Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Well the weekends upon us. Welcome aboard. You're at Home
with Gary Sullivan and so I was brought to you
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and we thank them for their sponsorship of this hour
of at Home with Gary Salivan. Now let me give
you the phone number. I'd like to talk about your
(01:16):
home maintenance repair. We're right in probably the sweet spot
of getting those home improvement projects completed. I've got a
bunch of things on my checklist. If you have questions
on what to use on different things like cleaning and
ceiling decks, ceiling concrete, drying out their cross space, you
just jump right on board. It's eight hundred A two
(01:38):
three A two five five. Also, in fact, last night,
I say, I just want to let you know I
found a few ants in the kitchen and I said,
that's funny, because that's what we talked about yesterday. We
were talking about different pasts and how in many parts
of the country now they're all awake, they're all ready
(01:59):
to get going, and you know their their purpose in
life is find water and search for food. So you're
going to see different pests. And we talked a lot
about ants and flies, and well they're out there, so
we can take those calls too. Again that number is
eight hundred eight two three eight two five five and heck,
(02:19):
let's just kick things off of the phone call. And
again if you want to grab a line, do so.
They're open and David, welcome, Hi Gary.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
How you doing today?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Doing fine? Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I thought of you right away when I was working
on this project right now with nine buildings basically condos,
that a roofing project we were looking to do. And
the hired guy, as a consultant building envelope guys to
(02:58):
look at the roofing and he said, yeah, definitely should
re replace. It's like twenty five years old.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
No problem with that.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Then they added a bunch of add on. He said,
I'd recommend replacing the gutters, the facier boards, uh, and
any window that's within twelve inches of a roof line,
so to and like, so I went through all that
was basically I told them, I said, you know, we
(03:26):
had several roofers look at the roof before and even
the town engineer, and they indicated that it and we
actually had a roofing contractors maintained the gutters. So they're
they're they're in pretty good shape according to the roofers.
And then me and personally, we replaced hundreds of linear
feet of facier boards with PVC. And I said, so
(03:50):
I don't want to tear that stuff down. I mean
there's a few you know, would ones, but you know
if iron had to take them down, but if they're not,
why do that? And the engineers said, the town engineer said,
you know, don't we don't require that. You know, you
put you're gonna put the ice shield on you You
can roll it over the the drip edge or under it.
It depends on who's doing it. They have different philosophies
(04:12):
on that, but uh, and he said, they'll go they'll
feel tightly over the face of wars. So so now
I have the uncomfortableness of going back to the engineer
and saying, okay, you're you're telling me to replace gutters
with the you know, they're saying they're in good shape.
And then particularly the windows is about nineteen windows, you know,
which are it's pall the windows are beautiful windows, They're
(04:35):
in good, good shape. And just because you're you're doing
a roof which is maybe eight to twelve inches below
that window, he's saying, well, I need to pull out
that window, or the contractor needs to pull out the
window and wrap some ice protection of membrane in it.
And the engineering is saying, no, you don't need to
(04:58):
do that. There's several ways of doing and tell them
the memory of where you don't have to so, you know,
but here you are the consuler. You know, he's getting
a good amount of money at our early rate, so
I can see why he wants to include the scope
of work that you do this. That's the other thing.
But I'm trying to just do what's best for the
community because you know, you have a whole lot of
(05:19):
people paying for this, you know, sure, sure any thoughts
on that?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, I think that's actually an excellent question, and I
think it happens a lot. And whenever we're doing a
project like a roof or even just like windows, I'm
always professing. You know, get three bids and it sounds
like you've done your homework, You've talked to different people,
you had different people come out, and now you're looking
(05:43):
And I just kind of went through this myself. All
of a sudden, you get three bids and you lay
them out on the desk and it's like, gosh, are
they doing the same job. You know, this guy wants
to do that, this guy wants to do that, this
guy wants to do something else. But it gives you
an opportunity. D I think it sounds like you're right
on track. You know you went to other people. Oh no, no, no,
(06:06):
you know you can do that, and you can do
it different ways. And I think at that point you
challenge that person, say listen, I you know, even if
you wanted to get the Appella dealer out and say,
look at these fighters, I got somebody who wants to
replace them. Would they say.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
He said that number one that they don't make that
window anymore. So whatever window they put in now it
will and think about it, nineteen windows, it'd be like
out of one hundred, he said, they'll look like checkerboard
because he said the windows won't match. He sure they
don't make that type of window anymore, but that they
were designed to go about forty years. They could call
(06:47):
the callers, rave he said. And and I actually went
to a couple of the roofing contractors that the engineer recommended,
and they said they normally would do that when they
do the siding. They say, why do it's like fifteen times.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I think you got your answer, you know, I think
you got your answer. I really do. I don't think
you need to do that. If you want to go
back to that guy and challenge him and say, listen,
you know, I'd really like to use your services, but
I'm not doing it this way. I've talked to other people.
I'm not going to do it this way. I want
just this. And he may say, well, I don't want
(07:25):
to do the work for you anyway, and you say okay, fine,
and you get the other contractor. I think that's all fine.
I think you kind of get the light shined brightly
on the project and you can really ferret it down
on what you want to do. I wouldn't just replace,
you know, nineteen twenty windows willy nilly, which sounds to
(07:46):
me like it might be the only way he needs
Know's to do it, or it might be the easier
way to do it. I don't know what his motivations are,
but my motivations are. They don't make that window anymore.
I'm not replacing him. The Pella dealer even told me
I didn't need to replace them. The new windows aren't
going to match the old windows, and I'm not doing that.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, is there any logic? I mean, because the guy's
are a structural engineer, is there any logical reason why
why would he would say replace the facial board even
though it doesn't need to be replaced.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Well, it might be Listen, he might be thinking this.
He might be thinking he's doing you a favor, or
he's given you options. Maybe the other people didn't give
you know, David options. So while we're up there, we're
tearing the roof off, we might as well just go
ahead and replace the facier board, replace the gutters, you know,
these windows, you know. It sounds to me like he's
(08:45):
saying the only way I can do that ice guard
is if I replaced the windows and you now know
that's not true, but he might be looking at you know,
we're there. It's going to be cheaper for this guy
in the long run to take care of this now now,
rather than call me back in fifteen years or so.
But you know what, No, that's not what I want
(09:06):
to do. That's all.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Yeah, well, well, well the cheaper part is what It's
much challenging because, like I said, I look back with
the receipts of the last uh you know, four or
five years, we put like fifty six thousand dollars worth
of gutter and fatia replacement. You know, so when when
so when he said, he says, I recommend you replace
(09:30):
the gutters and the facial arts, said, so, well, what
you're going to replace the ones we just put up
in the last.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Yeah, yeah, I don't have an answer for that, but
he may.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah, you know so, yeah, I'm wondering you had something
to do with it, because he he wants to do
like like what like new construction. He wants everything to look.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Well, you know, I think your your your decision is simple.
We really you know, with with there's a lot of clutter,
but The decision is simple. You want to go head
and let this whole big project go, or we'll address
it under a basis of need. And if I'm in
your homeowners association, I've been to enough of those meetings
(10:12):
to know, you know, everybody's trying to, you know, keep
it in range of the of the need and different
things along the nose lines. They're going to let's just
get the roof done.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Okay, Yeah, I just didn't want.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Yeah, well, you know, the only one I'm really thinking
maybe isn't really up to speed is the way he's
going to attach the membrane. But you know, I can't
see the project. I don't want to knock the guy
on that. But you know, you're in charge, and gosh
darn you did a great job of of you know,
circling back when the dealers and everything. So I think
(10:49):
it's all on the table and I think you stick
with your You know, it's one thing that the gutters
are falling off and the fascia is rotted, and they're
doing the roof, and this would be a great time
to do it. It's also a whole different ballgame if
we're not to that point.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah not Yeah, that for another few years anyways. Yeah,
at least at least on the windows. The collab guys
have another fifteen Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
No, I agree with that. Without seeing them, I mean,
that's their longevity for sure.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah right, thank you, sir. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
David. I'll tell you what. Stay on hold here for
a second. Danny's gonna get your name. I've got a
couple rescue pest control kits which have all different very
nice traps and things that won't cost you a cent.
You're doing a great job on that association, and I've
got a couple of these kits I want to give
away today and just sit tight, Daniel, get your name
(11:41):
and address and we'll get those out to you. All right,
let me give you the phone number we can talk
about your project. It's eight hundred eighty two three eight
two five five. Y're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. He's at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
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(14:40):
you're at home with Gary Sullivan taking you through another weekend.
That last caller. We can all learn a valuable lesson
from that. I know I've spoke on it before. You
know whether it's a roofing or whether it's a contractor different.
And I'm not saying anybody's trying to beat you out
of money. I'm just saying there's different ways and different
(15:04):
There's a lot like paying a car. There's a lot
of different bells and whistles. You may or you may
not need any of them. Is it a want or
is it a need? That's the question and what the
finances are. And that's the advantage of getting multiple bids
because they are spelled out. If you're doing your contracting
(15:30):
the proper way and selecting the contractor and selecting how
you want that done, you're doing your job by getting
multiple estimates. And I can tell you right now that
if you get three different bids, everybody looks at the
(15:52):
price and I get it. So why Okay, you want
to know what's going to cost you, right, But the
real magic, the special sauce, if you will, is in
how and what they're going to do. And between the
three bids, they're not going to be the same. They
are just not going to be the same. You think
(16:13):
they'd be really really closed, but they're not going to
be the same. I guarantee it. And there's always going
to be a little caveat at the bottom, says after
we roofing after we tear off all those shingles. You know,
if we find rotting wood on the deck, that'll have
to be replaced at a cost. Or they will say
(16:33):
that'll have to be replaced at a cost, and they'll
spell out to what the cost is going to be.
So when you get those three lam on a table,
rate them all, make notes on it, and the one
you're leaning to, and that's your decision. It's all spelled
(16:54):
out for you. How they're going to do it, what
they're going to use, probably how long it's going to take.
And then you're going to have kind of like what
David ran into. It's like, I don't know what to
do now. This guy says I need this, this other
guy says you need this, and most people just freaking
(17:14):
then pick the cheapest bid and a way we go,
and that's not good. What David did is the right
way to do. Man, he started doing due diligence. I mean,
if you got somebody that's controlling your HOA fees or
whatever for replacement, you want somebody like David that is
going to question everything on there. And you should too,
(17:37):
you know that you know used to be ice guard.
Do I need that. I don't know how often do you?
You know, where do you live in Boston? Yeah, you
need that. It's probably code anyway, but you can ask
when you get those three, kind of narrow it down
and if you like that inexpensive one, this is what
I do. And you got to go through it against
(17:59):
the middle one or the more expensive one, and you
see what the differences are. Then you can go back
to the most expensive one and say, hey, how come
you're replacing all the flashings and this other bid I've
got it has nothing. They're reusing the flashing. And you
(18:25):
know what you might find out is the more expensive bid.
We'll say, oh, well, the guy that says he's not
going to replace the flashing, tell you that you got
some holes in the fleshing. No he didn't. Can you
get me a picture of that? Sure, I get you
a picture of that. Oh I think I need to
replace the fleshings. Or this bid was created by somebody
(18:47):
throwing flying a drone over my house. This bid was
created by a guy had a ladder and got up
on a roof. He found more things that probably should
be done. My point being, as you've got it all
laid out by three individual companies, and let's say they
all have great reputations and they're not doing really anything
(19:08):
wrong there. They feel that there is a need to
incorporate some things that the other person did not feel
like there is a need to do that, and you
need to quiz them on why they feel that way
and make a decision. All right, we got open lines,
so grab one please. It's eight hundred eight two three
(19:29):
eight two five five Danny Boys ready to take your
calls and we'll talk about your house. You're at home
with Gary Sullivan.
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(22:42):
We go at home with Gary Sullivan taking your calls
talking about your home projects, maintenance, repair. Grab a line.
It's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five, Frank, Welcome.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
Rommy, Gary. Yes, sir, funny you mentioned about ANTCA when
I first heard you this morning. There and a friend
of mine me, I'm a cop and my friend's are
copp and he's over visioning the other day and he says,
I can see hands going across your roof on your house,
the first floor roof, and I'm going like oh no,
(23:15):
I says, like, what am I going to do with
this stuff? So he had said he had talked to
a a exterminator on the street there was doing a
house or something there, and she said, uh, you could
get some stuff at home depot, but it was like
a commercial commercial stuff if they couldn't even use or
(23:37):
something if they weren't allowed to use it or something,
which I didn't understand. It also that uh, if you
put it down, you got to watch out for animals
and stuff like this, see your cats and stuff like this.
See I don't know if it's a powder or a
liquid or whatever. And I'm saying to myself, well, I
don't think I want to go that way, because I
got I got chipunks, raccoons, squirrels, and cats.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah. Yeah, well there's some you know, I've been in
this business my whole life, and you know there's been
some really powerful, powerful chemicals out that you know are
no longer even on the market. But also I would
like to say that a lot of pest control companies
really are privy to having different chemicals than what you
(24:26):
and I can buy in a hardware store. So I
don't understand that first part. Are these the big black ants. Yeah, yeah,
because that's usually where you're going to find those is
on the roof, and they have a most ants. I
I'll generically say the colonies outside, and that's not always
(24:51):
true with carpenter ants, the sweet ants, and all the
other ants. They have colonies outside the invader home looking
for water and food. The carpenter ants same thing. They
invade your home looking for water and food, but they
can actually set up satellite nurseries inside your home. And
they love wet, soft wood. So a lot of times
(25:15):
where their outdoor colonies are is in old trees. In
a lot of cases, old trees that overhang the house.
And then they get down on the roof and then
sometimes they'll go down the chimney and they'll get up
in the house. They'll be looking for food, they'll be
looking for water, and they'll start a colony inside a wall, especially,
like I said, if it's a damp area like a
(25:38):
basement or something along noselanes. So there's different ways to create.
It's all about creating that barrier and then creating a
barrier and then finding the nest. Whether we starve the
nest out, whether we eradicate the nest through different products,
and on a roof, it's a little bit more challenging. Right,
(26:00):
It's probably that colony is probably up in an old
rotted tree limb that's very close to the house, which
adds another issue, and that is if that tree is rotted,
it's diseased, and it has a possibility of during a
storm falling on the house. And I'm not trying to,
(26:22):
you know, get you all nervous. I'm just saying, you know,
these are the way these things happen, so if you
see them in the house, you can start I was
talking about those little bait traps. They have those for
carpenter ants. The same way they're foraging. They're looking to
bring whether the colonies outside or part of the colonies inside,
(26:43):
they're looking to bring that water and food back to
that colony. And I've had ninety percent luck with those
types of traps, but I had this one problem with
ants so bad in the house in New York. I
called a pest control company and they said to me,
that is the biggest ant colony I've ever seen. And
(27:05):
we still battle it and and we control them. I
don't think we've ever really eradicated them, so you know,
I don't know if that helps. I'm just trying to
give you a little you know, the why, yeah, the
why can they fly? Like the queen? There are flying ants,
(27:25):
but a carpenter bee will not is not going to fly.
That's the right right now.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
Uh, if that's the case. And I found them one
time right in you know the umbrellas for your blawd furniture. Yes,
I had a few umbrellas stacked from some barrels out
in the ad. They were actually inside the umbrella and
they made the nest inside the clock.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I mean, the.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
Amazing how many there are when you hit a nest?
Speaker 1 (27:58):
I mean, yeah, you used a word to ants are amazing.
I used to have this. He was a doctor and
his whole study was on ants, and he would tell
ants stories. You were almost thinking it was like a
comedy show. But they're brilliant. They are brilliant. If there's
a lot of rain and flooding, they can literally lock
(28:20):
arms and legs and create a raft, float away from
the colony and start another colony.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
His house there, They ain't half his house. Feel the ants?
Oh yeah, they between the cell and the second story.
The other day, it's so much damage to that house
for you know that.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Yeah, it's it's funny. My very first house I ever had,
I had some carpenter ants. I was a young guy
and knew a little bit about carpenter ants. My background
was working in hardware stores and stuff, and you know,
I couldn't find where they were getting in. And one
day I stepped on the on the threshold and my
foot kind of gave a little bit and it was
(29:06):
an old wood threshold which I eventually took up, and
there was the nest underneath that threshold. And there's thousands
of them.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
Now, what do you hit with that? What do you
hit them with when you find them? Another?
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Well, when I use back in the day, you could
use a productoled diazinon. I think it's pari ethan now.
But again, if if, if you have those little disc
and traps, I know, it sounds almost elementary. I'm always
talking about the Rescue brand. They have one that has
(29:37):
a food source that is a protein and a carbohydrate.
Because ants even changed their diet based on the temperatures,
so you know, and I forget which one they eat
when it's cold, which one they eat when it's hot.
I guess carbohydrates when it's cold to keep them warm.
But a lot of those don't have them. And if
you place them where you you'll be able to see,
(29:59):
they'll they'll create a trail, whether it's through the mulch
bed and underneath the threshold and then into your kitchen,
you'll be able to actually see their feeding trail. And
you put these little discout that are safe for you know,
little babies that they're crawling around on the floor, your
pet or whatever, and you just put them up wherever
you see the trail, and they take this liquid and
they take it back to the colony because that's what
(30:22):
their job is, to bring the food back to the
colony and the queen. And once the queen eats, the
queen dies, and when the queen dies, all these workers
are out of a job, right, That's that's what they do,
and they'll die off and and and you'll eradicate them
that way. It's in fact, a lot of times when
(30:42):
you put those disc out, Frank, you'll see more ants
than you knew you ever had. But in about two
or three days they go up.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
But now is it possible, I mean, can use that
in the exterior outside in the weather.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
I mean they do have an exterior one too. Yes
they do, Yes, they do. Okay, yeah, it's a bigger disk,
same thing, and they also have different There are powdered
insecticides and pyrethians that are sprinkled out. I think it's
like a two foot wide path around the foundation of
(31:19):
the house and then it rains and soaks in. I
forget what the residual time on it is, but you'll
create a barrier, and a lot of times you get
a couple of traps inside, a couple of traps outside.
You create a little barrier around the house. And you know,
if it's a i'll say normal sized ant colony, you
can knock it out. But if you know, you get
(31:39):
some massive colony like I had. You know, I've worked
on that and worked on that, and I finally just
said I got to get something that stronger and more effective.
And man, they knocked it out, but we still you know,
like I said my wife the other day, he said, hey,
I'm seeing some ants again, and okay, well, get to
work some years.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
I don't see, you know, all of a sudden getting
invaded again, and I'm saying to myself, what the heck?
I mean, well, that's what you when he was saying
about the he was talking about the powder, I think
putting them around and I'm saying, like the powder is
gonna get on the animals, you know, the caps or something.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Yeah, if you water it in it really well yeah,
I don't know. It depends on what you have. There's
a lot of there's a lot of safe ones out
there now. In fact, I even hate to use the
word chemicals because you know, we all think about, you know,
back in the day with chloridine where it had a
hundred year residual and about wiped out you know, half
the bird supply. So those days are over and a
(32:40):
good thing. But check out that, Frank, and just start,
you know, create a perimeter and use those traps and
try and get the queen and sit tight. I've got
I've been talking about rescue traps. And he gave me
a few kids. I think it's the value about eighty bucks.
All different kind of kids from fly kids, you know,
fly strips, the hornets, the carpenter bees, the ants and Daniel,
(33:05):
get your information. We'll get your kid out there. Thank
you very much for the call. I appreciate it, and
we will continue you're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
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say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,
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(36:04):
to the weekend, talking a little home improvement. Happy to
take your call. As we discussed the maintenance of our home,
our projects. Maybe we're tackling the things we just got
to get done. I still got to get a couple
of things done. I keep talking about the garage. I
got it halfway done, halfway organized. If there is such
a thing I haven't really tackled. You've got a little
(36:25):
busy this week, garry. I know it's been busy. It's
been busy. I'd keep looking at the walls in the garage. Now.
Most people are not gonna say, boy, I gotta paint
the walls in my garage. But I'd like to. But
I got all this, Oh, I don't know, shelving and
cabinets and stuff. It's like I don't have to take
cabinets down. I get that, but some of the showing
(36:46):
probably have to. Ah, I gotta think about that. It's
a garage, all right. Uh, grab a line. It's eight
hundred eighty two three eighty two five five love to
talk to you. Let's get to Jeff. Jeff, welcome.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
And Gary. More than got two infestations happens every time
about this time year, and it's the wet season. We've got.
The first thing we end up with is we have
these well there's about ten legs on each side. It's
I can't call it a centipede because I don't think
it adds up. But these things are huge. They're an
inch to inch and a half long. They're just monsters
(37:21):
and scary as the devil. We get those, and we
also get gnats and they come in real heavy in
about June and they don't go away until wintertime. And
we need fly strips for those all the time every
time we combat those. And good, good fly strip always
works well with a fluorescent light behind it.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Oh yeah, yeah, they drunk right to it.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Absolutely. But here's the thing. We had the foundation waterproof.
After lots of struggling, we would get water in the
basement with heavy rains at the where the wall meets
the floor on three sides. Uh uh. So we we
had gray gray, very silted clay deposited all around the
(38:12):
outside walls of the house. And eventually it works its
way uh. Into the foundation that sealed like a cork.
So the so the moisture, and we have two demidifiers
that run this time here constantly. Uh, and that takes
keeps humidity. The minuti is quite good in the house
as far as far as control, and we have hygrometers
on off floors to make sure we measure that. Ventilation
(38:34):
always helps. But I can't figure out where the centipedes
are coming in. And I assume there's centipedes, but again,
you know, like ten legs on each side doesn't add up.
But these things are monsters.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
It likes moisture, right well, yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
They're and they're pretty, they're pretty terrifying. You see one
of those go across your floor and you're like, yeah,
it's like like like like an elephant seeing a mouse. Uh.
But uh, so we got it. And it's this. It's
always seasonal. I mean, I'll tell you winter is just
wonderful around here. Nothing crawling right or flying or flying. Yeah.
(39:12):
I thought I thought maybe you'd give me, give me
a little bit of help and ask me some questions
about anything you can to help me control this factor.
And like I said, humidity really isn't the problem. And
it's not food no food sources.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Yeah, yeah, but but the moisture is you know, they
may not be leaking, but it's an outdoor problem that's
becoming an indoor problem. Sure, so your whole when you
describe what problems were with the you know, basement area
or the water getting into the home, that's a water
(39:46):
table issue. So water can you know, usually come into
a crack in a you know, wall below grade. Obviously
you can have a leaked there. When you have a
wall and you have the floor, those are two separate
pores and you're building a house, so there's a natural
seam there. A natural seam does not usually allow water
(40:06):
to come in because you got the drainage system around there,
and it's not an issue. But when the draining system fails,
you start having leaks. And then you're also not only
trying to catch the water on the side by the walls,
you're trying to catch it before it gets into the
slab of the floor. So underground piping is usually put
(40:27):
in air where it catches the water and moves it
away from the house. Almost more of a water control
correction than a water proofing connection. If you control the
water you'll have waterproofing and they're getting in that house
from the outside. And one of the ways too is
if there's a sump well in there, we have some
(40:49):
bump where they can certainly be washed in that way,
crawl out of there, and you know, they find their
way to other damp areas in that house. So I
was talking to the other person about a pyrethan, which
is you know, a liquid that can be sprayed as
a barrier, and that's exactly what I would use, is
(41:10):
something that would be sprayed around the house to create
that barrier. You can also get it in a powder
kind of works as a just an insecticides. As it
rains it it works its way into the soil. And
then there's also some indoor home insect controls that can
(41:32):
be sprayed down at that entry point. So you're trying
to create a barrier around the outside and then a
control product on the inside.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
We've had some we've had some success with indoor foggers
used used in the basement every every two or less months.
They say they go three months, but more like one
one one, one month or month and a half. Indoor
indoor foggers in the basement seem to control the majority
(42:03):
of the problem.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
That's a tough one. It probably is because.
Speaker 3 (42:13):
It's an aerosol. It's an aerosol. Can you shake it
up real good? You set it in the middle of
the floor, click you click the trigger and run like
the devil?
Speaker 1 (42:21):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. In fact, i'll tell you where those.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
Again, they're not They don't last very long. And the
thing is you got to turn off everything, your ignition, lights,
anything electrical in the basement because they are flammable gases
and they're also toxic, so you don't want to breathe them,
and you have to leave. You have to leave the
ventilation off for a period of about five to six hours. Yeah,
(42:45):
that's how those work, and they're fairly effective, but they're
they're kind of toxic to the homeowner right well.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Where they're really developed for and I'm very familiar with them,
they got pyates and foggers, and I imagine if it's
been you know, pretty beneficial, that's probably what it is.
But those are for really areas that you really can't
get to. For instance, if you had a cross space
with a two foot opening and you're seeing these things
(43:13):
on the walls, or then maybe the basement's connected. You
know how that goes, and you need to that's where
the source is. A pyrethan foger back into cross space
really stops them. It's kind of a barrier and an
eliminator in one trap.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
Is there a trap that would work on these?
Speaker 1 (43:32):
There is not. Well, I'm not familiar with Let's say
I'm not familiar with one. I'll tell you if you
go to that rescue dot com and see if they
have one. They got about twenty five different traps, but
I don't really recall one four centipedes or anything along
those lines. I'd probably go with the uh, the powder
on the outside, and if you want to use the
(43:55):
home pest control for ethan down at the the natural scene,
that's probably where I would, you know, attack that particular issue.
All right, thank you very much. I appreciate the call,
and if you'd like to join us, do so. Our
phone number is eight hundred eight two three eight two
five five. That's eight hundred eight two three eight two
(44:15):
five five talking about your home and there's a lot
to talk about. When the sun comes out in your neighborhood.
Get to work, all right, we'll continue with your calls.
You're at Home with Garrie Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (45:09):
It's the weekend and you have fixed questions. Give Gary
a call at what eight hundred and eighty two three talk.
This is at Home with Gary Sullivan.
Well the weekends upon us. Welcome aboard. You're at Home
with Gary Sullivan and so I was brought to you
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of at Home with Gary Salivan. Now let me give
you the phone number. I'd like to talk about your
(01:16):
home maintenance repair. We're right in probably the sweet spot
of getting those home improvement projects completed. I've got a
bunch of things on my checklist. If you have questions
on what to use on different things like cleaning and
ceiling decks, ceiling concrete, drying out their cross space, you
just jump right on board. It's eight hundred A two
(01:38):
three A two five five. Also, in fact, last night,
I say, I just want to let you know I
found a few ants in the kitchen and I said,
that's funny, because that's what we talked about yesterday. We
were talking about different pasts and how in many parts
of the country now they're all awake, they're all ready
(01:59):
to get going, and you know their their purpose in
life is find water and search for food. So you're
going to see different pests. And we talked a lot
about ants and flies, and well they're out there, so
we can take those calls too. Again that number is
eight hundred eight two three eight two five five and heck,
(02:19):
let's just kick things off of the phone call. And
again if you want to grab a line, do so.
They're open and David, welcome, Hi Gary.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
How you doing today?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Doing fine? Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I thought of you right away when I was working
on this project right now with nine buildings basically condos,
that a roofing project we were looking to do. And
the hired guy, as a consultant building envelope guys to
(02:58):
look at the roofing and he said, yeah, definitely should
re replace. It's like twenty five years old.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
No problem with that.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Then they added a bunch of add on. He said,
I'd recommend replacing the gutters, the facier boards, uh, and
any window that's within twelve inches of a roof line,
so to and like, so I went through all that
was basically I told them, I said, you know, we
(03:26):
had several roofers look at the roof before and even
the town engineer, and they indicated that it and we
actually had a roofing contractors maintained the gutters. So they're
they're they're in pretty good shape according to the roofers.
And then me and personally, we replaced hundreds of linear
feet of facier boards with PVC. And I said, so
(03:50):
I don't want to tear that stuff down. I mean
there's a few you know, would ones, but you know
if iron had to take them down, but if they're not,
why do that? And the engineers said, the town engineer said,
you know, don't we don't require that. You know, you
put you're gonna put the ice shield on you You
can roll it over the the drip edge or under it.
It depends on who's doing it. They have different philosophies
(04:12):
on that, but uh, and he said, they'll go they'll
feel tightly over the face of wars. So so now
I have the uncomfortableness of going back to the engineer
and saying, okay, you're you're telling me to replace gutters
with the you know, they're saying they're in good shape.
And then particularly the windows is about nineteen windows, you know,
which are it's pall the windows are beautiful windows, They're
(04:35):
in good, good shape. And just because you're you're doing
a roof which is maybe eight to twelve inches below
that window, he's saying, well, I need to pull out
that window, or the contractor needs to pull out the
window and wrap some ice protection of membrane in it.
And the engineering is saying, no, you don't need to
(04:58):
do that. There's several ways of doing and tell them
the memory of where you don't have to so, you know,
but here you are the consuler. You know, he's getting
a good amount of money at our early rate, so
I can see why he wants to include the scope
of work that you do this. That's the other thing.
But I'm trying to just do what's best for the
community because you know, you have a whole lot of
(05:19):
people paying for this, you know, sure, sure any thoughts
on that?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, I think that's actually an excellent question, and I
think it happens a lot. And whenever we're doing a
project like a roof or even just like windows, I'm
always professing. You know, get three bids and it sounds
like you've done your homework, You've talked to different people,
you had different people come out, and now you're looking
(05:43):
And I just kind of went through this myself. All
of a sudden, you get three bids and you lay
them out on the desk and it's like, gosh, are
they doing the same job. You know, this guy wants
to do that, this guy wants to do that, this
guy wants to do something else. But it gives you
an opportunity. D I think it sounds like you're right
on track. You know you went to other people. Oh no, no, no,
(06:06):
you know you can do that, and you can do
it different ways. And I think at that point you
challenge that person, say listen, I you know, even if
you wanted to get the Appella dealer out and say,
look at these fighters, I got somebody who wants to
replace them. Would they say.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
He said that number one that they don't make that
window anymore. So whatever window they put in now it
will and think about it, nineteen windows, it'd be like
out of one hundred, he said, they'll look like checkerboard
because he said the windows won't match. He sure they
don't make that type of window anymore, but that they
were designed to go about forty years. They could call
(06:47):
the callers, rave he said. And and I actually went
to a couple of the roofing contractors that the engineer recommended,
and they said they normally would do that when they
do the siding. They say, why do it's like fifteen times.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I think you got your answer, you know, I think
you got your answer. I really do. I don't think
you need to do that. If you want to go
back to that guy and challenge him and say, listen,
you know, I'd really like to use your services, but
I'm not doing it this way. I've talked to other people.
I'm not going to do it this way. I want
just this. And he may say, well, I don't want
(07:25):
to do the work for you anyway, and you say okay, fine,
and you get the other contractor. I think that's all fine.
I think you kind of get the light shined brightly
on the project and you can really ferret it down
on what you want to do. I wouldn't just replace,
you know, nineteen twenty windows willy nilly, which sounds to
(07:46):
me like it might be the only way he needs
Know's to do it, or it might be the easier
way to do it. I don't know what his motivations are,
but my motivations are. They don't make that window anymore.
I'm not replacing him. The Pella dealer even told me
I didn't need to replace them. The new windows aren't
going to match the old windows, and I'm not doing that.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, is there any logic? I mean, because the guy's
are a structural engineer, is there any logical reason why
why would he would say replace the facial board even
though it doesn't need to be replaced.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Well, it might be Listen, he might be thinking this.
He might be thinking he's doing you a favor, or
he's given you options. Maybe the other people didn't give
you know, David options. So while we're up there, we're
tearing the roof off, we might as well just go
ahead and replace the facier board, replace the gutters, you know,
these windows, you know. It sounds to me like he's
(08:45):
saying the only way I can do that ice guard
is if I replaced the windows and you now know
that's not true, but he might be looking at you know,
we're there. It's going to be cheaper for this guy
in the long run to take care of this now now,
rather than call me back in fifteen years or so.
But you know what, No, that's not what I want
(09:06):
to do. That's all.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Yeah, well, well, well the cheaper part is what It's
much challenging because, like I said, I look back with
the receipts of the last uh you know, four or
five years, we put like fifty six thousand dollars worth
of gutter and fatia replacement. You know, so when when
so when he said, he says, I recommend you replace
(09:30):
the gutters and the facial arts, said, so, well, what
you're going to replace the ones we just put up
in the last.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Yeah, yeah, I don't have an answer for that, but
he may.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah, you know so, yeah, I'm wondering you had something
to do with it, because he he wants to do
like like what like new construction. He wants everything to look.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Well, you know, I think your your your decision is simple.
We really you know, with with there's a lot of clutter,
but The decision is simple. You want to go head
and let this whole big project go, or we'll address
it under a basis of need. And if I'm in
your homeowners association, I've been to enough of those meetings
(10:12):
to know, you know, everybody's trying to, you know, keep
it in range of the of the need and different
things along the nose lines. They're going to let's just
get the roof done.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Okay, Yeah, I just didn't want.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Yeah, well, you know, the only one I'm really thinking
maybe isn't really up to speed is the way he's
going to attach the membrane. But you know, I can't
see the project. I don't want to knock the guy
on that. But you know, you're in charge, and gosh
darn you did a great job of of you know,
circling back when the dealers and everything. So I think
(10:49):
it's all on the table and I think you stick
with your You know, it's one thing that the gutters
are falling off and the fascia is rotted, and they're
doing the roof, and this would be a great time
to do it. It's also a whole different ballgame if
we're not to that point.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah not Yeah, that for another few years anyways. Yeah,
at least at least on the windows. The collab guys
have another fifteen Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
No, I agree with that. Without seeing them, I mean,
that's their longevity for sure.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah right, thank you, sir. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
David. I'll tell you what. Stay on hold here for
a second. Danny's gonna get your name. I've got a
couple rescue pest control kits which have all different very
nice traps and things that won't cost you a cent.
You're doing a great job on that association, and I've
got a couple of these kits I want to give
away today and just sit tight, Daniel, get your name
(11:41):
and address and we'll get those out to you. All right,
let me give you the phone number we can talk
about your project. It's eight hundred eighty two three eight
two five five. Y're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. He's at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
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(13:00):
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(14:40):
you're at home with Gary Sullivan taking you through another weekend.
That last caller. We can all learn a valuable lesson
from that. I know I've spoke on it before. You
know whether it's a roofing or whether it's a contractor different.
And I'm not saying anybody's trying to beat you out
of money. I'm just saying there's different ways and different
(15:04):
There's a lot like paying a car. There's a lot
of different bells and whistles. You may or you may
not need any of them. Is it a want or
is it a need? That's the question and what the
finances are. And that's the advantage of getting multiple bids
because they are spelled out. If you're doing your contracting
(15:30):
the proper way and selecting the contractor and selecting how
you want that done, you're doing your job by getting
multiple estimates. And I can tell you right now that
if you get three different bids, everybody looks at the
(15:52):
price and I get it. So why Okay, you want
to know what's going to cost you, right, But the
real magic, the special sauce, if you will, is in
how and what they're going to do. And between the
three bids, they're not going to be the same. They
are just not going to be the same. You think
(16:13):
they'd be really really closed, but they're not going to
be the same. I guarantee it. And there's always going
to be a little caveat at the bottom, says after
we roofing after we tear off all those shingles. You know,
if we find rotting wood on the deck, that'll have
to be replaced at a cost. Or they will say
(16:33):
that'll have to be replaced at a cost, and they'll
spell out to what the cost is going to be.
So when you get those three lam on a table,
rate them all, make notes on it, and the one
you're leaning to, and that's your decision. It's all spelled
(16:54):
out for you. How they're going to do it, what
they're going to use, probably how long it's going to take.
And then you're going to have kind of like what
David ran into. It's like, I don't know what to
do now. This guy says I need this, this other
guy says you need this, and most people just freaking
(17:14):
then pick the cheapest bid and a way we go,
and that's not good. What David did is the right
way to do. Man, he started doing due diligence. I mean,
if you got somebody that's controlling your HOA fees or
whatever for replacement, you want somebody like David that is
going to question everything on there. And you should too,
(17:37):
you know that you know used to be ice guard.
Do I need that. I don't know how often do you?
You know, where do you live in Boston? Yeah, you
need that. It's probably code anyway, but you can ask
when you get those three, kind of narrow it down
and if you like that inexpensive one, this is what
I do. And you got to go through it against
(17:59):
the middle one or the more expensive one, and you
see what the differences are. Then you can go back
to the most expensive one and say, hey, how come
you're replacing all the flashings and this other bid I've
got it has nothing. They're reusing the flashing. And you
(18:25):
know what you might find out is the more expensive bid.
We'll say, oh, well, the guy that says he's not
going to replace the flashing, tell you that you got
some holes in the fleshing. No he didn't. Can you
get me a picture of that? Sure, I get you
a picture of that. Oh I think I need to
replace the fleshings. Or this bid was created by somebody
(18:47):
throwing flying a drone over my house. This bid was
created by a guy had a ladder and got up
on a roof. He found more things that probably should
be done. My point being, as you've got it all
laid out by three individual companies, and let's say they
all have great reputations and they're not doing really anything
(19:08):
wrong there. They feel that there is a need to
incorporate some things that the other person did not feel
like there is a need to do that, and you
need to quiz them on why they feel that way
and make a decision. All right, we got open lines,
so grab one please. It's eight hundred eight two three
(19:29):
eight two five five Danny Boys ready to take your
calls and we'll talk about your house. You're at home
with Gary Sullivan.
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(22:42):
We go at home with Gary Sullivan taking your calls
talking about your home projects, maintenance, repair. Grab a line.
It's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five, Frank, Welcome.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
Rommy, Gary. Yes, sir, funny you mentioned about ANTCA when
I first heard you this morning. There and a friend
of mine me, I'm a cop and my friend's are
copp and he's over visioning the other day and he says,
I can see hands going across your roof on your house,
the first floor roof, and I'm going like oh no,
(23:15):
I says, like, what am I going to do with
this stuff? So he had said he had talked to
a a exterminator on the street there was doing a
house or something there, and she said, uh, you could
get some stuff at home depot, but it was like
a commercial commercial stuff if they couldn't even use or
(23:37):
something if they weren't allowed to use it or something,
which I didn't understand. It also that uh, if you
put it down, you got to watch out for animals
and stuff like this, see your cats and stuff like this.
See I don't know if it's a powder or a
liquid or whatever. And I'm saying to myself, well, I
don't think I want to go that way, because I
got I got chipunks, raccoons, squirrels, and cats.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah. Yeah, well there's some you know, I've been in
this business my whole life, and you know there's been
some really powerful, powerful chemicals out that you know are
no longer even on the market. But also I would
like to say that a lot of pest control companies
really are privy to having different chemicals than what you
(24:26):
and I can buy in a hardware store. So I
don't understand that first part. Are these the big black ants. Yeah, yeah,
because that's usually where you're going to find those is
on the roof, and they have a most ants. I
I'll generically say the colonies outside, and that's not always
(24:51):
true with carpenter ants, the sweet ants, and all the
other ants. They have colonies outside the invader home looking
for water and food. The carpenter ants same thing. They
invade your home looking for water and food, but they
can actually set up satellite nurseries inside your home. And
they love wet, soft wood. So a lot of times
(25:15):
where their outdoor colonies are is in old trees. In
a lot of cases, old trees that overhang the house.
And then they get down on the roof and then
sometimes they'll go down the chimney and they'll get up
in the house. They'll be looking for food, they'll be
looking for water, and they'll start a colony inside a wall, especially,
like I said, if it's a damp area like a
(25:38):
basement or something along noselanes. So there's different ways to create.
It's all about creating that barrier and then creating a
barrier and then finding the nest. Whether we starve the
nest out, whether we eradicate the nest through different products,
and on a roof, it's a little bit more challenging. Right,
(26:00):
It's probably that colony is probably up in an old
rotted tree limb that's very close to the house, which
adds another issue, and that is if that tree is rotted,
it's diseased, and it has a possibility of during a
storm falling on the house. And I'm not trying to,
(26:22):
you know, get you all nervous. I'm just saying, you know,
these are the way these things happen, so if you
see them in the house, you can start I was
talking about those little bait traps. They have those for
carpenter ants. The same way they're foraging. They're looking to
bring whether the colonies outside or part of the colonies inside,
(26:43):
they're looking to bring that water and food back to
that colony. And I've had ninety percent luck with those
types of traps, but I had this one problem with
ants so bad in the house in New York. I
called a pest control company and they said to me,
that is the biggest ant colony I've ever seen. And
(27:05):
we still battle it and and we control them. I
don't think we've ever really eradicated them, so you know,
I don't know if that helps. I'm just trying to
give you a little you know, the why, yeah, the
why can they fly? Like the queen? There are flying ants,
(27:25):
but a carpenter bee will not is not going to fly.
That's the right right now.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
Uh, if that's the case. And I found them one
time right in you know the umbrellas for your blawd furniture. Yes,
I had a few umbrellas stacked from some barrels out
in the ad. They were actually inside the umbrella and
they made the nest inside the clock.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I mean, the.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
Amazing how many there are when you hit a nest?
Speaker 1 (27:58):
I mean, yeah, you used a word to ants are amazing.
I used to have this. He was a doctor and
his whole study was on ants, and he would tell
ants stories. You were almost thinking it was like a
comedy show. But they're brilliant. They are brilliant. If there's
a lot of rain and flooding, they can literally lock
(28:20):
arms and legs and create a raft, float away from
the colony and start another colony.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
His house there, They ain't half his house. Feel the ants?
Oh yeah, they between the cell and the second story.
The other day, it's so much damage to that house
for you know that.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Yeah, it's it's funny. My very first house I ever had,
I had some carpenter ants. I was a young guy
and knew a little bit about carpenter ants. My background
was working in hardware stores and stuff, and you know,
I couldn't find where they were getting in. And one
day I stepped on the on the threshold and my
foot kind of gave a little bit and it was
(29:06):
an old wood threshold which I eventually took up, and
there was the nest underneath that threshold. And there's thousands
of them.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
Now, what do you hit with that? What do you
hit them with when you find them? Another?
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Well, when I use back in the day, you could
use a productoled diazinon. I think it's pari ethan now.
But again, if if, if you have those little disc
and traps, I know, it sounds almost elementary. I'm always
talking about the Rescue brand. They have one that has
(29:37):
a food source that is a protein and a carbohydrate.
Because ants even changed their diet based on the temperatures,
so you know, and I forget which one they eat
when it's cold, which one they eat when it's hot.
I guess carbohydrates when it's cold to keep them warm.
But a lot of those don't have them. And if
you place them where you you'll be able to see,
(29:59):
they'll they'll create a trail, whether it's through the mulch
bed and underneath the threshold and then into your kitchen,
you'll be able to actually see their feeding trail. And
you put these little discout that are safe for you know,
little babies that they're crawling around on the floor, your
pet or whatever, and you just put them up wherever
you see the trail, and they take this liquid and
they take it back to the colony because that's what
(30:22):
their job is, to bring the food back to the
colony and the queen. And once the queen eats, the
queen dies, and when the queen dies, all these workers
are out of a job, right, That's that's what they do,
and they'll die off and and and you'll eradicate them
that way. It's in fact, a lot of times when
(30:42):
you put those disc out, Frank, you'll see more ants
than you knew you ever had. But in about two
or three days they go up.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
But now is it possible, I mean, can use that
in the exterior outside in the weather.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
I mean they do have an exterior one too. Yes
they do, Yes, they do. Okay, yeah, it's a bigger disk,
same thing, and they also have different There are powdered
insecticides and pyrethians that are sprinkled out. I think it's
like a two foot wide path around the foundation of
(31:19):
the house and then it rains and soaks in. I
forget what the residual time on it is, but you'll
create a barrier, and a lot of times you get
a couple of traps inside, a couple of traps outside.
You create a little barrier around the house. And you know,
if it's a i'll say normal sized ant colony, you
can knock it out. But if you know, you get
(31:39):
some massive colony like I had. You know, I've worked
on that and worked on that, and I finally just
said I got to get something that stronger and more effective.
And man, they knocked it out, but we still you know,
like I said my wife the other day, he said, hey,
I'm seeing some ants again, and okay, well, get to
work some years.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
I don't see, you know, all of a sudden getting
invaded again, and I'm saying to myself, what the heck?
I mean, well, that's what you when he was saying
about the he was talking about the powder, I think
putting them around and I'm saying, like the powder is
gonna get on the animals, you know, the caps or something.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Yeah, if you water it in it really well yeah,
I don't know. It depends on what you have. There's
a lot of there's a lot of safe ones out
there now. In fact, I even hate to use the
word chemicals because you know, we all think about, you know,
back in the day with chloridine where it had a
hundred year residual and about wiped out you know, half
the bird supply. So those days are over and a
(32:40):
good thing. But check out that, Frank, and just start,
you know, create a perimeter and use those traps and
try and get the queen and sit tight. I've got
I've been talking about rescue traps. And he gave me
a few kids. I think it's the value about eighty bucks.
All different kind of kids from fly kids, you know,
fly strips, the hornets, the carpenter bees, the ants and Daniel,
(33:05):
get your information. We'll get your kid out there. Thank
you very much for the call. I appreciate it, and
we will continue you're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
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(36:04):
to the weekend, talking a little home improvement. Happy to
take your call. As we discussed the maintenance of our home,
our projects. Maybe we're tackling the things we just got
to get done. I still got to get a couple
of things done. I keep talking about the garage. I
got it halfway done, halfway organized. If there is such
a thing I haven't really tackled. You've got a little
(36:25):
busy this week, garry. I know it's been busy. It's
been busy. I'd keep looking at the walls in the garage. Now.
Most people are not gonna say, boy, I gotta paint
the walls in my garage. But I'd like to. But
I got all this, Oh, I don't know, shelving and
cabinets and stuff. It's like I don't have to take
cabinets down. I get that, but some of the showing
(36:46):
probably have to. Ah, I gotta think about that. It's
a garage, all right. Uh, grab a line. It's eight
hundred eighty two three eighty two five five love to
talk to you. Let's get to Jeff. Jeff, welcome.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
And Gary. More than got two infestations happens every time
about this time year, and it's the wet season. We've got.
The first thing we end up with is we have
these well there's about ten legs on each side. It's
I can't call it a centipede because I don't think
it adds up. But these things are huge. They're an
inch to inch and a half long. They're just monsters
(37:21):
and scary as the devil. We get those, and we
also get gnats and they come in real heavy in
about June and they don't go away until wintertime. And
we need fly strips for those all the time every
time we combat those. And good, good fly strip always
works well with a fluorescent light behind it.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Oh yeah, yeah, they drunk right to it.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Absolutely. But here's the thing. We had the foundation waterproof.
After lots of struggling, we would get water in the
basement with heavy rains at the where the wall meets
the floor on three sides. Uh uh. So we we
had gray gray, very silted clay deposited all around the
(38:12):
outside walls of the house. And eventually it works its
way uh. Into the foundation that sealed like a cork.
So the so the moisture, and we have two demidifiers
that run this time here constantly. Uh, and that takes
keeps humidity. The minuti is quite good in the house
as far as far as control, and we have hygrometers
on off floors to make sure we measure that. Ventilation
(38:34):
always helps. But I can't figure out where the centipedes
are coming in. And I assume there's centipedes, but again,
you know, like ten legs on each side doesn't add up.
But these things are monsters.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
It likes moisture, right well, yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
They're and they're pretty, they're pretty terrifying. You see one
of those go across your floor and you're like, yeah,
it's like like like like an elephant seeing a mouse. Uh.
But uh, so we got it. And it's this. It's
always seasonal. I mean, I'll tell you winter is just
wonderful around here. Nothing crawling right or flying or flying. Yeah.
(39:12):
I thought I thought maybe you'd give me, give me
a little bit of help and ask me some questions
about anything you can to help me control this factor.
And like I said, humidity really isn't the problem. And
it's not food no food sources.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Yeah, yeah, but but the moisture is you know, they
may not be leaking, but it's an outdoor problem that's
becoming an indoor problem. Sure, so your whole when you
describe what problems were with the you know, basement area
or the water getting into the home, that's a water
(39:46):
table issue. So water can you know, usually come into
a crack in a you know, wall below grade. Obviously
you can have a leaked there. When you have a
wall and you have the floor, those are two separate
pores and you're building a house, so there's a natural
seam there. A natural seam does not usually allow water
(40:06):
to come in because you got the drainage system around there,
and it's not an issue. But when the draining system fails,
you start having leaks. And then you're also not only
trying to catch the water on the side by the walls,
you're trying to catch it before it gets into the
slab of the floor. So underground piping is usually put
(40:27):
in air where it catches the water and moves it
away from the house. Almost more of a water control
correction than a water proofing connection. If you control the
water you'll have waterproofing and they're getting in that house
from the outside. And one of the ways too is
if there's a sump well in there, we have some
(40:49):
bump where they can certainly be washed in that way,
crawl out of there, and you know, they find their
way to other damp areas in that house. So I
was talking to the other person about a pyrethan, which
is you know, a liquid that can be sprayed as
a barrier, and that's exactly what I would use, is
(41:10):
something that would be sprayed around the house to create
that barrier. You can also get it in a powder
kind of works as a just an insecticides. As it
rains it it works its way into the soil. And
then there's also some indoor home insect controls that can
(41:32):
be sprayed down at that entry point. So you're trying
to create a barrier around the outside and then a
control product on the inside.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
We've had some we've had some success with indoor foggers
used used in the basement every every two or less months.
They say they go three months, but more like one
one one, one month or month and a half. Indoor
indoor foggers in the basement seem to control the majority
(42:03):
of the problem.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
That's a tough one. It probably is because.
Speaker 3 (42:13):
It's an aerosol. It's an aerosol. Can you shake it
up real good? You set it in the middle of
the floor, click you click the trigger and run like
the devil?
Speaker 1 (42:21):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. In fact, i'll tell you where those.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
Again, they're not They don't last very long. And the
thing is you got to turn off everything, your ignition, lights,
anything electrical in the basement because they are flammable gases
and they're also toxic, so you don't want to breathe them,
and you have to leave. You have to leave the
ventilation off for a period of about five to six hours. Yeah,
(42:45):
that's how those work, and they're fairly effective, but they're
they're kind of toxic to the homeowner right well.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Where they're really developed for and I'm very familiar with them,
they got pyates and foggers, and I imagine if it's
been you know, pretty beneficial, that's probably what it is.
But those are for really areas that you really can't
get to. For instance, if you had a cross space
with a two foot opening and you're seeing these things
(43:13):
on the walls, or then maybe the basement's connected. You
know how that goes, and you need to that's where
the source is. A pyrethan foger back into cross space
really stops them. It's kind of a barrier and an
eliminator in one trap.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
Is there a trap that would work on these?
Speaker 1 (43:32):
There is not. Well, I'm not familiar with Let's say
I'm not familiar with one. I'll tell you if you
go to that rescue dot com and see if they
have one. They got about twenty five different traps, but
I don't really recall one four centipedes or anything along
those lines. I'd probably go with the uh, the powder
on the outside, and if you want to use the
(43:55):
home pest control for ethan down at the the natural scene,
that's probably where I would, you know, attack that particular issue.
All right, thank you very much. I appreciate the call,
and if you'd like to join us, do so. Our
phone number is eight hundred eight two three eight two
five five. That's eight hundred eight two three eight two
(44:15):
five five talking about your home and there's a lot
to talk about. When the sun comes out in your neighborhood.
Get to work, all right, we'll continue with your calls.
You're at Home with Garrie Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (45:09):
It's the weekend and you have fixed questions. Give Gary
a call at what eight hundred and eighty two three talk.
This is at Home with Gary Sullivan.
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