December 7, 2024 • 30 mins
Dean touches on the 80/20 rule when decorating a home. Dean talks about a caller’s situation after a remodel that went wrong with extremely wrong installments in removing of a barring wall. He dives into discussing about the 80/20 decor world. Lastly, Dean recaps and says that’s eclectic is not chaos but one must get rid of the clutter.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty KFI AM six forty and live
streaming and HD everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Hey follow
us on social media. We only do the good kind
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(00:25):
You can find us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook x Home
with Dean is the handle for them all. You can
also subscribe to the House Whisper podcast and listen anytime,
anywhere on demand hundreds of episodes, all searchable by topic.
It's your home improvement reference library on the free iHeartRadio
(00:47):
app or wherever your favorite podcasts are found. And now
by popular demand, I'm going to include this in our shows.
If your home is in need of some personal house
Whisperer attention, then you can book a three hour in
home design consult with me and t All you have
(01:08):
to do is go to house Whisperer dot Design. You
will find the contact form there house Whisper dot Design.
All right, we're talking about the secrets of ish, the
right way to do eclectic decor, to pull it off
so that it doesn't just feel mishmashed. And chaotic and
(01:28):
cluttered and themeless. We're going to get back to that
topic in a bit, but it's the top of the hour,
and you know what that means. It means it's time
to go to the phones. So let's talk to uh.
Let's talk to Deborah. Hey, Deborah, welcome home.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Hi Dean, good morning.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Good morning. How can I help you.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
U? Yeah, So, I live in a two story home
and I'm in the midst of a major remodel that
involved the removal of a load bearing the wall. And
after they finished the work and took the temporary walls down,
I've experienced some major settling. Three of the doors upstairs
(02:12):
not closed correctly. I witnessed an episode where there was
something extremely heavy settled move shifted and shook the patio
door directly underneath so violently I thought it was going
to shatter. And then now I'm noticing in up above
(02:37):
that the room up above, that there's some sagging in
the floor, and the contractor has a sham name that
the integrity of the game and the post that they
put in is fine, and that it's no big deal.
But I'm not real comfortable with that sewing. Looking for
some important advice.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
How to move forward with this? Gotcha? Gotcha? All right?
So here a couple of questions. First question, is this
all being done under permit? And do we have engineering
for this removal of a bearing wall?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (03:16):
I'm sorry, Debra, I didn't hear your answer.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yes I do, you do?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Okay, So we've got engineering and so there's plans and
there are structural calculations from a structural engineer about this.
Has the structural engineer or the building inspector been out
and inspected and signed off on the structural work that
was done?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Now, there's been some. There were interim inspections as the
work was going on, at least one. But no, they
have not totally signed off on that.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Okay. But have they signed off on, let's say, like
the framing work that was done in order to remove
the wall? Yes, okay, they have, all right. Second question
is was there concrete work involved in removing this bearing
wall and replacing it with I assume you know, a
(04:12):
large beam.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Yes. They dug two very large holes in my foundation
and filled it with concrete and rebar when I placed
the post.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Okay, okay, all right, this is all sounding like it.
It happened the way it should happened. I'm just wondering
where the settling is occurring. Typically, when we replace a
bearing wall or we remove a bearing wall, what we've
got to do is number One, the engineer has got
(04:44):
to come up with some concrete adjustments on each end
because the bearing wall was supporting weight all along the wall.
So they let's say you've got a ten fifteen foot
long wall that is supporting you know, one thousand pounds
above it. That thousand and this arbitrary math I'm doing
here for the sake of the example. But that thousand
(05:06):
pounds is spread out over the length of that fifteen
foot wall. So if we're going to take that wall away,
which we can, we've got to number one, put in
a beam that is strong enough to hold that weight
all by itself, and then transfer that weight down instead
of the length of a fifteen foot wall, just on
(05:27):
two points, one post on one end and one post
on the other, which is more than the concrete foundation
that was there ahead of time was designed to support.
And that's why we cut open the concrete and create
these larger pad footings underneath to distribute and handle all
(05:48):
of that weight. Now just coming on to two positions. Now,
if all of that was calculated properly, if the beam
is sized properly, and the work was done cleanly, then
we shouldn't have any major disruption of the house. I mean,
we switched these things out all the time, and we
(06:10):
don't end up with, Oh, now there's a bunch of
doors upstairs that are out of square, or the floor
is sagging somewhere. That's not a thing that happens when
you take out a bearing wall properly. So I'm I'm
a little concerned about as you are, about why is
this happening. Is the floor sagging where it has now connected,
(06:34):
or is being supported by the new beam, or is
it sagging in some other area that previously, you know,
was untouched by.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
This Now it's either it's directly above and or adjacent
to where the actual beam is.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
To the actual beam and the beam, is it running
underneath the floor joist or is it shoved up into
the sea line and the floor joists are hanging off
of it.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Now I think it's below the choice.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
So they're all sitting on it now.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Yeah, yeah, okay, all.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Right, So Debra, it's difficult for me to to be
able to run through all of the possible things that
need to be inspected here. But here's what I'm saying.
I think we need to give a call to the engineer.
I think we want the engineer back out on site
to take a look at what's happening, and we want
(07:37):
the engineer to do things like measure the deflection of
this beam. Okay, maybe the framers, maybe the contractor didn't
set the beam on posts high enough to straighten out
the floor. Maybe the floor sagged some. Maybe they didn't
embrace the walls or the floor sufficiently while they remove
(08:00):
the old wall, and it all dropped a little bit,
and therefore when they put the new beam in, the
beam got set at a lower level and that's why
the floor is sagging. Or maybe the engineer and this
happens sometimes. I mean they've technically specked a beam. Maybe
it's at the low end of its weight specification and
(08:20):
as a result, it's actually sagging a little bit, or
what we call deflecting because of the large span. I
don't know which of those things it is, but we
need to get some professional eyes on it. For you.
Somebody needs to get up there with a laser and
or a stringline and take a look to see whether
(08:43):
the new beam is kind of deflecting or sagging in
the center from end to end, and if so, how
much we need to get to the bottom of it.
Because I'll tell you you are not You're not over
reacting to this. That's what I'm saying. That we switch
(09:05):
out bearing walls with beams all the time and it
doesn't rack up, change, sag, or cause all sorts of
ramifications to the rest of the house. Ninety nine times
out of one hundred, there is absolutely literally no change
to anything whatsoever when we replace a bearing wall with
(09:26):
a beam in post scenario in order to open up
an area downstairs. So I'm concerned, like you're concerned, and
I think maybe our first step would be to call
the engineer and say, I need you to come out
here and take a look at this. I need a
kind of forensic investigation of this scenario so that you
can tell me why these things are now happening.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Okay, So let's just call the city that issued the
permits and go I want you.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
I want you to call not the city, because the
city didn't engineer the project. I want you to call
the engineer who did the specifications for the beam that
the contractor put in. That's the engineer, the engineer who
designed this scenario, who calculated it. I want you to
(10:19):
get because they're the ones on the hook for this.
I want you to get them out there to take
a look and check on the contractor's work to make
sure that things were done the way they were supposed
to be done and that that beam is doing the
job as intended. I just we got to get it
all double checked, and now is the time, because these
(10:40):
other things have happened, to run it all back through
analysis by all people involved, not just the contractor. But
I'm going to talk to the engineer who specified that
beam that size, who put that in the plans. The
city just signed off on it and inspected to see
that it was built according to the plans. But sometimes
(11:00):
the plans, you know, something slips through and it's not
exactly what it should be. So I want to talk
to the engineer. You want your structural engineer, the one
who did the plans, back out on site checking it
through Debrah. I wish I'd had more time, but unfortunately
I'm probably out of my advice for you, because that's
the next step and then let me know how that
(11:23):
happens and what they said, and maybe we can help
you with the next step after that. All right, y'all,
when we come back more of your calls. You're listening
to Home with Dean Sharp, the House whisper Kyfi, Dean Sharp,
the House Whisper at your service, answering our last question
and went a little long, So this is going to
(11:45):
be a little bit shorter of a segment. So I
want to get right back to the phones. Let's talk
to Spencer. Hey, Spencer, welcome home. Hello.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Hey, I'm up in Oregon and I have a one
in a halfhe old and I have of a house
with luxury vinyl plank floor on the base floor, and
our lifestyle has changed a lot more to sitting on
the floor with our little kid and downstairs it's just cold.
But I like to be downstairs in the living room
(12:15):
because that's where the Christmas tree is and that's where
the fireplace is, and we have couches and stuff. So
I'm thinking I want a rug down there. But my
wife is Chinese and she hates things that have to
be cleaned, and she's like, oh, the floor is great,
I can clean it I can bop it, and I'm
looking for like maybe is something like I hate by
ten rug or so, but like what are the qualities
(12:37):
of a rug that I could use to try and
convince my life to let me buy a rug? And
so I of course an option another options that we
can sell on the floor and it won't be cold.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
All right, good question, Well one option, okay, So I'll
give you the expensive option first, right, and then we'll
go back to the red thing, the expensive option or
the the more expensive option, especially if you've got luxury
vinyl plank. Luxury vinyl plank is a floating floor, okay.
(13:08):
As you know, it lays over and existing, or it
doesn't positively attached down. It lays there once it's all
built out, kind of like a carpet, right, it's attached
to the edges, and it's floating across the room, which
means that a luxury finy vinyl floor could be temporarily removed.
It could be peeled back, pulled back, deplanked as it
(13:29):
were set aside, and you could if you wanted to
lay down a you know, a radiant electric a heating
system grid along the living room floor and then put
the in that takes out about an eighth of an
(13:49):
inch of space most of them. Uh, And then build
that into the house and then lay the luxury vinyl
plank back down and what you have then is a
worn radiant heat floor. I mean, you won't any longer
have to even run the heater in that area of
the house because the floor itself will radiate heat right
(14:09):
down where you are not going to be hot. It's
just going to be warm and cozy and comfy and lovely.
And it's the kind of floor that everybody will want
to jump off the couch and actually lay down on
because it's so great. And so there are two kinds
of radiant floors. One or hydronic meaning you know tubes,
fluid flowing through tubes, and that takes up a lot
(14:32):
more space. That's the kind of thing that you would
want to do when you're building a house and you
integrate it in. But electric pads or electric grids, they
take up very very little space. They can be easily
retrofit into a room. We do it. We retrofit them
into bathrooms all the time. So that would be one option.
Now that's priceier, that's an investment, but you know, then
(14:56):
no rugs and a warm floor bottom line, no rugg
fifteen feet. If we were to do the whole house, oh,
you know what, you'd have to price it out because
there are various systems out there. So but you know you,
but it's worth it's worth checking out. It's worth checking out.
Now the other option, back to the simplest option, Okay,
(15:19):
that that. I don't know if this is going to
satisfy your wife or not, but I have been very
impressed Tina and I have been very impressed with the
company called Ruggables. Okay, Ruggables you should look into, honestly.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Because exactly the company we were looking at. We bought
something from them before and we're happy with it.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Okay, so there you go. So uh and the and
the point of a ruggable is that a ruggable is
this can be a really beautiful, large area rug that
is sitting down on a pad on velcrode to a
pad on the floor. And the advantage of it is
what that you can when the time comes, pull it off,
(16:01):
throw it in the washing machine, wash it. It's a
washable rug, it's a washable textile, and then roll it
back down onto the floor. So It solves a lot
of concerns about Oh, I would love an area rug here,
but it's gonna get all gross, and I don't want
to have to take it to special cleaning all the time.
(16:21):
And it's you know, in just a hassle. Tina and I,
we've got a ruggable runner in our hallway, we've got
one under our living room table, we've got one next
to our sliding glass doors, and we have found them
to be sufficiently lovely and imminently practical when it comes
to having an area rug that you can just you know,
you don't have to treat it like some Persian treasure.
(16:44):
M okay.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
And then what are the qualities of the rug? Like
I know there's terms like low pile something that I'm
seeing like triple weave or something.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, they've actually they start they started out very all
low pile, right, but now they've actually introduced other elements
that are bringing a higher pile, richer piles to them,
great patterns. So you know, I mean, it's not it's
going to be everybody's cup of tea, but it it
does exist to solve that very problem people who want
(17:14):
and need area rugs and who want it cleanable, serviceable,
and don't have to, you know, wrestle with the whole
Now I have to specially treat this persian rug.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Okay, great, that's pretty much.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
So I gave you both ends of this, both book
ends of the spectrum. You know, get get a ruggable
rug that you can wash easily, or you know, strip
back the whole floor and put in radiant heat. Either way,
you'll you'll enjoy spending more time on the floor and
your and your wife won't be driven crazy. All right, y'all,
when we come back, let's re engage this subject of
(17:51):
eclectic design and finding the right way to balance whatever
your theme, ish is the right way to do eclectic
deco in your home. You're listening to Home with Dean
Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty five AM
(18:12):
six forty live streaming and HD everywhere on the iHeart
Radio app. You are Home with Dean Sharp. The house
whisper why am I holding this basketball? Just a fun
thing to kind of play the drums on. We are
talking about home decor today, not holiday decor, home decor,
(18:34):
eclectic home decor and how difficult that is to pull off,
but it's doable and I'm trying to give you pearls
here the rules for doing ish on your house and
that in other words, you know, you got a farmhouse.
You like this idea of farmhouse decor, but in the
real world, your decor is going to be farmhouse ish, right,
(18:55):
because they are just always other things. There's always other
things that enter into it. How can you maintain that
sense of real flow and feel and live in the
real world where stuff comes in that doesn't match up
era style, color, all of that kind of thing. So
when last I left you on this topic before we
(19:16):
went to the phones, I alluded to the idea that
you have a lot of freedom if number one, you
begin with the neutral canvas, meaning your walls are relatively
bright and neutral, like a gallery as it were, and
your floor, your flooring choice is not trying to steal
(19:37):
attention away. It's lovely, it's beautiful, it's fantastic, but it's
not trying to compete attention wise. Your floor grounds your decor,
the walls unite the decor, and then if you can
embrace the eighty twenty rule, you are going to be
well on your way to getting this done. Right now,
(19:58):
what is the eighty twenty rule brought it up when
we did the live audience show, and because we were
on stage decorating a Christmas tree, the people from Aldick
were decorating a Christmas tree beautiful, I mean just stunning
Christmas tree designs from Aldick, right, But somebody raised the question, Well, Okay,
(20:23):
I love that department store s Christmas tree just so
sophisticated and adorable and wonderful. But I've got ornaments from
my childhood, and I've got ornaments that people have given me,
I mean, things that really mean something to us. And
so how do I maintain that sense of like, this
is a gorgeous theme and still have these meaningful things
(20:47):
attached to the tree? Well that really, if you can
picture that, and I know you've encountered that issue before yourself.
If you can picture that, that's a microcosm of the
decor problem with your home as a whole, right, or
any space as a whole. There's this theme you'd like
to establish, but what do you do with the real
world stuff. It's why things go ish, farmhouse ish, arts
(21:10):
and crafts, Ish, Spanish Ish, right. So the eighty twenty
rule is a massive step towards solving that problem and
what is it? It's very simply this. You pick your theme,
you pick this direction you'd like to head in, and
as you look around the spaces and pieces and masses
(21:36):
in a space, like let's just pick the living room,
the larger masses would be you know, sofas, coffee tables,
those kinds of things, bookshelves, if there are those things there.
You're talking about the things that take up space in
a room. If we can achieve theme consistency with eighty
(22:02):
percent of what's in that room and eighty percent of
the larger masses of the room, then then and theme
consistency meaning okay, well the sofa is going to be leather,
or it's going to be this color, and then this
color accent pillows across the sofa, and the area rug
(22:23):
underneath the coffee table also working in that color and
stylistic theme. Maybe the blind's cooperating with the wall color
as well. Maybe we've introduced to end tables or coffee
tables or a lamp, maybe these things, and we just
start counting it out. If we can get to basically
eighty percent of the room working with that theme, then
(22:47):
here's the truth. The other twenty percent can be all
sorts of nick knack and off brand things, if you
want to call it that peppered in and you'll you
still don't just do this randomly. But the fact of
the matter is a room that is eighty percent there
(23:09):
to a strong theme can handle twenty percent, the other
twenty percent being diverse. Because the competition tilt has already happened.
The room is eighty percent, I mean, it is well
on its way, and that last twenty percent is not
going to take it back. And so when you walk
(23:30):
into a room that has those elements going for it,
then nobody says, oh, well, this room is just sort
of a mishmash of things. No, it has a strong direction.
Now does it have to be eighty percent? Well, yeah,
that's the preference. Is this a law of design, No,
it's not. But it is a rule based on just
usefulness and proof of concept. Okay, And that's why in
(23:54):
the core world, eighty twenty is a significant marker that
we aim for. Okay, So right now, that's not the
end of the story. I've got a long list of
rules and tips for you, most of which we're going
to cover tomorrow, but I still have some for you today.
But the idea is this, If you can set that
in your head as a foundation for your new approach
(24:18):
to this space, bedroom, living room, bathroom, whatever the case
may be, eighty twenty, the eighty twenty rule, you're going
to be ahead of the game, all right, more specifics
on that, cay Fie, Jean Sharp, the house Whisper, Welcome home.
Thanks for joining me on the program today. It turns
out like it's going to be a pretty beautiful day
(24:41):
here in southern California. I know it's not the same
elsewhere across the country where you may be listening to it,
but you know what, I'm guessing it's going to be
lovely in its own right. We've got a sunny day
in the sixties ahead of us today, and you may
have snow or whatever the case may be, and we're
probably both longing for the other's condition. Right the grass
(25:06):
is greener, the snow is whiter on the other side
of the fence, Okay, whatever the case may be. Yeah,
we miss snowy winters here in southern California, although we've
got plenty of mountains with it in but down here
where we are, especially where Tina and I are in
eastern Ventura County. You know, just lovely. It's just nice
(25:26):
and lovely. I hope you're having a great weekend start
and hope it works for you. Don't miss tomorrow's show
as well, where we are going to continue this conversation
about eclectic decor and how to weave it properly into
your home. I've got one more for you here, I
got time for one more before we're done today, and
(25:47):
then we'll pick up this list in the next episode
of the podcast and or our next broadcast, which will
be tomorrow morning from nine to noon. And that is this.
We've started out with the neutral canvas of the walls,
we've grounded the floor for our collection of stuff, and
(26:07):
we've embraced color and texture. In the eighty twenty rule,
eighty percent of what we're doing in this space is
going to be pushing strongly toward whatever our theme or
style is, and that allows the other twenty percent to
kind of deviate from that without being a contradiction or
a distraction. Now, this is really critical though. Okay, a
(26:34):
colectic design, I said it at the top of the
show is not clutter and it's not chaos. And so
you've got to get rid of the clutter. And it
is the hardest thing for anyone to hear me say,
because we all just have too much stuff. But I'm
telling you, I'm telling you, if you want to master
(26:56):
a great design, then you've got to got to get
rid of the clutter. There's too many things, too many
things to focus on. Human minds visually are relatively lazy,
they really are. And so if you overwhelm me with
too many things to look at, I just won't look
(27:18):
at any of them. And you know that that's the
case for you as well. Okay, So a beautifully designed
space has enough stuff but not too much stuff, and
it embraces here's the rule, embrace negative space. Negative space
is immensely powerful. In fact, this is such a big
(27:39):
rule that I'm going to start tomorrow's show off with
it as well. Negative space has a power to draw
attention to the thing that it is pointing to you.
And you're like, well, isn't negative space just nothing? Yeah?
In a sense, it really is, and yet it has
a gravity to it. Imagine this, Imagine that we just
(28:00):
put a big white framed panel up on a wall,
nothing nothing but white. It's just white, like you know,
framed inside a frame, nothing but white. What is that?
That's not negative space, that's blank. Okay, that's just a
blank wall. Negative space is the space around a thing. Now. Okay,
(28:23):
imagine that big white framed panel up on the wall
and there's nothing in it that is blank, not negative. Now,
I'm going to take a beautiful image of a bird,
a bird in flight, and I'm going to take that
bird and put it way down in the kind of
the lower right corner of that white framed panel. Now,
(28:47):
that white frame panel is not blank. Now, it is
the negative space around that bird. It's the it's the space,
it's the air that the bird is about to fly into.
It's poised with all sorts of tension. Now it's giving
that bird all sorts of gravitational attention from your eyes
(29:07):
because you see this blank space and your eyes zip
down to the one thing that's there. And now that
tiny little bird in flight is the star of an
amazing show set on an amazing stage. Okay, think about that.
I want you to process that, because that's the power
of negative space in art and in design. And if
(29:30):
you're gonna pull off an eclectic design, you're gonna need
a good amount of negative space around the things that
you've got, and that means you got to get rid
of some stuff you really do all right. There is
a whole lot more to my list of the secrets
of Ish that we will continue with tomorrow the big
(29:52):
show Sunday morning from nine to noon. Thanks again for
spending this time with me. It is a privilege, it
always is. Follow us on social media Instagram, TikTok, Facebook
x Home with Dean the same handle for all of them.
You know, the house Whisper podcast is everywhere your favorite
podcasts are found, and if your home is in need
(30:14):
of some personal house Whisper attention, you can book a
three hour in home design console with us at house
Whisper dot Design. We're going to be back here tomorrow
nine to noon. Until then, get out there, get busy
building yourself a beautiful life. We'll see tomorrow. This has
been Home with Dean Sharp the House Whisper. Tune into
(30:37):
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
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(00:25):
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app or wherever your favorite podcasts are found. And now
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If your home is in need of some personal house
Whisperer attention, then you can book a three hour in
home design consult with me and t All you have
(01:08):
to do is go to house Whisperer dot Design. You
will find the contact form there house Whisper dot Design.
All right, we're talking about the secrets of ish, the
right way to do eclectic decor, to pull it off
so that it doesn't just feel mishmashed. And chaotic and
(01:28):
cluttered and themeless. We're going to get back to that
topic in a bit, but it's the top of the hour,
and you know what that means. It means it's time
to go to the phones. So let's talk to uh.
Let's talk to Deborah. Hey, Deborah, welcome home.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Hi Dean, good morning.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Good morning. How can I help you.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
U? Yeah, So, I live in a two story home
and I'm in the midst of a major remodel that
involved the removal of a load bearing the wall. And
after they finished the work and took the temporary walls down,
I've experienced some major settling. Three of the doors upstairs
(02:12):
not closed correctly. I witnessed an episode where there was
something extremely heavy settled move shifted and shook the patio
door directly underneath so violently I thought it was going
to shatter. And then now I'm noticing in up above
(02:37):
that the room up above, that there's some sagging in
the floor, and the contractor has a sham name that
the integrity of the game and the post that they
put in is fine, and that it's no big deal.
But I'm not real comfortable with that sewing. Looking for
some important advice.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
How to move forward with this? Gotcha? Gotcha? All right?
So here a couple of questions. First question, is this
all being done under permit? And do we have engineering
for this removal of a bearing wall?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (03:16):
I'm sorry, Debra, I didn't hear your answer.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yes I do, you do?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Okay, So we've got engineering and so there's plans and
there are structural calculations from a structural engineer about this.
Has the structural engineer or the building inspector been out
and inspected and signed off on the structural work that
was done?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Now, there's been some. There were interim inspections as the
work was going on, at least one. But no, they
have not totally signed off on that.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Okay. But have they signed off on, let's say, like
the framing work that was done in order to remove
the wall? Yes, okay, they have, all right. Second question
is was there concrete work involved in removing this bearing
wall and replacing it with I assume you know, a
(04:12):
large beam.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Yes. They dug two very large holes in my foundation
and filled it with concrete and rebar when I placed
the post.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Okay, okay, all right, this is all sounding like it.
It happened the way it should happened. I'm just wondering
where the settling is occurring. Typically, when we replace a
bearing wall or we remove a bearing wall, what we've
got to do is number One, the engineer has got
(04:44):
to come up with some concrete adjustments on each end
because the bearing wall was supporting weight all along the wall.
So they let's say you've got a ten fifteen foot
long wall that is supporting you know, one thousand pounds
above it. That thousand and this arbitrary math I'm doing
here for the sake of the example. But that thousand
(05:06):
pounds is spread out over the length of that fifteen
foot wall. So if we're going to take that wall away,
which we can, we've got to number one, put in
a beam that is strong enough to hold that weight
all by itself, and then transfer that weight down instead
of the length of a fifteen foot wall, just on
(05:27):
two points, one post on one end and one post
on the other, which is more than the concrete foundation
that was there ahead of time was designed to support.
And that's why we cut open the concrete and create
these larger pad footings underneath to distribute and handle all
(05:48):
of that weight. Now just coming on to two positions. Now,
if all of that was calculated properly, if the beam
is sized properly, and the work was done cleanly, then
we shouldn't have any major disruption of the house. I mean,
we switched these things out all the time, and we
(06:10):
don't end up with, Oh, now there's a bunch of
doors upstairs that are out of square, or the floor
is sagging somewhere. That's not a thing that happens when
you take out a bearing wall properly. So I'm I'm
a little concerned about as you are, about why is
this happening. Is the floor sagging where it has now connected,
(06:34):
or is being supported by the new beam, or is
it sagging in some other area that previously, you know,
was untouched by.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
This Now it's either it's directly above and or adjacent
to where the actual beam is.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
To the actual beam and the beam, is it running
underneath the floor joist or is it shoved up into
the sea line and the floor joists are hanging off
of it.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Now I think it's below the choice.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
So they're all sitting on it now.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Yeah, yeah, okay, all.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Right, So Debra, it's difficult for me to to be
able to run through all of the possible things that
need to be inspected here. But here's what I'm saying.
I think we need to give a call to the engineer.
I think we want the engineer back out on site
to take a look at what's happening, and we want
(07:37):
the engineer to do things like measure the deflection of
this beam. Okay, maybe the framers, maybe the contractor didn't
set the beam on posts high enough to straighten out
the floor. Maybe the floor sagged some. Maybe they didn't
embrace the walls or the floor sufficiently while they remove
(08:00):
the old wall, and it all dropped a little bit,
and therefore when they put the new beam in, the
beam got set at a lower level and that's why
the floor is sagging. Or maybe the engineer and this
happens sometimes. I mean they've technically specked a beam. Maybe
it's at the low end of its weight specification and
(08:20):
as a result, it's actually sagging a little bit, or
what we call deflecting because of the large span. I
don't know which of those things it is, but we
need to get some professional eyes on it. For you.
Somebody needs to get up there with a laser and
or a stringline and take a look to see whether
(08:43):
the new beam is kind of deflecting or sagging in
the center from end to end, and if so, how
much we need to get to the bottom of it.
Because I'll tell you you are not You're not over
reacting to this. That's what I'm saying. That we switch
(09:05):
out bearing walls with beams all the time and it
doesn't rack up, change, sag, or cause all sorts of
ramifications to the rest of the house. Ninety nine times
out of one hundred, there is absolutely literally no change
to anything whatsoever when we replace a bearing wall with
(09:26):
a beam in post scenario in order to open up
an area downstairs. So I'm concerned, like you're concerned, and
I think maybe our first step would be to call
the engineer and say, I need you to come out
here and take a look at this. I need a
kind of forensic investigation of this scenario so that you
can tell me why these things are now happening.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Okay, So let's just call the city that issued the
permits and go I want you.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
I want you to call not the city, because the
city didn't engineer the project. I want you to call
the engineer who did the specifications for the beam that
the contractor put in. That's the engineer, the engineer who
designed this scenario, who calculated it. I want you to
(10:19):
get because they're the ones on the hook for this.
I want you to get them out there to take
a look and check on the contractor's work to make
sure that things were done the way they were supposed
to be done and that that beam is doing the
job as intended. I just we got to get it
all double checked, and now is the time, because these
(10:40):
other things have happened, to run it all back through
analysis by all people involved, not just the contractor. But
I'm going to talk to the engineer who specified that
beam that size, who put that in the plans. The
city just signed off on it and inspected to see
that it was built according to the plans. But sometimes
(11:00):
the plans, you know, something slips through and it's not
exactly what it should be. So I want to talk
to the engineer. You want your structural engineer, the one
who did the plans, back out on site checking it
through Debrah. I wish I'd had more time, but unfortunately
I'm probably out of my advice for you, because that's
the next step and then let me know how that
(11:23):
happens and what they said, and maybe we can help
you with the next step after that. All right, y'all,
when we come back more of your calls. You're listening
to Home with Dean Sharp, the House whisper Kyfi, Dean Sharp,
the House Whisper at your service, answering our last question
and went a little long, So this is going to
(11:45):
be a little bit shorter of a segment. So I
want to get right back to the phones. Let's talk
to Spencer. Hey, Spencer, welcome home. Hello.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Hey, I'm up in Oregon and I have a one
in a halfhe old and I have of a house
with luxury vinyl plank floor on the base floor, and
our lifestyle has changed a lot more to sitting on
the floor with our little kid and downstairs it's just cold.
But I like to be downstairs in the living room
(12:15):
because that's where the Christmas tree is and that's where
the fireplace is, and we have couches and stuff. So
I'm thinking I want a rug down there. But my
wife is Chinese and she hates things that have to
be cleaned, and she's like, oh, the floor is great,
I can clean it I can bop it, and I'm
looking for like maybe is something like I hate by
ten rug or so, but like what are the qualities
(12:37):
of a rug that I could use to try and
convince my life to let me buy a rug? And
so I of course an option another options that we
can sell on the floor and it won't be cold.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
All right, good question, Well one option, okay, So I'll
give you the expensive option first, right, and then we'll
go back to the red thing, the expensive option or
the the more expensive option, especially if you've got luxury
vinyl plank. Luxury vinyl plank is a floating floor, okay.
(13:08):
As you know, it lays over and existing, or it
doesn't positively attached down. It lays there once it's all
built out, kind of like a carpet, right, it's attached
to the edges, and it's floating across the room, which
means that a luxury finy vinyl floor could be temporarily removed.
It could be peeled back, pulled back, deplanked as it
(13:29):
were set aside, and you could if you wanted to
lay down a you know, a radiant electric a heating
system grid along the living room floor and then put
the in that takes out about an eighth of an
(13:49):
inch of space most of them. Uh, And then build
that into the house and then lay the luxury vinyl
plank back down and what you have then is a
worn radiant heat floor. I mean, you won't any longer
have to even run the heater in that area of
the house because the floor itself will radiate heat right
(14:09):
down where you are not going to be hot. It's
just going to be warm and cozy and comfy and lovely.
And it's the kind of floor that everybody will want
to jump off the couch and actually lay down on
because it's so great. And so there are two kinds
of radiant floors. One or hydronic meaning you know tubes,
fluid flowing through tubes, and that takes up a lot
(14:32):
more space. That's the kind of thing that you would
want to do when you're building a house and you
integrate it in. But electric pads or electric grids, they
take up very very little space. They can be easily
retrofit into a room. We do it. We retrofit them
into bathrooms all the time. So that would be one option.
Now that's priceier, that's an investment, but you know, then
(14:56):
no rugs and a warm floor bottom line, no rugg
fifteen feet. If we were to do the whole house, oh,
you know what, you'd have to price it out because
there are various systems out there. So but you know you,
but it's worth it's worth checking out. It's worth checking out.
Now the other option, back to the simplest option, Okay,
(15:19):
that that. I don't know if this is going to
satisfy your wife or not, but I have been very
impressed Tina and I have been very impressed with the
company called Ruggables. Okay, Ruggables you should look into, honestly.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Because exactly the company we were looking at. We bought
something from them before and we're happy with it.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Okay, so there you go. So uh and the and
the point of a ruggable is that a ruggable is
this can be a really beautiful, large area rug that
is sitting down on a pad on velcrode to a
pad on the floor. And the advantage of it is
what that you can when the time comes, pull it off,
(16:01):
throw it in the washing machine, wash it. It's a
washable rug, it's a washable textile, and then roll it
back down onto the floor. So It solves a lot
of concerns about Oh, I would love an area rug here,
but it's gonna get all gross, and I don't want
to have to take it to special cleaning all the time.
(16:21):
And it's you know, in just a hassle. Tina and I,
we've got a ruggable runner in our hallway, we've got
one under our living room table, we've got one next
to our sliding glass doors, and we have found them
to be sufficiently lovely and imminently practical when it comes
to having an area rug that you can just you know,
you don't have to treat it like some Persian treasure.
(16:44):
M okay.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
And then what are the qualities of the rug? Like
I know there's terms like low pile something that I'm
seeing like triple weave or something.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, they've actually they start they started out very all
low pile, right, but now they've actually introduced other elements
that are bringing a higher pile, richer piles to them,
great patterns. So you know, I mean, it's not it's
going to be everybody's cup of tea, but it it
does exist to solve that very problem people who want
(17:14):
and need area rugs and who want it cleanable, serviceable,
and don't have to, you know, wrestle with the whole
Now I have to specially treat this persian rug.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Okay, great, that's pretty much.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
So I gave you both ends of this, both book
ends of the spectrum. You know, get get a ruggable
rug that you can wash easily, or you know, strip
back the whole floor and put in radiant heat. Either way,
you'll you'll enjoy spending more time on the floor and
your and your wife won't be driven crazy. All right, y'all,
when we come back, let's re engage this subject of
(17:51):
eclectic design and finding the right way to balance whatever
your theme, ish is the right way to do eclectic
deco in your home. You're listening to Home with Dean
Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty five AM
(18:12):
six forty live streaming and HD everywhere on the iHeart
Radio app. You are Home with Dean Sharp. The house
whisper why am I holding this basketball? Just a fun
thing to kind of play the drums on. We are
talking about home decor today, not holiday decor, home decor,
(18:34):
eclectic home decor and how difficult that is to pull off,
but it's doable and I'm trying to give you pearls
here the rules for doing ish on your house and
that in other words, you know, you got a farmhouse.
You like this idea of farmhouse decor, but in the
real world, your decor is going to be farmhouse ish, right,
(18:55):
because they are just always other things. There's always other
things that enter into it. How can you maintain that
sense of real flow and feel and live in the
real world where stuff comes in that doesn't match up
era style, color, all of that kind of thing. So
when last I left you on this topic before we
(19:16):
went to the phones, I alluded to the idea that
you have a lot of freedom if number one, you
begin with the neutral canvas, meaning your walls are relatively
bright and neutral, like a gallery as it were, and
your floor, your flooring choice is not trying to steal
(19:37):
attention away. It's lovely, it's beautiful, it's fantastic, but it's
not trying to compete attention wise. Your floor grounds your decor,
the walls unite the decor, and then if you can
embrace the eighty twenty rule, you are going to be
well on your way to getting this done. Right now,
(19:58):
what is the eighty twenty rule brought it up when
we did the live audience show, and because we were
on stage decorating a Christmas tree, the people from Aldick
were decorating a Christmas tree beautiful, I mean just stunning
Christmas tree designs from Aldick, right, But somebody raised the question, Well, Okay,
(20:23):
I love that department store s Christmas tree just so
sophisticated and adorable and wonderful. But I've got ornaments from
my childhood, and I've got ornaments that people have given me,
I mean, things that really mean something to us. And
so how do I maintain that sense of like, this
is a gorgeous theme and still have these meaningful things
(20:47):
attached to the tree? Well that really, if you can
picture that, and I know you've encountered that issue before yourself.
If you can picture that, that's a microcosm of the
decor problem with your home as a whole, right, or
any space as a whole. There's this theme you'd like
to establish, but what do you do with the real
world stuff. It's why things go ish, farmhouse ish, arts
(21:10):
and crafts, Ish, Spanish Ish, right. So the eighty twenty
rule is a massive step towards solving that problem and
what is it? It's very simply this. You pick your theme,
you pick this direction you'd like to head in, and
as you look around the spaces and pieces and masses
(21:36):
in a space, like let's just pick the living room,
the larger masses would be you know, sofas, coffee tables,
those kinds of things, bookshelves, if there are those things there.
You're talking about the things that take up space in
a room. If we can achieve theme consistency with eighty
(22:02):
percent of what's in that room and eighty percent of
the larger masses of the room, then then and theme
consistency meaning okay, well the sofa is going to be leather,
or it's going to be this color, and then this
color accent pillows across the sofa, and the area rug
(22:23):
underneath the coffee table also working in that color and
stylistic theme. Maybe the blind's cooperating with the wall color
as well. Maybe we've introduced to end tables or coffee
tables or a lamp, maybe these things, and we just
start counting it out. If we can get to basically
eighty percent of the room working with that theme, then
(22:47):
here's the truth. The other twenty percent can be all
sorts of nick knack and off brand things, if you
want to call it that peppered in and you'll you
still don't just do this randomly. But the fact of
the matter is a room that is eighty percent there
(23:09):
to a strong theme can handle twenty percent, the other
twenty percent being diverse. Because the competition tilt has already happened.
The room is eighty percent, I mean, it is well
on its way, and that last twenty percent is not
going to take it back. And so when you walk
(23:30):
into a room that has those elements going for it,
then nobody says, oh, well, this room is just sort
of a mishmash of things. No, it has a strong direction.
Now does it have to be eighty percent? Well, yeah,
that's the preference. Is this a law of design, No,
it's not. But it is a rule based on just
usefulness and proof of concept. Okay, And that's why in
(23:54):
the core world, eighty twenty is a significant marker that
we aim for. Okay, So right now, that's not the
end of the story. I've got a long list of
rules and tips for you, most of which we're going
to cover tomorrow, but I still have some for you today.
But the idea is this, If you can set that
in your head as a foundation for your new approach
(24:18):
to this space, bedroom, living room, bathroom, whatever the case
may be, eighty twenty, the eighty twenty rule, you're going
to be ahead of the game, all right, more specifics
on that, cay Fie, Jean Sharp, the house Whisper, Welcome home.
Thanks for joining me on the program today. It turns
out like it's going to be a pretty beautiful day
(24:41):
here in southern California. I know it's not the same
elsewhere across the country where you may be listening to it,
but you know what, I'm guessing it's going to be
lovely in its own right. We've got a sunny day
in the sixties ahead of us today, and you may
have snow or whatever the case may be, and we're
probably both longing for the other's condition. Right the grass
(25:06):
is greener, the snow is whiter on the other side
of the fence, Okay, whatever the case may be. Yeah,
we miss snowy winters here in southern California, although we've
got plenty of mountains with it in but down here
where we are, especially where Tina and I are in
eastern Ventura County. You know, just lovely. It's just nice
(25:26):
and lovely. I hope you're having a great weekend start
and hope it works for you. Don't miss tomorrow's show
as well, where we are going to continue this conversation
about eclectic decor and how to weave it properly into
your home. I've got one more for you here, I
got time for one more before we're done today, and
(25:47):
then we'll pick up this list in the next episode
of the podcast and or our next broadcast, which will
be tomorrow morning from nine to noon. And that is this.
We've started out with the neutral canvas of the walls,
we've grounded the floor for our collection of stuff, and
(26:07):
we've embraced color and texture. In the eighty twenty rule,
eighty percent of what we're doing in this space is
going to be pushing strongly toward whatever our theme or
style is, and that allows the other twenty percent to
kind of deviate from that without being a contradiction or
a distraction. Now, this is really critical though. Okay, a
(26:34):
colectic design, I said it at the top of the
show is not clutter and it's not chaos. And so
you've got to get rid of the clutter. And it
is the hardest thing for anyone to hear me say,
because we all just have too much stuff. But I'm
telling you, I'm telling you, if you want to master
(26:56):
a great design, then you've got to got to get
rid of the clutter. There's too many things, too many
things to focus on. Human minds visually are relatively lazy,
they really are. And so if you overwhelm me with
too many things to look at, I just won't look
(27:18):
at any of them. And you know that that's the
case for you as well. Okay, So a beautifully designed
space has enough stuff but not too much stuff, and
it embraces here's the rule, embrace negative space. Negative space
is immensely powerful. In fact, this is such a big
(27:39):
rule that I'm going to start tomorrow's show off with
it as well. Negative space has a power to draw
attention to the thing that it is pointing to you.
And you're like, well, isn't negative space just nothing? Yeah?
In a sense, it really is, and yet it has
a gravity to it. Imagine this, Imagine that we just
(28:00):
put a big white framed panel up on a wall,
nothing nothing but white. It's just white, like you know,
framed inside a frame, nothing but white. What is that?
That's not negative space, that's blank. Okay, that's just a
blank wall. Negative space is the space around a thing. Now. Okay,
(28:23):
imagine that big white framed panel up on the wall
and there's nothing in it that is blank, not negative. Now,
I'm going to take a beautiful image of a bird,
a bird in flight, and I'm going to take that
bird and put it way down in the kind of
the lower right corner of that white framed panel. Now,
(28:47):
that white frame panel is not blank. Now, it is
the negative space around that bird. It's the it's the space,
it's the air that the bird is about to fly into.
It's poised with all sorts of tension. Now it's giving
that bird all sorts of gravitational attention from your eyes
(29:07):
because you see this blank space and your eyes zip
down to the one thing that's there. And now that
tiny little bird in flight is the star of an
amazing show set on an amazing stage. Okay, think about that.
I want you to process that, because that's the power
of negative space in art and in design. And if
(29:30):
you're gonna pull off an eclectic design, you're gonna need
a good amount of negative space around the things that
you've got, and that means you got to get rid
of some stuff you really do all right. There is
a whole lot more to my list of the secrets
of Ish that we will continue with tomorrow the big
(29:52):
show Sunday morning from nine to noon. Thanks again for
spending this time with me. It is a privilege, it
always is. Follow us on social media Instagram, TikTok, Facebook
x Home with Dean the same handle for all of them.
You know, the house Whisper podcast is everywhere your favorite
podcasts are found, and if your home is in need
(30:14):
of some personal house Whisper attention, you can book a
three hour in home design console with us at house
Whisper dot Design. We're going to be back here tomorrow
nine to noon. Until then, get out there, get busy
building yourself a beautiful life. We'll see tomorrow. This has
been Home with Dean Sharp the House Whisper. Tune into
(30:37):
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
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