Show takes mystery out of household problems

By Garrett Pomichter

Staff writer

Most new homeowners learn quickly about the costs inherent in owning a house.

When a pipe breaks, you call a plumber. When the lights flicker, you call an electrician.

But what if the problem is more vague then that?

When Melbourne Beach lawyer Stuart Sloan and his wife Sarah noticed the electric bills at their A1A home were higher than the norm, they didn't know where to turn.

The couple has lived in the home for the past two years and said their bills were nearly uncontrollable despite trying several ways of saving energy.

"We tried adjusting our usage, and couldn't get it quite right," Mr. Sloan said. "The bill would be low one month and then nearly doubled the next."

That's when they saw an advertisement for a new show coming to cable TV's Do It Yourself network. The show is called "Finders Fixers", and it seemed to offer just the help they needed.

Unlike many home improvement shows, the "Finders Fixers" team doesn't build new homes or remodel entire rooms. They solve the problems in existing homes.

"'Finders Fixers' is a program about discovery," said the show's senior producer Pete Couste. "First we find the root cause of those annoying household mysteries that stump the homeowners, and then we showing them step-by-step how to fix it."

The show's host, home inspector Wally Conway, who has been diagnosing houses for more than a decade said most problems have simple common sense solutions.

"Home inspections cause many people great anxiety," he said. "But once you show owners that some simple corrections can save money and increase property values, that fear subsides."

After being contacted by the couple, "Finders Fixers" paid a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Sloan's home.

The new show provided an opportunity to take control of their erratic energy bills.

"We knew something wasn't right, and the bills were too unpredictable," said Mr. Sloan, "but we had no idea why, and that's pretty frustrating."

Solving this mystery, wasn't as difficult as the couple thought it would be, though.

One of the tricks of Mr. Conway's trade is knowing who to call for help. In the Sloan's case, a call to Florida Power and Light proved to be very informative.

What many people don't know is that FPL offers customers free energy audits to find out where those costly extra watts are going.

"We didn't know about the FPL program until Wally and the people at "Finders Fixers" told us," said Mr. Sloan. "We learned something new right from the start of this experience."

While the cameras rolled, Mr. Conway shared the results of the FPL audit with the anxious homeowners.

"With the help of FPL, we have found a few places where energy is escaping," Mr. Conway said. "There are no surprises really given the age of the home."

Pointing out that the home was built in the 1960s, Mr. Conway held up a plastic bag near a closed door and as it was sucked toward the threshold, explained to the couple the need for updated insulation and better whether stripping around older doors and windows.

"Information is power," Mr. Conway said. "With this information homeowners can make better decisions about their homes and the future."

But the show wasn't over just yet.

After solving the mystery through their initial inspection, cameras kept rolling while the recommended repairs were made and the home was brought up-to-date.

While the desired result was to improve the Sloan's home, the process of filming the show was equally as informative to the couple.

"It was a very interesting experience," Mr. Sloan said. "We worked from about 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., and we had to do some things several times. It was interesting to see how everyone works together."

After an exhaustive day filming and fixing, the Sloan's home looks almost exactly as it did when the TV crew arrived, but Mr. Sloan and his wife were hopeful the nearly transparent changes will be more obvious in their next electric bill.

With the mystery of the escaping energy solved, Mr. Conway and the Finder Fixers team packed up their cameras and moved out, but producers said they will keep filming in Brevard and still need some new mysteries to solve.

So, if your home is suffering from some unknown ailment, you may want to give "Finders Fixers" a call too.

"We have videotaped three mysteries in the Brevard area," said Mr. Couste, "and we hope to shoot several more."

"Finders Fixers" is expected to debut on the DIY television network sometime in fall 2006.

For more information about how you can be on "Finders Fixers," contact Horizon Entertainment by e-mail at findersfixers@aol.com.