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Quality Work Made to Last with Larson Home Services · Ask The Experts

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Speaker 1: Eight oh five thirteen ten wib A and ask the experts.
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Speaker 1: Brought to you by Larson Home Services Online Larsen HomeServices
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Speaker 1: dot com. That's Larson L A R. S O N
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Speaker 1: Home Services dot Com. Delpho number six oh eight five
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Speaker 1: three five forty three forty three. That's five three five
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Speaker 1: forty three forty three. Andrew, how you doing this morning?
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Speaker 2: Well, it's a little gloomy, but I never am.
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Speaker 1: No.
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Speaker 2: So you doing fantastic, my friend.
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Speaker 1: It's great to talk to you. And uh, it's funny.
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Speaker 1: We were just off the air going through I was
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Speaker 1: looking at some old pictures of back when, back when
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Speaker 1: we were expecting my son, Madson, and we were living
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Speaker 1: in this little townhouse here in Oregon, and I'm looking
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Speaker 1: at the picture and I'm seeing in the background some
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Speaker 1: of the stuff we had, and it reminded me of
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Speaker 1: like like before you own a home, and like when
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Speaker 1: you're living like an apartment or a town home, you
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Speaker 1: go to that like that big box store down in
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Speaker 1: Schomberg with the big blue sign that spends all day
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Speaker 1: and you buy a bunch.
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Speaker 2: Of first Square for the next three hours together. I
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Speaker 2: know what you're talking about. Yes, Oh, I know what
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Speaker 2: you're talking about.
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Speaker 1: And that stuff it looks nice for a year or
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Speaker 1: two and then it does what you might expect, which,
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Speaker 1: by the way, when you're when you're in your twenties,
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Speaker 1: it's it's perfect furniture for everything. As you get older, wiser,
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Speaker 1: start to learn a little bit more, you start to
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Speaker 1: realize that there's a reason why, uh, that stuff is
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Speaker 1: so much less, so affordable. I was going to say
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Speaker 1: other things, but I'm.
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Speaker 2: Gonna yeah, that's a great that's a great word choice
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Speaker 2: of words. Yeah, it is affordable. Yes, it looks great
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Speaker 2: and it really really yes.
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Speaker 1: And it had me thinking about about when you become
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Speaker 1: a homeowner and kind of some of the trends that
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Speaker 1: we're seeing now as people. I think, like two thousand two,
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Speaker 1: two thousand and five, people were staying in their house
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Speaker 1: on averages like five to six years, and now it's
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Speaker 1: like ten to ten plus years, twelve years, folks are
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Speaker 1: on average. I'm thinking, you know what, just like that
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Speaker 1: that Ikia stuff. It oh I mentioned them, just like
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Speaker 1: that brand their stuff. It's it's good and well for
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Speaker 1: what it is, but it's not going to last a
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Speaker 1: long term. Same thing with your house. You get kind
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Speaker 1: of get what you paid for, and I thought it'd
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Speaker 1: be interesting to talk about with people staying andrew in
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Speaker 1: their houses longer than ever, the importance of really, you know,
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Speaker 1: it's your biggest investment, really making sure you're you're doing
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Speaker 1: the care and taking that diligence that that house deserves.
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Speaker 1: When it comes to working with somebody, regardless of what
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Speaker 1: the project is, it's really important to know who you're
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Speaker 1: working with, isn't it.
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Speaker 2: It's it's extremely important, and you know, so yesterday we
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Speaker 2: did we shot up. We shot a couple of podcasts
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Speaker 2: and one of the question, you know, this doesn't have
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Speaker 2: to be a secret. Sometimes we talk off the air
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Speaker 2: and I'm like, what do you want to talk about?
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Speaker 2: You know, like, we talk about all the things that
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Speaker 2: I'm passionate about, but do we want to get out
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Speaker 2: here and talk about gutters roving installation every single week
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Speaker 2: and we try to educate, but we get a lot
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Speaker 2: of questions from our podcasts from people who watch it.
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Speaker 2: For some reason, people watch it. I haven't figured that
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Speaker 2: out yet, but maybe it's my good jokes. I'm not sure.
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Speaker 2: But one of the questions was, as a new home buyer,
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Speaker 2: what should we be looking for what should we be
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Speaker 2: looking out for? And then honestly, like this kind of
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Speaker 2: plays into it. And you said, since you know, in
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Speaker 2: two thousand and two, two thousand and five, like the
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Speaker 2: length of time people are staying in their homes has
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Speaker 2: gotten longer. And I think that there's just there's just
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Speaker 2: been a lot of if you look in the past
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Speaker 2: twenty years, less than twenty years, eighteen years, look at
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Speaker 2: all the I would say, volatility in the real estate market. Right,
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Speaker 2: we had a big market crash, right, so homes that
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Speaker 2: you might have paid three hundred thousand dollars for in
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Speaker 2: a year became worth one hundred and fifty. And then
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Speaker 2: it's been up, up, up, up, up up, and COVID
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Speaker 2: hit and then there was like a mad dash to
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Speaker 2: buy houses, but not necessarily sell simply because if you
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Speaker 2: were going to going to buy a house, well it
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Speaker 2: was going to be double what you paid for your
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Speaker 2: last one, but the interest rates were really good. Well
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Speaker 2: now we're at a point where the houses are still
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Speaker 2: really expensive, but the interest rates aren't very good. So
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Speaker 2: staying in your home longer makes sense, and putting money
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Speaker 2: into your home makes sense. And I've been through quite
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Speaker 2: a few home purchases and sales. And when you talk
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Speaker 2: to a home inspector, listen, they come and inspect your
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Speaker 2: entire home, but they're not inspecting the things that you
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Speaker 2: can see necessarily, They're trying to inspect the things that
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Speaker 2: you can't see. So when it comes to quality products
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Speaker 2: being put on your home, it's very important. So when
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Speaker 2: you're staying in your home, at some point, you're most
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Speaker 2: likely going to go to sell. And I always tell
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Speaker 2: people do when you're fixing your home or updating your
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Speaker 2: home or remodeling, do what makes you happy. Do what's
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Speaker 2: going to be best for you and your family. But
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Speaker 2: I would always keep in mind the day that comes
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Speaker 2: that you might possibly sell the home. You know, don't
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Speaker 2: do things that are extremely specific to you. Don't paint
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Speaker 2: your walls pink, you know, or red or black or
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Speaker 2: you know stuff. You know what I'm saying, Yes, yeah,
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Speaker 2: I know exactly, unless you plan on redoing it when
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Speaker 2: you go to sell, because that's what your reader is
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Speaker 2: going to tell you. But when one of the first
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Speaker 2: things that inspector takes a look at is your roofp
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Speaker 2: I mean, they just do because it is There's I
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Speaker 2: always say, there's almost nothing more important. You can drive
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Speaker 2: around the countryside look at all these old, beautiful barns
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Speaker 2: that are falling apart, and if they just would have
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Speaker 2: had a good roof on them, they'd still be in
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Speaker 2: great shape. But once that water starts to leak in,
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Speaker 2: it spreads and it starts to rot everything. So making
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Speaker 2: sure that you have a good quality roof put on
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Speaker 2: by a good contractor that tells you what they're putting
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Speaker 2: on your roof and where they're putting it. We get
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Speaker 2: it every single day Sean, where people are like, well,
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Speaker 2: you're my third estimate, and nobody has showed me an
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Speaker 2: inspection of my roof, what's actually going on and what
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Speaker 2: they were actually going to use. All they talked about
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Speaker 2: is what color shingle I wanted. Why I say it
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Speaker 2: all the time, it doesn't really matter what shingle you want.
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Speaker 2: It's the critical details. It's everything you can't see that's important.
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Speaker 2: Now a home inspector, they're not gonna show you what's
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Speaker 2: underneath your shingles either, they're gonna look at your roof,
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Speaker 2: go I don't see any leaks and it looks good.
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Speaker 2: So reputable contractor what you get put on something else
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Speaker 2: that's extremely important is making sure that your HVAC mechanicals
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Speaker 2: are done properly. So if looking to update that, make
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Speaker 2: sure someone comes over and actually talks to you about
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Speaker 2: the size, the square footage and how it not just okay, yeah,
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Speaker 2: we'll just replace this with what you have. Well, is
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Speaker 2: what you have sized properly? Is it right for your home?
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Speaker 2: There are very there's there's a lot of very scientific
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Speaker 2: calculations that tell us what size heating and AC units
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Speaker 2: are needed in a home. So make sure that's done properly.
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Speaker 2: If you're going to do upgrades, say your kitchen, I
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Speaker 2: mean there's some nice, quick, easy upgrades you can do
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Speaker 2: in your kitchen with appliances and just fixtures, faucets, stuff
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Speaker 2: like that. Don't buy the cheapest fauce that you can.
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Speaker 2: I know that sounds so silly. They almost all look
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Speaker 2: the same, but they don't last the same, they don't
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Speaker 2: work the same. There's a reason why one faucet is
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Speaker 2: fifty nine ninety nine and another one is three hundred
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Speaker 2: and fifty nine. It's made to last, it's high quality.
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Speaker 2: Don't put the cheap Now there's all there's all stuff
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Speaker 2: that's right in the middle that's probably really really good.
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Speaker 2: I when I do stuff like that, I don't even
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Speaker 2: usually buy the most expensive simply because I just don't
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Speaker 2: so looking at stuff like that. Garages nobody really thinks
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Speaker 2: about garages. If you're if you're looking to update your garage,
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Speaker 2: something super simple and that will allow your garage to
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Speaker 2: retain a little heat, like in the winter, so vehicles
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Speaker 2: can thoff even if even if your garage isn't completely finished.
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Speaker 2: Having insulated garage doors is a huge upgrade. People don't
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Speaker 2: think of something like that. You put a garage, put
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Speaker 2: your car in the garage in the winter, and it's
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Speaker 2: freezing cold outside. Your vehicle retains heat after you pull
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Speaker 2: it in. If you've got a little insulation in the
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Speaker 2: garage and you're in the attic of your garage and
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Speaker 2: an insulated garage door, you're gonna wake up in the
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Speaker 2: morning and most likely your car is gonna be nice
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Speaker 2: and thought off. If it's not, that means you have
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Speaker 2: no insulation, and that's actually not a super expensive upgrade
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Speaker 2: but goes a long ways if you're going to sell
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Speaker 2: that home or stay in that home you sell that home,
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Speaker 2: Insulated finished garage is huge, at least for me and
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Speaker 2: I know most people where we've got temperature extremes like
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Speaker 2: we have here. Gutters. I mean, we talk about gutters
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Speaker 2: all the time, and I'm not going to sit here
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Speaker 2: and push gutter shutter, gutter shut or gutter shutter, although
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Speaker 2: I did to say it three times. Quality gutters, A
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Speaker 2: properly working gutter system is huge. If somebody comes over
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Speaker 2: and says, yeah, I can throw new gutters up for
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Speaker 2: you for six bucks a foot, because there's people that
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Speaker 2: will do that, You're going to get something that's probably
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Speaker 2: not going to work very well for very long. You're
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Speaker 2: also going to have to clean it all the time.
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Speaker 2: And when stuff is that cheap, it's not made to
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Speaker 2: last through our weather extremes, through our ice, our snow,
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Speaker 2: all of the stuff we throw at it. So a
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Speaker 2: quality working gutters. Something else we talked about on the
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Speaker 2: podcast was when buying that home, looking at the landscaping.
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Speaker 2: Landscaping doesn't have to be expensive. It's beautiful, but it's functional.
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Speaker 2: And when I say landscaping, I'm specifically talking about water management.
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Speaker 2: Water management is one of the biggest issues I see
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Speaker 2: in people's homes. They end up having negative grade around
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Speaker 2: their house, so they think, oh, my gutters don't work right,
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Speaker 2: I'm gonna throw new gutters up. All this guy said
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Speaker 2: he'll do them for six bucks a foot. Great, you
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Speaker 2: throw the gutters up and you're still getting water in
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Speaker 2: your basement. That's because you might have a landscaping issue.
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Speaker 2: And the people that put the gutters up for six
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Speaker 2: dollars a foot aren't actually looking at the slope around
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Speaker 2: your house. They're just gonna throw them up and go
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Speaker 2: here you go. Not my problem. A good quality contractor
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Speaker 2: is gonna take a look at the landscaping, gonna take
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Speaker 2: a look at the grade around your home, gonna use
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Speaker 2: materials that are made to last. And when that water
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Speaker 2: hits the dom hit, it's the garters goes down the
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Speaker 2: down spout, it goes away from the house. It doesn't
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Speaker 2: come back to the house. Sometimes we can actually create
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Speaker 2: bigger problems. Again, I'm gonna have to talk about insulation, Sean,
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Speaker 2: because it is so important if you're going to upgrade
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Speaker 2: your insulation. I'm gonna plug us again here, but our
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Speaker 2: ultimate addict solution. It is the best way you can
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Speaker 2: do your attic. There's not a better way to do it.
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Speaker 2: It's years and years of experience it's years and honestly
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Speaker 2: years of trial and error to where we know this
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Speaker 2: is how it has to be done, this is the
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Speaker 2: best way to do it. To insulate your home for
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Speaker 2: winter and summer, you can't can do You can insulate
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Speaker 2: and make it better for the summer, but not do
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Speaker 2: other things properly, and you're not helping it in the winter.
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Speaker 2: So that's a huge upgrade. Again, but that's something you
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Speaker 2: can't see. Nobody can see that, but you will know
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Speaker 2: that it's done proper and you'll see your energy build.
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Speaker 2: I mean, that's right that I don't like to sit
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Speaker 2: in and harp on energy bills because look, it's so
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Speaker 2: it's tough because subconsciously I hear it from people who
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Speaker 2: have solder all the time. They're upset. All my energy
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Speaker 2: bills is not what they said it was gonna be.
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Speaker 2: But here's the thing. If you go and you have
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Speaker 2: your addic done properly, and you have an ultimate addic
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Speaker 2: solution put in, or you have solar put in, I'm
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Speaker 2: telling you, subconsciously people start to be a little bit
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Speaker 2: more free with their energy usage. They might turn they
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Speaker 2: change the thermostat a little bit, they don't shut the
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Speaker 2: lights off maybe as much because well, I've got solar,
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Speaker 2: so now we're actually using more energy and we're saving energy,
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Speaker 2: but we're using more. And listen, we get it all
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Speaker 2: the time after we do an ultimate addic solution that
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Speaker 2: people are like, my home is so much more warmer,
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Speaker 2: so much more warm, it's so much more comfortable, and
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Speaker 2: our energy bills were lowered. That that is an awesome
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Speaker 2: benefit of it. I don't like to harp on it.
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Speaker 2: Us is more comfortability, but yes, you save energy and
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Speaker 2: there's great tax credit still too, so it's all all good.
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Speaker 1: And when we talk about all this this stuff too,
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Speaker 1: Andrew and I know one of the big things, and
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Speaker 1: having worked with you and and I tell everybody all
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Speaker 1: about the great work that you guys do, I think
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Speaker 1: it's important is to understand that you mentioned you know,
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Speaker 1: they're going to tell you what color shingle and that
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Speaker 1: type of thing or whatever the whatever, the type of
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Speaker 1: work that that you're looking to have done in your home.
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Speaker 1: One of the things that that is so impressive about
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Speaker 1: Larsen Home Services is your guys and gals they're in
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Speaker 1: the attic, they're looking on the roof, they are like,
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Speaker 1: it's not just like yeah, we'll get this stuff done.
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Speaker 1: No big deal. Here is here's what we can do
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Speaker 1: for you. There's literally like that. And we talk about
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Speaker 1: that home inspection, there's literally it's it's a it's a
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Speaker 1: very involved process. And you mentioned even things as much
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Speaker 1: as looking at the looking at the landscaping and to
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Speaker 1: make sure that it's sloping away and those like those
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Speaker 1: little things. And you're like, well, Andrew's not if he
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Speaker 1: tells you that, hey, you know, just your problem with
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Speaker 1: your flooded basement has something to do with your gutters.
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Speaker 1: It has to do with the fact that you've got
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Speaker 1: negative grade. Most people are like, why would Andrew do that?
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Speaker 1: But that's that comes with what you guys are doing
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Speaker 1: out there and obviously develop that relationship. When folks are
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Speaker 1: actually looking for gutters, roofing, insulation, those type of things,
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Speaker 1: they work with you. But it's it's such a cool
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Speaker 1: thing and such a covering all the bases and really
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Speaker 1: getting that inspection. That's why I think, you know, as
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Speaker 1: we talked this morning about about homes and taking care
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Speaker 1: of your home and some of the things you can do.
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Speaker 1: Definitely pick up phone, give them a call six to eight,
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Speaker 1: five three five forty three forty three. That's five three
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Speaker 1: five forty three forty three. That information also available online
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Speaker 1: at larsenome Services dot Com. Mentioned too the videos you
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Speaker 1: post up on your social media Facebook, YouTube. I hope
14:43
Speaker 1: folks get a chance to check that stuff out, like
14:45
Speaker 1: Larsenome Services online. It's really great stuff that you and
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Speaker 1: and your buddy Keeny. You guys have those great chats
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Speaker 1: as well, so folks can check that out online. Andrew,
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Speaker 1: it's always great chatting with you. You have a great
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Speaker 1: and we'll do it all again really soon. And yeah,
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Speaker 1: we'll talk more about all the cool things you guys
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Speaker 1: can do for folks homes and we'll do it in
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Speaker 1: short order.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, how about I put it in my calendar for
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Speaker 2: next Wednesday at the same time.
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Speaker 1: Sounds like a plan, my friends. Awesome Andrew Larson, next week,
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Speaker 1: take care, buddy, Andrew Larson, larsen Home Services again. That
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Speaker 1: website Larsenhomeservices dot com. More of Madison Morning comes your
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Speaker 1: way next right here thirteen ten WYB I