Episode 2089
Safety First? More Like Safety Second with Eric G and Johnny D
Get ready to dive into the wild world of home improvement with Eric G and John Dudley. In our very first episode, we're all about safety—because, let's face it, nobody wants to turn their DIY project into a trip to the ER. We kick things off with a hilarious yet eye-opening discussion on the latest gadgets designed to keep you from doing something stupid, like falling off a ladder or burning your house down. Eric shares some gems about his favorite tools, like the Lockjaw ladder grip that keeps your ladder from becoming a slippery death trap. And of course, we sprinkle in some personal anecdotes that’ll have you shaking your head and laughing at our past mishaps. So, grab your tool belt and tune in for a blend of practical tips and sarcastic banter that’ll make you the safest (and most entertained) DIY-er on the block!
Jumping into the wild world of home improvement, Eric G and Johnny Dudley kick off this weekend’s Around the House with a bang! If you’ve ever wondered what goes on in the mind of a certified kitchen designer with over three decades of experience, you’re in for a treat. Eric’s not just here to give you tips; he’s got stories that’ll make you laugh, cringe, and maybe even question your own home safety protocols. In this episode, they dive headfirst into the realm of home safety gadgets, starting with the ever-important reminder to check your smoke detectors as daylight saving time rolls around. But don't worry, this isn't just your grandma's safety talk; they’re bringing the cool factor into the mix. Think automatic alarms and innovative tools that keep you from turning your DIY project into a disaster!
As they chat, Johnny shares his not-so-expert opinions on safety (and we all know that’s going to be a fun ride), and Eric reveals his newest favorite tool: the Lockjaw ladder grip. A game-changer for anyone who’s ever felt the terrifying slide of a ladder while they were precariously perched on top. The duo’s chemistry is electric as they exchange stories about their past mishaps with ladders and the ridiculousness of their own safety measures, making it clear that sometimes, laughter is the best safety precaution. They even talk about how one of Eric's neighbors learned the hard way that mossy roofs and ladders don’t mix well.
By the end of this episode, you’ll be eagerly waiting to check your smoke detectors and maybe even considering a few gadgets that could save you from a trip to the ER. Whether you’re a seasoned DIY-er or just trying to keep your home from burning down, Eric and Johnny have got you covered with advice that’s equal parts hilarious and practical. So grab your tools and tune in, because this is just the start of a weekend full of home improvement goodness!
Takeaways:
- This episode kicks off our safety talk with Eric G and John Dudley, diving into the absurdities of home improvement mishaps, like someone using a ladder while dressed for a winter ski trip.
- We explore some cool gadgets, like the Lockjaw ladder grip, which might just save you from becoming a human pancake while you’re trying to fix that leaky roof.
- Eric shares a hilariously terrifying story about his neighbor getting stuck on a roof, proving that sometimes safety tools are just as much about saving your dignity as they are about preventing falls.
- We chat about the flame detector that texts you when it senses danger, because who doesn't want to be alerted while sipping coffee that their house might be turning into a bonfire?
- Dudley humorously admits he’s the kind of guy who takes the safety guard off power tools, making us all question his life choices, and maybe ours too!
- With over 30 years of remodeling experience, Eric emphasizes that prevention is key, and the right gadgets can turn a DIY disaster into a manageable project without losing a limb.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Lockjaw
- Amazon
- Home Depot
- Ting Fire
- Metro Paint
- flamedetector.com
To get your questions answered by Eric G give us a call in the studio at 833-239-4144 24/7 and Eric G will get back to you and answer your question and you might end up in a future episode of Around the House.
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Transcript
Foreign.
Speaker B:Welcome to around the House with Eric G. Your trusted source for all things home improvement.
Speaker B:Whether you're tackling a DIY project, hiring it out, or just trying to keep your home running smoothly, you're in the right place.
Speaker B:With over 30 years of remodeling experience, certified kitchen designer Eric G takes you behind the scenes with expert advice, industry trends, and the latest innovations for your home.
Speaker A:Home.
Speaker B:It's everything you need to know without the fluff.
Speaker B:Now let's get this show started with our host, Eric G. And John Dudley.
Speaker A:Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for home improvement.
Speaker A:Thanks for joining me today.
Speaker A:I'm Eric G. I'm Johnny D. Hey, Johnny.
Speaker A:How you doing there, brother?
Speaker C:I'm good, brother.
Speaker C:How you doing?
Speaker A:Good, man.
Speaker A:Good to see you, man.
Speaker A:It looks like you're building out there in the woods again up the looks like mountain cabin by the wear you have on.
Speaker A:It looks cool for Columbia.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's a little chilly up here.
Speaker C:It's definitely higher up and the breeze comes up from the valley and dude, it's, yeah, it ain't snowing, but it feels like it should.
Speaker A:Looks like you and I are going to a job site to where you're dressed in December in Tacoma, Washington, versus the way we used to.
Speaker A:So I love it, man.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker A:Today I wanted to talk about some of the cool stuff out there that are for the home and job site for safety because and we just have the time change this weekend where we're falling back, what I call Benny Hinde where you fall back and we change the clocks and that's always fun.
Speaker A:And people say, oh, you better check the smoke detectors and all that stuff for the batteries.
Speaker A:That's your reminder.
Speaker A:But I thought, hey, let's talk a little bit about safety and some of the stuff you can do out there because there's some cool stuff out there that's going to keep you from getting hurt or burning your house down.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:So if it's automatic, which makes it nice.
Speaker C:And I know you're not the safety guy.
Speaker C:I am not the safety guy.
Speaker C:And I would say that the fireplace that is currently one thin wall separated from my giant propane tank that feeds my stove is not the safest thing.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Let's just say turn it off.
Speaker C:I turn off the main tank after every time I use it.
Speaker A:Smart, Smart.
Speaker A:One of my favorite things.
Speaker A:And the older I get, the more I hate getting up on extension ladders and ladders on the roof.
Speaker A:It's just I have no problem getting up in the 24, 30ft.
Speaker A:But when I get up to the top of the 40 foot extension ladder, that's when I start going, I don't like this bounce anymore.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:Because I know what it feels like to bounce right.
Speaker C:On your shoulder and it's doing the U shaped bow.
Speaker C:You're like, I don't.
Speaker A:You start to get a little bit of vibration going.
Speaker A:It's never good.
Speaker A:This is a cool little tool that is great for the people over the holidays as well.
Speaker A:Lockjaw ladder grip.
Speaker A:So I've got one of these things.
Speaker A:It is awesome.
Speaker A:What it does is it locks your ladder up to the gutter system to keep it from sliding around.
Speaker A:The gutter system isn't going to hold you up if you put the ladder up wrong.
Speaker A:But what's cool about this is it comes in and you basically lock it off.
Speaker A:So it grabs the ladder and it just keeps it from sliding.
Speaker A:So now you're not bouncing around and moving with it, which is cool.
Speaker A:So it just grabs around the ladder, locks into the gutter system and oh my gosh.
Speaker A:It keeps you from getting that slide around.
Speaker A:Especially if you've got the ladder on the ground or softer ground or things like that.
Speaker C:And a good climbing three blocks.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Piece of two by four under one, two by six on the other.
Speaker A:All the sketchy stuff that you're not supposed to do.
Speaker A:But I tell you what, this is like instant ladder security.
Speaker A:And that's one of the things.
Speaker A:You can get one or you can get two of them.
Speaker A:I just have one because I just need it to keep it up there.
Speaker A:But for instance, my neighbor last year was up on his roof.
Speaker A:And here in the Pacific Northwest we get this mossy slime that goes on the roofs if you're in the shade.
Speaker A:And he had this.
Speaker A:He got up on the roof of his garage and went, oh, I'm stuck.
Speaker A:If I move, I'm sliding.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker A:So I went over and grabbed my ladder.
Speaker A:I grabbed my lockjaw ladder grip.
Speaker A:His son who's like 10, came over and went, eric, can you help get my dad off the roof?
Speaker A:And I'm like, all right, man.
Speaker A:And it was a Saturday thing and so I go popping over there.
Speaker A:I'm like, hold on, man, I'll be right over.
Speaker A:Grab that.
Speaker A:So then he felt like he could slide down a little bit.
Speaker A:I could hold the ladder and he could get down and get off the ladder.
Speaker A:And so it worked out really well.
Speaker A:But talk about a cheap insurance policy for 129 bucks to make it feel Much more stable.
Speaker A:So that way you can put the ladder up there the three or four feet higher than the roof surface you're climbing onto.
Speaker A:So it looks like you're matching up the OSHA and ladder rules, but works.
Speaker C:Out really well because I am so safety conscience.
Speaker C:I am a veteran of several ladder roof falls, et cetera.
Speaker C:One including a full five gallon paint can.
Speaker C:Awesome paint bucket in my hand from three stories up in Ketchikan, Alaska on an icy roof.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker C:Ladder slid out from under me.
Speaker C:I fell, whatever that is.
Speaker C:30 foot, used my poor little knees as a spring absorber and did not spill a drop of paint just to.
Speaker C:I'm a little proud of that, cats.
Speaker C:But I'm also dumb for putting ladder on an icy roof.
Speaker C:And I'm surprised that we didn't develop something like this a lot of years ago.
Speaker C:Like something so simple.
Speaker A:The guy's out of Australia and I've had him on the TV show before.
Speaker A:The guy is awesome.
Speaker A:I love just small inventors like this.
Speaker A:And you can get this on Amazon, so you can get it there.
Speaker A:Home Depot, other places like that.
Speaker A:But my last one was not even a ladder issue.
Speaker A:I was up on the roof of my shed that I was building that I later turned into my office.
Speaker A:I had a 4 by sheet of OSB up on my hands and a gust of wind came through, just lifted me off in full on parasailing mode and I wrote it down to the ground.
Speaker A:Threw the sheet of plywood off to the side so it wouldn't land on my classic Mercedes and just about landed on the hood.
Speaker A:It was close.
Speaker A:It was close.
Speaker C:So after a few of those, you get pretty good at it.
Speaker C:It's kind of like a wingsuit.
Speaker C:You're like, oh, this again.
Speaker C:Okay, yeah, wait.
Speaker C:It's kind of stand standing up on the seat of a motorcycle when you know you're going down.
Speaker C:You just get used to it.
Speaker A:Just get used to it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You're sitting there just going, oh my gosh.
Speaker A:Here we go.
Speaker A:Here we go.
Speaker A:There we go.
Speaker A:Perfect.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker A:It's that it's the landing is when you.
Speaker A:When do you bail off the sheet of plywood and push that away from you so it doesn't hit you in the.
Speaker A:On the edge?
Speaker A:Because if you miss that, it hurts.
Speaker C:Yeah, you.
Speaker C:It's all timing.
Speaker C:You can't do it too early.
Speaker C:You get smacked in the neck or you can't do it too late, it'll bash you in the ribs.
Speaker A:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker A:So yeah, that's one of the ones that I really Love out there.
Speaker A:That thing is so good.
Speaker A:And gets my full endorsement.
Speaker A:Of course, if you've got a sketchy gutter system, this isn't going to be the best for you.
Speaker A:But it's not holding that much.
Speaker A:It's just steadying it.
Speaker A:That gutter system's got good enough nails.
Speaker A:And if you put the.
Speaker A:Put the ladder up correctly and there's apps for that up there.
Speaker C:Stops that slide, man.
Speaker C:I've had to do the bail as the ladder goes.
Speaker C:Slides to the right or left or what.
Speaker C:It stops that at least.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:And so works really well.
Speaker C:Just make sure.
Speaker C:Make sure you send the apprentice up to put those on.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:That way, you're the older one holding the ladder for them.
Speaker C:You go first.
Speaker A:You go first, son.
Speaker A:Here we go.
Speaker A:But it's just so simple how it locks and releases.
Speaker A:Just grabs any ladder, whether it's a fiberglass or metal or whatever else.
Speaker A:It's just a great way to go.
Speaker A:And it's designed for us style gutters.
Speaker A:So it's really cool.
Speaker A:They've done a really great job of that.
Speaker A:They're tough as nails.
Speaker A:I'm impressed.
Speaker A:Now there's so many other things out there that.
Speaker A:And we'll start talking about this, and then we'll talk about it when we come back.
Speaker A:My next favorite one is this one here.
Speaker A:I'm gonna bring this over.
Speaker A:This is the flame detector.
Speaker A:And let me share that over to you.
Speaker A:Your brother as well.
Speaker C:They call that hair.
Speaker A:The flame detector is awesome.
Speaker A:This thing here is so amazing.
Speaker A:And this is something that you put in your garage, your house, or whatever else it goes.
Speaker A:You just basically mount it up on the wall or put it on a shelf.
Speaker A:You could put it in your kid's bedroom or whatever.
Speaker A:And what's cool about this is it looks for open flame.
Speaker A:So I have sat there in my garage.
Speaker A:You mount it on the wall.
Speaker A:I can click a lighter 20ft away and it will go flame detected and start sending me text messages.
Speaker C:But it's optically searching that.
Speaker A:Optically searching it.
Speaker A:So it is looking crazy that that kicks out, I believe.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:That's slick.
Speaker A:What's cool is they tested it.
Speaker A:Like you could sit there underneath.
Speaker A:If you had a kid that was behind the couch and was flicking a lighter.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:And you couldn't see that.
Speaker A:It can see the reflection of that off the wall from the couch.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker A:And it's cool stuff.
Speaker A:We'll talk about that here.
Speaker C:Let's.
Speaker A:Let's go out to break.
Speaker A:Pay the bills real quick, brother.
Speaker A:And then we'll talk about the flame detector when we come back.
Speaker A:We'll do that just as soon as around the House returns.
Speaker A:Don't change that time.
Speaker B:To find out more information, head to aroundthehouseonline.com.
Speaker B:don't change that dial around the House.
Speaker B:We'll be right back after these important messages.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the around the House show.
Speaker A:Your trusted source for home improvement information, I'm Eric G. And we got Dudley in here with.
Speaker A:Johnny is sitting here talking safety with me, which is something maybe he's not the best expert in which I love you, brother, but you're definitely the guy that takes the guard off the circular saw or the table saw kind of guy.
Speaker C:I'm a bit of a maniac, but to my credit, I've got all my limbs and fingers and never broken a bone.
Speaker C:Maybe I'm a little cocky because I get away with that kind of chaos.
Speaker A:But, yeah, they call me the squirrel.
Speaker A:Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker A:Like you get away with it.
Speaker A:You get away with it.
Speaker A:I don't have all my fingers, so I haven't had any blade hits like that.
Speaker A:But last year I broke my tibia coming off the step ladder.
Speaker A:So you know, that stuff happens, that stuff out.
Speaker C:Eric, that was at the water slides.
Speaker A:You can tell them I wish it was.
Speaker A:I haven't just.
Speaker A:I tell you what, I was on one of the safest ladders and my knee gave out, fell down, landed on the concrete just two steps up.
Speaker A:And I thought I broke my hip because I landed back because I was framing up this new wall in my garage at the time and my knee gave out and I had my hand up with my ear, my cordless framing nailer over my head.
Speaker A:So I just fell backwards when my knee gave out.
Speaker A:Because having that 15 pound nailer over your head chock full of nails wasn't awesome either.
Speaker A:And I fell backwards and landed my back hip, my right back hip.
Speaker A:Whenever I'm doing projects, I have these drawer boxes that were Cabot samples that are like these maple dovetail drawer boxes with bins in them that were for samples.
Speaker A:What's great for putting all your parts and pieces in to get it all put together.
Speaker A:And awesome.
Speaker A:I landed on that in a fire extinguisher.
Speaker A:Fire extinguisher.
Speaker A:I bent the handle with the pin in it that it still went off.
Speaker A:So I had fire extinguisher went off for about two seconds.
Speaker A:So I had powder everywhere.
Speaker A:And I'm laying on the ground going, oh, I did it this time.
Speaker A:I broke my hip.
Speaker A:Then I did the old self Check.
Speaker A:Oh, I lifted my leg up as I'm laying flat on the ground, I'm like, oh, all right.
Speaker A:Just a bad bruise.
Speaker A:I think I'm good.
Speaker A:Then I got up and went, what's with my knee?
Speaker A:And yeah, I stuck my knee and cracked my tibia on that one.
Speaker A:So even a stupid step ladder, I'd fall off a two story building and not be hurt.
Speaker A:But then I come off the two step up step ladder.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:Murphy's Law.
Speaker C:I feel bad for you, but I feel worse that there's no video of the fire extinguisher going off in that episode.
Speaker A:That was the worst part.
Speaker A:Other than the big bruise that looked like I got hit by a truck.
Speaker A:But that took a year for my knee to heal.
Speaker A:And it just recently I'm like, okay, I think it's good.
Speaker A:I think it's good.
Speaker A:No fun at all with that.
Speaker A:We were talking about the flame detector we went out to break and this is just so cool.
Speaker A:It takes some double A batteries.
Speaker A:You mount it up on the wall and it's designed to monitor spaces where basically a flame should never exist.
Speaker A:You wouldn't put it in your kitchen if you've got a gas stove because it's going to go, wow, you got a fire.
Speaker A:That's not the place.
Speaker C:Or a Kiss concert.
Speaker A:Or a Kiss concert, yeah.
Speaker A:Or any band room like that.
Speaker A:But basically it's just designed to detect open flame instantly.
Speaker A:What's cool is it'll also text you as well.
Speaker A:So it'll sit there and tell you, hey, it'll go, hey, boom.
Speaker A:Open flame detected.
Speaker A:And so it's super cool.
Speaker A:Smoke alarms work out in the yard.
Speaker C:It's not so nice if you're on vacation.
Speaker A:That's never good.
Speaker A:Never good.
Speaker A:Smoke alarms work well because they detect the small particles of combustion.
Speaker A:But you gotta have fire a lot of smoke for that to go off first.
Speaker A:Or it was my ex cooking dinner, but that's a whole other story.
Speaker A:That's how you could tell it was done.
Speaker A:But if the particles haven't.
Speaker A:If you've got a fire going and it hasn't had enough smoke yet, this grabs it before that.
Speaker A:And what I think it's cool is if you've got.
Speaker A:It basically just detects that narrow band of UV and all of a sudden it goes off.
Speaker A:And if you've got kids that like probably Johnny and I did as kids, like to play with fire, burn things, do stuff like that, this would be a kind of a good little deal for that.
Speaker A:But again, super inexpensive, 136 bucks for this thing.
Speaker A:And I'm a huge fan.
Speaker A:It really works well.
Speaker A:And I think for garage fire prevention, it's like the perfect deal here to go out there because that way if you.
Speaker A:I put mine out in the garage because I could put it near where my batteries were.
Speaker A:So if I had all my power tool batteries sitting there, and if something, I mean, there's 6,600 fires a year start in your garage, that tells you really what's going on there.
Speaker A:And I thought, what a great way to protect my garage where all my tools were, by using this great way.
Speaker A:You can get it a lot of different places.
Speaker A:Just go to flamedetector.com if you're listening on the podcast.
Speaker A:I'll put the addresses of these things on here so you can click on them and find them.
Speaker A:That way you can find it.
Speaker A:And none of these are sponsored either.
Speaker A:Maybe we should have done that, Dudley.
Speaker A:Maybe we should have gotten these sponsored.
Speaker A:But these are just our favorite things.
Speaker A:There's nothing sponsored here with this.
Speaker A:Maybe get with my website on that.
Speaker A:Let's talk about that.
Speaker C:Yeah, we're not so smart.
Speaker A:We're not so smart.
Speaker A:But anyway, that's a great one right there.
Speaker A:Now the next one is one of my favorites as well.
Speaker A:And I'm going to bring this one up here for you too, Dudley, because this is super cool.
Speaker A:Electrical fires are a big deal.
Speaker A:And like when you had your old house, your wiring was a little more than sketch which one, what existed at least.
Speaker C:Oh, man.
Speaker C:Everything I bought down there, up there was knob and tube.
Speaker C:It all had to be gutted.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:And here's the thing.
Speaker A:There is a thing called ting fire.
Speaker A:I've talked about it for a couple years.
Speaker A:And this is a sensor that basically you hook into the.
Speaker A:You put the app on your phone, you plug this into an outlet, you hook it up to your wifi, and it monitors your entire house all the way out to the transformer for electrical issues.
Speaker A:So if you think of lightning and if you think about the signal that lightning gives off, like noise, that spark gives certain frequencies.
Speaker A:A short does the same thing in electrical systems.
Speaker C:So, sure, you hear it half the time.
Speaker A:And so this is really cool.
Speaker A:So basically, you plug this in and it detects any kind of an electrical issue.
Speaker A:It'll tell you if you've got a brown out where your voltage is low, It'll tell you that, hey, it looks like you might have a short someplace in the system.
Speaker A:And what's cool is they give you $1,000 coverage for an electrician to come out and find it, really.
Speaker A:So if it goes, hey, you got a problem, they cover the grand to get an insurance to get somebody out there to take a look at it.
Speaker A:And so this is really a way to predict electrical issues.
Speaker A:And now here is the secret.
Speaker C:That's crazy.
Speaker A:Isn't that crazy?
Speaker A:Now, the cool thing with this that I love is that you can get your insurance company many times to pay for it.
Speaker A:Your homeowner's policy.
Speaker C:Ah, nice.
Speaker C:Makes sense because they're like, hey, we'll.
Speaker A:Spend $100 to eliminate the chance of a electrical fire.
Speaker C:Dude, I'll tell you what.
Speaker C:The first house I bought in Tacoma and I just gotta throw this out there because you wouldn't really think about it.
Speaker C: But built in: Speaker C:The squirrels chewed a giant hole in the attic vents.
Speaker C:And so I had a family of squirrels in my attic.
Speaker C:Squirrels like to chew on wire.
Speaker C:I always worried like, man, when is one of those little jerks gonna get through and start a fire?
Speaker C:This is perfect for something like that, man.
Speaker A:I've got a story.
Speaker A:Let's go out to break.
Speaker A:When I come back, I've got my electrical story.
Speaker A:That was probably the closest I had for burning something down.
Speaker A:And let's talk about that when around the House returns.
Speaker B:That's it for this segment of around the House.
Speaker B:Stick around.
Speaker B:We'll be right back after the break with more home improvement goodness.
Speaker B:Want extra tips and tricks?
Speaker B:Follow us on YouTube and social media for all the action.
Speaker B:Visit aroundthehouseonline.com for links and more info to keep your home humming.
Speaker B:Why did the hammer go to therapy?
Speaker B:It had too many nailing relationships.
Speaker B:We'll be back in a flash.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the around the House show, your trusted source for home improvement information.
Speaker A:If you want to find out more about us, head over to our beautiful website, the Johnny Dudley here designed that is@aroundthehouseonline.com and make sure you subscribe to our social media.
Speaker A:And if you've got something you want us to talk about, make sure and send us a note over there.
Speaker A:Just hit the contact us page and it will show up in my email box and I'll get back to you shortly.
Speaker A:Johnny and I've been sitting here talking about cool things that are safety wise that really can prevent headaches at the job site or your house.
Speaker A:And we were talking about ting fire here.
Speaker A: cities because I had this old: Speaker A:They had taken the coal shed out and done an addition.
Speaker A:But what I didn't realize is the light switch that would have been inside that coal shed when I bought it was on the outside.
Speaker A:And we had a rainstorm come in and my lights were flickering.
Speaker A:I couldn't tell what was going around.
Speaker A:And I went outside to see where my power pole came in.
Speaker A:Do I have something going on outside?
Speaker A:I look outside and I can see the red of that box all wet, shorted out.
Speaker A:And it had a plastic cover over it.
Speaker A:And I don't know how I missed it, how anybody missed it, how my house inspector missed it.
Speaker A:But we all missed it.
Speaker A:I just moved in and it was.
Speaker A:If I wouldn't have been there and had to notice that that would have been a house fire situation.
Speaker C:And soffits in the northwest that fill up with water and you got lights built into the soffits.
Speaker C:Same deal.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:Just water and electricity.
Speaker A:Doesn't mix.
Speaker A:But take a look at Ting fire.
Speaker A:Probably I would reach out first to your insurance company and see what you can do.
Speaker A:But there's a lot of companies out there that are paying for this.
Speaker A:And heck, here's some of the pictures they've got on their website.
Speaker A:Just go to tingfire.com but you could see the stuff where they have caught it, prevented it.
Speaker A:Maybe it's a bad breaker, maybe it's a bad circuit board and something.
Speaker A:But ting prevents four out of five electrical fires.
Speaker A:Now if you're up there putting in your big screen TV and you go through and sink a lag bolt through the middle of the little middle of the.
Speaker A:Maybe the power line going to your range or something of a 40amp circuit.
Speaker A:Maybe that's not going to solve that.
Speaker A:But really this is going to catch things before which I like.
Speaker C:So I will tell you that if you used one of those down here in pretty much any structure in Colombia, it would blow it up.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker C:Did they use lamp cord for stuff down here?
Speaker A:Oh man.
Speaker A:So it's not even wire ties.
Speaker A:It's just twisting it together and wrapping it with a wrap of duct tape and you're good.
Speaker A:Huh?
Speaker C:They got bare wire that go to these shower heads that actually heat the water.
Speaker C:There's no water heaters.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker C:Not in every house.
Speaker C:But literally you're looking at bare wires and wire caps while you're showering, going.
Speaker C:Are you guys sure that you've been doing that for years?
Speaker C:Really?
Speaker C:Are you sure?
Speaker C:Because it doesn't look good.
Speaker A:No, that looks like a Dr. Jack of Orchid shower to me.
Speaker C:I don't know, dude, it's.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's nutty.
Speaker C:Thailand, Thailand's even worse.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's what my girlfriend was saying.
Speaker A:She's been to Thailand a lot.
Speaker C:She's lord.
Speaker A:Even the streets there.
Speaker A:It's kind of like when I was in El Salvador.
Speaker A:You look down at the road, at the pole, and there's 10,000 wires hanging off the pole where everything is home run to every house versus a main line.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's like a wire run with so many wires it's almost as wide as the street.
Speaker C:In any given 15 minute interval, you will see a spark.
Speaker C:You're like, ah, that's.
Speaker C:Hey, why is that smoking?
Speaker C:That doesn't look good.
Speaker A:It'll be fine.
Speaker A:It'll go out.
Speaker C:Yeah, dude, it's crazy, man.
Speaker A:I guess here in Portland, at least where I live, we would never have that because somebody would have been up there and stolen that wire for copper.
Speaker A:That would be an opportunity for the homeless.
Speaker A:I tell you that.
Speaker A:That would be like, oh, no, that's gone.
Speaker A:Tomorrow no one's going to have any power utilities because that's gone.
Speaker C:Ripping that like dogs.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, that would be down at the wire recycling place before you know it.
Speaker A:So it wouldn't hold up.
Speaker A:That's one of my favorite ones.
Speaker A:That's just.
Speaker A:To me, I think that should be in almost every house here.
Speaker A:That's for 100 bucks or your insurance company pay for it.
Speaker A:Way smart way to go.
Speaker A:And it'll tell you just basically go onto your app and look at it and go, hey, things look good and it's really slick and it's plug and play.
Speaker A:That's the crazy thing.
Speaker A:You just hooking it up to your wifi.
Speaker A:You turn the app on, plug it in, and it goes, hey, there's your unit.
Speaker A:Put in your.
Speaker A:Create your account and give it the WI fi password and off you go.
Speaker A:And from there on out, you're good.
Speaker A:It'll tell you if something out.
Speaker A:What I like too is if I'm traveling, it'll say, your power is out.
Speaker A:And I'm like, oh.
Speaker A:And I'll have two or three things say the power is out.
Speaker A:And I'm like, okay, now I know that the power's out of my house and I've got to deal with that.
Speaker A:Yeah, you know, so that was pretty.
Speaker C:Peace of mind, man, for me.
Speaker C:I always worry about electricity and gas and the peace of mind that something like this does for a hundred bucks.
Speaker C:Come on.
Speaker C:It's a no brainer.
Speaker C:Yeah, it is.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:What a great idea.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:The other one I think is, here's one thing I want to talk about too, that's important and I'm really concerned about it.
Speaker A:Amazon is really good about selling things, but they're also really good about selling things that don't work.
Speaker A:And there's all of these off brand smoke detectors, all of these carbon monoxide detectors, all this stuff I tested about a year ago on the television show.
Speaker A:A carbon monoxide alarm, a handheld one, Just a little handheld one.
Speaker A:I couldn't get it to go off, so I went out and started my diesel SUV and put it up against the sensor, up against the tailpipe.
Speaker A: And then I started up my: Speaker A:Started up against the tailpipe.
Speaker A:No reading.
Speaker C:Oh, nice.
Speaker A:I'm like, this is ridiculous.
Speaker C:Then I know that there's somebody in the house that's not breathing.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Then I did another one.
Speaker A:I went, okay, it's defective.
Speaker A:Same thing.
Speaker A:And I'm like, oh, wow.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:That should have been setting that alarm off.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:You're dealing with people's lives, you're dealing with children.
Speaker C:It's disgusting.
Speaker C:That.
Speaker C:Whatever.
Speaker C:Don't get me started.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:No, it's bad.
Speaker A:So some of the things you have to be careful with, too, with these.
Speaker A:And this is an interesting one.
Speaker A:And I learned this from our friend Kurt, Caroline Blazowski.
Speaker A:When you look at carbon monoxide detectors, look and see where it first gets set off.
Speaker A:So many of these you already have a serious health issue.
Speaker A:When it sets the alarm off, you're not dead, but you're working your way there.
Speaker A:You want to find something that's going to be the most sensitive.
Speaker A:So that way you know what's going on.
Speaker A:And she's really got me now where I've got an air quality monitor that I have that I can go down and it will look for the PM2.5, which is the particulate matter in the air.
Speaker A:It'll look for carbon monoxide, it'll look for combustion gases.
Speaker A:Hey, I got a natural gas leak or a propane leak, and that's.
Speaker A:That stuff's pretty important as well, so.
Speaker C:And it's peace of mind, right?
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's your health and it could be your life.
Speaker C:And it's worth every dollar you're going to spend on anything like that.
Speaker C:Now that we have these types of tools and gadgets that can do that for us, it's just foolish not to use them, man.
Speaker C:There's too many accidents.
Speaker C:Too many people that die.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And it's unnecessary.
Speaker C:Over a hundred dollar fix.
Speaker C:Come on.
Speaker A:Come on.
Speaker A:So preventable.
Speaker A:It's like, I got a buddy who's got a girlfriend that's sick, and she's been fighting all these health issues.
Speaker A:And I'm like, hey, man, check.
Speaker A:You don't have any mold in the air in there.
Speaker A:Because that could be if you got a moldy house.
Speaker A:Oh, it's a newer house.
Speaker A:He finds a moldy shower.
Speaker A:I'm like, there we go.
Speaker A:I bet if he got that taken care of correctly, that that could easily help with a lot of those respiratory and issues that she's having, which is pretty fascinating to me that just the mold in the wall and it doesn't matter if you're in the desert or not.
Speaker A:You can be living in Phoenix and have a water line in the wall that's broken or leaking or dripping or a bad shower pan, and you still going to have mold issues.
Speaker C:And it's a dangerous misconception to think that just because it's a newer home.
Speaker C:Like, there's been plenty of periods where specs weren't what they needed to be and inspections weren't what they needed to be, and we were over sealing houses for a while, causing all kinds of problems.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, those 80s and 90s houses where we didn't make them breathe and we sealed them too much.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Those are a hot mess.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Now, when we come back, I want to talk about one more thing with that air quality monitor, too, because I've noticed something, and it's in the name of recycling that I'm seeing this one come up, and it's a scary one.
Speaker A:We'll talk about that just as soon as around the House returns.
Speaker A:Don't change that tile.
Speaker B:Make sure you follow the around the House show on social media and our YouTube channel at aroundthehouse EricG for all of our home improvement videos.
Speaker B:Hold onto your tool belt, folks.
Speaker B:We're taking a short break to rewire our thoughts.
Speaker B:Around the House will be back faster than you can say drywall dust.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the around the House show, your trusted source for home improvement information.
Speaker A:Johnny and I are sitting here talking about some of the great safety things out there that really change things.
Speaker A:And we were talking about indoor air quality and things like that here.
Speaker A:And one of the ones that I've had, and it's.
Speaker A:This is a. I guess I call it the land of good intentions gone bad, brother.
Speaker A:Hey, we're gonna recycle.
Speaker A:We're gonna be green.
Speaker A:We're gonna make you sick.
Speaker A:Oh, wait a minute.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:In my area here in.
Speaker A:In the Pacific Northwest, in Portland, we have something that's been advertised across the country as this latest, next greatest way to.
Speaker A:To recycle paint.
Speaker A:The problem is that, like, for instance, I sold my house here recently.
Speaker A:I gotta go down there and drop off all my cans of paint that were the ones that.
Speaker A:That last quarter of a can of the paint that you painted two colors ago that you're never gonna use.
Speaker A:So I'm gonna go down there.
Speaker A:I have to give it there.
Speaker A:I can't throw it away.
Speaker A:I can't put it in the trash or anything.
Speaker A:I get that.
Speaker A:But it's latex paint.
Speaker A:I'm gonna take it down there, drop it off.
Speaker A:They take it for free.
Speaker A:And by the way, you pay a dollar or so every gallon you buy around here to go into this fund.
Speaker A:But what happens is they take it and they pour it into these vats of paint, and then they have those big containers of paint that they drop it into.
Speaker A:As they do this, they mix them all together into this big paint cocktail.
Speaker A:Then they tint them, and they have 12 colors, and they call it Metro paint.
Speaker A:The problem is that I get so many phone calls from contractors, from friends from other people in the industry in our area that call up and go, hey, I'm over here at a house that I'm working on, and the homeowners were painting last week, and they've been getting sick, and they just can't stand the smell of this.
Speaker A:And I'm like, oh, did you buy that Metro paint?
Speaker A:Hold on, let me ask.
Speaker A:Oh, there's the can.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:The problem is that when you take down paint that's latex, that maybe it's 5 years old, 10 years old, it's been sitting in all the different situations.
Speaker A:Maybe somebody was cleaning two or three things into that.
Speaker A:Maybe it's got some paint thinner, it's got something else into it.
Speaker A:You've got this chemical compound that you've mixed with latex paint, and then it gets moldy, mildewy, and then they, I'm sure, drop in plenty of anti.
Speaker A:Mildicide, mildicide stuff in there, keep that from growing.
Speaker A:And now you've got this nasty cocktail that you're putting on your wall, and whatever's gonna off gas, and maybe there's some different chemicals that are fighting each other in there you're putting on your wall.
Speaker A:And now you're gonna breathe it until that thing fully cures.
Speaker A:And that can Be a serious health issue.
Speaker A:I've painted with that stuff before and I tried it and I'm like, holy smokes, that is the worst smell ever.
Speaker A:It almost, like burned your nose.
Speaker A:It's that bad.
Speaker C:Like to see their safety data sheets.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:How do you do a safety data sheet when you don't know what's in the vat?
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:What's in there?
Speaker C:My point.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker C:My point.
Speaker C:Dealing with toxic chemicals and you're pushing it out the door and you're selling it as a product.
Speaker C:And again, it's disappointing that things like that get to market without some kind of censorship, some kind of governing that says, we need to test this before we just start shipping out hundreds of gallons of attic acid mixed with latex paint mixed with mildew, side mixed with paint thinner mixed with.
Speaker C:God knows.
Speaker A:Johnny, think about when you go to the paint store, man.
Speaker A:You go there and they've got the.
Speaker A:They got the.
Speaker A:Hey, put the bug killer in to keep the bugs from growing on the outside of the paint.
Speaker A:Hey, put this in to keep the mold and mildew from growing on the outside.
Speaker A:And hey, put all these additives, let alone the floetrols or anything else that you put in.
Speaker A:In there.
Speaker A:And now you got all these things fighting each other.
Speaker A:And that, to me, is just mixing together.
Speaker C:You don't know what you're making.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's crazy that they're not.
Speaker C:I'm really curious about that.
Speaker C:There's gotta be some kind of testing going on.
Speaker C:Some kind of.
Speaker A:Maybe.
Speaker C:Like I said, they.
Speaker C:By law, you would think they'd be required to provide a safety data sheet for each batch that came out.
Speaker C:At least that tested for the 97 chemicals that might be in there and the possible effects may be.
Speaker C:And warn the consumer, hey, it's cheap, recycled paint.
Speaker C:You're doing good for the environment, but might, you know, stick to your lungs and kill you in three years.
Speaker A:And amazingly, they are discontinuing this project at the end of the year due to costs.
Speaker A:And I'm like, really?
Speaker A:Wait a minute.
Speaker A:I don't see a material safety data sheet here.
Speaker A:Let's see.
Speaker A:Oh, here we go.
Speaker A:I found the material safety data sheet.
Speaker A:Let's dive in for just a second because I'm mildly curious here.
Speaker A:Let me share this one with you because I'm more than curious to see what this is going to tell us because I got a feeling it would.
Speaker C:Have to be different.
Speaker C:It would have to be different for every vat.
Speaker C:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:Oh.
Speaker A:Hazards identification, not classified.
Speaker A:No labeling applicable.
Speaker A:No Additional information available.
Speaker A:Not applicable.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker A:This product consists primarily of post consumer recyclable latex paints.
Speaker A:Feedstock may vary.
Speaker C:Ship it.
Speaker A:Yeah, ship it.
Speaker A:Let's see.
Speaker A:First aid measures after inhalation.
Speaker A:Now this is for latex paint, brother.
Speaker A:If breathing is difficult, remove victim to fresh air and keep at rest in a position comfortable for breathing.
Speaker A:Get medical advice if you feel unwell.
Speaker C:Come on.
Speaker C:I can drink latex paint, but it's all the other stuff they got in there.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Those costs that are.
Speaker C:They're incurring or guessing.
Speaker C:Attorney costs to prep for the giant lawsuit.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I'm looking here.
Speaker A:Accidental release, handling and storage, vapor controls.
Speaker A:Yeah, they really don't.
Speaker A:They're talking about the color.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:A lot of.
Speaker C:Not applicable on those.
Speaker A:Yeah, there's a lot of that and ethylene glycol.
Speaker A:Okay, that's interesting.
Speaker A:So, yeah, that kind of tells me what's going on here.
Speaker A:Respiratory protection in case of insufficient ventilation where suitable respiratory equipment.
Speaker A:But it doesn't tell you what that must be.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker A:Oh.
Speaker C:Just put a bandana over your nose, you'll be fine.
Speaker A:Yeah, you'll be good.
Speaker A:You'll be good.
Speaker A:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:Look at that.
Speaker A:Look at this.
Speaker A:Explosive properties, vapor pressure.
Speaker A:No data available.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:Yeah, no.
Speaker C:They're obviously doing some rigorous testing on that while they're shipping it out to people with babies in their house.
Speaker C:That's sick, dude.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Sorry.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's not.
Speaker C:My stuff will really make me rant.
Speaker C:Because when you're threatening people's health and you're doing it, you're not being transparent about it.
Speaker C:You're being as snake oil as you can about it.
Speaker C:I get really angry.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Especially on the sense of pain contractor.
Speaker C:Especially because I'm always the guy that takes the heat.
Speaker C:Why is this paint making us sick, man?
Speaker A:Here's why.
Speaker A:And here's the thing.
Speaker A:Because it's recycled.
Speaker A:They've been selling that stuff for about 18 bucks a gallon or $90 for five gallons.
Speaker A:That's a great deal.
Speaker A:But it's one of those things.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's crazy.
Speaker A:And I'm not a fan.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:I'm happy that they're closing this down.
Speaker A:But here's the thing that makes me concerned.
Speaker A:They're now trying to roll out a national program based on this, and they're trying to get this to other regions to be able to do it.
Speaker A:And I'm like, no, don't, don't.
Speaker C:It should be.
Speaker C:It could be a great idea.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker C:Because in theory, as an exponent, you saw my garages, you saw my storage units full of hundreds of paint cans.
Speaker C:Oh, I might use that royal blue one day, who knows?
Speaker C:Tons of those.
Speaker C:To be able to reuse those effectively and healthily would be fantastic.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:But draw a line.
Speaker C:Make some strict regulations that say, okay, every can that comes in, we test for anything other than basic combinations of latex paint.
Speaker C:Anything that has anything else in it, you got to ship that to the toxic waste site.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And they should be taking the big vats because they still have to run through a can line to put it in a thing when it's all mixed together.
Speaker A:Now you've got another test point right.
Speaker A:Where you've got all this stuff together.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Before it goes in the can, there should be a full on test of that to make sure that you don't have any chemical reactions and stuff going on there.
Speaker C:And they're not being transparent, they're not showing us that they're doing that.
Speaker C:And they shouldn't be able to operate until that's done, period.
Speaker C:Especially if they're going to go nationwide with an idea like this.
Speaker C:Love the idea.
Speaker C:That's great.
Speaker C:Fantastic.
Speaker C:I hate wasting all that pain.
Speaker C:I hate it like.
Speaker A:Down there as.
Speaker C:Well, because it's not get people sick over it.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:No, it's crazy.
Speaker A:It's crazy.
Speaker A:It's one of those things I look at and go, man, that just has to get dialed back.
Speaker A:Oh, one other thing before we go out here and wrap up this hour, Johnny.
Speaker A:One other thing that I've been doing lately is I've been skipping the ladders.
Speaker A:I love good fall protection devices and I still wear them now when I get up there because I don't want to bounce.
Speaker A:But when it comes down to it, I've been much more into scaffolding than I am setting up scaffolding than getting up on the ladder.
Speaker A:It is so nice when you're up there swapping out a window or doing, doing some siding, scaffolding up instead of doing it on the extension ladder.
Speaker C:Not only safer, but so much easier on your body, man.
Speaker C:Not bending over and reaching out and turning around and twisting and getting backwards.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:So much.
Speaker C:A little more setup, little more work.
Speaker C:But they've simplified a lot of that as well now to make things easier.
Speaker A:Oh, and they carry it on the shelf at Lowe's.
Speaker A:Now you can literally go down, buy your own instead of having to go rent it.
Speaker A:I've got four sections I can go up four high with full on mason scaffolding all the way up so I can get up there pretty high, which is.
Speaker A:That's good.
Speaker A:And then I got a little baker's one for inside that you can roll around, which is cool, too, man.
Speaker A:It's nice.
Speaker A:When I was doing the ceiling in my.
Speaker A:In my bed in my living room, that was awesome.
Speaker A:I could do that.
Speaker A:Get up there and just keep rocking.
Speaker A:And I wasn't moving.
Speaker A:Wasn't getting down and moving the step ladder every two boards.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:That is the worst.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:All right, brother.
Speaker A:We're running out of time for this hour, but, guys, we got hour number two.
Speaker A:If you're listening on the radio, if you don't hear us, don't worry.
Speaker A:You can always catch it on the podcast.
Speaker A:I'm Eric G. I'm Johnny D. You've been listening to around the House.
