Insurance - it’s one of those things that is easy to side step, but once you need it…your banging your head against the wall because you don’t have enough.  Something happened to us this week, right here at the hardware store, we had a water pipe break and on Sunday morning at 11am we opened the store to a flood.  Yikes…I was grateful that it had not happened on Friday when we were closed, there is no telling what kind of damage we would have had.  And then I thought- hummm- did I slack off on the insurance that I would need to put things back as they had been?  I tell you I am bad about insurance.  But I was lucky, I was covered.  And that’s the reason for the article.  I am sure your home is fully insured, but if you hired a subcontractor, do they have insurance?  Anyone that works in your home, at your business needs to have insurance.  If something is done wrong, will they have the insurance to take care of the problem?  They will if they are smart.  If they don’t and they tell you they do it to save you money- show them the front door.  Can you imagine replacing your roof with a contractor with no insurance?  Never take the low bid- there is a reason that he is lowest.  No-- it’s not because he likes you.  And then where you have electrical problems, be very careful.  Pick an electrician that is licensed and bonded, with plenty of insurance.  But before you start any job- email the Happy Handy Man first.  If it’s a DIY job I will tell you and walk you through it.  If it’s not, I will tell you that too.  Happy New Year!

Now to the email…..

Question:  I live in Cibolo and purchased my house 5 years ago.  I plan to retire in March of 2010 and will need to sell the house.  The house had settling cracks when I bought it but the inspector said the foundation was ok.  During the drought the front door became very difficult to open, but with the fall rains, that problem resolved itself.  I replaced the living room and hallway carpet with ceramic tile in 2005, and the grout began to crack almost immediately.  Before I begin to get ready to sell the house I would like to have a foundation expert look at it to see if the foundation needs repair.
Answer:  First, the foundation is made to be flexible and the way to check your foundation is to go around the slab and look for any real deep cracks (hairline cracks are normal).  Checking with a foundation expert is fine, but remember foundations are meant to move.  If you want to regrout the tile that is fine, but a lot of people will just put down rugs.

Question:  All of my kitchen cabinets are painted white and so are the hinges, but when you open the doors it scrapes the paint off the middle part of the hinge showing the brass color of the hinge.  I could replace them or remove the paint off all together, but then the hinges would really stand out and not look right.   
Answer:  You could remove the paint, and spray paint the hinges, and then it would not scrape off opening and closing, because the paint would be on thinner.  Or you could try and find a hinge that is considered a concealed hinge that does not show – but you would need to find a hardware store that carries a large variety of cabinet hardware.  But it’s hard for me to know without looking at your cabinets.

Question:  I totally enjoy your articles in the North Houston paper.  I have squirrels that seem to like to eat my fiber board siding on my house.  Any ideas as to what I can do to stop them from eating my house?
Answer:  Shake-Away rodent repellent granules, all you need to do is put some out around the area where there eating the siding on the house and they won’t want to come near it.  It’s a good product and comes in several kinds for small rodents, cats, and deer.

Got a question for Johnnie? Tune in to Johnnie's radio show Saturday mornings on KKYX from 11-12 or call (21) 341-1573. Reach him on the web at www.AcmeLumber.com.