[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's around the house. Now's the time to have a company come out and take a look at it. And to be honest, I don't usually call out the foundation companies to do that. In mail's cases, there are companies out there that prey on homeowners. In my opinion and will just absolutely nail you for $25,000 that you don't need to spend.

[00:00:24] Eric Goranson: And they use fear to do it. This is where I pay the money instead of having a free quote for a foundation company to come out and scare you. Now, not I'll do that, but the, you could get one of them and that's gonna hit you some money. Have a structural engineer come out, take a look at it. They can look at it and go, oh, that's just a, a, a settling crack.

[00:00:43] Eric Goranson: That's just a, you know, concrete does crack when it comes to remodeling and renovating your. There is a lot to know that we got you covered. This is around the house. Welcome to The Round the House Show. This is where we talked about everything about your [00:01:00] home, and we also hope you get the most outta your home through information and education.

[00:01:04] Eric Goranson: Thanks for joining us today. Hope everybody's having a great weekend. Well, today I wanted to talk a little bit about our spring home maintenance checklist. You know, it's our favorite time of year where. We're actually starting to get more daylight and it's time to start diving into these spring maintenance checklists.

[00:01:21] Eric Goranson: I know. A lot of you have snow on the ground in certain places and, uh, there's a lot going on out there, but this is the time to dive in and deal with this stuff because when you wanna be out playing in the summer, nobody wants to be dealing with the spring stuff that we were dealing with earlier. We wanna get it done now and then forget about it so you can go out and enjoy that spring and summer.

[00:01:43] Eric Goranson: So this list has been created for a number of years. It started out with, uh, at least when handyman Bob had it before I had the. and then every year when I get it, I update it and change it a little bit. So that's why it's not last year's rerun. We just kind of update things as times change and technology changes.

[00:01:59] Eric Goranson: We [00:02:00] wanna make sure that we got everything dialed in for you. Now, a couple things. Hey, if you're listening to us on the radio, we appreciate it. We do have a podcast with over a thousand episodes up that you can catch out anywhere you listen to podcasts and all you podcasters make sure that you're also checking up the TV show, which you can head over and find at around the.

[00:02:17] Eric Goranson: online.com, and it's carried in Portland on Fox 12 Plus, but you can stream it on a bunch of different networks out there. And all that information is over and around the house online.com, including the previous episodes. Well, today's home maintenance checklist for the spring is an important one because you know, many times winter doesn't matter if you're in North Dakota, Minnesota, where you got a ton of snow or down in Southern California where you're uh, man flooded out and dealing with water issues that you've never seen before.

[00:02:46] Eric Goranson: So these are things that, uh, you know, with the weather changing and, uh, you know, some people, I mean, California know you don't want to have damage, but you also need to have water. So it's that catch 22 with you and I totally get it. So [00:03:00] let's start outside here on the spring checklist. First, clear leaves and other debris from around the outside air conditioner.

[00:03:07] Eric Goranson: And if you got a cover on it, make sure and remove the cover on it. It's also a good time to sit there with the, uh, with the hose and spray it out, clean it out. Make sure that you get all the dirt and junk out of the inside of it, and make sure you've got that all ready to go. Make sure there's no rodents living in there.

[00:03:24] Eric Goranson: Anything else? Make sure that that thing is clean. And dialed in. If there's any tree branches and brushes and stuff, just make sure you got plenty of space around the outside of that. Better airflow, the better air conditioner. That's how that works. And then if you got window wells from a basement, storm drains, gutters, downspouts, downspout, extenders.

[00:03:43] Eric Goranson: And then here's the thing, clean all those out. Now, storm drains, if you don't know what that is, that is where your. It goes into the downspout. Downspout goes down to the ground, and then it should go into a storm drain. That should not go out under the ground because that water, when [00:04:00] it hits the ground, needs to go out at least 10 feet away from your house.

[00:04:04] Eric Goranson: If it's landing there, right there and has a little two or three foot extender or something on it, that's putting water too close to the foundation and that can cause problems. Like cracks in the foundation, things like that. So make sure that those storm drains when it goes into the ground, that goes at least 10 feet away.

[00:04:19] Eric Goranson: If it goes underground, you don't know where it goes. Just make sure that it's free flowing and then you know, when it's raining outside, make sure it's not bubbling out around those, you know, and. In my area here in the Pacific Northwest, many neighborhoods, not all of 'em, but many of 'em, those actually come out and end at the curb in going to the storm drain system in the streets.

[00:04:39] Eric Goranson: I have got a neighborhood by me sometimes you'll see these little round holes that go out and it dumps right at the curb. And that's not a bad thing cause it's getting the water off your property if you have that. But also when it's raining, you better make sure water's coming outta that. I was just walking my dog this morning.

[00:04:58] Eric Goranson: When it was raining and I'm walking [00:05:00] down a neighborhood next to me and I'm looking, going, oh, that one's plugged just at a rough count in about two blocks. 16 to 70% of those in those two blocks were plugged up in the rain. It was jammed up with dirt, debris so that water is going someplace, not out to the street where it's supposed to.

[00:05:18] Eric Goranson: So make sure you got that going. And then if you've got those storm drains, make sure and run a camera down there. Have a plumber come out or rent us camera from your local tool Reynolds Center. Make sure they don't have roots and stuff in there. My last house. . I actually had to go in there and I had tree roots that I took out.

[00:05:34] Eric Goranson: It was probably 20 to 25 feet of tree roots that we pulled out. And I literally had to use a come along and pull that out of there and it came out and it was amazing how much came outta that pipe. And that was gonna be something that was gonna have to be done every year or two to make sure that was clean.

[00:05:52] Eric Goranson: So that's a big one. And then, Inspect those gutters for signs of sagging and damage. You know, if you see when you are up there [00:06:00] and those are clean and you're looking and you see a, a low spot, make sure you get those leveled out, fix 'em necessary, and uh, make sure just everything's good and attached.

[00:06:08] Eric Goranson: Even my gutters on my house, I probably need to do a little work cause there's a couple of 'em there that if I get a lot of snow on it, it definitely does pull 'em down and I have to push 'em back in. So sometimes you can take, take out those nails and put screws. Something that's gonna grow a little bit more and uh, that can help you out there.

[00:06:25] Eric Goranson: Now here's another one. Trim back. Overhanging limbs on trees, shrubs, all that stuff. You wanna have it so it does not touch your house anywhere. Make sure that you're good there. So any of those, if you've got. Bushes, branches, you should be able to walk around 'em cuz you don't want those pests to get inside your house or to give a place where rodents can come in.

[00:06:46] Eric Goranson: You don't need a super highway there. And any of that stuff is hard on the paint anyway, so just make sure none of that landscaping is touching the house and that, uh, you're making it so like squirrels and stuff can't easily jump onto the roof and jump that cup onto the tree again. So make sure you got [00:07:00] that kind of dialed.

[00:07:01] Eric Goranson: That's a big one there. Get those things trimmed up and if it's at a place where you can't get at it, just make sure that you hire somebody to come in and do it and get that scheduled. And that's a big one. Check all the weather stripping on windows and doors for fit and condition repairs necessary, even if you've got vinyl windows.

[00:07:19] Eric Goranson: They've got that little kind of felt, um, almost textured seal around them. Take a washcloth and just wipe it around, get the dirt out of it. It's gonna seal up better and uh, it'll function and last a lot longer. So just get all that stuff wiped down. It's a great time to get all that mold and mildew stuff, any of that junk, that root that has collected along there.

[00:07:40] Eric Goranson: Just wipe all those down. Get a vacuum out. Vacuum out those sliding window tracks. Just make sure everything's dialed in on that. And, uh, if something needs repairing, now's the time to do it. That's an easy one. Now, here's a big one. Check all those roof fence and louvers. All those things should be working correctly.

[00:07:58] Eric Goranson: And while you're at it, if you've got like [00:08:00] soft vents, make sure that when you put a flashlight up in him that the insulation is block blocking, that you need to have that air coming. To the attic space and going outta the attic space in equal spaces. So good time to stick your head up in the attic, make sure everything is going.

[00:08:15] Eric Goranson: If somebody's outside and they can shine a light up in there, that'll show you a lot too. If you get a nice flood light and go up through those vents. If you can see the light up there, obviously it's good. If you can't, then you've got other problems you wanna make sure and get dialed in. That's a little trick to do there.

[00:08:30] Eric Goranson: It's like when people wanna put up in the summertime that, you know, in hot weather, They say, oh, I'm gonna put in one of those power vents. That's great, but you need to add more incoming air so you can pull it out and get that going. So you need to have equal balanced airflow into that attic space. So that's a big one.

[00:08:46] Eric Goranson: Now here's another one, and be careful this, this good. When it's cold outside, seek and destroy early signs of bird and seeking insect nests in those key spots like eaves, ledges, any of that other stuff. If you can get that dial [00:09:00] back, get it now. And if you need to put up things to keep birds and from nesting, you know, sometimes you'll get swallows and things like that depending on what birds are in their area that like to make nests around.

[00:09:09] Eric Goranson: A, you can create spaces that are not friendly to nest. That way they're not damaging your home and they can go find a safer place up in a tree or up in the wilderness and not be nesting on your house causing damage because that will do a lot of damage to your house, including things like woodpecker and things like that, that actually do severe damage to your house.

[00:09:28] Eric Goranson: Those are all things you need to be very careful. When we come back, we got so much more of the Eric G's home maintenance spring checklist. Just as soon as around the house returns, why

[00:09:48] Eric Goranson: be loud, be so hot?

[00:09:55] Eric Goranson: So many people.[00:10:00]

[00:10:10] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to The Round The House Show. This is where we help you get the most outta your home through information and education. Thanks for joining us today. Hey, if you missed the TV show last weekend, we had a great time over there and around the House Northwest. We ended up talking about VIN fan installation.

[00:10:26] Eric Goranson: So I did a Vince Vin fan installation with these new brown new tone vent hoods and uh, for your bathroom. It's one of those bath fans, and this one here actually has a light that sanitizes your space without it using a UV that will damage things, so you won't have drapes turning yellow. And plastic toilet seats turn in yellow, but it actually sanitizes the space.

[00:10:47] Eric Goranson: So I installed that in, and then we talked about building code out there, uh, as well with, uh, VIN fan installation. Then I talked with Ross Trai from this old house. And then, uh, we took a look [00:11:00] at the new stuff from Toto, from Toto s So you wanna make sure and check that, and you can check that over to my, uh, Website over there.

[00:11:07] Eric Goranson: Just head to around the house online.com. I've got it right there up on YouTube where you can check it out right there. All right, we've been talking about the spring home maintenance checklist, and this is an important one. This is the stuff you should be hanging out right now and taking care of as soon as the weather changes.

[00:11:21] Eric Goranson: You know, don't go getting up on the roof if there's snow up on it, of course, use some common sense. But, uh, these are things that you should be checking out every spring to make sure your house is good to go and that you've got that damage dialed in to make sure it's taken care of before you. So today we've been talking here, uh, the next one on the list, repair, any weather, damage, holes, cracks in the following roof, sighting, trim, and windows.

[00:11:45] Eric Goranson: You know, when you see like woodpeckers, like I was talking about last segment attacking something, usually that's because there is wet wood there, there's damaged wood and they're trying to get bugs at it. Now, of course I've had stupid woodpeckers hitting on the, on the roof [00:12:00] fence or something that are metal, which you're like, what are you doing?

[00:12:02] Eric Goranson: And it makes no sense. Make sure you got that. And especially if you've had hail, make sure that that roof is dialed in. Make sure your vents are clean up there and that's just all good. If you need to do some caulking, do some caulking. That's all stuff that needs to get taken care of and it's important to do so, uh, go around and get that done.

[00:12:22] Eric Goranson: If you need to do some touch up paint, make sure you're over 50 degrees when you do it so that way it gets a chance to set up. Next up here, have your chimney cleaned and checked. If you didn't do it in the. You know, if you're gonna wait, not gonna use it at all for the next year. Make sure the damper's closed, have it dialed in, but make sure in the fall that you'd get it taken care of.

[00:12:41] Eric Goranson: And now here's another one too. Uh, for all you in the frozen weather areas, take those, uh, insulation from the outdoor faucets out. Make sure and test 'em. Make sure they're not leaking. And if you have to do any repairs on 'em, now is the time to do it. And then turn on any water to outdoor faucets and repair drips and leaks If you have some of those that you've turned.

[00:12:59] Eric Goranson: [00:13:00] That's as well. Now here's another one. Turn on the sprinkler system. Check sprinkler heads. Look for leaks, inspect to make sure all heads are adjusted correctly, and make any, you know, any unnecessary repairs for that. Now, there are some really cool new sprinkler timers out there that if you're paying for water, Can really help save you some money.

[00:13:21] Eric Goranson: So take a look out there. There's a lot of different ones out there that work. Uh, I have my favorite ones, but I tell you what, this can save you on a lot of water and make your lawn look better too. That's a key right there. My favorite one out there that I've used in the past is the ratio, R A C H I O.

[00:13:38] Eric Goranson: It's their smart sprinkler controller, so it uses, um, a schedule and basically knows what the weather is. So it watches the weather and goes, wow, it rained at half inch last night. Maybe we don't need to WA water today. So it really keeps an eye on that and it'll save you a ton of. So they're a couple hundred bucks, but for me, that paid for itself really quickly.[00:14:00]

[00:14:00] Eric Goranson: And then there's another favorite product you heard me talk about as well. When you're doing this, if you've got trees that you're trying to water, take a look at. Uh, root Quencher. That's a new thing that you can hook into your sprinkler system and uh, really works well into a drip system as well. You can water those trees.

[00:14:14] Eric Goranson: Under the ground. So if you've got trees on a hill or something, you can put this in there and then the water doesn't come running down, it just goes underground into the roots. So that's another good one right there to deal with when you're taken care of and doing those, uh, repairs and upgrades to that sprinkler system.

[00:14:28] Eric Goranson: So those are good things to do, you know, just get those things dialed in. Now, uh, here's what I gotta do. I gotta re, this is a project I'm gonna be doing here soon. Clean and inspect all window and door screens, make repairs and replacements as necessary. I seriously have to do some window screen repair.

[00:14:46] Eric Goranson: And, uh, that's gonna be coming up on a segment that needs to happen. So, uh, stay tuned for that one. That is something that I've gotta get done because, uh, My dogs decided to go through mine last year, and now I gotta get it taken care of. They were, uh, there's a little tiny [00:15:00] hole and, uh, we had a puppy, and guess what?

[00:15:02] Eric Goranson: Puppy decided to make that hole much bigger. And now I'm, I'm gonna be screening some stuff, so I'm sure I'll throw that on the show here again soon. Now here's another one too. Make sure and clean those. Don't just inspect them. Those are like their own air filters. So make sure you get out there with, uh, some stuff, you know, get in there with a detergent, clean 'em up, you know, pop 'em down.

[00:15:23] Eric Goranson: It's crazy. But those things get really dirty and if they start getting war and they start looking bad, you can swap those out and you'll actually have better views out of them. So it's a good thing. And then, uh, now's the time to get that Spring H V A C system done. You know, I did mine here recently, but here's the thing, you need to.

[00:15:42] Eric Goranson: Scheduled after you get up to about 70 degrees outside because you want that to make sure that when you have that tested, that uh, the free on and stuff isn't the right temperature out there. So for them to test that, you really need to have a 70 degree day outside. So wait to get that scheduled. For it to warm up [00:16:00] just a little bit so you can get that serviced.

[00:16:02] Eric Goranson: And also it's a good time to check that air filter and make sure that is done. That's probably needs to be done every 30 to 45 days for a thin one and every three to six months for the bigger ones. So just watch that. And then if you've got a brick chimney, have. Those things taken a look at. Any brick block, retaining walls, any mortar, go through and take a look at that stuff because those cracked mortar joints you can go through and fix 'em.

[00:16:27] Eric Goranson: Uh, there's a product that I like using if I've just got a little patch. To do if I've got stucco and things like that to repair. It's a mortar and stucco repair. Uh, Sashco makes it over there. It's called more flex, m o r dash F l e x x. Now it is a text. It's textured like mortar. But it stretches like rubbers.

[00:16:48] Eric Goranson: So it's one of those products that you can use like a caulking, but if you've got a crack and mortar, that'll go in there and fix up and it'll still let it, uh, you know, expand and contract. But you can get that to match mortar [00:17:00] and, uh, works pretty good, comes out like a caulking gun. And, uh, it is a good repair, especially with little cracks and stucco and things like that around windows.

[00:17:08] Eric Goranson: It can really be textured. So it looks good that way. That's another. Now, here's another one too that's big. Check all those painted surfaces for paint failure, water damage, mildew. Take a look around the house and again, if you've got mildew and stuff like that up on the roof, let's say I'm not a fan of getting the pressure washer up there and using it on any roofing surface.

[00:17:30] Eric Goranson: You wanna just use, you know, soap and water and really get up there in a soft wash type thing to do it because if you take off granules up there, you are going to reduce the lifespan of your. , so just in the name of making it look better, I tell you what, that can look horrible and no wants, no one wants to have to go spend an extra 20 grand on a roof because you got up there with the pressure washer and went crazy.

[00:17:53] Eric Goranson: But, uh, make sure that you check all those areas for paint failure. Now's the time to do it because that way this summer, if [00:18:00] you need to do some touch up paint, maybe, you know, if you've got one wall that's facing the sun and it's all checkered and cracked, maybe you only have to do one side of the house versus the whole side.

[00:18:08] Eric Goranson: That's just a Saturday project versus having to do the whole house paint. So something to think about that as well, you know, while you're able to make sure the trim and all that is good as well. And, uh, any place that you have caulk. Where Windows meets sighting, you know, any of that. Stuff like that. Make sure that that is in great condition, and of course, get the cock and get out and fix it.

[00:18:30] Eric Goranson: All right, we come back. We got so much more to this spring checklist, and don't worry if you ask me over at Around the House online, I'll email it to you. So head over to around the house online.com and uh, Just ask over there and I'll send you a copy. We'll be right back after these important messages.

[00:18:44] Eric Goranson: Don't go.[00:19:00]

[00:19:10] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to The Round the House Show. This is where we hope you get the most outta your home through information and education. Thanks for joining us today and, uh, appreciate you guys listening to the podcast as we went on to break for the radio show here. And we're talking today about my spring home maintenance checklist.

[00:19:24] Eric Goranson: Did I kind of update every single year? So we got some new items on it this year for you to take a look at today. So we are just talking about making sure that you have, uh, basically all those. Trim is all dialed in and you've got the painted surfaces all watched. And then making sure, of course, where that caulking is dialed in around the house.

[00:19:43] Eric Goranson: And actually what we got done here, I've got some caulking I gotta do outside where I did some repairs and it's something that, uh, you know, I gotta get dialed in and taken care of. So next up here on the list, we gotta check for broken or cracked. Damage screens on storm windows. You know that any of those, we [00:20:00] talked about the screens earlier, but really what I'm looking for here is if you've got like an old house with individual panes of glass, sometimes you can get cracks and breaks on those.

[00:20:08] Eric Goranson: Just make sure that was all dialed in and maybe it's a time that you're adding or taking off storm windows. Make sure those are in a good condition as well. You just wanna make sure that you know, birds or ice or anything else didn't run in and damage these things and you're good. . Now, here is one of the important ones that I really want to talk, um, about a minute for here, and that is inspecting your foundation.

[00:20:29] Eric Goranson: Now, I want you to do a serious walk around and look for cracks because this is something that the more you pay attention, the more you're gonna learn about your house. Because especially if you've had like gutters drop down right next to the house where the water drains right next to the foundation, that can be a huge problem to your house.

[00:20:49] Eric Goranson: So walk around, note any cracks, take pictures on your phone, you got it in your pocket, right? And track the progress. If you need to do some, some witness marks on it to see if it's [00:21:00] moved at all, you can do that as well. And then check it every few months. Now if you've got anything more than a hairline, like if you could put your finger in it or if you can get more than a credit card into it, now's the time to have a company come out and take a look at it.

[00:21:14] Eric Goranson: And to be honest, I don't usually call out the foundation companies to do that In most cases, there are companies out there that prey on homeowners, in my opinion, and will just absolutely nail you for $25,000 that you don't need to spend. And they use fear to do. This is where I pay the money instead of having a free quote for a foundation company to come out and scare you.

[00:21:39] Eric Goranson: Now, not I'll do that, but that you could get one of them and that's gonna hit you some money. Have a structural engineer come out and take a look at it. They can look at it and go, oh, that's just a, a, a settling crack. That's just a, you know, concrete does crack. That's not the big deal. You just wanna make.

[00:21:55] Eric Goranson: You don't have a structural problem here, or the ground is moving. If [00:22:00] you do have a problem, pay that engineer to draw up a report to make sure that you've got the right solution. Then you can go to bid and say, here's my structural engineer says, what has to happen? What are the prices to do it? That way you can come up with some solutions.

[00:22:16] Eric Goranson: You don't need somebody coming out there that, uh, is going to look at it and try to scare the crap outta you, and then you're gonna be writing a bigger check than you ever need to do. I see it happen all the time. I have saved plenty, and I mean dozens of homeowners out there over the last number of years from paying $20,000 when they had a $3,000 fix, and nobody wants to see that happen, especially when your money can be going to much better things.

[00:22:41] Eric Goranson: Especially in our tight economy that we're fighting right now. So that's a big one. And the other thing is too, when you're doing this, I want you looking for water. If you could see water damage or if you've got the, the landscaping up, I wanna see four or five inches between the siding and the soil there.

[00:22:59] Eric Goranson: [00:23:00] So if you only got two or three inches, that's too close, make sure you regrade some areas out there. I wanna make sure that we keep the rodents and pests off the house. So take a look at that and uh, make sure. If you've got termite tunnels, things like that, pay attention. Do that. Now, here's another trick, before we go inside and start talking about those projects, I want to, if you're in a heavy rain in California, this is for you friends.

[00:23:27] Eric Goranson: If you're in a heavy rain, get your umbrella. Watch out for, get on your park, whatever. Go outside and walk around your house and see what water is. Now I know my friends in California have got so many questions on leaking foundations from watering your crawlspace, all those things right now that they have never had to deal with in the last five or 10 years in their home, and they're dealing with it now.

[00:23:52] Eric Goranson: But make sure you got that look inside that crawlspace. right now with the weather when it's wet, stick your head down there. If you have [00:24:00] standing water, that's when you need to get that dealt with, and that's where you wanna bring in that foundation company to take a look in that crawl space. If you've got moisture coming up through the concrete slab in your house, pay attention to that as well.

[00:24:11] Eric Goranson: But watch that water no matter where you're at. Whether it's melting snow or California with floods or anywhere else, pay attention to that stuff that can cause bigger. More damaging problems that you need to pay attention to. All right, well, you probably might have done this last weekend if you're paying attention.

[00:24:25] Eric Goranson: If not, test those smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. That's the time to change batteries. Many of them now are starting to come with 10-year batteries. And also while you're at it, check to make sure that that thing, after 10 years, that smoke detector needs to be thrown away and disposed of, correct.

[00:24:41] Eric Goranson: and replaced. So there's a build on date inside. If you don't see a build on date, that thing could be old enough. Then it's time to get a new one. They're not that expensive. And here's one thing too, I really like this in my house. I put in that, uh, Google Nest Protect, and I'm not a big Google fan on stuff, but that thing is a smoke detector, [00:25:00] carbon monoxide detector.

[00:25:01] Eric Goranson: And it tells me before it goes off. So if I'm cooking and I'm getting a little smoke in there, and I. Because maybe I got a steak inside or something that's making a little bit more, and the, the hood's just not keeping up. Guess what? That thing works really well and you can shut it off with your phone.

[00:25:15] Eric Goranson: So I have to go look for a ladder to get up there to, to reset that thing. So something to think about. Next one up here. Clean out that sump pump. Make sure that that whole sump area, if you've got a basement or crawl, Clear the screen on it, test it, make sure it's working, get it all 100% dialed in. Any of those things like that that you're doing, make sure that all of that is working good.

[00:25:39] Eric Goranson: You know, here's another one. If you got a floor drain in the basement, not a bad idea too to put a little water in there. Sometimes those have a trap in them to keep those sewer gasses from coming up. Throw a, throw a cup of water down there. Make sure that that's working correctly. That water can keep that basement actually smelling a little bit better if it does have a dry.

[00:25:57] Eric Goranson: That's a little secret. Now, if you've got that basement or [00:26:00] crawlspace down there, make sure you've got a humidity sensor down there. Watch that. If it's over 60%, I promise you, you're growing mold and you wanna make sure that you've got that taken care of. So watch that humidity. You can get humidity sensors for those, and it's a good time to get that dialed in and see what you've got.

[00:26:15] Eric Goranson: Otherwise you might need to deal with, um, you know, drainage, you might deal with more venting, you might need to even deal with a dehumidifier and, uh, actually encapsulating that crawlspace. It's a good thing to take a look. If you've never had your house tested for raydon, that's another thing to take a look at cuz you wanna make sure that you are healthy inside that home.

[00:26:34] Eric Goranson: So that's another good one. Hey, go around here as well. This is the gross one, guys. This is the one that nobody likes to do, but it's a good thing to do. Removal the hair from the drains and the sinks, tubs, showers, use. Drain cleaner approved for the materials in your plumbing system if necessary. What I'm talking about is I'm not talking about that, you know, caustic junk you pour down that I am not a fan of.

[00:26:57] Eric Goranson: I'm talking about some of the [00:27:00] foaming enzyme cleaners you can put down there that'll help slowly eat away the scum on a drain that is already draining. Do not use the name brand, you know, starts with an O. Ends with an O actually. That, uh, go through. I do not use those in my system. I'm just one, uh, they don't work well.

[00:27:21] Eric Goranson: And two, if you have to call a plumber up, like we talked with uh, Eric Oni from uh, mechanical Hub last week, that can just cost you more money. And uh, I'm not a believer of those cuz they just do more harm than good. But some of those foaming ones that have the enzymes in 'em take a look at that. That's good for your system to keep that cleaned up and, uh, no need for anything else, but it's just a good time to get that stuff.

[00:27:43] Eric Goranson: Now the other one here, test all ground fault circuit interrupters. Make sure those things are working. Those are wearing, you know, average lifespan on those is about 10 years. So if you've got a 10 year old house and all of a sudden you've got in the bathroom, maybe that's clicking off every time you use the hair dryer.

[00:27:58] Eric Goranson: It might not be the hair dryer. It [00:28:00] literally could be that not working correctly and it needs some help. So just make sure that you've got, uh, those tested out. Good time to do that. Get all those things dialed in. And, uh, that's one of the most common questions I have in the, in the wintertime when people are putting up their holiday lights.

[00:28:16] Eric Goranson: All of a sudden my outlet's not working. What happened? I don't know what's going on. There's usually a G F C I someplace that's hiding maybe behind the freezer in the garage or something like that, and if you have a freezer or something like that, speaking of it plugged into it, they wear out even quicker.

[00:28:30] Eric Goranson: More of this when we come back after these important messages, Or spring checklist just as soon as around the house returns.[00:29:00]

[00:29:04] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to The Round The House Show. This is where we talk about everything about your home and help you get the most outta your home through information and education. Hey, I wanted to give you a little tip that's coming up on Saturdays around the House Northwest TV show. That's Air this weekend.

[00:29:20] Eric Goranson: We're gonna have some fun stuff here. We are gonna be talking about, uh, a couple things. One, we're gonna be talking about common electrical tools. We'll be visiting this really super cool boot factory made in USA West Co boots surrounded my area here. These guys have been making boots for 105 years. And, uh, there are a lot of, uh, big, huge movie stars that are guys that, I won't say from your favorite superhero movies that you see these things in all the time, and especially this big tall dude with long hair.

[00:29:52] Eric Goranson: But we'll leave it at that. I'm not gonna name drop here, but you can kind of put that name to, uh, your imagination. These people [00:30:00] buy from these guys and they're a solid handmade company. And I'm talking, you start in one end with the leather room. And they're out there building these things like they have in the last a hundred years, t leather rubber.

[00:30:12] Eric Goranson: This is ridiculous. And, uh, we spent about three hours out there about a week and a half ago and went through their whole thing. And, uh, if you're in the trades, these are some killer boots. I was there. And just another personal story with these guys, and, uh, you know, of course none of this is paid for.

[00:30:30] Eric Goranson: They don't pay to see us, and, and they're not paid to be on the show that none of that stuff is, uh, is paid for like that. But the cool thing is, is I saw a set of lineman boots that had come in. Now somebody's been climbing poles working on electrical poles for 20 years in these things. These boots were almost 21 years old.

[00:30:50] Eric Goranson: They lasted this person 20 years, and they were in there getting the bottoms rebuilt, so they're still keeping the uppers, and they were replacing some panels in the [00:31:00] bottom and putting a whole new bottom of the shoe in. So they'd be good for another 20 years. And when they rebuild them, You get that same feel back with the uppers broken in.

[00:31:10] Eric Goranson: It's the same boots you had on the bottom, on the top side with brand new stuff on the bottom. Good to go for another 20, and it costs you about 40% of what the boot costs knew. So you get to get brand new ready to go, and who can do that? You don't see getting boots getting repaired and rebuilt. It's absolutely amazing.

[00:31:29] Eric Goranson: And the other thing is, if you've got feet problems or if you've got like a, like an ankle brace or you've got odd sized. For a hundred bucks, you can show up at their door there. They make a mold of your foot that goes on the shelf, and then you just give them your mold number when you order your next set of boots, and they make it to the size of your feet.

[00:31:49] Eric Goranson: How cool is that? I was impressed. Little bit more money for those boots, but if you look at what goes into 'em, that was pretty cool. So anyway, enough for that. Let's get back to our spring home maintenance [00:32:00] checklist and get this thing knocked out before we run out of time today. So here's the thing, uh, after you test those ground fault circuit interrupters, make sure and inspect that crawlspace or basement.

[00:32:11] Eric Goranson: Look for rodent pest damage. Inspect for water intrus. Looks for cracks or movement. Look for leaking pipes. If you have boxes stacked up against a concrete wall, pull the boxes back and see. Many times you'll start to see black mold on the wall down there. So make sure that you've got proper airflow, you've got a space that is clean and make sure that you're dialed in.

[00:32:36] Eric Goranson: If it's spelling musty, that's a sign that you should, uh, you know, take a look and see what's going on down there. You might have more going on. And speaking of that, while you do that mold inspection, I would actually look at doing a test and uh, you know, my. Co-host friend Caroline Borowski. She does that for you, so you can get ahold of her.

[00:32:59] Eric Goranson: She'll send out a [00:33:00] kit. You can just do an air sample in your house. If you do that once a year, you could actually predict any mold areas and water intrusion things before you see it, because those mold spores will show up in the air before you see him many times, and you can find these things. So for a few hundred.

[00:33:17] Eric Goranson: do that once a year. I guess what you're gonna find out what's going on, and if you have any health issues that are, uh, respiratory, it's gonna help you be healthier because you're gonna find out what's going on and you could address that personally. So something to take a look at. Now, check filters in your e R V system.

[00:33:34] Eric Goranson: If you have a newer home that has a, uh, energy re, you know, e r v system. So basically what that does, it's taking air on the inside, swapping. And putting it back in and in conditioning air as it does it, there's a filter in those. So make sure your E R V system, your energy recovery, ventilator, dehumidifiers, heat pump, water heater, all of these, take a filter many times.

[00:33:58] Eric Goranson: And I say almost [00:34:00] all of them do. Make sure that's dialed in and working. And here's the thing, if you've got that basement, you've got that little tiny, you know, portable dehumidifier. It might be the time to look into saving some electricity and getting a real one that is mounted in, that you can plug in.

[00:34:15] Eric Goranson: That'll actually work better. They save you money in the long run and, uh, they'll work better. Some of those, if you have one of those little dehumidifiers down there, make sure it's not on the recall. There's a massive recall about a year, year and a half ago where those were catching on fire. So make sure that you check those recall numbers, uh, just to make sure you don't have a problem there.

[00:34:35] Eric Goranson: So that's another good. Now clean those bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans. So take the screen down on your bathroom exhaust fans. Get up there with a, with a dry paintbrush. Turn the wa power off to it, you know, sit there, brush it out, vacuum it up. Get your shop back up there. Get that cleaned up. Inspect those.

[00:34:54] Eric Goranson: And, uh, when you do your ha hood, make sure that you clean up all the grease on the inside. Make sure that you get those filters out, [00:35:00] wipe it down, de grease it, get it all dialed in and looking good. Some of those nicer hoods, even have a can strip there to get the gr grease. Strippings drippings down. So it ends up going on the fan.

[00:35:10] Eric Goranson: The fan spins it off and it comes down. So make sure you get that all wiped out. When was the last time you checked the grease trap on your range hood? If you have it, time to go take a look and that's a big one right there. And then, uh, check garage door adjustment. Have it serviced for a pro if it needs it.

[00:35:26] Eric Goranson: I do not do a lot of the service on those garage doors because of those springs can kill you. Good time to have somebody come out and do it. Service your appliances clean your filter on your front load washing machine. Yes, there is a filter there. and almost all of 'em. So it goes right before the pump.

[00:35:43] Eric Goranson: So that usually just pulls out. So after you've done with the load, follow the instructions on where to. Sometimes you have to take the front panel off, but, uh, many times though, be careful when you pull that filter out. If it's plugged up, you could get a quarter to of water on the floor. So make sure you have something to catch it.

[00:35:58] Eric Goranson: Watch a video, [00:36:00] make sure that you understand how that does Use a self-cleaning feature on your oven. Now here's the key with this. If you haven't used that self-cleaning feature on your oven, Those can, um, cause problems. So if you have a oven that is never seen in 10 years, the self-cleaning function, you could have a problem cuz it hasn't been used in a while.

[00:36:19] Eric Goranson: And I don't want you to overheat something in it. So use that with caution and never do that right before a big meal that you're gonna cook. Because sometimes you'll get a little crusty taste in your food from doing that because of all the, the stuff on the inside. So check that. Make sure you vacuum out the coils in the refrigerator.

[00:36:35] Eric Goranson: Pop that bottom screen out, vacuum out there. Check the water filter as well and any other air filters on that fridge. Another one to take a look at as well is uh, make sure you've serviced that dishwasher. Make sure that's clean and on your oven, take your oven, put an oven te thermometer inside. Check the temperature of that.

[00:36:56] Eric Goranson: When you set that thing at 4 25 to go put a taken baked pizza in it. [00:37:00] That could only be at three 50 or worse at 500. So see where it is. Adjust that as needed. I have seen 75 degree differences on what you set it at. I had a, uh, a GE that was done, that that had been that way, whether it came from the factory like that or not, or if somebody had misadjusted, it doesn't matter.

[00:37:21] Eric Goranson: I fixed it. Just remember, you have to adjust your favorite recipes after that because that's one of those things. So watch out for that one. And then one of the last ones. Check your router and computer network and test for speed. Make sure you can just Google up speed test on your computer. Do it there.

[00:37:40] Eric Goranson: Do it on your phone and test it. See how that's going hard. Start your router. Just turn it off, turn it on, follow the directions to do that, and make sure all your smart home devices have their updates performed. These are all great things to do cuz you can make sure and go through and make sure they're working.

[00:37:58] Eric Goranson: Do not assume that, oh, there's a lot of [00:38:00] people using the network right now. When in doubt, if you're not getting your plan speed, call your cable or internet company and make sure that you're getting what you're paying for. It's their job to deliver it. It could be a squirrel storm damage or anything else from the wintertime, and they might not know that your system is not working correctly.

[00:38:17] Eric Goranson: And that's gonna help you be able to work better. Watch your favorite movies as well, you know, without having to watch those spooling issues. And that's another one to get that taken care of. So those are key ones right there around your house. Now if you wanna get this list for me, Trying to take notes.

[00:38:34] Eric Goranson: Don't worry about it. Just head over to around the house online.com. I've got this a nice PDF and I will send it to you so you can go through and check the boxes as you go, and that way you're good to go. All right, buddy, this is the end of our number one. Thanks for tuning in today. Make sure you catch the TV show, uh, that we've got this weekend and the previous episodes.

[00:38:54] Eric Goranson: You can find that over at around the house online.com. If you're in the Portland area market, you can watch it every Saturday [00:39:00] at 10 o'clock and at 6:00 PM Sunday. 8:00 AM on Friday on Fox 12 Plus, and you can catch that in the Portland area and you can also stream that on many of the streaming services out there.

[00:39:10] Eric Goranson: Just looks for Fox 12, Fox 12 plus on there out of Portland, Oregon. It's time to take a break. We'll be back after these important messages with hour number two or just go to the next episode in the podcast. Thanks for listening to Around the House.