That Time We talked about Craig's Top 10

Rolling, rolling, rolling.

Oh, we're rolling?

Mm-hmm.

Oh, okay. Let's do it. This is episode number 59 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. We are glad that you could join us today. Uh, we have a really great episode.

Yeah.

Today.

They're always great, man. Yep.

Every single one.

Well, they're, they're good.

Yep. They're, they're like your children. You have to love 'em.

Well, yes. They're, they're your babies. It's funny. It's funny that you say that. I was having a conversation with someone just the other day. I was like, man, everybody has their favorite.

Yep.

Don't they?

They do.

You, you have your favorite child. You, you can't admit it, right? And you can't tell people which one it is, but—

And it ebbs and flows if you—

yeah, you know, especially from like year to year, not even day to day, from like year to year it changes.

Let me tell you what's a problem. If you only got one kid and you don't have a favorite—

Oh yeah, that's bad. So that's why some people just keep having kids.

That's right. I didn't like that one. I'm gonna move it on the next one. One of these is gonna be the favorite.

Well, how you doing, man?

I, I'm exhausted.

Yeah.

Yeah, no, I'm like, I'm good. Like, I'm really, really busy, got good stuff going on. I'm just tired.

Yeah, I feel you on that.

Like, tomorrow will be the first, and like, I'm not even slowing down tomorrow just because I've got stuff I've got to catch up with, uh, since work has been keeping me so busy. Yeah. Um, but Tomorrow's like my first day not working. Oh, in like 2 weeks.

But you will be working, I'm sure.

I'll be working. Yes, on something.

Your house, I'm sure.

Yes.

Yeah, because it's not done.

It's not done, but we're like, the end is in sight.

Yeah, it looks really good.

Thank you.

Yeah, we're excited.

We're excited about it.

Yeah, you should be.

Yeah, we're excited to actually live in the house.

Yeah. Yeah, it's, it's really getting close.

So what's been going on with you?

Oh, well, I've been really busy too. I mean, obviously I wasn't here last week for the show, which was awesome, by the way.

Yeah, how was that bag of Cheetos?

Man, Jehu did a really good job. So did his wife.

Oh man, they're fantastic.

Yeah, it was a lot of really good information. And, uh, I'll tell you the thing for me that I really loved about it was hearing just about the maintenance plan stuff, because I think that that's one of the things that's just sorely overlooked by people.

Oh, absolutely. And then, and then like throw their arms up in the air like, I don't understand why we're having all these problems and why it broke down.

And yeah, it's— and he, he likened it to, to vehicle and just keeping regular maintenance and what happens when you don't. Yeah. And then you turn around, you got a $2,000 fix on a job that someone told you if you would have just changed your air filter, this wouldn't have happened.

Right.

You know.

So yeah, and like one of the things, like we didn't even talk about this on the show, but later on he was telling me, uh, like, listen, after you're done with construction in the house, immediately change all the filters out.

Yeah.

And I was like, I didn't even thought of that, but like there's been so much dust.

Yeah.

From all the work and stuff that people have been doing in the house that like they've got to be filthy.

Yeah. And I'll tell you this, like we, we got a new dog back in January and, um, the dog sheds differently. I mean, he doesn't shed a lot. Uh, but differently than the last one we had. And so we have to pay attention to that. Just, I mean, any little thing that changes, I mean, you have to be aware that your consumption is different.

Do you have to like upgrade to the hypoallergenic filters?

No. In fact, I, I wish I was here to ask that question, uh, because I, I've, I've been told that the, the absolute cheapest filters are the best. Yeah, that like these ones that are super reinforced and, uh, you know, MERV 43 or something. And it's like, get a MERV 6 or whatever.

I don't even know what MERV stands for.

I don't either, but it's a rating on air filters.

Okay.

And so, so the higher the better? Supposedly.

Supposedly.

That's what they're selling you. They cost more, right?

But once again, showing that Kevin and I know diddly squat.

No nothing. But like, you know those, those ones that are just like blue fiber? Right, that apparently those are the best ones.

Cool.

And the reason is because exactly what he was talking about, he's talking about airflow, right, coming through, uh, the return. And if you get stuff that's a heavier material, it's harder for air to go through. And it, you know, all you need to do is catch particles and, you know, hair and stuff that you don't need in your system.

And then change it out from time to time.

Yep.

Or let Amazon tell you to change it out. You can put them on subscription.

There you go.

Which is exactly what we do.

That's what we do too.

Because we can't remember anything.

Yeah. But man, it's been, it's been busy for, for us too, for different reasons than you. But, um, one of the things that we really got ourselves into is, uh, 7 years ago we bought a travel trailer, right? Uh, and it was, um, it was old then. It was a '97 model, and it's, it's a really very nice camper, but it had some, some rotten uh, wood in the exterior walls. Uh, it wasn't leaking anymore, but at some point something had leaked or something, some water had gotten in there and it had rotten, uh, rotted some of the wood out. And so obviously that's a problem that's never going to get better, it's just going to get worse.

Yeah.

I had a guy come over to my house and, and check it out, uh, quoted me $4,000 to get it fixed, and I was like, I barely paid a little bit more than that for this thing. I'm not putting that much money into it. And I, again, I'm not skilled at much, but I do a little bit. And I figured, you know what, there's enough YouTube videos out there and enough, you know, uh, thought put in preparation in, in before getting started. I'll see what I can do.

Yeah.

And, uh, we started, had a friend come over and, and help me. And man, it was fun. And we, we It took us a long time to kind of figure out a game plan of what we were gonna do, 'cause we had to peel the fiberglass back and, um, that, you know, you never know what you're gonna find. Right. And we had to cut some, some of it out and replace some studs and, um, reinforce some different things here and there.

And I mean, are the, are the structures of campers, are they, are they normally built with wood?

Uh, the older ones are. Okay. Yeah. And, and, and in fact, some of the newer ones are too. Um, I think more of them are being built with aluminum.

Okay.

But I mean, a lot of them are still 2x2 studs and yeah, which there's, there's even insulation in there.

I mean, I would imagine the wooden ones are a little heavier than the aluminum.

They are.

Okay.

Yeah, absolutely. And, and this, I mean, this camper is a 26-foot, um, with the tongue and the, and the, uh, the bumpers and everything, it's like right at 30 feet, but it weighs like 8,200 pounds dry. Yeah, that's it. That's a heavy camper.

Sure.

Um, where, you know, that one today would probably weigh more like 5,500 to 6,000.

Yeah.

Um, just because they're building it with better, more light material. So, but that was just the— we only got like one part of it done. We've got to do all the way down the side. And so we got the front part done, then we got the slide, and then we got the back part we still got to do. So still a lot of work to do. Um, but I, I'll tell you, So far, I, I don't think I'm gonna have to buy more material. Uh, you know, that's famous last words.

Yeah.

Uh, but if that's the case, right now I've spent about $240.

Nice.

And, and time. Uh, but the guy's charging me $4,000 to get it done, and I'm gonna do it. I guarantee I'm gonna finish this project for less than $500. So You know, I, I guess it just goes to show you anything can be done.

Yeah.

As, as long as you have the time and the willpower to do it, you can get in there and you can do it. And you know what, he may have done a better job at $4,000 than I'm doing right now, but what I want to accomplish, I definitely accomplished.

Yeah.

And so I'm happy with it. And at the end of the day, what we want to be able to do is we want to be able to keep it for a little bit longer. We, we want to be able to sell it.

And let somebody else get some use out of it.

Absolutely. And we, we want someone to have a decent trailer, and we want to be able to sell it for, you know, at least what we paid for it, which we'll definitely be able to do.

Well, I mean, you also want someone to want to buy it. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I'll tell you right now, I, I knew when I bought it that it had issues and that I was either gonna have to do something with it or just get rid of it.

Yeah.

Um, and I'm doing something about it, and you know, at the end of the day, someone will come by and they'll find that it's in very good shape still. And I can tell them with confidence, I spent a lot of time reinforcing this thing and you're not going to have an issue. Yeah. So anyway, that's what I've been doing.

So sounds like fun.

It is fun. Yeah.

I mean, I imagine it's going to go a lot faster now that you've kind of opened it up and you know how it works.

It absolutely will. Because one of the things we did is we came up with a game plan, went and got the materials, came back, started on that game plan and realized, This isn't gonna work as well as we thought.

Yeah.

So then we came up with a new plan, went back to the store, returned some stuff, bought some new stuff, came back. And by— once we actually got started, I bet we only spent like 3 hours doing the job that we did, and we were out there for 12. So, you know, it's just a— it's a matter of getting, getting in there, figuring out what's going on.

Yeah, it's the figuring out part that always takes so long.

It is.

You gotta sit there and look at it for a while, and you do What are you gonna do when I move that?

Yep, yep, exactly. But anyway, uh, one of the things that we had to figure out is how are we going to reattach the fiberglass to the wood. A lot of people online were saying we had a hard time trying to figure that out, and we found a product that—

Is it like a glue or do you use rivets?

No, it's, um, it's a glue, uh, and what we went with is, uh, it's a Liquid Nails product.

Okay.

But, but what it's called is Liquid Nails Ultra Fast Grip.

Okay.

Or, sorry, Ultra Quick Grip. And it says on the tube, no bracing required, which is, you know, how are you really— I mean, there are ways to kind of brace it to make sure that it stays, you know, flat long enough to adhere. But with this, man, we, we put that stuff on there, put the fiberglass down to the wood, and it didn't move. So we'll see the test of time. I mean, it's an interior/exterior glue, and there are other products out there. This was like $4, almost $5 a tube, um, and you can buy some stuff that's like $7, $8 a tube that's supposed to do similar stuff.

Yeah.

So I don't know, we'll see. Test of time. But right now—

Some of that glue is incredible.

It really is.

I mean, the, the guys working on our house, they got to a section, the, the stairs going in the kitchen, and they glued the wood down on the stair steps.

Yep.

He about to never got it off.

Yeah, because that, that wood glue specifically, and there are other glues that are like this, it's, it's stronger than the wood itself.

Yeah.

And so, yeah, no, it's, it's good stuff. Um, you got to be careful with it. Um, but yeah, it's fun. I'm gonna do it again Saturday. Hey, there you go.

So nothing like a fun Saturday filled with work.

Yeah, it's, it's just the way life goes right now. I feel like everything's— so Thanksgiving's a big deal for our family. Yeah, I feel like every Thanksgiving I've got something that I'm trying to get done just so that we can spend a week at Thanksgiving, and I look forward to it a lot.

It is a good holiday.

It's a great holiday. It's one of my favorites. Yep.

Yeah.

Well, cool, man. Well, I'm looking forward to this episode. So, uh, last, uh, 2 weeks ago, uh, I did my top 10 must-haves, right? And tonight it's your turn.

It is my turn.

I can't wait because I have no doubt that our lists are vastly different.

Oh yeah, I'm bringing the epicness.

Okay. Yeah, I'll be the determinant of that.

Which I think is a phrase I just coined. Bringing the epicness.

Okay, so we'll see if that's a website available. Or epicness.com.

Hashtag epicness.

Yeah, I'll see if it catches on. It's all right, I'm ready.

You ready?

Hit me.

All right, uh, so I, I kind of— I didn't do like a countdown. I started at number 1, so like my favorite one's number 10.

Oh, okay.

Does that make sense?

Yeah.

So we're gonna count up.

Yeah, mine was just all over the place. I had no order.

Also because Notes wouldn't let me count down from 10.

Oh, that's— yeah, no, they probably would. You just would— it would have taken way too much time.

I didn't spend the most time. So we're gonna, we're gonna use the macro in Notes to count us up to 10.

All right, number 1.

Number 1, walk-in shower.

Walk-in shower. Yes.

Which I did not have in this house when I bought it.

Okay.

But I have now.

Yeah.

So because I knew that was something, I knew that the bathroom in the master was gonna be something that we were gonna want to get done eventually. And I, man, I don't like bathtubs. Never have. I don't get 'em.

They're weird.

Especially little ones. And I'm, 'cause I'm kind of a big guy.

Most of 'em are little.

And like too little.

Yeah.

Like they're like only good for like toddlers. And yeah, so I mean, I like a good big bathtub, like occasionally.

Yeah. Um, when's the last time you were in a bathtub though?

Uh, it's been a while. Uh, it was— and honestly, it was because I'd, I'd been doing a lot of hard work and I threw some Epsom salt in the tub and I just, I just soaked. Yeah, that was, that was the whole point of that. I don't, I don't enjoy bathing in a tub for sure.

Yeah, and, and there are people out there that really do, but fine. Yeah, but the, the number of people that actually use their bathtub on an even semi-regular basis, it winds up being a small number of people and it's a waste of space.

Yeah. So, but yeah, so this, this was a big deal. I, I'm— so I just got this.

Yeah.

And it's, it's been awesome. I absolutely love it. I got, I got to design it and do it the way I wanted it. Um, I got the, the big giant Rain head, and so lots of space to move around. I got a seat in there, so it's, it's all good now.

I like it. Yeah, that time whenever you were gone that I came over and used it, I thought it was fantastic.

Well, the, uh—

I used your loofah too, by the way. I'm not gonna tell you what I used last.

Joke's on you, that's not a loofah.

Uh-oh.

But, uh, yeah, no, my, my contractor has been, has been sharing the pictures of the bathroom that he that he got done for us. Although he's been getting lots of traffic off of it. So I feel like I did a good job picking out the tile and the design and, and, uh, and I'm actually not quite done with it yet. There's like a piece of trim and we're putting in, um, uh, tin ceiling tiles above it.

Okay.

So we gotta still do that as well.

Not the number 10.

Like T-I-N.

The material tin. Material tin. Yeah.

Which is really expensive, by the way.

It is.

I was like, man, this is gonna be awesome, like not expensive. Nope.

False. No, those are like commodities these days.

Crazy. Yeah, well, there's actually companies out there making new ones.

I know, I know.

And they're twice as expensive as the used ones.

I know.

Because they're making the new ones look like the used ones.

Yep.

So, okay. But yeah, I like it. Yep. So walk-in shower.

Yeah. And, and now there's a, there's a specific reason that you like walk-in shower though, right? Like beyond Beyond just the, the open-air feel, you, you told us at one point you just hate—

I hate glass. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's the dumbest thing on a shower.

Yeah.

And like, I've talked to people that clean houses and things like that, and like, they'll tell you, like, the thing that they hate cleaning the most is the glass in showers.

They're almost impossible to clean.

Yeah, they get scummy and streaky. And like, I mean, like, it's not like you're not going to use it at least every other day, right? Um, and so there's a lot of surface area there too to clean. So, so yeah, so when we— when I, when I put mine together, I made sure that we had enough space, um, to where it wasn't— there was no splash.

Yeah.

Um, when the water came down. Sure. So I— and but there you could just walk in.

Nice.

Um, now I've seen them with glass that look really cool. I mean, like, I'm not like begrudging you if you have glass, but like, I just didn't want it.

And this is your list.

That's right. So suck it. Yeah, you ready for my next one?

I am.

All right, a fully functional kitchen. Okay, this is a big deal for me.

Okay, explain what fully functional means to you.

Well, because like I see a lot of— I'm in and out of a lot of people's homes.

Okay.

And so to me, it's real obvious when like this kitchen is intended to be used on a daily basis, or this is just a showpiece.

Okay.

Like, I Um, like, you don't cook in here.

Yeah.

I want a kitchen I can cook in.

Yeah.

And so I, I want my kitchen to look nice, but I also want it to be extremely functional. I love cooking. You know, we've, we've been, uh, one of our other businesses has been in the catering business, uh, and so like, it's just a big deal to us. We like preparing really, really nice food. Now, the house that we bought here, uh, doesn't have like the ideal kitchen. So this was actually like a concession that I made. Uh, one, it's a weird kitchen because it's on the second and a half floor, and the view is amazing.

Yeah.

We put a big 7-foot window in over the sink, so that, that's really fun.

Yeah.

But, um, it's not as big as I would like. Uh, I don't have a butcher block like I would like. There's some things that I have that I— there's some things I would like in that kitchen that I just don't have room for, but it's still very functional. Uh, we remodeled it right after we moved in to make it even more functional, give it some more space, some more openness. Um, but, uh, yeah, I, I want it to be a cook's kitchen. Um, and, and, and that's, so like, I, I tend to design it around that, the functionality of it rather than does it look pretty? Um, and it doesn't make it like, mean it's like utilitarian or

anything like that, but like, cuz you can have a pretty kitchen but also be functional.

Sure.

Um, but I'm, I am also, uh, strongly opposed to microwaves.

Yes.

I don't like them.

No, you don't.

So we don't have 'em. Nope, much to my wife's chagrin.

Okay, so, but she gets over it.

Yep. Yeah, so, um, and honestly, if you ask her, I mean, like, do you really feel like you need one, she'd probably tell you no.

Yeah, not at this point, right? Yeah.

So, and it had one when we moved in. I just, I chucked it.

She's out of here. That's right. Well, so you mentioned a butcher block. One of the things that was super— I, I felt like it was just really weird at the house that we that we bought, uh, very first house we bought, it had regular Formica, uh, you know, countertops. But in the, the countertop was a, was a cutting board, a glass cutting board. And—

Oh, like built in?

Like built in.

That's weird.

It is. It was super weird and gross. Wound up— nope, it was awesome. It was awesome? It was awesome. So it was, it was, uh, it I used it all the time. Yeah, all the time. And it was, it was really like stuff stuck in the sides. I mean, we kept— we cleaned it every time we used it.

So, so was it—

I guess potentially it could have.

Was it like on level with the Formica or was it like, like sort of like beveled in?

It was on level and then it had a piece of trim around it. So yeah, I mean, stuff could get dirty there if you, if you didn't clean it, but we kept it clean. So that wasn't an issue for us. But what was interesting, it was It was right above the, uh, the dishwasher. So the dishwasher was in front of it. So as long as that was closed and we, we chopped our vegetables and cut up meat on it, I mean, it was nice because we never needed to pull out a cutting board. A cutting board. It was just always right there. So it was, it was super weird whenever we bought it. We're like, we hate this. Yeah, we used it all the time. Yeah.

See, in my mind, I go like a lot of times when I'm cooking, I'll probably use 3 cutting boards.

Yeah.

Um, but, but because like on one I'll cut meat, on the other one I'll cut vegetables, and then like other stuff like, you know, herbs and different things like that. Um, and I don't like the juices touching until I intend for them to touch in the pan.

Well, some of it is a sanitary problem too.

Yeah, but yeah, you don't want raw chicken on anything that—

Yeah, exactly. So, all right, cool.

Yep.

All right, next.

Wraparound porch.

Wraparound porch is a good one.

Yeah, uh, I've always wanted one, so I got one.

You do have one.

Um, that was— I mean, honestly, like, once I saw that when I drove, I didn't really care what the rest of the place— I, I saw the wraparound porch and I was like, no one has those anymore.

That's true.

I love them. Um, I'm just— I'm kind of a porch guy. Uh, Yeah, and this, it's not a— this is not a full wraparound porch, but you know, 3/4 ain't bad.

No, it, it's— and it's a, it's a wide porch.

Yeah, I mean, like, you can, you can sit out in a rainstorm and you'll be fine.

Yeah.

Um, and you know, that's where the dogs hang out, that's where my kids hang out.

That's where Amazon delivers the products.

Yep. I mean, all our packages are covered. So it's currently used as a staging area For construction.

Yeah.

So it's sturdy. Yes.

Yes. There's a lot of tile on it.

Yeah. That was it, man. That had to have been like close to 2,000 pounds of tile. Oh, so much. Easy.

So much.

I mean, it— so like, just, just for frame of reference, I mean, like, it, it sagged my big old pickup truck and I stacked it on the porch and it didn't even budge.

Yeah. I was like, yeah, well made.

Yeah. Yeah, so really, I just, I really enjoy a good rocking chair on the porch. Sure. So that was a big deal for us. Yeah, I don't know that there's— the only thing that was weird about this one when we got it is it didn't have any lights.

Okay.

Which was just bizarre to me.

Yeah, that, that's kind of a thing that needs to happen.

Yeah, I mean, it had a light over by the front door.

Okay.

And that was it. Yeah, so I mean, like, how do you enjoy that thing at night without any lights out here?

They probably didn't Had to happen. I like it. Let's take a little bit of an aside here. I heard something today that was really interesting. We mentioned Amazon bringing packages in. We've talked about the service that they have where they'll drop packages off inside your house. Walmart is testing— they've got 3 cities that they're testing this in. they're testing that they'll deliver your groceries and put them away for you. And I think primarily in the refrigerator.

Sure, the cold stuff goes in the cold box.

Exactly.

Yeah.

And so they will come into your house and they will put your groceries in the fridge for you so you don't have to be there. And apparently, like, you have to buy it— it's like $20 a month Mm-hmm. And you can do it unlimited times. And then there's a device, a one-time device you have to buy, it's like $50, that, um—

Basically gives them access.

It gives them access, but it also— it'll turn on a video whenever they get there to make sure that they're legit doing what they're supposed to do, so that you can kind of see.

Hmm.

So, uh, anyway—

I guess maybe you could like, no, no, no, the eggs go on the second shelf.

Right. But I mean, I mean, just think about the practicality of it if you're like an old person. that, yeah, that really can't get out and maybe just doesn't get around that well. Um, I mean, someone walks in and puts away your groceries for you, that's huge.

That's— yeah.

And, and if you're as busy as you've been recently, I mean, there, there's some practicality to it.

Yeah.

It'll be interesting to see what happens.

Let me tell you, man, I'm a big fan of these grocery services. I mean, we've, we've used the curbside service numerous times.

We almost exclusively use it.

I mean, if you have kids—

Yes.

And you have children even slightly like mine, um, you know, going into the store—

It's a nightmare.

It's not so much a nightmare. I mean, like, they're not bad, they just, you know, are loud. It—

well, it takes you a lot longer because you're trying to get them to not disturb the other people.

Stop throwing tomatoes at that woman. Give the man back his sushi. I mean, just like, yeah.

And, you know, we— it's funny because I actually had someone the other day that was talking to me about this, and they were like, you know, but, but really, you need to be teaching your kids how to, how to go to the grocery store and, like, be civil. And my response to them was, why? I'm already literally able to pick up my groceries outside.

Yeah.

What do you actually think in the next 20 years, whenever they're gonna need to be civil walking into a grocery store that they're actually gonna actually be grocery stores for them to walk into.

Who knows, man? Anyway, either way, they'll figure it out.

Yeah. All right, what's next on your list?

Next on my list, no water heater in the attic.

Oh my goodness. Yeah, that, that is a great one. Thankfully I don't have one.

Yeah, but, and any of you that do Get it fixed.

Oh my goodness.

Move it.

Immediately.

So—

Why? Why, Craig?

Man, I've had, I've had 4 different customers in the last 5 years basically lose their entire home because of hot water heaters in the attic.

Wow.

Uh, they spring leaks and like, I don't know what it is about going on vacation and your hot water heater busting a rupture, but I, I literally, I've, I've had 5 customers lose their homes Over hot water heaters springing leaks when they're out of town. Yeah. And, and like, and if they're in the attic, it's just gonna go from there to the second floor to the ground floor, and it's just gonna get everything.

That's right.

It's the absolute worst. Like, I, I cringe every time I find one in someone's attic.

I know. Now, now there are a couple of things you can do, right? I mean, the most obvious one is get a tankless, right?

Yeah. But if you, if you, if you don't wanna move it, then that's, that's a good option.

Yeah. But the cheapest option is to get a leak detector.

Right. That shuts it off.

Yeah. And well, it is, it will shut it off and it'll send out a, a signal that will let you know my water heater is malfunctioning. Right. And you can at least get somebody over there even if you're not there to, to take care of it.

Right. I mean, but the problem is, is like, you know, you got to get supply lines up to the hot water, so it can break.

Sure.

Before it even gets to the hot water heater.

Sure.

Because you got to get water up there.

You do.

And, you know, fluctuating temperatures, which attics are prone to do, uh, messes with PVC joints. Yeah. You know, especially if you've got old PVC joints. And yeah, so yeah, it's just not like— if I, if I, if a realtor showed me a house and I, I saw a hot water heater in the attic I'd, I'd walk.

Well, or change it out.

Yeah, right. I mean, like, or I demand the people that are selling it to me fix it. Yeah, you know, get it out of there.

Yeah. And I know that a lot of people are listening probably right now going, well, I've got one, I'm not about to go change it. I— if I were you, I would find a way to start saving money.

Yeah.

So that you can, or increase your insurance. Or both. Yeah.

I mean, like some of the, some of those folks, man, I mean, like I'm, they were out of their house for like 6 months.

Oh my goodness.

Because it was just so bad.

Yeah.

So that's crazy.

Yeah.

Not, not cool.

Okay. Next.

Uh, the option for gas.

Okay.

Yeah.

That's a good one.

So I, I want the option to have gas appliances. Yeah. You know, wherever they're, you know, the only one I'm not, uh, real picky about is the dryer. Yeah. I mean, that's not a big deal to me if that's gas. Sure. Um, because, you know, end of the day, if I need to, I can hang my clothes on a line. Sure. Um, but, you know, like stove and grills and, you know, everything else that can take gas.

Yep.

Uh, space heaters and all that kind of stuff, you know, because, you know, if, if everything else goes, I can still cook food, right?

Yep. So, well, and if you, if you ever watch a cooking show, you're gonna find that they cook on, on gas. On gas. Yeah, they, they typically have electric ovens and gas stoves, right? And, you know, we were fortunate enough at our previous house, we bought— and you can do this, uh, they're available— we bought a, uh, a range that was a, it was a both-in-one. It had an oven and a stove, and it was dual fuel, right? And they're more expensive, but yeah, you can still cook, you can still get heat.

Mm-hmm.

You know, if you've got If you've got gas.

Um, yeah, our oven is a dual fuel.

Yeah.

So, and it's fantastic.

It is.

So, but I, yeah, I'd never— again, I grew up with electric burners. I mean, they're not terrible, but they just cook different.

They cook vastly different.

Um, and my food just tastes better when it's cooked over gas.

Yep.

Sorry. And, you know, that's it. So that's what I want. I just want the option for gas.

Okay.

And honestly, if you don't— if your home currently doesn't have gas but there's gas nearby, if you'll put in 3 gas appliances, the gas company will put the line in for free.

Right.

So, uh, like my parents did that recently and they, they didn't, they didn't want to have to run a gas line into their kitchen in order to put a burner in. Um, so they bought a natural gas, um, what do you call it? Can't think of it. That whole house power generator. Thank you. There we go. They bought a natural gas generator. Okay. Um, and then some other, like they did a gas hookup for a grill and I forget what the other thing was that they, that they did, but the gas—

Lights are a common thing.

Yeah.

Lights on your garage or something.

Yeah, like fire lights or something like that. Um, but anyway, they, they had that put in, and so the gas company just hooked it up for them. No big deal.

Yep.

Why wouldn't they? I mean, it's— hey, we're gonna charge you for every bit that you use.

That's right.

So yeah, I think for me, just having the option for gas, just having the hookup there, uh, is huge. And it's all over the place in this house.

Sure.

Um, so we have it for heaters and our gas furnace and our gas stove and our gas hot water heater, which is way more efficient than electric.

Yes, it is.

Um, so it's just a good option.

Okay, cool.

Yep. So my next one is 5 bedrooms. Oh wow, that's nice. Um, well, and, and I, I think we're kind of like in a similar situation with you, except, you know, we have 3 kids.

Yeah.

Uh, so we, we just need the extra one for a guest, right? Uh, or a, you know, an office, or, you know, just that extra room. So when we bought the one that we're in now, um, we only had 2 kids, and that's all we were planning on having.

Surprise!

Yeah, so we've, we've had to get a little creative with the bedroom situation, but I think we've figured it out.

You fixed it.

So, um, but we're, we're still at capacity. We don't have— we don't really have a space for guests except for like the exterior buildings that have bedrooms and things in them. No one can come stay in our house, which is actually kind of nice.

Um, there is that.

There is that. So No additional guests, but the option would be really nice. Yeah, yeah, just to have a little bit extra space.

Sure.

So there you go.

Okay.

Yeah, so my next one is a shop. Yeah, um, my house needs a shop. Okay. And just a place that I can go and tinker and build. And, you know, and I have to— like, I— the last house that we had just had an attached garage, and it just didn't— it wasn't the same.

No.

Um, and so now that, now that I have a whole separate shop, you know, I can, I can come out here and we're actually kind of in the shop right now. The studio's attached to it. Um, you know, it, I can come out here late at night and tinker and I'm not bothering people in the house. And a lot of times that's the only time I have to tinker.

Sure.

And, and do things in the shop. Um, and so it was just a big deal to have that extra. And we, you know, we have a pretty good size workspace over here. I could, I could deal with something bigger for sure. Um, but this is plenty of room.

Yeah.

So that was a big deal. And, and just to have, uh, what was a big deal on this one is that it had the 220 hookups.

Yeah, that makes a big difference.

Yeah, I mean, because that's expensive to put in. It is. Um, and so it was nice to have that already there. We don't, we don't utilize it currently, but it's, you know, if we needed to, it's nice to know that it's, it's just already there.

Sure.

Um, So yeah, and this one, this one was actually built to have an RV in it.

Yeah.

Um, which we don't. So yeah.

Well, you're also not having to repair it. Right.

Having to learn about gluing fiberglass.

Exactly. Yeah.

So, so yeah, shop was a big deal.

Okay. Yeah, I like it.

And I think most, I think most guys would enjoy, I mean, like, even if you're not into like woodworking, I mean, like if you're kind of nerdy and want to build computers or, you know, robotics or 3D printing, it's nice just to have a separate, a big space or a man cave.

Yeah, yeah, just something that's yours.

So yeah, um, so yeah. Okay, number 8. 8, outdoor lighting. Okay, um, we're big outdoor people. Uh, we love, you know, like I mentioned before, the wraparound porch, it didn't have lights, so we went ahead and made sure that that had lights. Um, but I think outdoor lighting can take Lots of different forms. I think tiki torches are kind of cool as outdoor lighting. I'm a big fan of tree lights, which we haven't really invested in here yet, mostly because I don't want the light pollution because we have a really pretty view of the stars out here. But anywhere that's covered, we have lights for outdoor nighttime activities.

So you can be You can be there. There.

Yeah. Like our whole, our whole deck has got tons of lights on it for when we have parties and, and guests. And, you know, if the kids decide to go swimming at night, they can.

Yeah.

Um, so yeah, outdoor lighting. And like, I think of our fire pit as a big outdoor light. Um, and it's a big enough fire pit that we can light up most of the front part of the property if we need to. Sure. Um, so that, that, that That wasn't necessarily one I was looking for before, but now that I have it, yeah, I'd want it again.

Yeah, I think that's— I think that's so true about a lot of things. It's like once you have it, you don't want to not have it next time, right? You know, and so that, that, that's really hard. I think one of the, one of the segments of people that becomes really difficult for is like empty nesters, where they're like, I want to downsize. I'm like, the house is just too big. I don't need the 5 bedrooms anymore. I just need—

They're tired of cleaning it too.

Absolutely. I, I, we talked about that not too long ago, that once you get into a certain size of house, it's like you have to hire out, you know?

Right.

But, you know, once you have something, it's hard to downsize from that.

Right.

So I get it.

Yeah. So it's, it's been, it's been a nice addition. Sure. To, to what we have. So the next one is, is one that I didn't think that I would ever— again, this is one that we didn't have before, and now that we have it, I'm like, I really enjoy it. is the pool.

Yeah.

Um, and I, I like our pool in particular, uh, just because it's, it's, it's kind of hard to describe, but it's kind of indoors.

Yeah, well, it's covered.

It's covered.

Yeah.

Um, it's, it's covered on 3 sides and then it's open on the other side. But what's really nice about that is, you know, the kids can go swimming all the time, even like, even if it's raining, they can, they can get in there and swim. Um, And they also don't get sunburned, right? So they can swim a lot longer.

That's huge.

So the, the difficult part about it has been controlling the temperature in the pool. It gets a little chilly.

Yeah, it's almost always cold.

Yeah, yeah. But it's, it's just a nice contained area to, you know, anyway, and, and the kids just love swimming.

Well, and, and yours specifically is unique beyond, beyond that in that it is in an entertainment space.

Yes.

So like adults have something to do rather than just sit around and, uh, you know, also get sunburned, right? You know, there's, there's something for, for the adults to do as well, which is, again, it's unique.

Yeah, I mean, because there's— it's, again, it's just kind of weird, but there's, there's a bar. Yeah. And there's a stage, and you can watch— there's like the projection screen you can watch the, the game up on, if there was a game on. I don't know why there would be a game on at my house, but that's true. In theory, you could watch a game.

Yeah.

We mostly use it for letting the kids watch movies.

Sure.

Um, you know, cook in the kitchen over there. Yeah, it is a unique space. It's, it's, it's been a lot of fun for us to host for, you know, having friends over.

Yeah, it's the party deck.

Yep, that's what it is. So, so yeah, having a, having a pool, uh, has just been a real big deal for us.

Sure.

So, okay.

Last?

The last one for me is land.

Land.

Yep. I mean, honestly, if this place didn't have a house on it, I could have cared less. I just wanted the land.

Yeah.

So, and, you know, we're not—

we—

I am, you know, more outdoorsy kind of a guy. And so, like, I like having the horses and the dogs, and, you know, I wouldn't mind chickens and goats and all that other stuff. So, I mean, Um, just, just having the land to have all that stuff, have the room to move around. Like, I can go take a walk. Yeah, I don't have to leave the property.

Yeah, and, and your neighbors aren't on top of you.

Yeah, I never see my neighbors unless I want to.

Yeah, but they're close.

Yeah, they're pretty close. Yeah. Um, relatively. I mean, I can throw a rock and hit some of them.

Sometimes on purpose.

Well, depends on how shaggy their grass has gotten though, right? But, uh, but yeah, just, just having enough property just to, you know, move around.

Yeah.

Uh, I, I was, I was actually doing some work out in the yard today and like my, my kids were out playing in the woods. Um, and it was just cool that, you know, that, that's their woods.

Yeah.

Um, and you know, that's their trees and And, you know, I didn't really care if they chopped them down or not, you know, and which— that's what they were doing.

Yeah, but like, your, your kids, uh, the way they play is very different the way than my, than my kids play, because my kids just don't have the same availability of, of land, of, of just go run outside and—

Yeah.

You know, don't cross the fence line. Right. I mean, we, first of all, we don't have a fence. Second of all, if they did, they'd be, you know, in the golf course. And so it's just a— it's a, it's a very different style of living, and it, and it changes, changes your lifestyle.

Yeah, we have, we have thought about getting like the perimeter collars for the children. Not for their protection, for everyone else's.

They might show up at the grocery store.

That's right.

Nobody wants that.

Acting unseemly. Oh man. But that's my list, man. It's not real complicated or highfalutin.

Well, the thing I like about your list is very— there's a lot of wiggle room within that list.

Oh yeah.

I mean, it's not like saying— mine tended to be much more specific, and yours tended to be a little more broad.

Yeah, because some things I'm not real picky about.

Sure. And I guess that's my point is within your list, there's a lot of room. Mm-hmm. And there's a lot of stuff you can do with it. I think one of the things that would be cool is if we did some episodes of maybe must-have things, go by room.

Okay.

Room by room by room.

What you gotta have in that room?

Yeah.

Yeah, I think that would be good. Yeah. Um, because I can, I can like, especially if we're talking about the kitchen, I can, I can be, I can be picky.

Yeah. And, you know, living room, man, I can be really picky. And, and, you know, I, I think that again, The thing that I love about this episode is that this is your list. Nobody else is going to have a list just like this one.

Yeah. I think one of the things that would be fun is to hear from some folks and hear what would be your top 3. What do you absolutely have to have in that house before you would buy that?

Yeah. Send them to us, info@homeownersshow.com. Send it to us.

We will talk about them.

Yeah, I would love to.

Criticize them.

Hey, I, you know, the, the thing is, like, in, in your list, there are some things that just aren't as big, big of a deal to me, right? I don't want a pool. I don't want to deal with a pool. Yeah, I, I like living in a neighborhood where a pool is available and where we are paying for a pool, but I don't want to have to maintain it.

Yeah.

Um, so, you know, Well, again, everybody has their own thing.

Me neither, so I don't.

Well, you can also pay for someone else to do it.

That's right.

Yeah.

Well, there's that. It's just not my chore, so.

And if you don't know anything about that, we've got an episode on pools.

It was like one of our first episodes.

It was— was it number 1?

No, because number 1 was just us talking about ourselves.

It was number 2.

Yeah, we had, we had to get all the narcissism out of the way. Yeah. And then we moved on to pools.

Yeah, episode number 2. Don't, don't judge us by number 2.

That was, uh, that was Jason with Endless Summer.

Yeah, so great guy.

Yeah, he does a good job. Yeah, knows his stuff.

He really does.

Yeah, well, he doesn't take care of my pool. I've asked him, he won't do it.

Really?

No.

Why?

He says it's too far.

Well, he— we do live a long way from him. You and I both. Yeah. Well, cool, man. Well, uh, send us out of here.

Send us out of here? Well, listen, I mean, like, if you guys have listened this far, clearly you've enjoyed what's going on. So if you have enjoyed the show, send us a review. Let us know how we did. We want to hear from you. Uh, also you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all the fun social media places.

Yep.

None of the places that aren't fun. All the unfun social media, we're not there.

No.

So don't go there.

But there's some new places we are.

Sure.

Yeah.

Like what?

Well, you can find us on Stitcher.

Yep.

You can find us on, um, not Pandora yet, right?

Not Pandora yet. They're like, they're being weird.

Okay.

Honestly, they're like being real choosy and like slow rolling podcasts out. I don't know how they're even deciding what goes up. So it's weird.

Ours isn't at the top of the list because we don't have enough reviews. So if you like what you're hearing, Go leave us a review. Get us at the top of the list.

So I, I think, I think we've actually moved into the number 2 slot for the home, like homeowner category.

Okay, cool.

So yeah, I mean, like we're trending number 2.

Deal.

As the number 2 homeowner podcast.

All right.

So we got a few other categories we need to move up in. So the reviews help.

Yes, they do.

Um, but yeah, likes and comments and emails, we love those as well. That's right. We just love hearing from you guys.

Yeah, thanks for, thanks for hanging out, hanging out with us. And, uh, you know, we, we enjoy putting the content out. And so, you know, if you have any ideas of things you want to listen to, let us know and we'll see what we can do. But we're here every Tuesday, so thanks for downloading.

Share with your friends.

Until then, we'll see you next time.

See ya.