Blasting Ledge

Posted on December 17, 2018 by Tim Carter

Blasting Ledge | See that mound in the center of the photo? That's a ledge or solid bedrock. There's solid bedrock just under the soil. Please watch this amusing short video with Cary Grant when he discovers ledge on his new-home site. Copyright 2018 Tim Carter

Blasting Ledge - Not DIY - No Way - No How

Blasting ledge was done years ago with hand-held star-bit drills and sledgehammers. Two men would drill down about 18 inches, pack the hole with black powder, light a fuse, and run for their lives. Black powder was very dangerous to use and many workers died or were maimed.

Alfred Nobel changed all this in 1867 with the introduction of the new safer dynamite. This invention made him a fabulously wealthy man. He used much of this wealth to foster scientific work creating the world-famous Nobel prizes.

CLICK or TAP HERE to get FREE BIDS from local foundation contractors who can get prices for blasting rock on your land.

Is Blasting Ledge Safe?

Yes, blasting ledge is safe when the blaster uses modern safer explosives like TNT and dynamite.

How Do You Blast Ledge?

The first step in blasting ledge is to drill holes into the rock. Modern machinery can do this in just minutes. The spacing of the holes depends on the hardness of the rock that's being removed. The common spacing for holes in granite is about 6 to 8 feet on center.

How Deep are the Holes Drilled?

The normal depth for the drilled holes ranges from 6 to 8 feet. The holes are about 2 inches in diameter.

Is Anything Packed into the Holes on Top of the Dynamite?

Yes, small crushed gravel about the size of green peas or mid-sized green grapes is put into the holes on top of each dynamite charge. This material forces the energy of the blast sideways inside the hole. Without the gravel in the hole, most of the energy would shoot up out of the drilled hole into the air.

This is the crushed gravel that's used to fill the drilled holes after the dynamite is placed at the bottom of the hole.

What Prevents Rocks From Flying Through the Air?

Once the TNT or dynamite is packed into the holes, giant mats made with used rubber tires and steel mesh are placed over the rock. These absorb the impact of the exploding rocks so they don't go flying through the neighborhood.

Deck Beams and Posts and Your Door Woes

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Tim Carter

Deck Beams and Posts

QUESTION #1: Tim, I really need your help. My husband is making a mess of a deck extension project. I’m concerned he’s using the wrong-sized lumber and the connections between pieces of lumber don’t appear to be secure to me. Are you able to share deck-construction basics so my kids and I don’t tumble to the ground below? Tricia P., Osceola, IA

All you need to do is spend a few minutes doing a search about deck collapse and you’ll discover local TV news station websites are littered with story after story of collapsed decks. You can even watch videos of decks collapsing with people on them. Deck construction is serious business and you need to make sure everything is done correctly.

Entire books have been written on the subject and it’s impossible for me to give you precise detailed advice. That said, you should start your education at the nadra.org website. The North American Deck and Railing Association owns this website and they have quite a few helpful documents and checklists that will get you up to speed as to some of the best practices to use when building a deck.

It’s important to realize that treated lumber must be used outdoors. The treated lumber sold now in the USA has a high copper content. When the lumber gets wet and the copper leaches from the lumber, this solution can become highly corrosive to any hardware, framing connectors, screws, nails, etc. that are not rated for this very destructive brew. One-half-inch diameter bolts can be reduced to withered rusted rods in just a few years in the right conditions.

Another key point is flashings. If the deck connects to your house, any board bolted to the side of the house needs to be flashed so water doesn’t rot out the side wall of the house. There are all sorts of methods and materials to employ, but you need to be skilled to succeed.

Deck railing posts are a major concern because many carpenters and DIY homeowner warriors get this aspect completely wrong. There are special metal connectors that should be used in conjunction with through bolts, not lag bolts.

Beams that are supported by columns need to be attached correctly. There are special pieces of approved hardware to do this or a large post can be notched to accept the beam. Through bolts then connect the beam to the post.

Special tape should be used on top of the joists before the decking is applied to prevent joist rot and to ensure the nails and screws holding down the decking don’t pull out.

I’ve got countless deck construction articles and videos at my AsktheBuilder.com website to help you understand what needs to be done to be safe. I urge you to go there and read all my past work about deck construction.

Your Door Woes

QUESTION #2: Tim, I’ve got a few interior doors at my home that are driving me crazy. One of the doors wants to slowly close on its own. I’m convinced it’s a ghost. Another door has started to rub up at the top of the door where it touches the door frame. Help this single mom who’s handy but has no money. Sara B., Corona, CA

My guess is you’ve had at least one of the problems facing Sara. I have the ghost door issue at my own home with my master bathroom door. She Who Must Be Obeyed has instructed me that it will be fixed this weekend.

The ghost is really gravity. The hinge pins are so well machined, fitted, and oiled that if the door is just slightly out of plumb, gravity will pull it closed. The fix for this is so easy you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.

All you have to do is grab a few shims or something to shove under the bottom tip of the door under the handle. Be sure the door is open so you can get outside once you do the next step.

Use a hammer and screwdriver to remove one of the hinge pins. Take the hinge pin outdoors and put it on a piece of lumber and strike the center of the pin with your hammer to put a slight bend in the pin. The bend will create enough friction in the hinge to stop the door from closing on its own.

The rubbing door problem is almost always traced to hinge screws on the upper hinge that have come loose. Tighten them and see if the problem disappears instantly. If the rubbing is less, but not gone, then you may have to use a wood chisel to deepen the upper hinge mortise on the door or the door frame.

Column 1280

Your Pesky Dryer Vent Pipe and Deicing Salts

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Tim Carter

Your Pesky Dryer Vent Pipe

QUESTION #1: I need your advice, Tim. My clothes dryer stopped getting my clothes dry. The problem was traced to the vent line being squished behind the dryer. I was also told the flexible plastic pipe was inferior. Can you share your magic way of connecting clothes dryers to vent pipes so they’re trouble free? Valerie S., Mesquite, TX

Valerie’s problem very likely is your problem if your clothes dryer is taking longer and longer to dry clothes. There are several other causes too such as a clogged vent pipe, a clogged lint filter, and a lint-clogged vent flapper.

Several years ago, I helped a single mom install a new washer and dryer in a home she had rented. I had to modify the length of the dryer vent pipe and was stunned when I took it apart. The entire 25 feet of the vent pipe from the old dryer location to the exterior vent hood was choked with lint. I had never seen anything like it in all my years!

Years ago, I got upset one afternoon when trying to connect my own vent pipe to a new dryer my wife bought. I was trying to lean back over the dryer reaching down to tighten screws and lost it. I decided I was going to make it easy for myself and anyone else in the future to deal with disconnecting the vent pipe for cleaning, inspection, or installing the next new dryer.

It’s important to realize the first mistake I feel most builders make is installing the vent pipe in finished laundry rooms close to the floor. That’s the root cause of all the pain. I got out my tools and relocated the vent hood so it was exiting the house wall a few inches above the back of the dryer.

Doing this allowed me to connect solid 4-inch metal 90-degree angle pipe to the male outlet at the base of the dryer using sheet-metal screws. I then extended a piece of solid pipe straight up the back of the dryer from this fitting.

I attached a second 90-degree fitting to this vertical pipe above the back of the dryer using more screws. This fitting would connect to a short stub of pipe that exited my exterior wall. I was able to slide the dryer closer to the wall and had no trouble mating the fitting to the short stub of the pipe. Installing the final screws was easy.

At first blush, you may not like this solution because you’d see the ugly metal pipe above the dryer. As you might suspect, I knew my wife would be unhappy too. I solved that problem by making a box shelf that attached to the wall with a french cleat.

This open-bottomed box slid over the vent pipe hiding everything. The shelf was a perfect place for the box of dryer sheets and other bric-a-brac that seems to gravitate to laundry rooms. I even put in small writing on the front bottom corner: Slide Up for Vent Pipe Access

Deicing Salts

QUESTION #2: Tim, what’s the truth about deicing salts and concrete? I recently saw some magic liquid that I can use instead of salt. Does salt harm concrete? Is there anything I can apply to my concrete to prevent damage? If the concrete surface is spalled, what can be done? Danny V., Traverse City, MI

You may have the same concerns about deicing salt and concrete as does Danny. The subject is so complex tens of thousands of words have been written about it. That said, I can give you the Cliffs Notes version.

Deicing salt can harm concrete that’s not been mixed, placed, finished, and cured properly. The trouble is when you look at a concrete sidewalk, driveway, or patio you have no idea if all those things were done correctly.

I can show you concrete sidewalks in different towns that have had deicing salt on them for decades and the surface has not crumbled. That’s your simple proof that concrete can resist salt.

Before you purchase the magic fluid, do some math. I recently saw some deicing fluid and discovered it’s 37 times more expensive than salt. Most people put on way too much salt to deice. You only need to use 5 pounds of salt per 1,000 square feet of concrete.

Before winter set in, it would have been a great idea to spray a clear penetrating silane/siloxane water repellent on your concrete. Read the directions and put on two coats if possible one immediately behind the other. This sealer helps minimize the salt brine from soaking into the concrete.

Salt-damaged concrete usually doesn’t have to be replaced. Often just the top 3/8 inch of the concrete has crumbled. You can install a long-lasting cement stucco overlay using coarse sand, Portland cement, and hydrated lime to resurface the concrete. The secret is to use cement paint to bond the old concrete to the new stucco mix. I have detailed instructions for this process at AsktheBuilder.com.

Column 1279

December 11, 2018 AsktheBuilder Newsletter

Posted on December 11, 2018 by Tim Carter

If you're a new subscriber, greetings and salutations! If you've been getting the newsletter for a while, thanks for remaining here.

This has been one of the craziest years of my life.

All sorts of great things have been happening with my three kids. Just last week, my son got a fantastic new programming job after taking an immersive online course for three months that taught him computer programming.

As you might imagine, he's very happy as are Kathy and I. He starts on December 31st of all days.

One of the people in his class was a woman in her mid-fifties. There's a negative unemployment rate in much of the coding industry right now. If you can fog a mirror and write compact code, you can get a job. Age doesn't seem to be a barrier. The recent factory tours I've done hammer home the importance of programming skills. Some of the highest-paid employees at the factories are the programmers and maintenance crew that keep the robots working non stop. Think about that.

All that said, if you have kids or grandkids trying to think about their future, don't forget the trades. I've been a master plumber since age 29 and right now, here in humble central New Hampshire, I'd have no issue charging out at $125 an hour.

Do the math - that's $1,000 per day in gross wages. We NEED plumbers, electricians, carpenters, GREAT roofers, etc. People you love can have a rewarding and fulfilling career in the trades.

My Daughter's New House

I've not shared much about my daughter and son-in-law's new home up in Downeast Maine. There were a few delays, but here's what things looked like at the job site last Thursday.

foundation backfill excavator crawlspace

You're looking at the back of the house in this photograph.

The garage foundation is to the right with two floor drains - one under each car. The notch is for a 6-foot-wide overhead door that faces the backyard. It's perfect to drive a lawn tractor through.

The two men are spreading gravel in the crawlspace. The slab for the crawlspace is scheduled to be poured this Thursday or Friday. Next Monday, the framing starts and I'll be there recording video of the entire process. Wait until you see all the video.

The Structural Building Components Association is partnering up on the project and every piece of the framing was built in factories in Maine.

The floors will be floor trusses, not solid joists. The advantages of floor trusses are too numerous to list. I'm creating a special video just about these wondrous things!

All the walls were made in a factory and will be put up like Lego blocks in just a few hours.

The roof trusses are giant attic trusses with an 18-foot-wide room in them that runs the entire width of the house as well as the garage! The roof trusses have a built-in floor truss in them.

Basically it's MAGIC. I'm sure you can see the advantages of using pre-fabricated building components, right?

There's virtually no waste. The framing time is condensed to a few days instead of a few weeks by an on-site crew shivering in the cold wind.

The accuracy of everything is within a tiny fraction of an inch.

CLICK HERE to discover what lumber yard near you has all you need and how you can incorporate floor trusses, pre-fab walls, and any roof truss you can dream up for your next home OR room addition! Yes, you can have your room addition built in a factory too!

Recent Columns

I've published a boatload of NEW COLUMNS over the past few months. If you want to keep up with me, all you have to do several times a week is CLICK HERE.

Please consider bookmarking that page and just go there to see what's new.
Here are a few that may be of great interest to you:

Radon - You Should Be Aware!

Your Cooooold House - Why and Stop Algae and Moss

Most Common Roof Leak Locations

Amazon Shopping?

Are you doing more Christmas shopping at Amazon.com?

If you CLICK HERE to get to Amazon, you help ensure this newsletter keeps coming your way with FREE tips how to save lots of sweet moola!

Thanks!

That's enough for today.

I've got to get ready to get up to Mt. Desert Island.

Tim Carter

Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Certified ORGANIC Stain Remover - www.StainSolver.com
Radio Operator - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

Capturing Radon Secrets Revealed

Posted on December 11, 2018 by Tim Carter

Radon gas is going to pass through the coarse open gravel, go into the white pipe and be transported to the roof via the green vertical pipe on the far foundation wall. This column was SO GOOD that I shared with the 31,000 subscribers who read my December 11, 2018 AsktheBuilder Newsletter. (C) Copyright 2018 Tim Carter

Capturing Radon Secrets

DEAR TIM: I’m building a new home and someone at a Christmas party asked me what my builder was going to do about radon. I’ve never heard of radon and thought it was a joke. Is radon an issue and what can be done about it in new construction? The foundation is going to be poured in a few weeks and I’m hoping it’s not too late to do something. Leslie M., Mt. Desert Island, Maine

Have you ever been at a Christmas party, or some other gathering like it, when you go home more upset than when you came? It can happen when you share new home construction news! Everyone seems to have an opinion and you may get both good and bad advice from people who think they know a good deal about any given topic.

What is Radon?

In this case, Leslie got some good advice. Radon is a colorless odorless gas that can cause health issues. This gas is generated by the decomposition of uranium, a natural element. Some types of bedrock contain more uranium than others. The radon gas works its way out of the rock, up into the soil, and into groundwater. It’s constantly clawing its way to the atmosphere.

There’s some debate as to the amount of exposure that’s required to cause health issues, but I’ll leave that up to the medical experts to hash over. The good news is that it’s very, very inexpensive and easy to ensure radon doesn’t cause you any problems if you’re building a new home. In most cases, it takes just three hours or less and some simple pipe to eliminate worry.

How wide spread is the radon risk?

I went online and looked at several maps that indicate radon risk potential for the contiguous 48 states here in the USA. Just doing a simple estimation, it appears to me that just about sixty-five percent of the lower 48 US states have a moderate or high potential for radon infiltration.

You can talk with different radon experts and my guess is you’ll get multiple methods to capture and redirect the radon that’s underneath your home. Here’s how I’ve always dealt with this small challenge.

Most new homes that have full basements, or crawlspaces, have a poured concrete slab in the basement. It’s a good idea to put in a slab in a crawlspace too. These slabs, in almost all cases, are poured over some type of washed gravel. The gravel can be from 8 to 10 inches thick and often can range in size from green peas to grapes or walnuts. Water and gas travel fast through this type of material.

It’s important to realize this gravel shouldn’t have any sand in it. Sand slows down the movement of water and gas to an extent. The thick gravel allows a low-paid worker to install a perimeter pipe on the inside of the footing with minimal effort. For sake of discussion, let’s say the gravel is 8 inches thick and you’re going to install common 4-inch perforated drain tile pipe.

You’d put in about 2 inches of gravel over the soil, then you’d put in the perforated pipe. I prefer to use solid straight pipe that has two rows of 1/2-inch diameter holes drilled into it about every 6 to 8 inches. I always place the holes aiming down, not up.

You can install extra pipe that crosses over the center of the basement floor much like a large sheet of graph paper, but I don’t feel it’s necessary. The pipe around the entire inner perimeter of the foundation is sufficient to capture the radon gas because it can work its way through the open gravel.

At one spot in the horizontal pipe, you need to install a tee fitting aiming to the sky. A solid 4-inch pipe is glued into the tee. Once the house is constructed, this solid pipe, with no holes in it, will continue up through the house and out the roof. This pipe acts like a chimney and radon floats out of it. Anytime the wind blows over the top of the pipe, it creates a vacuum and radon is actively pulled out of the soil under your home.

Once the rest of the gravel is installed to cover the pipes and before the concrete slab is poured, it’s mission critical to install a giant sheet of cross-laminated vapor retarder over the gravel. This plastic should meet the ASTM E1745 standard. Do NOT skip this step. If you can’t get one giant sheet and there have to be seams, be sure you get the approved tape made by the plastic vapor retarder company and tape all the overlap seams of the plastic.

Be sure the plastic extends to the side walls of the foundation. This vapor retarder prevents radon from getting into your home through shrinkage cracks that will open up in your slab within a month or two after it’s poured. A year after the slab is poured you’ll notice a small gap between the slab and the foundation wall and in other locations. These gaps need to be filled with a very high-quality caulk.

Column 1278

December 7, 2018 AsktheBuilder Newsletter

Posted on December 8, 2018 by Tim Carter

New subscriber? I'm glad you're here and so are all your new friends who've been here for a while, some for over twenty years!

It was an exciting week here at the galactic headquarters of AsktheBuilder.com.

I had a new high-technology State Proline XE Combi boiler installed here at my home.

It's magic in a box.

CLICK HERE to see more photos and watch a video of it. Wait until you see the difference between this new boiler and my OLD one!

WOWZA!

state proline xe combi boiler
The existing boiler was a clunky cast iron one. It was installed nineteen years ago when the house was built.

This new State Combi boiler does TWO THINGS:

it heats the entire home
it provides all domestic hot water - unlimited

I say unlimited, but what I mean is as long as I've got propane in my giant outdoor tank, the boiler produces hot water. In other words, it's a tankless water heater.

The BEST PART is it's a modulating boiler.

My old boiler was either OFF or it was ON FULL BLAST.

The new State Combi boiler only produces as much fire as is needed to satisfy the demand.

It might just burn at 19% capacity, or some other number up to 100%.

What does this mean? It means YOU save big money on your fuel bills. Less wasted energy goes up the vent pipe.

CLICK HERE to see the photos and watch the video.

New Easy-to-Use Gas Cans

Three days ago, I talked with Dan Marshall. He's the VP of Marketing for the Scepter Company. Scepter is the leader in producing plastic gasoline containers.

smart control gas can

I tested their new Smart Control gas can for about ten days before talking with Dan.

I have to tell you it's a magnificent gas can. You're going to LOVE one.

If you're looking for a practical gift for someone for Christmas, this might be your go-to choice!

CLICK HERE to discover WHY I loved the Smart Control gas can.

Please listen to my conversation with Dan.

Kitchen Grease Fire Video

Do you know what to do if a pot or pan with grease in it catches on fire on your stove?

kitchen grease fire

Are you SURE you know what to do?

Do you know exactly what NOT TO DO?

CLICK HERE to watch two sobering videos. PLEASE share this newsletter with loved ones or anyone you feel might not know WHAT TO DO.

That's quite enough for a Friday afternoon. I'll have some good stuff for you on Sunday.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Cleanliness - www.StainSolver.com
Waves - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

State Proline XE Combi Boiler

Posted on December 7, 2018 by Tim Carter

This is my new State Proline XE Combi boiler. It's unbelievable that it heats my entire home and provides all the needed instantaneous domestic hot water for cleaning and bathing. Copyright 2018 Tim Carter

State Proline XE Combi Boiler - Small Workhorse

The first week of December I removed a clunky cast-iron boiler at my home and replaced it with a sleek and compact State Proline XE Combi boiler. Read the cover story on this in Tim's December 7, 2018 Newsletter.

The difference is simply amazing.

My State Proline XE Combi boiler is magic in a box. CLICK HERE to discover more about it.

WATCH ME show off my new State Combi boiler in this video:

How Does the Size Compare to the Old Cast Iron Boiler?

I would say the new State Proline XE Combi Boiler is less than half the size of the old Peerless cast-iron boiler.

This is my old boiler after we took it outdoors. It was about 28 inches wide, 32 inches high and about 34 inches deep. I can't believe I didn't take a great photo of it still in place! Copyright 2018 Tim Carter

Is the New Combi a Modulating Boiler?

Yes, my new boiler only creates as much flame is as needed to heat the demand. My old boiler was either OFF or running at FULL BLAST. A modulating boiler uses much less fuel.

How Efficient is the State Proline XE Combi boiler?

It's got a 95% AFUE rating. That's about as high as you can get.

Here's the State Proline XE Combi boiler with my domestic hot water manifold to the right. Each one of those PEX lines feeds hot water to a faucet in the house. The combi boiler can make hot water as long as there's propane in the outdoor tank. Copyright 2018 Tim Carter

Put Out Grease Fire

Posted on December 7, 2018 by Tim Carter

Put Out Grease Fire - Use Lid Not Water

Watch the terrifying video above of what happens when you try to put out a kitchen grease fire using water.

Why is Water Bad?

The water is bad because it immediately goes from the liquid to the vapor (steam) state as the temperature of the burning grease is quite possibly 500 F. Water boils at 212 F.

How Can the Steam Explode or Burn?

As the tiny water droplets turn to steam, they get coated with a fine layer of grease. The grease-coated steam becomes a giant flammable cloud in your kitchen.

What are the Best Ways to Put Out a Grease Fire?

There are three safe methods to put out a grease fire:

dry baking soda
pot or pan lid
fire extinguisher

Dry powdered baking soda works well for small fires.

Sprinkle this on a small grease fire. CLICK HERE or the photo to have this delivered to your home.

A lid works because it cuts off the supply of air, or oxygen, to the grease fire. The moment the lid is on the pot or pan, the fire immediately goes out.

Don't PANIC putting the lid on. Just calmly slide it in place so you don't upset the pot or pan and get severely burned by the scalding hot grease.

A dry chemical fire extinguisher is best because you can stand safely away from the grease and put out the fire.

This is a perfect fire extinguisher to have in your kitchen. At the time I created this page, it was LESS THAN $20. That's a small price to have enormous peace of mind. Put it under the sink cabinet. CLICK HERE or the photo to have one delivered to your home.

You can see how small this fire extinguisher is. It will fit under a kitchen sink cabinet with ease. CLICK HERE or the photo to have one delivered to your home.

Why Your House is Cold and Stop Patio Algae and Moss

Posted on December 3, 2018 by Tim Carter

Why Your House Is Cold

Question #1: Tim, I’ve got a forced-air furnace. Several rooms in my house are cold in the winter and are hot and stuffy in the summer when the AC is on. Most of the rooms are comfortable. Why do you think this is the case? What can be done to fix it and if I build a new home how can I prevent it? Kelly S., Rochester, NY

Do you have the same heating and cooling problems that Kelly has? I know many do based on the number of people who email me each week when it gets cold and hot!

There are several possible reasons why a few rooms in your home might not be as comfortable as others. Let’s assume that the vent covers in the rooms are wide open, the damper controls in the branch ducts are wide open and there are no stuffed animals being held prisoners down in the ducts.

It’s important to realize that furnaces and AC units are like shoes and clothes. They are matched to the heating and cooling requirements of your home. If you buy shoes that are too small, you bet you’ll be uncomfortable. A professional heating and cooling contractor will do calculations that tell him exactly how many cubic feet per minute of conditioned air must go into each room to keep you comfortable.

The supply air duct system in your home needs to mimic the blood vessels in your body. The reason your blood pressure is the same throughout your entire body, even at your fingertip, is because the blood vessels get smaller and smaller the farther away they are from your heart.

Your main supply duct needs to do the same or otherwise, there’s not enough energy in the remaining forced air to push into the rooms at the far end of your home. If your basement is unfinished, look at your main supply duct to see if it gets smaller as branch ducts go off towards the other rooms that are comfortable.

You might be able to fix your existing supply ducts with relative ease if they’re accessible. The first step in the process is to have a contractor do the calculations to see if enough air is getting to each room. There are online help aids if you want to do this yourself. Look for a Manual J guidebook should you want to attempt to do all the calculations.

The second step is to make sure your furnace or AC units are indeed the correct sizes. A professional contractor will probably have to assist you with this. If your furnace and AC unit are sized properly, then make sure your main supply duct does get smaller and smaller. If it doesn’t, then you’ll have to modify it.

Stop Patio Algae and Moss

Question #2: Mr. Tim, can you help me? I’m in a constant battle fighting mold, mildew, and algae on my outdoor patio and sidewalks. I’m tired of scrubbing them. Is there some magic liquid I can spray on the concrete and paver brick? David L., Orlando, FL

I don’t know about you, but I have the same problem as David. On the north side of my home, I’ve got a paver stone pad outside a door from my garage. It constantly has slippery green algae I have to clean off, well I used to clean it!

Mold, mildew, algae, and who-knows-what likes to grow where they can get abundant food and moisture. Shaded patios and sidewalks can be prime candidates. These organisms will grow on vertical surfaces too such as siding and brick.

I decided to solve the problem using technology from shipbuilders of old. Go back more than 200 years and the shipbuilders used thin copper plating on the hulls of sailing ships to prevent the growth of barnacles that would create drag and slow down the ships.

Copper is a natural, safe biocide. As with most things you don’t want too much as it can cause problems. I’ve discovered a safe way to put copper on my pavers so it doesn’t leach into the pure water of the lake I live on here in New Hampshire.

I mix up about 1.75 pounds of blue copper sulfate crystals with a gallon of hot water.

This is copper sulfate. It dissolves easily in water. Spray it on with a hand-pump sprayer. CLICK THE IMAGE TO ORDER THE COPPER SULFATE NOW.

The crystals dissolve very fast as you stir them. I then put this solution in a standard hand-pump sprayer and apply a fine mist of the liquid just on the pavers and concrete.

I’m careful to make sure I don’t have any get in the grass and I only put on enough so it doesn’t puddle. You’ll discover it almost always soaks into the masonry in a few minutes.

After it dries, I apply more. I do this about three or four times so the copper soaks down into the surface of the masonry. The surface of the concrete does end up with a blueish color, but the color fades away in a week or two. The best part is I don’t have any algae, mold or mildew problems and neither will you!

Nothing Like It In The World

Posted on December 1, 2018 by Tim Carter

CLICK HERE to order this remarkable book that chronicles the railroad industry in the USA from 1830 until the late 1850s when a few men got serious about building the transcontinental railroad.

Do you think you know why Abraham Lincoln was so very interested in this project BEFORE he was elected President?