Fences Walls and Hedges | Hour 2

the wood fence cost towards your block wall. But honestly, it's not on my budget to do that, so you know, I mean, I wouldn't I wouldn't judge. I wouldn't personally, I wouldn't approach her and say, look, your block wall's peeling stucco, and I would just just the straight numbers. People can't argue with the fact that, you know, if you're not in a position to afford the fancier thing, everybody's got to understand that. And it is Gloria going

to be way, way more expensive. Not only is a block wall more expensive to build than a fence on a flat ground, but it is considerably more expensive to build a block wall down a sloped backyard because a block wall, unlike a fence, actually doesn't go at an angle down a slope. A block wall still, all the blocks have to be horizontally set, which means that the footing for that block wall has to be set at angles. I mean not at angles, but to set as a

stepped footing down the wall. And a lot of the block that goes into that block wall is therefore going to be hidden underneath the soil, so it has to be dug deeper. I mean, it's just a whole thing. I'm not against them at all. Sometimes I've designed one into a property because it's exactly the thing that I want to see there at that point. But yeah, it's expensive, and so I'm all for fences where fences will get the job done, because why spend the extra money? What?

What do we need the block wall for? What are we protecting ourselves from? Okay, so there you go, Gloria, great question. Hope that helped. I wouldn't, you know, don't don't critique somebody else's block wall like it's failing. I would just tell them, you know, the simple fact is, you know, I don't have a budget for it, and so I'll give you what I can on the wood fence there, but you know, leave the rest of it there. Okay, does that sound good? Thank you, great question. Great call.

Let me squeeze one more in here. Let's talk to Arthur. Hey, Arthur, welcome.

you can get anything that's even close. Now, unlike the Showcase Showdown with Bob Barker that everybody's talking about today, here's the situation with an undermount sink where you can actually afford to go slightly over and be a winner. Okay, as long as we can get a new underneath inside

your cabinet. Okay, since it's an under mount sink, and since the edge of your granite countertop is really forming that edge, we could actually put in if we need to a slightly slightly not ridiculously, but slightly larger sink. And all it means is that the granite countertop hangs

over it just a smidge more. Okay, So you might be able to fit an eighteen by thirty sink in there without a problem and just accept the fact that the granite's going to overhang it a little bit further and that may open up your sink choices quite a bit. So Number one, I would research this sink size thoroughly. Number two I would see if just a smidge a deeper eighteen by thirty sink would work. And then third uh is call your local fixture warehouses, whether it's a

WDC in your area. If you're down in where you're at in Coasta, Mesa, oh, you could go down to the Collection and Coast to make and talk to the guys at Perch and see if they are aware of anything that will get you fit in that situation. But my guess is that there is a solution to this without tearing out that ground at countertop that will end up working even if it's a slightly oversized sink than

the one that you've got, So think about that. Because it's a single basin, So we might be able to find an eighteen by thirty and get that thing creatively to work. It may just take a little bit more creativity, Arthur, Thank you for your call. Great question. All right, when we return more of your calls your home with Dean Sharp, the house Whisper, Cafi, Dean Sharp, the House Whisper, at

your service. Thanks for joining us on the program. Here we are talking fences, walls, and hedges today, and now is time to switch the conversation over from fences to walls. We're gonna talk walls a little bit. Hedges a little bit doesn't need as much attention as the others. First of all, what I just mentioned I just use two names for walls, garden wall and retaining wall. What is the most important thing you need to understand between these two?

They are different. They are different in one particular way. A retaining wall is in fact holding back soil on one side of it. Okay, it is retaining soil a surcharge of earth against it. So a lot of you have at times mentioned to me like, oh, well, I've got a retaining wall in between my property and my neighbor, and you just you're used to using that phrase when you see a block wall. Okay, not all block walls are retaining walls. In fact, most block walls are not

retaining walls. They are simply block walls. They could just as easily be a fence. There's no pressure up against either one side. The ground on both sides is roughly, you know, within a foot or so of the same height or elevation. That is not a retaining wall. That's a garden wall. And even though it's made out of blocks, and those blocks are hollow, they are not filled with cement all the way to the top because they don't need to be. They don't have full mortar or grout

fill inside or steal inside. In most cases, they're just hollow block walls, which is why a lot of them you've noticed in your yard. You can walk out of two and give them a good shake, and sometimes the blocks shift out of place or they crack. And if it was a retaining wall, I guarantee you if it was just a fully grouded, fully steeled block wall, that

would not be happening in that same way. Okay, So a garden wall that's what we use to describe any kind of a wall, masonry wall that is just sticking up in your garden for the purpose of privacy or dividing the property line, or anything else that you're using in your garden. Now, a retaining wall, as I said, holding back soil. Two kinds of retaining wall. Engineered and non engineered. Okay. The difference is massive, and the difference

in cost is massive. Under the International Building Code and State of California. It holds true here as well. You can have a wall that is retaining up to three feet thirty six inches of soil okay, without having to have it engineered or having a permit for that wall. Okay, You're allowed to hold back up to thirty six inches of soil on the backside of that wall. That still should be a strong wall, shouldn't be a hollow wall.

But you could build that wall, let's say, out of the interlocking pavers that you find at the garden center or at the local nursery or a big box store. Right, you've seen those. They are solid concrete blocks. They're usually kind of funky wedge shaped, and they've got a little lip on the front and they interlock with each other. And you can stack that up and you can hold back up to thirty six inches of soil, and that's

totally allowed in almost every situation. You don't need a big footing underneath it, and you don't have to have an engineer design it for rollover or hydrostatic pressure or anything like that. But if you're going to hold back more than thirty six inches of soil, now we got an engineered wall, which means we're paying an engineer to

figure out a footing that increases the cost. Grouting and mortaring of that wall that increases the cost, and we've got a permit involved and inspections and drainage and water retention issues and so on. That is a retaining wall

holding back more than thirty six inches of soil. Another kind of masonry wall is just a stack wall, okay, especially when it comes to garden walls, something that a lot of people overlook these days, especially if you have a more rustic theme in your yard, you should consider it.

Now talk about becoming an expert at this. It takes a little practice, but that's something realistically that a homeowner could actually do, which is, you know, like they do in well back east On along the East coast in the old colonial farms, where every single time you plow your field, you're pulling up old stones. What did the farmers do? They use those stones to create the walls

in between their properties. These were stacked stone walls. Came from Europe the exact same way, came from the UK, from Ireland the same way. If you want to take a look look at the air and ailes in Ireland, just off the coast of Ireland, you will see some of the most beautiful old interlocking stacked stone walls. I mean,

it is an art form. It is also absolutely gorgeous, especially if the wall in question is what I've been talking about from a design perspective, and that is creating an area, designating a quote unquote room in the backyard or a quote hallway leading to another space. This is where we really get creative with walls and fences and hedges for that matter. Do you understand that destinations creating destinations in the yard and a delineation of a space

can be something even if it's just twenty four inches tall. Okay, think about this. If you and I are standing ten or fifteen feet apart from each other and there is nothing in between us, then we are standing in the same space, right Okay. Now, obviously, if somebody comes along and builds a big eight foot wall in between us, now we are not standing in the same space because I can't even see you. But let's just put some plant material, okay, a hedge, a hedge that's only eighteen

twenty four inches tall, and run it in between us. Amazingly, even though I can still see you, and even though you can step right over that hedge. Okay, suddenly I am here and you are over there. You understand what I'm saying. That is the value of utilizing from a design perspective, a wall, a hedge, a fence in a garden area, not just on the perimeter, but really dividing up and using it to contour and create space in

your yard. All right, that's walls. Did want to spend a whole lot of time on those today, per you know, because we've got so many more opportunities to talk about these things when we come back. Let's talk plant material and the magic of plant material, especially when it comes

to the edges of your property. What is he talking about, Well, there's a whole point when it comes to plant material in the edge of your property that makes them invaluable discuss that when we return Your Home with Dean Sharp The House Whisper.

am anything but a typical designer. So I want to be really really clear that you understand what I mean when I use a word or term like hedges. Okay, when I say hedges, now, I might be talking about what you typically think of like a tightly pruned you know, geometrically shaped Japanese box hedge or something like that. You know, the small waxy green leaf all drawn up in tight little rows with flat tops. You know, the kind of thing that turns into a topiary at some point and

so on. That's definitely a hedge. Okay, the kind of thing that you hedge in a maze with or something like that. Definitely a hedge. But that's not the limit of my definition of hedges in my book. A hedge is are you ready, any low lying plant, virtually any plant that is planted in mass that creates some form of psychological separation or barrier from one place in your yard to the next. Like we were talking about in the previous segment, the idea of creating a sense of

here and over there. And even though yeah, you could step over it, you don't really want to. Your brain kind of tells you you're not supposed to. You're supposed to look for the opening and walk around it to the other place. Right. That's a hedge, okay. So a hedge can be made out of roses, It can be made out of daisies if you want. If it's a flower bed that is in mass, that's coming up off the ground, okay, And the only real requirement is something in mass that rises up off the normal level of

the ground. So it's not lawn okay, it's not turf okay that hugs the ground, it's not ground cover. It is a hedge. It rises up. It can be daylilies, it can be sage. I mean literally, any plant that grows more than six to ten inches off the ground planted in mass can form some kind of a hedge that gives a three D effect to a yard and thereby creates an area of shape and content. Now on

the perimeter, special circumstances for the perimeter. I promised before the break that we would talk about a loophole when it comes to perimeter walls and fences, and that is simply this. In most places, definitely here in the state of California, definitely here in southern California.

zoning will allow you to build a fence. Even if you could afford to build it higher, which it would be incredibly ugly and incredibly expensive. So there are codes restricting the height of the fence that you put on your property line to provide privacy between you and your neighbor. If you're lucky, you've got a super wide property and you live in la county or city, and they would allow in that situation a maximum of eight feet of fence. Okay, that's not enough either, is it. No, it's not, But

here we go. That's a built structure. Guess what the code has no bearing upon whatsoever. Plants. That's right, And therefore we have the hedges. Specifically the kind of hedge that we in the custom home and a state industry call the Hollywood hedge. Hollywood hedges is just a catchphrase for any kind of plant material that we utilize on day one to take a celebrity estate and hedge them in so that nobody gets to see in and they

get all the privacy in the world. We're talking about plants that will grow together and form a green wall that can grow anywhere from fifteen to twenty five feet tall, sound proof your property, essentially visually give you all the privacy that you need. Now, if we do this on day one for your house with mature products, which we can do and have done, yeah, you're going to break the bank bringing in you know, fifty or sixty eighteen foot tall hedges. Those are available, by the way, and

if you'd like that, I'll bring you that tomorrow. However, you can achieve the same thing by planting the exact same materials in their junior form at six and seven foot tall versions of these same materials and planting them, you know, between three and four feet apart from each other, and patiently wait, give yourself three or four seasons, and they will grow in and form the exact same wall. Okay, these hedges are and I'm going to list them very

quickly here. These are the most typical ones. They're not the only ones that you can use, but there are usually five or six that we use. Ficus natida, Okay, fastest and tallest growing twenty feet tall. Wax leaf privet or what's sometimes called Texas privet potocarpus my personal favorite in most situations, Bay laurel Carolina cherry, and in some situations some this is the lacier version. Some goldest goddess, Golden Goddess bamboo. All right, So there you go the

Hollywood hedges. And yeah, you don't have to obey the zoning codes when it comes to that, because it's a plant that you're growing, and the code doesn't have anything to tell you about the height of plants, only the height of the fence that you can put between you and your neighbor. So if it's alive, then don't stop yourself. And more yards than they exist right now, I'll tell you right now should be using privacy hedging just to create the kind of ambiance and feel in the backyard

that you're actually looking for. Usually, when I get called out for a landscaping consult in a troubled yard, the one thing I normally end up suggesting is on the perimeter, let's get some more hedging. If we don't have a view lot, then what we want to do is close in your yard like a stage. Don't have the glory of your yard dependent upon whether your neighbor is keeping the paint up on their house. How's that sound? There

you go. That's the point, all right, And in your pearls this morning, more to come your home with Dean sharp the house Whisper pre Fine, Dean Sharp, the house Whisper, Welcome home. All of this information about fences and walls and hedges. I know a lot of you are thinking hedges right now. You're like, Okay, we're gonna get our hands on some of that plant material because I don't want to see my neighbor anymore, and I don't want my neighbor seeing me. Good fences make good neighbors. That's

just a quote. If you're interested, you should read this poem. You should. It's not a long poem. You should totally read it. And you need more poetry in your life. You do. Robert Frost the mending Wall, Okay, and yes it's a wall, not a fence, but it's a quote and it gets thrown around out of context all the time. People use it, you know, like you only say good

fences make good neighbors. Literally. The point of the poem that he's trying to make is that he's having a conversation with his neighbor and he keeps saying, you know, we probably don't need this separating us here on our property, and the neighbor keeps kind of like doing the screwge bug things saying good fences make good neighbors, that the

neighbor is not having it. The neighbor wants the fence up, he wants the fence, and Frost is basically trying to say, listen, we really don't need a fence in between us most of the time. Anyway, it is so worth reading, you should go do that. All right, there you go, Let's go to the phones. We got time for one tony Welcome home.

will never be seen again, so simply to save square footage. Now, when it comes to the dishwasher, whatever the flooring is in the room that we do run into, because the dishwasher is just an area avoid area, So we go ahead and run that material into the dishwasher area so that the dishwasher doesn't get trapped behind flooring material down in the recess there. And I know some people are like, well, I don't know if I want to run hardwood in there,

because what if the dishwasher leaks. I guarantee you, if the dishwasher leaks and you've got hardwood in your kitchen, it's going to go way beyond just the wood that's directly underneath. It's going to affect you know, wood in the whole area there. So it's kind of a moot point when it comes to that argument. I just prefer the idea that we can easily slide the dishwasher in and out for installation or service or what have you. So my recommendation is typically save the money on the

extra flooring material. Does it matter though not really, it's not really going to change the install much. Always account for the height of the hardwood floor though, so don't set yourself up for a thirty six inch tall countertop, then put in, you know, five eighths or three quarters of an inch of hardwood, and find yourself with shorter cabinets, so the kicks have to be taller if they're going

to go in before the hardwood. Thanks for the question, Tony. Yeah, I have a closing thought for you today, Sure I do. It's not a long one, but here we go. I'm gonna leave you with this thought today. I think we live such presumptuously insulated lives, such prosperous and entitled lives, that we usually have nothing better to do than sit around and obsess about the slightest inconveniences, the smallest bumps

in the road, the most trivial of offenses. It's as if fair weather and clear skies gives us permission to descend into selfish pettiness and become the worst versions of ourselves. So yes, I like it when nature steps in and occasionally serves up a good dose of reality, when the wind blows hard enough, or the rain on the roof gets loud enough to make us take our eyes off our screens and actually look outside. I like it when nature overwhelms our numbness and punctures the thin facades of

our quote unquote deeply held beliefs. I like it when nature calls us all to account and doesn't give us enough time to hate. When somebody needs to be rescued from a burning building or a flooded river or a small up car, thank god, there is no time to check if they are rich or poor, red, or blue, straight, or gay, or any number of the million other idiotic issues we use to separate ourselves from one another when the sun is shining. So so I don't get any

hate mail about this, let me be crystal clear. I don't like natural disasters. I don't want anyone to be put in harm's way. I just like how we are when they happen. It's as if it takes a storm outside of us to quiet the storm that's raging inside us. Whatever it is, it brings out in most of us the better angels of our nature, if not for just a short time, angels that I would like to see far more often. Today, the sun is shining here in

southern California. It's going to be a warm one, nothing much to contend with, So I guess that means we're all free to return to being the petty, squabbling and thoroughly annoying, lesser versions of ourselves. Or we could remember that even on sunny days, life is still short and difficult, and in their own unique way, everyone you meet is

fighting their own epic battle. So today, even in the sunlight, we could if we wanted to choose to be a first responder to the human condition, we could choose not to judge, not to lit misstest, not to hate, and instead just be kind. I wish that was everyone's greatest aspiration in life. Of all the things in the world, you can be be kind. Just think of what a world we would live in would be like if the one thing we were always trying out was to be kind.

All right, my friend, get out there, get busy building yourself a beautiful life. 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.