Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, it's the best time of the day. I'm going
to say good afternoon, welcome now our number four and
you're at home with Gary Sullivan working our way through
the weekend, and i'd love to have your call regarding
your home project or maybe a little maintenance repair. I
also have my checklist. I'll run by you things you
might consider getting done around your home. Then maybe not
a big project, just basic common maintenance. Our phone number
(00:24):
eight hundred eight two three eight two five five. Okay, Jim,
sorry about that delay, and thank you very much for
holding on. But we can get back to the driveway.
And when I was talking about a whole bunch of
cracks in an area, I mentioned maybe digging up that area,
And what do you think about that, because if the
(00:44):
cracks really aren't being filled properly and they're kind of
oozing out, it might be we're just using the wrong products.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well, like I said, this driveway and we're the pretty
sad shape when I got there, and if I was
going to dig all that up, I might as well
just m I don't know I want to do that,
you know what I'm saying. Yeah, well, I didn't know
if there was a prout there that would was better
(01:14):
than another one.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Well, I can run you buy a couple of I
don't know exactly what products you were using, but if
it was oozing out, it sounded like it was kind
of a coal tar mixture. It never really dried and
it would liquefy under heat, so we would want to
stay away from that. So a couple of suggestions. There's
a one called crack seal. It is a it is
(01:41):
a latex uh black crack filler, so heat's not going
to make it ooze out or anything like that like
a coal tar bass would. It would be you know,
you got to clean out all those cracks because it's
got to have something to attach to. And literally it's
about oh gosh, I would say, like a milkshake, that
(02:05):
kind of thickness that you could just pour in there.
It comes at a quart bottle with a spout. That
would be one option. Another option, which might have a
little more guts to it. I'd have to read up
on it a little bit. I don't know what the
base of it is, but it's more of a mastic.
(02:27):
In fact, it's called asphalt mastic, and so it's it's
like the consistency of like a roof patch, okay, where
you can trial it over the surface, but i'd have
to read on it. I can't. I can't say exactly
(02:47):
how it's going to react, but I can't imagine that
it would be oozing out. I'm sure it would dry
to a hard finish. It might be softer than an asphalt.
That that would be one that would probably be ideal
considering the kind of shape it's in. Is to use
(03:08):
and you know, clean it really good. Get all the
debris out again and use a mastic right over that
surface area.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I was at one of the big box scores and
they had a brand. It was Quick Creek brand you
play with that one the crack filler by.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Quick Creek, and and what was the name of the product.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
It's it's a crack filler for stral trodways and but
it was quick Creek, so you know, the same you
know as that concrete.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah yeah, yeah, Actually the one, the cracked seal product
I was talking about is a quick great product.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Okay, yeah, because they said that that was a good one, but.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Well it's a good one. It's an acrylic, so it
has limitations and it has pluses, pluses it's gonna dry.
It's gonna dry hard. It almost reminds me when it
drives of like hard chewing gum. Okay, so so it's
not going anywhere, it's not gonna use it. It's good
for filling cracks that are a quarter inch or less, and.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
That would would you eat that stuff up before you
point it in?
Speaker 1 (04:24):
No, no, no, no, no, those days are gone. Those
are those are pretty much all done from a professional
standpoint where they can use certain products that homeowners can't
use anymore. So, no, this isn't acrylic or latex patch.
You just literally use it right out of the jug. Okay,
(04:45):
all right, good luck?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
What about what about the actual stealer? Hold on, what
about the actual stealer? Any suggestions on that?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Well, yeah, there's some wonderful ones out there the ceiling
that I'd probably really commend you take a look at.
It's called drive Max. I've seen it at loads, they've
seen it at ACE. It's about forty bucks a pail.
But it's a gel. It's a two coat surface coating.
(05:16):
It's a warranted for ten years, and the warranty is
really from in your case, what you're gonna be going
over it's gonna warrant it from fading, so it's gonna
look nicer longer. It's a like I said, is a gel.
It's easy to use. You don't have to start. You
turn it upside down and literally just apply it with
(05:38):
your regular asphalt seiler brush and squeegee. But your your
problem is the seiler's gonna it's gonna dress it up
like if you used that mastic it would cover that
mastic cup you use the patch, it's got some thickness.
It's gonna make it a look a little more uniform.
(05:58):
But your whole problem is what we can't see, and
that's underneath the asphalt. The soil obviously is always moving
and does it with concrete, it begins to crack up
the gravel. It may have been not enough for a
good sturdy base years ago. It's the things we can't see.
(06:19):
So what we're doing now, you know, using your words,
is kind of a little bit reached the point of
non repair. So we're trying to repair it, but we're
really just trying to make it look like something. Really,
I mean, we're putting a giant band aid on and
trying to turn it black for nobody knows and we
(06:40):
can do that for a while, but you know you're limited.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Did you repeat the name when we're done during.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
It's called drive Max?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Okay, great today, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Very good. I appreciate Jim. Thanks for calling. All right. Then,
when you're thinking about sealers too, they've changed the game's
changed the ability with these a asphalt seilers, They're amazing.
I think we a lot of times did our asphalt
(07:21):
driveways to make it look black again. You'd put it on.
They looks so good in the subdivisions of the black
top driveway. Wow. And then after about a year or
two they were gray and they were bleached out and
it's like we put some more seiler on there. And
now with the acrylics, they're I'm not gonna say I'm previous,
but they have such a UV block to them. They're
(07:44):
almost fade resistant. And they come in warranties. You got
the two year, you got the five year, you got
the seven year, and you got the ten year, and
I'm I'm certainly happy to discuss that. But get on
their website and read what each one offers you. You know,
if you're a person that I don't care it's forty
(08:05):
gallons of payout. It's gonna get me three hundred square feet.
I'm gonna do this once every ten years. I need
three pails. I'm in. Okay, if you're the person like
I'm not gonna I'm not putting in one hundred and
fifty bucks a sealer on my asphalt driveway, I'll do
it every other year. Well, you'll still probably put in
(08:27):
the uh, you know, one hundred and fifty bucks. You're
just gonna do it on time, okay, and you'll still
have the labor involved. But read what each one gives you,
because they do give you different things. All Right. We
got Denise, and then we got Rob and Taylor, and
your calls are appreciated. You're at home with Gary Salvan
(08:47):
right here on fifty five care see detalk station. All right,
twelve nineteen it is and uh, yes, it's still raining,
and I don't even know if the heavy stuff's even
got here yet. So the sky seemed a little bit
more light. But yeah, when I was downstairs a minute ago,
I was pouring rain here in Kenwood. Yeah yeah, Well
(09:09):
take that umbrell and check those gutters like I did
the other day. I didn't yank the umbrel. I just
stood on the screen porch. Very lazy, but I was
surprised what I found.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
No, no, no, no, not lazy.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
All about easy, right, I'm all about easy? All right?
Let's uh, you got the phone number, grab a line.
We got Denise, Denis.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Welcome, Hey Gary, thanks for taking my call. You have
another asphalt question if you don't mind.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
So I've got a different problem. So outside in front
of my house, I have sort of a curved sidewalk
that goes from the driveway up to the front step.
So if you're standing on my driveway looking at the sidewalk,
it's slanting towards the house. Okay, so what it's causing
(09:58):
like a when we get head there's like this huge
puddling right in front of my front step, which I
think is now contributing to seep it little seep it
is starting in the basement.
Speaker 5 (10:09):
My question to you is I've seen these.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Ads for they level because the sidewalk itself is in
good shape.
Speaker 5 (10:17):
I mean there's no cracks or anything in it. I'm
wondering if I see these advertisements for these guys that
level the concrete or whatever, does that work?
Speaker 6 (10:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Sure, it works. Sure, how holds the house?
Speaker 5 (10:32):
I think it was built in the early nineties.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Okay, So here's how. And it's it's a common problem,
and it is a problem, you know, more than the
big puddle. The big problem is not the puddle, though
it is the most obvious problem. But when they a
lot of even older homes built in the forties and
things where the sidewalk goes right along the side of
(10:57):
the house to the back door or something, and it's
tilt it in. It's catching all the water from the
sky and putting it right on the foundation, which is
never good. Never good. Puts pressure and water keeps seeping
in the basement. But yeah, we can. It's called a
couple of things. It's called concrete leveling. It's called mud jacking.
(11:19):
In different parts of the country. It's called you know,
slab jacking is another thing. It's called I've had it
done in my home a couple of times. I really
need to call them again. So it's not always permanent.
We dig a hole, we backfill all this dirt, and
(11:41):
we pour a concrete sidewalk on top of it, so
as all that dirt over the next lifetime of the
house settles and it does. Concrete is either going to
crack or it's gonna tilt, or it's gonna do both.
Eventually it will do both. So also in different parts
(12:03):
of the country. Since it's Derby Day, we can always
talk about that because horses and limestone, that's what makes
their bones so strong. But limestone's you know, it settles,
it breaks down, and that's when we get all the
sinkholes in Kentucky and stuff like Florida. So that happens too.
(12:24):
We don't know when it's going to happen. It could
happen the day after you have that sidewalk leveled. Who knows.
It could be the cause of that, or just building
the house could have been the cause of it. But
your question was does it work? Yes, it does. What
they'll do is they'll come in, they'll drill holes in it.
I think it's an amazing process, and they'll pump a
(12:44):
cementatious mortar underneath that sidewalk. It will fill the void
and it will lift it and it will control the
lift on that I was inside a house. They'll do
multiple holes so they can really totally control the lift
(13:07):
in different areas. It's an amazing process.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
Was effective or.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
It's about a third of the cost of replacing that concrete, okay.
And some people will give you a three year callback warranty,
some do not, so you can ask that question. But
it's you know, I've had I've used slab jackie, that's
(13:36):
what I call it. Probably in both of my houses,
I've probably done it six times. And in the house
i'm at right now, I had it done three years
ago on a patio and I got to have it
done again on the other five times. I've never had
to call them back. So it just depends what's underneath.
(14:00):
But it it will alleviate the problem of funneling that
water to your foundation, which is good, real good. And
even from the short term view of it, it'll get
rid of that puddle right before the steps. So that's all.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Yeah, okay, I appreciate your answer.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Thanks Garry, you bet.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Take care bym bye. All right, ten, let's see we'll
take a rob rob welcome.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Yeah, Hey, hey Gary, thanks for taking the call. Yes, sir, So,
I've got a about one hundred and ten year old
house and with one hundred and ten year old joyce
in the basement, I'm replacing the duck work and there's
a section of the duck work that acts as every turn,
and I'm wondering. I'm thinking that when I pull down
(14:53):
the old canning, I'm gonna slap some pain up there.
And I'm just wondering, Uh, you know, I was planning
on using just leftover paint that I have in the
basement somewhere where should I pick something else or just
leave it as it is? And I'm wasting my time
painting it?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
So you know, Okay, so just for I got it right.
So these joysts are like one hundred years old.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Yeah, yeah, but they're they're solid.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
You know.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Oh years old is different than today.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
I was just gonna tell you, I bet you have
a hard time driving a nail in that. Seriously, that's
how hard that would get.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Well, I've been, I've been pulling nails out. It's hard,
for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Yeah. So you're going to take that down, the duck
work down, and you're just looking at painting the inside
part or the inside of the.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Joining, you know, like you put the panting up and
it acts as the return flow. Oh okay to the furnace.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
I don't need to paint that. I don't. I mean,
if you want to you can just just clean it up,
just clean it up.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Yeah, I mean the only reason I was thinking about
that is, you know, there's the ductwork cleaner guys, and
I was thinking, like, does it make sense to use
like a you know, a high gloss paint or something
that helps.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Keep you know, like when with the airflow.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Will get down there exactly eventually, like when they want
to bacum it up. If I put some kind of
like paint on their would be easier to.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Well, it would make it smoother. I can't see that
Joyce pocket of how rough that is, but painting it
would make it smoother. It might be less of an
attracting to have dust stick to it. So if that's
the reason I would say it would be helpful, I
don't know to what degree of help it is. I'm
(16:47):
giving you a real political answer. I think I'll run
for office, but.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
I mean no, I mean no, I know I can.
I don't have to do anything. But you know, it's
one of the things that well, while it's open, you know.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, So
you know, if it's pretty rough in there, and you
know you're going to feel better about pain certainly not
going to hurt anything, and you know it, it would
make it smoother, especially that old Joyce and old wood
materres probably fairly rough song, so some of the paint
(17:22):
would fill that, so there would be some you know,
it would be some help. I just don't know you
had said whether it be worth doing it. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Well, well, I mean, it's not a big session. I'm
just I was just wondering, like, I have leftover paint,
so like, if I decide like I'm going to paint, yeah,
did I use a specific type of pain or just
whatever I've laying around?
Speaker 1 (17:48):
If you have any old oil base, I would use
that first, only because it's going to have a better
opportunity to bite on that old wood versus a late
text paint.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Not that I was thinking the same things. So all right,
well it's kind of kind of a weird question.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
But that's okay. Makes me think, thanks, all right, very good, right,
thank you much. All right, let me give you the
phone number you can grab a line. We've got a
spot for you. It's eight hundred eight two three eight
two five five. We'll continue, Paul. You'll be up first,
and you're at home with Gary Sullivan right here in
fifty five care see the talk station well talking a
(18:33):
little home improvement on your weekend. You're at home with
Gary Sullivan. If you've got a question or a concern,
maybe a little maintenance question. I've got a checklist myself
I'll share with you. You can feel free to ask
those questions. Our phone numbers eight hundred eight two three
A two five five And let's go to Paul. Paul, Welcome,
(18:56):
Hello Gary.
Speaker 6 (18:57):
Yes, I've got a partially finished basement that has a
full bath and the comode goes out to a sewage
pit with the pump, of course, and during all the
water we had last month, it kind of overflowed, and
I know the pump was bad, so I've taken out
(19:19):
the pump to replace it. And the bottom of the
pit around the diameter has cracks around the diameter of
the bottom, so groundwater is coming in that pit, and
that of course the sewage water goes through as well.
I would imagine though, when I replaced the pump, I
(19:40):
was wondering if they're short of replacing that whole pit,
which would be a huge job. I was wondering if
there's any way that we could repair the bottom seal
off the bottom so that it doesn't leak anymore.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Well, that's a good question, I would say, is a
cra is it cracked? Is it wide cracks? Is there
chunks out or kind of?
Speaker 6 (20:06):
Well, there's there's crack. It's cracked right around the diameter,
like where the bottom disc would would go on the sides,
and there the cracks are probably eighth of an inch.
It's just cracked in places all around the diameter, and
you can actually see through the crack. So I would
(20:28):
say the cracks maybe an eighth of an inch in places.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
And well, there is there is patches. Is the is
the whole pit concrete? It's not like a plastic liner
in the pit, it's it's all concrete.
Speaker 6 (20:48):
No, it's a it's a plastic pit. Yeah, it's plastic.
And that's cracks in the plastic.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Okay, yeah, okay, Well let's see. You could patch it
if you can get to it. I guess the problem
I'm having Paul was just really uh picturing how those
cracks are. How pliable that plastic is. There are certainly
products that would be hardy enough to be able to
(21:21):
Is that plastic real flexible? Is it if your patch.
It doesn't have enough guts. If I put like a paste.
Speaker 6 (21:28):
On there, well, that's what I was thinking, Like an epoxy,
some type of epoxy, exactly what you think. The rubbers, Yeah,
the rubbers. If you put a rubber sea along and
it might just go uh you know it would. I
need something that'll stay in the cracks and I'll go
on through.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
So I'm going to give you a name of a product.
If there's anything that's going to do it, this, this
particular product will It's an excellent product. It's called p
C seven. It is right. It's a cylinder, which is
about if you put your thumbs together and your two
(22:08):
fore fingers together. That's about the size of the cylinder.
And inside that there's a hardener and a resin that
you can mix and it's kind of like a paste.
You could put it on like a you know, with
a popsicle stick or something along those lines. Coat on
both sides, code on the front, and I forget what
(22:29):
the dry time is, but it dries rock hard. That
would be one thing I would suggest.
Speaker 6 (22:41):
Okay, yeah, I think I give that a try.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
There's also a plumber's epoxy. I think Duro makes it.
It's not as hearty as the PC seven. It kind
of comes in a ribbon, so you know, I remember
it's blue and its goal than ones. The resin ones
are hardener. You cut off the piece of the ribbon,
you need it with your fingers, you peel off the
(23:06):
plastic and you gotta kind of got a paste there.
The PC I would say, I would classify as harder
and more stout, but that that plumber's epoxy ribbon could
possibly do it. Also.
Speaker 6 (23:24):
Yeah, another friend I was gonna say, suggested putting the
self leveling cement in the bottom, just pouring that in
to cover the crack. But that would still leak water,
wouldn't it.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yeah? Yeah it would Yeah, Yeah, I I the correct answer.
We give answers, and we give correct answers. Correct answers.
Probably replace that that liner, But if you're trying to
buy time and not get into it, I would recommend
the PC seven.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
Yeah, that replacement would entail cracking all the concrete up.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
And sure, that's a big project exactly, and I don't
think there's a liner for the liner, So that'd be
probably the two options that you're looking at.
Speaker 6 (24:18):
Okay, Well, I appreciate the advice. I'll certainly look into
the PC seven. That sounds like a good pick.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Yeah, even google it and find out I can't remember
what the manufacturer's name, and go to their website because
they got like PC two, PC three, PC seven for
different things. You can read with the differences. I think
I got the right number PC seven, but you might
want to just double check some of the other products.
(24:46):
There very much specialty products and they do a good job.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
Okay, well, thanks so much for taking time to talk
to me.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
You're quite welcome. Thank you. Take care all right. Our
phone number there is eight hundred eighty two three eight
two five five. We're talking a little home improvement. Hey,
have you noticed anything that changed in your home? And
I'm talking in the last month. I'm talking about since
all the rain has occurred. I'm talking about since the
(25:18):
warmer temperatures have occurred periodically, not very warm today, kind
of chilly in fact, cold. I have and you know,
I've been doing this for a long time, and this
occurred this morning at six thirty as I'm walking across
(25:38):
the hallway the wood floors in the hallway, and I've
got a house full of grandkids today and we had
a little celebration last night, and I'm trying to be quiet,
and I'm walking down the hallway and I'm thinking, floor's
not squeaking. See I am a little goofy, but that's
(26:00):
what I was thinking. Little. This is true, Danny, This
is exactly what I was like. Okay, man, that floor
is not squeaky. I'm not going to wake them up.
That's good. I'll go make some coffee. And I'm walking
and not a squeak. So as I make the coffee,
I ponder, why is the floor not squeaking today? Because
(26:21):
it's been raining, because it's been warming up, because there's
more humidy, humidity inside the home, and the wood swells.
And remember, no more than probably six weeks ago, I
was telling you to just check around where the crown
molding meets the ceiling, where the crown molding's got miter
(26:44):
cuts and they butt up against each other. Remember when
I told you check the base boards, Yes, maybe the
trim around the doors and windows, and look for separation.
Everybody's going, yeah, I got that, And I said, well,
it's because it's dry out and the floor squeaks wins
dry out. Well, now we've got this humidity inside our home,
(27:05):
and it's a good time to start paying attention to
where your humidity level is in your home because eventually
that sun's going to come out and it's going to
get humid outside and it's going to get humid inside,
and then we're going to turn the air conditioning on
and sometimes that's going to take care of the humidity
issues in your home, and sometimes it's not, and we'll
(27:27):
start taking calls on that. But my real point about
telling you a story, Quaansa, is this is the movements
that take place in your home all the time, and
it's all based on humidity levels and temperatures. So in January,
when you see that gap between a crown molding and
(27:49):
a ceiling, or you can see the cuts in the
baseboard molding or on the door trim, and you go, h,
I got to fix that. You fix it then, because
that is going to kind of go away in the summertime.
And use something that's flexible. Even a clocking can take
care of that and it can move with it. But
(28:12):
that's why the squeak on the floor as I pondered
over my coffee had gone away. So I wanted to
pass that on to you all right. Our phone number
is eight hundred eight two three eight two five five.
Grab a line, happy to talk to you. You're at
home with Gary Sullivan on fifty five KR see de
talk station. All right, back at it we go twelve
(28:35):
forty six at home with Gary Sullivan and as we
look at the rain, and rather than talking about wet basements,
I do want to go over the crawl space once again.
By the way, if you've got to question dolls up again,
it's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five
and we'll get you on before we bail out at
(28:57):
one o'clock hour. But uh, like I said, rather than
talking about the basements, which by the way, are also
especially if I'm talking about mind starting to be humand
I don't have the acon, don't have a dehumidifier on,
and it's being controlled, but it's it's getting more and
more moist because of the rain and the water that's
(29:17):
around foundations. But the cross space can be a little
different animal. And that is if it's in a basement,
you see the problem. You see the wet walls, you
might see the puddle on the floor. In a cross space,
you might not even see the wet walls. You might
(29:39):
not even see that the floor's wet, because in a
lot of cases it will be gravel on dart and
it may just be soaking in. It may not even
be puddling. But if you get there and take a
look with a flashlight and examine the cross space from
you know, from the outside in, and you see standing water,
(30:02):
that's a big problem. We talk a lot about during
the month of April, we talked about healthy home awareness
and standing water in a cross space makes for a
very unhealthy home. And if you do nothing else to
(30:22):
that cross space, if you see standing water and standing water,
there is there a lot You need to get a
sump well in that cross space. You need to get
some vapor barrier on the floor which seams overlapped and
rocks holding it in place. You need to control that
(30:43):
standing water from just staying there and being stagnant, and
all that organic material and mold and milde and algae
nite can be grown right in that cross space. But
one of the things with a cross base is the
same thing is going on if you have a leaky basement,
right and that is on the outside is the land
(31:10):
the landscaping is that all sloped away from the cross space,
because that can be funneling the water right into the
cross space. And nothing's worse than when you have standing
water in a cross base and then you've got fibergas
insulation underneath the or in the joist pockets, and it's
(31:31):
always damp and it's going to get all moldy also,
So try and keep that cross base is dry as
you can is key. If there is no standing water,
you may not need a sump well and a sump
pump at all. It just may be the water vapor.
(31:54):
You know, the water table rises up. It doesn't overwhelm
the surface. It's just soils moist, which is you know,
producing water vapor, which is producing probably molding that cross
space in that eight to ten mil plastic on the surface.
(32:16):
Overlapping seams taped and gravel holding in place could take
care of the problem. Ignoring it doesn't take care of
a problem. And I'm not even saying there is, but
that's something to investigate. That's something to take a look at.
And if you are going to insulate underneath that subfloor,
(32:41):
the fiberglass insulation's fine. I'd really like those foam panels
though I think they can do a really good job.
If you have plastic on the bottom, you can just
put open cell foam panels up there. You can put
clothes sell to minimizes any water vapor you have in
the air and across space from penetrating up to the
(33:02):
subfloor and into your kitchen area or family room. But
kind of just get a flashlight out and take a
good examination of exactly what you got in there would
be really helpful. Another thing a lot of people are
looking at, especially a lousy day like we got today,
(33:24):
and I don't know, I think most people will tackle
into your paint projects themselves. With today's quality paints. It's
certainly something I would encourage you to try to do.
But really what I want to talk about is the
leftover paints, And think about it at your house. Are
(33:50):
you one of the homes that have like forty gallons
of a pint of paint in a gallon can? You
got forty gallon cans sitting around in the basement, in
the garage, in the shed outside. Chances are I'm not
gonna say you're never gonna use them, but you're probably
never gonna use them unless you have them neatly organized.
(34:15):
You have them labeled with the color, the room, the
data applied. In other words, you're organized if you just
got them all stuffed in there. And I'll use myself
as an example, I just did this about six months ago.
We got into a tangent of painting everything, and I
(34:40):
already had I don't know, twenty four cans of paint.
They were all labeled neatly dated in it and the color,
so I had all the information. But if I'm painting
everything with new colors, I don't need that anymore. Right,
(35:00):
seems like simpleness. So you start looking, what are you
going to do with this paint? Can you recycle it?
Can you donate it? Well? Some you can, some you can't.
Oil based paints is considered hazardous material. A lot of counties,
a lot of cities will have hazard's material drop off dates.
(35:26):
Pay attention whether you're on next door neighbor or whether
you're it's still a local paper or something they'll usually
talk about or Facebook, they'll talk about that they're having
hazardous material drop off and that can be motor oil,
anti freeze cans of paint. You can certainly do that
(35:47):
for latex paint or you know, interior Latex paint, interior
house paint, exterior house paint, water base. There's a lot
of places that will take those. I have with that
few many restores. You might want to call before you go.
I know they used to take it. I don't know
if they blend. Matthew twenty five ministries will take all
(36:14):
kinds of paint any day, oil or latex, and I
think that is a really good place to donate. I
talked to him over there, like what do you do
with this? And a lot of times those paints are
shipped overseas to undeveloped countries because there there is no
(36:43):
paint or no paint is used, but it fulfills a need.
In other words, it wasn't going to waste. And everybody wins.
I always say that's the best thing you can do,
is when everybody wins you as a homeowner, you win
because you get rid of this obsolete paint that you
no longer have those colors in your home, and you
(37:06):
got these cans that are cluttering wherever your work bench area.
And certainly Matthew twenty five benefits because they serve their mission,
and the people that are on the receiving end also receive.
It's very easy to do. They just have a big
(37:29):
old drop box container. They ask you to put the
oils in one and the waters in the other, and
you simply drop it off. So I just want to
pass that along. And if you are painting, please do
a couple of things. Make sure everything is labeled. And
(37:50):
they have little touch up cups out there now which
are excellent. They're about I think about sixteen ounces. You
can pour the paint in there. It has a silkone gasket,
you can tighten it up. You can label the year
that this paint was used, the color, the brand, and
(38:10):
that little touch up cup. If you need to touch
things up. It's fresh way to go. It's in a
can you can handle, it's documented, the color, the brand,
name is documented, and it organizes so easily in a
cabinet or a drawer, and again saving a lot of space.
So I know paint disposal is a challenge for a
(38:33):
lot of people. When I get asked that question a
lot like what am I supposed to do it? Can
I throw it just in the trash? Don't do that?
I saw and in fact, on our street number of
years ago, somebody took a can of paint, I guess,
and just dumped it in their trash can. When Rumky came,
they had the trash compactor and the roadway was just
(38:57):
brand new asphalt, and I guess, you know, they don't
know what's in the trash can. They dumped it in there.
The trash compactor went, crushed the can, the truck drove
down the street and painted the brand new asphalt. Ouch. Yeah. Ow,
Everybody's going like, what are we gonna do. It'll fade,
(39:18):
it'll go away, And it did just go away after
a period of time, but it wasn't a very good look.
So there's definitely some some things you can do. Don't
just throw it in the trash. If you got a
little bit of oil based paint or water based paint,
you can throw some kitty litter in that you know, pail,
(39:41):
and it'll absorb it. Keep the lid off, it'll harden
and then you can throw that away. So I want
to pass those tips onto you. And by the way,
mister Donovan will be coming up to help you with
all your car issues, and I'm sure he'll be looking
for your car on this lovely day, but tomorrow will
(40:03):
be lovely also, and Danny Boy, and I'll be here
and take your home and garden questions. Good Lord willing,
we'll speak with you tomorrow right here in fifty five
k CE Detalk station
Well, it's the best time of the day. I'm going
to say good afternoon, welcome now our number four and
you're at home with Gary Sullivan working our way through
the weekend, and i'd love to have your call regarding
your home project or maybe a little maintenance repair. I
also have my checklist. I'll run by you things you
might consider getting done around your home. Then maybe not
a big project, just basic common maintenance. Our phone number
(00:24):
eight hundred eight two three eight two five five. Okay, Jim,
sorry about that delay, and thank you very much for
holding on. But we can get back to the driveway.
And when I was talking about a whole bunch of
cracks in an area, I mentioned maybe digging up that area,
And what do you think about that, because if the
(00:44):
cracks really aren't being filled properly and they're kind of
oozing out, it might be we're just using the wrong products.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well, like I said, this driveway and we're the pretty
sad shape when I got there, and if I was
going to dig all that up, I might as well
just m I don't know I want to do that,
you know what I'm saying. Yeah, well, I didn't know
if there was a prout there that would was better
(01:14):
than another one.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Well, I can run you buy a couple of I
don't know exactly what products you were using, but if
it was oozing out, it sounded like it was kind
of a coal tar mixture. It never really dried and
it would liquefy under heat, so we would want to
stay away from that. So a couple of suggestions. There's
a one called crack seal. It is a it is
(01:41):
a latex uh black crack filler, so heat's not going
to make it ooze out or anything like that like
a coal tar bass would. It would be you know,
you got to clean out all those cracks because it's
got to have something to attach to. And literally it's
about oh gosh, I would say, like a milkshake, that
(02:05):
kind of thickness that you could just pour in there.
It comes at a quart bottle with a spout. That
would be one option. Another option, which might have a
little more guts to it. I'd have to read up
on it a little bit. I don't know what the
base of it is, but it's more of a mastic.
(02:27):
In fact, it's called asphalt mastic, and so it's it's
like the consistency of like a roof patch, okay, where
you can trial it over the surface, but i'd have
to read on it. I can't. I can't say exactly
(02:47):
how it's going to react, but I can't imagine that
it would be oozing out. I'm sure it would dry
to a hard finish. It might be softer than an asphalt.
That that would be one that would probably be ideal
considering the kind of shape it's in. Is to use
(03:08):
and you know, clean it really good. Get all the
debris out again and use a mastic right over that
surface area.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I was at one of the big box scores and
they had a brand. It was Quick Creek brand you
play with that one the crack filler by.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Quick Creek, and and what was the name of the product.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
It's it's a crack filler for stral trodways and but
it was quick Creek, so you know, the same you
know as that concrete.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah yeah, yeah, Actually the one, the cracked seal product
I was talking about is a quick great product.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Okay, yeah, because they said that that was a good one, but.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Well it's a good one. It's an acrylic, so it
has limitations and it has pluses, pluses it's gonna dry.
It's gonna dry hard. It almost reminds me when it
drives of like hard chewing gum. Okay, so so it's
not going anywhere, it's not gonna use it. It's good
for filling cracks that are a quarter inch or less, and.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
That would would you eat that stuff up before you
point it in?
Speaker 1 (04:24):
No, no, no, no, no, those days are gone. Those
are those are pretty much all done from a professional
standpoint where they can use certain products that homeowners can't
use anymore. So, no, this isn't acrylic or latex patch.
You just literally use it right out of the jug. Okay,
(04:45):
all right, good luck?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
What about what about the actual stealer? Hold on, what
about the actual stealer? Any suggestions on that?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Well, yeah, there's some wonderful ones out there the ceiling
that I'd probably really commend you take a look at.
It's called drive Max. I've seen it at loads, they've
seen it at ACE. It's about forty bucks a pail.
But it's a gel. It's a two coat surface coating.
(05:16):
It's a warranted for ten years, and the warranty is
really from in your case, what you're gonna be going
over it's gonna warrant it from fading, so it's gonna
look nicer longer. It's a like I said, is a gel.
It's easy to use. You don't have to start. You
turn it upside down and literally just apply it with
(05:38):
your regular asphalt seiler brush and squeegee. But your your
problem is the seiler's gonna it's gonna dress it up
like if you used that mastic it would cover that
mastic cup you use the patch, it's got some thickness.
It's gonna make it a look a little more uniform.
(05:58):
But your whole problem is what we can't see, and
that's underneath the asphalt. The soil obviously is always moving
and does it with concrete, it begins to crack up
the gravel. It may have been not enough for a
good sturdy base years ago. It's the things we can't see.
(06:19):
So what we're doing now, you know, using your words,
is kind of a little bit reached the point of
non repair. So we're trying to repair it, but we're
really just trying to make it look like something. Really,
I mean, we're putting a giant band aid on and
trying to turn it black for nobody knows and we
(06:40):
can do that for a while, but you know you're limited.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Did you repeat the name when we're done during.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
It's called drive Max?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Okay, great today, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Very good. I appreciate Jim. Thanks for calling. All right. Then,
when you're thinking about sealers too, they've changed the game's
changed the ability with these a asphalt seilers, They're amazing.
I think we a lot of times did our asphalt
(07:21):
driveways to make it look black again. You'd put it on.
They looks so good in the subdivisions of the black
top driveway. Wow. And then after about a year or
two they were gray and they were bleached out and
it's like we put some more seiler on there. And
now with the acrylics, they're I'm not gonna say I'm previous,
but they have such a UV block to them. They're
(07:44):
almost fade resistant. And they come in warranties. You got
the two year, you got the five year, you got
the seven year, and you got the ten year, and
I'm I'm certainly happy to discuss that. But get on
their website and read what each one offers you. You know,
if you're a person that I don't care it's forty
(08:05):
gallons of payout. It's gonna get me three hundred square feet.
I'm gonna do this once every ten years. I need
three pails. I'm in. Okay, if you're the person like
I'm not gonna I'm not putting in one hundred and
fifty bucks a sealer on my asphalt driveway, I'll do
it every other year. Well, you'll still probably put in
(08:27):
the uh, you know, one hundred and fifty bucks. You're
just gonna do it on time, okay, and you'll still
have the labor involved. But read what each one gives you,
because they do give you different things. All Right. We
got Denise, and then we got Rob and Taylor, and
your calls are appreciated. You're at home with Gary Salvan
(08:47):
right here on fifty five care see detalk station. All right,
twelve nineteen it is and uh, yes, it's still raining,
and I don't even know if the heavy stuff's even
got here yet. So the sky seemed a little bit
more light. But yeah, when I was downstairs a minute ago,
I was pouring rain here in Kenwood. Yeah yeah, Well
(09:09):
take that umbrell and check those gutters like I did
the other day. I didn't yank the umbrel. I just
stood on the screen porch. Very lazy, but I was
surprised what I found.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
No, no, no, no, not lazy.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
All about easy, right, I'm all about easy? All right?
Let's uh, you got the phone number, grab a line.
We got Denise, Denis.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Welcome, Hey Gary, thanks for taking my call. You have
another asphalt question if you don't mind.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
So I've got a different problem. So outside in front
of my house, I have sort of a curved sidewalk
that goes from the driveway up to the front step.
So if you're standing on my driveway looking at the sidewalk,
it's slanting towards the house. Okay, so what it's causing
(09:58):
like a when we get head there's like this huge
puddling right in front of my front step, which I
think is now contributing to seep it little seep it
is starting in the basement.
Speaker 5 (10:09):
My question to you is I've seen these.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Ads for they level because the sidewalk itself is in
good shape.
Speaker 5 (10:17):
I mean there's no cracks or anything in it. I'm
wondering if I see these advertisements for these guys that
level the concrete or whatever, does that work?
Speaker 6 (10:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Sure, it works. Sure, how holds the house?
Speaker 5 (10:32):
I think it was built in the early nineties.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Okay, So here's how. And it's it's a common problem,
and it is a problem, you know, more than the
big puddle. The big problem is not the puddle, though
it is the most obvious problem. But when they a
lot of even older homes built in the forties and
things where the sidewalk goes right along the side of
(10:57):
the house to the back door or something, and it's
tilt it in. It's catching all the water from the
sky and putting it right on the foundation, which is
never good. Never good. Puts pressure and water keeps seeping
in the basement. But yeah, we can. It's called a
couple of things. It's called concrete leveling. It's called mud jacking.
(11:19):
In different parts of the country. It's called you know,
slab jacking is another thing. It's called I've had it
done in my home a couple of times. I really
need to call them again. So it's not always permanent.
We dig a hole, we backfill all this dirt, and
(11:41):
we pour a concrete sidewalk on top of it, so
as all that dirt over the next lifetime of the
house settles and it does. Concrete is either going to
crack or it's gonna tilt, or it's gonna do both.
Eventually it will do both. So also in different parts
(12:03):
of the country. Since it's Derby Day, we can always
talk about that because horses and limestone, that's what makes
their bones so strong. But limestone's you know, it settles,
it breaks down, and that's when we get all the
sinkholes in Kentucky and stuff like Florida. So that happens too.
(12:24):
We don't know when it's going to happen. It could
happen the day after you have that sidewalk leveled. Who knows.
It could be the cause of that, or just building
the house could have been the cause of it. But
your question was does it work? Yes, it does. What
they'll do is they'll come in, they'll drill holes in it.
I think it's an amazing process, and they'll pump a
(12:44):
cementatious mortar underneath that sidewalk. It will fill the void
and it will lift it and it will control the
lift on that I was inside a house. They'll do
multiple holes so they can really totally control the lift
(13:07):
in different areas. It's an amazing process.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
Was effective or.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
It's about a third of the cost of replacing that concrete, okay.
And some people will give you a three year callback warranty,
some do not, so you can ask that question. But
it's you know, I've had I've used slab jackie, that's
(13:36):
what I call it. Probably in both of my houses,
I've probably done it six times. And in the house
i'm at right now, I had it done three years
ago on a patio and I got to have it
done again on the other five times. I've never had
to call them back. So it just depends what's underneath.
(14:00):
But it it will alleviate the problem of funneling that
water to your foundation, which is good, real good. And
even from the short term view of it, it'll get
rid of that puddle right before the steps. So that's all.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Yeah, okay, I appreciate your answer.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Thanks Garry, you bet.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Take care bym bye. All right, ten, let's see we'll
take a rob rob welcome.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Yeah, Hey, hey Gary, thanks for taking the call. Yes, sir, So,
I've got a about one hundred and ten year old
house and with one hundred and ten year old joyce
in the basement, I'm replacing the duck work and there's
a section of the duck work that acts as every turn,
and I'm wondering. I'm thinking that when I pull down
(14:53):
the old canning, I'm gonna slap some pain up there.
And I'm just wondering, Uh, you know, I was planning
on using just leftover paint that I have in the
basement somewhere where should I pick something else or just
leave it as it is? And I'm wasting my time
painting it?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
So you know, Okay, so just for I got it right.
So these joysts are like one hundred years old.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Yeah, yeah, but they're they're solid.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
You know.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Oh years old is different than today.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
I was just gonna tell you, I bet you have
a hard time driving a nail in that. Seriously, that's
how hard that would get.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Well, I've been, I've been pulling nails out. It's hard,
for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Yeah. So you're going to take that down, the duck
work down, and you're just looking at painting the inside
part or the inside of the.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Joining, you know, like you put the panting up and
it acts as the return flow. Oh okay to the furnace.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
I don't need to paint that. I don't. I mean,
if you want to you can just just clean it up,
just clean it up.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Yeah, I mean the only reason I was thinking about
that is, you know, there's the ductwork cleaner guys, and
I was thinking, like, does it make sense to use
like a you know, a high gloss paint or something
that helps.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Keep you know, like when with the airflow.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Will get down there exactly eventually, like when they want
to bacum it up. If I put some kind of
like paint on their would be easier to.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Well, it would make it smoother. I can't see that
Joyce pocket of how rough that is, but painting it
would make it smoother. It might be less of an
attracting to have dust stick to it. So if that's
the reason I would say it would be helpful, I
don't know to what degree of help it is. I'm
(16:47):
giving you a real political answer. I think I'll run
for office, but.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
I mean no, I mean no, I know I can.
I don't have to do anything. But you know, it's
one of the things that well, while it's open, you know.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, So
you know, if it's pretty rough in there, and you
know you're going to feel better about pain certainly not
going to hurt anything, and you know it, it would
make it smoother, especially that old Joyce and old wood
materres probably fairly rough song, so some of the paint
(17:22):
would fill that, so there would be some you know,
it would be some help. I just don't know you
had said whether it be worth doing it. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Well, well, I mean, it's not a big session. I'm
just I was just wondering, like, I have leftover paint,
so like, if I decide like I'm going to paint, yeah,
did I use a specific type of pain or just
whatever I've laying around?
Speaker 1 (17:48):
If you have any old oil base, I would use
that first, only because it's going to have a better
opportunity to bite on that old wood versus a late
text paint.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Not that I was thinking the same things. So all right,
well it's kind of kind of a weird question.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
But that's okay. Makes me think, thanks, all right, very good, right,
thank you much. All right, let me give you the
phone number you can grab a line. We've got a
spot for you. It's eight hundred eight two three eight
two five five. We'll continue, Paul. You'll be up first,
and you're at home with Gary Sullivan right here in
fifty five care see the talk station well talking a
(18:33):
little home improvement on your weekend. You're at home with
Gary Sullivan. If you've got a question or a concern,
maybe a little maintenance question. I've got a checklist myself
I'll share with you. You can feel free to ask
those questions. Our phone numbers eight hundred eight two three
A two five five And let's go to Paul. Paul, Welcome,
(18:56):
Hello Gary.
Speaker 6 (18:57):
Yes, I've got a partially finished basement that has a
full bath and the comode goes out to a sewage
pit with the pump, of course, and during all the
water we had last month, it kind of overflowed, and
I know the pump was bad, so I've taken out
(19:19):
the pump to replace it. And the bottom of the
pit around the diameter has cracks around the diameter of
the bottom, so groundwater is coming in that pit, and
that of course the sewage water goes through as well.
I would imagine though, when I replaced the pump, I
(19:40):
was wondering if they're short of replacing that whole pit,
which would be a huge job. I was wondering if
there's any way that we could repair the bottom seal
off the bottom so that it doesn't leak anymore.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Well, that's a good question, I would say, is a
cra is it cracked? Is it wide cracks? Is there
chunks out or kind of?
Speaker 6 (20:06):
Well, there's there's crack. It's cracked right around the diameter,
like where the bottom disc would would go on the sides,
and there the cracks are probably eighth of an inch.
It's just cracked in places all around the diameter, and
you can actually see through the crack. So I would
(20:28):
say the cracks maybe an eighth of an inch in places.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
And well, there is there is patches. Is the is
the whole pit concrete? It's not like a plastic liner
in the pit, it's it's all concrete.
Speaker 6 (20:48):
No, it's a it's a plastic pit. Yeah, it's plastic.
And that's cracks in the plastic.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Okay, yeah, okay, Well let's see. You could patch it
if you can get to it. I guess the problem
I'm having Paul was just really uh picturing how those
cracks are. How pliable that plastic is. There are certainly
products that would be hardy enough to be able to
(21:21):
Is that plastic real flexible? Is it if your patch.
It doesn't have enough guts. If I put like a paste.
Speaker 6 (21:28):
On there, well, that's what I was thinking, Like an epoxy,
some type of epoxy, exactly what you think. The rubbers, Yeah,
the rubbers. If you put a rubber sea along and
it might just go uh you know it would. I
need something that'll stay in the cracks and I'll go
on through.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
So I'm going to give you a name of a product.
If there's anything that's going to do it, this, this
particular product will It's an excellent product. It's called p
C seven. It is right. It's a cylinder, which is
about if you put your thumbs together and your two
(22:08):
fore fingers together. That's about the size of the cylinder.
And inside that there's a hardener and a resin that
you can mix and it's kind of like a paste.
You could put it on like a you know, with
a popsicle stick or something along those lines. Coat on
both sides, code on the front, and I forget what
(22:29):
the dry time is, but it dries rock hard. That
would be one thing I would suggest.
Speaker 6 (22:41):
Okay, yeah, I think I give that a try.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
There's also a plumber's epoxy. I think Duro makes it.
It's not as hearty as the PC seven. It kind
of comes in a ribbon, so you know, I remember
it's blue and its goal than ones. The resin ones
are hardener. You cut off the piece of the ribbon,
you need it with your fingers, you peel off the
(23:06):
plastic and you gotta kind of got a paste there.
The PC I would say, I would classify as harder
and more stout, but that that plumber's epoxy ribbon could
possibly do it. Also.
Speaker 6 (23:24):
Yeah, another friend I was gonna say, suggested putting the
self leveling cement in the bottom, just pouring that in
to cover the crack. But that would still leak water,
wouldn't it.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yeah? Yeah it would Yeah, Yeah, I I the correct answer.
We give answers, and we give correct answers. Correct answers.
Probably replace that that liner, But if you're trying to
buy time and not get into it, I would recommend
the PC seven.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
Yeah, that replacement would entail cracking all the concrete up.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
And sure, that's a big project exactly, and I don't
think there's a liner for the liner, So that'd be
probably the two options that you're looking at.
Speaker 6 (24:18):
Okay, Well, I appreciate the advice. I'll certainly look into
the PC seven. That sounds like a good pick.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Yeah, even google it and find out I can't remember
what the manufacturer's name, and go to their website because
they got like PC two, PC three, PC seven for
different things. You can read with the differences. I think
I got the right number PC seven, but you might
want to just double check some of the other products.
(24:46):
There very much specialty products and they do a good job.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
Okay, well, thanks so much for taking time to talk
to me.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
You're quite welcome. Thank you. Take care all right. Our
phone number there is eight hundred eighty two three eight
two five five. We're talking a little home improvement. Hey,
have you noticed anything that changed in your home? And
I'm talking in the last month. I'm talking about since
all the rain has occurred. I'm talking about since the
(25:18):
warmer temperatures have occurred periodically, not very warm today, kind
of chilly in fact, cold. I have and you know,
I've been doing this for a long time, and this
occurred this morning at six thirty as I'm walking across
(25:38):
the hallway the wood floors in the hallway, and I've
got a house full of grandkids today and we had
a little celebration last night, and I'm trying to be quiet,
and I'm walking down the hallway and I'm thinking, floor's
not squeaking. See I am a little goofy, but that's
(26:00):
what I was thinking. Little. This is true, Danny, This
is exactly what I was like. Okay, man, that floor
is not squeaky. I'm not going to wake them up.
That's good. I'll go make some coffee. And I'm walking
and not a squeak. So as I make the coffee,
I ponder, why is the floor not squeaking today? Because
(26:21):
it's been raining, because it's been warming up, because there's
more humidy, humidity inside the home, and the wood swells.
And remember, no more than probably six weeks ago, I
was telling you to just check around where the crown
molding meets the ceiling, where the crown molding's got miter
(26:44):
cuts and they butt up against each other. Remember when
I told you check the base boards, Yes, maybe the
trim around the doors and windows, and look for separation.
Everybody's going, yeah, I got that, And I said, well,
it's because it's dry out and the floor squeaks wins
dry out. Well, now we've got this humidity inside our home,
(27:05):
and it's a good time to start paying attention to
where your humidity level is in your home because eventually
that sun's going to come out and it's going to
get humid outside and it's going to get humid inside,
and then we're going to turn the air conditioning on
and sometimes that's going to take care of the humidity
issues in your home, and sometimes it's not, and we'll
(27:27):
start taking calls on that. But my real point about
telling you a story, Quaansa, is this is the movements
that take place in your home all the time, and
it's all based on humidity levels and temperatures. So in January,
when you see that gap between a crown molding and
(27:49):
a ceiling, or you can see the cuts in the
baseboard molding or on the door trim, and you go, h,
I got to fix that. You fix it then, because
that is going to kind of go away in the summertime.
And use something that's flexible. Even a clocking can take
care of that and it can move with it. But
(28:12):
that's why the squeak on the floor as I pondered
over my coffee had gone away. So I wanted to
pass that on to you all right. Our phone number
is eight hundred eight two three eight two five five.
Grab a line, happy to talk to you. You're at
home with Gary Sullivan on fifty five KR see de
talk station. All right, back at it we go twelve
(28:35):
forty six at home with Gary Sullivan and as we
look at the rain, and rather than talking about wet basements,
I do want to go over the crawl space once again.
By the way, if you've got to question dolls up again,
it's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five
and we'll get you on before we bail out at
(28:57):
one o'clock hour. But uh, like I said, rather than
talking about the basements, which by the way, are also
especially if I'm talking about mind starting to be humand
I don't have the acon, don't have a dehumidifier on,
and it's being controlled, but it's it's getting more and
more moist because of the rain and the water that's
(29:17):
around foundations. But the cross space can be a little
different animal. And that is if it's in a basement,
you see the problem. You see the wet walls, you
might see the puddle on the floor. In a cross space,
you might not even see the wet walls. You might
(29:39):
not even see that the floor's wet, because in a
lot of cases it will be gravel on dart and
it may just be soaking in. It may not even
be puddling. But if you get there and take a
look with a flashlight and examine the cross space from
you know, from the outside in, and you see standing water,
(30:02):
that's a big problem. We talk a lot about during
the month of April, we talked about healthy home awareness
and standing water in a cross space makes for a
very unhealthy home. And if you do nothing else to
(30:22):
that cross space, if you see standing water and standing water,
there is there a lot You need to get a
sump well in that cross space. You need to get
some vapor barrier on the floor which seams overlapped and
rocks holding it in place. You need to control that
(30:43):
standing water from just staying there and being stagnant, and
all that organic material and mold and milde and algae
nite can be grown right in that cross space. But
one of the things with a cross base is the
same thing is going on if you have a leaky basement,
right and that is on the outside is the land
(31:10):
the landscaping is that all sloped away from the cross space,
because that can be funneling the water right into the
cross space. And nothing's worse than when you have standing
water in a cross base and then you've got fibergas
insulation underneath the or in the joist pockets, and it's
(31:31):
always damp and it's going to get all moldy also,
So try and keep that cross base is dry as
you can is key. If there is no standing water,
you may not need a sump well and a sump
pump at all. It just may be the water vapor.
(31:54):
You know, the water table rises up. It doesn't overwhelm
the surface. It's just soils moist, which is you know,
producing water vapor, which is producing probably molding that cross
space in that eight to ten mil plastic on the surface.
(32:16):
Overlapping seams taped and gravel holding in place could take
care of the problem. Ignoring it doesn't take care of
a problem. And I'm not even saying there is, but
that's something to investigate. That's something to take a look at.
And if you are going to insulate underneath that subfloor,
(32:41):
the fiberglass insulation's fine. I'd really like those foam panels
though I think they can do a really good job.
If you have plastic on the bottom, you can just
put open cell foam panels up there. You can put
clothes sell to minimizes any water vapor you have in
the air and across space from penetrating up to the
(33:02):
subfloor and into your kitchen area or family room. But
kind of just get a flashlight out and take a
good examination of exactly what you got in there would
be really helpful. Another thing a lot of people are
looking at, especially a lousy day like we got today,
(33:24):
and I don't know, I think most people will tackle
into your paint projects themselves. With today's quality paints. It's
certainly something I would encourage you to try to do.
But really what I want to talk about is the
leftover paints, And think about it at your house. Are
(33:50):
you one of the homes that have like forty gallons
of a pint of paint in a gallon can? You
got forty gallon cans sitting around in the basement, in
the garage, in the shed outside. Chances are I'm not
gonna say you're never gonna use them, but you're probably
never gonna use them unless you have them neatly organized.
(34:15):
You have them labeled with the color, the room, the
data applied. In other words, you're organized if you just
got them all stuffed in there. And I'll use myself
as an example, I just did this about six months ago.
We got into a tangent of painting everything, and I
(34:40):
already had I don't know, twenty four cans of paint.
They were all labeled neatly dated in it and the color,
so I had all the information. But if I'm painting
everything with new colors, I don't need that anymore. Right,
(35:00):
seems like simpleness. So you start looking, what are you
going to do with this paint? Can you recycle it?
Can you donate it? Well? Some you can, some you can't.
Oil based paints is considered hazardous material. A lot of counties,
a lot of cities will have hazard's material drop off dates.
(35:26):
Pay attention whether you're on next door neighbor or whether
you're it's still a local paper or something they'll usually
talk about or Facebook, they'll talk about that they're having
hazardous material drop off and that can be motor oil,
anti freeze cans of paint. You can certainly do that
(35:47):
for latex paint or you know, interior Latex paint, interior
house paint, exterior house paint, water base. There's a lot
of places that will take those. I have with that
few many restores. You might want to call before you go.
I know they used to take it. I don't know
if they blend. Matthew twenty five ministries will take all
(36:14):
kinds of paint any day, oil or latex, and I
think that is a really good place to donate. I
talked to him over there, like what do you do
with this? And a lot of times those paints are
shipped overseas to undeveloped countries because there there is no
(36:43):
paint or no paint is used, but it fulfills a need.
In other words, it wasn't going to waste. And everybody wins.
I always say that's the best thing you can do,
is when everybody wins you as a homeowner, you win
because you get rid of this obsolete paint that you
no longer have those colors in your home, and you
(37:06):
got these cans that are cluttering wherever your work bench area.
And certainly Matthew twenty five benefits because they serve their mission,
and the people that are on the receiving end also receive.
It's very easy to do. They just have a big
(37:29):
old drop box container. They ask you to put the
oils in one and the waters in the other, and
you simply drop it off. So I just want to
pass that along. And if you are painting, please do
a couple of things. Make sure everything is labeled. And
(37:50):
they have little touch up cups out there now which
are excellent. They're about I think about sixteen ounces. You
can pour the paint in there. It has a silkone gasket,
you can tighten it up. You can label the year
that this paint was used, the color, the brand, and
(38:10):
that little touch up cup. If you need to touch
things up. It's fresh way to go. It's in a
can you can handle, it's documented, the color, the brand,
name is documented, and it organizes so easily in a
cabinet or a drawer, and again saving a lot of space.
So I know paint disposal is a challenge for a
(38:33):
lot of people. When I get asked that question a
lot like what am I supposed to do it? Can
I throw it just in the trash? Don't do that?
I saw and in fact, on our street number of
years ago, somebody took a can of paint, I guess,
and just dumped it in their trash can. When Rumky came,
they had the trash compactor and the roadway was just
(38:57):
brand new asphalt, and I guess, you know, they don't
know what's in the trash can. They dumped it in there.
The trash compactor went, crushed the can, the truck drove
down the street and painted the brand new asphalt. Ouch. Yeah. Ow,
Everybody's going like, what are we gonna do. It'll fade,
(39:18):
it'll go away, And it did just go away after
a period of time, but it wasn't a very good look.
So there's definitely some some things you can do. Don't
just throw it in the trash. If you got a
little bit of oil based paint or water based paint,
you can throw some kitty litter in that you know, pail,
(39:41):
and it'll absorb it. Keep the lid off, it'll harden
and then you can throw that away. So I want
to pass those tips onto you. And by the way,
mister Donovan will be coming up to help you with
all your car issues, and I'm sure he'll be looking
for your car on this lovely day, but tomorrow will
(40:03):
be lovely also, and Danny Boy, and I'll be here
and take your home and garden questions. Good Lord willing,
we'll speak with you tomorrow right here in fifty five
k CE Detalk station
At Home with Gary Sullivan News
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