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This is Sandy's brick home. The high-quality paint is peeling because there's no vapor barrier on the inside of the brick walls. Whitewash will solve the problem forever. (C) Copyright 2018 Tim Carter
Allow me to preface this column by sharing a short story. My syndicated Ask the Builder column was born the first week of October 1993. Seven months later, I found myself in front of a live microphone at a local radio station trembling as I did my first call-in radio show. It was terrifying and fun at the same time. Soon it was nothing but fun answering questions I received from homeowners like you.
I continued to do the show for twelve years and then hung up my headphones. I got burned out waking up at 4:15 AM to get rid of the drag so I’d sound alert when the show started.
Seven weeks ago, a very good friend of mine, Chuck, called me and said, “Tim, you need to get back in front of the microphone. You need to start up an on-demand online radio show of your own.” BOOM - a month later my first show was done and it’s at my AsktheBuilder.com website. I just uploaded my third free on-demand radio show on my website for you.
This past week I had the pleasure to solve the problems of five homeowners just like you. They were scattered all across the USA. I think you’ll be interested in a few of the calls as I’m pretty certain you might have the same problems at your home.
Vic was one of my free phone calls. He lives in Maryland and had a gorgeous concrete patio in his backyard. The trouble is, one side of it had tilted so it was somewhat uneven. He didn’t want to spend the thousands of dollars required to jackhammer out the half of the slab that had sunken.
Fortunately for him, I was taught many many years ago by a master concrete mason how to solve the problem. Vic could invest just $100, or less, and get the same result as if he had poured a new slab. I shared over the phone how he could install a concrete overlay that would bond permanently to the old concrete.
The old master mason who shared his secret with me nearly forty years ago was kind enough to pass on his knowledge so I wanted to do the same with Vic and you. It’s important to realize you need to not only use a smaller pea gravel in the new concrete mix, but you also need to spread a layer of cement paint on the old concrete just before you pour the new concrete on top of the old. The cement paint ensures the two layers stick to one another.
I then spoke with Sandy who lives in the greater Washington DC area. It was a delightful call because she was so happy to discover she’d never have to paint her peeling brick home again. Sandy had been spending thousands of dollars buying the best paint and using professional painters only to have the paint peel after just a few years. Water vapor inside her older brick home was causing the problem. When her house was built, plastic vapor barriers for walls had yet to be invented!
Sandy has stumbled on several past columns at my website that dealt with whitewashing. I had the pleasure to work with traditional whitewash on one of my custom jobs over twenty years ago and it was a huge success. Sandy even discovered my column that contains my secret whitewash recipe.
A key point to remember is whitewash doesn’t peel if you apply it correctly. It chemically and mechanically bonds to brick, stone and even wood. In essence, you’re putting on a thin layer of rock on your home. Sandy was stunned to discover during the call that she could add color to the whitewash making it any color she wanted! I told her that I had another phone call months before with Maggie who wanted to put the whitewash on a dated brick fireplace in her living room. That was also a huge success.
I then got to speak with TJ. He lives in Oklahoma. He and his wife are going to build a new home and he wanted to know if he could save 10 or 20 percent by acting as his own general contractor. He told me he had a unique job that gave him two or three days off in a row allowing him to supervise the job.
He had contacted me via my Ask Tim page at my website and I had some background, but during the call, he gave me two pieces of information that changed what I was going to tell him.
Almost always I tell wishful homeowners that want to be their own builders that they’ll be lucky if their new house costs 15 to 20 percent MORE than had a builder done it for them. The reasons are many, but the few that stand out most are: project delays, change orders and latent defects discovered months after you move in. Almost all of these issues are caused by not having great plans and simple written specifications.
TJ, fortunately, has a home builder as a friend and he’s the person who told him to act as his own general contractor. The builder even offered to give TJ advice over the phone when he needed it and TJ could even tap into his builder’s sub-contractor network. Those two key elements allowed me to give TJ the green light to try it himself.
I’ve created a free downloadable document for you at my website. This document has more tips about how to mix cement paint and how to get pro results with concrete overlays, sources for all you need to do whitewash along with more helpful tips and links to great plans and specifications that will allow you to minimize cost overruns on your new home.
Just go to: B1240 to get the free PDF document.
Column 1240
New subscriber? Welcome! Not new? Thanks for sticking around!
Kathy, the kids, and I want to thank you again for all your warm and heartfelt sentiments in this very difficult time for us. If you've subscribed since this past Tuesday, you're unaware that we had to send Lady the Dog back to Heaven.
I created that page for a number of reasons. If you visited the page on Tuesday or Wednesday morning, it's much different now. There are many more photos, memories and a song.
Moments ago, I concluded a phone call with my very good friend Dan. He's so very smart about many things. Dan's been receiving my newsletter for over ten years.
CLICK this image and listen to Ask the Builder podcasts! Copyright 2018 Tim Carter
"Tim, don't use the word podcast with your subscribers. It's scary. Also, please just tell your subscribers to go to your website and click the play button on the player page. It's easy, it's fast and they don't need to do anything but sit back and laugh."
Good point Dan! How about calling it my new radio show since I do use radio waves to make it happen! In case you're a new subscriber, I'm a licensed amateur radio operator - W3ATB.
I use WiFi radio waves to do every aspect of the show!
How about you follow Dan's suggestion? CLICK HERE and have a listen. I guarantee you'll be amazed.
Oh, here's the BEST PART!!! DUH! I almost forgot to tell you.
When you CLICK HERE, not only do you get to listen to the show, but you also get to see ALL the photos of what I'm talking about!
Wait, there's more! I also have lots of other LINKS there for extra FREE information about what I'm talking about.
Here's what's in it for you when you listen to my latest new radio show:
I was in Portland, Maine on Thursday attending a very cool construction conference. Lots of stuff I knew, but there was some great information shared about:
I'll be sharing more of what I discovered in future columns so watch for those.
Last year, I published my expose' book about WHY your asphalt shingles are falling apart.
While researching the book, I was the first person in the world to discover that copper ions react with asphalt molecules and prevent cross-linking.
Cross-linking is what causes asphalt to get brittle. When that happens, the colored granules come off, the shingles curl, and they crack.
This is the cover of my Roofing Ripoff book. CLICK THE IMAGE NOW TO ORDER IT.
But what if I told you that you can add some THIN copper to the top of your roof and significantly SLOW the deterioration of your shingles?
Adding the copper to a new, or newer, asphalt shingle roof can make the roof last 40, or more, years!!!!
I share in the book the best copper to get, how to install it, etc.
CLICK HERE to watch a video of me installing the copper.
You can now get a PDF electronic INSTANT DOWNLOAD copy of my book for LESS than $10.
It's an easy read. It's got GREAT COLOR PHOTOS, including the roof where I made the discovery about the copper!!!
CLICK HERE and use the following promo code to get 50% off Roofing Ripoff.
COPPER
This sale lasts only ONE WEEK. I doubt you'll ever get a better price than this. That promo code WILL EXPIRE next Sunday March 25th.
If you don't feel my book's worth it after getting it, just email me for a FULL REFUND.
If you want to read the first three chapters of Roofing Ripoff for FREE, CLICK HERE.
We finally have the 9-pound size of Stain Solver in stock.
Are you a new subscriber? Stain Solver is a product Kathy and I own/invented.
It's a certified organic oxygen bleach.
CLICK HERE if you LOVE the 9-pound size. We only made just under 7,000 pounds, and I guarantee you it won't last long.
You do NOT have to buy just the 9-pound size. You can buy anything your heart desires.
I just want you to know that there's a LIMITED NUMBER of the 9-pounders and when they're gone I can't tell you when they'll be back in stock.
Good luck. I hope we don't run out before you decide to pull the trigger.
That's enough for today. I'm starting to think too much about Lady the Dog.
Thanks once again for all your kind words about our loss.
Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Do It Right, Not Over!
CLICK HERE to download the FREE PDF file that includes:
Click to download the FREE PDF.
Yesterday, Kathy, the kids and I lost a very dear part of our family.
Lady the Dog died of a massive heart attack just after lunch.
I may not be the same for a while and I wanted you to know why.
Thanks in advance for any sentiments you might send our way. I'm sure you understand I'll not be able to respond back to you.
I knew it would be difficult, but not quite this hard.
Yesterday, I started to build a memorial page for her because I didn't want to forget anything about her.
RIP Lady the Dog
Love,
Your Mom & Dad
This is a closeup photo of a mortar joint between two layers of brick. Note the tiny cracks where wind-driven water can seep into the wall. (C) Copyright 2018 Tim Carter
Unless you live in the Atacama Desert, you need to deal with water in and around your home. You may be one of my readers that lives in an arid climate and rain might only fall on or around you a few months of the year. However, you might be a reader that gets precipitation every month when you’re experiencing normal weather.
I’ve got a few stories to share that I’m confident will strike a chord with you. All of them originated on the Ask Tim page of my AsktheBuilder.com website. Each spring the number of messages I receive about wet basements, crawlspaces and soggy soil in the yard goes way up.
As an illustration, allow me to share with you the help request from Sara who lives in the greater Washington DC area. A few weeks ago, a horrible Nor’easter caused water to leak over her basement wall. She described it as a miniature Niagara Falls.
Sara lives in a brick-veneer home that’s only thirty years old. She has only been in the home for a year and has never had a leakage issue before the storm. As you might imagine, she was quite distraught.
I explained to Sara that the ferocious storm lashed her house with wind-driven rain. The force of the wind coupled with the weight of the water crashing against her brick walls drove water through the brick/mortar interface much like you’d hammer a nail into a soft piece of balsa wood. That water then ran down the back of the brick and found a way inside her basement.
The builder and bricklayer who built Sara’s home didn’t install the proper flashings and water-containment membranes to deal with this water. It’s a known fact in the industry that brick walls leak water. I shared with her a clear water repellent and a secret method to apply it that should stop almost all future water from leaking into her home.
A man in New Jersey landed on my Ask Tim page and was desperate. He’s building a new home and the same storm that pummeled Sara caused his basement to flood. The builder had yet to install the sump pump and all the water that cascaded down from the roof soaked into the fluffed up soil around the foundation.
The photos the homeowner sent me were distressing. The water that poured into his basement through the sump pit was filled with silt. The floor and walls were coated with the brown film. I pointed out that if the builder had installed a deep layer of straw or a layer of felt paper on top of the gravel that covered the foundation drain tile the silt would have never made it into the basement.
Backfill soil around new homes gets fluffed up and water flowing into the soil transports the small silt particles until such time as it hits a filter, barrier or the soil self-compacts. If the silt is not stopped, it can clog the gravel covering the drain tile and in the worst case, clog the drain tile.
The homeowner is going to dig a test pit along the foundation to see what happened. It’s possible the foundation was not waterproofed and the drain tile was not installed correctly.
Finally, I heard from Erica who lives on the West Coast. She’s dealing with a few issues, not the least of which is water that drips from her roof and splashes up onto her wood siding. She also told me when there’s a heavy rainstorm water flows overland down the hill behind her and hits her back wall.
Gutters at the bottom of roofs are a great way to minimize water issues on a home. A one-inch rainstorm drops about 1,870 gallons of water on the roof of an average three-bedroom home. Gutters and generous roof overhangs can prevent wood siding from rotting because of all this water.
The overland water that hits up against Erica’s home can be prevented by ensuring the top of the foundation or house slab is high enough so the ground around the entire home can be sloped away from the surrounding natural ground. All too often builders put houses too deep into the ground causing drainage nightmares.
The building code in most states mandates that at least 6 inches of foundation be exposed above the soil around a home. The ground around the home must then tilt away from the foundation and fall at least 6 inches in the first 10 horizontal feet of run.
This creates a swale or trough so water doesn’t come crashing against the house. It’s important to realize these dimensions are MINIMUM standards. It’s best to have more fall so water never runs up against the foundation.
I’ve created a free downloadable document that has the sealer Sara needs, a hand drawing of how drain tile and gravel should be installed along a foundation, a drawing of how high to place a foundation or slab to prevent flooding and lots of links to other helpful stuff you need to keep your home DRY.
Just go to: B1239 to get the free PDF document.
Column 1239
The software I use to send this newsletter allows me to create the newsletter hours or days before it actually sends.
I had it queued up to send at 7:00 am Eastern Time today and as it was sending, holy cucumber, I saw another jaw-dropping sunrise. It was imperative I share it with you NOW.
I decided to create a page at the website so you can see a LARGER photo.
CLICK HERE to see the larger photo.
My inbox is exploding with great comments about my new podcasts.
I'm excited to share that podcast 3 is sponsored by L. J. Smith Stair Systems.
If you want a stunning staircase handrail, then there's only one company to look at for all the parts - L. J. Smith.
Look at this photo of my own staircase. I installed this over-the-post handrail. Pay attention the the THREE DIFFERENT types of balusters!
CLICK HERE to see a fantastic slide show of photos of L. J. Smith's wood railing systems.
CLICK HERE to see their modern and contemporary railings.
CLICK HERE to see their STUNNING traditional Iron Systems. Do you like that New Orleans look? WOWZA, don't miss these!!!
Okay, I need to get ready for church. I'm the head usher at the 10:30 mass. I'm wearing a navy-blue shirt with a striped red and blue bow tie today. Spiffy indeed!
I'll be back next week. There are so many new things happening. It's very exciting!
Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Mr. Bow Tie Red Dragon Man - CLICK HERE for bow tie photo
Do It Right, Not Over!
New subscriber? Howdy! Everyone else? 😉
One of my hobbies is taking sunrise photos. I was blessed on Friday, March 09, 2018, to capture the following photo. I was standing on my deck about twenty minutes after sunrise.
The low angle of the sun's rays created amazing shadows on the drifted fresh snow on frozen Lake Winnisquam here in central New Hampshire.
As you might imagine the photo only captures part of the magnificence had you been here with me in person. Lady the dog and I were speechless watching it unfold in slow motion.
If you're a new subscriber, I just reinvigorated my radio career. Go back in time to April, 1994. That's when I started a two-hour call-in home improvement live radio show in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was lots of fun solving homeowner problems over the phone.
The show lasted twelve years. I hung up my headphones because I got burned out waking up at 4:15 am to get to the studio.
Six weeks ago, my good friend Chuck Eglinton reached out to me and suggested I put my headphones back on.
"Tim, it's time to start a podcast," I believe he said. He had a list of reasons why it made good sense.
You might wonder,
"Tim, what's a podcast?"
Simple. A podcast is on-demand radio. You get to listen to FREE shows of mine on your computer, tablet, phone or ??? when it's convenient for YOU.
Chuck and I upload a new podcast each Friday. You can subscribe to them if you want so they automagically show up on your phone or tablet. You'll see those buttons on the podcast page.
Podcast 2 starts off with me calling Al. He's got an interior staircase he's rebuilding. He needed advice about how to attach the new oak treads and risers.
The second call is to Jeff out in Colorado. Jeff and his family suffer from a vexing sewer gas problem at his mountain get-away cabin. His builder and plumber have tried to solve the problem for a year.
In less than ten minutes, I shared with Jeff what was causing his problem. A corner-cutting builder or lazy plumber is your clue.
The podcast ends with a story about a young carpenter's first encounter with crown molding. I think you'll love that story!
SPOILER ALERT: Beginning with podcast 3 and beyond, there will be three shorter phone calls to keep the pace of the podcast moving a little faster.
CLICK HERE to listen to the second AsktheBuilder podcast.
Remember, it's FREE! NO COST to listen!
Please leave a comment at the bottom of the page with any suggestions or ideas.
I used to share with you the latest book I had just finished reading. For some reason I've not been doing that.
I've got a great one for you!
I thank my lucky stars that I majored in geology in college. It really helped me be a better builder.
I had a deep interest in ground water and took a course in hydrogeology. That knowledge allowed me to build houses with bone-dry basements.
That course of study has also allowed me to help tens of thousands of people like you to STOP WATER from entering your basement or crawlspace.
All you need is to install one of my Linear French Drains to stop water from entering your basement or crawlspace.
I show you how to install one in this Streaming Video of mine. Every person who's followed my simple instructions has had success.
How would you like to read a book that explains, in simple language you can understand, all the geologic wonders of the western USA from the Pacific Ocean all the way to the Front Range of the Rockies in Colorado?
It's all in Rough Hewn Land - an AMAZING book!
Rough Hewn Land by Keith Heyer Meldahl - I read this twice it was so good. CLICK THE BOOK COVER now to have this in your hands in days or minutes should you be a Kindle user.
Keith Heyer Meldahl, the author, tells you how gold is formed in the cracks of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
You discover how in a few million years Las Vegas is probably going to be an ocean-front resort city. No kidding!
One of my favorite parts of the book is Appendix 1. It's about Deep Time. If you're not a geologist, you'll find this part of the book mind-blowing.
CLICK HERE here to download a FREE SAMPLE of Keith's Rough Hewn Land.
This morning, I was revising some of my past garage door columns. It's important for you to remember that you must NEVER EVER think about adjusting the spring(s) that lifts your door. NEVER EVER remove any hardware or cables.
You can get seriously injured if you unleash the enormous stored energy in the wound springs.
I put links inside the revised columns for a neat DIY insulation kit for your garage door. If your garage was cold this winter, or it gets BLAZING HOT in the summer, this kit may be the ticket.
CLICK HERE to see all the different kits you can use in your garage.
Here's a DIY garage door insulation kit. CLICK THE IMAGE NOW to have this delivered to your home.
Nope, you didn't misread that headline.
Would you do me a huge favor?
Please go look at this column that contains great tips on how to ensure your small engine will start EVERY TIME on the first pull.
Right at the top under the bullet-point list is an audio player. Click the round orange circle play button. Listen for a few minutes or more.
CLICK HERE to see this amazing technology that can read my columns to you.
Yes, you can LISTEN to that small engine care column. I'm just testing this technology for now on this ONE COLUMN.
If I get enough positive feedback, I'll very likely wave a magic wand so you can listen to EVERY Ask the Builder column.
After you listen to that one column, would you please take this short survey for me? If you take the survey, you might end up getting lots of cool new content.
CLICK HERE for the short survey.
That's enough for today.
Be SURE to leave a comment at the bottom of the podcast 2 page letting me know what you think.
Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Do It Right, Not Over!
Jill’s kitchen hardwood floor was damaged by a leaking dishwasher. I talked to her on the phone sharing tips how to fix it. (C) Copyright 2018 Tim Carter
My wife Kathy thinks I’m nuts. I talk to people on elevators. Talking to strangers is interesting to me and I believe that’s one reason I jumped at the chance in 1994 to host a two-hour call-in home improvement radio show in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Each week, homeowners would dial in and ask me for help. I thrived on the back and forth friendly conversation and the challenge of answering their questions live on the radio. The show lasted for twelve years and then I hung up the headphones - so to speak.
A month ago, a very good friend of mine reached out and said that I should get back in front of the microphone, but offer the helpful service to homeowners all over the USA. “Tim, it’s time for you to start your own Ask the Builder podcast,” he said.
CLICK this image and listen to the first call on the podcast. I talked to Jill about how to repair wood kitchen flooring, and possibly installing an inlay border as an option. Copyright 2018 Tim Carter
Podcasts are on-demand radio. You get to listen to whatever audio content you want on your own terms. There are thousands of different free shows about every possible topic out there. You can download them into your smartphone, tablet or computer.
I launched my podcast just three days ago, and it was a blast. It’s only about 30-40 minutes long and the first one included two phone calls and a self-depreciating story about myself. The narrative describes a particular mistake I made years ago and how I learned from it. You’ll discover how to save time and money with each story no doubt!
The first call on the podcast was with Jill. She had a throw rug in her kitchen in front of her dishwasher. That’s fairly common. My wife and I have one in front of our kitchen sink and it’s wide enough that part of it extends in front of the dishwasher.
Jill’s dishwasher developed a very tiny leak. The rug, however, kept the leak hidden from her because she wears shoes in the house and never felt the slightly damp rug. When she picked up the rug to wash it as she normally does, Jill saw the damaged hardwood floor.
The issue is the hardwood floor extends into other rooms of the house and she didn’t want to replace the entire floor. What a job that would be! Jill wanted to know if there was an easier fix.
I suggested to her that she might think about cutting out part of the kitchen floor in front of the dishwasher and other cabinets and install a decorative border back away from the cabinets about 18 inches.
A simple strip of wood that’s a different species would look fantastic to outline this area. My aunt was a nun and I remember as a small child going to visit her at the convent each Sunday. In the magnificent old home where the nuns lived, the hardwood floors all had borders at the edges of the rooms.
One benefit of installing a border and then new flooring between the border and the cabinets is that if there’s a leak again, just the flooring inside the border has to be replaced. I say this assuming the leak is caught in time.
You may be interested in my second conversation with Greg. He and his wife are building a new home in San Tan Valley, Arizona. It’s a suburb southeast of Phoenix.
They both love the look and feel of hardwood flooring, but the builders in Arizona discourage it. The houses there are built on concrete slabs and installing traditional 3/4-inch-thick hardwood presents significant challenges. The builders promote large-format porcelain ceramic tile.
Greg wanted to talk through his options and I laid out the pros and cons of each flooring. Not only is the extra cost of hardwood an issue in that marketplace, but the probable lack of skilled labor to install hardwood is also a reason the builders don’t like to offer it.
Their new home is going to have an open floor plan, that’s a change from their current layout, and Greg thought that they had to stick with one tile across the entire home.
I suggested he visit some large tile showrooms and find one that has large areas of tile installed where you can see the flooring. I know of at least two stores like this where he’d be able to see tile floors that have both borders, medallions and complimentary tile touching one another.
My thought was he could introduce stunning border tile to set off different sitting areas in the rooms. What’s more, different tile can be used in different areas to create a mood or to help compliment furniture or cabinetry in a room.
The story I shared about myself was titled, Humidity and the Black Goo. It was a somewhat comical tale about my first time slathering blacktop sealer on a driveway.
I did this with a friend of mine, John, as part of a way to pay for my college tuition. John and I would paint houses in the summer in Cincinnati, Ohio. But on this day, we found ourselves sweating as we brushed on the black stew.
Mother Nature, however, ruined part of our work. It wasn’t funny at the time. If you’re interested in listening to this podcast or all future ones, go to AsktheBuilder Podcasts I’m convinced you’re in for a treat!
Column 1238
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