The RepcoLite Home Improvement Show podcast

November 09, 2024 Boost Your Home's Look with Two-Toned Walls and Get Your Drains Sparkling Clea

In this episode of the Repcolite Home Improvement Show, Dan dives into the growing trend of two-toned walls, sharing why the technique is gaining traction and the benefits it offers, including enhanced visual appeal and functionality.

He also provides practical advice on proper masking tape techniques for cleaner paint lines.

Jeff Roush from East End Plumbing joins the show to discuss the cost-effective benefits of drain cleaning versus drain clearing, the process involved, and the importance of proactive maintenance. Jeff also shares insights about the innovative hydro jetting technique and discusses the drain cleaning services offered by East End Plumbing and Grand Bay Electric.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction and Weekend Vibes

00:58 Sharp Knife Techniques

03:15 Mastering Masking Tape

06:09 Interview with Jeff Roush: Drain Cleaning Insights

08:08 Understanding Drain Cleaning and Maintenance

12:41 Proactive Plumbing Solutions

18:46 Introduction to Drain Cleaning with Jeff Roush

19:22 Understanding Drain Cleaning Tools and Techniques

20:45 The Process of Hydrojetting

22:06 Chemical Drain Cleaners: Risks and Ineffectiveness

23:08 DIY vs Professional Drain Cleaning

25:19 Success Stories in Drain Cleaning

27:55 Contact Information and Services

28:52 Exploring Two-Toned Walls

30:32 Benefits of Two-Toned Walls

38:01 Creating Illusions with Two-Toned Walls

38:37 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

TRANSCRIPT

Good morning everybody. How are you doing? We've made it through another week, and we've arrived here at the weekend. Breathing a sigh of relief, ready to crash a little bit and have some fun, right? Now the fun's gonna start. I guess we're gonna find out. You're listening to the Repcolite Home Improvement Show, sponsored by Benjamin Moore.

And as for fun here's what I've got planned for the show today. You decide if it's going to be fun and spoiler alert, it's going to be. All right, here's what I've got. At the end, I'm going to be talking about a popular design trend two toned walls. It's gaining traction around here. It's been around for a while, but we're seeing more and more of it being used around here.

And I'm going to cover four reasons why you might want to try it in your home. I'm also going to have Jeff Roush from East End Plumbing in the studio, and we'll be talking about drain cleaning. It's a more cost effective solution than replacing clogged lines. We'll get to all of that in a little bit.

But first, I want to talk about something that I learned a couple years ago, and I'm sure, absolutely 100 percent certain that I'm late to the party here. I'm sure this is completely ridiculous to even talk about, but that's okay. It's still going to make my point. See, I learned. couple years ago or so that cutting vegetables or whatever with a really sharp kitchen knife doesn't need to be a blood bath.

See previously the state of things in my home was this. If I went to prepare a meal and if that preparation required, cutting up an onion, let's say if that was all on the docket for, For the dinner plans Hannah would usually meet me in the kitchen with a box of band aids. I'd go to work on that onion or whatever with good intentions.

I'd always tell myself I'm gonna be careful this time. I'm gonna go slowly. I'm gonna be mindful of what I'm doing. I'm gonna stay in this. I'm in it to win it, right? I tell myself all that stuff as I chop the onion up every single time. But no matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried, I'd always draw blood.

Sometimes a lot. It was inevitable. And I figured, really, at the end of the day, I figured I was just an idiot. I had no other answers here. It's a kitchen knife, you're chopping up an onion, you can't do it, you're an idiot. That's what I figured. Then one of the kids finally took pity on me and said I needed to use the claw.

The claw. And that intrigued me. I'm a gadget person and I figured this was something new. This was something cool. But no, it's just a technique. Apparently, there's a way to hold a vegetable when cutting it. There's a proper form. So this kid, I think it was Andrew, made me sit down and watch this YouTube video of some guy showing me how to hold an onion with this grip that he was calling the claw.

And once I figured that out, how to hold my fingers and what to do with them, I've only needed one single trip to the band aid box since then, in over a year. That's a miracle in my house. So yeah, it turns out technique makes a difference. Even with something as mundane and basic as chopping up vegetables with a knife.

So that brings me to the pain point. I think all of that, everything I just said, that technique makes a difference thing applies to masking tape as well. There's a right way to use it. And I think with masking tape, it seems so mundane, what is there to know? You put it down, you paint, and then you peel it off.

Thing is with the right approach, you're going to get cleaner lines and fewer frustrations. So with that in mind, here are some quick masking tape tips. First off, choose the right tape. Tapes aren't one size fits all. For example, FrogTape. It's not just a fancy brand of tape that's a bit more expensive than others.

It's actually different from other tapes. It's got a special paint block technology that seals edges and prevents paint from bleeding underneath it. And that makes it great for getting sharp lines. Delicate surface tape is another kind of tape that's specifically made for taping off recently painted surfaces or even wallpaper.

Don't just grab masking tape. Grab the right masking tape for your project. That's first. Second, surface prep is important even when you're taping. Dirt, dust, moisture, All of those things prevent tape from sticking. Obviously. So make sure that if you're going to tape off your trim or whatever, wipe those surfaces clean with a damp cloth, and then make sure you give them time to dry before trying to get the tape on them.

It'll drive you nuts. If you try to rush it. Third thing, don't work from the roll. As you're putting the tape on. Instead, use manageable tape lengths. Apply tape in roughly, three foot sections, whatever your little arms will reach, and use those smaller sections and overlap the ends slightly.

And that's going to make it easier to remove as one single piece later. Fourth, it's critical that you press the edges firmly down after you've applied it. So run a dull putty knife along the edge to seal it, and that prevents paint from being able to bleed under that edge. And as we're talking about this, be sure to use a putty knife or a painter's 5 in 1 tool to do that sealing.

Your finger alone isn't going to be enough to keep paint from seeping underneath it. So make sure you seal the edges. Finally, fifth thing, remove the tape at the right time. For the cleanest line and the easiest removal, you've got to get the tape off before the paint has a chance to dry. So while the paint is tacky, but not fully dry, pull that tape off at a 45 degree angle to avoid tearing or peeling the paint.

Just be careful when you're doing that to make sure that the paint that's on, the tape, make sure that doesn't end up getting all over some surface that's going to make you sad or get you into trouble. It's entirely possible. So keep an eye on that. Speaking of tape, before I wrap this one up, we do have a sale going on at RepcoLite for our one and a half inch painters masking tape.

It's 5.50 a roll, which is about a 2. 25 savings per roll. And it's going on until the end of November. So stop by and stock up. Alright, that's enough of that. Let's take a quick break. When we come back, I'll be chatting with Jeff Roush about how drain cleaning can save you some time and money. Stick around.

And we're back. You're listening to the Repcolite Home Improvement Show, sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And right now, I'm in the studio with Jeff Roush, General Manager at Grand Bay Electric and East End Plumbing. Jeff, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. Now, you've been on just a few weeks ago, and we talked about that.

Yeah. But if people don't listen every single week, there's a handful. That don't. We're working on them. But still, not everybody hears us every week. The general manager of two different companies, Electric and Plumbing. Help me understand that. And, on top of it, you guys are connected to Ayers Basement Systems as well.

We are. So like this trifecta. Absolutely. Help us understand that a little bit. I know you explained it once before. But one more time. Yeah. So Ayers Basement Systems has been around for a long time, specializing in waterproofing and foundation repair. They're based out of Lansing, Michigan, but they service the entirety of Michigan.

So a lot of their projects involved subcontracting electrical and plumbing companies to help them with their projects. And you can imagine working all over the state, they'd have to basically go out of their way to try to find different electrical and plumbing contractors to, subcontract to help them with these projects.

And it got to be a little bit chaotic, right? Just trying to run that. Yeah. It was a whole logistical effort. Exactly. A few years ago, back in 2020 the CEO decided to acquire Grand Bay Electric and East End Plumbing and add them under the umbrella of Ayers to, previously funded.

Full service, stand alone, plumbing and electric companies with no relation. Acquired them both, brought them under the same roof. So we're all under the same management. We're all able to come together and provide that turnkey solution to our customers. All the same people. Absolutely. At least most of them.

Yeah. Yeah. Really cool. Yeah. Really cool. All right. I want to talk about drain cleaning and its importance. All right. So drain cleaning and its importance on a Saturday or Sunday morning, depending on when, and where you catch this what's the difference between drain clearing And drain cleaning are they interchangeable terms?

I thought they were, but I know they're not. They are exclusive in its own way. So clearing is more think about clearing as just removing a blockage. Poking a hole in it is usually what the solution is for that using a hand auger. Whereas cleaning is going that, that extra step, right?

Not only poking a hole in it and getting rid of that blockage, but then cleaning the entire drain in its entirety Most of the time with the use of a hydro jetter. All right. All right. So why? I guess maybe I'm dumb and maybe that's no surprise to anybody listening, but. I don't know that I've heard of drain cleaning.

I love cleaning. I love clean things. So I know that this term would have jumped out at me because, when I moved into the house, those drains were slow drains and they weren't slow because of me. So that was other people's stuff in there. Whatever that was. Yeah. Whatever that was. Exactly. It was theirs.

You never know. And I didn't want to mess with it. So if I could have thought of the idea of cleaning out these drains, I would have been, I would have been all over that. Is this something that's common? Is this an important thing for us to know? Or is it only important as homeowners? When we run into an issue.

It is very important really when it comes to drain cleaning proactivity is the name of the game. You don't want to get to the point where you're reacting to a clogged drain because that is hectic. Oh, it's gross too. It is gross. Depressing. Absolutely, and it can really put a damper on your day. So yeah, the idea with drain cleaning is really that proactivity and you got to think what we're cleaning out of there.

You might be wondering, what was the What is in my drain that needs to be cleaned? I thought water just goes down there. There can be a lot of different things actually that come up. Tree roots are a big cause. So tree roots can actually penetrate your line where maybe your city plumbing connects to your home plumbing.

If there's a break in the line anywhere, tree roots can start to infect that line and even start to spread and essentially fill that entire drain. drain line with roots, which can form a very severe blockage. Now if that gets severe enough, you might be looking at digging up that entire line and having it fully replaced, right?

But that's if you let it get that bad, right? That's what I did. Oh no. I didn't let it get that bad. Oh no. I think I just moved in and that's how it was. Okay. But I remember we went downstairs one evening, one dark, sad evening in our lives, and the basement was full of water. But not the good kind of water.

Yeah. Yeah, it was pretty gross, pretty terrible. I can imagine. And yeah, so the drains can be clogged with anything. And, we see tree roots a lot. There's a lot of grease buildup, especially in restaurants but even in your kitchen sink, you could, if you pour any amount of grease down there after you cook some ground beef or bacon or anything like that, definitely don't put grease down your drains. Eggshells are a common cause there as well. They can get. broken down and they don't really flush down the drains very easily. You're also talking about some things that are non flushables when it comes to toilets and things like that. You could be talking, yeah, you could be talking toys you could be talking baby wipes or sometimes even diapers or, feminine care products.

All of that stuff can contribute and it's not just one over the other, right? It's, if it's, if you're constantly putting all of those things down your drain, that problem becomes exponential. All right. So when we're talking drain cleaning. Are we talking exclusively or largely like the main lines out of my house?

Like what, where I had all the roots was my main line. I have a new sewer line put in. But then you mentioned pouring grease down the sink. Yes. That's smaller sections. When I say drain, any kind of drain. All right. So you will work on any of these things. Anything. We're talking kitchen sinks, bathroom sinks, toilets, your main drain clean outs.

All of them could be clean as a whistle. Yes. If you wanted them to be. Exactly. You could eat off of those drains. Yup. You said it's a proactive thing. It's something we need to be on top of or should be. Exactly. How often. Should homeowners consider getting their drains cleaned at the even if we're not noticing a major problem?

Yeah. Should we get them clean? Yeah. Yes. The answer is not just throwing money away. No, it is not. No. And what we can do too, before we even get to the cleaning element is we can come in and we offer camera inspections. So we would go ahead and we'd throw a line down there. You, we have a nifty little monitor that you can see on our end and actually watch with us as we snake that, that, that line with our camera tool.

And you'll be able to see Every little thing in there. It's got a little light on there too. So that is able to identify really cool, really fun. We photograph all of our big events, right? Marriages, things like that. You might as well hang a picture of your drain in your kitchen. Yeah, no worries. So no, we had that done and we could see exactly all what the roots were doing.

Yeah. Very interesting to watch that system. Yeah. So you could do all that, but you're saying that's definitely something we should think about doing. Is there like, what if our drains aren't even slow? How do we know when the right time is? time? Is it, how often are we doing this? Yeah. So I would, at the bare minimum, recommend at least once per year.

Okay. But depending on how many people are in your home, how many drains you have that kind of stuff, all of that can contribute to, maybe a more frequent service plan. All right. So what if I'm on, I just want to understand. So at my old house, when I had the tree roots, about every year, Okay.

We knew we had to get somebody out there to, and I don't think they weren't drain cleaning them. They were just, probably just poking a hole in, running that through. And I assumed making it pristine and amazingly clean inside. But chances are, they just popped a little hole in there.

That is a common misconception on a lot of drain cleaning companies is they go out there and they sell drain cleaning as their service. What they're really doing is selling drain clearing. They're taking a hand auger, they're poking a little tiny hole about the size of a penny through whatever blockage is there.

And what that is you're just putting a bandaid over it, right? That's what I did for a long time. Yeah. And that's why you have that recurring issue where every year, right? It's probably like clockwork. You're like, I got to go check my floor drain in the basement because chances are it's back flooding again.

And it's almost like clockwork, right? But if you were to come in there and we could stick one of our hydro jetters down there, we could blast those tree roots out of there permanently, and you would never have that problem again. Now you would still want to have a yearly maintenance just to make sure that every time we go down there, we get any residuals right.

Out of the way. But once you do that jetter one time. That entire line becomes completely open and clear, free flowing for a long time. I'm in the studio with Jeff Roush from Grand Bay Electric and East End Plumbing, which is what makes this conversation make sense. We're talking about drain cleaning.

We're talking about how that should be done potentially every year. That's what Jeff's recommending here. What I wanted to get to is, previously I had a line that was infected with drain, tree roots. I've got new stuff now, I'm in a new place, tree roots are not an issue for me. Is that still a yearly thing?

You're still thinking that's a yearly thing. It may not be a yearly drain cleaning that's required, but again, that's why we offer that camera inspection. So if you have any doubts in your mind, if you have one sink that's maybe draining slowly, or a toilet that's not draining completely when you flush if you have smells, coming from your drains, or you hear gurgling and things, that's usually because there's some type of a blockage in the way.

I just wish you'd stop talking about that, because all of those things I experience in the kitchen. Yeah. That's the drain it's the bane of my existence. All right. So I get it. I should look into that. I've got questions about it, but we're going to get to that. Yeah. Can clogged drains lead to more serious plumbing issues other than just the water backing up?

That's serious enough, but are there, is there any other concerns that could happen? Absolutely. Absolutely. I don't mean to scare you, Dan. Can we just say no to some of this stuff? Yeah, the the unfortunate thing is we keep going back to these tree roots because they are a very severe problem.

If you have an infection of tree roots, that's so severe, you could be potentially looking at uprooting that entire pipeline. getting it excavated and then replaced and that can be a multi thousands of dollars worth of work, right? Whereas being proactive, allowing us to come out, put a camera down there.

If we notice anything, allowing us to clean that for you, we'll avoid that potential headache in the future completely. Now I, like I said, I had to put a whole new line and it was 20 years ago, 18 years ago, it was 6, 000. Did not enjoy that. But I loved flushing the toilet and all of those things afterwards.

Running the sink, draining the bathtub,...

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