KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp, the house Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app. Here for you, like we always are here to be a mentor, a design mentor for you, because design matters most an advocate as you wrestle with construction issues in your home, and it's your friend as you take on the noble work of turning your ordinary house into an extraordinary home. It's a real thing. It can be done. We see it done every day of our professional life. Ordinary houses
can become extraordinary homes. Today, by the way, let me get this out quick. Today I want to talk to you about what's going on with your house. I have no agenda but to talk with you and see if I can help. It is an all calls weekend. We are just going to the phones. You're setting the agenda today. The number to reach me eight three three two. Ask Dean. Let's talk to David A. David, Welcome home.
Thank you, Dean. I'm in Venice Beach. I live in an apartment, so I feel like I represent all the apartment renters who don't usually own a home. And the building I live in was built in nineteen twelve there's three stories and I'm on the top floor the three stories, and about seven or eight months ago the lanvelode replaced the water heater, and since then it wakes me up at night because of them. I guess people taking a shower because the pipes are banging for between five and
twenty seconds sometimes during the week. And I was wondering how I can explain to my lavelord is I'm sorry to say, but lazy doesn't want to admit that it's just bothering and keeping me awake. So how does it make such a noise that I think it's pipe expanding? Do their rub against something? And what can I say?
I don't know what you can say with a lazy landlord who doesn't want to do anything, but you can talk to him about the problem though, And so are we talking about. So there's two kinds of noise that people sometimes experience when it comes to their hot water systems or there's water in general. Number one is, uh, there is this there's a like a what a lot of people describe as a creeping or clicking sound like
that happens when when hot water is being used. Uh. And then there's that banging sound literally like you know, this banging sound, which of the two are you experiencing.
It's a mix between the two. It's the sound is like the banging, but the space between the bang is more space are like doom doom, dum dum dum dum dum tum or sometimes slower it slows down, all right.
So what you get is, uh, is the the new it's weird. Plumbing systems are even really well designed systems, Uh. They are. Essentially it turns out sometimes like a giant, a giant instrument. You know, you got a lot of pipes and you got stuff flowing through it, and depending on the twists and the turns that it makes and so on, you get weird noises out of pipes. Sometimes. Most common is what we call water hammer, okay, and
that's that thudding sound. And you could be in a building for you know, one hundred years and not have water hammer, and then all of a sudden, you know, somebody changes out the water heater, changes the pressure relationship of the building. Maybe the water heat. Maybe the new water heater is out putting hotter water than the previous one. Maybe it's putting it out at slightly a different pressure.
Or flow level. There could all be all these little subtle changes and all of a sudden, now we're getting water hammer hammer. Fortunately, in most cases, it's a pretty simple fix. And that is and you could say, well, your landlord says, hey, you put in the new water heater, but now we're getting water hammer really bad in the house. Would you please have a water hammer a restor installed near the water heater. And what a water hammer arrestor is.
It's literally it's an extension of the pipe. You know, it inserts. It could insert, for instance, in between the water heater hoses and the hot water line feed for the rest of the building. And it's literally got a little kind of a column sticking out from it. And inside that column is essentially a shock absorber for water.
There's a big spring and a diaphragm. And as that water comes unevenly flowing through the pipes and that vibration starts to form, this thing will receive a lot of that vibration into itself and not send it knocking down through the pipes. Now, sometimes it takes more than one, and sometimes it's a great idea to install them in different locationtions. But a you know, a water hammer arrestor.
I mean you can get a two pack of them for like twenty five dollars, so and they're an easy install, okay, And so that would be I think that would be my first line of approach to your landlord, who obviously doesn't want to do a whole lot that often. Just say, listen, it is a problem, and a lot of us hear it, and I don't want to be, you know, complaining about it. But honestly, ever since the new water here went in,
we're hearing this thing. And so you know there's an I'm told there's an easy fix for it, you know, could you please step forward and deal with that? And if it's an easy, inexpensive fix, you know, maybe he'll move on it. Maybe he'll he'll shift and make it happen. But that's ultimately what that is, my friend. And do you happen to have our laundry facilities in each apartment? It's an old apartment build, so I'm guessing not. But do you have like a washer drug in your unit?
No?
No one does, okay, nobody does. Another place where you might be able to help yourself with this is you could install one of these, you know, twelve fifteen dollars. Water hammer devices like underneath your sink in the kitchen, Okay, because anywhere they are located anywhere along the lines, or underneath the sink in the bathroom, or get a couple of them, put one in each place anywhere on that system where these shock absorbers are. They will help mute
the vibration. So ask your landlord first. But maybe you go out and pop a couple underneath your own sinks and see if that helps as well.
Fantastic. I love that information. Thank you so much, David.
You are so welcome.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty.
Your guide to turning your ordinary house into something truly extraordinary. I tell you what we're doing today. It's an all calls day.
It is it.
You set the agenda. Anything that is going on with your home, whether it be construction issues, DIY questions, design concerns, anything at all. The phone lines are open. I am here to help you sort it all out. We'll put our heads together and we'll get it sorted. I promised. Here is the number to reach me, and these lines are open now. The number to reach me eight three three two ask Dean eight three three to ask Dean, you see it just rolls off the tongue on that note,
how about we go to it. We're going to take some calls. Anything you want to talk about, So let's get to it. Let's talk to Sal. Hey, Sal, welcome home.
I'm in my fourth house in here in LA. I tend to buy houses in great neighborhoods, but need a lot of work.
Okay, yeah, I get you. I feel it.
I feel it, and the and the one I'm in now, great house, a great neighborhood. Trying to deal with the front doors, original front doors, French doors with sidelights, and I get confusing quotes. Every contractor is different. I'm thinking I wanted to just replace the flabs, and they say they can't do it. I'm trying to look for types of manufacturers. It's it's hard. I can't It's not like a Chevy or Ford. You know, you can't compare. So I wanted to get some opinions whether or not to
just try to change the slabs. You know, in the seventies home with you know the frame, you know, the door on the top. It's a little off and they're saying, it's not going to be level, we have to just do pre hung. But the whole front unit is built into the house, and I wanted to keep the integrity and just change the slabs and the sidelights. What do you what do you think or what's what do you think is my best option?
Uh?
So we got double doors at double doors and sidelights, yes, sir, okay, double doors and sidelights. And so you're not confused as to the style that you're going for, right, You're just going to go with the nineteen seventies. It's like a little bit modernist slab door or is it a different style?
The glass is like this frosted yellow with like a diamond pattern in it, and it's you know, it's on the top half of the door, and but on one side of the door the frame is off centered a little bit on the top jam to accommodate the alignment of the of the glass. So that's saying because of that, I can't just change I can't change the slabs because we're going to end up shaving it and it's going
to be off again like the original door is. And I thought maybe I could just change the slabs and the jams and the winterizing, you know, the weather stripping and all that. But they don't want to, you know, put in the work. They just want to change the you know, do a pre hung system. But that's you know, we're getting into almost.
Ten grand now, all right, my friend. So here's the thing. It can be done. Of course it can be done. And so the situation that you're in right now is, you know, and I grow weary. I'm not I don't grow weary answering this question. I grow weary of giving this answer because I wish I didn't have to. But you're just going to need to search longer for the right builder to do the job. Okay, because of course
it can be done. Of course, we can change out the jam and you can buy you know, you don't have to go with a pre hung situation where it's all been just factory put together. Of course, it can be custom installed and in a lot of ways it might end up saving you money along the way. Plus you get exactly what you want. Now, if there's some weird jam condition that can be resolved too, Okay, everything
can be fixed. Everything can be fixed. It is just a question these days of there are so many builders out there who and believe me, you know, I mean I feel for them too. Construction is no is you know, is no get rich quick scheme. It really isn't. And the guys who use it that they usually like, end up in jail. But it's just it's tough because people want what they want, and they want it for an unbelievably low price, and people have to really put the effort into it in order to get good at work.
I'm not saying an unbelievable low price, but just the fact that, you know, everybody's quotation and manufactural representations are different, so it's very hard to choose.
And yeah, that's why. And you're in a good situation to do that. Yeah, I can feel this. I can feel the vibe that you're in the right situation to do this. What you got to do is is you have to take control of the situation. In other words, your best bet, I think from what I'm hearing from you, your best bet is to choose your doors. Okay, now
what does that mean. Well, once you know the style of the door that you want, right then you just shop out that style door and yeah, they're going to be varying price points for that style of door, but you make that selection. You make the selection of the door that you want to go in that unit at the price point that you are comfortable of paying. There are a good billion doors out there, I know, and
it can seem very, very overwhelming. But first thing we do is we eliminate, you know, ninety eight percent of them because we've chosen the style, the specific style that you want, and within that category, you locally shop out what it is that you're looking for. Is it going to be a standard solid wood slab door and that's going to be at one price. Is it going to be a fiberglass resin door. Is it going to be
a steel door? You know, all of these choices that we've got, you can narrow that down right, forget about the manufacturers, just looking at price point and the construction of the door. Then you pick out those doors. You're like, Okay, these are the two doors that I'm going to use, and these are the sidelights that I'd like to see. And then then you start showing contractors, listen, here are the doors, these are the sidelights. There's the opening. I
want you to make it work. And some guys are gonna walk away saying, ah, I know, don't do that. Other guys are going to give you that BS statement that I hear all the time, it can't be done. It just means that they don't want to do it and they're not used to doing it at their convenience level for a profit. And that's fine too, you can let them walk. I just hate the fact that they say it can't be done. I'd rather a contractor just tell you that goes beyond what we normally do, and
I don't want to do it. But to tell people a thing can't be done, that's not the world that I live in as a builder or a designer. So get you take control of your materials and you say these are the doors I want to use, here's the
configuration that I want. Give me a price accordingly, and if you look long enough and you take your time, sal you're gonna find guys who are going to give you prices, and you'll see that those prices will start to align themselves and you'll be able to choose the person to do the work for you and get it done the right way.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on Demand from KFI AM six forty.
We are doing an all calls weekend, nothing but your calls today, and I want to get back to the phone so we can get as many calls in as possible. All right, let's talk to Julie. Hey, Julie, welcome home.
Hi Dean.
We're looking at getting new windows and I love the black frame windows, but they're obviously a lot more expensive. So I was wondering, what are your thoughts on if we just if someone just adjusted black frame windows in the back of the house and kept the traditional white frame ones.
In the front.
I have no general problems with that whatsoever. In fact, if you hear me talk on the show quite often, i'll talk about the tech. One of the techniques for upgrading a house with out touching its traditional curb appeal is to treat the facade of the house differently than the backside of the house, because from the the facade of the house is something that is viewed from outside the house, standing on the curb in the street looking
at the house. Then you move into the house, you walk in, and once you're past the face of the house, now we're inside the house looking out through windows into the backyard. It's a completely different experience. And so the idea of using black frame windows for the backside of the house because you love them and because they work with the configuration that you're looking for, in my thinking,
in most cases most cases. Don't quote me on this universally, but in most cases, yeah, your freedom to mix it up. I would even say, depending on decor. There are times when you know there are well, actually you know, I'll tell you this. We just finished designing from the ground up a new house in Studio City. Some of those windows are white traditional framed windows, some of them are
dark bronze and black traditional windows. Just depending on room for room and the effect that we're looking for, and on some of the elevations of the house, you can see both at the same time. It all depends on whether it works with that theme. But as a general rule, you know, it's kind of the Mullet approach, right, all business up front and party in the back. So keep your white frame windows facing the street and do back black towards the back of the house and have a blast.
I think you're completely free to do that in most cases. Thanks Julie for the call. Yes, yes, it's my mullet theory. My mullet theory applies to lots of things all the time. All right, let's talk to Paul. Hey, Paul, welcome home.
Hey, good morning, Dean, thanks for giving my call props.
I'm building a fire.
Pit in the backyard and I'd like to run the gas line before I have a concrete pad port over it. So my question is what diameter pipe do I need to use?
That's a good question. It really all depends on how big the fire pit is. It's just kind of a standard little twenty four thirty six diameter fire pit. Then you could get away with a half inch line, but since it's all new, I prefer to run a three quarter inch line. I've got a three quarter inch line running to my fire pit. Of course, my fire pit, the rock itself is about eight and a half feet long, and the actual burners are two four foot a pair of two four foot linear burners. So there's a lot
of fire there along line of fire. But as a general rule, you know, I like fire pits to be warm. I like fire at my fire pit because the whole point of a fire pit is not just to sit next to one when it's eighty degrees outside in the middle of summer. But to be able to enjoy it when it's cold outside, and when it's cold outside, you need more than just a little trickle of flame coming out. So I would say run the three quarter inch line.
But and here's the important qualifier to that. You run a three quarter inch line, you're not gonna want to run it most of the time at full bore. And so the key, the gas key that you're turning your firepit on and off with, you shouldn't use that to choke down the gas because if you do, it's so close to where the gas comes out of the actual burner that you're going to get a hiss or a
whistling sound because of gas cavitation in the line. So pick you know, wherever the gas line is coming out of the house away from the house, or you know, take twenty thirty feet away from the fire pit, run a three quarter inch line, and then put a linear valve right there that you can control the flow of the line, and then use your key at the fire
pit to just full on, full off. If you put a valve, a flow control valve a twenty feet plus away, then the cavitation by the time it reaches the fire pit has settled down, and you can set it to any intensity you want, from the very faintest of flame all the way to the bonfire and you'll get no change in sound whatsoever. So my suggestion, yeah, I run the three quarter inch line and give yourself some options. Paul,
thanks for your call, buddy, tell you what. Let's talk to Pat Hey, Pat, welcome home.
My house is built in nineteen twenty two and it had the original oak Force, so twenty years ago and we had the house three model. We pulled up the carpet and they were like no, so the charras them and they're just beautiful. So now it's been a while, so I took TSP. I thought it's time to clean them. Took TSP in it took off the old Sharraq. But now and I go to the hon depot, it seems like the new Hira water based and there's nothing to them.
What can I use that's really strong to schillac my falls because I want to preserve them as long as possible, and the how it takes a beating a lot of traffic. So what do you recommend to use for Schillac for covering coating.
Okay, I got you no more shillac on your floor, and that's fine. Believe me, it's totally fine. What you want now, don't be afraid of what you find at the store. But here, I want you to go to a good flooring store and I want you to get a high quality flooring grade polyurethane. Poly Polyurethane is essentially a plastic coating. Doesn't matter that it's water based, doesn't you know that's not that's a non issue. And we're going to put at least three to four coats down now.
If you don't, if you want to show the floor is super shiny, then you go with a normal polyurethane. If you want them to have that very old world a little bit, Matt just satiny finish, which I love so much because I think it shows off an old world flow so well, then you're gonna want a satin finish, just a satin finish on the polyurethane, and you're gonna
want it. Like I said, put down to three four coats even more in high traffic areas if you want not a problem, but polyurythane flooring grade, and you'll be able to do that to your floors, and it'll be years before you have to redo it.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty.
Let's talk to Dave. Hey, Dave, welcome home.
My family lives in a thirty five hundred square foot, two story single family house in Orange County, a bill Lyon home, and we a year ten years ago, I spent about fifty thousand upgrading the back put, installing a hard roof, tile floor, granite countertops, in an outdoor kitchen with three different barbecues and sinks, and our kitchen needs a similar upgrade. We have hardwood cabinets that we like. They're oak. We love wood.
We have it's a nineteen sixty nine home, if I didn't mention that, and it's got tile countertops, and we put in a new tile in the floor when we redid the patio, but the floor is chipping through. Tile was substandard. We need new flooring. We want to replace our countertops. We want to keep the oak cabinetry, and we like wood so much that we'd like to go hardwood countertops. So we'd like your recommendation there.
Okay, all right, I got you. Well, good on you and for being bold and wanting to do some cool stuff. So here is the thing for just as a general recommendation. And I'll get back to this in a second. I have no issues whatsoever with hardwood countertops, none, zero issues. I know people all over southern California are like, oh, oh, we would never do that. That's fine, then don't do it.
But I'm just telling you, as somebody who's been building homes and designing homes for you know, almost forty years now, hardwood is a brilliant countertop. People are like, well, that will never last up to you know, spillage and moisture. And it's like, well, if you've ever been on a boat that has a galley in it, I guarantee you this one thing. The countertop on that galley is hardwood. If you've ever gone into a pub and sat at
a bar, the bar is hardwood. So yeah, the idea that wood doesn't hold up to abuse and or moisture is a myth. Now you got to do it right, okay, So but there you go. There's my feeling about hardwood countertops, even so much so that Tina and I half of the counters half of them in our kitchen the Specifically, the counter that the sink is in is a two inch thick walnut, black walnut, and it just oiled, not finished with polyurethane or anything, just oiled with mineral oil.
And it's years old now, and it years and years old now and it looks like brand new and all we have to do is just reoil it and gaboom. So anyway, now the trick for you, Dave is going to be this. You've got you're thinking about putting hardwood floors in the kitchen. You've got oak cabinets, and you're thinking about wood. Now that as a wood lover, you know that that's a lot of wood.
And so the key is this.
I'm not going to tell you not to do all of that wood, but I am going to be very very specific. You need to wisely create contrast between the floor, the cabinets and the countertops. So whatever color the oak is of the cabinets, that's a lock, right because they're all finished out. Whatever color that is, you want some contrast in lightness or darkness and in intensity of color for the countertops. Number one and number two for the floor. If we go oak on oak on it, actually the
material itself is irrelevant. I would not use oak for the countertops just because oak doesn't do as well with these things. But the floor, the cabinetry and the counter, if you went with the same kind of style and the same general tone, you're going to end up with a wood cave. And you don't want a wood cave in your kitchen where your kitchen used to be. Okay, So in order for it to really pop, for it to really shine, for it to really show itself off,
you just want color contrasts. So if the cabinets are staying dark, then you want to go lighter with the counter or vice versa. Our cabinets in our kitchen are white. They're just there. They're beautiful wood cabinets, but they are white. And so the dark wallnut's sitting on top of those cabinets, and then we have a brick style tile floor underneath them. They all just show off and compliment each other, you know, super well. Uh, but we have done wood on wood
on wood before. But the key is contrast, heavy contrast so that you don't get that cav bleed out effect.
Uh.
And so there you go, and uh, my recommendation as far as the wood there are several species of hardwoods that work really, really well. You should just get yourself down to a hardwood specialty shop or lumberyard that specializes in hardwoods and uh and check out what they've got and the you know, see how you guys feel about it, because it's one of the one of the fun things about picking out hardwoods for situations like this. Every piece
is different, you know, it's not just standard lumber. And a lot of people are wondering, like, Okay, where do I find such things, because you know, I didn't see anything at the home depot or lows or at the lumber yard down the street. Now, first of all, your lumber yard down the street may have some, but there are shops all over southern California that specialize in these
kinds of woods. Two things you need to do. One, when you're talking about wood that you're going to use for finished products like countertops or furniture, it doesn't come in it's not sold in inches by inches. It's actually sold in quarter inches thicknesses. So if you're looking for a two inch countertop slab, you're going to be looking for an eight quarter an eight over four, okay, because that's how they're rated that way. So if you're looking for an inch and a half, it's a six over four,
and one inch is a four over four. That's just lingo. If you walk in, speak in the lingo, they're going to dig you. Where do you find it? All over the place. If you're up here in eastern Ventura County or the West Valley, then you know, get out here to Agora and go to Canao Hardwoods. If you're in La Bonhoff Lumber, of course, classic my buddy's over at Angel City Lumber. Please go to Angel City and check
out what they've got. If down in Anaheim, you've got a lot of choices, among which are California Exotic hardwoods, and there are others. There are many, many others, but there just gives you a sample of North Valley, Northwest Valley, LA and Orange County. These kinds of places are all
over the place. The last thing I'm going to tell you is when we do a countertop, my preference is not to super seal the wood in terms of like putting multiple layers of polyurythane and making it like a bar top shiny like I said our would when in raw the black walnut and we just keep it nicely oiled, water beads right on the surface. What if it gets scratched, Dean, Well, it's two inch thick hardwood. If you end up with a scratch or a gouge that you're just like, uh
oh uh. You know what, especially if it's only been oiled, you just get out the sand paper or a little sander, a little palm sander, and just gently, very very gently massage the area until the gouge goes away, reoil it and you're back in the game again. That has not happened to our countertop, but you know it could. So there you go, my friend Dave, Thank you for the question, and good luck on the kitchen. You're listening to Dean Sharp the House Whisper on KFI AM six forty live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. 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.