[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. But we've got you covered. This is Around the House. Welcome to the Around the House show. This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education. Thanks for joining me today.

[00:00:33] Eric Goranson: This is our midweek special. This is where we talk about the stuff that didn't make it into last Saturday's show. We're next Saturday show, just because we've got so much going on. We've been doing a lot of interviews on the national radio show and podcast right now of talking to, to companies that have really been making some cool changes and coming out with some great stuff.

[00:00:53] Eric Goranson: So we've got another week or so of that coming up. So our midweek special is going to really just go through and address a lot of those [00:01:00] things that we didn't get a chance to discuss in those shows. And so I wanted to talk about something super important today, but first, if you want to get ahold of us here at this.

[00:01:08] Eric Goranson: It's a show you want to make sure and I have a home improvement question. You need answered or something like that. Just give me a call at 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44. That number again is 8 3 3 2 3 9 4 1 4 4. And it'll go into our queue. And if I'm in the office, I will grab it. If not, I might be out recording for my TV show or something like that.

[00:01:29] Eric Goranson: I will give you a call back, but make sure and leave your name, number, what your question is. And if you have an email address, go ahead and put it on there so I can make sure and coordinate a time to call you back. That way. I'm just not blindly calling you because that's the only way I can get ahold of you.

[00:01:41] Eric Goranson: So make sure and give us a call and I will give you a call back to help you with that question. That number again is 833 239 4144. I found out some more information this last week that I wanted to bring up. It's about the inflation reduction act in those energy rebates for heat [00:02:00] pumps and other things like that that are for your house.

[00:02:03] Eric Goranson: So the energy reduction act, the inflation reduction act. Started when they threw this in the middle of it and there are energy rebates to get people to lean more into electrical, like heat pumps, for instance, instead of going with a gas furnace. I found some issues and I've started asking around and realized there's a much bigger problem here that people are not talking about because it's hidden kind of inside the inflation reduction act on these energy rebates.

[00:02:30] Eric Goranson: So let's say that they give you a rebate of 2, 000 for a heat pump. You know that? Okay. That's great. The problem that we run into here is something hiding in the back end. And let's give a little, little background on this. So to be eligible for these rebates, you need to not just put in, it needs to be a very efficient furnace, right?

[00:02:52] Eric Goranson: And heat pump. So that heat pump needs to be efficient. So the problem that we have is the more efficient heat pumps are more [00:03:00] expensive. There's more to it. There's multiple computers or variable speeds. You have all these different things going on with them. And so they are more expensive than your traditional heat pump to meet those requirements because they're trying to get energy efficiency so that we use less electricity.

[00:03:15] Eric Goranson: I get it. The problem that we have going. And this is going to be for a lot of states because these are now a federal program that they handed out to each individual state to manage. So these rebates are going to be a problem because they put in a prevailing wage requirement. For many of the larger parts of these rebates.

[00:03:38] Eric Goranson: So if you want to get the seven, eight, 10 grand or whatever that rebate is, there's a lot of hoops to jump through to get to that. First off, there's a median income requirement that you have to meet a certain percentage of that. Now, It depends where you live. If you live out in the middle of nowhere in a rural area versus living in a metropolitan area, it's going to be [00:04:00] interesting.

[00:04:00] Eric Goranson: You could be in the rural area and have a harder time meeting that because the median range is going to be a lot closer to probably what you're making. Now, if you live in a metro area. Some zip codes have a higher median income, which means you might have a better chance of meeting that. But there's something on the back end that's hiding in that text that is going to come to fruition as these programs get rolled out across the states because the states are just starting to rule these things out.

[00:04:31] Eric Goranson: So I'm trying not to make this too complex for everybody, but the problem is this prevailing wage. Now, the prevailing wage, it's a basic hourly rate paid on public works projects to a majority of workers engaged in a particular craft. So, there's different classifications out there, but the public works projects in most states are union required jobs.

[00:04:54] Eric Goranson: They have to be union, and they have to be meeting this certain wage. So in many states [00:05:00] across the country, you're going to see that labor rate on your project be twice what it would be if they were just coming out to do that. So here's where the issue is. I have no problem with workers making more money.

[00:05:15] Eric Goranson: I have no problem with that. But if you're somebody that is low income and you're trying to squeeze in to fight into an energy efficient heat pump, replacing that furnace that you had. My concern is, and this is the concern of many, is that now you might have to pay twice the hourly rate for that employee.

[00:05:38] Eric Goranson: And where that adds up is if you're putting in a 15, 000 heat pump system and you now have to pay twice the hourly rate, let me say that again, need some more coffee this morning, if you're paying twice that hourly rate, that could be an issue. That could add three, 4, 000 [00:06:00] to that heat pump system. And if they're only giving you a 4, 000 bucks, is that really an incentive?

[00:06:07] Eric Goranson: So that's where the issue is going to be. And I think this is going to be something that really throws some cold water on these rebates. Now. In some areas that might not be that big a deal, but that's where the problem is going to arrive. That is going to be the base of this problem. And I've talking to some heating and cooling companies out there.

[00:06:28] Eric Goranson: They're not going to be offering that because they're not going to be paying their employees that That that wage, because one, it adds a whole bunch of issues to them. It adds more costs to them because they have to pay more on the employment taxes and stuff like that. Cause you might be as much as doubling their wage.

[00:06:45] Eric Goranson: And so that's going to be very hard for them to manage. Now the problem where that lies is if you're going in there and you're paying for the heat pump and all of this stuff that has to go along with it. So that's the cool thing with this energy [00:07:00] rebate is that if you needed a heat pump and you needed an electrician to come out and you're going to have a laborer out there working with them or whatever else.

[00:07:08] Eric Goranson: These are things that all have to meet that prevailing wage requirement. So in some areas, you're going to have a hard time getting that rebate, because you're going to have a hard time finding people to do it. And when you do, it's going to cost you a lot more money. So that's where this problem on the back end of this now.

[00:07:26] Eric Goranson: We'll see what happens out there and how they, how they do this. But I don't think my mind has changed after talking and doing some research on this. I don't think the big, the, the big rebates on this are gonna be something that's gonna be really efficient for a lot of people, especially on the lower income side, which is what they did with this, because they wanted you to be lower income.

[00:07:48] Eric Goranson: But the problem is, is it's really gonna hike up those rates of what you're gonna be paying for that system. So it might just be a wash. Which that's up to you, how you want to do that, but it could cost you even more money [00:08:00] with the rebate. So what I would do, if you're looking to use this system, make sure and ask that question.

[00:08:07] Eric Goranson: As a consumer say, okay, if I want to put in an energy efficient heat pump, what's this going to cost me with this program? And by the way, I need a B price to say, okay, I want an energy efficient heat pump. What's it going to cost me without trying to follow these rules? Now I love employees out there making the right rates.

[00:08:29] Eric Goranson: I love them getting paid, but some of these rates can get up north of 50 bucks an hour for prevailing wage. That gets pretty expensive when you have somebody out there for two days, putting in the heating and cooling unit. And that's just the wage to them, not what the company's charging you. So you got to think about that as well, because what you're paying for is not that raw wage, the employee you're paying for that, plus their benefits, plus the other stuff, plus the insurance.

[00:08:56] Eric Goranson: So your hourly rate could be in the hundreds of dollars [00:09:00] for that employee out there working with a 50 with a 50 employee rate. So just think about what that could cost and get some numbers on both because I just, I have no problem putting in heat pumps. I just want to make sure that you understand as a consumer, this could cost you more than what you anticipate and you might be able to do it cheaper.

[00:09:21] Eric Goranson: What about that rebate? So, take a look at that. That is a key for this. So, take a look. It's hidden in the bill. And, uh, that could be something that really gets you as a homeowner. So, I want to see everybody saving money out there. At the same time, I do like people. But, I just don't want you to pay more for that prevailing wage when you thought you were saving money.

[00:09:43] Eric Goranson: So that's the key right there. All right, guys, this is also the show that we talk about all the different recalls that have popped up. And since it's been a couple of weeks, we got a few of them out there. If you have any of the anchor ever for lithium ion, ion battery powered coolers, they just recalled [00:10:00] those to a fire hazard.

[00:10:01] Eric Goranson: So there's only about 5, 480 of them out there. And these are these lithium ion coolers can overheat posing a fire hazard. So make sure and check out on that. If you have one of those anchor lithium ion battery coolers, coolers, make sure you'd get that checked out and make sure it's not on that recall list.

[00:10:20] Eric Goranson: Another one on here. That's important. Sleep technologies recall recalls the eco Terra mattresses due to fire hazard and violation of federal mattress flammability regulation. And those were sold exclusively at eco Terra beds. com. Not too many of those out there. They looks like that is not a hot selling mattress.

[00:10:38] Eric Goranson: It looks like there's only about 84 of them. So the odds of you having that are slim than none, but there's another one here that's important. The home appliances recalls camp Lux brand portable tankless water heaters due to fire hazard. And there's about 42, 000 of those out there. These are a camping propane powered.

[00:10:57] Eric Goranson: Portable tankless water heater. That's an [00:11:00] issue. Another one that's big out there. And by the way, if you've got kids, infants, there are a ton of clothing, crib, mattress recalls out there right now. One of the biggest ones I've seen out here is a brand that has a recall. Bulldog cases. So the company bulldog cases.

[00:11:18] Eric Goranson: com has a ton of recalls. So the biometric lock on their gun safes can be opened by unauthorized users posing a serious injury hazard or risk of death. That is one of them. There's another one out here that is my share recalls biometric personal safes due to serious injury, hazard, risk of death. So it looks like these might be using that same technology Another one here biometric gun sage recalled due to injury serious injury hazard risk or death These are sold exclusively on Amazon by BBR.

[00:11:51] Eric Goranson: So make sure you have that and there's another one here Imported by off safe, another biometric gun, safe recall duty, serious injury, hazard, risk, [00:12:00] or death. So it looks like this technology has failed on a bunch of these and there's hundreds of thousands of these out there. So make sure that you've got that covered.

[00:12:08] Eric Goranson: So if you've got one of those off brands, make sure you're good. And a Kia recalls USB chargers due to burn. An electric shock hazard. So if you have a USB, a Kia charger, make sure you check that out. And those are the big ones right there. And, uh, we did talk about this last time, but if you've got one of the two laptops, there's about 15.

[00:12:28] Eric Goranson: 5 million of these chargers could cause a fire. So make sure you get that. We talked about that last time, as well as the Electrolux frigid air ranges that have some issues. So be careful out there. All right, everybody. We got a great show coming up this weekend. I am. These are shows that I recorded down in design and construction week, the largest trade show for construction design remodeling in the United States.

[00:12:53] Eric Goranson: And this week I sit down with Dow tile and Chip Wade, and we talk about the [00:13:00] different stuff here. With tile trends, tile installation, and what Dow tile is offering some new stuff for 2024, that's a really fun one. And then I sit down with the most innovative product out there in decking. And that is meal board.

[00:13:15] Eric Goranson: We'll sit down with them and talk. I'm going to give you a little bit of a tease here that we usually do on Friday, but this meal board stuff is awesome. What's different about this decking that you don't see is they actually. One have molded it out of real wood. So it looks like real wood. When you look at it, most people go, Oh, that's a beautiful wood.

[00:13:32] Eric Goranson: What finishes on there? No, it's composite where composite decking doesn't usually look that way. And it's got this cool core on the inside. That is a limestone slash fiberglass core. That's really good. And second of all, the other thing that's really cool that I like is that they've got this trim edging that goes around the outside that you can cold bend.

[00:13:54] Eric Goranson: So you don't have to heat it up to bend it. So really it is a great product. That you can go out and [00:14:00] use and that's the cool part is that cold bend is really hot because you can do a radius stairs You can do all that stuff down there with that trim And do a really cool outside trim that makes it look like a pro did it you didn't have to heat it And bend it like all the other brands so something that can be uh, bent cold is cool So we'll talk about that and a bunch of new stuff.

[00:14:18] Eric Goranson: They have that's super cool that I can't wait to release In this episode. All right, everybody, I got to get off. It's Wednesday, which means it's TV show day for me. I had a long day yesterday out at the coast working on that coast project yesterday, which was a lot of fun. You'll see that in an upcoming episode of around the house and I will see you guys on Saturday for a brand new show here.

[00:14:38] Eric Goranson: So, thanks for tuning in, everybody. We'll see you Saturday. Have a great rest of the week. Thanks for tuning in to Around the House.