Your questions and the truth about hazards in your home

[: 00:00:00

[00:00:24] Eric Goranson: And that you're following the local rules and regulations on how to get rid of some of these hazards. Because everywhere it is different. It doesn't matter. We can have. federal law, but how the local state governments handle things are completely different. And that can be really tough on navigating that.

[: 00:00:42

[00:01:11] Eric Goranson: Thanks for joining us today. I am Eric G. We have got a jam packed hour here, and we are going to start out with some of your questions that have come in. And they, uh, come in sometimes from emails, which you can, uh, track us down at aroundthehouseonline. com. You can send a message there or you can give us a call at 833 239 4144.

[: 00:01:31

[00:01:55] Eric Goranson: We were talking here right before the holidays about really trying to make sure that we've [00:02:00] got homes dialed in for aging in place and Robert's question is this, he was wondering if there are any similar information accommodations for people who are blind or visibly, visibly challenged, so they are visually challenged.

[: 00:02:13

[00:02:36] Eric Goranson: Like I like to have, um, you know, a very common floor texture so there's no chance to trip. Um, but using color and light to help steer people in the right direction and for people that are that are visually challenged that. You know, have limited site and that kind of thing. I like to use contrasting colors.

[: 00:02:58

[00:03:20] Eric Goranson: And so really these are things that I like to do as far as having places for that. I also like to have, you know, paint finishes that if someone's walking down the hall that, uh, maybe a little bit higher baseboard trim, if they're using a cane or if, uh, something that's very washable is a wall surface. So they can put their hand on it and touch it and feel it without getting it dirty because our oil in our skins.

[: 00:03:47

[00:04:11] Eric Goranson: I think these are all important things to bring technology into because. Again, that is just another level that you could be using the voice controls on your remote control, or you could be controlling the lights with your voice. There's a lot of things you can be doing without having to go over and move and use that light switch or even try to find it.

[: 00:04:29

[00:04:51] Eric Goranson: And as I'm just talking, I got an email in here from Rosemary, and I'm not sure Rosemary, where she's coming from, but, uh, just says, hello, do you have any [00:05:00] recommendations for a company that can either sand or repaint? A metal exterior door. Mine is 30 to 35 years old. And when the sun gets low enough to hit it every winter over time, it's caused the caused the old paint to bubble.

[: 00:05:12

[00:05:29] Eric Goranson: And it's either a great DIY project or it could get kind of expensive because painting companies Many times don't like to tackle these kind of little projects, especially in the wintertime on an exterior door, because here's what can happen, you know, when you're painting something, if it's below 50 degrees, a lot of these paints, especially exterior latex ones don't work that well outside because they don't have a chance to cure.

[: 00:05:55

[00:06:17] Eric Goranson: And so what I recommend doing on an old steel door like this, that's 30, 35 years old is it's probably if the door is in great shape now, you just need to strip it down. So I would get in there with either a dual action. D a sander or somebody would come in there with a, uh, you know, a citrus orange paint stripper.

[: 00:06:36

[00:06:53] Eric Goranson: That's going to stick to that. So that'll be the first thing. And then you're going to need a few coats of finish on there, [00:07:00] but you're going to want to remove all of the old finish, because what you're getting is you're getting a little bit of heat. Just that little bit of sun is causing that to bubble up.

[: 00:07:07

[00:07:25] Eric Goranson: So what I would do is is either have a. A license bonded handyman or a painting company come in and do that if you don't want to tackle it yourself, but you're going to want to strip it down to bare metal or at least down to the factory primer coat and then go from there and then use a good exterior paint on that that is designed for metal and you should be good.

[: 00:07:44

[00:08:05] Eric Goranson: And it's just like taking a heat gun to, uh, to a door to strip paint, um, that little bit of heat, even in the wintertime when the sun is low is going to cause a damage. And it doesn't matter if you're in California. Or up in, uh, Minneapolis. It doesn't really matter your location. This is one of those things that's gonna really help you out.

[: 00:08:22

[00:08:37] Eric Goranson: Because you want to make sure you get everything sticking well. And, uh, a light sanding with like a 220 or 180 grit. Um, to get that down to, uh, that way the primer has something to adhere to will be good. Uh, don't go too much over with metal. I don't want to see you going over too much over 400 if you're using anything latex because it's going to be too shiny and there won't be deep [00:09:00] enough grooves with the sanding to really get there.

[: 00:09:01

[00:09:19] Eric Goranson: And, uh, they can help walk you through getting the right products and the right materials. And, uh, that could just be a fun Saturday project when the weather's not too bad. And, uh, if you're in a warmer climate, then you could probably tackle it at any time that there's not wind or rain coming. You just want to let that door dry as much as you can before you hang it back up and, uh, make sure they take the lock and everything off and you should be.

[: 00:09:38

[00:10:09] Eric Goranson: What's up? This is sticks it in you and satchel from steel Panther. And you are listening to around the house with Eric G. Yeah, we love Eric G and you should too.

[: 00:10:30

[00:10:48] Eric Goranson: Just give us a call 24 seven. And, uh, I will give you a call back and, uh, we will schedule a time to get you on the radio. Now, here's the thing too. If I call you back, uh, feel [00:11:00] free when you call, if you get a voicemail message, maybe I'm not in the studio. I'm out shooting TV. I'm out doing something. Don't worry about it.

[: 00:11:08

[00:11:23] Eric Goranson: Well, today we've been talking, taking some calls and questions here. And, um, I've got some more calls coming in here that we'll probably put later in the show, but our other topic today is going to be home hazards, things when you're tackling DIY projects. And I want you to really pay attention to, and these are ones that we see around a lot in our homes.

[: 00:11:42

[00:12:04] Eric Goranson: And that can be really tough on navigating that. Great example, asbestos. Now, asbestos can be found in a lot of different materials. It can be found in flooring, uh, vinyl flooring from the fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, eighties. 2000s maybe. Um, here's the thing with asbestos. A lot of people get confused the facts like with lead paint, that they quit making lead paint after 1977, 1978, that you didn't see it be out there.

[: 00:12:40

[00:13:08] Eric Goranson: There's a ton of rules. If I show up with any sheet rock, if I show up with any vinyl flooring, any tar paper. Any sheet rock with texture, mud, anything like that, and pipe wrap, things like that. I had better have an asbestos survey in my hand saying this stuff came from a location and it all tested negative.

[: 00:13:34

[00:13:57] Eric Goranson: Now, asbestos could be in the glue blo, [00:14:00] that black ma you see that was holding down linoleum or old vinyl. Um, if you have vermiculite insulation, which is that white pebble sand kind of looking stuff, it can be found there. It can be found in drywall, mud, drywall, texture. A lot of different places as well as vinyl flooring.

[: 00:14:20

[00:14:43] Eric Goranson: Now, there's a lot of people out there on social media that if you ask this in a social media home improvement group, You'll have the handful of saying, Oh, who cares? You're just going to touch it once and throw it in the bag and take it to your landfill. Here's two problems with this. One, asbestos fibers [00:15:00] are very small and they love to float around so they can stick around in your house for years.

[: 00:15:07

[00:15:28] Eric Goranson: Many times, like people that were working in shipyards or. Other places like that, that we're dealing with asbestos on a regular basis. So unfortunately, even though you'd got the rid of it once, if it's floating around in the dust, it can be floating around for years to come, which means you now have multiple exposures.

[: 00:15:47

[00:16:10] Eric Goranson: So think about those people that are getting multiple exposures because you're trying to slide around the rules. So be really cognizant of those people that are hard working that you could be making sick by skirting around those rules. Now in some areas they're not dealing with this, some areas they're dealing with a lot.

[: 00:16:27

[00:16:57] Eric Goranson: My mom is a school teacher, uh, they [00:17:00] would give her to make the clay projects for the third graders. They would get bags of asbestos, the school district would, so the kids could put it in the clay to make it stronger, so if they dropped it, it would be less likely to break. The fibers were like fiberglass, so that's what they did back then.

[: 00:17:18

[00:17:41] Eric Goranson: And quite frankly, if it's not the law there, I would just treat it like it was. I would test everything you can make sure you understand it. When I tested my house, I got lucky I didn't have any there and we just tested a project and I'm working on my little brother and, uh, he didn't have anything in his, uh, [00:18:00] vermiculite, which we'll talk about that when we come back.

[: 00:18:02

[00:18:26] Eric Goranson: And there are places where that came out of the same mine and they got cross contaminated. So we ended up having a problem with that. So when we come back, we'll talk a little bit about that to show you can understand that better. We'll do that just as soon as around the house returns.[00:19:00]

[: 00:19:00

[00:19:21] Eric Goranson: As you're doing those remodels and we're just talking about asbestos, which is kind of what we started the show off here in the last segment. But here's the thing that I really want to pay attention to with vermiculite. There is many times that I run into vermiculite just like my brother's place. That we test it and there is no asbestos containing material in it.

[: 00:19:41

[00:20:06] Eric Goranson: That's the way to do it. Um, if you have a big project like scraping ceilings, those kind of things, maybe it's easier to go over the top of it with a quarter inch sheet of drywall or three sheet of drywall and re skim coat and call it a day. Maybe that's cheaper than going through and having to abate it.

[: 00:20:23

[00:20:43] Eric Goranson: But just because you have popcorn doesn't mean that it's all, you know, asbestos containing material just because you have. Um, you know, tiles on the floor that are nine by nine, even though almost always it is, you know, it's funny, uh, when you're seeing those nine by nine square tiles out [00:21:00] of the fifties and sixties, those almost always were asbestos containing materials.

[: 00:21:05

[00:21:25] Eric Goranson: But this is just 1 of those things that is something you should be serious about. You don't want to be doing any more damage to your body and healthy is good guys. So just be careful out there with that. And that's a big 1. Now, the next 1 here is 1 that has been, um, popular now. And it's something that's been coming back and it started out with people going, I can't believe they're outlawing beach sand.

[: 00:21:47

[00:22:21] Eric Goranson: And specifically dry cutting on job sites. Now these are the people that I'm worried about. These are the ones that when you're driving down the street, you see your neighbors getting new countertops put in. There's somebody outside with a dry grinder creating this huge cloud of dust and they're breathing that in.

[: 00:22:38

[00:23:00] Eric Goranson: Their workers are getting sick from the silica dust. So here's what I would do as a homeowner. First off, I would make sure that there's nobody working at your house on concrete like that, that doesn't have a vacuum system set up. That meets all of the silica dust table one and all the different stuff that we see out there for following those rules So you want to make sure that these people have a plan that they are dealing with silica dust I'm seeing this in countertop companies.

[: 00:23:31

[00:24:08] Eric Goranson: So that's the secret there. And then they still should be wearing some kind of a dust mask just to grab the incidental stuff that gets around it. And that's what you're talking about and what you want to see now, if you're doing it yourself, that's a good time to get a respirator and make sure that you're not getting that stuff all around the project.

[: 00:24:24

[00:24:45] Eric Goranson: And that is mold. Now, mold in your house is something, um, first off, if you have humidity in an area over 60%, that's kind of the magic number for relative humidity, that you start growing mold. [00:25:00] So, I want to make sure that around your house, And all the corners, basement, crawl space, you're never getting above 60 percent because that is the magic number for growing mold.

[: 00:25:12

[00:25:29] Eric Goranson: And they have a little tiny thing inside of them. And those. Are meant to work in a small little area. They are not meant to dehumidify your entire basement. If you're gonna do this correctly, you need to put on one in that is really built in, you know, something like by uh, Santa Fe or Bro New Tone or, or uh, Aprilaire, one of the big brands out there that build these things, because that's gonna, one, save you more money, be more reliable than the little tiny throwaway ones.

[: 00:25:56

[00:26:15] Eric Goranson: So really plan that out and really do it right. So now what do you do if you're worried about mold? Maybe you've got a mold allergy and something's bugging you, but you can't figure out where it is. And this is where air testing comes in. This is where you need to run some air tests. And, uh, one easy way to do it is there's companies out there.

[: 00:26:33

[00:26:56] Eric Goranson: Different rooms, different areas. You want to test outside. You're going to [00:27:00] do these different air tests to make sure that you understand what's going on. And then those results will tell you some of the issues. And then you can start, you know. Being the detective and figure out where the issues are, but that's really how you figure out if there is an issue if you can't see it, it could be behind a wall.

[: 00:27:17

[00:27:35] Eric Goranson: And sometimes. You know, and this is the problem we have with air testing out there. If you live next to a swamp or you're in a humid area all the time, or you've got a waterway next to you, you might have air outside that is actually much worse than what it is inside. And so you could be airing out your house to go, Oh my gosh, I'm so much better off getting some fresh air in here.

[: 00:27:56

[00:28:17] Eric Goranson: And then you can start figuring out what's going on and it could be just a simple plumbing leak. It could be a, uh, humid crawl space or attic. These are all things that you need to figure out and that'll save you money in the long run. All right. One more segment to go. We'll be back around the house.

[: 00:28:31

[00:29:03] Eric Goranson: It's the end of the show drinking down people. It's time to go. It's that time again, it's last call. Welcome back to the Around the House Show. This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education. If you want to find out more about us, and if you don't have a place to write down our phone number or anything, just go to AroundTheHouseOnline.

[: 00:29:24

[00:29:42] Eric Goranson: It's all from watching South Park. And that is up on the website around the house online. com. And then you'll find the phone number there. So you can give us a call with your home improvement questions. And that's 833 239 4144. That's 833 239 4144. We've been talking about [00:30:00] home hazards, uh, around your house that are, uh, problem areas.

[: 00:30:04

[00:30:21] Eric Goranson: You know, lead was added, uh, to be more durable and to make it higher quality paint. So what I'm seeing is, is, is at least in my area, and I know this is probably a pretty good thing across the country. Areas that were a little bit nicer where they had good paint salespeople, I can go around and see where neighborhood by neighborhood, you'll see clusters in the old nicer areas before 1978.

[: 00:30:51

[00:31:12] Eric Goranson: And so it showed up, so the higher and more higher in house. To be honest, the more likely you are to have lead paint, but really the only way to do is to test it. 3M makes some great test kits. You can send off samples, you could have people come in, but it is something that you need to be careful with.

[: 00:31:30

[00:32:04] Eric Goranson: So make sure that you follow and understand those. I'm not going to give them all here because that would be some really boring radio, but, uh, you can go over the EPA site, just look up lead paint and they will tell you the federal rules for that. And then make sure you check with your state or local government to see if there's any additional ones that go beyond that, but that's a safe way to do it.

[: 00:32:24

[00:32:43] Eric Goranson: I have to remove all the lead paint, asbestos, any of that stuff before they even tear it down so it doesn't expose anybody in the neighborhood to those dusts. So these are things that are really important. I want to make sure you don't get in trouble by following those rules. And yes, people can get nailed on this.

[: 00:32:58

[00:33:25] Eric Goranson: And yeah, the state nailed him with a 100, 000 fine that I'm sure was reduced when he came back to it. But still, that is a legal issue that will ruin any project. So just make sure you're doing it correctly. Make sure you're getting rid of things correctly. Make sure you're not putting other people in danger and you're going to be okay.

[: 00:33:41

[00:34:03] Eric Goranson: The stuff floating around in the air, yeah, that's the stuff I'm talking about. That is that particulate matter. Now, if you have pets, this is a big deal. If you have in wall or baseboard heat with no filtration method, that's an issue. These are all things that I want to make sure that you understand what's going on so you can make sure you've got the healthiest air possible.

[: 00:34:27

[00:34:52] Eric Goranson: Like your, uh, you know, the biggest offender is that, uh, not using your vent hood in the kitchen. So, we've talked about that before, but again, these are [00:35:00] things that are making the air healthy for you. And these are things that, uh, you can do to make sure that, um, you know, that you're healthier and safer.

[: 00:35:10

[00:35:30] Eric Goranson: Um, many times, ironically, are some of those plug in style, um, air fresheners you see out there that have all the different oils and liquids in them. That's like vaping, guys. Be careful. Those are things that are not great, and they can actually put layers of that oil on everything. Almost like what you'd see out of a smoker, so be very careful.

[: 00:35:51

[00:36:09] Eric Goranson: Having a basement workshop where you're sitting there working on projects and maybe you're spraying lacquer or you're painting. You know, with spray cans, all that kind of stuff that could be an issue. Now, 1 of the other big things that, uh, I learned from Caroline as well is that, uh, you know, those, um, during covid, we saw him a lot.

[: 00:36:29

[00:36:48] Eric Goranson: So be really careful of what chemicals you have, what you're using and making sure that you're ventilating in your house very well. And I want to make sure that you're just not breathing in things you [00:37:00] shouldn't. So be very careful, um, just as I don't like to see people using, uh, you know, bleach and things like that in their home for cleaning.

[: 00:37:08

[00:37:27] Eric Goranson: And the last one I have is the chemical drain cleaners. Why don't we just stay away from using those? If you can't get it broken up with a plunger, if you can't get it broken up with a snake, maybe it's time to bring in a professional. I am not a fan of those chemical drain cleaners because one, When it doesn't work, you're now putting in danger the plumbing professional that has to come over and fix it because once you've poured it in there and it's plugged and it stays there, they got to come over and deal with that stuff, which is going to cost you more money and to that stuff can [00:38:00] eat up certain types of pipe.

[: 00:38:02

[00:38:22] Eric Goranson: Uh, so your best bet is to go through, and instead of using drain cleaners, just go through and clean up those traps every six months. Maybe the ones that people are washing their face, or they're, or they're shaving, or they're, or washing hair in, you know, any of those things like that. Clean those out, get the hair out of there, get the shaving stuff out of there, clean it up, and you'll be doing really good.

[: 00:38:44

[00:39:00] Eric Goranson: All right, guys. If you've got a comment, feel free to give us a call at 833 239 4144 love to hear what you think. Thanks for tuning in around the house. We'll see you next weekend or Wednesday on the podcast. Thanks again. Have a great weekend.