[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's around the house when it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know. We've got you covered. This is around the house. Welcome to the round the house show. The next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. I'm Eric G happy weekday updates. We're in the middle of Amazon prime days out there.

[00:00:37] Eric Goranson: There's so much going on. I'm Eric G. In the world, it has been a wild political week. And even though this is not a political show, just everybody out there, my best advice to all you that are just trying to survive as homeowners and want to be homeowners, contractors, DIY wires, or somebody just wanting to learn about their house, just everybody take a nice deep breath and let's see if we can all [00:01:00] get together through this.

[00:01:01] Eric Goranson: As humans and respect each other. And I wish everyone well, no matter what political party you're in. Just let's all just take a deep breath and dial it back a little bit. And see if we can get along a little better, including all of you out there, the keyboard warriors on social media. Let's let's keep it dialed back.

[00:01:22] Eric Goranson: Thanks for joining me. That's my little speech for the day there. Just want to make sure everybody is just keeping it cool. Let's just be a little chill. I wanted to talk about a few things today. One being in the middle of Amazon prime days, there's all these sales and things on there and there are some great ones.

[00:01:38] Eric Goranson: Absolutely great ones out there. But I first wanted to give a quick mention because in my around the house, Northwest television show each week, I do a segment of one, two, or even three pieces where we test things from Amazon. And many times they're sometimes they're brand name things. A lot of times we're just testing [00:02:00] out what I would call one of the cheap knockoffs or copycats out there that you can pick up on Amazon.

[00:02:06] Eric Goranson: And I'm going to say about 90 percent of the time, and this is about the case, 90 percent of the time, those cheap knockoffs are just that they are absolute garbage. And every once in a while we run into a few things that I go, wow, that's super useful. Some of the ones that are super useful are many times the super useful ones are either name brand or something that you'd see as a store brand.

[00:02:33] Eric Goranson: Like rigid or something like that, or craftsmen. When we did that drill test, that was a pretty good one, but many of the products out there just are absolute garbage. We tested one here recently that we coming out this weekend. That was just junk. Test out a couple others that were amazing. So what I would say is if you're out there shopping on Amazon prime and you're looking at kind of the OG or a [00:03:00] name brand one, and you can save 10 or 15 by buying the knockoff.

[00:03:05] Eric Goranson: Stay away from the knockoff in 90 percent of the time. And the things that you see on these kind of Chinese or Asian knockoffs or wherever they're coming from Vietnam, China. The problem that I see is the tools. Many times, if you're in the United States, we have SAE measurement system here, but a lot of times it's metric.

[00:03:26] Eric Goranson: So a lot of the wire cutting tools or wire stripping tools are meant for metric wire. There's a lot of parts like that just don't translate well here, or I had a one that comes up on Saturday show this week that I went to go put it together and it was the jankiest, most horrible directions I've ever seen it was translated wrong.

[00:03:47] Eric Goranson: They didn't even try to use Google translate a bolt. They called a bullet. It was just out of control and we did our best to get that thing put together so it could be used. But sometimes these things are just [00:04:00] quite frankly dangerous. So be very careful what you're out there on, on Amazon prime days.

[00:04:05] Eric Goranson: Look for the brand name stuff. There are some great buys out there and I'm not going to put those in the show today because people listen to this all week long and considering it's the last day of Amazon prime, there's no sense to sit here, bail off on a bunch of sales that are only going to be listened to for a few hours.

[00:04:22] Eric Goranson: So, and Amazon's not paying me for this anyway. And the last thing those guys need is some free promotion. So make sure, take a look. There are good buys on there. I saw the sense. Energy monitoring system. That was good. Uh, a hundred dollars off of that. That was pretty cool. If you're trying to save money on electricity in your home, that's a great buy, but to just really take a look on there, if you're trying to buy something or you're got a project coming up, it could be a great way to save money, but.

[00:04:48] Eric Goranson: My best advice for you guys out there, my friends, family, and all of you in our audience is when in doubt do business with your local hardware store, your lumber [00:05:00] yard, people you can go shake their hand in the morning and say good morning to, or hit on a Saturday afternoon, getting parts. Let's make sure that we are supporting all of those places.

[00:05:10] Eric Goranson: I've just seen way too many companies. And some of my favorite ones here in my area, I go to go, I jump on, Hey, what are their hours? And they see temporarily closed on Google and it's, Oh, we are losing so many great resources for projects out there where companies just aren't making it. So if we can do something on these Amazon prime days, you're going to get a special buy.

[00:05:32] Eric Goranson: Awesome. But make sure and do your work with your local lumber, your hardware store. Your specialty store. And another thing that we're seeing too, and we're seeing nonprofits. Really start to pay a price right now and any of these reusing places that are nonprofits And I'm not just talking the Habitat for Humanity stores.

[00:05:54] Eric Goranson: Those are their own big machine But a lot of the nonprofits that I work with outside [00:06:00] of the big ones like that the local ones That to take donated materials sell them put them back into the community teach people how to do things They are really hurting because of Facebook marketplace. So what we're seeing is with money being so tight, instead of people going to donate it, they're like, man, I got to get my money back out of this so I can buy gas, buy more materials, whatever.

[00:06:24] Eric Goranson: So just pay attention to that because make sure that we do take care of those local nonprofits that are giving back to the communities. I've got a favorite one here in my area called the rebuilding center. Okay. And maybe it's time to clean out the garage. If you've got some extra materials, let's go donate it.

[00:06:42] Eric Goranson: That way they have something that they can use. And it's a great tax write off for next year. Contractors, if you've got to clean out that storage shed or stuff, make sure that you can donate that and it'll be much nicer for you. That way, those guys can sit there and [00:07:00] be sustainable. And of course, be able to help People out with that.

[00:07:04] Eric Goranson: So I love these community groups like this that really donate that give classes. Those are the ones I'd love to really support and make sure that they're being well taken care of. So if you're in my Portland, Oregon area, make sure and support the rebuilding center. I love these guys. Uh, they have so many community things that they do around their area from teaching people how to fix things to work days in the neighborhood.

[00:07:28] Eric Goranson: I think we just need a lot more of that and support your local charity for that, especially during times like these, where people can't afford to donate stuff. They're really trying to get the most out of that project. I'm going to make sure and do some cleanup around here and do some donations as well to those guys.

[00:07:43] Eric Goranson: Cause I want to make sure that they're doing well. And as far as buying, those are great places where you can save on that next project, going in and buying, you know, used hardwood to do a hardwood floor. If you're going to send it down, buying it where someone's take carefully removed it. We're getting that sink that was [00:08:00] donated.

[00:08:00] Eric Goranson: A lot of times you'll see things get donated in there from hotels or things like that, where they've got a lot of great stuff that has a lot of life left and it can save you a ton of money on that next project. So that's a good one. Hey, we're in the middle of summertime and I wanted to bring this up as well.

[00:08:14] Eric Goranson: Just at the end of our, our, uh, our midweek update here is this is a great time of year to be paying attention to those summer projects. If you're going to be. You know, in my area, it's a dry time of year here, so we don't get as much rain. So it's a great time for instance. To be doing those driveway repairs, your concrete work, your roofing, except for the summer heat.

[00:08:35] Eric Goranson: But if you're going to got an asphalt driveway, you want to resurface to great time to go down and pick that stuff up from your hardware store. And those are things that you can do that are pretty inexpensive. A few hundred bucks. And all of a sudden you got your driveway looking like brand new, nice black and patched up and all looking good.

[00:08:50] Eric Goranson: So these are things to do. And then if you're. Getting those thunderstorms, wind storms, that kind of stuff around the country. Just keep an eye on that roof up there. It's a good time when it's [00:09:00] dry to get up and take a look at it. Give it a really good inspection and be very careful out there guys. So you don't fall off of that.

[00:09:07] Eric Goranson: The sloped roof thing's been big in the news, so make sure you're careful up on that roof and tie off and you'll be good to go. All right, everybody have a great rest of the week. We had a great show coming up this weekend. I'll tell you about on Friday and make sure you're following us on social media on we've got the YouTube now, the around the house, YouTube, and of course the around the house Northwest page where we've got our TV show as well.

[00:09:29] Eric Goranson: Uh, those are two separate YouTube pages and, uh, I'm going to be working on tomorrow. The around the house online website and updating some videos. So make sure you check that, uh, over the next 24 hours, there'll be some new stuff up there as well. And we're going to be adding a bunch more videos to show you what we're doing and stuff that probably could help you out.

[00:09:49] Eric Goranson: So stay tuned for that. All right, everybody have a great rest of the week. Stay safe out there. Be chill. Maybe it's a good time to dial the politics back on TV and enjoy yourself and just [00:10:00] enjoy a wonderful summer with friends and family. And let's not get buried in the minutia like so many, including I have been.

[00:10:09] Eric Goranson: So that's my goal here is just to take a little relaxation and break. From so much of the news and you can always tune in to home improvement here to learn a little bit more about your house I'm, eric g. Thanks for tuning in to around the house