April 27, 2025 • 45 mins
Your calls and questions with Gary. We also talk to our friends at Roto Rooter.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:30):
Well, the weekends upon us. Thanks for joining me. You're
at home with Gary Salivn and this hour is brought
to you by Summit Chemical. You know adult tics. They
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I think the website Summit Responsible Solutions dot com. We
thank them for sponsoring this hour. If you'd like to
grab a line and talk about your home project, those
lines are open. It's eight hundred and eight two three
(01:37):
eight two five five and let's go to Michelle. Michelle, welcome,
good morning morning.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
What is the best way to fill around my foundation
of my house to stop the water coming into my basement?
Speaker 1 (01:53):
So how how and where is the water coming into
the basement.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Okay, so the house is on slope, and it's coming
through the cement walls, and the ground is kind of
dipped around the foundation. So previously I back filled it
with as much dirt and a little gravel and tapered
(02:22):
it away from the house. And it is still coming
in every heavy storm that we have.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Sure, so is it coming in other words, when you
say it's coming through the wall, is there a crack
in the wall and it's coming through the crack. Is
it coming between the wall and the floor, or is
it just.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Weeping coming through? It's coming through the cement flocks. I
actually use some of the fixed glue that goes in
between I forget what it's called between that. Yeah, not
the mortar. It's that can spray that it stops water
(03:05):
from coming in.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yeah, but it didn't.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah it didn't. I mean it stopped it for a while.
But like this last two storms that we had torrential rain. Yeah,
my basement flooded again.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, so you've got a you've got you've
got some bigger problems. You can start with the outside
of the house. There's nothing in a can that's gonna
that's gonna make you happy here, you know it may
you know, I mean, it's it's a it's a project.
So I call them the killer ges Michelle. And that
(03:43):
is the water that enters your home. A lot of
times it's because there is bad grading. And you kind
of address that when you talked about making sure the
ground slopes about six to eight feet away from the
foundation of your house. That's very important. If it's tilted
towards the house. Of course, that hillside or whatever's bringing
(04:06):
all that water right up against the foundation and it's
created a lot of water pressure. Like you jump in
the deep end of the swimming pool in your ears,
you can feel that pressure and it's just pressuring that
water right through that masonry block. So what we try
to do is we try to work on the outside
(04:28):
with water control, so we make sure that the soils
sloped away from the house. Maybe there's a French drain
that's installed on the outside of that wall.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Uh, you have a French strain and tiling throughout the
backyard and stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
So is it functioning though, that's a good question. Yeah.
So a lot of times what we have, I mean,
we all have tile and pipes and everything around the house.
But a lot of times they get crushed, and they
get old, and they get clogged, et cetera, et cetera.
So that's one thing. Do you have a sump pump
in the house? I do, Okay, does it run a lot?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
No, it really doesn't. Like it said, the only time
that we have problems is when we have tential rains.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
You know what, everybody had a leaky basement says the
same thing. It only leaks when it rains real hard
and because that's there's nowhere else for it to go,
you know either. You know, that's kind of an indicator
to me that maybe those drain lines around the outside
(05:40):
of the house aren't functioning. You know, they're not catching
the water, because otherwise that's sump well should be filling
up with water and then that pump will be pumping
it away from the house. So I know, there's just
not a quick answer, I guess, is what I'm saying.
But you start on the outside. We try to control
(06:01):
the water on the outside. If you somebody right now
is listening, well, tell her to get a can of
dry lock, which is a waterproof paint, and paint that
block on the inside of your house and that'll stop
water from flowing through that block. And the answer is yes,
it will up to about ten pounds of water pressure
(06:25):
per square inch. And then the question is then where's
the water go or if there's more water, then it's
going to crack that foundation if you don't let it
go in. It's really about controlling that water on the outside.
And once we control that water on the outside, maybe
(06:46):
we put some dry lock on the walls to catch
whatever else there is. Have you had anybody look at
the whole lay of the land and then do some inspections.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Uh, that's kind of why we started filling it with
dirt and you didn't put much gravel. But I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
You know, should I.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Put more gravel?
Speaker 1 (07:10):
And no, I'd say more winter, more dirt and gravel.
Gravel allows water through it. It just minimizes erosion. Okay,
So you know, so I again killer ges, gutters that
are clogged, that are dumping all the water on the
(07:30):
foundation can be a culprit bad grading. That's you know,
killer G number two. Uh, making sure that that grading
goes away from the house and then looking for standing water.
So groundwater is killer G number three, that the ground
water is an indicator that the drain tiles around that
(07:52):
house aren't functioning, or maybe even the lines that are
catching the water or the french or whatever. We just
got to see, you know, if that's it appears to
me that it wouldn't be working just by what you're saying,
and maybe those have to be repaired or new lines laid.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Okay, I will look back to that. Thank you so
very much, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
I hope that helps. Thank you. Take care. Yeah, and
I speak on behalf of a waterproofer called ever Dry Waterproofing,
And in my city, I think they've fixed like thirty
five thousand basements. She's from Cleveland. There's one called Ohio
State Waterproofing. They've probably done in that area double that
(08:43):
many houses. And it's not cheap, first of all, I'll
tell you up front, and it's not cheap because it
is a whole house water proofing system. So when you
have a problem, and maybe your problem isn't this big,
(09:04):
but a lot of them are, they look at the outside,
they look at the inside, and they look at the system.
So they start out with putting in, digging down your foundation,
patching cracks and walls. Okay, that's important. Putting in piping
(09:26):
to catch the water and move it away from the foundation.
All that work is done on the outside the house
before they come on the inside of the house. On
the inside of the house, you know what they do
the inside the house. The water from the outside is
going to come through the walls. The water from the
that's coming in the inside can be coming through the walls.
(09:48):
It also again that floor and where that wall meets
there's a natural scene there and when your water table rises,
your some pumps supposed to help control that should be
running all the time. But if that water gets above
and starts soaking into that floor and there's enough of
(10:08):
it because it only rains, it only leaks when raine
real hard, and that water starts steeping in between the
wall and the floor. So what they're doing, they're gonna
cut the floor around the perimeter. They're gonna lay pipe there,
also rout it to the sump well, and if you
don't have one, they're gonna install one of those also.
So they're catching, gathering, and moving water away from your house.
(10:33):
That's the key. All right, we'll continue with your calls.
You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Take it right with a call to Gary's Sullivan at
eight two three talk This is at Home with Gary Sullivan.
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All right, those good works. Time to get back to work.
Whether you're doing a chore around the home or got
a question to ask about your home project, feel free
to do so. It is eight hundred eighty two three
eight two five five. Do you have security cameras in
your house or outside your house?
Speaker 4 (13:50):
No, but I would like to get some.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yeah, yeah, I've got several in the outdoors of my
house is well lit. But it was just reading. We
had somebody, uh checking breaking in cars, and I know
this is a common problem in a lot of neighborhoods.
Somebody checking locks on the back of their homes. Somebody
it's not supposed to be checking locks, and the security cameras,
(14:16):
you know, had this individual. Of course, he's you know,
got a mask and everything else on. But that's a
litt unnerving. Security systems, Yeah, security systems, nowaday. I think
it's a valuable part of your home components, that's for sure.
All right, Now, let's get back to the phones. We've
got Chuck, Chuck.
Speaker 6 (14:34):
Welcome, Hi Gary, thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
You bet you.
Speaker 6 (14:40):
Okay, here's the problem where my driveway meets my garage floor.
You know, the garage floor is raised about two inches
to keep the water from coming in. Okay, it's crumbling.
What can I do to build that back up? Patch
it make it look halfway decent?
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah? So is it the garage floor that's crumbling?
Speaker 7 (15:03):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Okay, so tell me about that. So where the garage
store comes down, there's like a little eight inch exposed
piece of slab which is part of the garage floor,
and then it goes out and the driveway is, you know,
down a little bit like you said, So is it
just the edge or how deep? How far?
Speaker 6 (15:26):
Just the edge all the way down to the driveway,
but it's going in maybe two to three inches, not
the whole edge in different spots, right, it's just crumbling.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
So if how so the big question is is is
it the concrete? I mean, is what you would patch?
Is it got good integrity to hold a patch? It does? Okay?
All right? So and I'm gonna give you another question.
(16:01):
The patch that you would use for something like that
has some limitations. And the limitations are it can be
applied up to a half inch thick. Would that be enough?
Speaker 6 (16:16):
H barrel that could be close in most distances.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
All right, all right, well let's work on close. So
how you would do that is you would get it
clean and dust free, all right, and then you're going
to have to take like I don't know whatever you
want to do, a yard stick or something along those lines,
because you're going to have to create a little seam
(16:42):
or shelf. Right and if it's not that deep three
ace of an inch half inch deep, you can take
a product. A quick Crete makes a product. It is
called vinyl concrete patcher. It's a good product where spawling
(17:03):
surface defects have been exposed on the surface of the concrete.
You take the vinyl concrete patcher, you mix it with water.
There's instructions on the side of the pail. So much water.
You know. It comes in three pound pass, five pounds, pass,
ten pound pails, and you mix this up. You let
(17:24):
it sit for about three to five minutes, and you
literally will just trial that right over the surface of
the imperfections. And at that point, you know, whatever you
use to as an edge, I guess I'd have to
see it whether it would be conducive then to pull
(17:46):
that out and just you know, trial the front part
of that. Also, if that's compromised or just lead that
you know edge. I'm gonna say yardstick because that's why
I just have visualized in my mind lead that in
and then when it dries, and it dries within you know,
an hour, you could pull that out and then come
(18:08):
back and do the front part of that. If you
got two inches exposed, that might be something that'll just
dress it up. It's not a forever patch. It probably
gets you three to five years.
Speaker 6 (18:19):
Okay, that'll that'll work. It's that where it's crumbling. It's
exactly where the expansion joint is for the driveway. That's
where that expansion joint is. But it's just crumbling away there.
You see the aggregate as just crumbling.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Yeah, it probably got some ice in there, and you know,
expansion contraction just broke it loose.
Speaker 8 (18:41):
And probably worse.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
My garage is heated and I'm in Ohio and the
weather hasn't been that great. But this has been going
ongoing now for about the last two to three years.
It's just getting worse. I just don't like the look
of it anymore.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Sure you can also investigate another product. Yeah, I'm sorry.
Speaker 7 (18:59):
Go head bludge'll hits.
Speaker 6 (19:02):
You said it was the Quick Creek vinyl pack.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Vinyl concrete patcher, Yes, patch, All.
Speaker 6 (19:08):
Right, we'll definitely give it a shot.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Very good, Thank you much. Take care. One of the
things I was going to add is the dice coatings
rock patch. Again, that's non cementatious. It is self trialing
pre mix. That's another thing you might think about using.
It might be a little bit more stable, a little
bit easier to work with. All right, coming up, we're
going to have well our friend Paul abrams on he
(19:33):
is with Roto Ruter. We're going to talk about some
things to pay attention to as we kind of open
up our homes for spring and summer. That's next. You're
at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
Start a project and don't know how to finish it.
Call Gary at one eight two three talk.
Speaker 9 (19:55):
You're at home with Gary Soliva.
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(22:42):
we go at home with Gary Sullivan, out and about
and checking things around your home. I hope the sun
is out hopefully in your neighborhood. In mine, it is bright.
Join us now is Paul Abrams. He's director of public
relations for Ruta Rutter and Paul. Welcome again at home
with Gary Sullivan. How you doing.
Speaker 8 (23:01):
I'm well, the sun is shining here too, and it
feels great.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Yeah, yeah, I'm ready to go. I'm sure you are.
I know it's ruder ruter plumbing and water clean up.
How the water clean up people go, Oh.
Speaker 8 (23:13):
They have been busy. And you might imagine with all
this rain in the Midwest, we have seen just the
phone ringing off the hook as they.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Say, yeah, yeah, I'm sure there was certainly an abundance
of water. As we in our homes as homeowners and
we cycle out of winter in the spring in the summer,
maybe our maintenance and care around our home wasn't the
best it should be. Is there a couple of things
(23:42):
we I guess one of the things we should everybody
is taking a look at that some pump. I just
Ron Wilson and I we were just talking. He goes like, uh,
I think I need a new some pump, And I said,
why is because I think it's old. I didn't say
anything mean to them, but anyway, some pumps last like
(24:04):
ten years, right, Yeah.
Speaker 8 (24:06):
That's right. I mean the way you know, and I've
had I'm on my third house and I can say
that in my first two that some pump seemed like
it ran every thirty seconds to a minute, even in
July when it was dry. And if that's your case,
you need to replace that some pump every five years.
Now my current home, it's it's one of those sleepers.
(24:26):
It only comes on when when we get just a
real downpour, and that pump's probably going to last me
ten years.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Well, I gotta check mine because I think mine's in
about that age too, So you know, being a little
ahead of the curve here might be real important. Is
there is there ways that we need to check that
some pump, you know, just the test did I guess?
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (24:51):
And this is the right time to be doing it.
If if you haven't had a downpour in your area
that is, you know, forced that pump into action, then
what you need to do is either get a hose
through the basement window and down into the pit, or
a five gallon bucket of water and pour it down
into that sump pit. And if it's working properly, that
pump should turn itself on, remove most of the water
(25:14):
from the sump pit, and then turn itself back off again.
And you'll want to hear that check valve slam. You
hear those sounds, that's when you know it's doing its
job and it's working for you. If it isn't, you
need to get in there and find out why it isn't.
The most common thing to wear out on a sump
pump is the float switch, which turns it on and
off in the first place. And you want to get
(25:37):
in there, Gary and look down in that pit. And
if there's a bunch of gravel and you know, pebbles
and debris in there, you should should reach in there
and put a glove on, reach in there and sweep
that stuff out of there. Because the intake on most
sump pumps, the water intake is up the bottom, and
if it sucks that debris up against that intake screen,
(25:57):
it can block water off prevent it from doing it.
I had that happen in one of my basements years ago,
and it sucked a piece of plastical, a Kroger bag
or something up against that scrain and that pump maybe
working at ten percent of its capability, so the basement
still got water in it because it wasn't doing it
wasn't able to work one hundred percent.
Speaker 7 (26:18):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Sure, I know Rotor Ruter installs some pumps and ron
had asks is that something you can do and people
always ask me that is you know there you can
do a lot of things. Is some pump is something
that can be installed if you have some mechanical ability.
(26:39):
But another thing to consider, whether you do it or
you have rotor ruter do it, is a is a
backup pump. I think that's becoming critical anymore.
Speaker 8 (26:52):
Oh, you you are so right, Gary, the backup some
pump because you think about the nature of storms. Sometimes
you get the thunder and life and knocks out power. Well,
if you don't have power, your some pump can't work.
So there are battery backup options and they're pretty smart
these days. Some of them will send notifications to your
(27:12):
smartphone to say, hey, pump is working or as a
battery backup some pump, I just turned myself on and
I'm working in your basement now, And that's when you
need to spring into action. But we also have water
powered backup pump so often called venturi pumps.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Sure that use.
Speaker 8 (27:29):
Water pressure from your city water supply, which is very reliable,
and it sort of creates a siphon effect. You use
a lot of water, but your basement won't flood. And
it's probably the most reliable backup some pump you can buy.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Yeah, yeah, all right, So then the other thing, how
about floor drains and things. I'm sure with all the again,
you don't have to have flooding around your house to
have this problem, but a lot of times that's what
precipitates it because of waste lines in stormlines hide together
in older neighborhoods. Can we do anything inspecting floor drains?
Speaker 8 (28:06):
Yeah, you know, we talked about Gary, you know, pouring
a five gallon bucket into a sum pit. You don't
need that much. Get a half gallon or gallon milk
jug and fill it full of water and pour some
into each of your floor drains and make sure that
the water doesn't back up or bubble up onto the floor.
If it's doing its job, it should handle, you know,
a pretty steady flow of water. And if it isn't,
(28:28):
then that drain's got some sort of a blockage in there,
maybe some to breathe that needs to be cleaned out.
And you know, if you've got some sewer smells in
your house and you're wondering where they're coming from, but
you haven't filled those traps, it's like that U shaped
trap beneath your kitchen sink. There's one of those under
your floor drain too, and when those get empty, they
allow that sewer gas to come up into your house.
(28:50):
If you've got a musty smell in your basement, laundry room,
even you know, some garages have these, go around and
fill those traps up and you know, test the drain,
make sure carrying water away quickly. And then you're doing
two things at once. You're filling that that that block there,
and you're preventing that sewer gas from coming into your home.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
That's a great tip, especially now. I know a lot
of people, you know, snowbirds, they go to Arizona, they
go to Florida, they're gone through in four months and
they come back. You know, I if you didn't do
anything as a precaution there, I'd certainly get that jug
of water and start doing bethub drains and floor drains
for that matter, any drain. Right, It depends on your house,
(29:33):
but in a lot of cases those can dry out
over the course of three four months in your home
can smell like it, you know, a bunch of sewer gas, so.
Speaker 8 (29:42):
Sure can yeah, I guess bathroom or maybe the kids
are off college and that bathroom doesn't get used much,
and those sewer gases can come up through those sink
drains and top drains the same way.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yeah. One of the things I'm always cautioning people in
UH in the fall is to uh disconnect that hose
to the outdoor faucets, because I'm sure there's a lot
of people in the next probably four weeks that are
going to be surprised because they're gonna go out and
they're going to turn that faucet on and they're going
to find a leak on the inside of the home.
(30:14):
Do you run into that at rotoruter?
Speaker 6 (30:17):
Oh?
Speaker 8 (30:17):
Yes, you know, Gary, You're so right, And it's important
I'll describe this, folks so that that you do this
the right way, because a lot of homes have an
interior shut off valve down in the basement or sometimes
it's in a you know, a closet or something if
you've got a slab home, and what happens is you
turn that valve off and that prevents your water supply
(30:39):
from feeding the outdoor faucets. So what you do is
you turn those off in the fall, and then you
go outside and you open the faucet, you drain that
water out so it can't freeze and damage your pipes.
But if you forget to or you've left your garden
hose connected to that outside faucet and that water inside
is frozen, it carries that freeze up into the faust
(31:00):
itself and into the connecting water supply line. So what
happens is you do damage on the inside. And when
people come around in the spring and they as it's
kind of turn things on and you hook up the
hoses everything, they turn on that and they don't see
it until they go back down into the basement. But
there's a water leak down there because that pipe. So
folks go back and forth, go and if you're turning
(31:23):
that water on down in the basement, go outside, test
the faucet outside, and then go back into the basement
and make sure nothing's leaking, because it only takes a
few minutes before water damage occurs.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Well that's great, And if you got a buddy, a
partnering crime here, get them downstairs in the basement and
when you open up that hose bib outside, they can
give you a big old holler if there's leak, because
you don't want to ignore that. I mean, I guess
that's why Rotor Ruter ended up doing water cleanup, is
(31:54):
because people ignored that. Correct.
Speaker 8 (31:57):
Yeah, yeah, you know we were always having you know,
people say, well, oops.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
You there. We just lost him. I think we lost him,
all right. Uh, Paul, if you're listening, no panic again.
The website is rotrouter dot com. He's at the ballpark
right now. His son's a wonderful Oh he's back. I
(32:23):
was just going to say goodbye, Paul. No, I tell him.
You're at the ballpark today. Aren't you your son playing today?
Speaker 8 (32:31):
I am, yes, good.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Yeah. It looks like he's enjoying it, and so are you.
So that was really the one two three things I
wanted to talk about was the Fawcetts and the sump
pumps and the water clean up. Of course, Rotor Ruter
offers full plumbing services. We all know about the Rotor
Router and the drain cleaners and everything, but also regular plumbing.
(32:56):
And you got a very comprehensive website. You help people
with their plumbing projects. I mean, you got some great
videos there.
Speaker 8 (33:04):
We do, and you know, we got something brand new Gary.
We just introduced the first roto Router mobile app and
all that stuff those videos you talked about. DIY information
is all on the app, and you can keep track
of your service history and go when did we put
that water heater in? Oh, rotor ritor put that in?
Then you know twenty sixteen. We carry all your service
(33:27):
information from the past into that app. Nice and you'll
have it at your fingertip. So that's we just introduced it.
We're going to be doing regular updates to it, and
even better than having to go to the website, you'll
have it all on your smartphone.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
So yeah, see right now, I got all I got
is my sharpie pen and I marked it on my
solar pump. So when I get off today, I'm going
to go see how old my some pump is. I
may be calling you your year old school like I
am Gary.
Speaker 8 (33:54):
That's what I do. I take a silver sharpie and
write it on the pump and on the water heater
and those things. But yeah, now you can do it
in the app if if that makes it easier for you,
you can download at the app Store, Google Play. And
it's a lot of fun. We've had a lot of
fun designing it and making it as useful as possible.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Very good. Well, Paul, thanks for joining us, get us
a win today. Okay, we sure well.
Speaker 8 (34:16):
Thanks Gary, have a great.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Day, take care, bye bye. All right, Paul Abrams, he's
a public relations guy, wrote a ruder and a great
guy and a driving force, said, wrote a ruder to
get this information out in people's hands. And again with
the different technologies of having all your files in there,
I see more and more companies doing that. It's a great,
(34:37):
great idea. All right, let me give you the phone
number you can grab a line. We're talking about your
home projects and also giving you a little knowledge about
things to check around the home. It's eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five your calls. Next, you're
at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
Helm for your home is just a click away and
Gary online dot com. This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (35:20):
Well, they say an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure, and that's true when it comes to
preventing a basement flood. Hey, Gary Sullivan, here from my
friends at Rota Ruter Plumbing and Water clean Up.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
They're the some pump experts and can install back up
some pump that'll prevent basement flooding even during a power outage.
And if your primary pump is getting up in the years,
well Roto Ruter can replace that too. Trust me a
lot cheaper than a flooded basement called Roto Router at
one eight hundred.
Speaker 5 (35:46):
Get Roto today.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
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Speaker 5 (36:52):
Dirty patio, don't scrub it, wet and forget it. Wet
and forget the easy outdoor cleaner. Wet and forget works
overtime with Mother Nature to a lit unsightly black and
green stains on your patio or deck with no scrubbing,
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(37:13):
forgets available and concentrate or extreme reach hose en purchase
wet and forget in store, online at Low's Minards or Ace.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
All right, back to work. We got about ten minutes
before we get to the top of the hour, and
let's get back to the phone calls. If you'd like
to join us, do so. We got a couple spots
for you. Very welcome.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Hi Gary, Hello, Hello, Yes, yes Gary, I was calling
because I have a issue with my laminate flooring. It
was installed three years ago. And I have a caral
space underneath. But in the winter, the panels or whatever
(38:27):
you call those, they are seemingly separating. They're pulling apart
and you can see spaces between them, and I guess
it's from the cold weather.
Speaker 8 (38:38):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
And I even had a flooring guy look at him,
and I've never seen that before.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
So how are they connected to each other?
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Those planks, Well, I think it's a floating floor. So
it was just installed, you know, typically like you do
a laminate flooring. It wasn't.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Well, they got types that clip together and different things
like that. I didn't know if there's ain't connectors there
or is just a tongue in groove. But kind of
getting back to okay, so humidity more so, well, it's
temperature too, but ehumidity and temperature certainly can be playing
(39:22):
a role here. I often describe as the temperature outside
gets colder, there is less humidity because cold air can't
hold water as well as hot air does. That's why
they call it relative humidity. So it's relative to the temperatures.
(39:45):
So when we get into winter time, if it's dry outside,
many of our homes become dry. Also, that's why some
people install humidifiers to get some humidity inside our homes.
If you if you if you don't have any humidity
(40:09):
gauges in your in your house, I you know you
would want to have a humidity gauge inside your house
and tells you what your humidity is in a wintertime
and it should be around thirty five to forty percent
if you're running. If you're running a humidity and when
and I said when it's freezing outside, because it changes
(40:30):
during the summer, So if you're running, say twenty twenty
two percent in the wintertime. You could have separation of
grooves in laminate flooring. You could have it in wood flooring.
You can have it in crown moldings where it separates
from the ceiling, or baseboards where it separates from the walls,
(40:53):
or even where they cut molding because wood shrinks and
wood products shrink when it's dry. If you have eighty
percent humidity inside your home in the summertime, you can
actually if you look or remember when they did that
laminar floor, they actually have a little gap between the
(41:16):
floor and the base board and then there's you know,
then there's a little shoe molding. It goes around and
hides that. But the reason that gap is there is
because the humidity level is higher in the summertime. You
want to have that around fifty to fifty five percent
in the summer. But if it's you know, running seventy
(41:38):
five percent and it's you know, very wet in your house,
it's going to expand. And that's why that little gap
over there is so that it can expand and not buckle.
So my guess is it is driven by the humidity issue.
But I don't know that because we don't know where
your humidity was. Has it closed up a little?
Speaker 3 (42:03):
Not now? Not yet, it's still so cold.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Yeah, Well, get to the hardware store and get a
couple of humidity gauges and see where your home humidity is.
Put one on the first floor, put one on the
second floor, and just see where you're at.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
So you just go to the hardware store and get
a humidity gauge. Yeah, oh okay, I can do that.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
Yeah, and just see where you're at. And again, when
it's you know, when it gets to freezing, that benchmark
is thirty five.
Speaker 3 (42:37):
Okay, all right, very good, Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
You're quite welcome. Thank you here eighten let's see we'll
get to Mike. Mike. Welcome, Hey Gary, how you doing
doing fine? Thanks?
Speaker 7 (42:54):
Hey, I have a question. We are moving next month
into a house that is currently all electric and where
need to update the heating and cooling system. It has
a very old heat exchanger and heat pump and I'm
just wondering your thoughts if to go that, stay that route,
or try to get a gas furnace in well that
(43:16):
would be warmer.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Yeah, yeah, I mean you can analyze and talk to
your energy provider or where you're going to be cost wise,
it varies, you know, the price of electricity price that
gas varies all the time. You know, thirty nine years
ago when I started doing this radio show, it was
I did the exact same thing. I replaced my electric
(43:38):
with gas lines and it was a great deal. Now
gas and electric, I haven't really looked at it for
about the last year, but they were pretty close cost
wise for operation. But I can tell you your choices
will be from an energy efficiency standpoint of the appliances.
(44:01):
It will be better with gas with gas, okay, and
it'll be more comfortable with gas. And if you go
with like a tankless water heater, that'll save you money.
And I would not go with a tankless water heater
if it was electric, so I kind of lean and say, yeah,
I think there's an advantage to that. Okay, perfect, all right,
(44:24):
thank you, you're quite welcome. Thank you, Charles. Sit tight.
If you'd like to join us, I encourage you to
do so. We're talking about your home. Our phone number
is eight hundred eighty two three eight two five five,
and we'll continue with your calls. You're at home with Gerry.
Speaker 4 (44:41):
Sullivan's weekends mean a never ending list of things to
(45:09):
do around your home. Get help at one eight hundred
and eighty two three talk You're at home with Gary
Sullivan
Well, the weekends upon us. Thanks for joining me. You're
at home with Gary Salivn and this hour is brought
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You can decrease the population. Again, it's Summit Chemical and
I think the website Summit Responsible Solutions dot com. We
thank them for sponsoring this hour. If you'd like to
grab a line and talk about your home project, those
lines are open. It's eight hundred and eight two three
(01:37):
eight two five five and let's go to Michelle. Michelle, welcome,
good morning morning.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
What is the best way to fill around my foundation
of my house to stop the water coming into my basement?
Speaker 1 (01:53):
So how how and where is the water coming into
the basement.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Okay, so the house is on slope, and it's coming
through the cement walls, and the ground is kind of
dipped around the foundation. So previously I back filled it
with as much dirt and a little gravel and tapered
(02:22):
it away from the house. And it is still coming
in every heavy storm that we have.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Sure, so is it coming in other words, when you
say it's coming through the wall, is there a crack
in the wall and it's coming through the crack. Is
it coming between the wall and the floor, or is
it just.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Weeping coming through? It's coming through the cement flocks. I
actually use some of the fixed glue that goes in
between I forget what it's called between that. Yeah, not
the mortar. It's that can spray that it stops water
(03:05):
from coming in.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yeah, but it didn't.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah it didn't. I mean it stopped it for a while.
But like this last two storms that we had torrential rain. Yeah,
my basement flooded again.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, so you've got a you've got you've
got some bigger problems. You can start with the outside
of the house. There's nothing in a can that's gonna
that's gonna make you happy here, you know it may
you know, I mean, it's it's a it's a project.
So I call them the killer ges Michelle. And that
(03:43):
is the water that enters your home. A lot of
times it's because there is bad grading. And you kind
of address that when you talked about making sure the
ground slopes about six to eight feet away from the
foundation of your house. That's very important. If it's tilted
towards the house. Of course, that hillside or whatever's bringing
(04:06):
all that water right up against the foundation and it's
created a lot of water pressure. Like you jump in
the deep end of the swimming pool in your ears,
you can feel that pressure and it's just pressuring that
water right through that masonry block. So what we try
to do is we try to work on the outside
(04:28):
with water control, so we make sure that the soils
sloped away from the house. Maybe there's a French drain
that's installed on the outside of that wall.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Uh, you have a French strain and tiling throughout the
backyard and stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
So is it functioning though, that's a good question. Yeah.
So a lot of times what we have, I mean,
we all have tile and pipes and everything around the house.
But a lot of times they get crushed, and they
get old, and they get clogged, et cetera, et cetera.
So that's one thing. Do you have a sump pump
in the house? I do, Okay, does it run a lot?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
No, it really doesn't. Like it said, the only time
that we have problems is when we have tential rains.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
You know what, everybody had a leaky basement says the
same thing. It only leaks when it rains real hard
and because that's there's nowhere else for it to go,
you know either. You know, that's kind of an indicator
to me that maybe those drain lines around the outside
(05:40):
of the house aren't functioning. You know, they're not catching
the water, because otherwise that's sump well should be filling
up with water and then that pump will be pumping
it away from the house. So I know, there's just
not a quick answer, I guess, is what I'm saying.
But you start on the outside. We try to control
(06:01):
the water on the outside. If you somebody right now
is listening, well, tell her to get a can of
dry lock, which is a waterproof paint, and paint that
block on the inside of your house and that'll stop
water from flowing through that block. And the answer is yes,
it will up to about ten pounds of water pressure
(06:25):
per square inch. And then the question is then where's
the water go or if there's more water, then it's
going to crack that foundation if you don't let it
go in. It's really about controlling that water on the outside.
And once we control that water on the outside, maybe
(06:46):
we put some dry lock on the walls to catch
whatever else there is. Have you had anybody look at
the whole lay of the land and then do some inspections.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Uh, that's kind of why we started filling it with
dirt and you didn't put much gravel. But I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
You know, should I.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Put more gravel?
Speaker 1 (07:10):
And no, I'd say more winter, more dirt and gravel.
Gravel allows water through it. It just minimizes erosion. Okay,
So you know, so I again killer ges, gutters that
are clogged, that are dumping all the water on the
(07:30):
foundation can be a culprit bad grading. That's you know,
killer G number two. Uh, making sure that that grading
goes away from the house and then looking for standing water.
So groundwater is killer G number three, that the ground
water is an indicator that the drain tiles around that
(07:52):
house aren't functioning, or maybe even the lines that are
catching the water or the french or whatever. We just
got to see, you know, if that's it appears to
me that it wouldn't be working just by what you're saying,
and maybe those have to be repaired or new lines laid.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Okay, I will look back to that. Thank you so
very much, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
I hope that helps. Thank you. Take care. Yeah, and
I speak on behalf of a waterproofer called ever Dry Waterproofing,
And in my city, I think they've fixed like thirty
five thousand basements. She's from Cleveland. There's one called Ohio
State Waterproofing. They've probably done in that area double that
(08:43):
many houses. And it's not cheap, first of all, I'll
tell you up front, and it's not cheap because it
is a whole house water proofing system. So when you
have a problem, and maybe your problem isn't this big,
(09:04):
but a lot of them are, they look at the outside,
they look at the inside, and they look at the system.
So they start out with putting in, digging down your foundation,
patching cracks and walls. Okay, that's important. Putting in piping
(09:26):
to catch the water and move it away from the foundation.
All that work is done on the outside the house
before they come on the inside of the house. On
the inside of the house, you know what they do
the inside the house. The water from the outside is
going to come through the walls. The water from the
that's coming in the inside can be coming through the walls.
(09:48):
It also again that floor and where that wall meets
there's a natural scene there and when your water table rises,
your some pumps supposed to help control that should be
running all the time. But if that water gets above
and starts soaking into that floor and there's enough of
(10:08):
it because it only rains, it only leaks when raine
real hard, and that water starts steeping in between the
wall and the floor. So what they're doing, they're gonna
cut the floor around the perimeter. They're gonna lay pipe there,
also rout it to the sump well, and if you
don't have one, they're gonna install one of those also.
So they're catching, gathering, and moving water away from your house.
(10:33):
That's the key. All right, we'll continue with your calls.
You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Take it right with a call to Gary's Sullivan at
eight two three talk This is at Home with Gary Sullivan.
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All right, those good works. Time to get back to work.
Whether you're doing a chore around the home or got
a question to ask about your home project, feel free
to do so. It is eight hundred eighty two three
eight two five five. Do you have security cameras in
your house or outside your house?
Speaker 4 (13:50):
No, but I would like to get some.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yeah, yeah, I've got several in the outdoors of my
house is well lit. But it was just reading. We
had somebody, uh checking breaking in cars, and I know
this is a common problem in a lot of neighborhoods.
Somebody checking locks on the back of their homes. Somebody
it's not supposed to be checking locks, and the security cameras,
(14:16):
you know, had this individual. Of course, he's you know,
got a mask and everything else on. But that's a
litt unnerving. Security systems, Yeah, security systems, nowaday. I think
it's a valuable part of your home components, that's for sure.
All right, Now, let's get back to the phones. We've
got Chuck, Chuck.
Speaker 6 (14:34):
Welcome, Hi Gary, thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
You bet you.
Speaker 6 (14:40):
Okay, here's the problem where my driveway meets my garage floor.
You know, the garage floor is raised about two inches
to keep the water from coming in. Okay, it's crumbling.
What can I do to build that back up? Patch
it make it look halfway decent?
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah? So is it the garage floor that's crumbling?
Speaker 7 (15:03):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Okay, so tell me about that. So where the garage
store comes down, there's like a little eight inch exposed
piece of slab which is part of the garage floor,
and then it goes out and the driveway is, you know,
down a little bit like you said, So is it
just the edge or how deep? How far?
Speaker 6 (15:26):
Just the edge all the way down to the driveway,
but it's going in maybe two to three inches, not
the whole edge in different spots, right, it's just crumbling.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
So if how so the big question is is is
it the concrete? I mean, is what you would patch?
Is it got good integrity to hold a patch? It does? Okay?
All right? So and I'm gonna give you another question.
(16:01):
The patch that you would use for something like that
has some limitations. And the limitations are it can be
applied up to a half inch thick. Would that be enough?
Speaker 6 (16:16):
H barrel that could be close in most distances.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
All right, all right, well let's work on close. So
how you would do that is you would get it
clean and dust free, all right, and then you're going
to have to take like I don't know whatever you
want to do, a yard stick or something along those lines,
because you're going to have to create a little seam
(16:42):
or shelf. Right and if it's not that deep three
ace of an inch half inch deep, you can take
a product. A quick Crete makes a product. It is
called vinyl concrete patcher. It's a good product where spawling
(17:03):
surface defects have been exposed on the surface of the concrete.
You take the vinyl concrete patcher, you mix it with water.
There's instructions on the side of the pail. So much water.
You know. It comes in three pound pass, five pounds, pass,
ten pound pails, and you mix this up. You let
(17:24):
it sit for about three to five minutes, and you
literally will just trial that right over the surface of
the imperfections. And at that point, you know, whatever you
use to as an edge, I guess I'd have to
see it whether it would be conducive then to pull
(17:46):
that out and just you know, trial the front part
of that. Also, if that's compromised or just lead that
you know edge. I'm gonna say yardstick because that's why
I just have visualized in my mind lead that in
and then when it dries, and it dries within you know,
an hour, you could pull that out and then come
(18:08):
back and do the front part of that. If you
got two inches exposed, that might be something that'll just
dress it up. It's not a forever patch. It probably
gets you three to five years.
Speaker 6 (18:19):
Okay, that'll that'll work. It's that where it's crumbling. It's
exactly where the expansion joint is for the driveway. That's
where that expansion joint is. But it's just crumbling away there.
You see the aggregate as just crumbling.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Yeah, it probably got some ice in there, and you know,
expansion contraction just broke it loose.
Speaker 8 (18:41):
And probably worse.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
My garage is heated and I'm in Ohio and the
weather hasn't been that great. But this has been going
ongoing now for about the last two to three years.
It's just getting worse. I just don't like the look
of it anymore.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Sure you can also investigate another product. Yeah, I'm sorry.
Speaker 7 (18:59):
Go head bludge'll hits.
Speaker 6 (19:02):
You said it was the Quick Creek vinyl pack.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Vinyl concrete patcher, Yes, patch, All.
Speaker 6 (19:08):
Right, we'll definitely give it a shot.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Very good, Thank you much. Take care. One of the
things I was going to add is the dice coatings
rock patch. Again, that's non cementatious. It is self trialing
pre mix. That's another thing you might think about using.
It might be a little bit more stable, a little
bit easier to work with. All right, coming up, we're
going to have well our friend Paul abrams on he
(19:33):
is with Roto Ruter. We're going to talk about some
things to pay attention to as we kind of open
up our homes for spring and summer. That's next. You're
at home with Gary Sullivan.
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(22:42):
we go at home with Gary Sullivan, out and about
and checking things around your home. I hope the sun
is out hopefully in your neighborhood. In mine, it is bright.
Join us now is Paul Abrams. He's director of public
relations for Ruta Rutter and Paul. Welcome again at home
with Gary Sullivan. How you doing.
Speaker 8 (23:01):
I'm well, the sun is shining here too, and it
feels great.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Yeah, yeah, I'm ready to go. I'm sure you are.
I know it's ruder ruter plumbing and water clean up.
How the water clean up people go, Oh.
Speaker 8 (23:13):
They have been busy. And you might imagine with all
this rain in the Midwest, we have seen just the
phone ringing off the hook as they.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Say, yeah, yeah, I'm sure there was certainly an abundance
of water. As we in our homes as homeowners and
we cycle out of winter in the spring in the summer,
maybe our maintenance and care around our home wasn't the
best it should be. Is there a couple of things
(23:42):
we I guess one of the things we should everybody
is taking a look at that some pump. I just
Ron Wilson and I we were just talking. He goes like, uh,
I think I need a new some pump, And I said,
why is because I think it's old. I didn't say
anything mean to them, but anyway, some pumps last like
(24:04):
ten years, right, Yeah.
Speaker 8 (24:06):
That's right. I mean the way you know, and I've
had I'm on my third house and I can say
that in my first two that some pump seemed like
it ran every thirty seconds to a minute, even in
July when it was dry. And if that's your case,
you need to replace that some pump every five years.
Now my current home, it's it's one of those sleepers.
(24:26):
It only comes on when when we get just a
real downpour, and that pump's probably going to last me
ten years.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Well, I gotta check mine because I think mine's in
about that age too, So you know, being a little
ahead of the curve here might be real important. Is
there is there ways that we need to check that
some pump, you know, just the test did I guess?
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (24:51):
And this is the right time to be doing it.
If if you haven't had a downpour in your area
that is, you know, forced that pump into action, then
what you need to do is either get a hose
through the basement window and down into the pit, or
a five gallon bucket of water and pour it down
into that sump pit. And if it's working properly, that
pump should turn itself on, remove most of the water
(25:14):
from the sump pit, and then turn itself back off again.
And you'll want to hear that check valve slam. You
hear those sounds, that's when you know it's doing its
job and it's working for you. If it isn't, you
need to get in there and find out why it isn't.
The most common thing to wear out on a sump
pump is the float switch, which turns it on and
off in the first place. And you want to get
(25:37):
in there, Gary and look down in that pit. And
if there's a bunch of gravel and you know, pebbles
and debris in there, you should should reach in there
and put a glove on, reach in there and sweep
that stuff out of there. Because the intake on most
sump pumps, the water intake is up the bottom, and
if it sucks that debris up against that intake screen,
(25:57):
it can block water off prevent it from doing it.
I had that happen in one of my basements years ago,
and it sucked a piece of plastical, a Kroger bag
or something up against that scrain and that pump maybe
working at ten percent of its capability, so the basement
still got water in it because it wasn't doing it
wasn't able to work one hundred percent.
Speaker 7 (26:18):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Sure, I know Rotor Ruter installs some pumps and ron
had asks is that something you can do and people
always ask me that is you know there you can
do a lot of things. Is some pump is something
that can be installed if you have some mechanical ability.
(26:39):
But another thing to consider, whether you do it or
you have rotor ruter do it, is a is a
backup pump. I think that's becoming critical anymore.
Speaker 8 (26:52):
Oh, you you are so right, Gary, the backup some
pump because you think about the nature of storms. Sometimes
you get the thunder and life and knocks out power. Well,
if you don't have power, your some pump can't work.
So there are battery backup options and they're pretty smart
these days. Some of them will send notifications to your
(27:12):
smartphone to say, hey, pump is working or as a
battery backup some pump, I just turned myself on and
I'm working in your basement now, And that's when you
need to spring into action. But we also have water
powered backup pump so often called venturi pumps.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Sure that use.
Speaker 8 (27:29):
Water pressure from your city water supply, which is very reliable,
and it sort of creates a siphon effect. You use
a lot of water, but your basement won't flood. And
it's probably the most reliable backup some pump you can buy.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Yeah, yeah, all right, So then the other thing, how
about floor drains and things. I'm sure with all the again,
you don't have to have flooding around your house to
have this problem, but a lot of times that's what
precipitates it because of waste lines in stormlines hide together
in older neighborhoods. Can we do anything inspecting floor drains?
Speaker 8 (28:06):
Yeah, you know, we talked about Gary, you know, pouring
a five gallon bucket into a sum pit. You don't
need that much. Get a half gallon or gallon milk
jug and fill it full of water and pour some
into each of your floor drains and make sure that
the water doesn't back up or bubble up onto the floor.
If it's doing its job, it should handle, you know,
a pretty steady flow of water. And if it isn't,
(28:28):
then that drain's got some sort of a blockage in there,
maybe some to breathe that needs to be cleaned out.
And you know, if you've got some sewer smells in
your house and you're wondering where they're coming from, but
you haven't filled those traps, it's like that U shaped
trap beneath your kitchen sink. There's one of those under
your floor drain too, and when those get empty, they
allow that sewer gas to come up into your house.
(28:50):
If you've got a musty smell in your basement, laundry room,
even you know, some garages have these, go around and
fill those traps up and you know, test the drain,
make sure carrying water away quickly. And then you're doing
two things at once. You're filling that that that block there,
and you're preventing that sewer gas from coming into your home.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
That's a great tip, especially now. I know a lot
of people, you know, snowbirds, they go to Arizona, they
go to Florida, they're gone through in four months and
they come back. You know, I if you didn't do
anything as a precaution there, I'd certainly get that jug
of water and start doing bethub drains and floor drains
for that matter, any drain. Right, It depends on your house,
(29:33):
but in a lot of cases those can dry out
over the course of three four months in your home
can smell like it, you know, a bunch of sewer gas, so.
Speaker 8 (29:42):
Sure can yeah, I guess bathroom or maybe the kids
are off college and that bathroom doesn't get used much,
and those sewer gases can come up through those sink
drains and top drains the same way.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yeah. One of the things I'm always cautioning people in
UH in the fall is to uh disconnect that hose
to the outdoor faucets, because I'm sure there's a lot
of people in the next probably four weeks that are
going to be surprised because they're gonna go out and
they're going to turn that faucet on and they're going
to find a leak on the inside of the home.
(30:14):
Do you run into that at rotoruter?
Speaker 6 (30:17):
Oh?
Speaker 8 (30:17):
Yes, you know, Gary, You're so right, And it's important
I'll describe this, folks so that that you do this
the right way, because a lot of homes have an
interior shut off valve down in the basement or sometimes
it's in a you know, a closet or something if
you've got a slab home, and what happens is you
turn that valve off and that prevents your water supply
(30:39):
from feeding the outdoor faucets. So what you do is
you turn those off in the fall, and then you
go outside and you open the faucet, you drain that
water out so it can't freeze and damage your pipes.
But if you forget to or you've left your garden
hose connected to that outside faucet and that water inside
is frozen, it carries that freeze up into the faust
(31:00):
itself and into the connecting water supply line. So what
happens is you do damage on the inside. And when
people come around in the spring and they as it's
kind of turn things on and you hook up the
hoses everything, they turn on that and they don't see
it until they go back down into the basement. But
there's a water leak down there because that pipe. So
folks go back and forth, go and if you're turning
(31:23):
that water on down in the basement, go outside, test
the faucet outside, and then go back into the basement
and make sure nothing's leaking, because it only takes a
few minutes before water damage occurs.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Well that's great, And if you got a buddy, a
partnering crime here, get them downstairs in the basement and
when you open up that hose bib outside, they can
give you a big old holler if there's leak, because
you don't want to ignore that. I mean, I guess
that's why Rotor Ruter ended up doing water cleanup, is
(31:54):
because people ignored that. Correct.
Speaker 8 (31:57):
Yeah, yeah, you know we were always having you know,
people say, well, oops.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
You there. We just lost him. I think we lost him,
all right. Uh, Paul, if you're listening, no panic again.
The website is rotrouter dot com. He's at the ballpark
right now. His son's a wonderful Oh he's back. I
(32:23):
was just going to say goodbye, Paul. No, I tell him.
You're at the ballpark today. Aren't you your son playing today?
Speaker 8 (32:31):
I am, yes, good.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Yeah. It looks like he's enjoying it, and so are you.
So that was really the one two three things I
wanted to talk about was the Fawcetts and the sump
pumps and the water clean up. Of course, Rotor Ruter
offers full plumbing services. We all know about the Rotor
Router and the drain cleaners and everything, but also regular plumbing.
(32:56):
And you got a very comprehensive website. You help people
with their plumbing projects. I mean, you got some great
videos there.
Speaker 8 (33:04):
We do, and you know, we got something brand new Gary.
We just introduced the first roto Router mobile app and
all that stuff those videos you talked about. DIY information
is all on the app, and you can keep track
of your service history and go when did we put
that water heater in? Oh, rotor ritor put that in?
Then you know twenty sixteen. We carry all your service
(33:27):
information from the past into that app. Nice and you'll
have it at your fingertip. So that's we just introduced it.
We're going to be doing regular updates to it, and
even better than having to go to the website, you'll
have it all on your smartphone.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
So yeah, see right now, I got all I got
is my sharpie pen and I marked it on my
solar pump. So when I get off today, I'm going
to go see how old my some pump is. I
may be calling you your year old school like I
am Gary.
Speaker 8 (33:54):
That's what I do. I take a silver sharpie and
write it on the pump and on the water heater
and those things. But yeah, now you can do it
in the app if if that makes it easier for you,
you can download at the app Store, Google Play. And
it's a lot of fun. We've had a lot of
fun designing it and making it as useful as possible.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Very good. Well, Paul, thanks for joining us, get us
a win today. Okay, we sure well.
Speaker 8 (34:16):
Thanks Gary, have a great.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Day, take care, bye bye. All right, Paul Abrams, he's
a public relations guy, wrote a ruder and a great
guy and a driving force, said, wrote a ruder to
get this information out in people's hands. And again with
the different technologies of having all your files in there,
I see more and more companies doing that. It's a great,
(34:37):
great idea. All right, let me give you the phone
number you can grab a line. We're talking about your
home projects and also giving you a little knowledge about
things to check around the home. It's eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five your calls. Next, you're
at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
Helm for your home is just a click away and
Gary online dot com. This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (35:20):
Well, they say an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure, and that's true when it comes to
preventing a basement flood. Hey, Gary Sullivan, here from my
friends at Rota Ruter Plumbing and Water clean Up.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
They're the some pump experts and can install back up
some pump that'll prevent basement flooding even during a power outage.
And if your primary pump is getting up in the years,
well Roto Ruter can replace that too. Trust me a
lot cheaper than a flooded basement called Roto Router at
one eight hundred.
Speaker 5 (35:46):
Get Roto today.
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Speaker 1 (37:49):
All right, back to work. We got about ten minutes
before we get to the top of the hour, and
let's get back to the phone calls. If you'd like
to join us, do so. We got a couple spots
for you. Very welcome.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Hi Gary, Hello, Hello, Yes, yes Gary, I was calling
because I have a issue with my laminate flooring. It
was installed three years ago. And I have a caral
space underneath. But in the winter, the panels or whatever
(38:27):
you call those, they are seemingly separating. They're pulling apart
and you can see spaces between them, and I guess
it's from the cold weather.
Speaker 8 (38:38):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
And I even had a flooring guy look at him,
and I've never seen that before.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
So how are they connected to each other?
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Those planks, Well, I think it's a floating floor. So
it was just installed, you know, typically like you do
a laminate flooring. It wasn't.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Well, they got types that clip together and different things
like that. I didn't know if there's ain't connectors there
or is just a tongue in groove. But kind of
getting back to okay, so humidity more so, well, it's
temperature too, but ehumidity and temperature certainly can be playing
(39:22):
a role here. I often describe as the temperature outside
gets colder, there is less humidity because cold air can't
hold water as well as hot air does. That's why
they call it relative humidity. So it's relative to the temperatures.
(39:45):
So when we get into winter time, if it's dry outside,
many of our homes become dry. Also, that's why some
people install humidifiers to get some humidity inside our homes.
If you if you if you don't have any humidity
(40:09):
gauges in your in your house, I you know you
would want to have a humidity gauge inside your house
and tells you what your humidity is in a wintertime
and it should be around thirty five to forty percent
if you're running. If you're running a humidity and when
and I said when it's freezing outside, because it changes
(40:30):
during the summer, So if you're running, say twenty twenty
two percent in the wintertime. You could have separation of
grooves in laminate flooring. You could have it in wood flooring.
You can have it in crown moldings where it separates
from the ceiling, or baseboards where it separates from the walls,
(40:53):
or even where they cut molding because wood shrinks and
wood products shrink when it's dry. If you have eighty
percent humidity inside your home in the summertime, you can
actually if you look or remember when they did that
laminar floor, they actually have a little gap between the
(41:16):
floor and the base board and then there's you know,
then there's a little shoe molding. It goes around and
hides that. But the reason that gap is there is
because the humidity level is higher in the summertime. You
want to have that around fifty to fifty five percent
in the summer. But if it's you know, running seventy
(41:38):
five percent and it's you know, very wet in your house,
it's going to expand. And that's why that little gap
over there is so that it can expand and not buckle.
So my guess is it is driven by the humidity issue.
But I don't know that because we don't know where
your humidity was. Has it closed up a little?
Speaker 3 (42:03):
Not now? Not yet, it's still so cold.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Yeah, Well, get to the hardware store and get a
couple of humidity gauges and see where your home humidity is.
Put one on the first floor, put one on the
second floor, and just see where you're at.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
So you just go to the hardware store and get
a humidity gauge. Yeah, oh okay, I can do that.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
Yeah, and just see where you're at. And again, when
it's you know, when it gets to freezing, that benchmark
is thirty five.
Speaker 3 (42:37):
Okay, all right, very good, Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
You're quite welcome. Thank you here eighten let's see we'll
get to Mike. Mike. Welcome, Hey Gary, how you doing
doing fine? Thanks?
Speaker 7 (42:54):
Hey, I have a question. We are moving next month
into a house that is currently all electric and where
need to update the heating and cooling system. It has
a very old heat exchanger and heat pump and I'm
just wondering your thoughts if to go that, stay that route,
or try to get a gas furnace in well that
(43:16):
would be warmer.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Yeah, yeah, I mean you can analyze and talk to
your energy provider or where you're going to be cost wise,
it varies, you know, the price of electricity price that
gas varies all the time. You know, thirty nine years
ago when I started doing this radio show, it was
I did the exact same thing. I replaced my electric
(43:38):
with gas lines and it was a great deal. Now
gas and electric, I haven't really looked at it for
about the last year, but they were pretty close cost
wise for operation. But I can tell you your choices
will be from an energy efficiency standpoint of the appliances.
(44:01):
It will be better with gas with gas, okay, and
it'll be more comfortable with gas. And if you go
with like a tankless water heater, that'll save you money.
And I would not go with a tankless water heater
if it was electric, so I kind of lean and say, yeah,
I think there's an advantage to that. Okay, perfect, all right,
(44:24):
thank you, you're quite welcome. Thank you, Charles. Sit tight.
If you'd like to join us, I encourage you to
do so. We're talking about your home. Our phone number
is eight hundred eighty two three eight two five five,
and we'll continue with your calls. You're at home with Gerry.
Speaker 4 (44:41):
Sullivan's weekends mean a never ending list of things to
(45:09):
do around your home. Get help at one eight hundred
and eighty two three talk You're at home with Gary
Sullivan
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