May 17, 2025 • 29 mins
This episode, Dean covers the ins and outs of barn-style doors and how much privacy they really offer, explores blown-in attic insulation, weighs the pros and cons of split air conditioners, and discusses what causes dips in tile floors. Whether you're remodeling or just curious, Dean brings expert advice with a down-to-earth twist.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
KFI AM six forty live streaming in HD everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app. Hey, did you know that we are
live every Saturday and Sunday morning. Yes, this is our
live broadcast, and right after we're done with our live broadcasts,
they become our podcast episodes, which can be found anywhere
(00:31):
you listen to your favorite podcast. Of course, you can
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Dean Sharp. You can search Dean Sharp, or you can
search the house Whisper. You'll find them hundreds of episodes,
(00:53):
all searchable by topic. It is truly a home improvement
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free for you. And I should also say if your
home is in need of some more personal house Whisper attention,
you can book an in home design consult with us
(01:15):
at house Whisperer dot design. Yes, me and T in
your home having some cookies looking at the problem, throwing
you some insight as to hopefully change the game for
your home. You can find out more details at house
whisperer dot design. All right, it is an all calls
(01:35):
Saturday morning for us here. Calls have been a little
light this morning. I'm just saying you guys can take
advantage of that. Sometimes I just need to nudge everyone
to let them know. But we've got some calls on
the board. But there's still room for you. Eight three
three two, ask Dean eight three three the numeral two.
Ask Dean, I want to talk to Michael. Hey, Michael,
(01:55):
welcome home.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yes, yes, yes, good good morning, Dean.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Thanks you taken my call.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Say.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I've got a home in southern California. It was build
in the early eighties. It's a slab floor. I have
a half bath powder room so called off of a
hallway that I need to upgrade the toilet in. The
problem is the toilet was designed on a fourteen inch
ruf in and back.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
In the day, the rough end sizes were always done
with the toilet bowl. Now, as you may or may
not know, nowadays they always.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Use the standard twelve inch rut bowl and put a
roughian tank on it, and what the problem is there, Dean.
When the door opens, it swings inward towards.
Speaker 6 (02:40):
The toilet and the fourteen inch rough toilet excuse me,
I did replace years ago, they still made the old
fashioned fourteenage Ruffians with the bulls and it just barely
clears the front of the bowl. So if I again,
I'm on a slab floor I've had a I'm gonna
tell me to jackamber the floor, readrout it, or even
(03:03):
try to upgrade.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
The A B S plange on it with a with
an offset.
Speaker 6 (03:10):
But that's not even going to do it. And the
problem is too, I've got.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
A really high end hardwood wood flooring in the bathroom
that I don't want to touch. My question was what
a barn door provide in a traffic AIA in this
hallway enough enough privacy to remove the existing door, the
standard type of door that it has, and use the
(03:35):
barn door to to gain the privacy that I need.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Okay, good thinking, good thinking. Uh So here's the honest answer.
Visual privacy, absolutely no problem.
Speaker 7 (03:48):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
The only uh, the only leakiness with a barn style
door is going to be sound transmission. Now, a good
solid core barn door is going to you know, reduce
that pretty significantly. In fact, if you've lived in a
house with hollow core interior doors, you may not notice
(04:10):
any difference whatsoever if you transition to a solid core
barn door. But you know, because the door is not
making positive contact with the jam, because it's just essentially
sliding in front of the wall space itself, there is
an air gap. And because there's an air gap, the
(04:34):
question of privacy in terms of sound transmission, that's the
only issue that you're going to be experiencing. Now we've
reduced that somewhat. We've reduced that somewhat by making sure
that the new door, the barn door, is a bit
oversized and so that it is significantly wider than the
(04:55):
jam and a little bit taller than the jam as well.
And as a result of that that helps it helps
the you know, the further that the door is overlapped
on the existing jam, it possible helps with sound transmission.
But it's not as if there's you know, there's the
sound as if there's no door there whatsoever. I'm just
(05:18):
saying that, you know, in a in a bathroom area,
if I put a solid core traditional door, that's making
direct contact with the door stop on three sides and
only has that little gap on the bottom. Then that
sound isolation because sound is you know, sound finds air,
and if air, if air is allowed to flow between
(05:40):
one space and another, it's an excellent medium for sound
to travel. So a standard door sitting up against door
stops does a considerably better job shutting down sound then
it does anything else. As far as the sliding door,
a barn door is concerned, or a pocket door, there's
lockable sliding door barn door hardware out there, some really
(06:03):
beautiful barn door at hard So it's not that that
the door couldn't be secured, and it's not that the
door would would encourage you know, visible privacy disruptions. All
of that would be handled. It's just a question when
it comes to a powder room of sound. If down
a hallway far enough away from everybody else, then probably
(06:25):
not a big concern. And it sounds like it would
be the least expensive. Have you having run through the
gambit of of ideas already that I would have thrown
out to you, and I understand you don't want to
disrupt that hardwood floor, uh, And yeah, that would be
the case. Now, if you decide to disrupt the hardwood floor,
(06:47):
then then I want you to be aware of one
more option that you've got for a bathroom like that,
not just moving the flange back. You know a couple
of inches for a standard twelve inch offset for the
toilet for all the new modern toilets, but you could
(07:08):
actually decide to move the drain completely into the wall
and put a wall mount toilet in there, which gives
you the maximum clearance in a small bathroom because the
wall mount toilet incorporates a frame that puts the tank
into the wall, and literally only the bowl will be
sticking out into the room, So you're eliminating the tank
(07:32):
presence offset from the wall altogether. And so instead of
twelve inches offset, it's zero inches offset from bowl to wall,
and you would have the most room. But I get it,
I get it. You don't want to disrupt the wood floor.
So a sliding door or a pocket door there would
be your best shot. And I would say between a
sliding in a pocket door, the barn door is probably
(07:53):
the better idea, just because a pocket door, even though
it looks like it's making solid contact the pocket itself,
the pocket becomes a sound transmissionary.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
I get youri Well, the door where the pocket door
would slide into it's a near it's about twenty six inches,
and there's another door, a bedroom door that's next to that,
and there's a light switch in that wall where the
pocket door would slide right, have electrical work so that
(08:25):
there was a slideable work. I've even talked thought about
a door Harmonica type or Accordian door. It's a little
on the cheap side, but that was another alternative.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah, I would do the sliding door if I had
to choose between all of that, because it's classy. It
doesn't have to look like a barn either. There is
zero hardware visible sliding doors now that can look very
contemporary as well. Look those up as well, Michael. I've
got to run to a break. Thanks for your question.
I hope that helps. I would do the sliding door
if we're going to that wood floor. Otherwise you're gon
(09:02):
have to commit to moving the flange in the concrete
for the toilet. All right, y'all, when we come back,
more of your calls your home with Dean Sharp the
house whisper. We're at your service. We're taking calls on
this lovely, misty Saturday morning here in Spring, and it's
time to go back to the phones. I want to
(09:23):
talk to Chris. Hey, Chris, welcome home.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Hey Dean, thank you for taking the call. Hey, I
have a question about some blown in insulation.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
I have a twenty.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Four hundred square foot three bedroom ranch style house L shaped,
and it has a patio on the front about twelve
feet deep, all stucco. It's built into the house. Insulation
in the house is only covering the living space. It's
not covering the patio in the front or the patio
in the back. It's just the sudden laughing getting ready
(09:56):
to do blown in insulation.
Speaker 8 (09:57):
Should I have that section done.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Or not done? And I'm getting conflicting answers from contractors.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Are the what are the I'm curious what the contractors
are saying.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
One saying no, that it's not a living space, it
doesn't need to be insulated. The other saying, yes, let's
do it because the heat will radiate up through the
patio and then into the attic space above the living space.
And the patios are kind of large. They're twelve feet
deep on the L shaped one. It's fifty feet run
to one way and forty five foot run on the other,
(10:28):
twelve feet and fifteen feet in the back.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Okay, all right, all right, So here's my here's my
take on that they're both kind of right. Well, they're
both right in their own way. It's absolutely true. You
don't have to do it because it is exteriors. Okay,
you don't have to do it. It's not a requirement.
It's outside the house, right, as long as you've got
a barrier, and you should have a barrier up in
(10:55):
the attic in between the space. Now, for some reason,
that's all there is not, okay, So then I would absolutely,
without question do it. Yeah, for two reasons. You know,
an exterior space is only defined by a true wall break, like,
for instance, in your garage. If you look in the
(11:17):
attic about the garage, you'll find that there's a wall,
continuous wall up in between the garage and the rest
of the attic space. That's because the garage is quote
unquote exterior. But if for some reason this was missed,
then you absolutely should insulate the whole space. And I
would probably do it anyway, because blown in insulation is
(11:37):
not expensive. Number one, all number two, I'm not so
worried about heat invading up from that space, although if
there's no wall, I am concerned about that now. But
even if there was a wall, I think I would
do it because it's gonna make the patio experience that
much more comfortable because that insulation is going to help
(11:59):
keep heat from radiating down into the patio as well,
and if you decide to do any heating outside on
the patio, it's actually actually going to hold that heat
in place better on those cold days as well. So
I just don't think there's any downside to doing the
blown in everywhere perfect perfect.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Now, there are recessed can lights for lack of better term,
they're rectangular. Should those be covered before the insulation is
blown in? Or are they okay just to cover with
the insulation?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Well, if they are, if they're newer recess can lights
that are all low voltage and icy rated That IC
means insulated and contact rated, Okay, Yeah, if they're old school,
you can buy covers for them all right. You can
look online. Sometimes you can find them at the big
box stores, sometimes not. But there are covers from the
(12:51):
attic side. You just cover over the light and then
that way you can blow in around it. You don't
want to make a direct contact with a recess canlight
that is not ic or insulation contact rated because it's
a fire answer.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Understood, and that was my question to Kay.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Perfect.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
So we'll cover it and we'll get it done. Yeah,
the cost difference is nothing that I think the benefits
are tremendous.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
I agree one hundred percent. Chris, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Dean. Thank you so much. I appreciate your answers and
confirming my thoughts. I appreciate it all.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Right, buddy, good luck on that. Thanks for the question.
Always great. This is why we take questions because who
knows where they come from, and they just end up
helping everybody understand their home a little bit better, and
we will continue to do it.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
HIM forty live streaming and HD everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
You are Home with Dean Sharp the house Whisper I
help you feel that way. Hope you feel home every
time you tune in to the show.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Here.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Of course, we spend our time talking about your home,
every aspect of your home from design to construction, to
DIY home improvement fix and toilets having grand architectural designs
and everything in between, inside outside the whole mgilla? Is
that a thing? Sam? Can we find out what the
(14:18):
word mcgilla means and where it comes from? I find
it might be mgilla gorilla? Is it? Can we find out?
Because such I grew up saying it because my parents
used to say it, and now I realize maybe just today,
I have no idea what that means other than like
it means the whole thing, and it kind of bugs
me because I'm a word nerd. So we got to
(14:38):
find that out. Anyway, the hole mgilla, everything regarding your home.
And as always, we're taking calls here on a Saturday morning.
We still have room on the call board for you.
The number to reach me eight three three two. Ask
Dean eight three three the numeral two. Ask Dean eight
three three two. Ask Dean. I found the definition of
(15:01):
miguilli for you. Yeah, what is it? It's something large
and or elaborate. Okay, there it is, So the whole
large elaborate thing gorilla exactly. Yeah. Right, that's why they
named him that, right, because he was large and elaborate
or he was large. He wasn't very elaborate, but he
(15:22):
was large. Oh, there was no grape Ape. That's true.
Oh my gosh. There is a whole younger generation listening
right now, like great Ape. What's that? What's that? Yeah?
I know you have to be you have to be
older folks like us here, as we talked about at
the top of the show, to remember Gray Ape. Okay,
(15:46):
all right, I'm gonna shut up and go to the phones. Now,
let's talk to Fred. Hey, Fred, welcome home, Jean. How
you doing good? Good, good, my friend. How can I
help you?
Speaker 7 (15:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (16:00):
I have this HVAC unit in my single live and
I come to find out that all my free on
has leaked out, Uh huh and yeah, out of the
I guess the evaporator.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah, wherever.
Speaker 8 (16:20):
Anyway, I don't want to pay fifteen thousand dollars for
a brand new unit. I'd rather get a split unit.
I only have a thousand square feet yep, and I
think that would be perfect for me.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
What do you think, I would say, probably in your situation,
thousand square foot single wide mobile home. Yeah, I think
a split unit you'd want to get more than you'd
want to get a unit that has more than one cassette, okay,
because even a thousand square feet you got different rooms,
so you got it, you know, probably two cassettes, maybe three,
(17:01):
but two cassettes so that you get even coverage. And
by the way, when we talk about a mini split
air conditioning, for everybody who's curious about that, they are
much much smaller than standard air conditioning, super quiet, less expensive,
no duct work involved. What you have is on the
outside you have the essentially a traditional compressor and condenser outside,
(17:26):
but much smaller, much quieter, and on the inside, instead
of ducting, you've got these what are called cassettes. Cassettes
can be mounted the typical split system cassette can be
mounted up high on a wall. But now, Fred, there
are also some really nice cassette units that get mounted
in ceilings so that we don't have to have that
(17:48):
thing on the wall. And a split systems, many split
systems can range from a single condenser and one cassette
up to a single condenser and four cassettes inside a home.
That would be overkill in your situation. But I would
look at you know, one, maybe two cassettes at the most,
(18:09):
and they would be do a really good job and
also in addition to cooling, they would also you know,
be full functional in terms of heating if you got
the heat pump unit. A heat pump unit is simply
a little bit more advanced system that reverses the flow
of the air conditioner and actually provides heat when you
(18:30):
need it as opposed to cooling.
Speaker 8 (18:34):
Where would you suggest I put these cassettes at in
the in the master and the living room.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, that probably is the right way to go. I
mean you basically you've got your open air area, which
is kitchen, dining and living room area. I'd put that
cassette kind of centrally located there for maximum comfort, and
then probably one back in the primary bedroom. So but
you've got your you know, a two sown system. Essentially,
(19:04):
you could turn one off when you're not using the
bedroom during the day, only run the one out in
the dining area and vice versa at night, and you'd have,
you know, you'd have a very very comfortable space, and
also you'd be saving energy as well, because you wouldn't
be trying to heat the whole place when you only
need it, you know, heat and cool the whole place
when you only need it in one zone or the other.
(19:26):
So yeah, that's how I would go. Fred. We're up
against a break. Fred. Thanks for your question, my friend.
Good luck on that, and I think you're headed in
the right direction. All right, more of your calls when
we return your home with Dean Sharp the house Whisper Day,
Dean Sharp, the House Whipper, Welcome home. Thanks for joining
us this morning, this now drizzly officially drizzly Saturday spring
(19:52):
morning here in southern California. I hope the weather is
treating you right wherever you may be. There's some storms
blowing through the Midwest right now too, so I guess
we'll take the drizzle. We'll take the cloudy drizzle. It's
been a weird spring. It's been a real spring this year.
I mean here we are right in is a technical
late May, yeah, the second half of May, and we're
(20:14):
still getting this kind of weather. Very very interesting. By
the way, listener Sherry wrote me a note here and said,
quick and dirty, Dean. Mcgilla is a Hebrew word. It
has to do with a long, extensive reading that you
know from the Torah. The mcgilla esther and it was
(20:37):
something that people are in some level were obligated to
read on purim and it's long and it's detailed, and
so that's where the phrase initially came from. Like you,
by the time you're done, you've done it, You've read
through the whole mgilla and there it is. So thank
(20:57):
you Jerry for that. I appreciate that. I like learning things.
I like knowing's stuff. All right, we're taking calls this morning.
I've got time for one more, maybe two, probably just one.
Speaker 7 (21:11):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Let's talk to Joan. Hey, Joan, welcome home.
Speaker 7 (21:17):
Thank you, Dean, good morning, and thank you for your
very helpful show. Appreciate it. I have a tile roof
home twenty six years old. The garage area there is
a dip in the tiles. There are a few homes
(21:38):
in my area with the same situation. Also know of
one friend in Huntington Beach that has an issue. Is
this common?
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Is it?
Speaker 7 (21:51):
What kind of a problem? And what do I do
to repair it? If anything?
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Okay? Got it? So visibly from outside you look, You're like,
why is there? It's not flat? It kind of dips in, right, Okay,
do you happen to know what the structure up inside
your garage? Roof looks like is it.
Speaker 7 (22:15):
Because it is enclosed? Cannot see the roof the attic area.
Speaker 8 (22:21):
Is enclosed, okay, And there's.
Speaker 7 (22:24):
No evidence of leaks or right anything.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
There is one of two culprits involved here, my friend.
And the good news is it's probably fixable, okay. And no,
it's probably not a structural failing, although it is an
esthetic structural failing. And what I mean by that a
twenty year old home, my guess, is my guess, a
(22:51):
home built around two thousand that you probably have what
we call a trust system in your garage probably so
those are made out of two by fours and are
they are set up in a kind of a a
braced system. That's what a trust is. It comes pre braced.
(23:13):
It's a way of using smaller amounts of lumber of
you know, smaller types of lumber like two by fours
for doing heavy lifting work, like you know, an entire roofline.
Trusses are typically set at twenty four inches on center
two feet on center, and so that leaves about two
(23:37):
feet of plywood spanning that area. Normally that's not an issue,
but sometimes especially we've noticed when also spect on top
of that system, is a you know, concrete tile roof.
There can be areas where the ply wood starts to
sag a little bit, and as a result, out on
(23:59):
the roof you see that dip in it. So typically
here's the thing. Either one a trust has failed. That's unlikely.
It's possible, but it's unlikely. Typically because they're set at
twenty four inches apart, it probably wasn't the best idea
to have it specked with a concrete tile, but nonetheless
(24:20):
it was and it's holding up everywhere else. So there's
a really good chance that a builder, a carpenter, a
general contractor, probably not a roofer, okay, because the roofer
is concerned with what's going on on the outside of
that roof system. But from the inside area, a contractor
(24:42):
can probably get in there, find the sagging plywood and
insert some traditional blocking and or maybe just even a
traditional roof rafter in that gap and as a result
sort of push out the sagging plywood and even up
that dip. Now, if the dip has been there for
a long long time, the plywood might fight them in
(25:06):
trying to do it, but that's how we would want
to approach it on day one because that way, you're
not messing up the roofing material. You're not taking anything
off on the outside. You're just literally kind of pushing
the dent out from the backside inside the attic area.
It's either that or you know, the roof is a
(25:27):
conventional roof, meaning that it's used with conventional rafters, and
one of the rafters has decided to sag. I doubt
it's cracked or anything like that, but it has sagged.
It might have been put in upside down from the
builder when they originally did it. And if those of
you were wondering, like upside down, what do you mean?
Every piece of natural wood, like a two by eight okay,
(25:50):
that is typically used for roof rafters has a natural
crown in it. In other words, it's bending slightly in
one direction or the other. And one of the jobs
of a framer is before we put those rafters up
in your roof, we eyeball down the side of those
roof rafters, those two by eight or two x tens
(26:11):
or whatever they are, and we find the side that
is bending up and we mark it. We call that
the crown, and we always make sure that we place
that crown up so that if anything, it's humped up
a little bit when we first install it, and over
the years it may settle down to straight. But if
you put it in crown down, it's already starting in
(26:32):
the opposite direction, and then over the years it might
sag even a little bit more. Again, not a structural concern,
but esthetically it makes a warp or a wobble or
a dip in the roof. My guess is that you've
got a trust system. But I just wanted to cover
the whole thing, Joan, and let you know that it's
time to get a general contractor or a carpenter framing
(26:55):
carpenter out there, take a look up in the attic
and see what actually is the cause of it. I
would say, chances are, you know, ninety percent good that
something could be done from the underneath attic side to
fix that sag. But either way, just to be safe,
you want to make sure that there isn't a structural problem.
But you've seen it in other homes in your area,
(27:18):
and that clues off that the fact that this is
just one of those things. Probably they should not expect
such a heavy roof on top of that spanning plywood
with the plywood being you know, having to stretch a
whole two feet in between roof trusses. But it's not
really a structural problem per se. It just creates an
(27:40):
aesthetic thing that nobody likes.
Speaker 7 (27:45):
Would it be an issue.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
For a sale, for the sale of a house, I
would definitely get it addressed. I would get it address.
So is it an issue for the sale of a
house only if you reach up there and you look
up there and you find that something is cracked or failing.
If it's just a sag, then technically no, it's not
an issue for the sale of house. It's an aesthetic concern,
(28:09):
but it's not a structural issue that stands in the
way or that would require repair before you sell.
Speaker 7 (28:16):
All right, thank you so much for all the information, Joan.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
You are so welcome. You are so welcome, and good
luck on that. But yeah, get a contractor to look
up inside there and see what's going on. I'm guessing
it's not a structural problem, but it was in my opinion,
the way the tract was set up. It's probably a
goof to put that heavy of a roof on a
trust system in that situation. All right, everybody, that's all
(28:45):
I got for today. That's all the time we have.
Find us again tomorrow from nine to noon Pacific time.
We're talking on the big show. We're talking about finding
your style. One of the most difficult things for most
homeowners to do when they're approaching their remodel is like,
what the style we're gonna do? What is our style?
(29:07):
Do I have a style? Yes, you do. I'm going
to help you find it tomorrow. Don't miss it nine
to noon tomorrow and for the rest of the day today.
Just get yourself out there and get busy building yourself
a beautiful life, and we'll see you here tomorrow morning.
This has been Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
(29:29):
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.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
KFI AM six forty live streaming in HD everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app. Hey, did you know that we are
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(00:31):
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(00:53):
all searchable by topic. It is truly a home improvement
reference library that we're building there for you. You can
listen to the shows any time anywhere on demand, oldly
free for you. And I should also say if your
home is in need of some more personal house Whisper attention,
you can book an in home design consult with us
(01:15):
at house Whisperer dot design. Yes, me and T in
your home having some cookies looking at the problem, throwing
you some insight as to hopefully change the game for
your home. You can find out more details at house
whisperer dot design. All right, it is an all calls
(01:35):
Saturday morning for us here. Calls have been a little
light this morning. I'm just saying you guys can take
advantage of that. Sometimes I just need to nudge everyone
to let them know. But we've got some calls on
the board. But there's still room for you. Eight three
three two, ask Dean eight three three the numeral two.
Ask Dean, I want to talk to Michael. Hey, Michael,
(01:55):
welcome home.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yes, yes, yes, good good morning, Dean.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Thanks you taken my call.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Say.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I've got a home in southern California. It was build
in the early eighties. It's a slab floor. I have
a half bath powder room so called off of a
hallway that I need to upgrade the toilet in. The
problem is the toilet was designed on a fourteen inch
ruf in and back.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
In the day, the rough end sizes were always done
with the toilet bowl. Now, as you may or may
not know, nowadays they always.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Use the standard twelve inch rut bowl and put a
roughian tank on it, and what the problem is there, Dean.
When the door opens, it swings inward towards.
Speaker 6 (02:40):
The toilet and the fourteen inch rough toilet excuse me,
I did replace years ago, they still made the old
fashioned fourteenage Ruffians with the bulls and it just barely
clears the front of the bowl. So if I again,
I'm on a slab floor I've had a I'm gonna
tell me to jackamber the floor, readrout it, or even
(03:03):
try to upgrade.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
The A B S plange on it with a with
an offset.
Speaker 6 (03:10):
But that's not even going to do it. And the
problem is too, I've got.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
A really high end hardwood wood flooring in the bathroom
that I don't want to touch. My question was what
a barn door provide in a traffic AIA in this
hallway enough enough privacy to remove the existing door, the
standard type of door that it has, and use the
(03:35):
barn door to to gain the privacy that I need.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Okay, good thinking, good thinking. Uh So here's the honest answer.
Visual privacy, absolutely no problem.
Speaker 7 (03:48):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
The only uh, the only leakiness with a barn style
door is going to be sound transmission. Now, a good
solid core barn door is going to you know, reduce
that pretty significantly. In fact, if you've lived in a
house with hollow core interior doors, you may not notice
(04:10):
any difference whatsoever if you transition to a solid core
barn door. But you know, because the door is not
making positive contact with the jam, because it's just essentially
sliding in front of the wall space itself, there is
an air gap. And because there's an air gap, the
(04:34):
question of privacy in terms of sound transmission, that's the
only issue that you're going to be experiencing. Now we've
reduced that somewhat. We've reduced that somewhat by making sure
that the new door, the barn door, is a bit
oversized and so that it is significantly wider than the
(04:55):
jam and a little bit taller than the jam as well.
And as a result of that that helps it helps
the you know, the further that the door is overlapped
on the existing jam, it possible helps with sound transmission.
But it's not as if there's you know, there's the
sound as if there's no door there whatsoever. I'm just
(05:18):
saying that, you know, in a in a bathroom area,
if I put a solid core traditional door, that's making
direct contact with the door stop on three sides and
only has that little gap on the bottom. Then that
sound isolation because sound is you know, sound finds air,
and if air, if air is allowed to flow between
(05:40):
one space and another, it's an excellent medium for sound
to travel. So a standard door sitting up against door
stops does a considerably better job shutting down sound then
it does anything else. As far as the sliding door,
a barn door is concerned, or a pocket door, there's
lockable sliding door barn door hardware out there, some really
(06:03):
beautiful barn door at hard So it's not that that
the door couldn't be secured, and it's not that the
door would would encourage you know, visible privacy disruptions. All
of that would be handled. It's just a question when
it comes to a powder room of sound. If down
a hallway far enough away from everybody else, then probably
(06:25):
not a big concern. And it sounds like it would
be the least expensive. Have you having run through the
gambit of of ideas already that I would have thrown
out to you, and I understand you don't want to
disrupt that hardwood floor, uh, And yeah, that would be
the case. Now, if you decide to disrupt the hardwood floor,
(06:47):
then then I want you to be aware of one
more option that you've got for a bathroom like that,
not just moving the flange back. You know a couple
of inches for a standard twelve inch offset for the
toilet for all the new modern toilets, but you could
(07:08):
actually decide to move the drain completely into the wall
and put a wall mount toilet in there, which gives
you the maximum clearance in a small bathroom because the
wall mount toilet incorporates a frame that puts the tank
into the wall, and literally only the bowl will be
sticking out into the room, So you're eliminating the tank
(07:32):
presence offset from the wall altogether. And so instead of
twelve inches offset, it's zero inches offset from bowl to wall,
and you would have the most room. But I get it,
I get it. You don't want to disrupt the wood floor.
So a sliding door or a pocket door there would
be your best shot. And I would say between a
sliding in a pocket door, the barn door is probably
(07:53):
the better idea, just because a pocket door, even though
it looks like it's making solid contact the pocket itself,
the pocket becomes a sound transmissionary.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
I get youri Well, the door where the pocket door
would slide into it's a near it's about twenty six inches,
and there's another door, a bedroom door that's next to that,
and there's a light switch in that wall where the
pocket door would slide right, have electrical work so that
(08:25):
there was a slideable work. I've even talked thought about
a door Harmonica type or Accordian door. It's a little
on the cheap side, but that was another alternative.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah, I would do the sliding door if I had
to choose between all of that, because it's classy. It
doesn't have to look like a barn either. There is
zero hardware visible sliding doors now that can look very
contemporary as well. Look those up as well, Michael. I've
got to run to a break. Thanks for your question.
I hope that helps. I would do the sliding door
if we're going to that wood floor. Otherwise you're gon
(09:02):
have to commit to moving the flange in the concrete
for the toilet. All right, y'all, when we come back,
more of your calls your home with Dean Sharp the
house whisper. We're at your service. We're taking calls on
this lovely, misty Saturday morning here in Spring, and it's
time to go back to the phones. I want to
(09:23):
talk to Chris. Hey, Chris, welcome home.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Hey Dean, thank you for taking the call. Hey, I
have a question about some blown in insulation.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
I have a twenty.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Four hundred square foot three bedroom ranch style house L shaped,
and it has a patio on the front about twelve
feet deep, all stucco. It's built into the house. Insulation
in the house is only covering the living space. It's
not covering the patio in the front or the patio
in the back. It's just the sudden laughing getting ready
(09:56):
to do blown in insulation.
Speaker 8 (09:57):
Should I have that section done.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Or not done? And I'm getting conflicting answers from contractors.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Are the what are the I'm curious what the contractors
are saying.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
One saying no, that it's not a living space, it
doesn't need to be insulated. The other saying, yes, let's
do it because the heat will radiate up through the
patio and then into the attic space above the living space.
And the patios are kind of large. They're twelve feet
deep on the L shaped one. It's fifty feet run
to one way and forty five foot run on the other,
(10:28):
twelve feet and fifteen feet in the back.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Okay, all right, all right, So here's my here's my
take on that they're both kind of right. Well, they're
both right in their own way. It's absolutely true. You
don't have to do it because it is exteriors. Okay,
you don't have to do it. It's not a requirement.
It's outside the house, right, as long as you've got
a barrier, and you should have a barrier up in
(10:55):
the attic in between the space. Now, for some reason,
that's all there is not, okay, So then I would absolutely,
without question do it. Yeah, for two reasons. You know,
an exterior space is only defined by a true wall break, like,
for instance, in your garage. If you look in the
(11:17):
attic about the garage, you'll find that there's a wall,
continuous wall up in between the garage and the rest
of the attic space. That's because the garage is quote
unquote exterior. But if for some reason this was missed,
then you absolutely should insulate the whole space. And I
would probably do it anyway, because blown in insulation is
(11:37):
not expensive. Number one, all number two, I'm not so
worried about heat invading up from that space, although if
there's no wall, I am concerned about that now. But
even if there was a wall, I think I would
do it because it's gonna make the patio experience that
much more comfortable because that insulation is going to help
(11:59):
keep heat from radiating down into the patio as well,
and if you decide to do any heating outside on
the patio, it's actually actually going to hold that heat
in place better on those cold days as well. So
I just don't think there's any downside to doing the
blown in everywhere perfect perfect.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Now, there are recessed can lights for lack of better term,
they're rectangular. Should those be covered before the insulation is
blown in? Or are they okay just to cover with
the insulation?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Well, if they are, if they're newer recess can lights
that are all low voltage and icy rated That IC
means insulated and contact rated, Okay, Yeah, if they're old school,
you can buy covers for them all right. You can
look online. Sometimes you can find them at the big
box stores, sometimes not. But there are covers from the
(12:51):
attic side. You just cover over the light and then
that way you can blow in around it. You don't
want to make a direct contact with a recess canlight
that is not ic or insulation contact rated because it's
a fire answer.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Understood, and that was my question to Kay.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Perfect.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
So we'll cover it and we'll get it done. Yeah,
the cost difference is nothing that I think the benefits
are tremendous.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
I agree one hundred percent. Chris, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Dean. Thank you so much. I appreciate your answers and
confirming my thoughts. I appreciate it all.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Right, buddy, good luck on that. Thanks for the question.
Always great. This is why we take questions because who
knows where they come from, and they just end up
helping everybody understand their home a little bit better, and
we will continue to do it.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
HIM forty live streaming and HD everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
You are Home with Dean Sharp the house Whisper I
help you feel that way. Hope you feel home every
time you tune in to the show.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Here.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Of course, we spend our time talking about your home,
every aspect of your home from design to construction, to
DIY home improvement fix and toilets having grand architectural designs
and everything in between, inside outside the whole mgilla? Is
that a thing? Sam? Can we find out what the
(14:18):
word mcgilla means and where it comes from? I find
it might be mgilla gorilla? Is it? Can we find out?
Because such I grew up saying it because my parents
used to say it, and now I realize maybe just today,
I have no idea what that means other than like
it means the whole thing, and it kind of bugs
me because I'm a word nerd. So we got to
(14:38):
find that out. Anyway, the hole mgilla, everything regarding your home.
And as always, we're taking calls here on a Saturday morning.
We still have room on the call board for you.
The number to reach me eight three three two. Ask
Dean eight three three the numeral two. Ask Dean eight
three three two. Ask Dean. I found the definition of
(15:01):
miguilli for you. Yeah, what is it? It's something large
and or elaborate. Okay, there it is, So the whole
large elaborate thing gorilla exactly. Yeah. Right, that's why they
named him that, right, because he was large and elaborate
or he was large. He wasn't very elaborate, but he
(15:22):
was large. Oh, there was no grape Ape. That's true.
Oh my gosh. There is a whole younger generation listening
right now, like great Ape. What's that? What's that? Yeah?
I know you have to be you have to be
older folks like us here, as we talked about at
the top of the show, to remember Gray Ape. Okay,
(15:46):
all right, I'm gonna shut up and go to the phones. Now,
let's talk to Fred. Hey, Fred, welcome home, Jean. How
you doing good? Good, good, my friend. How can I
help you?
Speaker 7 (15:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (16:00):
I have this HVAC unit in my single live and
I come to find out that all my free on
has leaked out, Uh huh and yeah, out of the
I guess the evaporator.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah, wherever.
Speaker 8 (16:20):
Anyway, I don't want to pay fifteen thousand dollars for
a brand new unit. I'd rather get a split unit.
I only have a thousand square feet yep, and I
think that would be perfect for me.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
What do you think, I would say, probably in your situation,
thousand square foot single wide mobile home. Yeah, I think
a split unit you'd want to get more than you'd
want to get a unit that has more than one cassette, okay,
because even a thousand square feet you got different rooms,
so you got it, you know, probably two cassettes, maybe three,
(17:01):
but two cassettes so that you get even coverage. And
by the way, when we talk about a mini split
air conditioning, for everybody who's curious about that, they are
much much smaller than standard air conditioning, super quiet, less expensive,
no duct work involved. What you have is on the
outside you have the essentially a traditional compressor and condenser outside,
(17:26):
but much smaller, much quieter, and on the inside, instead
of ducting, you've got these what are called cassettes. Cassettes
can be mounted the typical split system cassette can be
mounted up high on a wall. But now, Fred, there
are also some really nice cassette units that get mounted
in ceilings so that we don't have to have that
(17:48):
thing on the wall. And a split systems, many split
systems can range from a single condenser and one cassette
up to a single condenser and four cassettes inside a home.
That would be overkill in your situation. But I would
look at you know, one, maybe two cassettes at the most,
(18:09):
and they would be do a really good job and
also in addition to cooling, they would also you know,
be full functional in terms of heating if you got
the heat pump unit. A heat pump unit is simply
a little bit more advanced system that reverses the flow
of the air conditioner and actually provides heat when you
(18:30):
need it as opposed to cooling.
Speaker 8 (18:34):
Where would you suggest I put these cassettes at in
the in the master and the living room.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, that probably is the right way to go. I
mean you basically you've got your open air area, which
is kitchen, dining and living room area. I'd put that
cassette kind of centrally located there for maximum comfort, and
then probably one back in the primary bedroom. So but
you've got your you know, a two sown system. Essentially,
(19:04):
you could turn one off when you're not using the
bedroom during the day, only run the one out in
the dining area and vice versa at night, and you'd have,
you know, you'd have a very very comfortable space, and
also you'd be saving energy as well, because you wouldn't
be trying to heat the whole place when you only
need it, you know, heat and cool the whole place
when you only need it in one zone or the other.
(19:26):
So yeah, that's how I would go. Fred. We're up
against a break. Fred. Thanks for your question, my friend.
Good luck on that, and I think you're headed in
the right direction. All right, more of your calls when
we return your home with Dean Sharp the house Whisper Day,
Dean Sharp, the House Whipper, Welcome home. Thanks for joining
us this morning, this now drizzly officially drizzly Saturday spring
(19:52):
morning here in southern California. I hope the weather is
treating you right wherever you may be. There's some storms
blowing through the Midwest right now too, so I guess
we'll take the drizzle. We'll take the cloudy drizzle. It's
been a weird spring. It's been a real spring this year.
I mean here we are right in is a technical
late May, yeah, the second half of May, and we're
(20:14):
still getting this kind of weather. Very very interesting. By
the way, listener Sherry wrote me a note here and said,
quick and dirty, Dean. Mcgilla is a Hebrew word. It
has to do with a long, extensive reading that you
know from the Torah. The mcgilla esther and it was
(20:37):
something that people are in some level were obligated to
read on purim and it's long and it's detailed, and
so that's where the phrase initially came from. Like you,
by the time you're done, you've done it, You've read
through the whole mgilla and there it is. So thank
(20:57):
you Jerry for that. I appreciate that. I like learning things.
I like knowing's stuff. All right, we're taking calls this morning.
I've got time for one more, maybe two, probably just one.
Speaker 7 (21:11):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Let's talk to Joan. Hey, Joan, welcome home.
Speaker 7 (21:17):
Thank you, Dean, good morning, and thank you for your
very helpful show. Appreciate it. I have a tile roof
home twenty six years old. The garage area there is
a dip in the tiles. There are a few homes
(21:38):
in my area with the same situation. Also know of
one friend in Huntington Beach that has an issue. Is
this common?
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Is it?
Speaker 7 (21:51):
What kind of a problem? And what do I do
to repair it? If anything?
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Okay? Got it? So visibly from outside you look, You're like,
why is there? It's not flat? It kind of dips in, right, Okay,
do you happen to know what the structure up inside
your garage? Roof looks like is it.
Speaker 7 (22:15):
Because it is enclosed? Cannot see the roof the attic area.
Speaker 8 (22:21):
Is enclosed, okay, And there's.
Speaker 7 (22:24):
No evidence of leaks or right anything.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
There is one of two culprits involved here, my friend.
And the good news is it's probably fixable, okay. And no,
it's probably not a structural failing, although it is an
esthetic structural failing. And what I mean by that a
twenty year old home, my guess, is my guess, a
(22:51):
home built around two thousand that you probably have what
we call a trust system in your garage probably so
those are made out of two by fours and are
they are set up in a kind of a a
braced system. That's what a trust is. It comes pre braced.
(23:13):
It's a way of using smaller amounts of lumber of
you know, smaller types of lumber like two by fours
for doing heavy lifting work, like you know, an entire roofline.
Trusses are typically set at twenty four inches on center
two feet on center, and so that leaves about two
(23:37):
feet of plywood spanning that area. Normally that's not an issue,
but sometimes especially we've noticed when also spect on top
of that system, is a you know, concrete tile roof.
There can be areas where the ply wood starts to
sag a little bit, and as a result, out on
(23:59):
the roof you see that dip in it. So typically
here's the thing. Either one a trust has failed. That's unlikely.
It's possible, but it's unlikely. Typically because they're set at
twenty four inches apart, it probably wasn't the best idea
to have it specked with a concrete tile, but nonetheless
(24:20):
it was and it's holding up everywhere else. So there's
a really good chance that a builder, a carpenter, a
general contractor, probably not a roofer, okay, because the roofer
is concerned with what's going on on the outside of
that roof system. But from the inside area, a contractor
(24:42):
can probably get in there, find the sagging plywood and
insert some traditional blocking and or maybe just even a
traditional roof rafter in that gap and as a result
sort of push out the sagging plywood and even up
that dip. Now, if the dip has been there for
a long long time, the plywood might fight them in
(25:06):
trying to do it, but that's how we would want
to approach it on day one because that way, you're
not messing up the roofing material. You're not taking anything
off on the outside. You're just literally kind of pushing
the dent out from the backside inside the attic area.
It's either that or you know, the roof is a
(25:27):
conventional roof, meaning that it's used with conventional rafters, and
one of the rafters has decided to sag. I doubt
it's cracked or anything like that, but it has sagged.
It might have been put in upside down from the
builder when they originally did it. And if those of
you were wondering, like upside down, what do you mean?
Every piece of natural wood, like a two by eight okay,
(25:50):
that is typically used for roof rafters has a natural
crown in it. In other words, it's bending slightly in
one direction or the other. And one of the jobs
of a framer is before we put those rafters up
in your roof, we eyeball down the side of those
roof rafters, those two by eight or two x tens
(26:11):
or whatever they are, and we find the side that
is bending up and we mark it. We call that
the crown, and we always make sure that we place
that crown up so that if anything, it's humped up
a little bit when we first install it, and over
the years it may settle down to straight. But if
you put it in crown down, it's already starting in
(26:32):
the opposite direction, and then over the years it might
sag even a little bit more. Again, not a structural concern,
but esthetically it makes a warp or a wobble or
a dip in the roof. My guess is that you've
got a trust system. But I just wanted to cover
the whole thing, Joan, and let you know that it's
time to get a general contractor or a carpenter framing
(26:55):
carpenter out there, take a look up in the attic
and see what actually is the cause of it. I
would say, chances are, you know, ninety percent good that
something could be done from the underneath attic side to
fix that sag. But either way, just to be safe,
you want to make sure that there isn't a structural problem.
But you've seen it in other homes in your area,
(27:18):
and that clues off that the fact that this is
just one of those things. Probably they should not expect
such a heavy roof on top of that spanning plywood
with the plywood being you know, having to stretch a
whole two feet in between roof trusses. But it's not
really a structural problem per se. It just creates an
(27:40):
aesthetic thing that nobody likes.
Speaker 7 (27:45):
Would it be an issue.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
For a sale, for the sale of a house, I
would definitely get it addressed. I would get it address.
So is it an issue for the sale of a
house only if you reach up there and you look
up there and you find that something is cracked or failing.
If it's just a sag, then technically no, it's not
an issue for the sale of house. It's an aesthetic concern,
(28:09):
but it's not a structural issue that stands in the
way or that would require repair before you sell.
Speaker 7 (28:16):
All right, thank you so much for all the information, Joan.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
You are so welcome. You are so welcome, and good
luck on that. But yeah, get a contractor to look
up inside there and see what's going on. I'm guessing
it's not a structural problem, but it was in my opinion,
the way the tract was set up. It's probably a
goof to put that heavy of a roof on a
trust system in that situation. All right, everybody, that's all
(28:45):
I got for today. That's all the time we have.
Find us again tomorrow from nine to noon Pacific time.
We're talking on the big show. We're talking about finding
your style. One of the most difficult things for most
homeowners to do when they're approaching their remodel is like,
what the style we're gonna do? What is our style?
(29:07):
Do I have a style? Yes, you do. I'm going
to help you find it tomorrow. Don't miss it nine
to noon tomorrow and for the rest of the day today.
Just get yourself out there and get busy building yourself
a beautiful life, and we'll see you here tomorrow morning.
This has been Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
(29:29):
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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