All-Calls Weekend| Hour 2

show as well. Three hours we're gonna spend here at the beginning of remodeling season, talking about kitchen cabinets or cabinets in general, cabinet tree and I have in studio with me a very very special guest, John Cordero of The Kitchen Store, my favorite kitchen cabinet design studio in all of southern California. And John a master expert on cabinets,

a master cabinet maker himself. And so literally we are going to he and I be talking to you about all things cabinets, the things that have changed, the things you should be looking for, the things you need to understand about cabinets. It's just going to be a fantastic show. Don't miss it. That's tomorrow from nine to noon Pacific time, or catch us on the podcast, which, of course you know, every one of our episodes becomes the House Whisper Podcast

that you can listen to anytime, anywhere on demand. Hundreds of episodes, all searchable by topic. It is your home improvement reference library, and I'm there for you whenever you need me. On the podcast. You can listen to it on the free iHeartRadio app or Apple Podcasts or Spotify wherever where, everywhere, everywhere your favorite podcasts are found. You just search for the House Whisper or Home with Dean. You'll find me, Dean Sharp. Just put my name in there.

You will find our podcast and then subscribe so that you get every new episode uploaded every time we do a show, which is twice. That's a lot. It's a lot of good stuff, all right. Also, let me tell you if your home is in need of more personal house Whisperer attention, you're thinking, wow, it would be nice to just have Dean and Tina sitting in our living room as we discuss that thing over there with them and have them solve it for us. You can do that.

You can book an in home design consult with us, even if you don't live in southern California. We have ways, We have our ways. You can book an in home design consult with me and the tea. Just go to house Whisperer dot Design House Whisperer dot Design. All right, back to the phones, because we're taking calls this morning. It's my favorite thing to do of all things, that just talking to you about what's going on with your home. I've got Fred on the line. Hopefully I did not

hang up on Fred. Fred, you're still with me, yes, I am okay. So Fred's got a ranch style home, single story rand style home, and in his living room, family room area, the ceiling is sagging and he's concerned, and you should be concerned because that's not normal. But I want to try and get to the bottom of it for you. Yeah, you haven't had anybody go up into the attic to look, and so I'm just going to start off by saying Fred that we got to

do that. We got to get up there and see because there's a couple of different things that can be happening when a ceiling is sagging and on a single story ranch style home and your home was built in the nineteen fifties, so it's an older home on a single story ranch style home. I will help you in this sense that even if it's what we call and I'm using my air quotes here, a structural problem, it is not an end of the world, you know, oh my gosh, my house is going to fall down structural problem.

What it is is one of two things. The way a home is built, the way homes were built in nineteen fifties and still most homes today, is the ceiling. What makes up the ceiling is first and foremost in the framing of your home what we call ceiling joists, and those are larger pieces of wood that are running all the way across from one side of the room to the other, and they're sitting next to each other with spaces in between. They're sitting sixteen inches on center.

They're sitting thirteen and three eight inches apart from each other. Okay, you made me get technicality. Every sixteen inches there is a ceiling joist. Now, I don't know the size of the ceiling joists for your home because they vary from home to home and track to tract, and depending on the overall span, you say you've got about three hundred square feet. That's a nice sized room. So it's a good span that they're making across there. It wouldn't surprise me.

I mean, they have to be at least two by six ceiling joye. Unless they're part of a trust system, that's a whole nother kind of magilla. I doubt it, though, if there's a structural sag chances are in nineteen fifty seven.

layer of drywall. That's the wall. The ceiling that you look at all the time is the drywall. The drywall is five eighths of an inch thick, and its big sheets, big four by eight sheets that run across. So when we see a sag, a sag that concerns us, when our ceiling is bowing down, it's one of two things, almost always one. The dry wall has let loose, has detached itself, or a portion of it has detached itself

from the bottom of those actual wood ceiling joists. The ceiling joists may be still sitting there straight as an arrow, strong as ever, but because of water damage leaky roof, water and drywall don't mix well. They get mutty. The drywall gets mushy, and then it lets go of its grip on the nails that have nailed it into the ceiling.

Or just time age a few earthquakes. Who knows. It's hard to tell exactly what the reasons are, but sometimes dry wall ceilings let go of some of the joists that they are supposed to be held tight against, and as a result, the ceiling starts to bow down. Now is that a threat structural? Technically, it's not a structural threat because the structure is intact. Kind of the essence

is that the skin is sagging but the bone is straight. Okay, The more serious thing would be if that sag that is happening is because the bone has sagged, meaning the I'm using my body metaphor here, but meaning that the

wood joists themselves are deflecting down or sagging down. That could happen because a wood joye has a kind of intrinsic crack into in it that it eventually gave way, or the wood joist naturally sometimes wants to bow with age and it bows in the direction we don't want it to bow in, or something impacted it and it broke. But here is the thing, my friend Fred, we have got to get these are these are This is just me telling you what the the most likely possible causes are.

And what we need to do is we got to get eyes on. We've got to get somebody, a qualified contractor up into your attic space to take a look at what's happening. And it'll be easy to see when somebody who knows what they're looking for is in the attic space. If I was to crawl into your attic space above the living room. There I could see whether it is the joysts that are bowing down or somehow damaged, or whether the at the bottom of the joyst there's

a gap between the joist and the drywall. The best case scenario for you is that the drywall has let go and is delaminated, because it can a either be pushed up and put new screws in it. If it's in decent condition, it can be re adhered and then just a little drywall finishing and paint, or be a worst case scenario, it's the drywall sagging. The section can be removed and a new drywall sheet can be put up and then finished across, and you're good to go

if the bones are straight. If the joyst is sagging, it's not the end of the world either. It just means that we may have to open up a slot in the ceiling and replace a joystore two and resolve that problem. So either way, the house is not falling down. But I do want you to address it soon, because I don't want anybody in the family room when the drywall collapses down on them and you know, bops them

on the head. It's not hundreds of pounds or anything, but it'll scare the Bejesus out of whoever it happens to. And a bunch of insulation and yuck is gonna come down into the living room and mess up your stuff. And so I don't want that to happen. I want you to get somebody out there asap to diagnose what's going on. Either to again to use the body metaphor, and then I got to go here, Fred, either the bone is gone crooked and needs to be reset or the skin is sagging off the bone. I know that

sounds gross. I'm just realizing I'm saying it sounds weird real quick.

to figure it out. At that point, either the joists are bowing down or the dry wall is letting loose, and you got to get eyes on Okay, don't let it go any further, get it addressed now, and then if necessary, get two or three opinions about it from different contractors. But an honest contractor up in the attic will give you, you know, they'll take some photos, they'll show you what's going on and help you get through it, and it won't be as bad as you think, I promise, Fred.

Thank you for calling my friend, and good luck on that. But yeah, get eyes on that as soon as possible. All right, more of your calls when we return your home with Dean Sharp the house Whisper, Kaypie, Dean Sharp the house Whisper at your service. We're running a little late in our scheduling right now, so I'm going to take a quick call. I'm going to go back to the news and get ourselves all aligned again, and I want to talk to Jack Hey, Jack, welcome home, Jack.

Are you with me? Hello? Jack? Okay, maybe Jack is not there. Let's talk to Rick. Hey, Rick, welcome home, Hidane.

probably a couple of coats on there. It's peeling, there's some cracks in the con create, etc. So we had a company come out and the recommendation was to grind it all off with a sealer on it, put another color coat again, probably like some kind of a paint or coating, and then they put another layer on top of that as a And they're recommending that this is probably our best choice of trying to redress this concrete. We don't want to tear it out. It's a lot

of surface area. We don't want to paint over it again. And so I'm just wondering what kind of options would I have or is this the best selection.

moisture build up inside it. And outside patio concrete, walkway concrete, it is virtually impossible to keep moisture from getting up inside the concrete. It's just the nature of the beast. And normally, when we've just got wide open concrete, nobody notices it because moisture percolates through the concrete. The warmth of the sun evaporates it off the surface, and you know, it's just concrete, it's our patio. But when we put a finished surface on it, when we coat over it,

then we're basically putting a membrane there. And water that is now inside the concrete still wants to get out and it will push its way out, and it's what we call hydrostatic pressure from underneath, and that's what causes the cracking, the peeling, the flaking, all of that kind of stuff I have yet, I'm just gonna be perfectly honest, And there are some really good concrete coating companies out there, but I have yet to see a paint job on a on a piece of exterior concrete just last forever.

I just it's it is just going to peel, crack and bubble again. Now, maybe not in two years, maybe not in five years. Maybe it'll be ten years down the line. And based on the cost and all of that, you you think maybe that's the best move for you. You'd have to decide that. But but anyway, that's so, that's that's the setup for what I'm about to say, Uh, what I'm.

we'll talk about that right on the other side. So many people have this problem. This is such an important question. Rick, you hang tight and will deal with it. You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty KFI Jean Sharp, the house whisper. We are taking calls this morning, and one of my favorite things, maybe my favorite thing of all time to do with you here on the radio is just talk to you

about what's going on with your home. I got Rick on the line held over from our last segment because Rick's got some a lot of outdoor concrete that was painted by somebody else and now the paint's cracking and peeling and doing its thing. And it's such a common problem, So many people have this situation that I wanted to take a lot extra time and just deal with it so that we can all benefit from it. So you're still with me, Rick, Yes, I am, okay. So here's

the thing. We've talked about moisture inside the concrete. That is the enemy. That is the enemy.

water is in charge of the planet. So uh so that's the thing. So here is here's your situation.

some places. I don't know how severe or bad the cracking is. But the next part after that would be, of course, addressing the cracking and filling in the cracks, whether it's with an epoxy filler or whatever, and then grind that all smooth. But we got to get back

to raw concrete. And honestly, somebody may have painted that patio because something got discolored or stained or you know, rust stains or something, and they themselves may not have known that they could have resurfaced the concrete and go past it. And so what you might find. What you might find is that once you've ground off all this paint coating, you'll also take a little of the top of the concrete off as well, and you might find you're like, look, this concrete doesn't look bad at all.

Let's just let it be. In which case, you just let it be. Now, of course, you could put a sealer on it. I don't want to put a top coat sealer on it, because again, same problem gonna flake off. Anything that's sitting on the surface will eventually get pushed off. But a penetrating sealer into the cement to help it resist stains in the future, that kind of thing no problem.

So you may find that you actually don't have a problem with the way the patio looks after you've ground off the old paint and stuff, because you can't assume that whoever painted it before had no other choice. You can't. You've got to assume that there's a possibility of homeowneror ignorant or somebody convinced them that their only option was to paint, and maybe the concrete just need to be treated and improved and boom its back. So that's a possibility.

Rick if you find after you've reopened up the concrete that they are areas you're like, ugh, ugh, it doesn't look good for whatever reason, then we have to address the idea of how esthetically to bring it back. And that basically puts you in three situations. One, you're gonna cover it with something that isn't a seiler or a paint, meaning like tile or stone. And yeah, I know, I know you've got a lot of concrete and that's expensive, but I have to mention it because it's an option.

I'm not saying that that's a realistic option for you, but that's an option. Putting concrete. Putting mortar and stone on top of a concrete patio is a beautiful way to change it. And it bonds and it holds, and it will last forever, and it'll be great if it's done right. In terms of coatings, though inexpensive coatings coatings don't you know, aren't necessarily inexpensive. They can be very expensive.

Thicker epoxy based coatings are going to last longer. But you have to like the look and the color and the texture, and you've got to find a company that's going to put a serious warranty on it, like that material is warranted for life to not chip or peel or crack or bubble. Of course, every one of those warranties has a lot of fine print about wear and tear and usage and normal usage and all of that

kind of stuff. But if you've got a company, you find a company that will stand truly stand behind a company that's been around a long time, that you expect to be around a long time and will stand behind a warranty, then you know you could give it a serious look. But epoxy coating exterior concrete the way you think of the way we epoxy coat like garage, slabs. It's a similar process, but just no outside. It's a lot more abuse, a lot more moisture in the concrete.

Where I would go if I had the choice, and I don't always have this choice, but where I would go if we find that the concrete really needs to be esthetically improved from its raw state, I would I opt personally, opt toward darkening the concrete with a stain. A stain concrete UV resistant stain, not a paint, Because a stain will colorize the concrete, it will model it some. It stains the way that concrete absorbs stain does It doesn't absorb it perfectly uniformly, so again you've got to

find a contractor who's really good at this. It gives it a modeled look, but that can be a very very pleasing artistic look, a little variational, a little darker, little lighter, little little light It can be a very overall pleasing look. And the advantage of a stain is it will not peel, it will not crack because it's absorbed into the concrete material. It will eventually lighten and

need to be recoded. But applying a stain to concrete is the easiest of all of the other things, and it will last the longest and it will not structurally fail on you. So those are essentially your options. First, grind out the old stuff, see if you like the concrete. Maybe if you like it, you put a penetrating sealer and leave it be. Second, if you feel like it needs an aesthetic approach, call a staining company, have them look at it first and tell you, Nope, we can't

make this nice. Because if they say, yes, we can make this nice. I would go that way ninety nine times out of one hundred, versus a top coating surface, which I know at some point in the future. Sure it's going to bubble, crack and peel. It will last and look beautiful for a while and then it won't. And and those are the things you have to evaluate. R Indeant.

we put this sealer base and it grabs and it bonds. Yeah, it will for a while. But believe me, nature is not fooled by the fact that there is a seam in between those two coatings. And it is all so likely in the future at some point. Now if they tell you this is gonna last thirty years and it's on us if anything happens to it before, all right, fine,

all right, go for it. But you know, the quality of the product and the confidence in the product is revealed by the length and the and the uniformity of the warranty. That's basically what it comes down to. Rick I, all I can tell you is I fear top coatings on concrete. I just I do. I fear them because I have seen so many of them fail, and I've never wanted to do one for one of our clients or recommend it for a design client. I always try and find a way to avoid it because I just

don't want that call. Five years from now, seven years from now, I just don't want that call. And all I can express to you is my honest opinion and my own fear about it. But that's where I'm at Rick. I thank you for your call. I hope that gives you some perspective on what's possible with exterior concrete, and good luck, and please let me know because I do care about all of that, and it's I know it's a lot and it's a lot of money. Just know

this the first step, there's no question about it. You got to strip all the old stuff off and then evaluate evaluate where your concrete stands from that point. All right, y'all more calls when we return your home with Dean Sharp the house whisper, Say Sharp the house whipper. Here we are at the end of another couple of hours spent together. It just flies by, doesn't it. All right, let's try and get one more call in real quick. Let's talk to Mary. Hey, Mary, welcome home.

to take care of it. So then we had to go through water mitigation and the area is dried out now. But now I have a questions about how I should do the repair. The home is laminate and it's a continuous laminate, So now I'm confused about the options of wood, lamine a tile, and if I have to do just affectional tile or if I have to do the whole area the whole home. So I just want to get some information about the ocean.

So if you have a large open area, my suggestion would be, you know, to you know, to to go ahead and just use a single material. Whether or not you could come out of the bathrooms and go down the hallway and then stop at the end of the hall and transition, it's really a design decision. What I would recommend is that you don't, you know, try and

match the material, because you won't quite match it. And like in so many things in the world of design, you either hit it right on the head, match it exactly, or try to miss it by a mile because close always looks like a mistake. Close but not quite always looks like a mistake. My heart goes out to you because you know you've got all these rooms or this area with the good lamin in it. So that so the first question is very quickly this and then I

have to go. The first issue is find, you know, try and figure out if there is a way that you can change materials so you can limit the amount of laminate that you have to replace and keep as much of the old stuff. Or The second thing is so pull all the lamb in it up and know that these days the thing that would I would replace lamin it with without question is luxury vinyl plank, which is waterproof and won't have to be replaced the next

time a toilet leaks. And it's also very very inexpensive in the world of flooring materials and so and in terms of insurance mitigation, make sure the insurance company is on the hook for everything, because if you can't replace a continuous floor, they need to understand that the replacement cost needs to extend and that you don't have to end up with a patchwork quilt on your floor. So even if the damage occurred in a hallway, but that

same material runs into four other rooms. Guess what, it's not on you and now have a different material in the hallway than the four other rooms. It needs to be all replaced and changed. And the insurance claim should be on the hook for that. Mary Uh, thank you, thank you so much for your call, and best of luck with that. That's all I've got time for today. Everybody, come back tomorrow the big show. We're talking kitchen cabinets, and we're here. We're here for you because we care.

Until then, get out here in this beautiful day and get busy building yourself a beautiful life, and we'll see you right back here tomorrow at nine am. 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 anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.