[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's Around the House. We've been talking today about the top ten problems around your house that can't wait to be repaired. In the last segment we talked about a carbon monoxide leak, gas leak, and a leaking shower. Now here's one here that is just, this one gets to be bad, and you start to see it usually with vinyl flooring first, but that toilet wax ring that's leaking.

[00:00:27] Eric Goranson: Or The one that's leaking between the bowl and the tank. And I tell you what, once that starts going and it starts taking out floor joists, this can be the beginning of a bath remodel. And if you've got that older home that's got the vinyl flooring down there, you start noticing the discoloration. When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know, but we've got you covered.

[00:00:52] Eric Goranson: This is Around the House. Welcome to the Around the House show. This is where I help you get the most out of your home through information [00:01:00] education. Thanks for joining us today. I'm Eric G. Hey, if you want to give us a call here in the studio and you want to be part of the show, 833 239 4144, that's 833 239 4144.

[00:01:13] Eric Goranson: If you've got a home improvement question, give me a call there. And if you want to find out more about us, whether you're listening to the podcast or the national radio show, you can head over to around the house, online. com. And you can find out more about us there. And then if you're on the radio, thanks for joining us today.

[00:01:29] Eric Goranson: And we do have a massive backlog on the podcast. So if there's something that you missed today, we didn't talk about. Bet you we talked about it in our past nearly thousand episodes that we have out there. Today I wanted to talk about my top 10 list of problems around the house that can't wait to be to repaired.

[00:01:47] Eric Goranson: Those things that you go, ah, that'll be a day two project. These are the ones you go, Oh snap. These are the ones you've got to get on because every day it's going to get worse. And so we're going to talk about that [00:02:00] today. So I wanted to go down this list. They're not in any particular order because I think there's, they all have a layer of danger to them or danger to the structure itself.

[00:02:10] Eric Goranson: So I thought, yeah, I'm not going to give them a priority list because they're all different and they all could be, they all could be number one at some point. And that's the one thing I want to make sure that we understand. So, first one on the list here, I'm just going to say the first one on the list is a carbon monoxide leak.

[00:02:28] Eric Goranson: Now this could be your carbon monoxide detector's giving you a little beep, or you've got some sensors in your home that's starting to say, hey, you've got something going on. This is where you're either going to get out of the house and call 911, or you're going to have a professional come out and take a look at it and see what's leaking.

[00:02:46] Eric Goranson: And great example here working over at my brother's place. We've got, uh, this project house out at the coast that we've been working on and we were going to fire the furnace up on it. And this is a great example. We're going to fire the furnace up now. It had [00:03:00] not been started for at least 15 years. So this house was abandoned, had blue tarps all over it.

[00:03:05] Eric Goranson: If you live in the area, probably even which house I'm talking about. So we're out there, we're looking at it. We're like, nah, nah, it's probably a bad idea. This thing's 1980s furnace forced air gas. We decided not to, well, we decided to tear out the wall behind it, tear the sheet rock down because it was water damaged, rip that down and look back there.

[00:03:25] Eric Goranson: And that B vent, which is the exhaust out of that man, probably 70 or 60 percent efficiency furnace was completely rusted out and missing. There was 18 inches of that thing. If we would have made the mistake of trying to fire that thing up, we'd have filled that thing up like a jet engine with carbon monoxide.

[00:03:44] Eric Goranson: Now, in fairness, a couple things were gonna happen. One, there was no way to inspect that B vent because it came out the back of the furnace that was up against the wall and it went into a wall cavity up into the chimney or the side of the chimney. So we couldn't have seen it, but we had to notice real quick.

[00:03:57] Eric Goranson: Why is there a 50 degree [00:04:00] increase in 30 seconds of this furnace area? We would have shut it down, but that could have gone really badly. So I'm happy we made the safe and conscious decision to go. Yeah, that's this is gonna be a bad idea. Let's not do it. And even if anybody would have came in there, you had to open the wall up to see it, but that would have been a deadly situation in a heartbeat.

[00:04:18] Eric Goranson: So one of those things that makes sure one, you've got a carbon monoxide detector anywhere that you've got any kind of gas. And I recommend even if you're parking a car in the garage to make sure and have one. Just to make sure that you're good to go. And I think it's all part of having just really good air quality monitoring within your home.

[00:04:36] Eric Goranson: Uh, the more information you can get, the better, the more that you've got watching that humidity, the, uh, PM 2. 5, which is a particulate matter. The, all the different things, the more data you can get, including VOCs, the better off you are. So just, there's one of them right there. Carbon monoxide leak. Now on the side of that is a gas leak.

[00:04:56] Eric Goranson: And this is something that can be really small. And really it can [00:05:00] be something big too. If you're worried about a gas leak, the fastest thing to do, if you just get a little tiny whiff of it, and it's not like, oh wow, I got a broken pipe, but, oh wow, that smells like a little light gas, call your gas company.

[00:05:13] Eric Goranson: And if it looks like it's just a little bit where you're wondering, they will bring out some super sensitive equipment, come test it. They usually don't charge you for that. I haven't seen one that ever did. I say usually because who knows, there might be somebody out there that does. But I haven't seen anybody that does.

[00:05:26] Eric Goranson: They'll come out there and take a look at it. But here's the rule. Like carbon monoxide, when in doubt, call 9 1 1. If you go, oh, that's just a hint. Maybe I got a sensitive nose. I can't tell. Call the gas, you know, call the gas company. If you're like, wow, it smells like gas, get out, call nine on one, let the professionals come deal with it.

[00:05:45] Eric Goranson: Cause that can be deadly quick. We've seen way too many homes, but super, super rare. But when they do have those big gas leaks inside a house, like a big gas pipe broke, and then of course it finds open flame. And then we got a problem, but really make sure that you've got that dialed [00:06:00] in. And that's another one.

[00:06:01] Eric Goranson: So just gas leak, be really careful. Most ranges, if they're in good shape, aren't really leaking, but it's something that's not a bad idea. Call your gas company and say, Hey, can you come take a look at things and give me a quick inspection? I want to make sure that you're good. Now, just the backside of that though, is there is a little risk with this.

[00:06:18] Eric Goranson: Because if they come out and go, yeah, this range is leaking. They might turn that thing off and lock it out until you get a professional out there. So. That could it's going to be a safety issue. Don't get me wrong. They're going to say, hey, that's a problem and they're going to shut it down until you can do it.

[00:06:32] Eric Goranson: But just be prepared. You might have to have a service call or a replacement there, whichever makes most sense in your situation. But just make sure that if you're worried about it, have the professional come take a look at it and you'll be good to go. Now, the next one is a big one here hasn't to do with gas or carbon monoxide, but this is that tile or fiberglass shower.

[00:06:53] Eric Goranson: That is leaking, and I mean leaking into the ceiling below, leaking into a wall cavity, leaking into [00:07:00] another bedroom or a closet. As that stuff goes, as far as what that is, if it's leaking, stop using it until you can fix it. Because that is going to be like cancer. That water is going to get in there, it's going to feed the mold.

[00:07:14] Eric Goranson: You're already going to have a mold issue to begin with. If you haven't gotten on it, because by the time that's dripped and gotten in through drywall or into another space, or you see it in a crawl space or a basement. You're going to have a little bit of mold in there someplace, but just make sure that you've got that figured out and stopped and leaking showers are a very, very common issue that we're seeing in homes today because we have so many people that built them wrong to begin with.

[00:07:39] Eric Goranson: I still see on social media today, somebody going, look at my beautiful shower and I see that they're tiling right over the top of drywall and I'm like, that's not going to work long term. I don't care what you put on it. It's never a good solution that did work in the 1970s and eighties, but you know, it's, there's a lot of things that are different these days.

[00:07:55] Eric Goranson: One, you know, they didn't last as long back then when you did it on that in two, [00:08:00] everybody's running lighter drywalls as a drywall as well. So there's, you know, a third or so less material in that drywall. There's a lot more air. And it's just not really strong enough to give you a good grip on there compared to what you should be doing, which is putting up some kind of waterproofing system up in there.

[00:08:16] Eric Goranson: And that's how you get to do showers over again is not doing the waterproofing correctly. So make sure that you've got that leaking shower situation and something you should take a peek at every once in a while. If you've got showers and you got to crawl space down below. Yeah, not a bad idea. Once a year, every six months to get on there, take a peek around and make sure you don't have any issues because by the time you see it upstairs, it's been going on for a while and it's going to be a much bigger problem.

[00:08:40] Eric Goranson: I had a neighbor here recently and this is something here that's just just around the corner from me here. Who else talking with? They put their house up for sale and they had a huge leak in a bathroom and how it got this bad is beyond me because it leaked through one wall into the bathroom next to it and down into the kitchen.

[00:08:59] Eric Goranson: So [00:09:00] supposedly it's It took out two bathrooms and a kitchen. Now, I'll be honest. I don't know how you could do that and be in our profession and not notice that you had that much water damage for to take out a kitchen and two bathrooms with a slow leak, and that's something that you're probably not going to be able to get on insurance.

[00:09:17] Eric Goranson: It's not like you bust a pipe and the place is covered because you had a broken pipe. If it's been a slow leak over seven or eight years, that's neglect, and most insurance companies are not going to pay out on that. And if they're not paying out, that means that's a big remodel coming out of your pocket.

[00:09:33] Eric Goranson: All right, we come back. We're going to talk about my top 10 problems. Continue with the list around your house. You can't wait to be repaired. We'll do that just as soon as around the house returns. Welcome back to[00:10:00]

[00:10:10] Eric Goranson: the around the house show, where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education. Really appreciate you tuning in to us today. Hey, if you're looking for video, if you're catching us on the radio show here, the national radio show or the podcast, it doesn't matter if you're like, man, if I just had a video to fix that, we are basically at 200 videos now that we've got out there.

[00:10:28] Eric Goranson: We got a couple hundred videos and next week is going to be our one year anniversary week, 52 of the show. And so that is going to be the end of our first season and stepping into the next season. So we've got a lot of great stuff coming up. But you can find that over at around the house online. com. You can find it over there.

[00:10:46] Eric Goranson: And if you've got a home improvement question for me, don't be shy 833 239 4144. That number again is 833 239 4144 calls 24 seven. This show runs at all different times across the U S [00:11:00] and so we're not here at the studio all during those times. But if you miss me, guess what? We'll call you back and I'll put you maybe in a future episode of the show.

[00:11:08] Eric Goranson: We've been talking today about the top 10 problems around your house that can't wait to be repaired. In the last segment, we talked about a carbon monoxide leak, gas leak, and a leaking shower. Now, here's one here that is just, this one gets to be bad and you start to see it usually with vinyl flooring first, but that toilet wax ring that's leaking, or the one that's leaking between the bowl and the tank.

[00:11:33] Eric Goranson: And I tell you what, once that starts going, it starts taking out floor joists. This can be. The beginning of a bath remodel. And if you've got that older home, that's got the vinyl flooring down there, you start noticing the discoloration around the toilet. And what happens there is when you see that, that's the water getting in between the vinyl and the subfloor material down below it, which many times is particle board, because that's what the [00:12:00] vinyl floor manufacturers had recommended for decades is to put that down underneath that.

[00:12:04] Eric Goranson: And so that's what you ran into, and that starts to get in there, starts getting funky, and you start seeing the color wheel change down there. And that's how that starts happening. Now, let's talk about toilet installation here first. Now, there are some new toilet wax rings out there that aren't wax.

[00:12:19] Eric Goranson: They're a seal that I think are really important and I love how they work because they have more of a compression foam if somebody gets on the toilet and it maybe rocks a little bit, you know, there's no spring back to a wax ring and I have seen people getting in there getting heavy duty with the plunger before.

[00:12:38] Eric Goranson: And I've seen them blow the side out of a wax ring because they're hitting it hard enough. So these are all things you want to be careful with to make sure you don't have an issue. And if you've got heated floor down near it, it's always just a good reason to not use wax on those. There's a lot of different ones out there, but I tell you what, the ones I have used have worked really well.

[00:12:57] Eric Goranson: And I thought they were really great options for [00:13:00] people out there and they really keep things looking good. Something to think about when you're doing it. And I think it's one of those things that works up and looks really good when you get that all input together. Now, one of the things when you're doing a new toilet, you got to make sure and caulk around it to the finished flooring down there.

[00:13:17] Eric Goranson: Now, if you're one of those psychos out there putting carpet in, that's a whole other problem. I would never put carpet in a bathroom, even though we did it for about 15 years out there. But really, if you're putting that down to flooring, tile, vinyl, luxury vinyl plank, whatever, you do want to caulk that to the floor to make sure that you've got that kind of sealed up right there.

[00:13:37] Eric Goranson: Now, I've heard plenty of people argue the fact that, oh, no, you don't want to do that because if you have water leaking, You want to see it. Most people don't have that sealed up anyway. So you've already got damaged nonetheless. But the reason for that is that's actually to contain any sewer gases. If there was a pinhole leak that you don't get those sewer gases inside.

[00:13:56] Eric Goranson: So make sure you caulk around that whole thing. Follow the directions on the toilet. If [00:14:00] you look at the new toilets directions these days. They're even telling you to caulk around that thing now. I know some people that are leaving a little thing in the back That's a whole other issue, but in my area and that is not gonna pass code So you're gonna have to actually make sure and have that thing nicely caulked in So that way it's all sealed up and you'll be good to go and that way you just have to worry about those details later That's how you do it, right?

[00:14:22] Eric Goranson: Now the next one here is a big one and it's something that I think is really important to do if you have a wood burning fireplace And even if you've got a gas fireplace, it's something that should be maintained and inspected from time to time. And that is looking through, especially with masonry, to make sure that you don't have any cracks, settlement, or other issues.

[00:14:42] Eric Goranson: Because the last thing you want to do is to want to have either carbon monoxide Or just as bad or worse, a chimney fire going on, something you should be doing a couple times a year. And this is my recommendation is walk around the house. Make sure that you look at the exterior of the chimney to make sure that looks good.

[00:14:59] Eric Goranson: And [00:15:00] then take a look up inside the flu. Look to make sure you don't have any cracks, any daylight, anything like that. And then if it comes up through an attic space, not a bad idea to get up there and take a peek at it. And then I would recommend having that chimney sweep come into once a year and do a really good cleaning.

[00:15:15] Eric Goranson: If you're using it a lot, probably a couple times a year, follow their recommendation and make sure that you've got that really dialed in. So that way it's clean. It's operating. You don't have creosote buildup. You've got the damper working correctly. If you need a chimney cap on it, you've got that in there.

[00:15:32] Eric Goranson: And if you don't, no big deal. But those are things you want to make sure that you've got 100 percent dialed in so you don't have an issue down the road because all it takes, especially if you've got clay soil, that chimney can be moving around a little bit with the weather with what's going on in your house.

[00:15:47] Eric Goranson: Maybe the summertime it's dry or vice versa. You just want to make sure that you've got that not moving around and that way you're going to be good to go. All right. The next one up here, guys, is an important one that we've all I think have [00:16:00] seen. If you've been on a homeowner like I am that have had this, or even a renter out there, that is that little water heater leak.

[00:16:09] Eric Goranson: And here's the thing, if you have a leaking water heater, then you are usually right at that point, that water heater is going to get ready to go. And when it goes, it could drop all 40, 50, 80 gallons of water all around. So if you see that leak starting to happen, You walk into that utility room. There's a little spot on the floor there where it's leaking out or on the bottom of it, man, it's time.

[00:16:32] Eric Goranson: It is time to get on that and take care of that quickly. Now, sometimes if they didn't do it correctly as far as plumbing it, you'll see that pressure temperature relief valve that comes out of the side of it. Maybe they didn't even hook it up or should be going outside or down into a drain area. Maybe that thing is kicked off.

[00:16:49] Eric Goranson: That's another issue right there is that thing has to be working correctly. And if it's not working correctly, two things can happen. One, um, It kicks off too early and then starts leaking, [00:17:00] or even worse, it gets too much buildup, and it doesn't work, and then that becomes a pressure canister, and I was watching Mythbusters one time, and they decided that they would block that off and try to overheat that water heater and see what would happen to it, so they had, okay, we're going to overheat these things.

[00:17:18] Eric Goranson: I think they took a 40 gallon gas, or they actually know they did electric. They did an electric water heater. Hooked it up. I think it was just because they were worried about the gas and the explosion. They didn't want to make a bigger deal out of it. So they put that into a mock house and that thing launched itself off the basement, up through the first floor, up through the second floor, cleared well above the roof line and landed down in what would have been the yard.

[00:17:44] Eric Goranson: And it was like a rocket taken off. Now is that realistic? That's something that's going to happen in your house? Now, unless you have messed with that pressure, temperature relief valve. Not gonna happen. However, comma that shows you how important that piece is. So never mess with it. [00:18:00] But if you start to see water coming down in that drip pan or you got water on the floor around it, start doing some investigating because that is where you could have the next big problem.

[00:18:09] Eric Goranson: And the last thing I want to see you do is even if it's in the garage, put 50 gallons of water on the ground out there and then the water just keeps running. So if you're not home, um, That's like having a hose running right into that space, so you want to make sure that you don't want that thing to let loose or have a big major leak, and that's going to overwhelm the entire system, and you don't want to see that happen.

[00:18:29] Eric Goranson: So something to think about. Watch that water heater for leaks because man, that could get expensive really quick. All right, Around the House. We'll be right back after these important messages. Don't go anywhere.[00:19:00]

[00:19:10] Eric Goranson: 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 us today. We've been talking about my top 10 problems around your house that you can't wait to be repaired. These are those things. And if you see it, it's time to jump on it.

[00:19:24] Eric Goranson: Cause it's going to get expensive. If you don't wear time is not your friend in getting these things repaired. So this is when something like this happens, it goes to the top of the repair list, or you're hiring somebody to come do it. If you're not able to do it yourself. Hey, first, if you want to get ahold of us with questions or comments, 8 3 3.

[00:19:41] Eric Goranson: 239 4144. Give me a call here in the studio at 833 239 4144. And if you didn't write that down, don't worry. You can head over to around the house online. com. It's right there across the top of the page. Give me a call with your home improvement question. I will try to help you out and maybe [00:20:00] be on a future episode of around the house.

[00:20:03] Eric Goranson: We've been talking about those top 10 problems that can't wait to be repaired. And the next one here. Is a big one and it's something that we start to see especially this time of year that water leak in the roof Maybe it starts out. It's just that little brown spot in the ceiling Or there's some drip in the garage or something like that I tell you what that water leak can get to be something massive and on the first segment I was talking about the house that my brother i've been working out out on the coast here of oregon where we've been working on this project And this was a neglected house and this one here It's it is the worst house and many things that i've ever seen that i've ever worked on now this house if you go back into the wayback machine and take a look back on google maps, which for this address was october of 2013 decade ago and if you go back then it had faded blue tarps on [00:21:00] the roof then so that kind of gives you an idea how bad it was and then when We picked it up here.

[00:21:06] Eric Goranson: It was lots of blue tarps. I think there's eight layers of blue tarps in some places where they got up there with the biggest blue tarps and nailed them down and layer after layer. And there's hundreds and hundreds of pounds of blue tarps, some green, some brown, but all over this place. And finally, the city there forced the guy to sell it where they were going to tear it down.

[00:21:29] Eric Goranson: And we took it over and started working on it. Now. This is the ultimate of roof neglect, because once we peeled the tarps, the layers back, it's like peeling back an onion, right? Go peeling it back, peeling it back, and all of a sudden you're seeing dinner plate sized holes. Now this roof, on a coastal environment, didn't last long.

[00:21:50] Eric Goranson: It lasted a long time, but it failed and they just kept it up there. So originally when the house was built in the 50s, it had a cedar shingle roof. Not shake, like [00:22:00] 70s. But a cedar shingle roof. And then I think when they did an addition in the 80s, they did a really cheap, low budget three tab asphalt roofing right over the top of it and up onto the addition.

[00:22:14] Eric Goranson: Of course, they didn't put any tar paper down. They just went right over with shingles right over the top of that and re roofed it. Well, then you throw on it leaking, obviously, probably 15 to 20 years ago, probably 20 years ago, looking at the weathering of the blue tarps. And then you had tarps in the wind and the rain beating on this roof surface.

[00:22:34] Eric Goranson: And, uh, I'll post up a picture. I want to see what yours are. I'll put it up on Facebook here this weekend of what's the worst roof you've seen. I'm gonna let's have some contest with it. So just look for around the house show on Facebook I'll post it up over there You'll see our little logo there And i'll post it up and if you guys have a roof that you've seen it was pretty bad I want to see you post it up This is the worst condition shingle.

[00:22:56] Eric Goranson: Cause you can't even really tell it's three tab at this point, but the wind and the [00:23:00] tarps just rubbed on that and beat it to it, just a shred. And the problem is it's messy coming off. Cause it comes off in little two by two, three by three inch chunks. And so it's a shoveling kind of thing, not a get out the roof and tear off big pieces, it just all comes apart, but you get where I'm going at this.

[00:23:17] Eric Goranson: This is something that a little leak can go a long ways. And the problem with roof leaks in my experience. is especially on a pitched roof. It can be leaking up way up high. Run down a joist or a ceiling rafter. Come down and pop out where you see it someplace else. So don't assume it's right over the top of what you're working on.

[00:23:40] Eric Goranson: It could be running down 68 10 12 ft down. If it's a slow enough for it leak hits a bump, hits a not hit something like that and drop down right there. And it can also land in one spot. And go over in the water starts collecting in other places because of insulation, things like that. So be wary of it to make sure that you've got it and a good time to inspect [00:24:00] things.

[00:24:00] Eric Goranson: And keep an eye on that. That's a good thing to do. If you can get up in the attic and run a flashlight around, look for any water traces, things like that. Because once you get water in there, you got mold, you got mildew, you got rot, you got pests. That's where carpenter ants can come in and start doing some damage.

[00:24:14] Eric Goranson: So these are things you really want to make sure you've got a dialed in and not be a big problem. So watch those roof leaks and a little maintenance up there, cleaning and repairing. Can go a long way on solving potential problems down the road. All right, next up we got a big one here and this is one that can be problematic, but it's something that there is a solution for it.

[00:24:37] Eric Goranson: If you really want to make sure to make sure and prevent this from happening, that way at least you'll know what's going on. It could save you a big headache or even worse a house fire. And what is that problem? That is ignoring that electrical flicker. Or those glitchy lights or electrical system within your home.

[00:24:56] Eric Goranson: Now, this is something that it is giving you a [00:25:00] massive warning. Now it could be just like an led, an led light that's not firing off correctly. But if you've got a couple of things happening like that, this is where you got to really pay attention because those flickers that's probably generating heat.

[00:25:13] Eric Goranson: And heat is the enemy of all of that. So that's how you start a fire. So my first thing that I want to say is that you want to make sure. And the answer to dealing with electrical like this is to be monitoring it all the time because it could be doing it while you're not paying attention. You're not home and that could be shorting out and you don't want to see that happen because that's how things get overheated and catch on fire.

[00:25:32] Eric Goranson: So my first recommendation is there is a product called ting fire out there. T I N G F I R E. Go find them on the internet. Now here's the cool thing. Many home insurance companies are paying for this unit for free. So take a look at ting fire. Get to know it, look it up. And once you do what this does is this plugs into your electrical system.

[00:25:58] Eric Goranson: So plugs into an outlet, [00:26:00] super simple hooks up to your wifi. There's an app and you know, something it sits there and tells you if you're having electrical issues, and that is a really cool thing to have. And it even works on my house. We have power outage here and I had, I had the generator running it and I was probably putting a little too much on that generator.

[00:26:19] Eric Goranson: And all of a sudden my team fire fired off one. Hey, you could be in a brownout situation. You're running a little low on voltage and I went, Oh, unplugged the battery bank that I was charging and I was fine. But see, that's that kind of stuff that it tells you and it monitors shorts. It monitors electrical issues.

[00:26:37] Eric Goranson: It will even tell you when your power is out. Hey, we lost power. I could be traveling and I know that I lost power because it went, Hey, You had an outage. And so these are all cool things. It'll fire off and let you know that these things happen. So they will actually get a hold of you if they see something on it that could be an issue.

[00:26:55] Eric Goranson: And the cool thing is with their program is there's 1000 insurance policy [00:27:00] that will basically pay for an electrician to come out and try to find it for you. And that's also so they can see what the problem was. So if they go, Oh, wow, you have an issue, but we don't know exactly what it is. That electrician, they'll pay for up to a thousand bucks.

[00:27:13] Eric Goranson: They come out, look at it, peek at it and go, Hey, wow. Okay. Now I know what the issue is. And so they can use that to help better their system. But, uh, this is a great fire prevention tool. Because it'll catch things before it gets out of hand. Now, if you're out there with the spade bit and you're drilling, you actually hit some cable.

[00:27:33] Eric Goranson: We're trying to put that big flat screen TV up. It's not going to solve that, but just the little things where you have a loose connection and an outlet or a loose connection on a switch. Or some kind of an outlet failing in the backstab connection. Something like that. This is going to help get that dialed in for you and it'll monitor your system 24 seven.

[00:27:52] Eric Goranson: So it basically monitors from your house up to the transformer. It's a great insurance policy and there's a decent chance. You can get your insurance [00:28:00] company to pay for it without filing a claim. They'll go, Hey, you want to help prevent fires. Great. And then you're good as gold. So something to take a look at that will help you with that electrical flicker problem because it could catch that problem.

[00:28:11] Eric Goranson: If it's something that's an electrical issue in nature that you need to get fixed. So make sure you got that figured out and that will help you out. All right. When we come back, we're going to talk more about, I've got two more big ones here to talk about and what it could cause. Problems for your house and we'll do that just as soon as around the house returns,[00:29:00]

[00:29:03] Eric Goranson: the round the house. Show us where we help you get the most outta your home through information and edge. If you want to track me down, head over to around the house online. com and that even has our phone number over there where you can give us a call. If you have a home improvement question, 833 239 4144 that's 833 239 4144 all right.

[00:29:24] Eric Goranson: We've been talking about top 10 problems around your house that can't wait to get repaired. These are things you need to push to the front. And there's a lot more than 10. But we'll talk about these 10 is big ones out there. We've come back and talked about carbon monoxide leaks. Gas, like natural gas or propane, a leaking shower where the wall is leaking and causing mold and mildew and all that other rotten damage, leaking toilets, fireplace cracks on the brick and the mortar, or even a rotten out B vent or a vent coming out of that hot water heater leak a water leak in the roof.

[00:29:58] Eric Goranson: So you've got a water leak someplace in the [00:30:00] roof, electrical flicker. And then the next one here is those washing machine hoses, the ones that have the hot and cold. If yours are out of black rubber, just replace them. Those last four to five years tops. Anything beyond that, you are just tempting fate of a flood.

[00:30:19] Eric Goranson: And let me explain how this works. So anytime that you have an electric valve that shuts water off and on via timer or something automatic, so you're like your dishwasher or your washing machine, what happens is you think of. Water flowing down a pipe, right? And then as soon as it turns on to stop the water, that's in the machine, right?

[00:30:44] Eric Goranson: So you got the water going through the house, through the hard pipe. And then it goes through the rubber hose, the black rubber hose, going to your washing machine. And then it says, okay, we're done filling. Boom! And then in a tenth of a second or less, that jams the water shut. And [00:31:00] it's like a car accident.

[00:31:01] Eric Goranson: All that water pressure comes up, hits. It expands the hose that keeps that water hammer from happening. But the problem is, is that just expands and you're just stretching the hose every time you use it. So boom, okay, now it swells, goes back after a while you start to get it breaking down. And so what happens is that hose is multiple layers of rubber.

[00:31:22] Eric Goranson: All of a sudden you will get to the outside layer and it looks like it's blistered on the outside. Trust me, I've done this myself. I had a three year old set that did this one time and I caught it just before it was getting ready to go. There was five or six bubbles on this. It was a hot mess. And so what happens is that keeps going until it's just going to burst.

[00:31:41] Eric Goranson: And the problem is the water is. Always on up until you hit the back of the washing machine where that solenoid is. So that's like opening a garden hose up in that room. And if you're home, that's one thing. If you're not, that garden hose can be running forever. And I had this happen to a client's home that we were doing a remodel on.[00:32:00]

[00:32:00] Eric Goranson: And the remodel was because of water damage data. They were in Federal Way in the Seattle area. When I was working up there and that's for our Seattle stations up there that are carrying this show And I was up there in Federal Way. This was a three story house and I was the designer on this. She's 10 15 years ago They went to Europe water came down bedroom upstairs master bedroom had the view that came that broke Water damage all the way down to the basement And the daylight basement is where it kicked out that filled up the water up in that space enough that it finally broke the sliding glass door when there was feet of water in the basement.

[00:32:37] Eric Goranson: And that whole house was a total loss, got taken all the way down to the studs, the entire place, and they were out of that home for a year. Because of a 30 washer and dryer hose set. So you think about that, what that can cause by those. So if you have the braided ones still watch those, cause it's still rubber underneath, but that braid, that [00:33:00] braided stainless on the outside does keep that from moving so much.

[00:33:04] Eric Goranson: And so they will last longer, but to just watch those things, if they run your hands up and down them every six months or so, and it's something you'll never remember. I tell you what, it's the biggest thing cause you never see it. But stick your head over the back of the washer around the back if it's a front loader Take a look and see what it's doing.

[00:33:21] Eric Goranson: That is one of the easiest water damage things and then the same thing goes down If you've got a dishwasher that hose is like the one on the ice maker Ice maker has a lot less volume going so there's not as much going there But that washing machine is the big one. Next up is a dishwasher. That hose can sometimes break if you have one of the old white plastic ones that are braided.

[00:33:43] Eric Goranson: But if you've got the stainless steel braid, they do pretty well. So that's just something to watch out for. That can be a very expensive proposition if you have a garden hose running inside your house. Especially when it's hot water because it just does that much more damage. Something to think about right there.

[00:33:58] Eric Goranson: And the last one here is a big one. [00:34:00] And it's something that I think you should get checked fairly often. And that is radon. Now, Radon is one of those things that I think it's really smart to have it checked. In my area, when you purchase a house as part of that deal, as part of that transaction, they require you to have Radon testing.

[00:34:16] Eric Goranson: I'm cool with that. Now, here's the thing. If you have seismic activity around your house, I would recommend having another one. So if you have another 3. 0 or 4. 0 little earthquake, that's nothing big. Get it tested again, because what happens is that stuff comes up from through the ground with cracks. And if you shake the ground up a little bit, you could go, it could have changed that path of radon, right?

[00:34:42] Eric Goranson: So all of a sudden you could go from a no radon issue. To a big radon issue just because things got shook up a little bit. So be careful with that Now the crazy thing with radon is like in my neighborhoods over here There can be a fair amount of radon issues here, but what's [00:35:00] weird is you'll have one house That has no radon issues and you go right next door and they've got massive radon issues They've got a whole system they had to put in and it was out of control So be really careful with it can be some areas can be hot some aren't but you really need to test it Each house and how it's you know, how it breathes if it has a basement versus a crawlspace whether it's slab on grade There isn't a rule of, Oh, that'll never have it.

[00:35:26] Eric Goranson: Just make sure that you got it covered. So when in doubt, have a test. It's not that expensive to have somebody test it. And if you have to go out and have it retested, it's not a bad deal. So those are things that make sure you've got it dialed in. And, uh, it's a good safety thing for you and your house.

[00:35:44] Eric Goranson: And those are things that I just think that can really stop a disaster from happening when you've got don't dealing with your health and radon is a big one as far as the unhealthy things in your house, asbestos and having that floating around in the air is another one. If you decided to [00:36:00] go take down your popcorn ceilings.

[00:36:02] Eric Goranson: On you didn't test it before. And by the way, here's one thing on asbestos. I'm gonna take a few minutes and talk about that because this is something that DIY wires and home improvement people and plenty of contractors out there get this one wrong. And I want to make sure that you understand it. So many people will sit there and say, Oh, man, no.

[00:36:20] Eric Goranson: I've got asbestos in the house. I better have it tested. That's the best thing you can do. Just have it tested because asbestos in the US happened all the way up into the 2000s. It did not get outlawed like lead in the 77 78 period. No, it was used up into the 2000s. Now, if I go out here and I'm working on a house here in my area, if I'm in the early 2000s, I still have to have products tested.

[00:36:45] Eric Goranson: As far as take it even to the landfill guys if I take my dump trailer I've got a really cool summit dump trailer if i'm going there and if I have roofing felt if I have vinyl flooring If I have anything that is drywall [00:37:00] related drywall texture drywall mud Those are all things that can get you and so these are things that I really want you to watch out for So if you have a house that was built in 2001 And you've got popcorn ceilings.

[00:37:12] Eric Goranson: You're like, Hey, I'm going to get rid of these popcorn ceilings. Have it tested. Cause it could still be asbestos containing material. And that could linger in your house for years to come. And here's how that happens. If you've got that, you spray it down, you scrape it on you. Okay. That's pretty good. I need to sand it and get the rest of that off.

[00:37:30] Eric Goranson: And that's where the problem is. It's dried out. And that asbestos fiber, which can lead to the mesothelioma can actually hang out in your house for years to come. And so not only do you get one. Exposure to it. You can get dozens to hundreds if you're not careful because you're breathing it every day For years and months to come and all of a sudden it's like you're on a job site at a shipyard, right?

[00:37:53] Eric Goranson: You just got to be careful So I want to make sure that you guys understand that as you're dealing with this stuff And this is just a good little side mark [00:38:00] on stuff inside your home. That's healthy. Make sure that you're Checking that rate on, but make sure you're not contaminating things with, with the other issues, like with asbestos and other stuff like that.

[00:38:10] Eric Goranson: So just be very careful with that and make sure you've got it managed and make sure you're following it correctly. And that's just, it's not expensive to get some testing done, take some samples of it, and if you've got a, like with popcorn ceiling, for instance. If you've got it in three or four rooms in the house or whatever rooms you're doing it, test each room or test every couple of rooms, because what can happen is that maybe they got half the house done and Hey, we need to get more material.

[00:38:34] Eric Goranson: They go to the local store or the different one and they grab different material. And some of it has, some of it hasn't, I've run into that where. The first floor is asbestos containing material and the second's not. And it's just because they had two different products that were out there. So something to think about when you're working around the house.

[00:38:49] Eric Goranson: Be very vigilant on that. And it's just like a vinyl floor in one room or another. Just make sure you test it. And the same goes for that black tar mastic out there as well. If you're out there, if somebody put down [00:39:00] 60s, 50s, 60s, 70s. Vinyl down over that hardwood and you got that sticky black stuff test that too.

[00:39:06] Eric Goranson: Cause that's probably asbestos containing material. The last thing you want to do is send that up. All right. That's it for this hour of around the house. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time. And again, thanks for listening to around the house.