Episode 2178
From Shingles to Circuits: Your Home's Upgrade Guide
We're diving deep into the world of roofing and electrical upgrades this hour, and trust me, you won't want to miss it! Eric G and John Dudley kick things off by exploring why choosing the right roofing material for your climate is more important than picking the right outfit for a first date. We’re talking asphalt shingles, metal roofs, and the unique quirks each region brings to the table—because one-size-fits-all just doesn’t cut it when it comes to keeping your house cozy and dry. Then, we shift gears into the electrifying topic of home electrical upgrades. Whether you're thinking of adding a car charger or simply want to make sure your panel can handle your Netflix binge-watching habit, we've got the lowdown on what makes sense and what’ll leave your wallet crying for mercy. So, get comfy and let’s get to the nitty-gritty of making your home a fortress against the elements and a haven of convenience! We dove deep into the world of roofing, and boy, did we uncover some gems! Eric G and John Dudley kicked off the show with a casual chat about the importance of choosing the right roofing materials for your specific climate — because let’s face it, a tile roof in the Pacific Northwest is like wearing flip-flops in a snowstorm. They shared stories about their own experiences, including Eric's brother who learned the hard way that not all roofs are created equal, especially when it comes to withstanding the wild winds of the desert. The guys emphasized the necessity of considering local weather patterns when selecting roofing options. You’ll hear about the pros and cons of various materials, from asphalt shingles to metal roofs, and even some eco-friendly alternatives that might just save your roof (and wallet) in the long run. But wait, there’s more! The second half of the episode took a sharp turn into electrical upgrades that can make your home smarter and safer. Eric and John tackled the common pitfalls of DIY electrical work, especially with the surge in popularity of electric car chargers. They had a good laugh over the challenges of upgrading electrical panels and how many people are still in the dark about the importance of pulling permits. It’s not just about aesthetics and convenience; it’s about safety, and our hosts are here to make sure you don’t end up with a shocking surprise! They shared some innovative solutions, like the Ting Fire system, which monitors your home’s electrical health and can potentially save you from a disaster. With their signature banter and practical advice, Eric and John made sure this episode was not just informative, but genuinely entertaining, proving that home improvement can be a wild ride!
Takeaways:
- Choosing the right roofing material for your climate can save you big bucks and headaches down the road.
- When it comes to electrical upgrades, don't skimp on safety; pulling permits is key to avoiding future disasters.
- Avoid the temptation to DIY electrical work unless you're 100% confident; call in the pros to keep your home safe.
- Investing in the right roofing system not only enhances your home's value but also improves its efficiency against the elements.
- Remember, a solid electrical panel is the heart of your home; don't let outdated systems put you at risk.
- Regular maintenance on your roof can extend its life significantly, saving you from costly repairs later on.
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Transcript
Foreign.
Speaker B:Ready to turn your house into the home you've always dreamed of without the headaches or huge bills.
Speaker B:You're tuned to around the House, the nation's number one home improvement radio show and podcast with expert advice that's helped millions tackle everything from remodels to repairs.
Speaker B:Host Serig G. And John Dudley have got you covered with the best advice and information about your home.
Speaker B:Now let's get this hour started.
Speaker A:Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.
Speaker A:Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker A:I'm Eric G. John Dudley, good to see you.
Speaker A:This is going to be a fun episode today, brother.
Speaker C:Oh sure.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:They always one of your favorites, roofing.
Speaker C:Let's go.
Speaker A:Oh man, I tell you what, this is a pet peeve of mine because for instance, I live in the Pacific Northwest and for some reason some builders forget that we're or even homeowners forget that we're in the Pacific North Northwest and one roof surface does not fit all climates in my opinion.
Speaker A:And you should be paying attention to the roofing that's going up.
Speaker A:Great example.
Speaker A:I don't talk to one of my brothers much every few years if I have to.
Speaker A:But I was talking to my mom this last weekend and she's oh yeah, we had that windstorm and he could hear the shingles blowing off his roof and he called his roofer in the middle of the night at 2am and left him a voicemail so he could be first in line to get somebody out there.
Speaker A:Now this house is what, five or six years old.
Speaker A:So this isn't a new roof.
Speaker A:But he is out in the middle of the desert where the wind rushes through there and a 30 mile an hour day.
Speaker A:30 mile an hour wind is a calm day.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's getting 70, 80, 90 mile an hour.
Speaker A:And of course he didn't talk to me about anything about the house.
Speaker A:When he had a built in I would have went probably should put on either metal or even better put on something that is a hurricane rated asphalt shingle and you'll probably be good.
Speaker A:No, they probably put the 25 year architectural up there that was as cheap as you could get the builder special.
Speaker A:And now every four or five years he's up there having somebody weave in more roofing up there and it's always going to look like you've just woven more roofing.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, we see that so often.
Speaker A:And what I mean by that is like for instance here in the Pacific Northwest, at least on our side of the state here.
Speaker A:And I Say that because in Washington and Oregon, there's the Cascade mountains that divide the state kind of left and right as you look at it and politically.
Speaker A:But when you look at it, you got desert on one side and on the coastal side, you got this wet area over there where moss grows on everything.
Speaker A:And when you put a clay or concrete tile roof on it, it doesn't work so well.
Speaker A:It's not like it's Arizona.
Speaker A:That concrete, man, it loves to soak up moisture.
Speaker A:And two, when it does, it is just the perfect medium for moss.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker C:I've pressure washed a few, my mom's house included.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And the problem is pressure washing it is tough because you get so much organic matter that likes to fill in down underneath it even.
Speaker A:And to get those to look good and even is a tough battle when you're up there.
Speaker A:Pressure washing, that's where you almost have to have the professional or contractor up there that knows what they're doing.
Speaker C:Yeah, that'd be me.
Speaker C:But yeah, it's not.
Speaker C:It's not a quick rinse down that stuff.
Speaker C:It's tough, man.
Speaker C:It's like barnacles on a boat.
Speaker C:It's insidious.
Speaker C:And you're right, it gets under there and oftentimes a keeping it consistent with your pressure washing.
Speaker C:So you don't got lines everywhere because you have to hit some of those spots so hard to get the moss off or loose.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And secondarily a lot of times with.
Speaker C:Especially with tile roofs, you get that moss out of there.
Speaker C:Now you got a roof leak because the moss was actually stopping the water from going through to your house.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You had that in there, which was true.
Speaker A:And then, oh, my gosh, you got the cleanup afterwards because that moss, you're wearing half of it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:If you don't put plastic down beforehand, you will the next time.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I'll be honest, that's where I look at the softwash guys out there and go, have at it, kids, because that's just a lot of work.
Speaker A:I saw a guy, my old house, the neighbor had paid some guys to come over and the guy was up with a little 110 karcher.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, that's pressure washer up there.
Speaker C:A little like he was up there
Speaker A:for three days on a not big house.
Speaker A:And I was just like, that's a
Speaker C:square inch at a time there.
Speaker C:That is not gonna suffice.
Speaker A:No, I was just like, oh, brutal.
Speaker A:No soaps, no nothing to no surfactants to break that down.
Speaker A:And I was just like, oh, brutal.
Speaker C:If you want to get out of the house?
Speaker C:I guess that's one way to hide.
Speaker A:Your wife's having the baby shower and the family's over.
Speaker A:I got to do the roof.
Speaker A:It's the one day I can do it.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's a great place for it.
Speaker C:I'd rather be tying flies in the garage, but they can come in the garage.
Speaker C:They ain't coming up on the roof.
Speaker A:No one's coming on the roof.
Speaker A:And that's the thing, man.
Speaker A:It's tough.
Speaker A:And we saw here in the 60s and 70s, we saw cedar shake shingles here, which were either the shakes are the big ones.
Speaker A:So those are the big hand split shakes that look kind of wavy and they break and they do it.
Speaker A:Versus a more traditional cedar shingle that looks like it's on the side of a house.
Speaker A:But those were maintenance nightmares as well for the same reasons.
Speaker A:And we had those on our house as a kid in eastern Washington in the Tri Cities.
Speaker A:And holy smokes, dude.
Speaker A:Those things, when they get dry in the summertime, when it's 110 degrees outside for a week and a half.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's a kindling fire ready to start.
Speaker C:Yeah, buddy.
Speaker C:And that.
Speaker C:And like, honestly, I'm a fan.
Speaker C:Like, I. I love me a.
Speaker C:A cedar shake roof, but.
Speaker C:Yeah, problematic, of course.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:Half the time nobody seals them, so water's just soaking right in.
Speaker C:Moss is growing in the first year.
Speaker C:You've got a jungle up there.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And again, another example of the minute you start pressure washing that moss off,
Speaker A:you're getting leaks and you're doing all of it.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:You're getting leaks in your roof.
Speaker A:When you think about how they built those roofs, many times they wanted that cedar to dry out, so they're stacked up on there.
Speaker A:But many times there's not a. I don't know, there's not tar paper underneath it.
Speaker A:They're up there on two by two lath across the.
Speaker A:Off the.
Speaker A:Or one by two lath across the top of that, or one by fours or whatever.
Speaker A:And there's an area that lets them breeze, so they're just over the top of that.
Speaker A:So when you go to tear that off, you're now resheathing the entire roof, which on a project can be expensive,
Speaker C:but it's super fun because you get to knock down all the little nails that had those shakes put in.
Speaker A:Yeah, I know, dude.
Speaker A:We had that.
Speaker A:We had that on the beach house out there.
Speaker A:They had.
Speaker A:That was not the shakes.
Speaker A:It was the cedar shingle roof.
Speaker A:And what was worse was they had that and then some not so smart person.
Speaker A:I'll be as nice as I can with that.
Speaker A:Decided to put three layers of three tab over the top of it.
Speaker C:Over the shingles?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:They nailed it right over the top of the shoes.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:Yeah, that should work out.
Speaker A:Was not fun.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:And of course that was the beach house.
Speaker A:We had another 10 layers of tarps over the top of that.
Speaker C:So wow.
Speaker A:It was the worst to pull off.
Speaker A:Now the good news was I didn't have to worry about getting rid of the asbestos filled tar paper because there wasn't any.
Speaker A:It was just a lot of times
Speaker C:they'd put that rosin paper under there.
Speaker C:You're like, what is it?
Speaker C:What was the point of that?
Speaker C:Even so your gum didn't fall through the cracks and
Speaker A:it was so bad.
Speaker A:And what they had done too, and I think they had used, was funny.
Speaker A:So they had dipped all the two by sixes that were actually two by fours that were going across or actually no, one by four.
Speaker A:Sorry, they're going across there.
Speaker A:They had dipped those in tar or had wiped tar on them so they wouldn't rotate.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker A:So that was cool.
Speaker A:Did it solve the problem?
Speaker A:No, no, because they still wouldn't put nails through it, which didn't help, but it did cut back on the rot.
Speaker A:But oh my gosh, that was a battle.
Speaker A:We had to resheet, resheat that whole thing.
Speaker A:And then it was all stick framed, not trusses.
Speaker A:So we had to do a lot of repairs.
Speaker A:In some areas where you couldn't get on it, it was just like, all right, let's cut that out and reframe
Speaker C:it many a, many a times, my friend.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Anyway, so I think for the Pacific Northwest, west coast, you know where you get that water.
Speaker A:Asphalt shingles, for instance, are great.
Speaker A:You can do some of the new composite tiles and stuff out there.
Speaker A:They have so many different roofing things now from damped metal that has a roofing coating on the outside of it where they look like shingles and they snap on.
Speaker A:There's the ones that look like slate that are made out of rubber.
Speaker A:Those are interesting.
Speaker A:And they nail on like you would a slate.
Speaker A:But they're made, actually made out of a rubber product.
Speaker C:So they're super durable, but doesn't sound eco friendly.
Speaker C:But it sounds like you could be
Speaker A:there a while when you're talking in our area and we're going to talk about different areas in the country here.
Speaker A:But when you talk about that, it's one of those things you really need to pay attention to of what your zone is, where you're at.
Speaker A:Because I think for the Pacific Northwest, asphalt shingles, metal roofing, and some of the composites make a lot of sense.
Speaker A:Now when we come back, Johnny, let's talk about kind of your area that you did a lot of stuff on.
Speaker A:That's gonna be the Pacific.
Speaker A:The Southwest, really?
Speaker A:We'll get out of the Pacific Northwest, go to the southwest and talk about that one return, because that's a whole different area that you used to work in.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's go.
Speaker A:Let's do it.
Speaker A:All right, we'll do that just as soon as around the House returns.
Speaker A:Don't change that dial.
Speaker A:Kids these days.
Speaker A:I'll never understand what it's like to play an instru.
Speaker A:What's up?
Speaker C:This is sticks it in you and Satchel from Steel Panther.
Speaker A:And you are listening to around the House with Eric G. Yeah, we love
Speaker B:Eric G. And you should, too.
Speaker A:1987.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.
Speaker A:If you want to find out more about us, head over to around the House online dot com.
Speaker A:John and I have been sitting here talking about roofing, and I know this can be like watching paint dry.
Speaker A:So we're going to try to keep you engaged here with this because it's not the most sexiest subject, but we're just trying to help you guys as you're out there looking to replace a roof or whatever, make some smarter decisions that will get you the most out of your money.
Speaker A:Because if you put the wrong roof in the wrong place, that can get really expensive because you don't want to do this twice.
Speaker A:Because even the least expensive asphalt shingle can be pretty expensive when you're talking about putting it down, up top and having to replace a bunch of stuff.
Speaker A:So we're trying to help you save some money in the long run and give you something that's going to be a good investment for your home.
Speaker A:So, John, Southwest, what was the most popular roof you saw down there?
Speaker A:Of course, we got everything.
Speaker C:Style, brother.
Speaker C:Everything's style.
Speaker C:Some of the, like little Rambler type homes would have just your basic three tab asphalt shingle on them.
Speaker C:But generally speaking, everything was tile everything.
Speaker C:And yeah, it was just.
Speaker C:It was same here in Columbia.
Speaker C:And tile floors, tile roofs, everything style.
Speaker C:Same thing in Arizona.
Speaker C:Tile floors, tile roofs.
Speaker C:But yeah, some of the, like, there were neighborhoods, older neighborhoods, 50s, 60s type neighborhoods with these just ranch style, Rambler style homes.
Speaker C:And a lot of those were Just asphalt shingles.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:But as long as they're lighter colors, 312 pitch, it's not so less.
Speaker C:And they're all single level, prone to a lot of, not a lot of wind problems.
Speaker C:But we get wind problems in the northwest as well with the three tab shingle.
Speaker C:They just blow off.
Speaker C:That's part of the deal.
Speaker A:That's what they do.
Speaker A:It's interesting.
Speaker A:And then you go up into the Northeast, for instance, you get up there even in the Midwest where you got snow and cold and that stuff.
Speaker A:Really, that's where you see the metal, the slate and the impact resistant higher end architectural shingles go in and they work well because you're now dealing with freeze thaw and trying to get snow load off for that.
Speaker C:That's why metal is good for sure.
Speaker A:And that's important.
Speaker A:And then the interesting stuff is when you get out to the coastal areas.
Speaker A:You know, when you're on the coasts and you're at the beach, whether you're on the east coast or the west coast, you still see the concrete tiles.
Speaker A:But I'm much more of a fan of metal.
Speaker A:And the three tab out there, because you got all that salt water and galvanized does work okay, but it still rots pretty good.
Speaker A:So I think almost out there, you're almost better.
Speaker A:For storm proof is to get into some of those architectural shingles that are rated for hurricanes that are meant to withstand 100 mile an hour wind.
Speaker A:And then you use stainless steel nails to put them in so they don't rot off and fly off.
Speaker A:Because, man, if you don't know what corrosion looks like, head out to the beach and build something and you'll see why stainless steel is everywhere.
Speaker A:You can put up.
Speaker A:I put up gate hardware that was super rated and a year later, galvanized has washed off of it.
Speaker A:Yeah, got to go.
Speaker A:Stainless steel can't go cheap on this stuff.
Speaker C:No, the coast is brutal.
Speaker C:I have to go tile at the coast.
Speaker C:I just think it, it's.
Speaker C:I just love.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, it looks good.
Speaker C:It's the vibe, right?
Speaker C:I just.
Speaker C:Yeah, I love it.
Speaker A:As we wrap this subject up, brother, the thing that I want to make sure people do out there, whether you're doing zinc or copper strips across the top for maintenance or whatever you're trying to do, maintain it.
Speaker A:I like to have on a roof, somebody get up there every year or two, take a look at it, inspect it, maybe clean it.
Speaker A:There are companies out there, when you're in the last half of that roof life, they can get up there and put conditioners on it to help it be pliable and not lose as many of the granules off your three tab or your architectural shingles.
Speaker A:They can come in and paint those metal roofs that have had the color wash off from the sun and that kind of stuff.
Speaker A:There's a lot of stuff like you were talking about sealing those wood shingles.
Speaker A:There's a lot of maintenance.
Speaker A:And if you stay on the maintenance, you can save yourself a considerable amount of money with this.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's important.
Speaker C:Nobody wants to do it.
Speaker A:It's a heck of a lot safer to get up there.
Speaker A:To have a professional get up there with fall protection and do it.
Speaker A:Then you get up on the ladder and end up doing a Christmas vacation dive off the roof.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's not good.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:Yeah, but.
Speaker C:Yeah, and a tile roof.
Speaker C:If you.
Speaker C:You can't just hop up there, you bust every damn tile up there and you replace stuff.
Speaker A:No, especially metal roofs, too.
Speaker C:You gotta duct tape giant sponges to
Speaker A:your feet just to keep from busting them up.
Speaker A:So, yeah, find that main company that's good at it that can get up there.
Speaker A:And I even know some roofers that are doing maintenance agreements and stuff that'll come back every couple years and check it, make sure it's good and do all that stuff.
Speaker A:It's kind of going to the dentist.
Speaker A:It's not fun, but you got to take care of it.
Speaker A:Otherwise, that's the most important surface of the house.
Speaker A:And if it fails everything else underneath, it's going to go wrecked.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker C:It all starts there, man.
Speaker A:It does, brother.
Speaker A:I wanted to pivot here and talk into something a little bit more fun.
Speaker A:Electrical upgrades and stuff around the house that makes sense.
Speaker A:And I tell you what, it's one of those things when you're out searching at houses, when you're out looking around, and this is a big one here.
Speaker A:And I noticed, especially in my area, we had a big housing boom in the 50s, 60s, 70s.
Speaker A:A lot of places in the country did.
Speaker A:But you see these electrical panels that are like the cutler hammers or what they call the split mains.
Speaker A:So you really can't turn the main off to the house.
Speaker A:But there's the kind of the 220 breakers on one side and then you got the regular outlets on the other side, but there's no main coming off of it.
Speaker A:Or it's a split main situation.
Speaker A:There are so many of those breakers that were in a few brands of those panels where the breakers failed.
Speaker A:They did not go off when they Would overload and they would get crazy.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And this is one of those things that when you're buying that house and you're doing the inspection, I see so many people on social media that have those and they're trying to find a breaker because they don't make the breakers anymore.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then I see a few of the, what I would call the electricians helpers out there that are pulling these panels out and they're pocketing the outlet, the breakers.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker A:And they're trying to put them on Facebook, marketplace or ebay.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker A:Holy smokes.
Speaker A:That's dangerous.
Speaker C:Yeah, buddy, that's.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:And you bring up a really good point.
Speaker C:And I get it.
Speaker C:And again, I always bring this up, man.
Speaker C:Go on AI and ask about it.
Speaker C:Like, seriously, get some answers.
Speaker C:So you are informed.
Speaker C:Because who the hell knows about electrical panels?
Speaker C:You know what I mean?
Speaker C:If you're just a basic home, you're like, I just want a basement.
Speaker C:You know what I mean?
Speaker C:I just want a bay window or something.
Speaker C:You're like, oh, I didn't know Federal pacific panels from back in the 60s burned houses down consistently.
Speaker C:Like the stuff you want to know because you go to buy the house and you don't realize you got a 15,000, $, 20,000 bill staring you in the face the first day you move in.
Speaker A:Dude, my panel was so crazy.
Speaker A:So I'm just trying to do a panel switch out and I've got an overhead line that comes in now.
Speaker A:When they did this panel originally, it was on the other side of the house.
Speaker A:They put a carport.
Speaker A:So the meter was under the carport.
Speaker A:And they allowed it back then, but you can't do it now.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker A:And all of a sudden they're like, oh, by the way.
Speaker C:Yeah, the move the entire mast head, which is super fun.
Speaker A:The mast head is now going to move 25ft.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker C:And it's a two inch pipe that you got to get routed through or around.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Everything.
Speaker A:That was a battle.
Speaker C:Super fun.
Speaker A:I did this two months before they made everything arc fault breakers, which was good because that did save me some money.
Speaker A:But I had an electrician in there for two days doing it.
Speaker A:Could I have done it?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Did I have time to know?
Speaker A:I was like, no, I'm gonna have this guy do it.
Speaker A:Because this was rose city electric here in plumbing in Portland.
Speaker A:They did it for me and I'm like, guys, handle it.
Speaker A:Just handle it.
Speaker A:And I'm happy I did because they powered through it so crazy.
Speaker A:When we come back, I want to talk about that too.
Speaker A:Because some of the mistakes I see get made and there's so many people out there putting in car chargers that are like trying to get their Tesla Charger.
Speaker A:And let's talk about that around the House returns now as we go out
Speaker B:to break, lets listen to a little Dudley.
Speaker B:We will be right back.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the around the House show.
Speaker A:Your trusted source for everything about your home.
Speaker A:Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker A:Sean.
Speaker A:Dudley and I are sitting here talking about electrical upgrades that make sense.
Speaker A:And I wanted to talk about this one buddy, because so many people out there are either trying to DIY or they got the handyman over there trying to put the Tesla Charger on the wall system up because they want to charge their car.
Speaker A:And man, this gets crazy.
Speaker A:I saw a guy yesterday on social media, I was just commenting and I was like, are you kidding me?
Speaker A:He was like, hey, I just put in a new service and my new car charger and I got to pull permits.
Speaker A:What boxes do I check?
Speaker A:And I'm like, that is the cart ahead of the horse.
Speaker A:You are going to get fined.
Speaker A:It's just crazy the fact.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, I'll be nice.
Speaker A:Be nice.
Speaker A:You got to get this stuff in the right order.
Speaker A:What is your take on that?
Speaker A:What is your take?
Speaker A:I want to hear your take, Johnny.
Speaker C:It just scares me that you don't know which box to check and you're going to do it yourself.
Speaker A:Already done it himself.
Speaker C:Yeah, let's just start there.
Speaker C:Oh man, come on.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker C:I'll tell you, a contractor for decades, there are two things I just didn't mess with, man.
Speaker C:And it's gas and electrical.
Speaker C:Like those two items burn houses down.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:If I don't know enough to be certain I'm doing it correctly, I can't sleep at night.
Speaker C:And I've done that, I've done that.
Speaker C:I'm like, man, I think I did that right.
Speaker C:And I'll lay there in bed all night and man, what if the house burns down?
Speaker C:Like, and, and lesson learned.
Speaker C:Like, I just, I don't mess with things I don't know about.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Just don't know.
Speaker A:You don't mess with it.
Speaker C:And electrical should not be a DIY thing.
Speaker C:Swapping an outlet.
Speaker C:Okay, fine, swap an outlet out.
Speaker C:Maybe even running a new one.
Speaker C:If you can run that wire from one to another and you know that the circuit breaker can take it.
Speaker C:You got a 20amp, you got four outlets on.
Speaker C:Okay, but you're good.
Speaker C:But man, you go wiring car chargers or redoing your Whole, no, you just can't, you can't, man.
Speaker A:I tell you what, it gets crazy out there.
Speaker A:And now the good news is now there's technology to help you with that.
Speaker A:If you're worried about those shorts, if you're worried about that stuff, and we've talked about on the show before, but there's a little box you can plug into an outlet in your home called Ting Fire.
Speaker C:You did talk about that.
Speaker A:So it monitors your house for shorts or things like that or bad neutrals or whatever.
Speaker A:And it monitors your house all the way to the transformer.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:So it watches your home.
Speaker A:It's super trick.
Speaker A:And if you have any kind of a short going on, it goes, hey, warning.
Speaker A:It'll send you a text, however you set it up, or an email or whatever.
Speaker A:They'll call you.
Speaker A:And here's the cool thing.
Speaker A:Most insurance companies now are paying for that for free.
Speaker A:So you don't have to go buy it.
Speaker A:Just get a hold of your insurance company and go, hey, State Farm, can you send me one of these?
Speaker C:That's nice.
Speaker A:And it warns you, it'll send you.
Speaker A:And the thing is too, they put a thousand dollar insurance policy on it.
Speaker A:So if you, you have a warning, they'll send the electrician out and they'll pay up to a thousand bucks because they want to know what the sound that it made, what was the problem?
Speaker A:So they're doing further research with that.
Speaker A:So they'll send out that insurance claim basically.
Speaker A:And they go, okay, they're paying for the first thousand bucks for the electrician so they can go, oh, that was a stab outlet in the back of an outlet or the wires pushed in the back and it got loose.
Speaker A:So it's one of those things that can totally protect your home.
Speaker C:Wow, that's great.
Speaker A:And it makes a lot of sense.
Speaker A:And for, oh my gosh, for older homes that you have maybe some sketchy wiring that you haven't found yet, makes a lot of sense.
Speaker C:Maybe some bundled up knob and tube that the squirrels are chewing through.
Speaker A:How many times have you seen that?
Speaker C:Oh, dude, I lived it.
Speaker C:I'm like, hey, why is my.
Speaker C:Why is my.
Speaker C:Oh man, I just blanked out.
Speaker C:Anyway, the squirrels chewed through the vents, my gable vents, and crawled into my attic, nested and started chewing on the knob and tube.
Speaker C:I'm in my North 30th house and it's like, what's that hole all chipped away?
Speaker C:Ah, yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, there it is.
Speaker C:Rodents.
Speaker A:So I just went over to tingfire.com to their website 4 out of 5 electrical fires are prevented in homes with it.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker A:Over a million families trust ting and they've had 25,000 potentially devastating fires prevented already.
Speaker A:They're just a few years old.
Speaker C:What a brilliant product.
Speaker C:I mean that and then the insurance companies jumping on board.
Speaker C:That's fantastic.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Think about it.
Speaker A:Electrical, the insurance company.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:No, you're going to plug something in your wall that costs a couple hundred bucks and it's going to prevent four or five fires.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker C:Hundreds of thousands of dollars, right?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:That's a little bump in revenue.
Speaker A:Yeah, just a bit.
Speaker A:So that makes a lot of sense to me.
Speaker A:That's one that makes sense.
Speaker A:And you go, okay, I can get on that butcher.
Speaker C:I love it when new technology and engineering serves instead of just plays ridiculous.
Speaker A:Yeah, so many times it does.
Speaker A:And you think about car chargers.
Speaker A:This gets interesting.
Speaker A:So many times people are like, oh, I bought the car, you gotta get my car charger.
Speaker A:And they get in it and they go, oh, I have 100amp service.
Speaker A:If you've got a 60amp car charger, you're in trouble.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker C:Not if you only want to use one lamp in your house.
Speaker C:You're fine.
Speaker A:Hey honey, we're not turning the AC on tonight because I gotta charge the lightning pickup.
Speaker C:Oh, man, you're not going to be popular.
Speaker C:Not going to happen.
Speaker A:And we saw that at my buddy David's house.
Speaker A:He had that trailer that was down in Pacific Palisades beforehand and he couldn't get a charger because he had a 40amp service to his property.
Speaker A:And that's all the neighborhood was wired for.
Speaker C:Holy cats, man.
Speaker A:Literally, you would have had to turn around, turn off the every breaker except for the car charger and do a Class 2 car charger just to get it going.
Speaker A:And then you'd have no power in your house for 12 hours as you were charging it.
Speaker A:So it didn't make any sense.
Speaker A:And that's okay.
Speaker A:I'm gonna get on my soapbox for a second.
Speaker A:That's one of the things that we've got a problem with the electric car thing out there is that we have not designed homes to handle an extra 40 or 60amp circuit depending on what you're putting in there.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:How is that not standard practice at this point, whether you need it or not?
Speaker C:Yeah, we make up some new rule about some type of nail you gotta use only on this type of would for this nonsensical reason.
Speaker C:But yeah, something as simple as something that actually makes sense again.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's just, just it should be standard issue at this point is I guess.
Speaker A:Think about this for a second.
Speaker A:So you've got, let's say you got a big 60amp car charger and maybe it's 50.
Speaker A:Let's go 50.
Speaker A:We'll just, we'll go a little lower.
Speaker A:So you get a car charger in there.
Speaker A:And being that the average house out there, newer house, has a 200amp service, if you're being forced to use a heat pump, that's gonna take probably 30 or 40amps, depending on what you got in there for at least one unit.
Speaker C:Half your panel's gone with those two,
Speaker A:half your panel's gone.
Speaker A:And then you've got your refrigerators, you've got your electric range because they don't have the gas there either.
Speaker A:And then you've got the gas water, the electric water heater because it wouldn't let you put that in.
Speaker A:You could.
Speaker A:And maybe you got your hot tub out back.
Speaker A:You're out of power.
Speaker C:A lot of sub panel work coming up, fellas.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A: amp service for this: Speaker C:And, and why is that not being mandated at some point?
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So they can come back later.
Speaker C:Now you gotta pull another permit to get that.
Speaker C:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:And while there's not enough power coming off the pole to come to put in 400amps because you're now doubling the electrical capacity for the neighborhood.
Speaker A:And got a feeling maybe those wires on the pole aren't big enough for that.
Speaker C:Yeah, see?
Speaker C:And you make fun of my shower head that's wired direct from the wall.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker A:There is that.
Speaker C:I think we're onto something down here versus all that kind of mayhem.
Speaker C:Nonsensical, crazy.
Speaker C:I don't know, man.
Speaker A:Again, it's one of those things.
Speaker A:And I get people putting in solar.
Speaker A:We have to go out to break here.
Speaker A:But you throw solar in and that can be great in some areas.
Speaker A:Many areas in my area you got trees in the way.
Speaker A:So it doesn't make sense.
Speaker A:And man, a lot of people are leasing these solar things and they go to sell their house and somebody comes in to buy it.
Speaker A:They're like, I don't want to pay for your solar panels for the next 15 years.
Speaker A:I want them removed.
Speaker A:Who's paying that to be removed?
Speaker A:And the new roof to be put on the house because you got all these brackets that went through the roof.
Speaker C:That's a whole nother rant for me.
Speaker A:I know it.
Speaker C:We got a break.
Speaker A:But yeah, yeah, let's go out to break.
Speaker A:We'll continue on that rant when we come back because that makes sense sometimes and then sometimes it can really hurt that house sale.
Speaker A:We'll talk more about that just as soon as around the House returns.
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Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.
Speaker A:Thanks for joining us.
Speaker A:We have been talking about electrical stuff with your home, things to pay attention to and of course, a few of our little rants.
Speaker A:If you want to find out more, if you got a message to send us where you go, I don't agree all send it over to aroundthehouse online.com.
Speaker A:you can go over there and hit the contact Us page and hit us up right there and follow us on social media.
Speaker A:We're posting this up on our social media as well.
Speaker A:So you can comment over there when you see that come up.
Speaker A:Johnny, one of the big things that you're seeing out there with solar panels these days, and I got no problem with solar like you're seeing people go in with the battery systems like the Tesla Powerwall 3, those kind of things.
Speaker A:The problem though is those get expensive.
Speaker A:That's a battery.
Speaker A:That is a storage, electrical storage system for your solar.
Speaker A: Just one battery is: Speaker A:And if you're putting two or three in there, that gets pretty expensive.
Speaker A:But now you can put solar panels up there and have those charging.
Speaker A:So when you lose power, you do have some backup.
Speaker A:And it can help you if you're overloading stuff too.
Speaker A:If you've got the system designed where you could be charging your car off of that and that kind of stuff, it does make sense.
Speaker A:But man, these systems are complex and they're expensive and I know that there's a lot of companies out there that are trying to get people to lease it or they're doing payment programs.
Speaker A:And I think those are super smart if you're going to be in that house for the next 25 years.
Speaker A:But if you're going to sell it, do some research because there's a lot of home buyers out there that don't want to make your payments on the system you put in.
Speaker A:And that can be a problem depending on how your contract is written.
Speaker C:I think it's not too much of a rant, but I guess I'm just perplexed that this has been going on for decades.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:The whole solar idea.
Speaker C:The whole solar.
Speaker C:It's not cost effective.
Speaker C:I have a hard time understanding.
Speaker C:We haven't solved this yet.
Speaker C:Come on guys, really?
Speaker C:Does it have to be 7, 700 for that box that you probably made for 350.
Speaker C:Take it down a notch.
Speaker C:Do we want it?
Speaker A:Probably a thousand bucks with a lithium in that thing.
Speaker A:That's probably right.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:But still that's been the battle for 20 plus years, I think.
Speaker C:Yeah, whatever.
Speaker C:Some.
Speaker C:A long, long as I can remember, like storage, solar.
Speaker C:Why don't we just replace everything with solar and.
Speaker C:Okay, that makes great sense.
Speaker C:Until it doesn't because it's a million dollars to do.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:We've managed to bring buying a brand new computer down from $5,000 to $500.
Speaker C:So what's going on?
Speaker A:I agree, I agree.
Speaker C:That's all I'm saying.
Speaker C:There's a solution there.
Speaker C:Let's find it, let's use it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:We made electric cars.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker A:And I'll be honest, I think electric cars are going to do a pivot here.
Speaker A:I think we're going to see what like Ford is going to be doing now.
Speaker A:They whiffed it with their words, not mine really.
Speaker A:On the F150 Lightning, the electric lightning pickup.
Speaker A:It just didn't sell.
Speaker A:They discontinued it this year.
Speaker A:And I think it's because you had 200,000, you had 200 miles for towing if you're towing a small trailer around.
Speaker A:So it didn't seem practical for people unless you were like a lawn care company in town running in between stuff.
Speaker A:It didn't.
Speaker C:Electric.
Speaker C:I think an electric truck is a tough sell anyway.
Speaker C:That's not really rod.
Speaker C:But here's like if you're a truck driver, you want it to sound like a damn truck.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:But here's the thing, dude.
Speaker A:I see we have, we have.
Speaker A:I see electric semi trucks driving around here all the time because they're testing them and they're testing autonomous ones as well.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker A:So I'm seeing those cruising around.
Speaker A:But I think what you're going to see, technology wise, is we're going to see maybe little tiny hydrogen engines that are running a generator that you can still plug in.
Speaker A:But all of a sudden, now you can get 500 miles.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Out of that truck or 500 miles out of that BMW that you're driving.
Speaker A:And now things start to make a little bit of sense.
Speaker A:If I'm driving from my house to go see my buddy over in.
Speaker A:On the eastern side of the state, I don't want to stop midway.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Sit and have lunch for an hour and a half for it to recharge, for me to go the rest of the way.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And that's this.
Speaker C:That.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:It stops making sense at that point.
Speaker C:What, I gotta get a motel three different times just to get from Portland to San Francisco?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:I see people do it and they go out there and they pop into the supercharging station and do it.
Speaker A:But, dude, that's a tough sell for me.
Speaker C:Oh, no, me too.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker C:Me too.
Speaker C:I mean, as much as I'd like it not to be, we're spoiled, man.
Speaker C:We're not about inconvenience anymore.
Speaker A:But here's the other thing, too.
Speaker A:It makes sense.
Speaker A:Like, if you and I are.
Speaker A:When we're building the beach compound, which will be another year's project, this makes sense.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:When there's no electrical in the area.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:We can put storage in there.
Speaker A:We can have solar.
Speaker A:There's a lot of sun, so.
Speaker C:And again, that's why I brought up Mexico.
Speaker C:Like, everything down there was, is deep cell battery, solar functions just fine.
Speaker C:It's working.
Speaker C:It's working.
Speaker C:And we've made so many advancements, but we're still not utilizing it.
Speaker C:It's like we could and like we should.
Speaker C:My little brother's a little brother.
Speaker C:Jesse's been preaching about the Tesla roof for five, six, seven, eight years.
Speaker A:Another one that's a little sketch I'm saving up.
Speaker C:I'm getting a Tesla roof.
Speaker C:I'm like, the what?
Speaker C:Huh?
Speaker C:This is like it's seven years ago or something.
Speaker A:But the problem, though, that I see, and this is the problem that I see, the Tesla roof, the weak point to me on that is.
Speaker A:And if you guys don't know what we're talking about, that is a roof shingle.
Speaker A:That is a solar panel.
Speaker A:And I get it.
Speaker A:But you think about it, every section of roof has its own connector.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:So to me, I go, I don't want to have a thousand connections on my roof to go bad.
Speaker C:Yeah, agreed.
Speaker C:I get it.
Speaker C:I get it.
Speaker C:And I.
Speaker C:And honestly, to.
Speaker C:I don't know enough about the engineering of it.
Speaker C:I do know that Jesse, my little brother, is one of the smartest people I'll ever meet in my entire life.
Speaker C:So if he backs it, I'm just take his word for it.
Speaker C:But, yeah, I know nothing about the engineering.
Speaker C:I know nothing about the million contact points that are gonna corrode if you're next to the beach or short circuit if you have an earthquake or whatever.
Speaker C:Yeah, brother.
Speaker A:I have tried to get someone from Tesla to talk about that on the show for three years.
Speaker C:Oh, what's up?
Speaker A:And any media on it at all won't come talk about it.
Speaker C:Curious.
Speaker A:And that's interesting to me.
Speaker C:That makes me want to call them up.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker C:Call them out, dude.
Speaker A:I'm calling them out because guess what?
Speaker A:I want them on the show to talk about this stuff.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Let's hear questions.
Speaker A:And they will not.
Speaker A:They just.
Speaker A:Nope, we don't do that.
Speaker A:And it was like, wow.
Speaker A:To the decision makers were like, not a chance.
Speaker C:And I'm like, come on.
Speaker C:Not a chance.
Speaker C:We're going to have to run the Rolodex on this one.
Speaker C:We got to find a door.
Speaker A:It's cool.
Speaker A:I like how they're doing it.
Speaker A:They're more like larger, like 12 by 24 tiles that go on the roof versus just a little, you know.
Speaker A:And again, I don't know the exact dimensions, but I'm just roughing up from what I saw.
Speaker A:I get it.
Speaker A:You can literally have a 12.6kW solar roof.
Speaker A:Makes sense for a lot of places.
Speaker C:Be super.
Speaker A:If it works to me.
Speaker A:I mean, I see a thousand connections out there.
Speaker A:Maybe it's not a th.000.
Speaker A:Maybe it's 500 still.
Speaker C:Either way, I'm curious now because I haven't done any research on it until we brought it up today.
Speaker C:And I just.
Speaker C:Like I said, I remember Jesse telling me about it seven years ago or something.
Speaker C:And I was like, huh?
Speaker C:What the what?
Speaker C:But.
Speaker C:But now I'm curious.
Speaker C:I wonder how much information is actually out.
Speaker C:If they won't come on here and talk about it, what can we find out about it?
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:I think I see a project coming up.
Speaker C:My interest is peaked.
Speaker C:I'm like, all right, are these working?
Speaker C:And if they are, why aren't there more of them?
Speaker C:Or are they?
Speaker A:And I just pulled it up.
Speaker A:I was wrong.
Speaker A:On the size, they're 45 by 15, basically.
Speaker A:So they're a little bigger, but still they're 72 watts per panel and they've got a good.
Speaker A:The minimum roof pitch is 212, so that's cool, you know.
Speaker A:So hail reading, a Class 4 fire rating, Class A, wind rating, class F. So they've got all the high stuff there.
Speaker A:I just worry about all they snap together and where the power goes, because that's my concern.
Speaker C:And again, look at the engineering of it and where are the case studies and.
Speaker C:Yeah, that'd be fun to do some digging on.
Speaker A:Yeah, they just don't want to talk about it.
Speaker C:Good news, we don't have to dig anymore.
Speaker C:Just ask Grok.
Speaker A:There we go.
Speaker A:That's what we'll do.
Speaker A:There we go.
Speaker C:Actually, maybe not ask Grok.
Speaker C:Maybe a little biased.
Speaker A:Yeah, Grok could be a little biased considering the boss man designed it.
Speaker A:We could get a phone call if we start asking, why won't this happen?
Speaker A:That's why I say we ask some harder questions.
Speaker C:We either need to call him up or call him out.
Speaker C:One way.
Speaker A:Call them out.
Speaker A:I think we have.
Speaker C:One way or another.
Speaker C:We get them on here.
Speaker A:Yep, absolutely, man.
Speaker A:Electrical is one of those things.
Speaker A:And guys, before we wrap this show up, I just want to say take the time, pull the permits, get the right people over there.
Speaker A:It's not that big a deal, but save yourself some liability.
Speaker A:If you pull the permit and get it done, then you know it's right and you can just get it looking good.
Speaker A:It's that simple.
Speaker A:Just do it right.
Speaker A:Like Johnny said.
Speaker A:He didn't ever do a lot of that stuff because he just wanted to get the contractor that knew what they were doing, that's that electrician out there to do it.
Speaker A:I'd do the same thing.
Speaker A:I think it's a smart business for yourself to just have them do it right versus the handyman that shows up that you're.
Speaker A:You got a hope and a prayer they're not going to try to burn your house down.
Speaker C:You got to remember your whole life is in your house.
Speaker C:And electrical and gas are dangerous.
Speaker C:You can paint a wall wrong with with very little consequences.
Speaker C:You can roof a house wrong with not a lot of consequences.
Speaker C:But fire.
Speaker C:Fire destroys things, like everything in the house.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:And that's one of those things.
Speaker A:We'll talk lighting another day.
Speaker A:But that's one of those things that I just really wanted to talk about with electrical is just take the time, swap it out, no shortcuts, put the right size panel in there and you'll be good to go.
Speaker A:That way you've got something that's going to be durable that you can add to.
Speaker A:If you're going to put in that car charger down the road, plan for it.
Speaker A:When you're putting the panel in or you're building that house, make sure you got enough to add that pool, the hot tub or whatever else you're doing.
Speaker A:And it's really becoming something that is part of what we're seeing out there.
Speaker A:When you do a kitchen model or a bathroom model, you're having to add circuits.
Speaker A:This is a big topic that we're seeing.
Speaker A:John, great to have time with you today on this, man.
Speaker A:Fun to banter back and forth with you as always.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Brothers debates, and it's always a great time and always fun sitting there getting your take on these things, man, as
Speaker C:crass as it may be.
Speaker A:Ah, that's the good part of it.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:For John Dudley, I'm Eric G. And you've been listening to around the House.
