March 2, 2025 • 32 mins
Dean goes to the phonelines and answers all types of questions surrounding your home. Dean provides the basic principle on building and installing an electric fireplace. Dean covers the different measurements for toilet drain holes: round and elongated toilet bowls. Dean helps a caller with questions concerning a roof replacement with large tiles. Plus, replacing a chipped skylight and replacing a ruined stamped concrete.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
house Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Hey follow
us on social media. We only do the good kind, uplifting, informative, inspiring.
We're on all the usual suspects, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, x,
Home with Dean, Home with Dean, same handle for them all,
(00:24):
find us, follow us, share the information there with your
friends and family, and little reminder. If your home is
in need of some personal house Whisper attention, like personal
like you and my house, yep, you can book. If
you live, especially in the southern Greater Southern California area,
you can book an in home design consul with me
(00:45):
and T Just go to house Whisperer dot design. All right,
we are today doing part two of our two part
series this weekend of the Best of the International Builders Show,
which wrapped up in Las Vegas this last weekend. We're
gonna get back to that list. Uh and it is
a big list, so I want to take as much
(01:07):
time as possible for it, but never gonna neglect calls.
It's top of the hour, It's time to go to
the phones. And uh so let's take a call or
to you. I want to talk to Wayne. Hey, Wayne,
welcome home.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Stein. I'm watching at taking putting in an electronic fireplace,
building a pony wall in front of the existing fireplace.
But I want to ask you, how should I close
up the existing fireplace? Is just closing the damper sufficient
or sorry to do more than that?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Ah?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Okay, So you're gonna build a pony wall in.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Front of it?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Okay?
Speaker 5 (01:48):
So all right.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Every situation in this uh for this procedure is a
little different, Wayne, And so what I'm not I'm not
going to tell you a step by step process here,
because the configuration of the brick, opening of the fireplace,
the relationship to the wall, so on and so forth.
But I'm going to give you some principles. Some principles.
Number one one thing you may want to do, just
(02:14):
for the heck of it is you may want to
check with the building and safety and see if they
have and some cities do. Some don't have a pull
sheet or a procedure if you're going to abandon a
fireplace in a house, a masonry fireplace in the house.
Some do a lot don't, but it never hurts to
check just to make sure, and it's not going to
(02:36):
be like a big permit thing or anything like that.
It's just that there are certain things they want to
see happen. So that being said, I'll tell you the
things I want to see happen. What we've got to
do is we have to deal with the fact that
we're still leaving this ventilation, uninsulated moisture trap next to
(02:57):
our house on what's going to now be the backside
of a new wall. So here are the things that
I'm most concerned about. I am concerned Number one, that
we block off the entire chimney. That means up on
the roof up at the top. I want to seal
it off up there. I don't want rain getting in,
(03:18):
I don't want bees getting in and taking up residence
in your chimney. And so I actually would love to
create a sheet metal cap up there now. I don't
want it to look like it's not the chimney because
you're not demoing the chimney out. You still wanted to
have that look on the outside of the house, you're
just not using it now. So and I don't want
(03:40):
to destroy it for anybody, including you, who might decide
to use it. In the future. So I just want
to make sure that we've got a nice sheet metal
cap on the top of the chimney, and that we
seal that off with a weather sealed caul, and we
don't just sit it there so that insects or bees
can get inside. Feel it off at the top. No
(04:02):
more rain, no more you know, humidity going down inside
the chimney. That's number one. Number two is inside that
firebox down at ground level. We want to make sure
it's super clean, get it all cleaned up, don't leave
it all, you know, groedy. And we want to get
some insulation in there, all right, insulation to keep air
(04:25):
and drafts from rising up the chimney and causing back
drafting on the back of the wall. Number three. Ideally,
I don't know if your fireplace has an ash dump,
like a little vent where ash can be pushed out
to the to the outside. But ideally, since since we're
since we are creating an open cavity of masonry in
(04:52):
there that has for its entire existence, had the freedom
of air flowing through it to keep it dry. I
don't want humidity building up inside that chimney and becoming
a moisture problem. So I like the idea that down
at the firebox, if there's not already an ash dump,
going to the outside to you know, get.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
Out a.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Concrete saw. And I like the idea of cutting in,
removing a brick, at least one brick sized from the
back of the fireplace outside and getting an actual vent
through there. It's going to be all closed off, non accessible,
but it basically gives the chimney down low okay, not
(05:39):
up at the top, but down low at the firebox.
It gives moisture of a chance to escape out so
it doesn't build up inside the chimney. Apart from that,
the face of the firebox itself, if you are going
to build building a wall in front of it, then
I would probably just make sure that I would get
(06:01):
a nice firm piece of wood or sheet metal over
it and again seal it off to the face of
the existing brick, so there are no drafts and no
heat transfer, no cold transfer, that kind of stuff. We
don't have to worry about doing it, you know, we
don't have to brick it in, and you don't have
(06:21):
to worry about doing it in a way that's noncombustible
because we're not there's not gonna be any combustion in
that chamber anymore at all, and so that's you know,
you just need to close it off to make sure
that draft and moisture. Drafts and moisture and insulation are
my main concerns about closing up an old fireplace that
(06:42):
we're going to leave in place. Those are my primary concerns.
And of course, if there's a gas line going into it,
you want to pull that out, Okay, not just cap
it off inside. You want to pull that gas line
out so that there's no chance whatsoever that even a
broken gas pipe or a leaking gas pipe will fill
that chamber with gas unbeknownst to you. So those are
(07:05):
the keys. Those are the principles involved in closing off
a masony fireplace, and you can apply them to your
situation as you see fit, and also check with the
city to see if they've got a pull sheet on it. Great,
thank you very much, You're very welcome.
Speaker 7 (07:22):
Wayne.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Good luck on that sounds like it's a cool project.
I know what you're all thinking, How does he know that?
Speaker 8 (07:29):
That's what I did?
Speaker 5 (07:31):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Hey, thanks for joining us on the program today. I'm
so glad you showed up. I'm so glad you're here.
Look at you. Uh No, I truly am glad that
you're here with us today. It is as a lovely
spring kind of day here in southern California. Breezes are
blowing clouds, a little cloud, a little not little sunshine.
(07:57):
I don't know. I think spring has sprung here. It's March,
is it not, Yes, it is, And so we're only
a few days away from spring officially beginning anyway, and
I think it's like, I'm done, We're ready, let's go.
Hopefully that'll bring us some more rain. I hope that's
the case. Some spring showers would be very very welcome here.
(08:19):
Not too much, too fast, just enough, you know, keep
our fingers crossed for that. We are talking about the
International Builder Show, which just took place this last week
in Las Vegas. I've got a list of some highlights
for you, and we're enjoying going through that list because
there's some cool stuff out there that happened this year.
But right now I'm on the phone. I'm on the
(08:41):
phone taking calls, and I want to do it again.
Let's talk to Bob. Hey, Bob, welcome home.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Yes, hi, how are you?
Speaker 1 (08:50):
I am well, sir. How can I help you?
Speaker 3 (08:53):
I'm thinking of changing my regular round toilets to the
odd blow and I'm wondering if the hole that's in
the concrete underneath it is going to match up the
new oblong toilet.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
That's a good question. Good question. Yeah, so elongated toilet
bowls versus the round, you know, kind of standard toilet bowls.
So here is the good news, Bob. The drains are
all the same. The shape of the bowl has nothing
to do with the shape of the drain down below. Okay.
The most important thing, just so you know, FYI, is
(09:33):
that whatever new toilet you're looking at has the right
offset from the wall, the same off set.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
That's what I was wondering.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yes, yeah, And they're all they're all okay, so they're
relatively standard. Now there are exceptions. There are exceptions, but
they're all really relatively standard. When an oblong toilet, or
what we call an extended toilet bowl, it really stretches
out from the back. It doesn't thicken up the backside
too much, all right, So the distance off the wall
to the drain rarely changes. It's really the distance from
(10:06):
the drain forward that changes about the toilet. So most toilets,
or well all toilets in the US are either set
up for three inch or four inch drain down below.
And if we are designing a house blind, which is
not something I do because I'm a custom home designer,
so we've already had our clients select the toilet that
(10:29):
they want. But and as a builder, you know, I
want to go for those specs. But if we're just
working with a standard tract house which was designed blind,
you know, without knowing who or what's going to get
put in there. The standard offset off the back wall
for a toilet drain to the center of the drain,
not to the edge the center of the drain, either
(10:50):
three or four inch, is twelve inches twelve inches off
the back wall to the center of the drain, and
most toilet manufacturers, because they want you to buy their toilet,
are honoring that. Now, sometimes it's a little less, sometimes
it's a smidgey more, but believe me, toilet manufacturers want
their toilet to fit on your existing setup and so
(11:11):
buy and large the vast majority of them work with
the twelve inch offset rule, So one foot off that
back wall.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Should I should I change the big wax ring while
I'm doing that?
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean that's you know, the wax ring.
That's a that is a three dollars item. So whenever
you change out a toilet, even when you service a toilet,
I mean anytime that I just take the existing toilet
off just to check something or scope a pipe or whatever,
I don't put it back down on the old wax ring.
(11:46):
We just you know, have a new wax ring available
three bucks. We pop it in there and you're good
to go. So anytime you take the toilet off the
floor and set it aside, replace the wax ring with
a new one, and you should be good to go.
My friend, Well that's what I'll do.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
And thank you for your health.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
You are very very welcome. Good luck with that joy
the new toilet. The new toilets are a huge part
of the International Builder Show. The Colar Coler as a brand,
this is the expectation that we've we've come to. Coler
doesn't have a booth. No no, no, no no no no.
(12:26):
Coler is usually in the West wing, or at least
in the north the north. I don't know what they
call it room anyway. Space at the convention center usually
up on the well. Yeah, they last year on the
first floor. It doesn't matter. Coler has a city. I
mean it is a it is a city.
Speaker 8 (12:48):
It is.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
The Colar display at the International Builders Show is probably
half the size of my price. It's probably a quarter
acre display. I mean, I mean that, I'm not exaggerating.
I may have the dimensions wrong, but it is massive
because every year they and other plumbing manufacturers like Toto
(13:11):
and American Standard, I mean, they go all out to
show you all the latest and greatest the colors. The
amazing thing about bathroom design right now and kitchens in
terms of fixtures, plumbing fixtures is man. The technology has
advanced so much. The sky truly is the limit. Every
(13:32):
color imaginable, every shape, every functionality. And you know you've
heard me talk now about the modern toilet, which Toto
designed and invented. Actually, you know, the self cleaning the
day set up every luxury toilet, and you've probably experienced one,
or at least walk by one or whatever in somebody's
(13:53):
home or some business somewhere where you know, you just
walk into the room, and the toilet lights up and
it opens its lid, and you know, I'm shocked that
most of them don't just talk to you like welcome,
have us seat, welcome home. But they are, they are
pretty advanced, and yet all of that still obeying the
(14:14):
old standard of twelve inch offset to the middle of
the drain off the back of the wall because they
want you to buy their toilet. Okay, I got more.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I'm taking calls right now, and then we're going to
be getting back to our list of the best of
the International Builder Show, which just closed up and finished
up in Las Vegas this last week. But right now
I'm still knocking down calls on the callboard for as
long as I can because I love your calls, I
really do. I love the surprising nature of them. So
(14:50):
let's talk to Josie. Hey, Josie, welcome home. Josie. Are
you with me all right? I think Josie is not
paying attention right now. Let's talk to Vicky. Hey, Vicky,
welcome home.
Speaker 8 (15:10):
Hi, hy, thank you. I have a question. I'm out
of my wheelhouse here. I need to know what to
keep in mind when vetting and talking to roofers for
my mom's vintage nineteen fifties Adobe house. When it rains heavily,
(15:31):
there's two small leaks. No big deal right now, but
we want to tackle it. And you know, it was
a house that was the bricks were made right there
on the premises and it's just a lovely house. But
I don't know when I should be asking the roofers,
and I don't want to be completely, you know, ignorant.
(15:54):
So you have a couple of suggestions.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
I'd love it all right, Well, let me ask you
some questions. Adobe House. Where is it?
Speaker 8 (16:03):
It's in San Diego?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Okay, it's in San Diego. And the roof right now
is Spanish tile.
Speaker 8 (16:10):
It is, and it's those large orange kind of curved
tiles that stack on each other, and I think they
go back to the fifties to also possibly it looks
really good. I mean, to save money. Could we keep
the tile and repair and put them back or is
there something?
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Well is I was going to ask you what condition
are the tiles in?
Speaker 8 (16:35):
And you know what, I think they're in good condition.
Funny enough, there's no crumbling now Obviously I haven't been
up there. I'm just eyeballing it from the ground, but
they look good from my perspective.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yeah, okay, So here's the thing. It's an Adobe house.
It's a classic homes got a classic roof to it.
So the designer and the builder and me have things
to say about this. Okay. First of all, the designer
doesn't want any contract roofing contract to getting near this place.
(17:13):
That isn't first thinking, how can we preserve the existing tiles? Okay,
now pulling off pulling off existing Now these are these
are These are cap and trough tiles. Right, They're just
one kind of tile. There's a there's a row upside down,
then there's a row right side up and upside down
(17:33):
and right side up.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
I mean that's just your traditional Spanish tile roof, which
means all those tiles are all the same. Okay, which
is great and uh, for the most part, a roofer
that's going to be conscientious can in fact remove those
tiles and reuse them. Now, no roofer, and rightly so,
(17:56):
is going to promise that there won't be some breakage
in trying to remove a tile. Just never ever happens.
So the first thing, the first thing in the strategy
to save the money on you know, putting a whole
new tile roof on. The first strategy is where can
we source tiles? Unfortunately, there are a lot of places,
(18:18):
and so take the time, take the time to and
a roofer is going to get this job, is going
to take the time to source the right color, the
right shade, the right shape of traditional Spanish tile, so
that you've got a little pile of replacements on hand,
because you know, you could expect up to ten percent breakage. Okay,
(18:42):
ten percent is not an insigni It's not the whole roof,
but it's not an insignificant number. Okay, so not as
not all of those tiles are going to go back
on the house. But if you have a source of
replacement tile, then you're way ahead of the game. At
that point. This is a piece of cake because it's
(19:04):
just the the conscientious removal of the tiles and then
we're gonna strip back whatever is underneath it. If it's
built in the fifties, there's going to be double sheets
of fifteen pound or thirty pound roofing felt under there
that's cracked and old and aging. We're going to strip
all of that off, and you want a roofer who's
(19:26):
going to put down a new beautiful self ceiling membrane
moisture barrier membrane on top of the roof, sheathing itself
and then put the tiles back on, so the right
roofing membran. So we're gonna put a twenty first century
roofing membrane that's gonna last decades, I mean decades. It's
(19:50):
gonna self seal around the nails, every nail penetration that
we put through it. We're gonna lay that under. I
mean the day that they put the new membrane on
without putting a single tile on the roof, that roof
is watertight. You could go through them, onsoon with it
and now have no more leaps.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
At that point, the tiles go back on decoratively and
to protect that membrane from getting blasted by the UV
rays of the sun. Okay, so the decorative Spanish tile
goes back on and we are done. Here's what I
don't want. I don't want you to to give in
to a roofer who is like, yeah, you know, we
(20:27):
don't do that, and nobody does that anymore, and that's
just no, that's not true, or get you like well,
you know, it'd be far less expensive to go with
an S tile, which is a Spanish tile in which
the the the mound of the tile is connected to
the trough. That's what most quote unquote Spanish tile tracked
(20:50):
homes these days are built with. But they are not authentic.
They are they are not the real deal. They are
a simulation and I wouldn't want that to happen to
your mom's beautiful Adobe house. So the point is source
the right material ahead of time, before you even start
the game, and then get the best membrane on there
(21:10):
and a conscientious riffer who's going to take it all
apart and put it all back together for you, and
you are good to go.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
Nice. Oh, I can't thank you enough. This is just
you've just taken a load off my shoulders.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Oh and Vicky, make sure you get two or three
qualified bids for this so that you're also getting this
done for the right price.
Speaker 8 (21:31):
I will do that. Oh, excellent, Thanks again.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
You are so welcome. Great question, and man, that's I
would please send me pictures of mom's house an authentic
San Diego Adobe brick home. All right, listen, I am
going to set aside one more segment for calls before
we get back to my list, because we've just got
(21:55):
a lot of calls on the board. I'm not going
to be able to get to everybody, but you guys,
hang tight.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Thing to Home with Dean Sharp on Demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
We're talking about the best of the International Builder Show.
I'm going to get back to my list right after
our next news break, but this is my last shot
today to answer some questions for callers. So I want
to get back to the phones. See if fucking fit
two in here. I don't know. We're going to try. Oh,
Josie is back with us. Hey Josie, welcome home.
Speaker 7 (22:25):
Okay, can you hear me now?
Speaker 1 (22:28):
I can hear you now?
Speaker 9 (22:30):
Okay.
Speaker 7 (22:31):
I think I hit the mute but accidentally and you couldn't.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Oh no, yeah, no worries, No worries. I'm glad you
hanker you he.
Speaker 7 (22:39):
Okay.
Speaker 8 (22:40):
I have got a house that has a very large.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Skylight over the green room that leads to the outside
the backyard, and somewhere along the line something made it
chip up in a corner of.
Speaker 6 (22:55):
That skylight, and it looks like it's actually not just
a chip, but a missing piece of the skylight there.
It looks maybe like it's four or five inches.
Speaker 7 (23:10):
More or less all around. But I'm not positive how
I should handle that situation. Is it something that a
patch can be done for that, or am I going
to have to think of replacing the entire skylight? I
have no idea what to do.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Okay, So I want you to describe the skylight to me.
I'm going to give you two options. This skylight when
we look at it from the outside, is either perfectly
flat glass skylight or it's a kind of a dome
shaped skylight.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
It's kind of a dome shaped, kind of a bubble
shaped to it.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Yeah, that's what I thought, all right, Well, the good
news and the bad news. So the bad news is
if it was cracked, If it was just a crack
like a fracture, you know, but all of the that's
an acrylic skylight. By the way, it's plastic. It's kind
of plastic up there. If it was cracked, then we
could get up there with some silicone and kind of
(24:14):
pump it along the crack and smear it over the
top of the crack, just like you would do any
kind of window celan kind of thing, and that would
pretty much protect it from leaking and being a problem
for you. It wouldn't necessarily stop that crack from spreading,
but it would be a stop gap that you know,
you could put up with for a long long time. However,
(24:35):
it wouldn't look attractive from down below. But there are
ways of getting around that too. But you've got a
chunk missing, something hit it and actually bust it out,
a little piece something maybe flying through the air.
Speaker 6 (24:48):
I'm not positive because i haven't been able to get
it's way way up high, and i haven't been able
to get close to look at it.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
I'm just thinking that it may be okay.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Well if there if it's just a crack, then a
little bit of treatment with silicone from the outside clear
silicone should keep you from it being a problem for you.
But if there is a chunk missing, if a piece
has actually busted through and there's a hole, there really
are no good ways that I I mean, you could
(25:20):
find some YouTube videos say well, god, I've used this
roofing material and this sticky membrane. Yeah, but at the
end of the day, that's not the right way to
fix it. So the bad news is if there's a
chunk missing, then it probably needs to be replaced. Now,
the good news is those acrylic skylights, the bubble shaped
acrylic skylights, they're not usually custom made, they're usually standard sizes,
(25:43):
and they are the least expensive of all skylights. And
so it really isn't a big deal to get up there.
It's probably attached with a few nails through a curb
that's standing up on the roof, or a couple of screws.
It's no big deal for a handy person or a
contract or somebody to get up there on the roof
and actually take that skylight off and replace it with
(26:04):
a brand new one. And they're not that expensive. And
so it's time to have somebody get up there and
take a close look at it, Josie and just kind
of see what it needs and if it needs to
be replaced. You know, it's really not the end of
the world because those are relatively inexpensive. You could replace
(26:26):
it like for like for not a whole lot.
Speaker 7 (26:30):
Oh, that's good news, it's okay. Well, I appreciate the information.
Thank you so much. You've taken a big worry off
off of my brow.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
And I'm so glad. I'm so glad. Good luck with that, Josie.
Oh and by the way, those of you who are thinking,
you know, if you even if you repair a crack,
then you're looking up at that smear. I'll tell you
a little secret. The old deanster here is not a
fan of looking directly up at most skylights anyway, whether
they are ultra custom, super expensive skylights or just acrylic skylights,
(27:01):
whenever I get the chance. Now, it's different if it's
a vaulted ceiling and like a mid century house and
we don't have any distance in between the skylight and
the ceiling below. But most skylights are moving through an
attic space of some sort. In other words, there's a
bit of a shaft there. What I love to do
is come just a few inches below the skylight itself,
and I love to put a rim of something a
(27:24):
molding or a ledger, something just very low profile, blends
in with the dry wall, and set on top of
that ledger inside the house. Okay, a piece of diffused
glass material like water glass or ripple glass or anything
like that. Sometimes maybe frosted glass, so all the light
(27:46):
comes through, but that we don't have a direct view
of the skylight itself. Why because they get dirty. The best,
most expensive skylights in the world get dirty. And you
look up and you're like, wow, it's like looking through
the dirty windshield of a car that you can't easily
get up and just you know, you can't turn the
wipers on. So a fool proof way of doing that
(28:10):
is to come a few inches below and set your
own panel in there to let the light through, but
to fuse the view of the actual glass up above,
so you never have to worry whether it's dirty or not.
And if you really want to get fancy these days,
right up above that little glass panel that you put
in the shaft, you can run a little row of
(28:31):
LED lights and have that skylight as a light source
at night. Amazing, All right, trying squeeze in one more
call here, just one more, uh, Mary, welcome home.
Speaker 9 (28:49):
I have stamped concrete on the entire outside of my house,
you know, everything, the patio, walkways, everything, anyway, because I
didn't know at the time that I put it in
that it was going to have to be maintained. As
you talked about a couple of weeks ago on your show.
So I'm trying to find out is there anything that
I can do to mitigate this without, you know, putting
(29:12):
some other I want to put some other kind of
concrete on there. Can I do that without demolishing the
entire slabs of the stamp concrete?
Speaker 7 (29:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Not really? Not really. Where are we got two choices?
We pull out what's there and go with something brand new,
or we figure out how to decify what you've got.
Speaker 10 (29:39):
Yeah, okay, I've I've gotten an estimate on my repainting,
power washing and repainting.
Speaker 9 (29:50):
And resealing and all of that with just thousands, and
then I'm going to have to keep doing that.
Speaker 10 (29:56):
So it was so yeah, nothing short of demolishing.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
I will tell you this, Mary One. If I was
going to help you restore or bring to life your
old stamp, concrete, painting would not be a part of it. Okay,
Concrete and paint not friendly with each other because it's
gonna peel, it's going to push off from the back,
it's gonna get all cracked and chipped and whatever. So
(30:23):
this might make a slight difference to you. But just
so you know, what I would do is I would
get it all cleaned off, whether it's power washed, anything
that we can do to rough up the surface again
to neutralize it. And I would consider staining the concrete.
Staining it okay, because the stain penetrates, it doesn't crack,
(30:45):
it doesn't peel off. It'll be a modeled finish, which,
you know, color wise, which is kind of in keeping
with whatever this stamped you know, kind of stony look
is supposed to be. You can do it darker, it'll
last long, longer. I'm not saying it's the solution, but
I would never approach a stamped concrete job that has
(31:07):
lost its luster with paint, and anybody who is is
kind of leading you down the wrong path anyway. Think
about stained concrete stains because they penetrate and they last
longer and they look more natural anyway. Other than that, yeah,
you're gonna have to pull it and replace it. Sorry,
it's just the way it goes. Yeah, stamp concrete. Shockingly,
(31:30):
a lot of people found out last week my least
favorite concrete finish of all and so and in the
industry also pretty consistent.
Speaker 7 (31:40):
You know.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
My friend Chris Carson was here, master concrete and masonry expert,
not a fan of Stamp concrete, there are so many
other looks that are better to go with. All right,
my friends, when we come back, we will dive back
into our list of the best of International Builders Show
twenty five. You are listening to Dean Sharp, the House
(32:02):
Whisperer on KFI. This has been Home with Dean Sharp,
the House whisper. Tune into the live broadcast on KFI
Am six forty every Saturday morning from six to eight
Pacific time, and every Sunday morning from nine to noon
Pacific time, or anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
house Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Hey follow
us on social media. We only do the good kind, uplifting, informative, inspiring.
We're on all the usual suspects, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, x,
Home with Dean, Home with Dean, same handle for them all,
(00:24):
find us, follow us, share the information there with your
friends and family, and little reminder. If your home is
in need of some personal house Whisper attention, like personal
like you and my house, yep, you can book. If
you live, especially in the southern Greater Southern California area,
you can book an in home design consul with me
(00:45):
and T Just go to house Whisperer dot design. All right,
we are today doing part two of our two part
series this weekend of the Best of the International Builders Show,
which wrapped up in Las Vegas this last weekend. We're
gonna get back to that list. Uh and it is
a big list, so I want to take as much
(01:07):
time as possible for it, but never gonna neglect calls.
It's top of the hour, It's time to go to
the phones. And uh so let's take a call or
to you. I want to talk to Wayne. Hey, Wayne,
welcome home.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Stein. I'm watching at taking putting in an electronic fireplace,
building a pony wall in front of the existing fireplace.
But I want to ask you, how should I close
up the existing fireplace? Is just closing the damper sufficient
or sorry to do more than that?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Ah?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Okay, So you're gonna build a pony wall in.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Front of it?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Okay?
Speaker 5 (01:48):
So all right.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Every situation in this uh for this procedure is a
little different, Wayne, And so what I'm not I'm not
going to tell you a step by step process here,
because the configuration of the brick, opening of the fireplace,
the relationship to the wall, so on and so forth.
But I'm going to give you some principles. Some principles.
Number one one thing you may want to do, just
(02:14):
for the heck of it is you may want to
check with the building and safety and see if they
have and some cities do. Some don't have a pull
sheet or a procedure if you're going to abandon a
fireplace in a house, a masonry fireplace in the house.
Some do a lot don't, but it never hurts to
check just to make sure, and it's not going to
(02:36):
be like a big permit thing or anything like that.
It's just that there are certain things they want to
see happen. So that being said, I'll tell you the
things I want to see happen. What we've got to
do is we have to deal with the fact that
we're still leaving this ventilation, uninsulated moisture trap next to
(02:57):
our house on what's going to now be the backside
of a new wall. So here are the things that
I'm most concerned about. I am concerned Number one, that
we block off the entire chimney. That means up on
the roof up at the top. I want to seal
it off up there. I don't want rain getting in,
(03:18):
I don't want bees getting in and taking up residence
in your chimney. And so I actually would love to
create a sheet metal cap up there now. I don't
want it to look like it's not the chimney because
you're not demoing the chimney out. You still wanted to
have that look on the outside of the house, you're
just not using it now. So and I don't want
(03:40):
to destroy it for anybody, including you, who might decide
to use it. In the future. So I just want
to make sure that we've got a nice sheet metal
cap on the top of the chimney, and that we
seal that off with a weather sealed caul, and we
don't just sit it there so that insects or bees
can get inside. Feel it off at the top. No
(04:02):
more rain, no more you know, humidity going down inside
the chimney. That's number one. Number two is inside that
firebox down at ground level. We want to make sure
it's super clean, get it all cleaned up, don't leave
it all, you know, groedy. And we want to get
some insulation in there, all right, insulation to keep air
(04:25):
and drafts from rising up the chimney and causing back
drafting on the back of the wall. Number three. Ideally,
I don't know if your fireplace has an ash dump,
like a little vent where ash can be pushed out
to the to the outside. But ideally, since since we're
since we are creating an open cavity of masonry in
(04:52):
there that has for its entire existence, had the freedom
of air flowing through it to keep it dry. I
don't want humidity building up inside that chimney and becoming
a moisture problem. So I like the idea that down
at the firebox, if there's not already an ash dump,
going to the outside to you know, get.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
Out a.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Concrete saw. And I like the idea of cutting in,
removing a brick, at least one brick sized from the
back of the fireplace outside and getting an actual vent
through there. It's going to be all closed off, non accessible,
but it basically gives the chimney down low okay, not
(05:39):
up at the top, but down low at the firebox.
It gives moisture of a chance to escape out so
it doesn't build up inside the chimney. Apart from that,
the face of the firebox itself, if you are going
to build building a wall in front of it, then
I would probably just make sure that I would get
(06:01):
a nice firm piece of wood or sheet metal over
it and again seal it off to the face of
the existing brick, so there are no drafts and no
heat transfer, no cold transfer, that kind of stuff. We
don't have to worry about doing it, you know, we
don't have to brick it in, and you don't have
(06:21):
to worry about doing it in a way that's noncombustible
because we're not there's not gonna be any combustion in
that chamber anymore at all, and so that's you know,
you just need to close it off to make sure
that draft and moisture. Drafts and moisture and insulation are
my main concerns about closing up an old fireplace that
(06:42):
we're going to leave in place. Those are my primary concerns.
And of course, if there's a gas line going into it,
you want to pull that out, Okay, not just cap
it off inside. You want to pull that gas line
out so that there's no chance whatsoever that even a
broken gas pipe or a leaking gas pipe will fill
that chamber with gas unbeknownst to you. So those are
(07:05):
the keys. Those are the principles involved in closing off
a masony fireplace, and you can apply them to your
situation as you see fit, and also check with the
city to see if they've got a pull sheet on it. Great,
thank you very much, You're very welcome.
Speaker 7 (07:22):
Wayne.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Good luck on that sounds like it's a cool project.
I know what you're all thinking, How does he know that?
Speaker 8 (07:29):
That's what I did?
Speaker 5 (07:31):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Hey, thanks for joining us on the program today. I'm
so glad you showed up. I'm so glad you're here.
Look at you. Uh No, I truly am glad that
you're here with us today. It is as a lovely
spring kind of day here in southern California. Breezes are
blowing clouds, a little cloud, a little not little sunshine.
(07:57):
I don't know. I think spring has sprung here. It's March,
is it not, Yes, it is, And so we're only
a few days away from spring officially beginning anyway, and
I think it's like, I'm done, We're ready, let's go.
Hopefully that'll bring us some more rain. I hope that's
the case. Some spring showers would be very very welcome here.
(08:19):
Not too much, too fast, just enough, you know, keep
our fingers crossed for that. We are talking about the
International Builder Show, which just took place this last week
in Las Vegas. I've got a list of some highlights
for you, and we're enjoying going through that list because
there's some cool stuff out there that happened this year.
But right now I'm on the phone. I'm on the
(08:41):
phone taking calls, and I want to do it again.
Let's talk to Bob. Hey, Bob, welcome home.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Yes, hi, how are you?
Speaker 1 (08:50):
I am well, sir. How can I help you?
Speaker 3 (08:53):
I'm thinking of changing my regular round toilets to the
odd blow and I'm wondering if the hole that's in
the concrete underneath it is going to match up the
new oblong toilet.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
That's a good question. Good question. Yeah, so elongated toilet
bowls versus the round, you know, kind of standard toilet bowls.
So here is the good news, Bob. The drains are
all the same. The shape of the bowl has nothing
to do with the shape of the drain down below. Okay.
The most important thing, just so you know, FYI, is
(09:33):
that whatever new toilet you're looking at has the right
offset from the wall, the same off set.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
That's what I was wondering.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yes, yeah, And they're all they're all okay, so they're
relatively standard. Now there are exceptions. There are exceptions, but
they're all really relatively standard. When an oblong toilet, or
what we call an extended toilet bowl, it really stretches
out from the back. It doesn't thicken up the backside
too much, all right, So the distance off the wall
to the drain rarely changes. It's really the distance from
(10:06):
the drain forward that changes about the toilet. So most toilets,
or well all toilets in the US are either set
up for three inch or four inch drain down below.
And if we are designing a house blind, which is
not something I do because I'm a custom home designer,
so we've already had our clients select the toilet that
(10:29):
they want. But and as a builder, you know, I
want to go for those specs. But if we're just
working with a standard tract house which was designed blind,
you know, without knowing who or what's going to get
put in there. The standard offset off the back wall
for a toilet drain to the center of the drain,
not to the edge the center of the drain, either
(10:50):
three or four inch, is twelve inches twelve inches off
the back wall to the center of the drain, and
most toilet manufacturers, because they want you to buy their toilet,
are honoring that. Now, sometimes it's a little less, sometimes
it's a smidgey more, but believe me, toilet manufacturers want
their toilet to fit on your existing setup and so
(11:11):
buy and large the vast majority of them work with
the twelve inch offset rule, So one foot off that
back wall.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Should I should I change the big wax ring while
I'm doing that?
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean that's you know, the wax ring.
That's a that is a three dollars item. So whenever
you change out a toilet, even when you service a toilet,
I mean anytime that I just take the existing toilet
off just to check something or scope a pipe or whatever,
I don't put it back down on the old wax ring.
(11:46):
We just you know, have a new wax ring available
three bucks. We pop it in there and you're good
to go. So anytime you take the toilet off the
floor and set it aside, replace the wax ring with
a new one, and you should be good to go.
My friend, Well that's what I'll do.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
And thank you for your health.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
You are very very welcome. Good luck with that joy
the new toilet. The new toilets are a huge part
of the International Builder Show. The Colar Coler as a brand,
this is the expectation that we've we've come to. Coler
doesn't have a booth. No no, no, no no no no.
(12:26):
Coler is usually in the West wing, or at least
in the north the north. I don't know what they
call it room anyway. Space at the convention center usually
up on the well. Yeah, they last year on the
first floor. It doesn't matter. Coler has a city. I
mean it is a it is a city.
Speaker 8 (12:48):
It is.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
The Colar display at the International Builders Show is probably
half the size of my price. It's probably a quarter
acre display. I mean, I mean that, I'm not exaggerating.
I may have the dimensions wrong, but it is massive
because every year they and other plumbing manufacturers like Toto
(13:11):
and American Standard, I mean, they go all out to
show you all the latest and greatest the colors. The
amazing thing about bathroom design right now and kitchens in
terms of fixtures, plumbing fixtures is man. The technology has
advanced so much. The sky truly is the limit. Every
(13:32):
color imaginable, every shape, every functionality. And you know you've
heard me talk now about the modern toilet, which Toto
designed and invented. Actually, you know, the self cleaning the
day set up every luxury toilet, and you've probably experienced one,
or at least walk by one or whatever in somebody's
(13:53):
home or some business somewhere where you know, you just
walk into the room, and the toilet lights up and
it opens its lid, and you know, I'm shocked that
most of them don't just talk to you like welcome,
have us seat, welcome home. But they are, they are
pretty advanced, and yet all of that still obeying the
(14:14):
old standard of twelve inch offset to the middle of
the drain off the back of the wall because they
want you to buy their toilet. Okay, I got more.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I'm taking calls right now, and then we're going to
be getting back to our list of the best of
the International Builder Show, which just closed up and finished
up in Las Vegas this last week. But right now
I'm still knocking down calls on the callboard for as
long as I can because I love your calls, I
really do. I love the surprising nature of them. So
(14:50):
let's talk to Josie. Hey, Josie, welcome home. Josie. Are
you with me all right? I think Josie is not
paying attention right now. Let's talk to Vicky. Hey, Vicky,
welcome home.
Speaker 8 (15:10):
Hi, hy, thank you. I have a question. I'm out
of my wheelhouse here. I need to know what to
keep in mind when vetting and talking to roofers for
my mom's vintage nineteen fifties Adobe house. When it rains heavily,
(15:31):
there's two small leaks. No big deal right now, but
we want to tackle it. And you know, it was
a house that was the bricks were made right there
on the premises and it's just a lovely house. But
I don't know when I should be asking the roofers,
and I don't want to be completely, you know, ignorant.
(15:54):
So you have a couple of suggestions.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
I'd love it all right, Well, let me ask you
some questions. Adobe House. Where is it?
Speaker 8 (16:03):
It's in San Diego?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Okay, it's in San Diego. And the roof right now
is Spanish tile.
Speaker 8 (16:10):
It is, and it's those large orange kind of curved
tiles that stack on each other, and I think they
go back to the fifties to also possibly it looks
really good. I mean, to save money. Could we keep
the tile and repair and put them back or is
there something?
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Well is I was going to ask you what condition
are the tiles in?
Speaker 8 (16:35):
And you know what, I think they're in good condition.
Funny enough, there's no crumbling now Obviously I haven't been
up there. I'm just eyeballing it from the ground, but
they look good from my perspective.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yeah, okay, So here's the thing. It's an Adobe house.
It's a classic homes got a classic roof to it.
So the designer and the builder and me have things
to say about this. Okay. First of all, the designer
doesn't want any contract roofing contract to getting near this place.
(17:13):
That isn't first thinking, how can we preserve the existing tiles? Okay,
now pulling off pulling off existing Now these are these
are These are cap and trough tiles. Right, They're just
one kind of tile. There's a there's a row upside down,
then there's a row right side up and upside down
(17:33):
and right side up.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
I mean that's just your traditional Spanish tile roof, which
means all those tiles are all the same. Okay, which
is great and uh, for the most part, a roofer
that's going to be conscientious can in fact remove those
tiles and reuse them. Now, no roofer, and rightly so,
(17:56):
is going to promise that there won't be some breakage
in trying to remove a tile. Just never ever happens.
So the first thing, the first thing in the strategy
to save the money on you know, putting a whole
new tile roof on. The first strategy is where can
we source tiles? Unfortunately, there are a lot of places,
(18:18):
and so take the time, take the time to and
a roofer is going to get this job, is going
to take the time to source the right color, the
right shade, the right shape of traditional Spanish tile, so
that you've got a little pile of replacements on hand,
because you know, you could expect up to ten percent breakage. Okay,
(18:42):
ten percent is not an insigni It's not the whole roof,
but it's not an insignificant number. Okay, so not as
not all of those tiles are going to go back
on the house. But if you have a source of
replacement tile, then you're way ahead of the game. At
that point. This is a piece of cake because it's
(19:04):
just the the conscientious removal of the tiles and then
we're gonna strip back whatever is underneath it. If it's
built in the fifties, there's going to be double sheets
of fifteen pound or thirty pound roofing felt under there
that's cracked and old and aging. We're going to strip
all of that off, and you want a roofer who's
(19:26):
going to put down a new beautiful self ceiling membrane
moisture barrier membrane on top of the roof, sheathing itself
and then put the tiles back on, so the right
roofing membran. So we're gonna put a twenty first century
roofing membrane that's gonna last decades, I mean decades. It's
(19:50):
gonna self seal around the nails, every nail penetration that
we put through it. We're gonna lay that under. I
mean the day that they put the new membrane on
without putting a single tile on the roof, that roof
is watertight. You could go through them, onsoon with it
and now have no more leaps.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
At that point, the tiles go back on decoratively and
to protect that membrane from getting blasted by the UV
rays of the sun. Okay, so the decorative Spanish tile
goes back on and we are done. Here's what I
don't want. I don't want you to to give in
to a roofer who is like, yeah, you know, we
(20:27):
don't do that, and nobody does that anymore, and that's
just no, that's not true, or get you like well,
you know, it'd be far less expensive to go with
an S tile, which is a Spanish tile in which
the the the mound of the tile is connected to
the trough. That's what most quote unquote Spanish tile tracked
(20:50):
homes these days are built with. But they are not authentic.
They are they are not the real deal. They are
a simulation and I wouldn't want that to happen to
your mom's beautiful Adobe house. So the point is source
the right material ahead of time, before you even start
the game, and then get the best membrane on there
(21:10):
and a conscientious riffer who's going to take it all
apart and put it all back together for you, and
you are good to go.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
Nice. Oh, I can't thank you enough. This is just
you've just taken a load off my shoulders.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Oh and Vicky, make sure you get two or three
qualified bids for this so that you're also getting this
done for the right price.
Speaker 8 (21:31):
I will do that. Oh, excellent, Thanks again.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
You are so welcome. Great question, and man, that's I
would please send me pictures of mom's house an authentic
San Diego Adobe brick home. All right, listen, I am
going to set aside one more segment for calls before
we get back to my list, because we've just got
(21:55):
a lot of calls on the board. I'm not going
to be able to get to everybody, but you guys,
hang tight.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Thing to Home with Dean Sharp on Demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
We're talking about the best of the International Builder Show.
I'm going to get back to my list right after
our next news break, but this is my last shot
today to answer some questions for callers. So I want
to get back to the phones. See if fucking fit
two in here. I don't know. We're going to try. Oh,
Josie is back with us. Hey Josie, welcome home.
Speaker 7 (22:25):
Okay, can you hear me now?
Speaker 1 (22:28):
I can hear you now?
Speaker 9 (22:30):
Okay.
Speaker 7 (22:31):
I think I hit the mute but accidentally and you couldn't.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Oh no, yeah, no worries, No worries. I'm glad you
hanker you he.
Speaker 7 (22:39):
Okay.
Speaker 8 (22:40):
I have got a house that has a very large.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Skylight over the green room that leads to the outside
the backyard, and somewhere along the line something made it
chip up in a corner of.
Speaker 6 (22:55):
That skylight, and it looks like it's actually not just
a chip, but a missing piece of the skylight there.
It looks maybe like it's four or five inches.
Speaker 7 (23:10):
More or less all around. But I'm not positive how
I should handle that situation. Is it something that a
patch can be done for that, or am I going
to have to think of replacing the entire skylight? I
have no idea what to do.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Okay, So I want you to describe the skylight to me.
I'm going to give you two options. This skylight when
we look at it from the outside, is either perfectly
flat glass skylight or it's a kind of a dome
shaped skylight.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
It's kind of a dome shaped, kind of a bubble
shaped to it.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Yeah, that's what I thought, all right, Well, the good
news and the bad news. So the bad news is
if it was cracked, If it was just a crack
like a fracture, you know, but all of the that's
an acrylic skylight. By the way, it's plastic. It's kind
of plastic up there. If it was cracked, then we
could get up there with some silicone and kind of
(24:14):
pump it along the crack and smear it over the
top of the crack, just like you would do any
kind of window celan kind of thing, and that would
pretty much protect it from leaking and being a problem
for you. It wouldn't necessarily stop that crack from spreading,
but it would be a stop gap that you know,
you could put up with for a long long time. However,
(24:35):
it wouldn't look attractive from down below. But there are
ways of getting around that too. But you've got a
chunk missing, something hit it and actually bust it out,
a little piece something maybe flying through the air.
Speaker 6 (24:48):
I'm not positive because i haven't been able to get
it's way way up high, and i haven't been able
to get close to look at it.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
I'm just thinking that it may be okay.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Well if there if it's just a crack, then a
little bit of treatment with silicone from the outside clear
silicone should keep you from it being a problem for you.
But if there is a chunk missing, if a piece
has actually busted through and there's a hole, there really
are no good ways that I I mean, you could
(25:20):
find some YouTube videos say well, god, I've used this
roofing material and this sticky membrane. Yeah, but at the
end of the day, that's not the right way to
fix it. So the bad news is if there's a
chunk missing, then it probably needs to be replaced. Now,
the good news is those acrylic skylights, the bubble shaped
acrylic skylights, they're not usually custom made, they're usually standard sizes,
(25:43):
and they are the least expensive of all skylights. And
so it really isn't a big deal to get up there.
It's probably attached with a few nails through a curb
that's standing up on the roof, or a couple of screws.
It's no big deal for a handy person or a
contract or somebody to get up there on the roof
and actually take that skylight off and replace it with
(26:04):
a brand new one. And they're not that expensive. And
so it's time to have somebody get up there and
take a close look at it, Josie and just kind
of see what it needs and if it needs to
be replaced. You know, it's really not the end of
the world because those are relatively inexpensive. You could replace
(26:26):
it like for like for not a whole lot.
Speaker 7 (26:30):
Oh, that's good news, it's okay. Well, I appreciate the information.
Thank you so much. You've taken a big worry off
off of my brow.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
And I'm so glad. I'm so glad. Good luck with that, Josie.
Oh and by the way, those of you who are thinking,
you know, if you even if you repair a crack,
then you're looking up at that smear. I'll tell you
a little secret. The old deanster here is not a
fan of looking directly up at most skylights anyway, whether
they are ultra custom, super expensive skylights or just acrylic skylights,
(27:01):
whenever I get the chance. Now, it's different if it's
a vaulted ceiling and like a mid century house and
we don't have any distance in between the skylight and
the ceiling below. But most skylights are moving through an
attic space of some sort. In other words, there's a
bit of a shaft there. What I love to do
is come just a few inches below the skylight itself,
and I love to put a rim of something a
(27:24):
molding or a ledger, something just very low profile, blends
in with the dry wall, and set on top of
that ledger inside the house. Okay, a piece of diffused
glass material like water glass or ripple glass or anything
like that. Sometimes maybe frosted glass, so all the light
(27:46):
comes through, but that we don't have a direct view
of the skylight itself. Why because they get dirty. The best,
most expensive skylights in the world get dirty. And you
look up and you're like, wow, it's like looking through
the dirty windshield of a car that you can't easily
get up and just you know, you can't turn the
wipers on. So a fool proof way of doing that
(28:10):
is to come a few inches below and set your
own panel in there to let the light through, but
to fuse the view of the actual glass up above,
so you never have to worry whether it's dirty or not.
And if you really want to get fancy these days,
right up above that little glass panel that you put
in the shaft, you can run a little row of
(28:31):
LED lights and have that skylight as a light source
at night. Amazing, All right, trying squeeze in one more
call here, just one more, uh, Mary, welcome home.
Speaker 9 (28:49):
I have stamped concrete on the entire outside of my house,
you know, everything, the patio, walkways, everything, anyway, because I
didn't know at the time that I put it in
that it was going to have to be maintained. As
you talked about a couple of weeks ago on your show.
So I'm trying to find out is there anything that
I can do to mitigate this without, you know, putting
(29:12):
some other I want to put some other kind of
concrete on there. Can I do that without demolishing the
entire slabs of the stamp concrete?
Speaker 7 (29:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Not really? Not really. Where are we got two choices?
We pull out what's there and go with something brand new,
or we figure out how to decify what you've got.
Speaker 10 (29:39):
Yeah, okay, I've I've gotten an estimate on my repainting,
power washing and repainting.
Speaker 9 (29:50):
And resealing and all of that with just thousands, and
then I'm going to have to keep doing that.
Speaker 10 (29:56):
So it was so yeah, nothing short of demolishing.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
I will tell you this, Mary One. If I was
going to help you restore or bring to life your
old stamp, concrete, painting would not be a part of it. Okay,
Concrete and paint not friendly with each other because it's
gonna peel, it's going to push off from the back,
it's gonna get all cracked and chipped and whatever. So
(30:23):
this might make a slight difference to you. But just
so you know, what I would do is I would
get it all cleaned off, whether it's power washed, anything
that we can do to rough up the surface again
to neutralize it. And I would consider staining the concrete.
Staining it okay, because the stain penetrates, it doesn't crack,
(30:45):
it doesn't peel off. It'll be a modeled finish, which,
you know, color wise, which is kind of in keeping
with whatever this stamped you know, kind of stony look
is supposed to be. You can do it darker, it'll
last long, longer. I'm not saying it's the solution, but
I would never approach a stamped concrete job that has
(31:07):
lost its luster with paint, and anybody who is is
kind of leading you down the wrong path anyway. Think
about stained concrete stains because they penetrate and they last
longer and they look more natural anyway. Other than that, yeah,
you're gonna have to pull it and replace it. Sorry,
it's just the way it goes. Yeah, stamp concrete. Shockingly,
(31:30):
a lot of people found out last week my least
favorite concrete finish of all and so and in the
industry also pretty consistent.
Speaker 7 (31:40):
You know.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
My friend Chris Carson was here, master concrete and masonry expert,
not a fan of Stamp concrete, there are so many
other looks that are better to go with. All right,
my friends, when we come back, we will dive back
into our list of the best of International Builders Show
twenty five. You are listening to Dean Sharp, the House
(32:02):
Whisperer on KFI. This has been Home with Dean Sharp,
the House whisper. Tune into the live broadcast on KFI
Am six forty every Saturday morning from six to eight
Pacific time, and every Sunday morning from nine to noon
Pacific time, or anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Home with Dean Sharp News
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