April 12, 2025 • 27 mins
Dean does further research on placing a shutter as a fence in a home. Dean continues to discuss the best way to create a shutter blind that provides privacy + showcase the views from a caller’s home + installing a roof. Dean discusses attic vent codes and everything about ventilators and their problems.
7:50a Dean discusses what is required of home ventilators.
7:50a Dean discusses what is required of home ventilators.
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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 AM I AM forty Live streaming
may be everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Dean Sharp the
House Whisper here with you live every Saturday and Sunday morning. Hey,
(00:23):
stop the presses, Andrea, are you still listening? Gosh? I
hope you are still listening. I hope that you haven't
gone about your day. Andrea was our last caller in
the last segment. She had a fence question, A tricky one,
A tricky one. She needed a fence for privacy outside
her bathroom Aria and yet she wanted to take full
(00:47):
advantage of the view of the ocean that she had
in the distance. So she needed a fence that could
do both privacy, open up for view, closed down for privacy.
We talked about kind of a shutter system. But but
you know, like treating a fence like a shutter. And
but I was talking to her on the phone, I
didn't have a chance to actually do any research. Andrea,
(01:09):
you know how I hate being stumped by things. I
got it. I got it for you. The company name
is pilex p y l E x p y l
E x and Uh, I want you to look for
the deck sun blind system. It comes in stainless steel,
(01:30):
it comes in powder coated metal. It is literally literally,
you know, this is the world that we live in. Literally,
if you're looking for it, probably somebody has worked it out.
It is literally mounting hardware. Take a look at that, Tina.
It's mounting hardware for slat boards on a fence. That
will that is specifically designed to turn sections of your
(01:53):
fence into essentially an exterior shutter. Okay, so this mounting
hardware you mounted against the Tina's pointing, She's like, we
should put it on that part of the fence. You
you mount this hardware against the posts, and then every
slat mounts into screws into these hardware turns. It is
a shutter. It's a shutter system, and it's a it's
(02:16):
about forty dollars for each section of shutter. So it's there, there,
it is, and this is this is so it's so simple,
it's so easy to look at. You would just basically
in between two posts, cut the slats and uh and
screw them into this system. So, Andrea, I hope you
are if you're still listening, call me back, just because
(02:39):
I want to be able to confirm that you got
the info. But it's PILEX p y l e X
and look for a deck sun blind system and you're
you're gonna find it. You're gonna find it. I did
a quick search, and you know it's not That's not
the only product on the market. There are. There are
some very similar on Amazon. This particular one is sold
(03:01):
at home depots, so you know it's been product tested
and it's worth You know it's money because home depot
doesn't carry junk stuff that they get tons of returns on.
So check it out. I'm very excited. I wish I
had found it before your call, but you know what,
this is the commitment that we have to our listeners.
I will figure it out for you. So give me
(03:23):
a call back Andrea to let me know that you
heard the answer, and check that out online because I
think I think that's the solution that you are looking for.
All right, when we return more of your calls, it's
an all call Saturday morning. The number to reach me
eight three to three two. Ask Dean eight three to
three the numeral two, Ask Dean, we will do more.
(03:47):
Can't buy Dean sharp the house with her at your service.
Thanks for joining us on the program this morning. We're
doing an all call Saturday morning, as is our growing custom.
I just love it. I love talking to people trying
to figure out what's going on with your home, helping
you with it. And you know, right before the top
of the hour, I had Andrea on the phone and
(04:09):
she really kind of stumped me as far as putting
together a tricky fence. Is she back? Andrea? Are you there?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I'm here, I'm here, Thank you?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Did you hear? Did did take a look at it?
I think I found it.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I think you did too. I'm looking right at it.
I did find there was another one called flex something
or other. But I was wondering too, do you think
you could use this with metal?
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Or would I?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Or should I just use wood?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
You can use it with you can use it with
any any rigid material that you can screw into those brackets.
And we're talking by the way, people are like, what
are they talking about? I just joined the program. Andrea
has this unique condition and condition. Andrea has this unique
situation where she she's got a bathroom that she wants
an ocean view from. She gets it in other areas
(05:02):
of her home. But she so she's got a fence outside.
She needs a fence that that can be both privacy
when she wants it to be privacy and view when
she wanted to be view. And we were just kind
of banging our heads on the table, thinking, Okay, maybe
the best way to do that is to create kind
of a shutter system, like a shutter blinds out there.
(05:23):
But I personally was this was new to me. I
was not aware that there was already pre established hardware
out there and not expensive stuff, and so everybody, I'm
just I'm excited about it. I literally had Andrea callback
because I just wanted to celebrate with her the fact
that during the break I found this and other people
are like, yeah, I've seen that for years, Dean, Well,
(05:45):
you know what, there are things that are brand new
to me too, and so from now on, I'm just
gonna dub this Andrea's fencing system. And so yeah, there
are these pre pre built rackets that basically will turn
slats of wood or metal into a fence shutter system
(06:08):
that you can open and close like a like like
plantation shutters. You can get your view or you can
close it down and have your privacy, and I was
just excited that I found it. And it's simple. I mean,
you can get them on Amazon, you can get them
at home depot. I've never seen them before, and so
we're celebrating it together. And that that was all. So
(06:29):
thanks for calling back.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
You never have to go down and look at them. Yeah,
and if you saw the bathrooms, I mean, people might
not understand, but my bathrooms are like you're outside, There's
one bathroom has a shower that's for the ceiling glass.
It is a little disruptive when you're taking a shower
next to an empty space outside there. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Well, congratulations, I think we're on the case. And uh
and and.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
You are so welcome, my friend. Thank you for thanks
for calling back. Yeah, I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
That.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Is that the best radio possible? I'm not sure. But
here's the point. The reason I'm here is to help,
and the reason I'm here to help is because I care.
I really do care about these things. So yeah, we
took two segments to cover that one problem because I
don't like being stumped and I don't like telling our
callers sorry, got no idea, tough luck, move on. Not
(07:35):
that I would ever say that, but you know what
I mean. I want to help you solve your problems. Okay,
in that spirit, let's take another call. We may not
get all that, we may have to go to break,
but I want to talk to Mohammed. Mohammed, welcome home.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Yes, Frank, you, Den, Dina and Tina, thank you for
taking my call. So my question is we are that
our roof is to be done because we're living in
the house for long enough.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Now, when I got several quotes.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
Getting material wise, getting a company name or the manufacturers
of the material is all scorning, I think, and another
one was Presidential Presidential Shape. And then there is a
Home Depot material as well. So the question to you
(08:30):
will be how Home Deep material compares with the other
two brand names that most of the roofers pushes. Given this,
let's say skilled worker working. But we buy the material
(08:51):
from Home Depot and then have them mistall it and
do whatever they do. What I understood that they putting
some sort of sheet that is like fifty years a
life and the shingles goes on top of it and
that has usually thirty year life. So now you go.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Ahead, Okay, all right, roofing is confusing. Well, good news
for drivers this morning, only a few incidents on the roadway.
So here's the thing, my friend number one, I this
(09:31):
is the morning of stumping Dean with Home Depot questions. Uh,
I am not personally aware of home of a Home
Depot brand roofing. Okay, if you.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Look, I'm just I'm not saying the Home People brand.
All I'm saying if I go ahead and buy the
material from Home Depot.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Oh, I got you right, right, right right, yeah, Okay, that's.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
What I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
I was confused, Yeah, gotcha. Okay, yeah, because Home Deepot
just carries the same mainline brand they carry Owens Corning.
I believe they carry certain teed by the way, when
you mentioned the presidential shingle, the presidential style that's by
the company, certaintyed certainty to Owen's Corning. Undoubtedly. When it
comes to asphalt composite shingles, the two largest major manufacturer,
(10:19):
I would throw a third one in their GAF GAFF GAF.
These are the three big names in asphalt composite roofing,
and you really can't go wrong with them, with any
of them, and they have highering little bit but I
will tell you this just FYI, just so you know,
my friend, that my own home, my own roof, has
(10:40):
the certain teed Presidential shingle on it. Tina, and I
searched the world over to find you. I mean, I
don't think there is a more gorgeous, more beautiful asphalt
composite shingle from a from a design point of view
than the Presidential series. It's random, it's randomized, it's got
beautiful shadow lines to it. It is. It is just
(11:03):
and the quality of the roof is outstanding. So I
have the Presidential series on my own roof. And yes,
I would like Certainty to call me and pay me
for that endorsement. But there you go. So so the
key is and I don't want you to worry about
the the the differential in warranties. Of of yes, you're
(11:27):
going to find the shingle on the outside. You can
find those that have lifetime warranties, fifty year warranties, forty
year warranties, and then the the layer underneath, the moisture
layer underneath. You'll find those at various warranty levels as well,
and there sometimes will be a differential. But trust me,
(11:51):
if you buy a good quality membrane for underneath your shingles,
whether it's a thirty year or forty year, and you
put a fit fifty year shingle on top of it.
It's a fifty year roof okay, so you don't have
to worry about that differential between the two. But when
it comes to underlayment, and that's that underneath layer, my
(12:12):
recommendation is that you don't go with a standardized roofing paper. Now,
I don't know what the Home Depot is recommending for
their stuff and how they do it, And there's still
plenty of roofing companies out there that on the low
end of things that say, yeah, we'll just put down
two layers of builders, you know, roofing paper fifteen or
(12:35):
thirty pound roofing felt and then you're you're roof right over.
It's going to last for a long time, and it will.
It will. But the question is is that the best
that you can do? And the answer to that is
always no. The best that you can do is to
have an underlayment system underneath your your roofing material, underneath
(12:55):
the shingles themselves, have a underlayment system that is self ceiling,
and that meaning around nails and perforations, and that is stretchable,
that has some actual pliability to it, and that when
you roll out one course of underlayment onto the next,
(13:16):
it seals onto itself, so that by the time you're
done rolling out the underlayment, you essentially have a single
membrane covering the entire roof that will stretch and that's
important for heat and cold differentials in weather. It won't
grow brittle, it won't crack. And then on top of
that you put a good quality asphalt composite shingle, and that,
(13:41):
my friend, is your best system. There are various underlayments
out there, and I haven't found one that I hate yet. Okay,
I just don't like going old school with asphalt embedded
roofing paper myself. Neither do any of our best roofers.
They all prefer the self ceiling underlayment system because they
(14:04):
last longer and they perform better. And so that's the
combination you're looking for. I don't want to get brand specific,
because there are a lot of them out there, but
that's what you're looking for. A self ceiling, rubberized stretchable
underlayment system and then a good quality asphalt shingle on top.
All right, my friend, thank you so much for your
(14:25):
call and for the question. Hopefully that just simplifies the
process for you more of your calls when we return.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp The House Whisper.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty AM, I AM forty live streaming
(14:47):
and HD everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. You are Home
with Dean Sharp the House Whisper. That is me. It
is an all Calls Saturday morning. We're just taking calls.
You're setting the agenda for the show. I want to
go back to the phones. I love love talking to
you about your home. I want to talk to Scott. Hey, Scott,
(15:09):
welcome home.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Oh, good morning, Dean. I'm in the process of purchasing
a about a twenty year old home and I had
a home inspection done and the inspector wrote up in
the report that I had inadequate attic venting, and so
(15:32):
I started researching it. And you know, well, he's even
got aerial views from a drone that and I don't
see any sort of vents, And so I started researching,
and I see that there is a wedge type vent
event that goes underneath your tiles as an s tile
type tile. And how can I determine whether I got
(15:53):
these or not because they're essentially invisible.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Well, you got to get into the attic and look
at it from the attic side. You're right, there are vents.
And thank God that this is true, that there are
vents that are architecturally inobtrusive. These days, sometimes we put
vents right out there for everybody to see, because the
vent itself is an architectural feature on a roof, like
a dormer, a copper dormer or something like that. But
(16:20):
most of the time we are attempting to hide such things, like,
for instance, in a brand new asphalt shingle roof assembly,
most asphalt manufacturers manufacture a ridge top vent that literally
goes right under and sort of hides underneath the top
(16:43):
ridge shingles, and it runs the entire length of the
roof ridge. And it's not really a visible thing. I mean,
it doesn't really change the look of the roof at all.
So but the key is this, whatever the venting is
in the attic can be seen from inside the attic. Okay,
that is where it is obvious, and so that's what
(17:05):
you're going to have to get into the attic or
get somebody in the attic to evaluate if it's got vents,
where it's got vents. My assumption is now it's an
interesting thing that a that a home inspector would make
this observation for a home that's only twenty years old,
because you know, for the last few days, three decades,
(17:27):
you know, the building code has been just stickler about vents.
And by the way, as far as what you need,
there's a different solutions. But let me explain to everybody
what the attic vent code requirement currently is. Okay, and
I don't know if the home inspector wrote this in
his report, but it can be a little confusing for people.
(17:51):
But I want to try and make it as simple
as possible. In fact, you know what, Scott, can you
hang tight because we're running a little along in the
other segment. If you can hang tight, I'm going to
explain this to you right on the other side of
the break, So can you hold on with me for
a second? Absolutely awesome? All right, you stay put and
we'll come right back to Scott's question about attic venting
(18:13):
and kind of hopefully I can dispel the confusion about
what's required and where, and we'll do that. Caym Byean Sharp,
the House Whisper. Welcome home, Thanks for joining us on
the program. On this lovely spring Saturday morning, here the
twelfth of April twenty twenty five. We are coming to
(18:34):
you live as we always are. Today's show. All your calls.
I've got Scott on the line and get to get
back to him in just a second with his roof
vent question. And I just want to remind y'all that
we've got another show, the Big Show tomorrow three hours.
We're going to spend together tomorrow from nine to noon.
(18:54):
And this weekend our theme is sometimes it's the little stuff,
fix it tips for you, because you know, spring has
definitely sprung, and I can always measure by the amount
of emails and listener questions and comments that we get
on social media throughout the week that this is the
(19:14):
time of year, this is the week that the worm
has turned. Everybody's like, all right, I got no excuse now.
The weather's great and it's time for me to get
moving on some of these Honeydew projects I've got around,
and I find, in general, when it comes to DIY
projects that it's not the big scope of the project
that really befuddles you or gets you frustrated. It turns
(19:38):
out to be small, little unspoken skills and bits of
knowledge along the way. And so I've assembled a list
of such things that will help you out. And that's
what we're going to be talking about tomorrow. You're not
going to want to miss the show. And if you're
a podcast listener, I'm talking about the next episode, the
very next one, And of course every broadcast that we
make is also the HOUSEWI was a podcast what you
(20:01):
can find wherever your favorite podcasts are found anywhere. You
can find of course on the free iHeartRadio app, but
you can also find them on Apple Podcasts and Spotify,
wherever you get your podcasts. You just search for Dean
Sharp or Home with Dean or The House Whisper. You'll
get it. You'll find me, You'll see it. There hundreds
of episodes, all listed by topic. It is your home
(20:24):
improvement reference library, including today's show, this very show right here.
You can listen to anytime, as many times as you want.
Anywhere on planet Earth whenever you want on demand. That's
the house whisper of podcast all Right. Scott called me
and he is in the middle of buying a home
(20:46):
and the home inspector who did the inspection on the
home informed him that even though it's just a twenty
year old house, it has inadequate attic ventilation. And he
was asking me, how do you find out where where
the vandalai is because so many different styles of attic
ventilation are designed to go away and not be visible
(21:06):
from the outside. And so my first advice to him
is you got to get in the attic because you
definitely see them from the attic space. And then there's
the issue of how much attic ventilation. And I wanted
to take a couple of minutes and try and explain
the code requirement for attic ventilation. And so Scott, you
(21:26):
still with me, Bud, I'm sure they are, okay, thanks
for hanging on through the break. So here is the
This gets a little confusing, but because it's basically there
are two different conditions. The basic bottom line code for
attic ventilation is a ratio. It is basically for every
(21:49):
one hundred and fifty square feet of attic space square feet,
not cubic feet square feet. So once you get up
in the attic and you're measuring the floor of the
attic as you would measure the floor of any room.
So to get the square footage up there, for every
one hundred and fifty square feet of attic floor space,
(22:12):
the code requires one square foot of ventilation for that attic.
So if it was one hundred and fifty square foot addic,
obviously you would only need a total of one square
feet of a ventilation and doesn't have to be a
single vent. It could be broken up into ten different vents.
You know, you just want a cumulative total of one
(22:35):
square foot for every one hundred and fifty square feet
of attic floor space. Now that's the base code. That's
a lot of ventilation. You know, you got a two
thousand square foot addic and you're like, wow, that's that's
a lot of vents. But the code has an allowance,
and this is where people get confused about this, this
(22:58):
ratio number. The code has an allowance that if if
you are able and willing to place half of the
vents low and half of the vents near the top
of the ridge at the very highest part of the attic.
In other words, if you place fifty percent of them
low and fifty percent of them high, then you can
(23:21):
cut the requirement for vents in half, meaning that with
a series of high vents and low vents, instead of
one square foot for every one hundred and fifty feet,
you can have one square foot for every three hundred
feet of attic floor space. And that's the one that
we normally target. Okay, so both are true. The baseline
(23:44):
is one to one fifty, but if you're willing to
go half of them low and half of them high,
then you can go one to every three hundred. And
how do we do low and high? We do kind
of you know, we're talking about the standard kind of
roof vents up up high and down low. Those would
be typically vents that we cut into the eve blocking. Okay,
(24:07):
they can either be slot vents or most typically they're
like two inch round holes that we drill into the
wood blocking right under right at the top of the wall,
right underneath the eves into the attic space, and then
you can insert one of these little two inch insert
vent you know, pre done vents. And if you do
(24:28):
that in every single eve bay or every other eve
bay that adds up because a two inch diameter circle
is well, it's actually pi. A two inch diameter circle
has three point one four one six square inches of
area to it. So for every two inch event that
you place around the eve you get three inches of
(24:51):
attic vents three square inches of attic ventilation. And that
can add up really fast too. So fifty percent of
them there and the rest as high up up and
close to the ridgeline of the roof as possible, and
whatever the vent may be. You could use gable end vents,
you can if you do need to use low profile
Like people look at my roof and they're like, you
don't have any addic vents at all, Like not true.
(25:14):
Under all of those solar panels are a series of
low profile what we call O'Hagan vents, and they get
my venting requirement handled underneath my solar panels. So, Scott,
that's the that's the formula, that's the ratio, And as
far as which vents where and what have you got?
(25:35):
You got to get account of what you have so
far to find out how much you need to add.
And you're only going to be able to see those
from inside the attic space. Does that make sense? I
hope that kind of clarifies that all right, Because I'm
here to help you out. I'm here to translate complex
building and design issues for you into terms that you
(25:56):
can embrace and understand. And if I'm not doing it right,
then that I'm failing at my job. But I don't
think I'm failing today. In fact, we even had Andrea.
I had her call back because she stumped me for
a bit, and I found an answer for it during
the break and we came back on and solved it.
Because I care. I love doing this and I love
(26:18):
helping you out with your home. And we're going to
continue to do this tomorrow on the Big Show, where
we talk about these little fix it tips that can
make all the difference you understanding them in your next project,
this spring project that's coming up for you here on
all the little things that you need to handle around
the house. So join me again tomorrow morning from nine
(26:42):
to noon Pacific time, nine to noon Pacific time, and
we will take that on and of course more of
your calls as always. Until then, my friends, get out
there in this beautiful spring day and get busy building
yourself a beautiful life. We'll see tomorrow. This has been
(27:03):
Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into the
live broadcast on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning
from six to eight Pacific time, and every Sunday morning
from nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand
on the iHeartRadio app
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty AM I AM forty Live streaming
may be everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Dean Sharp the
House Whisper here with you live every Saturday and Sunday morning. Hey,
(00:23):
stop the presses, Andrea, are you still listening? Gosh? I
hope you are still listening. I hope that you haven't
gone about your day. Andrea was our last caller in
the last segment. She had a fence question, A tricky one,
A tricky one. She needed a fence for privacy outside
her bathroom Aria and yet she wanted to take full
(00:47):
advantage of the view of the ocean that she had
in the distance. So she needed a fence that could
do both privacy, open up for view, closed down for privacy.
We talked about kind of a shutter system. But but
you know, like treating a fence like a shutter. And
but I was talking to her on the phone, I
didn't have a chance to actually do any research. Andrea,
(01:09):
you know how I hate being stumped by things. I
got it. I got it for you. The company name
is pilex p y l E x p y l
E x and Uh, I want you to look for
the deck sun blind system. It comes in stainless steel,
(01:30):
it comes in powder coated metal. It is literally literally,
you know, this is the world that we live in. Literally,
if you're looking for it, probably somebody has worked it out.
It is literally mounting hardware. Take a look at that, Tina.
It's mounting hardware for slat boards on a fence. That
will that is specifically designed to turn sections of your
(01:53):
fence into essentially an exterior shutter. Okay, so this mounting
hardware you mounted against the Tina's pointing, She's like, we
should put it on that part of the fence. You
you mount this hardware against the posts, and then every
slat mounts into screws into these hardware turns. It is
a shutter. It's a shutter system, and it's a it's
(02:16):
about forty dollars for each section of shutter. So it's there, there,
it is, and this is this is so it's so simple,
it's so easy to look at. You would just basically
in between two posts, cut the slats and uh and
screw them into this system. So, Andrea, I hope you
are if you're still listening, call me back, just because
(02:39):
I want to be able to confirm that you got
the info. But it's PILEX p y l e X
and look for a deck sun blind system and you're
you're gonna find it. You're gonna find it. I did
a quick search, and you know it's not That's not
the only product on the market. There are. There are
some very similar on Amazon. This particular one is sold
(03:01):
at home depots, so you know it's been product tested
and it's worth You know it's money because home depot
doesn't carry junk stuff that they get tons of returns on.
So check it out. I'm very excited. I wish I
had found it before your call, but you know what,
this is the commitment that we have to our listeners.
I will figure it out for you. So give me
(03:23):
a call back Andrea to let me know that you
heard the answer, and check that out online because I
think I think that's the solution that you are looking for.
All right, when we return more of your calls, it's
an all call Saturday morning. The number to reach me
eight three to three two. Ask Dean eight three to
three the numeral two, Ask Dean, we will do more.
(03:47):
Can't buy Dean sharp the house with her at your service.
Thanks for joining us on the program this morning. We're
doing an all call Saturday morning, as is our growing custom.
I just love it. I love talking to people trying
to figure out what's going on with your home, helping
you with it. And you know, right before the top
of the hour, I had Andrea on the phone and
(04:09):
she really kind of stumped me as far as putting
together a tricky fence. Is she back? Andrea? Are you there?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I'm here, I'm here, Thank you?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Did you hear? Did did take a look at it?
I think I found it.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I think you did too. I'm looking right at it.
I did find there was another one called flex something
or other. But I was wondering too, do you think
you could use this with metal?
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Or would I?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Or should I just use wood?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
You can use it with you can use it with
any any rigid material that you can screw into those brackets.
And we're talking by the way, people are like, what
are they talking about? I just joined the program. Andrea
has this unique condition and condition. Andrea has this unique
situation where she she's got a bathroom that she wants
an ocean view from. She gets it in other areas
(05:02):
of her home. But she so she's got a fence outside.
She needs a fence that that can be both privacy
when she wants it to be privacy and view when
she wanted to be view. And we were just kind
of banging our heads on the table, thinking, Okay, maybe
the best way to do that is to create kind
of a shutter system, like a shutter blinds out there.
(05:23):
But I personally was this was new to me. I
was not aware that there was already pre established hardware
out there and not expensive stuff, and so everybody, I'm
just I'm excited about it. I literally had Andrea callback
because I just wanted to celebrate with her the fact
that during the break I found this and other people
are like, yeah, I've seen that for years, Dean, Well,
(05:45):
you know what, there are things that are brand new
to me too, and so from now on, I'm just
gonna dub this Andrea's fencing system. And so yeah, there
are these pre pre built rackets that basically will turn
slats of wood or metal into a fence shutter system
(06:08):
that you can open and close like a like like
plantation shutters. You can get your view or you can
close it down and have your privacy, and I was
just excited that I found it. And it's simple. I mean,
you can get them on Amazon, you can get them
at home depot. I've never seen them before, and so
we're celebrating it together. And that that was all. So
(06:29):
thanks for calling back.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
You never have to go down and look at them. Yeah,
and if you saw the bathrooms, I mean, people might
not understand, but my bathrooms are like you're outside, There's
one bathroom has a shower that's for the ceiling glass.
It is a little disruptive when you're taking a shower
next to an empty space outside there. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Well, congratulations, I think we're on the case. And uh
and and.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
You are so welcome, my friend. Thank you for thanks
for calling back. Yeah, I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
That.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Is that the best radio possible? I'm not sure. But
here's the point. The reason I'm here is to help,
and the reason I'm here to help is because I care.
I really do care about these things. So yeah, we
took two segments to cover that one problem because I
don't like being stumped and I don't like telling our
callers sorry, got no idea, tough luck, move on. Not
(07:35):
that I would ever say that, but you know what
I mean. I want to help you solve your problems. Okay,
in that spirit, let's take another call. We may not
get all that, we may have to go to break,
but I want to talk to Mohammed. Mohammed, welcome home.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Yes, Frank, you, Den, Dina and Tina, thank you for
taking my call. So my question is we are that
our roof is to be done because we're living in
the house for long enough.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Now, when I got several quotes.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
Getting material wise, getting a company name or the manufacturers
of the material is all scorning, I think, and another
one was Presidential Presidential Shape. And then there is a
Home Depot material as well. So the question to you
(08:30):
will be how Home Deep material compares with the other
two brand names that most of the roofers pushes. Given this,
let's say skilled worker working. But we buy the material
(08:51):
from Home Depot and then have them mistall it and
do whatever they do. What I understood that they putting
some sort of sheet that is like fifty years a
life and the shingles goes on top of it and
that has usually thirty year life. So now you go.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Ahead, Okay, all right, roofing is confusing. Well, good news
for drivers this morning, only a few incidents on the roadway.
So here's the thing, my friend number one, I this
(09:31):
is the morning of stumping Dean with Home Depot questions. Uh,
I am not personally aware of home of a Home
Depot brand roofing. Okay, if you.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Look, I'm just I'm not saying the Home People brand.
All I'm saying if I go ahead and buy the
material from Home Depot.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Oh, I got you right, right, right right, yeah, Okay, that's.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
What I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
I was confused, Yeah, gotcha. Okay, yeah, because Home Deepot
just carries the same mainline brand they carry Owens Corning.
I believe they carry certain teed by the way, when
you mentioned the presidential shingle, the presidential style that's by
the company, certaintyed certainty to Owen's Corning. Undoubtedly. When it
comes to asphalt composite shingles, the two largest major manufacturer,
(10:19):
I would throw a third one in their GAF GAFF GAF.
These are the three big names in asphalt composite roofing,
and you really can't go wrong with them, with any
of them, and they have highering little bit but I
will tell you this just FYI, just so you know,
my friend, that my own home, my own roof, has
(10:40):
the certain teed Presidential shingle on it. Tina, and I
searched the world over to find you. I mean, I
don't think there is a more gorgeous, more beautiful asphalt
composite shingle from a from a design point of view
than the Presidential series. It's random, it's randomized, it's got
beautiful shadow lines to it. It is. It is just
(11:03):
and the quality of the roof is outstanding. So I
have the Presidential series on my own roof. And yes,
I would like Certainty to call me and pay me
for that endorsement. But there you go. So so the
key is and I don't want you to worry about
the the the differential in warranties. Of of yes, you're
(11:27):
going to find the shingle on the outside. You can
find those that have lifetime warranties, fifty year warranties, forty
year warranties, and then the the layer underneath, the moisture
layer underneath. You'll find those at various warranty levels as well,
and there sometimes will be a differential. But trust me,
(11:51):
if you buy a good quality membrane for underneath your shingles,
whether it's a thirty year or forty year, and you
put a fit fifty year shingle on top of it.
It's a fifty year roof okay, so you don't have
to worry about that differential between the two. But when
it comes to underlayment, and that's that underneath layer, my
(12:12):
recommendation is that you don't go with a standardized roofing paper. Now,
I don't know what the Home Depot is recommending for
their stuff and how they do it, And there's still
plenty of roofing companies out there that on the low
end of things that say, yeah, we'll just put down
two layers of builders, you know, roofing paper fifteen or
(12:35):
thirty pound roofing felt and then you're you're roof right over.
It's going to last for a long time, and it will.
It will. But the question is is that the best
that you can do? And the answer to that is
always no. The best that you can do is to
have an underlayment system underneath your your roofing material, underneath
(12:55):
the shingles themselves, have a underlayment system that is self ceiling,
and that meaning around nails and perforations, and that is stretchable,
that has some actual pliability to it, and that when
you roll out one course of underlayment onto the next,
(13:16):
it seals onto itself, so that by the time you're
done rolling out the underlayment, you essentially have a single
membrane covering the entire roof that will stretch and that's
important for heat and cold differentials in weather. It won't
grow brittle, it won't crack. And then on top of
that you put a good quality asphalt composite shingle, and that,
(13:41):
my friend, is your best system. There are various underlayments
out there, and I haven't found one that I hate yet. Okay,
I just don't like going old school with asphalt embedded
roofing paper myself. Neither do any of our best roofers.
They all prefer the self ceiling underlayment system because they
(14:04):
last longer and they perform better. And so that's the
combination you're looking for. I don't want to get brand specific,
because there are a lot of them out there, but
that's what you're looking for. A self ceiling, rubberized stretchable
underlayment system and then a good quality asphalt shingle on top.
All right, my friend, thank you so much for your
(14:25):
call and for the question. Hopefully that just simplifies the
process for you more of your calls when we return.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp The House Whisper.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty AM, I AM forty live streaming
(14:47):
and HD everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. You are Home
with Dean Sharp the House Whisper. That is me. It
is an all Calls Saturday morning. We're just taking calls.
You're setting the agenda for the show. I want to
go back to the phones. I love love talking to
you about your home. I want to talk to Scott. Hey, Scott,
(15:09):
welcome home.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Oh, good morning, Dean. I'm in the process of purchasing
a about a twenty year old home and I had
a home inspection done and the inspector wrote up in
the report that I had inadequate attic venting, and so
(15:32):
I started researching it. And you know, well, he's even
got aerial views from a drone that and I don't
see any sort of vents, And so I started researching,
and I see that there is a wedge type vent
event that goes underneath your tiles as an s tile
type tile. And how can I determine whether I got
(15:53):
these or not because they're essentially invisible.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Well, you got to get into the attic and look
at it from the attic side. You're right, there are vents.
And thank God that this is true, that there are
vents that are architecturally inobtrusive. These days, sometimes we put
vents right out there for everybody to see, because the
vent itself is an architectural feature on a roof, like
a dormer, a copper dormer or something like that. But
(16:20):
most of the time we are attempting to hide such things, like,
for instance, in a brand new asphalt shingle roof assembly,
most asphalt manufacturers manufacture a ridge top vent that literally
goes right under and sort of hides underneath the top
(16:43):
ridge shingles, and it runs the entire length of the
roof ridge. And it's not really a visible thing. I mean,
it doesn't really change the look of the roof at all.
So but the key is this, whatever the venting is
in the attic can be seen from inside the attic. Okay,
that is where it is obvious, and so that's what
(17:05):
you're going to have to get into the attic or
get somebody in the attic to evaluate if it's got vents,
where it's got vents. My assumption is now it's an
interesting thing that a that a home inspector would make
this observation for a home that's only twenty years old,
because you know, for the last few days, three decades,
(17:27):
you know, the building code has been just stickler about vents.
And by the way, as far as what you need,
there's a different solutions. But let me explain to everybody
what the attic vent code requirement currently is. Okay, and
I don't know if the home inspector wrote this in
his report, but it can be a little confusing for people.
(17:51):
But I want to try and make it as simple
as possible. In fact, you know what, Scott, can you
hang tight because we're running a little along in the
other segment. If you can hang tight, I'm going to
explain this to you right on the other side of
the break, So can you hold on with me for
a second? Absolutely awesome? All right, you stay put and
we'll come right back to Scott's question about attic venting
(18:13):
and kind of hopefully I can dispel the confusion about
what's required and where, and we'll do that. Caym Byean Sharp,
the House Whisper. Welcome home, Thanks for joining us on
the program. On this lovely spring Saturday morning, here the
twelfth of April twenty twenty five. We are coming to
(18:34):
you live as we always are. Today's show. All your calls.
I've got Scott on the line and get to get
back to him in just a second with his roof
vent question. And I just want to remind y'all that
we've got another show, the Big Show tomorrow three hours.
We're going to spend together tomorrow from nine to noon.
(18:54):
And this weekend our theme is sometimes it's the little stuff,
fix it tips for you, because you know, spring has
definitely sprung, and I can always measure by the amount
of emails and listener questions and comments that we get
on social media throughout the week that this is the
(19:14):
time of year, this is the week that the worm
has turned. Everybody's like, all right, I got no excuse now.
The weather's great and it's time for me to get
moving on some of these Honeydew projects I've got around,
and I find, in general, when it comes to DIY
projects that it's not the big scope of the project
that really befuddles you or gets you frustrated. It turns
(19:38):
out to be small, little unspoken skills and bits of
knowledge along the way. And so I've assembled a list
of such things that will help you out. And that's
what we're going to be talking about tomorrow. You're not
going to want to miss the show. And if you're
a podcast listener, I'm talking about the next episode, the
very next one, And of course every broadcast that we
make is also the HOUSEWI was a podcast what you
(20:01):
can find wherever your favorite podcasts are found anywhere. You
can find of course on the free iHeartRadio app, but
you can also find them on Apple Podcasts and Spotify,
wherever you get your podcasts. You just search for Dean
Sharp or Home with Dean or The House Whisper. You'll
get it. You'll find me, You'll see it. There hundreds
of episodes, all listed by topic. It is your home
(20:24):
improvement reference library, including today's show, this very show right here.
You can listen to anytime, as many times as you want.
Anywhere on planet Earth whenever you want on demand. That's
the house whisper of podcast all Right. Scott called me
and he is in the middle of buying a home
(20:46):
and the home inspector who did the inspection on the
home informed him that even though it's just a twenty
year old house, it has inadequate attic ventilation. And he
was asking me, how do you find out where where
the vandalai is because so many different styles of attic
ventilation are designed to go away and not be visible
(21:06):
from the outside. And so my first advice to him
is you got to get in the attic because you
definitely see them from the attic space. And then there's
the issue of how much attic ventilation. And I wanted
to take a couple of minutes and try and explain
the code requirement for attic ventilation. And so Scott, you
(21:26):
still with me, Bud, I'm sure they are, okay, thanks
for hanging on through the break. So here is the
This gets a little confusing, but because it's basically there
are two different conditions. The basic bottom line code for
attic ventilation is a ratio. It is basically for every
(21:49):
one hundred and fifty square feet of attic space square feet,
not cubic feet square feet. So once you get up
in the attic and you're measuring the floor of the
attic as you would measure the floor of any room.
So to get the square footage up there, for every
one hundred and fifty square feet of attic floor space,
(22:12):
the code requires one square foot of ventilation for that attic.
So if it was one hundred and fifty square foot addic,
obviously you would only need a total of one square
feet of a ventilation and doesn't have to be a
single vent. It could be broken up into ten different vents.
You know, you just want a cumulative total of one
(22:35):
square foot for every one hundred and fifty square feet
of attic floor space. Now that's the base code. That's
a lot of ventilation. You know, you got a two
thousand square foot addic and you're like, wow, that's that's
a lot of vents. But the code has an allowance,
and this is where people get confused about this, this
(22:58):
ratio number. The code has an allowance that if if
you are able and willing to place half of the
vents low and half of the vents near the top
of the ridge at the very highest part of the attic.
In other words, if you place fifty percent of them
low and fifty percent of them high, then you can
(23:21):
cut the requirement for vents in half, meaning that with
a series of high vents and low vents, instead of
one square foot for every one hundred and fifty feet,
you can have one square foot for every three hundred
feet of attic floor space. And that's the one that
we normally target. Okay, so both are true. The baseline
(23:44):
is one to one fifty, but if you're willing to
go half of them low and half of them high,
then you can go one to every three hundred. And
how do we do low and high? We do kind
of you know, we're talking about the standard kind of
roof vents up up high and down low. Those would
be typically vents that we cut into the eve blocking. Okay,
(24:07):
they can either be slot vents or most typically they're
like two inch round holes that we drill into the
wood blocking right under right at the top of the wall,
right underneath the eves into the attic space, and then
you can insert one of these little two inch insert
vent you know, pre done vents. And if you do
(24:28):
that in every single eve bay or every other eve
bay that adds up because a two inch diameter circle
is well, it's actually pi. A two inch diameter circle
has three point one four one six square inches of
area to it. So for every two inch event that
you place around the eve you get three inches of
(24:51):
attic vents three square inches of attic ventilation. And that
can add up really fast too. So fifty percent of
them there and the rest as high up up and
close to the ridgeline of the roof as possible, and
whatever the vent may be. You could use gable end vents,
you can if you do need to use low profile
Like people look at my roof and they're like, you
don't have any addic vents at all, Like not true.
(25:14):
Under all of those solar panels are a series of
low profile what we call O'Hagan vents, and they get
my venting requirement handled underneath my solar panels. So, Scott,
that's the that's the formula, that's the ratio, And as
far as which vents where and what have you got?
(25:35):
You got to get account of what you have so
far to find out how much you need to add.
And you're only going to be able to see those
from inside the attic space. Does that make sense? I
hope that kind of clarifies that all right, Because I'm
here to help you out. I'm here to translate complex
building and design issues for you into terms that you
(25:56):
can embrace and understand. And if I'm not doing it right,
then that I'm failing at my job. But I don't
think I'm failing today. In fact, we even had Andrea.
I had her call back because she stumped me for
a bit, and I found an answer for it during
the break and we came back on and solved it.
Because I care. I love doing this and I love
(26:18):
helping you out with your home. And we're going to
continue to do this tomorrow on the Big Show, where
we talk about these little fix it tips that can
make all the difference you understanding them in your next project,
this spring project that's coming up for you here on
all the little things that you need to handle around
the house. So join me again tomorrow morning from nine
(26:42):
to noon Pacific time, nine to noon Pacific time, and
we will take that on and of course more of
your calls as always. Until then, my friends, get out
there in this beautiful spring day and get busy building
yourself a beautiful life. We'll see tomorrow. This has been
(27:03):
Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into the
live broadcast on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning
from six to eight Pacific time, and every Sunday morning
from nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand
on the iHeartRadio app
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