051224 Dean Hour 3 - Mother's Day Calls Extravanganza

Dean is taking calls from only the ladies today for Mother's Day. Dean offers the ladies advice on electrical outlets, how to put in an overmount sink without affecting the existing countertop and, attic vents, the proper way to seal a wood floor and the best kind of grass when you have big dogs.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Kf I am six forty. You'relistening to Dean Sharp the House Whisper on
demand on the iHeart Radio app.It's an all calls weekend. I love
these weekends. I love taking yourcalls, talking with you about what's going
on with your home, and youknow, helping out if I can.
So let's do it. Why don'twe talk to Ann Hey An, welcome

(00:23):
home? Hidine. Okay, Ijust have a quick actually two quick questions.
When I plug in my like vacuumor sand or something like that.
And of course, you know yourvacuum for a few minutes. When I

(00:43):
go to unplug from the wall,that the plug is so hot you can
hardly hold it. Is that somethingI should be concerned about? The actual
plug at the end of the vacuumplaner, Yes, has has has gotten
super hot? Huh. Yeah?And you know I vacuum for let's let's

(01:06):
say, at least ten minutes becausethe room is kind of large, and
I go over to unplug it totake it to another room, and the
plug when I unplug it from thewall, it's really hot. Well that
you know what that's that's a bitof a quandary. I got to tell
you because it's it's it's normal foran appliance plug to become warm after you've

(01:27):
used it for a while. Itis abnormal for a plug to actually get
hot. Okay, it's usually somekind of internal electrical fault in the appliance
itself that is ready to go offif it's drawing too much energy, like
like if it's it's drawing so muchpower that it's going to overwhelm the wires

(01:48):
in the plug. Sometimes an improperlygrounded electrical connection can also cause a device
to draw more power than necessary.So you know what, it's a bit
of a mystery to me. Ihave heard. I haven't seen this firsthand,
but I've heard that a properly animproperly grounded plug can sometimes allow an

(02:12):
appliance to draw more energy than itshould, and therefore the cord on the
appliance gets way too hot. Now, if it's warm, that's one thing,
but hot like ooh, ow,I can hardly hold it. That
would be a concern. Does thathappen to the vacuum cleaner? Let's say,
when you plug it into any ofyour outlets, or just one in
particular. Well, that's what Iwas going to suggest is maybe I should

(02:35):
try another because normally I use thesame outlet because it's centrally located, you
know, so that I can dothe whole room. But maybe that's what
I should do, is try anotherplug to see if the problem is that
one particular outlet. Yeah, exactly, So I'm going to suggest a couple
of things. Number One, thatyou do that first, Let's see if

(02:58):
that happens on every single outlet.If that's the case, it's very likely.
By the way, when was yourhouse built. Well, the house
was built in like around sixty butthe two plugs that I use for the
vacuum they are fairly new because Ihad a little remodeling done. So when

(03:21):
you said it could be not grounded, I just wonder if the electrician didn't,
you know, do something that hewas supposed to do with those two
new additional plugs or outlets. Imean, okay, so let's do what
you were saying. Let's plug thevacuum cleaner into a couple of other outlets
in the house and see run itfor the same amount of time. See
if we get the same reaction outof the vacuum cleaner for that, because

(03:43):
it could just be an issue withthe vacuum cleaner. It really could.
But here's another thing that you cando. If you run down to the
hardware store or home depot or lowsomeplace like that, and you ask them,
like I tell them that you wantto get an outlet tester. Okay,
okay, specifically an outlet tester.It's a little block of plastic.
It's got three lights on the endof it, and it has a three

(04:04):
prong plug, just like you plugin the you know, the any appliance.
The thing that an outlet tester it'sgoing to do is when you plug
it into any outlet in your house, depending on how the lights light up,
and there's a little menu right ontop that shows you depending on how
the lights light up, it willtell you whether or not that outlet is

(04:25):
properly grounded, whether the hot andthe neutral have been reverted, whether there's
a wiring issue with the outlet.So if you plug in this outlet tester,
it's only going to cost you liketen bucks to do this. You
can test every outlet in your houseand you can know for sure whether or
not the electrician properly grounded that plug. Well, I was just concerned with
it starting a fire, you know, and that's what that was my main

(04:47):
concern. But in talking with you, I that's that's a good idea to
try another plug, another outlet,I mean, and then also get that
little testra thing. That's a goodidea. And you definitely I want to
be concerned about starting a fire.And you don't want to mess with your
electrical. If you're ever worried aboutyour electrical, just figure it out,
get it tested, get it dealtwith, because we don't want to fire

(05:09):
in your house. And thank youso much, sweetheart, thank you.
Oh okay, let's talk to Michelle. Michelle, welcome home. Thank you
so much. Contemplating putting an overmountversus an undermount? How can I protect
the countertop if I change out backingthe sink to an over mount versus an
undermount? Can I make a gasket? Or material can I use? All

(05:31):
Right, So you want to putin an overmount sink and you just want
to find out how to protect thecountertop from the overmount sink. Yeah,
if there's a way, do theysew a gasket or can I make a
gasket? No? The best thingto do is the best way to set
it at that point just to protectthe countertop if you're concerned about that is
right before you set the sink fullyand an overmount sinc Meaning for everybody that

(05:55):
a sink that rolls up and hasits own edge and it sits on top
of a countertop, you would justput a nice bead of calking, a
silicone cocking. It'd be clear.It can be white color of the sink
or just transparent, but you wouldput a bead of silicone calking right under
that lip before you press it downonto the countertop. Not only will it
help secure it, but it willbecome that gasket quote unquote that you're talking

(06:18):
about in between the sink itself andthe countertop surface below it. Then I
can always switch it back to anundermount later and a loan all. Yeah,
the calking can be scraped right upand you're good to go. Michelle,
thanks so much for your question.I don't think I've ever been asked
a question about an overmount sink andthen that we could potentially change back to

(06:42):
an undermount before. But I guessit makes sense. If the sink fits
inside the under mount scenario, thenyou could let me think about that yeah,
all right, that'll work. Ilove our listeners questions. They stretch
my brain. How about some moreof your calls when we return. You
are listening to Home with Dean Sharpthe House Whisper. You're listening to Home

(07:02):
with Dean Sharp on demand from KFIAM six forty. I love all the
covers of our theme song. Ilove them. Mmmmm. I'm Dean Sharp,
the house Whisper, craftsman builder,custom home designer. It's our house
Whisper calethon nothing but your calls.All right, let's dive back in,
Thelma, welcome home. I readystested drawers from that thirty through the twenties,

(07:27):
and they don't open well. Idon't know what to do to open
them really, you know, toslide nicely? Mm hmmm mm hmm.
Okay, so you have a testof drawers from the twenties or thirties.
So I'm assuming that there's no metalhardware. It's just wood guides sliding on
wood. Yes, yes, exactly. Okay, So now you can do

(07:50):
this yourself or you can get somebody, uh with a little bit of know
how to do this. But thekey to those wood glides and those door
drawers sliding smoothly. As smoothly asthey can is paraffin wax. Oh,
we got to pull out. We'vegot to pull out those drawers. We
take a block of paraffin wax andwe are going to wax the runners,

(08:11):
just like we would wax a pairof skis going down a mountainside during the
winter in order to glide over thesnow. Those wood runners were originally had
wax on them, and you know, after seventy eighty ninety years, you
know, the wax wears out,and it's just one of those things that
every few years you have to maintainotherwise they're just going to be sticky and

(08:33):
weird. So a nice coat ofparaffin wax on the runner, don't drip
candle wax. It's a different story. We got to rub it on there
and then we buff it until itgets to a nice smooth, slick surface.
And they I'm not going to guaranteethat they'll be super smooth, the
smoothest drawers you've ever opened, butthey will open and close and you won't
have to wrestle with them anymore.Oh my god, perfect, Thank you

(08:56):
so very much. I was going, yeah, I was gonna tell you
you not be able to find itat the local hardware store. But if
you go online and just put asearch for waxing my cupboard drawers, you're
gonna find it, and you shouldbe able to order one online. It'll
show up your home in three orfour days and you can just you know,

(09:18):
have a waxing party. Let's talkto let's talk to Olga. Hey,
Olga, welcome home. Two yearsago, I heard you talk about
Vulcan vent and I never got throughthose people, and I just said,
and so I've been listening and listening. In the meantime. I talked to
a man, George Shelley, whois making Embers Out. He's got the

(09:41):
metal time like kind of like VulcanVent, but he's got a polymer out.
It's like it looks like home sortof thing, but it covers the
entire dormer and bugs and everything can'tget through, but still the air gets
through. So we now have broadGuard, Vulcan vents, and Embers Out.

(10:01):
So that's my question. It chungsto me like Embers Out with that
polymer is the best choice. Iwanted your take on it. You know
what, Embers Out is a greatfireproof Emberproof Vent company. I highly recommend
them. They've they've actually made it. I don't know if I mentioned them

(10:22):
two years ago, but since you'vemade it, Okay, all right,
I'm guilty. I just talked aboutVulcan Vince. But you know, in
the last couple of years they've actuallyEmbers Out have made it onto at least
a couple of my lists. Sohere's the key for anybody who's considering at
events. When it comes to emberproofadd events, you simply want to make

(10:48):
sure that their vent is on thecow Fire Approved list, and Embers Out
is they are one of the cowFire Approved attic ember vent companies. So
is Vulcan Vent, and there areare some others as well. As far
as application goes, this gets toa point of number one cost for some
people and also ease of application orretrofitting and so on. The upside to

(11:13):
a Vulcan vent is that it hasthis inter messent coding on it. The
intermssent coding is takes it a stepfurther from just being a ember proof vent
to the point where if there isa fire that's actually burning right up against
the side of the house, theintermscent coding starts to bubble and expand,

(11:35):
and it closes off the vent completelyit self closes the vent. Now,
the downside to that is, well, the upside is that it just saved
your house from burning down. Thedownside is that vent is now permanently closed
and it will have to be replacedwith a new Vulcan vent or ember vent

(11:56):
that does that. Now. Othercompanies don't necessarily go for the intermessic code
voting. They just want to makesure that there's this great Emberproof protection on
the vents. And Embers Out isone of those companies. They make a
fantastic Emberproof vent. I wholeheartedly giveit two thumbs up. It's definitely worthwhile.
So in your situation, that's foryou to decide which vent company and

(12:22):
product you want to use. Butjust compare the differences between one or the
other. They all do a goodjob of baffling Embers. That's the most
important thing. What the rest ofthe features might be, that's up to
you to decide what's going to bemost practical for you. Well see,
I kind of like the business aboutno bos and ants and all that.
My lady next door to me ishaving a trouble with rats, and she

(12:46):
puts something like that in ten yearsago, but she's back to the rat
problem again, so up in theattic. So that's one of my pluses
for embers out there you go,so just shop it carefully. The other
features apart from the ember protection that'sup to you. Just make sure you
get some nice fireproof ember events onthat attic so that you have a house

(13:07):
to mess with it that ants canyou oppress you in in the future,
Olga, Thank you so much foryour question, really good question. More
of your calls when we come back. You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp
the House Whisper. You're listening toHome with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI
AM six forty. I love talkingto you about whatever's going on with your

(13:31):
home today, whether it's a DIYquestion, construction issue, a design question.
I love design questions. So anyway, I would love to help.
So why don't we just dive backin tell you what. Let's talk to
Pat, Hey, Pat, welcomehome. My house is stepped in nineteen
twenty two and it has the originaloak force so twenty years ago and we

(13:54):
had the house remodel. We pulledup the carpet and they were like,
no torax them and they're just beautiful. So now it's been a while,
so I took TSP. I thoughtit's time to clean them. Took TSP
in it took off the old sharak. But now when I go to the
home depot, it seems like thenew chira a just water based and there's

(14:16):
nothing to them. What can Iuse that's really strong to chirac my floors
because I want to preserve them aslong as possible. And the hall it
takes a beating a lot of traffic. So what do you recommend to use
for shillak or covering coating? Okay, I got you no more shillac on

(14:37):
your floor and that's fine. Believeme, it's totally fine. What you
want now, don't be afraid ofwhat you find at the store. But
here, I want you to goto a good flooring store and I want
you to get a high quality flooringgrade poly eurythinge holy holy, your thing
is essentially a plastic coating. Doesn'tmatter that it's water based, doesn't you

(14:58):
know? Does? That's a nonissue. And we're going to put at
least three to four coats down Now, if you want to show the floor
is super shiny, then you gowith a normal polyurethane. If you want
them to have that very old worlda little bit, Matt, just satiny
finish, which I love so muchbecause I think it shows off an old

(15:20):
world flow. So well, thenyou're gonna want a satin finish. Just
a satin finish on the polyure thing, and you're gonna want it. Like
I said, put down to threefour coats even more in high traffic areas
if you want not a problem butpolyurythane flooring grade, and you'll be able

(15:41):
to do that to your floors andit'll be years before you have to redo
it. Let's talk to Judy.Hey, Judy, welcome home. Hello,
Hello, Okay. I have acondo in Carlsbad, and I have
about a thirty by twenty foot areaof grass, and I have acquired two

(16:03):
big dogs in the last couple ofyears, and like my daughter said,
my lawn tern and looks like acow pasture. Now they're digging, and
I've got straw down where they're diggingbecause it's a lot of mud and I
want to replace it with another kindof natural grass. But I don't know
what to put in. I'm gonnaI'll take a shot in the dark and
say bermuda. Bermuda is a isa pretty dang resilient grass and once it

(16:30):
takes it forms a good mat andI think that's one of the things that
will help the most because bermuda getsspongy as a mat of grass, and
as a result, it's not theeasiest thing for them to dig through.
Bermuda is self healing, it's droughttolerant. It will put up pretty well

(16:55):
with dogs with pea and the otherstuff and a lot of rough house.
Bermuda grass is usually the grass that'sused on the outfield at natural grass baseball
stadiums, So it's a it's asport grass, it's it's it's better for
rough and tumble kinds of things.But again, I'm not convinced that two

(17:19):
large dogs in just a twenty bythirty foot area, they got a lot
of time on their hands and theygot a lot of tools. Okay,
well that's good. There you go. So just taking them on more walks,
wear them out, and then popthem into the backyard. But that
that's probably the best off the cuffsuggestion is take a look at at Bermuda

(17:41):
as as an opportit. But ifyou're gonna plant there, of course you're
gonna have to keep them off ofit for a while. Even if you
sawed the yard, you're gonna need. Even though it's gonna look great on
day one, you're gonna need togive it a few weeks for it to
really root in before they get outthere and start tearing it up. Judy,
good luck with that. Give Bermudaa shot. Okay, all right,

(18:03):
let's talk to Julie. Hey,Julie, welcome home. Hi Deine.
We're looking at getting new windows,and I love the black frame windows,
but they're obviously a lot more expensive. So I was wondering, what
are your thoughts on if we justif someone just adjusted black frame windows in
the back of the house and keptthe traditional white frame ones in the front.

(18:26):
I have no general problems with thatwhatsoever. In fact, if you
hear me talk on the show quiteoften, i'll talk about the tech.
One of the techniques for upgrading ahouse without touching its traditional curb appeal is
to treat the facade of the housedifferently than the backside of the house.
Because from the facade of the houseis something that is viewed from outside the

(18:49):
house, standing on the curb inthe street, looking at the house.
Then you move into the house,you walk in, and once you're past
the face of the house, nowwe're inside the house looking out through windows
into the backyard. It's a completelydifferent experience. And so the idea of
using black frame windows for the backsideof the house because you love them and

(19:12):
because they work with the configuration thatyou're looking for. In my thinking,
in most cases most cases don't quoteme on this universally, but in most
cases, yeah, your freedom tomix it up, I would even say,
depending on decor there are times whenyou know there are well, actually
you know, I'll tell you this. We just finished designing from the ground

(19:34):
up a new house in Studio City, and some of those windows are white
traditional framed windows. Some of themare dark bronze and black traditional windows.
Just depending on room for room andthe effect that we're looking for, and
on some of the elevations of thehouse, you can see both at the
same time. It all depends onwhether it works with that theme. But

(19:57):
as a general rule, you know, it's kind of the mullet approach right,
all business up front and party inthe back. So keep your white
frame windows facing the street and doback black towards the back of the house
and have a blast. I thinkyou're completely free to do that in most
cases. Thanks Julie for the call. Yes, yes, it's my mullet

(20:19):
theory. My mullet theory applies tolots of things all the time. All
right, more of your calls tocome. You're listening to Home with Dean
Sharp, the house Whisper. You'relistening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand
from KFI AM six forty. I'mDean Sharp, the house Whisper, craftsman
builder, custom home designer. Weare here every Sunday all because of you.

(20:45):
Thank you so much for all thecalls today, really good questions.
I love all call shows because Iget to spend more time talking to you,
answering your questions, helping out maybejust a little bit as we go.
And it is all always a privilegeto spend the weekend with you.
Why don't we talk to and Heyan welcome home hidin Okay. I just

(21:08):
have a quick actually two quick questions. When I plug in my like vacuum
or a fan or something like that. And of course, you know,
your vacuum for a few minutes.When I go to unplug from the wall,

(21:30):
the plug is so hot you canhardly hold it. Is that something
I should be concerned about? Theactual plug at the end of the vacuum
cleaner, yes, has has hasgotten super hot? Huh. Yeah.
And you know I vacuum for let'ssay at least ten minutes because the room

(21:52):
is kind of large, and Igo over to unplug it to take it
to another room, and the plugwhen I unplug it from the wall,
it's really hot. Wow that youknow what that's That's a bit of a
quandary, I got to tell you, because it's it's a It's normal for
an appliance plug to become warm afteryou've used it for a while. It
is abnormal for a plug to actuallyget hot. Okay. It's usually some

(22:18):
kind of internal electrical fault in theappliance itself that is ready to go off
if it's drawing too much energy,like like if it's it's drawing so much
power that it's going to overwhelm thewires in the plug. Sometimes an improperly
grounded electrical connection can also cause adevice to draw more power than necessary.

(22:41):
So you know what, that's ait's a bit of a mystery to me.
I have heard. I haven't seenthis firsthand, but I've heard that
a properly an improperly grounded plug cansometimes allow an appliance to draw more energy
than it should, and therefore theon the appliance gets way too hot.

(23:02):
Now, if it's warm, that'sone thing, but hot like ooh ow,
I can hardly hold it. Thatwould be a concern. Does that
happen to the vacuum cleaner, Let'ssay, when you plug it into any
of your outlets, or just onein particular. Well, that's what I
was going to suggest, is maybeI should try another because normally I use
the same outlet because it's centrally located, you know, so that I can

(23:26):
do the whole room. But maybethat's what I should do, is try
another plug to see if the problemis that one particular outlet. Yeah,
exactly, So I'm going to suggesta couple of things. Number One,
that you do that first, let'ssee if that happens on every single outlet.
If that's the case, it's verylikely. By the way, when

(23:47):
was your house built. Well,the house was built oh in like around
sixty But the two plugs that Iuse for the vacuum they are fair new
because I had a little remodeling done. So when you said it could be
not grounded, I just wonder ifthe electrician didn't, you know, do

(24:11):
something that he was supposed to dowith those two new additional plugs outlets.
I mean, okay, so let'sdo what you were saying. Let's plug
the vacuum cleaner into a couple ofother outlets in the house and see run
it for the same amount of time. See if we get the same reaction
out of the vacuum cleaner for that, because it could just be an issue
with the vacuum cleaner. It reallycould. But here's another thing that you

(24:32):
can do. If you run downto the hardware store or home depot or
lows someplace like that, and youask them, like I tell them that
you want to get an outlet tester. Okay, okay, specifically an outlet
tester. It's a little block ofplastic. It's got three lights on the
end of it, and it hasa three prong plug just like you plug
in the you know, any applianceThe thing that an outlet tester it's going

(24:55):
to do is when you plug itinto any outlet in your house, depending
on how the lights light up,and there's a little menu right on top
that shows you depending on how thelights light up, it will tell you
whether or not that outlet is properlygrounded, whether the hot and the neutral
have been reverted, whether there's awiring issue with the outlet. So if
you plug in this outlet tester,it's something going to cost you like ten

(25:17):
bucks to do this. You cantest every outlet in your house and you
can know for sure whether or notthe electrician properly grounded that plug. Well,
I was just concerned with it startinga fire, you know, and
that's what that was my main concern. But in talking with you, that's
that's a good idea to try anotherplug, another outlet, I mean,

(25:38):
and then also get that little testrathing. That's a good idea. And
you definitely want to be concerned aboutstarting a fire, and you don't want
to mess with your electrical. Ifyou're ever worried about your electrical just figure
it out, get it tested,get it dealt with, because we don't
want to fire in the house andthank you so much, sweetheart, thank
you. All right, I'm goingto leave you with this thought today.

(26:02):
My best friend Tina and I we'rehanging out on the California Central Coast this
last week from about San Luis,Obispo and more Obey up to San Simeon
and Cambria, just in that holezone cayukas everything in there. We took
our bikes because when exploring, abicycle is the perfect balance of covering more

(26:26):
ground than walking, but doing itslowly enough not to miss the details.
And we love the details. Lifeis the details. When Tina and I
travel, we love to get offthe tourist path as quickly as possible,
try to get lost. We wantto chat with locals, set ourselves up
to see stuff we haven't seen before. We want to be surprised. It's

(26:48):
why we haunt specialty shops and roadsideart galleries and antique stores and hole in
the wall cafes precisely in the hopeof discovering something new. It's always why
I ordered the most unique item onthe menu. It's why we take the
road less travel. So did itwork? Well? It always works.

(27:10):
This time out, we learned thatan olala berry is a cross between a
BlackBerry and a raspberry, and itmight be the best of both. Using
raspberry in a rhubarb pie adds sweetnessbut doesn't mask the rhubarb the way strawberries
do, and I think it's brilliant. A wooden surfboard is built very much
like the wing of an airplane inthe right context. Tina feels strongly that

(27:37):
a purple house can totally work dependingon your neighborhood. The high tide needed
to access the more Obay Estuary bykayak should be at least five and a
half feet in depth. What else, Oh, translucent lamps. Beautiful translucent
lamps can be made from pressed anddried cocoa leaves. Fried polenta tastes great

(28:06):
for breakfast. There are a muledeer that nibble the grass between the hundred
year old graves at the Santa RosaChapel Cemetery and the western offspray Aka.
The seahawk is one of the mostmagnificent birds of prey you will ever see
it. That is just a sampling. There are so many more lessons,
but the lesson of a good getawayIt's simple. In this world of ours.

(28:30):
There's never an excuse for boredom.If you want to live, then
get out there and live. Startby exploring your own life, your own
town, stretch, open yourself tonew experiences, put yourself somewhere where the
unexpected can happen, and move slowlyenough to catch the details as they pass.
Henry Ford once said, if youalways do what you've always done,

(28:55):
you'll always get what you always got. And I couldn't agree more. I
would only add to that the immortalwords of Robert Frost. I shall be
telling this with a sigh somewhere agesand ages. Hence two roads diverged in
a wood, and I I tookthe one less traveled by, and that

(29:18):
has made all the difference. Ifyou've never taken the road less traveled,
Perhaps today's the day you never knowwhat might happen. It might refresh you,
it might challenge you, it willdefinitely surprise you, and most importantly,
from that road, you might besurprised just how easy it is to

(29:40):
build yourself a beautiful life. Everybody, have a great week, and we'll
see you next weekend. This hasbeen Home with Dean Sharp the house Whisper.

(30:10):
Tune into the live broadcast on KFIAm six forty every Saturday morning from
six to eight Pacific time, andevery Sunday morning from nine to noon Pacific
time, or anytime on demand onthe iHeartRadio app.