January 5, 2025 • 38 mins
Dean advices a caller about installing a GFCI outlet around their home.
Dean provides a list of tool brands that are made in the U.S. and what could cause the pressure to weaken out of a faucet. Dean says to get a tape measure that will last you by getting a 25-footer.
Dean loves a handy laser level and when to use it. He also, dives about the different tapes: electrical, 3M scotch, and more!
Dean provides a list of tool brands that are made in the U.S. and what could cause the pressure to weaken out of a faucet. Dean says to get a tape measure that will last you by getting a 25-footer.
Dean loves a handy laser level and when to use it. He also, dives about the different tapes: electrical, 3M scotch, and more!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app. Hey
follow us on social media. We only do the good
kind of social media, I promise uplifting, informative, inspiring stuff.
We're on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook x Home with Dean. That's
(00:22):
the handle to find us. It's good for all of them.
In fact, right now, Tina has got up on our
social media a video A little blast from the past.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yes, it's a blast from the past that I pulled
out of the archives from our YouTube channel, and it's
very relevant to today's topic about tools and the essentials
that you need in your home toolbox.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
There you go, little two minute video, very very similar,
not exactly one for one my list today, but ninety
eight percent of it.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, and it's really cute.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I mean, it's cute.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Kid.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
He's very young and very young. No facial hair.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I mean, it's just it wasn't that long ago, I know,
but you look younger without the facial hair. It's just
very cute, all right. But you are you trying to
tell me something about my beard?
Speaker 4 (01:12):
No?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
I love your beard and you are so handsome.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Oh no, but no, just stop, it's just cute. Just stop,
all right.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I haven't seen you that way in a while.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
It's there my face. Shush, I'm turning on your mic
off right now. There her mic is off. No more
of that anyway. Yes, social media, so while you're there,
follow us like it in a video like that. If
you've got a friend who's like, you know what, they
need to hear this, just share it. Boom, you can
just share it right across there you go. Also, if
(01:42):
you're home, I know we're not talking design today, but
if your home is in need of some personal house
whisper attention, personal what does that mean, like you know
you guys standing in my living room? Yeah, that's exactly
what I mean. Then you can book an in home
design consolet with me and tea and listen to her cuteness.
Just go to house Whisperer dot design for more details
(02:03):
on that. All right, we are finishing off. It's part
two today of our two part first Weekend in twenty
twenty five series of tools Essential tools for your home.
Whether you rent or own, doesn't matter. These are essential
tools to have on hand to handle whatever comes up
(02:23):
with in the place. That you live. We're gonna get
back to that in a bit, but it's top of
the hour. I asked for calls, I got calls. I
got a board full of calls. So I want to
get to it. Let's talk to Roger. Hey, Roger, welcome home.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
How you doing, Dean?
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I'm well, sir, Happy new year?
Speaker 5 (02:40):
All right, same to you. Love the show. All right,
My mom's got an older house built early sixties. I
noticed that there are no gfs cis anywhere in the house.
Can you do that on a two wire? So I
(03:01):
can't find a ground wire anywhere?
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Okay, all right, great, So all right, let me set
this up for you for everybody who's listening. So Roger's
mom lives in an older home. That was the electricity
was running this home. You guys, you know you've seen
this before. Electricity was running this home. All the outlets
have two prongs. There's no third little grounding plug down below,
(03:25):
just two prongs, no grounding plug. That means there's no
ground wire run throughout the entire house. Those are that's
old school ungrounded you know, plugs and switches running throughout
the house. Now, Roger also mentioned a GFCI A GA
for short, we'll just call it a GFI ground fault
(03:46):
interrupt plug. You've also seen these. These are the little
outlets that have a little button that says test and
reset on them. Sometimes they are all one color, sometimes
the button is red.
Speaker 6 (03:58):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
And those are designed and required by current code for
all sorts of areas that have water anywhere nearby, because
they act like their own little miniature circuit breaker. They
pop off and cut the power whenever there is any
kind of a grounding fault, like, for instance, you know
(04:21):
you drop a hair dryer into a sink of water. Okay,
that kind of thing. So the question is Mom's house
has no grounded outlets? Can you install a GFI outlet
on an ungrounded house? And would it be worth it?
Would they do anything if there are no ground wires
(04:43):
running through the house. And the answer is yes, yes
you can, and you probably should. In fact, Roger, it's
one of the ways in which, without tearing into the
walls and rerunning new electrical you can make her home safer.
Now I say safer. So here's here's a couple of uh,
here's a couple of you know, nuances to that. A
(05:06):
GFCI is a grounding device. I mean a breaker in
and of itself. It does not need the ground wire
being attached to it in order for it to do
its job. Okay, but without a ground wire attached to it,
it won't be quite as sensitive to ground faults as
(05:28):
it would be if it had the ground wire attached
to it. Now what that means though, is it means
sensitive electronic devices. Okay, A GFI plug will not protect
is not going to save the circuit board on a
sensitive electronic device if there's a ground fault the way
it would if it had a grounding wire attached to it.
(05:53):
But on the human being level, children us, Okay, it
will do its job just fine, and that's why it's
such a good idea. Okay, So if you want to
protect humans, then you can go into a house that
has no ground wires in it and replace as many
of the outlets as you want with GFI outlets that
(06:16):
will pop off and they'll just have to be reset
once they go off. To protect human beings, and that's
really what they're primarily for. If you've got sensitive electronic equipment,
don't rely on those entirely. Plug into one of those
a a power strip that is a surge protector specifically
designed for electronic here, and you'll be good there too.
(06:37):
But the good news is that there's an inexpensive way
to make an ungrounded house safe. The outlet's safe, and
that's by actually just switching out those outlets to GFCI outlets.
They'll work fine, they just won't be as sensitive. And
here's what's going to confuse some people. Part of my list. Actually,
(06:57):
one of the tools on my essential toolbox list is
a receptacle tester. Okay, these little receptacle testers. You plug
them into a receptacle to make sure that it's been
wired properly, and a lot of them have. The one
that I want you to get has a little switch,
a little button and you push that and it creates
a little ground fault to test a GFI outlet. So
(07:20):
here's the thing. If the house is ungrounded and you
install a GFI outlet, that little tester is not going
to work because it's very sensitive. It's like the sensitivity
of electronic device. It's not going to be enough to
test it. So it's going to be confusing because look,
something's not working. So if it's an undergrounded house, the
(07:42):
code actually says this to you. You're totally legally allowed
to install those inside the box of a GFCI outlet.
There are little stickers that nobody ever uses because they
they you know, they just use them in normal grounded houses.
But there is a sticker in there, a label that
says no equipment ground And technically you're supposed to put
(08:06):
that sticker on the outlets so that somebody knows that
this is a GFCI. It works just fine, but there's
no ground wire connecting it. And that way, when you
go to test that, you realize, okay, the electronic tester
doesn't work, but still the buttons work just fine. Does
that make sense?
Speaker 5 (08:24):
It makes a lot of sense. And I will say
it'll be a license electrician that does still work. I
just want to educate myself on it before I, you know,
have them come out and do the work. There.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
You go, yeah, and you know and so, and if
any electrician is like, listen, these aren't any good, you
just need to rewire the house, then you just show
them the door because they're looking for, you know, a
multi thousand dollars job when you actually just want them
to install some outlets, and you know, honesty is the
first threshold that every contractor must pass to get into
(08:58):
your house.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Agreed. That's great.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Great, and so all right, Roger, thanks for listening to
the show, Thanks for being a fan. Appreciate it. Hope
that helps you out. I think it does, and it
helped out a lot of other people who were like, oh,
I didn't know you could do that.
Speaker 7 (09:13):
All right, you're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
We are taking calls. I am talking to you about
whatever is going on with your home. Let's go back
to the phones. I want to talk to Jill. Hey, Jill,
welcome home.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Hi Deane, thanks for the great topic. What recommendation do
you have for tools that are made in America?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Oh you mean you mean what tool brands are made
in America? Is that what you're asking?
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah, thanks.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Fewer these days than used to be. So my recommendation
is that. So it's here's here's the thing. If it's
a important to you, okay, and so let me say
two things about this. Number One, Yes, tools made overseas
in some instances, especially when it comes to hand tools,
are probably inferior to tools made here in the US
(10:19):
as far as their quality is concerned. Now, I say
that qualifiedly, and I say it specifically, keeping it the
subject connected to hand tools. Right. I'm not trying to
demean any foreign countries by saying that the stuff that
comes from overseas is cheaper quality. But a lot of
it is cheaper quality. There are some tool manufacturers that
(10:40):
are simply born and belong to other countries that are
among the top top of quality tool manufacturers, especially when
it comes to power tools, names like Makita and Bosh
which is a German company, and so on and so forth.
So I'm just talking about hand tools, and yeah, quite
(11:01):
often you will find that. So there are two things
to look for when it comes to a tool. Number One,
a brand name that you recognize, that you know has
been around forever in the day. Now, that's not a guarantee. Okay.
For instance, a few years back and around two thousand
and eight or so, Craftsmen of all tool brands, Craftsmen
(11:24):
went through some structural corporate changes and now a lot
of Craftsmen tools come from overseas, not all of them,
a few still made here, a lot of them made
over there. Other tools like Stanley, you would think, oh,
that's been you know, my grandpa used to use Stanley. Yeah,
and a lot of Stanley tools made overseas, not all
(11:47):
of them, but some maybe most these days. So here's
the thing. The thing I look for when if you're
looking for a US made tool, I say the same
thing about tool packaging that I say that if you
are shopping for organic foods. Okay, it costs more to
make a tool in the US. Labor is you know,
(12:08):
US labor. It's you know, we pay our people more
than foreign manufacturers pay the Generally speaking, it's kind of
understood that the quality that goes into it, the materials themselves,
they're manufactured better, so they're gonna cost more. And to
justify that that cost, just like growing organic it costs
(12:31):
more than growing conventional food. Guess what, by the time
it makes it to the grocery store, those organic growers
want you to know that it's organic, certified organic, because
that's how they justify. Listen, I know our eggs are
more expensive than those eggs over there, but we're certified organic.
So if you've gone through the trouble to grow food organically,
(12:56):
you tell the world that you've done that and in
the same vain. If you have manufactured a tool here
in the USA, then you are going to let the
world know. And so you just really have to look
at the packaging and sometimes you look at the tool itself.
Here's one brand, for instance, that I was just talking about.
(13:17):
I was talking about channel locking plyers, okay, and I
was very careful not to say channel locker pliers because
channel Lock is actually a brand, a US brand. They
happen to make channel locking plyers and that's how they
got their start. Stamped right on the side of every
channel lock wrench made in the USA, and it's going
(13:40):
to be on the packaging and so on. So that's
what I would recommend. If it's important to you that
it's US made, then just look at the packages because
if it is, you'll see it. It's going to say
it clearly because they want you to know that they've
gone to extra effort to get you that tool. It
(14:01):
communicates two things. Number one, that's probably why our tool
is a little more expensive. And number two, it should
communicate that our tool is more expensive because it's better
quality because we made it here. And that's the idea.
Is that makes sense, Jill.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Perfect sense? And yes, I was referring to hand tools.
So that's really helpful. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah, yeah, just look for it, Just look for it
and it's in. Yeah, it is, it is. It's tricky.
It's trickier than you think these days. Because you know
craftsman tools. You know, you would think of all kinds
of tools, right, but there are brands that are here
when it comes to wrenches, snap on tools, one hundred
percent US made to my knowledge. Hopefully somebody correct me
(14:44):
if it isn't. But there they're Cline, Cline, which makes
a ton of electrical tools, I believe are one hundred
percent US made. Pliers, those kinds of things, channel lock.
You're safe, but you just got to check. You just
got to check to make sure. And it'll say it.
It'll screw eam it out if it is, because they're very,
very proud of it as they go. All right, do
(15:04):
I have time to squeeze another one in here? Let's
try Anita, welcome home.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
Thank you for the call. I have a twenty year
old home and we have a tankless water heater in
our garage which is about thirty feet from our kitchen,
and in the kitchen to get the water there faster.
We put in a pump, and recently when you run
the water in the kitchen, it'll run a little bit
(15:32):
and then it loses the water pressure.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
And with good pressure, and then it loses it.
Speaker 6 (15:39):
Yeah, it's like it'll run, you know, like strong, and
then all of a sudden it just weakens.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Okay, okay, you know it's only idea. It's only the
kitchen faucet. Yes, no other facets in the house are
reacting that.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Way, no, okay, have you It goes through So the
pipe runs from the tankless water heater to haul bathroom first.
Speaker 6 (16:07):
And then to the kitchen. But the pump is under
the kitchen, okay.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
So yeah, so you've got a research pump there and
you know, okay, and the hall bathroom is not experiencing
this issue.
Speaker 6 (16:18):
Uh, you know, I don't use it that often, but
I haven't noticed it.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
All right, assuming that it's not, let me ask you this,
how how recently was this work done?
Speaker 6 (16:27):
By the way, how recently was it? What like?
Speaker 1 (16:31):
The how was the work done the tankless water heater
and the pump and all that.
Speaker 6 (16:35):
The pump was put in probably two years ago, and
the tankless water heater has been here from the beginning
of belief.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Okay, well, let me ask you.
Speaker 6 (16:45):
About the house we didn't buy brand new.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
So okay, have you checked the aerator on the kitchen faucet?
Have you opened up the aerator and checked it to
see if it's if it's clean and clear.
Speaker 6 (16:58):
I have not done then, And I have an attachment
for a water filter on their machine. Okay, so I
could take that off and check it.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
I would. I would take it off and check it.
It sounds to me. Okay. Now if it was if
there was a pressure drop issue for the house as
a whole, then you'd experience it in all the faucets everywhere.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Okay, okay, if it was water.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Heater acting up, if it was a pump system acting up,
or what have you. Since you're only experiencing this at
the kitchen faucet, the first question. I don't know that
it's the answer, But the first question that I have
is because that's how this behaves. Sometimes pressure builds up
in the line maximum pressure. When when you know nothing
(17:46):
is running, you open up a faucet, pressure starts to flow. Now,
if if that kitchen faucet has got you know, especially
if it has like a filter attached to it too.
If the filter is old and dirty and starting to clog,
then it is then it's a cluding water pressure and
water flow. If the aerator has got some sediment in
(18:07):
it and has started to clog, then then it's a
cluding water flow. And right when you turn it on,
because all of that max pressure is right at the door,
then for a half second or two it feels like
it flows fine because there's a lot of pressure, But
then the pressure neutralizes down to normal, and then the
flow seems less than great. That usually is a sign
(18:31):
of something clogged or sediment or dirt. And since you
have a filter attached to it, my suggestion is check
the filter clear, flush the filter out, check the aeriator,
make sure that it's all clear, and before you if
you can, before you reattach the filter and or reattach
the aererator, go ahead and turn the faucet on and
(18:52):
see what kind of flow you get then, and if
it's still inadequate flow, then you know it's something a
little bit more systemic, and then we have to look
back line a little bit. But my guess is if
the filter's not on and the aerator is detached, my
guess is you're going to be very happy with the
flow of that faucet, and that's lets you know that
(19:13):
it's the aerator and or the filter that are clogging
up the works.
Speaker 6 (19:17):
Okay, and just one quick question. I didn't think about
this before I called, But if it was just the
hot water doing that, and I can't remember, I usually
use just the hot water mainly, and so would it
be a difference if it was just the hot water
doing that, Would that make any.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, it might be. It might be. That might be
an indication that it's something with the heater that's back
line somewhere, as opposed to just all the water. But
that's what this is the kind of differential diagnosis that
you need to go through to really get to the
heart of the problem before you commit to like, well,
let's just throw you know, a few hundred dollars at
(19:59):
this or that. Test it out. Number one, Go through
the house, check out all the faucets, see how they flow.
Number two. If the kitchen is different, okay, that tells
you something. If the hot is different than the cold,
that tells you something. If the hot is not different
from the cold and it's still just the faucet. I'm
saying it's the aerator or the filter, and you can
(20:21):
start there, and if not, then maybe you got to
get a plumber involved and get a little bit more
deeper into the system with the hot water heater. Thank
you for the call, my friend, and thanks for listening
to the show. I hope that helps all right, y'all.
When we return, I'm going to get back into our
tool list, but we will be going back to the
phones again at the top of the hour, so you
(20:41):
can hang on the line, or you can call and
wait and listen to the show while it all happens.
Speaker 7 (20:46):
Right now, you're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Thanks for joining us on the program today. Good to
see you, well, I can't see you, but to know
that you're here with me. Here we are on the
first weekend of twenty twenty five, the first Sunday of
twenty twenty five, and I'm spending it just laying the
most basic foundation imaginable for all of our discussions this year.
And that is not design stuff, not building stuff, not
(21:19):
remodeling stuff. How about we just start with taking care
of what you've got on hand. Maybe you rent, maybe
remodeling is not in your future right now with this place,
whether you rent, whether you own, it doesn't matter. We
all should have at our disposal at least a small
group of the right tools that will enable us to
(21:41):
react to the places that we live, because the place
is where we live. They are, you know, essentially, they're
structures and machines, not unlike an automobile. They get used,
and so as a result, something gets loose, something gets
out of whack, something gets clogged, something, you know, things happen.
And when those things happen, if you are at least
(22:02):
semi competent and have a good set of tools on hand,
you may be able to deal with it, or at
least stop it or shut it down, or pause it
long enough to get a professional involved before more damage occurs.
And so this is the essential tool. And the good
news is these are everything I'm talking about essentially fits
in a five gallon bucket with a good tool organizer,
(22:25):
and you can keep that in a hall closet, out
in the garage wherever you know it's best for you
to keep it. So this is for everybody, and this
is part two. Today is the second part yesterday's program
was part one, or yesterday's episode. If you listen to
us on the podcast and to hear yesterday's episode, just
(22:45):
go to the podcast because you know it's a podcast.
So just find us Home with Dean Sharp, or you
can look up Dean Sharp or the House Whisper. Believe me,
you put in any of those words, you're gonna find
us right there. And right after we go off the
air for every one of our live shows, which is
what today is about, an hour later, this show will
(23:05):
be in podcast form, forever, living forever, right there wherever
your favorite podcasts are found. All right, let's get back
to our list of essential tools. We're going to move
away from wrenches impliers and get into some reference devices.
Number one tape measure. Boom goes without saying everybody needs
(23:27):
a tape measure, but what kind of tape measure? Well, honestly,
whatever works for you. But here's my recommendation. If you
really want a tape measure that's going to last and
that's going to do the most for you, then just
get a really good quality, sort of pro grade tape
(23:48):
measure into in the kind of tape measure I'm talking
about is a twenty five foot tape measure. Okay, twenty
five footers are the ones that have been around that
most pro use most of the time. There are longer
tape measures. You can buy thirty foot tape measures out there.
Homeowners very rarely need a thirty foot tape measure. If
(24:11):
you buy a shorter tape measure, not a big deal.
There are twenties out there. There are twelves, sixteen's, ten
foot tape measures out there. But here's the thing. If
you are not a pro at using a tape measure
at manipulating one, then the wider the blade of the
tape that's the actual tape itself. The wider the blade,
(24:33):
the stiffer the tape measure, the easier it is to manipulate.
And so if you go below twenty five feet, what
happens is the tape not only gets shorter, but the
blade gets narrower. Now, believe me, I've got every length
of tape measure imaginable for the stuff that we do.
When Tina and I go out shopping decore wise for
(24:54):
a client, I don't carry a twenty five foot tape
measure with me when I'm trying to figure out if
a so is the right size to fit in a
client's house, or if the drapes or whatever, okay, we
take up you know, one that I can slide in
my pocket. I might bring a you know, a ten
foot tape measure, a twelve foot tape measure in Tina's
purse or wherever, something that's easy to carry that gets
(25:16):
the job done. But for general home stuff, if you
get below twenty five feet, then the tape itself gets narrower,
which means it's flimsier, okay, And when you're trying to
measure something out or trying to run a tape up
a wall, the flimsy or the tape, the more frustrating
it's going to be for you, especially if you're not
(25:37):
a pro at manipulating tapes, you know, when you're measuring
a thing from wall to wall or across a ceiling
and so on. So a really good question. You can
test this out in the store. By the way, it's
a lot of fun. A really good tape measure that's
in the twenty five foot range should have a snap
rating to it. That's where it snaps at about well,
(26:03):
it should snap after ten feet and it'll probably snap
before twelve. If you can get twelve feet, and this
is what happens. You extend the tape out horizontally, up
a little bit, you know, up at a slight angle,
but extending it out essentially horizontally. You keep extending it
and extending it and extending it. You're not supporting it
with your other hand, right, you just let it hang
(26:24):
out of the canister. A good quality tape measure, you
can easily get ten feet of tape sticking out, just straight,
floating out there across the room without the tape actually
bending and snapping and collapsing onto the floor. If you
can get ten feet plus out of it, you got
a good tape on your hand, and it's going to
get the job done. And then the rest of it
is just up to you. The color of the blade,
(26:46):
how easy it is to read. Some are black with
neon lettering and markings. Some actually give you fraction marks
notated on them, Some are yell at, most of them
are yellow. So you know, that's up to you, totally
up to you. All I want is for you to
buy a good quality tape measure that you're going to
be able to use without getting frustrated. Does that make sense? Okay,
(27:07):
all right. Next, this is something that I don't think
is in that video that we posted online, and that
is a laser level. A few years back, laser levels
were way more expensive than they are now, and now
they are incredibly affordable and easy to find and useful, useful,
(27:34):
like crazy useful. How let's talk about that. Right on
the other side.
Speaker 7 (27:41):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Thanks for joining us on the program today. We are
talking about essential tools, and I want to get back
to our essential tool lists for everybody. If you live
in a home, you don't have to be a homeowner
and be a renter. These are the tools you should
have on hand to take care of stuff as we go.
See what did I cover? Oh yeah, take bite? Oh yeah,
(28:10):
a laser level. Why am I so hip on the
laser level for everybody? That sounds very very you know,
twenty first century. Really, a laser is an essential tool
for the twenty first century, I think so I do.
I'll tell you why, because they're so dang handy. You
may be thinking, what in the world would I use
a laser level for? And I don't even know how
(28:33):
I would use a laser level. Well, the first of all,
you don't use a laser level to just replace a level, Okay,
just a standard you know, two or four foot level,
and that's on my list too, a two foot level,
just a basic level because it's easy and it's useful
and it doesn't involve a whole bunch of stuff, right,
(28:55):
But laser levels are when they really come in handy,
when it's time to take the whole room into account,
whether you're doing decor whether you are hanging pictures, and
so like, how does that work, Dean, Well, a laser level,
basic laser level throws two lines, okay, and a little
(29:18):
bit more advanced laser level will throw a third, but
it throws a horizontal line and a vertical line. The
horizontal line especially just becomes super handy if like we're
hanging stuff around the room. And no, you don't have
to like get it way up there elevated at the
tops of the pictures that you want to hang. That's
(29:39):
not you use it as a reference line. So you
just you could set the laser level on a tripod.
You can just set it on a table somewhere, or
elevated enough so that it's painting the wall with this
one line. Let's say the line is at four feet
just all around the room. And so from there, now
you walk around and you decide, well, I want to
(29:59):
hang this photo here, but I want to hang all
the rest of the pictures in this room at this
same level with it. Well, wherever you hung that first photo,
you measure up from that laser line. Oh, it's three
and a half three inches, three feet five and a
half inches up from the laser line. Well, guess what
you got The laser line painted on every single wall
(30:20):
of the room now, and it's all at the same level,
which means all you have to do is walk over
and measure three foot five and a half inches up
from it on that wall, and you will have put
the picture there at the exact same level as the
picture on the other wall. So you start to see
how useful it is. And even at that level of usefulness, listen,
I wouldn't be recommending it to you if these were
(30:41):
like two hundred dollars items, which is what they were
just a few years ago. You can pick up a
laser level now in the thirty dollars range and it
will get the job done. So that's why I'm including
it on this list. I just think it's well worth
it as we go. Okay, so you got your tape,
measure your laser level. What's another reference tool electronic is
(31:03):
a stud finder. Stud Finders are again one of those
tools that are better than ever, better better than ever,
and more accessible for the average person than ever. You
don't need to go buy some crazy, amazing, read through
concrete stud find not the average homeowner. The need for
(31:27):
the average homeowner is I would like to hang this
thing on my wall, and I would like to find
out where the studs are so I could hang it
into the stud as opposed to the drywall next to
the stud That's what a stud finder is all about, right,
And sure do the fancier ones help you find plumbing
lines and electrical wires and stuff. Sure they do. But
(31:50):
does the average person need that?
Speaker 2 (31:52):
No?
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Not usually, So just a good stud finder, a simple
stud finder. Don't break the bank with one. And here's
a trick. The least expensive effective stud finder that you
can buy has no batteries and it'll cost you about
five bucks. And what is that, Dean? Is this a hack? No,
(32:13):
it's a real Studfinder. It's a little plastic device that
holds a magnet on a swivel. Okay, and why does
this thing work Because the dry wall that is on
your walls that is attached to the studs is attached
to the studs with either nails and or drywall screws,
(32:37):
and nails and drywall screws are magnetic. And so if
you run this little guy, this little flippy magnet across
your wall surface up and down, you've got to go
up and down a little bit and across the wall surface.
When it finds a dry wall screw, it will flip
over and give you the green side pointing at you
(32:58):
saying found it and guess what, Guess what that drywall
screw is attached to thus stud Therefore, it's a super
super inexpensive, super easy to use, no batteries required, stud finder.
And you can go from there. Okay, there you go,
tape manager, stud Finder, Laser level. Let's talk a little
(33:19):
bit about adhesives, not glue, not crazy glue. Sure have
some glue around, but that's a whole nother show onto itself.
And I just decided when I was hanging out with
Tim Conway on Thursday, night. He and I were talking
about some various things, and I told him, I said,
you know what, you bring up a good point here,
I said, it's been a few it's been a while.
It's probably been two or three years since I've done
(33:42):
a show dedicated to adhesives. We're going to get one
of those in this month, okay, So we'll talk about
glues and how to use glues and what glues to
use for what soon. I'm not so concerned about that.
I think every homeowner should probably have some crazy glue
in their drawer and maybe a little Elmer's wood glue
or something, but that's not in the essential tool list.
(34:05):
When I say adhesives, I'm talking about tapes, tapes, mainly
electrical tape, masking tape, and guerrilla tape or duct tape,
a really good quality duct tape. So here are the
three tapes that I'd like you to have lying around.
And here's why electrical tape has got so many uses.
(34:27):
Other than just wrapping exposed wires, which of course it's
great at doing. Electrical tape can give you some temporarily
temporary weather proof insulation on something that gets exposed. Electrically speaking,
it shouldn't be permanent. But electrical tape apart from electricity,
(34:47):
it's stretchy, it's rubbery, and it can do so many things.
It can hold on to so many things. You can
wrap enough electrical tape around something like the top of
a hammer handle to create a cushion. If it's a
wooden hammer handle, a cushion that will keep the wood
(35:09):
from being chumped up as it hits things that's not
supposed to hit. You can use electrical tape to protect things.
It's just something you should have a roll of laying around.
And we're talking about like two bucks worth of stuff.
Go for the Scotch gophers like Scotch Super thirty three
electrical tape or something that's rated. Don't buy unlabeled, cheap
(35:32):
electrical tape. It's just not worth it. Just go for
mainline three m Scotch electrical tape. That kind of stuff,
stuff you recognize. Go for that second kind of tape,
masking tape. And there are whenever we do a paint show,
I explain all the different kinds of masking tape there
(35:52):
are out there, different colors for different purposes. How well
does it stick, how well does it create a clean line.
I'm not talking about any that right now in your
universal toolbox. I'm talking about blue masking tape of whatever
with is you know, like two inch two inch wide
blue masking tape. Blue masking tape goes way beyond I
(36:13):
mean I use it most of the time when unrelated
to painting. Okay, I use blue masking tape to mark
out furniture locations. When we're trying to lay out a
room and wondering like, oh, do we have room for this?
Do we have room for that? How big is that sofa?
Let's mark it out on the floor. Why because it
makes an easy line and then it comes right up
(36:35):
and it doesn't stick to anything or leave any residue behind.
Do it on the wall for the exact same reason.
How big is that big screen TV? How big of
a big screen do we want in this room? Well,
let's get some sizes and mark them out with masking
tape on the wall so we can visualize it ahead
of time. It's a great way to draw on your
house without leaving any marks behind. And that's just one use.
(36:58):
So blue masking tape goes without saying. And finally, duct tape, Yeah,
we all know there are whole websites, multiple websites dedicated
to the various uses of duct tape. And there are
a billion things I like to have sitting around in
(37:18):
the universal toolbox. A good roll of black gorilla tape.
That's a brand. I'm partial to it. What can I say?
I love gorilla tape. It is thick, it's easy to tear,
it lasts, it's strong. But you know, there are also,
you know, many many, many, many many kinds of duct
tape out there, but I'm just talking about a universal
(37:40):
duct tape. Don't use this to mark things on your wall,
because it'll pull the paint right off your wall. Use
this when you've got to fix something and temporarily or
patch something. It's really really good. And by the way,
right before we go here, and we're going to be
going back to the phones when we come back from break,
FYI and I should throw the number out eight three
three two. Ask Dean A three three the numeral two.
(38:03):
Ask Dean go into the phones next. But before we
go to the break, is it duck tape like the
bird the aquatic bird? Or is it ducked tape like
air conditioner ducts? Duct Which is it? Which is it?
Which is it? I'll tell you when we come back.
You're Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisperer on KFI.
(38:26):
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 iHeart Radio app
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app. Hey
follow us on social media. We only do the good
kind of social media, I promise uplifting, informative, inspiring stuff.
We're on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook x Home with Dean. That's
(00:22):
the handle to find us. It's good for all of them.
In fact, right now, Tina has got up on our
social media a video A little blast from the past.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yes, it's a blast from the past that I pulled
out of the archives from our YouTube channel, and it's
very relevant to today's topic about tools and the essentials
that you need in your home toolbox.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
There you go, little two minute video, very very similar,
not exactly one for one my list today, but ninety
eight percent of it.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, and it's really cute.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I mean, it's cute.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Kid.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
He's very young and very young. No facial hair.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I mean, it's just it wasn't that long ago, I know,
but you look younger without the facial hair. It's just
very cute, all right. But you are you trying to
tell me something about my beard?
Speaker 4 (01:12):
No?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
I love your beard and you are so handsome.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Oh no, but no, just stop, it's just cute. Just stop,
all right.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I haven't seen you that way in a while.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
It's there my face. Shush, I'm turning on your mic
off right now. There her mic is off. No more
of that anyway. Yes, social media, so while you're there,
follow us like it in a video like that. If
you've got a friend who's like, you know what, they
need to hear this, just share it. Boom, you can
just share it right across there you go. Also, if
(01:42):
you're home, I know we're not talking design today, but
if your home is in need of some personal house
whisper attention, personal what does that mean, like you know
you guys standing in my living room? Yeah, that's exactly
what I mean. Then you can book an in home
design consolet with me and tea and listen to her cuteness.
Just go to house Whisperer dot design for more details
(02:03):
on that. All right, we are finishing off. It's part
two today of our two part first Weekend in twenty
twenty five series of tools Essential tools for your home.
Whether you rent or own, doesn't matter. These are essential
tools to have on hand to handle whatever comes up
(02:23):
with in the place. That you live. We're gonna get
back to that in a bit, but it's top of
the hour. I asked for calls, I got calls. I
got a board full of calls. So I want to
get to it. Let's talk to Roger. Hey, Roger, welcome home.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
How you doing, Dean?
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I'm well, sir, Happy new year?
Speaker 5 (02:40):
All right, same to you. Love the show. All right,
My mom's got an older house built early sixties. I
noticed that there are no gfs cis anywhere in the house.
Can you do that on a two wire? So I
(03:01):
can't find a ground wire anywhere?
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Okay, all right, great, So all right, let me set
this up for you for everybody who's listening. So Roger's
mom lives in an older home. That was the electricity
was running this home. You guys, you know you've seen
this before. Electricity was running this home. All the outlets
have two prongs. There's no third little grounding plug down below,
(03:25):
just two prongs, no grounding plug. That means there's no
ground wire run throughout the entire house. Those are that's
old school ungrounded you know, plugs and switches running throughout
the house. Now, Roger also mentioned a GFCI A GA
for short, we'll just call it a GFI ground fault
(03:46):
interrupt plug. You've also seen these. These are the little
outlets that have a little button that says test and
reset on them. Sometimes they are all one color, sometimes
the button is red.
Speaker 6 (03:58):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
And those are designed and required by current code for
all sorts of areas that have water anywhere nearby, because
they act like their own little miniature circuit breaker. They
pop off and cut the power whenever there is any
kind of a grounding fault, like, for instance, you know
(04:21):
you drop a hair dryer into a sink of water. Okay,
that kind of thing. So the question is Mom's house
has no grounded outlets? Can you install a GFI outlet
on an ungrounded house? And would it be worth it?
Would they do anything if there are no ground wires
(04:43):
running through the house. And the answer is yes, yes
you can, and you probably should. In fact, Roger, it's
one of the ways in which, without tearing into the
walls and rerunning new electrical you can make her home safer.
Now I say safer. So here's here's a couple of uh,
here's a couple of you know, nuances to that. A
(05:06):
GFCI is a grounding device. I mean a breaker in
and of itself. It does not need the ground wire
being attached to it in order for it to do
its job. Okay, but without a ground wire attached to it,
it won't be quite as sensitive to ground faults as
(05:28):
it would be if it had the ground wire attached
to it. Now what that means though, is it means
sensitive electronic devices. Okay, A GFI plug will not protect
is not going to save the circuit board on a
sensitive electronic device if there's a ground fault the way
it would if it had a grounding wire attached to it.
(05:53):
But on the human being level, children us, Okay, it
will do its job just fine, and that's why it's
such a good idea. Okay, So if you want to
protect humans, then you can go into a house that
has no ground wires in it and replace as many
of the outlets as you want with GFI outlets that
(06:16):
will pop off and they'll just have to be reset
once they go off. To protect human beings, and that's
really what they're primarily for. If you've got sensitive electronic equipment,
don't rely on those entirely. Plug into one of those
a a power strip that is a surge protector specifically
designed for electronic here, and you'll be good there too.
(06:37):
But the good news is that there's an inexpensive way
to make an ungrounded house safe. The outlet's safe, and
that's by actually just switching out those outlets to GFCI outlets.
They'll work fine, they just won't be as sensitive. And
here's what's going to confuse some people. Part of my list. Actually,
(06:57):
one of the tools on my essential toolbox list is
a receptacle tester. Okay, these little receptacle testers. You plug
them into a receptacle to make sure that it's been
wired properly, and a lot of them have. The one
that I want you to get has a little switch,
a little button and you push that and it creates
a little ground fault to test a GFI outlet. So
(07:20):
here's the thing. If the house is ungrounded and you
install a GFI outlet, that little tester is not going
to work because it's very sensitive. It's like the sensitivity
of electronic device. It's not going to be enough to
test it. So it's going to be confusing because look,
something's not working. So if it's an undergrounded house, the
(07:42):
code actually says this to you. You're totally legally allowed
to install those inside the box of a GFCI outlet.
There are little stickers that nobody ever uses because they
they you know, they just use them in normal grounded houses.
But there is a sticker in there, a label that
says no equipment ground And technically you're supposed to put
(08:06):
that sticker on the outlets so that somebody knows that
this is a GFCI. It works just fine, but there's
no ground wire connecting it. And that way, when you
go to test that, you realize, okay, the electronic tester
doesn't work, but still the buttons work just fine. Does
that make sense?
Speaker 5 (08:24):
It makes a lot of sense. And I will say
it'll be a license electrician that does still work. I
just want to educate myself on it before I, you know,
have them come out and do the work. There.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
You go, yeah, and you know and so, and if
any electrician is like, listen, these aren't any good, you
just need to rewire the house, then you just show
them the door because they're looking for, you know, a
multi thousand dollars job when you actually just want them
to install some outlets, and you know, honesty is the
first threshold that every contractor must pass to get into
(08:58):
your house.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Agreed. That's great.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Great, and so all right, Roger, thanks for listening to
the show, Thanks for being a fan. Appreciate it. Hope
that helps you out. I think it does, and it
helped out a lot of other people who were like, oh,
I didn't know you could do that.
Speaker 7 (09:13):
All right, you're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
We are taking calls. I am talking to you about
whatever is going on with your home. Let's go back
to the phones. I want to talk to Jill. Hey, Jill,
welcome home.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Hi Deane, thanks for the great topic. What recommendation do
you have for tools that are made in America?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Oh you mean you mean what tool brands are made
in America? Is that what you're asking?
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah, thanks.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Fewer these days than used to be. So my recommendation
is that. So it's here's here's the thing. If it's
a important to you, okay, and so let me say
two things about this. Number One, Yes, tools made overseas
in some instances, especially when it comes to hand tools,
are probably inferior to tools made here in the US
(10:19):
as far as their quality is concerned. Now, I say
that qualifiedly, and I say it specifically, keeping it the
subject connected to hand tools. Right. I'm not trying to
demean any foreign countries by saying that the stuff that
comes from overseas is cheaper quality. But a lot of
it is cheaper quality. There are some tool manufacturers that
(10:40):
are simply born and belong to other countries that are
among the top top of quality tool manufacturers, especially when
it comes to power tools, names like Makita and Bosh
which is a German company, and so on and so forth.
So I'm just talking about hand tools, and yeah, quite
(11:01):
often you will find that. So there are two things
to look for when it comes to a tool. Number One,
a brand name that you recognize, that you know has
been around forever in the day. Now, that's not a guarantee. Okay.
For instance, a few years back and around two thousand
and eight or so, Craftsmen of all tool brands, Craftsmen
(11:24):
went through some structural corporate changes and now a lot
of Craftsmen tools come from overseas, not all of them,
a few still made here, a lot of them made
over there. Other tools like Stanley, you would think, oh,
that's been you know, my grandpa used to use Stanley. Yeah,
and a lot of Stanley tools made overseas, not all
(11:47):
of them, but some maybe most these days. So here's
the thing. The thing I look for when if you're
looking for a US made tool, I say the same
thing about tool packaging that I say that if you
are shopping for organic foods. Okay, it costs more to
make a tool in the US. Labor is you know,
(12:08):
US labor. It's you know, we pay our people more
than foreign manufacturers pay the Generally speaking, it's kind of
understood that the quality that goes into it, the materials themselves,
they're manufactured better, so they're gonna cost more. And to
justify that that cost, just like growing organic it costs
(12:31):
more than growing conventional food. Guess what, by the time
it makes it to the grocery store, those organic growers
want you to know that it's organic, certified organic, because
that's how they justify. Listen, I know our eggs are
more expensive than those eggs over there, but we're certified organic.
So if you've gone through the trouble to grow food organically,
(12:56):
you tell the world that you've done that and in
the same vain. If you have manufactured a tool here
in the USA, then you are going to let the
world know. And so you just really have to look
at the packaging and sometimes you look at the tool itself.
Here's one brand, for instance, that I was just talking about.
(13:17):
I was talking about channel locking plyers, okay, and I
was very careful not to say channel locker pliers because
channel Lock is actually a brand, a US brand. They
happen to make channel locking plyers and that's how they
got their start. Stamped right on the side of every
channel lock wrench made in the USA, and it's going
(13:40):
to be on the packaging and so on. So that's
what I would recommend. If it's important to you that
it's US made, then just look at the packages because
if it is, you'll see it. It's going to say
it clearly because they want you to know that they've
gone to extra effort to get you that tool. It
(14:01):
communicates two things. Number one, that's probably why our tool
is a little more expensive. And number two, it should
communicate that our tool is more expensive because it's better
quality because we made it here. And that's the idea.
Is that makes sense, Jill.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Perfect sense? And yes, I was referring to hand tools.
So that's really helpful. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah, yeah, just look for it, Just look for it
and it's in. Yeah, it is, it is. It's tricky.
It's trickier than you think these days. Because you know
craftsman tools. You know, you would think of all kinds
of tools, right, but there are brands that are here
when it comes to wrenches, snap on tools, one hundred
percent US made to my knowledge. Hopefully somebody correct me
(14:44):
if it isn't. But there they're Cline, Cline, which makes
a ton of electrical tools, I believe are one hundred
percent US made. Pliers, those kinds of things, channel lock.
You're safe, but you just got to check. You just
got to check to make sure. And it'll say it.
It'll screw eam it out if it is, because they're very,
very proud of it as they go. All right, do
(15:04):
I have time to squeeze another one in here? Let's
try Anita, welcome home.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
Thank you for the call. I have a twenty year
old home and we have a tankless water heater in
our garage which is about thirty feet from our kitchen,
and in the kitchen to get the water there faster.
We put in a pump, and recently when you run
the water in the kitchen, it'll run a little bit
(15:32):
and then it loses the water pressure.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
And with good pressure, and then it loses it.
Speaker 6 (15:39):
Yeah, it's like it'll run, you know, like strong, and
then all of a sudden it just weakens.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Okay, okay, you know it's only idea. It's only the
kitchen faucet. Yes, no other facets in the house are
reacting that.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Way, no, okay, have you It goes through So the
pipe runs from the tankless water heater to haul bathroom first.
Speaker 6 (16:07):
And then to the kitchen. But the pump is under
the kitchen, okay.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
So yeah, so you've got a research pump there and
you know, okay, and the hall bathroom is not experiencing
this issue.
Speaker 6 (16:18):
Uh, you know, I don't use it that often, but
I haven't noticed it.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
All right, assuming that it's not, let me ask you this,
how how recently was this work done?
Speaker 6 (16:27):
By the way, how recently was it? What like?
Speaker 1 (16:31):
The how was the work done the tankless water heater
and the pump and all that.
Speaker 6 (16:35):
The pump was put in probably two years ago, and
the tankless water heater has been here from the beginning
of belief.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Okay, well, let me ask you.
Speaker 6 (16:45):
About the house we didn't buy brand new.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
So okay, have you checked the aerator on the kitchen faucet?
Have you opened up the aerator and checked it to
see if it's if it's clean and clear.
Speaker 6 (16:58):
I have not done then, And I have an attachment
for a water filter on their machine. Okay, so I
could take that off and check it.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
I would. I would take it off and check it.
It sounds to me. Okay. Now if it was if
there was a pressure drop issue for the house as
a whole, then you'd experience it in all the faucets everywhere.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Okay, okay, if it was water.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Heater acting up, if it was a pump system acting up,
or what have you. Since you're only experiencing this at
the kitchen faucet, the first question. I don't know that
it's the answer, But the first question that I have
is because that's how this behaves. Sometimes pressure builds up
in the line maximum pressure. When when you know nothing
(17:46):
is running, you open up a faucet, pressure starts to flow. Now,
if if that kitchen faucet has got you know, especially
if it has like a filter attached to it too.
If the filter is old and dirty and starting to clog,
then it is then it's a cluding water pressure and
water flow. If the aerator has got some sediment in
(18:07):
it and has started to clog, then then it's a
cluding water flow. And right when you turn it on,
because all of that max pressure is right at the door,
then for a half second or two it feels like
it flows fine because there's a lot of pressure, But
then the pressure neutralizes down to normal, and then the
flow seems less than great. That usually is a sign
(18:31):
of something clogged or sediment or dirt. And since you
have a filter attached to it, my suggestion is check
the filter clear, flush the filter out, check the aeriator,
make sure that it's all clear, and before you if
you can, before you reattach the filter and or reattach
the aererator, go ahead and turn the faucet on and
(18:52):
see what kind of flow you get then, and if
it's still inadequate flow, then you know it's something a
little bit more systemic, and then we have to look
back line a little bit. But my guess is if
the filter's not on and the aerator is detached, my
guess is you're going to be very happy with the
flow of that faucet, and that's lets you know that
(19:13):
it's the aerator and or the filter that are clogging
up the works.
Speaker 6 (19:17):
Okay, and just one quick question. I didn't think about
this before I called, But if it was just the
hot water doing that, and I can't remember, I usually
use just the hot water mainly, and so would it
be a difference if it was just the hot water
doing that, Would that make any.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, it might be. It might be. That might be
an indication that it's something with the heater that's back
line somewhere, as opposed to just all the water. But
that's what this is the kind of differential diagnosis that
you need to go through to really get to the
heart of the problem before you commit to like, well,
let's just throw you know, a few hundred dollars at
(19:59):
this or that. Test it out. Number one, Go through
the house, check out all the faucets, see how they flow.
Number two. If the kitchen is different, okay, that tells
you something. If the hot is different than the cold,
that tells you something. If the hot is not different
from the cold and it's still just the faucet. I'm
saying it's the aerator or the filter, and you can
(20:21):
start there, and if not, then maybe you got to
get a plumber involved and get a little bit more
deeper into the system with the hot water heater. Thank
you for the call, my friend, and thanks for listening
to the show. I hope that helps all right, y'all.
When we return, I'm going to get back into our
tool list, but we will be going back to the
phones again at the top of the hour, so you
(20:41):
can hang on the line, or you can call and
wait and listen to the show while it all happens.
Speaker 7 (20:46):
Right now, you're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Thanks for joining us on the program today. Good to
see you, well, I can't see you, but to know
that you're here with me. Here we are on the
first weekend of twenty twenty five, the first Sunday of
twenty twenty five, and I'm spending it just laying the
most basic foundation imaginable for all of our discussions this year.
And that is not design stuff, not building stuff, not
(21:19):
remodeling stuff. How about we just start with taking care
of what you've got on hand. Maybe you rent, maybe
remodeling is not in your future right now with this place,
whether you rent, whether you own, it doesn't matter. We
all should have at our disposal at least a small
group of the right tools that will enable us to
(21:41):
react to the places that we live, because the place
is where we live. They are, you know, essentially, they're
structures and machines, not unlike an automobile. They get used,
and so as a result, something gets loose, something gets
out of whack, something gets clogged, something, you know, things happen.
And when those things happen, if you are at least
(22:02):
semi competent and have a good set of tools on hand,
you may be able to deal with it, or at
least stop it or shut it down, or pause it
long enough to get a professional involved before more damage occurs.
And so this is the essential tool. And the good
news is these are everything I'm talking about essentially fits
in a five gallon bucket with a good tool organizer,
(22:25):
and you can keep that in a hall closet, out
in the garage wherever you know it's best for you
to keep it. So this is for everybody, and this
is part two. Today is the second part yesterday's program
was part one, or yesterday's episode. If you listen to
us on the podcast and to hear yesterday's episode, just
(22:45):
go to the podcast because you know it's a podcast.
So just find us Home with Dean Sharp, or you
can look up Dean Sharp or the House Whisper. Believe me,
you put in any of those words, you're gonna find
us right there. And right after we go off the
air for every one of our live shows, which is
what today is about, an hour later, this show will
(23:05):
be in podcast form, forever, living forever, right there wherever
your favorite podcasts are found. All right, let's get back
to our list of essential tools. We're going to move
away from wrenches impliers and get into some reference devices.
Number one tape measure. Boom goes without saying everybody needs
(23:27):
a tape measure, but what kind of tape measure? Well, honestly,
whatever works for you. But here's my recommendation. If you
really want a tape measure that's going to last and
that's going to do the most for you, then just
get a really good quality, sort of pro grade tape
(23:48):
measure into in the kind of tape measure I'm talking
about is a twenty five foot tape measure. Okay, twenty
five footers are the ones that have been around that
most pro use most of the time. There are longer
tape measures. You can buy thirty foot tape measures out there.
Homeowners very rarely need a thirty foot tape measure. If
(24:11):
you buy a shorter tape measure, not a big deal.
There are twenties out there. There are twelves, sixteen's, ten
foot tape measures out there. But here's the thing. If
you are not a pro at using a tape measure
at manipulating one, then the wider the blade of the
tape that's the actual tape itself. The wider the blade,
(24:33):
the stiffer the tape measure, the easier it is to manipulate.
And so if you go below twenty five feet, what
happens is the tape not only gets shorter, but the
blade gets narrower. Now, believe me, I've got every length
of tape measure imaginable for the stuff that we do.
When Tina and I go out shopping decore wise for
(24:54):
a client, I don't carry a twenty five foot tape
measure with me when I'm trying to figure out if
a so is the right size to fit in a
client's house, or if the drapes or whatever, okay, we
take up you know, one that I can slide in
my pocket. I might bring a you know, a ten
foot tape measure, a twelve foot tape measure in Tina's
purse or wherever, something that's easy to carry that gets
(25:16):
the job done. But for general home stuff, if you
get below twenty five feet, then the tape itself gets narrower,
which means it's flimsier, okay, And when you're trying to
measure something out or trying to run a tape up
a wall, the flimsy or the tape, the more frustrating
it's going to be for you, especially if you're not
(25:37):
a pro at manipulating tapes, you know, when you're measuring
a thing from wall to wall or across a ceiling
and so on. So a really good question. You can
test this out in the store. By the way, it's
a lot of fun. A really good tape measure that's
in the twenty five foot range should have a snap
rating to it. That's where it snaps at about well,
(26:03):
it should snap after ten feet and it'll probably snap
before twelve. If you can get twelve feet, and this
is what happens. You extend the tape out horizontally, up
a little bit, you know, up at a slight angle,
but extending it out essentially horizontally. You keep extending it
and extending it and extending it. You're not supporting it
with your other hand, right, you just let it hang
(26:24):
out of the canister. A good quality tape measure, you
can easily get ten feet of tape sticking out, just straight,
floating out there across the room without the tape actually
bending and snapping and collapsing onto the floor. If you
can get ten feet plus out of it, you got
a good tape on your hand, and it's going to
get the job done. And then the rest of it
is just up to you. The color of the blade,
(26:46):
how easy it is to read. Some are black with
neon lettering and markings. Some actually give you fraction marks
notated on them, Some are yell at, most of them
are yellow. So you know, that's up to you, totally
up to you. All I want is for you to
buy a good quality tape measure that you're going to
be able to use without getting frustrated. Does that make sense? Okay,
(27:07):
all right. Next, this is something that I don't think
is in that video that we posted online, and that
is a laser level. A few years back, laser levels
were way more expensive than they are now, and now
they are incredibly affordable and easy to find and useful, useful,
(27:34):
like crazy useful. How let's talk about that. Right on
the other side.
Speaker 7 (27:41):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Thanks for joining us on the program today. We are
talking about essential tools, and I want to get back
to our essential tool lists for everybody. If you live
in a home, you don't have to be a homeowner
and be a renter. These are the tools you should
have on hand to take care of stuff as we go.
See what did I cover? Oh yeah, take bite? Oh yeah,
(28:10):
a laser level. Why am I so hip on the
laser level for everybody? That sounds very very you know,
twenty first century. Really, a laser is an essential tool
for the twenty first century, I think so I do.
I'll tell you why, because they're so dang handy. You
may be thinking, what in the world would I use
a laser level for? And I don't even know how
(28:33):
I would use a laser level. Well, the first of all,
you don't use a laser level to just replace a level, Okay,
just a standard you know, two or four foot level,
and that's on my list too, a two foot level,
just a basic level because it's easy and it's useful
and it doesn't involve a whole bunch of stuff, right,
(28:55):
But laser levels are when they really come in handy,
when it's time to take the whole room into account,
whether you're doing decor whether you are hanging pictures, and
so like, how does that work, Dean, Well, a laser level,
basic laser level throws two lines, okay, and a little
(29:18):
bit more advanced laser level will throw a third, but
it throws a horizontal line and a vertical line. The
horizontal line especially just becomes super handy if like we're
hanging stuff around the room. And no, you don't have
to like get it way up there elevated at the
tops of the pictures that you want to hang. That's
(29:39):
not you use it as a reference line. So you
just you could set the laser level on a tripod.
You can just set it on a table somewhere, or
elevated enough so that it's painting the wall with this
one line. Let's say the line is at four feet
just all around the room. And so from there, now
you walk around and you decide, well, I want to
(29:59):
hang this photo here, but I want to hang all
the rest of the pictures in this room at this
same level with it. Well, wherever you hung that first photo,
you measure up from that laser line. Oh, it's three
and a half three inches, three feet five and a
half inches up from the laser line. Well, guess what
you got The laser line painted on every single wall
(30:20):
of the room now, and it's all at the same level,
which means all you have to do is walk over
and measure three foot five and a half inches up
from it on that wall, and you will have put
the picture there at the exact same level as the
picture on the other wall. So you start to see
how useful it is. And even at that level of usefulness, listen,
I wouldn't be recommending it to you if these were
(30:41):
like two hundred dollars items, which is what they were
just a few years ago. You can pick up a
laser level now in the thirty dollars range and it
will get the job done. So that's why I'm including
it on this list. I just think it's well worth
it as we go. Okay, so you got your tape,
measure your laser level. What's another reference tool electronic is
(31:03):
a stud finder. Stud Finders are again one of those
tools that are better than ever, better better than ever,
and more accessible for the average person than ever. You
don't need to go buy some crazy, amazing, read through
concrete stud find not the average homeowner. The need for
(31:27):
the average homeowner is I would like to hang this
thing on my wall, and I would like to find
out where the studs are so I could hang it
into the stud as opposed to the drywall next to
the stud That's what a stud finder is all about, right,
And sure do the fancier ones help you find plumbing
lines and electrical wires and stuff. Sure they do. But
(31:50):
does the average person need that?
Speaker 2 (31:52):
No?
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Not usually, So just a good stud finder, a simple
stud finder. Don't break the bank with one. And here's
a trick. The least expensive effective stud finder that you
can buy has no batteries and it'll cost you about
five bucks. And what is that, Dean? Is this a hack? No,
(32:13):
it's a real Studfinder. It's a little plastic device that
holds a magnet on a swivel. Okay, and why does
this thing work Because the dry wall that is on
your walls that is attached to the studs is attached
to the studs with either nails and or drywall screws,
(32:37):
and nails and drywall screws are magnetic. And so if
you run this little guy, this little flippy magnet across
your wall surface up and down, you've got to go
up and down a little bit and across the wall surface.
When it finds a dry wall screw, it will flip
over and give you the green side pointing at you
(32:58):
saying found it and guess what, Guess what that drywall
screw is attached to thus stud Therefore, it's a super
super inexpensive, super easy to use, no batteries required, stud finder.
And you can go from there. Okay, there you go,
tape manager, stud Finder, Laser level. Let's talk a little
(33:19):
bit about adhesives, not glue, not crazy glue. Sure have
some glue around, but that's a whole nother show onto itself.
And I just decided when I was hanging out with
Tim Conway on Thursday, night. He and I were talking
about some various things, and I told him, I said,
you know what, you bring up a good point here,
I said, it's been a few it's been a while.
It's probably been two or three years since I've done
(33:42):
a show dedicated to adhesives. We're going to get one
of those in this month, okay, So we'll talk about
glues and how to use glues and what glues to
use for what soon. I'm not so concerned about that.
I think every homeowner should probably have some crazy glue
in their drawer and maybe a little Elmer's wood glue
or something, but that's not in the essential tool list.
(34:05):
When I say adhesives, I'm talking about tapes, tapes, mainly
electrical tape, masking tape, and guerrilla tape or duct tape,
a really good quality duct tape. So here are the
three tapes that I'd like you to have lying around.
And here's why electrical tape has got so many uses.
(34:27):
Other than just wrapping exposed wires, which of course it's
great at doing. Electrical tape can give you some temporarily
temporary weather proof insulation on something that gets exposed. Electrically speaking,
it shouldn't be permanent. But electrical tape apart from electricity,
(34:47):
it's stretchy, it's rubbery, and it can do so many things.
It can hold on to so many things. You can
wrap enough electrical tape around something like the top of
a hammer handle to create a cushion. If it's a
wooden hammer handle, a cushion that will keep the wood
(35:09):
from being chumped up as it hits things that's not
supposed to hit. You can use electrical tape to protect things.
It's just something you should have a roll of laying around.
And we're talking about like two bucks worth of stuff.
Go for the Scotch gophers like Scotch Super thirty three
electrical tape or something that's rated. Don't buy unlabeled, cheap
(35:32):
electrical tape. It's just not worth it. Just go for
mainline three m Scotch electrical tape. That kind of stuff,
stuff you recognize. Go for that second kind of tape,
masking tape. And there are whenever we do a paint show,
I explain all the different kinds of masking tape there
(35:52):
are out there, different colors for different purposes. How well
does it stick, how well does it create a clean line.
I'm not talking about any that right now in your
universal toolbox. I'm talking about blue masking tape of whatever
with is you know, like two inch two inch wide
blue masking tape. Blue masking tape goes way beyond I
(36:13):
mean I use it most of the time when unrelated
to painting. Okay, I use blue masking tape to mark
out furniture locations. When we're trying to lay out a
room and wondering like, oh, do we have room for this?
Do we have room for that? How big is that sofa?
Let's mark it out on the floor. Why because it
makes an easy line and then it comes right up
(36:35):
and it doesn't stick to anything or leave any residue behind.
Do it on the wall for the exact same reason.
How big is that big screen TV? How big of
a big screen do we want in this room? Well,
let's get some sizes and mark them out with masking
tape on the wall so we can visualize it ahead
of time. It's a great way to draw on your
house without leaving any marks behind. And that's just one use.
(36:58):
So blue masking tape goes without saying. And finally, duct tape, Yeah,
we all know there are whole websites, multiple websites dedicated
to the various uses of duct tape. And there are
a billion things I like to have sitting around in
(37:18):
the universal toolbox. A good roll of black gorilla tape.
That's a brand. I'm partial to it. What can I say?
I love gorilla tape. It is thick, it's easy to tear,
it lasts, it's strong. But you know, there are also,
you know, many many, many, many many kinds of duct
tape out there, but I'm just talking about a universal
(37:40):
duct tape. Don't use this to mark things on your wall,
because it'll pull the paint right off your wall. Use
this when you've got to fix something and temporarily or
patch something. It's really really good. And by the way,
right before we go here, and we're going to be
going back to the phones when we come back from break,
FYI and I should throw the number out eight three
three two. Ask Dean A three three the numeral two.
(38:03):
Ask Dean go into the phones next. But before we
go to the break, is it duck tape like the
bird the aquatic bird? Or is it ducked tape like
air conditioner ducts? Duct Which is it? Which is it?
Which is it? I'll tell you when we come back.
You're Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisperer on KFI.
(38:26):
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 iHeart Radio app
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