would stay
away from sanding because when you sand, you burnish the wood.
In other words, you close the fibers of the wood,
(41:32):
which makes your next coat of paint not want to
stick there because it can't penetrate. So you would want
to use a paint stripper and remove if you think
there's some areas that are vulnerable. Now you start with
a pressure washer and just lightly pressure washing, see if
you can blow off some of that paint. Anything that
(41:53):
you're blowing off, stay at it till it's finished blowing
off the coating because I'm going to have you come
back and start using a paint stripper around those areas
to remove. There's deck strapers, uh, decked paint strippers. There's
also the interview we just did with Demand Global they
got smartout. That smart Strip Advance is certainly the ticket
(42:19):
you would want to use. It comes with a performance
paper that kind of contains the mess, makes it a
little easier, but you got to get off the wall.
Speaker 8 (42:28):
I'm just doing the spots. I'm just doing the spots
that where the paint is chipping.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Well, you want to get off anything that seems to
be loose or chipping or peeling. The can's going to
tell you to remove it all. I know you're not
going to remove it all, correct, You are correct, yes,
So you know that's why I say use the use
the pressure washer, and see if you knock off anymore
(42:54):
anywhere else, you're gonna have to clean it anyway. So again,
once you get it removed, the key component here is
use the deck brightener, which opens up the pores of
the wood and allows your next code of paint to
(43:15):
bite into that wood better than anything else you can use. Okay,
so it's kind of clean off this, you know, scrape
pressure wash. If you have to use a paint stripper
to get a stubborn part off, go ahead, deck brightener
and then use your either solid color stain or solid
color paint. I think you'll be.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
Good, okay, perfect?
Speaker 8 (43:37):
And then who do you recommend any of the paint,
any of the solid color paint.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
If I would get a solid color stain, If you're
going to get a paint, what I'd probably you know,
get a Sheriman Williams latex floor paint. If that's kind
of what was on there if it is LATEX. Other
wise I'd get their super Deck or their Sherman Williams
Solid Color Stack. All right, thank you much for the call,
(44:07):
John Glenn Rich. Sit tight, we'll get you on the
other side of the hour. You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (44:42):
Home Improvement one O one with Gary Sullivan. Every weekend
classes began at one eight hundred and eighty two three tall.
You're at Home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
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back at it we go, and we have. We've been
talking to Tila Tila. Sorry I had to screw it
out on you there, But did that answer your question?
(01:12):
Well enough?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well I'll try that. I've got a product right now
that has a liquid that's a little small container, two
little containers that came in the package. That was my
third try. I've taken the others back and then refunded
and they haven't crawled into that. They're just still in
the bathroom with notes like they don't even care. And
so I now the and the car is not parts.
(01:38):
There's nowhere where people are going to be gathering, so
I'll put it right right near my car because they
didn't swarm my car.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
So what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to
address the flies that are outside, Okay, to minimize the
population of getting inside. When you said you used the
fly strips and you had no luck. Were those hanging
in the bathroom or where did we have those?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I put one right at the garage door, right when
the garage door opens, where they would come in. They
were completely They never got on there for days. And
then I brought one inside and put it in several places.
I moved it around because I kept trying to get
them where they were. They just never ever went into it. Ever,
and say, same thing with the ribbon. The ribbon not
(02:24):
the least it attracted to the ribbon. Yeah. I waded
that up in a bag and took it back in
to store with the others unopened. And then I got
the little small containers that have the liquid. They're not
crawling into that. But I'll definitely start with the outside first,
inside thery.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
That, and I'll also invite our listeners. I know there's
different flys over doing this forty years something sticks in
the back of my mind. There's some flies that are very,
very difficult, and if my memory serves me correct, though
it's been a long time since we took a call.
They like to hang around windows. In this one particular
(02:58):
fly I remember, but I have not run into them
where they you know, usually those fly tapes are are
golden quite honestly, sofa and.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
They're nowhere near window there.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
So the other thing, yeah, the other thing on the
on the ants, the fire ants are just eating the
lady's legs upstairs that when she went outside. So I
got some stuff that sold would definitely do it. It
didn't do a thing. So now I went on your
website and I thought, I thought I saw Andro. Am
I mistaken what I saw on Andro?
Speaker 1 (03:34):
There? I think it's okay.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So I got Andro at the end of the day.
I haven't put it out yet because I'm taking care
of someone's pet and I'm trying to keep him from
getting into it. But I followed the I can't find
a man a mound anywhere. There are a ton of them.
I just stamped them with my foot when I take
him outside. But there are they're everywhere. But there's no
mound that I can find, not one mound.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, well this is probably could it?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Where do I put it?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
In that case?
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Well, another option you can do is use maybe not
an Andrew, but an actual lawn insecticide and do the
whole yard. Okay, you know, like I know Scott's makes one.
I think it's a I think it's a base product
of like a seven dust with a that you would
(04:24):
put down with a spreader. It's a lawn insecticide. And
just do the whole area. And I will tell you
another thing too. And I mean it's not as a
cop out to not be able to give you a
direct answer. But when you have really and I've done
this myself, when you have a really, really stubborn pest
issue that you've been dealing with for a period of time,
(04:47):
there's nothing better than just getting a pest control company
in there and taking care of it. And all.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I agree, Yeah, we had the owners.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Aren't the owners that want to do that.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
So that's the problem, okay, because as we had an
an issue is probably fifteen twenty years ago that I
knew all the products, and there were good products, but
they they're not of the strength of a pest control
company would have. And I was working. I was getting
so frustrated I could not eradicate ants for goodness sakes,
(05:19):
and finally I broke down, like everybody else said, I
don't want to spend that kind of money. And I
broke down and called a pest control company, and I
bet you they came. I bet they made six or
seven visits and they finally got it. And the guy
said to me, he goes, that's the biggest aunt colony
I ever came across. So sometimes sometimes that's what we
(05:42):
have to resort to, just because they got the they
got the good stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Her legs were eating up with them.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Oh yeah, that's bad. But try these two things. And
then also keep listening because a lot of times people
call in with similar experiences and we can learn from that.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Okay, and the main station, I'm listening to a station
out of Birmingham. It only lasts an hour, so I'm
listening now, of course on my phone with you. But
what's the call letters of the station so I can
look at it.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, we stream on. We stream this show which is
live from nine am until one o'clock today noon on Sundays,
and the call letters are our flagship station is fifty
five KRC and that's out of Cincinnati. So you got
(06:37):
the iHeart app hit there, hit radio fifty five KRC
and we'll be there.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Great.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Thanks for your help, all right, Tila, thank you for
the call. I appreciate it. Yeah, they can be tough,
there's no question. And your input fine, I'd love to
have it. Our phone number is eight hundred and eight
two three eight two five five. Happy to take your called.
Danny's ready to answer it and then he'll get you
to me. Terry.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Welcome, Hi there. He called a several weeks ago, and
I had an Armadello problem. We're digging up my backyard.
It looks like a World War two battlefield. Well, I
wanted to call back and let you know that I
found a solution, all right, doesn't kill doesn't kill him,
(07:27):
just moves them. And it also works for moles. And
it's a solution of castor oil and dish soap. And
I sprayed that on the lawn and all of a
sudden they were gone. Now, I sprayed a couple of
(07:50):
times because they came back and uh, but after two
or three uh spray, it was gone. And I would
actually take the you know, find some tunnels and actually
just drench it down into the tunnels in a solid stream,
(08:13):
which I never filled up any of those tunnels. Never.
They were so so many, so deep, oh yeah, or
ran so long whatever. Yeah, and uh, but uh it
got rid of them. Also, it'll get rid of moles too.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Yeah, makes the grubworms so that they don't like what
they taste like, and that irritates them.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
That's right. And you know a lot of times, I'm
so glad you got back with me on that, Terry.
And uh, I know about moles. I don't know that
much about armadillas. And a lot of times on the uh,
the moles, I know, I've had people and I've given
kind of that suggestion in the past. I've also found
out that especially with moles. Again, I don't know about
(08:57):
armadilla's but it works, I would say about eighty percent
of the time. But one of the things that works
with wildlife and animals and birds and pests. And I've
used this phrase all the time is changing the environment.
And that's what you did, really, I mean, you change
that environment, you change that field. You know, the source
(09:21):
of their food, and that's good. So they scadaddled and
you know, might even think about that next year and
do a reapplication because they will probably try to come back.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Yep, yep, we will. So I've got another question for you.
We've taken a house that seems to have mold. It's
been sitting for a long time and there's mold on furniture,
dressers and even on the walls. What's the best thing
(09:56):
to clean that off with?
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Yeah, well, I didn't. Forget has a product. Yeah, Wed
and Forget has a product. It's called Disinfectant mold Eliminator.
It's for indoor use. They make a bevy of products,
so make sure you're getting the one for indoor. You
can spray it, you know, read the label on precautions.
(10:21):
But I know you can spray it on fabric, but
do double check. And my father about ten years ago
had that problem me at a house in Florida and
came up north and I forget all the particulars on it,
but he didn't leave the air conditioner on and basically
(10:42):
ended up with a you know, a lot of humidity
and an enclosed house. And when he went down in
the fall, he hit it on walls. He had it
on furniture. That's the way he did. He sprayed it
and it eliminated. I get that call periodically. It works,
but yeah, if you can get it. And then again,
remember there's mold spores and mildew spores in the air
(11:03):
all the time, and there's organic material in everybody's house,
and once you add high humidity or moisture, you're gonna
have mold. So the secret would be to kill it
and then control the humidity inside the house.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Okay, thanks about you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
You're quite welcome. Thank you much. All right. Uh, the
phone number if you'd like to join us, do so.
It's eight hundred eighty two three, eight two five five.
We'll continue with your calls. You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
If you don't have a list of things to do
around the house, Gary will find something for you at
one eight hundred eighty two three talk You're at home
with Gary Sullivan.
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Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah, I got it. We go at home with Gary
Sullivan taking your calls about your home projects. Feel free
to grab a line and we'll go to Sue Sue Welcome.
Speaker 7 (14:31):
Hello, Yes, Yes, My question is we have a composite
It's a light gray composite deck put on about three
years ago, and of course on the north side it
doesn't get enough sun and it's getting green in it.
And I was wondering if I used crudcutter on there, well,
(14:51):
it eventually fade the composite.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
I doubt it. I don't know, but I doubt it.
I mean crud cutter in a lot of cases I
think is in a kind of a vinyl bottle or
a PVC type bottle. The real question is, I don't
know of crudcutter. It may clean it up, but I
don't know if it'll kill that mildew or whatever it
(15:17):
is that's growing on that surface. I think a better
choice would be like an oxygenated bleach.
Speaker 7 (15:28):
Oxyclean or something like that.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
An oxyclean is a very diluted oxygen aate bleach, but
that may work. You can oxygen aate bleach is usually
like a sighting cleaner or a deck cleaner. That's a
you know, active ingredient. It's a powder. You mix it
with water, put it on, let's sit about ten minutes
(15:53):
to take up like a street broom with a woody fiber.
Agitate it and hose it off. You could do that,
or you could use the wet and forget MAX. If
it's in it's MAX.
Speaker 7 (16:06):
It's the last one. It's MAX. It's a different one.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Uh, They've they put added that they got now wet
and forget outdoor and wet and forget Max. The wet
and forget Max is the original wet and forget the
wet and forget outdoor is for small areas. It's more
of a spray bottle top thing for like cushions on
outdoor furniture and things like that.
Speaker 7 (16:30):
Okay, okay, and that would kill the green whatever.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, it is again the if you're using the oxygen
ad bleach. You know I talked about mixing with water,
put it on, scrub it, rinse it. It's pretty immediate.
If you put the wet and forget on, you'll spray
it on. It could take anywhere from a week to
five weeks. It'll just disappear. You don't have to do anything.
(16:55):
Spray it on and you're done, and then you let
mother nature with the sun and the rain do the
rest of the work.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Okay.
Speaker 7 (17:03):
My other question was when you usual the card cutter,
and they do have the card cutter that is for windows. Yes,
it seems like I've got I got some etching on
the windows, even though I rint and rent and rinse
and rinse it, and it looks like there's etching on it.
After it drives and it's not film. I mean, you
(17:23):
can't take your hand and just wipe it off.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Window cleaner and remove it.
Speaker 7 (17:30):
I've not tried, just like wind decks or something like that.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
You mean, well, i'd try that and see if it
is a film. I can't believe that it would etch it.
Is it possible. I guess anything's possible, But I don't.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
I don't know.
Speaker 7 (17:44):
I mean, you know, I don't know if any.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Of that well would do that.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
The only thing, the only thing I can tell you
is on that can there's probably an eight hundred number
you could call their technical services. Uh. My guess is
my guess is that particular cleaner did do a good
job overall of clean the windows or does it look worse? No?
Speaker 7 (18:07):
Actually no, once you rinse it off and and I
mean because yeah, because I use I just use a
soft brush. It's not really a brush but a material,
and I and I wash windows, you know, and then
I rinse and rinse and rinse it and it looks
really good. I mean there's no streaks, there's no anything.
But then later on it almost looks like there's a
(18:28):
light film.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Yeah, my guess is that as a film that is
designed when it rains, it sheets the rain. Oh yeah, okay,
so that you don't get spotting, that's a guess. I
don't know. But see if you know, I I if
you want it like perfect on the things that spray
on there, you're always going to run a little bit
(18:50):
of a risk of having a little bit. I mean,
for the ones I've used, they all seen to work
really well. But I kind of get what you're doing
talking about. But i'd try a little wind exceency. If
that doesn't take it off. I would also think about
calling technical services. It's a very worse and I don't
(19:11):
think you'll ever get this far as A good window
cleaner will actually use a soap in a very very
very fine steel wool and remove that, but I don't
think you're going to.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Get to that.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Hopefully that helps, and uh well, we'll continue with your calls.
If you'd like to join us. Do so. You're at
home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
No time to get your hands dirty with Gary Sullivan.
Get a call at one eight eight two three talk
you're at home with Gary cellibrat.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
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or visit easybreed dot com receive a free humidity monitoring
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It's spring cleaning season and Jaws has the perfect lineup
(21:07):
to tackle your whole home with one simple system. You
get the glass cleaner for a streak free shine a kitchen,
and multipurpose cleaners for everyday messes and a powerful cream
cleanser for the toughest jobs, plus a glass cleaning tool
to reach those high windows. Right now, take twenty percent
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And you can tell the people truly care. They care
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(22:26):
we are taking your phone calls to discuss maybe a
problem or an issue you may be having around the home.
You're at home with Gary Sullivan and our phone number
is eight hundred eight two three eight two five five.
Feel free to go ahead and grab a line and
ron welcome.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Hi Gary, how are you? Thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
You're quite welcome.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I have I live in Strong's, Ohio, outside of Cleveland,
and ice stands this past winner.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Then we got on the choices and every like sixty
inches we got dark spots on artician ceiling.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
For your and.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
And my insurance company come out said there's nothing wrong
with the roof serve pro came out and said they
confined it was wrong. Then I had an engineer came
out through the insurance company and he called it ghosting.
And it's my problem and not the insurance companies any
suggestions of what to do.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Well, it could be ghosting. Let me ask you a
couple of questions. Does it follow like the studs or
the joice or anything? In other words, they're straight lines, right.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Yes they are?
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Okay, So did he explain to what ghosting is?
Speaker 7 (23:56):
Not?
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Really, I'm not gonna lie in it. He came in
and said, it's moisture. Uh, That's what I'm getting out
of it. Moisture. And it's a humidity problem. Maybe we
have the humidifier April Air and it just happened and
it's gotten worse now that it's dryer now, it seems
to be drying up a little bit, but not. You know,
(24:18):
we're afraid to win our grand because everybils in the
house because so it's a problem.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah. So it is straight line, so it's not a
spot here and there or anything like that. Straight lines
right spots.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
But I mean, do you have straight line?
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah? Do you have radiators in the house.
Speaker 7 (24:37):
No?
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Do you burn a lot of candles?
Speaker 3 (24:42):
We do not. We went through all that. I have
a fireplace that we use. It's not log it's gas.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah. So what ghosting is, I don't know if you
looked it up and read anything about ghosting. It's actually
very very tiny particles of carbon that hits density in
a wall, the studs, the joys, and it is a
(25:10):
light gray to blackish film, but it's kind of embedded,
so it's you know, I don't know how to really
clean it. You can seal it in and paint it.
You could cover the ceiling with some products that I
could recommend. But that's ghosting. That's what ghosting is. What's
(25:32):
it caused by? It's caused by fatigues of metal that
are involved in heat. So I guess your fireplace that
you're talking about, the stove, the guests stove, the gas
whatever that could create ghosting. Candle wits used to they've
changed that whole thing now, and old radiators and older
(25:53):
homes cause ghosting. You're focused on moisture, and it sounds
like the person came out to inspect it was focused
in moisture also, And when I first got that call
twenty five years ago or whatever it's been, I focused
on moisture because it kind of makes a little bit
of sense. But my understanding, it's really not moisture. If
(26:17):
it were moisture and it created mold or mildew on
that ceiling, you should be able to clean that. You
should be able to clean that with a bleach and water.
It may not kill it. You would have to go
to what I talk about all the time. I wet
and forget mold killer and disinfectant. But I mean you
(26:39):
can try that. It's under ten bucks a bottle. It's
a disinfectant, mold killer. Spray it on your let it
go for a couple of weeks and see if it disappears,
and or you can just get some bleach and water
in a little bit of liquid soap and just try
it and see if it disappears. I mean, bleach will
(27:03):
make it disappear. Yeah, it'll it'll make it disappear, and
probably pretty quickly. But it won't be a total kill
the bleach I'm talking about. But rather than going out
and buying something, you can try that.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
But I'm afraid if we get somebody to come in
and they clean it up and then they were killed
like us kills, I'm going to stop all this and
do my vaulted ceilings and the foyer and ballted ceiling
in the kitchen and eating area and they paint it.
Is it going to come back? That's my word?
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Well, yeah, I don't. I don't know the answer to that,
to be honest with you. It will come back if
it's being caused by that fireplace, because you're probably using it, right,
I don't know if it's going to be active enough
to bleed through it through it kills. But what's ever
(28:01):
causing it? See, I'm not really sure what they said
is causing it is really causing it. In fact, I
feel like it's not.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
And I do too. It was sure four hours up
in the roof is fine. Blah blah, blah, yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
You know, you know, yeah, if you had an ice
dam and that went up underneath the shingles and got
in the house, which it can do, you're you're, it
would be gone. I mean, the kills would would cover
that up, and it just wouldn't be an issue. And
(28:41):
it wouldn't be in a straight line. How'd that water
get between the drywall and the joys? Did the joys
get so wet? You know? And and it would never
be in a straight line. It would be a water
stain on a ceiling like you've seen all the time.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yeah, and it is its right, Enjoys. It's fron of
the studs.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
I've been in homes where I've seen it. I know
exactly what you're talking about. And it was a big
problem twenty five years ago. So with candles, people were
really into candles, and the wicks that one candle company
was using was causing it. Okay, And but obviously that's
why I asked those questions.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
But if you just look up killer talking, I'm sorry,
I was.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Just looking up ghosting, causes of ghosting. And of course
the first thing talks about is candles. But the second
thing I talked about is fireplaces, especially if it's not
drafting properly. Also, ghosting can be caused by high indoor humidity,
but not not a leak. So an indoor humidity that
(29:54):
would make sense, but other things. I could ask you then,
if it was indoor humidity this winter, were your windows
on the inside, were they wet?
Speaker 3 (30:07):
No?
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Because when you start running indoor humidity of forty to
fifty percent, which is high in the winter time, not
in the summertime. That would be high in the wintertime,
and it's zero degrees outside, your windows will sweat.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Right, so window contract I understand that.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Oh okay, right, okay, you sure do. So if it
was indoor humidity that was high, I think you'd have
had other telltale signs. And then the other thing, of course,
is cooking smoke.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
You know there's just two of us now and are
cooking A lot of it comes in a bag.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yeah, So do you use that fireplace a lot? Occasionally?
Speaker 3 (30:52):
A lot a lot? Well, I want my all downstairs
and it got like you it does well, but I
can oump the flu and it'll go out that way too.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
So what do you burn it? You say it's gas
or I'm sorry I missed that just okay, Well, why
don't we do this as a low experiment Number one,
Get a little bleach and water and take a little
area out of the way and see if it's smears.
See if it starts kind of creating some cleanliness. Okay,
(31:32):
and if it with a bleach, it would disappear of
his mold. If it's the fireplace and those carbon particles,
I'm gonna guess it probably won't clean it. But I
think the next step I would do is if you
have a chimney company that cleans the chimney, or somebody
(31:54):
you used in the past, or get somebody, I would
have them. When I called, I'd ask him about ghosting.
Have you ever heard about ghosting? Do you know I've
read that. You know sometimes fireplaces gas fireplace is being
used a lot. That could be a mechanism for creating ghosting.
(32:14):
See if they know anything about it. If they don't
call another one. A good chimney sweep will be c
si A certified. It's the Chimney Sweep Institute of America.
I think you could even check on their website. C
s I A dot org. I believe. Okay, but that's
(32:38):
a little bit of a game plan to get started.
But i'd you know, it could be cooking smoke or
something like that. But right now I'm leading more quite honestly,
to the fireplace or still the metal thing, because that
was a good thanks Danny.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
It used to be what burning fire it we converted
the gas probably all seven years ago or so. Yeah,
I never had a clean before that. Yeah, there's probably there.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
I would just yeah, I read a little bit about ghosting,
call the fireplace, do the Clorox thing, and then we'll
go from there. But I think that fireplace is the
best angle, to be honest with you right now. But
it sounds exactly like ghosting, really, it really does. And
ghosting is not caused by you know, a leak. You
(33:34):
would just have a leak spot on your ceiling.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
Okay, okay, well, my friend, I appreciated I listened to you,
and hey, I was down in Mobile, Alabama and Orleans
after Katrina.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
But listen, very good, stay in touch. I'd like to
hear how we make out here. Thank you much. Take care.
All right, let's take a break, Mandy, Chris be next.
You can join us. You're talking a little home improvement
on this weekend, hope, you're having a good one and
you're at home with Garry Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Well.
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(36:51):
All right, back at it we go. You're at home
with Gary Slivan. Just adding one more thing on that ghosting.
There is something called it kind of goes with the
fireplace story too, thermal tracking and dust sticks to cooler areas.
And you know upstairs, if you've got blankets of insulation,
(37:14):
that little seam that can on the other side of
the drywall cause ghosting. So one thing to check is
around attic catches and around recess lighting. See if you
got any of those black streaks there also it could
be an insulation issue. Still leaning towards the fireplace. All right,
let's go to Mandy.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
Mandy welcome, Hello, mister Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Are you I'm doing fine? Thank you good?
Speaker 4 (37:40):
Hey.
Speaker 8 (37:41):
I have a question. I know you've talked about this
probably a million times, but we have a pretty large
painted deck and we need the steps how to repaint
that and make it look nice. I know you said
preparation is yep, always the key. So if you could
(38:02):
tell us, all right, well finish what we need to do.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
So it's pressure treated wood. And what do you have
on there? Now? Is it paint?
Speaker 8 (38:12):
It is paint. It's black paint, and it's chipping in
certain places.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
And when it chips, does it go all the way
down to the to the pressure treated decking or is
another coat of another color in there?
Speaker 8 (38:27):
No, it goes all the way down to the pressure coded.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
And how old do you think that deck is?
Speaker 8 (38:35):
Probably twenty years?
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Is there multiple coats of paint on there?
Speaker 8 (38:42):
I know that it was painted two and a half
years ago. The previous owner did the deck two and
a half years ago.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
Well, this is a third call like this, and it's
a common problem really is you don't know what kind
of paint. It's probably even a solid color stain. It
may not be paint. It looks exactly like paint. There
is an ay, can.
Speaker 8 (39:12):
Okay go ahead?
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Any cans of paint that or a stain that was
used left at the house? I think, so, okay, okay,
If it's paint, that's that's fine. I'm just curious. So
and I what you need to do is you need
to find what was used on there? Is it? Is
(39:35):
it water base or is it you know, turpentine cleanup
a solvent base, Okay, I'm gonna bet it's probably a
water base or an acrylic or latex floor paint. And
the reason I'm guessing that is because number one, that
(39:57):
water based paint just has a really hard time penetrating
and biting onto pressure pressure treated wood, so it can peel.
It can peel. And if it's breaking all the way
down to the pressure treated wood, it's probably not the
(40:18):
fault of any of the layers of paint. But the
first layer probably wasn't really gripping onto that pressure treated wood.
Maybe preparation wasn't the key there, and that's why it's
peeling all the way down to the wood, Okay, combined
with it's black, so it holds heat, heat and paint.
(40:44):
I mean you can remove paint by using a heat gun, right,
So that could be making it feel all the fail,
all the way down, you know, to the to the woods.
So how do I fix it? Is it a lot
of it? Is it on a couple boards? Is it
in one little area? Is it? Tell me how severe
(41:07):
is a couple boards?
Speaker 8 (41:08):
It's very sporadic.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Okay, well then we won't we won't, uh we won't
get too crazy. Let's let's scrape off as much of
the paint that's loose as we can. I would stay
away from sanding because when you sand, you burnish the wood.
In other words, you close the fibers of the wood,
(41:32):
which makes your next coat of paint not want to
stick there because it can't penetrate. So you would want
to use a paint stripper and remove if you think
there's some areas that are vulnerable. Now you start with
a pressure washer and just lightly pressure washing, see if
you can blow off some of that paint. Anything that
(41:53):
you're blowing off, stay at it till it's finished blowing
off the coating because I'm going to have you come
back and start using a paint stripper around those areas
to remove. There's deck strapers, uh, decked paint strippers. There's
also the interview we just did with Demand Global they
got smartout. That smart Strip Advance is certainly the ticket
(42:19):
you would want to use. It comes with a performance
paper that kind of contains the mess, makes it a
little easier, but you got to get off the wall.
Speaker 8 (42:28):
I'm just doing the spots. I'm just doing the spots
that where the paint is chipping.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Well, you want to get off anything that seems to
be loose or chipping or peeling. The can's going to
tell you to remove it all. I know you're not
going to remove it all, correct, You are correct, yes,
So you know that's why I say use the use
the pressure washer, and see if you knock off anymore
(42:54):
anywhere else, you're gonna have to clean it anyway. So again,
once you get it removed, the key component here is
use the deck brightener, which opens up the pores of
the wood and allows your next code of paint to
(43:15):
bite into that wood better than anything else you can use. Okay,
so it's kind of clean off this, you know, scrape
pressure wash. If you have to use a paint stripper
to get a stubborn part off, go ahead, deck brightener
and then use your either solid color stain or solid
color paint. I think you'll be.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
Good, okay, perfect?
Speaker 8 (43:37):
And then who do you recommend any of the paint,
any of the solid color paint.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
If I would get a solid color stain, If you're
going to get a paint, what I'd probably you know,
get a Sheriman Williams latex floor paint. If that's kind
of what was on there if it is LATEX. Other
wise I'd get their super Deck or their Sherman Williams
Solid Color Stack. All right, thank you much for the call,
(44:07):
John Glenn Rich. Sit tight, we'll get you on the
other side of the hour. You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (44:42):
Home Improvement one O one with Gary Sullivan. Every weekend
classes began at one eight hundred and eighty two three tall.
You're at Home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
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