January 4, 2025 • 28 mins
Dean talks about essential homeowner tool kit to help you with fixing your home.
Dean also breaks down the 5-gallon bucket organizer and the reason why it’s a must in collection of tools. He also dives into all variations of hammers and which type of hammer is important to own.
Lastly, Dean talks about the type of hammers that are essential to the homeowner kit.
Dean also breaks down the 5-gallon bucket organizer and the reason why it’s a must in collection of tools. He also dives into all variations of hammers and which type of hammer is important to own.
Lastly, Dean talks about the type of hammers that are essential to the homeowner kit.
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Transcript
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. I
am I Am for forty and live bringing in h
D everywhere on the iHeart Radio app. Welcome home, my friend.
(00:21):
I am Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. I design customer homes,
I build custom homes, and I am your guide most
importantly today to better understand that place where you live.
It is just a few minutes after six o'clock here
on this first Saturday of twenty twenty five. Happy New
(00:43):
year to you. Today on the show, we're going to
start out the year this weekend with something very basic,
something very important. You have a home. You want to
take care of your home. You need tools, and so
we are going to be talking essential homeowner tools. No,
not just a list. Anybody could just throw together a list,
(01:05):
but I'm gonna explain to you not only the kind
of tool that you should have at your beck and
call ready to take care of your home, but why
and specifically the kind of tool that you're looking for
in each category. It's gonna be fun. You're gonna learn
things about tools that you never knew and all along
the way, we're gonna equip you for a successful maintaining
(01:29):
and caring for your home of twenty twenty five. Let
me introduce you to our awesome team. Sam Is on
the board. Good morning, Hold, good morning, Dean. How's it going.
It's going good, It's going good. I'm still trying to
figure out a couple of things here this morning for
twenty twenty five, but we're gonna get it worked out.
(01:50):
And I am glad you're here, my friend. Right New Year,
I hope you guys had a wonderful New Year. We
we did, We did. It was it was pretty solid.
I was sad to see it go, although you know,
I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready to get back to work.
But yeah, we had a good time. All the holidays
(02:10):
as a whole were surprisingly good, given the fact that
Tina had unexpected surgery at the outset of the holidays
and she's been recovering. But you know what, she's doing
really really good. My buddy. Eileen Gonzalez on the board,
Good morning, Eileen, Good morning Dean. Happy New Year. How
(02:32):
are things going for you good.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I'm enjoying my morning tea. Actually I accidentally got one
with caffeine in it, So I don't know what's going
to happen here.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I accidentally got one with drugs in it. That's the thing.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Did you ever see that Seinfeld where Jerry drank Morning
Thunder and he didn't know it had caffeine in it.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I think I remember that one. Yeah, yeah, kind I
think that's what's happening today. All right, well, very very good,
very good. I'm glad that you are here. Uh. Producer
Richie is also here with us. Of course he is
busy opening up the phone lines right now, but we
are glad Richie is with us as well. That reminds
me I should give you the number. Of course, we're
(03:16):
going to be taking calls this morning, if you're up
for it. I am two. The number to reach me
eight three three two. Ask Dean A three three the
numeral two Ask Dean A three three to ask Dean.
I think are they are you? Yeah? I think the
phone lines are open now, and so uh go ahead
(03:37):
give me a call, jump into the queue. You and
I can put our heads together. Whatever it's got you
scratching your head about your home design construction DIY. You
set the agenda when it comes to calls, So give
me a call. Let's talk about what's going on with
your home today? Eight three three two, Ask Dean, A
three three the numeral two, Ask Dean sitting cross the table,
(04:00):
well from me, as always, my better half, as always,
my design partner, co owner, co founder of House Whisper,
and my best friend in all the world. Tina is here.
Welcome home. How you doing good? Yeah? Tired? Sure? Why
(04:20):
why are you so tired?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
See?
Speaker 1 (04:25):
I had to clear my throat. Excuse me? We replate?
Were we more? We didn't go to bed till this morning?
More appropriately, we were up early, very early today. Look
at us, Look at us partying? I know what is it?
New Year's Eve? What's happening? Yeah? Yeah, we're a little
(04:47):
Uh does it sound like we're low e? I don't
think I'm low e at the moment.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I think we're going to be fine through the show
and then we're going to pass out.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
At eight fifteen this morning, I may not be able
to get out of this chair. I'm just going to
collapse over the console and that's it. They'll have to
drag me off. But you know what, until then, I'm
in it to win it, all right, y'all, let's talk
tools this morning, shall we. I think that's a good idea,
is starting with well, you know, and it's going to
(05:17):
be of course, from my perspective of decades of doing
just this kind of thing, not only being a homeowner,
but building homes, designing homes, my approach to tools is
going to be different, so different than a lot of
your typical just DIY list because I want to explain
(05:39):
to you why these are the tools that should be
in your toolbox. And Neil, we're going to start with this.
Should you even have a toolbox? Yeah? I'm serious about that.
Do you need a toolbox? We will hit that one first. Up. Hi,
Keam Sharp the house whisperer. Hey, whether you're home is
(06:00):
a condo, a cottage, a castle, doesn't matter. I am
here to help you take it to the next level.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Here to help you with the design of your home.
Here to help you with the functionality of your home.
Here to help you with the nuts and bolts of
your home. And this weekend, I'm here to help you
with the tools that make the maintenance of your home
that much easier. Also here to take your calls. We're
going to be going to the phones as we do
in just a bit. The number to reach me eight
(06:28):
three three two, ask Dean eight three three, the numeral
to ask Dean eight three three to ask Dean. It's
just that simple, Producer Richie standing by. Phone lines are
open now, all right, let's dive in right before the break.
I tease you just a bit. The very first thing
(06:49):
that we're going to discuss in regards to essential homeowner
tools or the essential homeowner toolkit for your house in
twenty twenty five is the toolbox, whether or not you
should even have a toolbox. And you're like, wait, of
course we should have a toolbox. Where am I gonna
put my tools? Well, of course there are those of you,
(07:10):
and you know, if you're one of these people, then
you don't really need to have the toolbox advice. There
are those of you who love, you know, a good
garage workshop, or you've got a shed that you've got
rigged up set up where you've got peg board or
other kinds of you know, tool display and storage stuff.
(07:31):
This this bit of advice is actually still for you,
just not in the overall storage sense of the word.
But what I'm really speaking to is the average homeowner
who has been you know, has a drawer of a
few items, or if you go out into the garage,
(07:52):
we're like, where are the tools? I was like, well,
I have this old screwdriver here and I have it. Yeah,
this is for you especially, And my advice is very
simply this, I think, and all the big box stores
are going to hate me for this, but it is
my opinion that by and large, the average home owner
(08:13):
does not need to go out and buy into a toolbox.
And I'll tell you why. Toolboxes with their locking lids
and all of that kind of stuff are really, really
truly designed initially originally for a tradesman, for contractors, for
builders who are taking tools and transporting them. Okay, hence
(08:39):
an enclosed top toolbox, which, if you think about it
in terms of around the house projects, why am I
lugging this toolbox around? Or not lugging it around because
it's too big and I've got to keep it, you know,
in the garage and I just carry you know, a
handful of tools to wherever it is and the house
(09:00):
that I'm actually working on a thing, when it could
all be very very a lot easier and a lot
less expensive. I love a good bucket. Quite a few
years ago, Bucket Boss the company came out with this
wonderful concept of taking a five gallon bucket, you know,
(09:21):
which is you know, the best buckets out there. Essentially
the way they're building, you know, the five gallon bucket
is the large bucket that you find in the aisles
at the big box store, at the hardware store, metal
handle with the plastic roller grip and the top great
strong three dollars ninety five cents. Okay, now I'm not
(09:47):
abandoning you just to that bucket. Because you get one
of those five gallon buckets and you slide into it.
Something that these these range in price anywhere from the
mid twenty tease to up to sixty dollars or so,
but most most fall in about the thirty ish dollar category,
and that is a bucket organizer. A good bucket organizer
(10:12):
is made out of like a heavy duty Cordura material.
It slides in like a perfectly tailored piece of clothing
onto that five gallon bucket, and it holds on the
outside of the bucket and on the inside of the
bucket up a number of tools because it has a
number of open pockets. Now, a five gallon bucket. You
(10:34):
could even make the argument that handled correctly, you can
throw that in the back of a truck or a
vehicle and take it to a location. But of course,
you know, if it tipped over and spilled, then things
are can flying out. But generally speaking, the average homeowner
or what we're talking today again, the essential homeowner toolkit, right,
(10:55):
I don't want to get any emails from you saying
you'll left out this, you'll left out that. This is
the essential homeowner toolkits what I call a reactive toolkit, Okay,
not a creative toolkit, all right. Creative tools means, oh,
I've got a project, I'm gonna build something. All right,
You're not gonna find like a circular saw discussed on
(11:18):
our Essential Homeowner Toolkit list, because that's let's build something.
This toolkit here is for all of you who just
really want to know what tools should I have standing
by for when things go wrong, when things get a
little wonky, when I've got to fix or tighten or
adjust or whatever the case may be. This is a
(11:39):
reactive toolkit. And those reactive tools, the thirty plus tools
that we're going to be discussing this weekend, they can
all fit inside a single, well organized five gallon bucket
with a good bucket organizer in play. And the cool
thing about it is that even after these tools are
(12:00):
all in place, you've still got space in the bucket
for the screws or the nails, or the nuts and
the bolts that you had to get to the hardware
store to fix the thing. And you simply pick it
up and carry it right to the location where you're
doing the work, and then when it's done, it sits
back in the garage again. So now do I have
anything against toolboxes? No, you want to go for it,
(12:24):
go for it. All I'm telling you is truly, truly,
I'm not one of those guys who are so deep
into you know, this, this whole genre that that I'm
going to tell you where you're gonna have to get,
you know, a two hundred and fifty dollars set up
like this, this that you know and shame you for
(12:46):
not having somehow a pro grade tool organization system. I'm
telling you from from decades of experience that even around
here at my place, the thing that is most likely
to make its trip across the yard or down the
hallway in my house is a bucket with a few
items in it in order to get any particular task done.
(13:10):
This is gonna get you through the five gallon bucket
with the bucket organizer. I like the idea of having
two of them for storage and one of them standing empty,
ready to load up for a project or whatever the
case may be. That will get you through. All Right,
(13:30):
what's next? How about just the most classic tool of all,
the hammer. But I want you to buy the right hammer.
We'll figure that out. You're listening to Home with Dean
Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty, heym I
AM six forty live streaming in HD everywhere on the
(13:51):
iHeart Radio app. Dean Sharp the House whisper with you
on this first Saturday morning of twenty twenty five. Yeah,
we're We're up. You and I we are up. We're
at it, We are awake, ish and we're getting it done.
Looking forward to the spending the year with you, talking
(14:12):
about all sorts of things regarding your home. Today, we're
starting out essential tools, reactive tools. What does that mean?
Reactive tool? It means if you drop water on them,
will they turn into a dinosaur? No? No, no, no.
A reactive tool is a category of tools that, you know,
(14:33):
a tool set that we've put together in order to
be there in case something goes wrong with the house.
That's a totally different set than if you've got a project,
a building project. Well it's not a totally different set,
but it's a different set then if you've got a
building project, and then we're actually creating something as opposed
to reacting to something that's gone wrong with the house.
(14:55):
This is your essential take care of the house toolkit
for you. And believe me, once you put a set
like this together, it's going to be your go to.
You're gonna go to these tools, this little set far
more often than use anything else along the way. Even
if you're a tool officionado and you know, and you
pride yourself on having thousands of dollars of tools, especially
(15:18):
you guys, you guys should know that this little set
of tools is essentially the go to for most things.
And that's what we're stepping through this weekend. Uh, we're
also going to be going to the phones in just
a bit. The number to reach me eight three three
two Ask Dean eight three three The numeral to ask Dean.
Producer Richie is standing by ready to tell you what
(15:41):
you need to know and pop you into the queue
anything that's going on with your house. All right, So
we've covered the idea of a basic but super super
effective tool organization system or toolbox, not the toolbox, but
the tool bucket. And now of course we have to
(16:01):
talk about the quintessential tool, the quintessential tool that actually
these days doesn't get used as often as as it
used to, but still clearly, I mean, this is the
universal thing. If you put tool into your phone, you
want a tool emoji, what's gonna come up? Yep, I
hammer an image of a hammer. You know, chances are
(16:25):
if you're a contractor builder, you know you're gonna have
an image an icon on your business card or your
letterhead and there's probably a hammer involved. It's just the
classic carpentry tool. So the world of hammers is pretty cray.
I mean it really is. It's pretty insane as far
(16:46):
as all of the variations of hammers out there. So
let me just cut through it for you as a homeowner.
As a homeowner, what are we looking for. Let me
cut to the chase. Look for a hammer that is
somewhere in the twelve to sixteen ounce category. All right,
(17:11):
pref preferably, I'm thinking about a fourteen ounce hammer. Okay,
twelve is a little light, it really is. It's a
little light for everybody. Sixteen is starting these days to
move into a larger scale hammer. Hammers have lightened up
a lot because they they've come to a place where
(17:33):
we're swinging them faster. And the speed at which a
hammer can travel through the air in order to hit
the object that you're aiming at makes up for in
terms of force for the mass or the heavy weight
of the hammer. So, you know, let's say fourteen or
(17:53):
so ounce hammer. Now, one of the most important piece
of advice I can give you right now guarding a
hammer that you're going to think about buying, is this
the shape of the claws, the claws on the back
of the hammer. Okay, I don't want them to be
(18:14):
heavy curved claws for you, all right. And so what
I'm saying is the hammer that you probably picture in
your mind, okay, the heavy bent claws. In other words,
if you're holding your hammer upright, it's perfectly straight upright.
And if the claws, the tips of the claws on
(18:34):
the back of the hammer are essentially pointing down to
the floor. That, in my opinion, not your optimal hammer.
H Yeah, they have, they have their purposes, okay, but
they really, in terms of general practicality, are extremely extremely limited.
(18:55):
What we want is what's known as a straight claw hammer,
which of course is also a misnomer because there are
very few hammers whose claws are perfectly straight. There's a tiny, tiny,
gentle arc to them, but by and large, if you
hold the hammer upright, the claws are pointing backwards. Okay, now,
(19:17):
don't take this wrong, but the whole idea of the
usefulness of these claws is not just in nail pulling,
but at times in wedging them in between a couple
of pieces of wood or an item, or using it
as a wedge to lift something off the floor, to
pry something out. It's the usefulness of claws on a
(19:41):
hammer go way, way, way, way beyond just pulling a nail.
And you would think, if it's just about nail pulling,
you would even think, oh, then the heavier bent claw
on the back of the hammer, that's more effective. Well
it's fine, it's fine, But here's the thing. The physics
(20:01):
on a claw hammer. Well, you know what we're gonna
we're gonna save this to the other side of the break.
I want you to hang tight. I'm gonna explain to
you why the heavy claw hammer does not get as
much done as you might think, and why I'm looking
for that straight claw. We'll talk about that you can't
fine in sharp the house whisper. Welcome home. Thanks for
(20:24):
joining us on the program today. Yeah, if you just
tuned in or you just stumbled across us here, you're
asking the question, Wow, it's not even seven o'clock in
the morning. Is this guy talking about tools? Is is
that what's going on here? Yes? It is, Yes it is.
This is the most unique home improvement show that you
(20:47):
will find anywhere. Why. Yeah, this morning, I'm talking about tools.
I also, if you tune in, you might find me
talking about the history of a particular architectural style or
design tip for your home. I might be explaining to
you why the circular saw that you need has to
(21:08):
have a certain feature to it. Or I may be
helping you fix your toilet, or I may be telling
you why you bought the wrong accent pillow for the bed.
So anywhere in between architecture, design, decor construction that's what
we're all about here. Yeah, you can find it all
(21:29):
right here. All right, so we are talking essential tools
for twenty twenty five. And yeah, Dina's hung up on hammers.
I'm not hung up. I just want to explain to you, Okay,
I want you to buy the right hammer. And there's
like a gabillion hammers out there that you can choose from.
And so what are the essential things? Now? With all
(21:51):
the bells and whistles that come with hammers these days,
magnetic nail starters, side pulling nail removing slots, all of
these kinds of things. I'm just gonna tell you this
as an essential homeowner tool, I don't care. I don't care.
Whatever you know. You want, all the bells and whistles, fine,
(22:15):
just don't let it get in the way of the
essential physics of the hammer. The most important thing to me,
other than all right, what we've discussed so far, it
should be about a fourteen ounce hammer. Twelve to sixteen,
you know, So I'm just picking fourteen right in the middle.
About a fourteen ounce hammer. Okay. The claws. I haven't
even talked about the face of the hammer yet. The
(22:37):
claws are far more important to me at this point.
The claws of this hammer should be gently curved claws
or what are known generally in the industry as straight
claws versus heavily curved claws. Heavily curved claw When you
hold the hammer upright is going to be those claws
are going to be pointing down towards the floor. A
(22:57):
gentle curve or straight claw hand those claws are going
to be pointing out, so that Let's say you had
a soft piece of wood or a tree stump in
the backyard. You've got a straight claw hammer if you
can basically turn it around, take that and embed it
just like bump like an axe right into that wood.
A heavily curved claw hammer not so easy to do
(23:20):
that because those things are hooked right, so you're not
really going to be able to get those stuck into anything.
And that's one of the reasons why I don't want
you to necessarily go for that one. Yeah, it has
its purpose, and a lot of people think, well, you know,
those heavy curves, that's great for pulling nails, is it, though?
Is it? I'll tell you what I want you to
(23:40):
imagine this and I'll get then I'm gonna get off
the claws. Number one another item on our essential tool
list here is a nail puller. So no, every professional
carpenter will tell you should not be spending or i
should say, wasting your time trying to pull a lot
of nails with your hammer. Yeah, of course you will.
(24:03):
Of course there will be a nail that you'll pull
with your hammer because it presents itself in the optimal situation.
But if there are a lot of nails to pull,
then you use a nail polar, a cat's pod, and
whatever you want to call it. Okay, we'll get it
to that. The hammer itself though, Okay, those claws, their
primary use for you is not going to be pulling nails.
(24:25):
And even if it were, okay, it does not make
a great nail. A nail polar for embedded nails. Okay,
try digging into a surface to get to the head
of an embedded nail with a claw hammer. It's gonna
be a mess. Okay. So if that nail head is
(24:46):
popped up a little bit and you have the opportunity
to pull it with your claw hammer, fine, great, super,
But understand this, the curved claw set it turn it
upside down in your or if you have one, you know,
get it out and set it upside down, set it
at the angle that it needs with those curve claws
(25:08):
in order to get those claws over a nail head.
Guess what, your handle of the hammer is going to
be sticking out at about a forty five degree angle
because the claws are curved so much. And you think, well, good,
I've got good leverage there. Well, yeah, if the nail
is just right out in the open, in the middle
of nowhere. But let's say that this nail is anywhere
(25:32):
near a wall or another surface. Now you've got a
hammer with let's say maybe a fourteen inch long handle
sitting at a forty five degree angle, which means that
the closest you can get this thing in nail pulling
(25:53):
mode into a corner or against a wall is going
to be about nine inches away. So if that nail
is anywhere closer than that, that curved claw hammer, it's
not getting there. It's just not going to reach it.
You won't be able to actually get the claws under
the head of the nail and be in a tight situation. Hence,
(26:14):
the straight claw hammer far far more useful. All Right,
you get it. You got me, all right, And of
course I would like the face of this hammer for you,
for the average homeowner to be smooth, not to be
waffle faced. Okay, not the rough thing that's for larger
framing and construction hammers. And it's all well and good
(26:37):
if you know what you're doing. But the smooth faced
hammer just is going to make do less damage for
when it misses or even on a good contact on
a nails you're finishing up, just less damage because a
waffle hammer, I mean, if it even touches a piece
(26:59):
of trim or finished carpentry, it's going to leave that
waffle imprint, and now you've got a mess on your hands.
Not to say though, that you should be driving if
you're just doing like a little molding repair at your house,
that you should be driving that nail all the way
into the material with your hammer. Okay. That's what a
(27:19):
nail set is for. And that's also a part of
your essential list. We'll get to that as well. Nail
sets are to finish off that nail without the hammer
head getting anywhere near that nice molding or that surface
or that drywall or whatever the case may be. So
another just general rule. The hammer head, unless we're just
(27:39):
doing rough construction, doesn't get anywhere near the finished material
at all. All right. Yet, nevertheless, a smooth head hammer
with straight claws about fourteen ounces and a decent handle.
What's a decent handle. One that's got a little contour
to it for an axe handle grip, then that feathers
(28:02):
out and kind of curves forward at the bottom. Just
something super ergonomic that fits in your hand real well.
Don't worry about fiberglass and shop absorbing or wood or
you know what's the difference between all that, because unless
you are planning on driving one thousand nails, guess what,
it's not going to matter. It's not going to affect
(28:23):
you either way. You're not going to get tennis elbow
or sprain attendant in your forearm because you didn't got
you know, you didn't buy the most expensive shock absorbing
hammer handle. The fact of the matter is there's two
or three nails in your future for this project, and
any of them will do. Got it? You got me?
All right? When we come back, we've got calls on
(28:46):
the board, We're going to the phones your home with
Dean Sharp, the house whisperer on Kfi
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp The
House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app. I
am I Am for forty and live bringing in h
D everywhere on the iHeart Radio app. Welcome home, my friend.
(00:21):
I am Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. I design customer homes,
I build custom homes, and I am your guide most
importantly today to better understand that place where you live.
It is just a few minutes after six o'clock here
on this first Saturday of twenty twenty five. Happy New
(00:43):
year to you. Today on the show, we're going to
start out the year this weekend with something very basic,
something very important. You have a home. You want to
take care of your home. You need tools, and so
we are going to be talking essential homeowner tools. No,
not just a list. Anybody could just throw together a list,
(01:05):
but I'm gonna explain to you not only the kind
of tool that you should have at your beck and
call ready to take care of your home, but why
and specifically the kind of tool that you're looking for
in each category. It's gonna be fun. You're gonna learn
things about tools that you never knew and all along
the way, we're gonna equip you for a successful maintaining
(01:29):
and caring for your home of twenty twenty five. Let
me introduce you to our awesome team. Sam Is on
the board. Good morning, Hold, good morning, Dean. How's it going.
It's going good, It's going good. I'm still trying to
figure out a couple of things here this morning for
twenty twenty five, but we're gonna get it worked out.
(01:50):
And I am glad you're here, my friend. Right New Year,
I hope you guys had a wonderful New Year. We
we did, We did. It was it was pretty solid.
I was sad to see it go, although you know,
I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready to get back to work.
But yeah, we had a good time. All the holidays
(02:10):
as a whole were surprisingly good, given the fact that
Tina had unexpected surgery at the outset of the holidays
and she's been recovering. But you know what, she's doing
really really good. My buddy. Eileen Gonzalez on the board,
Good morning, Eileen, Good morning Dean. Happy New Year. How
(02:32):
are things going for you good.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I'm enjoying my morning tea. Actually I accidentally got one
with caffeine in it, So I don't know what's going
to happen here.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I accidentally got one with drugs in it. That's the thing.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Did you ever see that Seinfeld where Jerry drank Morning
Thunder and he didn't know it had caffeine in it.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I think I remember that one. Yeah, yeah, kind I
think that's what's happening today. All right, well, very very good,
very good. I'm glad that you are here. Uh. Producer
Richie is also here with us. Of course he is
busy opening up the phone lines right now, but we
are glad Richie is with us as well. That reminds
me I should give you the number. Of course, we're
(03:16):
going to be taking calls this morning, if you're up
for it. I am two. The number to reach me
eight three three two. Ask Dean A three three the
numeral two Ask Dean A three three to ask Dean.
I think are they are you? Yeah? I think the
phone lines are open now, and so uh go ahead
(03:37):
give me a call, jump into the queue. You and
I can put our heads together. Whatever it's got you
scratching your head about your home design construction DIY. You
set the agenda when it comes to calls, So give
me a call. Let's talk about what's going on with
your home today? Eight three three two, Ask Dean, A
three three the numeral two, Ask Dean sitting cross the table,
(04:00):
well from me, as always, my better half, as always,
my design partner, co owner, co founder of House Whisper,
and my best friend in all the world. Tina is here.
Welcome home. How you doing good? Yeah? Tired? Sure? Why
(04:20):
why are you so tired?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
See?
Speaker 1 (04:25):
I had to clear my throat. Excuse me? We replate?
Were we more? We didn't go to bed till this morning?
More appropriately, we were up early, very early today. Look
at us, Look at us partying? I know what is it?
New Year's Eve? What's happening? Yeah? Yeah, we're a little
(04:47):
Uh does it sound like we're low e? I don't
think I'm low e at the moment.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I think we're going to be fine through the show
and then we're going to pass out.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
At eight fifteen this morning, I may not be able
to get out of this chair. I'm just going to
collapse over the console and that's it. They'll have to
drag me off. But you know what, until then, I'm
in it to win it, all right, y'all, let's talk
tools this morning, shall we. I think that's a good idea,
is starting with well, you know, and it's going to
(05:17):
be of course, from my perspective of decades of doing
just this kind of thing, not only being a homeowner,
but building homes, designing homes, my approach to tools is
going to be different, so different than a lot of
your typical just DIY list because I want to explain
(05:39):
to you why these are the tools that should be
in your toolbox. And Neil, we're going to start with this.
Should you even have a toolbox? Yeah? I'm serious about that.
Do you need a toolbox? We will hit that one first. Up. Hi,
Keam Sharp the house whisperer. Hey, whether you're home is
(06:00):
a condo, a cottage, a castle, doesn't matter. I am
here to help you take it to the next level.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Here to help you with the design of your home.
Here to help you with the functionality of your home.
Here to help you with the nuts and bolts of
your home. And this weekend, I'm here to help you
with the tools that make the maintenance of your home
that much easier. Also here to take your calls. We're
going to be going to the phones as we do
in just a bit. The number to reach me eight
(06:28):
three three two, ask Dean eight three three, the numeral
to ask Dean eight three three to ask Dean. It's
just that simple, Producer Richie standing by. Phone lines are
open now, all right, let's dive in right before the break.
I tease you just a bit. The very first thing
(06:49):
that we're going to discuss in regards to essential homeowner
tools or the essential homeowner toolkit for your house in
twenty twenty five is the toolbox, whether or not you
should even have a toolbox. And you're like, wait, of
course we should have a toolbox. Where am I gonna
put my tools? Well, of course there are those of you,
(07:10):
and you know, if you're one of these people, then
you don't really need to have the toolbox advice. There
are those of you who love, you know, a good
garage workshop, or you've got a shed that you've got
rigged up set up where you've got peg board or
other kinds of you know, tool display and storage stuff.
(07:31):
This this bit of advice is actually still for you,
just not in the overall storage sense of the word.
But what I'm really speaking to is the average homeowner
who has been you know, has a drawer of a
few items, or if you go out into the garage,
(07:52):
we're like, where are the tools? I was like, well,
I have this old screwdriver here and I have it. Yeah,
this is for you especially, And my advice is very
simply this, I think, and all the big box stores
are going to hate me for this, but it is
my opinion that by and large, the average home owner
(08:13):
does not need to go out and buy into a toolbox.
And I'll tell you why. Toolboxes with their locking lids
and all of that kind of stuff are really, really
truly designed initially originally for a tradesman, for contractors, for
builders who are taking tools and transporting them. Okay, hence
(08:39):
an enclosed top toolbox, which, if you think about it
in terms of around the house projects, why am I
lugging this toolbox around? Or not lugging it around because
it's too big and I've got to keep it, you know,
in the garage and I just carry you know, a
handful of tools to wherever it is and the house
(09:00):
that I'm actually working on a thing, when it could
all be very very a lot easier and a lot
less expensive. I love a good bucket. Quite a few
years ago, Bucket Boss the company came out with this
wonderful concept of taking a five gallon bucket, you know,
(09:21):
which is you know, the best buckets out there. Essentially
the way they're building, you know, the five gallon bucket
is the large bucket that you find in the aisles
at the big box store, at the hardware store, metal
handle with the plastic roller grip and the top great
strong three dollars ninety five cents. Okay, now I'm not
(09:47):
abandoning you just to that bucket. Because you get one
of those five gallon buckets and you slide into it.
Something that these these range in price anywhere from the
mid twenty tease to up to sixty dollars or so,
but most most fall in about the thirty ish dollar category,
and that is a bucket organizer. A good bucket organizer
(10:12):
is made out of like a heavy duty Cordura material.
It slides in like a perfectly tailored piece of clothing
onto that five gallon bucket, and it holds on the
outside of the bucket and on the inside of the
bucket up a number of tools because it has a
number of open pockets. Now, a five gallon bucket. You
(10:34):
could even make the argument that handled correctly, you can
throw that in the back of a truck or a
vehicle and take it to a location. But of course,
you know, if it tipped over and spilled, then things
are can flying out. But generally speaking, the average homeowner
or what we're talking today again, the essential homeowner toolkit, right,
(10:55):
I don't want to get any emails from you saying
you'll left out this, you'll left out that. This is
the essential homeowner toolkits what I call a reactive toolkit, Okay,
not a creative toolkit, all right. Creative tools means, oh,
I've got a project, I'm gonna build something. All right,
You're not gonna find like a circular saw discussed on
(11:18):
our Essential Homeowner Toolkit list, because that's let's build something.
This toolkit here is for all of you who just
really want to know what tools should I have standing
by for when things go wrong, when things get a
little wonky, when I've got to fix or tighten or
adjust or whatever the case may be. This is a
(11:39):
reactive toolkit. And those reactive tools, the thirty plus tools
that we're going to be discussing this weekend, they can
all fit inside a single, well organized five gallon bucket
with a good bucket organizer in play. And the cool
thing about it is that even after these tools are
(12:00):
all in place, you've still got space in the bucket
for the screws or the nails, or the nuts and
the bolts that you had to get to the hardware
store to fix the thing. And you simply pick it
up and carry it right to the location where you're
doing the work, and then when it's done, it sits
back in the garage again. So now do I have
anything against toolboxes? No, you want to go for it,
(12:24):
go for it. All I'm telling you is truly, truly,
I'm not one of those guys who are so deep
into you know, this, this whole genre that that I'm
going to tell you where you're gonna have to get,
you know, a two hundred and fifty dollars set up
like this, this that you know and shame you for
(12:46):
not having somehow a pro grade tool organization system. I'm
telling you from from decades of experience that even around
here at my place, the thing that is most likely
to make its trip across the yard or down the
hallway in my house is a bucket with a few
items in it in order to get any particular task done.
(13:10):
This is gonna get you through the five gallon bucket
with the bucket organizer. I like the idea of having
two of them for storage and one of them standing empty,
ready to load up for a project or whatever the
case may be. That will get you through. All Right,
(13:30):
what's next? How about just the most classic tool of all,
the hammer. But I want you to buy the right hammer.
We'll figure that out. You're listening to Home with Dean
Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty, heym I
AM six forty live streaming in HD everywhere on the
(13:51):
iHeart Radio app. Dean Sharp the House whisper with you
on this first Saturday morning of twenty twenty five. Yeah,
we're We're up. You and I we are up. We're
at it, We are awake, ish and we're getting it done.
Looking forward to the spending the year with you, talking
(14:12):
about all sorts of things regarding your home. Today, we're
starting out essential tools, reactive tools. What does that mean?
Reactive tool? It means if you drop water on them,
will they turn into a dinosaur? No? No, no, no.
A reactive tool is a category of tools that, you know,
(14:33):
a tool set that we've put together in order to
be there in case something goes wrong with the house.
That's a totally different set than if you've got a project,
a building project. Well it's not a totally different set,
but it's a different set then if you've got a
building project, and then we're actually creating something as opposed
to reacting to something that's gone wrong with the house.
(14:55):
This is your essential take care of the house toolkit
for you. And believe me, once you put a set
like this together, it's going to be your go to.
You're gonna go to these tools, this little set far
more often than use anything else along the way. Even
if you're a tool officionado and you know, and you
pride yourself on having thousands of dollars of tools, especially
(15:18):
you guys, you guys should know that this little set
of tools is essentially the go to for most things.
And that's what we're stepping through this weekend. Uh, we're
also going to be going to the phones in just
a bit. The number to reach me eight three three
two Ask Dean eight three three The numeral to ask Dean.
Producer Richie is standing by ready to tell you what
(15:41):
you need to know and pop you into the queue
anything that's going on with your house. All right, So
we've covered the idea of a basic but super super
effective tool organization system or toolbox, not the toolbox, but
the tool bucket. And now of course we have to
(16:01):
talk about the quintessential tool, the quintessential tool that actually
these days doesn't get used as often as as it
used to, but still clearly, I mean, this is the
universal thing. If you put tool into your phone, you
want a tool emoji, what's gonna come up? Yep, I
hammer an image of a hammer. You know, chances are
(16:25):
if you're a contractor builder, you know you're gonna have
an image an icon on your business card or your
letterhead and there's probably a hammer involved. It's just the
classic carpentry tool. So the world of hammers is pretty cray.
I mean it really is. It's pretty insane as far
(16:46):
as all of the variations of hammers out there. So
let me just cut through it for you as a homeowner.
As a homeowner, what are we looking for. Let me
cut to the chase. Look for a hammer that is
somewhere in the twelve to sixteen ounce category. All right,
(17:11):
pref preferably, I'm thinking about a fourteen ounce hammer. Okay,
twelve is a little light, it really is. It's a
little light for everybody. Sixteen is starting these days to
move into a larger scale hammer. Hammers have lightened up
a lot because they they've come to a place where
(17:33):
we're swinging them faster. And the speed at which a
hammer can travel through the air in order to hit
the object that you're aiming at makes up for in
terms of force for the mass or the heavy weight
of the hammer. So, you know, let's say fourteen or
(17:53):
so ounce hammer. Now, one of the most important piece
of advice I can give you right now guarding a
hammer that you're going to think about buying, is this
the shape of the claws, the claws on the back
of the hammer. Okay, I don't want them to be
(18:14):
heavy curved claws for you, all right. And so what
I'm saying is the hammer that you probably picture in
your mind, okay, the heavy bent claws. In other words,
if you're holding your hammer upright, it's perfectly straight upright.
And if the claws, the tips of the claws on
(18:34):
the back of the hammer are essentially pointing down to
the floor. That, in my opinion, not your optimal hammer.
H Yeah, they have, they have their purposes, okay, but
they really, in terms of general practicality, are extremely extremely limited.
(18:55):
What we want is what's known as a straight claw hammer,
which of course is also a misnomer because there are
very few hammers whose claws are perfectly straight. There's a tiny, tiny,
gentle arc to them, but by and large, if you
hold the hammer upright, the claws are pointing backwards. Okay, now,
(19:17):
don't take this wrong, but the whole idea of the
usefulness of these claws is not just in nail pulling,
but at times in wedging them in between a couple
of pieces of wood or an item, or using it
as a wedge to lift something off the floor, to
pry something out. It's the usefulness of claws on a
(19:41):
hammer go way, way, way, way beyond just pulling a nail.
And you would think, if it's just about nail pulling,
you would even think, oh, then the heavier bent claw
on the back of the hammer, that's more effective. Well
it's fine, it's fine, But here's the thing. The physics
(20:01):
on a claw hammer. Well, you know what we're gonna
we're gonna save this to the other side of the break.
I want you to hang tight. I'm gonna explain to
you why the heavy claw hammer does not get as
much done as you might think, and why I'm looking
for that straight claw. We'll talk about that you can't
fine in sharp the house whisper. Welcome home. Thanks for
(20:24):
joining us on the program today. Yeah, if you just
tuned in or you just stumbled across us here, you're
asking the question, Wow, it's not even seven o'clock in
the morning. Is this guy talking about tools? Is is
that what's going on here? Yes? It is, Yes it is.
This is the most unique home improvement show that you
(20:47):
will find anywhere. Why. Yeah, this morning, I'm talking about tools.
I also, if you tune in, you might find me
talking about the history of a particular architectural style or
design tip for your home. I might be explaining to
you why the circular saw that you need has to
(21:08):
have a certain feature to it. Or I may be
helping you fix your toilet, or I may be telling
you why you bought the wrong accent pillow for the bed.
So anywhere in between architecture, design, decor construction that's what
we're all about here. Yeah, you can find it all
(21:29):
right here. All right, so we are talking essential tools
for twenty twenty five. And yeah, Dina's hung up on hammers.
I'm not hung up. I just want to explain to you, Okay,
I want you to buy the right hammer. And there's
like a gabillion hammers out there that you can choose from.
And so what are the essential things? Now? With all
(21:51):
the bells and whistles that come with hammers these days,
magnetic nail starters, side pulling nail removing slots, all of
these kinds of things. I'm just gonna tell you this
as an essential homeowner tool, I don't care. I don't care.
Whatever you know. You want, all the bells and whistles, fine,
(22:15):
just don't let it get in the way of the
essential physics of the hammer. The most important thing to me,
other than all right, what we've discussed so far, it
should be about a fourteen ounce hammer. Twelve to sixteen,
you know, So I'm just picking fourteen right in the middle.
About a fourteen ounce hammer. Okay. The claws. I haven't
even talked about the face of the hammer yet. The
(22:37):
claws are far more important to me at this point.
The claws of this hammer should be gently curved claws
or what are known generally in the industry as straight
claws versus heavily curved claws. Heavily curved claw When you
hold the hammer upright is going to be those claws
are going to be pointing down towards the floor. A
(22:57):
gentle curve or straight claw hand those claws are going
to be pointing out, so that Let's say you had
a soft piece of wood or a tree stump in
the backyard. You've got a straight claw hammer if you
can basically turn it around, take that and embed it
just like bump like an axe right into that wood.
A heavily curved claw hammer not so easy to do
(23:20):
that because those things are hooked right, so you're not
really going to be able to get those stuck into anything.
And that's one of the reasons why I don't want
you to necessarily go for that one. Yeah, it has
its purpose, and a lot of people think, well, you know,
those heavy curves, that's great for pulling nails, is it, though?
Is it? I'll tell you what I want you to
(23:40):
imagine this and I'll get then I'm gonna get off
the claws. Number one another item on our essential tool
list here is a nail puller. So no, every professional
carpenter will tell you should not be spending or i
should say, wasting your time trying to pull a lot
of nails with your hammer. Yeah, of course you will.
(24:03):
Of course there will be a nail that you'll pull
with your hammer because it presents itself in the optimal situation.
But if there are a lot of nails to pull,
then you use a nail polar, a cat's pod, and
whatever you want to call it. Okay, we'll get it
to that. The hammer itself though, Okay, those claws, their
primary use for you is not going to be pulling nails.
(24:25):
And even if it were, okay, it does not make
a great nail. A nail polar for embedded nails. Okay,
try digging into a surface to get to the head
of an embedded nail with a claw hammer. It's gonna
be a mess. Okay. So if that nail head is
(24:46):
popped up a little bit and you have the opportunity
to pull it with your claw hammer, fine, great, super,
But understand this, the curved claw set it turn it
upside down in your or if you have one, you know,
get it out and set it upside down, set it
at the angle that it needs with those curve claws
(25:08):
in order to get those claws over a nail head.
Guess what, your handle of the hammer is going to
be sticking out at about a forty five degree angle
because the claws are curved so much. And you think, well, good,
I've got good leverage there. Well, yeah, if the nail
is just right out in the open, in the middle
of nowhere. But let's say that this nail is anywhere
(25:32):
near a wall or another surface. Now you've got a
hammer with let's say maybe a fourteen inch long handle
sitting at a forty five degree angle, which means that
the closest you can get this thing in nail pulling
(25:53):
mode into a corner or against a wall is going
to be about nine inches away. So if that nail
is anywhere closer than that, that curved claw hammer, it's
not getting there. It's just not going to reach it.
You won't be able to actually get the claws under
the head of the nail and be in a tight situation. Hence,
(26:14):
the straight claw hammer far far more useful. All Right,
you get it. You got me, all right, And of
course I would like the face of this hammer for you,
for the average homeowner to be smooth, not to be
waffle faced. Okay, not the rough thing that's for larger
framing and construction hammers. And it's all well and good
(26:37):
if you know what you're doing. But the smooth faced
hammer just is going to make do less damage for
when it misses or even on a good contact on
a nails you're finishing up, just less damage because a
waffle hammer, I mean, if it even touches a piece
(26:59):
of trim or finished carpentry, it's going to leave that
waffle imprint, and now you've got a mess on your hands.
Not to say though, that you should be driving if
you're just doing like a little molding repair at your house,
that you should be driving that nail all the way
into the material with your hammer. Okay. That's what a
(27:19):
nail set is for. And that's also a part of
your essential list. We'll get to that as well. Nail
sets are to finish off that nail without the hammer
head getting anywhere near that nice molding or that surface
or that drywall or whatever the case may be. So
another just general rule. The hammer head, unless we're just
(27:39):
doing rough construction, doesn't get anywhere near the finished material
at all. All right. Yet, nevertheless, a smooth head hammer
with straight claws about fourteen ounces and a decent handle.
What's a decent handle. One that's got a little contour
to it for an axe handle grip, then that feathers
(28:02):
out and kind of curves forward at the bottom. Just
something super ergonomic that fits in your hand real well.
Don't worry about fiberglass and shop absorbing or wood or
you know what's the difference between all that, because unless
you are planning on driving one thousand nails, guess what,
it's not going to matter. It's not going to affect
(28:23):
you either way. You're not going to get tennis elbow
or sprain attendant in your forearm because you didn't got
you know, you didn't buy the most expensive shock absorbing
hammer handle. The fact of the matter is there's two
or three nails in your future for this project, and
any of them will do. Got it? You got me?
All right? When we come back, we've got calls on
(28:46):
the board, We're going to the phones your home with
Dean Sharp, the house whisperer on Kfi
Home with Dean Sharp News
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