My Top 10 problems around your house that cant wait to be repaired

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[00:00:27] Eric Goranson: Or The one that's leaking between the bowl and the tank. And I tell you what, once that starts going and it starts taking out floor joists, this can be the beginning of a bath remodel. And if you've got that older home that's got the vinyl flooring down there, you start noticing the discoloration. When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know, but we've got you covered.

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[00:01:13] Eric Goranson: If you've got a home improvement question, give me a call there. And if you want to find out more about us, whether you're listening to the podcast or the national radio show, you can head over to around the house, online. com. And you can find out more about us there. And then if you're on the radio, thanks for joining us today.

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[00:01:47] Eric Goranson: Those things that you go, ah, that'll be a day two project. These are the ones you go, Oh snap. These are the ones you've got to get on because every day it's going to get worse. And so we're going to talk about that [00:02:00] today. So I wanted to go down this list. They're not in any particular order because I think there's, they all have a layer of danger to them or danger to the structure itself.

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[00:02:28] Eric Goranson: Now this could be your carbon monoxide detector's giving you a little beep, or you've got some sensors in your home that's starting to say, hey, you've got something going on. This is where you're either going to get out of the house and call 911, or you're going to have a professional come out and take a look at it and see what's leaking.

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[00:03:05] Eric Goranson: If you live in the area, probably even which house I'm talking about. So we're out there, we're looking at it. We're like, nah, nah, it's probably a bad idea. This thing's 1980s furnace forced air gas. We decided not to, well, we decided to tear out the wall behind it, tear the sheet rock down because it was water damaged, rip that down and look back there.

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[00:03:44] Eric Goranson: Now, in fairness, a couple things were gonna happen. One, there was no way to inspect that B vent because it came out the back of the furnace that was up against the wall and it went into a wall cavity up into the chimney or the side of the chimney. So we couldn't have seen it, but we had to notice real quick.

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[00:04:18] Eric Goranson: So one of those things that makes sure one, you've got a carbon monoxide detector anywhere that you've got any kind of gas. And I recommend even if you're parking a car in the garage to make sure and have one. Just to make sure that you're good to go. And I think it's all part of having just really good air quality monitoring within your home.

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[00:04:56] Eric Goranson: And this is something that can be really small. And really it can [00:05:00] be something big too. If you're worried about a gas leak, the fastest thing to do, if you just get a little tiny whiff of it, and it's not like, oh wow, I got a broken pipe, but, oh wow, that smells like a little light gas, call your gas company.

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[00:05:26] Eric Goranson: They'll come out there and take a look at it. But here's the rule. Like carbon monoxide, when in doubt, call 9 1 1. If you go, oh, that's just a hint. Maybe I got a sensitive nose. I can't tell. Call the gas, you know, call the gas company. If you're like, wow, it smells like gas, get out, call nine on one, let the professionals come deal with it.

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[00:06:01] Eric Goranson: So just gas leak, be really careful. Most ranges, if they're in good shape, aren't really leaking, but it's something that's not a bad idea. Call your gas company and say, Hey, can you come take a look at things and give me a quick inspection? I want to make sure that you're good. Now, just the backside of that though, is there is a little risk with this.

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[00:06:32] Eric Goranson: But just be prepared. You might have to have a service call or a replacement there, whichever makes most sense in your situation. But just make sure that if you're worried about it, have the professional come take a look at it and you'll be good to go. Now, the next one is a big one here hasn't to do with gas or carbon monoxide, but this is that tile or fiberglass shower.

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[00:07:14] Eric Goranson: You're already going to have a mold issue to begin with. If you haven't gotten on it, because by the time that's dripped and gotten in through drywall or into another space, or you see it in a crawl space or a basement. You're going to have a little bit of mold in there someplace, but just make sure that you've got that figured out and stopped and leaking showers are a very, very common issue that we're seeing in homes today because we have so many people that built them wrong to begin with.

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[00:07:55] Eric Goranson: One, you know, they didn't last as long back then when you did it on that in two, [00:08:00] everybody's running lighter drywalls as a drywall as well. So there's, you know, a third or so less material in that drywall. There's a lot more air. And it's just not really strong enough to give you a good grip on there compared to what you should be doing, which is putting up some kind of waterproofing system up in there.

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[00:08:40] Eric Goranson: I had a neighbor here recently and this is something here that's just just around the corner from me here. Who else talking with? They put their house up for sale and they had a huge leak in a bathroom and how it got this bad is beyond me because it leaked through one wall into the bathroom next to it and down into the kitchen.

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[00:09:17] Eric Goranson: It's not like you bust a pipe and the place is covered because you had a broken pipe. If it's been a slow leak over seven or eight years, that's neglect, and most insurance companies are not going to pay out on that. And if they're not paying out, that means that's a big remodel coming out of your pocket.

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[00:10:10] Eric Goranson: the around the house show, where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education. Really appreciate you tuning in to us today. Hey, if you're looking for video, if you're catching us on the radio show here, the national radio show or the podcast, it doesn't matter if you're like, man, if I just had a video to fix that, we are basically at 200 videos now that we've got out there.

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[00:10:46] Eric Goranson: And if you've got a home improvement question for me, don't be shy 833 239 4144. That number again is 833 239 4144 calls 24 seven. This show runs at all different times across the U S [00:11:00] and so we're not here at the studio all during those times. But if you miss me, guess what? We'll call you back and I'll put you maybe in a future episode of the show.

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[00:11:33] Eric Goranson: And I tell you what, once that starts going, it starts taking out floor joists. This can be. The beginning of a bath remodel. And if you've got that older home, that's got the vinyl flooring down there, you start noticing the discoloration around the toilet. And what happens there is when you see that, that's the water getting in between the vinyl and the subfloor material down below it, which many times is particle board, because that's what the [00:12:00] vinyl floor manufacturers had recommended for decades is to put that down underneath that.

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[00:12:19] Eric Goranson: They're a seal that I think are really important and I love how they work because they have more of a compression foam if somebody gets on the toilet and it maybe rocks a little bit, you know, there's no spring back to a wax ring and I have seen people getting in there getting heavy duty with the plunger before.

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[00:12:57] Eric Goranson: And I thought they were really great options for [00:13:00] people out there and they really keep things looking good. Something to think about when you're doing it. And I think it's one of those things that works up and looks really good when you get that all input together. Now, one of the things when you're doing a new toilet, you got to make sure and caulk around it to the finished flooring down there.

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[00:13:37] Eric Goranson: Now, I've heard plenty of people argue the fact that, oh, no, you don't want to do that because if you have water leaking, You want to see it. Most people don't have that sealed up anyway. So you've already got damaged nonetheless. But the reason for that is that's actually to contain any sewer gases. If there was a pinhole leak that you don't get those sewer gases inside.

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[00:14:22] Eric Goranson: Now the next one here is a big one and it's something that I think is really important to do if you have a wood burning fireplace And even if you've got a gas fireplace, it's something that should be maintained and inspected from time to time. And that is looking through, especially with masonry, to make sure that you don't have any cracks, settlement, or other issues.

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[00:14:59] Eric Goranson: And [00:15:00] then take a look up inside the flu. Look to make sure you don't have any cracks, any daylight, anything like that. And then if it comes up through an attic space, not a bad idea to get up there and take a peek at it. And then I would recommend having that chimney sweep come into once a year and do a really good cleaning.

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[00:15:32] Eric Goranson: And if you don't, no big deal. But those are things you want to make sure that you've got 100 percent dialed in so you don't have an issue down the road because all it takes, especially if you've got clay soil, that chimney can be moving around a little bit with the weather with what's going on in your house.

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[00:16:09] Eric Goranson: And here's the thing, if you have a leaking water heater, then you are usually right at that point, that water heater is going to get ready to go. And when it goes, it could drop all 40, 50, 80 gallons of water all around. So if you see that leak starting to happen, You walk into that utility room. There's a little spot on the floor there where it's leaking out or on the bottom of it, man, it's time.

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[00:16:49] Eric Goranson: That's another issue right there is that thing has to be working correctly. And if it's not working correctly, two things can happen. One, um, It kicks off too early and then starts leaking, [00:17:00] or even worse, it gets too much buildup, and it doesn't work, and then that becomes a pressure canister, and I was watching Mythbusters one time, and they decided that they would block that off and try to overheat that water heater and see what would happen to it, so they had, okay, we're going to overheat these things.

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[00:17:44] Eric Goranson: And it was like a rocket taken off. Now is that realistic? That's something that's going to happen in your house? Now, unless you have messed with that pressure, temperature relief valve. Not gonna happen. However, comma that shows you how important that piece is. So never mess with it. [00:18:00] But if you start to see water coming down in that drip pan or you got water on the floor around it, start doing some investigating because that is where you could have the next big problem.

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[00:18:29] Eric Goranson: So something to think about. Watch that water heater for leaks because man, that could get expensive really quick. All right, Around the House. We'll be right back after these important messages. Don't go anywhere.[00:19:00]

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[00:19:24] Eric Goranson: Cause it's going to get expensive. If you don't wear time is not your friend in getting these things repaired. So this is when something like this happens, it goes to the top of the repair list, or you're hiring somebody to come do it. If you're not able to do it yourself. Hey, first, if you want to get ahold of us with questions or comments, 8 3 3.

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[00:20:03] Eric Goranson: We've been talking about those top 10 problems that can't wait to be repaired. And the next one here. Is a big one and it's something that we start to see especially this time of year that water leak in the roof Maybe it starts out. It's just that little brown spot in the ceiling Or there's some drip in the garage or something like that I tell you what that water leak can get to be something massive and on the first segment I was talking about the house that my brother i've been working out out on the coast here of oregon where we've been working on this project And this was a neglected house and this one here It's it is the worst house and many things that i've ever seen that i've ever worked on now this house if you go back into the wayback machine and take a look back on google maps, which for this address was october of 2013 decade ago and if you go back then it had faded blue tarps on [00:21:00] the roof then so that kind of gives you an idea how bad it was and then when We picked it up here.

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[00:21:29] Eric Goranson: And we took it over and started working on it. Now. This is the ultimate of roof neglect, because once we peeled the tarps, the layers back, it's like peeling back an onion, right? Go peeling it back, peeling it back, and all of a sudden you're seeing dinner plate sized holes. Now this roof, on a coastal environment, didn't last long.

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[00:22:14] Eric Goranson: Of course, they didn't put any tar paper down. They just went right over with shingles right over the top of that and re roofed it. Well, then you throw on it leaking, obviously, probably 15 to 20 years ago, probably 20 years ago, looking at the weathering of the blue tarps. And then you had tarps in the wind and the rain beating on this roof surface.

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[00:22:56] Eric Goranson: Cause you can't even really tell it's three tab at this point, but the wind and the [00:23:00] tarps just rubbed on that and beat it to it, just a shred. And the problem is it's messy coming off. Cause it comes off in little two by two, three by three inch chunks. And so it's a shoveling kind of thing, not a get out the roof and tear off big pieces, it just all comes apart, but you get where I'm going at this.

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[00:23:40] Eric Goranson: It could be running down 68 10 12 ft down. If it's a slow enough for it leak hits a bump, hits a not hit something like that and drop down right there. And it can also land in one spot. And go over in the water starts collecting in other places because of insulation, things like that. So be wary of it to make sure that you've got it and a good time to inspect [00:24:00] things.

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[00:24:14] Eric Goranson: So these are things you really want to make sure you've got a dialed in and not be a big problem. So watch those roof leaks and a little maintenance up there, cleaning and repairing. Can go a long way on solving potential problems down the road. All right, next up we got a big one here and this is one that can be problematic, but it's something that there is a solution for it.

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[00:24:56] Eric Goranson: Now, this is something that it is giving you a [00:25:00] massive warning. Now it could be just like an led, an led light that's not firing off correctly. But if you've got a couple of things happening like that, this is where you got to really pay attention because those flickers that's probably generating heat.

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[00:25:32] Eric Goranson: So my first recommendation is there is a product called ting fire out there. T I N G F I R E. Go find them on the internet. Now here's the cool thing. Many home insurance companies are paying for this unit for free. So take a look at ting fire. Get to know it, look it up. And once you do what this does is this plugs into your electrical system.

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[00:26:19] Eric Goranson: And all of a sudden my team fire fired off one. Hey, you could be in a brownout situation. You're running a little low on voltage and I went, Oh, unplugged the battery bank that I was charging and I was fine. But see, that's that kind of stuff that it tells you and it monitors shorts. It monitors electrical issues.

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[00:26:55] Eric Goranson: And the cool thing is with their program is there's 1000 insurance policy [00:27:00] that will basically pay for an electrician to come out and try to find it for you. And that's also so they can see what the problem was. So if they go, Oh, wow, you have an issue, but we don't know exactly what it is. That electrician, they'll pay for up to a thousand bucks.

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[00:27:33] Eric Goranson: We're trying to put that big flat screen TV up. It's not going to solve that, but just the little things where you have a loose connection and an outlet or a loose connection on a switch. Or some kind of an outlet failing in the backstab connection. Something like that. This is going to help get that dialed in for you and it'll monitor your system 24 seven.

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[00:28:11] Eric Goranson: If it's something that's an electrical issue in nature that you need to get fixed. So make sure you got that figured out and that will help you out. All right. When we come back, we're going to talk more about, I've got two more big ones here to talk about and what it could cause. Problems for your house and we'll do that just as soon as around the house returns,[00:29:00]

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[00:29:24] Eric Goranson: We've been talking about top 10 problems around your house that can't wait to get repaired. These are things you need to push to the front. And there's a lot more than 10. But we'll talk about these 10 is big ones out there. We've come back and talked about carbon monoxide leaks. Gas, like natural gas or propane, a leaking shower where the wall is leaking and causing mold and mildew and all that other rotten damage, leaking toilets, fireplace cracks on the brick and the mortar, or even a rotten out B vent or a vent coming out of that hot water heater leak a water leak in the roof.

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[00:30:19] Eric Goranson: And let me explain how this works. So anytime that you have an electric valve that shuts water off and on via timer or something automatic, so you're like your dishwasher or your washing machine, what happens is you think of. Water flowing down a pipe, right? And then as soon as it turns on to stop the water, that's in the machine, right?

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[00:31:01] Eric Goranson: All that water pressure comes up, hits. It expands the hose that keeps that water hammer from happening. But the problem is, is that just expands and you're just stretching the hose every time you use it. So boom, okay, now it swells, goes back after a while you start to get it breaking down. And so what happens is that hose is multiple layers of rubber.

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[00:31:41] Eric Goranson: And the problem is the water is. Always on up until you hit the back of the washing machine where that solenoid is. So that's like opening a garden hose up in that room. And if you're home, that's one thing. If you're not, that garden hose can be running forever. And I had this happen to a client's home that we were doing a remodel on.[00:32:00]

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[00:32:37] Eric Goranson: And that whole house was a total loss, got taken all the way down to the studs, the entire place, and they were out of that home for a year. Because of a 30 washer and dryer hose set. So you think about that, what that can cause by those. So if you have the braided ones still watch those, cause it's still rubber underneath, but that braid, that [00:33:00] braided stainless on the outside does keep that from moving so much.

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[00:33:21] Eric Goranson: That is one of the easiest water damage things and then the same thing goes down If you've got a dishwasher that hose is like the one on the ice maker Ice maker has a lot less volume going so there's not as much going there But that washing machine is the big one. Next up is a dishwasher. That hose can sometimes break if you have one of the old white plastic ones that are braided.

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[00:33:58] Eric Goranson: And the last one here is a big one. [00:34:00] And it's something that I think you should get checked fairly often. And that is radon. Now, Radon is one of those things that I think it's really smart to have it checked. In my area, when you purchase a house as part of that deal, as part of that transaction, they require you to have Radon testing.

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[00:34:42] Eric Goranson: So all of a sudden you could go from a no radon issue. To a big radon issue just because things got shook up a little bit. So be careful with that Now the crazy thing with radon is like in my neighborhoods over here There can be a fair amount of radon issues here, but what's [00:35:00] weird is you'll have one house That has no radon issues and you go right next door and they've got massive radon issues They've got a whole system they had to put in and it was out of control So be really careful with it can be some areas can be hot some aren't but you really need to test it Each house and how it's you know, how it breathes if it has a basement versus a crawlspace whether it's slab on grade There isn't a rule of, Oh, that'll never have it.

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[00:35:44] Eric Goranson: And those are things that I just think that can really stop a disaster from happening when you've got don't dealing with your health and radon is a big one as far as the unhealthy things in your house, asbestos and having that floating around in the air is another one. If you decided to [00:36:00] go take down your popcorn ceilings.

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[00:36:20] Eric Goranson: I've got asbestos in the house. I better have it tested. That's the best thing you can do. Just have it tested because asbestos in the US happened all the way up into the 2000s. It did not get outlawed like lead in the 77 78 period. No, it was used up into the 2000s. Now, if I go out here and I'm working on a house here in my area, if I'm in the early 2000s, I still have to have products tested.

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[00:37:12] Eric Goranson: You're like, Hey, I'm going to get rid of these popcorn ceilings. Have it tested. Cause it could still be asbestos containing material. And that could linger in your house for years to come. And here's how that happens. If you've got that, you spray it down, you scrape it on you. Okay. That's pretty good. I need to sand it and get the rest of that off.

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[00:37:53] Eric Goranson: You just got to be careful So I want to make sure that you guys understand that as you're dealing with this stuff And this is just a good little side mark [00:38:00] on stuff inside your home. That's healthy. Make sure that you're Checking that rate on, but make sure you're not contaminating things with, with the other issues, like with asbestos and other stuff like that.

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[00:38:34] Eric Goranson: They go to the local store or the different one and they grab different material. And some of it has, some of it hasn't, I've run into that where. The first floor is asbestos containing material and the second's not. And it's just because they had two different products that were out there. So something to think about when you're working around the house.

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[00:39:06] Eric Goranson: Cause that's probably asbestos containing material. The last thing you want to do is send that up. All right. That's it for this hour of around the house. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time. And again, thanks for listening to around the house.