March 22, 2025 • 29 mins
This weekend, Dean talks small bets with major pay offs when it comes to remodeling tract homes. Dean covers the weaknesses of tract homes when remodeling them and how tract developments are the reason why many people can purchase a home. He shares how the largest weakness of a tract home is in fact, the orientation of the lot. Lastly, Dean says not to jump fundamentals and to obey them when remodeling a tract home.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
KF I am six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp
The House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hey am I Am six forty live streaming in eighth
Dan everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hey Welcome home. I am Dean Sharp the House Whisper.
I design custom homes. I build a few custom homes,
and I am your guide to better understanding that place
where you live. Every Saturday morning and Sunday morning live
on the weekends Saturday's six to eight Pacific time, Sundays
(00:38):
nine to noon Pacific time. Today on the program, actually
today and tomorrow, we're doing a two parter. One part today,
one part tomorrow. We're talking about big remodeling wins for
a tract home. And what I mean by that is
very simply this, tract homes have certain characteristics that will
(01:01):
be diving into very shortly here, and there are certain things,
certain elements of a tract home that are so worth
considering adding to your remodel or including in your remodel
because for you know, I'm not going to say free,
because nothing is free in his life, but for the
(01:22):
cost and time put into them, they are dish proportionately
huge payoffs, big big payoffs. So this is a small
bet with a big payoff for your tracked home. And
there's a whole list of elements that do exactly that
that if you are thinking about remodeling or getting ready
(01:45):
to remodel, that you should consider adding to your list
or your scope of work for your project so that
you get the most out of all your money. So
we'll be talking about that today and tomorrow on the show.
And of course, also as always, take your calls. Richie
has opened up the phone lines right now. We've already
(02:05):
got a call or too up there, but there's so
much room for you. Early Saturday mornings here on the
West Coast is a great time if you've ever thought
about calling, to give me a call because traffic is light.
As you could imagine. The number to reach me eight
three three two. Ask Dean eight three three the numeral
(02:27):
two ask Dean eight three three to ask Dean anything
you want to talk about regarding your home. It can
be construction question, DIY concern. It can be a design question,
an architecture question, landscape, interior design and decor, architecture, anything
(02:49):
at all. We can talk about high and lofty concepts
you and I, or we can talk about how to
fix that leaky toilet or anything in between. That's what
I'm here for, here to help you out. Let me
introduce our awesome team. Sam as always is on the board.
He is wrangling our not so live studio audience. Good morning, Sam,
(03:13):
how you doing Dan? I'm actually really happy that I
have on my resume live audience wrangler. There you go. See,
not a lot of people have that. They're like, whoa, whoa.
It's a skill, it is.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
It is.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
You keep the you keep the babies from crying, You
keep the laser guy under control. Who he shows up
every once in a while, you know, with his live laser.
I don't know how he gets that past security, but
it's a thing. Uh So, Sam is Sam's always the
best producer. Richie is standing by taking call. He's taking
a call right now, so he's nowhere near a microphone.
(03:49):
Always always a pleasure to work with. Richie. And guess
who head their brooker at the news desk? Good morning, Hush,
good morning.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
I'm so excited to be here with you.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Are you really though?
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Always? Because you know, I always consider Saturday morning a
punishment for personnel. No, no way, all right, I am.
I was so happy to see you this morning. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Yeah. No, I'm excited to be here. I always tell
people I'm like, there is something like really like warm
and inviting about starting the day with Dean and everybody here,
because I mean, I love all the advice you give
and all the great questions to answer. So I'm excited
to be here.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Well, I am just thrilled that you're here now. Normally
sitting across the table from me is my better half,
my design partner and the co founder of House Whisper,
my best buddy in all the world, Tina. But I'm
giving Tina the morning off this morning. I'm giving Tina
the morning. Tina is taking the morning off.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
I was gonna say, you better be careful.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Yeah, yeah. I don't Tina anything when it comes to
the business. We just make some decisions.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Though.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
She's had she's had a week, and so she's taken
the morning for herself as she should, and I am
here slepping along as I should as well. All Right, y'all,
let's get into a conversation about big wins for a
tract home, and we're going to start by having a
(05:24):
discussion about what the very nature of tracked homes are
and where their weaknesses are. Because correlated to those weaknesses
are these big remodeling wins. And so that's good news.
Every tract home has several weaknesses built into them, and
it's good news if we understand what they are and
(05:46):
the process of changing them and customizing them so that
this home becomes yours. That is the pathway towards a
big wins for a remodel relative to the time and
the money that you spend. So when we come back,
we are going to talk about the tract home, what
(06:07):
it's all about. What is the inherent weaknesses that your
home may still be displaying, how to get them fixed?
We'll do that. Kf I Dean Sharp, the house Whisper
at your service. Hey, whether your home is a condo,
a cottage, or castle does not matter. I am here
(06:29):
to help you take it to the next level. We're
going to be going to the phones in just a bit.
Here is the number to reach me. The callboard is
open and we've got some calls. But I always pick
calls randomly, so it doesn't matter whether you call in
right at the last minute or now or have been
sitting there for well, the show hasn't been on that
(06:51):
long today, but you get the idea. There is always
room for you and an equal shot to getting your
question or concern on the The number to reach me
eight three to three two. Ask dean eight three to three,
the numeral two. Ask Dean. All right, it is time
(07:13):
to talk about your tract home. Tract homes have strengths
and weaknesses both. It's important that we understand what they
are if we are going to be identifying these very
very special category of wins for a tract home remodel.
(07:33):
That for the amount of time and energy that you
and money that you put into it, you gain a
disproportionately big payoff. And that goes to the very heart
of understanding what's going on with the tract home. So
here's the thing, and I'm going to share this today
and tomorrow because this is really the premise or the
(07:53):
foundation for understanding what these other strengths are tracked home Right,
the latter half of the twentieth century, millions upon millions
of these cookie cutter castles helped give birth to the
American middle class. Really, developers buy a large tract of
(08:18):
land hence tracked, which is then subdivided into individual lots
upon which pre designed homes are built. There are lower
income tracks, there are middle income tracks, and yeah, there
are luxury tracts tracked home. Nonetheless, for a tracked home
(08:41):
to be a tracked home, it falls under a certain
category of features that we're about to list out. Homes
are not custom homes. No matter what the target demographic,
all track developments share certain characteristics. A developer will typically
(09:04):
design what two to four plans for a tract, and
then they'll utilize some tricks to give a neighborhood the
illusion of variety. For instance, you take four plans, four
floor plans, and then reverse them from left to right,
and then you immediately have eight different floor plans. You
(09:26):
have four, but you know four of them are flipped
this way, four of them flip the opposite direction, and
that gives that illusion of diversity. And then if you
take each of those four houses and you have four
different possible color palettes and or facade details out on front,
(09:50):
then four times four of those equals sixteen. Now it
looks like we've got sixteen different houses in the neighborhood.
And you do the sixteen times two each of those
flipped floor plans, and suddenly you've got thirty two unique
(10:10):
and I'm using my air quotes here unique homes. But
in the end there are only four actual different floor
plans or four houses. That's a typical American tracked home
neighborhood or tracked home development. And those are the techniques
that are used. And this is where you might be
(10:33):
thinking that that snooty custom home designer Dean dislikes tracked homes.
I don't. I don't at all. I live in one,
and I've mentioned this many times before. I am fully
aware that the affordability of track developments has been the
(10:54):
very means by which most folks who own homes are
able to buy a home in the first place. And
that is perhaps their greatest strength. And that's not the
only strength that a tract home has. A modern tract
home is quite impressive in terms of its engineering. Where
(11:18):
we live in California, I got to tell you I
would much rather ride out an earthquake in a modest,
recently built tract home than a wonder of architecture from
the nineteen twenties. All Right, So there's that engineering just
by definition of engineering standards improving through the years, and
(11:40):
all homes having to be built according to current standards
than what you have with a tract home is a
typically a really, really substantially decent engineering system. So that's
one of the reasons that I love it. I also
happened to love customizing tract homes. But to do it right,
(12:04):
we need to understand their weaknesses as well. Now, I
just said, for a mass produced product, the engineering is
actually surprisingly good. But if you're looking for craftsmanship, then
attract house or a house designed by spreadsheet and constructed
as quickly as possible, you know, is usually not where
(12:26):
you're gonna find craftsmanship. But assuming that we're going to
be redoing many of these things the right way as
its owner, even a lack of craftsmanship isn't usually the
biggest challenge for a tract home. There is a far,
far bigger one. Can you guess what, in my estimation,
(12:47):
is perhaps the largest weakness of a tract home? Hmm,
let's think it through, shall we. I'm gonna I'm gonna guess.
I'm going a wager that most of you are not
going to come up with the answer that is roller
(13:08):
around in my mind but I want you to give
it some thought. What is potentially the largest weakness of
a tracked home as it stands, we'll talk about that.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
KFI AM six forty live screaming in HD everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app being Sharp, the house Whisperer at your
service on this fine beginning to a lovely saturday here
in southern California.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I hope the weather is acceptable. I hope you that
you are doing okay with it wherever you are across
our fine land. We are talking about tracked homes and
big remodeling wins for a tract home, in other words,
specific elements of a remodel that to get you a
(14:08):
long way. If a tract home is what you're remodeling,
so worth worth worth listening to. Also, we're going to
be going to the phones. In fact, we'll be going
to the phones right after the next news break. So
if you haven't called in yet, the number to reach
me eight three three two ask Dan A three three
the numeral to ask Dan eight three three to ask
(14:32):
d Okay before the break, I uh just hung this
out there, and that is that you know, there are
intrinsic weaknesses in a tracked home. What is, in my
opinion as a custom home designer, what is the one
of the largest, if not the largest, weakness of a
(14:55):
tract home. And I asked you to challenge your brain
see if you could come up with it. Here is
the thing. I don't think. I think most people are
going to miss this one. And it's understandable.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Why.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Orientation on the lot, the orientation of the house on
the lot. You're like, what, here's the thing? By definition,
the house designs, you know, all four or five of
them in any given tract were not created for any
specific lot that they were to be sitting on. Okay, which,
(15:33):
by the way, is the very fundamental definition of a
custom home. Okay, if you were to call me out
and say, Dean, I want you to design me this
home from the ground up. Here is our property. The
very first thing we would be taking into account is, Okay,
where is the property sitting? How is it oriented? Does
it have a view? Is this north to south? Is
(15:56):
it east to west? Where is the sun going to
be traveling? Because a truly great custom home will be
embracing taking advantage of warding off any problems with the
orientation of the lot, but not a tract home. They
are by definition not created for any specific lot. They're
(16:19):
kind of created in a just a void space, you know,
inside an architectural studio, which means the living room in
a predesigned floor plan might be facing north on some lots,
or south or east or west on others, and that
orientation to the rising and the path and the setting
(16:43):
of the sun radically changes the quantity and quality of
light that every room receives and heat for that matter,
in addition to compass orientation. Some of those floor plans
get set on top of a hill, right if this
is a tract that has lower and higher streets in
(17:05):
terms of elevation. Some floorplans get views, some do not.
Some are placed at the end of a cul de
sac on a pie shaped lot with you know, ever
growing large side yards. Others are soldiered in little parallel
lines with minimal sideyards and privacy concerns between neighbors. So
(17:26):
that's the kind of thing I'm talking about. Despite all
of these diverse orientations, the location of windows and doors
and other important features on that predesigned home do not change,
which means it's literally the luck of the draw as
to whether your tracked homes orientation gets to take advantage
(17:48):
of the lot or misses out on taking advantage of
the lot. And even if some features align well, rarely
almost unheard of of, rarely do they all line up
and work. That is the luckiest of all luckiest tracked
(18:09):
home floor plans, one that seems like it took into
account everything about that lot. It didn't. It just happened
to get sat on a lot that fitted its design well.
So my point is this, A thoughtful remodel will attempt
to correct some of these deficiencies and take advantage of
(18:29):
whatever orientation the house finds itself in. An unthoughtful remodel
will not even consider those things and jump right over
them to you know what the color of the bathroom
tile should be? And I have taught you better than that,
my friend, Have I not? Yes? Because what do we
(18:49):
say here on the program? Design matters most, and orienting
a house to the lot that it finds itself on
is rule one. We do not jump over the fundamentals.
If you are looking to produce a beautifully, wondrously fantastic home.
(19:13):
We have to obey the fundamentals, and there is nothing
more fundamental than the cardinal directions of the compass, the
path of the sun traveling through the sky, and the
elevation and contour of the lot. These are the fundamentals
that every house finds itself sitting within. And the best
(19:38):
thing that we can do to that tracked home of
yours that got sat on that lot without regard to
these things, is to see which of those predesigned aspects
that don't fit so well can be changed in order
to better or fit and take full advantage of the
(20:00):
to property orientation. Does that make sense? Okay, So here's
what we're gonna do. We're gonna get some news, and
then when we come back, we're going to take some calls,
which can be about anything that's going on with your home,
and then we will return to this subject of inherent
tracked home weaknesses. I still got a couple more to
talk about, and we're laying the foundation for this weekend
(20:22):
of all Right, what's that list of things that we
can do that make a big difference for a small
amount of money. All of it continues, including your calls. Right, Hey,
if I team sharp to house with her. Welcome home.
Glad you're with us on the program this morning. We're
talking about tracked homes, their inherent weaknesses, and how identifying
(20:49):
those weaknesses opens the door for us to do some
really significant advancements in your home's design for a minimal
amount of we're taking full awareness I don't say taking
advantage of your home's weaknesses, but we are using our
awareness of the weaknesses and then turning right around and
(21:12):
making designs that make a difference. That is today and tomorrow. Today,
I'm laying the groundwork for it by discussing your tracked
homes inherent weaknesses. We just talked about a bigie. I've
got a couple more to go, but it's top of
the hour. It's time to go to the phones, so
let's do it. I want to talk to Jerry. Hey, Jerry,
(21:35):
welcome home.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Good morning, sir. How are you?
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I am well? How can I help you?
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Well? First of all, I would be remiss if I
didn't compliment you how lucky your listenership is and your audience,
because you do just a phenomenal job of articulating the
most easiest detail imaginable, but you put it all into perspective,
and your audience is lucky to have you, sir.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Oh thanks, Jerry. All right, your check is in the mail.
Don't worry, it's coming. I appreciate you give you.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
I'll give you just a little history. I'm a retired
general contractor for thirty three years. I sold my business
in Huntington Beach a few years ago, but my brother
has now called me into duty to build him a
steam shower in one of his bathrooms. Oh okay, I've
done a few of those a few years ago, but
(22:36):
wanted to date your take. I've always used the mister
steam unit. It seemed to be the most popular unit.
But my question to you is when I would do
bathroom models or such. You know, I would usually take
everything for the shower or you down to studs tay,
you know, fifteen thirty pounds paper wire mesh and then
(22:58):
have the voice flow out the walls. But my question
to you is with new products, well I'm not necessarily
brand new, but new products that may not require floating
out the walls per se. I know we've used a
hearty type some them boards to do that and then
(23:21):
red guarded that and then apply either tile or solid
surface materials to the walls. But I wanted to get
your take with the Smowter sheeting that's available. I just
wanted to take advantage of your expertise and see how
you would go about doing the prep and the finished
work on that.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Okay, really good question, Jerry and so, and by the way,
thank you so much. It's it's always a double compliment
when when builders, experienced builders, you know, call in and
say that they like the show that that that bol
everybody else's confidence as well along the way. So you know,
(24:04):
here's the thing, Jar, the same situation that you've experienced
throughout your career. Yeah, there are all sorts of newer
materials than the old building paper and you know and
mortar build up and float of the wall. Is there
anything wrong with that old system? There really isn't. There's
(24:24):
nothing wrong with the old system. The newer systems they
save time, they can save money because they are you know,
intrinsically water proof boards. I love hardybacker board in a
shower with a red guard on it. I still, by
the way, still and I don't know, this is just
(24:46):
the old school in me. I still put a membrane
against the studs before I put up hardy backer board,
even though I'm gonna, you know, put a red guard
coating on the front. Red guard everybody is a liquid
uh liquid applied waterproofing membrane that you literally brush or
roll on in uh in a couple of different coats
(25:07):
and it forms this this this great waterproofing membrane can
be used for shower pans, can be used for shower
walls uh in you know, in pans instead of the
classic tar and hot mopping procedure. But the intrinsic weakness
of any new system is the straightness of the studs,
(25:30):
you know, because the the advantage of the old float
system when we're putting on a good amount of base
mortar uh is the fact that you know, if we've
got a boat out stud or we've got a boat
in stud uh, we don't have to follow that line
and you know, end up with a warped wall because
(25:51):
the the very nature of the tile guys floating that wall,
they straighten it out with the thickness of the material
that they've got. So it's like the difference between old
plaster walls and dry wall walls. You know, if we're
using and they're all great by the way, you know,
whether it's a hard hardy backer system, whether it's shlowter panels.
(26:14):
These new waterproof foam panels that are coming out all great,
no problem, but they are rigid panels that simply adhere
to the studs, which means the studs have got to
be straight, otherwise the panel is going to be warped.
So that's really the key to the whole thing. So
(26:35):
if you take the time to make sure that the
studs are straight, or that you get them furred out properly,
or get them plane down if one is bowing in,
then there's no reason not in my opinion, to use
one of these newer systems, because they are waterproof as heck,
and they're great surfaces for applying tile directly too. But
(26:56):
you know they're going to be as straight and as
smooth as the wall behind them. And then as far
as the steam unit itself, you know it's I also
prefer mister Steam. In fact, I can't remember the last
time that I didn't use a mister Steam unit. They're
just head and shoulders in my opinion, above the rest.
And you know, the key these days with mister Steam,
(27:17):
as always is uh, you have to calculate the material
that you're using, the square footage, the material, the kind
of material, because the steam unit sizing is all about
how cold the walls are and what kind of thermal
resistance they have in order to properly pump that space
(27:37):
full of steam. So ceramic tile has one rating, marble
or granite has another rating, and then the glass that's
at least on one wall for the door of the shower,
if not many walls, has a different rating as well.
But the cool thing about mister steam units is there's
a formula that you just build in how many square
(27:58):
feet of marble, how many square feet of glass, how
many cubic feet of space inside the shower, and boom
they hand you here's the unit, here's the proper unit. Uh,
and then you go to town. So that's it.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Jared, would would you we've done something that we've put
tile in. We're looking at possibly using solid surface porcelain
like three H porcelain for the shallow walls. Is that
something or is there another solid surface so that we
(28:30):
eliminate grout lines that require cleaning and everything else. What
would be your best suggestion there, sir.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Well, I mean it all comes down to the design.
You know, I don't, I don't, I don't really care.
Solid surface, porcelain, quartz stone, marble, regular, old you know,
four dollars a square foot white subway tile off the
shelf at home depot. Really all depends on that. But
(28:58):
if you're minimizing grout lines of that's what you want
to go for. You want to go for large surface
tiles where the grout lines are few and far between.
And if you want to take the extra step epoxy
based grouts so that they are non porous, non staining,
you just have to have somebody installing that epoxy grout
(29:20):
that knows what they're talking about. Jerry, I am at
the top of the hour and they are bugging me
to go to a break. Thank you so much for
your call, my friend. I appreciate the support, Thanks for
listening to the show. And hopefully you know you got this,
you got it under control. I can already tell all, right, y'all,
more of your calls when we return. You are listening
to Home with Dean Sharp the House Whisper on KFI.
Speaker 5 (29:43):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty
KF I am six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp
The House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hey am I Am six forty live streaming in eighth
Dan everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hey Welcome home. I am Dean Sharp the House Whisper.
I design custom homes. I build a few custom homes,
and I am your guide to better understanding that place
where you live. Every Saturday morning and Sunday morning live
on the weekends Saturday's six to eight Pacific time, Sundays
(00:38):
nine to noon Pacific time. Today on the program, actually
today and tomorrow, we're doing a two parter. One part today,
one part tomorrow. We're talking about big remodeling wins for
a tract home. And what I mean by that is
very simply this, tract homes have certain characteristics that will
(01:01):
be diving into very shortly here, and there are certain things,
certain elements of a tract home that are so worth
considering adding to your remodel or including in your remodel
because for you know, I'm not going to say free,
because nothing is free in his life, but for the
(01:22):
cost and time put into them, they are dish proportionately
huge payoffs, big big payoffs. So this is a small
bet with a big payoff for your tracked home. And
there's a whole list of elements that do exactly that
that if you are thinking about remodeling or getting ready
(01:45):
to remodel, that you should consider adding to your list
or your scope of work for your project so that
you get the most out of all your money. So
we'll be talking about that today and tomorrow on the show.
And of course, also as always, take your calls. Richie
has opened up the phone lines right now. We've already
(02:05):
got a call or too up there, but there's so
much room for you. Early Saturday mornings here on the
West Coast is a great time if you've ever thought
about calling, to give me a call because traffic is light.
As you could imagine. The number to reach me eight
three three two. Ask Dean eight three three the numeral
(02:27):
two ask Dean eight three three to ask Dean anything
you want to talk about regarding your home. It can
be construction question, DIY concern. It can be a design question,
an architecture question, landscape, interior design and decor, architecture, anything
(02:49):
at all. We can talk about high and lofty concepts
you and I, or we can talk about how to
fix that leaky toilet or anything in between. That's what
I'm here for, here to help you out. Let me
introduce our awesome team. Sam as always is on the board.
He is wrangling our not so live studio audience. Good morning, Sam,
(03:13):
how you doing Dan? I'm actually really happy that I
have on my resume live audience wrangler. There you go. See,
not a lot of people have that. They're like, whoa, whoa.
It's a skill, it is.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
It is.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
You keep the you keep the babies from crying, You
keep the laser guy under control. Who he shows up
every once in a while, you know, with his live laser.
I don't know how he gets that past security, but
it's a thing. Uh So, Sam is Sam's always the
best producer. Richie is standing by taking call. He's taking
a call right now, so he's nowhere near a microphone.
(03:49):
Always always a pleasure to work with. Richie. And guess
who head their brooker at the news desk? Good morning, Hush,
good morning.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
I'm so excited to be here with you.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Are you really though?
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Always? Because you know, I always consider Saturday morning a
punishment for personnel. No, no way, all right, I am.
I was so happy to see you this morning. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Yeah. No, I'm excited to be here. I always tell
people I'm like, there is something like really like warm
and inviting about starting the day with Dean and everybody here,
because I mean, I love all the advice you give
and all the great questions to answer. So I'm excited
to be here.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Well, I am just thrilled that you're here now. Normally
sitting across the table from me is my better half,
my design partner and the co founder of House Whisper,
my best buddy in all the world, Tina. But I'm
giving Tina the morning off this morning. I'm giving Tina
the morning. Tina is taking the morning off.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
I was gonna say, you better be careful.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Yeah, yeah. I don't Tina anything when it comes to
the business. We just make some decisions.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Though.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
She's had she's had a week, and so she's taken
the morning for herself as she should, and I am
here slepping along as I should as well. All Right, y'all,
let's get into a conversation about big wins for a
tract home, and we're going to start by having a
(05:24):
discussion about what the very nature of tracked homes are
and where their weaknesses are. Because correlated to those weaknesses
are these big remodeling wins. And so that's good news.
Every tract home has several weaknesses built into them, and
it's good news if we understand what they are and
(05:46):
the process of changing them and customizing them so that
this home becomes yours. That is the pathway towards a
big wins for a remodel relative to the time and
the money that you spend. So when we come back,
we are going to talk about the tract home, what
(06:07):
it's all about. What is the inherent weaknesses that your
home may still be displaying, how to get them fixed?
We'll do that. Kf I Dean Sharp, the house Whisper
at your service. Hey, whether your home is a condo,
a cottage, or castle does not matter. I am here
(06:29):
to help you take it to the next level. We're
going to be going to the phones in just a bit.
Here is the number to reach me. The callboard is
open and we've got some calls. But I always pick
calls randomly, so it doesn't matter whether you call in
right at the last minute or now or have been
sitting there for well, the show hasn't been on that
(06:51):
long today, but you get the idea. There is always
room for you and an equal shot to getting your
question or concern on the The number to reach me
eight three to three two. Ask dean eight three to three,
the numeral two. Ask Dean. All right, it is time
(07:13):
to talk about your tract home. Tract homes have strengths
and weaknesses both. It's important that we understand what they
are if we are going to be identifying these very
very special category of wins for a tract home remodel.
(07:33):
That for the amount of time and energy that you
and money that you put into it, you gain a
disproportionately big payoff. And that goes to the very heart
of understanding what's going on with the tract home. So
here's the thing, and I'm going to share this today
and tomorrow because this is really the premise or the
(07:53):
foundation for understanding what these other strengths are tracked home Right,
the latter half of the twentieth century, millions upon millions
of these cookie cutter castles helped give birth to the
American middle class. Really, developers buy a large tract of
(08:18):
land hence tracked, which is then subdivided into individual lots
upon which pre designed homes are built. There are lower
income tracks, there are middle income tracks, and yeah, there
are luxury tracts tracked home. Nonetheless, for a tracked home
(08:41):
to be a tracked home, it falls under a certain
category of features that we're about to list out. Homes
are not custom homes. No matter what the target demographic,
all track developments share certain characteristics. A developer will typically
(09:04):
design what two to four plans for a tract, and
then they'll utilize some tricks to give a neighborhood the
illusion of variety. For instance, you take four plans, four
floor plans, and then reverse them from left to right,
and then you immediately have eight different floor plans. You
(09:26):
have four, but you know four of them are flipped
this way, four of them flip the opposite direction, and
that gives that illusion of diversity. And then if you
take each of those four houses and you have four
different possible color palettes and or facade details out on front,
(09:50):
then four times four of those equals sixteen. Now it
looks like we've got sixteen different houses in the neighborhood.
And you do the sixteen times two each of those
flipped floor plans, and suddenly you've got thirty two unique
(10:10):
and I'm using my air quotes here unique homes. But
in the end there are only four actual different floor
plans or four houses. That's a typical American tracked home
neighborhood or tracked home development. And those are the techniques
that are used. And this is where you might be
(10:33):
thinking that that snooty custom home designer Dean dislikes tracked homes.
I don't. I don't at all. I live in one,
and I've mentioned this many times before. I am fully
aware that the affordability of track developments has been the
(10:54):
very means by which most folks who own homes are
able to buy a home in the first place. And
that is perhaps their greatest strength. And that's not the
only strength that a tract home has. A modern tract
home is quite impressive in terms of its engineering. Where
(11:18):
we live in California, I got to tell you I
would much rather ride out an earthquake in a modest,
recently built tract home than a wonder of architecture from
the nineteen twenties. All Right, So there's that engineering just
by definition of engineering standards improving through the years, and
(11:40):
all homes having to be built according to current standards
than what you have with a tract home is a
typically a really, really substantially decent engineering system. So that's
one of the reasons that I love it. I also
happened to love customizing tract homes. But to do it right,
(12:04):
we need to understand their weaknesses as well. Now, I
just said, for a mass produced product, the engineering is
actually surprisingly good. But if you're looking for craftsmanship, then
attract house or a house designed by spreadsheet and constructed
as quickly as possible, you know, is usually not where
(12:26):
you're gonna find craftsmanship. But assuming that we're going to
be redoing many of these things the right way as
its owner, even a lack of craftsmanship isn't usually the
biggest challenge for a tract home. There is a far,
far bigger one. Can you guess what, in my estimation,
(12:47):
is perhaps the largest weakness of a tract home? Hmm,
let's think it through, shall we. I'm gonna I'm gonna guess.
I'm going a wager that most of you are not
going to come up with the answer that is roller
(13:08):
around in my mind but I want you to give
it some thought. What is potentially the largest weakness of
a tracked home as it stands, we'll talk about that.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
KFI AM six forty live screaming in HD everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app being Sharp, the house Whisperer at your
service on this fine beginning to a lovely saturday here
in southern California.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I hope the weather is acceptable. I hope you that
you are doing okay with it wherever you are across
our fine land. We are talking about tracked homes and
big remodeling wins for a tract home, in other words,
specific elements of a remodel that to get you a
(14:08):
long way. If a tract home is what you're remodeling,
so worth worth worth listening to. Also, we're going to
be going to the phones. In fact, we'll be going
to the phones right after the next news break. So
if you haven't called in yet, the number to reach
me eight three three two ask Dan A three three
the numeral to ask Dan eight three three to ask
(14:32):
d Okay before the break, I uh just hung this
out there, and that is that you know, there are
intrinsic weaknesses in a tracked home. What is, in my
opinion as a custom home designer, what is the one
of the largest, if not the largest, weakness of a
(14:55):
tract home. And I asked you to challenge your brain
see if you could come up with it. Here is
the thing. I don't think. I think most people are
going to miss this one. And it's understandable.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Why.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Orientation on the lot, the orientation of the house on
the lot. You're like, what, here's the thing? By definition,
the house designs, you know, all four or five of
them in any given tract were not created for any
specific lot that they were to be sitting on. Okay, which,
(15:33):
by the way, is the very fundamental definition of a
custom home. Okay, if you were to call me out
and say, Dean, I want you to design me this
home from the ground up. Here is our property. The
very first thing we would be taking into account is, Okay,
where is the property sitting? How is it oriented? Does
it have a view? Is this north to south? Is
(15:56):
it east to west? Where is the sun going to
be traveling? Because a truly great custom home will be
embracing taking advantage of warding off any problems with the
orientation of the lot, but not a tract home. They
are by definition not created for any specific lot. They're
(16:19):
kind of created in a just a void space, you know,
inside an architectural studio, which means the living room in
a predesigned floor plan might be facing north on some lots,
or south or east or west on others, and that
orientation to the rising and the path and the setting
(16:43):
of the sun radically changes the quantity and quality of
light that every room receives and heat for that matter,
in addition to compass orientation. Some of those floor plans
get set on top of a hill, right if this
is a tract that has lower and higher streets in
(17:05):
terms of elevation. Some floorplans get views, some do not.
Some are placed at the end of a cul de
sac on a pie shaped lot with you know, ever
growing large side yards. Others are soldiered in little parallel
lines with minimal sideyards and privacy concerns between neighbors. So
(17:26):
that's the kind of thing I'm talking about. Despite all
of these diverse orientations, the location of windows and doors
and other important features on that predesigned home do not change,
which means it's literally the luck of the draw as
to whether your tracked homes orientation gets to take advantage
(17:48):
of the lot or misses out on taking advantage of
the lot. And even if some features align well, rarely
almost unheard of of, rarely do they all line up
and work. That is the luckiest of all luckiest tracked
(18:09):
home floor plans, one that seems like it took into
account everything about that lot. It didn't. It just happened
to get sat on a lot that fitted its design well.
So my point is this, A thoughtful remodel will attempt
to correct some of these deficiencies and take advantage of
(18:29):
whatever orientation the house finds itself in. An unthoughtful remodel
will not even consider those things and jump right over
them to you know what the color of the bathroom
tile should be? And I have taught you better than that,
my friend, Have I not? Yes? Because what do we
(18:49):
say here on the program? Design matters most, and orienting
a house to the lot that it finds itself on
is rule one. We do not jump over the fundamentals.
If you are looking to produce a beautifully, wondrously fantastic home.
(19:13):
We have to obey the fundamentals, and there is nothing
more fundamental than the cardinal directions of the compass, the
path of the sun traveling through the sky, and the
elevation and contour of the lot. These are the fundamentals
that every house finds itself sitting within. And the best
(19:38):
thing that we can do to that tracked home of
yours that got sat on that lot without regard to
these things, is to see which of those predesigned aspects
that don't fit so well can be changed in order
to better or fit and take full advantage of the
(20:00):
to property orientation. Does that make sense? Okay, So here's
what we're gonna do. We're gonna get some news, and
then when we come back, we're going to take some calls,
which can be about anything that's going on with your home,
and then we will return to this subject of inherent
tracked home weaknesses. I still got a couple more to
talk about, and we're laying the foundation for this weekend
(20:22):
of all Right, what's that list of things that we
can do that make a big difference for a small
amount of money. All of it continues, including your calls. Right, Hey,
if I team sharp to house with her. Welcome home.
Glad you're with us on the program this morning. We're
talking about tracked homes, their inherent weaknesses, and how identifying
(20:49):
those weaknesses opens the door for us to do some
really significant advancements in your home's design for a minimal
amount of we're taking full awareness I don't say taking
advantage of your home's weaknesses, but we are using our
awareness of the weaknesses and then turning right around and
(21:12):
making designs that make a difference. That is today and tomorrow. Today,
I'm laying the groundwork for it by discussing your tracked
homes inherent weaknesses. We just talked about a bigie. I've
got a couple more to go, but it's top of
the hour. It's time to go to the phones, so
let's do it. I want to talk to Jerry. Hey, Jerry,
(21:35):
welcome home.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Good morning, sir. How are you?
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I am well? How can I help you?
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Well? First of all, I would be remiss if I
didn't compliment you how lucky your listenership is and your audience,
because you do just a phenomenal job of articulating the
most easiest detail imaginable, but you put it all into perspective,
and your audience is lucky to have you, sir.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Oh thanks, Jerry. All right, your check is in the mail.
Don't worry, it's coming. I appreciate you give you.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
I'll give you just a little history. I'm a retired
general contractor for thirty three years. I sold my business
in Huntington Beach a few years ago, but my brother
has now called me into duty to build him a
steam shower in one of his bathrooms. Oh okay, I've
done a few of those a few years ago, but
(22:36):
wanted to date your take. I've always used the mister
steam unit. It seemed to be the most popular unit.
But my question to you is when I would do
bathroom models or such. You know, I would usually take
everything for the shower or you down to studs tay,
you know, fifteen thirty pounds paper wire mesh and then
(22:58):
have the voice flow out the walls. But my question
to you is with new products, well I'm not necessarily
brand new, but new products that may not require floating
out the walls per se. I know we've used a
hearty type some them boards to do that and then
(23:21):
red guarded that and then apply either tile or solid
surface materials to the walls. But I wanted to get
your take with the Smowter sheeting that's available. I just
wanted to take advantage of your expertise and see how
you would go about doing the prep and the finished
work on that.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Okay, really good question, Jerry and so, and by the way,
thank you so much. It's it's always a double compliment
when when builders, experienced builders, you know, call in and
say that they like the show that that that bol
everybody else's confidence as well along the way. So you know,
(24:04):
here's the thing, Jar, the same situation that you've experienced
throughout your career. Yeah, there are all sorts of newer
materials than the old building paper and you know and
mortar build up and float of the wall. Is there
anything wrong with that old system? There really isn't. There's
(24:24):
nothing wrong with the old system. The newer systems they
save time, they can save money because they are you know,
intrinsically water proof boards. I love hardybacker board in a
shower with a red guard on it. I still, by
the way, still and I don't know, this is just
(24:46):
the old school in me. I still put a membrane
against the studs before I put up hardy backer board,
even though I'm gonna, you know, put a red guard
coating on the front. Red guard everybody is a liquid
uh liquid applied waterproofing membrane that you literally brush or
roll on in uh in a couple of different coats
(25:07):
and it forms this this this great waterproofing membrane can
be used for shower pans, can be used for shower
walls uh in you know, in pans instead of the
classic tar and hot mopping procedure. But the intrinsic weakness
of any new system is the straightness of the studs,
(25:30):
you know, because the the advantage of the old float
system when we're putting on a good amount of base
mortar uh is the fact that you know, if we've
got a boat out stud or we've got a boat
in stud uh, we don't have to follow that line
and you know, end up with a warped wall because
(25:51):
the the very nature of the tile guys floating that wall,
they straighten it out with the thickness of the material
that they've got. So it's like the difference between old
plaster walls and dry wall walls. You know, if we're
using and they're all great by the way, you know,
whether it's a hard hardy backer system, whether it's shlowter panels.
(26:14):
These new waterproof foam panels that are coming out all great,
no problem, but they are rigid panels that simply adhere
to the studs, which means the studs have got to
be straight, otherwise the panel is going to be warped.
So that's really the key to the whole thing. So
(26:35):
if you take the time to make sure that the
studs are straight, or that you get them furred out properly,
or get them plane down if one is bowing in,
then there's no reason not in my opinion, to use
one of these newer systems, because they are waterproof as heck,
and they're great surfaces for applying tile directly too. But
(26:56):
you know they're going to be as straight and as
smooth as the wall behind them. And then as far
as the steam unit itself, you know it's I also
prefer mister Steam. In fact, I can't remember the last
time that I didn't use a mister Steam unit. They're
just head and shoulders in my opinion, above the rest.
And you know, the key these days with mister Steam,
(27:17):
as always is uh, you have to calculate the material
that you're using, the square footage, the material, the kind
of material, because the steam unit sizing is all about
how cold the walls are and what kind of thermal
resistance they have in order to properly pump that space
(27:37):
full of steam. So ceramic tile has one rating, marble
or granite has another rating, and then the glass that's
at least on one wall for the door of the shower,
if not many walls, has a different rating as well.
But the cool thing about mister steam units is there's
a formula that you just build in how many square
(27:58):
feet of marble, how many square feet of glass, how
many cubic feet of space inside the shower, and boom
they hand you here's the unit, here's the proper unit. Uh,
and then you go to town. So that's it.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Jared, would would you we've done something that we've put
tile in. We're looking at possibly using solid surface porcelain
like three H porcelain for the shallow walls. Is that
something or is there another solid surface so that we
(28:30):
eliminate grout lines that require cleaning and everything else. What
would be your best suggestion there, sir.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Well, I mean it all comes down to the design.
You know, I don't, I don't, I don't really care.
Solid surface, porcelain, quartz stone, marble, regular, old you know,
four dollars a square foot white subway tile off the
shelf at home depot. Really all depends on that. But
(28:58):
if you're minimizing grout lines of that's what you want
to go for. You want to go for large surface
tiles where the grout lines are few and far between.
And if you want to take the extra step epoxy
based grouts so that they are non porous, non staining,
you just have to have somebody installing that epoxy grout
(29:20):
that knows what they're talking about. Jerry, I am at
the top of the hour and they are bugging me
to go to a break. Thank you so much for
your call, my friend. I appreciate the support, Thanks for
listening to the show. And hopefully you know you got this,
you got it under control. I can already tell all, right, y'all,
more of your calls when we return. You are listening
to Home with Dean Sharp the House Whisper on KFI.
Speaker 5 (29:43):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty
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