[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, the new generation of DIY design and construction. Thanks for joining me today in my weekday special. This is where we cover the stuff that didn't make it into last weekend's show, and of course, how Didn't make it into next weekend show.

[00:00:39] Eric Goranson: If you want to find out more about us, head over to around the house online. com. And if you have a home improvement question, give me a call at 833 239 4144. That number is 833 239 4144. You could end up in a future episode of this around the house show or my television show [00:01:00] around the house Northwest, depending on what the question is.

[00:01:03] Eric Goranson: Guys, a lot of great stuff happening out there. I am not one. To be a fan of the EPA and what's going on over there. But to me, they actually did something right. And here's my problem. A lot of times when government gets involved stuff, they can screw up something really good to me. It seems like when they get involved, you have unelected people creating rules that make no common sense whatsoever.

[00:01:28] Eric Goranson: So 80 percent of the time they're typically off the mark. And there's usually special interests involved, but this one here today, I got to say they actually did something right. So I guess it's a unicorn day out there. So the EPA finalized their first ever national drinking water standard to protect a hundred million people from PFAS pollution.

[00:01:50] Eric Goranson: Now, if you don't know what PFAS is, that is a list of chemicals. That is, they're considered forever chemicals and they have been cruising around from a bunch of different [00:02:00] things that end up in our drinking water. And it can be from anything. I have seen mountain drinking water that should be pristine, have it in there because the firefighting chemicals that the forest service was using had it in there, for instance.

[00:02:13] Eric Goranson: So those kind of things that we're seeing out there. So these are problems. PFAS has been linked to deadly cancers, impacts to the liver and heart, immune and developmental damage to infants and children. And what they're doing here is their EPA's PFAS strategic roadmap. Basically, they're going to eliminate PFAS from our drinking supply.

[00:02:36] Eric Goranson: So what they're going to be doing is they are changing the rules here and they're putting billions of dollars into this. Of course they are, but it's going to toss money for everybody's water system, but put this in, but they're spending 9 billion investment through the infrastructure law to help communities and drinking water impacted by PFAS and other emerging contaminants.

[00:02:57] Eric Goranson: This is the largest ever investment in trying to knock [00:03:00] this stuff down. They're going to be doing an additional 12 billion through that. The money like this is a big deal cause it's coming out of all of our pockets. But really what they're doing here is they're going to be eliminating. They've created rules that in a number of years here, they're going to have a plan.

[00:03:15] Eric Goranson: And they got a couple of years to get it out of the drinking water. So some people have already got that system. Some no one's testing for. So this is something that's really cool. So I think everybody does deserve to have really good, clean, safe drinking water. And by eliminating this from this, it's going to really be nice because I think it's going to be one of those things that's going to give people healthier drinking water, and I think that's something we all deserve to have.

[00:03:39] Eric Goranson: So what that means is they're going to have to be putting in systems to Take that out of the water to they're going to have to measure it and give you the public what that is. So that's really important. And if you're on a well, I think it would be smart to go ahead and take some time and make sure and measure it.

[00:03:57] Eric Goranson: And test your water and see what you have [00:04:00] in your water to make sure. So this just came out today on the 10th and I think it's important. We have got, you know, we really learned about what this was probably six or seven years ago. This was really one of those things that it really started coming out.

[00:04:16] Eric Goranson: And, uh, it's one of those things that I think that, uh, uh, all of those. Chemicals like that need to be out of our drinking water. So I think this is going to be exciting to see what happens with this, man. I do hate the EPA getting involved in stuff. Cause it usually just means more expense and more paperwork, but there will be a good benefit at the end because that's going to help us with public health.

[00:04:37] Eric Goranson: And if we can keep drinking water safe, we can reduce childhood cancers, things like that. I think everybody wins. If you're on a water system yourself, a private water system, like a well, or a neighborhood one. Wouldn't be a bad idea to get a water check just to see where you measure up with this. Now this is designed for bigger communities, but at some point, you know how this goes.

[00:04:58] Eric Goranson: Once they do that, then all of a [00:05:00] sudden the local state agencies that dictate your water quality, I'm sure will follow suit. And that's something that you should probably be on top of if you're out there and good cleaning, clean drinking water is something that is super important. Another thing I want to talk about here today is in our midweek special is there's so much going on out there right now in home improvement and new products out there.

[00:05:23] Eric Goranson: This is that new product time of year where we're going to see a little more in the show because the big trade shows here. In the U S are typically January, February, and March. And so all of the brand new products are coming out, all the new stuff's coming out. So that is where it all gets released. So new colors, new products, new stuff, new technology.

[00:05:44] Eric Goranson: So we'll be covering a lot of that here into the coming months as well. And that way you can get up to speed on the new stuff out there, because I don't want you to go out and start a project and go, man, if I would have only known that was available, that'd have made my life so much easier. And we're going to try to [00:06:00] bring more of that stuff to you coming up.

[00:06:02] Eric Goranson: And that way you'll have all the information so you can tackle that project the right way. Now I have a little bit of a rant here that I thought I'd go off about maintenance, and this is about the last two times I was in Las Vegas for the trade shows down there. I was down there for design and construction week, which is one of the largest trade shows that happens in the United States, as well as a much smaller one, which is the national hardware show.

[00:06:25] Eric Goranson: Both were great shows to attend. But I thought something instead of trying to take the, their bus system around there for trade show attendees, instead of trying to wait for an hour and an Uber line or a cab line to get back to my hotel, I'm going to make it easy. I'm going to take the Las Vegas monorail.

[00:06:43] Eric Goranson: And I tell you what guys, the Las Vegas convention center authority, I believe bought that here during COVID. And they have now, I saw in a press release that they have now basically made the money back that they had spent on it in its first handful of years, which is awesome. But [00:07:00] can we do a little maintenance on that thing?

[00:07:01] Eric Goranson: I tell you what, there is, that thing is beat up. And I mean beat up. Not so much the trains, they're clean and nice on the inside, not horrible, it's just all hard plastic, so how hard can it be? But! I tell you what, I think over 50 percent of the escalators were down. The elevators were sketchy. I've been in 1920 building elevators that operated so much better than what that is.

[00:07:29] Eric Goranson: When you jump in an elevator and it takes you three minutes to go three floors and you're in, it's creaking and moaning. You are taking life into your own hands. So Las Vegas, if you want people. To really jump on and take your public transit, please. Why don't you do some maintenance on it? I think half of the escalators were marked off and then you go get in the elevator and the elevator's nearly broken.

[00:07:52] Eric Goranson: If not, you're on its last ride and you haven't figured it out yet. That Elon Musk is going to be going on that thing. And he [00:08:00] is putting his boring between all the hotels out there. That monorail is going to be an aged dinosaur. If you guys don't do something to at least maintain it. And make it so people can go in and out of that thing.

[00:08:13] Eric Goranson: I couldn't believe it. You're in there for one of the largest trade shows in the United States and they can't have escalators working. Here's a funny part. They had them all tore apart. Like it's missing parts and pieces. It's am I it's marked off. I go there five weeks later. No one has touched it. The same pieces are sitting there in a pile.

[00:08:32] Eric Goranson: It is like the DIY project that never got finished. And there's no excuse for it. I actually did see though one person actually working on it, which means maybe a part came in, but there had to have been. 10 or 12 different escalators on that road that were marked off and not working. So come on guys, if you want us coming down to trade shows down there and using that system for what you pay for it, better get it fixed up because that's a [00:09:00] project that needs a lot of help.

[00:09:02] Eric Goranson: And just get some technicians out there, get the parts, get it fixed, get it working, make it safe for everybody using it. So, uh, get that project wrapped up Las Vegas. It needs it. All right, everybody. We got a great show coming up this weekend that I'll talk to you about on Friday on the podcast here on my little tease, but we got a great one coming up.

[00:09:20] Eric Goranson: If you have any questions for me, head over to around the house, online. com. And then we have about 360 videos up there. So if you want to find a new product, if you want to find something there that maybe it's a DIY project, you're getting ready to tackle, take a look over there. I have my own YouTube playlist and all you have to do is go over to around the house online.

[00:09:41] Eric Goranson: You can see the videos there, click on the playlist. You'll find those there. And they're all hosted on the Fox 12 Oregon page there on YouTube, but you can find it right there. And I've got a lot of great stuff on there. And don't forget my tool reviews of some of the cheesy stuff. I found on Amazon and some of the stuff that are best buys.

[00:09:59] Eric Goranson: All right, everybody. Have a [00:10:00] great rest of the week. Happy Wednesday. Happy midweek. And what is now called our weekday update. Thanks for tuning into around the house. We will see you this weekend!