Latest / Repcolite Home Improvement Show / Chimney Leaks, Old House Systems, and a Few Ghost Stories

Transcript

Chimney Leaks, Old House Systems, and a Few Ghost Stories · Repcolite Home Improvement Show

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, thanks for tuning in. You're listening to Home
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: in Progress, sponsored by repcole Like Paints and Benjamin More.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: And because you're here, your Saturday is off to like
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: a rock and good start. Anyway, this week, we're gonna
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: be talking about a chimney problem. In fact, it's the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: chimney problem that results in the biggest repair bills and
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the most damage. And surprisingly it's got pretty much nothing
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: to do with fire, nothing to do with fire at all.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: We're gonna get to that so that you can make
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: sure that your chimney's not in the danger zone. All right.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: We're also gonna be talking about ghost stories. Got all
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: of that right, ghost stories. My voice broke horribly there.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: We're not gonna be talking about legit, well not completely
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: about legit ghost stories. We're gonna be talking about the
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: house related kind of ghost stories. I'm being a little
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: bit figurative, a little bit cute with my language here.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: We're gonna be digging into the old, outdated systems that
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: still haunt older homes. See what I'm doing ghost stories there.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: We'll talk about those old systems, those outdated systems that
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: we can find in older homes and what you should do,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: if anything, when you run into them. You know, you're
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: looking for houses, trying to find the right house. You
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: find this cute old house, outdated systems inside. What do
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: you do? Do you run away? Do you invest a
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: ton of money in fixing it. We'll talk about all
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: of that coming up, but right now, let's go to
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: my inbox because last week I received a great question
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: from a listener, a really, really good question, and there's
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: a ton to dig into. It's a five star question,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: and before I get into answering it, I should stop
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: for a second and say that if you've got a
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: paint question or a design question or anything like that,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: email me at radio at Repcolit dot com or direct
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: message Repcolite on Facebook or Instagram and ask away. If
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: I use your question on the show, I'll send you
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: a coupon for a free gallon of Benjamin Moore or
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Repcolite paint, which is what I'm doing for this particular listener.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: And I'm not giving out any names. I have not
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: given out any addresses. We haven't made fun of anybody.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: So there is no fear in asking your question. Ask
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: your question. It's all upside. You know, I'll get you
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: your answer, and maybe if I use your question on air,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: you'll get free stuff, and everybody loves free stuff. Anyway.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Here's the question that I received. Quote. We are working
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: on a house and we think somebody painted over wallpaper glue.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Any idea is how to remove that or at least
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: make it smooth. All right, let's start with the problem
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and what's exactly going on here when people strip wallpaper
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: from their walls. You know, everybody hates this job anyway,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: so we try to get through it as fast as
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: we can, right, and we normally skimp and cut corners here,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: just because we're so sick of it. You know, we
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: would rather do anything than strip wallpaper. I'd rather clean Well,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to go into that because it's early
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: in the morning. Some people are eating breakfast. But a
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: lot of us would rather do anything on earth than
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: strip wallpaper. So when we do strip wallpaper, we tend
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: to cut corners a little bit, We skimp, We want
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: to be done quicker than we should be, and sometimes
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: we don't get all of the wallpaper paste off the walls. Now,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: the walls look good, or can look good. They can
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: look clean, they can feel good when they dry after
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: you remove the paper, and a lot of people think
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: and hope and just knock on wood and figure they're
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: good to go, and they go ahead and roll their
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: latex paint on. But here's the big butt wallpaper paste
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: is water soluble, and any residue that's left behind can
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: be reactivated by the water in the water based paint.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: That's not necessarily going to be every single time reactivated,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: but it can be. And often when this happens, it
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: can result in a texturing that occurs in your finish paint.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: It can also result in a patche or uneven sheen,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: you know, in the finish of your paint, and there
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: are other issues that can happen. Now. Sometimes people see
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: that it's happening right away and they freak out and
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: they stop painting until they figure out what's going on.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Sometimes they don't notice, you know, they just finished the
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: room and they notice it later. Sometimes they notice and
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: they just don't care, right, they don't care. They're moving.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: It's gonna be somebody else's problem to deal with anyway.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: When the paint dries, often you've got this texturing problem
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: or sheen problem or whatever that's pretty much locked into
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: the surface. Sometimes it's way worse than other times. I
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: had one customer years back who had stripped a wallpaper
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: border off the wall, you know, just a wallpaper border
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: at cheer rail height. They didn't get all the paste off,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: and they called the store wondering why in the world
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: there was this weird texture all around the newly painted
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: room right where the border had been. You know, that
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: one was really obvious. Now sometimes it's less than that.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it's you know, just in a few areas on
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: the wall. But either way, when it happens, it's absolutely
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: no fun, and it's something that can dramatically affect the
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: look of your finished paint, you know, especially where you've
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: got this real bumpy area exactly where a wallpaper border
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: had been, right at chair rail height. You can't really
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: move on from that. So that's what causes the problem,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: and that's what the problem looks like. That's what the
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: listener is dealing with. But what do you do with
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: it now? You know, now that there's paint on it
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: in the paint stry well, Sadly, sadly, there's only one
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: really you know, valid solution at this point, and that's
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: to sand that texture smooth. You know, it's necessary and
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: nothing else is going to make that area blend back in.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: So depending on how heavy that texture is, you could
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: start with a one twenty grit maybe a one fifty
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: grit paper and start sanding it down. You're trying to
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: knock down all the rough spots, and then once you've
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: got the bulk of that sanded, move to a one
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: eighty or a two to twenty grit to smooth it
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: all out a little bit. Now, if you've got a
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: larger area, you know, not just a few spots, but
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: a big area that you're covering, you know, you're probably
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: gonna want to consider investing in a dry wall sanding head.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: You know. There are some that are handheld. You know,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: you attach your sandpaper to them and it gives you
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: this nice flat standing surface with a handle to hold
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: on to, like a big sanding block with a handle.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: That works really well. If you've got bigger areas, you know,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: full walls, go get a drywall sander head that will
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: attach to an extension pole. It's going to dramatically speed
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: up that sanding process and you can get a little
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: more oomph on it, you know, oomph that's a technical
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: term we use that in the paint world. And when
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: we're talking about sanding, you want to have oomph on it.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: So the extension pole is going to help you do that. Now,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: once you've got everything sanded and you've got the dust
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: wiped off with a damp rag, you know, you've got
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: to get that dust off, then you're not ready to
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: paint yet. You've got to prime those areas to lock
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: down any remaining paste. Now, if you don't do this,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: there's the possibility, and sometimes it's a really good possibility,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: that any remaining wallpaper paste residue will again be reactivated
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: when you put your paint down, and the problem is
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: just going to repeat. And the last thing on earth
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: that you want to do after stripping wall, painting your wall,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: sanding your walls smooth again, and then painting them again
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: is to have to sam them once again. Right, you'll
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: just leave the house at that point. So you've got
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: to make sure that you fixed the problem entirely, and
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: to do that to lock that wallpaper paste residue any
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: that might be remaining. To lock it down, there are
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: a couple different options. The first, the old school method,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: is to use an alkid primer like Repcolites proflow primer
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: or Benjamin Moore's fresh Start oil primer. Now, these are
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the best options if the paste was heavy, or if
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: you want absolutely zero risk. You know, water activated paste
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: isn't going to be activated by an oil based primer.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: It's going to seal it in, lock it down, and
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: then you can top coat those oil based primers with
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: a water based paint. No problem. You know, there's no
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: water and oil problem when you're talking about an oil
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: based primer. Go ahead with your water based paint over top.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: So lock it down with an oil primer. That's the surefire,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: silver bullet way to go. A second option is a
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: water based option, and it's a product called Guards gar
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Dz Guards. It's probably how the word should be spelled,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: but Gardz. It's a product from Zinzer. We carry it,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: and it's designed for trouble surfaces. And one of those
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: trouble surfaces is locking down wallpaper paste tresadue. Now, even
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: though this product is water based, it's specifically formulated not
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: to reactivate the paste. Either of those options will work,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: the oil based primers or guards. Either one will lock
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: it down. Now, once you've got the surface sealed and
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: the primer's dried, then you can top coat with your
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: wallpaint of choice, and you move on with life from there. Now,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: the last thing I'll say about all of this today
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: is this, if you want to avoid this problem in
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: the first place, be really diligent when you strip wallpaper
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: and work really hard to remove all of that paste residue.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: You know, once you think you have all of it off,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: a really good test is to lightly miss some areas
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: of your wall with water and then run your hand
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: over those spots. If it still feels slimy or slippery,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: there's paste residue there that you've got to still get off.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: So keep cleaning no matter what. You know, even if
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: it feels clean. You know, when you do that little
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: water test, I'd always recommend using either of those two
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: primer options that I mentioned earlier. If you're going to
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: be painting that area, that extra priming step. You know,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: even if you think you did it really well and
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: you got it really clean, that extra priming step can
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: save you a ton of headache down the road. Okay,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: most of us love a good ghost story. There's just
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: something really fun about them, and usually it's the setting
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: that makes them work. You know, old houses, creaky floors,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: strange sounds, histories we don't fully understand. Well, let's talk
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: about some of those old houses and the ghost stories
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: that they really come with. Not the supernatural kind, though
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: those are really fun, but the outdated systems that are
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: still lurking in the walls, hiding under the floors, haunting
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: the place. When you or someone in your family walks
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: into an older home and stumbles across these remnants of
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: the past, what in the world do you do? Do
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: you run? Do you figure you're going to have to
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: just drop a ton of money to get the house
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: up to speed? What do you do? We'll get into
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: all of that right after. This Home in Progress is
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: brought to you by repcol Like Paints and Benjamin Moore.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: You know, people often think of paint as just another
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: line item on the project's supply list. But here's the thing.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Everything you do, every hour of prep, every stroke of
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: the brush, all comes down to the quality of the paint.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: The paint is the project. Make sure it's the best.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: And we're back. You're listening to Home in Progress sponsored
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: by repcoal Like Paints and Benjamin Moore, And right now
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: I want to jump into something that I don't think
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: I've ever shared on the show My ghost Experience. Now.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: I know I said at the end of last segment
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: that we're not going to dig into the whole ghost
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: story thing from a supernatural point of view, but that's
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: not entirely true, because I do want to dig into
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: that a little bit, just because it's really really fun
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: and it makes the rest of this palatable. I mean,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: it's always brilliant. Everything that falls from my mouth is brilliant.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: I know it's not. I just tell myself that so
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: I can get through the day. But this ghost story
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: stuff makes it a little more, a little more interesting. Now.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: I'm not a big ghost person. I want to say
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: that right up front. So don't send me letters telling
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: me it's all false, you know. I don't want letters
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: or emails saying that, And don't send me letters the
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: other way, you know, inviting me to ghost hunter outings
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: or things like that. I know there are things out
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: there that I don't understand. Oh my goodness, there are
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: so many things out there that I don't understand. But
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: I don't get all spooky and buy into the stuff
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: really really, very very quickly. All right. So with that
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: out of the way all of this happened that I'm
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: going to relate. All of these things happened at my
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: first house over the course of about a single week,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: and it happened about twenty four years ago or so. Now,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: the house was old when we were living there. It
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: was built in the early nineteen hundreds in Zealand, you know,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: nineteen ten, nineteen, something like that. I don't remember. It
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: was a great little house, you know. It really didn't
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: harbor all kinds of spooky surprises for ninety nine percent
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: of the time we were there, until the point when
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: I renovated the upstairs. Now, the first thing that made
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: me wonder if something weird was going on was in
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: regards to the silverware drawer. You know, shortly after completing
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: that upstairs renovation, I got up one morning to get
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: ready for work, and I opened the drawer. You know,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: I want a spoon for my Captain crunch, right, the
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: crunch stuff needs to be consumed. I need my spoon
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: to do that. I can't just shovel it into my
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: mouth with my hands. Well I can, but I've been
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: told that that's not proper. So I needed a spoon.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: I opened up the silverware drawer, and that drawer it
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: had wooden dividers built into it for spoons, forks, knives,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: and then it had a front compartment that ran side
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: to side, you know, across the drawer for all the
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: weird odds and ends, you know, grapefruit spoons, pary knives,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: those little nubbly poky things that you hold corn on
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: the cob with, you know, all of that went in
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: that weird little front compartment. Anyway, that front compartment, when
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: I opened it up, was full of all of our silverware,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: all of the other compartments. They were empty on my
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: wife and I. We were the only ones in the
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: house at that point who could reach the silverwear drawer,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: you know, or pull it open. We had two kids
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: back then, but they were babies, they were twins, and
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: while Hanson children, you know, they are at the forefront
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: of society and and everything, there's still babies. They even
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: being Hanson babies, they were incapable of opening drawers and
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: moving silverware around. So it wasn't them, clearly, it wasn't them.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: In the end, my wife and I kind of decided
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: jokingly that maybe one of us was sleepwalking and did
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: it right okay. We didn't think much about it until
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: a few days later when I came home from work
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: and the silverware drawer was all messed up again. Trying
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: to eat my Captain Crunch and the silverware drawer is
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: messed up again. Because Captain Crunch isn't just a breakfast food.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: It's a little pick me up in the middle of
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: the day too. Anyway, the silverware drawers all messed up,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: same thing. It's really weird at that point. To me.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: I put it right, and I'm kind of thinking about it.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: So I get the vacuum out. You know, I've got
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: other cleaning to do, other things to do, So I'm
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: cleaning and thinking about the silverware drawar thing, and as
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: I'm vacuuming the carpets. And this is really tough to
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: describe on the radio. When I tell the story in person,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: I can show people what I was doing. But picture this.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: I'm in the middle of the room, and I'm pushing
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: the vacuum forward, right, I walk behind it and push
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: it forward, and then I pull it back all the way,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: you know, to the other side of the room. It's
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: not the best vacuuming technique. I was a rookie at
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: that point. I've developed my skills since then, but at
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: that point, that's how I did it. I'd push it
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: all the way to one end and then pull it
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: all all the way back to the other side. And
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: when I'm walking back to the other side, I'm looking backwards.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I'm looking where I'm walking, and the vacuum's kind of
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: in front of me behind, you know what I'm saying.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: I can't see the vacuum at that point because I'm
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: looking the other direction. That's the point. Anyway, I did
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: that once, did that twice. On the third time, I'm
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: in the middle of the room walking back. All of
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: a sudden, the vacuum like snags something or something. It
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: lurches in the air like three to four inches and
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: slams back down to the carpet. Like I said, I
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: wasn't looking at it, so I didn't know what happened.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: But I assumed from the feeling, the tug on it
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: and all of that, I assumed that one of the
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: attachment tubes had fallen loose and had kind of jammed
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: into the carpet and kind of caused the vacuum to
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: jump up in the air and fall down Anyway, when
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: I looked at the vacuum and tried to figure out
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: what happened, all of the attachments are on the vacuum.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Everything is in place where it should be, and there's
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: nothing anywhere in the room. I'm in the middle of
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: the room. There is nothing, not even carpet fibers that
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: I could have snagged. Everything is fine. I have no
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: idea to this day what caused the vacuum to jump
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: three inches in the air and slam back down to
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: the floor. No idea. I can't explain it. So all
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: of that was weird, right, but I still put it
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: out of my mind until a couple days later when
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: my mother in law came to see the upstairs room.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: You know, she wanted the sea the work I had done,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: so I was outside when she pulled in. I was
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: getting ready to mow the yard. She walked into the
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: house telling me she was gonna go check out that room,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: and I went to work mowing the yard, and I
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: can still picture it. I was on the front yard
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: mowing and I looked up and I saw her looking
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: out of that upstairs window in that renovated room, and
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: I waved because I'm you know, inherently and always friendly.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: I waved and she just kind of stared at me,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: didn't wave back. I assumed, you know, she was dissing me. Now, really,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: I assumed that she was just looking in another direction.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: You know, I couldn't see her face clearly or see
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: where she was looking specifically. I could just see that
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: she was there, so I assumed she was looking in
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: another direction. Anyway, I wrapped up the mowing and I
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: headed into the house. I found her in the living
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: room holding one of the babies, and I asked her
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: how to that room? Look, you know, I wanted the praise,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: I wanted all of that. I was eager to be
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: told what an amazing job I had done. And of
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: course she responded, you know, you know where she's where
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: I'm going with this, because you're way ahead of me.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: She responded by saying she hadn't even gone up to
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: the space yet and was just getting ready to do so. Well,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: I completely figured they were messing with me, you know,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: her and my wife, but they were adamant. They stuck
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: to their guns. They had never left this room. She
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: walked in, went straight to the chair, picked up a baby,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: and they sat there until the moment when I walked in,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: and then she went upstairs. She had never gone up there.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: She said, well, I was dead sure I'd seen somebody.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: And with all the weird stuff that had happened that week,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: I began to wonder if something even weirder was going
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: on at my house. Well, the last thing that happened
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: during that really, really memorable week happened to my wife.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: We had a small bathroom in that house and it
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: had no lock on the door. So I installed this tiny,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: little flimsy sliding lock on it so people could have
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: some semblance of privacy. You know, I was the only
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: one who really used it. My wife was never really
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: one for lock doors or the need for privacy, but
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: for me, privacy was paramount. So I put that little
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: lock on there, and during that week, at the end
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: of that weird week, my wife I went through about
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: three days straight of being locked in that bathroom. Every
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: single time she went in, she didn't lock it. The
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: door locked on her. She never saw it lock, and
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: she swore she wasn't doing the locking. And no matter
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: what we tried, we could not make it happen on
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: its own. Never happened to me, but every time she'd
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: go in there, or many times that she'd go in
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: there during that end of that week, she'd find that
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: door locked on her, that little sliding bolt you know,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: set in place. So a lot of crazy stuff in
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: that old house. You know, who knows what was going on.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Maybe we were imagining things. That's possible. Maybe the previous
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: owners weren't thrilled with my renovation choices or my color
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: choices or whatever. Either way, it made for a really
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: memorable week. So what's the paint point, the home improvement point. Well,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: rather than talk further about the mysterious and the supernatural,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: let's talk about a more practical, aka boring type of
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: haunting that's going on in many older homes. And I'm
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: referring to old, out of date systems hiding behind the
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: walls and in the floors of our old houses. And
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: if you think I'm making a leap here, I am.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: I really wanted to talk about ghost stories and this
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: was the best way I could think to make that legit.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: And still, you know, pay my bills and do my
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: due diligence by talking about home improvement stuff. All Right,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: I've got a friend that within the last few years
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: or so, fell in love with the nineteen twenties Bungalow house.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: The woodwork, the built into the character, everything in the
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: house was perfect. But then Heena's wife went through the
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: house and started spotting some of these spirits from the
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: past that were haunting this perfect little house. Nobin tube wiring,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: cast iron plumbing, an old octopus furnace, just to name
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: a few, And they ended up trying to do a
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: ton of research in a quick way to figure out
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: what all of that meant, you know, and whether or
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: not they could or should move on the house or
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: keep looking. So today I want to break down some
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: common old house systems that you might encounter, what they
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: mean for your home, and when you actually need to
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: worry about them, and whether your house hunting or not.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: These are really interesting systems. I keep saying it's boring.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: It's not boring at all. They're interesting systems, and knowing
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: about them it's really going to make you seem that
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: much smarter when your kids start house hunting, or your grandkids,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: or when people at a party ask about an octopus furnace,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: what's that you're going to know? All right, So let's
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: start with the electrical system, because really This is usually
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: that first blast from the past that scares buyers. And
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: I want to talk specifically about noob and tube wiring. Now,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: noob and tube it was the standard wiring method from
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: the late eighteen hundreds or so through the nineteen thirties
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: and even into the early forties. In some parts of
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: the country. You'll still see bits of it and homes
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: built well into the fifties. So if you're looking at
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: anything built before nineteen fifty, there's a real chance that
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: you'll run into, you know, noob and tube wiring. And
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: it gets its name from the ceramic tubes that the
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: wires ran through and the ceramic knobs that held everything
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: in place. And here's something a lot of people don't expacked.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: For its time, it was actually a really well designed system.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: You know, the wide spacing, the wire's cool, the porcelain
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: components they don't deteriorate, and the copper conductors they can
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: last a long, long, long, long time. And here's a
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: part that really surprises people. Nob and two wiring is
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: not inherently dangerous. Old copper doesn't wear out just because
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: it's old. The problems that we encounter with nob and
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: two wiring comes from three basic things. First off, there's
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: no ground wire, and that means you can't safely use
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: three prong appliances, and there's no protection if a fault occurs.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: And while the National Electrical Code the NEEC doesn't specifically
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: ban old nob and tube wiring from existing in a house,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: it does prohibit ungrounded wiring in kitchens, bathrooms and other
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: wet areas. So if you find active nob and tube
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: wiring serving those spaces, it's automatically not cool. It's automatically
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: not up to modern standards. So that's the first thing. Second,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: nob and tube was never intended, of course, it was
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: never intended for today's electrical loads. Right, we're asking a
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: system designed for a couple of lights in maybe a radio,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: you know, the talking box, We're asking that system to
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: handle microwaves, air conditioners, computers, TVs and everything else we
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: plug in. It's just not suited for that kind of
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: heavy lifting. Third, and this is usually the big one, insulation.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: You know, nob and tube wiring was designed to sit
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: out in the open air, so it could release heat.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: The moment you bury it in blown in insulation, you
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: can trap that heat, and that creates a fire hazard. Now,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: For that reason, the National Electric Code the NEC generally
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: doesn't allow insulation over active nob and tube, and most
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: local jurisdictions follow that rule. Now a few Western states California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: they've carved out really specific exceptions to the rule, but
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: they require, you know, special inspections and contractor certifications and
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: all that to get around or to fill in or
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: to make those exceptions fly. For most of the country, though,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: the bottom line is pretty simple. If you want to
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: insulate your home, then noob and tube usually has to
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: be replaced. Now, another thing to keep in mind, many
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: older homes have been partially rewired over the years. You
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: might have modern wiring in the kitchen and the bathrooms,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: but original knob and tubes still running to other areas.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: Now when old and new systems are connected improperly, which
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: does happen, unfortunately, it can create additional hazards. So with
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: all of that said, if you find noob and tube
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: in a house that you're considering, you need to just
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: start by having it thoroughly evaluated by an electrician who
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: understands older systems, and that inspection is really really important,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: especially before you start any renovation work. Of any kind.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: If the wiring is original, if it's unmodified, in good shape,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: it's in open and dry areas, it could easy be
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: safe to live with for now. But if you want
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: to insulate your home, and most homeowners eventually do, or
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: if any of the wiring happens to run through damp
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: locations or anything like that, replacement usually becomes the safest
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: and the most practical option. Now, rewiring a home typically
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: runs anywhere from twelve thousand to thirty six thousand, depending
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: on the size and the access, so it's a major project.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: But again it's often necessary because many insurance companies just
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: won't cover homes with active knob and tube wiring, or
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: they require, you know, really strict conditions, you know, like
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: a licensed electrician certification that it's safe, maybe an agreement
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: to replace the system within a specific timeframe. Some insurers
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: they're only going to offer coverage if a small portion
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: of the home still has nob and tube. The availability
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: of insurance varies by carrier and by state, so you
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: need to do your research there. You know, I can't
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: make a sweeping generalization for all the insurance companies out there,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: but the bottom line is that noob and tube wiring
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: can significantly complicate getting homeowner's insurance. I think we can
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: say it safely that way. It makes it more complicated.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: So you're gonna want to dig into that, all right.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: That's one little goodie that can be haunting an old home. Now,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: let's talk about plumbing, and in this case, there are
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: two older systems that you need to understand, cast iron
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: and galvanized steel. Now, cast iron that was used for drain,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: waste and vent lines from the eighteen hundreds, late eighteen
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: hundreds through the nineteen seventies. It's incredibly durable. Many systems last,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: you know, eighty to one hundred years or more, but
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: it does corrode from both the inside and the outside.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: Inside sewage, you gotta love that. Sewage produces hydrogen sulfide gas,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: which turns into sulfuric acid, and that slowly can eat
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: away at the metal. Now, outside soil conditions, especially acidic
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: or moist soils, can attack the pipe over time, and
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: eventually the iron, you know, is going to rust through. Now,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: common signs of a failing cast iron system includes sewer
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: odors in the home. What's that smell? Sure does smell
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: like the sewer Boyd, that's a tip off that maybe
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: the cast iron system is failing. So sewer orders in
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: the home, that's a big tip off, slow drains, backups,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: gurgling sounds, wet spots in the yard. Now, if you've
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: got rust colored water in your sink, that's usually pointing
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: to old galvanized supply lines, not cast iron drains, but
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: rust flakes around floor drains and deteriorated cleanouts. All of
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: those things can indicate trouble. If you're seeing any of this,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: it's time for a plumber to run a camera inspection
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: and let you know exactly where you're at. Now, the
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: good news, the good news in all of that is
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: that modern pipe relining methods. We've talked about these on
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: the show probably a year or two ago. I'll dig
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: that up and put a link in the show notes.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: But modern pipe relining methods can sometimes extend the life
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: of cast iron without tearing everything up. A resin liner
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: can be inserted into the pipe and cured in place,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: and that gives you a smooth new interior. It's way
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: less invasive than a full replacement. But if the pipe
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: is severely deeriorated, complete replacement maybe unavoidable, and that usually runs,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: you know, anywhere from ten to thirty thousand, depending on
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: the house. Galvanized steel pipes, So we just covered cast
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: iron systems. Now let's talk about galvanized steel pipes. They're different.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: They were used for freshwater supply lines, you know, the
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: water coming into the home from the twenties through the
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: nineteen sixties. And basically what these are are steel pipes
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: coated with zinc. Now the idea was really really good,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: but over time that zinc wears away and the steel
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: begins to rust from the inside out. Now, galvanized pipes,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: they've got a lifespan of probably about forty to fifty
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: years or so, sometimes less in areas with harder, mineral
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: heavy water. So if your home was built before nineteen
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: sixty and the original plumbing is still in place, those
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: pipes are kind of beyond their expected life span. So
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: I love just dishing out great news on a Saturday
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: morning or whenever you catch this show, but that is
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: the reality, and there are some warning signs. You can
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: look for low water pressure, especially on the hot water side,
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: brown or rusty water from the taps, visible rust at
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: the pipe joints, leaks, you know, a leak is always
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: a sign that something's not right. I don't know what's
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: going on, but that leak tells me something's not right.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: The tricky thing with galvanized is that it can look
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: perfectly fine from the outside while being almost completely clogged,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: let's say, on the inside. You know, I've seen water
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: supply lines reduced to the diameter of a pencil, you know,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: but outside they look fine. Replacing all of these things again,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: really hard to give numbers to this, but it could
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: cost anywhere from eight thousand to twenty thousand for a
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: typical house, you know, depending on size, number of stories,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: whether it's on a slab or has a basement. Modern
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: options are copper or PEX tubing. Pex is now probably
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: the most common because it's faster, it's cheaper, it's more
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: forgiving if water freezes in the lines. All of that,
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: here's one important note before we move on. Some insurance
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: companies won't ensure homes with active galvanized plumbing, or they'll
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: charge significantly higher premiums. So replacing those pipes often isn't
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: a comfort upgrade. It's a requirement. All right. There's a
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: couple different things haunting our homes. Let's move on and
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: talk about one more little ghost that's lurking, and I
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: want to talk about gravity furnaces. These are massive cast
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: iron systems that were installed from the late eighteen hundreds
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: through the nineteen fifties, and they're commonly called octopus furnaces
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: because of the great, big, huge tentacle like ducks spreading
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: out from the center. They're like monsters that live in
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: your basement. They're nightmare fuel if you're a small child.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: And unlike modern forced air systems, these older systems, these
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: gravity furnaces, they rely entirely on natural convection, you know,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: hot air rises, cold air falls, and because of that,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: they're usually only about you know, fifty percent of the
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: you know, don't get all hung up on that, but
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: that seems to be the general easiest way to state
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: that about fifty percent efficient. You know. So in practical terms,
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: what I'm getting at is you burn a lot more
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: fuel for the same amount of heat that you get
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: from a more efficient system. You also can't add central
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: air conditioning to a gravity system. There's simply no blower
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: to push air across an ac coil or move it
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: through the house. You know, the system wasn't designed for it,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: so central air just isn't an option until the furnace
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: and the duct work are replaced. And on top of that,
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: many of these old furnaces and their ducks were originally
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: wrapped in asbestos insulation. You know, now, that doesn't automatically
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: mean danger and that you should freak out, but it
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: does mean that you can't just tear these things out
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: by yourself. So if you find one of these furnaces
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: still in operation in your home, assume that it's nearing
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: the end of its useful life, you know, replacement for one,
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: especially once you factor in asbestos abatement and new duct work.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Typically that report placement's going to run anywhere between eight
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: thousand and fifteen thousand, but that is just you know,
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: for starters. It depends on how things shake out, how
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: things go, how big the house is. It could go higher,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: you know, you could be in the twenty thousand dollars range.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: You just need to get those quotes. That's not what
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: I'm here for. I'm trying to give you a ballpark
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: to help you decide if it's time to run away
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: or if it's something you can budget for. Anyway, if
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: you're looking at an older home wrapping everything up, you know,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: and we've got a lot of beautiful historic housing here.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: If you're looking at an older home, get a thorough
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: home inspection. It's a really good argument for why that's important.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: But also beyond just that inspection, consider bringing in specialists.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: You know, a home inspector. They're going to give you
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: this big picture overview, but an electrician who understands nob
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: and tube wiring, a plumber who can run a camera
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: through your drains, and an HVAC tech who's actually worked
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: on those old octopus furnaces. Those folks are going to
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: be able to give you specific, actionable information. It's going
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: to help you decide and make better plans regarding what
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: is your next step and what you should be doing
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: moving forward with that particular house. Now, don't let any
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: of this really scare you away from a house that
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: you love. Older homes are incredible. They're often better built
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: in many key ways, and they've got character that you
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: can't recreate, and they're in established neighborhoods with mature trees
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: and a real history. So a lot going for these
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: older homes. Just go in with your eyes open. Know
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: what you're buying, Understand what may need attention, and plan accordingly.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: All right, let's shift gears. What do you think causes
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: the most damage to chimneys. It's actually not fire related
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: at all. We'll talk about what it is and most importantly,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: what you can do to prevent it. Right after this.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Homing Progress is brought to you by Repcolite Paints and
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Benjamin Moore. Think about it. You spend hours prepping, sandy, taping,
• 32:51
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• 32:54
  Speaker 1: with an inferior product. The paint isn't just another supply.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: The paint is the project. Make sure it's the and
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: we're back. You're listening to Home in Progress, sponsored by
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: Repcolite Paints and Benjamin Moore. And a couple of weeks ago,
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  Speaker 1: I talked about the roof leak that I had up
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  Speaker 1: near my chimney, and like all home projects, the more
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  Speaker 1: I dug in, the more I learned. And one thing
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  Speaker 1: I didn't talk about in that segment, but I really
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  Speaker 1: should have was the chimney itself. You know there are
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  Speaker 1: something like, yeah, I don't know, forty million, I think
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  Speaker 1: was the number I ran across. Forty million masonry chimneys
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  Speaker 1: in North America, and the most common problem that they
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  Speaker 1: deal with is water, not fire, not critters, but water.
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  Speaker 1: So what's the deal with that. Why in the world
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  Speaker 1: is water such a big problem for chimneys. Well, first off,
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  Speaker 1: brick and mortar themselves are basically like sponges, you know,
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  Speaker 1: every time it rains, they soak up water. And then
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  Speaker 1: in Michigan we've got our freeze thought cycles that turn
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  Speaker 1: that moisture that's in the brick and in the mortar
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  Speaker 1: turns it into cracks, crumbling mortar, and spawling brick. So,
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  Speaker 1: right off the bat, you've got, you know, just the
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  Speaker 1: very nature of the bricks and the mortar themselves make
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  Speaker 1: water the issue. Second, you've got the chimney crown. You
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  Speaker 1: know that slab at the top that should be concrete,
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  Speaker 1: It should be sloped, and it should be overhanging the
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  Speaker 1: brick to get the water away from the brick. But
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  Speaker 1: many crowns are just thin mortar, they're cracked, they're flat,
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  Speaker 1: or they're flush with the chimney, so that water ends
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  Speaker 1: up running straight down the side and right back in
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  Speaker 1: through the bricks. So that's a huge problem. Third, you've
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  Speaker 1: got flashing around the chimney, you know, it's the metal
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  Speaker 1: where the chimney meets the roof. It's that metal band
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  Speaker 1: right there. And if that metal band around that chimney
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  Speaker 1: and it isn't sealed well, or if it's not installed correctly,
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  Speaker 1: water can sneak right behind it and into the attic.
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  Speaker 1: So water can cause all kinds of problems around a chimney.
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  Speaker 1: So what do we do as homeowners? You know, if
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  Speaker 1: we're not seeing water dripping into the attic or anything
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  Speaker 1: like that, do we just figure we're fine and we
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  Speaker 1: just wait, or is there anything that we should be
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  Speaker 1: looking at? Well, there are a few things, of course,
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  Speaker 1: that you can look at and check out to kind
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  Speaker 1: of determine the health of your chimney. And first look
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  Speaker 1: for white chalky stains on the brick. If you see
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  Speaker 1: a lot of white chalky stains on the bricks of
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  Speaker 1: your chimney, that's efflorescence, and that means that moisture is
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  Speaker 1: moving through the brick. Efflorescence, it's basically salt deposits, is
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  Speaker 1: what it boils down to. We talk about it inside
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  Speaker 1: the home, you know, and every time you see efflorescence,
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  Speaker 1: it just means there's a moisture issue taking place, all right.
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  Speaker 1: So if you see white, chalky stains on the bricks,
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  Speaker 1: that's a bit of a warning sign. If you see
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  Speaker 1: spawling bricks where the faces are popping off, you know
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  Speaker 1: that's a warning sign, right. That means water is causing that.
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  Speaker 1: Like we mentioned the freeze thought cycles. Water gets in
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  Speaker 1: freezes and it will start to degrade the brick. You
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  Speaker 1: see spawling, So look for those things. Look for cracked
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  Speaker 1: mortar joints or missing pieces of mortar. You know, that's
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  Speaker 1: something to pay attention to. Check out that crown. If
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  Speaker 1: it's flat, if it's cracked, if it doesn't have an overhang,
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  Speaker 1: all of those things are issues that you're going to
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  Speaker 1: want to explore further. If there's gaps in the flashing,
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  Speaker 1: you know, or the flashing isn't sealed, well, again, that's
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  Speaker 1: a concern and you should get somebody out there to
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  Speaker 1: take a look at that. So what do you do
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  Speaker 1: if you find some of these things. I can't cover everything.
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  Speaker 1: I will cover as much as I can in the
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  Speaker 1: time i'm left with. But if you've got crown issues,
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  Speaker 1: you know, hairline cracks or something like that, A lot
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  Speaker 1: of pros will come out and they'll brush on and
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  Speaker 1: elast Americ coating and on. The last Americ coating is
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  Speaker 1: just a real it's basically a rubberized coating. It goes
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  Speaker 1: on like paint, but it's just really really thick. It's stretchy,
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  Speaker 1: and it's for the crown and it will seal it
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  Speaker 1: in and protect it. If you've got large cracks or
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  Speaker 1: a flat mortar only crown, well then you're probably looking
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  Speaker 1: at a rebuild. You know, have to get somebody out
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  Speaker 1: there to rebuild it. You know, if it doesn't have
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  Speaker 1: the overhang or anything like that, it's going to have
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  Speaker 1: to be rebuilt. And so you're going to want to
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  Speaker 1: get some some quotes on that. If you're experiencing water problems,
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  Speaker 1: I would for sure if you notice those things, get
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  Speaker 1: an inspector out there who can look it over and
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  Speaker 1: give you some good advice. You know, as he's looking
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  Speaker 1: at exactly or she is looking at exactly what you're
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  Speaker 1: dealing with, so crown issues, that's what you would do
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  Speaker 1: with some of those things. If you've got damaged brick
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  Speaker 1: or mortar, you know, spawling bricks or deteriorated joints you're
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  Speaker 1: probably gonna need a mason or a chimney pro out
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  Speaker 1: there to help you fix that. If you've got flashing problems,
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  Speaker 1: get a good roofer. You know, they'll come out and
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  Speaker 1: fix it. If you've got flashing concerns, a lot of
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  Speaker 1: roofing companies will come out and they'll give you a
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  Speaker 1: free estimate to diagnose if you do have an issue
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  Speaker 1: out there above Roofine, Sheriff, Goslin, Roofinge, they'll all come
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  Speaker 1: out and, do you know, just a free inspection and
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  Speaker 1: give you some good info that you can run with.
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  Speaker 1: Waterproofing the chimney, this is something that's a really good option.
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  Speaker 1: It's something that you probably should be doing on a
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  Speaker 1: regular basis. At Repcolite, we've got a great option, all
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  Speaker 1: Pro Waterproofing Sealer. It's one hundred percent clear acrylic sealer
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  Speaker 1: creates a really strong, flexible, breathable coding that deeply penetrates
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  Speaker 1: porous substrates like the brick. It's going to protect them,
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  Speaker 1: waterproof them, but still allow moisture vapor to escape. That's
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  Speaker 1: really important. Don't paint your chimney bricks with some kind
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  Speaker 1: of you know, film forming coding like that. Elastameric. That
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  Speaker 1: Elasta America I mentioned is for the crown only. Don't
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  Speaker 1: be painting anything up there without consulting an experts. So
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  Speaker 1: if you've got issues or concerns about your chimney, talk
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  Speaker 1: to the right people. And if you're thinking that you'd
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  Speaker 1: like to get a waterproofer on those bricks as a
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  Speaker 1: good preventative maintenance project, stop out at your nearest Rep
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  Speaker 1: Colite store. Tell us what you're working on, you know
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  Speaker 1: what you got going, and we'll walk you through everything
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  Speaker 1: you need to know to make sure you do it right.
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  Speaker 1: And like I said, don't seal those bricks with anything
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  Speaker 1: without talking about it first with some experts. Not just
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  Speaker 1: talking about it, talk about it with some experts. Stop
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  Speaker 1: out at a store, at a Rep Coolite and talk
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  Speaker 1: to us about it. Because using the wrong product on
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  Speaker 1: those bricks can actually potentially make the situation worse. So
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  Speaker 1: don't do that. Talk to us. We'll help you do
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  Speaker 1: it right. All right, that's going to do it for
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  Speaker 1: this episode of Home in Progress. If you enjoyed what
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• 39:05
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• 39:09
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• 39:13
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• 39:16
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  Speaker 1: By all means, leave one or twelve, I don't even care.
• 39:23
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• 39:27
  Speaker 1: all of that stuff. I've got links to some of
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: the resources that I mentioned in this episode. I've got
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: links in the show notes, so check those out. I'm
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  Speaker 1: pretty much rambling right now, so i'm gonna wrap it
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  Speaker 1: up for Home in Progress. I'm Dan Hansen. Thanks for listening.