Latest / Repcolite Home Improvement Show / When Can You Paint Outside? Spring Painting Tips, Lighting That Affects Your Mood, and CO Detector Truths

Transcript

When Can You Paint Outside? Spring Painting Tips, Lighting That Affects Your Mood, and CO Detector Truths · Repcolite Home Improvement Show

0:02
Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, thanks for tuning in.
0:03
Speaker 2: You're listening to Home in Progress by Rep Cole Like
0:06
Speaker 2: Paints sponsored by Benjamin Moore.
0:08
Speaker 1: And I've got so much that I'm going to do today.
0:12
Speaker 2: I want to jump right in, and I want to
0:14
Speaker 2: start by talking about the weather, because it's been all
0:17
Speaker 2: over the place this March.
0:18
Speaker 1: And I guess, I guess that's what.
0:21
Speaker 2: It's supposed to do in March, right, you know, March
0:24
Speaker 2: comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamb?
0:26
Speaker 1: Isn't that the phrase?
0:28
Speaker 2: I don't know, I think so what I do know
0:30
Speaker 2: is that I still hate March. You know, I've always
0:33
Speaker 2: hated March. I've talked about it on the show for
0:35
Speaker 2: a long time. I still hate it, you know, now
0:38
Speaker 2: that I've gotten through it, I do hate it. It
0:40
Speaker 2: gives us good weather and then all of a sudden
0:42
Speaker 2: it's cold again, and it brings out the child in
0:46
Speaker 2: me every single year. And it's not the happy child, right,
0:50
Speaker 2: not the one that sees snow and gets all excited.
0:52
Speaker 2: It's the child that's tossed in a temper tantrum in
0:55
Speaker 2: the grocery store because that child wants a candy bar
0:58
Speaker 2: and mom said, no, you know, I want a candy bar.
1:01
Speaker 2: You know, it's an analogy, an analogy. I could have
1:04
Speaker 2: said that a lot cleaner. It's an analogy. But what
1:08
Speaker 2: I do want is to go outside and not have
1:10
Speaker 2: to scrape a layer of frost off the windshield for
1:13
Speaker 2: any number of reasons. One because I'm sick of it.
1:16
Speaker 2: I'm sick of scraping frost off and I'm sick of
1:20
Speaker 2: being cold. And two, this is probably the biggest reason.
1:24
Speaker 2: I'm short, and I drive a ridiculous truck. You know,
1:27
Speaker 2: it's a work vehicle, and I'm very appreciative. You know,
1:31
Speaker 2: it's wonderful to have this, but I need to be
1:33
Speaker 2: picked up every morning and lifted into the driver's seat basically,
1:38
Speaker 2: or I need a running start and then I need
1:41
Speaker 2: to jump to get in. So you can only imagine
1:44
Speaker 2: what scraping the windshield is like for me. So anyway,
1:47
Speaker 2: blah blah blah, I'm sick, sick, sick, sick of the
1:51
Speaker 2: cold weather, I'm sick of March, all of that. But
1:54
Speaker 2: we're heading into April, and that means that eventually the
1:58
Speaker 2: weather's going to get consistent and warmer in spring is
2:02
Speaker 2: eventually going to get here. And when that starts to happen.
2:05
Speaker 2: In fact, it's already starting to happen right now. When
2:09
Speaker 2: the weather starts to turn even a little bit, people
2:12
Speaker 2: start asking about exterior painting. They want to know when
2:14
Speaker 2: is it okay to get outside and start working. Well,
2:18
Speaker 2: years back, you had to wait for temperatures between fifty
2:21
Speaker 2: and eighty five degrees.
2:22
Speaker 1: However, in the early.
2:24
Speaker 2: Two thousands, paint manufacturers Repcolite among them, started releasing exterior
2:30
Speaker 2: paints that could be used in temperatures down to forty
2:32
Speaker 2: degrees and less, and the actual labels on those cans
2:35
Speaker 2: usually say down to thirty five degrees, which is.
2:38
Speaker 1: Really kind of nuts.
2:39
Speaker 2: You know, it's just above freezing products that do that
2:43
Speaker 2: really change when your painting season can begin. But of course,
2:47
Speaker 2: you know it's not just straight up that easy. There's
2:50
Speaker 2: a catch, or a caveat, or a few concepts to
2:53
Speaker 2: keep in mind. Temperature is only one piece of the puzzle.
2:56
Speaker 2: There are a couple other factors that matter just as much,
2:59
Speaker 2: maybe more, And if you get these wrong, it doesn't
3:02
Speaker 2: really matter what paint you're using.
3:04
Speaker 1: So let's walk through them.
3:05
Speaker 2: The first thing you need to keep in mind is
3:06
Speaker 2: something most homeowners don't think about, and it's this the
3:09
Speaker 2: temperature that we see on our phones.
3:11
Speaker 1: That's just the air temperature.
3:13
Speaker 2: But what actually matters when you're painting is something that
3:16
Speaker 2: we talk about all the time on the show here.
3:18
Speaker 2: It's the surface temp. You know, the temperature of the siding,
3:21
Speaker 2: the wood, the trim that you're putting paint on, and
3:23
Speaker 2: those can be very different, you know, the air temperature
3:26
Speaker 2: to the surface temperature, they could be very different. You know,
3:29
Speaker 2: picture the west side of your house on a cool
3:31
Speaker 2: spring morning. The air might be fifty five degrees feels
3:34
Speaker 2: fine out there, maybe the sun is starting to warm
3:37
Speaker 2: things up, but that west wall has been in the
3:39
Speaker 2: shade all morning. You know, that surface might easily still
3:42
Speaker 2: be hovering around forty degrees or lower depending on the
3:45
Speaker 2: night temps, and it's possible it could be too cold
3:48
Speaker 2: for the paint. So surface temperature. Keep that in mind.
3:51
Speaker 2: And if you're curious about how you figure that out,
3:55
Speaker 2: just get a very inexpensive infrared thermometer twenty bucks. You
4:00
Speaker 2: can pick this up and that will tell you what
4:02
Speaker 2: that surface temperature is and you can use it on
4:04
Speaker 2: all kinds of other things. You know, people use it
4:06
Speaker 2: for cooking and grilling, and all kinds of other things,
4:10
Speaker 2: but it will definitely help you figure it out the
4:12
Speaker 2: surface temperature when you're painting. So we've got air temperature
4:16
Speaker 2: and surface temperature covered. Now let's talk about due point
4:20
Speaker 2: due forms. When the surface gets cold enough that the
4:22
Speaker 2: moisture in the surrounding air can no longer stay airborne,
4:26
Speaker 2: it condenses, it settles under the surface as water droplets,
4:29
Speaker 2: and the temperature where that happens is called the dew point.
4:32
Speaker 2: So the general rule when you're painting outside is that
4:35
Speaker 2: your surface temperature should be at least five degrees above
4:38
Speaker 2: the due point before you start painting. A lot of
4:41
Speaker 2: pros like ten degrees just to be safe. This isn't
4:44
Speaker 2: really all that complicated. Maybe it sounds complicated, but it's not.
4:48
Speaker 2: Our phones weather apps usually give us the due point.
4:51
Speaker 2: Just compare that due point to the surface temperature. If
4:55
Speaker 2: your surface temperature is fifty five and the duwe point
4:57
Speaker 2: is forty eight, you're in good shape. They're getting close,
5:01
Speaker 2: and that surface temperature isn't more than five degrees over
5:04
Speaker 2: the dew point, it's probably worth waiting a bit. And
5:07
Speaker 2: this becomes especially important at the end of the day
5:10
Speaker 2: because as the temperature drops, you can get into trouble
5:13
Speaker 2: pretty quickly. All right, Now, let's talk about moisture in
5:16
Speaker 2: the surface that you're painting. This is one that can
5:18
Speaker 2: absolutely ruin a paint job, and it's really common this
5:22
Speaker 2: time of year. Wood is porous, It absorbs water, and
5:24
Speaker 2: after a wet winter, after rain in the spring, that
5:28
Speaker 2: moisture can still be inside the wood even if the
5:30
Speaker 2: surface feels dry in the sun. And even previously painted surfaces.
5:35
Speaker 1: They're not immune. You know.
5:37
Speaker 2: Water can get in through cracks, it can get in
5:39
Speaker 2: through endngrain, it can get in around trim and so on.
5:42
Speaker 2: Metal and vinyl they're different. You don't have moisture inside
5:45
Speaker 2: of them. But wood and masonry you gotta pay attention.
5:49
Speaker 2: And no amount of good prep, no amount of prime
5:52
Speaker 2: or no amount of premium paint is going to save you.
5:54
Speaker 2: If the wood or the substrate is too wet, that
5:57
Speaker 2: moisture gets trapped, tries to escape, and eventually it's going
6:00
Speaker 2: to take the paint with it, peeling, bubbling in a failure.
6:04
Speaker 1: So what do you do?
6:05
Speaker 2: How do you know when a surface is dry enough
6:07
Speaker 2: to paint? Well, there's another relatively inexpensive tool that can
6:10
Speaker 2: come in really handy. A moisture meter. It's a little
6:14
Speaker 2: handheld gadget. It's going to tell you how much moisture
6:16
Speaker 2: is in the wood or the surface or whatever you're
6:19
Speaker 2: looking in this instance, if you're painting outside, you're looking
6:22
Speaker 2: for a number below fifteen percent. Once you start getting
6:25
Speaker 2: above that, you're taking on risk when you continue to paint.
6:28
Speaker 2: If it's pushing twenty percent, just walk away and let
6:31
Speaker 2: it keep drying. Again, this is not an expensive tool,
6:35
Speaker 2: but it's one that can save you from a lot
6:36
Speaker 2: of headaches. Now, another thing that can save you from
6:39
Speaker 2: headaches when you're painting outside early in the spring or
6:42
Speaker 2: the late fall, honestly, is to use the right product.
6:45
Speaker 2: You know, the right paint product, not just a low
6:48
Speaker 2: temp paint like we talked about, but something that offers
6:50
Speaker 2: a little bit more. Benjamin Moore's Element Guard. Maybe you've
6:54
Speaker 2: heard of it. We've talked about it a bunch, but
6:56
Speaker 2: it's definitely a product to consider. First off, it can
6:59
Speaker 2: be appl at low temps, you know, like we've been discussing.
7:02
Speaker 2: But more importantly, it's rain resistant in as little as
7:05
Speaker 2: sixty minutes. You know, most exterior paints need several hours
7:09
Speaker 2: before they can handle any moisture. Element Guard is formulated
7:12
Speaker 2: to handle humidity, damp conditions, even wind driven rain much faster.
7:17
Speaker 1: You know. And what's really.
7:18
Speaker 2: Interesting to me is you can control a lot of
7:20
Speaker 2: the things that we talked about. You can paint at
7:22
Speaker 2: the right time, you can make sure that the surface isn't.
7:25
Speaker 1: Damp, and all of those things.
7:27
Speaker 2: You can do all the right prep work. But it's
7:29
Speaker 2: really it's not possible to control the weather.
7:32
Speaker 1: You know.
7:32
Speaker 2: We can watch the weather, see what we think is coming,
7:35
Speaker 2: but we can't control it. Element Guard kind of gives
7:38
Speaker 2: you that silver bullet or that safety net against the unexpected. Okay,
7:43
Speaker 2: so element Guard from Benjamin Moore, think about that if
7:46
Speaker 2: you're painting outside. Before I wrap all of this up,
7:49
Speaker 2: let's bring everything together into what I hope is a
7:51
Speaker 2: simple schedule for painting outdoors in the morning. Generally speaking,
7:56
Speaker 2: don't rush it, wait for the dew to burn off,
7:59
Speaker 2: check your surface temperature, and then make sure you're at
8:01
Speaker 2: least five degrees above the due point.
8:03
Speaker 1: Now.
8:03
Speaker 2: Traditionally, most painters aren't starting outside until nine or ten
8:07
Speaker 2: in the morning this time of year. With a product
8:09
Speaker 2: like element Guard, you can often move that up a
8:13
Speaker 2: couple hours, which adds up over the course of a project.
8:16
Speaker 2: So if you're a contractor on a schedule element guard
8:20
Speaker 2: again another reason to think about it.
8:22
Speaker 1: You can start earlier during the day.
8:25
Speaker 2: You're going to want to follow the sun around your house.
8:28
Speaker 2: Start on the east side, move south and west. Avoid
8:31
Speaker 2: surfaces that are getting too hot in direct sunlight. If
8:34
Speaker 2: you run into that when it comes time to stop,
8:37
Speaker 2: give yourself a buffer. Two to three hours before sunset
8:40
Speaker 2: is a really good rule of thumb. In cooler weather,
8:43
Speaker 2: you want that paint to start setting up before temperatures drop.
8:46
Speaker 1: And moisture becomes an issue.
8:47
Speaker 2: Again, and one last thing, don't forget the overnight forecast
8:52
Speaker 2: when you're looking at this and planning things out. Our
8:54
Speaker 2: favorite rule of thumb is this. If it's going to
8:56
Speaker 2: be forty degrees or higher for twenty four hours after
8:59
Speaker 2: you paint, you're good to go, as long as you're
9:02
Speaker 2: using a low temp paint. If it's lower than that,
9:04
Speaker 2: or it's going to dip lower at night lower than forty,
9:07
Speaker 2: you might want to wait. Even though the label on
9:09
Speaker 2: the Kansas thirty five degrees, we like to stick to
9:12
Speaker 2: forty because it's just a really good precaution. All right,
9:15
Speaker 2: One last quick tip that I've got for you. If
9:17
Speaker 2: you're working outside this time of year, it's gonna make
9:20
Speaker 2: a bigger difference than a lot of people think. Keep
9:22
Speaker 2: your paint inside overnight, you know, don't leave it in
9:25
Speaker 2: the garage. You know, the cold groadge. If the groadge
9:27
Speaker 2: is heated, you know, leave it out there. You can
9:29
Speaker 2: live out in the garage like that, but if it's
9:31
Speaker 2: like my garage, don't leave it there. It's gonna get cold.
9:34
Speaker 2: And a can that's been sitting at thirty eight degrees
9:37
Speaker 2: you know overnight doesn't behave the same way as one
9:40
Speaker 2: at room temperature. It's thicker, it's harder to spread, it
9:43
Speaker 2: doesn't cover as well. Just bringing it inside the night
9:46
Speaker 2: before helps everything go on smoother. All right, If you're
9:49
Speaker 2: thinking about tackling a project the spring, stop out at
9:52
Speaker 2: any repcolite and we'll walk you through exactly what you
9:54
Speaker 2: need to know for whatever you're working on. Okay, let's
9:58
Speaker 2: shift gears and talk about lighting the importance of it
10:01
Speaker 2: and some surprising effects that it has on us in
10:03
Speaker 2: our homes. That's all coming up right after this home
10:07
Speaker 2: in progress is brought to you by Repcolite Paints and
10:09
Speaker 2: Benjamin Moore. You know, people often think of paint as
10:12
Speaker 2: just another line item on the project's supply list.
10:15
Speaker 1: But here's the thing.
10:16
Speaker 2: Everything you do, every hour of prep, every stroke of
10:19
Speaker 2: the brush, all comes down to the quality of the paint.
10:21
Speaker 2: The paint is the project. Make sure it's the best,
10:25
Speaker 2: and we're back. You're listening to Home in Progress by
10:27
Speaker 2: Repcolite Paints and sponsored by Benjamin Moore. Last week, I
10:32
Speaker 2: went on and on and on a nauseum about how
10:37
Speaker 2: our brains never stop reading the rooms that we're in.
10:40
Speaker 2: You know, the brain is always scanning for signals, looking
10:43
Speaker 2: for cues about safety and comfort and belonging. I talked
10:47
Speaker 2: about that last week. The bottom line that I was
10:49
Speaker 2: trying to make was that our brains naturally do this.
10:51
Speaker 2: You know, we don't turn it on, We can't turn
10:53
Speaker 2: it off. And when our brain finds spaces that feel right,
10:57
Speaker 2: our brain settles down, it becomes comfortable. When it finds
11:00
Speaker 2: spaces that feel off, even slightly off, our brain keeps
11:04
Speaker 2: cranking out feelings of unease, and as I mentioned last week,
11:08
Speaker 2: those feelings of unease or the feelings of calm, you know,
11:12
Speaker 2: whatever we're getting from this. They're not big feelings. They're
11:15
Speaker 2: not these big, huge, you know, bust through the wall feelings,
11:19
Speaker 2: not like the kool aid man, right, They're not kool
11:21
Speaker 2: aid man feelings. They don't dominate our every single waking moment.
11:26
Speaker 2: Sometimes we don't even consciously realize that they're there, but
11:29
Speaker 2: they are, and they do affect how we feel in
11:32
Speaker 2: a given room or space, you know, lurking underneath the surface,
11:36
Speaker 2: just beneath the surface. We talked about that idea last week,
11:40
Speaker 2: and what I was getting at with all of that
11:42
Speaker 2: is because we can't control that, you know, we can't
11:45
Speaker 2: turn it on and off, and because it directly impacts
11:49
Speaker 2: how much actual peace we feel in our homes and
11:52
Speaker 2: in the spaces that we design. Because of those things,
11:55
Speaker 2: it's really important to figure out what our brains are
11:57
Speaker 2: looking for, you know, what's going to make them happen.
12:01
Speaker 2: Last week we hit two of these things, cohesion and variation. Basically,
12:05
Speaker 2: our brains find peace and ease in spaces where things
12:08
Speaker 2: feel like they belong together.
12:10
Speaker 1: You know, that's the cohesion.
12:11
Speaker 2: But our brain also wants there to be an organized,
12:15
Speaker 2: intentional variation. It's got to have both of those things.
12:18
Speaker 2: If it's just cookie cutter, it's boring to our brain,
12:22
Speaker 2: and you know, we still get those feelings of O.
12:25
Speaker 1: K ease. All right, that was last week.
12:27
Speaker 2: If you care to hear more about that, you can
12:30
Speaker 2: go and find episode four fifty one and listen to
12:33
Speaker 2: your heart's content. Today, I want to talk about something
12:36
Speaker 2: else that plays into all of that, something that's doing
12:39
Speaker 2: more work in your home, probably than any piece of furniture.
12:43
Speaker 2: Possibly you know this feels blasphemous, but possibly more than
12:47
Speaker 2: any paint color, more than any piece of art on
12:49
Speaker 2: the wall. I want to talk about light, and I
12:53
Speaker 2: mean this in a neuroscience sense. You know, light isn't
12:57
Speaker 2: just how you see your space. It's actively shape be
13:00
Speaker 2: in your brain chemistry every hour of every day, and
13:04
Speaker 2: most of us are getting it wrong in ways that
13:07
Speaker 2: are costing us. And it's costing us in sleep, you know,
13:12
Speaker 2: moods that aren't what we wish they were.
13:14
Speaker 1: Poor focus, lack of energy, all of that.
13:18
Speaker 2: We're paying those costs because of lighting, and we're never
13:21
Speaker 2: connecting the dots back to the bulbs in our light fixtures.
13:25
Speaker 2: So we're going to talk about a lot of practical stuff,
13:28
Speaker 2: things that we can do today to make a difference.
13:31
Speaker 2: But I want to start with the research because it's
13:33
Speaker 2: genuinely striking. Light affects your body in important ways, even
13:38
Speaker 2: when it has nothing to do with what you're seeing.
13:40
Speaker 2: You know, we've got specialized cells in our eyes that
13:43
Speaker 2: are constantly reading light and sending signals to our brain,
13:47
Speaker 2: and those signals control things like our sleep cycle, our moods,
13:51
Speaker 2: our alertness, you know, basically, they control how well we think.
13:55
Speaker 2: So what we're left with is irregular light environments. And
13:58
Speaker 2: what I mean by that is, you know, the wrong
14:00
Speaker 2: kind of light at the wrong time of day, irregular light,
14:03
Speaker 2: wrong kind of light, wrong time of day. It's not
14:06
Speaker 2: bad light, it's not ugly light, it's just irregular light.
14:09
Speaker 2: And irregular light leads to problems with our sleep, with
14:13
Speaker 2: our mood, and even with learning. But the good news
14:16
Speaker 2: is the reverse is also true. The right light and
14:19
Speaker 2: lighting can have positive impacts on how our brain functions
14:23
Speaker 2: throughout the day. And we see this play out in
14:27
Speaker 2: all kinds of real world settings, and the information's really
14:30
Speaker 2: pretty interesting.
14:31
Speaker 1: You know.
14:31
Speaker 2: Let's just look at a couple because they make the
14:33
Speaker 2: case so well. Hospitals patients in brighter hospital rooms recover faster,
14:39
Speaker 2: in some cases, up to forty percent faster. They even
14:43
Speaker 2: report needing less pain medication, so brighter, better lit hospital
14:47
Speaker 2: rooms patients are recovering faster. Other data shows that office
14:52
Speaker 2: workers with access to windows they sleep about forty five
14:56
Speaker 2: minutes more per night, not per day. The other ones
14:59
Speaker 2: wh and they don't have windows they sleep forty five
15:01
Speaker 2: minutes more per day.
15:03
Speaker 1: During the workday.
15:04
Speaker 2: So, if that sounds appealing to you, get an office
15:07
Speaker 2: without any windows. If you'd actually like to be more
15:10
Speaker 2: productive at work, you want to find something with you know,
15:14
Speaker 2: access to windows, you can get some natural lighting. Statistics
15:18
Speaker 2: show that all kinds of other things increase, you know,
15:20
Speaker 2: our creativity goes up when we're exposed to natural light.
15:24
Speaker 2: Our productivity increases, we feel less tired, we don't feel gloomy.
15:30
Speaker 2: You know, all of those things improve with natural lighting.
15:33
Speaker 2: And I can attest to this in my own little way.
15:37
Speaker 2: I work in a ten by ten roughly probably a
15:40
Speaker 2: ten by fifteen. I'm looking at it now, probably a
15:42
Speaker 2: ten by fifteen studio, and I spend most of my
15:45
Speaker 2: day in here by myself. And let me tell you,
15:49
Speaker 2: it's Florida ceiling gray. There's gray carpet on the walls,
15:53
Speaker 2: gray foamy things on the ceiling, so my voice doesn't
15:57
Speaker 2: echo when I blather on and on. Everything is gray,
16:00
Speaker 2: even the chairs are gray. You know what's not gray
16:03
Speaker 2: is black. And that's the space that I live in,
16:06
Speaker 2: work in all day long, no windows, no natural light
16:10
Speaker 2: at all, and every now and then it really gets
16:13
Speaker 2: to me and I find myself really struggling to write something,
16:17
Speaker 2: you know, to write a segment for the show, or
16:20
Speaker 2: just to do something creative, you know that I've got
16:22
Speaker 2: to do for my normal job. And in order to
16:25
Speaker 2: help with that, I've started going out. There's another room
16:28
Speaker 2: right outside the door here that I can go and
16:30
Speaker 2: hang out in and work in a little bit from
16:32
Speaker 2: time to time, and it's got all kinds of natural lighting.
16:35
Speaker 1: And when I'm out there.
16:37
Speaker 2: I feel this incredible boost. You know, I'm happier, I'm
16:42
Speaker 2: singing songs and just living the dream out there. But
16:45
Speaker 2: I'm more creative, I'm more productive and all of that.
16:48
Speaker 2: So really, the worst radio segments you've ever heard that
16:51
Speaker 2: I've done, they've been written in my little gray room.
16:54
Speaker 2: The best ones probably were written outside or in the
16:58
Speaker 2: other room where I've got more natural lights. I used
17:01
Speaker 2: to think that whole thing, you know, needing the natural
17:03
Speaker 2: lighting was a little bit, a little bit touchy, feeling
17:06
Speaker 2: a little bit wonky. I didn't buy into that, but
17:10
Speaker 2: I've lived it. I completely get it. It's definitely real. Now,
17:14
Speaker 2: we've been talking all along so far about natural light,
17:17
Speaker 2: but the bigger idea here is getting back to that
17:21
Speaker 2: idea that I floated just a few minutes ago about
17:23
Speaker 2: irregular light, you know, the wrong kind of light at
17:25
Speaker 2: the wrong time of day. Natural light matters, absolutely, but
17:29
Speaker 2: this isn't just about natural light. It's about getting the
17:32
Speaker 2: right kind of light at the right times of the day,
17:34
Speaker 2: you know, throughout the day in your home. So keep
17:38
Speaker 2: that in mind for a minute, and then pause and
17:40
Speaker 2: think about your home. Think about your home office, your
17:44
Speaker 2: laundry room, your basement, your kitchen. On maybe like a
17:47
Speaker 2: dark winter morning, or you know, I don't like what
17:50
Speaker 2: we're experiencing now, a.
17:51
Speaker 1: Dark March morning.
17:53
Speaker 2: How much of your fatigue, your low level, gloomy feeling
17:56
Speaker 2: on certain days, your afternoon fog, how much of it
17:59
Speaker 2: is maybe just the light, you know, the wrong light,
18:02
Speaker 2: or maybe the lack of light that's causing all of
18:05
Speaker 2: those things. You know, a lot of us when we
18:08
Speaker 2: think about light, we think about light as a decoration question.
18:11
Speaker 2: You know, do I like this fixture? Do I like
18:14
Speaker 2: this lamp? Is that going to look good in the space.
18:16
Speaker 2: We think about it that way, you know, as kind
18:18
Speaker 2: of a design thing. But light is actually a biological
18:22
Speaker 2: question first, and it just happens to have design consequences.
18:27
Speaker 1: All right.
18:28
Speaker 2: With all of that said, let's look at some practical
18:30
Speaker 2: ways to approach light and lighting in your home to
18:33
Speaker 2: give your brain exactly what it's looking for, with the
18:36
Speaker 2: goal that our brains will settle in and find peace
18:39
Speaker 2: and calm in our homes, or you know, depending on
18:41
Speaker 2: the space that we're working in and what we're trying
18:43
Speaker 2: to accomplish there, maybe we want more alertness, more productivity,
18:47
Speaker 2: more creativity, whatever you're after.
18:50
Speaker 1: Lighting really sets the tone, and we're going to talk
18:53
Speaker 1: about some practical things you can do to get where
18:55
Speaker 1: you want to go. But we're going to do that
18:57
Speaker 1: right after.
18:58
Speaker 2: This Home in progress is brought to you by Repcolite
19:01
Speaker 2: Paints and Benjamin Moore.
19:03
Speaker 1: Think about it.
19:03
Speaker 2: You spend hours prepping, sanding, taping, and then finally painting.
19:07
Speaker 2: Don't throw all that work away with an inferior product.
19:10
Speaker 2: The paint isn't just another supply. The paint is the project.
19:14
Speaker 2: Make sure it's the best.
19:16
Speaker 1: And we're back.
19:17
Speaker 2: You're listening to Home in Progress by Repcolite Paint, sponsored
19:20
Speaker 2: by Benjamin Moore, and we're talking about lighting, the impact
19:24
Speaker 2: that light has on our moods, on our sleep, on
19:27
Speaker 2: our productivity, even on how creatively and clearly we think.
19:33
Speaker 2: Last segment we talked about some of the science and
19:35
Speaker 2: the research that backs this up.
19:37
Speaker 1: Now, I want to look.
19:38
Speaker 2: At three practical areas to consider in regards to your
19:41
Speaker 2: own home. These are things that you can do today,
19:44
Speaker 2: you can do them tomorrow, and they will bring about
19:49
Speaker 2: They'll bring about real change, instant change in how you
19:52
Speaker 2: feel about your home.
19:54
Speaker 1: Now.
19:54
Speaker 2: The first is to come back to natural light. Specifically,
19:58
Speaker 2: I'm talking about morning light. It turns out morning light
20:01
Speaker 2: matters more than any other kind of light. In some
20:04
Speaker 2: of those same hospital studies that we talked about in
20:07
Speaker 2: the last segment, patients who had rooms with windows facing
20:10
Speaker 2: the southeast left the hospital in a good way, in
20:15
Speaker 2: the way that you want to leave the hospital. Patients
20:18
Speaker 2: in east and southeast facing rooms left the hospital sixteen
20:22
Speaker 2: to forty percent faster than patients in northwest facing rooms.
20:27
Speaker 2: So think about that. There's some practical stuff right off
20:29
Speaker 2: the bat for you.
20:30
Speaker 1: If you find.
20:31
Speaker 2: Yourself in the hospital this weekend, you know, God forbid
20:34
Speaker 2: this weekend, next weekend, whatever in the near future, do
20:38
Speaker 2: whatever you can to get a southeast facing room. Take
20:42
Speaker 2: those northwest exposure rooms at your own risk. You know,
20:46
Speaker 2: you go in there, who knows when you come out
20:49
Speaker 2: Southeast facing room sixteen to forty percent faster. You know,
20:53
Speaker 2: if you want to minimize the hospital stay, that's what
20:55
Speaker 2: you're looking for. That's what you're advocating for. Seriously, though,
20:59
Speaker 2: the point of that research, among other things, the point
21:03
Speaker 2: that matters to me right now, and the findings of
21:05
Speaker 2: all those other studies that we talked about, is that
21:07
Speaker 2: morning light is the most valuable light of the day.
21:10
Speaker 2: It's what sets your internal clock, you know, the circadian
21:14
Speaker 2: rhythm to say it in the fancy way, sets your
21:16
Speaker 2: internal clock. It tells your body, wake up, be alert,
21:19
Speaker 2: get moving, do stuff, make coffee, you know, eat breakfast.
21:23
Speaker 2: It tells you all of those things. Morning light it
21:26
Speaker 2: brings a whole bunch of stuff into our lives and
21:30
Speaker 2: gets us started. If you're not getting that light because
21:33
Speaker 2: of your home layout or blackout curtains or just habit.
21:37
Speaker 2: You know, you just lurk in the shadows. If you're
21:40
Speaker 2: just lurking in the shadows in the morning, you're starting
21:43
Speaker 2: your day at a disadvantage. So here's the really simple
21:46
Speaker 2: practical thing. Rip out some walls and create something. Now
21:51
Speaker 2: that's not practical at all. All you need to do is,
21:54
Speaker 2: within an hour of waking up, get yourself near a window.
21:57
Speaker 2: You know, fix yourself up first, right if you got
22:00
Speaker 2: nearby neighbors, let's do it. Let's do a favor and
22:04
Speaker 2: a service for everybody out there. You know, you don't
22:06
Speaker 2: want to offend your neighbors. I know how I wake
22:09
Speaker 2: up in the morning and the neighbors don't need to
22:13
Speaker 2: see me, you know, glued to a window right off
22:15
Speaker 2: the bat.
22:16
Speaker 1: So take that hour, within an hour of waking up.
22:19
Speaker 2: Fix yourself up, make yourself presentable if necessary, and then
22:23
Speaker 2: get yourself near a window. Eat your breakfast there, sit
22:26
Speaker 2: there with your coffee, with your book. You know there's
22:29
Speaker 2: some people wake up and do prayers and Bible stuff.
22:32
Speaker 2: Whatever you do, do it by that open window. Get
22:35
Speaker 2: that light, open the blinds right away. This isn't about
22:37
Speaker 2: creating ambiance in a room. It's about setting your brain
22:41
Speaker 2: for the day, you know, getting a good start for
22:43
Speaker 2: the day. That's the first practical thing. Second thing to
22:46
Speaker 2: think about is this, choose bulb temperature intentionally. You know,
22:50
Speaker 2: light has something. I'm sure we all know this. Light
22:53
Speaker 2: has something called temperature. And I'm sorry. If you're one
22:56
Speaker 2: of the people that don't know this. Don't feel left out.
22:58
Speaker 2: There's probably a whole bunch of you know, people like you.
23:03
Speaker 2: You probably live in the shadows. You're not getting enough
23:06
Speaker 2: morning light. You didn't know about color temperature of bulbs. No,
23:10
Speaker 2: I'm joking. Don't feel bad. Light has something called color temperature.
23:14
Speaker 2: Lower numbers like twenty seven hundred K they're warm, soft
23:18
Speaker 2: yellow light. They remind us of old incandescent bulbs. They
23:22
Speaker 2: remind us of the glow of candles to some extent,
23:25
Speaker 2: and they make a room feel really cozy. Twenty seven
23:28
Speaker 2: hundred K bulbs, that's what they do. Higher numbers like
23:31
Speaker 2: four thousand K, let's say, or five thousand K whatever,
23:35
Speaker 2: they're cooler, brighter, they're more blue white. They make a
23:39
Speaker 2: room feel alert and focused. Blue light tells your brain, hey,
23:43
Speaker 2: wake up, and suppress melatonein the sleep hormone.
23:47
Speaker 1: So that's what blue light does.
23:49
Speaker 2: If you've got bright, cool bulbs in your bedroom or
23:52
Speaker 2: your living room at night, you know, think what that's doing.
23:56
Speaker 2: You know, that's basically telling your brain it's go time,
23:58
Speaker 2: it's time to get up and get moving and do stuff.
24:02
Speaker 2: So those bulbs are working against you. So think about
24:05
Speaker 2: you know the bulb temperature, and choose the bulb temperature intentionally.
24:09
Speaker 2: Remember earlier we talked about irregular light, finding the wrong
24:13
Speaker 2: light at the wrong time of day.
24:16
Speaker 1: That's exactly what this is right here.
24:18
Speaker 2: If you've got those blue white you know, those really
24:20
Speaker 2: cool bulbs in a space where you're trying to wind
24:23
Speaker 2: down at the end of a day, those bulbs, that's
24:26
Speaker 2: a regular light that is giving you exactly what you
24:28
Speaker 2: don't need. It's the opposite of what you want in
24:31
Speaker 2: those spaces. So check the bulbs in your home right
24:34
Speaker 2: after the show. Go through the house and check to
24:36
Speaker 2: see what you've got. If you've got the cooler temperature
24:39
Speaker 2: bulbs in your wind down spaces, swap them for warmer bulbs.
24:44
Speaker 2: You know, that's the five thousand K, the four thousand K.
24:47
Speaker 2: Those bulbs should be swapped out for twenty seven hundred
24:50
Speaker 2: K the warmer, softer, yellower light bulbs, because that's going
24:54
Speaker 2: to help you wind down better.
24:56
Speaker 1: Now.
24:56
Speaker 2: I know that many of us buy bulbs intentionally. You know,
25:00
Speaker 2: we already are doing this, but a lot of us
25:02
Speaker 2: just grab a box and we put them in and
25:05
Speaker 2: we don't consciously think about what the color temperature is
25:08
Speaker 2: and what it could be doing to us, kind of
25:10
Speaker 2: beneath the surface. You know, my kid's got a new
25:12
Speaker 2: house and the previous owner filled all the light fixtures
25:16
Speaker 2: throughout the whole home with these cooler bluer bulbs, and man,
25:20
Speaker 2: do you feel it. It definitely creates an unwanted vibe
25:24
Speaker 2: in the living room and in the bedrooms for sure.
25:26
Speaker 2: It just feels off and it's all coming from those bulbs.
25:30
Speaker 2: So get the warmer bulbs in the spaces that you
25:33
Speaker 2: want to rest and wind down. On the other hand,
25:35
Speaker 2: those blu er, cooler bulbs still serve a purpose.
25:39
Speaker 1: You know.
25:39
Speaker 2: They're perfect for spaces where you need to think and
25:42
Speaker 2: work and function. So when you're checking your bulbs later today,
25:46
Speaker 2: check the bulbs in your home office as well.
25:48
Speaker 1: If you've got.
25:49
Speaker 2: Warmer bulbs, in there creating a cozy vibe and you're
25:52
Speaker 2: trying to work. You're fighting your own brain chemistry in
25:56
Speaker 2: spaces like that. During the day, you actually want brighter,
25:59
Speaker 2: cooler life. You know, somewhere in that thirty five hundred
26:02
Speaker 2: to four thousand k range, you know that kind of
26:05
Speaker 2: light is going to help your brain stay alert and focused.
26:07
Speaker 2: So again, choose the bulbs with intention based on the
26:10
Speaker 2: purpose or the most common purpose of a given space.
26:14
Speaker 2: If it's for working and being active and alert and
26:17
Speaker 2: productive and energized, op for something in the cooler range.
26:20
Speaker 2: If the room is mostly for winding down and relaxing
26:23
Speaker 2: and finding some calm at the end of the day,
26:26
Speaker 2: opt for the warmer bulbs. You know, if you've got
26:28
Speaker 2: a space in your home that's been feeling off and
26:30
Speaker 2: you haven't been able to put your finger on exactly
26:33
Speaker 2: what's going on there, it's very possible it could be
26:35
Speaker 2: the temperature of the light in that room. And that's
26:38
Speaker 2: really great news because that fix is as easy as
26:41
Speaker 2: you know, spending five bucks on the right temperature bulb.
26:45
Speaker 2: So second practical thing, choose those temperatures intentionally for the
26:50
Speaker 2: space that you're putting them in. The third practical thing
26:52
Speaker 2: that I want to stress is the importance of layering light.
26:56
Speaker 2: Lots of rooms in our homes are lit by one source,
27:00
Speaker 2: a ceiling fixture. We have a specific name for those lights,
27:03
Speaker 2: which I was surprised to find out was the legit
27:06
Speaker 2: or I don't know how legit it is. You're not
27:08
Speaker 2: gonna find it on a box, you know, in a store.
27:11
Speaker 2: You know, not this phrase, but we all maybe know
27:13
Speaker 2: what I'm talking about. There's a specific light fixture that
27:19
Speaker 2: is on our ceilings. I really didn't need to go
27:21
Speaker 2: down this road. If you have no idea what I'm
27:23
Speaker 2: talking about, that's fine. Your mind is pure in pristine
27:26
Speaker 2: and you're good to go.
27:27
Speaker 1: Let's just move on. We've got this ceiling fixture light.
27:30
Speaker 2: It's centered in the room, it's pointing straight down, and
27:32
Speaker 2: it creates this really flat light that's got kind of
27:35
Speaker 2: an institutional feel. You know, our brain perceives it as
27:39
Speaker 2: an office or a grocery store or something like that.
27:43
Speaker 2: You know, that's the vibe that it creates, not the
27:45
Speaker 2: atmosphere most of us are trying to create in our
27:47
Speaker 2: living rooms and our bedrooms or pretty much anywhere in
27:50
Speaker 2: the home.
27:51
Speaker 1: But this kitchen sure feels like an office. I do
27:53
Speaker 1: like that.
27:55
Speaker 2: That's it's not working for you. So instead thinking layers,
27:59
Speaker 2: you know, keep your overhead light, sure, but add a
28:01
Speaker 2: couple of lamps, you know, floor lamps, table lamps. Put
28:04
Speaker 2: them in the corners of the room, and then at night,
28:07
Speaker 2: turn the overhead light off, use the other lamps. Give
28:10
Speaker 2: it fifteen minutes. You're only gonna need fifteen minutes with this,
28:14
Speaker 2: and you're gonna feel the difference. The room's gonna feel calmer,
28:17
Speaker 2: more relaxed, more inviting, and your body follows that signal.
28:21
Speaker 2: If you haven't done this in your bedroom or your
28:24
Speaker 2: living room, your family room, whatever, try it. If you're
28:27
Speaker 2: still operating with that. You know those lights you know
28:31
Speaker 2: on the center of the ceiling, you know, one single
28:33
Speaker 2: overhead light, get.
28:35
Speaker 1: Other lighting in their layer. You'r lighting.
28:36
Speaker 2: It's probably the highest impact, lowest cost thing you can
28:40
Speaker 2: do to improve your sleep and your evening experience at home.
28:43
Speaker 1: And who doesn't want those things improved? Right? So do that.
28:47
Speaker 2: That's practical thing number three. I should have come up
28:51
Speaker 2: with a better word than thing, practical suggestion.
28:55
Speaker 1: I don't know, I'm.
28:55
Speaker 2: Gonna go a thing because I'm working in a gray
28:58
Speaker 2: room with no uh access to natural light. So my
29:03
Speaker 2: brain's just doing what it can. It's it's just getting by.
29:07
Speaker 2: So that was the.
29:08
Speaker 1: Third practical thing, and that was all the practical things
29:12
Speaker 1: that I had.
29:14
Speaker 2: The bottom line, you know, the big takeaway here is
29:17
Speaker 2: to realize that before you go and paint a room,
29:20
Speaker 2: before you buy a new piece of furniture, before you know,
29:24
Speaker 2: you do anything else to a space in your home,
29:26
Speaker 2: think about the light not as a decoration, you know,
29:29
Speaker 2: not as a design first you know, feature, but think
29:33
Speaker 2: about it as something biological, you know, something that has
29:36
Speaker 2: a biological impact. The light isn't biological. The impact that
29:40
Speaker 2: it has on you is biological. So think about it
29:43
Speaker 2: that way and make the right decisions. The most beautiful
29:46
Speaker 2: paint color in the whole wide world is going to
29:49
Speaker 2: look wrong under the wrong light. The coziest furniture arrangement
29:53
Speaker 2: in the whole wide world is not going to feel
29:55
Speaker 2: cozy under a five thousand K overhead bulb. Light really
29:59
Speaker 2: does set the tone. And the good news is, and
30:01
Speaker 2: it's permeated this whole segment, the good news is that
30:04
Speaker 2: fixing your light is really one of the most affordable,
30:07
Speaker 2: immediate and easy changes you can make a dimmable led
30:11
Speaker 2: bulb in the right color temperature costs five bucks.
30:14
Speaker 1: Ten bucks.
30:15
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know what things going on now,
30:17
Speaker 2: could be fifty bucks, but it's still fifty bucks.
30:19
Speaker 1: Well spent.
30:20
Speaker 2: A floor lamp from a thrift store costs ten You know,
30:23
Speaker 2: I've got an extra one at my house that my
30:25
Speaker 2: daughter picked up on the side of the road and
30:27
Speaker 2: then never took to her new house when she left.
30:29
Speaker 1: You can have it. You know.
30:31
Speaker 2: Swapping out a ceiling fixture costs less than a dinner out.
30:34
Speaker 1: You don't need a big renovation all.
30:36
Speaker 2: The time to make a big impact. You just need
30:38
Speaker 2: to understand what your light is doing to your brain
30:41
Speaker 2: and then make a few deliberate choices about it. You know,
30:44
Speaker 2: your brain is reading your rooms, you know, in your
30:46
Speaker 2: home every moment of every single day. Make sure the
30:49
Speaker 2: lighting is working for you, not against you. You know,
30:53
Speaker 2: because we all want to get to that feeling of
30:54
Speaker 2: peace when we get to home. Lighting is a big
30:57
Speaker 2: part of it. All right, let's shift gears on social media.
31:01
Speaker 2: Last week, I think it was I ran into an
31:04
Speaker 2: ad that was really crazy effective about carbon monoxide detectors.
31:10
Speaker 2: It literally terrified me and I dug into it, and
31:13
Speaker 2: I want to talk about it and some very real
31:16
Speaker 2: concerns about carbon monoxide detectors. We're going to get to
31:20
Speaker 2: all of that, but we're going to ground it in reality.
31:23
Speaker 2: We're not going to go the scare tactics route that
31:26
Speaker 2: the ad did a little bit. So if you've seen
31:28
Speaker 2: the ad, you'll know it when I talk about it.
31:30
Speaker 2: We're going to get to all of that right after this.
31:34
Speaker 2: You're listening to Home in Progress, where the projects are real,
31:37
Speaker 2: the mistakes, they're educational, sometimes painful, mostly educational, and the
31:43
Speaker 2: only thing more stubborn than that old wallpaper on your
31:46
Speaker 2: bathroom wall is your determination to get it fixed. Probably
31:50
Speaker 2: sponsored by Repcolite Paints and Benjamin Moore Paint with a purpose,
31:54
Speaker 2: people who care and everything you need to get the
31:56
Speaker 2: job done right.
31:58
Speaker 1: And we're back.
31:58
Speaker 2: You're listening to Home in Progress US by Repcolite Paints
32:01
Speaker 2: and happily and proudly sponsored.
32:04
Speaker 1: By Benjamin Moore.
32:06
Speaker 2: Anyway, Yeah, I don't know about that, just making claims
32:09
Speaker 2: that sound good.
32:11
Speaker 1: Anyway. Maybe you've seen a viral ad that I ran
32:14
Speaker 1: into on Facebook.
32:15
Speaker 2: It's one about a firefighter, you know, a supposed firefighter.
32:20
Speaker 2: He looked like a firefighter. And then again, you know,
32:22
Speaker 2: maybe he was just ai. Maybe he's an actor. Who
32:25
Speaker 2: knows anymore, But anyway, he looked like a firefighter, and
32:28
Speaker 2: he set he was one. So take that for what
32:31
Speaker 2: it's worth. The story he told was the point. It
32:34
Speaker 2: was a lengthy ad, but it was really well done
32:36
Speaker 2: and it hooked me. I read the whole thing. He
32:38
Speaker 2: was talking about a family that barely made it out
32:41
Speaker 2: of their home alife because of carbon monoxide from a
32:44
Speaker 2: cracked heat exchanger in their furnace. And according to the
32:47
Speaker 2: story in the big write up, the carbon monoxide levels
32:51
Speaker 2: in their home were at about fifty to sixty parts
32:54
Speaker 2: per million, and the family was already.
32:56
Speaker 1: Feeling loopy and a little sick.
32:57
Speaker 2: Now they made it out, But the core of the
33:00
Speaker 2: story was this. Their carbon monoxide detectors never sounded, never
33:04
Speaker 2: went off. The ad goes on to say that most
33:07
Speaker 2: home detectors won't go off until things hit seventy parts
33:11
Speaker 2: per million, and by then it could be too late. Now,
33:14
Speaker 2: the solution that they're offering is a carbon monoxide detector
33:18
Speaker 2: that alarms sooner and actually shows you the exact carbon
33:23
Speaker 2: monoxide reading on a digital screen. All right, the ad
33:26
Speaker 2: was really effective for me. You know, I read the
33:28
Speaker 2: whole thing and then I checked their products out and
33:31
Speaker 2: now I'm getting emails from them on a regular basis
33:35
Speaker 2: and probably will for the rest.
33:36
Speaker 1: Of my life.
33:38
Speaker 2: But anyway, I dug into it. I started doing a
33:40
Speaker 2: lot of research to find out if what this guy
33:42
Speaker 2: was saying was right, you know, what, was he making
33:45
Speaker 2: true claims?
33:46
Speaker 1: And I learned some things.
33:47
Speaker 2: The AD's definitely tapping into something real. But I want
33:50
Speaker 2: to cut through the scare tactics and get to the
33:52
Speaker 2: facts so you can protect your family without losing sleep.
33:56
Speaker 2: So here's what I came up with and what I
33:59
Speaker 2: discovered in my dive. First off, most of us think
34:02
Speaker 2: a carbon monoxide detector is going to work like a
34:04
Speaker 2: smoke detector. You know, it senses smoke, a little alarm
34:08
Speaker 2: goes off, you know, pretty straightforward carbon monoxide detectors. They're different,
34:13
Speaker 2: and the difference is huge. Standard home carbon monoxide alarms
34:16
Speaker 2: have to follow a national safety standard called UL two
34:20
Speaker 2: zero three four. Now, it's designed to catch the dangerous,
34:23
Speaker 2: fast rising spikes that can kill you quickly, but it
34:27
Speaker 2: deliberately waits on lower levels to avoid false alarms from
34:31
Speaker 2: normal stuff, you know, like cooking or car idling in
34:34
Speaker 2: the driveway. Here's exactly how they work, and this is
34:37
Speaker 2: what the standard is. At seventy parts per million carbon monoxide,
34:41
Speaker 2: when it senses that the alarm, you know, the standard
34:45
Speaker 2: allows for the alarm to have up to four hours
34:48
Speaker 2: to sound. At one hundred and fifty parts per million,
34:50
Speaker 2: when it senses that, it's allowed ten to fifty minutes
34:54
Speaker 2: before it's got a sound. At four hundred parts per million,
34:57
Speaker 2: it must go off in four to fifteen minutes, So
35:00
Speaker 2: four to fifteen minutes at four hundred parts per million.
35:04
Speaker 2: Anything below thirty parts per million, it generally stays completely quiet,
35:09
Speaker 2: no alarm, and most models won't even show your reading. Now,
35:13
Speaker 2: that built in delay is why the firefighters story really
35:16
Speaker 2: does you know check out At fifty or sixty parts
35:19
Speaker 2: per million, you or your kids would start getting headaches, dizziness, nausea.
35:24
Speaker 2: You know, maybe that flew like foggy feeling after a
35:26
Speaker 2: couple hours of exposure, especially overnight when you're sleeping, and
35:31
Speaker 2: your carbon monoxide detector would probably be silent through all
35:34
Speaker 2: of that. And yeah, there are tragic cases where prolonged
35:38
Speaker 2: lower level exposure went undetected until it was too late,
35:41
Speaker 2: So that part of the ad completely legit. It's not
35:44
Speaker 2: lying about that. But here's the part that the AD
35:47
Speaker 2: doesn't really say very clearly. Those standard UL listed detectors,
35:51
Speaker 2: they save thousands of.
35:53
Speaker 1: Lives every year.
35:54
Speaker 2: They're required by most building codes for a reason. They're
35:57
Speaker 2: engineered to wake you up way before carbon monoxide reached
36:00
Speaker 2: is immediately life threatening levels. The scare part is making
36:04
Speaker 2: it sound like your current detector is kind of worthless
36:07
Speaker 2: when for sudden high level leaks, it's actually doing exactly
36:10
Speaker 2: what it's supposed to do. So the AD's got some
36:13
Speaker 2: truth to it, and it's also blurring some facts to
36:16
Speaker 2: scare us a little bit and get us to buy
36:18
Speaker 2: their products. So what do we do with all of that, Well,
36:21
Speaker 2: here's a really safe and practical set of steps that
36:24
Speaker 2: take into account everything we talked about. First off, make
36:28
Speaker 2: sure that you've got carbon monoxide detectors in your home.
36:30
Speaker 2: You know, install UL listed carbon monoxide alarms on every
36:35
Speaker 2: level of your home and outside every sleeping area. These
36:37
Speaker 2: are the standard ones that we talked about, the ones
36:40
Speaker 2: the AD didn't really like, but remember they do the job.
36:44
Speaker 2: So make sure you've got them installed in your home.
36:46
Speaker 2: Combo smoking carbon monoxide units are fine, you know, smoke
36:49
Speaker 2: detector carbon monoxide detector units. There's combos out there, they're fine.
36:54
Speaker 2: Those would work as well, but get them installed. The
36:57
Speaker 2: next thing you need to do is make sure you're
36:58
Speaker 2: testing the monthly. There's usually a test button. Do that,
37:02
Speaker 2: and also replace batteries once a year. Third thing, replace
37:06
Speaker 2: the whole detector every five to seven years or sooner
37:10
Speaker 2: if it hits end of life mode. Now this is
37:12
Speaker 2: something that I hadn't known before, but carbon monoxide detectors
37:16
Speaker 2: don't last forever. You need to replace the entire unit,
37:19
Speaker 2: you know, not just the batteries, but the entire unit
37:22
Speaker 2: every five to seven years because the sensor inside is
37:25
Speaker 2: an electrochemical cell, and over time it loses its sensitivity.
37:30
Speaker 2: So if your detector is more than seven years old,
37:33
Speaker 2: replace it today. It's cheap insurance. Don't even debate it,
37:38
Speaker 2: just replace it today. Fourth thing, get your fuel burning appliances,
37:42
Speaker 2: your furnace, your water heater, your fireplace, your stove, all
37:45
Speaker 2: of them professionally inspected and cleaned every single year. Most
37:49
Speaker 2: carbon monoxide tragedies start with something really simple that could
37:52
Speaker 2: have been fixed.
37:54
Speaker 1: And then the last thing that I got is, you know.
37:56
Speaker 2: Basically going back to that firefighter's advice, and this is
37:59
Speaker 2: where I think it's really good. Consider adding one of
38:02
Speaker 2: those low level carbon monoxide monitors that gives you a
38:04
Speaker 2: digital readout and alarms way earlier, you know, say at
38:08
Speaker 2: twenty five or thirty parts per million within a minute.
38:12
Speaker 2: You know, these aren't replacements for your UL listed alarms,
38:15
Speaker 2: but they're really smart supplements.
38:17
Speaker 1: They let you catch a.
38:17
Speaker 2: Slow leak from a cracked heat exchanger or a block
38:20
Speaker 2: chimney way before anybody feels sick. You know, at the
38:24
Speaker 2: end of the day, that viral ad really did get
38:26
Speaker 2: my attention for a good reason. Lower level carbon monoxide
38:29
Speaker 2: is sneaky and it does happen, but you.
38:32
Speaker 1: Don't have to live in fear of it either.
38:34
Speaker 2: You know, a couple of smart upgrades and a yearly
38:36
Speaker 2: furnace check can really go a long way towards making
38:38
Speaker 2: sure that your home is protected and everybody's safe. If
38:42
Speaker 2: you're not sure how old your detectors are, if you're
38:46
Speaker 2: thinking they're on that seven year gap, you know, five
38:48
Speaker 2: to seven years, like we said, get them changed. If
38:51
Speaker 2: you do need help picking out a new low level model.
38:54
Speaker 2: Drop by your local hardware store ask them about it,
38:57
Speaker 2: or call the fire department. A lot of the times
38:59
Speaker 2: they're happy to point you in the right direction, so
39:01
Speaker 2: give them a call and there you go. Another brilliant
39:05
Speaker 2: episode in the books. Just think how good it would
39:08
Speaker 2: have been had I been working and recording in you know,
39:13
Speaker 2: the glory of natural light, you know, instead of this dark,
39:17
Speaker 2: dreary gray room with no real good lighting at all,
39:20
Speaker 2: you know, instead of my brain you know, kind of
39:23
Speaker 2: drooping and dragon, it would have been popping. But anyway,
39:26
Speaker 2: if you want to catch this episode again, you can
39:28
Speaker 2: find it online at repco light dot com or really
39:31
Speaker 2: anywhere you listen to podcasts. You know, you can find
39:33
Speaker 2: it on Spotify, YouTube, Audible, Apple podcasts anywhere. Check it out,
39:39
Speaker 2: and then when you're there, subscribe to the podcast and
39:41
Speaker 2: also leave us a review. That really helps and it
39:45
Speaker 2: helps other people find the show. All right, whatever you
39:48
Speaker 2: do today makes your paints a part of it. Have
39:50
Speaker 2: a great weekend, everybody, and I'll see you next week.
39:53
Speaker 2: For Home in Progress by Repcolite Paints. I'm Dan Hansen.
39:56
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening up to