[00:00:23] Intro: this is around the house.

[00:00:28] Eric Goranson: Welcome to Around the House with Eric G. This is where we talk about home improvement for you. Single week. Thanks for joining us. This is the midweek special. I've gotten up early to cut this one today because, well, I've got some construction going in my driveway here in a little bit.

[00:00:45] Eric Goranson: And, uh, I wanted to get this done and out so, uh, you didn't hear all the machinery in the background and make a, uh, well, little more noise in the background than I like to have in a show. So I ended up staying up late last night on Monday night. [00:01:00] Uh, boy. What a great time. There's a kid that I've been helping for a number of years, actually.

[00:01:05] Eric Goranson: His dad and I ended up doing a lot of construction together. He owned a, uh, remodeling company up in the Seattle area and I was his designer for decades up there. Well, his kid, Jayden, Luke was on the Voice last night and actually got to see him go out there and own the stage. So that was a lot of fun.

[00:01:23] Eric Goranson: Stayed up later than I normally do to see it, but, uh, of course, couldn't go back to sleep cuz he went out there and owned it. And, uh, put something up on our Facebook page today on, uh, around the House Show so you can find that and, uh, see what I'm talking about. At least I know it's not home improvement, but you've heard him in the show for years and, uh, this is the kid I've been supporting and it's been fun to watch him just go out and crush it.

[00:01:47] Eric Goranson: So that's been a lot of fun for me. Well, speaking of construction here, we've got an interesting one at my house. So my neighbors behind us. You know, I've moved into a house here a few years ago that I just have the most [00:02:00] wonderful neighbors. We all look, we all look out for each other, we all help each other.

[00:02:04] Eric Goranson: It's all these things that we can do. It's just a great community here, and the neighbors behind me and they've got a flag lot. So the driveway goes down one side of the house and we've got them behind us. And, uh, we were, you know, two lots houses built at the same time and split up when they built it and, uh, all of that nonsense back in the seventies.

[00:02:25] Eric Goranson: Well, they, we've got these trees, which I love, but I also have to shake my head with trees because we've got these a hundred seventy five, two hundred year old trees here. Some of them, like the one in my middle of my backyard is closer to 350 years old. So these things. Nearing a couple hundred feet tall, big, huge fur trees.

[00:02:46] Eric Goranson: It's like we live in the forest, but their water line going to their house that they put in in 1977. Well, that thing in the poly pipe that they use, they use that black sprinkler pipe, which is not [00:03:00] awesome. Those roots have been tearing theirs up, knock on wood. Mine not yet, but when I do my addition, we're gonna put a new one in.

[00:03:07] Eric Goranson: So I'm not doing this on this project, but they're going to try. To directionally bore a waterline down probably 300 feet under of their driveway, and it's paved. The problem is, is that we have rocks here that are the size of a Volkswagen bug. I'm not kidding. These are things with the mini excavators you can't even budge.

[00:03:35] Eric Goranson: So they're thousands and thousands of pounds, and of course, Those drill rigs are not designed to drill through big, huge rocks like that. And, uh, they made an attempt last week. These guys are trying their best effort at it. And, uh, they started, they got about 12 feet and they hit this rock and bound the drill bit up so much that it blew the hoses off the side of the [00:04:00] hydraulic motor and they were done for the day.

[00:04:03] Eric Goranson: So in theory today, they're gonna do this. Am I, uh, confident that this is gonna go well today? Not a bit, not a bit. I got a feeling that this is going to, uh, not go well and, and I love my neighbors, so I hope it goes well. But, uh, again, I can be the realist looking at it going, This is gonna be one of those things that, uh, well, I think it's gonna be a long day and I don't think they're gonna get very far, which means.

[00:04:27] Eric Goranson: This is where this gets crazy and we talk about pricing out there, right guys? And this is where we talk about stuff where it gets so expensive this waterline for them to go all the way down this tri it, hook it up, about $20,000 for this. Now here's where it gets even uglier. If they can't get this thing done today with the, with the the drill, they're gonna have to do a asphalt cut down the middle of the drive.

[00:04:57] Eric Goranson: They're gonna have to get a vacuum truck in there for three [00:05:00] days and suck cuz it can't hurt the, uh, hurt the tree roots. They've gotta go through there and vacuum. Dig that down. In our area, it has to be at least 30 inches, so clearly we're not in a, in a place where we get too cold, but it's gotta be 30 inches underground and they gotta go back and then do a, a pavement patch down the middle of the driveway.

[00:05:23] Eric Goranson: So my guess on that, probably 50 to $60,000. So I don't wanna see that happen to my neighbors, but, uh, we're gonna watch and see today and, uh, probably put some video up, uh, on around the House show, on, uh, Instagram and Facebook. Hopefully they will get this knocked out today. And I tell you what, you know, I love the trees that we have, but sometimes I tell you what, as a homeowner, I shake my head because.

[00:05:50] Eric Goranson: They're out there at the street digging up around the meter last week, and for them to do that, and they're only digging down 30 inches, they had to cut away the, the [00:06:00] pathway out there. There's a, a pathway, the goods by my house where people walk on. They had to cut that away with the hot saw and, you know, dig down 30 inches right there with the vacuum truck.

[00:06:10] Eric Goranson: They still had to pay, I don't know how many hundreds of dollars an hour in arborist to stand there and look in the hole. To make sure they weren't hurting the tree roots. And even though that was my tree that was there, it seemed a bit excessive to be having somebody that was, uh, as the guy from the plumbing company said that arborist right there was making more than the five guys, including the, uh, master plumber that's standing there.

[00:06:37] Eric Goranson: Doing the project. So that gives you an idea of what kind of expense that is just added onto a job. So I love protecting the trees, no problem. But I'm not sure having an arborist on that was probably a necessary deal. Just to dig a hole 30 inches deep, that's, well, three foot by three foot, and it's probably 16 feet away from the closest.[00:07:00]

[00:07:00] Eric Goranson: So it's gonna be interesting. So I'm curious to see how that goes today. So, uh, that's gonna be the one outside, so, uh, no recording today, that's for sure. Cuz it's gonna be a noisy one. It's gonna be a little bit crazy. So, hey, I wanted to announce, uh, as well, coming up at Design and Construction week down in Las Vegas, Nevada.

[00:07:22] Eric Goranson: We're gonna have some fun down there. It's not Nevada, it's. There you go, Nevada. So here's the thing, I'm gonna be down there for a couple days. I wanna be doing some live events down there. So we will be in, uh, exhibitor booth at Design and Construction week. So, uh, there will be a schedule that will come out here in a couple months.

[00:07:40] Eric Goranson: So if you are attending there, if you're a contractor, designer, anything else, and you're heading over to Design and Construction Week in Las Vegas, which is gonna be this massive trade show cuz you'll have the International Building Show. You'll have the Kitchen of Bath Industry Show and the International Hardware Show all in one location.

[00:07:57] Eric Goranson: So we're gonna be over there having a good time. So we'll be [00:08:00] doing, uh, about three a day. It looks like some, you know, these just live events that you'll hear on the podcast. So guess what? If. You're not gonna be able to attend. You'll be able to hear this later on in February. So that's gonna be a lot of fun.

[00:08:15] Eric Goranson: We're gonna have a lot of great content there, talking about new stuff, new products and celebrities. So we'll see who we have for that. That's gonna be a lot of fun. So, uh, something to take a look for out there. And if you're gonna be there, I'd love to see you over there. So, uh, we'll, uh, get you out some more Inform.

[00:08:32] Eric Goranson: And the next on the docket today, I wanted to talk about, you know, I've been doing kind of quietly over the last few years are around the House Pro Insider Podcast. And, uh, that has been for the trades, it has been for the remodel industry, design build all of those guys out there. And I have decided to sunset that.

[00:08:52] Eric Goranson: I have decided to, uh, make that kind of wrap up. And we're gonna combine that into the, around the [00:09:00] house show a little bit. . We're not gonna be talking about business stuff here in this, but we'll still be talking about the new products, new stuff coming out in the industry for homeowners and contractors alike.

[00:09:12] Eric Goranson: So we will be able to hit both of you and take care of you in this show. I am just with the TV show coming up here, uh, in January. I am not gonna be able to do two full-time podcasts as well as television, a weekly television show that will air an hour of content. 52 weeks a year. So it's just not gonna happen.

[00:09:32] Eric Goranson: There's only so much of me, so we're gonna cut that back there so I can make sure that this show here has the best content that we can put out. And I don't want to have to cut back and, uh, make something be a B grade just because I run out of time. So, uh, we're gonna keep working on that, but that's gonna be something pretty fun.

[00:09:50] Eric Goranson: And it'll be something that, um, you know, we're gonna wrap that up. We'll still have it out there. It'll still be there for people to listen to, but it will be a. Archived show [00:10:00] out there, you'll be able to still grab it, but uh, it will all be right here on this show, so you'll be able to grab it right there.

[00:10:08] Eric Goranson: And one more thing I wanna talk about. This is something I've seen in the news more and more often that I think is really preventable for us out there. How is your carbon monoxide detector, if you have anything around your house that burns, and I'm talking about natural gas, propan. Gasoline generator. I will recommend that you put in a decent, really qual good quality carbon monoxide deck doctor in your house because it can be as stupid as somebody starting up the car in the garage and leaving it open, and that's leaking around the, the door.

[00:10:46] Eric Goranson: It could be, you know, the generator that you didn't put away far enough outside from the window and the air is sucking in. It could be the barbecue, it could be anything like that. Let alone the heating and [00:11:00] cooling system or the heating system. It could be the water heater, it could be the fireplace, any of those gas appliances.

[00:11:07] Eric Goranson: So there's a lot of great ones out there. Uh, get something good quality if you want to get something smart. There are ones out there that are combination units that are carbon monoxide and smoke and fire, so you can get those as well. I have a smart one I've been using. It's expensive, but I like it. Um, I've got a few of them around the house and I'm gonna be adding more of.

[00:11:27] Eric Goranson: And that is the, uh, the, the Google one and it's the, uh, Nest Home Protector, whatever it is, their smoke detector slash carbon monoxide detector. And I like that one because there's an app with it. So it warns me, Let's say I'm barbecue and inside on my, my grill on my range. So I've got a flat top there where I can throw some stuff on.

[00:11:49] Eric Goranson: If it gets a little smoky in there, I don't have the fan turned up, it'll start to warn me and say, Hey, we detect smoke in the area without the alarm going off. So at that point, it gives me a moment to go, [00:12:00] you know, turn it off or anything else. But what I like about that thing is if I'm not home, it's gonna send me a message on my phone and say, Hey man, you've got a problem at your house.

[00:12:11] Eric Goranson: So that's gonna be a key right there. And I like to be able to find out these things before they're happening, whether I'm home or not. I mean, it'd be great if, if I'm not home and uh, if I have a problem for it to get ahold of me when there's a little bit of smoke versus we have a fire and the neighbors hear that going off, I'd much rather hear about it sooner.

[00:12:30] Eric Goranson: So you'll be able to, um, you know, take care of that stuff. And here's the thing, if you're a parent and you've got teenage kids at home and you're off at work and the kids are at home, it's a great way to make sure that they're safe that way as. And, uh, that's one of those keys right there to make sure that you've got that dialed in.

[00:12:47] Eric Goranson: Because I just saw, even on the news this morning, there was a, uh, a, uh, preschool that had a kid pass out because of carbon monoxide poisoning and there were kids backpacks that were going off that had that detector [00:13:00] on them. And I thought that was really cool and really smart. So it's just something out.

[00:13:04] Eric Goranson: To, uh, really consider and now that it's getting darker, Uh, one last thing here before we go out. It's getting darker in the day. Make sure that you've got, in the evenings here, I wanna make sure that the all your porch lights work. It's a good safety thing right now. Make sure those porch lights work and if you're gonna do any trimming around there, make sure, and we talked about it a few weeks ago with deep fentanyl, but make sure when you're standing out at the curb that when you walk up to that front door, Everybody has a good clean site.

[00:13:33] Eric Goranson: There's no place to hide all of those kind of things because that makes for a seafer house for you and maybe a little bit less of a chance of somebody still on a package because there's no place for people to hide if somebody goes driving by. If they hear a car, they can't duck down or pop behind a bush real quick.

[00:13:50] Eric Goranson: The more you can do to, uh, make that a clear shot and have a good quality light out there. It works out really well for you. And you know what I did at my house on my front [00:14:00] lights? It's really good. I actually have 'em set up with, uh, my Lutron dimmers. So they come on right before dusk and they go off right in the mornings, you know, right after sunrise.

[00:14:12] Eric Goranson: So, uh, I don't have to worry about remembering to turn the lights off and on. They do it automatically for me, which saves me electricity. And, uh, it keeps the house well lit outside. So if anybody does show. Neighbors, everybody else who's looking out for everybody can see 'em. And with my entire camera system I have, we can make sure that, uh, that gets taken care of Well, cuz it's well lit and you don't have to, uh, rely on its night vision or sound.

[00:14:37] Eric Goranson: So it, it all helps. Within that. Oh, one more fun mention that, uh, I thought was pretty cool today I saw that we are in the on feed spot, which is, uh, uh, a website that, uh, talks about, uh, top podcasts out there that, uh, we're number three in the kitchen renovation podcasts. So talking about it, we're number three in the world on that.

[00:14:59] Eric Goranson: So that was kind of [00:15:00] interesting, even though we don't focus this specifically on. Kitchen stuff. Uh, it kind of nice to be on there. The other two are called, uh, well in the titles they've got, uh, remodeling and, uh, kitchen, Kitchen of bath, Design news radio. So, uh, considering we're not a kitchen one and uh, we're the only one out there that's not, that made it on this, That was pretty cool in uh, thanks.

[00:15:26] Eric Goranson: Feed spot for the mention. Well, coming up on uh, Saturday, we've got a big show ahead. I'm kind of excited about this one. We've got some different stuff we're gonna be talking about. These new homes are building down in Dallas, Texas that are absolutely stunning and they're affordable, which I like it.

[00:15:44] Eric Goranson: They've come up with a great way to build some affordable housing that is gorgeous. And I'm talking level five, you know, museum finish. drywall on the inside, beautiful stucco on the outside, metal roofs, high quality stuff. And then we've [00:16:00] got, uh, a consumer protection thing that we're gonna be diving into.

[00:16:04] Eric Goranson: There's a problem out in the industry out there with birch cabinets being sold as maple. This is gonna be a big one as well. So we're gonna expose that and open up that can of worms in hour number two. All right, everybody have a great rest of the week. I gotta get this done before the, the noise starts happening here before the crew show up and we end up having a lot of workouts outside the house.

[00:16:25] Eric Goranson: So everybody have a great rest of the week. We'll have that showed. Tease up on Thursday so you can take a listen to it and make sure that you go back. We have had so many shows recently. Out on the podcast and make sure that you're caught up because there is so much in the back here. We've had so many high quality guests on that.

[00:16:41] Eric Goranson: I want you to make sure that, uh, you go back on the catalog. I think we're over 900 episodes right now on the show. So, uh, feel free to go back. If you're an Apple iTunes person, they only put up 2 99, so that's as many as you see there. But it goes back ge. Another 600 episodes behind [00:17:00] that and you can do that over at around the house online.com.

[00:17:04] Eric Goranson: All everybody have a great rest of the week. Keep it safe out there and thanks for listening to Around the House