Kf I AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp The House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app AFI AM six forty live streaming in HD everywhere on the iHeart Radio app. Hey, welcome home. I'm Dean Sharp the House Whisper. I design custom homes, I build custom homes, and I am your guide to better understand that place where you live. It is the weekend right before Christmas is a little it's a little weird. I think it always feels a little weird when Christmas lands in the
middle of the week because what do you do? What do you do with those other days? You know? And everybody's saying, I know what you do with the other days. You just take them off and you just relax. I get it, I get it. But for those who don't have the ability to take them off, you don't get the long weekend. And I just like it when Christmas is attached to a weekend close a little closer. Wednesday
is a little weird, That's all I'm saying. But it's Christmas, uh and Christmas is coming in just what Sunday Monday too. I had to count it out on my fingers that is so pitiful. It's not cute, it's pitiful. Uh So three days is that a? Is it three days or four days away? How do you say? It is? Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. You don't count Christmas Day? Do you? You do? You don't count today, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, four days, four days away.
Once you put your headphones on there, grab your microphone because I need help. Clearly, I can't even count.
I can't even count in the distance.
All right, y'all, listen, here is the thing. This weekend. It's been a few weeks since we've done this, and know just to clear everything, clear the decks for the end of twenty twenty four. This weekend, it's an all calls weekend. That means that you have to sit here and listen to me just jabber on about things unless you call me. And right now, our phone lines are open. A producer, Matt is standing by ready to take your call.
And we have zero calls because I just asked for them, basically, so I'm asking it's time to call if you've thought, you know what, I really have wanted to call in, but you know, it's just the lines are too busy. Or you know, Dean's only taking a few, so I don't think I'll get through. Now's your chance? Now is your chance all morning long. You set the agenda. Anything you want to talk about regarding your home, DIY construction design, inside, outside, upside, downside,
whatever the case. Maybe give me a call the number eight three three two ask Dean A three three the numeral to ask Dean A three three to ask Dean. Phone lines are open now and producer Matt is ready to take your call. Also ready, well, actually he's already going. Sam Zia on the board this morning. Good morning, Sam, Hello Dean. How you doing. I'm good, I'm good, I'm here, I'm ready, I'm ready for calls. I love off Paul's weekend. So does our live studio audience. Nor not to lie, Well,
they're there. Eileen Gonzalez at the news desk, Good morning, Eileen, Good morning sunshine.
How's it going?
Uh? It cracks me up every time. I am so not feeling the way you describe that. It's just have some more coffee you'll feel better. I will, I will. How are you doing today?
Good?
I'm actually thinking I should start drinking coffee again this morning, though A little tired too.
No tea, you're not doing herbal herbal tea. It's just it just doesn't have that same kick. That's what I'm saying. I love herbal tea, but you know what, it's just it's not going to get it done. Are you all ready for Christmas? Are we good?
Oh?
I'm actually I don't really do Christmas. I've decided I'm going to work. So I picked up some shifts for people that do you know, want the day off they have family.
See, that's doing Christmas. That's just giving kindness. Just that's great, my giving spirit. I'm giving my time. There you go. There you go. Well, you're you're allowing some people to to take the time they need to get some Christmas family stuff done. That's awesome. ILK. All right, Well, sitting across the table from me, there she is. You just jumped in here at the last minute, like you do. You like to do that on Saturday mornings. You leave me.
I'm like down to the wire. I'm looking around, like where is she? Where ISHU is she coming out? Is you know? And then voop there you are. Surprise, my better half, my design partner, the co owner co founder of House whisper and my best buddy, as you know in planet Earth, Tina is here. Welcome home. How you doing. I'm good, Yeah, yeah, I'm feeling a little. It's good.
Now here's another interesting fact about the holidays. Okay, so Hanka starts the day after Christmas. Yeah, which is it's not usually so so attached to Christmas, is it?
I mean, I know it flows, it flows, well, honkkah. You know, the Jewish calendar is lunar, that's the thing. It's lunar. And so instead of the you know, thirty thirty one day cycle bumba bumba bump, the Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar. And so after a number of years, in fact, I think, if I'm not mistaken, every seven years the Jewish ceremonial calendar, you actually add a month, a short month, to like make up the difference for the for the day, you know, in order to even
it up again. Anyway. Yeah, so that's why it shifts all over the place. It's early, it's late, it's right on, you know, it shares time whatever the case mean. But yeah, it's day after this year. Wow. See that would be if you celebrate both in your household. That is awesome. Then you're like Christmas is the beginning of like a like a what a nine nine day? You know it's
Christmas plus eight days? Oh, that's great bonus? Or or do your parents hold back and instead of just dumping all of your presence do they say, oh, you know, sad? That would be that would be they could go either way, that would be no good. Don't do their parents? Don't do the eight day presenting. Some parents don't do that. Well, why celebrate Hana could not do that because that's a rip off. People are being ripped off. All right, we'll let it go. I'm letting it go. Hey, we got
some calls on the board. Guess what it means. We've got a show today again. It's an all calls weekend. The number to reach me eight three three to ask Dean eight three to three the numeral to ask Dean. We will get to your calls. Dean Sharp the house whisper. Hey, good Saturday morning to you. And if you're listening to the podcast, good whatever time, end day it is that you are listening. Now, we are doing an all calls show today today and tomorrow both just an all calls weekend.
It's time, it's we're a little overdue for it. And so here we are, right before Christmas. Your Christmas present for those of you who have been wanting to call in and make it on to the air. Anything you want to talk about today, home design, construction, DIY, you name it, you set the agenda, anything that's got you scratching your head about your home. I'm ready, I am ready. The number to reach me eight three three two. Ask Dean, eight three three the numeral to ask Dean. And let's
do it without any further Ado. Let's talk to Row. Hey, Row, welcome home.
Hi.
I heard you talking to Mark Thompson the other day about his shower and how you have to have a certain amount of water in the shower in the pea trap.
So it doesn't smell.
Yes, how often should you rend water so that you don't have that problem?
And how much water? Okay? So all right, So let me just set the stage for everybody else who you know, may not have heard that conversation with Mark Thompson. So Mark was talking about the fact that he has one bathroom in his home, the guest bathroom, and the sink gets used and the toilet gets used, but the shower hardly ever gets used. And they started developing this weird smell in the bathroom kind of sounded like a smelled
like a sewer issue. And so I was explaining to Mark that every drain in your home has that squirrely little pipe underneath it. Whether you can see it or not. You can totally see these underneath the sink, because the sink's usually sitting in a cabinet. You look underneath and it's where the drain goes down and all of a sudden it curves up and goes up again before it goes down the rest of the way and into the
wall and out of the house. That squirrely little piece, which really should be called an s trap because it's sort of s shaped. Somebody, I don't know whenever whoever, was laying on their side apparently and decided to call it a pe trap. It's not pea like in the bathroom urine. It's they just thought it looked like the letter P, although it lays on its side, so I don't anyway. The pea trap is it has one job.
As one job, and people have often asked, why do we have to have that squirrely pipe attached to the bottom of our sink drain, and that is very simply this. The pea trap holds the last little bit of water that goes down the sink, last little bit, Okay, it holds it. And as a result of holding it in that lower pipe, right in that little droop of the pipe, that water becomes a plug that stops sewer gases from coming up from the main sewer system from the city,
from the street. The whole thing keeps those gases from coming up through out of the sink drain and smelling up the bathroom in that way, or whatever room we're in. That's the job of the pea trap. But of course a sink, and by the way, every drain, every drain, the toilet has one built into it. Okay, the sink you can see. The shower, it's underneath the shower drain where you can't see. But they all have them, all
of them. And so the thing is, water evaporates, right, So if you haven't used something like the tub or the shower or the sink in a particular room, you haven't used it very much or it's been you know, however, many days, especially during the summer, right when it's warm and water is evaporating faster than in cold weather, then that water in the pea trap can start to evaporate, and as soon as it gets to a certain level it's no longer high enough to block out the sewer gases.
The gases will get through it, and as a result, you get that smell. This is why a home that is like up for sale that the cellar has already moved out of so nobody's living there. Every good realtor knows this that they need to get in there before an open house and flush toilets and run a little water and sinks and showers and tubs. Otherwise all that evaporation's going to leave the home smelling a little weird.
Everybody I think I know has walked into a house that smells an empty house that smells a little weird. That's usually why it smells weird. So to set that stage now, wrote, it's really really simple. Pea trap is not very big at all. I mean it's like a cup a cup and a half of water at the most, even on a big drain, maybe two cups of water on a big drain. So how much do you have to run it hardly at all. You just need to turn it on for a couple of three seconds and
turn it back off and you're good to go. And as far as how often, you know, you got me on that one, because it really has to do with how warm the house is, how warm the weather is, and so on. But you know what, once twice a week is plenty to keep the water in the trap, right, But on a really warm day, if it's really warm in the house, you could lose you know, a quarter inch of water over a twenty four or forty eight hour period. So you know what, let's say just a
couple of times a week. Mark's issue, though, just to cap it off, was that it had gone long long enough that you know, some bacterias had kind of taken hold on the lining of the sewer line. So even though come in after the fact and start running the water, he was still getting the smell. And the reason is that those bacterias had just kind of gotten a little out of control. And to that, what I told him was, you get yourself some enzymatic cleaner, some drain clean enzymes.
Enzymes are the key enzymes, are these powerful little molecular components that break down organic organic compounds so they can easily be be broken down and disposed of by friendly bacteria. And uh, the one that I recommend the most, which you can find at places like Home Depot or Low's or the plumbing supply store the hardware store, is called Green Gobbler. Green Gobbler is just a brand, but really
great brand. And if you I recommend that folks, you know, get some and you know, send it down their drains every couple of time, you know, maybe twice a year, just to clear out the guck that lines the drains and keep your drains wide open and clear. So anyway, that's it, that's the story. Row a couple of times a week and it only takes you know, just you know, turn it on for five seconds and turn it back off and you have reset. The peach Trap wrote, thank
you for your question. Great call. Great call to start us off with we got more when we return your Home with Dean Sharp the house Whisper. You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty, I AM six forty live streaming in HD everywhere on the iHeart Radio app. It looks to me like the sun is beginning to brighten the sky here on this early Saturday morning, the final weekend before Christmas twenty twenty four.
I am here with you as always to talk about your home, anything that's got you worked up, scratching your head, curious about what's going on with your home. It's an all calls weekend. I have no agenda except to sit here and help you out with your calls. So the number to reach me eight three three two. Ask Dean eight three three the numeral two. Ask Dean eight three three two. Ask Dean. We've got room on the callboard for you. Use for Matt standing by. He'll answer your call,
tell you everything you need to know. Poppy into the queue, and then you and I we can figure it out. We'll figure it out together, I promise. All right, let's get back to the phone. Let's talk to Jim. Hey, Jim, welcome home.
Hello, Hello Dean, Hey, this is Jim.
Hey.
Well, my question is I have a a new plywood deck that I put out, that's I just had laid out on my bedroom. They put an ac X plywood on it. And before the people before when I moved in, had a they did a torch down on it, and I was wondering if there's something it's not covered. There's no cover on it. It's just a balcony that overlooks my pool out of my bedroom. And I just need to know what I can put on that that would would be a good seiler for that, you know, you
could walk on. I know, I don't know. I don't want to use something like a like the stuff they put on garages, floors and stuff like that. Do I want something like that or something to seal it so that I can, you know, sort of last out there.
Okay, So, so so this is a new deck that was just built.
It's just to replace the other one had just got rotten, had gotten rotten. So it's it's yeah, it's just a plywood deck right now. Yeah, I just need something to note what to put on top of that.
Okay, and what's directly underneath it. I mean, the the the reason I'm asking, I just want to give you the full orbed answer to your question is, you know, one of the easiest ways of covering a you know, a deck is to not water proof it per se, but to cover it in like decking boards, right, planks. But that's why to do that, we wouldn't use plywood on top of it. We would just use open decking planks.
We would treat the supporting joysts underneath that are holding up the deck and uh and board it on the top. That way, water doesn't have to be shed off of it. It'll just run through the deck boards to what's underneath. So that's why I'm asking you what's underneath. Normally when we do a waterproof deck, it's because what's directly underneath, you know, we want coverage so that rain water doesn't you know, so we can be out there and rain doesn't get through. Is that's what's going on?
Yeah, well that was Yeah, it's actually it's overlooking. It's on top of my service ports, you know, so I have the wash and dryer and it's from the house underneath there, so it needs to be you know, water tight sealed.
Right right, gotcha? All right? So, uh so options, you got a lot of options. One is the one option you don't have though, is to just put some sealer on that plywood, okay, because that's not going to hold up. It won't hold up, so we've got to cover that up. In the past, people have hot mopped, right tar and asphalt.
You don't need to do that anymore. If if you're interested in making a decorative surface out there on the deck, in other words, if we're going to put tile or stone or something like that, then you would use a brush on membrane or a PVC roll out membrane, or a roofing membrane that is designed not to be attractive but to become that waterproof membrane. So you could use a regular roofing membrane that seals at the seams. You could use a well, you could hot mop, but like
I said, we don't do that much anymore. There are brush on materials like redguard, which you can pick up. It's not cheap, but again they work really really well. Red Guard materials they roll on and you just put on several layers of it, so you get a thick mill rubberized coating finish on top of that plywood. All of these things, though, are things that you would then proceed to cover with your actual, you know, attractive esthetic
material on top. If that's not the option, then you could have a decking company come out and do a fiberglass coating for that. And the fiberglass coating in itself is designed to have its own attractiveness. Now, attractiveness is a question that you know, it's relative, right, because some people are like, I hate the way those fiberglass decks
look well. But the point is that is a situation where the decking material itself has its own finish to it, and there are some companies out there that do some amazing stuff. It isn't just the rough, textured, beige colored material, which is the pretty much the least expensive way to go. They can do simulated stone, they can do simulated plank and so on. So basically, I'm breaking it down into
two categories. You're either a going to go in that direction where the waterproof membrane is in and of itself, also the decorative finish has it built into it, or you're going to lay down any number of efficient waterproof membranes, be it a roofing membrane or roll on membrane like the red Guard, but those you're gonna end up covering up with a finished material tile, wood, stone, what have you.
Okay, all right, thank you very much, Tee.
And make sure Jim make sure that before any of that happens, make sure that that deck is properly pitched, because especially if you've got you know, space underneath it that has to stay dry. It's not just about hopefully they rebuilt the deck with pitch to it. That deck should be shedding water off to its edge at least an eighth of an inch per foot of drop, just
like a driveway or so on. Quarter inch would be better, but at least an eighth of an inch per foot, so that water will shed off and not pool on that decking surface. Because if we're inviting the water to stay put, then, you know, amazingly enough, any kind of decking membrane can be defeated ultimately by water that is hanging around too long there, you know, water that hangs around on a flat surface. You know, it's like a
hoodlum hanging around in the neighborhood. Something bad is gonna happen. You just know it. You just know it. That's why you alert all your neighbors on next door, which I think is all that app is good for anymore. I literally, it was supposed to be a neighborly thing, and now it's just like there's a suspicious guy over at the corner. Beware, all right, y'all. When we come back more of your calls. It's an all calls weekend right here on Home with
Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Oh, can if I Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Welcome home. Do you have your warm beverage with you? It's time. Dina just brought in some coffee Handsley. Oh, that's good, that is good. Thanks for joining us on the program today, Dean Sharp, the House Whisper with you. 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 eight three to three. The numeral to ask Dean.
All right, back to the phones. Let me talk to Larry. Hey, Larry, welcome home.
Hi. How are you Dean?
I am well, sir. How are you doing?
I mean to one foot in the grave.
Oh.
I listen to you every week. Yes, and I'm amazed at your knowledge about homes and everything about a home. I have to say that. But I was listening a little while ago today and I think I heard a mistake. And it isn't about a home. It's about the Hanikah.
Oh, that's fine. That's had me worried. There first, Okay, what did I do? What did what did I? What did I do?
You said, Hanikah begins the day after Christmas? And actually Hanika begins the same day as Christmas because our holidays, and I'm Jewish, of course, our holidays begin at sundown. We light the candles on the twenty fifth, that's.
The first Okay, yeah, okay, So so two things. Number One, I did know that. I knew that, I just hadn't really thought it through. Yes, because this goes all the way back to Jennie All. This goes all the way back to the creation story. Right. It was evening and morning the first day, So in Jewish tradition, the day starts at sunset. So that would make sense if the calendar says the first day of Honikah is is the is the twenty six, That means that it starts. Yeah,
but in my defense, it's totally Tina's fault because I didn't. No, it's true, Get on your mic. What'd you just fess up? It's totally Tina's fault because, uh, because I didn't even know when Honkah started this year. Well, you're the one who told me, okay.
Bill handle no, no, no, not going to do that, all right, Larry Hay, that was very kind.
Did you actually have a question about your home? You just called me to correct me.
No, I live in a manufactured home, so I don't have a question. But I just thought i'd interact a little.
Oh you're awesome. You are awesome. Well, happy Honica to you in this coming week. I hope it is a bright and lovely holiday season for you, Larry, and thank you. Thank you for calling and correcting us. There it is, Honkah begins Chris. It's not Chris. I was about to say Christmas Eve, Christmas evening. Yes, Christmas Eve, sundown on Christmas. Honicah begins. There it is, Uh, do I have time? You know what I'm gonna I'm gonna start, at least
start a call before we go to break Ronan. Welcome home.
Thank you, sir, Thank you for taking my call.
You're welcome. How can I help?
Well, we had the house bolters underneath the house and they told us that the shower in our boys room was leaking. They could see that with the water damages. So we brought in a team and they did the demo on the shower pan. The problem is that the whole bathroom. The house is built probably in the late twenties, early thirties, and the whole bathroom has the same beautiful tile that I want to keep it. You know, it's
not just in the shower. It's and then the rest of the bathroom and the floor and the walls and all that stuff. So I was hoping to try to save the tile in the shower, and I had them take off the first couple of feet so they can do the hot mop and you know, and rebuild the base and do the hot mop, and then we'll just do a different tile, just a black tile on the
floor because there's some black powerty in the shower. But my buddy had me very worried that I'm making a mistake and the water can still potentially get inside, you know, if it's a mistake.
No, I don't think it's a mistake. What you're doing. You just have to make sure that the people who are doing the work know exactly what they're doing. I don't think it's a mistake at all, because I totally get you. I mean, you got a century home. You want to preserve beautiful bathroom, but you've got to replace the shower pan right. And so the way to do that is the shower pan has to go. That has to be redone. And then you know, it sounds like
you've done it exactly right. Go a couple of feet up the wall, remove that tile, make a clean break and uh. And then it's the key is simply this, the wall itself, the wall tile has got you know, has got you know, well, in a century home, it's got roofing paper behind it. Basically, uh, that is shutting down water if that has not been a source of
leaking or any issues like that. Then carefully laying your your new hot mop, shower pan, or whatever material you decide to use under you know, tucking it up underneath that upper course of roofing paper, and then just sealing the heck out of it, uh and fixing any potential cracks and or tears that occurred in the roofing paper in the whole process. In other words, if you can get that tucked up underneath so that the overlap is uh is solid, then you should be good to go.
You really should be good to go. And and here's the here's the thing. You don't have to wait until you retile to find out if you've done it right, and that's really really important for you to know. Again, this is a situation where, uh, you know, the tile was never the thing that was waterproofing the shower. It was simply, you know, the first line of defense. But water gets behind tile, water gets into the grout lines, and it gets into the thin set the mortar behind
the tile. Ultimately, the thing that's waterproofing that shower is that paper, is that roofing paper that's running up the walls. So once the shower, the new shower pan has been repaired and put in before the new tile goes in, Okay, before any tile goes in, you can run the water in that shower and run it at length. Let water just directly hit that roofing paper and the tie in and the new hot mop or whatever it is that
you're doing there. Let it run. Get somebody underneath the house to make sure that there are no leaks, no sign whatsoever. You could run it for an hour or two and simply let the water run to make sure that the tie in has no leaks in it. And if you don't see any water intrusion after that period of time, then you've got the green light to go ahead and put the mortar and finish tiling up that job.
That's a great idea. I did never want to have thought of that, and I feel so much better.
Yes, there you go. Yeah, yeah, thank you. Yeah, you don't have to go into it blind, just to go ahead and test it once you're at the membrane stage, because the membrane is the thing that's doing the work anyway, and that way, if you get a leak, you can deal with it right then and there not be you know, worried about it. But yeah, we do that kind of thing all the time. Just FYI when especially when it comes to a century home restoration and repair. So I
understand your friend's concerns, totally understand it. But it can be done right, It can be done properly, and it shouldn't be a problem down the road. Ronan, thanks for your question and for your call. Great, great question, and when we return more. This is Dean Sharp the House Whisper on KFI. You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty