You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty m.
Hi Jim forty Live, Screaming Me d everywhere on the iHeart Radio app Dean Sharp the House Whisper Live every Saturday and Sunday Morning with you Hey. Follow us on social media. We only do the good kind, I promise, uplifting, informative, inspiring kind of social media. We're on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. Is that still things?
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Yeah, we're still there. As long as it's there, we're there, Facebook X, all of them. Same handle Home with Dean, find us there, follow us and be a part of all of those special features that we put out on social media on a regular basis. And of course this very program also the House Whisper podcast, you can listen to anytime.
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Most people that I talk to about the podcast, they start by apologizing, saying because they're not like you and I okay, they apologize based saying I have to confess, Dean, I don't listen to you on Saturday Mornings Live because you're on so early. But I listened to the podcast, and that's you know what, it's fine. It's fine. It's a very special group of people who get together on Saturday morning here at the program. I am very grateful for you for being a part of it. But yeah,
you know, there are those other guys. They listen to the podcast, but it's there for everybody, hundreds of episodes, all searchable by topic. It is your home improvement reference library. And finally, if your home is in need of more what you might call personal house whisper attention, guess what, you can book an in home design consult with us. Yeah, me and the tea right there. You just go to house Whispered dot design for more information. All right, we
are taking calls today. It's just that simple. I hope you are enjoying it. I certainly am. Let's get back to the phones. I want to talk to Nisha. Nisha, welcome home.
Thank you Dean, thanks for taking my call. I have a situation going on with my front lawn. It hasn't worked its way to the backyard yet, hopefully it doesn't. But I have this statching going on. I am not sure like what it is. I've been told it's possums. I've been told it's raccoons. It's like, I go out and all my grass has been ripped up, and I'm getting these bald spots in the lawn and I Am not sure how to make it go away.
Mmm, bald spots and premature balding of the lawn.
Have you have you done any surveillance.
So I do have cameras, and I have not I've never noticed any creatures roaming around.
Okay, all right, I kind of figured that with the case.
Yeah, you know a lot of people blame possum and raccoons for messing up lawns. But you know, as if they just get come out in the middle of the night with their shovels and just decide, you know what, let's get under her skin and just take some of
this lawn away, it really doesn't happen that way. It's more likely, you know, like the only larger mammal that really terrorizes lawns on a regular basis are you know, like gophers and prairie dogs, those kinds of things that come up from underneath and leave little mounds of dirt, and those are easy to identify because they've left behind the dirt from the tunnel that they've dug but by and large there, you know, I don't know. There's a
handful of of causes for balding lawn areas. It could be heavy foot traffic, but obviously that doesn't sound like it's a situation. Could be poor soil condition that is starting to kind of spread. That's a possibility. Of course, you're classic the neighbor's dogs or peeing on your lawn, but that usually starts with a noticeable yellow patch first. But when you just find that there's bare soil in the lawn, I have found generally speaking that it's a
grub infestation. Okay, And you're like, oh, coross, what is that. It's very simple. There are little, tiny little beetles out there that are all around us, and there are some species that like to lay their eggs in the soil of our lawns because they're nicely protected areas. And then as the grubs start to hat, the little grub beetles they're feeding on the roots of our grass and as a result of these bald patches start to occur. So
it could be any one of those issues. I mean, you could have like a fungal disease or a chemical burn. But I'm putting my money on grubs because by and large that's my experience with this. Fortunately, it's not that difficult to deal with. What you do is, first of all, you go get some grub treatment and you will find that on the shelf of just about every garden center everywhere. That you mix into the soil, and that gets the
grubs under control. They're not spreading everywhere, They're just where the bald patches are. And you rough up the soil, add a little amendment to it, figure out what kind of grass you actually have, add some seed, keep it moist, and you'll grow the grass back.
Okay, So add the grub killer and this and fertilizer at the same time.
Uh yeah, yeah, exactly.
Huh Okay, good to know.
And then you need to reseed that area and keep it extra moist and you know, give the give the new seeds a shot the best fighting chance possible.
Okay, what do you suggest for watering times? I'm always confused on that.
Uh.
Well, for watering times for a lawn in southern California, Uh, it all depends on the efficiency of your sprinklers. But not too long, you know, I mean, most lawns can well water down with good sprinkler system in in a half hour or so. It also has to do with your soil condition, whether you've got clay or you know, rocky soil or sandy soil. In other words, how well your how well your soil holds on to the moisture
that's given to it. But here's a general rule. Uh, you can there are some guides out there that you can look up and say, Okay, I've got this kind of grass and this kind of lawn. I live in southern California. How long should I be watering my lawn with decent sprinkler coverage? And then what I like to do? And I think this is just the most efficient, most
effective ways I like to break that up. So let's say, in fact, my smart watering system does that if forty minutes is the amount of time that an area needs to be irrigated, then my smart watering system will break that up into you know, three twenty minute sessions that are about a half an hour apart, so that we water a little bit, we let that soak in fully and become fully effective, and then we water again and then you know, you understand what I'm saying. So breaking
it up into two or three cycles. And always here in southern California, in the middle of the night. Okay, not in the early morning when everybody can see the sprinkler's going off. Not during daylight hours. And the very simple reason is that sun evaporates water. I want all
the water going into your soil. Now, this is not true if you live back east or you live somewhere where it's much colder and much wetter, because there we want a water during daylight hours so that we're not building up too much water content and creating mold and fungal growth and all of that kind of stuff. But not here in southern California. No one in Southern California should ever see your sprinklers going off unless they're up in the middle of the night. That's how we take
most efficient use of our water. I want it all in the soil and so it's doing its job fully and effectively. Nietsche, thanks for the call. Go check that out, check out your watering times, and go check out the grub treatments that you'll find at the garden center, and also figure out what kind of grass you've got and buy that receding mix. So that once you get the grubs under control, then you know you can grow in those.
It's not a terminal situation. You can fix it. I promise, all right, y'all when we come back, more of your calls your home with Dean Sharp the house whisper.
Damn, I.
Dean Sharp, the house whisper at your service. Good Saturday morning to you, my friend. I'm glad you're with us. We're just we're taking it easy this morning. Well and it's not like we're not working, but we're taking a break from all of the emergency crisis coverage all around us. We're getting a handle on these fires.
Here.
There's cool, wet weather coming. Let's keep our fingers crossed for that. And so I hope you have a warm beverage. If you don't, let me just pour you one here. Oh there we go. Oh that sounds good. It actually sounded like somebody peeing. I caught it right at the end. I just realized because you didn't hear the first part of the coffee cup. If you just catch if you catch the coffee cup stinger sound effect halfway through, it just sounds like somebody peeing. So I think I kind
of that didn't work. That didn't work.
Anyway.
The more you know that's right, Sam, the more you know, play your entire stinger. Let me try this again. Oh see, you see how critical that first part is. The first part is really important to hear.
All right.
Anyway, I hope you are enjoying a warm, comforting beverage of your choice this morning. And I'm just taking calls today, so we're answering all kinds of questions and I get to talk to you and it's lovely. Let's talk to Ann. Hey, Ann, welcome home.
Oh hi, Gane. I hope this isn't a stipid question. I have a friend who bought an older home in Burbank after listening to all your fire shows. I called her and I told her she has to get fire resistant at exent. Is there an easy way to tell if your at events are fire resistant?
Well, an easy way I mean if you understand, if you know what a fire resistant event looks like. And there are different brands events out there, and so it may not be the easiest thing to tell from the beginning, but I'll tell you this. If she's got an older home, she would know and and chances are chances.
Are very very very very very high.
That no, she doesn't fire resistant at events, even though I mean, they've been around for as long as I've been doing this show, and I've been begging everybody to get them. But then, you know, it takes a disaster like what has just happened here in order for a lot of people to listen and finally say, you know what,
maybe we should maybe we should do that. So yeah, right now, the state of things it is even currently right now, and let me say it this way, it has never been a code requirement to put in ember resistant vents in your home until right now. Finally the
state has caught up with it. I had mentioned this on one of the fire coverage shows, But the state of California building code updates every three years on a three year basis, So in other words, they gather all the desired updates and test them out and decide which ones are actually going to be entered into the code, and then that official update happens every three years. Twenty twenty five is the final year of the three year cycle.
And I can tell you with absolute certainty because I've seen it that as of January first, twenty twenty six, it is code a code requirement in California new construction and major remodels that the vents that have to do with the crawl space and the attic will by code be required for the first time ever to be fire resist ember resistant vents. And so it is just now,
absolutely right now as we speak, a code requirement. You can also expect that from here on out because it's a code requirement that any insurance company that you go to for fire insurance will be requiring you to in order to get fire insurance, to prove that you have installed ember resistant vents. So so, and thank you very much for telling your friend that she needs to do that. And I would say chances are ninety nine percent that hers are not and so, but it's very easy. Also,
you can call brand Guard. Brand Guard is now a sponsor of our program. I am so thrilled about that because it means I get to talk about it every weekend with you to remind you to do this. But you can call brand Guard and brand Guard will refer her to a local certified installer and they'll be happy to come out and just check her events and tell her and if and if they're not and they probably aren't. Then they'll measure them all up and give her a
quote for getting them installed. It happens really quick, it's really easy, and it literally is the most important thing you can do to your home to protect it from fires in the future. So and thank you for being an advocate for that and for listening so carefully.
Okay, thank you, Dean. I really appreciate it.
All right, and you take care and you make sure you get them on your home as well. All right, when we come back, more of your calls. Your Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty.
DFI M six forty live streaming in HD everywhere on the iHeart Radio app. Your Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Yes you are, you are home. Welcome home. Thanks for joining us on the program. We're just taking calls this morning, taking a break from all the crises, just taking a breather. Doesn't mean that we're done covering that, of course not. We're here with you through it all,
to the end of it all. But this morning got cooler weather ahead, some rain in the forecast on most of our major fires around us.
Now are are you know?
We've definitely turned a corner on them, getting a handle on them, and with a little bit of rain and the lack of weather events around us, it looks good. It's good news. It's good news for all of that. So we're just taking some calls. I want to go back to the phones this morning. Let's talk to Rose A Rose, welcome home, Good.
Morning, Thank you. We really enjoy your show.
It's very educational.
I always look forward to listening to it both on Saturday and on Sunday. Oh we did the whole Oh are you're welcome. We did the horrible mistake of buying a salt water system soft water system for our whole house instead of the life source water that you guys advertise we have. On the upstairs bastard bathroom, there's some used to look like charcoal that used to sit at the bottom of the toilet bowl. Now it just looks like lint that's kind of floating around and eventually makes
it to the bottom of the bowl. I know it's not the toilet because we remodeled that bathroom. We thought, well, maybe it's the toilet, but it's not, and it's also now starting to happen to the downstairs bathroom. Any idea what that might be.
A couple guesses, but I'm afraid you probably are. You're probably suspecting the culprit is the water softener, and I would guess that it's probably that as well. There's there's a few things that can happen with a water softener, modern water softener, especially that you know something goes wrong with it.
It can actually do that.
It's strange because people are like, you know what, there's residue in my toilet and I have softened water. I don't think that's supposed to happen. You're right, it's not supposed to happen with a water softener. But sometimes things can go wrong. Here's the most likely thing. And you know, I don't know for certain, because you've got to call your water softer company and say, hey, come and check this out. But uh, it's not just salt interacting inside
a water soft a modern water softener. Most modern wafts also have a resin bead bed. And you're like, okay, it's I don't want to waste your time or anybody else's time explaining exactly what that looks like. But just suffice it to say, uh, it's not something that you replenish in a water softener. You're just in charge of replenishing the salt. But a resin bead bed or chamber are these little tiny resinous beads. They actually look like what do they They look like salmon row in other words,
salmon fish eggs. They look like fish eggs, and they're usually kind of brown and or black in color, and they're resinance and they're used to attract mineralization to them. It's like another layer of attracting minerals out of the water.
But for some reason, uh, sometimes a water softener can leak their resin beads in to the water, and as a result, you either find little fish eggs floating in your toilet, but most often once they get out in the open water areas, they dissolve and then they leave their sticky, little kind of either rust or charcoal color residue on toilet bowls or at the bottom of the
bowl or whatever. So that's my first guest. I could be wrong about that, but my first guess is that there's probably a resin bead issue with the water softener that you know, maybe an o ring failed maybe something, and it's leaking its resin beads into the water supply there, and so yeah, you should get that checked out because that can happen. So if you find fish eggs in your toilet, no, you are not growing trout. You probably have a water softener that needs some servicing.
Okay.
I know when we first got it, they came back out again and said, yeah, we did some adjustments, and then it went away for a while, and then it came back again. And we've had this problem for.
For a year now, okay, so that if they made some adjustment, then it came back again. So it is a it is the water softener then, and it probably is the resin something in the resin reservoir.
Okay, all right, we'll give them a call. Can I ask you just one more quick.
Question, real quick? Sure?
Uh do you have a name of a seiler for a sill granite sink?
Something more restore it to restore? Okay, a granite sink?
Still granite, okay, granted black soil granite sink.
Yeah, not off the top of my head.
Uh So, but I'm going to advise that you do the same thing that I do, which is when when we run into those situations because products change over all the time.
It don't.
I wouldn't go to the big box stores in the tile aisle because they're just gonna point you to a standard thing. Find your local, you know, custom tile and stone shop and go in there and say, here's my situation, what's the best sealer or restore for that. They've got it, They've got they got you covered. So you talk to those experts and the point in the right direction. Okay, thank you, Dean Rose, Thank you so much for your call.
Thanks for listening to the program. Love It Rose listens Saturdays and Sundays.
That is commitment.
Tina's like, I know I have to listen to you twenty four to seven talk about commitment, right.
Babe, Right right? All right?
When we come back, should we Yeah, yeah, we're gonna go to break. I'm just I'm shocked because I'm going to break on time. It actually threw me off. When we come back. More of your call Your Home with Dean Sharp the house Whisper, can't f I Dean Sharp the house Whisper. Welcome home. Hey, thanks for joining us on the program this morning. Here we are at the end of another two hours spent together. Some of you are just waking up saying, what two hours? What they
just started? How can you be two hours into it? Well, my friend, I'm glad that you slept in this morning. But for the rest of us, we've been up for a while and we're taking a very deep breath this weekend on the program, and it's an all calls weekend. I'm just answering questions getting to talk to you. Are great listeners and help you out with your home directly.
Whatever you set the agenda this weekend. Same is going to be true of the big show tomorrow from nine to noon when we're right back here, nothing but your calls. And I should say right now, I want to be really clear that if I leave you on the line, because I've only probably got time for maybe one realistically one maybe another call before we're done today, if I leave you on the line, uh and uh you call back tomorrow, you just let Richie know, Hey, I was
on hold yesterday and Dean didn't take my call. And we'll give you a you know, a fast pass, a lightning lane, that's Disney speak. We will give you a pass to the front of the line. It'll be a priority call for tomorrow's show. So that's the best that I can do for you.
All right. That being said, let's talk to shry A. Sherry.
Welcome home, Hi, Gane.
Can you hear me?
I can and and and I can hear other things? Are you in a coal mine?
I'm in a power Okay?
All right? How can I help you? My friend?
Okay?
I have several probruts in my house and they are really good shapes. They're woolf but the back is webber and it's.
Starting to play off. Is there something I can put out a sack?
Uh?
All right, I know what you listeners are thinking. There's no way he has an answer for this.
Uh huh huh.
Okay, So Sherry, this is that Just understand what I'm about to tell you is a hack, a hack.
Okay.
What that means is this is not an established industry like, oh yeah, this is exactly what you do when you have a deteriorating latex rubber throw rub backing.
But uh, it will work.
Okay, And I'm glad you said you have several I'm I'm not glad that you have several rugs deteriorating. But this will help mitigate the cost. But here's the thing. You can run down to a big box store hardware store, uh and get yourself a court of flex Seal. Okay, flex Seal. It's is is it's a brand of rubberized.
You know basically what it is. It's it's liquid rubber, latex rubber in a can and and it is the very very similar, if not exactly what the rubber backing, because most rubber backings on throw rugs are are a latex rubber backing and it's soft and it's wonderful and it makes them grippy and it's all the good things. But latex rubber breaks down over time, It oxidizes, it breaks down and heat and cold and you know all
the things. So if these are really important throw rugs for you and they're looking good on the on the front side, I'm thinking you can extend the life of these throw rugs by doing this. You get yourself a quart of flex Seal. A court of flex Seal costs about thirty five bucks.
Okay. It's so if it was just.
One throw rug, I'd be like, you know what, could just buy a new throw rug because the fix is is expensive. If not more so than the replacement throw rug, but if you've got a lot of them, if you have a few of them, then this might be worth it to you.
You get a can of flex.
Seal and a paintbrush and very carefully kind of mask off the edges. Don't go all the way right to the edge, because I don't want to getting on your the wool of the fabric itself. But you can put a couple of coats of flex Seal on the backside of a deteriorating latex throw rug and bring it back to life because you're just basically adding layers of fresh rubber and it'll bond with the old rubber and it should work for you. It is a hack, though, all right.
So a hack means that this is a workaround, not a guaranteed fix. But I think that's probably your best shot.
Okay, thank you so much.
You are so welcome.
And you know what, put the top up on that car because it's cold outside.
Thanks Sherry, appreciate it.
You see, Yeah, you thought that was gonna throw me, Yes, you did, be honest.
You're like, no way, there's.
No way he's gonna know what to do with the back of a throw a deteriorating throw rug?
Who does that?
Well, my friends, you've come to the right place, and you know, with enough coffee here, you know, the more coffee I drink, the more creative answers I come up with. That's just the way it works, all right. I am so grateful that you have spent some time with us this morning. We will be back here again tomorrow. Remember, follow us on social media Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, x Home with Dean, same handle for all of them. Go out there, check it out, share the good stuff with your friends.
Don't forget this very program in about an hour is going to be available as one episode of the House with podcast. It is everywhere. Your favorite podcasts are found on the free iHeartRadio app, but.
Apple podcasts, Spotify. We're everywhere.
You can find us and listen anytime, day or night on demand whenever it is right for you. And of course, if your home is in need of some personal house whisper attention from me and t if you want us sitting in your kitchen with you talking about all of the ideas that you aren't going to come up with for your home, then you can book an in home design consult with us at house Whisperer dot Design. We're
right back here tomorrow from nine until noon. Until then, Oh, I love to be able to say this, Stay warm and dry today and then get out there and get busy building yourself a beautiful life.
We'll see you here tomorrow. This has been Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
Tune into the live broadcast on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning from six to eight Pacific time, and every Sunday morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or any
Time on demand on the iHeartRadio app