Based on the questions I received from yesterday's announcement about my Deck Stain Test Results being available, I think it might apply to ME!
Things that are so obvious to me because I'm so deep into the minutia of the project, might be obscured to you.
Here are just a few of the questions I received in the past 24 hours in no particular order:
Tim, what's in it for ME? Why should I invest money purchasing your results when I can get FREE reviews online?
My results will save you hundreds of dollars in stain costs over time.
My results will save you frustration and prevent an argument or two or three between you and your spouse who wonders why you're so stubborn.
My results are based on decades of experience using sealers KNOWING which ones to AVOID.
My results are not tainted as some might be from some inexperienced hobby blogger who might be on the take from a deck stain manufacturer.
The FREE results you might use probably don't talk much about film-formers. I went to great lengths to ELIMINATE these from my choices. Film formers PEEL.
If you use a film former, this is what your deck is going to look like soon. This photo shows a film-former sealant used by the company that built my dock. I'm talking about the panel above the green line. I didn't put on the original sealer on my dock, they did:
Note how the film-former sealant PEELED.
The panel in the lower-left corner of the photo below the green line was NEW cedar wood I stained with the better product. I had to re-build four of my dock panels in 2020 and I was able to stain the wood with the RIGHT product.
Finally, deck stains cost about $50 per gallon and the price is INCREASING WEEKLY because of raging inflation.
Is it worth several cups of expensive coffee to discover a penetrating sealer that might last four years if you apply it correctly?
You tell me.
After all, it's only money. If you have plenty of money and time to waste, then you should probably STOP READING right now.
Tim, I don't like that Mahogany Flame color. I want to use a clear or natural sealer. Will I get the same results?
The answer is maybe. I discovered decades ago the pigments in the stains act to protect the wood fibers from being destroyed by active photons that are in about 5% of the sun's ultraviolet light. If you go with a clear or natural stain, you could see color change in your wood.
Tim, you used cedar wood on your dock. I have treated lumber on my deck. Will I get the same results?
You should get the same results. It's all a matter of absorbency. I cover this in detail in my Deck Stain Test Results.
Tim, are there mistakes I can make applying the sealer that will impact how long it lasts?
You bet. There are LOTS of mistakes you can make causing you to WASTE YOUR MONEY.
Tim, do your test results come with a Money-Back Guarantee?
Yes. Once you read the short document, if you feel it wasn't worth it to get the information just email me and Kathy will issue a refund.
Tim, how long do you think your magic sealer will last?
I know I'll not be re-sealing my dock this year, so that means I'll get THREE years out of it. It's possible I might get FOUR years out of it depending on how much color fade I see next spring.
If you decide to not invest in my Deck Stain Test Results and hope you find the right sealer, I truly wish you the best of luck.
Please let me know if yours lasts three, or more, years. I'd love to see your before/after photos. Be SURE you create a control sample!!!
You might be one that said, "Tim, come on! I want to stain my deck THIS WEEKEND. Pick up the pace. TAKE MY MONEY. Tell me what you used!"
If you want to know the name of the product I used as well as some background on the test, you can get it here NOW.
SPOILER ALERT: If you purchased my Deck Stain Test Results six years ago and expect to get a free update, you need to know I mimic my business after Consumer Reports.
You pay for each issue you get from them, including new tests on something they featured years before. They don't give you free updates. Thanks for your understanding!
Cheap DIY Shed | These pre-built sheds are NOT cheap, but I can show you how to build a diy cheap shed. See below. Copyright 2022 Tim Carter
Cheap DIY Shed - Easy to Build
Not a week goes by that I don’t get an email or a question on my live streaming video segments about inflation. I’m by no means an economist but I’ve seen enough full moons to know that inflation is raging and it’s going to get much worse. I do the grocery shopping for my wife and I and food prices are up at least 35%. Gasoline is now up 85% where I live. Building material prices are going up faster than a bottle rocket on the 4th of July. The prices of used cars are up 40%.
I’m bewildered how the reported inflation rate I see in the news is so much lower than what I’m experiencing. I know for a fact the government administration is cooking the inflation number so it doesn't cast them in a bad light with voters. But many people can see through this sham.
One primary reason inflation is so high is because the current USA administration is printing money and spending it like a drunken sailor. Flooding the market with this paper is DILUTING the dollars you and I have in our wallets and bank accounts. Because the value of each dollar is going down, people who sell things want MORE of them. This reckless money-printing-and-spending policy spans the past five administrations.
Smart people are exchanging their dollars for assets that are not pieces of paper. This mad rush to buy assets like houses, cars, collectibles, etc. is causing prices of those items to rise in a simple real-time example of supply vs. demand economics. Nothing about this is hard to understand.
Simple Cheap DIY Shed
Years ago, I built a large 16x24-foot two-story shed that could be easily converted into a small house if I could no longer afford to live in my current house. Currently, it’s loaded with all sorts of accumulated stuff from fifty years of family life. Before I built the shed, much of this was in an offsite storage facility with sky-high monthly rent.
Last week, I picked up two bags of bird seed for my lovely wife at a local agriculture supply store. There in the parking lot were quite a few pre-assembled sheds ready to be delivered to homes. There were a multitude of designs. You may see these in your city or town at big box stores too. I’ve inspected these sheds and the construction quality is minimal in my opinion. The floors are flimsy and the wall studs are spaced at 24-inch centers when I’d build at 16 inches on center.
My eye was drawn to the signs showing what these sheds cost. The prices took my breath away to be honest. A plain-vanilla shed was $7,783 and one with a little more pizzazz was $8,762.50. These were April 2022 prices. Both measured 10 x 20 feet. You may discover the same sheds in your city or town but they could be more because of a multitude of reasons.
Build a Cheap DIY Storage Shed
As I drove home I thought, “That’s insane. I’m sure one of my readers could build one of these simple sheds watching all my shed-building videos and save thousands of dollars.” I then decided to find out the current rate for off-site storage in my town. It’s a good thing I was sitting down looking at my monitor as the current price is $193 per month for a 10 x 20 storage space. That’s $2,316 per year and you know next year the price will jump ten percent, if not more. It’s possible you can build a 10x20 shed that will last for 40 years for what you’d spend in two years of rent!
Sell Your Crap to Get Shed Money
To save lots of money, and to get all or some of the money you need to build your own shed, you might want to do what I’ve been doing. I’ve been on this journey of selling or donating all the things I no longer use or need for the past two years. This year I intend to take it to the next level. My goal is to sell hundreds of things in the next four months. Whatever I can’t sell, I take to the Free Room at my town recycling center so others can benefit using them.
I’ve transformed countless dust-covered items I had forgotten about into thousands of dollars of cash by selling them to nearby residents using special garage and yard-sale groups that are on any number of social-media platforms. I’ve discovered you get top dollar if you take lots of great photographs showing the actual condition of the object and provide all the needed dimensions.
It also helps to write a creative story about the history of the object. Buyers tell me they love my stories, especially the one about the small silver bowl that I thought might have been on a sailing ship coming to the colonies back in the early 1700s.
Purging things you no longer need nor want serves another important purpose. You then don’t have to have such a large shed to store your things. Should you decide to stop paying the outrageous off-site storage fees, the first step is to determine the actual size of the shed you’ll need. Based on autopsies I’ve done countless times, folks like you almost always build a shed that’s too small.
DIY Storage Shed Size
It’s easy to determine the size of a shed. All you have to do is take all the things you plan to put in the shed and place them out on your lawn as you’d put them in the shed. You can use empty cardboard boxes to simulate things. If you’re skilled and can think in three dimensions, you can draw this out to scale on graph paper.
Once you place the items on the lawn, then surround them with string to make the outline of the shed. Try to create a shed size that’s a multiple of 2 feet in both directions. You’ll discover this will minimize material waste. It’s not happenstance that the sizes of pre-built sheds or shed kits conform to this standard.
Check Zoning Before Building
The next two steps are mission-critical. First and foremost you need to check with your city or town to see what the zoning regulations will allow you to build. These regulations can be strict or lax. It varies widely, trust me. The second step is to create a complete material list and price it out as soon as possible. Inflation is causing prices to go up monthly.
My list saves you the time and trouble of trying to figure out what you need. I also included links to the top products I like to use as well as links to how you can get access to over 100 videos I shot showing how to build a shed. You get my 100-Percent Satisfaction Guarantee!
Deck Ledger Flashing | Can you imagine what might happen if this deck collapsed during a wedding or graduation party? It can happen to you! Copyright 2022 Tim Carter
Deck Ledger Flashing - Fire Cut and Kick Out
Deck collapses happen all the time across the world. The issue is many of them never make the news. Several years ago I attended an all-day training session put on by a top USA manufacturer. This company is a leader in making fantastic metal structural connectors for decks, homes, and other structures.
Defective Decks - How Many?
They estimated at the time that over 80 percent of the decks in the USA are structurally deficient and ticking time bombs. That speculation is staggering and it should immediately put your head on a swivel.
My youngest daughter’s roommate was a victim of one of these deck collapses. She walked out onto a small deck four years ago and it detached from the building. Both the woman and the deck crashed 12 feet to the ground. She was rushed to the hospital with a ruptured spleen and a broken neck. She survived, but is now partially disabled.
Deck Ledger Flashing Detail - Prevents Rot
You’ve undoubtedly heard the saying a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The weak link of the typical deck is where it attaches to the house. This deck structural member is called a ledger board. In reality it’s not much different from a steel beam you might see in your basement or the steel beams that support bridges that you drive under in your city or town.
Deck Ledger Board - Handles Half Deck Weight
An enormous amount of weight is transferred to this ledger board. In most cases, half the weight of the entire deck, all the furniture that’s on it, and the combined weight of you, your family, and friends is pushing down on this single board. It can be thousands of pounds.
Deck Joist Pulling Away From Ledger
But it gets worse. Not only is the weight pushing down, but if you and your friends start dancing on the deck creating a harmonic side-to-side motion, you can exert a force that begins to cause the deck to pull away from your home. This is a recipe for disaster if the deck ledger board or the untreated wood on the exterior of your home has rotted because the ledger board was not installed correctly. This is why my daughter’s roommate was lying unconscious on the ground that fateful day.
Deck Ledger Flashing Prevents Rot
It’s important to realize that treated lumber can and does rot. I’ve witnessed it myself. Each day when I go out for a walk, I pass by treated-lumber guardrail posts that are as rotten as logs laying in the forest just 50 feet away. Keep in mind that not all treated lumber has the same amount of chemical preservatives. What’s more, how do you know if the wood was properly treated? Any number of things could have gone wrong at the treatment plant. Inferior products of all types are made all the time. This is why there are product recalls on an almost weekly basis.
Rain Creates Corrosive Brew
Do you, by chance, recall some of your high school chemistry? Did you do any lab experiments about galvanic reactions? Each time it rains on your deck, a toxic brew is created. The rain leaches copper from the treated lumber. This liquid attacks any exposed steel or iron. If your deck was built using inferior fasteners with a paper-thin coating of zinc, they might be corroding as I type this. This same corrosion can be happening with any of the joist hangers and other structural framing connectors.
All of this is exacerbated if your deck is located in a marine environment. Sea salt is also corrosive. I went on my first cruise a few years ago and attended a talk given by the ship captain and his top two crew members. I’ll never forget when they were talking about the constant battle they face with the seawater. The captain said in his heavy Eastern European accent, “The sea eats iron and men.”
You need to up your game should your deck be exposed to marine conditions. If it were me, I’d use as much stainless steel as I could find when it comes to fasteners, bolts, connectors, etc.. Whatever isn’t stainless steel should be double-dipped hot galvanized metal. I’d also do annual inspections of the deck to ensure corrosion is minimal or non-existent.
Over the years I’ve discovered a foolproof way to stop deck ledger board rot. I’m not the only one that’s worked in this area, but my method is the only one I’ve seen that incorporates two different techniques that work together to keep deck ledger boards, and the primary connectors, as dry as possible.
The correct flashing with the proper profile is seen at the top of the photo overlaying the inferior deck flashing that was installed by a nonprofessional. The old flashing edge stopped at the top edge of the ledger allowing water to flow back under the flashing using capillary attraction. Note how the new tin flashing has a kick out where the metal points away from the deck ledger board. This deck ledger flashing helps keep the treated lumber dry. PHOTO CREDIT: Tim Carter Copyright 2022
The one trick is to do what the master carpenters did well over one hundred years ago when they installed floor joists in solid brick buildings. As cities got bigger, brick buildings got taller, and fire fighting became more professional, it became crystal clear why firefighters were getting killed when brick walls collapsed.
The walls of the buildings that didn’t have angled fire cuts on the ends of the joists tipped outwards sending tons of brick to the ground without notice crushing fire fighters when the floor joists burned through and broke in two inside the buildings. The second trick is to use a kick out on the all-important flashing that covers the top of the deck ledger board. I show how to do both in a special detailed illustration you can get right now.
This is just a small part of my special deck ledger flashing illustration. Go here to see the entire flashing illustration and get all of the notes and links to the top products to make it.
Much to my surprise, I received several emails from bewildered folks. You might be one.
The common message to me was that I didn't conduct the deck stain test correctly. Here's a cobbled-together quote representing the sentiment:
"You should have left that sample board OUTSIDE so it got sun and rain on it too. Where are the outside boards that were in the sun, rain, and snow?"
I thought it was obvious in the video that the deck boards I was standing on were the ones that were stained at the same time, with the same stain, from the same can as the control sample I kicked with my foot.
If you don't create a control sample using the exact same wood and do it at the same time as you stain the exposed wood making sure to keep the sample in the dark out of the sun, how are you to judge the true color fade on the wood exposed to the elements for two years caused by active photons in ultraviolet light?
Is there some magic method you know of how to show the amount of color fade that is hidden from me?
I'll explain all of this in a very extended video you can watch next Sunday.
Why didn't I offer you the first two chapters of my latest Sewer Gas Smell eBook for free?
If I forget to do this when I publish my next book - the one about New Home #HACKS, reach out to me and say, "Tim, WAKE UP!"
Do you like to discover new things? Why of course you do, silly! Don't be mendacious with me.
I'll bet you don't know everything there is to know about sewer gas.
In fact, I'll bet you one of Mr. Gene's Doghouse cheese coneys. His place is on Beekman Street in Cincinnati, Ohio. You want to order a spicy hot dog when you get your cheese coneys. That's the secret.
I couldn't wait. I had to get my control sample out of the garage this morning and record a short videofor you.
It's possible I've discovered the Holy Grail of deck sealers. I wanted to share this PREVIEW video so you don't go out and buy another CRAP deck sealer in the next two weeks. With inflation RAGING out of control - and it's going to get much worse, you can't afford to waste one dollar on a loser deck sealer.
This coming Sunday is Easter. The newsletter is going to be quite short, so be prepared.
Easter is the holiest of feast days for us Roman Catholics and other Christians.
He is Risen!
For me, it's a day of deep reflection.
I'll be spending quite a bit of time during and after church parsing the recent past and pondering what lies ahead for me.
Kathy and I will most likely have a quiet empty-nest dinner eating some ham (not WHAM), smashed red potatoes, and green beans in a tasty cream sauce.
Not sure yet about dessert although I thought I saw some frozen date bar cookies left over in a bag in the back of the freezer yesterday as I was doing a materials inventory!
OMG, date bar cookies... One of my few weaknesses.
Are you sick of your deck sealer lasting just one or two years? Then you have to do all that hard work AGAIN and spend $50, or more, per gallon for a deck sealer that may #FAIL again in just 18 months?
Watch this as I may have discovered the Holy Grail of deck sealers - the best deck sealer! You be the judge.
These two new pieces of hardware replaced my ancient 13-year-old iMac. I'm blown away by the lightning-FAST speed of this new computer. The Mac Mini is just a 1.5-inch thick by 7.5 x 7.5 inch square box!
If you've been a subscriber since the days of yore, when I still sported a fair amount of dishwater-blonde hair, you might recall this funny video.
A person left a comment about it three days ago that inspired me to re-shoot the video. Let's see if you can figure out what his comment might have been. It put a smile on my face.
Watch the short video and maybe you'll understand why I'm about to do all the work required to create a new video with a slightly different ending!
Build a Brick Patio - Easy
I'm just like you. I don't wear my underpants (small clothes) on the outside of my pants for goodness sake and neither do you. I'm not a superhero.
Last week, I think I broke a record. I lost count of the number of homeowners I talked to on the phone or via a video call. Three days ago, I completed one of these affordable consult calls with a man that was in shock over his latest water bill.
The homeowner wanted to know if I could determine if he had a leak in the water line leading to his home. His water bill showed he had used, on average, 45,000 gallons of water each of the previous three months.
I could understand using a large amount of water if it was a family of six with teenage boys taking showers until the hot water runs out! In this case, it was just the husband and wife.
It's important to realize I've been a master plumber since 1981 and my first questions were, "Where is your water meter? Is it inside your basement or outside in a frost-proof pit?"
"It's inside the basement, Tim."
Within minutes, I had narrowed the issue to his humidifier that was directly connected to his furnace and was running 24/7 all through the winter.
"Is it possible for that small 1/4-inch diameter pipe to use that much water," he asked.
Before he asked this, I did a fast calculation based on what water he told me they used each day. I came up with a rough guesstimate of 200 gallons per day. That's only 6,000 gallons a month.
But then his wife spoke up in the background stating she did a load of laundry each day. Hmmmmm???!!!
After hearing that I said, Here's what I want you to do. Adjust your kitchen faucet to where a small stream of water, 1/8-inch in diameter, comes from the fixture. Time how long it takes to fill an 8-ounce measuring cup.
I already knew the answer but wanted him to go through the experience. You might want to do it too to get your head around how much water you might be WASTING.
Realize the valve on his humidifier was probably creating a stream at least 4X, and maybe as much as 8X, what you see in the photo just above.
I did a poll during my most recent LIVE video stream. Fifty percent of those responding were really curious and wanted to know how much water flows from all their faucets and hoses.
They wanted to double check to see if their water meters are calibrated correctly and registering the real amount of water that's being used!
Do you want to check your water usage to determine if your water bill is correct? If so, watch for next Sunday's newsletter.
New Flushable Wipes
I've been testing some new flushable wipes the past month. A diligent PR woman named Megan reached out to me and sent a sample pack. I made her aware right out of the gate I've been a master plumber since 1981.
This is the testing setup for my video. It's a true test for what happens in your home. Copyright 2019 Tim Carter
The claim of this wipes manufacturer was that this new wipe breaks down 5X faster than the leading brand of toilet paper. Megan actually sent me a roll of this common paper along with a glossy placard showing how to TEST the wipe against the toilet paper.
I immediately reached out to her saying, "Megan, the testing method on the placard you are asking people to do is NOT REALISTIC. That's not what happens in a toilet and what happens as the wipe transits to the sewer/septic tank."
She didn't dispute this and readily admitted she and her PR peers know very little about the workings of toilets and pipes.
Fast forward a few weeks and she reached out to see how the testing was going. I responded, "I see on the label, in very small print, it says these are safe to use in septic systems. Can you forward to me the test data, test method, and any photos/videos supporting this claim?"
The two photos above show this claim on the label in very tiny print - about the size of small print on a business card. The Common Man plastic card in the upper right corner is for scale. It's the size of a standard credit card you carry.
The bottom line is the manufacturer couldn't provide to me any actual test data showing what happens to their wipe once it arrives and sits inside a septic tank.
I did agree with Megan that the wipe would fall apart quite readily as it traveled for thousands of feet in a sewer pipe because of the turbidity in the moving water.
You don't have turbidity in a septic tank. Once the wipe gets to the tank, the water doesn't move. I put one of the wipes in a clear bowl and let it sit for a week.
It didn't take long for the wipe to settle to the bottom of the bowl. I had to end the test when Kathy made me get rid of it because she saw one of our cats drinking from the bowl. Here's what the wipe will look like in the bottom of your septic tank.
Why is all this important?
Here are a few reasons:
STOP automatically trusting information you get from people
Engage your God-given critical-thinking skills and question things
Do your own testing - often it's easy
On a personal level, I find it astonishing the attorneys representing this flushable wipes company - which I REFUSE to name - would allow the product to be labeled as it is.
Well, they could be so-so attorneys. There are far more so-so attorneys out there than the cream of the crop.
As you undoubtedly know, only a small percentage of things, people, information, websites, etc. out there are really really stellar.
I'm pretty sure you and I can agree on that.
I'll be back next week trying to save you money and time.
Do you like to hear the slow rhythmic beat of different drums? The first two videos below are soundtracks from the Halo game series that would make Ginger Baker proud. I think you'll love the bass tom-tom drum for sure. Be sure to watch the instructional video just below. It may inspire you to pick up a few sticks!
If you want to listen to the entire Halo Combat Evolved video, that's at the bottom, you MUST PUT ON HEADPHONES for the ultimate stereo listening experience. I use my Bose noise-canceling headphones. They're unbelievable - and that's coming from a guy who ruined his hearing being around screeching circular saws eight hours a day.
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