Transform Your Concrete: The Genius Way to Restore Your Outdoor Space - Around the House® Home Improvement: A Deep Dive into Your Home

Episode 2032

Transform Your Concrete: The Genius Way to Restore Your Outdoor Space

Get ready to roll up your sleeves and tackle that tired driveway or patio without calling in the pros! In the second hour of Around the House, Eric chats with Todd Harris from LikeNuConcrete about a game-changing way to restore your concrete surfaces. They're diving into an innovative product that makes DIY repairs a breeze, so you can transform your worn-out concrete back to its former glory without breaking the bank or your back. But hold onto your tool belts, because the fun doesn't stop there! Eric then spills the tea on the sneaky costs of trying to save a few bucks on window repairs—spoiler alert: it might just cost you more in the long run. Whether you're a seasoned DIYer or a weekend warrior, this episode is packed with insights to help you keep your home looking sharp! Visit them for more information at likenuconcrete.com

In the second half of the show, Eric shifts gears to address the pitfalls of trying to save money on window replacements. He shares a cautionary tale about the challenges of replacing glass in older aluminum windows, revealing how labor costs can often outweigh the benefits of simply swapping out panes. With his usual wit, he highlights that sometimes, going for a full window replacement can actually be the more cost-effective and practical solution, especially when considering long-term value and curb appeal. The episode wraps up with Eric offering sage advice on the best practices for window replacements, ensuring listeners come away with valuable takeaways for their own home improvement projects.

Takeaways:

  • Eric and Todd break down how easy it is to restore your concrete driveway or patio without breaking the bank or hiring a pro—seriously, it's like DIY magic!
  • Using LikeNuConcrete's product means you can transform your aged concrete into something that looks brand new—no trowel skills needed, just a sprayer and some elbow grease!
  • In the second half, Eric shares the harsh reality of window replacements, emphasizing how trying to save money could backfire and cost you more in the long run—yikes!
  • If your windows are blown out, replacing the entire unit might be more cost-effective than just swapping out the glass, especially in older homes like Eric's built in '79.
  • Todd explains that LikeNuConcrete is incredibly forgiving, which is a huge relief for those of us who aren't concrete pros—mistakes can be easily fixed with a quick spritz!
  • Cleaning the concrete properly before application is crucial; it’s like giving your surface a good bath before the makeover, ensuring the product adheres beautifully.

Links referenced in this episode:

Companies mentioned in this episode:

  • LikeNu Concrete
  • Home Depot
  • Do It Best
  • True Value
  • Whitecap
  • Milgard
  • Old Castle
  • monumentgrills.com
  • likenuconcrete.com
  • homedepot.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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We love comments and we would love reviews on how this information has helped you on your house! Thanks for listening! For more information about the show head to https://aroundthehouseonline.com/

Information given on the Around the House Show should not be considered construction or design advice for your specific project, nor is it intended to replace consulting at your home or jobsite by a building professional. The views and opinions expressed by those interviewed on the podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Around the House Show.

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Transcript
Speaker A:

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 B:

Home it's everything you need to know without the fluff.

Speaker B:

In today's show, we will be starting out talking about a new way to restore that concrete patio or driveway.

Speaker B:

And then Eric G. Dives into some hard truths about window replacement.

Speaker B:

Now here's your host, Eric G. Welcome.

Speaker C:

To the around the House show, the next generation of home improvement.

Speaker C:

I'm Eric G. Thanks for joining me today.

Speaker D:

This hour is brought to you by.

Speaker C:

My friends at Monty McGrills.

Speaker C:

Check them out at monumcgrills.com Today we have got a great conversation going and you know something, I think we can all relate to having that driveway, patio, pool deck that is just coming apart that's made of concrete and you don't have to go report many times.

Speaker C:

And we today have got an amazing, just an amazing guest.

Speaker C:

Todd Harris, like new concrete.

Speaker C:

Welcome to around the House brother.

Speaker A:

Thanks Eric.

Speaker A:

Great to be here, man.

Speaker C:

Thanks for coming.

Speaker C:

On my I first saw your product up, I'm in the Pacific Northwest, had not seen it first and I saw my friends Chip and Catherine doing stuff with you and I went wow, that is some neat stuff.

Speaker C:

I like it when there's an option out there to repair instead of replace concrete.

Speaker A:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker A:

That's where this product got started.

Speaker A:

The other owner, Steve Rahmeyer, his dad was a contractor and kept having issues with small damage to concrete and having to tear it out and repour it.

Speaker A:

So he invented this first round of this product about 30 years ago and it's been refined now for the retail market.

Speaker C:

That is awesome.

Speaker C:

I tell you what I have seen over the years of my probably 30, 35 years in design and construction, I have seen some pretty poor quality products out there from homeowners getting out some break hawking and trying to fix things to getting out something that looks pretty much like drywall spackle that they put on there that looks absolutely horrible.

Speaker C:

But you guys really developed a system that make it well just like the.

Speaker D:

Name looks like new.

Speaker A:

Yeah, it's just it is actually concrete with our patented system and bonder that you can spray on and it penetrates into the concrete so it transforms it to brand new Medium gray.

Speaker A:

And as I said previously, it's designed to work with new concrete.

Speaker A:

And we do all the builders out here in Southern California.

Speaker A:

So it's that medium new gray color.

Speaker A:

Nice.

Speaker C:

That is great.

Speaker C:

And so if somebody's got.

Speaker C:

What is the best situation for you guys with this product?

Speaker C:

Because there's people out there that have maybe it's a whole mix.

Speaker C:

You could have stuff that's pretty broken up.

Speaker C:

You could have stuff that's got a little bit of checking and some cracks in it or it's blown out maybe from salt and things like that from depending where they are in the country.

Speaker C:

What's the best application for this and the best use?

Speaker A:

I think there's a couple that I'll mention.

Speaker A:

We talk about worn out concrete.

Speaker A:

So if it's just worn out, we do.

Speaker A:

We've seen several that are 20, 30, 40 years old.

Speaker A:

And it's just weathered really poorly.

Speaker A:

And it's just a good fresh new concrete.

Speaker A:

Look on there it is.

Speaker A:

New concrete to rejuvenate that if it's stained.

Speaker A:

A lot of people on their driveways get oil stains or had customers with different issues get rust on their back patios or other stains, maybe from SAP or whatever.

Speaker A:

If you clean that up and spray this over, the stains disappear.

Speaker A:

And then alluding to what you were talking about, if it's chipped up or cracked or whatever, if they make the repairs.

Speaker A:

When you make repairs on concrete, they look like scars.

Speaker A:

You spray them like new over.

Speaker A:

And this is really what is designed first for the repairs disappear.

Speaker A:

They blend in with the new concrete.

Speaker A:

So you get a good repair mix.

Speaker A:

Put that on your repair and then spray the lightning right over it.

Speaker C:

That is great.

Speaker C:

And I've done some repairs that they turn out really strong.

Speaker C:

And again, it's all about the materials you do the repairs with.

Speaker C:

Right.

Speaker C:

If you use a good high strength concrete patch repair mix, it's made for that.

Speaker C:

You can really get something that adheres and it's added strength to that.

Speaker C:

And then of course, your product goes to the top.

Speaker C:

It makes it look like a brand new surface again.

Speaker A:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker A:

So you pick the material for your area.

Speaker A:

Depending in the Northwest, a little bit different than down here in.

Speaker A:

We're in Southern California.

Speaker A:

Florida has a little bit different concrete.

Speaker A:

So the material that works good there.

Speaker A:

We do this commercially every day.

Speaker A:

For the home builders out here, there are subcontractors damaged our concrete.

Speaker A:

We repair it, spray like new and you can't even tell it was ever repaired.

Speaker A:

And to your point, just one last thing is just make sure for people doing repairs, again, pick that material, but clean out the repair really good.

Speaker A:

Get a wire brush or something and scuff up that surface so it's going to bond in there and hold.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

And follow the directions, guys out there.

Speaker C:

The product you're using many times, if you put it on there and you haven't maybe gotten that concrete wet enough, it dries and doesn't dry correctly or whatever, you can really cause some problems where it doesn't adhere correctly.

Speaker C:

Because that's the biggest part of that repair, once you get it cleaned out, is making sure that you follow those directions just dead on to get the best possible adhesion for that repair material in there.

Speaker C:

So that way it holds up.

Speaker C:

And when you guys go across the top and make it look beautiful, it's just a seamless transition at that point.

Speaker A:

Totally agree.

Speaker A:

Just follow those directions.

Speaker C:

That is the big part.

Speaker C:

So one question for you, Todd.

Speaker C:

So really, if you've got that driveway, how long of a process is this to come through and kind of what are the steps?

Speaker C:

If you've got that traditional two car garage, typical driveway that's in suburbia that we see out there, what's kind of the process of doing this if it's just maybe worn out?

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

So there's four steps.

Speaker A:

I'll summarize them and then briefly talk about each one.

Speaker A:

It's clean the concrete mix.

Speaker A:

Our mix the concrete mix, put it in the sprayer and spray it on.

Speaker A:

And then after you've done that, you've got a seal for driveway.

Speaker A:

So when we talk about cleaning, you can use a pressure washer if you don't have one available.

Speaker A:

Just soap and water.

Speaker A:

Get some dawn soap.

Speaker A:

It's amazing what that does.

Speaker A:

Get a broom.

Speaker A:

Get it as clean as possible because you're opening up the pores for our product to penetrate.

Speaker A:

If there's oil on there, you got to try to get that off.

Speaker A:

Use an oil stain remover or at worst use dawn and water and hit that heavily.

Speaker A:

If there's gum or paint on there, that's not going to allow it to penetrate.

Speaker A:

So you got to get that off.

Speaker A:

In the case of paint, you got to sand it or grind it off as best you can.

Speaker A:

Gum you could scrape off and anything else that's on there like a sealer would be a problem because it wouldn't penetrate.

Speaker A:

But otherwise just regular driveway, just clean it.

Speaker A:

We made our kit really easy.

Speaker A:

It's just an A and B.

Speaker A:

You just mix it in the bucket with a paddle mixer.

Speaker A:

Just like regular concrete and then the difference with our product, it's the only thing out there.

Speaker A:

You pour it into a deck sprayer, just a regular garden pump sprayer and spray on.

Speaker A:

It's really light coats.

Speaker A:

It's almost like I tell people to practice, just mist water onto your surface.

Speaker A:

It's that easy.

Speaker A:

And you're putting a couple of coats on and so you want the driveway or the concrete surface dry when you're putting like new on.

Speaker A:

So you clean it, let it dry, put the like new on.

Speaker A:

Cleaning is only going to take you 30, maybe it's 60 minutes.

Speaker A:

Unless you have a big project that's problem.

Speaker A:

The mixing and spraying should take you one to two hours max, even for a 400 square foot driveway.

Speaker A:

And then you got to wait and let that dry.

Speaker A:

So typically we say the next morning seal and our sealer sprays on.

Speaker A:

So that's only like 20 minutes.

Speaker A:

And then after that you just wait 24 hours to drive on a driveway.

Speaker A:

So that is the process for doing a driveway.

Speaker A:

It's I would say four hours.

Speaker A:

And you could do it in less depending on how much cleaning you have.

Speaker C:

Oh my gosh.

Speaker C:

And that is so much easier than other products out there that are more a trowel on or something like that.

Speaker C:

Because most people don't have that artisan quality that it takes for those, those people out there that do this for a living, that make it look so easy.

Speaker C:

The first time you put a trowel in somebody's hands and they're out there on their hands trying to work with it gets a lot harder real quick.

Speaker C:

And then you throw in sun and all the environmental stuff out there as well.

Speaker C:

And I've seen many attempts at that.

Speaker C:

Made it actually look worse and not better.

Speaker A:

Absolutely.

Speaker A:

And one of my favorite things about this product when I came into the company is if you're using a trowel on or even a paint and I put it down and I make a mistake, which we're all anxious about if we're doing something the first time.

Speaker A:

I got to grind that off.

Speaker A:

That is as much work as the actual project.

Speaker A:

With like new.

Speaker A:

If I make a mistake, let's just say you and I are doing it, Eric, and you're spraying and I get too close behind you, I put a footprint in where you're spraying.

Speaker A:

We just missed another coat over it.

Speaker A:

It's five more minutes to fix.

Speaker A:

Wow.

Speaker A:

It's incredibly forgiving, which is a beautiful thing when you're worried about making doing a project the first time.

Speaker C:

Man, that is DIY friendly.

Speaker C:

Because I tell you what I have had over the years.

Speaker C:

I am not a concrete professional and I don't even play one on tv.

Speaker C:

But I tell you what, I've been out there doing repairs and things like that.

Speaker C:

And if your conditions aren't perfect, if you don't have all the skills, this.

Speaker D:

Makes it so much easier.

Speaker B:

You have been listening to the around the house show.

Speaker B:

To find out more about like, new concrete, head to likenuconcrete.com we will be right back.

Speaker E:

The kids these days will never understand what it's like to play an instrument and be in a band.

Speaker A:

What's up?

Speaker D:

This is Sticksy, Dania and Satchel from Steel Panther.

Speaker D:

And you are listening to around the house with Eric Garrett.

Speaker B:

Yeah, we love Eric G. And you should too.

Speaker E:

1987.

Speaker B:

Welcome back to the around the house show.

Speaker B:

This hour is brought to you by our friends at Monument Grill.

Speaker B:

If you want to up your grill game with affordable luxury and outdoor cooking, check them out@monumentgrills.com now let's get back to restoring concrete with like new concrete and continue the conversation with Eric G. And Todd Harri.

Speaker D:

This guys, this is no joke.

Speaker C:

This looks like brand new concrete that somebody just came in and.

Speaker C:

And being that it is, it treats that same way.

Speaker C:

And then you've got it sealed and you've got something that's going to last a long time because it's like just putting that fresh coat right across the top.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

We've got over 10 million square feet that we've done commercially all over Southern California here in service.

Speaker A:

And it wears just like existing concrete.

Speaker A:

So if you put heavy wear on it, it'll show just like the regular concrete.

Speaker A:

So if you want it to stay looking new, you respray every three or four years.

Speaker D:

Can you do this inside the garage?

Speaker C:

So let's say you've got that concrete garage floor in there and it's spalled up.

Speaker C:

Maybe you've been dropping tools on it over the decades or whatever.

Speaker C:

If you go in and patch that, will that work the same way inside on a concrete floor than outside?

Speaker A:

It will.

Speaker A:

The concrete inside a garage floor is a little denser, so the penetration is a little bit more difficult.

Speaker A:

So we're actually designing a kit that we'll have out shortly for that.

Speaker A:

But they could use our regular kit.

Speaker A:

They just want to etch that concrete with.

Speaker A:

We like environmental etch because it's just better when if it runs off just to open up the pores a little bit, it's going to be an easier job.

Speaker A:

We have people using regular, like Nuon, and we do commercially garage floors.

Speaker A:

Just if you etch it again, it'll spray on just the same.

Speaker A:

It just opens those pores up a little bit.

Speaker C:

Yeah, because sometimes they really get that nice hard floor in there.

Speaker C:

And it got that polish on it, which means they've made it a little harder for anything to penetrate, including oil or anything else yet.

Speaker C:

Yeah, makes sense.

Speaker C:

And then, of course, this product in your backyard, around that pool deck or anything else, it's the same type of thing, right?

Speaker C:

You can use it just like you do out front.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

We get a ton of customers with different situations, stains.

Speaker A:

We've had several come and they report part of their backyard.

Speaker A:

So they repair poured their pool deck, but not their patio.

Speaker A:

And now you got mismatched concrete, and nobody wants that.

Speaker A:

Lightning is perfect.

Speaker A:

You just blend it all together.

Speaker A:

I just had a customer buy a number of kits.

Speaker A:

He has a large yard because he didn't like the finish on the concrete they poured.

Speaker A:

Came out a little bit different color than what he wanted.

Speaker A:

I think it was a little bit too dark for him around, and his patio was a weathered, almost yellow concrete.

Speaker A:

He's like, can I just spray this and all be the same color.

Speaker A:

And I said, absolutely.

Speaker A:

So it's great for those.

Speaker A:

All those different types of situations, whether you're restoring around your pool deck or you want to blend in your whole backyard because you had to pour a new pad or replace part of a pad.

Speaker C:

Yeah, that makes sense.

Speaker C:

And then you could use this too, as like you just mentioned.

Speaker C:

I actually saw.

Speaker C:

It's actually one of my relatives house.

Speaker C:

They did a poured concrete driveway years ago, but in the heavy sun, it's faded out.

Speaker C:

And so it went from a really cool clay color to almost a peach color.

Speaker C:

You could go through and technically go over the top of this and make that look a little bit better.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

You can also tint like new.

Speaker A:

So you can buy a color mix and make it a custom color that you want from all the work we've done.

Speaker A:

We use dry cement color mixes.

Speaker A:

Or like at Home Depot, which is one of our retailers, they sell La Quinta stucco color.

Speaker A:

That works great.

Speaker A:

We have some guidance on our site, but just for your listeners.

Speaker A:

Typically with our product commercially, we use about 1 ounce per 100 square feet.

Speaker A:

But you have to test.

Speaker A:

Anytime you use color on any concrete, you got to test it.

Speaker A:

So you use a little bit less.

Speaker A:

Go lighter to darker, and once you get the right color, just spray it in nice.

Speaker C:

It's just like making that recipe Drop it in there, get it consistent, you're good to go.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And mix thoroughly with colors because they can streak when you're doing them in concrete.

Speaker C:

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Speaker C:

And then I see on your website you guys have a bunch of different kits and stuff on there depending on the size, is that correct?

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

So we came out initially with the, we call it the 400 kit.

Speaker A:

It's 400 square feet is what that covers.

Speaker A:

It typically takes two light coats of like new.

Speaker A:

But we've done, we just did like a 42 year old driveway that needed a third coat.

Speaker A:

There's enough in there to do three coats because different projects, if they have heavy repairs or something like that, we want to make sure everybody's covered.

Speaker A:

So that kit covers 400 square feet.

Speaker A:

We have a 200 square foot.

Speaker A:

200 kit that is just for smaller jobs or for people to try it out.

Speaker A:

And then we have the driveway, which is an all in one, which includes 600 square feet of material.

Speaker A:

Oil stain remover, which is an industrial application.

Speaker A:

So you put that on, let it set for a couple hours, it pushes the oil to the surface and you sand it off with a hand sander versus a degreaser, which degreasers work about half the time.

Speaker A:

So our industrial application works every time because it gets underneath and pushes it up and then it has a sealer on there to finish the job.

Speaker C:

For a driveway, man, that is a great buy for that too because you basically can take care of all the issues there with, with the oil and grease or whatever and then you've got everything all the way through the sealer at the end.

Speaker C:

So that's just the all in one stop.

Speaker C:

And it's so affordable compared to geesh anything else out there for what you get out of that and the value.

Speaker C:

So the value is just extreme in this for what's it basically a day to get prep and a day to put it on and you're good to go.

Speaker A:

Yeah, we worked hard.

Speaker A:

We have custom materials that are inexpensive, but we wanted to bring it to under a dollar square foot, including buying a deck sprayer, any masking material, associated stuff.

Speaker A:

We wanted the project under a dollar a square foot and we worked hard to get it there.

Speaker A:

Plus ease of use and limited time needed to do it.

Speaker A:

Your time's valuable for all the people listening out there.

Speaker A:

So when you blend that all together, we're much a much better solution.

Speaker D:

No kidding.

Speaker C:

No kidding.

Speaker C:

And I just love that it penetrates in so it's not some kind of Just a coat that flakes off.

Speaker C:

It's something that just bonds itself there.

Speaker C:

So you've got that durability and it's going to look great for years to come.

Speaker A:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker A:

Again, we've been around since 93 commercially doing work.

Speaker A:

And the overlays and paints, they trap the moisture.

Speaker A:

So ultimately, as that moisture comes up, it's going to cause blistering, peeling, and nobody wants that.

Speaker A:

It's a horrible look.

Speaker A:

This is concrete that penetrates into and transforms the existing concrete.

Speaker A:

It absorbs right into it.

Speaker C:

I'm sure in the commercial world you had to get so many different engineers and everybody to sign off on this stuff because so many times when you're dealing with those specifications, it gets pretty complex.

Speaker A:

It is.

Speaker A:

And like our major customers are the home builders because they lay out their concrete driveway sidewalks and so forth and their subcontractors come in to finish the homes and they're really rough on the concrete and damage it.

Speaker A:

Those builders have bonds with this people.

Speaker A:

You're talking about the cities and the counties here in Southern California.

Speaker A:

And those are multi million dollar bonds that aren't lifted unless the concrete is brand new because these are new home builds and that's what the city requires.

Speaker A:

So for them to remove and replace, it's up to $100 per square foot.

Speaker A:

And we come in, we'll make the repairs like you talked about, doing them properly.

Speaker A:

We spray like new.

Speaker A:

They tested us over several years before they would allow us.

Speaker A:

So the builders use us because we're much more cost effective but certified by the municipalities and then their bonds can be lifted.

Speaker A:

So we're really the only ones besides being able to remove and replace that are allowed.

Speaker A:

So we repair everything for them except for cracks.

Speaker A:

And the reason we don't do cracks is cracks come back because there's an underlying issue.

Speaker A:

But yes, certified county of Riverside, San Diego, here in Orange county, many of the cities we do work for, Laguna beach, which is one of the most the strictest cities probably in the country with environmental standards and how they look at everything.

Speaker A:

And we've helped restore and do concrete work for them as well.

Speaker B:

You have been listening to the around the House show.

Speaker B:

To find out more about like new concrete, head to likenuconcrete.com if this is the first time you have heard the around the House show with Eric G. Find out more@aroundthehouseonline.com we will be right back.

Speaker B:

Welcome back to the original around the House Show.

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If you Want to up your grill game with affordable luxury and outdoor cooking?

Speaker B:

Check them out@monument grills.com now let's get back to the conversation with like new concrete and Todd Harris.

Speaker B:

And then Eric G. Is going to save you money if you are replacing windows in your home.

Speaker C:

Yeah, that makes sense.

Speaker C:

All it takes is a delivery driver with a forklift out there to to run the forks across it.

Speaker C:

Drag a pallet with some exposed nails on a maybe concrete that wasn't fully cured and you could have a heck of a mess.

Speaker C:

And nobody wants to be in there taking that back out and have to report that again.

Speaker C:

That really messes with the job site.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Or even F250 hitting the curb wrong.

Speaker A:

All that.

Speaker A:

It's amazing how much damage gets done.

Speaker C:

Nice.

Speaker C:

Are there any other tricks and tips you've got to this, Todd?

Speaker C:

Because this stuff is darn simple really.

Speaker C:

If you just follow the directions.

Speaker C:

It looks like this is a pretty.

Speaker D:

Easy way to go.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Just a couple things again we mentioned earlier, but I want to reiterate.

Speaker A:

Just clean as well as you can.

Speaker A:

You don't have to go crazy.

Speaker A:

But if you clean it, the pores are going to be open the best way.

Speaker A:

People are a little intimidated.

Speaker A:

Spraying, super easy.

Speaker A:

But the best way is just to put some water in the sprayer and spray on water.

Speaker A:

It's going to go on the same way.

Speaker A:

It's 97% the same.

Speaker A:

So when you see that water fall, you put it in a medium mist.

Speaker A:

It's just falling on there.

Speaker A:

You don't stay on one spot.

Speaker A:

You keep moving because you don't want to pull this stuff up.

Speaker A:

So you just practice with water a little bit the day before and then you go to do it and you're like, I got this down.

Speaker A:

And we have good instructions.

Speaker A:

Your point earlier, follow the instructions.

Speaker A:

We've got a number of videos.

Speaker A:

We're making about 10 more videos right now.

Speaker A:

More specific with color, with specifics on spraying.

Speaker A:

A little bit more detail work on driveway.

Speaker A:

So just follow the instructions and the spraying is really easy.

Speaker A:

Anybody from 12 to 70 can do this.

Speaker A:

The main instructional video I have right now is Two Housewives.

Speaker A:

I trained for five minutes.

Speaker A:

Nice.

Speaker A:

So nice.

Speaker A:

Don't be intimidated.

Speaker A:

This is user friendly concrete.

Speaker A:

It's the only user friendly concrete.

Speaker C:

I was just gonna say that's about the only one that's user friendly out there because it's tough, especially for timers.

Speaker C:

And this is a great way to do it.

Speaker C:

Todd, where can people find this stuff at?

Speaker C:

I know it's in home Depot in the south, down there in the la.

Speaker C:

And if I remember right, it was like in the la, Southern California area.

Speaker C:

Of course, you've got Nevada, Arizona and.

Speaker D:

Some other places, right?

Speaker A:

Yeah, we're in the Home Depot stores in what you mentioned, Arizona, Nevada and Southern California.

Speaker A:

We're on home depot.com so they can order all these products on homedepot.com and have them shipped to their house or their local store.

Speaker A:

We also have our own website at like newconcrete.com where they can come directly.

Speaker A:

And coming in the fall, we'll be in several Do It Best stores, Do It Best Bought, True Value.

Speaker A:

And we're working on that, that rollout with them.

Speaker A:

And they can also, if it's professionals listening out there, they use Whitecap.

Speaker C:

They can order us through Whitecap, man, that is great.

Speaker C:

And this has got to be just the solution for so many builders, remodelers and stuff out there that have those job site issues where maybe the driveway was great and they're in there doing the kitchen model and somebody drops the dumpster off and stains it up or whatever.

Speaker C:

You can come in and get this thing looking good and everybody's happy without having a couple week project of having to tear that whole thing out and put it back in again.

Speaker A:

Yeah, there's just so many different situations that we've had with people from the Midwest and extreme cold where they're salting up and it's stained it out to rust drops, to dumpster drops, to painters spilling and then they grind off the paint.

Speaker A:

It looks horrible.

Speaker A:

So they got to restore it just over and over again.

Speaker A:

There's concrete lifting companies that are doing the concrete lifts or drawing holes in the concrete.

Speaker A:

Looks it's level, which is great, but it looks terrible afterwards.

Speaker A:

So using a restoration after that and it's just simple to spray on the concrete mix.

Speaker A:

And it's brand new concrete.

Speaker C:

Man, this is great.

Speaker C:

I got a question.

Speaker C:

Does this work on retaining walls and stuff like that?

Speaker C:

Like that too, that have that.

Speaker C:

I know it's a different surface, so it's got to be a little harder to do something like that.

Speaker A:

As long as it's porous concrete.

Speaker A:

We have a university down here in Southern California with a 30,000 square foot retaining wall that got graffiti up.

Speaker A:

So they're both spraying and rolling it in.

Speaker A:

And yeah, as long as it can penetrate verticals, a little bit more work, because you want to use the back roll to stop runs, but absolutely, it can work on.

Speaker A:

It can also work on bricks, pavers.

Speaker A:

There's many People in Arizona, there's a couple different companies doing restoration on pavers with our product.

Speaker D:

Wow.

Speaker C:

So this would even be good for some foundation companies out there that are having to do some repairs and they want to get that looking the same without having to throw a paint on it that's going to come off.

Speaker C:

This would be a great way to do that.

Speaker A:

Exactly.

Speaker C:

And the uses are endless.

Speaker C:

Todd, thanks for coming on today, man.

Speaker C:

I appreciate it.

Speaker C:

And where do people find all the information on your website?

Speaker C:

Because I know you guys have some videos on there as well.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

So there's.

Speaker A:

If you go to like new nu concrete.com There's a videos tab.

Speaker A:

There's several different pieces of information on there.

Speaker A:

If they think through and if it there's a fax page and if your question is not answered, just email us into us.

Speaker A:

You can email infoikenewconcrete.com again, the news and you.

Speaker A:

And we get three to four questions every day because people haven't seen spray on concrete.

Speaker A:

And we're happy to answer.

Speaker C:

Todd, this is exciting stuff and thanks for coming on today, man.

Speaker C:

I really appreciate it.

Speaker C:

This is going to be easy and so people can get out there and make it look like it's, well, like new again.

Speaker C:

And that's a great thing.

Speaker C:

Thanks for coming on today, brother.

Speaker A:

All right.

Speaker A:

Thank you, Eric.

Speaker A:

Appreciate it.

Speaker D:

I just gotta say thanks, Todd.

Speaker D:

That is such an amazing product.

Speaker D:

And anytime that we can be sitting here and basically cleaning up and making something look like brand new again with concrete without having the skills of being a concrete mason or something like that is an easy DIY project and you can really give yourself some curb appeal.

Speaker D:

So it doesn't matter if you just had a foundation repair done or your driveway that's concrete is falling apart.

Speaker D:

This is an easy way to add beauty to that trashed up concrete.

Speaker D:

Go through, repair it, make it look good and then throw the like new over the top of it.

Speaker D:

So you got to get looking good and you're going to have something that's going to look just as beautiful as it was new.

Speaker D:

And there's something really cool about that.

Speaker D:

So check these guys out.

Speaker D:

They're in Home Depot.

Speaker D:

You can order them on Home Depot online.com over@the.com there, have it shipped right to your store, your house, whatever you're doing.

Speaker D:

This is a great way to do it.

Speaker D:

I love new, exciting products.

Speaker D:

This is something that could completely change the front of your house or even around that pool deck.

Speaker D:

And it's an easy project that anybody could tackle and who doesn't like that?

Speaker D:

Let me tell you about a story I've been working on here and this is an interesting one.

Speaker D:

We're going to kind of wrap the show up with this because I'm getting my house ready for sale.

Speaker D:

And if I didn't have an asphalt driveway, I can tell you what I would be doing.

Speaker D:

I'd be going with the like new there.

Speaker D:

But windows are an interesting one.

Speaker D:

My house is built in:

Speaker D:

It is one of those contemporary in the woods.

Speaker D:

Has that contemporary Northwest feel to it, if you've ever seen that, if you're across the country listening to the show.

Speaker D:

But here's the thing.

Speaker D:

I've had aluminum windows in it and as I've been doing projects around there, I've been throwing in new windows.

Speaker D:

I'm getting the house up for sale and I thought I'm going to sit here and it's a great time to see what the costs are to replace windows.

Speaker D:

And so here's what I did.

Speaker D:

I went out and looked around and I reached out to a glass shop.

Speaker D:

And if you heard my midweek special last week, I was complaining about people not calling me back.

Speaker D:

These were the only people that really did a great job of calling me back, which I really enjoyed.

Speaker D:

They've been great people to work with.

Speaker D:

I'm not going to use their name because that's not what this is about.

Speaker D:

But this will tell you if you're thinking about replacing or in my case, I had aluminum windows.

Speaker D:

So the frame was in good shape.

Speaker D:

Are they the most energy efficient?

Speaker D:

Not a chance.

Speaker D:

With our climate traditionally here in the Pacific Northwest where we live, it's not one of those things where we get those extreme temperatures.

Speaker D:

It's not below zero, it's not usually above 100.

Speaker D:

Now that's been changing recently with some record breaking temperatures, but it wasn't as big a deal.

Speaker D:

So I thought, I have got three windows that have blown out glass.

Speaker D:

So what I mean by that is it's the dual pane windows and you get the fog, the moisture, the whatever growing on the inside and it looks spotty, you can't clean it and it's trapped.

Speaker D:

And so I thought the way my house was built, they put the windows on and then the T111 plywood siding over the top.

Speaker D:

So it's not just pop off trim.

Speaker D:

You got to do a little more surgery to get in there.

Speaker D:

And then waterproofing is always a little bit of an issue too because you've got to really get in there and clean that up correctly and make it so you don't have a wet wall cavity if you get driving rain.

Speaker D:

So this is one of those things you have to do.

Speaker D:

So I went out and got some numbers.

Speaker D:

I said, okay, great, let's get some numbers.

Speaker D:

I had a guy come out, gave me a quote for the new glass.

Speaker D:

And so one five foot by four foot window, I had a bad pane of glass.

Speaker D:

I had above it a 5 foot by 3 foot window because it's a vaulted room, that one, both panes were blown out.

Speaker D:

And then just right outside that in the hallway from that bedroom, of course, is another window up there that's over the top of the stairs, which I tell you what, you would have to just go crazy to open that up.

Speaker D:

So what I did is I got some numbers on that.

Speaker D:

Now when we come back, I want to talk about what the numbers were compared to replacements.

Speaker D:

We'll talk about that as soon as around the House returns.

Speaker D:

If you want to find out more about us, head to aroundthehouse online.com let's fix this window dilemma just as soon as we return.

Speaker D:

Don't change that tile.

Speaker A:

All right.

Speaker E:

The band is drunk.

Speaker E:

It's the end of the show.

Speaker D:

Welcome back to the around the house show, the next generation of home improvement.

Speaker D:

I'm Eric G. Thanks for joining me today.

Speaker D:

This hour is brought to you by our friends at Monument Grills.

Speaker D:

If you're out looking for that brand new barbecue going, man, this is not going to make it through the summer.

Speaker D:

Don't worry.

Speaker D:

You don't have to spend a ton of money for that barbecue grill that you can roll around in the backyard.

Speaker D:

These aren't the built in ones.

Speaker D:

But I tell you what, if you're looking something for propane or natural gas, check them out@monumentgrills.com you don't have to spend the thousands of dollars to get all the features you want.

Speaker D:

These guys have got you covered with a great grill.

Speaker D:

It doesn't matter if you need a small one or a big one.

Speaker D:

They've got something for every outdoor barbecue adventure.

Speaker D:

Check them out@montymcrills.com we've been talking about windows and I've been working on my house, if you're just joining us.

Speaker D:

And houses built in 79.

Speaker D:

I've got aluminum windows, double pane.

Speaker D:

The windows were put in before the siding, before the T111.

Speaker D:

So they were actually.

Speaker D:

They basically put up tar paper, the windows, siding, and that's how they did it.

Speaker D:

Which makes it a little more interesting for a window replacement.

Speaker D:

So I went out and got some quotes and met a nice company.

Speaker D:

These guys were great local company.

Speaker D:

They could replace them.

Speaker D:

They could do all that.

Speaker D:

And so we took a look at what would it cost to replace these 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 panels of glass.

Speaker D:

Now, the window quote for that, just for the panels came back at about $2,700.

Speaker D:

Now, they came out and measured them up.

Speaker D:

Take about three weeks to get there.

Speaker D:

But here's the thing.

Speaker D:

When you get into aluminum windows, here's some of the problems you have with this one.

Speaker D:

These panels just don't come out.

Speaker D:

So you have to unscrew the window.

Speaker D:

Now, in fairness, this is on the second floor.

Speaker D:

And so I've got one what would be an egress window out of a bedroom.

Speaker D:

Then there's one above that as well, a couple feet.

Speaker D:

So we've got a vaulted ceiling in there.

Speaker D:

window is up there, probably:

Speaker D:

So I've got a five foot by four foot and a five foot by three foot above it.

Speaker D:

It's a really cool look, but you can see what's going on here.

Speaker D:

And then over the hallway, where it goes down to the staircase, there's one way up high up there as well.

Speaker D:

So I looked at that.

Speaker D:

Now, you have to take the window panes out, basically, to replace the glass.

Speaker D:

Of course, they're insulated units, so you can't just pop off the trim and pop these in and out.

Speaker D:

in aluminum in what would be:

Speaker D:

And I've seen all that weather, all that corrosion might not come across as easy to come out.

Speaker D:

And the chance having to drill those out might be pretty solid.

Speaker D:

I totally get that.

Speaker D:

I got here in my market was $:

Speaker D:

in glass there and about $:

Speaker D:

So I had a great conversation with these guys, and I went, wow, that is a lot of money.

Speaker D:

Now, my buddy at RAF Construction, Ryan, had already warned me and said, hey, man, we don't usually do the replacement glass because it just isn't cost effective.

Speaker D:

With aluminum windows, the labor is so high that it might cost you more.

Speaker D:

Now, here's the crazy part.

Speaker D:

I went, took my window sizes.

Speaker D:

I knew what they were, and reached out to my.

Speaker D:

One of my local window shops here that I can buy windows through didn't go get the any specials here.

Speaker D:

Just they run a lot of windows through.

Speaker D:

So I got some numbers on that, took a look at it and said, oh my gosh, here's a huge difference.

Speaker D:

Now my house is painted black.

Speaker D:

I think we've talked about that before, if you're a listener to the show.

Speaker D:

So I wanted a black window cap stock, which is way more money.

Speaker D:

Now in fairness, this is something that's cool too.

Speaker D:

Usually when you walked into your big box stores and grabbed those entry level windows, I'm not trying to put in some crazy nice window in here.

Speaker D:

I just want something that's going to look good, that's going to give somebody some value.

Speaker D:

I'm not trying to take advantage of the new people here that would be buying my home.

Speaker D:

But I wanted to put in something that's going to be decent.

Speaker D:

So I looked at a brand.

Speaker D:

We're not getting into brands here.

Speaker D:

But for instance, my low store in town, they actually have black cap stock windows in stock now on the shelf, which is totally cool.

Speaker D:

So I could go in there and get them.

Speaker D:

But here's what I noticed.

Speaker D:

I could save a little bit of money by ordering the right window.

Speaker D:

Because now my house has H vac, it's got air conditioning.

Speaker D:

When that house was built in:

Speaker D:

So those high vaulted ceilings needed to open those windows to get airflow through there.

Speaker D:

Now not an issue.

Speaker D:

So instead of ordering a slider window in vinyl with that, I can order those as fixed picture windows and get an even better view.

Speaker D:

And it's going to save me some money.

Speaker D:

So if I order that:

Speaker D:

So my price on that was about 950 bucks.

Speaker D:

Huge difference.

Speaker D:

Now I'm gonna have, by the time I set up scaffolding, swap out those windows, I'm probably gonna have a day in there doing it, messing around, making sure I get it right.

Speaker D:

Because I'm gonna have to cut the siding back.

Speaker D:

I'm gonna have to flash it correctly, get trim up there, get that all done.

Speaker D:

or:

Speaker D:

You see where I'm going with this?

Speaker D:

There is a huge difference in price.

Speaker D:

Now I would guess that I would probably have another fifteen hundred dollars in labor.

Speaker D:

But here's the thing.

Speaker D:

I have brand new windows they're cheaper and they were going to be up there for at least a day, if not more, swapping out that glass, taking those windows apart, messing around with them.

Speaker D:

So really, unless you have one broken pane of glass in there, and generally speaking, at least in my market up here in the Pacific Northwest, I tell you what, it's not saving you any money to replace the glass in those.

Speaker D:

It's really going to be cheaper to replace the entire window.

Speaker D:

Now here's the other thing, and this is a big warning that I want to give you because it's a big.

Speaker C:

Deal and it adds up.

Speaker D:

Be careful with the brands that you buy windows for.

Speaker D:

There are a lot of smaller regional companies.

Speaker D:

Now.

Speaker D:

n we had the housing crash in:

Speaker D:

Now if they have a lifetime warranty on that window and they're closed up, that lifetime warranty is done.

Speaker D:

Am I the biggest fan of vinyl windows?

Speaker D:

No.

Speaker D:

Do they, Are they the new aluminum windows as far as durability?

Speaker D:

Yeah, I think aluminum is very durable.

Speaker D:

It's just horrible at transferring heat.

Speaker D:

But there are some great vinyl companies out there and there's composites.

Speaker D:

There's a lot of new things out there.

Speaker D:

My favorite brand that I've usually worked with is Milgard.

Speaker D:

Just because they've been a Pacific Northwest company for a while, they're a local company up here.

Speaker D:

They've traded hands as they went around, but they were always a good company for me.

Speaker D:

I'm not going with them this time, only because I'm saving a little bit of money going to a lesser priced brand.

Speaker D:

But there's absolutely nothing wrong with getting some shopping, finding out.

Speaker D:

And here's the thing, I'm going to be doing this so I know the flashing is going to be right.

Speaker D:

All those details are going to be right.

Speaker D:

And I'm not having to wait any longer for getting the because the glass is going to take long enough anyway.

Speaker D:

So it's going to be the same lead time.

Speaker D:

It just means I got to do the project versus having somebody else do it.

Speaker D:

But my secret for working on windows like this on the second floor is always jumping up there with the scaffolding, setting the scaffolding up and just knocking it out and making it happen.

Speaker D:

So I'm just going to have to get a fist full of blades for my saw, get up there, trim that siding back a little bit, have a good time, knock it out, and I'll be good to go.

Speaker D:

And then I can do this right and really get that thing up in there and make it look good and put some brand new windows in.

Speaker D:

And when it's all said and done, it's going to look better.

Speaker D:

And being where this is on the front corner of the house, it's going to give me that curb appeal which is going to pay back in the long run.

Speaker D:

So not only am I going to have great windows here in two visible places of the house, it's going to fix the rest of those.

Speaker D:

And it's one more thing that's not going to come up on that inspection report.

Speaker D:

That'll happen as soon as somebody comes in and wants to buy it.

Speaker D:

Now, hey, if you were listening a little bit earlier, we had like new concrete on here.

Speaker D:

Check those guys out like you concrete dot com.

Speaker D:

That's a great way to give you that curb appeal.

Speaker D:

And if you've been just listening to the first hour of the show that aired earlier, you gotta check those guys out.

Speaker D:

Old Castle.

Speaker D:

We didn't actually only about 3/4 of that interview made it into the show.

Speaker D:

So if you want to hear the whole entire thing commercial free, head over to our website aroundthehouse online.com and you can actually join our around the House insider.

Speaker D:

We got a 10 day free trial.

Speaker D:

If you sign up, I'm going to give you some stickers.

Speaker D:

I'll send them to you.

Speaker D:

And here's the cool thing with this.

Speaker D:

You get that whole show commercial free and you get a two days early.

Speaker D:

So you get to hear it on Thursday instead on the weekend, which isn't too bad.

Speaker D:

And you get the whole thousand plus episodes versus the two or three hundred, whatever your podcast player puts out there.

Speaker D:

So you can go back in the wayback machine and check it out.

Speaker D:

All right guys, if you have questions for me, head over to aroundthe House online dot com.

Speaker D:

Thanks for tuning into the show this week guys.

Speaker D:

I really appreciate it.

Speaker D:

We hit everything from outdoor designing those outdoor spaces to fixing up that concrete and a little bit of windows.

Speaker D:

I'm Eric G. Thanks for tuning in to around the House.

Speaker D:

We'll see you next week.

Speaker E:

Somewhere unseen and undiscovered Any way out beyond the me Love is a love song let's be lovers we're all over the radio Take mine I know where to go all over the radio with you.

About the Podcast

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