Latest / Repcolite Home Improvement Show / Smoke Signals, Hot Paint, and Laundry Lines

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Smoke Signals, Hot Paint, and Laundry Lines · Repcolite Home Improvement Show

0:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to Home in Progress, formerly known as the repcoll
0:05
Speaker 1: At Home Improvement Show. It's going to be the same show,
0:08
Speaker 1: same goals, just a name that kind of better fits
0:11
Speaker 1: what home ownership is really like. I'm your host, Dan Hansen,
0:14
Speaker 1: and around here we believe that a home isn't a
0:18
Speaker 1: finished product, right, It's a work in progress. Real homes
0:21
Speaker 1: are built one project, one paint can, one weekend at
0:25
Speaker 1: a time, and sometimes once in a while, that project
0:27
Speaker 1: takes a little longer than we thought. Now, every week
0:29
Speaker 1: we're going to dive into the real life side of
0:31
Speaker 1: home improvement, the paint, the flooring, the plumbing, the design choices,
0:35
Speaker 1: all of the stuff that makes your house a better
0:37
Speaker 1: place to be, one step at a time. This week,
0:40
Speaker 1: we're starting off with a conversation about backyard smokers. You
0:43
Speaker 1: know what they are, why they're addicting, and how to
0:46
Speaker 1: get started. Then we'll be talking about the best paint
0:48
Speaker 1: colors for north facing rooms. We'll go over some tips
0:51
Speaker 1: for painting outside in the extreme ridiculous heat that we're
0:55
Speaker 1: all dealing with, and then we'll wrap up with a
0:57
Speaker 1: surprisingly satisfying case for hanging your clothes out to dry.
1:01
Speaker 1: Home in Progress is probably brought to you by Repcoal
1:03
Speaker 1: Light Paints and Benjamin Moore offering top tier paint expert
1:06
Speaker 1: advice and the tools to keep your projects moving forward.
1:09
Speaker 1: Let's get started, and the place that I want to
1:12
Speaker 1: start this week is Father's Day, a couple of weeks ago.
1:16
Speaker 1: And want to start there because on Father's Day this year,
1:19
Speaker 1: I received a smoker as a gift, and when I
1:22
Speaker 1: first got it, I was super pumped about it. Was
1:25
Speaker 1: super pumped about it, I guess I still am. But
1:29
Speaker 1: after unboxing it, setting it all up, and then standing
1:32
Speaker 1: there looking at it for a good fifteen minutes or more,
1:36
Speaker 1: I realized something important and intimidating. I don't know what
1:41
Speaker 1: I'm doing at all, completely clueless when it comes to
1:45
Speaker 1: smoking meats. So I figured I would use this opening
1:48
Speaker 1: segment as a public service announcement for anybody else out
1:52
Speaker 1: there who's just starting out with smoking meats or maybe
1:56
Speaker 1: thinking about getting into this hobby, this money sink that
2:01
Speaker 1: it turns out to be. All right, let's start with
2:03
Speaker 1: the basics. What is a smoker? Well, it's not a grill.
2:06
Speaker 1: Looks kind of like a grill sometimes, but it's not
2:09
Speaker 1: a grill. It's kind of a low and slow oven
2:11
Speaker 1: that cooks food using indirect heat and smoke. You know
2:14
Speaker 1: that smoke's important. That's a big part of it. It's
2:16
Speaker 1: why it's called a smoker, and it infuses flavor into
2:20
Speaker 1: the meat and that low temperature that you're cooking at
2:23
Speaker 1: usually you know, somewhere right around two hundred to two
2:25
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy five degrees. That low temperature gently breaks
2:28
Speaker 1: down tougher cuts of meat. Now with a smoker, you're
2:31
Speaker 1: not flipping burgers. You know, you're not opening it up,
2:34
Speaker 1: and you know, handling the food a lot and doing
2:38
Speaker 1: a lot of work like that. You're basically gently nurturing,
2:41
Speaker 1: babying pork, shoulders, ribs, briskets, sausages, all of whatever you're
2:46
Speaker 1: using over the course of hours plural. This is not
2:50
Speaker 1: a quick fifteen minutes on the grill and you're in
2:53
Speaker 1: the house again. This is ours. It's the long game.
2:57
Speaker 1: And I really didn't understand that entirely until I started
3:01
Speaker 1: researching and I saw people talking about ten hour cook
3:04
Speaker 1: times like it was no big deal. We shall see.
3:07
Speaker 1: I live a life of rapid decisions, rapid movement. I'm
3:12
Speaker 1: a go go go kind of person, and I'm going
3:14
Speaker 1: to see how I do with multiple hour cook times
3:18
Speaker 1: like this. We'll find out. So that's what a smoker is.
3:22
Speaker 1: That's the idea. Now when you're looking at them, there's
3:25
Speaker 1: a bunch of different types of smokers out there, and
3:28
Speaker 1: depending on what you choose, your experience is going to vary.
3:33
Speaker 1: So I'm going to walk through just some of the
3:34
Speaker 1: main ones. There are electric smokers, and these are basically
3:38
Speaker 1: set it and forget it kind of things. You know,
3:40
Speaker 1: you plug them in, you set the temperature, you add
3:43
Speaker 1: woodchips for smoke, and they hold steady. You know. That's it.
3:46
Speaker 1: Not super flashy, but super easy. There are pellet smokers,
3:50
Speaker 1: and these are higher tech units that burn compressed wood pellets.
3:54
Speaker 1: They look a little bit like grills and they usually
3:56
Speaker 1: have a digital control. Now on these, you can smoke,
3:59
Speaker 1: you can row, you can grill. They're super versatile, and
4:02
Speaker 1: they're a little bit pricier than the other ones. Charcoal smokers,
4:05
Speaker 1: that's another option. This is what I've got. These are
4:08
Speaker 1: more hands on. You know, you're lighting charcoal, you're managing airflow,
4:12
Speaker 1: you're watching temperatures, all of those things. You get a
4:14
Speaker 1: great smoke flavor. One of the better ones, if not
4:18
Speaker 1: the best one. There's debate out there, but people really
4:21
Speaker 1: like these. But you do need to babysit these more
4:24
Speaker 1: than electric or the pellet units, all right. Offset smokers
4:28
Speaker 1: another option. These have the firebox on the side and
4:31
Speaker 1: the main cooking chamber to the left of the right.
4:33
Speaker 1: They look classic and they're the trickiest to master. Basically,
4:38
Speaker 1: you're trying to understand how to manage your fire, your fuel,
4:41
Speaker 1: and your airflow, and that's all crucial to making this work.
4:44
Speaker 1: So they're a little trickier in that regard Comado grills
4:47
Speaker 1: just think the big green egg things. These are ceramic cookers.
4:51
Speaker 1: They hold heat like a dream. You can grill or
4:53
Speaker 1: you can smoke on them. They're heavy duty, but they
4:56
Speaker 1: do take a little bit of time, you know, to
4:58
Speaker 1: learn how to maintain that temperature STEADI just a little
5:00
Speaker 1: bit of a learning curve with those, all right. So
5:02
Speaker 1: those are the smokers, the different types of them. But
5:05
Speaker 1: that's only the beginning. Once you acquire that you're not done.
5:08
Speaker 1: Now you need tools, and there are a lot of
5:11
Speaker 1: tools that you can acquire as you fall into this
5:15
Speaker 1: rabbit hole that is this hobby, you know, Like I
5:17
Speaker 1: said earlier, it's a money sink. I'm not just throwing
5:20
Speaker 1: that word out there. And sometimes money sinks are great,
5:23
Speaker 1: you know, we find hobbies. I fell into guitar and
5:26
Speaker 1: that's also a money sink, and it's a wonderful money sink.
5:30
Speaker 1: I recommend it to everybody out there. I think this
5:32
Speaker 1: is that same type of thing. So there are a
5:35
Speaker 1: ton of tools that you can buy, and the price
5:38
Speaker 1: ranges are all over the place. But I've compiled a
5:41
Speaker 1: list of tools that every beginner absolutely needs. So this
5:45
Speaker 1: is your go to gotta have list. You know, you
5:48
Speaker 1: can add to it, but these are the must haves.
5:51
Speaker 1: First thing, a good digital thermometer, because that one that's
5:54
Speaker 1: built into the smoker. Everybody online says those are usually
5:57
Speaker 1: way off, so you want to probe that reads the
5:59
Speaker 1: internal temperature of the grill accurately. You're also going to
6:02
Speaker 1: need a thermometer for the internal temperature of the meat,
6:05
Speaker 1: and preferably, you know, you want one that you can
6:07
Speaker 1: leave in while it cooks. There are a lot of
6:09
Speaker 1: wireless ones. They'll actually communicate with your phone and you
6:13
Speaker 1: can just sit wherever with your beverage and watch your
6:16
Speaker 1: phone and see the temperature of everything. You're cooking. You know,
6:19
Speaker 1: you can get some that will report, you know that
6:21
Speaker 1: have two prongs and you can record or report the
6:25
Speaker 1: internal temperature of the smoker and the internal temperature of
6:28
Speaker 1: the meat all back to your phone on the same interface.
6:31
Speaker 1: So a lot of different options out there. Some are
6:35
Speaker 1: crazy pricy, but many are reasonable and they're well reviewed.
6:38
Speaker 1: So dig into all of that. Get the recommendations that
6:41
Speaker 1: are out there. Another thing, you're going to need heat
6:43
Speaker 1: resistant gloves because surprise, pulling a pork shoulder out of
6:46
Speaker 1: a two hundred and fifty degree smoker isn't a job
6:48
Speaker 1: for oven mits. So heat resistant gloves. You need a
6:52
Speaker 1: spray bottle. You know, a little mister. I'm a little mister,
6:56
Speaker 1: So that's not right. You need a spray bottle. You know,
6:59
Speaker 1: you've got to miss to the meat during the cook
7:01
Speaker 1: to keep it from drying out. Sometimes some folks use
7:03
Speaker 1: apple cider vinegar, others use apple juice or broth, but
7:07
Speaker 1: you definitely need that little spray bottle. Aluminum pans. You're
7:10
Speaker 1: gonna use these for water trays, for grease collection, just
7:13
Speaker 1: resting the meat. Resting the meat, you know, it gets tired.
7:17
Speaker 1: No resting it is a very specific part of the process.
7:20
Speaker 1: I'll talk about it briefly at the end, but you'll
7:23
Speaker 1: use these pants for that, and they'll make clean up
7:25
Speaker 1: way easier. You're gonna need tongs, a grill brush, and foil.
7:29
Speaker 1: You know, these are obvious, but you really can't have
7:31
Speaker 1: too many of them, and people use that foil in
7:34
Speaker 1: the drip trays and stuff like that. Again to make
7:36
Speaker 1: clean up easier. You're gonna need wood, pellets or chips,
7:39
Speaker 1: depending on the smoker type. You know, you got to
7:41
Speaker 1: figure out which one of those two you need. Pellets
7:43
Speaker 1: for pellet smokers, chips or chunks for electric and charcoal smokers.
7:47
Speaker 1: But this is where the smoke flavor and all of
7:50
Speaker 1: that comes from, so you'll need those. And of course,
7:52
Speaker 1: if you've got a charcoal smoker, you're gonna need a
7:54
Speaker 1: chimney starter and good charcoal, you know, something without additives, preferably,
7:59
Speaker 1: all right, So as I acquire the supplies, the next
8:02
Speaker 1: question that comes into my mind is what in the
8:04
Speaker 1: world should I cook? First? Well, of course I'm tempted
8:07
Speaker 1: to want to try something like brisket right off the bat,
8:10
Speaker 1: you know, it sounds awesome, but no, the entirety of
8:14
Speaker 1: the Internet says, don't start with brisket. It's apparently like
8:18
Speaker 1: the Soux fle of smoking. Instead, there are a wide
8:21
Speaker 1: range of beginner friendly foods that get recommended instead. So
8:24
Speaker 1: chicken thighs, that's a really good thing to start with.
8:26
Speaker 1: They're cheap, they're forgiving, they're good, they taste great. Sausages
8:31
Speaker 1: are cubasa, low effort, high reward. Pork shoulder, you know,
8:34
Speaker 1: it's great for pulled pork. Takes a long time, that's
8:37
Speaker 1: the downside to that one, but it's hard to mess
8:39
Speaker 1: that one up. Smoked mac and cheese. I didn't even
8:42
Speaker 1: know this was a thing, but apparently it's amazing and
8:45
Speaker 1: not terribly difficult. Ribs these are a little more advanced,
8:49
Speaker 1: but still they're doable if you follow a plan. Now,
8:51
Speaker 1: I went with chicken thighs. You know, for my first run,
8:54
Speaker 1: I figure low risk as inexpensive as you know, relatively
8:59
Speaker 1: inexpensive if I mess it up and in a high reward,
9:02
Speaker 1: you know, they're supposed to be really good. So we'll
9:04
Speaker 1: do that. Now, the next question that comes up, and
9:07
Speaker 1: maybe there's you know, maybe your questions come up in
9:10
Speaker 1: different order. This is how my questions came up. So
9:13
Speaker 1: I figured out what I'm gonna cook. I figured out
9:15
Speaker 1: what kind of smoker to get all of those things.
9:17
Speaker 1: I got all my tools, but what kind of would
9:20
Speaker 1: do I use to get the smoky flavor? Because there's
9:22
Speaker 1: all kinds of different woods. I started to talk about
9:24
Speaker 1: that a little bit earlier. Well, here's the gist of it.
9:27
Speaker 1: There's apple or cherrywood. This is going to be sweet,
9:30
Speaker 1: you know, give it a sweeter flavor, and it's gonna
9:32
Speaker 1: be great for pork or poultry. There's hickory strong classic,
9:35
Speaker 1: it's gonna be great for ribs or pork, shoulder oak,
9:39
Speaker 1: it's gonna be more balanced. It kind of works with
9:41
Speaker 1: just about anything. And then there's mesquite, which is apparently
9:44
Speaker 1: more intense. Most people that I ran into say, use
9:47
Speaker 1: it sparingly or blend it with some of the other ones. Now,
9:50
Speaker 1: all right, if you're curious about the process, and I was,
9:54
Speaker 1: I needed to know what the process is going to
9:55
Speaker 1: look like. When I hear that it can take hours,
9:58
Speaker 1: I need to know what it exactly that looks like.
10:01
Speaker 1: Does it mean I'm glued to the smoker in the
10:04
Speaker 1: backyard for hours and hours on end. How am I
10:06
Speaker 1: going to pass my time, or do I get to
10:08
Speaker 1: wander around and do other things and just pop in,
10:11
Speaker 1: pop out? You know, do I get to do it
10:13
Speaker 1: that way? Well, if that's you, if you need to
10:15
Speaker 1: understand how it's going to look like or what it's
10:17
Speaker 1: going to look like before you jump in, I've got
10:19
Speaker 1: a simplified version of the process, and it's really taken
10:22
Speaker 1: from the perspective of smoking chicken thighs. You know, different
10:25
Speaker 1: meats are going to take you know, have different requirements
10:28
Speaker 1: for what you need to do, and it'll take different
10:30
Speaker 1: amounts of time. But this will still give you an
10:32
Speaker 1: idea of what the whole process looks like. All right,
10:35
Speaker 1: So first step, you need to set up your smoker
10:38
Speaker 1: for indirect heat. So get your charcoal going on one
10:41
Speaker 1: side of the firebox, put a water pan on the
10:43
Speaker 1: other side to kind of help regulate temperature and moisture.
10:47
Speaker 1: Then you're going to preheat the thing to around two
10:49
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty degrees you know, that's your target cooking temp.
10:52
Speaker 1: So you'll add wood chunks, you know, apple wood, cherry, hickory,
10:55
Speaker 1: whatever you choose, and you do that after you got
10:58
Speaker 1: those coals ready. All right, So while that's heating up,
11:01
Speaker 1: and getting ready. You're gonna prep the chicken or whatever meat,
11:04
Speaker 1: but in this instance it's the chicken. So you're gonna
11:07
Speaker 1: pat the thighs dry, you're gonna season them with your
11:09
Speaker 1: favorite rub, and then you're gonna let them sit as
11:12
Speaker 1: that smoker stabilizes and gets the temperature. Once that's set,
11:15
Speaker 1: you're gonna smoke everything on low and you're gonna smoke
11:18
Speaker 1: it slowly, so put them on the cool side of
11:20
Speaker 1: the smoker, skin side up. Let them cook for about
11:24
Speaker 1: one and a half to two and a half hours,
11:26
Speaker 1: you know, until the internal temperature of the chicken thigh
11:29
Speaker 1: reaches one hundred and eighty to one hundred and eighty
11:31
Speaker 1: five degrees. So you let that go for an hour
11:34
Speaker 1: and a half to two hours, maybe three hours. And
11:37
Speaker 1: what you're doing in that timeframe is you're watching your
11:39
Speaker 1: phone to see, you know, if you've got the digital
11:42
Speaker 1: thermometer that reports to your phone, you know with bluetooth,
11:45
Speaker 1: you're checking the temperature, the internal temperature of the chicken thighs,
11:50
Speaker 1: and you're making sure that the temperature in the cooker
11:53
Speaker 1: stays right around two hundred and fifty degrees. So you
11:56
Speaker 1: might need to pop in and add some coals, add
11:59
Speaker 1: wood a little bit to just keep things moving. You
12:02
Speaker 1: don't need to be glued to the thing. You get
12:04
Speaker 1: to wander around and do other things and just keep
12:06
Speaker 1: popping in and out. All right. After the two and
12:09
Speaker 1: a half hours, three hours, when it reaches that one
12:11
Speaker 1: eighty one eighty five internal temperature on the chicken, basically
12:16
Speaker 1: you open it up and check it out. If the
12:18
Speaker 1: skin isn't crisp yet, and if you want it to be.
12:20
Speaker 1: This is optional. You can finish them over the hot
12:23
Speaker 1: coals for a minute or two per side, just to
12:25
Speaker 1: get them a little crispier. All right. Then you need
12:27
Speaker 1: to let them rest for five to ten minutes. And
12:30
Speaker 1: that resting thing, we're going to talk about that in
12:32
Speaker 1: a little bit. You let them rest and then you
12:34
Speaker 1: dig in and that's it. That's it. Two and a
12:37
Speaker 1: half three hours, Your first smoke is done. You're not
12:41
Speaker 1: doing a twelve hour brisket. You know. That's that's a
12:43
Speaker 1: little bit much for this first try. Try something simple.
12:46
Speaker 1: It's no stress. It's going to be good. So that's
12:49
Speaker 1: the chicken thighs. That's what the process looks like. Now
12:51
Speaker 1: after digging into everything, you know, I've come away with
12:55
Speaker 1: a few things that kind of surprised me or intimidated
12:58
Speaker 1: me a little bit, sometimes a mixture both. First off,
13:02
Speaker 1: you're probably picked up on it already, but temperature management
13:04
Speaker 1: is everything, and charcoal smokers specifically take more attention than
13:09
Speaker 1: electric or pullet smokers. So that's something I'm going to
13:12
Speaker 1: have to work on and pay attention to as I'm going.
13:14
Speaker 1: I can't just be distracted and let this thing go.
13:18
Speaker 1: I've got to be on it, and that's a little intimidating.
13:21
Speaker 1: I can pull it off, but it is a little
13:22
Speaker 1: intimidating as I go in. Second, you need to let
13:25
Speaker 1: the meat rest after smoking it. And I mentioned this earlier.
13:29
Speaker 1: I'm going to explain it just a little bit here
13:31
Speaker 1: because it's important and I'd never heard that concept before
13:34
Speaker 1: until I dug into this. You know, I was all
13:36
Speaker 1: about me resting, but I didn't know that the smoked
13:39
Speaker 1: meat needed to rest. But it's very important. If you
13:42
Speaker 1: skip the step, it's going to be a problem or
13:44
Speaker 1: you're going to affect the flavor. So in smoking meat,
13:47
Speaker 1: resting refers to the time or the period after the
13:50
Speaker 1: meat is done cooking, but before it's sliced or served
13:53
Speaker 1: it's crucial. Here's why. First off, when the meat cooks,
13:56
Speaker 1: all the juices get pushed towards the outer edges. When
13:59
Speaker 1: you rest it before serving it, those juices have time
14:02
Speaker 1: to move back towards the center so they don't all
14:05
Speaker 1: spill out when you cut into it, so you're not
14:07
Speaker 1: getting this dry piece of leather that you're serving. The
14:10
Speaker 1: juices will redistribute, the texture improves. It's another thing that
14:14
Speaker 1: resting does. It helps the meat firm up a little bit,
14:16
Speaker 1: makes it easier to slice, and gives you a better
14:18
Speaker 1: final texture. Also, the temperature stabilizes that internal temperature usually
14:23
Speaker 1: rises a few degrees during the first part of the
14:25
Speaker 1: rest and then it starts to cool after that. This
14:28
Speaker 1: helps finish the cooking process gently, all right. So that's
14:32
Speaker 1: something else I wasn't aware of a little intimidating. I've
14:35
Speaker 1: got to get that figured out. There's a lot of
14:37
Speaker 1: difference different ways or times to let the meat rest,
14:40
Speaker 1: depending on the meat that you're smoking. So look into
14:43
Speaker 1: that and there's different ways to do it. Sometimes you
14:45
Speaker 1: just leave them out, Sometimes you wrap them in something.
14:48
Speaker 1: Sometimes you build a little that you're going to need
14:51
Speaker 1: to just look into it. Specifically for the meat that
14:56
Speaker 1: you're smoking, So dig into that. Don't forget about the resting,
14:59
Speaker 1: all right. Another thing that was intimidating is that a
15:02
Speaker 1: lot of people who really get into this keep a notebook.
15:04
Speaker 1: You know, they log what they cooked, what would they used,
15:07
Speaker 1: what temperature they hit, how long it took, and that
15:10
Speaker 1: helps them dial in their process over time. And why
15:14
Speaker 1: is that intimidating? It's intimidating because there's that much going on.
15:17
Speaker 1: There's so many variables at play in order to get
15:21
Speaker 1: to a good result. You know, these people who do
15:23
Speaker 1: it all the time have all these notes that they've compiled.
15:27
Speaker 1: It feels like we're building some sort of huge scientific
15:30
Speaker 1: device here. You know, it's intimidating. I can pull it off,
15:34
Speaker 1: but man, there's a lot going on. Finally, lots of
15:36
Speaker 1: people that I know who do this, This is my
15:38
Speaker 1: favorite part. Lots of people that I know who do
15:40
Speaker 1: this talk about their failures. You know. They talk about
15:43
Speaker 1: their successes too, of course, but they're not shy about
15:46
Speaker 1: the failures, you know, failure or less than stellar results.
15:49
Speaker 1: That's all part of the process, you know, It's part
15:51
Speaker 1: of learning the skill, you know, and I like that
15:54
Speaker 1: that's a pleasant surprise to find out that failure is
15:58
Speaker 1: always an option, because when you're me, failure is always
16:02
Speaker 1: in the cards. You never know when it's gonna come up.
16:04
Speaker 1: All right, that's a quick overview, very very brief. A
16:07
Speaker 1: lot more of the process in the hobby, but it's
16:09
Speaker 1: a quick look that maybe what's your appetite, you know,
16:12
Speaker 1: if you're looking for a new hobby and you'll like
16:14
Speaker 1: to eat, well, who knows, maybe this is your next
16:17
Speaker 1: big thing. All right, that's smokers. Let's shift gears now
16:20
Speaker 1: pretty dramatically. Have you ever wondered why your carefully chosen
16:23
Speaker 1: paint color just looks off, just doesn't look right in
16:27
Speaker 1: your living room? That's next. Right after this, you're listening
16:31
Speaker 1: to Home in Progress, Real projects, real life, and a
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Speaker 1: is sponsored by Repcolite Paints and Benjamin Moore, offering expert advice,
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Speaker 1: premium paint, and all the tools you need to keep
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Speaker 1: your home moving forward. All right, I've talked about it
16:51
Speaker 1: a ton of times here before, but it's worth repeating
16:54
Speaker 1: because it's so key to this conversation that we're going
16:57
Speaker 1: to have light, especially natural light, has a huge impact
17:01
Speaker 1: on how paint colors appear on your walls. Now, that's
17:05
Speaker 1: pretty obvious, I think to most people. That's not not
17:08
Speaker 1: one of those statements that people gasp about. You're kidding me.
17:13
Speaker 1: That's true. Yes, it's true. We get that. A lot
17:15
Speaker 1: of us get that. But what's not quite as obvious
17:18
Speaker 1: and definitely not as easy to pin down, is this
17:21
Speaker 1: the direction that a room faces, the way that it's
17:24
Speaker 1: exposed to sunlight, and that natural light that can dramatically
17:29
Speaker 1: affect the quality of light in that space, and that
17:31
Speaker 1: in turn has a huge influence on how any given
17:35
Speaker 1: color is going to actually look in a space. So
17:38
Speaker 1: over the next few weeks, we're going to break it
17:40
Speaker 1: down one direction at a time and talk through the
17:42
Speaker 1: quirks and considerations that come with each one. Today we're
17:46
Speaker 1: starting with north facing rooms. Now, these spaces get light
17:50
Speaker 1: that's cool and steady throughout the day, and while that
17:52
Speaker 1: sounds really good, it often results in a room that
17:55
Speaker 1: kind of feels a little bit flat, you know, a
17:57
Speaker 1: little bit chilly, depending on the color that you chosen.
18:00
Speaker 1: The good news here is that you can absolutely conteract
18:03
Speaker 1: that vibe if you choose your colors intentionally. So let's
18:07
Speaker 1: dig into what works and why in a north facing space. Now,
18:10
Speaker 1: first things first, let's understand the challenge that we're dealing
18:13
Speaker 1: with north facing rooms. They get light from the sky,
18:16
Speaker 1: not direct sunlight, and that means the light is cooler,
18:20
Speaker 1: it often dips into blue gray tones, and it's steady,
18:24
Speaker 1: like I said, throughout the day, So paint colors don't
18:26
Speaker 1: shift dramatically with the sun when they're in north facing rooms.
18:30
Speaker 1: That lack of warm sunshine can make even mid tone
18:33
Speaker 1: paint chips look like dull grays or overly blue. Designers
18:37
Speaker 1: often are warning bright whites and cool tones are going
18:40
Speaker 1: to look stark or lifeless, or at least can, especially
18:43
Speaker 1: if you're trying to force a bright, sunny feel in
18:45
Speaker 1: a room that naturally feels dim and cool. So if
18:48
Speaker 1: you want to make a north facing room feel cozy
18:50
Speaker 1: and inviting, you need to select colors with warm undertones, yellows,
18:54
Speaker 1: peachy neutrals, earthy greens, light beiges. Colors like that these
18:59
Speaker 1: are going to conor balance that cool light instead of
19:02
Speaker 1: fighting it. So if you're looking for soft whites in
19:04
Speaker 1: your north facing room, try colors like Benjamin Moore's cotton balls,
19:08
Speaker 1: white chocolate, or timid white. All of these offer a
19:11
Speaker 1: little bit of warmth and they're gonna make that space
19:13
Speaker 1: fuel inviting. If you're looking for neutrals, you know, maybe
19:16
Speaker 1: that's your thing, try colors like Benjamin Moore's elephant tusk
19:19
Speaker 1: or wheeling neutral, or maybe grayzis like tapestry beige or
19:23
Speaker 1: linux tan. These are gonna feel more grounded and you know,
19:27
Speaker 1: more welcoming. They're gonna feel more welcoming under north light.
19:31
Speaker 1: If you're looking for depth with your colors, you know,
19:33
Speaker 1: more than what I've talked about, north light supports it beautifully.
19:36
Speaker 1: You can pull it off. Just try deeper blues or greens,
19:39
Speaker 1: but always those that have a little bit of a
19:41
Speaker 1: yellow undertone. You know, so deep teal or moss green,
19:44
Speaker 1: not cool navy or something like that. If you really
19:47
Speaker 1: want to infuse the space with a little sunshine, you know,
19:50
Speaker 1: really try to warm it up. Peachy pinks, creamy yellows,
19:53
Speaker 1: warm apricot tones. Colors like western flax, head over heels,
19:58
Speaker 1: and satchel. All Benjamin More colors, they're going to bring
20:01
Speaker 1: a bit of a glow that combats that natural coolness. Now,
20:05
Speaker 1: I know, I just reeled off a bunch a boatload
20:08
Speaker 1: of colors really quickly. And the good news is I've
20:11
Speaker 1: got all of this information in the show notes. If
20:13
Speaker 1: you want to revisit it, just go to repcolit dot com,
20:16
Speaker 1: click on the radio tab on the homepage and you
20:19
Speaker 1: can find the most current episode and all of the
20:23
Speaker 1: colors that I just listed are in the show notes
20:25
Speaker 1: right there all right. As you narrow down your color choices,
20:28
Speaker 1: don't forget that there's nothing better than wet sampling the
20:31
Speaker 1: colors in your space. We sell Benjamin More color samples
20:34
Speaker 1: for five ninety nine each and they give you enough
20:36
Speaker 1: paint to roll out a section on your wall or
20:38
Speaker 1: onto a poster board or something like that, so you
20:41
Speaker 1: can see the color in your space and your lighting
20:44
Speaker 1: at different times of the day. It's definitely worth the
20:46
Speaker 1: time and the effort to make sure that you're picking
20:47
Speaker 1: a color that you're going to love. So wrapping it
20:49
Speaker 1: all up, North facing rooms don't need to feel colder, uninspired.
20:53
Speaker 1: There are colors out there that are going to work
20:55
Speaker 1: in those spaces to get to the tone or the
20:56
Speaker 1: atmosphere that you want to create. I just gave you
20:59
Speaker 1: a bunch of them to start with to explore and
21:02
Speaker 1: work out. Make sure you sample them. And also if
21:04
Speaker 1: you're running stuck, just swing into any Repcolite Paints location
21:07
Speaker 1: near you and talk to the people there. Bring pictures
21:10
Speaker 1: of your space, let us know what you're working on,
21:12
Speaker 1: and we'll help you find colors that get to exactly
21:15
Speaker 1: where you want to be. All right, next week we're
21:17
Speaker 1: going to look at south facing rooms and the challenges
21:20
Speaker 1: associated with those. Now, next up, we're going to be
21:23
Speaker 1: looking at the high temps that are out there, high temperatures.
21:25
Speaker 1: We're looking at you, and we're going to talk about
21:27
Speaker 1: how you can successfully paint outside even when the temperatures
21:32
Speaker 1: are pushing to the levels that they have. Then all
21:34
Speaker 1: of that's coming up after This Home in Progress is
21:37
Speaker 1: brought to you by Repcolite Paints and Benjamin Moore. Top
21:40
Speaker 1: to your paint expert advice. Your next project is way
21:44
Speaker 1: easier than you think it's going to be. Well, I'm
21:47
Speaker 1: sure that I don't need to tell you it's been hot, right,
21:51
Speaker 1: I mean, we're all talking about it. It's all people
21:54
Speaker 1: are talking about, you're all experiencing it. The other day
21:58
Speaker 1: I leaned against some I don't even remember what you know.
22:02
Speaker 1: I've been outside, leaned against something, and I almost needed
22:06
Speaker 1: five people in the jaws of life to get me
22:08
Speaker 1: unstuck from it. I stuck to the surface that I
22:12
Speaker 1: leaned against. My shirt was stuck. I was stuck. I'm
22:16
Speaker 1: a soggy mess the whole time. This whole week, I've
22:19
Speaker 1: just been I'm wrinkled because I've been so soggy this
22:22
Speaker 1: whole time. And I know you don't need to know that.
22:24
Speaker 1: But my studio, you know, just let me take a
22:27
Speaker 1: quick aside. Here my studio where I record, where I'm
22:30
Speaker 1: recording right now, there's no air. I mean there's air.
22:34
Speaker 1: I'm breathing air. There's no air conditioning. It's a brick building,
22:39
Speaker 1: so it's like an oven. Once it heats up, oh,
22:41
Speaker 1: it retains that heat. Let me tell you. I walked
22:44
Speaker 1: in the other day. I've been getting here so early,
22:47
Speaker 1: you know, because I keep thinking I'll get there early
22:50
Speaker 1: before it really heats up. Well, I got here the
22:52
Speaker 1: other day at six thirty or so and walked in,
22:56
Speaker 1: checked the thermostat, and it's eighty six degrees at six
22:59
Speaker 1: thirty in the morning, and it's only going up from
23:02
Speaker 1: there because there's no way to cool it down. Yeah,
23:05
Speaker 1: it's crazy, it's crazy. It's absolutely pleasant, right, wonderfully pleasant.
23:11
Speaker 1: And I know we're hearing people say things like, and
23:13
Speaker 1: these are do gooders, you know, optimists. I don't know,
23:17
Speaker 1: maybe they're just you know, they just want to rankle us.
23:20
Speaker 1: But they're seeing things like, well, you know, in a
23:23
Speaker 1: few months, we're going to be wishing we had this weather, right, right,
23:27
Speaker 1: really a few months is September. Do the math and
23:31
Speaker 1: first off in the past few years, are any indication
23:34
Speaker 1: we will have this weather? Then? Right, it's going to
23:38
Speaker 1: be miserable in September two it always seems to be.
23:41
Speaker 1: And even if we don't, if we do have like
23:44
Speaker 1: blessed seventy degree weather, if it's literally really fall in
23:48
Speaker 1: September slash October, I'm certainly not going to be wishing
23:51
Speaker 1: for the withering heat to return. Boy, I'd sure like
23:54
Speaker 1: to be outside wishing I could take off even more
23:57
Speaker 1: clothes so I could survive. Now I'm gonna be appreciating
24:01
Speaker 1: sweatshirt weather. I Am not going to be wishing for
24:03
Speaker 1: the withering heat. And then you've got the other people
24:06
Speaker 1: who think about it a little deeper, and they say
24:09
Speaker 1: things like, well, when winter comes and we've got our
24:11
Speaker 1: Michigan snow, you're gonna be wishing for this heat, right,
24:14
Speaker 1: so enjoy it still. I'd personally, you know, rather have
24:17
Speaker 1: the cold. And I kind of hinted at it already.
24:20
Speaker 1: I can bundle up, I can layer clothing, you know,
24:23
Speaker 1: I can put on coats, I can put on a sweatshirt,
24:25
Speaker 1: I can put on long underpants, I can do all
24:27
Speaker 1: kinds of things. But in the summer, in the heat,
24:30
Speaker 1: there's only so much that you can take off before
24:33
Speaker 1: certain you know, lines are crossed, you know, before the
24:37
Speaker 1: police have to get involved, before a lot of things
24:41
Speaker 1: happen before you end up on the news. So anyway,
24:45
Speaker 1: I know everybody means well, and there isn't much use
24:47
Speaker 1: in complaining. I'm not trying to complain. We can't change
24:49
Speaker 1: the weather. This is what we've got, so let's just
24:52
Speaker 1: make the most of it. Right in the midst of
24:55
Speaker 1: this scorching, humid stretch, a lot of questions come up
24:58
Speaker 1: about exterior pain. You know, I've been handling a fair
25:02
Speaker 1: amount of those. People are wondering, what are the ramifications
25:05
Speaker 1: of painting in the heat. Is it even possible can
25:07
Speaker 1: we do it or do we have to wait for
25:09
Speaker 1: this fall or next spring sometime. Well, if you have
25:13
Speaker 1: projects still coming up this summer that you'd like to
25:15
Speaker 1: get to, exterior projects, good news is you absolutely can
25:19
Speaker 1: do it. You just need to understand what heat does
25:21
Speaker 1: to paint and how to work around all of that. So,
25:24
Speaker 1: first off, let's talk about what extreme heat and humidity
25:27
Speaker 1: actually due to the paint that you're applying. Now, when
25:30
Speaker 1: you look at you know, Benjamin Moore, go to their website,
25:33
Speaker 1: you do a little research. Benjamin Wore is going to
25:35
Speaker 1: note that most of its products have an optimal application temperature,
25:39
Speaker 1: and that range is usually between thirty five degrees fahrenheit
25:44
Speaker 1: and one hundred degrees fahrenheit, preferably with low humidity. Now,
25:48
Speaker 1: admittedly that's a crazy broad range, right thirty five degrees
25:51
Speaker 1: to one hundred degrees, So it kind of feels like
25:54
Speaker 1: it's a green light to paint. You know, if you're
25:57
Speaker 1: not frozen outside, you're not freezing, and if your skin's
25:59
Speaker 1: not bubbling off as you stand outside, you can paint.
26:02
Speaker 1: You know, you're within the range. But there are some
26:05
Speaker 1: caveats that you need to think about and be aware
26:07
Speaker 1: of and first off, it's this, regardless of that sweeping generalization,
26:11
Speaker 1: you know, the thirty five degrees to one hundred degrees.
26:14
Speaker 1: Regardless of that, regardless of the fact that Benjamin Moore
26:16
Speaker 1: says that's the general range, you need to always consult
26:21
Speaker 1: the CAN label or the technical data sheet on the
26:23
Speaker 1: product that you're using. You know, not all products are
26:26
Speaker 1: made the same, and just because one product from a
26:29
Speaker 1: given brand works in certain temperatures, that doesn't mean that
26:32
Speaker 1: they're all going to be the best for those situations.
26:36
Speaker 1: So check the label every time. It's just a good
26:38
Speaker 1: safety step to make sure that the product you're using
26:41
Speaker 1: is suitable for the situation you're in. And that applies
26:45
Speaker 1: to heat, but it also applies to low temperatures as well.
26:49
Speaker 1: There is going to be some differences around there, so
26:52
Speaker 1: definitely dig into that before you just jump in. Secondly,
26:55
Speaker 1: don't forget that the temperature range that they're giving, the
26:58
Speaker 1: one that you're reading on the CANS label or on
27:00
Speaker 1: the tech data sheets, remember that that range includes surface temperature,
27:05
Speaker 1: not just air temperature. You know, a surface that's been
27:07
Speaker 1: sitting in the direct sun can be way hotter than
27:10
Speaker 1: the air temperature, even as that surface transitions into shade,
27:15
Speaker 1: it can retain that heat for quite a while. So
27:18
Speaker 1: you could have air temps that are right in the range,
27:21
Speaker 1: but that surface temp could be you know, ten to
27:23
Speaker 1: fifteen twenty degrees above the range yet, just because it's
27:27
Speaker 1: been sitting in the sun. So keep that in mind
27:29
Speaker 1: when you're determining whether or not you can start painting. Now,
27:34
Speaker 1: why does it matter. Why can't you paint on a
27:36
Speaker 1: surface that exceeds the recommended temperature range? Well, if you do,
27:40
Speaker 1: it can lead to a lot of different problems that
27:42
Speaker 1: can be really tough to fix down the road. For example,
27:45
Speaker 1: the heat can cause the paint to bubble and blister
27:47
Speaker 1: as it dries. That's going to compromise the paint film's integrity.
27:51
Speaker 1: You know, that's bad. You don't want that. The surface
27:54
Speaker 1: can be so hot that it causes the paint to
27:56
Speaker 1: dry really quickly, and that can make it difficult to
27:58
Speaker 1: blend the edges together. As you're working, you know, you're rolling,
28:02
Speaker 1: and you come back with the next row or whatever
28:04
Speaker 1: you want to call it, the next swatch of paint
28:07
Speaker 1: that you're rolling on, and that first one that you
28:09
Speaker 1: rolled just minutes before can already be starting to dry
28:13
Speaker 1: if that surface is too hot, and rather than having
28:16
Speaker 1: a wet edge that you can blend right together with
28:18
Speaker 1: the new paint that you're rolling on, you end up
28:20
Speaker 1: with dried areas and it makes it very tough to
28:23
Speaker 1: blend these things together. You end up with lap marks
28:26
Speaker 1: and it's really a pain in the neck to try
28:28
Speaker 1: to fix down the road. Not an easy fix at
28:30
Speaker 1: all once that starts happening, So you don't want that
28:33
Speaker 1: all right. Also, the paint may dry unevenly and that
28:36
Speaker 1: can lead to a finish that's not smooth and consistent,
28:38
Speaker 1: so shiny spots, flat spots, dull spots, you know, it
28:42
Speaker 1: just doesn't look nice. That can happen. The quick drying
28:44
Speaker 1: can also lead to poor adhesion, and of course that's
28:47
Speaker 1: going to shorten the life span of the paint job.
28:49
Speaker 1: There are more things that could go wrong, but really
28:52
Speaker 1: those should be enough to make you want to do
28:55
Speaker 1: it right. So how do you do that? How do
28:57
Speaker 1: you do it right? The simple answer is to do
29:00
Speaker 1: what the professional painters do and chase the shade. You know,
29:03
Speaker 1: start early in the morning before the surface heats up,
29:05
Speaker 1: when the dew has burned off at least, but early
29:09
Speaker 1: enough before it really heats up, and then as the
29:11
Speaker 1: day progresses, just as much as you can work your
29:15
Speaker 1: way around the home, stayin in the shade as much
29:17
Speaker 1: as possible. If you want to be extra safe as
29:20
Speaker 1: you work, before you even jump into it, go ahead
29:23
Speaker 1: and pick up an infrared thermometer. You know, these things
29:26
Speaker 1: look like radar guns. You can measure the surface temp
29:28
Speaker 1: just by pointing at it and then clicking the trigger.
29:31
Speaker 1: They're cheap, crazy cheap really for what you're probably thinking.
29:35
Speaker 1: I think you can find them for thirty bucks. You
29:37
Speaker 1: can find expensive ones, but you can find one that
29:39
Speaker 1: will be adequate for thirty bucks or so. And you
29:42
Speaker 1: can scan the surface temperature easily. You know, from wherever
29:47
Speaker 1: you're sitting from a place of comfort, you can scan
29:50
Speaker 1: that surface temperature before you even get up to go
29:53
Speaker 1: out and start gathering your tools, and you can decide
29:55
Speaker 1: if it's good enough for painting or not. So do that.
29:58
Speaker 1: If it's within the range, you know, the recommended range
30:00
Speaker 1: for your product, then go for it. If it's not,
30:03
Speaker 1: if it's too hot, don't start all right. Another thing,
30:07
Speaker 1: and this one's obvious, but don't forget that the heat
30:09
Speaker 1: isn't just tough on your paint. It can put a
30:12
Speaker 1: strain on you as well, right, and not just make
30:14
Speaker 1: you bitter and grumpy, but it's not good for you,
30:17
Speaker 1: you know, it can actually be unhealthy, and it can
30:20
Speaker 1: be unhealthy or dangerous or concerning for your painter. If
30:24
Speaker 1: you're hiring the work done, so make sure you're drinking
30:26
Speaker 1: lots of water, use sun protection, wear breatheable clothing, take
30:30
Speaker 1: regular cool down breaks, all of that stuff. And when
30:33
Speaker 1: you take a break, here's a quick tip. Place your tools,
30:36
Speaker 1: of course in the shade. You know, put your roller
30:39
Speaker 1: tray and your roller in there, and lay your brush
30:41
Speaker 1: in there. Put that all in the shade, and then
30:43
Speaker 1: drape a damp cloth over the tray or the bucket
30:46
Speaker 1: or whatever you're working out of. And that's going to
30:48
Speaker 1: prevent it from skinning up as it dries or getting crusty,
30:51
Speaker 1: and it's also going to keep bugs and leaves another
30:53
Speaker 1: debris out of your paint. So that's a really good
30:56
Speaker 1: way to go. Remember that also, if you've hired a
30:59
Speaker 1: contractor to do the work and you're not the one
31:01
Speaker 1: out there doing it, you're in the comforts of air
31:03
Speaker 1: conditioning watching them work. If that's your situation, I can
31:07
Speaker 1: guarantee you that you will be a rock star among
31:10
Speaker 1: people if you take some steps to provide your painters
31:13
Speaker 1: with a shady area to take their breaks. You know,
31:16
Speaker 1: whether it's umbrellas, whatever you've got, you know, patio umbrella,
31:19
Speaker 1: stuff like that. If you've got big trees, great, maybe
31:23
Speaker 1: keep cold waters in the fridge, break them out from
31:25
Speaker 1: time to time. Nobody's going to say no to that.
31:27
Speaker 1: Gatorades that are cold, that would be wonderful. They'd love
31:30
Speaker 1: it if possible, even offer them. You know, the use
31:33
Speaker 1: of the of an indoor space with air conditioning if
31:36
Speaker 1: you know, like I said, if that's possible in your situation.
31:39
Speaker 1: Last thing is to be sure that you pick products
31:41
Speaker 1: that are designed to function in weather like you're working in.
31:44
Speaker 1: You know, if it's colder or if it's hot. Make
31:47
Speaker 1: sure that you're getting products that are designed for that.
31:50
Speaker 1: The best product that you can afford that's designed for that.
31:53
Speaker 1: You know, buying cheaper inferior paint just isn't worth it.
31:57
Speaker 1: Putting the paint on, you know, think about it this way.
31:59
Speaker 1: Putting the paint on to that surface, that exterior. If
32:03
Speaker 1: you know that's what you're doing, that's what we're talking about.
32:04
Speaker 1: So let's say you're painting your house. Putting the paint
32:07
Speaker 1: on takes the same amount of work. Whether it's quality
32:10
Speaker 1: paint that's gonna last and last, or whether it's cheap
32:12
Speaker 1: paint that's gonna fade and struggle quickly. It's not worth
32:15
Speaker 1: trying to save a few bucks or even a couple
32:18
Speaker 1: hundred bucks only to end up with paint that doesn't
32:20
Speaker 1: last beyond a few years. You're gonna spend a lot
32:23
Speaker 1: more time and money trying to fix a cheap paint
32:25
Speaker 1: that failed than you would have just by spending the
32:28
Speaker 1: money on the good stuff right off the bat. Paint
32:30
Speaker 1: isn't all equal, and I know it seems like there's
32:32
Speaker 1: not a lot to a gallon of paint, and that
32:35
Speaker 1: they all seem kind of the same when you look
32:37
Speaker 1: at them in the can. But there's a reason, you know,
32:39
Speaker 1: there really is a reason that there's an eighty dollars
32:42
Speaker 1: price tag on one and a twenty five dollars price
32:44
Speaker 1: tag on another. It's not just the brand, you know,
32:47
Speaker 1: it's not just hype or something like that. The better
32:50
Speaker 1: paint is made with better ingredients, better technology, and that
32:53
Speaker 1: means it's going to apply better, it's gonna last longer,
32:55
Speaker 1: it's gonna hold its color better, and all of that stuff.
32:58
Speaker 1: So get the good stuff. It's not worth skimping. And
33:01
Speaker 1: when it comes to the good stuff or a exterior
33:03
Speaker 1: and regal select high build, both of those are great.
33:06
Speaker 1: They're going to offer superior UV resistance, flexibility, a great
33:10
Speaker 1: adhesion on a variety of different surfaces. You can't go
33:13
Speaker 1: wrong with them. They're from Benjamin Moore repcolites in Dura,
33:16
Speaker 1: another great exterior product, definitely something to think about. And
33:20
Speaker 1: then there's Benjamin Moore's element Guard. Now. Element Guard is
33:23
Speaker 1: a newer product and it will work in cold temperatures
33:26
Speaker 1: as well as extreme heat. But its main claim to
33:29
Speaker 1: fame is that it's rain ready in a single hour,
33:32
Speaker 1: which means if you paint with element Guard and then
33:34
Speaker 1: we get a pop up shower, you know, just an
33:36
Speaker 1: hour after you painted, the paint film is going to
33:38
Speaker 1: be unaffected. Even at driving rain won't hurt element Guard
33:42
Speaker 1: after just an hour. Now, my son, he is working,
33:46
Speaker 1: this is his second year. He's working on a crew
33:48
Speaker 1: painting crew doing exteriors, and they were working last week
33:52
Speaker 1: in Grand Rapids and he came home and he told
33:55
Speaker 1: me about an unexpected rain shower that came out of
33:57
Speaker 1: the blue, you know, caught them all by surprise. And
33:59
Speaker 1: it was lily like a Benjamin Moore commercial because the
34:02
Speaker 1: crew leader told everybody as they're waiting out the rain
34:05
Speaker 1: that they were fine not to worry about it because
34:07
Speaker 1: they were using element Guard. It was kind of fun
34:10
Speaker 1: to hear, you know. They were all worried because they
34:12
Speaker 1: just accomplished a lot of areas that they painted that
34:15
Speaker 1: they did not want to have to get the ladders
34:16
Speaker 1: out and do again. So they were asking, are we
34:18
Speaker 1: gonna have to redo everything? The guy said, hey, don't
34:20
Speaker 1: worry about it. It's element Guard. You're good to go.
34:23
Speaker 1: So that's really fun to hear. There are a lot
34:25
Speaker 1: of marketing claims that get made by paint companies, and
34:28
Speaker 1: often they're stretching the truth. Element Guard, that's the real
34:31
Speaker 1: deal and it can really save your project. On top
34:34
Speaker 1: of that, element Guard is going to be on sale
34:36
Speaker 1: all July long, so I should get that in here
34:38
Speaker 1: before we wrap this up. We're not exactly there yet.
34:41
Speaker 1: It's not July yet, and I am jumping the gun
34:44
Speaker 1: a little bit. But if you do come into Repolite
34:46
Speaker 1: starting July one. You can get element Guard for about
34:49
Speaker 1: forty five to fifty bucks per gallon, depending on the
34:52
Speaker 1: finish that you pick. You're basically going to save twenty
34:54
Speaker 1: bucks for every gallon. The sale is going to run
34:57
Speaker 1: all July long. No, it's not going yet. I've said that,
35:01
Speaker 1: said it a couple times, but it's going to start
35:02
Speaker 1: next Tuesday. Heavy summer heat and humidity don't have to
35:06
Speaker 1: doom your exterior paint job, but they do demand smarter planning.
35:10
Speaker 1: With the right products, the right schedule, a little bit
35:12
Speaker 1: of patience, you can keep your home looking great all
35:15
Speaker 1: summer long. Now, if you've got an exterior paint project
35:17
Speaker 1: on the horizon, stop out at Repcolite and let us help.
35:20
Speaker 1: All Right, we're hitting the last segment here, and I'm
35:22
Speaker 1: sure everybody out there is sitting on the edge of
35:25
Speaker 1: their seat waiting with baited breath for the conversation about clotheslines. Well,
35:30
Speaker 1: the good news is it's coming up right after this,
35:32
Speaker 1: and the better news is that it's really worth the wait.
35:37
Speaker 1: This is home in progress where the to do list
35:39
Speaker 1: is long, and that's all right. We're not crabbing at you.
35:42
Speaker 1: We're not going to yell at you. That's how it is.
35:44
Speaker 1: It's how ours is too. It's probably supported by Repcolite
35:47
Speaker 1: Paints and Benjamin Moore because home projects are easier when
35:51
Speaker 1: you've got people you can trust. Well. I've got loads, loads,
35:56
Speaker 1: boat loads of great memories from my childhood, you know,
35:59
Speaker 1: a ton of them. But one of them that really
36:02
Speaker 1: hits hard is kind of weird. It's the clothes on
36:06
Speaker 1: the line in our backyard. You know. It was always
36:08
Speaker 1: Mom's thing. We had a pool, and we spent most
36:11
Speaker 1: of the summer in the pool, and I remember swimming
36:14
Speaker 1: around and seeing Mom pinning clothes on the line, you know,
36:17
Speaker 1: doing all the work while we're all hanging out in
36:18
Speaker 1: the pool and kicking around and laughing and having fun.
36:21
Speaker 1: Not dad. Dad was at work except on the weekends.
36:25
Speaker 1: Then Dad joined us and left Mom putting clothes on
36:27
Speaker 1: the line. But after swimming, I remember running to the
36:31
Speaker 1: clothes line and then yanking off a warm towel. I
36:33
Speaker 1: love that. I remember the sound of sheets flapping, you know,
36:36
Speaker 1: on the line in the breeze. I sometimes made tents
36:39
Speaker 1: out of the sheets, and that could get me in
36:42
Speaker 1: trouble if I wasn't careful, and if I got them dirty.
36:44
Speaker 1: But it was worth it. It was a ton of fun,
36:47
Speaker 1: and it wasn't just Mom doing it. You know, everywhere
36:49
Speaker 1: we drove when I was growing up, there were houses
36:52
Speaker 1: with clothes out on the line. I remember pulling into
36:54
Speaker 1: Grandma's driveway at her old farmhouse and seeing three or
36:58
Speaker 1: four lines full of law, you know, hanging there, great
37:01
Speaker 1: big underpants flapping in the breeze. You know. Sometimes Grandma
37:06
Speaker 1: was out there with the laundry basket waving at us.
37:08
Speaker 1: Those were really good memories, pure nostalgia. You know. The
37:12
Speaker 1: nostalgia is pure with that one. Anyway, hanging clothes on
37:16
Speaker 1: the line. For a lot of us, that's something that
37:18
Speaker 1: we haven't done in ages, you know, if we've ever
37:20
Speaker 1: done it. Maybe our parents did it, maybe our grandparents
37:23
Speaker 1: did it, maybe the neighbors all did it. But are
37:25
Speaker 1: you taking advantage of this crazy old technology, this Gramma
37:29
Speaker 1: tech to dry your clothes? Maybe you should be. And
37:33
Speaker 1: I think when we're all done talking, I'm going to
37:36
Speaker 1: have converted a lot of you. So if you're thinking
37:39
Speaker 1: that there's no way you're going to get interested, let's
37:43
Speaker 1: just find out, all right, And it's not just about
37:45
Speaker 1: saving a few bucks on your electric bill. Although that
37:48
Speaker 1: is part of it, you know, so that's that's a
37:50
Speaker 1: big part of it, a little part of it. Let's
37:52
Speaker 1: not say it's a big part of it. Here are
37:54
Speaker 1: a bunch of different reasons why it's worth thinking about.
37:57
Speaker 1: First off, your clothes are going to last longer when
38:00
Speaker 1: you hang them out to dry. You know, every time
38:02
Speaker 1: you run a dryer, you're breaking down the fibers and
38:05
Speaker 1: your clothing. You know, all that fuzz. I've never thought
38:07
Speaker 1: about this because I'm a complete moron sometimes, but all
38:10
Speaker 1: that fuzz in the lint trap, what is that? That's
38:14
Speaker 1: not extra extra stuff that you're just finding. That's your shirts,
38:18
Speaker 1: that's your socks, that's your underpants and towels, all slowly
38:22
Speaker 1: wearing away. You know, heat and friction can be really
38:25
Speaker 1: rough on fabrics. Line drying avoids both of those things
38:29
Speaker 1: and your clothes. You're batting, your towels, your underpants are
38:32
Speaker 1: going to look better and last longer because of it.
38:34
Speaker 1: So there's one big benefit right off the bat. Another one,
38:37
Speaker 1: you're gonna have fewer wrinkles to deal with. You know
38:40
Speaker 1: how many times have you pulled a wrinkled mess out
38:43
Speaker 1: of the dryer because you forgot about it, you know,
38:45
Speaker 1: out of sight, out of mind, and then you get
38:47
Speaker 1: it out, you look at it, and it leads to
38:49
Speaker 1: another cycle in the dryer if you're us, or it
38:52
Speaker 1: could lead God forbid, it could lead to ironing, which
38:57
Speaker 1: is just that is an art. I don't know. I
38:59
Speaker 1: don't think I'm ever going to master or understand or
39:03
Speaker 1: even get adequate at. So I normally throw everything back
39:06
Speaker 1: into the dryer and run it for another round. But shirts,
39:09
Speaker 1: pants and sheets and all of that hung out on
39:11
Speaker 1: the line to dry. They come in almost wrinkle free.
39:15
Speaker 1: So that's a huge win, huge win. There's also the
39:17
Speaker 1: energy savings, all right, Appliances they account for, you know,
39:21
Speaker 1: something like thirteen to fourteen percent of your household energy use,
39:25
Speaker 1: and the dryer is one of the biggest defenders. You know,
39:28
Speaker 1: it's just sitting there sucking up energy and running up bills.
39:32
Speaker 1: This past Saturday, this is what is why this is
39:35
Speaker 1: all in my head anyway, this is why we're talking
39:37
Speaker 1: about it this week, is because the last Saturday I
39:40
Speaker 1: washed a ton of blankets. It took me all day
39:43
Speaker 1: long to move them through the washer and the dryer,
39:46
Speaker 1: and all day long the dryer ran burning up money
39:49
Speaker 1: and as it was going, and as I'm doing that,
39:52
Speaker 1: I kept wishing that I had clothes lines in place
39:55
Speaker 1: so I could use them. Now, if you like the
39:57
Speaker 1: idea of saving energy, saving a little bit of money,
40:00
Speaker 1: keep in mind that during the spring, summer, and fall,
40:03
Speaker 1: the sun is a free and incredibly effective dryer. Even
40:07
Speaker 1: on partly sunny days, you know, breezy days, it's going
40:10
Speaker 1: to get the job done. So think about that. Another one,
40:13
Speaker 1: the convenience of line. You know, drying clothes on the
40:16
Speaker 1: line might surprise you. You know, you might think it's
40:19
Speaker 1: going to be inconvenient because it's old tech. You know,
40:21
Speaker 1: the dryer is more convenient. Well, large items, sheets, blankets, towels,
40:26
Speaker 1: they're easier to fold after they've been on the line
40:28
Speaker 1: drying because they're not twisted or bundled up like they
40:31
Speaker 1: are when they come out of a dryer. And more importantly,
40:35
Speaker 1: you can often hang more at once than your dryer
40:38
Speaker 1: can handle. That's what I was thinking. With all the
40:41
Speaker 1: blankets that I was trying to dry, I was drying
40:43
Speaker 1: them one at a time. I could have filled my
40:45
Speaker 1: lineup with blankets. The washer wasn't the thing slowing me down.
40:49
Speaker 1: It was the dryer. If I could have gotten those
40:51
Speaker 1: blankets out onto the line, I'd have been golden. So
40:54
Speaker 1: with the right setup out there, you can actually move
40:57
Speaker 1: through your laundry day faster by using the clothes line
41:00
Speaker 1: to dry your stuff. All right, Another overlooked benefit. Dryers
41:04
Speaker 1: heat up your house, even vented dryers. Depending on the cycle,
41:07
Speaker 1: a dryer can emit temperatures over one hundred and twenty degrees.
41:10
Speaker 1: Now that's okay in February, maybe it's even good to
41:14
Speaker 1: some extent, but in July, it's just making your air
41:17
Speaker 1: conditioner work harder and harder and harder. It's driving up
41:21
Speaker 1: your cooling costs, and even more important, it's making us
41:24
Speaker 1: sweat more. Right, hotter house, you're sweating more. And what
41:28
Speaker 1: happens when you sweat more while you're putting it all
41:32
Speaker 1: into your clothing, And when your clothing is full of sweat,
41:34
Speaker 1: you gotta wash it more often. And then when you
41:37
Speaker 1: wash it, remember what happens to heat and the friction.
41:39
Speaker 1: They're beating it up, So we're actually tearing our clothes apart.
41:43
Speaker 1: It's a vicious cycle. If you just get them outside
41:46
Speaker 1: on the line, all of that stops. Some of that stops.
41:49
Speaker 1: I'm being a little dramatic there, but I think you
41:52
Speaker 1: get the point line. Drying another benefit reduces your risk
41:55
Speaker 1: of dryer fires, right, because you're not running the dryer
41:58
Speaker 1: as much. Dryers are one of the more common sources
42:00
Speaker 1: of household fires. It's caused by the lint building up,
42:04
Speaker 1: and we just don't get that out, you know, and
42:06
Speaker 1: not just from the lint trap, but from the ducks themselves.
42:09
Speaker 1: Hanging your clothes out on the line, it's gonna cut
42:11
Speaker 1: the wrist down dramatically. It's just one less thing to
42:14
Speaker 1: worry about. And don't forget about this last one that
42:17
Speaker 1: I've got. Last benefit of drying the clothes on the line.
42:19
Speaker 1: The sun is a natural disinfectant and deodorizer. Ultra violet light.
42:24
Speaker 1: It kills odor causing bacteria, mold spores, even some viruses.
42:29
Speaker 1: And it's not just hype. Sunlight really does, you know,
42:32
Speaker 1: remove smells, eliminate smells that you're dryer can't some musty towels,
42:37
Speaker 1: sweat soaked gym shorts or shirts. I guess I didn't
42:40
Speaker 1: need to say shorts that made it grosser than it
42:42
Speaker 1: needed to be, stubborn organic stains, things like that. Sunlight
42:46
Speaker 1: gives you you know, a natural chemical free boost at
42:49
Speaker 1: getting those smells out and stains out and all of that,
42:54
Speaker 1: and combining it with the fresh air, it's going to
42:56
Speaker 1: help all of the things that cause bad smells to
43:00
Speaker 1: dissipate faster, you know, to just move away quicker. So
43:03
Speaker 1: bottom line dryers are going to mask odors with heat
43:06
Speaker 1: and softeners and all of that stuff. Sunlight is actually
43:09
Speaker 1: going to help eliminate them. Okay, So with all of
43:12
Speaker 1: those benefits, and that's a lot of good stuff, what's
43:15
Speaker 1: stopping us? Why aren't we all rushing out to the
43:17
Speaker 1: store right now to buy closed lines and armfuls of
43:20
Speaker 1: clothes pins and all of that. Well, real life is
43:23
Speaker 1: stopping us. You know, we're cynical. We've seen things. We've
43:26
Speaker 1: been around the block. We know that it's not all
43:29
Speaker 1: you know, it's not all sunshine and daisies. When it
43:32
Speaker 1: comes to clothes lines. There are bugs and birds, dusty
43:36
Speaker 1: days and more, a lot of reasons why I might
43:39
Speaker 1: not want to put my clothes outside to dry. Well,
43:42
Speaker 1: good news is there. While there are a bunch of
43:44
Speaker 1: objections objections, there are a lot of answers to those objections,
43:49
Speaker 1: and let's just work our way through a few of them,
43:51
Speaker 1: and let's start with space. Not everybody has a big backyard, right,
43:54
Speaker 1: that's a pretty good objection. I don't have space for this.
43:57
Speaker 1: I don't have a spot where I can permanently set
44:00
Speaker 1: up poles and clotheslines, you know, in my yard. Well,
44:03
Speaker 1: that's actually not a problem. There are a lot of
44:06
Speaker 1: different options out there for small yards, or if you
44:09
Speaker 1: literally don't have yard space, there are options that you
44:11
Speaker 1: can use indoors and still be hanging up your clothes
44:14
Speaker 1: to dry. So retractable clothes lines that's one way that
44:17
Speaker 1: you could go. They'll mount to a wall or a
44:20
Speaker 1: fence or a post or whatever. Then it pulls out.
44:22
Speaker 1: It's retractable, you know what that means. Pulls out, you
44:25
Speaker 1: snap it to another side. You can use it when
44:27
Speaker 1: you need it, and you just zip it back in
44:29
Speaker 1: place when it's not in use. So, retractable clothes lines,
44:32
Speaker 1: that's one way to go. Umbrella or rotary drying racks,
44:37
Speaker 1: we've seen these. They're foldable, they're relatively compact. Some models
44:41
Speaker 1: you can remove them from their base entirely. They'll spin
44:45
Speaker 1: so you've got easy access to all sides. They can
44:48
Speaker 1: be installed on just a small patch of grass. They
44:51
Speaker 1: can be mounted in a weighted base. They can be
44:53
Speaker 1: easily moved around. That's another way to go. Wall mounted
44:56
Speaker 1: folding racks. You know, they'll fold flat against the wall
44:58
Speaker 1: when not in use. They come in metal or wood options.
45:02
Speaker 1: They're great for your back porch, for your balcony, maybe
45:04
Speaker 1: a fence panel, on and on. Basically, don't write yourself
45:08
Speaker 1: out of the clothesline drying gig. There's a solution for
45:11
Speaker 1: every space. Okay, what about allergens. That's another big one.
45:14
Speaker 1: Hanging clothes outside can leave them coated in pollen, especially
45:18
Speaker 1: during peak allergy season, and that's going to make your
45:20
Speaker 1: freshly cleaned laundry, you know, kind of like a booby trap.
45:24
Speaker 1: You're gonna be all puffy and sneezy and all of
45:27
Speaker 1: that just because you tried to follow my advice and
45:29
Speaker 1: hang your clothes on the line. How do you deal
45:31
Speaker 1: with that one? Well, to reduce the risk, try hanging
45:34
Speaker 1: your clothes out earlier in the morning, you know, before
45:36
Speaker 1: pollen levels start to climb. And you can also, by
45:40
Speaker 1: all means, we've all got phones with eight million apps
45:43
Speaker 1: on them, and lots of those apps, at least half
45:45
Speaker 1: of them seem to be weather apps, and on those
45:48
Speaker 1: weather apps you can get your local pollen forecast and
45:50
Speaker 1: you can aim for hanging your clothes out on lower
45:53
Speaker 1: count days. That's another way to go. If you're still
45:56
Speaker 1: concerned about it, you could dry indoors near an open
45:58
Speaker 1: window or with a fan to kind of mimic that
46:01
Speaker 1: fresh air feel. And if you've got a screened in
46:04
Speaker 1: porch or a sun room, that's kind of a great
46:07
Speaker 1: middle ground. You can get the fresh air moving through
46:10
Speaker 1: and still minimize the pollen. So I can't completely solve
46:14
Speaker 1: the allergen problem, but it can be minimized, all right.
46:17
Speaker 1: What about birds? Birds are a concern? You know, they
46:20
Speaker 1: wait for us to wash our cars and then they
46:22
Speaker 1: do their thing on the clean cars. And you can
46:24
Speaker 1: bet if you put your clothes on the line, they're
46:26
Speaker 1: coming for them too, right, well, not necessarily, or if
46:29
Speaker 1: they do come for them, you can deter them. You
46:32
Speaker 1: can get them to go away. First off, and this
46:35
Speaker 1: is obvious, but people really do mess this up all
46:37
Speaker 1: the time. First up, move your bird feeders away from
46:42
Speaker 1: your clothes drying area. Don't bring the birds in with
46:45
Speaker 1: food and then be surprised when they stay to use
46:47
Speaker 1: the restroom. It's just natural. It's how they're going to
46:51
Speaker 1: do it. So move the bird feeders way far away
46:54
Speaker 1: from the clotheslines. Obvious, but just go check it out.
46:57
Speaker 1: People mess this up a lot. Second. Hang shiney ribbons
47:00
Speaker 1: or old CDs or you know, little mylar strips. Mylar,
47:05
Speaker 1: I think that's the right word, the little shiny strips.
47:07
Speaker 1: I think I already said that shiny ribbons. Hang those
47:10
Speaker 1: on the lines. That'll be a visual deterrent. Birds don't
47:13
Speaker 1: like that. Plastic owls that also works. And it looks
47:16
Speaker 1: crazy cool. I mean, you've got this huge bird of
47:20
Speaker 1: prey perched on your clothesline. Who doesn't think that's cool.
47:24
Speaker 1: It's kind of like you're a pirate. Well not really
47:26
Speaker 1: a pirate because they had parrots, you know what I'm saying.
47:28
Speaker 1: It's just a cool look and it'll keep the birds away.
47:30
Speaker 1: You could try that. If you've got trees overhead, of course,
47:35
Speaker 1: trim them back so they're not overhanging your lines. And
47:38
Speaker 1: if you're installing clotheslines, make sure you're looking for spaces
47:41
Speaker 1: without trees nearby. If you can do that, you know,
47:45
Speaker 1: don't think about that. That's a nice shady spot to
47:48
Speaker 1: be putting clothes on the line in the summer. Don't
47:50
Speaker 1: think about it that way. You'll regret that. You'll rue
47:53
Speaker 1: the day that you put them in the shady spot,
47:55
Speaker 1: because the birds will teach you a lesson. All right,
47:57
Speaker 1: what about bugs? A few years back, I hung some
48:00
Speaker 1: damp towels on the line. Because we're not hanging dry
48:02
Speaker 1: towels on the line. That doesn't make any sense. So
48:05
Speaker 1: I put some damp towels on the line, and a
48:07
Speaker 1: few hours later they're all good, and I brought them
48:09
Speaker 1: into the house, grabbed the first one out of the basket,
48:12
Speaker 1: shook it out as I'm getting ready to fold it,
48:15
Speaker 1: and suddenly I have sprayed the table, the nearby children,
48:18
Speaker 1: pretty much most of the kitchen with about twenty or
48:21
Speaker 1: thirty crunchy, little flying bugs that were all hidden in
48:26
Speaker 1: the towels. In seconds, the kitchen, the home went from
48:30
Speaker 1: you know, the usual, to something that felt like a
48:33
Speaker 1: biblical plague was happening. You know, bugs were buzzing everywhere,
48:38
Speaker 1: The children were screaming or hollering or doing whatever. Somebody
48:42
Speaker 1: had had bugs in their yogurt and they were upset
48:45
Speaker 1: about that. You just pick the bugs out and you
48:47
Speaker 1: can keep going. It's yogurt. I mean, what can you
48:50
Speaker 1: do bad to yogurt that's not already been done to it?
48:52
Speaker 1: But anyway, you don't want that. Bugs are a real issue.
48:56
Speaker 1: They're drawn to dampness. They can be a real bummer
48:58
Speaker 1: if you bring them into your home. So hang your
49:00
Speaker 1: laundry on warm, breezy days to speed the drying along
49:04
Speaker 1: and reduce insect interest. And also, and of course most importantly,
49:09
Speaker 1: shake the clothes out well before you bring them into
49:11
Speaker 1: the house. Find the bugs outside. You know they may
49:14
Speaker 1: be there, but you can get them off outside. All right,
49:17
Speaker 1: What about the softness of the clothes coming in off
49:19
Speaker 1: the line? Aren't my towels going to be crunchy? That
49:22
Speaker 1: can happen, and we all love that soft, fluffy feel
49:25
Speaker 1: when it comes to towels. You know, nobody wants to
49:28
Speaker 1: be rubbing sandpaper like things all over their face when
49:31
Speaker 1: they come out of the shower. Tuwbels off the line
49:34
Speaker 1: really do have a tendency to sometimes feel stiff, and
49:36
Speaker 1: you can fix that by giving them a good shake
49:39
Speaker 1: before you hang them, giving them another good shake before
49:42
Speaker 1: you fold them, and when you're hanging them on the line.
49:45
Speaker 1: Another thing you can do to help this is to
49:47
Speaker 1: increase the space between them so there's more airflow. Don't
49:51
Speaker 1: just stack them edge to edge to make the most
49:53
Speaker 1: of your space, give them some room, some elbow room
49:56
Speaker 1: in between for airflow. That will help. You can add
49:59
Speaker 1: a half if a cup of white vinegar to the
50:01
Speaker 1: rint cycle in your washer. That's going to naturally soften
50:04
Speaker 1: the fabric without leaving a scent. So that's a way
50:07
Speaker 1: to go. And if you really want that extra fluff,
50:10
Speaker 1: you know that extra softness, toss them in the dryer
50:13
Speaker 1: for maybe five minutes or so on nowhere low heat.
50:16
Speaker 1: When you bring them in off the line, that will
50:18
Speaker 1: fluff them up and you'll be perfectly pleased with the
50:21
Speaker 1: process and you won't have used tons of energy with
50:23
Speaker 1: the dryer. Okay, that's dealing with some of the main
50:27
Speaker 1: obstacles out there. Let's talk gear and then we'll wrap
50:30
Speaker 1: this up. And when it comes to gear, you got
50:33
Speaker 1: to start with the right clothes line. This is going
50:34
Speaker 1: to make all the difference when it comes to durability
50:37
Speaker 1: and ease of use. So look for a UV resistant,
50:40
Speaker 1: low stretch line because you want to avoid sagging over time.
50:43
Speaker 1: A great option is PBC coded galvanized steel wire. It's
50:47
Speaker 1: going to resist rust, it's going to hold up to
50:49
Speaker 1: the sun and the rain and daily use. It's not
50:51
Speaker 1: going to sag. Shoot for a line that's probably about
50:54
Speaker 1: an eighth inch in diameter, thick enough to support wet
50:57
Speaker 1: towels without digging into your laundry. If you have great,
51:01
Speaker 1: big expanses between the poles, if the line is covering
51:04
Speaker 1: a pretty big area, you're probably gonna need to go to,
51:07
Speaker 1: you know, a thicker gauge diameter line in order to
51:12
Speaker 1: span that distance. But for a typical span, an eighth
51:14
Speaker 1: inch diameter line is going to be great. Don't go
51:17
Speaker 1: with those really cheap, you know, the plastic close lines.
51:20
Speaker 1: They're gonna sag in a heartbeat. So go to the
51:23
Speaker 1: good stuff. Drop the money for the good stuff. It's
51:25
Speaker 1: not that expensive and it's going to pay off down
51:28
Speaker 1: the road. Also, get good clothes pins for long lasting performance.
51:32
Speaker 1: Look for heavy duty wooden clothes pins, you know, made
51:34
Speaker 1: from hardwoods like birch, like maple. If you want the
51:38
Speaker 1: most durable option, you know you really want to go
51:41
Speaker 1: a whole hog here, go with stainless steel clothes pins.
51:45
Speaker 1: They're resistant to rust, to weather, they're not going to break,
51:47
Speaker 1: they're not gonna crack. They're especially good at holding heavier
51:51
Speaker 1: items like towels or blankets on the line. If you
51:54
Speaker 1: do go with the stainless steel ones, look for pins
51:57
Speaker 1: with a wide grip and smooth edges so you avoid
52:00
Speaker 1: snagging delicate fabrics. Another thing, be sure to pick up
52:03
Speaker 1: a clothespin, bag or bucket to keep everything handy. Just
52:07
Speaker 1: don't leave it outside overnight. You know, pins can mild
52:10
Speaker 1: you a rust over time if they're exposed to do
52:12
Speaker 1: a rain. And the bag itself, you know, this is
52:14
Speaker 1: the biggest part of all of why you don't leave
52:17
Speaker 1: this out outside overnight. The bag itself becomes this inviting home,
52:22
Speaker 1: you know, this beacon for all kinds of creepy crawley
52:25
Speaker 1: bugs that love damp, dark places. You know, the last
52:28
Speaker 1: thing I want to do is to be reaching my
52:30
Speaker 1: hand into that kind of spot. You know, it's like
52:33
Speaker 1: Indiana Jones or something like that. I don't want to
52:35
Speaker 1: do that when I'm hanging clothes on the line. Don't
52:38
Speaker 1: leave the little bag outside overnight, all right. Last couple
52:41
Speaker 1: of things, A couple of tips that people sometimes forget about.
52:44
Speaker 1: First off, check your sprinkler schedule, and don't overlap it
52:49
Speaker 1: with putting clothes on the line. You know, there's nothing
52:51
Speaker 1: worse than waking up to a freshly soaked line full
52:55
Speaker 1: of clean clothes, you know, because the sprinkler's kicked on
52:57
Speaker 1: at six am and you forgot to take them off
52:59
Speaker 1: the line last night. So keep that all in mind.
53:02
Speaker 1: Remember your sprinklers and work around them. These things can
53:06
Speaker 1: work in tandem, but they don't work well together. So
53:10
Speaker 1: don't leave clothes on the lines if you've got sprinklers going. Also,
53:12
Speaker 1: if you've got pets, keep that in mind. I know
53:16
Speaker 1: my dog Fern would really really rereak some havoc if
53:20
Speaker 1: I had a bunch of clothes on the line that
53:22
Speaker 1: she could reach and she was not being supervised. So
53:25
Speaker 1: you know your pets, just keep them in mind. Pets
53:29
Speaker 1: and clothes on the line can coexist, but they can
53:33
Speaker 1: also you know, pets can really reak some havoc, so
53:36
Speaker 1: keep that in mind. Last thing I want to say
53:38
Speaker 1: before we wrap it up for the week is don't
53:40
Speaker 1: feel like you need to make some kind of major
53:42
Speaker 1: lifestyle change overnight when it comes to clothes on the line.
53:45
Speaker 1: You know, start with one load you know, maybe just
53:48
Speaker 1: some towels or some betting. Try it once, see how
53:50
Speaker 1: it feels. It's not going to be right for everybody.
53:52
Speaker 1: It's not the answer for everybody, but you might just
53:55
Speaker 1: enjoy the rhythm of it, you know, kind of slows
53:57
Speaker 1: things down in a good way, speeds things up in another.
54:00
Speaker 1: You can get a lot more on the line. Then
54:03
Speaker 1: you can cram into your dryer. The clothes smell fresher,
54:06
Speaker 1: your dryer gets that break. It's gonna last a little longer.
54:09
Speaker 1: Power bill maybe goes down a little bit, house stays
54:11
Speaker 1: a little cooler. You gueld be outside a little more
54:14
Speaker 1: in these wonderful, wonderful ninety plus degree days. Who wouldn't
54:19
Speaker 1: want more of that? Anyway? Think about it. Let me
54:22
Speaker 1: know your experiences. I'd love to hear from you. Radio
54:25
Speaker 1: atrepco Light dot com is the easiest way to get
54:28
Speaker 1: in touch with me and send me your thoughts about
54:30
Speaker 1: anything that I covered in the show this week. All right,
54:33
Speaker 1: that's gonna do it. Thanks for spending some time with
54:34
Speaker 1: us on Home in Progress. If your project's halfway done,
54:37
Speaker 1: you know your groage, it's still a mess. It's calling
54:39
Speaker 1: your name, but you haven't gotten to it yet. Maybe
54:41
Speaker 1: the laundry is still out on the line. You just
54:44
Speaker 1: remembered you left it out on the line overnight and
54:47
Speaker 1: I just reminded you. And you're wondering about the sprinkler
54:49
Speaker 1: schedule and if it's soaking wet. If that's you, it's okay,
54:53
Speaker 1: it's okay, it's okay. We're not gonna yell at you.
54:55
Speaker 1: Remember that's how the show works. We're all a work
54:58
Speaker 1: in progress. Our homes are all home progress. You're in
55:01
Speaker 1: good company. If you enjoyed the episode this week, be
55:03
Speaker 1: sure to follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts,
55:07
Speaker 1: and if you've got a minute, leave us a review
55:09
Speaker 1: helps other listeners find the show, and we'd really appreciate it.
55:13
Speaker 1: Homing Progress is brought to you by Repcollite Paints and
55:15
Speaker 1: Benjamin Moore, offering expert advice, premium paint and all the
55:19
Speaker 1: tools you need to keep your projects moving forward. New
55:22
Speaker 1: episodes are going to drop every week, so we'll see
55:24
Speaker 1: you next time, and until then, keep chipping away at
55:27
Speaker 1: that list