We walk you through a no-nonsense, fall-before-winter home audit that I’ve been doing on the show for over two decades—no fluff, just the stuff that keeps your house from turning into a soggy money pit. I kick things off with water management because water is the enemy (dramatic, but true). Clean gutters, unclog downspouts, and make sure water gets at least 10 feet away from the foundation; if your gutters dump at the curb, run a hose and watch for pooling, roots, or corrugated plastic joints that rot out. If you’ve got irrigation or underground sprinklers, blow them out before the freeze—use the right pressure, don’t be an overconfident hero and explode your system. Roof checks: treat moss, inspect flashing and pipe jacks, and if climbing terrifies you, hire a soft-wash pro instead of turning your roof into a shingled gravel field with a pressure washer. We also cover the little sealing stuff that adds up to big savings and fewer drafts. I talk caulking strategy (don’t plug weep holes—learn what you’re sealing), weather stripping, painting the bottom edges of lap siding, and replacing failing garage door seals. I recommend stretchy latex caulk so you can paint over it, and pro tips for getting a neat bead that actually stretches instead of cracking. Thermal imagers are cheap and brilliant this year—plug one into your phone, walk your house on a cold day, and you’ll literally see missing insulation, air leaks, and hidden wet spots. Trust me, that tiny gadget will point you to the exact easy wins that save money and headaches.

Takeaways:

• I nag about gutters, downspouts and grading: route water at least ten feet away from the foundation, no excuses.
• We recommend disconnecting hoses, insulating hose bibs, and blowing out irrigation lines before the freeze hits—do it now, trust me.
• I say treat mossy roofs carefully: use soft wash or powder treatments, and absolutely avoid pressure washers that shred granules.
• We talk caulking and weatherstripping like it's romance—use paintable, stretchy caulk, but never seal weep holes or you'll trap water.
• I push thermal imaging scanners as an inexpensive detective tool to find missing insulation, air leaks, and hidden water damage.
• We insist on HVAC and water‑heater maintenance: change filters, tune furnaces, flush or replace aging tanks—prevent expensive emergency replacements.
• I get passionate about safety: test smoke and CO alarms, replace ten‑year units, check GFCIs, and stage multiple extinguishers.
• We advise storm prep and self‑sufficiency—exercise your generator, store fuel, and keep at least two weeks of food and medications on hand.

Links referenced in this episode:

• aroundthehouseonline.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Godsmack
• Simple Plan
• Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Tesla
• Theory of a Deadman
• Daughtry
• Jackyl
• Steel Panther
• Sashco
• Lutron Caseta
• Amazon
• Facebook
• YouTube
• TikTok
• LinkedIn
• Twitter (X)
• Around the House
• Rock the Locks

Foreign.

Ready to turn your house into the home you've always dreamed of without the headaches or huge bills.

You're tuned to around the House, the nation's number one home improvement radio show and podcast with expert advice that's helped millions tackle everything from remodels to repairs.

Hosts Eric G. And John Dudley have got you covered with the best advice and and information about your home.

Now let's get this hour started.

Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.

I'm Eric G. Thanks for joining me today.

What a fun time.

A lot of great bands.

If you hadn't heard about it or didn't catch this last midweek special podcast that doesn't air on the radio.

We talk much more about it, but so much going on.

A lot of great bands from Godsmack to Simple Plan to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tesla, Theory of a Dead Man, Daughtry, the list goes on and on.

Jackal, that was amazing.

Got to hang out with a lot of great rock stars and have a great time.

So if you live in the Pacific Northwest and you missed it, you missed a heck of a show and make sure and pay attention to that next fall.

Next year when it comes out is each year those guys get bigger and bigger.

Today I wanted to talk about our annual Fall Home maintenance checklist.

This is where we talk about those things that need to happen in your home each and every fall so you're ready for winter no matter where you live.

You could be in Florida, you could be in Alaska.

These are the things that you should be paying attention around your house.

So segment one here today we're going to be talking about water is our enemy in and outside of the house.

So with those fall rains coming in the Pacific Northwest, California, everywhere else out there, when we start to go into winter, these are the things that we should be doing and we shouldn't be doing.

So first off is a great time to go out and take a look at those gutters and downspouts.

Clear the debris out of all the gutters, downspouts, window wells, storm drains, all of that.

Here's my tip.

Run a hose and watch some drain if it goes out to the street like some neighborhoods have.

So I've lived in a lot of different places, but sometimes those gutters will come out drain right into the ground.

That's horrible.

If you're just listening to the previous hour, we talk about why, how that can be damaging to your foundation.

And you want that to get at least 10ft away from the house.

In some planted neighborhoods, they control that water by going down to the street and then going into a storm drain system that goes out into a holding pond or into some kind of a storm drain system.

If it's coming down and you haven't cleaned that out, this is a big one.

About every five years should be cleaning that out.

I had a house that used to go down and come out just an opening the curb and get to the street.

In my house when I had that, I had roots that had been there for years.

So we went in and actually took a truck and pulled them out through there.

You can do damage, so be careful.

But got it all pulled out, had about 12ft of roots blocking it.

And then I got the water out to the street.

And it's a pretty common thing with, with those storm drain systems.

So if you're using that, oh, it's that corrugated plastic, the roots can go around where that snaps together versus like a glued ABS or pvc.

And so that can happen right there.

So you want to make sure that's clean, make sure the downspouts are carrying the water at least 10ft away from the foundation.

And then of course, if you're doing any landscaping, sometimes people make this mistake.

But the soil and the landscaping should slope away from the house at least 3ft so the water doesn't pool against the foundation.

Now if you're in an area that freezes, this is the thing you want to do before the first freeze.

Disconnect any hoses, drain and store them and then wrap those hose bibs in insulation.

It's always a good idea, even if you have the frost free ones to make sure and cover them.

If you get below zero, that's where that makes a difference for most of the frost free ones.

And those are the ones you see a little vacuum breaker, plastic cap or a different style.

But those are the ones that are frost free that usually do a better job.

Now the older ones where there's just everything is right there outside the building.

Those are the ones you want to make sure and cover and keep those nice and insulated.

If you've got below ground sprinklers, things like that, some kind of irrigation system, this is where you really want to take the time and blow that out.

Get a decent compressor, don't over pressurize it because you're going to blow stuff up.

But if you can add 30, 40, 50 psi and get that really blown out, what would the water pressure be?

Get that blown out, and you're going to really reduce the risk of freezing.

Now, in the Pacific Northwest, it's not as big a deal for the people on the west side of the mountains, but on the east side of the mountains, that's where it can get below freezing.

And you want to make sure and get that cleaned up.

That way you're not out there replacing sprinklers and doing that stuff every single year.

Now, if you're in a wet area and you get moss or lichen on the roof, this is the time to treat it.

And look at all the flashing and pipe jacks, so anything around there doesn't leak.

So this is a good roof inspection.

So go up there, take a look.

If you're gonna treat it, make sure and get something good.

I like the powder, personally.

You can put it on out there and it really keeps that roof.

As soon as it rains, it gets wet, it will really run down and kill that.

I have had in the Pacific Northwest, where I live, where rain is a big issue and moss is an even bigger issue.

I've had mixed results with the zinc strip across the top.

I I tested that, and it worked.

O but when you have a lot of rain, that really tends to wash it off, so it doesn't work as well.

So for me, in my test area where I did it, it kind of worked, but it was not something that I would say was reliable, especially on an old roof.

So get up there and treat it.

If it's growing, go ahead and go up and get it done.

Now, if you're on a roof that you're not careful with, this could be where you actually pay somebody to come out and deal with it.

This is one of those things where you look at it and go, I'm not getting the roof.

I'm not comfortable.

You need fall protection, and if you're not going that way, hire a soft wash company to come out.

They can treat it, they can clean it, and sometimes they can put stuff on there that'll extend the life of the roof and make sure that it adds some of that moisture back in it so it's less brittle.

And that can really help you extend that life of the roof by making sure it's clean.

The last thing I want you to do is go up there with a pressure washer and blow things off on a traditional roof, because that can really damage the Granules and dig in and cause even further damage and reduce that lifespan.

So be really careful with that.

Now the big one too is to trim back those branches hanging over the roof or touching the house.

That is where you really get the rodents.

You can get any of the raccoons, squirrels, anything else up there.

So the more you keep that away, I like to have it four or five feet away at least.

And if it's a thinner branch, go even farther so it doesn't in the wind, brush up against the house.

That's a big one.

And then of course making sure that any of the bushes around there are a few feet away from the house.

So for the same thing, I don't want to have any shrubbery touching the structure because that is just a super highway, guys, for any one of those pests, bugs, just damage to the house.

So get that cleaned up.

Now if you have a chimney in a wood fired fireplace, this is where you want to have that annual inspection.

Get the chimney sweep out there, get them to look through, make sure that you're ready for fire season.

And just because you put in one of those fire logs that supposedly burns off any of the creosote, it doesn't mean you skip inspection day.

If you use it a lot for primary heat, that should be probably happening a couple times a year.

So make sure you've got it dialed in.

That way you're safe because nobody wants a chimney fire and that is an easy way to fix that.

And if you've got a gas fired fireplace, I want to see you have somebody come out and inspect that, get it fine tuned, get that going and make sure that it's operating correctly.

If you get a technician out there, they'll make sure that it's burning correctly.

You don't have any issues with carbon monoxide or anything else.

So this is one of those things, you can really save yourself a lot of headaches.

Maybe a little money could reduce your gas bill if it's running clean versus too rich.

So that's a big one.

And when you're looking for around the outside of the chimney, look for cracked mortar, loose joints in the brick or block.

Water is going to be your biggest thing that you need to be really careful with around the house.

So any of that stuff, make sure that you've got it going good.

And my best advice guys is going to be to go out there on a rainy day, put on that jacket, go walk around and make sure that you don't have water pooling in places, gutters overflowing it's the same thing we talked about last hour with the different foundation techniques to make sure you're good, that water can do significant damage.

And if you can save some time with that and save some money, who doesn't want to do that?

All right, coming up in the next segment, we're going to talk about what you need to do for sealing everything up around the house.

Now, around the House.

We'll be right back after these important messages.

Don't change that dial.

We're just getting started today.

What's up?

This is Sticks it in ya and Satchel from Steel Panther.

And you are listening to around the House with Eric G. Yeah, we love.

Eric G. And you should, too.

Welcome back to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.

I'm Eric G. Can you believe it's October already?

What happened to the summer?

Now we've had some great weather here recently, but I tell you what, those fall weathers are coming in and I can sure tell that with what's been going on the last couple of weeks, it was amazing.

When I was out at the Rock the Locks Festival last weekend, we had on Friday we had 40 plus mile an hour gusts.

That was getting really sketchy.

And then the next few days were 70 degrees and beautiful.

And last week in my neighborhood we were at 80 degrees.

So it's still warm here in the Pacific Northwest.

But I know a lot of you guys out there are already well deep into the fall, leaves dropping and of course those freezing temperatures starting to creep back up north.

So this is the perfect time to be knocking out that list of stuff around the house.

In our seal it up segment here, we're going to be talking about caulking and weather stripping a lot because I really want you to walk around and check those windows, doors and siding for holes, cracks and caulk them.

Now there are some serious considerations here to pay attention to.

And what I'm going to talk about here for a second is weep holes.

Now many times in the bottom of a window there's going to be a little machined groove, the bottom of a brick wall where they don't have mortar in there.

And these are places for water to escape.

Don't go through and caulk them up because if you do, you're going to be trapping water behind it, which is going to cause rot, mold, and it could really cause some serious structural issues around the house.

So know what you do before you go.

And all caulking is not the same.

I like Sashco's big stretch.

It is the stretchiest latex caulking you can do out there.

And why I like latex is because that stuff you can paint over, if you go silicone, you're pretty much stuck with it.

And paint's not gonna stick to the outside because it's silicone.

So for that on the outside, I do a good caulking.

And they do make other stuff as well that you can color match or you can actually add paint to it, which is kind of cool.

This is not an advertisement for those guys.

It's just what I use because I like it.

And with Sashco, one little trip with that, one little trick is if you sit there and have a little bit bigger use of caulking, if you had a little bit more to it, if you do just a little pencil line of it, you don't have much to stretch.

But if you go like, oh, eighth of an inch to maybe three, 16 or even up to a quarter, that gives you more material to stretch.

So sometimes a little bit more can go a long ways.

Just don't make a hot mess out of it.

And that's the big thing with that.

So go around and make sure the windows, doors, and siding are all caulked up.

If you got to get in there with a knife and remove the old caulking and go back and touch it up, you can do that.

And that way you're good to go.

All those air gaps, leaks, things like that can really cause havoc around the house, and it's wasted energy.

So go around and get that done.

So make sure you check all that exterior caulking and replace what's failing.

And then take a look at those doors and windows.

Inspect the weather stripping, make sure the garage door seal is working correctly.

And maybe that's an early morning or an evening thing where it's dark outside.

Throw a trouble light on the inside of that and see if the light's going through.

If the light's going through, then clearly you've got an air gap.

And make sure you get that dialed in.

Now, it can be tough sometimes.

If you've got an older garage door that seal underneath, it can be problematic.

It might be time to replace that or the seals around the outside of the door.

Get that sealed up as best you can so you can keep any of those drafts out and get it good, good, good to go for you and save some energy, because nobody likes these power bills that we're paying or gas bills or oil bill or whatever you're doing to heat that house that gets expensive.

Now, if you've got an older home, go around and make sure that single pane glass, there's nothing cracked.

That all of that chinking that's around the outside of that, the glazing that you've got, make sure that is in perfectly good shape.

If you've got again and re glaze it, get after it.

It's not that hard to do, but it's something you can do pretty easily.

And get in there and get that cleaned up.

Now, if you've got damaged screens, good time to take care of it.

Make sure that those are all ready to go.

So screens, it's a good time to do it.

You're not going to want to do it in the summertime when it's nice.

That can be a good Saturday project in the garage or on the dining room table.

If you put a blanket down over the top and get it dialed in.

If you don't have a workspace, but really take some time, get that stuff taken care of, it works really well.

Now here's another one too.

That paint on the outside of the house is great for color, but it's also there to protect the siding.

So make sure on any lap siding or anything like that that all the edges are painted.

If it's exposed, it's not going to do well.

One common place that sighting guys and painters miss is along the bottom of a lap sighting.

That bottom edge gets missed so often.

Make sure that gets touched up because that's where the water can hang and that moisture can really hurt that.

If it's cement siding, not as much.

But any of the wood sightings, make sure that everything is cleaned up and sealed up.

So look for that paint failure, water damage, mildew, mold repair or clean it.

And if you're getting mold on something or on the outside of the house, if it is a hard surface, yes, non porous, you can use bleach.

But I like using any one of the mold cleaners out there.

I'm not a bleach person because it can actually feed the bleach with water.

Can actually feed the mold that it didn't kill.

So I like to use one of the.

One of the mold killers out there and go that route.

It's just a more reliable way to go.

So thermal imaging scanner tip.

I tell you what, this is the way to go.

Do I have a brand that I recommend?

Yeah, I just got a new one made by Ryzen R I S O N. They've got their magic.

They got their magic pro Take a look at these things.

You can get them for next to nothing.

100 Bucks, 200 bucks depending on which model you get on Amazon.

These things are great.

They plug right into the bottom of your phone and it just uses the camera there.

And now you've got a full imaging thermal imaging scanner.

If you go with the just the magic one, it works great.

It is great.

I've got this in my truck.

It works well.

And that's got a 320 by 240 IR resolution.

And of course it works on Android and Apple.

Tell you what, not a commercial again for those guys, but I have one in my toolbox, works really well.

I'm impressed.

And they're super affordable.

They're not the thousand dollar camera that you have to go out and get, but walk around the inside of your house on a cold day or even a hot one, and take a look and you can probably find some winter savings with it.

You can see where there's insulation missing, or maybe it's a, a door that's leaking air or a window that's not sealed upright.

These are all things that can really make life a lot easier.

It's going to show you the drafts, it's going to show you the missing insulation.

It's going to show you the air leaks around windows, doors and outlets, which is key.

And as well as it can really show you a spot where you could have water damage hiding inside a wall.

So let's say you've got wet insulation.

If it's fiberglass, it doesn't insulate as well.

So if you've got a significant difference of temperature inside and outside, you might go, wow, why is that insulation not performing well here?

Could be missing, could be wet.

Wet is even worse than missing because that means you've got mold, mildew and rot going.

So you want to make sure and get that dialed in.

So take a look at that.

That is a key right there.

Now the other one here I want to touch before we go out to break is making sure the critters are kept out.

So look, a sign.

Look for signs of rodents outside and inside, including food areas and around under sinks.

Go through and seal the gaps where pipes, wires and vents enter the house.

You can use a spray foam out there that is meant for rodents.

It makes it very hard for them to chew through because I think it's got hot sauce basically baked into it.

So it's something that burns them if they eat it.

Coming up, we're going to be talking about that heating system.

We'll do that just as soon as around the House returns.

Don't change that.

Dial.

Foreign.

The House Show.

I'm Eric G. If you want to find out more about us, if you're new to the show, head over to our website aroundthehouse online.com.

Make sure you follow us on Facebook.

We've got a Facebook group called around the House Nation.

We also have got our two YouTube channels and sheesh, we got Tick tock.

I'm over there on LinkedIn.

I think we're just about on everything out there.

A little bit of Twitter or X as well.

We've been talking today about our fall home maintenance checklist.

This is something that's been going on around the house for over two decades.

This is something we do each fall and every spring to make sure we got our house dialed in and ready for the upcoming seasonal change.

No matter where you're at in the country, whether you're in Florida, Maine, Southern California or Alaska, of these all fit you in one way or another.

Now heating and home systems are what we're going to talk about here in segment three and it's an important one.

Here's the thing, before you crank the heat, give your systems a little bit of attention.

First off, have your furnace serviced by a licensed pro AC in the hot climates.

If you're down in Florida, you want them both looked at.

If you're down in the south, you want to make sure when you turn the heat on it's there.

And the extended use of that A.C. probably 10 or 12 months out of the year, you want to make sure it's dialed in.

And here's what the thing is, so many people miss this and this is so important because H vac systems, H vac systems guys are super expensive to replace right now.

This isn't the oh I'll spend 5,000 to do an upgrade.

Now you could be spending $20,000 and doing an upgrade.

So maybe having that annual maintenance agreement to get em out there to extend the life is in your best interest.

Cause maybe you don't wanna have to sit there and get one of those super high efficiencies that maybe your state or the federal government has been pushing.

We've got new refrigerant, so that unit that's five years old, guess what, you might not be able to get replacement parts for it.

So make sure that somebody's coming out of its gas furnace.

They can make sure that it's tuned correctly.

And it's like the old car, they want to make sure that it's running right and you're not burning too much gas, which wastes energy and it can burn out the heat exchanger, which means you got to put another whole unit in there.

And these are things that you want to make sure.

Electric key.

You can make sure that things are working correctly, that it's not dirty in there.

They want to make sure and get that all cleaned out.

So this is that time of year to get in there, have it running as best you can.

So make sure you change that filter and any other filters in the system.

If you have a newer house and you've got any kind of an air exchanger in there, make sure that you're changing those filters.

Yeah, they could have it in there.

So make sure that you've got whatever system you have, make sure that you read those instructions and make sure that you're changing that filter.

Because you can have multiple different filters inside your house and that's key and heat pump, water heater, make sure you change that filter as well.

So take a look at that.

Clean them out, get them ready.

Be sure you're good to go.

Now, if you have hard water or if you've got a water heater, gas or electric that you maintain every year, now's the time to do that flush.

I really don't recommend if you've got a 20 year old water heater that no one's maintained, man, I don't know.

You can try flushing it, but you could be in for a bigger problem.

Here's why.

I have seen water heaters with hard water in a matter of five years fill a third of the way up with sediment.

And that can be pretty tough to get out.

I've had it so bad where year two I go to clean the thing out.

And because I was on well water, I had about 12 inches of sediment in the bottom of that 40 gallon water heater.

So when I sat in there and opened up the drain, nothing came out.

It was plugged.

And so they do make tools, they do make ways to get in there and clean it.

But that is going to really leave you with less hot water and it's something you want to stay on top of.

So if it hasn't happened for 20 years, start doing it when you put the new one in.

Or that sediment could be hiding leaks and everything else.

So if you're going to drain it, awesome.

Just make sure that if it's over 10 years old, you're towards the end of that lifespan and you run a risk of making things worse, not better.

But anyway, getting that sediment out of there is good.

It makes it more efficient.

You're not burying a heating element if it's a gas water heater.

Think about that.

You could have 10 or 12 inches of hard water deposits in the bottom of that.

You're just wasting so much energy trying to heat that water with a 10 inch lime deposit on the bottom it so that heat's not even touching the water.

It has to go through that first.

So be careful.

Guys.

This can be really one of those that cause a lot of damage.

So next thing here, check the thermostat settings, batteries, make sure you got a heating schedule set up.

Reverse those ceiling fans to run clockwise on low to push the warm air down.

And then here's the big one that people forget all the time.

Check that dryer vent.

When was the last time you cleaned that out?

You want to make sure that goes from the dryer all the way out to that little hood that directs the air down.

Outside lint buildup is a huge fire risk and makes the dryer work harder.

If you have a long dryer vent, or even worse, one that goes up from your basement or townhome or wherever else it goes through the roof, that makes it even harder because that lint gets caught up in there.

So be really careful with that and clean it out from the dryer.

Get it all good, get it all sucked up and clean out.

You can jump online and jump, head to Amazon or go to your local home improvement store.

They have little wire brushes that go on these fiberglass poles you can run through there.

Makes it really good to clean it up, so do that.

Attics, pipes and drains.

Check attic insulation.

Look for leaks, moisture, pests.

Insulate those pipes and unheated garages, attics or crawl spaces.

And then here's the gross one that nobody likes to do, but it's a good thing to do.

Clean the hair out of the sink, tub and shower drains.

I do not like using any kind of drain cleaner, full stop.

There are some ones that are not caustic or acidic that you can put down there that are foaming, that are enzyme based.

If you're going to use it to maybe clean out some gunk or scum out of there, get one of the foaming ones that are safe for all pipes.

So enzymes are good, bad chemicals are bad.

You can really create more problems.

Rotted out cast iron or metal.

If you're dropping Drain cleaners down there all the time.

Stop, clean it out and get it done right.

It's gross.

Put on some good rubber gloves and have a little trash bag there to put it in and just go around.

Sometimes it's great.

Get a little tub so you can get under the sink.

Just drop the trap right down.

Get it cleaned out, put it back in there, you'll be good to go.

The other trick I like to do when I'm doing it, get some of those crocodile cloth wipes and then go through there and clean things up as you go.

Make sure that all the seals and stuff when you put that back up in there is good and clean.

So there's a big one right there.

And get that so you don't have to worry about it for another six months or another month if you've got long hair like I do.

That's how it works.

Next one here.

Walk around the house, take a look at the light bulbs.

Are they good?

Do you have old incandescent bulbs you might be able to swap out for LEDs or those darn compact fluorescent bulbs?

Make sure you recycle those.

Those can have mercury in them, so properly dispose of them.

But a lot of great LED bulbs out there.

Get some smart ones, get the right color temperature, so pay attention.

I don't like the big 5,000 Kelvin ones in there.

I like personally the more warmer ones.

You can get those 2,800 kelvin, 3,000 kelvin.

3,200.

Those look more like an incandescent bulb and can be really great light inside your home.

So take a look at that.

That's a big one.

And then check your outdoor lighting.

Make sure that's working clean out all around those.

If you've got bugs that have been getting in there, get it all cleaned up.

Replace any light fixtures as needed and make sure it's all sealed up around there.

And as you go around too.

It's another good trick I like to do is you go around and basically change out those light switches.

For smart ones like the Lutron Casitas, those are great.

You can go around and make sure the bulbs work.

Here's the thing.

With any of the Lutron products like that, make sure that the bulbs work with the switch.

Otherwise you're gonna have a strobe light effect which is going to make your outside look like a rave if you've got cheap or incompatible bulbs out there.

So make sure you don't light your neighborhood up and freak your neighbors out at 2 o' clock in the morning.

If you left the Porch lights on.

When we come back, we're going to talk a little bit more about safety and storm prep.

This is a big one no matter where you're out in the country, because if you're in California, you might have some storms coming.

If you're in the Northeast, you've had storms and who knows what happens down in the South.

I think we're gonna have a pretty active year around the country, so that could be something you want to be ready for.

We'll talk about that just as soon as around the House returns.

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Around the House.

We'll be right back.

Don't change that time.

All right, Welcome back to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.

Thanks for joining me.

We been doing this for 20 plus years on the show and it's something that we try to do each fall so you can make sure you've got everything ready for fall.

And we're ready to rock and roll.

So in this last segment of the hour, I wanted to talk about safety and storm prep.

So this is the stuff that protects your family, not just your house.

So first off, go around and test all those smoke detectors.

Here's the thing, guys, when you do it, pull it down.

Take a look on the back.

There should be a date printed back there.

These are like milk.

When they hit the 10 year mark, it's time to replacement.

If you have that 10 year old house, probably time to be doing that.

So get up there, take a look, test them, make sure they're working.

And the same goes with your carbon monoxide detectors.

Those are key as well.

And you want to replace those when they get old.

Now here's the thing.

Pay attention when you're looking at carbon monoxide detectors because I really want ones.

They're going to be very sensitive.

I think one of the biggest problems that we see with them on the market today is that by the time they go off, you're getting too close to the fatal amount in the area.

Now, carbon monoxide in your house, none of it is safe.

So if you've got something that's going off at I don't Know, I'm gonna make a number up here, 80 parts per million, and you want it to be going off at 5 or 6 because you don't want anything running.

So this is why they don't make a lot of those on the market today.

But you should have some other air quality monitors around your house to make sure that number doesn't get high.

In my house, no matter what, whether there was a car running in the garage for a minute or I didn't turn the vent fan on when I'm using the gas stove, mine doesn't get over 2% at any time.

I've never seen it do that.

And so I'm trying to keep that as low as possible.

That is good for your health.

Now, of course, with carbon monoxide, you just want to keep an eye on it, but check it, make sure you don't have any other issues.

Especially as we get into with H vac system here, where you might be turning on the heat and that might be working incorrectly.

This is something you really want to pay attention to.

So make sure you text all of those and then go around the next one.

Here is to make sure all those GFCI outlets are being tested.

Walk around, click them, take a look.

If you have one in your house that is sensitive, that maybe when you plug in the stereo out in the back, or if you plug in the Christmas lights and it goes off really easy, or it's out in the garage, they're wearing parts.

So you can see those things every eight to ten years needing to be replaced if it's used a lot.

So those do wear out.

So that is the first thing.

If you're in the garage or put up the holiday lights or even putting out those, you know, October Halloween decorations, if they're kicking off, you might have a problem.

So the first thing I would do is test it to make sure it works.

And if it's kicking off too early, replace it.

And if you still have a problem, then obviously you have some kind of a short going on or it's creating enough resistance that it's overheating that and it's kicking it.

So make sure that you test those and that it's working good.

The next one, where the fire extinguishers in your house, make sure they're charged, that they look good and they're easy to reach.

I don't have it beneath the stove because if you have a big stove fire, you might not be able to get to it.

And this is the thing, I tell you what I had you really can't have too many now.

There was a girl that I was dating years ago and her dad was fighting late stage Alzheimer's and it was sad.

I feel for anybody else dealing with that in their family.

We were concerned and they did not want me to turn off the electric range because he had a tendency to turn it on.

He came in with this big huge 32 ounce plastic coffee mug that he liked to use for coffee.

He put it on the coil element and turned it on.

I was downstairs, I was visiting and she was actually putting her kids through a bath.

I was out watching television in the other room.

And of course what happens, I hear smoke detector go off.

And I went, ah, maybe that's just a false alarm up there.

I'm not gonna bug these guys.

I didn't know them that well.

All of a sudden I hear the second one go off and I went running up those stairs out of the daylight basement where they were living.

Went upstairs and oh, they had a barn burner in the kitchen.

There was flames going up into the hood.

There was a microwave next to it.

And he was in there with that coffee mug that had melted all around that element that was red hot, just orange.

And of course the plastic cup was on fire.

And then he had a towel trying to beat out the flames with the towel.

So I ended up reaching in there, I pushed him out of the way, got him out of there.

The problem was is that plastic had eight spot fires in the rest of the kitchen.

The paper towels were burning by the sink.

And so I ended up going in there and had those bigger five pound ones.

I was so concerned.

I did talk them into putting in three of those bigger fire extinguishers.

I used all three after I turned the heat off to the stove.

I had burning plastic everywhere.

And I know how to use a fire extinguisher.

I was using it correctly.

I was halfway through the third one when I finally got the rest out.

It was a heck of a mess.

But that saved the house.

If I would have had one fire extinguisher in there, wasn't going to work.

That was going to be a bigger problem.

So this is a really big deal.

Have a second one, have a third one.

When in doubt, go call the fire department.

I was that close to doing it, but we got it out and then there was a lot of smoke and fire extinguisher mess around there.

This is not one of those places where one of those blankets would have worked really well.

It would have probably worked.

A fire blanket over the Top of this cooktop.

That would have worked, but the rest of it, I still wouldn't need a fire extinguisher because I didn't have three or four blankets to go around to put that stuff out.

And that plastic does not like to go out when it's burning.

It's like a tire fire.

It just keeps going.

So that's a big one.

Be careful.

There's your warning.

Now, water emergencies.

Know where your main water shut off is and make sure it turns easily.

So many times if you've got cpvc, which I absolutely despise, you have that valve in the garage or anywhere and there is zero chance you're going to turn that thing without busting the plastic handle off because it's all degraded.

So make sure you have a way to turn it off.

Now's the time to fix it.

If you can't.

Test your sump pump by pouring water into the pit to make sure it kicks on.

Make sure it's going well and that everything works correctly.

Check the crawl space or basement for cracks and water damage.

Take notes, photos, get measurements.

Mark the crack.

We talked about it last hour.

That's a big one.

Power outages.

Make sure you test run the generator and check fuel and extension cords.

Before storm season, have your plan.

Make it be ready to go.

Drain gas from all lawn equipment or add stable fuel stabilizer.

Before storing it, make sure that's dialed in and then make sure you got your flashlights, your batteries, a few days of water.

And I always recommend.

This is a big one, guys.

Make sure that you have enough food for a couple weeks stored around the house.

Now all you preppers out there, we're not going to get into a big prepping episode and you're not wrong by that.

But make sure that you have enough medication.

We have seen the problems.

When it takes a while for the government to respond for help, you need to be self sufficient.

So what happens if you can't go to the store for two weeks?

What happens if you don't have water for five days?

What happens if you have a storm, an earthquake, a tornado?

Make sure you have enough food.

Do you have a two week supply for everyone, including your pets?

Are you running to the store whenever you're out of food?

Do you have a week's worth of food sitting there?

At least make sure that you've got something for the cats and the dogs and the pets.

Make sure you're dialed in with that.

And then of course, medications.

Do you have all your medications?

Are you waiting to the Last day before you get that refill or are you making sure you got some there now some medications out there, they're going to run you low because there's government rules on that and that's one thing.

But make sure that you've got as much as you can so you got a little bit of backup if you run out of power for five days.

And trust me, in the last probably 10 years I've had power go off three times for five plus days because of windstorms here and ice storms that we have.

Are you going to be driving around trying to find a gas station when you've gone through day two of gasoline running your generator?

Is it a dual fuel or a trifle?

Can you run propane?

Can you run natural gas?

Maybe the natural gas is going to work great for you.

But do you have gasoline?

Till they get the natural gas fixed, maybe you're going to sit there and take some of the fuel out of your vehicle.

Maybe you've got some big old truck with a double gas tank.

Maybe that's your plan.

Make sure you've got all of that so you're ready to go.

And that's going to be the key.

So make sure you got the water, make sure you got the food, make sure you've got all the things you need to keep your family and yourself safe.

And then make sure that don't tell too many people of what you got.

Because the last thing you need is when your neighbors or even if you're an apartment, the last thing you need is people lining up outside wanting your food that you've planned ahead for and you got to share it with others.

If you want to find out more about the around the House show, just go to our website aroundthehouse online.com and you can find out a lot more of us right there.

We've got our website, we've got all the the videos, we've got all the YouTube stuff on there, all the social media.

You can find us right there.

And if you're on the radio out there, make sure that you catch the podcast as well because we do have a midweek special that doesn't air across the country.

I'm Eric G. Thanks for tuning into around the House.

We'll see you next.

Don't want to be a Debbie Downer Just turn a frown upside down don't be a stick in the mud Grab your buddy, grab your butt Take this good time and turn it up louder no one ever talks about the night they went to bed Count.