August 9, 2025 • 36 mins
Dean Sharp opens the second hour with a “haunted” light switch mystery, explaining why intermittent contact—not the switch or ceiling fan—is likely the culprit, and how an electrician can track down the problem. A follow-up caller offers a theory, but Dean rules out a three-way switch issue before moving on to a fence problem in windy Lancaster, diagnosing rotted, improperly treated posts as the root cause. The call-in streak continues, wrapping with advice on how to tell when it’s time to refinish a roof and the key indicators that determine the right timing for the job.
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Transcript
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.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good morning and welcome home.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
I am Dean Sharp, the house whisper, custom home builder,
custom home designer, and every Saturday Morning your guide to
better understand that place where you live. If you are
listening to us live, good morning to you. If you're
listening to us on the podcast, then good fill in
(00:32):
the blank right there for you. Yes, you know, every
show we do, whether it's a Saturday morning show or
the big show on Sundays, right after we go off
the air is converted into podcast form where it goes
on and lives in perpetuity. And so you can go
back if you missed any part of the show, if
there was some detail and you're like, you know, Dean
(00:52):
said something that I can't remember, just go back and
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up right now. Uh, that's kind of cheating, but you're
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(01:13):
many times as you like, any time you want on demand.
Of course, the free iHeartRadio app is a great place
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(01:33):
House Whisper or just about any word and no, no,
my name should probably be on there and it'll pop up.
So Home with Dean, Dean Sharp, the House Whisper, you'll
see it. You'll see my funky smile and face. And
you can subscribe, which means you get notifications every time
a new episode comes in. And enjoy and listen and
(01:58):
have a blast with trans forming your ordinary house into
an extraordinary home. All right, it's Saturday morning. We are
taking calls, and I want to go back to the
phones because we got.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Calls on the board. Let's talk to Steve. Hey, Steve,
welcome home.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Thank you so much so. Living in an old building
and the bedroom light switch started wearing out a few
months ago, and I have a ceiling fan that I
inter use and sleep with. And so I called a
friend of mine who owns property. He had his handyman
come up, a very very competent handyman put a new
light switch and before the handyman left it like wasn't
(02:40):
working again, right, So he went to home deepot and
got an even better light switch and put in the
same problem. Right, and so we started calling a haunted
because sometimes it works, sometimes it would So what I did,
It wouldn't work for like two or three weeks, and
I kept trying to try to and then it did
come on. So I just left the switch on because
I need that fan going right then this week, so
(03:03):
it ran for like three weeks, you know, kept fan on,
and then this week there was a power outage, okay,
And when the power came back on the switch was
it working again. And that's how it is right now.
So Obi Wan Dean, you're my only hope, all right.
(03:25):
So and by the way, the handyman did test the
wires up in the ceiling fan, so he doesn't know.
We don't know what's going on because the ceiling fan
wires in the assembly are Seveney, you're working.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Fine, okay, So about okay, he tested the wires, meaning what, yes.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Whatever handyman tool you use, I guess when you go
to replace life which you have a control. You you're
the builder, you're the expert, right, but.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
He had all right, all right, all right, all right,
and then he went.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Up to the ceiling fan assembly and he said, yeahs
are good. So we don't know. I don't know if
it's in the walls or what.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, all right, So here's here's I'm ninety nine percent
sure of what your situation is. The question is hunting
it down. Okay, So it's not the switch because you
changed out the switch to a brand new switch and
that didn't go. And then you changed out that switch
to an even newer switch and that didn't go. And
(04:29):
the ceiling fan is fine. And the continuity, meaning there's wires.
I mean, you'd have to have like a major problem
in the wall for wires to go bad on you.
Because electrical is very durable. It's what we call durable.
Once it's there and it's up and it's working, I mean,
there's nothing really to wear out. Okay, it's just current
(04:51):
running through a conductor. So most electricians will tell you
the number one reason why your light switch sometimes works
sometimes it doesn't. What we're experiencing here is intermittent contact.
Intermittent contact, which means wire nuts, the bane of all
electrical Okay, So the point is when there is contact,
(05:17):
there's nothing wrong with the system whatsoever, and then we
lose it. So intermittent contact.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Now.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
The way electrical switch works, of course, is there's a
load wire. That's the wire that's carrying the actual load.
Usually a black wire, sometimes it's red, usually it's black.
It's broken in two and then it runs through a
switch because the switch breaks the continuity there for the
(05:46):
load on its way up to the light fixture itself. Okay,
you got a black wire running up there, you got
a white wire running up there. The white is the
neutral that allows the energy to return back to the panel.
The black is what's feeding in through the light fixture.
So there are several wire nuts involved in this process.
(06:06):
Those little caps where you screw them together. There may
be wire nuts in the switchbox that have nothing to
do directly with the switch line, but are part of
what feeds that black line to the switch. A lot
of people when they pull out a switch, they discover
there are other wires in the back of the box
because that switch is part of a power circuit that's
(06:30):
leading other places. It may be the case, Steve, that
you may be drawing that switchbox may be drawing power
off of the same thing that's lighting up outlets around
the room, and you may not notice that the outlets
are losing continuity because there may not be something plugged
into them that is constantly running that would show that
(06:54):
to you. Or there may be wire nuts in the
ceiling box where the ceiling fan is. And I'm not
talking about just the wire nuts where the ceiling fan
itself is connected to the line, but others as well,
because it's not always just two wires running dedicated from
the panel to the switch up to the light fixture.
(07:16):
It's part of a larger circuit. And everywhere there is
a wire nut in this circuit, there is the potential
if one of them, for some reason, was just slightly loose. Okay,
now you would think, well, why hasn't that been a problem,
you know, for years and years and years before this.
Well that's the bane of wire nuts, because if one
(07:39):
of them was slightly loose to begin with, just slightly,
you could have decades of consistent service and continuity between
the wires. But with heating and cooling, hot and cold,
the wires expand slightly. Then they contract slightly when they're
not warmed up.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
Up.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
They can basically kind.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Of wiggle themselves loose, and somewhere somewhere in this line,
in this circuit, there is something that is losing continuity.
And the reason why I suspect it's a wirenut situation
is because there are also times that it's working, times
when maybe the attic is just warm enough to bring
(08:26):
them back together again. So basically, what I'm saying is
there's a switch, a hidden switch in this circuit that
is turning itself on and off and overriding the work
that the switch is doing with the ceiling fan. Okay,
it's very unlikely that the ceiling fan is the problem,
(08:46):
although if you said the handyman tested, I mean the
way to do that would be to hook the ceiling
fan up to another circuit and see if there's intermittent problems.
But I would say it's probably unlikely now. Sometimes an
older ceiling fan and will have a continuity break inside
of it that after it runs and is warm for
a while, it shuts off. But that doesn't sound like
(09:09):
your situation, because it sounds like there are times when
you just can't get it to turn on when everything
is cold, just straight up. Sometimes it's on sometimes it's off.
It is very likely a wire nut situation, and it
may be something that is beyond your handy person's ability
(09:30):
or skill level to trace down. You may want to
suggest that to them again, that it's something a wire
nut unrelated to that direct connection from switch to fixture,
but elsewhere in the circuit that is a problem, and
it's being masked by the fact that you don't notice
(09:51):
other things going on and off. But one of the
things that you might want to check is plugging a
lamp fixture into the outlets in the room when the
fixture is not working and see if you get power
out of them as well. But basically that's kind of
a homeowner investigation. Basically, what I'm suggesting is it is
probably time my friend to have an electrician trace the circuit,
(10:16):
find out everything connected to that circuit, and see if
they can't find where the loose connection is. Because it
is ghosting you. But it's not supernatural. It is there's
a place somewhere in your home where two wires are
touching and then there's enough space for them to not touch,
(10:36):
and as a result, you're losing power at that light.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
So it could be in the wall, could be.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
In the wall.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Not likely in the wall, though, because here's the thing.
That's what that's I don't want you to get discouraged
because wire nuts are not allowed to Now it could
have happened, but we're not allowed to wire neut wires
together outside of an electrical box. In other words, anywhere
we make a connection of one wire to another, it
has to be in an accessible box.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
So the point is, chances are highly likely we can
track this down and find it, find the bad wirenet
connection because those wire nuts are in a switchbox, they're
in a junction box, they're in some box that's accessible.
It's against code to wirenut a wire in the middle
of a wall where we can't get to it, exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
For this reason.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
What's a wire nott again?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
A wire nut is where you take two wires and
you join them together by running a little rubber cap
over the top of them. You screw it on in
order to join them together. And those things I will
tell you every electrician on planet Earth will tell you
that it is the number one reason why this kind
(11:50):
of stuff happened. And so that's my suggestion, Steve, we're
up against a break, Buddy, I'm telling you it may
be time to get electric to trace the circuit. I
think you'll be able to find it. It's going to
take a little due diligence, but I think you'll be
able to find it. It's obviously not the switch. That's
the point, and that was the big that was the
(12:11):
big tell in your situation. It's not the switch. Don't
replace the switch again, search for the intermittent connection. All right, y'all,
more of your calls when we return your home with
Dean Sharp, the house Whisper. Dean Sharp, the house Whisper
here to help you take your home to the next level.
Good morning to you, my friend, Thanks for joining us
(12:33):
on the program. It looks to be a lovely, clear
and warm day here in southern California. I hope the
weather wherever you may be is just as nice. Whatever
it is. I hope you've got plans for the day
that you know. I'm sure you do, because you know,
those of you who are up with me Saturday mornings,
you're the getter dinners out there. Yeah, we're up getting
(12:55):
it done, and we are taking calls as we do
every Saturday. More the number to reach me eight three
three two ask Dean eight three three the numeral two
ask Dean eight three three to ask Dean, it's just
that simple. Anything you got going on with your home
that's got you scratch in your head, design, DIY, construction, inside, outside,
(13:19):
landscape decor, whatever the case may be. I'm here to
help you out, by the way, uh, and I appreciate
this caller. Chuck called in and said, hey, Dean, you
didn't mention a three way switch with Steve, a previous caller,
And you're absolutely right. The reason I didn't mention it
was because I got the distinct impression this was a
(13:40):
fan switch into a bedroom that just has one switch
leading to the fan. But Steve, if you're still listening,
and for those of you who were curious about why
a fan, could you know why switch could fail? A
three way switch situation that's been wired improperly could also
be the case. Three way switches classically they have well
(14:02):
I'm not going to get into the details, but a
three way switch means if you can control a light
fixture from more than one switch. Right, there's one on
one side of the room, there's one on the other
side of the room. If those get replaced and the
wires get flipped on them.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Excuse me.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
If the wires get flipped, in other words, if the
new switch gets wired backwards, then what you have is
the situation not where they are sharing being able to
turn on the light fixture independently, but one cuts the
power completely and then the other one will not work,
and so it's an awkward situation. But it didn't give
(14:41):
me the impression that that was the case. But yeah,
if it's a three way switch, you got to check
that out as well. Make sure those are wired properly,
because you just may inadvertently be killing the power there.
So moving on, I want to talk to Mark. Hey, Mark,
welcome home, Good.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Morning, Dnay. I love your show. I'm a homeowner and
I'm an electrical contractor. At the same time, I loved it.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
You forgot about that. Maybe the two just mentioned in
three way switches, two travelers in the heat.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
And all that. But I have a sense I have
a fence situation in the backyard. I lived in Lancaster
now for five years, extremely windy, extremely hot. I have
a swimming pool that where this backs fence is wood
and it has broken over. The posts have broken over.
(15:37):
Whether it be dr Rod or rather it just be
that they broke over or you know whatever, cinder block
walls east and west. This fence is the very back north,
and right now it's actually laying on my neighbors jennifers
(15:58):
that are the as they are, jennifers that're tall, very tall,
and they're laying on his trees. So I want I
want to put another's in.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
The block wall across the back. Go talk to them,
ask them if they wanted to go half. But right now,
I just for cause efficiency and because it's so ugly
and just that and the other I was wondering if
I could get away with just putting maybe a vinyl
up across the back of the yard. Do I have
to pull a permit if I had go back for it?
(16:31):
Would you know, just different day?
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Would you suggest?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
All right?
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Okay, So here's the thing. So when you say it
blew over, so did the post snap? Is that was
that the situation?
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (16:47):
Three of the posts this is roughly about twenty five
feet of fence all the way across the back, and
three of the posts on the end.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Are just like dry roded, broke over and.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
All of them are yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Okay, so they're just in bad shape. And if the
posts themselves, the posts themselves mark, what are they?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Redwood? Cedar? Can you tell?
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Yeah, it's a red wood, it's not it's not pine?
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Okay, So here is the thing, my friend. So here's
the good news. Good news is that you can do
just about anything you want back there. I personally, I mean,
cinder block would be great, right, but the wind issue,
what you really have is you got you just had
a an old fence with rotten posts.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Okay. So the posts are the key. The posts are
the key.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
And these days we don't want to put redwood down
in the ground. We don't want to put cedar in
the ground. We don't put any wood other than pressure
treated into the ground.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Right.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
So the skin, the skin of the fence, in other words,
the part that you see build that out of whatever
you want. Okay, I personally am not a huge fan
of vinyl fences. Vinyl fences aren't going to be any stronger. Fact,
technically they're going to be weaker, uh yeah than a
well built wood fence. And uh And so the key
(18:17):
is with a wood fence is that you're the skin
can be whatever whatever, but the posts, the frame structure
and so the posts and and the two by four
rails that are running in between top and bottom, in
between those posts under the skin all pressure treated lumber,
all lumber that is designed to resist rot, resist moisture,
(18:40):
and that fence will last you decades, decades, okay. The
other the other part is, uh, you've got to do
the post holes right, Okay, So I don't know if
they're I'm assuming they're embedded in concrete, which is yet.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Yeah, we'll post sol what uh two I'm excuse me,
not two feet? Maybe three feet postal cement, you know,
stand them up right, going the original spots that they
were already in.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Well, yeah, now if you can, if you can slide
it one down, if you can slide to pressure treated
four by four down inside the original hole left in
the concrete, that's all well and good. But chances are,
if you're start new, you're gonna just get that concrete
out of the ground. And the general rule is a
post hole should be three times the width of the
(19:32):
post okay, in width, So generally speaking, if you're using
a four by four, you're gonna want a twelve inch
diameter hole, and you're gonna want to go down one
third in the ground, two thirds out of the ground.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
So if we're six foot high fence, we're gonna go
down three feet okay. And here's great news. It's a
nonstructural wall these days. You get that concrete out of there,
You get your pressure treated posts and get on down
to the big box store, the builder supply and get
yourself some expanding foam post hole foam. Okay, no more cement,
(20:10):
No more cement down there. You just break those puppies open,
you mix them together. They kind of work like a catalyst,
kind of like a you know, there's a catalyst on
one side and an activator on the other. You break
those open and pour them down in there. Right, You're
not lugging around concrete mix that will expand. It'll fill
up the hole all the way to the top. It'll
(20:31):
lock that post hole in place. The other thing that's
nice about it is now you're using pressure treated lumber,
which can handle moisture. But unlike cement in a post hole, uh,
the the post hole, expanding foam actually seals water away
from the post. It keeps it out away, so it's
(20:51):
not gonna dry rotten right out. And uh and so
as a result, my friend, you're going to be in
good shape. So yeah, it's not the wind, it's just
it's just the old redwood. And you know what, I'm
going to give a couple of comments on that right
on the other side of the break. But we're up
against a break mark, and that is how it gets done.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
My friend.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
You'll be able to do it fast, easy, inexpensively, and
that fence is going to last you for decades to come.
All right, buddy, you hang in there. I'm gonna I'll
make a couple of comments on fence posts right on
the other side of this break. Your Home with Dean Sharp,
The House Whisper.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI Am sixty.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Good morning, Dean Sharp, the House Whisper, Here to help
you transform your ordinary house into an extraordinary home. That's
what we do every weekend here on the program Saturday mornings.
We do it by taking your calls. It's all about you.
You set the agenda for the show. Yeah, I know,
you didn't think yesterday I will be setting the agenda
(21:58):
for a talk show now program No, yep, But you
do all of your calls and I love them, love
taking calls. In fact, you know I should say this
for the sake of the whole weekend. Every few weeks
I also set aside a Sunday to take calls, and
tomorrow is one of them. So it is an all
(22:18):
calls weekend here on the show. If you didn't call
in today and you were thinking, no, that's my that's
I lost my shot for the week. No, tomorrow, all
calls all morning long, from nine to noon. I just
want to tag onto what my buddy Mark and I
were talking about his fence. I had mentioned that when
(22:41):
we do a fence, you want pressure treated lumber down
in the ground, not the old school kind of redwood stuff.
And he's like, yeah, you know, you may be thinking Dean,
but I you know, I want an attractive redwood fence.
You can have an attractive redwoods fence.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
The skin of the fence, I don't care what you
put on it, redwood, you know, stained, white wood, whatever
the case may be. The skin of a fence is
not the structure of a fence. The structure of the
fence is the post and the rails, okay. And when
it comes to post and rails of a wood fence.
Keep it pressure treated, pressure treated material. You don't even
(23:18):
have to see those posts if you design the skin properly,
they're just in there getting the job done, pressure treated,
and again two thirds sticking up, one third in the ground.
That's the general rule. Okay. And I had mentioned this,
and I always get reactions every time I mentioned expanding
(23:38):
foam post holes filler instead of using cement. I just
want to be clear, assuming this is a fence, a
non structural fence, meaning that it's not holding any weight
other than just itself. It's just sitting there being a fence.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Right.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
We don't use foam for deck peers or anything that
is weight bearing on it. But a fence is a fence,
and this is what this stuff is designed for. And
for those of you who are wondering what is this
amazing stuff, it's made by Cicca s Ika Sicca Cicca
Postfix is the name of the product in its fence
(24:18):
post mix. It comes in a bag two pounds. This
bag ways one two pound bag of this expanding foam
takes the place of two fifty pound bags of cement
one hundred pounds of cement, or you can just hold
a two pound bag in your hand and you break
it open. Because you mix the two halves together, a
(24:41):
chemical reaction starts. You pour it down into the bottom
of the post hole, and then you just sit there
and hold the post plum level right and wait for
the post hole foam to expand it'll take a minute,
two minutes tops, it'll be rigid, it'll harden you walk away.
(25:02):
You let go of the fence post and walk away.
If you do this with cement, by the way, you're
gonna have to brace off each fence post with a
brace in each direction down to a stake so that
that fence post can't move as for the hours that
the cement is setting up, and then you come back
later and do the rest of the fence. In this case,
(25:23):
if you put a level to on the side, or
you just buy a three dollars fence post level, the
kind that straps onto the side of a post with
a rubber band and can measure its plumbness in two
directions at once. Yeah, three maybe five bucks at the
hardware store. You just hold that and build the foam
(25:44):
in and just stand there and hold it for two minutes.
Walk away, Do the next post, Do the next post
so easy, so so easy to do. Plus this stuff
expands into the soil, so it actually makes a tighter
fit for the fence post old fence post cement. And
as I was telling Mark, it is a closed cell product,
(26:06):
so it actually becomes a moisture barrier. It protects the post.
Cement does not. Cement is porous. It allows moisture to
get right through and into the wood. And even though
you're using pressure treated wood, the fact is pressure treated
wood plus the foam expanding postal double protection. Believe me,
(26:27):
I've got it on multiple fence posts on my property.
We've done it so many times for clients now hundreds
of feet of fencing, no complaints. The stuff holds and
it holds great. Okay, I just had to say that
because it's such an important topic that people have questions about.
Up against a break more of your calls. When we
(26:50):
return your home with Dean Sharp, the house Whisper. Dean Sharp,
the house Whisper here to help you take your home
to the next level. We do that on Saturday mornings
by taking your calls.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Had some great calls today.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
We're not done yet, still got a chance to get
at least one more in here.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Let's see here. Let me go to the board. Let's
talk to Teresa. Teresa, welcome home. Good morning, Dean, good morning.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I have a question hit you.
Speaker 6 (27:23):
I need to do three major projects before I retire.
So one of them I'm thinking of doing the roof.
But the roof is only fifteen years old. There's nothing
wrong with there's I have a small leap for nothing.
Major Number two is I need to redo my stackle
(27:44):
because it's very big six texture and I want something
really fine. And number three, my house is over one
hundred and twenty feet long and I want to see
what kind of material like I used to break it
up so it doesn't look like a fortress.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Okay, well that's a tall order for me to answer
in just a few minutes here, But let's start with you.
Let's start with the roof. You want to redo the roof,
but you said it's only fifteen years old. So what's
the concern with the.
Speaker 6 (28:17):
Roof that When I'm aiding somebody's and I need a roof,
somebody's going to repay off.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Oh, I got you, all right, So you just want
to get it done ahead of time while you still
got control of the game. Huh yes, okay, well yeah,
you know, uh, you you've got a lot of options there,
and so redoing the roof now, and you know the
truth of the matter is, I mean you you wouldn't
be jumping the gun too much. For most roofs, I
(28:48):
don't know the quality of the roof that you got.
If you say you've got a small leak, maybe time
to take a look at it. I would get a
couple of riffers out there and get their honest opinions
on your roof before you commit, though, because you know
you've got you definitely have some time. And so I
you know, I don't know how to address that one
particular issue, whether you should short circuit it right now
(29:11):
and get it done.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
But if you've got the budget for it, why not.
Why not?
Speaker 3 (29:17):
As far as the stucco goes, The good news on
that is that you don't have to tear off all
the stucco on your house to change that rough sand.
You have a rough sand finish, I'm guessing on the house. Yes, yeah,
that's pretty typical. That's what most people have. And you
want something smoother and more a little more sophisticated and nice, Yes, yes, okay,
(29:42):
So here's the thing about stucco. Stucco is actually three
layers of stuffs, three layers of concrete on the outside
of your house. Originally when it was put on, the
stucco laugh the paper and the wire that's there protecting
your home from moisture. That's the scratch coat that goes
on for it's very ugly. It's called the scratch coat
(30:02):
because it's got big old grooves in it and it
grabs onto the wire and then its job of being
rough and ugly is that grabs on to the rest
of the stucco. The second layer is the thickest layer
of stucco. It's what we call the brown coat. It's
not brown anymore, it used to be. It's called the
brown coat. And that brown coat is the is ninety
(30:24):
percent of the stucco all the way out to the
outside edge of the house. In fact, some people when
they drive by a house that's just had the brown
coat put on, they think that the house is done
because it's flat and it's straight and it's lovely. The
what surprises a lot of people is that the part
of the stucco that we all look at all the time,
(30:45):
the finish coat is only one eighth of an inch thick.
It's very, very very thin. And so when people think about, oh,
I'd love to change the stucco finish on my house,
they think, oh, I don't want to tear off all
the stucco and start out. You don't have to. It's
just the finish coat. So with the right prep and
(31:05):
the right knockdown, you can have a stucco company come
out and bid you to do a smooth finish, a
Santa Barbara finish which is a little wavy and smooth,
or just a real slick steel trowel smooth finish. Now
understand you inherit a few little issues with that along
the way. The one thing that a sandy finish tends
(31:27):
to hide is little micro cracks and spider cracking because
it breaks up the visual surface. But a smooth finished
stucco may have may g it a little spider cracking
along the way. My suggestion is you have your stucco
company do that, and then you just sit on it
for a while, let it do its little spider cracking,
and then you can put your final paint coat or
(31:47):
anything on it to bridge those gaps. But the point
is it's not that hard to do. It's not hard
to do, and it's not going to cost you an
arm and a leg to redo the stucco on the
outside of the house because you're not really redoing the stucco.
You're just putting a different finish code on and it
will have a world of difference as far as its
(32:10):
visual effect from a design perspective, and lastly, as far
as the house is concerned. Breaking up a long house, yeah,
there's a lot of tricks up my sleeve for doing that.
Sometimes we actually, especially if we're having the stucco redone,
sometimes we may want to think about doing a little
(32:31):
pop out, breaking up the wall. Sometimes we want to
think about changing materials. Sometimes, depending on the style of
the house, maybe we go from stucco to siding and
back to stucco again to break up that long monolith
of a flat house. The easiest way, quite honestly, Teresa,
is in the least expensive way, and it's not something
(32:53):
that sometimes people are like, I don't know, but the
easiest way is to put planting up against the house.
I will sometimes grow plants like a creeping fig on
a section of a house to soften it. Or break
it up, or we will put a trellis of a
growing green up against a section of wall that literally
(33:15):
the green and the growth makes a break in between
long surfaces of stucco. Those are just, you know, three
examples of things that you can do in regards to
the house. But there's there's a treasure trove of options,
but a lot of it has to do with how
your house looks, how it's situated, and where you can go.
(33:36):
You can also break up the roofline, do a little
pop out and change the roofline a little bit, especially
if you're thinking about re roofing. My suggestion is if
you haven't tossed those ideas around yourself so far, that
you get with somebody with some design vision. Get talk
(33:57):
to a designer, talk to a a contractor who does design.
That might be an option for you as well. But
this is what I mean when I say that when
it comes to transforming your house, design matters most because
it's those ideas, those thoughts about how you're going to
approach these very distinct problems, and you should approach them
(34:19):
from a design perspective first before you just call out
the next contractor to get the work. Done. That's what
I'm talking about. So talking to a local designer to you.
You could even give Tina call and she could might
be able to set you up for the console. But
the point is, talk to a designer about these issues
before you just pull the trigger and pay the money,
(34:41):
because it's not just the smooth stucco, and it's not
just the new roof, but it's the way it's done,
the format, and the application of it that ends up
becoming the game changer for making your house a very,
very different place than it is now. So there you are,
(35:04):
my friend. Best advice I can give you here in
the moment without staring at the house. Good luck on
those endeavors, and I think you're wise to get out
ahead of it so you don't have to worry about
those big issues after you retire. And for the rest
of you, well, it's a day, isn't it. It's going
to be a warm one. I want you to stay cool,
(35:25):
but it's a sunny, clear day. It's not a crazy
hot day. So of course I want you more than
anything to get out there and get busy building yourself
a beautiful life. And we will see you right back
here tomorrow morning. From nine to noon. This has been
Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into the
(35:48):
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.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good morning and welcome home.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
I am Dean Sharp, the house whisper, custom home builder,
custom home designer, and every Saturday Morning your guide to
better understand that place where you live. If you are
listening to us live, good morning to you. If you're
listening to us on the podcast, then good fill in
(00:32):
the blank right there for you. Yes, you know, every
show we do, whether it's a Saturday morning show or
the big show on Sundays, right after we go off
the air is converted into podcast form where it goes
on and lives in perpetuity. And so you can go
back if you missed any part of the show, if
there was some detail and you're like, you know, Dean
(00:52):
said something that I can't remember, just go back and
listen to the podcast. And for some of you, you
catch our Saturday show much later in the day or
later in the week because you don't want to get
up right now. Uh, that's kind of cheating, but you're
allowed to because that's the nature of podcast. Once it's
up there, it's there for you to listen to as
(01:13):
many times as you like, any time you want on demand.
Of course, the free iHeartRadio app is a great place
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are found, where on Apple Podcasts, Spotify. You just pop
in Home with Dean Sharp or Dean Sharp, or the
(01:33):
House Whisper or just about any word and no, no,
my name should probably be on there and it'll pop up.
So Home with Dean, Dean Sharp, the House Whisper, you'll
see it. You'll see my funky smile and face. And
you can subscribe, which means you get notifications every time
a new episode comes in. And enjoy and listen and
(01:58):
have a blast with trans forming your ordinary house into
an extraordinary home. All right, it's Saturday morning. We are
taking calls, and I want to go back to the
phones because we got.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Calls on the board. Let's talk to Steve. Hey, Steve,
welcome home.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Thank you so much so. Living in an old building
and the bedroom light switch started wearing out a few
months ago, and I have a ceiling fan that I
inter use and sleep with. And so I called a
friend of mine who owns property. He had his handyman
come up, a very very competent handyman put a new
light switch and before the handyman left it like wasn't
(02:40):
working again, right, So he went to home deepot and
got an even better light switch and put in the
same problem. Right, and so we started calling a haunted
because sometimes it works, sometimes it would So what I did,
It wouldn't work for like two or three weeks, and
I kept trying to try to and then it did
come on. So I just left the switch on because
I need that fan going right then this week, so
(03:03):
it ran for like three weeks, you know, kept fan on,
and then this week there was a power outage, okay,
And when the power came back on the switch was
it working again. And that's how it is right now.
So Obi Wan Dean, you're my only hope, all right.
(03:25):
So and by the way, the handyman did test the
wires up in the ceiling fan, so he doesn't know.
We don't know what's going on because the ceiling fan
wires in the assembly are Seveney, you're working.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Fine, okay, So about okay, he tested the wires, meaning what, yes.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Whatever handyman tool you use, I guess when you go
to replace life which you have a control. You you're
the builder, you're the expert, right, but.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
He had all right, all right, all right, all right,
and then he went.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Up to the ceiling fan assembly and he said, yeahs
are good. So we don't know. I don't know if
it's in the walls or what.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, all right, So here's here's I'm ninety nine percent
sure of what your situation is. The question is hunting
it down. Okay, So it's not the switch because you
changed out the switch to a brand new switch and
that didn't go. And then you changed out that switch
to an even newer switch and that didn't go. And
(04:29):
the ceiling fan is fine. And the continuity, meaning there's wires.
I mean, you'd have to have like a major problem
in the wall for wires to go bad on you.
Because electrical is very durable. It's what we call durable.
Once it's there and it's up and it's working, I mean,
there's nothing really to wear out. Okay, it's just current
(04:51):
running through a conductor. So most electricians will tell you
the number one reason why your light switch sometimes works
sometimes it doesn't. What we're experiencing here is intermittent contact.
Intermittent contact, which means wire nuts, the bane of all
electrical Okay, So the point is when there is contact,
(05:17):
there's nothing wrong with the system whatsoever, and then we
lose it. So intermittent contact.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Now.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
The way electrical switch works, of course, is there's a
load wire. That's the wire that's carrying the actual load.
Usually a black wire, sometimes it's red, usually it's black.
It's broken in two and then it runs through a
switch because the switch breaks the continuity there for the
(05:46):
load on its way up to the light fixture itself. Okay,
you got a black wire running up there, you got
a white wire running up there. The white is the
neutral that allows the energy to return back to the panel.
The black is what's feeding in through the light fixture.
So there are several wire nuts involved in this process.
(06:06):
Those little caps where you screw them together. There may
be wire nuts in the switchbox that have nothing to
do directly with the switch line, but are part of
what feeds that black line to the switch. A lot
of people when they pull out a switch, they discover
there are other wires in the back of the box
because that switch is part of a power circuit that's
(06:30):
leading other places. It may be the case, Steve, that
you may be drawing that switchbox may be drawing power
off of the same thing that's lighting up outlets around
the room, and you may not notice that the outlets
are losing continuity because there may not be something plugged
into them that is constantly running that would show that
(06:54):
to you. Or there may be wire nuts in the
ceiling box where the ceiling fan is. And I'm not
talking about just the wire nuts where the ceiling fan
itself is connected to the line, but others as well,
because it's not always just two wires running dedicated from
the panel to the switch up to the light fixture.
(07:16):
It's part of a larger circuit. And everywhere there is
a wire nut in this circuit, there is the potential
if one of them, for some reason, was just slightly loose. Okay,
now you would think, well, why hasn't that been a problem,
you know, for years and years and years before this.
Well that's the bane of wire nuts, because if one
(07:39):
of them was slightly loose to begin with, just slightly,
you could have decades of consistent service and continuity between
the wires. But with heating and cooling, hot and cold,
the wires expand slightly. Then they contract slightly when they're
not warmed up.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
Up.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
They can basically kind.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Of wiggle themselves loose, and somewhere somewhere in this line,
in this circuit, there is something that is losing continuity.
And the reason why I suspect it's a wirenut situation
is because there are also times that it's working, times
when maybe the attic is just warm enough to bring
(08:26):
them back together again. So basically, what I'm saying is
there's a switch, a hidden switch in this circuit that
is turning itself on and off and overriding the work
that the switch is doing with the ceiling fan. Okay,
it's very unlikely that the ceiling fan is the problem,
(08:46):
although if you said the handyman tested, I mean the
way to do that would be to hook the ceiling
fan up to another circuit and see if there's intermittent problems.
But I would say it's probably unlikely now. Sometimes an
older ceiling fan and will have a continuity break inside
of it that after it runs and is warm for
a while, it shuts off. But that doesn't sound like
(09:09):
your situation, because it sounds like there are times when
you just can't get it to turn on when everything
is cold, just straight up. Sometimes it's on sometimes it's off.
It is very likely a wire nut situation, and it
may be something that is beyond your handy person's ability
(09:30):
or skill level to trace down. You may want to
suggest that to them again, that it's something a wire
nut unrelated to that direct connection from switch to fixture,
but elsewhere in the circuit that is a problem, and
it's being masked by the fact that you don't notice
(09:51):
other things going on and off. But one of the
things that you might want to check is plugging a
lamp fixture into the outlets in the room when the
fixture is not working and see if you get power
out of them as well. But basically that's kind of
a homeowner investigation. Basically, what I'm suggesting is it is
probably time my friend to have an electrician trace the circuit,
(10:16):
find out everything connected to that circuit, and see if
they can't find where the loose connection is. Because it
is ghosting you. But it's not supernatural. It is there's
a place somewhere in your home where two wires are
touching and then there's enough space for them to not touch,
(10:36):
and as a result, you're losing power at that light.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
So it could be in the wall, could be.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
In the wall.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Not likely in the wall, though, because here's the thing.
That's what that's I don't want you to get discouraged
because wire nuts are not allowed to Now it could
have happened, but we're not allowed to wire neut wires
together outside of an electrical box. In other words, anywhere
we make a connection of one wire to another, it
has to be in an accessible box.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
So the point is, chances are highly likely we can
track this down and find it, find the bad wirenet
connection because those wire nuts are in a switchbox, they're
in a junction box, they're in some box that's accessible.
It's against code to wirenut a wire in the middle
of a wall where we can't get to it, exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
For this reason.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
What's a wire nott again?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
A wire nut is where you take two wires and
you join them together by running a little rubber cap
over the top of them. You screw it on in
order to join them together. And those things I will
tell you every electrician on planet Earth will tell you
that it is the number one reason why this kind
(11:50):
of stuff happened. And so that's my suggestion, Steve, we're
up against a break, Buddy, I'm telling you it may
be time to get electric to trace the circuit. I
think you'll be able to find it. It's going to
take a little due diligence, but I think you'll be
able to find it. It's obviously not the switch. That's
the point, and that was the big that was the
(12:11):
big tell in your situation. It's not the switch. Don't
replace the switch again, search for the intermittent connection. All right, y'all,
more of your calls when we return your home with
Dean Sharp, the house Whisper. Dean Sharp, the house Whisper
here to help you take your home to the next level.
Good morning to you, my friend, Thanks for joining us
(12:33):
on the program. It looks to be a lovely, clear
and warm day here in southern California. I hope the
weather wherever you may be is just as nice. Whatever
it is. I hope you've got plans for the day
that you know. I'm sure you do, because you know,
those of you who are up with me Saturday mornings,
you're the getter dinners out there. Yeah, we're up getting
(12:55):
it done, and we are taking calls as we do
every Saturday. More the number to reach me eight three
three two ask Dean eight three three the numeral two
ask Dean eight three three to ask Dean, it's just
that simple. Anything you got going on with your home
that's got you scratch in your head, design, DIY, construction, inside, outside,
(13:19):
landscape decor, whatever the case may be. I'm here to
help you out, by the way, uh, and I appreciate
this caller. Chuck called in and said, hey, Dean, you
didn't mention a three way switch with Steve, a previous caller,
And you're absolutely right. The reason I didn't mention it
was because I got the distinct impression this was a
(13:40):
fan switch into a bedroom that just has one switch
leading to the fan. But Steve, if you're still listening,
and for those of you who were curious about why
a fan, could you know why switch could fail? A
three way switch situation that's been wired improperly could also
be the case. Three way switches classically they have well
(14:02):
I'm not going to get into the details, but a
three way switch means if you can control a light
fixture from more than one switch. Right, there's one on
one side of the room, there's one on the other
side of the room. If those get replaced and the
wires get flipped on them.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Excuse me.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
If the wires get flipped, in other words, if the
new switch gets wired backwards, then what you have is
the situation not where they are sharing being able to
turn on the light fixture independently, but one cuts the
power completely and then the other one will not work,
and so it's an awkward situation. But it didn't give
(14:41):
me the impression that that was the case. But yeah,
if it's a three way switch, you got to check
that out as well. Make sure those are wired properly,
because you just may inadvertently be killing the power there.
So moving on, I want to talk to Mark. Hey, Mark,
welcome home, Good.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Morning, Dnay. I love your show. I'm a homeowner and
I'm an electrical contractor. At the same time, I loved it.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
You forgot about that. Maybe the two just mentioned in
three way switches, two travelers in the heat.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
And all that. But I have a sense I have
a fence situation in the backyard. I lived in Lancaster
now for five years, extremely windy, extremely hot. I have
a swimming pool that where this backs fence is wood
and it has broken over. The posts have broken over.
(15:37):
Whether it be dr Rod or rather it just be
that they broke over or you know whatever, cinder block
walls east and west. This fence is the very back north,
and right now it's actually laying on my neighbors jennifers
(15:58):
that are the as they are, jennifers that're tall, very tall,
and they're laying on his trees. So I want I
want to put another's in.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
The block wall across the back. Go talk to them,
ask them if they wanted to go half. But right now,
I just for cause efficiency and because it's so ugly
and just that and the other I was wondering if
I could get away with just putting maybe a vinyl
up across the back of the yard. Do I have
to pull a permit if I had go back for it?
(16:31):
Would you know, just different day?
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Would you suggest?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
All right?
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Okay, So here's the thing. So when you say it
blew over, so did the post snap? Is that was
that the situation?
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (16:47):
Three of the posts this is roughly about twenty five
feet of fence all the way across the back, and
three of the posts on the end.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Are just like dry roded, broke over and.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
All of them are yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Okay, so they're just in bad shape. And if the
posts themselves, the posts themselves mark, what are they?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Redwood? Cedar? Can you tell?
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Yeah, it's a red wood, it's not it's not pine?
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Okay, So here is the thing, my friend. So here's
the good news. Good news is that you can do
just about anything you want back there. I personally, I mean,
cinder block would be great, right, but the wind issue,
what you really have is you got you just had
a an old fence with rotten posts.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Okay. So the posts are the key. The posts are
the key.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
And these days we don't want to put redwood down
in the ground. We don't want to put cedar in
the ground. We don't put any wood other than pressure
treated into the ground.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Right.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
So the skin, the skin of the fence, in other words,
the part that you see build that out of whatever
you want. Okay, I personally am not a huge fan
of vinyl fences. Vinyl fences aren't going to be any stronger. Fact,
technically they're going to be weaker, uh yeah than a
well built wood fence. And uh And so the key
(18:17):
is with a wood fence is that you're the skin
can be whatever whatever, but the posts, the frame structure
and so the posts and and the two by four
rails that are running in between top and bottom, in
between those posts under the skin all pressure treated lumber,
all lumber that is designed to resist rot, resist moisture,
(18:40):
and that fence will last you decades, decades, okay. The
other the other part is, uh, you've got to do
the post holes right, Okay, So I don't know if
they're I'm assuming they're embedded in concrete, which is yet.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Yeah, we'll post sol what uh two I'm excuse me,
not two feet? Maybe three feet postal cement, you know,
stand them up right, going the original spots that they
were already in.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Well, yeah, now if you can, if you can slide
it one down, if you can slide to pressure treated
four by four down inside the original hole left in
the concrete, that's all well and good. But chances are,
if you're start new, you're gonna just get that concrete
out of the ground. And the general rule is a
post hole should be three times the width of the
(19:32):
post okay, in width, So generally speaking, if you're using
a four by four, you're gonna want a twelve inch
diameter hole, and you're gonna want to go down one
third in the ground, two thirds out of the ground.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
So if we're six foot high fence, we're gonna go
down three feet okay. And here's great news. It's a
nonstructural wall these days. You get that concrete out of there,
You get your pressure treated posts and get on down
to the big box store, the builder supply and get
yourself some expanding foam post hole foam. Okay, no more cement,
(20:10):
No more cement down there. You just break those puppies open,
you mix them together. They kind of work like a catalyst,
kind of like a you know, there's a catalyst on
one side and an activator on the other. You break
those open and pour them down in there. Right, You're
not lugging around concrete mix that will expand. It'll fill
up the hole all the way to the top. It'll
(20:31):
lock that post hole in place. The other thing that's
nice about it is now you're using pressure treated lumber,
which can handle moisture. But unlike cement in a post hole, uh,
the the post hole, expanding foam actually seals water away
from the post. It keeps it out away, so it's
(20:51):
not gonna dry rotten right out. And uh and so
as a result, my friend, you're going to be in
good shape. So yeah, it's not the wind, it's just
it's just the old redwood. And you know what, I'm
going to give a couple of comments on that right
on the other side of the break. But we're up
against a break mark, and that is how it gets done.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
My friend.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
You'll be able to do it fast, easy, inexpensively, and
that fence is going to last you for decades to come.
All right, buddy, you hang in there. I'm gonna I'll
make a couple of comments on fence posts right on
the other side of this break. Your Home with Dean Sharp,
The House Whisper.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI Am sixty.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Good morning, Dean Sharp, the House Whisper, Here to help
you transform your ordinary house into an extraordinary home. That's
what we do every weekend here on the program Saturday mornings.
We do it by taking your calls. It's all about you.
You set the agenda for the show. Yeah, I know,
you didn't think yesterday I will be setting the agenda
(21:58):
for a talk show now program No, yep, But you
do all of your calls and I love them, love
taking calls. In fact, you know I should say this
for the sake of the whole weekend. Every few weeks
I also set aside a Sunday to take calls, and
tomorrow is one of them. So it is an all
(22:18):
calls weekend here on the show. If you didn't call
in today and you were thinking, no, that's my that's
I lost my shot for the week. No, tomorrow, all
calls all morning long, from nine to noon. I just
want to tag onto what my buddy Mark and I
were talking about his fence. I had mentioned that when
(22:41):
we do a fence, you want pressure treated lumber down
in the ground, not the old school kind of redwood stuff.
And he's like, yeah, you know, you may be thinking Dean,
but I you know, I want an attractive redwood fence.
You can have an attractive redwoods fence.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
The skin of the fence, I don't care what you
put on it, redwood, you know, stained, white wood, whatever
the case may be. The skin of a fence is
not the structure of a fence. The structure of the
fence is the post and the rails, okay. And when
it comes to post and rails of a wood fence.
Keep it pressure treated, pressure treated material. You don't even
(23:18):
have to see those posts if you design the skin properly,
they're just in there getting the job done, pressure treated,
and again two thirds sticking up, one third in the ground.
That's the general rule. Okay. And I had mentioned this,
and I always get reactions every time I mentioned expanding
(23:38):
foam post holes filler instead of using cement. I just
want to be clear, assuming this is a fence, a
non structural fence, meaning that it's not holding any weight
other than just itself. It's just sitting there being a fence.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Right.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
We don't use foam for deck peers or anything that
is weight bearing on it. But a fence is a fence,
and this is what this stuff is designed for. And
for those of you who are wondering what is this
amazing stuff, it's made by Cicca s Ika Sicca Cicca
Postfix is the name of the product in its fence
(24:18):
post mix. It comes in a bag two pounds. This
bag ways one two pound bag of this expanding foam
takes the place of two fifty pound bags of cement
one hundred pounds of cement, or you can just hold
a two pound bag in your hand and you break
it open. Because you mix the two halves together, a
(24:41):
chemical reaction starts. You pour it down into the bottom
of the post hole, and then you just sit there
and hold the post plum level right and wait for
the post hole foam to expand it'll take a minute,
two minutes tops, it'll be rigid, it'll harden you walk away.
(25:02):
You let go of the fence post and walk away.
If you do this with cement, by the way, you're
gonna have to brace off each fence post with a
brace in each direction down to a stake so that
that fence post can't move as for the hours that
the cement is setting up, and then you come back
later and do the rest of the fence. In this case,
(25:23):
if you put a level to on the side, or
you just buy a three dollars fence post level, the
kind that straps onto the side of a post with
a rubber band and can measure its plumbness in two
directions at once. Yeah, three maybe five bucks at the
hardware store. You just hold that and build the foam
(25:44):
in and just stand there and hold it for two minutes.
Walk away, Do the next post, Do the next post
so easy, so so easy to do. Plus this stuff
expands into the soil, so it actually makes a tighter
fit for the fence post old fence post cement. And
as I was telling Mark, it is a closed cell product,
(26:06):
so it actually becomes a moisture barrier. It protects the post.
Cement does not. Cement is porous. It allows moisture to
get right through and into the wood. And even though
you're using pressure treated wood, the fact is pressure treated
wood plus the foam expanding postal double protection. Believe me,
(26:27):
I've got it on multiple fence posts on my property.
We've done it so many times for clients now hundreds
of feet of fencing, no complaints. The stuff holds and
it holds great. Okay, I just had to say that
because it's such an important topic that people have questions about.
Up against a break more of your calls. When we
(26:50):
return your home with Dean Sharp, the house Whisper. Dean Sharp,
the house Whisper here to help you take your home
to the next level. We do that on Saturday mornings
by taking your calls.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Had some great calls today.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
We're not done yet, still got a chance to get
at least one more in here.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Let's see here. Let me go to the board. Let's
talk to Teresa. Teresa, welcome home. Good morning, Dean, good morning.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I have a question hit you.
Speaker 6 (27:23):
I need to do three major projects before I retire.
So one of them I'm thinking of doing the roof.
But the roof is only fifteen years old. There's nothing
wrong with there's I have a small leap for nothing.
Major Number two is I need to redo my stackle
(27:44):
because it's very big six texture and I want something
really fine. And number three, my house is over one
hundred and twenty feet long and I want to see
what kind of material like I used to break it
up so it doesn't look like a fortress.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Okay, well that's a tall order for me to answer
in just a few minutes here, But let's start with you.
Let's start with the roof. You want to redo the roof,
but you said it's only fifteen years old. So what's
the concern with the.
Speaker 6 (28:17):
Roof that When I'm aiding somebody's and I need a roof,
somebody's going to repay off.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Oh, I got you, all right, So you just want
to get it done ahead of time while you still
got control of the game. Huh yes, okay, well yeah,
you know, uh, you you've got a lot of options there,
and so redoing the roof now, and you know the
truth of the matter is, I mean you you wouldn't
be jumping the gun too much. For most roofs, I
(28:48):
don't know the quality of the roof that you got.
If you say you've got a small leak, maybe time
to take a look at it. I would get a
couple of riffers out there and get their honest opinions
on your roof before you commit, though, because you know
you've got you definitely have some time. And so I
you know, I don't know how to address that one
particular issue, whether you should short circuit it right now
(29:11):
and get it done.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
But if you've got the budget for it, why not.
Why not?
Speaker 3 (29:17):
As far as the stucco goes, The good news on
that is that you don't have to tear off all
the stucco on your house to change that rough sand.
You have a rough sand finish, I'm guessing on the house. Yes, yeah,
that's pretty typical. That's what most people have. And you
want something smoother and more a little more sophisticated and nice, Yes, yes, okay,
(29:42):
So here's the thing about stucco. Stucco is actually three
layers of stuffs, three layers of concrete on the outside
of your house. Originally when it was put on, the
stucco laugh the paper and the wire that's there protecting
your home from moisture. That's the scratch coat that goes
on for it's very ugly. It's called the scratch coat
(30:02):
because it's got big old grooves in it and it
grabs onto the wire and then its job of being
rough and ugly is that grabs on to the rest
of the stucco. The second layer is the thickest layer
of stucco. It's what we call the brown coat. It's
not brown anymore, it used to be. It's called the
brown coat. And that brown coat is the is ninety
(30:24):
percent of the stucco all the way out to the
outside edge of the house. In fact, some people when
they drive by a house that's just had the brown
coat put on, they think that the house is done
because it's flat and it's straight and it's lovely. The
what surprises a lot of people is that the part
of the stucco that we all look at all the time,
(30:45):
the finish coat is only one eighth of an inch thick.
It's very, very very thin. And so when people think about, oh,
I'd love to change the stucco finish on my house,
they think, oh, I don't want to tear off all
the stucco and start out. You don't have to. It's
just the finish coat. So with the right prep and
(31:05):
the right knockdown, you can have a stucco company come
out and bid you to do a smooth finish, a
Santa Barbara finish which is a little wavy and smooth,
or just a real slick steel trowel smooth finish. Now
understand you inherit a few little issues with that along
the way. The one thing that a sandy finish tends
(31:27):
to hide is little micro cracks and spider cracking because
it breaks up the visual surface. But a smooth finished
stucco may have may g it a little spider cracking
along the way. My suggestion is you have your stucco
company do that, and then you just sit on it
for a while, let it do its little spider cracking,
and then you can put your final paint coat or
(31:47):
anything on it to bridge those gaps. But the point
is it's not that hard to do. It's not hard
to do, and it's not going to cost you an
arm and a leg to redo the stucco on the
outside of the house because you're not really redoing the stucco.
You're just putting a different finish code on and it
will have a world of difference as far as its
(32:10):
visual effect from a design perspective, and lastly, as far
as the house is concerned. Breaking up a long house, yeah,
there's a lot of tricks up my sleeve for doing that.
Sometimes we actually, especially if we're having the stucco redone,
sometimes we may want to think about doing a little
(32:31):
pop out, breaking up the wall. Sometimes we want to
think about changing materials. Sometimes, depending on the style of
the house, maybe we go from stucco to siding and
back to stucco again to break up that long monolith
of a flat house. The easiest way, quite honestly, Teresa,
is in the least expensive way, and it's not something
(32:53):
that sometimes people are like, I don't know, but the
easiest way is to put planting up against the house.
I will sometimes grow plants like a creeping fig on
a section of a house to soften it. Or break
it up, or we will put a trellis of a
growing green up against a section of wall that literally
(33:15):
the green and the growth makes a break in between
long surfaces of stucco. Those are just, you know, three
examples of things that you can do in regards to
the house. But there's there's a treasure trove of options,
but a lot of it has to do with how
your house looks, how it's situated, and where you can go.
(33:36):
You can also break up the roofline, do a little
pop out and change the roofline a little bit, especially
if you're thinking about re roofing. My suggestion is if
you haven't tossed those ideas around yourself so far, that
you get with somebody with some design vision. Get talk
(33:57):
to a designer, talk to a a contractor who does design.
That might be an option for you as well. But
this is what I mean when I say that when
it comes to transforming your house, design matters most because
it's those ideas, those thoughts about how you're going to
approach these very distinct problems, and you should approach them
(34:19):
from a design perspective first before you just call out
the next contractor to get the work. Done. That's what
I'm talking about. So talking to a local designer to you.
You could even give Tina call and she could might
be able to set you up for the console. But
the point is, talk to a designer about these issues
before you just pull the trigger and pay the money,
(34:41):
because it's not just the smooth stucco, and it's not
just the new roof, but it's the way it's done,
the format, and the application of it that ends up
becoming the game changer for making your house a very,
very different place than it is now. So there you are,
(35:04):
my friend. Best advice I can give you here in
the moment without staring at the house. Good luck on
those endeavors, and I think you're wise to get out
ahead of it so you don't have to worry about
those big issues after you retire. And for the rest
of you, well, it's a day, isn't it. It's going
to be a warm one. I want you to stay cool,
(35:25):
but it's a sunny, clear day. It's not a crazy
hot day. So of course I want you more than
anything to get out there and get busy building yourself
a beautiful life. And we will see you right back
here tomorrow morning. From nine to noon. This has been
Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into the
(35:48):
live broadcast on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning
from six to eight Pacific time, and every Sunday morning
from nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand
on the iHeartRadio app
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