May 18, 2018 AsktheBuilder Newsletter
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Veteran subscriber? You know what's about to happen.
This is a Fast Friday edition. I've got some quick tips for you
Kevin's Yellow Bricks
Kevin composed an email to me late yesterday. He's not in a good mood and this email is 100% responsible for this newsletter.
I felt you need to hear from someone else what I've preached in the past:
"Today I made a mistake by actually listening to a Lowe's store associate's advice and applied a product to my brick patio.
I had some mildew growing between my brick patio over the paver sand and the associate advised me to use product called Moss Out for Lawn by Lilly Miller. So I applied it over my patio and all the bricks are now yellow. I am so disappointed. Is there anything I can do to clean it up? Please help."
After reading his email, these thoughts flowed through my head:
Would you get in a commercial airliner to travel if you knew the captain with the four stripes on each shoulder of her/his shirt had NEVER FLOWN an airliner before?
Would you have surgery done on your body if you discovered the person in the green scrubs had never cut someone up much less sewed them back together again?
Should I give more examples?
WHY WOULD YOU EVER TRUST THE ADVICE GIVEN BY SOMEONE IF THEY'VE NEVER DONE THE JOB BEFORE OR USED THE PRODUCT?
After the Lowe's associate gave his advice, Kevin's polite questions to the Lowe's associate should have been:
"Have you ever used this product before on patio brick?"
"Before coming to work here at Lowe's, how many years did you work out in the field cleaning patio brick?"
It's YOUR MONEY. It's YOUR HOME. You have every right to ask questions before you invest in a product HOPING it will work.
All Kevin had to do was come to me FIRST and I would have told him to use my certified organic Stain Solver.
CLICK HERE and WATCH THE SIMPLE VIDEO to see how to clean mildew and algae from any outdoor surface.
Dan's Quick UnClog Tool
I'm so lucky to have great friends. One happens to be Dan. He lives in Colorado. He and I are going on a little-man self-discovery trip mid September to hike and do amateur radio out in Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks.
He emailed me after the last newsletter saying,
"Have you ever recommended this product? It rules! I've used it many, many times."
It's the Cobra Zip-It drain cleaning tool. It works best on bathroom sink and tub drains that are clogged with hair.
The barbs on the shaft grab onto hair that's tangled up in the drain stopper mechanisms. It is a great invention. CLICK HERE to get one.
Keep in mind, I'm a master plumber and have no fear of taking off the tiny nut on the back of the tailpiece of a bath sink drain to be able to make it like new.
My response to Dan was:
"I've not.
I know it works, but it doesn't get all the hair out.
I just take out the lift lever in the tailpiece and get the entire drain clean.
While doing that, I'm able to get a bottle brush down the tailpiece to get rid of all the FOUL biofilm on the sidewalls of the tailpiece.
That invention, while very handy, just does a small part of what needs to be done."
That inexpensive plastic tool will save you HUNDREDS of dollars by not having to have a plumber come out to do what I can do in three minutes.
If hair is clogging your drain, the Cobra Zip-It should work for you.
DECEPTIVE Product Description WARNING
On Mother's Day morning, my youngest daughter chatted me up from Puerto Rico. She's working at a deluxe boutique hotel in Old San Juan and loving it down there.
If you decide to go there, PLEASE let them know you heard about this magic place from Ask the Builder.
She needed to know how to safely strip old paint at one of the hotel properties. I sent her to a website that has a special paint stripper that can remove lots of paint at one time.
While there, I noticed they sold a deck cleaner. Since Kathy and I sell the best certified organic deck cleaner out there, Stain Solver, I just had to click the link.
Here's the FIRST THING I read. It was the TOP CONTENT on the page. I've substituted four X's for the product name to stay out of legal trouble:
"XXXX Deck Cleaner is a highly-effective, biodegradable, concentrated, and safe deck cleaning solution for exterior use on wood decking, siding, shakes, and outdoor furniture. XXXX Deck Cleaner, one of the best wood deck cleaners on the market, is also recommended for removing dirt, mildew stains, and algae from composite decking, concrete, stucco, vinyl siding, fiberglass, and most outdoor furniture. This eco-green product is perfect for any deck you wish to restore, large or small, because it is available in one- and five-gallon pails."
That got my interest so I looked on the page to find the MSDS sheet so I could see WHAT was in the deck cleaner.
It only took me about 20 seconds to discover the product was just CHLORINE BLEACH. The MSDS sheet showed the product contained sodium hypochlorite. That's the fancy chemical name for chlorine bleach.
Allow me ask you a question or two or three. When you see the word "biodegradable" what pops into your head?
Do you feel the product is safe?
Do you feel it's *green* or a warm and fuzzy product?
Does that word cast a spell on you making you like the product?
Did you know that chlorine bleach is TOXIC to all vegetation and many other living organisms?
Would you apply chlorine bleach to your outdoor furniture, you know the ones that have fabric cushions? After all, the label says it's SAFE to use on outdoor furniture!!
The actual definition of biodegradable is: "capable of being decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms."
I don't see how chlorine bleach fits that description because it KILLS bacteria and other living organisms!!!
But if you're a chemist, perhaps you can explain how some bacteria or organism will eat the chlorine bleach first!
BOTTOM LINE: STOP TRUSTING product descriptions. STOP trusting people who have NO EXPERIENCE.
Do some simple research. It only took me TWENTY SECONDS to see that deck cleaner was a TOXIC product.
Kevin could have PREVENTED his NIGHTMARE by READING THE LABEL on the Moss Out product .
My guess is it said: "Product contains muriatic ACID."
That's enough for today.
Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Supreme Stain Solver Commander - www.StainSolver.com
Electromagnetic Message Man - www.W3ATB.com
Do It Right, Not Over!