February 8, 2025 • 27 mins
Dean previews a call-in session where listeners share their home improvement dilemmas, and he dives right in by discussing the surprising 45% drop in Southern California water usage—reminiscing about the days of harsh fines and urgent warnings. He then fields callers' questions on everything from the aesthetic trick of painting roof eaves the same color as the roof to a mysterious miracle spray that promises to revive aging asphalt roofs.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp The
House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app KFI
AM six forty and Live Dreaming NHD everywhere on the
iHeart Radio app. Hey, welcome home. I am Dean Sharp,
(00:21):
the House Whisper. I design custom homes, I build custom homes,
and on the weekends here I am your guide to
better understanding that place where you live today on the show,
very very simple, We're just going to spend a couple
hours together, taking your calls and also having some conversations
about some issues that are still around and in the
(00:43):
news and have been on my heart and mind lately
that I want to share with you. So just a
relaxing Saturday morning, handling whatever is that may be going
on with your home, and having some conversations that are
pertinent to every who is a homeowner, especially if you
live here in southern California, but everybody in general. I
(01:05):
think we'll find interest in these things. Here's the number.
Let me give that out eight three three two. Ask
Dean A three three the numeral two. Ask Dean one
more time, A three to three two Ask Dean. It's
just that simple. Producer Matt is standing by, ready to
(01:25):
take your calls as the board is open. So we
are ready here for you early risers on this dark, cool,
cloudy Saturday morning here in southern California or wherever you
are across our great land. We're ready for you. Let
me introduce our awesome team. Sam is on the board wrangling.
(01:48):
Are not so live to your audience?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
You doing, Sam? I am wonderful. I'm effervescent today. Oh
my goodness, please none of that. None of that. That's
an He sounds very very up and uh but yeah,
which I'm all for. I just I'm not sure effervescent.
(02:12):
I can handle Sam. Hey, take it, deal with it.
It's good stuff, good energy in the morning. All right,
I will, I will.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Like I said, he's not near Mike, but producer Matt
is with us this morning. He is standing by. He
is ready to take your calls. He is pounding on
the table demanding that you call right now. That might
be a little aggressive, actually, but anyway, Matt is ready
to take your calls. And Eileen Gonzalez, my buddy in
(02:42):
the newsroom. Good morning, Eileen, Good morning, Dean. How's it going.
It's good I'm not gonna say I'm effervescent, but I'm here.
I'm here, and I'm good. I'm gonna say I'm radiant today.
Oh my goodness, I've always liked that word. That's a
great word. That's a great word. That's fantastic. No, well,
(03:03):
now I feel like the sleepiest person in the room.
Clearly need more caffeine.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
I do.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Hang on a second on that note, hang on, let
me just uh get wait wait, wait, wait for it.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
There it is.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
See. I made the mistake a couple of weeks ago,
hitting that stinger button for the coffee and realizing that
I hadn't actually hit the button to make it transmit.
So we got it halfway through. I turned it on
halfway through, and it sounds like somebody peeing if you
turn it on halfway through. Is so what I've learned
(03:44):
about pouring coffee. You guys, listen to this. So that
first bit of the coffee hitting the cup, that hollow sound,
it's critical that part right there, because after that, see,
without the first part, it just sounds like somebody's been
(04:05):
and nobody wants that. Nobody wants that at all. All right,
sitting across the table from me, my better half. I
better let her talk. My design partner, my best friend
in all the world. Who says that I'm handsome in
this light. There's barely any light in this room. That's
the thing that cracks me up. I'm like, yeah, I
(04:27):
would just like to go in the dark and just yeah,
because you can't really see me. That's false, it's not anyway.
Tina is here. Good morning to Tina. Good morning you guys.
Welcome home. Okay, what are you? Are you effervescent? Are
you radiant? What are you this morning? I'm eferradiant? Oh
(04:53):
my good all right, we had to get out of here.
Efor radiant? I don't know. That's not a it is now. Jeez,
I'm gonna be holding over my head the rest of
the day. All Right, y'all, here's the thing. Have we
got a call coming up? Yeah, we've got room on
the callboard for you. The number to reach me eight
three three two. Ask dean A three to three the
(05:15):
numeral two. Ask dean. By the way, did I say
this anything? You need to talk about your home today?
Whatever's got you scratching your head? We can talk design,
we can talk construction, we can talk diy quandaries inside, outside, landscape,
decre whatever the case may be. You know I'm here
(05:36):
and I'm going to help you figure it out. When
we return, I want to talk to you about a win.
How about this Southern California. How about a win for
once in a while. Yeah, we'll talk about that and more.
And your calls can't fine he can sharp the house clipper. Hey,
it doesn't matter whether your home for you is a condo, cottage,
(05:59):
or castle. I'm here to help you take it to
the next level. We're taking some calls this morning. I'm
going to give you the number eight three three two.
Ask Dean. Eight three three the numeral to ask Dean,
since we've got a couple of cah, we got one
call on the board, but we got plenty of room
for you. So just saying eight three three two ask Dean.
(06:21):
All right, let's dive into something I promised you, a win,
a win for southern California. Hey, Yi, it's been it's
been the beginning of a year, has it not. Yes,
it has fires everywhere. I actually have some more news
on that this morning as well. But first, I don't
(06:41):
know if you saw this. This has been out for
about a week now. We just didn't get a chance
to talk about it yesterday, and that is I'm sorry
last week. Water usage. Water usage is down overall in
southern California forty five percent. Forty five percent down water usage.
(07:04):
That's great news. It is well you remember, of course
you do. Wasn't that long ago? Right, We're gonna find
you if you water your lawn on the wrong day
or if you water too long. You remember that, Tina,
I mean, come on, tear out your lawn. We're all
gonna die. That's what was going on not too long
(07:27):
ago in regards to water here in Southern California. And
now now everybody got very very serious, buckled down, doubled down.
And this report out from the Metropolitan Water District, per
person water usage in southern California has dropped to its
lowest in thirty five years. That is just a win.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Sam.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Do we have our not so live studio audience. That
is worth a round of applause. It really is well done.
Mother in California. Let it not out.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
All right?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
If he shoots it in the air, that's fine, it's safe.
And what has all of this come from? Well, the region,
the Metropolitan Water district. Of course, everybody wants to take
credit for it, and I'm glad. I'm glad that they're
saying that they've gotten very serious about reclaiming runoff water.
(08:29):
That's huge. We've been begging them to do it for
the longest time. And runoff water meaning you know, like
a recent storm, like we've had a couple of days
of rain. By the way, I don't really call this
storm weather, but yeah, we've had a couple of days
of rain. And where does that rain go. It ends
up in storm drains, running off properties into larger storm drains.
(08:53):
It ends up in the La River pouring out into
the ocean. Perfectly good, cleanable reuse water. And in years past,
well the whole history of southern California, we have pretty
much just let that stuff go. We need to hold
onto it. You would be shocked how much water actually
(09:15):
runs off into the La River during just a normal
three day event. How about this on average, when it's
just an average you know, not a monsoon or anything crazy,
just an average rainy three days in southern California, the
La River will probably deposit into the ocean an entire
(09:38):
year's worth of water supply for the residents of the
city of Los Angeles, not the county, but the city.
That's a lot of water, and so we need to
do a better job of recapturing that water. We need
to do a better job in general of holding on
to what falls on the land. That's that's government, and
(09:58):
they're doing better. But you and I we're doing better too.
And what is leading that is changing our irrigation patterns,
Changing our irrigation methods from open old school you know,
spray missed in the air sprinklers to drip and micro
(10:20):
irrigation of specific plants. Changing what we plant. Not no, no, no,
not desertifying our lawns in our yards, not tearing out
our lawns and putting in fake grass. That is the
wrong move. I'm sorry, don't mean to offend you, but
it's the wrong move. That does not help, It hurts,
(10:42):
It just creates more heat island here in southern California.
But the right plants, native plants that are verdant and
green and beautiful, and native friendly plants that don't need
eight thousand gallons of water every five minutes in order
to stay alone live here in this climate. Making all
(11:03):
of those wise decisions incrementally has had a tremendous effect
on water usage in southern California. Also, something we've talked
about a lot which is now it's code for California
for a new construction and a major remodel. But also
a lot of homeowners have been changing this out for
(11:23):
pure luxury convenience, which is bridge valves and recirculation pumps.
And if you've never heard me say this before, if
you've never heard this before, a bridge valve is a tiny,
little brilliant invention. It's about six inches long, and itmounts
underneath a sink and it connects the hot water line
(11:44):
underneath the sink to the cold water line. But it's
a one way valve, so cold water can't get into
the hot but the hot water line can be pushed
into the cold And you combine that with a pump,
a tiny little pump that can be set in that
low that is also monitoring the water temperature in the
hot water line. Now why would it do that, Well,
(12:08):
it would do that because you know, when you sit
there and you haven't used a faucet in hours, the
hot water that was in the hot water line is
just sitting there and it's cooling off it's getting cold. Hence,
this is why we turn on the shower in the morning,
or we turn on a faucet and we sit there
and we let it run for two minutes or three
minutes or four minutes to allow the hot water to
(12:31):
arrive new hot water from the water heater. Well what
this little bridge valve does. And of course, by the way,
that water that's running down the drain is lost, and
that accounts for just waiting on an average of two
minutes for hot water to arrive in the southern California
region in every home everywhere. That accounts for hundreds of billions,
(12:57):
at times trillions of gallons of water usage just literally
down the drain. So it's now code in the state
of California for a new home construction and for a
major remodel to install a one of these bridge valves
and a pump at the fixture furthest away from the
water heater. As long as that fixture is further than
(13:20):
fifty feet, well that's the requirement. You can do it
anywhere you want, but the point is, if there's more
than fifty feet of pipe in between the water heater
and that fixture, it is a requirement, and that what
that little pump does is it notices that the water
temperature in the hot water line has dropped, and so
it actually draws hot water toward it, and it takes
(13:41):
the water that's in the line and it's already cold anyway,
pumps it into the cold water line. So instead of
going down the drain, you still have that water on
your property ready to use. It's just in cold water form,
which means it's going to find its way back to
the water heater and get heated up for hot waterge.
So the point is the bridge valve in this little
(14:03):
research pump does a brilliant job of saving in an
aggregate way, billions of gallons of water across the region.
And what's the conclusion of it all? You with the
right plants, you with the right irrigation, you with these
(14:23):
bridge valves and these recirculation pumps. Per person, water usage
in southern California at its lowest in thirty five years
of forty five percent reduction in water usage. And so
to that, I say, well done. Well, don't don't change,
don't change, don't go, you know, just don't turn every
(14:44):
valve on in the house. As a celebration. Just keep
on doing what you're doing. Here's a little bit of
good news that we're headed absolutely without question, in the
right direction. All right, when we return, we got some
calls on the board. I'm gonna take a few calls
and then and we'll get back into some of these
other conversations and we'll do it all.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Camfie Am six forty Live Dreaming in HD everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app. Good Saturday morning to you, my friend.
How you doing? What are yup doing? It's not even
seven o'clock. I know what I'm doing. I wonder what
you're doing. You just hanging out in the house. You're
sitting in the kitchen sipping a warm cup of something.
(15:33):
Are you on the road headed somewhere? Is it a
big day? Is it a relaxing day? Well, whatever it is,
I'm glad you're here with us. We're just spending a
couple hours talking about your home. I'm taking some calls
and having some conversations about some items that are in
the news. All of that this morning. Just a friendly
place that's informative, A little bit entertaining, I hope, and
(15:57):
a good place to spend some time. You've got calls
on the board, and so I want to go and
honor that. I want to talk to Laura. Hey, Laura,
welcome home.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Hidin.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
My question is, did you once say that we're supposed
to paint the bottom of the eve, which I guess
is called the soft that the same color as the facia?
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Did I once say that? No? I did, No, no, no, no,
I'm just joking. I was going to say I haven't
said it once. I've said it like eight hundred times.
You were listening, right, So here's the thing, Uh, let
me clarify this word supposed to. All right, I'm using
(16:45):
air quotes. Supposed to you're supposed to. Okay, you know,
I'm a I'm a designer, and so I have, as
a result of that, some very strong design opinions. And
I reserve the right to country myself on a project
for project basis. So what I'm about to say to
(17:05):
clarify what you're wondering about, Laura, is what I'm about
to say is not a law. It's not a universal rule,
and it doesn't apply to everyone's house. But but having
spent a great deal of time helping people reinvent their homes,
especially the average, you know, kind of mainstream tracked home.
(17:31):
This is a pattern of design that I think is
a mistake for most people. That is common, It's common here,
it's common everywhere. Hearing something, it's common just everywhere. And
that is the the the classic you know, asphalt shingle
roof and you know, white or bright facier board trim
(17:52):
and bright eaves, and then the rest of the house
color after that. And here, and this is the reason
why I say most most right would look far far better.
The roof itself would be far more substantial looking if
we took a deep dark color out of the roof material. Right.
(18:15):
So you most, especially asphalt roofs, have several different tones
of color in them. If we take one of the
darker tones, and we were to actually paint the facial board,
that's the board right on the front at the end
of the eve tails there and all of the eve
up underneath, whether it's a flat sopet that goes across
(18:36):
or whether it is just the eve rafters sticking out
and they're start at what we call starter board up there,
like tongue and groove when you look up underneath the eve,
all of that would all of it from the edge
of the roof tiles down across the facierboard, back up underneath,
back to the stucco or the siding or whatever is
(18:57):
on the actual wall, every thing that is the roof overhanging.
Generally speaking, as a general rule, I have promoted the
idea that that roof will look far more substantial and
better if we take a dark color out of the
roof tile and paint all of that that color. And
here is the reason why there was a time, of course,
(19:20):
before we were concerned about fire safety here in the US,
there was a time when most roofs were you know,
done with you know, wood shake shingles, and a wood
shake shingle roof is a beautiful looking roof. It's also
a roof that has substance to it in terms of dimensionality.
(19:45):
In other words, you know, you stack We were just
having this conversation with a client this week. You stack
wood shakes on top of each other. There are about
three quarters of an inch to an inch thick on
the edge. So you see a roof like that, and
it's got a lot of presence to it, but an
asphalt shingled roof for and there's lots of great tricks
(20:08):
that roofing companies do, manufacturers do to make their asphalt
shingles look more dimensional with false shadows on them and
all sorts of cool stuff like that, all very very good,
But the reality is that an asphalt shingle roof is
a very very thin layer, and having that dark, thin
layer come down to a bright white facier board really
(20:30):
betrays the fact that the roofing material of itself is
very thin, and so it makes a roof look thin
and meeker in my opinion, if I'm being designed critical
about it, but to take a tone out of the
roofing material and to paint the facier board and the
(20:50):
eve all that same tone, even I'm not trying to
pretend that it's all the same material, but if it's
all the same color, suddenly the roof is now the
thickness of the facierboard and the rafters and the eve,
the whole roof belongs together. It all holds together, and
suddenly it is substantive. It's literally, and no offense to
(21:14):
you who are suffering from this, but it's literally the
difference between the look of somebody who's got a full, rich,
thick head of hair versus somebody who's struggling with thinning hair.
That's the difference that this paint trick, and it is
a trick, does to a roofline, especially a roof that
(21:36):
has asphalt shingles on it, which is the majority, probably
eighty percent plus of roofs in Southern California. It's not
necessarily the thing you do if you've got big, heavy
concrete tiles. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't, And it's
not necessarily something you worry about if you've got a
Spanish tile roof, because those roofs by definition, have their
(21:59):
own dimensional to them. But if you've got a composite
asphalt shingle roof, you should really give a thought to
what it would look like if we took a dark
tone out of that roof and painted the entire facierboard
and eat. So, Laurie, you were listening correctly. That's my
explanation of it. It's not a should in the sense
(22:21):
of like there's some construction reason for it. It's completely
a design concept. It's completely my concept. But I would
say eight out of ten Southern California and your homes
would benefit greatly if they applied it.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
You are so welcome, and thanks for the call and
the question. This is why we take calls, because the
questions are so good and they lead to so many
good conversations. When we return, I'm going back to the
phones your home with Dean Sharp, the house whisper.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Fuck.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Oh Sam Blue Eyster cult Right, don't Fear the Reaper.
I was just Tina and I were just watching there's
a little series out right now. I forget what it's on,
but on SNL the you know, because they're about to
have their fiftieth anniversary. There are several little documentaries out,
(23:20):
but this was a four part series and we were
just watching the episode of the Origin of the cow
Bell Sketch for SNL. And so I feel like I've
heard this song like fifty times already this week, just
because that so it was funny that you played it
there for the bumper music. But it's a classic, classic sketch.
It is such a classic sketch. It may be the
(23:42):
the they were saying that it may be the classic
SNL sketch, maybe the most popular, most watched sketch ever,
and the But the funny thing was, I was listening
really carefully there and the producers actually of the song
were saying, yeah, it's a it's a woodbl it's a woodblock,
and that's actually in the background, not a cow bell,
(24:06):
and it's funny. And yet when they did so, you're
gonna have to re listen to it and listen really carefully,
you'll hear it. But it's actually a woodblock. And they
were saying, but you know, when Will Ferrell, who wrote
the sketch, he's like, yeah, it just doesn't roll off
the tongue. You know, you need more wood block. It
just doesn't work. And so they went to cow bell
(24:26):
because you know, it's cow bell. It works anyway. I know,
I know, I like these things. All right, let's go
back to the phones. I want to talk to Lucy. Hey, Lucy,
welcome home.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Oh thank you, Dean, thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
You are very welcome, my friend. What can I do
for you?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Well, I have a question regarding my roof of the shingles. Now,
the roof is not leaking, but I noticed it's beginning
to kind of some of the shingles kind of look
like they're buckling. Or they're kind of puffy. Yeah, well,
I heard on the radio. It was a roofing company
(25:13):
talking about this substance that you could spray on your
shingles and it would kind of revive them and prevent
them from leaking, and if they're dry and cracks, that
would help. I needed to know if you've heard about
this substance. It's made of soy, And I don't know
(25:38):
how expensive it would be to have that done to
my roof rather than have a roofing company kind of
go on the roof and kind of just kind of
take care of the shingles that are puffy. I don't
know which would be better.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Gotcha, Well, that is a really really fair question and
a good question. So let me tackle a really well
you know what, Lucy, Can you hang on? You've been
on hold for a while. Can you hang on? We're
right up against a break, and I want to give
old justice to this. I don't want to just give
you too quick of an answer. If you can, if
(26:18):
I can pop you on hold right on the other
side of the break here, we'll pick it back up
and I will give you a thorough answer to your question,
because there is an answer. But it's a little nuanced,
and I want to make sure you understand the implications
both ways.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
You hang tight, Lucy. Really good question is there is
there a miracle magic spray that you can put on
your aging asphalt shingle roof to give it new life
as opposed to tearing it all off and replacing it.
We'll talk about that right after Eileen Gonzalez gives us
(26:58):
the news. You are listening to Home on KFI.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI a M six forty
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp The
House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app KFI
AM six forty and Live Dreaming NHD everywhere on the
iHeart Radio app. Hey, welcome home. I am Dean Sharp,
(00:21):
the House Whisper. I design custom homes, I build custom homes,
and on the weekends here I am your guide to
better understanding that place where you live today on the show,
very very simple, We're just going to spend a couple
hours together, taking your calls and also having some conversations
about some issues that are still around and in the
(00:43):
news and have been on my heart and mind lately
that I want to share with you. So just a
relaxing Saturday morning, handling whatever is that may be going
on with your home, and having some conversations that are
pertinent to every who is a homeowner, especially if you
live here in southern California, but everybody in general. I
(01:05):
think we'll find interest in these things. Here's the number.
Let me give that out eight three three two. Ask
Dean A three three the numeral two. Ask Dean one
more time, A three to three two Ask Dean. It's
just that simple. Producer Matt is standing by, ready to
(01:25):
take your calls as the board is open. So we
are ready here for you early risers on this dark, cool,
cloudy Saturday morning here in southern California or wherever you
are across our great land. We're ready for you. Let
me introduce our awesome team. Sam is on the board wrangling.
(01:48):
Are not so live to your audience?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
You doing, Sam? I am wonderful. I'm effervescent today. Oh
my goodness, please none of that. None of that. That's
an He sounds very very up and uh but yeah,
which I'm all for. I just I'm not sure effervescent.
(02:12):
I can handle Sam. Hey, take it, deal with it.
It's good stuff, good energy in the morning. All right,
I will, I will.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Like I said, he's not near Mike, but producer Matt
is with us this morning. He is standing by. He
is ready to take your calls. He is pounding on
the table demanding that you call right now. That might
be a little aggressive, actually, but anyway, Matt is ready
to take your calls. And Eileen Gonzalez, my buddy in
(02:42):
the newsroom. Good morning, Eileen, Good morning, Dean. How's it going.
It's good I'm not gonna say I'm effervescent, but I'm here.
I'm here, and I'm good. I'm gonna say I'm radiant today.
Oh my goodness, I've always liked that word. That's a
great word. That's a great word. That's fantastic. No, well,
(03:03):
now I feel like the sleepiest person in the room.
Clearly need more caffeine.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
I do.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Hang on a second on that note, hang on, let
me just uh get wait wait, wait, wait for it.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
There it is.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
See. I made the mistake a couple of weeks ago,
hitting that stinger button for the coffee and realizing that
I hadn't actually hit the button to make it transmit.
So we got it halfway through. I turned it on
halfway through, and it sounds like somebody peeing if you
turn it on halfway through. Is so what I've learned
(03:44):
about pouring coffee. You guys, listen to this. So that
first bit of the coffee hitting the cup, that hollow sound,
it's critical that part right there, because after that, see,
without the first part, it just sounds like somebody's been
(04:05):
and nobody wants that. Nobody wants that at all. All right,
sitting across the table from me, my better half. I
better let her talk. My design partner, my best friend
in all the world. Who says that I'm handsome in
this light. There's barely any light in this room. That's
the thing that cracks me up. I'm like, yeah, I
(04:27):
would just like to go in the dark and just yeah,
because you can't really see me. That's false, it's not anyway.
Tina is here. Good morning to Tina. Good morning you guys.
Welcome home. Okay, what are you? Are you effervescent? Are
you radiant? What are you this morning? I'm eferradiant? Oh
(04:53):
my good all right, we had to get out of here.
Efor radiant? I don't know. That's not a it is now. Jeez,
I'm gonna be holding over my head the rest of
the day. All Right, y'all, here's the thing. Have we
got a call coming up? Yeah, we've got room on
the callboard for you. The number to reach me eight
three three two. Ask dean A three to three the
(05:15):
numeral two. Ask dean. By the way, did I say
this anything? You need to talk about your home today?
Whatever's got you scratching your head? We can talk design,
we can talk construction, we can talk diy quandaries inside, outside, landscape,
decre whatever the case may be. You know I'm here
(05:36):
and I'm going to help you figure it out. When
we return, I want to talk to you about a win.
How about this Southern California. How about a win for
once in a while. Yeah, we'll talk about that and more.
And your calls can't fine he can sharp the house clipper. Hey,
it doesn't matter whether your home for you is a condo, cottage,
(05:59):
or castle. I'm here to help you take it to
the next level. We're taking some calls this morning. I'm
going to give you the number eight three three two.
Ask Dean. Eight three three the numeral to ask Dean,
since we've got a couple of cah, we got one
call on the board, but we got plenty of room
for you. So just saying eight three three two ask Dean.
(06:21):
All right, let's dive into something I promised you, a win,
a win for southern California. Hey, Yi, it's been it's
been the beginning of a year, has it not. Yes,
it has fires everywhere. I actually have some more news
on that this morning as well. But first, I don't
(06:41):
know if you saw this. This has been out for
about a week now. We just didn't get a chance
to talk about it yesterday, and that is I'm sorry
last week. Water usage. Water usage is down overall in
southern California forty five percent. Forty five percent down water usage.
(07:04):
That's great news. It is well you remember, of course
you do. Wasn't that long ago? Right, We're gonna find
you if you water your lawn on the wrong day
or if you water too long. You remember that, Tina,
I mean, come on, tear out your lawn. We're all
gonna die. That's what was going on not too long
(07:27):
ago in regards to water here in Southern California. And
now now everybody got very very serious, buckled down, doubled down.
And this report out from the Metropolitan Water District, per
person water usage in southern California has dropped to its
lowest in thirty five years. That is just a win.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Sam.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Do we have our not so live studio audience. That
is worth a round of applause. It really is well done.
Mother in California. Let it not out.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
All right?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
If he shoots it in the air, that's fine, it's safe.
And what has all of this come from? Well, the region,
the Metropolitan Water district. Of course, everybody wants to take
credit for it, and I'm glad. I'm glad that they're
saying that they've gotten very serious about reclaiming runoff water.
(08:29):
That's huge. We've been begging them to do it for
the longest time. And runoff water meaning you know, like
a recent storm, like we've had a couple of days
of rain. By the way, I don't really call this
storm weather, but yeah, we've had a couple of days
of rain. And where does that rain go. It ends
up in storm drains, running off properties into larger storm drains.
(08:53):
It ends up in the La River pouring out into
the ocean. Perfectly good, cleanable reuse water. And in years past,
well the whole history of southern California, we have pretty
much just let that stuff go. We need to hold
onto it. You would be shocked how much water actually
(09:15):
runs off into the La River during just a normal
three day event. How about this on average, when it's
just an average you know, not a monsoon or anything crazy,
just an average rainy three days in southern California, the
La River will probably deposit into the ocean an entire
(09:38):
year's worth of water supply for the residents of the
city of Los Angeles, not the county, but the city.
That's a lot of water, and so we need to
do a better job of recapturing that water. We need
to do a better job in general of holding on
to what falls on the land. That's that's government, and
(09:58):
they're doing better. But you and I we're doing better too.
And what is leading that is changing our irrigation patterns,
Changing our irrigation methods from open old school you know,
spray missed in the air sprinklers to drip and micro
(10:20):
irrigation of specific plants. Changing what we plant. Not no, no, no,
not desertifying our lawns in our yards, not tearing out
our lawns and putting in fake grass. That is the
wrong move. I'm sorry, don't mean to offend you, but
it's the wrong move. That does not help, It hurts,
(10:42):
It just creates more heat island here in southern California.
But the right plants, native plants that are verdant and
green and beautiful, and native friendly plants that don't need
eight thousand gallons of water every five minutes in order
to stay alone live here in this climate. Making all
(11:03):
of those wise decisions incrementally has had a tremendous effect
on water usage in southern California. Also, something we've talked
about a lot which is now it's code for California
for a new construction and a major remodel. But also
a lot of homeowners have been changing this out for
(11:23):
pure luxury convenience, which is bridge valves and recirculation pumps.
And if you've never heard me say this before, if
you've never heard this before, a bridge valve is a tiny,
little brilliant invention. It's about six inches long, and itmounts
underneath a sink and it connects the hot water line
(11:44):
underneath the sink to the cold water line. But it's
a one way valve, so cold water can't get into
the hot but the hot water line can be pushed
into the cold And you combine that with a pump,
a tiny little pump that can be set in that
low that is also monitoring the water temperature in the
hot water line. Now why would it do that, Well,
(12:08):
it would do that because you know, when you sit
there and you haven't used a faucet in hours, the
hot water that was in the hot water line is
just sitting there and it's cooling off it's getting cold. Hence,
this is why we turn on the shower in the morning,
or we turn on a faucet and we sit there
and we let it run for two minutes or three
minutes or four minutes to allow the hot water to
(12:31):
arrive new hot water from the water heater. Well what
this little bridge valve does. And of course, by the way,
that water that's running down the drain is lost, and
that accounts for just waiting on an average of two
minutes for hot water to arrive in the southern California
region in every home everywhere. That accounts for hundreds of billions,
(12:57):
at times trillions of gallons of water usage just literally
down the drain. So it's now code in the state
of California for a new home construction and for a
major remodel to install a one of these bridge valves
and a pump at the fixture furthest away from the
water heater. As long as that fixture is further than
(13:20):
fifty feet, well that's the requirement. You can do it
anywhere you want, but the point is, if there's more
than fifty feet of pipe in between the water heater
and that fixture, it is a requirement, and that what
that little pump does is it notices that the water
temperature in the hot water line has dropped, and so
it actually draws hot water toward it, and it takes
(13:41):
the water that's in the line and it's already cold anyway,
pumps it into the cold water line. So instead of
going down the drain, you still have that water on
your property ready to use. It's just in cold water form,
which means it's going to find its way back to
the water heater and get heated up for hot waterge.
So the point is the bridge valve in this little
(14:03):
research pump does a brilliant job of saving in an
aggregate way, billions of gallons of water across the region.
And what's the conclusion of it all? You with the
right plants, you with the right irrigation, you with these
(14:23):
bridge valves and these recirculation pumps. Per person, water usage
in southern California at its lowest in thirty five years
of forty five percent reduction in water usage. And so
to that, I say, well done. Well, don't don't change,
don't change, don't go, you know, just don't turn every
(14:44):
valve on in the house. As a celebration. Just keep
on doing what you're doing. Here's a little bit of
good news that we're headed absolutely without question, in the
right direction. All right, when we return, we got some
calls on the board. I'm gonna take a few calls
and then and we'll get back into some of these
other conversations and we'll do it all.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Camfie Am six forty Live Dreaming in HD everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app. Good Saturday morning to you, my friend.
How you doing? What are yup doing? It's not even
seven o'clock. I know what I'm doing. I wonder what
you're doing. You just hanging out in the house. You're
sitting in the kitchen sipping a warm cup of something.
(15:33):
Are you on the road headed somewhere? Is it a
big day? Is it a relaxing day? Well, whatever it is,
I'm glad you're here with us. We're just spending a
couple hours talking about your home. I'm taking some calls
and having some conversations about some items that are in
the news. All of that this morning. Just a friendly
place that's informative, A little bit entertaining, I hope, and
(15:57):
a good place to spend some time. You've got calls
on the board, and so I want to go and
honor that. I want to talk to Laura. Hey, Laura,
welcome home.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Hidin.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
My question is, did you once say that we're supposed
to paint the bottom of the eve, which I guess
is called the soft that the same color as the facia?
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Did I once say that? No? I did, No, no, no, no,
I'm just joking. I was going to say I haven't
said it once. I've said it like eight hundred times.
You were listening, right, So here's the thing, Uh, let
me clarify this word supposed to. All right, I'm using
(16:45):
air quotes. Supposed to you're supposed to. Okay, you know,
I'm a I'm a designer, and so I have, as
a result of that, some very strong design opinions. And
I reserve the right to country myself on a project
for project basis. So what I'm about to say to
(17:05):
clarify what you're wondering about, Laura, is what I'm about
to say is not a law. It's not a universal rule,
and it doesn't apply to everyone's house. But but having
spent a great deal of time helping people reinvent their homes,
especially the average, you know, kind of mainstream tracked home.
(17:31):
This is a pattern of design that I think is
a mistake for most people. That is common, It's common here,
it's common everywhere. Hearing something, it's common just everywhere. And
that is the the the classic you know, asphalt shingle
roof and you know, white or bright facier board trim
(17:52):
and bright eaves, and then the rest of the house
color after that. And here, and this is the reason
why I say most most right would look far far better.
The roof itself would be far more substantial looking if
we took a deep dark color out of the roof material. Right.
(18:15):
So you most, especially asphalt roofs, have several different tones
of color in them. If we take one of the
darker tones, and we were to actually paint the facial board,
that's the board right on the front at the end
of the eve tails there and all of the eve
up underneath, whether it's a flat sopet that goes across
(18:36):
or whether it is just the eve rafters sticking out
and they're start at what we call starter board up there,
like tongue and groove when you look up underneath the eve,
all of that would all of it from the edge
of the roof tiles down across the facierboard, back up underneath,
back to the stucco or the siding or whatever is
(18:57):
on the actual wall, every thing that is the roof overhanging.
Generally speaking, as a general rule, I have promoted the
idea that that roof will look far more substantial and
better if we take a dark color out of the
roof tile and paint all of that that color. And
here is the reason why there was a time, of course,
(19:20):
before we were concerned about fire safety here in the US,
there was a time when most roofs were you know,
done with you know, wood shake shingles, and a wood
shake shingle roof is a beautiful looking roof. It's also
a roof that has substance to it in terms of dimensionality.
(19:45):
In other words, you know, you stack We were just
having this conversation with a client this week. You stack
wood shakes on top of each other. There are about
three quarters of an inch to an inch thick on
the edge. So you see a roof like that, and
it's got a lot of presence to it, but an
asphalt shingled roof for and there's lots of great tricks
(20:08):
that roofing companies do, manufacturers do to make their asphalt
shingles look more dimensional with false shadows on them and
all sorts of cool stuff like that, all very very good,
But the reality is that an asphalt shingle roof is
a very very thin layer, and having that dark, thin
layer come down to a bright white facier board really
(20:30):
betrays the fact that the roofing material of itself is
very thin, and so it makes a roof look thin
and meeker in my opinion, if I'm being designed critical
about it, but to take a tone out of the
roofing material and to paint the facier board and the
(20:50):
eve all that same tone, even I'm not trying to
pretend that it's all the same material, but if it's
all the same color, suddenly the roof is now the
thickness of the facierboard and the rafters and the eve,
the whole roof belongs together. It all holds together, and
suddenly it is substantive. It's literally, and no offense to
(21:14):
you who are suffering from this, but it's literally the
difference between the look of somebody who's got a full, rich,
thick head of hair versus somebody who's struggling with thinning hair.
That's the difference that this paint trick, and it is
a trick, does to a roofline, especially a roof that
(21:36):
has asphalt shingles on it, which is the majority, probably
eighty percent plus of roofs in Southern California. It's not
necessarily the thing you do if you've got big, heavy
concrete tiles. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't, And it's
not necessarily something you worry about if you've got a
Spanish tile roof, because those roofs by definition, have their
(21:59):
own dimensional to them. But if you've got a composite
asphalt shingle roof, you should really give a thought to
what it would look like if we took a dark
tone out of that roof and painted the entire facierboard
and eat. So, Laurie, you were listening correctly. That's my
explanation of it. It's not a should in the sense
(22:21):
of like there's some construction reason for it. It's completely
a design concept. It's completely my concept. But I would
say eight out of ten Southern California and your homes
would benefit greatly if they applied it.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
You are so welcome, and thanks for the call and
the question. This is why we take calls, because the
questions are so good and they lead to so many
good conversations. When we return, I'm going back to the
phones your home with Dean Sharp, the house whisper.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Fuck.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Oh Sam Blue Eyster cult Right, don't Fear the Reaper.
I was just Tina and I were just watching there's
a little series out right now. I forget what it's on,
but on SNL the you know, because they're about to
have their fiftieth anniversary. There are several little documentaries out,
(23:20):
but this was a four part series and we were
just watching the episode of the Origin of the cow
Bell Sketch for SNL. And so I feel like I've
heard this song like fifty times already this week, just
because that so it was funny that you played it
there for the bumper music. But it's a classic, classic sketch.
It is such a classic sketch. It may be the
(23:42):
the they were saying that it may be the classic
SNL sketch, maybe the most popular, most watched sketch ever,
and the But the funny thing was, I was listening
really carefully there and the producers actually of the song
were saying, yeah, it's a it's a woodbl it's a woodblock,
and that's actually in the background, not a cow bell,
(24:06):
and it's funny. And yet when they did so, you're
gonna have to re listen to it and listen really carefully,
you'll hear it. But it's actually a woodblock. And they
were saying, but you know, when Will Ferrell, who wrote
the sketch, he's like, yeah, it just doesn't roll off
the tongue. You know, you need more wood block. It
just doesn't work. And so they went to cow bell
(24:26):
because you know, it's cow bell. It works anyway. I know,
I know, I like these things. All right, let's go
back to the phones. I want to talk to Lucy. Hey, Lucy,
welcome home.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Oh thank you, Dean, thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
You are very welcome, my friend. What can I do
for you?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Well, I have a question regarding my roof of the shingles. Now,
the roof is not leaking, but I noticed it's beginning
to kind of some of the shingles kind of look
like they're buckling. Or they're kind of puffy. Yeah, well,
I heard on the radio. It was a roofing company
(25:13):
talking about this substance that you could spray on your
shingles and it would kind of revive them and prevent
them from leaking, and if they're dry and cracks, that
would help. I needed to know if you've heard about
this substance. It's made of soy, And I don't know
(25:38):
how expensive it would be to have that done to
my roof rather than have a roofing company kind of
go on the roof and kind of just kind of
take care of the shingles that are puffy. I don't
know which would be better.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Gotcha, Well, that is a really really fair question and
a good question. So let me tackle a really well
you know what, Lucy, Can you hang on? You've been
on hold for a while. Can you hang on? We're
right up against a break, and I want to give
old justice to this. I don't want to just give
you too quick of an answer. If you can, if
(26:18):
I can pop you on hold right on the other
side of the break here, we'll pick it back up
and I will give you a thorough answer to your question,
because there is an answer. But it's a little nuanced,
and I want to make sure you understand the implications
both ways.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
You hang tight, Lucy. Really good question is there is
there a miracle magic spray that you can put on
your aging asphalt shingle roof to give it new life
as opposed to tearing it all off and replacing it.
We'll talk about that right after Eileen Gonzalez gives us
(26:58):
the news. You are listening to Home on KFI.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI a M six forty
Home with Dean Sharp News
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