Focus 580; Home Care and Maintenance

Good morning welcome to focus 580 our morning talk program. Name's David Inge. Glad to have you with us we're pleased to have back here on the program. One of our regulars Thanks piece from the space Home Inspection Service is on this program once a month always on a Monday and we talk about home maintenance. So this is your opportunity year to call in and ask questions if there is a problem needs to be fixed you're not quite sure what to do about it. Maybe you're thinking about making some changes. Maybe this is the year that you're going to put siding on the House or are you going to put on a new roof or you're having problems with water in the basement or you think it needs more insulation or. Well you know anything like that just just about anything that goes into the single family home. Hank knows a lot about all the pieces and parts and if you have a question you have a problem. Give us a call 3 3 3 9 4 5 5. That's the Champaign-Urbana number we do also have a toll free line. That is good. Anywhere that you can hear us that is eight hundred to 2 2 9 4 5 5. Welcome back. Thank you always good to be here. We know we're at a kind of a a transitional point here

where I suppose it's not too soon for people to start thinking about the fact that eventually it is going to be hot. Once we get in his brain chances are probably where we're going to get more precept although we had some good rains and January so maybe you want to make sure that you you know gutters are all in good shape they're clean. Get your downspouts on there. All that right. That's a that's a major factor is getting extensions on the downspouts and we get the water away from Laos and paying attention to the grading of the house a little water running off your own roof is the usual cause of most water problems that we find in houses. It isn't that we are sitting in a swamp. Some cases we are but not too often. And so getting rid of the water off your old building is a major factor and it's not too late to think about air conditioning. If you are considering buying a new air conditioner this may be a good time to think you are doing

so. And we have to realize that one of the major things that's happened is that during the past 10 years we have approximately doubled the efficiency of air conditioners. So if you have an old air conditioner even though it's still working probably the most economical thing you could do is throw away and replace it with it with a new one because as you say we've virtually doubled the efficiency of air conditioners in the last 10 years. OK. And definitely yeah. You want to think about buying your new furnace in the summer and buying your new air conditioning in that well. Yeah this is be a good time if you have time to think about it over a dictionary. Yes. We have a couple of callers lined up and ready to go. Let's talk with them first is in Savoy and lie number one. Hello hello. Yes I have. When I meet your old house and the water heater doesn't seem to be as efficient as it used to be I haven't cranked up the maximum but it still runs out fairly

easily. Is there some way that I can clean it out myself. Or is it time to get a professional in there. Well I'm first of all yes there is a drain valve down the bottom. Hook a hose up to it and run it wide open for a few minutes and see if that makes a difference. The other possibility is that the drop tube inside the heater has corroded through and fallen off. This heater is set up so that the cold water coming in even though it comes in the top of the water heater there is a internal pipe the delivers it all the way to the bottom. If that pipe falls off the incoming cold water is discharged right next to where the hot water outlet is. And you don't get the benefit of the storage that's in the water heater. What does one do about that. Well are several companies that sell replacement drop tubes

or use a new plumber can change the drop to if that indeed is the problem. That's a professional that's not me unless you're significantly better than average do it yourself or yes probably not. But. Generally speaking in Savoy you have the same water that we do in Champaign-Urbana and this is not usually the accumulation of material in the bottom of the water heater. Water Quality has a lot to do with the life of water heaters for instance in Champaign-Urbana it's not unusual to find a water heater this 30 years old and in MUHAMMAD It's very difficult to find one that's as much as 10 years old and still working well because of the difference in water quality. All right and I was thinking. Since there's going to be a new hardware store opening up around here soon that maybe I should go out and buy one myself and then call a plumber to come in and you know he's probably going to be real happy about that because he

prefers to buy it and get his cut off the wholesaler. Right but it can be done in a matter of fact if you're reasonably skilled you can install it yourself but I suspect that drop tube is defunct. All right. Thank you very much Elaine thank you for the call and the next is in Indiana on our toll free line on 4 below 0 2 questions 1. Since you mentioned there conditioners have a house it's a rental. I was going to be and it has a fairly large air conditioner You know it's in the window to do a couple rooms. I was warning and you know this is where you have a schedule that I was wearing at the end of the summer and one things are settling down to be cold in there and you're turned off ever buying your brothers told me one story the other about whether I should put a covering over the air conditioner and I like to know the pros and cons and that and secondly we're

going to have it insulated and I just said you know I'm you know it comes down to houses and stuff I'm just sort of a numbskull so I always go with somebody that has you know a long history here in the town because every been taken and wants and I don't take any on again. And so there's I don't know who that would be but I just wonder if there are some things I should pay attention to why they're doing the work. The house has them siding so they'll be taking some sightings off and drilling holes. There are no insulation in the walls now. There are some in the top and there's a good chance I can't pin down actually how many years ago it was put in there but the lady says it will. Her husband said it's probably compressed and he died some time ago and so she does know that much about it either. But I was just wondering about you know what things to look for. You know I just do a numskull. Give me some information I guess. Thank you.

As far as the air conditioner is concerned you can put a canvas cover on it. Please don't put a plastic cover on it because that means any moisture that gets into it can evaporate. So canvas cover will help they air conditioner can be a significant source of air leakage during the winter. I'm not sure it doesn't sound like it's one that would be easy to take out in the fall and put back in in the spring which of course would be the best answer as far as insulation is concerned. Yes you're correct that the insulator of the sidewall should take a strip of siding off the grill behind it. Then lock the siding back on when he's done. If we have somebody who wants to do Girl him plug not take the siding off. I would try and find somebody else because he's probably incompetent in other ways as well. As far as insulation in the ceiling is concerned

yes we should at this point have at least 6 preferably 8 or 9 inches of insulation up there and you have to be sure that it goes all the way to the outside edge over the top of the wall. It may be necessary to put in air chutes which allow air to move from the ventilation in the overhangs up into the attic without being blocked by the insulation and the ventilation of the attic is very important. So basically we are why don't we're looking for something in the 8 to 9 inches of insulation up there and it can be blown in. Usually you can find insulation contractor that will blow the end cheaper than you can go down and buy it and put it in yourself. Because of economies of scale and so on. I know I can hear I don't know what your situation is in Indiana but I I know I have a contract. Here it has done that many times. So I look at it from that standpoint and hope

probably he will advise or should advise the installation of air shoots as well. Ok Hope that helps. Questions are welcome this morning on Khomeini and something we do every month on the show. On the Monday Hanks piece is with us from the speech home inspection service if you have questions you can call us. 3 3 3 9 4 5 5. That's the number for champagne Urbana folks we do also have a toll free line. Eight hundred to 2 2 9 4 5 5. Next up caller in Aurora. Line number one. Hello. Yeah i Good morning. I know I spoke about this situation before. I'm having a furnace put a new furnace to replace the octopus. Carnifex in my basement. With the high gas bills right. And I have a commitment. Last fall. I don't want to put the furnace in and he was going to try to be around a thousand dollars. He doesn't have put down as

to how much it would cost to take out the old which I understand is a very big problem. It depends on whether it's insulated with his best it's or not at all is that the thing. Yeah. Otherwise it's not that difficult to take out the old enough you're going to replace some of these big old ducks with new smaller ducts. Give you more room in the basement. That's a little more expensive. The new furnace even a thousand dollars sounds a little low for the new furnace. That's what I thought that's what I thought you know generally speaking we're getting more like in a twelve to fourteen hundred range. Shirley said something about buying it right in or from. A company that makes cement or. Well that's quite possible. Well I can't believe that but I guess I can't. Well the fact is that it never did get done this winter I kept waiting for him and it never got done and then. One thing and then

another. It just didn't get done and now I'm wondering if I should then in fact with the milder weather coming to have it done now I just wanted to talk to somebody about it. Well it should be done the time if you are you going to an air conditioning in the process. You know I didn't think so. OK right you shit with that belly when you're when you're putting in the new furnace. It's relatively simple to put in a cooling coil for central air conditioning as well. And that you could never have on your old octopus. So in what way how much about would that get to me of oh probably 15 hundred thousand. Oh OK. Then my second question is thank you so much. My second question was this. I have a boy to think about. I would say seven Emory is go. And if it takes much to keep the

claims its good it's just the same. Just come on to it and stay on. And I suppose it's part of my my hot water heated close system. Mike Ross and I guess still I guess wanted Is there anything that I can add paint the sink with. That would make it less porous to absorb all the you know probably an up in a poxy paint would help. There are a number of refinishing company usable refinish sinks or Bast or whatever but probably the simplest thing to do is to replace it. Really. And if they're not that expensive. Yeah and I think I should have bought a better one to begin with. Right. I can't remember that happening with my old thing. I don't think just got shipped and I need to replace it. Yeah. Well thanks much.

All right thanks for the call well other folks out there with questions you want to call and talk with our guest Hanks piece you just pick up the telephone the numbers 3 3 3 9 4 5 5 that's for here in Champaign Urbana. But we do of course have that toll free line that means it would be a long distance call for you. Use the toll free number and we'll pay for the call. That's 800 to 2 2 9 4 5 5. If supposing you live in a place where and I don't know what the really the problem that the previous caller was having but there are some places for example that they do have a lot of iron and water. Are there filtering systems that you can. There are iron removal units Yes very similar to water softeners often incorporated you know water softeners. And yes there certainly are and many people use those they will change the taste a little bit because iron heavily was saturated with iron will taste a little different so it will probably taste better once you get such a system put in and it will certainly reduce the staining.

Or yeah I would say and I remove any of the water treatment companies have iron removal units could that be a symptom of water here that needs to be replaced. It could be but more likely it's the water. OK as it comes out of the gride Yeah. I have no ideal what they're this person's water supply is actually like. But if we didn't have a municipal water treatment plant here in Champaign Urbana we would have major problems you know. Next caller is in Champaign line one. Hello hello. Yes we're considering we were considering getting new flooring. It's a dining area but it's a fairly high traffic one of probably most heavily youth room and we want to replace carpeting and are entertaining several options one that we

considered laminate but somebody said it's a very slippery service surface and we're getting old so are a little concerned about that cork with another one. The parquet squares and I think there are some pretty good flooring as well and I wondering about the pros and cons of different kinds. Well I have some Both standard wood and some laminate type. My wife is not really happy with the laminate in that she claims she can't get it keep it clean and so it doesn't streak. Oh but it depends upon the size which we have a dog who contributes to the problem. The pre finished woods are very good. The parkade is. I would tend not to do that I have a bunch of that too and that's less satisfactory I think for the park case strips so you can go to pre finished wood or the

laminate. Either one seemed to work pretty well laminate you know that basically you're putting formica on the floor right and so that you Burns and things heavy things dropped on it so one can cause problems they can scratch of course. So can wood and I can see the tracks across one of my floor for somebody move the piano. So all of this kind of thing involves a lot depends on cost and sure you know I think. But cork is a possibility. I have lived in the house with a cork floor. It's very nice. However you should be aware that it sun fades. OK so that if you have a window and a piece of furniture It will darken under the table or whatever and so it doesn't maintain its good. The acoustic properties are very good. Again eating it can be scratched or gouged it's a fairly soft what I was going to say it's got a soft

serve. Yeah but of course it's a lot nicer to walk around that way too. Sure it has some advantages it's beginning to come back we was used extensively. Oh forty fifty years ago it's beginning to make somewhat of a comeback. And particularly if you have a very live room with it tends to do a little sound deadening in the process. Now I know there are various grades of laminate. Have any suggestions about that. Gentle strong with just led at the longest. Warranty or guarantee. Well let's the let's a good basis. Mainly I think I would be looking at is how easy is it going to be to maintain. Because you will spend more time maintaining of him than anything else. Basically I think we're looking for easy maintenance right. OK. Well thank you very much.

Already Well again thank you other questions are welcome. The number is 3 3 3 9 4 5 5 toll free 800 to 2 2 9 4 5 5. Some years back in our house we were thinking about replacing kitchen floor and one of the things that we were looking at was the cork and we thought it was very attractive and coarse but I think we have to think about something for about 15 years before we do it. We haven't done a thing about it yet. But but we really like that is as an option when I have a family room with the cork floor in it and yes we did like it very very much. But as I say the stuff does sun fade so the sun shining in the south the window will produce lighter areas and the furniture shading it and so on will you stay darker. And who will that be a uniform color color over a longer period of time. Other than that is the door billet IANA pretty good. It seemed to be and we worked very hard at it at that time but. We didn't have the dog then.

But you do pretty well as far as durability is concerned you got to keep it waxed and so on salute spills don't soak into it because it is an absorbent material so you gotta keep good service on. OK let's talk with somebody else here someone in civil way. Line number one. Hello. Hi I bought a very large old house in August which I'm living in now. It was built in one thousand one and I think the water heater. Well it's not original to the house. It seems pretty close. Reed says Mayflower on it. I don't know Mike. It looks like one of those old refrigerators from the 50s. Yeah. Same kind of design to it and I don't know much about water heaters though. We do still have warm water. I can take a shower with relative comfort but

it's the warmed up water doesn't really reach up stairs. Ok to the second floor bathroom. And I've had a couple plumbers come out and give me estimates to replace the thing. And they seem very high. The estimates there are saying like eight or nine hundred dollars to replace the water heater. Well a lot depends upon how much plumbing is involved because the water heater itself. You can go out to one of the big box stores and buy for probably less than a hundred seventy five dollars. Yeah that's what I that's what I noticed that I couldn't get one of these a couple hundred dollars right. I and so it's a matter of how much repipe is necessary in a house that old. This is undoubtedly has galvanized pipe in it both from PVC and there's some galvanized although PVC is already galvanized can accumulate rust and so on and clog pipes and so on so it

depends primarily on how much they plan to replace the criers of plumbing is concerned. So it it's got this. Landing on the side which with 1 One guy said was nonstandard. Is that would that be a reason for it being expensive Canady because nobody's mentioned having to replumb a whole lot. I thought well a lot depends on how early exhaust is. I'm surprised to find one on the side even of that age. Yeah but generally speaking they are done on the top three or. Four. What kind of chimney do you have. Does it boot. It goes into a brick chimney. I don't know. One of the problems we have with House is that age. You have brick chimneys that were originally built for when the heating system was fired with coal right. And now there is a coal well.

In the basement. And so the question is did someone put a liner in that chimney when they put in the gas furnace. OK. If they did not we are looking for problems and we probably shouldn't be running at gas water heater into a brick chimney that is not wind OK. Now in many cases it is less expensive to use a water heater that our so called direct vent water heaters that vent through a plastic pipe out the side of the basement wall rather than into a flue. OK they are several hundred dollars higher. I like that. If it's a lot cheaper than having the chimney lined. Sure I would think so. So that's what could be a factor. OK so more expensive water heater less expensive insulation. That's quite that's quite possible. And of course you can expect. Will step up an efficiency something this that they were they were

spending much time worrying about efficiency and those that know know it. I don't think it's efficient. I'm not an animal. Well I thank you for your help. OK well thanks for the call we're at our midpoint here this our focus 580 and our guest is Hanks piece from the speech Home Inspection Service he is here once a month it's always a Monday we talk about home maintenance and if you have a problem you're not quite sure how to deal with it you can call in here talk about it with Hank 3 3 3 9 4 5 5 toll free 800 2 2 2 9 4 5 5 4 anybody they may they may not have heard this lecture before. We've talked about a lot but I think just since we've sort of touched on it it's probably a good idea to again talk about why it is that you want to have a liner in your brick your masonry chimney if you're venting your flue gases from a gas furnace or a gas water heater in there. Right. OK many of the old houses were built with brick chimneys with no whiners. That was when we had the days of coal furnace

as the coal was always burning we kept the chimney warm continuously with a gas furnace. The heat was on and off substantially and the chimney gets a chance to cool down and when it starts up again of course one of the byproducts of burning gas is water vapor so the water vapor hits this cold chimney and condenses. And there is enough sulfur in the gas that we have here and of course another of the by products is carbon dioxide sold it. Combine this with a little bit of water condensing in there and we end up with a dilute solution of salt here it can carbonic acid inside our chimney. Now generally speaking this doesn't hurt the brick but it deteriorates the mortar rather quickly in your chimney deteriorates from the inside. When we get enough of it it can bleed through. I remember the call we had from some lady who

claimed her house was bleeding. And actually it was the moisture in the chimney heating the Brecon actually dissolving of brick because it was coming through on the inside and turning the wall red. So this can happen. So this is why we need a liner in anything that we're burning gas so that we avoid this problem because rebuilding a chimney is a very major project. And yes I have been a number of houses where you could look at the chimney and see out the other side through the mortar joints all this of course is certainly a fire hazard. So we're not interested in perpetuating a situation like that so by all means we do need a liner if you are burning gas. Now occasionally we really do a situation where somebody puts in a new gas furnace and they line that but they continue to put the water heater into the Unaligned flue.

And we then I've actually seen chimneys collapse because the mortar was eaten out from a situation like that. So any time we've got a gas burning appliance liner is essential. We have somebody else here to talk with in Urbana. Lie number one. Well I don't yes no plumbing issues I got banged pipes and these two are related. Some time back I replaced the hot water cold washers on my taps in the tub and it was two or three weeks after that when I go to open up the hot water tap and it just hammers so fierce for the first turn that it comes out of it shut off the water main drain and all but all the taps and drain everything and turn it back on that didn't solve the problem I wonder if you had any other. Well you can put an air chamber near them someplace nearly the faucet

so that the water movement doesn't Paul. Cause what we call water hammer. That's what it is when you know when you get a stream of water moving rapidly and quickly shut off. We usually run into this problem when you're turning the faucet off rather than on this one and turn weld both ends actually but when you turn on the first term it hammers but you can access unless I cut a hole in the wall and behind it but never did it before until I did this little repair job it was after I was probably there its opening closing more rapidly now than it did then and that would cause it. So there's that. Yeah. So is there any I can do without opening the bag of all. Probably not one of the things to look at is she was the baby may just be the pipes that are not properly supported salute the pipe actually moves bangs into something

structural I say. But the opening of taps didn't wouldn't do that wouldn't say basically they probably open and close more quickly than the old and stoic. I want to look at that. The part's OK. Thank you. All right thank you and again other questions are welcome 3 3 3 9 4 5 5. Toll free 800 to 2 2 9 4 5 5. Just going going back to the we were talking a bit earlier about the fact that it's very important if you are venting gas heater water heater or furnace into a masonry chimney that there be a liner and that both. They they need to be both in it into the line space so you can't just put in a new pipe for your furnace and without not collecting what is one of the things I'd sort of have this memory of having talked about the fact that so so maybe someone comes along and they buy a new high efficiency furnace. One of those that instead of

venting say through the flue as it used to this now vents out the side. One of these pipes events on the side but you still you have an orphaned water heater Now that's venting and you'd better change the water heater actually vents out the side wall as well so even if even if it's venting into a lined chimney or where would they have been aligned. You've got a major problem. Wind is less so. But. Yeah I would say you can go into a line to chimney with out an orphaned water heater on an unlined chimney is an invitation to disaster because there you're putting those corrosive gases in there but it's not or probably do anything to warm up. That's it. Yes the gym is going to be even colder. All right let's talk with someone next in our band on line 1 0 0 0 0. I have a question about inventing a garage we have an attached garage. Those walls are insulated and book the walls in the ceiling

have drywall on them. There's no central lesions in the attic. The Gries and I'm wondering if you can tell us about how the garage might be ventilated to prevent heat buildup in the summer. Reduce it at least. Well for ventilating the attic do you have a flat ceiling in this horizon. Yes is a flat ceiling. There's a nicely pitched attic above it. OK. About the only thing to do is to put a duct through the attic through one of these little button vents in the roof and running down into the garage so you can close it off in the winter time when you want it to stay warm and allow the ventilation to occur. I don't think I've ever seen a garage door loose fit so tightly that you could get some ventilation that way. OK so you call it up but then yes it's a. The kind of thing that we ordinarily use for attic ventilation.

It just fits in the unit on the back side of the slope Saludos is still visible and events the attic to the outside but you could put a duct on that the drops down into the garage proper. Ok ok sounds good. Thank you very much. All right thank you. Let's go next to Terre Haute and someone here on our toll free line line for Hello. Yes I think you may have missed rebut it. Overholt before I say I bought it it changed. It's got a newer gas furnace and the chimney is effervescing is that because of the in all probability that's exactly what's happening. We're getting some efflorescence because you're getting water coming through from the inside water which is being condensed out of the combustion products. So this is an immediate problem. I would consider it such yes. OK thank you very much for your help. All right very good. Let's go to another caller here Streeter I think line number one. Hello. Yes I have a small office building

and I was wondering I've got to do some remodeling on it and I was wondering where my chances of finding any of the walls or flooring or even do anything like that. Well probably pretty small. It's conceivable that he has a wireless bestest tile on the floor. That's best this is one of the most overrated problems in existence. In a conversation with one of EPA C engineers he admitted that they had overestimated the specialists at hazard by a factor of 100. And if I didn't use his name it was a thousand vinyls Besta style. I know we all spent a fortune taking it out of schools and things like this but it would only be dangerous if you were to take a piece off break it up grind it to a powder and snort it. I think you'll be doing

you know how I would use the heating system in this thing all the heating system of the old if it's hot water so it I don't think that's OK to you can a lot of hot water piping was insulated with as best as 40 years ago. If you have a newer system it a lot it really is not. Now the floor tile with the square meter to ensure you know. Should I just cover that up or just take it I would be no problem. Just don't sand it. There are used in basically this stuff isn't dangerous only if it is inhaled and is fairly difficult to get floor tile into inhalable form. All right thank you very much. OK all right then Ron will go to Charleston this is the next caller. Line number four. Hello.

Hello we're going to be out of the country for about three week. Part of May and June and I'm wondering if it would be wise to cut off our water when we leave and if so how does that affect the central air conditioning. It should not affect the central air conditioning. And yes I probably would turn off the water on the general principles that if the leak developed we don't flood the place while you're gone right. All right but there wouldn't be any problems with the air conditioning getting the water it would be. Well I don't know. And what kind of an air conditioning you have that need water OK. All right. Most of them don't. OK. All right that shouldn't affect that at all. OK well thank you very much. They are all gone. So the issue with turning water off if you're going to be away for a long time that's really if if the temperature is going to be warm you know long as it isn't freezing. That's the that's the thing I'm getting out of it you know in January you probably don't want to. Go on that you need to whittle at winterize a system make sure the heat stays on and you

put a thermostat so it controls the light in the front window or something or other so that it drops below 50 degrees of the house the light goes on in one of your neighbors can make arrangements to find out what went wrong. But you know as long as it's not going to freeze it's no real difficulty. But I would turn it off. You never know how you might spring a leak and this can. I know someone who did something like that and they found out about it because when the ceiling fell that triggered the intruder alarm. Anything like that happened yeah yeah RIGHT NEXT TO COLOR IS champagne in line 1. Hello. Thanks. Yeah yeah I was like oh so much for my nation blind. How could you compare metal lines with wouldn't mind

your own. Well you know usually the difference is the size of the slats. I don't know what the flats were to me. He well the woodwinds are usually enter mortar in with the metal ones are considerably smaller. Yeah the big advantage of metal ones is that they are easier to watch you can take them down throw them in the bath and they will absorb water. Oh woodwinds quieter if that wind disturbs a man or anything like that. Mostly it's a matter decorative factors for you you don't do anything negative. In the case and I need someone they're both good they're both good as they say generally speaking it's easier to wash the steel ones than it is the wood ones. Yeah I think I think your wooden ones have wider slats. Yes yes that's right.

And as I say this is a decor park situation it all depends on what you like. Yeah true. Well I don't like metal because crying and crying and you know that's true they're noisy or they are noisy or you know they're noisy. Oh ok thanks. I think also the caller was was wondering about insulating value. Would there be any difficulty in it again. And so heating value generally speaking the metals are cheaper than wood woods. Yeah yeah. So just basic comes down to what would you like the look of right there. All right. Color indeed white on our toll free line line for Good Morning Good Morning. I'd like to compliment you on all your knowledge of all things you talk about. Thank you. I find it very interesting. What I was calling about this morning was. I wonder here we're not meta. One replacing ours.

They have 500 trucks of use or something like that that is just an in-line heater. Yes you know everything like that. Yes they've been around for old twenty or thirty years in this country longer than that elsewhere. Europeans were originally you're Oriental I believe. OK do you know much about them. We're just having our family here. Well there are still running things with the hot water a dishwasher is something that's a smaller there's going to be able to furnish us with enough hot water. Probably a lot depends upon your incoming water temperature in Illinois is not usually a problem. I do a lot of work out in Colorado and they don't work out there because the incoming water is too cold.

You have to put to a good series to warm it up enough to have a comfortable shower. But yes there is no real reason why it cannot work. There are several varieties or some point of use ones that you for instance put under the lavatory in the lavatory cabinet or something like that which provides you with virtually instant hot water at the lab. There are whole house units. Gas fired or electric. Some of the gas ones have a high light light some have electric ignition. Obviously the ones without the pilot light have less heat loss than the ones with the pilot light. You don't have much loss from the tank because there is no tank but the new tank type water heaters the tanks are insulated so well generally speaking the pilot light is more than capable of contracting any loss in the tank.

Yes well we would have an electric electric heater sure. OK and by far the expense rise. There they are more expensive than a tank type water heater usually they're right. They're usually more expensive to buy. I say OK then the tank type water heater if I go to them or a performer they know about these they should they should and it may take some rewiring because generally speaking they are going to require more power than your existing tank type water heater I see. OK that's fine. I have one other. Your question probably got a lot of people waiting. OK no problem going to Xing or home and I talked probably years ago about shingles that were never old home that's been in the family ever since my grandfather built it and we've got to tear off to run the shingles. I want to put something back. We're going to reshoot it then too. We looked at the timber line I

have to force raids to find anything that's in there you would recommend over the timber line knowing not really generally speaking. Most of the long term shingles the ones that are guaranteed for 40 years and so on. I really question whether going to last that long. I think the shorter ones are probably a better dollar value. I say well a timber line goes up I think 50 years. Yeah of course you pay more for him but if. And the cost of putting a mine probably exceeds the cost of the singles by far the labor force. I don't know whether I should go for the best run I nap or want to stay honors long as I can get well. SC I really question whether they will last 50 years. There's no question it's a live company that produced them is guaranteed to last 15 yrs and I'll be around here.

Well that's the way I look at it too but I want something that's going to be stiffer now for around the country where the wind gets summoned. Well you may want to consider some type of interlocking Oh well I have done it but nobody wants to put those on and I have to do them from someone that's going to finally put the singer we've been looking for somebody to show our priest three years and I know it's a tough hard job and we do have some of her own and we're going to have one two or three years. Yeah well we want to be sure that the. Do that when the war weather is warm enough saloon he sets that aside and I know that that's right and having fun on your last foreigner to come in the cold. Yeah and it was a different contractor have a different one now and I think no one will ever. OK I don't have to interlock piece tell me that they're not available in all places anymore. Well they are certainly not as readily available as they used to be and you know if you've got a house on top of a hill or something or other I'd still

be looking for inner locks and Reverend out into your prairie dogs. Yeah yeah. Thanks very much for your help. Because we some guidance here we're three ticking time. Well thanks for the call Lets go on here we have about five six minutes left next caller is in Westfield Illinois lie number 1. Hello hello yes. I've I've got a he said I'm going to have to replace. And I also have done well out on in the backyard. Should I consider putting one long exchange unit and that well in the backyard or just go ahead and have a hole What do you what is your. Is this an air to air heat pump or is this a water to air heat pump and all this with air to air heat pump. OK. And I've got to replace the outside. Right. And because most of them and I was wondering whether I should consider that

in the Senate too and well it's in the back yard and it's a dug well it's not religious. I don't know how deep it is for sure. I don't know it would. It might help a little bit. I would go with your power suppliers recommendation on that but I don't think they'll be any great advantage because you don't get air circulation in that well to make a big difference. OK well I I I thought I'm just investigated by the way what. I'm not what kind of costs as they are. Right after you know it's only replacing you know that every atom afraid of relatives never priced one by the piece that way but I don't mourn or I don't. It should be something very very similar to that of an airconditioner probably fifteen hundred years ago.

OK. OK Frank for me I'm from version. OK thanks for the KO again to another caller we have somebody here on our toll free line in Munster Indiana line for hello right now I am calling because I purchased I recently purchased an older home and I noticed that the gutters the seam it leaks from the ceiling is there a way of repairing that are doing and might be through getting new gutters. If your leaky afta seems they should be able to be sealed with the butyl caulk a butyl caulk right. OK and that you should need it I presume there are probably aluminum gutters rather than steel. Yes they are. Yeah well that would be the first answer would be to seal the seams with the butyl caulk. There are many kinds of caulk and all of them have specific uses and you definitely want the butyl caulk for you either. OK thank you very much.

OK thanks for the call. We're just down to the last couple minutes here if somebody wants call real quick we can get him in. I'm just curious we were talking earlier with somebody who had the roofing question and I was thinking about the fact that I just recently on one of these kind of home improvement shows I saw somebody talking about a an imitation slate roof which I presume was made out of some kind of plastic I suppose basically And yet the thing was if you like that look you got that look. But they won't break and they're actually a lot lighter than Slate So you don't have to structure way are. They're also more expensive to put on than standard shingles. Well that's but probably less than less than slate if you actually. Oh absolutely let's I guess the thing that had me thinking about it was that I'm I'm sure now still the most popular thing for a roof is that conventional asphalt shingle but whether whether there is some idea that new materials might be it would

get to the point where new materials would be more popular maybe they would be slightly more expensive but perhaps also they might have longer lives then yes they want to buy. Yeah. So yeah yeah. It's one of those things where yes we have some new materials out there. We don't have long term durability data on them because they have been around long enough. But yes there are some things and they'd use imitation slates look very good. But they will be more expensive to put on than asphalt shingles. Well we have more color here one try make sure we get mean here and go to the line one in Champaign Hello. Yes you asked the caller who was inquiring about. Leaky gutters whether she had aluminum or steel gutters. If someone has steel is something different for the butyl caulk advised. Probably not but you're probably going to need to clean them out and paint the insides too. Durability depends on what kind if you are leaking

only at the seams. Find if you are rusting through getting drips elsewhere than you're due for replacement. OK but if you're leaking at the seams then you have to do this cleaning and so forth. Well we are fairly much but the clock should be able to handle it. OK thank you. All right well at that I guess we'll leave it for this time around with the promise that next month Hank will be back to something we do once a month always on a Monday with our gas tanks piece from the speech Home Inspection Service. Thank you very much thank you.