Latest / Repcolite Home Improvement Show / Tackling Home Blind Spots: From Crawl Spaces to Front Entrances

Transcript

Tackling Home Blind Spots: From Crawl Spaces to Front Entrances · Repcolite Home Improvement Show

0:01
Speaker 1: Well, good morning everybody. How are you doing? Are you
0:04
Speaker 1: living the dream? Are you living large? Well? I can
0:06
Speaker 1: only imagine that most of you are responding in the affirmative, because,
0:10
Speaker 1: after all, you're listening to the Repcolite Home improvement show
0:13
Speaker 1: sponsored by Benjamin Moore, and pretty much that means by
0:16
Speaker 1: definition that your day is off to a splendid, fantastic start.
0:21
Speaker 1: And really it's only going to get better and brighter
0:23
Speaker 1: from here because on the show today, I've got.
0:26
Speaker 2: All kinds of great stuff planned.
0:28
Speaker 1: But before I tell you what we're going to be
0:30
Speaker 1: talking about, I want to jump right in to the
0:33
Speaker 1: paint point, because this week, the paint point, you know,
0:36
Speaker 1: the opening segment of the show, the paint point is
0:38
Speaker 1: going to set up the theme for the entire show.
0:41
Speaker 1: All right, here's the deal. I recently made a little
0:44
Speaker 1: visit to our crawl space, you know, big time at
0:48
Speaker 1: my house. I went down to the crawl space, you know,
0:51
Speaker 1: we were getting ready to leave on our big summer vacation.
0:53
Speaker 1: We're just back, you know, by the way, and we
0:55
Speaker 1: had a great time for everybody out there, who's wondering,
0:58
Speaker 1: who's concerned, who was wishing, you know us the best
1:01
Speaker 1: had a great time.
1:01
Speaker 2: We're just back and anyway, yeah, I was getting.
1:04
Speaker 1: Ready to leave, and I went to the crawl space
1:06
Speaker 1: to retrieve our luggage, our suitcases, a couple of little
1:10
Speaker 1: ratty bags that we carry around. And as I stood
1:13
Speaker 1: at the little opening to that place of darkness and despair,
1:16
Speaker 1: I could almost hear, you know, in the distance, the
1:19
Speaker 1: Indiana Jones music starting up. You know, dun, dunt, dun
1:23
Speaker 1: that music. Because going into my crawl space, it pretty much.
1:27
Speaker 2: Is just like being Indiana Jones.
1:28
Speaker 1: You get to crawl through spiderwebs and bug carcasses and
1:32
Speaker 1: other assorted filth. Unfortunately, instead of emerging with a weird,
1:36
Speaker 1: little fat, you know, golden statue, you come out with
1:38
Speaker 1: a sore back and a couple of dumpy suitcases. But
1:42
Speaker 1: still you kind of feel like Indiana Jones. So anyway,
1:45
Speaker 1: I'm stealing myself up for that experience. And then I
1:48
Speaker 1: jumped into the darkness and I had a flashlight in
1:51
Speaker 1: my mouth, and I started crawling.
1:53
Speaker 2: I advanced maybe two feet or so.
1:55
Speaker 1: Then I hit my head, you know, on a floor joist,
1:57
Speaker 1: and then I crawled two more feet and I ripped
1:59
Speaker 1: my shoes on the pointy corner of a low hanging duct,
2:03
Speaker 1: but eventually bruised and beaten. I reached the suitcases, dragged
2:07
Speaker 1: them back through the filth, and then fed them through
2:09
Speaker 1: the little opening into my main basement. And I crawled out,
2:12
Speaker 1: exhausted but triumphant. And when I stood up, I dusted
2:16
Speaker 1: the spider webs off the front of my shirt and
2:18
Speaker 1: the front of my shorts, and then I went about
2:20
Speaker 1: the rest.
2:20
Speaker 2: Of my business for the day.
2:22
Speaker 1: You know, we were going on vacation after all, and
2:23
Speaker 1: that meant I had stores to go to, you know,
2:26
Speaker 1: supplies to get things like that Eron's to run. So
2:28
Speaker 1: I did all of that. I went here, I went there,
2:30
Speaker 1: I bought this, I bought that. I interacted with people.
2:33
Speaker 1: That's the big thing.
2:34
Speaker 2: Here.
2:34
Speaker 1: I asked where things are. I was charming, I was personable,
2:38
Speaker 1: I was funny, I was witty. I was going on vacation,
2:41
Speaker 1: and so I was a social butterfly. Finally I got
2:44
Speaker 1: done with all of that, got all my stuff, and
2:45
Speaker 1: I headed home. I began hauling, you know, all of
2:48
Speaker 1: these things in and then one of the kids who
2:50
Speaker 1: came up to help, you know, help me with the bags,
2:53
Speaker 1: stops me and says, hey, what's on your shoulder. And
2:56
Speaker 1: then he goes and pulls off the spider webbed, emaciated
3:01
Speaker 1: carcass of a dead moth that was as big as
3:04
Speaker 1: a mouse, pulls that off my shoulder. Great, all through
3:09
Speaker 1: all of those stores, all of my social interactions, all
3:12
Speaker 1: of that, did it all with a spiderwebbed moth the
3:16
Speaker 1: size of a mouse on my shoulder.
3:18
Speaker 2: So I'm thinking about that.
3:20
Speaker 1: Then I hear another kid say, hey, Dad, hold still,
3:22
Speaker 1: there's something on your back. He then begins to brush
3:25
Speaker 1: off your five six other dead creatures, bugs, big bugs,
3:32
Speaker 1: I don't know. Then another kid comes in and tells
3:35
Speaker 1: me to brush off my own shorts. They're not going
3:37
Speaker 1: to do that for me, brush off the back of
3:38
Speaker 1: my shorts because I'm covered with stuff there. So I
3:42
Speaker 1: do that, and lo and behold ten twenty I don't know,
3:45
Speaker 1: a sort of dead things fall onto the ground.
3:48
Speaker 2: Well, I'm just standing there in.
3:49
Speaker 1: The midst of this huge pile of dead bugs in filth,
3:53
Speaker 1: and before I can say anything witty or even slightly funny,
3:56
Speaker 1: the kids move in on me from all directions and
3:58
Speaker 1: start picking over me like we're all part of some
4:01
Speaker 1: herd or pack, and they're grooming me. The final straw,
4:05
Speaker 1: the final straw on this whole thing was when somebody
4:07
Speaker 1: pulled this long, enormous, intact spider web full of dead
4:11
Speaker 1: flies out.
4:12
Speaker 2: Of my hair.
4:12
Speaker 1: It was like a you know, Christmas tree garland without
4:16
Speaker 1: any of the festivity. I was literally covered with filth
4:19
Speaker 1: everywhere except the front of my shirt and shorts, which
4:22
Speaker 1: I had brushed off. I had blind spots, big time
4:25
Speaker 1: blind spots, and they were really really embarrassing. All right, now,
4:29
Speaker 1: let's get to the paint point. A lot of us
4:31
Speaker 1: have blind spots just like this, well not just like this,
4:35
Speaker 1: those were pretty extreme, but a lot of us have
4:37
Speaker 1: blind spots in our homes.
4:39
Speaker 2: You know.
4:39
Speaker 1: Sometimes these places are areas that we don't often go
4:42
Speaker 1: to or look at very closely.
4:44
Speaker 2: You know, maybe that's what's going on.
4:45
Speaker 1: Sometimes there are things that we see or experience daily,
4:48
Speaker 1: but because we've become so accustomed to them, we're blind
4:51
Speaker 1: to them. For example, my bathroom. And this is embarrassing.
4:55
Speaker 1: I mean, this whole segment is embarrassing. Pretty much the
4:58
Speaker 1: entire Repolite Homing pre show is one big, long, embarrassing
5:02
Speaker 1: experience for me. But anyway, this is one of those
5:06
Speaker 1: really embarrassing things. My bathroom. I started redoing it a
5:10
Speaker 1: while ago.
5:11
Speaker 2: You know. I removed the baseboard.
5:12
Speaker 1: I ripped out the existing floor and the super old,
5:16
Speaker 1: super small, you know, almost child sized toilet, and I
5:19
Speaker 1: installed new flooring and a new normal sized toilet so
5:22
Speaker 1: that when I sit there, my legs swing in the air.
5:24
Speaker 2: You know, I got all of that done. I was cooking,
5:26
Speaker 2: I was nailing it. I was doing I was doing serious, serious,
5:30
Speaker 2: impressive work.
5:32
Speaker 1: But but but are you ready for this? That's where
5:37
Speaker 1: I quit, and that that may not sound embarrassing, but
5:41
Speaker 1: you know, you want to know the rest of the story.
5:43
Speaker 2: I quit at that stage.
5:45
Speaker 1: You know, the trim is off, the baseboard's off, nothing's
5:48
Speaker 1: been repainted. Basically, I just got the floor and the
5:51
Speaker 1: toilet done. I quit basically when Betsy was still on
5:55
Speaker 1: the radio show with me. Think about that. How long
5:58
Speaker 1: has it been since you heard bet? Betsy predated Haley,
6:02
Speaker 1: So we're talking several years ago. My bathroom has been
6:04
Speaker 1: in that unfinished state for all of those years, and
6:07
Speaker 1: I don't even see it anymore.
6:09
Speaker 2: It's just my bathroom. You know.
6:10
Speaker 1: Somebody helped us out with the dogs while we were
6:12
Speaker 1: on vacation. And that's why I'm thinking about this. They
6:16
Speaker 1: asked me about the bathroom when we got back, you know,
6:18
Speaker 1: they were curious, what are we going to do in there?
6:20
Speaker 2: We see you're working in the bathroom. What are you doing.
6:23
Speaker 1: That's when I realized, you know, I didn't know how
6:25
Speaker 1: to explain to them that I'd been doing this for
6:28
Speaker 1: four years or more.
6:29
Speaker 2: You know.
6:30
Speaker 1: Finally I saw it and I realized, Wow, I have
6:33
Speaker 1: left that undone.
6:33
Speaker 2: I've been blind to it. I've got to get it finished.
6:35
Speaker 2: And I was blind to it because I live in it.
6:38
Speaker 2: You know. I'm sure I would see it from time
6:39
Speaker 2: to time.
6:40
Speaker 1: I'm sure there were times where I would look at
6:42
Speaker 1: it and realize, oh man, I got to get going
6:44
Speaker 1: on that. But it never startled or surprised me because
6:47
Speaker 1: I see it day in and day out in that condition.
6:49
Speaker 1: So that's what I'm talking about blind spots. Do you
6:52
Speaker 1: have any unfinished projects around your house anything like that?
6:56
Speaker 1: I would be surprised if it's that extreme, but who knows,
6:59
Speaker 1: maybe you do. Or here's another shocker that hit me
7:02
Speaker 1: because of our time away. I came home and was
7:04
Speaker 1: stunned to find that my house stinks. It stinks like
7:07
Speaker 1: an old house. You know that smell, right, I don't
7:10
Speaker 1: mean a nostalgic, feel good smell. It's kind of you know,
7:14
Speaker 1: the smell that makes you want to open a window
7:16
Speaker 1: and light a candle. I was shocked, you know, my
7:19
Speaker 1: time away from the house demonstrated how nose blind I was.
7:23
Speaker 1: When you live in a den of philth, I guess
7:25
Speaker 1: it just smells like home. But when you go somewhere
7:28
Speaker 1: where the smell isn't and then come back, well it
7:30
Speaker 1: hits you right between the eyes. Do you have any
7:32
Speaker 1: of that going on in your home? Do you notice
7:35
Speaker 1: anything smell wise? You know, when you come home from work,
7:38
Speaker 1: maybe maybe have a guest over, somebody who will be
7:41
Speaker 1: utterly gentle with you.
7:43
Speaker 2: And then ask them, Hey, do you notice any anything
7:46
Speaker 2: a roama wys.
7:49
Speaker 1: In the house here? Anything you know? Ask about it?
7:51
Speaker 1: How about other blind spots? You know, our garages, they're
7:54
Speaker 1: often a second entrance to our homes. You know, lots
7:57
Speaker 1: of us have garage entries that our guests use on
8:00
Speaker 1: a regular basis. Well, if that's the case for your home,
8:03
Speaker 1: what does your garage look like? Does it look the
8:05
Speaker 1: way you want an entry to your home to look
8:07
Speaker 1: like or do you not even think about the garage
8:09
Speaker 1: as an entry it's just the garage?
8:11
Speaker 2: Is it a blind spot?
8:12
Speaker 1: Well?
8:12
Speaker 2: What about your front doors? This is another common blind spot.
8:15
Speaker 1: You know, if you enter your home through the garage,
8:17
Speaker 1: if that's how you get into your house most often,
8:20
Speaker 1: well there's a good chance you rarely use your main
8:22
Speaker 1: front door. And when that's the case, most of us
8:25
Speaker 1: pay very little attention to that area, you know, the
8:28
Speaker 1: front doors of our homes. However, most visitors to our
8:31
Speaker 1: home who aren't family or really close friends, they usually
8:35
Speaker 1: do head to the front doors.
8:36
Speaker 2: Well what are they finding? How about clutter? You know?
8:39
Speaker 1: What about dings and scuff marks on your walls that
8:41
Speaker 1: should be touched up but haven't been. Blind spots. They're
8:44
Speaker 1: all blind spots. You know, I could go on and on.
8:46
Speaker 1: We've probably all got them, you know, some of them
8:49
Speaker 1: for sure, And today we're going to spend this whole
8:52
Speaker 1: show talking about how to fix them, and we'll be
8:54
Speaker 1: talking about sprucing up our front entrances. At the end
8:56
Speaker 1: of the show, we're going to focus on that. Before that,
9:00
Speaker 1: going to be going through some cleaning and organizing resources
9:02
Speaker 1: for our garages, and coming up next, I'm going to
9:06
Speaker 1: dish out the second to last George job for the summer,
9:09
Speaker 1: dealing with house smells. But before we get to all
9:12
Speaker 1: of that, there is a nagging question that I kind
9:15
Speaker 1: of want to deal with. You know, I'm anticipating this
9:18
Speaker 1: as a rebuttal, you know, to everything I just said
9:21
Speaker 1: about blind spots. I think the fair rebuttal to everything
9:24
Speaker 1: that I just said would be this, we the people
9:26
Speaker 1: living in the house, you know, we don't see these things.
9:29
Speaker 2: They're blind spots. So what does it matter? You know?
9:32
Speaker 1: Why should I worry so much about making my house
9:35
Speaker 1: acceptable to the guests that I may or may not
9:38
Speaker 1: have over.
9:38
Speaker 2: If it doesn't bother me, why should this be a
9:41
Speaker 2: big deal? All right?
9:42
Speaker 1: I think that's a fair you know, it's a fair question.
9:46
Speaker 1: It's it's a fair rebuttal. I've got a couple of
9:48
Speaker 1: reasons why I think that it's worth doing. The first
9:50
Speaker 1: one is that when you do have guests over, you
9:53
Speaker 1: will notice these areas. You know it's just going to happen,
9:57
Speaker 1: but by then it's usually too late to do anything
9:59
Speaker 1: about them. And it's just embarrassing. You know, when I
10:02
Speaker 1: have people over and they see my unfinished bathroom, I
10:04
Speaker 1: can't fix it. At that point, I wish I had
10:07
Speaker 1: noticed it or thought about it ahead of time, and
10:09
Speaker 1: I wish I had fixed it, because that's pretty tough
10:12
Speaker 1: to live down when you kind of do a home
10:14
Speaker 1: improvement radio show and you haven't finished your bathroom, So
10:17
Speaker 1: it's embarrassing.
10:18
Speaker 2: That's one reason.
10:19
Speaker 1: A second reason is that I really completely believe that
10:22
Speaker 1: even if we don't consciously see these areas in our home,
10:26
Speaker 1: they still subconsciously affect us in a negative manner. You know,
10:29
Speaker 1: it's not that tough to believe that my subconscious mind
10:32
Speaker 1: is aware of the unfinished bathroom even though I don't
10:35
Speaker 1: regularly notice it or see it, and I'm certain that
10:39
Speaker 1: that weighs on me. Or clutter you don't think about clutter.
10:42
Speaker 1: Clutter can lead to stress and anxiety. And I know
10:45
Speaker 1: I don't have to acknowledge it or name it as
10:47
Speaker 1: clutter for it to have that effect. You know, clutter
10:49
Speaker 1: by any other name still clutter. It's still going to
10:52
Speaker 1: do what clutter does. So these blind spots, they're worth
10:55
Speaker 1: finding and they're worth fixing. And with that in mind,
10:57
Speaker 1: let's take a break and then when we come back,
11:00
Speaker 1: tackle a blind spot that we all may have house smells.
11:03
Speaker 1: That's just a head stick around. Well, my name's Dan, Hi, everybody,
11:15
Speaker 1: I've got a stinky house and I didn't realize it
11:18
Speaker 1: until I came back home from a week away. You're
11:22
Speaker 1: listening to the Rep Goo Light Home improvement show, and
11:25
Speaker 1: I cannot be the only person dealing with this stinky
11:28
Speaker 1: house issue, right, this embarrassing stinky house issue.
11:31
Speaker 2: I know I'm not.
11:32
Speaker 1: Maybe you're dealing with it too, Maybe you just don't
11:35
Speaker 1: know it, maybe your nose blind like I was. Well,
11:38
Speaker 1: for those of us who are in this little old
11:41
Speaker 1: house stink Recovery group, let's figure out what we can
11:44
Speaker 1: do to eliminate the stink and freshen up our abode.
11:47
Speaker 1: And this is actually going to be the George job
11:50
Speaker 1: for the week, destincifying your house. And if you don't
11:53
Speaker 1: know what a George job is, well, at this point
11:56
Speaker 1: you just have to go back some episodes, you know,
11:58
Speaker 1: check out the past few episodes and.
12:00
Speaker 2: I'll explain it. There, I explain it ad nauseum. You'll
12:03
Speaker 2: get everything you need to know.
12:04
Speaker 1: The short version is that George jobs are just small
12:08
Speaker 1: projects that you can tackle that will kind of help
12:10
Speaker 1: you gain some control and some momentum around the house.
12:14
Speaker 1: So let's get to it destincifying your house. The first
12:18
Speaker 1: thing that I've got when it comes to this topic
12:20
Speaker 1: is a caveat The smells in an old home can
12:23
Speaker 1: really be due to all kinds of things. We got
12:25
Speaker 1: to throw that out there right from the get go.
12:27
Speaker 1: You know, for example, bathrooms can smell because the wax
12:30
Speaker 1: steel around the toilet is in need of replacement. Water
12:33
Speaker 1: leaks throughout the years can make wood smell even if
12:36
Speaker 1: there wasn't any mold. Sometimes floors get installed over old floors,
12:41
Speaker 1: you know, think linoleum or something like that. It's definitely
12:44
Speaker 1: possible that that old floor or the backing of that
12:47
Speaker 1: older floor contains some odors that then permeate and fill
12:50
Speaker 1: the house, and on and on and on. There are
12:53
Speaker 1: a lot of big reasons for the stink sometimes, and
12:56
Speaker 1: some of those can be things that are tricky or
12:59
Speaker 1: expensive to some. But let's look at some basic places
13:02
Speaker 1: to start. If you're dealing with somehow stink and some
13:05
Speaker 1: of the things that you can do. So first thing
13:07
Speaker 1: you need to do is look for moisture issues.
13:09
Speaker 2: Right.
13:10
Speaker 1: Moisture problems in a home lead to mold and mildew.
13:13
Speaker 1: And they'll definitely contribute to a smell. So check toilets, tubs, showers,
13:17
Speaker 1: check your washer, check your sinks, all of these things.
13:19
Speaker 1: Look them over for leaks. Make sure your roof isn't leaking.
13:22
Speaker 1: Make sure you're not getting water seeping through the walls
13:25
Speaker 1: into your basement. You know, is the grade of the
13:27
Speaker 1: ground sloping away from your home from your foundation walls.
13:30
Speaker 1: Are your gutters cleaned out, you know, are they channeling
13:33
Speaker 1: water away from the home. Make sure everything is leak
13:36
Speaker 1: free as best you can, and mold free.
13:38
Speaker 2: That's a really good place to start.
13:40
Speaker 1: Now for me, when I did that, I didn't notice,
13:43
Speaker 1: you know, any sign of significant moisture or mold or mildew.
13:47
Speaker 1: But I did notice that my crawl space has a
13:49
Speaker 1: slight musty smell that really just adds to, you know,
13:53
Speaker 1: the ambiance down in that already wonderful part of the home.
13:57
Speaker 1: But the problem is that smell, that musty smell means
14:00
Speaker 1: there is a moisture issue going on in some regard.
14:03
Speaker 1: Now for me, I'm not seeing any signs of water
14:06
Speaker 1: seeping in, but the space is humid, And that turns
14:09
Speaker 1: out to be a really common thing, but unfortunately common
14:12
Speaker 1: or not, you.
14:13
Speaker 2: Don't want it. Humidity in the air.
14:15
Speaker 1: In the crawl space or pretty much anywhere, but in
14:17
Speaker 1: the crawl space can cause all kinds of issues down
14:20
Speaker 1: the road, and it can certainly contribute to house smells.
14:24
Speaker 1: So I noticed this and I started running a dehumidifier
14:27
Speaker 1: in that space. It's not terribly convenient, but it definitely
14:31
Speaker 1: reduced the humidity and the smell very quickly. So that's
14:35
Speaker 1: the second recommendation, run a dehumidifier. You know, your air
14:38
Speaker 1: conditioner is probably taking care of this throughout the bulk
14:41
Speaker 1: of the home, but for me, a dehumidifier in the
14:44
Speaker 1: crawl space and the basement definitely made a big improvement.
14:47
Speaker 1: So consider those things. Another thing to do, super crazy
14:51
Speaker 1: simple open the windows and let the sun in.
14:54
Speaker 2: And it's really it's a no brainer.
14:56
Speaker 1: But maybe the air in the home that you know,
14:58
Speaker 1: the stink that you're dealing with, maybe it's just stale air.
15:01
Speaker 1: So air out the space using fans and see what happens.
15:04
Speaker 1: You know, I did that right away, and of course
15:06
Speaker 1: there were near instant results. I also made sure to
15:09
Speaker 1: open the blinds and let the sun in because the
15:11
Speaker 1: UV light from the sun actually kills the bacteria that
15:16
Speaker 1: can contribute to the smells, So open those blinds, let
15:19
Speaker 1: the sun in. Another thing you can do you can
15:22
Speaker 1: wash the walls down. Now, walls actually can trap all
15:25
Speaker 1: kinds of smells, especially kitchen walls with all the cooking
15:28
Speaker 1: that we do. So wash those areas down with an
15:30
Speaker 1: odor killing cleaner. Odoban is one example. I'll put a
15:34
Speaker 1: link in the show notes. When you look it up
15:36
Speaker 1: on Amazon. It's kind of great. It clearly says right
15:40
Speaker 1: there in the description that it eliminates unpleasant stenches. Unpleasant stenches.
15:47
Speaker 1: Do you really need the adjective unpleasant when you're using
15:50
Speaker 1: the noun stenches?
15:52
Speaker 2: I don't know.
15:53
Speaker 1: Anyway, consider a product like that. Another recommendation out there
15:57
Speaker 1: on the world Wide Web is a home remedy that
16:00
Speaker 1: I haven't tried yet but makes a lot of sense.
16:03
Speaker 1: It's basically just taking a small amount of baking soda
16:06
Speaker 1: and mixing it in water and washing the walls down
16:08
Speaker 1: with that. So mix about a half a cup of
16:10
Speaker 1: baking soda and a half a gallon or so of water,
16:13
Speaker 1: and then stir it and stir it and stir it
16:15
Speaker 1: till the water's clear. Then you wipe the walls down
16:18
Speaker 1: and then come back later and rinse the walls well
16:20
Speaker 1: a second time with clean water. Now, if you're gonna
16:23
Speaker 1: go through all that work and you're gonna wash those
16:25
Speaker 1: walls down, it's always wise. It's critical to test your
16:29
Speaker 1: cleaning solution, even if it's just the baking soda and
16:31
Speaker 1: water in a few out of the way spots. You know,
16:34
Speaker 1: if you've got a flat finish or even a lower
16:36
Speaker 1: end you know, lower quality matt finish, there really could
16:39
Speaker 1: be issues.
16:41
Speaker 2: You might not want to try this step.
16:43
Speaker 1: However, if you've got good quality paint in a matte
16:45
Speaker 1: finish and higher it really should be fine, but still
16:49
Speaker 1: do that testing first. Now, another thing that you could try.
16:52
Speaker 1: If you decide you're not going to go that route,
16:54
Speaker 1: you know, a new paint job will make a huge difference.
16:57
Speaker 1: You know, nothing really will make a space feel as
16:59
Speaker 1: fresh and clean as a new quota pain on the walls.
17:02
Speaker 1: So that's definitely something to consider. What about carpets, Well,
17:06
Speaker 1: there are a lot of different things you could try
17:08
Speaker 1: to get smells out of carpet, but the go to
17:11
Speaker 1: is really simple.
17:11
Speaker 2: It's baking soda.
17:12
Speaker 1: You just sprinkle it on, let it sit for a
17:14
Speaker 1: little while and then vacuum it right up. Now, there
17:17
Speaker 1: are scented versions of baking soda for carpets, you know,
17:20
Speaker 1: specifically for carpets, and I've used them, and all I'll
17:23
Speaker 1: say here is that you better not be smell sensitive
17:26
Speaker 1: if you're going to go down that road. The one
17:28
Speaker 1: I used was overpowering, and from here on out, I'm
17:31
Speaker 1: going to stick to the unscented varieties, just saying. Another
17:35
Speaker 1: thing you can try are air purifiers, you know, natural
17:38
Speaker 1: or otherwise. There are activated charcoal bags that you can
17:41
Speaker 1: buy relatively inexpensively, and you basically just hang them up
17:44
Speaker 1: out of sight in your crawl spaces, tuck them in
17:47
Speaker 1: a cupboard wherever, and they'll just naturally absorb odors. Baking
17:51
Speaker 1: soda does the same thing. Pop a box of baking
17:54
Speaker 1: soda open and put that around the house, you know,
17:57
Speaker 1: kind of tuck it away.
17:58
Speaker 2: You could also invest in a little air purifier that
18:01
Speaker 2: will help.
18:02
Speaker 1: What about pet smells, Well, pet smells pretty tricky to
18:06
Speaker 1: deal with. I've got two dogs, so I should know.
18:09
Speaker 1: I'm sure they're contributors to the house smell. But number
18:12
Speaker 1: of things that you can try to do. First off,
18:14
Speaker 1: grooming regular grooming. Make sure you stay up on that.
18:17
Speaker 1: Keep grooming the pets, that's first. Also make sure you're
18:21
Speaker 1: cleaning off any of the soft furniture or the areas
18:24
Speaker 1: where they hang out, where they spend their time. It's
18:27
Speaker 1: not easy to deal with dog smells. Maybe we'll have
18:29
Speaker 1: to focus on that on another segment, you know, when
18:32
Speaker 1: I've got more time. But we'll do that in the future.
18:35
Speaker 1: A final idea before we wrap this up would be
18:37
Speaker 1: to really just you know, give your house a really
18:40
Speaker 1: efficient deep cleaning, getting the cupboards, wash down, the base boards,
18:44
Speaker 1: get behind the fridge, all of that.
18:46
Speaker 2: You know, it's not fun, I get it, but if
18:48
Speaker 2: it removes the stink, well it feels like a win
18:52
Speaker 2: in my book. All right, we're going to take a break.
18:54
Speaker 2: When we come back, we're tackling garages. That's all next
18:57
Speaker 2: stick around when we're back.
19:00
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Repco Lite Home Improvement Show, and
19:03
Speaker 1: today it's all about blind spots. And right now we're
19:07
Speaker 1: going to take a look at garages. And I think
19:09
Speaker 1: it's safe to say. I think it's safe to say
19:11
Speaker 1: that most of us probably have a blind spot regarding
19:14
Speaker 1: our garage. You know, after all, they're just garages, right, Well,
19:18
Speaker 1: it's true, they're just groages. But often, as we discussed
19:22
Speaker 1: and mentioned in the very first segment, a lot of
19:25
Speaker 1: us have visitors entering our homes through our garages, you know,
19:28
Speaker 1: close friends and family members. Anyway, And even if that's
19:31
Speaker 1: not the case, even if you never have guests enter
19:34
Speaker 1: your home through your garage, chances are you probably do.
19:38
Speaker 1: And if your grodge is messy, disorganized, dirty, or whatever,
19:42
Speaker 1: you know, you're really not starting your time at home
19:45
Speaker 1: off on the best foot. You know, When I come
19:46
Speaker 1: home from work and I trip over a pile of
19:49
Speaker 1: rakes on my way into the house, oh really, the
19:51
Speaker 1: evening's not off to the very best start. But even
19:54
Speaker 1: if that doesn't happen, even if I, you know, walk
19:57
Speaker 1: through and miss all of the rakes, I'm still walking
19:59
Speaker 1: through just organization and mess And even if I'm not
20:03
Speaker 1: fully soaking all of that in consciously, I really still
20:06
Speaker 1: believe it's negatively impacting how I feel about the space overall.
20:09
Speaker 1: And I think that happens to all of us. So
20:11
Speaker 1: let's get our garages organized. And yeah, how are we
20:15
Speaker 1: going to do that? On the radio? You know, every
20:19
Speaker 1: garage is different, and I kind of went back and
20:21
Speaker 1: forth trying to figure out how to do this one.
20:24
Speaker 1: And what I decided to do is, I'm just going
20:26
Speaker 1: to focus on some key concepts, you know that are
20:29
Speaker 1: connected to organization, and then I'm going to talk about
20:32
Speaker 1: a bunch of resources and paint stuff that you might
20:35
Speaker 1: need to know and hopefully some of it's going to
20:38
Speaker 1: help you. It's going to be a hodgepodge. It's like
20:40
Speaker 1: a big buffet, you know, it's not going to have
20:42
Speaker 1: a start and a finish that's clearly defined.
20:46
Speaker 2: Hopefully you'll get something out of this. We'll see how
20:48
Speaker 2: it goes. Anyway.
20:49
Speaker 1: First off, very first thing you need to do before
20:51
Speaker 1: you can address any issue in the garage, You've got
20:54
Speaker 1: to do the very first step, and that's to assess
20:57
Speaker 1: and identify, you know, the problem, the problem that you're
21:00
Speaker 1: dealing with. So it's early in the morning, You've got
21:03
Speaker 1: your cup of coffee, take that cup of coffee out
21:06
Speaker 1: to your garage and fling the garage door open, and
21:09
Speaker 1: then just stand there soaking it all in. Your goal
21:12
Speaker 1: here is to identify the problem areas. Now, it sounds stupid.
21:16
Speaker 1: I know that it sounds really really basic, and it is,
21:19
Speaker 1: but it's going to help. You need to figure out
21:21
Speaker 1: the pressure points that you're dealing with now. For me,
21:25
Speaker 1: I bought a ton of yard tools at a garage
21:28
Speaker 1: sale this summer.
21:28
Speaker 2: You know, two bucks per item couldn't go wrong.
21:31
Speaker 1: So I bought tons of rakes and shovels and edges.
21:34
Speaker 1: As much as my little stubby arms could carry. I
21:37
Speaker 1: grabbed them and snatched them up. It was a great deal.
21:40
Speaker 1: But you know, I don't have any place at home
21:42
Speaker 1: to put them right now, not in my garage, not
21:44
Speaker 1: in my system, So they ended up being scattered all
21:48
Speaker 1: over all throughout the garage. It's a pressure point. I've
21:50
Speaker 1: got to fix that. Shoes and boots that are another
21:53
Speaker 1: pressure point in my garage. I've got five kids. You
21:56
Speaker 1: can imagine the shoes that collect with all of those kids.
21:59
Speaker 1: You know, which you still fit? Which shoes are even
22:02
Speaker 1: pairs anymore?
22:03
Speaker 2: Who knows. I've got no idea.
22:05
Speaker 1: Oh, the shoes have a place where they're supposed to go,
22:08
Speaker 1: but right now that's not being used very effectively for
22:11
Speaker 1: a number of reasons. That's a pressure point. I've got
22:14
Speaker 1: to get that fixed. Those are my examples when I
22:16
Speaker 1: fix those things. This is really interesting to me, when
22:19
Speaker 1: I fix those things and really look at the situation,
22:22
Speaker 1: I'm going to have eliminated almost seventy percent of my
22:25
Speaker 1: garage problem. You know, I look at the garage and think, Wow,
22:28
Speaker 1: it's disorganized, it's crazy, it's a mess. Nope, when I
22:32
Speaker 1: really sit down and analyze it, it's just a couple
22:34
Speaker 1: of things that are causing the problem. The rest of
22:37
Speaker 1: it's not as bad as I might think. So do
22:40
Speaker 1: this for yourself. Take a few minutes. Identify the pressure points.
22:43
Speaker 2: What are they?
22:43
Speaker 1: You know, do you have too many pieces of yard
22:45
Speaker 1: equipment that don't run? Do you have sports stuff that's
22:48
Speaker 1: taken over? You know, most of the garage that happens
22:51
Speaker 1: a lot. If you've got kids, you've got sports stuff
22:53
Speaker 1: and it takes stuff over.
22:55
Speaker 2: You know, maybe for you it's fishing or camping gear.
22:57
Speaker 2: Maybe it's just a bunch.
22:59
Speaker 1: Of stuff stuff, random stuff that you hauled to the
23:02
Speaker 1: garage for one reason or another and then just ended
23:05
Speaker 1: up leaving it there. You know, find your pressure points,
23:08
Speaker 1: whatever they are, and then start making your plan. And
23:12
Speaker 1: there are eight million there's there's just millions and millions
23:16
Speaker 1: of storage solutions out there. There's answers on the Internet
23:20
Speaker 1: for everything you know. And in fact, this is why
23:24
Speaker 1: this is a hard topic to talk about. It feels
23:26
Speaker 1: like throw away info. But I'm hoping that by talking
23:29
Speaker 1: about it, I'll inspire at least some people to go
23:32
Speaker 1: out there and take a look. But go out there
23:34
Speaker 1: and google. You know what you need for the pressure
23:37
Speaker 1: points you've identified. You know, when I google yard tool racks,
23:41
Speaker 1: for example, thousands of interesting plans and products, of course
23:44
Speaker 1: come up.
23:45
Speaker 2: It's Google.
23:46
Speaker 1: That's how it works. They want to sell me stuff,
23:48
Speaker 1: they want to show me stuff. I get all kinds
23:50
Speaker 1: of systems that I find that I could buy, that
23:53
Speaker 1: I could build. Maybe I google fishing rods. I googled
23:57
Speaker 1: fishing rods. There's no maybe about it. I googled fishing
23:59
Speaker 1: rods and do that, and you're going to find a
24:01
Speaker 1: ton of interesting, really creative solutions that might be just
24:05
Speaker 1: what you need. Google shoes storage, sports gear storage, tool storage.
24:09
Speaker 1: If you don't have a plan or a system for
24:11
Speaker 1: the things that are causing your problems, do that research.
24:14
Speaker 1: The Internet is there waiting to help you. Google is
24:17
Speaker 1: your friend in this regard.
24:19
Speaker 2: Now find the.
24:19
Speaker 1: Systems that are going to work for you, and then
24:21
Speaker 1: build them. Buy them whatever you need to do. And
24:24
Speaker 1: when you're doing all of that, you know, making your plans,
24:26
Speaker 1: getting your ideas, starting to gather supplies, maybe buying some stuff.
24:30
Speaker 1: Here are four things to keep in mind to make
24:32
Speaker 1: sure that your organizational system functions as well as possible
24:36
Speaker 1: for as long as possible. First off, make it easy
24:39
Speaker 1: to understand. You know, everybody should see at a glance
24:42
Speaker 1: how your system is going.
24:44
Speaker 2: To work and what goes there.
24:45
Speaker 1: Don't create, for example, and I speak from experience here,
24:49
Speaker 1: don't create a storage system for various balls and then
24:52
Speaker 1: divide them all up by sports. You know, it sounds
24:55
Speaker 1: really good, but I had enough people in my family
24:57
Speaker 1: who didn't appreciate the difference between a softball and a baseball.
25:01
Speaker 1: They couldn't see exactly what the issue was here, or
25:05
Speaker 1: why a baseball is.
25:06
Speaker 2: Different from a whiffle ball or whatever. You know.
25:09
Speaker 1: To me, it's obvious. To them, it was too complicated
25:13
Speaker 1: and the system broke immediately. So make sure your system's
25:15
Speaker 1: easy to understand. Make it simple to use. You know,
25:18
Speaker 1: if you want the system to be used, make sure
25:21
Speaker 1: that the people in your family who are supposed to
25:23
Speaker 1: be using it can use it. You know, super simple,
25:26
Speaker 1: stuff here. I almost want to apologize for what I'm
25:28
Speaker 1: delivering because it just.
25:29
Speaker 2: Feels that ridiculous.
25:30
Speaker 1: But maybe there's somebody out there going, oh, make it
25:33
Speaker 1: simple to use. Huh, it makes sense. I like what
25:37
Speaker 1: this guy's saying.
25:39
Speaker 2: Anyway. Third thing, create a system with room for growth.
25:42
Speaker 1: Now, if you want the system to work, it's got
25:44
Speaker 1: to be able to grow with you. You know, I had
25:46
Speaker 1: all my yard tools hung on the wall and it
25:49
Speaker 1: worked and it was literally beautiful. It was a piece
25:52
Speaker 1: of art. It was like a Tetris layout. Everything had
25:55
Speaker 1: a place. And then I bought a boatload of new
25:58
Speaker 1: stuff and suddenly there's nowhere to go with my brilliant system.
26:01
Speaker 1: Completely ridiculous, it was landlocked. So opt for storage systems
26:05
Speaker 1: with room to grow. Racks for my rakes and shovels,
26:07
Speaker 1: for example. They may not give off that same super
26:10
Speaker 1: cool vibe that a wall of tools does, but with
26:13
Speaker 1: a rack, I can double and triple stack tools and
26:16
Speaker 1: accommodate new stuff as I bring it in. So make
26:19
Speaker 1: sure you have that room for growth. Conversely, the last point,
26:23
Speaker 1: be cautious of too much storage. You know, too much
26:26
Speaker 1: storage can be a problem. You know, you'd need to
26:28
Speaker 1: have enough, but too much. That can really cramp you too,
26:31
Speaker 1: because if you buy let's say, twenty totes, or you
26:35
Speaker 1: create rows and rows of shelves beyond what you've got
26:38
Speaker 1: stuff for, well, there's a strong likelihood that you're going
26:41
Speaker 1: to save and store more things than you really need
26:44
Speaker 1: or want. You know, if the space is a little
26:46
Speaker 1: bit limited, you've got to have enough. You know, you've
26:49
Speaker 1: got to find that butter zone. You've got to have
26:50
Speaker 1: enough and a little bit of room to grow. But
26:52
Speaker 1: if the space is a little more dear to you,
26:55
Speaker 1: if the real estate is prime real estate, you're not
26:58
Speaker 1: going to save every single thing out there. You're going
27:00
Speaker 1: to be a little more judicious with what you keep
27:02
Speaker 1: and what you toss. So make sure you don't give
27:05
Speaker 1: yourself an overabundance of storage, but do make sure that
27:08
Speaker 1: you've got room to grow. All right, basic stuff, but
27:11
Speaker 1: keeping it in mind will help you as you organize.
27:15
Speaker 1: All right, that's organization. What about other problems in the garage?
27:19
Speaker 1: And I guess in this instance, I'm thinking about something
27:22
Speaker 1: that impacted me. You know, big items that maybe don't
27:26
Speaker 1: work anymore, or you know, stuff that you just don't
27:28
Speaker 1: want or need. Grills, exercise equipment, lawnmower, snowblowers.
27:32
Speaker 2: You know, things like that.
27:33
Speaker 1: That stuff can take up a huge amount of space
27:37
Speaker 1: and it's not easy to get rid of. You know,
27:39
Speaker 1: even even if you find a place where you can
27:42
Speaker 1: bring it, a place that will accept it, you've still
27:44
Speaker 1: got to get it there.
27:45
Speaker 2: You've got to load it. And who wants to do that.
27:47
Speaker 2: I don't want to do that.
27:48
Speaker 1: I'll tell you that right now. Well, if you're in
27:50
Speaker 1: that boat, get a junk Haller.
27:52
Speaker 2: You know.
27:52
Speaker 1: I did this a few months ago. We talked about
27:54
Speaker 1: it on the show. I called one eight hundred Got Junk.
27:58
Speaker 1: And every time I say that that one eight hundred
28:00
Speaker 1: got junk, I feel like I'm doing a commercial.
28:03
Speaker 2: But it was great.
28:04
Speaker 1: I called them early in the morning and within about
28:07
Speaker 1: two hours there were two guys there with a big truck,
28:10
Speaker 1: and they gave me an estimate after they saw everything
28:12
Speaker 1: that I wanted to get rid of. And then yeah,
28:14
Speaker 1: like two hours later, all of that stuff is gone
28:17
Speaker 1: and I'm just standing in my garage looking at floor
28:20
Speaker 1: space that I didn't even know I had.
28:22
Speaker 2: So think about that.
28:23
Speaker 1: If you're dealing with those big ticket items, those big items,
28:26
Speaker 1: get a junk caller out there one eight hundred got
28:28
Speaker 1: junk is one, but there are other ones. Another problem
28:31
Speaker 1: that people run into are the chemicals and the fertilizers
28:34
Speaker 1: and the solvents that collect in the garage, you know,
28:37
Speaker 1: dirty oil from oil changes and secticides, all of that stuff.
28:41
Speaker 2: What do you do with that?
28:42
Speaker 1: While there are hazardous household waste facilities in all of
28:45
Speaker 1: our listening areas that will accept those items, usually usually
28:48
Speaker 1: at no charge. Some of them will even take back
28:51
Speaker 1: old TVs and other items like that for a charge.
28:55
Speaker 1: So go online, google it, you know, search for household
28:59
Speaker 1: hazardous waste me collection sites near me, and you'll find
29:03
Speaker 1: plenty of places. You'll get all the information, the hours
29:06
Speaker 1: that they're there, and all of the details.
29:08
Speaker 2: But there are.
29:08
Speaker 1: Places to bring even those things that we look at
29:12
Speaker 1: and think I have no idea how to safely and
29:15
Speaker 1: responsibly get rid of this stuff, there are solutions out
29:17
Speaker 1: there all right. Another thing I want to talk about,
29:20
Speaker 1: because I know it's a garage issue. Oil stains on
29:23
Speaker 1: the concrete, and there are a number of ways to
29:25
Speaker 1: fix this and clean it up. We talked about it
29:28
Speaker 1: on the show probably about a year ago or so.
29:30
Speaker 1: Haley did this with her garage and she used a
29:33
Speaker 1: product called Act Act Concrete Cleaner, And basically I'll link
29:39
Speaker 1: to the episode in the show notes if you want
29:42
Speaker 1: to check that out and get the full details. But basically,
29:45
Speaker 1: it's just a powder. You sprinkle it on the floor,
29:47
Speaker 1: kind of work it in with a push broom, missed
29:50
Speaker 1: it with water, let it sit for a while, and
29:51
Speaker 1: then eventually you just rinse it all away again. I'll
29:54
Speaker 1: put a link in the show notes if you want
29:56
Speaker 1: to check that out. That's Act Concrete Cleaner. We don't
29:59
Speaker 1: carry it at Repcolite, but you can order it online,
30:03
Speaker 1: you know, just look that up. A product that we
30:05
Speaker 1: do carry that works pretty well to do the same
30:08
Speaker 1: thing is TSP tri sodium phosphate. Basically, you just make
30:13
Speaker 1: a paste using TSP. It's a powder and you add
30:16
Speaker 1: a little bit of water to it. Make this paste
30:18
Speaker 1: and you apply it to the stain. Let it sit
30:20
Speaker 1: until the TSP is dry. It's probably gonna take i
30:23
Speaker 1: don't know, twenty twenty four hours something like that, and
30:26
Speaker 1: then sweep it away. Most of the time that's going
30:28
Speaker 1: to remove, you know, quite a bit of that stain.
30:31
Speaker 2: If you do need to, you can always reapply. You know,
30:34
Speaker 2: do it all again.
30:35
Speaker 1: All right, last thing that I've got, you know, getting
30:38
Speaker 1: everything organized in the garage just one thing.
30:40
Speaker 2: But you've got to give attention to the walls.
30:42
Speaker 1: That's a big part of, you know, determining how that
30:46
Speaker 1: space feels. And for you, you know, your situation. Everybody's
30:50
Speaker 1: situation is a little different. Maybe for you, it's just
30:53
Speaker 1: removing spider webs and other stuff like that from the walls.
30:56
Speaker 2: Maybe that's good enough.
30:57
Speaker 1: Maybe the walls were painted once, but they're all dinged
31:00
Speaker 1: up and they're marked up after years of use. Don't
31:03
Speaker 1: leave them that way. Touch up the dings, patch the holes,
31:06
Speaker 1: do a quick repaint. There's nothing like a hole in
31:09
Speaker 1: the wall to really drag down the look, you know.
31:12
Speaker 1: Even if it's just a door that's swung open and
31:15
Speaker 1: the handle went through the dry wall, there's ways to
31:17
Speaker 1: fix that. There's little tricks to that to make that
31:20
Speaker 1: patch pretty easy. You can pull that off. I don't
31:22
Speaker 1: have time to talk about it here, but ask about
31:24
Speaker 1: it in the store. Get that patched, get those walls painted.
31:28
Speaker 1: Make the space feel a ton better. If your walls
31:31
Speaker 1: were dry walled before but never primed or painted, maybe
31:33
Speaker 1: it's time to get them painted. You know, pick a
31:35
Speaker 1: color and you'll be surprised how much better everything feels
31:39
Speaker 1: in that space. And really, you don't need to drop
31:41
Speaker 1: a ton of cash on paint for the garage. If
31:44
Speaker 1: you don't want to, you can use standard interior paint.
31:47
Speaker 1: You don't need to use an exterior product. A lot
31:49
Speaker 1: of people think since it's the inside of the garage
31:52
Speaker 1: and who knows what it might be exposed to, they
31:54
Speaker 1: think they need an exterior product.
31:56
Speaker 2: You don't.
31:57
Speaker 1: It's not recommended at all put an interior product on
32:00
Speaker 1: those walls. So even if you've got paint left over
32:03
Speaker 1: in the basement from other work that you've done in
32:05
Speaker 1: the house, that paint is suitable for the garage. If
32:08
Speaker 1: you do need to buy new stuff, like I said,
32:11
Speaker 1: you don't have to buy top of the line, super
32:13
Speaker 1: primo expensive stuff. At Repcolite, we've got paint that's going
32:17
Speaker 1: to really fit any budget. You know, we can go
32:19
Speaker 1: all over the place, all the way up to the
32:21
Speaker 1: primo and all the way down to stuff that's going
32:23
Speaker 1: to be perfect for your garage without costing you an
32:25
Speaker 1: arm and a leg. So just make sure you're getting
32:27
Speaker 1: the right finish. Probably an eggshell in the garage and
32:30
Speaker 1: you'll be great. Stop out at the store, tell us
32:32
Speaker 1: what you're working on, and we'll make some recommendations. If
32:35
Speaker 1: you do want to go top of the line, if
32:37
Speaker 1: you do want to go nuts and you really want
32:40
Speaker 1: something that's going to last and last last thing, I'll
32:42
Speaker 1: say I'd recommend scuff X from Benjamin Moore. It's pricier
32:46
Speaker 1: right off the bat, but since it resists scuff so well,
32:48
Speaker 1: your walls are.
32:49
Speaker 2: Going to still be looking great years and years down
32:51
Speaker 2: the road.
32:52
Speaker 1: And if you've got a wall of tools, if that's
32:54
Speaker 1: how you hang up your tools, your rakes and stuff
32:57
Speaker 1: like that, I'd really think about even if you just
32:59
Speaker 1: paint that one wall with scuff X, scuffex is going
33:02
Speaker 1: to be super for that wall. It's going to hold
33:04
Speaker 1: up to what you throw at it. All right, that's
33:06
Speaker 1: enough for this topic. I know it was all over
33:08
Speaker 1: the board. Hopefully you got something out of it that
33:11
Speaker 1: helped you with your situation. Let's take a break right now.
33:15
Speaker 1: When we come back, we'll turn our eye to one
33:17
Speaker 1: last blind spot.
33:18
Speaker 2: Around our homes, our front entrances. That's all coming up
33:21
Speaker 2: in just a minute. Stick around.
33:27
Speaker 1: Well, here we are again working our way through pounds
33:30
Speaker 1: and pounds of.
33:32
Speaker 2: Radio gold Radio Gold.
33:34
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Repco Light home improvement show sponsored
33:37
Speaker 1: by Benjamin Moore, and I almost said pounds and pounds
33:40
Speaker 1: of radio fudge, not because that makes any sense, but
33:43
Speaker 1: because fudge is actually.
33:45
Speaker 2: On my mind.
33:46
Speaker 1: I told you earlier at the beginning of the show
33:49
Speaker 1: that we went on vacation last week and one of
33:51
Speaker 1: the places that we visited was Mackinac Island, and of
33:54
Speaker 1: course when you're there, you absolutely need to buy fudge.
33:57
Speaker 1: It's just how it works. And so we did, and
34:00
Speaker 1: we bought an unreasonable amount of fudge. I think we
34:03
Speaker 1: bought five pounds five pounds of fudge.
34:06
Speaker 2: That's a lot of fudge.
34:07
Speaker 1: Well, we brought home about one and a half pounds
34:09
Speaker 1: of fudge, but before we could eat it, on our
34:13
Speaker 1: very last day of vacation last week's Sunday, our dumb
34:16
Speaker 1: black lab found it. She ripped open the box, ate
34:20
Speaker 1: all of the fudge that was left over, plastic wrappers
34:22
Speaker 1: and everything. Yeah, not good, not good at all. It's
34:25
Speaker 1: not good for dogs, none of it, the fudge, the plastic.
34:28
Speaker 1: It's not healthy for the dog to eat the fudge,
34:30
Speaker 1: to eat.
34:30
Speaker 2: My fudge. That's bad. You don't want to do that anyway.
34:34
Speaker 1: Thankfully we found out right away, took her to the
34:37
Speaker 1: emergency VAT and you know, Kachan fifteen hundred bucks later,
34:41
Speaker 1: she's doing great living the dream. But I still don't
34:45
Speaker 1: have any fudge, nothing edible anyway. What a way to envocation.
34:49
Speaker 2: Gotta love that anyway.
34:50
Speaker 1: I don't know how I got on all of that,
34:52
Speaker 1: but let's wrap up the show with a quick look
34:54
Speaker 1: at the last blind spot around our homes that I
34:56
Speaker 1: wanted to focus on, our front entrances.
34:59
Speaker 2: And here's my pitch.
35:00
Speaker 1: You know, we've hit the end of summer for the
35:01
Speaker 1: most part, and that means fall and winter and the
35:05
Speaker 1: holidays are coming.
35:07
Speaker 2: You know, the holidays far away.
35:09
Speaker 1: They're still far away, but that still means there's the
35:11
Speaker 1: potential that we're all going to have lots of guests
35:14
Speaker 1: that are home in the next few months. Well, if
35:16
Speaker 1: that's the case, let's make sure our front entrance is
35:19
Speaker 1: looking great, and let's do it while the weather's nice.
35:22
Speaker 1: So check out your front entrance today, sometime, give it
35:25
Speaker 1: a good cleaning if you've got time, clean off the
35:27
Speaker 1: spider webs, and who knows.
35:28
Speaker 2: What else is going on out there.
35:29
Speaker 1: You're probably gonna have to do it again in the fall,
35:31
Speaker 1: but you really, you never go wrong with a little cleaning.
35:34
Speaker 2: So do that.
35:35
Speaker 1: Then take a look at what else is going on
35:37
Speaker 1: out there. You know, how's your welcome matt if you
35:40
Speaker 1: have one, is it welcoming or is it threadbare and
35:43
Speaker 1: pretty gross? Well make it nice, you know, do that.
35:45
Speaker 1: What about the light fixtures. I've got two old sconces,
35:49
Speaker 1: you know, right by my front door, and they really
35:51
Speaker 1: need to be changed.
35:52
Speaker 2: They're dated and new ones would really.
35:54
Speaker 1: Add a lot to that part of the house. So
35:56
Speaker 1: check out your situation in regards to your light fixtures.
36:00
Speaker 1: What about new hardware on the door. That's another relatively
36:03
Speaker 1: simple step. There's some expense to that, but super simple
36:07
Speaker 1: to do, and it really makes a huge difference.
36:09
Speaker 2: You know.
36:09
Speaker 1: Hardware makes a way bigger impact than we often initially think.
36:13
Speaker 1: I put new knobs and pulls on my kitchen cabinets
36:16
Speaker 1: years ago, and they almost looked brand new when I
36:19
Speaker 1: was done. The cabinets did almost look brand new when
36:21
Speaker 1: I was done. Try it with your front door. It
36:23
Speaker 1: can have a huge payoff. What about painting the front door,
36:27
Speaker 1: that's the simplest way there is to really impact that
36:30
Speaker 1: front entrance, and right now the weather's perfect for that
36:33
Speaker 1: kind of a project. All you need is a quart
36:36
Speaker 1: to paint, a few supplies, and then probably a total
36:39
Speaker 1: of four hours to do the work. We've talked about
36:42
Speaker 1: it on the show one hundred times, but I'll walk
36:44
Speaker 1: you through the project just because I'll just lay it
36:47
Speaker 1: out show you how simple it is. All you need
36:49
Speaker 1: to do. You start by cleaning the door with TSP
36:51
Speaker 1: or don dish soap. Just get contaminants off of the surface,
36:54
Speaker 1: So do that TSP don dish soap, wash it down.
36:58
Speaker 1: Then when it's dry, do a light scuff probably a
37:00
Speaker 1: one eighty to a two to twenty grip paper. You're
37:02
Speaker 1: not taking the finish off here, you're just dulling it down,
37:05
Speaker 1: you know, providing an anchor profile for your next coat.
37:08
Speaker 1: Once that's done, wipe the door clean with a damp rag.
37:12
Speaker 1: If there are any peeling spots at that point. If
37:14
Speaker 1: you've got a steel door with peeling spots, scrape everything
37:17
Speaker 1: loose around.
37:18
Speaker 2: That spot off.
37:19
Speaker 1: Get all of the loose stuff off, and then spot
37:21
Speaker 1: prime with a rust inhibitive primer for every area where
37:24
Speaker 1: you're down to bear metal. Once you've got all of
37:27
Speaker 1: that done, it's time for painting. Don't need to prime
37:30
Speaker 1: it or do anything like that. You want to paint
37:32
Speaker 1: midday and then you can leave that door open until
37:35
Speaker 1: evening and then you should be able to close it
37:37
Speaker 1: without any issue. You know it's not going to stick
37:39
Speaker 1: or anything like that. For paint, we'd recommend Benjamin Moore's
37:42
Speaker 1: More Life, More Guard, More Glow. Any of those options
37:46
Speaker 1: command endure from Repcolite. All of those are great soft gloss,
37:50
Speaker 1: satin sheen, semigloss, those finishes. You'll have great results with
37:54
Speaker 1: something like that. Finally, if you're going to go through
37:57
Speaker 1: all that work, you might want to consider painting the
37:59
Speaker 1: inside that entry door as well. If you're going to
38:02
Speaker 1: do that, consider a color other than the color of
38:04
Speaker 1: your trim or walls. If you really want to make
38:06
Speaker 1: a big impact, just make sure that you're using an
38:09
Speaker 1: interior grade paint for the inside of the door. Don't
38:12
Speaker 1: use the same exterior paint that you used on the
38:14
Speaker 1: exterior side of the door. It's not good to use
38:17
Speaker 1: that stuff inside. All right, If you happen to just
38:19
Speaker 1: have a wood door, we've got exterior varnishes that can
38:22
Speaker 1: be applied as maintenance coats. If you just need to
38:25
Speaker 1: get a new coat on to keep it looking good,
38:28
Speaker 1: or if your door needs a little more TLC than that,
38:30
Speaker 1: you can always sand it down and restain it and
38:32
Speaker 1: then apply a couple of coats of a new finish.
38:34
Speaker 1: We're happy to help with all of that. Just swing
38:36
Speaker 1: out to any Repcolite, tell us what you're working on.
38:39
Speaker 1: We'll answer your questions and we'll get you what you need.
38:42
Speaker 2: All right.
38:42
Speaker 1: There you go the blind Spot episode. Hopefully you found
38:45
Speaker 1: something in there that will help you around your home.
38:47
Speaker 1: If you did, shoot me an email at radio at
38:49
Speaker 1: repco Light dot com. I'd like to hear your comments.
38:52
Speaker 1: And yeah, anything else you're working on too, let me
38:54
Speaker 1: know what you got cooking. And yeah, it's always fun
38:57
Speaker 1: to be connected to the people out there listening. All right,
39:00
Speaker 1: whatever you do today, make sure paints a part of it.
39:03
Speaker 1: Have a great weekend, everybody, and I'll see you next week.
39:06
Speaker 2: I'm Dan Hansen, Thanks for listening.