Latest / Repcolite Home Improvement Show / New Year Reset, Mold Myths, and the Truth About Tung Oil

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New Year Reset, Mold Myths, and the Truth About Tung Oil · Repcolite Home Improvement Show

0:02
Speaker 1: Hey everybody, thanks for tuning in. You're listening to Home
0:04
Speaker 1: and Progress sponsored by repcoll Like Paints and Benjamin Moore.
0:08
Speaker 1: And how are you all doing? We've hit the first
0:11
Speaker 1: real episode of twenty twenty six. You know, I'm finally
0:14
Speaker 1: moving again. Last week we had an episode, but it
0:17
Speaker 1: was a best of, so it kind of doesn't count.
0:19
Speaker 1: This is the first real episode of twenty twenty six
0:22
Speaker 1: because this one's all new. Anyway, before I jump in
0:26
Speaker 1: to what I've got for today, I am curious about
0:29
Speaker 1: your new year, you know, your New Year's resolutions specifically.
0:32
Speaker 1: You know, I hope your new Year's off to a
0:34
Speaker 1: great start, but I really want to know about your
0:36
Speaker 1: New Year's resolutions. You know, that was always kind of
0:40
Speaker 1: fun when we were growing up. Dad had resolutions. He
0:43
Speaker 1: would make them every single year, and then we would
0:45
Speaker 1: make resolutions and everybody was feeling good, and then like
0:49
Speaker 1: three days in four days, in five days, and we'd
0:52
Speaker 1: all discard all these resolutions and we just go back
0:55
Speaker 1: to being who we always were. I'm curious about you.
0:59
Speaker 1: Is that how you do it too? You know? Did
1:01
Speaker 1: you set some resolutions, some goals? Are you still keeping them?
1:05
Speaker 1: You know, that's my biggest question, are you still keeping them?
1:09
Speaker 1: Like I said, I generally, you know, in the past,
1:11
Speaker 1: when I was little, we would set them and then
1:13
Speaker 1: fail to live up to those new standards. And that
1:16
Speaker 1: has continued on into my adulthood and now my whatever
1:21
Speaker 1: the rest of life is. You know, once you hit
1:23
Speaker 1: a certain age, it's not just adulthood, it's senior adulthood.
1:27
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. I
1:29
Speaker 1: don't even want to open that can of worms, so
1:31
Speaker 1: I'll just say my adulthood. I'm still stinking at keeping
1:35
Speaker 1: these resolutions, and it bugs me, you know, I'd like
1:37
Speaker 1: to be better at keeping these. I hate failing, which
1:42
Speaker 1: really that's not unique to me. Most of us don't
1:45
Speaker 1: enjoy failing. In fact, life would be so easy if
1:48
Speaker 1: we didn't mind failing. If failing was just, oh, I
1:52
Speaker 1: wake up to fail, you know, I live to fail.
1:55
Speaker 1: I love to fail. If that were the case, life
1:58
Speaker 1: would just be a breeze, sweetheart. But it's not the case.
2:03
Speaker 1: I hate failing, You hate failing. We all hate failing.
2:06
Speaker 1: And so this year, because of that, I've done some analyzing,
2:09
Speaker 1: you know, as we're heading into the new year. A
2:11
Speaker 1: few weeks ago. I was thinking about it. You know,
2:14
Speaker 1: why do I always fail at these resolutions? And I've
2:17
Speaker 1: come up with a plan. I uncovered some weaknesses in
2:21
Speaker 1: my resolution planning, my resolution making, and I've altered my tactics,
2:27
Speaker 1: my strategies so that I can keep my resolutions this year.
2:31
Speaker 1: And really, I think what I've done is pretty brilliant.
2:34
Speaker 1: And we're early enough in the year that you can
2:36
Speaker 1: take advantage of some of this brilliance as well, if
2:38
Speaker 1: you should so choose. The problem for me with my
2:42
Speaker 1: previous resolutions is that I had framed them in the
2:46
Speaker 1: wrong way. Right. Language is powerful, and if you state
2:50
Speaker 1: things in the wrong manner, it becomes almost impossible to
2:54
Speaker 1: stick to that resolution. For example, in the past, I've
2:57
Speaker 1: resolved to lose weight, and that sounds well, really good, right.
3:01
Speaker 1: How many of us don't say we're going to lose
3:03
Speaker 1: weight this year? But the problem with that is it's
3:06
Speaker 1: too vague. You know, there's a lot involved in losing weight.
3:10
Speaker 1: You know, Do I eat better to lose weight? Is
3:12
Speaker 1: that what I should be focused on? Should I exercise more?
3:16
Speaker 1: You know, it's complicated. It's a lot of spinning wheels,
3:20
Speaker 1: and so I always break down and just go back
3:22
Speaker 1: to snacking. This year, I've rethought, like I said, my strategy,
3:26
Speaker 1: and here's my resolution. You know, I still want to
3:28
Speaker 1: lose weight, but here's how I've pinned it down. I
3:31
Speaker 1: resolve to stop eating the baked goods while standing in
3:34
Speaker 1: the kitchen and not even getting a plate or taking
3:37
Speaker 1: my snack to the table. Yep. I resolve to stop
3:41
Speaker 1: eating directly off the serving tray or the pie plate
3:44
Speaker 1: or out of the cake pan. And I think this
3:47
Speaker 1: is brilliant because, first off, this is a real issue
3:50
Speaker 1: in my home for me. I'm not proud to admit this,
3:54
Speaker 1: but it is the case. You know, my daughter Tessa
3:56
Speaker 1: will make something delicious and then it's sitting there on
3:59
Speaker 1: the counter in its in its cake pan or pie
4:03
Speaker 1: plate or whatever it is, and I walk by and
4:06
Speaker 1: periodically I scoop out great big forkfols of it and
4:09
Speaker 1: I stuff my face with it. You know, that's bad
4:12
Speaker 1: for a number of reasons. You know, let's not even
4:14
Speaker 1: go down the hygiene road. It's not good for that.
4:17
Speaker 1: But it's bad because first off, I would never in
4:21
Speaker 1: a million years, I would never ever go and take
4:24
Speaker 1: half of a cake out of a cake pan and
4:26
Speaker 1: throw it onto a plate and then just sit down
4:29
Speaker 1: and eat it. Right, I'm not an animal. I wouldn't
4:32
Speaker 1: do that ever, you know, it's insane. And yet, and
4:36
Speaker 1: yet I've certainly eaten half of a cake without even
4:41
Speaker 1: blinking because I stood there eating it by the forkfall. Right.
4:45
Speaker 1: It never seems egregious if you're eating it by the forkfall,
4:49
Speaker 1: when it's sitting on a plate looking at you, it's
4:52
Speaker 1: kind of in your face. And also it's in everybody
4:54
Speaker 1: else's face, right, They all see it too. They know
4:57
Speaker 1: that you're trying to eat half the cake, and you know,
4:59
Speaker 1: eyebrow go up, and people wonder about you, know, your
5:02
Speaker 1: decisions and your life choices, and so you don't do that.
5:06
Speaker 1: Nobody does that. Nobody scoops half of a cake or
5:09
Speaker 1: half of a pie onto their plate and eats it.
5:11
Speaker 1: Not nobody. I'm sure there's somebody out there saying I
5:13
Speaker 1: do that. Some people do, but most of us don't.
5:17
Speaker 1: I wouldn't ever. But when it's by the forkful, who
5:21
Speaker 1: really knows at the end of your little you know,
5:25
Speaker 1: chow down here, who knows how much you've really eaten?
5:28
Speaker 1: Right after the eighth forkfol it's really tough to remember
5:31
Speaker 1: how much was in there in the first place. So
5:34
Speaker 1: that's the first reason it's bad to do that. Because
5:36
Speaker 1: you just keep going and going and going, you can
5:38
Speaker 1: eat way more. It's like the elephant thing, right, how
5:40
Speaker 1: do you eat an elephant? Isn't that the question? You
5:43
Speaker 1: eat it a forkful at a time. You get through
5:45
Speaker 1: these big things with just little bits and pieces while
5:48
Speaker 1: I'm doing that with desserts, and it's not good. It's
5:51
Speaker 1: not healthy. That's the first reason it's bad. Second, eating
5:54
Speaker 1: snacks that way is also extremely tense. You know, it's
5:58
Speaker 1: not relaxing. There's supposed to be relaxing. You know, nothing
6:03
Speaker 1: about snacks is supposed to be a stressful experience, and
6:06
Speaker 1: yet when you're standing in the kitchen shoveling pie into
6:08
Speaker 1: your face and listening with all your might for approaching people,
6:12
Speaker 1: it's absolutely not relaxing. You know, I don't want anybody
6:15
Speaker 1: to come around the corner and see me standing there
6:17
Speaker 1: with my fork halfway to my face. I feel like
6:20
Speaker 1: a rabbit in the wild. You know, I'm eating, but
6:23
Speaker 1: my head's on a swivel. My ears are twitching back
6:26
Speaker 1: and forth. Is anybody coming? Was that a squeaky floorboard.
6:29
Speaker 1: I think someone's on the way, I shovel as much
6:31
Speaker 1: food into my face when I hear that, and then
6:33
Speaker 1: I scatter and run to another part of the house.
6:36
Speaker 1: And then if it turns out to be a false alarm,
6:38
Speaker 1: I kind of wander back and I graze some more
6:41
Speaker 1: so because of that, I eat eat my snacks way
6:43
Speaker 1: too fast. I don't even taste them. It's not relaxing.
6:47
Speaker 1: It's not good. A third reason it's not good is
6:50
Speaker 1: that if I would get out a bowl or a
6:52
Speaker 1: plate for my snack, if I would make that part
6:54
Speaker 1: of the process, I don't think I'd eat the snack.
6:57
Speaker 1: You know, my hatred of doing dishes and making a
6:59
Speaker 1: mass would trump my desire to snack. So rather than
7:03
Speaker 1: come up with some vague, nebulous resolution to lose weight,
7:07
Speaker 1: I have gotten specific and straightforward. Stop eating pies out
7:11
Speaker 1: of the pie pan, stop eating cakes out of the
7:14
Speaker 1: cake pan. I'll let you know how I do and
7:16
Speaker 1: if I have success as the year goes by, And
7:19
Speaker 1: I hope you have success with your New Year's resolutions,
7:22
Speaker 1: and I honestly hope your new year is off to
7:24
Speaker 1: it just a splendid start, even though we're only ten
7:27
Speaker 1: days in. Hopefully these first ten days have been brilliant.
7:30
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to the show for the week
7:32
Speaker 1: coming up at the end. We're going to be starting
7:34
Speaker 1: a special Winter wood shop series, is what I'm kind
7:37
Speaker 1: of calling it. You know. For me, winter's always been
7:40
Speaker 1: a time when I loved working, you know, in a
7:42
Speaker 1: wood shop, you know, creating a lot of different things,
7:44
Speaker 1: doing a lot of woodworking. So my goal, assuming that
7:47
Speaker 1: a lot of people probably are heading inside to do
7:50
Speaker 1: stuff like that, my goal is to highlight some tools,
7:53
Speaker 1: maybe some projects and whatnot as we navigate this long
7:57
Speaker 1: dark of winter that's in front of us. We're going
7:59
Speaker 1: to take the next few weeks and start by looking
8:01
Speaker 1: at some various wood finishes. This week, we're going to
8:04
Speaker 1: take a look at tongue oil, you know where at
8:06
Speaker 1: tun g oil. For those uninformed, it's not some horrible
8:13
Speaker 1: thing that I'm going to talk about, because I'm known
8:15
Speaker 1: to talk about some horrible things early in the morning.
8:17
Speaker 1: Not one of those tunng tongue oil. It's an old, old,
8:22
Speaker 1: old wood finish. We're gonna talk about where it excels
8:24
Speaker 1: and where it's not best to use and so on,
8:26
Speaker 1: And even if you're not a woodworker. This is going
8:29
Speaker 1: to be good info, and so that's coming up at
8:32
Speaker 1: the end. Coming up next, we're gonna be looking at
8:34
Speaker 1: what it takes to deal with mold and mildew in
8:36
Speaker 1: your home, and we're going to jump into that right after.
8:39
Speaker 1: This home in progress is brought to you by repcoll
8:42
Speaker 1: Like Paints and Benjamin Moore. You know, people often think
8:44
Speaker 1: of paint as just another line item on the project's
8:47
Speaker 1: supply list. But here's the thing. Everything you do, every
8:50
Speaker 1: hour of prep, every stroke of the brush, all comes
8:53
Speaker 1: down to the quality of the paint. The paint is
8:55
Speaker 1: the project. Make sure it's the best. So we had
8:59
Speaker 1: a sharkoup board for one of our Christmas get togethers,
9:02
Speaker 1: and for those of you not in the know, that's
9:04
Speaker 1: a meat and cheese tray, all right, And I'm not
9:07
Speaker 1: throwing shade here. I was one of those people not
9:10
Speaker 1: in the know, you know. A couple of years back
9:12
Speaker 1: my daughter said, as we were approaching Christmas, let's get
9:16
Speaker 1: a charcouterie board. And everybody in the room was on
9:20
Speaker 1: board with that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's do it. Sounds great.
9:22
Speaker 1: I had no idea literally what they were talking about.
9:26
Speaker 1: I am so dumb. Sometimes I'm so surprised that I've
9:29
Speaker 1: made it as long as I have. I'm just dumb.
9:32
Speaker 1: I figured it was a fancy cutting board, and that's
9:35
Speaker 1: what I thought, and I asked them why we needed that.
9:38
Speaker 1: You know, we already have a plastic cutting board that's
9:40
Speaker 1: pretty decent. But if you want a would one, you know,
9:43
Speaker 1: if that's going to make you all happy for Christmas,
9:45
Speaker 1: I'm all in. You know. I wish I could say
9:47
Speaker 1: that the stairs that they gave me. When I said
9:50
Speaker 1: that I wish those I could say that those stairs
9:52
Speaker 1: were unique and that they only happened once in a while.
9:55
Speaker 1: But they give me that look all the time, you know.
9:59
Speaker 1: So when I saw it, I knew i'd messed up.
10:00
Speaker 1: And then they went on to explain what a charcuterie
10:04
Speaker 1: board was, and I said, oh, you mean a meat
10:07
Speaker 1: and cheese and cracker tray. Anyway, we had one of
10:10
Speaker 1: those fancy meat and cheese and cracker trays at our
10:12
Speaker 1: Christmas this year, and as we're munching it all down,
10:15
Speaker 1: I noticed that the salami had white powdery stuff on
10:18
Speaker 1: the edges. And I didn't think too much about it,
10:22
Speaker 1: you know, I was just cramming it in my face.
10:24
Speaker 1: Moving on to the next thing. But as I was
10:26
Speaker 1: researching and preparing for this topic this segment, I stumbled
10:30
Speaker 1: into what that white stuff most likely was mold. Yeah,
10:35
Speaker 1: maybe a bunch of you already know that. You know,
10:37
Speaker 1: you're probably charcuterie board experts. But salami, you know, among
10:42
Speaker 1: a lot of other cured meats, actually makes use of
10:46
Speaker 1: mold to produce the best product possible. Now, it's all
10:50
Speaker 1: really really interesting to me. You know how some molds
10:52
Speaker 1: are horrible and gross and unhealthy, and others they're desirable.
10:57
Speaker 1: You know, Let's say you find white mold on bread. Okay,
11:01
Speaker 1: that's bad, bad news. Don't want that. White mold on
11:04
Speaker 1: bread means that entire loaf is unsafe to eat. It's
11:08
Speaker 1: dead to you. Get rid of it. White mold on tomatoes,
11:10
Speaker 1: same thing, bad. Toss those tomatoes, they're no good. But
11:14
Speaker 1: white mold on cured meats, no worries. In fact, the
11:18
Speaker 1: whiter the mold, the better the salami or the dried
11:21
Speaker 1: sausage or whatever it is is going to be. So
11:24
Speaker 1: of course I'm going to talk about mold in the
11:26
Speaker 1: home and what to do about it. That's where all
11:28
Speaker 1: of this is going right, But before I do, before
11:32
Speaker 1: I get into the topic proper, I really do want
11:35
Speaker 1: to answer some of my own questions. I mean, why
11:37
Speaker 1: in the world are we using mold on salamis and
11:40
Speaker 1: cured meats. So I did a little digging and here's
11:44
Speaker 1: the scoop. I'll go fast because maybe you don't care,
11:47
Speaker 1: but I care. So here's why they do it. First off,
11:50
Speaker 1: mold is intentionally used to protect the salami from competing
11:54
Speaker 1: molds or bacteria that could grow during the drying process.
11:58
Speaker 1: You know, the meats are in Nokia related with a
12:01
Speaker 1: mold called Penicillium nalgiovency. I don't know if that's how
12:05
Speaker 1: to say it, but that's what I'm going to call it,
12:07
Speaker 1: And that drives off potentially bad mold that could exist
12:11
Speaker 1: in the environment, all right, So that's one reason. Also,
12:14
Speaker 1: the mold keeps the surface of the salami from drying
12:17
Speaker 1: out too quickly or too slowly. And lastly, the mold
12:20
Speaker 1: contributes to the overall flavor, the yum factor, by mellowing
12:25
Speaker 1: out the acidity produced during fermentation. So there you go.
12:28
Speaker 1: Quick look at mold on cured meats, and we know
12:31
Speaker 1: mold is used in a lot of other positive manners
12:34
Speaker 1: as well, really in creating various cheeses, in the fermentation
12:39
Speaker 1: process of soy sauce, and of course in the production
12:42
Speaker 1: of penicillin. So lots of good molds out there, you know,
12:46
Speaker 1: good molds. We love what you're doing. Keep it up.
12:48
Speaker 1: But that's not what we're here to talk about. Let's
12:51
Speaker 1: instead talk about the bad molds, you know, things that
12:53
Speaker 1: we don't want to let run rampant in our homes.
12:56
Speaker 1: And before I get really far into this, I want
12:58
Speaker 1: to start with this. Mold is common, you know, even
13:02
Speaker 1: you know, house molds, all these things that we're going
13:04
Speaker 1: to talk about, It's very common. It's manageable, and in
13:06
Speaker 1: most cases it's not going to be the horror movie
13:09
Speaker 1: villain that the Internet makes it out to be. But
13:11
Speaker 1: it does matter how you handle it. So let's walk
13:14
Speaker 1: through it in a practical way. And first things first,
13:17
Speaker 1: you've got to know if you're dealing with spots or
13:19
Speaker 1: something on your wall or on a ceiling or wherever.
13:22
Speaker 1: You've got to know what you're dealing with. You know,
13:24
Speaker 1: just because you see these spots in the bathroom doesn't
13:27
Speaker 1: mean that it's full blown mold. You know, it could
13:29
Speaker 1: just be mildew. And while both of those are closely connected,
13:32
Speaker 1: they're really not not the same thing. Mildew is basically
13:36
Speaker 1: mold's low maintenance cousin, if you want to think about
13:39
Speaker 1: it that way. It's usually flat, maybe powdery, white, maybe
13:42
Speaker 1: it's gray. It stays on the surface, and often we
13:46
Speaker 1: see it in shower grout, on windowsills, on the ceilings
13:49
Speaker 1: in a bathroom. You know, it's really easy to deal
13:52
Speaker 1: with for the most part. It doesn't penetrate anywhere. It
13:55
Speaker 1: just scrubs off with regular cleaning and a little bit
13:57
Speaker 1: of elbow grease. Mold is a different story. Mold tends
14:00
Speaker 1: to be fuzzy or slimy, and not many things that
14:03
Speaker 1: are fuzzy and slimy that are great. It comes in
14:06
Speaker 1: all sorts of colors, and they're not good colors, you know.
14:10
Speaker 1: And when you say it comes in all sorts of colors,
14:12
Speaker 1: maybe you're getting the wrong idea. You know, it comes
14:15
Speaker 1: in green, black, brown, even orange. None of those are
14:18
Speaker 1: really wonderful colors when you think about, you know, adding
14:21
Speaker 1: fuzzy and slimy to the mix. But the main difference
14:24
Speaker 1: between mold and mildew is mold doesn't just sit on
14:26
Speaker 1: the surface, it digs in, you know, it works its
14:29
Speaker 1: way into materials like drywall and wood and paper and
14:33
Speaker 1: things like that. So while mildew can usually be scrubbed away,
14:36
Speaker 1: mold is going to require a more thorough approach because
14:39
Speaker 1: it puts down roots. You know, it really, really really
14:41
Speaker 1: wants to stay where it is, all right. So when
14:45
Speaker 1: we talk about dealing with mold, there's a really important
14:48
Speaker 1: thing that you need to understand. And I say it,
14:50
Speaker 1: you know, every single time I cover this topic. Mold
14:53
Speaker 1: isn't the disease. It's the symptom. You know. The real
14:56
Speaker 1: problem when you see mold, or at least the primary problem,
14:59
Speaker 1: is mo fistre. You know, whenever you see mold, you
15:01
Speaker 1: know there's a moisture issue of some kind. And if
15:04
Speaker 1: you don't fix that, it really doesn't matter how much
15:07
Speaker 1: you scrub, or what cleaners or chemicals you use, or
15:11
Speaker 1: even what dry wall you replace. If you haven't fixed
15:14
Speaker 1: the cause of the problem, it's really just a waste
15:17
Speaker 1: of time to mess with it at all, because that
15:19
Speaker 1: mold is going to come back. Mold can begin growing
15:22
Speaker 1: within twenty four to forty eight hours after something gets
15:25
Speaker 1: wet and moisture sneaks in more ways than people realize.
15:28
Speaker 1: Leaky pipes, rough leaks. I'm living through some of that
15:32
Speaker 1: right now. Condensation, humid basements, crawl spaces, bathrooms without fans,
15:37
Speaker 1: Even indoor humidity consistently above fifty percent can cause a problem.
15:41
Speaker 1: So again, the first step when you find mold is
15:44
Speaker 1: to really just do that troubleshooting to figure out what's
15:47
Speaker 1: causing that excessive moisture and then take steps to fix it.
15:50
Speaker 1: That's your very first thing to figure out. Okay, let's
15:53
Speaker 1: say you figure out the moisture problem and you've got
15:55
Speaker 1: that fixed. Now, what do you do about the mold?
15:58
Speaker 1: Is that something that you can DII why or do
16:00
Speaker 1: you always need an expert to come in and fix it. Well,
16:03
Speaker 1: there's a pretty solid rule of thumb out there that
16:05
Speaker 1: the EPA uses, and it's this, If the moldy area
16:08
Speaker 1: is smaller than about ten square feet, you can usually
16:11
Speaker 1: handle it yourself. If a few conditions are met. For example,
16:15
Speaker 1: you can safely diy the fix. If the mold is
16:17
Speaker 1: on a hard non porous surface like tile, glass or metal,
16:21
Speaker 1: should be able to deal with that, no problem. If
16:23
Speaker 1: the mold's on drywall, but the drywall is still solid
16:26
Speaker 1: and firm. You know it's not spongy or soft or crumbly.
16:29
Speaker 1: It's likely the mold is just on the surface and
16:31
Speaker 1: you should be able to take care of that problem
16:33
Speaker 1: with proper cleaning and repainting. So you could do that
16:36
Speaker 1: when yourself. Even if the mold has penetrated the drywall
16:40
Speaker 1: and the drywall does seem spongy or crumbly, you can
16:43
Speaker 1: still di why that fix, provided it's not covering an
16:46
Speaker 1: area larger than ten square feet, it hasn't made its
16:48
Speaker 1: way extensively behind the dry wall, and so on. However,
16:51
Speaker 1: in those instances, you know when the dry wall's sponging
16:54
Speaker 1: and all of that, it definitely needs to go. Period.
16:56
Speaker 1: You've got to cut out damage sections of drywall at
16:59
Speaker 1: least a couple feet beyond the visible mold, bag it immediately,
17:03
Speaker 1: and then check the framing behind it to make sure
17:06
Speaker 1: that's mold free, and then make sure that everything's dry
17:08
Speaker 1: in there before you rebuild and seal it all in. Now,
17:11
Speaker 1: if the mold has made its way into your HVAC system,
17:14
Speaker 1: if somebody in your home has asthma, severe allergies, or
17:17
Speaker 1: immune issues, you're probably gonna want to bring in an expert. Also,
17:21
Speaker 1: you're gonna want to bring in an expert if you
17:23
Speaker 1: discover mold in multiple rooms, or mold spreading extensively behind
17:27
Speaker 1: any dry wall that you pulled off, or worst possible scenario,
17:31
Speaker 1: if the mold came from sewage or contaminated water. If
17:36
Speaker 1: that's the situation, all of those are reasons to bring
17:38
Speaker 1: in experts. All right, Now, before we get to the
17:41
Speaker 1: fix it steps, let's talk honestly about mold and health
17:43
Speaker 1: for just a minute. For most healthy people, small mold
17:46
Speaker 1: exposures are going to cause mild symptoms, you know, if
17:49
Speaker 1: any at all a stuff you knows, sneezing, eye irritation,
17:53
Speaker 1: maybe a cough, maybe a sore throat. Mold is everywhere,
17:56
Speaker 1: indoors and out, and we encounter it daily. Now, people
17:59
Speaker 1: who should be more cautious include those with asthma, mold allergies,
18:03
Speaker 1: weakened immune systems, and young children. Now about black mold.
18:06
Speaker 1: Despite all the horror stories out there, not all black
18:10
Speaker 1: colored mold is toxic, and even when it is, health
18:13
Speaker 1: effects are usually allergic or respiratory. You know, according to
18:16
Speaker 1: major medical sources like the Cleveland Clinic, there's no solid
18:19
Speaker 1: evidence that household mold exposure causes memory loss, mood disorders,
18:24
Speaker 1: or unexplained bleeding. The truly serious cases that we read
18:27
Speaker 1: about and hear about they involve massive infestations in severely
18:31
Speaker 1: water damage buildings. So don't panic over a small bathroom patch.
18:36
Speaker 1: But yes, we need to take it seriously enough to
18:38
Speaker 1: fix it the right way. And that's exactly what we're
18:41
Speaker 1: going to get into right after this homing progress is
18:44
Speaker 1: brought to you by Repcolite Paints and Benjamin Moore. Think
18:46
Speaker 1: about it. You spend hours prepping, sandy, taping, and then
18:50
Speaker 1: finally painting. Don't throw all that work away with an
18:52
Speaker 1: inferior product. The paint isn't just another supply. The paint
18:56
Speaker 1: is the project. Make sure it's the best. All right,
18:59
Speaker 1: we spent last sight I've been talking about mold and
19:01
Speaker 1: mildew and laying out the real concerns, not only the
19:04
Speaker 1: hyped up Internet scare tactics. Now let's get practical and
19:08
Speaker 1: talk about dealing with mold and mildew that you discover
19:11
Speaker 1: in your home, or your business or wherever. And before
19:14
Speaker 1: you start any cleaning, you need to gear up a
19:16
Speaker 1: little bit. You should gear up if you're tackling mold,
19:19
Speaker 1: I should say mildew. Isn't that concerning? You know? Maybe
19:22
Speaker 1: grab some gloves to keep your hands protected from the
19:25
Speaker 1: cleaners that you're gonna use if you're dealing with mildew,
19:28
Speaker 1: and make sure you ventilate the space with a bathroom fan,
19:30
Speaker 1: maybe crack open a window or whatever. That's usually enough
19:34
Speaker 1: for mildew. If you're tackling mold, you need more things.
19:37
Speaker 1: You're gonna want to wear an N ninety five mask,
19:39
Speaker 1: some long rubber gloves, get the good ones, safety goggles,
19:44
Speaker 1: and probably long sleeves and pants. Long sleeves and pants.
19:51
Speaker 1: I guess long pants is what I'm trying to say there.
19:54
Speaker 1: When I made my notes, I didn't specify, and I
19:57
Speaker 1: didn't stop to think that I might read that, think
20:00
Speaker 1: of maybe recommending that people tackle this, you know, with
20:03
Speaker 1: long sleeves and perhaps no pants. Maybe people are thinking
20:06
Speaker 1: they don't need pants. Now you need pants. I'm sorry
20:09
Speaker 1: for this tangent that I go down. My brain just
20:12
Speaker 1: sees this and it chases it. Long sleeve, long pants,
20:17
Speaker 1: and do all of that, and wear clothes that you
20:19
Speaker 1: can wash right away. That's a good idea now for
20:22
Speaker 1: small jobs Hydrogen peroxide is one of the best all
20:25
Speaker 1: around options to use for cleaning mold. Use the standard
20:28
Speaker 1: three percent solution. You spray it on undiluted and you
20:31
Speaker 1: let it fizz and do its thing for about ten
20:34
Speaker 1: minutes or so, then scrub it and wipe it clean. Now,
20:37
Speaker 1: the reason this is so ideal is that there's no
20:39
Speaker 1: toxic fumes with hydrogen peroxide, and it penetrates way better
20:43
Speaker 1: than bleach will. And I'm going to get to more
20:45
Speaker 1: on that in just a minute. So hydrogen peroxide, that's
20:48
Speaker 1: one way to go the three percent solution. Just spray
20:51
Speaker 1: it on, let it sit, and scrub it off. Another
20:53
Speaker 1: solution is white vinegar, you know, spray it on full strength,
20:56
Speaker 1: let it sit for an hour, and then scrub it.
20:59
Speaker 1: It's going to kill a large percentage of mold species,
21:01
Speaker 1: and it can be boosted with baking soda if you
21:04
Speaker 1: need to. Now, bleach, I told you I was going
21:06
Speaker 1: to get back to that. Bleach gets mentioned a lot,
21:09
Speaker 1: you know, as the go to solution for mold. But
21:11
Speaker 1: here's something really important to understand. Bleach works only on
21:15
Speaker 1: non porous surfaces. It doesn't penetrate drywall or wood, and
21:19
Speaker 1: the water in the bleach can actually feed the mold
21:22
Speaker 1: below the surface. It also, on top of all of that,
21:25
Speaker 1: produces harsh fumes, so if you use it. If you
21:28
Speaker 1: do use bleach, keep the mix mild, you know, no
21:30
Speaker 1: more than one cup per gallon of water, and just
21:33
Speaker 1: be aware you might not be doing the best job.
21:35
Speaker 1: Hydrogen peroxide would be a better way to go, or
21:37
Speaker 1: even the white vinegar. Now, once you've cleaned the area,
21:40
Speaker 1: but before you move on to primers and paint, you
21:44
Speaker 1: need to do your best to make sure that that
21:45
Speaker 1: mold is really dead. You know, mold and mildy resistant
21:48
Speaker 1: primers and paints they work from the painted surface outward,
21:52
Speaker 1: so they're going to create a barrier and they'll be
21:54
Speaker 1: resistant to surface mold, but they don't penetrate deeply into
21:57
Speaker 1: drywall to kill mold roots. You know, if the mold
22:00
Speaker 1: is still alive in your wood or your dry wall
22:02
Speaker 1: or whatever, it's going to continue to spread and eventually
22:05
Speaker 1: compromise your paint job. So how do you tell if
22:08
Speaker 1: it's really and truly dead. Well, it's not as straightforward
22:11
Speaker 1: as we'd all like it to be. You know, dead
22:13
Speaker 1: mold and live mold can look pretty much the same.
22:16
Speaker 1: And even after you've cleaned it off the surface, a
22:18
Speaker 1: lot of the time that staining is going to remain,
22:20
Speaker 1: so it's hard to tell has it been killed and
22:23
Speaker 1: dealt with or is it still lurking, you know, waiting
22:26
Speaker 1: to spring back to life. Well, your best answer to
22:29
Speaker 1: figure it out is to just give it some time.
22:31
Speaker 1: You know, So after you've applied your hydrogen peroxide or
22:33
Speaker 1: vinegar and you've scrubbed the area clean and wiped it down,
22:36
Speaker 1: let that area dry out completely. You know, we're talking
22:39
Speaker 1: twenty four to forty eight hours minimum, use fans, open windows,
22:42
Speaker 1: get the area bone dry, and then watch it for
22:45
Speaker 1: a little bit. If you see fuzzy new growth appearing
22:48
Speaker 1: in the next few days, the mold wasn't killed, or
22:51
Speaker 1: you still have a moisture problem that you haven't figured out.
22:53
Speaker 1: If the stain remains but there's no new growth after
22:56
Speaker 1: that amount of time, you're probably good. And at that
22:59
Speaker 1: point it's time to move on to primer. And in
23:01
Speaker 1: pretty much all situations, I'd recommend a mold or mildew
23:05
Speaker 1: resistant primer. Benjamin Moore's Fresh Start primer works well. Also,
23:09
Speaker 1: there's in selects aqualoc. Both of those are water based primers,
23:13
Speaker 1: and they're both mildew resistant. You know, it's not a
23:15
Speaker 1: silver bullet fix. We mentioned that, but it is a
23:17
Speaker 1: safety net and since you're priming anyway, you might as
23:21
Speaker 1: well use something that's going to give you a little
23:23
Speaker 1: more resistance from new growth in the future. Now, once
23:26
Speaker 1: you've primed the area, it's time to paint, and of
23:28
Speaker 1: course the ideal is to use again a mold and
23:30
Speaker 1: mildew resistant paint Repcollites Optima. That's a great choice to go.
23:35
Speaker 1: Benjamin Moore's aur Regal select or scuff X they're also
23:38
Speaker 1: good choices. All are mildew resistant, and whatever paint you choose,
23:42
Speaker 1: the shinier the finish, the more resistant it's going to
23:45
Speaker 1: be the new mold or mildew growth. Satins and semi
23:47
Speaker 1: glosses they usually do a good job limiting the penetration
23:50
Speaker 1: of new growth, but there's always that flip side to
23:53
Speaker 1: those things. Shinier finishes come with their own set of limitations.
23:57
Speaker 1: So in the end, the right paint in the right
23:59
Speaker 1: finish to use is really going to depend on the room,
24:02
Speaker 1: the situation. You know a lot of what's going on,
24:04
Speaker 1: so your best bet if you're dealing with mold and mildew.
24:07
Speaker 1: And you've got it cleaned up and you're ready for
24:08
Speaker 1: Payton primer. Just stop out at your closest rep collites store.
24:11
Speaker 1: Tell us what's going on, what you've been dealing with,
24:13
Speaker 1: bring some pictures in, and we'll make the best recommendations.
24:17
Speaker 1: All right, last thing I've got. Once you've got all
24:19
Speaker 1: of that taken care of, here are ten quick tips
24:21
Speaker 1: to help you save yourself from future mildew or mold
24:23
Speaker 1: headaches down the road. Number one. First tip, keep indoor
24:27
Speaker 1: humidity between forty and fifty percent. You know dehumidifiers and
24:30
Speaker 1: inexpensive hygrometers. Hygrometers are just devices that tell you what
24:34
Speaker 1: level the humidity is in your space. Those things help
24:37
Speaker 1: a lot. Hygrometers, they're crazy inexpensive, and they're really really convenient.
24:42
Speaker 1: Many of them will connect right to your phone, so
24:44
Speaker 1: you can always monitor the humidity in your home. And
24:47
Speaker 1: there are entire hygrometer and dehumidify your systems that will
24:51
Speaker 1: work together to somewhat automatically work to keep your home
24:54
Speaker 1: at a desired humidity level. So keep the indoor humidity
24:57
Speaker 1: level between forty and fifty percent. Second thing, ventilate your
25:00
Speaker 1: bathrooms in your laundry rooms properly and actually use the
25:03
Speaker 1: fans and use them the right way. Use them during
25:06
Speaker 1: the shower and for about twenty minutes after to completely
25:09
Speaker 1: get the moisture out of the room. Third thing, store
25:12
Speaker 1: items off concrete floors and away from foundation walls, cardboard, paper,
25:16
Speaker 1: and wood. They're especially vulnerable. Plastic or metal shelving is
25:20
Speaker 1: your friend if you've got stuff like that to store.
25:23
Speaker 1: Fourth thing, avoid carpeting basements that have had previous water
25:26
Speaker 1: issues if you can. You know that's not always possible,
25:29
Speaker 1: but if possible, avoid carpet down there and hard surface
25:32
Speaker 1: options can be a way better way to go if
25:35
Speaker 1: moisture could be an issue in those spaces. And absolutely
25:38
Speaker 1: don't carpet crawl spaces. Ask me how. I know. I
25:41
Speaker 1: don't have time to explain it, but you don't want it.
25:44
Speaker 1: It's a mold and mildey related problem that I dealt
25:47
Speaker 1: with and it's no fun at all. So no carpet
25:50
Speaker 1: in crawl spaces. That's a no go. Number Five, don't
25:54
Speaker 1: leave we laundry sitting in the washer or in laundry
25:56
Speaker 1: baskets and leave the washer door open A little bit
25:59
Speaker 1: so it can dry out. Number six keep air moving
26:02
Speaker 1: in your homes. Stagnant air is going to trap humidity,
26:05
Speaker 1: so open windows, run fans on a regular basis. That
26:08
Speaker 1: will help. Number seven use an indoor air purifier. Number
26:12
Speaker 1: eight be sure to change h back filters regularly. You
26:15
Speaker 1: know those filters can trap mold spores, but they can
26:17
Speaker 1: also become mold farms if they're ignored. So there's a
26:21
Speaker 1: lot of reasons to make sure you're up on changing
26:23
Speaker 1: your HVAC filters. This is just another one of them.
26:26
Speaker 1: Number nine fix water problems fast. Remember that twenty four
26:29
Speaker 1: to forty eight hour window that mold will grow in,
26:32
Speaker 1: so get those water problems six fast, and number ten
26:35
Speaker 1: inspect problem areas regularly, especially after heavy rains. You know,
26:40
Speaker 1: even homes that quote never get water in them, they
26:42
Speaker 1: can surprise you. Catching moisture early is the difference between
26:45
Speaker 1: a quick cleanup and a big repair down the road.
26:48
Speaker 1: All right, Mold is common, Small amounts are manageable. Fear
26:52
Speaker 1: it doesn't help anybody, but action that's what you need.
26:55
Speaker 1: So fix the moisture, clean properly, repair correctly, and if
26:59
Speaker 1: something feels bigger than you want to tackle you know,
27:01
Speaker 1: call a pro, get an expert out there. That's what
27:03
Speaker 1: they're there for. One last tip. If you smell mustiness
27:07
Speaker 1: but you don't see mold, trust your nose, trust your sniffer.
27:10
Speaker 1: Hidden mold is real and it's worth investigating before it
27:13
Speaker 1: becomes visible. That's how you stay ahead of it. Now,
27:16
Speaker 1: I've got all of that info in our show notes.
27:18
Speaker 1: Just head to repco Light dot com and click the
27:20
Speaker 1: on the radio tab on the homepage, or if you want,
27:23
Speaker 1: you can email me at radio at repco Light dot
27:25
Speaker 1: com and I'll send you all that info if you'd
27:28
Speaker 1: like to go over it again. All right, you're refinishing
27:30
Speaker 1: an old table, let's say, and you want a durable finish.
27:32
Speaker 1: What do you choose tongue oil or poly you're a thing?
27:35
Speaker 1: What about an old dresser that you want to give
27:37
Speaker 1: you kind of an authentic vintage finish, tongue oil or polly?
27:42
Speaker 1: Which is the right one? Are these two products interchangeable?
27:45
Speaker 1: Is one better than another? We're going to answer all
27:47
Speaker 1: of those questions and we'll turn you into tongue oil experts.
27:51
Speaker 1: Right after this, you're listening to Home in Progress, where
27:54
Speaker 1: the projects are real, the mistakes They're educational, sometimes painful,
27:59
Speaker 1: most educational, and the only thing more stubborn than that
28:04
Speaker 1: old wallpaper on your bathroom wall is your determination to
28:07
Speaker 1: get it fixed. Proudly sponsored by Repcolite Paints and Benjamin
28:11
Speaker 1: Moore Paint with a Purpose, people who care, and everything
28:14
Speaker 1: you need to get the job done right. Today, I
28:16
Speaker 1: want to start a Winter I guess a Winter wood
28:19
Speaker 1: Shop series is what I'm gonna call it. You know,
28:22
Speaker 1: traditionally this time of year is when a lot of
28:24
Speaker 1: hobby woodworkers spend a ton of time in their shops
28:27
Speaker 1: cranking out all kinds of goodies. So I thought I'd
28:29
Speaker 1: spend some time over the next little bit here highlighting
28:33
Speaker 1: some specialty tools, maybe some projects worth tackling. Who knows
28:37
Speaker 1: things like that, you know, anything to give us a
28:39
Speaker 1: reason to do a little woodworking or furniture refinishing or
28:42
Speaker 1: whatever during this long dark winter that's still in front
28:46
Speaker 1: of us. And the first place that I'm going to
28:49
Speaker 1: start with the series is with wood finishes. You know,
28:52
Speaker 1: they're notoriously confusing even to woodworkers, So I thought we'd
28:55
Speaker 1: tackle them one at a time and kind of demystify them.
28:59
Speaker 1: And today I want to start with tongue oil tunng oil.
29:02
Speaker 1: It's a finish that gets recommended all over the internet,
29:05
Speaker 1: you know, especially in woodworking forums, YouTube videos. I've seen
29:09
Speaker 1: it recommended for wood floors. It gets recommended all the time.
29:13
Speaker 1: And I want to be clear up front, tungue oil
29:16
Speaker 1: is a legitimate, valuable finish. You know, we sell it.
29:19
Speaker 1: I'm not disan on tongue oil. It absolutely has its place,
29:22
Speaker 1: but it's not a one size fits all solution. And
29:26
Speaker 1: understanding where it belongs and where it doesn't belong can
29:29
Speaker 1: save you a lot of heartache down the road. So
29:32
Speaker 1: that's the goal of all of this. And to get started,
29:35
Speaker 1: I want to talk about my desk. You know, this
29:37
Speaker 1: is from years and years ago before I worked at
29:39
Speaker 1: Repcolite so over, you know, close to thirty years ago
29:42
Speaker 1: or so. Anyway, I snagged this desk at a thrift
29:45
Speaker 1: store and it was in really bad shape visually, but
29:48
Speaker 1: deep down, you know, the bones were super solid. So
29:51
Speaker 1: I snatched it up, brought it home, and then I
29:53
Speaker 1: spent hours and hours stripping the old finish, sanding the wood,
29:58
Speaker 1: and just working hard to bring it back to life. Now,
30:00
Speaker 1: after I did all of that work, and after i'd
30:02
Speaker 1: purchased an additional fifty dollars or so worth of new
30:05
Speaker 1: hardware and things like that. I stained it and then
30:09
Speaker 1: I went to find the perfect finish for it. And
30:11
Speaker 1: in the research I'd done at the time, I was
30:14
Speaker 1: completely convinced tongue oil was the way to go. It
30:17
Speaker 1: was perfect, It was going to bring out the natural
30:19
Speaker 1: beauty of the wood. It was a natural product, or
30:21
Speaker 1: is a natural product. I was convinced it was what
30:24
Speaker 1: the pros would use. And of course I gained all
30:27
Speaker 1: of that knowledge by reading the back of a can,
30:30
Speaker 1: you know, That's what I did. So it was a
30:32
Speaker 1: little bit biased, but I still went with it and
30:35
Speaker 1: figured out it was going to be great. Anyway, fast
30:37
Speaker 1: forward maybe six months or so, and the desk is
30:40
Speaker 1: covered with water rings, water spots, you know, everywhere, from
30:43
Speaker 1: coffee mugs, from water glasses, you name it. The finish
30:47
Speaker 1: just couldn't stand up to daily desk use. Anyway. At
30:50
Speaker 1: the end, I went through all of that work, I
30:52
Speaker 1: spent all of that time and all of that money,
30:54
Speaker 1: and I ended up with a finish that was wrong
30:56
Speaker 1: for the job. So does that mean tungu oil is
30:59
Speaker 1: bad and should be avoided? Absolutely not, of course not.
31:02
Speaker 1: It just means I used a decent product in the
31:04
Speaker 1: wrong place. And that's what we're going to unpack today.
31:07
Speaker 1: So to jump right in, what exactly is toungue oil,
31:11
Speaker 1: that's the place to start. Weird name, Where in the
31:14
Speaker 1: world does this come from? What is it? Well, tungue
31:16
Speaker 1: oil comes from the seeds of the tongue tree, t
31:19
Speaker 1: ung It's native to China and it's super old technology.
31:23
Speaker 1: Tungue oil has been around for thousands of years, you know,
31:26
Speaker 1: we're talking back to around four hundred BC. The Chinese
31:29
Speaker 1: used it to waterproof ships and protect wooden structures, so
31:32
Speaker 1: it's got a really impressive track record. You know, it's
31:35
Speaker 1: been around for a long time. And here's what makes
31:37
Speaker 1: it special. Pure tongue oil penetrates deeply into the wood fibers.
31:42
Speaker 1: It doesn't just sit on top like a film. It
31:44
Speaker 1: becomes part of the wood itself when it cures, and
31:47
Speaker 1: that's a keyword. Cure is not just dries. When it cures,
31:50
Speaker 1: it hardens into a water resistant finish from within the wood,
31:54
Speaker 1: and it creates this beautiful hand rubbed look that really
31:56
Speaker 1: makes grain patterns pop. It's that warm, slightly amber wet
32:00
Speaker 1: look that people love. But and this is important, this
32:03
Speaker 1: is a big butt. When you buy a product labeled
32:06
Speaker 1: as tongue oil, you could be buying one of three
32:09
Speaker 1: different types of products. And that's where things get really confusing.
32:12
Speaker 1: So let's say you grabbed a container of tongue oil
32:15
Speaker 1: and now you're wondering what in the world you got.
32:17
Speaker 1: You know, what are you using? Well, scan the label
32:19
Speaker 1: thoroughly and you might find that you bought one hundred
32:22
Speaker 1: percent pure tongue oil. You know, this is what most
32:24
Speaker 1: people mean online in the forums and in woodworking sites,
32:28
Speaker 1: on woodworking sites and stuff like that. This is what
32:30
Speaker 1: they mean when they say real tongue oil. They're talking
32:33
Speaker 1: about one hundred percent pure tongue oil. And it's important
32:35
Speaker 1: to understand right up front that this product is rarely
32:39
Speaker 1: used by di wires. It's not because it doesn't work,
32:42
Speaker 1: but because the application process is long, slow and it
32:46
Speaker 1: requires a ton of patients. You know, pure tongue oil
32:48
Speaker 1: is applied to bear wood, it's allowed to penetrate for
32:51
Speaker 1: a short time and then it's wiped completely dry, and
32:54
Speaker 1: that part matters. You know, you don't want the oil
32:56
Speaker 1: sitting on the surface. In fact, over the next hour
32:59
Speaker 1: or two, oil can slowly migrate back out of the
33:01
Speaker 1: wood and beat up again even after you wiped it dry,
33:05
Speaker 1: which means that you have to come back and wipe
33:07
Speaker 1: it a second time the same day just to make
33:09
Speaker 1: sure you don't have any of it left behind beating
33:12
Speaker 1: up on the wood because it can wrinkle as it cures.
33:15
Speaker 1: On top of all of that, you're typically waiting forty
33:17
Speaker 1: eight hours or more between coats, and you usually need
33:20
Speaker 1: five to seven coats to build meaningful protection. So, yeah,
33:24
Speaker 1: it works. Pure tongue oil one hundred percent pure tongue oil.
33:27
Speaker 1: It works, it's beautiful, but it's a major time commitment
33:30
Speaker 1: that most di wires just aren't interested in taking on. Now.
33:34
Speaker 1: The upside is that pure tongue oil is completely natural,
33:37
Speaker 1: it's non toxic once cured. It's FDA approved for food contact.
33:41
Speaker 1: But the time investment and attention required are the reason
33:44
Speaker 1: most modern di wires simply don't use it very often. Now,
33:47
Speaker 1: that's where tungue oil varnish blends come in. That's the
33:50
Speaker 1: next kind of product you might have picked up. These
33:52
Speaker 1: products were developed specifically to address the challenges of using
33:56
Speaker 1: pure tongue oil. You know, they combine toungue oil with
33:59
Speaker 1: varnished resins, and that creates a fortified finish that still
34:02
Speaker 1: penetrates the wood, but builds faster and dries quicker. You know,
34:06
Speaker 1: these blends are applied with a rag. They're allowed to
34:08
Speaker 1: penetrate for a specific amount of time, and then they're
34:10
Speaker 1: wiped off. They typically require only two to three coats,
34:13
Speaker 1: and they leave a soft, satin, kind of hand rubbed appearance.
34:17
Speaker 1: They're more durable than pure tongue oil. But don't get
34:19
Speaker 1: all excited, because I got to be honest here, They're
34:22
Speaker 1: not dramatically more durable. You know, the improvement's real, but
34:26
Speaker 1: it's moderate. You know, they still don't create a thick,
34:28
Speaker 1: protective barrier on the surface of the wood like a
34:31
Speaker 1: modern coating is going to do. All right, that's the
34:33
Speaker 1: first two types of items you might have picked up
34:35
Speaker 1: when you bought tongue oil. A third category is a
34:38
Speaker 1: product labeled tongue oil finish, and this is where things
34:41
Speaker 1: get really misleading. You know, in most cases these products
34:44
Speaker 1: are just wiping varnishes, you know, basically thinned out polyurethane
34:48
Speaker 1: designed to be applied with a rag. Some contain a
34:50
Speaker 1: small amount of tongue oil. Some contain no tongue oil
34:53
Speaker 1: at all. There are even well known toungue oil finishes
34:57
Speaker 1: out there. You've probably used them, probably for you've heard
35:00
Speaker 1: of them. Well known ones out there that contain no
35:03
Speaker 1: tongue oil at all. They make use of soybean oil instead,
35:07
Speaker 1: and yet they're still called tongue oil finishes. They're not
35:10
Speaker 1: bad products, but they're not really you know, tungue oil finishes.
35:13
Speaker 1: The easiest way to tell is to read the label.
35:16
Speaker 1: If you see petroleum distillates on the label, you're looking
35:19
Speaker 1: at a varnish, not a pure tongue oil. All right,
35:22
Speaker 1: Where do you use these finishes? You know where toungue
35:24
Speaker 1: oil finishes come into play in any of these forms?
35:27
Speaker 1: You know where are they really good? Where do they
35:29
Speaker 1: make sense? One of the best uses is food contact surfaces.
35:33
Speaker 1: Pure tongue oil, like we mentioned once fully cured. It's
35:36
Speaker 1: food safe, so cutting boards, salad boards, wooden, utensils, things
35:40
Speaker 1: like that. These are ideal applications where a polyuritane isn't appropriate,
35:45
Speaker 1: but toungue oil would work beautifully pure tongue oil. Tungue
35:48
Speaker 1: oil is also well suited for decorative and low wear pieces.
35:52
Speaker 1: You know, carved boxes, picture frames, shelving, you know, shelving
35:56
Speaker 1: that's not going to get a lot of use. Decorative shelving,
35:58
Speaker 1: let's call it display pieces, art objects, things like that.
36:02
Speaker 1: It's going to enhance the grain and texture without creating
36:05
Speaker 1: that plastic kind of built up look that some polyrathanes
36:10
Speaker 1: will leave behind. Tungue oil products are also a solid
36:13
Speaker 1: choice for antique restoration where you're trying to maintain the
36:16
Speaker 1: character and authenticity of a piece, or for musical instruments.
36:19
Speaker 1: They get used a lot by musical instrument builders because
36:23
Speaker 1: they prefer finishes that protect without sealing the wood under
36:26
Speaker 1: a thick shell. All right, So that's some of the
36:28
Speaker 1: great places to use tongue oil products. For me, I think,
36:32
Speaker 1: and probably for most of you out there, the most
36:34
Speaker 1: practical application for tongue oil is going to be antique
36:37
Speaker 1: pieces of furniture that you're trying to restore and maintain
36:40
Speaker 1: the authenticity of that piece. You know, if you're not
36:43
Speaker 1: crazy worried about durability, these tongue oil products are going
36:46
Speaker 1: to be great for that. Where do you not want
36:49
Speaker 1: to use these finishes, Well, you can probably fill in
36:51
Speaker 1: the blanks already here, but we might as well cover it.
36:54
Speaker 1: I've got it written down, might as well go through it.
36:57
Speaker 1: You don't want to use tongue oil products when you've
36:59
Speaker 1: got a high use, spill prone surface like a kitchen table,
37:02
Speaker 1: a dining table, a desk, a coffee table. You know,
37:05
Speaker 1: all of those situations, those applications would be better served
37:09
Speaker 1: by polyurethane varnishes. You know, just going to hold up
37:12
Speaker 1: tons better. Tungue oil products provide water resistance, but they
37:15
Speaker 1: don't create a waterproof barrier. They're far more vulnerable to
37:18
Speaker 1: standing liquids. They're also not the best choice when maximum
37:22
Speaker 1: durability is the goal. You know, floors, bar tops, and
37:25
Speaker 1: commercial spaces all demand resistance to abrasion, to heat, to
37:28
Speaker 1: chemicals and moisture, and toungue oils simply can't compete with
37:32
Speaker 1: polyurethane products and other modern finishes in those situations. Finally,
37:37
Speaker 1: tungue oil finishes tungue oil products require ongoing maintenance. You know,
37:41
Speaker 1: if you want to finish something once and forget about
37:44
Speaker 1: it for years and years and years, Tongue oil products
37:47
Speaker 1: not the right family of products for you. You know,
37:49
Speaker 1: Tungue oil has been around for thousands of years for
37:51
Speaker 1: good reason. It's beautiful, it's natural and in the right application,
37:55
Speaker 1: you know, it's really excellent. Pure tongue oil on a
37:57
Speaker 1: salad bowl is a perfect match. On wooden toy or
38:00
Speaker 1: decorative pieces, it's a great choice. But on my desk,
38:03
Speaker 1: I definitely should have gone to a polyurthane. You know.
38:06
Speaker 1: The real lesson in all of this isn't that tongue
38:08
Speaker 1: oil is inferior. You know, I hope you don't come
38:10
Speaker 1: away with that. Basically what I'm trying to get at,
38:13
Speaker 1: and we'll get at as we hit more of these finishes.
38:16
Speaker 1: The big lesson is that every single finish has a
38:19
Speaker 1: sweet spot, you know, matching the finish to the way
38:21
Speaker 1: the piece is actually going to be used. That's the
38:24
Speaker 1: real secret to success. All right. That's going to do
38:26
Speaker 1: it for this episode of Home in Progress. If you
38:28
Speaker 1: want to catch it again, you can find it online
38:30
Speaker 1: at repco light dot com. And before I shut everything
38:34
Speaker 1: down officially for the week, one last reminder, Benjamin Moore
38:38
Speaker 1: color samples are still on sale at Repcolite for fifty
38:41
Speaker 1: percent off, and whenever you buy one, you're going to
38:44
Speaker 1: get a coupon that you can use for five dollars
38:46
Speaker 1: off any Repcolit or Benjamin More paint up to five gallons.
38:49
Speaker 1: Each coupon is good for up to five gallons. The
38:52
Speaker 1: coupon itself doesn't expire, but you're not going to be
38:55
Speaker 1: able to get those coupons after the sale ends on
38:58
Speaker 1: January twelve, So come in get your color samples, get
39:01
Speaker 1: those coupons before January twelve, and then you got all
39:05
Speaker 1: of the year to figure out what color's best for you,
39:07
Speaker 1: and you can save some money on the paint when
39:09
Speaker 1: you come to get it. All right, have a great
39:11
Speaker 1: weekend everybody, and I'll see you next week for Home
39:13
Speaker 1: in Progress. I'm Dan Hanson. Thanks for listening.