August 8, 2020 AsktheBuilder Newsletter

Posted on by Tim Carter

If you're a NEW subscriber, this is NOT a normal newsletter. You'll get one tomorrow morning.

When a sale is about to expire, I send out these last-minute communique's.

Why? A vast majority of people are procrastinators, then they simply forget about my sale. Most are very grateful for the reminder.

This is your friendly Ask the Builder nudge to SAVE SWEET MOOLA on the BEST certified organic multi-purpose cleaner in the world:

STAIN SOLVER

CLICK or TAP HERE to see how it works.

CLICK or TAP HERE now to save the BIG GREEN on your favorite size of my Stain Solver.

The sale ends tomorrow at midnight. Period. (Sunday, August 9, 2020 @ midnight)

I've got lots of good information for you tomorrow, plus a new quiz to keep your tiny gray cells in great shape.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Co-Founder - www.StainSolver.com

Oxygen Bleach

Stain Solver is MADE in the USA with USA ingredients that are food-grade quality. CLICK THE IMAGE to order some NOW.

Sizing Gas Lines

Posted on by Tim Carter

Tim Carter can size and draw the gas lines for your house project.

Are you thinking of using CSST or flexible gas lines? CLICK or TAP HERE before you decide.

He's been a master plumber since age 29. CLICK or TAP HERE to order the service.

Once you've ordered, you need to answer all the questions in the following form:

August 2, 2020 AsktheBuilder Newsletter

Posted on by Tim Carter

Welcome! Maybe you just subscribed in the past few days. This top spot in the newsletter is reserved seating for all new subscribers!

But if your first AsktheBuilder newsletter might have been issue #68, I’m so glad you keep coming back for more! BTW, that’s one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made over the years, not having an issue #. I actually have no idea how many newsletters I’ve sent, but it’s more than the pieces of Good & Plenty that you'd find in a giant bag. Arrrggghhh.

Anyway, you may remember when I exposed how the major paint companies employ, in my opinion, unethical practices to hawk products hoping you buy them. Do you recall that? CLICK or TAP HERE and leave a comment at the bottom of the page sharing how you might have gotten bamboozled like tens of thousands of others.

This Issue’s Music

I love music, all sorts of music. I listen to a wide variety as I compose this newsletter for you. I GUARANTEE YOU that you’ve never heard this song played outdoors. If you’ve got any troubles that you need to dump in a basket on your desk, listening to this will pipe them away in a hurry. CLICK or TAP HERE and be amazed. If you like what you hear, leave a comment at the bottom of the page for goodness sake!

Hurricane Isaias

Late summer and early fall, I do my best to save you from grief and frustration. Monster storms can create flooding, wind damage, etc. anywhere across the central and eastern USA. Hurricane Isaias is growing into a menacing storm as I write this.
Hurricane Isaias

Please understand that fire and police departments classify your home as the LEAST VALUABLE asset in your community. Your fire department and police department will probably NEVER SHOW UP TO HELP YOU should you get into trouble in a natural disaster.

They have limited resources and during and after a major catastrophe these are focused on valuable assets many rely on in your community. Examples might be:

  • Hospitals
  • Grocery stores
  • Fuel depots
  • Building supplies

Your house is far down the list way at the bottom. No one cares about you and your house except you. This means YOU need to do what’s necessary RIGHT NOW to protect yourself and your possessions. CLICK or TAP HERE for a list of things I have in my home so I’m prepared for anything.

BTW, this advice applies to you no matter where you live. You might be susceptible to wildfires, earthquakes, tsunamis, cats and dogs living together, etc. Be prepared!

Phil in Australia

I’ve been blessed over the years to become really good friends with lots of people all because of this newsletter. The list is quite long.

Phil deserves the award for long-distance coupled with offering great suggestions about how to improve Ask the Builder. We started to communicate via email years ago and continue to this day. I’d so love to go Down Under and meet Phil, as well as Russell, Patricia, and quite a few Australians who regularly correspond with me.

When I blurted out the Stain-Solver-Back-in-Stock blast a few days ago, Phil responded:

“Tim, I long for the day that I can have Stain Solver in my cupboard in Melbourne. You should let the USA folks reading your newsletter know how lucky they are to be able to order it.

All the best,

Phil”

Well, thanks, Phil (I’m trying not to blush). Phil might be shocked by the following estimate. I’d guess less than 3 percent of my newsletter subscribers have ever purchased Stain Solver.

Perhaps you can help! If you’re a satisfied Stain Solver customer, reply back to me with one or two of your best success stories. What did Stain Solver save that you thought was ruined forever? It’s time for show and tell.

Your story might convert a subscriber and we’ll start saving their stuff too!

I’ve done surveys before and believe it or not the most common reason I hear is, “Your Stain Solver sounds TOO GOOD to be true. There's NO WAY a cleaner can do what you say!”

Well, photos don’t lie. Look at how it cleaned this stained Corian sink with NO SCRUBBING!
Corian Sink dirty
Corian Sink Clean

I don’t quite know how to respond to folks that are non-believers other than to show some of the dramatic before/after photos as you see above.

Even then, I imagine folks might think they’ve been photoshopped. Those sink photos were not altered. CLICK or TAP HERE to read the story sent in by John about the Corian sink. His daughter Emily was the one who transformed the sink.

With all that said, now is a GREAT time to try out Stain Solver.

Why?

It’s now back in stock after being SOLD OUT for nearly ten weeks.

I also have the ODD SALE going on now to celebrate we have product to sell. You can get either 5, 7, or 9 percent off depending on which size you buy. The more you purchase, the more you save.

CLICK or TAP HERE to place your order.

The ODD SALE WILL ONLY LAST A WEEK.

New RAPID-ALERT Notification Feature

I activated a new feature on the website that you may find quite interesting.

Rather than wait for me to share in a newsletter what’s new on the website, you can get a cute little announcement on your computer, tablet, or phone. You just click it and BOOM you’re taken right to the new column, video, or product review.

I signed up myself so I could see what it all looks like. When you visit the website now, you should see this:
ATB Website Notifications

If you click YES, then you might see:

ATB Website Notifications Allow

You need to click ALLOW.

Then once I load a new column within SECONDS you might see:

ATB New Column Notification

It’s really wonderful technology and you’ll now see EVERY NEW thing I create seconds after I upload it.

Try it yourself and let me know what you think. I know it works on Chrome and Safari browsers and my guess is on others. I hope you don’t run into issues. You may not see the signup box if you have ad-blocking software running.

You need to know there are hundreds of past columns, videos, product reviews, etc. that I’ve never shared here in the newsletter for a host of reasons. Yes, there’s lots of content BURIED at the website just waiting for you to discover it.

You won’t need to search if you activate this new feature.

Speaking of tool reviews, check out this one about the Klein 1/2-inch Compact Impact Driver.

Old vs New - Which is Better?

Please peer at this photo:

Old Lumber vs New Lumber End View

What do you know about tree growth rings? What do you know about modern electric cable? Do you really think you know everything about concrete?

CLICK or TAP HERE and get ready to be wowed. Did you take a debate class in high school? This column will bring back memories for sure.

That’s quite enough for a Sunday.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
We’re BACK IN BIZ - www.StainSolver.com
DX at 5 watts - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

P.S. CLICK or TAP HERE if you want to see a cool wainscotting kit.

Newsletter Music Saxaphone Pipeline Echo

Posted on by Tim Carter

Newsletter Music Saxophone Pipeline Echo

The saxophone pipeline echo soundtrack was featured in the August 2, 2020, AsktheBuilder.com newsletter. CLICK or TAP HERE to read all past AsktheBuilder.com newsletters.

CLICK or TAP HERE to listen to all the music featured in past AsktheBuilder.com newsletters.

You can listen to a saxophone player create an echo in a pipeline below.

Stain Solver, the best and most powerful certified organic cleaner on Earth, is the sponsor of the Newsletter Music.

Show your support. Purchase a small sample size and behold its magic powers.

Stain Solver Oxygen Bleach SS02 Bottle

Stain Solver is MADE in the USA with USA ingredients that are food-grade quality. CLICK THE IMAGE to order some NOW.

Is Older Better?

Posted on by Tim Carter
Old Lumber vs New Lumber End View

Is Older Better? | You’re looking at an old piece of lumber from the late 1800s versus a modern timber. Look at the difference in the size of the growth rings. Which one is more rot resistant and which one is stronger? Copyright 2020 Tim Carter

Old Building vs New Building - Interesting Debate!

You’ve undoubtedly heard the saying, “They don’t make ‘em like they used to.” Often it’s said in frustration when a newer product fails long before you might think it should. If I could wave a magic wand and be a teacher in a vocational school dedicated to building things, I can assure you that I’d break my senior class up into old vs. new teams and this topic be the subject of a large debate assignment.

While I do possess certain mystic building and plumbing powers, I’m not able to pull this off in a classroom, so you and I will have the discussion right here and now. I wonder which team you’d like to be on? You might discover something about old and new building products and methods that just might put your head on a swivel.

I had the good fortune to cut my teeth as a young builder working in and on old homes in Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati experienced explosive suburban growth in the late 1800s. People started to see the benefits of living up on the hilltops that overlooked the smokey and grimy Mill Creek Valley. New single-family and multi-family homes were being built in a decades-long building boom.

Old Lumber is Far Better Than New

Rough framing lumber back then was indeed rough. It was bigger than today’s wall studs and floor joists. The wood was cut from old-growth timber and the growth rings were thin. There was often an equal amount of strong and dense summerwood, the darker growth ring, versus the weaker and softer springwood, the lighter growth ring you see on lumber.

Today’s timber has been hybridized to grow faster and you see far more spring wood than summerwood. Modern lumber is more susceptible to rot and movement because of this high spring wood content.

Old Solid Masonry is Better Than Modern Brick Veneer

Old brick homes didn’t have the water-leakage issues and mold problems of today’s brick-veneer homes. The masons of old knew that wind-driven rainwater would penetrate brick walls so they used a softer inner brick to absorb the water before it got indoors. After the storm, the water would be pulled out of the brick by the sun and wind. The masons also knew that hydrated lime and sand made for a much better mortar than today’s modern products.

Old Concrete Had More Portland Cement

Walk down older sidewalks in some cities or look at the concrete supporting railroad bridges and you might be able to make the case that today’s concrete is not as good as that made 80 or 100 years ago. This is a complex topic but one thing the older concrete masons knew is that if you just added some additional Portland cement to the mix, the concrete would absolutely be stronger and last longer. There have been amazing advancements in modern concrete that when coupled with expert installation create an artificial rock that will last hundreds of years.

PEX Water Lines Don't Burst When Frozen

Debates ebb and flow and the team that puts forth modern products are better than older ones will most likely win the day when it comes to both the plumbing and electric inside your home. It’s hard to disagree with the benefits of modern PEX water supply lines over the older galvanized iron water lines I used to remove because they were clogged solid with calcium deposits. PEX water lines don’t burst when they freeze causing mayhem and untold headaches.

Cast Iron Drain Lines are Quiet

Old cast iron and galvanized drain lines would rot out or become clogged whereas modern PVC can perform for decades with no issues if you watch what you put down your sinks and toilets. Granted modern spun-cast iron pipes are far superior to older cast iron and it doesn’t transmit sound like modern PVC pipes that sound like Niagara Falls when you flush a second-floor toilet.

Modern Electric Cables and Wires are Better

Modern electric cable and advanced circuit breakers are, in my opinion, far superior to the old knob-and-tube wiring and screw-in fuses. Modern electric wiring in homes installed to code creates a much safer environment than what you might find in a home wired in 1913.

Ceramic Tile Set in Concrete Mortar is Best

The back-and-forth discussion about ceramic tile would be fascinating to listen to. You might not know about ceramic tile set in concrete on both walls and floors. I can’t begin to tell you how durable older ceramic wall tile is that was installed over screeded concrete mortar embedded in wire lath. Today’s tile installed over a waterproof gypsum board or 1/2-inch-thick cement board is simply no comparison.

Old Craftsmen Treated Work as a Vocation

If you decided to be on the debate team that said older was better, you’d have a field day with workmanship issues. In my opinion, I think the workmanship in older homes is far superior to what you generally see in today’s homes. Yes, there are still a few craftsmen today that treat what they do as a vocation rather than a job. But go back in time and just about every worker took enormous pride in what they produced each day.

Bring Back Shop Class to High Schools

This is why I’m a huge proponent of re-introducing building technology into all high schools across the USA. I want to expose young girls and boys to the trades and open their eyes to how fulfilling it is to work with your hands and create things that help others. There’s a vast shortage of young people entering all of the building trades and there’s never been a better time to get a job that will pay well.

Houses need constant care and upkeep so you’ll discover there’s a never-ending stream of work for you, especially if you develop a reputation that’s the motto at the bottom of each of my AsktheBuilder.com newsletters: Do It Right, Not Over!

Column 1365

Pedestal Bath Sinks and HOT Attic Myths

Posted on by Tim Carter
pedestal bath sink

Pedestal Bath Sinks | These two pedestal sinks look great but might not be the most practical thing for a teenage girl. Narrow cabinets hide behind the mirrors, but no way will you or anyone be putting a hairdryer in one! Copyright 2020 Tim Carter

Pedestal Sinks

My childhood home had a pedestal sink. In the wall tile, there were two tiny alcoves, one for a drinking glass and the other for hand soap. There was also a wonderful ceramic toothbrush holder with four holes that protruded from the wall. I don’t recall electric hair dryers, curling irons, or any other modern appliance back then although a few people might have had them in the 1950s.

Above the sink was a traditional medicine cabinet with a mirrored door. The cabinet was about 3 inches deep which was plenty of space for medicine bottles, tweezers, shaving cream, razors, and other things you’d use to primp with as you got ready for the day or for bed. The back of the cabinet even had a slot where one could safely get rid of dull razor blades. Believe me, years later as a remodeler I carefully harvested hundreds of these in-wall cavities when tearing out walls!

Where Do You Put Things?

You may love the sleek look of a pedestal sink. I get that. But before you pull out your credit card to purchase one, think it through. Is there enough space on the pedestal sink to store all the things you need in your bathroom? Can the top surface of the pedestal even act as a work platform? It might be slanted and you can’t put anything safely on the narrow or tilted surface. Will an electric-powered thing fall into a sink full of water?

What about ten years from now? Do you have small kids that will use the sink? Is one or more a girl? When they approach teenage years and need all sorts of tools for their hair and face, where will these things rest and be stored? You can’t put them in a standard medicine cabinet, that’s for sure.

Vanity Tops Offer Storage Space

This is precisely why back in the 1960s, my mom and dad had our pedestal sink removed and installed as big a vanity cabinet with a flat top as could fit in the bathroom. Not only did the flat top allow more things to be stored next to the sink, but the spacious cabinet below also allowed for all sorts of things, including spare rolls of toilet paper, to be stored right there in the bathroom.

I’m not sure that it’s still taught in architecture school but there’s an axiom relating to function and form. It’s about the constant battle for something to look great but also be practical. All too often some people put the form first and function suffers. Pedestal sinks fit really well into this argument. What will win the battle as you plan your new bathroom for your existing home or your dream one?

Hot Attic Myths

I’m blessed to have written a free weekly newsletter for decades. You can subscribe to it on my AsktheBuilder.com website. Within hours of sending out each issue, subscribers respond with personal stories and things they want to add to an item I wrote about.

Solar Attic Fans are Useless

In my last issue, I published a reminder about how useless solar-powered attic fans are. I had installed several years ago and did an incense-smoke test to prove they move a tiny amount of air, most certainly not enough to cool down an attic where the temperature was 140 F or more.

Solar Powered Attic Fan

This is a solar panel supplying free electricity to the attic fan under the silver dome on the rear roof. The fan blades spin, but they don't lower the attic temperature at all. Copyright 2018 Tim Carter

One of my wonderful subscribers got back saying that he listens to a radio show in a major Southwest city and the host is a remodeling contractor. The contractor warned that powered attic fans, especially those running on 120 volts, will always suck air-conditioned air from your home up into your attic.

This statement may be true if the house has no soffit or lower-roof ventilation, or if it does, it’s clogged. Powered attic fans that sit on a roof or in a gable vent will satisfy their appetite for air from the source of least resistance. You were supposed to learn this in your high school physics class. Great soffit vents provide this pathway instead of trying to suck air from inside the house through tiny holes or gaps in wall top plates.

Why Does an Attic Get Hot?

You need to understand that your roof structure, your attic floor, and the insulation in your attic is like a dying campfire in the evening. A campfire has glowing embers that continue to radiate heat for hours. It’s important to realize your roof can get as hot as 165 F, or higher, on a blazing hot summer day. The shingles heat up as does the roof lumber, sheathing, and everything in the attic. All of this material then tries to get rid of the heat through the night.

Does Insulation Get Hot?

Keep in mind that attic insulation gets hot. If you were to put a temperature probe into attic insulation you’d be stunned to discover the insulation itself can be well over 100 F on a summer night. Insulation is designed to slow the movement of heat. Heat is always trying to get to a colder state. This is a basic law of thermodynamics. This is why you must have amazing attic ventilation with as much air passing through the attic as possible.

How Can You Cool a Hot Attic?

You must try to get the entire roof, all the roof framing, etc. to the same temperature as the outdoor air as fast as possible. You can accelerate this process by bringing tens of thousands of cubic feet of outside air into your attic. A standard powered attic fan can move 96,000 cubic feet of air an hour through your attic sucking heat out of everything up in the attic. Be sure to always engage critical-thinking skills and common sense before you accept all you hear as gospel or fact.

Column 1364

Sand and Brick Mortar

Posted on by Tim Carter
Sand and Brick Mortar Close Up of brick

Sand and Brick Mortar | This brick was installed 129 years ago. This might very well be the original mortar. It’s survived many a harsh New Hampshire winter. Copyright 2020 Tim Carter

Sand and Brick Mortar - Big Differences

DEAR TIM: I need to repair the mortar joints on my older brick home that was built in the late 1800s. I’ve seen some very horrible workmanship where the mortar doesn’t match at all and want to avoid this. Is there some sort of magic one employs to do tuck-pointing that matches the original mortar? I know this is impossible, but if you were to come to my house to help me, what would you do to make sure the finished repair was nearly invisible? Is this even a realistic goal, or should I just resign myself that there will be these ugly mortar joints that don’t match? Rhonda S., Boston, MA

Many years ago, I witnessed what Rhonda saw. Some mason, handyman, or DIYr attempted to tuck-point the mortar joints on a brick home and the resulting mess was almost hurtful to the eyes. Not only was the mortar smeared on the brick, but it was also such a light color that the difference between the old and new was like night and day. It reminded me of a person with a smear of food on their face while eating. You have a tough time looking at her/him from across the table, to say the least.

Related Links:

More Secret Tips on Matching Mortar

Matching Brick Color and Texture

Who Knows the Truth About Mortar?

I feel Rhonda’s question provides an excellent teaching moment. You may be a person that rushes to the Internet hoping to locate a video or someone who passes himself off as an expert about masonry and mortar. I propose that you engage your critical-thinking skills and step back for just a moment before you follow that advice. Think about WHO is the real voice of authority in the field.

When I first started building back in the 1970s I used to go to the library to learn about building. The library housed one of the search engines of our time - the library card catalog. One day, I was researching for concrete installation information and I stumbled across some pamphlets at the library published by the Portland Cement Association.

CLICK or TAP HERE to get FREE QUOTES from local bricklayers who can match mortar.

I had never heard about associations before, keep in mind I was a mere 23 years old and had very little life experience. Before long, I discovered there were scads of associations that represented building products. These associations are in the business of not only promoting their products but more importantly how to install and take care of them the best way.

In short order, I discovered the Brick Industry Association (BIA) and once there was taken aback by their vast library of Technical Notes about everything you could ever imagine about brick, mortar, flashings, chimneys, etc. I reached out to them at the time and they mailed to me at no cost two massive binders filled with all of the Technical Notes publications. I thought I had died and gone to Heaven.

You and Rhonda would do quite well to read two of the Technical Notes publications: Numbers 8 and 8B. Both deal with mortar and now you can get them as free PDF files from the BIA website: https://gobrick.com

Hydrated Lime Has a Rich History

Here’s what you’ll discover. There are different types of mortar and mortar used a hundred years ago is not necessarily like the mortar mix you’d buy today at a building supply business. Many years ago, it was common for bricklayers to just use hydrated lime and sand to make their mortar. Hydrated lime is truly a magical building material.

hydrated lime

This is an excellent hydrated lime. It's a fine white powder and it's going to look great on your home. CLICK or TAP HERE THE IMAGE TO ORDER SOME RIGHT NOW. You may see a different type of bag, but if it says "Hydrated Lime", it's the right stuff!

Modern mortars come in all types depending on the finished design strength of the masonry. It can get very complicated very fast. Suffice it to say that many modern mortar mixes are a proprietary blend of Portland cement, hydrated lime, and other ingredients blended for the design purpose of the mortar.

What Creates Color in Mortar?

One of the places that masons, handymen, and DIYers go off the rails is the sand component of the mortar. Look closely at an older weathered mortar joint in between two brick and you’ll quickly notice that you see more sand than you see the actual cementitious powder that binds the sand together! This is very important when you are trying to match the color and look of the mortar.

You need to do some homework and locate the same sand as what you have in your existing mortar if you want to get a close color match once the mortar is installed. Think back where the bricklayers of old would have obtained the sand. It was hard back 100 years ago to transport heavy things great distances. Is there a nearby gravel pit that’s still in operation? Do old newspaper clippings talk about local gravel pits that are now closed? Do what you have to do to locate sand that’s the same size and color range as your existing mortar.

Tim Carter Can Come to Your Home

It’s not out of the realm of possibilities to have me show up at your house. I do that sort of consulting work. CLICK or TAP HERE to have me show up at your home for an 8-hour consult. I have helped homeowners before. Here’s the first thing you and I would do to start the project.

What Are the Steps to Match Mortar Color and Texture?

I’d clean the existing masonry. There’s a good chance the existing house is dirty and so the mortar would be dirty too. I’d want to clean the mortar, at least on the wall that’s being repaired, so I could see exactly what we must match. You can use a pressure washer for this job, but you need to exercise extreme caution that you don’t damage the brick or the mortar.

Once the brick and mortar are clean and dry, we need to judge to see if we feel the brick masons colored the mortar. It was often done on jobs so the mortar had a tint close to the color of the brick. I’d then mix up a test batch of the mortar using the guidelines from the BIA technical notes #8 and allow it to dry for a week or two. You and I would then use a very very mild acid wash to dissolve the lime from the sand on the surface to see if we have a match. We need to expose the actual sand particles to see the true finished color of the mortar.

Column 1363

New Building Product Shortcomings

Posted on by Tim Carter
International builders show

This is one of the pathways in the jungle of a typical trade show like the International Builders Show. (C) Copyright 2018 Tim Carter

New Building Product Shortcomings

I attended the International Builders Show the second week of January, 2018. I’ve lost count of how many I’ve been to, but my first one was in 1995, if I’m not mistaken. The Builders Show is a great place to discover new building technology.

Building product manufacturers use this venue to ply their new wares in front of builders and members of the press like me. Thousands of exhibitors are at the show and tens of thousands of attendees walk many miles up and down the aisles looking at all the new eye candy.

Hypnotized at the Show

This show was the most unusual one I’ve ever attended for a number of reasons. The night of opening day I was at a dinner where I and five other people were hypnotized by a comedian. It was a very relaxing experience, but just twelve hours later I found myself schooling a major manufacturer about two of their new products.

This company had invited me to a private media-only breakfast at their booth before the show opened to the general public. I’ve attended many of these distraction-free meetings. I was introduced to two very young product managers who did a very good job of explaining their new exterior spackling compound and a high-strength glue in a caulking tube.

The young woman rattled off a long list of things on the outside of your home that the new spackling would repair. As she named each one, an image of you rolling your pressure washer out of your garage flashed in my head.

What Happens When Pressure Washed?

At one point, I interrupted her and asked what would happen to the new product when it was blasted with a pressure washer. Silence. I followed up asking if they had tested the product on all the surfaces they patched trying to clean it with a pressure washer. More silence. I was deeply troubled by that response.

The second product manager told me how the new magic glue would be great to install ceramic tile and he asked me to try it. I obliged him by gluing a 12x12 piece of tile to some vertical drywall. Then I asked him if he had ever installed ceramic tile on a job. The answer was “No.” My followup question was, “Do you know how ceramic tile is installed?” “No” was his honest answer.

Product Reps With No Field Experience

I left the booth shaking my head because I couldn’t think of any professional ceramic tile setter that would use this glue to set tile. How was it this multi-million-dollar company could allow someone to make such a claim?

A company that sells composite decking, plastic exterior home trim, and aluminum deck post railings had invited me to their booth. That was my next stop. They showed me some fancy new exterior trim and as I was leaving the booth, one of their employees had me look at an aluminum deck post.

Corrosion of New Deck Rails?

Within a few minutes, the company representative and I were in a deep discussion about how treated lumber and water create a corrosive witches’ brew that rapidly corrodes standard galvanized bolts that hold the aluminum railing system to the deck.

I asked a probing question if the company included type 316 stainless steel through bolts, washers, and nuts with the deck posts. This is what you need to prevent a homeowner, guest, or child from being injured or killed when a railing fails. The answer was “No”.

Lawsuits Are Common

I’ve done expert testimony work for over fifteen years with my most recent case involving a roofing defect at the home of the Brazilian Ambassador on the island of Antigua. I shared with the young man what happens when a building product becomes the focus of a lawsuit.

I speculated that consumers would readily pay a small extra fee to have the correct bolts and hardware installed with the deck posts. One of the leaders in deck railing safety, Simpson Strong-Tie, does this. They offer deck post hardware that contains special galvanized fasteners or you can upgrade to stainless steel. They also offer up detailed drawings and illustrations of how to connect the hardware to treated lumber decks.

Survey Consumers - Find Out What They Really Want

I offered to survey the tens of thousands of consumers who receive my free newsletter, but the young man had no interest. I decided to do it two days after getting home from the show and was not surprised by the results. Ninety-eight percent of the survey respondents answered they’d gladly pay the small extra money for the safe stainless steel bolts.

CONTACT ME using the Ask Tim page if you want me to conduct a survey for your company.

Your takeaway, I hope, is that you can’t hope a company is looking out for you. Unfortunately, more and more you have to perform time-consuming due diligence to protect yourself. An easier alternative may be to get my free newsletter to see whose cage I’m rattling in the coming months. Be safe out there!