My top 10 Home Improvement Myths: Exteriors Edition

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[00:00:22] Eric Goranson: And so I wanted to put it in the myths category. Cause I think it is, should I pull permits for my second story deck? A lot of people, the home improvement myth, ah, you'll be fine. You don't need to. In most cases, in most places here in the United States on a second story deck, that's over geez, over 18 inches off the ground.

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[00:01:06] Eric Goranson: This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information education. Thanks for joining me today. We're going to have some great interviews coming up here in the coming week. So stay tuned for that. But today in this second hour of the show, we're going to be talking about home improvement myths, exteriors edition.

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[00:01:44] Eric Goranson: If you want to find out more about me, head over to around the house, online. com. We have our brand new website up over there. So you can catch a lot of new information there. It's hiding there. We got videos, we got everything. Of course, the podcast, the TV show, it's all hiding over there. So [00:02:00] today we're talking about home improvement myths.

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[00:02:25] Eric Goranson: It's plastic. It's gonna be durable. You'll get 50 plus years out of it It's gonna be amazing. Then people realized it's vinyl in vinyl gets brittle It chalks up cracks becomes just very fragile or like many people they put it on and went Okay, I'm tired of the I'm tired of the White House I want to go dark.

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[00:03:32] Eric Goranson: For each piece of where it shrunk, but the problem is, this is your catch 22. When it's that cold, you shouldn't be painting it because it won't stick. So you're now you're in a big problem with that. And the next part of it is even worse. And I've seen this happen and it's not about the paint. It's about the vinyl itself, depending on the product.

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[00:04:29] Eric Goranson: So one, you go down to your paint store and get the special vinyl paint and primer. You get it all on there. Yeah, that vinyl paint sticks. It'll stay on there. He did the directions correctly. But what happens is that sun hits it. And if you go to a darker color, You can have a heck of a mess, because it'll warp, twist, melt, looks like you took a torch to it.

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[00:05:16] Eric Goranson: Some neighborhoods had vinyl siding salespeople going door to door, basically saying, hey, I can put vinyl siding on for the price of you repainting your house and you could have wonderful siding under there that needs minimal work and your house will be more classic anyway. So take a look at the vinyl siding and what you have underneath it.

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[00:05:54] Eric Goranson: It's not in the Pacific Northwest. It is not a hot item for a couple of reasons. One, I think we [00:06:00] have the hot summers and the cold winters and the mosque grows on it. So it's really hard to keep clean. So that vinyl really likes to let that scum moss green gunky stuff on it. And so I think that's one of the reasons why the vinyl sighting just was never hot up here.

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[00:06:40] Eric Goranson: Now, the other thing that you run into it is that with vinyl sighting is if you ever put this on, you need to. Have an extra box or two, because even though it will fade and chalk up, if you get something like hail or any kind of damage like that. That stuff can shatter. And when it's broken, there's no fixing it.

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[00:07:14] Eric Goranson: Do any of that trim window replacement, any of that stuff. If you're gonna go chase it around, it's not a bad thing. But do your shopping. There's a lot of great products out there. There's a lot of new composites, but I would strongly advise you not to paint vinyl siding because I just don't think it's going to turn out well.

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[00:07:53] Eric Goranson: And all of a sudden that is melting off the side of the house. So. I want to see if I can save you some money with that. And that'll be [00:08:00] a really good idea because nobody wants to have to do this project twice. Hey, before we go out of break, I wanted to comment coming up. We're going to have some great fun.

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[00:08:24] Eric Goranson: We'll be doing the show down there. We're going to have a lot of fun with people down there. People you want to hear from. So that'll be coming up. Lots of new products coming up and that's at the end of February. So you'll hear that in early March. And then the following month, I'm going to be a guest of the national hardware show in Vegas.

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[00:08:56] Eric Goranson: You can go down there and do stuff. I know for many [00:09:00] people out there in the media, working at the design and construction week is a challenge. It is tough. They have stringent rules down there. You have to follow. So it's way tough to get in down there. Takes you a lot of paperwork to get down there with a camera and do stuff So something to take a look at I know for all you people out there The hardware show is going to be a great one this year in las vegas All right, everybody when we come back we're going to be talking about Some new stuff about dacs that I want to talk about in our home improvement myths Then we're going to talk about heat pumps and then i'll be talking about venhoods.

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[00:09:52] Eric Goranson: We're just getting started. What's [00:10:00] up,

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[00:10:27] Eric Goranson: For the Around the House show, this is where we help you get the most out of your home through information education. Thanks for joining me today. Hey, we do have a new website up, so head over to aroundthehouseonline. com. Take a look at what we have going on there. Everything from the TV show to the radio show.

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[00:11:00] Eric Goranson: What is good? What is bad? There's a lot of bad information out there. So today I am trying to help you outside your house with, uh, making sure you got the right information. And this one here is a question I always get a lot. And so I wanted to put it in the myths category because I think it is, should I pull permits for my second story deck?

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[00:11:53] Eric Goranson: They want to make sure that you're building it correctly So people get get a safe time [00:12:00] outside Now here's the problem that you see the problem is that so many people go out to build their deck And they build it wrong And unfortunately, when they build it wrong, that can get people hurt, killed, or whatever.

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[00:12:36] Eric Goranson: Great example here guys. We're gonna go off on a little bit of a tangent here I am in a Facebook group called deck construction tips and tricks And these are guys that are contractors mainly in there And I tell you what, 60, 70 percent of the decks that I see are just an absolute hot mess. They wouldn't pass code.

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[00:13:17] Eric Goranson: The second one. And when you do a building permit, you're going to have to do the drawings and make sure that you have all the right clips, fasteners, and pieces like that. Is there an easy way to do it? Yeah. Jump onto one of the websites out there. Simpsons strong tie is one. I'm not using as many fasteners as theirs.

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[00:13:57] Eric Goranson: And then that way you get the railings, [00:14:00] right? You get all the different pieces going and there's a lot of pieces from how you flash it to the house Which you need to do a lot of research on that flashing where it attaches is something that's super important Because that's how that can rot and fail So there's a lot of little pieces there that you need to really take your time and look at And make sure that you've got it dialed in this can be Absolutely a disaster if this goes wrong and I can't tell you how many videos i've seen of guys up there Trying to put a hot tub on there and the hot tub falls off for the, they're stacking.

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[00:14:55] Eric Goranson: And that's where you really want to make sure that you're following all those rules and regulations. And you're doing [00:15:00] it for your soil type, but you can be building it out of steel. You can be building out of wood. You can be doing a composite deck surface. There's a lot of great things out there, but they've really used a lot of different fasteners now when you're building the deck.

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[00:15:30] Eric Goranson: He's really good. That's a great resource. If you want specific how to videos, follow Dr. Dex on Instagram and on Facebook. That guy is super cool. So there's a lot of different things that you can do that are absolutely crazy with Dex these days from lighting, Everything else, but just take the time get it dialed in and you'll have a safe deck, but make sure those railings are good I don't know how many times you've seen people that Fell off through the [00:16:00] railing because you had three guys sitting up there that are big and they're leaning on the railing talking and all Of a sudden snap post comes off and now everybody's laying on the ground and somebody gets hurt So let's keep it safe for everybody, especially if you're planning that deck this spring It's a little bit different.

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[00:16:31] Eric Goranson: But just do it right so it's a safe built deck and that'll save you a ton of money in the long run So that's the myth. You don't need a building permit for a deck. Yeah, you do when you're getting up off of uh, 18 to 30 inches depending where you're at That's where it starts to get to where people go.

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[00:17:04] Eric Goranson: Do your research. There's a lot of great products out there and there's a lot of new ones. So spend the time. And take a peek at it. I think there's a lot of great things out there with deck clips. There's some new deck clips that work really easy that I like. If you're using a deck board, the Ninja Clip System by Grip is really cool.

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[00:17:47] Eric Goranson: And so when you put a screw in you basically lose the entire head of the screw in it So just make sure don't sink them in all the way until you're done because if you need to go move something A little harder to find those [00:18:00] screws when they're sunk in there. Now you're going to be looking for a, with a magnet or something, trying to figure it out.

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[00:18:21] Eric Goranson: And I tell you what, that's a fun one. And, uh, that's, uh, around the house nation that you can check us out over there and join. And, uh, this last week I was doing some framing out at the, uh, beach house. And, uh, you got to take a look at what fell down out there when we took the windows out, the header was so dry rot.

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[00:19:00] Eric Goranson: Hey, this is Ron Keel, the metal cowboy from Keel, the Ron Keel band and stealer. We are rocking Around the House with Eric G. Welcome back to the around the house show. This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education. Thanks for joining us on the radio today or the podcast.

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[00:19:42] Eric Goranson: This next one here is a good one, and it's one that I want to have an honest conversation with you about. And this is interesting. And is a heat pump the best way to heat and cool a house? We have right now. Lots of energy that is sitting here. Companies trying to push heat pump technology on us. [00:20:00] And you know something?

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[00:20:21] Eric Goranson: It's not just about looking at numbers, right? And I guess we do have people out there that are very big on not burning fossil fuels to heat their home. And. If you want to do that awesome, but here's where I have a little bit of an issue and this comes down to what you want to do and what you want to support and I want to be careful here.

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[00:21:20] Eric Goranson: In other areas, there have been expensive double digit jumps for their electricity rates. If you're going to go solar and you want to go heat pump, that could be a huge savings for you. But if they're trying to put the natural gas business out of business in your state, do you really want to switch over to all electric where there is no competition for that?

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[00:22:05] Eric Goranson: But generally speaking, this is something that I want you to take a listen, take a look and give it some thought. Give it some thought. If you want to bet on your electricity rates being reasonable from here on out and it's hard to say I can't predict the future. I love my electric company. They do a great job here.

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[00:22:43] Eric Goranson: I say, what's up to you. It's up to what you want to do. If you're sure looking at dollars and cents today. That heat pump, unless you're in North Dakota or some of the northern states up there where you're going to get down to negative 30 where it could be an issue. Anything where you're getting down to zero is starting to really push a heat [00:23:00] pump.

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[00:23:20] Eric Goranson: You've given us some thought because. You're committing to something for a long time, and if you think your natural gas rates are gonna go up and it's gonna be crazy, then maybe it's smart to get to a heat pump. Now, if you've got, like, just an old gas furnace and you're doing the upgrade, the other thing to take into account, though, is the rebates out there.

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[00:23:58] Eric Goranson: And if you don't, no worries. I just want to [00:24:00] make sure you're aware of what's going on out there and that you can make the best decision possible. Now, there is 1 of the thing I do want to talk about here when it comes to heat pumps. And this is another myth. I'm going to slide into this 1 here. That if you're thinking about doing a water heater in your house and you've got natural gas and you're like, I am going to go with an on demand unit, tap the brakes on that.

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[00:24:45] Eric Goranson: And I went, of course it is. Why wouldn't it be? And he goes, do you want to save money? I'm like, well, of course I want to save money. He goes, what if we did a heat pump, water heater, where you're going to put it? We started talking about it. I had the real estate and I put in one of the arrow therm Bradford [00:25:00] white heat pump, water heaters.

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[00:25:28] Eric Goranson: So it's putting warm, warmth to that. So it's not going to be like a, you don't get that scale buildup like you would normally get. So it's one thing to think about, but really, I really like the heat pump water heater and it's something to consider. And there's a lot of great rebates out there. So think about that.

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[00:26:01] Eric Goranson: And if they are making them here, if some little part on that goes wrong. You're throwing the whole dang thing away and you got to swap it out. Where this, I could have a heating and cooling person come over and say, Hey, we've got a compressor seal or something crazy that went wrong. You could actually repair it.

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[00:26:44] Eric Goranson: I do want to say If you head over to the around the house show on kptv fox 12 So if you go over there, or you actually if you just go over to youtube and go fox 12 oregon and then find the around the [00:27:00] house northwest tab you can see All of my segments I did last year highlighting local craftspeople here in the Pacific Northwest building stuff, and we had a lot of companies that we sat down and did a lot with and really it was a lot of fun going around and I just wanted to talk about this for a minute since it's the kind of the last Bye.

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[00:27:43] Eric Goranson: I found a company that makes. And this was crazy local mattresses and I could literally order a mattress On a thursday and have it delivered made to my specs on monday Super cool, right? Super cool And so we went through and take a look through [00:28:00] that list over there and our main and northwest segments They're a lot of fun.

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[00:28:21] Eric Goranson: But I tell you what, we went to Miller Paint, which is a Pacific Northwest paint company, watched them make paint. We went over to Rada paint and did it there. We did best manufacturers who makes these crazy, cool little kitchen whisks all made in the U S. So, so many places we did, we did Leatherman tool.

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[00:29:04] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the round the house show, where I hope you get the most out of your home through information and education. Thanks for joining us today. We've been talking today about our Home Improvement Myths exterior edition, talking about those things outside the house and we're not going out to break there right before this commercial break.

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[00:29:36] Eric Goranson: But I just wanted to thank my favorite boots out there right now are truman boot company They're made in eugene, oregon. This guy they just build handmade boots down there beautiful stuff Sheesh, there was just so many cool things that we got to visit Handmade wallpaper at lonesome pictopia These ladies make a beautiful handmade wallpaper.

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[00:30:14] Eric Goranson: But they do have one of the best paint recycling facilities in the country. So if you have latex paint, they actually. Take the paint in mix it all up quality test it and make their own colors and then you can buy it super cheap And it's recycled paint and so they've done a really good job of doing that So we saw them paint recycling which was really cool And that was another one went and saw our friends at tiger stop Who make these really cool controls for your chop saw.

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[00:31:02] Eric Goranson: In the show storm breaker brewing. There's a lot of different ones out there I can't go through them all because it would be a long show doing that but thanks to everybody out there And make sure that you're giving your business to your local people around because I tell you what They're the ones that are keeping your city alive and all that local stuff.

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[00:31:50] Eric Goranson: And now you have something that is a big energy saving of keeping that attic space cooler and thus saving you energy on your heating and cooling. Now [00:32:00] there's a problem with that. And the big problem with that is that there's a lot more to this project than just putting a fan in. And this is where that myth is sure.

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[00:32:27] Eric Goranson: So one, you need to make sure that your soffit vents are big, large enough and have the large enough square inches to supply the air and the CFM of that fan. Second of all, you need to pull back all the insulation in that attic and caulk and seal up. Around every opening and every joist bay, every light, because here's what happens, you will create somewhat of a vacuum up there as it's pulling air out, right?

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[00:33:14] Eric Goranson: Okay. All the little holes that are for the plumbing and the electrical and the drain lines and all those different things. It's pulling it out and that's air that you've already paid to condition. So now when that pulls out of there, you're pulling in the hot air from outside around windows and doorways and other places.

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[00:33:52] Eric Goranson: If you have to build little boxes around the recessed can lights to make sure those are sealed up, that's a good way to do it. And that'll get you [00:34:00] going so you can do that. Then you can put in the insulation, maybe more insulation while you're at it, because it's not that harder to add more if you're doing it.

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[00:34:39] Eric Goranson: They're drunk. If they don't work period, there is not a good one out there. They have a little tiny charcoal filter that maybe grabs a little grease, but it's not doing you any good. So all of the carcinogens out of the food that you're burning, cooking, whatever, the grease, everything else, all the chemicals coming out of that are coming up into the air and being released in your house.

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[00:35:19] Eric Goranson: We've talked about it too, but it's an exterior one I also think in ventilation that you should have probably a humidity controlled vent fan in your garage that vents to the outside. Because if you get something in there that all it takes is two wet cars and a sealed up garage and you got mold growing.

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[00:35:58] Eric Goranson: So that's the thing. [00:36:00] Take some time. Do it right. All right. Well, that wraps up my Home Improvement Myths Exterior Edition. Now there's one other thing and I want to talk about it's a little bit of a different subject here. And I wanted to talk about it here real quick and it's, I could use your help out there.

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[00:36:54] Eric Goranson: I'm working on I'll give you a little hint here to this summer. We're gonna have Probably [00:37:00] the biggest giveaway that we've ever had in the 35 years of around the house This is going to be a massive giveaway And we're working out the details now, but to this kind of late spring summer. I haven't got the date figured out yet There's a lot to check out right there and that'll be coming soon So make sure you pay attention because this is going to be the mother of all giveaways for us right now And when we get this thing going, it's going to be a lot of fun And you could have a really cool thing in your garage.

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[00:37:48] Eric Goranson: The people are doing well, guess what? They're giving wrong information and it's hurting people like you that are just out there searching trying to find information It's just like what we saw here [00:38:00] And this was a big one here that I was really shocked about And I don't know if you guys saw this out there and this is something That's a big problem out there.

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[00:38:36] Eric Goranson: They actually had to go in. These houses were so horribly built, they literally had to tear them down. And one of the homes had hundreds of thousands of dollars of work on it. Just to get it. And it was one that actually Mike owned for a little bit before they sent it. Take a look over on the Facebook page.

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[00:39:10] Eric Goranson: Because nobody wants to see brand new houses get torn down because they're so horribly built All right, everybody. Enjoy your weekend. Have a great one out there Stay safe on those home improvement projects, and we'll see you next time. Thanks for tuning in to around the house