We have a jambpacked show today. Nothing here is sponsored just new products you might not have seen that can make your home or jobsite a lot easier or safer to work around.
We start out with David Chaney from Better Grip Paint Roller. To learn more https://bettergrippaintroller.com/
We then go out and visit with Brian Thomas from Gentent. This is a must have for any portable generator owner. To learn more https://www.gentent.com/
We then go out and chat with Christian Reed from Reekon Tools. They make the most innovative tape measure on the market. To learn more https://www.reekon.tools/
We close out the show with Brian Ubel with Wiha Tools, highly crafted German Hand tool company you should check out https://www.wihatools.com/
To get your questions answered by Eric G give us a call in the studio at 833-239-4144 24/7 and Eric G will get back to you and answer your question and you might end up in a future episode of Around the House.
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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
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/
[00:00:05] Eric Goranson: around the house. Hey guys,
[:[00:00:24] Eric Goranson: When they see something, they wanted to make it better, which to me is completely satisfying watching somebody remake something that we've worked with for 50 years. So we've got. so many great interviews. And if you're listening on the radio, you can always find out more information about these guys over to round the house online.
[:[00:00:47] Eric Goranson: and renovating your home, there is a lot to know that we've
[:[00:00:54] Eric Goranson: is around the house. You know, I always get excited when I see a new product that
[:[00:01:02] Eric Goranson: you've all just accepted.
[:[00:01:07] David Chaney: to Around the House.
[:[00:01:21] David Chaney: It's not for those hardcore painters. It's just for. That mom and dad who are converting that spare bedroom into a nursery, or maybe that newlywed couple that just purchased their first fixer upper. But what makes our product unique, Eric, is the fact that it actually comes in a package that includes a main handle, an extension handle, two arms, and it also includes a half inch nap roll cover.
[:[00:02:09] David Chaney: It comes with that extension handle, which can be screwed into the base of the main handle. It creates more of that traditional feel, so if my wife prefers to paint. The old style, then she has an extension handle and can do so. That same hole fits any standard extension pole. So if I want to reach those upper walls, the ceiling, I can do that.
[:[00:02:52] David Chaney: So you're constantly having to go back over it again. And also, this cover sometimes will actually work its way off. [00:03:00] With our roller design, the three piece design attaches on both sides, so you're not going to get that cover sliding off, and I can apply equal pressure. I'm in control of the roller, particularly if I'm painting a deck or, again, that ceiling.
[:[00:03:32] David Chaney: So, he has arthritis, he has hand issues. He bought ours so that he could hold on to it and felt more comfortable in his hand. He reached out to me about a week and a half after he had purchased one. And he said, David, I just want to bring this to your attention. The way our roller stays intact is we actually have a square on the inside of the, on the side of the main handle, a square on the arm, and they interlock to prevent it from twisting as you're painting.
[:[00:04:22] David Chaney: There's no pressure whatsoever. You're not having to fight it, press it up against the wall. So for people with hand issues, it's a great solution to them if they want to stay active and continue painting. But we also have That is wonderful.
[:[00:04:42] David Chaney: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And again The whole thought process behind this was, it was designed by do it yourselfers, by average painters, for average painters. Again, we're not by any means reaching out to those commercial painters. We're not reaching out to even those people who know the correct way to paint.
[:[00:05:16] David Chaney: I'm getting paint somewheres, particularly for me everywhere with our roller. Basically, we unscrew 1 arm, we work it free, we tilt it sideways and most covers fall off hands free. I don't even have to pull it now. I say most covers because there's. Probably about 30 percent out there based on the manufacturer.
[:[00:05:56] David Chaney: It's ready to go. I don't have to worry about it getting rusty. I don't have to worry about it [00:06:00] getting all bent up. It's ready for the next project. But what's neat is this handle right here is interchangeable. So I can take this main handle off and I can purchase a 4 inch kit or an 18 inch kit. The 4 inch kit is actually going to come with a roller cover and this piece right here.
[:[00:06:44] David Chaney: I wouldn't mind possibly having the opportunity to finish in half the time, so I can replace this main handle with our 18 inch handle, and I can get twice as much coverage. Again, using the same extension handle and the 2 [00:07:00] arms, just replacing the main handle here. So, it's a real versatile tool. It's something that people can again, customize it to fit the individual needs of their project.
[:[00:07:34] David Chaney: It'll allow you to paint all four corners of the room literally in two minutes without even getting on a ladder. Now you'll have to touch up the bottoms and the tops. But the cool thing is the material of our corner roller is going to match the same finish as the rest of the room. So what I do in the corner, it's not going to be those lines that slide down, the little V tool that slides down or that foam disk that gets all saturated.
[:[00:08:12] Eric Goranson: Well, I tell you what, one thing I do love about this is one, when I am trying to take that roller cover off the wire frame and I have to go find my hammer to knock it out of there.
[:[00:08:34] David Chaney: all of them. Absolutely. And like I said, this one right here is actually shown with the handle on top, but I can literally take this off.
[:[00:09:09] David Chaney: We know it could withstand anything thrown at it by your average painters. And we feel like we're there and everybody who uses it absolutely loves it. Well, like you and I were talking about earlier, when we see people, we went out to a couple of little flea markets around Christmas time, just more or less.
[:[00:09:29] Eric Goranson: and don't go anywhere around the house. We'll be right back after these important messages. We have so many more new products heading your way. We'll be right
[:[00:10:15] Eric Goranson: show. This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education. Today, we are talking to a bunch of different companies about brand new products. there that you probably haven't seen nor heard. So we're going to get back to the show there. If you want to find out more about us here on the radio show or podcast, head to around the house, online.
[:[00:10:47] David Chaney: took our time. We really, we spent four or five months trying to find the correct combination just so that we know it could withstand anything thrown at it by your average painters.
[:[00:11:14] David Chaney: But what, what we were trying to do was more or less just kind of get the word out there, show it to people. And I wish I could have filmed their natural responses, because I can assure Everybody who looks at it, they're just like, oh, my gosh, where was this that I just painted in my house the other day? I understand completely about that frame flexing.
[:[00:11:54] David Chaney: And again, if I used a regular wireframe roller, I would have been so frustrated. In fact, uh, [00:12:00] to be honest with you, the way I came up with the idea, uh, is I was a teacher. I was actually a teacher for 25 years. I taught PE, I coached. When it hit, it shut things down. We had to move virtually. Well, as a teacher, I didn't have a whole lot of interaction with our students throughout the week.
[:[00:12:36] David Chaney: I bought this frame. I go and I get an extension pole and I'm out there just rolling back and forth. The cover's sliding off. There's a light trail on one side, heavy on the other side. I was getting frustrated. I eventually took it off of the extension pole, got on my hands and knees, and I finished the entire deck.
[:[00:13:14] David Chaney: I jump up, I run to the room, I grab it. And I'm just like. I'm rolling it up and down the wall. I've called my wife over Debbie and I said, Debbie, come check this out. She walks over and she goes, Oh, that's neat. I said, neat. I said, come here. I put it in her hand and I'm having to roll it up and down. She goes, you know what?
[:[00:13:51] David Chaney: I figured they just didn't want to hurt my feelings, but now we're starting to get feedback from people that we don't know. We're getting orders from around the United [00:14:00] States. We actually had somebody who purchased one on our website back on December 7th. By January 12th, she turned around and ordered two more, which tells me that she used it, she loved it.
[:[00:14:30] David Chaney: And you can't get that. The 40 paint roller. So you got it.
[:[00:14:43] David Chaney: How do we do that? Absolutely. Easiest way of course is our website.
[:[00:15:03] David Chaney: We want to get this out there for you because we know once you use it, you're going to go ahead and share that with other people are also in a select base and true value source. So, so, depending on where you're at now, we do have a page on our website. Where you can actually go on there and find a retailer.
[:[00:15:39] David Chaney: Uh, they don't generally think ahead to where they're going to order 1, even if they can get it in a couple of days. So we know the value that retailers provide. So we're trying to help them out by driving traffic to their stores. But if you go on our website, just type in your zip code, your city, it's going to give you all of these stores that are carrying us right now.
[:[00:16:02] Eric Goranson: Awesome, David. Thanks for coming on today, man. I appreciate your innovation. I love what you're doing.
[:[00:16:11] Eric Goranson: on today, brother. Thank you, man. Have a good one.
[:[00:16:32] Eric Goranson: We're We're during a storm and you don't want to have to put it under a carport or something like that and get carbon monoxide back into your house. So we're going to go out here to our friends at Jen tent and talk to them about a better way to keep your generator running good and safe. Brian from Jen tent.
[:[00:17:08] Brian Thomas: Yeah, absolutely.
[:[00:17:09] Brian Thomas: product was brought to market. Originally, the inventor here, Mark. Moved out from the West Coast over here to New England and experienced an ice storm that was way without power for a week and very quickly realized he can't run his generator outside. Obviously can't run it close to the home because of the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning or or a fire risk also.
[:[00:17:49] Eric Goranson: safe.
[:[00:18:04] Christian Reed: it's
[:[00:18:07] Brian Thomas: It's that coin flip decision where carbon monoxide, you can't see it. You can't smell it. And they're more likely to take that sort of risk and running it close to their home as opposed. They know what electrocution looks like. They know what fire hazard looks like.
[:[00:18:27] Eric Goranson: We'll be right back after these important messages. Don't go anywhere.
[:[00:19:10] Eric Goranson: the round the house show, this is where we hope you get the most at your home through information and education. Thanks for joining me today. We've been talking about all these different products from all these different manufacturers, new stuff that could be really cool for your home that you might not have seen before we were earlier talking.
[:[00:19:47] Eric Goranson: I'm there to help. Now let's get back to the program.
[:[00:20:16] Eric Goranson: from your home, which is smart.
[:[00:20:32] Brian Thomas: And again, with carbon monoxide.
[:[00:20:52] Brian Ubel: as
[:[00:20:53] Eric Goranson: Nice. So how does your, uh, gen tent work? Uh, how does this whole thing go together?
[:[00:21:11] Brian Thomas: And then we also have a fully encased inverter model that uses a pressure based system fully grips around the inverter generators that are fully encased and creates a system that we can build out from there and. Creating a top down, but an umbrella watershed effect on top of it. It's important that it's sloped so that water and snow build up can fall away.
[:[00:21:49] Eric Goranson: is we have
[:[00:22:00] Christian Reed: electric panel as well.
[:[00:22:15] Eric Goranson: And again, that kind
[:[00:22:30] Eric Goranson: maintenance needs. That's great. And you guys had to do a lot of research and development thing to make that go together because.
[:[00:22:48] Brian Thomas: Yeah, so that's a great point. There is a lot of intelligence in the engineering of the product.
[:[00:23:12] Brian Thomas: It's going to dissipate any sort of moisture on the engine or the exhaust, but you want to keep the intake open the events, any of the exhaust obviously, but you want to keep that generator running at its optimal performance. Not only for the generator performs. It maintains a level of safety, but also so it performs the highest output for your home and gives
[:[00:23:35] Eric Goranson: Nice. And then these fit most generators, right? You guys have come up with a lot of different solutions for many of the models that are on the market today. Yeah, great, great
[:[00:23:54] Brian Thomas: We have fit just over 3, 000 different generators now. And with that, it's, yeah, it's [00:24:00] more of a secret sauce in the engineering mounting solutions that we can adapt to so many different frame types. We also manufactured for a couple of the generator manufacturers in Champion Power Equipment in Westinghouse.
[:[00:24:13] Eric Goranson: here. And that is great. So if somebody wants to get one, how do they find you?
[:[00:24:23] Christian Reed: Amazon, Home Depot, Lowe's, Power
[:[00:24:32] Brian Thomas: And then it's super easy. You give us a call too. We have a full phone staff. You can call and pick up the phone and talk to somebody if you need any help with setup or. Technical questions or anything like
[:[00:24:50] Eric Goranson: I appreciate
[:[00:24:53] Eric Goranson: All right. Now let's run out to my favorite new tape measure. And I'm not kidding. They sent me one of these [00:25:00] things and it is so easy to use. Let's talk with Recon tools. This is some neat new technology for your workshop. And Recon Tools is just another one of those companies that is changing the world of home improvement and construction.
[:[00:25:28] Christian Reed: Eric, I think when you address something as fundamental as a tape measure, everyone has their preconceived notions about it.
[:[00:25:47] Eric Goranson: It is amazing what you guys have done with this. And we've all had the tape measure in our hands, but you have fixed so many problems with new tech that looks seamless to
[:[00:25:57] Christian Reed: Yeah, I think that was part of the challenge. And I think the [00:26:00] uniqueness and hopefully some of this comes out on the bottom with it, but the hardest part of making digital tape measures, how do you make it accurate that if you're. Flying through measurements, nothing is worse than wasting a 50 piece of ASIC or a very expensive piece of finished molding with it.
[:[00:26:28] Eric Goranson: It's interesting because I've always used a laser digital tape measure for bigger projects. I've used my regular tape measure, but you guys really figured out a solution from what I can see. So, really be able to use that as both and be able to get that accuracy because. Either one that I'm using when I'm using it.
[:[00:26:50] Christian Reed: Yeah, absolutely. I think that's the very philosophical form of the digital tape measure is not including the markings on it because it's already digitally displaying it. But I think we put the markings on it a, because [00:27:00] sometimes it's still is quicker for.
[:[00:27:28] Christian Reed: Hidden application of a digital tape measure is that I'm up on a roof taking measurements. I have my guy in the cops on the other side of the job sites, and he's following along versus me having to shout them all one at a time and generally messing up at least one of them in the process of completing a set of cups.
[:[00:27:43] Eric Goranson: talk about that, because that is one of the biggest things I think about this. It's almost missed by people that just see it real quick is how that can change how you take those measurements down, because myself as a kitchen designer, I would go around, take measurements and I would. I'd get measurements and I'd be writing them down and I'd be sketching them out on a piece of [00:28:00] paper and I'd get back to the office and go, what was that dimension again, just because I didn't have a good record of it, or I just wasn't writing it down correctly.
[:[00:28:14] Christian Reed: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's a big value of a digital tape measure that a lot of people get worked up of just displaying the measurement is a very small portion of the overall tape measure, which again may benefit someone who's not as familiar with the markings.
[:[00:28:45] Christian Reed: So don't go
[:[00:29:03] Intro: to the
[:[00:29:21] Eric Goranson: Companies, well, could be not only tools, could be anything around the house. And so we've been featuring a bunch of different companies today. This is not paid programming right here. This is stuff that I found out there that, uh, I really enjoy. And these are some of some. Just fun products out there that I think could be great around your house.
[:[00:30:02] Eric Goranson: It will have all the different companies and their websites in that. So you'll be able to find it right there. So now let's head over to around the house, online. com for more information. Now let's get back
[:[00:30:18] Christian Reed: It needs no power to stay on. So if I pop out the battery and take it out with it, the ePaper display still retains all the measurements. So a really cool feature of this technology not used a ton. Consumer electronics and the 2nd, 1 is sending them all to your phone. So the phone has all these secondary abilities to taking a photo, dumping measurements, annotating over a photo, a PDF markup, organizing them by group.
[:[00:30:58] Eric Goranson: speed increases.
[:[00:31:17] Eric Goranson: I'm like, I think that's about it. And you're only within a quarter of an inch versus something much more accurate.
[:[00:31:35] Christian Reed: Sometimes I'm hooking on something, but it's not on the same plane that I'm trying to. Go on to with it, and there are extreme cases of using like a plumb bob to try to drop the level from 1 plane with it, where the laser, because it maintains its format distances up to 2030 feet with it is great for pulling on adjacent surfaces and a super high visibility with that was added bonus.
[:[00:32:14] Eric Goranson: And that is great. And Christian, you guys are not just tape measure people. You build a lot of other stuff for the shop as well.
[:[00:32:45] Christian Reed: So I'd make my cut, I'd stop, I'd throw out my tape measure, draw my second line with my square or whatever with it. With the M1, it's a much more streamlined process where all I do is touch off on the edge of the saw blade. I'll zero it out and it'll account for the blade curve because that's what's going to get blown out [00:33:00] of sawdust.
[:[00:33:22] Christian Reed: So really great for continual cutting on a single piece of material and is very straightforward and compact too, right? It clamps onto any miter saw fin, so it's really. Convenient way, we find a lot of professionals who are making a lot of these repeat cuts, whether on miter saws, we see people use them on seamless gutter machines.
[:[00:33:55] Eric Goranson: section of it.
[:[00:34:13] Eric Goranson: Now, if you're not consistent on how you do that, it gets to be a slow process. This takes all that well, and potential error out as well.
[:[00:34:34] Christian Reed: And you're scrambling around. For your tape measure and realize you left it on top of the ladder or under the deck, wherever with it. So I think that's a huge use case of that. This is always anchored to the saw. So you never need to worry about where your tape measure is. It's always connected to the saw with it and just reducing again, the general pain points of construction or those little details that add up to big problems.
[:[00:35:09] Eric Goranson: for it.
[:[00:35:15] Christian Reed: Yeah, absolutely. So the T1 Tomahawk, we just started selling on our website, recon. tools. And the M1 has been around for about a year and a half now. You can find it at Home Depot, Lowe's, Acme tools, and across the internet.
[:[00:35:42] Christian Reed: So we certainly encourage customers. If you're on the edge, try it, feed it up. If it meets your expectations, great. If not, send it back and be more than happy to accept it with it. Just to really promote this new concept of digital construction and error reduction on the job site. Christian
[:[00:35:56] Eric Goranson: This is some amazing stuff. Cool. Thank you, Eric. Appreciate you [00:36:00] having me. Now let's go talk to Brian from WeHa Tools about tools you should have known about. If you don't know this brand, now you do. Today
[:[00:36:14] Brian Ubel: It's going to start shipping next month. It's a 194 piece, kind of all inclusive, premium WeHa tool kit. So we can go over that with you today.
[:[00:36:27] Brian Ubel: Sure. So we have tools is a family owned German company, so you have German right there that tells you super high quality in terms of where it's available.
[:[00:36:48] Eric Goranson: out there. Absolutely. It is a definitely a well made tool and as you and I were talking before, uh, I've seen your stuff many places around in manufacturing. So [00:37:00] that says something right there that, uh, if people can be using it every day.
[:[00:37:05] David Chaney: these. Yeah. Thanks for that. Yes.
[:[00:37:21] Brian Ubel: So what the concept for this kit was, and we'll go over it with you here.
[:[00:37:51] Brian Ubel: So this was kind of the original concept And, uh, kind of just repurposing it for the non insulated user, the on the go [00:38:00] user, somebody that could at any chance need a little bit of everything.
[:[00:38:22] Brian Ubel: Yeah. So the kind of go over it with you a little bit here. So on the bottom, um, and this one has to be on the bottom because it has the cutouts for the wheels. There are high quality wheels on this, uh, three eights, uh, socket set deep and normal, three ratchet extensions, ratchet, um, and SA and metric on both of those, and then you've got the wrench size as well.
[:[00:39:09] Brian Ubel: This is our auto adjustment pliers. So slides to whatever size you need. Slide it out. So we got through that in there for everybody. We got our 1 handed adjustable, uh, water pump pliers as well. Flush cuts, uh, wire cutters and we got it all in there. All the best stuff. We did not cut any corners on. You know, trying to meet a cost point.
[:[00:39:38] Eric Goranson: offer. Yeah. And the hits just keep on coming. I mean, I was shocked at how many levels of stuff that you've got packed in there. Uh, just from the, the socket set, which is super complete because, you know, many kits out there, they'll give you kind of what you need.
[:[00:40:03] David Chaney: Yep,
[:[00:40:19] Brian Ubel: And then, uh, all of our screwdrivers, sorry, the, uh, the left hand is really pissing me off, we can go back. Exactly, it's
[:[00:40:29] Eric Goranson: So that's, I mean, let's just start that part over again right here, Brian, we'll just do it from the beginning. So, let's talk about that third level.
[:[00:40:39] David Chaney: here. I'll say it again. I'm looking at, yeah,
[:[00:40:46] Eric Goranson: It's all good.
[:[00:40:49] Brian Ubel: use your hands, right? That's how you get used
[:[00:40:57] Brian Ubel: So third level. You can see over here, we've got all [00:41:00] of the L keys that we offer. Metric, SAE, and Torx. Um, and then on this side, all of our greatest screwdrivers, uh, you know, it's going to be a seven piece set.
[:[00:41:34] Brian Ubel: So. Layer 4 of the 4 piece, uh, so we got our industry leading color coded nut setters, or nut drivers as, you know, some people refer to it as, a claw hammer level tape measure, and then we include also, uh, two box sets, um, So kind of zoom in a little bit there. So we've got just quarter inch impact [00:42:00] rated, uh, bits with a ratchet handle.
[:[00:42:27] David Chaney: this case we have here.
[:[00:42:37] Brian Ubel: So you put this on a flight, it has an auto decompression valve. So nothing's going to swell up or, um, distort the case as it's flying. Everything in here packed away is just under 50 pounds as well. So you're not going to get, uh, not going to get hit with that heavy bag fee.
[:[00:43:05] Brian Ubel: Yeah, yes, it does. So I, uh, to carry it on that one.
[:[00:43:16] Brian Ubel: So again, uh, Fastenal, Granger, MSC, uh, those big main industrial
[:[00:43:21] Brian Ubel: get it for you. Acme tools and Gnarling tool here in Minnesota have, uh, WehaTools.
[:[00:43:32] Eric Goranson: All right, Brian. Thanks for coming on today. This is some great stuff and thanks for sharing it with the audience. Thank you, Eric.
[:[00:43:40] Eric Goranson: tuning in to Around the House. We'll see you in
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