Winter is Coming: Your Fall Home Maintenance Checklist!

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Foreign.

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Welcome to around the House with Eric G. Your trusted source for all things home improvement.

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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.

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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.

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

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

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

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I'm Eric G. Thanks for joining today.

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We have got a great show lined up here.

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This now that we're into September.

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I can't believe we're into September as I'm getting my house projects wrapped up so I can get that house on the market here.

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Well, this next week in a couple days and if you're in the Portland metro area, you want to take a look at that place.

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If you're looking to buy a house but want to talk today about our around the House, this is our annual thing we do early September.

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This is our fall home maintenance checklist.

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And if you do want that checklist, we'll I'll be able to send it to you in a PDF.

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So just head over to around the House online and the contact list over there and on the website around the House Online and I can email it to you.

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So this is my list that we do every year to make sure that you're kind of ready for fall for winter.

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And then I have one that comes out in the spring and we've done this for probably 15 to 20 plus years here on around the House.

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So this is a tradition that we always do.

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So we always start out with this checklist on the outside.

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And so the first half of the show here will be outside, last half will be inside.

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And we've updated this list from last year because there's even more things in your house that need maintenance and that you want to make sure that you've got it dialed in.

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So before freezing weather arrives, and I know some of us are wearing shorts, some of us are looking at the leaves changing.

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So depending where you're at, this could relate to you.

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But before freezing weather arrives, remove garden hoses from the bibs drain and store for the winter, wrap those hose bibs in insulation.

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Now here's the thing.

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The newer homes in most areas, depending on building code, if you're in a frost area, they've got the frost free ones where they've got the little vacuum breaker plastic cap on top, and those go back into the wall.

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And if they're far enough back in the wall and you're not in, you know, any of the northern states or Alaska, then those do a pretty good job, even without having to wrap the outside, put the cups over them, or the bags of insulation over the top of them.

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But really, those are pretty good.

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But the problem is, if you have that hose hooked up, that water gets trapped up in there and it'll still blow it out.

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And so that's one of those things you always want to make sure as we get into freezing weather, to keep those hoses off the hose bibs that are attached to the house.

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Now, here's the thing, too.

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If you do get freezes and you get it below, let's say below 30 degrees, you want to make sure and drain and blow out those in ground sprinkler system in the freezing areas.

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And so you get an air compressor, you don't want to put too much pressure on because you'll blow fittings apart and everything else.

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But with PVC pipe, put enough air in there and your little tiny pancake compressor doesn't usually do the job.

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You need to have something bigger.

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So maybe run down to your home improvement store, rent the bigger compressor, and then you can actually blow those systems out and they work really well.

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It's a really great thing.

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So that's a good one there.

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The next one here is you go down the list, which is super important because this is where you get to have problems around the house.

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You know, we get all the leaves and debris that come in window wells.

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If you've got basement.

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So that's that window that peeks down to the basement, you've got a, usually a metal or concrete liner.

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Clean out the debris out of there, whether it's leaves, plant debris, gutters, downspouts, and storm drains.

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Now, here's the one thing that I recommend.

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If you're downspouts, when they come off the gutter system, when they come down to the ground, you never want those going right into the ground.

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You want those to go into a storm drain system and go at least 10ft away.

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Because here's what happens when it's going down there.

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And unless you're in the desert southwest, where you don't get almost any rain, if you're getting rain, that water is splashing up on the foundation and that breaks down that foundation.

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I have seen hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage in my career based off those downspouts.

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Dropping right next to the foundation.

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So that's a no, no.

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So make sure, put this on your project list because that water now will get into the basement, it'll get into the crawl space.

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It's going to damage it.

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As far as the concrete, and especially with older homes, that can be a really big issue.

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Concrete these days, on newer homes it's a big deal.

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But like building code in my area for decades it's had to go into the ground.

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But also those storm drain systems need maintenance too.

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So every five years you want to have somebody come out, hydro jet that out.

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If your tool rental place rents it, you can do it yourself.

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But clean that storm drain system out so you make sure it flows.

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Last thing you want is a heavy rain or a thunderstorm to come through and to have that bubbling out of the ground causing bigger issues.

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So that's a big one right there.

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It's one of those forgotten ones that are on the list.

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Then make sure you walk around and check all the weather stripping on windows and doors for fit and condition and replace as necessary.

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Now all it takes is for that door to be misaligned and maybe the sill is not adjusted up.

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And I like to do it on a bright sunny day or take a flashlight out and have somebody run it around the outside.

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If you can see light through it, got a problem.

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So you can take care of it then.

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But really get that dialed in and make sure that you're good to go.

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It's gonna change everything on how it goes.

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So make sure you get the weather stripping done on windows and doors.

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And the other thing is too, is if you've got 15 or 20 year old vinyl windows, make sure nothing's broken.

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Make sure that everything's caulked looking good.

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Now here's the problem, and this is where I get concerned.

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You can get too handy with the caulking gun.

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There are places that are meant to weep or let water out of places if it gets caulked.

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You know, if water gets trapped behind it with the caulk.

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I see people on a brick wall where they've got the brick going across the front of the house.

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They've got a little weep hole in the bottom for that to drain.

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And they get in there with mortar or colored match to go, oh, there's these little holes and they fill them up.

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Nope.

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You want things to drain, be careful.

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Sometimes there's a reason why under the window it's not caulked.

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If it's flashed, if there's a whole system there, make sure that you've got it going the right way so the water has a chance to escape.

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So don't just get too crazy with it.

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Make sure that you're doing it in the right spots.

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And every system is different.

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So if you see a trend of wow, I didn't do it under the windows.

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It might be that's the place that they're designing water to come out of so it doesn't come in and attack the house.

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So be careful with that.

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Depending on how it was done and how it was designed.

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Now here's a big one too.

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Have your chimney inspected and swept.

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If you have a wood burning fireplace or if you have a wood stove, make sure that is cleaned out.

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It's good.

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Chimney fires take out so many homes a year and we have some big problems with that.

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So make sure you got that dialed in.

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That is a big one right there.

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Making sure you do that.

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And yeah, if you want to do yourself, you can clean it yourself.

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But I really want somebody out there taking a look at it, making sure that you don't have liners that are bad, that you don't have things that are messed up.

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Make sure that you don't have a thing, you don't have a chimney fire going and that can be a huge problem.

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So be very careful.

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And the higher the chance of the chimney fires what you're burning, if you're burning wet wood, if you're burning trash, if you're not using the right stuff in there to burn, that can really get that creosote buildup going.

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And that means you got a heck of a mess.

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So be really careful with that.

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That's a big one.

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Now another one here is inspect all the soffit vents and other venting systems to make sure they're clear of debris.

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Soffit vents can be like if you've got air coming through and you've got a lot of particulate matter, whether it's dirt, whether it's grime, whether it's debris from trees, that vent is like your window screens.

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Those are almost like an air filter.

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And so anytime the air is coming in and it's, it's that screen, it's going to get caught up there.

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So really don't get up there and hit it with the hose.

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Get up there with your shop back and just put an extension on it.

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Suck it out, make sure it's good to go.

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It'll come off that way.

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If you hit it with water, you're gonna get water up in there.

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You could do some serious damage and you don't want to see that happening.

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So make sure you got that all good.

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And the roof, the roof fence as well.

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Same kind of thing.

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Make sure you don't have any birds nests or anything up going up there.

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I have had some crazy things with wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, any of those things, build a nest in those.

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So make sure you get those cleaned out.

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You want that to breathe so any of that moisture that comes in can come out.

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And many times I tell you what, this is so common out there.

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Most roof systems have a venting issue that people haven't got figured out out there.

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So I want to make sure that you've got that dialed in.

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If you've got any questions on this list, make sure and send a message over to me and aroundthehouse online.com we come back.

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We're going to wrap up the outside portion of this before we go inside.

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We'll do that just as soon as around the House returns.

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Don't go anywhere.

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Time for a quick break, folks.

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Don't rake those leaves yet.

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The wind's just waiting to mess with you.

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Back in a flash.

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

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

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Hey, make sure you stick around for the hour number two of the show.

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If you're listening on the radio, most stations carry that second hour.

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If not, you can always catch the podcast.

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Just go on your favorite podcast player and look for around the House with Eric Jeep.

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You'll find us over there.

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Our second hour of the show today we're going to be talking with my buddy John Dudley.

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Now you hear him playing in the music in this show sometimes from the band that him and I were in together.

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But he's a licensed or was a licensed bond insured contractor.

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That's how I met him.

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I was his kitchen and bath designer.

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Now he has site Hype Designs where he designed our website and works a lot with contractors and people in the design and building trades, building websites.

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And we're going to talk about starting projects and some of the horror stories we've had on getting projects off the ground started and finished.

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That'll be later in the day.

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So we've been talking about my fall home maintenance checklist.

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This was actually started by Handyman Bob, who was the host about a decade before me on this show.

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We're smack dab in the middle of our 37th year on the air, which is really exciting.

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And so this is Bob's list here that I'VE been updating as things come along because technology changes and things become more important than ever before.

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So we've been going through this list here.

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The other one here is inspect all exterior caulking and replace as necessary.

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So you're going to go around and check all the painted surfaces.

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You're going to go caulking.

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Is there water damage?

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Is there mildew repair?

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What do we have on the outside?

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I was just working on my house and since I've been not staying there at night, I've been just working on it during the day.

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I get up there on the outside now.

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What's that up there?

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Yeah, woodpecker.

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Put about a golf ball sized hole in the side of my cedar.

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How to get in there, cut it out, replace it, caulk it in, get it painted, get it looking good.

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Those woodpeckers love to come in and chew up on the corners of my house.

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And so they get in there thinking that there's something inside and it's something they've always done.

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And I get back up there.

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There's no water damage right there because I have to replace it every couple years.

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It's just one of those things that happen.

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It gets crazy and boy, they'll get up there and they'll start hitting metal or anything else trying to look for stuff and it just gets absolutely crazy.

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I got all these trees around, you'd think they would go there.

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Nope, they sure like that cedar on the outside of the house.

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So go around, make sure you get that taken care of.

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And all the caulking, just get it all cleaned up so that way you don't have to worry about water intrusion or any further damage.

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Because once it gets through the sighting, especially on older homes, mine's not that old.

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It's 70s, so it's 40 plus years old.

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But really making sure that is dialed in and looking good.

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Now the next one is an important one.

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Inspect for broken or cracked glass, damaged screens or storm windows.

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If you've got old windows, you know where you got glazing putty.

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Check for that around the glass panes.

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Now here's something that I learned here this last year.

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Crazy.

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So I had aluminum windows in my house.

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I had three that I was going to replace.

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I had to reschedule that shoot to get it taken care of.

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The problem was did these windows thought, oh, I'm just going to get the glass panes replaced.

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This will be easy.

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They were aluminum, they were vintage.

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And I had three windows, five foot by four foot slider, five foot by three foot kind of sliders above it.

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So three different windows.

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ndow, swap out the glass was $: 2700

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And I was like, whoo.

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I called up my local window retailer and I wanted black ones because I have a black house.

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700 bucks for brand new windows, way more energy efficient.

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And I went, that's where the money's at.

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So I replaced those windows way cheaper and ended up with a better program so it worked out better.

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So be careful.

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If you have those fogged up windows, sometimes it's cheaper just to do it as a DIY project and take them out and put the new ones in and you got something that's golden.

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So something good to take a look at right there.

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Sometimes replacing the glass is going to be way more expensive.

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So be careful with that.

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Sometimes a brand new window is the better and cost effective way to go.

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It's going to be big.

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Okay, the next one here.

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Inspect roof for moss and treat as necessary.

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If you're like I am here in the Pacific Northwest on the western side of the state, moss grows.

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I got to get up later today.

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I even had some growing this summer.

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I'm like, what is going on?

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A little bit of humidity, a little bit of shade, and that stuff just loves to take off.

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So I'm gonna get up there this afternoon.

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And by the way, yes, all protection is key with this.

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Install some on your house.

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You get up there or just get one of the soft wash guys to come up and do it and that will get you taken care of.

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But get that knocked out, it'll look good, you're good to go, and that'll be a game changer for you.

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And it extends the life of the roof up there.

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Don't let somebody up there with a pressure washer without them knowing what they're doing.

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You want to soft wash it, otherwise you're going to take the granules off and cause even further damage.

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And that doesn't do it.

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But make sure that all the flashing and pipe jacks are good.

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Make sure nothing's going to leave.

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If you've got fall weather, if you're on the east coast here in your hurricane area, you want to make sure that stuff's dialed in.

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So if you don't want to get on the roof, guys, find the roofing person that maybe did your roof or that's a roof maintenance company, have them come out, poke around, see what needs to be done and if they need to do some repairs, especially if you've got like wood shake roofs or, or some of the Spanish tile roofs.

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Make sure you get the right people up there to clean it up and make it look good.

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And that is a maintenance tip that is really important and you'll be good to go.

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Next one inspect and maintain those garage doors and especially if you've got the builder one here.

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So girlfriend's house here.

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She has been in this house for six and a half years.

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Yep.

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Her springs already failed on that garage door six years in.

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Because it's a builder special garage door.

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It just is.

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And shutting the garage door.

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Heard the garage door opener going down and I heard the boom.

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I'm like, ah, man, there we go.

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What happened?

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Yeah, the garage door people had only replaced one of the springs before.

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And guess what happened the next year, the next spring breaks.

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And that is where I bring in a company to do it.

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Because I tell you what, it does not work well, if that project goes sideways, yes, you can get it and do it yourself and replace those coil springs up there.

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But I've also seen plenty of people get broken jaws or hurt even worse by those.

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So garage door maintenance is best left to the professionals.

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Keep the track clean, make sure nothing gets bent up.

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All things are adjusted usually by the time the spring has failed that bearings rollers might be needed and they might not just be trying to upsell you on that.

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So a little mains goes a long way.

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It's a big one.

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Next one up here is a huge one.

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And this is one that I want you to take a look at, cruise around and inspect any of your deck situation.

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What's the rock condition look on like on it?

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Is it connected right to the house?

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If you want to jump online, send me a message.

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I'll find a great sheet for you.

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If you want to do your own deck inspection, you can also have a home inspector come out and take a look at it.

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But you want to make sure and poke around, make sure the railings are good, finish is good.

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Anytime you have a wood deck with raw wood going through the winter time, whether it's rain, snow or whatever, it's going to be an issue.

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You want to take care of it now while the weather's good.

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And that's the whole point of this list, right?

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We're going to make sure that you got this dialed in so you can get it done one weekend, get this stuff knocked out and then you can just cruise through into fall and enjoy the good weather.

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I'd much rather be outside doing the caulking and getting the stuff when it's 75 degrees versus when it's 55 and you're trying to get things dry so that way they can seal up before the bad weather comes.

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Now, the other one is rodents.

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This time of year is spider season for us.

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It's rodent season, where the mice and the field mice are trying to get in into the house.

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So make sure everything's closed up tight.

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There are some great spray foams now that are rodent proof that they don't like to go through.

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They put in like hot sauce or whatever in it.

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Now when we come back, we're gonna be talking about the things you should be doing on the inside of the house.

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And these are just as important as the outside.

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We'll do that just as soon as around the House returns.

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Don't go anywhere.

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Time for a quick break, folks, but we'll be right back with more fall home fixes.

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Don't rake those leaves yet.

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The wind's just waiting to mess with you.

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Back in a flash.

Speaker A: 00:22:10

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

Speaker A: 00:22:14

I'm Eric G. Before we get back to our fall home maintenance checklist that we've been working on, let's go out to our around the House nugget, that weekly tip segment.

Speaker A: 00:22:27

Time for an around the house nugget brought to you by Aerobrum.

Speaker A: 00:22:31

I'm Eric G. And I love how arrow broom's two in one sweeper and cordless blower makes outdoor cleanup a breeze even inside with that dog hair sweep debris or blast leaves from all the tight spots.

Speaker A: 00:22:44

All under $60.

Speaker A: 00:22:46

Grab yours@arrowbroom.com that's aerobroom.com it's my go to for dog hair messes.

Speaker A: 00:22:54

Now here's your quick tip.

Speaker A: 00:22:56

Today's around the House Nugget is all about cleaning those stainless tumblers.

Speaker A: 00:23:01

Like your Stanley or yeti, they get stained up with coffee or tea.

Speaker A: 00:23:05

You know how tough it is to get those brown rings out?

Speaker A: 00:23:08

They are tough to deal with, but here's an easy fix.

Speaker A: 00:23:12

Just fill the cup with vinyl very hot water, drop in a dishwasher detergent pod and let it soak overnight.

Speaker A: 00:23:19

By morning, you'll be amazed at how those stains lift right out, leaving your cup looking brand new again.

Speaker A: 00:23:25

No scrubbing, no special cleaners.

Speaker A: 00:23:27

Just a simple trick with something you already have at home.

Speaker A: 00:23:31

That's your around the House nugget for this week, brought to you by our friends at Aerobroom.

Speaker A: 00:23:36

Check them out at Aerobroom.

Speaker A: 00:23:41

That is one of My favorite little tricks right there for keeping those cups clean.

Speaker A: 00:23:46

Now on our around the house home maintenance checklist for fall, let's dive inside.

Speaker A: 00:23:51

So these are the things that you should be taking care of inside the home.

Speaker A: 00:23:54

If you're just joining us, the first few segments there, we were checking out outside and now we're taking it inside.

Speaker A: 00:24:01

So really, when you get inside, there's some key points.

Speaker A: 00:24:04

One of them is probably one of the most important ones, and that's having your H vac system, that furnace, that heat pump, by a licensed professional.

Speaker A: 00:24:14

Now, sometimes if you're down south, you're going to be using the AC more than the heat.

Speaker A: 00:24:20

So you want to get that taken a look at.

Speaker A: 00:24:22

You should be on a maintenance plan with one of your experts that work on your machine.

Speaker A: 00:24:27

If you have a carrier furnace, I always recommend having a carrier person work on it.

Speaker A: 00:24:33

That way they know what's going on and they know all the things that could fail or the things that wear out.

Speaker A: 00:24:39

This will basically really prevent you having that breakdown when it's super cold or super hot or whatever is going on around in your neighborhood.

Speaker A: 00:24:49

So that can save you the most energy.

Speaker A: 00:24:51

Especially with a gas furnace.

Speaker A: 00:24:52

They'll go in and make sure that it's tuned in.

Speaker A: 00:24:54

So it's giving your car a tune up.

Speaker A: 00:24:56

Making sure that's dialed in is big.

Speaker A: 00:24:59

Now, at the same point, you're going to make sure your H vac filter is changed, all those air filters.

Speaker A: 00:25:06

You might have an air filter that's in your dehumidifier and a crawl space.

Speaker A: 00:25:10

You could have any one of the air exchangers that you have out there, whether it's a energy recovery ventilator or whatever system you have, there's probably a filter for it.

Speaker A: 00:25:22

So you want to make sure that's taken care of as well.

Speaker A: 00:25:24

That's the one that people forget so often.

Speaker A: 00:25:27

So just make sure you've got that.

Speaker A: 00:25:29

It's a good time also to take a look and make sure that your vent fans, whether it's in the bathrooms, the kitchen, the laundry room, make sure those are venting outside correctly.

Speaker A: 00:25:38

And if not, it might be a good time to fix that because like, you're one in the kitchen that should be venting outside, not doing the recirculating.

Speaker A: 00:25:46

Good time to swap that out is a winter project.

Speaker A: 00:25:49

The next one here is important.

Speaker A: 00:25:50

It's one we added this year was making sure that your attic insulation and ventilation is good.

Speaker A: 00:25:55

Making sure that you pop your head up into that attic, that no signs of any mice or Rodents or squirrels or raccoons getting up in there, making sure that's all looking good and the ventilation is correct up there because you can get.

Speaker A: 00:26:09

It's always good to stick your head up there a few times a year to make sure you don't have any of that mold mildew stuff growing up there.

Speaker A: 00:26:15

Or you have bigger issues that can get really expensive if you need to abate it.

Speaker A: 00:26:22

And if you've got a heat pump, water heater, making sure that the filter on that is cleaned out.

Speaker A: 00:26:27

I've got the Aerotherm, so mine I just take out.

Speaker A: 00:26:30

It sets an alarm and I can sit there and clean it out, let it dry, put it back and it's a washable filter, which is nice.

Speaker A: 00:26:37

That just keeps any of the dust debris from getting into the coils and plugging them up and making it less efficient.

Speaker A: 00:26:43

So you definitely want to do that again.

Speaker A: 00:26:46

Inspect the fireplaces and wood stoves, make sure that things look good around them, that you've got things back away from them.

Speaker A: 00:26:53

And the same thing goes, if you've got wall heaters, if you've got those cadet style wall heaters, turn the breaker off, pull the screws out, get the shop vac out and clean around there.

Speaker A: 00:27:04

And make sure that all that dust and debris and dust bunnies are removed from there so you don't have to worry about it.

Speaker A: 00:27:12

That's a big one.

Speaker A: 00:27:13

Now here's the gross one.

Speaker A: 00:27:14

This is probably my least favorite, but you have to do it and that's removing hair from drains, sinks, tubs and showers.

Speaker A: 00:27:23

I'm not a drain cleaner fan.

Speaker A: 00:27:26

It is just better to get jump on Amazon and get some big tweezers or you can use needle nose pliers, whatever to get in there and grab it and get it out.

Speaker A: 00:27:36

Many times that shower drain cover will just pop out or lift up and you can get in there and pull that stuff out.

Speaker A: 00:27:42

You might have to drop a trap down out of a basement vanity.

Speaker A: 00:27:46

So get underneath there, clear the junk out from underneath the sink, all that stuff, put a towel down, get a bowl, drop that down, and then use another sink to get that all cleaned up, looking good.

Speaker A: 00:27:56

That way you don't have any of those plugs.

Speaker A: 00:27:58

And then just make sure you've got that all dialed in.

Speaker A: 00:28:02

Look for any leaks around there too.

Speaker A: 00:28:04

Caulk as needed.

Speaker A: 00:28:06

I'm not a drain cleaner person, so I'd stay away from that because here's what happens.

Speaker A: 00:28:11

Those things don't work that great and when they do, it's plugged up anyway.

Speaker A: 00:28:14

And it's going to cost you more because your plumber that you call out is going to have to clean that stuff out and they're probably going to charge you more because that drain cleaner is all over their tools and it's a heck of a mess to work in and clean up.

Speaker A: 00:28:28

One addition that I'm adding to the list this year, which we review this every year and take a look, see what needs to come off, what needs to go back on because sometimes things just get outdated and we need to add a few more things.

Speaker A: 00:28:41

For instance, one that we didn't have on there, that's important that we should have on there is check out to make sure that your emergency preparedness kit is taken care of.

Speaker A: 00:28:52

That extra food, the water filter or extra water, how is that all looking?

Speaker A: 00:28:56

Take a peek at that.

Speaker A: 00:28:57

Do you have all the things in case you have a hurricane, tornado, wildfire, earthquake, Are you ready to rock in case of a natural disaster?

Speaker A: 00:29:06

So while you're inside taking a look, make sure that all that stuff is good.

Speaker A: 00:29:10

Some of that stuff, if you've got like I do, I've got freeze dried food that's good for 30 years.

Speaker A: 00:29:15

Just make sure the packaging's looking good and check your water filters to make sure everything's good.

Speaker A: 00:29:20

Or just take a look and see how the water is being stored and make sure that's looking good as well.

Speaker A: 00:29:25

And then you're good to go.

Speaker A: 00:29:26

So just make sure that kit is dialed in.

Speaker A: 00:29:30

First aid kits are only good for so many years, so make sure that's all up to date and not all expired.

Speaker A: 00:29:35

I've had that problem before and that can be a big one right there.

Speaker A: 00:29:39

Now the next one here is making sure that you've got insulated pipes and unheated garages, attics, crawl spaces, that kind of thing.

Speaker A: 00:29:46

And that was a big one for me that it's worth the time, especially if you've got a crawl space like I do.

Speaker A: 00:29:51

Now plenty of places in the country you are slab on grade, so it's concrete, it's dirt underneath, that's all you got.

Speaker A: 00:29:57

But for us to have crawl spaces or basements, if you want to get water to the faucet just a little bit faster, putting some insulation wrap around those hot water pipes as they go across can save you a ton of water because all of a sudden that water is hot a lot quicker because it didn't dissipate out.

Speaker A: 00:30:15

It's funny, I had areas that I could get to that I wrapped, areas I couldn't.

Speaker A: 00:30:19

And so I can sure tell when the water has been sitting in there warm with the insulation versus when it's not.

Speaker A: 00:30:25

And it really makes for a nice, quicker shower.

Speaker A: 00:30:28

You're not waiting for a minute or two just to get warm water there.

Speaker A: 00:30:31

It can really help if you're going a long distance from the water heater to that other end of the house.

Speaker A: 00:30:36

That can be a big energy savings as well.

Speaker A: 00:30:39

Next up here, make sure and test all the smoke detectors.

Speaker A: 00:30:42

You should be doing this monthly.

Speaker A: 00:30:43

Most people don't.

Speaker A: 00:30:45

Making sure those are dialed in and then also making sure that your carbon monoxide detectors are good.

Speaker A: 00:30:50

Take a look on the date code on those.

Speaker A: 00:30:53

If they're over 10 years old, it's like milk.

Speaker A: 00:30:56

They're done.

Speaker A: 00:30:57

Time to put some new ones in.

Speaker A: 00:30:59

And so make sure that you've got those working correctly.

Speaker A: 00:31:01

Now, here's the thing with carbon monoxide detectors.

Speaker A: 00:31:04

They tell you that there's an emergency, that you're in a dangerous situation, but any carbon monoxide is not great for you.

Speaker A: 00:31:11

So you still want to do some testing around there.

Speaker A: 00:31:13

Make sure every year that you've got a little handheld one you can find out because sometimes those won't get in there.

Speaker A: 00:31:18

They won't kick off until it gets dangerous.

Speaker A: 00:31:20

You want to know way before that, before you have any issues.

Speaker A: 00:31:24

She'll be good to go.

Speaker A: 00:31:25

You might as well have the healthiest air you can have now.

Speaker A: 00:31:29

When we come back, we're going to wrap up all these different things on the inside for your home maintenance checklist for fall.

Speaker A: 00:31:35

We'll do that just as soon as around the House returns.

Speaker A: 00:31:38

Don't go anywhere.

Speaker B: 00:31:39

Hold off on sealing those windows.

Speaker B: 00:31:41

Your house isn't a wind tunnel yet.

Speaker B: 00:31:43

Back before you can say frozen pipes.

Speaker A: 00:31:55

Foreign.

Speaker A: 00:33:42

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

Speaker A: 00:33:45

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

Speaker A: 00:33:48

If you're just catching us here on the around the House show for the first time, thanks for joining us.

Speaker A: 00:33:54

You can hear us across the country on the Talk Media Network, of course on the podcast, which you can catch on your favorite podcast player.

Speaker A: 00:34:01

And of course you can listen to it also on YouTube.

Speaker A: 00:34:04

We've got that on our channel as well.

Speaker A: 00:34:06

So we've got the episodes over there.

Speaker A: 00:34:08

So there's a lot to take a look.

Speaker A: 00:34:10

If you're just joining us for the first time.

Speaker A: 00:34:11

And of course our website is aroundthehouse online.com.

Speaker A: 00:34:15

we've been diving into that home maintenance checklist for fall.

Speaker A: 00:34:18

We do this kind of the 1st of September, that week, every single Year.

Speaker A: 00:34:23

We've done that for probably 20 plus years.

Speaker A: 00:34:25

It's been a lot of fun doing it.

Speaker A: 00:34:27

We were just covering the inside stuff we covered outside earlier on and we were going through some of this stuff which is super important, like testing all the smoke detectors, all that stuff.

Speaker A: 00:34:38

The next one here is important because we forget about these things because they're a wearing part.

Speaker A: 00:34:43

And I tell you what, it is probably the most common question I get over the holidays.

Speaker A: 00:34:47

Why aren't my Christmas lights on?

Speaker A: 00:34:50

And these are the ground fault circuit interrupters.

Speaker A: 00:34:54

These are those little outlets that you go into the bathroom and they have the reset test button on them.

Speaker A: 00:35:00

And those things will control a circuit.

Speaker A: 00:35:03

And of course, if they see that things are shorting out, it cuts the power off.

Speaker A: 00:35:06

Works really well.

Speaker A: 00:35:08

They're a great way to do it.

Speaker A: 00:35:09

But what happens is so many things happen when they build a house.

Speaker A: 00:35:14

Sometimes that outside outlet is connected to a powder room someplace or there's a garage refrigerator circuit that's right behind the freezer out there and it's hiding back there.

Speaker A: 00:35:26

And people have it go off and they have no idea where the main outlet is for that.

Speaker A: 00:35:33

So always note those locations when you're moving into a house or when you're working on them.

Speaker A: 00:35:39

Because so many times people go, hey, my Christmas lights kicked off and I reset the breaker and nothing happens.

Speaker A: 00:35:45

Almost always it's that GFCI outlet.

Speaker A: 00:35:49

And that outlet lasts about 10 years, little less, a little more depending on how much it's used, how much, how much power has gone through it.

Speaker A: 00:35:56

If it's, oh, got a refrigerator on it, like your beer fridge, it will run lower, lower lifespan on those because you're putting more through it.

Speaker A: 00:36:04

So just make sure those things are dialed in.

Speaker A: 00:36:07

That's a big one.

Speaker A: 00:36:08

And when in doubt, just replace them.

Speaker A: 00:36:10

Put something new in there.

Speaker A: 00:36:12

Now we have all of these arc fault ones that are now breakers.

Speaker A: 00:36:15

If you have a brand new house or a new service put in, that's a whole different story.

Speaker A: 00:36:19

That's at the breaker versus what's at the outlet.

Speaker A: 00:36:23

And so those are two different systems there and they work a little differently.

Speaker A: 00:36:27

How that goes.

Speaker A: 00:36:29

Next one is inspecting food areas and under sink areas for mice eroded and damage patch treat whatever necessary.

Speaker A: 00:36:36

So many times that I've seen people do this, if they've got, you know, maybe the bags of flour that are wrapped up in there.

Speaker A: 00:36:42

Sometimes you'll get those bugs growing in there and then it gets into everything in the pantry.

Speaker A: 00:36:48

So you want to make sure that all those things are nicely Tied up, cleaned up.

Speaker A: 00:36:52

And if you're not using it, maybe it's time to get some fresh stuff.

Speaker A: 00:36:57

There is a limit on how long that stuff should stay in there before it starts to spoil, go bad, get not tasting great, or before it's time because bugs start growing in it.

Speaker A: 00:37:07

So make sure you got that.

Speaker A: 00:37:08

Of course, we've got all the mice, rodents, you've got termites.

Speaker A: 00:37:12

There's a lot of different things out there, so take a look for that.

Speaker A: 00:37:15

And when you're under the sink area, take a look and see if something's dripping or not.

Speaker A: 00:37:20

That dripping water can do tons of damage to a bathroom or a kitchen.

Speaker A: 00:37:24

And all it takes is for it to be dropping in a bowl back there or some kind of spring cleaning container.

Speaker A: 00:37:30

And you could have a bigger mess.

Speaker A: 00:37:31

So make sure you're doing that.

Speaker A: 00:37:33

And while you're out, when you're looking around, take a look for mold and mildew.

Speaker A: 00:37:37

If you see mold under there, maybe it's a cabinet that shuts up nice and tight and you've got just a moist area down there where it's getting really nasty.

Speaker A: 00:37:45

Stay on that could be a bigger problem, and you want to make sure.

Speaker A: 00:37:48

And that's why many times when you see water damage happen, like a leak under a sink or something like that, they'll take those cabinets out because those cabinets are usually covering up a section of floor that could be damaged, and that's a bigger issue.

Speaker A: 00:38:02

So you need to get down and treat the problem.

Speaker A: 00:38:04

Can't just paint over mold.

Speaker A: 00:38:06

You need to kill it first and then deal with it correctly.

Speaker A: 00:38:10

So when in doubt, test it.

Speaker A: 00:38:11

Make sure you know what you're dealing with, and that way you can air test later and make sure you got it all.

Speaker A: 00:38:16

So that's part of it.

Speaker A: 00:38:17

You want to confirm it, test it when it's done to make sure you've got it knocked out.

Speaker A: 00:38:22

Now the next one is a lighting one.

Speaker A: 00:38:24

It's pretty easy with LED lights that tend to last a little longer than incandescent bulbs.

Speaker A: 00:38:28

Walk around your house and inspect lighting.

Speaker A: 00:38:30

Change bulbs as needed.

Speaker A: 00:38:33

And here's the thing, if you have those little curlicue compact fluorescent bulbs, time to change those things out.

Speaker A: 00:38:39

Many of them were filled with mercury.

Speaker A: 00:38:41

If you break them, they're a problem.

Speaker A: 00:38:43

I don't like the flickery light in those.

Speaker A: 00:38:46

It's just a really not great light.

Speaker A: 00:38:48

So time to maybe do LEDs or go back to incandescents.

Speaker A: 00:38:53

But really those LEDs are a great way to do it.

Speaker A: 00:38:55

You change the color, temperature, on many of them.

Speaker A: 00:38:58

And if you have a chance when you're remodeling to remove those big huge, nasty 6 inch can lights that look so horrible that were big in the 70s and 80s, time to upgrade those into something smaller.

Speaker A: 00:39:09

So you can do that as a while you're at it kind of project.

Speaker A: 00:39:13

So make sure you got all the lighting done.

Speaker A: 00:39:15

It might be a good time to put a dimmer on things if you need to.

Speaker A: 00:39:18

Just remember with the light bulbs that you're using need to be dimmable and you want them dimmable the same way.

Speaker A: 00:39:23

So use the same ones on that circuit so they react the same way.

Speaker A: 00:39:27

Because sometimes light bulbs will be different as they dim.

Speaker A: 00:39:31

So you want them to look the same.

Speaker A: 00:39:33

That way it's looking good and it's just going to give you the desired output of the project.

Speaker A: 00:39:39

Right?

Speaker A: 00:39:39

You want to look beautiful.

Speaker A: 00:39:40

If you dim it, you want them even all those little things.

Speaker A: 00:39:43

Now here's the one that always gets forgotten as well.

Speaker A: 00:39:45

Inspecting that crawl space or basement for cracks and water damage.

Speaker A: 00:39:51

If you've got boxes stacked up against the wall in the basement, pull it back, make sure there's airflow.

Speaker A: 00:39:56

Take a look and see where you've got water coming from.

Speaker A: 00:39:59

So many times that water in the crawl space is being caused by a bad gutter system outside where the downspouts are draining right next to the foundation.

Speaker A: 00:40:08

And it could be causing a big issue that way.

Speaker A: 00:40:10

We talked about that earlier.

Speaker A: 00:40:12

But really having those water intrusion issues and if it's coming up through the crack between the wall and the floor in the basement, that's a high water table issue.

Speaker A: 00:40:21

So if the gutters are being directly taken care of outside and outside you've got the right sloping away from the property, right away from the building.

Speaker A: 00:40:31

Guess what, you've got a bigger issue.

Speaker A: 00:40:33

Many times at that point, you can't caulk that, you can't seal it, it doesn't work.

Speaker A: 00:40:37

That's where you need to dig down and do a below grade constrained system.

Speaker A: 00:40:43

Have an engineer come out, drop what you need to have done to make sure it's right.

Speaker A: 00:40:48

That way you can then go to your foundation company you're going to hire.

Speaker A: 00:40:52

It just makes more sense to go that way.

Speaker A: 00:40:55

Pay a little bit more and then you can get equal bids from everybody.

Speaker A: 00:40:58

So they do it the same way.

Speaker A: 00:40:59

And that's the secret to getting foundation repairs done.

Speaker A: 00:41:03

Have the engineer drop a solution.

Speaker A: 00:41:04

If you've got a crack or a break, probably going to use carbon fiber, maybe steel.

Speaker A: 00:41:09

Have them draw that up so then you can get the pricing and you won't have some wild salesperson trying to pitch on stuff that you don't need and paying too much money for that project so you can get equal bids.

Speaker A: 00:41:21

And if they're doing.

Speaker A: 00:41:22

Doing carbon fiber or something like that, make sure they're trained on the system they're doing.

Speaker A: 00:41:26

They should have training materials that can show you.

Speaker A: 00:41:28

That shows you that the crew coming out there was trained.

Speaker A: 00:41:31

Whether it's from Rhino carbon fiber or any Simpson or any one of those other companies, you can make sure that's good.

Speaker A: 00:41:39

And that's really the last one here on my list to get that knocked out.

Speaker A: 00:41:44

That way you get this done and get onto other projects.

Speaker A: 00:41:46

Speaking of other projects, another little update.

Speaker A: 00:41:50

I've been wrapping up my project at my house and it's.

Speaker A: 00:41:52

I feel like I'm in the middle of Groundhog Day.

Speaker A: 00:41:54

Have you ever had that where you're working on a project and as soon as you get something else, you go, oh, but I really should take care of this too, to do this.

Speaker A: 00:42:01

And I'm really trying not to have anything that I give to the next homeowner that's going to be a problem.

Speaker A: 00:42:06

I'm trying to be the anti flipper on this and really give somebody something nice at that they can work with.

Speaker A: 00:42:11

It's a: 1979

Speaker A: 00:42:15

So there are things that are a little bit more weathered just because of on the exterior.

Speaker A: 00:42:21

It's all painted, it's all clean, it looks good.

Speaker A: 00:42:23

But I'm trying to make sure not to hand off any problems and that our inspection goes really well when we go through that process.

Speaker A: 00:42:30

But if you're working on a project like now, I'd love to hear from you what you got going on.

Speaker A: 00:42:35

Send me a message over toroundthe house online dot com.

Speaker A: 00:42:37

I'm working on mine right now.

Speaker A: 00:42:38

And I tell you what, I'm a couple days away and we had some delays.

Speaker A: 00:42:43

We've had some stuff because I've got a guy doing some drywall and I hate doing drywall.

Speaker A: 00:42:47

He's coming in there.

Speaker A: 00:42:48

I had a issue on the ceiling when I originally stripped off the popcorn.

Speaker A: 00:42:53

And yes, of course, when I stripped the popcorn off, I made sure that it was not asbestos containing material.

Speaker A: 00:42:59

It wasn't, but I had some adhesion issues where the primer didn't soak in and maybe I didn't have.

Speaker A: 00:43:07

I was wetting that down a little bit before I primed it.

Speaker A: 00:43:09

And I think what happened was, is I might have had too much moisture in it, and it didn't grab into the drywall where it should have.

Speaker A: 00:43:17

It might not have dried out enough.

Speaker A: 00:43:19

It was a rainy time of year, so the humidity was a little bit higher.

Speaker A: 00:43:22

But I tell you what, any of the mud work I did on top of that, if you go to scrape it at all, it just comes right off.

Speaker A: 00:43:28

So it was obviously some kind of an issue like that, but really, we would.

Speaker A: 00:43:33

I just handed off and went, hey, man, scrape that.

Speaker A: 00:43:35

Get that little bit up there, get it patched up, get it textured.

Speaker A: 00:43:37

Let's call it good.

Speaker A: 00:43:39

And I got a team working on that right now.

Speaker A: 00:43:41

So I've been doing the other stuff outside, getting ready to finish up some deck details, some roof details, little things like that, so we can get the pictures done here in a couple days and have this thing on the market.

Speaker A: 00:43:52

And I tell you what, I cannot wait for that.

Speaker A: 00:43:54

It's going to be exciting to get this thing sold and to move on to greener pastures, shall we say?

Speaker A: 00:44:00

And I'm not talking the septic tank either.

Speaker A: 00:44:02

All right, guys, have a great rest of your week.

Speaker A: 00:44:06

I appreciate you all tuning in here, and if you've got a home improvement question or you're stuck on something, send me a message at the website, around the House, online or on social media.

Speaker A: 00:44:15

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