October 7, 2008 AsktheBuilder News

HEATING COSTS

As I'm typing and editing this newsletter, we're having our first cold snap here in New Hampshire. The outdoor temperature is 39 F and my boiler thermostat is set to 61 F indoors. I'm toasty warm in a tee shirt and fleece that is zipped up to my neck. I'm saving big bucks on my propane bill. You can too! Turn your thermostat way down and put on more clothes. When it gets even colder, I'll put on a knit hat or wear my hooded sweatshirt and put on my flannel-lined blue jeans. They're softer than a baby's bum.

LOG-SPLITTER VIDEOS

The high cost of heating fuels might have you looking at wood to heat your home. If this is the case and you intend to cut and split the wood yourself, then you might be interested in a product test I'm about to conduct.

I just took delivery of two different log splitters and we're taping videos about both in a matter of days. I'm pretty sure you're going to be blown away by the one video, especially if you are a true environmentalist. If you are embracing the Green Movement, then you're going to see the dream log splitter. The video links will be in next week's newsletter.

PAINTING KITCHEN CABINETS

Sue England reached out to me with a few interesting questions about painting cabinets. She was having trouble with brush marks while trying to paint her kitchen cabinets. Spraying will eliminate this, but that process requires lots of practice and some special equipment. You can minimize brush marks by adding a product that reduces the surface tension in the paint.  Penetrol is a paint conditioner made for oil or alkyd paints that will really help you eliminate brush marks. There's a similar product made for latex paints called Floetrol. Neither of these products will negatively affect the adhesive qualities of the paint.

Sue also asked about how to make sure water doesn't ruin the cardboard core of paint rollers. Quality rollers have a special core that is water-resistant, but not always waterproof. Higher quality rollers will absolutely not fall apart. I have rollers I've cleaned nearly 50 times that have the cardboard cores. They're all in excellent condition.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

This is going to be a new feature in the newsletter. Feel free to send me your random thoughts. Please change the subject line of your email to me to just these two words:  Random Thoughts. I'll include as many each week as I have space. Here are mine for this week to get this going:

Not every traffic engineer gets good grades when they're in school. Did many of ones who just barely passed getting their engineering degree go to work in Boston?

These two pedestal sinks look great but might not be the most practical thing for a teenage girl. Narrow cabinets hide behind the mirrors, but no way will you or anyone be putting a hairdryer in one! Copyright 2020 Tim Carter

Pedestal sinks look great, but they're really impractical. You can't hardly store anything on the curved edges around the bowl. These sinks seem to be breeding here in my New Hampshire house. The previous owner installed them, not me.

You don't save money on a energy improvement on your home until such time as the cumulative energy savings equal what you paid to achieve the savings. Once that happens, you then start to really save money. In some instances, it can take over 10 or 15 years to break even.

PARTNERSHIP WITH TEXAS A & M

This past Saturday I had an amazing phone call with Kelly Milligan the Technical Laboratory Manager at TEES / Energy Systems Laboratory at Texas A & M University.

We're in the early stages of forming an exciting partnership where we obtain funding for official independent testing of building products and systems. Kelly and I are both in agreement that there's too much questionable information out there about energy claims, and myths that need to be addressed with respect to what does and doesn't really work.

For example, we're creating a wish list of tests that will tell you how much air really needs to pass through an attic to drop the temperature from 140 F to 105 F. I want to know exactly how well continuous ridge vents do at dropping attic temperatures. Do the foam insulations absolutely prevent condensation from forming in exterior walls and ceilings that have been sprayed?  The list of tests that need to be done and funded is almost endless.

My job is to act as the platform to publish these test results. Your job is to help me discover funding sources. Do you work for a utility company, some foundation that provides grants, maybe a large corporation that wants the truth to come out, etc.? Do you have other ideas how we can fund these independent studies? If so, please contact me so we can get this fantastic venture moving forward.

I'm also very interested in the tests you would like to see performed. What questions do you have about building products? The tests don't have to be all about energy. Maybe you're interested in roofing products or the durability of ceramic tile. Tell me what things you would like to see tested.

FOUNDATION PRIMER

You're going to think I'm crazy, but this is a true story. I'm convinced that this story is going to be of great interest to nearly 65 percent of the subscribers to this newsletter. First, there are different types of foundations.

About four years ago, I was a judge on the reality television show The Mansion.

The first time we did a taping, I had to get to the set about two hours before the cameras were turned on to get makeup put on. Yes, makeup. You bet that was strange for me!

The production company hired Lynne Molitor, a local professional makeup artist based in Cincinnati, Ohio, to do this each taping. The first week, Lynne asked me to go wash my face before she started to work on me. I got into the chair nervous as can be and quite embarrassed. Being the pro she is, Lynne could see I was overflowing with anxiety and didn't take advantage of the situation. The first thing she did was spread this compound all over my face and neck. It was clear and cool.

Being inquisitive I asked, "Lynne, what's that you're putting on my face?" She said, "A foundation primer." Not knowing squat about makeup, she could see from my expression I was clueless. She followed, "Tim, I read your column each week and pretty much know what you do. You've written in past columns that one should skim coat an old plaster wall before it's painted. The spackling compound fills small cracks and holes."

Lynne was starting to talk my language. But I still didn't understand the need. "Tim, if you could look at your face with a magnifying glass you would see holes and cracks. Most people call the cracks wrinkles. This clear primer dries on your face and bridges over the holes and wrinkles. By doing this, I only have to put on a very small amount of foundation to get the job done. Women who don't use this primer tend to put on lots of foundation to fill the holes and wrinkles. When you see a woman with too much makeup on, that's the cause", Lynne commented while continuing to apply different types of makeup on and around different areas of my face.

Wow! I knew exactly what she meant as I've seen women with thick amounts of makeup caked on their cheeks and foreheads. I never realized there was an alternative.

I mentioned this on my radio show the week after it happened and the phone lines lit up like crazy. Women called in wanting to know the product. One of the callers even asked me to stop by and show how to apply it. I kindly declined that offer. Well, the magical product Lynne used on me is made by Laura Mercier and is simply called Foundation Primer. I just checked online and there are any number of places you can get it.

So here's my question. How can you give it as a gift to a woman who needs it? You know, without offending her? Any suggestions? I can't imagine there's a way to do that.

The last question I asked Lynne while she was turning a sow's ear into a silk purse was, "Lynne, that wouldn't be eye liner you're applying would it?" Her straight-faced reply, "Absolutely not. I'm just brushing away some powder......."

SECURITY ON YOUR COMPUTER

I belong to a mastermind group made up of very successful and brilliant Internet entrepreneurs. One of them is my very dear friend Leo Notenboom. Leo is a lifelong software engineer who owns and operates a fantastic website that has countless questions and answers about computers and software. I use it all the time. A few days ago, Leo made a post to our mastermind group about the latest security measures one should use to keep their machines safe from all the sinister and nefarious rascals that are polluting the Internet ecosystem. Discover amazing tips that will help keep your computer safe and secure.

NEW WEBSITE

You're the best! I want to extend the warmest thanks I can to you for participating in the survey about the new website I'm planning. Your feedback was amazing. I underestimated the need and desire for this venture. The timing of your comments was perfect as I took the data with me to a special conference I attended this past weekend in Boston. The conference was all about special websites that attract people like you that want exclusive content both written and video.

One of the things I discovered at the conference was a fascinating statistic. People tend to join these websites at first for the deluxe content, but within just three months the community aspects of the website are far more important to them. When you become a part of my new website, you'll soon discover new home-improvement soul mates who are struggling with the same challenges as you.

I'm starting to work on the new website this week. As you might expect, I'm building it around your requests. I'll try to keep you posted each week via this newsletter how things are going. This much I can tell you now: There's going to be video content at this website you'll simply not be able to find anywhere else on the Internet. Many of these videos are going to save you enormous amount of time and money. And yes, you're going to see scads of product-review videos.

LATEST COLUMNS

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