Ahoy Matey! Welcome aboard! You’re a new subscriber, aren’t you? I’m glad you’re here. A hearty welcome to our loyal crew as well! Remember when you had to either swab the deck or were able to lay in the sun on a comfy first-class reclining deckchair? No, this isn’t a newsletter about sailing or boats, silly! This will all make sense in just a moment.

You might have been a subscriber long enough to remember the column I wrote about why low-quality retaining walls tip over so easily. CLICK or TAP HERE if you don’t want that to happen to your new retaining wall.

This Issue’s Music

I really love listening to music, especially as I create this newsletter. I felt this week’s music selection was perfect as it sets the tone for a massive project I’ve just started on the AsktheBuilder.com website. Using that clue, and the introduction paragraph above, can you think about what I might be listening to? I think you’ll enjoy it. CLICK or TAP HERE and see if your little gray cells were right!

TV Commercials

I know this sounds crazy, but I love watching certain TV commercials in the hour I spend gazing at the flatscreen before surrendering my body to the four-poster bed.

For example, there’s one where Mike Lindell is hawking his new My Pillow towels. He does a side-by-side test pouring colored water into two towels. As the crap towel fails, he says while pushing it off the counter, “You could use this one for a pool liner.” BWAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA” So funny!!!

One night last week, I saw this very smarmy (my opinion) commercial about the Fuller Brush Full Crystal magic window washing product. I almost fell out of my chair.

I say this because I had the good fortune years ago to interview the presidents of the top two window-washing companies in the USA. These companies wash windows in massive skyscrapers all across the great USA. In other words, they know the absolute BEST way to clean glass.

The next morning, I reached out to Fuller Brush on their website requesting a sample of this purported spray-and-walk-away magic Full Crystal product to test. SO FAR I’ve heard NOTHING.

Normally, a company would be all over a request from a syndicated columnist who might give them some FREE ADVERTISING. When they don’t respond, it sets off the klaxon alarm in my head. CLICK or TAP HERE to hear it. This alert klaxon plays in the background of my cellphone voice mail message.

My question to you is: Have you purchased and used this product? Did you try a side-by-side comparison to see if washing the windows as I describe in this column produces a BETTER result?

Please let me know if you’ve used the Full Crystal product and how it worked for you.

Attic Fans, Phoenix & Your House

Terence wrote to me right after reading last week’s newsletter. CLICK or TAP HERE to read what I said about attic fans. I’ve taken the liberty to HIGHLIGHT some keywords in the email that Terence sent to me. They should put your head on a swivel.

Here’s what Terence wrote:

Love your advice. Phoenix, AZ was 115 yesterday. We have a long-time remodeling contractor who has a radio show and advice website. Here is his advice for Phoenix attics.

5 | Don't hook up a fan to try to cool off your attic

The only thing an attic exhaust fan will do, whether it is solar- or electric-powered, is create negative pressure in the attic. That will cause the air-conditioned cool air inside your home to be drawn up into the attic. Ultimately, you will be increasing your demand for cool air downstairs. And if you use electricity to run the fan, you will be shocked at how much that fan running all the time can add to your bill. A homeowner told us that when he put a power ventilator in an attic on the gable end of his house to get rid of the hot air, his electric bill shot up $100 a month.

This is a fantastic example of the erroneous or FALSE information you might run into on the Internet. It’s clear to me this remodeling contractor didn’t pay attention in high school physics or he was out sick for a few classes.

Allow me to BUST this remodeling contractor’s MYTH.

• Air will come into an attic from the place of LEAST RESISTANCE. If your house has abundant and CLEAN continuous soffit ventilation openings AND a clear pathway from the soffit to the powered attic fan, air will flow into the attic via the soffit, not be sucked through the tiny openings in interior wall top plates. This is one reason why your mouth opening isn't as small as a cocktail straw.
• How much electricity does something in your home have to consume to spend $100 in a month? Here in NH, I pay a staggering 14 cents per kilowatt-hour plus a $30 monthly service fee. Let’s set aside the service fee for sake of discussion. It turns out this statement about $100 would be accurate for me. A standard powered attic fan rated at 8 amps running CONTINUOUSLY for a month would burn up 714,240 watts. It took me just two minutes to do that simple math. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS DO THE MATH for your home using YOUR RATES - Don’t just blindly trust what you read at a website. Always engage your critical-thinking skills and verify what you read or see.

The Titanic Project

I’ve started to publish full transcripts of my 650+ videos to make AsktheBuilder.com ADA compliant. It’s not necessary because my company is so small, but it seems like it’s a good thing to do and I can accomplish multiple goals doing this.

YouTube provides a very rough transcript via voice-recognition software, but there’s no punctuation and there are mistakes in their version of the transcript.

In addition to the accurate transcript I produce, I’ve added helpful RELATED LINKS to each page as well as GREAT PRODUCTS you can buy that I mention in the videos.

Each week, I’ll be listing for you the video pages I’ve transformed. Here are the ones I transformed in the past few days:

Air Filters Video

FilterScan Video

Fresh Air Supply Vents Video

Asphalt Repair Video

Blacktop Driveway Crack Repair Video

Chip Seal Video

Driveway Repair Video

Mosquito Eliminator Kudos

Several weeks ago, I shared how I’d deployed a product at the edges of my lot to thwart mosquitoes. The mosquitoes in New Hampshire have the reputation of being the inspiration for the US Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornets. I had the rare chance to fly in one for an hour so I know this to be true. CLICK or TAP HERE to read about my F/A-18 flying experience. But I digress.

Ed’s a subscriber who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio - my hometown. Oh, how I miss visiting there to get all sorts of prizes, not the least of which would be a Skyline 5-way and an Aglamesis two-step hot-fudge sundae made with mocha-chip ice cream!

Here’s what Ed sent me last week:

Tim:

I purchased the Mosquito Eradicator that you mentioned in a previous newsletter. It works great.

Thanks for the recommendation.

Regards,

Ed

Indeed it does work well. I did another test myself several days ago just before sunset. Normally, when I’d walk behind my truck where the woods start, I’d be attacked by many mosquitoes. This time only one was flitting about.

CLICK or TAP HERE to pretty much stop mosquitoes at your house!

Wasp and Grasshopper

Speaking of flying things, check out this photo I took while eating lunch out on my deck a few days ago. This wasp had captured a grasshopper and was FLYING AROUND with it like an airplane with a bomb under it! The wasp must have gotten tired and decided to land near me. Pretty cool, eh?

That’s enough for a blistering HOT Sunday here in NH. This could be the HOTTEST day of the season. 94 F is forecast with a dew point of 72 F. I guarantee you I’ll be swimming and cooling off in the refreshing clear water of Loch Winnisquam.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
SALE THIS WEEK</strong> - www.StainSolver.com
Closing in on 20 WPM - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

P.S. Is it DRY where you live? If your soil dries out too much, it could cause SEVERE foundation settlement.

CLICK or TAP HERE to see how I made sure that NEVER HAPPENED at my Cincinnati house that was built on top of two thick layers of deep-clay soil created by the last two continental glaciers.

Happy Summer! You might be a brand-new subscriber. Welcome! I reserve this top spot in the newsletter to thank you for your trust.

You, though, may have received so many issues of this newsletter that you remember when I tangled with all those solar attic fan companies. Do you recall that dust up? Boy, they were none too happy with me! But what the heck, it's my duty and responsibility to share the truth with you for goodness sake! If you want to know the TRUTH about those solar attic fans, CLICK or TAP HERE. (Editor's update: Read Terence's response to this statement. It is in the July 19, 2020 Newsletter.

Music and Me

I love music of all sorts. It relaxes me sometimes, but other times it gets my heart pounding! Today it's HOT and HUMID here in central New Hampshire. I needed something to cool me off as I created this issue for you. Can you guess what's playing here in the steamy cave? CLICK or TAP HERE to let me know if this music works to lower or raise your temperature!

Mystery Biting Bugs Update

I want to thank you profusely if you responded to my plea for help last Sunday. The image below is just a SMALL NUMBER of the amazing email replies and ideas you may have sent to me so I could then share them with my friend who's suffering such torment.

There were so many responses, it was simply impossible for me to thank you individually. I hope you understand.

Right now, I don't have much news to share. The biting has been much less and many days in the past week, there were no overnight bites.

I'm going to create a page on the website with all of the great ideas and suggestions you may have sent in so you can benefit in case you or someone you know has a similar dilemma.

I was particularly interested in the bright-light, the Pine-Sol, and the ultrasonic ideas. You'll discover more about this in the next newsletter.

Rest assured that once the issue is resolved, you'll know as much about this as I do.

You'll never realize how grateful I am for your help when I ask for it. You are an incredible resource and for you to share your ideas, your prayers, and your time is truly a special prize for me and my friend.

She wanted me to make sure you know how much she appreciates all you did to try to help her in this ongoing battle.

Front Porch Construction - A Dying Art

Think about a front porch for a moment. Even a small one like this:

Can you think of at least three reasons why you should have a front porch, and one preferably much larger than the one above?

CLICK or TAP HERE to see if your list matches mine.

The Fun Quiz!

You did pretty well knowing what a Grange is. I'm proud of you as I had NO IDEA what one was until I moved to central New Hampshire. There's one just three miles north of my house at the top of Lake Winnisquam.

But how spry are your little gray cells today? Look at the following pictures depicting the answers to this issue's quiz and see if you might score a 100% on today's FUN QUIZ!

CLICK or TAP HERE and be prepared to LAUGH a LOT. Laughter is great medicine for all and especially for anyone who might be sleep deprived.

Laundry Room Countertop Dilemma

Admit it. Doing the laundry is not one of your most favorite things. It can be drudgery using the old-fashioned wooden pins to hang up delicates. Another reason might be your laundry room isn't really set up for the operation. It's more like a closet for two large machines rather than a workspace.

CLICK or TAP HERE to see what's possible if you had a magic wand that could transform your laundry room. Your dreams might come true the next time you move or remodel!

Draw Plumbing Plans

You may not know this, but I've been a master plumber since age 29. One of the things you must do to pass the Master test is successfully complete an isometric drawing of a multi-story building showing all the correct venting solutions for all the fixtures that appear on the drawing.

Not one bead of perspiration appeared on my forehead the day of the examination all those years ago because I love doing the drawings.

Not one bead of perspiration appeared on my forehead the day of the examination all those years ago because I love doing the drawings.

In fact, I still do them! They remind me of diagramming sentences way back in grade school - thank you Sr. Mary Emma!

Last week I did four of them for different homeowners. Architects and builders also hire me to draw the complex isometric drawings.

"Why are the isometric drawings important, Tim?"

That's a great question. In my opinion, there are three primary reasons:

1. It's so very important that you have the correct pipe sizes for fixtures and fixture groups shown on the drawing. The drawings ensure you understand what the minimum pipe sizes must be for both drains and vents.

2. Fixtures must be vented properly for the system to work. You'd be surprised how many plumbing systems are not vented properly. An isometric drawing shows all the vent pipes as dashed lines. Sometimes you can have a drain pipe do double duty! It can drain a fixture and be a vent pipe for another one at the same time.

3. The drawing communicates to the plumbing inspector that you know what you're doing so when she/he comes she/he won't deliver the bad news to "rip it all out and start over".

If you want me to draw your plumbing plans, CLICK or TAP HERE.

I also draw water line layouts and draw & size gas lines too. One-stop shopping!

I delivered plans to Marty just two days ago for a slab house he's building down in Arkansas. He responded, "Thank you again, I appreciate the help, and nice to see the service you are providing!"

That's quite enough for a Sunday. As you read this on Sunday, I'll have been participating is a worldwide IARU radio contest for at least 24 hours. Here's what the ARRL website says about this annual event:

"To contact as many other amateurs, especially IARU member society HQ stations, around the world as possible using the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meter bands."

I'll be operating doing just Morse Code, and it's my goal to contact at least 100 other stations. I'll report next week if I achieved the goal!

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
SOLD OUT - BEST CLEANER - www.StainSolver.com
IARU Man - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

P.S. Is your AC unit not able to keep you cool? It could be a big problem with your ductwork. It could also be your AC unit is not sized correctly.

CLICK or TAP HERE to get a handle on the duct part of the equation.

CLICK or TAP HERE to see how AC units are like your shoes.

A Friend in Need

I need your help, well actually a friend of mine needs your help.

If you're an entomologist or a true pest-control expert, please keep reading.

A friend of mine started getting bug bites while sleeping at night. I know, your first reaction is bed bugs. The house was checked by one of the top and best bed-bug specialists and they came up with NO bed bugs.

This is not a detergent rash. They are BUG bites.

My friend has been quarantined in the house since the pandemic was announced and there have been no visitors. No family or friends have stayed the night to introduce a pest.

No one has come into the house since March - except for two inspectors last week AFTER the bug invasion started.

The bites look identical to bed-bug bites when compared to online photos.

Just prior to my friend getting bitten at night, there was a bat in the house. The bat was captured and removed, but it was determined that it, and some friends, were roosting in the attic.

A top bat-removal company was called in a week ago, and verified the presence and is in the process of dealing with the bats. The issue is this is going to take a month because the state where my friend lives protects the bats.

Research shows that bats can have mites that are closely related to bed bugs and these BAT BUGS can bite humans. They have many of the same characteristics of bed bugs.

A top pest control company in town where my friend lives has been helping with the situation and his primary goal is to try to capture the invisible menace.

At this point, it's all speculation WHAT is causing the bites because in the morning the pest has long gone.

After a week of trying many things, sticky tape traps, looking into electrical outlets, switches, etc. NO PESTS have been located.

Here's where I can use your help if you have solid information with respect to situations like this or experienced a SIMILAR infestation and how it was resolved.

Remember, the top BED BUG company said it's NOT bed bugs.

Questions:

Do you know the absolute foolproof way to capture the pests that somehow have found the bedroom? The pest control expert has recommended carpet tape on the mattress to create a sticky *fence* the bugs have to crawl across to get to my friend.

What are the bugs you know of that can cause bites under clothing while sleeping that look just like bed bug bites? I'm trying to create a list of possible suspects.

All the advice online and from the experts notes that once the bats are given the bum's rush and not allowed back into the attic, the bat bugs (assuming that's the issue) will die off - even though they will substitute human blood instead of tasty BAT blood. Is this true if you're a BAT BUG expert?

Finally, if you were my friend, what would you do as fast as possible to identify the pest and then eradicate it?

Late last week, I reached out to two top bug associations trying to locate the TOP BAT BUG expert/researcher in the USA. I haven't heard back yet, but I blame the holiday weekend with people taking off Thursday and Friday for a long weekend.

I'm looking for REAL HELP here and I know you might have some ideas that my friend has missed and that I've not thought of.

Here's the LAST piece of data: There have been NO BITES the past four nights, but over the past week my friend has exhaustively WASHED all bedding and deep-cleaned the room each day.

She also started applying a mite spray to the bedding.

The anxiety level is extreme and my friend is losing sleep and it's a very serious situation.

I feel we need to CAPTURE and IDENTIFY the pest so a plan of attack can be initiated.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

BOOM! Do you have any leftover fireworks? If so, let’s light some to celebrate that you’re a new subscriber. Thanks for popping in - pun intended!

You, though, very likely have been a subscriber here since the days of velocipedes on the rail lines! What’s a velocipede you ask? Quite possibly the coolest thing you could ever hope to ride on a railroad track! CLICK or TAP HERE and you’ll see a few very short videos of one in use.

Music

Music is a pretty important part of my life. You’ll always find me listening to music when I'm composing this newsletter.

As you might suspect, each week I grab a different song or two out of the bag. I try not to get stuck in a rut. CLICK or TAP HERE and tell me if you like this song. Pay attention to everyone on the stage.

Peeling Deck Sealers

You may be one of the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of homeowners disgusted with the performance of deck sealers.

You work your butt off cleaning the deck and then apply expensive sealers with magic guarantees only to see them peel in perhaps two years! ACCCKKKKK!

Do you have a STORY to share about your peeling deck sealer? If so, CLICK or TAP the photo below and share it in the comments.

CLICK or TAP HERE to see what I used on my boat dock and the steps leading to it. I’ve made sure that I won't have to worry about peeling ever again.

Cool Spray Paint

Last year, I was looking for brown spray paint to match dead leaves and I happened across a can of Rustoleum Multicolor Textured paint.

WOW! It was exactly what I wanted. So I decided it was time to paint my leach field vent pipe and my buried propane tank cover a few days ago. Here’s what I chose.

This is the cover to my buried propane tank. The bottom half is sprayed with the sea foam color. The top is the deep forest.

CLICK or TAP HERE to see the results and to order a few cans.

Summer Slow Down

I try to take the foot off the gas each summer when it comes to the newsletter. Winters are harsh here in New Hampshire and summer days are meant to be spent outdoors, not inside pecking away at a keyboard.

You’ll see lighter editions of the newsletter the next eight weeks and I’ll also give you a break from the brain-twisting quizzes from time to time.

Today is one of those days - no quiz - Enjoy the rest of our Independence Day holiday weekend without taxing your grey cells.

I can’t think of one person that enjoys tyranny, but all too often we forget exactly what the Fourth of July is actually celebrating - the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and our separation from the tyrannical King of England.

Who would have thought that a rough and tumble bunch of colonists could kick butt and take names? Well, our ancestors did and we should be thankful for all the rights we have that so many across the world envy.

Do you know what really happened on the day the shot was heard 'round the world? Did you know that the British troops were on their way to seize the colonists guns and weapons? CLICK or TAP HERE for the amazing story. I'll be honest. I had no idea what really happened or I had forgotten the details had they been mentioned back in grade or high school.

By the way, if you have a juicy ripe watermelon on your menu today, I envy YOU!

That’s enough for a Sunday! Happy Birthday, America!

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
SOLD OUT BEST GALACTIC CLEANER - www.StainSolver.com
90 QRP Qs on Field Day! - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right - Not Over!

P.S. What about concrete overlays? Did you know you can make old concrete look like NEW?

CLICK or TAP HERE and read MANY of my past concrete overlay columns. Make sure you look closely at the cement paint part of the process.