00:00:06:16 - 00:00:27:07 Speaker 1 Welcome, and thank you for joining us on on your project Shepherd Construction Podcast. My name is Curtis Lawson with Shepherd Construction Advisors and along with my industry expert friends, I am here to guide you through these four key components of a successful project, which are demonstrated by the simple drawing of a house. The Foundation is proper planning. The left wall is your team. 00:00:27:12 - 00:00:50:16 Speaker 1 The right wall is communication and the roof is proper execution. Have all four of these components in place and your project will succeed. Whether you're building or remodeling a custom home, or if you're an architect or designer looking for inspiration, or maybe you're just interested in building science and high performance construction, you're in the right place. Please help us further our mission here by tapping that follow or subscribe button. 00:00:50:18 - 00:01:01:23 Speaker 1 Push that notification bell so that you know when our new episodes drop every week. And now let's get to today's interview. 00:01:02:01 - 00:01:14:15 Speaker 1 Welcome back to the Aura Partnership podcast. Today I've got, I think maybe other than toner, my only three peat while so far. So, Eric Klein with good Smith Home Care and Repair. Welcome back. 00:01:14:20 - 00:01:16:07 Speaker 2 Thank you. Thanks for having me. 00:01:16:09 - 00:01:25:06 Speaker 1 Yeah, I think, I'm trying to think who else maybe. I think Jeremy McFarlane was a maybe twice. Yeah. I think you're the only three peat other than toner. 00:01:25:06 - 00:01:29:06 Speaker 2 So allowed to be in the class with toner. I feel very privileged. 00:01:29:08 - 00:01:53:06 Speaker 1 So, this episode isn't going to go out until right before Christmas. We're recording this the second week ish of November here, and it's still 80 something degrees here in Houston every day. Although we had a little cold snap last week. But, you know, even with this kind of normally warm weather that we kind of have through the winter, we occasionally get these big freezes that'll just let these freak freezes. 00:01:53:06 - 00:02:16:05 Speaker 1 It'll roll through and, and wreak havoc in the city. And so here, going into Christmas time when this goes out, I wanted to touch on things that people should be thinking about as we get into the colder season. And so most of what we cover, I think will be really, applicable to, to Houston, to the south. 00:02:16:05 - 00:02:29:19 Speaker 1 We'll touch on some northern stuff as well. I think because we live in the South, we don't, you know, we're not just aware of kind of what the cold and the freeze can do to our, our homes. Right. It's, it's kind of an afterthought. And once a year we're like, oh, crap, I need I need to do this. 00:02:29:19 - 00:02:48:07 Speaker 2 No, that's exactly it. I think, particularly down here in Houston and in the South, we're more worried about the summers. We're worried about our AC being cold and being very comfortable in the heat, and we forget that it does get cold down here, and we just don't take the proper steps to to go into the cold, seasons with our homes prepared for them. 00:02:48:10 - 00:02:48:16 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:02:48:19 - 00:02:56:20 Speaker 1 The the people up north are like, you know, this is standard operating procedure. They're like, you know, why would you even not have that stuff done that? 00:02:56:21 - 00:03:11:07 Speaker 2 That's exactly it. And, we don't build houses the way they build them up north, or we put pipes on the exterior walls from time to time. We don't. We have. We'll hang a tankless water heater on the outside of the house. There are things that we do down south that people up north would be. Are you guys crazy? 00:03:11:09 - 00:03:20:13 Speaker 1 So, yeah, my water heaters in the back wall, my house. And two years ago, when we had the freeze, I was out there with a hairdryer, trying to thawed, trying to keep it from freezing. 00:03:20:15 - 00:03:48:12 Speaker 2 That's exactly it. I think, our company, we replaced the first big freeze we had here. I think we probably replaced about 75 tankless water heaters and some of our clients houses, and. But thankfully, we've learned so much from that first freeze. Last freeze. I think we only did three, which was, by using some of these, tactical moves to keep your your water moving in your house, you can prevent that big ticket loss when the cold weather does come around. 00:03:48:14 - 00:03:54:22 Speaker 1 Yeah. And it's probably good idea to, like, like, stock up on, on extra tankless water heaters in the warehouse. 00:03:54:23 - 00:03:55:19 Speaker 2 That's exactly. Yeah. 00:03:55:19 - 00:04:02:14 Speaker 1 We see a freeze coming. Hey, let's call, let's call up. The plumbing supply house and order, like, 20 of these and just stick them in the warehouse right now. 00:04:02:16 - 00:04:04:02 Speaker 2 You can always return them. 00:04:04:04 - 00:04:22:22 Speaker 1 Exactly. So, I wanted to, again, kind of talk about tips for for winterizing our homes as we're going into the winter. And again, you guys deal with a lot of this stuff, both on the preparation side and kind of the ongoing maintenance side. And then also you're on the oh crap recovery side as well. 00:04:22:22 - 00:04:23:12 Speaker 2 That's, 00:04:23:13 - 00:04:36:07 Speaker 1 I knew that you'd be a great person to have on to talk about this stuff. So talk to me about your your thoughts on, you know, what are the most important things that people should be thinking as they go into winter, into potential cold snap season? 00:04:36:09 - 00:04:59:17 Speaker 2 Number one is get your heater checked out, make sure it's working. Don't wait until it gets cold. Get get a licensed Hvac professional out there to do a quick heater check. Make sure everything is up and running. Make sure there's the proper ventilation in the house. You know, if you can keep your house warm, you can fix or prevent almost any single problem that will come, when the cold snaps hit. 00:04:59:18 - 00:05:27:00 Speaker 2 Along those same lines, check out your fireplace. Don't try to light your fireplace for the first time. If for, God forbid, the power goes out and you're trying to get your gas, gas logs to light up, or first time you put logs in your masonry fireplace for four years, don't wait until it's too late. Because once cold snap is coming, particularly down south, there's only maybe two companies that will come out and work on your fireplace because it's not a very lucrative market down in Houston, Texas. 00:05:27:02 - 00:05:28:19 Speaker 1 Not a lot of chimney sweeps in Houston. 00:05:28:23 - 00:05:29:17 Speaker 2 That's exactly it. 00:05:29:21 - 00:05:40:17 Speaker 1 You know, and I think that we don't really most people here aren't really aware how to even properly use a fireplace. Like, I've had people that, smoke up their house because they don't know that you have to open the damper in there. 00:05:40:17 - 00:05:58:06 Speaker 2 Right. Exactly. That's exactly it. And they, you know, they don't realize, I mean, there's many, many things there's and they'll try to open up their damper for the first time and it'll be rusted shut. And so they're stuck. They cannot use it. And, you know, different other little small tips. So they don't know that, hey, you might get a little bit of smoke in your house when you first light it up. 00:05:58:06 - 00:06:24:09 Speaker 2 We light your fire with a real logs because once that chimney warms up that the heat will pull that smoke up. They're just not aware because they don't use them. They use them once every once a year. You know that are. And they'll use them on Christmas Eve and have their air conditioning blowing and the return fires are sucking, and they'll suck smoke into their house because they just don't realize that that is not the way they are designed to be used. 00:06:24:10 - 00:06:39:02 Speaker 1 Even with gas logs, you know, you with, non sealed gas log fireplace, you know, just you've got the kind of like a masonry fireplace with a set of gas logs sitting in there. You still have to open that damper. Yes. Otherwise you're going to cause carbon monoxide issues. 00:06:39:02 - 00:06:48:21 Speaker 2 Absolutely, absolutely. There's a lot of safety issues. And that's also why you're getting your heater checked as well. If the if it's not venting properly, you can also poison your whole family as well. 00:06:48:23 - 00:06:58:20 Speaker 1 Yeah. And with heaters, you know, oftentimes when we first turn our heaters on each year, we smell like kind of a burning smells in the house. So what causes that? 00:06:58:22 - 00:07:24:15 Speaker 2 That's just dust and different particles that have built up on the burner when, over the whole year, throughout the summer. And you will smell that the first time and that is normal. Just let it keep running and let it go. But also, you're not going to have to worry about that. If you do get your heater checked by a professional, they will come out and they're going to burn all that stuff off while they're testing your unit, so you will not have that worry whatsoever. 00:07:24:15 - 00:07:31:12 Speaker 2 If you do take that preventive step of having an AC professional come out and take a look at your heater before the cold snaps. 00:07:31:14 - 00:07:47:01 Speaker 1 And also checking your your Sho detectors, carbon monoxide and smoke detectors as well. Before you start that heater for the first time, before you turn the fireplace on for the first time, is that your first line of defense against, against getting poison? 00:07:47:05 - 00:08:04:02 Speaker 2 That's it, that's it. And that should be on your that should be on your total home checklist. You need to be checking those at least once a year, if not more frequently than that and replace them. People don't realize that they're they're Co detectors and smoke detectors. They will quit being effective after so many years. Different brands are different, different times. 00:08:04:02 - 00:08:21:18 Speaker 2 But as a general rule, if your smoke and seal detectors are over ten years old, they probably need to be replaced when they start chirping. It's not always the battery that's that's gone bad. Sometimes the actual unit itself has gone bad. So that's just something that needs to be on your every day or every year checklist to go ahead and check those units. 00:08:21:20 - 00:08:38:18 Speaker 1 Yeah. Because those things have like a little, sensor in them. And if you have a lot of dust and let's say you had some remodeling done, we see this a lot after a remodel. That fine sheet sheetrock dust will get in there. And it thinks that the the sheetrock dust is actually smoke. It's detecting the particles. 00:08:38:18 - 00:08:51:09 Speaker 2 That's it. That's exactly it. You know, sometimes blowing some more compressed air in there will clear it up, but that's a short term solution. It's so much easier. The units are so inexpensive, usually less than $20 a unit. It's so much easier just to get those replaced. 00:08:51:11 - 00:09:14:21 Speaker 1 Yeah. One more thing on the Hvac stuff and Hvac and fireplace. So I guess this isn't really an issue with today's furnaces. It used to be there's a a pilot light that you had to make sure it was lit on your furnace. Now they're mostly self ignition. And unless you have an older furnace now but on fireplaces, there's still a lot of fireplaces out there that have to have a pilot light. 00:09:14:21 - 00:09:28:15 Speaker 1 Yes. Lit. So that kind of goes back to the having somebody check out your fireplace before you use it for the first time. It's just understanding how it works and understanding. Yes. I have to have this put this pilot light there in order to use it. 00:09:28:17 - 00:09:48:09 Speaker 2 That's correct. And, typically in the South, a lot of people will turn their pilot lights off in the summer because they they just want to save that little bit of gas. And they don't like looking at that flame in there. And when those things don't get used, they do not relight very easily. So use it or lose it with those fireplace self ignition systems. 00:09:48:11 - 00:10:10:02 Speaker 2 So if you have not lit yours up in six months, 12 months, go over there, try it. If it works great, keep it. Keep using it once a month and just flip it on for a couple minutes. That will keep it working so that when you actually do need it, God forbid the power goes out or your heater has an issue and you need some additional, heat sources in your house, it will be there to do it. 00:10:10:04 - 00:10:28:14 Speaker 2 If it doesn't light up, call pro out, get someone out there to look at it, or sometimes they have technical switches on them. YouTube's your friend. Go on there, look at the brand, look at YouTube and see if there's maybe you have it. You don't have the switch on the pilot or on the light switch or right, you need it on this unit. 00:10:28:14 - 00:10:35:03 Speaker 2 You might have to turn it to hide a light. It there's there's little nuances like that. And when all else fails, call that pro out because they will be able to get it every time. 00:10:35:07 - 00:10:51:10 Speaker 1 Yeah. We were doing a remodel actually that we just finished last week. And while we were there that the customer was like, hey, we just bought this house a year ago, it's a 20 year old house, but we just bought this house a year ago or not even we haven't been through a winter yet to need our fireplaces can you show us how they work? 00:10:51:12 - 00:11:07:04 Speaker 1 And so my project manager, who back in the day, like 20 years ago, he used to work for Fireplace Company. So he's like, he's like, I got this. So, he started to show them how to their pilot lights, how to light the pilot light, how to how to how to light it. And he found that the little, they had a remote control, right. 00:11:07:08 - 00:11:27:17 Speaker 1 The remote controls have a electronic, receiver unit that takes batteries. Yes. There was a up in there. And, the batteries have been in there for for so long, everything was corroded and the unit was toast. Yeah. So, you know, we ordered the new unit for hundred and 50 bucks on Amazon, right? Exactly. He went out, put it in for him, showed him how to use it, and said, now they've got it. 00:11:27:19 - 00:11:36:03 Speaker 2 That's it, that's it. And you know, that's why you want to do this now before it gets cold. Because Amazon more than likely is not going to have that on your doorstep the next morning. 00:11:36:05 - 00:11:39:05 Speaker 1 And so yeah, that's not like a one day prime delivery. 00:11:39:05 - 00:11:43:06 Speaker 2 It is not at all. Not at all. And you have to go and get some D batteries for the one thing in your house. 00:11:43:07 - 00:12:07:12 Speaker 1 So one thing that I found a couple of years ago during that big freeze where power was out here for a couple days, was, when people didn't have power. You know, they may have a gas furnace, but the gas furnace isn't going to run unless the power is there to drive the fan. Right. Exactly. And so a lot of people were camping out in the living room and turned on the fireplace and kind of getting around the fireplace to stay warm at night. 00:12:07:14 - 00:12:12:09 Speaker 1 And, if you don't know how it works, that's an issue. 00:12:12:10 - 00:12:18:06 Speaker 2 That's it. That's it. You're going to be or you'll be getting at that point is, from body heat of your whole family in one room. So. 00:12:18:07 - 00:12:19:22 Speaker 1 Okay, what else you got? 00:12:20:00 - 00:12:41:01 Speaker 2 You know. Really? Yeah. Obviously. Heater, fireplace. If you have heat, you're in pretty good shape when it when it gets really cold. Next thing we really want to look at is the pipes. And when you're looking at the pipes, there's two ways to look at how you get your house ready. There's all our friends up north. Your houses are built in such a manner that you can take the strategic way of protecting your home. 00:12:41:03 - 00:13:09:01 Speaker 2 You're going to have shutoffs for valves that are on the outside of the house. So you're going to have your water heaters in spots where they're typically not going to be exposed to the to all of the, elements. Down here in the South, we have outdoor showers, summer kitchens, hose bibs that are not frost free or that are not insulated or made out of, you know, PV, PVC pipe. 00:13:09:01 - 00:13:29:12 Speaker 2 They're sticking six inches out of the brick and that they are just begging to get frozen. And if these if there is not a shutoff valve to get water, to shut the water off to those temporarily throughout the winter, if you're up north, you're going to shut off your outdoor showers. You're going to have a shut off valve in your basement, which we don't have in Houston, right? 00:13:29:13 - 00:13:48:05 Speaker 2 Or somewhere up in your attic where you can isolate those and actually drain all the water out of them down south. Lots of times the the outdoor shower got added on in the remodel or didn't put a shut off valve somewhere where you can isolate that and turn the water off. And in those cases we have to we have to get creative when the cold weather comes. 00:13:48:05 - 00:14:08:21 Speaker 2 And that's go against what a lot of our municipalities are going to tell us. They want us to save water, but if you cannot shut the water off to these faucets, these locations where, supply lines are terminating, you have to run water through them. When they're freezing, they will freeze up and they will break. You know, if it's an outdoor shower, the cartridge will blow on that. 00:14:09:00 - 00:14:26:06 Speaker 2 Yeah. If it's a summer kitchen, the supply lines are either going to blow or the cartridge is going to blow on that when the when it freezes. So running a warm water drip through all of those, when we do get the temperature dropping below freezing for more than several hours is an absolute necessity, or you're going to have a much bigger. 00:14:26:08 - 00:14:37:10 Speaker 2 Your water bill is not going to be your problem. It's going to be the thousands of dollars you're going to have to do to replace either water lines, or get the plumber out there to replace cartridges that in any affected fixture. 00:14:37:15 - 00:14:54:11 Speaker 1 Or if you want to take the time to actually turn the water off at the meter, then then open all your all the hose bibs on your house to effectively just drain your house out. If it's just going to be for like one night or one day, that's okay. But if it's going to be like a week of freezing temperatures, obviously, you know, you can't be without water for a week. 00:14:54:15 - 00:14:55:02 Speaker 2 That. 00:14:55:04 - 00:15:00:23 Speaker 1 That's not realistic. But if it's like a one night thing, yeah, just go shut it off the main drain the house and you're good. 00:15:00:23 - 00:15:20:07 Speaker 2 No, that's a great tactical moved in order to protect your home and protect everything in there. One thing on those, you need to make sure if you do have a tankless water heater, you need to make sure that you get all of the water out of those tankless water heaters. If you do shut all the water off because that water sitting in those coils will freeze and will break those coils. 00:15:20:09 - 00:15:35:19 Speaker 2 So if you're unable to do that, that's one of those things where you unfortunately are going to have to run some lukewarm water throughout your house all night long just to make sure that your water heater keeps running and, keeping that warmed up and keep the water running through the home. 00:15:35:21 - 00:15:47:10 Speaker 1 Some of the newer tankless water heaters have a built in freeze protection system that automatically cycles them, and pulls water through when it detects the temperatures, dropping a certain amount right there. 00:15:47:13 - 00:16:03:12 Speaker 2 They do. They are not readily available down south. Yeah, that most of the suppliers here default to the one that is cheaper, that doesn't have that 150 $200 add on on it. Yeah. So if you are building new or remodeling or replacing ask for it. And it's a couple hundred bucks well spent. 00:16:03:16 - 00:16:33:18 Speaker 1 Yeah. If you are lucky enough to have a a PEX manifold system in your house. Yes. When it was built, which we sometimes do those, it's a pretty good added expense because you're running triple the amount of pipe in your house and it takes more time for the plumber, but it's a great system. So if you're lucky enough to have a PEX manifold system, it's really easy just to go to your manifold and slip off the little, valve for each individual exterior fixture and you're done that absolutely. 00:16:33:18 - 00:16:35:01 Speaker 1 Absolutely are great. 00:16:35:03 - 00:16:51:20 Speaker 2 They are, they are. And you know, if you are building, if you are remodeling, put isolation valves in. If you're not going to do the whole pack system, make sure that anything that is on those exterior walls, you have an ability to go and shut that off somewhere that's fairly a couple bucks on a valve up in an attic. 00:16:52:01 - 00:16:54:15 Speaker 2 Save thousands of dollars in a whole lot of time later on. 00:16:54:17 - 00:17:00:00 Speaker 1 Yeah, it's not that hard just to have all your hose bibs feeding off of one kind of master shutoff valve. 00:17:00:02 - 00:17:00:16 Speaker 2 Exactly. 00:17:00:18 - 00:17:09:13 Speaker 1 Yeah, it could save you a ton of money. And and not just in fixing that one pipe, but in fixing water damage, sheetrock and paint and flooring and everything else. 00:17:09:13 - 00:17:17:14 Speaker 2 Right. That's it. That it's not easy to get a stucco guy out to, fix a two by two hole that your plumber put in it to replace your house bill. 00:17:17:16 - 00:17:36:02 Speaker 1 The last thing I'll say on that is, Oh. So one thing we didn't talk about is, insulation or protecting outdoor hose bibs before a freeze. So one thing that I, that I keep in my garage is, some covers for my hose bibs. I try to kind of put those on in the winter. Can I, when I know I'm done. 00:17:36:04 - 00:17:36:12 Speaker 2 Right. 00:17:36:17 - 00:17:53:20 Speaker 1 Working in the yard so I don't forget. But, you know, I keep some pipe insulation, and I keep those sleeves that slip over the hose bibs or the spigots or whatever you want to call them. And I just kind of keep those on during the winter. So, but don't wait until the last minute to buy those, because if you wait till the day before the freeze and you go to Home Depot, guess what? 00:17:53:20 - 00:17:54:20 Speaker 1 They're all going to be gone. 00:17:54:20 - 00:18:26:04 Speaker 2 That's that's exactly it. And they're, you know, two bucks per hose, bibs, something like that. Or you can get the little bit of nicer ones are about $5 per husband. But yeah, just having grabbing a handful of those next time you're at your big box store. As well as a cover, if you do have a sprinkler system, the sprinkler system is the is the one we have the most issues with here in Houston because people forget about them, or particularly down south because we keep our sprinkler systems on year round up north, your landscaper or yourself, you're going to go out there this time of year and totally winterize your system. 00:18:26:06 - 00:18:40:01 Speaker 2 You're going to drain it. You're going to put a compressor on it. You're going to blow all the water out of lines, and you're not going to worry about it until April of next year in Houston. We're still watering our grass. We're still watering our plants. We're still putting tropical. We're still planning tropical plants. Right now. 00:18:40:02 - 00:18:41:17 Speaker 1 Our grass is pretty green in the winter, actually. 00:18:41:18 - 00:18:42:10 Speaker 2 That's exactly it. 00:18:42:10 - 00:18:44:18 Speaker 1 That's that's it for the rest of the country. 00:18:44:23 - 00:19:03:05 Speaker 2 That's it. And so what? Since we do not have long term cold weather here, we don't have to worry about the pipes six inches under the ground freezing. It's going to be under freezing for 12 hours. At the worst case scenario, all we need to do is go out there and drain our back off. Or excuse me, backflow preventers. 00:19:03:07 - 00:19:28:09 Speaker 2 It's. And it's a matter of pushing two screw turning two screws and opening up a valve. Yep. Takes 30s to do it. But we'll save you a lot of headaches when you try to turn your sprinkler system back on. In the springtime and you realize that water is shooting all over the side of your house, so, and then they also sell little sleeves that go over your backflow preventer, because if you are just draining it through the quick valves there, there's still a. 00:19:28:09 - 00:19:40:08 Speaker 1 Little bit of water on both sides, especially on the main coming into the backside of it could freeze. And that's usually just a half inch or three quarter inch PVC. Yes. And that's that's not very freeze friendly that the. 00:19:40:08 - 00:19:52:19 Speaker 2 Absolutely. And if you put a little pipe insulation around that, tape it up very well and then put a cover over top of the whole thing, it will, it will, make it through most freezes down south. 00:19:52:21 - 00:20:10:14 Speaker 1 So, last time I actually did the, the poor man's version of that. Right. I got a black plastic contractor trash bag. Yes. I actually filled that with some random pieces of bad insulation that I had laying around the shop, put some insulation in the trash bag, pulled the trash bag over the top of it, and made, like, a little tent for it. 00:20:10:14 - 00:20:12:14 Speaker 1 Yeah, and it didn't freeze. 00:20:12:14 - 00:20:18:18 Speaker 2 Good to go. Absolutely good to go. I mean, one little hack is if you still have incandescent light, Christmas lights. 00:20:18:23 - 00:20:19:08 Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. 00:20:19:13 - 00:20:37:05 Speaker 2 Any exterior pipes, you have to wrap those around those exterior pipes and plug them in. If it's going to be that cold, that little bit of heat coming off those will protect a whole lot of pipes and that's what I've got an outdoor kitchen. And you know, I wanted to keep the water on. So I ran ran those lights around the, the supply lines down underneath there. 00:20:37:06 - 00:20:38:01 Speaker 2 Everything was good to go. 00:20:38:04 - 00:20:40:06 Speaker 1 Our little winters that we get here, it's pretty good. 00:20:40:07 - 00:20:42:01 Speaker 2 It's a nice little hack. Absolutely. 00:20:42:03 - 00:21:01:02 Speaker 1 Last plumbing thing. That, of course, doesn't. It doesn't apply to everybody. But when there's a problem with this, there's a real problem with it. Our swimming pools. I know several people who lost all of their pool equipment after the last freeze or two years ago, the big freeze. And because of that. Well, and actually, that was kind of immediately it kind of post Covid two. 00:21:01:02 - 00:21:14:05 Speaker 1 Yes. When there's already a supply chain issue. And so you take the supply and the supply chain issue and then add on everybody needing a new pool pump. At the same time, there were people whose pools went real green for for a couple months. 00:21:14:07 - 00:21:35:09 Speaker 2 Absolutely, absolutely. And again, you know, if, down south, we use our pools year round. So if we are running into one of these weather situations, run the pump. If you if you have not done anything to prepare, if you keep that pump running overnight, that will keep the water flowing and it will prevent the, freezing from occurring. 00:21:35:11 - 00:21:55:10 Speaker 2 Run the heater, the heater, the coils in there. Those will break if they freeze. So running it if you are, if we can predict the weather far enough, you can have your pool guy come out there and drain everything out of there. That is by far the best way to really make sure that absolutely nothing happens. People up north are sitting here right now like, what are you talking about? 00:21:55:10 - 00:22:10:15 Speaker 2 You don't winterize your pool, you don't drain everything. You don't cover it. You don't put the, winterization chemicals in there. No, we run it. We swim on Christmas Eve because sometimes it's 76 degrees outside. So when that freeze creeps up on you, run it. Absolutely. Run it. 00:22:10:17 - 00:22:28:14 Speaker 1 The real issue is when power goes out for an extended period of time, which which happened a couple of years ago. Right. Like we were without power for 2 or 3 days. Some people were. Yes. I know in our neighborhood we were about power. Right. And so that's when those pool issues really pop up because you can't run the pump. 00:22:28:16 - 00:22:31:15 Speaker 1 And now stuff just sitting there and freezing and splitting wide open. 00:22:31:17 - 00:22:49:06 Speaker 2 Absolutely. And you know, there's many, many different types of pool setups. But there are ways to go out there by flipping a couple of those valves to drain a majority of the water out of them. You know, that's anything that can hold water. You know, your your filter, it your filter. You got to you got to pull the plug on it, let all the water drain out of that. 00:22:49:06 - 00:23:06:11 Speaker 2 Anything in your yard that holds water, you've got to get the water out of that. One thing that we ran into a lot, over the last two freezes, there's a lot of water filtration companies and water softener companies that in will put the units on the outside, you know, and everyone forgets about them. 00:23:06:11 - 00:23:06:18 Speaker 1 Yep. 00:23:06:23 - 00:23:27:23 Speaker 2 Absolutely. Forget about them. And it wasn't people that were losing water to their house, not because the water line was frozen, but that the water softener or the water filtration system was completely frozen. That is something that we've got to stay on top of when the cold weather is coming, because most of those are either put in a garage or they're put right outside of the garage, and they are absolutely exposed to the, the worst of the conditions. 00:23:27:23 - 00:23:29:14 Speaker 2 And they're made of plastic. 00:23:29:16 - 00:23:31:03 Speaker 1 Yeah. And they're not cheap to replace. 00:23:31:04 - 00:23:53:01 Speaker 2 Usually they are not at all. And so, having either your service, if you have a company that services your filters or your water softeners, get a plan from them going into the winter. How do I winterize this? If we do have a cold snap, how do I drain this? How do I protect this asset? All of them have instructions on how to do it and if they are not responsive to you again go to YouTube. 00:23:53:07 - 00:24:04:05 Speaker 2 Yeah. They, they will have the instructions out there for you. If it's not something you want to do, most plumbers can take care of it or find a good home maintenance company that will come out there and, handle these issues for you. 00:24:04:05 - 00:24:06:22 Speaker 1 What else you have on your list? Outside of outside of plumbing. 00:24:06:22 - 00:24:37:06 Speaker 2 You know, really? Pipes, pools, sprinklers. We've kind of hit all of those. The other thing we need to look at is the structure of your home. These are things that don't immediately show up when the cold snaps come through, but particularly up north, if you've got wind, if you're getting some snow or you're getting some ice, you need to make sure you're outside of your structure of your home is good to go because the roof, any of the low spots in there, any of the flashing cold water freezing will expand, will open up any penetrations you have in your house. 00:24:37:06 - 00:24:53:20 Speaker 2 It'll open them up even more and you will get water infiltration. Make sure your gutters are clean. As the ice and water melts, it will come down. If your gutters are clogged up, they're going to fill up with ice. It's going to expand. It's going to be bad for those. It's going to come over the edge, and create other infiltrations into the home. 00:24:53:20 - 00:25:01:13 Speaker 1 So so if your gutters are clogged up, if you have a big pile of debris, one that freezes, oftentimes water can flow. 00:25:01:15 - 00:25:02:06 Speaker 2 Right over it. 00:25:02:07 - 00:25:08:18 Speaker 1 You're being being being forced backwards essentially, and you're splashing, you know, it's meant to be like a shingle. 00:25:09:00 - 00:25:09:06 Speaker 2 Yes. 00:25:09:06 - 00:25:21:01 Speaker 1 Style application with the thought that water is always going to be coming down. But in those instances, water can kind of be pushed up under flashing, and then you have interior repairs to do to. 00:25:21:02 - 00:25:41:04 Speaker 2 Exactly. That's exactly it. And, you know, down south, we're worried about drafts in the summer to keep the AC in. But obviously in the winter we want to keep that warm air on the inside. So again, check your windows, check for caulking, check your weatherstripping on your doors. All of those normal home maintenance items, just become that much more important when we have extreme weather, whether it's hot or cold. 00:25:41:09 - 00:25:51:23 Speaker 1 If you see daylight around your door. Yes. If you stand inside, you know it. First thing in the morning, roll your lights off and you look at your door and you can see gaps. The then you need to check out your your weatherstripping. 00:25:51:23 - 00:26:17:12 Speaker 2 That's it. That's absolutely it. You know, you know, one last thing. Protect your plants is something that everyone forgets about until springtime. And they realize, oh gosh, I just lost $5000 or $1000 worth of plants because I did not cover them. So $30 worth of plastic and a couple metal stakes can save you a ton of time and money when it comes springtime, when you're really trying to, get your garden looking good. 00:26:17:12 - 00:26:17:22 Speaker 2 So. 00:26:17:22 - 00:26:24:10 Speaker 1 And don't don't use bedsheets and quilts and all that kind of stuff, because when those get wet, it actually makes things worse. 00:26:24:10 - 00:26:25:04 Speaker 2 That's that's right. 00:26:25:04 - 00:26:40:05 Speaker 1 So I see people go in and throw in their extra sheets across their, their bushes out, out front. But, if, if it rains or if you get some ice and that stuff melt, it's just going to compound the problem. It's going to kill the plants quicker if they're just covered in this big, this giant block of ice. 00:26:40:09 - 00:26:53:01 Speaker 2 That's exactly it. That's exactly it. You know, one one, one little final thing that is reverse your ceiling fans if you're doing it. Just simple quick deal. There's a little switch on the side. Or if you have a remote, push that hot air down so you can run your heater just a little bit less. 00:26:53:01 - 00:27:12:08 Speaker 1 So yep. And one thing that I have had on my list for, for the outside, and this is, really important in some of the older neighborhoods in Houston especially, is trimming your trees. Yes, before winter, because if you get a lot of, ice buildup on the trees, those old dead limbs are going to break and and fall on the roof of your house. 00:27:12:08 - 00:27:29:11 Speaker 2 Yes. And even worse than the roof of your house. Is the power line coming into your house? Yeah. You have overhead lines, and, an AC branch takes that down. You're going to be without power for a very long time until you can get electrician and CenterPoint or your electric provider out there to repair that, and so or your car or your car. 00:27:29:11 - 00:27:35:02 Speaker 2 Absolutely, absolutely. So yeah, as always, you know, tree maintenance is is key. 00:27:35:04 - 00:27:44:08 Speaker 1 Yeah. I mean that's that's that's year round here because the hurricane season which we're in right now, you know, you don't want to see, the windstorm come through and drop a big branch on your roof. And. 00:27:44:08 - 00:27:45:13 Speaker 2 Absolutely, absolutely. 00:27:45:13 - 00:27:54:20 Speaker 1 Same thing in the winter. Just the weight of that ice or, you know, oftentimes with these, these winter storms, you have a lot of wind that comes through, too. So, you know, that's going to cause issues with that as well. 00:27:55:02 - 00:27:58:05 Speaker 2 That is correct. Trying to think if there's anything else. 00:27:58:06 - 00:27:59:05 Speaker 1 So you got on your list. 00:27:59:09 - 00:28:17:09 Speaker 2 Curtis that's, that's all that I have. I'm sure we've probably missed something out there, but I think, you know, kind of put a bow on it if, if you are down south, there are many, many things that you can do when these cold snaps come in. If you can drain the water, drain the water out of the pipes. 00:28:17:09 - 00:28:34:05 Speaker 2 If you cannot drain the water out of the pipes, for whatever reason, you do need to drip those pipes. If you can do a lukewarm drip through them, because if it's a hot, cold fixture, do that as well. Keep your water heater running. Just keep everything as warm as you possibly can. That's the absolutely the trick to it. 00:28:34:07 - 00:28:58:04 Speaker 2 And do it early. The last freeze we had at the time, we had about 500 members for our maintenance company. We were in 325 homes within the 72 hours right before that freeze came in, where rising pipes, flushing our cleaning out the, sprinkler lines, doing anything and everything, covering plants, trying to do it. It was all hands on deck. 00:28:58:04 - 00:29:16:05 Speaker 2 We got it done. We have a much better plan this year. We're where we're taking care of these things proactively instead of having to work 20 hours a day going out there and being in line at every single plumbing supply shop at 5:00 Am, when they opened up to buy every piece of insulation that they had. Right. Do it early and do it often. 00:29:16:05 - 00:29:23:06 Speaker 2 That's that. That's the key. On Winterization. And you know, when the weather does come in, you'll be you'll be sitting back and relaxing, unlike your neighbors. 00:29:23:08 - 00:29:33:22 Speaker 1 One last thing I thought about was, backup generators. So they've gotten a lot more popular. We're seeing a ton of people, with a generator on their property. 00:29:33:22 - 00:29:34:20 Speaker 2 Right. 00:29:34:22 - 00:29:51:18 Speaker 1 But those things only work if they have been maintained. And if they are being started up and running on a regular basis. So if you're counting on a backup generator to get you through a winter power outage, just make sure that you're staying on top of the maintenance on that. So they've got a battery that has to be replaced. 00:29:51:18 - 00:30:08:02 Speaker 1 Every so often. They actually have a kind of a start up scheduled where they should be running on it. Yeah, I think it's like a weekly basis. They should be starting up and running too. So I've seen people get into a situation where they they're not staying on top of that. And then when they need the generator now it doesn't work. 00:30:08:04 - 00:30:26:10 Speaker 2 That. That's correct. That's correct. Yes. Again, if you do have a generator that's that should be on your quarterly maintenance checklist for your house. Just going through making sure it's going starting up the oils change, the batteries going and also making sure that the, the switches that connect it to your home are working properly. Those over time can corrode. 00:30:26:10 - 00:30:40:19 Speaker 2 So when those generators kick on, they they disconnect your house from the main line and they connect the house directly into that generator. You have to make sure that all of those are working so that they just need to be tested. Yeah, just like the fireplace. If you don't run it a whole lot, it's not going to work when you need it. 00:30:40:20 - 00:30:58:03 Speaker 1 One of the things that you and I have talked about on the last couple times you were here was that people just don't take care of their houses kind of the way they used to, like our parents or grandparents maybe did. They're not as familiar with the systems of their houses, and part of that is because their houses are complex now. 00:30:58:05 - 00:31:27:15 Speaker 1 But also it's just people didn't haven't grown up as much doing the common maintenance items. Right. And so a lot of first time home buyers, especially, or again, like the people that I mentioned a while ago that just bought the house a few months ago, they're not familiar with the function of all their home systems. Right. And so if you're the type of person who's not good at that stuff and you're not staying on top of that stuff for you, you just don't feel comfortable with it. 00:31:27:17 - 00:31:35:02 Speaker 1 You know, you've got to have somebody, you know, like good Smith that's going to come out and help you stay on top of those things. Right. 00:31:35:04 - 00:31:58:21 Speaker 2 That's absolutely it. That finding a good home maintenance partner is crucial. If you don't have a whole lot of time to do research and invest, invest in your home. We started our company Good Smith, because we realized, and as I'm sure you do every time you go to a cocktail party, people ask doctors and home builders for an app for free advice, and they will just drill you with questions. 00:31:58:21 - 00:32:06:23 Speaker 2 And homebuilders do not have time to go out and go to 325 homes. Two days before a freeze is coming in. 00:32:06:23 - 00:32:07:23 Speaker 1 Yeah, we're not set up for that. 00:32:08:03 - 00:32:25:23 Speaker 2 Just absolutely not set up for that. So you need to find the person in your area to give you that good advice, or to let you know what you need to do in your home. And if you know, if it's whether they can give you good advice or whether they can come out and actually take care of it for you, but you need to find that trusted person that you can lean on when the hard times come. 00:32:26:01 - 00:32:42:00 Speaker 1 So, absolutely, that's a great way to wrap this up. So for those of you who haven't, for those listening, who haven't heard us before, just tell everybody about, like, where where you guys service, okay. And how they contact you and kind of what what what you guys offer. 00:32:42:01 - 00:33:04:23 Speaker 2 Okay, absolutely. So, we are as of right now, we are a Houston based, home repair and maintenance company. It's a membership based service, and we are currently, serving 25 different zip codes in the Houston area, primarily the central areas. Right now, we go out to, we're covering about down to about half of Sugarland. We're about to incorporate the rest of Sugarland. 00:33:04:23 - 00:33:32:09 Speaker 2 We go all the way up, inside the Beltway all the way around, kind of to 45, and then drop down to Maya Land, Willow Meadow, those type neighborhoods in that area, but primarily centrally located. We do plan on being absolutely citywide in Houston within the next 9 to 12 months. So we'll be from The Woodlands, hopefully all the way down to Galveston in the next 12 months. 00:33:32:11 - 00:33:54:15 Speaker 2 We do everything that homebuilders and general contractors are not set up to do. You put a doorknob through your sheetrock. A home builder, he's very capable of coming out and getting that taken care of, but they're not set up to do it. We are set up to do it. We take in every single request we staff, W-2 employees that will come out and take care of those requests. 00:33:54:15 - 00:34:08:10 Speaker 2 And, we do all of this through an app based service where you can, with minimal effort, have a professional come out to your home and take care of all these small things. We do everything from changing light bulbs, air filters, flushing water heaters, smoke. 00:34:08:10 - 00:34:08:20 Speaker 1 Detector. 00:34:08:21 - 00:34:28:17 Speaker 2 Cleaning dryer vents, smoke detectors. Through our maintenance programs, we have professional carpenters, painters, generalists, aka handymen that can come out and do everything from hanging a TV for you to hanging a towel rack when your toilet paper rod comes off, we come out and take care of that for you. 00:34:28:18 - 00:34:29:14 Speaker 1 Falls off the wall. 00:34:29:14 - 00:34:50:00 Speaker 2 That's exactly. It's exactly it. And we are trying to bring everything that we possibly can in-house because we found, you know, subcontractors are an integral part to the building process, but they're not set up to show up at your house at 830. And we say we're going to be there at 830. We're there at 830. You don't have time to sit around from eight to noon for a plumber to show up. 00:34:50:02 - 00:35:09:08 Speaker 2 And so anything that we can bring in house, we bring in house, we're a master electrician, we're a master plumber, we're working on becoming a, licensed Hvac contractor. At this time, you can't outsource culture. Yeah. And that is the way we feel when it comes to home care. We want to be your partner. A long term partner in your home, your AC breaks. 00:35:09:08 - 00:35:25:20 Speaker 2 We have one of our partners come out that we trust. And if he if you need a new capacitor and a pound of freon and that's going to get you through the next three months, they'll let you know that if they think you really need a new unit, they'll let you know that. But we try to give our customers options. 00:35:25:22 - 00:35:43:08 Speaker 2 We don't want to have a gun to your head to say you need a new water heater today. Give me three grand or not have hot water. So we, we try to do what's in the best interest of our customers. It should go without saying, but there's a lot of service companies out there that do not feel that way, that they're looking for the one check. 00:35:43:08 - 00:35:43:20 Speaker 2 Not. 00:35:43:22 - 00:35:45:19 Speaker 1 Yeah, they're looking for the big the big sale. 00:35:45:19 - 00:36:07:20 Speaker 2 That's exactly it. That's exactly it. Yeah. So, probably didn't explain good. Smith. Very well there. I, that was not a very good elevator pitch, but it take one thing away from it. We are a app based, membership derived home services company. So and it's we have everything from a $0 membership up to $89 a month, which comes with many other, many other benefits. 00:36:07:20 - 00:36:08:16 Speaker 2 So yeah. 00:36:08:18 - 00:36:26:16 Speaker 1 I love it. I mean, I told you before, I, I tried to kind of have a handyman division for crafted at one time, and it's just like you said, it's so hard to to use subcontractors for that. And yet it's also very hard to hire the one guy who's a great generalist and everything that needs to be done. 00:36:26:16 - 00:36:46:03 Speaker 1 That's it. And then you also have the issue of licenses for electrical and plumbing and Hvac, too. So that one guy is it's tough to have that one person to do everything. So I really admire the way that you guys have that set up, I love it. I'm so happy that you guys are doing well. Thank you. I always love having you on the podcast again. 00:36:46:05 - 00:36:48:17 Speaker 1 This is number three, so hopefully we can do number four. 00:36:48:19 - 00:36:49:10 Speaker 2 That's perfect. 00:36:49:10 - 00:36:53:18 Speaker 1 I would love it in the near future. And, you know, thanks for coming back on the day. 00:36:53:18 - 00:36:55:02 Speaker 2 But, Curtis, thanks for having me. 00:36:55:02 - 00:37:07:08 Speaker 1 Yeah. All right, everybody, thanks for joining us on this episode with Eric Klein from Good. Smith on the Your Project Shepherd podcast. We'll see you next time. 00:37:07:10 - 00:37:31:13 Speaker 1 If you found this helpful, enjoy listening. Please support us by liking and subscribing here on your podcast platform. And also join us on our YouTube channel. We want to continue to bring you high quality content and expert guests, and your support truly helps us to continue this journey. If you have any questions for me or my guests or any feedback for us, you can email us at podcast at your project shepherd.com. 00:37:31:15 - 00:37:32:07 Speaker 1 Thanks again.