00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's around the house. We've been talking about, of course, how to keep the house cool. But you know, right now we're going to change subjects a little bit and dive into deck inspections, making sure your deck is safe for the rest of the summer. So you've got that dialed in. Well, I wanted to talk about deck inspections because we always see this time of year where it always makes the news where a deck pulls off the house or it collapses or somebody does something absolutely crazy to it.

[00:00:31] Eric Goranson: And of course it makes the news. People get hurt or worse and that's never a good thing. So if you've got a wood deck and it's more than, you know, a foot off the ground, it's something you should be taking a look at and trust me, I've put my foot through plenty of decks before that looked okay, that were a little sketchy, but I've also been on some big ones that, uh, I was so nervous on that.

[00:00:54] Eric Goranson: I basically stepped off of it and said, I'm not going out on that deck. When it comes to remodeling and renovating your [00:01:00] home, there is a lot to we've got you covered. This is Around the House. Around the House shows brought to you by Pyramid Heating Cooling. Serving in Oregon, the Portland metro area, and Bend, Oregon, they are your one stop shop for heating and cooling and indoor air quality.

[00:01:18] Eric Goranson: To find out more, head to pyramidheating. com, Oregon CCB 59382, and Baldwin Hardware. For over 75 years, Baldwin Hardware has been supplying luxury door and cabinetry hardware for that person that is looking for bold, handcrafted quality. For their distinguished home to find out more information, visit baldwinhardware.

[00:01:39] Eric Goranson: com. Welcome to the round the house show. I'm Eric G. Thanks for joining me today. We've got a great second hour of the show here for you. And I can't wait to dive into this one. It's so topical right now. And it's one of those things that I think we can help you out. We're going to talk about two different subjects today.

[00:01:56] Eric Goranson: One, we're going to talk about how to keep your house cooler without spending a [00:02:00] ton of money and some deck safety tips. Now that we're in the middle of the summertime. It's a good time to go out and make sure that your deck is up to that big party. You're planning on having out there and maybe it was 4th of July last week, or maybe it's something coming up.

[00:02:12] Eric Goranson: And so we're going to be talking about those today. Now, if you want to find out more about us, or maybe you want to join our premium membership on the podcast, do that around the house online. com. We've got some special episodes coming up. We've got extended cuts where we've got extra long shows for you.

[00:02:27] Eric Goranson: As well as you get to hear the podcast on Thursday instead of Saturday. So you get to hear it a little bit early. So there's so much going over there and you can find out more about our premium membership at around the house online. com. Let's talk about how to keep your home cooler for us here in the Pacific Northwest.

[00:02:46] Eric Goranson: We had temperatures this last week that were in that 102 to 100 range out here on the coast, which is way hot for us. We broke all records every day for about 5 days and that gets pretty out of control considering a [00:03:00] majority of our people in our area don't have central air conditioning. So that gets to be pretty crazy.

[00:03:06] Eric Goranson: Absolutely crazy. So it's 1 of those things that a lot of people suffer with that. When we had the heat wave here. Jeez, two or three years ago, we ended up having 20 or 25 people pass away from heat exhaustion just in a couple days when we got up to 113, 114 degrees. And so it was not a good situation for people.

[00:03:24] Eric Goranson: And these are some of my tricks and tips to keep things cool for you. So that way, the house is a little bit more manageable. So here's what I do. Many times during the day, you're getting up into those high temps, but at 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 5 o'clock, maybe 6 o'clock in the morning, we get down to maybe 70, maybe it's 60, maybe it's 55, maybe it's cooling way off like it's the desert.

[00:03:50] Eric Goranson: This is the time to ventilate your home. Now, if you gotta get up early, set the alarm, or get up and do this, do it. Here's what I recommend doing. If you've got a single [00:04:00] story house, I wanna get cross flow ventilation in there, so I wanna open up when it's cooler outside than inside the house. I want to open up my windows so you get a good cross ventilation.

[00:04:10] Eric Goranson: If you could open up all the windows and the air outside is clean, go for it. Then what I want to do is go around and turn on my kitchen vent fan, my bathroom vent fans, and see what I can do to keep that air moving outside. Start paying attention to your outside temperature, because as it starts warming up, now's the time you want to close all of it up.

[00:04:31] Eric Goranson: You want to keep all that just air. Inside, you don't want to have any more of that going out. Cause the air that you bring in, like if you're running laundry, for instance, and it's pulling air in because of the dryers pushing air out, that air is going to be much hotter. So those are the times you want to do your laundry in the morning.

[00:04:48] Eric Goranson: You want to do your dishes. If you're doing any baking, do it that time in the morning. So you keep the heat in and when you're outside, even though it's hot outside, it's probably going to be more comfortable with barbecuing outside [00:05:00] on those hot days than it is getting that oven or cooktop going. So that's going to be a key right there, but ventilated early in the morning.

[00:05:07] Eric Goranson: If you got skylights that open up, that can be a really big key as well. And that'll really keep that air moving. I've noticed when I put a skylight in the highest part of my living room there, I can open that up in the morning and it's just like a chimney and it just pulls that heat right out naturally.

[00:05:23] Eric Goranson: And if I open some lower windows, it just, I get that cross flow ventilation and it doesn't cost me any money to do it. And that's where you can save some money. So that's a good one there. Next one is one that we talk about a lot and I'm tired of driving at home, but I'm just going to say it because it needed to be on the list and that is have your HVAC system serviced annually.

[00:05:43] Eric Goranson: This will save you money. This will get on a maintenance plan, take care of it, get them to clean out the coils, make sure everything's going good. If you've got an older system, they'll make sure the capacitor that starts the motor works correctly, isn't swollen up. That way, when it gets super hot, it doesn't cut out on you.

[00:05:59] Eric Goranson: Most of [00:06:00] the time, a good technician can predict that from happening. So that way you're Hey, you need to do this. Otherwise, this is going to break down on your next heat wave. And that'll save you a few 100 bucks just on a service call, especially when it's a important 1 like that. Now, a lot of these companies, as if you get on a maintenance plan, 1, it'll save you money too.

[00:06:19] Eric Goranson: If you do have a breakdown, it'll put you in the front of the line. And they'll also sit there many times, and it's just depending on who does this, but they'll also give you a break where they're not going to charge you for after hours fees if you're on their maintenance plan. So, front of the line. And so that way, during the heat wave, that could save you a ton of time too.

[00:06:36] Eric Goranson: You'll get a service tech out next available. Versus waiting in the long line where it could be a week. Now, another little side note here as well. Make sure that you've got all those heat things in your house. If you've got a heated tile floor in the bathroom, turn that stuff off. Anything that's generating heat, the clothes dryer, only use that.

[00:06:56] Eric Goranson: Early in the morning at the coolest part of the day. So you can help ventilate things out. [00:07:00] Only use that stuff that creates heat when you need to. So heated tile floors, shut them off. Otherwise you're paying to keep that in cool. You're just fighting it another day for that comfort, as well as just making sure that you're controlling humidity in the home.

[00:07:14] Eric Goranson: Now, this is an important one because your body feels humidity at the same way.

[00:07:24] Eric Goranson: This is why when you're sitting there and you're in a house and it's 70 degrees and you're like, man, it is hot in here, even though the thermostat says 70, I bet you've got 50, 60, 70 degree humidity, which makes it feel hotter. Because if it's 70 degrees and you go, oh, it's feeling cool for many people.

[00:07:43] Eric Goranson: Now you're at 30, 40, or even 20 percent humidity and your body feels that the same. So make sure that you're controlling humidity in your home during the summer. And if you want to feel cooler, make sure you've got that under control. That could be as simple as using your vent [00:08:00] hoods in the bathroom. It could be as simple as being careful when you ventilate or having a whole house to keep that down in the summer months.

[00:08:07] Eric Goranson: If you're in an area where humidity is king outside, you walk outside in Texas and you've got that humidity, maybe having that whole house humidifier to help along with that EC, that could be a problem. Now, many of you out there that have systems that were improperly designed, like they oversized it trying to make up for that, that's where you can run into some serious problems.

[00:08:29] Eric Goranson: Because when your system short cycles, it doesn't take out the humidity. It doesn't have time to do it. It doesn't move enough air to remove that. So that's one thing is it's hard on the system and two, you're not letting the AC do its natural thing of removing that humidity out of there. So, this is one of those things that if you have in the summertime, that humidity getting above 50%, if that might be an easy way to do that in the house is to get that brought down and then that way, it's going to be much more comfortable for you.

[00:08:56] Eric Goranson: So, keeping that cooler, getting that humidity out of there [00:09:00] is going to be much better off for you. And that's going to give you that feeling of being cooler. Now, another thing is that this is my other trick and tip here. We're going to talk about this. This is something that you can jump into your local Lowe's store or jump on Amazon.

[00:09:14] Eric Goranson: And there's a cool little piece that you can go get that goes on the end of the hose that can drastically reduce the temperature in your home. And you don't even have to bring it inside if you've got central heating or a heat pump This can be your savior during these heat waves around the house.

[00:09:30] Eric Goranson: We'll be right back after these important messages. Don't go anywhere I got some stuff to keep you cool[00:10:00]

[00:10:09] Eric Goranson: What's up, this is dixon inya and satchel from steel panther and you are listening to around the house With Eric G. Yeah, we love Eric G. And you should too.

[00:10:29] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the around the house show the next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me. I'm Eric G. We've been talking here about how to keep your home cooler this summer without spending a ton of money. And that's where some of these tricks and tips might be able to help you keep your place cool.

[00:10:44] Eric Goranson: I've been using a lot of these this week because I tell you what, this last week, it was just absolutely blazing hot in the Pacific Northwest where I live. And some of these were really good for keeping the temperature much more manageable around the house. What we're talking about making sure just to give you a little [00:11:00] recap from last segment, if you're just joining us on the radio, we ventilated early in the morning, get everything opened up, get everything ready to go.

[00:11:06] Eric Goranson: And then to have your HVAC system. If you have central air, uh, or heat pump, having that serviced annually to make sure that's working great. And then, of course, this next one here is an important one. Running a mister to help your outside AC unit stay cool. So, if you think about it, that outside compressor out there that is swapping out that heat, its job is to convert or remove the heat out of that coolant and send it back into the house.

[00:11:34] Eric Goranson: So, when things go from liquid to gas, you get that cool process. Air only does so well For transferring heat. And what I've done is I put a hose in Mr. Cause one got to make sure you don't have hard water here. If you have hard water, that's not treated, don't do this. This will probably not be great for your system, but if you have decent water, it's not hard then take that hose.

[00:11:57] Eric Goranson: Go out there, put a mister next to that unit [00:12:00] on these extra hot heat days where you've got heat warnings and everything else that can add another five to 10 degrees of temperature drop to your system because what it's doing is it's transferring that heat faster. It's what happens to your body when you turn the mister on.

[00:12:15] Eric Goranson: Wow. Okay. I'm moving the heat faster. It feels cooler. It's helping you cool down. You're doing the same thing right there because it's trying to take that heat and push it off so it can send it back into the home. So one of those little hose in misters out there running during the heat of the afternoon can really help get your temperature down.

[00:12:32] Eric Goranson: And if you need to get three or four degrees to make it comfortable, if you want to get it from 80 to 75 in the house and your system's running at full speed, maybe that's your solution right there. And a little bit of water, a little bit of mister can go a long way. Just don't forget, set an alarm on your phone before you go to bed that says, turn off mistress.

[00:12:49] Eric Goranson: You're not wasting water. But, uh, if you're going to do that for a couple hours, it makes a big difference. So something to try out, try those misters. They work really all right. The next one here [00:13:00] is an important one, and it's a debatable one that people jump into that can be a headache. And this is attic ventilation.

[00:13:07] Eric Goranson: Now, I got an email on this recently, and this is an important one, and this is why I wanted to bring this up in this episode. You'll see those whole attic fans where there are power fan on the end of the gable. And I will only say to install one of those when you have got a chance to go up and seal that space off.

[00:13:26] Eric Goranson: The biggest kind of Achilles heel of those systems. Are that many times that attic space is not cleaned up. What I mean by cleaned up is they haven't sealed up everything. You've got can lights that are leaking all the holes for the electrical and plumbing, any, uh, vent fans that aren't sealed around.

[00:13:43] Eric Goranson: All those things need to be sealed. Any place around there. So what I recommend is if you're putting one of those in, pull the installation back, go in and then caulk and seal up everything between that attic space in the living space down below it. [00:14:00] Now, if it's in the wall, use some of that fire caulking.

[00:14:02] Eric Goranson: The fire foam to go through and close up all those things. Not a bad idea anyway, but you need to stop any drafts from the condition space to go out there. Cause what happens is you'll put on, you need to have more ventilation for incoming air, which is usually around your soffits. But if you don't have that balanced out, it's going to pull more and then all of a sudden it's going to pull cool air out of your house.

[00:14:24] Eric Goranson: And people are going, why is my house hotter when I turn that on? It's because it's pulling cold air out of your house and sending it outside. Okay. Yes, you did reduce the attic temperature, but you reduced it by pulling out the cold air that's in your house. So that's counterintuitive. So you want to make sure you go through and seal up all those areas.

[00:14:42] Eric Goranson: And really the only way to do that is to pull the insulation back and just go through it on a nice winter day when it's not hot up there and caulk that all in, seal it up, spray foam, do what you got to do. It just needs to be sealed. Doesn't have to be pretty, just needs to be sealed up. And then you could put that insulation back and [00:15:00] take care of it.

[00:15:00] Eric Goranson: So, if you're building a house, it's an easy thing to do. You can make sure that's sealed up and put it in there. Otherwise, you're probably going to be pulling too much air inside the house and creating a vacuum there, which now you're paying to cool the attic and that makes no sense. So, be careful with those power vent fans.

[00:15:16] Eric Goranson: Those can be problematic if not installed correctly. So, that's a big one. Now, the other thing is you can turn on, if you've got an air conditioner, let's say it's a window air conditioner or a portable unit, Or even your HVAC system. If you want to pre cool your house to try to get ahead on those hot days, maybe turn it down to 65 degrees.

[00:15:35] Eric Goranson: Turn it down a little bit and get that temperature down. So that way in the heat of the day, when it can't catch up or can't get that close, now you're chasing it down, but you've moved the goalposts a little bit. So if you're heating the Won't keep under 80 degrees and you want it at 75. Maybe if you drop down five degrees earlier, it'll help you keep a cooler longer.

[00:15:57] Eric Goranson: Now it will be cold in the mornings and [00:16:00] that's one of those challenges. Now, another side note on this, if you're putting in a new HVAC system in, talk to your HVAC professional about going through and doing a zone system. And that's what I did in my house. So I have two zones, I have upstairs and downstairs.

[00:16:15] Eric Goranson: So I have two thermostats and two fan controls, and it actually has damper controls, so it turns off the upstairs when I want to. So what's cool with that is, is on a hot day, it could be 70 degrees downstairs. I don't need to have the AC on down there, but I need to have it upstairs. So it'll put everything upstairs.

[00:16:33] Eric Goranson: Now. With an older home, you are limited to what your existing ducts are that go up between the first and second floors. So in my house, it can only do so much. But the nice thing is, when you do that, and with a variable speed unit, that can really save you a ton of energy and have a more balanced home.

[00:16:50] Eric Goranson: And that can save you some bucks right there. So take a look at that. If you're looking at a system, sometimes it's only a few thousand bucks to add on. But get a quote, see what that costs. It [00:17:00] might not be that crazy depending on how easy access it is to go up there. Cause you're gonna need some dampers and a system that can handle that, which is probably going to be variable speed.

[00:17:09] Eric Goranson: And that will get you so you can have a much more balanced bedroom that way. If you want that bedroom at 65 and the rest of the house at 70, if you're somebody that likes to sleep cool. That can be had that way and something to take a look at that could be really nice and comfortable for your home. Now, another one seems obvious.

[00:17:25] Eric Goranson: Make sure you cool the house and when you have the house cool, make sure you close those blinds in the morning. That the sun's hitting anything there to help reflect that. And then if you've got white color blinds, that will do better than if you've got dark ones, the dark ones will tend to bring more heat in.

[00:17:40] Eric Goranson: So if you've got nice white reflective blinds pushing that heat out, that can be good. If you've got newer windows, of course, that can help as well, but really having some great blinds in there. To shut things down. And another thing is if you're thinking about putting a new roof on, you're thinking about new colors, you're going to paint it this summer.

[00:17:56] Eric Goranson: Think of lighter colors. I live in the shade here. I've got a [00:18:00] black house, but I can get away with that because I'm mostly in the shade 95 percent of the day. So that black color doesn't really attract the heat. Like you would be worried about. Now, if I was out in the desert, that can add 10 or 15 degrees to my house.

[00:18:15] Eric Goranson: And create a whole hotter building envelope as well. So that can be problematic. So think about that. Your roof color, colors that reflect heat can be really well. Now, another thing is another trick that I use. I want to do this before we get out to break here, is using your vent fans, your bathroom fans, and your kitchen to help move air when you need to.

[00:18:36] Eric Goranson: All right, we come back. We're going to talk about how to inspect your outdoor deck and make sure that it is safe It'll be good for another year living on. We'll do that just as soon as around the house returns. Hey,[00:19:00]

[00:19:01] Eric Goranson: this is Ron Keel. The metal cowboy from Keel, the Ron Keel band and Steeler. We are rocking around the house with Eric G.

[00:19:14] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the round the house show. The next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me. We've been talking about, of course, how to keep the house cool, but you know Right now, we're going to change subjects a little bit and dive into deck inspections, making sure your deck is safe for the rest of the summer.

[00:19:31] Eric Goranson: So you've got that dialed in. But first, before we get too far here, if you're just joining us on the radio, make sure you find out more about us here at the show at around the house online. com. And of course, you can find out our TV show there, which is the around the house Northwest show. The YouTube videos are there and you can find it all on that website.

[00:19:49] Eric Goranson: And if you have any home improvement questions, give me a call here in the studio at 833. 239 4144, that's 833, 239 4144. [00:20:00] Well, I wanted to talk about deck inspections because we always see this time of year, where it always makes the news, where a deck pulls off the house, or it collapses. Or somebody does something absolutely crazy to it.

[00:20:13] Eric Goranson: And of course, it makes the news and people get hurt or worse. And that's never a good thing. So if you've got a wood deck and it's more than, you know, a foot off the ground, it's something you should be taking a look at. And trust me, I've put my foot through plenty of decks before that looked okay. There were a little sketchy, but I've also been on some big ones that, uh, I was so nervous on that.

[00:20:36] Eric Goranson: I basically stepped off of it and said, I'm not going out on that deck. Cause I think I'm going to be a long ride down. So the first thing you're going to be looking for is on the structural framing underneath, and this is going to be that ledger board. Now the ledger board is that piece of wood that attaches the deck framing.

[00:20:54] Eric Goranson: To the side of the house. Now, first off, that thing needs to be screwed in with [00:21:00] structural screws, bolts or whatever. No nails, no nails in this at all. This needs to be screwed with structural screws or bolts like lag bolts going into the framing of the house. And I want to see that between every single joist bay as a minimum.

[00:21:18] Eric Goranson: So I want to see that going in there and making sure that that is dialed in nice and tight about every 16 inches because that's usually what the house is framed at. Could be 24 if it's framed at 24. I'd like to see it into a ledger board so at least 16 on center down there having that all bolted in.

[00:21:34] Eric Goranson: That needs to be perfectly done. So that way that's attached to the house. And, you know, it seems that half to three quarters of the time when you see those deck collapses in the news, that's because that ended up pulling off the side of the house and then everybody took a wild ride down. And so that's one of the main contributing factors to that.

[00:21:57] Eric Goranson: So that needs to be fastened in there correctly to [00:22:00] start with. But really I want you to start looking for rotting or decaying wood. So get around with a little, you know, like an all or a flathead screwdriver, even a Phillips and start poking around at the wood. If it seems soft or mushy, that means you've got a structural issue going on right there.

[00:22:18] Eric Goranson: So you want to make sure it is very sound. So part of that is going to be the flashing around that ledger board. So if that is bolted to the side of the house, if you're looking up, you should see metal flashing that comes out from the siding that comes down over that ledger board that those deck boards are sitting on top of.

[00:22:39] Eric Goranson: I want to see some flashing there. I want to make sure that's not, because here's what happens. If that is not flashed correctly right there, then you've got water that can go down behind the siding into the framing of the house. That ledger board can look good, but everything behind it is rotten, which means that that screw or bolt or That structural [00:23:00] screw, the structural pieces holding that together are not holding it into something that's solid, which means that now could be the weak point.

[00:23:08] Eric Goranson: So I want to look up under those deck boards and make sure that that flashing is under the siding. It comes down between the deck boards, you know what you're walking on, and the framing down below it. I want to make sure that is coming up through there so you can see that flashing. And that should be down there.

[00:23:25] Eric Goranson: So it's kicking the water out and around it, not in behind it. That's one of those common mistakes that I see deck builders that are very inexperienced do is they forget that flashing part. And that is its own detail to make sure you get that right. So that needs to be flashed correctly. If that, uh, if you're building a deck right now that I'd want to make sure that you've got flexible flashing behind it, you've got a nice.

[00:23:48] Eric Goranson: Weather barrier between those 2 pieces of wood, which is going to be the, you know, the framing of the house. And of course, that sheathing. And then from there, you never want to put that up to the siding unless it's [00:24:00] T1 11. but the problem when you do that is you go, oh, it's still plywood is you still get those gaps coming down there.

[00:24:06] Eric Goranson: So you still want to cut that out. And put the flashing in, you want to put some more plywood in behind it, that's fine, but you still need to flash that off correctly and make sure that that is dialed in. Even if it's a 70s house, for instance, that has that T 1 11, you want to make sure you do that correctly.

[00:24:22] Eric Goranson: Because that is a big deal to get that. So, anywhere the 2 pieces of framing that structural member come together, you know, like, you're, um, Uh, let's, let's call it, you've got, so traditional deck construction, you've got your ledger board that's attached to the house, and then you've got your joists that are coming off of that, and then that's going to go out away from the house and be sitting on some kind of a beam system out there, or a beam that's attached into the end of that.

[00:24:51] Eric Goranson: So whatever that span is right there is that span of the deck. Now, I want to make sure that you've got joist hangers that are coming off that ledger board onto [00:25:00] that. And so everything is being held up by structural fasteners, whether it's my tech or Simpson or whatever brand those are. I want to see those galvanized fasteners there.

[00:25:10] Eric Goranson: And of course those need to be all connected together. So anytime that you have wood coming around, Whether it's a beam to Joyce Joyce to ledger board to a rim Joyce or whatever, I want to see structural brackets holding all of that together. And of course, using the structural screws to go with it. We want to make sure that we don't see.

[00:25:32] Eric Goranson: Um, drywall screws, regular construction screws. These need to be the structural like Simpson nails or Simpson screws that are designed for these brackets, because that is just as important as everything else in this whole system to hold together. So that's really important right there. Now, as you're looking at these, you want to make sure that the fasteners are in there and that there's nothing loose.

[00:25:57] Eric Goranson: For instance, your posts that go down off [00:26:00] that beam, those need to go down on top of a concrete footing, no deck blocks, none of those little self supporting blocks, especially if it's over, you know, 30 inches high, that needs to be in the ground in concrete. And then have a bracket come up and then the post comes up from there.

[00:26:17] Eric Goranson: You want to make sure those are all connected together. And if there's any cross bracing or anything there, everything needs to be nice and tight. Sometimes just with mother nature, you build one of these decks and if you've got pressure treated wood that you're using, which is a great idea. Sometimes when you get, I've had that pressure treated wood so wet and so heavy.

[00:26:38] Eric Goranson: That when you fasten it all together, it's nice and tight, but it's like 75 percent moisture at this point. By the time it gets through a summer or two, now it's down to 12 or 15%. So what happens is, is things kind of loosen up a little bit. So you might have to go around and tighten things up. That's okay.

[00:26:55] Eric Goranson: That's somewhat natural for this. Especially if you're in a dry summer. So it's good to [00:27:00] get that thing put together. So once you've got that base structure, I want you to walk around the top and make sure that if you've got wood deck boards, there's no weak points there. There's no rot. Everything seems good and that everything is finished correctly.

[00:27:14] Eric Goranson: And you don't have to worry about a failing finish. That's going to lead to more rot. Now the next thing you're going to want to do is when you're going around the outside is if you've got stairs coming down, It's a great time to check that out because stairs are one of the weak points in a deck that you'll see damage pretty quickly on, and it's one of the easiest things to get damaged people running up and down.

[00:27:34] Eric Goranson: Maybe you're moving stuff around on it and you're overloading it. Whatever stairs can be a weak point in there because you've got a lot of wood and you've got wood that's been cut out, especially for those stairs. So make sure that they're solid. Make sure that they're not moving around. Kind of bounce around them on a little bit just to make sure everything's fastened.

[00:27:54] Eric Goranson: Those need to be properly fastened to the deck and of course fastened to the ground, usually into a concrete [00:28:00] pad down below. That way you're solid. Now the next up here is I want you to start taking a look at railings. This is another solid part where people get on That deck, they start leaning, maybe you got two or three friends over there, leaning over the deck, they're kind of letting their body weight go on it.

[00:28:19] Eric Goranson: All of a sudden, you could have 600 pounds of force on the outside of those railings, and if they're not put in correctly, maybe they were just nailed on. Maybe they're not split up correctly. Maybe they're not installed correctly. All of a sudden, you could have people landing out in your backyard. And that could be six, seven, 10 feet down.

[00:28:36] Eric Goranson: So this is where you can run into trouble. So you want to make sure that none of that stuff moves and that it's looking really, really good around the house. We were at backup news, important messages. Welcome[00:29:00]

[00:29:01] Eric Goranson: back to the around the house show. The next generation of home improvement. If you just joining us on the radio, it's okay. You can catch the show on any podcast player. Just look for around the house show. And then you can find out more about us over to round the house online. com. Well, if you're just joining us, we were talking in the first half of this hour, but my tricks and tips to make sure that you keep that house cool without spending a bunch of money.

[00:29:26] Eric Goranson: So some of the things you can do to save money, if you don't have central heat and air, or if you've got a window air conditioner, or you're just trying to keep your house cooler. Without having to have a huge energy bill. I have some great tricks there for you. And now we've been talking about those deck safety tips to make sure that your deck is ready for fun all summer or all year long, depending on where you're living.

[00:29:48] Eric Goranson: Well, one of the biggest things that I see as far as safety is people overloading the deck. It could be they take up the kiddie pool and put it on the deck so mom and dad can watch them, or [00:30:00] they get up there and put something bigger like an above ground pool up there. Or a hot tub without engineering.

[00:30:07] Eric Goranson: Now I've seen this and we're just talking about it. We're not to break about. I've seen people stack a pallet of stuff up there, but you need to really pay attention to what you're putting up there. If you're putting an outdoor kitchen, maybe you've got a chimney or a fire pit. You've got, uh, uh, you know, a refrigerator for the bar, whatever you're putting up there and you throw your 10 best friends up there.

[00:30:31] Eric Goranson: All of a sudden you can be overloading that deck. And sometimes it won't tell you that you've overloaded it until things are too late. So things that I start looking for is you can take a look. And see how that's built and what would is built and what the spans are. That'll start to tell you kind of what the max load capacity is.

[00:30:52] Eric Goranson: You can jump online, check the engineering, you know, if they built it minimum. And what I mean by minimum is [00:31:00] maybe you've got, uh, an eight foot deck, uh, with two by sixes and it's not, it's 16 on center. You got composite up there. That's kind of a minimum construction where it's going to be a little bit of a springy deck.

[00:31:14] Eric Goranson: But if you've got something that's built a lot heavier, maybe 12 inch on center, because you're using composites and you really have something sturdy. That can hold a lot more weight. So it comes down to what the spans are. And of course, what the overhang is over the end, because many times you'll have a deck that's elevated and you'll have that beam under there.

[00:31:33] Eric Goranson: And then you're going to have that cantilever beyond it. And so you got to be really careful. And it's a big difference too. Maybe you've got two four by four posts up there, but those four by fours can only hold so much. If they were six by sixes, maybe they'd hold a lot more. And as a cross brace, what's the bracing of the deck to spread the load.

[00:31:51] Eric Goranson: There's a lot of things on here. If you're worried about it, you can always have an engineer come out and tell you what that's engineered for. And if you're okay, [00:32:00] so that's some of the secrets to that. So, be very careful with what you do for outdoor furniture, what you do for storage. And, of course, any of those fire puts heaters, anything else up there and then again, if you've got a charcoal grill up there, like, 1 of my favorites, a Weber kettle.

[00:32:17] Eric Goranson: And you've got a wood deck up there. I would put down a pad on the ground that's going to be fireproof. So you don't have to worry about starting a deck fire out there. Keep that barbecue clean. If you've got a gas barbecue and you're not maintaining it, or even more, I've seen plenty of Traeger's and other brands out there of the wood pellets where they haven't done their maintenance, keep your grill nice and clean.

[00:32:41] Eric Goranson: You won't have as many flare ups that reduces the fire risk out there. We see so many house fires. Based on somebody forgetting to maintain the barbecue, not maintaining it, or the fire gets out of control, they get a grease fire like you would in the kitchen, and you got a heck of a mess, [00:33:00] and that can be a major disaster in your backyard.

[00:33:04] Eric Goranson: So, be very careful with that. So, the other thing is, is I want you to go around and make sure with the railings and banisters, you're looking for wood rot. Any wood rot on that is something you need to jump into, whether it's on the staircase or it's around the outside. Get in there, replace that wood, take care of it.

[00:33:23] Eric Goranson: Now, what I've seen, if you're building a deck out of pressure treated wood, I'm starting to see that we end up getting into this where we're. 15 years is an average lifespan for a wood deck out there. So, I'm seeing, now I've seen them last 30. If you maintain them, you take care of them. But if you just have a deck on the back of the house at 6, 8 feet off the ground, after 15 years, you can have some serious issues as far as structure if you haven't taken care of it.

[00:33:53] Eric Goranson: So, make sure that if you've got a few years into it, and maybe somebody built this deck and painted it, you don't even know what's underneath [00:34:00] But if it's built out of just regular dimensional lumber versus a pressure treated or a treated wood, that's going to really reduce that lifespan as well. I've seen, um, people that have gone up there and put a cheap deck stain on two by fours that are just your white wood dimensional stuff you buy at your home improvement store.

[00:34:18] Eric Goranson: And three, four years later, those things are rotten out already, depending on the climate. So it's really depending on the wood that was used and how it's been maintained and make sure you got that dialed in. And that will really help you as far as deck maintenance, making sure you got the right wood and you're treating it correctly.

[00:34:35] Eric Goranson: Here's the thing guys, when it comes down to staining decks, I don't care what brand of stain you used. And we just did this here recently where we did some tests on deck stains. On what lasted and just in our little test, one of my best ones that I was really surprised was the bare water based stain that did one of the best holdups in how we tested stuff as far as where and washing off the [00:35:00] worst one for us here.

[00:35:02] Eric Goranson: I tell you what, the Thompson's water seal did not hold up. That thing was soaking water in and just was probably the weakest one in our test that we did here. And so really, make sure you got a good stain. You'll probably get a couple years out of a good stain in most places on an uncovered deck. So if you can get two or three years, you're doing great.

[00:35:24] Eric Goranson: Um, if sometimes if you got a hot tub or something like that, or heavy traffic, all of a sudden you might be doing this every year, which is why unfortunately all these composite decks are super important because they'll probably last longer on that top wearing surface and you're not going to have to sit there and do so much scanning.

[00:35:46] Eric Goranson: Now I hope some of these tips have helped you with your deck and keep you getting it done. Maintain and keeping it up to speed. Now, none of this information will replace a really good deck inspection where you go around with a checklist or have a professional [00:36:00] come out and do it and make sure that you're good to go.

[00:36:02] Eric Goranson: So when in doubt, have an inspector come out, have it taken care of to make sure it's code compliant, it's safe, and it's going to be safe for you and your family. This is something that's super important that gets overlooked as we're super busy in the summertime. And that can be a problem. So just make sure it's safe.

[00:36:18] Eric Goranson: It's good. That way you won't have to sweat it and you can enjoy that until next season. Now, one of the things that you're starting to see in deck construction now that's getting interesting is when you're seeing new decks get built, if they're using wood. You're seeing Joyce tape go across the top that they make a black butyl based tape or now even with some people a roll on coating that protects that upper layer.

[00:36:43] Eric Goranson: Because what happens is, is when you screw down through a composite or even would where those screws go into the top part of that beam, they really start rotting out in there. Because any of these pressure treated lumbers, they're treated, but the center core still doesn't get it. And so, that gives a [00:37:00] freeway right into it.

[00:37:00] Eric Goranson: These joist tapes really go in there and give you that sealed off area. And so that way, when the screw goes through that to fasten those deck boards down, whether they're composite or wood or whatever, You go down into that and all of a sudden that seals around that screw so you don't have to worry about that.

[00:37:17] Eric Goranson: So that will make things last so much longer. So if you spend 50 or 100 bucks on tape, that can double the lifespan of that DAC. Especially when it comes to the framing down below. It really does a great job of doing it. So it's something to consider, especially if it's a deck that you're going to be there.

[00:37:34] Eric Goranson: Maybe you just bought the house, you're building a new house and you really want to go that route with it. This can be a great way to extend the life of it without having to get into other materials like aluminum or steel, or some of these other materials that of course will last longer in most situations than what.

[00:37:52] Eric Goranson: The time that I don't think you got to be careful with is if you're getting out into coastal applications where you have saltwater. Uh, wood still might be the best way to [00:38:00] go because that saltwater can corrode the metals and get into any place that you've drilled into and that can cause other issues.

[00:38:07] Eric Goranson: So there is no one all be all perfect material for framing a deck up. But if you do wood and you do the joist tape, you'll get the most life out of it. And then if you go through and just make sure that everything is coated with a stain Or a paint to help kind of take that weather. You're just going to get the most life out of it.

[00:38:28] Eric Goranson: So that's my secrets to making sure that that deck lasts the longest. Steel can be pretty cool. I tell you what, there's some great systems out there that work well. And if you're building a hot tub on top of it, or you're doing some heavy duty deck where you're gonna have a lot of people up on it or outdoor kitchen, you don't want it to move.

[00:38:45] Eric Goranson: That might be a great way to go. So take a look at it. It goes together so quickly. Because all you're doing is bolting stuff together, and that can make for a very seriously strong system. And you're starting to see too now, trends where people, instead of using composite deck boards, [00:39:00] or some of the new rubber coated decks, you're seeing tile get put in, you're seeing large format tiles, you're seeing, uh, steel with more of a patio paver on top of it.

[00:39:12] Eric Goranson: There's a lot of different things happening to give you a different feel. I'm Eric G and you've been listening to Around the House.