AsktheBuilder.com News - November 20, 2022

Issue #1208 (I think...)

Dear ,

Did you just subscribe in the past week to my Ask the Builder newsletter? Welcome!

As you start to peruse my prose, you may feel this is a nugatory newsletter. Don't give up on me - keep reading and discover the truth!

The Past Week

Since we were last together, two very interesting things happened. Pay attention as you could find yourself in both situations once or twice a month. I urge you to put yourself in Tom and Tammy's shoes.

When I got up into my man cave with my hot mug of lemon and black tea on Monday morning, I opened my email. There was an overnight phone consult order waiting for me.

Tom purchased a 15-Minute call from me to talk about assessing his asphalt roof condition before he invested $65,000 in solar panels.

I shared how he could use a new asphalt shingle to gauge the wear and tear of his existing 17-year-old shingles that roofers claimed were in great shape.

Tom had thought through the nightmare of having to REMOVE all the solar panels and then REINSTALL THEM should his roof go bad while he was still in the house.

The cost to do that can be enormous and would erode years and years of solar savings. If you have to remove solar panels and reinstall them when you replace a roof, it has a direct impact on your overall return on investment.

Guess what? I'm quite certain I convinced Tom NOT to go ahead with the solar panels based on information in this column I wrote about ten weeks ago. 

It appears he didn't factor in the LOST income he'd no longer receive when he transfers that eye-popping five-figure sum from his investment account to the smiling solar-panel contractor.

It turns out he's making a handsome monthly return on his $65,000. Enough that after taxes it just might cover his monthly electric bill! Keep in mind that by not buying the panels, Tom still has his capital to invest, possibly at a higher rate of return, instead of dumping the money into panels that are DEPRECIATING up on his roof.

Within minutes of hanging up with Tom, my phone rang. It was an emergency call from Tammy. She lives just a few miles away from me here in Meredith, NH and desperately needed to see me. She wanted me to come look at drainage issues around a new home she was having built.

Suffice it to say it was a hot mess. I'm talking lava-hot mess. The house was built on a hillside that slopes down from the street. The builder failed to do what you see in this expert illustration I created:

Instead of having a swale about ten feet away from the house, the ground was sloped so water would flow towards the foundation. Add to this there were no gutters on the house so all the roof water was concentrated around the foundation.

The water coming from the roadway was aimed at her house foundation like an Olympic archer points an arrow at a target. There were other grading mistakes on the two sides of the house as well.

I showed Tammy the above illustration that is better than what the building code requires. Never forget, the building code is a set of MINIMUM standards. You can always build better than the code.

I also texted her the exact building code citation that proves the builder violated the building code.

My advice was for Tammy to meet with the Laconia, NH building inspector. I gave her the simple list of questions, in the exact order, she needs to ask the inspector. 

The conversation with the inspector was designed to determine if he enforces section R401.3 of the ICC. If so, then Tammy has incredible leverage to force the builder to fix his mistake.

Fortunately, Tammy had yet to close on the house even though the builder was exerting tremendous pressure to get Tammy's money.

Remember, MONEY is the only leverage you have with most contractors. Forget about relying on honor and integrity. Honor and integrity are character traits that seem to be disappearing from our culture faster than a puff of smoke in a windstorm.

How many times have you made the same mistake Tammy made? 

She didn't talk to me BEFORE she signed the contract. Tammy jumped into the project HOPING everything would work out. Then as she was flailing in the icy-cold water of desperation days ago, she begged me to throw her a life preserver.

Be like Tom. Talk to me BEFORE you make a grave financial error. 

STOP TRUSTING contractors. Stop thinking they're looking out for your best interests. Based on the scads of email I receive each week, the homeowner/contractor nightmares as I understand them, can't be discounted out of hand.

DeWALT Deals

Emily is a top-flight PR person that works for Stanley Black & Decker. SBD owns the DeWALT brand. 

Emily wants you to know the following deals EXPIRE on December 31st. Don't gritch at me if the prices you see after you click the below links don't match what Emily quotes. I did my BEST to find you the best deal:

DCD701F2 XTREME™ 12V MAX* Brushless 3/8 in. Cordless Drill/Driver Kit             

34% off – now as low as $99.00

DCF801F2 XTREME™ 12V MAX* Brushless 1/4 in. Cordless Impact Driver Kit             

34% off – now as low as $99.00

DCK278C2 ATOMIC™ 20V MAX* Brushless Cordless 2-Tool Combo Kit     

35% off –now as low as $149.00

DCS354Q1 ATOMIC™ 20V MAX* Brushless Cordless Oscillating Multi-Tool

32% off – now was low as $149.00          

DCS356SD1 XR® 8-Piece Brushless 20V MAX* 3-Speed Oscillating Tool Kit with Soft Case  

25% off – now was low as $149.00

Historic Photos

Would you like to be dazzled for about fifteen minutes? Click here and enjoy the eye candy.

I can see me as that 1890s Victorian Traveler. I'd just have to learn how to play the violin! Most mornings my hair does look like that. I never seem to hear the roaring tornado in the bedroom at night that creates all that tousling!

Gasoline ?s and Stabilizer

Jim asked a question on my AsktheBuilder.com website: "I've been using ethanol-free gasoline in my small-engine equipment for several years now. Is it still necessary to add fuel stabilize to that?"

The answer is YES if the engines sit idle for over 30 days. If the engines run frequently and you're constantly adding FRESH gasoline, there's no need for stabilizer.

Ed stopped by the website too. He commented and asked: "You can get ethanal-free gas but it comes in 1 and 5-gallon containers at about $20 per gallon. Would there be any engine retrofits to prevent the damage E15 would do?"

First, as I said in my Small Engine Care column, you can get ethanol-free gas as small airports for MUCH LESS than $20 a gallon. Jeeeesh!

Ed's question is a great teaching moment. When you have a question about a PRODUCT, such as a small engine, WHO would have the most authoritative answer? Especially if you think about what happens to your warranty if you get the WRONG answer.

You should ONLY trust an answer from the manufacturer. In Ed's case, he should reach out to the small engine manufacturer.

Two Tips

This is a new section for the newsletter. From now on each week I'm going to share two things that might make your life better and save you huge money. Not every tip will apply to you because you may live in Key West, FL or in Alta Dena, CA.

Tip 1: Do you live where it gets well below 32 F in the winter? In some parts of the USA, hard freezes have already happened. Go out right now and disconnect your garden hoses from your frost-proof hose bibs for goodness sake!

I can hear you now, "Tim, the REASON I bought the frost-proof hose bib was to make it that I'd NOT have to disconnect hoses. After all, the faucet clearly is SOLD as being FROST/FREEZE-PROOF! Maybe you should get off your high horse and use your God-given critical-thinking skills once in a while."

(Pregnant pause as I try to figure out some diplomatic response....) "Well, my guess is you didn't read the Use Instructions. If you don't disconnect the hoses and happen to have a closed nozzle at the end of the hose that prevents water from draining from the hose, water fills the tube between the threads on the hose bib and the washer and valve seat many inches away.

When it gets cold, this water freezes and almost always splits the copper tube behind the wall. When you then turn the faucet on in the spring, you have a flood inside your home and you have no clue it's happening while you're outside washing your car or truck."

Tip 2: Clean out the pre-filter in the bottom of your dishwasher. It's filled with crap, goo, and the fine screening is clogged with GREASE. No wonder your glassware is coming out of the machine cloudy.

DIY Tile Backsplash

You may not think it's possible to install a ceramic tile backsplash like you see in the photo. I guide you through the process here.

Did you thaw out your turkey as I suggested earlier in the week? I sure hope so. The bacteria in mine is now doubling every 24 hours ensuring my turkey will be tender, juicy, and full of flavor on Thursday once we cook it!

Ken, who hales from Galloway, OH, sent me this after I shared my turkey thawing tip and brine recipe earlier in the week:

"Tim, I was a professional cook many years ago and trained by the best. I have cooked THOUSANDS of turkeys and chickens and Cornish hens. I like your brining article and have done that with success. But almost everyone cooks their bird wrong!  

BURP!

If you celebrate Thanksgiving, have a great one. It's my favorite meal of the year hands down.

Tim Carter

Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

500+ Contacts in 14 Days - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over! 

P.S. The town of Derry, NH recently had their Miss Greater Derry beauty pageant. For some odd reason this event didn't make the national news. You can read about it here if you want. 

Brian, a young man won it. It's probably a good thing he wore a full-length gown to hide his massive tree-trunk legs.

This is but one reason why Ms. Whitney Webb is rapidly becoming my favorite author. You might want consider paying attention to Whitney's wisdom.