May 3, 2025 • 26 mins
In Hour 2 of All Calls Weekend, Dean Sharp continues taking your calls and solving home challenges from every angle. First up, a question about window upgrades leads to a discussion of thermally broken aluminum frames and how to shop smart when you have contractor pricing. Then, Dean breaks down everything you need to know about replacing an aging electrical panel—including when it’s necessary and when it's not. Finally, a homeowner plagued by persistent woodpeckers gets a lesson in peaceful coexistence with nature, with tips on deterrents, feeders, and finding harmony between your home and the wildlife around it.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty, CAFI.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
AM six forty, live streaming in HD everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app. Dean Sharp The House Whisperer Live with you
every Saturday and Sunday morning. Saturday mornings from six to
eight Pacific times, Sundays nine to noon Pacific times Sundays.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Our big show, Tomorrow's show.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
By the way, we're gonna be talking about springtime elements,
encouraging life and habitat in your backyard, birds, bees, flowers, trees,
the whole gambit. I got a bunch of special guests
with me tomorrow. You're not gonna want to miss tomorrow's show.
Follow us on social media. We only do the good kind,
(00:50):
you know, uplifting, informative, non irritating social media. We're on
all the usual suspects Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, x at Home
with Dean, same handle for them all Home with Dean,
And of course, this very program is also what's known
as The House Whisperer Podcast that you can listen to anytime,
(01:10):
anywhere on demand. Every time one of our broadcasts goes
off the air, very shortly thereafter it becomes our podcast,
which means that if you've missed part of the show,
you can always catch up. Hundreds of episodes now all
searchable by topic, your home improvement reference library. And finally,
(01:32):
if your home is in need of maybe some more
personal house Whisperer attention, like you know what I really need.
I need Dean and Tina standing in our living room
staring at the problem, not my partner, the problem, the
other problem, the house. We can do that too. You
can book an in home design consult with us. You
just go to house Whisperer dot Design, house whisper dot Design.
(01:57):
All right, it is an all call Saturday morning, as
we do, and I want to go back to the phones.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Let's talk to Patrick. Hey, Patrick, welcome home.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Oh good morning. I have a question about my fifty
seven year old house. I'm living at a fifty seven
year old house with your original circuit breaker panel electrical
circu bicker panel, and I'm wondering if it's time to
replace that electrical circer bicker panel. I don't know what
(02:30):
the life expectancy is on these panels.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Okay, let me ask you a couple of questions, Patrick,
And you know what we're right up against the break,
So I'm going to ask you these questions and then
we're going to press pause and everyone will be just
hanging with baited breath waiting for the answer. But are
you are you experiencing any difficulties with it? Or are
you thinking about the fact that it isn't supplying enough
(02:56):
power to your home? Or is it just a question
about whether this panel is aging out?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Well?
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Yes, is it aging out? And I did have one problem.
One of my circuit breakers failed to work on my
clothed wier on the Twitter and twenty vote circuit to
my closed WIER general electric circuit biker actually failed to trip.
(03:24):
So I'm wondering if this is a problem. And they
are called an electrician over and he said they no
longer sell these circuit breakers for this general electric panel.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Okay, okay, exactly. It was one of my suspicions along
the way. All right, So the question is a fifty
seven year old circuit breaker main panel for a house,
how long do they last? How long should you expect
them to last? Do they just need to be changed
out because of age?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Why?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
When, and how would you change out an electrical panel
for your home? Patrick, you hang tight and I'm going
to pick you up right on the other side of
the break and I will explain to everybody what the
status of your electrical panel truly is and are there
reasons to change them out. We'll do that just gay
(04:19):
if I Dean Sharp the house whisper at your service.
Thanks for joining us on the program. It is always
a pleasure to sit and spend time on a relaxing
Saturday morning talking to you about that most precious place
of your possession, your home. We're taking calls today, as
(04:41):
we do on Saturday mornings. The number to reach me
eight three three two ask Dean A three to three
the numeral to ask Dean. The phone lines are open
if you want to give me a call. I am
talking to Patrick. Hey, Patrick, are you still there?
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Yes, okay.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Patrick's got a fifty seven year old house and he
wanted to know is it time to replace the circuit
breaker panel, the main panel on the house and you
know when? How? What is the what's the deal with that?
He's had a circuit breaker problem with a two twenty
(05:20):
breaker that failed him, and the electrician told him that
they don't make those breakers for that panel. Anymore. And
so here's the thing, Patrick, here's the story for everybody
to understand.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Typically, well, I don't know, is that the right word. Typically, Oh,
let's just put it this way. A circuit panel, a
circuit breaker panel is a box. It's a metal box,
and it's got the wires from your home running into it,
connected to the breakers. The breakers are the thing. And
so no, in one sense, a breaker panel doesn't age
(05:59):
at okay, it doesn't have to age out.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Now, how many houses are out there with eighty year
old circuit breaker panels? Not many anymore? Not many. And
so if they don't age out, Dean, then what's the deal. Well,
they don't age out. Technically, wires sitting inside your house.
There's still copper wires. They're just fine if they haven't
been damaged abused. You know, they're copper wires, and they
(06:25):
are going to conduct electricity today just as well as
they did eighty years ago.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
And the housings that contain those wires, if they're in
good condition, they don't change either. But here there are
three reasons for replacing an old electrical panel. One, you
need to upgrade your electrical service. For one reason or another,
and typically speaking, even though we are now in some
(06:53):
ways using less electricity in a lot of components of
our homes, like lights. Led lights use so much less
electricity than the old incandescence. Yet we're on a trend
toward electrifying homes, meaning we've got electric cars now that
need charging, we've got solar up on the roof, we've
(07:13):
got electric appliances more than ever before. So what used
to be back in what would this be? Sixty seven
sixty eight used to be a typical tracked home, modest
sized American home would have a one hundred amp service
running to it one hundred amp panel. Nowadays, homes that
(07:35):
are built brand new these days, same kind of a home,
we've got a two hundred amp panel. Most homes these
days start with a two hundred amp panel. That is
now the typical thing. So one reason for replacing an
electrical panel you need to upgrade your service size and
move to like a two hundred amp panel. The second
(07:55):
reason is simply that the box itself, the breaker box,
which is there's nothing magical about it's just a box,
is rusting out or corroding and no longer a safe
place to protect the circuitry that's inside. And the third
reason is, and it sounds like this is your case, Patrick,
that replacement breakers aren't available anymore now. Fortunately, in the
(08:21):
electrical panel world, breakers last a long time, and there
isn't like changeover, like you know, man, I just installed
this panel three years ago, and now change the breakers.
They're not available anymore. That's not the way it works.
It moves very very slowly. But breaker technology does age out,
(08:42):
and panel manufacturers do change the shape and the connection
points of their breakers, and so, yeah, older panels, once
you get past fifty years or so, there's a good
chance that that company, even though the company's still around
making breakers, may not be manufacturing those breakers anymore. And
(09:02):
you got to give them, you know, you got to
give them some slack for that, because at this point
they're like, you know, how how much of their manufacturing
process do they need to commit to panels that are
fifty plus years old. They're not the main thing that
they're selling anymore. So, and very specific panels are made
(09:24):
by specific manufacturers and they're not interchangeable either, Like square
D panels don't fit eating breakers, and eating breaker panels
don't fit Siemens breakers and Semens breakers don't fit GE breakers,
and sixty year old g General Electric panels have different
breakers than ten year old General Electric panels. So there
(09:45):
are three reasons you need to upgrade your service, or
the box itself is rusting out or corroding, or you
got to replace breakers and they're not available anymore. Those
are the reasons Patrick to think about replace an old
electrical panel. And if those don't apply to you, then
then there's nothing wrong with your panel. It's gonna just
(10:08):
do what it's gonna do until you need it to
do something different. Does that make sense, my friend? I
appreciate the call, and good luck on your panel. If
you've got a question about like, okay, what do you
do now, then just talk to your electrician, call electrician out,
get a couple of bids. Replacing a panel really isn't
(10:29):
that big of a deal. It does involve calling the
electric company. They're going to have to reset the meter
on the panel and approve the new panel installation, but
you know it's not it's not a major deal. And
quite often you can put a surface mount panel if
your panel is embedded into your house, like so back
sixty plus years ago were you can without having to
(10:53):
tear up the stucc, or you can often use that
old panel box as what we call a junction box
and mount a surface mount panel right over the top
of it on the wall for a relatively low installation costs.
So look at all of those options with your electrician
and figure out, you know, what the next move is,
and get more than you know two bids on it,
(11:16):
so that you're really getting the inside scoop from three
different qualified electricians as to what your options are. Patrick,
good luck with that panel all right, when we come back,
more of your calls. Your Home with Dean Sharp, the
House Whisper.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
KFI AM six forty live streaming in HD everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app. You are Home with Dean Sharp, the
House Whisper. Good Saturday morning to you. It's just a
little bit after seven point thirty here on the West
Coast in southern California. I hope wherever you find yourself today,
(11:59):
that's time is treating you well. Whether it's cold, misty, rainy,
it's a little bit that way. Right here. We've been
having a truly authentic spring. I gotta tell you, it's
normally spring just kind of pops into place here in
southern California as a slightly cooler summer version of summer. Right,
(12:23):
it just all of a sudden, everything stops, The rain
stops it. You know, the skies are clear, temperatures warm
up into the high seventies, and it's just you know,
it's spring, but it's just not quite hot summer this
this year for whatever reason. And I haven't talked to
any meteorologists about this, and I should, but for this year,
(12:46):
here we are in May and it's spring like sunshine
for three hours, then clouds roll in, a little rain,
then the clouds roll out, then it's warm again, then
it's cold again, then it's misty. That I mean, this
is legitimate spring. This is like the spring that most
(13:09):
people everywhere else know as spring. And I gotta say,
I'm I'm actually really enjoying it. The longer moisture and
cool stays around in Southern California, the better for us.
The hills are still green and verdant and uh and
so good, good good, let's uh, let's encourage it to last,
(13:31):
all right, we are here on the program doing an
all calls Saturday morning talking about your home, and you
get to set the agenda. The number to reach me
eight three three two. Ask Dean eight three three the
numeral two. Ask Dean A three three two ask Dean.
We're going back to the phones. I want to talk
to Victor. Hey, Victor, welcome home.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
Hi Dean, good morning. I'm Victor from the Bay are Yeah,
thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
You are very welcome, sir. You say you're from the
Bay area, yes, oh, thanks for listening. How can I
help you?
Speaker 5 (14:12):
Yeah, So, I'll live in a house surrounded by trees,
and one of the problems I've been having is the
woodpecker damage around the entire perimeter of my house on
the wood case things on near the roof. And I
was listening to your show a couple of days ago,
(14:33):
and I clearly remember I choose to live in nature.
You have to be with nature, and so I was
just wondering if there is a good way to just
have them around but not damage their house. And all
the key things are all having huge holes gaps in
them now, and they constantly pounded them all day long.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Sorry, sorry, my friend.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Oh, yeah, okay, So, uh okay, I don't have a
silver bullet answer for you here on this one, but
I can. I'll give you my perspective and my input
from what I know. Uh you know, and by the way,
you know, I'm sorry that you're experiencing that damage. Other
there there are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of
(15:21):
other people who would love to live surrounded by trees
and have the problem of having too many woodpeckers around
in that because they're gorgeous birds and they're wonderful to
have around, but not when they decide that your house
is the target of their pecking. And I totally get it.
We've experienced that ourselves from time to time. Woodpeckers can
(15:42):
become a nuisance when it comes to that. And so okay,
so here's the thing. Let's let's uh, let's you know what.
Here's the thing, Victor. I'm gonna we're up against a break.
I'm gonna we're gonna go to break just a few
seconds early, and if you can hang tight through the
break on the other side. I will take the time
(16:04):
to answer this as thoroughly as possible, because it's a
multifaceted answer there's probably one point of suggestion that I
think that you'll probably embrace, But I just I just
want to give it a full orbed answer, because it's
not as simple as you know, put out some shiny
foil tape and there go away, or set up a
(16:25):
fake owl in your yard. That's just typically what people
do to get rid of nuisance birds, and almost always
it doesn't work. So I want to give you some
advice that actually may produce the results you want without
you know, devastating the woodpecker population in your neighborhood too.
So Victor, you hang tight, and we'll talk about what
(16:46):
happens when you invite nature into your yard and you
suddenly find that it's it's on the attack your home
with Dean Sharp the house Whisper can't fin Dean Sharp,
the house Whisper. Welcome home. Thanks for joining us on
this lovely Saturday morning here in springtime. It is May third,
(17:09):
and like I said earlier in the show, we're having
a full blown spring here in southern California. I kind
of like it. I gotta say. I like the sun
and then the rain, and then the clouds and then
the sun again. It's just keeps you on your toes.
Probably not the best day to wash the car, but
still keep you on your toes. Anyway, we're having an
(17:30):
all call Saturday morning, as we so often do.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
I'm talking to Victor. Victor, are you still with me?
Speaker 5 (17:38):
Yeah, I'm here, Lean.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Okay, Hey, Victor, thanks for hanging tight through the break.
I just wanted to answer Victor's question more fully before
we are done today. Victor is living up in the
Bay Area. He's got a home surrounded by trees. And
Victor has a woodpecker problem. A beautiful, beautiful, gorgeous birds.
(18:01):
I lure them into my yard whenever I can here
and they're one of the birds that we see pretty frequently.
But yeah, they can be a problem if they start
looking at your home and saying, okay, all right, all right,
I got plans. I got plans to remodel your home.
And so the next thing, you know, we've got to
holes in the siding, or holes in the eve boards
(18:25):
or the blocks or the facier board or the casing
trims around the house. And that's not a good thing.
And so woodpeckers, what do we do when they're in
the yard and now they're becoming a nuisance. Well, I
have it on good authority, very very good authority and
(18:45):
a lot of experience that deterrents are really not very
effective when it comes to woodpeckers. Temporarily effective. You can
put up the plastic owl, or you can put up
the shiny metal and you know, the ribbons. But at
the end of the day, who wants that. Who wants
their house to be covered in you know, metal ribbons
(19:07):
that reflect I mean, it's not something we want to
look at, even if it does keep the birds away.
There are maybe three or four reasons why woodpeckers are
pecking on our house. One is kind of sort of unavoidable,
and that is that this time of year, especially Victor,
woodpeckers will simply be knocking on wood. And if you've
(19:31):
got sighting on your house or wood casings, they may
be knocking on wood just to make the noise, just
to attract mates. Okay, that is one of their behaviors.
So they're they're drumming to basically say hey over here, ladies. Yeah,
that's the thing. Same with crickets this time of year.
You know, female crickets make no sound whatsoever, but male
(19:55):
crickets are out there rubbing their legs together, you know,
saying I'm over here. And so that's just one of
the things that happens in nature in springtime. The second
thing though, that it could be an indication of something
that you would want to look into, especially when it
comes to woodsiding and wood eves and things like that,
(20:15):
is that woodpeckers may be on our house actually looking
for insects. They're looking for the larvae of carpenter bees
and leafcutter bees. They're looking for termites, they're looking for
wood boares or ants or grubs, caterpillars, and they may
find them in the recesses of our eves. And so
(20:37):
one thing that you may want to consider if you've
got woodpeckers attacking a certain area of your house is
you may want to have a pest control company come
out and take a look at those zones and say, hey,
have I got bugs there more.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Than I should?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
And one of the things that can actually reduce the
amount of activity that a woodpecker is on the house
is simply treating the house not for woodpeckers, not spraying
for woodpeckers, but spraying eves, casing areas things like that
to eliminate the insects that may be living in certain
(21:14):
areas of the wood Victori, I'm going to pop you
on a hold here because I'm getting a kind of
a weird feedback here. So looking for insects and treating
the house for insects, and so the woodpeckers may be
an indication. They may be actually telling you, hey, you
have an abundance of insect larvae in certain areas of
your house, and it's not an uncommon thing at all,
(21:35):
and you could treat for those and reduce the amount
of woodpeckers that you find on your house. The third
thing that they do is they store food. Right, Western
woodpeckers make holes to store acorns in. If that starts
to happen, you've got to cover that up. You got
to pull the acorn out and cover the hole maybe
with a tiny piece of sheet metal, just temporarily, just
(21:56):
to discourage that activity. And the same with nesting. You're
getting a big hole drilled in your house. They're looking
to set up a nest, and so you got to
get to have some tiny pieces of sheet metal on
hand that you can get there, make sure there's no
bird in the hole, and then cover the hole with
the sheet metal they won't go through sheet metal, and
(22:17):
just discourage them from that. But here's the thing, all right,
those are the reasons this is the most effective way
that I have ever found to get woodpeckers off of
your house, and that is not to go to war
with them, but to acquiesce and give them what they want. So,
like all animals, woodpeckers, they work hard for a living,
(22:41):
and they are always happy to attracted to not having
to work as hard if they don't have to. So
consider having a pest control company deal with the sighting
for insects, but give them a better, easier choice. I would, literally,
if I were you, invest in a couple of woodpecker houses.
(23:04):
You know, their thirty forty dollars houses, A good quality
woodpecker house, like a bird house, but specifically designed for woodpeckers.
They're out there. They're usually cedar. They love the aroma.
They're usually have a perfect sized hole for the woodpecker
and perfect conditions inside. And because of that, they're like, hey,
(23:24):
this is great. I don't have to build my own house.
This is a pre made tracked house ready for me
to move into. And therefore, and you put those woodpecker
houses as far away from your home, like on the
back fence, just as far away from the house as possible,
so that the woodpeckers are there, they find it and
they decide to move in there instead of your house.
(23:46):
And then the other thing is too. I know this
seems counterintuitive, but to feed them woodpeckers love sue suet
is a is one of the They're just absolute and
it's like crack cane to them. So to set up
next to the woodpecker house and keep hold a woodpecker feeder,
(24:08):
especially during the spring, you're simply giving them a better alternative.
It's easier than hunting for insects, it's easier than foraging
for their own stuff. You're not going to make them dependent,
but you're simply and when it comes to your property,
in your house, you are giving them an easier, better,
(24:29):
more efficient means of getting what they want than having
to sit on your house and drill into your wood.
And usually it's not a silver bullet like I said,
but I would say maybe eight out of ten times
that we've made those recommendations that the people have followed through,
they have found that they now peacefully coexist with the
(24:49):
woodpeckers on their property. They've got these beautiful birds living
on their property, but no longer attacking the house. Now
when it comes to the springtime drumming to attract mates.
There may not be a whole lot that you can
do about that. But they're not trying to drill a
hole in that situation. They're just trying to, you know,
(25:11):
make some noise. And yeah, that may not be the
thing that you can solve the easiest. Other than that,
my friend, I wish you the best. I hope that
you know. I would love to hear back from you, Victor,
if you take those efforts and tell me whether or
not you've reached a peaceful daytante with the woodpeckers. By
(25:33):
the way, tomorrow's show birds, bees, flowers and trees. We're
gonna be talking about all this kind of stuff with
some experts in studio with me. You're not gonna want
to miss it nine to noon Pacific time tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Until then, that's about it for us today.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
I want you to get out there in this beautiful
spring weather and get busy building yourself a beautiful life.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
We'll see tomorrow. This has been home with Dean Sharp,
the House Whisper.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Tune into the live broadcast on KFI AM six forty
every Saturday morning from six to eight Pacific time, and
every Sunday morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty, CAFI.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
AM six forty, live streaming in HD everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app. Dean Sharp The House Whisperer Live with you
every Saturday and Sunday morning. Saturday mornings from six to
eight Pacific times, Sundays nine to noon Pacific times Sundays.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Our big show, Tomorrow's show.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
By the way, we're gonna be talking about springtime elements,
encouraging life and habitat in your backyard, birds, bees, flowers, trees,
the whole gambit. I got a bunch of special guests
with me tomorrow. You're not gonna want to miss tomorrow's show.
Follow us on social media. We only do the good kind,
(00:50):
you know, uplifting, informative, non irritating social media. We're on
all the usual suspects Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, x at Home
with Dean, same handle for them all Home with Dean,
And of course, this very program is also what's known
as The House Whisperer Podcast that you can listen to anytime,
(01:10):
anywhere on demand. Every time one of our broadcasts goes
off the air, very shortly thereafter it becomes our podcast,
which means that if you've missed part of the show,
you can always catch up. Hundreds of episodes now all
searchable by topic, your home improvement reference library. And finally,
(01:32):
if your home is in need of maybe some more
personal house Whisperer attention, like you know what I really need.
I need Dean and Tina standing in our living room
staring at the problem, not my partner, the problem, the
other problem, the house. We can do that too. You
can book an in home design consult with us. You
just go to house Whisperer dot Design, house whisper dot Design.
(01:57):
All right, it is an all call Saturday morning, as
we do, and I want to go back to the phones.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Let's talk to Patrick. Hey, Patrick, welcome home.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Oh good morning. I have a question about my fifty
seven year old house. I'm living at a fifty seven
year old house with your original circuit breaker panel electrical
circu bicker panel, and I'm wondering if it's time to
replace that electrical circer bicker panel. I don't know what
(02:30):
the life expectancy is on these panels.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Okay, let me ask you a couple of questions, Patrick,
And you know what we're right up against the break,
So I'm going to ask you these questions and then
we're going to press pause and everyone will be just
hanging with baited breath waiting for the answer. But are
you are you experiencing any difficulties with it? Or are
you thinking about the fact that it isn't supplying enough
(02:56):
power to your home? Or is it just a question
about whether this panel is aging out?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Well?
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Yes, is it aging out? And I did have one problem.
One of my circuit breakers failed to work on my
clothed wier on the Twitter and twenty vote circuit to
my closed WIER general electric circuit biker actually failed to trip.
(03:24):
So I'm wondering if this is a problem. And they
are called an electrician over and he said they no
longer sell these circuit breakers for this general electric panel.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Okay, okay, exactly. It was one of my suspicions along
the way. All right, So the question is a fifty
seven year old circuit breaker main panel for a house,
how long do they last? How long should you expect
them to last? Do they just need to be changed
out because of age?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Why?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
When, and how would you change out an electrical panel
for your home? Patrick, you hang tight and I'm going
to pick you up right on the other side of
the break and I will explain to everybody what the
status of your electrical panel truly is and are there
reasons to change them out. We'll do that just gay
(04:19):
if I Dean Sharp the house whisper at your service.
Thanks for joining us on the program. It is always
a pleasure to sit and spend time on a relaxing
Saturday morning talking to you about that most precious place
of your possession, your home. We're taking calls today, as
(04:41):
we do on Saturday mornings. The number to reach me
eight three three two ask Dean A three to three
the numeral to ask Dean. The phone lines are open
if you want to give me a call. I am
talking to Patrick. Hey, Patrick, are you still there?
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Yes, okay.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Patrick's got a fifty seven year old house and he
wanted to know is it time to replace the circuit
breaker panel, the main panel on the house and you
know when? How? What is the what's the deal with that?
He's had a circuit breaker problem with a two twenty
(05:20):
breaker that failed him, and the electrician told him that
they don't make those breakers for that panel. Anymore. And
so here's the thing, Patrick, here's the story for everybody
to understand.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Typically, well, I don't know, is that the right word. Typically, Oh,
let's just put it this way. A circuit panel, a
circuit breaker panel is a box. It's a metal box,
and it's got the wires from your home running into it,
connected to the breakers. The breakers are the thing. And
so no, in one sense, a breaker panel doesn't age
(05:59):
at okay, it doesn't have to age out.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Now, how many houses are out there with eighty year
old circuit breaker panels? Not many anymore? Not many. And
so if they don't age out, Dean, then what's the deal. Well,
they don't age out. Technically, wires sitting inside your house.
There's still copper wires. They're just fine if they haven't
been damaged abused. You know, they're copper wires, and they
(06:25):
are going to conduct electricity today just as well as
they did eighty years ago.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
And the housings that contain those wires, if they're in
good condition, they don't change either. But here there are
three reasons for replacing an old electrical panel. One, you
need to upgrade your electrical service. For one reason or another,
and typically speaking, even though we are now in some
(06:53):
ways using less electricity in a lot of components of
our homes, like lights. Led lights use so much less
electricity than the old incandescence. Yet we're on a trend
toward electrifying homes, meaning we've got electric cars now that
need charging, we've got solar up on the roof, we've
(07:13):
got electric appliances more than ever before. So what used
to be back in what would this be? Sixty seven
sixty eight used to be a typical tracked home, modest
sized American home would have a one hundred amp service
running to it one hundred amp panel. Nowadays, homes that
(07:35):
are built brand new these days, same kind of a home,
we've got a two hundred amp panel. Most homes these
days start with a two hundred amp panel. That is
now the typical thing. So one reason for replacing an
electrical panel you need to upgrade your service size and
move to like a two hundred amp panel. The second
(07:55):
reason is simply that the box itself, the breaker box,
which is there's nothing magical about it's just a box,
is rusting out or corroding and no longer a safe
place to protect the circuitry that's inside. And the third
reason is, and it sounds like this is your case, Patrick,
that replacement breakers aren't available anymore now. Fortunately, in the
(08:21):
electrical panel world, breakers last a long time, and there
isn't like changeover, like you know, man, I just installed
this panel three years ago, and now change the breakers.
They're not available anymore. That's not the way it works.
It moves very very slowly. But breaker technology does age out,
(08:42):
and panel manufacturers do change the shape and the connection
points of their breakers, and so, yeah, older panels, once
you get past fifty years or so, there's a good
chance that that company, even though the company's still around
making breakers, may not be manufacturing those breakers anymore. And
(09:02):
you got to give them, you know, you got to
give them some slack for that, because at this point
they're like, you know, how how much of their manufacturing
process do they need to commit to panels that are
fifty plus years old. They're not the main thing that
they're selling anymore. So, and very specific panels are made
(09:24):
by specific manufacturers and they're not interchangeable either, Like square
D panels don't fit eating breakers, and eating breaker panels
don't fit Siemens breakers and Semens breakers don't fit GE breakers,
and sixty year old g General Electric panels have different
breakers than ten year old General Electric panels. So there
(09:45):
are three reasons you need to upgrade your service, or
the box itself is rusting out or corroding, or you
got to replace breakers and they're not available anymore. Those
are the reasons Patrick to think about replace an old
electrical panel. And if those don't apply to you, then
then there's nothing wrong with your panel. It's gonna just
(10:08):
do what it's gonna do until you need it to
do something different. Does that make sense, my friend? I
appreciate the call, and good luck on your panel. If
you've got a question about like, okay, what do you
do now, then just talk to your electrician, call electrician out,
get a couple of bids. Replacing a panel really isn't
(10:29):
that big of a deal. It does involve calling the
electric company. They're going to have to reset the meter
on the panel and approve the new panel installation, but
you know it's not it's not a major deal. And
quite often you can put a surface mount panel if
your panel is embedded into your house, like so back
sixty plus years ago were you can without having to
(10:53):
tear up the stucc, or you can often use that
old panel box as what we call a junction box
and mount a surface mount panel right over the top
of it on the wall for a relatively low installation costs.
So look at all of those options with your electrician
and figure out, you know, what the next move is,
and get more than you know two bids on it,
(11:16):
so that you're really getting the inside scoop from three
different qualified electricians as to what your options are. Patrick,
good luck with that panel all right, when we come back,
more of your calls. Your Home with Dean Sharp, the
House Whisper.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
KFI AM six forty live streaming in HD everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app. You are Home with Dean Sharp, the
House Whisper. Good Saturday morning to you. It's just a
little bit after seven point thirty here on the West
Coast in southern California. I hope wherever you find yourself today,
(11:59):
that's time is treating you well. Whether it's cold, misty, rainy,
it's a little bit that way. Right here. We've been
having a truly authentic spring. I gotta tell you, it's
normally spring just kind of pops into place here in
southern California as a slightly cooler summer version of summer. Right,
(12:23):
it just all of a sudden, everything stops, The rain
stops it. You know, the skies are clear, temperatures warm
up into the high seventies, and it's just you know,
it's spring, but it's just not quite hot summer this
this year for whatever reason. And I haven't talked to
any meteorologists about this, and I should, but for this year,
(12:46):
here we are in May and it's spring like sunshine
for three hours, then clouds roll in, a little rain,
then the clouds roll out, then it's warm again, then
it's cold again, then it's misty. That I mean, this
is legitimate spring. This is like the spring that most
(13:09):
people everywhere else know as spring. And I gotta say,
I'm I'm actually really enjoying it. The longer moisture and
cool stays around in Southern California, the better for us.
The hills are still green and verdant and uh and
so good, good good, let's uh, let's encourage it to last,
(13:31):
all right, we are here on the program doing an
all calls Saturday morning talking about your home, and you
get to set the agenda. The number to reach me
eight three three two. Ask Dean eight three three the
numeral two. Ask Dean A three three two ask Dean.
We're going back to the phones. I want to talk
to Victor. Hey, Victor, welcome home.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
Hi Dean, good morning. I'm Victor from the Bay are Yeah,
thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
You are very welcome, sir. You say you're from the
Bay area, yes, oh, thanks for listening. How can I
help you?
Speaker 5 (14:12):
Yeah, So, I'll live in a house surrounded by trees,
and one of the problems I've been having is the
woodpecker damage around the entire perimeter of my house on
the wood case things on near the roof. And I
was listening to your show a couple of days ago,
(14:33):
and I clearly remember I choose to live in nature.
You have to be with nature, and so I was
just wondering if there is a good way to just
have them around but not damage their house. And all
the key things are all having huge holes gaps in
them now, and they constantly pounded them all day long.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Sorry, sorry, my friend.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Oh, yeah, okay, So, uh okay, I don't have a
silver bullet answer for you here on this one, but
I can. I'll give you my perspective and my input
from what I know. Uh you know, and by the way,
you know, I'm sorry that you're experiencing that damage. Other
there there are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of
(15:21):
other people who would love to live surrounded by trees
and have the problem of having too many woodpeckers around
in that because they're gorgeous birds and they're wonderful to
have around, but not when they decide that your house
is the target of their pecking. And I totally get it.
We've experienced that ourselves from time to time. Woodpeckers can
(15:42):
become a nuisance when it comes to that. And so okay,
so here's the thing. Let's let's uh, let's you know what.
Here's the thing, Victor. I'm gonna we're up against a break.
I'm gonna we're gonna go to break just a few
seconds early, and if you can hang tight through the
break on the other side. I will take the time
(16:04):
to answer this as thoroughly as possible, because it's a
multifaceted answer there's probably one point of suggestion that I
think that you'll probably embrace, But I just I just
want to give it a full orbed answer, because it's
not as simple as you know, put out some shiny
foil tape and there go away, or set up a
(16:25):
fake owl in your yard. That's just typically what people
do to get rid of nuisance birds, and almost always
it doesn't work. So I want to give you some
advice that actually may produce the results you want without
you know, devastating the woodpecker population in your neighborhood too.
So Victor, you hang tight, and we'll talk about what
(16:46):
happens when you invite nature into your yard and you
suddenly find that it's it's on the attack your home
with Dean Sharp the house Whisper can't fin Dean Sharp,
the house Whisper. Welcome home. Thanks for joining us on
this lovely Saturday morning here in springtime. It is May third,
(17:09):
and like I said earlier in the show, we're having
a full blown spring here in southern California. I kind
of like it. I gotta say. I like the sun
and then the rain, and then the clouds and then
the sun again. It's just keeps you on your toes.
Probably not the best day to wash the car, but
still keep you on your toes. Anyway, we're having an
(17:30):
all call Saturday morning, as we so often do.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
I'm talking to Victor. Victor, are you still with me?
Speaker 5 (17:38):
Yeah, I'm here, Lean.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Okay, Hey, Victor, thanks for hanging tight through the break.
I just wanted to answer Victor's question more fully before
we are done today. Victor is living up in the
Bay Area. He's got a home surrounded by trees. And
Victor has a woodpecker problem. A beautiful, beautiful, gorgeous birds.
(18:01):
I lure them into my yard whenever I can here
and they're one of the birds that we see pretty frequently.
But yeah, they can be a problem if they start
looking at your home and saying, okay, all right, all right,
I got plans. I got plans to remodel your home.
And so the next thing, you know, we've got to
holes in the siding, or holes in the eve boards
(18:25):
or the blocks or the facier board or the casing
trims around the house. And that's not a good thing.
And so woodpeckers, what do we do when they're in
the yard and now they're becoming a nuisance. Well, I
have it on good authority, very very good authority and
(18:45):
a lot of experience that deterrents are really not very
effective when it comes to woodpeckers. Temporarily effective. You can
put up the plastic owl, or you can put up
the shiny metal and you know, the ribbons. But at
the end of the day, who wants that. Who wants
their house to be covered in you know, metal ribbons
(19:07):
that reflect I mean, it's not something we want to
look at, even if it does keep the birds away.
There are maybe three or four reasons why woodpeckers are
pecking on our house. One is kind of sort of unavoidable,
and that is that this time of year, especially Victor,
woodpeckers will simply be knocking on wood. And if you've
(19:31):
got sighting on your house or wood casings, they may
be knocking on wood just to make the noise, just
to attract mates. Okay, that is one of their behaviors.
So they're they're drumming to basically say hey over here, ladies. Yeah,
that's the thing. Same with crickets this time of year.
You know, female crickets make no sound whatsoever, but male
(19:55):
crickets are out there rubbing their legs together, you know,
saying I'm over here. And so that's just one of
the things that happens in nature in springtime. The second
thing though, that it could be an indication of something
that you would want to look into, especially when it
comes to woodsiding and wood eves and things like that,
(20:15):
is that woodpeckers may be on our house actually looking
for insects. They're looking for the larvae of carpenter bees
and leafcutter bees. They're looking for termites, they're looking for
wood boares or ants or grubs, caterpillars, and they may
find them in the recesses of our eves. And so
(20:37):
one thing that you may want to consider if you've
got woodpeckers attacking a certain area of your house is
you may want to have a pest control company come
out and take a look at those zones and say, hey,
have I got bugs there more.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Than I should?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
And one of the things that can actually reduce the
amount of activity that a woodpecker is on the house
is simply treating the house not for woodpeckers, not spraying
for woodpeckers, but spraying eves, casing areas things like that
to eliminate the insects that may be living in certain
(21:14):
areas of the wood Victori, I'm going to pop you
on a hold here because I'm getting a kind of
a weird feedback here. So looking for insects and treating
the house for insects, and so the woodpeckers may be
an indication. They may be actually telling you, hey, you
have an abundance of insect larvae in certain areas of
your house, and it's not an uncommon thing at all,
(21:35):
and you could treat for those and reduce the amount
of woodpeckers that you find on your house. The third
thing that they do is they store food. Right, Western
woodpeckers make holes to store acorns in. If that starts
to happen, you've got to cover that up. You got
to pull the acorn out and cover the hole maybe
with a tiny piece of sheet metal, just temporarily, just
(21:56):
to discourage that activity. And the same with nesting. You're
getting a big hole drilled in your house. They're looking
to set up a nest, and so you got to
get to have some tiny pieces of sheet metal on
hand that you can get there, make sure there's no
bird in the hole, and then cover the hole with
the sheet metal they won't go through sheet metal, and
(22:17):
just discourage them from that. But here's the thing, all right,
those are the reasons this is the most effective way
that I have ever found to get woodpeckers off of
your house, and that is not to go to war
with them, but to acquiesce and give them what they want. So,
like all animals, woodpeckers, they work hard for a living,
(22:41):
and they are always happy to attracted to not having
to work as hard if they don't have to. So
consider having a pest control company deal with the sighting
for insects, but give them a better, easier choice. I would, literally,
if I were you, invest in a couple of woodpecker houses.
(23:04):
You know, their thirty forty dollars houses, A good quality
woodpecker house, like a bird house, but specifically designed for woodpeckers.
They're out there. They're usually cedar. They love the aroma.
They're usually have a perfect sized hole for the woodpecker
and perfect conditions inside. And because of that, they're like, hey,
(23:24):
this is great. I don't have to build my own house.
This is a pre made tracked house ready for me
to move into. And therefore, and you put those woodpecker
houses as far away from your home, like on the
back fence, just as far away from the house as possible,
so that the woodpeckers are there, they find it and
they decide to move in there instead of your house.
(23:46):
And then the other thing is too. I know this
seems counterintuitive, but to feed them woodpeckers love sue suet
is a is one of the They're just absolute and
it's like crack cane to them. So to set up
next to the woodpecker house and keep hold a woodpecker feeder,
(24:08):
especially during the spring, you're simply giving them a better alternative.
It's easier than hunting for insects, it's easier than foraging
for their own stuff. You're not going to make them dependent,
but you're simply and when it comes to your property,
in your house, you are giving them an easier, better,
(24:29):
more efficient means of getting what they want than having
to sit on your house and drill into your wood.
And usually it's not a silver bullet like I said,
but I would say maybe eight out of ten times
that we've made those recommendations that the people have followed through,
they have found that they now peacefully coexist with the
(24:49):
woodpeckers on their property. They've got these beautiful birds living
on their property, but no longer attacking the house. Now
when it comes to the springtime drumming to attract mates.
There may not be a whole lot that you can
do about that. But they're not trying to drill a
hole in that situation. They're just trying to, you know,
(25:11):
make some noise. And yeah, that may not be the
thing that you can solve the easiest. Other than that,
my friend, I wish you the best. I hope that
you know. I would love to hear back from you, Victor,
if you take those efforts and tell me whether or
not you've reached a peaceful daytante with the woodpeckers. By
(25:33):
the way, tomorrow's show birds, bees, flowers and trees. We're
gonna be talking about all this kind of stuff with
some experts in studio with me. You're not gonna want
to miss it nine to noon Pacific time tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Until then, that's about it for us today.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
I want you to get out there in this beautiful
spring weather and get busy building yourself a beautiful life.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
We'll see tomorrow. This has been home with Dean Sharp,
the House Whisper.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Tune into the live broadcast on KFI AM six forty
every Saturday morning from six to eight Pacific time, and
every Sunday morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
Home with Dean Sharp News
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