May 31, 2026 • 45 mins
As we dive into the warmer months, it's essential to ensure our homes are prepared to handle the heat. This episode of the podcast focuses on home improvement projects that can make a significant difference in our comfort and health. From ventilation and insulation to pest control and maintenance, Gary shares valuable insights and expert advice on how to tackle common issues and prevent costly repairs.
The conversation covers various topics, including the importance of proper ventilation in the attic and basement, how to maintain gutters and prevent water damage, and the benefits of using a moisture meter to detect hidden issues. Gary also discusses the pros and cons of encapsulating a raised foundation and the effectiveness of different pest control methods. Additionally, he shares tips on how to extend the life of a roof and the importance of regular maintenance.
One of the key takeaways from this episode is the need to inspect and maintain our homes' ventilation systems, including gutters, vents, and insulation. By doing so, we can prevent issues like mold growth, water damage, and increased energy bills. Gary also emphasizes the importance of using the right tools, such as a moisture meter, to detect hidden problems and address them before they become major issues.
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Speaker 1 (00:30):
Well, it is the weekend. Welcome at Home with Gary
Salvin is our that Home with Gary Salvin is brought
to you by DuMond Global and they now have the
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can go online at Dumontglobal dot com. Anyway, we thank
(01:15):
them for this technology. We also thank them for sponsoring
this hour of the show. So let's get wrong in
another weekend, getting a few things done around the home.
Be very happy for you to join me. Danny's ready
to take your calls. Our phone number is eight hundred
eight two three eight two five five And well, what
(01:37):
do you want to work on? Yesterday I mentioned we
all grumbled and complained about our energy bills in a
winter time. So far in a lot of parts outside
out West it's been coolish, not bad, maybe seasonal for
some places, but warm one in the outside in out West.
(01:59):
But it's coming. It's coming. And insulation and ventilation are
critically important in the summertime too, And obviously if it
stung you in a winter with some of the energy bills,
it's going to get you again to spring. These things
obviously don't go away. So that's one thing I'd be
(02:20):
happy to discuss with you, because we seem to react
to energy bills like holy cow, like you didn't see
that coming. I mean, we just went through a fairly
cold winter. A lot of people made calls to the
show and we discussed it, and you know, back then,
everybody's reacting to the cold weather, the high bills, and
(02:41):
the insulation people. They start getting real busy, and then
we get to springtime and the flowers come out. We
kind of just put that on the backshelf and maybe
never got around to doing anything. And in another month
or so we'll be in the mid nineties and everybody
go like, oh, how did that WHOA, that's expensive? What happened?
Or energy bell? Well, we never did anything about it
(03:02):
in the winter, and that same process repeats in the summer.
So you know, if you haven't done any of this,
the very little basic thing you can which may help.
It really depends, you know. I always talking about insulation
and ventilation. And if you look at your gutters and
(03:24):
you see that box, it's the facia board is holding
you know, it's not holding the gutters on, but it's
it's the brackets are attached to the facier board which
holds the gutters up. And then underneath that is the
soft that's the board that goes back to the house.
And usually, or hopefully, especially if you have a ridge
vent or some vents on the roof of your house,
(03:48):
you have some vents on that softoit board. Sometimes they're little,
you know, they're rectangular, maybe ten by sixteen maybe well
probably that'd be two big maybe four by four by
twelve vents. And it has a screen, and it has
some louvers. Some are just around anyway. That's bringing the
(04:08):
air into the attic. It's pushing the hot air out
of the ridge vent or out of the vents on
the roof. But those little screens and uh louvers, over
the course of time, nobody ever pays attention to them,
and maybe you had some insulation blown into the attic
(04:28):
and maybe they covered us up. Usually there's baffles to
keep those from being covered up, but maybe they got
covered up. Maybe somebody painted over them and got the
screen at the same time they got the lovers. And
you've diminished the air intake by you know, thirty forty
fifty percent, So that makes your whole ventilation system just
(04:48):
not work, and that means it holds more heat in
that attic. That means the upper bedrooms are a lot
hotter and you're a lot more uncomfortable, and then you're
honked off when you get your energy bill. So take
a look at those events underneath there. Make sure that
(05:10):
they're not impeded with I saw cotton tree starts shedding
like cotton balls in the air, and especially in the Midwest,
that was a curt in our area last week. Maybe
those get stuck in air, maybe flies, spiders, anything along
those lines, or paint or insulation from the inside that
(05:33):
they start covering those up, you start reducing the air
intake and it starts the problem. So maybe just inspect
those when you're up there. Make sure the gutters are
in good shape, cleaned out In fact, I think gutter Brush.
Why I know gutter brush has still got their sale
going on. If you don't have anything keeping those gutters
(05:54):
clean and free flowing, take advantage of the spring sale
that ends tomorrow. I think it's tomorrow, June first. Yeah,
you'll receive twenty five percent off in free shipping coupon
code Gary gutterbrush dot com. But that really wasn't the
point in my conversation when I said, when you get
up there and you're looking at your ventilation, look at
(06:16):
the gutters. Make sure they're clean, make sure they're not sagging.
If they have gutters that have seams, make sure those
seams are sealed a lot of times over of course,
at the time they start to you know, separating, a
lot of them are seamless, but some of the older
(06:37):
ones are not. There's a you know, clean those out
real good. Take a rag. It's some mental spirits. Clean
the seam. Get a product call It's made by Geocil.
It's a brushable sealant. I can't explain how cool this
product is. I've probably been recommending it for thirty plus years.
(07:00):
It's clear. It's like a real thick maple syrup and
you can paint it on, or you can try it
on in a gutter. You would obviously paint it on.
It's like a giant rubberized band aid. And so you'll
sail up those gutters and keep them free flowing, move
that water away from the house critically important, not only
(07:23):
for the air in your house being healthy. Preventional mold,
preventional leaky basements and cross spaces all start there. So
when next time when you look at the faciaboard the soffitt,
the gutter, that whole box that that gutter is hanging on,
to make sure you know just how much stuff is
(07:46):
going on there. Because there's a bunch we just mentioned
a bunch. We talked about the ventilation to cool off
the attic in the hot summer days so that those
upstairs bedroom aren't boiling hot, to keep in uh during rainstorms,
to keep in cross spaces and basements from being very
(08:09):
very damp. And once we introduce water into our homes,
what do we have. We have the possibility of mold
growing and mold spores when we you know, start closing
up the house again, not healthy air at all. So uh,
(08:33):
make that just that's a small project. It may not
entail anything except cleaning. It may not entail anything except
just looking. But once you see a problem, react to it,
execute the plan to open it up and take care
of that problem. I mentioned many times a quick five
(08:55):
dollars repair, well quickly between quickly turned into a fifty
dollars and a five hundred dollars repair. So you know,
if those vents and those sofas are clogged, you know,
stiff brush and let's clean those out. Let's get the
air flown back through the attic. Let's push out hot
air out. And even when you talk about the ventilation,
(09:17):
how many times we've had where a bathroom fan is
vented and it's not vented outside, vented into the attic.
And think about this in a winter time, if you're
pumping warm, wet air into your attic and that attic
forty degrees, what do you got? You almost got a
rainstorm in your attic wet insulation. So you know it
plays out in many instances and in all seasons. So
(09:43):
take a look at that and let's react accordingly and
get that fixed. So if you'd like to talk about it,
so would I, or any other projects you're working around
the house, let me give you the phone number. Danny
Boy is ready to take your calls. It's eight hundred
eight two three A two five five. You're at home
with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Helm for your home is just a click away at
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Speaker 1 (10:26):
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(11:09):
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Speaker 3 (11:26):
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(12:46):
at it, We go at home with Gary Sullivan as
we take your calls regarding your home projects. It's eight
hundred and eighty two three A two five five on
a podcast that I'd like you to check out. It's
on the iHeart app and Danny has it listed. It's
(13:06):
a product called Roofer's Store. And I know you have
asked me a lot of questions about the ability to
have someone spray a ceilant on a roof that is
not really failing, but it's you know, maybe got twenty
(13:27):
five percent of its life yet, and you'd really like
to extend the life of that roof. And you were
asking me saying, is that worth it? And I think
after we talked to this fellow Roofer's Store, the answer
is is it worth it? Well, I think that's kind
(13:52):
of your decision whether you think it's worth it. But
that podcast we had a you know, we probably had
a fifty ten twenty minute conversation about how often it
can be applied, when it can be applied, what it does,
(14:12):
and you know the price of it. I think he
said it was about a bucket square foot and new
roof's about five dollars of square foot. I might be
wrong on that and kind of I can't remember exactly.
That's why I'm encouraging to take a listen to the podcast.
So the way a roof fails is the granular surface
(14:37):
of an asphalt shingle is a protectant. It protects the
shingle from the UV rays of the sun, which drives
that shingle out, creates that brittleness of a shingle, It
makes the shingle curl before all that happens. As you lose,
you know, let's say you got a thirty year warranted roof.
(14:59):
Ab year twenty, you're going to start seeing a noticeable
amount of the granular protection in your gutters. And they
don't put that protection back on. But what they do
is they save what you have. They save what you
have by basically using a agricultural oil that protects that shingle,
(15:27):
revitalizes that shingle, and I'll use the word glue. You know,
keeps that protecting on the shingle. And he was telling me,
which I did not know. That type of technology. He
has been around for twenty plus years and they used
(15:49):
to use it in the Departments of Transportation in the
US and Canada onto keeping roads asphalt, preventing the brittleness
of that. So it does add protection. The one thing
I got. It could be applied three times, but it
(16:11):
really depends. But each spray, each protect at once is supplied,
we'll give you about five years worth of protection. It
improves a granular adhesion like almost ninety percent. It almost
restores the shingle color. It kills the algae, the moss,
(16:35):
it enders regrowth, and the bottom line keeps the shingles
out of landfills for a longer period of time.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Right.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
But it was called roof of store. Pretty cool stuff.
It's not something you do. It's something they come out
and they literally used by drone and they inspect the
roof and make a determination where you are with that
roof in terms of wear and tear, and make the
(17:08):
decision of whether this can help you. In other words,
there is a point of no return. You need xyz
amount of granular protection on that shingle. You need that
shingles still to be somewhat pliable, and then you spray
(17:30):
this and it's think of it as a maintenance product
rather than like a new roof, because it's not a
new roof. But if you're you know, a thirty year roof,
I think I had my thirty year roof replaced at
age twenty five, and that's pretty normal. I think it
depends on how steep it is versus how flat it is,
(17:54):
weather and you know, all that stuff. It all comes
into play. But I would have to say, on average
a thirty year roof, is it going to last thirty
years in most cases? Or yours did and you just
kind of put off putting a new roof on. So
(18:16):
this is more of a maintenance when you start getting around,
you know, thirty year roof, get around eighteen, nineteen, twenty
years old, take a look at that. Your goal, or
I would say your goal should be to extend the
life of that roof at about twenty percent of the
cost of a new roof. Now is that for everybody?
(18:39):
I don't know. You it's your house, it's your roof,
and you need to decide that that's obviously really what
it comes down to. If you're going to be in
a house a few years, let's say it's really worth
it if you just want to sweeten it up a
little bit, do a little maintenance to it. Be way
(19:01):
ahead of the game, all right. Let me give you
the phone number, happy to take your calls as we
work our way through another weekend or by the way,
that podcast is on the iHeart app. Just click podcast
at Home with Gary Sullivan. You'll see that podcast listed.
If you're interested, just take a listen to it. A
lot of good information.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
There again, that phone number eight hundred eighty two three
eight two five to five.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Gene, you'll be up first. We'll continue You're at Home
with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Solutions to your home improvement are as easy as calling
one eight hundred eighty two three talk. This is at
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(21:54):
two two seventy three twenty eight or visit easy breathed
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last easybreed dot com. All right back at it we
(22:29):
go thirty three minutes after the top of the hour,
talking a little home improvement. Happy to take your calls.
Our number is eight hundred and eight two three eight
two five five and to the funds we go. James, Welcome, Gary.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
I've asked you this before, and I know you've talked
about it quite a bit on your show. If you
have a raised foundation, if you're building something new, you
had said the new thought process was to encapsulate that
or not. Maybe that's the wrong term, but not to
have vents to make it conditioned space. Is that geographically
(23:10):
universal or is that depending on where you want to
do it?
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Well, I guess if I would, I would say it's
a little geographical. In other words, if you live in
let's say Louisiana, you have very very high humidity all
the time, right, and if you have venting in there,
you're kind of you're kind of inviting a large amount
(23:35):
of moisture in your cross space. Anyway, So what we're
seeing and I'm not in Louisiana, but and I think
you're in Arizona, so it's gonna be a little bit
different because of the lack of moisture and the lack
of really cold weather. Because this also incorporates a little
bit of insulation qualities to it. So so you head
(24:00):
the right word, it's it's it's total encapsulation is kind
of the buzzword. Where they sealed the vents vapor barrier
on ground to minimize any water vapor that can collect
into a cross space, and a vapor barrier even on
(24:21):
the walls, so you and then in some cases you're
even having a controlled ventilation in that where you're pulling
rather than just having a vent on both sides, you're
pulling that air out that is still could be damp
just from it's you know, but above ground or even
(24:44):
the one that's below grade and being replaced with event
bringing conditioned air in. So yeah, there's it is geographical
to a degree.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Yes, Okay. So the it seems like every time I've
been in a crawl space in my life, I should say,
is they always seem musty. So yeah, I thought the
goal was to make it on musty.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Well, that's that's the key. It's all about the water
you see in the water you don't see because you
know that I would mention to humidity. You're really working
on taking a crawl space and the emphasis now when
I say whole house encapsulation, cross space encapsulation, you're trying
to make it a condition place. And now it doesn't
(25:32):
have to be perfect, but you'd like to keep that
humidity level below fifty percent once you start getting into
you know, sixty and seventy percent humidity. Mold can you
know everybody's got mold spores and everybody's got organic material
in a crawl space, you add that moisture number. Even
(25:54):
when you can't see water, you're gonna have mold, You're
gonna have mustiness.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Okay, all right. It seems like every time I see
these they're built, they always have the vents in there,
and I was like, well, that doesn't seem to be
consistent with what I hear on your show. So I
don't know if they're out of touch or.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Well, I think it's you. I think two degree. Then
it is your geographic area. Again, if you have a
you know, I use the example, the extreme example of Louisiana.
The other example would be, you know, kind of Arizona
where you have low humidity out west, and then if
(26:35):
you have vents on both sides and you have cross
ventilation going through a cross space, you still have some
moisture coming up through the ground. But if you have
kept that with a vapor barrier in check, and you
have some cross ventilation and you're bringing in relatively dry
air anyway, it's it's a push, right, you know, you
(26:58):
don't have to worry about But if you're a Louisiana
and it's ninety percent humidity outside and you don't have
a real good flow there, you're better off ceiling it,
and I'll say artificially or engineered slow ventilation, pulling it
out and putting air back in is probably the better option,
or is the better option?
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Okay, real quick, Yeah, that's I appreciate that that. I
will take that into consideration. Yesterday you had a lot
of discussion about ants.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Yeah, we did.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
I had an ant problem and I do have a
lot of the rescue products and I tried those trays
or whatever, those hockey pucks or whatever you want to
call it, and it didn't work. So then I went
to one of the stores and I got liquid bait
and I was blown away. How they in like three
(27:52):
days they were gone with the liquid bait. I don't
know what the difference was, but they did say on
the instructions, don't freak out when you see it there
for the first couple of bish, yeah, I did see uh,
and you got to let that go. But for whatever reason,
the only thing that worked was the liquid date.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
That's interesting. Yeah, I've had I've used the rescue ones.
I've also used Tarot, which is the liquid one. And
be honest with you, I don't know. Maybe my aunts
weren't it weren't particular eaters, but they both threw, uh,
you know, a crowd, and after about two or three
days they were pretty much going away. But I had
(28:32):
a huge ant problem, James. I had a I tried everything.
I had the gathering of ants, I had the population decrease,
and then I'd have them again, and I finally ended
up using an exterminator who had, you know, a little
better stuff, and it took him. I'll bet you have
four or five different visits to my house. And I've
(28:53):
said many time. His comment was, I've never seen an
aunt colony as big as yours. So obviously we're all
dealing with different environmental things and ants are very smart.
It's amazing. I don't know exactly what his degree was in,
but he was like my ant doctor and he would
come in and tell stories what ants could do. It
(29:14):
was phenomenal. So I would say, every project maybe a
little bit different. Sorry, you didn't have any luck with
the other ones, but if you got something that's working again,
I love the baiting system for ants getting it back
to the colony, and even a barrier spray or powder
dusting along the perimeter of the outside of the house
(29:35):
and get it both ways.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
I've used. I used their pantry moths rescue. It works fantastic,
and I did use the spider traps. I only got
the spider traps were kind of a hit and miss,
but I've never found anything as effective as their pantry moths.
It's just amazing. How many pints.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Yeah, I have their I've used their carpenter b trap
multiple times. I think that's fantastic. And there was also
a wasp on which is very very good. And I
had a call yesterday. You're right. It was like Peste
and somebody who was calling. They weren't really saying a
particular brand of flycatcher didn't work, but she was saying
(30:18):
she had these flies in her garage and then they
got into the house. They were in the bathroom and
it was a big fly and she goes, fly paper
wouldn't even work. And I never heard of anything like that.
So I don't know, I don't know, just interesting, I guess.
Thanks Gary, all right, take care of James. Thanks for
the call, appreciate it all right. If you would like
(30:39):
to jump on board, do so. It's eight hundred eighty
two three eight two five five. Let's grab Mike. Mike, Welcome, welcome.
Speaker 6 (30:48):
Yes, sir, yesterday I just jumped in my truck and
had the radio on and you were on talking with
a company that does paint removal or stain removal or something.
And I couldn't get all the information on the company,
but my question is, do they have anything that can creep,
(31:10):
can clean paint off of concrete?
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Well? Yeah, sure, I mean it is a what the
name of the company is, Demand Global, It's du M
O n D Global. They make environmentally friendly strippers and
a lot of them are paint specific. The one that
(31:34):
will take care of most paints is called Smart Strip Advanced, right,
and it's a pace that you put over paint. Let's
say you're stripping a door or something along those lines,
and there's what they call a performance paper. That thing
goes over the paste and it depends how many coats
(31:58):
and everything else. I think it can take up the
fifteen coats of paint off at one time. In a
lot of cases, you can just like sit two hours.
Sometimes you have to, let's sit overnight, and you literally
pull the performance paper off along with the paint. And
then they have other ones, the smart Strip Pro and
(32:19):
a couple other ones for like even lead based paints,
old style lead base and oil based paints. But the
smart strip advanced paint removal will take care of probably
eighty five percent of the paints that are out there
and you used on a house.
Speaker 6 (32:36):
And then then he say that they were in hardware
stores like Best Value, do.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
It, Best carries it, Sherman Williams carries it. You can
also get it online. They've got in fact, I don't
know if you heard this part, but literally they are
the leader in removing finishes. Just to give you an
idea some of the projects they've done, the Eiffel Tower,
the Capitol Dome, Hollywood Sign, I mean, big projects, and
(33:05):
they're bringing it to market. They got one called peel
Away that'll remove thirty five coats of paint. And this
is all kind of paint, so like cathedrals in Europe
they use that. So they're just kind of breaking it
down now to be more of a universal good paint
stripper for common finishes, and they still have the ones
(33:26):
for really super tough finishes.
Speaker 6 (33:29):
All right, well, great, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Gary, all right, Mike, thank you very much. You bet
you take care all right? That now is an invite
for you we've got open lines talking about home improvement projects.
If you'd like to jump on board, I encourage you
to do so. Our phone number is eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five. You're at home with
Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Helm for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at home with Gary Sellon.
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It couldn't be any easier. Here's a special offer for
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Well.
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They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound
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cheaper than a flooded basement. Called Roto Router at one
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Speaker 1 (36:44):
Alright, eleven minutes before the top of the hour. Talk
at home improvement. Love to talk about your project. The
line is open. It's eight hundred eighty two three eight
two fivey five. You ever have a concern A want
to know what amount of moisture is in a piece
(37:05):
of wood. Or you have a basement and it's finished
and it smells a little you know, funky like a basement.
Ever wonder whether there's moisture behind that wall. There are
moisture meters and it's a tool choose to measure how
(37:25):
much moistures inside wood? Dryball you can eat, you know, firewood,
you get some. You know I always talk about you
want to have firewood that's good and dry? Well, what's
that mean? How dry? How do I tell? Always said,
if you take a piece of firewood and you drop
it on concrete. If it goes thud, probably shouldn't put
(37:48):
it in the fireplace. Probably got a lot of moisture
in it. You drop it and it sounds like a
baseball bat boy, that's really dry. But sometimes it would
be really nice have a tool that could tell you
exactly what the moisture content is behind drywall or in
(38:11):
pressure tree wood or in firewood. So there's two basic types.
There's a pin type meter and that they have metal
probes on the end of it and literally you can
like push it through the drywall and get a reading
into the studs or into the insulation. Then there's also
(38:34):
a pinless meter, which you just scanned beneath the surface
and you don't have to, you know, leave any holes.
And it's really good for finished wood, floors, walls, et cetera.
So choose one of those. But really what you're looking
for too is you know what's too much moisture. So
(38:58):
give you an example if you do woodworking, or maybe
you do some carpentry and you get some lumber and
you're wondering what how much moisture is in there? Right,
we always talk about like hardwood flooring. We let it
acclimate to the inside air, whether it's air conditioned in
(39:20):
the summer or winter, and it's dry. But your moisture
content of the lumber flooring six to eight percent, whereas
firewood we were talking about that fifteen to twenty percent.
Pressure treated wood, you probably want that around ten percent.
(39:45):
So you know these things are about fifty bucks and
you know, kind of give you an answer with that
doing a lot of damage. A good example of this
would be, let's you get a water spot on a
ceiling in a dining room or something, and you know
(40:09):
you can tell it's a water spot, maybe it's the
size of a softball or something like that. Where did
where did where did that water come from? Question number one?
We got to start doing some investigating there. But also
how wet is it on the other side of that ceiling. Well,
(40:30):
that's where your moisture meter comes in. Because the other
answer is get up there in the attic if it's
if there's an attic above it sometimes and if there's
a water spot, maybe, but if you can get up
there and pull insulation back, or you have to cut
out the dry wall to see if it's wet, or
your fifty dollars. Moisture meter is going to be able
(40:53):
to tell you what the moisture content is behind that spot.
Has it dried out, is it continue to get wet.
So it's going to help you with the diagnosis of
what in the world is going on there. So anyway,
I wanted to mention the moisture meter for some reason.
A lot of folks don't know that tool exists, and
(41:13):
I find it very helpful. And if you can, you know,
let's say you get a reading, you know there is
a problem to say the boot on the vent on
the roof of the house has cracked and water's coming
down there and has stained the drywall in the dining room.
And you know, let's say you get a reading of
(41:35):
fifteen percent and the next day you get twenty percent during
a rain, you know that leak is still active or
the opposite. Maybe it's condensation that's caused. It's just going
to help you determine it. And by the way, speaking
of you know, spots on a ceiling, if the problem
(41:57):
is diagnosed, the problem's fixed, the air dries out. In
a lot of cases, a good stain killing primer over
that will set that stain and it can be painted.
Do not just paint over that without a stain killing primer,
or you're going to you know, you're going to have
some you're going to have some issues. It's going to
(42:20):
bleed right through. But there's also other alternatives in a
space it kind of gets into when you got popcorn
ceilings or textured ceilings. I've seen a lot of people
like there's a company in in our city called since
a Drywall where they come in and they'll put in, uh, well,
(42:44):
they could fix the problem, cut it out and do
the patch and everything, or they can put a quarter
inch drywall over that area and you really don't have
to change too much on that ceiling. It's a it's
a you still got to fix the leak, right, but
it takes care of that particular problem. Or there's even
(43:06):
some really I've talked about this a lot. There's a
decorative ceiling tile and oh my gosh, they must have
two hundred different types, probably more than that. But then
it is almost like three pieces of paper in a
plastic It could look like a copper ceiling if you
wanted to. It could be that exquisite or a pewter ceiling,
(43:30):
or it could just look like drywall. There's also wall coverings,
dry wall coverings that can go over. The options are many,
and I think a lot of people just you know,
you see the spot, I know you panic. Some people
will just paint it. It'll bleed through, like I said,
and again if it's a popcorn ceiling, then you can
(43:52):
mess up some of the popcorns. But there's all kinds
of alternatives to really focus and take care of the problem.
So want to address that, but it really kind of
starts with a moisture meter. All right, Happy to take
your phone calls as we talk a little home improvement today.
Let me give you that phone number. You can line
them up. When we come back, we'll talk about that
home project that you have.
Speaker 5 (44:13):
It's eight hundred eight two three eight two, five to
five and you're at home with Gary Sullomon.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Thanks the weekend, and you have fixed questions. Give Gary
a call at one eight hundred eighty two three talk.
This is at home with Gary Sullivan
Well, it is the weekend. Welcome at Home with Gary
Salvin is our that Home with Gary Salvin is brought
to you by DuMond Global and they now have the
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(01:15):
them for this technology. We also thank them for sponsoring
this hour of the show. So let's get wrong in
another weekend, getting a few things done around the home.
Be very happy for you to join me. Danny's ready
to take your calls. Our phone number is eight hundred
eight two three eight two five five And well, what
(01:37):
do you want to work on? Yesterday I mentioned we
all grumbled and complained about our energy bills in a
winter time. So far in a lot of parts outside
out West it's been coolish, not bad, maybe seasonal for
some places, but warm one in the outside in out West.
(01:59):
But it's coming. It's coming. And insulation and ventilation are
critically important in the summertime too, And obviously if it
stung you in a winter with some of the energy bills,
it's going to get you again to spring. These things
obviously don't go away. So that's one thing I'd be
(02:20):
happy to discuss with you, because we seem to react
to energy bills like holy cow, like you didn't see
that coming. I mean, we just went through a fairly
cold winter. A lot of people made calls to the
show and we discussed it, and you know, back then,
everybody's reacting to the cold weather, the high bills, and
(02:41):
the insulation people. They start getting real busy, and then
we get to springtime and the flowers come out. We
kind of just put that on the backshelf and maybe
never got around to doing anything. And in another month
or so we'll be in the mid nineties and everybody
go like, oh, how did that WHOA, that's expensive? What happened?
Or energy bell? Well, we never did anything about it
(03:02):
in the winter, and that same process repeats in the summer.
So you know, if you haven't done any of this,
the very little basic thing you can which may help.
It really depends, you know. I always talking about insulation
and ventilation. And if you look at your gutters and
(03:24):
you see that box, it's the facia board is holding
you know, it's not holding the gutters on, but it's
it's the brackets are attached to the facier board which
holds the gutters up. And then underneath that is the
soft that's the board that goes back to the house.
And usually, or hopefully, especially if you have a ridge
vent or some vents on the roof of your house,
(03:48):
you have some vents on that softoit board. Sometimes they're little,
you know, they're rectangular, maybe ten by sixteen maybe well
probably that'd be two big maybe four by four by
twelve vents. And it has a screen, and it has
some louvers. Some are just around anyway. That's bringing the
(04:08):
air into the attic. It's pushing the hot air out
of the ridge vent or out of the vents on
the roof. But those little screens and uh louvers, over
the course of time, nobody ever pays attention to them,
and maybe you had some insulation blown into the attic
(04:28):
and maybe they covered us up. Usually there's baffles to
keep those from being covered up, but maybe they got
covered up. Maybe somebody painted over them and got the
screen at the same time they got the lovers. And
you've diminished the air intake by you know, thirty forty
fifty percent, So that makes your whole ventilation system just
(04:48):
not work, and that means it holds more heat in
that attic. That means the upper bedrooms are a lot
hotter and you're a lot more uncomfortable, and then you're
honked off when you get your energy bill. So take
a look at those events underneath there. Make sure that
(05:10):
they're not impeded with I saw cotton tree starts shedding
like cotton balls in the air, and especially in the Midwest,
that was a curt in our area last week. Maybe
those get stuck in air, maybe flies, spiders, anything along
those lines, or paint or insulation from the inside that
(05:33):
they start covering those up, you start reducing the air
intake and it starts the problem. So maybe just inspect
those when you're up there. Make sure the gutters are
in good shape, cleaned out In fact, I think gutter Brush.
Why I know gutter brush has still got their sale
going on. If you don't have anything keeping those gutters
(05:54):
clean and free flowing, take advantage of the spring sale
that ends tomorrow. I think it's tomorrow, June first. Yeah,
you'll receive twenty five percent off in free shipping coupon
code Gary gutterbrush dot com. But that really wasn't the
point in my conversation when I said, when you get
up there and you're looking at your ventilation, look at
(06:16):
the gutters. Make sure they're clean, make sure they're not sagging.
If they have gutters that have seams, make sure those
seams are sealed a lot of times over of course,
at the time they start to you know, separating, a
lot of them are seamless, but some of the older
(06:37):
ones are not. There's a you know, clean those out
real good. Take a rag. It's some mental spirits. Clean
the seam. Get a product call It's made by Geocil.
It's a brushable sealant. I can't explain how cool this
product is. I've probably been recommending it for thirty plus years.
(07:00):
It's clear. It's like a real thick maple syrup and
you can paint it on, or you can try it
on in a gutter. You would obviously paint it on.
It's like a giant rubberized band aid. And so you'll
sail up those gutters and keep them free flowing, move
that water away from the house critically important, not only
(07:23):
for the air in your house being healthy. Preventional mold,
preventional leaky basements and cross spaces all start there. So
when next time when you look at the faciaboard the soffitt,
the gutter, that whole box that that gutter is hanging on,
to make sure you know just how much stuff is
(07:46):
going on there. Because there's a bunch we just mentioned
a bunch. We talked about the ventilation to cool off
the attic in the hot summer days so that those
upstairs bedroom aren't boiling hot, to keep in uh during rainstorms,
to keep in cross spaces and basements from being very
(08:09):
very damp. And once we introduce water into our homes,
what do we have. We have the possibility of mold
growing and mold spores when we you know, start closing
up the house again, not healthy air at all. So uh,
(08:33):
make that just that's a small project. It may not
entail anything except cleaning. It may not entail anything except
just looking. But once you see a problem, react to it,
execute the plan to open it up and take care
of that problem. I mentioned many times a quick five
(08:55):
dollars repair, well quickly between quickly turned into a fifty
dollars and a five hundred dollars repair. So you know,
if those vents and those sofas are clogged, you know,
stiff brush and let's clean those out. Let's get the
air flown back through the attic. Let's push out hot
air out. And even when you talk about the ventilation,
(09:17):
how many times we've had where a bathroom fan is
vented and it's not vented outside, vented into the attic.
And think about this in a winter time, if you're
pumping warm, wet air into your attic and that attic
forty degrees, what do you got? You almost got a
rainstorm in your attic wet insulation. So you know it
plays out in many instances and in all seasons. So
(09:43):
take a look at that and let's react accordingly and
get that fixed. So if you'd like to talk about it,
so would I, or any other projects you're working around
the house, let me give you the phone number. Danny
Boy is ready to take your calls. It's eight hundred
eight two three A two five five. You're at home
with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Helm for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at home with Garysullivan.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
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Speaker 3 (11:26):
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with simple brushes to block leaves while water flows through.
It couldn't be any easier. Here's a special offer for
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with discount code Gary at gutterbrush dot com. Most homes
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(11:47):
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(12:46):
at it, We go at home with Gary Sullivan as
we take your calls regarding your home projects. It's eight
hundred and eighty two three A two five five on
a podcast that I'd like you to check out. It's
on the iHeart app and Danny has it listed. It's
(13:06):
a product called Roofer's Store. And I know you have
asked me a lot of questions about the ability to
have someone spray a ceilant on a roof that is
not really failing, but it's you know, maybe got twenty
(13:27):
five percent of its life yet, and you'd really like
to extend the life of that roof. And you were
asking me saying, is that worth it? And I think
after we talked to this fellow Roofer's Store, the answer
is is it worth it? Well, I think that's kind
(13:52):
of your decision whether you think it's worth it. But
that podcast we had a you know, we probably had
a fifty ten twenty minute conversation about how often it
can be applied, when it can be applied, what it does,
(14:12):
and you know the price of it. I think he
said it was about a bucket square foot and new
roof's about five dollars of square foot. I might be
wrong on that and kind of I can't remember exactly.
That's why I'm encouraging to take a listen to the podcast.
So the way a roof fails is the granular surface
(14:37):
of an asphalt shingle is a protectant. It protects the
shingle from the UV rays of the sun, which drives
that shingle out, creates that brittleness of a shingle, It
makes the shingle curl before all that happens. As you lose,
you know, let's say you got a thirty year warranted roof.
(14:59):
Ab year twenty, you're going to start seeing a noticeable
amount of the granular protection in your gutters. And they
don't put that protection back on. But what they do
is they save what you have. They save what you
have by basically using a agricultural oil that protects that shingle,
(15:27):
revitalizes that shingle, and I'll use the word glue. You know,
keeps that protecting on the shingle. And he was telling me,
which I did not know. That type of technology. He
has been around for twenty plus years and they used
(15:49):
to use it in the Departments of Transportation in the
US and Canada onto keeping roads asphalt, preventing the brittleness
of that. So it does add protection. The one thing
I got. It could be applied three times, but it
(16:11):
really depends. But each spray, each protect at once is supplied,
we'll give you about five years worth of protection. It
improves a granular adhesion like almost ninety percent. It almost
restores the shingle color. It kills the algae, the moss,
(16:35):
it enders regrowth, and the bottom line keeps the shingles
out of landfills for a longer period of time.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Right.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
But it was called roof of store. Pretty cool stuff.
It's not something you do. It's something they come out
and they literally used by drone and they inspect the
roof and make a determination where you are with that
roof in terms of wear and tear, and make the
(17:08):
decision of whether this can help you. In other words,
there is a point of no return. You need xyz
amount of granular protection on that shingle. You need that
shingles still to be somewhat pliable, and then you spray
(17:30):
this and it's think of it as a maintenance product
rather than like a new roof, because it's not a
new roof. But if you're you know, a thirty year roof,
I think I had my thirty year roof replaced at
age twenty five, and that's pretty normal. I think it
depends on how steep it is versus how flat it is,
(17:54):
weather and you know, all that stuff. It all comes
into play. But I would have to say, on average
a thirty year roof, is it going to last thirty
years in most cases? Or yours did and you just
kind of put off putting a new roof on. So
(18:16):
this is more of a maintenance when you start getting around,
you know, thirty year roof, get around eighteen, nineteen, twenty
years old, take a look at that. Your goal, or
I would say your goal should be to extend the
life of that roof at about twenty percent of the
cost of a new roof. Now is that for everybody?
(18:39):
I don't know. You it's your house, it's your roof,
and you need to decide that that's obviously really what
it comes down to. If you're going to be in
a house a few years, let's say it's really worth
it if you just want to sweeten it up a
little bit, do a little maintenance to it. Be way
(19:01):
ahead of the game, all right. Let me give you
the phone number, happy to take your calls as we
work our way through another weekend or by the way,
that podcast is on the iHeart app. Just click podcast
at Home with Gary Sullivan. You'll see that podcast listed.
If you're interested, just take a listen to it. A
lot of good information.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
There again, that phone number eight hundred eighty two three
eight two five to five.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Gene, you'll be up first. We'll continue You're at Home
with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Solutions to your home improvement are as easy as calling
one eight hundred eighty two three talk. This is at
Home with Gary Sullivan.
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(21:31):
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(21:54):
two two seventy three twenty eight or visit easy breathed
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last easybreed dot com. All right back at it we
(22:29):
go thirty three minutes after the top of the hour,
talking a little home improvement. Happy to take your calls.
Our number is eight hundred and eight two three eight
two five five and to the funds we go. James, Welcome, Gary.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
I've asked you this before, and I know you've talked
about it quite a bit on your show. If you
have a raised foundation, if you're building something new, you
had said the new thought process was to encapsulate that
or not. Maybe that's the wrong term, but not to
have vents to make it conditioned space. Is that geographically
(23:10):
universal or is that depending on where you want to
do it?
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Well, I guess if I would, I would say it's
a little geographical. In other words, if you live in
let's say Louisiana, you have very very high humidity all
the time, right, and if you have venting in there,
you're kind of you're kind of inviting a large amount
(23:35):
of moisture in your cross space. Anyway, So what we're
seeing and I'm not in Louisiana, but and I think
you're in Arizona, so it's gonna be a little bit
different because of the lack of moisture and the lack
of really cold weather. Because this also incorporates a little
bit of insulation qualities to it. So so you head
(24:00):
the right word, it's it's it's total encapsulation is kind
of the buzzword. Where they sealed the vents vapor barrier
on ground to minimize any water vapor that can collect
into a cross space, and a vapor barrier even on
(24:21):
the walls, so you and then in some cases you're
even having a controlled ventilation in that where you're pulling
rather than just having a vent on both sides, you're
pulling that air out that is still could be damp
just from it's you know, but above ground or even
(24:44):
the one that's below grade and being replaced with event
bringing conditioned air in. So yeah, there's it is geographical
to a degree.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Yes, Okay. So the it seems like every time I've
been in a crawl space in my life, I should say,
is they always seem musty. So yeah, I thought the
goal was to make it on musty.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Well, that's that's the key. It's all about the water
you see in the water you don't see because you
know that I would mention to humidity. You're really working
on taking a crawl space and the emphasis now when
I say whole house encapsulation, cross space encapsulation, you're trying
to make it a condition place. And now it doesn't
(25:32):
have to be perfect, but you'd like to keep that
humidity level below fifty percent once you start getting into
you know, sixty and seventy percent humidity. Mold can you
know everybody's got mold spores and everybody's got organic material
in a crawl space, you add that moisture number. Even
(25:54):
when you can't see water, you're gonna have mold, You're
gonna have mustiness.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Okay, all right. It seems like every time I see
these they're built, they always have the vents in there,
and I was like, well, that doesn't seem to be
consistent with what I hear on your show. So I
don't know if they're out of touch or.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Well, I think it's you. I think two degree. Then
it is your geographic area. Again, if you have a
you know, I use the example, the extreme example of Louisiana.
The other example would be, you know, kind of Arizona
where you have low humidity out west, and then if
(26:35):
you have vents on both sides and you have cross
ventilation going through a cross space, you still have some
moisture coming up through the ground. But if you have
kept that with a vapor barrier in check, and you
have some cross ventilation and you're bringing in relatively dry
air anyway, it's it's a push, right, you know, you
(26:58):
don't have to worry about But if you're a Louisiana
and it's ninety percent humidity outside and you don't have
a real good flow there, you're better off ceiling it,
and I'll say artificially or engineered slow ventilation, pulling it
out and putting air back in is probably the better option,
or is the better option?
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Okay, real quick, Yeah, that's I appreciate that that. I
will take that into consideration. Yesterday you had a lot
of discussion about ants.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Yeah, we did.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
I had an ant problem and I do have a
lot of the rescue products and I tried those trays
or whatever, those hockey pucks or whatever you want to
call it, and it didn't work. So then I went
to one of the stores and I got liquid bait
and I was blown away. How they in like three
(27:52):
days they were gone with the liquid bait. I don't
know what the difference was, but they did say on
the instructions, don't freak out when you see it there
for the first couple of bish, yeah, I did see uh,
and you got to let that go. But for whatever reason,
the only thing that worked was the liquid date.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
That's interesting. Yeah, I've had I've used the rescue ones.
I've also used Tarot, which is the liquid one. And
be honest with you, I don't know. Maybe my aunts
weren't it weren't particular eaters, but they both threw, uh,
you know, a crowd, and after about two or three
days they were pretty much going away. But I had
(28:32):
a huge ant problem, James. I had a I tried everything.
I had the gathering of ants, I had the population decrease,
and then I'd have them again, and I finally ended
up using an exterminator who had, you know, a little
better stuff, and it took him. I'll bet you have
four or five different visits to my house. And I've
(28:53):
said many time. His comment was, I've never seen an
aunt colony as big as yours. So obviously we're all
dealing with different environmental things and ants are very smart.
It's amazing. I don't know exactly what his degree was in,
but he was like my ant doctor and he would
come in and tell stories what ants could do. It
(29:14):
was phenomenal. So I would say, every project maybe a
little bit different. Sorry, you didn't have any luck with
the other ones, but if you got something that's working again,
I love the baiting system for ants getting it back
to the colony, and even a barrier spray or powder
dusting along the perimeter of the outside of the house
(29:35):
and get it both ways.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
I've used. I used their pantry moths rescue. It works fantastic,
and I did use the spider traps. I only got
the spider traps were kind of a hit and miss,
but I've never found anything as effective as their pantry moths.
It's just amazing. How many pints.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Yeah, I have their I've used their carpenter b trap
multiple times. I think that's fantastic. And there was also
a wasp on which is very very good. And I
had a call yesterday. You're right. It was like Peste
and somebody who was calling. They weren't really saying a
particular brand of flycatcher didn't work, but she was saying
(30:18):
she had these flies in her garage and then they
got into the house. They were in the bathroom and
it was a big fly and she goes, fly paper
wouldn't even work. And I never heard of anything like that.
So I don't know, I don't know, just interesting, I guess.
Thanks Gary, all right, take care of James. Thanks for
the call, appreciate it all right. If you would like
(30:39):
to jump on board, do so. It's eight hundred eighty
two three eight two five five. Let's grab Mike. Mike, Welcome, welcome.
Speaker 6 (30:48):
Yes, sir, yesterday I just jumped in my truck and
had the radio on and you were on talking with
a company that does paint removal or stain removal or something.
And I couldn't get all the information on the company,
but my question is, do they have anything that can creep,
(31:10):
can clean paint off of concrete?
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Well? Yeah, sure, I mean it is a what the
name of the company is, Demand Global, It's du M
O n D Global. They make environmentally friendly strippers and
a lot of them are paint specific. The one that
(31:34):
will take care of most paints is called Smart Strip Advanced, right,
and it's a pace that you put over paint. Let's
say you're stripping a door or something along those lines,
and there's what they call a performance paper. That thing
goes over the paste and it depends how many coats
(31:58):
and everything else. I think it can take up the
fifteen coats of paint off at one time. In a
lot of cases, you can just like sit two hours.
Sometimes you have to, let's sit overnight, and you literally
pull the performance paper off along with the paint. And
then they have other ones, the smart Strip Pro and
(32:19):
a couple other ones for like even lead based paints,
old style lead base and oil based paints. But the
smart strip advanced paint removal will take care of probably
eighty five percent of the paints that are out there
and you used on a house.
Speaker 6 (32:36):
And then then he say that they were in hardware
stores like Best Value, do.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
It, Best carries it, Sherman Williams carries it. You can
also get it online. They've got in fact, I don't
know if you heard this part, but literally they are
the leader in removing finishes. Just to give you an
idea some of the projects they've done, the Eiffel Tower,
the Capitol Dome, Hollywood Sign, I mean, big projects, and
(33:05):
they're bringing it to market. They got one called peel
Away that'll remove thirty five coats of paint. And this
is all kind of paint, so like cathedrals in Europe
they use that. So they're just kind of breaking it
down now to be more of a universal good paint
stripper for common finishes, and they still have the ones
(33:26):
for really super tough finishes.
Speaker 6 (33:29):
All right, well, great, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Gary, all right, Mike, thank you very much. You bet
you take care all right? That now is an invite
for you we've got open lines talking about home improvement projects.
If you'd like to jump on board, I encourage you
to do so. Our phone number is eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five. You're at home with
Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Helm for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at home with Gary Sellon.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Hey. If your rate to strip paint a smarter way,
reach for Dumond's Smart Strip Advance paint remover. It's available
in a non aerosol spray powered by advanced bag on
valve technology. This powerful water based formula cuts from multiple
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one application. Best of all, it's non flammable and free
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(34:39):
Strip Advance non aerosol Spray is available at participating Sherwin
Williams and Do It Best retailers or DuMond Global dot com.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Gutter brush is the gutter guard I have in my
gutters and have recommended for years. Just fill your gutter
with simple brushes to block leaves while water flows through.
It couldn't be any easier. Here's a special offer for
my listeners. Get twenty five percent off in free shipping
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Visit gutterbrush dot com or call eight eight eight three
(35:10):
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Speaker 1 (35:17):
A flooded basement can destroy your home in minutes, flooring,
ruined walls, soap, thousands of dollars in damage, and your
sump pump's the only thing standing between you in a disaster.
But when storms hit, power fails and pumps quit, you
need a backup. Zalor backup. Some pumps run on a
battery or even city water. With a Venturi system, every
(35:37):
pump is tested and retested at the factory. Plumbers trust Salor,
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with your home protected with zalors zalarpumps dot com.
Speaker 4 (35:48):
Well.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
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 Salvin here from my friends
at rotor Router plumbing and water cleanup. They're the some
pump expert and can install backup some pump that will
prevent basement flooding even during a power outage. And if
your primary pump is getting up in the years, well
rottro Ruter can replace that too. Trust me a lot
(36:11):
cheaper than a flooded basement. Called Roto Router at one
eight hundred get Ruto today.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Alright, eleven minutes before the top of the hour. Talk
at home improvement. Love to talk about your project. The
line is open. It's eight hundred eighty two three eight
two fivey five. You ever have a concern A want
to know what amount of moisture is in a piece
(37:05):
of wood. Or you have a basement and it's finished
and it smells a little you know, funky like a basement.
Ever wonder whether there's moisture behind that wall. There are
moisture meters and it's a tool choose to measure how
(37:25):
much moistures inside wood? Dryball you can eat, you know, firewood,
you get some. You know I always talk about you
want to have firewood that's good and dry? Well, what's
that mean? How dry? How do I tell? Always said,
if you take a piece of firewood and you drop
it on concrete. If it goes thud, probably shouldn't put
(37:48):
it in the fireplace. Probably got a lot of moisture
in it. You drop it and it sounds like a
baseball bat boy, that's really dry. But sometimes it would
be really nice have a tool that could tell you
exactly what the moisture content is behind drywall or in
(38:11):
pressure tree wood or in firewood. So there's two basic types.
There's a pin type meter and that they have metal
probes on the end of it and literally you can
like push it through the drywall and get a reading
into the studs or into the insulation. Then there's also
(38:34):
a pinless meter, which you just scanned beneath the surface
and you don't have to, you know, leave any holes.
And it's really good for finished wood, floors, walls, et cetera.
So choose one of those. But really what you're looking
for too is you know what's too much moisture. So
(38:58):
give you an example if you do woodworking, or maybe
you do some carpentry and you get some lumber and
you're wondering what how much moisture is in there? Right,
we always talk about like hardwood flooring. We let it
acclimate to the inside air, whether it's air conditioned in
(39:20):
the summer or winter, and it's dry. But your moisture
content of the lumber flooring six to eight percent, whereas
firewood we were talking about that fifteen to twenty percent.
Pressure treated wood, you probably want that around ten percent.
(39:45):
So you know these things are about fifty bucks and
you know, kind of give you an answer with that
doing a lot of damage. A good example of this
would be, let's you get a water spot on a
ceiling in a dining room or something, and you know
(40:09):
you can tell it's a water spot, maybe it's the
size of a softball or something like that. Where did
where did where did that water come from? Question number one?
We got to start doing some investigating there. But also
how wet is it on the other side of that ceiling. Well,
(40:30):
that's where your moisture meter comes in. Because the other
answer is get up there in the attic if it's
if there's an attic above it sometimes and if there's
a water spot, maybe, but if you can get up
there and pull insulation back, or you have to cut
out the dry wall to see if it's wet, or
your fifty dollars. Moisture meter is going to be able
(40:53):
to tell you what the moisture content is behind that spot.
Has it dried out, is it continue to get wet.
So it's going to help you with the diagnosis of
what in the world is going on there. So anyway,
I wanted to mention the moisture meter for some reason.
A lot of folks don't know that tool exists, and
(41:13):
I find it very helpful. And if you can, you know,
let's say you get a reading, you know there is
a problem to say the boot on the vent on
the roof of the house has cracked and water's coming
down there and has stained the drywall in the dining room.
And you know, let's say you get a reading of
(41:35):
fifteen percent and the next day you get twenty percent during
a rain, you know that leak is still active or
the opposite. Maybe it's condensation that's caused. It's just going
to help you determine it. And by the way, speaking
of you know, spots on a ceiling, if the problem
(41:57):
is diagnosed, the problem's fixed, the air dries out. In
a lot of cases, a good stain killing primer over
that will set that stain and it can be painted.
Do not just paint over that without a stain killing primer,
or you're going to you know, you're going to have
some you're going to have some issues. It's going to
(42:20):
bleed right through. But there's also other alternatives in a
space it kind of gets into when you got popcorn
ceilings or textured ceilings. I've seen a lot of people
like there's a company in in our city called since
a Drywall where they come in and they'll put in, uh, well,
(42:44):
they could fix the problem, cut it out and do
the patch and everything, or they can put a quarter
inch drywall over that area and you really don't have
to change too much on that ceiling. It's a it's
a you still got to fix the leak, right, but
it takes care of that particular problem. Or there's even
(43:06):
some really I've talked about this a lot. There's a
decorative ceiling tile and oh my gosh, they must have
two hundred different types, probably more than that. But then
it is almost like three pieces of paper in a
plastic It could look like a copper ceiling if you
wanted to. It could be that exquisite or a pewter ceiling,
(43:30):
or it could just look like drywall. There's also wall coverings,
dry wall coverings that can go over. The options are many,
and I think a lot of people just you know,
you see the spot, I know you panic. Some people
will just paint it. It'll bleed through, like I said,
and again if it's a popcorn ceiling, then you can
(43:52):
mess up some of the popcorns. But there's all kinds
of alternatives to really focus and take care of the problem.
So want to address that, but it really kind of
starts with a moisture meter. All right, Happy to take
your phone calls as we talk a little home improvement today.
Let me give you that phone number. You can line
them up. When we come back, we'll talk about that
home project that you have.
Speaker 5 (44:13):
It's eight hundred eight two three eight two, five to
five and you're at home with Gary Sullomon.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Thanks the weekend, and you have fixed questions. Give Gary
a call at one eight hundred eighty two three talk.
This is at home with Gary Sullivan
At Home with Gary Sullivan News
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