November 22, 2025 • 29 mins
Dean and Tina do love themselves a Christmas parade. And Rick Caruso’s party is a real doozy, even if the twosome is merely part of the festive atmosphere!
Today’s first caller has an electrical panel that's nearly 50 years old. Is it time to replace it?
Following water damage to the drywall and carpet of her home, the next caller is having an issue with mold remediation. Should she trust the company that wants to charge her $8000 for treating two rooms? Dean says something must be done, because living with potentially toxic mold spores in your space is potentially life-threatening.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp, the
House Whisperer on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Good morning,
my friend, and welcome home. I am Dean Sharp, the
House Whisperer. You knew that custom home builder, custom home designer,
and every week your guide to better understanding that place
(00:23):
where you live, whether you're home for you is a
castle or a cottage, it matters not, you know why,
because luxury does not a great homemake. It is design
that matters most. And I invite you to think of
it this way. New parts, you know, repairing things. That's
home repair, new paint, that's home maintenance. New design. That that,
(00:47):
my friend, is home improvement. Indeed, good design makes all
the difference. Every house deserves it, every house should enjoy it.
Because once good design is at work in your home,
that is when you're home, has a path forward toward
becoming a great home. Absolutely true, and that's why we're
(01:07):
here with you every weekend to help you find those
paths forward and also make repairs and do maintenance the
right way and all of the above, and of course
all Saturdays, every Saturday morning is an all call Saturday
morning where you get to set the agenda. You tell me,
You tell me what the show is about today. Whatever
(01:29):
has you scratching your head about your home design of course, construction,
diy inside stuff, outside stuff, decor whatever it is I
got you. We'll put our heads together. We will get
it figured out. I promise. The number two reach me,
and the phone lines are open right now. We will
go to them as soon as the calls start rolling in.
(01:49):
Hopefully I get to talk to you this morning about
your home. The number to reach me eight three three two.
Ask Dean A three three the numeral two ask Dean
eight three three to ask Dean. It's just that simple,
and uh, Nicky has got the phone lines open, so
we will just wait. We'll just wait. I'll just sit here.
(02:10):
No I won't, No, I won't. I'm not gonna sit here.
I am going to tell you. Oh nope, she's not
here yet, coming soon to across the table near me.
My design and partner will talk to her in a second. Instead,
let's jump ahead and say good morning to Sam. Good morning, Sam.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Good morning Dean. How's it going today. It's going well,
it's going well.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It's gonna be one of those Uh, it's gonna be
one of those weekends that I so look forward to
the weekend after a storm where you know, the air
is extra crisp, the you know, everything is clean. Ah,
it's just you know, we've had we've had over a
week of rain now and this weekend just should should
be glorious.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, we officially hit sweater we weather. I feel fantastic
wearing my hoodie right now. This is a nice and
cozy bundled up in the studio. This is I really
do love this time of year. And we're leading right
into Thanksgiving, so this is great.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Absolutely. We were at the for our town, the Westlake
tree lighting last night at the promenade over on Westlake
Boulevard and to which is a whole thing. It's an
interesting it's always it's an interesting thing. We have a
tradition of getting together with friends and getting over there
and we have some dinner over there at one of
(03:27):
the restaurants at Marmalade Cafe Marmalade. We have dinner, we
all hang out and then we walk around the shops
a little bit and then we get over to where
the performance area is. And it's always a little it's
always a little interesting it's fun. The performers are you know,
they're pretty good. There was a great a cappella group
(03:48):
last night roaming around that was fantastic. And the stage performers,
you know, they start a little on the is this
somebody's niece situation all the way to up to like,
oh hey, that was surprisingly good. Somebody got up. I
couldn't I couldn't hear her name. Somebody got up. An
actress got up on stage near the end and did
(04:12):
let it go from Frozen, And I'm thinking, uh, oh, oh, no,
here's here's somebody. Here's somebody overshooting. They're punching above their weight. No,
you know what she did fantastic. She got everybody up
and rolling. And then they blow fake snow out there,
and then Santa comes out and he pulls the lever
lights the tree, fireworks go off. But the fun is
(04:33):
we're just outside and we're all bundled up, and it
was a great time and it just kind of sets
the mood for you. Oh, speaking of setting the mood,
guess who's sitting across the table from me. Now, guess
who slid into the studio. No, it's not a giant element,
it's my tiny wife, my design partner, my better half,
(04:53):
my best buddy in all the world. Tina is here.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Welcome home. How you do good?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
You got up a little early, earlier than usual this morning.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I just felt ready to go.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I'm impressed.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Thanks. I got a lot done too, did you? I did?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
What'd you get done?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Laundry?
Speaker 4 (05:11):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
I mean oh you got the laundry folded, folded and
hung the stuff that was on the table, yes, and
what was.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
In the dryer? Wow?
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Wow, look at you. I'm read at you, Susie Homemaker.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
I just got so excited after the Santa and the
Christmas tree fireworks, those fireworks.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You know, that show has evolved. I remember when that
promenade opened. I grew up in that area and they
didn't have fireworks when when they first.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
It is totally evolved, evolved. Okay. You know what was
freaky scary is that last night the thirtieth anniversary of
that shopping center being open, and Tina and I were
like what because I think we still think of it
as like the new one in town. Yeah, it's the
new one, new ish. I mean when don't call it
the new one, but you know, yeah, thirty years it
(06:02):
came up in my lifetime.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I remember I went to school just up the block
from there, so that that California Pizza Kitchen was where
everybody went for lunch.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Uh, it's good to hear how much that entire area
has evolved and grown. And now the Christmas show there
is massive.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yeah, and I gotta say, I gotta say, I got
to poke some fun. It's always good to poke fun
at millionaires or billionaires or something. But you know, it's
a it's a it's a Rick Caruso property, right, Rick
Cruso who owns like every mall in southern California. Uh,
it's a Rick Crusoe property. And always they've got all
these seats all set up for the stage, but it's
(06:42):
always gated and enclosed. And we've asked the question multiple years.
My friend Nina said, you know what. Last year she said,
you know what, I'm gonna find out if if we
can get seating in the in the seating area and
not just stand in the back like the peasants do.
And so she he's been searching it out and she realized, Nope,
(07:03):
you can't. You can't buy advanced seating. You can't. There's
no way, there's no way to get into that exclusive
zone that's all set up and reserved for Caruso employees
and friends and family members. I mean, it is a
total total have have not situation. We're sitting in the
back or standing in.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
The bank in the back. But we do get snowed on.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
We do get snowed on. I'm not sure that's a thing.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
I think what it is is it's their Christmas party
and we're all crashing. I think so that's what it
feels like, because it really is that they have a
dinner beforehand, you.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Know what, You're right, you could think of it that way.
But it's out in public and we've been invited to add.
So we're like atmosphere for the Caruso Christmas Party.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
See peasants come, come, peasants, come come and watch us.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
We will give you nog. All right, All right, enough
of that, let's get on with the show. Shall We've
got some calls up on the board. We need some
more need you, I need you to call a three
three two ask dean eight three three the numeral to
ask dean. We will go to the phones right after this.
(08:12):
There's more stuff on the way your home with Dean Sharp,
the house whisper. Dean Sharp, the house whisper here to
help you take your home to the next level. Hey,
good Saturday morning to you. The weather has been blustery,
It's gonna be crisp and clean, a little breezy today.
M We're getting a good start, getting a good start
(08:34):
on the holidays. By the way, Tomorrow is our big
live audience holiday show right here at iHeart Studios LA
up on the fifth floor. We're gonna be lounging about
in the leather bound, helpful Honda Lounge with several of
our friends, hopefully you and you know who you are,
(08:57):
and it's gonna be a great show. Aldacone is sponsoring
that show. They're going to be decorating one of their
gorgeous trees right in front of us. During the show,
we'll be talking to them about that, talking about home
to coort around the holidays. A little special guest on
the way as well, and we're going to have a
good old time. That'll be tomorrow's show. Don't miss it.
If you can't come, If you're not on the list,
(09:19):
didn't win a seat to the show, you hang tight
with me because it's going to be a good show,
just talking about decorating for the holidays. And afterwards we're
going down to Aldacombe going to be there from one
to two. You can always drop in and say hi
there as well. All right, it is an All Calls
Saturday morning. I want to go to the phones and
(09:40):
let's talk to Kathy. Hey, Kathy, welcome home.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
Oh thank you Dean, I thank you for your program. Okay,
we have an electrical panel that's about forty eight years old.
It's not the original, but I just just wondering is
it time to reap place this? And also we are
thinking of putting the e MP add on, you know,
(10:07):
so when something happens like the e MP, that all
your electrical stuff doesn't fry and things. That's my question.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Okay, Well, when it comes to an electrical panel, here's
the thing. There's there's maybe two or three reasons why
you want to replace an electrical panel, and most of
the time we don't actually just replace them. We will
add a new one next to it, unless you know,
let's a full a full on swap out. But the
(10:39):
reasons are as follows. One it's been damaged, it's rusting out,
or it's been damaged, of course, and that's a good
reason to replace an electrical panel. They're not that expensive.
By the way, the labor of replacing them is far
more expensive than the panel, just because of all the
wires that have to be transferred. But so if it's damaged,
(11:01):
that's one thing. If for some reason, the electrical panel,
and at forty plus years this probably isn't true, but
if for some reason it has aged out and you
can't find replacement breakers anymore for it, and that does
happen at some point for most panels that you're like, oh,
you know, I keep going to the supply store, the
(11:22):
hardware store, and they just don't make breakers for my
panel anymore. Well, that's a good reason to change it out,
because when breakers go bad, you got to be able
to replace them. Now, breakers don't go bad very often,
but they do, and so that's a reason. The third
and most common reason for replacing an electrical panel is
not because it needs to be replaced, but because you
(11:43):
want to upgrade your service from you know, forty years ago,
the typical home had a one hundred amp panel. Today
typical homes have a two hundred amp panel, so that
there is more space for you know, power draw for
very other things in the home, things like charging cars
(12:03):
and stuff like that. So even though we're using less
electricity in our lights, we want more electricity available to us,
especially like here on the West Coast in the electrification
of homes, meaning we're using less and less gas appliance
as things like that more electrical appliance. So there are
(12:23):
reasons why we would want to upgrade a panel and
increase its load size. So those are the three reasons why.
And if one of those reasons is you know what
you're looking at, then yeah, that would be a legitimate
concern or a legitimate way to swap it out. But
just because a panel is fifty years old doesn't mean
(12:46):
that it's in need of being replaced if it's getting
the job done. Because as you know, I've said this before,
electrical is one of those systems in the house that
is incredibly durable. Durable meaning that if you leave it
alone and you haven't disturbed and messed with the wiring
(13:09):
and all of that kind of thing, it just sits
there and it does its job. And I can tell
you know, we we will do restorations one hundred year
old houses century homes and find that there are areas where,
you know, the old cloth sheathed electrical wires are doing
just fine if the insulation isn't cracked and broken, if
(13:31):
the sheathing isn't disturbed on the outside. The fact is
there's still two copper conductors in that wire, you know,
in that bundle, and they are carrying electric signals through
them today just like they did one hundred years ago,
because copper is copper and it's doing its job. And
so so that's the idea. And the electrical panel is
(13:53):
nothing more than just a box that holds the ends
of those wires in place up against a breaker. So
so yeah, so that that should give you, hopefully some
perspective kathy on whether or not it just because it's
fifty years old doesn't mean it has aged out. It
just means that it's fifty years old. The question is
(14:14):
do you need something else from that box that it's
not giving you currently?
Speaker 5 (14:21):
And also the EMP add on do you think that,
I mean, it costs like four hundred dollars for the thing,
but to add it on is you know, for electrician
to come put it in. But do you think that's
a good thing to have?
Speaker 1 (14:38):
You know what. Some people are are are very concerned
about EMP shields, and most people are not. It's a
device that is essentially kind of a whole house surge
protector that connects to your electrical panel to protect your
(14:58):
home's electronics from damaged cop by EMPs or solar flares
or lightning strikes. So most panels that get Now I
didn't ask you where you're calling from, but most people
who are looking for EMP add ons are in the Midwest.
Not because they're concerned about electromagnetic pulses from terrorists or
(15:19):
bombs or that kind of thing, but they're concerned about
lightning strikes because they get a lot of those. Okay, Okay,
so there's absolutely there's absolutely nothing wrong with an EMP
panel add on. But like you said, it's about four
hundred dollars, it's costly to put on, but it's a
surge protector for the house essentially, and if you get
(15:40):
a lot of lightning strikes around the house, then sure,
why not.
Speaker 5 (15:47):
In southern California, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Just it's it's super, super uncommon here in southern California.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Okay, Well, thank you so much, Dean.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
You're so welcome. Kathy, thanks for the call, Great call,
great call. All right, more of your calls when we return.
The number to reach me eight three three two. Ask
Dean eight three three the numeral two. Ask Dan. It's
an all calls Saturday morning. Give me a call. Let's
talk about your home. Your home with Dean Sharp, the
house Whisper. You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on
(16:21):
demand from KFI AM six forty. Dean Sharp, the House
Whisper here to help you transform your ordinary house into
an extraordinary home. Good Saturday morning to you, my friend,
wherever you are listening from. Whether it be southern California.
Did I just say whether it be I did r?
(16:43):
Whether he be in southern California or somewhere else across
our lovely nation. Welcome home. It is an all call
Saturday morning. As Saturday mornings are around here, you get
to set the agenda. Here's the boss of me today.
So let's go back to the phone, shall we. Let's
(17:04):
talk to Jody. Hey, Jody, welcome home.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Hi, how are you doing? I? I have a workshop
flash toolroom connected to a garage. It's got a concrete slab,
indoor outdoor carpet, no windows, drywall. Recently the carpet had
gotten wet in a section, kind of foggy wet, and
I had to have a contractor come out. He opened
(17:31):
up some drywall, found a water pipes that had a
kind of a dripping leak, fixed it, left it open
for a while, came back and put drywall on it.
But now the room had a kind of an aroma.
So a family member suggested I call mold remediation. They
came in, pulled up the carpet, and put dehumidifiers there
(17:54):
for three or four days. Then they left and they
said everything was fine. Then the family member again said,
oh it's it smells again. So now we've had a
second company come in and a hygienist come in. They
gave me, gave me a report and want to tear
out all the drywall and just peek around and they
(18:18):
don't even know. They say we're going to start at
eight thousand dollars and I just am, it doesn't smell
really to me anymore. To what do I do? Do
I go with that, or do I have someone in
between come open up the walls and look, or.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
No, oh, Jody, I feel for you. Yeah that's uh
here okay? So I I'm I don't want to uh.
I'm going to give you the honest answer from my perspective,
and at the same time, I want to be clear
that I am tiptoeing around legal issues here and so, so, okay, okay,
(18:59):
I have no desire whatsoever for you or your family
to be affected or infected with mold spores because you're
spending too much time in a room that has mold
spores going on in it. Because mold can actually for
real cause real life health problems with people, and it
(19:19):
should be addressed. Okay, So I've said that. I've said that.
Now mold remediation companies, there's some good ones out there.
There are a lot of companies out there who just
I mean, you see one little issue and they're like,
tear it all down, tear it all down, thousands of
dollars like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa whoa. So I want
(19:40):
to be really careful for everybody to understand that mold
is a real thing. But mold, as far as getting
rid of it is concerned and dealing with it is concerned.
You know, it's not some juggernaut, an alien creature that
resists normal human activity or efforts. Mold once it is
(20:02):
exposed to open air where it can dry out, and
daylight where it can you know where it experiences that
and very very mild chemicals like bleach and or vinegar. Okay,
these kinds of things, mold is gone. I mean, it
(20:23):
just it does not survive. Mold needs wet and dark
and don't bother me in order to take off and
do its thing. So so, so here's the thing. You
already had the walls open. It sounds to me here's
the tough thing. If if you're not picking up any
(20:44):
any weird must smell anything that is unusual for the place, right,
then maybe it's just not a concern at all. If
it sounds to me like maybe whoever opened the walls
up the first time probably could have afforded to leave
them open longer and bring in the dehumidifiers and the
(21:05):
heaters and everything, because that's the once we open up
the walls, that's the time to heat up the room,
to get the dehumidifiers running, and to make sure we
get all the moisture levels down to spray it all down.
So yeah, so here's the thing for for about well,
I mean, you could do this yourself for about one
hundred dollars. You can buy about one hundred and forty dollars. Sorry,
(21:28):
you could buy on Amazon a an inspection camera, a
full color HD inspection camera, the kind that's connected to
a long, you know, skinny little uh you know run,
and you could You could drill a one half inch
(21:50):
hole in a piece of dry wall and insert the
inspection camera up into the wall and look around and
see if there's actually mold inside walls. And it's incredibly
non invasive. It does not require thousands of dollars of
drywall removal. And so my point is there are far,
(22:10):
far less invasive ways of checking to see whether we
have a mold issue. I actually just did this for
a friend of mine, like a couple months ago. He
had a real mold issue in a bathroom of a
home that he owns and is renting out to a renter.
And so I said, yeah, okay, then let me come over.
(22:31):
So I came over and I brought my little inspection
camera and we drilled a couple holes, and I've looked
up in there and I'm like, yeah, Dave, yeap, you
got some mold up there. We should take out at
least this area of the drywall and deal with it.
And that's what we proceeded to do, right, just to
deal with it. But the point is the inspection itself,
the looking around, it does not require yank and all
the drywall off. And that's the issue that I have
(22:53):
with most remediation companies. They just jump to the nuclear option.
And so I'm not saying that we haven't inadvertently trapped
some mold in the wall and that it should be addressed,
and not that it doesn't need to be addressed. What
I am saying is jumping to the nuclear option of
(23:13):
let's just take all the drywall down. That is rarely, rarely, rarely,
ever the necessary move does that?
Speaker 4 (23:22):
Okay, what about the same family member got one of
those little small humidity meters yep, you put in the room,
and it's reading like seventy one or something, and so
she's convinced that there's mildew or mold everywhere.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Okay, Jody, here's the thing. I'm sorry. I didn't mean
to cut you off halfway. They're just tapping on my
shoulder here. We're up against a break. I'm gonna pop
you on hold. I want to finish answering your question
because it's an important one. So you hang tight. You
and I will rejoin this conversation right after the break. Thanks.
I appreciate that. Sorry, didn't mean to cut you off.
All right, more on this and more of your calls
(24:01):
when we return your home with Dean Sharp, the house whisper.
Dean Sharp, the house Whisperer here to remind you every
home deserves great design, especially yours, because you're there, you're
living there. Let's help you find it. That's what we
do every weekend here on the program. It is an
all calls Saturday morning. You are setting the agenda. I'm
(24:22):
right in the middle of talking to Jody. She had
a garage workshop area had a plumbing leak, and they
opened it up. They fixed the leak. I think it's
quite possible they may have closed up the walls before
they dealt with all the moisture and the mold situation.
But of course she's got a remediation company telling her
let's just take it all down thousands and thousands of dollars.
(24:45):
I want to make sure I'm not saying that isn't necessary.
I just want to make sure that we're not jumping
to the nuclear option before we have taken other measures. So, Jody,
you had one more question, was a friend or family
member who has a humidity meter, and so go ahead,
(25:05):
go ahead.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Meters. It gives you the temperature of the room and
then the humidity in the room. And it was reading
first like seventy five and then seventy one. But even
when the first remediator came, he said he was in
the sixties. So those making it, do I pay any
attention to those little meters. I mean, just because there's moisture,
(25:27):
does that mean there's mold.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
It does not necessarily mean there's mold just because there's moisture. However,
seventy is pretty high for internal humidity. Okay, okay, seventy percent,
you know, seventy in terms of relative humidity for a space,
that's really high. In fact, a lot of experts will
tell you that if you continually keep a room up
(25:53):
in the seventy percent humidity range, that you will be
inviting mold to grow. This is that's an issue that
they have in the Deep South, you know, where life
is very humid quite often. So it that is high,
it's high, and so but again that doesn't point to
the fact that, oh it's mold. Mold makes the room
(26:14):
that way. No moisture does. So the question is where
is the moisture coming from. Just to give you some perspective,
here in southern California, we have kind of, you know,
part of the reason people like to live in southern California.
We have, you know, optimal humidity levels here. Fifty percent
relative humidity is outdoor average humidity here in southern California
(26:36):
fifty percent. Okay, during during the cold winter months, when
we've got heaters and stuff running inside, interior, relative humidity
can drop down to thirty percent, twenty percent, I mean
gets dry. You know people, you know, they get they
get their nose, feels dry, their nails, nasal cavities, sometimes
(26:58):
they get a bloody nose just because the air gets
so dry inside. So that's that's way below fifty. So
at this time of year, for there to be seventy
percent moisture a relative humidity inside and enclosed space, it
probably means that there's still moisture that needs to be
dealt with. So that's what I would pay attention to.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
I would okay, all right, thank you so much. I
appreciate your advice.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
You are so welcome. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that it
got handled a little not quite the right way at first.
But if there's a way we can avoid just taking
everything down again, yeah, there are ways to deal with that.
I would address first, always, always, always the moisture issue,
because mold follows moisture. No moisture, no mold, okay. And
(27:51):
if there is any mold in the walls, it's got
to be treated, got to be treated, because dry air
does not kill mold. Dry air just sends it into
dormant state and it'll sit there like a dehydrated food
waiting to be rehydrated and pop back to life again.
So the only thing that's going to kill off and
(28:12):
take care of a mold infestation is you know, bleach,
water and bleach just got to kill it, and then
we make sure the room is dry so it doesn't
come back. Jody, thank you so much for your question.
You know what, we're right at the top of the hour.
So instead of taking another call right at this moment
having to put you on hold, why don't we scoot
(28:34):
off to our break and then we come back more
of your calls. 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. It's just
that simple. And it's an all calls Saturday morning. There's
room on the board for you. Give me a call.
Let's find out what's going on with your home. We'll
put our heads together, we will figure it out. You
(28:56):
are Home with Dean Sharp, the house Whisper. You're listening
to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AM
six forty
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp, the
House Whisperer on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Good morning,
my friend, and welcome home. I am Dean Sharp, the
House Whisperer. You knew that custom home builder, custom home designer,
and every week your guide to better understanding that place
(00:23):
where you live, whether you're home for you is a
castle or a cottage, it matters not, you know why,
because luxury does not a great homemake. It is design
that matters most. And I invite you to think of
it this way. New parts, you know, repairing things. That's
home repair, new paint, that's home maintenance. New design. That that,
(00:47):
my friend, is home improvement. Indeed, good design makes all
the difference. Every house deserves it, every house should enjoy it.
Because once good design is at work in your home,
that is when you're home, has a path forward toward
becoming a great home. Absolutely true, and that's why we're
(01:07):
here with you every weekend to help you find those
paths forward and also make repairs and do maintenance the
right way and all of the above, and of course
all Saturdays, every Saturday morning is an all call Saturday
morning where you get to set the agenda. You tell me,
You tell me what the show is about today. Whatever
(01:29):
has you scratching your head about your home design of course, construction,
diy inside stuff, outside stuff, decor whatever it is I
got you. We'll put our heads together. We will get
it figured out. I promise. The number two reach me,
and the phone lines are open right now. We will
go to them as soon as the calls start rolling in.
(01:49):
Hopefully I get to talk to you this morning about
your home. The number to reach me eight three three two.
Ask Dean A three three the numeral two ask Dean
eight three three to ask Dean. It's just that simple,
and uh, Nicky has got the phone lines open, so
we will just wait. We'll just wait. I'll just sit here.
(02:10):
No I won't, No, I won't. I'm not gonna sit here.
I am going to tell you. Oh nope, she's not
here yet, coming soon to across the table near me.
My design and partner will talk to her in a second. Instead,
let's jump ahead and say good morning to Sam. Good morning, Sam.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Good morning Dean. How's it going today. It's going well,
it's going well.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It's gonna be one of those Uh, it's gonna be
one of those weekends that I so look forward to
the weekend after a storm where you know, the air
is extra crisp, the you know, everything is clean. Ah,
it's just you know, we've had we've had over a
week of rain now and this weekend just should should
be glorious.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, we officially hit sweater we weather. I feel fantastic
wearing my hoodie right now. This is a nice and
cozy bundled up in the studio. This is I really
do love this time of year. And we're leading right
into Thanksgiving, so this is great.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Absolutely. We were at the for our town, the Westlake
tree lighting last night at the promenade over on Westlake
Boulevard and to which is a whole thing. It's an
interesting it's always it's an interesting thing. We have a
tradition of getting together with friends and getting over there
and we have some dinner over there at one of
(03:27):
the restaurants at Marmalade Cafe Marmalade. We have dinner, we
all hang out and then we walk around the shops
a little bit and then we get over to where
the performance area is. And it's always a little it's
always a little interesting it's fun. The performers are you know,
they're pretty good. There was a great a cappella group
(03:48):
last night roaming around that was fantastic. And the stage performers,
you know, they start a little on the is this
somebody's niece situation all the way to up to like,
oh hey, that was surprisingly good. Somebody got up. I
couldn't I couldn't hear her name. Somebody got up. An
actress got up on stage near the end and did
(04:12):
let it go from Frozen, And I'm thinking, uh, oh, oh, no,
here's here's somebody. Here's somebody overshooting. They're punching above their weight. No,
you know what she did fantastic. She got everybody up
and rolling. And then they blow fake snow out there,
and then Santa comes out and he pulls the lever
lights the tree, fireworks go off. But the fun is
(04:33):
we're just outside and we're all bundled up, and it
was a great time and it just kind of sets
the mood for you. Oh, speaking of setting the mood,
guess who's sitting across the table from me. Now, guess
who slid into the studio. No, it's not a giant element,
it's my tiny wife, my design partner, my better half,
(04:53):
my best buddy in all the world. Tina is here.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Welcome home. How you do good?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
You got up a little early, earlier than usual this morning.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I just felt ready to go.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I'm impressed.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Thanks. I got a lot done too, did you? I did?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
What'd you get done?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Laundry?
Speaker 4 (05:11):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
I mean oh you got the laundry folded, folded and
hung the stuff that was on the table, yes, and
what was.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
In the dryer? Wow?
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Wow, look at you. I'm read at you, Susie Homemaker.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
I just got so excited after the Santa and the
Christmas tree fireworks, those fireworks.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You know, that show has evolved. I remember when that
promenade opened. I grew up in that area and they
didn't have fireworks when when they first.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
It is totally evolved, evolved. Okay. You know what was
freaky scary is that last night the thirtieth anniversary of
that shopping center being open, and Tina and I were
like what because I think we still think of it
as like the new one in town. Yeah, it's the
new one, new ish. I mean when don't call it
the new one, but you know, yeah, thirty years it
(06:02):
came up in my lifetime.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I remember I went to school just up the block
from there, so that that California Pizza Kitchen was where
everybody went for lunch.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Uh, it's good to hear how much that entire area
has evolved and grown. And now the Christmas show there
is massive.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yeah, and I gotta say, I gotta say, I got
to poke some fun. It's always good to poke fun
at millionaires or billionaires or something. But you know, it's
a it's a it's a Rick Caruso property, right, Rick
Cruso who owns like every mall in southern California. Uh,
it's a Rick Crusoe property. And always they've got all
these seats all set up for the stage, but it's
(06:42):
always gated and enclosed. And we've asked the question multiple years.
My friend Nina said, you know what. Last year she said,
you know what, I'm gonna find out if if we
can get seating in the in the seating area and
not just stand in the back like the peasants do.
And so she he's been searching it out and she realized, Nope,
(07:03):
you can't. You can't buy advanced seating. You can't. There's
no way, there's no way to get into that exclusive
zone that's all set up and reserved for Caruso employees
and friends and family members. I mean, it is a
total total have have not situation. We're sitting in the
back or standing in.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
The bank in the back. But we do get snowed on.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
We do get snowed on. I'm not sure that's a thing.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
I think what it is is it's their Christmas party
and we're all crashing. I think so that's what it
feels like, because it really is that they have a
dinner beforehand, you.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Know what, You're right, you could think of it that way.
But it's out in public and we've been invited to add.
So we're like atmosphere for the Caruso Christmas Party.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
See peasants come, come, peasants, come come and watch us.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
We will give you nog. All right, All right, enough
of that, let's get on with the show. Shall We've
got some calls up on the board. We need some
more need you, I need you to call a three
three two ask dean eight three three the numeral to
ask dean. We will go to the phones right after this.
(08:12):
There's more stuff on the way your home with Dean Sharp,
the house whisper. Dean Sharp, the house whisper here to
help you take your home to the next level. Hey,
good Saturday morning to you. The weather has been blustery,
It's gonna be crisp and clean, a little breezy today.
M We're getting a good start, getting a good start
(08:34):
on the holidays. By the way, Tomorrow is our big
live audience holiday show right here at iHeart Studios LA
up on the fifth floor. We're gonna be lounging about
in the leather bound, helpful Honda Lounge with several of
our friends, hopefully you and you know who you are,
(08:57):
and it's gonna be a great show. Aldacone is sponsoring
that show. They're going to be decorating one of their
gorgeous trees right in front of us. During the show,
we'll be talking to them about that, talking about home
to coort around the holidays. A little special guest on
the way as well, and we're going to have a
good old time. That'll be tomorrow's show. Don't miss it.
If you can't come, If you're not on the list,
(09:19):
didn't win a seat to the show, you hang tight
with me because it's going to be a good show,
just talking about decorating for the holidays. And afterwards we're
going down to Aldacombe going to be there from one
to two. You can always drop in and say hi
there as well. All right, it is an All Calls
Saturday morning. I want to go to the phones and
(09:40):
let's talk to Kathy. Hey, Kathy, welcome home.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
Oh thank you Dean, I thank you for your program. Okay,
we have an electrical panel that's about forty eight years old.
It's not the original, but I just just wondering is
it time to reap place this? And also we are
thinking of putting the e MP add on, you know,
(10:07):
so when something happens like the e MP, that all
your electrical stuff doesn't fry and things. That's my question.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Okay, Well, when it comes to an electrical panel, here's
the thing. There's there's maybe two or three reasons why
you want to replace an electrical panel, and most of
the time we don't actually just replace them. We will
add a new one next to it, unless you know,
let's a full a full on swap out. But the
(10:39):
reasons are as follows. One it's been damaged, it's rusting out,
or it's been damaged, of course, and that's a good
reason to replace an electrical panel. They're not that expensive.
By the way, the labor of replacing them is far
more expensive than the panel, just because of all the
wires that have to be transferred. But so if it's damaged,
(11:01):
that's one thing. If for some reason, the electrical panel,
and at forty plus years this probably isn't true, but
if for some reason it has aged out and you
can't find replacement breakers anymore for it, and that does
happen at some point for most panels that you're like, oh,
you know, I keep going to the supply store, the
(11:22):
hardware store, and they just don't make breakers for my
panel anymore. Well, that's a good reason to change it out,
because when breakers go bad, you got to be able
to replace them. Now, breakers don't go bad very often,
but they do, and so that's a reason. The third
and most common reason for replacing an electrical panel is
not because it needs to be replaced, but because you
(11:43):
want to upgrade your service from you know, forty years ago,
the typical home had a one hundred amp panel. Today
typical homes have a two hundred amp panel, so that
there is more space for you know, power draw for
very other things in the home, things like charging cars
(12:03):
and stuff like that. So even though we're using less
electricity in our lights, we want more electricity available to us,
especially like here on the West Coast in the electrification
of homes, meaning we're using less and less gas appliance
as things like that more electrical appliance. So there are
(12:23):
reasons why we would want to upgrade a panel and
increase its load size. So those are the three reasons why.
And if one of those reasons is you know what
you're looking at, then yeah, that would be a legitimate
concern or a legitimate way to swap it out. But
just because a panel is fifty years old doesn't mean
(12:46):
that it's in need of being replaced if it's getting
the job done. Because as you know, I've said this before,
electrical is one of those systems in the house that
is incredibly durable. Durable meaning that if you leave it
alone and you haven't disturbed and messed with the wiring
(13:09):
and all of that kind of thing, it just sits
there and it does its job. And I can tell
you know, we we will do restorations one hundred year
old houses century homes and find that there are areas where,
you know, the old cloth sheathed electrical wires are doing
just fine if the insulation isn't cracked and broken, if
(13:31):
the sheathing isn't disturbed on the outside. The fact is
there's still two copper conductors in that wire, you know,
in that bundle, and they are carrying electric signals through
them today just like they did one hundred years ago,
because copper is copper and it's doing its job. And
so so that's the idea. And the electrical panel is
(13:53):
nothing more than just a box that holds the ends
of those wires in place up against a breaker. So
so yeah, so that that should give you, hopefully some
perspective kathy on whether or not it just because it's
fifty years old doesn't mean it has aged out. It
just means that it's fifty years old. The question is
(14:14):
do you need something else from that box that it's
not giving you currently?
Speaker 5 (14:21):
And also the EMP add on do you think that,
I mean, it costs like four hundred dollars for the thing,
but to add it on is you know, for electrician
to come put it in. But do you think that's
a good thing to have?
Speaker 1 (14:38):
You know what. Some people are are are very concerned
about EMP shields, and most people are not. It's a
device that is essentially kind of a whole house surge
protector that connects to your electrical panel to protect your
(14:58):
home's electronics from damaged cop by EMPs or solar flares
or lightning strikes. So most panels that get Now I
didn't ask you where you're calling from, but most people
who are looking for EMP add ons are in the Midwest.
Not because they're concerned about electromagnetic pulses from terrorists or
(15:19):
bombs or that kind of thing, but they're concerned about
lightning strikes because they get a lot of those. Okay, Okay,
so there's absolutely there's absolutely nothing wrong with an EMP
panel add on. But like you said, it's about four
hundred dollars, it's costly to put on, but it's a
surge protector for the house essentially, and if you get
(15:40):
a lot of lightning strikes around the house, then sure,
why not.
Speaker 5 (15:47):
In southern California, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Just it's it's super, super uncommon here in southern California.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Okay, Well, thank you so much, Dean.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
You're so welcome. Kathy, thanks for the call, Great call,
great call. All right, more of your calls when we return.
The number to reach me eight three three two. Ask
Dean eight three three the numeral two. Ask Dan. It's
an all calls Saturday morning. Give me a call. Let's
talk about your home. Your home with Dean Sharp, the
house Whisper. You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on
(16:21):
demand from KFI AM six forty. Dean Sharp, the House
Whisper here to help you transform your ordinary house into
an extraordinary home. Good Saturday morning to you, my friend,
wherever you are listening from. Whether it be southern California.
Did I just say whether it be I did r?
(16:43):
Whether he be in southern California or somewhere else across
our lovely nation. Welcome home. It is an all call
Saturday morning. As Saturday mornings are around here, you get
to set the agenda. Here's the boss of me today.
So let's go back to the phone, shall we. Let's
(17:04):
talk to Jody. Hey, Jody, welcome home.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Hi, how are you doing? I? I have a workshop
flash toolroom connected to a garage. It's got a concrete slab,
indoor outdoor carpet, no windows, drywall. Recently the carpet had
gotten wet in a section, kind of foggy wet, and
I had to have a contractor come out. He opened
(17:31):
up some drywall, found a water pipes that had a
kind of a dripping leak, fixed it, left it open
for a while, came back and put drywall on it.
But now the room had a kind of an aroma.
So a family member suggested I call mold remediation. They
came in, pulled up the carpet, and put dehumidifiers there
(17:54):
for three or four days. Then they left and they
said everything was fine. Then the family member again said,
oh it's it smells again. So now we've had a
second company come in and a hygienist come in. They
gave me, gave me a report and want to tear
out all the drywall and just peek around and they
(18:18):
don't even know. They say we're going to start at
eight thousand dollars and I just am, it doesn't smell
really to me anymore. To what do I do? Do
I go with that, or do I have someone in
between come open up the walls and look, or.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
No, oh, Jody, I feel for you. Yeah that's uh
here okay? So I I'm I don't want to uh.
I'm going to give you the honest answer from my perspective,
and at the same time, I want to be clear
that I am tiptoeing around legal issues here and so, so, okay, okay,
(18:59):
I have no desire whatsoever for you or your family
to be affected or infected with mold spores because you're
spending too much time in a room that has mold
spores going on in it. Because mold can actually for
real cause real life health problems with people, and it
(19:19):
should be addressed. Okay, So I've said that. I've said that.
Now mold remediation companies, there's some good ones out there.
There are a lot of companies out there who just
I mean, you see one little issue and they're like,
tear it all down, tear it all down, thousands of
dollars like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa whoa. So I want
(19:40):
to be really careful for everybody to understand that mold
is a real thing. But mold, as far as getting
rid of it is concerned and dealing with it is concerned.
You know, it's not some juggernaut, an alien creature that
resists normal human activity or efforts. Mold once it is
(20:02):
exposed to open air where it can dry out, and
daylight where it can you know where it experiences that
and very very mild chemicals like bleach and or vinegar. Okay,
these kinds of things, mold is gone. I mean, it
(20:23):
just it does not survive. Mold needs wet and dark
and don't bother me in order to take off and
do its thing. So so, so here's the thing. You
already had the walls open. It sounds to me here's
the tough thing. If if you're not picking up any
(20:44):
any weird must smell anything that is unusual for the place, right,
then maybe it's just not a concern at all. If
it sounds to me like maybe whoever opened the walls
up the first time probably could have afforded to leave
them open longer and bring in the dehumidifiers and the
(21:05):
heaters and everything, because that's the once we open up
the walls, that's the time to heat up the room,
to get the dehumidifiers running, and to make sure we
get all the moisture levels down to spray it all down.
So yeah, so here's the thing for for about well,
I mean, you could do this yourself for about one
hundred dollars. You can buy about one hundred and forty dollars. Sorry,
(21:28):
you could buy on Amazon a an inspection camera, a
full color HD inspection camera, the kind that's connected to
a long, you know, skinny little uh you know run,
and you could You could drill a one half inch
(21:50):
hole in a piece of dry wall and insert the
inspection camera up into the wall and look around and
see if there's actually mold inside walls. And it's incredibly
non invasive. It does not require thousands of dollars of
drywall removal. And so my point is there are far,
(22:10):
far less invasive ways of checking to see whether we
have a mold issue. I actually just did this for
a friend of mine, like a couple months ago. He
had a real mold issue in a bathroom of a
home that he owns and is renting out to a renter.
And so I said, yeah, okay, then let me come over.
(22:31):
So I came over and I brought my little inspection
camera and we drilled a couple holes, and I've looked
up in there and I'm like, yeah, Dave, yeap, you
got some mold up there. We should take out at
least this area of the drywall and deal with it.
And that's what we proceeded to do, right, just to
deal with it. But the point is the inspection itself,
the looking around, it does not require yank and all
the drywall off. And that's the issue that I have
(22:53):
with most remediation companies. They just jump to the nuclear option.
And so I'm not saying that we haven't inadvertently trapped
some mold in the wall and that it should be addressed,
and not that it doesn't need to be addressed. What
I am saying is jumping to the nuclear option of
(23:13):
let's just take all the drywall down. That is rarely, rarely, rarely,
ever the necessary move does that?
Speaker 4 (23:22):
Okay, what about the same family member got one of
those little small humidity meters yep, you put in the room,
and it's reading like seventy one or something, and so
she's convinced that there's mildew or mold everywhere.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Okay, Jody, here's the thing. I'm sorry. I didn't mean
to cut you off halfway. They're just tapping on my
shoulder here. We're up against a break. I'm gonna pop
you on hold. I want to finish answering your question
because it's an important one. So you hang tight. You
and I will rejoin this conversation right after the break. Thanks.
I appreciate that. Sorry, didn't mean to cut you off.
All right, more on this and more of your calls
(24:01):
when we return your home with Dean Sharp, the house whisper.
Dean Sharp, the house Whisperer here to remind you every
home deserves great design, especially yours, because you're there, you're
living there. Let's help you find it. That's what we
do every weekend here on the program. It is an
all calls Saturday morning. You are setting the agenda. I'm
(24:22):
right in the middle of talking to Jody. She had
a garage workshop area had a plumbing leak, and they
opened it up. They fixed the leak. I think it's
quite possible they may have closed up the walls before
they dealt with all the moisture and the mold situation.
But of course she's got a remediation company telling her
let's just take it all down thousands and thousands of dollars.
(24:45):
I want to make sure I'm not saying that isn't necessary.
I just want to make sure that we're not jumping
to the nuclear option before we have taken other measures. So, Jody,
you had one more question, was a friend or family
member who has a humidity meter, and so go ahead,
(25:05):
go ahead.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Meters. It gives you the temperature of the room and
then the humidity in the room. And it was reading
first like seventy five and then seventy one. But even
when the first remediator came, he said he was in
the sixties. So those making it, do I pay any
attention to those little meters. I mean, just because there's moisture,
(25:27):
does that mean there's mold.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
It does not necessarily mean there's mold just because there's moisture. However,
seventy is pretty high for internal humidity. Okay, okay, seventy percent,
you know, seventy in terms of relative humidity for a space,
that's really high. In fact, a lot of experts will
tell you that if you continually keep a room up
(25:53):
in the seventy percent humidity range, that you will be
inviting mold to grow. This is that's an issue that
they have in the Deep South, you know, where life
is very humid quite often. So it that is high,
it's high, and so but again that doesn't point to
the fact that, oh it's mold. Mold makes the room
(26:14):
that way. No moisture does. So the question is where
is the moisture coming from. Just to give you some perspective,
here in southern California, we have kind of, you know,
part of the reason people like to live in southern California.
We have, you know, optimal humidity levels here. Fifty percent
relative humidity is outdoor average humidity here in southern California
(26:36):
fifty percent. Okay, during during the cold winter months, when
we've got heaters and stuff running inside, interior, relative humidity
can drop down to thirty percent, twenty percent, I mean
gets dry. You know people, you know, they get they
get their nose, feels dry, their nails, nasal cavities, sometimes
(26:58):
they get a bloody nose just because the air gets
so dry inside. So that's that's way below fifty. So
at this time of year, for there to be seventy
percent moisture a relative humidity inside and enclosed space, it
probably means that there's still moisture that needs to be
dealt with. So that's what I would pay attention to.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
I would okay, all right, thank you so much. I
appreciate your advice.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
You are so welcome. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that it
got handled a little not quite the right way at first.
But if there's a way we can avoid just taking
everything down again, yeah, there are ways to deal with that.
I would address first, always, always, always the moisture issue,
because mold follows moisture. No moisture, no mold, okay. And
(27:51):
if there is any mold in the walls, it's got
to be treated, got to be treated, because dry air
does not kill mold. Dry air just sends it into
dormant state and it'll sit there like a dehydrated food
waiting to be rehydrated and pop back to life again.
So the only thing that's going to kill off and
(28:12):
take care of a mold infestation is you know, bleach,
water and bleach just got to kill it, and then
we make sure the room is dry so it doesn't
come back. Jody, thank you so much for your question.
You know what, we're right at the top of the hour.
So instead of taking another call right at this moment
having to put you on hold, why don't we scoot
(28:34):
off to our break and then we come back more
of your calls. 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. It's just
that simple. And it's an all calls Saturday morning. There's
room on the board for you. Give me a call.
Let's find out what's going on with your home. We'll
put our heads together, we will figure it out. You
(28:56):
are Home with Dean Sharp, the house Whisper. You're listening
to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AM
six forty
Home with Dean Sharp News
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