Gary Sullivan 8/17/2025 Hour 1

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Well, a good Sunday morning. Welcome aboard. You're at home
with Gary Sullivan. Another day to get a few things
done around the home, and I'm very.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Happy you could join me. Let me give you the
phone number you can ask you a question about a
project or a maintenance issue and maybe heaving around the house.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
It's five one three seven fifty five hundred and today
we'll take your calls up to the noon hour, all
right here on fifty five KR see Dee talk station. Well,
the weekend is here.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Welcome aboard.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
I'm here also, you're at home with Gary Sullivan as
we take your calls regarding your home projects.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
And if you'd like to join us, we.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Have wide open lines, of course, just kind of getting going.
It's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five
and I hope you're well, not suffering from too much
heat today. It looks like we get a little tiny
respite where I'm at. I hope you do the same,
and uh, maybe we get out there and get some
of those projects done. One of the things we've talked

(01:05):
a lot about during this kind of strange summer, a
lot of storms and a lot of heat throughout the country.
As We've talked about working on control of humidity, and
that is so, so very important.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
I've told the story many times.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
I'm gonna tell it again because it bears catching as
many people as we can. I open my energy bill
on Thursday, maybe Friday.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Ouch.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
You know, it keeps going up, and the cost keeps
going up. Obviously, we keep hearing there's a demand because
of data centers.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
I don't know the answer to that, but I can
tell you this. If you're looking to your bill probably
still be higher. But if you're looking to save a
little money and be a little bit more comfortable, there's
certainly a way to do that. And the way to
do that is to control you the humidity in your home.

(02:11):
I looked at mine this morning. I have a gauge
right in the family room, nice little led screen, and
the temperature in the house was seventy six degrees with
a relative humidity of fifty two percent.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Very very comfortable.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
If that was seventy six degrees in a sixty five
percent relative humidity, you and me would probably be moving
that thermostad down to about seventy two to get more
moisture out of the air to cool the temperatures. That's
how it does that, and it's going to cost you
a lot more money. But controlling the humidity is key,

(02:54):
and I can help you with that if you'd like.
I'm not going to go through all the points, there's many,
but you should have a humidity guide in your home.
If you have a basement, I would put one down there.
It's going to be more humid there, and as that
humidity increases, it will work its way up the stairs
and on the first floor and eventually even get onto

(03:16):
the second floor. But in the summertime, you would like
to have that humidity inside your home to be comfortable
around fifty five percent.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
You get it down to fifty, hooray for you.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
And I've I've been pretty much riding right in the
low fifty so I'm very pleased with the job we're doing.
But it's it's not where you set the thermostat. Well, sure,
it's where you set the thermostat, but what's dictating that
in a lot of cases just the amount of humidity
inside your room. All right, again, our phone numbers eight
hundred and eighty two three eight two five five. Cynthia,

(03:55):
you lead us off this weekend.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
How are you.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
Higerium phone?

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Good?

Speaker 3 (04:00):
And Hey, I'm from Florida and I'm up here visiting
my grandchildren. Then I saw advertising on TV where they
were spraying a roof. My roof's like ten years old
and it doesn't leak or anything. That I was thinking,
is this really a legitimate product where they spray your
roof and it's supposed to give it more a longer life.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yes, I would say it's legitimate. Is it for everybody? No,
I don't think it's for everybody. So let me kind
of explain the nuances of it.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
The way a.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Roof degrades is it lose its texture on the top
of the shingle. It looks like sand and it loses
that it's there to block the ultraviolet rays of the
sun from breaking down the shingle. Over the course of

(04:56):
rain and hail and snow and sun and everything, those
that granular protection layer begins to wear off, and if
you let it continue to go, the shingles begin to crack,
split and fail. Now, probably not going to fail ten
years old, but if you had a twenty five year

(05:18):
warranted roof, you might get twenty or twenty two years.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Out of that roof. Just on average.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
So maybe around you know, year seventeen eighteen, you have
roof Max come and take a look at it. And
what they do is they spray a clear ceilant on
that roof Cynthia, which kind of I'll use this terminology.
It seals that roofing reglues the granular material on the

(05:49):
top of the shingles so that the shingle will not
degree degrade as fast. Makes sense, Oh, at last five years.
You can have it apply up to three times, so
you know, it loes it down. We had somebody call
yesterday actually and said, well, Rufer said, when it's time

(06:11):
to replace that roof, their shingles are really hard to
get off. They might be I answer that, I don't know,
makes sense that they will. Oh, but when I say,
they're not for everybody. You know, if you're going to
live in that house for another ten fifteen years. My
feeling is when you need a roof, you replace the roof.

(06:34):
If you're going to be there another couple of years
and it's looking like it's starting to get you know,
a little questionable, maybe the roof Max is a good
way to go, and you can buy yourself another five
years before you replace it. It's about twenty five to
thirty percent of the cost of a new roof.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
Okay, let's just prcis it's existent, So yeah, I may
do well. Thanks you, Gary, I really enjoyed listening to you.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Very good.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
Thank you much appreciate it. Take care all right again.
Our numbers eight hundred eight two three eight two five five.
You can grab a line as we take your calls
regard to your home projects. In this time of years,
everybody's heading back to school. I always like to give
a tip on on cleaners. If I want to go
into college, good luck trying to get them to clean anything.

(07:24):
But if they're going to clean something, take a look
at the Jaws Cleaner products.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
Again.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
With the start of the school season, you stock up
on hand soap and tissues and some of this Jaws cleaners.
And because the neatest thing about it is they're concentrated refills.
So you got this bottle of the Jaws cleaner, and
they got a glass cleaner, they got a kitchen to grease,
or they got a disinfectant, which is awful, Hindy. Once

(07:52):
everybody gets back to school and you use the product
and when you run out, you don't have to go
run and buy another one, because if you bought the
refilled cartridges, you can I mean you can get a
case of twenty four if you want, or you can
just buy a few. You fill the bottle up with
water and this refill it's about the size of a

(08:14):
roll of nickels and you just put it in the
neck of the bottle, put your spray or in, give
it a couple minutes, shake the bottle and you are
ready to go. So take a look at the Jaws cleaner.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
They got one.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
Called cream Cleanser, which is fantastic. If you got a
glass stovetop, that's that and a glass cleaner probably my
two favorites.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
But they've got you know, they got.

Speaker 1 (08:37):
A foaming bathroom cleaner cleans the vertical surfaces and crevices,
a wonderful cleaner Jaws cleans dot com. So there's your tip.
Get ready, get ready and try to you know again,
if it's kids going away to college. I remember my
one Sunday when he was a junior. I wouldn't let
my wife go to his house. There was it's like

(09:00):
five guys in there. You don't want to go there,
but you can certainly talk a good game and uh,
good luck with that.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
All right, looking forward to your calls. We'll take a break, we'll.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
Come back and answer a few is we continue, You're
at Home with Gary Sullivan.

Speaker 4 (09:16):
Time to get your hands dirty with Gary Sullivan. Give
them a call at one eight hundred and eighty two
three Talk. You're at Home with Gary Sullivators. Don't miss
any of your favorite shows.

Speaker 5 (09:27):
Get the podcast on the iHeartRadio app at fifty five
KRC dot com.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
Make your slippery walking surfaces safe for This is Ted Cruz.

Speaker 5 (09:44):
Join me tonight at seven pm on fifty five KRC,
the talk station.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
All right, back at it we go. You know, we
have kind of a laboratory in our home. Lab a lablatory,
I said, And that is the you know, the what
am I trying to say now? And where the washer
and dryer is and there's cabinetry probably flooring in there.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
So the laundry room is the lab.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
And I tell a lot of people a lot of times,
we're going into a really nice home with a really
nice laundry room, and there'll be older cabinets, or some
homes no cabinets, just wire shelves and dated paint. Maybe
a formica countertop that stated so, and maybe even a

(10:41):
floor dated. It is a great place to spruce up.
It's usually inexpensive place where you can spruce up because
it's the one area you might even think about if
you have no cabinets. Is getting some used cabinets, some
inexpensive cabinets and painting the cabinets. You can actually there

(11:06):
are products out there where you can recoat that formica countertop.
It takes a little sanding, takes a couple of coats
of a coating, a clear ceilant. It can look like marble,
it can look like a coreyon, it can look like granite.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
So there is.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
There is an opportunity there to spruce some room up.
And if you got the old you know, fluorescent bulbs,
maybe you can switch those out. Maybe just a ceiling
light that's an led maybe where you can even.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
Change the brightness. That's right.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
There are lights that you can literally change the brightness
a little toggle switch inside the fixture. You can make
it soft white, you can make a daylight, you can
make a warm white. You can change it throughout the
course of the year. So that's uh, that's something I
would take a look at the flooring. As far as
that goes, there's some really really neat flooring, some LVT

(12:12):
and some LVP, which means planks. The other one means tile.
It's luxury vinyl tile, luxury vinyl planks. Depending on the
thickness is the quality and something again a laboratory where
you can try these things out and you may really
find that once you update that, you know area you're

(12:36):
you're you're looking at, maybe taking that and uh maybe
doing an office, maybe doing an office it's in a basement,
maybe doing the kitchen. But there's a place to try
different things, and that is the place. All right, let's
get to Jim.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
Jim, welcome, good morning morning.

Speaker 6 (12:59):
My house is forty five years old. I have fuell heat.
The tank is in the basement. I need to replace
that tank. And we have looked at fuel all versus
switching to propane.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Uh huh.

Speaker 6 (13:16):
Question My question is how will those different systems affect
the resale value of my house?

Speaker 1 (13:25):
I don't know if I know, if it were me,
I would prefer pro propane versus fuel oil. But the
next person looking at that house may feel differently.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
I don't know. Maybe a good question for a realtor.
You know, I just uh, that's.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
And I can't I can't even give you a reason why.
I just answered it for the way I feel. But
I just would feel better with propane than fuel oil.
I think the really bigger discussion, quite honestly, Jim, is
is where we are on pricing right now. I mean
used to be we you know, natural gas versus electricity,

(14:06):
right I mean, natural gas was so much cheaper, and I.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
Think it's still a little cheaper, but not huge enough
to go be changing out appliances.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
So, in fact, that was one that was the very
first question I ever had on this show thirty nine
years ago. Should I go electricity, should go natural gas,
which one's cheaper?

Speaker 2 (14:27):
And follow that.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
But when it comes to a few oiled pro paint
are you allowed underground tanks on the propainters at all?

Speaker 2 (14:36):
Above ground?

Speaker 6 (14:39):
I'm not sure what the regulations here are on that.
As far as I know, you can do either. Okay,
majority of the tanks in this area are going to
be above ground?

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
Is it a rural area, yes, okay, yeah, then you're
fine or I would be fine with that, and maybe
the rural area, even that rural area may not be
as persnickety as I'm being in a non role area.
So I really would contact a real or they'd be

(15:09):
happy to share that information with you, because you know.

Speaker 6 (15:13):
One of the things that we hear from people is
that is if the fuel is going.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
To be dirtier. Well, that that would be my first
blush too.

Speaker 6 (15:21):
But yet at the same time, I'm hearing that in
the last twenty years the efficiency of fuel al has improved,
and you would think that there'd be less emissions because
of that.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
Well, again, I would have to do the same research
I think you're going to have to do. And then
again though, so I'm answering it as a consumer. Okay,
you said if I have more value to my homegoing
one way or the other, And I really think a
lot of consumers are not going to do all their
research on the heating of that house, but they're going

(15:56):
to have preconceived notions, which is kind of what I answered, Right, So,
you know, without doing that research, you know, you're gonna
think fuel's dirty and dirty er. And you're right, the
efficiency and the and the you know, the regulations on
it have changed dramatically, but that's still stuck in a

(16:17):
lot of heads.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
I guess yes, all.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
Right, all right, you're quite welcome, take care, bye bye,
And I think I'll even look that up too and
see what that answer really is. The realtors may be
posting things like that, but my first blush is I
kind of lean the propane.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
But propane isn't really cheap.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
I mean a lot of people only experience with propane
is feeling up filling up your tank for your gas
grill or maybe an r V. And you've seen the
prices of propane go up.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
And go down.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
They don't go down very often, though, they always seem
to just go up. All right, You can join us
as we talk a little home improvement. It's eight hundred
and eighty two three eight two five five, and.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
Of course we're talking about your home.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
After all, it is one of the biggest investments we
make in a lifetime, and just like your investments, you
need to maintain them. That's what we talk about each
and every weekend. We'll continue with your calls. You're at
Home with Gary Sullivan.

Speaker 4 (17:35):
Home Improvement one oh one with Gary Sullivan every weekend.
Classes began at one eight hundred and eight two three talk.
You are at Home with Gary Sullivan, that time is money.
Spend your time wisely.

Speaker 5 (17:49):
From the Steep Parents Ordinated Financial Planning Studios is fifty
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The talk station.

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Summertime and that means more latest from around the globe
from the fifty five KRC You Center.

Speaker 7 (18:06):
President Trump will meet with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelenski at
the White House tomorrow to discuss ending the war with Russia.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
That according to Trump and Zelenski.

Speaker 7 (18:15):
During a conference call with NATO leaders Friday, after Trump
met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska, reports s
Trump told Zelenski and NATO leaders that Putin does not
want to cease fire, then would prefer a comprehensive agreement
to end the war involving Ukraine's seating territory to Russia.
Demonstrators were out in force in the streets of Washington,

(18:35):
d C. Saturday, protesting the deployment of National Guard troops
in the city. The Trump administration claims the soldiers are
necessary to crack down on crime and homelessness in Washington,
d C. Hundreds march to the White House Saturday in protest.
The first hurricane of this year's season has been downgraded
to a Category three hurricane. Aeron now has wins of

(18:56):
about one hundred and twenty five miles an hour. Eron's
expected to head north toward the Old and See but
could bring some dangerous surf to the East coast.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
I'm Scott Carr.

Speaker 5 (19:06):
It's Glenn beck weekday mornings at nine oh six on
fifty five KRC, the talk station.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
All Right, becket it we go at home with Gary Salvin.
Thirty three minutes after the top of they are doing
a little quick research during the break on the fuel
oil versus propane, and after reading all of it, yeah,
there's reasons to go one way or the other on
both of them. I'm no HVAC expert, but but you

(19:34):
know there's one always cheaper than the other, and you.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
Got to read the fine print.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
But really what it comes down to, it really is
about the perceptions of the home buyer. Because he was
asking will one be better for resale value of a home?

Speaker 2 (19:48):
I said, to your rowal area. He says, yes. I
think it's a perception of the buyer.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
Fuel oil the modern oil furnaces, and I think he
to it was a newer one, but the tank need
to be replaced. Running about eighty five to ninety percent efficient,
and oil burns hotter than propane, so there's more BTUs
per gallon, so it delivers more heat quickly. Propane modern

(20:21):
propane furnaces a little bit more efficient and especially with
a more high efficiency condensing units. So fuel oil is
usually a little bit cheaper per BTU, so maybe in
colder regions that might be the ticket.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
But of course the price.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
And you hear this on the news all the time,
the price fluctuates with crude oil markets, so that may
be true today, it may not be true three years
from now. Propane's usually a little bit more expensive per BTUH.
Prices a little bit more stable. Now here's if you're

(21:05):
buying it yourself. Something you might want to consider is
the fuel oil systems. They need more maintenance because it
is a little dirtier. Even with the newer types they've
improved it a lot, but regular cleaning maintenance on filters,
certainly the nozzles. So propaine's burning cleaner, less soot less equipment,

(21:31):
which means less maintenance. And then I asked about where
they're able to store it the tank, and that comes
into play if you're concerned on environmental impacts. Fuel oil
is going to have higher carbon emissions pro pain, of

(21:52):
course lower and other things. Fue Oil is just going
to do your heating. So if you do that, you
still may need propane for stoves and water heaters and
dryers and fireplaces and backup generators. So you kind of
want to factor that in so northern states, I would

(22:13):
assume a fewel oil is a little bit more common,
but there's just kind of quick lamps. You know, a
person told me a long time ago, and it's absolutely
the truth that there is no perfect one way or
the other way. There's always the ying and the yang, right,
And we talk about it on semi transparent deck stains

(22:36):
versus solid color deck stains, oil versus water based deck stains.
I can sit here and give you the pros and
cons of both. In a latex, it has a little
bit more difficulty penetrating in the wood, and if it's

(22:56):
a solid color stain and it's a latex, it could peel.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
Versus the penetrating.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
I mean, you've got to balance it all out, even
from which direction that sun is hitting your deck, in
other words, southwest facing. Maybe you want the UV protection
versus the penetrating, so a solid color stain. But you

(23:23):
got to factor all that in and doing the research,
of course, is is very important and doing all that
and also, you know, when I'm talking about other larger
projects in your home, I'm always preaching about, you know,
get a second opinion, Get a second quote. Talking about
a roof, or a furnace or a railer, get a

(23:47):
second opinion, because you know what you're going to learn.
You're going to learn about the whys. The whys are
very very important, and then you can go from there
and decide which way you want to go. Why do
I need flashing on my roof? Some people will tell
you I put new flashing up every time I replaced

(24:10):
my roof. I had a quote on a roof one time,
and that guy said, you don't need flashing. I said,
why not, Well, there's nothing wrong with it, huh. Next
roof came, guy came, he's up on the roof amazing
with a camera or phone taking pictures. I see him

(24:33):
taking pictures of the flashing, and he's got in his bed.
Replaced the flashing, and on his quote. I asked him,
I said, why are we replacing the flashing? I had
another River tell me I didn't need the flashing replaced.
He said, oh, did the other roofer get on the roof?
I said no, he did not. Well, then he didn't

(24:57):
tell you about the hole and the scene and the
flashing kind of not in a great state of repair.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
And he pulls out the camera and starts showing me
the pictures he took.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
So you.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
The purpose I think of a second opinion or a
third opinion three quotes is.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
Not always about the cheapest price.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
In fact, of the three I had, quite honestly, I
had the middle prices, the one that checked all my boxes.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
And you know, it.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
Happened to be the middle price, And it be honest
with you, it wouldn't have mattered whether it was the
pricier one or whether it was the lower priced one, because,
like I said, it checked all the boxes and had
the reason why answered for my questions. This is why

(25:54):
you would do this. And if you're not dealing with
somebody and it's uh, you know, you know, a sizable
investment for you. I've talked to somebody else. Here's a
classic one we're going to run into real soon, and
that is the chimney. If you have your chimney clean,

(26:17):
then I hope you do, or at least inspect that
every couple two three years. If you're burning wood every year,
probably every year. And I know there's logs that clean
chimney runs and everything else, but you need eyeballs in
there and see what's going on with that liner.

Speaker 2 (26:33):
And I guarantee you and.

Speaker 1 (26:35):
About another month or so, people are going to be
horrified because when they were having their chimney inspected and clean,
they said, oh, missus Jones, did you know you had
a chimney fire?

Speaker 2 (26:51):
What do you mean?

Speaker 1 (26:52):
Well, when you were burning wood at some point or
somebody before you was burning wood, your liner cracked. And
quite honestly, if you have another chimney fire, your home
is very vulnerable to having a house fire. Oh we
can put a liner down there, Yeah, ten grand?

Speaker 2 (27:16):
Whoa that? Really? You really need to take a look.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
At another inspection another quote, because if they're not showing
you a picture and running a camera down there, I
wouldn't believe it. Number one, so that would be mandatory
for me. Got to see it. And second of all,
there are different ways to line a chimney, and not

(27:43):
all chimney sweeps are certified.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
There is a.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
Type of product that you can make a mold of
the chimney and you put it down the chimney, and
then you put this solution down on top of that
mold and you pull the chimney mold up the chimney,
which disperses this material against the sides where the liner

(28:14):
was and coats it. And it's CSIA certified. In other words,
it's acceptable and about half the price. And did you
know that? May not have known that if the guy
that you're dealing with just does liners, or maybe he's

(28:37):
got a reason he doesn't want to do it, so
you're kind of keeping the whole field even by getting
multiple opinions.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
All right, looking forward to your calls.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
Our phone number is eight hundred eight two three eight
two five five. Will continue with your calls. You're at
home with Gary Sullivan.

Speaker 4 (28:57):
Help for your home is just to click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at home with Gary Sullivan.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
This is fifty five KRC and iHeartRadio station.

Speaker 5 (29:21):
Hi everyone, the place for Brian Thomas in the morning.
Fifty five KRC the talk station.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
All right, back at it, we go at home with
Gary Sullivan.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
I hope you having a great weekend, getting a few
things done around the home, and well having a little
bit of fun too.

Speaker 2 (29:36):
Our phone number if you'd like to talk about your.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
Project, it's eight hundred and eighty two three eight two
five five. You can join us and Taylor welcome.

Speaker 8 (29:46):
Hi Gary. I need to be quick at this, but
what do you have for uh? Do you have any
suggestions for getting mice out of my house? They are
coming in different areas and they're not very They like
to eat stuff, and we tried mouse shops and some

(30:07):
of them worked, but there were some that just eat
up the food without setting out on the jap.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
Well.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
I know a lot of people are disgusted by glue traps,
but those are the most effective. And I leave each
caller decide if they want to use those or not.
They should be put up against the baseboard. Those seem
to be the most effective. The other one things that
you can do is create deterrence that are very natural

(30:41):
essential oils, peppermints and spearmints. Mice hate the smell of that.
You can put them on cotton balls. You can buy
a little package at the hardware store called mouse Magic.
It's a little canvas or burlap packet the size of
a pack of cigarettes, and it's a Burlot packet and

(31:03):
it's got saldust in it with essential oils in it,
and you toss it in the pantry, and that does
fairly well. They'll probably end up somewhere else because the
only way you will effectively take care of the problem
is start paying attention or trying to figure out where
in the world they're coming in the house. You know,

(31:26):
whether it's a bad seal, under a door, under a garage.
We had mice a a year and a half ago,
two years ago, because we were changing out the ceramic
tile in a kitchen in the middle of August September
and had the doors open.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
Well, it was a mouse highway.

Speaker 1 (31:47):
All of a sudden, all the cheese crackers were getting
getting opened at night, and eventually, you know, when the
doors went down, we had the house tightened up. We
started using the traps and we eventually got them under control.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
So we got to get.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
What's in the house out of the house. However we
do that through trapping or essential oils, that's fine, And
then we gotta make sure that house is it doesn't
have it only needs a hole the size of a nickel.
So if you've got a door not aligned outside, they
can get inside. They just want they want air conditioning

(32:26):
and food too.

Speaker 8 (32:29):
So well, thank you Gary. I might probably use glue
traps if we can get some.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
Well, they're available, and every time they get mentioned on
the radio, I get emails. But I have found that
to be the most effective way. That's just the facts
from my standpoint.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
Thank you much, Tyler. I appreciate the call. If you'd
like to join us, do so.

Speaker 1 (32:56):
Eight hundred eight two three eight two five five.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
I get it.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
It's it's you know. I'll let you make the decision.
I've made mine. But getting mice under control, and those
mice are phenomenal once they get into the house. Again,
I was saying, we were replacing the floor, we're taking
everything out of the pantry, or first we had it
into pantry, and way before or right before we started

(33:24):
replacing the tile, or maybe it was a week into
the job or something, we started noticing some food, some
wrappers on food torn and something nibbling, So I knew
we had mice. And when we got to the point

(33:45):
and we put traps out and we caught a few
of them. But when we got to a point where
we had empty the pantry. We took all the food
and we moved it to my office convenient right up
against the wall.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
And the next.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
Morning when I woke up, I went into the office
get some work done, and I see this pack of
cheese cracker.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
They found the food.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
It wasn't in the pantry anymore, was in my office
and they found it first night.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
Bam. So just remember, you.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
Know, animals passed when they get in your house, they're survivors.
Sure they like the comforts of home, but there's an
endless supply of food, and there's probably some water they
can get into too, So you got all the things
for survival in front of them. So the secret really

(34:40):
is how do we keep them from getting into the house.
And that's why when I'm talking about and you're probably
tired of me talking about it, that walk around the house.
That's what you're looking for. You're looking for openings around doors,
seals at the bottom of the door, weather ripping on
the sides of the door. Remember, they get it. Actually

(35:03):
they say they can get in through a hole through
the size of a dime. But I'm gonna say it Nickel, Okay,
if you find a hole, need to take care of it.
And it won't be but another month and we have
a couple of chilly nights or changing temperatures where it's
chillier than it is now, those mice will start looking

(35:25):
for a place to winter over and pay attention. Look
for mouse droppings just looks like pepper and essential oils.
They dislike it. I've never had mice in my house
when I use the essential oils. Now, once they're there,

(35:48):
I don't know how effective it is getting it out
because I usually go right to the trap. But really
looking for openings, that's the key. And I don't care
if it's ants. If you follow ants outside, they'll show
you where they're getting into your house. And mice, you

(36:10):
just got to find that opening the size of a
dime or a nickel. Also, look up by the gutters
and mice can get up there. They can get into
your attic. And where the gutters are. Below the gutter,
there's that board that's the facia.

Speaker 2 (36:26):
Board, and usually at the corners of the house.

Speaker 1 (36:30):
It's nicely mitered and calked and painted well. If all
of a sudden there's a gap there, it might be
a critter that's a little bigger than a mouse, be
a raccoon squirrel. Literally, if there's a gap there, they'll
pry that board back and they'll nest in your attic.
And that's something that's really expensive. So when I'm talking

(36:55):
about that walking around the house, that's the exact kind
of things you're looking for. Peeling paint. Usually peeling paint
is rotted wood and it's a water problem. So you know, look,
I say, if it doesn't look right, it's probably not.
You got vents going through your brickhouse or through your
sighting for the dryer vent, maybe an air exchanging unit vent,

(37:20):
maybe a vent fan for the bathroom fan or the
cooking fan. And that pipe that's going through there, How
tight is that.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
Is? That cocked?

Speaker 1 (37:34):
Has somebody spent some time and inserted some expandable.

Speaker 2 (37:38):
Foam around that.

Speaker 1 (37:39):
They even have mouseproof expandable foams that can go around
vent pipes. That's pretty cool because again, if it's an opening,
and there's always an opening the size of a nickel
or a dime around a dryer vent, I can almost
guarantee it, or an air exchanging it, or you know,

(38:01):
like I said, a bathroom fan and if that's not sealed,
they will eventually find their way in and they get
into the basement, they will work their way to the
kitchen first night, first night. So well, go ahead and
join us, and we'll chat about your home project, maintenance
or repair. It's eight hundred eight two three eight two

(38:24):
five five and Joe take your call. He'll chat with
you and get you back and no time at all.
I was talking about the different things you could do
in the laundry room. When I was talking about countertop,
somebody asked me, what is that. It's a dish products.
It's daich Coodings dot com.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
It's a quick.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
Weekend project, no more than probably five six hours. Can
look like marble, granted, and check it out. Spreadstone is
one of them.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
Lux Rock is another. All right, we'll continue with your calls.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
You're at Home with Garry Sullivan.

Speaker 4 (39:23):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. This is at Home with Garysullivan.

Speaker 5 (39:32):
Glenn Beck breaking down the top stories and how it
impacts your life. Tomorrow morning at nine on fifty five KRZ,
the talkstation.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
So are you planning a new