SUMMARY KEYWORDS
tool, wi fi thermostat, diy, cool, plumbing, house, air, batteries, turn, gas, abt, bought, put, nail, bad, electric, morning, literally, friends, nail gun
00:02
Before you start your next do it yourself project. Listen to this. You got this is on the air you got this is hosted by abt plumbing electric heat and air owner, Andrew Twidwell, and Rosalie Brown with a helpful hand. Here are Andrew and Rosalie
00:17
This is, Andrew Twidwell, owner of ABT plumbing, electric heat and air. And this is you got this, a show about DIY do’s and don’ts. And this is take five, I just want to let you guys know, because I’ve been fumbling I just the intro, I usually do this, like without any problem at all, but for some reason, you know, it’s June, I guess, and all of a sudden, my brain doesn’t work anymore, if that’s what they’ll blame on COVID because my brain is still a little funky from COVID. So that’s gotta be it. Right? Blah. Okay. Yeah, so we’re back. Welcome back to our show. So to show DIY do’s and don’ts, and we got a lot going on, but let’s just kind of do our little typical banter stuff. What’s going on in your life? Oh, wait, yeah, I do have a co host. So we have Rosalie. Hi, how are you? We’re just stumbling along.
01:03
I hope. You’re gonna make me carry the show. I know. That’s your plan to carry the show. I probably have more coffee than you and I probably woke up possibly earlier than you. So my
01:14
530 so Oh, I beat you. Oh, my.
01:17
Yeah. So see you not your son, but my dog. He has taken to the very first early morning twilight hits the blinds. And he feels like he’s got to wake up immediately. And I think what it is is I told you before right he has that kind of encounter. That’s that’s a strong word with the coyote. Right. And he I think he has it in his little crop there that um, it’s a twilight you know, our when you’re gonna
01:48
watch a lot of TV so watching that friends and that the guy out the window. Joey’s window. Good morning. Yeah, it’s five o’clock in the morning. Yeah,
01:59
it’s that’s that’s you. And I think he’s, I think he’s hoping for another encounter. Because he wants to show his you know, his promise, whatever. So yeah, his his bad Adams theory. Yeah. Yeah. So he’s picking me up pretty early. It’s like having a toddler in the house, which has been many years for me. So yeah, how’s that for you? But I will say, I don’t have I don’t nor have I ever had COVID that I’m aware of. But the fog that you talked about. We’ll go ahead and call it COVID. related, but I almost this morning, I was making a smoothie. And I almost put whiskey in it. I didn’t have it. And I was like, oh, maybe tomorrow. I’m supposed to talk to Andrew a little while.
02:46
So whiskey in the morning he will put into drinking can be fun. I don’t know about morning drinking. But yeah, he was out. Well, no, no, I feel like a good Mimosa and I’m not I’m not a fan of Bloody Marys. But I’ve had a couple. Yeah.
03:06
They’re good. Yeah. So maybe had we done that maybe if I’d had my shot and you’d had your shot this morning. Maybe the opening would have gone a little smoother. But anyway, I have nothing going on. It’s going to be super hot here. It’s already 77. It’s got we’ve got high UV rays and all that good stuff. So I’m going to keep myself protected from the elements. But you guys are in a you hit enter the hot spell again.
03:31
We’re in a hot spell. Yeah, I mean, um, today’s Wednesday. I’m in Auburn today and it’s going to be close to 90. But especially a cool again this weekend. So and possible rain, so Oh, wow. Okay, yeah, we’re actually going to be up in Cleo Cleo. We’re doing a there’s a yearly bike vent up there for the fire department in Sayreville. And they do this called this ride called the tour to the manure. It goes around Cedar Valley. It’s about a 60 mile ride. Beautiful, beautiful area. And yeah, and they haven’t been able to do it for last couple years because of COVID. But they finally doing it again. So we registered early. Yeah, that’s fun. Got a couple of friends going up there. And yeah, it’s supposed to be cool. Which, you know, could be good or bad. It’d be a little warm. But yeah, my wife doesn’t like writing in the heat. So it’s probably better if it’s cool.
04:27
Well, you so know what it’s like Mother Nature doesn’t know what month it is. I you know, I’m friend gets a phrenic right now, I have friends cross country and a good friend of mine who lives in the Midwest, was there’s something really cold going on the other day. And then she posted something on Facebook today about like, or was it today or yesterday, all my days run together. Something about like 90 degree temperatures. And I was like, Wait, why don’t you just in snow jacket. So I don’t know what’s going on? I don’t know. I don’t
04:55
know tornado warnings and oh, yeah, that’s been crazy. So here we are. In Southern Pacific, and Mexico. Yeah. Crazy.
05:08
Those are all very positive. Let’s let’s put a positive spin on this. So we are always looking for something we talked about this DIY related quite often, of course, because the show is brought to us by ABC plumbing, electric heat and air. We talk about the stuff you need to know for, you know, around your house, electrical, plumbing and heating, cooling. But because we have Father’s Day coming up on June 19, I had read it down, I was pretty sure it was a third, I have to look it up. I thought it was a third Sunday in June. But you know, I thought, what if it’s one of those holidays that floats around? I never know. So, Father’s Day is June 19. And so we thought, all right, in honor of dads and guys who like guys and gals, who like their toolboxes to be full or that want to have the right tool for every job. We found a pretty comprehensive list. And what I love about this list that we’re going to discover did you actually went shopping from
06:03
I actually I’m reading through it last night at like, I don’t know, you sent it and I you know, to me off the clock looking at my emails, and I’m like, I should maybe look at that list. Before we do the show. And I’m looking through I’m like, Oh, dude, that’s cool. It was a really neat tool. I’ll talk about it. And then that’s how I ended up. Yeah, they had a hot link to Amazon for it. So I’m also like, I’ll give this guy a little money or whoever put this together, compiled this list together and give him a little cash. But yeah, it’s a cool tool. And there’s there’s a lot of really fun stuff in this. So yeah, I’m really looking forward to the show, because there’s some cool stuff. So let’s get started on it.
06:39
Yeah, so if you if you were going to and I know you looked through the list, and I don’t know in what way
06:45
there’s like 100 I didn’t go all the way through Well, no, of course. But you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t spend a lot more money. I think I only spend like 12 blocks it was nothing too extravagant. Yeah, my own little father’s gift by the day’s gift. So what the first thing they have is an electric blower and I’m telling you man, I I switched on my lawn care stuff to a to cordless electric. I’m not going back to gas, it is so nice. Just to be able to put the put the battery in. I don’t this one, they’re showing it to the wall, which is a really great product. I don’t use DeWalt tools any longer. I’m not really in the field any longer. So I got an eco one at the at BMC or ego when it came up with a call but the thing is great. And two batteries and so yeah, if you’re thinking about getting your your significant other or your dad something, an electric blower cordless blower so quiet compared to the gas ones and not having to deal with all the the oil and two stroke oil mixture and the fumes and it’s just better for the environment to and also the thing is, it always works. You plug it in. It’s electric. It’s not like gas where you know, it’s been sitting for a year because you haven’t used it for six months because you haven’t used it through the winter. And it won’t start because the gas valve the carburetor, whatever. So I’ve just gotten rid of all my guests stuff about electric. So yeah, definitely think about electric.
08:16
Plus, if it’s if it’s not loud enough, it’s not as loud like you make for a better neighbor because Oh, no hasn’t woken up. And then like who is doing
08:28
really just that Saturday afternoon when you’re trying to chill out on the patio and have a beer or something and you hear the creek and then all of a sudden somebody fires up their blower and then your other neighbors so it fires up their blower then and then a load starts up their frickin chains up. This one’s pretty good too. It’s called the cloud buster. Do you say clog Buster or clunk log Buster or blast clogs drain King it’s a it’s basically a rubber thing that you put on the end of a hose and put into a drain. It’s a cool tool. I’ve seen guys flood houses with them. So I’m a little hesitant about using it indoors I would say don’t use this indoors. But it is a cool tool. It’s mainly for like main lines and stuff outside. The other thing this one’s really cool this so this is the ego. I’ve got two of these batteries and I almost bought this thing. It’s a portable power station because already had the batteries. But I ended up with a jakhary because I have an RV and I wanted something a little more power. But these little cord these little battery backup lithium battery backup things are so great. We used it this winter when the power went out. And I was able to run my little generator to charge the battery and my battery just stay plugged in to the refrigerator and all the other stuff. So where it was never the refrigerator never went off. The lights only went off when we turn them off. Unlike when we’re just using the generator when we turn the generator on for a little while and then turn it off this thing gives you power continuous power that is used to generate a church. Game Changer. I have been touting to all my friends as well, I gotta cover this.
10:08
But what do you notice retail for what they? What kind of
10:13
mine was like, it was 1500 bucks is 1500 watts. It’s about $1 a watt is one. Okay, gotcha. Generally, this one’s 3000 watts with these two batteries. If you already got the batteries, it’s probably not a bad idea. I probably should have gone this way. But I really like the Jackery product. So I went with them. They’ve got another one for wet dry vac. That’s a great but yeah, they take up a lot of space and don’t have the space for warp drive back anymore. carpet or pencil. It’s great to have some good pencils around.
10:49
We’re currently a pencil that’s not let me tell you something. If it was a day, like Father’s Day, and the gift was a carpenter’s pencil. I mean, that seems like kind of like it doesn’t seem gift worthy to me. But maybe
11:05
I mean, but maybe throw in a speed square with that speed square and add some Cash to Cash Yeah. Nailing for framers. Yeah, it’s a cool tool to have around. But you know, unless you unless you really use it if you’ve used any other before a nail gun. I don’t know if I’d be buying anybody a nail gun because I’ve had some bad experiences with them. So
11:31
I watch I watch too much to crime. I look at Mailgun and I think that that’s a weapon. So
11:36
I work in construction. And I’ve seen people mail themselves to things
11:42
share, like, you’re funny to watch. But I shouldn’t say funny or memorable.
11:47
I remember my in the 70s My father got one of the first nail dancing so stoked about it. And I’m sitting in the garage and he did not know is in the garage. So he showed his buddy this new nail gun he had and he like, pops off a couple nails into the air. One of them hits me in the head. It’s stuck in my hair. I mean, they’re shooting. They don’t shoot. They’re not a projectile. I mean, they are a projector but they’re not flying that fast. But like there was probably like, seven or eight you know, just you know, typical child. Contractor at the time. You said
12:20
dad nailed you. That is not
12:21
cool. Literally nailed me in the head. Yeah.
12:26
Maybe it’s not COVID Maybe you could think your dad.
12:29
Exactly. This was pretty cool magnetic tool holder. For just organizing the stuff you put up on the wall. Similar to like a knife holder. Holder I really like this is this is cool. But you gotta have a wall to put it on. I’ve got a really small garage these days. This is cool. A fire starter. That’s a great little tchotchke kind of thing for some for for your significant other. This one’s pretty nice. It’s a Gerber products, but they also make cheaper ones. Just a way of making spark. I you know, I don’t really like a lot of fires anymore. But I have a gas gas fireplace now or gas firepit. So I just use the igniter. And, you know, the barbecue lighter, the easy way out the easy way. But this is cool. If you’re going camping and stuff. I really that’s a neat idea. This one number 11 No, no number 11. Sorry. Moving forward moving forward. Oh, this one’s kind of cool. It’s a magnetic stud finder. I like to use it in the bar
13:41
to just say, oh my god, that was bad.
13:47
So one of the things that this, they made the comment on like, if you just use one like every once in a while, like once a year or something like that. The electronic ones, they weren’t great, but they have batteries and the batteries usually are dead after it’s been sitting in the drawer for you to write of course, but these magnetic ones don’t have any electricity. And literally all it is is a magnet that moves when you go by a nail or a screw that’s holding the drywall up. So there’s something there. It’s pretty cool. I think they’re like five bucks. I got it. Cheap. Okay. Yes. Fantastic. Really handy. So this is what I bought. Right? So it’s a five and one painters tool that I did used to paint. I mean, I was I was a house painter for a little while back in my when I was like 1718 years old. I worked for a guy that for whatever reason, even have a driver’s license and I had a pickup truck so we hired me to drive them around and pay me for doing that.
14:45
We can speculate why he didn’t have drivers. Yeah.
14:50
We’ll go any further House Painters are notorious. So you can’t he rode his bike everywhere. But so I drive them around, but I really I kind of Like that job. But anyway, this tool, the five and one house bear tool. It’s not just for painting your house, I mean, I use this thing all the time. It’s got a putty knife on it, it’s got a blade on it for scraping. It’s got a blade on it for cutting. It’s got a little curved section for cleaning a roller. You can even open a bottle of beer or soda with it. The thing I really like about this one though, is it folds. Because I’ve got I’ve got an old I’ve got a couple old ones that don’t fold. They’re really cool, but you can put them in your pocket. And I’d like I literally take this thing and I sharpen it, I’ll take it onto a whetstone and sharpen it. So it’s really sharp. So it’ll cut your skin really easily. And the fact that it doesn’t close, makes it a little danger to carry on. Yeah, sticks in my toolbox when it until I need it. But this one that folds up like a pocket knife. It’s bad. I mean, Ed, I mean, it’s it’s rad. I mean, it’s so cool. That’s wrong. I was gonna say something after bad, but I can’t say the radio. But it was like 12 bucks. So I ended up clicking on that and buying it through Amazon, just because it’s a cool tool and it was you know, impulse buy. This is pretty cool. A pocket hole jig for big projects actually have one of these. I like building stuff. And I bought one of these. It allows you to put pocket screws and a pocket screws when you have a diagonal hole for joining two pieces of wood. Better on a 90 degree angle, or even you can even use it if you’re butting wood together. But it’s a nice tight, clean it pipe it has a pilot hole does your sinkhole and then we’ll drive the screw through that hole. So you don’t have to do mortise and tenon and all these kinds of stuff. It’s just there. I really like it. And they’re cheap. I mean, I think I paid it’s like under 20 bucks or something like that. But it’s a great tool for for any home DIY projects or somebody that likes to build stuff. Just kind of scrolling through here for stuff that because that’s about as far as I got. Oh, twist Tiller actually had one of these. I don’t have it anymore. That’s pretty cool. This thing’s the liberal tines on him that you shove it in the ground. And it’s got two big handles and you turn it and it breaks up the hard clay. If you’re a gardener, if you’ve got a if you’ve got a gardener in the house and the house, these are great, great.
17:31
Especially if I remember, there’s parts of my yard in Nevada County, it was almost impossible to break out like it was really
17:39
to get in there. Yeah, during the summer forget about it because yeah, it’s clay. I mean, it just it gets the bakes in the sun and it gets really rough. So yeah, that’s a great little, a great little tool. These are really cool. I don’t have one and I keep thinking about buying one, but inflatable pry bar or leveling tool. It’s literally just a really heavy bag that you can fill with air with a pump. Locksmith use them for opening like car doors so you can get in and not do any damage to the car. You can use it to pry pride doors open prior windows open. Lift things just a little bit if you just need something lifted a couple of inches and then hold I’ve even seen him for our views now they make ones some big airbags that you can put underneath the front tires or rear tires to level your RV.
18:34
I have no idea. So
18:36
that’s a that’s a really cool thing. What faculty were Sabir Oh, that’s interesting. Wow. Sorry. This is Radio and I’m reading as we go along here. Sorry about that, guys. But you’ll my favorite one was that five on one tool? I swear I mean, nothing is as great Oh, this is a good one. Okay, sorry. No, this is really good. So a right angle driver for your cordless drill. So it’s literally just attachment that you put on the end and the chuck and has a 90 degree and it’s got like a camshaft and there are a mechanism there that will turn the end of it on a 90 degree so if you got a screw that’s in a really tight spot you can’t get your tool in. It’s It’s the difference between getting the job done and not and again, really inexpensive. 20 bucks, maybe 25 bucks. I think I’ve got like two or three of these things floating around in my house by now. And again I’m just a DIY guy now I’m not contractor I don’t really work on other people’s homes anymore. I work in the office now so I really like having that thing around because it’s it’s saved my my skinny a few times when we when we talk about snow shovels because that’s just it’s summertime
19:59
Oh lot of time was one of those rare gifts anyway Do you not
20:04
some of these other ones are kind of for they’ve got a couple of things here like radio or weather radio. With Facebook and and the internet these days, I don’t know if you’re really muted. Well,
20:19
let’s be, let’s be honest. So to get 99 ideas for DIY tools at home, you have to stretch, okay, you have to fill in, right. So that’s your your snow shovel comes from, that’s where some of these things come from, we got to have 99. But it also it also helps when you review the list before recording, but that’s okay, you got as far as your tool and you got excited, and I got it I’m proud of you for.
20:44
Alright, so this one’s actually pretty cool. It’s a smart plug. And I’ve actually been looking at these a lot. So you can do home automation on the on the cheap and I have to do the whole automation thing. You just get these little devices that you plug in, and then you plug your appliance or whatever into it, and you can turn it on and off via Bluetooth. So either Bluetooth or Wi Fi actually through Wi Fi, I think so you can hook it up to your Wi Fi. And you can turn it off with your phone. Yeah, I mean, I love my Wi Fi thermostat. That’s, that’s another good one. Another good dad’s gift is a Wi Fi thermostat. Because the ability to be able to turn, you know, I’ve got Wi Fi thermostats we we’ve got two places we live. And we I’ve got Wi Fi thermostats and both of them. So I can actually check on our place in St. Paul, see what the temperature is inside the house, which is good during the winter, because we don’t always have a place rented. And it lets me know if it’s going to be freezing and potentially pipes bursting and stuff. So I could turn alternative relay down, I’ll take but I can also turn the heat up if we’ve got like guests coming in and have it so the apartments warm when they get there. And on our way out this summer, we’ll probably be turning it down turning cool. And at our house here, like we’d use it all the time we’d go, we’d go skiing and turn the thermostat down to 60 or 55 or whatever. And then our way home, turn it up to 7072 and have a nice warm house we go home.
22:12
Now what’s the what’s the cost of something like that? Because it’s the thermostat itself? Right? But it’s the price is really in the installation. Right setting it up?
22:21
Yeah, I mean, if you if you hire a company like ours, it’s gonna cost you some money to do it. And I would recommend that if you don’t really know what you’re doing, you might want to think about hiring an HVAC contractor to put them in. There’s a product called nest. I’m sure everybody’s heard about Nest thermostats. They’re huge. Google bought them out. They are they were really good for our industry. Because not so many people were hiring us to put them in. But people were frying electronics in their furnace hooking up themselves. Right at that. So people weren’t turning the units off and frying the transformer or frying the boards and stuff. So yeah, it was kind of a boon for our industry. So you can’t put them in. But if unless you really know what you’re doing and know how to work with electronic stuff, I’d probably hire somebody that knows what they’re doing.
23:11
Slightly.
23:12
Yeah. And we’re going to, I think we’ll end it on this Quick Set glue. I have Quickset glue in my house all the time. That’s a great product to have around. Another great product that we’re on is really good. Gorilla duct tape. Yeah, let’s say you’re in the more expensive the gorilla glue stuff that stuff sticks to everything. It’s awesome. Right? Anyway, that’s our show. So I think we’re going to link this to our site. So you guys can have the link, look at the whole list. See what you like the whole list. And you know, and if you click on it, it gives the company that, that put this together gives a little kickback. Also looking at their ads, because look back. And don’t forget father’s days, this is Sunday, June 19. So you got a couple of weeks to pull this together. And if you need any help with your plumbing, electrical heating and air you can be We can be reached at 530-230-9092 That number again 530-230-9092. You can find us on the web at easy as abc.com and you can find us on Facebook at Abt plumbing, please like our page. And with that. We’ll catch you guys next week. Thanks for listening.
24:23
Right. Thanks, Andrew. Thanks, Rosalie. Now let’s get that project started. You got this. We’ll be back next Friday morning at nine o’clock on Cancio Newstalk 830