May 3, 2026 • 30 mins
Dean lifts the lid on everything roofs—from the six essential components to the hidden details that keep your home safe and sound. He explains rafters, trusses, roof planes, and why proper venting isn’t just smart—it’s required. Plus, Dean and Tina celebrate the return of their backyard bees after years of trying, and Dean breaks down the importance of fireproof vents for added home protection.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
house Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Custom home Builder.
Custom Home Designer here for you with patient, helpful answers
to your questions and with insight and a hopefully inspiration
(00:23):
to see your home the way I do that there
is a dream house hiding in that home, and I
am here to help you find it. So let's get
to it. Glad that you are with me here on
the program today. We'll also be taking calls, of course,
and that'll be happening right around mid show. Phone lines
(00:43):
are open now, by the way, so you are welcome
to gives a call now. You can listen to the
show while you're in the queue, and then you'll be
right there ready to rock and roll with us. Today
on the show, we're going to talk about something. Maybe
to you it might feel a little counterintuitive because we're
(01:03):
just rolling through the end of spring here getting into summer,
but we're gonna be talking about roofs today. And there's
a very very good reason why we've got a what
appears to be if we are going to trust the
weather gods out there, and you know what you got
(01:23):
to give weather people a break these days, because I
don't care what your opinions are about. You know why
things are how things are. The fact of the matter is,
if you have a brain sitting inside your skull, you
know weather patterns are shifting and shifting wildly, and so
predicting the weather man when they get it right. You know,
(01:46):
I stand back in a plot anyway. Here is the thing,
the the powers that be, the ones that spend their
lives doing this for a living, every every important weather
so out there is number one telling us that we're
in an El Nino year. El Nino is back. It's
(02:07):
a regular cycle. It's not something you know, special in
that regard. It's a regular cycle that we run through.
We have La Nina and El Nino and has to
do with the rotation of Pacific currents and the air
that gets moved because of it, and the moisture and
how that air moves across the Pacific Ocean and affects
(02:28):
the weather here in North America, especially the weather here
on the West Coast. So we're in an El Nino
year and that means more moisture. But because of climate change,
we are seeing more extremes and this year, the weather
(02:49):
gods are predicting that we may be experiencing an El
Nino stronger than any El Nino we've experienced in our
lifetime time, maybe the strongest el Nino in the last
one hundred and forty years. Okay, now you know me,
If you know me, If you don't know me, you're
(03:09):
about to hear this. The rest of you know me,
I don't you know. I don't pedal in fear. It's
not about getting anybody afraid. You know. There's plenty of
shows that you tune into that just pretty much, you know,
make their livings, making you afraid and therefore wanting you
to listen more. I am here to do just the opposite.
(03:32):
I'm here to calm your fears, to answer your questions,
to help you find a path through. Right. But we
have to be realistic about things like when fire season happens,
I get very serious with you about what to do,
and when extreme weather is on the way, then I
get real serious with you about that too. So here's
the thing. We are likely to have a very very
(03:57):
hot summer here in socol and across the western US,
and we are also very likely to follow that very
hot summer with a very wet winter. That's what the
prediction is in regards to a strong El Nino. So
all of this to say that if your roof is
(04:18):
not ready for a very very wet winter, if it
is not up to par, if you've been thinking about
the fact that you know, maybe we should get that
looked at well right now in late spring, this is
the time to get it going. Hence, ergo therefore that
(04:41):
what what are you laughing? That is why we are
talking about roofs in May, and so does that make sense?
There you go? So I've set it all up, so
we're gonna talk about roofs today, and of course, of
course is going to be way more than a mister
fix It show. That's just where we start with things.
(05:05):
So I'm going to be talking to you out of
both sides of my brain. The contractor will be talking
to you about how your roof is built, and what
are the components, what are the layers, What are we
looking for when we're reroofing? What are you allowed to do?
When you reroof the designer? Love that guy. He is
going to be talking to you about what is possible.
(05:27):
If you're already going to you know, bite the bullet,
as it were. And you know, the more I think
about that phrase, the more it freaks me out. Every
time I think about biting them. You know where that
comes from. It comes from cowboys out on the frontier,
cowboys or frontiersman having no other way to fix a
(05:49):
broken tooth than taking an empty shell, casing an empty shell,
casing an appropriately sized shell, and empty shell that's already
fired the bullet and washing it out and shoving it
up over there too, and then they bite down hard
and it becomes a brass crown.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, thanks for that.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
All right. So now you know, biting the bullet is
not a pleasant thing, and I get that. So if
you're going to bite the bullet, and then you're like, okay,
we're about to spend thousands of dollars on the new roof,
then the designer in me wants to say, pump the
brakes for a second. Let's talk about before we commit,
let's talk about how can we make this roof better
than it was before, not from a technical structural shelter perspective,
(06:38):
but from an emotional shelter perspective. You know, most roofs,
And we'll talk about this on the other side of
the break. Most roofs take up about thirty percent minimum
of your view from the street. They're important. Your roof
is important. It's the essential element that is architectural shelter.
So there you have it. We're going to be talking
(06:59):
roofs and we'll talk to my life partner here when
we come back. You are Home with Dean Sharp the
house whisper.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
So glad that you're on the show with us today.
I appreciate you being here. We know how valuable your
weekends are. They're valuable to me and especially your Sunday mornings,
and so glad you're with us to talk about that
all important thing that you and I both know as home.
And oh I should tell you this a couple of
(07:38):
things that I did not tell you in the last segment.
Number one, if you're calling in, here's the number that
would help. Eight three three two. Ask Dean A three
three the numeral two, and then you just spell out
ask Dean eight three three to ask Dean. Our call
screener is standing by, and you just pop in there
(08:00):
and hang out and listen to the show. And by
the way, you know, I take calls at random, so
it's not as though if there are anybody ahead of
you who got to the board ahead of you, it
doesn't give them, you know, first DIBs. So everybody's got
an equal chance of getting on the air when you
call us. Speaking of getting somebody on the air, I
(08:23):
also need to introduce you to the most important person
in the room, my life partner of thirty years now,
the love of my life, my boss, the co owner
and co founder of house Whisper, code designer with me,
the one who pretty much just puts up with everything
(08:46):
that I am. Tina is here, Welcome home, How you
do good? Thanks for this toast. By the way, I
need you breakfast, although I will say iug I looked
at the clock and I'm like, oh geez. You know
the last thing you should do when there's thirty seconds
before you have to go back on the air is
have a piece of toast with peanut butter on it
(09:06):
in your mouth.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Yes, unless you're mister Ed, and then.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
That's what make talk. It looks like he's talking.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I'm dating myself.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
You are mister Ed. Was before your time? You just
remember the reruns.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
You just used to say, mister ed was way before
your time, girl.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, I think they were. They were black and white, weren't.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
They They were, Yes, they were. Okay, now that we've
got that settled, Okay, so what what?
Speaker 4 (09:33):
I want to direct everyone to the house Whisper Instagram
page because we just posted our new baby.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
Girls, our new baby girls. Yes, please explain. We finally
have a hive, beehive.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
We've been b less for a while.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
We've tried twice last year.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
We've been keeping bees for how long now, geez, for
a decade? I mean, well, I'm probably fifteen plus years.
But for the last summer of the last year we
have been bless because our poor little bees got attacked
by another you know, roaming group of bees and everybody lost.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, and then they left, and then we tried.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
We had some really great people try to give us
some orphan bees and they just didn't take that.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
They left. So we tried and tried.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
But our good friend, yes, Keith Roberts, owner of the
Valley Hive and Chatsworth. And by the way, if you
live anywhere in northern Los Angeles County and you want
to know. If you live anywhere in La period and
you want to get a full education on bees, the
Valley Hive is the place to go. It's over on
Tapanga in Chatsworth in the West Valley, and it's brilliant.
(10:58):
They've got a nursery there, They've got an exposed hive
of you hive there. They do they do classes for everybody. Everybody,
all sorts of stuff going on at the Valley Hoop.
Check him out the Valley Hive dot com. Anyway, Keith
is the former president of the Los Angeles County Beekeepers Association.
(11:21):
And so, I mean, Keith knows his stuff. I know
no one who knows more about bees than Keith, and
so he knows his stuff, and he's a good friend,
has been a good friend and friend of the show
for several years. I have him on every year, or
someone from the Valley high every year. And yeah, Keith,
he said, yeah, I'm gonna get you bees. And so
(11:42):
he brought us a nuke a little thing of bees.
And so now we've got maybe ten twelve thousand happy
little girls over in the hive and they're just set up.
I mean they're set up in this brand new high box.
It's going to be great.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Yeah, we just we did a quick little video, so
jump on every to hom.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
With deep check it out. He was also very sweet
to give Olivia a little lesson in bea. She's going
to be taking care of the hive with me now
because she's old enough. Now we're gonna suit her up.
All right, we gotta get back to roofs because we're
we pretty much just ate up that whole segment almost
just talking about the bees. But that was good. It
was good. Okay, I will let you on the air
(12:21):
more often or not. All Right, your roof there are
let's just talk about the basics here. There are six
components essentially to any roof. Okay, starting at what is
the furthest underneath, and that is the rafters. That's the
(12:41):
framing part of your roof. The roof rafters. Those are
those boards that are literally forming the skeleton of the
roof rafters and or trusses. And there's a difference because
a rafter in these days is a traditional rafter. Those
are the ones that in the building community we refer
to as raft. Those are traditional boards. They're usually sixteen
(13:04):
inches on center and they're usually at least two by
six's usually more like two by eight, depending on the
pitch and the size of the roof. And that's traditional.
In other words, we've just stick framed. In traditional rafters,
they come up to a ridge board, they're supported in
the center and so on. Trusses are pre built roof
(13:25):
configurations that we order from a factory. Those are made
out of two by four material. But what they lack
in rigidity and strength as a two by four they
make up for, and the fact that it's a system
of braces all put together in a braced triangular system.
Trusses give you less flexibility if you're going to make
roof alterations because you can't mess with or cut the trust.
(13:48):
You can cut rafters and change them and sister them
and do all sorts of things. But that's the basically
skeletal system. And on top of that is the sheathing,
and that would be the plywood or thesb which is
more commonly used now. That forms the solid sheath platform
for everything that goes above that you think of when
(14:08):
you think about roof, and we'll talk about those layers
when we come back.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on Demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Here to transform your ordinary house into an extraordinary home.
That's what we do every single week right here on
the program. That's why you keep coming back, or you
should at least, because you know what, every time I
open a door to a subject, you always find out
that there's another door beyond it. And that's just the truth.
(14:42):
My goal is not just to get your house fixed.
Of course I want to do that, of course, but
my goal is to truly improve it. Home improvement is
actually kind of a misnomer, in my opinion, across this
nation of ours, the home improvement I'm air quoting, can
you hear it? Improvement? The home improvement industry is about
(15:07):
three hundred billion dollars strong, and yet there aren't that
many homes in America. You would think we'd be seeing
homes significantly improve. No. No, So what passes as the
home improvement industry is, in actuality, the home maintenance and
home repair industry. I wish we called it that, because
(15:29):
true home improvement is about design, it really is. It's
about really getting in there and changing the way that
house looks, changing the way it functions, bringing out its inner, truest,
best self. And that's what I'm here for you to do,
not only get you fixed, get you maintained, but also
(15:52):
to show you the path towards an extraordinary home. And
that is all about design. So that's what we cover.
Right I've got one foot in each world, and the
point is neither one of them is expendable. So today
we're gonna do that with roofs. We're talking about roofs,
and right now I'm just giving you the basics. On
(16:13):
the roof, we talked about rafters and trusses. That's the
skeletal framework. That is the shape of your roof and
sheathing and that's the boards on top you know, call
it plywood, call it OSB, call it whatever you want.
The technical term is sheathing, whatever the case may be.
That is the flat boards, the panels that make up
(16:36):
the the platform that everything else goes on top of.
On top of the sheathing goes the underlayment. The unsung
hero of a good roof is its underlayment. Underlayment is,
in fact so important it is technically on most roofs,
(16:56):
on a pitched roof, I should say, at least technically,
the underlayment is the only true water proof element. Up there. Okay,
these days, When I say that, I mean that shingles
essentially protect the underlayment they lay on top of the underlayment.
They shed water. But we all know, or you should
(17:17):
know or have heard that. You know, in heavy winds
and those kinds of conditions, moisture can get up underneath
a shingle, and when that happens, it is the underlayment
that is protecting your home. I just drove by a
big development that's happening out in our area out in
Santa Rosa Road to Toll Brothers luxury development, and they
(17:39):
just happened to be at the phase. I had someone
in the car with me, and they say, what is that?
What's going on with those roofs and what they had done.
They were at that place where the framing of the
house was essentially complete and they were starting to what
we call dry in the house, which means that the
underlayment on these roofs had been rolled out and secured.
With flashing you could see all these white and whitish,
(18:01):
whitish gray roofs out there with these flat underlayments all
done up very very nicely, and then there were stacks
of roofing tiles and shingles out there, and the person
who was with me said, man, you know what, there
still could be rain coming. They better get those shingles
on now. And I'm like, no, no, that's fine. That
underlayment has already waterproof the roof. That's the key right there.
(18:25):
That roof is water tight right now without a single
shingle being installed. And that kind of underlayment there has
got at least ninety days. Sometimes a good quality underlayment
could have six months of rated UV direct UV exposure
before it needs to be covered. So they got plenty
(18:46):
of time, no worries. They probably don't have to technically
put those shingles down until November, and they're going to
get to it way before then. That's how important the
underlayment is. It is the underlayment, not the shingles that
tie into to the next layer or component up on
your roof, which is all the flashing, the underlayment and
the flashings. The flashings are the metal parts, the metal bits.
(19:09):
Flashing occurs at the edges of roofs. It occurs anywhere
a roof plane comes to an end. Okay, so if
one roof plane ties into another roof plane, going in
a different direction. It creates what we call a valley
or a ridge. Okay, an outside corner is a ridge,
an inside corner is a valley. And every time we
(19:32):
hit that there is a flashing, a flashing that reinforces
that all critical seam right there. There are edge flashings
on the ends of your roof, where the roof simply
comes to an end hanging over the house. There are
flashings all over the place. Those flashings are not tied
into the shingles. The shingles are simply sitting on top
(19:54):
of them. The flashings are tied into the underlayment, and
the flashings and the under layments combined together form the
water proof seal of the roof. And on top of that,
of course, then we have the shingles. One other component
to be added in is vents, vents for venting the
(20:18):
attic sufficiently and vents. These days, it's a very very
simple formula when it comes to vents. You should have
this conversation with your roofer and it's very simply this.
Vents are required by code. They you have to have
enough square footage of venting to one square foot of
venting for every one and fifty square feet of attic
(20:42):
space attic floor space. Okay, that's the ratio, that's the rule.
It's actually technically one to one fifty. But if you
split your venting fifty to fifty, very very high near
the ridge and very low the eaves, then you can
reduce that. You can cut it in half. You can
(21:03):
have one square foot event for every three hundred square
feet of attic space. And that's typically how a well
designed roof is done, so you don't have to overvent
and things like that, because that fifty to fifty split
is so much more efficient, and that's really key. You
want your vents up at the ridge. And these days,
especially with just about every roofing system has what we
(21:26):
call a running roof vent that can be installed. I
love them. They're just wonderful because they take care of
that without being seen. They slightly elevate the roof ridge
tiles or shingles, and right underneath them runs this long,
low vent running along the ridge lines. Not always possible
on every roof, but on most when you plant it
out well, it is. And that upper vent is fantastic.
(21:50):
It's a static vent. It doesn't move, it doesn't blow air.
It's just simply taking the heat from the very very
very highest part of the roof and letting it out.
But in order for that heat to get out, we
can't have it doing that on a vacuum. We have
to have inlets allowing cooler air into the attic all
the way down low. And those are the vents down
(22:11):
by the eaves, the vents that sometimes are the little
two inch holes that you see along the blocking when
you look up underneath the edge of your roof. Sometimes
there are larger vents. Some roofs have gable vents which
are on the ends, on the flat parts of the ends.
But however that is done. Got to have low venting
and high venting in order to allow the convection effect
(22:34):
of hot air rising inside the attic to officially go
when we come back. Let's talk about that those vent
options a little bit. Especially. I'm going to turn you
off to turbine vents, those whirligig whirlybirds vents up there.
You don't need them, you don't want them. I'll tell
you why after this. You're with Dean Sharp, the house Whisperer.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on too from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
It's just a house until the great design shows up.
And then then because good design is about tailoring a
structure a house to you, to your life, that's when
it truly becomes a great home from an architectural point
of view. Of course. All right, we are talking about
your roof today. Also, I want to flag this that
(23:27):
coming up next segment. We're already at approaching middle hour
of the show. We're going to go to the phones.
And when we go to the phones, everything is on
the board. You want to ask me about your roof,
that's great, But anything anything that's got you scratching your
head about your home. You set the agenda when it
comes to calls. The number to reach me eight three
(23:48):
three two. Ask Dean A three three the numeral two beep,
ask Dean. That's as simple as it is, eight three
three to ask Dean. So design questions, construction, DIY, inside, outside, hardscape, landscape.
I got you, all right, we'll put our heads together.
We'll get a figure out that's coming up after the
(24:09):
next break. Okay, let's get back to the roof. I
left you hanging. Some of you are like, what did
you say? I said, Turbin vents, you know, the little
vents that have the little they look like a little
royal crown up there, and they spin. Okay, some people
call them wirlybird vents. They're turbin vents. They spin, okay,
(24:34):
And I said, you don't want them on your roof.
Don't put them on your roof. And why why? Well,
both of me is going to comment on this. Number one,
the designer first and foremost. They're ugly. They're ugly. That's
just that's not it's not a good look. Okay. I
want you to live in a home, not a warehouse. Okay, Now,
(24:56):
if you live in a warehouse, great, I'll order the
turbine vents to just to make it, you know, to
seal in that design theme that much more. But I
want you to live in a home, not a warehouse.
And there is a myth surrounding turbin vents that I
just want to explode right now, and that is that
they're so much more effective because we look up there
(25:18):
and we're like, oh, look at those things. Spin it.
Look at them spin it. They're really getting it done.
They are sucking the air right out of that attic. No, no,
they're not. Here's the thing about a turban vent. A
turban vent is not a fan. Okay. Now, if you
have a turban vent that actually is hooked up to
electricity and has its own motor, and you flip the
(25:43):
switch on and the motor turns the turbans, then and
only then, my friend, is the turban vent actually doing
more work than a static vent, just a passive pass
through vent, because it is acting as a fan. Okay,
But the vast majority, I mean the vast like ninety
(26:06):
nine percent of turbin vents that sit up on roofs
are not connected to motors, especially at homes. They are
just up there spinning. They're spinning not because they're actively
sucking air out of the attic. They're spinning because hot
air is rising up through them. And they turn. They
(26:26):
are turning like the wind. Little little windmill in my
backyard turns when the wind blows. They're turning like the
wind chimes chime when the breeze hits it. They're turning
because of air moving over them. They're not turning because
they are sucking the air up over them. It is theater.
(26:47):
It's theater, and it's ugly theater. And I don't want
you to do it. Uh, yeah, several several. That's not
my opinion. Several tests have been run, Studies have been
done on this over the years, and on a win day,
I will give you this. These are the two conditions.
On a very windy day, when the wind is blowing
the turbine, then, because another active force is turning the
(27:11):
turbine other than the air in the attic, When the
wind is blowing the turbine just like when a fan
motor is making it rotate, then it is slightly higher
performance than a passive event, slightly higher performance on its
best day. Does that make up for the ugly I mean,
(27:33):
is it a fifty percent improvement? No, it's minimal marginal improvement.
And so for me that means no. And the other reason,
other than the fact that it's ugly up there, from
the builder's standpoint, you got bearings, you've got lubrication. That
thing can end up squeaking, it could end up breaking down,
(27:54):
and so no, I want a system up there that
never has to be bothered with again, that runs itself.
And the fact is for that tiny little ever so
once in a while, marginal performance difference, No, not worth
it at all. Let go of the turbin vent idea.
Please do not put turbin vents on your roof the end. Okay,
(28:18):
I've said enough about that. Okay, all right, So, but
the vents are important and these days, oh here's another reason.
Turbin vents are very, very difficult to uh emberproof. Yeah,
that's a whole other thing. And this is where the future,
the present, and all future vents are going. Emberproof vents.
If you're redoing your roof right now, there is no
(28:41):
excuse whatsoever. You have got to use emberproof vents so
that your house is protected from the next fire, local fire.
You know, you may not be up against an open space.
That does not matter. We talk a lot about wildfires
and the need for ember proof vents if you're anywhere
(29:03):
near an open space for a wildfire in a place
like southern California or wherever you are. But the fact
of the matter is embers fly from any fire. So
if a house is burning a block away from you, Okay,
it doesn't have to be a community wildfire. It doesn't
have to be some massive, you know, multi acre wise,
it can just be another house that's on fire in
(29:24):
the neighborhood. It's spewing out embers, it's catching stuff on fire.
You're at risk for that too. Every home needs to
have ember proof vents. So if you're reroofing, obviously right now,
that's the time to get it all done. Okay. Those
are the components that go underneath the thing that we
(29:45):
always look at and that we always talk about, and
that is the tile and or the shingles. That's the
stuff that we actually look at, the stuff that we see,
the stuff that we evaluate. I'm saving that for when
we turn to this conversation. This has been Home with
Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into the live broadcast
(30:07):
on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning from six
to eight Pacific time and every Sunday morning from nine
to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand on the
iHeartRadio app
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
house Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Custom home Builder.
Custom Home Designer here for you with patient, helpful answers
to your questions and with insight and a hopefully inspiration
(00:23):
to see your home the way I do that there
is a dream house hiding in that home, and I
am here to help you find it. So let's get
to it. Glad that you are with me here on
the program today. We'll also be taking calls, of course,
and that'll be happening right around mid show. Phone lines
(00:43):
are open now, by the way, so you are welcome
to gives a call now. You can listen to the
show while you're in the queue, and then you'll be
right there ready to rock and roll with us. Today
on the show, we're going to talk about something. Maybe
to you it might feel a little counterintuitive because we're
(01:03):
just rolling through the end of spring here getting into summer,
but we're gonna be talking about roofs today. And there's
a very very good reason why we've got a what
appears to be if we are going to trust the
weather gods out there, and you know what you got
(01:23):
to give weather people a break these days, because I
don't care what your opinions are about. You know why
things are how things are. The fact of the matter is,
if you have a brain sitting inside your skull, you
know weather patterns are shifting and shifting wildly, and so
predicting the weather man when they get it right. You know,
(01:46):
I stand back in a plot anyway. Here is the thing,
the the powers that be, the ones that spend their
lives doing this for a living, every every important weather
so out there is number one telling us that we're
in an El Nino year. El Nino is back. It's
(02:07):
a regular cycle. It's not something you know, special in
that regard. It's a regular cycle that we run through.
We have La Nina and El Nino and has to
do with the rotation of Pacific currents and the air
that gets moved because of it, and the moisture and
how that air moves across the Pacific Ocean and affects
(02:28):
the weather here in North America, especially the weather here
on the West Coast. So we're in an El Nino
year and that means more moisture. But because of climate change,
we are seeing more extremes and this year, the weather
(02:49):
gods are predicting that we may be experiencing an El
Nino stronger than any El Nino we've experienced in our
lifetime time, maybe the strongest el Nino in the last
one hundred and forty years. Okay, now you know me,
If you know me, If you don't know me, you're
(03:09):
about to hear this. The rest of you know me,
I don't you know. I don't pedal in fear. It's
not about getting anybody afraid. You know. There's plenty of
shows that you tune into that just pretty much, you know,
make their livings, making you afraid and therefore wanting you
to listen more. I am here to do just the opposite.
(03:32):
I'm here to calm your fears, to answer your questions,
to help you find a path through. Right. But we
have to be realistic about things like when fire season happens,
I get very serious with you about what to do,
and when extreme weather is on the way, then I
get real serious with you about that too. So here's
the thing. We are likely to have a very very
(03:57):
hot summer here in socol and across the western US,
and we are also very likely to follow that very
hot summer with a very wet winter. That's what the
prediction is in regards to a strong El Nino. So
all of this to say that if your roof is
(04:18):
not ready for a very very wet winter, if it
is not up to par, if you've been thinking about
the fact that you know, maybe we should get that
looked at well right now in late spring, this is
the time to get it going. Hence, ergo therefore that
(04:41):
what what are you laughing? That is why we are
talking about roofs in May, and so does that make sense?
There you go? So I've set it all up, so
we're gonna talk about roofs today, and of course, of
course is going to be way more than a mister
fix It show. That's just where we start with things.
(05:05):
So I'm going to be talking to you out of
both sides of my brain. The contractor will be talking
to you about how your roof is built, and what
are the components, what are the layers, What are we
looking for when we're reroofing? What are you allowed to do?
When you reroof the designer? Love that guy. He is
going to be talking to you about what is possible.
(05:27):
If you're already going to you know, bite the bullet,
as it were. And you know, the more I think
about that phrase, the more it freaks me out. Every
time I think about biting them. You know where that
comes from. It comes from cowboys out on the frontier,
cowboys or frontiersman having no other way to fix a
(05:49):
broken tooth than taking an empty shell, casing an empty shell,
casing an appropriately sized shell, and empty shell that's already
fired the bullet and washing it out and shoving it
up over there too, and then they bite down hard
and it becomes a brass crown.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, thanks for that.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
All right. So now you know, biting the bullet is
not a pleasant thing, and I get that. So if
you're going to bite the bullet, and then you're like, okay,
we're about to spend thousands of dollars on the new roof,
then the designer in me wants to say, pump the
brakes for a second. Let's talk about before we commit,
let's talk about how can we make this roof better
than it was before, not from a technical structural shelter perspective,
(06:38):
but from an emotional shelter perspective. You know, most roofs,
And we'll talk about this on the other side of
the break. Most roofs take up about thirty percent minimum
of your view from the street. They're important. Your roof
is important. It's the essential element that is architectural shelter.
So there you have it. We're going to be talking
(06:59):
roofs and we'll talk to my life partner here when
we come back. You are Home with Dean Sharp the
house whisper.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
So glad that you're on the show with us today.
I appreciate you being here. We know how valuable your
weekends are. They're valuable to me and especially your Sunday mornings,
and so glad you're with us to talk about that
all important thing that you and I both know as home.
And oh I should tell you this a couple of
(07:38):
things that I did not tell you in the last segment.
Number one, if you're calling in, here's the number that
would help. Eight three three two. Ask Dean A three
three the numeral two, and then you just spell out
ask Dean eight three three to ask Dean. Our call
screener is standing by, and you just pop in there
(08:00):
and hang out and listen to the show. And by
the way, you know, I take calls at random, so
it's not as though if there are anybody ahead of
you who got to the board ahead of you, it
doesn't give them, you know, first DIBs. So everybody's got
an equal chance of getting on the air when you
call us. Speaking of getting somebody on the air, I
(08:23):
also need to introduce you to the most important person
in the room, my life partner of thirty years now,
the love of my life, my boss, the co owner
and co founder of house Whisper, code designer with me,
the one who pretty much just puts up with everything
(08:46):
that I am. Tina is here, Welcome home, How you
do good? Thanks for this toast. By the way, I
need you breakfast, although I will say iug I looked
at the clock and I'm like, oh geez. You know
the last thing you should do when there's thirty seconds
before you have to go back on the air is
have a piece of toast with peanut butter on it
(09:06):
in your mouth.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Yes, unless you're mister Ed, and then.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
That's what make talk. It looks like he's talking.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I'm dating myself.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
You are mister Ed. Was before your time? You just
remember the reruns.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
You just used to say, mister ed was way before
your time, girl.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, I think they were. They were black and white, weren't.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
They They were, Yes, they were. Okay, now that we've
got that settled, Okay, so what what?
Speaker 4 (09:33):
I want to direct everyone to the house Whisper Instagram
page because we just posted our new baby.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
Girls, our new baby girls. Yes, please explain. We finally
have a hive, beehive.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
We've been b less for a while.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
We've tried twice last year.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
We've been keeping bees for how long now, geez, for
a decade? I mean, well, I'm probably fifteen plus years.
But for the last summer of the last year we
have been bless because our poor little bees got attacked
by another you know, roaming group of bees and everybody lost.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, and then they left, and then we tried.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
We had some really great people try to give us
some orphan bees and they just didn't take that.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
They left. So we tried and tried.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
But our good friend, yes, Keith Roberts, owner of the
Valley Hive and Chatsworth. And by the way, if you
live anywhere in northern Los Angeles County and you want
to know. If you live anywhere in La period and
you want to get a full education on bees, the
Valley Hive is the place to go. It's over on
Tapanga in Chatsworth in the West Valley, and it's brilliant.
(10:58):
They've got a nursery there, They've got an exposed hive
of you hive there. They do they do classes for everybody. Everybody,
all sorts of stuff going on at the Valley Hoop.
Check him out the Valley Hive dot com. Anyway, Keith
is the former president of the Los Angeles County Beekeepers Association.
(11:21):
And so, I mean, Keith knows his stuff. I know
no one who knows more about bees than Keith, and
so he knows his stuff, and he's a good friend,
has been a good friend and friend of the show
for several years. I have him on every year, or
someone from the Valley high every year. And yeah, Keith,
he said, yeah, I'm gonna get you bees. And so
(11:42):
he brought us a nuke a little thing of bees.
And so now we've got maybe ten twelve thousand happy
little girls over in the hive and they're just set up.
I mean they're set up in this brand new high box.
It's going to be great.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Yeah, we just we did a quick little video, so
jump on every to hom.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
With deep check it out. He was also very sweet
to give Olivia a little lesson in bea. She's going
to be taking care of the hive with me now
because she's old enough. Now we're gonna suit her up.
All right, we gotta get back to roofs because we're
we pretty much just ate up that whole segment almost
just talking about the bees. But that was good. It
was good. Okay, I will let you on the air
(12:21):
more often or not. All Right, your roof there are
let's just talk about the basics here. There are six
components essentially to any roof. Okay, starting at what is
the furthest underneath, and that is the rafters. That's the
(12:41):
framing part of your roof. The roof rafters. Those are
those boards that are literally forming the skeleton of the
roof rafters and or trusses. And there's a difference because
a rafter in these days is a traditional rafter. Those
are the ones that in the building community we refer
to as raft. Those are traditional boards. They're usually sixteen
(13:04):
inches on center and they're usually at least two by
six's usually more like two by eight, depending on the
pitch and the size of the roof. And that's traditional.
In other words, we've just stick framed. In traditional rafters,
they come up to a ridge board, they're supported in
the center and so on. Trusses are pre built roof
(13:25):
configurations that we order from a factory. Those are made
out of two by four material. But what they lack
in rigidity and strength as a two by four they
make up for, and the fact that it's a system
of braces all put together in a braced triangular system.
Trusses give you less flexibility if you're going to make
roof alterations because you can't mess with or cut the trust.
(13:48):
You can cut rafters and change them and sister them
and do all sorts of things. But that's the basically
skeletal system. And on top of that is the sheathing,
and that would be the plywood or thesb which is
more commonly used now. That forms the solid sheath platform
for everything that goes above that you think of when
(14:08):
you think about roof, and we'll talk about those layers
when we come back.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on Demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Here to transform your ordinary house into an extraordinary home.
That's what we do every single week right here on
the program. That's why you keep coming back, or you
should at least, because you know what, every time I
open a door to a subject, you always find out
that there's another door beyond it. And that's just the truth.
(14:42):
My goal is not just to get your house fixed.
Of course I want to do that, of course, but
my goal is to truly improve it. Home improvement is
actually kind of a misnomer, in my opinion, across this
nation of ours, the home improvement I'm air quoting, can
you hear it? Improvement? The home improvement industry is about
(15:07):
three hundred billion dollars strong, and yet there aren't that
many homes in America. You would think we'd be seeing
homes significantly improve. No. No, So what passes as the
home improvement industry is, in actuality, the home maintenance and
home repair industry. I wish we called it that, because
(15:29):
true home improvement is about design, it really is. It's
about really getting in there and changing the way that
house looks, changing the way it functions, bringing out its inner, truest,
best self. And that's what I'm here for you to do,
not only get you fixed, get you maintained, but also
(15:52):
to show you the path towards an extraordinary home. And
that is all about design. So that's what we cover.
Right I've got one foot in each world, and the
point is neither one of them is expendable. So today
we're gonna do that with roofs. We're talking about roofs,
and right now I'm just giving you the basics. On
(16:13):
the roof, we talked about rafters and trusses. That's the
skeletal framework. That is the shape of your roof and
sheathing and that's the boards on top you know, call
it plywood, call it OSB, call it whatever you want.
The technical term is sheathing, whatever the case may be.
That is the flat boards, the panels that make up
(16:36):
the the platform that everything else goes on top of.
On top of the sheathing goes the underlayment. The unsung
hero of a good roof is its underlayment. Underlayment is,
in fact so important it is technically on most roofs,
(16:56):
on a pitched roof, I should say, at least technically,
the underlayment is the only true water proof element. Up there. Okay,
these days, When I say that, I mean that shingles
essentially protect the underlayment they lay on top of the underlayment.
They shed water. But we all know, or you should
(17:17):
know or have heard that. You know, in heavy winds
and those kinds of conditions, moisture can get up underneath
a shingle, and when that happens, it is the underlayment
that is protecting your home. I just drove by a
big development that's happening out in our area out in
Santa Rosa Road to Toll Brothers luxury development, and they
(17:39):
just happened to be at the phase. I had someone
in the car with me, and they say, what is that?
What's going on with those roofs and what they had done.
They were at that place where the framing of the
house was essentially complete and they were starting to what
we call dry in the house, which means that the
underlayment on these roofs had been rolled out and secured.
With flashing you could see all these white and whitish,
(18:01):
whitish gray roofs out there with these flat underlayments all
done up very very nicely, and then there were stacks
of roofing tiles and shingles out there, and the person
who was with me said, man, you know what, there
still could be rain coming. They better get those shingles
on now. And I'm like, no, no, that's fine. That
underlayment has already waterproof the roof. That's the key right there.
(18:25):
That roof is water tight right now without a single
shingle being installed. And that kind of underlayment there has
got at least ninety days. Sometimes a good quality underlayment
could have six months of rated UV direct UV exposure
before it needs to be covered. So they got plenty
(18:46):
of time, no worries. They probably don't have to technically
put those shingles down until November, and they're going to
get to it way before then. That's how important the
underlayment is. It is the underlayment, not the shingles that
tie into to the next layer or component up on
your roof, which is all the flashing, the underlayment and
the flashings. The flashings are the metal parts, the metal bits.
(19:09):
Flashing occurs at the edges of roofs. It occurs anywhere
a roof plane comes to an end. Okay, so if
one roof plane ties into another roof plane, going in
a different direction. It creates what we call a valley
or a ridge. Okay, an outside corner is a ridge,
an inside corner is a valley. And every time we
(19:32):
hit that there is a flashing, a flashing that reinforces
that all critical seam right there. There are edge flashings
on the ends of your roof, where the roof simply
comes to an end hanging over the house. There are
flashings all over the place. Those flashings are not tied
into the shingles. The shingles are simply sitting on top
(19:54):
of them. The flashings are tied into the underlayment, and
the flashings and the under layments combined together form the
water proof seal of the roof. And on top of that,
of course, then we have the shingles. One other component
to be added in is vents, vents for venting the
(20:18):
attic sufficiently and vents. These days, it's a very very
simple formula when it comes to vents. You should have
this conversation with your roofer and it's very simply this.
Vents are required by code. They you have to have
enough square footage of venting to one square foot of
venting for every one and fifty square feet of attic
(20:42):
space attic floor space. Okay, that's the ratio, that's the rule.
It's actually technically one to one fifty. But if you
split your venting fifty to fifty, very very high near
the ridge and very low the eaves, then you can
reduce that. You can cut it in half. You can
(21:03):
have one square foot event for every three hundred square
feet of attic space. And that's typically how a well
designed roof is done, so you don't have to overvent
and things like that, because that fifty to fifty split
is so much more efficient, and that's really key. You
want your vents up at the ridge. And these days,
especially with just about every roofing system has what we
(21:26):
call a running roof vent that can be installed. I
love them. They're just wonderful because they take care of
that without being seen. They slightly elevate the roof ridge
tiles or shingles, and right underneath them runs this long,
low vent running along the ridge lines. Not always possible
on every roof, but on most when you plant it
out well, it is. And that upper vent is fantastic.
(21:50):
It's a static vent. It doesn't move, it doesn't blow air.
It's just simply taking the heat from the very very
very highest part of the roof and letting it out.
But in order for that heat to get out, we
can't have it doing that on a vacuum. We have
to have inlets allowing cooler air into the attic all
the way down low. And those are the vents down
(22:11):
by the eaves, the vents that sometimes are the little
two inch holes that you see along the blocking when
you look up underneath the edge of your roof. Sometimes
there are larger vents. Some roofs have gable vents which
are on the ends, on the flat parts of the ends.
But however that is done. Got to have low venting
and high venting in order to allow the convection effect
(22:34):
of hot air rising inside the attic to officially go
when we come back. Let's talk about that those vent
options a little bit. Especially. I'm going to turn you
off to turbine vents, those whirligig whirlybirds vents up there.
You don't need them, you don't want them. I'll tell
you why after this. You're with Dean Sharp, the house Whisperer.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on too from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
It's just a house until the great design shows up.
And then then because good design is about tailoring a
structure a house to you, to your life, that's when
it truly becomes a great home from an architectural point
of view. Of course. All right, we are talking about
your roof today. Also, I want to flag this that
(23:27):
coming up next segment. We're already at approaching middle hour
of the show. We're going to go to the phones.
And when we go to the phones, everything is on
the board. You want to ask me about your roof,
that's great, But anything anything that's got you scratching your
head about your home. You set the agenda when it
comes to calls. The number to reach me eight three
(23:48):
three two. Ask Dean A three three the numeral two beep,
ask Dean. That's as simple as it is, eight three
three to ask Dean. So design questions, construction, DIY, inside, outside, hardscape, landscape.
I got you, all right, we'll put our heads together.
We'll get a figure out that's coming up after the
(24:09):
next break. Okay, let's get back to the roof. I
left you hanging. Some of you are like, what did
you say? I said, Turbin vents, you know, the little
vents that have the little they look like a little
royal crown up there, and they spin. Okay, some people
call them wirlybird vents. They're turbin vents. They spin, okay,
(24:34):
And I said, you don't want them on your roof.
Don't put them on your roof. And why why? Well,
both of me is going to comment on this. Number one,
the designer first and foremost. They're ugly. They're ugly. That's
just that's not it's not a good look. Okay. I
want you to live in a home, not a warehouse. Okay, Now,
(24:56):
if you live in a warehouse, great, I'll order the
turbine vents to just to make it, you know, to
seal in that design theme that much more. But I
want you to live in a home, not a warehouse.
And there is a myth surrounding turbin vents that I
just want to explode right now, and that is that
they're so much more effective because we look up there
(25:18):
and we're like, oh, look at those things. Spin it.
Look at them spin it. They're really getting it done.
They are sucking the air right out of that attic. No, no,
they're not. Here's the thing about a turban vent. A
turban vent is not a fan. Okay. Now, if you
have a turban vent that actually is hooked up to
electricity and has its own motor, and you flip the
(25:43):
switch on and the motor turns the turbans, then and
only then, my friend, is the turban vent actually doing
more work than a static vent, just a passive pass
through vent, because it is acting as a fan. Okay,
But the vast majority, I mean the vast like ninety
(26:06):
nine percent of turbin vents that sit up on roofs
are not connected to motors, especially at homes. They are
just up there spinning. They're spinning not because they're actively
sucking air out of the attic. They're spinning because hot
air is rising up through them. And they turn. They
(26:26):
are turning like the wind. Little little windmill in my
backyard turns when the wind blows. They're turning like the
wind chimes chime when the breeze hits it. They're turning
because of air moving over them. They're not turning because
they are sucking the air up over them. It is theater.
(26:47):
It's theater, and it's ugly theater. And I don't want
you to do it. Uh, yeah, several several. That's not
my opinion. Several tests have been run, Studies have been
done on this over the years, and on a win day,
I will give you this. These are the two conditions.
On a very windy day, when the wind is blowing
the turbine, then, because another active force is turning the
(27:11):
turbine other than the air in the attic, When the
wind is blowing the turbine just like when a fan
motor is making it rotate, then it is slightly higher
performance than a passive event, slightly higher performance on its
best day. Does that make up for the ugly I mean,
(27:33):
is it a fifty percent improvement? No, it's minimal marginal improvement.
And so for me that means no. And the other reason,
other than the fact that it's ugly up there, from
the builder's standpoint, you got bearings, you've got lubrication. That
thing can end up squeaking, it could end up breaking down,
(27:54):
and so no, I want a system up there that
never has to be bothered with again, that runs itself.
And the fact is for that tiny little ever so
once in a while, marginal performance difference, No, not worth
it at all. Let go of the turbin vent idea.
Please do not put turbin vents on your roof the end. Okay,
(28:18):
I've said enough about that. Okay, all right, So, but
the vents are important and these days, oh here's another reason.
Turbin vents are very, very difficult to uh emberproof. Yeah,
that's a whole other thing. And this is where the future,
the present, and all future vents are going. Emberproof vents.
If you're redoing your roof right now, there is no
(28:41):
excuse whatsoever. You have got to use emberproof vents so
that your house is protected from the next fire, local fire.
You know, you may not be up against an open space.
That does not matter. We talk a lot about wildfires
and the need for ember proof vents if you're anywhere
(29:03):
near an open space for a wildfire in a place
like southern California or wherever you are. But the fact
of the matter is embers fly from any fire. So
if a house is burning a block away from you, Okay,
it doesn't have to be a community wildfire. It doesn't
have to be some massive, you know, multi acre wise,
it can just be another house that's on fire in
(29:24):
the neighborhood. It's spewing out embers, it's catching stuff on fire.
You're at risk for that too. Every home needs to
have ember proof vents. So if you're reroofing, obviously right now,
that's the time to get it all done. Okay. Those
are the components that go underneath the thing that we
(29:45):
always look at and that we always talk about, and
that is the tile and or the shingles. That's the
stuff that we actually look at, the stuff that we see,
the stuff that we evaluate. I'm saving that for when
we turn to this conversation. This has been Home with
Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into the live broadcast
(30:07):
on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning from six
to eight Pacific time and every Sunday morning from nine
to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand on the
iHeartRadio app
Home with Dean Sharp News
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.