August 10, 2024 • 39 mins
Gary takes your calls and tips. We also hear from A1 Concrete Leveling
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, it's the best time of the day. I get
to say good afternoon. Welcome to our number four and
you're at Home with Gary Salvan on a great look
and Saturday. And by the way, yeah, by the way,
this hour has brought you by since it's a beautiful day.
Guess what's show up pest? Right, So this hour's brought
to you by One Stop Pest Control for all your needs,
(00:23):
whether it's the mice in your house, whether it's ants,
whether it's uh mosquitoes in the backyard, you can call
one Stop Pest Control and you can go right to
their website too. It's the number one stoppescontrol dot com.
We thank them for sponsoring this hour of At Home
(00:45):
with Gary Sullivan. Our phone numbers eight hundred eighty two, three,
eight two, five five. Go ahead and grab the lie
we've got a couple open. At the bottom of the hour,
we're going to talk about lifting concrete, leveling conc whether
it's the sidewalk to the stoop, whether it's the driveway
to the garage, whether it's two blocks on the sidewalk,
(01:09):
eliminating trip hazards and or punding water. So we'll have
Clay Morton who is the owner of A one concrete leveling.
We'll be chatting with him at the bottom of the hour.
At that's some service you need. You might want to
pay attention to that discussion. All right, let's get back
to the phone calls we got, Pat, Pat welcome.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Two questions for you. The one easy one is I
missed the part about the wet and forget. But if
I've got dirty vinyl siding and I want I don't
want to wait for the weather for three weeks to
clean thout after I spray it on. Can I spray
it on and then holds it off how long afterwards?
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Well, if you spray it on and hose it off,
it's it's that's not the way you apply it. So
if you if you were to use that product, you
would spray it on and do as the product's name
is wet and forget, So you would just spray that
product on and you know it's gonna I'm not gonna
(02:16):
give you a false hope. It's going to take you
anywhere from probably four to six, seven, even eight weeks
for that to disappear. If you use that product and
it'll do what it says. If you don't want to
use that product, then your workload goes up a little
bit more. I'd recommend using a sighting wash or maybe
(02:37):
like an oxygenated bleach cleaner. It's a powder you mix
with water, you spray that on and then you could, uh,
let's sit about ten minutes and then take like a
truck wash brush or a street broom and you would
scrub that sighting and they oxygenated blach will eliminate that
(03:04):
molds and mildews and you know, all the gut that
gets on siding, and then taking a hose just rinsing
it off with the hose at that point.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Okay, and all right, I'm going to go with suggestion
number one of letting mother nature do the work I can.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Well, yeah, there's always the ying and the yang.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Right, yeah, you got it. And the biggest question I
have is I live in an area where my son
pump runs for months, it runs for six months, half
a year, it runs, and if there was ever and
I have a battery backup system in the basement, and
I'm just I just want to play what if with
(03:43):
you if if by chance my basement flooded out, like
you know, three four feet or five six feet and
it got that deep in there. I have a natural
gas furnace, and I have a water softener and you know,
they and a battery backup system. In the event I'm
(04:03):
talking about a crazy event that I couldn't stop the
flooding or something, would I want to shut down my
electrical assistant to the house, you know, kill the switch
or I.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Sure, sure, sure, I mean if it was something so
severe that, yeah, disconnecting you know, all your electrical and
gas lines would be a real good idea.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, So I would kill the main switch, I guess
in my basement, and that would take her the battery
backup I guess.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Well, the battery backup's going to function until the battery
goes dead. So killing the electricity is going to kill
the charger, which will eventually, you know, eventually that battery
will die, right like a car battery. It will die.
Now how long will die? It could last a day
(04:57):
or two.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yep. And for the answer gass furnace. If I kill
the power, then I mean that's the end of the
story for that, right, I have to worry about that.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Right, okay, Right, So there's other options. Okay, So there's
other options. There is a water backup pump. I'm not well, Okay,
all right, forget that. Forget that. So, yeah, you're given
(05:29):
the best protection it can get.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Then, okay, sounds good. Hey, thanks very much.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
All right, you're welcome. Thank you. All right, ten, we'll
go to Ray Ray. Welcome.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Well, good morning, Gary.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
How are you.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
I'm doing fine? Thank you.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Gary. I have a relatively new home, it's not two
years old, and I have an upper patio. Beneath the
upper patio are papers. On the upper patio, there is
a steel pan on which they poured four instans of concrete,
and that upper patio is about fifteen by twenty feet.
(06:09):
I've been noticing lately that on the underside of that
steel pan, I'm getting rust forming. And I've been periodically
going down there scraping the areas, and I'm noticing the
paint is bubbling, and when I pop that bubble, I'm
(06:29):
getting moisture. So I'm looking for a solution that would
eliminate the rusting of the underside of that pan. And
there's about ten feet from the pavers to the underside
of that pan, so plenty of airflow.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
So I'm having a hard time picturing that. Sorry, I
just say him. So when you call it an upper patio,
is the deck lower and staggered away from that pan? No?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
I mean when they poured the upper patio, they put
a steel pan for which the concrete was poured on.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Huh. Okay, that's odd.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Okay, Well, it's it's pretty typical here in Michigan where
they would otherwise otherwise there would be no way to
support the concrete once they poured.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Right, So, so is it on the earth then or what?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
No, it's it's the upper patios in the air.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
It's okay, so we gotta we got a slab up there,
but it's in a pan. And so the moisture and
I'm i'm I'm guessing, is penetrating into the capitlaries of
the concrete and going to the base of the concrete
(07:55):
and settling on that pan. Could be?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
It could be.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
So if it's if this procedure is common in Michigan,
this would be a common problem if the concrete wasn't
sealed on a regular basis. Okay, I'm just talking out loud,
so the way I see it, or if it became cracked,
(08:23):
that would be an invitation for water to get in
deeper into the concrete.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Correct, there are no cracks. Okay, good, there there are,
you know, expansion cut joints in in the concrete. I'm
not seeing any problem with cracking or anything like that.
It's it's just the moisture that appears to be forming
on the on the underside of that steel pan right
(08:53):
now I have a.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Concern about so. So so let me again reversing it
since I can't see it. I talked about how the
moisture would get down through that concrete into the pan.
Let's say that's not where the moisture's coming from. Let's
say the moisture is coming from changes in temperature and
humidity creates condensation on the underside of the pan, which
(09:17):
is causing the rust.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
That maybe a possibility.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Okay, So I think what we got to do to day,
since I don't have the answer for you, is we've
got to find out, since it's commonly used, what do
they commonly see? I'm sorry, Ray, and see what they
commonly see. If it is condensation on the outside of
the pan, you can, you know, eliminate that problem fairly easily.
(09:44):
There's different paints that can be painted right over rust
that has glass fiber in it, and that would seal
up the existing rust, create a buffer for commonsationation and
eliminate that problem. If it's coming through the surface, there's
(10:08):
a product. It's a seiler. It's made by dry lock,
and it will It's a water proofing clear sealant that
can go over the surface of that concrete basically builds
in a vapor barrier into the concrete. So it's really
(10:29):
a question of where we're going to work to eliminate
that problem, at the top or at the bottom. I
would say I would be more suspect of it creating
condensation on the bottom of the pan and causing the
rust that way.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Yeah, the thing that confused me is that since I
periodically scraped the area and repainted, it bubbles form on
the paint, which indicates to me that moisture is coming from.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
And that's why I went there first and was asking you, Yeah,
that's kind of what I thought too. However, playing again,
Devil's advocate, how it could be the other thing. When
rust forms, it has a tendency to keep forming with
or without the water. Okay, so if it was rusted,
we didn't get all that off. We painted it it's
(11:22):
actually rusting underneath and pushing the paint off. Either way,
it's pushing the paint off, or maybe we just you know,
seal that concrete first and see where it goes, you know,
I mean, or we do both. I'm not familiar with
that type of setup, but it sounds like it's fairly
(11:44):
common up there, and I'm sure other people have experienced
that problem. But you know it does. If it's pushing
the paint off, that means that rust is active. Can
that rust be active if the rust is not coming
through the concrete, Probably not too much, a little bit
(12:05):
because it'll continue to rust.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Okay, who would I call to try and get my
arms around what is causing this rusting problem?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Well? Yeah, I would say almost the contractors putting those
type of uh you know, situations in maybe a concrete contractor. Okay,
you know, we know what's causing waters is causing it's
just a question of where it's coming, where it's getting
(12:40):
that water, how's that metal being exposed to water exactly?
And I was kind of thinking when you were talking
about is like, gosh, it seems to me that you
would put like a rubber liner or something underneath that
before putting that concrete in.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
You would think so, yeah, because it's just a corrugated
piece of steal.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah, if they lay.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Down in sections, yeah, prior to pouring the concrete, right.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Tom Yeah, Well, when it gets into some big constructions thing,
I may not have that part down all the way.
So I would, you know, check with a concrete contractor
and see if they're going to help you out on that.
And if somebody else knows, they can certainly give us
a holler too. But it's got to be getting in
one way or the other and both our possibilities. So
(13:30):
thank you much for the call and good luck. Let
us know and we'll continue. Dave, you'll be up first.
You're at home with Gary Salvn right here on fifty
five krec DE talks and back at it we go,
twenty four minutes after the neon hour, taking your calls
regarding a little home improvement. We're going to talk about
leveling up concrete, getting rid of trip hazards around your
(13:51):
home on the patio, on the sidewalk, on the stoop,
on the driveway. Probably got a lot of concrete around
your home, and we seem to be addressing a lot
of those problems today. All right, let's go to uh Dave. Dave. Welcome,
Hi Gary, how are you doing fine? Thank you?
Speaker 4 (14:10):
I really love your show. I have an exposed basement
with a concrete block foundation, and I had painted it, oh,
I don't know, twenty years ago to match the color
of the house. At that time we had our house recited.
And there's a bit of a contrast now and I'd
like to repaint it, but I don't want to. The
(14:32):
paint that's on there is held up very well, but
I just want to make sure I clean it or
prep it properly. I have a powerwasher, a scrub brushes,
and it's an exposed to the east of the you know,
the faces the east. I don't know if that makes
a difference.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Okay. And this is on the outside of the house, correct,
above the soil line, correct, okay?
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Do you know what kind of paint was put on
there last time? Lake?
Speaker 4 (15:01):
It was a colony house paint.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Good. Good, Because what I was going to suggest is,
really you don't need to get any more exquisite than
just a good exterior LATEX house paint. Nothing. Really, a
good acrylic house paint is extremely effective on a masonry
vertical surface, so you know, if you want to use
the same kind, that's fine. There is some top of
(15:29):
the line. Bear makes the top of the line, Ben
Franklin or Ben Moore does. Sherman Williams makes one called Emerald,
which is the top of the line. Those are soft
self priming, high quality acrylic exteriors. The prep work is
(15:49):
clean and dry and you know, a non compromised surface.
In other words, it's not pet if it's not peeling.
All you need to do is just make sure it's
you know, clean and dry when you when you paint it,
and you should be good.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Okay, all right, sounds great. Well listen, thank you very much.
I appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And again a great show.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Thank you very much. I appreciate you quite welcome. Yeah,
once you get rid of you know, these new self
priming curly paints, they're awesome. I mean they really are.
Somebody asked me the other day, how long should that
paint job last. Well, if it's on wood and you're
using a high quality stuff, ten fifteen years. You're on
(16:38):
metal siding or concrete, ten or fifteen years easily, so
it's good stuff. Let's go to Tom. Tom welcome.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Hi Gary, Hello, I heard are you there?
Speaker 1 (16:53):
I'm here?
Speaker 5 (16:55):
Okay. I don't know what week it was. You were
talking about a new product from Dice Coding that could
put on a concrete floor. What was that product called?
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Well, actually, we just so we just had Peter Dish
on today. Everything he has can be put on a
concrete coating. What are you trying to do?
Speaker 5 (17:15):
Well, I have I build a couple of rooms in
the basement, okay, like someone to stay in when they
come over. One of them is like a TV room.
The other one was like a kitchen type room.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
All right, all right, I want.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
To put it on the I want to put it
on the I didn't know if there was a product
that I could put down in like the living room
type room.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Well, yeah, what we had him on, what we had
him on, and you need to go to the website
because he's got several products you can use. It's Dice
d A, I C H Coatings dot com. And what
we had him on was he is an end It's
called die Hard Industrial Strength Epoxy and it is in
(18:08):
epoxy paint that you would put on floors or a
garage floor or anything along thads. It's industrial strength and
use it on warehouse floors and stuff. That's one. The
other one is called roller rock. It's more of a
coating than a paint. It's a little more decorative than
(18:30):
an epoxy paint, and that could be an option. And
you know there's a place in Cleveland that makes a
product that's installed by them. It's called nature Stone. Seeing
that used in bedrooms and in basements and laundry rooms
and garage floors. That's another option. So you got a
(18:53):
bunch of options. You go to both their websites, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (18:58):
Weeks ago and you said they had some product. I
thought you said it was new that was going to
be on sale for the rest of the year or something.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
That's what that's. That's the die hard industrial strength of
POxy paint. And it's ninety nine dollars to the end
of the year. That's exactly what that is. That that's
why I was asking which one it was. So yeah, yeah,
it's a diehard industrial strength and POxy paint, all right,
twelve thirty it is. And standing up next will be Clay.
(19:27):
He is with a one concrete leveling. We're going to
eliminate those trip hazards in areas where water settles around
your home. We'll talk about leveling out existing concrete. That's next.
And you're at home with Gary Salvan right here on
fifty five car see all right, back at it we
go twelve thirty five on your Saturday at home with
(19:48):
Gary Salvan. Clay Morton. He's the owner of A one
Concrete Leveling and Clay Welcome again at home with Gary Salvin.
How you doing? Hey?
Speaker 6 (19:57):
You doing get good? Gary, Thanks for thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yeah, I don't know where to start because your process
is so awesome. We're talking folks about uh, maybe a
concrete driveway going to the garage that's sunk, or the
sidewalk dead is sunk before you get to the stoop
where there's gaps, or you know, there's a lot of
(20:21):
trip hazards around and you don't have to replace that concrete.
That's correct, right, Clay.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Yeah, exactly exactly. So instead of going through the headaches
and and the cost of ripping out concrete and replacing it,
you know, we can just throw one. It's just small
one that's diamonter hole is just a little bit bigger
than a quarter. It's a crushed limestone that we mix
into a slurry on site and then inject beneath the
slab and soil just to lift it back up, re
(20:52):
establish the base of those slabs, remove trip hazards, and
and you know, and and unsightly uneven concrete.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Yeah, so what causes all this problem to begin with.
Speaker 6 (21:07):
A lot of it can be you know, hey, maybe
it didn't start out with a compact base, you know,
from original construction. Maybe water issues, you know, animals can
you know, they can burrow under there and create some
havoc as well, you know, just just to mention a few.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Yeah, so if you do nothing about it. You mentioned
a trip hazard, so you certainly would have that. How
about the long term health of a driveway if one
of the slabs is settled.
Speaker 6 (21:42):
As far as the rest of the driveway, and yeah,
just the one that Yeah, so what we're you know,
what we're looking for when we come out. Hey, maybe
you have one slab that's settled, but you might have
you know, voids in other areas where you know what
it's it hasn't cracked in that control joint and job
dropped yet, you know, it's kind of just bridging over it,
(22:02):
you know. So yeah, we can come out. We can
lift that one slab. But then we you know, maybe
that adjacent slab that hasn't sank yet, we can place
our injection holes over there. We can fill that entire
void pressurized to stabilize that slab before it does fall.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Now, is this a long term solution play.
Speaker 6 (22:21):
Yeah, we we you know, we see it last. You know,
basically we look as the lifetime of the concrete, long
as the concrete still in good shape. Yeah, we look
as a long term solution. We you know, there's there's
instances where hey, you might have some big voids and
and you know, water has been sitting down there, and
(22:42):
maybe we come out, we fill that up and lift
the concrete, put that weight back on that base, just
place the water. Hey, if it settles a little bit
at that point, then we offer a warranty so we
can come back pump against our slurry to you know,
to our hardened base. Then at that point, you know,
so sometimes on occasion it might take a return trip,
(23:02):
but we assure our customers, hey, it's warrantied for three years,
and we always plain to our customers, hey, if it's
beyond that warranty period, calls back a lot of times
we can just charge a service fee to swing back by.
You know, we get customers who might have used this,
you know, ten twelve years ago.
Speaker 7 (23:19):
And yeah, yeah, because in a way, you know, you
read stories about sinkholes and settling of the earth and
all kinds of different circumstances that that.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Could be what's going on, right, I mean, you're not
really in control of it.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (23:38):
Yeah, there's a lot of things that are out of
our control for sure. And you know, I I think
people be surprised at the number of people who call
and they say, man, we just we just had this
poor lost last October and the thing's already sinking, so
there's no you know, so hey, you know for people
who say, you know, you know, I just got to
rip it out and replace it, well that's that's not
(24:00):
always a solution as well. If you can you know, hey,
if that slab's good in good shape, it's going to
be a fraction of the costs ripping out and replacing it.
And plus we can service that for lifetime of the concrete.
Somebody who pours it, they're not going to warranty against
settling or cracking. So I tell you that some people
stand behind the work. But yeah, a lot of them
will just say, hey, we you know, we'll just have
(24:21):
to come out and replace it again. In charge.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
You So, in a lot of neighborhoods and the suburbs
and different things, you got you got sidewalks out in
front of your house. Who's responsible for those?
Speaker 6 (24:35):
That can get a bit tricky. Sometimes it's the h
o A that that you know they'll cover and that
they'll take care of that, and that's great for the
you know, for the homeowners, but a lot of times
it's on the homeowner to have that repaired and you know,
have that fit.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
So okay, so it's either it's either the h o
A or the homeowner. It's it's not a county problem
or a city problem.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
We do get calls from the city and county on
certain areas that that you know, that where they have
sidewalks that they're responsible for. So on occasion we do
get calls from them. Okay, do you think like your
typical like you know, Cautersack neighborhood something like that, it's
generally going to fall on the homeowner. Sometimes we see
(25:22):
the bay we'll cover that.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah. The reason I bring it up and I had
talked about this on the show. I don't know, probably
beginning of the summer, and that is our neighborhood. I
guess the county got involved in inspection of the sidewalks
and thanks to your work. By the way, Clay, I
did not have a white dot on my sidewalks. But
(25:47):
what they did is they went through the neighborhood and they,
you know, spray paint a white dot that says, mister homeowner,
you have to address this issue, okay. And I know
since I didn't have a white dot, I don't know
exactly how that whole thing played out. But they came
(26:08):
around and they replaced all these sections of sidewalk, like
you know, what are they two feet by three feet
or whatever? And I thought, yeah, man, that's a waste
of money because you could lift those right. I mean,
they were just like sunk and they were a trip hazard.
I'm not saying they shouldn't have been shouldn't have been fixed.
(26:29):
They needed to be fixed. But what's the difference in
costs If they would have just came by and you know,
leveled that with a one concrete leveling, then should you know,
bust that whole sidewalk up and frame it and fill
it up with concrete.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:49):
Yeah, you think about the process of you know, tearing
out concrete and replacing it.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Right.
Speaker 6 (26:55):
You're you're bringing equipment to bust that concrete up. You know,
you're using skid steers to scoop it up and haul
it away. You're putting your forms up, you know, of course,
pour in it, finish it, finishing it and then coming
back direct the forms and you know all that. It's
quite the process. Well, a lot of times we can
you know, you shouldn't say a lot of times, but
(27:16):
what we'll do.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
We'll come out with.
Speaker 6 (27:17):
Our leveling truck, park in front of the trip hazard,
drill a few holes, and typically we're done, and I
mean a lot of times, you know, a few minutes.
I mean sometimes depending on the run of slabs that
we're lifting. You know, let's say we're twisting up to
a run of ten slabs to bring those all the
way back up because that that whole run has settled.
(27:37):
You know that something like that can take you know,
a little bit longer. There's still just a fraction of
time and material that it takes to rip that out
and replace.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Right, right, and a lot of times.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
So good if you have like sorry about that, if
you have like a run of ten slabs going down
as well sinking, and let's say you just replace where
you have the two trip hazards, well what really fixed
those eight?
Speaker 1 (27:59):
And bet right?
Speaker 6 (28:01):
You know we have an unstable base. So a lot
of times we see hey, if that continue thinking, all
we can do is kind of come back and lift
to what it was poured into. That can make it
tricky too.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah. Well, the reason I bring that up seriously is
I had one that settled, and you fixed that for
me five six years ago. It eliminated the problem, so
I didn't get a white dot. And I'm not knocking
the county or anything on that because I think a
lot of homeowners listening right now they may not know
(28:34):
your process. At a one concrete leveling is available, and
maybe the county didn't either. But when they come out
and started replacing those, I was thinking, if the homeowners
are truly responsible for it in the county had obviously
contracted with somebody to take care of the sidewalks that
maybe the homeowner didn't want to. I don't know how
(28:56):
all that worked out, but that homeowner, you know, actually
he's gonna pay the county for it. County wasn't responsible,
and there's a lot easier and simple and less expensive
way to take care of that problem.
Speaker 6 (29:11):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. And we get a
lot of times even though the homeowner is responsible, we'll
get somebody from the h oo a, you know what,
we head up the project, we'll work with them. So
we're doing several homes at you know, in a day,
I'll send you know, multiple crews out just so it's
(29:31):
you know, we can really get that cost down for
the homeowners and we can do things like that.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Sure. Now other areas, I'm just thinking around homes, Uh,
where's a lot of the work done? Is it the
sidewalk that meets the stoop or the driveway that meets
the garage or where's most of the work that day
one concrete leveling? Does?
Speaker 2 (29:53):
I think you hit the.
Speaker 6 (29:53):
Nail on the head. There a lot of in and
around the foundation because they you know, they dug that whole,
they formed up the foundation and then they backfill, right,
So that's a lot of loose dirt, So a lot
you know, So what you just talked about, the driveway,
the garage, the stoop porch, you know, area a sidewalk
(30:15):
leading up to the stoop, and then of course you
know your patio. So that's that's a lot of our work. Obviously,
it's you know, not all of it, but it is.
I would say a majority of our work is in
around the foundation.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Okay, okay, so the process is pretty simple, the mess
is minimized. You say you drill one inch holes. Are
are they noticeable? I mean it's a one inch hole.
I guess they're a little noticeable.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
Yeah, we would never lead anybody to believe that, hey,
this is you know, these are going to be invisible.
You're not going to see them, but we do. We'd
use a grout and that I believe yours was stamped, right.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
It was stamped. It was gray. I was a little concerned,
and I can't find it. Yeah, I'm not just saying that.
I really couldn't find it. So you disguised it? Well, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:13):
Sometimes we try to camouflage them the best we can
to what what we're working with there. You know, so
if it is a diet, we can just save the
dust that we're drilling, save that dust and try to
color it back in, you know, best possible, So we
have ways of doing that. Your standard concrete, you know,
(31:33):
we'll we'll pour in a great grout and then just
sprinkle little sand on it and we can do You've
seen the exposed aggregates as well. Some people really get
concerned about those. Those We just stick a couple of pebbles,
a few pebbles in that hole and those of the
artists to see.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Yeah, yeah, I hear about not grout but foam being
used under that. Do you do you do that or
is that necessary or is it better? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (32:04):
You know.
Speaker 6 (32:06):
The phone came came around several years ago, is a uh,
you know, cool new thing. Yeah, we did go out
and buy a phone kit. We just we just had
concerns with it. As far as you know, with our material,
we can ticken it up if we need lyft, we
can thin it down. If we really need to get
(32:28):
spread beneath the slab, that's something that you can't do.
We felt like beneath the concrete they were left with
too many voids that we weren't able to fill unstabilize.
And with concrete lifting, you want to obviously feel as
much as possible. I'm sometimes on a small lift it's
hard pressed to say, hey, you're going to fill every
square inch.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
But.
Speaker 6 (32:48):
You know, the more the better, and you had to
be careful about it coming up through scenes and it
would stain the concrete, so.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
We had some issues with that.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
So you're not a fan, and I understand that neither
of mine. Yeah, yes, yeah, all right. So Clay, how
do folks get on your book? You've got plenty of
fall weather coming up, and I know you guys stay
busy practically year round till the temperature doesn't allow you anymore.
How they get a hold of a one concrete leveling?
Speaker 6 (33:18):
I think call of set our office at five one
three two eight three forty five sixty. Of course, you
can go to the web website a one concrete dot
com and you can sign up right there for for
an estimate. You can put pictures in there if you
would like to kind of we can do you know,
a little pre scan of what we're looking at and
(33:40):
before we come out, So that would be the two
easiest ways.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Sounds easy enough, and I'm all about easy, So, uh, Clay,
I'll tell everyone A one concrete leveling five one three
two eight three forty five sixty And thanks for spending
some time with us today. I appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (33:57):
Yeah, thanks again, Gary, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Alright, take care, all right, we'll take a little break,
come back, kind of wrap things up, and you're at
home with Gary Salvin right here in fifty five care
see detalk station. All right, back at it. We go
about eight minutes before mister Donovan comes in for the
auto show and he'll help you with your car. I've
been working on the house for the last four hours.
And a reminder we're back at it. We being Danny
(34:22):
and myself back at it from nine to noon tomorrow.
Right here, and a couple of tips. Kind of wrap
things up, reading a couple articles, well, always reading a
couple articles during the course of the week. But storing
stuff in the garage in the attic, it's a bugaboo.
(34:45):
There's ways to do it, but there's ways not to
do it. There's actually lifts that lift up and they're
supported around the openings, and you put boxes on it
and you lift it up with cables and stuff. But
so many of us, many homeowners, you view the space
in the attic and above the garage ceiling as just
(35:06):
an additional place to put things and storing goods in
these areas really can result in some big problems because
the attic wasn't designed to carry this additional weight, and
you wouldn't believe some of the stuff you find up
in these attics. So you know, if you want to
(35:28):
store stuff in the attic, I strongly recommend you get
with a structural engineer and determine exactly how that is
going to work, what kind of additional reinforcement is going
to be necessary. But just don't willing nearly starts stacking
on kind of boxes up in your attic. Even if
the drywall ceiling, you'll start seeing cracks. I can almost
(35:51):
guarantee it. And if you put too much up there,
you'll start seeing that ceiling actually sag. So that's one no, no,
there's another one. I'll leave you with wood decks, pressure
treated wood, or if you have composite, a wood decking,
(36:12):
and then you get a big throw rug, and depends
how that throw rug is made. But if it doesn't breathe,
you're asking for problems. If it doesn't breathe, there's gonna
be moisture, and then there's gonna be funguses and molds
(36:35):
and mildew not only on the other side of the rug,
but on the wood and composite, because remember the composites
have like a wood flower in it, so there's wood
in that. Now, if it's a one hundred percent capped composite, yeah,
(36:55):
maybe you get away with it because it's a PVC capping.
And that's if it's totally encased with the PVC. But
just a compositive pressure treated wood non breathable space area rugs,
that's a big no no. Don't get involved in that.
And even if you're gonna do that on a slab,
(37:17):
whether it's the stoop, whether it's the patio, maybe to
hide cracks. Remember the caller we had earlier that had
ceramic and growling on a slab, and she had efflorescence,
and that looks like crystallite, looks like salt, almost looks
like a salt growth. And if you have a slab,
(37:38):
a patio, concrete, non breathable rug thrown on there, it's
gonna be wet underneath there, Yeah, fungus, but you're gonna
have over time a very good chance you'll end up
with an efflorescence issue there. So I thought i'd leave
you with just a couple of things to think about.
(37:59):
And we also talked a lot about garage floors and
indoor floors today, and you can paint them, you can
use and if you're do an epoxy floor coating and
industrial strength epoxy you can do like a roller rock product.
You can do like a nature stone product. That's I
(38:20):
have a migarage floor. They're beautiful. But we are with
alid doubt dressing up our garages and even laundry rooms
and basements using those materials as flooring, and especially if
you run the risk of having some issues with a
leaky basement or a flooded basement. Those are very much
(38:43):
survivable products that you know you don't have to tear
up all the carpet or all the padding, and something
you might want to look into, all right. So those
are just a couple of ideas for you. Don't be
afraid to start taking a good look get your energy
needs for the winter time. Also, and I'm talking about
(39:05):
ventilation insulation. Another good to do thing is to when
it's cool, get up in that attic and take some
measurements exactly how deep the insulation is. You may find
out you need a little bit more our value up
in the attic. All right, Danny boy, thank you very much.
(39:27):
I know it was a good show and it was
a busy show, so I appreciate your help there, and
good Lord Willing. We'll both be back tomorrow for more
At Home with Gary Sullivan.
Well, it's the best time of the day. I get
to say good afternoon. Welcome to our number four and
you're at Home with Gary Salvan on a great look
and Saturday. And by the way, yeah, by the way,
this hour has brought you by since it's a beautiful day.
Guess what's show up pest? Right, So this hour's brought
to you by One Stop Pest Control for all your needs,
(00:23):
whether it's the mice in your house, whether it's ants,
whether it's uh mosquitoes in the backyard, you can call
one Stop Pest Control and you can go right to
their website too. It's the number one stoppescontrol dot com.
We thank them for sponsoring this hour of At Home
(00:45):
with Gary Sullivan. Our phone numbers eight hundred eighty two, three,
eight two, five five. Go ahead and grab the lie
we've got a couple open. At the bottom of the hour,
we're going to talk about lifting concrete, leveling conc whether
it's the sidewalk to the stoop, whether it's the driveway
to the garage, whether it's two blocks on the sidewalk,
(01:09):
eliminating trip hazards and or punding water. So we'll have
Clay Morton who is the owner of A one concrete leveling.
We'll be chatting with him at the bottom of the hour.
At that's some service you need. You might want to
pay attention to that discussion. All right, let's get back
to the phone calls we got, Pat, Pat welcome.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Two questions for you. The one easy one is I
missed the part about the wet and forget. But if
I've got dirty vinyl siding and I want I don't
want to wait for the weather for three weeks to
clean thout after I spray it on. Can I spray
it on and then holds it off how long afterwards?
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Well, if you spray it on and hose it off,
it's it's that's not the way you apply it. So
if you if you were to use that product, you
would spray it on and do as the product's name
is wet and forget, So you would just spray that
product on and you know it's gonna I'm not gonna
(02:16):
give you a false hope. It's going to take you
anywhere from probably four to six, seven, even eight weeks
for that to disappear. If you use that product and
it'll do what it says. If you don't want to
use that product, then your workload goes up a little
bit more. I'd recommend using a sighting wash or maybe
(02:37):
like an oxygenated bleach cleaner. It's a powder you mix
with water, you spray that on and then you could, uh,
let's sit about ten minutes and then take like a
truck wash brush or a street broom and you would
scrub that sighting and they oxygenated blach will eliminate that
(03:04):
molds and mildews and you know, all the gut that
gets on siding, and then taking a hose just rinsing
it off with the hose at that point.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Okay, and all right, I'm going to go with suggestion
number one of letting mother nature do the work I can.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Well, yeah, there's always the ying and the yang.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Right, yeah, you got it. And the biggest question I
have is I live in an area where my son
pump runs for months, it runs for six months, half
a year, it runs, and if there was ever and
I have a battery backup system in the basement, and
I'm just I just want to play what if with
(03:43):
you if if by chance my basement flooded out, like
you know, three four feet or five six feet and
it got that deep in there. I have a natural
gas furnace, and I have a water softener and you know,
they and a battery backup system. In the event I'm
(04:03):
talking about a crazy event that I couldn't stop the
flooding or something, would I want to shut down my
electrical assistant to the house, you know, kill the switch
or I.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Sure, sure, sure, I mean if it was something so
severe that, yeah, disconnecting you know, all your electrical and
gas lines would be a real good idea.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, So I would kill the main switch, I guess
in my basement, and that would take her the battery
backup I guess.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Well, the battery backup's going to function until the battery
goes dead. So killing the electricity is going to kill
the charger, which will eventually, you know, eventually that battery
will die, right like a car battery. It will die.
Now how long will die? It could last a day
(04:57):
or two.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yep. And for the answer gass furnace. If I kill
the power, then I mean that's the end of the
story for that, right, I have to worry about that.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Right, okay, Right, So there's other options. Okay, So there's
other options. There is a water backup pump. I'm not well, Okay,
all right, forget that. Forget that. So, yeah, you're given
(05:29):
the best protection it can get.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Then, okay, sounds good. Hey, thanks very much.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
All right, you're welcome. Thank you. All right, ten, we'll
go to Ray Ray. Welcome.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Well, good morning, Gary.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
How are you.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
I'm doing fine? Thank you.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Gary. I have a relatively new home, it's not two
years old, and I have an upper patio. Beneath the
upper patio are papers. On the upper patio, there is
a steel pan on which they poured four instans of concrete,
and that upper patio is about fifteen by twenty feet.
(06:09):
I've been noticing lately that on the underside of that
steel pan, I'm getting rust forming. And I've been periodically
going down there scraping the areas, and I'm noticing the
paint is bubbling, and when I pop that bubble, I'm
(06:29):
getting moisture. So I'm looking for a solution that would
eliminate the rusting of the underside of that pan. And
there's about ten feet from the pavers to the underside
of that pan, so plenty of airflow.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
So I'm having a hard time picturing that. Sorry, I
just say him. So when you call it an upper patio,
is the deck lower and staggered away from that pan? No?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
I mean when they poured the upper patio, they put
a steel pan for which the concrete was poured on.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Huh. Okay, that's odd.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Okay, Well, it's it's pretty typical here in Michigan where
they would otherwise otherwise there would be no way to
support the concrete once they poured.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Right, So, so is it on the earth then or what?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
No, it's it's the upper patios in the air.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
It's okay, so we gotta we got a slab up there,
but it's in a pan. And so the moisture and
I'm i'm I'm guessing, is penetrating into the capitlaries of
the concrete and going to the base of the concrete
(07:55):
and settling on that pan. Could be?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
It could be.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
So if it's if this procedure is common in Michigan,
this would be a common problem if the concrete wasn't
sealed on a regular basis. Okay, I'm just talking out loud,
so the way I see it, or if it became cracked,
(08:23):
that would be an invitation for water to get in
deeper into the concrete.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Correct, there are no cracks. Okay, good, there there are,
you know, expansion cut joints in in the concrete. I'm
not seeing any problem with cracking or anything like that.
It's it's just the moisture that appears to be forming
on the on the underside of that steel pan right
(08:53):
now I have a.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Concern about so. So so let me again reversing it
since I can't see it. I talked about how the
moisture would get down through that concrete into the pan.
Let's say that's not where the moisture's coming from. Let's
say the moisture is coming from changes in temperature and
humidity creates condensation on the underside of the pan, which
(09:17):
is causing the rust.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
That maybe a possibility.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Okay, So I think what we got to do to day,
since I don't have the answer for you, is we've
got to find out, since it's commonly used, what do
they commonly see? I'm sorry, Ray, and see what they
commonly see. If it is condensation on the outside of
the pan, you can, you know, eliminate that problem fairly easily.
(09:44):
There's different paints that can be painted right over rust
that has glass fiber in it, and that would seal
up the existing rust, create a buffer for commonsationation and
eliminate that problem. If it's coming through the surface, there's
(10:08):
a product. It's a seiler. It's made by dry lock,
and it will It's a water proofing clear sealant that
can go over the surface of that concrete basically builds
in a vapor barrier into the concrete. So it's really
(10:29):
a question of where we're going to work to eliminate
that problem, at the top or at the bottom. I
would say I would be more suspect of it creating
condensation on the bottom of the pan and causing the
rust that way.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Yeah, the thing that confused me is that since I
periodically scraped the area and repainted, it bubbles form on
the paint, which indicates to me that moisture is coming from.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
And that's why I went there first and was asking you, Yeah,
that's kind of what I thought too. However, playing again,
Devil's advocate, how it could be the other thing. When
rust forms, it has a tendency to keep forming with
or without the water. Okay, so if it was rusted,
we didn't get all that off. We painted it it's
(11:22):
actually rusting underneath and pushing the paint off. Either way,
it's pushing the paint off, or maybe we just you know,
seal that concrete first and see where it goes, you know,
I mean, or we do both. I'm not familiar with
that type of setup, but it sounds like it's fairly
(11:44):
common up there, and I'm sure other people have experienced
that problem. But you know it does. If it's pushing
the paint off, that means that rust is active. Can
that rust be active if the rust is not coming
through the concrete, Probably not too much, a little bit
(12:05):
because it'll continue to rust.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Okay, who would I call to try and get my
arms around what is causing this rusting problem?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Well? Yeah, I would say almost the contractors putting those
type of uh you know, situations in maybe a concrete contractor. Okay,
you know, we know what's causing waters is causing it's
just a question of where it's coming, where it's getting
(12:40):
that water, how's that metal being exposed to water exactly?
And I was kind of thinking when you were talking
about is like, gosh, it seems to me that you
would put like a rubber liner or something underneath that
before putting that concrete in.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
You would think so, yeah, because it's just a corrugated
piece of steal.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah, if they lay.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Down in sections, yeah, prior to pouring the concrete, right.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Tom Yeah, Well, when it gets into some big constructions thing,
I may not have that part down all the way.
So I would, you know, check with a concrete contractor
and see if they're going to help you out on that.
And if somebody else knows, they can certainly give us
a holler too. But it's got to be getting in
one way or the other and both our possibilities. So
(13:30):
thank you much for the call and good luck. Let
us know and we'll continue. Dave, you'll be up first.
You're at home with Gary Salvn right here on fifty
five krec DE talks and back at it we go,
twenty four minutes after the neon hour, taking your calls
regarding a little home improvement. We're going to talk about
leveling up concrete, getting rid of trip hazards around your
(13:51):
home on the patio, on the sidewalk, on the stoop,
on the driveway. Probably got a lot of concrete around
your home, and we seem to be addressing a lot
of those problems today. All right, let's go to uh Dave. Dave. Welcome,
Hi Gary, how are you doing fine? Thank you?
Speaker 4 (14:10):
I really love your show. I have an exposed basement
with a concrete block foundation, and I had painted it, oh,
I don't know, twenty years ago to match the color
of the house. At that time we had our house recited.
And there's a bit of a contrast now and I'd
like to repaint it, but I don't want to. The
(14:32):
paint that's on there is held up very well, but
I just want to make sure I clean it or
prep it properly. I have a powerwasher, a scrub brushes,
and it's an exposed to the east of the you know,
the faces the east. I don't know if that makes
a difference.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Okay. And this is on the outside of the house, correct,
above the soil line, correct, okay?
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Do you know what kind of paint was put on
there last time? Lake?
Speaker 4 (15:01):
It was a colony house paint.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Good. Good, Because what I was going to suggest is,
really you don't need to get any more exquisite than
just a good exterior LATEX house paint. Nothing. Really, a
good acrylic house paint is extremely effective on a masonry
vertical surface, so you know, if you want to use
the same kind, that's fine. There is some top of
(15:29):
the line. Bear makes the top of the line, Ben
Franklin or Ben Moore does. Sherman Williams makes one called Emerald,
which is the top of the line. Those are soft
self priming, high quality acrylic exteriors. The prep work is
(15:49):
clean and dry and you know, a non compromised surface.
In other words, it's not pet if it's not peeling.
All you need to do is just make sure it's
you know, clean and dry when you when you paint it,
and you should be good.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Okay, all right, sounds great. Well listen, thank you very much.
I appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And again a great show.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Thank you very much. I appreciate you quite welcome. Yeah,
once you get rid of you know, these new self
priming curly paints, they're awesome. I mean they really are.
Somebody asked me the other day, how long should that
paint job last. Well, if it's on wood and you're
using a high quality stuff, ten fifteen years. You're on
(16:38):
metal siding or concrete, ten or fifteen years easily, so
it's good stuff. Let's go to Tom. Tom welcome.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Hi Gary, Hello, I heard are you there?
Speaker 1 (16:53):
I'm here?
Speaker 5 (16:55):
Okay. I don't know what week it was. You were
talking about a new product from Dice Coding that could
put on a concrete floor. What was that product called?
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Well, actually, we just so we just had Peter Dish
on today. Everything he has can be put on a
concrete coating. What are you trying to do?
Speaker 5 (17:15):
Well, I have I build a couple of rooms in
the basement, okay, like someone to stay in when they
come over. One of them is like a TV room.
The other one was like a kitchen type room.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
All right, all right, I want.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
To put it on the I want to put it
on the I didn't know if there was a product
that I could put down in like the living room
type room.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Well, yeah, what we had him on, what we had
him on, and you need to go to the website
because he's got several products you can use. It's Dice
d A, I C H Coatings dot com. And what
we had him on was he is an end It's
called die Hard Industrial Strength Epoxy and it is in
(18:08):
epoxy paint that you would put on floors or a
garage floor or anything along thads. It's industrial strength and
use it on warehouse floors and stuff. That's one. The
other one is called roller rock. It's more of a
coating than a paint. It's a little more decorative than
(18:30):
an epoxy paint, and that could be an option. And
you know there's a place in Cleveland that makes a
product that's installed by them. It's called nature Stone. Seeing
that used in bedrooms and in basements and laundry rooms
and garage floors. That's another option. So you got a
(18:53):
bunch of options. You go to both their websites, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (18:58):
Weeks ago and you said they had some product. I
thought you said it was new that was going to
be on sale for the rest of the year or something.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
That's what that's. That's the die hard industrial strength of
POxy paint. And it's ninety nine dollars to the end
of the year. That's exactly what that is. That that's
why I was asking which one it was. So yeah, yeah,
it's a diehard industrial strength and POxy paint, all right,
twelve thirty it is. And standing up next will be Clay.
(19:27):
He is with a one concrete leveling. We're going to
eliminate those trip hazards in areas where water settles around
your home. We'll talk about leveling out existing concrete. That's next.
And you're at home with Gary Salvan right here on
fifty five car see all right, back at it we
go twelve thirty five on your Saturday at home with
(19:48):
Gary Salvan. Clay Morton. He's the owner of A one
Concrete Leveling and Clay Welcome again at home with Gary Salvin.
How you doing? Hey?
Speaker 6 (19:57):
You doing get good? Gary, Thanks for thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yeah, I don't know where to start because your process
is so awesome. We're talking folks about uh, maybe a
concrete driveway going to the garage that's sunk, or the
sidewalk dead is sunk before you get to the stoop
where there's gaps, or you know, there's a lot of
(20:21):
trip hazards around and you don't have to replace that concrete.
That's correct, right, Clay.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Yeah, exactly exactly. So instead of going through the headaches
and and the cost of ripping out concrete and replacing it,
you know, we can just throw one. It's just small
one that's diamonter hole is just a little bit bigger
than a quarter. It's a crushed limestone that we mix
into a slurry on site and then inject beneath the
slab and soil just to lift it back up, re
(20:52):
establish the base of those slabs, remove trip hazards, and
and you know, and and unsightly uneven concrete.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Yeah, so what causes all this problem to begin with.
Speaker 6 (21:07):
A lot of it can be you know, hey, maybe
it didn't start out with a compact base, you know,
from original construction. Maybe water issues, you know, animals can
you know, they can burrow under there and create some
havoc as well, you know, just just to mention a few.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Yeah, so if you do nothing about it. You mentioned
a trip hazard, so you certainly would have that. How
about the long term health of a driveway if one
of the slabs is settled.
Speaker 6 (21:42):
As far as the rest of the driveway, and yeah,
just the one that Yeah, so what we're you know,
what we're looking for when we come out. Hey, maybe
you have one slab that's settled, but you might have
you know, voids in other areas where you know what
it's it hasn't cracked in that control joint and job
dropped yet, you know, it's kind of just bridging over it,
(22:02):
you know. So yeah, we can come out. We can
lift that one slab. But then we you know, maybe
that adjacent slab that hasn't sank yet, we can place
our injection holes over there. We can fill that entire
void pressurized to stabilize that slab before it does fall.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Now, is this a long term solution play.
Speaker 6 (22:21):
Yeah, we we you know, we see it last. You know,
basically we look as the lifetime of the concrete, long
as the concrete still in good shape. Yeah, we look
as a long term solution. We you know, there's there's
instances where hey, you might have some big voids and
and you know, water has been sitting down there, and
(22:42):
maybe we come out, we fill that up and lift
the concrete, put that weight back on that base, just
place the water. Hey, if it settles a little bit
at that point, then we offer a warranty so we
can come back pump against our slurry to you know,
to our hardened base. Then at that point, you know,
so sometimes on occasion it might take a return trip,
(23:02):
but we assure our customers, hey, it's warrantied for three years,
and we always plain to our customers, hey, if it's
beyond that warranty period, calls back a lot of times
we can just charge a service fee to swing back by.
You know, we get customers who might have used this,
you know, ten twelve years ago.
Speaker 7 (23:19):
And yeah, yeah, because in a way, you know, you
read stories about sinkholes and settling of the earth and
all kinds of different circumstances that that.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Could be what's going on, right, I mean, you're not
really in control of it.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (23:38):
Yeah, there's a lot of things that are out of
our control for sure. And you know, I I think
people be surprised at the number of people who call
and they say, man, we just we just had this
poor lost last October and the thing's already sinking, so
there's no you know, so hey, you know for people
who say, you know, you know, I just got to
rip it out and replace it, well that's that's not
(24:00):
always a solution as well. If you can you know, hey,
if that slab's good in good shape, it's going to
be a fraction of the costs ripping out and replacing it.
And plus we can service that for lifetime of the concrete.
Somebody who pours it, they're not going to warranty against
settling or cracking. So I tell you that some people
stand behind the work. But yeah, a lot of them
will just say, hey, we you know, we'll just have
(24:21):
to come out and replace it again. In charge.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
You So, in a lot of neighborhoods and the suburbs
and different things, you got you got sidewalks out in
front of your house. Who's responsible for those?
Speaker 6 (24:35):
That can get a bit tricky. Sometimes it's the h
o A that that you know they'll cover and that
they'll take care of that, and that's great for the
you know, for the homeowners, but a lot of times
it's on the homeowner to have that repaired and you know,
have that fit.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
So okay, so it's either it's either the h o
A or the homeowner. It's it's not a county problem
or a city problem.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
We do get calls from the city and county on
certain areas that that you know, that where they have
sidewalks that they're responsible for. So on occasion we do
get calls from them. Okay, do you think like your
typical like you know, Cautersack neighborhood something like that, it's
generally going to fall on the homeowner. Sometimes we see
(25:22):
the bay we'll cover that.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah. The reason I bring it up and I had
talked about this on the show. I don't know, probably
beginning of the summer, and that is our neighborhood. I
guess the county got involved in inspection of the sidewalks
and thanks to your work. By the way, Clay, I
did not have a white dot on my sidewalks. But
(25:47):
what they did is they went through the neighborhood and they,
you know, spray paint a white dot that says, mister homeowner,
you have to address this issue, okay. And I know
since I didn't have a white dot, I don't know
exactly how that whole thing played out. But they came
(26:08):
around and they replaced all these sections of sidewalk, like
you know, what are they two feet by three feet
or whatever? And I thought, yeah, man, that's a waste
of money because you could lift those right. I mean,
they were just like sunk and they were a trip hazard.
I'm not saying they shouldn't have been shouldn't have been fixed.
(26:29):
They needed to be fixed. But what's the difference in
costs If they would have just came by and you know,
leveled that with a one concrete leveling, then should you know,
bust that whole sidewalk up and frame it and fill
it up with concrete.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:49):
Yeah, you think about the process of you know, tearing
out concrete and replacing it.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Right.
Speaker 6 (26:55):
You're you're bringing equipment to bust that concrete up. You know,
you're using skid steers to scoop it up and haul
it away. You're putting your forms up, you know, of course,
pour in it, finish it, finishing it and then coming
back direct the forms and you know all that. It's
quite the process. Well, a lot of times we can
you know, you shouldn't say a lot of times, but
(27:16):
what we'll do.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
We'll come out with.
Speaker 6 (27:17):
Our leveling truck, park in front of the trip hazard,
drill a few holes, and typically we're done, and I
mean a lot of times, you know, a few minutes.
I mean sometimes depending on the run of slabs that
we're lifting. You know, let's say we're twisting up to
a run of ten slabs to bring those all the
way back up because that that whole run has settled.
(27:37):
You know that something like that can take you know,
a little bit longer. There's still just a fraction of
time and material that it takes to rip that out
and replace.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Right, right, and a lot of times.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
So good if you have like sorry about that, if
you have like a run of ten slabs going down
as well sinking, and let's say you just replace where
you have the two trip hazards, well what really fixed
those eight?
Speaker 1 (27:59):
And bet right?
Speaker 6 (28:01):
You know we have an unstable base. So a lot
of times we see hey, if that continue thinking, all
we can do is kind of come back and lift
to what it was poured into. That can make it
tricky too.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah. Well, the reason I bring that up seriously is
I had one that settled, and you fixed that for
me five six years ago. It eliminated the problem, so
I didn't get a white dot. And I'm not knocking
the county or anything on that because I think a
lot of homeowners listening right now they may not know
(28:34):
your process. At a one concrete leveling is available, and
maybe the county didn't either. But when they come out
and started replacing those, I was thinking, if the homeowners
are truly responsible for it in the county had obviously
contracted with somebody to take care of the sidewalks that
maybe the homeowner didn't want to. I don't know how
(28:56):
all that worked out, but that homeowner, you know, actually
he's gonna pay the county for it. County wasn't responsible,
and there's a lot easier and simple and less expensive
way to take care of that problem.
Speaker 6 (29:11):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. And we get a
lot of times even though the homeowner is responsible, we'll
get somebody from the h oo a, you know what,
we head up the project, we'll work with them. So
we're doing several homes at you know, in a day,
I'll send you know, multiple crews out just so it's
(29:31):
you know, we can really get that cost down for
the homeowners and we can do things like that.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Sure. Now other areas, I'm just thinking around homes, Uh,
where's a lot of the work done? Is it the
sidewalk that meets the stoop or the driveway that meets
the garage or where's most of the work that day
one concrete leveling? Does?
Speaker 2 (29:53):
I think you hit the.
Speaker 6 (29:53):
Nail on the head. There a lot of in and
around the foundation because they you know, they dug that whole,
they formed up the foundation and then they backfill, right,
So that's a lot of loose dirt, So a lot
you know, So what you just talked about, the driveway,
the garage, the stoop porch, you know, area a sidewalk
(30:15):
leading up to the stoop, and then of course you
know your patio. So that's that's a lot of our work. Obviously,
it's you know, not all of it, but it is.
I would say a majority of our work is in
around the foundation.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Okay, okay, so the process is pretty simple, the mess
is minimized. You say you drill one inch holes. Are
are they noticeable? I mean it's a one inch hole.
I guess they're a little noticeable.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
Yeah, we would never lead anybody to believe that, hey,
this is you know, these are going to be invisible.
You're not going to see them, but we do. We'd
use a grout and that I believe yours was stamped, right.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
It was stamped. It was gray. I was a little concerned,
and I can't find it. Yeah, I'm not just saying that.
I really couldn't find it. So you disguised it? Well, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:13):
Sometimes we try to camouflage them the best we can
to what what we're working with there. You know, so
if it is a diet, we can just save the
dust that we're drilling, save that dust and try to
color it back in, you know, best possible, So we
have ways of doing that. Your standard concrete, you know,
(31:33):
we'll we'll pour in a great grout and then just
sprinkle little sand on it and we can do You've
seen the exposed aggregates as well. Some people really get
concerned about those. Those We just stick a couple of pebbles,
a few pebbles in that hole and those of the
artists to see.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Yeah, yeah, I hear about not grout but foam being
used under that. Do you do you do that or
is that necessary or is it better? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (32:04):
You know.
Speaker 6 (32:06):
The phone came came around several years ago, is a uh,
you know, cool new thing. Yeah, we did go out
and buy a phone kit. We just we just had
concerns with it. As far as you know, with our material,
we can ticken it up if we need lyft, we
can thin it down. If we really need to get
(32:28):
spread beneath the slab, that's something that you can't do.
We felt like beneath the concrete they were left with
too many voids that we weren't able to fill unstabilize.
And with concrete lifting, you want to obviously feel as
much as possible. I'm sometimes on a small lift it's
hard pressed to say, hey, you're going to fill every
square inch.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
But.
Speaker 6 (32:48):
You know, the more the better, and you had to
be careful about it coming up through scenes and it
would stain the concrete, so.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
We had some issues with that.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
So you're not a fan, and I understand that neither
of mine. Yeah, yes, yeah, all right. So Clay, how
do folks get on your book? You've got plenty of
fall weather coming up, and I know you guys stay
busy practically year round till the temperature doesn't allow you anymore.
How they get a hold of a one concrete leveling?
Speaker 6 (33:18):
I think call of set our office at five one
three two eight three forty five sixty. Of course, you
can go to the web website a one concrete dot
com and you can sign up right there for for
an estimate. You can put pictures in there if you
would like to kind of we can do you know,
a little pre scan of what we're looking at and
(33:40):
before we come out, So that would be the two
easiest ways.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Sounds easy enough, and I'm all about easy, So, uh, Clay,
I'll tell everyone A one concrete leveling five one three
two eight three forty five sixty And thanks for spending
some time with us today. I appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (33:57):
Yeah, thanks again, Gary, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Alright, take care, all right, we'll take a little break,
come back, kind of wrap things up, and you're at
home with Gary Salvin right here in fifty five care
see detalk station. All right, back at it. We go
about eight minutes before mister Donovan comes in for the
auto show and he'll help you with your car. I've
been working on the house for the last four hours.
And a reminder we're back at it. We being Danny
(34:22):
and myself back at it from nine to noon tomorrow.
Right here, and a couple of tips. Kind of wrap
things up, reading a couple articles, well, always reading a
couple articles during the course of the week. But storing
stuff in the garage in the attic, it's a bugaboo.
(34:45):
There's ways to do it, but there's ways not to
do it. There's actually lifts that lift up and they're
supported around the openings, and you put boxes on it
and you lift it up with cables and stuff. But
so many of us, many homeowners, you view the space
in the attic and above the garage ceiling as just
(35:06):
an additional place to put things and storing goods in
these areas really can result in some big problems because
the attic wasn't designed to carry this additional weight, and
you wouldn't believe some of the stuff you find up
in these attics. So you know, if you want to
(35:28):
store stuff in the attic, I strongly recommend you get
with a structural engineer and determine exactly how that is
going to work, what kind of additional reinforcement is going
to be necessary. But just don't willing nearly starts stacking
on kind of boxes up in your attic. Even if
the drywall ceiling, you'll start seeing cracks. I can almost
(35:51):
guarantee it. And if you put too much up there,
you'll start seeing that ceiling actually sag. So that's one no, no,
there's another one. I'll leave you with wood decks, pressure
treated wood, or if you have composite, a wood decking,
(36:12):
and then you get a big throw rug, and depends
how that throw rug is made. But if it doesn't breathe,
you're asking for problems. If it doesn't breathe, there's gonna
be moisture, and then there's gonna be funguses and molds
(36:35):
and mildew not only on the other side of the rug,
but on the wood and composite, because remember the composites
have like a wood flower in it, so there's wood
in that. Now, if it's a one hundred percent capped composite, yeah,
(36:55):
maybe you get away with it because it's a PVC capping.
And that's if it's totally encased with the PVC. But
just a compositive pressure treated wood non breathable space area rugs,
that's a big no no. Don't get involved in that.
And even if you're gonna do that on a slab,
(37:17):
whether it's the stoop, whether it's the patio, maybe to
hide cracks. Remember the caller we had earlier that had
ceramic and growling on a slab, and she had efflorescence,
and that looks like crystallite, looks like salt, almost looks
like a salt growth. And if you have a slab,
(37:38):
a patio, concrete, non breathable rug thrown on there, it's
gonna be wet underneath there, Yeah, fungus, but you're gonna
have over time a very good chance you'll end up
with an efflorescence issue there. So I thought i'd leave
you with just a couple of things to think about.
(37:59):
And we also talked a lot about garage floors and
indoor floors today, and you can paint them, you can
use and if you're do an epoxy floor coating and
industrial strength epoxy you can do like a roller rock product.
You can do like a nature stone product. That's I
(38:20):
have a migarage floor. They're beautiful. But we are with
alid doubt dressing up our garages and even laundry rooms
and basements using those materials as flooring, and especially if
you run the risk of having some issues with a
leaky basement or a flooded basement. Those are very much
(38:43):
survivable products that you know you don't have to tear
up all the carpet or all the padding, and something
you might want to look into, all right. So those
are just a couple of ideas for you. Don't be
afraid to start taking a good look get your energy
needs for the winter time. Also, and I'm talking about
(39:05):
ventilation insulation. Another good to do thing is to when
it's cool, get up in that attic and take some
measurements exactly how deep the insulation is. You may find
out you need a little bit more our value up
in the attic. All right, Danny boy, thank you very much.
(39:27):
I know it was a good show and it was
a busy show, so I appreciate your help there, and
good Lord Willing. We'll both be back tomorrow for more
At Home with Gary Sullivan.
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