April 13, 2025 • 30 mins
Dean advices about painting a home and stucco + the type of paint to use. The important part of painting is the preparation. Dean talks about re-staining a mahogany front door and how to treat mahogany doors right. Dean continues to talk about stains and original coating of mahogany doors.
Plus, Dean talks about sanding projects and sanding tricks.
Plus, Dean talks about sanding projects and sanding tricks.
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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 Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app. All right,
we are spending the morning talking about the small things,
the small little fix it tips and tricks and techniques
that end up, in my experience, really frustrating most di
(00:24):
wires when they get into a project. It's not the
big concept. It's not following the instructions. It's finding out
I don't know how to use this damn screwdriver the
right way. Well, you know we're going to get there,
and so I'm handing out pearls today. But right now,
top of the hour, and is our tradition, it is
time to go to the phones, and so let's talk
(00:46):
to John. Hey, John, welcome home.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Dean, Thank you for taking the call. Appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
You're so welcome. How can I help you?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So we have a nineteen fifty six style stucco house
in Riverside. It was probably last painted, who knows when
ninety year old guy owned it. We've been there four years.
It's going to need paint work and repair to the stucco,
the rafters and so on. My question is do we
(01:18):
do a regular paint job, or do we go with
something like a rhino coat, which I know was advertised
a few years ago, or on KFFI there's Fitztower, but
also I think it's doing a tech coat product. The
interesting thing about those they say it's lifetime, although you're
stuck with the color, but the fact it's also lifetime
and it might have some fire retaught and built in.
(01:39):
The Other thing is, since you're working with a contractor
as opposed to a painter who does repair work, sometimes
they do really lousy work. So what you're feeling on
first the type of product and secondly, who's best to
do that type of work.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Well, a painter is you know, a professional license paint
is best to do the work in my opinion, or
you as the homeowner. It's one of those things. Painting
is one of those things where you know house painting,
where the fact of the matter is if you're willing
to go through the steps and do these same steps
(02:17):
that even though there are a number of them, same
steps that a regular contractor will do. They may do
it quicker, a little bit more efficiently, but they won't
necessarily do a better job than you. So it's really
a question of is somebody following through with all the steps. Okay,
it's not so much the deft hand of the professional painter.
(02:39):
We're not painting Mona Lisa's here. We're putting, you know,
liquid materials on surfaces that have been prepped properly and
masked off properly. So no denigration whatsoever to professional house painters.
I love you. I love the work you do. But
the fact of the matter is it's not fine art.
It is a craft, it is a trade. It is
(03:01):
a series of well executed steps. So can a contractor
do that? Of course? Can you do it? Yes, professional painter?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Does it matter to me? Who does it not? Particularly?
What matters to me is whether somebody is stepping through
all of the necessary steps. And when I say all
the necessary steps, I mean that. On any paint job,
for any home, the standard rule is that you know,
ninety percent of the work is prep preparation, patching done right,
(03:36):
preparation done right, opening up the existing surface, priming the
existing surface properly, and so on. The last thing. The
application of the paint itself is the easy part. It
is the prep work and the elbow grease that goes
into getting those surfaces ready for paint that not only
make the difference in the appearance of the paint, but
(03:58):
make all the difference in the world as to the
longevity of the paint. And that takes me to your
second question about materials. The fact of the matter is,
since that house was painted, the entire there is there is,
it's kind of a misnomer. Should I use regular paint
or some of this new fangled stuff that's come out.
(04:19):
Everything is new fangled, Okay, it's all new fangled. Every
paint company, Benjamin Moore, this is the pink, the paint
brand that I use almost exclusively inside and out on
most homes. But whether it's Benjamin Moore Paint, whether it's
Done Edwards, whether it's any major brand of paint company,
or it's these specialty products like rhino coat and these
(04:41):
other elastameric products. The fact of the matter is every
major manufacturer is continuing their research and development and continuing
to move their products forward. So the question is as
a designer, well, I'll put it this way. As a contractor,
I am confident in any well applied quality exterior product.
(05:06):
So I know this may not help you because I'm
not saying something like yeah, use the rhino coat. Forget
about regular exterior house paint or vice versa. What I'm
saying is that any well applied quality exterior product is
going to do great right. So, as a contractor, I
know it's all in the prep and the quality of
(05:26):
the product. Whether it's regular air quotes here house exterior
house paint, whether it has a fire resistant element in
it or which there are plenty of, and or whether
it's an elastimeric stucco coating paint or coating. The fact
of the matter is if the prep was done right
(05:49):
and if the application was done right, I'm confident. So
that's the contractor, that's the builder in me, all right,
So I'm turning away from the builder now and talking
to the designer in me. The designer wants specific colors,
specific textures, specific sheens on the outside of that house.
And so the question is from a design perspective, which
(06:12):
of those products are actually going to give us the
best look for the outside of the house. And that
is what often not always John, but often leads us
back away from some of the specialty stuff, the elastimeric
rhinotype coatings. Back to the major paint manufacturers, with you know,
(06:38):
ten gabillion colors and all of the finishes that I need,
and their top of the line exterior paints applied well.
Paint these days is a brilliant science. It's in its
golden age. It has only gotten better. And like I said,
a well prepared house, well patched stucco in good condition
(07:00):
without moisture intrusion in it. Any paint that you put
on the house, I guarantee you done well, could take
you thirty plus years. And the elastimeric coding never actually
seen one that's more than thirty years old without some
issues in it. I know they say lifetime, but then again,
(07:21):
you know, thirty forty years later, those companies, a lot
of them don't exist anymore, so they don't have to
worry about honoring a lifetime warrantine, right.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
And I appreciate this very much. This is extremely helpful.
And you know, you bring up a good point about
color choices, because you know, most of the houses in
the wood streets here in Riverside, they're Beiji. Everybody goes
pretty mundane. And we would like to add a little
sponkan to this house, obviously, and with detail and so on,
(07:50):
as far as gabby rafters and things coming off the
roofline which will need to be replaced. Do you feel
that a good paint contractor can handle that or are
we talking about somebody who needs to have a greater expertise.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Well, as far as replacing rafter tails that are damaged,
I would turn to a carpenter for that. If it's
a matter of there's been some moisture damage or some
bug damage, termite damage, and we just need to apply
some bondo to an existing rafter, A qualified painter should
(08:25):
be able to do that, just by.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
As always, thank you very much. I don't know if
you remember, but last year you helped you often to
actually go get some UV material for us so my
wife for says MS and we were going to redo
her studio. We still are in the midst of doing that,
so I might be in touch for that at some point.
As always, thank you and Tina very much. Take care,
be well and stay safe.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Thanks John, thanks so much for being such a committed listener,
and good luck on that new project. All right, Kindness, patience,
bit of creativity and respect. That's what you get when
you call in here.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
You're listening to home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
We're talking fix it tips and tricks, the kind of
stuff that you're not hearing on YouTube videos. I'm talking
about the little things, the little things that end up
making all the difference, the tiny, tiny little tips and
techniques that you have to do in a DIY project,
maybe multiple times that nobody told you exactly how that works,
(09:36):
and in my experience, it becomes one of the biggest
points of frustration as you're working out your spring DIY stuff.
And so take an entire show today to just give
you just a list of pearls of wisdom when it
comes to that. We're going to get back to that
in just a bit, but right now we're taking calls.
(09:57):
I want to go back to the phones. I'm going
to talk to John A. John A. Welcome home.
Speaker 6 (10:05):
Hey, good morning, Dean, to you and your staff. My
question is pertaining to I had a mahogany front door
installed about just about a year ago and they put
a stain on it. Well fast forward to now almost
a year. It doesn't look too good, looks like it's
starting to aid a little bit. So I'm looking to
(10:28):
tackle the project and redo it myself. What they use
was some bar thine premium wood stain from the big
box store. Okay, And I just wanted something just like
a clear matt finish, keeping the natural color. And it
(10:48):
did stain it, and they didn't prep it correctly because
there's still some like factory small little holes and deans
and stuff like that. So also what's the best stuff
to use to cover up those holes? So later on
this when you stain it, it doesn't bleed.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Through right right? Right? Oh? Okay? Uh? What direction does
this front door face?
Speaker 6 (11:16):
It faces south? And also it's uh, it's got vertical
it's got about nine rectangular vertical windows going across it.
But it does face south.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Okay, gotcha.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
So it gets a good it gets it gets some
exposure to the sun.
Speaker 6 (11:34):
You know what. It does get like probably half to
date from the bottom about the middle to the bottom.
It gets sun. And then when it does rain, the uh,
it does get a little bit of us splashing from
the concrete toward the water hitting the concrete. So something
to seal it up for elements.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Okay, I got you, all right, So here is my
suggestion to you and understand and where oh you know what,
you know what John we'll running a little.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Behind, as I do sometimes.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Can I pop you on hold real quick, because I'm
gonna give you and everybody else who's listening, who is
the exact same situation. They're thinking, Oh my gosh, finally
he's going to answer this question. I just want to
give it the time that it is due. So let
me pop you back on hold. We're going to go
to a break and we'll come back and I'm going
to tell y'all how I feel about mahogany front doors
(12:31):
and how to treat them.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Right. Does that sound good? All right? Pop John on hold.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
We're taking calls. I've got John on the line. Let
me make sure I didn't hang up on him.
Speaker 6 (12:51):
John.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
You're still there, Bud, Yes, I'm still here. Dean all right.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
So John has got a mahogany front door face and said,
gets a little sunlight, gets a little weather. That guys
put it in about a year ago, stained it. Now
it's not looking so great, fading back.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
It's got a.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Little few little pock marks in it. And he wants
to know what to do and what's the best way
to treat this. So I'll tell you right now, John,
And the reason I held you over is because I
wanted to give this more thorough explanation and make an
argument for my approach to this kind of thing. And
you're free to do it anyway you want. There are
(13:32):
two schools of thought when it comes to exterior grade doors.
One school, which is what I would call the traditional
school of thought, or maybe the most popular school of
thought along these lines of exterior doors, is that you know,
you just you seal them up, you wrap them in plastic,
and you do everything you can to protect them from
(13:54):
all sorts of weather. And that basically means that if
there's a stain on there that you're gonna prep it,
you're gonna restain it.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Uh. And then you're gonna put on at.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Least two coats of exterior grade polyurethane and in hopefully
a satin or a matte finish so it doesn't get
all shiny on you, and you're just gonna seal up
the door. Some people are gonna say, no, don't use polyurethane.
Use marine grade spar varnished, you know, like you do
(14:25):
on a boat. And uh and that's all.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
These are all approaches, right, That's one school of thought,
the seal it up, plasticize.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
It, and and and done.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
I agree with that on doors that are made of
less I don't want to say lesser material, because I
love all wood, but woods that aren't necessarily, you know,
naturally prone to resisting moisture. So uh, you know pine doors,
(14:57):
I mean those doors like that, Douglas fir doors, you're
asic doors. Yeah, let's put as much protection on them
as possible. You, my friend, have a mahogany front door.
Understand that I, when it comes to woods like that,
am of the other school of thought, and that is this.
(15:18):
I like wood. I love wood. I'm a woodworker, I'm
a joiner, I'm a carpenter. And one of the things
that just keeps me fascinated with doing that kind of stuff,
despite the fact that I spend all my time designing houses,
is the fact that I just love wood. And so
(15:39):
when I'm looking for a certain color out of a
piece of wood, I prefer to just find the right
species of wood that gives me that color and keep
it natural, as opposed to buying a door, let's say,
out of any species of wood and then staining it
to try and get it look a different way. Okay,
(16:01):
I love natural wood and I think it's just the
most beautiful thing on the planet. And when it comes
to an exterior door, a mahogany door, Mahogany is a
tropical rainforest hardwood. It is a wood that is as
moisture resistant in and of itself as a wood gets
(16:22):
okay for the most part, just short of being an
iron wood. And so you have on your hands there
an incredibly weather resistant door. And my approach to that
is keep it simple and keep it beautiful. And what
I mean by this is the first approach that I described.
(16:42):
It will last, but at some point down the line,
no matter how quality the application is of plastic coatings,
varnishes and polyurethanes, at some point down the line, there
will be yellowing, there will be cracking, and there will
be the need to redo it, at which point you've
got all these layers of chemical all over this door,
(17:04):
and it's gonna be a whole thing. As opposed to
taking the beauty of this mahogany and simply taking it
from where it is now, giving it a good clean,
a good sanding, a tiny little bit of patching and
repair work with a stainable wood putty. Okay, a stainable
(17:24):
wood putty. And they're out there, they're they're they're sold,
and they go out of their way to tell you
this is sustainable wood putty. And then here is my preference.
Strip that door down, get it past its its old stain,
get it nice and uniform and looking beautiful. Sanded it down,
(17:45):
smooth and beautiful and lovely, and cover it. Wipe it
down with one or two coats of a great uv
resistant penetrating mahogany oil. Okay, you can use teak oil.
You could use tongue oil, any kind of oil like
that that binds with the natural oils in the mahogany.
(18:07):
It brings out nothing but the natural color of the mahogany.
And it lasts, and it really really does last. And
here is the key. It will not necessarily last as
long as the polyurethane stuff. If that's done well, maybe
you get two or three years out of it, and
then you start to see it looks like a little fade.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
But guess what.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
At that point, because you've just oiled this doore, all
you do is walk into the garage, take your bottle
of tongue oil, open it up, squeeze a little bit
out on a rag, and walk out to your front door.
You spend five minutes re rubbing your door, and you're
good to go again, and it's like brand new once again.
That is my opinion of the best way to maintain
(18:54):
and treat what is already and incredibly beautiful and moisture
resistant exterior door. The idea of five minutes of touch
up every couple three years, to me, seems like not
a big deal. Versus I know at one point I'm
gonna have to take this all apart, strip it all down,
(19:16):
and redo it all again because it has this southern
exposure and it's getting blasted by the sun. I'm way
way more in favor of the beauty, the texture, the
touch of a well oiled, natural, open grain piece of wood.
I'll give you one more example. The countertops. Half of
(19:38):
the countertops in my kitchen are made out of black walnut.
I know that because I installed them myself. Black walnut,
no polyrthane, no sealers on them. All I do is
use a food grade mineral oil, butcher block oil. To
you know, every three months or so, give it a
wipe down, and whoop, they're brand new, no moisture damage,
(20:01):
no color damage. Everybody loves the touch of the wood
because when they touch these countertops, they're touching wood, not
the plastic coating on top of it. And it just
means all the world to me. That's what I would
recommend to you. Does that make sense?
Speaker 6 (20:15):
Oh, yeah, that makes sense, Dean, You're a life saver.
Just to follow up on that, do you suggest I
handsand it or I use a machine and just go
real gentle with it. And it seems like it's still
salvageable where I can take that coding or that staining
that they did off. And I did listen to your
(20:36):
show a couple weeks ago about a pencil trick where
you kind of scribble with a lead pencil and that
way you know that you're not going too deep. So
just what are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 4 (20:49):
Yeah, actually that was me and Conway talking on Thursday,
and I'm as, actually, you've spilled the beans.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Now.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Now that's the.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
Next trick that I'm going to have to discuss on
the show today because I was going to talk about
it anyway. So that's fine. Great, but yeah, no, I
mean hand sanding. And if you can fit a you know,
an orbital variable speed sander, use that because they do
the job without crossing the grain the wrong way. You know,
(21:16):
why why put in all the elbow grease If you
can fit a sander on the surface of the door,
so variable grain, you start with maybe one hundred and
eighty grit sandpaper and then work, you know, use the
pencil trick which everybody else we will describe shortly, and
use the pencil trick and uh, and then just keep
(21:37):
up backing off on the grains, go to two hundred
and plus until it's just really nice and smooth and beautiful,
and then you're ready to go. And and by the way,
there are natural tongue oil is naturally UV resistant, but
there are also some really good wood oils out there
that have an extra UV resistant quality in them. They'll
(21:59):
hold up longer that southern sun exposure.
Speaker 6 (22:04):
Excellent. Sounds good, Dean, Thank you very much. I look
forward to doing this, man. I can't thank you enough.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
Well, John, send me a pick when you're done, buddy,
I want to see that beautiful mahogany door that I'm
just gonna want up you want to go up to
and just rub my hands all over it because it's wood,
real wood, not wood behind glass.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
All right, y'all, how about this.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
When we return, We're going to get back to our
list and the very first thing on the list.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
John just gave you a teaser for.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
The sanding pencil trick if you weren't with me on
the Conway Show Thursday night. It is, in my opinion,
one of the best tricks tips out there in the
world of DIY and construction and one of the least
known by homeowners. And I'm going to reveal it right after.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six Forty's.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
A privilege and an honor as always to spend time
with you on this sun every Sunday morning live here
talking about this thing that is so important to all
of us, our homes and turning our ordinary houses, if possible,
and it is possible, into an extraordinary home.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
How am I doing it today?
Speaker 4 (23:28):
I'm helping you do it today by talking about the
little things the DIY fix it tips that you're not
going to necessarily see in that YouTube video or in
that instructional sheet or those set of instructions for that
big project that you're trying to take on. I'm talking
about the things that once you're in it, you know,
(23:51):
once you're in it, you find out, Oh I wish
I actually knew a little bit more about this one
thing that I'm doing now, because this is the thing
that frustrating me. That's what I'm trying to dress for
you today. The little things kind of almost sub instructional
tips that make all the difference. And I believe me
in my experience, they really really do.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Now.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
Our previous caller had a mahogany front door and we
had a whole conversation about refinishing that in oil as
opposed to sealing it. And he had brought up that
he had heard me say he thought it was a
few weeks ago. Was actually just Thursday night on Conway.
By the way, on Tim Conway's show, I'm there every
Thursday night from six twenty until six fifty, so you
(24:34):
tune in. We always have a really good time. I
loved Tim, and he loves talking to me about all things.
He loves throwing stuff at me just to see how
well I can hit those pitches, and I you know,
I do pretty good anyway. Talking to Tim in preview
of today's show, I had mentioned something to him which is,
(24:54):
in my opinion, it is one of the most This
is a weird one. It's one of the most well
known tips or tricks in the woodworking and anything having
to do with sanding community among builders and crafts people,
and simultaneously, I think it's one of the least.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Well known among di wires and homeowners. And so what
is it?
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Well, Johnny brought up the question of like sanding, you know,
when you're standing a door or anything of importance. Let's
say you've got a sanding project to do. Maybe you've
got a table or patio table or something that you decided,
you know what, it's all kind of screwed up. I
want to sand it down and just give it a
new look. How much standing is enough? How do we
(25:45):
know once we start sanding a thing? You know, the
problem is you forget where you've been with the sander.
You're not sure, and all of a sudden you're doubting,
have I covered that area enough? Have I covered this
thing enough? Have I sanded enough for this first sheet
of sand paper? And you know the general rule by
the way, when I say first sheet of sand paper,
(26:07):
I'm not talking about that you standing until the sandpaper
is no good anymore. I'm talking about the fact that
when we're sanding something back to a finish, we always
start with the more coarse sand paper to give it
a hit, take off the big stuff, the big problems,
and then we pull that sand paper off the sander
or off our sanding block, and we put on a
(26:29):
finer grit sand paper and give it a once over,
and then a finer grit sand paper and a finer
grit sandpaper. Sometimes on a project where we're really trying
to get fine furniture finish on a thing, we may
go through four or five steps of grit of sand
paper from something that's more course to something that is
(26:51):
super fine. But the question is, for each of those steps,
for each of those layers, how do you know you've
covered everything and how do you know you've sanded it enough? Well,
here's how you know. All you need to accomplish this
task is a number two pencil. Now, you may have
a lumber pencil if you're you've got a workshop and
(27:13):
you use those kinds of that's fine. That's the same
kind of lead, but a number two pencil. You know
that you used to take the sat with fill in
those boxes with a number two pencil, a number two pencil.
And here's what you do. Here's the table before you
that we're standing. Here's the surface. I want you to
take that pencil, and there's a very important pencil. Not
a pen not a sharpie. We're not looking for something
(27:37):
that is going to soak in. That's not good. A
number two pencil, which is essentially a writing implement that
leaves its residue on the surface of a thing. And
I want you to just scribble all over the top
of that table. I'm calling it a table because that's
in my imagination. Here, that's what we're standing, from corner
(28:00):
to corner, edge to edge, and all across the middle.
Just scribble all over it. And then take out your
sander with your first course of sandpaper and sand off
the pencil mark.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Ah.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
Guess what When the pencil mark is gone, When the
scribble that you just created is gone, you have done
two things. Number one, you have sanded enough, and number two,
you have sanded everything evenly because the scribble was all
over the surface. That, my friend, is the sanding pencil trick.
And then what do you do?
Speaker 3 (28:36):
What do you do?
Speaker 4 (28:36):
You change out your sandpaper to the next course of
fineness and scribble all over the table again. It's fun
and it works out your frustrations, and you can write
notes to the people who've been annoying you and then
erase them with your sander once again. Keep doing that
until you have moved to the finest grit of paper
(28:58):
that you are going to use to finish your project,
and you will have sanded everything evenly and everything enough.
Pencil doesn't just sit solely on the surface, otherwise you'd
be able to wipe it off like chalk. Pencil up
in most wood surfaces is going to penetrate a fraction
of a millimeter, and that's usually all we're looking for.
(29:22):
Every time we change sandpaper, coarseness and hit it again
the pencil trick. Mark it down. Mark this date down
in history. Today is the day that you learned the
sanding pencil trick. All right, I got more of them
up my sleeve. We'll talk about it right after the break.
You are listening to Home with Dean Sharp the House
Whisper on KFI. This has been Home with Dean Sharp
(29:46):
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 your
app
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app. All right,
we are spending the morning talking about the small things,
the small little fix it tips and tricks and techniques
that end up, in my experience, really frustrating most di
(00:24):
wires when they get into a project. It's not the
big concept. It's not following the instructions. It's finding out
I don't know how to use this damn screwdriver the
right way. Well, you know we're going to get there,
and so I'm handing out pearls today. But right now,
top of the hour, and is our tradition, it is
time to go to the phones, and so let's talk
(00:46):
to John. Hey, John, welcome home.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Dean, Thank you for taking the call. Appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
You're so welcome. How can I help you?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So we have a nineteen fifty six style stucco house
in Riverside. It was probably last painted, who knows when
ninety year old guy owned it. We've been there four years.
It's going to need paint work and repair to the stucco,
the rafters and so on. My question is do we
(01:18):
do a regular paint job, or do we go with
something like a rhino coat, which I know was advertised
a few years ago, or on KFFI there's Fitztower, but
also I think it's doing a tech coat product. The
interesting thing about those they say it's lifetime, although you're
stuck with the color, but the fact it's also lifetime
and it might have some fire retaught and built in.
(01:39):
The Other thing is, since you're working with a contractor
as opposed to a painter who does repair work, sometimes
they do really lousy work. So what you're feeling on
first the type of product and secondly, who's best to
do that type of work.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Well, a painter is you know, a professional license paint
is best to do the work in my opinion, or
you as the homeowner. It's one of those things. Painting
is one of those things where you know house painting,
where the fact of the matter is if you're willing
to go through the steps and do these same steps
(02:17):
that even though there are a number of them, same
steps that a regular contractor will do. They may do
it quicker, a little bit more efficiently, but they won't
necessarily do a better job than you. So it's really
a question of is somebody following through with all the steps. Okay,
it's not so much the deft hand of the professional painter.
(02:39):
We're not painting Mona Lisa's here. We're putting, you know,
liquid materials on surfaces that have been prepped properly and
masked off properly. So no denigration whatsoever to professional house painters.
I love you. I love the work you do. But
the fact of the matter is it's not fine art.
It is a craft, it is a trade. It is
(03:01):
a series of well executed steps. So can a contractor
do that? Of course? Can you do it? Yes, professional painter?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Does it matter to me? Who does it not? Particularly?
What matters to me is whether somebody is stepping through
all of the necessary steps. And when I say all
the necessary steps, I mean that. On any paint job,
for any home, the standard rule is that you know,
ninety percent of the work is prep preparation, patching done right,
(03:36):
preparation done right, opening up the existing surface, priming the
existing surface properly, and so on. The last thing. The
application of the paint itself is the easy part. It
is the prep work and the elbow grease that goes
into getting those surfaces ready for paint that not only
make the difference in the appearance of the paint, but
(03:58):
make all the difference in the world as to the
longevity of the paint. And that takes me to your
second question about materials. The fact of the matter is,
since that house was painted, the entire there is there is,
it's kind of a misnomer. Should I use regular paint
or some of this new fangled stuff that's come out.
(04:19):
Everything is new fangled, Okay, it's all new fangled. Every
paint company, Benjamin Moore, this is the pink, the paint
brand that I use almost exclusively inside and out on
most homes. But whether it's Benjamin Moore Paint, whether it's
Done Edwards, whether it's any major brand of paint company,
or it's these specialty products like rhino coat and these
(04:41):
other elastameric products. The fact of the matter is every
major manufacturer is continuing their research and development and continuing
to move their products forward. So the question is as
a designer, well, I'll put it this way. As a contractor,
I am confident in any well applied quality exterior product.
(05:06):
So I know this may not help you because I'm
not saying something like yeah, use the rhino coat. Forget
about regular exterior house paint or vice versa. What I'm
saying is that any well applied quality exterior product is
going to do great right. So, as a contractor, I
know it's all in the prep and the quality of
(05:26):
the product. Whether it's regular air quotes here house exterior
house paint, whether it has a fire resistant element in
it or which there are plenty of, and or whether
it's an elastimeric stucco coating paint or coating. The fact
of the matter is if the prep was done right
(05:49):
and if the application was done right, I'm confident. So
that's the contractor, that's the builder in me, all right,
So I'm turning away from the builder now and talking
to the designer in me. The designer wants specific colors,
specific textures, specific sheens on the outside of that house.
And so the question is from a design perspective, which
(06:12):
of those products are actually going to give us the
best look for the outside of the house. And that
is what often not always John, but often leads us
back away from some of the specialty stuff, the elastimeric
rhinotype coatings. Back to the major paint manufacturers, with you know,
(06:38):
ten gabillion colors and all of the finishes that I need,
and their top of the line exterior paints applied well.
Paint these days is a brilliant science. It's in its
golden age. It has only gotten better. And like I said,
a well prepared house, well patched stucco in good condition
(07:00):
without moisture intrusion in it. Any paint that you put
on the house, I guarantee you done well, could take
you thirty plus years. And the elastimeric coding never actually
seen one that's more than thirty years old without some
issues in it. I know they say lifetime, but then again,
(07:21):
you know, thirty forty years later, those companies, a lot
of them don't exist anymore, so they don't have to
worry about honoring a lifetime warrantine, right.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
And I appreciate this very much. This is extremely helpful.
And you know, you bring up a good point about
color choices, because you know, most of the houses in
the wood streets here in Riverside, they're Beiji. Everybody goes
pretty mundane. And we would like to add a little
sponkan to this house, obviously, and with detail and so on,
(07:50):
as far as gabby rafters and things coming off the
roofline which will need to be replaced. Do you feel
that a good paint contractor can handle that or are
we talking about somebody who needs to have a greater expertise.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Well, as far as replacing rafter tails that are damaged,
I would turn to a carpenter for that. If it's
a matter of there's been some moisture damage or some
bug damage, termite damage, and we just need to apply
some bondo to an existing rafter, A qualified painter should
(08:25):
be able to do that, just by.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
As always, thank you very much. I don't know if
you remember, but last year you helped you often to
actually go get some UV material for us so my
wife for says MS and we were going to redo
her studio. We still are in the midst of doing that,
so I might be in touch for that at some point.
As always, thank you and Tina very much. Take care,
be well and stay safe.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Thanks John, thanks so much for being such a committed listener,
and good luck on that new project. All right, Kindness, patience,
bit of creativity and respect. That's what you get when
you call in here.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
You're listening to home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
We're talking fix it tips and tricks, the kind of
stuff that you're not hearing on YouTube videos. I'm talking
about the little things, the little things that end up
making all the difference, the tiny, tiny little tips and
techniques that you have to do in a DIY project,
maybe multiple times that nobody told you exactly how that works,
(09:36):
and in my experience, it becomes one of the biggest
points of frustration as you're working out your spring DIY stuff.
And so take an entire show today to just give
you just a list of pearls of wisdom when it
comes to that. We're going to get back to that
in just a bit, but right now we're taking calls.
(09:57):
I want to go back to the phones. I'm going
to talk to John A. John A. Welcome home.
Speaker 6 (10:05):
Hey, good morning, Dean, to you and your staff. My
question is pertaining to I had a mahogany front door
installed about just about a year ago and they put
a stain on it. Well fast forward to now almost
a year. It doesn't look too good, looks like it's
starting to aid a little bit. So I'm looking to
(10:28):
tackle the project and redo it myself. What they use
was some bar thine premium wood stain from the big
box store. Okay, And I just wanted something just like
a clear matt finish, keeping the natural color. And it
(10:48):
did stain it, and they didn't prep it correctly because
there's still some like factory small little holes and deans
and stuff like that. So also what's the best stuff
to use to cover up those holes? So later on
this when you stain it, it doesn't bleed.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Through right right? Right? Oh? Okay? Uh? What direction does
this front door face?
Speaker 6 (11:16):
It faces south? And also it's uh, it's got vertical
it's got about nine rectangular vertical windows going across it.
But it does face south.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Okay, gotcha.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
So it gets a good it gets it gets some
exposure to the sun.
Speaker 6 (11:34):
You know what. It does get like probably half to
date from the bottom about the middle to the bottom.
It gets sun. And then when it does rain, the uh,
it does get a little bit of us splashing from
the concrete toward the water hitting the concrete. So something
to seal it up for elements.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Okay, I got you, all right, So here is my
suggestion to you and understand and where oh you know what,
you know what John we'll running a little.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Behind, as I do sometimes.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Can I pop you on hold real quick, because I'm
gonna give you and everybody else who's listening, who is
the exact same situation. They're thinking, Oh my gosh, finally
he's going to answer this question. I just want to
give it the time that it is due. So let
me pop you back on hold. We're going to go
to a break and we'll come back and I'm going
to tell y'all how I feel about mahogany front doors
(12:31):
and how to treat them.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Right. Does that sound good? All right? Pop John on hold.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
We're taking calls. I've got John on the line. Let
me make sure I didn't hang up on him.
Speaker 6 (12:51):
John.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
You're still there, Bud, Yes, I'm still here. Dean all right.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
So John has got a mahogany front door face and said,
gets a little sunlight, gets a little weather. That guys
put it in about a year ago, stained it. Now
it's not looking so great, fading back.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
It's got a.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Little few little pock marks in it. And he wants
to know what to do and what's the best way
to treat this. So I'll tell you right now, John,
And the reason I held you over is because I
wanted to give this more thorough explanation and make an
argument for my approach to this kind of thing. And
you're free to do it anyway you want. There are
(13:32):
two schools of thought when it comes to exterior grade doors.
One school, which is what I would call the traditional
school of thought, or maybe the most popular school of
thought along these lines of exterior doors, is that you know,
you just you seal them up, you wrap them in plastic,
and you do everything you can to protect them from
(13:54):
all sorts of weather. And that basically means that if
there's a stain on there that you're gonna prep it,
you're gonna restain it.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Uh. And then you're gonna put on at.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Least two coats of exterior grade polyurethane and in hopefully
a satin or a matte finish so it doesn't get
all shiny on you, and you're just gonna seal up
the door. Some people are gonna say, no, don't use polyurethane.
Use marine grade spar varnished, you know, like you do
(14:25):
on a boat. And uh and that's all.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
These are all approaches, right, That's one school of thought,
the seal it up, plasticize.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
It, and and and done.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
I agree with that on doors that are made of
less I don't want to say lesser material, because I
love all wood, but woods that aren't necessarily, you know,
naturally prone to resisting moisture. So uh, you know pine doors,
(14:57):
I mean those doors like that, Douglas fir doors, you're
asic doors. Yeah, let's put as much protection on them
as possible. You, my friend, have a mahogany front door.
Understand that I, when it comes to woods like that,
am of the other school of thought, and that is this.
(15:18):
I like wood. I love wood. I'm a woodworker, I'm
a joiner, I'm a carpenter. And one of the things
that just keeps me fascinated with doing that kind of stuff,
despite the fact that I spend all my time designing houses,
is the fact that I just love wood. And so
(15:39):
when I'm looking for a certain color out of a
piece of wood, I prefer to just find the right
species of wood that gives me that color and keep
it natural, as opposed to buying a door, let's say,
out of any species of wood and then staining it
to try and get it look a different way. Okay,
(16:01):
I love natural wood and I think it's just the
most beautiful thing on the planet. And when it comes
to an exterior door, a mahogany door, Mahogany is a
tropical rainforest hardwood. It is a wood that is as
moisture resistant in and of itself as a wood gets
(16:22):
okay for the most part, just short of being an
iron wood. And so you have on your hands there
an incredibly weather resistant door. And my approach to that
is keep it simple and keep it beautiful. And what
I mean by this is the first approach that I described.
(16:42):
It will last, but at some point down the line,
no matter how quality the application is of plastic coatings,
varnishes and polyurethanes, at some point down the line, there
will be yellowing, there will be cracking, and there will
be the need to redo it, at which point you've
got all these layers of chemical all over this door,
(17:04):
and it's gonna be a whole thing. As opposed to
taking the beauty of this mahogany and simply taking it
from where it is now, giving it a good clean,
a good sanding, a tiny little bit of patching and
repair work with a stainable wood putty. Okay, a stainable
(17:24):
wood putty. And they're out there, they're they're they're sold,
and they go out of their way to tell you
this is sustainable wood putty. And then here is my preference.
Strip that door down, get it past its its old stain,
get it nice and uniform and looking beautiful. Sanded it down,
(17:45):
smooth and beautiful and lovely, and cover it. Wipe it
down with one or two coats of a great uv
resistant penetrating mahogany oil. Okay, you can use teak oil.
You could use tongue oil, any kind of oil like
that that binds with the natural oils in the mahogany.
(18:07):
It brings out nothing but the natural color of the mahogany.
And it lasts, and it really really does last. And
here is the key. It will not necessarily last as
long as the polyurethane stuff. If that's done well, maybe
you get two or three years out of it, and
then you start to see it looks like a little fade.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
But guess what.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
At that point, because you've just oiled this doore, all
you do is walk into the garage, take your bottle
of tongue oil, open it up, squeeze a little bit
out on a rag, and walk out to your front door.
You spend five minutes re rubbing your door, and you're
good to go again, and it's like brand new once again.
That is my opinion of the best way to maintain
(18:54):
and treat what is already and incredibly beautiful and moisture
resistant exterior door. The idea of five minutes of touch
up every couple three years, to me, seems like not
a big deal. Versus I know at one point I'm
gonna have to take this all apart, strip it all down,
(19:16):
and redo it all again because it has this southern
exposure and it's getting blasted by the sun. I'm way
way more in favor of the beauty, the texture, the
touch of a well oiled, natural, open grain piece of wood.
I'll give you one more example. The countertops. Half of
(19:38):
the countertops in my kitchen are made out of black walnut.
I know that because I installed them myself. Black walnut,
no polyrthane, no sealers on them. All I do is
use a food grade mineral oil, butcher block oil. To
you know, every three months or so, give it a
wipe down, and whoop, they're brand new, no moisture damage,
(20:01):
no color damage. Everybody loves the touch of the wood
because when they touch these countertops, they're touching wood, not
the plastic coating on top of it. And it just
means all the world to me. That's what I would
recommend to you. Does that make sense?
Speaker 6 (20:15):
Oh, yeah, that makes sense, Dean, You're a life saver.
Just to follow up on that, do you suggest I
handsand it or I use a machine and just go
real gentle with it. And it seems like it's still
salvageable where I can take that coding or that staining
that they did off. And I did listen to your
(20:36):
show a couple weeks ago about a pencil trick where
you kind of scribble with a lead pencil and that
way you know that you're not going too deep. So
just what are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 4 (20:49):
Yeah, actually that was me and Conway talking on Thursday,
and I'm as, actually, you've spilled the beans.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Now.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Now that's the.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
Next trick that I'm going to have to discuss on
the show today because I was going to talk about
it anyway. So that's fine. Great, but yeah, no, I
mean hand sanding. And if you can fit a you know,
an orbital variable speed sander, use that because they do
the job without crossing the grain the wrong way. You know,
(21:16):
why why put in all the elbow grease If you
can fit a sander on the surface of the door,
so variable grain, you start with maybe one hundred and
eighty grit sandpaper and then work, you know, use the
pencil trick which everybody else we will describe shortly, and
use the pencil trick and uh, and then just keep
(21:37):
up backing off on the grains, go to two hundred
and plus until it's just really nice and smooth and beautiful,
and then you're ready to go. And and by the way,
there are natural tongue oil is naturally UV resistant, but
there are also some really good wood oils out there
that have an extra UV resistant quality in them. They'll
(21:59):
hold up longer that southern sun exposure.
Speaker 6 (22:04):
Excellent. Sounds good, Dean, Thank you very much. I look
forward to doing this, man. I can't thank you enough.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
Well, John, send me a pick when you're done, buddy,
I want to see that beautiful mahogany door that I'm
just gonna want up you want to go up to
and just rub my hands all over it because it's wood,
real wood, not wood behind glass.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
All right, y'all, how about this.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
When we return, We're going to get back to our
list and the very first thing on the list.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
John just gave you a teaser for.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
The sanding pencil trick if you weren't with me on
the Conway Show Thursday night. It is, in my opinion,
one of the best tricks tips out there in the
world of DIY and construction and one of the least
known by homeowners. And I'm going to reveal it right after.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six Forty's.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
A privilege and an honor as always to spend time
with you on this sun every Sunday morning live here
talking about this thing that is so important to all
of us, our homes and turning our ordinary houses, if possible,
and it is possible, into an extraordinary home.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
How am I doing it today?
Speaker 4 (23:28):
I'm helping you do it today by talking about the
little things the DIY fix it tips that you're not
going to necessarily see in that YouTube video or in
that instructional sheet or those set of instructions for that
big project that you're trying to take on. I'm talking
about the things that once you're in it, you know,
(23:51):
once you're in it, you find out, Oh I wish
I actually knew a little bit more about this one
thing that I'm doing now, because this is the thing
that frustrating me. That's what I'm trying to dress for
you today. The little things kind of almost sub instructional
tips that make all the difference. And I believe me
in my experience, they really really do.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Now.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
Our previous caller had a mahogany front door and we
had a whole conversation about refinishing that in oil as
opposed to sealing it. And he had brought up that
he had heard me say he thought it was a
few weeks ago. Was actually just Thursday night on Conway.
By the way, on Tim Conway's show, I'm there every
Thursday night from six twenty until six fifty, so you
(24:34):
tune in. We always have a really good time. I
loved Tim, and he loves talking to me about all things.
He loves throwing stuff at me just to see how
well I can hit those pitches, and I you know,
I do pretty good anyway. Talking to Tim in preview
of today's show, I had mentioned something to him which is,
(24:54):
in my opinion, it is one of the most This
is a weird one. It's one of the most well
known tips or tricks in the woodworking and anything having
to do with sanding community among builders and crafts people,
and simultaneously, I think it's one of the least.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Well known among di wires and homeowners. And so what
is it?
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Well, Johnny brought up the question of like sanding, you know,
when you're standing a door or anything of importance. Let's
say you've got a sanding project to do. Maybe you've
got a table or patio table or something that you decided,
you know what, it's all kind of screwed up. I
want to sand it down and just give it a
new look. How much standing is enough? How do we
(25:45):
know once we start sanding a thing? You know, the
problem is you forget where you've been with the sander.
You're not sure, and all of a sudden you're doubting,
have I covered that area enough? Have I covered this
thing enough? Have I sanded enough for this first sheet
of sand paper? And you know the general rule by
the way, when I say first sheet of sand paper,
(26:07):
I'm not talking about that you standing until the sandpaper
is no good anymore. I'm talking about the fact that
when we're sanding something back to a finish, we always
start with the more coarse sand paper to give it
a hit, take off the big stuff, the big problems,
and then we pull that sand paper off the sander
or off our sanding block, and we put on a
(26:29):
finer grit sand paper and give it a once over,
and then a finer grit sand paper and a finer
grit sandpaper. Sometimes on a project where we're really trying
to get fine furniture finish on a thing, we may
go through four or five steps of grit of sand
paper from something that's more course to something that is
(26:51):
super fine. But the question is, for each of those steps,
for each of those layers, how do you know you've
covered everything and how do you know you've sanded it enough? Well,
here's how you know. All you need to accomplish this
task is a number two pencil. Now, you may have
a lumber pencil if you're you've got a workshop and
(27:13):
you use those kinds of that's fine. That's the same
kind of lead, but a number two pencil. You know
that you used to take the sat with fill in
those boxes with a number two pencil, a number two pencil.
And here's what you do. Here's the table before you
that we're standing. Here's the surface. I want you to
take that pencil, and there's a very important pencil. Not
a pen not a sharpie. We're not looking for something
(27:37):
that is going to soak in. That's not good. A
number two pencil, which is essentially a writing implement that
leaves its residue on the surface of a thing. And
I want you to just scribble all over the top
of that table. I'm calling it a table because that's
in my imagination. Here, that's what we're standing, from corner
(28:00):
to corner, edge to edge, and all across the middle.
Just scribble all over it. And then take out your
sander with your first course of sandpaper and sand off
the pencil mark.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Ah.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
Guess what When the pencil mark is gone, When the
scribble that you just created is gone, you have done
two things. Number one, you have sanded enough, and number two,
you have sanded everything evenly because the scribble was all
over the surface. That, my friend, is the sanding pencil trick.
And then what do you do?
Speaker 3 (28:36):
What do you do?
Speaker 4 (28:36):
You change out your sandpaper to the next course of
fineness and scribble all over the table again. It's fun
and it works out your frustrations, and you can write
notes to the people who've been annoying you and then
erase them with your sander once again. Keep doing that
until you have moved to the finest grit of paper
(28:58):
that you are going to use to finish your project,
and you will have sanded everything evenly and everything enough.
Pencil doesn't just sit solely on the surface, otherwise you'd
be able to wipe it off like chalk. Pencil up
in most wood surfaces is going to penetrate a fraction
of a millimeter, and that's usually all we're looking for.
(29:22):
Every time we change sandpaper, coarseness and hit it again
the pencil trick. Mark it down. Mark this date down
in history. Today is the day that you learned the
sanding pencil trick. All right, I got more of them
up my sleeve. We'll talk about it right after the break.
You are listening to Home with Dean Sharp the House
Whisper on KFI. This has been Home with Dean Sharp
(29:46):
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 your
app
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.