[00:00:00] It's around the house to make sure you're carried that loan. And that is one of the things that we see many times in homes before 1960, many times in many areas, there was not an engineer or even an architect that look at it was a set of canned plans and that was good enough. And the builder didn't really need to have permits.

[00:00:23] And that's one of those things that were inspections. Great example, 1950s home. I've been working with my brother out on the coast. When we got to the electric on it. This, we were pulling out the drywall that was wet. We saw where the electrician in 1954 when they ran out of wire going to another run, they buried it in the wall.

[00:00:44] They tied together, spliced in the next one. When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know, though we've got you covered. This is Around the House. Around the House show is brought to you by Pyramid Heating and [00:01:00] Cooling. Serving in Oregon, the Portland area. and Bend, Oregon.

[00:01:03] They're your one stop shop for heating and cooling and indoor air quality. To find out more, head to pyramidheating. com. Oregon CCB 59382. Welcome to the round the house show. The next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. I'm Eric G. Wow. I can't believe we are running into the last half of July.

[00:01:22] This summer is flying by. We've got a great show lined up for you today. First off though, if you want to find out more about me and around the house, just head over to our website around the house, online. com and you'll find the phone number for the studio there. You'll find all of our social media, you'll find our videos.

[00:01:40] We've got almost 500 videos for the television show now. On the YouTube playlist. And so there's so many things for you to find right there, all in one place. Today, I wanted to talk about project questions and stuff that might help you through your next project. And this is one we had come into via request.

[00:01:58] How do you find out if that [00:02:00] wall is load bearing and. We're going to talk about toxic projects in your garage and maybe something you're working on right now. So we'll be talking about that later on in the show today in this hour. First off load bearing walls. This is a big one, but comes up all the time.

[00:02:17] Hey, I want to make this kitchen into an open concept. Take out that wall, all of those kinds of things. Hey, I want to move this wall three feet this way. I want to make this room bigger. All of those things come up. And the question always is, is this wall load bearing? So the first thing in what is a load bearing wall load bearing wall is what's carrying the structure or carrying some weight of the structure above it.

[00:02:42] Now, you could have a load bearing, load bearing walls are not just, is it load bearing or not, it can carry some load, which I guess is load bearing, but these are things that you need to figure out if this is just a partition wall that doesn't need to be there, or if it's something that a builder or an engineer, if your house was engineered, [00:03:00] is that part of it.

[00:03:01] So if you're in a single story house, this is what I would recommend first. And if you've got a basement or a crawl space, this is where you can take a look. So let's say you want to blow out that kitchen wall. The first thing I want to do. Is figure out where that is in relation to your crawl space opening and get underneath it because one of the things that will make it load bearing is that load transferred all the way down to the ground below.

[00:03:26] Now, you can't always see it could be framed in and there could be another beam carrying it and carrying it over, but you want to see. If that load underneath it is carried all the way to the ground, for instance, if you go look at that kitchen wall that you want to take out to make that kitchen bigger and you get underneath there and figure out, wow, there is a beam or there is some footings right underneath this wall underneath this wall.

[00:03:49] I look at it and go, all right, there's one check mark. Maybe that is load bearing. And so if that wall is carried all the way down to [00:04:00] the soil and into a footing or something like that, or into a beam that goes over to it, that could be load bearing. So the next thing I want to do is take a look up above it.

[00:04:11] What is coming down? And if you get up there and there's trusses, that doesn't give you a clear answer because maybe That wall was designed to be there, but many times in older homes, prior to the 1960s, you'll see stick framed systems up above, and maybe there is a support coming down on that. Or there's a couple of two by fours coming down.

[00:04:33] That's holding up the roof system. And that could be load bearing. Now it's even more important if you get up there and all of a sudden you see that the ceiling joists are basically seamed on that wall. So if it comes over 10 feet. And you've got another 14 feet beyond that. And that is the seam between those.

[00:04:54] It is definitely load bearing. And so that is when you really need to [00:05:00] stop and take a look at it and say, okay, we need to figure out a plan. And now most exterior walls are load bearing and it's depending on the load, depending on where the load's coming from. Cause there is a little bit of load on a gable in for instance, but if you're.

[00:05:17] Ceiling joists, or if you're, let's say your roof system is going crossways, then those exterior walls that that's resting on is where that load is, but really, when it comes down to it, guys, this is where you need to bring in that structural engineer. This is where you need to bring it in and have them take a look and tell you.

[00:05:38] What's your answer is. So the first thing I want to do is have them come out, take a look, do a report for you, and they'll go, Hey, is this structural? Yes. I don't mean a contractor, a structural engineer. I want them to come out and go, yes, that is load bearing. And then your next question is cool. Can I remove this and put a beam in?

[00:05:57] And that's where you start getting answers, right? That's [00:06:00] where they start saying yes. And then you want them to calculate that beam. Cause here's the thing. If you're going to be pulling building permits for this, where in most places in the country, they're going to require that they're going to require here in the U.

[00:06:14] S. that you have an engineering stamp on that as well. So this person is going to be the 1 that's going to want to stamp that drawing that you turn in. So you want them to do the drawings for you. That way you can do. What they recommend and then on top of that, they're going to tell you what needs to go all the way down to the ground.

[00:06:32] So if you have that crawl space, for instance, they're going to come in there and say, Hey, we need to put different size footings in down below to carry this new load because maybe they're not big enough. And that's one thing that we see. With many older homes and what new building code is, they come in usually and say, wow, we need footings much bigger.

[00:06:52] Great example. We had a project and I've talked about this on the show before where somebody had converted a [00:07:00] attic space into living space decades ago. Contractor and I, I was the designer. Contractor was in there. I was doing a bathroom remodel upstairs. They pulled the permits. And of course, I We had to upgrade that whole upper floor to meet building code.

[00:07:15] And unfortunately that came down to the second floor. So this was a, a two story home with a basement. So three floors of living space, we actually had to go down into the finished basement, tear the flooring up and pour much bigger footings to carry that load all the way down just to finish that top floor that was storage space like many 1920s homes.

[00:07:38] We had to do that to make sure that we carried that load back down. So many times you will need to have bigger footings down there as well to make sure you're carried that load. And that is one of the things that we see many times in homes before 1960, many times in many areas, there was not an engineer or even an architect that look at it was a set of canned plans.

[00:07:56] And that was good enough. And the builder didn't [00:08:00] really need to have permits. And that's one of those things that were inspections. Great example, 1950s home. I've been working with my brother out on the coast and here in Canada beach. I've been working on it with him out there. When we got into the electric on it, this, we were pulling out the drywall that was wet.

[00:08:17] We saw where the electrician in 1954 didn't put in a correct, what would have been code or even safe. They literally hotwired when they ran out of wire going to another run, they buried it in the wall. They tied together, spliced in the next roll of wire and kept going. There was not a, a box there. There was no outlet.

[00:08:41] They, they didn't even put any access to that. It was just a connection buried in the wall. And so many times, older homes, and for the people out there that go, they sure don't build them like they used to. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't. Many times, that old house isn't going to meet building code currently, because [00:09:00] it's just not built strong enough to meet current code.

[00:09:04] And I know that's a controversial subject, but many of our 1920s homes these days, if you tried to build it exactly like that, Engineering is not going to sign off on it. They want bigger footings. They want bigger beams. They want more structure. So these are things that we run into when we're trying to do these things, because obviously we need to build this area back up to code.

[00:09:25] Now, when we come back, I'm going to talk about a few other things are just as important as. Is this a load bearing wall and we'll do that just as soon as around the house returns. Don't go anywhere

[00:09:46] Should I be allowed to be so hot For joining [00:10:00] me

[00:10:08] today If you're catching us on the podcast internationally, thanks for tuning in today. If you're listening to us on the talk media network, on one of our stations that are across five time zones in the United States, I appreciate every one of you tuning in. And that is why for our podcast listeners, we will say, welcome back.

[00:10:25] And we'll talk about. Because people, many times on the national radio show will be just joining us because they're out running around on the weekend, catching the show for the very first time. And we try to give that information out. So thanks for putting up with us, saying these things a couple of times, three or four times in each episode.

[00:10:42] Today, we've been talking about project questions. And the first one here, what is load bearing? And of course the engineer is the one that has to give you that final answer, that structural engineer. But some of the things that you need to be careful with, and we were just talking about load and making sure that that was taken all the way down to the [00:11:00] ground.

[00:11:00] And that's why you want that structural engineer, but sometimes there's more to it than just load. Sometimes we have shear walls and things that have to be added when we take structure out of a building. So, What is a shear wall? You know, if a shear wall basically keeps a building from racking from one side to the other, it gives us strength one way or the other.

[00:11:19] So if we're putting a shear wall in many times, what that is is we've got a wall that has plywood or OSB before it's finished. And there's a certain nailing pattern to keep that wall stiff so it doesn't rack from side to side. And that is going to be like the backbone of the house. So these are things that you really need to make sure.

[00:11:38] And, and again, sheer was not taken into account so much back in the day. Now they did go in and put bracing in walls and things like that. So it's not that it's that, but if you're going in and modifying it, it's something, if you have a lot of glass, a lot of openings and exterior wall, these are things that you should be paying attention to.

[00:11:56] And that's why that engineer is always good to go in there and make sure [00:12:00] that it's good. And make sure that it's done correctly because I have gone in many times where we've opened homes up. We've done some changes on stuff in the 70s and 60s, and we've had to come in with steel frames or moment frames to hold things together.

[00:12:15] And to make sure that a fireplace is being supported correctly or anything else and so sometimes these get to be much bigger projects just to be able to do the things we want to do within that house. And so that's really why that structural engineer is so important. On these kinds of projects. So it's not only is it load bearing, but as it's sheer.

[00:12:35] Now, when people are putting beams in, I have seen some crazy, horrible wrong ways of doing it on YouTube. I saw one guy who's a pretty big DIY influencer out there and I'll say influencer, cause. Guess what? They didn't do this right. They needed to take out a wall in their, probably do a video on this one of these days.

[00:12:57] It was so crazy. They did a video of [00:13:00] taking out the load bearing wall in the, basically it was in their living room to kitchen. And they came in there, did it completely wrong. So what they did is they went in and put a beam up above and then used hurricane straps to tie into that. To hold the system up and they carried that down over to some other walls and then took the wall out and use the beam up above to carry it.

[00:13:25] Hurricane straps are meant to keep the roof together. It's not meant to hang something from those are meant to keep the roof from lifting off, not to hang up a ceiling system down below it. So clearly the wrong use of brackets. Clearly though, not engineered solution. And of course they made a DIY video and tell you how to do, can remove a load bearing wall, which is really horrible.

[00:13:49] Cause I don't want people to do this wrong and then have structural issues later. What are the structural issues that can happen? Let's talk about it. I've seen situations where. [00:14:00] Roof will start to cave in. You'll see things move around. I've seen structural walls where they go in and take stuff out and all of a sudden you've got a sag in the roof line.

[00:14:11] The extreme is I've seen people doing stuff in basement walls where basement walls have collapsed in. In theory, you could have a partial collapse of a house. Most of the time it's going to tell you things beforehand, but all of a sudden doors aren't opening and you get real big structural issues. And if there's a floor above many times, you'll see, why is that tile breaking up in the bathroom and things like that?

[00:14:34] So those are things you really need to be very careful of. As you see these kinds of things that you're doing this stuff correctly. And many times homes were done incorrectly. They took a ball out and. Didn't account for that load. And all of a sudden people get in there and go, why is this wall keep cracking?

[00:14:50] Something's moving around. So it's something to be very careful with. So this is where again, talking about projects, making sure that you've got that [00:15:00] structural engineer is part of the process on this, but you can bring over friends, you can bring over experts. You can bring over that, but there really is only one expert.

[00:15:07] It's not the contractor. It is the structural engineer. Now a good set eyes can look up there and go, yeah, there's no way that this is structural. This is just a partition wall and it's not that big a deal because you can look at the system if you know what you're looking at. So refer on the friends, but when it comes down to it, of course, the engineer is your final answer.

[00:15:25] So make sure you got that dialed in. I wanted to talk here. About toxic stuff in the shop and toxic things around the house on these projects and stuff that can really be a problem for you. And the first one is just many of the chemicals that we store. And this is, we talked about this in our indoor air quality thing, but be really careful with the chemicals you're storing in an attached garage, basement, that kind of stuff.

[00:15:49] Any of those thinners, paints, any of those things are given off plenty of industrial cleaners. Any of these things are really given off chemicals and can be really toxic [00:16:00] inside the house. So be very careful. The next one, and this is really a big one here. If you have a house that was built before 2015, there's a chance that you've got asbestos in the house.

[00:16:12] Now, in my area, before 2004, basically, I have to test materials that are certain before I can take them to the landfill here. So in my area, I can't take roofing felt period. They won't accept it. If I have any kind of a like a vinyl or a linoleum type flooring or glues, Drywall, drywall, texture, drywall, mud, those kinds of things before 2004, I have to have it tested before I take it down to the landfill has to be tested in my house.

[00:16:47] I have to make sure and have that paperwork before I take it down there to dispose of it. Now you see on social media people that have the 60s and 70s and 80s houses and they pull stuff up and they're like, Oh, I got this black tar glue underneath these nine by [00:17:00] nine tiles that were hard. First off, if those were a, uh, A linoleum type tile or a vinyl asbestos tile.

[00:17:07] Those tiles right there at nine by nine, most of the time are going to be asbestos filled. Not saying the 12 by twelves aren't, but nine by nines almost always were because those were a premium flooring. So that's a big one right there. That black mastic underneath many times is toxic as well with asbestos and other chemicals.

[00:17:27] So be very careful. If you see those tiles break up and you see that black tar underneath, it is a black tar mastic stop test it. Take a look at it. And I know people go. Oh, I wore a dust mass. That's great. It's actually not because the problem with asbestos is if you get it airborne, get a friable. What happens is.

[00:17:46] Is that stuff can stick in the air in the house for years to come. So you can get multiple exposures well beyond you. Hey, I tore it out and got rid of it. You could have that hanging in the dust for the next handful of years. And that's just going to give you multiple [00:18:00] asbestos exposures, which that can get you on a, in the hospital or.

[00:18:05] Within your fatal condition. So be very careful guys. This is something that we don't want to see happen out there. So be really careful with that around the house. So be very careful with your, anything like that. When in doubt, test it. It's not that expensive to test that there's labs in most metropolitan areas, and you can take it at least down there and see what you're working with.

[00:18:23] So when in doubt, have it tested. You'll be much happier. All right, we come back. I'm going to talk about one that we haven't talked about for a few years in the show here. But some of the most toxic stuff in your shop could be the wood you're working with We'll do that just as soon as around the house returns[00:19:00]

[00:19:12] Welcome back to the around the house show the next generation of home improvement. I'm eric g. Thanks for joining me today if you're listening to us on the Talk media network. Thanks for tuning in on the radio. And of course, I appreciate all you podcasters out there that are listening today. We've been talking about different projects is that wall load bearing.

[00:19:30] We talked about that earlier. If you're just joining us and we've been talking about toxic projects, and this is another one that we've got to be really careful with. Toxic wood and wood allergies. And there is a huge one here and I'm a person. I totally get this. This is something that I have run into and maybe it's because I've done enough projects out there, but I'll be out working.

[00:19:54] And if you see me on the TV, sometimes you'll see the redness on my face and on my neck. That is [00:20:00] me having an allergic reaction to some sawdust that I was dealing with. So what have I been doing? I've been using vacuum systems much more. I have two different ones trying to eliminate. Is much of the dust and pollutants of just dealing with it on my skin.

[00:20:15] But here's the thing. Excessive exposure to certain kinds of wood dust can cause some serious ailments, including bronchial asthma, rhinitis, which is a constantly running noise nose. And then you've got a hypersensitivity pneumonia, for instance, organic dust, toxic syndrome syndrome. That's a big one.

[00:20:34] Bronchitis, dermatitis, nasal cancers are rare, but they can occur. Usually that's for people working in cabinet shops in the furniture industry and cancer. The upper respiratory tract can be caused by many kinds of wood dust, including yes, beach and oak. So that's a big one right there. So let's talk about it.

[00:20:54] Some woods, like for instance, you, for instance, act as sensitizers. When first used, there's no [00:21:00] reaction, but after you working with it over and over again, that user becomes sensitized. So each contact with the wood becomes a pretty bad allergic reaction. Now you'll see this many times with an auto body shops.

[00:21:14] You'll see auto techs that are working in the auto body world. They haven't been using respirators. They haven't been wearing their suits and all of a sudden one day They just can't get anywhere near that. So some of the sensitizers we see in wood is beech mahogany sequoia Redwood willow and teak if you're allergic to aspirin be very cautious of willow and birch Because they have a very similar effect So be very careful now.

[00:21:43] One of the things we really need to be careful with You And this is something that, uh, you don't think about, but it really causes a problem. So microorganisms in bark and fungus can induce bronchial asthma, allergic dermatitis, rhinitis, those kinds of things. In North America, maple [00:22:00] bark strippers disease is due apparently to the, to the, to a mold basically.

[00:22:05] And so that gets inhaled and you got a problem right there. So be very careful with. So now another one that's interesting, subtropical and tropical woods noted for allergic effect. Western Red Cedar, Sequoia, Redwood, Obeche, Cocobolo, Misonia. Those woods from temperate climates tend to produce a less extreme effect.

[00:22:28] You got to be really careful with those. Another one should be treated with caution. Larch, walnut, oak, beach, you and pine. So these are all things we got to be really careful with and make sure that we're not creating too much dust. And this is something that you got to be really careful with because. If you have maybe that workshop in the basement and that dust is getting upstairs, that can be pretty, pretty big deal.

[00:22:52] So which woods are toxic? So there are a number of wood species that are considered to be dangerous to your health. [00:23:00] And let's talk a little bit about those. Can you be allergic to wood? Yeah. Some people can be susceptible to allergies caused by wood. And so be very careful with this. One of the things that I want to make sure we're doing is that we're working in well ventilated areas.

[00:23:15] We're using dust control, that kind of stuff to make sure that I want you to be able to do these projects for years on end. So just make sure you're following all those and then make sure and wash and shower frequently, wash your work clothes. And I would wash these work clothes in different than the rest of your laundry.

[00:23:32] Wear gloves, lots of respirators, face masks, those kinds of things. And then avoid working with unseasoned wood because there's a lot more of things that could be in that as far as molds and things like that. So be really careful. So be very careful with that. All right. Now let's talk about here. Another one to be cautious of, of course, is any of the bonded woods like plywood MDF.

[00:23:57] Any of those things can also create [00:24:00] that kind of stuff. So be very careful with that. So let's talk a little bit more about toxic wood here. I want to talk about just basically the list and I'm not going to get down into each one of these cause that would be some really boring projects here. And we're going to not going to go down this whole thing like an encyclopedia because guess what?

[00:24:19] That's a really boring discussion. But I want to have some of these so you can understand. So if you're out there driving, listen to the show, I'm going to hit some of the big stuff that I've worked with before. And it's pretty common and we're working out there. So big leaf maple, uh, again, the dust, uh, bronchial asthma, dermatitis, rhinitis, that's a big one.

[00:24:38] Soft maple may affect lung function. And that is the dust. Same with hard maple. So a hard rock maple, be very careful. Some of the ones here that, uh, there's a lot of different ones here on my list that I'm working down, you know, like a Rhodesian teak, uh, respiratory inflammation, irritation. Now, common one, yellow birch, [00:25:00] dermatitis, respiratory problems.

[00:25:01] Same thing here when you get into some of these other woods here. Sweet chestnut, dermatitis out of the bark and the lichens. Another one that's really interesting, South American cedar. We get something there where we get into that dust, the wood, that kind of stuff. So be very careful. The other one here that we're working on that we got to be very careful with.

[00:25:24] Cocobolo, Sensitizer, Irritant to Skin, Nose, Throat, Nausea, Wheezing, Chest Tightness, Headache, that kind of stuff. So, Tepeli, which is a mahogany type product, Skin Irritation, Sneezing, Blue Gum. Dust, you're getting where I'm going here guys, so look up the woods you're working with. This can be something that is pretty rough, and I just want to make sure that we're all staying very healthful and making sure that we're being careful.

[00:25:54] Another one here that I think we should take a look at here, American walnut, which I love working with, [00:26:00] but it is an irritant to the eyes and skin, and that is the dust and the wood. So that's a big one right there. So be very careful with that. And when you get into the more, um, exotic woods, just take a look at it.

[00:26:14] When gay is another one. I love working with one game. Blenders go septic irritation of eyes, skin and respiratory system, dermatitis. Giddiness, drowsiness, visual problems, stomach cramps, sensitizer from the dust and the wood. So you see where we're going here. This is some of this stuff here is really interesting to work with.

[00:26:36] Uh, purple heart. I've had this before. This is what one of the woods that really got my attention. Nasal irritation and nausea, both from the dust and the wood. And that's a big one right there. Just regular pine decrease in lung function, irritant, Dermatitis from the dust and the wood. So Doug for dermatitis, nasal cancer, rhinitis, respiratory problems, splinters, goes septic from [00:27:00] Doug for, and that's from the dust and the wood.

[00:27:02] So take a look guys go on the list here. I will post this page up on social media here this weekend. So you can take a look at it. It's really, really good. It's a really good story here that they did some serious work on. That's from a website. Would you choose really good information? Did some research to find out where we get the best of that information guys.

[00:27:24] So be really careful with woods like this, because I tell you what I have been learning this and it's something that I've been dealing with. And I want to make sure that everybody is staying healthy out there. And it's just wood, right? Yeah. Until we all get sick or, or somebody is running into some health issues and we don't want to see that.

[00:27:43] So once you guys tune in, in the show all the time, once you guys to have fun working on woodworking projects. In doing the stuff you love, but there's also some health hazards that just want to make sure that you're not jumping in and, and thinking about it going, Ooh, got to be careful with that. [00:28:00] So, all right, guys, be careful out there.

[00:28:02] I don't want to sound too preachy. Now, when we come back here, we're going to talk about some of the other things you need to be really careful with. Around the shop here in stuff that can really be dangerous. And these are the kind of these other hazards or even toxic. And we'll talk about that when we come back, if you want to find out more about us, or if you've got something that's happened to you, I want to hear about it.

[00:28:23] Send it a message over, head over to around the house, online. com. We've got a whole thing right there. And that's cool thing with that is, is over and around the house online. You can send me a message. You can give me a call in the studio. You can be a part of the conversation either way. I want to hear what you've got to say.

[00:28:37] And I appreciate you round the house. We'll be right back after these important messages don't go anywhere.[00:29:00]

[00:29:08] Welcome back to the round the house show. The next. Next generation of home improvement. We've been talking about project questions. Is that wall load bearing? We started talking about toxic stuff that was in your garage, maybe that woodworking project you're working on. And so there's so much more stuff here I want to talk about.

[00:29:23] And some of the stuff that you just want to be careful with in your garage, now that we're talking about it, make sure that if you've got kiddos, pets, that kind of stuff, just keep them out of the garage if you're storing stuff in it, whether it's pool chemicals or greases and oils. That stuff can be one horribly mixed badly.

[00:29:39] If you put stuff together out there, I'm not going to give you any ideas, but you know that there's some dangerous stuff when you start mixing stuff together. So make sure you're storing it correctly per the manufacturer's recommendations and out in a shed or something, not attached to your house. So that way, if it is off gassing, you're not having to deal with that.

[00:29:58] Now, one of my tricks [00:30:00] to do on projects. Especially if you're tackling a big one, let's say you're like, Hey, I'm going to do sighting on my house, or I'm going to do a new roof project or whatever. One of the nice things you can do is go get some rental tools. I tell you what, that has been something that I've been doing more and more of because I have limited space.

[00:30:19] And that is one of the nice things when you have a project is that maybe you don't need that big, huge, massive table saw hanging around all year round. Maybe you just need a small one. And then when you have that big project, head down to your favorite tool rental store and get something bigger, use it and then return it back to them.

[00:30:38] Use it for the day or two that you need it and save some space in your garage or shop. And if you're doing a lot of woodworking projects, man, load up you guys out there. Ladies and gents load up on the tools you need, but for many of us that don't have that much space or you just start running out of it, make sure that you've got that kind of dialed in just.

[00:30:58] Sometimes it's just easier [00:31:00] to rent the tools you need for the time and then go after it. I don't have a massive air compressor. I have a lot of the smaller ones I just don't need one But when I do need one I go rent it because it saves me a ton of money And it's one more thing that I don't have to store So take a look at tool rental is a great way on those projects to be able to save a little bit of money Buy it When you need it many times, if you're using it once or twice a year, might just be easier to rent it.

[00:31:27] And that way, when you're done with it, you can take it back, clean it up. And for pennies on the dollar, you can go out and use that thing and then not have to pay to store it. And that's one of the things that I think that we should always pay attention to. Is storage units are expensive. I have one now just to store stuff and man, it's irritating writing that check each month.

[00:31:45] That is money that I'm just literally throwing away. And so that means I need to build another shed. I've got one out back and I'm going to have to do another one here just because it will be cost effective. If you're spending 150 bucks a month, it doesn't take long for that to make [00:32:00] sense to go, Hey, maybe I'll invest in a years, go build myself a shed.

[00:32:04] That can be a great way to get that done. So that's another good one there. And now another thing here that I want to talk about when it comes to projects is somewhat controversial for people out there. When do you pull that building permit? When do you not? And a lot of those times, this is one of those things that comes down to where you are located.

[00:32:26] Like in my area here, if you're building a new deck. If it's under 30 inches high permits, not needed. I'm good. Same with a deck cover. If I'm going to build a cover, if it's under 200 square feet and it's built in a certain way, I don't need to pull a permit for it. That's great. But if I'm building a deck, that's 36 inches high where I need a railing and some stairs, probably I need to pull full building permits for it.

[00:32:53] Now, many times you don't need that for a fence, but I've seen it in certain areas where they have design codes. And HOAs and [00:33:00] stuff where you need to pull things. So really pay attention. It's really harder to get away with permits that are needed, especially on exterior projects. I know people, that's the one thing I love about the radio show and the podcast is I hear stories from across the U S.

[00:33:15] And worldwide. And I know here in the U S there are some cities, some counties, some states, some townships that are using satellites like Google earth and other paid private organizations that have their own satellites to be able to tell who's done a roof, who's done a deck, who's built stuff. And they can go back 10 years and see what you had.

[00:33:38] I went back to see how long the tarps were on the blue tarp house and can of beets we've been working on. I went back to 2013 and went, wow, that's Now we're still tarps in 2013 on that house. So you can get an idea of what's existing and what's not, which means if you get into a knockdown drag amount with your local building permit office, [00:34:00] guess what?

[00:34:01] That could get expensive because they have satellites to be able to tell you what you did on the outside of the house. Now, the other thing I've seen too, is they have gone on and pulled up listing information from other websites. So maybe they jump on Zillow or Redfin or realtor. com and your pictures from before that complete remodel are hanging up there.

[00:34:22] You're like, Oh, nobody'll ever catch me. It's inside the house. Guess what? They can. And here's the thing, will they most likely catch you? Ah, maybe, maybe not. All it takes is that angry neighbor. And that's really what it comes down to. I have seen, Saturday afternoons, an inspector show up at a buddy's place who was swapping out a window, and a neighbor had called it in, and that is one of them.

[00:34:45] Now, in my state here in Oregon, If you're an unlicensed contractor, woo, they have people driving around searching for you, they're following people out of lumber yards. They are on the hunt for unlicensed contractors, which is awesome. Go after those guys. [00:35:00] I'm cool with that, but the building department, not really, but here's where you get nailed.

[00:35:04] It's that person next door that has the permit or maybe the house down at the end of the street. That's remodeling. And when that inspector comes driving by and I saw this happen, this was something that happened and I'll tell the story now because the unfortunate architect is no longer with us. Died from cancer.

[00:35:22] A number of years ago, it was a project I was working out in Seattle. Well, an architect, I'll leave it at that. He was doing a full condo renovation. I was the kitchen and bath designer for it. He had me doing his kitchen about design. He was doing the big architectural spaces in there. And so this was drafting This was a long time ago hand drafting.

[00:35:42] This guy wanted these plumbing fixtures out of Europe I believe they were derivative I remember right but they hadn't been certified for the US yet So they didn't have our stamps didn't have the UPC stamps or anything on them. So they were not Legitimate us for sale yet. He had them ordered in paid to have him [00:36:00] shipped in Showed up and just when the plumbing truck was out front hauling the pieces in the head building inspector for the city of seattle Is hoofing it down the sidewalk and he sees it and follows it up into the building Walks right up to the delivery drivers walks into a condo by a renowned architect It's got into the studs without a single building permit.

[00:36:23] And I tell you what, if you want to see somebody get an example made out of them, it was ugly and it's not that they were doing things wrong. It was when you're in condos, for instance, and that's what this was. There are codes in condos that are different from homes. And in homes, we could use ABS pipe or PVC pipe.

[00:36:41] They, they wanted in drainage. They wanted all copper for drains. He didn't want to do it. Guess what had to come out, get ripped out, had to pay to get this stuff certified for the States, just so he could use the plumbing stuff. It delayed his project probably nine months because he had to go through all these different hoops.

[00:36:59] So [00:37:00] just be careful out there. I would say pull permits when you can, and I get it for some of the dumb stuff. People go, ah, it's not worth it. I get it, but technically you should be pulling permits when you need to. I'd tell you not to, but more importantly, this stuff is there to make sure that one, you don't burn your house down to, you don't ruin something with bad plumbing code, electrical code violations, structural, all those kinds of things.

[00:37:24] So those are there to protect your life, health, safety, and welfare. So it's not about the quality of the job. It's just there to make sure that it meets the minimum so that you can be safe. More importantly, the people that are next door, the people that are going to buy it from you down the road. They're safe.

[00:37:40] So I really want to make sure that the people out there are doing these things correctly, pulling the codes and an electrician. I paid an electrician to come in and do my electrical. Panel in here because could I have done it myself? Absolutely. But you know, something sometimes when it comes down to what's my time worth, and do I [00:38:00] want to make sure that it's done correctly, especially when I had a panel that was about ready to catch on fire, it was good to know that all my electrical was done correctly and it's safe.

[00:38:09] So it's okay to ask for help. And yeah, Electrical panels are expensive. They're much more expensive now than they were just a couple of years ago, especially with the new breakers and stuff that adds up very quickly. And I get it, but please guys, when you can make sure that you're pulling those building parents, getting it up to code.

[00:38:28] So that way, if you go to sell it down the road, somebody comes back and goes, wow, this wasn't done correctly. You're not going to have to do it twice. And right when you're trying to sell something, nobody wants to deal with that. And so there you go. Just be very careful guys. I want to make sure that you're protected your family and the other people around you.

[00:38:46] So those are some more project, the information to make sure you're tackling that correctly, but have some fun. If you're doing some remodels out there, I know things are expensive. Sheesh plywood prices right now. Sheet rock prices. Yeah, they are crazy. [00:39:00] And it's tough. I've been really trying to search the, for projects coming up, searching from the building material outlets, looking at donated materials.

[00:39:08] Yeah. New stuff is expensive out there, guys. It is adding up. All right, guys, that wraps up the first episode of around the house show. If you want to catch the second episode, catch the next one on the podcast or on the radio show. Thanks for tuning in to around the house.