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 today on
the show. If you're just joining us, welcome. Also, you've
missed the first third of the show. Where have you been?
I mean, come on anyway, No, welcome. I'm glad you're here.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It is always a privilege and a pleasure to spend
time with you talking about this all important thing that
we call home every single week. Today we're talking about
these very very important introductory spaces. It's part of a
design show for today. Very very important design oft neglected
because they're not the big destinations. They're not oh, the
(00:42):
family room, the kitchen, you know, they aren't destinations. They
are pathways along the journey. But what I'm trying to do, hopefully,
what I'm doing, is encouraging you about how important those
introductions are, how they set up the payoff of the
destinations that they're leading to, and well, we got to
give them attention and we've got to give them the
(01:04):
the design do that they are due. We're going to
return to that conversation in a bit, but right now
we're in mid show, and you know what that means
it means we're going to the phones, which also means
you set the agenda for what's about to happen. Anything
you want to talk about regarding your home construction. DIY
the number to reach me eight three three two. Ask
(01:25):
Dean A three three the numeral two. Ask Dean A
three three two ask Dean. It's just that simple. The
phone lines are open now, and I want to go
to the phones and talk to Carol. Hey, Carol, welcome home.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Hi.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
I have a small bathroom. I just had a completely redone.
I love it except for and I have a shower
curtain as well. So the only problem is I got
a seven inch shower head with handheld. It's mounted on
the wall, and the little holes get clogged and eve
in the water to spray every and I think maybe
(02:01):
I got something that's too big for my shower for
that small bathroom, and I just need your advice on that.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Okay, all right, so all right, I want to clarify
something you said though, when you say maybe you got
something too big for your bathroom, you said the holes
get clogged and it sprays everywhere. By that, I'm assuming
you tell me if I'm wrong. I'm assuming that now
when you turn on that big sunflower or rain head,
(02:28):
that instead of the water coming straight out of those holes,
some of the holes, especially the ones on the edges,
are spraying like sideways, kind of like at an angle.
That it's just sort of it's it's sort of willy
nilly all over the place. And that's what's got you
frustrated and wondering about whether this is the right thing.
That's right, Okay, all right? I had a feeling is
(02:50):
there any chance that this rain head that you have
has actually rubberized nodules that the the you know, little
sprayers that the water is coming out of, or is
it just a metal face across with holes in it.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
It is all metal.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
It's all metal, okay, all right, Now, here's why I
set that up that way, just to inform everybody as
to what this is all about. You will often go
into an appliance or a bath fixture place and you'll
see rain heads where the actually mitters, the tiny little
(03:29):
spray emitters have a tiny little trianorconical shaped rubberized fitting there.
You know, maybe half the time they're rubberized. Sometimes they are.
On some of the more expensive ones, they look like
a separate piece. They could be metal, but they look
like a separate piece of material that's actually been turned
(03:50):
on with a wrench. It looked looks like it has
a little nut situation in the back, like you could
actually spin them off. That's true, you can spin those off.
But by and large, most of the rainheads on the
market are just a flat face of metal and the
water comes out. So here's the downside to rainhead showers.
(04:10):
I really love rainhead showers, by the way, I have
no issues with them whatsoever. But those are pretty small holes.
And if you have hard water, which I suspect you do,
let me wait, let me just do a psychic connection
with your home. You do not own a water softener?
Is that correct?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Correct?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Okay? And I'm not suggesting you get one either. But
the point is this, you've got hard water. Hard water
builds up mineral content on the back side of the
metal inside that rainhead area. And as those tiny little
minerals are being deposited, it's scale, right, it's calcium, it's magnesium,
(04:53):
and potassium deposits. It's the sticky, gooey kind of minerals
that actually make water taste really really good, and should
be in our water. But that's the stuff that gets
scaly build up around faucets and stuff that's happening on
the backside of that rain head and as and it's
happening especially right where the water passes through the hole.
(05:15):
And as a just like you like your garden hose,
you putting your thumb, starting to put it across the
garden hose, you turn that straight flow into kind of
a sideway spray. That's what's making the edges of those holes,
on the edges and anything else throughout the face starts
spraying kind of willy nilly to the side instead of
(05:35):
coming out straight through. Okay, it's scale that's building up
and starting to occlude the hole. So the question is
what can be done about it. Well, that's why the
higher end rainheads come with those little removable nodules so
you can literally unscrew them and service them clean them
out physically, or the rubberized ones, which means you can
(05:58):
go up and people don't even are even told this,
but the whole idea of the rubberized when you can
go up and put it between your thumb and your
forefinger and rub it a little bit and dislodge the
scale from that hole and lo and behold. Now all
of a sudden, it's shooting straight again. But what do
you do if you've got a standard issue, large, beautiful
(06:18):
rainhead that's just all like mine is, and my shower
that's just all metal, all the way across in the holes. Well,
here is the thing, my friend. I'm going to pop
you on hold for a second. We have everybody waiting
on the edge of their seats to figure out how
to straighten out their shower heads. Because because there are
thousands of people out there who are like, that's my problem, Carol,
Please Dean answer that question. We're gonna do that right
(06:42):
after the break, So Carol, you hang tight and when
we come back, we'll talk about why you don't have
to throw your rainhead shower away for something else. Your
Home with Dean Sharp the house Whisper.
Speaker 6 (06:55):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Here to help you take your home to the next level,
like we do every weekend here every week if you're
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mornings from six am to eight am Pacific time. I
know that's early for West Coasters, but it's not so
(07:21):
early for everybody in the East coast. So you know,
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(07:43):
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(08:04):
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(08:27):
up every week. Okay, we are talking about very interesting
points of design for your home today. These introductory spaces
are what I like to call transitional spaces as well,
the path up to your home, the entryway, the hallways,
the paths into the backyard. We're going to return to
that conversation in a bit, but it's mid show, which
(08:47):
means we're taking calls. And before the break, I was
talking to Carol, who has a rain shower head in
her shower that's getting clogged up with stuff, and she's
not thrilled the fact that it's spray in sideways and
it's making a mess. The water isn't going where she
wants it to go. We know she doesn't have a
water softener, because hard water is what causes this kind
(09:08):
of stuff, mineral build up on the backside on the
inside of that shower head. And so I haven't ruled
out the fact that Carol might just want to get
rid of this rain head altogether, if it's going to
be a hassle that she doesn't want to maintain. But
the good news is Carol that there is a way
out of this, and the way out is pretty simple.
(09:29):
And everybody's sitting with baited breath wanting to hear how
they can restore their shower heads. So here's the thing.
Your shower head should be spun onto, its little goose neck,
its little armature that's coming out of the wall or
the ceiling, spun on relatively easily. It shouldn't take big
wrenches or anything to spin it off. But if that's necessary,
(09:52):
you can carefully unscrew the shower head, drop it into
the kitchen sink or put it into a pan or
a bucket, and then take a mixture of fifty percent
water and fifty percent white vinegar and just submerge the
shower head walk away for two or three hours. White
vinegar is a gentle but effective acid. It's an ascetic acid.
(10:18):
It is gentle enough. And by the way, I don't
want anybody out there thinking, oh, well, but you know
they have that lime and scale removing stuff at the store.
I could just put that into a bucket. No, you
shouldn't do that because that stuff is nasty, stronger, and
it could damage the finish on your plumbing. So only
do this this particular recipe with white vinegar and water.
(10:41):
But drop it in there and soak it in there.
It's not going to damage the finish on the shower head.
But what it will do for three hours is num
num numb, and it's going to eat the backside of
those mineral deposits. And then when you rinse it out
and flesh it out and put it back up in
your shower lo and behold, all those little holes will
be empty and they will all be spring straight again.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Fantastic, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Okay, now here's the downside, Carol. The downside is, depending
on how hard your water is, you may be doing
this more often than you want to do it. But
just do it that way first and see because you're like,
you know what what Dean told me is absolutely right.
Oh and by the way, if you have a particular,
particularly cantankerous one, okay, then go to your sewing kit
(11:29):
and get a needle and just poke it. Just poke
it through. Okay. You're not going to damage what's on
the inside. You're just going to get the scale out
of the way. But the point is you clear those holes,
and you know, and if you have to do it
every six months or so, maybe you're like, Okay, that's
totally worth it. If you have to do it every
three weeks, then maybe change to a different kind of showerhead,
(11:49):
because what a hassle that is. Even though it works,
it's just a you know, it's a thing you got
to do. But that's how it works. That's how it
works with my shower head, every shower head, because you know,
oh science. So anyway, Carol, thanks for the question. Everybody.
This is why we take questions because they apply to
so many of us. And we'll go back to the
(12:10):
phones right after the break your Home with Dean Sharp
the house Whisper.
Speaker 6 (12:15):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Hey, if your home needs some personal house Whisper attention
that means ME and T standing staring at the problem
with you, you can book an in home design consult Just
go to house Whispered dot design for more information. All right,
we are going back to the phones. It's mid show. Yes,
I am talking about a design issue today. That's the
introductory space. So we're going to get back to that
(12:41):
in just a bit. But right now it's time to
go to the phones. I want to talk to Shelley. Hey, Shelley,
welcome home.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Yes Hi, I remodeled my house about a year year
and a half ago. And I put in large plank tiles.
They're about one foot by eight foot long feet long
on top of a raised foundation. And so now what's
happening in the high traffic areas because of the movement
(13:12):
of the raised foundation, the grout is eroding away. I
repaired one area once and it's happening again. And now
I'm noticing the erosion with the grout all over the
house in high traffic areas.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
And I was just.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Wondering if you had any solutions for that.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
So now when you say you remodeled the house, is
this something you did yourself or you had a contract
or do it for you.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
No, No, I had a professional do it, and they
did work for me before. I found them very reputable.
So I don't think it's a matter of poor workmanship.
I think it because of the raised foundation.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah, yeah, that's true. But I want to just let
you know that this is an area where, okay, raise
foundation homes and ceramic tile or porcelain tiles, they have
to be very very carefully mated together in order for
(14:21):
it to work and for it to work properly, and
so especially especially a large format porcelain tile like the
one that you're talking about you're talking about large format
porcelain planks. You know, eight feet long, that is a
large format plank by twelve inches wide. That's about as
(14:42):
large as a porcelain plank tile gets. And the problem
is that anytime that we want to set tile, we're
setting tile into cements. Tile is a rigid, unbending, brittle
kind of scenario, and a raised foundation floor is by
(15:05):
nature a more resilient, flexible, deflecting kind of floor. So
I'm not saying I'm not saying at all. I want
to make it really clear that the that in one sense,
the tiles were set wrong. Okay, I don't know exactly
how they set the tiles, whether it's just thin set
(15:25):
over back or board. Did they just lay back or
board down across the existing subfloor and then thin set
tile to it. Do you know, are you aware of
the process that they went to set these times?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
I'm not sure of the process. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I'm sorry, all right, no problem, But I am going
to tell you this that so that's a standard process,
and and and it's deceptive for a lot of people
because you know, people put tile in their raised foundation
bathrooms all the time, and they're like, well, that never
happened to us in there. But here's the thing. The
larger the floor area and the more or heavy the
(16:00):
traffic is the fact of the matter is that the
floor wants to deflect underneath it. The subfloor wants to deflect.
It bends, it gives, it moves, and up on top
the tile, the thin set it doesn't. And so naturally speaking,
what happens is that deflection causes it to start breaking
(16:20):
apart and losing its mortar bed connection, and the tiles
come loose, or they crack, or the grout starts cracking
out and so on. When we set tile on a
large area of rais foundation floor, we don't just accept
the raised foundation as it is. And I hate to
(16:41):
say this, but I'm just going to say it. Any
builder who is experienced at setting tile in any kind
of situation, they know they should know that long before
we get around to setting the tile, that we have
got to check that floor. We've got to check the
floor for how much it deflects, how much it gives
(17:04):
when we walk across it. We have to check it
for how well it's supported underneath. And I'm not just
talking about the structural technicalities of how well it's supported underneath.
There have been some floors that technically structurally are perfectly
fined underneath. In fact, most are that we have gone
ahead and added stiffeners to from the underneath, additional posts
(17:25):
and stiffeners to just to make sure that floor doesn't deflect.
There are floors that we've removed the existing three quarter
inch plywood, and sometimes in an older home, we don't
even have plywood. We've got forty five diagonals, you know,
slats running across it, because it's never had anything other
than its original hardwood on it from a century ago.
(17:48):
And what we'll do is we'll remove the three quarter
inch plywood and put eighth one in an in and
an eighth inch structural plywood that thick thick plywood down
screwed and glued down it. In other words, without getting
into the weeds on it. We do everything possible, everything possible.
(18:09):
Before we even get down on our hands and knees
and start thinking about doing tile work, we do everything
possible to stabilize that sub floor because the movement of
the subfloor will ruin the tile job, no matter how
glorious and how perfect the tile job is the movement
of the subfloor has to be controlled. And then in
(18:31):
addition to that, we'll use flexible grouts flexible thin sets.
These are thin sets and grouts that are designed to
be used with subfloor situations where there is the possibility
a little bit of movement, we will do and we
may even use a vapor barrier to actually create us
(18:52):
what we call a slip joint and break the contact
between the movement of the subfloor and the above mortar.
Sometimes our tile guys will recommend that we put on
two layers of back or board, or actually just do
a concrete bed of concrete thicker than normal. We go
to extreme measures to make sure that when we tile
(19:15):
a subfloor area, we are dealing with the movement and
that I'm afraid, Shelley, is what should have been done
before this tile was put into place. Now, possibly you're
saving grace. May be the fact that these are strong
enough tiles that maybe they can be popped and removed
(19:35):
and reset once this is redone. But I'm afraid I
don't have really good news for the situation other than
even at this stage, if there are areas where it
hasn't started to happen. Yet you might be able to
address it by stiffening the floor from underneath in the
crawl space without having to redo those portions of the
(19:58):
tile work. But the stuff that's popped, it definitely has
to be addressed. And that's why you're seeing it in
the high traffic areas and not in the other areas.
If you start moving too much through the other areas,
is going to happen there too.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
M Yeah, understood. Yeah. I did try to reinforce one
area down the hallway from underneath, but it still is happening.
So I have a failing. I might have a redo.
Here is what it's like to me.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
I'm I'm. I tried to avoid using those words because
I don't want to do it just blindly over the
phone with you. But my suspicion is that I think
you need to reach out and say listen. Not enough
time was taken with this subfloor. It is failing. This
has to be redone. And I'm really really sorry to
be the one to have to tell you that, Shelley,
(20:48):
I've got to go. I'm up against a break. I
thank you so much for your call. My heart goes
out to you. I'm so very sorry. Hopefully this contractor
has the kind of integrity that they'll be able to
see step up. They're not gonna love it, but they'll
be able to step up and say, Okay, yeah, I
see where we should have done more. Let's get it
right this time, because it doesn't have to be that way.
(21:08):
You can absolutely tile a subfloor a raise foundation, but
you have to make sure that that thing is not
moving anymore. And that's not the kind of stuff you
have to do with hardwood. You can let the hardwood
creak and bend all day long because it bends with it,
all right, everybody, Oh that's a hard one. That breaks
my heart more when we come back. You're listening to
(21:31):
Home with Dean Sharp the House Whisper.
Speaker 6 (21:34):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Good morning to you, Good Sunday morning to you. For
those of you are here with me on the live broadcast.
It is a it's a warm, but sunny and lovely
Southern California weekend. I think we're pretty much done with
that nasty humidity felt like Florida last week here. Yeah,
we didn't need that, not to not to diss you
(22:02):
guys in Florida. But you know we're over here for
a reason. We don't mind the heat, but we don't
like that humidity creeping up past the fifties, right, fifty
percent relative humidity, that's just fine. Not seventy plus new No,
you're like seventy plus man, that's that's a beautiful day
here in Florida. Yes, I know. Anyway, So glad that
(22:26):
you're on the program with us today. We're talking and
we're going to return to this conversation about these introductory
spaces and how important they are. But the middle of
the show and I still have time to take before
our top of the hour break, you know, another call
or so, so let's talk to Steve. Hey, Steve, welcome home.
Speaker 5 (22:48):
I Dean. I live in an older ranch style home
that we have just had the attic reinsulated, and we
have had a paradoxical. It's getting hotter instead of instead
of maintaining a cooler temperature. And I met a loss
to understand why.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Okay, so is this something? How long ago did you reinsulate.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
The adding It's been about two months and two months
we have a whole house fan that we have relied
on heavily. Where we live, it can get pretty warm,
but the evenings consistently cool off nicely. And when it
cools off outside, we are in the habit of opening
(23:37):
actually most of our windows, and this whole house fan
is very powerful, powerful, and it will create a very
pleasant cool breeze throughout the house. And before we had
the attic insulated, we would just shut it off. When
we went to bed, the house would be about seventy
(23:58):
degrees and when we would break up in the morning,
the house would still be seventy degrees. The difference now
is that after the house is insulated, the house is cool.
When we go to bed, we shut all the doors
and windows, turn up the whole house fan, and that
air conditioning goes off constantly in the middle of the night,
and it is hot, and I don't know. I'm met
(24:22):
a loss to explain this.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Okay, I got youa you know, here's the comfort I'm
going to give you. I know it's strange. I know
it's bizarre, but but actually a lot of people experience this.
This is not, in any way, shape or form the
first time I've gotten a call like this before, and
or this question before. So I'm gonna I'm gonna explain
it as straightforwardly as I can so that so that
(24:50):
you understand what's really required here is just to shift
in the way that you manage the temperature in the house. Okay,
it was not a bad thing to insulate the house. Okay,
but understand, insulation does not instantly mean cooling. And this
is the thing a lot of misnomers out there. Insulation
(25:12):
does not equal cooling. Insulation is and we're just talking
about the technical science of it here. Insulation is a
separation of an energy state on the outside of a
thing from an energy state on the other side of
a thing. Okay, the inside, the outside, left side, rights
of whatever the case may be. Insulation. The better the insulation,
(25:34):
the more there is a separation and a containment of
those energy states. Okay, So insulating your house, putting more
attic insulation in so that it is better ceiling the
energy condition inside your house is in fact the best
way to go and the way to keep your house
(25:56):
cooler longer. But it also requires a different approach to
the cooling of your home than what you what most
people are typically used to when they had a leaky
house before Okay, because a leaky house you maintain cool
certain way, and now a well insulated or a better
insulated house you have to do it differently. So I
(26:18):
just want to remind everybody that you know, if you've
got like a cooler, like a water cooler or a
thermally insulated mug, you know that you drink out of
that thing will keep your cold drink colder longer. It'll
keep the ice in the cooler longer than just putting
it in a box. You can also put warm things
(26:40):
in there and keep them warmer longer than just putting
things in a box. And the same is true with
your home. Right. We could also put a hot drink
in a thermal mug and it keeps hot longer. So
the point is this, you still should be running your
whole house fan and let it open up the windows
and let it run all night long, okay, instead of
(27:02):
closing up the house when you go to bed, go
ahead and keep the windows open and let the house
cool more thoroughly. And the reason why that's important, Steve,
is that now that you're insulated, the house is going
to trap whatever energy state it actually has inside. And
if we haven't fully cooled the house. It's going to
(27:24):
hold on to what heat it's got. So what we
want to do is we want to run that whole
house fan, cool the house off through the night, maybe
even give it a burst of AC first thing in
the morning to charge the house up at temperature, and
then we seal it all up and we hold it
for as long as possible. I'll talk to you about
this a little bit more on the other side of
(27:45):
the break your 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
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 today on
the show. If you're just joining us, welcome. Also, you've
missed the first third of the show. Where have you been?
I mean, come on anyway, No, welcome. I'm glad you're here.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It is always a privilege and a pleasure to spend
time with you talking about this all important thing that
we call home every single week. Today we're talking about
these very very important introductory spaces. It's part of a
design show for today. Very very important design oft neglected
because they're not the big destinations. They're not oh, the
(00:42):
family room, the kitchen, you know, they aren't destinations. They
are pathways along the journey. But what I'm trying to do, hopefully,
what I'm doing, is encouraging you about how important those
introductions are, how they set up the payoff of the
destinations that they're leading to, and well, we got to
give them attention and we've got to give them the
(01:04):
the design do that they are due. We're going to
return to that conversation in a bit, but right now
we're in mid show, and you know what that means
it means we're going to the phones, which also means
you set the agenda for what's about to happen. Anything
you want to talk about regarding your home construction. DIY
the number to reach me eight three three two. Ask
(01:25):
Dean A three three the numeral two. Ask Dean A
three three two ask Dean. It's just that simple. The
phone lines are open now, and I want to go
to the phones and talk to Carol. Hey, Carol, welcome home.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Hi.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
I have a small bathroom. I just had a completely redone.
I love it except for and I have a shower
curtain as well. So the only problem is I got
a seven inch shower head with handheld. It's mounted on
the wall, and the little holes get clogged and eve
in the water to spray every and I think maybe
(02:01):
I got something that's too big for my shower for
that small bathroom, and I just need your advice on that.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Okay, all right, so all right, I want to clarify
something you said though, when you say maybe you got
something too big for your bathroom, you said the holes
get clogged and it sprays everywhere. By that, I'm assuming
you tell me if I'm wrong. I'm assuming that now
when you turn on that big sunflower or rain head,
(02:28):
that instead of the water coming straight out of those holes,
some of the holes, especially the ones on the edges,
are spraying like sideways, kind of like at an angle.
That it's just sort of it's it's sort of willy
nilly all over the place. And that's what's got you
frustrated and wondering about whether this is the right thing.
That's right, Okay, all right? I had a feeling is
(02:50):
there any chance that this rain head that you have
has actually rubberized nodules that the the you know, little
sprayers that the water is coming out of, or is
it just a metal face across with holes in it.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
It is all metal.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
It's all metal, okay, all right, Now, here's why I
set that up that way, just to inform everybody as
to what this is all about. You will often go
into an appliance or a bath fixture place and you'll
see rain heads where the actually mitters, the tiny little
(03:29):
spray emitters have a tiny little trianorconical shaped rubberized fitting there.
You know, maybe half the time they're rubberized. Sometimes they are.
On some of the more expensive ones, they look like
a separate piece. They could be metal, but they look
like a separate piece of material that's actually been turned
(03:50):
on with a wrench. It looked looks like it has
a little nut situation in the back, like you could
actually spin them off. That's true, you can spin those off.
But by and large, most of the rainheads on the
market are just a flat face of metal and the
water comes out. So here's the downside to rainhead showers.
(04:10):
I really love rainhead showers, by the way, I have
no issues with them whatsoever. But those are pretty small holes.
And if you have hard water, which I suspect you do,
let me wait, let me just do a psychic connection
with your home. You do not own a water softener?
Is that correct?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Correct?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Okay? And I'm not suggesting you get one either. But
the point is this, you've got hard water. Hard water
builds up mineral content on the back side of the
metal inside that rainhead area. And as those tiny little
minerals are being deposited, it's scale, right, it's calcium, it's magnesium,
(04:53):
and potassium deposits. It's the sticky, gooey kind of minerals
that actually make water taste really really good, and should
be in our water. But that's the stuff that gets
scaly build up around faucets and stuff that's happening on
the backside of that rain head and as and it's
happening especially right where the water passes through the hole.
(05:15):
And as a just like you like your garden hose,
you putting your thumb, starting to put it across the
garden hose, you turn that straight flow into kind of
a sideway spray. That's what's making the edges of those holes,
on the edges and anything else throughout the face starts
spraying kind of willy nilly to the side instead of
(05:35):
coming out straight through. Okay, it's scale that's building up
and starting to occlude the hole. So the question is
what can be done about it. Well, that's why the
higher end rainheads come with those little removable nodules so
you can literally unscrew them and service them clean them
out physically, or the rubberized ones, which means you can
(05:58):
go up and people don't even are even told this,
but the whole idea of the rubberized when you can
go up and put it between your thumb and your
forefinger and rub it a little bit and dislodge the
scale from that hole and lo and behold. Now all
of a sudden, it's shooting straight again. But what do
you do if you've got a standard issue, large, beautiful
(06:18):
rainhead that's just all like mine is, and my shower
that's just all metal, all the way across in the holes. Well,
here is the thing, my friend. I'm going to pop
you on hold for a second. We have everybody waiting
on the edge of their seats to figure out how
to straighten out their shower heads. Because because there are
thousands of people out there who are like, that's my problem, Carol,
Please Dean answer that question. We're gonna do that right
(06:42):
after the break, So Carol, you hang tight and when
we come back, we'll talk about why you don't have
to throw your rainhead shower away for something else. Your
Home with Dean Sharp the house Whisper.
Speaker 6 (06:55):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Here to help you take your home to the next level,
like we do every weekend here every week if you're
a podcast listener. By the way, yeah, we do the
live broadcast of both of our shows every weekend Saturday
mornings from six am to eight am Pacific time. I
know that's early for West Coasters, but it's not so
(07:21):
early for everybody in the East coast. So you know,
we do an early show on Saturday mornings and then
the big show Sunday mornings nine am to noon Pacific time.
And of course, just minutes after we go off the
air with both of our live brothers, they become podcasts.
They are translated into our podcast form and they are
(07:43):
part of the Home with Dean Sharp, House Whisper podcast
which you can find of course on the free iHeartRadio
app of course, but also wherever you listen to your podcasts,
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever your favorite podcasts are found. Just
pop in Dean Sharp or Home with Dean or House
Whisper for any of those you'll find me. It'll pop
(08:04):
us up hundreds of episodes, all listed by topic. It
is a veritable home improvement reference library that you can
go to anytime, listen to any number of shows as
many times as you like. That's what it's there for.
So hit us up on the podcast subscribe while you're
there so that you get noticed that new shows are
(08:27):
up every week. Okay, we are talking about very interesting
points of design for your home today. These introductory spaces
are what I like to call transitional spaces as well,
the path up to your home, the entryway, the hallways,
the paths into the backyard. We're going to return to
that conversation in a bit, but it's mid show, which
(08:47):
means we're taking calls. And before the break, I was
talking to Carol, who has a rain shower head in
her shower that's getting clogged up with stuff, and she's
not thrilled the fact that it's spray in sideways and
it's making a mess. The water isn't going where she
wants it to go. We know she doesn't have a
water softener, because hard water is what causes this kind
(09:08):
of stuff, mineral build up on the backside on the
inside of that shower head. And so I haven't ruled
out the fact that Carol might just want to get
rid of this rain head altogether, if it's going to
be a hassle that she doesn't want to maintain. But
the good news is Carol that there is a way
out of this, and the way out is pretty simple.
(09:29):
And everybody's sitting with baited breath wanting to hear how
they can restore their shower heads. So here's the thing.
Your shower head should be spun onto, its little goose neck,
its little armature that's coming out of the wall or
the ceiling, spun on relatively easily. It shouldn't take big
wrenches or anything to spin it off. But if that's necessary,
(09:52):
you can carefully unscrew the shower head, drop it into
the kitchen sink or put it into a pan or
a bucket, and then take a mixture of fifty percent
water and fifty percent white vinegar and just submerge the
shower head walk away for two or three hours. White
vinegar is a gentle but effective acid. It's an ascetic acid.
(10:18):
It is gentle enough. And by the way, I don't
want anybody out there thinking, oh, well, but you know
they have that lime and scale removing stuff at the store.
I could just put that into a bucket. No, you
shouldn't do that because that stuff is nasty, stronger, and
it could damage the finish on your plumbing. So only
do this this particular recipe with white vinegar and water.
(10:41):
But drop it in there and soak it in there.
It's not going to damage the finish on the shower head.
But what it will do for three hours is num
num numb, and it's going to eat the backside of
those mineral deposits. And then when you rinse it out
and flesh it out and put it back up in
your shower lo and behold, all those little holes will
be empty and they will all be spring straight again.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Fantastic, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Okay, now here's the downside, Carol. The downside is, depending
on how hard your water is, you may be doing
this more often than you want to do it. But
just do it that way first and see because you're like,
you know what what Dean told me is absolutely right.
Oh and by the way, if you have a particular,
particularly cantankerous one, okay, then go to your sewing kit
(11:29):
and get a needle and just poke it. Just poke
it through. Okay. You're not going to damage what's on
the inside. You're just going to get the scale out
of the way. But the point is you clear those holes,
and you know, and if you have to do it
every six months or so, maybe you're like, Okay, that's
totally worth it. If you have to do it every
three weeks, then maybe change to a different kind of showerhead,
(11:49):
because what a hassle that is. Even though it works,
it's just a you know, it's a thing you got
to do. But that's how it works. That's how it
works with my shower head, every shower head, because you know,
oh science. So anyway, Carol, thanks for the question. Everybody.
This is why we take questions because they apply to
so many of us. And we'll go back to the
(12:10):
phones right after the break your Home with Dean Sharp
the house Whisper.
Speaker 6 (12:15):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Hey, if your home needs some personal house Whisper attention
that means ME and T standing staring at the problem
with you, you can book an in home design consult Just
go to house Whispered dot design for more information. All right,
we are going back to the phones. It's mid show. Yes,
I am talking about a design issue today. That's the
introductory space. So we're going to get back to that
(12:41):
in just a bit. But right now it's time to
go to the phones. I want to talk to Shelley. Hey, Shelley,
welcome home.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Yes Hi, I remodeled my house about a year year
and a half ago. And I put in large plank tiles.
They're about one foot by eight foot long feet long
on top of a raised foundation. And so now what's
happening in the high traffic areas because of the movement
(13:12):
of the raised foundation, the grout is eroding away. I
repaired one area once and it's happening again. And now
I'm noticing the erosion with the grout all over the
house in high traffic areas.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
And I was just.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Wondering if you had any solutions for that.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
So now when you say you remodeled the house, is
this something you did yourself or you had a contract
or do it for you.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
No, No, I had a professional do it, and they
did work for me before. I found them very reputable.
So I don't think it's a matter of poor workmanship.
I think it because of the raised foundation.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah, yeah, that's true. But I want to just let
you know that this is an area where, okay, raise
foundation homes and ceramic tile or porcelain tiles, they have
to be very very carefully mated together in order for
(14:21):
it to work and for it to work properly, and
so especially especially a large format porcelain tile like the
one that you're talking about you're talking about large format
porcelain planks. You know, eight feet long, that is a
large format plank by twelve inches wide. That's about as
(14:42):
large as a porcelain plank tile gets. And the problem
is that anytime that we want to set tile, we're
setting tile into cements. Tile is a rigid, unbending, brittle
kind of scenario, and a raised foundation floor is by
(15:05):
nature a more resilient, flexible, deflecting kind of floor. So
I'm not saying I'm not saying at all. I want
to make it really clear that the that in one sense,
the tiles were set wrong. Okay, I don't know exactly
how they set the tiles, whether it's just thin set
(15:25):
over back or board. Did they just lay back or
board down across the existing subfloor and then thin set
tile to it. Do you know, are you aware of
the process that they went to set these times?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
I'm not sure of the process. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I'm sorry, all right, no problem, But I am going
to tell you this that so that's a standard process,
and and and it's deceptive for a lot of people
because you know, people put tile in their raised foundation
bathrooms all the time, and they're like, well, that never
happened to us in there. But here's the thing. The
larger the floor area and the more or heavy the
(16:00):
traffic is the fact of the matter is that the
floor wants to deflect underneath it. The subfloor wants to deflect.
It bends, it gives, it moves, and up on top
the tile, the thin set it doesn't. And so naturally speaking,
what happens is that deflection causes it to start breaking
(16:20):
apart and losing its mortar bed connection, and the tiles
come loose, or they crack, or the grout starts cracking
out and so on. When we set tile on a
large area of rais foundation floor, we don't just accept
the raised foundation as it is. And I hate to
(16:41):
say this, but I'm just going to say it. Any
builder who is experienced at setting tile in any kind
of situation, they know they should know that long before
we get around to setting the tile, that we have
got to check that floor. We've got to check the
floor for how much it deflects, how much it gives
(17:04):
when we walk across it. We have to check it
for how well it's supported underneath. And I'm not just
talking about the structural technicalities of how well it's supported underneath.
There have been some floors that technically structurally are perfectly
fined underneath. In fact, most are that we have gone
ahead and added stiffeners to from the underneath, additional posts
(17:25):
and stiffeners to just to make sure that floor doesn't deflect.
There are floors that we've removed the existing three quarter
inch plywood, and sometimes in an older home, we don't
even have plywood. We've got forty five diagonals, you know,
slats running across it, because it's never had anything other
than its original hardwood on it from a century ago.
(17:48):
And what we'll do is we'll remove the three quarter
inch plywood and put eighth one in an in and
an eighth inch structural plywood that thick thick plywood down
screwed and glued down it. In other words, without getting
into the weeds on it. We do everything possible, everything possible.
(18:09):
Before we even get down on our hands and knees
and start thinking about doing tile work, we do everything
possible to stabilize that sub floor because the movement of
the subfloor will ruin the tile job, no matter how
glorious and how perfect the tile job is the movement
of the subfloor has to be controlled. And then in
(18:31):
addition to that, we'll use flexible grouts flexible thin sets.
These are thin sets and grouts that are designed to
be used with subfloor situations where there is the possibility
a little bit of movement, we will do and we
may even use a vapor barrier to actually create us
(18:52):
what we call a slip joint and break the contact
between the movement of the subfloor and the above mortar.
Sometimes our tile guys will recommend that we put on
two layers of back or board, or actually just do
a concrete bed of concrete thicker than normal. We go
to extreme measures to make sure that when we tile
(19:15):
a subfloor area, we are dealing with the movement and
that I'm afraid, Shelley, is what should have been done
before this tile was put into place. Now, possibly you're
saving grace. May be the fact that these are strong
enough tiles that maybe they can be popped and removed
(19:35):
and reset once this is redone. But I'm afraid I
don't have really good news for the situation other than
even at this stage, if there are areas where it
hasn't started to happen. Yet you might be able to
address it by stiffening the floor from underneath in the
crawl space without having to redo those portions of the
(19:58):
tile work. But the stuff that's popped, it definitely has
to be addressed. And that's why you're seeing it in
the high traffic areas and not in the other areas.
If you start moving too much through the other areas,
is going to happen there too.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
M Yeah, understood. Yeah. I did try to reinforce one
area down the hallway from underneath, but it still is happening.
So I have a failing. I might have a redo.
Here is what it's like to me.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
I'm I'm. I tried to avoid using those words because
I don't want to do it just blindly over the
phone with you. But my suspicion is that I think
you need to reach out and say listen. Not enough
time was taken with this subfloor. It is failing. This
has to be redone. And I'm really really sorry to
be the one to have to tell you that, Shelley,
(20:48):
I've got to go. I'm up against a break. I
thank you so much for your call. My heart goes
out to you. I'm so very sorry. Hopefully this contractor
has the kind of integrity that they'll be able to
see step up. They're not gonna love it, but they'll
be able to step up and say, Okay, yeah, I
see where we should have done more. Let's get it
right this time, because it doesn't have to be that way.
(21:08):
You can absolutely tile a subfloor a raise foundation, but
you have to make sure that that thing is not
moving anymore. And that's not the kind of stuff you
have to do with hardwood. You can let the hardwood
creak and bend all day long because it bends with it,
all right, everybody, Oh that's a hard one. That breaks
my heart more when we come back. You're listening to
(21:31):
Home with Dean Sharp the House Whisper.
Speaker 6 (21:34):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Good morning to you, Good Sunday morning to you. For
those of you are here with me on the live broadcast.
It is a it's a warm, but sunny and lovely
Southern California weekend. I think we're pretty much done with
that nasty humidity felt like Florida last week here. Yeah,
we didn't need that, not to not to diss you
(22:02):
guys in Florida. But you know we're over here for
a reason. We don't mind the heat, but we don't
like that humidity creeping up past the fifties, right, fifty
percent relative humidity, that's just fine. Not seventy plus new No,
you're like seventy plus man, that's that's a beautiful day
here in Florida. Yes, I know. Anyway, So glad that
(22:26):
you're on the program with us today. We're talking and
we're going to return to this conversation about these introductory
spaces and how important they are. But the middle of
the show and I still have time to take before
our top of the hour break, you know, another call
or so, so let's talk to Steve. Hey, Steve, welcome home.
Speaker 5 (22:48):
I Dean. I live in an older ranch style home
that we have just had the attic reinsulated, and we
have had a paradoxical. It's getting hotter instead of instead
of maintaining a cooler temperature. And I met a loss
to understand why.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Okay, so is this something? How long ago did you reinsulate.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
The adding It's been about two months and two months
we have a whole house fan that we have relied
on heavily. Where we live, it can get pretty warm,
but the evenings consistently cool off nicely. And when it
cools off outside, we are in the habit of opening
(23:37):
actually most of our windows, and this whole house fan
is very powerful, powerful, and it will create a very
pleasant cool breeze throughout the house. And before we had
the attic insulated, we would just shut it off. When
we went to bed, the house would be about seventy
(23:58):
degrees and when we would break up in the morning,
the house would still be seventy degrees. The difference now
is that after the house is insulated, the house is cool.
When we go to bed, we shut all the doors
and windows, turn up the whole house fan, and that
air conditioning goes off constantly in the middle of the night,
and it is hot, and I don't know. I'm met
(24:22):
a loss to explain this.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Okay, I got youa you know, here's the comfort I'm
going to give you. I know it's strange. I know
it's bizarre, but but actually a lot of people experience this.
This is not, in any way, shape or form the
first time I've gotten a call like this before, and
or this question before. So I'm gonna I'm gonna explain
it as straightforwardly as I can so that so that
(24:50):
you understand what's really required here is just to shift
in the way that you manage the temperature in the house. Okay,
it was not a bad thing to insulate the house. Okay,
but understand, insulation does not instantly mean cooling. And this
is the thing a lot of misnomers out there. Insulation
(25:12):
does not equal cooling. Insulation is and we're just talking
about the technical science of it here. Insulation is a
separation of an energy state on the outside of a
thing from an energy state on the other side of
a thing. Okay, the inside, the outside, left side, rights
of whatever the case may be. Insulation. The better the insulation,
(25:34):
the more there is a separation and a containment of
those energy states. Okay, So insulating your house, putting more
attic insulation in so that it is better ceiling the
energy condition inside your house is in fact the best
way to go and the way to keep your house
(25:56):
cooler longer. But it also requires a different approach to
the cooling of your home than what you what most
people are typically used to when they had a leaky
house before Okay, because a leaky house you maintain cool
certain way, and now a well insulated or a better
insulated house you have to do it differently. So I
(26:18):
just want to remind everybody that you know, if you've
got like a cooler, like a water cooler or a
thermally insulated mug, you know that you drink out of
that thing will keep your cold drink colder longer. It'll
keep the ice in the cooler longer than just putting
it in a box. You can also put warm things
(26:40):
in there and keep them warmer longer than just putting
things in a box. And the same is true with
your home. Right. We could also put a hot drink
in a thermal mug and it keeps hot longer. So
the point is this, you still should be running your
whole house fan and let it open up the windows
and let it run all night long, okay, instead of
(27:02):
closing up the house when you go to bed, go
ahead and keep the windows open and let the house
cool more thoroughly. And the reason why that's important, Steve,
is that now that you're insulated, the house is going
to trap whatever energy state it actually has inside. And
if we haven't fully cooled the house. It's going to
(27:24):
hold on to what heat it's got. So what we
want to do is we want to run that whole
house fan, cool the house off through the night, maybe
even give it a burst of AC first thing in
the morning to charge the house up at temperature, and
then we seal it all up and we hold it
for as long as possible. I'll talk to you about
this a little bit more on the other side of
(27:45):
the break your 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
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
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