August 3, 2025 • 28 mins
Dean takes your calls and offers expert advice on common (and frustrating) home issues. He shares tips on repairing a porcelain sink with a hole, explains what that mysterious white powder on your A/C system really means, and helps a caller cool down a home that's running too hot. Plus, Dean weighs in on how to deal with old bathroom tiles showing water marks. Practical, real-world solutions you can use...straight from Dean.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kf I am six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp
the House Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Today
on the show, we are talking about twenty five ways
to make the most of a small room. I've got
a whole list for you. I'm blazing through it. But
they're important and there they're great tips. We're going to
(00:22):
get back to that in just a bit. But right
now center of the show, as always, it's time for
your calls, which of course can be about anything whatsoever.
The number to reach me eight three three two ask
Dean a three to three the numeral two ask Dean.
Let us not waste any more time. Let's go right
(00:43):
to the phones. We're gonna start with Lou, Hey, Lou,
welcome home, Good.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Good morning, Dean. I have a question about fixing an
either porcelain or ceramic sink. I had a bottled saw
on my medicine cabinet made about a one inch triangle, triangular,
irregular hole in the sink which I can't get to
(01:11):
from the back because it's double it's double walled, So
how can I fix that? Best?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
When you say it's double water so the hole didn't
go through the sink, and this is just it's not
just a chip in Okay, let me ask.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
You this is this a chip in porcelain? Is it
a hole like a full on hole or.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
A chip in a porcelain coating on an otherwise metal
or cast iron sink.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
No, it's all the way through and there's another bottom
to it, but I can't get to it. Because I can't.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Get to it.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
It's just a little pace afterwards.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
All right, And the piece is the piece just lost
down in there in that. Yeah, Well, I don't have
great news for you, Lou. I'm not sure that there
is a there's a good I mean, there are times
when a porcelain sink breaks that we we get such
(02:24):
a clean punch out of the piece that we can
actually recover the piece. We find that it will fit
nicely back into the hole and with the right kind
of epoxies, just you know, re cemented in place, and
it doesn't make it invisible. You can still see the
line of the crack all, you know, on all sides.
But you can restore use of the sink to that.
(02:47):
But you've got kind of the double jeopardy scenario where
we don't even have the piece anymore and a one
inch hole diameter hole triangular. Otherwise, in a porcelain sink,
you could, I guess in theory, call out a porcelain
patching expert and they're going to charge up the wazoo
(03:11):
and probably just stare at you and say this would
be way cheaper for you just to buy a new sink.
And that's so that's the advice that I'm going to
tell you. I know it might involve tearing up the
tile or the countertop or whatever, but yeah, that's it's
not it's not a good situation. Look, it's not a
good situation. There's no there's no easy fix for that.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Well, what I did in order to have whatever I
put in there, I put a grasshopper clip and that way,
if I put any lock tight or something else that
I've seen online, it'll have somewhere to go. Otherwise just
go to the bottom, right.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
No, I get it, Yeah, I mean I get it.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
I'm just telling you from a a setics perspective, there's
no getting.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
It back to the way it looked before. That's what
I'm telling you.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Sure well, of.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Course, yeah, of course you can patch a hole in
your sink. You could put a rubberized patch over it
right now, and seal the edges with a silicone and
keep the sink a sink. But you're going to see
the patch. So that's my point. There's probably ten different
ways to patch the sink without much big ado.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
We can put a tire patch on it right now,
and you got your sink back. You know, we plug
the hole. The boat isn't leaking anymore. You can keep
your sink, but it's going to be a sink from
now on with a brake and a patch in it.
And so from an esthetics standpoint, my point is there's
no way to fix that sink to bring it back
to its unbroken appearance.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
You can always fix the hole. Does that makes sense?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Sure? A lot, a lot. I've got a question about
a small room. If that's all right to add it.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
On fire away fireway, We got to do it real quick.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Very quick. I saw online some closet doors that have
shelves on them, and would that be too for sliding doors?
So would that be too heavy to put stuff on
that kind.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Of No, I've seen, Yeah, I've seen.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I've seen a sliding closet door with shelves on it
and you know what in theory looks like it's, you know,
a potentially good thing.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
If they're bookshelves, if they're enclosed end shelves, then fine,
And I'm sure the door is, you know. So it
has to be a particularly strong door, though. It can't
be just the super lightweight doors that are typical for
a sliding door for a closet, because if you're going
to put weight on it, it's not about the rollers
per se or the track above. It's about the actual
(05:56):
flex of the door material itself and can it hold
up to that without binding or boeing. But yeah, But
the other thing though, that you need to understand is
that those shelves need to be closed in shelves, because
you know, I've seen open end shelves before. I've been
shown them, and I said, so, how do those work
out for you? And they're like, we can't move the
(06:18):
door because we've got all these chotchky's setting up there,
and then we slide the.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Door and they fall over and they fall off.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
So I get it. Probably not my first move as
far as how to set it up. Now more important
in a small space, if the closet isn't critically important
that those shelves are, you know, or that those sliding
doors are in front of Far better to just pull
the doors and utilize the niche that is the closet,
(06:49):
and you know, add regular shelving and or bookshelves or
whatever in a space like that. That's something that is
far more realistic for a small space than trying to
hang shelves off the front of a sliding closet door.
You know, not that it couldn't happen, but there are
things to consider along the way. Lou thank you for
(07:09):
your call, Buddy. Good luck with that sink.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Patch it up. Just don't show it to the guests,
that's all.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
When we come back, more of your calls your Home
with Dean Sharp, the house Whisper.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Here to help you take your home to the next level.
Thanks for joining us on the show today. We are
right in the middle of taking calls. Afterwards, we will
return to our topic for the day, which is my
list of twenty five ways to make the most of
a small room, which we're going to continue to blaze
through very very helpful, very practical, very interesting and informative.
(07:51):
If I do say Z may soon. But we will
get back to that in a bit. But right now
we are doing what we do. Middle of the show,
we're taking call, and so I want to get to
Mike A Mike, welcome home.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
Hello O Dean, how are you?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
I am well, my friend good.
Speaker 6 (08:10):
I love your show. It's interesting you're talking about moving
into or a small place. I recently moved from a
five thousand foot place to a small place. The kids
grew up.
Speaker 7 (08:20):
And the wife passed away.
Speaker 6 (08:21):
So now I'm in a manufactured home, and I find
that rolling carts helped me a lot. The kind of
thing you might see in a commercial kitchen with good wheels,
where you can put your books and move things out
of the way.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
That oh heck yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 6 (08:40):
Regarding decluttering, you can imagine after forty years in one place,
not everything fit in here. I just put the stuff
that I didn't want to throw away on the kitchen
counter and walked by it three days in a row
and decided I didn't want it there anymore.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
You know what, But I'm going to tell you there
are so many psychological tricks to really forcing yourself to realize, like,
you know, what this stuff just I mean, we look
at it and suddenly it matters. And we haven't looked
at it in five years. It didn't matter for five years.
Now that we're looking at it, suddenly it matters, and
so we store it for another five years. So yeah, yeah,
(09:17):
good on you. Good on you for forcing yourself to
deal with it.
Speaker 6 (09:20):
Right, unless you have to trip over it every day
and then you're just like, get rid of this thing.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
But there you go.
Speaker 6 (09:25):
Yeah. Regarding this new place, it's a manufactured home. When
I first moved in a year and a half ago,
dust was accumulating on all my furniture. Uh, it had
no air conditioning. I had central air put in when
I got here, and I thought, well, heck, there's just
something in the ducks. It'll diminish over time, and it
has not. They're floor registers to fine white dust.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
And I was going to ask you is it white?
Is it white dust?
Speaker 5 (09:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (09:55):
White?
Speaker 3 (09:55):
I got you, Yes, I got you.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
It's aluminum oxide and it's not going to go away
because your ac coil is producing it and blowing it
into your house. Very likely aluminum oxite. It is an
oxidation process. That takes place on aluminum coils. Now, remember,
(10:18):
I don't know, you don't have to remember, but back
in the day air conditioning coils, which are still made
out of copper, by the way, the vast majority of
them are copper, but you also used to have copper fins. Okay,
the coil is the pipe, the tube, and the fins
used to be copper as well, copper on copper and
so on. But to save money and more increased to fision.
(10:42):
I'm not going to get into the whole world of
HVAC technicalities, but a while back, more and more units
were being created with aluminum fins around a copper coil.
All right, So sometimes that's a problem because there's actually
an electrolysis that can happen, which can corrode the copper coil.
That's not what's happening with you, though, Okay, So what
happens is in certain environmental situation, certain situations, the aluminum
(11:06):
coil as it cools and gets moist and then dries out,
creates an aluminum oxide and oxidation, and it's this fine
white dust and it ends up getting blown into the system.
And then sometimes some people find it right on the
edge of their registers and it bugs them. Other people
find it all the way through their house. So this
(11:28):
is my guess, but I'm pretty I'm pretty sure about it,
and I'm not an HVAC expert. I'm just a guy
who's been around doing this for a long time and
I've seen a few things.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
This is what I would do.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
The newer units, the newer units that are coming out
of the factories now, they're heading this off at the
past and they're factory coating clear coating the aluminum fins
so that the fins don't react directly with the oxygen
around them and the moisture and create the oxidation. They've
(12:03):
got this clear coating on them. Some units, I suppose
still don't. Units built five years ago, maybe some of
them still didn't. So on that chance, my suggestion is
all your HVAC service provider, whoever put in the unit,
okay and have them come out, because the good news
(12:23):
is they can either a that can either price you
for switching out the coil, or B there are coatings
that can be applied in home that they you know,
they'll have to go through a little bit of process
and shut it down for a little while, but they
can still there are coatings that can coat the aluminum
(12:43):
fins on an aluminum coil and essentially solve your white
dust problem. But it sounds to me like, and I
want to hear back from you if it isn't this,
but it sounds to me like it is essentially aluminum
oxide that's built holding up on the coil through an
oxidation process, which happens not frequently but every once in
(13:06):
a while. Mike, thank you for your call, buddy, Thanks
for the question, very very interesting question.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Check that out and get back to me on it.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
All right, y'all, more of your calls when we return
your Home with Dean Sharp the house whisper.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty today.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
We're doing it by going through my list of twenty
five ways to make the most of a small room,
something that many of us, if not most of us,
have and are scratching our heads about, and we're like,
we get frustrated and we think, gosh, you think i'd
be able to figure this one out. Well, you know what,
don't don't be frustrated, because the smaller space gets, the
(13:51):
harder it is for designed to work in there. But
it will work. It will, my friend, Oh it will.
It's got to follow the rules, do it right, that's all.
A large spaces are very forgiving small spaces. Everything has
to be on point, and I'm helping you get there.
But right now, middle of the show, as is our custom,
(14:12):
we are taking calls and I want to go back
to the phones. Let's talk to Patricia. Hey, Patricia, welcome
home Hidin.
Speaker 8 (14:23):
Thank you for taking my call. Approximately two months ago,
I spent about six thousand dollars to have a company
come in and remove all the six inch thirty five
year old batting fiberglass removed from my attic. They sanitize, sanitized,
(14:44):
and cleaned the attic, and I had them blow in
twelve inches of tap insulation for a value of R
thirty eight. I've had my HDAC checked. I have that
checked anyways twice a year. Stat is okay, and ever
since then, now my house actually feels warmer and it's oh,
(15:06):
I'm only getting maybe six to seven degrees different and
temperature than what is outside. So the owner has come
in and he checked the attic and according to the
attic ruler, there's twelve inches of insulation, but during the
process they they I think they just went too fast,
as my understanding what I heard from a person and
(15:29):
the crew, because the plaster around both interests was torn
up and they did repair it. They fixed it, and
there was a few other issues that they did come
in and fix. But my house is actually warmer. I
bought some thermostats and it's in the eighties. So I
don't know what to do. Should I put more insulation?
(15:51):
I thought this was enough. Should I put fiberglass on
top of that?
Speaker 7 (15:55):
What do I do?
Speaker 8 (15:56):
And what's the problem? Hm?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Okay, let's let's try and pull this apart without getting
eyes on.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
It's not easy.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I hope you understand for me to tell you exactly
what the problem is. But I'm envisioning it. Okay, So
first of all, here's what not the problem is. The
problem is not with putting R thirty eight insulation in
your attic. That's not a problem. Okay, that's a great
it's a great move getting rid of bats the old
world bats insulation and using blown in blanketed a cellulose insulation.
(16:29):
That's what TAP insulation is. Tap is just a kind
of a brand name. It's cellulose insulation treated with bor
rates so that termites don't like it, rodents don't like it.
It's great stuff, right, It's my number one recommendation.
Speaker 8 (16:45):
Right, and that's that's why I did a lot of
research and I thought, well, this is the way to go.
So I'm not sure now what to do or what's wrong.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Right, So I've got two.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
I have two a question and then and then a
comment a follow up. My first question is around your house, okay,
single story home, yes, Okay, around the house on the outside,
do you have events vents like little like two inch
holes in the blocking going up.
Speaker 7 (17:15):
Into yes, a shop it.
Speaker 8 (17:20):
No, No, I don't.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
No venting that you're aware of out around the eave okay.
We may not have time on the radio to check
right now.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
But just in the blocking around your eves, okay, you
may find these two inch holes that are drilled into
the blocks with some wire mesh screen in the back
of them.
Speaker 8 (17:48):
Okay, Yes, I know what you're talking about. I do
believe I have that, and they did do air.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Ceiling, okay.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
So so the question I have is that this is
a common thing that gets missed, especially when an insulation
company is rushing okay, which is that those even though
we want that insulation all the way out to the
edge of the roof in the attic space, Okay, we
can't cover up those vents. Okay, we can't cover those
(18:16):
vents with insulation because that's what keeps your attic breathing.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Okay, uh.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And so a there is a very simple kind of
styrene plastic baffle that gets installed first after they've cleared
the attic.
Speaker 8 (18:32):
Yeah, yeah, I don't need baffles. Already checked into that.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
You don't need baffles, all right, So you don't have
vent okay, all right, all right, good, all right. So
the second thing is that you may have to get
used to. This is my comment here leading up to
the break here, is that you you're gonna it's gonna
take a little time, Patricia, for you to get used
to living in a home that is better insulated. And
(18:58):
by that what I mean is your one thing that
your old insulation, which was not as efficient, used to
do is it would allow whatever heat build up in
the house to escape out of the ceilings and into
the attic and out through the roof. In other words,
a leaky house in terms of insulation and poor quality
(19:21):
insulation does have this one kind of patterned benefit built
into it, and that is that whatever heat does build
up in the house, it doesn't build up as much.
Heat doesn't build up because instead of you know, instead
of living in let's say, an igloo kind of cooler, right,
or a yetti cooler with nice insulation on all sides,
(19:44):
now you're living in one with the top thrown open, right,
and so eat escapes faster, right, So heat is not
escaping from your home as quickly. Now you will very
much appreciate this. When the weather turns cold, it will
be a great boon to you because the heat that's
in your home is not leaving as quick and you
(20:05):
won't be using the heater or anything like that as much.
But during the summer months, most people who get new
insulation in their attic for the first time in a
long long time, they report the exact same phenomenon, which
is that, wow, the house feels colder. So what has
to happen now is you have to treat this like
an ice chest, okay, in the sense that you're gonna
(20:27):
be running that you're gonna seal up the house, and
you're gonna be pushing the ac a little bit further
during the day until you get to temperature that you want,
and then what you'll find is the house will hold
it longer, but you will have to push it a
little bit further because the heat that's build up in
the house isn't gonna leave. It's gonna need to be
(20:48):
transformed into cool air via the HVAC system. It's just
one of those things in which it's trust me, the
science is real. You have a better insulated house, but
better insulation means that whatever's in there stays in there.
That's the idea of insulation. Whatever the condition is inside
(21:11):
the house stays and whatever the condition outside the house
is stays out there. And the insulation is this break
and this barrier between the two. Okay, So what you
have now to do is you got to get that
air in the house cooler. But then don't worry about
that because once it is, it'll stay. Patricia, thank you
for your call, Thanks for the question. Just think in
(21:32):
those terms, and I think you're ultimately going to be
very happy that you did what you did, because you
did the right thing. All right, more of your calls
when we return your home with Dean Sharp, the house whisper.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
All right, we're going to return to our conversation right
after the next break, our conversation about twenty five ways
to make the most of a small space or a
small room in your home. But before then, one more shot,
one more crack at calls. We're taking calls live as
we do, and let me start. I want to talk
(22:11):
to Kathy. Hey, Kathy, welcome home. Do we have Kathy? Kathy?
Are you there?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yes, I'm here? Sorry, there you are?
Speaker 7 (22:23):
Hi, Hi, hi, Hi, thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
You're very welcome. How can I help you?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I I have.
Speaker 7 (22:32):
A shower in a bathroom and the floor are these
horrible unglazed hexagonal tiles like honeycomb? The ones in the shower.
It looks like maybe the hard water has even dulled
it even more. The grout on the bathroom floor is
(22:55):
really hard to keep clean. Is there any product you know,
DIY that I can use?
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Well, okay, so uh you say, unglad? How old are
how old are these tiles?
Speaker 7 (23:13):
The thing?
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Well, the house was built in nineteen twenty nine. We've
owned it for twenty five years. So the tiles were
already there. I don't know if it was original, but
it's just a pain in the butt to keep clean.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Yeah, yeah, it is, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
I mean, okay, if we're gonna there's like three levels
that we can address this on, if we're going to
keep the existing tile, okay.
Speaker 7 (23:47):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Now is it the grout that bugs you the most
or is the tile stained as well?
Speaker 4 (23:52):
It's actually both, it's both.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, it's both.
Speaker 7 (23:56):
Uh. It's much tough for the shower.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
It looks like, you know, because it's unglazed there where
the water is hitting it more.
Speaker 7 (24:06):
It's like it feels rough, like there's some kind of film.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah, it's hard water. It's it's mineral deposit. It's hard
water deposits. Yeah, clinging onto the tile.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Yeah. All right.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
So I mean no guarantees on this, okay, because that
sounds like very old tile and it has not been
well kept through the ages. Not that from you guys,
but just you know, I mean, there's a chance. I
appreciate your honesty. I appreciate your honesty, Kathy. I was
letting you off the hook, and you put yourself right
(24:39):
back on.
Speaker 7 (24:41):
I know.
Speaker 8 (24:43):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Anyway, so old tiles.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Uh, if we are past their their original glazing, if
that glazing has opened up, and it might have just
been I mean, if this original tile to the bathroom,
it might have been an unglazed tile to begin with,
which is really not easy to deal with. So bleach
and acid, okay, this is this is these are your
(25:08):
two best friends here. Okay, Bleach and acid. And I'm
not talking about muratic acid or anything that's gonna, you know,
damage your skin. But by acid, I mean something as
simple as as vinegar. Okay, uh and uh, because it
is a it is a very very simple mild acid.
(25:31):
But first of all, hard water deposits have to be
dissolved off. They can't be scrubbed off by conventional means.
They need to be dissolved off by a by a
as as gentle and acid as possible to because they're rocks.
It's a mineral deposit that's happening on top of the tile.
(25:52):
So that's the first thing. And you might find that
a good acid washing of all of that tile actually
brings it back to life in some extraordinary ways, pulls
out some of the water staining and so on and
so forth. So there you go. That's first, okay, as
far as the grout is concerned, acid will help there
as well. And then whatever is left over by way
(26:14):
of staining because water may have carried some other elements
into it, then a good bleaching of that grout. Now,
let's assume for a moment that you are successful with
a gentle acid wash and bleaching of the tiles and
the grout. Then we rinse, we repeat, Then we let
(26:40):
it dry out.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
I mean, we don't touch it.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
We don't run water in there, we don't touch it
for a couple three days. We let it dry and
dry and dry, and then we go to town on
both of them with some penetrating sealer for the grout
and maybe potentially a surface glade sealer for the tile work.
That is your best case scenario. If we can get
(27:05):
it back looking the way it should look, then you
bring it back and then you start up, and that
seiler is going to need to be reapplied at least once.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
A year, depending on how much the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Maybe I know, I know. But here's the other good news, though, Kathy.
That is a white tile in a classic nineteen twenties
home subway tile is if you want to preserve the
look and the vibe. And because we do this all
the time in doing restoration work on century homes, it
(27:42):
just happens to be the case that white tile, whether
it's hexagonal on the floor, whether it's rectangular on the walls,
or waynscotting, that this is the least expensive tile you
can buy. And that doesn't mean that it's bad tile.
It just is the simplest, least expensive tile you can buy.
And so, in lieu of everything I just said, talk
to a tile company about coming in and retiling the
(28:05):
bathroom because you'll get glazed and then use epoxy grout.
Epoxy grout, not concrete grout. Epoxy grout. It'll never stain,
it'll never milde, and you'll be happy as a clam
with it from here on. App Kathy, thank you for
your call. Good luck with that bathroom. All right, when
we come back back to our list of twenty five
(28:29):
ways to deal with a small room, your Home with
Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. 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
(28:50):
iHeart Radio app.
Kf I am six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp
the House Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Today
on the show, we are talking about twenty five ways
to make the most of a small room. I've got
a whole list for you. I'm blazing through it. But
they're important and there they're great tips. We're going to
(00:22):
get back to that in just a bit. But right
now center of the show, as always, it's time for
your calls, which of course can be about anything whatsoever.
The number to reach me eight three three two ask
Dean a three to three the numeral two ask Dean.
Let us not waste any more time. Let's go right
(00:43):
to the phones. We're gonna start with Lou, Hey, Lou,
welcome home, Good.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Good morning, Dean. I have a question about fixing an
either porcelain or ceramic sink. I had a bottled saw
on my medicine cabinet made about a one inch triangle, triangular,
irregular hole in the sink which I can't get to
(01:11):
from the back because it's double it's double walled, So
how can I fix that? Best?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
When you say it's double water so the hole didn't
go through the sink, and this is just it's not
just a chip in Okay, let me ask.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
You this is this a chip in porcelain? Is it
a hole like a full on hole or.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
A chip in a porcelain coating on an otherwise metal
or cast iron sink.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
No, it's all the way through and there's another bottom
to it, but I can't get to it. Because I can't.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Get to it.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
It's just a little pace afterwards.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
All right, And the piece is the piece just lost
down in there in that. Yeah, Well, I don't have
great news for you, Lou. I'm not sure that there
is a there's a good I mean, there are times
when a porcelain sink breaks that we we get such
(02:24):
a clean punch out of the piece that we can
actually recover the piece. We find that it will fit
nicely back into the hole and with the right kind
of epoxies, just you know, re cemented in place, and
it doesn't make it invisible. You can still see the
line of the crack all, you know, on all sides.
But you can restore use of the sink to that.
(02:47):
But you've got kind of the double jeopardy scenario where
we don't even have the piece anymore and a one
inch hole diameter hole triangular. Otherwise, in a porcelain sink,
you could, I guess in theory, call out a porcelain
patching expert and they're going to charge up the wazoo
(03:11):
and probably just stare at you and say this would
be way cheaper for you just to buy a new sink.
And that's so that's the advice that I'm going to
tell you. I know it might involve tearing up the
tile or the countertop or whatever, but yeah, that's it's
not it's not a good situation. Look, it's not a
good situation. There's no there's no easy fix for that.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Well, what I did in order to have whatever I
put in there, I put a grasshopper clip and that way,
if I put any lock tight or something else that
I've seen online, it'll have somewhere to go. Otherwise just
go to the bottom, right.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
No, I get it, Yeah, I mean I get it.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
I'm just telling you from a a setics perspective, there's
no getting.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
It back to the way it looked before. That's what
I'm telling you.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Sure well, of.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Course, yeah, of course you can patch a hole in
your sink. You could put a rubberized patch over it
right now, and seal the edges with a silicone and
keep the sink a sink. But you're going to see
the patch. So that's my point. There's probably ten different
ways to patch the sink without much big ado.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
We can put a tire patch on it right now,
and you got your sink back. You know, we plug
the hole. The boat isn't leaking anymore. You can keep
your sink, but it's going to be a sink from
now on with a brake and a patch in it.
And so from an esthetics standpoint, my point is there's
no way to fix that sink to bring it back
to its unbroken appearance.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
You can always fix the hole. Does that makes sense?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Sure? A lot, a lot. I've got a question about
a small room. If that's all right to add it.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
On fire away fireway, We got to do it real quick.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Very quick. I saw online some closet doors that have
shelves on them, and would that be too for sliding doors?
So would that be too heavy to put stuff on
that kind.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Of No, I've seen, Yeah, I've seen.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I've seen a sliding closet door with shelves on it
and you know what in theory looks like it's, you know,
a potentially good thing.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
If they're bookshelves, if they're enclosed end shelves, then fine,
And I'm sure the door is, you know. So it
has to be a particularly strong door, though. It can't
be just the super lightweight doors that are typical for
a sliding door for a closet, because if you're going
to put weight on it, it's not about the rollers
per se or the track above. It's about the actual
(05:56):
flex of the door material itself and can it hold
up to that without binding or boeing. But yeah, But
the other thing though, that you need to understand is
that those shelves need to be closed in shelves, because
you know, I've seen open end shelves before. I've been
shown them, and I said, so, how do those work
out for you? And they're like, we can't move the
(06:18):
door because we've got all these chotchky's setting up there,
and then we slide the.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Door and they fall over and they fall off.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
So I get it. Probably not my first move as
far as how to set it up. Now more important
in a small space, if the closet isn't critically important
that those shelves are, you know, or that those sliding
doors are in front of Far better to just pull
the doors and utilize the niche that is the closet,
(06:49):
and you know, add regular shelving and or bookshelves or
whatever in a space like that. That's something that is
far more realistic for a small space than trying to
hang shelves off the front of a sliding closet door.
You know, not that it couldn't happen, but there are
things to consider along the way. Lou thank you for
(07:09):
your call, Buddy. Good luck with that sink.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Patch it up. Just don't show it to the guests,
that's all.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
When we come back, more of your calls your Home
with Dean Sharp, the house Whisper.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Here to help you take your home to the next level.
Thanks for joining us on the show today. We are
right in the middle of taking calls. Afterwards, we will
return to our topic for the day, which is my
list of twenty five ways to make the most of
a small room, which we're going to continue to blaze
through very very helpful, very practical, very interesting and informative.
(07:51):
If I do say Z may soon. But we will
get back to that in a bit. But right now
we are doing what we do. Middle of the show,
we're taking call, and so I want to get to
Mike A Mike, welcome home.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
Hello O Dean, how are you?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
I am well, my friend good.
Speaker 6 (08:10):
I love your show. It's interesting you're talking about moving
into or a small place. I recently moved from a
five thousand foot place to a small place. The kids
grew up.
Speaker 7 (08:20):
And the wife passed away.
Speaker 6 (08:21):
So now I'm in a manufactured home, and I find
that rolling carts helped me a lot. The kind of
thing you might see in a commercial kitchen with good wheels,
where you can put your books and move things out
of the way.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
That oh heck yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 6 (08:40):
Regarding decluttering, you can imagine after forty years in one place,
not everything fit in here. I just put the stuff
that I didn't want to throw away on the kitchen
counter and walked by it three days in a row
and decided I didn't want it there anymore.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
You know what, But I'm going to tell you there
are so many psychological tricks to really forcing yourself to realize, like,
you know, what this stuff just I mean, we look
at it and suddenly it matters. And we haven't looked
at it in five years. It didn't matter for five years.
Now that we're looking at it, suddenly it matters, and
so we store it for another five years. So yeah, yeah,
(09:17):
good on you. Good on you for forcing yourself to
deal with it.
Speaker 6 (09:20):
Right, unless you have to trip over it every day
and then you're just like, get rid of this thing.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
But there you go.
Speaker 6 (09:25):
Yeah. Regarding this new place, it's a manufactured home. When
I first moved in a year and a half ago,
dust was accumulating on all my furniture. Uh, it had
no air conditioning. I had central air put in when
I got here, and I thought, well, heck, there's just
something in the ducks. It'll diminish over time, and it
has not. They're floor registers to fine white dust.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
And I was going to ask you is it white?
Is it white dust?
Speaker 5 (09:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (09:55):
White?
Speaker 3 (09:55):
I got you, Yes, I got you.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
It's aluminum oxide and it's not going to go away
because your ac coil is producing it and blowing it
into your house. Very likely aluminum oxite. It is an
oxidation process. That takes place on aluminum coils. Now, remember,
(10:18):
I don't know, you don't have to remember, but back
in the day air conditioning coils, which are still made
out of copper, by the way, the vast majority of
them are copper, but you also used to have copper fins. Okay,
the coil is the pipe, the tube, and the fins
used to be copper as well, copper on copper and
so on. But to save money and more increased to fision.
(10:42):
I'm not going to get into the whole world of
HVAC technicalities, but a while back, more and more units
were being created with aluminum fins around a copper coil.
All right, So sometimes that's a problem because there's actually
an electrolysis that can happen, which can corrode the copper coil.
That's not what's happening with you, though, Okay, So what
happens is in certain environmental situation, certain situations, the aluminum
(11:06):
coil as it cools and gets moist and then dries out,
creates an aluminum oxide and oxidation, and it's this fine
white dust and it ends up getting blown into the system.
And then sometimes some people find it right on the
edge of their registers and it bugs them. Other people
find it all the way through their house. So this
(11:28):
is my guess, but I'm pretty I'm pretty sure about it,
and I'm not an HVAC expert. I'm just a guy
who's been around doing this for a long time and
I've seen a few things.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
This is what I would do.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
The newer units, the newer units that are coming out
of the factories now, they're heading this off at the
past and they're factory coating clear coating the aluminum fins
so that the fins don't react directly with the oxygen
around them and the moisture and create the oxidation. They've
(12:03):
got this clear coating on them. Some units, I suppose
still don't. Units built five years ago, maybe some of
them still didn't. So on that chance, my suggestion is
all your HVAC service provider, whoever put in the unit,
okay and have them come out, because the good news
(12:23):
is they can either a that can either price you
for switching out the coil, or B there are coatings
that can be applied in home that they you know,
they'll have to go through a little bit of process
and shut it down for a little while, but they
can still there are coatings that can coat the aluminum
(12:43):
fins on an aluminum coil and essentially solve your white
dust problem. But it sounds to me like, and I
want to hear back from you if it isn't this,
but it sounds to me like it is essentially aluminum
oxide that's built holding up on the coil through an
oxidation process, which happens not frequently but every once in
(13:06):
a while. Mike, thank you for your call, buddy, Thanks
for the question, very very interesting question.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Check that out and get back to me on it.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
All right, y'all, more of your calls when we return
your Home with Dean Sharp the house whisper.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty today.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
We're doing it by going through my list of twenty
five ways to make the most of a small room,
something that many of us, if not most of us,
have and are scratching our heads about, and we're like,
we get frustrated and we think, gosh, you think i'd
be able to figure this one out. Well, you know what,
don't don't be frustrated, because the smaller space gets, the
(13:51):
harder it is for designed to work in there. But
it will work. It will, my friend, Oh it will.
It's got to follow the rules, do it right, that's all.
A large spaces are very forgiving small spaces. Everything has
to be on point, and I'm helping you get there.
But right now, middle of the show, as is our custom,
(14:12):
we are taking calls and I want to go back
to the phones. Let's talk to Patricia. Hey, Patricia, welcome
home Hidin.
Speaker 8 (14:23):
Thank you for taking my call. Approximately two months ago,
I spent about six thousand dollars to have a company
come in and remove all the six inch thirty five
year old batting fiberglass removed from my attic. They sanitize, sanitized,
(14:44):
and cleaned the attic, and I had them blow in
twelve inches of tap insulation for a value of R
thirty eight. I've had my HDAC checked. I have that
checked anyways twice a year. Stat is okay, and ever
since then, now my house actually feels warmer and it's oh,
(15:06):
I'm only getting maybe six to seven degrees different and
temperature than what is outside. So the owner has come
in and he checked the attic and according to the
attic ruler, there's twelve inches of insulation, but during the
process they they I think they just went too fast,
as my understanding what I heard from a person and
(15:29):
the crew, because the plaster around both interests was torn
up and they did repair it. They fixed it, and
there was a few other issues that they did come
in and fix. But my house is actually warmer. I
bought some thermostats and it's in the eighties. So I
don't know what to do. Should I put more insulation?
(15:51):
I thought this was enough. Should I put fiberglass on
top of that?
Speaker 7 (15:55):
What do I do?
Speaker 8 (15:56):
And what's the problem? Hm?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Okay, let's let's try and pull this apart without getting
eyes on.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
It's not easy.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I hope you understand for me to tell you exactly
what the problem is. But I'm envisioning it. Okay, So
first of all, here's what not the problem is. The
problem is not with putting R thirty eight insulation in
your attic. That's not a problem. Okay, that's a great
it's a great move getting rid of bats the old
world bats insulation and using blown in blanketed a cellulose insulation.
(16:29):
That's what TAP insulation is. Tap is just a kind
of a brand name. It's cellulose insulation treated with bor
rates so that termites don't like it, rodents don't like it.
It's great stuff, right, It's my number one recommendation.
Speaker 8 (16:45):
Right, and that's that's why I did a lot of
research and I thought, well, this is the way to go.
So I'm not sure now what to do or what's wrong.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Right, So I've got two.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
I have two a question and then and then a
comment a follow up. My first question is around your house, okay,
single story home, yes, Okay, around the house on the outside,
do you have events vents like little like two inch
holes in the blocking going up.
Speaker 7 (17:15):
Into yes, a shop it.
Speaker 8 (17:20):
No, No, I don't.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
No venting that you're aware of out around the eave okay.
We may not have time on the radio to check
right now.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
But just in the blocking around your eves, okay, you
may find these two inch holes that are drilled into
the blocks with some wire mesh screen in the back
of them.
Speaker 8 (17:48):
Okay, Yes, I know what you're talking about. I do
believe I have that, and they did do air.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Ceiling, okay.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
So so the question I have is that this is
a common thing that gets missed, especially when an insulation
company is rushing okay, which is that those even though
we want that insulation all the way out to the
edge of the roof in the attic space, Okay, we
can't cover up those vents. Okay, we can't cover those
(18:16):
vents with insulation because that's what keeps your attic breathing.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Okay, uh.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And so a there is a very simple kind of
styrene plastic baffle that gets installed first after they've cleared
the attic.
Speaker 8 (18:32):
Yeah, yeah, I don't need baffles. Already checked into that.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
You don't need baffles, all right, So you don't have
vent okay, all right, all right, good, all right. So
the second thing is that you may have to get
used to. This is my comment here leading up to
the break here, is that you you're gonna it's gonna
take a little time, Patricia, for you to get used
to living in a home that is better insulated. And
(18:58):
by that what I mean is your one thing that
your old insulation, which was not as efficient, used to
do is it would allow whatever heat build up in
the house to escape out of the ceilings and into
the attic and out through the roof. In other words,
a leaky house in terms of insulation and poor quality
(19:21):
insulation does have this one kind of patterned benefit built
into it, and that is that whatever heat does build
up in the house, it doesn't build up as much.
Heat doesn't build up because instead of you know, instead
of living in let's say, an igloo kind of cooler, right,
or a yetti cooler with nice insulation on all sides,
(19:44):
now you're living in one with the top thrown open, right,
and so eat escapes faster, right, So heat is not
escaping from your home as quickly. Now you will very
much appreciate this. When the weather turns cold, it will
be a great boon to you because the heat that's
in your home is not leaving as quick and you
(20:05):
won't be using the heater or anything like that as much.
But during the summer months, most people who get new
insulation in their attic for the first time in a
long long time, they report the exact same phenomenon, which
is that, wow, the house feels colder. So what has
to happen now is you have to treat this like
an ice chest, okay, in the sense that you're gonna
(20:27):
be running that you're gonna seal up the house, and
you're gonna be pushing the ac a little bit further
during the day until you get to temperature that you want,
and then what you'll find is the house will hold
it longer, but you will have to push it a
little bit further because the heat that's build up in
the house isn't gonna leave. It's gonna need to be
(20:48):
transformed into cool air via the HVAC system. It's just
one of those things in which it's trust me, the
science is real. You have a better insulated house, but
better insulation means that whatever's in there stays in there.
That's the idea of insulation. Whatever the condition is inside
(21:11):
the house stays and whatever the condition outside the house
is stays out there. And the insulation is this break
and this barrier between the two. Okay, So what you
have now to do is you got to get that
air in the house cooler. But then don't worry about
that because once it is, it'll stay. Patricia, thank you
for your call, Thanks for the question. Just think in
(21:32):
those terms, and I think you're ultimately going to be
very happy that you did what you did, because you
did the right thing. All right, more of your calls
when we return your home with Dean Sharp, the house whisper.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
All right, we're going to return to our conversation right
after the next break, our conversation about twenty five ways
to make the most of a small space or a
small room in your home. But before then, one more shot,
one more crack at calls. We're taking calls live as
we do, and let me start. I want to talk
(22:11):
to Kathy. Hey, Kathy, welcome home. Do we have Kathy? Kathy?
Are you there?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yes, I'm here? Sorry, there you are?
Speaker 7 (22:23):
Hi, Hi, hi, Hi, thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
You're very welcome. How can I help you?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I I have.
Speaker 7 (22:32):
A shower in a bathroom and the floor are these
horrible unglazed hexagonal tiles like honeycomb? The ones in the shower.
It looks like maybe the hard water has even dulled
it even more. The grout on the bathroom floor is
(22:55):
really hard to keep clean. Is there any product you know,
DIY that I can use?
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Well, okay, so uh you say, unglad? How old are
how old are these tiles?
Speaker 7 (23:13):
The thing?
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Well, the house was built in nineteen twenty nine. We've
owned it for twenty five years. So the tiles were
already there. I don't know if it was original, but
it's just a pain in the butt to keep clean.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Yeah, yeah, it is, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
I mean, okay, if we're gonna there's like three levels
that we can address this on, if we're going to
keep the existing tile, okay.
Speaker 7 (23:47):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Now is it the grout that bugs you the most
or is the tile stained as well?
Speaker 4 (23:52):
It's actually both, it's both.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, it's both.
Speaker 7 (23:56):
Uh. It's much tough for the shower.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
It looks like, you know, because it's unglazed there where
the water is hitting it more.
Speaker 7 (24:06):
It's like it feels rough, like there's some kind of film.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah, it's hard water. It's it's mineral deposit. It's hard
water deposits. Yeah, clinging onto the tile.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Yeah. All right.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
So I mean no guarantees on this, okay, because that
sounds like very old tile and it has not been
well kept through the ages. Not that from you guys,
but just you know, I mean, there's a chance. I
appreciate your honesty. I appreciate your honesty, Kathy. I was
letting you off the hook, and you put yourself right
(24:39):
back on.
Speaker 7 (24:41):
I know.
Speaker 8 (24:43):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Anyway, so old tiles.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Uh, if we are past their their original glazing, if
that glazing has opened up, and it might have just
been I mean, if this original tile to the bathroom,
it might have been an unglazed tile to begin with,
which is really not easy to deal with. So bleach
and acid, okay, this is this is these are your
(25:08):
two best friends here. Okay, Bleach and acid. And I'm
not talking about muratic acid or anything that's gonna, you know,
damage your skin. But by acid, I mean something as
simple as as vinegar. Okay, uh and uh, because it
is a it is a very very simple mild acid.
(25:31):
But first of all, hard water deposits have to be
dissolved off. They can't be scrubbed off by conventional means.
They need to be dissolved off by a by a
as as gentle and acid as possible to because they're rocks.
It's a mineral deposit that's happening on top of the tile.
(25:52):
So that's the first thing. And you might find that
a good acid washing of all of that tile actually
brings it back to life in some extraordinary ways, pulls
out some of the water staining and so on and
so forth. So there you go. That's first, okay, as
far as the grout is concerned, acid will help there
as well. And then whatever is left over by way
(26:14):
of staining because water may have carried some other elements
into it, then a good bleaching of that grout. Now,
let's assume for a moment that you are successful with
a gentle acid wash and bleaching of the tiles and
the grout. Then we rinse, we repeat, Then we let
(26:40):
it dry out.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
I mean, we don't touch it.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
We don't run water in there, we don't touch it
for a couple three days. We let it dry and
dry and dry, and then we go to town on
both of them with some penetrating sealer for the grout
and maybe potentially a surface glade sealer for the tile work.
That is your best case scenario. If we can get
(27:05):
it back looking the way it should look, then you
bring it back and then you start up, and that
seiler is going to need to be reapplied at least once.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
A year, depending on how much the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Maybe I know, I know. But here's the other good news, though, Kathy.
That is a white tile in a classic nineteen twenties
home subway tile is if you want to preserve the
look and the vibe. And because we do this all
the time in doing restoration work on century homes, it
(27:42):
just happens to be the case that white tile, whether
it's hexagonal on the floor, whether it's rectangular on the walls,
or waynscotting, that this is the least expensive tile you
can buy. And that doesn't mean that it's bad tile.
It just is the simplest, least expensive tile you can buy.
And so, in lieu of everything I just said, talk
to a tile company about coming in and retiling the
(28:05):
bathroom because you'll get glazed and then use epoxy grout.
Epoxy grout, not concrete grout. Epoxy grout. It'll never stain,
it'll never milde, and you'll be happy as a clam
with it from here on. App Kathy, thank you for
your call. Good luck with that bathroom. All right, when
we come back back to our list of twenty five
(28:29):
ways to deal with a small room, your Home with
Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. 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
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