There are a ton of products that are new out there plus the old and reliable ones. Today we talk about Eric G's favorite products you should know about. None of these are sponsored so this is a tried and true list of some great things you should have around your house.

Thanks for listening to Around the house if you want to hear more please subscribe so you get notified of the latest episode as it posts at https://around-the-house-with-e.captivate.fm/listen

If you want to join the Around the House Insider for access to the back catalog, Exclusive Content and a direct email to Eric G and access to the show early https://around-the-house-with-e.captivate.fm/support

We love comments and we would love reviews on how this information has helped you on your house! Thanks for listening! For more information about the show head to https://aroundthehouseonline.com/

Information given on the Around the House Show should not be considered construction or design advice for your specific project, nor is it intended to replace consulting at your home or jobsite by a building professional. The views and opinions expressed by those interviewed on the podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Around the House Show.

Mentioned in this episode:

Baldwin Hardware

Baldwin Hardware

A new kind of decking and siding from Millboard

For more information about the latest in decking and cladding head to https://www.millboard.com/

[00:00:27] Eric Goranson: This is something that I have been so impressed with. I have the Jennifer's Home Power 2 Pro. So it is a 2, 200 watt, 4, 400 watt surge. It is their, uh, LifePO4 power station. It is indoor safe, solar compatible. Welcome to

[00:01:21] Eric Goranson: Now, I will say there is nobody on this list. That has paid to be here. There's nobody here that is something that, uh, we've had any kind of a, this is just a true honest list. So, uh, nobody paid to be on this. This is not some commercial thing. This is just stuff that I've used or I know about or going to be using.

[00:01:59] Eric Goranson: You can find out [00:02:00] more about us and around the house online. com. Well, first up is a great tool in the battle of mold, mildew, algae, things around your home. And you really want to be able to stop that stuff from happening, especially coming to the winter months where, uh, houses tend to be a little bit more closed up and in certain parts of the country that can be.

[00:02:50] Eric Goranson: So this paint is absolutely amazing in what it does. It resists the regrowth of mold, mildew and algae and fungi. [00:03:00] And of course, odor causing bacteria. It is a great tool for mold remediation as well. Because it works for years with its makeup. So things won't grow back on it without using crazy chemicals and stuff like that.

[00:03:44] Eric Goranson: So mold won't come back on top of it. So that is really cool. So that is something to really think about when you're dealing with stuff. So. You can find that over at a green building supply. com. They're one of the many people they, uh, ship [00:04:00] nationwide. So that's cool. And it's also safe for people with, uh, chemical sensitivities.

[00:04:31] Eric Goranson: So humidity is your key right here. Make sure that you've got that dialed in and under 60 percent and you're going to be okay. But if you need to put that Cody on, take a look at this stuff. It is a great way to go. Now, when we're coming into caulking, one of the things that I really like, since we're talking about painting here, let's talk about caulking.

[00:05:32] Eric Goranson: It's an elastomeric type sealant. And so what works about this is it really moves and so it doesn't peel away between the 2 pieces like other caulkings do. So it's got great adhesion. It's super flexible and it's easy to use cause it's a water based and it's affordable. So that's, what's cool at that comes in a bunch of different colors.

[00:06:18] Eric Goranson: And I learned this from the people over at Sashko when I was talking to him, you know, if you've got that, you know, 32nd inch gap, it's not going to work as good as if it was a 16th gap. So, what happens is, is the, since it, you know, if it will double in width, let's say in stretch. You want to have a little bit more material.

[00:06:55] Eric Goranson: You don't places. You don't want to use it is on roofs [00:07:00] areas with high foot traffic areas of. You know, where water is going to be over the top of it, like submersion, so it doesn't work on kind are polypropylene waxes, polyethylene and silicone and, uh, copper flashing. Don't be using that as well. Uh, that's where you want to use.

[00:07:39] Eric Goranson: com and it really makes. Life easy and I really like how it seals things up now They do have a few more other products out there and I'm gonna put a little bit you know a little bit of a Little asterisk here for other stuff to take a look at if you have a[00:08:00]

[00:08:26] Eric Goranson: And so there's like five colors that stuff comes in but it works really well when you're trying to You know mimic that look of real mortar and stucco So it is a great product to use and if you're trying to go around and get that stuff patched up for fall It's something that I'm really happy with this stuff is working really really well.

[00:09:04] Eric Goranson: Like, I found a really... Really good construction adhesive that, uh, man, I tell you what, if I wanted to put metal together, this stuff works well for it too. So it's shocking how well stuff goes. And if you want to see my list, uh, in a hard copy, make sure you contact me over at around the house online. com.

[00:09:50] Eric Goranson: So[00:10:00]

[00:10:26] Eric Goranson: And, uh, I tell you what, I have been tackling those projects as well. And, uh, just like you guys out 10.

[00:10:56] Eric Goranson: And this is stuff that I think you might want to take a look at and [00:11:00] really think about, okay, what is this going to do for me? Uh, is this the answer to my next project? And none of these are sponsored, of course, but I just wanted to bring it up and show you guys some of the new products out there. That, uh, if you're struggling on something, it might be able to help you.

[00:11:35] Eric Goranson: I tell you what, this is the kind of stuff that I think that you could literally glue a concrete block to the side of a building and have it just sitting there on the side of a finished building and it would stay there for eternity. This stuff is absolutely amazing. I always have a tube of this in the tool in the toolbox, because if you need to put together things, I tell you what, this is stunning stuff.

[00:12:20] Eric Goranson: So it doesn't have the solvents water and isocyanates and stuff in it can be painted zero VOC content. So it's really got. All the right stuff for this kind of project out there. So this is by far that I've found the best construction adhesive I have ever found out there. There is nothing close. So take a look at it.

[00:13:02] Eric Goranson: So take a look at that stuff. Absolutely love it. And, uh, it is a good working product. So, uh, take a look at that. Uh, I'm impressed. That's a CA 20 P if you're looking for that. Now, next up is a universal tool that I have in my garage and it's traditionally used for cleaning up. It's that yellow tub of towels.

[00:13:49] Eric Goranson: I, if they work on your hands, they work on a lot of things, right? I tell you what, this goes after grease, tar, ink, paint, permanent marker, wax, trying [00:14:00] to get lipstick off of something, nail polish, food and drinks, pet stains. I tell you what, it is great on your hands and skin, but this heavy duty cleaning wipes do.

[00:14:33] Eric Goranson: You could even go through and try cleaning like your metal pans and stuff with it. And a car interiors, any place you're trying to get any of that stuff off of, you know, just that cleaning done, check out the tub of towels. It is something there's other companies out there. And I, to be honest, I haven't used them.

[00:15:14] Eric Goranson: Make sure in a inconspicuous area that you're not, uh, taking some, um, you know, finish off with this either. So, uh, tub of towels, you can get those at any, uh, Most home improvement centers have them. Um, there are even, uh, here's a cool one too. They do make tub of towels does make carpet and upholstery cleaning wipes.

[00:15:51] Eric Goranson: Uh, I can be working on something, get my hands cleaned up and, uh, I tell you what they work out well. So just think about what [00:16:00] you can do and there's no hardcore chemicals in it. And, uh, you know, there's detergents and things like that in it, but, uh, they have the bunch of different stuff there too. They do have the, uh, uh, a tub of scrub to where it's a hand cleaner, which is more of a soap than the towels.

[00:16:44] Eric Goranson: So I was living up in the Seattle area time at the time. And there was a, um, uh, the girl I was dating, she ended up having some rentals. And, uh, I went into this mobile home, uh, that had a cat owner in [00:17:00] it and the cat owner had not done their job of maintaining the house nor their pet. And I tell you what, I went through there with the blacklight after they moved out and we were going to.

[00:17:36] Eric Goranson: And we knew it was going to happen and it was, we were going to get bought out of that whole deal. So we were just kind of waiting in that thing and see if we could make an affordable rental for somebody. And it was very impressive how we did this. And so I went out and, uh, got their advanced basically stain and odor eliminator and went through with the black light and cleaned up those [00:18:00] areas.

[00:18:24] Eric Goranson: Uh, let me go out to break here. Let me get out to break. And when we come back, I'll tell you about how this went. Just as soon as around

[00:19:12] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the round the house show. This is where we help you get the most. Your home through information and education. Thanks for joining us today. I'm Eric G. We would talk about my top 10 home improvement products for 2023. And, you know, some of these are not new, but some of them are just, this is my top 10 go to things.

[00:19:51] Eric Goranson: Basically, wetting it down, letting it air dry and doing this over and over again for the week. What we did is we did that. And I did that, I [00:20:00] probably applied it 4 to 5 times probably over the week. Because sometimes it was wet and I said, okay, I'm just going to let it dry. And I went through that. And it was people had moved out so it was an empty place and we could do that.

[00:20:34] Eric Goranson: And so the last thing I did is I went out and had a carpet cleaning company come in and do a double wash basically on it where they went through and washed each room twice with the carpet cleaner, you know, big truck mount one. And here's the thing, those, those rental ones you get at the tool rental place for the carpet cleaners, maybe you get at your grocery store or, or your little home improvement store.

[00:21:17] Eric Goranson: Went through there, you could not see any of it with the black light. It was done. It was taken care of. So, uh, Nature's Miracle did the job, it broke it down, and then by the time we hit it with the, uh, with the cleaner, it was good, and, uh, that house got another couple years out of it. The carpet looked good, we were just trying to save it from the previous careless renter that had cats in there that had done some damage.

[00:22:07] Eric Goranson: I tell you what, I love a good garden tool. And this is a company that I work with. And I love these guys, red pig garden tools. These are hand forged garden tools. And I tell you what, I love these things. They have all of these different weeders and things like that. It is a game changer as far as what they do.

[00:22:59] Eric Goranson: So, [00:23:00] um. It's, it's super cool. And a lot of those classic tools that you can't find out there. So whether it's a, um, you know, a hand rake or a Japanese hand rake, you know, uh, I can't tell those they have all these different things. So it's very impressive. I love how they do it. They're all made I've seen them the guys sitting there making them their hand forged Really really made well, and I'm so impressed with these guys.

[00:23:50] Eric Goranson: It's super impressive. Now the next one up here is something that I added this year. This is a brand new one. And what I like about it [00:24:00] is that it's a, it's basically a hundred box, which I like. And so this is the MyQ video garage door keypad. And if you have a garage door opener and This thing is so dialed in.

[00:24:43] Eric Goranson: It has the video, you can have video backup, but what I love about it is you can create personalized pins. So as a parent, kids coming home from school, tell them to come to the garage. Well, it'll notify you if you have it set up correctly, that, um, each kid, when they use their specific pin [00:25:00] comes in. It'll take a picture and show.

[00:25:28] Eric Goranson: It's got two way audio, so it's got person detection, which is cool. So it gets notified when a person's been seen near the garage. And, um, you also get a preview of your notifications, so you can see who's using it. And, uh, you can pay for the video storage, which gives you access up to 30 days. And, uh, it still has the one touch close, so you just hit the garage button, and you can walk away with that.

[00:26:13] Eric Goranson: So you have to do it overnight's best. You can just do it then. And that way you don't lose access. So it does take a while to charge. Uh, but what's cool is you can swivel mount it. So it's got like 0 degrees where it's just facing down the line of the garage. You can move it to 100. Um, so it's depending on what you want to do, but, uh, it is solid.

[00:26:57] Eric Goranson: Um, it's water resistant, [00:27:00] IP 55, which is good. Um, they say it works down to negative four. So you guys up in North and South Dakota, Michigan. Main any of those places that get down to that, you know, minus 10 20s that might not work well with the battery, but Works out really good and it's got 160 degree diagonal wide angles.

[00:27:38] Eric Goranson: All right, guys, when we come back, we're going to continue here. Um, all of our top 10 list, just to hit this real quick, uh, as a recap, number, uh, first one I did. Number one was the Caliwell paint. Number two was the Sashko caulking, the, the big stretch. Number three was the Ardex construction adhesive, their CA20P.

[00:28:19] Eric Goranson: These are my last three here. And then there'll be probably if I can get to it, a couple of honorable mentions that I think are very important as well. We have that and so much more coming up. Alright guys, we'll be right back after these important messages. Don't change that tile round the house for return.

[00:29:04] Eric Goranson: back to the Round House. Show this where we help you get the. Most out of your home information and education. Thanks for joining us. We've been talking about our top 10 home improvement products for 2023. These are not all brand new ones, but these are the ones that I think are important to have around your house.

[00:29:54] Eric Goranson: And I pair it up because I have the 200 watt solar panel, all weather, [00:30:00] portable solar panels. So I can use this roll out the solar panels out in full sun and have it recharging as I'm using it. So as long as I'm not putting it under a ton of power, those are 200 watts. So it takes a while for that to charge back up.

[00:30:37] Eric Goranson: So it has seven total outlets, including 320 volt AC outlets. So this is great for anything like refrigerators, freezers, sump pumps. And um, this is a big deal for emergency preparedness. And. I am so impressed with this thing. I use it all the time. And so, um, [00:31:00] so lamps, wifi, cell phones, this can last about three weeks.

[00:31:36] Eric Goranson: No question. Um, and here's what I like about it. You can take it camping. I just took it out and use it for a segment, which I do all the time. And these things work so well. I'm really impressed with how these things work. So this is something that, um, is a backup. Bradley and I use it in the TV show all the time.

[00:32:13] Eric Goranson: So, uh, I can use it all day long and, um, it's cool. So it's got this lithium ion phosphate batteries in it. Um, they have six times the lifespan, uh, they say over 10 years or you'll have still have 80 percent capacity and works well with extreme temperatures. So take a look at that. That is, uh, jeniverse.

[00:33:01] Eric Goranson: It would be nice to have two of them. That's how cool these things are. So take a look at Jennifer's. Uh, and, uh, the one I'm using here is that a 4, watt home power to pro that thing is so cool. You don't want to miss it. Now here's the next one here that I've been using, uh, around the house. For my sprinkler system.

[00:33:44] Eric Goranson: manual timer. This is going to save you money. So, uh, Wirecutter has given this the six time best smart sprinkler controller. It has over 10, 000 reviews on Amazon and a 4. 9 star app [00:34:00] rating on the Apple and Google play store. So this is how you water your lawn without wasting water. You know, if you've ever come home.

[00:34:31] Eric Goranson: It was the very 1st. Smart watering app, and they have just been ahead along the way. So they were first to kind of ensure that to, well, that technology didn't get in the way of mother nature. If you know what I mean, these guys built the most intuitive weather informed scheduling out there. And so what it does is it will change your smart schedule because of rain.

[00:35:15] Eric Goranson: And this is where you set this up to your existing sprinkler system. So this hooks up very easily like any other basic system. So this is something to take a look at. And, uh, this is another one of those that I think is really important. You know, it's it's one of those things that I think that weather intelligence is the game changer with this So if you want to save some money on your water Take a look and I've even seen some water districts that are that are giving rebates on these if you buy them So check first with your water company and see if they've got any rebates for you that they're helping with But check out ratio, which is our a CH IO This is [00:36:00] my favorite way To take that existing sprinkler system and put it in there and make it smart and make it where it's going to save you money on water in my area.

[00:36:33] Eric Goranson: All right, guys, the last one here in the list before we get to the honorable mentions and you've heard the ads in the podcast. So this isn't a, uh, this isn't a surprise, but this is something that I believe in and that is root quencher. And, uh, I know you've heard the ads, but this is a company that I believe in because it really worked at my house.

[00:37:20] Eric Goranson: So these are things that happen. Regularly here and it puts a lot of stress on the plants. This is the first year that that hasn't happened and it has been my driest summer yet And my plants looked so much better this year. So there's my personal endorsement without being paid for that this is something that uh, really changed how my plants work and I think These bushes and shrubs next year are going to be even healthier because they didn't have the stress that you saw, uh, from being underwatered all summer long.

[00:38:07] Eric Goranson: They've recovered, but there's still plants that were under stress and they're not getting a lot of sunlight, you know, the drill. So these are things that I think are really important for making sure. And if you've got clay soil and you've got them on a hill or something like that, you can actually put the water in the ground and not have it running down and creating a mosh.

[00:38:47] Eric Goranson: If you're putting in a new sprinkler system, check out Irrigreen. And we're going to have these guys in the show here. Cause I tell you what, this is cool stuff. But Irrigreen is a smart computer based program for [00:39:00] your sprinkler system. And it is a whole sprinkler system. So this uses inkjet technology.

[00:39:23] Eric Goranson: Thanks for tuning in. Don't turn that dial. We have one more hour of around the house, just around the corner, just after these important messages don't go away. And thanks for tuning in to around