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 iHeartRadio app. I Am
Dean Sharp, The house Whisper, Custom home Builder, custom home Designer,
and every week your guide to better understanding that place
where you live. Today, on the show, we are doing
(00:21):
the annual House Whisper listener Interviews, meaning that we've gathered
together some more personal questions that y'all have sent in
and communicated to us over the last year and we
save it all up just for one show and get
it out of the way.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
We want no we do.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
We want to answer your questions, but you know, we
spend most of our time talking about your home and
its design and its issues, which is what I want
to do, and then a little bit of time talking
about kind of where we came from and what that's
all about. That's today's show. But right now here we
are in the second hour, which means it's time to
go to the phones. I don't want to do just that.
(01:01):
I'm going to talk to let's see here, let's talk
to Ricky. Hey, Ricky, welcome home, Dean.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I got a nineteen fifty five home. It's on a
raised foundation. I'm gonna try to give you all the details.
So my question is regarding the LVP. The luxury vinyl planks,
they're about nine inches wide five feet long. They got
the rubber liner underneath, and they were installed about a
(01:31):
year ago. The ones in the kitchen and the dining
room are over tile, and then the rest of the
house is on the original wood floors. What they did
is on the second half of the house they put
plywood underneath, so that way there's no transition lines. Everything
kind of flows through. So recently in the kitchen area,
(01:55):
one of the vinyl planks is starting to lift and
it's just an enough where it kind of snags your
toe or if you're wearing socks, you rub the edge,
you kind of fill it wearing sandals and you kind
of do a quick turn. It kind of catches your
sandal a little bit. And apparently they put the kitchen
(02:17):
cabinets over the luxury vinyl and then obviously there's a
tile underneath. So trying to see if there's a solution
on that, and also the base boards when they were
all installed, there's some areas that have like a slight
little gap, and then other areas that are nice and flush.
(02:37):
And the last part is there's a few spots, like
in the bedrooms. When you walk over those spots, you
hear like some squeaking, which I thought would probably go
away since those are over the plywood, But apparently that
original floor is still squeaking. So just trying to look
(02:58):
for some guidance. Maybe you can help me out with
your expertise.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
All right, well, let's let's back it up to uh,
let's back it up to the plank in the kitchen.
Where is that plank at in relationship? Is it right
up next to the cabinets? Is that out in the
middle of the floor. Where is where's that happening?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Yeah? It's the setup in the kitchen is like an
alley kitchen, and it's right about the middle of the flooring.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Huh okay, And yeah, said the kitchen cabinets were sat
they were sat on top of the you know, the
floor was put in and then they put the cabinets
on top of the floor.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yes. And when I spoke with my wife, she did
mention that her thing was she doesn't like that which
the base. Yeah, yeah, yeah, she don't like that. I
guess it's quarter round or something. Like that. She don't
like that going along the edges or anything like that.
So she wanted the floor to go underneath, and then
(03:56):
the baseboards sit on top. And I get the same
thing with the kitchen to have it gets a cleaner look.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Right, Okay, Well here's some things if you're not having
It's one plank in the kitchen, right one.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Yeah. I went through the whole floor inspecting it with
my rubby, my my socks and on my hands and
knees trying to see. Okay, maybe I got a disaster here.
I don't know what's going on, but it's just that
one plank and it's around maybe eight inches long, and
then and then it's just fine after that.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Okay, So here's the thing. Uh, this is my guess,
and it's a guess, but I think it's a pretty
good one.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
I don't think you have a disaster in the kitchen, unfortunately,
because the cabinets and I and I totally get it.
By the way, uh, your wife's vibe on that. I mean,
whenever we install a floor like that, we also know
baseboards especially. I don't know if I would have done
it in the underneath the ca abnet kicks in the
kitchen because that's a lot of weight sitting down on
(05:03):
that vinyl floor. But anyway, look neither here nor there,
it's done. The trick is this, though, what I what
I like to have is for as clean an edge
against the room as possible when we're doing a floating
floor like LVP. At the same time, though, I want
it to be accessible, and that's the trouble with the
(05:24):
you know, having sat the cabinets on it. And the
reason I say that is I think this is my guess.
I think because you're not talking about the floor buckling,
you're not talking about anything. I think that one plank
was damaged when it got installed. And in other words,
the edges of LVP floors where they click lock into
each other, it's not a simple tongue and groove. U.
(05:47):
There is a there's it's kind of an elongated l
with a couple of ridges and bumps and most of
them and they have to be aligned up and then
they they are sat down and they twist in and
those those edges are pretty sensitive. In other words, the
what we're going to for the sake of the rest
of the conversation just called the tongue and groove locking
mechanism where one plank locks into another and it's not
(06:11):
hard to damage a piece of plank. My guess is
that the installers may have actually snapped off a little
section of the tongue and groove there so that you know,
in doing it inadvertently, or it got by them. And
what happens is we've got no interlock between those two pieces,
(06:34):
the plank that you've got that's raised up a little
bit and the one next to it, and as a result,
it's now the edge is just ever so slightly floating
up because it's not actually locked in in that section
to the plank's next to it.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Now, how do you fix that?
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Well, if you you know, if you don't want to,
how we would normally fix it is we would remove
the baseboard or the base shoe of the wall nearest
that plank, and we would unlock the floor and work
because they're not glued. We would unlock the floor and
work our way towards that plank until we got to it,
(07:10):
and we'd replace it and then just reinstall the floor
back down and we're done.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
It's not a quick fix, but that's the way we
would normally go about doing it. In this case, you
may be a bit locked in there, but you are
on a subfloor, but you got tile underneath you, so
you can't just like put a tiny finish screw down
to sort of secure it. That's what I think is
going on in the kitchen. Very very likely that we've
(07:37):
got one plank that might be missing a damaged tongue.
As for the rest the other two things that you're
concerned about, I'm up against a break, but we need
to answer that and we'll do it on the other side.
So Ricky, you hang tight and we'll figure out what's
going on with the baseboards and the squeaky floor. Right
after we take a quick break. You're listening to Home
(07:58):
with Dean Sharp the House Whist.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
That's what we do here on the program. Thanks for
joining us.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
It is a pleasure and an honor to be with
you on this beautiful, beautiful southern California autumn morning here
on the nineteenth of October twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Man, where is the year gone?
Speaker 1 (08:22):
In some ways, I'm kind of glad that it's overing
itself soon. Overing. It's overing. I just invented that word.
Write that down, Tina TM. Overing TM. That's when you're
in the process of getting over something. I'm overing this
right now. Okay, just back off. I need a little
time to over this.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
All right. We're taking calls at the moment.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Then we're gonna get back to our house Whisper Listener Interview,
our special interview for this time of year. We save
up your more more personal listener questions and unleash them
on you in just one show. We'll get back to
that in a bit, but I've got Rick on the line.
Ricky has some issues with their luxury vinyl plank flooring
that they've added to their home. I answered one question.
(09:08):
I don't think I answered it. I mean I think
I answered it well, but I probably did not give
you the news that you wanted to hear, Ricky. As
far as the kitchen plank, I have a feeling it's
just loose out there. One thing I didn't get to, though,
which is if we because you've sat the cabinets on
top of the luxury vinyl there, you cabinets are easy
(09:32):
are harder to remove than baseboards and that's why we
normally don't do that in a kitchen setting. We normally
just kind of live with the base shoe. Or instead
of actually setting the cabinets on the luxury vinyl plank floor,
we'll go ahead and set the cabinets on the floor
where they normally are, and then we'll add a thin
(09:53):
layer a full another kick plate down underneath that basically
acts like a baseboard in the other room, you know,
doing the job that the baseboard is doing in the
other room, but it's just a false kick, but it's
not the kick that the cabinet is setting on. And
the floor is still accessible because we could take off
that layer and get to the edge of the floor.
But nevertheless, assuming that I'm right and that that one
(10:17):
plank is damaged and that's why it's rising up because
it's not hooking into the plank next to it for
that eight or nine inches, Assuming that that's the case,
you could, and I'm not saying that this is gonna
solve it, but it's possible. If you can't undo the
floor and get to replace that plank, you could think
(10:37):
about doing an injection of glue of adhesive underneath through
a very thin injection port down through the vinyl. I'm
gonna revisit this as an answer to the other room too,
But you could inject some adhesive that that hopefully will
bond to the tile and will just hold that plank
(10:59):
down in place so that it's not rising up anymore.
I don't know that I would actually do that as
opposed to try to actually get to the plank to
replace it, but that's at least another option that I
know has been used sometimes successfully in the past.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Let's talk about the other room. The other room, you've.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Got baseboards now on top of your vinyl plank, and
you've got some gaps forming underneath the baseboard. That's actually
to be expected on some level. A lot of people
are very lightly apply the baseboards on top of the
LVP because they're afraid that it's gonna somehow if they
push down too hard against the floor, that it's going
(11:39):
to stop it from expanding and contracting, which it means
to do. It's not really the case. I mean, you
could obviously just crank it down to the point where
you've clamped it in, but I like a snug baseboard
against the floor because of that padding under the LVP.
It's bound to start compressing a little bit and falling
away from the bottom of the baseboard, in other words,
to creating gaps, especially where the floor is uneven. And
(12:02):
all floors are uneven at some point. So if you
find yourself with a gap underneath your baseboard, uh, there's
maybe three ways to go about it. The first way
would be this, and this is a little bit tricky,
but it actually works more often than you think, and
(12:22):
that is you get yourself a you know, a piece
of plywood, a nice heavy piece of plywood, maybe three
quarter inch plywood that's maybe a couple of feet wide,
and you know, maybe maybe a two by two piece
of plywood. And what we're gonna do is we're gonna
set the plywood up on top of the base top
of the baseboard, okay, at an angle, so it's on
(12:44):
the floor, and one end is on top of the baseboard,
the others down on the floor. And uh, you're gonna
be there with a brad nailer or you know, a
nail gun or a very fine finished screw gun, somebody
down on the floor ready to go. And this is
right next to where this where the gap is, and
(13:05):
somebody else your building partner there is going to very
carefully step on that board. And basically what we're doing
is we're putting weight. We're going to use that plywood
to put weight on the base board and if we
can shift it down. It only needs to be shifted down,
you know, a smidgeon, but enough weight on there. It
(13:25):
won't damage the wall. And if it's two feet of plywood,
it's not going to it's going to distribute that weight,
so it's not going to damage the top of the baseboard.
It's not going to dent it. Okay, we don't use
the thin little strip because that could leave a dent,
but a wide distribution. Somebody steps on it, force the
baseboard back down to the floor, and that's where somebody
hits it with a nail and locks it in place. Okay,
(13:49):
that is quite often the best fix. If that doesn't work,
then we're going to use calking underneath the baseboard to
the floor. But very important DAP extreme stretch calking, not
regular cacking. Calking that's designed to stretch because you'll put
that under the baseboard seal it to the floor, but
it won't stop the floor from expanding. And that, my
(14:11):
friend is uh that's the way to go. All right, Ricky,
thank you for your question, my friend. When we come back,
more of your calls, your Home with Dean Sharp, the
house Whisper.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI Am sixty.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Have so many things on my mind, so many things,
just like you know, I'm juggling cats here and Dina
walks into the studio and she's like, hey, what do
you think about bath matt with a rubber backing?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Like what? Give me some context? Girl? I love your
just deer in headlights? Like what is she talking about?
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Like?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
What do I think about? What? What are it for? Who?
I don't even know? We've got like twelve projects going on.
Oh for our bathroom? Yes, all right, well let me
think about it. Okay. I just don't know if I
like the rubber backing, because I, like he said, we're
not going to talk about our bath mat on the show.
(15:10):
Other people can.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
No, Okay, we have to take I gotta take calls, tasts,
all right, all right, I'm going back to the phones.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Oh you know what, though, Gosh, I have to do this.
I gotta do this real quick. Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
I can't let this hour go by without giving away
two more tickets to the uh House Whisper Ghost Tour
of the historic Kellogg House. This is going to happen
Monday night, October twenty seventh, down in Orange County at
the Heritage Museum of Orange County. We we have set
(15:49):
aside they have set aside for us an exclusive house
Whisper listener tour of the historic and haunted Kellogg House
allegedly hunted Callogg House. It is a beautiful, custom built,
one hundred and twenty seven year old, custom built Victorian home.
So if you want my architectural take on it, plus
(16:09):
we get to go through and have just tons of fun.
It's just fun. It's just fun night. And it's very limited,
very limited, very exclusive VIP because they can only take
so many on this one tour that night. Anyway, we're
giving away tickets. We're going to give away two right now,
So you give me a call at eight three three
two Ask Dean eight three three the numeral two ask
(16:32):
Dean call in for your two tickets or well one
in one, it doesn't matter. We're giving away two tickets
right now and our call screener Nikki. The very first
two tickets she can give away. She will do it,
and then I'm going to announce the winners later on
the show. Okay, that's happening. And now I'm going to
go to the phones, and i want to talk to Glenn. Hey, Glenn,
(16:53):
welcome home.
Speaker 5 (16:55):
Hi.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
I had an expensive time to build. I'd like to
know that, especially the cons of using less expensive materials
like vinyl cloupboard siding and the artificial composite slate roofing.
I've heard that the vinyl clupboard siding fades even in
the minor milder Santa Monica climates. I don't know if
(17:21):
it's repaintable, or how the artificial slate roofing would compare
to alternatives.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Okay, well, two subjects I don't know, very quickly give
you my opinion on each one. I do not like
vinyl sighting. I do not like it in a house.
I do not like it with a mouse. I just
know I am not a fan of vinyl sighting. Just sorry,
I'm not yellows at cracks, it gets brittle, it is
(17:50):
really really difficult to recolor, and it's just I'm not
the aluminum and vinyl siding guy.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
I'm just not.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Other people can tout their advantages all day long, but
I see very very few. So I am not going
to recommend that there are ways of doing sighting that
are less expensive and more fire efficient and fire hardening.
You know, if you're thinking of getting a siding look
(18:20):
on the outside of your house, then I would go
in the direction of something like a you know, if
you're painting it, definitely push you in the direction of
something like a James Hardy siding. Hardy Hardy siding, which
is a cementious fiber siding to put on and that's
one and done. Okay, I'm a big believer in the
(18:41):
one and done way. Now, I don't want you you know,
I'm not having people spend platinum level and diamond level
money on everything on their home. But if the outside
of your home is important to you and you're looking
to upgrade it and fix it and redo it, then
just do it once, do it right, feel the pain
once and the pleasure for the rest of your life
(19:03):
and so and wait a little longer. So yeah, not
a Vinyl sighting guy at all at all. As far
as the roofing is concerned. That is where you know,
there's actually some I'm in favor of a lot of
the vinyl composites that are up there, especially when we
are emulating traditional roofing materials. There are some fantastic simulated
(19:29):
slates out there, simulated shakes out there. I would I
would direct you toward, like, go look at Da Vinci
roofing products, like you know, like Leonardo that name Da
Vinci roof roofing products, to take a look at what
they have to offer you can. You know a lot
of people will tell me, well, you know, I've abandoned
the idea of putting shake up on my house, even
(19:51):
though I think that would be the best look, and
if the traditional home that's what it originally had. You know,
we got a lot of ranch houses in southern California
that used to have shake on them and cedar roofs
on them, which obviously you can't do anymore. And people
are like, well, you know, people who could actually afford
a little bit more to spend on the roof than
just asphalt composite shingles, they still look at me and
(20:12):
shrug their shoulders and say, well, you know, this is
all we got, And I'm like, that's not all we've got.
We can put shake up there if we want. It's
not going to be made out of cedar, but it's
going to look exactly like it, and no one's ever
going to know the difference. And they're shocked to find
out that there are fully fire rated, fire approved, full
dimensional shake and cedar esque shingles that you can put
(20:34):
up on your roof. So look at it in those terms, Glenn,
and do a do a little research again. Take a
look at Da Vinci and take a look at James
Hardy for sighting options at least as a starting point.
But please, yeah, I stay away. I don't even like
vinyl fencing, honestly, And I know that really gets people's
(20:57):
go because they're like, listen, it's lifetime and I never
have to do anything, and it's never gonna need repainting.
And I get it. I get it. It's also plastic,
and it does get brittle over time, and it does
start to fail over time, because, believe me, I get
called in as a part of larger projects to you know,
redo some of the stuff that's sagging and failing and
(21:19):
tweaking and not looking so great and yellowing and all
of that. And I know, I know it's never have
to paint fencing and siding. The designer in me just
has one thought about that, and that is the price
of beauty is maintenance. And so if it's really really
worth doing beautifully, then you know what, just assume that
(21:44):
every ten years you might have to slap a coat
of paint on the fence. And that's all we're talking about.
We're talking about every few years, not every year, not
that kind of stuff. So anyway, that's kind of where
I'm I'm just not I'm not even I'm not even
happy with PVC, you know, patio furniture. So I just
(22:06):
I just want to see less plastic in our homes.
And that's not an enviro thing. That's a tactile, touch, look,
experience kind of thing. That's the designer talking. So there
you go. Thank you for your question, my friend, very
very good question, one that everybody can relate to. I'm
sure more of your calls when we return your Home
(22:28):
with Dean Sharp the house Whisper.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Thanks for joining us on the program today. I'm here
to remind you every home deserves great design, including yours.
Especially yours. Why especially yours because you live in it,
my friend. That's why your home, that's why we want
to get it great design. And we do that every
week by answering calls, by the topics that I cover,
(22:57):
not just a handyman fix it stuff, but get you
under the skin of great design, design principles, things that
you can apply and really start making a difference, because,
like I always say, once you you know every home,
every home has a path forward, every home does. It's
(23:18):
about finding it, and when you see it, everything changes. Truly, truly,
I kid you not. Everything changes. Once the path is there,
you're like, oh my god, yes, yes we can do this,
And there you go.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
That's why we're here. We're going to go back to
the phones.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
This is our last caller segment, and then we're going
to return to our overarching topic today, which is a
little different than normal. We save up listener questions of
a more personal nature and we do them in one
show every year. So yeah, this is the I don't
mean to sound unexcited about it. I just I like
talking about your house and your stuff. But at the
same time, yeah, there's probably something to glean by asking
(23:58):
some questions about Tina and I and kind of where
it all comes from and how it all happens.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
So there you go.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
The House Whisper listener interview will continue, but first I
want to get back to the phone, So let's talk
to Patrick. Hey, Patrick, welcome home.
Speaker 5 (24:14):
I mean, oh, thanks, thanking my call. I have a
heater and I just kind of noticed, like on the
top the heater, it's like a two inch hole that's
rusted and it creates a hole. So I put a
foil pan to whatever stripping on the top of the
water heater and it's been about a year ago and
(24:36):
it's still working fine. So I want to get your opinion.
Is that safe to use or do I have to
replace the water heater? Oh?
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Okay, a water heater with a two inch hole of
rust on top. So here's my honest answer, Patrick, I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Here's the thing. The reason your water heater is still
working is because that outside shell that we all see,
that's not the tank, okay, the tank, the tank that
is actually the water heater tank itself is inside that shell.
And so if that way, if we're talking about corrosion
(25:19):
that's through the tank, then your water heater is done,
done and done and needs replacement. But that's the outer
shell now. Gases and heat and hot air form up
and around that layer, and there's insulation in that layer.
And so if something had been why did you get it?
Did something drip on it? Is that why it rusted
(25:41):
out up there?
Speaker 5 (25:42):
Yeah? I absolutely just kind of like cleaning and I
get a ladder and it happened to be on top
of the water heat, and I said, oh, what happened here?
So it does a pipe that run across on top
of it, So I'm just assuming that's water tripping down there.
So I put a foil pan on top of it
to prevent any further And I hadn't noticed anything.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah, so you know, And no, obviously the water heat
is still working. So it's really a question of heat
and any potential gas, you know, if the hole went
far enough in that we're now, you know, in the
area where the gas from the burner, from the exhaust
of that gas is potentially leaking out through that hole
(26:26):
as opposed to going up through the flu And that's
what I can't tell a sight unseen. It sounds, it sounds.
I don't want to say cosmetic. But it sounds pretty
superficial to me. But I don't want to be the
one telling you that, oh yeah, that's fine and then
you know your garage blows up later and you know
the call right, So what I would do? It sounds
(26:48):
like you were kind of addressed it. I would. I
would put some high heat foil tape on it. You
can pick that up at the hardware store. High heat
foil tape, just to cover the hole. Cover it solid.
That would be step one and step two as I
would call a plumber and just have them come out.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Call a water heat you could call.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Yeah, I would call, you know, just because they're such
a great company in SoCal. I would call water heaters
only and have them come out and take a look
at that water heater. They are such an honest water
heater replacement company. I mean, and I'm telling you they're
just I've had them. I've called them out for friends
and relatives and had them actually say you know what, no,
(27:29):
you're you're okay with this when you just need to
do this and that. So I would call somebody that
I trust, like water heaters only, have them come out.
But you need somebody, you need a pro to take
a look at it and give you an honest assessment
of like, yeah, it's just a superficial thing. Keep the
tape on it. You're gonna be fine, or no, you
should probably seriously think about changing it out. I just
(27:49):
can't sight unseen. I can't make that call on.
Speaker 5 (27:52):
The phone, gotcha, all right, appreciate opinions.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
All right, my friend, stay safe and uh, you know,
I appreciate you're You're very conscientious about what you're doing.
It's a good move. Definitely keep the whole taped up
with high heat foil tape so that you know, you
minimize the risk of anything happening, and then get it
looked at. Okay, all right, I'm gonna announce the winners.
I don't have time to take another call, but I
(28:18):
have time to applaud our winners here of so far,
and we're we've still got two tickets to give away.
I'm not doing it yet. We're gonna give away two
more tickets to the House Whisper Ghost Tour in the
third hour of the show. But thus far, what have
we got. We've got Leona luc Luka Witch Lucas Lucasa
(28:44):
Witch Man. This is a Toughie, Lukasa Witch, Lukasovich. All right,
Leona and Steven Richards, congratulations, looking forward to seeing you guys.
Colleen Metzger and Catherine Montoya. Looking forward to seeing you
guys as well on Monday night, the twenty seventh, when
we do the House Whisper Haunted Ghost Tour of the
(29:07):
historic Kellogg House. I got two more tickets. I'll be
given away in the third hour. Go nowhere, We'll be back.
You are listening to Home with Dean Sharp, The House Whisper.
This has been Home with Dean Sharp, The House Whisper.
Tune into the live broadcast on KFI Am six forty
every Saturday morning from six to eight Pacific time and
every Sunday morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or
(29:30):
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app