Episode 1544
Designing an outdoor living space and picking the right generator for power backup
Outdoor living has been a huge trend over the last five years. Here are my tips to designing a great outdoor space. Plus we talk with Jared Griffo from Electric Generators Direct about finding that right back up power for those summer power outages.
For more information check them out here: https://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/
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Mentioned in this episode:
Baldwin Hardware
A new kind of decking and siding from Millboard
For more information about the latest in decking and cladding head to https://www.millboard.com/
Transcript
[00:00:28] Eric Goranson: And then later on in the show, we'll talk with Jared Griffo from. Electric generators direct. I'm trying to figure out backup power. Maybe it's hurricane season, maybe it's tornado season. Maybe you'll live on the west coast where we've got wildfires and the power could be off for days, either one. We've got a great show lined up for you to cover outdoor living and backup power generation.
[:[00:01:00] Intro: but we've got you covered. Is around the house.
[:[00:01:11] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to hour number two today. We've got a great show coming up. If you're listening to us on the radio. Thanks for tuning in and, uh, don't worry if you miss part of the show. If you're a radio listener, you can always catch the podcast found on your favorite podcast player. Thanks for all of you tuning in today.
[:[00:01:52] Eric Goranson: So let's, I broke this up into segments kind of here so we can break it off into pieces so we're not jumping all around today. When it comes to outdoor living [00:02:00] spaces, I can tell you what planning is the most important part of all this, because you need to really think about how you're going to live in it, so you can make sure and put the pieces in, because there's some definite steps that have to happen here.
[:[00:02:40] Eric Goranson: So let's say you build your deck and you go to put your outdoor kitchen in, and you go, oh, wow. I didn't build this deck to be able to hold the extra couple thousand pounds of materials that I'm putting in for the outdoor kitchen. So now I have to go rebuild the deck. So you wanna start this plan from start to finish.[00:03:00]
[:[00:03:19] Eric Goranson: Cause I had slab countertops going on there. If you were doing concrete or tile or something like that, you don't want the typical spongy deck. You need to build this heavy duty like you would a house. Not just an outdoor deck. So you really need to plan for that in that, and making sure you have enough power in utilities.
[:[00:04:08] Eric Goranson: There's so many different things out there that you need to plan for. You know, you have televisions, you have all these different things that are going on out there. You need to make sure that you have enough of that there. So that's really what it is. How about natural gas? Are you gonna put a gas cooktop in there?
[:[00:04:50] Eric Goranson: And you're something solid. So think about all of those needs before you build it so you can get that stuff there. And [00:05:00] then what materials you're using for the cabinetry. Countertops, one of my least favorite materials for countertops are stainless steel. It's scratches easy and it's really hot in full sun.
[:[00:05:39] Eric Goranson: So think about that. Think about what the flooring material is. You are gonna be dropping grease in many cases if you're barbecuing, unless you're doing plant-based burgers. There's gotta be some kind of fats there. So if you've got a, uh, a decking material, wanna make sure that that's one of the, like the PVC capped ones or something that's sealed, or it's a tile surface that can get grease on it.[00:06:00]
[:[00:06:29] Eric Goranson: Your DAK over the septic tank lid. Right. Unless, like a project that I saw with Dr. Dax, he actually did a radius design in the middle and the center medallion came out of the radius, and that's where the septic tank lid was. So that's one way to do that. But having access to all this stuff, you don't wanna be bearing, you know, shut off valves, sprinkler systems, whatever, when you do this deck.
[:[00:07:16] Eric Goranson: Now, that's really important. Next thing is, as part of the planning, okay, what do I need? I want you to plan for the weather conditions. For your home. Do you need shade? Do you need a space to hide from the rain like I do? Do you have heavy sun that comes from one direction that you're trying to do prevailing winds that are a problem?
[:[00:08:16] Eric Goranson: But if I got 200, two square feet, I need a permit. Permits are not a bad thing. They're just gonna force you to build it, to make sure that it's strong enough to make. And work in your area. Now, if you've got hurricanes or if you've got severe thunderstorms that tend to pop up in your area or heavy winds, you want to build it to be able to withstand the lift, cuz you know, patio covers can act like a wing.
[:[00:09:04] Eric Goranson: So making sure that these things are all dialed in and properly fastened and fastened into the ground, especially if you're like a frost area where if maybe on the east coast or the north where, uh, frosty is a thing, sometimes those footings need to be 3, 4, 5 feet deep. That way, they don't lift that and the frost heaves it up out of the ground.
[:[00:09:58] Intro: What's up, Mrs. Stick and [00:10:00] Satchel from?
[:[00:10:03] Intro: to Around
[:[00:10:09] Intro: should too.
[:[00:10:41] Eric Goranson: Look, uh, for our announcement here about, uh, some of our new stuff coming up, that's gonna be really exciting and, uh, to give you guys some special access, you'll be able to find that over at around the house online.com for more information there. Now we've been talking about my top 10 tips and [00:11:00] probably then some as well on designing an outdoor living space.
[:[00:11:33] Eric Goranson: Why you have it open, there's a time to wire that stuff up and get it roughed in. So making sure that you've got everything dialed in and planned for is key to this. Making sure that you're, uh, not building it where it's reducing access into the backyard sometimes. You know you've got a power pole on the back fence and your house is the planned access.
[:[00:12:16] Eric Goranson: Any of that is key, making sure that's styled in. Now let's talk about your materials for a minute, cuz that's a big one here as well. You know, if you're doing a clear plastic or one of the acrylic roof panels, that can be cool, but you have big trees up there where you're gonna be washing that every three or four weeks to do it.
[:[00:12:57] Eric Goranson: So that's the key there. Now, when you're [00:13:00] talking about materials composite deck, if you're gonna build a composite deck, Many old wooden decks had 16 or 24 inch on center when they're built with solid two by type material, like two by six outdoor wood decking, for instance. The problem is, is that a lot of the composites like to have a 12 to 16 inch on center joist pattern, so you might have to rebuild that to put composite if you're gonna reuse part or all of that deck framing.
[:[00:13:52] Eric Goranson: Maybe you're gonna look at steel like we talked about a few weeks ago in the show. So those are all things to really take a peak at. Now if [00:14:00] you're gonna do composite decking, find the right composite decking for your project. They're not all equal. Do you have blazing hot sun? If so, you might wanna look at that moisture shield stuff that reflects the heat.
[:[00:14:31] Eric Goranson: And that's the key right there, as well as that covered patio up there. Making sure that that's gonna be protecting the areas that you want. Make sure to understand what driving rain does, what the, where the sun's going, and those kind of things. So you're, you know, leaning it the right way or you're building it at the right height.
[:[00:15:08] Eric Goranson: Now a lighting plan is key for this because you wanna have equal coverage. If you've got a bar area, are you gonna have some hanging lights on that? Are you gonna have a pendant? You're gonna have a chandelier, a fan? Do you want something that's dim? So you could have a nice. You know, quiet, evening out, or do you want it bright where you've got the game on and people are doing stuff outside and they wanna be able to read a book or something like that.
[:[00:15:54] Eric Goranson: And those are those little details that can really make this look like a spectacular project. [00:16:00] So if you're not thinking about any of those lightings that you would have around your deck on the stairs and that kind of stuff, it's key. And then audio visual. What are you doing for a television? Where's your speakers gonna go?
[:[00:16:37] Eric Goranson: So really designing around those needs right there as well as what are you going to be drinking? We talked about this a little bit, but not in the outdoor kitchen as much, but I'm thinking more about the entertaining side. Do you have coolers out there where you always got, oh, my friends all drink beer and we always have a A cooler.
[:[00:17:15] Eric Goranson: Maybe you could think about building that in someplace that looks really cool, that gives it a, a home, but still works. Maybe you just need an ice maker outside, but then also thinking about how it's gonna win winter. You know, if you're in the South, where rarely does it freeze, it's not that big a deal.
[:[00:17:59] Eric Goranson: Thinking [00:18:00] these things through, and outdoor faucets are tough guys, and that's the first one. It can be done. But usually you're having to cut through a foundation wall. You're having to come up with something that needs to be, uh, insulated, something that needs to be able to be blown out, like a RV type system where you can.
[:[00:18:31] Eric Goranson: We'll be talking about furniture and some other little details. Just as soon as a around in the
[:[00:19:01] Intro: Hey, this is Ron Keel,
[:[00:19:09] Intro: with Eric
[:[00:19:11] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to The Round the House Show. This is where we hope you get the most outta your home through information and education. We've been talking today about designing that outdoor patio space.
[:[00:19:41] Eric Goranson: But let's, uh, wrap up this conversation here, of course, about outdoor living spaces and making sure that we've got that dialed in. Now one of the things that I want you to talk, wanna talk about is outdoor furniture. And depending on whether it's hitting the sun or it has to be covered, this is a great [00:20:00] conversation and making sure that you've got a fabric that's gonna be durable.
[:[00:20:26] Eric Goranson: You know, bug droppings, those kind of things. Any of those things can be damaging to your, your outdoor furniture. So making sure that you're taking care of it, you're keeping it clean. And when a Dow buy a nice pool cover for when that storm comes through, that you can just cover it up and protect it from the, uh, bad outdoor elements and it'll keep it cleaner.
[:[00:21:05] Eric Goranson: It's getting to be a little more worse for where, cuz we've used it, it's been out in the sun for, in the weather for a number of years and so it's had a lot of great life and one day we'll upgrade it. But, uh, I think it's got another year or two out of it before we decide to do something different with it.
[:[00:21:39] Eric Goranson: Well, one of the things here too that I want to just kind of wrap up is making sure that whatever you're doing outside. Fits the style of your home and it's really up to you. But I've seen some kind of things that maybe don't work well. Maybe you've got that southern, you know, classic mansion style or [00:22:00] plantation looking home, or you've got a colonial house.
[:[00:22:30] Eric Goranson: Never would've thought somebody would've done that here. That's not always a good thing. And these are all investments you can spend. 50, 60, 70, $80,000 really quickly outside, and those are one of the things that I really want you to make sure that you protect your investment, that it's gonna fit. One little trick that I like to do with my decking, let's say you've got a, a medium tone hardwood floor, and you've got a sliding or a patio door, double door going [00:23:00] outside, if you match that to the floor, Of your kitchen or dining room or wherever that's coming out of, and you make it look that way.
[:[00:23:30] Eric Goranson: And especially with the colors too. If you can kind of extend that outside a little bit, it will. If you've got a lot of glass, it will look like that living space continues on and on and on. Now that wraps up my thoughts on designing that outdoor living space now that we're coming into, uh, well, summertime here, and it doesn't matter if you're on the, on the East coast where we starting to cruise into hurricane season or out on the west coast out here, where we really start running into fire season.[00:24:00]
[:[00:24:24] Eric Goranson: It's not my debate here, but my point is, is that we are going to see more and more of the wind cul, you know, wind rolling blackouts on the west coast, and this will also happen out in the more forested areas of the East coast as well. This will come your way. And, uh, once it happens here, it's expanding, and we're already seeing it in the Pacific Northwest now.
[:[00:25:07] Eric Goranson: It doesn't matter if it's summertime or if we're in the middle of winter and we've got power outages. Backup power is something really important to have around your house. Today we got Jared Griffo Electric Generators direct. Welcome to Around the House. Thanks, Eric. Thanks for having me, man. You are my go-to guy for backup power, you know, and we've talked before, but I really wanna kind of address it because it's one of those things that now that we're moving more and more into electricity, it's even more important.
[:[00:25:36] Jared Griffo: yeah. Uh, we've been seeing the trend, you know, more people needing generators, you know, all across the country. You know, whether it's, you know, their grid is bad or they're in, you know, places where, you know, uh, uh, hurricanes, storms, you know, anything like that. Uh, yeah, people need power and, and definitely generators are the way to go right now.
[:[00:26:13] Eric Goranson: And, uh, those can last for days. So I think backup power is even more important now than it ever has been before, especially when we're starting to talk about maybe charging a car or two, just trying to get to the office.
[:[00:26:32] Jared Griffo: Solar's great, but solar's very limited. Um, and it's not just the sunlight. A lot of it is the, the. Products themselves. Can't put out enough power to charge your electric vehicle. You know, it's not gonna happen overnight either, because you know, you're not getting solar overnight. So, you know, generators, backup generators, whether it's, you know, a little small portable unit or you know, the home standbys are definitely going to be, uh, what people are gonna want, uh, for situations [00:27:00] like that.
[:[00:27:16] Eric Goranson: Standby. How do you pr, how do you figure out which one you want to go with as a consumer? Uh,
[:[00:27:37] Jared Griffo: Mm-hmm. When I could get a portable generator for maybe a couple grand and have it hooked to my home. So that's definitely something to weigh as far as options, but, There are limitations to the, the portables. Like, you know, if I'm in a hot area where I need air conditioning, portables just aren't gonna cut it.
[:[00:28:15] Jared Griffo: So, yeah.
[:[00:28:31] Intro: messages.[00:29:00]
[:[00:29:00] Eric Goranson: back to Around The House Show. Now let's continue our conversation with Jared Griffo from Electric Generators Direct. Yeah, that is key. And you know, the one nice thing that, uh, I will say, and this is one of the things that I'm always concerned about, is you know, that that portable generator I have is a big one.
[:[00:29:32] Eric Goranson: Mm-hmm. The backup, you know, the full backup system. It's automatic, isn't it? Yeah,
[:[00:29:54] Jared Griffo: So I do reference them a lot. But the, also the thing, I mean, There's a lot of older folks [00:30:00] down there, you know? Sure. My dad is retired down there, you know, that's, that's where it is. You just go, right. It's nice, but. You know, physically, you know, am I gonna want my 80 year old grandma or somebody down there trying to pullstar a generator, you know, trying to rip that cord to, to get something, you know, going to, to back up their house.
[:[00:30:37] Eric Goranson: So, yeah, we had a couple, one of the, one of the issues I had, just from a personal experience, I've got a great generator.
[:[00:31:02] Eric Goranson: I don't keep 32 gallons of gasoline around the house for obvious reasons. So that was a, that was a constant battle.
[:[00:31:25] Jared Griffo: Mm-hmm. Will, you'll get, you know, gasoline and, and propane or gasoline, propane and natural gas. Mm-hmm. Now, something to consider with those, you, you'll see a lot of the ratings out there where it'll say, you know, this generator's 8,000 watts, but that's on gasoline. There's a duration for the other fuels because they just don't have the same amount of energy.
[:[00:32:07] Jared Griffo: Uh, you know, and natural gas tends to be a little lesser expensive too. You know, 32 gallons of, of gasoline nowadays and 32 gallons of, you know, natural gas, uh, definitely are different in cost.
[:[00:32:28] Eric Goranson: With all the generators that were running, it smelled like it was everybody firing up their, their lawnmowers for the first time in the spring, all I smelled with carbon monoxide fuel. An exhaust outside just from all of those gasoline units running away 24 7. And it was, uh, not the best air quality. Yeah.
[:[00:33:04] Jared Griffo: That's another reason the, these standby generators kind of, uh, outshine the, the portables cuz I'm getting, you know, something that's, you know, they rate 'em in decibels and, you know, my customers, I, I try to say, oh, this is 68 decibels, which to most people means nothing, right? Yes. But so I always rate it this.
[:[00:33:45] Eric Goranson: We can't really sleep with it so Well, and and to be honest, that's a good analogy because a lot of those bigger engines are what goes on at riding lawnmowers. Yeah. So, I mean, it's the exact same thing. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's interesting, so I know when people come [00:34:00] over to your website for instance, they can really search and take a look.
[:[00:34:13] Jared Griffo: Uh, we can definitely get the people going. I mean, we have, uh, sizing calculators where, you know, they can just kind of type in, you know, what they want, hit the checklist and it'll kind of spit out a general idea.
[:[00:34:43] Jared Griffo: But local code can over, always, always supersede that, right? Yeah. As long as it's more safe, not less safe than, than manufacturer. Um, but the load calculation is key. I mean, it, it, it, we wanna make sure, I mean, we usually kind of oversize generators, [00:35:00] kind of want to be about 20% larger than whatever your requirement is.
[:[00:35:26] Jared Griffo: So yeah. An electrician that makes sense. Electricians are, are key in this, but they, you can definitely get going without having one up
[:[00:35:47] Eric Goranson: And power your house. There's a little more to that, isn't there?
[:[00:36:11] Jared Griffo: Uh mm-hmm. And so the working professional goes out. He's using this truck, he can plug into it and use it as a generator, which is fantastic. But because of that, there's OSHA regulation, right? Says I'm on a job site. OSHA is involved and you don't want people getting electrocuted. So a hundred percent what they do is they cover everything with G F C I.
[:[00:36:49] Jared Griffo: Now, what they have are, um, what they call switched neutral transfer switches. And Okay, what it does is instead of just switching from, you know, utility to [00:37:00] generator, it's going to have a. Kind of a middle section where it's actually switching that neutral, which then doesn't cause it to trip breakers. Um, it's something to consider.
[:[00:37:36] Eric Goranson: all those crazy things.
[:[00:37:44] Jared Griffo: I, I'm no electrician, but I know enough to be dangerous and yeah, it's, I still scratch my hedge on some of this.
[:[00:37:59] Eric Goranson: Um,
[:[00:38:21] Jared Griffo: Um, there's a few things new that are coming out. You know, a lot of the battery powered stuff that I've gone through, some of the other people aren't, you know, as versed in it. Yep. Um, but as far as generators go, we definitely excel in that. Uh, that's why we, we try to be number one in, in the generator world.
[:[00:38:40] Eric Goranson: No question. Well, man, thanks for coming on today. And heck, if somebody calls in, they might even get you on the
[:[00:38:55] Eric Goranson: There we go. Jared Griffel, Griffel Electric generators, direct Power Equipment [00:39:00] Direct.
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