The Carolina Contractor Show
The Carolina Contractor Show
Seasonal Home Care Guide for Fall!
Can the Kansas City Chiefs pull off a historic three-peat, or will the Eagles soar to victory with their star-studded roster? Join us as we dive into bold NFL season predictions, where I forecast a Chiefs vs. Detroit Super Bowl showdown with Kansas City coming out on top. Donnie, on the other hand, predicts a thrilling Chiefs-Eagles final, giving the edge to Philadelphia thanks to their new powerhouse, Saquon Barkley. We also chat about the Baltimore Ravens' boosted offense, featuring Derrick Henry, and our heightened excitement for the Carolina Panthers under the guidance of new head coach Dave Canales.
As autumn sets in, we shift gears to practical home maintenance tips that will keep your house in top shape for the colder months. We kick things off with a shout-out to our dedicated listener Joshua Webb, before discussing the benefits of airing out your home and turning off the HVAC to save on electricity. Learn how to take advantage of the mild fall weather to refresh your living space and prepare for the winter ahead. We'll also share insights on essential HVAC and roof maintenance, from regular diagnostics to selecting the right sealants for your home's needs.
In our final segment, we zero in on crucial autumn maintenance for roofs and gutters. Discover the importance of inspecting and cleaning gutters to prevent damage, and learn practical advice on using gutter clips and ensuring proper yard drainage. We'll also delve into deck maintenance, discussing the benefits of composite decks and offering tips for lawn care and mower upkeep. Plus, find out creative solutions for protecting outdoor faucets during the cold weather. This episode is packed with expert advice and lively discussion to keep your home and football season running smoothly!
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with your host, general Contractor Donnie Blanchard. Oh, and you know what that music means. Holidays, christmas, no, the most wonderful time of year is football season. The NFL is back in action for another season. The 24-25 season is getting underway, and before we get started with the Carolina Contractor Show, I'm just going to go ahead and tell you, donnie, we need to make our picks of who we think are going to win the Super Bowl, because we ain't no babies, this is big boy school. I want to know what your pick is to win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2:I can go first if you would like me to, either way you take it or I'll take it.
Speaker 1:All right, let's see what you got All right, I'll go. I say it's going to be in the Super Bowl Kansas City against Detroit and I say Kansas City wins the whole thing.
Speaker 2:So what do they win it Two years in a row. Maybe they're going for a three-peat. So that's not likely in a lot of situations. But you know, studying all the changes that Kansas City made in the offseason, they have one of the stronger teams that they've had in recent years. And Patrick Mahomes, you know obviously the best quarterback out there. He has more weapons this year than I've ever seen him have. So they're going to be scary. I think they'll still take a few L's through the year, but I think that's a good pick.
Speaker 2:And the AFC? I know that it'll either be them and if anybody has a chance to knock off the Chiefs, I would say it'd be the Baltimore Ravens. They added Derrick Henry from Tennessee and you know His nickname is the King and that's for a reason. He's a mountain of a man and he just got traded to one of the most run-heavy offenses in the NFL. So someone who is going to protect him a lot better, with a better offensive line and just give him more opportunity than he had in Tennessee. I think the Ravens are going to be good. I'd say, on the other side, nfc prediction would probably be the Eagles and the 49ers. There's some disarray with the 49ers and some of their contracts that are fringe. And then, you know, with the Eagles they added Saquon Barkley from the New York Giants and he's just a marquee running back and he's got a fresh start in an offense that turned Miles Sanders into a superstar a couple years ago in Philadelphia. So if I had to pick, I'll go Chiefs-Eagles.
Speaker 1:And so if I had to pick, I'll go Chiefs-Eagles, and I will probably well just to be the antagonist, I'll say Eagles, since you said the Chiefs, and that's all fine and dandy, but Hertz is going to choke again, so that's not going to happen. But you did make a good statement. The Chiefs will lose a few games, everybody does. I mean it was the Dolphins who are the only undefeated team Now technically. Was the Dolphins who are the only undefeated team Now technically? The Patriots had the longest win streak, but that crossed over two seasons. But nobody's had an undefeated season except the Dolphins that one year.
Speaker 1:But losses during the season aren't a big deal. People can't panic about that. You mentioned Kansas City. You mentioned Baltimore. That was the Thursday game, the first game of the season. That score doesn't matter. I don't care about past scores, and who won there we're going to see at the end of the season when it matters. I do think Philly's a really good team though, and I know they are favored to go deep again. It just seems they have a little choke problem, and so does I mean Dallas won't be in it. We know that They've already been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention just because the regular season is underway. All right. So I say Kansas City three peats. You're saying they'll make it, but Philly for the win.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and either way it goes, man, I don't think I've been this excited about a football season in a long time. There's been a lot of shakeup in the offseason and a lot of major moves and of course I'm a huge Carolina Panther fan and they made it really hard to be a fan last year. But I'm excited about their new head coach, dave Canales. He's a quarterback whisperer. You know, in Seattle he made Geno Smith into an all-star and then he goes and makes Baker Mayfield, who we dropped in Carolina, into a playoff contender. He actually won a playoff game. So Dave Canales is the quarterback whisperer and I think he's going to give Bryce Young a really good situation. We added some studs on the offensive line, so our run game is going to be better and I'm not going to say that we're going to, you know, be in playoff contention. But compared to last year I think we're going to show a lot of improvement. And side note there I don't want to talk too much about football, but I can't help myself. You know, you look at the opportunity last year. David Tepper, you know he's the richest owner in the NFL. He's got more money than Jerry Jones over in Dallas and it's just like he keeps screwing things up. So he needs to let somebody else take the wheel and make some of these decisions.
Speaker 2:Because you know a couple of things from last year. They just put Bryce Young. He's an undersized quarterback from Alabama, but they put him in a position where he was running for his life every single game and I don't blame him for that. But the alternative to that is the situation you've got going on with the Chicago Bears. They drafted Caleb Williams out of USC. Well, caleb Williams all of a sudden gets the next pick, who is Roma Dunze, the best college receiver last year. He gets Keenan Allen from the San Diego Chargers and he already had DJ Moore, who we traded them for the first pick a couple of years ago, who had a great season. So this guy comes into the NFL with three stud receivers. They get the running back from Philadelphia, deandre Swift he's got a good run game Khalil Herbert's his backup. So you know this guy is surrounded with options and weapons.
Speaker 2:And then you go down south to Texas and you got the Texans with CJ Stroud who is arguably I think he's going to be top three quarterback this year. I agree we took Bryce Young in Carolina instead of CJ Stroud last year and CJ Stroud, you know, mvp caliber season last year because he's just such a stud and you know those two guys grew up playing ball against each other and Bryce Young even admitted and he made a joke about CJ Stroud being a better basketball player and he was a sharpshooter. But CJ Stroud's got a lot of size and you know he's, he's a man of faith. I think that has a lot to do with it. But he already had two stud receivers in Nico Collins and Tank Dale, and then they added Stephon Diggs out of Buffalo. So his receiver room is going to be exciting. They have Joe Mixon, the stud running back that came from the Bengals. So, similar to Chicago, the Houston Texans are going to be a lot of fun to watch this year and, man, I think it's going to be a very exciting football season.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I didn't mean to put a key in you and turn you on there, but I do understand. One thing about you mentioned. Tepperson is my problem is he's a very hands-on GM. He gets into arguments with fans, stupid stuff, sit back and watch the team. So even though I think they put in some good players, good management, what Dan Morgan's there now former Carolina Panther If the owner of the team comes in and starts fiddling or saying I think you should do this, or causes that, it's toxic. Let's just call it it's toxic, it's poisonous. When they do it, dallas doesn't win anymore and we know one of the main reasons is because of Jerry Jones. Don't be that. Let the people you hired do the job you hired them to do and you'll guarantee have success. If Teppers gets all in the mix, it'll be a repeat of last year, I'm afraid.
Speaker 2:Well, I need a reason to wear those Carolina Panther shirts again, and last year was hit or miss, mostly miss, mostly miss.
Speaker 1:Yeah, All right, this is the Carolina Contractor Show and we always end up talking sports and I'm sorry for the next 17, 18, 20 weeks we'll probably talk a lot of football before a show, but that isn't what the Carolina Contractor Show is about. It's about your house, building and construction, sometimes blowing things up and tearing things down, demo renovations, all sorts of stuff. Whether you're a builder like Donnie, who's a general contractor, also owner of SureTop Roofing, or, in my part of the business which is selling building supplies to people like Donnie, we like to talk about your house and projects you might have in mind or things you can do. Speaking of the business at Home Builders, a couple of weeks ago, Donnie guy walks in and he says, hey, do you have LVLs 11, seven, eights? And I said, yeah, how long? And he says, like I need them at 20 feet. And I said, yeah, we can get those for you today. And he says, are you Eric Smith? And I no way. And I said, yes, may I ask why? And he goes.
Speaker 1:I listened to the Carolina contractor show every weekend have been for over a year and I said, well then, I need your card. And so his name was Joshua. He had his little girl with him. I'm not going to give her name because he didn't give me permission, but she had her stuffed animal, bun Bun, and I think it's okay to give Bun Bun name, but his name's Joshua Webb. He owns Black Creek Building Company and he's come in a couple more times.
Speaker 1:But it reminded me we take for granted people we might run into every day at job sites or at work who listen to the show, that don't say anything. But there are people like Joshua who just came and said hey, man, I've listened to your show and he's a builder too, so he gets it. So I just want to point out thank you, joshua. Thank you to everybody who listens to the show, interacts with us. Yeah, if you see us somewhere at a site or at the store or whatever, be sure to say hi, but it was very cool to have coworkers sitting around and go. Did they just really mention your show? That's why they're coming in the store and I was like I didn't say anything. He started it, right.
Speaker 2:I second that we appreciate the support that means everything, yeah, all right.
Speaker 1:So let's jump into our subject for today. Football season also means we're entering fall and we get ideas of what we want to do, and me and Donnie are no different than anybody listening to the show of stuff. You want to prep for fall and I decided, kind of on my own, we should talk about things you can do, but you don't have to do it all in one weekend because it's overwhelming. So, donnie, you really kind of took over and bullet pointed a good list on fall prep. So that's what our subject is going to be today Fall prep for your house. First, hit the website thecarolinacontractorcom. You can also find us on YouTube. We put our shows up there. You can download past shows in the podcast form.
Speaker 1:If you have a question like what are the differences in LVLs Maybe that's your question or what do you think about Jalen Hurts? You can email by clicking on the Ask the Contractor button. They go to Donnie. So if it's a real question about building or codes or something, he's going to answer it. If it's something you just want a smart ass remark for, those automatically get filtered to me. But you'll find all that information at thecarolinacontractorcom. You ready for?
Speaker 2:the show. I think we just dive right in. Yes, sir, that was a heck of an intro, by the way. Love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think we should do this maybe more often. I can't take credit for the first point, donnie, and it's something we recommend in the spring and we think spring clean, why can't we have a fall clean?
Speaker 2:So hit us with the first thing you should do this time of year when the weather's nice this might be the best tip I've given for any kind of fall home maintenance, but air out your stinking house. You know we've had the doors and windows closed all summer long. It's been a hot summer and you know no secret that we just got some relief recently with a week actually in the seventies and, it's funny, everybody's in a good mood on the job site Things. People just work a longer day and you just get a lot more production. So there's a few rare weeks where this happens and people appreciate the change and the moderate weather.
Speaker 2:So I think it's a perfect time to open your doors, open your windows. If you're going to do that. I think on average the stats are people only open their windows twice a year and I don't even do that, to be honest. So I do think it's a good strategy. You know, get some fresh air into your house and if you, if you basically been running the AC with the windows and doors closed and you're going to have a cleaning day, you know, let let the windows and doors just stay open for that cleaning day and I think that the house will have a more of a fresh, better feel and definitely improve the indoor air quality.
Speaker 1:All right. I have two things tying to that. One this is the time of year where I try to turn off the HVAC and see how long I can keep it off before we have to turn it on for winter. So when I don't need the AC anymore, I turn it to heat and make sure one the heat's working and it burns off that first smell, and then I turn the entire HVAC system off and see how far we can go without using it and see what it does to your electric bill.
Speaker 1:Number two you mentioned windows and how most people don't open them, but a couple of times a year.
Speaker 1:It's amazing the number of people that come into our store to buy windows and I know you see it too, and they was well.
Speaker 1:I want double hung and I want windows that open this and open that and I want screens and I'm like thinking you'll probably open your windows three times in an entire year. Don't spend all your time worrying about if they'll open the top and bottom or having screens, cause you want to open them all spring and the don't want the bugs getting in. Um, you're probably not going to do that, and I don't like screens on windows, to begin with because I think they make your windows look dingy. Drive around a neighborhood and look at houses that don't have any screens and their windows, even if they haven't been recently cleaned, will look 10 times cleaner than a house that has screens up, because the metal or the netting of a screen just takes away the gloss and the shine. So if you really aren't going to open your windows often, don't sweat the details of having them open 10 different ways, but open them this time of year because there's also no pollen to worry about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's a great point. And the reason I don't open my windows is is I have casement windows. So most people have double hung, where you have a top and bottom sash and they, you know, both operate, slide up and down. But my casement windows are basically the rollout windows, so the whole window itself opens up and there's a crank at the bottom. I'm sure most folks have seen those. But the thing with casement windows is the screens go on the inside, so it just. I've never put my screens on the inside because I hate the way it looks sort of like what you said from the outside and, um, you know, with no screens, that's just um asking for a more of a mess If you do leave those open all day.
Speaker 1:All right, I mentioned HVAC and turning it off. Please don't wait to see if your heat works until the coldest day of the year. Um, we've talked about getting service contracts. I have one. I don't know if you do, Donnie, it's an annual. I play, pay a flat rate and my guy comes out and checks my machines twice a year. He'll even clean the outside units twice a year. Um runs diagnostic testing, puts me first on emergency call list. I get a discount on materials or parts. I get a discount on materials or parts. I get a discount on labor. I get a discount if I have to ever get a system brand new system and he can make the system last longer because he's the only one taking care of it. I highly recommend you get that, but have a service tech check your system this time of year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree with that. The two things that really jump out when you said HVAC are the fact that if something's going to go wrong and it can be prevented, they're going to see when they do their diagnostics what needs to be repaired or changed ahead of time, because when your system goes out it's usually at the worst moment, so it's going to be freezing cold that night and you're not going to have heat for the remainder of the night. But sort of like what you said, the next big thing is that it extends the life of the system, and we always talk about roofing and HVAC being the two most expensive things on your home that are guaranteed to wear out. So if you get an extra five years out of your heating and air system just by having it serviced semi-annually, then that pays for itself times 10 probably, the heating and air system anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 and the price is only going to go up. So that's a great point. While we're talking about that, since I mentioned roofs, I want to throw in there that inspecting your attic and your roof this time of year is absolutely mandatory.
Speaker 2:Sun exposure is what deteriorates just about everything on the house, and so no secret that the roof gets the most sun exposure and anywhere there's a roof penetration. So you got a plumbing vent that goes through there. Anything that services those areas are prone to leak and the flashing or the pipe boots that go around all those roof penetrations will wear out, especially the pipe boots they used to use 20 years ago. They were rubber, we use a neoprene version now. So and a side note, a little secret I do with pipe boots for the builder listeners out there when I install a roof, and of course my guys do this, but I install a pipe boot the absolute regular way, and then I'll take a second pipe boot because they're so cheap.
Speaker 2:I say that they went up to $10, uh, just a couple of weeks ago at the big box store, but, uh, still pretty cheap. And so you cut the flat flange off of the pipe boot and slide the boot itself over the pipe boot under and that, basically, that seal never sees the light of day. So when sun is, what wears that pipe boot out and pipe boots are 70% of my leak calls I'd I'd say that's probably the cheapest insurance that you can get on the house. And also, if you do have a builder, uh, or if you are a builder, uh, you're not supposed to face nail those pipe boots because the caulk that goes on top of those face nails, the sun's going to wear that down in just a couple of years. We use metal roofing screws because they have a washer on those. So anytime you secure the flat flange of a pipe boot down, you know metal roofing screws way to go and add the second pipe boot over the seal, just for cheap insurance.
Speaker 1:Hey, Donnie, real quick, could you explain what type of caulk people need to get? Because you go to a store and you're bombarded with dozens of different choices. What do people need to get?
Speaker 2:A big difference between caulk and silicone is silicone is not temperature sensitive. And if I had to throw an easy delineation on what to use, where caulk is basically used inside the house or anywhere that's not exposed to the weather and silicone is used outside, so around windows you want to use not exposed to the weather and silicone is used outside, so around windows, you want to use silicone. On the roof, you want to use silicone, and on the roof we use a product called NP1, and it is really strong, thick stuff and it might be a dollar extra too, but it's well worth it. So you know, caulk is paintable. It may set up just a little bit faster than silicone, but but yeah, caulk interior silicone exterior.
Speaker 1:Second vote for NP1. We sell a lot of that.
Speaker 2:The contractors get that all the time. It's a very popular choice, by the way. Hey, I'm going to throw one more thing in there. Np1, I know you guys probably carry black, brown, maybe white for TPO applications, but most paint stores carry NP1 as well, and I didn't know that until I was a few years into the business. So if you have something that's an odd color, like a gray or you know just any color that's not black or brown, that's a common roof color. They normally have several different shades at the paint store to accommodate what you're looking for.
Speaker 1:And we own a paint store also, so I'll have to check in that. But they'll probably carry the same thing. Since we buy it for the other stores, it just makes sense Buy in bulk and put it over there, because that's something that's very common knowing if you can paint over a caulk or a silicone, because sometimes people put it up and then they think, well, I'll just paint over it and you have to look at the label to know if it's paintable or stainable, and most of them will list it clearly for that, real quick. Also on HVAC, I completely forgot Change the filters. It's the easiest thing you can do to prolong the life of your system. The lower the MERV is actually better.
Speaker 1:Talk to your HVAC pro. Most of them will say the same thing. It's better to change out an air filter in your HVAC unit every month that's a low MERV rating than something that has a higher MERV rating. If you're not sure what your maximum MERV rating is, find out because you might think well, my system says use a five. That must mean that a 13 is really going to work well. It can choke your system and cause damage and cause it to have to work harder.
Speaker 1:But my tech said lower MERV. Change them out every 30 days, maybe a little bit more often if you have a pet, because of pet hair or something like that, but your mileage may vary, but it's cheap. Buy them by the six pack or the 10 pack and then you don't have to go to a store on a Saturday to get more of those things and Amazon auto renew yeah, exactly, you used to do that. Another thing you can do is switch out your smoke detectors if they're a few years five years old, and they now have a smoke detectors with CO monitors built into. So you can get the combo 20, 30 bucks all day on Amazon.
Speaker 2:Yep, that's a great idea. Um, since we're talking about that, I guess one important thing. Um, if you have a CO monitor, you have gas appliances. You know that's always a good thing to know if you have a gas leak in the house. And and that led me to think about sealing up gaps and cracks, which I guess wouldn't, would not be a good thing if you had a gas leak. But yeah, the crack kills.
Speaker 2:Yes, the the thing that we preach about all the time is the convective and conductive heat transfer. Heat transfer is everything. That's the reason for insulation, that's the reason you've got, you know, a root, an attic space between your roof and your living space, and it's the reason for insulation. That's the reason you've got, you know, an attic space between your roof and your living space and it's the reason that you caulk around your windows, because you know you don't see it, but there's always some sort of pressure on your house. You know, whether the wind's blowing moderately or you've got a heavy wind, it's always putting a pressure on your house and that pressure is what really causes the heat transfer, pushing cold inside or, you know, pushing the hot air inside in the summer. So, having everything sealed around your windows I can't emphasize enough really really helps with your utilities, the comfort of your house.
Speaker 2:I lived in an old house for years and it'd be nothing to be sitting beside a window and you could almost feel like a cool breeze there. And you know, weatherization is probably one of the cheapest things that you can do to your house in terms of a DIY project. So I know we talked about taking it all the way. You can seal around just the trim work. But if you really want to take it all the way, I'd suggest starting with the south facing elevation of your house. You can pop off casing on the sides and the top of your windows and doors and my guess is it's going to be about a one inch gap all the way around, because the rough openings are always larger and up until maybe the last 10 years people weren't great about sealing around those rough openings. But that's just an area where it's ripe for heat transfer to take place in the wrong direction.
Speaker 2:So, um, sealing up gaps and cracks, you know, start with the obvious things before you pop off trim. But, um, that that is something that you'll really see the difference immediately. I think it'll. It'll definitely impact your utility bills. And if you're going to use spray foam, make sure you get the right darn can, because you know the, the low expansion spray foam is what to use around doors and windows. If you use the, the other stuff, the, the yellow great stuff in the red, can you know that will literally um crush the trim against the windows and you won't be able to operate the windows or open the door.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you stole that from me. We sell both those, and I'm careful to point out that that great stuff is something that can actually push your casing out of place. Not only jam it, it can pop, start popping nails on if you use it too much. Hey, you got a generator, something that you can hook up to your house. You do any maintenance for?
Speaker 2:that. Well, basically I just fired up, you know, before the winter hits. Real good, I just make sure that everything runs okay. And it's one of those deals where you know lots of switches and settings and you just want to be familiar with it, because when the power goes out you don't want to go in there with your phone flashlight just trying to read a manual and figuring out how the thing works. And I just think that you know the standalone generators that are fed by gas. They start up once a week, I want to say just for maintenance. So anything like that that has working parts needs to be started at least annually, if not a couple of times a year. But yeah, all I do is just make sure that it's gassed up, ready to go, and I just make sure that it cranks okay, but that's about it.
Speaker 1:All right, this is the Carolina Contractor Show. We're giving you some things you can do to get ready for fall. You don't have to do them all in one weekend. You can do them over the next few weeks and if you did most of these you'd be done before Thanksgiving. You mentioned you don't want to be searching in the dark with a flashlight trying to figure out what's wrong with your generator. Go ahead, and candles if you want to um salt.
Speaker 1:You know we don't get a whole lot of snow in this state. We do tend to get a mix of sleet and ice. It's good to have things for the thawing. It's really important to have a flashlight because when the power goes out, you just it's an obvious thing you need. So go ahead, make sure you got batteries. You don't necessarily have to store the batteries in with a flashlight if you keep both together, but you can do that to make sure you have little kits. I guess you could do a food kit too if you wanted to. But if you ever save up food for, like, a winter storm, you know how you eat it, like within six hours after you get it, and then the storm arrives two days later and you're out of snacks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Guilty, all right, you do not like fireplaces, donnie. That is perfectly fine with me. I love my fireplace. You look at it as a big hole in a roof and that crushes your soul. But for those of us who have especially wood burning fireplaces, like myself, call someone in to clean it, because it's very important to build up. That occurs on the inside, but also something you taught me years ago about the outside of a fireplace If you see that white, salty looking stuff sometimes it's dark and black and looks mold Please quickly explain what people are seeing on their fireplace.
Speaker 2:Efflorescence is it? Efflorescence is basically a byproduct of moisture soaking into a brick. So where the brick takes in moisture, it produces efflorescence on the outside and it's really a pain because you can't clean it off any way easy. You know you have to call in somebody who's a professional with the pressure washing company. They have to use the right chemicals. But yeah, basically it means that your brick is taking on water and so that's another problem. It doesn't look good and the fact that your brick's absorbing moisture in that area is something to address.
Speaker 1:But yeah, definitely need to need to handle it the right way and it's not pretty and I used uh Thompson's masonry water seal, sprayed it on with a hand sprayer and got. I couldn't get the very top, but I got 90% of my fireplace with it. It worked like a charm. You have a commercial product you use, I assume.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just let the pressure washing guys handle it. I'm not sure exactly what they use, but I know that I've tried to pressure wash it off myself and I had no success with that, so I had to call the big guns in.
Speaker 1:Hey, it's the key to being a man is knowing your limitations. All right, Kind of sticking with roof and places water. You don't want it sitting around. That's the gutters. Could you go into detail what we need to do in the fall with our gutters?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously the leaves fall and that's more of a winter problem. But if you have to prepare for that, now is the time to look at your gutters, because they're not they're not full of leaves before uh, they all fall off the tree. So if you need to get anything else out of the gutter, you know one thing I always look for is, uh, asphalt granules from the roof. So if your roof's lost, um, an abnormal amount of asphalt granules and you can stick your finger down in there about an inch into that, that means that you know you've lost 10 years of your roof right there in your gutter.
Speaker 2:So all that needs to be cleaned out, because when you pile the leaves on top of that, it's just that much more of a mess and, um, a lot of times with gutters and with asphalt in there, that extra weight will pull the gutters away from the fascia board. So you can go to the big box store, get a bag of gutter clips for less than $10. And if you're okay, being on a ladder, you know you can install those gutter clips and just screw those back into the fascia just to shore up those gutters. You know another thing, and it doesn't happen commonly in this part of the country, but ice dams form at the bottom of valleys and usually the culprit there is, you know, just not cleaning the gutters out and that accumulation of leaves there will hold water and that water freezes and those ice dams usually find their way into the house. So, yeah, it's worth it. Like you mentioned, if you take all these in small bites, you can finish by Thanksgiving, and that's definitely something I would add to the list.
Speaker 1:And that's something you recommend. If somebody contacts SureTop Roofing and they're getting a new roof put on, it's not very much more to go ahead and get the gutters done correctly.
Speaker 2:We actually include that in the price.
Speaker 1:Oh, you do.
Speaker 2:When we strip the old shingles, there's no way around getting debris in those gutters, and so at the end of the process we clean everything on the ground first, and then, of course, we clean out the gutters, just to make sure everything functions properly when we leave.
Speaker 1:Sure, top roofingcom. Now something else I didn't realize you did as a courtesy. Very good, all right, a couple other things you can do. In the fall, can you explain the proper slope of your yard? How to know that you've got a drainage issue on your property?
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, common sense. You can look at your house and if you're downhill from a slope you need at least some sort of swell cut in there. So uh, I want to say the. The code is that you should have six inches in 10 feet of positive drainage away from the house. So even if there's a side yard that dumps water down towards your property, you know you should still have a lower ditch where that water can catch and run away from the house. And so if you've got a situation where water's running directly at your foundation say it's an older home and you've been dealing with it for years, you probably have a big problem. But you know, having the proper drainage and then having the downspouts from the gutter system piped underground or at least piped away from the house are two big things that make a difference.
Speaker 1:And make sure if you're going to have a pro come in and do it this is not a slight against landscapers Make sure they're professionals who work with irrigation and slope and drainage. There is a difference. It's not necessarily simply re-raking or modifying your yard. Make sure there's somebody who works specifically in drainage and it's done right, because getting your gutter drains tied in and the slope corrected or any low spots done, so everything drains away from your house. It's kind of an important thing.
Speaker 1:If you have a wood deck, I do Go through and look for screws. Stuff backs out, boards start turning. You don't necessarily have to replace boards. You could wait till the spring, but well, I guess this time of year it really doesn't matter. You might have to match some stain, but go back and check for any screws that have backed out a little bit so you don't catch your foot on them or just tighten things down. If the weather's good, put down a little bit of sealant if you haven't already. If the test is sprinkle water on your wood and if it's beating water, it's doing fine. If it soaks in, then it's okay to spray something as simple as Thompson's on it in. Then it's okay to spray something as simple as Thompson's on it. There's a gambit of totally effective ways to stain and put on sealant on your deck, but you can lengthen the life of it If you take care of it every year easily an extra 10 years of life to a wood deck. You don't have a wood deck, do you?
Speaker 2:I have the, the composite. I went all in and I basically connected my front porch and back porch real redneck like and um, I uh threw a uh covered porch in between the two. And it's really nice, man. When I get home and I know that I've had I have two or three hours worth of computer work to do. I call it second shift on the porch. I go sit out there and watch the sunset, kick my feet up and, uh man, that was money well spent.
Speaker 1:Good for you. I think that's a fine idea and a great reason to get one of those composite decks and they look nice and just about any color. We sell those things too, and when they're done and installed correctly, man, they sure do look nice. I have to say I envy you in that regard. A couple more things, don, just to wrap up the show. I'm going to tie this to the yard. Learn what your plants and bushes are and which ones you can cut down, how far when. I've got a variety of stuff that I prune at different times of year, including some that I can't prune until January Fertilizing your lawn, maintaining your lawnmower we use it in the fall.
Speaker 1:You'll get that dead spot between like December and February. You don't mow very often. You might store your mower. I have to give Donnie kudos because I was this many years old when he pointed out putting non-ethanol gas. Usually it's the mid-grade at the gas station. It'll'll be marked in your mower it's a little more expensive. But my mower I was using the low grade, what, the 87, I can't remember and my mower wouldn't start. And I did research and everybody said the same thing it's the ethanol, it's gumming up your line. So I disconnected everything, cleaned it all out, switched to your recommendation of non-ethanol. My mower starts first pull every time now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, before I started doing that, you know, every year, I mean I just kind of felt like it was good practice to take my mower in and let my guy service it. He's wonderful, you know, he, and he's just a such a whiz with everything, but it sure enough would not start every every single year. And you know he charged me a hundred $200, but now it's as simple as just using non-ethanol gas. And when you compare, I think I have a separate non-ethanol pump at the local gas station that I use. So it's not. It's not with the 87, 89, 93.
Speaker 2:Uh, they have a separate uh pump for the non-ethanol, so uh, but but that non-ethanol may cost me I don't know, less than that $100 all summer, and I put it in all summer now just because it keeps my side-by-side four-wheeler and lawnmower working flawlessly. It seems like I don't have problems out of anything anymore. And just not to have to haul those 20 minutes to a repair mechanic and then you're without it for a week while he works on it and then you've got to pay him when you get it back.
Speaker 1:I mean, I just think it's a no brainer. For non-ethanol? Well, we're not as bougie as you guys are on the West side of 95 and have dedicated non-ethanol pumps. But good for you. You can also take leftover gas in your mower and put it in a gas tank, pour that in your car. Your car's going to have no problem burning that off. If you want to empty out your gas tank, it's not necessarily a bad thing to do if you know you're not going to use your mower for a while. One other thing, donnie, we forget about but disconnect your hoses because you don't want the lines to freeze up. So unless you're going to need it to water, hook it up at that time. Then disconnect it because of a hard freeze. If you forget about that hose in the backyard that's connected to the house, about that hose in the backyard that's connected to the house, you could cause all sorts of problems and there's a couple of things you can do to prevent it. Additional freezing pipes from a hose, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean they sell the styrofoam covers at Lowe's and of course that's cheap, easy. A lot of my houses that I build I do a hot and cold faucet both, and so those are either stacked linear or horizontal, but either way those, those generic styrofoam covers, don't work on those. So I really just I get savage and I'll take an old towel or a t-shirt and tie it around it. I've got my double my hot and cold outside of my house and I basically just tie something around it and then put a grocery bag around that so it doesn't get wet, and I slide the. On the really cold nights I'll slide my trash can in front of it so it can't get direct wind, and that seems to do the trick.
Speaker 1:And then he builds little bonfires around it and has his heat gun on it. Again, it's a different lifestyle, west of I-95, evidently. But we're going to put this stuff up on the Facebook site. On the website We'll get the video uploaded. But there's a lot of things you can do. But if you just do these things one a weekend, you can knock out 10 of these things and some of them take less than 10 minutes. Some of them don't take but an hour total time to do it, and Thanksgiving comes and you can really enjoy going into fall before you hang up Christmas lights and things like that and get your house ready for colder weather. But it is falls, my favorite time of year. I don't know about you, even without football.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, I've been in Thank you Lord for this amazing weather mode all week and, um, you know, like I said, everybody on the job site's in a better mood and it just seems like things when that, when that heat wave breaks, I think everybody, just, whether you even realize what's happening or not, you appreciate it everybody.
Speaker 1:Just whether you even realize what's happening or not, you appreciate it definitely, and july was brutal, let's face it, so it's nice to get a break in the weather. Website the carolina contractorcom. Go there to get all the information you need. You can find us on social media also instagram, facebook, youtube. Just search for the carolina contractor and we thank you for tuning in and we hope to uh hear from you next week on the Carolina Contractor Show. Have a good day everybody. Thanks for listening to the Carolina Contractor Show. Visit thecarolinacontractorcom.