[00:00:00] Intro: It's

[00:00:05] Eric Goranson: around the house. Hey friends, happy holidays. We've got a jam packed show here in this first hour of around the house. We're going to be talking with William White about how to get that tile clean and make it look for all of your guests coming over, and then we'll talk to whiskey and bourbon expert, Andrew Pace, and then we are going to make sure that you are covered with your insurance.

[00:00:28] Eric Goranson: We're going to talk to my insurance guy, Tony Russell of Tony Russell insurance here in the Pacific Northwest. And we're going to talk to him about making sure that you have renter's insurance, the right insurance, and your right homeowner's insurance all in today's episode coming up. This is one you don't want to miss.

[00:00:44] Eric Goranson: Hold on tight. Let's do this. When it

[00:00:46] Eric Goranson: comes to remodeling

[00:00:47] Intro: and renovating

[00:00:48] Intro: your home, there is a lot to know, but we've got you

[00:00:52] Intro: covered. This is Around the House. When it comes

[00:00:57] Eric Goranson: to tile, there is one person I lean on and that is William [00:01:00] White, Ardex Americas. Welcome back to Around the House, my friend. Eric.

[00:01:04] Eric Goranson: Good to see you, my

[00:01:05] William White: friend. You know, I

[00:01:06] Eric Goranson: wanted to talk today. Cause you know, it's kind of getting into fall, late summer, times of change. And you know, it's, I love it, but people are getting inside the house and looking around going, I got some stuff to do in here and man, I don't know about you, but if you've got old tile out there, there's so many people looking at that half inch grout line from 1987 that are going, how do I get this back to the color?

[00:01:28] Eric Goranson: It was intended to be.

[00:01:31] William White: That's a, that's a fair question. It. It might also be time to update that tile to just say, but sometimes we have to work with what we've got. And I hear you. I mean, we just wrapped up a bunch of outside projects here at our place. And you're right. It is. It is time to start moving back inside.

[00:01:49] William White: Um, you know, it, it is important to point out that. The grout that we had, you know, 1020. Years ago, it's [00:02:00] completely different than the grout we have now that this. The grouts we have now are so much stronger and more stain resistant and more robust. Um, but specifically dealing with, you know, that, that older grout joint that has maybe a little wider grout.

[00:02:16] William White: That's probably going to be a little bit more of a basic grout that may take. A little bit of elbow grease just to get it cleaned up, you know? Yeah,

[00:02:25] Eric Goranson: because I tell you what, uh, you know, I think everybody's had that house where you pull out the dishwasher in the kitchen and you go, that grout is a completely different color than I thought it was.

[00:02:36] Eric Goranson: Totally.

[00:02:37] William White: Totally. And that's a good time to go. All right. We might have to do some, a little bit of grout maintenance here. So, you know, basically your grout maintenance, your daily maintenance is just sweeping and vacuuming or having a little Roomba run around and just pick up that daily. Dirt and debris that, you know, the dogs and we carry in and on our shoes.

[00:02:56] William White: As you're talking about getting in and doing [00:03:00] a deeper cleanse, a lot of times, you know, we're really going to have to use, you know, our daily cleaning, uh, we can damp sponge with something that's a neutral pH. Uh, but when we get into that deeper cleaning. We may have to use something that's it's a little more acidic, um, just slightly acidic.

[00:03:21] William White: And what that will do is go in there and deep clean the dirt out of there. Now, it is important sometimes to understand as we get into treating actual stains. That stains can either be organic or inorganic. And depending on where those stains originated from, we may actually have to use a little bit of base to attack them slightly different than an acidic does.

[00:03:45] William White: Um, but generally speaking, you can go to your, you know, home improvement center. You can get something that is a heavy duty grout and haze cleaner. That's going to be something that's slightly acidic. Now you are going to have to [00:04:00] scrub with that. You are going to have to put a little elbow grease in it.

[00:04:03] William White: This isn't something that you can just mop on and magically it's going to scrub the dirt off the grout for you. Um, you know, I'm, I'm sure we have some guys that are probably working on self cleaning grout, but that's not a thing yet. So you are going to have to take like a stiff bristle brush. It's going to take, you know, a Saturday morning and you're, you're just going to have to get down there and do some scrubbing to release that dirt from the grout joint and then do a damp mop over top of it.

[00:04:30] William White: And the most important part of that entire process is going to be getting a sealer back on there, right? Because those older grouts don't have that fortification built in them, which is why it got so dirty in the first place. We are going to have to put some sealer back on there.

[00:04:49] Eric Goranson: Got it. That makes sense.

[00:04:51] Eric Goranson: And what do you think about people that, uh, you know, you see commercials of companies coming in and they got the steam cleaner and the gloves and they're going crazy. Is that a [00:05:00] viable option or is there some risk to doing that?

[00:05:04] William White: So our company really doesn't encourage the use of heavy duty commercial steam.

[00:05:10] William White: Um, now the, like the shark steamer that somebody has at home. That's pretty effective and it doesn't, it's not quite to the same. Extent that a commercial steamer would be. The nice thing that I do see is a lot of times those commercial companies, and depending on how much tile you have, if you have, you know, a couple hundred square feet, that's one thing you have a couple thousand square feet

[00:05:33] Intro: a Yeah.

[00:05:34] William White: You know, you, it might be worth hiring a professional for something like that. Sure. But a lot of times those professionals do have auto scrubbers that are going to scrub that surface of the, of the natural stone tile and grout.

[00:05:47] Eric Goranson: Got it. Just something that's gonna make their life a lot easier as a professional, but.

[00:05:51] Eric Goranson: Something that you're not going to have as a homeowner because it just doesn't make sense. It

[00:05:54] William White: doesn't make sense. Right.

[00:05:56] Eric Goranson: Got it. So here's one question for you, William. Let's say [00:06:00] you get it all cleaned up, right? You get your cleaners, you're scrubbing away. Everything's looking gorgeous. And then you walk down and you go into the home center and you see that there's a 7 sealer there, but then you go into your professional tile store and there's a 70 sealer there and you're going, what am I doing?

[00:06:17] William White: A hundred percent. You get what you pay for with sealer. I cannot preach that enough that, you know, it's, it's all about the solids that are in it, the actual protection in it, you get what you pay for. If you pay 7, 10 for something and you pay. You know, 50 or 70 for something you're getting a better quality product.

[00:06:43] William White: Um, there's actually more protection in it. Um, and understanding that, you know, ceiling, it used to be that everything was solvent based and it was a stinky mess you'd have to do with the doors and windows open. [00:07:00]

[00:07:00] Eric Goranson: I was holding a gas can in the house, right?

[00:07:02] William White: You totally and in like cross ventilation with some fans going on it.

[00:07:06] William White: Nowadays, almost all of our sealers are actually waterborne sealers. And we've found that the water born sealers can actually penetrate deeper into natural stone and deeper into the grout. And provide, you know, as good of or if not even better protection than some of the older solvent based, um, sealers would,

[00:07:29] Eric Goranson: you know, that makes sense because that's what water is.

[00:07:32] Eric Goranson: What got that there to begin with, right?

[00:07:35] William White: 100%. 100%. You know, it's, it's water, whether it's, you know, right around the dog bowl or just walking in from the yard and, and having a little bit of, you know, moisture from the grass. Yeah. Or as we start heading into our rainy season, most of the time, our stains and contaminants are carried in by water.

[00:07:54] William White: So if we can block that water from going into the grout joint, we're going to block it from staining [00:08:00] and actually getting into the grout itself, which leads me to a good point. How do you tell if your grout is sealed or not? Right? I mean, because. Yeah, maybe you just bought the house. You don't know. Yeah, pretty easy.

[00:08:15] William White: Just take your water bottle, pour some water on like a one inch strip of grout. Watch it for about a minute. Wipe that water away. If you have a dark spot, that means you're not protected. That means water is able to penetrate down in there. Probably time to look at some ceiling, whether you're doing it yourself or hiring a company to do it for you.

[00:08:36] William White: Um, definitely time to consider some maintenance

[00:08:38] Eric Goranson: there. So if you've got a travertine maybe outta the two thousands or you got some marble, something like that, would the same go for those, those two materials as well? A

[00:08:48] William White: hundred percent, yeah. Natural stone is exactly the same as the grout. Um, typically. No, most all natural stone is porous to some degree at some level.

[00:08:58] William White: And, [00:09:00] you know, if you have natural stone, that's, that's, you have all the beauty and character of natural stone, but it does require some care and maintenance specific to stone. And that's going to be some scrubbing, some sealing. Um, you may have some natural clefting in there, like with a slate or something that needs to be cleaned out.

[00:09:16] William White: Um, and again, you get what you pay for, you know, with, with sealers. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I've seen sealers that come and spray aerosol bottles that you can do standing up and walk

[00:09:28] Eric Goranson: down your grout joints around the house. She'll be right back. Don't go anywhere

[00:09:50] Intro: so hot.[00:10:00]

[00:10:11] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the Round the House Show. Now. If you wanna find out more about us, head over to around the House. Online. com. Now let's get back to our conversation with William White from Ardex about how to clean and care for that tile around your house and have it always looking its best. Let's do

[00:10:26] William White: it.

[00:10:27] William White: Um, you may have some natural clefting in there, like with a slate or something that needs to be cleaned out. Um, And again, you get what you pay for, you know, with, with sealers. Oh my gosh. I've seen sealers that come in spray aerosol bottles that you can do standing up and walk down your grout joints. Now they're claiming that they're preventing, they're providing some level of protection.

[00:10:51] William White: I don't know how much protection that is, but again, you're going to get what you pay for, spend the time, spend the money, do it right. That

[00:10:59] Eric Goranson: [00:11:00] makes perfectly good sense. And then, then you don't have to worry about it. Right. For a while. What do you recommend? And I know it comes down to the sealer you use, you know, is it, uh, you know, or, or the wear or the traffic in that area, but is this something that you should be looking at doing every six months, year, two years, what's the, the general recommendation for a high quality sealer?

[00:11:21] William White: You know, for a high quality sealer, you know, the sealers, when I was installing professionally, um, they were saying once every 20 to 25 years. Now, I figured if I got half of that out of it, or a homeowner got half of that out of it, you know, if it's something I had to do 10 years, but I had to scrub the floor and get it down to clean and all that, That's not too bad.

[00:11:42] William White: All in all, considering now, the other thing that does come into play is your maintenance schedule. How often are you mopping it? Because every time you're mopping it, every time you're walking across it, you actually are kind of pulling a little bit of that sealer out of there. Um, especially if you are using like some of the like [00:12:00] Sharp cleaners or steam cleaners, you know, the small residential ones, you know, they're going to be pulling a little bit of that sealer out each time.

[00:12:06] William White: So, you know, again, your, your, your own personal maintenance schedule is going to play into that as well.

[00:12:12] Eric Goranson: So, really, if you're every year, you're going down there and taking a peek at it and pouring some water and testing it out. That's really going to be your best bet. It sounds like.

[00:12:22] William White: Absolutely. And it also allows you just to look at the grout and say, you know, how's it holding up?

[00:12:26] William White: Do I have any cracked tiles? You know, which is why it's always a good idea to have a couple extra tiles saved. And, and, you know, it gives you a chance to look over that entire installation. Maybe there's some caulking that needs to be cut out and replaced because caulking again, there's another maintenance thing that, you know, it's not permanent and forever.

[00:12:46] William White: You might have to replace that too. And we see that more like in showers, you know, where the caulking might need to be replaced. And I always encourage people to use only a hundred percent silicone. Um, it does come color matched in all the [00:13:00] colors of all the grouts out there. Uh, but using a color matched caulking, uh, silicone is, is the only way to go.

[00:13:08] William White: You don't really want that acrylic stuff in your installation.

[00:13:11] Eric Goranson: Unless you like doing it every year.

[00:13:12] William White: Right. Cause it's going to crack. It's going to shrink a hundred percent. It's going to look

[00:13:16] Eric Goranson: nasty. It's going to look nasty. And then if you've got that eighties tile, maybe it's time for

[00:13:21] William White: an upgrade. Let's be honest.

[00:13:22] William White: It might be time to replace it. You know, 12 by 12s with quarter inch or half inch grout joints. They're kind of a thing in the past, you know, now we're going to larger format tiles with tighter grout joints. Which is actually means less maintenance, right? In the grand scheme of things.

[00:13:38] Eric Goranson: And you can put a grout in, right?

[00:13:40] Eric Goranson: That's going to be so much easier to take care of, because you can now use that new technology.

[00:13:45] William White: Exactly. And now they've got some of these, you know, single component grouts that don't require sealing whatsoever. Um, you know, it, it just, there are so much better technologies out there that make it easier to the end [00:14:00] consumer, really.

[00:14:01] William White: But one tip, you still got to clean it. We don't have self cleaning grout yet, you know, maybe, maybe someday the smart guys are working on that one.

[00:14:10] Eric Goranson: There we go. William, thanks for coming on today, brother. Where's the best place for people to find you guys, uh, for all your components out there for doing a tile job?

[00:14:19] Eric Goranson: Uh,

[00:14:19] William White: so Artix Americas is our website, um, and we have all of our, you can locate a rep on there, you can locate a distributor. You know, you can even call into our technical services and, and we have a really excellent technical services department that is more than happy to answer any questions that people may have.

[00:14:36] Eric Goranson: Thanks for coming on today, my friend. Can't wait till next time.

[00:14:39] William White: Eric. Always good to see you, brother. Take care.

[00:14:42] Eric Goranson: Thanks, William. I appreciate it. Now let's go talk holidays and really whiskey. If you're thinking about whiskey or bourbon or entertaining, this is a guy you should listen to my buddy, Andrew pace.

[00:14:56] Eric Goranson: You know, it was about time that we brought Andrew Pace back on [00:15:00] again, but we're not going to be talking mold this time. We're talking one of my favorite things. We're going to talk whiskey today. Andrew, welcome back to Around the House, my

[00:15:08] Andy Pace: friend. It is fantastic to be here, Eric. I, uh, I couldn't be more excited about this.

[00:15:13] Andy Pace: You know, I talk about mold and houses all day long. This is fun. This

[00:15:18] Eric Goranson: is where we get to add to it. Right, brother? Yeah. Yep. Well, let's talk about the history of Whiskey Man and where we've gotten today because I know for many homeowners out there, they've got their little bar on the side and they got things, but so many people go to the liquor store and go, huh?

[00:15:35] Eric Goranson: Whiskey, whiskey spelled differently and this bourbon thing. And we're going to leave out all the other Scotches and stuff out of that. But it's a, it's a, it's a deep dive. If we get into that,

[00:15:47] Andy Pace: it's a deep dive and it's incredibly confusing. Uh, you know, um, I think the best way to talk about it is how it kind of started where, where we started and where we are right now.

[00:15:57] Andy Pace: Uh, one of the things I'll say right now is, uh, [00:16:00] just to sort of, um, bring this topic to the forefront because bourbon right now is the hot topic, right? All nationwide, worldwide, actually. Um, all bourbons are whiskeys. Not all, not all whiskeys are bourbons. Okay. And so that's something to think about.

[00:16:16] Andy Pace: Everything we talk about today will be a whiskey of some sort. Okay. It started back in about the seventh century. Uh, when the, um, the, uh, Muslim traders brought the concept of distillation for making tinctures and making perfumes, uh, to the Irish, uh, and the Irish took it and said, okay, tinctures and medicines and perfumes.

[00:16:41] Andy Pace: That's great. But. We also have beer. What happens if we actually distill beer and that's what turned into what we would what we known as, um, uh, aqua vitae or the water of life. That's where whiskey started. All right. So the Irish really started creating the first whiskeys. [00:17:00] Then it went to Scotland. Yep.

[00:17:01] Andy Pace: All right. What next door Scotland does the Scots would say they perfected it. Oh,

[00:17:07] Eric Goranson: that's a conversation we could have back and forth for centuries. Like they have, but

[00:17:12] Andy Pace: exactly. And then when, uh, the, the Scots and the Irish immigrated to the United States in the, mainly the 17, 18 hundreds, they brought with them the desire to distill.

[00:17:25] Andy Pace: A whiskey, they didn't have the ingredients that they had back in their homeland. So what do they started using? Rye and corn, because that's what we grew here in America. And so, and then from that point, it's now gone literally worldwide. Whiskey is distilled on every continent in the world. Um, and some of the world's best whiskeys aren't even made in the countries that you can even think would be whiskey countries.

[00:17:51] Andy Pace: Right. And so there's so many to choose from just when it comes, comes to like Scotch alone, cause I'm a, I'm really a, uh, a Scotch [00:18:00] whiskey fan. That's my forte. Yeah. Um, there's over 3, 800. Iterations of a Scotch whiskey available at any given time, anywhere in the world. And they're all different. Okay. Here in the United States with bourbon whiskey, which I'm also an executive steward of, there's 14, 1500 distilleries, just a bourbon here in the United States.

[00:18:22] Andy Pace: All right. So there are literally tens of thousands of styles available. When you go into a liquor store and you see that encyclopedia wall of whiskeys, where do you start?

[00:18:32] Eric Goranson: That is a great question. We'll answer that just as soon as around the house.

[00:18:35] Intro: Welcome[00:19:00]

[00:19:06] Eric Goranson: back to the round the house show. Now we've been talking with my buddy, Andrew pace. An expert in his own world of whiskey and bourbon. He's also our mold expert here on the show, but this guy has many talents. Now let's get back to the program. There's 14,

[00:19:20] Andy Pace: 1500 distilleries, just a bourbon here in the United States.

[00:19:24] Andy Pace: All right. So there are literally tens of thousands of styles available. When you go into a liquor store and you see that encyclopedia wall. Of whiskeys. Yeah. Where do you start? That's

[00:19:34] Eric Goranson: the hard part for so many people because you can see something that is, uh, you know, a very inexpensive bottle, and then you can see something that costs more than what your first car was and everything in

[00:19:45] Andy Pace: between.

[00:19:48] Andy Pace: Right. Exactly. And what, what's the reason for the price difference scarcity? Is one of the things the other thing is how old it is, how long it was sitting in a barrel. I mean, they're, they're paying taxes every year on that [00:20:00] barrel of whiskey. And as that barrel of whiskey ages, it's also losing volume because of what's called the angel share that's evaporating.

[00:20:07] Andy Pace: So they may start out with a barrel that contains enough. Uh, liquid for 300 bottles of whiskey by the time they actually bottle it is maybe only enough for about 150 at some, sometimes. So the value gets more and more every year. And so it's not just about whether or not it's a, a brand that is collectible, whether or not it's just one of those in brands.

[00:20:29] Andy Pace: It's about everything that's gone into it to get into that. That makes sense. I know

[00:20:32] Eric Goranson: one of the questions I see out that people have so many times is what is cask strength? Or, you know, they see that and go, wow, that looks. That looks cool. What is that?

[00:20:43] Andy Pace: Yeah. So cast strength literally means if this is the alcohol at the ABV level, alcohol by volume level of what the whiskey is or was when it was taken out of the cask for bottling.

[00:20:55] Andy Pace: Most often when you buy a bottle of whether it's a bourbon or an Irish or a [00:21:00] Scotch whiskey, it's been what's called roofed down to a certain level. I've got a bottle in front of me. This is the Craig Gellagher 13 Scotch and. This one was proofed down to a 46 percent ABV. All right, that means it's 92 proof.

[00:21:19] Andy Pace: Um, whiskeys here in the United States are typically proofed down to about, uh, 80 to 86 proof. So what they're doing is they're adding in water and they're slowly blending it in before it gets bottled. And that way they can keep consistency. Uh, it's good for profit margins, of course, but it's what, for consistency, what people are expecting.

[00:21:40] Andy Pace: When you buy a bottle of Woodford and you expect, you know, 92 proof, you're going to get 92 proof. Uh, cast strength is whatever it came out of the cast gas. It could be 104 proof. It could be in some cases like a Jack Daniels single barrel cast strength. It could be [00:22:00] 158. That'll leave a mark. I mean, you know, this, this.

[00:22:04] Andy Pace: It leaves a mark for sure. But so in the whiskey world though, uh, there's a big push for the cast ranks because it gives the buyer. Options. Um, I am a huge fan, huge fan. Anytime I've ever had a new whiskey, I always have it neat. Then I have it with a drop of water, then a couple more drops of water, and I might even put in an ice cube or something else because you have to experience what are called the altered states of whiskey until you find that sweet spot for you.

[00:22:39] Andy Pace: And with a cast strength, you've got all that room to work with. If it's already been proofed down to an 80 proof or 86 proof, you know, I can't really add too much water before it just kind of tastes like you

[00:22:48] Eric Goranson: had an ice cube in it for way too long. And it's just kind of watered down.

[00:22:55] Andy Pace: Exactly. Exactly. And then of course, if you look at the economics of it, a cast strength whiskey is just [00:23:00] better, better bang for your buck.

[00:23:01] Andy Pace: I mean, you're getting more. Alcoholic content to it. Therefore that bottle is going to last a long, longer time. Hopefully, uh, you know, the nice thing about whiskeys is that, you know, when you open a bottle of whiskey, that bottle of whiskey will never spoil. It may change, it may oxidize, the flavors might change a little bit, but it's not like a bottle of wine.

[00:23:22] Andy Pace: You open up a 100 bottle of wine, you better drink it within the next 24 hours. You open up a 100 whiskey, I've got whiskeys that have been open for 10, 15 years that are just fantastic when I take a pour here

[00:23:34] Eric Goranson: and there. That's what's great about the expensive ones is that, uh, you know, you go out and buy a 200 bottle of wine and you, like you said, you've got 24 hours to consume.

[00:23:43] Eric Goranson: You know, some of these distilled spirits, you can sit there and go for a while with that and, um, it's not changing, which is, which is a nice. Side of the investment, shall we say?

[00:23:53] Andy Pace: Yeah, it is. And so will it be the exact same flavor profile as you have when you first open it up? Probably [00:24:00] not because oxidation does change whiskey a little bit, but I will say that there've been plenty of whiskeys.

[00:24:05] Andy Pace: Matter of fact, the one I poured today, that's, uh, this Craig Ellihe, when I first opened it up about seven, eight years ago, I didn't like it. It was way too sulfuric. It was too, it tasted too much like, you know, smoked meats, even though there's no PD flavor to it. But now that it's been open for a while and oxygen has a chance to do its thing, it's actually turned into a very pleasant, very easy.

[00:24:27] Andy Pace: So if you get,

[00:24:28] Eric Goranson: that's a great tip right there, you know, if you can sit there and not enjoy it and go, okay, I'm going to let that sit for a little bit. Let's see what happens. It's almost like just waiting for the ice to do the thing in the glass when it's just. You know, you took a nice big ball of ice and threw it in there.

[00:24:46] Eric Goranson: If it's a little strong, give it a few minutes. And that ice is going to knock it down a little bit. The oxygen is kind of doing the same thing. It

[00:24:51] Andy Pace: sounds like, yeah, it is. And so I always get that question. Have you ever had a bad whiskey? Well, no, I've, I've had whiskey. That wasn't right [00:25:00] for the situation.

[00:25:01] Andy Pace: I've had whiskey that. Required a little alteration in order to make it to my flavor profile, but there's really is no such thing as a bad

[00:25:09] Eric Goranson: point. That's a good point. And you know, there's something for each price point out there too. I know there's, there's, I'll be the first to say that I've got a Buffalo tree sitting there as my bar house whiskey, because I know exactly what it is every single time.

[00:25:23] Eric Goranson: And for making a couple of cocktails with it. For me, it's great for that.

[00:25:29] Andy Pace: Well, and that's, you know, to that point, Eric, that this is why bourbon has become so popular in this country. It's because the bourbons, almost all bourbons are actually blends of various distillates from the same distillery or the same ownership of, of distillation facilities.

[00:25:48] Andy Pace: And so you're getting something that is from bottle to bottle, from batch to batch is going to taste almost identical. This is what happened back in the. 1800s with Scotch [00:26:00] whiskey. Uh, Scotch whiskey at the time was kind of like the wild west of America. Like it's like everything tasted different. Every batch was different.

[00:26:08] Andy Pace: So blenders, you know. Named, you know, Johnny Walker, uh, and others created these blends so that their customers always knew that when they got a, uh, a fresh, uh, case of whiskey, it was going to take taste like it did last time. And bourbon has really captured that. They know how to do it well. And then you also know that if you like it neat and you also like it and cocktails and so forth, I mean, it just spans across that taste profile.

[00:26:33] Andy Pace: Um, and I think this is where, um, one of the reasons why bourbon became so popular. It's also because bourbon is a little sweeter than the other whiskeys. And so it just, it gets people to, to come from the side of drinking beer or wine and going into a bourbon is a little bit easier of a jump. Then it is to get into a, you know, a lagavulin 16 that, you know, tastes like a peep fire.

[00:26:57] Eric Goranson: And those are required days for some people. [00:27:00]

[00:27:01] Andy Pace: Yep. I love it, but it took me a long time

[00:27:04] Eric Goranson: to get there. Absolutely. Well, Andrew, what would you recommend out there for people to try out there before we run out of time here? Is there anything that you're hot on right now that, uh, that, uh, Ooh, you should be trying this or what are some of your favorites these days?

[00:27:17] Andy Pace: So I will say, I'm not, like I said before, I'm a huge fan of Scotch whiskey, but I'm also a fan of Irish whiskey and Irish whiskey, in my opinion, is that perfect bridge. If, if you're a bourbon drinker and you want to start to explore a little bit, start exploring Irish whiskey. I'll give you a couple of reasons.

[00:27:35] Andy Pace: First of all, Irish whiskey is distilled 3 times. All right, so it's going to be a smoother whiskey to drink. Beats. It is good in cocktails as well, but it's, it's not that sometimes people will complain that Scotch whiskey tastes a little harsh. Irish whiskey is going to be a little smoother because of the third distillation.

[00:27:56] Andy Pace: The second thing is most of Irish whiskey [00:28:00] is made from either a blend of grain whiskey, or what's called a pot still a pot still is going to be a combination of malted and unmalted barley. So you get more of a grain forward flavor to it. I believe that Irish whiskey is just the perfect step after bourbon.

[00:28:16] Andy Pace: And then on your way to Scotch and some of the others, uh, right now, some of my favorites are, I think, red breast, uh, Irish whiskey. I mean, that is. That to me, yeah, that is, that is, uh, meat and potatoes right there for Irish whiskey for me.

[00:28:31] Eric Goranson: Andrew Pace, thanks for coming on today, man. You and I could make this an hour long show, which, unfortunately for the rest of the people expecting home improvement, might be a twist they don't want to have, but I can't wait to have you on next time.

[00:28:42] Eric Goranson: We'll talk some mold, too,

[00:28:43] Andy Pace: and maybe some more whiskey. All right, my friend.

[00:28:46] Eric Goranson: Round the house, we'll be right back. You

[00:28:48] Intro: threw my clothes out on the...[00:29:00]

[00:29:06] Eric Goranson: You know, we've seen home prices go through the roof. But my question is, are you insured? We've got my buddy, Tony Russell, Tony Russell insurance. Welcome to around the house, my

[00:29:15] Tony Russell: friend.

[00:29:16] Tony Russell: Thank you, Eric. It's good to be here. Good to see you

[00:29:18] Eric Goranson: again. Ah, great to see you, buddy. You know, you and I used to work in the same building doing radio and, uh, you know, full disclosure, I leaned on you when I did my insurance because I was buying online and they didn't really realize how underinsured I was and I went, Hey, wait a minute, if I'm underinsured.

[00:29:35] Eric Goranson: A lot of people are too, so I thought I'd have you on the show and talk about that a little bit today.

[00:29:39] Tony Russell: Yeah. You know, you want to focus more on the homeowner stuff, but if I could just say, if I could just say quickly, there are so many uninsured and underinsured auto motorists out there. So everyone needs to be very careful.

[00:29:56] Tony Russell: I would. Look at, you know, go over your auto insurance with your agent, [00:30:00] make sure you're, you're covered. I guarantee you state minimums not going to be enough because the price of parts on cars, the price to repair them has skyrocketed. You do not want state minimums, but we're going to talk about homeowners.

[00:30:14] Tony Russell: That's what you want to talk about. And the same is true for it. Got it. Prices

[00:30:17] Eric Goranson: are skyrocketing and it is, and you know, you think about it. Our homes have been going up. Some people's homes have gone up 40 or 50 percent over the last seven to 10 years or more. And then when you go out and buy an insurance policy online, I'm always concerned because, you know, for me, I haven't talked to anybody until I talked to you, for instance, about.

[00:30:36] Eric Goranson: What I have in the house and you might not get what you're paying for your great

[00:30:40] Tony Russell: example, especially we don't want to talk about too much what you got in your house. Right? But, uh,

[00:30:45] Eric Goranson: yeah, as you can see, people have seen it on the show. I've been doing a lot of projects.

[00:30:50] Tony Russell: You have, you have nice things. Right?

[00:30:52] Tony Russell: And so if I drove by your home. Or if you stood outside your home, you'd put a value on it just based on the [00:31:00] structure. But if we said, well, he has a TV in his shower,

[00:31:07] Tony Russell: he has it, he has it, he has an alarm system, security system, that's top notch, all those things that. You're many of your sponsors have been good enough to help you with that increased on your property. Remember how it didn't really increase the value of your property. Once we added that and what people don't understand going back to the cars, like, when you buy a car and you add the big tires and you add the roll bars and you add all these nice things.

[00:31:34] Tony Russell: That's not covered if you're total, your vehicle, unless you let the agent know, and they add those things to your policy. Same is true with your, your home. If I don't know, you have those top notch electronics throughout the house, or, or let's say some guys in your position and that have your background, they love to work on the cars.

[00:31:55] Tony Russell: They love to work on homes. They have tons of tools. All those tools are [00:32:00] not going to be covered. Yeah, yeah,

[00:32:03] Eric Goranson: yeah. And it gets interesting, you know, and I learned this the hard way a number of years ago and I had, I was living in Seattle at the time and you know, single guy, you know, single dad raising two kids and and all of a sudden I come home and you know 1920s house with kind of the barn style garage doors.

[00:32:22] Eric Goranson: And my garage doors are sitting in my driveway because somebody hooked a chain to it and drug it off the building. And I had an empty garage, you know, and didn't start reading the fine print until then, because I didn't realize that, okay, only a little bit of that was covered and then I had to go out and pay for those tools and work through the reimbursement process.

[00:32:44] Eric Goranson: I didn't have seven or eight grand in my pocket to go out and get tied up for six months while I went through that process.

[00:32:50] William White: And that was tough. It

[00:32:52] Tony Russell: is. And that's why that's, you know, I understand going online and buying things. It's quick. It's simple. But when it comes to your home, your autos, you [00:33:00] want someone who's going to ask you the right questions.

[00:33:02] Tony Russell: You know, it's, um, it's like going on WebMD to diagnose your problem and saying, Oh, I must have a strep throat because that's what MD web and thesis. If you had gone to the doctor and he'd asked you a few more questions, maybe you find out you have something worse. And so the question. So when you call your agent, they need to add, they'll ask you the right questions.

[00:33:22] Tony Russell: Um, a deck on the back of the house. That could be very expensive, you know, how big is it? Some people have it the entire length of their home. And so you need to know that because again, if the house is total and you only have on there that you had a back patio, the deck's not covered. And so you need to know those things.

[00:33:44] Tony Russell: The big thing to remember right now, and I know if you've looked at your. Most recent renewal on your homeowners in the last 6 months, you're probably shocked and what we're being told, uh, don't shoot the messenger is it's all based [00:34:00] on inflation. It's based on inflation. Uh, the price of lumber is astronomical.

[00:34:06] Tony Russell: And so that's what's that's what's causing these rate increases. And that's why you need to make sure you have enough. Coverage it's called, you know, it's that it's that structure a coverage where you're what I know a lot of your, this may sound like, well, no doubt, but only the structure is covered, right?

[00:34:24] Tony Russell: Because the land's going to stay. So you're right. You're not, it's not based on the value of like, your real estate agent comes and they appraise everything as an agent or as an insurance agent. We're just looking at the structure itself. How is it designed? Is it custom built? That's a big one, right? Uh, versus just standard built.

[00:34:43] Tony Russell: Uh, do you have a lot of wood flooring? Do you have a lot of carpeting? All those things need to be figured in. So you get the right price. And if God forbid, something happens, you get covered with the same material that the house was built. Right. That makes sense. Yeah. So you don't

[00:34:59] Eric Goranson: want to be tough [00:35:00] when you've got an older home, for instance, let's say it was built in the twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, or even sixties, and now you're trying to build that to current 2023 building code.

[00:35:10] Eric Goranson: Some of those materials that you wanted to put back in there were very expensive compared to what they were 50, 60, 70 years ago, right? That adds up quick and you need to make sure that you've got that covered versus just building a spec house back on the same lot. That didn't have those same materials in it.

[00:35:27] Eric Goranson: Yeah, that's

[00:35:27] Tony Russell: a great point because like downtown Portland, downtown Seattle and some of these older towns too that just have these beautiful old restored homes. Yeah, you definitely want to know what you're doing when you get those insured.

[00:35:41] William White: Cause some of those, some of that, um, some of those

[00:35:43] Eric Goranson: products

[00:35:43] Andy Pace: are

[00:35:43] Tony Russell: still available most or not, but you want to make sure you get them, you get it built back to as close as they will get it for you.

[00:35:52] Eric Goranson: Absolutely. And the same goes for people out there that are apartments that are maybe wanting to be homeowners out there. You know, my daughter, I [00:36:00] gave her a big speech about making sure that she had a renter's insurance because she's a new renter. And I tell you what, you want to be covered in those situations because if you're trying to put money away to get a house one day.

[00:36:11] Eric Goranson: If you have a total loss and that could be not your fault, right? That could be somebody in the unit below you falling asleep, smoking one night. And all of a sudden everything's gone while you're at work.

[00:36:21] Tony Russell: Absolutely. Uh, one client, a teenage daughter was, you know, burning a candle in her apartment, in their part, they, they had a three bedroom apartment, two or three bedroom.

[00:36:32] Tony Russell: One of the daughters was just burning the candle, cut, cut the drapes on fire, burned the whole, burned the room. Luckily they had sprinklers. Which is a discount, by the way, on your insurance, if you let them know you have this guys, but so they would have never gotten renters insurance, but the complex made them buy it.

[00:36:51] Tony Russell: And so what happened, though, they were put up in a hotel for an entire month. All their personal belongings were covered [00:37:00] and then once everything was restored, they moved back into the apartment that cost them 15

[00:37:06] William White: dollars a month.

[00:37:09] Eric Goranson: That's what they paid 15 bucks a month. Yeah, you can't, you can't go through drive through for 2 people and get a meal out of that.

[00:37:17] Tony Russell: No, and people always underestimate how much they have in personal property. So, I try to go a minimum with, you know, maybe a couple living in a home or so, you know, minimum of 75, 000. it may sound like a lot to people, but just walk around your. Walk around your apartment, walk around your home and just start, maybe take a calculator just for fun and see, oh, my gosh, I paid 5, 000 for that big screen TV or that huge screen TV.

[00:37:47] Tony Russell: And to that, that brings us

[00:37:49] William White: to a really important point.

[00:37:51] Tony Russell: Eric is make sure that you get that replacement cost content. What that means you want to make sure you ask the agent. Are you going to replace that big screen [00:38:00] TV as if it's new or at a depreciated value? I, I'm a typical guy, right? I keep coming back to big screen TVs.

[00:38:08] Tony Russell: Uh, the, the TV. So you want, I want a new TV. I don't want, I don't want you to say, oh, you paid 800 for that TV, giving you three. So it's, it's,

[00:38:19] Eric Goranson: it's literally, you can go out and buy some at Costco for 1800 bucks and it's two years old and they're like, well, that thing's worth 200 bucks. Cause it's a, it's a, you know, not the latest model and you're in trouble.

[00:38:31] Eric Goranson: Yep. Take

[00:38:31] Tony Russell: pictures of your valuables. Make sure you, if you have diamonds, you have, uh, a lot of people collect firearms, things like that. And yeah, art is a big one. Uh, that's not covered. It's only covered to a certain extent, unless you schedule

[00:38:46] William White: it. You just use

[00:38:48] Tony Russell: these words with your agent, they'll know, say, Hey, I have a, a lot of women will say, Hey, I got this nice engagement ring.

[00:38:54] Tony Russell: I know he's broke. He's never going to be able to buy me anything like this again.[00:39:00]

[00:39:00] Eric Goranson: Can we make sure, can we

[00:39:03] Tony Russell: make sure this thing's covered? I don't care about him. He's going to, if he leaves, that's all right. I need to make sure this ring

[00:39:09] Eric Goranson: is covered.

[00:39:10] Tony Russell: Uh, things like that are just really important. Um, and you, you don't think about that when you just go online and just start checking boxes.

[00:39:18] Eric Goranson: Tony. Hey man, thanks for being my insurance expert. I wanted to bring you on just to talk about this stuff because I think it's important for everybody out there, whether you're a homeowner or a renter. Yeah.

[00:39:27] Tony Russell: Eric, it's always good to see you. I love what you're doing and congratulations on your huge success.

[00:39:32] Tony Russell: This is great. Hey,

[00:39:33] Eric Goranson: if you live in the Pacific Northwest, hit up Tony Russell at Tony Russell, insurance. com around the house. We'll be right back for our number

[00:39:39] Eric Goranson: two. Don't go anywhere.