THE GURU OF GROUT

Lou Manfredini has heard plenty of folk remedies for household problems. But Latin music to drive out raccoons? That was a first for the home-repair expert, who appears as the “Today” show’s Mr. Fix-it and hosts a Chicago radio program.

“I had a woman call me who had raccoons in her attic,” Manfredini recalls. “She’d tried everything--traps, baiting, poisoning.” Desperate, she placed a clock radio in the attic and tuned to a Latin music station. “Within two days, the raccoons were gone, and they never came back.”

Now, Manfredini doesn’t guarantee that raccoons will salsa their way out of your attic, but, hey, it worked for his listener.

In a phone interview from the Windy City, Manfredini offered a few household remedies of his own, exploded the myth that women’s fix-it IQs are lower than men’s and put in a good word for a few products (not among his sponsors) that he terms “fabulous.”

And, between such tips as how to banish bad odors from your dishwasher or washing machine--”Pour in a quart of hydrogen peroxide [and] run them on normal cycle, no soap”--he slipped in a word for his book, “Mr. Fix-it” (Rare Air Media, 2000), in which he answers 101 most commonly asked questions about home repairs.

Manfredini, 36, who’s been a builder for 15 years and also gives home-improvement advice to the Internet set at https://www.ourhouse.com, has three rules for do-it-yourselfers: Have fun, be smarter than the material you’re working with--and don’t hold a nail for someone else.

In the wake of Manfredini’s “Today” show exposure and print ads for Ourhouse.com, people are starting to recognize him, though he’s quick to say, “I’m not of the celebrity status of Katie Couric. . . . I’m just me, a husband, a father of three kids,” and that suits him fine.

To make his advice accessible even to those with four thumbs, he talks in readily grasped terms. Describing how to re-grout tile, he counsels, “The grout should have the consistency of toothpaste.”

Among the questions posed in his book is how to fix a cracked ceramic tile in the middle of a bathroom floor.

“How about a nice bath mat?” he asks, before explaining the how-to, which involves gouging out the grout and then whacking the offending tile with a hammer and removing it piece by piece.

While he thinks faux wood floors fool no one, he’s a cheerleader for decks built of Trexx (not a sponsor). A composite made of recycled plastic bags and wood shavings, “it looks great, it doesn’t warp, it can be cut and shaped just like wood” and is basically maintenance-free. He loves redwood decks but doesn’t like “chopping down redwood trees.”

Men may like to think that women don’t know a circuit breaker from a souffle. Wrong, says Manfredini. It’s the female of the family who drives home improvement, and “70% of my callers are women. I attribute that to male ego.”

Manfredini currently is being offered up as the prize in an Ourhouse.com promotion, “Win a handyman.” He will go to the winner’s home anywhere in the United States and make $7,500 worth of repairs. He quips, “Somebody said to me, ‘Who wants to marry a millionaire if they can have someone come and fix everything in their house?’ ”

That might include recessed floodlights that blink inexplicably, a shower that emits a mere dribble or pipes that knock annoyingly.

For his “Today” show segments, the producers sometimes suggest user-friendly topics.

“In the beginning of June we’re going to be doing a segment on modular homes,” Manfredini says. “Their idea initially was to actually build a house out on Rockefeller Plaza during the two hours of the show.”

He was up to the challenge, he says, but told the producers, “I don’t know what we’re going to do with this house once it’s done. It was going to be a very expensive segment.” The compromise: Build it on its permanent site.

Manfredini differs from some Mr. Fix-its, he says, in that many offer great ideas, but ideas that are for an unlimited budget.

“It’s always wonderful to see a $100,000 kitchen, but . . . “

His goal is to teach people to get the best value for their money, no matter what their budget.

“I tell people, ‘Always think like a seller.’ ” That means putting your money into the house’s mechanical systems, and into the kitchen and bathrooms. Investments in home offices have also begun paying off on resale.

Whatever you do, “If you chintz out,” he says, “it’s only going to detract from the value of your home long term,” so buy the best you can afford.

Where not to put your money? Whole-house stereo systems and swimming pools, for example, don’t usually add value.

If some questions posed to Manfredini seem simplistic, he points out, “We’re a heck of a lot busier now than we were 20 years ago. There’s a generation of people who did not have handy people in their homes growing up.”

He is working on a second book, which will focus on home improvement projects parents and kids can do together, reintroducing the concept of working with your hands.

“There seems to be a trend now where people are going back to that,” partly as a result of experts like him who populate newspapers, magazines and TV shows.

Before letting him go, I floated my theory that low-flow showers and toilets are not only annoying, but also fail to save water because you have to shower longer or flush twice.

“Bingo,” he replied. “It’s the oxymoron of the industry.” The next big thing: Power-flush toilets. “The only downside is they’re a little noisy. Everyone is going to know you’re in the bathroom.”