All Episodes

June 9, 2024 • 45 mins
Gary wraps up Sunday taking your calls, questions and tips.
Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:33):
Well, the weekend is upon usand we're working our way through it.
You're at home with Gary Sullivan,and thank you for joining me with a
good opportunity to discuss a lot ofthe projects that we have going on around
our home. And if you'd liketo join us, do so. Our
phone number is eight hundred eight twothree eight two five. Five lines are

(00:54):
open with the exception of Jeff's,and Jeff's going to lead us off this
hour. Jeff, welcome, HeyGarry, thanks for taking my call,
and thanks for always answering emails wheneverI send them to you. Sir,
Hey question I've got. I'm aschool teacher, so I'm out for the
summer. So now I've got toactually do a lot harder work as far
as manual labor, because my wifehas put me to work. But there

(01:15):
you go. I've got I've gota porch on the shed that we built,
and it looks more like a smallhouse than it does a shd.
But we painted the handrails and posts. They're treated several years back. And
it just seems that I say severalyears back, a few years back,
and it just seems that a coupleof times that I have had the paint

(01:37):
or that I've painted them. Thepaint doesn't want to really stick to those
reils too good. So I'm asking, I guess, is what can I
do? I want to get allthat old paint off, and I'm guessing,
is it okay to use a pressurewasher? Since it's flaking off?
As long as I right, that'sgoing to take it off a bunch of
it. You might hit it witha pressure washer and get as much off
as you can. There are decksrippers that are designed for stripping off pressure

(02:02):
paint off pressure treated wood. Okay, if you don't mind me asking,
is it pressure treated wood that's painted? And you said it's similar to like
a deck, Yes, sir,No, it's uh, it's pressure treated
wood. I painted the the likecolumns. I guess you're there four by
fours and then like the handrails andthe braidening or whatever that kind of trends.

(02:23):
The little porch on this thing istreated to by fours. And I
waited long enough, you know,for the for the wood to absorb water
and stuff like that when it wasinitially built to paint it the first time,
and it didn't last that long.So I got most of the other
paint off and I've painted it again, it still seems to just want to

(02:44):
flake off. And I'm wondering ifI could do that deck bightner. To
definitely do the deck brightener again,that's going to open up the pores.
So you waited at least a yearbefore you painted that, yeah, about
eighteen months actually? All right?All right? Yeah, so uh,

(03:05):
first of all, you know,just so we're all on the same page.
Coatings on pressure treated wood with acrylicor water based paints, it's a
challenge. I mean it seriously is. It's definitely going to fail if you
don't wait a year. And Isay that for other people listening, So
don't even try to fake it.Also, a solid color stain might function

(03:30):
a little bit better, but nota whole lot better. Okay, it's
just a little not as thick ofa coating, so it has a little
bit of better bite into the wood. But what that deck brightener does.
I used the analogy which just kindof came out one training session I was

(03:51):
in. I said to the guy, said, so it's kind of like
mradic acid for concrete, and hegoes, well, it's not mradica.
I said, I know that,but it's kind of opening up of pores
that you would do when you paintconcrete and you guys, yeah, yeah,
yeah, that's what it is.It's you know, oxalic acid,
but it's opening up the pores ofthe wood to be able to allow that

(04:13):
a curly paint to penetrate into thefibers of the wood to get a better
bite. And since it is acrylic or water base, the advantage is
it is breathable, so if itgets in bites into that wood, it's
less likely to appeel because it canallow water vapor to escape through it,

(04:33):
which is a nice feature also,but it's still time to get into stick.
Yeah, yeah, And I knowthat's what it is because on one
side, I've got a door it'sbuilt out of of course entree wood that
I painted with the same paint,and man, it's holding up like a
champing right right. I'm painted atthe same time, So it's definitely the
treated stuff. So is that stufftenable, like I guess, meaning that

(04:58):
can they make it white if youwant it or on what's the solid color
stain? No, but it usuallycomes in like fifty colors, oh okay,
and I don't know if they havea white, but they got a
light color. If they don't havewhite, okay, I think not of
work. And and one other questionfor the deck portion of that porch on

(05:18):
the bottom, I did you thatsemi transparent deck stain redwood trying to get
that red wood look, like youmentioned at the beginning of your show this
morning. It just didn't. Itdoesn't hold up. I'm in South Carolina
as hot, humid and you're miserablehere for about four months out of the
year, and it really works onthese decks. So what would you say,

(05:43):
go with the just regular painted on? I guess well, non transparent?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yourchoice is, you know, the
semi transparent, which is the mostpopular, or solid color stain, solid
color stain. You know, wejust talked about, you know, some
of the issues that solid color stainhas, so preparation, certainly the key,

(06:05):
but it's a lot more fade resistancebecause there's more solids in it.
So it's gonna out last semi transparentfor sure. Okay, Okay, And
that sounds good. What I've gotto do is replacing deck boards, and
I guess I'm just gonna have towait awhile, I'm gonna have like a
zebra looking dick for yeah, untilthe new boards dry. So right,

(06:27):
yeah, and I think that's allthat I've got for you. Again,
I appreciate your help, and hopefullyI can get this this stain on here
and maybe they'll stick for a littlewhile. Yeah. Yeah, Well that
that deck brightener will certainly help.It really does help opening up those pores,
and that certainly is key. Andand and I'm sorry one other thing
you said, before you do thedeck, buy and use bleach. Use

(06:49):
it oxygenated bleach. Bleach a littlemore harsh. Oxygenated bleach is I think
it's sodiumpercarbonate. But it's in alot of deck cleaners, and it gets
rid of mould, mildew, fungus, dirt, the whole works. It
does. It's a very good product. And but that deck brightener is the

(07:13):
one that really kind of opens thingsup a little bit. Okay, thank
you so much, have a goodday, all right, You do the
same, Jeff, Thanks for thecall. Appreciate it all right. Again.
If you would like to reach out, get on board, you can
certainly do that. Our phone numberis eight hundred eight two three eight two
five five. As we've discussed allkinds of things today, it's been kind

(07:35):
of a fun day. We've talkedabout sealing asphalt driveways. By the way,
if you miss that, that's availablevia podcast as each hour of today's
show and yesterday's show available wherever youget your podcast, and he'll get them
up there, and the podcast isat home with Gary Sullivan, and you

(07:55):
can have a lot of the differentconversations we've had with listeners and gat experts
in a particular field that can helpus tackle those tackle those issues. And
one thing we did learn today,and you know, if you have bats
in the attic, it's not assimple as just blocking them from coming out.

(08:16):
As Ron Krueger shared with us,this is birthing season. They go
out adults at night, and ifthey can't get back in because you've sealed
up where they're coming and going,you've trapped all the youngions inside and they're
not gonna make it. They're gonnasmell, you're gonna have all kinds of
issues. That's not the way totake care of the problem. All right,

(08:41):
So let's take a break. We'llcome back. Shirley. You can
lead us off if you'd like tojoin us. Do so. You're at
home with Gary Sullivan. Time toget your hands dirty with Gary Sullivan.
Give them a call at one eighteight two three talk. You're at home
with Gary Sullivant. You have adamp, musty odor from past water issues

(09:15):
in your basement. I know you'dlike to get rid of the odor,
but you don't want to spend alot of money to fix it. So
I've got the solution, Gary Salvinhere, use MOMS by Odor Exit.
It's an easy and inexpensive way tosolve the problem. If you have mold,
mildew, or smoke odors. MOMSis a safe oxidizer. It adds
oxygen and gets rid of the stench. Moms oxidizes the smell, the spores,

(09:37):
even oxidizes dust particles. Eliminate theodor with moms odor Exit. Dot
com high ugly concrete surfaces with DiehardMax Industrial strength epoxy floor coatings. Kid
and this summer get a ninety ninedollars deal on kits I cover up to
two hundred and fifty square feet ofgarage, basement or warehouse space. Kits
include vinyl flakes you add to theimpact resistance Tan or Greg Glossy's surface to

(10:01):
create a slip resistant floor. Getthe ninety nine dollars die Hardmaxkit with free
shipping from Lows dot com or dishCoatings dot Com. That's Daichcoatings dot Com.
Rust ruins everything it touches vehicles,furniture, tools, toys. Rust
doesn't know how to stop, butBlaster knows how to stop rust. Stop

(10:22):
it, bust it up, cleanit off, and prevent it from ever
happening with pbe Blaster the number oneproduct to break free rusted or stuckbarts period.
Then use Blaster's surface shield rust Protectedto protect from rust from ever forming
in the first place. It's simpleBlaster knows rust. So get to know
Blaster products at a home, autoor hardware store near you and always work

(10:43):
it like a pro. Tart ifineffective cleaning products, discover Jaws that Just
add water system. This eco friendlycleaning system has high performance refillable cleaners to
tackle every surface in your home,including the Jaws glass cleaner. I love
it. The easiest way to getstarted is with Jaws Ultimate Cleaning Kit,
which includes six refillable cleaning bottles,two concentrated refilled pods, of each cleaner

(11:07):
and color coded microfiber towels, allfor forty nine to ninety nine plus free
shipping at jawscleans dot com. Allright, back, here we go,

(11:43):
nineteen minutes after the top of thehour and talking a little home improvement.
Shirley, Welcome, Hi Gary.I'm going to be needing a new roof
and I would like to know whatquestions to ask. And also I think
I'm pretty sure there's mold in theattic and should I address that before or

(12:05):
after the roof? Well, Ithink the roofer will address that with you
if he finds mold. And oneof the things that should be of concern
too is if they're mold in theattic, there's also some sort of moisture
issue. Now I'm not saying thatthe roof is leaking. It could be

(12:26):
humidity, but some of that deckingon that roof could be dry rotted and
that may have to be replaced.I'm not saying it does, but it
might. And on most quotes onroofing it will even talk about if we
find decking that is compromised, itwill have to be replaced additional costs.

(12:48):
In other words, they won't bidon that right away, and usually what
causes that if there's not a leakis lack of ventilation or improper ventilation.
How holds the house. It's aboutforty seven years old, forty eight,
forty eight, so that's so okay, you're right at that boundary where we

(13:11):
didn't ventilate roofs. So we startventilating roofs probably about nineteen seventy seven.
So I don't know if you havea ridge vent or you have any ventilation
up there, but if you don't, that's probably why you have mold and
the roof is going to talk aboutventilating that roof, So that's one of

(13:31):
the things I think I'd want totalk about because if you put a new
roof on and it's not properly ventilated, it's basically taking your warranty for that
roof, and it's the warranty isno good because one of the first things
I'll say is properly ventilate roof.Well, I think that fan in the

(13:56):
bathroom may have been disconnected, didwell that that could certainly be pushing all
kinds of moist, warm air intoan attic and in the winter time it's
hitting that cold air, which createscondensation, which creates mold, which creates
wood rock. So yeah, thatwould probably be the be one of the

(14:18):
issues. So to answer your question, you must have just start with getting
some quotes on your roof. Okay, and you see, you know what's
going on up there too. They'llprobably get in there and take a look.
I'd mention it to them, okay, all right, and now the

(14:43):
decking, it's it's what's under theshingle. Yes, So I guess what
I always talk about in terms ofroofing is I think I would get,
you know, three quotes on aroof. They won't all be the You'll
learn about the different options you have. And then that's really a good time

(15:05):
to have this discussion because you'll haveyou'll have quotes that I'll talk about it
ventilation, You'll have quotes that don'ttalk about ventilation. Possibly you'll have quotes
that are talking about removing and replacingall the flashing. My answer is I
would do that. You'll get somequotes at that's the metal between the roof

(15:26):
and like the chimney, and youknow, if you have valleys where two
peaks of roof come and meet,so there'll be a discussion on flashing,
There'll be discussions on underlayments and thequality of shingle. The best thing you
can do is find the three bestroofers in your town, Okay, and

(15:50):
so ask around people that have hadthis replaced. And I had mine replace
I'll say, I don't know,probably four years ago, and it was
it was amazing to me. Igot my three quotes and every one of
them was different, and then Ikind of had to weigh the pros and
cons of which way I wanted togo, and it was the middle priced

(16:14):
one. You know, it wasn'tthe most expensive one. But now some
people that are looking at your roof, they don't even get on your roof.
They'll put a drone over it,which I'm not a fan of.
I'd rather have somebody that's going toreplace my roof actually inspecting my roof and
looking. And as I was askingquestions, well, this fella said I

(16:36):
don't need this, and the guygoes, well, i'll bet you he
didn't get on the roof because you'vegot this problem, this problem, this
problem. And then I can callup the other guy, so you can
start having a conversation by comparing thedifferent quotes, and I think that I
encourage almost everybody to do that.Okay, all right, I will do
that. Then, very good,and thank you very much. You're quite

(17:00):
welcome. Take care, and again, when we have an opportunity to then
have that discussion, I'd love todo that. Tom, welcome, Well,
good morning here. I've got afourteen year old asphalt shingle roof that
was sealed about five years ago.I was up cleaning the gutters and noticed

(17:21):
that a lot of the granules arestarting to come off. It needs to
be sealed again. I guess Iwill have two questions. First of all,
what do you think about sealing?And secondly, the last time I
had done I had done with aproduct called a Spazite SB. Lambert Corporation.

(17:41):
It looks like it's a weather resistantmethyl acrelate acrolag resin. But now
I'm seeing all of these oil basedadvertisements. What do you think about those
products? I think they're fine.I think there's a place for that whole
product line. I don't think it'sfor everybody. The one I'm most familiar

(18:04):
with is one called roof Max.It's a celant that you would apply and
basically folks. What it does Tomknows already, But it creates a celant
to keep the granular part of theshingle intact. Once you begin to lose
the granular protection on a shingle,you leave that exposed to the UV rays

(18:29):
of the sun, which degrades theshingle. And you know, like a
twenty five year roof is usually lastsabout eighteen years. If you start protecting
it at fifteen years May you canget the full guarantee out of it.
You can apply it. I thinkthe roof max two or three times,
maybe more. But um, it'sa lot cheaper to seal it and extend

(18:52):
the life of the roof. I'mnot debating that. But another way looking
at is is it's an additional cost. You got a factor in the cost.
It's about twenty five percent of thecost of a roof. So you
can extend that out and if you'regoing to stay in that house for a
while, I don't know, Idon't know, I don't know. Check

(19:12):
with your homeowner or not your yourhome insurance. Also, a lot of
times in your new policies, they'renot ensuring that roof once it gets to
a certain age and I don't knowif that includes whether they put a ceiling
on there or not, so Ithink they're good. It's it's something to

(19:33):
study about. It's an option,but everybody's situation is a little different.
Thanks much for the call time,I appreciate it. We'll continue with your
calls. You're at Home with GarySullivan Home Improvement one oh one with Gary
Sullivan every weekend classes began at oneeight hundred and eight two three tak You're

(19:57):
at Home with Gary Sullivan. Well, I've been talking about Zalar pumps for

(20:18):
years now being the gold standard andsome pumps and battery backup systems. The
sump pump is the heart of yourgroundwater protection system and Zalar is the only
name I'd trust to keep my basementdry. The Zalar Model sixty three primary
sump pump and a Zalor aquanot Fitfive oh eight battery backup system installed by
a factory certified installer are a guaranteedwater protection plan. Check them out at

(20:41):
zalarpumps dot com to locate a factorycertified installer. That's Zalar Pumps dot com.
Mosquitoes can transmit deadly diseases, includingwest Now virus. But some mosquito
dunks kill mosquitoes before they're old enoughto bite. Just floated organic mosquito dunk
and ponds bird bass rain barrels inany standing water to kill mosquito larvae for

(21:02):
thirty days or longer. Don't worry. Mosquito dunks won't harm people, pets,
fish, birds, or wildlife.Mosquito dunks are available at garden centers,
hardware stores, and online. VisitSomewhat Responsible Solutions dot com. Well,
I've been recommending Blackjack driveway sealers foryears, and here's some great news.
The Blackjack ten year sealer drive Maxone thousand features accelerated drying time in

(21:26):
curing in cooler temperatures. Drive Maxone thousand adds curb appeal, delivering a
light, new black finish and asyou're a thane, enhanced for the longest
life. Drive Max one thousand availableat Low's Home Depot, True Value ace
in your local hardware store. VisitBlackjackcoatings dot com for more information. Blackjack
protecting driveways for over one hundred years. Looking for a simple way to clean

(21:48):
your outdoor surfaces, you need wetand forget the bleach free cleaner. That's
changed the way we tackle ugly blackand green stains. There's no need for
scrubbing. Simply apply wet and forgetand let nature do the rest. Say
for all outdoor surfaces, decks,roofs, siding and walkways, offering long
lasting results and saving you time andeffort. If you want your home six

(22:08):
tier to look its best with minimaleffort, pick up a bottle, wit
and forget today at Low's, Walmart, Minards, or a hardware all right,

(22:47):
back at it we go. Thirtythree minutes after the top, they
are talking a little home improvement onthe weekend. If you'd like to join
us, please do. It's eighthundred eight two three eight two five five
happy to talk to you about yourhome project. Maybe it's a little maintenance,
maybe it's a little bit of repair. And I guess one of the
things we're talking about a lot ismoisture and tightening up our homes. And

(23:11):
I think that goes on in alot of cases to almost every little issue
we have in our home, it'seither moisture got in there, or there's
gaps, maybe even caused by moisturethat is causing animals to get in our
house, or pest to get intoour house or that's where the damage occurs.
That's the step by step process.I coined a phrase a number of

(23:33):
years ago. It's the little fivedollars repair that becomes a fifty dollars repair,
which can become a five hundred dollarsrepair and if you really let it
go even more than that. Soagain, if you'd like to talk about
that, it's eight hundred eighty twothree eight two five five. All right,
Ken, welcome, Yeah, goodmorning, Gary. I just was

(23:53):
wanting to get what products you knowof to help but a little baby an
the red ants that are biting,and the all supper cottages an air and
Florida we got the big water bugs. And I've lived here the last eight
years, I've heard more stories andCarter got liverpill so I figured that's your

(24:14):
health from from Gary the Man.Yeah, Well, there's all kinds of
different products to address all of thoseissues. I mean, there really is.
There is one for roaches, andyou may have run into this already.
That's probably going to be your mostdifficult of all the above to control.

(24:37):
And in some cases it really isthis a house uh mobile hole?
Yeah, yeah, no, this, no, this is a single story
house or bedroom to gas good,So you're you increase the likelihood of success
when it's a single residence, Sothat's that's good. Trying to get rid
of cockroaches in like apartments or condosis really tough. They just scramble to

(25:03):
the next place and then come backand visit you. There's a product called
combat and it's Combat Source Kill MaximumRoach Formula or something along those lines.
But it's Combat Source Kill is thename of the product. It's a gel
formulation and that gel contains water andfood, which is what roaches are all

(25:30):
about, right, and that's whatanswers are ants are all about. They
work on, you know, prettymuch any type of cockroach and you can
you know, knowing where they're at. It's always hard, right, I
mean any crevice and you talk aboutsomething get through small crevices. Cockroaches are

(25:52):
one of them. Behind appliances whereverthey can hide, behind baseboards, underneath
cabinet tree. If you happen toreally examine the exterior of the house looking
for very small openings, I meanlike pencil thin openings where maybe wood joints

(26:14):
shrink and separate. That's kind ofwhere you're gonna want to place this bait.
Yeah, yeah, that's what I'mjust trying to sign, like in
the garage is at another place,just to make sure, just to make
sure these suckers stuff have a placeto hide, right right, because they
come out to feed. I meanthey hide and then they come out to

(26:34):
feed, so minimizing even you know, plates that would sit on the counter
or something like that waiting to bewashed or something like that. Yeah.
Right, well that's why, likeI said, it's just it's just been
an ongoing little battle here there whatever. It's like they you know, they'll

(26:56):
be gone through a good wild andall of a sudden you see the little
baby come back, and then it'slike then you'll see the mother load that
unloads herself on the whole freaking world. Right. So the gel one,
they make it in different ones too. They make it like a baseboard combat
also where you just spray it.I like the gel just because it's going
to stay there. They also makea powder which I like also, except

(27:18):
it's more visible than the gel.So for the roaches, I really like
the combat source. Kill the geland you can pick that up in a
lot of hardware stores Amazon. It'svery available at combat Swords jel source like
find the source right combat Swords tellyeah. And you know a lot of

(27:41):
times people will call and say,well, boric acid will do it.
Yeah, boric acid will too.You can get powered boric acid if you
want to sweep that under, youknow, around appliances or baseboards or things.
You know, it's an ongoing battle. As far as the ants,
I talk about a company called Rescue. It's a rescue. They got some
wonderful ant traps answer a little differentcreature. They're very genius, Like I

(28:07):
mean, they have a colony outsideof that home. They've come into your
home looking for the same thing thecockroaches are looking for. They're looking for
water and food. They have littletraps that is attracted the ants attracted to
it. They take the food,they bring it to the colony, which

(28:30):
will work on killing the queen.And once you kill the queen, you're
in you're in business. I wouldtry both of those see where you get.
And you know, sometimes the coloniesbigger than maybe you can fight,
and you need professional help and professionalproducts. But those two in those two
categories are are excellent products. We'llcheck it out here. I appreciate it

(28:55):
very good. Thank you, takecare, bye bye. All right again
it's hey one hundred and eight twothree eight two five five. Yeah,
and all those things. That's right. Interesting. It's all about survival,
whether it's critters, whether it's insects, it's water and food. And you
know, like we were talking withRon Kruger talking about bats, and you

(29:18):
know, it's water and food.They go out the insects for them,
they go out and feed at night, they get birthing seasons. Now they're
looking for a place to you know, have their young and hopefully it's not
your house. And that was whatthat discussion was. As I talk almost
almost every show, and you're probablyreally tired of hearing it, always talk

(29:41):
about walking around the house. Takingthat walk around the house. If it
doesn't look right, it's not right. Looking for openings, looking for entry
ways into your home, not forpeople, but for little tiny critters.
And you can also do that whenyou're talking about moisture entering the house.

(30:04):
Right. The other day, Ifound a place I'm always walking around the
home, but I had some bushesthat had not overgrown, but they were
taller than I wanted them to beon the side of the house, and
there was a window up there,which doesn't get much attention, and it
wasn't. The bushes weren't grown overthe window, but they were high enough

(30:25):
that to see above the window wasdifficult. I wasn't going up on a
ladder and inspecting it. And Ido literally walk around the house at least
once a month, just looking fordifferent areas, creating a little list of
things that need to be addressed.And I finally decided I was going to
cut these bushes back, which Idid. I lopped off a couple foot

(30:52):
and holy cow, when I lookedup, I saw this half moon shaped
window and the clowking around the bendat the top of the moon was It
wasn't missing, but it was separated, and it was separated. There's been

(31:12):
some movement. And it's funny,being in this business my whole life,
I see that as like I freakbecause it's like, oh my gosh.
You know, insects can get inthere, ants can crawl up the wall
and get in there, Moisture anda driving rainstorm can get in there.
I haven't seen any of the problemsthat I just mentioned, but they could

(31:33):
be there, and if they're notthere now, they could be there soon.
So that's why I'm talking about reallyexamining what's going on. And the
same thing me as you walk aroundthere and you start looking for things and
you find openings, just think about, you know, mice, ants,

(31:53):
cockroaches, that's their entry point andget those sealed up. And I'm talking
about the door sweep, underdoors,the garage door sweep, any kind of
opening, missing torn pieces, pipesand cables running through your foundation, calking

(32:13):
around windows, rotted wood at thebase of the trim on a next tier
door. Those are big time areaswhere these problems can start and generate bigger
issues. So that's why we talkabout that walk around the house. All
right, let's take a break.We'll come back. Frankly lead us off.
We got David and you if you'dlike to join us. You're at

(32:36):
Home with Gary Sullivan. Help foryour home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This isat Home with Gary Sullivan. Well,

(33:00):
they say an ounce of prevention isworth a pound of cure, and that's
true when it comes to preventing abasement flood. Hey, Gary Salvin here
from my friends at Rota Ruter Plumbingand Water clean Up. There are the
some pump experts and can install backupsome pump that'll prevent basement flooding even during
a power outage. And if yourprimary pump is getting up in the years,

(33:21):
well, Roto Ruter can replace thattoo. Trust me a lot cheaper
than a flooded basement. Called RotoRouter at one eight hundred. Get roto
today. Now's the time to ventilateyour basement to prevent the natural build up
of pollutants, humidity and toxins thatcause stagnant musty odors. Stop to trouble.
Win the battle with your basement forgood with an easy breathe ventilation system.

(33:42):
Put one in my basement and thathumidity and musty odor gone. That
was about ten years ago. Badair out, better air in. It's
that simple installation only takes two hours. Now available in self installed kits.
Call my friends at easybreed dot comeight six six eight two two seventy three
twenty eight eazybreed dot com. Springcleaning has started and you're probably noticing some

(34:04):
new odors around the house and yourallergens are starting to act up. Fortunately,
odo exit has a solution for allthose things. Maybe it's a musty
basement or bathroom, pet accident,or even seeing those floating allergens in the
air. Odor Exit has a solutionto make sure that when you clean your
home, it smells clean and keepssmelling clean. Right now, they're offering
twenty percent off the entire order atodor exit dot Comcodegary odor exit dot com

(34:29):
code Gary. Spring means damp weatherand that causes rust. So as they
say, don't bust your knuckles,bust your nuts with pbe Blaster, the
number one selling penetrant for breaking freerusted or coroded parts since nineteen fifty seven.
You'll find Blaster offers a full familyof professional grade products that are formulated
to penetrate, lubricate, loosen,fix, and conquer each job. So,

(34:50):
whether it's to prevent, remove orbreak free blaster nose rust, pick
up Blaster products at home, autoor a hardware store near you and always
use Blaster the products and working likea pro. Yeah, all right,

(35:23):
back in it we go at homewith Garry Sullivan talking to a little home
improvement and uh, let's get backto the phones and kind of wrap things
up for another weekend again, everyhour available via podcast wherever you get your
podcasts, including the iHeart App andFrank Welcome. Hey Gary, pleasure to

(35:44):
talk to you. I actually havebeen wanting to get a hold of you
for a while and just found myselfwith the opportunity. Two questions. Okay,
good, be pretty quick. Thispast year has been going on for
a while. But this past winterI had just the mott god awful infestation
of ladybugs and steak bugs. Ilive out in the country. Like I

(36:09):
said, we've had them before,but I don't know. I'd come out
in the fall, they'd be allover the house. In the winter,
we'd be sitting in the living roomwatching TV. My wife kept a shop
back in the living room. Youlook up, there to be a dozen
of them up there. She'd sweepthem up, and ten minutes later there'd
be another dozen. Wow. Wow. I'm just curious if you know of

(36:32):
any suggestions, anything I can tryto keep them out. Well, if
you've heard of an issue like thisbefore, yeah, yeah, no,
I've heard about it. I kindof experienced a little something similar to that
for the stink bugs. So stinkbugs, they want to win her over
so they want to get into yourhouse, but they also don't want to

(37:00):
be real warm. Okay, sothey don't want to be really in the
walls in insulation it's warm. ThereA lot of times stink bugs will winter
over in your attic and then theywill get down in the living quarters alongside

(37:21):
can lights or you know, anytype of opening like that. There are
if you get on it. Iused to talk about this, and it's
been a few years and I kindof forget how to make it. Frank,
but there are stink bug traps thatyou can make that are really easy,
and I know. It's basically atwo liter bottle the plastic like the

(37:43):
big coke bottles or something, andyou cut that little neck off and you
put a led ball down in thebottom and like a little hockey puck,
and they're attracted to that. AndI forget exactly how you trap them.
They can't get they get in,but they can't get out. And literally
I did that in my attic anumber of years ago. I caught hundreds

(38:05):
of these things and they never gotin a living course. Eventually I just
diminished their population. It wasn't aproblem then. A couple of years ago,
I had it, or this isnow about eight years ago. I
had some problems with them one time, and it wasn't very many. It
was just one here and there,but I'd find one probably every morning around
the windows. And I had thenjust replaced replacement windows, and I never

(38:32):
have seen a stink bugs since.So now I've done replacement windows and I
got new siding on the hounds,so I feel, you know, it's
fairly well sealed up. I won'tstay taxllent. Well, yeah, I

(38:52):
just it amazed me. Yeah,when you get out in my barn and
the woodpiles and there'd be thousands,well they're just yeah, they're hibernating.
But it's interesting like when you saythe stink bugs living in an attic.
Okay, when you think about allthe soft events around your attic and you
got the lovers and then you usuallyhave a screen behind the lovers, it's

(39:15):
amazing how many times you'll find thatscreening is just damaged, it's just rotted
out. And that's an entryway.I mean, there's a million entryways.
It's not worth having them exterminated becauseyou just you know, there's just it
goes on and on. There's nota long term solution to it outside of
tightening the home up and keep vacuumdiminished the population ladybugs kind of a long

(39:37):
the same thing. Those were broughtin, I think to help eliminate a
mite out of the soybean fields.And when you you know, about the
middle of September, whenever they startcutting that down, all those ocean beetles
go like, we gotta get outof dodge. We gotta find a place

(39:58):
to winter over and the love thehouse. And again when that sun you
could you could have a warm dayin February and those babies will be all
over the siding. And they likedark sighting better than light sighting because it
holds the heat. How that makessense. My sighting is it's like a
dark rip. My neighbor laughs atme all the time because he always says,

(40:21):
yeah, that's all the ones thathave been living over here in my
field. I've cut the field.Yeah. Yeah. I had the conversation
with people that made tarot antspers anumber of years ago also, and it
was in the heyday of the Asianbeetlebugs. And you know, I don't
think there's popular as many of themas there used to be, but they're

(40:46):
they're still in the fields. Ifthere hasn't been anything done to control them
in the fields, they're gonna lookthe winter over. But this person was
always talking if you can time outwhen that field's gonna be cut down,
the fields around and you're going tobe cut down, really check around all
the calkings on the windows and stuff. And even if the calking is in

(41:07):
good decent shape to take some tarotant spray and it had a little straw
for spraying, is just go aheadand spray around all your windows and that
will be I don't have enough residual, uh for them not to try to
get in that way. And that'sthe biggest entry point for those Asian beetlebugs.

(41:28):
And like I say, they sensewhen it's warm outside, and it
could be in the middle winter andthey'll go out warm themselves. So that
tarot is it the same as theantspray? Or is the same as the
antspray for the same as the antspray? Now, last question, I'll let
you go. The last calling.You said something about the the ant the

(41:53):
rescue. I couldn't. I couldn'tremember the name. All right, Well,
I'll give it a shot and seewhat happens there you go, good
luck? All right, Frank,thanks, all right, we got David.
We got about a minute and ahalf. Welcome, Welcome, Thanks,
Gerry, you're my favorite weekend hosthere. I called you. I

(42:16):
moved from Ohio down here to Alabama, and I never seen so many dog
on ants. And then I heardone time where a guy told me,
he says, take one part boraxe and three parts powdered sugar. Mix
that up. And I'll tell youwhat. I got my house and two
of the other neighbors in their extralots, I got that just about ant

(42:36):
free, now excellent, and thatborax and powdered sugar. Mix it three
three to one, three sugars toone boraxe, and I'll tell you what.
That just works, wonders. Wheredo you put it, David?
I sprinkle it right over the mound. You see ants coming up, you
just I sprinkle it right over thehill. It doesn't take much because borax
is really toxic to ants. Andthat powdered sugar sweetened it up. And

(43:00):
they carried back to wherever they carryit, and within a couple of days,
right where they're coming up is wherethey're carrying it. That's where that
colony is. They'll take care ofthe queen. Yep, you're doing this
in the summer, correct, I'mdoing it right now. I mean,
whenever I see a pile coming up, I go out and sprinkle it.

(43:22):
Within a day or two it isgone. Yep, yep, good good.
That's a great tip. I appreciatethat. You know, answer interesting
too. I mean, I thinkI even said it about roaches. Boric
acid is you know, an alltime hero on the eliminating pass. That's

(43:43):
for sure. Different ants in Alabama. The sweet ants we see in our
home, we're not going to makethe boric acid in the sprinkle and the
sugar and sprinkle it around. Youcan do it around the perimeter of the
house. He can see the colony. Man, they're coming right up.
And then that's fine. I mean, that's excellent. But if you're trying
to get them out of your house, that that ant traps is a gel,

(44:06):
you know, it's it's liquid,it's got the different products in there.
It even talks about different diets dependingon the temperature, with a sugar
or a carbohydrate, and they'll bringthat back to the colonies. So you
know, it's different areas that you'regoing after, so using the right mixture

(44:27):
is also very important. Well,Danny boy, thank you very much for
very busy and well played a weekend, and don't forget our podcast, It's
Wherever Podcasts are at Home with GarySelvon and the good Lord Willing. We'll
be back next weekend for more atHome with Gary Sullivan. Help for your

(45:02):
home is just a click away atGarysullivan online dot com. This is at
Home with Garysullivan.

At Home with Gary Sullivan News

Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

United States of Kennedy
Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.