Original Air Date: 08/08/26 Episode Number: 471

Episode Summary

Dan's son Caleb stopped in to pick up primer and ended up on the radio. He bought his first house -- a 1901-era fixer-upper -- and has spent the past several months dealing with cat smells in a crawl space, a squirrel that chewed through wiring, a dead possum under the floorboards, and the humbling experience of learning to cut in a straight line for the first time. The back half of the conversation covers paint choices, color coverage, the trades versus college, and what it's actually like to be six years into a career as an electrician.

Timestamps

• [00:00] -- Meet Caleb the Guest
• [01:33] -- First Walkthrough Shock
• [03:04] -- Cat Smells and the Crawl Space
• [04:21] -- Enzyme Cleaner Fiasco
• [07:02] -- Sealing Odor Hotspots
• [09:26] -- Squirrel in the Ceiling
• [12:54] -- Dead Possum Discovery
• [15:22] -- First Time Painting Lessons
• [19:27] -- Color Choices and Coverage
• [22:13] -- Choosing the Wall Color
• [23:06] -- One Coat vs. Two
• [23:47] -- Ceiling Paint Lessons
• [25:50] -- Vanity Makeover Plan
• [27:16] -- DIY Confidence Tips
• [30:27] -- Trades Talk Break
• [31:09] -- Back in Studio
• [31:36] -- Living With Messes
• [34:05] -- Skipping College
• [37:24] -- Why Trades Work
• [40:39] -- Trade Life Humor
• [42:27] -- Wrap Up

The House [01:33]

Built somewhere around 1901 -- "early 1901" on the listing, which Caleb says basically means they don't really know. Good news on move-in day: the electrical had already been updated, which mattered a lot to an electrician who knew exactly what that job would have cost him. The first thing visible when you walked through the door was a dining room painted in the brightest Barbie pink either of them had ever seen. Online listing photos had made it look like a warm sunset. In person it looked like Pepto-Bismol. That was the cosmetic problem. The real problem was the smell.

Cat Smells and the Crawl Space [03:04]

Three confirmed cats, possibly four, had been using the dirt crawl space as a litter box for three or four years. The crawl space starts at about two feet of clearance and drops to six to eight inches near the outer walls -- full belly-crawl territory. Caleb suited up with a respirator, goggles, a painter's suit, and a child's garden rake with four metal prongs that he says will remain in a place of honor in the basement indefinitely. It goes with him before the fishing poles if there's ever a fire.

He went through the crawl space with enzymatic cleaner -- but the first jug he bought was formulated for outdoor use, and it didn't make a dent on the smell. He went back to the store, found a cat-specific enzymatic formula, and ended up buying about eight small spray bottles to fill a pressurized sprayer. That worked. A dehumidifier finished the job on the residual musty smell -- now when you open the basement door, it just smells like a normal old stone basement.

On enzymatic cleaners: Use a formula specifically designed for the type of odor you're dealing with. Outdoor or general-purpose formulas may not be strong enough for concentrated pet waste. Cat-specific formulas are made for exactly this situation.

On crawl space odors: Garden lime thrown down on a dirt crawl space can help neutralize pH and absorb lingering smells after the source is removed.

Sealing Odor Hotspots [07:02]

There was a small alcove near the stairs where foam gym flooring had soaked up years of cat urine. Caleb pulled it up and needed to seal the subfloor underneath before putting anything new down.

The right product for this kind of situation is a shellac-based primer like BIN -- it seals odors and dries fast. Dan didn't have any shellac on hand, but he did have an old can of oil-based polyurethane that tested out fine, and for a clear coat application it worked well. The key advantage of a clear coat over a pigmented primer in odor situations: pigment can leave microscopic paths for odor to work through. A clear film seals more completely. Caleb put new subfloor down over the top and sealed that too.

Squirrel in the Ceiling [09:26]

The home inspection had flagged a squirrel living above the breezeway entry. The smell coming out of that space was serious enough that Dan wasn't sure it would ever clear up. Caleb got the squirrel out, sealed the entry point, and eventually pulled down the ceiling to assess the damage -- and found something more significant than anyone expected.

The squirrel had chewed through the outer jacket on two sets of wires, exposing bare copper hot, neutral, and ground conductors. There was visible charring around the wiring. The breaker had tripped on one of Dan's early walkthroughs; at the time nobody knew why. The wiring had apparently been in this condition long enough that it's surprising no fire resulted.

Caleb rewired the affected circuits and closed everything up properly. Point worth keeping: if animals get into a wall or ceiling space and stay there, wiring damage is a real possibility. It's not just a smell and mess problem. If you know or suspect animals have been living in a structural space, the wiring in that area is worth checking before you close it back up.

Dead Possum Under the Floor [12:54]

After the squirrel situation was resolved, the entry still smelled. As the weather warmed up, it got worse. Caleb pulled up a damaged section of subfloor near the breezeway door, expecting to find the water damage he'd spotted -- and found a dead, decomposing possum that had apparently gotten in through the same entry point as the squirrel and not gotten back out.

He called his best friend, who arrived with a square shovel and leather gloves. The possum got a burial in the backyard. The subfloor was treated with enzymatic cleaner, the entry point sealed, and the floor rebuilt.

Dan's contribution to the discovery call: asking whether Caleb was sure it was dead, and suggesting he try touching its eye to confirm. Caleb reported there was no eye. Dan agreed that was probably a reliable indicator.

First Time Painting [15:22]

Caleb had essentially never painted before -- Dan had handed him a brush with no paint on it as a kid and sent him into another room. This house was his real introduction.

The biggest struggle was cutting in at the ceiling line without tape. He and his brother Andrew started by eye on the first room and the difference in their speed was immediate and obvious -- Andrew was moving at several times Caleb's pace, and Caleb's edges were rough. The key things Caleb took away from the experience:

A good brush matters more than most people realize going in. People often reach for tiny brushes thinking more control, but a quality full-size brush is easier to work with, not harder. Practice builds speed and confidence faster than expected -- Andrew went from nervous to confident within a month of his first exterior painting summer. And the work itself is harder than it looks when someone skilled does it in front of you.

Andrew ended up painting most of the house -- the kitchen, dining room, living room, and upstairs. Caleb handled a fair amount of the cutting in and ceiling work.

Color Choices and Coverage [19:27]

Caleb's fiancée Melanie handled all the interior color selections, which Caleb describes as a great decision. Dan had expected conservative colors based on Caleb's personality and was surprised to get a list of deep, saturated choices -- a near-teal green, dark forest tones, rich colors throughout. His instinct was that deep colors would require multiple coats to cover the lighter existing walls.

They used RepcoLite Optima, and the coverage surprised Dan enough that he brought it up on air. Deep colors don't naturally hide better just because they have more pigment -- the colorant system and the base paint matter. Optima's combination of formula and colorant system delivered coverage close to what you'd hope for after one coat, and two coats finished the job cleanly.

The favorite room is the living room, painted in Yorktown Green -- a deep blue-green Benjamin Moore color that reads almost like a rich teal. They had originally planned a different color and switched at the last minute. It turned out to be everyone's favorite.

One Coat vs. Two [23:06]

Even when one coat coverage looks surprisingly good -- and in this case it did -- two coats is always the right call. The second coat evens out color uniformity, improves sheen consistency, eliminates lap marks and differences between brushed and rolled areas, and builds the film thickness the paint was designed to have. Durability depends on having enough coating on the surface.

Ceiling Paint Lesson [23:47]

Caleb chose a creamy, slightly warm off-white for the ceilings rather than straight white. Dan went with bright white on his own ceiling at home and regrets it -- it reads as plasticky and a little harsh compared to a softer white. The warmer ceiling tone makes the rooms feel finished rather than clinical. Dan says he's living with it but won't make that choice again.

Painting angled ceilings with a hip roof is harder than flat ceilings. The angles create back strain and make it difficult to track where you've been. On flat ceilings, working in a consistent grid pattern and watching for the shine of wet paint to see where you've covered is the practical method.

Vanity Project and Ebonizing [25:50]

Caleb is in the store today to pick up primer for a bathroom vanity he's painting. He had tried ebonizing the wood first -- a technique where you soak steel wool in vinegar for two days and brush the resulting solution onto bare wood. On raw oak it reacts with the tannins and can turn the wood dramatically dark almost instantly. Dan confirmed it works well on bare, unfinished oak.

The problem: Caleb's vanity drawers had an existing finish on them. He tried sanding it off but couldn't get enough removed for the reaction to work. The project got shelved for a couple of months. Now he's going with paint in a warmer brown tone -- color TBD pending a conversation with Melanie.

DIY Confidence and Watching the Whole Video [27:16]

Caleb's advice for first-time homeowners going into projects they've never done: do your research, ask people who've done it before, and then just start. The confidence builds faster than you expect once you're in it.

Dan adds one specific lesson from his own experience: watch the entire YouTube tutorial before you start, not just the section that seems to cover your specific problem. Step six often contains something that makes steps one through five make sense. The urge to find just the relevant part and skip ahead is strong and frequently costs time later.

Trades: Skipping College [34:05]

Caleb went straight from high school into an electrical apprenticeship, now six years in and working for Walters Electric. The decision wasn't difficult. He didn't want to sit in a classroom for four more years and wanted to be doing something physical and practical. A childhood memory of wearing his grandfather's tool belt -- Dan's father had worked at an electrical supply store -- pointed him toward electrical specifically.

No college debt. He's had to learn to save money like everyone does, but without the loan payments that come with a four-year degree, he's been building toward things like the house from the start.

Why Trades Work [37:24]

The electrical field keeps changing -- new switches, new systems, new technology -- which means there's always something to learn and the monotony problem most people worry about going in doesn't really materialize. The physical nature of the work pays off in a different way than a desk job. Caleb notes his brother Andrew came into his first summer of exterior painting as a lean kid and by the end of that summer was moving extension ladders in ways that seemed physically improbable.

Working in the trades also means regular contact with people from plumbing, HVAC, and other skilled fields -- which gave Caleb knowledgeable people to call when the toilet in his new house turned out to have never been properly secured to the flange, and when the squirrel's wiring damage needed a second set of eyes.

Thick skin helps. Being one of the shorter guys on a crew means someone is going to notice when you need a second ladder to reach the first ladder on top of the van.

Products Mentioned

• Enzymatic cleaner (cat-specific formula) -- For concentrated pet odor; cat-specific formulas significantly outperform general or outdoor versions; available at pet supply stores
• Garden lime -- For neutralizing pH and absorbing odors in dirt crawl spaces
• Dehumidifier -- For residual basement moisture and musty odor
• Oil-based polyurethane (clear coat) -- Used to seal subfloor against pet odor; clear coat seals more completely than pigmented primers
• BIN Shellac-Based Primer -- Dan's preferred product for sealing odors into subfloors and wood; dries fast, seals well
• RepcoLite Optima -- Interior paint used throughout the house; strong coverage on deep and saturated colors
• Vinegar + steel wool (ebonizing solution) -- DIY wood treatment; works well on bare, unfinished oak; does not work on finished or sealed surfaces

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